Evil's New Claim
Part Six: There's Two of Them?
***
Standard Disclaimer Thingy: Digimon and all the characters belong to ME! Yes! Me! ::snaps out of hallucination:: Actually, they belong to various people wearing suits – the companies like Toei and Saban and the American Version is Fox Kids, but they can have that one… I'd rather have the original. The plot of this fanfiction, however, is all MINE!
***
A tall, thin man with a cane peered out over the digital landscape. The warm glow of the firelight behind him highlighted the features of his long blue trench coat and tall blue hat.
"What are you staring at?" the woman he considered to be his beloved demanded from somewhere near that fire. Her voice was impatient.
"I was just thinking how wonderful this valley looks now that the towers have been restored," he replied dreamily, a glazed look appearing in the one eye visible over his high-collared jacket.
She groaned, but he barely noticed. "What are you, are an artist?" she questioned, the sarcasm dripping over her words. "We can't sit around admiring our work. There's still much to be done."
"Like what?" he wondered, finally turning away from the scenery and peering at her with a confused expression.
She smiled as she noted the nearby television. "I have a little snooping to do."
***
Ken blinked his eyes once, then twice. He was still dazed. What had awakened him? It was still dark – it couldn't be time to get up yet. Then he noticed the soft glow that filled the room. His computer was on!
He peered sleepily over the edge of his loft bed. A woman stood by his computer, holding a disk. She was unclear in the dim light, but he knew she wasn't his mother.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, suddenly aware as all sleep drifted from his mind.
The woman jumped, startled. "What are you doing here?"
"It's my room," he replied. "I belong here."
"No – you're not supposed to be here – you're supposed to be with her," she stopped herself, realizing she'd said too much.
Ken realized it, too. "With who?" he demanded.
The woman recovered her composure. "That's my business, not yours. You shouldn't go messing where you don't belong, little boy."
"Like in my room," he reminded her. "You shouldn't be here. Who are you and what do you want?"
The woman didn't respond. There was, instead, a flash of bright light from the monitor and then she was gone. Hurriedly, he climbed down the ladder and examined his computer.
"She came from the digital world?" Wormmon mumbled sleepily.
"Looks like it," he replied, still frowning.
He moved to turn it off, but before he could, the woman's face appeared again on the screen. She wore an elaborate red hat and dark sunglasses, and her hair was white. "She's mine, now, you know," she stated.
"She who?"
"She's no harder to control than you were."
His eyes narrowed. "Just what are you talking about?" he demanded.
"Oh come on. Really. You're smarter than that."
"You. You were controlling me. And now there's someone else you're controlling. Who?" he demanded.
"Hahaha," she laughed, mocking his questions. "I can't answer everything, can I?"
"Who is she?"
But she was gone, and the screen was dark, leaving a very confused and angry Ken.
***
Daisuke frowned as he peered over the digital landscape at the rows of dark towers that had been resurrected almost overnight. "I don't understand this!" he grumbled in frustration. "I just know this field was clear yesterday."
"It was," Iori noted in solemn voice. "Someone is definitely working here to put up the towers again. And that someone is probably who we're looking for."
"Is it just me, or are there more towers here than were knocked down?" Patamon questioned thoughtfully. He peered down at his partner, who had a similar expression on his features – confusion. Takeru only shrugged.
"It would help if someone else was here who helped knock them down," Armadimon pointed out.
"But I don't think it would be a good idea to disturb them," Patamon disagreed.
Daisuke glanced toward Miyako, having noted that she'd been quiet throughout most of the conversation. "Miya? You okay?"
"I see something," Miyako replied. "I just wish I could see what it was."
"What?" Daisuke tried vainly to look in the same direction as the purple haired girl, but saw nothing.
"I saw something moving. I don't know what it was," she replied. "Let's check it out."
Iori spoke up: "Are you sure that's wise? With towers back up, there could be controlled digimon in the area."
"We'll risk it," Daisuke decided, having already ordered V-mon to armor evolve.
"But don't we have to wait for Ken?" Patamon asked.
"You guys stay here," declared Miyako. "This won't take long."
Both boys looked reluctant, but agreed, and so the two rushed off to investigate whatever Miyako had seen.
Once a fair distance from their comrades, Daisuke sighed. "I wonder what's happened to Takeru," he wondered.
"Remember that Hikari's gone in this world," Miyako reminded him. "Takeru probably took that really hard."
Daisuke couldn't help empathizing with that. "It feels really weird here, without her," he noted more casually than he felt, a slight chill running down his spine.
***
On a hill overlooking the group of children, a woman in a red dress surveyed the scene. "Isn't that sweet?" she crooned. "They fell right into the trap."
The tall man standing next to her leaned heavily on his wooden cane. "They're not too smart, are they?" he wondered with a slightly deranged-sounding laugh.
***
"They're heading this way!"
Ken, who had been doing nothing but standing the past few days, weakly lifted his head to wonder what his captor was shrieking about this time.
"I thought I had hidden this place, but, no, they've spotted it. Impossible! I'll have to send out something capable of defeating them. Something strong."
The captive boy was too exhausted and weak to care about the ranting and raving of this mysterious woman. Suddenly, he felt a soft touch at his chin, and a small figure held a cup to his lips, allowing him to drink cool, thirst-quenching water for the first time.
"Thanks," he whispered, softly.
The figure didn't respond as it drifted back into the darkness.
***
Iori blinked as he viewed the tall black digimon emerging from what appeared to be the solid ground. "What is that?" he stammered, unable to keep the surprise from his normally calm voice.
Takeru, as usual, said nothing, and Armadimon merely peered with stunned eyes similar to his partner's, so it was up to Patamon to fill in: "Devidramon," the small flying mammal replied.
"Devidramon?" Iori repeated. "I've never seen those."
"No, they're not very common," Patamon replied. "We haven't seen them since the battle with Vamdemon in Tokyo."
"But they're dangerous?" Armadimon wondered.
Patamon nodded. "Yes. Very dangerous."
Iori nodded, his jaw set firm now, the panic gone from his face. "What are they doing here?"
"Most likely whoever controls these towers sent them," Patamon replied. "If we can get the towers knocked out, our adult forms will be more effective. That is, if we can stay in the battle long enough to get the towers knocked down."
***
"Ah. She's resourceful," the man in the blue hat commented cheerfully. "I didn't think she'd manage to find a Devidramon, much less control one."
"Hmm. She has good qualities. That's why we chose her. But a couple of Devidramon won't be enough."
"You're suggesting we help her out, darling?" his voice lowered to what he considered a sensual tone.
The woman whacked him over the head with his own cane, causing him to fall flat on his face. "Don't call me darling!" she snapped. "We'll assist, just not yet. Wait until they're done. Then we'll jump in."
"What about the other one?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his head, sitting up.
"Huh?"
"The other one, that you were snooping on last night. Where's he?"
She shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe I scared him off. I think maybe he was a dream."
"Well, he's not here, so he mustn't be much of a threat."
***
"Daisuke, we've got to head back! Iori and Takeru are in trouble!" Miyako shouted to him as she steered Holsmon in front of Lighdramon.
"Trouble?" he looked back to where they had left the other two. "Dude! What are those things?"
"I don't know, but I'm guessing they're not friendly," Lighdramon supplied.
"Doesn't look like Iori and Takeru think they're too nice either," Daisuke observed, as Patamon and Armadimon took on their armor forms.
***
Takeru clenched his fingers tightly as he watched Pegasmon dodge the Devidramon's swinging arms. He bit his lower lip with his teeth, almost making it bleed.
'Why did it have to be Devidramon?' he demanded mentally. 'Why? I haven't seen them since we were still searching for Hikari. Why did they have to show up now? Why is it that whoever we're up against uses them when we've not seen them since then?'
Takeru took all his self control and used it to not cry out at Pegasmon. His digimon narrowly dodged the attacks, and then tossed his own back.
'Oh Hikari,' he thought. 'Would this be different if you were here? Would it be so much better? Like it is in their world?' His eyes strayed towards the young boy beside him, who was shouting encouragement to Digmon as he struggled to be effective against his much larger opponent.
***
"Blue Thunder!"
The blast from Lighdramon zapped the Devidramon from behind, diverting the enemy and managing to allow the slower-moving Digmon time to escape the quick moving claws.
Devidramon roared in anger and slashed at Lighdramon, but his opponent was agile and able to dodge the attack with ease. "Sorry, but you'll have to be faster than that," Daisuke taunted as he jumped from his partner's back in the interest of safety.
"Takeru, get out of the way!" Miyako shouted, launching herself from her own digimon on to the boy below. Both fell to the ground, inches below the swipe of the Devidramon's claws only seconds before they would have slashed Takeru in half.
"Tempest Wing!" Holsmon shouted, whipping himself into a furious tornado and attacking the Devidramon.
"Shooting Star!" Pegasmon added his own attack.
"Holsmon!" Miyako shouted. "Do you see the dark ring?"
"I'm not seeing it," the giant bird digimon replied. "You?"
"On the neck," Pegasmon shouted in reply. "But I can't hit it, he's moving too fast!"
"I've got it," Digmon shouted, temporarily diverting himself from his own opponent. "Gold Rush!" Immediately, the drills positioned on him flew up, attacking the Devidramon from underneath. Too occupied with the fight with Holsmon and Pegasmon, the Devidramon never had a chance.
The dark ring dissolved into data, and the Devidramon immediately took to the air with a scream of anger and pain. It was gone a moment later.
Now that there remained only one Devidramon, they applied a similar strategy. Lighdramon attacked from behind and Holsmon and Pegasmon attacked from the air. This Devidramon, however, protected his undersides and was able to fend off the expected attack from Digmon, swinging one of his vicious claws and forcing the land-dwelling digimon to de-evolve.
"Armadimon!" Iori shouted, as was appropriate during such an occasion, but the small golden digimon merely smiled weakly from his place, indicating that he would be fine in the end. Sufficiently relieved, Iori nodded and calmed down a bit.
However, the plan, despite the casualty, was not a total failure. As the Devidramon preoccupied itself with attacking Digmon, Holsmon was able to attack from the air and destroy the dark ring. The Devidramon flew away, much as the previous one had.
"Let's get rid of these towers while we still can!" Daisuke advised. "I don't think those were the last of them!"
***
"Now would be a good time to jump in, wouldn't you agree, dear?" He leaned against his cane as he asked the question.
***
"No! Impossible! How? How could they defeat two Devidramon? And only in armor forms? They cannot be that strong! They never were before!"
"Perhaps they got stronger. Or you underestimated them," Ken ventured to interrupt. Instead of lashing out at him, his captor paid no attention to him, instead turning back to one of the monitors.
"There's got to be something strong enough. Maybe if I ran them over with a herd of Monochromon. Or Mammothmon. They can't defeat them!"
"You don't have a herd of Mammothmon," the creature that had given Ken the water earlier stated in a soft voice.
"Well then I'll get some!" she declared.
Both Ken and the small creature merely stared as she stormed her way from the room. Ken sighed when she left, and then peered curiously in the direction of the small creature. "Do you know what's happened to Wormmon?" he questioned.
The creature shrugged, a movement barely visible in the dim light. "No. Sorry."
Ken frowned. "Somehow I feel I should recognize you," he mused, trying to make conversation and find out his captors' identity.
The creature shrugged again and didn't reply. Then silence filled the room.
***
A dark tower is a magnificent thing sometimes. Even after his return to the side of Good and Light and all those angelic things and was feeling generally bad and horrid about himself, Ken had to admit that. They were sheer brilliance.
Now if only they could have been used for something a little – nicer.
When one sees a field of these tall obelisks somewhere in the midst of a digital desert, one has no choice but to shiver. If one is on the side of Bad and Evil and Darkness, one shivers in astonishment – and perhaps even pride - because this field of blackened pincushions symbolizes all that they wish to accomplish. Control over things, torture of innocent creatures. Evil sorts of things.
But to those on the side of Good and Light and those sorts of things, one feels that shudder of terror, because it is what you are working against. To the second generation of Chosen Children in Odaiba, the tall black spires symbolized evil, but they had seen that evil first hand. And one of them – one of them had caused that evil.
As Daisuke watched the field of towers plummet to the ground one by one, he felt as though he was getting one step closer to wiping out not only the evil symbolized by the towers, but the actual evil as well.
He had no idea – none of them did, except for perhaps Ken (who wasn't there so it didn't matter)- what or who they were up against. They had not even seen their opponent, which made them of course all the more powerful and dangerous. They could not compromise on personal weaknesses. They could not bargain with things that they knew might strike a chord. They didn't even know how strong this opponent was.
There was one thing Daisuke knew for certain, however, and that was when you saw a horde of nearly a hundred large sized-digimon running at you at top speed with no intention of stopping before they pound you into a pancake, you were doomed. There was no point in fighting, especially when you had just finished nearly getting flattened by another enemy.
When Daisuke first became a Chosen, seeing a horde of giant Mammothmon and Monochromon racing towards him would have set his adrenaline pumping, and he would have dived into the fight. But thankfully, he knew better now, and he had learned at least enough to know when to run away and retreat. This, he decided, was definitely one of those times.
"Run!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, feeling his vocal chords bruise just with the force of that scream. "Run! Fly! Whatever! Get moving!"
The others didn't need to be told twice.
***
For some reason, Osamu seemed to be taking the news that his brother was on a mission to save the world very hard. He was quite disbelieving, and spent much of the following morning attempting to figure out how to get the batteries out of Wormmon's stomach. He was only slightly more convinced of the creatures alive status when he saw the little digimon gobble up a plate of pancakes faster than anyone or anything he'd ever seen.
"Amazing," the elder brother kept mumbling, even as he watched his younger sibling pace around the apartment with the most serious of expressions.
It was rare that Ichijouji Osamu had nothing to do. But his afternoon job tutoring calculus had been cancelled that afternoon – he couldn't understand why anyone would voluntarily cancel calculus tutoring appointments, so he assumed it must be a dire emergency – and so he was hanging around, watching his brother pace and talking to the small green – creature that talked back.
"Any ideas?" Wormmon asked, noticing his partner hadn't eaten very much of his stack of pancakes.
"Not one," he replied. "I know this lady – whoever she is – was controlling me – and now there's someone else. And she's female. If she is anything like I was, she must be Chosen, too. But who?"
Osamu attempted to follow the conversation despite his lack of knowledge. Ken had told him very little, in fact, almost nothing, and so he was trying to grasp the few things that made sense. "Chosen?" he repeated. "Those are the ones that have digimon, right?"
"Right," Wormmon replied, since Ken was lost in thought again.
"So, you just have to think of all the females that have digimon and work on it from there."
"That's not as easy as it sounds," Ken replied. "There are a lot of Chosen, and I'm – I'm new at this so I don't know all of them."
"Just try!" Osamu declared, becoming exasperated. "What else can you do? Wait for an answer to pop into your head?"
Ken shrugged. "Well, there's Sora, but I don't think it would be her, and Mimi, but she's in New York. I think. I'm not sure if that's the same here. And then there's Miyako, but it can't be her – I saw her yesterday." He frowned. "That didn't help! There are only four Chosen girls that I know of!"
"Did you forget how to count?" Osamu joked. "You only named three."
"Well, yes, but Hikari – she's…"
"She's what?"
"She's - !"
***
Standard Note: Just a reminder if you were confused by this, you must read the prequel. Must. You can find it at:
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=326235
Is there anyone who hasn't figured out who the evil person in this story is? ^_~ Is there anyone who knew before? I tried not to make it too obvious, but I was surprised no one guessed!
Credit must go to the fabulous author Athena not merely because she's brilliant, but because without her fabulous suggestion I wouldn't have bothered to include Arachnemon and Mummymon in this story at all. So thanks! ^_^
Well, this is the part where I give hints about what's coming up, right? Well, there's going to be fighting. Yes. That's about all I can guarantee at this moment. Lots of fighting and some real emotional scenes. And maybe they'll eat cake at the end.
Ah well, as I have nothing more to impart, I'll depart now with a thanks to all those fabulous people (that aren't Athena that reviewed.) Thanks! ^_^