Legends of the Digidestined
Chapter 43: "The Gloom Effect"
1 YEAR AGO
0101
Jon and Kanto stared at the large screen inside the Order's headquarters laboratory. As promised earlier that night, Yamaki had run the digimon analyzer database to identify the Ultimate-level digimon Grizzmon had dark-digivolved into.
"That's him!" Kanto alerted sharply.
Jon studied the features of the digimon displayed at the screen. "The colorings are all wrong though. This wolf is blue, whereas Darien's was black."
"According to the analyzer, this digimon is known as MachGaogamon," Yamaki read the profile. "Grizzmon most likely had digivolved into the dark version… a Black MachGaogamon, perhaps."
"Black?" Jon asked.
"We classified some viral version of a regular digimon with the prefix Black to their names," Yamaki explained, "unless the digimon has another separate name for itself. We haven't had an entry about Black MachGaogamon, so might as well create one now."
"At least that's one mystery solved…" Kanto cast a sideway glance towards the end of the hallway, where his own dark-digivolved partner stood silently at the farthest corner, along with Kotemon. The sight of SkullMeramon was indeed fearsome to behold, but Kanto thanked his luck that the Suppressor Ring had kept the Ultimate digimon sane for the time being. Kanto glanced back towards Yamaki. "Any idea if we can dedigivolve SkullMeramon before… well, before anything happens?"
"Not quite yet," Yamaki said while typing away. "A newly-digivolved digimon needs to use up their energy before they could dedigivolve. There's no one for SkullMeramon to fight with here."
Kanto glanced towards the other Digidestined. "Jon…"
"No!" Jon said, horrified.
"You haven't even heard what I'm gonna say!" Kanto protested.
"I am not digivolving Kotemon into Ultimate-level, when my crest is still corrupted."
Kanto grumbled. "Well, I don't think you're going to go be able to anyway."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You're obviously not going to be stupid, anytime soon. I can't imagine how you are going to activate the crest of stupidity, or foolishness, or nincompoopyness…."
"Ignorance, actually," Jon cringed, "but yes, I don't think I want to risk that."
"The Suppressor Ring won't keep SkullMeramon for long." Everyone turned to see Shibumi approaching, flanked by a sullen-looking Gennai who was still grieving for the loss of Lobomon. "We have tried them on Champions and they've worked without a hitch. However we've never tested them on Ultimates before."
"So far, so good," Kanto said.
"But there's no trigger for SkullMeramon to go on a rampage," Shibumi said, nodding towards Kanto. "As long as you are not threatened… or if you yourself not succumbing to the corrupted crest's element, which is Gloom, SkullMeramon will retain his sanity."
"So stop being so negative," Jon told Kanto, earning him a glare from the latter.
"Do you have any backup plan if say the Suppressor Ring isn't enough to keep SkullMeramon at bay?" Kanto asked, worriedly. "You saw how Ladydevimon was able to destroy it."
"We're going to need more time to conduct some test." Shibumi considered something as he ran a hand through his long hair. "I'm going to have to meet Lady Angella… perhaps her holy light can be infused with the Suppressor Ring to suppress the darkness inside SkullMeramon. If it works, then we can start looking for Darien, Kira, and their corrupted partners."
"Shibumi, Yamaki!"
All of them glanced towards Tao and Curly, who had just entered the laboratory. The two Order members also gestured towards the Digidestined and Gennai wordlessly, their expressions showed the urgency of the matter they were about to speak.
"There's a magical enchantment placed at the entrance of the chamber with the portal," Tao began. "As you've guessed, Matadormon has escaped through the portal with his ability to jump between realms. We've retrieved the recording from the security camera we have placed inside the chamber, and saw that Max and Veedramon had indeed fought Matadormon inside the chamber and pursued him via the portal. However, we couldn't open the door – Matadormon had placed a magical enchantment there to prevent Max and Veedramon from escaping, leaving them at a Devidramon's mercy, but Veedramon took it out."
"You said Max and Veedramon followed Matadormon into the portal?" Jon asked.
"Well, the security camera could not record voices," Tao said regretfully, "so I have no idea where exactly Matadormon has gone to, or if Max and Veedramon actually ended up in the same realm where Matadormon has escaped, but they have indeed used the same keys Matadormon had used to open up the portal."
"Hopefully they didn't end up at the Dark Ocean," Kanto said with a gulp.
"How are they going to get back here?" Jon wondered. "And how are they going to defeat Matadormon on their own? With Max's crest being corrupted as well…"
The alarm inside the lab suddenly blared, cutting off Jon's words. They sighed as the viewing screen revealed Doumon and X-WereGarurumon once again outside the castle's barrier. Tao and Curly immediately unsheathed their Photon Stunners and rushed out of the laboratory, while the rest focused their attention on the viewing screen.
To their horror, they saw Mephistomon with them as well. The intruders were firing blasts one after another towards the barrier, which shook upon being at the receiving end of brutal insults. The shockwave of the attack was felt even from the inside of the castle.
"How are we going to fight them with only one Ultimate-level digimon?" Kanto said despairingly, eyes cast on the tensed SkullMeramon.
Before any of the Order members could answer, their attention was averted when Riley and Tally rushed through the lab's entrance. They had a similar panicked look on their faces.
"We have bad news!" Riley exclaimed. "Skydancer Mountain…"
"It's fallen to Mephistomon!" Tally continued. "And he's captured Lady Angella!"
A dark look crossed Shibumi's face. "That's impossible!"
"Mephistomon can now digivolve to Mega!" Riley said, quickly seizing the keyboard as she furiously typed to retrieve the digimon's data. A giant black insect appeared on the screen. "Into that! GranKuwagamon!"
Shibumi frowned as he read quickly the digimon's details. "A non-dark Mega digimon… and a Mega digimon with flight capability can go all the way up to Castle Eos…"
An explosion was heard and the entire castle rumbled. They saw Mephistomon, Doumon and X-WereGarurumon had already penetrated the castle's barrier and had fired out their attacks to destroy the castle. They could hear screams and explosions from the upper surfaces of the castle, as the Order members battled the intruders.
"We have to evacuate!" Shibumi said urgently, looking at everyone. "Get on the Gliders or the Mekanorimon!"
"And go where?" Jon asked.
Yamaki quickly typed on the keyboards, a set of commands the Digidestined could not decipher in strange, Digital World alphabets. "The Mekanorimon and the Gliders will take everyone to different places so that Mephistomon and his goons won't be able to capture all of us. Those who aren't captured…" the blond man shared a dark look with Shibumi and there was a glint in his eyes, "…will be able to plan a way to save the ones who are captured, including Lady Angella." He glanced over his shoulders towards Riley and Tally. "Both of you, initiate backup sequence now!"
The women immediately set about to do what they were instructed as the castle shook again.
Shibumi nodded and placed a firm grasp on Gennai's shoulder. "Son, we'll hold the fort. You have to take Jon and Kanto and their partners and get out of here."
Gennai was about to nod, when Kanto interrupted. "I don't think so."
"What?" Jon gave the other Digidestined an incredulous look.
The castle shook again and debris began to fall from the lab's ceiling. Kanto gave a loud grunt and then beckoned towards himself and Jon. "Think about it! What good will it be if we are the ones who are saved? We won't know what to do. We don't know how to get Max and ToyAgumon back from whatever realm they've been sent to. We don't know where Darien or Kira have gone off to. We don't stand a chance…"
Kanto's whole body exploded with a dark purple aura as the corrupted insignia of Hope ignited on his chest. From the corner of the lab, SkullMeramon let out a primordial roar as his eyes flashed red.
"Oh no…" Jon realized.
"Kanto, have a reign of your emotion!" Gennai shouted, a tone of fear in his voice.
"It's too late," Jon gasped as he peered into Kanto's emotionless eyes. "He's succumbed to the power of the crest of Gloom!"
As SkullMeramon continued to roar and his inner power unleashed, the Suppressor Ring flashed dangerously as the bulges on the Ultimate digimon's thigh threatened to rip the ring apart. His entire body burned with searing blue flame, threatening to burn anything it came into contact with. The entire laboratory felt the intense heat, forcing everyone to back away.
"The Suppressor Ring won't last much longer!" Shibumi warned.
"I'm knocking him out before it gets bad!" Gennai roared and leaped towards Kanto, aiming to knock the boy out with a punch. However, Kanto growled and evaded the other boy, while slamming his fist on the back of Gennai's neck. The blow elicited a pained howl and a gasp from Gennai, who despite the pain, spun and attempted to return the blow, but Kanto moved out of the way as he darted towards SkullMeramon.
SkullMeramon's crimson eyes glinted as he aimed towards Gennai. "You harmed Kanto," the monstrous digimon said dangerously. "For that, you'll pay…"
"With your life," Kanto finished, void of emotion.
The Suppressor Ring on SkullMeramon's thigh exploded into data particles.
"You… you can't be serious!" Jon stammered. "Kanto, snap out of this! It's not you!"
"It's no use!" Yamaki and Shibumi immediately took out their Photon Stunners, while Gennai readied his Photon Rapier, but it was Kotemon who charged with his wooden sword and blasted a thunderbolt towards SkullMeramon. The attack however bounced harmlessly against the fiery demon's body. The little warrior hesitated as SkullMeramon advanced towards him in retaliation, but the bigger digimon was intercepted by Garmmon who had emerged from the lab's entrance. The wolf of light jumped and gnawed SkullMeramon's advancing hand before it could slap Kotemon aside. The sudden attack surprised SkullMeramon, but with a growl SkullMeramon launched his chains forward, slamming against Garmmon's armored form mercilessly. The wolf, however, made a spin as he raised his bladed tail upwards, infusing it with raw power that cut through the chains as he let out a furious howl. Turning back and landing on the floor on all fours, Garmmon howled and unleashed his Lupine Lasers towards SkullMeramon right onto his chest.
"Damn," Garmmon muttered, as SkullMeramon didn't appear to be affected much by his attack.
The ceiling exploded, the large debris nearly crushed Riley and Tally who were on their raised seats if it weren't for Kotemon who immediately digivolved into Dinohumon and hacked away the debris with his large sword. Dinohumon propelled himself with one of the larger debris and caught Tally, before making a backflip, dropping his large sword on a safe opening on the lab's floor as he caught Riley from falling. The dragon man then made a spin in the air before landing not too far from the others who had retreated from the falling ceiling.
"Good work Dinohumon!" Jon said, relieved, the digivice he was holding was just beginning to dim after letting out the power of digivolution.
The Champion digimon frowned as he looked up. "We're not out of danger yet."
True enough, from the destroyed ceiling, Mephistomon descended, followed closely by Doumon who hovered slightly above the satyr, while X-WereGarurumon leaped down and landed on piles of rubbles which were originally the lab's ceilings.
Mephistomon made a sweeping glance towards the occupants of the laboratory with a condescending gaze as a small smile escaped his mouth. Everyone knew that if the satyr had decided to digivolve into his Mega form there and then, the digivolution process alone would destroy the laboratory and kill them all. If they'd survived that, then the sheer size of GranKuwagamon would mean the end of them. And if by a stroke of sheer luck they survived that – then his attack would obliterate them all.
However, Mephistomon merely gestured for X-WereGarurumon to do the deeds. The armored werewolf brandished his claw and scanned his surroundings. Always one who liked a challenge, X-WereGarurumon then aimed for the only Ultimate-level digimon in the chamber.
It would be his undoing.
Kanto took a step back as X-WereGarurumon leaped upon them, his dangerous claws glinted red, hungry to rip apart flesh and blood. In retaliation, SkullMeramon roared as blue flames erupted from his body, casting enough heat to halt X-WereGarurumon in midair – which was the exact opportunity SkullMeramon needed. He captured X-WereGarurumon with chains infused with lava-like heat that immediately corroded through the wolf's armor, while pulling the wolf towards them. With another roar SkullMeramon planted a heavy punch on X-WereGarurumon's head and the impact sent the wolf flying, but with his body still trapped by the chains SkullMeramon pulled him back and delivered another heavy blow with his burning fist, this time tearing through the wolf's armor.
"That's the way to do it, SkullMeramon," Kanto said darkly. "Fillet the mutt."
"Lord Mephistomon!" X-WereGarurumon howled, as SkullMeramon landed a third punch which resulted in a sickening crack; the punch had fractured the wolf's snout.
"We have to stop SkullMeramon before he completes the deed," Shibumi hissed, as Mephistomon responded by generating a dark sphere of electricity.
"I don't know," Yamaki grunted, as Garmmon quickly fired off his light-based attack to fend off Mephistomon's darkness-based attack. "At this rate, I'd rather we all retreat and have SkullMeramon delete X-WereGarurumon."
Shibumi's eyes widened. "He'll be corrupted forever!"
Another loud crack was heard and X-WereGarurumon was reduced to howling for his dear life. Everyone winced upon seeing SkullMeramon tearing the wolf's armor apart. Mephistomon, still opting not to digivolve into his new Mega form, continued to fend off Garmmon's attack.
"There's still hope, Goro!" Yamaki shot back. "But X-WereGarurumon is bad to the bone. If SkullMeramon can eliminate him, then let him. We're going to have to deal with MachGaogamon and Ladydevimon anyhow even if SkullMeramon remains uncorrupted."
Shibumi was about to counter, before Jon said, "No, I think Yamaki is right…."
Gennai did a double-take towards Jon. "You can't seriously be considering this!"
Jon cast a look towards Kanto and SkullMeramon, and then towards Mephistomon and Doumon, before his blue eyes set upon Yamaki's equally-azure eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this but you're right… we have no choice. I know the gravity of what we're allowing to happen, but Kanto's partner is our best chance against them. Even if it means… letting SkullMeramon stay corrupted."
"You're dooming the Digidestined team!" Gennai accused. "You're saying you're willing to sacrifice Kanto's and SkullMeramon's sanities…."
Jon's expression was grim. "To save us all! Or would you rather X-WereGarurumon destroy Garmmon, your father, all of us?" At that moment, the usually mild-mannered Jon grabbed hold of Gennai's robe and pulled the boy close. "If that happens, then it's you who are dooming the Digidestined and the Order of the Light, not me!" he hissed.
Gennai gritted his teeth, but at that moment a glimmer of lavender light came from Jon's chest. Unexpectedly, the true symbol of the Crest of Knowledge flared. That was enough to deliver the point home for Gennai. "Look, Jon…" he said, tapping Jon's chest. "Looks like you're right…"
Jon blinked in surprise, and raised his digivice up. Both his digivice and his Crest pulsed in harmony.
"You've uncorrupted the crest!" Yamaki said.
"And looks like we're about to see a new digivolution…" Shibumi said with awe.
Mephistomon, visibly surprised, quickly gestured for Doumon to intercede the fight, but Dinohumon leaped towards the priest alongside Garmmon. His entire body glowed with renewed vigor as a stream of lavender shot from Jon's crest, engulfing him.
Doumon quickly reacted by surrounding Dinohumon with his dark magical scrolls after blasting Garmmon away with a Talisman of Night. Dinohumon was immediately electrocuted by the scrolls as Doumon muttered a spell in a foreign tongue. Dinohumon glowed and was blasted onto the ground as a stream of light connected Dinohumon's form and Doumon's palm. The priest let out a huge sigh as waves of evolution power surrounded him before finally the light dimmed, leaving only his icy eyes glowing with golden light. He laughed as Dinohumon regressed into Kotemon.
"What just happened?" Jon demanded, kneeling beside Kotemon.
"I feel like I've been rammed by a raging Monochromon," the little ninja moaned.
"Isn't it obvious?" Doumon said with a sly smile. "I just stole your powers. Not only the power for you to digivolve him into Ultimate level as your partner was about to demonstrate, but also his power to become Champion. From now on your dear partner is doomed to remain a Rookie digimon for a very, very long time… I doubt even digivolving into a Champion naturally will be doable from now on."
Another loud crack was heard and X-WereGarurumon's dying gasp echoed. Everyone turned and saw the mutilated form of the armored wolf, arms and legs all in haphazard deformed angles – how it became in that form was lost to everybody who was distracted by Doumon's action.
Kanto smirked, his eyes unfeeling as he told SkullMeramon, "Burn him to crisp."
SkullMeramon obliged and unleashed torrents of blue flames which burned X-WereGarurumon, who was too weak to even scream, until he combusted into data particles. They gasped in horror as SkullMeramon's haunting crimson eyes swept against everyone.
"The deed is done…" Shibumi sighed.
Mephistomon laughed. "Not only you have lost your only chance of becoming the only uncorrupted Ultimate digimon, you've also doomed another one of yours into darkness. I have captured the Vanguard of Light, and it will be a matter of time before Darien, Kira, and now Kanto, and their partners, to see that their best chances are with me!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Kanto growled.
At this, Mephistomon faltered. Doumon eyed the corrupted Digidestined pair cautiously.
"Who says we're gonna follow you, ram-head? SkullMeramon, fry them!"
With a roar, SkullMeramon shot towards Mephistomon and Doumon, whipping his chains towards the two villainous digimon who evaded the corrupted Ultimate by flying higher out of reach. Doumon fired his scrolls towards SkullMeramon but they ended up getting burned by SkullMeramon's chains, or from the flames which radiated from his body. Powered up by Kanto's first time succumbing to darkness, SkullMeramon had gained an edge against regular Ultimate digimon, as demonstrated by him destroying X-WereGarurumon earlier.
"We have to go now!" Shibumi insisted, motioning for the Sky Gliders and the Mekanorimon.
"And leave Kanto?" Jon asked, now hesitating as he lifted up the weakened Kotemon.
"Hey! You were game on letting Kanto and his partner being corrupted!" Gennai hissed as he regrouped with Garmmon and Falcomon, who had been cowering at an unseen corner earlier, only appearing upon seeing Gennai was about to board a Mekanorimon.
"They won't stand a chance against Mephistomon if he digivolves!" Jon insisted.
Yamaki helped Riley and Talley board a Mekanorimon before he climbed on a Sky Glider. Behind him, furious roars were heard from SkullMeramon as he whipped chains against Doumon in rapid sequence, agile despite his stature. They saw the monstrous digimon jumped against a large boulder that used to be part of the lab's ceiling, using it as a stepping stone to leap up, firing his heat-energized chains towards Doumon, burning his priest garbs and landed a shot on the fox's face.
"Something tells me that after digivolving to Mega for the first time yesterday, Mephistomon seems to need some recovery time before attempting it again," the shaggy-haired blonde Order member said quickly. "If he could, he would've digivolved a long time ago, especially since they were now underwhelmed by SkullMeramon."
"Look!" Gennai pointed, and everyone followed his gaze.
"Shit!" Shibumi cursed, as they saw SkullMeramon crouching in a position and a sphere of blue flames began to grow from his body. Kanto's body was coated with purple aura which seemed to protect him from the heat, as the growing blue sphere sucked him in. The ponytailed man turned to everyone who had boarded the Mekanorimon and Sky Gliders, before he took the last Sky Glider. "SkullMeramon is going to destroy the Castle in his attempt to destroy Doumon and Mephistomon! We have to escape via that hole of a ceiling, now!"
"Kanto… I'm sorry…" A trickle of tear came down Jon's eyes, as he watched Kotemon who had slipped into unconsciousness. The Mekanorimon beeped, closed the glass shutter of its cockpit, and took off, along with the other two Mekanorimon that housed Gennai and Falcomon, with Garmmon perched on top of it, and the other with Riley and Tally, flanked by the two Sky Gliders piloted by Yamaki and Shibumi.
They all shot towards the opening, flying past Mephistomon who was seizing a beaten up Doumon, his face clearly disfigured due to the abuse from SkullMeramon's scorching chains, as SkullMeramon's fiery sphere began swallowing the entire destroyed lab. The rest of the castle was now in shambles, and they saw the other Order members all retreating with the Sky Gliders and Mekanorimon in multiple directions. The structure of the castle shook, forcing them to increase their speed of retreat. The castle's grounds exploded and SkullMeramon's fiery sphere continued to expand.
A deafening explosion akin to a volcano ripped the silence of the night, and Jon looked behind to see that aside from the Mekanorimon with Gennai and his digimon friends, they were separated from the others. He looked down at the screen, which showed that the Mekanorimon was already programmed to an unspecified destination.
"It's just me now…" Jon whispered despairingly. "What am I going to do?"
PRESENT DAY
0101
Max and his fellow comrades had abandoned their initial plan to search the Macabre Glades for any leads, upon learning from Bishopchessmon that Kanto's corrupted partner had destroyed the leader of the wolf clan. Instead, they arrived at the desert where the Order's castle once stood. True to Bishopchessmon's story, the castle had completely been obliterated, as well as a portion of the upper part of the stone mountain where the castle was built on its peak. Piles of blackened remnants of the castle's structure remained scattered around a large gaping hole on the ground.
"From the looks of it, it has been abandoned for months," Aeroveedramon observed as he approached the castle ground closer. "Look at how the dusts caking those blocks of stones…"
Max shook his head. "I still can't believe it..."
MagnaAngemon flew closer towards the gaping hole, and then addressed the crowd of digimon, consisting of Aeroveedramon and Rookchessmon who were both too big to fit the hole, and Bishopchessmon and himself, who both could descend into it.
"Bishopchessmon," Max called the puppet digimon to come closer to him, "Did you manage to see what happened to Kanto and his partner after causing the explosion that destroyed this castle?"
"I'm sorry, but no," Bishopchessmon said. "When I saw the entire battle via the observation lake inside Castle Eos's throne room, it was played out retrospectively, and as I wanted to look for Master Kanto, Mephistomon and Doumon invaded the castle…"
"If they survived the fiery explosion, then it makes perfect sense that the one who caused the attack would survive it as well," MagnaAngemon deduced.
"Not unless if it's a kamikaze attack," Max replied.
"All or nothing?" the angel clarified.
"Indeed."
Everyone fell silent, trying to digest the graveness of the possibility.
"I did see Master Kanto being enveloped by his corrupted crest's power, which coated his body, as SkullMeramon's fiery sphere expanded and consumed him," Bishopchessmon offered after a few seconds of silence. "So I think it stands to reason that he and his partner survived."
Max nodded. "So now only Jon is the other Digidestined, other than me, who is not corrupted. We should first look him up… maybe he can give us a clue about the other Digidestined. Once we're all regrouped, then we can probably give Mephistomon a strong beating and save the Vanguard of Light."
Aeroveedramon scratched his head; an amusing sight to behold for a fearsome dragon. "Didn't Bishopchessmon mention that Kotemon has lost his power to digivolve, despite Jon unlocked the true power of the Crest of Knowledge?"
"Yeah…" Max stared off the distance, at the clear afternoon sky. "I wonder how they'd survived the whole year on their own, or if they are still around… uhh…"
"Max?" Aeroveedramon followed Max's gaze.
"Someone's coming!"
From a distance, they could see a lone figure shooting towards them. It was difficult to see whether it was an enemy or a friend, but having encountered Mephistomon's projected form earlier that day, they took fighting stances immediately as the figure, who was about Bishopchessmon's size, stopped just a few meters away from them. It was a masked figure in charred priestly robe, with swords crisscrossed behind its back. The mask was half black and half white, exposed his yellow eyes, and covered the upper side of its face.
The digimon's identity became quickly known to them upon the sight of a rather familiar violet-furred fox tail from behind its back.
"Doumon!" Max realized.
"Well, well… look at who we have here," Doumon said with a mocking sneer. "After one year of abandoning his comrades, the leader of the Digidestined has finally returned, with an upgrade of his pet dragon." He laughed. "Matadormon certainly did his job."
Aeroveedramon growled. "You set him loose to separate us from our friends."
"As much as I wanted to claim such brilliant feat to be my doing, it wasn't me," Doumon said as he scanned his surrounding in a sweeping glance, before stopping at MagnaAngemon. "I was told that it was the Dark One himself who freed Matadormon…" Doumon assumed a guarded stance upon the sight of the angel.
"You mean the one I banished with the Gate of Destiny?" MagnaAngemon pointed his glowing sword towards Doumon.
From the slits on his face, Doumon's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You are not as powerful as you are reputed to be, rebel, with the source of your edge against the forces of darkness captured by Lord Mephistomon."
"If you tell us where the lady vanguard is held right now…" MagnaAngemon began.
"What if I refuse?" Doumon challenged.
"You will suffer the same fate as Matadormon."
Doumon was silent. For a moment, everybody thought he was considering his fate had MagnaAngemon unleashed his finisher attack, or was threatened about it.
They didn't expect him to laugh. They didn't expect him to unsheathe his twin swords, and sped towards MagnaAngemon, attacking without warning. MagnaAngemon, with practiced alertness, countered a jab coming his way with his glowing blade and blocked another with his shield. Doumon slashed with rapid ease, apparently already mastered a dark form of swordsmanship he had never displayed before, his paintbrush no longer in sight, trying to overwhelm MagnaAngemon with the speed of his swordsmanship.
This quickly caused the other digimon to start attacking Doumon. Rookchessmon and Bishopchessmon fired pellets of energy and lasers towards Doumon, while Aeroveedramon summoned the Victory Wing Blade, hoping that MagnaAngemon would be able to keep Doumon relatively in place for their attacks to hit their target.
However, Doumon slashed MagnaAngemon's sword hard, forcing the angel back a few meters, before throwing his sword up into the air. With one hand freed, he spun around and generated what appeared to be an invisible barrier that seemed to be slowing the incoming attack down, before with a slight push of the hand, the energy barrier pushed the attacks back towards the origin, throwing them all off their stances.
Doumon then caught his sword with the same hand, and smirked, having now gained the upper hand. He zoomed towards MagnaAngemon once again, overwhelming the angel with his lightning-speed swordsmanship.
"You can't generate the Gate of Destiny if you're overwhelmed by the attack," Doumon simpered, and continued slashing away in rapid movements that involved spinning and bending down, attacking MagnaAngemon at any weak point. "And your holy-type advantage doesn't work against me," he added, slashing in a horizontal motion towards the angel's abdomen when it was left open, effectively wounding it. "And now, you're wounded…"
MagnaAngemon groaned. "A mild irritating setback. You forget, I have my Magna…"
"I think, not!" Doumon threw his sword up into the air once again and fired, of all thing, a plain white handkerchief, towards MagnaAngemon, causing the angel to halt in confusion.
"You intend to stop me with a tablecloth?"
"Ha! Your worst mistake, MagnaAngemon!" he shouted, as the handkerchief magically transformed into ten-times its original size and engulfed MagnaAngemon wholly. The white cloth then flew away and MagnaAngemon was nowhere in sight. Doumon caught the cloth before it was blown off by the wind and turned to face Max and the remaining digimon.
"What…what happened to MagnaAngemon?" Max demanded.
"He's not the only digimon around here with banishment ability," Doumon replied, and opened his closed hand, revealing a cartoonish version of MagnaAngemon, in keychain form. "The arcane arts I have learned this past one year, with the Digidestined out of my hair, enabled me to perform many feats as I await the day for me to achieve Mega form."
"You stole our digimon's powers to DNA digivolve, Kira's power to digivolve Renamon into Ultimate, and all of Jon's ability to digivolve Kotemon at all," Max stalled, as he calmed his rapidly beating heart at the loss of their most powerful ally to Doumon, in order to gain some information. "What's stopping you from digivolving?"
"I know what you're doing," Doumon said, with a smirk, "but I'll humor you, Digidestined. After all, you have lost your trump card, and I have lost my greatest threat of the day. It's quite simple, really. To gain the power to become Mega, I have to steal the power to Mega-digivolve, which none of you have accomplished. The powers I have stolen only added to my own power as an Ultimate-level digimon."
"You have to steal Mephistomon's power, then," Max pointed out.
Doumon looked visibly surprised, before he smiled again. "Oh, but why should I? We are on the same side."
"He didn't seem to care about Mummymon and X-WereGarurumon being deleted."
"Neither do I," Doumon said calmly, "rest assured, Digidestined, that was a deviously remarkable attempt of you to turn us against each other. I didn't expect that from the Digidestined of Courage. Unfortunately for you, I have no intention to betray the Legion of Darkness."
"You can't blame me for having the courage to try," Max countered.
"So what will it be, then?" Doumon demanded, eyeing Aeroveedramon, Rookchessmon and Bishopchessmon. "One on one, or three against one?"
"Don't fall for that, Max!" Aeroveedramon said. "We attack him together! Rookchessmon! Bishopchessmon!"
The two guardians of Castle Eos quickly advanced towards Doumon with their special techniques, while Doumon launched his swords into the air. To everyone's surprise, the two swords appeared to have lives of their own as each advanced towards a guardian, controlled from afar by Doumon via telekinesis. The guardians were overwhelmed by the swords; Bishopchessmon due to him not being an adept hand-in-hand fighter, and Rookchessmon due to his large fortress-like stature.
"Victory Wing Blade!"
To Doumon's surprise, Aeroveedramon's attack pushed away his swords from further overwhelming the guardians. This was enough for Aeroveedramon to advance forward and slashed a Twister Saber attack, but Doumon was quick to evade it. The attack managed to peel off his mask, and Aeroveedramon recoiled at the grotesque sight that was Doumon's face – the upper side was without fur, and the flesh was unhealed, furious red with some slough.
"Surprised, Digidestined? This was a souvenir from SkullMeramon, the corrupted partner of the child with the Crest of Gloom."
Doumon twirled his hand and immediately fired his traditional Thousand Curses against Aeroveedramon, hitting the dragon squarely over the chest and was pushed several meters away from him. This gave him the opportunity to generate another attack, and without the use of his giant paintbrush Doumon drew the kanji of the Talisman of Night using his thick finger, and blasted it towards Aeroveedramon.
"Wind Guardian!"
Aeroveedramon, worried more of Max who was holding him tight over the back of his scaly neck, quickly generated his barrier technique to stop Doumon's incoming curse. The barrier proved to be effective to stop the kanji, but Aeroveedramon soon realized he was being duped into retreating, for Doumon quickly used the opportunity to send more white clothes towards Bishopchessmon and Rookchessmon, who had advanced to attack him.
"NOOOO!"
It was too late. Doumon had turned both guardians into keychains as well, clipping them around his belt along with the MagnaAngemon keychain he had gained earlier.
"It's just you and me now, Digidestined!" Doumon advanced towards them again.
"Aeroveedramon, what do we do?" Max whispered urgently.
"I can't take him alone, despite him being smaller," Aeroveedramon replied with a gulp. "We have to retreat and figure out a way to save MagnaAngemon and the others."
"If we're turned into keychains, then the bad guys really have won," Max said with dread.
"I'm going to go all out on him. You hold on tight!"
Aeroveedramon lowered the Wind Guardian barrier, and summoned his entire might to create a technique he hadn't used before; a technique more powerful than the Victory Wing Blade, that could risk him de-digivolving in midair. He had to retain enough power to maintain his flying form enough to land on the grounds below to ensure Max's safety.
"Dragon Impulse!"
Aeroveedramon's body glowed with an aura resembling himself, burning with hot white fire, before with a loud cry he unleashed the dragon aura towards Doumon. The dragon aura blasted at top speed and swirled around Doumon, locking in its target.
Unimpressed, Doumon blasted the dragon aura with a force that pushed it back, and upon contact the dragon unexpectedly exploded. The shockwave from the explosion thrown the wizard fox off his balance and blasted him away due to the close proximity between him and the exploded attack. From a safer distance, the shockwave however was strong enough to blast Aeroveedramon back to a greater distance.
"You've never failed to surprise me, Digidestined!" Doumon's voice rang over the air as he gathered his bearing. "But SkullMeramon's attack was even worse, and I survived that! Now, it's time to add you into my collection of keychains!"
"We have to retreat to the grounds!" Max urged.
"I'm on it. I don't feel so good…"
Aeroveedramon heaved hard and summoned the winds to act as stabilizer for him, flying both him and Max away as Doumon quickly approaching. It was more difficult for him to do so as he had to force himself to maintain his current level to not plummet both of them to their doom. Sweat beads rolled down the dragon's head as he felt the last bit of his Ultimate-form's power waning.
"He's gaining on us!" Max said in a panicked voice, as Doumon maintained a good distance between them.
"Hold on tight, Max!"
He quickly flew down towards the grounds below, hoping to the Digimon Sovereigns and whatever great forces at works in the Digital World that he could reach the ground in time before dedigivolution occurred.
"Aeroveedramon, look up! Something's happening!"
Suddenly a cyclone of leaves appeared from out of nowhere from the sky. The air distorted and ripples appeared, before revealing a peculiar figure dressed in loose off-white garb, its head covered with hood and veil that obscured its identity save for openings for its eyes. It wore leaves as shoulder pauldrons, and had a large, four-pointed star-shaped weapon on its back. Its limbs were also peculiarly-formed, in the forms of spring coils connected to three-point, curved star-shaped weapons as hands and feet.
From behind the newcomer, another digimon appeared; an ostrich-like digimon with violet and yellow feathers. The bird digimon fired feathery projectiles into the leaf cyclone, adding more power to the attack which managed to force Doumon back.
"We can't hold Doumon for long, he's too powerful!" the hooded digimon said urgently.
"Right'o!" The ostrich swooped down and plucked Max from Aeroveedramon. "Got him!"
"Who are you?" Max wondered out loud.
The ostrich glanced back towards him and replied with a wink. "Ninjas, dude."
"Huh?"
"Hang on. Light coming out of your big dude, he gonna dedigivolve. I dive, you catch him, got it?"
Max blinked at the odd way the ostrich was talking, but his focus was drawn towards Aeroveedramon who dedigivolved straight into Koromon. Swooping down easily by flapping its huge wings, the ostrich dove towards the In-training digimon, and Max was able to catch the semiconscious Koromon.
The hooded digimon then threw something in the air which combusted and released smokes all over them. They felt as if the world was swirling within the smokes, and Koromon passed out due to the extreme usage of his energy earlier against Doumon. Max held on to the ostrich tight, as he felt dizzier and nauseated by the entire experience, surrounded by smokes and cyclones of leaves.
Amidst the strangeness of the entire experience, Max couldn't help but wonder: who are their saviors?
To be continued…
Author's Notes:
I'm sure you have your suspicion by now, on who Doumon ends up becoming? It's taken me awhile to come up with the chapter that begins laying out Doumon's eventual identity even more, and I wanted to have it in a sort of focused chapter without having him share the stage with Mephistomon or X-WereGarurumon (who got axed in this chapter).
