Digimon: Digital Monsters
Mirror, Mirror—Part VIII
By 7 of 11
Jun Ishida felt the world around him dissolve in a flash of bright white light. And then he was dumped unceremoniously onto soft grass, finding himself outside once more. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the stars exploding in his vision. This had NOT been a good day…
"Where are we?" he heard through the ringing in his ears. It sounded like his Aunt Hikari, but considering how messed up his senses were, it could have very well been someone totally different—maybe it had been HIM who had said it.
Someone else spoke—as his sight cleared, he recognized it as Mata Izumi. "I don't think it is as much a question of where…as it is a question of when." She stood up, steadying herself against a large rock, and continued. "I mean, if Koushiro and myself were correct in our calculations, then the device should have thrown us through time…but when?"
Alt-Yamato Ishida propped himself up with his iron spear. Quite obviously, he had done the dimensional shift before, as he didn't look as queasy as many of the others. "I recognize this place…," he said. "All of us, the Alt-Destined…this is where we first arrived in this world…"
Seemingly in response to his words, an azure lightning bolt struck the ground not ten meters from where they were all lying flat. Every single one of them leapt into the air, startled, their nausea momentarily forgotten. "What was that?" Vinmon hissed to the group.
And then they heard a voice. It was Taichi's, but not Taichi's…they looked at the area where the electrical discharge had struck, expecting to see charred trees and the like, but instead, they looked into a mirror. It was the Alt-Destined. "Who are you?" Alt-Taichi spat out, but he looked as if he knew the answer already.
The two groups stared at each other for a long second, until Oraclemon chose to break the stunned silence. He leveled his long, spindly, arm at the Alt-Destined. "Time's Scepter!" The beam of temporal power erupted from his hand, and most of the counterparts scattered. But not all of them.
"Agumon warp digivolve to…TERRORGREYMON!" WarGreymon's Alternate form looked much like the original one, however, his armor was made entirely of bones and skulls. Four wicked sickle-like claws extended from his armored gauntlets. TerrorGreymon flew up into the air, and knocked the Time's Scepter away.
Inspired by TerrorGreymon, the other Alternates stopped their flight and turned to do battle. Knowing that this was going to be the fight of their lives, the Digidestined prepared to fight. (Author's Note: I'm not going to write all of the Digivolutions, that would take WAY too long.) And chaos ensued.
Sparks flew as Koushiro Izumi ducked under his counterpart's deadly blade, which struck a rock. How was he supposed to win this fight? He was a physicist, a teacher, for crying out loud!
Alt-Koushiro stumbled forward as Mata ran into him, throwing her small body into the attack. Seizing his chance, Koushiro sprang upwards, head-butting the Alternate version of himself in the stomach. Alt-Koushiro grunted and doubled over in pain. Even in pain he could hurt his opponent, however. Koushiro felt the steel edge cut into his side as he rolled away. A superficial wound, perhaps, but it was painful.
In the skies above, the mighty Scarabmon grappled with MegaKabuterimon. The two insectoid Digimon were evenly matched. "TETRA SHOCKER!" The former bellowed, and a burst of electricity threw MegaKabuterimon to the ground.
"Buzz Blade!" Triple saw-blades whistled through the air, and sliced deep gashes in Scarabmon's carapace. The good IronGarurumon tucked himself into a ball, and started to gather speed, flying to the wounded beetle. But he was not to reach it. The IronGarurumon of the past tackled him, and the multi-ton Digimon fell to the ground together.
MetalGarurumon saw his two counterparts locked in combat, and he paused from fighting, confused. He knew had had to help them, but which was his ally? If he picked wrong, he would unintentionally help the Alternates, thereby dooming his world. The Mega Digimon decided to chance it, and locked on to the one who looked as if he were winning. Light burst from his mighty jaws, and a wave of power shot towards his target. "Metal Wolf Claw!"
Sora Takenouchi drew her hand back, and slapped Alt-Sora across the face as hard as she could. The counterpart reeled backwards, but rebounded, backhanding Real-Sora in retaliation.
That might have had continued, had Yamato, Sora's husband, not intervened. She saw a green-shirted blur flash by, and Yamato drove his powerful arm into Alt-Sora's neck. Out of control, she tumbled across the ground, tripped over a stone, and fell. The back of her head made contact with a stone, and there was a sickening CRACK.
"Oh my god…" Sora fell to her knees, resisting the urge to retch, as red liquid spread out over the ground from her counterpart's skull. She felt a comforting arm around her, and looked up to see her husband smiling down at her, although the grin seemed forced.
"Don't worry," he said. "She was evil, nothing like you. She deserved her fate…"
He never finished that sentence. Alt-Jyou appeared from seemingly nowhere, and drove a booted foot into Yamato's stomach. The blond-haired man doubled over in pain. Alt-Jyou smiled viciously and unsheathed his gleaming sword. "Victory!" he snarled.
"Don't count on it…" came a voice from behind him. His sword flew out of his hands and into the air, where it was caught by Alt-Jyou's realworld counterpart, who had disarmed him with a swift kick. Before Alt-Jyou could even turn, Jyou had rammed the blade through his body, the gleaming tip coming out of his chest. Crimson spread out from the point of entry like ink over a blotter.
Angewomon and her mate, Angemon, circled around the powerful Deviwomon, who sneered at them. "Oh, you think you're so powerful…I'll show you what TRUE power is! Night's Shadow!" Blackness started to overpower everyone fighting, but for the holy pair, this just intensified their resolve to win.
"Love's Arrow!" A blazing ray of light cut through the darkness like a hot knife through butter, slamming into Deviwomon's back. Shining like a flame, ArchAphroditemon held her staff at the ready. "Ya done, or do you want some more?"
A smile found its way to Angemon's face, and his fist glimmered brightly. He brought it up. "Hand of Fate! HYA!"
"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon released her own attack at Deviwomon.
"Splitting of the Seas!" ArchAphroditemon summoned energy and hurled it at the dark Digimon. As the three attacks joined together, their focal point Deviwomon, a gigantic explosion of power burst into existence, and when the light cleared, the Alternate was gone.
Kana Takaishi squeaked with fright as Alt-Hikari attacked her. She backed away from the swinging sword, and hit something hard and cold. Kana looked up to see Alt-Taichi smiling evilly down at her. She screamed, and bolted forwards, through Alt-Hikari's legs, trying to get away from the leader of the Alt-Destined.
She risked a quick peek back at Alt-Taichi, and her heart nearly stopped. Alt-Hikari was advancing on her, saber at the ready, but that wasn't what scared her. The skull around Alt-Taichi's neck was glowing with a malevolent vermilion light. Lightning crackled in the palm of his hand. A low, guttural, sound erupted from his throat. "Thunder Strike!"
"No!!" Masayoshi Kido jumped at Alt-Taichi, trying to knock whatever it was he was planning on doing off its mark. Electricity arced from Alt-Taichi's fingertips into the air, and Kana braced herself for its shock, but it never reached her. Masayoshi had done just enough, and now Alt-Hikari was haloed in the burst of energy, electricity running up and down her body, a shocked look on her face. Flames spouted from her mouth as her voice box exploded.
If he felt any remorse for his sister's death at all, Alt-Taichi did not show it. He turned to Masayoshi, who was still hanging from his arm, and hissed, "Get off!" he brought his hand back, but armored fingers clamped around his wrist, and didn't let go.
"I wouldn't touch that boy if I were you, Alt-Taichi…" Takeru said, venom in his eyes.
"Pathetic little excuse for a human! You are almost as troublesome as our version was!" Alt-Taichi hissed.
Takeru's facial expression changed from one of hate to one of wonder. "What do you mean, your version?" He never got an answer, as Alt-Taichi flared up with power, and both Masayoshi and Takeru were hurled backwards.
Alt-Yamato looked at Alt-Koushiro, who was looming over his counterpart and Mata, his weapon poised to strike. The Koushiro from this world was holding his side like he had been wounded. But what Alt-Koushiro was about to do was much worse than a little slash…he couldn't let that happen. Shouting a war cry, Alt-Yamato leapt into the air. He planted his feet on Alt-Koushiro's back, virtually walking up him, and then drove his heel into the smaller man's temple. He dropped without a sound.
"UGH!" Alt-Yamato grunted as he was thrown to the ground. He tucked into a somersault and rolled to his feet. And he saw himself. This was his past version…and this was getting very confusing.
He swiped at Alt-Alt-Yamato's throat, but the other man parried it. Blow after blow, no matter the skill level, it invariably was deflected. It was almost exactly like fighting himself—which, Alt-Yamato realized, it was.
"Take that!" Sora came from behind Alt-Alt-Yamato and demonstrated why she was a professional soccer player, kicking the Alternate where it hurts. He doubled over in pain, clutching the affected area. Alt-Yamato brought his sword back like a baseball bat, and swung, slicing the Alternate's head clean off. As soon as he had done this, however, he seemed to shudder and collapsed. "What's wrong, Alt-Yamato?" Sora asked, confused.
Lillymon and BlackRosemon went head to head. "Flower Cannon!" Lillymon exclaimed, the blossom in her hands opening to reveal a gun barrel.
Her counterpart flew up in the very same manner. "Blossomarang!" She tossed three spinning flowers at Lillymon. The first two intersected with the verdant blast of the Flower Cannon, and detonated harmlessly, but the third got through. Lillymon was hurled to the ground.
Mimi looked in horror at her counterpart's smirking face. It was her own, except evil, distorted to make her fair features ugly…and she had bad fashion sense, too. Then she knew what to do—without their Digidestined, the chosen Digimon die. "Lillymon!" she hollered, pointing at Alt-Mimi. "Go for her!"
The flower Digimon nodded, and took to the sky. "Flower Cannon!" Alt-Mimi just had time to shriek in fear before the explosion caught her. BlackRosemon fell to the ground, and disintegrated.
WarGreymon, seeing this, looked at the fearsome TerrorGreymon. "Looks like its just you now…" he growled. "Terra Force!" the fireball rocketed through the air, but TerrorGreymon was ready.
"Terror Firma!" A ball, much like the Terra Force, but this one a dark black, coalesced from the ether. The two attacks hit each other, and melded, culminating in a blast that rocked the entire forest. Both combatants were hurled into the air. TerrorGreymon looked at all of the Digidestined and Digimon now opposing him. "Uh, boss?" he asked of Alt-Taichi. "I think its time for us to leave…"
"Correction, TerrorGreymon!" Alt-Taichi sneered. "It's time for ME to leave! Now, I bid you all 'adieu'!" He raised his hand, and a portal appeared. Laughing once more, he jumped into it, and vanished.
"What? Boss? BOSS!" TerrorGreymon shouted, panicking. "Don't leave me here, Boss!"
Vinmon looked at the Alternate Digimon. "Well, he abandoned you. That'll be a GREAT last memory…" he said dryly.
By this time, WarGreymon had re-entered the fight. He sped towards his counterpart, claw raised high. "MEGA CLAW!" the Mega-stage Digimon bellowed, and he drove the gleaming claw straight into TerrorGreymon's chest. The evil Digimon disintegrated into digital dust around his arm.
Taichi looked at the portal, which was still open. Through it, the outline of a city could be seen—it was Odaiba, yet it was different. The sky was a dark, murky brown, and everything else looked just like a wasteland.
"That's the Alternate World…" Alt-Yamato whispered, coming up from behind Taichi. "If we are going to defeat Taichi's forces once and for all, we need to go there…"
Masayoshi shrugged. "Then let's do it!" There were murmurs of agreement.
Taichi readied himself for the disorienting journey once more. "It's time to go into the looking glass…"
To Be Continued…