Err…

Chapter 35: Destruction

There were black trails in the sky, the nine were chasing him. ExVeemon looked up and panicked, he couldn't possibly outrun them. Although… that is not really the point anymore, ExVeemon pushed himself harder and sprinted, it was the only thing he could do right now.

ExVeemon hesitated as he ran past Veemon, the tiny blue creature that looked pathetic as it laid in the wasteland, alone and unconscious. The black trails quickly closed in, he forced himself to take his eyes off Veemon and kept running forward. If there was anything he could do now…

As suddenly as they appeared, the black trails vanished, they turned back to the way they came and disappeared. ExVeemon stopped running and turned to look for a second, wondering the reason of their unexpected departure. It did not take him long to figure out.

A burst of flames erupted forth from Veemon's body, it engulfed his entire being and quickly spread, expanding in size and consuming the area around him in an azure inferno. His transformation had begun. ExVeemon looked away and quickly started running again.

He did not have to run for long.

Because he has found what, or rather, who, he was looking for.

Further Away:

The bright flames caught Davis's attention; he stopped walking and stared at it, again not sure at what he should do. He was anxious, he was anxious when he watched the trails in the sky as they chased after the sprinting ExVeemon, now he was anxious as to what will happen next. What they are doing now was just as planned by the Nine, and that cannot possibly be good, he felt that they just had to do something…

"Davis?" T.K. bumped into Davis as he stopped walking, he paused for a second and looked in the same direction as Davis. The flames grew and became bright, the light did not look good, "… you are not thinking of going back are you?"

Davis did not reply, he froze in his tracks.

"Hey… it's too dangerous, we should wait."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't want to get too far away." Davis opened his hand and looked at the digi-vice again, "I won't get close, but I want to stay here… I don't want to just wait for something to happen."

"Actually, you might have a point there." Gennai walked from the head of the group back to Davis, "I think we have walked far enough, he shouldn't notice us before the Angewomon." He looked at the distance they have made from Veemon and said, "If anything happens, we can quickly go back and act, or we could keep running away. This is a rather good distance to keep."

A sense of optimism rushed through Davis, he smiled and thought, this is actually the first time Gennai has agreed with me. That must have meant something good.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted. The Nine arrived without warning; their startling appearance had caught everyone off guard. The digimons quickly readied themselves for battle, but the robed creatures have not yet made a move.

"We cannot let you go back, we will not allow any hazards to our plan to surface now." The middle one stepped forth and spoke, without the weapons, it was impossible to tell which of the creatures it was. "You are no longer our focus, but interfere now, and we will eliminate all risks."

Davis clenched his teeth in anger, without his partner, he did not want to be involved in any more battles. But what troubled him more, was the events that were rapidly occurring much further ahead.

Then, a deafening noise quickly drew away everyone's attention. A roar, one that shook the very earth they stood upon. Everyone looked behind the wall of black the Nine had formed and at the explosion of blue flames behind, the transformation was complete.

The first to sprout forth from the flames were a gigantic pair of dark silver wings, they flexed and opened, as if ready to take flight. The body of a dragon then followed, grey yet lustrous scales of metal covered the body from neck to tail. The iris-less eye shone a radiant blue, so bright it can be seen from where they were.

The dragon, wreathed in a cloak of roaring blue flames, reared its head and roared once more, sending a jet of intense blue fire into the sky, a terrifying beacon to signal an incoming battle.

"Magnificent, is it not?" The same robed being spoke again, "This ageless weapon... no, it can no longer be described as a tool."

It continued to stare at the monstrous digimon that was once Veemon, "Yes, Apophismon, that is a fitting name."

Battlefield:

The limp Angewomon floated towards him like a ghost, the aura of dark data poured out of her mouth and surrounded her, corrupting everything within the range.

ExVeemon could not say anything, he saw what she had become, that visage of death itself, or perhaps even worse. He just stood there, shock and sadness freezing him in place.

A sudden roar snapped him out of his sea of thoughts. He turned around to the direction of the noise, just in time for a back draft of blue flames to lift him off his feet and blew him back. He quickly recovered balance and witnessed the birth of Veemon's new form.

ExVeemon covered his ears as Apophismon roared once more; he was tiny in comparison to the monster. It took flight, not even noticing his presence.

Leaving behind a trail of fire as it went; Apophismon quickly flew towards the Angewomon. She stopped moving as well, focusing all attention on the dragon as it glided around her in circles.

The battle had begun.

Drawing in a huge gust of air, Apophismon opened its mouth and unleashed a surge of blue flames down upon the Angewomon. The liquid-like flames instantly engulfed the entire area she was standing upon.

The blinding glare forced ExVeemon to cover his eyes; the heat wave hit him immediately after, scorching his skin as it past. ExVeemon instinctively stretched out an arm towards the Angewomon, still fearful of her fate, but his concern was pointless.

The blue flames that covered the Angewomon quickly lost their colour; the fires flickered slightly and faded, drawn into her body as a broken cluster of data.

As if realising the failure of the attack, Apophismon stopped encircling Angewomon and hovered midair. Angewomon closed in on her target; she slowly levitated off the ground, attempting to swallow the dragon inside her all-corrupting globe of data.

Apophismon flew back further and let out another attack. As if drawn from the air itself, countless trails of light flew into Apophismon's mouth. They accumulated at once, forming an orb of swirling energy. It jerked its head and spat the orb out of its mouth, sending it flying straight towards the slowly ascending Angewomon.

The orb made contact, with another white-turquoise flash, the orb rapidly expanded into a tremendous sphere of burning destruction. Crimson flames danced across its surface as indigo energy swirled underneath, the sphere pulled chunks of earth and everything upon it towards its centre. Everything perished to ashen data the moment it struck against the sphere's surface.

ExVeemon dug his claws into the earth and clung onto it with all his might, the force tugged painfully at his legs and threatened at every moment to drag him to a fiery death. It was impossible to see what was happening between the two battling digimons, it was hard to even open his eyes.

The long seconds of struggling against the implosion came to an end. The sphere exploded with an almighty blast, the force decimated all five senses. The white flare shot up into the sky and for that one moment, turned the unbroken night into the brightest of days.

It did not take too long for ExVeemon to recover consciousness. As soon as senses returned to him, he struggled back up and looked for where the two digimon now were. However, what caught his attention first was this site of devastation. The round crater was gigantic, a jarring dent upon this otherwise perfectly flat wasteland. Scarlet embers riddled the slops of the hollow. Half a dozen metres below at its centre, stood the Angewomon.

The aura of the twisted digimon entangled itself around her body like a barrier, despite the immense explosion that just occurred; she was not fazed in the slightest.

Apophismon flew further up and hissed in rage. It continued to encircle Angewomon, and as it flew it shed a rain of scales down upon Angewomon. The scales combusted in midair, turning into a hailstorm of burning darts, however, as soon as the projectiles fell into Angewomon's aura, they too lost colour and quickly dissipated.

Suddenly, the living darkness untangled from Angewomon and lunged out at Apophismon. The range of the attack clearly surprised it; it tried to fly away but was too late. The black corrupted data extended and caught its wing, immediately dragging it back onto the ground. Angewomon promptly floated forward and swallowed the entirety of the dragon within its globe. Apophismon let out a roar of pain as its scales and skin began to crack and dissipate, it reared its head and opened its jaws wide and a stream of pale light struck forth towards Angewomon.

The dark data once again enclosed itself around the Angewomon, shielding her from the spear of light. At the same time, the decay upon Apophismon's body slowed down, but it did not let go. Apophismon strained harder and the beam of light became more intense. The barrier began to dissolve and falter under its power. Seizing this chance, Apophismon put even more strength into the attack. The shattering of Angewomon's barrier seemed inevitable. As if out of desperation, the darkness that enveloped Apophismon abruptly disappeared, they returned and fortified the shield around Angewomon, immediately rendering Apophismon's attack useless.

Without wasting any time, Apophismon quickly took flight. Its wrath was so visible. The projectiles were useless against the Angewomon, they may hold her in place, but they cannot deal any damage. Apophismon let out another thunderous roar, this time, even more blue flames ruptured from its body, turning the dragon into a living fireball. Apophismon took its glistening blue eyes and stared at Angewomon for a few seconds, before diving down towards her like a falcon to its prey.

The Angewomon readied herself, but the dragon came all too quickly. Its blazing claws tore right through her defence, flames devouring the shadows, and knocked her limp body flat onto the ground.

Apophismon let out a bellow of triumph, but to its utter surprise, it had not yet won.

The corrupted aura chased up on the flying dragon and grabbed its tail like a tentacle. Angewomon floated back onto her feet, and with a tug, torn the beast out of the sky and slammed its body onto the ground. The dazed Apophismon tried to react to the attack, but Angewomon had already completely swallowed it within its aura.

Two sharp "snap" echoed across the field. Apophismon let out a sharp bay of pain as its wings went limp. The Angewomon closed in on it, the dragon was about to ready another attack, but before it could even rear its head, a force wrapped itself around its muzzle and another strangled his neck.

ExVeemon could wait no longer; he charged from his position and ran down the slope faster than he ever ran before. He won't let it happen, he had only just seen her again, whatever they were planning, whatever it means, he won't let it happen…

Apophismon desperately flailed its limbs around, trying to retaliate against the Angewomon as she came closer. With a nod, the corrupted data wrapped around Apophismon's limbs and twisted them in other direction, forcing them onto the ground.

ExVeemon heard the second cry, he pushed himself even further. He tripped and tumbled down the slope, the embers left burns all over his body. ExVeemon quickly recovered balance and continued running with more vigour still.

Angewomon stopped moving several dozens of metres away from Apophismon, from within her mouth, a pitch black smoke rose. The smoke twisted and flicked before assembling to form a shape, it was that of a lance. The point of the lance, was aiming at the torso of the helpless Apophismon.

ExVeemon charged straight into Angewomon's corrupted aura. At that moment of contact, the world lost its colour. A mind-shattering pain caused ExVeemon to fall onto his knees; he looked at his body and stared in disbelief, pieces of data began rising out of him, they danced in the air for a brief second before disappearing into nothing.

Fighting desperately against the pain, ExVeemon got back onto his feet and tried to run towards Angewomon. Something crushed against his back like a jagged boulder and the aura made him feel agonisingly nauseous. ExVeemon closed his eyes and put his final strength into this struggle.

Not now, please…

Not now…

I'M SO SORRY!

It's not finished, but hey, look on the bright side… the next chapter definitely will be the final one.

Review please! Thank you! And no flaming!