Quick update this time. I just couldn't wait to write this chapter, due to the awesome stuff I had been planning for it for some time. Please read and review and I hope that everyone enjoys it, because I have to work harder on my Theatre Studies to make up for the time I spent writing this instead.


Secret of the 327th

Chapter 29:- Cyborg Warrior


Kul Teska was standing beside the column that was the enormous weapon he'd painstakingly constructed. He was fiddling with the quad-cannon arm that he'd had to replace when the Jedi had sent a missile shooting back at him on Ryloth. He carefully adjusted a few switches. The weapon had been completed and was fully operational now. All he had to do was wait until the sun reached the prime position, and then the various battle droids dotted in their positions about the station would be able to arm and fire.

His job with the weapon had been completed, but there was another job at hand – the extermination of the Jedi that had infiltrated his base in order to sabotage it. Once they'd gone, there was nothing anyone could do from fulfilling his brilliant plan.

Not that there was anything that anyone could do about it anyway. The design was too good. There was no way in hell that they could succeed.

"I'm here, Teska!" shouted a male voice. Teska looked up. Striding purposefully across the room towards him, a stony expression across his face, was Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, The Hero With No Fear.

Ha. Teska would change that.

Anakin stopped several paces away from Teska, arms by his side in a non-offensive position that clearly indicated he was surrendering. Teska, under the face-plate that hit his mouth, smirked triumphantly. Pointing an accusing finger at Anakin, he said, "No tricks, Jedi. Or we'll see if my little birdie here can fly."

He pointed upwards. Anakin looked up to see Padmé, his secret wife, dangling from the ceiling some way up, her wrists cuffed in binders and attached to a long cable that left her hanging from the ceiling with her arms above her head. If she was pushed, she'd go swinging.

"I thought my orders were clear, Master Jedi," said Padmé, but she knew full-well that there was no chance that Anakin would listen to them when she gave them.

"They were, Senator," said Anakin, confirming Padmé's thoughts for her. Padmé fought the urge to roll her eyes and sigh. Anakin could really exasperate her sometimes. Both of them were also speaking in the formal way they spoke to each other when anyone else was around. Both thought they'd done quite well at concealing their marriage.

"Your weapon, Jedi," Teska held out his hand. "Hand it over."

Anakin scowled, but he'd known Teska wouldn't let him keep the blade. He picked it off his belt, glanced at the handle affectionately, then tossed it towards Teska. The Skakoan mercenary caught it and looked at it with a mixture of amusement and fascination.

"Unlike General Grievous, I have no interest in trophies," said Teska. "However, I've always wanted to examine one of these Jedi toys." He placed the lightsaber on his own belt and stared imperiously down at Anakin.

But as he was talking, Padmé's started to suddenly move, very slowly and quietly, through the air. Thankfully, Padmé repressed the gasp of shock as she suddenly started floating backwards, so Teska remained oblivious. Looking over her shoulder, Padmé saw Ahsoka on a raised platform on the other side of the room, along with a Rutian Twi'lek she recognised to be Aayla Secura. She never really spoken to the Twi'lek, but Padmé knew she was a skilled Jedi.

Both of them had one of their hands outstretched to her and their lightsaber hilts in the other. They were using the Force to pull Padmé out of danger as Teska crowed over what he though was a defeated Anakin.

Padmé was surprised. For Anakin, this was remarkably subtle. Usually he just went in, lightsaber blazing.

Teska was still talking. "I'm not accustomed to Jedi behaving with such cowardice. Naturally I suspect a trick, but you're out of options this time, Jedi."

Ahsoka grimaced at Teska's barefaced cockiness. She and Aayla glanced at each other, then continued to pull the Senator slowly and quietly out of the way.

"My Gravitic Corisation Beam is only moments away from collapsing the Naboo Sun," Teska continued his monologue.

"So, you're telling me I've still got some time," Anakin said, determined to keep Teska's attention on him.

"There is nothing you can do to stop this weapon from firing now," Teska replied.

"Don't count your nerfs before they're born," said Anakin. This was a phrase he'd adapted from the Digimon's one about chickens, to one that would make sense to anyone else.

"I suppose I have my answer," Teska glowered.

Anakin couldn't help it. He glanced up to see how Padmé was doing. Immediately as he did, Teska whipped around to see what he was looking at and spotted Padmé some distance off and Aayla and Ahsoka pulling her away.

"Jedi!" he cried and raised his quad-cannonletting flying with a volley of shots at the defenceless Padmé. All pretence gone, Aayla swung her hand and Padmé, still attached to the ceiling by the cable, suddenly went swinging sideways out of the way. The bolts soared through the gap where Padmé now wasn't towards where Aayla and Ahsoka still were. Ahsoka's lightsaber jumped out of the hilt and batted the shot away quickly. The Togruta leapt down to the floor, continuing to deflect the shots, and cartwheeling to present a harder target.

Anakin leapt towards the swinging Padmé and grabbed cable she was swinging by so he was hanging next to her. Ahsoka's hand shot out and Anakin's lightsaber detached from Teska's belt and flew into her hand. Turning briefly she tossed the hilt up to Anakin, then backflipped to avoid getting hit by more blasts.

Anakin grabbed the lightsaber, ignited it and quickly severed the binders. The two of them dropped like stones. Aayla's hands shot out and grabbed both of them with the Force, quickly levitating them towards her.

"Well, that went reasonably well," said Aayla, placing them on the floor.

"Yes," said Padmé, "Thank you for rescuing me, Anakin. You too, Aayla."

"Don't thank us yet," said Anakin, grimly. "Unfortunately, you have a part to play in this plan of mine as well. I need you and Aayla to go and sabotage the weapon."

"Me?" asked Padmé. "What about you?"

"Ahsoka and I will take down Teska," said Anakin. "If he escapes, he'll just make more of these weapons, and who knows how many star systems won't be as lucky as Naboo?"

"But he said there's no way we can stop it."

"I think he's generally overconfident," said Aayla. "But we have an idea. We're not going to shut down the weapon. We're going to overload it. If we do that, it'll explode when the droids try to fire and take the whole station with it. I will help you get through any droid forces on our way to a power regulator, then I shall double back and help these two against Teska. He's going to be a tough customer."

"But…" said Padmé, then a droid voice came through the loudspeakers.

"Attention," it said. "Arming sequence completed. All personnel to firing positions."

"We don't have time," said Anakin. "Hurry, you two. Senator, when you're done, head for the landing platform. Rex and the other clones should be there with the Twilight. We'll meet you there before this place goes boom."

"Okay," nodded Padmé. "Lead the way, General Secura."

"Please, call me Aayla," smiled Aayla as she turned and the two women headed for the nearest door. Anakin jumped down, lightsaber igniting, to land beside Ahsoka, who'd been blocking Teska shots at her the whole time.

"About time, Skyguy," she said.

"Sorry, Snips. You know how it is. Senators to rescue, galaxies to save."

"You can't even save yourselves, Jedi," spat Teska. "Let alone anyone else."

"Can we shut this guy up already?" asked Ahsoka.

"You need to ask?" Anakin smirked. Then the two leapt forward.


Super Battle Droid number forty-seven crashed into the wall headfirst, then was picked up and thrown again, smashing into two of his fellow Supers. Kyubimon had a firm grip on his feet with her tails and she was hurtling around the room and using him as a flail, batting other droids to the ground. She already done this with two other Supers, but had dropped them had grabbed another when they'd been mangled beyond all recognition, and usefulness as a weapon.

The Supers were attempting to follow them, but the manufactures had programmed them with the ability to turn very fast, because they were designed to march steadfastly forward like a wall. And Kyubimon was mostly a yellow streak across the room so they were finding it difficult to hit her.

Kyubimon pulled to a halt and rammed another Super with her own. It flew backwards and was impaled on Turuiemon's switchblade. The bunny warrior flung it aside and went to work with her lightning-fast fists. She skewered a droid in the face, slashed the arm off another and finished it with a strike to the head, sidestepped a couple of shots thrown her way before plunging both blades into the droid responsible and lifting it upwards and dumping it over her shoulder.

Then she leapt at three more with a cry of "LIGHTNING KUNG-FU!" Her fists blurred as they lashed out again and again and again, each one zooming out thirty times a second. The Supers were twisted and battered into hulks of useless metal before they even hit the ground.

As Turuiemon leapt upwards to continue her attack, Gargomon hailed down more Supers that had been aiming to shoot at her. His green lasers flicked through the air like a swarm of angry wasps, unleashing their sting countless times upon the droid hordes. The cannon-wielding bunny wheeled about to send off another Super. Then he spotted a Super with a rocket launcher for an arm levelling it at him.

Diving to one side, Gargomon rolled as the missile hit the ground where his feet had been, sending up several shards of shrapnel. "I can play rough too," he declared, springing to his feet and darting forwards. His cannon crashed into the Super and sent him flying backwards, bowling other Supers like a large, limbed bowling ball. Gargomon finished the job with another round of lasers.

It was quite clear that the droids were losing. Three against over seventy opponents isn't supposed to good odds for the three, but since they were Champion-level Digimon, the odds were actually very much in their favour. Kyubimon tossed her damaged Super away, as Turuiemon planted her hand through the back of another so it came out the other side, and Gargomon finished off the last one with kick to the face.

As it fell over, so did he. "Ow," he said, as he hit the floor. "I'm not gonna try and do that again."

"What an anti-climatic end to a big battle," said Kyubimon, chortling at her mate's misfortune.

"Ha ha. I forgot how to laugh."

"Well, you obviously haven't because you said Ha Ha, which is what you do when you laugh."

"Shut up, you."

"Well," said Turuiemon, glancing towards the massive hole the three Jedi had disappeared through. "You reckon they've done it and rescued the Senator yet. Might not be a good idea to go barging in until she's gone off to do her job."

"Just for once, I'd like to take a little break before we move on to the next round of fighting," said Gargomon.

"We don't want to take any chances," said Kyubimon. "I vote we wait her for a couple more minutes and then get moving. The Jedi are efficient and I'm pretty sure they'll have done it by now, but I want to be sure."

"Ever the organised one," said Gargomon, still sitting on the floor. "I agree with you."

"Of course you do. You always agree with me."

"Well, not always but mostly."

So the three of them waited for just a couple of minutes longer. They stared at the hole in wall, half expecting another wave of Supers to come marching through it in another dogmatic and futile attempt to stop them from succeeding. None came.

"Alright," said Kyubimon. "Let's move."

The three of them rushed into the corridor.


Aayla swept around the corner and dashed down the corridor. Padmé was right behind her and the two of them sprinted through the base at top speed. Aayla was leaning forward slightly to minimise air resistance and her lightsaber handle was firmly clasped in one hand. She was much faster than Padmé, and had to keep slowing down to allow the Senator to keep up.

Padmé, despite her reluctance to get into any real fighting, couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of Aayla, who got to work alongside Anakin far more often than she did. Padmé knew they'd been friends since they were both Padawans. Anakin sometimes spoke of her, and he always held her in quite high regard, but she'd never had the chance to talk to Aayla before. Whenever she'd seen Aayla she'd been in a meeting, or on the battlefield on Geonosis.

"So, how did you get mixed up in all of this?" asked Padmé as they ran. "I thought only Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were here to destroy the place."

"Yes, those three always do work together," said Aayla. "But Master Windu and I also came to help. I was one of those who discovered the location on Alzoc III where the core of the weapon was stolen from the Separatists. Now they've got it back, and since I was there at the time I got called in to help too. There really wasn't any time to wait for reinforcements."

"Well, it doesn't look like you needed them," said Padmé. "I'm impressed by how you Jedi can make this stuff look easy."

"Oh, it was far from easy," said Aayla. "I won't pretend that we do find these things easy. But we do what can, and fortunately it was enough."

Padmé could see why Anakin talked highly about the Twi'lek. She was modest and completely not cocky, but committed and dedicated to her cause. She was definitely a Jedi. And she appeared to make friends easily.

"How much further to go Gener- uh, I mean, Aayla?" asked Padmé.

Aayla glanced across at her. "Not too far, but I doubt we'll get there without meeting some kind of resistance."

And she was proved right a few corners later. Another gathering of Super Battle Droids was marching down the corridor. There were a few ordinary battle droids at the front of the line. Most of those droids appeared to have gone to their firing positions. Aayla pulled to a halt instantly and put out her arms to stop the Senator.

"Halt. Surrender," demanded one of the B-1s.

"How likely do you think that's going to be?" asked Aayla, her blade bursting from the hilt. Padmé almost laughed. That was something that Anakin might have said. Aayla was similar to him in many ways, and his polar opposite in others.

"Uh," said the droid. "I don't know."

"Zero," said Aayla. She raised her hand and grabbed the droid with the Force, whisking him forward down the corridor and hacking off his arm, then head with her blade. The bit of droid fell to the ground, and Aayla levitated the blaster.

"How's your aim, Senator?" she asked.

"Quite good," said Padmé, grabbing it. "And please, call me Padmé."

"Will do," Aayla advanced forwards.

"Blast 'em!" shouted a droid.

"Roger, roger," said many others.

Then the laser fire began. Swinging her blade in spinning circles, Aayla ran to meet them, smacking the myriad of bolts flying towards her. Within several large strides, she was amongst the droids and she took no prisoners. Leaping onto the wall and bouncing off it, she swept her blade straight through the centre of one Super, grabbed both falling halves with her mind and sending them smacking into the ones on either side of her, which quickly fell prey to the whirring blue plasma blade. Double-pirouetting, she span her blade through the abdomen, then the legs of another. Bringing the blade up again, she carved a chunk out of the side of another, and span to bring the blade slicing through the rest of it.

Aayla leapt into a diagonal downward sweep through another, brought her blade up to catch one that would have hit her in the face and sending it back into the owner. Springing forth, she carved through one on the upswing and then the one behind it on the downswing before she touched the floor, and then she span again to sever the upper body from the rest of another. Then she pushed her hand out and four more slammed into the walls on either side of them.

Padmé, as she took out the droids that Aayla swept past, was impressed. As she sent single bolts whizzing into the droids with pinpoint accuracy, she watched Aayla strike down over twice as many than she did. She'd only ever seen Aayla in action once before, briefly on Geonosis, when she'd brought down three Geonosians in mid-air. She blasted a B-1 in the end, sent two shots thudding into the chest of another and punched a hole in the side of a Super that had turned to try and shoot at Aayla. A second Super doing the same got a shot in, but Aayla's blade appeared over her shoulder and redirected it back at the Super. She hadn't even been looking.

As Aayla swept her blade through the last two Supers and Padmé's shots took out the three remaining B-1s, Aayla sheathed her blade and turned back to Padmé. "You've got skill with a blaster," commented the Twi'lek.

"I wish I had your skill with a lightsaber, but I daren't try to use one," said Padmé. "Now, where's the power regulator."

"Momentai. It's just over here."

"Pardon?"

Aayla mentally slapped herself. Terriermon's catchphrase seemed to be a bit too infectious. She'd spoken without thinking. However, her face gave nothing away as she said, "Twi'leki word that means Don't Worry or Take It Easy."

"Oh. Okay."

Aayla led Padmé to the regulator. As Padmé knelt down beside it, Aayla said, "Now you're armed, you should be able to make your way back to the landing platform relatively easily. I'll now go back and help against Teska. May the Force be with you."

"And you," said Padmé, as Aayla turned and sprinted past the dead droids and back the way they'd come. Then she turned to the power regulator and the flashing buttons all over it. "Alright, Padmé," she muttered to herself. "Time to save your system."


"Where's your clone army now?" Teska laughed as he hovered above the ground, out of reach of the lightsabers of the Jedi. His boots gushed with the rocket-fire needed to keep him aloft and he darted out of reach of the Jedi as they kept running towards him. He continuously fired his quad-cannon at them, the red lasers forcing them to go on the defensive.

"Stand still and fight us properly," shouted Anakin, his blade flicking as he hopelessly tried to get closer.

"If you think I'm just going to comply with your demands then you're sorely mistaken. I've seen those lightsabers of yours at work. I know what damage they can do. I am far from a fool, Jedi."

"Alright, then," Ahsoka growled. Grabbing a bunch of crates with the Force, she cried, "Why don't you try these?"

The crates tumbled through the air towards Teska, but his huge, red personal deflector shield sprang up out of nowhere. The crates rebounded on it and went flying in all direction, except for the last one. That became the victim of Teska's chest laser. The shield dropped and the long yellow beam erupted outwards, punching through the crate and spearing towards Ahsoka. The Padawan leapt backwards just in time and landed on her backside in an undignified way. "I hate it when he does that," she muttered.

"Wretched Jedi!" Teska roared as he tried the trick where he enshrouded himself in flames and cannoned towards Anakin. Anakin hurled himself aside and attempted the swing about and swipe through the Skakoan, but he'd shot past already.

Ahsoka ran forward again, just as a Crab Droid entered through the doorway and scuttled towards her. "Hey, you didn't tell us you were bringing friends," she protested, as she brought her lightsaber forward to deflect the shots it fired at her.

"Fair's fair," said Teska, mockingly. "Two on two is much better than two on one."

"Oh yeah?" Ahsoka asked dodging back as the Crab lunged for her. "Well, try this!" She suddenly dived forwards and rolled onto her back so she was underneath the Crab. As it tried to scuttle away, Ahsoka pushed up with her arms and shoved it high into the air with the help of the Force. It sailed at Teska, who had obviously not been expecting this move and only just managed to dodge. The thrusters faltered slightly and he dropped, but they quickly recovered.

"All right, then," said Teska. "This ends here and now, Jedi!" He began to soar upwards, rising higher and higher into the room. In response, Anakin and Ahsoka hurriedly scaled the walls by leaping from platform to platform. They squared off again, Anakin and Ahsoka standing on a heavy pipe. Teska's lasers came flying at them again, but, once again, they blocked it.

"It's over, Teska!" Anakin cried at him. "You won't win."

"I beg to differ, Jedi," said Teska as his shoulder-pads opened up again to reveal the twelve missile holsters hidden inside. "This is far from over."

"Commence primary weapon hub lockdown in three…" said a battle droid over the speakers. "Two… One…"

"Good, it's about to start!" laughed Teska. "But as for you, I've had enough!" Two of the missiles fired out towards the Jedi. They separated as the missiles struck the pipe where they'd been and it exploded into pieces. Leaping from ledge to ledge, Anakin and Ahsoka hurriedly avoided the lasers and missiles heading their way. Up here, there were no crates to throw at him, and with him hovering out in space and with them confined to the walls they couldn't get anywhere near him. Anakin managed to send one hurtling back at him, but Teska dodged it with irritating ease.

Master and Padawan re-met on the opposite side of the room and Teska swooped into the middle. Behind him, the huge column that was the weapon was suddenly filled with huge, red laser, that made a humming, whistling noise that signalled it was charging up for a burst of explosive power.

"Great," said Ahsoka. "I suppose this is all part of the plan too."

"Actually, Snips…" Anakin trailed off. The two of them leapt onto another pipe and turned to face Teska once more. The Skakoan soared towards them, triumph in his remaining eye, as flame began to flicker around him again.

But, as he did, a red blaster bolt suddenly shot past his chest. "What?" he cried and pulled to a halt, which was a big mistake. Another bolt struck him in the foot. The jet thrusters promptly went out on control and Teska, shot backwards, crashing into the weapon, and landing with a heavy thud on one of the circular ledges the laser ran through the centre of. Anakin and Ahsoka sharply looked up at the dark figure on the ledge above.

A dark figure with a cowboy hat.

"Who's side are you on?" Ahsoka shouted up at him.

"His own," answered Anakin.

"No-one messes with Cad Bane," growled the Duros Bounty Hunter, before holstering his blaster and turning to leave. He vanished from sight.

"A lone gunman?" Teska said, getting to his feet. He turned to the Jedi and said, "His attempts are as futile as yours. You can't stop the inevitable."

"You talk too much," Anakin said contemptuously.

Teska was about to throw a reply back, but suddenly, he heard a whirring sound. He whipped around, just in time to see Aayla come hurtling through the air towards him, her blade raised. He sidestepped quickly, but not quickly enough. Aayla's blade swept through his natural arm. Teska howled in agony and took to the air again, staring in horror at the stump.

"You're more machine than man, now," said Anakin, as Aayla leapt from the ledge and over to where he and Ahsoka were standing. "Still think we can't stop you?"

Teska glared at him. His shoulder pads opened, his quad-cannon raised, and his chest cavity opened. "DIE!" he screamed, and he barrelled forwards, with missiles, red and yellow lasers flashing forward in a miniature storm. The Jedi scattered and were back on the defensive.

Aayla backflipped over the think yellow laser and dashed out of the way of two missiles. Anakin ran along a pipe, reflecting bolts and rolling under another missiles. Ahsoka was forced leapt vertically upwards as two more crashed straight into the wall behind where she'd been, then had to roll aside as Teska's cable came soaring towards her. It grabbed the ledge and was followed by Teska himself. Ahsoka was tossed backwards by the shockwave and thrown off the ledge. Aayla hurriedly caught her with the Force, as Anakin ran towards Teska. His blade almost schismed the other arm, but Teska lurched back and tried the yellow beam and close range. Anakin dodged and went running again.


Kyubimon was leading the way as the three Digimon charged down the various intertwining corridors. Up ahead, the sound of loud explosions and laser fire seem to rock the very air. "That's gotta be them," said Gargomon as they ran. "There aren't many that can cause a ruckus like that with such small numbers."

"Sounds like a brutal battle," said Turuiemon.

"Then let's make it more brutal," Kyubimon called over her shoulder.

"Amen," Gargomon cocked his cannons.

Several seconds later, they emerged onto a platform in a spacious room. In the centre was a smaller version of the huge hole outside, with a red laser building in intensity in the centre. Above it was a hole in the ceiling where the beam would be shot out through all the crystals at the centre of the giant wheels.

Around the walls up above, leaping from place to place, were the three Jedi, lightsabers drawn and constantly on the move, and in the air, sending lasers and missiles at the Jedi, was the giant Skakoan scientist. Kul Teska. He was missing an arm, but he still looked imposing.

"Ugly guy," said Turuiemon. "Wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley."

"That's the guy who created this place," Kyubimon's tails flared angrily. "If you ask me, his face needs reshaping. Let's get him!"

"No, wait!"

They turned to look at Gargomon, who had spoken. "What?" asked Turuiemon.

Kyubimon, since she already knew what Gargomon was thinking, said, "Oh. I see. I like that."

"You like what?" asked Turuiemon.

"I'm sure you know the old Earth saying, sis," said Gargomon. "You know – "Fight fire with fire." That one."

"Of course I do, but I don't see how... Oh. Oh right." A smirk spread across her face. "Why not? Get going, Gargomon."

"At your service, Tury," Gargomon bowed comically, then said, "Henry. A blue card if you would."

And up above, Henry said, "You sure?"

"Yes I am. Let's get going. Time's a wasting."

"Blue card?" asked Ridge. "What does that mean?"

Henry picked a card from his holster. With a flash, it suddenly became a deep blue colour. "He's referring to this," he grinned.

"Now sit back and watch the fireworks," grinned Rika. Suzie cheered. Henry swiped.

"Digi-modify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

Down below, Gargomon was suddenly engulfed in a bright white light. Kyubimon and Turuiemon shielded their eyes from the glow as Gargomon cried:-

"GARGOMON DIGIVOLVE TO... RAPIDMON!"


Anakin growled, frustrated, as he quickly sprang aside to avoid a couple more missiles. The Skakoan just didn't seem to run out of them. The fight was becoming more of an impasse at the present moment. The Jedi were almost impossible for Kul Teska to hit, as they were experts at dodging and blocking his attacks. Similarly, Kul Teska was almost impossible for the Jedi to hit, because their weapons were too close range and Teska was keeping the on the move too much to stop and use the Force. Anakin had managed to nick Teska's leg, and Ahsoka had just nicked off one of the four laser guns on the quad-cannon, but apart from that they hadn't had much effect.

They weren't losing, but they weren't winning either.

Anakin leapt from his position and hurriedly deflected two shots as he sailed past. The shots were followed by missiles, which lead him to sprint across a platform and bounce to another. Kul Teska enjoyed teasing his victims. It made the victory that much more total to see them desperately run first.

But his fun was spoilt when something smashed into his from the side.

Teska yelled as he was suddenly knocked back by a wall of invisibleness. He tumbled a few metres before righting himself. At first he thought that one of them had managed a Force blast at him, but on reflection he decided that it felt more like he'd been rammed by something.

Suddenly he was rammed again in the back. As he was knocked forward, something crashed into him from the front and knocked him back again, and a split second after that some smashed into him from the side, then the other side, then from above, then from the front again. Something, or some things, were invisible and crashing into him, sending him shooting in all directions like a ping-pong ball in mid-air.

The Jedi stopped and watched with dumbfounded expressions as Teska was knocked back and forth by nothing that they could see. It looked like he was rebounding off invisible walls a metre or so away from his on all sides. Delving into their senses, the three of them looked for an answer. What they discovered startled them. Whatever was doing this was one being, moving so fast he was invisible to the naked eye and continuously ramming the Skakoan, before wheeling about and coming again from another direction almost instantly.

Teska span wildly, yelling as the invisible thing hit him in the legs and he went tumbling backwards, then it felt like an invisible foot was suddenly planted in his chest and he went hurtling backwards in the wall. He fell and landed, dazed and winded on a platform.

"What is going on?" asked Ahsoka.

"That would be me," something landed right next to her with a thud. Startled she leapt back, readying her blade. And she stopped. That voice. It was high-pitched and incredibly familiar.

What was standing beside her was something like she'd never seen before. A tall frame, about the same height as Teska, with green, spherical armour around the pelvic and chest areas, the torso linking them was a bright white colour. Two semi-spherical armour plates rested on the shoulders and the arms consisted on something like two, green bazookas. The legs were encased with equally green and slightly pointed boots. Attached to its back was a small missile launcher. The head too, was covered in armour, so that only the eyes were visible, as well as the ends of the long two green, segmented, red-tipped ears sweeping back from it. To cap it off, he had the little bob-tail of a rabbit.

"How's it going?" it asked.

"Gargomon?" Aayla breathed, staring at the new being.

"Yes and no," said the Digimon. "I'm the same person, yes. But this is my Ultimate form, and I go by a different name now."

Teska awkwardly pushed himself upwards and stared at his attacker. "What are you?" he groaned angrily, getting to his feet.

The Digimon turned to glare at him. "I'm Rapidmon. And I'm gonna kick your ass."

Rapidmon leapt off the platform and hovered in front of Teska, with no visible means of support. Teska's jet thrusters activated and he rose into the air too, pointing his quad-cannon, which was now a tri-cannon, at him. Rapidmon suddenly hurtled forwards and vanished. At almost precisely the same time, Rapidmon brought his foot into the small of Teska's back. As Teska lurched forwards, Rapidmon's foot suddenly came swinging into his face in a perfect roundhouse kick. He was moving so fast he was almost teleporting.

Teska angrily sent a small swarm of missiles at Rapidmon. Yawning, Rapidmon span and twisted in mid-air, easily dodging and flipping over the missiles sent his way. He zoomed across the room, zipping from side-to-side with the agility of a dragonfly as the rockets shot past him and exploded uselessly on the wall behind him. Rapidmon ducked under another and suddenly spurted forwards to smash Teska in the stomach.

"Not so tough now that someone else can fly, are you?" Rapidmon laughed, as Teska reeled back, attempting to clutch his stomach with the stump of his missing arm.

Teska's chest cavity opened and the laser erupted towards Rapidmon. Unconcerned, Rapidmon hung in the air until the last second, where he vanished in a blur and the laser continued going through where he now wasn't. A voice over Teska's shoulder said, "You missed." Teska turned to see a cannon-arm flying forwards and hitting him in the face, cracking the metal faceplate.

"Now, this is impressive," Anakin approached Aayla and Ahsoka and all three watched the aerial, one-sided brawl. "He doesn't look like he's even trying," he commented, as Rapidmon zoomed towards Teska, vanishing the second before impact and ramming him in the back instead.

"That's because he isn't," Turuiemon's voice replied. The Jedi turned to see the other two, still in their Champion forms, jumping upwards towards them from platform to platform, until they were standing beside the Jedi. "He hasn't even used any of his attacks yet."

"We'd be able to take Teska too, if we could just get close to him," said Ahsoka, watching with admiration as Rapidmon shot vertically down from above and ploughed into Teska. "How does he do that hovering?"

"And how tough is his armour that he's not getting injured by ramming an armoured Skakoan constantly?" asked Aayla.

"Don't try to fully understand us, because even we can't do that," said Kyubimon. "Let's just say that he just can and his armour is very, very tough."

"He's certainly very fast," said Anakin.

"Apparently he can move at almost light-speed if he wants to," said Turuiemon, "although our Rapidmon has never tried that."

"Too bad we don't have any popcorn," said Kyubimon. Turuiemon laughed. The Jedi were too busy watching to ask what popcorn was.

Rapidmon flashed in and booted Teska squarely in the face, then swung in from the side to belt him under the missing arm. Teska spun about and fired the quad-cannon, but Rapidmon wasn't there anymore and the Digimon's arm swung into Teska's abdomen and his foot knocked the cannon askew. Then they hooked behind Teska's knee and hauled, sending the Skakoan spinning. Two strikes later, one to the front and the other to the back of the head almost instantly, and Teska thudded into the wall again.

Rapidmon hung in the air before him. "Come on. Are you trying to let me win?" he asked. "Time to get serious. MIRACLE MISSILE!" Rockets similar in size to Teska sprang from the launcher on Rapidmon's back and wheeled around, shooting towards Teska. Hurriedly, Teska raised his force-field and the missiles were stopped, just. He was still battered backwards by the force of the blows.

"You'll have to do better than that," he growled, pleased with this little victory.

"Really? Okay," Rapidmon raised his arms. "Try these on for size." Rapidmon raised them above his head one after the other and brought them down. "RAPID FIRE!" he cried, and he sent one enormous rocket from each arm. Teska gasped and braced his shield, but these rockets were the equivalent of those on a gunship. No shield the size of Teska's could stand up to them and Teska was blown backwards, the shield sputtering and dying completely as he smashed into the wall and slumped down.

"This isn't real!" Teska screamed. "I can't be beaten."

"If this isn't real," said Rapidmon, raising his arms out above his head and pulling his feet together, "Then I reject your reality and substitute my own."

Rapidmon's cannon-ends and feet began to glow a bright white. Teska snarled with rage and enshrouded himself with fire, activating his jets and hurtling towards Rapidmon in one last ditch attempt at victory. Golden lines spread between Rapidmon's arms and from each arm to his feet, creating an upside-down triangle right in front of him, which was filled with green light.

"He's doomed," said Kyubimon, referring to Teska.

"TRI BEAM!"

The green light shot forward in a continuous stream and hit Teska like a sledgehammer to a safety pin. Teska's armour, what was left of it, buckled and tore as he was forced backwards, the flames dying as the machinery suit. He fell to the platform, defeated. He was alive, but only just.

He heard something land next to him. Teska looked up and found himself staring down the barrel of a cannon. "Checkmate," said Rapidmon. "RAPID FIRE!"

Kul Teska died.

Rapidmon turned and flew back over to where the others were standing. "Whoa," Ahsoka's face was shining with delight as she looked the powerful Digimon up and down.

"Most impressive," said Aayla. "I don't particularly want to get on the wrong side of you."

"Funny how things backfire on evil villains, isn't it?" remarked Rapidmon. "He was gonna blow up the sun, but he got blown up instead."

Kyubimon and Turuiemon chuckled and suddenly the two de-digivolved in flashes of light.

"That was really something, G- er, Rapidmon," said Ahsoka. "It's like having a gunship that can get inside buildings."

"A gunship that can get inside buildings, and is impossible to hit," added Anakin. "I think we made the right decision in letting you come along."

"You had doubts?" Rapidmon laughed.

"Well, I didn't," smiled Aayla. "Nice work."

"Ah, Momentai," Rapidmon waved a bazooka airily, which is something that not many people do with bazookas.

"Now, I reckon it'd be a good idea for us to get out of here," said Anakin. As he said it, the whole room shook and the laser in the weapon intensified. Suddenly it fizzled out and exploded, causing the whole weapon to shatter and debris to shoot out in different directions. Aayla and Anakin threw up their hands and halted the flying metal heading their way, letting it drop harmlessly to the floor below. Around them, miniature explosions started to rock around the room as the machinery ruptured and exploded.

"Good idea," said Renamon. "Looks like the plan worked. The whole facility is coming apart."

"The Senator succeeded then," said Ahsoka. "Let's get back to the door."

"Who needs a door?" asked Rapidmon. "Let's take a shortcut." He pointed his arm up at the ceiling and let fly with a missile. One explosion later and there was a massive hole in the ceiling. "All aboard the Rapidmon express," he cried. Renamon and Lopmon leapt onto his shoulders, and after a moment, Ahsoka followed. Aayla and Anakin gripped his sides firmly and Rapidmon put a cannon around each of them to keep them there, before flying upwards and out through the hole.

And in the exploding room, a pair of blood red eyes that had been watching the whole thing followed their progress. "How interesting," said Cad Bane. Then, the Bounty Hunter turned and made his way towards his own exit.


"Anakin, come in," Obi-Wan's voice echoed through Anakin's communicator.

"I'm here," said Anakin as Rapidmon landed on the level up above where the landing platform rendezvous would be and everyone disembarked.

"Where are you?" asked Obi-Wan. "Wherever you are, you'll have to get out another way. The landing platform gave way, so now we're hovering above the base. We can't wait for much longer."

"Did the Senator make it to your position?" asked Anakin, as more explosions rocked the facility.

"No," said Obi-Wan. "We haven't seen her."

Fear and worry suddenly flashed across Anakin's face, but it gave way to relief when Ahsoka cried, "There she is!"

They turned to see Padmé rush out through a pair of doors and fall the floor as the corridor she'd been in erupted into flames. She'd obviously not been quick enough, despite having succeeded in sabotaging the weapon, hence the chaos, she hadn't got to the ship.

"Time we weren't here," said Renamon. She and Lopmon leapt back onboard Rapidmon and all three vanished under the perception filter.

"Padmé, are you alright?" asked Anakin, as the three Jedi ran towards the Senator, who scrambled to her feet unsteadily.

"I'm okay," said Padmé. "Where's the Twilight?"

"Waiting for us up above," said Ahsoka. All four suddenly had to spread their feet to keep their balance as the whole platform shuddered underneath them.

"You go on," said Padmé. "Leave me here. You can still make it. I'll just slow you down."

She knew Anakin wouldn't listen to her but she had to try. Anakin also knew that he was never going to leave Padmé behind and he looked about, searching frantically for an escape route for her. So far as he could see, there was none, except the invisible Rapidmon he could still sense. Which one, did he expose the secret of the Jedi to a trusthworthy Senator or did they stay and die?

Fortunately, Aayla stopped him from having to make that decision. "STAPs," she said. She was standing by the railing and looking down into the rupturing weapon. Anakin, Ahsoka and Padmé rushed to join her and they saw two of them rushing upwards towards them.

"Thank goodness," muttered Anakin. "Our ride is here."

"If we don't get out of here because of you," said one droid to the other. "I'm putting you on report, Sergeant." It missed the fact the it couldn't possibly have done that if they didn't make it out.

"Wait, it's not my fault," protested the other droid, but he didn't say anything else because a Twi'lek suddenly landed on his vehicle and kicked him off it. The other hand a male human do the exact same thing.

"These things aren't made for two," said Aayla. "But they'll have to do. Ahsoka, you're with me." Aayla carefully positioned herself so that both feet were on one foothold. Ahsoka leapt to join her and placed her feet on the other one. It wasn't ideal, as the footholds were designed for one foot each, but it should be alright. Aayla, leaning sideways, slightly, gripped both handlebars, and Ahsoka placed her hands on Aayla's shoulders to keep herself from falling off.

Anakin steered his over to Padmé. Instead of employing Aayla and Ahsoka's technique, Padmé clambered on so she was lying in Anakin's arms, bride-style, and wrapped her arms around Anakin's neck.

"Race ya," cried Ahsoka, as Aayla accelerated upwards, and Anakin turned to follow. The two STAPS with four passengers raced upwards through the exploding station, dodging past the spokes of the giant wheels and, at one point, the entire wheel as it came loose and went hurtling downwards, smashing into the other wheels as it fell.

A sudden explosion caused a hunk of debris to be catapulted from the side towards Anakin and Padmé.

Padmé screamed and Anakin grimaced, knowing that dodging wouldn't do any good and he couldn't use the Force properly. The huge piece of debris barrelled towards them like an unstoppable juggernaut. Except it suddenly changed direction as if something invisible had suddenly rammed into it at speed. It crashed into the wall and caused another explosion that propelled the two STAPs upwards.

Padmé sighed with relief. "Thanks, Anakin," she said.

"No problem," said Anakin, because this was better than saying, "Actually it wasn't me. It was a creature from another universe that I'm not supposed to tell you about that rammed into it and is hidden under the perception filter of another creature." He hated keeping this secret from Padmé, but he was going to do it anyway. He sensed Rapidmon overtaking him and the other STAP and made a note to himself to thank him later.

Finally, the STAPs emerged into daylight. Behind them, the whole station was burning and exploding, but up ahead, the Twilight hovered. Rarely had Anakin been more pleased to see the old junker. They accelerated towards it and floated over to the open doors at the back. Ahsoka jumped off, and Padmé clambered down, then Aayla and Anakin leapt off the STAPs too, allowing the droid vehicle to drop back down and disappear in the Armageddon below.

Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody and Bly were there to greet them.

"Good to see you made it, General," said Rex, as Anakin brushed off his tunic. "General Kenobi insisted we hold out as long as we could."

"There were several moments there where we thought you lot were goners," said Bly, grinning broadly.

"Then thank you for your patience, Obi-Wan," said Aayla.

"Think nothing of it, Aayla," said Obi-Wan. "I'm simply aware of my former Padawan's reliance on last-minute escapes."

"Well, if you ask me," Aayla looked pointedly at Anakin. "The A-Team shouldn't go through too many of those if we can get away with it."

"A-Team?" asked Cody, Rex, Obi-Wan and Padmé all at once.

"Just a nickname a friend gave us," Anakin shrugged. "All our names begin with A so..."

Obi-Wan and the clones shared a look. All of them could guess who Anakin was referring to.

"Let's get inside," said Anakin, leading Padmé indoors. Ahsoka followed. Everyone else stayed behind and, once the Senator had gone, turned to Aayla.

"Where are the Digimon?" asked Bly.

"Hovering right next to you," said a voice that was unmistakably Lopmon's. Bly jumped as Renamon, Lopmon and what was probably Terriermon, only very different shimmered into view. Rapidmon touched down on the ramp.

"Terriermon?" asked Rex, as Renamon and Lopmon got down.

"Rapidmon," said Rapidmon, before de-digivolving. "No I'm Terriermon."

"You mean you digivolved again and I missed the action?" asked Bly. "Now, that's not fair."

"Don't worry, Bly," chortled Aayla. "I have a feeling you're going to be seeing Rapidmon in action yourself quite soon. Believe me, it's a sight to see."

"Let's get going," said Obi-Wan, "before that station blows up completely. Perception filter up again, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," said Renamon, and all three vanished from sight again.

Everyone still on the ramp headed back through the doors, which closed behind them. The cockpit was a little crowded when they walked in, and Aayla and Obi-Wan carefully guided the invisible Digimon to a corner where it was unlikely that the clones or Padmé would bump into them. R2-D2 turned the computer terminal and the Twilight began to move upwards and away from the wrecked station. Mace Windu and Ponds were also standing in the room as Obi-Wan and Anakin made their way to the seats.

"Tell me, Anakin," said Obi-Wan. "How did you manage to sabotage the weapon?"

"You mean, what did I do personally or...?" Anakin tried.

"Anakin," said Obi-Wan, warningly.

"Sorry, Master Kenobi," said Padmé. "That was me."

"Oh?"

"Aayla here," Padmé gestured to the Twi'lek standing next to her. "Cut a path to a power regulator for me and I just pushed every button I could find. Obviously it worked. You were right, Anakin. She's a formidable Jedi."

Aayla smiled. "You said that about me, Anakin? I'm touched."

"We had our hands full with Kul Teska to be doing anything else," said Ahsoka.

"And what did you do with him?" asked Mace.

"We left him as a pile of wreckage beside his ruined weapon," smirked Anakin. "If you looked at the two of them together now you'd be unable to tell which was which."

Bly jumped slightly as a voice in his ear whispered, "Actually that was me, but of course he can't say that in front of the Senator."

"Terriermon, shh," said Lopmon quietly.

Padmé couldn't be sure, but she imagined that she heard a very faint chortling. She put it down to Artoo twittering. But she did wander why Commander Bly and Captain Rex chuckled for seemingly no reason.


The Twilight and its passengers headed upwards towards the cruisers blockading the planet. Everything took place quickly and efficiently. The Tamers were shuttled back up off the planet and transported to the Intrepid. The Digimon were also able to travel freely again, as the Senator was on the Resolute with Anakin and Ahsoka. It took a couple of hours, but eventually everything was back on the cruisers and all eight of then jumped to lightspeed in triumph.


The next day, if they'd come back to Behpour, they'd have seen a Steathipede-class Separatist shuttle spinning and twisting in space above the planet, rolling over and over like a ship possessed, or like a dog chasing its tail. It would be very clear that the shuttle had absolutely no control.

Inside the cockpit, Count Dooku leaned over and demanded at the pilot, Asajj Ventress. "What's happening? What's wrong with the ship?"

"It's the stabilizers," protested Ventress. "They aren't responding, no matter what I do."

"Well, get it sorted."

"Yes, Master. I'm trying," Ventress flicked switches and pushed levers, all without success.

And outside, there was another ship, and old, battered looking cargo-freighter, like an Earth minibus with no windows except at the cockpit and two docking clamps at the back. The Sleight of Hand, which Teska had stolen on Ryloth, had been retrieved by the previous master and flown out of the facility just before exploded. Cad Bane smirked as he watched the ship rolling over and over, and he tossed the stabilizers up and down in one hand. It'd take some time for Ventress and Dooku to realise the stabilizers had gone missing, and they'd never figure out how Bane had done it.

Bane leant back in his chair, tossed the stabilizers over his shoulder, adjusted his cowboy hat and said, just as he had in the station, "No-one messes with Cad Bane." Then he piloted the ship away and back towards his secret hideout. As he did, Bane's thoughts turned to the three strange creatures he'd seen, and he wondered what they were.

And how much the information on them might be worth.


Boom badda boom-boom boom. First Ultimate Digivolution and they've finally been spotted. But what will Bane do with this information? He's not going to feature again for a good while yet, but bear in mind this is a long story, so the answer to that question won't come around for some time yet. But still, it should cook up some suspense. Review please.


Next time...

Digital World chapter. Impmon, Ai, Mako, Ryo and Monodramon finally reach the level of the Sovereigns and have an encounter with the one that doesn't like them.


Coming up:- Chapter 30 : Zhuqiaomon