Sorry for the delay… Haha! I have made a triumphant return in a blaze of glory! Excuse my regular long pauses for another chapter is up! And since I'm feeling UNBELIEVABLY energized this time…
This is the Real Deal presents…
THIS IS… SPIRIT! REAL, TRUE, IRONCLAD, SPIRIT!
Chapter 29: I'll Come Back Safely…
"Honestly, you were just being stupid out there!" Yami scolded.
"I'm sorry, I'll be a bit more careful next time," DC said tiredly.
"If you'll still be alive by that time that is! Honestly, you're so careless! And look at what you did to everybody else to!"
"Stop scolding him so much," Ceresmon interrupted. "I think he's learned his lesson."
The scarred forest below them was nothing more than a memory as they sailed across the clouds atop Ceresmon Mega's back. Ikki and Samantha were hunched over by a tree trying to repair Metabee and Windstorm's medaparts, their tin-pets cluttered together like skeletons, empty soulless eyes staring up at the sky. Further out were Leo and Ryuga, discussing battle tactics and the likes while the diminutive Dorumon ran around there feet, barking excitedly like a puppy. Everybody else had wandered off somewhere into the forest seeking shade and food (everybody was still wary of the fruits hanging from Ceresmon's back but it didn't look like there was any other alternatives…) while DC lay on a bed of soft grass with Shoutmon and Yami tending to him. Well, Yami at least. Shoutmon himself was still nothing more than a tiny head thing with legs and black marks underneath its large blue eyes. Chrome himself was also deactivated by the side of a tree, his medal snugly fitted inside DC's medawatch.
DC himself looked half dead, his eyes sunken in, his skin unnaturally pale for his dark complexion. His eyes themselves were glassy and unfocused, as if they were staring right through you. The diminutive Shoutmon (or Gigimon as he was calling himself) was busy rummaging around in DC's small pack, stuffing himself with anything edible he could find. Ceresmon's more human counterpart was watching over them in a hammock made of leaves, patting Gigimon on the head whenever he got close. Yami placed a towel of cold water over DC's head.
"Really, you always over-do everything. I just met you and already I have to look after you like a baby!"
"Really sorry," he wheezed. "I'll try be more careful next time…"
"I bet you always say that…"
"You're right about that." DC propped himself up on his elbows, wincing in pain as he did so. Yami gently pushed him back onto his back. "Although with how awful I feel now I think I'll listen for a change…"
"And you should," Hiro said as he joined them from deeper within the miniature forest, clutching his ever-present laptop. "The energy you've got inside you is really dangerous you know!"
"Huh? What do you mean?" DC asked. Hiro sat down beside him and opened up his laptop.
"Okay, everybody inside them has some kind of odd energy am I correct?" DC nodded his head slowly. "You guys being Medafighters just stuck to calling it meda-energy since that's what Medabots have, but this stuffs a bit different. The energy source inside us that lets us communicate our emotions and skills with Digimon, Medabots, and even Beyblade Bit-Beasts is all slightly different, but it's all basically Digital Natural Ability."
"Digital Natural Ability? DNA?"
"Exactly, but since that's confusing when you think of Deoxyribonucleic acid, most people or at least the people in Japan call it Digi-Soul."
"Try and use words that I can actually fit in my head next time…" Hiro smirked.
"Sorry, I'll tone down the hippopotomonstrosous words…"
"Not funny… Is that even a word?"
"I think so, but not even I know how to spell it! Carrying on, Digi-Soul is pretty much what you transfer to a Digimon to make it Digivolve, so if you don't have enough Digi-Soul you can forget about ever getting past rookie. Of course, you can increase it by training your body and mind. With Medafighters it's not so important, but the more Digi-Soul you have the more skills you can transfer to your Medabot."
"Which is why to use the Shadow Sword the Medafighter also has to know the technique, it uses Digi-Soul to move at such high speeds, am I right?"
"Precisely. You'd be surprised how much data you can transfer with Digi-Soul. Of course, everybody's Digi-Soul is a bit different. Mine is…" Hiro held up his fist and furrowed his eyebrows in intense concentration. A thin stream of blue binary code flew around his fist, shooting around and around it, followed by another one, and yet another one, then one more followed by two red codes. They all broke as he opened his hand, sweat rolling off of his face from the exertion. "Mine is a Xros code, a rare type of Digi-Soul that means I can use a Digivice that lets me fuse Digimon together."
"A DigiXros!"
"No, something much stronger than a DigiXros, but I can't use it that easily. People with Xros Codes either use Xros Loaders like yours or D-3s like mine, though you don't need a Xros Code to use a Darkness Loader but that's a bit weaker than a regular Xros Loader. Either way, mines different to everybody else's. Ryuga and Yami have a Dream Code, a less rare one that relies on the hopes and dreams they had as kids."
"Okay, how does this link with me being stupid yesterday?"
"Simple. You have a Xros Code, by far the most dangerous DNA signature there is in existence."
"The most powerful?!"
"No! If anybody it's probably Ikki who has the most powerful Digi-Soul, I heard he could manifest the image of future enemies simply out of pure determination… Yours is just the most dangerous. Xros Codes are highly volatile, I don't know if they turn your cells into isotopes or not, it's just weird. Young kids that activate powerful Xros Codes can even fall mortally ill from the intense power. They can fuse cells, but they can also fission them. Both of those release harmful amounts of raw energy, more like the stuff Beyblades use, and it can totally shred up your organs if they don't have time to adjust to each increase in power."
"Umm…" Hiro sighed.
"Let's put it this way. I've got a Xros Code, but if I tried going Mega Level the first time I got Veemon I would have died! If I also met my fated partner and tried to, for simplicities sake, 'DigiXros' I also would have died! I have to take it up in steps. First Rookie, then Champion or Armour, next Ultimate and DigiXros, then finally Mega and mode change, that way my body will adjust to each stage."
"Oooookaayy…."
"You need to do the same thing, you have to go in stages. A X2 class Digimon, then X3, then X4, then X5, then X6, then Ultimate level and finally X7 if you ever get that strong. You skipped pretty much all those and went to a X6 class Digimon with X5M, make sense? Your cells would have been hyper respiring to make up for the huge energy loss, the oxygen debt afterwards would be massive! You could have literally drowned in Digi-Soul!"
"That doesn't sound good at all…"
"Exactly! And it's worse because you have a double Xros Code! The one inside you that nobody knew about, and the one sleeping in Shoutmon that came out of his hazard symbol and into your hands as a Xros Loader. Don't ask me why Shoutmon has a Xros Code because the only explanation doesn't make any sense. The moral of this lecture is that you have to go up in stages, not all in one go like last time. Understood?"
"Understood, sorry… I won't mess up next time…" Hiro stood up again.
"Well on the bright side, you'll probably Digivolve a lot faster than all of us since your body has already tasted X6. Still, go easy on it next time. Don't try anything higher than X4 alright?" DC raised his arm in a weak imitation of a salute as he left. Ceresmon watched the whole exchange in complete silence before speaking up.
"You and Hiro worry about him a lot don't you?" She said to Yami.
"Hey, what're you trying to suggest?" Yami yelled. DC's face had already turned a deep shade of red. "He's like a little brother!"
"I'm not suggesting that at all!" Ceresmon laughed. "I was thinking something else entirely but if you say so…"
"Stop giving him ideas already! He can look, but not touch!" DC stuck his tongue out at her.
"As if I was thinking anything!"
"Oh yes, I forgot, you're never really thinking anything if you got yourself in this bad shape!"
"Ouch! Low blow to my pride! That's not… Hey Gigimon, what're you doing? That's my Mars Bar! You can't take my stuff just because I'm injured! Gigimon!" Ceresmon rolled her eyes as the three proceeded to argue with one another.
"It looks like I might have made things worse…"
. . .
After two days of non-stop flying, Ceresmon felt she had to land. With only two more days left of travelling ahead of them, nobody minded losing an afternoon or so of travel for a lunch break. And besides, they were near a village anyway so it seemed safe. With a surprisingly graceful landing for a gigantic stone bird, Ceresmon Mega landed. Ceresmon herself stayed on, lowering everybody to the ground in grass hammocks.
"I'll stay up here," Ceresmon said. "It would be ill fitting for one such as myself to be seen among the common folk. You can gather supplies and the like here. I would also advise gathering a few more members to your team. The Legend Army stronghold will not be easy to take out."
"They've got a point," Ikki said. "Last time we only won at Medaropolis because all of our friends came to help us, and even then we lost almost all of our members by the time we made it to the HQ."
"But don't forget, we've got Digimon on our side now!" Shoutmon said grinning. "And since I feel rejuvenated and back to my full size… Chrome! Let's race!" Chrome looked up at him in confusion.
"Me? Are you sure? I'm kind of a machine so I never get tired…"
"So? I've got metal muscles, I can compete! Race you to that village over there! Ready… Set…" Before he could even say go both of them were off, thinking the very same thing between them.
"Wow… Shoutmon's more energized than usual," Veemon noted. "But it just fills me with energy to! Dorumon!"
"What is this, race your rival week?" Dorumon said jokingly.
"Aha! You've admitted that I'm your rival!" Veemon yelled triumphantly.
"No! I didn't mean it like that!"
"Hey no fair!" Agumon butted in. "I thought I was your rival Veemon!" Veemon completely ignored him.
"I challenge you to a race! Three-two-one-go!" Before either Agumon or Dorumon could even prepare themselves Veemon was off, all that was left of him being a cloud of dust. A split second later Dorumon set off after him, with Agumon awkwardly stumbling after them on his shorter reptilian legs.
"Ignoring Veemon's usual… weirdness… why's Shoutmon so fired up?" Hiro asked.
"Apparently their band was supposed to do a dig here so he's hoping on meeting up with his friends," DC answered. "I guess we should go after them shouldn't we?"
. . .
The village wasn't really what they'd been expecting after Minstrel village. The buildings were all bright and colourful and… Made up of children's building blocks. Odd shades of greens, blues and pinks were commonplace. Ikki was sure he could see a gigantic teddy bear walking the streets, followed by a line of bouncing tiny head-like digimon with no limbs. The pavement wasn't really pavement at all, but soft multi-coloured mats with colourful designs on them. A gigantic slow moving toy train with more baby digimon riding on it passed in front of them, the sounds of children laughter bubbling around them.
"Umm… Ryuga? What is this place?" Leo asked warily.
"Looks like we stumbled upon Primary Village," he said with a slight half smile. "This is one of the places that defeated Digimon return to. You see, once a Digimon dies its core gets recycled and turns back to a Digi-Egg to be born again as a new digimon. So this is a giant day-care centre that they sometimes go to until they mature into rookies to go off on their own."
Shoutmon stood stock still, his eyes drinking in the site.
"No way… I got the directions wrong… I guess I won't be able to meet Etemon or Lilymon this time…" Chrome patted him on the shoulder.
"Cheer up buddy, at least you'll be able to see Leomon again right?"
"That's right! He would've turned into a Digi-Egg to!" Shoutmon's spirits sunk again. "But when a Digimon is reborn it doesn't have any of its old memories. It's pretty much a completely different Digi…" Even his V shaped horns looked like they were drooping slightly in sadness.
"Hey buddy, don't worry about it. We'll find your friends again alright? Your band went on hiatus so they're probably still in Minstrel village right now waiting for you! For now though we'll just hang out for an hour until Ceresmon can recover, that sound good?"
"Surrounded by babies?" Before Chrome could reply the giant teddy bear spotted them. He ran towards them, tottering slightly with each step.
"Tamers have arrived! Thank goodness for that! You must help us, please!" Ikki found it hard to imagine that the thing that stood at four times his own height would need much help.
"Umm… What's wrong?" Ikki asked. "This place looks pretty peaceful so I don't think that…"
"Primary Village is in grave danger!" The teddy carried on without listening to Ikki. "It's the Legend Army, their looking for something, but we don't know what! Oh it's awful I can't bear it oh dear!" The teddy broke into tears, the teardrops streaming down in torrents to make a puddle on the floor.
"Calm down friend," a more reliable sounding voice said. What must have been a Leomon appeared next to the bear, patting him on the back soothingly. "The children are all going to be fine." Shoutmon blinked once as he saw the familiar face before going back to his depressed demeanour.
"No fair, you look just like him… The only difference is your smell, you're just taunting me…" Leomon looked at Shoutmon questioningly.
"Ignore him, he's just having a bad day," DC said. "What's so bad that it's gotten your friend in such a state?"
"It's a horrible problem," the bear said. "I hate to bear the facts to you, so just speak to Leomon…"
"And maybe then we'll hear no more of your bear jokes, those are painful to listen to…"
"Agreed," everybody replied in perfect sync.
"The Legend Army has been sitting in the Digital World for a few weeks now and they've been destroying anything that comes in their way. They clearly aren't here for total domination otherwise they would have gone straight towards the king's castle, or blocked off support from the other three great monarchs. No, the Legend Army is looking for something, and they're razing any towns in their way to. So I did some reconnaissance work, and I found out that the next village that they're going to destroy, is here and they will do it within a few hours!"
"Why here?" Akkia asked. "This is getting pretty important. Fleria said they're looking for the six legendary virus digimon right? Wouldn't they be in more dangerous places than a nursery then?"
"I know little about their true motives," Leomon said. "But recently they aren't marching through dangerous areas that are defended by The King's men, but the smaller unimportant areas, and more importantly, all of the villages where the deceased are reborn, just like Primary village. I'm not sure why they are doing this, but they are definitely going to attack Primary village next, of this I am certain."
"Hey, maybe it's because one of the digimon they're trying to get is already defeated," Koji said. "If they were trying to capture it and they accidentally destroyed it for example, it may have revived somewhere here as a baby level digimon. In that case we should really try and protect this place! We can't let the Legend Army get closer to their goals, who knows how many of those Digimon they already have!"
"I think the more important thing is to protect the children here," Samantha pointed out. "They're just babies, if they get attacked they're done for!"
"So you'll help us?" Leomon pleaded. "We don't have any fighters here apart from me and Monzaemon over here. We're desperate for help."
"Was that a cry for help I heard?" An overly charismatic voice screamed. They all turned towards the source of the voice. Standing by the gate were three familiar looking Digimon, one of them tapping his feet to the tune of a song only he could hear.
"Etemon! Lilymon!" Shoutmon yelled, running up to his former band members. Etemon seemed to have picked up a leather biker's jacket somewhere along the way to them, but other than that he was exactly the same as before. Lilymon was for some reason a lot like how Ikki imagined her to be. She looked roughly human-like, although the sleeveless dress she was wearing looked like it was made out of a large pink flower petal with vines on the front. She also wore long sleeved green gloves that opened up at the wrists like blooming flowers. Her boots were leaf green much like the four leaves that were crossed over on her back like wings. A large pink lotus flower sat comfortably on her head as hair and her enormous green, borderline black eyes stared at them with playful curiosity. Sitting on Etemon's head was what looked like an odd fox-dog hybrid with red fur and blue stripes, and oddly enough nine stiff tails. "Who's this guy?"
"Why, it's none other than the reincarnation of our old buddy Leomon!" Etemon said. "Can't you see the resemblance?" Shoutmon stared at the child-like digimon on Etemon's head.
"I'm not so sure about that part," he said. "But they did look familiar, and they had lots of food to!"
"He smells kinda familiar but how sure are we that this is the real Leomon?"
"He eats like him," Lilymon said. "He ate so much in one go he Digivolved right up to rookie! I didn't know a digimon before Leomon who could skip three years of their life just by eating!" Shoutmon eyed him suspiciously.
"I thought I would recognize him instantly but…"
"Oh come on, can't you tell? That's the furry man for sure!" Etemon yelled. "Although he's little more than an Elecmon now…" Elecmon nibbled at his ear playfully. "Besides, the little guy needs a home anyway. Leomon would take in a little critter like this so I don't see why we can't, he didn't have any family to go to last I checked. You see, the nursery he was at was destroyed. Elecmon's lucky that he was out at the time, and that we were there to save him to. So with my honour as a superstar on the line, I will not let another village go down like his! So we're getting ready to kick some bad guy butt!" Akkia furrowed her brow in thought.
"I'm not sure that kicking butt is the best option here," she said. "I mean, we could always fight the Legend Army on neutral ground if we all used individual tactics to isolate them and eliminate them one by one. It works on the assumption that the enemy is already slightly battle weary from prolonged fighting, or that our Mega levels and the Medaforce will counter any attack they send our way, but what will happen if they attack us here? We'll be in close quarters against a superior force, and we'll be in real trouble if we have to watch over the baby digimon here…"
"So what if we instead use the village as a giant trap?" Ikki picked up. "We evacuate all of the residents here instead…"
"And lure the enemy in…" Akkia continued picking up after him as they continued talking in turns.
"And then blow the whole village up!"
"Wait, what?!" Leomon yelled. Ikki ignored him as he kept talking.
"No wait. That might not be a good idea…"
"Since this place probably holds sentimental value…"
"Then we blockade the entrance to make them think we're still defending the village…"
"Then sneak attack with Windstorm's Medaforce at their flanks…"
"Then pick off any stragglers with Sumilidon's speed…"
"Will you two stop doing that?!" Samantha screamed stepping between them. "You're making my head spin just trying to think through all of that!" Both Ikki and Akkia rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly.
"Sorry about that," Ikki apologized. "I didn't even realise what we were doing!"
"Yeah," Akkia continued. "We used to do that a lot when we were younger, but this is the first time in years that's happened. Actually this is the first time in years we've spent so much time together, being siblings and all…"
"Well we can find time to bond later," Leo said. "Right now that plan you two came up with might just be what we need. Okay, our main objective is to evacuate the children. Being kids who are tiny and generally a nuisance, it's gonna be hard to get them all out of here."
"I've already gotten a few of them to the mountain range just beyond here," Monzaemon said. "It's going to be a beary difficult task ahead of us…" Leo resisted the urge to start groaning at the awful pun.
"Ignoring that… I think most of us should focus on getting the kids out for now. DC, because you still look a little bit unsteady on your feet, don't exert yourself too much. Station yourself at the entrance and make yourself as visible as possible. Your Xros Loader is pretty rare, they're gonna want to get their hands on it, and if they've got a profile on your personality already they're gonna think that making yourself open is normal for you if you claim it's something like a man's fight, I dunno. Ikki, you station yourself nearby out of sight. I'll support you, Yami support DC, and take the Darkness Loader to. Since DC's so weakened he's gonna need some help to DigiXros safely. Everybody else finish getting rid of the kids first, then remain on standby until the plan's fully complete.
Once we get through phase one, Samantha, you use the Dragoon Storm attack to blast back the remaining enemy forces in a tornado. You can handle that?"
"Easy as pie!"
"Good, now let's split!" The gang separated to their various appointed tasks. Just before Ikki could run off Koji grabbed his shirt.
"Ikki, what happened while I was gone?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"We were never this organised at Medaropolis, what happened that jacked up the group this much?" Ikki paused for thought.
"I'm not really sure, I guess we just saw the huge difference in power between us and the Tamers and realised just how weak we really were."
"Well I guess you've got a point there. Sumilidon and I have been talking this over, and frankly we feel completely useless right now. It's like we're not even here anymore."
"Aw don't say that Koji, you're an important member of the team, we need you here!" Koji shook his head.
"For some reason I find that very hard to believe… It's just like at the WRC, I'll soon become your weakest link, our foes will be able to exploit my weakness. Even if I'm a better Medafighter than you, I'm not a better commander, nor am I better teammate than you or Leo."
"Hey, don't talk like that, you'll get me feeling down to…" Koji shook his head.
"It's the truth and I've got to say it. The truth is that I'm scared of all this. I don't know how you guys are taking this all in so well. DC's like a little kid so this must all be some big adventure to him, but you and Samantha must be as tough as nails. Well, Samantha's crew is called the Screws, but they've never been known for being very brave…"
"Yeah, I don't know if it's just me, but maybe she's changing a bit… Becoming more… I dunno, something?" Koji smiled.
"Well at least I won't ever have to worry about you getting between me and Karen anymore."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?!"
"Oh come on Ikki, no need to play dumb. So who are you gonna choose? Samantha or Erika?" Ikki's face turned bright red.
"Hey no fair! You can't do that! And you just want Karen all to yourself anyway!" Koji laughed to himself as he transported Sumilidon to himself.
"Well, we'll talk later Ikki Tenryou. Don't let us down oh brave commander." Koji and Sumilidon left, leaving Ikki all on his own, even Metabee gone with Windstorm already.
"Matters of the heart, boss?" Queen Bee asked from her medawatch.
"Shut up and help me catch these things already," Ikki said as he transported her parts. "We have about an hour of daylight left… Let's make the most of it…"
. . .
The sunset gave the woods a dark climactic feel to it, shadows being cast as overlong spectres on the ground. DC stood atop a large boulder placed near the entrance, the wind making his jacket billow in what he thought must have been the perfect image of cool.
"Chrome, you ready for this?" DC asked.
"Manufactured ready!" Chrome confirmed.
"Hey, what about me?" Shoutmon whined.
"I was just going to get to you if you had been patient and waited," DC said. "Are you ready though?" Shoutmon held up his hand, his microphone materialising in it from seemingly nowhere.
"Now I am!"
"By the way, I was wondering, since you make your microphone kinda appear or shoot out of your arm, can you make more of them or something?"
"No, I've only got one mic," Shoutmon replied. "Every Shoutmon has their own special mic that only they can use. I can't even get it replaced! Without it, I'm not even a Shoutmon anymore! I'm just a Whispermon or something…"
"What? Seriously? So if I hid your mic somewhere…"
"Don't do that!" Shoutmon yelled. "If you lose it I'll never ever forgive you!"
"He's serious man," Etemon said as his trio arrived. "You don't joke when it comes to their mic. The urban myth is that if a Shoutmon loses its mic, it'll slowly begin to lose power and all of its charisma, shrinking and weakening and becoming gravely ill, until it completely DISSAPPEARS!"
"Whoa… That's not good," DC murmured.
"Exactly," Shoutmon spat at him. "So don't take it man, I'm serious."
"Alright, sorry, I was just joking, don't get mad at me like that or else I won't be able to DigiXros you properly…"
"You won't be able to in any case without some help," Yami said as she walked towards them, followed closely by BlackGatomon. "Do you have any fusions planned so I can link this thing to them?" she asked as she held up the Darkness Loader.
"Oi, that thing's creepy, are you sure it's safe to use?" Chrome asked.
"Don't worry, you're not part of the fusion this time," DC said. "DigiXros gets stronger if the people involved are friends right? Then link it to Elecmon and Etemon. I've got a plan…"
A low droning sounded overhead. In the distance, a low flying saucer flew above the forest, dropping crates of Medabots and skydiving Digimon.
"Looks like the party's already getting started," BlackGatomon said, cracking her knuckles. "You know, I really love playing with these guys, it's like chasing mice!"
"You'll get your turn partner," Yami said, stroking her head. "But for now we should get ready for them. This isn't going to be pretty."
"Yami, get up here on the rock with me," DC said. "I think our Digivices will work better if they're next to each other." Yami climbed up the large boulder, nearly tripping as she went up. The first of the forces arrived through the bush, a green bipedal insect-like digimon with red hair hidden beneath a green insect like helmet carapace and large orange eyes. A set of mosquito like wings were attached to his back, and the holes on his black armoured arms had the tell-tale signs of stingers. By his sides were two Roadrunners. Then, a wave Guardromon troops stomped behind him.
"You there, stand aside and you won't get hurt!" the leader digimon said. "You have my pride as commander Stingmon to bet on that! We're simply here to stamp out the dangerous dragon digimon being housed here!"
"Dragon digimon?" Yami asked. "I think you're mistaken, this is Primary village, filled with children, not dangerous enemies."
"Your lies won't work on me here!" the Stingmon yelled. "We know that it's being kept here. Are you also working as part of some kind of resistance? Or are you a Crack Team from the King's Army?"
"So your boss is lying to you to huh?" DC said ominously. Yami looked at him with worry.
"Oh boy… This won't end well…"
"State your business here!" Stingmon yelled. "Or else I shall be forced to cut you down!" DC laughed to himself.
"It looks like you're a little bit confused, so it's my job to educate you." He tilted his cap backwards on his head. "I am the light in the darkness, the hope whose brilliance transcends space, time and reason!"
"Idiot, what're you doing?" Lilymon asked. "You'll just make them even more mad!"
"Who cares? A true man bets everything on the line!" DC yelled back before continuing his speech. "With these two hands I'll forge my own path, if there's a wall in my way, I'll break it down! The powers of Heaven and Earth, one who rivals the gods, the great General, DC of Malawi stands before you!"
Absolute silence.
Not even the leaves made noise from the wind blowing.
"Umm… soooo you're a general?" Stingmon asked. DC hung his head in shame.
"After that long speech that's all I get…" His grief quickly turned to rage, clenching his fists angrily. "Do you know how hard it is to make those speeches?! I wanna see you do better! That's it, it's go time!" He held up his Xros Loader, then winced as his whole body briefly flickered into data, just for a second. Yami placed her hand on his hand that was holding the Xros Loader.
"DC, don't push it alright?" she said.
"Right, sorry, I totally forgot that for once there's somebody worrying about me," he said. "And its someone pretty to! So I'll have to come back safely this time."
"S-shut up already!" Yami stammered. "Anyway, we have to do this together this time." DC nodded his head affirmatively.
"Lilymon Shoutmon," DC screamed.
"Elecmon, Etemon," Yami added, then together:
"DOUBLE XROS!" They slammed the Xros Loader and Darkness Loader together, the tops of them slamming together in a fit of sparks. The Digimon shot into the air, Shoutmon covered by his red aura, Etemon in an orange one, Elecmon in a blue lion shaped one and Lilymon in a pink one. They circled around before crashing together.
"DOUBLE XROS!" they screamed as they clashed. Light encased them in a dazzling array of colours.
"No! Somebody, stop that fusion!" Stingmon screamed. The Guardromon all put up their arms, firing their missiles at it to no avail.
"Useless! Your weak firearms will never harm us!" Lilymon yelled. The light died down to reveal a completely new figure. Lilymon stood before them, but now wearing Etemon's biker jacket, the teddy at Etemon's side now attached to her hip. Shoutmon's mic appeared in her hand before morphing into a gleaming red electric guitar vaguely shaped like a V and with flame designs all along the neck. Larger versions of Elecmon's tails floated around her like an enormous halo before joining together on her back to form a kind of cape. Hey eyes turned electric blue in a flash of lightning and Shoutmon's V appeared on her right arm like a gauntlet and Shoutmon's headphones on her head.
"PunkLilymon!" she screamed.
PunkLilymon: Vaccine type
Level: Ultimate
Type: God Man
Special Attacks: Soul Crusher, Rowdy Rocker, Xros Burning Rocker, Hendrix Cannon, King the Fusion
Tamer: DC
Also known as "The Queen of Rock N' Roll," a Lilymon that has embraced the power of rock and roll, this digimon can freely use all of the powers and abilities of those fused with it, and more. It has a beautiful singing voice and can play almost every instrument in existence, though its passion clearly lies in rock music and electric guitars.
She didn't hesitate to attack, strumming her guitar aggressively. Flames flew out of the instrument, burning everything nearby along with the sound waves.
"A Soul Crusher?!" DC asked, covering his ears from the intense sounds. "Is she playing… A Queen song? Bohemian Rhapsody?"
"So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye?!" she sang, the aggressiveness of the attack increasing as she played her guitar.
"So you think you can love me and leave me to diiiiee?!
Ooooooohhh baby!
Can't do this to me baby!
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here!"
Enemy's fell left right and centre, disintegrating into tiny bits of data. A Roadrunner sprinted through the sound waves, kicking her right in the face. She stopped playing as she stared up at the Medabot with rage. She spun her guitar around so she was holding the neck instead.
"You interrupted my jam session…" She smiled evilly as she clutched the guitar tighter. "Maybe I should play a more soothing tune! Xros Burning Rocker!" She smashed the guitar against the ground, a huge flaming V coming off of it, shredding right through the Roadrunner as if it wasn't even there. The V smashed through the ranks of enemies, decimating them. "Now, Rowdy Rocker!" Without the flames this time, she swung her guitar crazily, crushing digimon with each blow, bits of earth flying into the air whenever it hit the ground. Stingmon flew into the air, avoiding each strike.
"Such savagery won't work on me! Guardromon squads, fall back into defensive positions, Roadrunners around the flanks. Stingmon crack team, follow my lead, formation Delta!" More Stingmon and Roadrunners appeared from within the forest, going around PunkLilymon. A Stingmon crashed into her from behind, a long needle going through her back, sending her straight to the ground. She roared in rage, fire building up around her as she pushed the Stingmon off, only to find more of them piling on top of her.
"This is totally different to normal," DC said. "We're never losing like this, they're way stronger!"
"BlackGatomon, time we lend a hand!" Yami said, holding up her other Digivice.
"BlackGatomon Bio-Merge to…" They fused together forming the tall and powerful figure from before. "Lilithmon!"
She held her hands in front of her, a dark ball of energy forming in front of her. "Darkness Wave!" A huge tidal wave of dark energy poured out of the ball, submerging the pile of Stingmons. Three of them flew out just in time as the rest of them dissolved away into a puddle of black tar. PunkLilymon leaped out of it, her wings smoking.
"Hey, careful with that thing!" she yelled angrily. "You nearly killed me!"
"Sorry sweat heart, there can only be one heart throbbing beauty on stage at a time!" Lilithmon said with a wink.
"Very funny," Lilymon groaned as she put her hands together, the flower petals on her wrists joining together like one flower. The V on her wrist shifted place to in front of her hands, glowing gold before turning into Shoutmon's head, only with a cannon sticking out of his mouth. "Hendrix Cannon!" She fired the cannon, but only one Roadrunner took the attack, falling to the ground as a burning wreck. The rest were still swerving around her rapidly, and she could swear if they had tongues they'd all be sticking them out at her.
"They're just plain too fast for you to hit!" DC yelled. "Don't you have something that will take them all out at once?"
"I could try another Xros Burning Rocker if you want," she said. She landed on the ground again, steam coming off of her guitar as if to relieve pressure.
"Wait, we've got bigger problems," Lilithmon said, pointing to the trees. A whole row of them collapsed completely as what could only be described as a walking arsenal marched towards them.
Three huge yellow four legged dinosaur like digimon marched towards them, various cannons and rifles sticking out of their back, all aimed at them. It was practically an entire armoury pointed at them.
"Where did they get Cannondramons from?!" Lilithmon yelled.
"Like I care, I'll just smash them all!" Lilymon screamed. She roared as her whole body became engulfed in flames, literally roared like a lion. Covering her whole body was a silhouette of Leomon, roaring along with her. "This one's for what you guys did to Leomon! King the Fusion!" Lilymon charged forward along with the Leomon spectre surrounding her, her right fist glowing bright orange. A Cannondramon fired, enormous lasers flying out of its gun, pushing back against Lilymon.
"Lilymon, don't give up!" DC yelled. "Chrome, lets show them how real heroes get the job done! Gunmetal Barrage, now!"
"That's just what I was waiting for!" Chrome said, his missiles rotating. They shot out in a glorious stream, explosions lighting up the battlefield as the Cannondramon's got hit in the face, their lasers flying astray and getting dull.
"That's just what I was waiting for!" Lilymon yelled, her eyes going red while the Leomon silhouette roared again. She pushed forward through the remaining lasers, socking a Cannondramon hard in the jaw. The beast roared in pain as all of the guns lining its back simultaneously began exploding, flames engulfing the two of them as it exploded within itself. Lilymon somersaulted through the air, twirling like a ballet dancer before landing next to DC.
"Now Ikki, Leo! While their all here and on the ropes!"
Medaforce type 1: Type Crash Active
Medaforce type 2: Damage Ball Active
Medaforce type 4: Starlight Explosion Active
Unknown Medaforce: Buster Crash Active
"And now exit, stage right!" Lilithmon yelled. She scratched the air with her claw, a huge cyan gash appearing in the air. With her other hand, she grabbed Lilymon, who then grabbed DC, who then grabbed Chrome. They all leaped through the gash in the air, the air changing to freezing cold to boiling hot within a fraction of a second, then they were gone.
DC stood back up on his feet, still disoriented from the transportation. The scenery looked different now, and Primary village was now below them at the foot of the mountain, not behind them.
"Hey, what happened? I thought we were…" Light lit up the village below, bright flaring reds blues and yellows flashing at the village entrance. A mushroom cloud shaped explosion grew and rolled from the force of the explosion below.
"Ikki happened, that's what," Yami said as she got up, rubbing her head in pain. Salamon was resting on her head, her legs splayed wildly. PunkLilymon had also split back up into the four separate forms.
"Yahoo! We won! We beat them!" Shoutmon yelled, jumping up and down triumphantly.
"Umm, wait, there's a problem," Chrome said. "I think I accidentally brought their commander with us…"
"What? What do you mean-" DC stopped midsentence. "Chrome… did you grab anybody when coming here?"
"Yami grabbed Lily, Lily grabbed you, you grabbed me, and I was the only one not grabbing anyone so I reached out to grab Yami so it would be a complete circle, but…"
Stingmon got up from his position on the floor, rubbing the pain away from his head.
"What happened? Where… You guys… You defeated my army… I'll never…"
"Wait just one second!" DC yelled. "You said that we were lying about trying to protect kids right? Well why don't you take one good look behind you!" Stingmon stared up at DC in confusion, then stared behind him into the cave they were resting in. All of the baby digimon were there busy bouncing up and down, playing with each other as if nothing was wrong with the world at all. A tiny red ball of fur bounced towards Stingmon himself.
"Are you one of the bad guys?" it asked innocently. Stingmon stared at it for a while before patting it on the head.
"I guess I am aren't I? I was one of the bad guys… But after seeing how cool the good guys are, I don't think I'll be a bad guy anymore…"
"You were a bad guy?" The ball of fluff stuck out a ridiculously large tongue at him.
"Come on, I'm on your side now!" Stingmon laughed. He turned to face DC again. "I don't know what's going on, but I joined the Legend Army to stop the six legendary digimon from reviving. They destroyed my home town, so I can't let them awaken. The Legend Army are hunting them to, so I thought that maybe if I went with them…
"But now I'm seeing things differently. Maybe the Legend Army isn't the answer I'm looking for…"
"So you're gonna join us?" Shoutmon asked enthusiastically. "You'd be a great addition to the team, you're really strong!"
"Yeah, I'll join you guys," he said. "I want to ask the boss of the Legend Army himself what his goals really are… I guess you could say that the scream of your soul reached me... But if I find that your brand of justice is just as tainted, I'll strike you down myself."
"As if you could ever beat us!" Lilymon said, then together with Shoutmon and Elecmon, pulled down her eyelid while sticking out her tongue. "But now, we've just got to wait for Ikki to return…"
. . .
Ikki stood up, his head feeling like an anvil was banging against his skull.
"Man was that a wild ride… Easy on the explosives next time guys!"
"Sorry about that, guess we kinda overdid it," Windstorm said sheepishly.
"Yeah but we won, so all's well that ends well right?" Metabee said. "Now let's get back to Ceresmon and finish this.
"No fair," Samantha said as she came out of hiding. "You guys just don't want me to test out Dragoon do you? I swear you're doing this on purpose!"
"Of course not!" Leo said. "I just underestimated the potential of four Medaforces at once…"
"You seriously could've killed us like that," Blackbeetle grumbled. "I felt like my arms were gonna fall off…"
"Well, shall we get back to the others?" Leo asked. "It doesn't look like we have much else to do here anyway-" Leo halted his speech.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Ikki asked as he dusted himself off.
"Ikki… Do we know what the Legend Army flag actually looks like?"
"Umm… Not sure really, a gigantic L maybe?"
"So what army is that?" Ikki followed his pointing finger. Off in the distance, an army of Digimon marched on, their stamping feet kicking up a cloud of dust. All of them were clad in armour from head to foot, completely obscured. Some of them were in Japanese samurai armour, others in the style of gladiators, but most clad in medieval armour with spears. Oddly enough, it looked like they were aligned like chess pieces, the shorter pawns all at the front, then behind them more abstract looking soldiers on horseback (or even centaurs altogether…) or in priests clothing or towering above them as giant mechas. At the front of the army was a tall knight in shining armour with a great sword strapped to his back. A holographic flag floated above them, the top left half of it being red with a rounded off version of a Shoutmon's head looking at them, while the bottom right corner had a black Queen Chess piece on it against a grey background. Flying next to the flag in the air was a large knight in shining armour with a red cape billowing out behind him. His helmet had a red dragon pelt on it with tiny bat wings on top of it and his eyes were glowing with energy. In his hands were a large shield and lance and just by looking at it Ikki could tell it was a Mega Level.
Hiro and Ryuga ran in just then.
"Sorry we're late guys, we just… Whoa! Who are they?" Ryuga asked. Dorumon looked at them with a half-smile.
"I know that banner, I know it well in fact…"
"They're not the Legend Army?" Ryuga asked. Dorumon shook his head.
"Far from it… They are the Chessmon Division of the King's men. They probably came to stop the Legend Army from encroaching into KingChessmon's lands. And they're led by KingShoutmon's great military general Knightmon as well…"
"Is that bad?" Ikki asked.
"Far from it!" Agumon yelled. "Especially if you include that guy flying above the army… That's a Gallantmon, a Royal Knight Class Digimon, but there's no way the highest ranking member of the Royal Knights would come down to defend a place as small as Primary village, so there's only one explanation for this…"
"Don't stop talking now, what is it?" Metabee asked impatiently.
"That army is the King's army, soldiers who fought in the Legendary Xros Wars under the sixth Legendary Hero, and that knight is the third Legendary hero himself… They're the Xros Heart Army, and Takuya Kanbara, people who have saved the entire Digital World!"
This is what happens when I listen to loads of classic rock while writing up fan fiction! Sorry for the cliff hanger, but I just couldn't resist! That, and I didn't have the space to add them into this chapter sooooooooo… Hope you all enjoyed that chapter, but till then I bid you adieu!
