Oh boy the last few chapters have not been kind to our young heroes and heroines. Unfortunately dear readers I'm not even close to being done with putting everyone through the grinder.
DigiDestined-(groans) Ah come on!
Bad Guys-(cheers)
As it stands all three sides are at something of a stalemate, again. In the next two chapters or so that'll change. Whose favor the war shifts in you'll have to wait to find out. All I can promise you dear readers is the next few chapters won't be pretty. Let's get this show on the road so we can see all that!
I do not own anything except the OCs.
Chapter Thirty-Six-No Time for Tears
Shock wasn't an emotion Harper was used to. Once when he was human it was it was, but since his transformation into nothing but a part digital part supernatural ghost the feeling of shock or awe had slowly faded form him. He didn't think anything could do the job of surprising him or filling his questionable existence with such fear. Seeing Jun bleeding profusely from her left side did. Seeing this young, teenage girl who'd been dealt such a harsh hand by fate slowly bleeding out to death momentarily froze him. Watching Goblimon cradle her body in his arms truly brought home the fact she was maybe half a year away from her eighteenth birthday, just barely an adult by legal means. She had a whole life ahead of her, a life she could have lived anyway she pleased as there was nothing hindering her choices or options save for herself.
And now she was slowly bleeding to death in front of him in the middle of a hellhole forest full of monsters of all shapes and sizes.
It wasn't fair.
"Harper! Harper! Damn it you stupid ghost look at me!" The little goblin continuously shouted at him until he got his faceless face to look at him. "Can you stop the bleeding?"
His response was almost instantaneous, "Not for any longer than fifteen minutes tops."
"We don't have that long and we won't need it."
Harper immediately knew what Goblimon was thinking. More memories flowed back into his broken mind as they hustled Jun through the cut bushes and overgrown trees looking for a safe place to treat her. The immediate area was a shredded wreck courtesy of Raandaimon's berserk rampage, providing absolutely zero cover for either their emergency first aid or Jun's hopeful recovery. Raandaimon may have been critically wounded but Harper doubted he'd been deleted, no, that sadistic bastard had managed to hold himself together even after taking a hit that would have had a Mega-level Digimon on the verge of deletion. The good news was he'd be out long enough for them to escape, and hopeful recover enough to fight him off when he came after them again. He'd want revenge for what they'd done to him, he remembered he'd wanted the same after a particularly disastrous and costly battle that had left him feeling numbed and broken.
Harper recalled faint snap shots of a medical tent colors blurring together like a painting that had just been splashed with water. Hearing was a constant battle between residual ringing and mixed voices speaking to each other at once. It was madness trying to figure out what was real and what as the end result of his mind slowly coming back online. He could definitely remember the screaming, good God the screaming, it was enough to make him long for the silent darkness of sleep. His bandaged hand rose in front of his eyes, he still had feeling in his limbs. Sitting up he remembered seeing his legs there, relief overwhelmed him in seconds. Then he saw his comrades hadn't been so lucky. Some of them didn't have feet, or hands, or any limbs period. Those that weren't missing a body part were still screaming at the growing sheets of red wrapped around their stomachs, head, shoulders, and whatnot.
Turning to the side he saw another man, African American, groaning at him with half his face wrapped in thick white wrappings. Moving from his deathly pale face he saw the bloody stump where his left arm was. Harper remembered his breath all but stopping when he saw the sight, a scream rising in his chest but unable to get out. He knew the wounded man, he was his friend. No name came to his mind yet he could feel the first flames of rage and horror nipping at him. His friend would never be the same again.
"Kill them." A section of his mind roared with pure fury. "Find them! Find those stupid oriental bastards and kill every last one of them! Kill them! Kill them!" The voice continued pounding in his head as he tried to in vain to sit up only to be pushed back down by one of the doctors. Everything spun too fast and nothing felt solid enough for him to grab onto, not even his own mounting panic. It was a terrible feeling, unable to do anything but lie in his own bed and listen to the dying screams of his fellow soldiers and friends. Harper thought he would go insane lying in that hospital bed, but the real insanity was only just beginning.
Strange as it was he was happy Jun had brought that memory to the forefront of his mind. With it came all the gibberish he'd heard the doctors and medics barking to each other while he stared numbly at the sky. Practically being pressed against her side gave him an idea of how severe her injuries were.
First off there was little to any skin left on her left side, and feeling it was just as horrific as it sounded. Beneath the torn skin was raw, cut flesh that oozed blood every second leaving a steady trail of red liquid any creature with a brain could follow. Anyone looking at the wound would have been horrified at the lacerations that ran through the teenager's spleen and stomach. Only Harper had seen wounds worse, ones that insured death the moment they were delivered, and that was the only relief he had. He'd stopped the blood flow so the redheaded teenager didn't bleed out to death on the forest floor but he couldn't keep it up forever. Just barely had her kidney been spared any severe damage. Since he could feel every portion of her wounded side he felt the somewhat chipped bones of her rib cage. What she needed wasn't just a patch up, she was going to need stitching or cauterization of the wounds, and lastly some long ass bed rest. And all that wasn't accounting for the psychology damage that had been done to her. Those were things neither he nor Goblimon would be able to heal as easily.
He kept all those things to himself of course. Goblimon didn't need to know how bad the situation was, he had to focus on finding a safe place for them to even treat her. He could feel the Digimon's mounting fear and worry, and he didn't blame him. Now wasn't the time for joking or cheap cracks.
"I'm going to need your help." The goblin suddenly spoke heading towards a root-cave that looked like it would provide good enough shelter.
"I know. You have an idea of what to do?"
"Yeah, I'm just hoping like hell it's not too late."
The ghost decided to let that statement go without a response. They had bigger problems to take care of.
A mattress of tree leaves and twigs was created which a frighteningly pale Jun was laid on. Sweat raced down her increasingly whiter than usual skin at an alarming rate, and her breath was becoming shorter and shorter with each passing second. Goblimon had placed all the bags down, broke out every piece of first aid they had, and gone to work immediately. Bandage after bandage was used, exhausted and thrown away yet Jun's condition continued to worsen.
"Goblimon," Harper started floating over the girl with all the seriousness his face couldn't show heard through his voice. "We're going to have to do it."
"…She could die." The Rookie whimpered with trembling hands.
As much as he pitied and sympathized with him he knew he had to push forward. "If we keep going at this rate she will die."
The goblin looked from the ghost to his partner. The thought of Jun dying…no, he couldn't handle it. She'd grown on him, befriended for him, risked her life for him, and bleed for him. After all that, after learning so much about this strange human girl he couldn't bear the thought of their time together coming to an end so soon. "Jun," his broken voice came out gentle creasing her cheek.
When her raspy voice was heard both males internally jumped. "Do…it."
"Jun, we're going to…we're going to have to cauterize the wound." Goblimon spat out quickly gasping her hand while he kept the other against the cloth pressed against the wound.
"…I-I…I…I…know. Pl-please guys…just…do it."
The ghost and Digimon shared a tense look with each other. For better or for worse the girl had spoken the unfiltered truth. Internal bleeding and shredded flesh, they didn't have any other choice.
"Get her something to bite down on." Goblimon ordered looking for anything that could substitute as a hot cauter. He didn't comment on why Jun had packed a frying pan into one of her bags, maybe it was for cooking or as a last ditch weapon. It didn't matter as it was pretty much the best tool they had. Manifesting a fireball in his left hand he began to super-heat the metal until the sizzling could be heard throughout the entire cave.
Finding a clean piece of wood for her to bite down Harper hovered above Jun's head doing his best to wipe away the sweat. "Jun, listen to me carefully, this is going to hurt like hell. Nothing you've experienced until now will physically compare but we're going to need you to hold strong." She didn't verbally answer him though the slight nod of her head told him she understood his words. It barely lasted an instant but that familiar fire returned to her eyes. "Hold it together kid, you can beat this."
If there was color the underside of the frying pan would have been as red as an apple. Jun's eyes briefly darted to the burning object in her partner's hand, a choking sob left her throat. Goblimon promptly halted in his tracks as his body was seized with fear as well.
It was only for an instant for Jun's eyes hardened and her hand went out.
Courage was an uncommon trait among his kind as was it a trait he rarely exhibited throughout his life. In meeting Leomon and the DigiDestined he'd learned just how powerful and precious courage was. Now he needed all the courage and grit he could muster.
Slowly he took her hand in his with grim determination manifesting on his face.
She nodded.
Grinding his teeth and steeling his heart Goblimon brought the burning metal against Jun's wounded left side with nary a sound.
The gut-wrenching sound of flesh burning was enough to make one plug out their own ears to keep from hearing it.
Jun's ear-piercing scream was worse…much, much, worse.
"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"
If Matt could have helped it he ever would have walked into another hospital again, or gone anywhere near a pool. He'd seen enough of both to last him a lifetime and then some. They all had.
The last forty-eight hours had been something of a daze to the dirty blond rocker, but now the full grasp of what had happened was making itself known to him. He was lying around in an overstuffed hospital. Half his friends including his best friend were lying in hospital beds with all manner of injuries. His home was underwater. His city had been turned into a warzone. His brother had been targeted and nearly assassinated by the world's ugliest snake-human hybrid.
And to top all that off he'd recently been told things were going to get worse.
Suddenly the thought of going out into a bar and grabbing a drink didn't seem so ludicrous. Once the meeting was over that's probably what he'd be doing for the rest of the night. That was if Gabumon didn't have any say in things, which he would.
Given the current state of affairs it was doubtful bars would turn him away, and he was less than half a year from turning eighteen anyway.
In addition to a broken arm Tai's left leg had a fracture and the rest of his body was so badly bruised he'd in near constant pain for the next two weeks or so. Matt himself had to be treated for all manner of puncture wounds and given antidotes to possible poisons he couldn't even name. His arms still stung when he pressed down on the wounds Yigmon's "children" had left him. Getting Sora to leave Tai's side was about as possible as moving the moon out of orbit. He couldn't blame her for being worried, when he saw Tai lying there in the hospital bed with his arm in a sling and bandages covering his body he thought there was no way any of this was real. At least Tai and some of the others were conscious. Matt still vividly remembered shuffling into Davis's room to check on him after making sure his parents were okay. The room was decently filled with old and new faces.
Davis wasn't going to be moving for a while, a month if he was lucky. Willis was the one who carried him all the way to the hospital and all but demanded treatment for him from the clearly overworked hospital staff. Looking at him lying in that hospital bed with nearly every portion of his body wrapped in white bandages suddenly made Matt glad Jun wasn't with them; she would have had a heart attack seeing her brother in this horrid condition. He had two broken ribs that by all rights should have killed him, a sprained back, and countless fractures and bruises all over his body, and all that was to say nothing of the…beating his head had taken. Willis questioned them on what had happened, on why one half of Davis's head looked like it had been run over by a tire leaving him with a fractured skull and possibly permanent eye damage. Kari all but broke down when they asked while the rest of them merely looked away too ashamed to describe the humiliating torture the mysterious French youth had inflicted on the goggle head.
"Can I do it? Can I be the one to tell Jun we weren't able to do anything but watch as her parents were used as leverage and her little brother forced to grovel for their release only to be curb-stomped again and again?" Matt wondered while Davis's doctor ran off the list of injuries he'd sustained. It was something of a small miracle Davis's skull hadn't caved in with the amount of pressure that bastard was bringing down on him. Then again in exchange for that he'd suffered a serious concussion that might leave him with brain damage. Nearly everyone in the room stiffened when they heard that.
Once the doctor left only Matt, Willis, T.K., Katsumi, and a few of the new DigiDestined remained. "T.K.," Willis started breaking the tense silence that had consumed the hospital room. "Stay here and watch Davis, if he wakes up don't mention anything about Dagomon, the Seven Deadly Demons, or our plans."
Needless to say his words sent a shock throughout the group. T.K. stared wide-eyed at the blond-haired American. "Wh-What? Willis do you even-"
"T.K., stop and think for a second. What do you think Davis is going to do the minute he wakes up?" He asked heatedly with balled fists. Rather it was from fear or anger no one could tell why Willis was shaking, they just knew it wasn't a good sign. "His parents are lying in a coma, his sister's been missing for almost two months, his city's been wrecked to hell, pretty much everyone he loves has been hurt, and to top it all off as you've all just told me he's been personally humiliated." The boiling anger in the American teenager's voice was so thick and vile it almost seemed to manifest as poisoned clouds. No one dared move or speak as Willis was still raked with barely contained fury. "We've seen Davis fly off the handle over the last slice of cherry pie. What…what do you guys think he's going to do once he wakes up?"
For those in the room who personally knew Davis they bit their cheeks in frustration. They could all picture Davis pushing himself out of bed only to miserable collapse not a moment later.
"He wakes up, no one tells him what's happening until he's cleared to leave this place understand?" Matt commanded shooting each teenager a glare. When they each gave a firm nod he turned towards the door. As much as he would have liked to stay to watch over everyone there was somewhere he needed to be. That, and he couldn't stand spending another minute in the overcrowded building where it seemed like every time you turned a corner someone was either dying, screaming for help, or being treated for injuries.
When Matt was finally free of the hospital he and the others entered a dark, cold, and gray world that seemed to be in the midst of recovering from a heart attack. Oddly enough the streets were packed full of people, terrified people whose entire world had just been shattered. As they got into the truck Matt imagined this was what every major city in the world looked like.
The ones that weren't flooded or destroyed anyway.
It was going to take a lot more than three days for the people of Shinjuku to recover from having half of their city razed, flooded, and blown to high hell. Half the landmarks of the special ward had been turned to rubble: Tochō, the Golden Gai, Hanazono Shrine, West Exit Camera Town, the Sumitomo Building, the NS Building and of course Kabukichō.
The entire Red Light District was gone, simply and utterly gone. The airfield-sized DigiPort had sucked in everything around it and left nothing but a thousand mile long crater barefoot of any sign of life. The "Sleepless Town" had finally been put to sleep, permanent sleep. From news footage and recon it seemed half the JSDF had been deployed to quarantine the area for fear of another DigiPort appearing. One of the first thing the reinforcements had done was place a truck load of sealing tags all over the area to prevent such a thing from happening. None of the Odaiba DigiDestined crew knew how many had come, but they knew "small army" was a fitting description. Every major place they could think of Farah had sent a five-man team out to seal it up to prevent DigiPorts from opening. Seven-man teams were created to deal with the rogue Digimon that had sneaked through the portals.
In time he was standing in front of a locked down electronics store with T.K. and Willis at his side. Willis stepped up to the digital padlock door with his Digivice held up. The lock read the otherworldly object for a second then a click was heart.
"How're the streets?" The doorman asked looking up from his magazine while his partner, a Mushroomon, snoozed quietly at his feet.
"Dark and crowded." Was Willis's reply pushing ahead towards the door at the back of the shop.
"Farah, Liam, and Hyun are waiting for you guys downstairs." One of the other guards said before Willis could even turn the numb on the door. "It ain't pretty."
What lay behind the door was a descending stairwell that revealed an ever growing series of floors that had been converted into a makeshift bunker. A few for Digimon in rest and treatment and a few for the more active mons who were twitchy for action. Upon seeing them their partners save for Katsumi's immediately leaped out to greet them. It brought a smile to their faces given they'd had little to smile about in the past couple of hours.
Those smiles fell once they got to the basement-a gym-sized arena filled to the brim with people, computers, Digimon, and dining room tables which had several maps laid out on top of them. Barely a person bated them an eye though Matt and the others could feel their attention focused solely on them. Matt, Katsumi, and Willis were all leaders, sort of, so they most of the unseen focus stayed on them. Their partners sensed their unease and it manifested on their faces. Terriermon at least had the guts to glare back at anyone who was brave enough to actually face them. The closer they got to the back of the room the more Lopmon and Gabumon began urging him to save the tough guy act for the main event.
The Metal Empire was undoubtable a force to be reckoned with, more so after rising from the ashes of Machinedramon. Chaos had descended upon the continent-spanning empire with only a brief reprieve given when Ken forcefully imposed his rule on the Digital World's nation of machines and cyborgs. And then everything went to the toilet when they defeated him thus plugging the Metal Empire back into the same crisis. It was after the equivalent of five years of disorder and mayhem that a new candidate rose to take the title of ruler of the Metal Empire and keep it: Chaosdramon. It went without saying that the Machinedramon-borne dragon was far from pleasant, but he was efficient. Under his metallic claws the Metal Empire had clawed itself back from the brink and reformed into one of the strongest factions in the Digital World, so much so that the DigiDestined hardly had to interfere with their affairs. The toughest military force, the most advanced technology, and a near unbreakable foreign and domestic policy made the Metal Empire, and by extension Chaosdramon, forces to be feared.
Matt and T.K. always found it funny how for a creature whose name was Chaosdramon he absolutely loathed disorder and chaos. As Izzy and Michael had informed them Chaosdramon had led the charge in combating the Deep Ones and Seven Deadly Demons. As the others told them they saw the mutant and demon factions as firebrand and dangerous to the safety of their empire. Any threat to the Metal Empire wasn't just countered, it was eliminated with extreme prejudice. With that in mind the Metal Empire had become a steadfast ally in pushing back the dark hordes threatening to overwhelm the Digital World.
Judging by the yelling that alliance had apparently hit a snag.
"I WILL NOT STAND HERE FOR ANOTHER MINUTE AND LISTEN TO THIS IDOTIC PRATTLE! I'M GOING AHEAD WITH THE OPERATION AND THAT'S FINAL!" Thundered a robotic voice that shook not just the room but the entire building.
"AND I'M TELLING YOU THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL WE'RE ALLOWING THAT! YOU'RE CRAZY IF YOU THINK WE'RE GOING TO LET YOU BURN DOWN HALF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST!" The group heard Farah fire back with unreal anger.
"SO YOU'D RATHER HAVE US CONCEDE SUCH GAINS TO THE ENEMY WHEN THEY'VE ALREADY TAKEN MORE THAN WE CAN SPARE!?" The gigantic cyborg shot back.
By the time Matt's group made it to the back of the room they were seriously contemplating turning around and walking out, pretending they had somewhere more important to be.
Implanted against the back wall were several TV screens, each just a little over five feet in width save for the center one which seemed to be closer to nine-feet. That was the one projecting Chaosdramon's fearsome vintage. What lay before the TVs seemed like something out of some sort of sci-fi film, stainless steel table with various wires and lights running up and down the sides while the surface projected countless holographic displays. Judging by the keypad on what side they guessed what the table displayed could have been altered with a simple input of data. From where they were standing Izzy apparently had one of his laptops hooked up to the display and was rapid typing. The expression on his face more than told the group how things were going.
The second they were in view Chaosdramon's bright crimson eyes snapped to them. Each of the teenagers froze in their tracks as the Machine Digimon's mechanical eyes ran over them, analyzed them, while a deep growl built in his throat. "None of you are Tai Kamiya." He snarled.
"He's too injured to be up and moving, I'm standing in for him." Matt rushed out feeling himself break out in a cold sweat.
"Fine then. Maybe you'll be easier to convince."
"We're not going to like where this conversation is heading are we?" Katsumi frowned already feeling an impeding headache coming on.
The holographic display suddenly projected some six different images at once while in the center a real time map of Asia appeared. Stretching across the continent were several blinking blue lines that corresponded with the other images. Each one showed what could only be described as a flood of unimaginable proportions surging through valleys, canyons, and forests washing away anything and everything they came into contact with.
"What…are we looking at?" T.K. whispered clearly shocked beyond words.
"What you're looking at is every major river in Asia from the Yellow River to the Tigris being flooded and turned into a giant battering ram." Farah hotly answered with balled fists and narrow eyes. "As far as we can tell Dagomon's superstorm has caused nearly every major river or water system in Asia to overflow to the point it can't be controlled. DigiPorts are opening at the bottom of the river allowing not just Deep Ones but wild Digimon to leak through and spread out. In addition to that scanning has showed the water's increasing salinity and water density is beginning to rise above the standard. Slowly but surely freshwater is turning into sea water." A close up of each river revealed another horror. No matter what was being washed away all of the rivers were darker than usual, darker than what one would expect. Up close you could almost say the water was steadily beginning to turn black. "Dagomon's corrupting the water so that's a no go on drinking it. God knows how many towns and cities are dying of thirst because with this there's no safe water to drink."
"While we're on the topic of thirst and flooding I should tell you guys about Pakistan." Hyun spoke up bringing the group's attention onto himself. As expected the South Korean teenager's face perfectly conveyed all the dread and sadness he was feeling. On his word one of the images was blown up taking center stage. Besides a few battered mountain tops no one could tell what river it was. "This is the Indus River." He said. "Once it provided life and sustenance for the entire region, but now it's taken more than you can imagine." As soon as he said the words a towering sea serpent rose from the water to release a might roar then dived back into the murky waters. "On top of a flock of dangerous animals such as sharks and maybe crocodiles they're reports a dozen or so aquatic Digimon have made the Indus River their new home. Wild or viral they've been terrorizing the locals to no end. Since the river is vital to Pakistan's agricultural production this has put the country on the brink of starvation on top of being paranoid India's going to launch an attack against them. Next in line is the Ganges River in India." This time it was hard to tell what they were looking at was even a river period. To the eyes of the teenagers and Digimon it simply looked like an endless field of trash and pollution. "Flooded and polluted to the point so much as taking a single dip will likely poison you we're doing all we can to control the Ganges River. Michael's taken a squad of MarineAngemon and such to purify the river but they keep running into the Deep Ones along the way."
Disgusted looks appeared on each of the DigiDestined. To see such a blue and sacred river turned into such a nightmare was enough to make each of their stomachs roar in disgust. And the worse part was they weren't even half down yet.
From the other end of the table Liam had been nervously scratching the back of his head. It wasn't easy since Chaosdramon would periodically shift his focus to him causing the Canadian teenager to shutter. "Shanghai's gone guys." When everyone turned to look at him he said nothing, instead he pulled up the next image. True to his words Shanghai didn't look like Shanghai, it looked more like a giant flooded graveyard with only a handful of metal skyscrapers covered in black coral sticking up as tombstones. "Every city and town along the Yangtze River: Chongqing, Yichang, Wuhan, and Nanjing, are all gone. Even though we managed to take back Chongqing and Wuhan there wasn't anything left to save, just a corpse of a city."
"…That's the case for all of them isn't it?" Gabumon suddenly spoke up.
"So…even if we…even if we manage to stop Dagomon and Daemon…" Patamon added.
"It's unlikely any of the cities that have been flooded will be habitable for the next twelve or eleven years." Izzy solemnly concluded. "Looking over the damages it's already been concluded half of them will have to be torn down because the buildings are no longer structural sound or stable enough to be repaired. Moving onto the Yellow River…not even when Chiang Kai-shek had to blow the dam on it to stop the Imperial Army did the river flood this bad. Like the others it's so polluted it looks more like brownish-black sludge than it does river water."
"Don't forget while we're telling all this we're just talking about Asia." Farah grumbled.
"Yes, which is why we're skipping to the most pressing matter on the table." Rumbled Chaosdramon suddenly hijacking the projecting. Now everyone in the room could see the hundreds mile long waterway besieged by wildfires Digimon, attack helicopters, and apparently meteors. Anyone and everyone paused in what they were doing to pay attention to the scene. Various shadows swept through the image, seconds later there was a teeth rattling explosion or eruption. "The Amazon Rainforest is lost."
"No it it's!" Farah fired back suddenly standing fully upright. Beside her Izzy nervously looked between her and the Metal Empire monarch. "I don't care what you say. You can't firebomb half the forest! There are still people living there!"
"They are a lost cause!" The cyborg dragon roared so loudly nearly everyone jumped out of their skin. "Almost every river on your world has expanded by at least twenty miles each in length and width, the Amazon has grown almost eighty feet! We cannot allow what happened with the Tigris and Euphrates to happen with the Amazon!"
"U-U-Um, excuse me, but what happened to the Tigris and Euphrates?" Patamon whimpered while shaking on top of T.K.'s sweating head.
"They converged together and have connected to the Black Sea." Liam answered without missing a beat. "As of now there's a sixty-foot hunk of Lovecraft architecture sitting in the middle of the Black Sea. Our analysis shows not only is it a direct gateway to the Dark Ocean but Dagomon's base of operations here in the human world."
"We cannot allow such a thing to happen on a second continent! The Middle East has become a virtual firing field with us and the Daemon Corps locked in a draw." The Mega growled fiercely banging his fists against his metal thrown. "I took one look at the area and knew no force save for my own would be enough to subdue it…and I was right." It seemed he was focusing his attention directly on Farah who was doing her best to look away.
"If by right you mean you glassed and firebombed half the region then yes, sure. I'll admit thanks to you the Middle East from Turkey to Afghanistan has been almost seventy-percent secured but look at the damage you've caused!"
"FOOLISH GIRL!" Thundered Chaosdramon. "WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE US CEDED THE ENTIRE REGION TO DAEMON!?"
"HEY!" Liam, Matt, Gabumon, Willis, and Terriermon all shouted at once breaking the glaring contest.
"Amazon River." Willis started.
"Please continue from there Lord Chaosdramon." Gabumon pleaded.
Reigning back in his temper the monarch summoned an overall map of the now flooded river system of the Amazon. No matter how small each run off had almost tripled in size and length. "The Seven Deadly Daemon have had to almost completely pull out of South America because Dagomon's taken the waterways by storm, literally. He's fortified too much of the rainforest for us to take one battle at a time, especially when we're still wrestling with Daemon in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Even my forces can't handle being stretched that thin." Seeing the fierce and proud Chaosdramon admit to some humility was both an impressive sight and rather grave one. The fact he was no longer boasting of his nation's near invincible force showed how serious the situation was. "Even with the help of the other factions and you DigiDestined we can't keep this up. Dagomon's foothold in South America is too great to be chipped away at. No, if we are to stop him there we must close access to most, if not all of the water ways which he's using to fight us."
It was Katsumi who realized first where the conversation was heading. "You're going to start damming the rivers and burning down the forest. Turn the rainforest into scorched earth so Dagomon can't use it."
"For years my nation has been developing-"
"Illegally." Quite a few Digmon in the background quipped in.
"A special type of firebomb, a chemical cocktail if you will. It burns down everything, including water, breaking down the oxygen in the water and breaking apart the chemical bonds. Once the fires finish burning they leave a dimensional distortions that prevent any type of trans-dimensional travel. As long as the ashes remain Dagomon won't be able to use the land for his own personal use. We've code named these bombs Dante's Fury, with them we were able to subdue the Middle East with less causalities than originally expected."
"Why do I have the feeling there's some kind of bad environmental effect to balance all of this out?" Willis said.
At least the Metal Empire ruler paused in his response. "They…they behave somewhat differently in the Human World than the Digital World. Here after some time the Digital World purges the ashes allowing life to return and data flow to continue on as usual. Our testing shows in the Human World Dante's Fury would cause your soil to…"
"It would be like irradiating the soil. Odds are it would take between twenty and thirty years for the earth to recover enough to support life again." Izzy answered for the monarch already knowing what was coming.
"You…you…you want to nuke the Amazon River? Are you insane!?" Matt roared suddenly finding himself siding with Farah more than he thought possible.
Apparently dealing with Farah had given Chaosdramon enough patience as to not erupt at the dirty blond. "The last death toll from South America was two-hundred thousand humans and three-thousand Digimon, of our side."
"That was two weeks ago." Hyun quietly spoke rubbing his arms.
Matt couldn't believe what he'd just heard. It was one bombshell after another. If not for Gabumon keeping him steady he's sure he would have fell to his knees right there. It dawned on him that none of the others had mentioned what the death toll regarding the flooded rivers were. Odds were they were probably numbering in the hundred-thousands if not millions. Shutting his eyes tight he tried to steady his breath to ask his next series of questions. "Have the…have the other heads signed off on this?"
"We just got Europe's confirmation less than five hours ago. They can't have the manpower tied up because they need it in dealing with the demons running all over central and eastern Europe." Answered the leader of the Canadian DigiDestined. "In truth we can't afford to have the numbers tied up anywhere Matt, the Arctic's been melting causing huge tidal surges to hit the Northern Hemisphere."
"Again, all of this is only involving your world humans." Rumbled Chaosdramon.
"Oh come on! How much more bad news can there be!?" Terriermon screeched shaking his head.
"We've lost one of the Seven Towers." Hyun deadpanned.
"WHAT!?" The group collective screamed. For a fraction of a second each of their hearts, digital and organic, stopped then began hammering against their chests.
"It was Leviamon's," Hyun clarified rubbing his forehead. "About the same time Yigmon lead the attack on you guys…the seal just…burst. I…I don't know how else to describe it."
At last the video showing the sea-surrounded prison of Leviamon came up. A fierce battle was being waged with the winning side being hard to discern. Warships fired against horrid aquatic monsters of all shapes and sizes while lightning split the sky striking whatever it could. Suddenly light lit up the tower bathing the stormy seas in ethereal blue light. What came next was a roar that made Chaosdramon's irritated growls look like birds chirping. A series of clicks was soon followed by the doors to the undersea prison opening. The image got choppy after that, scattered images of a titanic red creature finding its way into the water kicking up countless tidal waves. There was another roar then the image cut to black.
"Do you all see now? We have no time to tears or ethics!" Snarled Chaosdramon who had drawn the attention of the whole room onto himself. "The strength of our enemy has increased. With Leviamon's awakening the Seven Deadly Demons have begun fighting for the seas in your world and ours. The society of the Deep Savers has come under so much threat that they've had to relocate and even abandon their own capital. Several small republics and independent unions have already fallen to Barbamon's legions who are on a war march to File Island. Countless causalities have been sustained defending it in case you weren't aware." Raising one of his metallic fists Chaosdramon spoke with a dark edge that left no illusion about the current situation everyone had now found themselves in. "Make no mistake every person in this building, human or Digimon, adult or child, is at war. It matters not what creed we claim for we are all in this war together and if we don't pull together…then we all die."
The message to everyone was loud and clear no matter how hard they tried to deny it. Farah bit her lip in protest but like the others nodded in silent agreement.
Now that that matter had been settled Chaosdramon decided it was time to move onto the next topic, one he knew would no doubt leave the Odaiba bunch gasping for air and relief. "Through one way or another Barbamon has managed to keep operating a DigiPort in the heart of this place, Bangkok Thailand. Within it he's been summoning forces to spread out through East Asia and the south Pacific, unless something is done we're going to get bogged down into a stalemate."
"What's the plan here?" Matt asked.
It was Izzy who answered him, looking up with a determined glint in his eyes. "We're going to take back Bangkok. A unified effort between different groups of DigiDestined, a platoon from the Metal Empire, Deep Savers, Nature Spirits, and Draconic Republic."
"A little over five two hundred DigiDestined and almost five hundred Digimon from the Champion to Mega-level. Of course our boy Chaosdramon here is practically going to be sending us a small army so we should be okay."
"I'm sending one of my Storm Commanders to oversee this operation to ensure resources aren't wasted." Chaosdramon growled banging his metal claw against his thrown. "Barbamon has so heavily fortified Bangkok even I'm slightly impressed. Dagomon has had one of his daughters leading frontal charges after another in an attempt to break the city. Heh, fool has done half the work for us."
"Operation Bang Break," Farah paused waiting for the sneakers and laughter to subside. While yes she did find the name ridiculous times were desperate and naming was the last thing on anyone's mind. "Is set to begin in five days. During that time various other DigiDestined will be launching counter offensives on Dagomon's fortresses in the Digital World and Human World save for one."
"Which is?"
"Clooloo, that black mass in the middle of the Black Sea." Hyun said. "We can't risk charging Dagomon's HQ with improper resources and intel."
It might have just been him but Matt could have sworn he saw some kind of flinch affect Liam and Chaosdramon. The Canadian did everything he could to avoid meeting Matt's eyes while Chaosdramon seemed to be contemplating another train of thought. This place Clooloo, there was something else that they weren't telling them. "If it involves Jun in anyway then they probably think we're too raw to handle it. Given what's happened I can't blame them for that." "I'll see how many of us are ready by then." He voiced answering the unspoken question about their group's fighting strength.
"Unless they're operating at one-hundred percent efficiency don't bother sending them." Chaosdramon barked. Rather it was compassion or cold logic it at least showed he didn't view the kids as cogs to be grinded or pieces on a board. "Every soldier we're sending is expected to fight at tip-top condition and die fighting if that needs to be the case."
"You don't have to be in perfect health to die fighting." Matt coldly fired back with narrowed eyes.
"…Fair enough. I will take my leave now, they're more pressing matters that need to be attained to. Keep yourselves alive until you are all needed."
BANG!
"I hate that guy." Farah whispered with silent fury.
"Except he's the guy with the tough as hell army we need." Liam offered.
"No matter what we've all ended up working with people we either don't like or flat out hate." Izzy offered placing his hand over Farah's. "What's important is that he's on our side and is willing to help."
There was a tenderness in Izzy's voice neither of the Ishida brothers had ever heard before. Going off of that the way the Nigerian girl looked at their redheaded friend told them their relationship was…more progressive than they'd thought.
Turning around to face the room Farah turned her commanding voice back on. "You all heard the plan! In five days we're hitting Bangkok! Everyone is to do what they've been assigned and get as much rest as possible! Now back to work people!"
In the aftermath Matt found Izzy staring out one of the windows on the top floor. "Did you ever think we'd end up here?"
"End up in a war? Does anyone ever think that?" The redhead responded with a humorless chuckle. "Normal kids aren't supposed to sit down with towering mechanical dragons to talk strategies on winning a war."
"Well Izzy, we're not normal kids. None of us have been since…" Matt let the sentence hang in the air as he just didn't have the heart to finish it. "Even when Mytoismon invaded I don't think any of us thought things would spread this far out."
"That's what bothers me Matt, I'm a logical person. Everything that's happened up until now is a complete defiance of logic." Placing a hand against the window Izzy allowed his shoulders to sag a little as the full weight of the day's actions finally hit him. "Even if we do make it out of this alive nothing is going to be the same, none of us will ever be the same."
Even though he said nothing Matt whole-heartedly agreed with him on that. Fishing out his Digivice he seriously contemplated how different their lives would be if they were never chosen to become DigiDestined. Would any of this had happened regardless? Would that have made them just another one of the terrified masses with no idea what the hell was going on? Honestly the more Matt thought about it the more he found it didn't matter. "It's useless to sit around and think about what could have been. We don't have time for that." Tai wouldn't be up and able in five days so that meant he'd have to once again step up to the plate. He was really starting to hate this second-in-command role with each passing day. He wanted to find a nice quiet place to rest or wait this whole thing out. In a way Matt thought that's what all of them wanted to do, run and hide.
But they couldn't afford to do that.
Rather they liked it or not Dagomon and Daemon were their responsibility.
"Do you think we have a chance?"
"Chance or not we gotta try Izzy. I gotta try." His fists were suddenly so tightly balled Matt could almost feel his own skin breaking under the pressure. "Izzy, there's something I need to ask you."
"What is it?"
"That Clooloo place, is it possible…you guys said it acts a doorway. That means it can open both ways right?""
The bearer of the Crest of Friendship remained focused and determined even as the computer specialist's eyes widened into saucers.
Goblimon knew something was wrong when Harper returned from his scouting trip. The ghost didn't need an expression to convey that he'd found something. "How bad?"
"That all depends on how you define bad."
"Cut the crap and just spit it out!"
"It's a spatial distortion, an active one." The ghost stated shaking his head. "I've never seen anything like this, ever. Hell, no one here has. It's hovering above the sky maybe three miles from here. Goblimon, you've got to see it for yourself, it's…it's connected to the real world, the Human World."
Admittedly that caught the Rookie off guard. What Harper was describing was an active gateway between two worlds. One that could possible use to go home.
"I'm not done yet." Harper interrupted holding up a hand. "On the other side is something, some kind of fortress or base. I heard one of the grunts on the ground call it Clooloo. My guess is now that he's strong enough Dagomon's able to keep the gateway between Earth and the Dark Ocean open. Even if we did jump through it all we'd be doing is trading the lion for a tiger." There was a pause to allow the information to sink in. Goblimon's face morphed from concentrated fury to deep in thought. "Obviously it's pretty important from all the guards I saw. I'm guessing if Daemon could he'd tear it down. Might cause a pretty big boom if it did."
"As cool as that would be we've got bigger problems."
Harper was afraid that's where the conversation was going to shift. Looking over he saw Jun was shaking and turning in her makeshift bed. Once glance told him it wasn't her wounds that were troubling her. She was having nightmares. Floating over he watched her face become covered with furrowed brows and droplets of sweat. He didn't want to know what sort of horrors she was experiencing even though he wished he could do something to help her. Instead all he could do as follow Goblimon's lead and gasp her hand. No matter what happened he was going to be there for her.
RING! RING! RING! RING! RING!
"GAH!"
"ARGH!"
The first thing that shocked the Digimon and ghost was Jun's Digivice going off like an alarm, and the second was Jun herself bolting upright.
"JUEUS CHRIST GIRL! DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT!" Harper roared trying to regain his boundaries.
Jun looked hazily around the small hideout with crazed eyes until the pain of her left side caught up to her. Holding the cauterized wound she fell back groaning in pain.
"Hey, hey, easy there Jun. You need to take it easy." Goblimon started lowering her back down gently.
"C-Can't…I…Daemon." She wheezed trying to put the pieces of her mind back together. "I…"
RING! RING! RING! RING! RING!
"How about you rest a little then tell us whatever the big news is." The revenant offered as he lingered over to the Digivice to answer the call. "Whoever's calling you might just have to-"
Hello? Hello? Is this Jun Motomiya? Older sister of Davis Motomiya?
As if the thick Irish accent wasn't enough to catch their attention. Grabbing the Digivice out of Harper's ghostly hands Jun at last answered the call allowing a fuzzy image to come up. "Y-Yes?"
For a moment or so the picture cleared to reveal a multitude of faces none of which she recognized. A girl with reddish brown hair and piercing green eyes suddenly filled up the screen. Once the picture cleared and they could get a good look at each other the girl's face turned into a relieved smile.
"Ah, 'bout damn time we got through to ya'. Name's Fiona, leader of the Irish DigiDestined. We've been tryin' to contact ya' for a while."
In that moment Jun did something she hadn't done in a while. Despite the pain she was still in and the memories of her near-rape she felt raw, untampered joy flooding her body. She laughed. She laughed and cried while Goblimon softly patted her back.
"So-Sorr-Sorry about that. Th-This place has some shitty reception."
CLIFFHANGER BABY! Am I giving Jun a hope spot only to pull the rug out from under her? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. You'll just have to keep reading to find out. As you can guess next chapter will see some action after all the build-up I did in this chapter. The DigiDestined will be going on the offensive in the next few chapters with Jun included. Of course doing so after you've been through the kind of trauma she went through will be a little hard; however, as you'll learn next chapter Jun will be getting some…help on how to do that.