Brought Together In The Aftermath
By ArtikGato
Disclaimer: I'm going to do a normal disclaimer this time, since I'm worn out from all of those trips around the world and universe. Anyway, even after all THAT, I STILL don't own Digimon! LIFE IS SO NOT FAIR!!!
Davis: Crybaby.
Me: Get back here goggleboy! I'm not done with you yet!
Author's Note: Hello again! It is I, ArtikGato, back to bring you Part Seven of Brought Together In The Aftermath. Read the Author's Note for Part One if you didn't, to save me having to retype the same thing here. Same as before, flames are NOT welcome. If you must point out your disagreement with any aspect of this story, please do it nicely, and not in 75 point red fonts. Keeping with the tradition of the other six parts, this one is also numbered in French. This is part Sept, or Seven. (pronounced Sept, as in September). Anyway, yes, I KNOW that Apocolymon wasn't that big, and I also KNOW that there's probably a technical name for a 3-D six or seven sided figure...but I'm lazy, so I'm just putting "cube-like thing" in the story. So, I'm lazy. Sue me. I also know that Apocolymon didn't have THAT many claws, but... I'm the writer, I can do whatever I want! So ha! And, don't EVEN start arguing that the computers and Digivices DIDN'T go haywire after the battle on the internet between Diaboromon and Omnimon, because you don't have any proof that they didn't do you?? NO!! Okay then!! On to part Sept!
Part Sept:
"Not good," Davis said, as he and the other Digidestined gulped, fear and anticipation heavy on them as they watched the battle.
"I wish I could help them, but I just don't have any strength!" Tentomon said, perched on the log next to Izzy, who was still trying to make his computer function.
"Well, there's nothing you can do to help right now. Besides, I'm still not sure if the Digivices are working," Izzy said.
"If only we had just a little bit more strength, though! Working together, I'm SURE we could all take out Dark Lord!" Biyomon said.
"Yeah, but he took all of you Ultimates down way too easily...I'm suprised he hasn't gotten Lillymon yet," Sora replied.
"He just took us by suprise. We weren't expecting a Reverse Digivolve attack," Armadillomon replied. Patamon nodded.
"Yeah, and those of us that fought Apocolymon REALLY weren't expecting it," he added.
"Besides, isn't that kinda like cheating? I mean, he should have been able to take us down with an actual attack, rather than resorting to Reverse Digivolve," Gatomon said.
"Well, he's a bad guy, it's sort of expected him to cheat," Sora pointed out.
"Anyway, it won't do you guys any good to sit around moping about how you can't help, because you probably can't Digivolve anyway," Tai said, tapping on his still fried Digivice.
"Yeah, you're right," Hawkmon, sitting up in a tree nearby, replied.
"Supreme Cannon!" a couple dozen claws were blasted into Digidust, and began to start reforming.
"Positron Laser!" a dozen or so more were blasted away, only to start reforming as well.
"Flower Cannon! Rapid Fire!" Lillymon exclaimed, and blasted away with her cannon for a few seconds, tagging several claws at once, and dissentigrating them.
"Impressive, but your attacks do nothing! Regeneration!" Dark Lord exclaimed, and reformed every single claw that had been destroyed. Omnimon turned around, and slashed again at Dark Lord, who reformed his hand into the inverted Transcended Sword, and blocked. Imperialdramon and Lillymon blasted away at the claws that were coming near Omnimon.
"This is getting monotonous!" Lillymon exclaimed, and glowed with a green light for a second. She threw her flower cannon into the air. It flashed green, and reformed itself quickly into a long, wooden lance. She took off toward Dark Lord herself, while Imperialdramon quickly blasted away at the claws surrounding them. She flew around his back, and took aim with her lance.
"Flora Lance!" she exclaimed, and twirled it in her hand like a baton for a second. It became a glowing green blur, which she tossed at Dark Lord. Just as the lance was about to sear through Dark Lord's waist, he called out an attack.
"Magna Explosion!" he exclaimed, and an eerie black light seemed to explode away from him, sending the glowing lance hurtling back towards Lillymon, and sending Omnimon streaking through the air toward a stunned Imperialdramon. Lillymon caught the lance expertly, and quickly flew away from the rapidly growing explosion as fast as she could. Imperialdramon caught Omnimon, and managed to sheild them both from the oncoming attack.
"Magnamon's attack?" Davis asked, astonished. Everyone else was as suprised and dumbfounded as he was. Yolei shook herself from the trance she was in first.
"Well, Davis, Dark Lord is the reformed version of the Digimon Emperor," she pointed out. Davis looked up at the huge cube-like thing floating above them in the air, still glowing black, with disgust.
"He used one of our own attacks against us. I should've known...evil geniuses are like that," he said, glaring up at the Digimon. The black explosion of light began to fade. Just at the edge of the massive attack, Lillymon stopped flying, and wiped her brow.
"Whew! That was close!" she exclaimed, and flew back up toward Dark Lord and the two Megas. All of Dark Lord's claws has been destroyed.
"Well, at least those three are safe," Tai said, looking up at the two Megas, and Lillymon flying up to rejoin them.
"Lillymon's pretty fast, to escape a blast like that," Matt said. Mimi said nothing, though she looked immensely relieved that her partner was alive and well.
"I just can't believe that he destroyed ALL of his OWN claws," Ken said.
"Pretty good attack, but, unfortunately, not good enough!" Lillymon exclaimed, as she flew up to join Imperialdramon and Omnimon, who had already taken up battle stances.
"Yeah, and you destroyed all of your claws! That was pretty stupid!" Imperialdramon exclaimed. Dark Lord laughed.
"Yes, I may have destroyed all of my claws--for now--" he started, and the cube flashed with a black light. "But, Veemon, didn't it suprise you when I used your OWN attack against you?" Dark Lord finished. Imperialdramon snarled, in Exveemon's voice. The black light around the cube like thing intensified now, and the trio looked down. They gasped, in shock. The chains were already beginning to reform themselves!
"How?" Omnimon asked, astonished. The destruction of ALL of his claws several times should have been enough, in itself, to destroy any tough Mega level Digimon. So, why was Dark Lord still alive? Dark Lord laughed again.
"Regeneration!" he exclaimed, and soon, all the claws were surrounding them again. They growled, and looked around, almost not believing their own eyes.
"So, still so ever confident that you're stronger than I am?" Dark Lord asked, and smirked.
"Listen, you insect! We ARE stronger than you, so just shut your trap!" Lillymon snapped. Dark Lord chuckled.
"Did you call ME an insect? I believe that it is YOU who is the insect!" Dark Lord replied.
"HEY!! Listen here, I am NOT an insect! You take that back, or you'll be wishing you never met me!" Lillymon yelled.
"Lillymon, don't!" Imperialdramon exclaimed. Dark Lord grinned evilly.
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, buggy?" he taunted. Lillymon growled angrily, then abruptly lifted her flower cannon, and aimed it at him.
"That's it! I'm going to make you wish that you'd just stayed in the World of Data! Flower Cannon, Rapid Fire!" she exclaimed, and fired off several blasts from her cannon. Dark Lord held up his hands. The blasts of green light seemed to just dissolve into the air. Lillymon growled in annoyance. Dark Lord, still smiling ever so evilly, pointed his hands toward Lillymon.
"Feel the true power of the Dark Lord! Flower Cannon, Rapid Fire!" he exclaimed, and the exact same attack Lillymon had just used came shooting back at her from his hands.
"What?" she exclaimed, but was hit by one of the green energy balls. She was blown back through the air, toward one of the claws. The claw seemed to open up, like the mouth of a hungry animal, to swallow her up.
"Lillymon!" Mimi, on the ground, shouted. Just as Lillymon was about to hit the open claw, a blast of light hit it. Lillymon caught herself in the air, and flew away from the spot, just as several other claws shot into the place where she was. Omnimon, his cannon still outstretched and smoking, turned around, and glared at Dark Lord. He started to speak, but Lillymon, glowing a fierce green, shot past him, in a direct crash course for Dark Lord.
"Lillymon! Don't!" he yelled after her, but she paid him no heed.
"All right, copycat! Time to face MY true power! Nature's Fury!" she called, and the green glow around her intensified.
"Kick his butt, Lillymon!" Mimi, surrounded by the same intense green glow, shouted. Lillymon flew foreward a few more feet, and suddenly, all of the green light around her formed a huge spearhead of light in front of her outstretched arms, and she prepared to slam into Dark Lord with all her might. Dark Lord smirked.
"Do you EVER learn??" he asked, and prepared to use Parry Force.
"Copy THIS!!" she exclaimed, as she quickly swooped over his head.
"Parry For-" he started, but realized his mistake. Suddenly, he cried out in pain, as he was hit in the back by an intense blast of green light.
"Positron Laser!" "Supreme Cannon!" Imperialdramon and Omnimon took this opportunity to blast him with everything they had.
"All right!" Mimi exclaimed.
"I think that did it!" Davis added.
"Wow, I didn't think Lillymon could have THAT much power," Izzy said.
"Yeah, Lillymon kicks total butt...for a girl," Tai replied. Sora, Mimi, Yolei, and Kari abruptly turned to him.
"WHAT??" they exclaimed.
"Uh.." Tai started to contradict himself.
"Are you saying that girls are stupid, Taichi Kamiya??" Sora demanded. Biyomon, perched in a tree above her, glared down at Tai.
"Uh..."
"Or are you saying that boys are better than girls??" Kari asked. Gatomon, at her feet, growled menacingly, eyes glowing red for effect, and held up her claws.
"Uh..."
"Are you implying that girls are inferior to boys in any way??" Yolei added, as the area seemed to get darker, the eyes of the females almost glowing.
"Well ah..."
"Because if you are..." Mimi started.
"THEN YOU'RE WRONG!!" All six screeched at him.
"I didn't mean that girls are weaker than boys or anything like that, honest! Girls rock! Girls are supreme!" Tai said, cowering on the ground. All six smiled, and returned to where they were before, as if nothing had happened. The light returned to the area.
"Chikenwuss," Matt muttered to the still cowering Tai. Tai glared at him.
"Well, I happen to think that girls are just as superior as boys," Izzy said. Yolei smiled sweetly at him. "Which is probably why I have a girlfriend and you DON'T,"
"Same here," Ken and Matt said. Kari and Sora smiled at them.
"Well, I think girls rock too, but I don't have a girlfriend," Davis said. Mimi smiled at him.
"Oh, don't worry, Davis, I'm SURE you'll get a girlfriend, sooner or later," Mimi started. "Sooner than he thinks," she thought. "After all, with that attitude, you have a MUCH better chance at getting one than TAI," she finished. Everyone but Tai snickered.
"Ouch," Joe said.
"You should have just kept your big mouth shut, Tai," Cody added. Tai whimpered.
"No fair! I never said that girls weren't as good as boys!" he whined. Everyone laughed.
The smoke around Dark Lord was suddenly blasted away.
"Zephyr Strike!" Dark Lord called out, and a huge tornado blasted the wind away. Dark Lord glared out, bruised and battered, and even still singed and smoking from the recent attacks on him.
"Darn! I thought they had him for sure!" Davis exclaimed, as they turned back to the battle.
"Now you will ALL pay! Starting with you, insect!!!" he exclaimed, and whipped around to where Lillymon was hovering, still glowing a fierce green.
"DON'T CALL ME INSECT!!" Lillymon screamed, and her glow intensified.
"No inferior Ultimate Digimon attacks the Dark Lord and gets away with it!" Dark Lord replied, and suddenly, all of his claws surrounded Lillymon. She glanced left to right.
"Bring ém on," she said, in a low, menacing tone.
"Oh no! Lillymon's in trouble!" Mimi exclaimed.
"Lillymon!" Imperialdramon and Omnimon exclaimed, and charged foreward.
"Goodbye, insect!" Dark Lord yelled, and all the claws converged on Lillymon at the same time. But, much to his suprise, as well as everyone else's, the claws were blasted away with a sudden explosion of green light.
"I SAID DON'T CALL ME INSECT!!!" Lillymon screeched and, with the claws temporarily gone, and Dark Lord stunned, she raised her cannon.
"Flower Cannon, Rapid Fire!" she exclaimed, and pelted Dark Lord with seemingly dozens of green energy balls. Omnimon and Imperialdramon stopped short, and prepared to fire.
"Screaming Darkness!" called Dark Lord, and suddenly, darkness seemed to stream from him, dissentigrating the energy balls. The darkness hit Lillymon, Omnimon and Imperialdramon, temporarily stunning them.
"Time to get rid of you, insect!" Dark Lord exclaimed, and held up his hands.
"Nightmare Claw!" he exclaimed.
"Myotismon's Attack!" Gatomon, Kari, and Mimi exclaimed, recognising it immediately. Lillymon, who was still stunned from the previous attack, couldn't fight back or dodge, and was hit by the attack. She screamed in pain, as all the color was suddenly drained from her body, and she fell, lifeless, out of the sky. Dark Lord smirked, and held out his hands. The gray crystal appeared.
"Lillymon!" Mimi exclaimed, fearing that the worst would happen. Suddenly, Dark Lord was blasted from behind by several attacks. He turned around just in time to block another slash from Omnimon aimed for his neck. Lillymon dropped out of the sky toward the earth. Mimi stood, paralyzed to the spot, as her friend fell through the air, completely colorless and lifeless.
"Gotcha!" Imperialdramon suddenly exclaimed, emerging from the cloud of smoke caused by the recent attacks on Dark Lord, and caught Lillymon in one of his hands. He flew her down to the ground, and set her down. Then, he took off quickly, ready to join the fight again. Mimi still stood, paralyzed to the spot for a few more seconds, then slowly slid to her knees.
"Lillymon!" she wailed, and started to cry. Davis bent down to her.
"Mimi, it's gonna be ok. She's going to be fine!" he said, not even sure if he was lying or not. "What the heck WAS that attack?" Yolei asked, still a little shocked at the fall of the mighty Lillymon herself.
"It was one of Myotismon's attacks, that disables a Digimon completely, if it connects. I'm not sure how," Izzy said, and looked over at Kari and Gatomon, who were staring up at Dark Lord, hatred in their eyes. "Kari and Gatomon, especially Gatomon, know a LOT more about Myotismon than most of the rest of us do,"
"Yeah, that's right, Gatomon was in Myotismon's army at one time, right?" Yolei asked. Gatomon turned to her.
"Look, I'm not proud of it, OK? Myotismon made it seem like it was my only choice," she replied.
"I'm not condemning you or anything, Gatomon, but I'm saying, the past is the past, and at least you know a little about Myotismon to help us out, in case Dark Lord uses ANOTHER one of his attacks," Yolei replied. Gatomon nodded.
"Now I think I'm starting to see why Kari and Ken are together. They have so much in common...I mean, Gatomon has a past that she doesn't like, when she sided with evil, and so does Ken. And Kari and Ken both seem to have a weird kind of darkness supressed inside of them. That's probably why they got pulled into that 'Dark Ocean' world," Davis mused, looking over at them. Mimi was still crying, though not as loudly, beside him .
"Is there any way to reverse the effects of the attack?" Joe asked.
"Well...Wizardmon was the one that reversed it the first time it happened," Sora said, recalling that particular part of the battle against Myotismon.
"Yeah, it's too bad stupid Myotismon had to go and destroy him," Gatomon said.
"Wait...so this has happened BEFORE to Lillymon?" Davis asked.
"Yes...and I was powerless to stop it both times..." Mimi said, through her tears.
"I'm sure there's a way to reverse it, ok? Just stop crying," Davis said, sitting down beside her. She squeezed her eyes shut, and stopped crying.
"Do you really think so," she asked, sitting up.
"With all the crazy stuff that's gone on today so far? Sure, why not?" he asked. She smiled a little, but looked over at the fallen Lillymon.
"I hope you're right," was all she said.
"Me too," he replied.
"Anybody ELSE wanna end up like the insect??" Dark Lord demanded.
"Hey! You'd better stop calling her that!" Imperialdramon defended. Dark Lord scoffed.
"But she WAS an insect. I mean, she went down with only ONE attack!" Dark Lord replied.
"But you used a disabling attack on her! That's like cheating!" Omnimon argued. Dark Lord just shrugged.
"Oh well. I'm EVIL, remember. I can do whatever I want and, quite frankly, I don't care WHAT you little goody-goodys say...because you're gonna be dead in a minute, anyway!" Dark Lord replied.
"Oh yeah? Try us!" Imperialdramon snapped back. Dark Lord smirked.
"All right," he said. Suddenly, all of the claws were surrounding them.
"If you think these heaps of scrap metal scare us, think again!" Imperialdramon shouted.
"Oh... but you SHOULD be scared," Dark Lord replied. Suddenly, the claws shapeshifted into something that looked like two huge cannons mounted on the back of something. Omnimon gasped, and started to back up. Imperialdramon turned to him, nervously.
"Uhm... Omnimon? Why do you look so nervous? They're just scrap metal...right?" he asked, a little nervously.
"Those are Machinedramon's cannons!" Omnimon exclaimed, nervously. Imperialdramon gulped.
"I take it this Machinedramon was an all-powerful Mega?" Imperaidramon asked. Omnimon nodded. They both gulped, as Dark Lord laughed.
"Feel my power! Giga Cannon!" Dark Lord exclaimed. Every single claw powered up for a second, and then fired off twin blasts of immense power and energy. Omnimon, thinking quickly, flew toward one of the blasts, and slashed through it with his sword. When he got to the claw, he destroyed it, and turned around.
"Supreme Cannon!" he deflected the incoming blasts with an attack of his own. Meanwhile, Imperialdramon blocked the blasts with his shield. When the raining white blasts finally stopped, both Megas floated, perfectly fine, in the air. Dark Lord growled, annoyed.
"Well, I don't see what you were worried about, Omnimon. That wasn't even much of a challenge!" Imperialdramon said.
"Heh, too bad that was just my warmup," Dark Lord replied. The claws again began to change shape. "River of Power!" Dark Lord exclaimed, and fired off huge lasers of light from the claws. Omnimon and Imperialdramon were caught completely off guard by the sudden attacks, and were pelted by the lasers.
"Omnimon!" Matt and Tai exclaimed.
"Imperialdramon!" Davis and Ken added. The others watched in shock. The smoke from the recent explosions was blown away by a gust of wind, leaving the two Megas, still smoking, but intact. Dark Lord laughed.
"Feel our power! Supreme Cannon!" Omnimon exclaimed, and fired an earth-shattering blast at a row of five or six huge claws.
"Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon followed suit. The claws were destroyed, but then reformed, as if nothing had happened.
"You inferior Digimon will NEVER learn, will you? Fine! It's time to show you what TRUE power can do," Dark Lord said. He suddenly clasped his hands together in front of him, and began to glow black. He slowly spread his hands apart, forming a ball of dark energy between them. Omnimon and Imperialdramon looked on, confused. Dark Lord laughed again.
"Feel my wrath! Cursed Orb!" he exclaimed, and hurled the dark energy ball at the two Megas. They attempted to dodge, but, as the energy ball flew through the air toward them, it expanded to such a size that they couldn't fly away in time. The now huge dark ball of energy hit them, and sent them hurtling through the air. Dark Lord thrust his hands outward, and the claws shot through the air toward them.
"Dark Destroyer!" Dark Lord yelled, and the claws glowed black, and clamped over the two temporarily dazed DNA Mega Digimon. On the ground, the Digidestined were speechless, rooted to the ground with fear and shock. The claws sparkled with electricity, only it was colored black. Suddenly, black light exploded away from them, and they unclamped, revealing the two floating Digimon inside, incapacitated. Before any of the Digidestined could utter a cry of remorse, Dark Lord fired off another huge blast of energy, and knocked them from out of the sky, and into the ground far below.
"Imperialdramon!" Davis yelled, and went to run foreword.
"It's too late! You can't!" Mimi exclaimed, jumping up and grabbing Davis' arm, preventing him from running up.
"Mimi! Let me go!" Davis exclaimed, trying to break her grasp. Suddenly, Tai and Matt ran past them.
"Omnimon!" they yelled, in unison.
"Come back!" Sora yelled, as she ran up, trying to catch them.
"Ken! No! Don't go! I-" Ken started, but Ken suddenly broke her grasp and sprinted forward.
"Imperialdramon!" he shouted. In the sky, Dark Lord chuckled, and held up his hands. The gray crystal materialized inside of them. Dark Lord laughed, and energized the crystal.
"Goodbye, weaklings!" he yelled, and shot a huge blast of gray light from the crystal. Ken, Matt, and Tai stopped, as the beam hit the ground. Mimi let go of Davis in shock, and he fell forward.
"Imperialdramon!" Ken exclaimed. The beam had hit Imperialdramon! Inside the huge, destructive beam, the mighty warrior Digimon turned into thousands of bits of digidust, and floated up into the crystal ball. The light disappeared. There was an odd silence, before any sound happened.
"Veemon!" Davis yelled, and pounded the ground with his fist. "Veemon…" he held back tears that were trying to escape his eyes. "No, there is a way to get him back. We WILL get him back, along with all of the other victims of Dark Lord," Davis stood up, and looked to the sky, with anger burning in his eyes. Ken stared at the spot where Imperialdramon had been just a few seconds before, and trembled.
"Not again…no, not again!" he said, and started to fall to the ground. A pink, gloved hand caught him, and set him gently down on the ground.
"Ken, it's all right, we'll get him back," Kari, kneeling beside him, said. Tears had already begun to escape the blue haired boy's eyes. "Just believe we'll get him back, OK?" Ken didn't respond.
"Davis? Are you-" Mimi started, but Davis cut her off.
"DARK LORD!!" he suddenly screamed, rage and hatred fervent in his voice. Everyone turned to look at him, in surprise. Ken and Kari looked up, startled. Dark Lord looked down, and smiled an evil smile.
"So, you want revenge for your friend?" he asked. Davis glared up at him, trembling violently.
"You give Veemon and Wormon back! And all the other Digimon you've got trapped in that crystal!" Davis demanded. Dark Lord crossed his arms.
"And what if I don't?" he asked, mockingly. Davis growled in anger, and an aura of crimson red light suddenly flared up around him. Mimi stepped back, startled, and the others gasped in surprise. Even Dark Lord was taken aback a little.
"I…SAID….GIVE…THEM…BACK!!" he shouted out. Dark Lord smiled again, mockingly.
"No," he said.
"Fine, then you leave me no choice.." Davis started. Dark Lord closed one hand into a fist, and began to energize an attack inside of it. "But to MAKE you!" Davis finished. Davis started to run forward, but Mimi jumped forward and held him back again.
"No! Davis! Don't be a fool! He's got an attack ready for you, the minute that you try to get near him! Stay back!" Mimi exclaimed, struggling to keep him from running forward again. "He's the most impulsive, stubborn, idiotic guy I know!"
"Let me go! He's got to pay for what he did!" Davis argued back.
"But he'll attack the second that-" Mimi started to argue back, but was cut off by Dark Lord holding up a glowing hand.
"Too late. Foolish girl, you forget, I'll attack no matter where your ignorant friend is," he said, and fired a huge blast of light from his hand. "Energy Ray!" he exclaimed. Davis' aura suddenly flashed blue as he realized that Mimi and the others around him were in danger. He broke Mimi's grasp, and ran forward.
"Davis!" the rest of the Digidestined chorused. He stopped, just where the beam would hit, and threw his arms wide open, blue aura flaring like a fire.
"Davis!" a familiar voice cried out, just before the beam hit him.
"Veemon?" he asked, then the beam hit.
"Oh no!" Matt, Tai, Ken, and Kari exclaimed, looking back. Dark Lord smirked, and turned to them. He energized the gray crystal once more, and aimed it for Omnimon.
"Now, for the second "all powerful" Digidestined Mega," he said, and grinned in sheer joy.
"Omnimon!" Tai and Matt chorused.
"Get up! You have to get up!" Matt yelled.
"Hurry, or else you'll be trapped like Imperialdramon!" Tai yelled. Omnimon tried to push himself to his feet, but collapsed again.
"Too late, fools. I've already won. Say goodbye to your friend. But, don't worry, you'll soon be meeting him, for you will all be imprisoned in my crystal eventually. One by one, the Digidestined will be mine, and the Digital World will be mine for the taking!" he laughed in delight, then turned serious again. "With the power of both the Digidestined DNA Megas, I will be unstoppable," he said, and with that, fired a beam of energy from the crystal.
"Omnimon!" Tai and Matt screamed. Just before the beam was about to hit, a blast of blue light screamed in from out of nowhere and hit the beam, causing it to crash into a huge boulder nearby, and turn it into dust.
"What?" Dark Lord yelled, in rage.
"What?" Tai, Matt, Ken, and Kari asked, and turned to where the blast had come from. There was still a huge cloud of dust in the area where Dark Lord had attacked, but a huge, blue aura could be seen inside the cloud of dust.
"What? No! Impossible! You couldn't have survived that blast!" Dark Lord exclaimed.
"Davis?" the four Digidestined asked. A blast of blue energy blew away the dust, and standing there was a very much alive, glowing Davis Motomiya. Behind him, Mimi stood, unharmed, and the other Digidestined were further behind, unharmed as well.
"Davis!" Tai, Matt, Ken, and Kari exclaimed, happily. He turned to them, and smiled.
"But…how? HOW?? How can this be possible?" Dark Lord demanded. Davis turned to him, smirking, in the same manner Dark Lord had smirked at him.
"Never underestimate the power of an angry Digidestined, Dark Lord. I blocked it," he said.
"Blocked it?" Dark Lord asked.
"That's right, Emperor, I blocked it. No matter WHAT you throw at me, I can block it," he said. Dark Lord scoffed. "Don't believe me? All right, just try to destroy me," he challenged.
"Challenge accepted…fool," he said, and powered up another energy ray. His claws shape shifted into different weapons, and also powered up. He smiled. "Just remember, you asked me to!" he exclaimed, and opened fire. Davis smiled, and his aura glowed brighter, just before a rain of attacks fell onto him. Attacks of all assortments, shapes, sizes, and magnitudes pelted the area where Davis was. Yet, when Dark Lord finished firing, a blue blast of energy blew away the resulting dust cloud.
"Impossible!" Dark Lord yelled, frustrated. There was Davis, not a scratch on him, standing on a piece of land about as wide around as he was…and the rest of the land around him was a huge crater. Davis smirked up at Dark Lord.
"Well now, isn't THIS a twist? Now I know why you tried to get me to turn dark…you knew that you couldn't hurt me, no matter what," Davis said.
"Lies! I WILL kill you! I WILL!" Dark Lord yelled, an aggravated tone to his voice. Davis shook his head, and jumped from his small island to the edge of the crater.
"I don't think so," he said, then turned serious. His aura flashed brighter. "Veemon!" he shouted up to Dark Lord.
"Huh?" the others asked, confused. Dark Lord blinked, but then suddenly screamed, grabbed his head, as if in pain. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of his voice, another came through.
"Davis!" Veemon's voice said. The others gasped in shock.
"He's still alive?" Matt asked.
"Veemon!" Davis shouted, relieved. "I'm glad he's all right…now to get him out of that stupid crystal," "Listen, I want you to try and destroy the Crystal Void from the inside! Can you do that?" Davis said.
"You bet'cha! I can destroy ANYTHING!" Veemon's voice boasted.
"What?" the others asked, confused.
"It's all up to you, buddy. Rally the other Digimon and destroy the crystal! We'll keep Dark Lord busy while you do, OK?" Davis replied.
"Can do!" Veemon's voice said. Ken stood up.
"Veemon, you're still alive?" he asked. Dark Lord turned, almost as if he was forced to, toward Ken.
"Of course. I'm not dead! Neither is Wormon, or any other Digimon Dark Lord sucked into the Crystal Void. We were just absorbed, that's all," Veemon's voice replied. Ken nodded, and wiped away the tears on his face.
"Good, then tell Wormon to give this 'crystal void' a good thrashing, for me!" he exclaimed.
"Listen up! I don't have too much time. Dark Lord is slowly regaining control. But, we're going to need all of you to help. Help distract Dark Lord, at least, and-" he said, but was cut off. Dark Lord suddenly wrenched his arms from his head.
"Veemon! You'll pay for that!" he yelled.
"You leave Veemon alone!" Davis yelled.
"Not a chance. I would release him so that I could destroy him, but instead, I think I'll put him to use," he said. Davis blinked.
"What?" he asked. Dark Lord held up one hand, and suddenly, it glowed white. Davis gulped.
"I DO NOT like where this is going," he said. The arm slowly changed shape, and when the white glow disappeared, it revealed itself to be…one of Imperialdramon's arms! Davis was undeterred, and started to speak, when suddenly, Imperialdramon's voice called out.
"Don't attack! You'll destroy me too!" it exclaimed. Davis frowned.
"Hey! That's not fair!" he yelled. Ken glared up, and his dark blue aura flashed around him.
"Let's just attack AROUND Imperialdramon's arm!" he exclaimed. Tai and Matt looked over at Omnimon, who was slowly rising to his feet.
"You heard him Omnimon! Let's kick butt!" Matt exclaimed, and his bright blue aura flamed up around him.
"This all rides on you! Give it your all!" Tai exclaimed, orange flames flaring up around him. Re-energized, Omnimon stood up, and swished his cape behind him. Orange and blue flames danced around him, as he jumped up, and took to the air, zooming directly for Dark Lord, weaving around his claws.
"So, back for round two, eh?" Dark Lord asked, as he formed the other arm into an inverted version of Omnimon's sword. Omnimon flew up, and slashed down with his sword, just as Dark Lord slashed upward. The two swords clashed, in a hail of sparks. Suddenly, all of Dark Lord's claws converged onto Omnimon, and lifted him away from Dark Lord, bound and struggling.
"Omnimon!" Tai and Matt yelled.
"Well, well, well, it seems that without your friends deterring my claws, you are powerless against me," Dark Lord said, and snickered, as Omnimon attempted to slash through a claw with his sword, which was held tightly bound. Dark Lord grinned.
"I'm going to have fun destroying you," he said.
Mimi walked up to the fallen, colorless Lillymon. She had tears in her eyes, but couldn't cry yet. She kneeled down beside her fallen friend.
"Lillymon?" she asked, hoping that she was just asleep. Silence. "Come on, Lillymon, wake up! We need your help!" she said, attempting to shake her awake. Still silence. Mimi tried to hold back, but started to cry.
"Lillymon! Please wake up!" she exclaimed. Davis walked up behind her, but said nothing. He looked up at Dark Lord, who had Omnimon bound with his claws. 'What can I do? I feel so useless. Veemon, my best friend, is stuck inside that stupid crystal void, Omnimon, our only chance at beating Dark Lord, is trapped in Dark Lord's claws, and Lillymon is under a stupid spell. I can't do anything to help them. I can't even do anything to help Mimi, or the others," his blue aura disappeared. "Useless,"
In the sky above, Dark Lord, chuckling, noticed Davis' huge blue aura start to diminish. He looked over, and saw it disappear.
"Perfect, I can destroy him now, without his stupid powers interfering," he said. Then, he noticed that he was standing near Lillymon. Dark Lord chuckled. "How lucky. Three birds with one stone. I'll just absorb all three of them with one blast," he said, and turned away from Omnimon.
"No! You leave them alone!" Omnimon yelled.
"Quiet. I'll deal with you later," he said, and tightened the chains binding Omnimon. Omnimon flinched, but it wasn't in so much pain as he was annoyance. "When I get my hands on him, he'll wish he'd never come back from the world of data. No, no! He'll wish he'd never become the Digimon Emperor! He'll wish that he was never born!" Dark Lord chuckled.
"I can't read you mind, but I'm sure I know exactly what you're thinking," he said, and turned directly toward Lillymon, Mimi, and Davis. He grinned, and energized the crystal.
"Two Digidestined and the Digimon of Sincerity. Can't get much better than that," he said, and fired a beam of destructive gray light at them.
"Watch out!" Omnimon yelled.
"Run guys!" Matt and Tai exclaimed. The other Digidestined could only watch in fear and anticipation, as the beam neared their friends.
"Lillymon…I wish you would just wake up…" Mimi said, tears dripping from her face and wetting the ground below her. A sudden noise from Lillymon caused her to gasp, and almost fall over in shock. Lillymon, still colorless, opened her eyes, and moved to sit up.
"What?" Mimi asked, astonished. Davis stepped back surprised.
:"She's awake?" he asked, in disbelief. A sudden flash of light from above caused them to look up.
"Oh no!" Davis exclaimed, in fear. A beam from the Crystal Void was headed straight for them! Mimi screamed, and covered her hands with her head. The beam was almost on top of them!
"Mimi! Move!" Davis yelled, and his blue aura exploded around him, as he lunged forward, to try and move her and Lillymon out of the way, or at least attempt to shield them.
"I'll save you, Mimi!" Lillymon whispered, and leapt up. Mimi looked up, in shock.
"No!" she yelled, as she realized what Lillymon was doing.
"Move, Mimi!" Davis yelled, as he reached her. The beam hit the area they were at, just as Davis' aura turned into a solid shield directly above them. Unfortunately, Davis couldn't extend the shield to save Lillymon, and she was hit by the beam. Mimi stared up, petrified, as Lillymon was turned into bits of Digital data.
"Mimi…" Lillymon said, then disappeared. The gray light around them faded.
"LILLYMON!!"
"Davis! Mimi!" cried the others. The blue light didn't shine through the cloud of dust this time. The Digidestined feared the worst. Inside the cloud of dust, Davis and Mimi sat, staring up at the sky, petrified for a few more seconds. Davis' aura of blue light faded, and he collapsed on the ground, exhausted.
"We…made it…" he said, panting, then turned to Mimi.
"Mimi…I'm sorry about Lillymon," he started. She didn't acknowledge him. She closed her eyes, and fell to her hands and knees, trembling. "Mimi? Are you OK?" She still didn't acknowledge him. "Mimi? Can you hear me?" he asked. Mimi could hear him, but he sounded far away. She couldn't understand what the words were saying. She seemed to be drifting away.
'Lillymon, I'm so sorry…" she thought. The world around her was black. She started to cry again. "Lillymon!" she yelled out. Yet, to Davis, it still looked like she said nothing. "Lillymon…this is all my fault. If I hadn't frozen up…I could have saved you…" she cried even more. "I'm so selfish! I shouldn't have been thinking about myself! Davis almost got himself vaporized for me and Lillymon…she's dead because of me. I'm just so selfish. I'm rotten to the core," she cried even harder. Suddenly, memories started to flash back to her. Painful memories. She clutched her head, as the memories that she had long since tried to forget flooded back to her. Memories that caused her great pain. "No! Please! I don't want to remember! Make it stop!" she screamed. Suddenly, in a flash, the blackness around her melted away, revealing a school building. It was Odaiba Elementary. She gasped. Everything was the same as it had been when she had left it, four years ago, to move to New York. The trees were in bloom, the grass was green, and there were cars buzzing in and out of the parking lot. A sudden shout caused Mimi to turn…and she gasped. "That's…that's me…oh no…" she said, as she remembered. Her younger self was standing outside of a van, with a small backpack on and a huge, plush pink purse thrown over her shoulder. She had on her usual pink outfit of the seventh grade. She looked furious. Standing in front of her was…her mother. Old Mimi gulped. She knew exactly where this was going.
"Mom! Why can't I just skip and go to this funeral or whatever it is?" young Mimi pleaded.
"You can't miss school! Now off you go, young lady!" Mrs. Tachikawa, her mother, replied, looking very disgruntled herself. Older Mimi recalled that she and her mother had been having this argument all morning.
"But Mom! I have Gym class first period! Then math! Can't I just skip, then come back at lunch??" she tried to persuade her mother.
"No! We've been through this a million times, Mimi, you NEED to go to school!"
"But I hate sweating! And Coach said she'd make us run ALL period! That's an HOUR!!"
"NO! Exercise is good for you! I'm going to get back in the car right now, and drive off, end of discussion!"
"PLEASE???"
"NO! Now, you'd BETTER go to class, or you're going to be grounded EVEN more than what you are now!"
"Fine! If I run for an hour and pass out and DIE on the track, it'll be your fault! I hate you!" Younger Mimi abruptly turned around and stomped off, leaving a shocked and still angry May Tachikawa standing, glaring after her. Older Mimi trembled, and started to cry again. She could only imagine how her mother felt. And, to make matters worse, it turned out that the Coach had only been 'joking' about them having to run for a whole hour. She had felt SO bad about that…but she'd never apologized to her mother. The scene around her faded, leaving Mimi trembling and crying.
"I was so stupid…and so selfish! I didn't care how bad I made my mother feel…I just wanted to get out of having to go to gym class. I can't believe how selfish I was…" the pain of her memories was eating away at her. She continued to cry. Suddenly, another memory hit her like a knife. Suddenly, the blackness around her dissolved away again, to reveal the next memory. In her dreamlike world, she stood up, in shock. She was completely surrounded by the memory…there was no escaping it this time. She trembled.
"Please no…not this one! I don't want to remember!" A younger version of herself, but not as young as in the last memory, entered a large room. Mimi recognized the room as her present living room, in New York. On the couch, was sitting…. Mimi's eyes widened in amazement and shock. Her baby brother! Christopher! She looked from Christopher to younger Mimi, realizing what was going on. This was a memory that she had spent her whole life running away from.
Christopher was crying at the top of his lungs, holding his foot.
"NOW what did you do?" younger Mimi asked, in annoyance.
"I hurted my foot!" Christopher answered, and wailed even louder. Instead of rushing up and asking what was wrong, younger Mimi rolled her eyes.
"So what?" Christopher wailed even louder. Young Mimi put her hands over her ears. "Stop whining, you big baby!" she yelled. Christopher didn't stop. "Then go whine outside!" she ordered. Christopher stopped whining.
"But it's waining outside!" Christopher answered. Young Mimi looked fed up.
"I don't care! Just go outside and stop whining! It's your fault that I'm stuck here with you, anyway! I could be out with my friends right now, but NO, I have to stay here and watch stupid little you! So go outside!" younger Mimi screamed. Older Mimi recalled that she was supposed to be seeing a movie with Tai, Sora, and Matt that night. Back then, Tai and Sora had been going out, and Mimi was trying to get Matt to go out with her.
"But Mimi! I don't wanna go outside!" Christopher replied. Young Mimi glared at him, then abruptly ran over to where he was. And hit him. Older Mimi cringed, and wanted to look away and cry, but couldn't. The dream and the image were everywhere.
"Now go outside! I don't ever want to see your face again! I hate you! I could have a new pretty pink dress, but NO, Mom and Dad had to go and buy YOU something! I'm sick of you always getting all the attention from them! Now, go outside, you're making me sick!" Young Mimi ordered. Tears trickled down Older Mimi's face. "I can't believe how selfish I was back then…oh Christopher…" she said. Christopher obediently got up and went over to the door, holding his cheek, where young Mimi had slapped him. He looked back, only to find young Mimi glaring at him. He opened the door, and went outside. Older Mimi was now sobbing and crying harder than she ever had. That was the last time she saw Christopher.
When her parents came home later, they found Christopher outside, freezing to death. They had quickly rushed him to the hospital, leaving Mimi alone at home. Her mother had returned five hours later, to wake her up. The room around her dissolved and reformed into her bedroom. She was in bed, asleep, when she heard an urgent knock on the door. She woke up, and turned on the light, sleepily.
"This had BETTER be important!" she yelled. Her mother came into the room. She had a tortured, pained look on her face. Her face showed that she had been crying recently. A lot. Mimi yawned.
"What do you want now?" she asked. Her mother sat down on a chair by her bed.
"Honey…I'm afraid I've got some bad news about Christopher…" she seemed to choke on a sob. Young Mimi rolled her eyes.
"Lemme guess, he wailed so hard that his vocal chords broke?" Mimi's mother looked taken aback by that remark. She sobbed again, but seemingly forced her to say the next words.
"Mimi…Christopher is dead," Old Mimi sobbed, and balled her hands up into fists. Yet, she kept on watching the memory.
"Good riddance," came Young Mimi's reply. The memory faded with the shocked expression on her mother's face. The darkness replaced the memory. Mimi was, at the moment, in a state of such depression that she couldn't have gotten much worse.
"I was so selfish…I didn't even care that my only brother was dead! That I, I had killed him! And I never even got to apologize to him about all of the horrible things I had said and done…" "I hate you!" echoed through her mind. "And not just that night…I treated him with that terrible hate and loathing since he was born! He was only barely three before I…I killed him. I'm a murderer. A monster. I don't deserve…I don't deserve anything! Not great parents like mine, not great friends, not Palmon…I don't even deserve to have had Christopher as a baby brother. I don't deserve this life I'm living. I'm a Digidestined…but I never deserved to be one. It must have been a mistake. I was just accidentally sucked into the Digital World. Palmon's not really mine…the Crest of Sincerity isn't really mine…I don't deserve anything I have. Not after all of the horrible things I've done. Lillymon…I'm so sorry. My selfishness killed you. My selfishness killed my baby brother. My soul is empty. I don't deserve to even live. I'm a horrible person…" she continued. Suddenly, she heard Davis' voice, off in the distance. "Mimi! Mimi! Wake up! Come on, not you too! Wake up!"
Ok, this one was DEFINETELY the angsty chapter, huh? Sorry to Mimi fans, but, let me assure you, all this suffering isn't for nothing. Will Mimi make it through this depression? Will they succeed in defeating Dark Lord? Read on. Oh, and sorry to Tai fans for the little bit of bashing earlier…I just love the word 'chikenwuss'. If you've ever played Final Fantasy VIII, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway…the next one is the last chapter, folks, so enjoy! Review! And Daimi forever! Woo yeah! (I'm starting to sound like a drunken fool, huh?)