"We have only a few moments," Gennai said, and he swiftly got out of the driver's seat. "Izzy, come up here and take control. The control for flight is the large level upon your right hand side. Those of you who it was decided that were going to come with me, let us do so at once. We shall be pursuing SteelSpidermon, while the others will go after MadRobotmon."
Mimi, Joe, Matt and T.K, along with their Digimon, scrambled out of the vehicle to stand next to Gennai. Izzy got into the driver's seat, and pulled down the lever that Gennai had indicated. Immediately, ten foot long wings sprouted out from the underside of the vehicle upon either side of the midsection, and the front of the vehicle melded itself forward to become more streamlined. Where the trunk had been a large rocket engine unfolded, humming faintly. The four wheels folded themselves into the wheel well, and the vehicle hovered a foot or two off the ground while the engine warmed up.
"It will steer much like a real car." Gennai called to the other Digidestined in the converted vehicle. "It has shielding systems, but will not long endure attack, especially of the caliber that MadRobotmon possesses." He looked over at WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, who were waiting for orders from their Digidestined. "MetalGarurumon, stay with us. WarGreymon, stay in your current form, as you will be needed to protect the Digidestined until their Digimon will be able to reach the Mega level. Good luck to you all, and I shall meet you all back at the apartment building, regardless of what passes in
between!"
A moment or two later, as the vehicle rose horizontally, rather quickly, Tai reflected upon what Gennai had said. He had made no indication that Supreme Darkness might defeat them; it was rather that either they would defeat MadRobotmon, or they would fight to a draw. He hoped that Gennai was speaking as such because he knew the truth, but Tai knew he could only be guessing. Still, as the vehicle leveled off some twenty yards over the highest building, and as the rocket engines kicked in and the Digidestined were on the trail of MadRobotmon, who could be seen far off in the distance, Tai could not help feeling a little more at ease, in that Gennai showed a lot of confidence in them. WarGreymon was flying a few yards to their right, keeping up with the vehicle rather easily.
Sora and Izzy, who had set the controls on autopilot until they had neared MadRobotmon, turned to their Digimon partners. They took off their tags and crests, and held them over their Digimon, who sat nervously on the seat next to them, while Tai and Kari looked on with interest.
Sora closed her eyes, but did not drop Tai's hand. Instead she squeezed his hand for a moment, before relaxing. A moment or two later, her crest began to glow with a pale light in her hand. She concentrated harder, and the light grew more intense. Up in the driver's seat, the same thing was happening to Izzy.
The Crest of Love and its tag suddenly left Sora's hand in a shower of light, and appeared to float in mid-air over Biyomon. Sora concentrated even harder, on all the images of Love that she could think of—of her mother, of the first time she realized her mother loved her, of Biyomon—and of Tai. The crest suddenly exploded with light, but it was not a light that was unpleasant to look at, or one that hurt the eyes. The crest slowly dropped downwards, ever so slightly, until it hung around Biyomon's neck. There it rested for an instant, before it seemed to be absorbed into Biyomon. Biyomon blinked, as if she did not believe what she had just seen, but the crest and tag was gone, and she could feel suddenly limitless power within her.
Similarly, the Crest of Knowledge was now hanging over Tentomon, while Izzy concentrated on the qualities that made the Crest of Knowledge his, such as all his theories about the Digital World, the time that he had been able to get himself and Mimi out of a stone labyrinth on the Digital World with his computer, and when he discovered the sequence for the cards to be laid down to open the gate to the real world.
The tag and crest descended slowly upon Tentomon until it hung around his neck, and, just as Sora's crest had, Izzy's crest was absorbed into Tentomon a few moments later. Tentomon also felt an unlimited amount of power suddenly dwelling within himself.
"That was—cool." Tai said, as Sora opened her eyes and saw that Biyomon was standing on the seat next to her, her tag and crest nowhere in sight.
"Prodigious." Izzy agreed. "How do you feel, pal?"
"I feel fine." Tentomon said. "In fact, I feel better than fine. Like I could really Digivolve to Mega!"
"So do I!" Biyomon said.
Izzy took the vehicle off autopilot, and took up the controls again, and increased the vehicle's speed. They had caught up with MadRobotmon some, but he was still more than two hundred yards in front of them, and for the moment, did not know he was being chased.
"Let's take down that big tin can once and for all!" Tai said, and the other Digidestined heartily agreed.
Back on the ground, Gennai turned to the remaining Digidestined. "We must be after SteelSpidermon at once."
"How are we going to do that?" Matt demanded. "The others took the vehicle!"
"I will provide a means of transportation. Stand back, if you will." Gennai said, and the Digidestined and their Digimon back up several feet, not knowing what to expect.
Gennai drew his golden sword, and it shimmered in the sunlight as he swung it around in a wide circle about him once. He then brought the sword close to his chest, grasping the hilt with both hands. The blade glowed suddenly with a bright yellow light, and he muttered several words that they could not catch under his breath. The light bathed Gennai in its radiance, and as far as the Digidestined could see, Gennai was changing within the bright light. A few moments later, the light died down, and both Gennai and his sword were gone.
In his place, was a rather large Digimon, which stood upon four legs, some ten feet over MetalGarurumon. The Digimon had the body and hind legs of a large lion or tiger, the front grasping talons of an eagle, neck of a black horse, and head and beak of an eagle, with a metal helmet covering most of its head. Large red wings, like the wings of a bat, but not with an evil look to them, spread from the Digimon's shoulders, and were folded back. Upon the end of the Digimon's tail, was something like a snake's head.
"What . . . what is that?" Mimi asked, looking up at the Digimon standing before them.
"It's Gennai!" T.K. said.
The Digimon opened up its beak and spoke. The voice echoed off the office buildings, and while it was rather loud and great, it was not terrifying. "Yes, I am Gennai, in one of my other forms. Because I am made of digital information, I am also a Digimon, of sorts, and this is the form that I shall be able to fight in. Not only am I Gennai, I am also Gryphonmon. I am one of the oldest Digimon on the Digital World, and my power is not easily matched by any Digimon on any world. But we have little time to waste. Climb on my back, and we shall follow SteelSpidermon." Gennai lowered himself downwards, and after glancing at each other, the Digidestined clambered up upon his large back, as well as they could.
His wings slowly spread outwards, and Gennai sprang upwards, flapping his wings a few times, and soared up near the top floors of the office buildings. MetalGarurumon took to the air also, floating in midair just behind them. They shot down the street which SteelSpidermon had gone down, followed by MetalGarurumon, and a few moments later, the Digidestined could see SteelSpidermon emerging from the end of the street, to begin crawling much faster down a wider street which curved along the marina, some twenty feet away from the water's edge. This street was usually very busy, but the power of Supreme Darkness had rid the street of all cars, so that SteelSpidermon could crawl along without stopping.
"Now, allow your Digimon to absorb your tags and crests!" Gennai called up to the Digidestined, as he slowed his pace so that he would not overtake SteelSpidermon, who continued on his way without taking any notice of them. "MetalGarurumon, at my command, prevent SteelSpidermon from continuing further!"
On his large back, behind his massive wings, which flapped now and again, the Digidestined were crowded together. While Matt and T.K. looked on, Mimi and Joe concentrated on their crests, and Palmon and Gommamon waited, not knowing what to expect.
At length, Mimi's crest glowed faintly, and as she concentrated harder, it left her hand, floated up slowly, and levitated just over Palmon's head, who looked nervously up at it. Mimi then thought as hard as she could of the first time that Togemon had Digivolved to Lillymon, and of how she had realized that she actually was very sincere, when she tried to be, and that she was a much nicer person while she was sincere. The Crest of Sincerity exploded with sudden light, and slowly drifted downwards, to come to a rest as both the tag and crest hung over Palmon's neck. The light increased in intensity, and a few moments later, Mimi's crest was absorbed into Palmon.
"Oh! Palmon!" Mimi asked, after she had opened her eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Like the toughest plant around!" Palmon answered, and she really had, as she felt a sure sense of immeasurable power within her that she had never felt before.
A few feet away, Joe's crest hung over Gommamon, who was looking up at it rather doubtfully. Joe was concentrating as hard as he could on all the times that he had lived up to the meaning of his crest, such as the time when he had devised a way to defeat Bakumon, the time he had found Matt in time so that they could join the other Digidestined in the last battle against Piedmon, not to mention the fact that he had brought along toilet paper, of all things, which aided in creating a sling for Ogremon's arm.
The Crest of Reliability exploded with sudden light, and the tag and crest slowly lowered itself over Gommamon's neck. A few moments later, it was absorbed into Gommamon. Before Joe could ask him how he felt, Gommamon said, "Now this is what I call power! Joe, I never knew you had it in you." Gommamon felt much better than he ever had before, as all the nearly limitless power of Joe's crest flowed through him.
"Sure." Joe said, but he was glad that his Digimon was able to absorb his tag and crest.
"What about Patamon, Gennai?" T.K. asked. "Should he Digivolve?"
"He may need to, if more power is needed," Gennai said, "But let us see what two more Mega Digimon can do first." He then turned to MetalGarurumon, who was flying to the right of him. "Now, MetalGarurumon!"
MetalGarurumon halted in midair, and several silos opened up in his robotic body. "Ice Wolf Claw!" Several small missiles shot out from the silos and streaked after SteelSpidermon, who still apparently was unawares that he was being followed. The missiles reached SteelSpidermon a moment or two later, and slammed into him. Even as he turned to look behind him, a layer of ice formed over his body, so that he appeared now only as a statue.
Gennai and MetalGarurumon flew over the frozen form of SteelSpidermon, and as they turned back to look upon the statue—
"Spider Beam!" Two beams of energy shot from the middle of the statue, shattering the ice, and SteelSpidermon turned to look up at Gennai, the Digidestined, and MetalGarurumon, his mandibles clicking rapidly. "Have you not been beaten enough, Digidestined?" he hissed.
MetalGarurumon dove downwards towards the enormous metal spider, as if to knock him off balance, but SteelSpidermon was ready. "Web Cannon!" SteelSpidermon's large abdomen split down the middle, and a single large cannon rose up from its depths. It fired once, and a spinning web of energy was sent spinning towards MetalGarurumon, who could not get out of the way in time. The web struck him, pinning him to the ground. "I shall enjoy tearing you apart." SteelSpidermon hissed, as he crawled towards MetalGarurumon, who was struggling against the energy web.
"C'mon Palmon!" Mimi said, holding out her Digivice. "MetalGarurumon needs our help!"
"I don't know if it can do it, Mimi." Palmon said. Her apparent confidence which she had only a few moments before was gone.
"You must, Palmon." Gennai said, as he slowly circled about the perimeter of the intersection. "I cannot fight SteelSpidermon, not with you on my back."
Palmon looked down at SteelSpidermon, who was almost upon MetalGarurumon. She wanted to help her friend, but she felt like even if she was able to Digivolve to Mega, that she could do little to help.
"Spider Beam!" Two yellow beams of energy streaked from SteelSpidermon's mandibles, to strike MetalGarurumon point blank. The energy web prevented him from being thrown backwards several yards, and he groaned slightly.
"Mimi, can't you do anything?" Matt asked, really worried about his Digimon partner. When Mimi only stared back at him, rather helpless, he turned to Joe. "Joe, what about you? Can you get Gommamon to digivolve to Mega?"
Joe looked down at Gommamon for the answer, but he just slowly shook his head. He too was reluctant to even try to Digivolve to Mega, mainly because he felt he would only be defeated in the process by SteelSpidermon.
"Spider Beam!" MetalGarurumon was struck again, and he groaned more loudly.
"Matt, can't take much more of this." He growled softly.
"Gennai, can't you do anything?" Matt turned to Gennai. "He's going to be seriously hurt!"
Mimi glanced down at MetalGarurumon, who was about to be struck again by SteelSpidermon's attack. She was suddenly filled with a sudden resolve, and she stood up, not caring that Gennai was still flying rather high up. "C'mon, Palmon! You've got to do it! I know you can! If you don't Supreme Darkness will win! I believe in you!"
Palmon looked up at Mimi, who was holding her Digivice over her, the screen faintly glowing. She looked down, over Gennai's slowly beating wings, and saw MetalGarurumon being struck once more by SteelSpidermon's attack. He struggled against the energy net, but it still held him tightly. At last, Palmon looked up at Mimi. "I'll try, Mimi." She slowly stood up, and as she did so, the screen suddenly exploded with light and power. Palmon felt some of the power that she had absorbed appear to join with the power of Mimi's Digivice—
"Palmon warp-Digivolved to . . . Rosemon!"
Palmon now stood as Rosemon, a more powerful looking version of Lillymon. She stood at least twice as tall as Lillymon, and she appeared to be clad in red armor, similar to rose petals. Her eyes were masked, and her mouth was hard and set. She rose up slowly on light green wings, beating furiously, and turned to look down at SteelSpidermon, who looked almost amusedly back up at her.
"What do we have here?" he hissed. "Another brave Digimon coming to join the fight? Perhaps you would care to join your friend." He indicated MetalGarurumon, who was struggling to rise to his feet.
Rosemon said nothing in response, but merely shot downwards, shooting past SteelSpidermon to come to a rest next to MetalGarurumon, who managed to partially get to his feet.
SteelSpidermon turned to look upon the two Megas, his several eyes glittering with a black light. "Even if you manage to free your foolish friend, you both are no match for me."
"You're really not a nice creature." Rosemon said, her loud, clear voice echoing off the surrounding office buildings. "Attacking MetalGarurumon when he's helpless like this! Someone should teach you some manners!"
"Have you someone in mind?" SteelSpidermon hissed slowly, his mandibles clicking rapidly. He began to crawl towards the two Digimon slowly, looming tall over both of them.
"I do have someone in mind." Rosemon said, not daunted by the fact that SteelSpidermon was coming very close to her. "Petal Storm!" Rosemon appeared to levitate into the air, her wings nothing but a blur. The air about her shimmered, as she raised up both of her slender arms, her hands glowing with a faint light. A mass of what appeared to be small, shimmering pink petals appeared suddenly in the air about her, and as she gestured outwards with both hands, the petals shot forward, and slammed into SteelSpidermon. Each pink petal was a powerful energy projectile, and SteelSpidermon was uplifted and thrown hard against the front of a large office building, among a shower of rubble and flying debris.
When the cloud of dust disappeared, SteelSpidermon stood just before the office building he had fallen back into, and there was a large, gaping hole in the front of it. SteelSpidermon's mandibles glittered in the sun as he advanced again slowly upon MetalGarurumon and Rosemon. "Tell me that was not your best shot." SteelSpidermon hissed. "If it was, I cannot fathom how weak the past Digimon that you defeated must have been."
Rosemon said nothing in response. Instead, she merely bent down next to MetalGarurumon, and laid her hand upon the energy web. Her hand shimmered with light, and the web disappeared into several small fragments.
MetalGarurumon leapt to his feet, bristling. "Shall we teach this overgrown cockroach a lesson?" He growled to Rosemon.
"Yes. Petal Storm!" Rosemon appeared to rise up once again, and several pink petals appeared suspended in midair about her, and then all shot towards SteelSpidermon at once.
"Metal Wolf Claw!" A stream of silver energy shot from MetalGarurumon's gaping jaws.
Both attacks hit SteelSpidermon in the same moment, sending him toppling backwards as if he were some sort of top heavy structure with insufficient supports. He climbed back onto his spindly legs, his mandibles clicking angrily. "How much longer will this game go on?" he hissed. "You cannot beat me! Spider Beam!" Rosemon was struck first, and sent sprawling backwards into MetalGarurumon, knocking him off his feet.
"We'll see about that!" Joe yelled, turning to Gommamon and holding out his Digivice, which was exploding with light.
"Gommamon warp-digivolved to . . . MarineAngemon!"
MarineAngemon appeared as a sort of small, stuffed white animal, floating a few feet in midair. He was shimmering with white light, so that his features could not altogether be seen clearly, yet his blue eyes were clear to see. He appeared as a gentle creature, not capable of harming a fly.
"What's this?" SteelSpidermon turned to look upon MarineAngemon, who was looming closer to him. "An escaped toy from a carnival? What do you expect to accomplish with this? Spider Beam!"
The two beams of energy struck MarineAngemon, and there was a brilliant flash of white light, as if there was a sudden explosion. When the light cleared, the Digidestined saw that MarineAngemon stood where he had been hovering, unscathed.
SteelSpidermon paused, and as he did so, the light about MarineAngemon seemed to grow brighter. "It is you who are mistaken. Whatever Supreme Darkness tries to do, it can never extinguish the power of light and hope. Even you cannot beat me."
"What do you mean by that?" SteelSpidermon hissed. "Would you threaten me, you disconsolate excuse for a glow bug? It was my opinion that the fools who are of light and hope did not use such things to get what they want. Nevertheless, you cannot beat me." MarineAngemon said nothing, yet simply stood where he was, floating in midair, as if waiting for something to happen. This seemed to make SteelSpidermon nervous, for he said, "Even if you were to defeat me, it would take all the power of all the Digimon here to do so, and much more besides. What will you do after that, I wonder, when you are faced with the rest of Supreme Darkness with only half of your forces?"
"You are not worried, are you SteelSpidermon?" Gennai asked from where he was floating several feet above him. "For none have spoken of defeating you save yourself."
"I tire of your never-ceasing prattle!" SteelSpidermon hissed, as he turned to look up at Gennai. "Spider Beam!" The two beams of energy lanced towards Gennai, who could not move out of the way in time. Less than a moment later, MarineAngemon dove upwards, taking the full force of the attack before it could hit Gennai. There was another explosion of white light, and after it had died down, MarineAngemon stood floating a foot or two in front of Gennai, still unmarked.
"You must not be allowed to harm anyone ever again!" MarineAngemon said suddenly. He turned to the other Digimon. "I shall give my power to you three so that you may defeat this miscreant once and for all." The light about MarineAngemon glowing brightly for several moments, and then was gone, as three beams of light shot from MarineAngemon, to strike MetalGaururumon, Rosemon, and Patamon.
MarineAngemon immediately de-Digivolved to Gommamon, who looked rather tired as he landed on Gennai's back. MetalGaururumon and Rosemon felt a surge of power running through them, as if they had newly digivolved after a large meal.
T.K's Digivice suddenly erupted with power. "Patamon Digivolved to . . . Angemon!"
MetalGarurumon stood upon the ground, facing off against SteelSpidermon, with Rosemon and Angemon flying upon either side of him. "I think I shall take you all down in one shot." SteelSpidermon hissed. "That way, I can continue on my way as if this little side trip never happened." His mandibles glowed with a sudden yellow light.
"Ice Wolf Claw!" Several rockets streaked towards SteelSpidermon, who toppled back from the impact, and was encased in a thin layer of ice. Before the ice could be shattered, however, Rosemon and Angemon rose up, brimming with power.
"Petal Storm!" Rosemon gestured with her arms, and several pink petals appeared out of the thin air about her, and then went shooting straight for the frozen form of SteelSpidermon.
"Hand of Fate!" Angemon rose up, his right fist glowing with yellow light. He thrust his fist forward, and a brilliant beam of light shot from it, to slam into SteelSpidermon just as Rosemon's attack did.
There was an explosion of light and energy, which threw all three Digimon backwards several feet. The Digidestined glanced away from the sudden explosion of light, but when they looked back, they saw SteelSpidermon dissolving. His legs had been sliced off by the petals, and had dissolved first, and even before his body could hit the ground, it too disappeared in countless small fragments, as SteelSpidermon hissed out in surprise, and then he was gone.
MetalGarurumon, Rosemon, and Angemon de-digivolved to their in-training forms, and even as Gennai swooped down to land upon the pavement, the Digidestined were cheering. They had finally defeated one of Supreme Darkness, who had seemed invincible until now. They gathered up their tired Digimon, and congratulated them on how well they had done.
"See, Tanemon? I knew you could do it!" Mimi said, as she hugged her small Digimon.
"You were awesome, Tokomon!" T.K. said.
Matt and Joe felt really proud that their Digimon could pull off such an amazing stunt as well, but they did not feel as happy as Mimi and T.K. "Gennai, was what SteelSpidermon said true? That Supreme Darkness is more powerful than he is?" Matt asked.
"Unfortunately, yes." Gennai answered slowly. "As powerful as SteelSpidermon was, the other members of Supreme Darkness are more powerful than he is, and their leader even more so."
"But we beat SteelSpidermon, didn't we?" Mimi asked, feeling her happy mood vanish suddenly.
"You did, and that surprised even me. From what I had seen of Supreme Darkness, I did not think that you would be able to defeat them, but I am very glad you proved me wrong." Gennai said.
"What are we going to do now?" Matt asked. He held Tsunomon under his arm, who looked rather tired.
"We can do nothing else but go back to the apartment, as was decided before the other Digidestined left to pursue MadRobotmon." Gennai said. "Let us leave as fast as we can, for we are weakened, and no match for Supreme Darkness, if they appear here. Doubtless their leader is very angry, and he himself may decide to come here before we have a chance to disappear again." Gennai paused and lowered his voice, "And even I do not think I can stand long against him, unaided."
The Digidestined and their Digimon climbed back onto Gennai's back, and as he spread his large black wings and took to the air once more, they could not help feeling rather glad, despite his grave words about the rest of Supreme Darkness.
Only Matt did not share their feelings. He felt that they had only won a small battle in the war that Supreme Darkness was waging on them, and from what Gennai had said, defeating SteelSpidermon had little effect against Supreme Darkness, except by making their Digimon weaker for the time being.
Mimi glanced towards Matt and saw that he was staring silently out at the sky passing slowly by, and she knew what he must be thinking. Actually, Mimi felt rather scared at Gennai's words, and she realized that even with three Mega Digimon and a Champion Digimon, they had only barely managed to defeat SteelSpidermon. If only one of Supreme Darkness was a match for three of their Mega-level Digimon, then what could the Digidestined do if the rest of Supreme Darkness appeared? Mimi decided she would rather not think about that, and rather figured that they had one less member of Supreme Darkness to worry about.
