A Different Reality Part 18
By Cybra
A/N: Hey again! As if you couldn't guess, this is the fight with Apocalymon! Well, let's see how well I pull this off, hmm?
Disclaimer: to the tune of "Irish Drinking Song" from Whose Line is it Anyway?
Oh…hidy didy didy didy didy didy di!
I don't own Digimon
It's truly a disgrace!
It's obvious I wanted to
Since I have this frown on my face!
I tried to bribe the owners
But they wouldn't let me
Own the show I wanted to
Instead, they threatened to sue me!
Oh…hidy didy didy didy didy didy di!
Oh…hidy didy didy didy di…dy…di…dy…di!
This is Kari again!
Anyway, we were surrounded by darkness. "We" being all of us kids and our Digimon – including Koushiro and Megakabuterimon.
I rubbed my right arm with my left hand. It was getting colder by the minute.
'So this is what the chill of evil feels like,' I idly thought.
Angewomon leaned forward towards me. "I'll protect you, Kari. Don't worry."
I smiled at her, but I still felt cold.
All this darkness…
Where was the light?
There wasn't a real ground here. There wasn't a real sky here, either. Still, I felt like I was standing on something.
"I don't think we're in the Digiworld anymore…" Lillymon stated, her voice interrupting the silence around us.
"If we are," Joe began, "this has to be the creepiest part of the Digiworld ever."
I quickly reviewed in my mind what the other Kari had told me.
In case you were wondering, Koushiro, Gatomon, Tentomon, and I had traveled into an alternate dimension not too long before the final battle with Piedmon. There, we met another team of Digidestined with versions of TK and myself four years older than we are now. That Kari told us all that had happened in her fight with the Dark Masters and had started to tell us about the fight that they had had four years before with some Digimon called "Apocolymon". However, we were interrupted by a Digimon attack and also by the chance for my group to get back to our version of the Digiworld.
Now, we were about to face this same Digimon.
"Guys, the last thing the other Kari told me was that after they were deleted, they used the Crests inside of them to allow their partners to Digivolve. But she never told me how that worked," I told the others.
Tai put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Kari. It's a start. That's more than Gennai told us."
"I think he assumed the other Kari told me everything."
My big brother slapped a hand to his forehead. "This is what we get for him assuming things."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I had to laugh. I can't explain exactly why, but the way Tai said it struck me as funny.
"Company's coming," Vulpesmon said, growling.
We saw this large 3D hexagon-thing flying towards us. It looked like some kind of puzzle. Then, different ends came out of the "puzzle" and so did a Digimon. I bit my lower lip to keep myself from screaming.
Tai told me later that Apocalymon reminded him of Devimon with red and blue wires coming out of him into the cube-like thing. On his head was a sort of shield with that weird writing written on it, covering red eyes and white hair. His arms most likely almost reached the entire length of his body. His body was black, and his legs were missing where his body went into the thing he had come out of.
"That thing's Apocalymon?" Matt asked.
"That's right!" Apocalymon told us. "Prepare to die, Digidestined!"
"Yeah, right!" Wargreymon shouted. "Let's get this guy!"
"Ice Wolf Claw!"
"Flower Cannon!"
"Terra Force!"
"Vulcan's Hammer!"
"Horn Buster!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
"River of Fire!"
The Digimon took off into the air or ran along the "ground", many of us shouting encouragement. Koushiro didn't make a sound and checked his weapon to see if it was loaded. I told Angewomon to kick the guy's data so bad that he'd never be reborn…which really freaked out Tai.
According to the other Kari, Apocalymon was made from the sorrow of Digimon who didn't survive the process of digivolving. It was hard to think that all that sadness could create something so terrible.
Metallic claws came out of other ends of the weird box and reached for our Digimon. One of them changed into a familiar shape.
"Machinedramon!" Joe shouted.
"Excellent! You remember your former enemy!" the evil Digimon taunted. "Giga Cannon!"
The attack hit Megakabuterimon dead center. The large bug fell back, but – after a few moments – flew forward once more. I noticed that Koushiro's left fist had clenched when the attack had hit its mark, then unclenched when Megakabuterimon recovered.
Another claw morphed into a completely black version of Myotismon.
"Crimson Lightning!"
Angewomon and Lillymon yelped as they flew out of the way.
"I tire of this little game," Apocolymon laughed.
Suddenly, claws gripped our Digimon. Within a few moments, the Digimon glowed then seemed to vanish. The claws opened to show that our Digimon had returned to their normal forms.
"Gatomon!" I shouted.
"Kari, stay back!" she shouted back, glaring at Apocalymon.
I obeyed as Tai ordered, "Everybody, re-digivolve! Vulpesmon, try to hold him back for a few minutes!"
Vulpesmon gave a curt nod to show he'd heard.
"River of Fire!"
Try as he might Vulpesmon couldn't keep all the claws from coming towards us. The claws were reaching for us kids…
…No. He wasn't going for us. He was going for the Crests!
"Everyone!" Koushiro shouted. "Be careful! Apocalymon's going for the Crests! Don't let him get his claws on them, or the Crests will be destroyed!"
"Not a nice thing for him to do, now is it?" Mimi asked.
Sora leaped to the left, barely being missed by a claw. Apparently, all that time being in the Digital World and playing soccer before that had not been wasted.
"Pepper Breath!"
Agumon's attack barely knocked an attack away from Mimi as Joe pulled her out of the way. She looked up gratefully at Joe.
"C'mon, everybody! Re-digivolve!" Tai ordered.
"We can't, Tai!" Agumon shouted. "We're too tired!"
Oh no…
"Not only did he force us to de-digivolve, but he drained our power," Gabumon added before shooting an attack in the direction of another metallic claw.
This wasn't happening! This couldn't happen!
…I wouldn't let it happen!
Sora's awed voice brought me back to the present. "Kari…Your Crest…"
I looked down to see it glowing with a bright light. I was also glowing from the Crest's power.
"Of course," Koushiro murmured. "Your Crest is the Crest of Light. Darkness doesn't have a chance as long as Light's around." He studied me for another second, seeming to tune out the battle behind him. "However, it seems to be coming from inside of you as well."
If I had smiled any wider, I imagine my face would've split in half. This must've been like what the other Kari had tried to tell me. Not only was the power coming from my Crest, it was coming from me as well.
My light spread to the Digimon, strengthening them as their attacks became more and more effective. That's when the others' Crests began to glow while they did at the same time. Just like with me, the power wasn't coming just from their Crests, it was coming from them as well.
Gatomon grinned as she balled her paws up into fists. "Let's kick this guy's tail!"
"Agumon warp digivolve to…Wargreymon!"
"Gabumon warp digivolve to…Metal Garurumon!"
"Palmon digivolve to…Togemon!"
"Togemon digivolve to…Lillymon!"
"Gatomon digivolve to…Angewomon!"
"Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!"
"Angemon digivolve to…MagnaAngemon!"
"Gomamon digivolve to…Ikkakumon!"
"Ikkakumon digivolve to…Zudomon!"
"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"
"Kabuterimon digivolve to…Megakabuterimon!"
"Biyomon digivolve to…Birdramon!"
"Birdramon digivolve to…Garudamon!"
Metal Garurumon's eyes glinted, showing a smile. "Now, let's get up close and personal with this guy!"
MagnaAngemon and Angewomon scooped TK and I up into their arms, then leveled off and shifted us onto their backs. Joe, Koushiro, Sora, Tai, and Matt rode on their partners' backs. Lillymon held onto Mimi by the wrist.
"Heaven's Charm!"
"River of Fire!"
Angewomon and Vulpesmon's attacks took out two of the claws while MagnaAngemon used his sword to destroy another two. Sora leaped from Garudamon's back to Megakabuterimon's so Garudamon could attack.
"Wing Blade!"
The fiery bird destroyed another two claws as Sora hopped back onto Garudamon. Megakabuterimon lined up a shot.
"Horn Buster!"
Things were going fantastic! We were coming closer and closer to Apocalymon. His eyes widened in fear as he prepared to attack us once more.
"Think again! Vulcan's Hammer!"
The claw that had started to morph into a different shape was immediately destroyed. Lillymon threw Mimi over to Zudomon.
"Here! You take care of her! It's hard to attack when one of my hands is full!"
"Got it!"
"Flower Cannon!"
At the same time, Joe caught Mimi.
"Thanks, Joe. My hero!" Mimi exclaimed, giving him a peck on the cheek.
Joe just blushed.
Lillymon's attack took out another one of the claws. Meanwhile, Matt and Tai had almost reached Apocalymon.
"This is such a rush!" Tai exclaimed.
I laughed at my brother's enthusiasm, but it was contagious. Now I understood why Tai loved action. The adrenaline rush is incredible!
Megakabuterimon fired off another attack that took out the claw that both Metal Garurumon and Wargreymon dodged. That's when our two Megas were close enough to see the whites of Apocalymon's eyes.
"Now!" Tai and Matt shouted simultaneously.
"Terra Force!"
"Ice Wolf Claw!"
Our enemy screamed in anguish and retreated back into the box. The thing went spinning away as we all cheered.
Our cheering was cut short when Apocalymon told us. "You have not defeated me! Now it's time to show off my ultimate attack: Total Annihilation!"
The box began to glow.
"It's gonna explode!" Vulpesmon shouted.
"No!" Tai shouted. "You cheater! We won fair and square!"
"Square" was almost right. "Cube" would've been more accurate. At that moment, light beams shone out of our Digivices and surrounded the box to form a cube. The cube spun out of our sight until we saw the flash of the light of a contained explosion.
"We did it…" I gasped. Then, I smiled. "We did it!"
The darkness retreated, leaving us near Primary Village – the place where all Digimon are reborn. All around us, digieggs began to fall from the sky.
"Hello, kids," Gennai told us, walking towards us.
"Gennai! What's going on?!" Tai demanded.
"The Digital World is fixing itself even as we speak. Digimon that were lost are finally being reborn once more."
"You mean," Gatomon began, "even Wizardmon?"
"Yes. Even Wizardmon shall return in time."
Gatomon flipped backwards, extremely excited. I laughed happily beside her.
"We need a picture of this," Mimi said. "If only we had a camera."
Koushiro offered in his normal cold tone of voice, "I have one."
Within a few moments, we were all standing in front of the camera. Gennai sat on Vulpesmon's back as Tai and Agumon stood beside him, Gatomon and I in front of those two. On Gennai's other side was Matt and Gabumon, Patamon and TK standing in front of them. Tentomon and Koushiro stood beside Gatomon and I. Mimi and Sora stood next to TK with their partners, Joe and Gomamon standing next to Mimi and Palmon.
After thirty seconds, the picture had been taken. As we began to chat, Vulpesmon began to leave.
"Vulpesmon, where are you going?" Biyomon asked.
"I have to go back to Piximon. It's been a pleasure," he told us sincerely.
He gave each of us kids a friendly nuzzle before he disappeared into the forest, probably never to be seen again.
"I vote that we stay here until summer vacation's over with!" Matt exclaimed, lying on his back next to the lake.
We were at the lake the others had spent their first night in the Digital World at. It was a nice quiet spot.
"Let's see…judging from how long real time is compared to digi-time – one Earth minute equals one digi-day – and we have two weeks of summer vacation left…" Joe began doing the computations in his head.
Koushiro asked, "One Earth minute is how long a digital day lasts?"
"Yup! You didn't know that?" TK asked.
Koushiro remained silent.
Joe finished his math as he concluded, "It's a little over one hundred years of summer vacation!"
"All right!" Tai shouted.
I turned to see Koushiro staring up into the sky. He wasn't looking directly at whatever he was looking at. I glanced up to see a solar eclipse taking place.
"Actually, you're a little off, Joe," Gennai told us. "During the fight with Apocalymon, time between the Digiworld and your world became synchronized."
"Well, then we still have two weeks," Sora stated. "That's a lot of time."
"Unfortunately, you only have two hours." Gennai pointed to the sky. "That eclipse is the gate between the Digital World and Earth. When the eclipse is finished, the gate will be closed."
"So what?" Matt asked. "We can just wait until the gate opens up again."
"I'm afraid not. Once the gate is closed, it cannot be opened again. It's time you all said your goodbyes." Koushiro opened his mouth to speak, but Gennai cut him off. "Including you, Koushiro. You're returning to Earth as well. You'll finally be going home."
"But I – "
Moans from the others covered up the rest of his statement. I gazed sadly down at Gatomon and she looked back up at me.
I didn't want to say "goodbye", but now it was time I had to.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: Cliff-hanger! Well, not really. Anyway, two more parts, people, then it's over. I decided I'd stop at a nice round twenty parts. Maybe – if people beg enough – I'll make a sequel series! (Yeah, right. Like that'll happen.)
Kudos to…
Kyra – Where are you?! sniff I wrote Part 16 just for you, and you don't even bother to review!!! sobbing, then stops Well, I forgive ya! Hope you liked it, and thanks for being a cool person!
Vyse – Man, you're good. Even if you're retired from the Digi-biz, you're still good. Anyway, I'm glad I get to RP with ya and just talk with ya! Peace!
Aquarius – Okay, finish that new fic of yours plus "The Chosen", and you will make Cybra a very happy writer!
Kelly Moon – I miss you! sniff Anyway, thanks for the e-mails! coughwheneveryousendthemcough ^^
My muse Izzy – This lazy-butt writer doesn't deserve such a great muse. However, thanks for your help, man!
Shameless promos (you know you love them!)…
Coming soon: I Corp – Sugoi! My own homepage! Plus, it's a Ken and Izzy shrine! Now all I need is more content!!! ^^;;;
Musical Inspirations…
The background music from Digimon. Have you guys ever listened to it while they were fighting and stuff? It's really awesome! That orchestra did a fantastic job!