A/N: Here we go! I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own digimon
No Luck
The chains holding up the swings creaked in the slight breeze. The night air was much warmer than it was normally, even for a night in August, and Sigma and Wizardmon had decided on sitting in the park for a bit. They walked silently across the path, lit up by small lights acting like beacons in the darkness. Nearby trees and plants were illuminated by the soft blue glow of the lights, and if Sigma squinted, he could see numerous freflies floating arount the little lights, as if they themselves were transfixed by it's glow.
They sat down on a nearby bench and looked briefly at one another, before continuing to admire the scenery. Sigma watched his friend gaze around like a small child in wonder at everything that was around them. It brought back memories of when he had first started to raise him, back when he was a little DemiMeramon, before anything else had happened to either of them.
"I can see why you're all so determined to save this," Wizardmon spoke, still looking around the park like he'd never seen one before. "It' beautiful."
"What do you mean?" Sigma asked. "The park? It's not that beautiful, I mean there are plenty of sights like this in the digital world. It's nothing special."
"Maybe to you," Wizardmon answered softly, his gaze now resting on the gravel path, "but this is a rarer sight than you might think. It's so peaceful here, just listen..."
Skeptical of what his partner said, Sigma remained silent and simply listened. Oddly enough, the usual sounds of the city were mostly silent for the moment. Presumably because everyone was staring up at the sky, either in awe or fear of what they couldn't possibly understand. He breathed in slowly, taking in the strange quietness that had settled over this place.
He looked over towards Wizardmon who was holding a small ball of light in his hands. Sigma watches in awe as a small number of fireflies began to lazily drift around it, making Wizardmon stare at them in abject wonder. It was in that moment that Sigma noticed just how tired his partner was. He was by no means an expert at reading people, digital or not, but even he could see the slump of exhaustion and weariness in his friend.
"We don't have these creatues in the digital world," Wizardmon remarked. "They're beautiful."
He held out his glove, letting one of the fireflies crawl along one of his fingers. His big blue eyes stared at it's glowing body, silently shocked at the amount of trust the strange creature was showing him.
Soon, the little creature extended it's wings and flew off into the darkness once more. Wizardmon stared after it until it's tiny glow had been swallowed completely by the darkness.
"In the digital world these sorts of scenes don't last long," Wizardmon explained sadly, before hesitating. "At least, not anymore."
"Why, what happened?" Sigma asked, curious to know what exactly had happened since he had last been there. "What exactly happened to the digital world since we left?"
Wizardmon let out a sigh, extinguishing the ball of light as he did so. The fireflies scattered, confused as to why the light had so suddenly vanished.
"I can't answer that question accurately," the champion explained. "I wasn't in any fit state to see what was going on after Arkadimon absorbed my data. I remember nothing but blackness for an incredibly long time. Then the next thing I knew, I had awoken with nothing but the desire to find something. So I searched. I travelled the world looking desperately for whatever it was I was searching for, not even knowing what it could be. For years I traversed freezing snow, burning sands, as well as great oceans in the vain hope of finding it. It wasn't until recently that I remembered that that something was you."
Sigma stared at his partner, utterly stricken at the devotion he had just been shown.
"I- why though?" he asked, grasping for some sort of logical reason. "Why did you keep looking for me for so long?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Wizardmon countered calmly. "My last thoughts before Arkadimon absorbed me were of you. The last thing I saw was you staring at me helplessly through that window, the tears pouring out from under that damnable mask. My first thoughts were about you, back when I had just hatched and the entire world consisted of your love and what it would give me."
Sigma remembered. Back when he bought the V-Pet, had rushed home and began to play with it, feeding his digimon and raising it to be strong and happy. That had been about the time he begun to lose friends and retreated into himself, scared of interacting with other people face to face.
"I remembered as you changed," Wizardmon continued, nothing even approaching accusation in his tone. "You seemed to get sadder and sadder each day, as if some horrendous burden had forced itself upon your shoulders. You would chat to me in your despair, something you had never done before. You would talk about those other humans at school, as they would judge and ridicule you, despite your good intentions. How no matter what you did you were considered a 'freak' to them."
Wizardmon's face darkened.
"But then eventually you would stop opening up, even to me. I watched as every day you retreated a little bit more inside yourself, until you were unable to express yourself personally at all. It was painful. I knew so much about you, could see that you weren't like that at all. You were a kind and caring person; my father, my best friend, my world."
He looked towards Sigma.
"Perhaps that is why I remembered some part of you. When you returned, at least briefly, to the way you were before. I was the happiest I had ever been in my life," he said. "How Taichi helped you start to overcome your fear of other people and you learnt to hold your head up high on your own. When you chose to speak up with your own voice instead of that computer's, I was so shocked I couldn't move."
Sigma's hands were clenched into fists in his lap.
"That was the greatest show of strength I'd ever seen in my short life, and it inspired me," the champion said, before chuckling. "Perhaps it was my desire to see you again that broke me free from the rest of that monster's data? It retained my power, but it couldn't hold my soul. Nothing could."
Sigma trembled, unable to contain his emotions.
"I'm sorry I rambled on a bit," Wizardmon said, finally looking away from his partner. "I'm... just so happy to see you again I-"
"Don't be sorry," Sigma interrupted, looking through his tear-filled eyes to gaze at his partner. "Don't you dare be sorry! Talking about me like I'm some sort of saint."
He hurriedly wiped his eyes, telling himself repeatedly that he was not flattered by the sheer amount of respect Wizardmon had for him, regardless of the mistakes he had made in the past. Wizardmon didn't know that he hadn't conquered his fears, that he wasn't some sort of superhero.
"I'm not that brave, Wizardmon!" Sigma ground out. "I still have trouble making friends, talking to people I don't know! The others are the people I'm closest too and we don't really hang out often. I just... feel so distant from other kids my age, I don't know how to talk to them anymore. Things haven't really changed at all."
He practically groaned out that last part, utterly ashamed to admitting this in front of the one being who admired him the most. Sigma buried his face into his hands as he tried to ignore the parts of his mind telling him he'd now driven his partner away, ignore the crippling fears and doubts that even now continued to sit on the edges of his mind, just waiting to pounce. In his experience, rationality could only hold these delusions at bay for so long before they began to drive him insane from the stress.
"Well I was expecting that," his partner answered from right in front of him.
Sigma started. He hadn't heard the champion get up from the bench!
"I never thought that you'd conquer your fear just like that," the wizard snapped his fingers for emphasis, sending up a shower of many coloured sparks as he did so. "These sorts of things take time, as well as more than a single nudge in the right direction."
Wizardmon smiled and extended a hand.
"That's why I'll be here to help you whenever you find things difficult," he declared. "That's the least I can do for you."
Sigma stared up blankly at his partner's smiling face. Slowly, a smile of his own sneaked it's way onto his face.
"Thanks, Wizardmon," he said. "I could always use a hand."
His partner pulled him up from the bench.
A sudden booming noise from above made them both look up. Far above them, another section of the digital world vanished completely. Despite the sudden lack of visible land, the tears in the sky did not vanish along with it.
If anything the tears seemed to get larger and distorted the nearby sky around them even more. The sky was looking chaotic as bright colours seemed to seep into the night from the tears and intermingle with the night sky in a truly wondrous looking display.
"I hope they're alright," Wizardmon muttered, worriedly looking towards the little land that still remained.
Sigma knew when he was out of his league. Looking up towards the sky he couldn't understand at all what was happening and Wizardmon seemed almost equally clueless. If it didn't involve computers, he was generally clueless anyway.
"Something dark is approaching," the champion muttered again shivering.
"Can't Tai and those other kids stop it?" Sigma questioned, alarmed at what his partner said.
"I don't know, but to cause all this it must be incredibly powerful," Wizardmon said. "For now, we can only hope that those children have grown enough to win. Otherwise we might all be done for."
"Sora!" Matt yelled out in greetings, followed by Tai and Agumon.
The girl in question turned around and her eyes lit up at the sight of the two boys safe and sound. Before either could comment she had already wrapped a gloved hand around each of their shoulders and pulled the three of them together.
Tai and Matt stood there stunned for a brief instant as Sora just held them, glad that for now all three of them were still alive. Slowly, almost embarassed, they returned the hug as best they could. The plan had so many risks to it and they were no strangers to plans going awry. At the very least they had this moment between them.
Sora then withdrew, blushing a little.
"Sorry, it's just... I'm glad to see you're both alright," she admitted.
"It's fine," Matt said curtly, although his face seemed a little red as well.
"I understand, Sora, " Tai responded, utterly unembarrased from the hug. "It must have been hard. Now come on, we don't know how much time we have before he becomes Milleniummon!"
Sora nodded and smiled. The group quickly began to make their way towards the entrance to the prisoner complex.
"I tore out alot of wires in the maintenance tunnels," Sora explained as they ran. "Things should be in complete chaos! If we just power through they won't be able to stop us!"
"Right!" Tai said as they rounded a corner to come face to face with a large metal gate.
He held up his digivice and the next thing they all knew Greymon had charged past them and into the gates. The metal crumpled under the strength of his charge and the alarms began to blare.
"Come on!" Tai gestured to the other before following his partner into the complex.
Sora then held up her digivice and Birdramon swooped past and through the now open gates as well. Matt and Sora quickly followed as the two champions began to take out every guard in the vicinity.
The ease with which they did that was incredible. The two champions worked flawlessly together. Greymon taking out the ranged digimon who tried to shoot Birdramon down, whilst the other flew higher up the building, wiping out the guards that Greymon's fire couldn't quite reach.
It was only a few minutes before the area was safe enough for the children to enter.
Looking around, the place was truly gigantic. The doors, consoles and even the catwalks far above them were far, far larger than what Sora had been expecting. Clearly it was designed for even large digimon to operate easily, possibly even Machinedramon himself.
"Sora!" Tai called, distracting her from her thoughts. "This place is big enough for ultimates!"
She yelled backher agreements and upon making sure there were no more guards to attack them, her chest glowed red. Birdramon and Greymon grew and changed as they became Garudamon and MetalGreymon respectively.
Matt bit his lip as he looked down at Tsunomon in his arms. The little in-training winced.
"Sorry, Matt," the in-training muttered.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for this," Matt said. "If anything it's my fault for not thinking clearly."
Tai cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Hey, MetalGreymon! Do you think you can use that console?!" he called out. "It would save us alot of time to know exactly where Bastemon is!"
"I'll try!" the ultimate answered, before turning towards the nearest one which just happened to be at a perfect height for him. "Err..."
He pressed his hand to the console, the thing suddenly spluttered an angry red colour and the blaring alarms seemed to grow louder, if that was even possible. The children covered their ears as the lights changed, bathing the complex in a fresh crimson colour.
"Oops..." MetalGreymon muttered, stepping away from the console. "Maybe someone else should give it a go."
An angry punch from Garudamon hit the console, destroying it and causing the alarm to stop.
"This is wasting time," Garudamon declared. "We should split up to cover more ground and find Bastemon faster. Sora and I will go to the cells above, whereas MetalGreymon and Tai can check the floors below."
"We'll stick with you and Sora," Matt said, watching as Tai hopped onto MetalGreymon's claw. "I don't want to be there when those two draw even more attention to themselves."
"Thanks for the confidence, Matt," Tai responded as he settled in his partner's hair. "I'll be sure to remember that when you're in trouble."
Suddenly Tai's expression turned serious.
"Be careful you two," he said. "If things look bad, just get away if you can. Don't put yourselves at risk unecessarily."
"We won't," Sora replied confidently, as Garudamon scooped them up. "But the same goes for you, Tai! Don't be reckless!"
Tai nodded before turning away.
"Let's go MetalGreymon!" he yelled, and the ultimate shot his metal claw forwards into the ground hard enough for it to shatter.
MetalGreymon flew down into the darkness below as Tai clung on, his eyes looking out for any sign of an ambush.
'I'm sorry, Sora,' he thought to himself. 'I don't know if I can promise that.'
Rosemon shot through the air, the huge serpent following after her with ruthless determination. She flew through clouds, dancing inbetween the huge thick pillows as she tried to get that monster off her tail.
Yet no matter what she attempted GigaSeadramon would stay right behind her. He could track her through the clouds as easily as he could in the air. Flying into the sun didn't blind him and attacking with her Flower Cannon did no damage at all.
As much as she hated to admit it, if the mega had retained any of his tactical brilliance from when he was MetalSeadramon, they would both be dead by now. Before the Dark Master had analysed and taken each of them out, with all of them save the two megas being practically helpless against him. Fortunately whatever program that directed his movements now wasn't able to adapt and keep up with her in battle.
She flew towards the side, evading the huge blast of blue energy that shot past her. Using her superior agility she spun on a dime and shot towards the mega, drawing her Thorn Rapier as she did so.
GigaSeadramon was unable to dodge as she raked her weapon across his metallic hide as they flew past each other. There was a horrid scraping sound as sparks flew up from where her weapon made contact. In an instant they were past each other, and Rosemon found herself dodging gunfire as the large mega's numerous side-mounted cannons fired at her once more.
The world exploded around her as bullets and shells, some bigger than her, streaked through the air and setting the sky aflame. She dived through the flames, rocketing towards the ground, head looking this way and that to try and locate Vikemon.
She was certain that her last attack had at least scratched it, there had been a little give on her blade. Rosemon glanced behind her to see GigaSeadramon fast approaching her position, his red eyes glowing menacingly as he dove down after her.
Rosemon increased her speed, breaking the sound barrier as she rocketed towards the ground like a ballistic missile. The desert sands grew closer and closer until using reflexs no human possessed, she pulled up. The tips of her boots brushed against the tops of the sand dunes as she did so.
GigaSeadramon had no such agility. The monster ploughed into the ground at an incredible speed, before vanishing completely underground.
Knowing she had only bought so much time, Rosemon flew back towards the city, eager to regroup with Vikemon and plan on how to deal with this monster. It fought just like MetalSeadramon had done, and though they had seen the deceased Dark Master fight before, that was a far cry from actually being able to counter it.
'Vikemon might have an idea,' Mimi thought as they kept looking for the large digimon. 'How did WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon beat this guy?'
'I'm trying to remember,' Palmon answered. 'I think they used ice to slow him down, then WarGreymon stabbed him in his eye.'
'Oh, that's disgusting!' Mimi yelled, repulsed at the thought. 'Oh, that's really bad! There's no way I'm doing that!'
'Any other weak points you can think of?' Palmon asked casually, waiting for a response.
'Maybe his mouth?' Mimi offered weakly.
'You mean the place where the giant blue laser comes out of?'
Mimi swore loudly.
It wasn't too long before they managed to find Vikemon back near the ruins of the Waste Processing Plant. He was currently turning GigaSeadramon's reinforcements into popsicles. The numerous Tankdramon, Mekanorimon and Sealsdramon were all rather quickly overpowered by the single mega in a display of sheer power that it made Rosemon shiver.
Well it was either that or the cold.
"Vikemon! Vikemon!" she yelled through his makeshift blizzard, trying to get closer to him. "Stop the snow, we're going to need this to fight against GigaSeadramon!"
The mega looked up towards her and quickly extinguished his blizzard. The incoming snow vanished, leaving the nearby ground covered with a thick white blanket. That numerous frozen digimon were under that blanket was another morbid detail that Rosemon didn't spend too much time thinking about.
"Rosemon!" he greeted enthusiatically. "How's the fight going?"
"We're still in it, you idiot!" Rosemon replied. "I think I've bought us a few minutes, but we need to strategise now!"
A rumble warned the two that it was too late. The snow bulged and exploded outwards as GigaSeadramon shot up into the sky, his numerous artillery cannons all aimed towards them ready to fire.
Vikemon swore, moving Mjollnir in front of him as Rosemon flew off to avoid to attack once more. Numerous volleys of gunfire and shrapnel collided with Vikemon's weapon with bone shattering force and knocking him back with each successive salvo that was unleashed. Mjollnir, made from chrome digizoid, held strong against the assault, and soon GigaSeadramon was back in the air pursuing Rosemon once more.
The ground-bound mega stared up into the sky as the two powerful datas continued to joust in the air far above him. The sheer amount of strength GigaSeadramon seemed to possess was practically unreal. Even for a mega digimon, he seemed stronger, faster and just much tougher in general than before.
Staring up at the great serpent, Vikemon couldn't help the strange feeling that travelled down his spine. Something was just fundementally... different about GigaSeadramon, something he couldn't quite put his finger on yet.
Rosemon danced out of range of GigaSeadramon's weapons. Once more using her superior agility, she shot towards his flank, this time aiming for the numerous gun turrets and missile launchers on his side. Sinking her Thorn Rapier into as many as she could before jumping away, she out flew the numerous missiles and cannonfire that shot after her.
It was close though.
The shockwave from the explosions hit her in the back, knocking the wind out of her and blowing her down towards the ground. Barely regaining control over her flight, Rosemon just managed to dodge the incoming GigaSeadramon, who ploughed once more into the ground.
And all was silent again.
Wasting no time, Rosemon quickly hurried back towards Vikemon in order to plan.
"His attacks are predictable," Rosemon quickly began before he could say aything. "I need you to freeze him, or at least slow him down enough for me to hit him in his weak point! Please tell me you can do that!"
She was panting after she spoke. Fighting GigaSeadramon to this extent was beginning to tire her out. They needed to get tactical now!
Vikemon nodded.
"I can," he spoke with unwavering confidence. "But you'll have to get back. I can lower the temperature of the area to absolute zero, but you have to be far away enough not to get affected."
"But he's coming after me!" Rosemon yelled. "He can somehow sense us through the ground now! He'll just follow me!"
"Then fly as high as you can!" Vikemon roared, before pushing her away. "Now go!"
Rosemon soared into the air, forcing herself to go faster and faster. Who knows what would happen is she was caught in Vikemon's strongest attack?
"Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon screamed, pounding the ground with Mjollnir.
Vibrations rang out through the earth and the air as Vikemon's power began to diffuse through them. Extending his attack as far downwards as he could, Vikemon watched as the surrounding temerature's plummeted to ungoldy levels.
Even from where she was high above the groun and near the clouds, Rosemon felt a sudden chill like a cold breeze in the desert. She shivered, hoping that this would be enough to at least slow the behemoth they were fighting down.
Vikemon stood there waiting for any sign of GigaSeadramon. The snow was deathly still, there was no other living thing within the radius of his technique other than he, for no other could withstand such conditions.
The rumbling began again.
'He's here!' the mega realised, raising Mjolnir ready to strike at the very least a single against this creature.
The snow bulged and exploded outwards as GigaSeadramon flew up into the air, blowing Vikemon away with the sheer force. It roared as it soared higher and higher, ice clearly forming on parts of it.
Rosemon readied her rapier as she saw the monster approaching. It was slowing as it continued to charge straight for her, it's mouth opening to unleash it's most devastating attack.
Then it stopped.
GigaSeadramon hovered in the air for a brief moment before falling back down towards the ground, it's mouth still wide open. Recognising her chance, Rosemon gathered her strength and shot towards the ground, ready to finish this fight.
Vikemon slowly staggered to his feet, utterly exhausted. His hold over this area was already fading fast and the temperature was rapidly climbing back to what it was. It was then that he became aware of the large shadow covering him.
He dived to the side, barely avoiding being crushed by the gargantuan body of GigaSeadramon. Tremors ran through the ground as the mega landed, sending snow flying in all directions.
Vikemon panted, sweat dripping from his fur as he stared at the unmoving frame of the great serpent. Even now it was still able to move slightly, such was a testament to its sheer strength and endurance.
Picking himself back up, he grabbed Mjollnir. Holding the mighty weapon over his head, he charged forwards and slammed it down onto the monster's armour. The frost cracked, taking small parts of the armour with it.
GigaSeadramon struggled to sit itself up in order to fight back.
"Rose Rapier!" Rosemon cried, shooting down like a falling star towards GigaSeadramon's head, her weapon raised ready to deliver GigaSeadramon's final judgement.
His eyes then glowed red, before shootint out a blinding light that forced Vikemon to look away and for Rosemon to cover her own face from the pain.
"Striver Cannon."
Out of the frozen mega's open mouth came a powerful yellow blast. Rosemon barely had time to cross her arms together as the attack nailed her in the chest and exploded in a huge yellow crescent, pushing her back uptowards the sky.
"Rosemon!" Vikemon yelled.
He quickly raised his weapon again and struck GigaSeadramon in the same spot. The armour fractured further and the next thing he knew a massive weight collided with him, knocking him back onto the snow.
Vikemon's eyes widened as he saw several Tankdramon climbing out of GigaSeadramon's open mouth. The ultimates all readied their cannons towards him, ready to defend their superior with all their strength.
Weakened as he was, Vikemon doubted he would survive this attack. He raised Mjollnir anyway, ready to try and block as many of the attacks as he could.
"Forbidden Temptation!"
Rosemon angrily descended upon the ultimates like a vengeful goddess. The initial attack reduced many of them to bits of data blowing in the wind, as rose petals rained from the sky. The furious mega then finished off the remaining ultimates like the fodder they were with her Rose Rapier.
"Are you alright, Vikemon?!" she asked, rushing over towards him.
"I'll live," he coughed before growling. "Damn it. He escaped."
Rosemon turned to see that GigaSeadramon had vanished. He had presumably gone underground to try and calculate a new strategy.
"Sorry, Vikemon," she apologied. "I-I didn't know he had those things inside him."
"You couldn't have possibly known, so don't beat yourself up over it," Vikemon answered. "Right now, we have more important concerns then just feeling sorry for ourselves."
He breathed hard, looking around the snowy and sandy battlefield littered with the flash-frozen corpses of who knows how many digimon.
"Damn, looks like Machinedramon was watching how we beat MetalSeadramon before," he commented. "It was a deliberate trap to try and get us killed, clever bastard."
"Then how are we supposed to beat him?!" Rosemon cried, half scared, half utterly furious. "He hasn't even got a weak point anymore!"
Vikemon smirked.
"While he was frozen I managed to give him a couple of good knocks with Mjollnir," he said supportively. "He now has a large chink in his armour. Using that you can win. Just please, be careful. Who knows what other surprises Machinedramon installed in that monster."
He leant back, the full effect of the battle and his injuries catching up to him.
"Just rest, save your energy!" Rosemon ordered. "If you dedigivolve here you'll die instantly."
He smiled.
"Understood, ma'am," he chuckled.
Rosemon stood up and flew into the air, ready to put down this monster for good. Things may seem grim, but she did have the advantage in agility over this mega. All she had to do was find his new weakpoint and tear him apart.
She smirked, her minds and body were ready for this fight. There was no indication of the state of the others, besides the explosions from another side of the city. If they could kill this monster, Machinedramon would lose a significant advantage.
So when the ground rumbled and GigaSeadramon soared out roaring, she screamed her defiance right back at him. The two megas soared towards each other once again, and clashed.
Izzy grunted and strained as he pulled himself up the metal ladder towards the surface. Another rumble shook the tunnel he was in and a sharp pain hit him in the chest. Breathing hard, he stopped for a moment, unable to continue.
Slowly, the pain faded, leaving him able to breathe again.
'MegaKabuterimon's hurt,' he realised, recognising the pain. 'Damn it, I need to get up there now!'
He swung his arm forward onto the next rung of the ladder and pulled himself further upwards. The only light came down from the small holes in the grate above him, separating the cramped tunnel into eerie blackness and the ladder he could just about see supporting his weight.
Swallowing his nervousness, Izzy continued upwards.
'Take as much strength as you need!' Izzy pleaded in his mind. 'Just don't die! Please don't die!'
The ladder soon ended and Izzy carefully reached up with one hand to open the sewer grate above him. He pushed as hard as he could, moving the solid metal plate away and allowing the full chaos of the battlefield to invade his senses.
The noise of explosions was almost deafening as tank-like digimon trundled past his position, letting loose with bursts of machinegun fire that far outstripped anything that had been developed on Earth.
Walls and nearby buildings were torn apart as the army rampaged seemingly without opposition. Izzy crawled out of the grate, keeping it open in case he had to retreat back in there. He was right next to one of the tall buildings and ran to the side.
An explosion ripped through a number of Tankdramon, and Izzy briefly saw his partner before the giant insect vanished behind another tall building. Izzy hid behind one of the many pillars holding up the building.
It provided no real protection against any of the digimon's attacks, but it did provide him with the feeling of security that came with having something inbetween him and the bloodthirsty ultimates roaming the city.
He peaked around the corner of his cover and watched as a number of digimon he recognised attacked some of the incoming Tankdramon before retreating out of sight to avoid the retaliation strikes.
They were using ambush tactics! Drawing the enemy in, then attacking when they least susspected. With Machinedramon's air force out of commision, MegaKabuterimon had essentially free range of the skies. Something they were using to their distinct advantage.
Izzy panted, closing his eyes for a minute as the sheer scope of what he was experiencing hit him.
This was war.
It wasn't merely a fight or a simple skirmish he had been caught in the middle of. This was pure honest-to-gods all out war.
Every instinct he had told him to stay where he was and not attract any more attention. With their forces constantly ambushing the enemy, they would be on even higher guard for anyone sneaking around.
Good thing he had taken Tk and Kari underground when he had.
A bright light from the side made him duck back round behind his pillar again. When he dared to look, Izzy saw a crater with SaberLeomon standing in the middle, looking towards some digimon Izzy had never seen before.
Curiousity overhwhelming him, he took out his laptop.
"Pukumon, a mega virus type digimon," he muttered to himself. "This digimon has a metal head made of chrome digizoid and loves to fight regardless of the strength of it's opponents."
He looked back out towards the two megas as they began to talk to one another, apparently ignoring the all-out war all around them.
"You fight well, SaberLeomon," Pukumon panted, scratch marks could be clearly seen on his lower body. "I have to admit that I'm truly enjoying myself."
"Likewise," SaberLeomon admitted, his grin almost feral. "Of course that won't stop me from ripping you apart."
"I'm well aware," the virus stated, before his smile faded. "But before we continue, I must ask. Are you the one who killed my friend, a Scorpiomon?"
SaberLeomon frowned in thought for a second.
"No," he finally said. "I have never encountered a digimon by that name."
"A pity," Pukumon said, before putting up his fists. "Then it looks like I can't die just yet. I still have something I must do!"
To Izzy's eyes the two then vanished from sight and what sounded like thunder reverberated throughout the area. Izzy felt the concrete vibrate and the buidlings groan dangerously as the two mega did battle. The sounds soon vanished as the battle moved away from the human.
Once Izzy could hear his own thoughts once more, he couldn't help but smile a little.
SaberLeomon was a vaccine and had an advantage against a virus like Pukumon. Not to mention most of Machinedramon's troops themselves being virus-types and MegaKabuterimon and many of their own soldiers being vaccines.
Judging from Pukumon's exhaustion, SaberLeomon had been winning the fight. Once he had deleted the mega, they could finish off the remaining forces and occupy the center of the city. That would easily crippled Machinedramon's power base, possibly permanently.
It wasn't guaranteed, but things could work out alright with just a little bit of luck.
A sudden loud screech of static made Izzy cover his ears, and what he heard next made his eyes widen.
MetalMamemon forcibly calmed himself down. True, things could be going much better, but they could also be going much worse. Parts of the base were now having power restored to them, meaning more of the city could actively monitored for any more suspicious activity.
Of course, that just meant more error reports he had to deal with were flooding in like nobody's business. The Hagurumon were running around all over the place, unable to provide support for the soldiers on the battlefield.
Lord Machinedramon was able to act like a supercomputer, directing his soldiers, dealing with the reports and giving orders all at the same time. MetalMamemon was limited and ineffective in comparison.
He groaned. A small company of Sealsdramon had gone missing in the chaos with no signs to where they could have gone. GigaSeadramon was having considerably more trouble dealing with those two megas than he should have, creating more error and damage reports from his own server.
He had no idea how Pukumon was doing as the idiot wasn't a machine. The prison alarms had gone off and shut down, but he couldn't spare any more troops to investigate. Not to mention Project-D was taking it's sweet time to get to the battlefield. By the Dark Area, if he didn't know better it was almost as if something else was directing it.
But that was impossible. There was no-one in the digital world who had the technical knowledge and the know-how to get into their battle-grid. Lord Machinedramon had set up their defences himself!
Things were looking grim. At this rate he was going to have to report onto the battlefield at any moment to help, leaving the Hagurumon on their own to deal with the reports flooding in.
MetalMamemon didn't have much more time to consider this as the base's intercom system suddenly buzzed into life.
"Empty!" Matt called out to the others looking into another empty cell.
"Empty!" Sora yelled out down the hallway as yet another prison cell lacked any occupants.
"Empty!" Garudamon declared after tearing off a cell door.
Throughout their exploration, every single cell on every single floor was completely empty of any prisoners at all. For quite a few minutes, cries of empty rang out across the dark metallic hallways as more and more doors were flung open across the building.
A sense of unease began to build within them the longer they searched and the longer they didn't find any trace of Bastemon. Images of the previous times Machinedramon tricked them began to float to the forefronts of their minds as they scrambled through cells faster and faster, trying to complete their mission before their sense of anxiety overwhelmed them.
Sora and Matt exchanged worried glances as they met up.
"I guess you feel it as well?" Matt questioned.
"Yeah," Sora answered, looking up at the ceiling. "There's so many more floors to cover and Bastemon could be in any single one. But... it'll take time to search them all and find her."
"And that's probably what Machinedramon wants. I don't think I can survive another bomb going off right now, Sora."
Sora grimaced.
"But we still need to deal with Bastemon," she pointed out. "He can't have possibly known that we knew about her. Why would he set a trap here?"
"I don't know, but we shouldn't underestimate him just because of that."
"Maybe we should see what Gennai thinks," Tsunomon spoke up. "He knows the Dark Masters better than anybody."
"Good idea, Tsunomon!" Sora praised as she took out her radio.
"Gennai! Gennai, can you read me?"
"I'm reading you loud and clear Sora, what's the matter?"
"We've split up to search the prison but it's been completely empty so far," she said. "We're worried this might be some form of trap from Machinedramon."
She could practically see the old man stroking his beard in thought.
"That's a valid concern. Completely empty you say? Hmm, can you find a console nearby?"
Sora looked around. There was a viewscreen with a keyboard on it nearby, one that was roughly their height.
"This'll be a little difficult for me, but I should be able to get you into the prison's systems. Just type exactly what I tell you too."
Sora listened, typing on the interface as Gennai guided her through the process.
"Ok, I think it's worked!" Sora said, looking at the menu. "Shall I try 'Prison Records'?"
"That sounds like a good start," Gennai responded, waiting for Sora to find the right record.
"There's an executive order here," Sora noted, looking at the last entry on the system. "It's the latest one in the system, other than the assignment of most of the guards to the battlefield."
"What's it say?" Matt asked.
Sora gasped.
"What's wrong?!"
"It says here: 'By order of Lord Machinedramon, all remaining prisoners are to be immediately terminated within their cells.' Why would he do that though?" Sora wondered. "Why would he have them killed instead of converting them into his soldiers? It doesn't make sense!"
"Do you hear this Gennai?" Matt asked, looking towards the radio.
"I heard it," the old man responded tiredly. "Are there any further records? Was Bastemon one of those prisoners?"
Sora had a look. Looking at the records, she typed in Bastemon and the whole truth was revealed there.
"Yes," she answered softly. "Bastemon was one of those killed."
There was a silence.
"D-do you think it's possible Machinedramon didn't know?" Tsunomon speculated. "About Kimeramon I mean?"
"I guess it's possible," Sora answered. "But it still doesn't answer why he would have all his prisoners killed."
"In retrospect it's rather obvious," Gennai suddenly spoke up from the radio. "Remember where most our current forces came from? They were Piedmon's own prisoners beforehand. Machinedramon didn't want us to bolster our forces with any prisoners still being held here, so he got rid of them."
A cold chill went down the two children's spines as he said this. That Machinedramon would rather have his prisoners killed than used against him spoke of an inhuman ruthlessness.
"I swear, everytime I'm shocked by the crap he comes up with," Matt spoke, holding a hand over his eyes.
"I'll tell Tai Bastemon was executed," Sora said, changing the radio's channel to speak with their leader.
"Great, what now?" Matt complained.
"I guess we head back to help with the fight," Tsunomon suggested.
"You mean so that Garudamon can help with the fight," Matt corrected. "We're useless right now."
"I might gain my strength back soon, Matt," the in-training protested. "I'm not useless...
"Tai should be on his way back up," Sora stated, fiddling with her radio. "Gennai, what do you think we should do now?"
Silence came from the radio.
"Gennai?"
"Gennai, is something the matter?"
"Greetings, I'm back."
The door to the hideout burst open. Tk got to his feet as the familiar large silhouettes of Sealsdramon poured in. Gennai made to stand inbetween the two children and the incoming monsters, but was battered aside like he weighed nothing.
"Lightning Paw!"
Gatomon yelled, shredding the nearest digimon with great prejudice.
"You guys run! I'll hold them off!" she yelled out, as two more Sealsdramon took the other's place.
Tk didn't have time to protest, for Gennai grabbed his arm. The old man was carrying an unconcsious Kari in his arms.
"Let's go!"
"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon cried out again, but this time was blocked by the nearest one's knife.
Two others forced their way through, causing Gatomon to disengage to take care of them. There was little room for maneveuring in this cramped space and so she flipped over a knife strike and nailed the attacking one in the face. Wires and gears fell out as the digimon burst into data.
The door behind them exploded inwards, revealing more Sealsdramon. Gennai was caught by surprise, and two metal arms encircled him and took Kari off his hands. Gatomon cried out in rage, slicing through another Sealsdramon to get to her partner.
An unseen blow from behind knocked her to the ground.
"Tokomon, digivolve!" Tk yelled, as he was hoisted up.
"I can't, Tk!" the in-training screamed desperately, tears pouring out of his eyes. "I can't!"
A metallic hand clamped over Tk's mouth and his eyes began to droop. Some sort of gas was pouring into the room now, and everything became hazy and his eyes began to droop...
"I am now taking full command of the situation. Battle-grid has been uploaded; I am now in full control."
The voice rang throughout the city's intercom system, from every radio on every channel, it was heard in practically every square inch of the city. All accross the battlefields, numerous digimon paused in their battles as Lord Machinedramon's voice made everyone pause with fear.
"L-lord Machinedramon," Pukumon muttered, breathing hard from his battle against SaberLeomon.
"You mean he wasn't in command?" SaberLeomon asked in shock.
Pukumon laughed.
"Of course not you fool! Did you really think your pathetic excuse for an army would have gotten near us if he was in charge?!"
"Pukumon, you are to report to sector 18-d at once, you will be given covering fire."
"Covering fire?" the mega asked, about to fly off knowing better than to question his master's orders. "From who?"
He was forced to dodge a powerful lunge from SaberLeomon which collapsed a nearby concrete wall.
"If you think I'm just going to let you get away, you have another thing coming-"
"Dark Roar."
SaberLeomon was blown back as a nearby skyscraper was incinerated. Pukumon openly gaped at the destruction as a new armoured dark figure appeared floating in the air.
"Lord Machinedramon has spoken," it said, what looked like blue wings made of pure energy jutting out of it's back. "I will continue the battle here."
"R-right," Pukumon answered, before flying off towards his new destination.
He inwardly felt sorry for SaberLeomon, even he wouldn't want to fight that thing. At least not when Lord Machinedramon had ordered him away the fight anyway.
"The prison lockdown is now complete," Machinedramon's voice continued to speak through their radio and through the prison intercoms. "You will not be able to escape."
Matt swore.
"Where's Garudamon?!" he asked, ingoring Machinedramon's booming voice echoing through the systems.
"She should be through here!" Sora yelled, running through the corridors back to the prison hub. "Garudamon, are you-"
Her partner blew past the railing they were standing on and was knocked into the nearby wall. Sora winced at the pain in her back, but it was nothing she couldn't bare.
"Garudamon!" she cried out, as her partner's head tilted towards her.
"Sora! This whole thing was a trap to kill us!" the ultimate yelled. "We have to get out of here, we can't fight him!"
"Fight who?!" Matt demanded.
"Sensors detect hostiles," an eerily familiar voice stated.
The railing shook as something jumped onto it and began walking towards them. It's feet clanked loudly against the metal as it drew closer, and Sora was unable to do anything but stare.
"A-andromon?"
Black and red armour now covered the former friendly ultimate as he stomped closer towards them. Piercing yellow eyes stared into the chosen's very souls as this new threat made no indication of recognising them.
"Bringing intruders into firing range," HiAndromon stated emotionlessly. "Leaving no survivors..."
GigaSeadramon's eyes lit up suddenly and it flew even higher into the air. Rosemon gaped at it suddenly breaking off from fighting her, before following to pursue. It's shadow appeared over her as it was silhouetted against the sun.
It's eyes flashed blue, and once more the blinding light encompassed the battlefield. Then dozens of missiles and shells rained down on her from the sky, keeping her away from the gargantuan monster above.
The great serpent then shot up into the clouds and far, far above into the sky and out of sight, retreating at an impressive pace. It was too high for Rosemon's impressive eyeight to track, even if she'd not been busy at the time.
Once the explosions died down around her, Rosemon just stared after him, utterly flummoxed at what just happened. Never once while they had been fighting him had he ever broken off from an attack and simply retreated.
What was going on?
She took a couple of minutes to rest, perhaps it was some sort of new strategy? A trick so that they wouldn't know when he was submerging into the ground again. Despite her agility, she still hadn't managed to hit the weakened part of his armour yet, and the toll of their battle was beginning to catch up to her.
Rosemon calmed her breathing, her eyesight casually looking in the direction she'd last seen Gigadramon heading. It was only when she looked out onto the city and saw the pillars of smoke that she realised where he was going.
'He's heading for the main battlefield!' she thought. 'They have no idea how to fight him! They'll all be slaughtered!'
She prepared to fly over there, ready to attack when something caught her eye.
Rosemon barely dodged the numerous spikes that came practically out of nowhere to impact on the ground.
"Who did that?!" she demanded, looking around for her new enemy.
"My apologies," a new voice said, a small digimon appearing from behind a nearby cloud. "But I just got here, and I'm always one to follow the orders of my superiors."
He chuckled.
"It's good that you're a mega," he spoke, putting up his fists. "I wouldn't want this to be too easy"
"I should say the same thing," Rosemon replied coldly, forming her sword in one hand and her whip in the other. "But this'll be too easy for me, regardless."
"I like your spirit," Pukumon laughed, before his expression became serious. "But before we fight, I first have one question: Are you the one that killed Scorpiomon?"
There was a huge rumble above Tai and MetalGreymon. Tai gritted his teeth, his anger towards Machinedramon threatening to overwhelm him. The hated machine's voice still lauded over the radio he was holding.
"So the prison was a trap then?" MetalGreymon asked, somehow not entirely surprised. "We keep walking into these things."
"I have anticipated every move that you can make, I have calculated every possibility," the mega stated, practically lauding it over Tai's head. "My soldiers will achieve victory after victory as your forces dwindle into nothingness. The digidestined are but children, target the humans and their partners will fall like puppets without strings!"
Tai clenched his hands into fists, just listening to this bastard was making him grind his teeth into dust.
"Those who are incompetent weaklings will be destroyed and a new order will arise! The digidestined consider themselves strong, but they have no strength of their own. Despite their accomplishments they are but humans, nothing more, nothing less."
MetalGreymon vanished into a ball of light as Agumon stood there in his place. Tai dropped the distance and landed on his legs.
"T-tai? What's happening, why am I Agumon again?"
He looked over to see his partner's face was white as a sheet, as if he had just seen a ghost.
"We need to become WarGreymon right now, Agumon," Tai stated, looking as lights on the ground began to flicker on.
They flickered off into the distance, on both sides of the path they were currently on. Leading them somewhere...
"But why?" Agumon asked.
"Because Machinedramon just invited us to battle," Tai spoke curtly. "And it's time I got some answers."
A/N: So tell me what you all thought of the chapter. What parts did you like? What parts didn't you like? I really do love to hear your comments and thoughts about what I'm writing so feel free to tell me!
Questions:
maxblast: Ryo isn't that vital to the continuity in my opinion. All he's needed for is Ken's backstory, otherwise he has practically no effect. Plus Ken's backstory is pretty easy to change so that it doesn't involve Ryo or Milleniummon at all and the Dark Spore could easily have come from another source, there are plenty of evil beings in the digital world after all. It was Sam's fate that really turned him into the character he was today, that in addition to the spore, all his adventure did was make sure he gave Wormmon a good first impression so that the little rookie knew there was kindness in Ken somewhere. But anyway, tell me what you thought of the rest of the chapter.
mellra:Not many more. We're nearly at the end right now, only a few more to go!
Volty00:Whoopsie! You were right, Biyomon doesn't have a holy ring, just a regular ring. That's what I get for not checking my facts before posting things! Also thanks for pointing out that inconsistency. It's been months so I forgot that little detail. I'll try and correct it when I have time.
Fred Andrew Oakstar:Good to hear from you again! And yes, the Sealsdramon are essentially another upgraded version of the Commandramon. The Tankdramon are even further 'upgraded' than them. So yeah, Machinedramon steadily replaces them with metal parts.
Nox Descious:Thank you, that's very nice of you to say. There will of course have to be a new antagonist for 02, since Myotismon isn't coming back again. So things will definitely be different. I don't want to spoil anything else so I'll keep quiet for now.
Thank you everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed the story! We've reached over 800 reviews, which is a HUGE amount. Thanks to every single one of you.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter
Update will be next monday!