Agh, this chapter took SO LONG to write. Way too much going on for me and in the chapter, but I said I wanted to get another one out before the end of August and by god I was gonna do it. Hope it's not too hard to follow - as always, pointing out glaring errors is welcomed. Enjoy!

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Chapter 50: Campaign

For once, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Havocravenmon let out a long sigh, his eyes closed and his mind awhirl. Garganuta Weapon had lifted off for the first time that morning, and they had finally begun their journey southward, where new power and new potential awaited them. What had been months in the making and a logistical challenge of epic proportion had finally come to fruition. They had drastically boosted their offensive and defensive capabilities, improved their mobility to get away from hazards, and made themselves an even more imposing force than ever before. And though he knew that they certainly weren't going to just leave them be, the humans and digimon that had plagued them over and over again were for the moment nowhere to be found. It appeared they had a real chance to put some distance between them. It was the best situation they could have hoped for.

So why the hell am I so nervous?

True, there were some lingering matters. Their modified Illusion Generator hadn't been quite as effective as hoped; the scouts told him that the distortions were fairly obvious and nothing was masking the enormous shadow Gargantua Weapon was bound to cast. Which hadn't been entirely unexpected; the size of Gargantua Weapon made it all the more likely that it wouldn't be totally invisible. It was why he had charted the safe course, away from any large established settlements; the fewer people they riled up, the better off they were. And there had been some discontent about the spatial compression tanks, also not unforeseen as no one wanted to be locked away for extended periods of time. But they had gone with it, if only because there wasn't any real alternative. Where else were they going to keep the most gigantic of their warriors? In the end they had acquiesced and preparations had been wrapped up without incident.

Yet, for all that was going in their favor, Havocravenmon couldn't shake the feeling that trouble was coming their way. And part of him was concerned that he was bringing that trouble with him.

He had the loyalty of most of Emperius behind him, but it had become clear that some issues were starting to stir. One of particular concern was one of their most powerful members; Chaos Dukemon was showing signs of being more erratic and unstable than ever, and he had become more vocal about wanting to be on Havocravenmon's council, to which the council's unanimous response had been that there was no way in Hell they would put up with that. He was in a tough position; Chaos Dukemon was making a bald-faced power play, and Havocravenmon didn't trust him one whit, even if he was one of Craniummon's darlings, but he also feared what Chaos Dukemon might do if he got the impression that it was a closed case. He had to settle for trying to tell him that he would be next in line if one of the Generals fell in combat, which he knew didn't satisfy the knight and did threaten to leave him with an idea of how to expedite the process. It was all he could do.

He'd noticed a small number of other digimon beginning to question their commitment to the cause, as well. These ones were especially bothersome because they usually started the same way - losing that notion of destined victory that so many had been so convinced of. It was only a smattering, most still fervently stuck to the idea, but it seemed to be catching on even if only a little. But of those who did begin to change their notion, their response had more often been less how to ensure their victory and more questioning why they were even there in the first place. It was always a little painful to Havocravenmon to overhear them talking and realize they were essentially saying they had only been in it because of the idea of winning. He wanted them to be there because they supported the ideal, the notion that the strong should lead and the weak should be cast away. It made him wonder how quickly they would turn away if Emperius ever seriously faltered, a possibility he was never willing to discount.

And, of course, there was the ever-persistent problem of D'arcmon. She had been quieter than usual towards him, but from what he had heard the vocalization had merely been reappropriated, directed at trying to raise mutiny against him. Few had been drawn in who didn't already side with her from the start, but Havocravenmon always had the feeling he was on thin ice; she had enough charisma to be convincing if he ever seemed to be falling short, and he knew one bad event could change the tide completely. And even if he managed to keep favor on his side, he didn't trust her not to try to pull a coup anyway and take control of Gargantua Weapon. He did have a countermeasure in the case of that possibility, but of course, that only meant a countermeasure that could also be used against him, if only with much difficulty.

She's more trouble than she's worth...I wish there was a way to be rid of her without the inevitable backlash from her posse. I may ask Kuzuhamon to keep an eye on her, she could put up the best façade of being on her side and get inside information on her...

"Sir?" Havocravenmon jumped a bit as a Gazimon peeked into the room. "Are you all right?"

"...Fine. What is it?"

"Duftmon wanted me to tell you that we're nearing the midpoint of Northern Tetraquaz. We should be crossing within the next 30 minutes."

"Ah, right. Thank you. Have the divectors ready, we'll need to be careful and quick if we encounter any traffic."

They had designed their path to be as free of obstacles and witnesses as possible, but there was no way around the high-volume airway across the center of the continent. With an unusual dual jet stream passing through in both directions east and west, it was a favorite course of flying Pokémon, especially couriers who rarely were safe taking Transfer Points. They gained great benefit from the tailwind easing the strain on long flights, and benefited from a variety of landmarks which they could use to determine where they had to turn. Knowing they had to cross it at some point, they had readied a battery of divectors, machines which were designed to irritate digimon and drive them to turn away, keeping them as clandestine as possible. With any luck, they would think it was something unpleasant in the air that had caused the problem; Havocravenmon also hoped that it would convince them that their not-quite-perfect cloaking was a mirage caused by the same.

Almost time for the rough part...if we can get past this, the rest is pretty open. If anything is on our side, we'll get through this without trouble...

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Deep within Gargantua Weapon, a lone Flawizarmon was manning the Illusion Generator. It wasn't something that necessarily required constant monitoring, but with the new and unfamiliar set-up Havocravenmon had wanted someone on site at all times in case there were any problems. There hadn't been so far, and Flawizarmon had considered it a fairly boring job; he was so zoned out at the moment that he didn't realize there was someone in the doorway.

"I have a question."

Flawizarmon started and looked up at the unexpected arrival. "Y-you're not supposed to be here. Ask someone else."

"I have asked others. They have not given me satisfactory answers. Now I'm asking you. I'll leave once you answer."

"Mnh...make it fast, then, I've got work to do."

"What is power, exactly?"

Flawizarmon huffed; this wasn't the diversion he had been looking for. "For crying out loud...if you have to ask, you'll probably never know."

"Then enlighten me, unless you have no answer for yourself."

"It's...just kind of the ability to do what you want without anyone stopping you. I mean, it's kinda simple, you don't have to think about it a lot."

"But there is the core of my question. What makes one powerful? Is it having, or is it doing? Is power simply a measure of one's kill count?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"If a digimon has strength and never uses it to harm another, for right or for wrong, is he powerful? If a digimon has little strength but lords over those with even less, is he powerful?"

"Dammit, I thought all you kinds of guys were run out long ago. Look, power is about doing, if you don't ever use it you might as well not have it. Jeez, is that simple enough for you?"

"Then, what of those who do, but not with strength?"

This caught the wizard someone off-guard. "...Huh?"

"Those who do not possess strength, but have other qualities which allow them to do? The technology used in creating this Weapon was not built solely on slain bodies. Is there not power in this?"

"It doesn't matter! Strength is the only kind of power that's worth anything! So what if some damned brain on a stick makes machines? We're the ones who should win out in the end! Am I making myself clear, or do I have to dumb it down even more?"

"No...I believe you have made yourself perfectly clear. You and all the others on this accursed thing."

"What are you-ULK!" Flawizarmon's eyes widened as a blade pierced his chest. He had but a moment, as the second blade sliced rapidly through the air towards him, to reflect that he probably should have been more satisfied with the boredom.

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It was a fantastic and terrifying sight to behold from the outside. It was as if the massive airborne fortress had appeared from thin air, mysterious conjured into existence by an unseen force. The appearance was made not long after their start into the jet stream, and the few courier digimon flying along were startled well out of their usual reveries and took quick evasive action, some making contact with their origin points to report the sudden change in plans. The few groundborne digimon within eyesight of the behemoth made haste away from it, fearing that it might shift course and come their way.

From inside, Havocravenmon was swearing up a storm; he'd gotten the frantic report from the scouts outside and had rushed down to the control room to find the catastrophe that awaited him. He turned to a cowering Impmon hesitating in the doorway behind him. "Get the security camera records right now! Find out who did this! And get people down here to repair the Illusion Generator! If this gets back to the Kaiser before we get our stealth back he'll be on our asses in a heartbeat!"

"Y-yes sir! I'll find out who did this right away!" The Impmon tore out of there, clearly fearing any delay would only further stoke the wrath of the commander. Seething, Havocravenmon turned back towards the generator room; pieces of the massive stealth machine were scattered all over the floor, and splashes of blood marked the walls and floors, the only remaining visible trace of the Flawizarmon monitoring the machine. When I find the treacherous bastard who did this, their head is coming off! I'll bet it was one of d'Arcmon's cronies, they'd pull a stunt like this just to make me look bad! They'll get their due, that's for sure!

"Commander! Commander!" Havocravenmon felt a nasty pulling in his gut; that voice had the unmistakable tone of someone who had only the very worst to report, as if anything more was necessary to compound the already ghastly situation. Soon Duftmon appeared in the doorway, out of breath and in a state of near panic.

"The Weapon...it's under attack!"

"Under attack...is it the h...tainted ones?"

"Commander, it's practically an entire army!"

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It seemed like all Gallantmon could do these days was be shocked. He had thought the encounter with the Gargantua Weapon would be a massively lopsided affair, just the five heroes against a seemingly unstoppable fortress of doom. But as the day dawned and the critical hour neared, what he found instead was an assault force reminiscent of Libertius' full strength, perhaps even more.

"How...where did this all come from?" he gasped out as the symbiotes came up to meet him.

"Well, virtue may be its own reward, but cashing in favors is a nice perk." Thundergarudamon landed by the knight and surveyed the area with an air of satisfaction. "When we found out what we were up against, we decided to see if anyone was willing to give us a hand in taking it on. I must say, we ended up with a lot more volunteers than I expected."

"More than we all had expected, but the circumstances have changed," Cyberrexmon stated. "Gargantua Weapon is a much more actualizable threat than Emperius itself was. People see it and instantly know it's a serious danger. The longer it's allowed to stand, the more they'll be able to build it up, upgrade it, make it even harder to take down. Knowing that, they wanted to get in as soon as possible, and all the added support made them feel more confident that taking action now would bring us victory."

"It's incredible! I suspected you had something in mind with all the activity yesterday, but I never imagined you could organize an entire army under you command!"

"Actually, it's your command, Commander," Onyxvargmon said.

"Wh-what? But...this was all your doing-"

"Yeah, well, we're gonna have our own roles to play," Pyrekomodomon said. "Trying to take down Gargantua Weapon from outside is gonna be nigh impossible, even with all the support we got. That's where we're gonna have to come in...in the confusion, we'll be to get inside and take out the quantum reactor. The outside army's going to draw forces outside, weaken the Weapon so that they can slow it down, and if they manage to deal any critical blows, all the better if we have trouble getting to the reactor. We're not gonna be able to do much in the way of commanding while we're inside. They've all got their individual organization, but you're gonna be the one who brings it all together."

"I see what you mean...then I will do whatever I can. I suppose I should ask who and what I'll have to work with."

"That's the spirit!" cackled Stormdramon. "You're gonna be happy with it, I promise! Hey, Mr. Memory Machine, fill him in already!"

"Calm down, you impatient bugger. Anyway, Commander, we've got a lot of battle experience here. The Sky Lords and Land Kings are both here and finally working together, though I get the feeling they're still planning on trying to outdo each other."

"I doubt the competition will ever end with those two, but at least it's friendly now," Onyxvargmon sighed.

"We're also getting a lot of support from Mechalopolis. They've not only got personnel, but a wide variety of weapons, defensive measures, and electronic support. They're also on satellite communication and have provided personal shielding to everyone involved." Cyberrexmon chuckled. "Kind of ironic that so much of the stuff they're using was originally supposed to be used against all of us."

"There's a ton of weapons over there! And combat drones, too!" Stormdramon exclaimed as he pointed towards the Mechalopolis contingent. A battery of siege weapons and cannons were being rushed into place, and there were numerous groundborne and airborne mobile weapons platforms being arrayed as well. In the air just above, a number of smaller machines were swarming around, each one bearing some small yet wicked-looking missile payloads.

"They're not the only ones who went with tech, either," Thundergarudamon said as she pointed to yet another contingent. "Looks like we got some heavy weapons from Pomezly as well."

"UlforceVeedramon was disappointed that they couldn't use the Pomezly Cannon," Cyberrexmon said with another chuckle. "Too bad that's not mobile, Emperius knows much better than to go anywhere near that. But we are giving them a chance to try out a couple of other innovations they've been wanting to use." He pointed to two large tanks being moved into position behind some stationary cannons. Each one was armed with what appeared to be four small cannons, but which they could see could also be merged together into one larger one; the bodies of the tanks were adorned with large spikes, preventing them from being grabbed by larger creatures, and they rolled around on what looked like large energy orbs rather than wheels or treads, giving them full 2D range of motion. "Apparently they're pretty proud of those things, it's a shame I won't be able to see much of them in action."

"We also got Gaiohmon's assistance for the battle," Onyxvargmon stated, nodding towards an eclectic battalion being barked at by the Yegemra commander, who appeared much more at ease and in his element than back at the outpost. "He says this one will be comped as long as it's an entertaining battle, so I say get them all plenty involved so they're satisfied."

"Apollomon and the Order of the Flame are also in," Pyrekomodomon added. "They're going to try to go after the engines and slow the Weapon down, maybe force them to stay closer to the ground so that they're more accessible to those of us who can't fly."

"And speaking of flying, some of my old buddies at Pinion Peak come around with Ornismon!" Tornadramon yapped excitedly. "They're really itching to get at Emperius for indirectly causing that whole petrification thing! There's some real great combat veterans among them, they've been through lots of battles and know what they're doing, they can offer some awesome strategic direction!"

"It's an impressive array of fighters," Cyberrexmon said. "With this much at our disposal, we should have the exterior battle covered. Then it just comes down to us doing our job on the inside. That'll be tough, but we're going to give ourselves the best possible chance of success."

"Are you sure you don't want to take anyone with you?" Gallantmon asked. "Surely we've got a few to spare from the outside, even though I can hardly believe I can say that in any seriousness."

"I thought about that, but I think it'll be best for it to just be the five of us," Pyrekomodomon said. "We've been able to hash out a plan that we're all on the same page about. It'd be too difficult to bring in a bunch more people and try to get them all caught up before we have to take action. But I think we'll be fine anyway. No doubt Emperius will expect us to be involved in all this, but they likely don't know exactly what we're planning to do...whether because of overconfidence or because they simply don't know what we know, they'll probably expect us to be part of the force that's trying to take them down from the outside. With that in mind, they'll put their efforts into hunting us down outside, and leave the interior far less protected."

"Provided that goes well, we'll be able to slip in to our preferred access point and get to our destination," Onyxvargmon said. "There's a trick to taking them down. Three of us have to get to spots that control access to the quantum reactor. Pyrekomodomon will do the honors down there."

"And while they're at that, I'll be looking to free the Libertius captives," Thundergarudamon chimed in. "The mechanism that's keeping them held in that brig has something to do with electricity, so I'll have the best shot at getting it taken care of and getting them out of there."

"Hey, look up there! We've got more reinforcements!" Stormdramon yelped as he pointed to the sky. A very large, long-bodied eastern-style dragon was leading several flying digimon with riders towards the gathering army.

"Where did those guys come from?" Cyberrexmon asked.

"Cyclodramon...Stormdramon, you think that's that Breezedramon from Oroetem?" Pyrekomodomon asked.

"Yeah, that's gotta be him, and probably some guards from the castle! I wonder how they found out, I didn't even go ask them!"

"Word travels fast sometimes, they may have heard it through the grapevine. I wonder what possessed him to get involved in a battle like this, I thought he left the South to get away from this kind of thing."

"No, wait, that might be why! The Weapon's headed to the South, he probably doesn't want them to make any more mess than there already is! And the guards probably came because they thought I'd be here!"

"That makes sense. The more the merrier, I guess, I just hope they're less overbearing than before."

"Nyaha, not a chance! Don't let on that I'm going inside, they'll probably try to fin-hoWHOA!"

All attention instantly turned towards where Stormdramon was looking the moment he let out his cry. There was no question what brought it; the heart-stoppingly imposing façade of Gargantua Weapon was looming not far in the distance. Despite the distance, it blocked a surprisingly wide arc of view, a flying wall of metal intent on erasing the horizon from memory. Jets of blue energy scorched the ground underneath, keeping it off the ground, impressively high for something its size but still not too far above, barely over the height of a Greymon.

"That...I've seen all the images, but somehow it looks even more scary in reality," Thundergarudamon remarked in awe.

"No kidding!" Stormdramon shouted. "That thing's crazy huge! Everyone's definitely gonna have their work cut out for them!"

"Well, that's why we're trying to kill it from within, not without," Pyrekomodomon said, not betraying any shock or disconcert from the Weapon's appearance. "Looks like it's time for battle. Better be ready for them, because it looks like they're ready for us!"

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"How...where did they all come from?" Duftmon cried out in shock as they stood on an observation deck. "Libertius was fallen, no one else of any threat had come out against us...Commander, this is a nightmare!"

"Damnation..." Havocravenmon hissed quietly, kicking himself mentally. I let them go...I thought they would come after us, that seemed inevitable enough...why did I fail to see this? Of course they would amass an army of supporters...Libertius wasn't the only one against our ideals, they were just the ones who bothered to fight...but the humans, those digimon, they gave them a reason to believe they could win...

He took a deep breath, trying to quell the screaming fury threatening to break through into the world. All the work they had done, all the efforts to solidify their position, and in one moment they wer suddenly on the verge of backpedaling again...yet, as his calm and commanding presence reassumed itself, this was not something he couldn't have foreseen happening eventually. Perhaps not so quickly, but hadn't Gargantua Weapon been designed for such a purpose?

"Duftmon, give the order to divert all attention from evasive maneuvers to combat maneuvers. The automatic weapons are at the ready, get some digimon to arm the heavier ones. Tell them to go all-out, we have no need for finesse here. We can handle this if we work at it and don't lose ourselves to frenzy...they may have an army, but so do we, and we've got the firepower here to back it up."

"Yes, sir! I'll do everything I can to see our vision come to life!"

"I have full confidence of that. Scramble the other Generals, they'll help whip everyone into action. Don't engage anyone yourself unless absolutely necessary, the access ports should be well-guarded."

"Yes, sir!"

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The opening barrage was spectacular - a maelstrom of color and power, barreling through the air with deadly intent. The air assault force responded without hesitation, skirting the ballistic inferno and rocketing in towards the Weapon, ready to unleash their own opening salvos. Slayerdramon took the initiative with the orders.

"Knock out as much as you can from the front wall first! Give our own weapons as much relief as they can to do the most damage! Stay out in front as much as you can, the weapons on the other surfaces will be too much until we can target them as a group!"

As a unit the air force swept in, unloading torrents of energy at a concentrated area on the hull. The impact was tremendous, almost shaking Gargantua Weapon itself. The armor resolutely withstood the blow, but it left a sizable void of return fire as the weapons were blown apart. With a quick motion the air team severed into four smaller forces, each one drawing fire and returning it in kind, slowly eating away at the Weapon's ability to defend itself.

They weren't alone for long; the Weapon was now within striking distance of the ground forces, and they jumped in the instant they could. The ballistic weapons set up by Mechalopolis and Pomezly blew powerful bursts from their mouths, hammering the hull and breaking apart more of the dangerous cannons trying to silence their fire. The tanks surged into action as well, launching powerful bursts of energy that expanded over a wide field on the hull, destroying some of the guns and disabling others long enough for them to be vulnerable to other attacks. Underneath, the Land Kings did their part by launching great slags of earth at the Weapon, each one impacting like a massive cannonball and threatening to do real damage to the armored hull itself, while several of the Order of Flame swept underneath the Weapon and began targeting the jets holding it up in the air, trying to bring it down before it could go much further.

As the fire from the front wall of the fortress began to wane, Emperius began a more coordinated counterattack, bringing manned weapons online and sending out battalions of digimon to try to disrupt the army's efforts to bring down Gargantua Weapon. Melees broke out all over the battlefield, with small groups of digimon squaring off and trying to take each other out while the sounds of war echoed around them. Blazing lasers screamed through the sky, trying to tear through the air assault and turn the tide of battle back in their direction. Explosions rocked the ground and sky as bombs and missiles flared out from ports in the Weapon.

The armies outside didn't flinch for a second at the redoubled threat. They continued the all-out assault, diverting some fire towards the dangerous bombs to give the air teams extra support. Said air assault spread to the other faces of the Weapon, the well-coordinated strikes making it very difficult for the scrambling Emperius to counter. The combat drones began to make their greatest impact as well, locking in on the manually-controlled weapons and delivering pinpoint explosive payloads to the control nodes, not only disabling the weapons but sending the operators to their deaths as well.

Gargantua Weapon kept moving forth despite the heavy assault, but it was starting to slow slightly as several of its jets were disabled or destroyed. It was managing to maintain its height but not its speed, and that was just giving the attackers more time to unleash their payload on its armaments. As the front face was getting closer and more exhausted of its combat capabilities, the attackers also split off, some moving around to the sides to give more support to the continuing air assault.

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Ribbons of smoke streaked the air as the battle raged, and the time was near for the next part of the plan to be enacted.

"The initial attack's going well!" Stormdramon said excitedly. "Now it's our turn! Let's get in now before they realize we're not just looking to be part of the crowd!"

"Hang on one sec," Pyrekomodomon said. "We're going in all on our own. As much as we've overcome thus far, I want us not to leave anything to chance if we can help it." He tossed something to each of them.

"The Fragments!" Thundergarudamon said. "I'd forgotten about those!"

"Where did you guys get these?" Cyberrexmon asked in wonder, staring at the piece of material in his hand.

"An anonymous benefactor. We've had so many anonymous malefactors that it was a nice chance of pace. This should give us enough of an extra boost to get through whatever decides to stand in our way."

"Now's as good a time as any to give ourselves some help," Onyxvargmon said with a grin. "Well, then, shall we?"

"Yeah! Let's take this thing down and finish off Emperius once and for all!" Stormdramon roared.

Pyrekomodomon eyes were blazing as he issued the command. "Everyone move out! Get to your access point and take care of business! Today, this thing goes down!"

No more was needed; the five split off and raced towards the Weapon at top speed, ready to do their part in the battle.

Pyrekomodomon was a veritable blur, streaking across the sand with little regard for the carnage around him. Anyone on Emperius' side who might have wanted a piece of him had no time to prepare as he blitzed by them, and his speed was outstripping any of the remaining guns' ability to aim at him.

He barreled pell-mell towards the Weapon, his mind focused only on his end goal; the burning energy racing through him compelled him to act rather than think. As he reached the underside of the fortress, he coiled in mid-stride and then sprung, rocketing himself up into the air at the lower surface of the Weapon. His ascent slowed, short of his goal, but he simply propelled himself further up with a burst of heat from beneath him, and hit the metal with a fair amount of speed. Quickly he swung his legs up and flattened himself against the surface, his hands and feet clinging securely.

Dozens of powerful jets were firing constantly all around him, holding the Weapon up in the air. Several of them were simply smoking, the early casualties of the directed attack. The metal was viciously searing hot, a fact that didn't bother him in the slightest. Slickly he began moving, never keeping more than one hand or foot from the surface and staying as flat as possible to reduce the pull and ensure he didn't drop.

An explosion sounded from his left, and he quickly turned his head to see one of the jets spewing smoke. From below, he could see a Volcdramon launching blasts of magma up in the air, trying to hit the jets and wreck them. Bet more of the Order of Flame is down there, too...they didn't arm the bottom very well, so they should have a pretty easy time as long as Emperius doesn't send too many digimon after them.

He continued his crawl, unconcerned about the jets or the attacks; none of that was going to distract him from his goal now.

Meanwhile, Thundergarudamon took a different path, swinging well around to the back of the Weapon, the long arc ensuring gunfire from the sides didn't prematurely end her campaign. She had to move quickly as she was now playing catch-up, but that didn't bother her nearly as much as the onslaught that began as soon as she was within range. Lasers, missiles, gunfire, it all came at her with a vengeance; the weaponry on this face had suffered the least amount of damage, due to not being easy to target for any of the ground forces.

She was forced to back away lest the attack get the better of her. She made another rush forward, but it was equally ineffective. Irritated, she tried a different approach.

"Static Shield!" In an instant she was encompassed in a sphere of electric energy which rotated around her, and as she made her third attempt she could hear the gunfire blat uselessly against it. She still had to swing around to avoid lasers and missiles, but those were far less numerous and easier for her to handle.

As she got closer, she exacted revenge, dropping the shield and unleashing a fury of electric assault on whatever was nearby. It was a game of hit-and-run, and she played it expertly, breaking down enough so she could get to her access point. As she neared, she saw something covering the opening, it almost looked like something foaming or bubbling. At least, that was what she thought until the 'bubbles' suddenly surged at her, forcing her to duck and weave away. She got a look long enough to see something glowing in the center before the 'bubbles' returned to cover it again.

Interesting weapon...I'll bet whatever those bubbles are, they'd be pretty nasty if they hit me. And I'll bet they only move away if there's something nearby to attack. This should be fun.

The air was thick with smoke and gunfire as Stormdramon soared towards the top of the Weapon. He mind was moving faster than ever as he scanned the surface, eyes locking in on each of the two access points hidden there.

Both points are guarded by electrical barriers, but they can be disabled by breaking the generator nodes nearby. The challenge is going to be wiping out the nodes before they notice what I'm doing and focus on me. I'd best just try to shoot for the closest one.

He swooped down and fired a storm ray at the first node, which easily cracked under the attack. However, it did have the effect he feared, and he was suddenly under a hailstorm of blistering gunfire, and he had to swoop away before they they brought him down. Dammit! The nodes are probably in contact with some of the automated weapons, if they're damaged the weapons will try to find the source before they all get knocked out! Guess I'll have to do some clean-up first!

He began unleashing Hurricane Blasts at the smaller automated weapons, cracking several apart and easing the fire coming his way. But the threats weren't going away easy; the powerful manned laser cannons had caught sight of him and they were intent on taking care of one of their most irritating enemies.

He zoomed around, trying to stay away from the steadily increasing attack on him, but it was keeping him away from the nodes and they were too sheltered for him to hit from a distance. He was getting steadily more frustrated at the amount of time it was taking for him to get in. I can't let them keep me away now! I promised I'd do my part, they aren't gonna make me break that!

Suddenly, a vicious storm of energy crashed along the surface, sending shrapnel flying from numerous ruined guns. Five digimon were above, four of the Sky Lords and Cyberdramon, all focused on wrecking any ordinance in pursuit of the blue dragon.

"Great timing, guys!" he yelled out appreciatively.

"It's our treat," the Wingdramon returned. "You drew a lot of attention off of us, that made our lives a lot easier! You're trying to get inside, right?"

"Yeah, I need some time to hit some spots that are blocking my way! All those guns and lasers are keeping me from getting there!"

"I'm already tired of those lasers," Cyberdramon said with a fearsome grin. "What say we do a little personal attack on those?"

"Nyaha! I'm up for that!" The two split off as the others from the strike force kept their attention on the smaller weapons.

From the ground, Cyberrexmon was plotting his course of action. His arm had been augmented by Mechalopolis techs with a kind of hookshot, designed to pull his weight up to wherever he needed it. Though the hull was strong enough that he couldn't hope to pierce it with the harpoon-like end, it had been modified for the tip to flatten and then cling using a powerful magnet, so he could pull himself up anyway. Once he was up, he had ready a special suction system that he could use to climb to his destination.

Now, taking careful aim, he fired the shot, watching it sail through the air, true towards its target. At impact, the tip flattened and he watched...only to see the hookshot fall uselessly, the magnets failing to cling to the hull.

"What? You gotta be kidding me!"

With a snarl, Cyberrexmon retracted the hookshot. "Goddamn...There is no way that should have happened! They can't have demagnetized the hull, that would be unreasonable even for them!"

Whatever the case, he had to start booking; the Weapon was threatening to pass him by, and if he didn't figure something out fast he'd miss his chance and put everything in jeopardy. I can't afford to fail...I have to finish my part of the mission, for everyone's sake!

"You think that little toothpick is gonna do any damage? I thought you were supposed to be the strong one!" Cyberrexmon nearly leapt out of his metal skin at the shout and wheeled around with weapon drawn.

"Wha...ShadowWeregarurumon? The hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell do you think we're doing here?" the dark wolf snapped. Once again he was high atop MasterTyranomon, who looked very much like he'd been dragged in against his will yet again. "We're here to prove ourselves, just like we always do! We've got reputations to keep up, and no way are we gonna let this opportunity go!"

"You're STILL on that kick? I thought we beat that outta you."

"Pah! Like we've never come out on the bad end of a battle before. We're strong because we get right back up again! No challenge is too big for us!"

"Really...maybe you oughta try fighting your ego, then." Cyberrexmon shook his head. "I guess as long as you're on our side I can deal with that this time around. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a ride I gotta catch."

"What, you think that pea-shooter is gonna work this time around? Fat chance, bolthead."

"Well, then, if you're so sure of that, why don't you offer a suggestion of your own?" Cyberrexmon shot back in irritation.

ShadowWeregarurumon grinned, as if he was hoping for that. "Just so happens that I do. MasterTyranomon! Show him our idea!"

"Ugh...sorry about this, man," MasterTyranomon sighed in resignation. With one quick motion, he grabbed Cyberrexmon before the smaller dino had any clue what was happening.

"Consider this my payback for last time," cackled ShadowWeregarurumon. "Give him some air, MasterTyranomon!"

MasterTyranomon dutifully cocked his arm back, and with a heave hurled Cyberrexmon right at the massive flying monstrosity. Cyberrexmon only had seconds to get his bearings and brace for impact, and impact he did, slamming hard into the Weapon. He had just enough of his wits about him to activate the suction system and get himself secured to the hull before he fell.

"Ngh...frickin' idiot...if that's his idea of helping out I'll take my chances on my own next time," he grumbled, giving himself a minute to recover. "At least I'm up here...I hope the others managed to make it on, too..."

Onyxvargmon rated himself as having the easiest course, since his access point was on the front of the Weapon where the weaponry had been the most damaged and reduced. Still, trying to get up was proving to be a challenge, as the Wepaon hadn't dropped as they had expected it to. They may be sacrificing speed for height...maybe they're worried about letting more of the ground forces in. I think I can still get up there, though...

He took off at his fastest sprint, and with a mighty leap soared up towards the lower wall of the Weapon. He made it by just enough, and quickly formed his swords and tried to stab them into the hull to support him. Unexpectedly, they failed to breach the hull, and he quickly found himself sliding down without a chance to grab onto anything. Sensing the futility of continued effort, he pushed away from the hull and landed safely on the ground below.

"Well, drat...I wasn't expecting that to not work. Whatever's armoring that thing is made of sterner stuff than I thought."

"Onyxvargmon!" The lupine turned to see Buraimon swooping towards him. "I saw you fall. Are you injured?"

"No, fortunately not, but it's going to be a little more challenging getting in there than I foresaw. I'm going to have to find a better point to jump to, one where I have some room to stand. Are there any good openings where the weapons have been wrecked?"

Buraimon shook his head. "The damage done by those rocks has left the ones that have been destroyed a mess. There will be little purchase to be found there. I have a better idea...I can take you up there myself."

"I suppose it would be insensible to refuse the offer. Are you sure you'll be all right carrying me?"

"You do not seem a particularly heavy load. I have practiced with considerable weights before, I believe I will not encounter any difficulty."

"All right, then, let's take off!" Onyxvargmon climbed onto Buraimon, and the avian quickly took to the air again, showing no signs of struggling with the burden. The lupine felt his heart speed up as he saw the looming wall of steel begin to close in; it somehow seemed so much more imposing from up in the air than it had from the ground. And of course, as soon as they were up there the gunfire started coming their way; sparse though it was it was still a threat, spurring Buraimon to speed up his movements and Onyxvargmon to steel his grip. There wasn't much he could do to divert the attack, so he put his trust in his ride's agility. There was still an air attack helping them out and drawing the attention of some of the weapons, and they looked to have a good chance of getting through unscathed.

"Over on the right, there," he yelled to Buraimon, pointing towards a dark spot in a slight recess in the hull. "That's the entrance I'm shooting for."

"Then let us make haste." Buraimon sped up even more, zooming faster than even Onyxvargmon was used to. It was effective, as the weapons mounted on the airborne fortress were hardly able to keep up with them. Within a couple minutes, they were within distance of the entrance.

"Almost there...whoa, Buraimon! Watch out!" The avian swooped up just in time as four objects emerged from around the access point and launched a ball of energy each at them. He backed off slightly, trying to gauge what they would do next, but it still caught them off guard as a second volley raced towards them. On automatic, Buraimon swung a sword to block one, and on contact the ball of energy fired off in the direction of the swing, impacting the hull harmlessly below.

"This energy is unusual...it appears to be reflected by our impacts. We may be able to get through by knocking it away."

"Interesting...reminds me of something I've seen before." Onyxvargmon made his own blades appear as he and Buraimon both prepared for the next onslaught. "Well, then, let's show them what we can do."

(==========)

"We're getting creamed out there!" Blackwargreymon yelled, pounding a fist on the wall. "Dammit, I thought we had something here that could deal with this crap!"

"They know too much," Duftmon hissed, a hand on his head as he tried to calm himself. "They were ready for everything we had! They're going after the weapons first, and not trying to take out the Weapon itself..."

"If they know that much, they might know about the safety plan as well!" Carcharomon raged. "If they can pull that off, we're screwed!"

"The guards will have to let us know if they're trying to make their way in. Right now all we can do is try to keep everyone focused, and see if we can't take out enough of them to force them back."

"It has proven challenging," Zeedramon muttered. "Some of them are scared, this hostility was not of their expectation."

"Yeah, well, what did they think was gonna happen? And where's Kuzuhamon? She was supposed to check in!"

"Duftmon, we've got trouble!" On cue, Kuzuhamon rushed in, out of breath and in a very agitated state. "I just checked on the guards at the nearest access port, and there was no one there! The others aren't responding on the communicators! They've gone missing, no one knows where they went!"

"What? Were they killed?"

"No signs of battle anywhere near the one I was at! If they abandoned their posts..."

"But why? This is crazy, they had no reason to abandon their posts!"

"There's been rampant treachery all over this place!" roared Blackwargreymon. "First the Illusion Generator, now this! I'd bet my dramon destroyers d'Arcmon had her filthy hands in this!"

"We can deal with her later!" snarled Carcharomon. "We've got bigger problems! Anyone could get in now, and if they're as organized as they seem they may know how to take down the Weapon! We've got to go after them right now!"

"Do not be overly of haste, Carcharomon," Zeedramon warned. "What threats we may encounter at one spot may prove us foolish to concentrate our power. More openings exist than ourselves can contain."

"Well, spit out an idea, then!"

"We must divide ourselves, clearly. Wherever is critical to perform, so must we be there to secure the victory."

"He's right," Kuzuhamon agreed. "They'll likely send in the tainted ones, they're the ones who are the strongest and most dangerous to our plans. We know what their intent is going to be...they're going to try to take out the Weapon. If they know how to achieve that, then we have to waylay them on their way there. One of us has to guard the reactor, and three of us have to guard the gate consoles."

"Likely that we shall see them attempt to rescue their comrades of Libertius as well," Zeedramon added. "One must go to try to stop them there."

"I'll take that one, then."

"I'll make sure they don't get to the reactor!" Blackwargreymon yelled. "They won't know what hit 'em!"

"That leaves us rest to the gate consoles," Zeedramon said, nodding towards Duftmon and Carcharomon. "Now that the matter is settled, it is proper to make haste."

"Yeah, now that we've stood around gabbing and given them time to get in!" snapped Carcharomon. "I'm goin' now!" He took off, and the rest quickly scattered themselves to take on their expected foes.

(==========)

(More attack from the masses on the weapon, and Coredramon arrives with a contingent of soldiers from the Kaiser)

Gallantmon's nerves were on edge. The reports coming in were favorable - they were doing considerable damage with minimal casualties, and Emperius was having a lot of trouble keeping up - but the Weapon was still lumbering forward, and it seemed like it was always ready with new surprises. Some of the weapons appeared to be repairing themselves, as well, as they had lost two of their cannons to a laser module that had seemingly been destroyed early on.

"We have to keep an eye on those things, if they can come back online then we're going to have a lot more trouble," he told a Paildramon who was about to re-enter the battle after getting his shielding replaced.

"Understood, I'll send out the word to the rest of us in the air as well. We don't want to lose anyone to shortsightedness."

"Right." Gallantmon watched the Paildramon take off and shook his head. I wish there was something more I could do...I feel useless just standing here. I know someone needs to coordinate everything but...there's something about actually being involved that's more comforting.

"Commander! Another wave of soldiers is coming from the Weapon towards our position!" radioed in a Tankmon from Mechalopolis' contingent. "There's a lot of them! The Land Kings are trying to hold them off, but we need some extra support!"

"Ah! We'll have to call back some of the attack on the side walls! Or get some of the air assault to hurry in! That'll be faster, do that instead!"

"We need that support right now!" an Andromon from one of the other ground teams cut in. "They're hitting heavy, the air support is the only thing keeping them from overwhelming us!"

"You can't spare any? Damn...we've got to get something! We may have to pull everyone back towards the front again!"

A sudden commotion from the south drew Gallantmon's attention away from the radio. A rather sizable contingent of digimon were racing towards them. "Tankmon! We've got incoming from the South!"

"Seriously? Whose side are they on?"

"I can't tell, but they look strong-" Gallantmon stopped short as the newcomers neared, and he was able to get a good look at them. They were all bearing golden sashes with a coat-of-arms on them; he couldn't see the arms but he didn't have to. "Tankmon! It's the palace emblem! They're the Kaiser's army!"

"You're kidding!"

"There's no mistaking! They're coming your direction, get them in on the action right away!" Gallantmon's excitement caused him to nearly miss the digimon coming in his direction. "I'll get to you with more direction in a minute!" He cut the communication and waved over at the oncoming ally. "General Coredramon! Your timing couldn't have been better!"

The green dragon landed in front of Gallantmon and saluted. "Yeah, it sure coulda been! We coulda been here from the start! Looks like we'll have to make it up to you by doing twice as much damage now!"

"Anything is appreciated! I didn't realize the Kaiser had anyone to spare!"

"Technically, we didn't. We pulled these guys out of the conflict in the South on emergency notice. Once word got to the Kaiser about this thing he knew we had to get involved, even if it meant shorting us temporarily down there. I don't think he knew there was a whole battle going on already, but it's just as well, I've been itching for a go at these guys for a while! Looks like you've had things under control, though!"

"Only just, they've given us everything they've had and then some...you arrived at a good time, we've had to divide our efforts and they were trying to overload one segment of our attack!"

Coredramon grinned. "Well, we've got some of our best on the job! They should be able ta take out the trash just fine! There's just one thing I'm not seeing, and that's the guys I expected to be at the front of this whole thing."

"You mean...wait, you know about them?"

Coredramon snickered. "I haven't been keeping my eye on them for nothing. So where are they?"

"They...they're plan is to go into the Weapon and try to take it down from the inside. They're trying to get in right now...it has to be even more dangerous trying to do that than what we're doing out here!"

"Hah! Figured as much. Somethin' tells me they'll handle it just fine."

(==========)

The going was easier for Pyrekomodomon once he was off the bottom surface of the Weapon. With less risk of falling, he was able to move much more quickly. Too bad I couldn't risk trying to wipe out any of those jets for those guys. Too much risk of the blast throwing me clean.

He blasted a gun directly above him, then scooted right around it only to blast another in his path. The area around his access point hadn't been cleared out much at all, but he was doing a good enough job of that on his own; the guns hadn't been designed to fire lateral to the surface, so he was at no risk of being targeted himself.

You know, I would kill to see Cyberrexmon trying to do this himself. That big lug thinks he can climb like me? I'd be surprised if he doesn't drop like a stone.

He soon got up close to the access point, having left a fair trail of destruction in his wake. As he pulled up to it, he saw that it was covered and locked tight, and there was a computerized panel on the front of the cover. "Hrm...the hell is this now?"

He began reading the panel: [This entryway gives access to the reactor area and is heavily restricted. Entry will be allowed only to those who enter the access codes using the key panel to the upper left. Please enter the six 24-digit key codes. Failure to enter a code correctly two times will result in death...] The rest of the writing was a bunch of obscure hints as to how to find the correct codes.

Pyrekomodomon stared at the panel a minute, and then made an executive decision. "Screw that noise."

Disregarding the key panel entirely, he got up close to the edge of the cover and spat at the point where the cover met the hull. He spread it around a small area and then applied a surge of heat with his gauntlets. The saliva glowed white-hot, but didn't catch fire; what it did do was melt the metal under the cover, allowing him to push it away and create a fingerhold under the cover. He squeezed his fingers into the opening, braced his legs against the wall, and pulled with every fragment of strength his body could muster.

After a few seconds he felt the cover give slightly. Then more. And then, quite suddenly, all the way. It snapped away from the access point completely, and he just let it fall down. Without wasting a moment, he popped inside, finally standing upright again and snickering at the futility of the high-tech security measures. Maybe spend a little less time on the absurdly complicated code and a little more time on making sure there isn't an easy way around it.

Thundergarudamon was locked in an intense game of chicken with the strange weapon covering her entryway. The trouble was that the bubbles of whatever were hard to predict, some of them shooting directly for her and some of them shooting around her, with no discernable pattern over time. The fact that they both fired out and drew back in only made getting through them that much more challenging. She had to admit, it was an interesting design and difficult to counter, something she wasn't prone to seeing out of Emperius. She had no intention of letting that stop her, though.

The glowing core in the center of the mechanism was vulnerable when the bubbles were coming at her, and a few well-placed Lightning Bombs were likely to take care of it. But getting through those was a challenge in itself, as she had to be far enough away to dodge the bubbles and they didn't respond in the slightest to her electricity.

At least it's me facing this one. Imagine of one of us who couldn't fly had to deal with it.

She soon hit upon a workable strategy; the bubbles needed time to adjust to her movements, and if she was quick, she could get outside their firing range, allowing her to get off an attack before they could retract and cover the weak point of the weapon. The drawback was that it was much more difficult to keep pace with the Weapon during this hard lateral movement, so she had to be especially careful about her accuracy. Still, that was one of her strengths.

The first Lightning Bomb impact brought a new surprise, a surge of the same bubbles, flying all over the place in a mass rather than one by one. Now the extra distance between Thundergarudamon and the Weapon was a benefit rather than a hindrance, as it gave her time to see where they were going and get around them. A counterattack when it's hit, that's pretty nifty, too. I'm starting to think Emperius outsourced the creation of this monstrosity in more than just the design stages.

From there it was a matter of rinse and repeat, and on the fifth Lightning Bomb, there was no counterstrike; part of the core blew and the rest of the mechanism dropped away from the opening. Thundergarudamon didn't waste any time, making for the opening before any more surprises decided to come her way. She got in safely and landed, taking a moment to rest her tired wings before continuing on.

A loud crash burst from one of the pods of the laser modules on top of Gargantua Weapon, the enclosure shattered and the operator inside felled in a swift moment. Stormdramon cackled as he shot towards the next one, the blade on his gauntlet shedding the blood from the kill quickly. He streaked along barely above the surface of the Weapon, so low that the guns couldn't reach him.

To his left, Cyberdramon burst through another of the pods in similar fashion, rapidly dispatching another operator. Despite not having quite the speed to match Stormdramon, he was working just as effectively, the impacts from the collisions with the pods hardly fazing him in the slightest.

I thought this was gonna be a lot harder! Guess Emperius didn't make sure those things couldn't be broken with a well-placed mach-speed digimon impact. Their loss!

As he and Cyberdramon disabled the lasers, the other airborne digimon in the group were hammering away at the rest of the weapons. While numerous, they simply didn't have the power of the massive laser beams, and were much easier to avoid, allowing them to do quite a bit of damage without taking much in return.

Stormdramon's eyes caught his next target, and he zeroed in with deadeye accuracy. The operator barely had time to know what was coming before the dragon slammed headfirst into the enclosure, his armor dispersing the impact energy harmlessly from his body, and slashed him clean through his neck, ending his life in mere moments. He burst back through the other side of the enclosure and was right back in action, searching for the next target. But he was at the edge of the Weapon, and there were no more laser modules to be found.

"Yahahaha! Got 'em all!"

"Don't get too excited," Cyberdramon cut in, swooping by after having dispatched all of his side. "We just killed the guys working them, some other suicidal maniacs'll probably try to take control when they get the chance. Hurry and find your target before they can do that!"

"Oh, yeah, I got this!" He quickly got back to work, swinging towards the first generator node he'd destroyed and quickly getting his bead on the others. A quick Storm Ray was more than enough to put those out of commission, and he just laughed as the gunfire barely intensified, posing little threat to the speedy dragon. In less than a minute he had his final targets demolished, and swung inside the access point without any further obstruction.

Cyberrexmon's ascent up the side of the Weapon was slow and difficult; he was really regretting not having the time to practice with the system more before he put it into action. Already he had had a couple of close calls, accidentally mistiming the release of the suction and nearly losing his grip.

Guh...damn, if Pyrekomodomon were watching this he'd be laughing his ass off. What was I thinking, trying to climb like a frickin' stunt man? I shoulda just tried to get to the top and use one of those openings like Stormdramon is...

The one bit of good fortune was that the gunfire was nonexistent; the weapons weren't able to tilt enough to hit him right on the surface of the Weapon. This made it easy for him to occasionally launch a barrage of rockets and obliterate a few of them on his way up. The only things that could come after him were Emperius digimon, and they didn't seem to take much notice of him. Possibly because of the new digimon forces that had joined in and were wreaking havoc on them, forces that he strongly suspected were from the Kaiser's army.

Like to get a better look at them, but I'm kind of occupied at the moment.

After a long and arduous ascent, he was finally next to the access point. As he had expected, it was not open and ready for him to enter, but it didn't appear to be guarded with anything dangerous on the outside. The cover didn't look like it was attached too strongly, either, but he wasn't in a good position to try to force it off; he wasn't sure how much he trusted the suction to hold up his weight if he tried to use just his legs to keep him on the wall.

I guess that means I have to figure out the trick, then. I hope the others are having an easier time with this than I am.

He got up to the cover and took a good look at it. There were several colored points along the surface, and no indication of what they were for. I need to get a look inside the system...maybe I can crack it somehow. He scanned the area around the cover for any kind of electronics, but there were none to be found. Bet everything that controls this is inside. What fun. Guess it's gonna have to be trial and error time. Let's hope it's not too much of either.

Cautiously, he pressed on one of the colored points. It lit up and sent a couple beams towards other colored points, lighting them up as well. Cyberrexmon blinked as he took stock of this. A puzzle? A friggin' puzzle all the way up here? Either they're insane or they think anyone who can get up here isn't bright enough to solve this. Actually, yeah, I'm going with the first one.

He tried several different things with the puzzle, just trying to get an impression of what he had to do and how to achieve it. He wasn't getting far; all his testing had accomplished was giving him the impression that it was completely random which lights turned on and off. Who designed this thing? I can press the same button and it has completely different effects each time...there's no pattern, no method of solution! It's like it relies completely on random chance! How is anyone supposed to solve a puzzle like this? It's totally impossible!

He stared at the cover for a minute, wracking his brain around the question. And then something occurred to him.

...unless I'm wrong about the puzzle in the first place.

He got up close to the wall underneath one of the colored switches and pressed it; instead of looking at the lights, he listened, and sure enough, he heard some clicking and shifting. He pressed it again, and more clicking and shifting. Now he knew what was going on.

The lights are a ruse. They're just there to confuse someone who's expecting a puzzle...and who wouldn't, seeing those lights and how they go? That's one of the oldest in the book...damn, when the hell did Emperius get clever?

He had to test each of the switches to see what state it was in, having essentially randomized them when he was playing around with them earlier. Knowing the trick, though, he didn't have anything to be confused about anymore; the locks all sounded very much the same when they were engaged and a different same when released. It took him more time to get situated at each one than to figure out whether they were open or closed.

When he opened the last one, the cover simply fell away from the opening, making him very glad he had started at the bottom rather than ending there. That would've been a hell of a story to tell. Hey, guys, I couldn't finish the mission because this thing covering my access point fell on my head and knocked me all the way to the ground. I'd probably kill me before they did. Shaking his head, he clambered inside, feeling intense relief at not having to do any more wall climbing.

Onyxvargmon slashed quickly as the ball of energy raced towards him; the weapon that fired it kept knocking back in his direction, and it moved faster and faster with every bounce. I swear, sometimes it seems like they've played some of the games I have, he thought as he swung again, and finally felt relief as the pulse got through the reflective shield and impacted the firing port. "One down!" he shouted for Buraimon's benefit.

"Then the other three should be much easier-" Buraimon cut off as the remaining three firing ports suddenly glowed and began firing far more rapidly than before. It was too much to try to fight back against, and Buraimon was forced to bob and weave in order to get away from the onslaught. Despite a few close shaves, they managed to come out unscathed, and the firing soon died down back to the usual level. Buraimon swung up and Onyxvargmon readied himself for the next barrage, but almost got his clock cleaned by a surprise shot from the port he thought he'd disabled.

"Damnation! It's back online!"

"So it appears." Onyxvargmon had no idea how Buraimon could always seem so calm despite having to divide attention between keeping him safe and focusing on the two lower firing ports. "The increased onslaught must have been buying time for the damaged one to recover. It appears that our best chance of getting through will require simultaneous disabling of all four weapons at the same time."

"That means synchronizing our attacks...and we have to get those things in sync as well. Great, this is gonna be a load of fun."

"It might not be as difficult as it appears. They have consistent firing patterns, which are only interrupted when they have to reflect our attacks. We can ge them in time with each other...the challenge will simply be to then reflect their shots perfectly."

It sounded a lot harder to Onyxvargmon than Buraimon was making it sound; dealing with one at a time was tough enough, since those energy balls got moving extremely fast after a few reflections. Still, he felt he could do it, and the energy from the Darkness Fragment was bolstering his confidence in his own speed and timing. "All right, then, let's get them in time! Let's try to time them with the lower right, that'll just give you one to work on so you can be ready to evade if something goes wrong."

"A wise suggestion. All right, let me know when you have them ready."

They went to work, coordinating their blows to get everything more or less synchronized. Onyxvargmon hoped a few fractions of a second weren't going to matter; the launchers hadn't immediately gone into their barrage upon the disabling of the previous one, so it seemed to make sense that they had a small window to work with. Still, he wanted to get them as close as possible, and set out to achieve that. The task became somewhat easier once Buraimon had his target aligned, allowing him to stay more stable and give Onyxvargmon one less thing to worry about.

After a few minutes, he had them as close as he could get them. I think this'll have to do. Now comes the hard part... "I'm ready, Buraimon!"

"Good! If there is any error in your reflections, state so immediately so we can break off the attack and avoid breaking the timing-go!" He stopped himself as the energy balls shot out again, and then there was no more room for discussion, both focused entirely on their targets.

They swung in perfect harmony, reflecting all four in unison back at their respective launchers. The batting back and forth became steadily quicker and quicker, from a few seconds of prep time to barely a second between blows. Onyxvargmon had to contend with both the downtime and the unsteadiness created by Buraimon's rapid adjustments; it was speed unlike any he'd ever had to deal with in an enemy digimon, but somehow he persevered, and their final deflections sailed through and crashed into the launchers. With all four disabled, the energy surge that should have fired them could do nothing but build up, and they exploded, leaving the access point free for the taking.

Buraimon swooped towards the opening and allowed Onyxvargmon to disembark. "Exceptional performance, Onyxvargmon."

"Same to you," Onyxvargmon replied. "I owe you, there's no way I could have gotten in alone. Wonder if that wasn't intentional."

"Perhaps it might have been. I must go rejoin the battle...good luck to you, and I await the results of your efforts."

"You and me both. Stay safe, Buraimon."

(==========)

(==========)

Whoo, battle royale! Figure all that side stuff should be good for something. This is one of those points I wish I could animate something, it would probably work a lot better in that format. It's tough to try to write out something like this, and I doubt I did it all that well. Eh, maybe I'll revisit it later and try to improve it.

I'm one of those people who likes patterns and routines. So when I'm writing this stuff, it usually goes that I set it up in a specific character focus pattern, and only after the fact do I try to vary it up (because the same pattern every time just gets kinda old after a while). I didn't do that this time, though, because it had already taken long enough to finish and that would have added even more to the writing.

Next chapter could be a rather shortish one. A combination of limited writing time and what I'm writing for it. On the plus side, that means I should be able to get it out in two weeks, and there'll still be plenty of activity, which if you read this chapter through you can probably guess what it'll be.

I want to take a moment to thank my reviewers! I don't think I do this enough. I'm glad people are giving me feedback and letting me know what they think. There've been a lot of poeple with a lot of kind words, and that really sticks with me! I'm glad for anything, because it tells me that I'm keeping people entertained and engaged, and that's what I'm hoping to do.