UPDATE: I just watched 'Kazu's Upgrade' this Sunday... and today... okay,
five times over at the very least, anyway, as a result, I've gone back to
Part I and I've almost completely changed Ruki's perception of Hiro, so go
back and check it out! Another change in Part V, I added a description of
my made-up card slash sequence for Hiro! Yay! More changes located in Part
III, someone tells Hiro about Ruki's crush on him! Who? Go back and read to
find out! Changes to this chapter: I've added the description for Miki's
card slash sequence! All right! Also, Guardromon's how it's spelled, right?
Dammit, they're confusing us! In Season 1, 'Ultimate Clash', they give us
Gardromon, and now they give us Guardromon! Jeez!
~Okay, this chapter turned out very long, and there's a huge fight in it, so check it out! * Pats herself on the back * I sure hope I got all the terms right and everything. Oh, and did I mention I was switching to Japanese names, attacks and levels? Here's a little info:
Japanese Levels: Child = Rookie Adult = Champion Perfect = Ultimate Ultimate = Mega
Japanese Names: Makino Ruki = Rika Lee Jenrya = Henry Matsuda Takato = Takato Katou Juri = Jeri Akiyama Ryou = Ryo Galgomon = Gargomon Growmon = Growlmon Megalo Growmon = Wargrowlmon Okaa-san = Mother Otou-san = Father
Don't ask me why I switched! I just did! And Jenrya sounds so much more kawaii than Henry... Okay, enough blabbering, now on with the story! R, E & R!!!~
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shadow Realms: Part VII - The Tip of the Iceberg
------------------------------------------------------------------
"R-Ruki-chan? Where are we?" was the first thing out of Juri's mouth once she was fully awake and staring about with large, frightened hazel eyes.
Ruki groaned; she absolutely hated explaining this kind of thing, 'How do you tell someone that they're imprisoned in the castle of an evil Digimon and that escape is virtually impossible because what used to be one of their friends' Digimon is guarding the door?'
Luckily, Ryou chose that moment to poke his head round with one of his trademark half-grins, "Welcome back. You were out for quite a while there."
Juri's eyes widened as she took in the boy's ragged appearance, "Ryou-san?! What- what happened to you?!"
He sighed heavily. Ruki could see that he didn't want to explain it all again, so she did it for him. Ryou shot her a surprised but grateful look as she rattled off the story.
"...And so now we're stuck in here, with NeoCyberdramon just outside the door ready to blast us to pieces, and Renamon about to join him if we don't do something," Ruki concluded.
Juri's eyes had grown, if possible, even larger and more frightened. But she just nodded mutely, accepting Ruki's story without question.
"Well, does anyone have any ideas on how to escape?" she asked in her quiet voice.
The other two shook their heads dejectedly. Juri sighed and looked about their prison. Suddenly something oddly brilliant caught her eye.
"Hey, what's that?"
"Oh, that's just Shadowmagemon's scrying mirror," Ryou informed her, "He uses it to follow things going on in the Digital World. He was spying on you guys until Kai turned against him and smashed the dark D-Ark."
"Kai turned against him?" Ruki asked in surprise.
Ryou nodded, then shot a sly look at the girl on her other side, "I think it had more than a little to do with that bastard's capture of Katou-san here."
Juri blushed, "Nonsense!"
***
Guilmon was leading the way through the countless hallways of the castle, his nostrils flared and sniffing frenetically at some scent only he could discern. The Tamers and the other four Digimon walked silently behind him.
"Remind me again: just 'why' are we following 'Guilmon'?!" Hirokazu said loudly.
Takato turned to his spiky-haired friend with a sigh, "Because Guilmon's nose is very sensitive, and I'm trying to get him to smell the way out."
"Do you really think that'll work, Takato?" Kenta asked skeptically.
"Well, if you have a better idea, Kenta, I would 'love' to hear it," Takato said crossly, turning to catch up with his red dinosaur friend.
Kenta fell silent. Hirokazu, however, continued talking, telling Miki about their missing friends. The dark-haired girl was listening closely, a slight grin on her tanned face.
"... and then we met Ryou-san, he was 'so' cool, I mean, Cyberdramon was just awesome, y'know, this great big metal dragon, and 'so' damn strong, man, he beat Majiramon just squeezin' the heck outta him- Hey, Guardromon, you're pretty cool too, dude," Hirokazu interrupted himself, patting his sulking Digimon's metallic arm.
Miki rolled her eyes and laughed, " 'The' Akiyama Ryou is a Tamer, eh? He's a good guy, but kinda hard to get a hold of, since his fan club mobs him wherever he goes. or tries to go. Probably the reason he ran off to the Digital World in the first place."
Hirokazu stared at her in disbelief, "You 'knew' him?!"
Miki chuckled at the spiky-haired boy's tone, "Yeah, 'course I did, we used to be neighbors."
"Cool!" Hirokazu looked at her expectantly, "So? What was it like?"
She grinned, "We were both crazy about Digimon. He taught me almost everything I know about the card game."
Her grin turned into another bubbly laugh as Hirokazu's awed expression shifted immediately to one of alarm. Miki's green eyes sparkled with amusement as she contemplated the brown-haired boy thoughtfully.
"Enough about me, what about you?" she asked him cheerfully.
Hirokazu grinned mischievously and Kai, trudging along behind them, rolled his eyes, 'Here he goes again.'
"I." Hirokazu paused for a dramatic moment to raise his fist before continuing, "am the Savior of the Digital World and the best Tamer ever! Ryou-san thanked me once for saving him!"
"O. kay." Miki gave him a rather odd look, arching her eyebrow.
"What were you comparing yourself to, Hirokazu?" Kai asked scornfully, "A cardboard box?"
"Hey!"
"Would you two knock it off?!" Takato snapped at the two bickering boys, "Something's coming."
Hirokazu and Kai released each other's throats and looked up. Miki was trying not to laugh at the pair of them. Guilmon's pupils had shrunk and he was growling menacingly. Suddenly the air seemed to thicken around them and Hirokazu began to complain about the heat.
***
Creaking footsteps echoed ominously through the castle, coming closer and closer. Suddenly an orangish-red projectile whistled through the air from an unknown location and just missed hitting Takato in the head.
"Whoa!" Takato stared at the smoking hole in the wall beside his head, "That was close!"
"You can say that again," Jenrya agreed, unclipping his D-Ark from his belt, "Whatever it is, it sure doesn't seem to be friendly."
"Great," Kenta said unhappily.
A shadow stretched across the floor from one of the side-halls ahead, and a massive Digimon stalked into view.
"Holy cow!" Hirokazu yelled as Kenta skidded to his side with a cry and hid behind him.
"Momentai!" Terriermon cried as his ears flew up from the wind of Kenta's extremely rapid passing.
***
Miki surveyed the scene calmly. They were facing a six-foot-tall-or-so brownish-orange mass with weird eyestalks like a snail's that swiveled here and there, fixing their target with an eerie empty white gaze, and its body was sending off steam as bubbles of red-hot plasma rose sluggishly to the surface and popped.
"One thing's for sure," Miki found herself saying as Silvemon crouched protectively in front of her, snarling fiercely, "I 'don't' want to be hugged by that thing!"
"Total agreement over here," Takato commented as he pulled Guilmon back from the monster.
The red dinosaur was impatient to fight, and Takato had a lot of trouble holding him back while he took out his D-Ark, "No, boy, wait! Blavamon, Adult level Virus type Digimon, his attacks are Scald Goop and Lava Tide."
"Man, what's with us and blobs?!" Hirokazu asked nobody in particular loudly as he craned his neck to meet Blavamon's queer gaze, "What a creep!"
"Scald Goop!"
"Blazing Fire!"
The Blavamon launched a red-hot blob at Jenrya, which was immediately deflected by a well-aimed barrage of small green light pellets from Terriermon.
"Looks like you were right, Jenrya," Miki remarked.
Takato gave an uncharacteristic smirk as he assessed the situation and let Guilmon go, "All right, I have just the card for this."
He reached into his pocket with a satisfied smile and extracted a card, "Card Slash! Frigimon!" (A/N: I dunno if such a card exists, I'm totally making things up here. Told ya I hadn't a clue how to play the card game)
Guilmon's right arm glowed and a white mitt appeared at the end. With a feral growl, the red Digimon charged forward toward the bubbling mass that was Blavamon, brandishing his white mitt. Blavamon, of course, was not about to take a beating placidly.
"Scald Goop!"
"Sub-Zero Ice Punch!" Guilmon froze the formless orange projectile whizzing through the air at him, letting it fall harmlessly to the ground and shatter into a thousand tiny shards of ice.
Miki observed all this with interest, and looked down at the slot on her D- Ark, 'So 'that's' how this thing works! Awesome!'
However, while Guilmon was busy with the Blavamon's attack, the enemy Digimon launched another one at him at astonishing speed, "Lava Tide!"
Guilmon had no time to dodge. He screamed in pain as he was burned by the thick steaming orange lava.
"Guilmon, no!" Takato cried, searching frantically through his cards for something that would help his friend.
***
The other Tamers were far from idle.
"Double Card Slash!" Jenrya cried as Terriermon leaped with his usual eagerness into the fray, "MetalGarurumon! Power Charger!"
Terriermon glowed with a blinding bluish-white light and a massive blindingly bright blue and white wave shot out of his mouth, "Kokyutoss Breath!"
At the same time, Guilmon, somehow back on his feet, charged and drove his mitt into Blavamon's steaming middle, spreading ice over his lower parts, "Sub-Zero Ice Punch!"
He then darted away, and Blavamon, with his lower parts frozen solid, couldn't move out of the way of Terriermon's attack, and his size made him unable to dodge it.
"Lava Tide!" the orange blob Digimon tried to deflect Terriermon's attack, to no avail; the wave froze the Lava Tide and turned it against its originator.
Terriermon's attack hit Blavamon hard, drawing an agonized scream and sending the steaming blob crashing into the wall behind him as the rest of him was encased in a thick sheath of ice. Deep cracks opened in the stone, and huge chunks began raining down around the Tamers, revealing bits of sky where they'd been.
"Gee, why didn't we think of this before?" Miki remarked sarcastically amid the falling rocks and shaking of the castle, "When lost in a huge castle, just blast your way out!"
"Take cover, everyone!" Takato yelled above the ear-splitting crack of rock breaking.
"Aaaaah!" Kenta cringed, covering his face with his arms.
Hirokazu gave his best friend an exasperated look, "Kenta, d'ya really think that if a rock fell on you, your puny little arms would protect you against having your head split open?!"
Kenta gulped and dove under Guardromon.
"Hey! Stop that, you'll trip him up!" Hirokazu protested, trying to extract his friend from beneath his Digimon, rather surprised at how heavy Kenta was, for such a skinny kid.
"Card Slash!" Jenrya yelled desperately, "Brave Shield!"
Terriermon acquired a large geometrically shaped and patterned golden shield. He raised it over his head, and it protected quite well against the falling rock, but only Lopmon could have fitted comfortably under there. Jenrya sighed and sweatdropped as he took in the situation. He looked around at the others. Guardromon was easily the biggest Digimon.
"Hirokazu! Use this card!" Jenrya threw it to the spiky-haired boy.
"Wha-?!" Hirokazu almost didn't catch the card in his surprise.
"Slash it, then have Guardromon raise it over his head like an umbrella!" the other boy finally understood and took out his D-Ark, "Terriermon's way too small to do it."
"Hey!"
"Well, it's true," Jenrya smirked at his floppy-eared partner.
"Jen! Since when did you get to be so rude?!" Terriermon paused, looking thoughtful, "Oh, yeah, since you met that Ruki girl..."
"Card Slash!" Hirokazu used the card Jenrya had given him, "Brave Shield!"
Guardromon grunted as he lifted the shield, sheltering himself and his partner as well as Miki, Kai, Kenta and Silvemon from the falling debris, "Everyone come under! Digi-Umbrella service! ...For those of you who enjoy a downpour of rocks."
Hirokazu shot his partner a startled look and sweatdropped, "Ruki was right, I am having a bad influence on you!"
Miki was in stitches beside him as Digimon and Tamer stared at each other in consternation. Jenrya came under the shield, still trying to strangle Terriermon for his remark about Ruki. Takato and Guilmon hurried in too, after sorting out an unfortunate incident in which a rock landed on Guilmon's tail and caused him to accidentally singe Takato's messy brown hair with his Fireball.
***
Ruki growled in frustration as she eyed the blue-lined and mostly silver D- Ark sitting on the table beside the scrying mirror, along with her brown cardpocket, 'Ugh! If only I could reach it... Maybe I'd be able to help Renamon break those chains by evolving her into Taomon. But these damn chains...'
"It's no use staring, Ruki," Ryou sighed, "Mine's gone too... Not that it would be much use right now."
Ruki glanced at his silver-lined and mostly blue D-Ark, the exact opposite of hers, glinting on the table beside her own in the dim light from the sole yellowed lamp in the room. It was completely dark and lifeless. She sighed and looked away. No Tamer deserved that. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Juri smiling sympathetically at Ryou.
'She knows what it feels like to lose her partner,' Ruki realized, shuddering, 'I hope I'll never share that knowledge. If I lost Renamon...'
She squeezed her violet eyes tightly shut, refusing to think about it.
***
Juri, meanwhile, sighed and stared into space, deep in thought.
'I hope Takato-kun and the others are all right,' she bit her lip, 'I was so stupid to think... that Leomon could be back...'
Juri hung her head.
"Are you okay, Juri?" she looked up at Ruki's gentle query.
The violet-eyed girl was looking at her with understanding in her face. Juri smiled; Ruki was so nice now. It felt good to have her as a friend.
"I... Leomon..." Juri shook her head, unable to put into words what was weighing on her heart.
***
"I..." Ruki lapsed into silence; she couldn't exactly say that she understood how the other felt, because she didn't, and they both knew that, so to say so would mean nothing.
Completely unused to resolving this kind of situation, Ruki racked her brain for something, anything comforting to say.
But all she could come up with was, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get out of here... somehow."
Juri nodded and turned away. Ruki sighed.
'Dammit, Jenrya's the one who's good at this type of thing, not me. I hope the others won't run into too much trouble. Though knowing Takato and Hirokazu, wherever trouble is, they're sure to be in the middle of it.'
Ruki wondered why she felt so worried about this, and why a certain spiky- haired visor-wearing Tamer with slate blue eyes suddenly slid into her mind and refused to get out.
***
Things quieted down a little after most of the castle had collapsed. The Tamers looked around at the chaos they'd caused with some surprise.
"Well, that castle must've been pretty old to just go down like that," Miki remarked, rubbing her temples and raising her eyebrows.
"Well, at least we defeated Blavamon," Kai added, glancing at the smoking pile of debris that sat where Blavamon had been, "... I hope."
Silvemon snarled, her pale turquoise gaze fixing on the pile of smoldering rocks, "It's not over yet. I can still smell him."
"Oh, no," Kenta moaned when he heard this, causing his glasses to slip down his nose and come to rest crookedly on the tip.
"Awww, don't be a stick in the mud, Silvemon," Miki shook her head, "You're scaring poor ickle Kenta!"
"Hey!" Hirokazu and Kai sniggered as Kenta stood up indignantly, trying to look imposing and completely failing; his glasses fell off his nose and Silvemon darted forward to catch them in her teeth before they broke on the ground.
"Thanks," Kenta muttered, flustered, as Silvemon held out his glasses.
"Anytime," Silvemon replied, flexing her powerful black wing-ears.
Kenta missed the sarcasm.
"Jnlegofmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Terriermon squealed, trying to pry Jenrya's hands from his throat.
"Um, maybe you should let go of him, Jenrya," Kenta intervened.
"Sorry, Terriermon, didn't catch that," Jenrya replied cheerfully, completely ignoring Kenta and continuing to throttle his Digimon, "Hey, Takato, since when have you worn a toupee?"
Takato frowned and sweatdropped as Hirokazu and Miki both snorted with laughter and Kai sniggered, "It's not a toupee."
"Gomen nasai, Takatomon," Guilmon whimpered, his ears drooping.
"It's okay, Guilmon, it wasn't your- "GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" - fault," Takato sweatdropped as he was interrupted by Blavamon's roar of fury.
***
The red-hot blob was moving towards them at top speed. Suddenly there was a commotion behind them. It was a sort of large leathery-winged bird with a long, sharp beak lined with silver fangs, and huge bulging blue eyes that looked way too big for its head. All in all, it wasn't a pleasant sight.
"Oh, no," Takato moaned, "Just what we needed."
Miki's D-Ark suddenly activated as Silvemon squinted at the creature, "Huh?! Apteryxmon, Perfect level Flying Beast Digimon! Its attacks are Fang Blizzard and Wind of Age. Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble..."
Kai, who was standing beside her and feeling quite useless, frowned, 'Trouble is an understatement.'
They were trapped between two Digimon, neither of which seemed very friendly.
'Kuso! I'm so useless!' Kai thought in frustration, grinding his teeth, 'I need a Digimon to do anything in this kind of situation!'
The bird suddenly swooped down at them and they all ducked, including Guardromon. Its long purple tail, which seemed to be made of sleek rippling ribbons, whacked the shield and sent Guardromon skidding several feet away.
"Guardromon!" Hirokazu cried, throwing caution to the winds as he ran away from the now-exposed group and dashed to see if his partner was all right.
"Hirokazu, come back!" Jenrya called frantically after him, "Look out!"
"Aaaaah!" Kenta buried his face in his hands, unable to look.
"Gaah!" Hirokazu threw himself on the ground, just in time; Apteryxmon's cruel talons barely missed him, but then its tail swung downwards in a lightning fast whipping motion without warning.
"Hirokazu!" Takato shouted, horrified, as he watched the long purple ribbons, now identified as a queer sort of whip, fly downwards upon his friend, "No!"
"Card Slash!" came Miki's voice from behind him, "High Speed Plug-In H!"
Silvemon suddenly blurred into being just beside Hirokazu. Her deadly tail moved too fast for human eyes to see.
"Lightning Scythe!"
"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" screamed the Apteryxmon as a large portion of its long purple tail-whip-ribbons fell limply to the ground, neatly sliced by Silvemon's attack.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Hirokazu hastened to get out of the line of fire as Silvemon and Apteryxmon faced off against each other. In the opposite direction, a different fight was raging.
***
"Blazing Fire!"
"Fireball!"
Both attacks hit the Blavamon without much effect. Jenrya and Takato exchanged a look, then, as if by mutual consent, they both whipped out the same card and readied their D-Arks.
"Card Slash!" they shouted together, "Super Evolution Plug-In S!"
EVOLUTION_
"Terriermon, shinka!" the small Child level rabbit's form grew and expanded in his cocoon of green data to become a green and white bunny man with red Indian markings, blue pants, a belt across his chest and guns attached to the end of his arms, "Galgomon!"
"Guilmon, shinka!" the red dinosaur suddenly shot up several feet, encased in glowing red data, and a huge red biped T-rex-like creature with white mane all down its back, black markings, a white underbelly and blades on the sides of its front 'hands' roared its challenge to the sky, "Growmon!"
"Have a taste of my Gatling Arm, ya big pieca Jell-O!" Galgomon leapt forward, blasting the Blavamon with green pellets of light.
"Plasma Blade!" Growmon followed, slashing his glowing blue side blade across Blavamon's stalk-eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!!" Blavamon was blinded by Growmon's attack, and it writhed about as its slashed eyes oozed a slimy black liquid, sending attacks everywhere, "Lava Tide!"
"Yuck!" Galgomon commented as he charged forward once more, evading the jet of steaming angry red lava sent forth by Blavamon, jumping into the air in preparation for his attack: "Dum Dum Upper!"
As Blavamon howled from Galgomon's blow to its chin (or, more accurately, the area below its irregularly shaped mouth-hole), Jenrya whipped out a card, "Card Slash! Strength Plug-in W!"
"Oh yeah!" Galgomon cheered as his firepower increased.
"Card Slash!" Takato followed suit, "Power Charger!"
'What's going on?!' he wondered as Growmon was surrounded by a fiery glow of power, 'This guy's way too strong for an Adult. Something's not right here.'
"Exhaust Flame!" Growmon's jet of fire sent the Blavamon flying backwards several feet, to land with a rather wet plop very far away.
"Warning Laser!" Guardromon joined the fight, minus his huge encumbering shield.
"Go get him, Guardromon!" Hirokazu encouraged his partner from his vantage point near Jenrya and Takato, "Card Slash! Hououmon!"
"Starlight Explosion!" Guardromon's attack drew an ear-splitting scream from the Blavamon, and its data began to behave erratically as it weakened considerably.
"Scald Goop!" Blavamon made a final stand, "Scald Goop! SCALD GOOP!"
"Exhaust Flame!"
"Destruction Grenade!"
"Gatling Arm!"
Growmon, Guardromon and Galgomon all countered the flying orangish-red blobs coming for them at top speed.
"Lava Tide!" Blavamon's last desperate shot missed the three Digimon completely.
"Hey, what's up with that?!" Galgomon wondered aloud as the large gob of orange plasma flowed past him.
"Takatomon!" Growmon had whirled round and seen Blavamon's attack heading straight for Jenrya and Takato, "Exhaust Flame!"
The Lava Tide was deflected just in time, and the force of its collision with Growmon's attack threw both boys to the ground.
"You guys okay?" Galgomon called to them, then turned back to Blavamon with a very unpleasant expression on his face, "Let's teach this guy a lesson!"
"Yeah, don't touch Takatomon!" Growmon roared angrily.
"All at once!" Jenrya and Takato yelled together, "NOW!"
All three Digimon charged forward at the same time, preparing their various attacks as they converged on Blavamon.
"Gatling Arm!"
"Plasma Blade!"
"Destruction Grenade!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" with a final dying scream, the Blavamon broke up into bits of data.
"Whew! That was one hard nut to crack," Jenrya commented as Galgomon and Growmon joined them.
"Gotta agree with you there," Takato replied, wiping his forehead, 'For some reason, I have a very bad feeling about all of this.'
***
"Not good," Zhuqiaomon growled as the sovereigns watched the fight from Sky City, "These aren't normal Digimon. No normal Adult should be that resilient."
"Shadowmagemon has begun playing with Evolution," Qinglongmon said heavily, his long white beard drooping, "His Dark Digicores can somehow trigger a different sort of Evolution from the Digi-Entelechy; the Digimon issuing from this Evolution are stronger than normal Digimon."
"We must somehow stop him," Xuanwumon put in, "This is an abomination! Playing with Digimons' basic programs is no small thing!"
"I agree," Baihumon snarled, tossing his great white striped head, "Shadowmagemon cannot be allowed to continue with this tinkering!"
"There's nothing we can do," Zhuqiaomon replied, his multiple eyes blinking all at once, "The Chosen Children will have to deal with this one. Is the Golden Tetrahedron still safe?"
"Yes," Qinglongmon nodded slowly, "But Shadowmagemon's agents draw ever closer to discovering its whereabouts."
"They must not do so!" Zhuqiaomon said vehemently, "The Golden Tetrahedron must not fall into the enemy's hands. If it does, who knows what havoc he may wreak!"
"If worst comes to worst, we will have to summon the Chosen Children, and ask for their aid," Xuanwumon said.
"Where is the Digi-Entelechy?" Zhuqiaomon asked Qinglongmon suddenly.
"He is currently roaming freely in the Digital World," the colossal blue dragon replied.
"Then we must find him, and bring him here," Zhuqiaomon hissed, "If Shadowmagemon's aims are what I think they are, the Digi-Entelechy may be in danger."
"Yes," Xuanwumon's two heads nodded together.
"Iodramon!" a large yellow dragon covered in crystalline armor, with a long black mane, appeared at Zhuqiaomon's summons.
Despite his mass, Iodramon was dwarfed by the sovereigns. He was one of the new Devas Zhuqiaomon had acquired over the years after the downfall of the D-Reaper.
"Yes, Zhuqiaomon?" the yellow dragon bowed to his lord, "What is your wish?"
"I want you to find Culumon, and bring him here, as quickly as possible," Zhuqiaomon commanded, "Go now."
Iodramon bowed even lower and disappeared like a flash of lightning, speeding out from Sky City to commence his search for the little white Digimon with purple-lined ears and large green eyes that was the Digi- Entelechy.
"We have done all we can for now," Zhuqiaomon said after the Deva had left.
"Let us wait, and watch," Qinglongmon concluded the conversation and the four sovereign Digimon fell silent, watching closely over the Digital World, and trying to peer into the workings of the Shadow Realms.
***
"Lune Gale!" Silvemon's wings sent white-hot crescent-shaped glowing projectiles flying at Apteryxmon, and they sent the other Digimon wheeling backwards.
However, Apteryxmon just came back for more. Silvemon darted here and there, having to use all her agility to avoid the great bird's attacks.
"Fang Blizzard!" Apteryxmon opened its beak and its fangs all came off to be replaced by new ones, whizzing at Silvemon with extraordinary speed.
"Card Slash!" Miki cried, holding the card horizontally between the two forefingers of her right hand and raising it above her head, and taking her turquoise D-Ark in her left hand she raised that hand above her head as well, slot towards the right. With swift arcing motions towards the inside so that the two met in the innermost points of the two arcs' curves, she slid the card through the slot, "Boost Chip!"
"LUNE GALE!" Silvemon's attack sent all the fangs flying back where they came from, burying themselves in their owner's flesh.
"KREEEEEEE!" Apteryxmon screamed in pain but didn't go down, "Wind of Age!"
"Lune Gale!" Silvemon countered.
However, as the Wind of Age attack hit Silvemon's attack, the Lune Gale turned to dust and crumbled to pieces, to be carried away on the wind. Silvemon backed away, startled, as Apteryxmon came at her with an evil look in his huge blue eyes.
"What the-?!" Miki cried, seeing the effect of Apteryxmon's attack.
"Warning Laser!" Guardromon intervened, sending Apteryxmon reeling back as it was caught by surprise.
"Gatling Arm!" Galgomon ran out onto the battlefield.
"Exhaust Flame!" Growmon's attack didn't hit its target, however, since they'd already lost the element of surprise.
"Do we evolve again?" Jenrya asked Takato, rubbing his forehead.
"Uh-huh," Takato nodded quietly, "To Ultimate. There's something strange about that Digimon. I don't like that Wind of Age attack. If it hits one of our Digimon..."
Jenrya nodded fervently and they each selected a card at random in their decks and willed it to become a blue card.
"Card Slash!" they called out in unison, "Matrix Evolution!"
MATRIX EVOLUTION_
"Galgomon, shinka!" the bunny man Digimon transformed into a large flying creature with wing-like ears, blue eyes and thick green armor covering its entire body, "Rapidmon!"
"Growmon, shinka!" Growmon became a colossal red cyborg T-rex with cannons on his chest and large silver blades along his arms, as well as steel armor everywhere, "Megalo Growmon!"
"Take that bird DOWN!" Takato screamed, pointing a trembling finger at Apteryxmon.
"Roger," Rapidmon joked as he and Megalo Growmon attacked. He put his arms straight out to the sides in a crucifixion position, and put his feet together. A yellow line drew a triangle with points touching his hands and his joined feet, then it filled and a golden triangular beam shot out, "Golden Triangle!"
"Wind of Age!" Apteryxmon screeched, rendering Rapidmon's attack useless.
"Atomic Blaster!" Takato and Megalo Growmon cried together, taking advantage of the momentary distraction provided by Rapidmon to charge up the powerful cannons on Megalo Growlmon's chest, "YAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"
Apteryxmon didn't even have time to counter or evade the attack; the massive twin red beams struck him full in the chest and blasted him quite some distance away before he dissolved into data. However, his final screech, though filled with pain, was mocking.
"I am only the tip of the iceberg, Chosen Children! Prepare to be annihilated!"
"The tip of the iceberg?" Jenrya repeated, puzzled, as the Digimon downloaded the data floating about in the air, "I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means."
"There are more where that came from? Yippi-dee-wee," Miki groaned, then cheered up slightly, "Well, at least we're not lost anymore."
The rest fell over. The entire castle was in ruins, and parts of it were still smoldering from the fight.
***
"I don't know, guys," Takato said slowly as Guilmon came up beside him, "There was something weird about those two Digimon. Blavamon should have been destroyed easily by Growmon and Galgomon, but it took Guardromon as well to take him down. Something about this just doesn't feel right."
"Well, we'll worry about that later," Jenrya replied, staggering a bit as Terriermon landed heavily on his shoulder.
"Yeah, right now the priority is to find MarineAngemon, and then rescue Ryo- san, Ruki, Katou-san, Renamon and Cyberdramon," Kai agreed.
"All right, then," Takato nodded, "Let's find MarineAngemon, and then go rescue the others, or try to rescue them. That Key sounds pretty hard to get, and the Portal sounds even harder to find."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Miki grinned, "Let's get going before we all grow old!"
None of them saw the two black Digicores that had fallen from the defeated Digimon, lying abandoned amid the mounds of rocky refuse, crackling faintly with dark energy. Slowly, the two globes faded out of sight.
***
Shadowmagemon growled as he recovered the two Dark Digicores that had powered Blavamon and Apteryxmon and revived them. Carefully he maneuvered them back into their places amid the dozens of black globes that surrounded him where he sat, back in the room with the captives, hunched over the scrying mirror.
"These brats are no mere weaklings," he murmured softly to himself, "This requires some stronger hunters."
He stood and swept out of the room, but not before having collected the D- Arks lined up on the table as well as Ruki's precious cardpocket, leaving his three prisoners staring after him in shock.
***
Ruki turned to Ryou, who was shaking his head as though to clear it.
"What were those globe things?" she asked.
"Digicores," Ryou muttered, "Only the sovereigns are supposed to have them. How...?"
The last was obviously to himself, and Ruki decided not to say anything more.
'This is not good,' the tawny-haired girl thought as she stared out the open door at the bulky form that was NeoCyberdramon, 'It looks like there's more to this Shadowmagemon than we first thought.'
"Guys, we are going to get out of here... aren't we?" Juri asked hopefully, wondering why the other two looked so gloomy; she hadn't heard a word of their hushed conversation.
Her query was answered by utter silence.
***
As the youngsters began to make their way towards the edge of the abyss surrounding the cliffs where the castle once stood, Hirokazu paused and looked around.
"Lose something, Hirokazu?" Jenrya inquired, seeing the perplexed expression on the spiky-haired boy's face.
"Guys, where'd Kenta go?" Hirokazu wondered aloud.
"Miss me?" Kenta appeared out of a space between two slabs of fallen rock, dusting himself off.
"Yeah, yeah, dork," Hirokazu rolled his eyes, "Let's go. C'mon, hurry up!"
"Hey!" Kenta cried indignantly, then, as the others turned away and began walking off again, he hastily shot after them, "Wait up!"
***
Many leagues away from the children, a large red-armored Digimon was making his way through the desert, flattening dunes of sand with his clawed, three- toed talon-like feet. His deadly fang-filled jaws snapped shut as his great nostrils sniffed the air, sending wisps of smoke wafting along the zephyr.
"I smell humans..." his hungry voice was a low growl in his throat, "I smell Chosen! Beware the wrath of Karnodramon!"
***
~Oh, boy! Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Will the Tamers survive their encounter with Karnodramon? And will they ever manage to rescue Shadowmagemon's prisoners? Find out in the next chapter of Shadow Realms! Okay, that chapter was looong, and it contained one of the only fights so far. So what do you think? Any comments on the fight or on the general story? I know practically nothing about the card game, so I'm making cards up or just sticking in whatever card I read in some other fanfic. Well, review and I'll get the next chapter up week after the next! Meanwhile, next week there'll be a new chapter of Void!~
Reviews:
I've decided to start responding to reviewers, so.
Bakura's Angel - Here's more for you! By the way, do you like Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh, too? First time I saw him was in the ep where everyone got their souls trapped into cards and there was an evil version of him with a Millennium Ring. He looked so sweet as the Change of Heart card thingummy! Okay, enough. * sweatdrop *
Lunamew - Glad to see you liked it!
And I owe a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed before I started responding, so in order not to leave them out:
A HUMONGOUS, COLOSSAL, MEGAGIGANTIC, EXTRAHUMONGOENORMOUS (errr, you get my drift) Thank You to Infinity Blade (Check out his 'The Silver Lining'! Man, that fic is truly AWESOME!), El Intruder, Chibi Ucchan (No, I didn't take that as a flame), Peter Kim, Crimson, attitudetwinz, WithoutMorals (Now WithoutMorals - Revived. Check out his 'Dark Wing' fic, it's great! Slight 02 crossover), Alan Wilkinson, Deva Ghost, Yin (D'you write? I wanna read your fics if you do!), silverlily, Diane, Piximon, Guilmon (I think I might've read some of your fics at one point, I'll have to check.), Jodie, ~LB~ (Yay! Henrika's awesome, isn't it? I love all your Henrika fics!), Takato Matsuki Fanatic (I like that! Even if you support one couple, you manage to read a story that early on seems to bash a member of that particular couple. That's hard work!), hh, Blue-jay and silentangel (I'm glad you like Miki! Btw, she's partially based on myself * wink *). THANKS Y'ALL!!!
~Okay, this chapter turned out very long, and there's a huge fight in it, so check it out! * Pats herself on the back * I sure hope I got all the terms right and everything. Oh, and did I mention I was switching to Japanese names, attacks and levels? Here's a little info:
Japanese Levels: Child = Rookie Adult = Champion Perfect = Ultimate Ultimate = Mega
Japanese Names: Makino Ruki = Rika Lee Jenrya = Henry Matsuda Takato = Takato Katou Juri = Jeri Akiyama Ryou = Ryo Galgomon = Gargomon Growmon = Growlmon Megalo Growmon = Wargrowlmon Okaa-san = Mother Otou-san = Father
Don't ask me why I switched! I just did! And Jenrya sounds so much more kawaii than Henry... Okay, enough blabbering, now on with the story! R, E & R!!!~
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shadow Realms: Part VII - The Tip of the Iceberg
------------------------------------------------------------------
"R-Ruki-chan? Where are we?" was the first thing out of Juri's mouth once she was fully awake and staring about with large, frightened hazel eyes.
Ruki groaned; she absolutely hated explaining this kind of thing, 'How do you tell someone that they're imprisoned in the castle of an evil Digimon and that escape is virtually impossible because what used to be one of their friends' Digimon is guarding the door?'
Luckily, Ryou chose that moment to poke his head round with one of his trademark half-grins, "Welcome back. You were out for quite a while there."
Juri's eyes widened as she took in the boy's ragged appearance, "Ryou-san?! What- what happened to you?!"
He sighed heavily. Ruki could see that he didn't want to explain it all again, so she did it for him. Ryou shot her a surprised but grateful look as she rattled off the story.
"...And so now we're stuck in here, with NeoCyberdramon just outside the door ready to blast us to pieces, and Renamon about to join him if we don't do something," Ruki concluded.
Juri's eyes had grown, if possible, even larger and more frightened. But she just nodded mutely, accepting Ruki's story without question.
"Well, does anyone have any ideas on how to escape?" she asked in her quiet voice.
The other two shook their heads dejectedly. Juri sighed and looked about their prison. Suddenly something oddly brilliant caught her eye.
"Hey, what's that?"
"Oh, that's just Shadowmagemon's scrying mirror," Ryou informed her, "He uses it to follow things going on in the Digital World. He was spying on you guys until Kai turned against him and smashed the dark D-Ark."
"Kai turned against him?" Ruki asked in surprise.
Ryou nodded, then shot a sly look at the girl on her other side, "I think it had more than a little to do with that bastard's capture of Katou-san here."
Juri blushed, "Nonsense!"
***
Guilmon was leading the way through the countless hallways of the castle, his nostrils flared and sniffing frenetically at some scent only he could discern. The Tamers and the other four Digimon walked silently behind him.
"Remind me again: just 'why' are we following 'Guilmon'?!" Hirokazu said loudly.
Takato turned to his spiky-haired friend with a sigh, "Because Guilmon's nose is very sensitive, and I'm trying to get him to smell the way out."
"Do you really think that'll work, Takato?" Kenta asked skeptically.
"Well, if you have a better idea, Kenta, I would 'love' to hear it," Takato said crossly, turning to catch up with his red dinosaur friend.
Kenta fell silent. Hirokazu, however, continued talking, telling Miki about their missing friends. The dark-haired girl was listening closely, a slight grin on her tanned face.
"... and then we met Ryou-san, he was 'so' cool, I mean, Cyberdramon was just awesome, y'know, this great big metal dragon, and 'so' damn strong, man, he beat Majiramon just squeezin' the heck outta him- Hey, Guardromon, you're pretty cool too, dude," Hirokazu interrupted himself, patting his sulking Digimon's metallic arm.
Miki rolled her eyes and laughed, " 'The' Akiyama Ryou is a Tamer, eh? He's a good guy, but kinda hard to get a hold of, since his fan club mobs him wherever he goes. or tries to go. Probably the reason he ran off to the Digital World in the first place."
Hirokazu stared at her in disbelief, "You 'knew' him?!"
Miki chuckled at the spiky-haired boy's tone, "Yeah, 'course I did, we used to be neighbors."
"Cool!" Hirokazu looked at her expectantly, "So? What was it like?"
She grinned, "We were both crazy about Digimon. He taught me almost everything I know about the card game."
Her grin turned into another bubbly laugh as Hirokazu's awed expression shifted immediately to one of alarm. Miki's green eyes sparkled with amusement as she contemplated the brown-haired boy thoughtfully.
"Enough about me, what about you?" she asked him cheerfully.
Hirokazu grinned mischievously and Kai, trudging along behind them, rolled his eyes, 'Here he goes again.'
"I." Hirokazu paused for a dramatic moment to raise his fist before continuing, "am the Savior of the Digital World and the best Tamer ever! Ryou-san thanked me once for saving him!"
"O. kay." Miki gave him a rather odd look, arching her eyebrow.
"What were you comparing yourself to, Hirokazu?" Kai asked scornfully, "A cardboard box?"
"Hey!"
"Would you two knock it off?!" Takato snapped at the two bickering boys, "Something's coming."
Hirokazu and Kai released each other's throats and looked up. Miki was trying not to laugh at the pair of them. Guilmon's pupils had shrunk and he was growling menacingly. Suddenly the air seemed to thicken around them and Hirokazu began to complain about the heat.
***
Creaking footsteps echoed ominously through the castle, coming closer and closer. Suddenly an orangish-red projectile whistled through the air from an unknown location and just missed hitting Takato in the head.
"Whoa!" Takato stared at the smoking hole in the wall beside his head, "That was close!"
"You can say that again," Jenrya agreed, unclipping his D-Ark from his belt, "Whatever it is, it sure doesn't seem to be friendly."
"Great," Kenta said unhappily.
A shadow stretched across the floor from one of the side-halls ahead, and a massive Digimon stalked into view.
"Holy cow!" Hirokazu yelled as Kenta skidded to his side with a cry and hid behind him.
"Momentai!" Terriermon cried as his ears flew up from the wind of Kenta's extremely rapid passing.
***
Miki surveyed the scene calmly. They were facing a six-foot-tall-or-so brownish-orange mass with weird eyestalks like a snail's that swiveled here and there, fixing their target with an eerie empty white gaze, and its body was sending off steam as bubbles of red-hot plasma rose sluggishly to the surface and popped.
"One thing's for sure," Miki found herself saying as Silvemon crouched protectively in front of her, snarling fiercely, "I 'don't' want to be hugged by that thing!"
"Total agreement over here," Takato commented as he pulled Guilmon back from the monster.
The red dinosaur was impatient to fight, and Takato had a lot of trouble holding him back while he took out his D-Ark, "No, boy, wait! Blavamon, Adult level Virus type Digimon, his attacks are Scald Goop and Lava Tide."
"Man, what's with us and blobs?!" Hirokazu asked nobody in particular loudly as he craned his neck to meet Blavamon's queer gaze, "What a creep!"
"Scald Goop!"
"Blazing Fire!"
The Blavamon launched a red-hot blob at Jenrya, which was immediately deflected by a well-aimed barrage of small green light pellets from Terriermon.
"Looks like you were right, Jenrya," Miki remarked.
Takato gave an uncharacteristic smirk as he assessed the situation and let Guilmon go, "All right, I have just the card for this."
He reached into his pocket with a satisfied smile and extracted a card, "Card Slash! Frigimon!" (A/N: I dunno if such a card exists, I'm totally making things up here. Told ya I hadn't a clue how to play the card game)
Guilmon's right arm glowed and a white mitt appeared at the end. With a feral growl, the red Digimon charged forward toward the bubbling mass that was Blavamon, brandishing his white mitt. Blavamon, of course, was not about to take a beating placidly.
"Scald Goop!"
"Sub-Zero Ice Punch!" Guilmon froze the formless orange projectile whizzing through the air at him, letting it fall harmlessly to the ground and shatter into a thousand tiny shards of ice.
Miki observed all this with interest, and looked down at the slot on her D- Ark, 'So 'that's' how this thing works! Awesome!'
However, while Guilmon was busy with the Blavamon's attack, the enemy Digimon launched another one at him at astonishing speed, "Lava Tide!"
Guilmon had no time to dodge. He screamed in pain as he was burned by the thick steaming orange lava.
"Guilmon, no!" Takato cried, searching frantically through his cards for something that would help his friend.
***
The other Tamers were far from idle.
"Double Card Slash!" Jenrya cried as Terriermon leaped with his usual eagerness into the fray, "MetalGarurumon! Power Charger!"
Terriermon glowed with a blinding bluish-white light and a massive blindingly bright blue and white wave shot out of his mouth, "Kokyutoss Breath!"
At the same time, Guilmon, somehow back on his feet, charged and drove his mitt into Blavamon's steaming middle, spreading ice over his lower parts, "Sub-Zero Ice Punch!"
He then darted away, and Blavamon, with his lower parts frozen solid, couldn't move out of the way of Terriermon's attack, and his size made him unable to dodge it.
"Lava Tide!" the orange blob Digimon tried to deflect Terriermon's attack, to no avail; the wave froze the Lava Tide and turned it against its originator.
Terriermon's attack hit Blavamon hard, drawing an agonized scream and sending the steaming blob crashing into the wall behind him as the rest of him was encased in a thick sheath of ice. Deep cracks opened in the stone, and huge chunks began raining down around the Tamers, revealing bits of sky where they'd been.
"Gee, why didn't we think of this before?" Miki remarked sarcastically amid the falling rocks and shaking of the castle, "When lost in a huge castle, just blast your way out!"
"Take cover, everyone!" Takato yelled above the ear-splitting crack of rock breaking.
"Aaaaah!" Kenta cringed, covering his face with his arms.
Hirokazu gave his best friend an exasperated look, "Kenta, d'ya really think that if a rock fell on you, your puny little arms would protect you against having your head split open?!"
Kenta gulped and dove under Guardromon.
"Hey! Stop that, you'll trip him up!" Hirokazu protested, trying to extract his friend from beneath his Digimon, rather surprised at how heavy Kenta was, for such a skinny kid.
"Card Slash!" Jenrya yelled desperately, "Brave Shield!"
Terriermon acquired a large geometrically shaped and patterned golden shield. He raised it over his head, and it protected quite well against the falling rock, but only Lopmon could have fitted comfortably under there. Jenrya sighed and sweatdropped as he took in the situation. He looked around at the others. Guardromon was easily the biggest Digimon.
"Hirokazu! Use this card!" Jenrya threw it to the spiky-haired boy.
"Wha-?!" Hirokazu almost didn't catch the card in his surprise.
"Slash it, then have Guardromon raise it over his head like an umbrella!" the other boy finally understood and took out his D-Ark, "Terriermon's way too small to do it."
"Hey!"
"Well, it's true," Jenrya smirked at his floppy-eared partner.
"Jen! Since when did you get to be so rude?!" Terriermon paused, looking thoughtful, "Oh, yeah, since you met that Ruki girl..."
"Card Slash!" Hirokazu used the card Jenrya had given him, "Brave Shield!"
Guardromon grunted as he lifted the shield, sheltering himself and his partner as well as Miki, Kai, Kenta and Silvemon from the falling debris, "Everyone come under! Digi-Umbrella service! ...For those of you who enjoy a downpour of rocks."
Hirokazu shot his partner a startled look and sweatdropped, "Ruki was right, I am having a bad influence on you!"
Miki was in stitches beside him as Digimon and Tamer stared at each other in consternation. Jenrya came under the shield, still trying to strangle Terriermon for his remark about Ruki. Takato and Guilmon hurried in too, after sorting out an unfortunate incident in which a rock landed on Guilmon's tail and caused him to accidentally singe Takato's messy brown hair with his Fireball.
***
Ruki growled in frustration as she eyed the blue-lined and mostly silver D- Ark sitting on the table beside the scrying mirror, along with her brown cardpocket, 'Ugh! If only I could reach it... Maybe I'd be able to help Renamon break those chains by evolving her into Taomon. But these damn chains...'
"It's no use staring, Ruki," Ryou sighed, "Mine's gone too... Not that it would be much use right now."
Ruki glanced at his silver-lined and mostly blue D-Ark, the exact opposite of hers, glinting on the table beside her own in the dim light from the sole yellowed lamp in the room. It was completely dark and lifeless. She sighed and looked away. No Tamer deserved that. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Juri smiling sympathetically at Ryou.
'She knows what it feels like to lose her partner,' Ruki realized, shuddering, 'I hope I'll never share that knowledge. If I lost Renamon...'
She squeezed her violet eyes tightly shut, refusing to think about it.
***
Juri, meanwhile, sighed and stared into space, deep in thought.
'I hope Takato-kun and the others are all right,' she bit her lip, 'I was so stupid to think... that Leomon could be back...'
Juri hung her head.
"Are you okay, Juri?" she looked up at Ruki's gentle query.
The violet-eyed girl was looking at her with understanding in her face. Juri smiled; Ruki was so nice now. It felt good to have her as a friend.
"I... Leomon..." Juri shook her head, unable to put into words what was weighing on her heart.
***
"I..." Ruki lapsed into silence; she couldn't exactly say that she understood how the other felt, because she didn't, and they both knew that, so to say so would mean nothing.
Completely unused to resolving this kind of situation, Ruki racked her brain for something, anything comforting to say.
But all she could come up with was, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get out of here... somehow."
Juri nodded and turned away. Ruki sighed.
'Dammit, Jenrya's the one who's good at this type of thing, not me. I hope the others won't run into too much trouble. Though knowing Takato and Hirokazu, wherever trouble is, they're sure to be in the middle of it.'
Ruki wondered why she felt so worried about this, and why a certain spiky- haired visor-wearing Tamer with slate blue eyes suddenly slid into her mind and refused to get out.
***
Things quieted down a little after most of the castle had collapsed. The Tamers looked around at the chaos they'd caused with some surprise.
"Well, that castle must've been pretty old to just go down like that," Miki remarked, rubbing her temples and raising her eyebrows.
"Well, at least we defeated Blavamon," Kai added, glancing at the smoking pile of debris that sat where Blavamon had been, "... I hope."
Silvemon snarled, her pale turquoise gaze fixing on the pile of smoldering rocks, "It's not over yet. I can still smell him."
"Oh, no," Kenta moaned when he heard this, causing his glasses to slip down his nose and come to rest crookedly on the tip.
"Awww, don't be a stick in the mud, Silvemon," Miki shook her head, "You're scaring poor ickle Kenta!"
"Hey!" Hirokazu and Kai sniggered as Kenta stood up indignantly, trying to look imposing and completely failing; his glasses fell off his nose and Silvemon darted forward to catch them in her teeth before they broke on the ground.
"Thanks," Kenta muttered, flustered, as Silvemon held out his glasses.
"Anytime," Silvemon replied, flexing her powerful black wing-ears.
Kenta missed the sarcasm.
"Jnlegofmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Terriermon squealed, trying to pry Jenrya's hands from his throat.
"Um, maybe you should let go of him, Jenrya," Kenta intervened.
"Sorry, Terriermon, didn't catch that," Jenrya replied cheerfully, completely ignoring Kenta and continuing to throttle his Digimon, "Hey, Takato, since when have you worn a toupee?"
Takato frowned and sweatdropped as Hirokazu and Miki both snorted with laughter and Kai sniggered, "It's not a toupee."
"Gomen nasai, Takatomon," Guilmon whimpered, his ears drooping.
"It's okay, Guilmon, it wasn't your- "GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" - fault," Takato sweatdropped as he was interrupted by Blavamon's roar of fury.
***
The red-hot blob was moving towards them at top speed. Suddenly there was a commotion behind them. It was a sort of large leathery-winged bird with a long, sharp beak lined with silver fangs, and huge bulging blue eyes that looked way too big for its head. All in all, it wasn't a pleasant sight.
"Oh, no," Takato moaned, "Just what we needed."
Miki's D-Ark suddenly activated as Silvemon squinted at the creature, "Huh?! Apteryxmon, Perfect level Flying Beast Digimon! Its attacks are Fang Blizzard and Wind of Age. Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble..."
Kai, who was standing beside her and feeling quite useless, frowned, 'Trouble is an understatement.'
They were trapped between two Digimon, neither of which seemed very friendly.
'Kuso! I'm so useless!' Kai thought in frustration, grinding his teeth, 'I need a Digimon to do anything in this kind of situation!'
The bird suddenly swooped down at them and they all ducked, including Guardromon. Its long purple tail, which seemed to be made of sleek rippling ribbons, whacked the shield and sent Guardromon skidding several feet away.
"Guardromon!" Hirokazu cried, throwing caution to the winds as he ran away from the now-exposed group and dashed to see if his partner was all right.
"Hirokazu, come back!" Jenrya called frantically after him, "Look out!"
"Aaaaah!" Kenta buried his face in his hands, unable to look.
"Gaah!" Hirokazu threw himself on the ground, just in time; Apteryxmon's cruel talons barely missed him, but then its tail swung downwards in a lightning fast whipping motion without warning.
"Hirokazu!" Takato shouted, horrified, as he watched the long purple ribbons, now identified as a queer sort of whip, fly downwards upon his friend, "No!"
"Card Slash!" came Miki's voice from behind him, "High Speed Plug-In H!"
Silvemon suddenly blurred into being just beside Hirokazu. Her deadly tail moved too fast for human eyes to see.
"Lightning Scythe!"
"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" screamed the Apteryxmon as a large portion of its long purple tail-whip-ribbons fell limply to the ground, neatly sliced by Silvemon's attack.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Hirokazu hastened to get out of the line of fire as Silvemon and Apteryxmon faced off against each other. In the opposite direction, a different fight was raging.
***
"Blazing Fire!"
"Fireball!"
Both attacks hit the Blavamon without much effect. Jenrya and Takato exchanged a look, then, as if by mutual consent, they both whipped out the same card and readied their D-Arks.
"Card Slash!" they shouted together, "Super Evolution Plug-In S!"
EVOLUTION_
"Terriermon, shinka!" the small Child level rabbit's form grew and expanded in his cocoon of green data to become a green and white bunny man with red Indian markings, blue pants, a belt across his chest and guns attached to the end of his arms, "Galgomon!"
"Guilmon, shinka!" the red dinosaur suddenly shot up several feet, encased in glowing red data, and a huge red biped T-rex-like creature with white mane all down its back, black markings, a white underbelly and blades on the sides of its front 'hands' roared its challenge to the sky, "Growmon!"
"Have a taste of my Gatling Arm, ya big pieca Jell-O!" Galgomon leapt forward, blasting the Blavamon with green pellets of light.
"Plasma Blade!" Growmon followed, slashing his glowing blue side blade across Blavamon's stalk-eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!!" Blavamon was blinded by Growmon's attack, and it writhed about as its slashed eyes oozed a slimy black liquid, sending attacks everywhere, "Lava Tide!"
"Yuck!" Galgomon commented as he charged forward once more, evading the jet of steaming angry red lava sent forth by Blavamon, jumping into the air in preparation for his attack: "Dum Dum Upper!"
As Blavamon howled from Galgomon's blow to its chin (or, more accurately, the area below its irregularly shaped mouth-hole), Jenrya whipped out a card, "Card Slash! Strength Plug-in W!"
"Oh yeah!" Galgomon cheered as his firepower increased.
"Card Slash!" Takato followed suit, "Power Charger!"
'What's going on?!' he wondered as Growmon was surrounded by a fiery glow of power, 'This guy's way too strong for an Adult. Something's not right here.'
"Exhaust Flame!" Growmon's jet of fire sent the Blavamon flying backwards several feet, to land with a rather wet plop very far away.
"Warning Laser!" Guardromon joined the fight, minus his huge encumbering shield.
"Go get him, Guardromon!" Hirokazu encouraged his partner from his vantage point near Jenrya and Takato, "Card Slash! Hououmon!"
"Starlight Explosion!" Guardromon's attack drew an ear-splitting scream from the Blavamon, and its data began to behave erratically as it weakened considerably.
"Scald Goop!" Blavamon made a final stand, "Scald Goop! SCALD GOOP!"
"Exhaust Flame!"
"Destruction Grenade!"
"Gatling Arm!"
Growmon, Guardromon and Galgomon all countered the flying orangish-red blobs coming for them at top speed.
"Lava Tide!" Blavamon's last desperate shot missed the three Digimon completely.
"Hey, what's up with that?!" Galgomon wondered aloud as the large gob of orange plasma flowed past him.
"Takatomon!" Growmon had whirled round and seen Blavamon's attack heading straight for Jenrya and Takato, "Exhaust Flame!"
The Lava Tide was deflected just in time, and the force of its collision with Growmon's attack threw both boys to the ground.
"You guys okay?" Galgomon called to them, then turned back to Blavamon with a very unpleasant expression on his face, "Let's teach this guy a lesson!"
"Yeah, don't touch Takatomon!" Growmon roared angrily.
"All at once!" Jenrya and Takato yelled together, "NOW!"
All three Digimon charged forward at the same time, preparing their various attacks as they converged on Blavamon.
"Gatling Arm!"
"Plasma Blade!"
"Destruction Grenade!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" with a final dying scream, the Blavamon broke up into bits of data.
"Whew! That was one hard nut to crack," Jenrya commented as Galgomon and Growmon joined them.
"Gotta agree with you there," Takato replied, wiping his forehead, 'For some reason, I have a very bad feeling about all of this.'
***
"Not good," Zhuqiaomon growled as the sovereigns watched the fight from Sky City, "These aren't normal Digimon. No normal Adult should be that resilient."
"Shadowmagemon has begun playing with Evolution," Qinglongmon said heavily, his long white beard drooping, "His Dark Digicores can somehow trigger a different sort of Evolution from the Digi-Entelechy; the Digimon issuing from this Evolution are stronger than normal Digimon."
"We must somehow stop him," Xuanwumon put in, "This is an abomination! Playing with Digimons' basic programs is no small thing!"
"I agree," Baihumon snarled, tossing his great white striped head, "Shadowmagemon cannot be allowed to continue with this tinkering!"
"There's nothing we can do," Zhuqiaomon replied, his multiple eyes blinking all at once, "The Chosen Children will have to deal with this one. Is the Golden Tetrahedron still safe?"
"Yes," Qinglongmon nodded slowly, "But Shadowmagemon's agents draw ever closer to discovering its whereabouts."
"They must not do so!" Zhuqiaomon said vehemently, "The Golden Tetrahedron must not fall into the enemy's hands. If it does, who knows what havoc he may wreak!"
"If worst comes to worst, we will have to summon the Chosen Children, and ask for their aid," Xuanwumon said.
"Where is the Digi-Entelechy?" Zhuqiaomon asked Qinglongmon suddenly.
"He is currently roaming freely in the Digital World," the colossal blue dragon replied.
"Then we must find him, and bring him here," Zhuqiaomon hissed, "If Shadowmagemon's aims are what I think they are, the Digi-Entelechy may be in danger."
"Yes," Xuanwumon's two heads nodded together.
"Iodramon!" a large yellow dragon covered in crystalline armor, with a long black mane, appeared at Zhuqiaomon's summons.
Despite his mass, Iodramon was dwarfed by the sovereigns. He was one of the new Devas Zhuqiaomon had acquired over the years after the downfall of the D-Reaper.
"Yes, Zhuqiaomon?" the yellow dragon bowed to his lord, "What is your wish?"
"I want you to find Culumon, and bring him here, as quickly as possible," Zhuqiaomon commanded, "Go now."
Iodramon bowed even lower and disappeared like a flash of lightning, speeding out from Sky City to commence his search for the little white Digimon with purple-lined ears and large green eyes that was the Digi- Entelechy.
"We have done all we can for now," Zhuqiaomon said after the Deva had left.
"Let us wait, and watch," Qinglongmon concluded the conversation and the four sovereign Digimon fell silent, watching closely over the Digital World, and trying to peer into the workings of the Shadow Realms.
***
"Lune Gale!" Silvemon's wings sent white-hot crescent-shaped glowing projectiles flying at Apteryxmon, and they sent the other Digimon wheeling backwards.
However, Apteryxmon just came back for more. Silvemon darted here and there, having to use all her agility to avoid the great bird's attacks.
"Fang Blizzard!" Apteryxmon opened its beak and its fangs all came off to be replaced by new ones, whizzing at Silvemon with extraordinary speed.
"Card Slash!" Miki cried, holding the card horizontally between the two forefingers of her right hand and raising it above her head, and taking her turquoise D-Ark in her left hand she raised that hand above her head as well, slot towards the right. With swift arcing motions towards the inside so that the two met in the innermost points of the two arcs' curves, she slid the card through the slot, "Boost Chip!"
"LUNE GALE!" Silvemon's attack sent all the fangs flying back where they came from, burying themselves in their owner's flesh.
"KREEEEEEE!" Apteryxmon screamed in pain but didn't go down, "Wind of Age!"
"Lune Gale!" Silvemon countered.
However, as the Wind of Age attack hit Silvemon's attack, the Lune Gale turned to dust and crumbled to pieces, to be carried away on the wind. Silvemon backed away, startled, as Apteryxmon came at her with an evil look in his huge blue eyes.
"What the-?!" Miki cried, seeing the effect of Apteryxmon's attack.
"Warning Laser!" Guardromon intervened, sending Apteryxmon reeling back as it was caught by surprise.
"Gatling Arm!" Galgomon ran out onto the battlefield.
"Exhaust Flame!" Growmon's attack didn't hit its target, however, since they'd already lost the element of surprise.
"Do we evolve again?" Jenrya asked Takato, rubbing his forehead.
"Uh-huh," Takato nodded quietly, "To Ultimate. There's something strange about that Digimon. I don't like that Wind of Age attack. If it hits one of our Digimon..."
Jenrya nodded fervently and they each selected a card at random in their decks and willed it to become a blue card.
"Card Slash!" they called out in unison, "Matrix Evolution!"
MATRIX EVOLUTION_
"Galgomon, shinka!" the bunny man Digimon transformed into a large flying creature with wing-like ears, blue eyes and thick green armor covering its entire body, "Rapidmon!"
"Growmon, shinka!" Growmon became a colossal red cyborg T-rex with cannons on his chest and large silver blades along his arms, as well as steel armor everywhere, "Megalo Growmon!"
"Take that bird DOWN!" Takato screamed, pointing a trembling finger at Apteryxmon.
"Roger," Rapidmon joked as he and Megalo Growmon attacked. He put his arms straight out to the sides in a crucifixion position, and put his feet together. A yellow line drew a triangle with points touching his hands and his joined feet, then it filled and a golden triangular beam shot out, "Golden Triangle!"
"Wind of Age!" Apteryxmon screeched, rendering Rapidmon's attack useless.
"Atomic Blaster!" Takato and Megalo Growmon cried together, taking advantage of the momentary distraction provided by Rapidmon to charge up the powerful cannons on Megalo Growlmon's chest, "YAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"
Apteryxmon didn't even have time to counter or evade the attack; the massive twin red beams struck him full in the chest and blasted him quite some distance away before he dissolved into data. However, his final screech, though filled with pain, was mocking.
"I am only the tip of the iceberg, Chosen Children! Prepare to be annihilated!"
"The tip of the iceberg?" Jenrya repeated, puzzled, as the Digimon downloaded the data floating about in the air, "I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means."
"There are more where that came from? Yippi-dee-wee," Miki groaned, then cheered up slightly, "Well, at least we're not lost anymore."
The rest fell over. The entire castle was in ruins, and parts of it were still smoldering from the fight.
***
"I don't know, guys," Takato said slowly as Guilmon came up beside him, "There was something weird about those two Digimon. Blavamon should have been destroyed easily by Growmon and Galgomon, but it took Guardromon as well to take him down. Something about this just doesn't feel right."
"Well, we'll worry about that later," Jenrya replied, staggering a bit as Terriermon landed heavily on his shoulder.
"Yeah, right now the priority is to find MarineAngemon, and then rescue Ryo- san, Ruki, Katou-san, Renamon and Cyberdramon," Kai agreed.
"All right, then," Takato nodded, "Let's find MarineAngemon, and then go rescue the others, or try to rescue them. That Key sounds pretty hard to get, and the Portal sounds even harder to find."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Miki grinned, "Let's get going before we all grow old!"
None of them saw the two black Digicores that had fallen from the defeated Digimon, lying abandoned amid the mounds of rocky refuse, crackling faintly with dark energy. Slowly, the two globes faded out of sight.
***
Shadowmagemon growled as he recovered the two Dark Digicores that had powered Blavamon and Apteryxmon and revived them. Carefully he maneuvered them back into their places amid the dozens of black globes that surrounded him where he sat, back in the room with the captives, hunched over the scrying mirror.
"These brats are no mere weaklings," he murmured softly to himself, "This requires some stronger hunters."
He stood and swept out of the room, but not before having collected the D- Arks lined up on the table as well as Ruki's precious cardpocket, leaving his three prisoners staring after him in shock.
***
Ruki turned to Ryou, who was shaking his head as though to clear it.
"What were those globe things?" she asked.
"Digicores," Ryou muttered, "Only the sovereigns are supposed to have them. How...?"
The last was obviously to himself, and Ruki decided not to say anything more.
'This is not good,' the tawny-haired girl thought as she stared out the open door at the bulky form that was NeoCyberdramon, 'It looks like there's more to this Shadowmagemon than we first thought.'
"Guys, we are going to get out of here... aren't we?" Juri asked hopefully, wondering why the other two looked so gloomy; she hadn't heard a word of their hushed conversation.
Her query was answered by utter silence.
***
As the youngsters began to make their way towards the edge of the abyss surrounding the cliffs where the castle once stood, Hirokazu paused and looked around.
"Lose something, Hirokazu?" Jenrya inquired, seeing the perplexed expression on the spiky-haired boy's face.
"Guys, where'd Kenta go?" Hirokazu wondered aloud.
"Miss me?" Kenta appeared out of a space between two slabs of fallen rock, dusting himself off.
"Yeah, yeah, dork," Hirokazu rolled his eyes, "Let's go. C'mon, hurry up!"
"Hey!" Kenta cried indignantly, then, as the others turned away and began walking off again, he hastily shot after them, "Wait up!"
***
Many leagues away from the children, a large red-armored Digimon was making his way through the desert, flattening dunes of sand with his clawed, three- toed talon-like feet. His deadly fang-filled jaws snapped shut as his great nostrils sniffed the air, sending wisps of smoke wafting along the zephyr.
"I smell humans..." his hungry voice was a low growl in his throat, "I smell Chosen! Beware the wrath of Karnodramon!"
***
~Oh, boy! Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Will the Tamers survive their encounter with Karnodramon? And will they ever manage to rescue Shadowmagemon's prisoners? Find out in the next chapter of Shadow Realms! Okay, that chapter was looong, and it contained one of the only fights so far. So what do you think? Any comments on the fight or on the general story? I know practically nothing about the card game, so I'm making cards up or just sticking in whatever card I read in some other fanfic. Well, review and I'll get the next chapter up week after the next! Meanwhile, next week there'll be a new chapter of Void!~
Reviews:
I've decided to start responding to reviewers, so.
Bakura's Angel - Here's more for you! By the way, do you like Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh, too? First time I saw him was in the ep where everyone got their souls trapped into cards and there was an evil version of him with a Millennium Ring. He looked so sweet as the Change of Heart card thingummy! Okay, enough. * sweatdrop *
Lunamew - Glad to see you liked it!
And I owe a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed before I started responding, so in order not to leave them out:
A HUMONGOUS, COLOSSAL, MEGAGIGANTIC, EXTRAHUMONGOENORMOUS (errr, you get my drift) Thank You to Infinity Blade (Check out his 'The Silver Lining'! Man, that fic is truly AWESOME!), El Intruder, Chibi Ucchan (No, I didn't take that as a flame), Peter Kim, Crimson, attitudetwinz, WithoutMorals (Now WithoutMorals - Revived. Check out his 'Dark Wing' fic, it's great! Slight 02 crossover), Alan Wilkinson, Deva Ghost, Yin (D'you write? I wanna read your fics if you do!), silverlily, Diane, Piximon, Guilmon (I think I might've read some of your fics at one point, I'll have to check.), Jodie, ~LB~ (Yay! Henrika's awesome, isn't it? I love all your Henrika fics!), Takato Matsuki Fanatic (I like that! Even if you support one couple, you manage to read a story that early on seems to bash a member of that particular couple. That's hard work!), hh, Blue-jay and silentangel (I'm glad you like Miki! Btw, she's partially based on myself * wink *). THANKS Y'ALL!!!