Author's Note: First update for the new year and I hope that everyone is continuing to stay safe and healthy! Big thanks to DarkJanet and melia2 for reviewing and to beluuh as well!
Drowned Out
Chapter 12
Black static shot out of the digivice's screen that was soon joined by red electrical sparks. The discharge crackled wildly, merging together before shooting upwards into the evening sky. Red lightning flashed illuminating the city in a blood red glow followed by the deep rumble of thunder.
A large, gaping hole tore open in the sky and as Tai watched in complete shock, countless evil Digimon began emerging from it. It wasn't long until the terrified screams of innocent bystanders filled the air.
Pulling out his cell phone, Tai quickly redialed T.K.'s number.
"What is it, Tai?"
"Is your group still in the Digital World?" the brunette teen asked.
"We are." T.K. answered, noting the urgency in the older boy's voice, "What's wrong?"
"Some kind of DigiPort opened up in the sky!" the Bearer of Courage explained, his tone becoming more dire.
The younger blonde was baffled. "I-in the sky?! H-how?!"
"I don't know! Your brother was showing me his digivice and before I knew it, something knocked me to ground! I'm fine though."
"I'm glad you're not hurt, but is Matt okay?"
The bushy haired teen hesitated and bit his lip.
The wind was still blowing but its strength starting to die down, as was the red light. Tai turned and looked over towards the bench. The red light was growing dim and once it completely faded out, he could see that Matt was still sitting on the bench, now clutching his digivice closer to him but somehow, seemed completely oblivious to the event happening around him as he continued to cry.
How could Matt be blubbering like this when Digimon are invading the city?! It had to be that light that was surrounding him earlier!
"Tai?"
Hearing T.K.'s voice on the phone snapped Tai out of his thoughts.
"Matt's fine!" he answered back hastily. "Just hurry, bring all of our Digimon back with you and tell the older kids too!"
"We're on it!"
The moment Tai hung up the phone, he heard a cold laugh from above. Looking up, he saw a Digimon that bore a strong resemblance to an old enemy the Digidestined defeated long ago, eyeing him and Matt with interest.
"D-devimon?"
The demonic Digimon scowled. "That's IceDevimon to you! But I'm flattered that you know what I am."
"Of course, I do!" Tai shot back. "I know an evil Digimon when I see one!"
IceDevimon glared daggers at him and Tai cautiously took a step back.
Keeping his brown eyes locked on IceDevimon, Tai hoped that the other Digidestined were coming to their aid soon since without neither of their Digimon by their sides, both he and Matt would be sitting ducks against the powerful fallen angel Digimon.
Where are you guys? Tai thought, grasping his digivice tightly in his hand. Please hurry!
The sound of sobbing caught IceDevimon's attention and he flew down lower for a closer look, his gaze fixated on the crying blonde.
"Aww…what's wrong, sniveling human? Your little toy's broken?"
Hiccupping a bit, Matt's head shot up and he found himself staring into the red eyes of IceDevimon.
"You'll have a good reason to cry when I'm done with you!"
"Matt!" Tai called frantically, "Run! Get out of there!"
Breaking eye contact with the ice monster, the Bearer of Friendship attempted to get up and flee when IceDevimon shot a blast of ice at Tai.
"Cold Breath!"
The bushy-haired teen barely dodged the blast but the impact knocked him off his feet.
Tai! Matt screamed in his head; I've got to help him!
Again, Matt started to rise from his seat but IceDevimon noticed and launched another attack at his friend.
"Avalanche!"
With a flap of his tattered wings, ice shards were fired and Tai screamed as sharp icicles grazed his arms.
"If you dare to move again," the white demon warned Matt threateningly, "my next attack won't miss. So, shall I end your life first or his? You better speak up."
Matt felt a chill run up his spine.
What could he do with those choices? Try again to make a break for it anyway and risk Tai's life? Or let IceDevimon end his?
The ice demon grew impatient. "Not talking huh? No matter, I'll take your silence as a yes."
"Besides, you and your loudmouthed friend over there will be great displays to add to my new trophy collection." IceDevimon added, as he began floating upwards, not taking his eyes off of Matt, "But first, I wonder what human blood feels like."
Tai gasped in horror as he watched IceDevimon flex his elongated claws with eager intent. The ice demon cackled wickedly as he swooped down fast towards his prey, preparing his claws for the kill.
"Don't worry, Blondie," IceDevimon sneered, "I'll be sure to make this as painful as possible!"
"NO!" screamed Tai.
Without any hesitation regarding his own safety, the Bearer of Courage found his feet and bolted towards the bench as fast as he could. He hoped that he could make it in time to tackle Matt to the ground and out of harm's way.
Matt shut his eyes, bracing himself for what was to come as the ice demon drew closer and closer...
The sound of wood splitting filled the air as the bench started to break apart.
"Boom Bubble!"
A blast of air struck IceDevimon head on, causing him to miss his target with his claws penetrating deep into the dirt and then there was a flash of light followed by the scattering of white feathers.
"Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!"
Matt cracked open his eyes warily, surprised to find himself in the protective arms of Angemon.
"Angemon!" Tai said in awe, "If he's here than that means…"
"Matt! Tai!" T.K. cried, running towards the bushy-haired teen, "Are you guys alright?"
Trailing behind the Bearer of Hope were the rest of the Digidestined, except Mimi, along with their Digimon.
While Agumon wrapped his human partner in a bear hug, Kari gasped when she saw the bleeding cuts on her brother's forearms.
"Tai, you're hurt!"
"I'll be fine, Sis," the older boy reassured, "it's just a couple of scratches."
With IceDevimon temporarily immobilized, Angemon quickly carried Matt over to where the group was gathering, setting him down gently where he saw Joe and Sora tending to Tai's injuries.
"You're lucky that these aren't lacerations." Joe said, while he was putting disinfectant onto his friend's wounds before bandaging them. "It would have been a lot worse."
Sora sighed, "You need to learn not to be so reckless, Tai."
"But Matt was in danger!" Tai protested, "That creep was going to run his claws through him if I didn't do something!"
The Bearer of Love turned to the blonde-haired teen. "You're not hurt too, are you Matt?"
Ignoring the ache in his heart, Matt quickly shook his head no and was suddenly pulled into a tight hug by his younger brother.
"Oh, Matt! I'm so glad you're alright!"
After several minutes of struggling, the fallen angel Digimon pried his claws free from the soil. Though initially angry that his victim had escaped, it quickly turned into delight when he saw all of the Digidestined together. He grinned sadistically.
"Excellent. Now, I've got more humans along with their Digimon to add to my collection!"
He lunged towards the Digidestined but Angemon blocked his path.
"I won't let you lay a frozen claw on any of them!" Angemon declared. "Not while I'm here!"
"We'll see about that!" scoffed the ice demon, flapping his wings. "Avalanche!"
The winged humanoid Digimon calmly held out his staff in defense.
"Angel Staff!"
Twirling his rod, Angemon deflected the barrage of icicles. "You'll have to do better than that."
"I plan to."
In a flurry of ice, the demonic Digimon vanished and appeared right behind Angemon. As he was about unleash his attack, Veemon intercepted it with a headbutt, quickly digivolving into ExVeemon.
"Vee-Laser!"
The ice demon cringed as the x-shaped beam struck him in the back, giving his opponent an opening.
"Hand of Fate!"
Letting out a horrific screech, IceDevimon burst into pieces of data once the angelic attack pierced through his body.
"Well, that takes care of Frosty." exclaimed ExVeemon.
Davis gave a proud smile to his Digimon partner. "Great job, ExVeemon!"
"Now's not the time to celebrate!" Izzy warned, "More Digimon like IceDevimon are still on the loose terrorizing other parts of the city!"
"But what about the DigiPort in the sky!?" argued Yolei, "Shouldn't we try closing it while we can and send the Digimon back to the Digital World like we did before?"
Cody agreed. "With Imperialdramon on our side, we could do it in no time!"
"That may be true," T.K. added, watching Angemon de-digivolve back to his rookie form, "but-"
Before he could finish, lightning suddenly flashed again as it cascaded downward from the sky with a loud boom of thunder proceeding afterwards.
Looking up they saw the hole in the sky suddenly glow white. It flickered for a few minutes and then it ceased, forming a cage-like barrier but to the Digidestined's surprise, no more Digimon were escaping from it.
Yolei sighed exasperatedly. "Now, what's up?"
"I have no idea," Davis answered, "but let's use this opportunity to stop the Digimon while we can!"
Kari nodded in agreement. "He's right. If that barrier's still up, that'll be our chance to close it!"
Once ExVeemon and Stingmon fused together and mega digivolved, the Digidestined and their partner Digimon quickly boarded the draconic beast.
"We need to split up into groups order to stop them!" Tai advised, "And if they're threatening the lives of others, do what needs to be done…"
Although the older group agreed, there was a long pause from Davis' group before they answered back with a "Right!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Sora cried, looking around, "Where's Matt?"
Joe groaned. "Not again! And we just found him!"
"Hold on!" Ken said, pointing, "There he is!"
T.K. jumped off Imperialdramon and ran in the direction towards his older brother.
Matt was staring up at the portal, digivice in hand, standing completely still.
The Bearer of Hope tried to get Matt's attention but his blue eyes remained locked and focused at the sky as if he was under a spell, like T.K. wasn't even there.
"Come on, Matt," T.K. said, grabbing and pulling his brother away, "We've got to go, you can't stay here!"
The older blonde blinked, breaking out of his trance. As he was being led back, Matt took one more look at the portal and pocketed his digivice, unaware of the new changes it was undertaking.
…
"So, what do you think of the Odaiba Bird Man sightings?" Charlie asked. "I've thought of a great title, if we're allowed to write about it!"
Nancy sighed tiredly, "Charlie, need I remind you that we don't write tabloid stories."
"That's just what I wanted to talk to you about." Hiroaki said as he entered the room. He motioned for his ex-wife to follow him to his office, leaving their coworker alone.
"I guess we could check out what caused those weird red lights earlier," Charlie said to himself, "but it's probably just some kids fooling around."
"What's this about?" she asked confused, watching Hiroaki shut the door behind him and walked towards the window. He stood there silently for a few minutes and then turned to face her.
"It's about Matt."
Nancy became alarmed. "What's wrong, is he okay?"
"He's fine," the older man reassured, "but a few days ago, he didn't find my joke about the Odaiba Bird Man funny at all. He just got up and stormed into his room."
"That's probably because you were making fun of somebody." Nancy stated.
"No, there's more to it," Hiroaki continued, "after he left, I noticed that Matt's shoes were sticky when I picked them up. Following that, his mood has changed and now he seems so…numb…"
Nancy pondered for a moment but as the pieces came together in her mind, her eyes widened, realizing there was a connection.
"Hiroaki," Nancy began, her voice becoming low and shaky. "You…you don't think…that our son might be…"
"I don't know but Matt didn't go into detail about the concert disaster."
Just then, the intercom beeped and turned on.
"ATTENTION! ATTENTION! There has been suspicious activity reported and the building is under threat! All employees are to evacuate immediately! Be on high alert!"
Outside the office, the pair could hear the trampling of feet as coworkers ran to the elevators in hopes of escaping the impending danger.
"What's happening?" Nancy questioned.
The older man didn't answer but took her by the hand as they left his office. They pushed their way through crowds of people who were huddling around the elevators waiting their turn.
Hiroaki gritted his teeth.
"We'll have to take the stairs," he told his ex-wife, "it may take us longer but it beats waiting around for the elevator."
Nancy nodded.
After making their way down several staircases, they made it to the parking lot of the T.V. station but there was a feeling of foreboding that neither one couldn't ignore as they continued walking through the dimly lit area.
"My, my, what do we have here?"
The former couple froze when they realized that they weren't alone.
Quickly turning around, they could tell from the red eyes glinting in the darkness that this wasn't someone wearing a costume as the figure slowly emerged into view.
She was a pale humanoid Digimon with long white hair, clad in black leather which included a mask that covered most of her face save for her eyes and mouth. Along with her torn black wings, a long chain was wrapped around her right arm while her left hand was twice its size with long red claws protruding from her black glove.
Instinctively, Hiroaki stood in front of his ex-wife, with one arm out to protect her.
"What do you want from us, you monster!"
"You're right, I am a monster but my name is LadyDevimon."
"Run, Nancy," Hiroaki whispered quietly pulling out his pepper spray, "I'll try to hold her off."
"But-"
"Just go!"
She stood there for a few moments before she reluctantly started to run to her car.
"Where do you think you're going, Missy?!" growled LadyDevimon as she started to take flight.
"No!" Hiroaki yelled, aiming the pepper spray at the monster, "It's me you want!" He shot the spray directly at LadyDevimon's face but it appeared to have no effect.
"You think that can stop me!" the she-demon hissed, knocking the pepper spray out of his hand, "Take this!"
Hiroaki screamed in pain as he felt LadyDevimon's claws rip through his shirt and into his skin. He crumpled to the floor, blood soaking through his clothes as he writhed in agony.
LadyDevimon smirked. "That was too easy."
"Hold it right there!"
"Hmm?"
Looking up, Hiroaki was shocked to see his ex-wife with her arms out, standing guard in-between him and the humanoid monster.
"Stay away from him!" Nancy shouted at the white-haired Digimon.
"Step aside." ordered LadyDevimon darkly. She waited for a response from the human woman but the only answer she got was a pair of icy blue eyes glaring fiercely into her bright red ones.
"Fine, if you won't move, I'll make you move!"
Hiroaki could only watch in trepidation as the she-demon swatted Nancy aside like a rag doll. The sound of her shriek echoed throughout the parking lot, followed by a sickening crack, and then silence.
"NANCY!"
LadyDevimon smiled evilly as she loomed over her bleeding victim.
Her clawed hand morphed into a giant spear. "Now, where were we?"
With a thrust, she aimed her spear for Hiroaki's heart when something struck her on the head, halting her assault as the object fell to the floor.
It was a shoe.
Both the man and Digimon turned to where the shoe was thrown and saw Nancy with her arm outstretched, her right shoe missing.
Panting hard, Nancy gritted her teeth as she held her left shoulder, trying to keep her limp arm steady.
LadyDevimon narrowed her eyes, and slowly started moving in the woman's direction.
"N-no…" Hiroaki rasped, trying avert the white-haired Digimon's attention back to him but she kept on advancing steadily towards the human who dared to stand up to her.
"Nancy, get out of here! Forget about me!" But his ex-wife didn't move.
After walking a few more paces, the she-demon stopped, closing the gap between the two as she stared curiously at her next victim.
"You're more stubborn than I thought."
She grabbed a handful of Nancy's blondish brown hair, viciously yanking it. Nancy clenched her teeth in pain as she tried with her good arm to free herself from the monster's grasp.
"But since you're so eager to die," hissed LadyDevimon, releasing her hold and pinning the woman against the wall, "I guess I can start with you first!"
Hiroaki attempted to crawl towards the two but the effort only aggravated his injuries.
"Any last words, Missy?"
Remaining silent in defiance, Nancy struggled to break out of LadyDevimon's hold but she was held firmly in place. As she watched the she-demon's hand transform into a spear once again, she stopped resisting and hung her head, feeling the tears forming in her closed eyes.
Matt…T.K. Hiroaki…I'm so sorry…
"Marching Fishes!"
The surprise attack caught the she-demon off guard.
"If I had any water with me, you'd probably melt!" Gomamon taunted.
LadyDevimon snarled as the multicolored fish continued to flop and smack her with their tails. She released Nancy as she glowered at the seal-like Digimon.
"I'll show you melting!" she shouted at Gomamon as she flew at him, going for the kill. "Darkness Wa-"
The she-demon didn't have time to finish when Angewomon appeared and called out her attack first.
"Heaven's Charm!"
"No!"
The pink light engulfed LadyDevimon incinerating her into data bits.
"Ms. Takaishi, Mr. Ishida!"
"Kari?" Nancy didn't have a chance to say more when Angewomon scooped her up as carefully as she could in her arms and took her to where Kari, Joe, and Gomamon were trying to help her ex-husband.
"Sir, I need to see how bad your wounds are." Joe stated. "Please lower your hands."
Hiroaki obeyed and the Bearer of Reliability choked back a gasp when he saw how severe the older man's injuries were. As he did his best to try to stop the bleeding, Joe looked up and seeing Nancy's broken shoulder, realized that she needed medical attention as well.
"I heard some screams coming from over here!" someone shouted.
Angewomon quickly de-digivolved back into Gatomon just as a crowd of people appeared. They were aghast with horror when they saw the battered pair.
"What happened?"
"Did some maniac attack one of them with a knife?"
"I'm calling an ambulance now!" a woman said, pulling out her cell phone, "We need to get both of them to a hospital right away."
…
After dealing with and having to destroy most of the rogue Digimon, the Digidestined returned to the park where to their relief, the barrier blocking the portal was still there.
"Alright you guys, let's end this once and for all!" declared Davis.
With a nod, the other five held out their D-3s aiming them at the portal.
Nothing happened.
"Let's try it again!" Ken said.
Again, the six attempted to close the portal but again, nothing.
"You're wasting your time, Digidestined." a dark voice said.
The two groups gasped as a hooded figure emerged from out of the ground before them, leering at them with cold eyes.
"D-daemon?!" Cody whispered. "But how?"
"I told you pitiful Digidestined that I would be back."
-To be continued…