Digimon: Final Reality
2: Dark Friendship
Ice Glacier
Tai, Izzy, Agumon and Tentomon were having no luck in finding Matt or any of the others. The cold and biting wind was now starting to affect them badly.
Izzy was suffering the most. "Tai, I don't…think I can…"
Tai looked round in shock as Izzy passed out and fell into the snow. Agumon, being more sensitive to the cold than most digimon, soon followed.
"Oh man! What do we do now?" Tai asked Tentomon in despair. He got no answer as Tentomon was lying in the snow too.
With his friends immobilised Tai had no idea what to do. He huddled close to his friends, trying to keep them and himself warm. He had time to cry out for help one last time before he passed out.
A cabin to the north
Tifa Lockheart stood at the cabin entrance waiting for her childhood friend, Cloud, to return. After the defeat of Sephiroth she had insisted on staying with him. Now that Sephiroth was gone, she had been worried that Cloud might not feel that there was much reason to go on living. She had been surprised when he'd offered little resistance to her proposal to stay with him. They had been living in Mr Holzoff's cabin on the edge of the Great Glacier for the best part of a year now as Cloud had wanted to get away from the world for awhile, at least until their 'fame' had died away. Tifa had shared that sentiment, but hadn't been too enthralled about Cloud's choice at first. Still, she promised to stay with him and she'd gotten used to it.
"Is he still out there?" Holzoff asked as he was making dinner.
Tifa nodded. "And he wonders why I worry about him!"
Holzoff chuckled. "He's been living here long enough to know what to expect. He'll be back soon." Holzoff had lived alone on the ice for 20 years, providing shelter and help to anyone who ended up on the glacier. He had been resistant to the idea of Cloud and Tifa moving in at first but now he was glad of the company.
"Can someone give me a hand out here?" a voice called from outside the cabin.
"Cloud?" Tifa ran to the door and pulled it open to find Cloud outside. He was carrying two kids, or rather two frozen kids, over his shoulders.
Holzoff, seeing this, wasted no time. "Get them inside quickly!"
Cloud quickly hauled them inside and took them to the back room of the cabin as Holzoff brought some blankets out.
"Where did you find them?" Tifa asked in amazement.
"On the southern edge of the glacier's snowfield," Cloud replied in disbelief. "Don't ask me how they got there. I'm clueless!"
"Ok. But what's with the stuffed toys?"
Cloud shrugged. "They were clutching onto them when I found them in the snow so I brought them back with me. They're kind of heavy for toys, though."
"Hey! Who're you calling a toy?!" Both of them spun round to see Agumon getting up off the floor. Cloud had placed him near the fire so he had recovered quickly. "I'm a digimon, not a toy! The name's Agumon!"
"A…talking monster?" Tifa couldn't believe it.
"That explains their weight," Cloud said dryly. He kept one hand on his Ultima blade as he looked at Agumon, who was looking around in panic.
"Where's Tai?" Agumon asked in worry.
"If you mean one of those kids, they're both in the next room warming up," Cloud told him. "They should be all right. Just what are you and how did you end up on the Great Glacier?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story," Agumon replied.
"Time is one thing we have plenty of," Cloud said. "Why don't you tell us?"
Agumon nodded warily and started to fill them in.
Rocket Town
"About ^&$%! time!" Cid muttered as the Gelnika plane touched down nearby. "What kept them?"
Sora winced. She wished he'd cut his obscenities with TK and Kari around, but she didn't feel brave enough to ask him.
Elena, the newest Turk, was waiting for them as they reached the plane.
"What kept you?" Cid asked impatiently.
"Sorry Cid. We had two other stops to make before we came for you," Elena said apologetically. "Why don't you get in? You probably want to catch up on old times."
"Old times? What's she talking about?" Cid muttered as he got into the plane.
"Keeping well, Cid?"
"Red? Is that you?" Cid asked.
"It's me and I'm not alone." Red XIII, the red wolf creature from Cosmo Canyon and Yuffie Kisaragi, the annoying ninja from Wutai, were already in the plane waiting for them. Yuffie, as usual, looked a little green from the flight.
"Is that another digimon?" TK asked, looking at Red curiously.
"I don't know what a digimon is," Red replied. "But I am what you see."
"We're digimon," Patamon told him. "And please don't call us monsters like everyone else has!"
"I had no intention of doing so," Red said calmly.
"Pleased to meet all of ya! Even the uh…digimon things," Yuffie said slowly. "But I think I'll be waiting in the back again…ulp…urk…" With that she ran toward the back of the plane.
"Who was that?" Kari asked.
"That was Yuffie," Cid explained. "She's a ninja that doesn't like flying. Make sure you keep hold of anything valuable while she's around. She'll steal it given half a chance!"
"We'll be at Junon soon," Elena said. "Reeve wanted me to tell you that Barret and Vincent are already there."
"Something must really have hit the fan for Reeve to call nearly all of us back. What's going on?" Cid wondered.
"I don't know for certain," Elena told him. "I'll let Reeve explain when we get back."
Mr Holzoff's cabin
"Tai…Tai, wake up!"
Tai groaned as he started to come round. "Uhh…where are we, Agumon?" Tai asked as he looked round the cabin. He'd been half expecting to wake up dead.
"Ah, you're awake," Cloud, Tifa and Holzoff walked in from the front room. "You're on the Great Glacier. You're lucky I found you. A few more minutes out there and you'd all have been popsicles," Cloud told him.
Tai gaped in shock. But then again, it wasn't every day that he saw a guy with a massive sword on his back, glowing blue eyes, muscles that bulged through his purple bodysuit and who looked like an older version of Matt.
"It's ok, Tai," Agumon said. "I've told them everything. They pulled us out of the snow."
"Uh, thanks a million!" Tai said.
"No problem!" Cloud grinned. His face then went more serious. "I'm afraid I wasn't able to find your other friend though. I just hope he was able to find shelter somewhere!"
Tai winced. He hoped Matt and Gabumon were ok. He'd never forgive himself if they weren't!
"Welcome back, Izzy!" Tentomon said as Izzy began to come round.
"Where are we, Tentomon?" Izzy asked.
Everyone quickly filled Izzy in. "I'd best go and call Reeve on the radio," Tifa decided. "He might know where your friends are."
"I'll go and look for the other one again," Cloud decided. However he had no sooner reached the front door before he gave up due to the sound of the massive blizzard outside.
Cloud hoped that Matt had found shelter. If he hasn't by now, he's dead!
Junon
As soon as the Gelnika landed everyone was taken swiftly to a corridor outside Reeve's office (that is, as soon as Yuffie was done throwing up). As Elena had said, Barret Wallace, the AVALANCHE leader, and the mutant ex-Turk Vincent Valentine were already there waiting for them.
"Long time no see, Cid," Barret said.
"Likewise, Barret. How's Corel?"
"Still rebuilding. Certainly much better than it was, though, after what those Shinra jackasses did to it!" He looked at the kids and their digimon. "More of them? What the hell is this, weird week?"
Sora couldn't believe how much bigger and stronger everyone was in this world. Cid was certainly very strong for his age; Yuffie wasn't much older than she was but her physique suggested otherwise and as for Barret…
"Here we go again," Barret muttered as he saw them staring in awe at him and his gun-arm. "The other ones were just the same!"
"Then I suggest we go through now," Vincent said coolly, his face as unreadable as ever under the red ninja style suit he always wore. "Time is of the essence."
Not liking the sound of that, everyone followed him into the office where Reeve, Mimi, Joe, Palmon and Gomamon were all waiting.
"Hey guys!" Joe was relieved to see Sora and the others walk in.
"Hi Joe!" Sora, TK and Kari said together.
"I'm glad you're all right," Mimi broke in.
"We are thanks to Cid!" TK blurted out.
"Cut it, kid! You're embarrassing me!" Cid muttered and glared at Barret and Yuffie, who were chuckling at his discomfort.
"You haven't seen Tai and the others?" Kari asked in concern.
"I'm afraid not," Joe said. "We were the only ones who came out here."
"Yeah, and scared the crap out of us doing it!" Barret glared at Gomamon as he said this who quickly hid behind Joe. Gomamon had landed on Barret's head when he came out of the portal.
"The others landed at the Great Glacier," Reeve said. "Tifa just radioed in and told me. She and Cloud stumbled across them there. I've sent the Gelnika out again to get them."
The kids breathed a sigh of relief.
"Cloud and Tifa?" Barret said in surprise. "You mean you knew they were up there all this time and you never told us?!"
"They didn't want to be found," Reeve replied calmly. "I simply did what they asked of me. If you have a problem, take it up with them when they get here. In the meantime, we should try and figure out what we're going to do about our new friends' problem."
"I don't know that we can do anything," Red XIII said gloomily. "Even Grandpa didn't know anything about other dimensions."
"I don't remember seeing anything like a dimension gate either," Cid added.
"So, we could be stuck here for the rest of our lives?!" Mimi wailed.
"That's what Necromon wanted," Sora said angrily.
"We'll try and work out something once the others get here. There's always hope, isn't there?"
Mr Holzoff's cabin
"Reeve's sending a plane for us," Tifa said. She turned to Izzy and Tai. "Good news. The rest of your team's safe. Reeve has them all in Junon now."
As Tai breathed a sigh of relief Cloud came back into the room. "The storm's eased off. I'm going out again for another look."
"Then we're going too!" Tai said firmly.
"I'm not sure that's wise," Holzoff put in. "You've only just recovered after all. Are you absolutely sure you're up to this?"
"Matt may be a jerk sometimes," Tai said. "But I've got to try and find him!"
Cloud knew he wasn't going to get out of this easily. Eventually he shrugged his shoulders. "If you're sure you're up to it, follow me."
"I'll see if I've got some spare coats for them," Holzoff said. "They'll need that much."
20 minutes later all of them walked out of the cabin. "Do you think you can recognise the place where you lost him?" Cloud asked.
"It was out on the snowfields somewhere. There were some trees nearby but I'm not sure," Tai said apologetically.
"Well, since I've got a map of the area now it should be a little easier," Izzy had entered the map into his laptop.
"Then let's get going!" Tai didn't want to waste any time.
"Tai, wait for me!" Agumon ran after him quickly.
"He's nuts!" Tifa muttered.
"You noticed that, huh?" Izzy joked. "Let's go after him."
Half an hour later they'd reached the trees where Matt had gone missing but there was still no sign of him or Gabumon.
"No luck?" Cloud was baffled. It was as if Matt had vanished off the face of the planet. Cloud was glad they hadn't found a frozen body but to find nothing at all was a little unnerving.
Tai was getting frantic by this time. What the hell was he going to tell TK if they couldn't find him?
"Hello, Tai!" Tai whirled round to find Matt standing someway behind him grinning.
"Matt! Hey guys, I've found him!" Tai started walking towards Matt.
Matt nodded and Gabumon quickly ran out from behind him.
"BLUE BLASTER!"
Tai managed to dive out of the way just in time as the others arrived.
"Hey! Wha…Gabumon, have you flipped?!" Tai exclaimed. "Matt? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Tai!" Matt said darkly. "I'm just doing what I should have done a long time ago!"
~Gabumon warp Digivolve to…METALGARURUMON!~
"Matt! Have your brain cells been fried?!" Izzy couldn't believe what he was seeing. Nor could Tifa.
Cloud, however, had a look of recognition and dread on his face. "SEPHIROTH! Show yourself, you coward!"
Sure enough, Sephiroth appeared in a blackening wave next to Matt. "Gladly, Cloud. It's been awhile, hasn't it? You're a hard man to find. I thought I had found you earlier when I stumbled across my new friend here," he pointed to Matt as he said this. "He's turned out to be quite a bonus!"
Tifa stared in shock and horror. "How?! We saw you go down!"
Sephiroth sneered. "The Lifestream found me somewhat indigestible!"
"Who's this?" Izzy asked.
"His name is Sephiroth and he's nothing but trouble. How did you know it was him?" Tifa asked Cloud.
"You know anyone else who can turn someone against his friends? I should know!" Cloud snarled, looking worriedly at Matt and MetalGarurumon.
Tifa's anger started to come through. "How low can you get, Sephiroth? Using children to fight your battles?"
Sephiroth merely shrugged as he looked at Matt. "I simply gave him what he wanted: a chance for recognition. He's been the underdog for quite a while, so I understand. Matt, I believe you have a score to settle!"
Matt grinned unpleasantly and nodded at MetalGarurumon who leapt at Tai.
"ICE WOLF CLAW!"
"TAI!" Agumon screamed.
~Agumon warp digivolve to…WARGREYMON!~
Wargreymon finished digivolving just in time to block the ice blast, allowing Tai time to get clear.
Izzy turned to Tentomon. "You'd better back him up!"
"I don't know that I can do much but I'll try!" Tentomon replied.
~Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!~
"You'd best get out of here!" Izzy shouted at Cloud and Tifa. "This could get ugly!"
"The hell we will!" Cloud screamed, all fired up as he pulled the Ultima Weapon from his back. "Tifa, are you up for it?"
"Am I ever!" Tifa clenched her fists. "It's time to rumble!"
With that, both of them ran at MetalGarurumon who had just knocked Wargreymon to the floor and was about to finish him off when Tifa slammed her fist into his jaw. He yelped in pain and surprise and lunged at Tifa but then Cloud slashed him from behind.
Tai, Izzy and their digimon were stunned. They'd never seen humans and digimon fight before. They'd never even thought it was possible! But it was certainly happening now and MetalGarurumon was taking most of the punishment. In desperation he tried to turn the tide.
"METAL WOLF CLAW!"
Cloud was hit dead on by the every powerful ice blast. It seemed to hurt him but he was soon back on his feet.
"Fatal mistake!" Cloud snarled. "Tifa! Cook him!"
Tifa nodded. "Right! FIRE 3!"
Tai and the others gaped as a green glow surrounded Tifa for a brief moment before she unleashed a massive fireball. MetalGarurumon howled in pain as he was consumed by fire.
Cloud then raised his sword and went into a berserker rage as he used his deadly Omnislash move, cutting MetalGarurumon over and over. After the last devastating cut MetalGarurumon slumped to the floor and reverted all the way back to Tsunomon.
"Any more puppets for me, Sephiroth? Or are you ready to actually fight? I've improved since last time!"
"So I see," Sephiroth replied. "We'll fight, but some other time! And when we do it will be personal. I will make it VERY personal!"
Before Cloud could stop him he teleported away with Matt and Tsunomon.
"Damn it! I hate it when he does that!" Cloud snorted in disgust.
"Take it easy. We'll get him next time!" Tifa promised him.
"Wow! I've never seen anyone fight like that!" Tai said, picking up Koromon. "But what about Matt and Tsunomon?"
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other grimly. "We can't do anything about them for now," Cloud said. "If I'm right, we'll be able to get them back soon. Those weren't your friends who tried to kill you just now. Sephiroth has warped them, brought out the worst in them. But I don't think it's permanent. Trust me, ok?"
Tai nodded slowly.
"How did he come back?" Tifa asked in amazement. "I saw him explode!"
"I have a theory about that but I'll tell you once we get to Junon," Cloud replied. "Come on! We've got to let the others know!"
An underground cavern
Sephiroth cursed mentally as he, Matt and Tsunomon arrived back at his hidden base. He knew his impatience had gotten the better of him and he had acted too soon. For the first time in his life, Sephiroth was afraid. Cloud was stronger than ever and this time he had no control over him. He hadn't since Cloud flung him out of his mind and dissipated him into red Lifestream energy a year ago. Now his options were looking very limited. The Black Materia was lost, buried under millions of tons of rubble at the crater. His Jenova powers had enabled him to get a new body and take control of Matt but without the main synthesis they were only a shadow of what they had once been. Cloud, his friends and the crater explosion had smashed the synthesis so badly that there probably wouldn't be another Jenova Reunion for centuries. He looked back at Matt and Tsunomon. His control over them was very tenuous. Another battle like that and he knew they could break free.
As Sephiroth wondered what to do next he noticed a green glow from Matt's back pocket. He quickly came over, reached in and pulled out the crystal. An unpleasant smile came over his face.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it in a cave on the glacier," Matt answered slowly. "Is it important?"
"More than you know!" Sephiroth sneered. "It's amazing Shinra lasted so long with all the mistakes it made! This one has ensured my triumph. Don't worry, Matt. You will destroy your rival in time. And I will achieve what I set out to do!"
Sephiroth chuckled evilly as he walked away with the crystal in his hand. He had 'forgotten' to tell Matt that even if he did kill Tai he would not live to enjoy his triumph very long. If all went well for him this time the Planet would burn and he would be reborn as a god….
TO BE CONTINUED…