Cyberdramon's Darkness, Dark Spores
AN: I know! I know this chapter is a day late and I'm really sorry for that, truly I am. But in my defen...actually no. I don't have an excuse. I was just being lazy this weekend, enjoying my spring break in doing nothing. Shame on me I know XD
Out of all the times I'd been freaking kidnapped over the years, I thought I'd seen it all. The bad guy comes around to gloat, I inevitably make some snarky and side remark that causes them to look like their head is about explode, and then somehow I manage to pull off a miraculous albeit unexpected escape leaving said bad guy cursing wildly in my dust.
I can honestly say I did not except Mr. Bad Boy Damien to be lying there, covered in scrapes and bruises and his lower leg suspiciously covered in blood.
"Damien?!" My hand reaches down to his shoulder and I shake him, desperately trying to get him to wake up. "Oh crap…crap crap crap crap!"
"Yeah because that's REALLY helping the situation." Ralts deadpans as she watches me frantically shaking him. "Uh…Lily I'm pretty sure slapping an unconscious person really isn't the way to go about things."
"That's what Sira always does to me!"
"…Dear gosh what pack of lunatics have I fallen into?" Ralt's voice trails off but this time I'm not paying attention to her. My eyes are focused on Damien, watching him wincing and slowly, slowly, his eyes opening.
"Wha…?" He moans, reaching up and feeling the good sized lump on his forehead. My face splits into a relieved smile. "You're okay!"
He mutters something before yelling as he gets slapped on the arm. "What the Dark Ocean?!"
"Well if you're going to beat him up anyway can you let me have a go as well?"
"Don't I look beaten up enough?" Damien moans, pushing himself upwards and wincing in pain.
"You look freaking awful."
"Well thanks." He grumbles before his eyes widen in alarm. "What the heck are you doing here?!"
"Uh…" I glance meaningfully at the bars of our cage. "I think that answer speaks for itself, does it not?"
"More to the point, what the heck are you doing here pretty boy?" Ralts crosses her stubby arms, scowling underneath that helmet…hair….I'm still not sure what that is. Last time I asked, she told me to go throw myself out of a window.
Her dislike for Damien is obvious though. I don't know why, but from the minute she saw him she declared that she'd like to see him eaten by Leviamon. My jaw hardens when I'm reminded about what he said the last time we saw each other, and I'm tempted to concur with her suggestion.
You know…if we weren't in a stupid cell Yggdrasil knew where. And if Leviamon ate people. "You'd better start talking." I say coldly, pushing myself away from him and narrowing my eyes dangerously.
Damien rubs his face with his hands. "Shouldn't we be more worried about how we're going to get out of here than you acting like you're about to interrogate me?"
I scowl, frustration filling me. He is right that getting out of here is the most important thing, much more so than me being bitter because he acted like a complete jerk earlier.
But still…
"Just tell me why you're here." I growl, curling back my lips, trying to hide my emotions behind a threatning look.
From the "Fail" Ralts sends my way, I can tell I'm clearly not doing a good job. But then she turns her head to look at Damien. "You know I know how to use Psychic right?"
"I have no idea what that even means…." Damien growls, looking away.
"Then I shall attempt to enlighten you. With Psychic I send out powerful waves that I can use to read your mind, but you should know…that when I use Psychic there's a 50% chance that it will end up destroying your brain cells completely."
The nonchalant way she says this is sort of creepy, to be honest, and I almost feel bad as Damien's face pales slightly. But not really. Because A, I may not be a world class Pokemon battler, but I'm pretty sure Psychic can't be used to read minds. B, It certainly can't cause lasting damage to the opponent's brain, because if that were the case I'm dead sure it wouldn't be allowed in the Pokemon league.
Still it's sort of fun watching Damien squirm for a few seconds. Does that make me a kind of sadist? Ah well. It's fun.
At first Damien glances my way, probably hoping that I'll call my psychotic Pokemon off. No such luck. Sighing he lowers his head. "….I made a stupid mistake, all right?"
"What do you mean?"
Damien hesitates, glancing first at me, then at Ralts, who socks one fist into her outstretched palm. Yeah…overkill much?
"…The reason….I was able to get into the Digital World…" His hand slips into a back pocket and he pills out a Digivice. I must have seen it before and at the back of my mind I knew he must have one….but…
"…Where'd you get that?"
"Before I….met you…I was a rogue like Ryo…Millenniummon's forces…killed my…." He hacks suddenly, placing a hand on his chest and wincing in pain. "We were outnumbered…we didn't have a chan…."
"…They killed your partner." I say slowly, the true horror of that idea seeping into my brain. That's the worst nightmare of any Digidestined or Tamer. Seeing their partner be blasted into data before their eyes, or even worse, seeing their Cores be shattered and know they were gone for good and none of Anubismon's efforts would ever being them back.
"…Damien I…."
"I pretended to be one of his forces…pretended to sign on…" He grits his teeth as another spasm of pain hits him and he manages to gasp out, "but then….just last week I found out that they'd captured the man they were searching for."
"Who?"
"Willis' father…." He gasps out, wincing again. "They…need him…he was…a part of the exploration team of humans that ended up here…they…found out…they know where….the last Digiegg is. The others rotate which makes it difficult but this one…this one they could never have found without,…"
A very icy feeling runs down my spine. Oh ##$%%%. That's about the worst thing possible Damien could have said. Milleunnimmon and his forces have found the last Digiegg than we are in serious trouble. Of absolute epic proportions.
Swallowing hard I manage to ask quietly, "….And you're sure of this?"
"Dead sure." He rasps.
"Must not be a good spy if you got caught like this." Ralts says deadpan, though I can smell unease coming from her as well. "Why didn't they just kill you? Millenniummon doesn't seem like the type of guy to really like some loner guy with tight pants to play him for a fool."
She's true about a lot of things there. Most villains would just toss Damien to the sharks, figuratively speaking. And…Damien's pants are…very tight indeed.
"Millenniummon…wouldn't let me off that easy…." He breaths out. "Death would be…merciful to me…."
"Oy." I squeeze his shoulder perhaps a little too tightly because he winces again. But I can't afford for him to pass out on me. I'm not dragging six foot something of unconscious boy down these halls. "You're not dying on us, you got that? We're all going to get out of here."
"Lily, what about the guy who he was talking about?" Ralts asks. "If he's really here than he could be in even more trouble than we are. Plus, if they manage to make him talk…"
I clench my teeth. "…There isn't anything we can do right now. We're outnumbered, we're in enemy territory, and if we can get out of here at all it will be a miracle."
"I don't….know if we can…" Damien mutters. "You don't…fully comprehend what we're up against Lily."
"Maybe not." I admit, but my eyes are now burning with determination and as anyone who knows me knows, when I get like this there's no stopping me. "But we don't exactly have a choice, do we? We've got no way of contacting the others and I don't like our chances of being fond before it's too late. And I'm not going to sit around for people to rescue me.
"So? What's the plan?"
I hesitate before a slow smile appears on my face. "…."
"Oh no…." Damien mutters, rubbing his forehead.
…
"What….exactly…is the plan…." Yolei gasps as she follows Kari the two of them shoving their way through crowds of people who yell indignantly at the apparent rudeness of the two girls.
Kari glances down at her Digivice once more, biting her lip in frustration as the signals of both Arukenimon and Mummymon start to fade away. Not this time. They couldn't let those two gits nearly escape again!
"Grr…come on, this way!"
The pounding of their footsteps was drown out by the sound of the roller coaster whipping overhead. The entire park seemed nearly oblivious to what had happened back over there, or the battles going down underneath.
Well…not entirely. There were guards rushing from different sections of the park towards the area. Maybe they'd finally clued in. Maybe they hadn't.
All Arukenimon knew…she thought, pushing down her glasses as she watched the two human girls flee the area, pursuing them in the entirely wrong direction, that was she was just very grateful for Datamon's Dark Network.
It threw all human technology off, even the Digidestined's precious little devices couldn't function normally in these circumstances.
She allowed herself a slight chuckle. Really, she had known that giving them the slip would be easy but she hasn't expected it to be THIS easy.
"Arukenimon?"
"What you undead maggot-brained moron?" She snapped, turning her head. "What have I told you about interrupting me when I'm gloating?"
"But you weren't actually gloating, my love. You were just standing there with a very silly…if adorable smile on your face and then you-"
"Oh, shut up!"
"LIGHTNING PAW!"
She'd been so busy yelling at Mummymon that she hadn't even noticed the cat's prescence, but Gatomon's furious hiss and claws surely registered now. Letting out a howl of pain Arukenimon stumbled backwards and held a hand to the back of her now bleeding head.
Mummymon let out a shout of anger and blasted several bullets the cat's way, but with agility that is beyond impressive Gatomon flips over the shots, down and around, a mere white blur as she shoots forwards and slams another powerful Lightning Paw into Mummymon's chest.
If people hadn't truly understand there was something wrong in the magical world of Disneyworld they sure did now.
The sound of gun fire sends people screaming in wild terror, panicking, even pushing each other out of the way in an effort to escape the madness. The sound of children sobbing for their mothers echoes.
Arukenimon curls her lip and says with a sneer, "Why do you even bother helping these pathetic humans? They would never help you. They won't even help their own kind!"
Gatomon's blue eyes narrow down to slits as she says dangerously, "I'm pretty sure you are the last person here who has the right to be giving a morality lecture."
"Oh, but you know I'm right. When it comes down to it, these humans are selfish, greedy, cowards that are beneath us. Digimon are the surperior beings." She says that with so much confidence. Gatomon rolls her eyes. "Yeesh. You know what's really really scary? Is that you remind me back when I was a stooge like you."
"…STOOGE?!"
"Uh huh." Gatomon's tone sounds bored. "Convinced that I was superior, that the Digimon siding with the Digidestined were just a bunch of weaklings, yadda yadda. Well guess what….I was proved wrong. So horribly wrong. And my mistakes…." Her voice trails off before becoming more tense. "…Maybe…if I'd realized sooner…if I'd realized that I'd thrown my lot in with the wrong person…I wouldn't have lost him…." She glances down at her paws as Arukenimon and Mummymon look at each other in confusion.
"…You take someone for granted and you think you'll never need them." She mutters, looking back at Arukenimon with a strange sort of sadness in her eyes. "You don't realize what your mistakes have done until it's too late."
Arukenimon's lips curve into a snarl as she spits out, "You think I give a #$$ about your pathetic little life lessons, kitty cat?!"
Gatomon leaps above the swipe but then yells as sticky green threads slam into her stomach and pin her to the ground, burning at her body like acid.
Trying to break free only causes more pain and in this instant, her claws aren't doing her any good at sall.
Arukenimon cackles as the shift from her human body completes, peeling away to reveal an eight-legged giant spider woman with bulging eyes and razor sharp teeth.
Lots more screams echo and a woman with two kids scrambles to get out of the way. Arukenimon grins maniacally as she releases more of her poisonus threads—right at the little family.
There's an angry screech and suddenly a feather-shaped boomerang shoots forwards, slicing through the threads before reversing backwards. Hawkmon's claws snag his weapon in mid-flight and he glowers. "I believe I have had enough of the cowardly behavior of you two ruffians."
Arukenimon curls her lip in disgust just as shouts of "GATOMON! HAWKMON!" echo close by. Kari gasps as she sees her partner lying there yowling in frustration. "What the heck happened to you?!"
"An attempt at an epic the reason you suck speech gone wrong." Gatomon grumbles, trying to pull herself free and hissing in pain. Kari struggles to pull them aside before Gatomon can warn her and leaps back with a cry of pain.
"KARI!"
There are burns across the human girl's hands and she winces in severe pain, gasping, tears forming in her eyes.
"You idiot, what were you thinking?!" Yolei snaps at her, only to have to duck as blasts of energy are flown her way. Mummymon, now in his Digimon form as well, laughs manically as his guns continues to discharge over and over again.
"MONSTERS!"
"Please, someone, help us!"
"Mommy!"
"I'm not brave like Davis…and I'm not tough like Sora…and I'm not as pure hearted as Mimi…." Yolei shoves her glasses up on her nose, as she slowly pushes herself up from the ground once more. "But so help me…I can do this…." She says softly, her jaw setting. Her Digivice feels warm in her back pocket, as if it was humming in response to her words.
Hawkmon shouts in pain as Mummymon's attack clips him on the right wing, and he crashes into the ground, not able to get back up again, smoke rising from the injury.
"HAWKMON!" Yolei screams. "Don't you dare LOSE TO THEM!" Her Digivice bursts into red light and Hawkmon's eyes snapped open, gasping as he felt a strange sensation rippling through his body. Power…more power than he had ever felt from one of the Digieggs.
"HAWKMON DIGIVOLVE TO…AQUILAMON!"
Red wings snapped outwards and a massive horned head revealed itself, cruel beak and claws glistening warningly in the sunlight.
Mummymon let out a squeak and looked about ready to drop his gun, that and or wet his bandages. "H-how did you learn to do that?!"
Aquilamon smiled darkly, stepping out protectively in front of the two girls and Gatomon. "Looks like it's my turn to be bringing the hurt."
…
The noise of howling is what catches Renamon's attention first. Her ears perk up, twisting and swiveling and recognizing one of them without a doubt.
"MetalGarurumon…" Off like a shot she raced forwards, her paws digging into the ground, leaving a very disgruntled Matt behind.
"Oy! Renamon! Don't just leave me behind like this! What do you mean MetalGarurumon's in trouble?!"
She hates to leave him behind—he's a human, he's vulnerable in these dark tunnels she's sure, but right now she doesn't have a choice. She knows from the way MetalGarurumon sounded that he's in trouble. Call it canine intuition, call it, working with them for years now, she just knew from every bit of her Digi-core that her friend was in trouble.
And of course, her instincts had been dead on. MetalGarurumon lets out a growl of pain as he's slammed into the ground once more, groaning in pain. He cannot freaking believe that he's being beaten by an Ultimate…again!
Cereberumon cackles, his claws digging into the giant wolf's sides. "Teach you arrogant…bleeding heart fools not to underestimate with us…"
MetalGarurumon snarls just as a yellow blur appears above them, and his gaze widens. "…What is she…?"
"What?" Ceberumon blinks, and like so many villains he was too busy caught up in his moment of triumph as Renamon shouts, "DIAMOND STORM!"
The diamonds don't do much more except bounce off his flank…except for when one enters his eyes. Upgraded or not by the dark spore that really, REALLY hurt.
He screams, pawing at his face as MetalGarurumon scrambles back to his paws. "Where's Matt?"
"Hopefully fine."
"You left him?!"
"You needed help." She says grimly, her tail lashing back and forth. "If he's smart he'll just stay put where it's safe."
MetalGarurumon growls slightly at her, clearly not happy about this leaving his partner in the lurch, but Renamon glances over at him. "I trust Matt. Don't you?"
"…"
MetalGarurumon huffs with slight amusment. "For someone whose main concern is usually filling her belly, you are surprisingly quick to the point at times Renamon."
"I'm just always surprising you aren't I." She chuckles before glowering at Ceberumon, who curses violently as he snarls at them, teeth bared. "Bah! One more doesn't make a difference! You're already weakened from your battle earlier!"
"You'd be surprised." Renamon says in a far too innocent tone as she takes a step forward. 'You know I really have had it up to here with you creeps. You've tried to kill me and my friends. And worst of all, I know you are responsible for the disappearance of my partner."
"…What?"
"Make it easy on yourself. Tell me where my partner is and maybe, just maybe, I won't rip you apart."
Cerberumon sneers. "You? A mere Rookie do what a Mega could not? Don't make me laugh. And I have absolutely no idea what you're blabbering on about."
MetalGarurumon's eyes narrow down to slits. Something…tells him that this angry mutt isn't lying. It's an unsettling feeling that fills him, and it doesn't make any sense. These enemy forces must have been the ones to kidnap Lily, it's not like she would have just run off on her own.
…Right? That was…crazy…
However Renamon has reached her breaking point. She is exhausted, she is furious, she is terrified for her partner, and she simply is beyond able to think rationally.
Her pupils slitting she snarls, "Wrong answer!" With a feral expression on her face as she leaps up into the air one more time.
"RENAMON WAIT! DON'T!"
"DIAMOND STORM!"
The attack, of course, again does nothing, but this time Cerberumon is out for revenge against the injury she caused his eye. "EMERALD BLAZE!"
"RENAMON!"
Her scream echoes and MetalGarurumon lets out a roar of rage before charging at Ceberumon full on, teeth flashing as he pins the other canine to the ground.
Cerberumon shrieks and his claws lash out over and over again, but MetalGarurumon hardly seems to notice. Now he is the one that Cerberumon seems to have absolutely no power over.
"For harming a member of my family…" He snarls, his muzzle inches from Cerberumon's. "And one I happen to care for quite a bit, don't expect any mercy from me!"
Cerberumon's eyes widen in fear as the chest cavity on MetalGarurumon opens up once more.
MetalGarurumon was designed for picking up weak spots in the enemy's design, perhaps even ones that they didn't know existed. And right now his sensors were screaming at him, because right in the middle of Cerberumon's chest, he could see something powerful…extremely dark, so dark it nearly made him recoil in disgust, but powerful none the less.
…He knew what he had to do.
"GARURU TOMAHAWK!"
A missile at point blank range. Cerberumon, even bolstered by the Dark Spore as he was, didn't stand a chance. His scream echoed for miles across the dark canyon.
Matt's eyes widen as he heard it, forced out of the bitterness that he felt at being left behind. "…." A slow smile appears on his face as MetalGarurumon skids to a halt in front of him just a few moments later.
"Gt hm."
"Didn't have any doubt buddy. Uh, why are you talking like that?"
MetalGarurumon rolls amber eyes obviously annoyed by Matt's lack of capability to see the obvious. Matt's eyes widen slightly as he sees the little ball of yellow fur MetalGarurumon is holding by the scruff.
"Whoa…is that…Viximon?"
"Rlemn…"
"Relemon." Matt mutters as she whimpers in MetalGarurumon's jaws. "Got knocked back all the way to her baby form, huh? Just great. That's exactly what we need."
The sound of another explosion racks the entire place, but this time, it's come from above. Matt hits the ground hard, wincing slightly as Relemon whimpers again.
MetalGarurumon snarls, his eyes fixating back above. His friends needed help, and badly it seemed.
..
"ALEXANDER!"
Alexander gasps in pain as he slams onto the ground. His right wing was a total mess. Scars were lashed across his body as well.
Snarling, he shoves himself back upwards…or tries to. This was absolutely ridiculous. He was a Demon Lord for crying out loud! He was not going to lose to some prehistoric fool!
…Dear Fanglongmon….he pulled his hand away from his side and winced as he saw the amount of blood staining his glove.
"Are you all right?!" Tai's brown eyes flicker over him and he clenches his teeth. "No, you're not. You need to…"
Alexander shot him a slight warning look. "Don't make the mistake of giving an order to me. I can do this just fine, thank you much."
Tai shoots him a steady look back. "If you get yourself killed Lily will hang me and then skin me." He says flatly. "I'd rather not risk that if it's all the same to you."
Alexander arches an eyebrow slightly. "….Huh."
There's a sound of frantic panting and a cry of, "GUYS!"
"Wha?"
Tai glances back over his shoulder to see Willis and Gargomon running forwards. "Would you two get out of here?! You're sitting ducks out here!"
"There's…something about that SkullGreymon…." Willis wheezes, brushing a strand of sweat from his face.
"Yeah, we know that, thanks much." Tai says deadpan, gesturing over to Alexander whose still bleeding. He glances back over at his partner, who lets out another terrifying roar before charging SkullGreymon, spinning wildly.
"GREAT TORNADO!"
The giant dinosaur became nothing more than a mere blur as he span wildly, a spinning top of claws and razor sharp teeth.
Charging forwards he slams into SkullGreymon at full strength, the demonic version of himself roaring in pain and stumbling backwards.
WarGreymon pulls back slightly snarling before a clawed hand strikes him and sends him flying.
"NO!"
WarGreymon hits the ground so hard that he actually forms a chasm, sliding backwards several feet before collapsing with a moan of pain.
Tai is about to bolt to his partner's side before Willis grabs him by the sleeve. "Let me GO! I have to…"
"What you have to do is LISTEN to me, Kamiya!"
Willis says this with such force that Tai actually stops in his tracks, slowly turning his head around to look at the other boy.
"…You have a plan for us to beat this thing?" He says grimly. WarGreymon and Alexander had also been forced to wipe out the rest of this cursed army, he didn't know how much longer either of them was going to last against this creep!
"…This monster is exactly like…like Wendigomon…." Willis says softly. "Neither of them are getting their energy naturally. It has to come from some source."
"You mean…."
"The virus that infected Wendigomon? Yeah. I think it's in all of them."
Tai's eyes widen slightly before jerking back from a cry of pain from his Digimon. SkullGreymon's foot was now pressing down on the warrior Digimon's back, squeezing him down into the ground.
WarGreymon lets out another scream of pain as he's sure that his spine itself is going to start to rupture.
"NO!"
Fanglongmon, what is he going to do, what is he going to do?! But thankfully, before he could repeat Renamon's act of complete and utter stupidity and charge at the monster tormenting his partner, something springs upwards out of nowhere.
Crashing upwards through the ground MetalGarurumon slams into the dinosaur's leg with such force it causes a long crack to go up the creature's bones.
Ignoring the howls of pain MetalGarurumon steps closer to his friend. "You look almost as bad as you did that one time against Piedmon." He huffs.
WarGreymon groans, stirring. "…Shut up…"
"Idiot." He says this with slight affection and WarGreymon cracks an eye open. "Same to you."
"Matt!" Tai feels a surge of relief as his friend pushes himself out of the dark hole, panting slightly before running towards his friend.
"Are you okay?! What happened?!"
"Eh, no big." Matt shrugs. "Some idiot thought that it would be a good idea for him to try his luck. Didn't end well for him."
"Is that…" Willis' voice trails off and Relemon shoots the both of them a disgruntled look like, "Please stop calling attention to the fact that I currently look like an idiot because I already feel rotten."
Or maybe she was just hungry. Baby Digimon were incredibly simple creatures. Tai takes her from Matt and cradles her in his arm for a moment. "What the heck happened to you?"
She whines slightly and Tai looks over his shoulder at Alexander. "Can you take her and get out of here?"
Alexander snorts. "I hardly think that I'm going to be the one that…that…" He tries to stagger back to his feet and winces in pain. "….Ugh….I'm getting old…." He mutters, clenching his teeth.
"Look, I told you before." Tai says. "Lily is going to kick my butt if she finds out that you got hurt, or worse, that I let you get hurt. This isn't about whose strong and whose not. You don't really like me, and I can't pretend that you have to take orders from me, but you know full well…that if Lucemon was here right now he'd be saying the exact same thing I am."
Alexander stares at Tai before snorting lightly. "….More like grabbing me by the ear and literally dragging me off the battlefield…"
"Exactly." Tai says cheerfully. Alexander rolls his eyes slightly but he looks more amused than anything else now.
"Look, please just take her.' Tai insists, holding out the little puffball. "Don't do it for me. Do it for Lily. She would never forgive herself if something happened to Renamon."
Alexander only hesitates a moment longer before sighing and gently prying Relemon from him. "You'd think that I would have learned by now not to be so stubborn." He mutters. His wings fly out from behind him once more as he takes to the skies.
Tai breaths a sigh of relief. Normally he'd never be pushing a Demon Lord of all people like that, but….it was Lily's father too.
"You ready for this Matt?" Tai asks grimly, both of their Digimon standing together in front of their partners, snarling at SkullGreymon.
"Absolutely." Matt says through clenched teeth. "This guy has been around for at least two chapters now. He's going down."
(Off in the distance the author screams in outrage and coldly informs all of the characters that the next time the fourth wall is broken she's handing them over to Lilithmon dressed in skimpy cosplay outfits)
"I'm helping out too." Gargomon says fiercely. Willis bites his lip. "…Gargomon you're only a Champion you can't-.."
"Aw, shucks Willis, you worry too much. Besides, you saw me kick major behind against that one creep. Let me help, please?"
Willis hesitates, but the earnest look in Gargomon's eyes….constantly he'd kept Gargomon from fighting, terrified that his partner would be hurt, or worse. And he also could never bare to see Wendigomon hurt. But this time was different. Ths time their friends were in danger. And he…couldn't turn his back on them the way he'd been forced to turn his back on Wendigmon.
"So you think that the virus is what's giving these freaks their strength huh?" Tai mutters darkly.
"Can you sense the power source MetalGarurumon?" WarGreymon rumbles in his deep voice. MetalGarurumon's eyes narrow down to slits as he focuses on their enemy, who screeches again as the rocket on his back begins to fire up once more.
"…DARK SHOT!"
"Willis, look out!" Gargomon flips over with more agility than you'd think such a muscular bunny could provide, grabbing Willis around the waist and dragging his protesting partner into the air.
Willis' face pales slightly as he stares down at the ground far below. "Oh…I think I'm going to be sick…."
"Not while I'm holding you you're not!" Is the fierce reply. Gargomon's cannons swivel around as he barks out a shout of "GARGO LASERS!"
The green lasers strike the demon dinosaur on the spine—it doesn't do much damage but it does distract him.
The missile crashes down on the ground next to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. Coughing wildly, Tai feels the smoke stinging his eyes as he struggles to remain on his feet from the impact. "AGUMON!"
WarGreymon growls as both he and MetalGarurumon levitate in the air. That was close. That was a shot far FAR too close to his partner. Now, he's pissed.
"Do you sense it yet?!" He barks angrily at MetalGarurumon who scowls at him slightly before glancing back over. Hs eyes widen as…
"Yes…." He growls. "Right underneath the missile!" He barks, sensing the dark aura as the missile reattaches itself back to SkullGreymon.
WarGreymon growls. They need to end this quickly which means he does not have time to fight this creep off. "Can the two of you keep him distracted?"
"Aye sir!" Gargomon calls. "GARGO LASERS!"
The lasers bounce off again but this time, SkullGreymon seems to be truly fed up with the obnoxious rabbit. With a snarl he lashes outwards, bony claws ensnaring the rabbit.
"TERRIERMON NO!" Willis nearly completely flips out, charging forwards, screaming his head off as Tai and Matt try to hold him back.
Gargomon struggles to break free as those massive teeth loom up at him. This is SOOO not how he wants to go! As some demon's lunch!
There's an angry roar behind him just as MetalGarurumon charges, teeth sinking into the metallic arm. SkullGreymon hisses in fury and grabs him by the leg, causing him to scream in pain as he's swung around and around and around.
"OH CRAP!" Matt gasps with horror as his Digimon is thrown flying, his data actually flickering from the pain that's filling his body. However right before he degenerates, he manages to flip around and let out a roar of "METAL WOLF CLAW!"
The blast of ice missiles hit SkullGreymon full on. He roars in agony, but at the same time, WarGreymon soars up behind him. The orb of energy between his palms continues to grow bigger and bigger and he lets out a devastating roar.
"TERRA FORCE!"
The size of that sphere is so large it seems like it could almost be a sun itself, and it crashes into SkullGreymon with such force that it completely destroys his lower half. Maybe it was because the team had finally managed to get at him from behind, where his weak point was.
But whatever the case, it's finally curtains for the creep. With one last defiant scream he topples over, data leaking outwards from his wounds at a rapid speed, and then finally collapsing with an explosion outwards.
Tai laughs, a note that sounds slightly hysterical. "It's over. Dear gosh I do NOT want to go through that again!"
A pink ball bounces forwards. "Yeah me neither! I could sleep till next Christmas! Or…maybe lunchtime? When is lunchtime?"
"Tai?"
Tai glances over at Matt, and then a cold feeling suddenly courses through him. In the heat of the battle he'd been too worked up, too angry and frustrated…but…
"Matt." He takes a step forward, his fists clenching at his side. Why hadn't he realized what must have happened the moment he saw Viximon? "…Where's Lily."
….
"GIANT BUNNNY!"
"Are you just going to keep yelling that?!" Stella yells, as she struggles to help the barely conscious Ryo and Ken back to their feet. "Get over here and help me you braindead moron!"
"That's sort of redundant, isn't it?" Veemon mutters but he and Davis both race back over, helping to pull their two friends under a smaller cliff.
Ryo lies there teeth chattering madly. Ken is barely responsive at all. Wormmon nudges him desperately and looks up at Stella. "Will he be all right?"
"He'd better." Stella mutters. "If any of them die on us I'm going to kill them."
Her eyes glance back just as Cherubimon's roar echoes once more. Daemon has his flames, burning brightly, nearly destroying the entire landscape, and Serpahimon is clad in amour with his mighty sword Excalibur shining in his hands.
Cherubimon has soft fur and a silly appearance. If it weren't for those glowing yellow eyes and drool coming out of his mouth, you might think he's just a stuffed animal. And yet he is kicking their butts.
He raises another massive palm to the sky, lightning crackling once more as the massive bolt forms. Yeah, then again that might be what's playing a big part of this.
"Look out!" Daemon knocks Seraphimon out of the way just in time as the lightning bolt shoots forward, hitting him in the stomach.
He gasps, stumbling bavkwards as Seraphimon cries out, "You idiot!"
Daemon manages a wan smile. "I'm a Fire Demon remember? Lightning hurts me a lot less than it would hurt someone clad in metal armour."
Seraphimon grumbles something under his breath about overly brave idiots before glowering at the snarling bunny once more. "Something is seriously wrong. We should have brought down this foul beast by now."
"Agreed." Daemon cracks his knuckles. "But it's been ages since I've been in a proper fight. If that means having to strain myself a little bit more than usual I am perfectly fine with it."
"Thought you might say that." Seraphimon chuckles before his wings spread once more and he takes to the air again.
He dodges three lightning bolts thrown his way, the fourth one he actually SLICES through the next one, tearing downwards, raising his blade as he streaks towards the top of Cherubimon's head.
"EXCALIBUR!"
Cherubimon's arm swings out at such a rapid pace that it slams Serpahimon in the stomach and sends him flying. "CABLE CRUSHER!"
"SERAPHIMON!" Stella screams as her partner goes flying and ends up crashing on the opposite side of the mountain, smoke and rubble rising.
Davis gulps. "…Um..is anyone else beside me….starting to get a very bad feeling about this?"
"What was your first clue?"
Ryo groan slightly, struggling to push herself upwards. "Mono…Mono…." Her voice is slightly terrified. "…Don't…."
"Monodramon will be okay." Veemon tries to reassure her, shoving her gently back down to the ground. "You need to rest is what you need to do!"
"…!"
Stella slowly turns her head to see Monodramon still standing out in the freezing snow, his yellow eyes gleaming, a few feet away from their hiding spot. Her eyes widen slightly as she realizes that he looks less angry…and more hungry…
Wait…she'd seen that expression before…
Ryo's voice is a horse whisper. "Monodramon, please don't, not here, not now….!"
Daemon suddenly freezes in his tracks. He feels a very strong dark aura beginning to pulse upwards, one much more twisted than anything he's felt in a long time.
Monodramon growls as his body shines with dark energy, his form growing taller and bigger.
"He's….digivolving?" Davis asks in confusion as Veemon growls and pushes his partner behind him. Something about this is not right, very, very not right.
As the dark light slowly fades away a tall dragon like Digimon is standing there, his body covered in black scales, raggedy red wings, razor sharp claws, and possibly most unnerving of all is how…his entire face is covered by a steel mask.
His expression is completely hidden, blank and unfeeling, and the way he looks in Davis' direction Davis gets the feeling of someone looking into his soul, as horribly cliché and melodramatic as that sounds.
"Cyberdramon." Stella whispers, her face pale. "Ryo…HOW?!"
"He was…never supposed to use it…." Ryo gasps out. "He promised he'd never….."
Cyberdramon flexes his claws and snarls loudly in contempt at Cherubimon before spreading his wings open and soaring upwards.
The hooks on his arm began to glow along with his claws as he slashed downwards letting out a devastating roar of "DESOLATION CLAW!"
The attack slams into Cherubimon's chest, forcing him back slightly. While not more powerful than Seraphimon's or Daemon's attacks, its definitely as strong.
"And coming from an Ultimate too…." Davis mutters, feeling an odd chill run down his spine that he can't really understand. Surely he should be happy that such a powerful Digimon is on their side, shouldn't he?
Cherubimon snarls again as Seraphimon prepares another one of his attacks. Golden orbs of light appear around him as he shouts out, "SEVEN HEA-!"
He's cut off as he's slammed from beside and nearly knocked out of the air by a furious missile of black snarling dragon.
"HEY WHAT THE….!"
"DESOLATION CLAW!" Cyberdramon roars, slamming his attack downwards not caring that Daemon is right in the middle of his path.
The Demon Lord thankfully manages to dodge it and prevent a direct hit, but the attack leaves a deep slash across his robes and a bloody gash before it hits Cherubimon head on again.
"Is he turning on his own teammates?!" Veemon gasps.
Stella clenches her teeth. "…This is exactly what happened with Ryo's first partner…." She mutters.
"…First partner?"
"Don't worry about that right now." Davis hisses, his maroon eyes filled with concern as Cherubimon lets out another angry roar. "How are they supposed to deal with Cyberdramon AND that monster at the same time?!"
Cyberdramon lands on the ground, snarling, facing Daemon and Seraphimon, his teeth pulled back, his hidden expression making the entire scenario that much worse.
"We do not have time for this." Daemon growls, his wrists snapping open to reveal flames burning deeply.
"You cannot kill Ryo's partner!"
"Wha…?"
Stella's eyes are wide as she looks out at her partner. "….Seraphimon…."
Ryo stirs slightly and lets out a low moan, her pain obvious. They don't know if she has any idea whatsoever about what is going on in the outside. Ken however is slowly starting to recover, his arm wrapped tightly around her, holding her close to him, his expression nearly unreadable.
Seraphimon shakes his head stubbornly as he levitates between the two of them. "I will not allow it."
"We can't afford to…"
Cherubimon and Cyberdramon both roar in unison, Cyberdramon breaking out into a full out charge as he lunges at the other Digimon, not caring if they are foe or friend, simply driven by his desire to destroy anything that's in his way.
As for Cherubimon, he lifts his hands to the sky once more, the entire horizon suddenly filled with dark clouds. The energy filling the area is so intense that it makes the hair on the back of Davis' neck stand up, makes his breath catch in the back of his throat.
"Wait, don't!"
"STORM OF JUDGEMENT!"
The entire sky seems to be exploding as dozens of lightning bolts strike the ground. Stella screams Davis' name and yanks him back under cover as the light flashes and lights up the entire freaking Artic.
Davis holds the others close, Stella's breaths short and terrified for her partner, Wormmon pressed next to Ryo and Ken as though he's trying to protect them, as futile as that seems.
Veemon's fists clench and unclench, his eyes bright with fury, his teeth set back in a furious snarl, and eyes gleaming with outrage.
"There has to be something I can do!"
…
"…"
"…"
Joe glances over at Dilbert. Dilbert's mouth is hanging open slightly and then he turns to share an incredulous look with Wormmon. Gommamon and Lunamon however look about ready to leap up and down with joy.
After finally getting sick of staring at Dilbet's shocked face, Joe asks, carefully, "Gennai?"
"Uh-huh?"
"…This is the ocean."
"Very astute observation. I mean, it was sort of tricky to tell, I mean, few people could put that together after seeing the massive body of water, the seagulls, and the sand that sticks everywhere."
Apparently Gennai's younger form had an amazing talent at sarcasm. Taking in a deep breath, Joe says carefully, "No, Gennai. What I mean is…why are we HERE?"
"Another grand philosophical question. I don't pretend to fully understand what Drasil was thinking when he created the Digital World, but after he did so protectors known as the Digidestined were created." Gennai's lips crinkle as though he's thinking of something. "But if you're asking what are you specifically doing here, than I can safely tell you that I have no idea whatsoever your parents were thinking at the time, but I believe the belief is that when two people love each other very much…."
"OH PLEASE STOP TALKING!" Joe's face is bright red as Gommamon howls with laughter at his partner's embarrassment.
Gennai chuckles slightly and turns away again, and Dilbert nudges Joe. "…I have to say I sort of like this guy. Even if he is utterly insane."
"…Yeah." Joe sighs, pushing his glasses back up his nose and shaking his head ruefully. "Gennai is…definitely…one of a kind."
"Can we trust him though?" Dilbert says in a lower voice. He still has a long scrape across one cheek and his eyes look tired. Joe can't blame him for being wary. After all the crap they've been through the past couple of days, it's hard to imagine someone actually being on their side.
Still Joe nods firmly. "With my life." He says. "Gennai's been one of our biggest supporters for years now."
"If you don't count the fact that he forgot to show up at all while we were fighting against Devimon." Gommamon muses. "Or the fact that he went missing for ages at about the same time Tai did. Or the fact that he only told us that there was an eighth child and had us hunting for ages through Odiaba because he forgot the name of the kid, heck he couldn't even remember the gender."
"…GOMMAMON…" Joe groans, facepalming as Dilbert's eyebrows rise up higher and higher with eveyr statement that Gommamon states.
"What? I'm just saying."
"Thanks for that delightful summary." Gennai says deadpan as he walks up to them. Joe sighs. "So I don't suppose you're finally going to tell us what exactly we're doing here, are you?"
"Please spare us from anymore cryptic messages." Dilbert begs. "My brain hurts enough already."
"My little genius." His Wormmon deadpans.
"I told you, didn't I?" Gennai arches an eyebrow. "We're going to find what you've been searching for."
"…Here?!"
"Well….not here in so many words…." He says thoughtfully, before smirking again and pressing another button.
The water churns almost ominously as something rises up out of the surf—no wait, a lot of somethings. The group all tense as the water continues to churn before peeling away to reveal a bunch of robotic like Digimon.
Dilbert's eyes widen. "…Mekanoriomon…? What are they doing here?"
Gennai gently pats the side of one of the robotic Digimon. "I told you. The way to finding what you're looking for is right here."
"…You mean…." Joe's voice trails off as he sees Gennai lifting up the hatch of the Digimon and leaping inside. Now, for many many reasons that seemed sort of wrong to Joe, but the only one he can squeak out at that moment is, "Um, I have…claustrophobia?"
"And I'm not a big fan of tight metal places."
"…Dilbert that's what claustrophobia means."
Dilbert looks sheepish, running a hand through his hair. "Eh heh…I knew that."
"We can swim on our own, right Gomammamon?" Lunamon says excitedly, pulling on his flipper. Gommamon laughs slightly. "Hey, take it easy princess. But she's right, we've got this."
"We're wasting time Joe." Gennai says with more patience than usual.
Joe hesitates for only a moment before walking forwards with a slight groan. "Oh, all right, all right…"
"Eh, how bad can it be?"
"Plenty." Wormmon mutters. "You do realize that for a worm like me, there are only two beings that we're truly afraid of. Birds and fishes."
"…Thanks for that disturbing mental image." Dilbert says blandly as Gommamon cheers, "Everybody in the water!"
He charges forwards, his claws digging up dirt as Lunamon dashes behind him. Both of them dive downwards and splash, sending water over everyone standing there.
Gommamon laughs as he twirls underwater. This was where he belonged. The ocean water kissing his fur, the array of fish darting back and forth down below, the bottom covered with coral and all other creatures.
Suddenly a dark shadow looms over head, causing al of the animals to duck inside of their respective hiding holes. Gommaon's eyes widen as he looks up. "What the?!"
But it's not an enemy, as he expected earlier. No, instead it's a gigantic forty foot long crocodile. Her masisve eye floats downwards and she manages to smile down at Gommamon.
You'd think she'd be almost completely out of energy after that battle with that monster. But she seems.,..happy. At peace. Maybe the ocean regenerated her and made her feel safe, just like it did for Gommamon.
He smiles, his face curved in a massive smile as he flips onto his back so he's facing her more properly.
With a flick of her tails that almost sends him spiraling down into the sea bed, Leviamon chuckles and propels herself farther into the water.
Gommamon stares after her for a moment before a grin forms on his face and he swims after her.
…
"I cannot believe we're actually doing this." Izzy mutters as he crouches along the edge of the house wall towards the window. "It feels like stalking. Or burglary."
"We're not stalking and we're certainly not stealing anything." Tentmon buzzes indiginantly next to his partner.
Izzy bites his lip and looks away. Because the truth is, they are stealing something today. They're stealing Mimi from her parents. Sure, they didn't have a choice. They needed her in this upcoming war. And he knew without a doubt Mimi would be grateful to him.
But….it still felt so wrong, it truly did. After all, Mimi's parents weren't bad people. Short sighted, yes. They were convinced that they could protect Mimi from the evils of this world. What they didn't realize that without Mimi the odds of the evil sneaking back in grew larger each and every day.
…Still this feeling of guilt, ridiculous and unfounded as it is, continues to haunt him. The sound of raised voices echoes from inside the apartment.
Izzy ducks his head quickly around the corner safely out of sight, as Mimi's father's voice echoes, "I have heard enough young lady!"
Mimi's voice came back, just as angry. "You think that you have any right to tell me what to do anymore?"
'We are your pa-"I'm 18! If I'm a Digidestined, that's my choice! Not that it ever was a choice, really. Don't you guys get it? I was chosen for a reason. My friends are out there, fighting for their lives, protecting both worlds, and you want me to turn my back on them?"
There's silence for a moment as she says quietly, "I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen. And I thought you two raised me better than to think so selfishly. I admit, I used to be a whiny girl who didn't want to fight because she was afraid. Then I didn't want to fight anymore because I was so afraid I'd have to see more people sacrifice themselves for me. And then….when Leomon…." Her voice trails off and she swallows. "When…Leomon died I realized that no matter how much I tried to run from it, evil was going to keep targeting my friends. And that…if I cared about them I would protect them."
There's silence for a moment and Mimi's mum says wearily, "Is it really worth it? Throwing your life away for a world that's not even our own?"
"The Digital World is my home just as much as this world is. Maybe that's something you can't understand, but it's how I feel. And rather you like it or not, I'm going back out there, and I am going to help the others curbstomp anyone who threatens it into the ground."
Izzy can't help the grin that forms on his face as he's standing outside. "She's so pretty when she gets violent."
"…You're our only daughter." Mimi's father sounds far more tired than usual. "We don't want to loose you."
"I know that…" Mimi's voice cracks slightly. "I promise I'll come back, all right? And when things calm down, all four of us, you guys, me and Palmon, we'll all be a family. But you've got to start realizing that no matter what you do, I'll always be a Digidestined."
"…."
"…All right.." Mimi's mother says softly.
"What? But sweetheart…."
"Honey, Mimi's grown up. She's going off to college this fall. As much as it pains me to say it, we have no right to tell her what to do anymore. And…although I don't like to admit it, maybe…maybe going to the Digital World…was actually a good thing for her. I know we thought it was a nightmare that our daughter was involved in this, but look at her."
Mimi allows a slight blush to appear on her face as her mum smiles softly and continues, "She's stronger than either of us will ever be."
Her Dad splutters for a few more moments, "That's not…but it's not…" before his wife lays a hand on his leg and gives him a pointed look.
"…." He closes his eyes. "….If nothing I do or say is going to make a difference…than I suppose I can't do anything more than just say the same thing that your mother said. Make sure you come back to us baby girl."
Mimi swallows back tears and says softly, "….I promise I will."
Walking quickly past her parents so they won't see her fighting back tears, she yanks the window open, ready to call for Lillymon, when a loud, "OW!" echoes.
"Izzy?! What are you doing outside of my window!"
Izzy groans, clutching his nose. "…Bleeding?"
"No, you idiot, before that!"
"I came here to get you." He mumbles, still pinching the bridge of his nose and contemplating the sheer weirdness of the idea that at this moment Mimi thought that he was the idiot.
"Bt…gs I dobt hab to now bight?"
Mimi bends over and touches his nose gently, causing him to yelp loudly. "Uh huh. Yup that's definitely broken."
"Dank you. I bould have bever bigured that one out."
Mimi just laughs and glances back over her shoulder at her parents one last time. Her mother manages a brave smile her way before leaning into her father's embrace.
"…Come on. Let's get going!"
….
The sounds of guard's footsteps echo down the small pathway. "Did Lord Millenniummon say when we're moving out?"
"Of course the boss himself isn't going to bother with giving us orders, he's more focused on finding out where that girl is."
"Oh yeah….so when are we moving out?"
"Ugh, I don't know. You'll have to ask the boss' second in command or something. Personally, I can't wait to sink my claws into some Digidestined flesh."
"Hehehehhe….those pathetic humans will never know what hit them."
"Wait, did you hear something?"
"…"
"…."
"Nothing. You've got rocks in your head, numbskull."
"How can I have rocks in my head and be a numbskull?"
"Oy vey…."
I glance warily around the corner and breath a sigh of relief as the guards continue to walk down the main hallway. Damien takes my hand and starts pulling me.
"Come on, it's this way."
"I'm not meant for walking so quickly." Ralts whines. "I don't have any legs for crying out loud!"
"Damien…." I whisper as we walk down the narrow stretch of hallway. "I think we're walking around in circles."
"I'm doing the best I can Lily." He whispers back. "This isn't exactly easy."
"Do you even know where to go?!"
"Ugh…sort of. I know this is the way out of the prison level because this is the way they dragged Wills' father in.."
"Oh great. So we're basically the blind following the blind." Something is nagging me. At the back of my mind, a question… a suspicious thought that I don't want to give much attention too, but I have to ask.
"…Damien. You were never around Willis and the others. How….do you know that this is Willis' father? I doubt that Milleunniummon would have shared that information with a flunkie, and definitely not a prisoner."
Damien's back stiffens slightly but before he can respond to me there are shouts of "THERE THEY ARE! GET THEM!"
OH #$$%.