Chapter 19: Battle with the Dark Lord
Violent thunder struck outside the castle of the volcanic rim as the huge towering dark figure that was the Dark Lord Impmon was floating up in the air, rubbing his huge hands in glee, delighted to see things had gone how he anticipated.
"Ga ha ha ha ha ha ha! Digitopia will be the first to sucumble to my power. Soon, this whole pathetic world will know despair!" He then declared, keeping the dark smile on his face even when he sensed a familiar presence approaching him.
Turning, Dark Lord Impmon gave a grin to see the ten Ultimate Level Digimon now facing him, noticing that amongst them, his focus was drawn to WarGrowlmon.
"Well, look who it is! So you rescued all your pathetic friends? You're more noble than I thought." Dark Lord Impmon commented, finding the faintest respect for WarGrowlmon.
"We're ready for you this time, Dark Lord Impmon!" WarGrowlmon called back, before declaring. "We've grown more stronger since we last met! This time, I, no, WE will defeat you!"
"Aww… are you gonna beat me up?" Dark Lord Impmon mocked, continuing to anger the Digimon before him, with WereGarurumon letting out. "Instead of mocking us, how about show us what you can really do?"
Knowing that there was only one way to rid himself of the Digimon, Dark Lord Impmon then laughed, before calling with a dark and wickedness. "Very well then, seeing that you've came all this way just to play with me, but playtime's over now! I think I'll just help myself to those plump Digi-Cores of yours, and your souls, and finally, YOUR LIVES!"
"Oh yeah?! There's no way we're losing to you!" WarGrowlmon said bravely, extending out his Pendulum Blades as he called with a growing might. "Prepare for your defeat, Dark Lord Impmon!"
Making the first move, the Dark Lord laughed as he brought his huge hand down, trying to crush WarGrowlmon and the others, but found everyone had jumped out of the way.
"Not bad, But I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve." Dark Lord Impmon declared, a little bothered that he had failed to crush any of his foes, but was confident that one way or another they would fall.
"We have a few tricks of our own!" MetalGreymon said back, opening the ports upon his chest and bellowing. "Giga Missile!"
Casting out a set of missiles, the Dark Lord merely smacked the attacks aside, thinking little of MetalGreymon until he noticed a swift figure shoot up at him.
"Mic Bash!" Guardamon called, using MetalGreymon's attack as a distraction so she could strike, slamming the Dark Lord in the back with her giant mic, knocking the faintest damage into the dark being.
Seeing WarGreymon and Garudamon strike the Dark Lord, beliving they stood a chance, WarGrowlmon rushed ahead, his sword drawn alongside his Pendulum Blades as he prepared a triple onslaught, finding MetalGreymon continuing to aid him, with the cyborg Digimon tapping into his magic and enhancing WarGowlmon's blade with a Weapon Enlargement spell, doubling increasing the blade's size as it, along with the Pendulum Blades struck the evil Digimon's chest.
Feeling the teamwork between their allies, WereGarurumon and MachGaogamon looked upon one another, expressing a growing trust in themselves as they decided to combine their own moves.
"Mach Kick!" They called as one, combining their attacks, Were Kick and Mach Kick, resulting in the pair both striking the Dark Lord's face, which made him stagger a little.
"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon then announced, summoning her bow and arrow of light, drawing back the string of the bow and casting out the arrow, finding that her light seemed to pierce the darkness of the Dark Lord, damaging him further, bringing a confident smile to MagnaAngemon, where he then used Ignite on Palidramon's knife, wanting to keep up in their teamwork, to which Paildramon then threw the blade into the Dark Lord's chest causing an explosion upon Dark Lord Impmon.
"It seems I might've underestimated you." The Dark Lord then said, seemingly shaking brushing off the damage he had taken, staring down WarGrowlmon and the others as he told them. "I won't make that mistake again."
Raising his hands and casting them toward the hands down, Dark Lord Impmon then set off a massive section of jagged rocks and boulders, creating a rockside that crashed down upon the heroes, managing to strike all of them with massive damage.
After Meicrackmon had managed to pull herself up afterwards, she found the Dark Lord focus upon her, finding herself locked in the gaze of the evil Digimon.
"No..." Meicrackmon let out, shaking her head from the dizziness, knowing all too well what the Dark Lord was trying to do to her, where her body then slumped and she fell to her stomach, for the Dark Lord had put Meicrackmon into a nightmarish sleep with his Nightmare attack.
Thrashing around in her sleep, finding her worst fears coming to life, Meicrackmon's fear continued to grow.
Luckily, WarGrowlmon stepped in as he gave Meicrackmon a light slap, managing to break the nightmarish spell over her, where she opened her eyes and smiled.
"Thank you." Meicrackmon said with gratitude, glad WarGrowlmon continued to aid her, feelings Taomon shared, though she knew if she was trapped in the same spell, than her knight would awaken her with a loving kiss.
But focusing on the fight, Taomon then swung her paint brush around, forming a the kanji for light before her form.
"Talisman of Light!" She announced, finishing off in her calligraphy and casting out the light within.
"Desperado Blaster!" Palidramon followed up, drawing up his waist mounted blasters and casting out a set of energy attacks.
"We are doing it guys!" Guardamon stated as she continued to add what firepower she could, using her Wing Blade attack, where she slammed her flame encased being right into the Dark Lord's chest.
"We're almost finished." She then declared, sensing that through their skills, they had taken down almost half of the Dark Lord's health.
However, confusion and a dreading chill filled the Digimon heroes and heroines as the evil Digimon gave a dark laugh.
"Oh, I am sorry. If you think you are doing well, you're sadly mistaken!" Dark Lord Impmon cackled, bringing his arms out and causing a set of dark voids to open by his sides, where two lifeless imp bodies rose from the voids and took by his side.
"Now what he's up to?" MagnaAngemon asked, knowing whatever it was, it wasn't going to end well for them.
And it didn't take too long to find out, for WereGarurumon and MachGaogamon began to scream as their Digi-Cores were lifted from their bodies and entered into the imp bodies, which then sprung to life.
"HEY! They already experienced that before! You've done it again!" Taomon screamed angrily, which made the Dark Lord smile, stare at the vixen and say with a growing wickedness. "Hehehe. And soon, you be next, sweetheart."
"But that's unfair!" MetalGreymon called out, feeling a chill fill him as Dark Lord Impmon stared toward him.
"Too bad. My castle, my rules." He said back, deciding to set his new puppets upon MetalGreymon, only to stop when the lightning randomly striking around the castle seemed to draw itself closer to WarGrowlmon, all seeing him clench his fists in rage.
"Again? How dare you… You won't get away with this!" WarGrowlmon let out as he began to glow in red aura, feeling that he needed to protect his friends and bring justice to the Dark Lord once and for all, causing him to yell. "I will not let you get away with this!"
Reacting to his cry, a powerful red light shot out from WarGrowlmon's armour, consuming his body, only showing a red silhouette of his form, which began to change.
"WarGrowlmon Digivolve to…" WarGrowlmon called, reacting to the energy covering him, feeling that this power was created from his determination, his hope, his love, all that he believed in was helping shape him into a force that could stand against the Dark Lord, with the energy taking away his bulky armour, replacing it with a full body suit of armour, his left arm now possessing a mighty shield, while his right wielded a powerful lance and a red cape on his back.
And after cutting through the residual energies, WarGrowlmon's new form made his name known, where he called with might. "Gallantmon!"
Upon seeing Gallantmon, Dark Lord Impmon showed some actual dread himself.
"WHAT?!" He let out, shocked to see such a Digivolution, while Gallantmon remained standing strong, his cape flapping behind him, flowing with power as he glared at the Dark Lord.
"G...Guilmon…" Taomon said in awe, amazed, not only at the sight of the knight Digimon that now stood before her, but she found a continued awe at knowing just how far the Hazard Digimon had come since they had started in their adventure, feelings the other heroic Digimon all shared as they too looked at Gallantmon in awe.
"Spiral Saver!" Gallantmon then announced, showing his speed, power and strength as he shot at Dark Lord Impmon and slammed his lance into the wicked Digimon's chin, causing a great pain to fill Dark Lord Impmon from that attack alone.
And as the Dark Lord staggered back, faster than he or the others could see, Gallantmon swung his lance, cutting through the imp creatures and defeating both in one sweep, causing the Digi-Cores to then return to their unoccupied bodies.
Groaning a little as she regained her composure, MachGaogamon questioned. "What happened...?"
"I remember the pain of our Digi-Cores being taken out of us again..." WareGarurmon began to say, only to then notice Gallantmon, where he had to ask. "And who exactly is that?"
"That's WarGrowlmon." Meicrackmon said in reply, before informing. "We're not too sure how he did it, but Guilmon just reached Mega Level."
While MachGaogamon and WereGarurumon expressed their own awe, Taomon gave a smile as she looked upon the knight Digimon, confident in him and his abilities.
'Not to mention I'm really liking the whole knight in shining armour vibe he has going on.' The vixen found herself thinking, feeling her attraction to Guilmon growing, as if she was falling for him all over again.
"Why you…" Dark Lord Impmon let out, recovering from the strike, before drawing his arms up.
"Prepare to be crushed by my might and...!" He began to say, preparing to cast out another rockslide attack and crush Gallantmon, only to find he was cut off as Gallantmon struck again.
"Lightning Joust!" He called with a continued strength, blasting out a long surge of electricity from his lance, striking the Dark Lord and leaving him in a painful and paralyzed state.
"How dare you…" The Dark Lord said through his pain, before he snapped. "I am Dark Lord Impmon!"
"I don't care what you are, your evil ends today!" Gallantmon said back, drawing his shield forth, where it began to chare with energy.
"Come on, everyone. We can help power him up!" Taomon declared, wanting to show Gallantmon their continued bonds as she announced with her own might. "Talisman of Light!"
"Giga Missile!"
"Wing Blade!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
"Electric Bolt!"
"Judgement Slash!"
"Fox Fire!"
"Howling Canon!"
"Modesty Stun!"
Following up with their set of ranged attacks, rather than cast all their power upon Dark Lord Impmon, the Digimon focused their power within Gallantmon's attack, finding their energies absorbed into Gallantmon's shield and giving off power that none ever thought possible.
"It's all over! Shield of the Just!" Gallantmon called, casting out all the stored energy as a single and devastating blast, consuming Dark Lord Impmon within the energy, causing him to yell from the great pain and disbelief consuming him.
And as the attack died down, not only revealing that the power had leveled half of the castle's walls, Dark Lord Impmon collaspeed to the ground, lying in defeat.
With the fight over, all the Digimon heroes returned to their prime forms and began to celebrate.
"We did it! We won!" Gatomon cheered as she hugged and kissed Patamon, kissing all around his face as she continued to cheer and express her joy.
"It's all over..." Gaomon said, wiping the sweat off of her forehead, before falling into Gabumon's arms, blushing a little.
"I apologize. I guess I overdid it." She confessed, causing Gabumon to give a small and caring smile.
"It's alright." He assured, before moving down and kissing her, only this kiss was more deeper and dominant than how he would normally kiss Gaomon, who only moaned in his lips, enjoying this side to her lover.
As Renamon hugged Guilmon, setting her arms around Guilmon's body and kissed him on the cheek, causing a small blush to grace Guilmon's cheeks, from their own embrace, with Agumon holding Biyomon in his arms, then let out. "Wait! Look!"
Following Agumon's call, Guilmon and the others all saw the necklace on the Dark Lord begin to spark violently, before something escaped from it, appearing as a strange blue mist-like creature with a single menacing eyeball, which then flew off.
"What was that?" Biyomon questioned, before all looked down and what was thought to be Dark Lord Impmon was lying in defeat, only to then see a tiny impish Digimon lying on the ground.
"Ooooh" The purple imp let out, before he rose, clutching his head as he asked. "What just happened? Did I do something?"
While confused themselves at the small Digimon, before they could ask it any questions, they saw the imp digimon leave the castle, expressing a continued and growing confusion.
Puzzled, Renamon asked. "You don't think that's Impmon do you?"
"If that was, it looks as though he had a change of personality." Guilmon said in reply, finding he was unable to say anymore as he sensed they were not alone.
"Did you lot beat the Dark Lord?" Guilmon, Renamon and the others heard, turning to see Wizardmon reappear.
"Hey, Wizardmon." Veemon greeted with a friendly smile, before having to ask.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to check up on you." Wizardmon said in reply, expressing a smile behind his robes as he added happily. "You lot are amazing. I knew you lot had it in you."
"So is it finally over?" Meicoomon asked in hope.
But before Wizardmon could confirm it, the blue mist creature returned before it began to head right towards Guilmon.
"Look out!" Wizardmon called, pushing Guilmon out of the way, before the mist hit Wizardmon, causing a huge light to consume the area, which then died down and shocked everyone to see Wizardmon had changed, gaining a new giant form, with a huge ghostly robe, a dark and powerful looking spectre, alongside a set of huge purple and familiar hands.
"Whoo. This Core comes with a new body! Talk about a makeover!" The being now processing Wizardmon called with a laugh, before bellowing with a continued wickedness. "And I get Great Sage powers too! This is even better than a Dark Lord! I am now Darker Lord Wizardmon! Watch me go! Mwhahahahahahaha!"
And with that, he flew away from the castle.
"WIZARDMON!" Agumon cried out with an ever growing concern, feelings the others shared as Patamon asked. "What in the world just happened?"
"Can you all hear me?" The guardian's voice called out to everyone, where it then informed. "It seems we are in more of a pickle this time. The Dark Lord's true form is that blue misty creature. It had possessed Impmon's normal Digimon body and now its move on to Wizardmon. But it is not the body you have to worry about, The Great Sage's magic made the darkness more powerful."
"Oh, just great." Veemon said gloomily.
"What do we do now?" Gabumon asked, unsure how they could stop such a powerful entity.
"You have come a long way. I am sure you're tough enough by now. Gallantmon's power is impressive. All of you must reach Mega too. If you can, you must save the world again. I am counting on you." The voice said in reply.
"Great Sage Wizardmon saved me. That Dark Lord was aiming for me. It's my fault." Guilmon then said, feeling it was because of him that Wizardmon suffered such a fate.
"Don't say that, Guilmon." Renamon said, setting her arms around Guilmon, holding him tightly as she assured. "No one is to blame."
"And we must repay that debt by saving him, am I right, sir?" Gaomon then asked, which caused Guilmon to ask in reply. "But there's one problem, how are we gonna find him?"
"Hello again." A friendly voice then cut in as Wilde the Dragon reappeared.
"Oh. Hi, Wilde" Meicoomon said, glad to see the dragon, feelings the giant beast shared as it then said. "You're all look sad. What's wrong? Oh I get it, it's the Darker Lord, right?" Hey. I can help. I'd like helping. All of you climb on my back and I'll help you fly all over Digitopia."
"Oh wow! Thanks. Alright, everyone. The quest is now over yet. Let's go!" Guilmon said with a renewed leadership, getting nothing but respect from the other Digimon, while Renamon smiled, glad to see Guilmon still held his confident side.
After all boarded, Wilde took flight and headed outside of the castle, with Guilmon and Renamon on his head, Agumon and Biyomon on his neck, Patamon and Gatomon sitting in his hands, Gabumon and Gaomon sitting on his back while Veemon and Meicoomon clung on his tail.
From above, the heroes could see all of Digitopia in its glory.
"Wow. I never knew the world was so big." Guilmon commented, before questioning. "So how are we find the Darker Lord?"
"There's a place called the Traveller's Hub. It's a good place to start and we could get travel information there." Wilde said in reply.
"Let us move!" Guilmon called with a smile, to which Wilde flew off to the town near the top centre of the island, for the adventure of Guilmon and the others continues.