Digimon: Digital Monsters
Mirror, Mirror-Part X
by 7 of 11
Jagged streaks of lightning scarred the mudlike sky around the gigantic citadel that was Alt-Taichi's palace. On the peak of the monstrous tower, a group of figures stood allied against one lone adversary. And although the storm all around them was already at its peak, the deadly struggle was only beginning...
Alt-Taichi chuckled to himself as he ducked under Alt-Yamato's swinging blade. "A bit too slow there, aren't we, Yamato? I guess you've lost your touch after murdering your brother." he taunted.
The blond man's eyes filled with a frightening rage. "You bastard..."
"Oh, don't even try to pin this one on me, Yamato. Although you were very easy to control, having such a weak mind and the like, you killed him out of your own free will. Or don't you remember impaling his severed head on a spike and parading it around like some sort of barbarian?"
With an inhuman cry of rage, Alt-Yamato attacked. But there was a flash of light and he found himself being chucked back. He crashed to the concrete surface of the building, bounced once, and skidded to a halt. At this, the rest of the group chose to attack.
"Let's get him!" ArchAphroditemon raised her staff high above her head, but a strong hand grabbed it from behind and held it steady, immobilizing it.
Angemon refused to let his daughter's weapon free. "No, ArchAphroditemon. Protect Kana, she is merely a child. We'll handle this one." The holy warrior moved to join his mate, Angewomon. As Takeru and Hikari, the two former Chosen ones, now husband and wife, moved under them, the tags and Crests that they both still kept since the Digiworld began to shine brightly.
ANGEMON DIGIVOLVE TO...MAGNAANGEMON!!
"What? That's not fair!" ArchAphroditemon protested, platinum armor gleaming. "You need all the help you can get against--" she was cut off by a look from her parents.
Seeing the two angels approach, Alt-Taichi grinned. The skull brooch around his neck began to shine with an unholy light. "Darkness Fist!" came his cry, and the two seraphim were knocked out of the sky by an unseen power. His broad smirk disappeared, however, when Jyou's fist sent him reeling backwards, blood streaming from his nose. But as quickly as the crimson fluid had appeared, it vanished, and Alt-Taichi brought his palm to Jyou's chest, knocking him backwards.
Koushiro, seeing his longtime friend assaulted like this, rushed Alt-Taichi without thinking. He began to grapple with the other man, but Alt-Taichi's power was too strong, and began to overwhelm him. Beads of sweat breaking out on his face, the physics professor started to bend backwards. "Koushiro!" his wife Mata screamed, and ran over to the pair, bringing her palm around to slap Alt-Taichi--but he simply kicked Koushiro away and blocked the blow. The look of rage etched on Mata's face vanished, to be replaced by utter terror.
"Tidal Wave!" Out of no where, hundreds of liters of water blasted the woman into the air. Mata tried to right herself so she would be able to land correctly, but she failed, and smashed onto the pavement. Blood spurted into the air, and her cries of pain could be heard.
Ignoring the battle going on around him, Koushiro rushed to his wife's side. Gingerly, he lifted her head into his lap, and looked into her eyes. She was in pain, but she wasn't giving up yet. "Oh Mata…" he whispered. "You never should have gotten caught up in this."
"Koushiro," came a voice from behind him. "Let me look at her, I am a doctor after all." Reluctantly, Koushiro moved away, and let Yamato examine his wife's broken body. After a while, he spoke. "It's hard to tell without my equipment, but she should survive, if we can get her to a medical center soon."
Understanding the implications of this, Koushiro nodded. "So that means we need to beat Alt-Taichi…and quickly!"
"You go and fight, Koushiro." Yamato said. "I'll take care of Mata."
***
"Why aren't our parents letting us fight?" Jun asked from the kids' position behind a shed of some sort. "They need all the help that they can get against Alt-Taichi!"
Leaning around the corner of the building to sneak a peek at the ongoing battle, Vinmon pointed at where Alt-Taichi was beating the crap out of WarGreymon. "That's a pretty good reason right there!"
Oraclemon blinked twice, and then spoke in his hollow voice. "True, however, the three of us have each taken on supremely powerful Digimon. If we did enter the struggle, we might be able to offer much needed assistance to our side."
A shriek pierced the air and a barrage of fireballs slammed into the ground near them, courtesy of Alt-Taichi. The shed was blown to smithereens, and the three human kids were thrown into the air, but they were caught by their respective Digimon partners and brought back down to the ground. Before Alt-Taichi could do anything more, however, a combined Flower Cannon/ Horn Buster from Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon slammed into him, and he turned his attention to deal with the new threat.
Even though Alt-Taichi was no longer focusing on them, Masayoshi started to tremble. "What's going to happen to us if they can't beat him? I don't want to die!"
Kana put an arm around her friend's shoulders, and tried to comfort him. "Don't worry, they'll beat him, I know they will," she soothed. "We won't die."
A thin smile appeared on the boy's face. "Yeah, you're right. They'll win, won't they?" Kana was about to respond, but then she gasped and put her hand to her forehead. Masa looked at her, worried, and then whatever had happened to Kana affected him as well.
"Huh? What happened to you guys?" Jun asked, but then he put his own hand to his head, and fell over.
Children…hear me, children…You are the ones, the only people who have the power to defeat the Alt-Destined leader once and for all. Your crests are the keys to victory, but this key can only be used at a certain time, or else they are doomed to fail. When Alt-Taichi is ready to win, use your crests, and he will fall. But there is an even greater evil lurking…
Opening her eyes weakly, Kana found ArchAphroditemon looking down at her. "Kana, what happened? Are you all right?" The angel asked.
"I'm fine…but I have no idea what happened…" Kana was confused. How come she couldn't remember a single thing of that? Yet she felt like she knew it all…weird.
***
Mimi grabbed a trash can lid and started swinging it like a sword, dispersing the clouds of dark mist around her that Alt-Taichi had summoned. "Help!"
Garudamon came to her aid, flapping her gigantic wings and driving the deadly gas away from Mimi. "Wing Blade!" The avian roared, and the flame bird flew at Alt-Taichi, but he raised a barrier of water and the bird fizzled out harmlessly.
"Thunder Strike!" He raised his arm and lightning arced from his fingertips, knocking Garudamon from the sky easily. He brought his hand down and aimed at Jyou, electricity still streaming from his body. The Navy captain began to run, deadly energy hissing into the ground behind him. But then he stumbled, and it looked as if he would be shocked to death. But then a sword came into the path of the lightning and blocked the flow. Alt-Taichi, startled, barely managed to dodge the blade as Alt-Yamato re-entered the fight.
"Oh, you again!" Alt-Taichi growled. "Well, looks like I'll have to finish you once and for all..." he jerked back to dodge an angry sword swipe. Gathering energy, he rammed his hand into Alt-Yamato's midsection, and the blonde man went flying.
All Alt-Yamato saw as he tumbled head over heels was a mottled blur of colors. As he recovered his bearings, he then saw that he was falling towards the edge of the platform...he was going to fall off. He plummeted over the side--and then halted as two pairs of hands clasped his wrists tightly and didn't let him go. He looked up to see Taichi Kamiya and Sora Ishida grabbing him. "Couldn't let you fall," the man explained. "You're the only one here who knows anything about this place!"
As the pair hauled Alt-Yamato up, the rest of the Digidestined and Digimon gathered around them, ready to make one final assault on Alt-Taichi. Takeru Takaishi stood at the ready, MagnaAngemon behind him. "You can't win, Alt-Taichi. No matter what, we'll defeat you."
The Alt-Destined leader scowled. "Oh, I don't think so..." The eye sockets on the skull brooch began to shine with
a scarlet light, and Alt-Taichi gathered energy. It was not long before the entire skull appeared to be on fire. "I think I'll finish you once and for all!" Tongues of flame leapt from the bones and surrounded Alt-Taichi, forming a column of fire.
"Incineration!"
***
From behind the ruined shed, Kana peered at Alt-Taichi, who was preparing to unleash his most powerful attack on the Digidestined, to finish them off. And then she remembered the voice: 'When Alt-Taichi is ready to win, use your Crests, and he will fall'.
Without understanding what she was doing, she removed the pendant from where it rested around her neck and lifted it into the air. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Masayoshi and Jun doing the same. And then bursts of multicolored light flashed from them, hitting ArchAphroditemon, Vinmon, and Oraclemon, giving them more power.
The young angel gasped as energy flowed through her body. She raised her staff high above her head, and began to twirl it. Clouds of white energy emanated from the spinning rod, and tendrils of Holy power struck the ground like lightning bolts.
Oraclemon traced a circle in the air with his hands, and sapphire fire formed where his fingers moved. When the circle connected with itself, it filled in with a deep blue light.
Vinmon channeled the power into his vinelike arms, and an aura of green surrounded him. Suddenly he leapt into the air, and struck the ground with his vines. A burst of verdant energy sliced through the sky at Alt-Taichi. "Hyper Slash!"
The disk of energy Oraclemon had accumulated projected into an immense beam that shot out, aiming at Alt-Taichi. "DEOSTRIKE!"
And then ArchAphroditemon attacked, the storm over her head shooting the Holy lightning at Alt-Taichi. "Holy Tempest!"
***
The three attacks hit Alt-Taichi, yet they did not seem to do anything. He merely absorbed them into his shield. But then it happened. The power influx was too much to handle, and bright light shone from the skull, forcing almost everyone to turn their faces away. The look of absolute strength on Alt-Taichi's face flickered as the skull began to crack open. Then, it shattered.
Unprotected by the skull's aura, Alt-Taichi was at the full mercy of his uncontrollable powers. Screaming in pain as the flames lapped at his body, Alt-Taichi fell to his knees. He raised his hand, pointing an accusing finger at the Digidestined, and then the flesh surrounding his finger fell off as the power ravaged his body, exposing and now attacking the bone beneath.
His face started to blister from the heat, and then his skin began to bubble, in the early stages of
liquefaction. As unbearable pain flashed in his eyes, his face melted, the skin turning to mush and dripping off. The blood released by this was immediately vaporized by the intense heat, forming scarlet clouds above the dying tyrant. What little flesh remained started to twist and blacken. And then, as he fell to his back, the flames stopped.
Alt-Yamato cautiously went over to him, thinking it might be a trap. And then he saw Alt-Taichi's chest rising and falling, despite the trauma his body had just been through. "So, you're still alive."
Weakly, Alt-Taichi attempted to raise a blackened arm, and his eyes beseeched Alt-Yamato for help. "Ungngnnnnnghhh...." he moaned.
The taller man shook his head, hatred on his face. As he raised his sword, he whispered, "And this is for my brother." He brought the weapon down, and the blade sliced through Alt-Taichi's neck, beheading him. The sorcerer finally dead, the power remaining within erupted in an explosion of darkness, consuming his body once and for all.
As Alt-Yamato stood there, sword still bearing traces of boiled blood, he felt free for the first time in his life. But that was not to last. "I see that you finally gave in to your anger and hatred. Well done, Yamato, well done indeed." A voice came from behind everybody as the children returned to their parents. Floating up from over the edge of the building was a hooded figure. "Now, you realize that Alt-Taichi was merely a puppet, someone to do my deeds for me. But he was growing dangerous, ambitious, thinking for himself. So he needed to be exterminated. Congratulations, you just helped me out very much, Digidestined!"
"Who are you?" Hikari Takaishi asked quizzically. A low chuckle came from behind the hood, and the man reached up and pulled the facial covering back, exposing his face. A gasp went up from the group.
"You!" Alt-Yamato snarled.
To Be Continued...
Don't ya guys LOVE cliffhangers? Cya around, oh yes, and always review!!