I'm so sorry it took me so long to post this chapter, but I was on vacation, and it's a little difficult to type when you're staring up at Mt. Rushmore and across the Badlands.
Chapter Thirty Six: The Eye of the Looking Glass
"Izzy?" Eric shook the shocked boy's arm once again, trying to gain his attention. "Izzy, what do you mean an 'e-mail'?"
"It was... from Yahoo..." Were the best words that Izzy could develop at the time.
"Izzy, e-mails don't have physical bodies, they're just data." Izzy then gave him an obvious look. "Oh, right."
"What's an e-mail?" Hakase inquired, confused about Izzy's revelation instead of surprised like Eric.
"So how could that have been an e-mail?" Asked Eric.
"I don't... I don't know. It's impossible. Unless..." Izzy drifted off into thought.
"Unless what?"
"Unless we're in the... but that doesn't make any sense." Izzy wasn't paying attention to the two entities at his side begging for answers.
"What doesn't make any sense?" Eric sighed loudly, trying to gain the genius' attention.
"I think we might be... in the Internet."
"Excuse me?" Obviously Eric had a problem with Izzy's answer. "How can we be... are you on drugs or... It's just not possible that we would-"
"Just here me out!" Izzy cut his friend off before the boy could get into his rant. "There needs to be some sort of intermediate between our world and the digital world, and the digital world is nothing but a dimension just like ours that uses computer data combined with energy. Computer data is artificial, so the digital world needs a source of this type of power in order to work the way it does."
"And that source would be the Internet?"
"Yeah!"
"So we came to the digital world through the Internet?"
"Exactly."
"That sounds crazy."
"Crazier than a world where computer data is the main source of energy and is used to pack years of growth and development into one energy packed second?"
"I guess not."
"Howling Blaster!"
"Hand of Fate!"
"Giga Blaster!"
A trio of WereGarurumon, MagnaAngemon, and MetalGreymon fired devastating attacks at Infermon, who narrowly dodged the triad of blasts, which burned past him and slammed into an invisible wall behind the sneaking computer virus.
"My turn..." Infermon smiled, and then dropped to the invisible ground and spun around so that he was facing the three digimon who had attacked him, who were now joined by MegaKabuterimon, Angewomon, and Rapidmon. "Spider Shooter!" He fired a deadly cannon blast at the six monsters in the air, who quickly scattered to dodge the dangerous move. Infermon did not relent, however. Immediately after attacking he leaped back into the air and pounced towards the first opponent he saw, Angewomon. "Network Grenade!" His voice trailed behind his body as he sped like a missile towards the exposed angel, who was focused on arriving at her predetermined position and did not see him coming.
"Angewomon!" MagnaAngemon did witness what was happening however, and quickly pivoted in the air and flew back towards his comrade, who turned just in time to see the monster's demonic horn drive toward her gut.
"Horn Buster!" Centimeters before impact, a jolt of electric power surged into Infermon and blasted him across the room (if that's what their location could be called) and slammed him into the invisible floor.
"Are you okay Angewomon?" MagnaAngemon asked unnervingly as he rushed to meet the female angel and MegaKabuterimon.
"I'm fine, he barely missed me. Thank you MegaKabuterimon." She sighed to the red monster hovering above her and MagnaAngemon.
"It's no problem, just be more careful next time." He muttered as he flew past the two archangels to join MetalGreymon, WereGarurumon, and Rapidmon, who had congregated around Infermon. Angewomon and MagnaAngemon followed.
"You can't handle all of us." The three heard MetalGreymon announce to Infermon as they arrived. The virus was struggling to stand up in between all of his enemies.
"We'll see about that." Infermon laughed painfully.
"No we wont! Giga Blaster!" Massive fish missiles fired from MetalGreymon's chest, and the others joined his attempt at a final attack.
"Howling Blaster!" A blast of blue fire flew from WereGarurumon's mouth.
"Rapid Fire!"
"Horn Buster!"
"Hand of Fate!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
Infermon wasn't lying. As soon as the six attacks were seconds from connecting, the sly digimon slipped up into the air and spun his body around like a disc, aiming his new weapon form towards MegaKabuterimon, who did not see the attack coming due to the bright electricity flowing from his horn. Before the others could warn him, the super fast Infermon disc sliced through the air and slammed into MegaKabuterimon's chest, tossing him across the floor into a pile of exoskeleton and limb a dozen yards away.
"Celestial Arrow!"
"Excalibur!"
Angewomon and MagnaAngemon were the quickest to respond. They soared through the air with their heavy white wings to attack Infermon before he could slow down, but apparently the monster had already expected retaliation, and as soon as he had slammed into MegaKabuterimon's chest he had turned around to deliver a dangerous blow to those who had decided to rebel against him: Angewomon and MagnaAngemon. The two were dealt a painful blow to their chests, and were both thrown backwards away from the rest of the group, who had all returned to their battle positions to continue what was now an increasingly difficult mission.
"Patamon!"
"Salamon!"
T.K. and Kari ran over to comfort their partners, who had landed only a few feet away. Eric, in the meantime, had broken away from his conversation with Izzy and Hakase and was now pulling the defeated Tentomon back to the main group.
"He's stronger than before." WereGarurumon spoke ominously as he, MetalGreymon, and Rapidmon gathered at a point in between Infermon and their partners.
"What?" Was MetalGreymon's worried response.
"The last time I saw Infermon he wasn't nearly as strong as he is now. He was just a little stronger than the rest of us in combat practice."
"Or maybe that's just what I wanted you to think?" Infermon gave a condescending laugh from across the pure white room, then ducked to avoid a possibly painful e-mail that whizzed right past his head. "I'm stronger than all of the digidestined combined, you idiot."
"We'll you're just full of surprises aren't you?" MetalGreymon growled at his adversary.
"That I am." Infermon chuckled.
"Well I'll tell you one digimon that I can guarantee that you're not stronger than."
"And who would that be?" Infermon then heard a beep behind him, and glanced back for a split second to check what it was. He saw that Tai had pressed the lone button on his digivice, and had a wide grin on his face. "What the-" Infermon turned back around and gasped. A massive skull dragon now stood where MetalGreymon once was, and WereGarurumon and Rapidmon were standing behind him with cheery looks on their face.
"Me." SkullGreymon, the more powerful yet very unstable dark version of Agumon replied.
"Myotismon never told me about you." Infermon tried not to stutter. Koichi, who stood about a few hundred feet away from the battle, was equally stunned.
"I imagine he wouldn't." SkullGreymon then swung his massive fist down on the weaker monster.
"That's... impressive." Matt gasped from the sidelines.
"Thank you." Tai replied smugly.
"How did he- learn how to do that?"
"It's a long story, but the moral of it is don't be stupid enough to give your enemies some of your power, because it usually ends up biting you in the butt." Tai chuckled. The battle was quickly turning in their favor. SkullGreymon was pounding his heavy bone fists into Infermon, who's futile attempts to absorb the physical attacks and roll backwards were resulting in horrible bruises across the monster's red and white body.
"It wouldn't even matter though." Said Matt. "Even if you didn't have this form of MetalGreymon, Agumon can digivolve to mega now."
"It's better this way though." Eric gasped as he heaved his heavy exoskeleton covered partner back to the rest of the digidestined. "There hasn't been a lot of time since he first evolved to mega. If he tried it again so soon, he might not even be able to do it, and if he did he probably wouldn't be at full strength."
"We never had that problem when we were working for Devimon." Matt replied as SkullGreymon delivered a crushing heel into Infermon's armored belly. The skull dragon didn't even need to use special attacks to take care of the quickly tiring enemy. "Although, when you're constantly being fueled by an evil needle that takes over your nervous system, I think this alternative is a much better choice."
"We should help in the battle." WereGarurumon growled in a low voice.
"Why? SkullGreymon's got a handle on it." Rapidmon observed obliviously.
"Not for long. I don't think SkullGreymon has complete control of himself. Look at him." WereGarurumon nodded over to the battle. It was true. SkullGreymon seemed to be beating Infermon senselessly alright, but in a manner that was more brutal than purposeful. SkullGreymon seemed to be toying with his enemy more than trying to defeat him.
"Okay then." Rapidmon nodded, then took off into the air. WereGarurumon quickly followed the rabbit-dog.
"Spider Shoo-" Infermon tried launch cannon fire at the monster that was pulverizing him, but SkullGreymon wouldn't have it. He shoved his bony fist into Infermon's face and almost knocked the spider's jaw in half.
"SkullGreymon!" A call from behind signaled the monster to stop the beating and turn his head for a second, where he saw his two remaining allies running up to his side.
"You guys should go back, I can handle him." The dragon instructed with an odd lust in his eyes.
"We think you might need a little help SkullGreymon." Rapidmon replied warily.
"What? That's ridiculous, I'm beating him senseless!" Was SkullGreymon's confirming response.
"That's the problem," WereGarurumon replied calmly, "All you're doing is toying with him. You don't seem to have full control over what you're doing."
"That's nonsense!" SkullGreymon snapped back. "I-"
"Koichi!" Infermon was suddenly back on his feet, and had edged himself closer to his partner. "I think we need to stop toying around with them." His call to his partner put a shudder through the three hero ultimate's spines.
"You? Toy with us?" SkullGreymon was offended by this ludicrous claim.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. So much for stalling you guys." Koichi sighed, and then activated his digivice.
"What's he doing!?" Came the panicked response from everyone else in the white room. They were all answered very quickly.
"Infermon digivolve to... Diaboromon!"
Everyone stood in awe. The most diabolical monster they had ever seen towered five stories above them. Three ferocious orange claws lay out on each of the puke yellow monster's feet, a similar set of five extending from blue armor plates around the monster's wrists. His feet and hands were attached to the rest of his body by incredibly long and slender appendages, where the skinny demon looked as if all that rested within his body was his spine and skull. A blue armor chest piece covered the starved looking creature, while two massive blue shoulder pads held Diaboromon's lanky arms. A green orb was embedded in the creature's chest, and a large orange horn ejected from his back. But his horrid face cast fear over everyone in that room (except for Koichi) that was more intense than when they layed eyes on VenomMyotismon. It was simple, but demonic. A dark blue diamond held tufts of yellow hair and two mostly horizontal horns that spread like the horrid wings of a demon, and his intense yellow eyes and blood red mouth cast a spell that spoke death to anyone that came into contact with him.
"I didn't know he could do that." WereGarurumon shuttered.
"We need to act fast before he shakes off his evolution daze." SkullGreymon whispered.
"I'll attack," Said Rapidmon, "You slide evolve and then try and get to mega before he crushes us." The rabbit-dog was addressing SkullGreymon. "Come on WereGarurumon," The armored bunny then leaped into the air, with his new wolf ally by his side. WereGarurumon could not fly so he had to hang onto the Rapidmon's leg.
"Howling Blaster!"
"Rapid Fire!"
In the meantime, SkullGreymon rolled past Diaboromon and arrived back to Tai and the others, who were staring in awe at Infermon's new form.
"Tai, I need to try for WarGreymon." He gasped.
"Do you have the energy?"
"I don't know, but it's our best shot at beating him."
"But what if you wipe out or something when you're trying to digivolve?"
"He shouldn't." Izzy and Hakase had now joined the conversation, and the human genius was talking. "This place is a gold mine for energy. Go ahead and try it."
"Where are we?" Tai responded.
"I'll tell you later." Tai could sense the urgency in Izzy's voice, then looked back at Diaboromon. He had shaken off his daze from digivolving and was now thrashing his violent palms at Rapidmon and WereGarurumon, who were trying their best to dodge in the air and on the ground, respectively.
"Okay, go for it SkullGreymon." He then tapped his digivice.
"Slide Evolution... MetalGreymon!" The smaller scale covered dragon appeared a second later, and then sighed before beginning the next stage of his evolution. "Digivolve to... WarGreymon!" Izzy was right. The mega that appeared before them was full of energy and did not seem to be in any way exhausted from his two previous battles.
"Go get 'em WarGreymon." Tai patted his partner's arm (he could not reach his shoulder), who smiled and then leaped into the air, aiming for the monstrous Diaboromon that was torturing Rapidmon and WereGarurumon.
"Rapid Fire!" Rapidmon poured a stream of automatic rounds into Diaboromon, who seemed unfazed by Rapidmon's usually devastating attack. Rather, he seemed completely unharmed and all the more motivated to inflict extreme pain on his opponent.
"Cable Crusher." Diaboromon hissed. His right arm then extended dramatically and slammed his palm into Rapidmon's body. The appendage snaked through the air and eventually slammed Rapidmon into the invisible wall. The bunny-dog quivered for a moment as Diaboromon retracted his arm, then fell to the ground and degenerated. Diaboromon then turned his full body towards Terriermon and puffed out his chest. "Web Wrecker!" A destructive orb then blasted out of the green orb on Diaboromon's chest and sped towards the helpless Terriermon. Seconds before impact, however, WereGarurumon swooped in and snatched the little digimon from his certain death, and galloped quickly to the group of digidestined, dropping the battered rookie into Izzy's arms.
"Now what?" WereGarurumon sighed to Matt hopelessly.
"That." Came his smiling response. WereGarurumon turned around to see the majestic sight of WarGreymon hovering in the air before Diaboromon, who seemed unimpressed, although the digidestined were not focused on this fact.
"Oh, I'm terrified." Were the evil mega's first sentient words since he had evolved.
"You should be." WarGreymon growled in return, and then rose his arms up into the air. "Terra Force!"
"Wait..." A thought then popped into Eric's head.
"Line Surge!" Diaboromon then began to spin rapidly like he had done as Infermon, only this time he was larger and deadlier. As WarGreymon flung his heavy orb of fire past his eyes (and his field of vision) Diaboromon knocked the ball away harmlessly as if it were an ordinary piece of sports equipment and sliced his deadly claws straight towards WarGreymon, who was only a few feet away.
"Woah!" WarGreymon dropped down quickly, narrowly avoiding a painful slam to the chest from Diaboromon, who continued his deadly spin, curving downwards to get a better angle at which to attack the mega dragon. "He doesn't know who he's up against." WarGreymon smiled. "Great Tornado!" Raising his arms together in the air, the dramon began to spin just as violently as Diaboromon, and aimed his point right towards Diaboromon's chest. The two then collided in a spinning fury, although it was apparent that neither spinning mega currently had the strength to defeat the other, and were both flung to opposite ends of the bright cavern. They slammed into the invisible walls, thankfully avoiding both sets of spectators (the hero digidestined and Koichi).
"That was pathetic." Diaboromon laughed as he pulled himself out of what the group could only assume was rubble. As he departed from the wall, the group could see that there was a slight pull behind Diaboromon's back, indicating that there might be more earthly physical properties than Izzy had originally thought to himself.
"Look who's talking." WarGreymon groaned. "At least I didn't break an imaginary wall!"
"You don't know very much do you?"
"I know enough to defeat you. Terra Force!" The sphere burned through the air and tried to slam into Diaboromon, but the monster prepared himself. He caught the flaming ball of terror and tossed it right back at WarGreymon, who was not ready for such an attack. He only had enough time to brace himself. "Gyah!" WarGreymon cried as his own attack shoved itself into every nook and cranny in his armor. Thankfully the dramon's tough dragon skin protected him from any real damage.
"He's not strong enough to defeat Diaboromon." Eric muttered as the hero digidestined watched Diaboromon and WarGreymon launch themselves from their opposite walls and deliver powerful physical attacks once again.
"What do you mean?" Tai was offended. "Of course he can defeat Diaboromon."
"He's right Tai, Diaboromon's obviously been a mega for a lot longer than it seemed like before." Izzy backed up the tamer of wisdom.
"He probably figured out how to become mega weeks ago and just hid it from me and the rest of the other tamers." Matt observed.
"But... he has to win. WarGreymon is our only hope." Kari supported her brother, who was getting nervous.
"Not anymore Kari. We're going to have to think of another plan." Said Izzy.
"What other plan? There's no other way to beat him," T.K. panicked, "Unless one of the digimon figures out how to evolve to mega, but we don't even know how Agumon did that."
"He realized his courage..." Tai whispered under his breath, out of earshot of the other tamers.
"We can't think about beating him anymore." Eric began. "Koichi only led us in here to distract us long enough so the other evil tamers could escape and do God knows what to the digital world. I say we stop falling for it and find a way out of here."
"The crest of knowledge..."
"The only way to get out is through another data stream portal, and we have know idea where to find another one of those." Hakase replied pessimistically.
"The crest of wisdom..."
"Isn't there some sort of order in the way the data stream works?" Izzy asked the rookie genius. "Shouldn't the gate open and close at certain points?"
"The crest of hope..."
"The data stream is dependent on the actions of those in the digital world. The more data that's broken up from living things the larger the data stream bubble gets. It will only burst once it has reached a certain weight, so depending on the actions of those in the digital world, it could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few years."
"The crest of light..."
"So I guess there was a reason we didn't want to go here in the first place huh?" T.K. asked Hakase. He nodded.
"The crest of..." Tai glanced to Matt, who was involved in the conversation.
"Isn't there some way to open the gate from this side?" Eric inquired. "I mean, if Leopardmon could do it-"
"Leopardmon opened a gate from the digital world to the human world that brought you all here."
"Matt, what does your crest symbolize?" Tai asked the formerly evil tamer, who stared at him with confusion.
"Is that really important right now Tai?" Matt had a stunned look on his face.
"WarGreymon's starting to become disadvantaged, I'm going to help him." WereGarurumon announced, and then leaped away towards the battle, where WarGreymon and Diaboromon were involved in a fist fight, and Diaboromon was winning.
"Yeah but he brought us all from different points in Japan," Eric continued, trying to stay focused on the matter at hand, "So he must have had the ability to open different gates besides the one from the hub."
"But I have no idea how to do that." Hakase sighed.
"Please Matt, it's important." Tai emphasized to Matt with his eyes how urgent the leader thought this issue was.
"It's the crest of friendship." He replied, confused but compliant.
"Half Moon Kick!" WereGarurumon slammed his foot into the back of Diaboromon's skull, who was not expecting the attack from behind. This distracted him long enough for WarGreymon to deliver a punch with his sharp gauntlet claws unopposed. His fist drove into the monster's green gem in the middle of the monster's chest. This was a mistake.
"Gyah!" A surge of energy poured from Diaboromon's chest and electrocuted WarGreymon on the spot.
"I knew you weren't very smart. Web Wrecker!" Diaboromon blasted his powerful cannon point blank in WarGreymon's face, pounding him in the gut and chest, knocking him onto the ground, causing the digimon to groan and vomit, and finally degenerate.
"Agumon!" Tai cried helplessly to his partner.
"No!" WereGarurumon leaped from Diaboromon's shoulder and landed gracefully on the ground. He ran over to the rookie and pulled him off of the ground. The monster was unconscious and his reflexes were forcing him to clutch his ribs. There was no question. Diaboromon had taken care of their only mega.
WarGreymon had been defeated.
WereGarurumon was alone.