Digimon: Final Reality
3: The Best of Enemies
Junon
It didn't take long for the Digidestined and their new-found friends to figure out something was wrong. The first clue was that the Gelnika was one hour overdue, and the Turk pilots had an annoying habit of always being on time. Reeve said as much to Barret as they went out to Junon's landing runway.
"You may be right," Barret had said. "But why are you still using those jackasses anyway?!"
Reeve felt uncomfortable. He knew Barret wasn't fond of the Turks and for damned good reason, they'd killed a lot of his friends during the war against Shinra.
"I haven't got much choice," Reeve had replied. "I'd rather have them working for me than against me."
Barret had muttered a curse under his breath but said nothing more.
"I can't believe how strong you all are!" Mimi said as they waited.
Cid chuckled. "You ain't seen nothing yet. Wait till you see Cloud!"
"Cloud?" Sora wondered aloud.
"He was the leader of this sorry bunch a few months ago," Barret told her. "But we haven't seen a lot of him since then."
"And he's stronger than you?" TK could hardly wait.
"Without a doubt."
Reeve and Barret's worries became absolute certainties when the Gelnika landed and its passengers got out. Cloud and Tifa came out looking as though they'd been in a war: neither had bothered to heal themselves after their fight with MetalGarurumon. Tai, Izzy, Koromon and Tentomon, not looking in the best of spirits, followed them out.
"What happened?" Reeve asked as everyone rushed out to meet them.
"Where's Matt?" TK asked, suddenly realising he wasn't with them.
"What happened? An old friend turned up and all hell has just broken loose, that's what happened!" Cloud muttered. His mood had darkened considerably on the flight back.
"Old friend?" Red XIII had a bad feeling about this.
"Sephiroth…" Tifa finally said.
Reeve's office
An hour later Cloud and Tifa had finished their story. There was complete silence for a minute before anything was said.
"How is that £$%&$! Sephiroth back!?" Cid snarled. "The last time I saw him he kinda blew up!"
"Who is Sephiroth?" Joe asked, tired of being left out.
"A very dangerous and very evil person," Tifa said.
"He nearly destroyed the planet the last time we met him," Yuffie broke in.
"And now he's got Matt working for him," Tai said unhappily.
"And Gabumon," Koromon added. "I had to fight him…"
The Digidestined all exchanged horrified glances.
"So that's why Necromon sent us here…" Sora realised.
Tai nodded. "Somehow he must have known that this would happen."
"In that case, you'd better settle down for another long story," Cloud suggested. "Now that he has Matt he knows about all of you now. You'd best know about him."
Cloud and his team tried to explain everything. The Shinra corporation and its evil experiments, Mako energy, the Jenova organism and SOLDIER, the elite organisation which Sephiroth had headed a long time ago, Sephiroth's origins and his insane actions once he'd learned of them.
By the time they'd finished, Tai and the other Digidestined all had severe headaches.
"Oh man!" Tai muttered. "How did we get into this?"
"So Sephiroth was good once?" Sora asked. "Is there any chance he could be again?"
"Not a hope!" Barret snorted.
"He's right. When he learned that he was genetically engineered he just completely flipped," Cid said.
"What I don't get is how he's back now," Vincent wondered. "If I remember right, he exploded at the Crater a few months back."
Cloud grimaced. "He did but he wasn't destroyed there. After he exploded he tried to get inside my head again and take me over completely. He failed. I beat him easily and threw him out. But he broke up into Lifestream energy. Red Lifestream energy."
Tifa began to catch on. "And when we saw him earlier he said the Lifestream ''found him indigestible'."
Cloud nodded. "That's right. If the Lifestream rejected him and he couldn't take me over…"
"You think he took over someone else?" Red XIII asked.
"It would explain a great deal," Cloud said.
"Is he powerful enough to do that?" Yuffie asked in amazement.
"Not on his own," Cloud said. "But with some of his Jenova powers still lingering, it's not impossible."
"So he's got an unlimited number of lives?" Cid groaned.
"No, probably not. With the Jenova organism smashed he can't use it again anytime soon. If we kill him this time it should be for good."
"How do we get Matt back?" TK asked worriedly. He was almost in tears.
"If I'm right, Sephiroth won't be able to hold on to Matt and Gabumon for very long," Cloud said gently. "He's probably straining himself and his powers by controlling them."
"That's why he didn't fight us himself?" Tai broke in.
"I would think so. But we have to find them fast. Once Matt slips out of his control he'll be of no use to him any longer and when that happens…"
Everyone knew what he meant.
"Then we've got to find him!" Tai said, all fired up.
"Unfortunately we don't know where they are," Reeve said. "I can think of at least a dozen places where Sephiroth could establish a base, and that's only counting the places I know about."
"I hate to say this but we've got to let him make the first move," Cloud said. "It's probably the only way we're going to find him."
"What do you think he'll do?" Sora asked worriedly.
Cloud looked around his entire group. All wore the same blank expression. No one had any idea.
Living quarters: Junon
Tai and the other Digidestined had all been given rooms in Junon's barracks for now. They'd been told to go and take a load off while everyone else searched for Matt, Gabumon and Sephiroth.
"Man! And I thought our team was weird!" Tai couldn't believe the situation he'd landed himself in.
"A big guy with a gun-arm, a ninja, a guy with a sword and whatever that red wolf thing is," Joe said. "And these are the good guys?"
"The red wolf certainly seems intelligent," Izzy said. "I've talked with him. He's more knowledgeable than most."
"One thing's for certain: everyone's much stronger here!" Tai said. "You should have seen what they did to MetalGarurumon!"
"They beat him? No way!" TK couldn't believe it.
"Way! They didn't just beat him, they kicked his butt!"
"What should we do now?" Sora asked. "We've got to get Matt back!"
"And Gabumon," Koromon added. "I don't want to have to fight him again."
"There's not much we can do until we actually find him," Tai said. "But we'll get him back. Matt and that Sephiroth guy don't stand a chance. Not with all of us and all of those guys with us!"
"I hope you're right," Patamon said. He didn't want a miserable Digidestined partner for the rest of his life, which was what TK was going to be if he didn't get Matt back.
"Well, I'm going to go get some rest," Tai said, picking up Koromon and heading toward his room.
"Good idea," Mimi said. "All of this is giving me a headache!"
"Nothing new there then!" Tai muttered as he walked to his room.
"It's ok, Tai. We'll get them back," Koromon said.
"I hope so," Tai replied as he opened the door to his room. "Where are you, Matt?"
"I'm right here, Tai!"
Tai gaped in shock as he opened the door to find Matt and Gabumon standing in his room.
"Matt! How…"
"Thought you'd seen the last of us, huh? Sorry to disappoint you but we like to finish what we start!"
"And so do I!" Tai whirled round to find Sephiroth standing behind him also.
"Sephiroth!"
"Tai, get back!" Koromon quickly leaped in front of Tai and digivolved back into Agumon form. "PEPPER BREATH!"
Sephiroth blocked the fireball out easily just as Kari and Gatomon walked in.
"Tai, do you want to…AHHH!"
"Kari, get help!" Tai screamed.
Kari didn't need telling twice. She ran back down the hall with Gatomon covering her back.
"Noble but foolish!" Sephiroth sneered. "You just gave me the time I needed to do this!"
With that, he summoned up another blackening wave and teleported them all away…
Reeve's office
"What a crew!" Barret said after the Digidestined had left. "Some kids and a walking plant, a flying bug, a pink bird, a clawed cat and whatever it was that landed on my head."
"Appearances aren't everything, Barret," Cloud said calmly. "They have more power in them than it first seems."
"Yeah so you told me," Barret had heard of the fight with MetalGarurumon. "Were they that tough?"
"Not as tough as Sephiroth or a WEAPON but tough enough," Tifa said solemnly.
"Where are you, Sephiroth?" Cloud muttered, looking over at the map.
He was still gazing at it when Kari and Gatomon burst into the office screaming for help.
"Kari! What's wrong?" Tifa asked.
"Tai's in trouble!" Kari quickly filled them in.
Cloud's face darkened and he grabbed his Ultima blade. "This ends here!"
"Leave some for me!" Barret quickly armed his Missing Score gun and ran after Cloud.
By the time they got to Tai's room it was too late. Sephiroth, Tai, Matt and their digimon had vanished.
"Damn!" Cloud quickly turned to Cid. "Is the Highwind II here?" Cid nodded. "Get it ready!"
"Where are we going?" Tifa asked.
"We're going to search everywhere for them. I've had it with just sitting here." He turned to Kari again. "Kari, get the others and head to the runway. We're going to get them back, ok?"
Kari nodded and ran from the room.
"I'll go with her," Barret suggested.
"Good idea," Cloud said. "Don't let her or any of the others out of your sight! Sephiroth gets no more chances like this!"
"Got it!" Barret ran after Kari.
Cloud grimaced as he followed Barret. They'd have to be fast. Usually Sephiroth left nothing behind but corpses…
Mountain pass near Icicle Inn
Tai and Agumon found themselves back in the frozen North facing off against Matt, Gabumon and Sephiroth.
Sephiroth grinned nastily. "Now, where were we?"
"I was just about to finish this!" Matt snarled.
"By all means," Sephiroth smiled. "I have some other business to take care of. I trust you can handle this alone?"
As much as Sephiroth wanted to stay and watch this fight, he knew that it would not be wise. It would only be a matter of time before Cloud and the others found them and besides this wasn't an area he wanted to be standing on for very long…
Matt nodded as Sephiroth teleported away again.
"I don't want to fight you, Matt," Tai said seriously.
"Sorry Tai. Only one of us walks away from this one!" Matt replied. "Gabumon!"
~Gabumon warp digivolve to…METALGARURUMON!~
~Agumon warp digivolve to…WARGREYMON!~
"All right, Matt," Tai said. "If you want me, give me your best shot!"
Highwind II
On the outside Cid's new airship didn't look much different from its predecessor. However it did have much more engine power than the first model, much to Yuffie's disgust. While she stayed down below, feeling greener than ever, everyone else was up on the bridge.
"Sorry Yuffie," Cid called back, not sounding very sorry at all. "We've got to get there as quick as possible, haven't we?" he chuckled as he said this.
"Where are we going now?" Sora asked.
"North again," Cloud replied. "We've just heard some reports of monsters battling near Icicle Inn over the radio. It's not much but it's the best lead we've had."
"I hope it's not them," Reeve said. "That area isn't too stable."
"What do you mean?" Mimi asked worriedly.
"We've been reading a lot of seismic activity from there recently, along with several other places."
"Lifestream?" Cloud asked.
"That's the assumption."
"So they could be fighting on a place that's about to erupt? Damn, why didn't you say so?!" Cid reached for another lever and the ship suddenly seemed to double in speed.
"CID!!!" Yuffie wailed from down below somewhere.
"Sorry Yuffie!" Cid called back.
"Let's hope we get there soon before the eggheads back there'll talk us all to death!" Barret muttered, looking back at Izzy and Red XIII, who were having a discussion of Materia and its uses.
"Prodigious! So this stuff can actually…"
"I know how you feel!" Tentomon said to Barret as he tuned Izzy out.
Mountain Pass
"METAL WOLF CLAW!"
"TERRA FORCE!"
Neither Mega Digimon was getting the upper hand. They were too evenly matched. Their partners weren't doing any better. Matt had blood running from his mouth and Tai had several bruises from their fistfight, but there was no sign of either one backing down.
"Give it up, Tai! You're not going to beat me! Give up and I'll make it quick!" Matt screamed.
"Fat chance!" Tai snarled and threw himself on top of Matt, wrestling him to the ground.
"There is no reason for us to fight!" WarGreymon said in desperation.
"Except that I want to!" MetalGarurumon replied. "ICE WOLF CLAW!"
WarGreymon sighed in despair as he dodged the ice blast. "METAL CLAW!"
All of them were so busy fighting they didn't notice the airship overhead.
"Man! They're really slugging it out!" Barret said.
"We've got to get down there. Try and find us a place to land, Cid," Cloud ordered.
"Got it!"
"It's too late!" Reeve screamed in horror.
He wasn't wrong. The ground was starting to split open, forming a large chasm in the earth. Matt and Tai didn't have time to run as it formed under them and they plunged into the bright green river that ran beneath.
"MATT!" MetalGarurumon flew down to help but he was far too late.
"TAI!" WarGreymon flew down alongside.
Overhead Cloud, Sora and the rest could do nothing but stare in shock.
Cloud was full of fury. "First Nibelheim, then Aeris, then Midgar and now Matt and Tai! GODDAMN YOU SEPHIROTH!" Cloud smashed his fists into the wall in a fit of rage.
"Take it easy!" Cid said. "They might still be alive and if they are, there's only one place they'll come out."
"Mideel," Tifa said. "The Lifestream flow comes out there."
"Right. Let's get there," Reeve said.
"Wait, what about them?" Sora asked, pointing down at Agumon and Gabumon below. Both had reverted back to their Rookie forms and seemed to have forgotten about fighting.
Cloud nodded. "Ok, we'll pick them up but watch Gabumon carefully, got it?"
As they started to descend, Cloud swore to himself that he would kill Sephiroth this time. He didn't rate Matt and Tai's chances. Many adults didn't survive Mako infusion, let alone kids. One way or another, Sephiroth was going to pay for this…
TO BE CONTINUED…