Legends of the Digidestined
Chapter 35: "Darkness at the Edge of Server"
The sudden attack on them was unprecedented.
The Digidestined had thought that after their narrow victory earlier that day on the grounds of the Skydancer Mountain, the evil forces would not dare to attack them again. The lady vanguard had mentioned about the Curse of the Crimson Eyes being activated somewhere close to the Order's headquarters, but as it was still daylight nobody had expected an attack.
They, along with Gennai and the wolf brothers, had taken Yatagaramon in order to hasten their journey to the Order's headquarters, followed closely by Daisy and Babel on their Sky Gliders. They were already more than halved their journey, when suddenly the late afternoon sky became cloudy, and a large visage of a familiar Digimon materialized in mid-air.
Yatagaramon screeched as it spread its wings wide, trying desperately not to collide with the sudden apparition of a very familiar Digimon, and Gennai quickly pulled the leash to control the giant crow from dropping all of them several thousand feet onto the harsh grounds below.
"Whoa!" Darien exclaimed, eyes widened in surprise.
"Taomon?" Kira glanced towards her partner Digimon curiously, then at the large apparition of what looked like her partner's Ultimate form.
"No!" Renamon said breathlessly, recognizing the Digimon, who looked eerily similar to Taomon, with the exception of this Digimon having light violet fur instead of gold. "That is Doumon!"
"Thank you for the introduction," the priest-fox Digimon said coolly with a masculine voice, which echoed around the darkening areas. Strong winds began to pick up as a giant paintbrush materialized from his large sleeves. He began chanting in a strange language, his eyes never leaving the coalition of human and good Digimon.
"I don't like the looks of this. Better stop him now!" Garmmon fired lasers from his eyes towards the large fox. However, his lasers merely went through Doumon, which took him aback.
"It looks like an astral projection," Lobomon said, swords at ready.
"A what?" ToyAgumon asked in confusion.
"It'll be like attacking a ghost!" Max exclaimed, realizing what Lobomon was saying. "It'll be pointless to attack; none of our firepower will make a dent on him."
"Ah, indeed, but the same can't be said about you," Doumon said with a courteous manner as he took hold of his paintbrush. He pointed the unique weapon towards the dark skies and summoned, "Behold, the Demon Gate Escape!"
Instantly, a large ring of crimson energy shimmered in the skies above them, and from it a pillar of energy descended and trapped all of them in the blink of the eye, save for Babel and Daisy who managed to jet away on their Sky Gliders. Strong hurricane took everybody else in as their surroundings became too dark for the naked eye to see. The crimson pillar of energy then vanished alongside Doumon's apparition, and the sky became clear again, leaving the two Order members astounded.
"Where in the Digital World are they?" Babel cried out in panic, looking around him.
Daisy gritted her teeth in anger as well as helplessness. "We better call the others. I have a feeling something worse is about to happen."
The two Order members were forced to retreat to get help to better handle the situation. Meanwhile, in the midst of darkness in a middle of nowhere, there was only blackness and pitch silent. It was hard to determine above and bottom, or left and right, for there was nothing. A flash of deep red sparked within the darkness and winds erupted into a hurricane which then dwindled as rapidly as it had appeared. Flashes of blue, red, and yellow shimmered in the air, and Cyberdramon, Ardhamon and Taomon emerged from the hurricane with their human partners held close to them. Glows of white signaled Lobomon and Garmmon, both on top of Yatagaramon who had Gennai clasped tight within one of its three talons. The winds died down and they found themselves in an endless darkness. Not even the lights emanating from the Digimon gave them clues of where they were at right now.
"Where are we?" Kanto cried out, looking up towards Ardhamon before shifting his gaze towards Jon, who was beside him, both held close to the dragon-man's chest.
"I haven't got the faintest of clues." Jon adjusted his glasses. He heard a noise, sounding like something cutting through the air coming from the front. "I saw Max and Darien on Cyberdramon, and Kira's with Taomon, and up ahead are Gennai and the wolves with Yatagaramon… but I don't see Daisy and Babel."
"Maybe that freak Taomon-lookalike got us separated," Kanto deduced.
"Maybe…"
"Look out!" Ardhamon's booming voice interrupted them. The dragon-man quickly raised his gauntlet to protect his human partners as burning paper scrolls slammed against it. The force from the scrolls was surprisingly strong enough to push him back, and the dragon man dared not unleash his fire attacks lest he would burn his human partners. Thanks to his large stature his weapons were also designed to match his size, and thus suffice enough to provide protection to both Jon and Kanto.
"Talisman of Light!"
Taomon's light-energized kanji destroyed the paper scrolls in an instance into data particles. But before she could attack further, a similar kanji energized with dark energy blindsided her. She only had time to turn away to avoid the kanji making contact with Kira who was securely held with her left arm. The blow sent her flying, but with her levitation technique she managed to stabilize herself, spinning slowly three times before hovering in mid-air.
"Are you okay, Taomon?" Kira asked. "You got hit by the sneak attack."
There was a singe on her left sleeve, but Taomon was otherwise unharmed. "I'm fine," she muttered distractedly, her blue eyes landed on a pair of crimson eyes in the midst of darkness. She pointed with her large brush. "There!"
From the darkness, Doumon emerged. "I'm impressed," the dark priest said. "You're stronger than I had expected."
"It'll take more than just a Talisman of Night to harm me," Taomon said, studying the darkness around them. "I'm guessing you work for Mephistomon as well."
"Incorrect. I am working with Mephistomon, my dear," Doumon replied.
That sent a chill down everybody's spines.
"That's not good," Jon muttered. Kanto looked at him curiously, and sensing his friend's glare the bespectacled blonde quickly clarified, "It means he's on equal grounds with Mephistomon. Doumon isn't a lackey like X-WereGarurumon or Mummymon, but an ally."
Kanto paled. "Those two were trouble enough this morning…" He now realized the gravity of the situation they were all in.
Cyberdramon, with Max held by an arm and Darien clutching around his neck from the back, hovered close to Taomon and Ardhamon. "He's alone though," the cybernetic dragon declared to the other two Digimon. "Let's make quick work out of him!"
"We're on it!"
They looked up and saw Yatagaramon charging a ball of energy on its three talons before sending the electrical sphere towards Doumon. Garmmon charged down just as the holy crow sent out its attack, the upper blades on his back spread like wings, with Lobomon perched on top of him like a surfer. Yatagaramon's attack slammed against Doumon, but the priest was protected by a barrier formed by an apparition of yin and yang.
"Lupine Laser!"
"Lobo Kendo!"
The lasers were deflected by Doumon's barrier, and Lobomon's swords slammed hard against the barrier but could not penetrate it. Surprised, the wolves retreated, but they had done what they were supposed to, as Cyberdramon, Ardhamon and Taomon all flew towards Doumon with their special attacks ready. The Digidestined had joined Gennai on top of Yatagaramon, and the crow distanced itself away from the melee, enabling their partners to have better focus on the fight.
Doumon's shield provided protection against Ardhamon's Solar Wind Destroyer, but began to crackle as the oscillatory waves of Cyberdramon's Desolation Claw made contact with it. The priest snarled as his shield began to fail and pushed back as Taomon sent out the Thousand Spells, adding up to her comrade's devastating technique which then destroyed the barrier.
"Curse it!" Doumon quickly changed strategy and unleashed his giant paintbrush.
"Now's our chance! Cyber Nail!" Without wasting time, Cyberdramon charged forward and slammed his claw towards Doumon, but the latter resisted with his brush. The cybernetic dragon pushed through with all his might, but to his surprise the priest only looked mildly unbothered. The priest merely exerted force with his brush and was able to push both Cyberdramon and Taomon back, sending those two spinning in the air while he gracefully spread out his sleeves to balance himself from the impact.
"How can he be so strong?" Cyberdramon said in disbelief, looking at Taomon after the two of them regained composure.
Taomon understood the cybernetic dragon's confusion; both she and Doumon were about the same size, and Cyberdramon and Ardhamon were more massive in terms of size, but Doumon clearly had the upper hand here.
"He is nothing like I've ever fought before," Taomon admitted, and a rush of hot wind signaled their third comrade flying past them.
"Doesn't mean we're giving up!" Ardhamon charged with a Solar Wind Destroyer, slamming the massive fireball towards Doumon which was diminutive in comparison with the incoming attack. Doumon raised both arms and created a massive yin and yang energy shield once again, which protected him from the firestorm.
"I thought you'd be tired of this by now," Doumon sneered.
"Not likely!" Ardhamon attempted to pierce the barrier and was pushed back by dark crackle of electricity. His entire limb felt numb due to being electrocuted by the barrier.
"Well, it's been fun sparring with you, but I'm here on a very specific mission and we're a little short of time. So now I declare that the game's over with you!" The fox grinned and Ardhamon was taken aback by his sinister tone.
Doumon sent out hundreds of paper scrolls which crossed the barrier and surrounded the dragon man. Ardhamon was distracted by the scrolls, and with a wave of his sleeve the scrolls pasted themselves on the dragon man and strange kanji-like characters glowed ominously from the scrolls in light red. An aura in the form of the eye blazed behind the priest, and Ardhamon screamed in pain as smokes evaporated from his entire body, followed by crackles of dark electricity.
"What's he doing?" Cyberdramon demanded and rushed towards Ardhamon, but suddenly he was stopped by the strangest of sensation; it was like trying to move in a high-pressurized vacuum. His whole body felt heavy. Doumon had one arm outstretched towards him, but his eyes continued to be fixed on Ardhamon. From the corner of his eyes he saw Taomon was struggling to move as well; both of them were being held by an invisible force.
"Your turn will come soon enough," Doumon said, and took a deep breath as the smokes from Ardhamon turned crimson. The smokes crossed through the barrier and around the priest. The priest's eyes glowed as he absorbed the smokes into his body, and in an explosion of light Ardhamon reverted into Wizardmon and Dinohumon. Dinohumon nearly plummeted into the endless darkness, as he lacked any flight or levitation technique, but Wizardmon quickly seized the dragon man and struggled to maintain levitation. Both Champion Digimon appeared dazed, but relatively unharmed.
"What did you do to us?" Wizardmon demanded.
Doumon grinned as the crimson smokes vanished into nothingness, fully absorbed into his body. His eyes glinted with mirth. "I think you know the answer to that even as we speak. Can you feel the power of Huanglongmon's Digicore?"
Both Champions paled upon hearing the question. Dinohumon frowned, and looked at his smaller friend in panic. "I… I can't sense it."
Wizardmon glanced upwards towards Yatagaramon. "Maybe if we can get Kanto and Jon to try DNA digivolving us again…"
"Don't bother," Doumon interrupted, "You will be unsuccessful anyhow. Your days as Ardhamon are officially over; I've taken your ability to DNA digivolve."
"What?!" Dinohumon growled. "How dare you…"
"No, how dare you." With a calm flick of his hand, Doumon sent both Wizardmon and Dinohumon flying and the two of them vanished within the darkness.
Cyberdramon roared, waves of oscillatory beams rose out from his claws which broke him free of Doumon's invisible hold on him. "Where did you send them?" he demanded as he rushed towards the priest, his energized claw both poised for attack.
Doumon sneered and held the cybernetic dragon in place with his magic. "Oh, don't worry about them. They've simply been sent them back to the regular Digital World dimension because I have no more use of them. You, however," Doumon blasted paper scrolls which plastered themselves on Cyberdramon's body. "Your power, the power Omnimon bestowed upon you... mine."
Cyberdramon was electrocuted with dark energy similar to how Ardhamon had suffered. After several seconds passed, his armor began to corrode. Crimson smokes evaporated from the dragon and entered the priest's body. Before long, Cyberdramon reverted into Veedramon and Grizzmon and they, both without flight capability, plummeted into the deep nothingness. Doumon looked down, grinned lazily, and with a flick of his hand, Veedramon and Grizzmon vanished with a blink of light.
Screams were heard from above, but neither Doumon nor Taomon paid attention to them. The two fox priests now were facing each other. Taomon, horrified upon seeing the fate of her comrades, braced herself for the battle with her sly opponent. Doumon was clearly more experienced than she was, and also more powerful. Physically she had no doubt that either Ardhamon or Cyberdramon would be able to finish him, but Doumon was a magical being, so his prowess was unpredictable. Taomon decided to give this battle her best, and hoped she was able to defend her Ultimate form from being taken by this vile priest.
"Do you really think your meager magic is a match of mine?" Doumon sneered.
Taomon held her paintbrush before her. "I will fight you to the end if it is the last thing I do."
"Such conviction. Very well… Talisman of NIGHT!"
"Such perversion of the holy attack; I shall show you how it's really done! Talisman of LIGHT!"
The two kanjis slammed against each other, and Doumon's version of the attack pushed against Taomon's. For a moment there was a standstill, but Doumon's soon pushed itself against hers and it resulted into an explosion of light which pushed Taomon back. As her dark counterpart rushed towards her, Taomon deftly raised an energy barrier to shield herself. Laughing at her attempt, Doumon sent out his Thousand Curses; paper scrolls infused with dark magic similar to the ones he had used against her brethren.
"Surely you realize now that you're in a disadvantage and I will be the victor," Doumon sneered as he increased the frequency of the paper scrolls attack. "What? No smart replies now?" he jeered again.
Choosing not to reply, Taomon enveloped herself in a dome-shaped energy field, with the base bearing the symbol of the yin and yang. Chuckling, Doumon began plastering his scrolls on every inch of the energy dome. Taomon summoned every ounce of her remaining power to increase her shield's potency, as Doumon's scrolls began electrocuting the energy barrier. She screamed; the dark energy from Doumon's scrolls began to seep through the barrier.
"Give it up, my dear," Doumon said.
"Never! I won't allow you to take my power and harm my friends."
Doumon chuckled. "It's not just your power I'm taking, dear. Along with your powers come your Ultimate forms. I'm taking Cyberdramon, Ardhamon, and you. You will never be able to become them again."
Horrified at the revelation, Taomon thought of Kira, and of her fellow fallen comrades. If she failed, they would definitely be at their enemies' mercy, and she knew they had no mercy. Refusing to budge despite knowing that her barrier began to corrode and crimson vapor began to escape her body, Taomon remained standing. Out of exhaustion and out of despair, tears trickled down her eyes as she felt the wave of dedigivolution coursing through every fiber of her being.
"And so the graceful Taomon falls as well, standing till the very last moment," Doumon mocked as he absorbed the vapor that had escaped Taomon.
With a defeated sigh Taomon involuntarily shifted back to Kyubimon, and her energy dome shattered. The bewitching beast plummeted into the deep nothingness and was too weak to stop her own fall. She saw Doumon sneering, his form becoming smaller as she fell, a sharp pain piercing her heart as he took in the lasts of the vapor. She closed her eyes, but felt a shift in the air that made her flutter her eyes open once again. A pleasant change of environment greeted her, as she saw that the darkness was gone, replaced by the familiar Digital World once again, at sunset.
Doumon laughed. "My work here is done. Demon Gate Escape!" The priest created a portal with his brush, and flew into it before the portal vanished into nothingness.
With her remaining energy, Kyubimon managed to land on her feet on one of the many stone mountains before regrouping with the other devolved partners. The large shadow of Yatagaramon loomed upon them, and the defeated group of Digimon watched as their human partners descended from the crow and ran towards them.
"Are you alright?" Kira was the first to push herself down the giant crow, running towards Kyubimon.
"What happened?" Max implored as he knelt beside Veedramon who was slumped face-first onto the ground. Veedramon shook his head in despair, looking at the others for answers.
"What did the freak priest do to you guys?" Darien knelt beside the exhausted Grizzmon and inspected the bear's scorched furs. "Oh man…"
The bear wheezed an unclear reply as he began to glow. This was mirrored by the other four Digimon partners, when one by one, starting from Grizzmon and ending with Kyubimon; they all dedigivolved again into their Rookie forms to further conserve their powers.
"Doumon took your powers," Jon realized.
"It's worse than that," Kotemon said. "He took, specifically, the power from Huanglongmon's Digicore which had supercharged us to become Ardhamon. It's…gone."
Kanto frowned. "You mean, you can't DNA digivolve again?"
Demidevimon nodded sadly. "I can feel it being taken away. That sense of power, it's hard to miss it. When that priest took it, I know it's gone."
ToyAgumon looked at Bearmon, understanding evident from the way their eyes met, before the Lego dinosaur miniature sighed. "It's the same with the power Omnimon gave us. That familiar sense of power lingering inside us, like Demidevimon has described… it's no more."
"We can't be Cyberdramon anymore," Bearmon sniffled.
Renamon nodded silently, agreeing with her fellow partners. She was visibly shaken up by the experience. Kira rubbed a hand on the vulpine Digimon's shoulder.
"If the powers are taken from us, then we'll just have to take them back," Darien decided.
"Take them back?" Kira asked. "Just how are we going to do that?"
Darien opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out as he realized he too didn't know the answer.
"Good intentions alone won't get our partners their powers back," Kanto muttered.
"We have more than just good intentions..." Darien began to argue.
"Well, let's explore this at another angle. Kyubimon got her powers from the lady vanguard," Gennai interrupted, "maybe we can go back to Castle Eos and ask the lady to infuse some power into…"
"It is not that simple," Renamon cut in abruptly, audibly frustrated despite there were barely traces of the emotion on her face. "When Doumon took my powers, he told me it is not just our powers he was taking. He took our Ultimate forms… he took Taomon, Cyberdramon and Ardhamon." She looked at the setting sun. "Even if the lady vanguard gives us her power, what is the use if we can't digivolve?"
The other four partner Digimon looked at each other despairingly. After a month of adventures and their victory against more powerful enemies that same morning, it was hard to take in that they had lost their ability to digivolve to Ultimate level.
"Do you really think we've completely lost our ability to digivolve?" ToyAgumon asked Renamon.
The tallest of the Rookies sighed heavily. "I don't know for sure. The four of you lost your ability to DNA digivolve; you may still have access to your natural digivolutionary line. As for me, Taomon seemed to be my natural Ultimate form. If I've lost that form, then it stands to reason that I've lost the ability completely…"
"We don't know that yet," Kira cut in with conviction, her eyes desperately meeting the others for support. "Do we?"
"In any case, asking the lady vanguard to infuse her remaining power to the five of you will be an unwise course of action too," Lobomon added cautiously, trying to shift the topic upon seeing Renamon's despair. Everybody's attentions were immediately drawn onto the armored man, and he continued, "The lady vanguard has exerted a lot to empower Kyubimon all the way from here to the Dark World, and she is still recovering. If she empowers all five of you again then she will have nothing left of her to defend Castle Eos."
"I bet Mephistomon's banking on her doing that," Garmmon snarled. "If the lady vanguard's weakened then it's free lunch for Mephistomon and his wolf goons."
Gennai gasped. "We can't let that happen. If Mephistomon seizes Castle Eos then it will be darkness all over the Digital World. He will probably end up becoming more powerful than this enigmatic Dark One figure I've been hearing about; the leader of the Legion of Darkness."
"I've never heard of this Dark One," Max frowned, "and I hope we won't be meeting him anytime soon. Without our partners' ability to become Ultimates, we're sitting ducks."
The sky became darker as the sun slid down the horizon. For a moment everybody was silent as they let themselves take in the gravity of their situation. The air became cooler and the three moons of the Digital World began to appear.
Gennai shuddered. "It's getting more dangerous to be out here. We better resume our journey to the Order's headquarters. Daisy and Babel probably had gone there anyway to get reinforcements. "
"Is it far from here?" Kira inquired.
Gennai took in the features of the arid region where stone mountains were the only remarkable geographical feature available. His expression shifted into thoughtfulness. "At least Doumon's portal thingy somehow has shifted us slightly nearby the headquarters; if I am not mistaken this is where the Order's headquarters is located. And…" Gennai looked directly at the largest stony mountain formation at the farthest end of the region. He pointed towards it. "There."
The others peered ahead. "That looks like a couple of hour's journey on foot," Jon deduced.
"Make that three, with battle-worn Digimon," Demidevimon quipped.
"Won't be more than ten minutes on Yatagaramon though," Gennai said.
Faint howls of wolves suddenly echoed from a distance, sending chills down their spine. Renamon stood up straight, her furs stood in anticipation as her sharp eyes scanned the region. Garmmon did the same with his enhanced cybernetic sensors.
"Those wolves…" Renamon said in despair. "They're coming!"
"They're led by X-WereGarurumon, many of them," Garmmon added. "I sense Mummymon's energy signature, along with MadLeomon's…"
Gennai paled. "There are only two logical explanations. Either Doumon has alerted them to our location, or," he cast a look towards the direction of the Order's Headquarters, "or they're heading there!"
"How are we going to fight them?" Max groaned.
"Hey, don't count us digi-humans out yet," Gennai said with assurance, "there's a pretty good reason why Mephistomon hasn't attacked the headquarters directly for the past century. But there's no time to explain. Everyone, hop on board Yata. Garmmon, how long do you think they'll reach the Order's headquarters?"
"They're about less than an hour away from us, by foot," Garmmon supplied. "And it'll take another couple of hours for them to reach the headquarters."
Gennai nodded as he watched the Digidestined and partners climbed on board the holy crow of Castle Eos. He climbed the bird as well, and frowned when both Garmmon and Lobomon didn't budge.
"Aren't you two coming?"
"We'll stay to buy you guys time," Garmmon replied with conviction. Lobomon affirmed his brother's statement by activating his light swords.
"Don't be silly. Nobody's being left behind. Come on… the headquarters is still our safest bet against those creeps. We have the advantage of time and technology if we're all there. The headquarters is also protected by energy barrier. Come on."
A/N: Sorry it took me a long time to dish out this chapter, with real life issues holding me back as well as a writer's block. Initially the chapter is slower, with the kids getting to the Order's headquarters and introduced to each Order member first before battling Doumon, but I thought the chapter became too dragged so I shifted the ideas to create a sense of urgency for the kids, losing their partners' Ultimate forms which propelled the new arc I'm planning for them. Stay tuned.