Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure is a fan fiction idea. Please support the official properties.
Author's Notes: Hello, good evening and potato to all my readers who left a review, followed, and favorited the story of The Tamer A Digimon Adventure. It's good to have you with us and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I want to thank all you readers for coming this far, with a special shout out to Ace Spiritwell for producing the cover art for this story. We're almost to the end of this story arc and I don't have much else to say so let's jump straight into it!
The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure
Chapter 51: When Only Hope Remains
Mimi heard Kari's scream and looked over her shoulder to see Joe holding her back despite her screams of terror. Angemon and MegaKabuterimon rushed Piedmon and were kicked aside with little effort. The clown laughed manically at their futile rescue but even more as the girl screamed out for her brother, while beginning his slow strut towards them. Once Mimi followed the girl's gaze, she could see why. On the ground dressed in Tamer's white robes was a corpse like body reaching out after Piedmon but unable to summon the strength to do more than move its arm.
She wasn't quite sure what had happened, but she knew she had to step in. The need amplified when she watched WarGreymon charged the clown only to be slammed straight into the ground. The clown laughed gleefully, "Now stay down and let Uncle Piedmon do what he needs to do!"
She called for her partner to help and Lillymon swooped away from the fighting to stop Piedmon's advance. A few Gekomon saw what was happening and went to help her, but Piedmon scoffed at their attempt, "Oh look. Some volunteers for my first trick. Behold as I make a digimon into a keychain!"
He giggled excitedly as he produced a white cloth and threw it over Lillymon when she was close enough. The Gekomon stopped in their tracks when the sheet fell flat to the ground with no sign of Lillymon underneath. Amused by their confusion, Piedmon said, "For my follow up! I shall make a digimon shish kebab!"
He flicked his wrist and one of his swords flew on its own to skewer all of them at once. It hovered in the air to display them until their bodies turned to data, all the while Piedmon laughed and retrieved his sheet from the ground. Where Lillymon should have been was a keychain figurine in her likeness that he dangled before the digidestined like a trophy, "That's one. Thirteen to go."
"Lillymon!" Mimi gasped in shock. Piedmon cast his eyes in her direction and smiled, "Oh look, another digidestined pretending to be The Digimon Tamer. Or wait, is it Tai? Oh, who cares! That'd spoil the fun. Now, let's dance!"
He flailed his hands so that his swords assembled in front of him and they aimed themselves at her. With a snap, all four swords shot forward to impale the girl and Mimi stumbled backwards onto the ground in fear, raising her arms up to protect herself for all the good it would do. Seeing her in danger, three Otamamon and the Agumon partnered with her jump in the way, "NO!"
Like the Gekomon who accompanied Lillymon, all four were skewered by the swords and Mimi gasped in shock, "NO!"
Their bodies crumpled as they used themselves to stop the swords. Piedmon laughed and strolled towards her, "Oh, you poor dear. It seems the ones you care for just keep on dying. It truly is unfortunate for you. Let's put an end to your misery."
He loomed over her for a moment and draped the while cloth over her. The last thing she saw was darkness.
Kari gasped when Piedmon lifted up the cloth to produce another keychain figurine in Mimi's likeness. He cracked a wicked smile, "Hmm! Such a pretty doll to add to my collection. Now, who's next?"
He looked towards the rest of their group, eyeing the digidestined while making various mocking faces to show that he would delight at turning any one of them into a key chain. After a moment of silent deliberation, Sora leapt on to him from behind and threw her robe over him to blind him. He stumbled for a moment while she shouted, "Guys! Run!"
"Fuck that noise!" Izzy growled uncharacteristically, foregoing his own intelligent nature to jump onto the blinded clown from the front, "MegaKabuterimon! Let's go help her!"
"We're coming Sora!" MegaKabuterimon roared, tackling the clown onto the ground and knocking both children off. When Sora rolled to a stop, she looked up to see Piedmon managed to throw MegaKabuterimon off him. Before he could remove the robe, Izzy leapt on him again and tried to hold the it there, "What have you done to Mimi!? To Lillymon!? Tamer! FIX THEM!"
"Whoa, Izzy's gone nuts," Joe thought aloud as the boy did everything he could to stay on Piedmon. The clown had the hardest time wrestling the boy off, and had a harder time once Sora piled on him. MegaKabuterimon tried to help but was quickly swarmed by the Vilemon, who dragged him to the ground together. Garudamon swooped in from the side and pulled them off one at a time, only to be overrun herself. In that moment where both digidestined were distracted by their partners, Piedmon took hold of both and threw them off. He ripped the white robe off his head and growled, "Okay. Now I'm annoyed. White cloth isn't for me! But it'll look great on you."
He produced his white cloth and threw it over both digidestined, laughing as they disappeared beneath the thick sheet. Both of their partners, Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon hurried to help but Piedmon simply whipped the cloth around to catch them mid flight. They vanished into nothing as quickly as they flew into the cloth, leaving behind only keychain figurines of themselves.
Matt and MetalGarurumon circled around the edge of the fighting, focusing on areas with plenty of Vilemon to avoid harming the digimon on their side. The Agumon who'd partnered with him cheered as each one was turned to data but it seemed like a drop in the bucket compared to the number of Vilemon still attacking. For each one that fell, two more would appear and take its place on the battlefield. This didn't stop them from doing everything they could to turn the tide, blanketing the edge of Piedmon's forces with round after round of rockets. As the fighting went on, the Vilemon swarmed around their group to keep them from retreating away. MetalGarurumon shifted focus instead on keeping the back clear so that their digimon would always have an escape route.
Their efforts came to a halt when Matt heard his brother scream in a panic. Matt glanced down and saw Piedmon advancing on Joe, while TK and Kari hid behind him. Seeing the danger they were in, he nudged his partner to turn and help them. The wolf charged ahead at full speed, blasting ice cold air straight at the clown, "Metal Wolf Claw!"
Piedmon leapt back to avoid being frozen and turned his attention towards them. He jeered, "Another pretender. Oh, when will you all learn? Your role isn't to be the Digimon Tamer! Your role is to fail!"
MetalGarurumon rammed the clown as hard as he could, using his sharp teeth to dig into the clowns flesh and dragging him along the ground. While the clown was preoccupied, Matt shouted at the others, "GUYS! RUN!"
"But what about Tai?" he heard Kari ask. Matt's answer came in the form of a gasp as he found himself and Agumon thrown through the air. Piedmon grabbed hold of MetalGarurumon and flipped him onto his back, throwing his two riders off in the process. Everyone scrambled to their feet but Piedmon kept the wolf pinned with his foot, despite all the struggling, "Is that it? I'm disappointed."
"GET OFF HIM!" WarGreymon shouted as he sucker-punched Piedmon so hard across the cheek that his cestus shattered to pieces. Piedmon only slid back a few feet and spat out a bloodied tooth, "Oh my. Such anger behind that punch. I apologize if I've done anything to offend, for I am merely play-acting my-"
"SHUT! UP!" WarGreymon growled as he ascended high into the air. MetalGarurumon rejoined Matt and Agumon, standing between them and the Dark Master who'd lost all interest in them. Instead, he watched WaryGreymon ascend high into the air and snapped his fingers. A good number of Vilemon broke away from the main group to chase after him, eager to take a chance at him once they were close enough. Once he was high enough, WarGreymon started spinning and changed direction to fight them, "GREAT TORNADO!"
Once he burst into flames, the Vilemon tried to clear the range of his attack only to be caught in the heat and destroyed. WarGreymon's path turned to attack the clown, who greeted the oncoming blaze with smile. At the point of impact, Piedmon danced aside and swung one of his swords, managing to stab WarGreymon in the side, "AH!"
The fires died as WarGreymon crashed into the ground, sliding to a halt just feet away and the clown laughed at his decisive win. Before the dinosaur could get back up, the clown advanced with the white sheet in hand. Matt pointed this out for his partner, "MetalGarurumon! We have to stop him!"
"Leave him alone!" MetalGarurumon charged again, only to be brought down by a cloud of Vilemon that piled on top of him. Piedmon cackled, "It's a shame you can't help your friends, but it seems my friends outnumber yours. Here, how about a nice warm blanket to make you feel better?"
"No!" MetalGarurumon shouted too late as the sheet fell over him. Matt was already ripping off his white robe a running at the Dark Master, "MetalGarurumon! GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!"
He tried to tackle Piedmon, but the clown side stepped at the last second and tripped the boy who fell face first into the dirt. He turned around and saw the clown taking a bow as he lifted up the sheet to reveal nothing, "I'd love to but he's already exited stage left. And you're next!"
Matt was kicked away by the clown with ease and rolled along the ground beside him. The Agumon partnered with him ran between the two, "You'll have to go through me to get to-"
Before he finished, one of Piedmon's swords swung from the side and lopped his head clean off so that it rolled along the ground. The Agumon's body fell limp to the ground before dissipating into data. The clown smirked confidently and stopped just before Matt, "I've had quite enough of those Agumon. The Digimon Tamer's partner was bad enough - I don't need more of them running around. And you bunch running around in those robes did not help."
"Then how about the genuine article?" WarGreymon leapt towards the clown only to flicked straight into the ground with a finger, "If you're so eager to join your friend, then let me help you on your way!"
He threw the same white sheet over the dinosaur and Matt watched in petrified horror as he also became another keychain for Piedmon's amusement. Matt looked around for his brother and saw the boy beside both Joe and Kari. Exasperated, he shouted, "What are you guys doing? RUN!"
Piedmon threw the white sheet over him and the world became dark.
Joe swallowed a lump in his throat and pushed the two youngest digidestined onwards, "Let's go!"
"Matt! He got Matt!" TK whimpered. He spun around to help push them along and watched Angewomon crash into the ground in the direction he was planning to run. She sat herself back up only to get dragged further along by LadyDevimon. The female demon cackled, "What's the matter you bleach blonde shit? Cat got your tongue?"
"And I thought your punches were bad," Angewomon grunted from the ground. LadyDevimon scowled and raised her arm up, red nails and all, "You've got a mouth on you, don't you kitty cat?"
"Angewomon!" Kari shouted out to her partner, temporarily drawing the attention of the demon. She cracked a smile on seeing the girl, "Oh look. Your partner, the eighth digidestined. Which reminds me! That wizard friend of yours must be so lonely. Maybe I'll send her to join hi-"
Angewomon was on her feet and beating the demon as hard as she could before the demon knew what was going on, "YOU! DON'T! TALK! ABOUT! HIM! AND! DON'T! YOU! TOUCH! KARI! YOU! GOOD! FOR! NOTHING! BITCH!"
LadyDevimon appeared genuinely taken off guard for the brief moment she was on her feet. When Angewomon beat her onto the ground, the fear turned into a smile that only widened once Angewomon had an arrow trained on her. The demon proudly stated, "It feels good, doesn't it? To let the anger and the rage take over. This is what it's like to be on our side! Why not defy the role that destiny gave you and-"
"Oh for the love of," Angewomon stopped herself from saying any more as she fired it straight into the devil's heart. The demon let out a surprised gasp before dissipating into data. The angel's breaths were heavy and deep, and she took a moment to collect herself before sighing, "I swear. If I hear one more thing about destiny."
Kari was taken aback by her partner's brutality, a grim reminder of the fact that she'd just lost Wizardmon, her best friend. Once she corrected herself, she offered an apologetic frown to Kari - admitting that she knew what she did was wrong. Angemon appeared beside her, "Angewomon, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Let's focus on the Dark Master," she grunted. Joe motioned back towards Piedmon dancing towards them, spinning his sword in one hand and jangling the key chains of their friends in the other. In a sing song voice, he mocked them, "Four digidestined, five digimon down. Three digidestined, three digimon, and one Digimon Tamer left. Oh what fun we'll have when you're all gone!"
"I can't wait to wipe the smile off that face of yours," Angewomon took to the air and aimed her bow towards him, "Now enjoy this! Celestial Arrow!"
Piedmon sidestepped the attack and remarked, "The thing that always confused me about all these ranged attacks is that they're so easy to dodge! Why don't more digimon simply get out of the way? It doesn't seem to hard to do."
Angewomon clicked her tongue and fired another shot that Piedmon happily sidestepped. Piedmon cackled away manically and leapt into the air straight for her. She must've been forty feet in the air but the speed of his leap made it seem as if he was flying. Angemon zoomed in between them and used his staff to jab the clown in the chest, "Back off!"
The clown took the hit but only so that he could take hold of the angel's staff with both of his hands. Displaying an agility that no one had seen since he'd fought Tamer, Piedmon did a flip over the staff and used it to whirl the angel away while propelling himself towards Angewomon, "Wait your turn."
"Angewomon!" Angemon called out as he tried to correct his flight pattern.
"Zudomon, you have to help," Joe said aloud as the clown threw a white sheet over the angel. Zudomon said, "They're flying, Joe! What am I supposed to do?"
"Okay, good point," Joe sighed, watching Angemon stop himself in the air just a few feet away from them. He went to attack again but Joe called him out, "Angemon. Don't! We have to stick together!"
"But-" Angemon began only to get interrupted, "We have to stick together if we're going to make it out of this!"
When he saw Angemon surveying the scene, he knew the angel had different thoughts on the matter. It was hard to disagree, when Joe could see the digimon on their side faltering. Agumon, Gekomon, Otamamon, Gotsumon, Yokomon, and the other smaller digimon were doing their best but their strength was always in their numbers - something the Vilemon matched and undermined with their own superior numbers. This made the better fighters on their side the advantage they had: the groups of Frigimon, Andromon, Centarumon, ShogunGekomon, Meramon, Unimon, Monzaemon, and Ogremon. As strong as they were against individual Vilemon, their combined might pushed them further back.
Centarumon and Unimon used their speed to avoid their pursuers but the others were forced to hold their ground as long as they could. ShogunGekomon shouted words of encouragement to the other digimon and used his horns to blow away groups of Vilemon. The Frigimon and Monzaemon worked together to trap the Vilemon in ice and bubbles. Meramon, Andromon worked in tandem with the Agumon to pick off any Vilemon that came too close. The Gekomon and Otamamon demonstrated their ability to work together, sticking together in groups of three or more and always fighting Vilemon when the odds were in their favor. Only Ogremon seemed to relish in the fighting, swinging his club around wildly and shouting insults at any Vilemon who attacked him, "Come on! I'm right here! You got nothing on me! TAKE THIS! AND THIS! HAHAHAHA! You think you're so tough? I'll show you how a real mon fights!"
He was brave if nothing else, continuing to shout and fight as the Vilemon slowly overwhelmed him as they did all the other digimon. Angemon punched two blasts of light into the army before floating along side Zudomon, "What do we do?"
"I…I don't know. Sora was the only one who could use her digivice to take us home. And Tamer is…Tamer!" Joe looked over at the withered corpse in the middle of the fighting. It still looked to be reaching out to them in a feeble attempt to do something, anything to help. Joe pointed him out and began ushering the kids towards him, "Come on Kari, TK!"
"But Angewomon!" Kari gasped while watching Piedmon spin the angel keychain in his fingers. Joe hurried her along, "I know, but there's nothing we can do for her right now."
"Then what can we do?" Angemon asked. Joe pushed them again, "I don't know. But Zudomon and I will do whatever we can to slow him down. Angemon! You have to protect them no matter what!"
"No, I'll stay to help," Angemon declared until Joe admonished him, "Believe me - I'd love nothing more than to have your help, but you guys have to grab Tamer and get out of here!"
"But-" Angemon stuttered only for Joe to shout, "GO!"
"Here they come!" Zudomon called, thrusting his hammer hard to block all of Piedmon's swords with a single swing. The clown mused, "Such a nice hammer you have there. Sorry, did you think you were going to nail me on the head? Oh, I'm sorry. That was just dreadful. Might I try again?"
"Uh…sure?" Zudomon asked more than said as Piedmon withdrew his swords and cleared his throat, "Oh thank you very much. Now let's see, hm…hammers, hammers, hammers. Hmm. That's disappointing. I have no material for this. I should apologize for my inability to think of a good quip. As a show of good faith, I will give you one free chance to hit me."
Zudomon blinked, "Wait, seriously?"
"You have to be joking," Joe said aloud, not realizing that Piedmon heard him. The clown laughed at them and covered his face while he did so, "Oh, I speak the truth. But remember! I'm only giving you one so I would suggest that you make it count."
Zudomon looked back at his partner, and Joe could only offer a confused shrug in return - neither was truly certain of what to make of Piedmon's offer. Still, they had a free swing so they might as well make it count. Zudomon raised the hammer over his head and slammed it down with all his might, "VULCAN'S HAMMER!"
It crashed like thunder upon Piedmon and shook the ground so hard that it knocked Joe and the remaining digidestined off their feet. Joe couldn't believe his eyes at the sight of the Dark Master gone beneath the hammer. Even Zudomon was taken off guard, "No way! I beat him! I beat Piedmon!"
The hammer shook slightly as it began pulling itself up against Zudomon's control, "Wait, what's happening?"
"I should give you credit. That did knock me flat on my back like a pancake," Piedmon mused as he pushed the hammer off and dusted himself clean, "But I believe you're celebrating too soon."
"Oh, come on," Joe moaned. Piedmon smiled, "Oh, don't feel too bad. Here, let me give you a break!"
"Joe, look out!" Zudomon swung his hammer again and missed the clown zipping towards his partner. With one hand firm around his collar, the clown readied to throw the white sheet over him again while Joe pleaded, "Hey, before you do this - you should know something."
"What's that?" Piedmon asked, indulging the boy while unaware that Zudomon was bringing his hammer down again. As soon as the hammer was above him, Piedmon snapped his fingers and his swords stopped in its tracks. Joe sweated nervously at the hammer just inches above Piedmon's head and mumbled, "Well…crap."
"I imagine you will," Piedmon said as he threw the sheet over his head. Joe closed his eyes and let the darkness take him, while hearing his partner cry out his name one last time.
TK and Kari sprinted as fast as they could away from Piedmon towards Tamer. TK only looked back once to see Zudomon get turned into a keychain by the Dark Master. While he looked back, Kari had over taken him and slid to a stop at her brother's side, sputtering at the sight of the half decrepit corpse he'd become, "Tai! Tai!"
His eyes were sunken into his skull but they still managed to turn enough to look at her with an audible squick that made TK nauseous. He looked away to the fighting and saw that they were losing horribly. There were only a handful of Agumon still fighting alongside ShogunGekomon, Ogremon, Andromon and Centarumon. Everything else in sight was just Vilemon - no Frigimon, Gekomon, Otamamon, Meramon, Unimon, or anyone else. This wasn't how it was supposed to be - they were the good guys. They were supposed to win.
But that wasn't how it was happening. It all brought back memories of the battle with Devimon again, and how woefully prepared they were for him. And now it is was just him, Kari, and Angemon again. Angemon rested in the air between them and Piedmon, punching blast after blast of light at the evil digimon only for him to side step the attacks with a mocking smile. TK could see it already, Piedmon would look over them and turn them to keychains with his white sheet. It was all over. This was it. He closed his eyes in terrified panic.
Then felt a wrinkled old hand take his. He turned his head and saw Tamer holding his hand with great effort, his sunken eyes still full of determination and resolve. He struggled to draw in breath before saying, "Hope."
"What?" TK whimpered, doing his best not to cry in panic. Tamer drew in another long breath and struggled to speak, "Crest...hope...don't...give...up..."
TK looked down at the crest and tag hanging around his neck and recalled that Myotismon had referred to it as the crest of hope. A crest that he'd yet to make glow. He clutched it his hand and wished now more than ever that it would finally glow - that Angemon would Digivolve to the next level, with the strength he needed to defeat Piedmon and bring the others back. He kept on wishing, even after the clown threw Angemon aside, "Move. I don't waste time on useless side characters. Come back when you're more important."
He continued to wish when Piedmon stood over him, looking down with his sword in hand, "Oh dear. Hoping your crest will glow? How ironic that hoping can't make the Crest of Hope glow."
Kari gasped as Piedmon raised the sword over his head and brought it crashing down, "Now die."
Even in the face of certain doom, he continued to wish and pray that his crest would finally glow. That Angemon would finally digivolve. He heard his partner cry out, "TK! Kari! I'LL PROTECT YOU!"
TK opened his eyes in time to see a bright glow of light that blinded Piedmon and the Vilemon. Kari, Tamer, Angemon, ShogunGekomon, Ogremon, Centarumon, Andromon, and the remaining Agumon all looked at TK as his crest illuminated the darkened zone. Across the field, Angemon came aglow with his crest and bathed in the soft golden light, "Angemon! Digivolve to! MagnaAngemon."
The golden light criss-crossed across his chest and trailed off to the side like small wings. Across his arms and face, the light extended out to become a blade on his right arm, an arm length pauldron of his left arm and a purple helm that extended far over his head. Two additional wings sprouted below the six he had, and four of them bent around his body protectively. Finally, the light extended up from his helm to create an elongated royal violet helm with the symbol of the Crest of Hope engraved upon it.
He used his sword to stab Piedmon only be blocked with one of his floating swords. Still half blind, Piedmon retreated to safety and tried to clear his vision. Blinking away the blindness and giving his eyes time to adjust, he asked, "What just happened?"
"I did," MagnaAngemon's voice resounded with an echo, as if he spoke with a hundred voices at once, "I am MagnaAngemon, stalwart defender of the light and all that is good. With my Beam Shield and blade Excalibur, I have come to deliver judgment on to you Piedmon for your sins against the Digital World."
"Oh, well, this was expected," Piedmon cracked a twisted and triumphant smile, "But I'm afraid there simply isn't a Digital World left to save. And the few digimon left to save won't be around much longer. Now, let's end our dance! TRUMP SWORD!"
Piedmon took all four swords in his hand and leapt straight for the angel digimon who calmly replied, "Excalibur."
TK and Kari watched in awe as the two dueled with such speed and skill that they seemed to be teleporting across the battlefield. For the first time since they'd met Piedmon, the Dark Master genuinely seemed concerned that he would be outmatched by his opponent. Empowered by this sight, ShogunGekomon rallied the digimon on their side and continued to press the attack. A few times, Piedmon tried to cheat and willed his swords to fly away and strike from behind, but MagnaAngemon was able to avoid or block them each time it happened. With each swing, Piedmon was put on the defensive until MagnaAngemon managed to score a lucky strike that cut off a few of the keychains on his belt. The clown tried to protect his prize, but MagnaAngemon was faster and he took the keychains of Garudamon, Sora, Matt, MetalGarurumon, and Angewomon. The clown scowled over his loss and growled, "Give it back!"
"They aren't yours to take," MagnaAngemon said back. Piedmon snapped his fingers to summon a swarm of Vilemon to his aid and the angel responded in kind by cutting each one down with a swing of his blade. The angel smiled confidently at his effortless win and returned to fighting Piedmon, keeping pressure on the clown to force him into a retreat.
"Yeah! You can do it MagnaAngemon!" TK cheered excitedly. Kari kept her hand firmly on her brother but still managed to cry out, "Beat him MagnaAngemon!"
MagnaAngemon kept up his offensive and Piedmon was forced to recall more Vilemon to aid him, and they would just as easily be cut to size. With another swift jab, MagnaAngemon freed the keychains of Mimi, Lillymon, Izzy, MegaKabuterimon, and Joe. The clown growled at the blatant theft, "Give those back! They're my prizes!"
"You followed the path of evil and have come to its end!" MagnaAngemon replied, swing his sword again to free Zudomon and WarGreymon. With all the keychains in hand, MagnaAngemon retreated from his opponent who was left reeling in anger. He stopped beside TK and Kari, setting the keychains on the ground and explaining, "We have to undo Piedmon's magic so that they can help us. Stand back. MagnaAntidote!"
A bright light radiated from his very being, blinding Piedmon and the Vilemon under his command once more. The light shone a rainbow of colors around the keychains that returned each to their normal size. In that brief moment, Kari glanced down at her brother and saw specks of darkness being driven from his withered body - dark spores being driven back by the light. With each speck, his skin smoothed and his hair darkened to brown. He shrunk back to size and reverted to his normal young state. Piedmon roared defiantly and went after him with his sword, "NO!"
Their group staggered for a moment, confused about what just happened and unsure if they were still keychains. Joe glanced around once and said, "Huh, I thought getting turned into a keychain would've been more…different from normal."
"It's an awful lot like being alive, you have to admit that," Mimi commented.
"Only it makes your head spin," Lillymon added, wobbling slightly.
"I have a major headache though," Izzy scratched his head.
"It's like that feeling you get when you wake up from a really weird dream," Zudomon agreed, "Where your head hurts but it shouldn't."
For TK, there was only one thing that mattered to him amidst the confused digidestined. And it was his older brother, "Matt! You're back!"
"TK! No, he didn't get you too, did he?" Matt asked worriedly, thinking that his brother had become a keychain. TK shook his head, "No! MagnaAngemon saved you!"
"MagnaAngemon?" Angewomon repeated quietly, looking ahead to see the Ultimate level digimon resuming his battle with the Dark Master Piedmon. The clown was furious now, concentrating his attacks on the angel alone who single handedly held his own against both the Dark Master and his army of loyal servants. Assessing the situation, the digidestined quickly realized that the fighting was not going their way as they could only see Ogremon, Andromon, a few Agumon, Centarumon, and ShogunGekomon. Seeing them still fighting, their digimon hurried out to join the fray - MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, Zudomon, Angewomon, Lillymon, and MegaKabuterimon. Seeing the digidestined return inspired the few remaining digimon to fight harder against the swarm of Vilemon encircling them. WarGreymon was the only digimon who didn't join the fray, instead focusing his attention on his partner beside him. Kari leapt on Tamer in delight once he was able to stand upright, "TAI!"
"You really didn't age well, y'know?" WarGreymon commented while the boy hugged the little girl jumped onto him. The boy took a moment to hold her in his arms before setting her down and replied, "What did you expect out of someone who's a hundred and five-thousand one hundred and twenty-eight years old?"
"What's the plan?" WarGreymon asked, looking ahead at MagnaAngemon's duel with Piedmon. Tamer cracked a smile and said, "Well, the last area of the Digital World will collapse if we beat Piedmon. And if we don't, it'll collapse anyway. We might as well take the option that beats him."
"Is there an option in there that doesn't destroy the Digital World and possibly us?" Joe asked cautiously. Tamer shrugged, "Only for those of us with partners who can fly...which is kinda a problem for you. But I'm okay with that risk."
"WHAT!?" Joe gasped.
"What about the others?" Mimi pointed out their remaining allies. Tamer glanced at them sideways with deep concentration. After a moment, he nodded towards Sora, "Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon should be able to split their weight between the two of them."
"It'll add unnecessary difficulty to our partners if they have to fight and carry the others at the same time," Izzy pointed out carefully. Tamer gave a thumbs up, "Don't worry about. Just stick close to them and get ready to grab them once we beat Piedmon. Come on WarGreymon!"
"Let's go!"
The two of them bolted straight for MagnaAngemon, ignoring shouts from Sora to stop running off, "Guys! Stop! Don't...I hate it when they do that."
"What are we waiting for? We all heard him! Let's stick close to the others," Matt said, leading them all to stand beside ShogunGekomon. Together, their digimon began to fight harder than they ever had in their attempt to hold back the Vilemon. If this was going to be their final stand, they would give it all they had.
Away from the rest of the group, Piedmon did everything he could to hold off the combined strength of MagnaAngemon, the Digimon Tamer, and WarGreymon. He resorted to commanding all four of his swords without physically holding them to keep up with all of their combined attacks and keep himself separated. Or rather, just MagnaAngemon and WarGreymon since Tamer resorted to ducking and weaving through the swords to try and confuse the swords as they zipped around. It was obvious to Piedmon that the WarGreymon digivolution was still a new development since the coordination of the pair's movements was sloppier than when WarGreymon was in Agumon form. He tried to take advantage of this whenever the two bumped into each other by accident.
Unfortunately, it back fired when a sword Piedmon commanded to strike the two of them buried itself into the ground and Tamer forcefully took it to use as his own. Then he joined the fray by swinging it at the clown. The clown tried to bend his control back over the sword but The Tamer simply incorporated its strokes into his own movements. The boy wasn't as fast as MagnaAngemon or as strong as WarGreymon, but he made up for it with unpredictably - enough to force the clown to keep moving. More than that, he had to continually call upon Vilemon to help him only to watch as they were always cut to size by the three.
He knew he couldn't keep up this tirade forever so he changed his tactics to instead focus on someone else - ShogunGekomon. At his first chance, he sped away towards the Ultimate level - half to strike him down and half to get away from his attackers. Kari had been watching them fight, awe struck to see how strong her brother had become in the four years since his disappearance. As a result, she saw clown coming and called out to Angewomon for help, "Angewomon! Look!"
"I got him!" Angewomon drew her bow and took aim ahead of the clown. When the arrow of light kicked up a dust cloud in front of him, it drew ShogunGekomon's attention and he blasted the clown with his horns, "Musical Fist."
The gust of wind knocked the clown off his feet and left him easy pickings for Tamer to fight. The clown rolled out of his attack in time and commanded one of his three remaining swords into his hand. The pair sparred with each other, switching styles as they moved around the battlefield. In this instance, Tamer was put on the defensive since he simply couldn't hope to fight on even footing with the clown. But he did distract the clown long enough for WarGreymon and MagnaAngemon to catch him unawares.
Piedmon narrowly avoided being impaled from three sides by commanding his remaining swords to block all of their attacks. There was only one opening remaining for him - up. The clown leapt into the air to find Angewomon waiting for him with an arrow in her bow. He smiled confidently, knowing that she would miss him based on the angle she was holding it. Then she fired and the clown didn't bother to avoid it until he felt a downward pull on his shirt drag him back down. The arrow had latched his shirt and pulled him back to the ground with a thump. The impact disoriented him and when he was finally aware enough to figure out what was going on, he noted that Tamer used his own sword to stab the clown's red suit into the ground. The boy and WarGreymon hurried to the Agumon and shouted, "Okay MagnaAngemon! Finish this!"
"Gate of Destiny!" MagnaAngemon moved his sword in a circular manner, drawing the outline of a golden gate in the air before him. With a wave of his hand the gate opened to a blinding light and a howling roar of wind. A gate reminiscent of the one in Myotismon's Castle. WarGreymon called out, "Everyone! Hang on!"
Before he finished, everyone felt themselves get pulled into the gate by an unseen force that nearly pulled them all off the ground. The heavier digimon grabbed onto ground to anchor themselves while their digidestined partners held on for dear life. WarGreymon positioned himself so that could brace to hold both Tamer and the few remaining Agumon. ShogunGekomon did the same for the lighter digimon and their partners - Lillymon, Angewomon, Mimi, and Kari.
The winds roared wildly as the Vilemon in the air were pulled in to the gate against their will, screaming as they disappeared into the blinding light. Piedmon watched the number of Vilemon thin and held on to the sword pinning him to the ground bemusedly. He knew how it was supposed to end and it didn't matter whether destiny was or wasn't fulfilled. The Dark Masters had won a long time ago and the thought of the digidestined realizing their efforts were for nothing was sweet to him.
With a thin smile, he pulled the sword out of the ground and let himself be taken. As he disappeared beyond it, all the digidestined could hear was his deep cackling as it echoed mockingly. It only died when MagnaAngemon waved his hand to seal the gate. Banishing anyone who'd been sucked in. The Vilemon who'd survived the ordeal scattered in different directions out of fear that the gate would return.
"What the crap was THAT!?" Matt exclaimed in surprise when the winds finally died down, holding TK tight under his arm. TK fidgeted to be let go and ran to throw himself on to his partner, "MagnaAngemon! That was so COOL! YOU BEAT PIEDMON AND ALL THOSE BAD GUYS!"
"So is anyone going to explain what just happened?" Sora asked quietly, staring directly at Tamer when she asked that question. He was busy dusting himself off and hadn't noticed that they were staring until he looked up, "What?"
"Just waiting on you, dude," Matt said. Tamer looked between each of them and asked again, "To do what?"
"What just happened with MagnaAngemon?" Sora asked, "What was that Gate of Destiny attack?"
"Why would I know?" Tamer asked. Izzy rolled his eyes, "Because you always go on about destiny, your people had access to a gate that can go to other worlds, and you've always had a plan for literally everything."
"Plus you're the one who told him to finish the fight," WarGreymon added, to his partner's annoyance, "So that automatically means-"
"YES!" Every digidestined except for Kari said at the same time, silencing Tamer. He nodded his head a few times, "Okay. Well, I don't honestly know what the attack was but I'd have to guess that the reason why the Crest of Hope was paired with Patamon and TK is because of that specific line of digivolution. I did know MagnaAngemon had access to that ability - to create a gate and open it at will. As for the gate, I have no idea if it's connected to the gate used by my people. MagnaAngemon's could be based on our gate or our gate could be based on that line of digivolution. They could even have originated simultaneously - two separate gates with the ability to connect worlds to each other that never would have been otherwise. It's something worth looking into but I think the fact that we have digimon whose lives need saving is a bit more important right now."
"That's right! We beat Piedmon!" Joe said in realization that the Dark Zone would promptly disappear. In the distance, they could already see the horizon vanishing into the black void that was the Digital World. Sora frowned but knew they didn't have time to dwell on it, "We're not done talking about this Tai."
"It's The Digimon Tamer," he replied though nobody listened. Sora shouted out to the others to save as many digimon as they could before the entire zone collapsed. The few surviving digimon on their side scrambled towards them - ShogunGekomon, Agumon, Andromon, Centarumon, and Ogremon. Zudomon regressed into Bukamon. The larger flying digimon grabbed everyone they could and took to the air. However, ShogunGekomon's weight required the combined strength of MagnaAngemon, Angewomon, and WarGreymon to carry. The last of them lifted off the ground just as it disappeared beneath them, leaving behind a black void that had once been the Digital World - no light, no sound, no life but them in any direction. Only darkness as far as the eye could see.
"The Digital World's gone Tamer," WarGreymon commented. The atmosphere among the remaining digimon on their side was dour - the remaining Agumon, ShogunGekomon, Andromon, Centarumon, and Ogremon were quick to panic, "The Digital World is gone! Now what do we do?"
"We were too late. We couldn't save the Digital World," one Agumon moaned quietly. Centarumon added, "As it was recorded in the ancient prophecies, this was not supposed to happen. Destiny has been derailed and our very existence is doomed!"
"Don't give up hope yet guys! The Digital World may be gone but we can still make sure this doesn't happen to any other world!" TK said commandingly despite ShogunGekomon's protests, "My kingdom is gone and my subjects are all dead. Everything I strived to protect is lost. You want me to keep fighting just to protect something else?"
"That's what we're doing, isn't it? My mom is dead, but that hasn't stopped me from fighting with Lillymon!" Mimi snapped back while her partner snapped her fingers in a zig zag, "B-F-Fs forever girl!"
"We might not have much choice on the matter. My sensors detect movement," Andromon warned them to Joe's surprise, "Really? How can there be anything in a place like this? There's nothing but emptiness."
"You'd be surprised what can thrive in a dark place like this," Tamer answered, "This is what the Dark Masters were trying to accomplish: create at empty space in reality that should never have happened. And it looks like we're about to meet whatever made them do it."
Once he finished, they heard a low guttural growl in the darkness followed by a hiss. Although it was dark, there was obviously something else here with them. Something that needed the Dark Masters to herald its arrival into reality. And there was no telling what it wanted.
Author's Notes: What awaits the digidestined in the darkness? Can they overcome the danger that needed to destroy an entire world just to exist? Can they bring back the Digital World? Find all this out and more in two week on Friday, February 3rd. If you liked it, let me know in the reviews section. I always love to hear your feedback, whether its thoughts, constructive criticisms or even guesses into the next chapter. I usually make a point of replying as soon as the website will allow me to. Remember, guest reviews need to be signed to get a response. And hey, why not follow or favorite the story to stay up the date on new chapters. That's all that I have for now. Let's show some previews for the next chapter!
"I thought you said the crests can't break!" Mimi scolded Tamer.
"Boy, you digidestined sure like to bicker," Goblimon observed quietly.
Matt remarked sarcastically, "A great big evil guy that the Dark Masters summoned and Izzy's probably the only one who understands a word he says."
Tamer chastised his partner, "Good job WarGreymon. Now he's mad!"
Its mouth moved but its voice resounded all around them, deep and guttural and slow, "Who. Are. You?"
And now for a quick guest review response:
Belennnn: Muhuhahahahahahahaha!
