The light of many colours surrounds Elementroar as he does something he never thought he'll ever need to. He is evolving. He always thought his present form was sufficient to take on anything, but he was foolish. True though, he knew he had this power, the power to evolve to his next form since he was born from the earth. But he never tried to. Why? Maybe so that if he ever failed, he would have hope in his supposedly superior form, that it'll be able to succeed where he before, as an inferior, failed? Has he always not evolved because he did not have too, or because he hated the idea he was inferior?
'But now is not the time to see whether you are inferior!' he tells himself angrily.
'Now is the time to save an innnocent! To prove no matter what form, you shall succeed!'
"Elementroar evolve to," he roars, as the last slivers of light leave to reveal his new form.
"YINYANGROAR!"
The lights dissipates to reveal a Beast no Longer of the Elements, but a Beast of the Balance. A huge black and white tiger with a holy aura, his stripes blend with his pure white coat, constantly swirling like liquid. He, though simpler in form, is far more magnificent then anything any of those present had ever seen.
Yinyangroar bares his teeth and roars.
"RRRWWWAAAAAARR!"
He flies up with no wings and slash through Ladydevimon's clawed hand with his whole body, now a searing white, "YANG GUANG!"
"ARGH! My...arm..." Ladydevimon clutches her once clawed hand, now a sizzling, melting stump.
As the clawed hand dissipates and releases Sam, Yinyangroar stands on the air and let's her fall gently onto his back.
Sam stirs but collaspes again from pain and loss of breath.
"I'm...sorry..." she gasps.
"It's all right," replys Yinyangroar comfortingly.
Tears well up in Sam's eyes. She had did it again, been the idiot, the bother, the useless. Like so many times before. Why did she have to always do that? Why was she always the odd one? Why did she have to live? She should have died right in Ladydevimon's hand, maybe then the others will have a chance to survive...
"You will pay for that, you insignificant beast!" curses Ladydevimon, her voice strange and hollow.
"I have evolved. I am now the Beast of the Balance. You whose heart is so evil and black, is easily destroyed by the powers of the Yang,"
"Oh really. I show you how I have 'evolved',"
"YYYYAAARRGGGHHHHH!!!" screams Ladydevimon as hundreds of huge black tentacles, no that's wrong, they were more like withering snakes that spring out of her back.
"Oh gross what's that?" exclaims Mimi.
"INCOMING!" shouts Matt as the tentacles converge to their single point.
"Get ready guys," Tai tells Greymon.
"NO! That is pure darkness, nothing can stop it save,"
"TAO DISCUS SHIELD!" a discus forms out of one of his stripes at the end of Yinyangroar's tail and he flicks it at the children.
The discus expands, a revolving symbol of the Tao and lands in the middle of the group.
Grey energy spills out from the disc and encircles the group in a transparent, light grey dome.
The tentacles hit the shield but sizzle and dissipate as Ladydevimon's hand had.
"Nothing that is pure evil or pure good can go through that shield," says Yinyangroar triumphantly.
However, unbeknownst by Yinyangroar and the depressed Sam, a small, single tentacle did not attack the dome but instead, crept underneath them and waited, now ready, poised, to attack. But Sam looks down and spots it in her blurry vision.
"No..."
The tentacle shoots straight up, quick as an arrow but much more deadly. It's tip opens up like a mouth and teeth bream inside.
"Strength!"
Even with the help of Strength, Sam is still weak but she muster all her strength and pushes with all her might.
She pushes herself of Yinyangroar and before she falls completely out to the air, she pushes Yinyangroar away from the danger.
Yinyangroar, surprised, turns to see Sam struck and pinned to the ceiling by the black tentacle, and before his eyes, the rest of the tentacle creeps up like black oil falling backwards, encasing Sam in a cocoon.
"I'll get you out!" roars Yinyangroar, ready to strike the dark cocoon off but is stopped by shrill laughter.
"Take a close look," Ladydevimon points to the cocoon.
Pointed appendages have come out of the cocoon and are poised at Sam's neck.
"Make a move and your precious summoner will be no longer a bother to me," sneers Ladydevimon.
"..."
"Speechless? I suppose I could bargain. Simply put, I couldn't care less whether this moron lives or not. Point is, you are far more valuable. If you will join with me, I shall let her go. I'm not going to waste anymore of my time or energy on her,"
"How can I be sure?" growls Yinyangroar suspicously.
"Do you have a choice?" smirks Ladydevimon.
Yinyangroar pauses for a moment, comteplating the situation. But...
"I...I'll shall join you," says Yinyangroar, his head bowed.
"No...don't...do it," gasps Sam but the threatening spears approach closer and she is forced to silence.
"By your word?"
"By...my...word..."
At his last word, a change comes over Yinyangroar. His coat, always swirling with equal portions of white and black, slowly becomes darker and darker as the white is overcomed by the black. Within a few moments, Yinyangroar is a ebony black beast.
As he raises his head, his mouth is stretched in a maniacal grin, lips are pulled back to reveal sharp yellow teeth and blood-red gums. A sickly aura of evil and dread surrounds him, his fur is haggled and dull, not smooth and radiant as it was once before. Its claws are unsheathed, crude and yellow, old and diseased looking. It had not the magnificience of Yinyangroar, its bones jut out, making it look a sack of bones.
The dark creature makes its way to Ladydevimon's side and gives her a sidelong glance.
"You look prettier than I expected," he coos.
"Hm...I see your personality has improved. To whom do I owe this compliment? I'm certain you are no longer Yinyangroar,"
"I am Yinroar now, and if you please, release the summoner now as well,"
"What? After having reverted to darkness you still have the girl in your heart?"
"It is not a matter of 'heart', Ladydevimon. It is a matter of word. Though I am no longer Yinyangroar, his word was and is still mine. And so was your promise. I can asure you I will not give you peace unless you keep your end of the bargain," growls Yinroar, with stinging malice tinging his words.
Ladydevimon is taken aback. Though not liking to be ordered around, she decides it's best not to antagonize Yinroar.
"Hmf! Very well!"
The black mass picks Sam of the ceiling, holding her like a ragdoll. It curves like an arm, ready to throw a ball, and flings Sam towards the ground, the force making her flip and skid helplessly.
"Now, Yinroar, I have completed the deal, like you asked," says Ladydevimon irritably.
"My dear, please don't frown like that! There now, I merely said to RELEASE the summoner. Yinyangroar, the fool, also said to RELEASE her. She is now released, as was the bargain. We can do anything to her now,"
Yinroar glances at the beaten and near unconscious Sam, pulling back a wider grin. Ladydevimon also relaxes and smiles at what he suggests.
"Damn-this-stupid-wall!" shouts Tai, hammering the wall repeatedly.
"Agumon! Hit it with your Pepper Breath again!"
"But Tai, I'm tired," says Agumon, slumping on the ground.
"COME ON! Get up, you!" grunts Tai, trying to pull Agumon up by his shoulders.
"Lay off him, Tai!" protests Matt.
"What? So we're gonna leave Sam out there?! Is that it!?" shouts back Tai, grabbing Matt by the collar.
"Stop it you guys!" Ash says but Matt and Tai are already on the ground brawling.
"Pikachu?" asks Ash, turning to hie yellow friend.
"Pppiiikkkaa-CHUUUU!"
Pikachu shocks both Tai and Matt charcoal black and paralysed.
"Tai, we're all tired. It's no use trying to break through that wall. So sit down and try to think of a way out," says Brock calmly.
As the Digi-destined and Pokemoners strove for a plan to get out, S.K is already sure of what to do.
He goes to a corner of the shield and paws at it at first to test how soft it is, then starts to dig furiously.
The moment he had enough space, he squeezes his head in between the shield and the ground, but the shield reacts to the extra space and forces S.K's head down, choking him by the neck. S.K digs on, trying to give more space for himself but each time the shield comes down harder. For a moment, S.K thinks about giving up and retreating back while he still can. But then, memories flood back to him, about when he was young and just a Growlithe puppy, and how Sam braved the thunderstorm to save him from the rain, and how she trained him since then to become an Arcanine. The memories strengthens his resolve and he pushes on.
However, his neck is being crushed and he can hardly breathe.
"Aarrff..."
'Help...'
That is what Pikachu and the Digimon hear and they turn away from their quarelling companions to see S.K struggling under the shield.
"S.K!"
They run to his aid, Agumon, Gabumon and Tentomon use their claws and hook them under the rim of the shield and with all their might, pull upwards. Palmon uses her vines to hook under the rim else well, with Patamon and Biyomon pulling her upwards. Pikacchu shocks the shield, which weakens it temporarily each time, allowing the Digimon to pull the shield up a few centimetres a time.
"What's he doing?" exclaims Misty in concern.
"Trying to get out for one thing!" says Joe.
"Come on! If he's found a way out, we gotta help him!" shouts Ash, running to the broken shield.
Ash hooks his fingers under the solid edge of the shield and lifts with all his might. Everyone else try to do the same and those that cannot fit their fingers under the shield, throw stones in an effort to weaken the shield further.
With everyone working together, S.K soon has his shoulders, than his body and finally his backlegs and tail out to the otherside.
But the others, too tired from the enormous effort they expelled, have no choice but to let the shield fall back to the ground.
S.K quickly runs to Sam's aid, growling and snarling in anger.
"Uh...Argh!" yells Sam as she trys to place some weight onto her broken arm.
As she tries to rise again, Yinroar crushes her to the ground with his paw.
"What...what happened to you, Yinyangroar?" stutters Sam, tears in her eyes, from physical pain as well as the pain of losing her friend.
"I am no longer Yinyangroar or are you blind, summoner. I am Yinroar, a negative force. Let me give you an explanation so that you will know the difference between him and me clearly. Yinyangroar in essence, is neutral. Neither positive or negative,"
"Tao..."
"What's that?" asks Yinroar, drawing his head closer. The stench of decay and death burns Sam's nostrils but she manages to gasp out,"Tao. He is an embodiment of Taoism. Balance of all things. Letting nature runs its course..." Sam says more than she wanted to. The fumes are making her choke and splutter.
Thankfully, Yinroar draws away and Sam takes a breather while Yinroar comtemplates.
"A Taoist, aren't you? Well, that doesn't matter, the thing is, Yinyangroar let the negative energy within to overpower his positive energy, making moi," Yinroar finishes.
"That doesn't make sense does it..."
"Hmm?"
"You're right, I am a Taoist. But if you are negative energy, I know for a fact it doesn't make you evil. Same way females aren't all evil, or the night isn't evil or ghost aren't all evil either,"
Yinroar pauses.
"So why are you doing this?"
Yinroar is still, as if stunned by Sam's question.
"I...I..."
"YINROAR! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!" screams Ladydevimon impatiently.
"Let me finish my business, woman, all I'll make you regret it!" snaps back Yinroar irritably, annoyed at being interrupted in his thoughts.
He turns to Sam, "You can rant your philosophies all you want, summoner. But I'm a very busy beast,"
He lifts his paw, he doesn't have to worry of Sam getting away.
"Oh! And remember this, summoner. This has and always will be your fault. If you hadn't tried to attack Ladydevimon, maybe Yinyangroar would still be here. If you hadn't tried to kill the Digi-destined, maybe there wouldn't have been so much trouble. If you hadn't been born, all the better for the world and everyone else, isn't it?"
Sam starts to sob again. In truth, she is a sniveler to the core. She always cries when the going get's tough. Not something she is proud of of course but she cannot help it, she resigned to the fact that she will always be like that. Yes, Yinroar is right, Sam thought. I'm useless and nothing but trouble here, I should die! At this moment, Sam feels as if, she had the power, she would kill herself.
Yinroar turns swiftly back to face Sam. His tail flicks and licks the air sharply, twisting on invisible threads. His eyes had no pupils and if he had, they were camouflaged against the blackness that replaced the whites of his eyes.
Without warning, Yinroar swings back his tail and snaps it forward like a whip. The air cackled and a black discus shoots out from one of his stripes. It spins and shrieks across the air, in Sam's direction. Sam expects the worst but the disc flys harmless over her and lands behind her a few paces.
Sam turns her head back slowly to see the discus and before her eyes, the disc expands and grows wider and wider and as it does, it implodes downwards, becoming a huge blackhole.
Though in grief and self-pity, Sam can feel the evil and coldness of the hole as it creeps closer and instinct tells her to run. But her saddened heart tells her to stay put, and welcome the death toll bestowed on her.
So she waits.
But the hole stops a few inches short of her and ceases to expand anymore.
"Damn it, Yinroar! You missed!" hisses Ladydevimon. She is losing patience and faith in the abilities of her new partner.
"On the contrar, half the fun is in prolonging the victims suffering! But I believe it has been too long a time as it is as well."
Yinroar opens his decaying maul and black energy collects and swirls furiously, a black whirlpool threathening to engulf anything to cross it.
"GROAR!"
The black blast fires like a shot from a cannon and heads straight at Sam, who in despair, does not move out of the way.
"RRRR-OOWWWLL!"
In the nick of time, S.K leaps selflessly in front of Sam and takes the full brunt of the blast.
"~*whine*~!"
The blast catches him in midair and he sails over Sam and...
"NO!" screams Sam, shaken from her daze and eyes wide in horror.
S.K is helpless as his limp body plunges deep into the dark depts of the black hole.
"Oh ho! That was very interesting!" squeals Ladydevimon in delight, seeing the unexpected torture on her face as she sees her best friend from childhood, literally disappearing forever.
But Yinroar, strangely enough, has on a very grave expression. For all the evil and darkness in his heart, he had been serious in giving Sam peace. That blast would have killed in an instant and it would not have mattered she would forever fall in the black hole. Now, she is going to have to suffer even more, more than he felt needed.
As for Sam, there are points where you should never push a person. The person may be a "Tiny Tim" or a wimp but all the more you should never push them to the breaking point. Sam is certainly not tiny or a wimp, she is a hardy, if sensitive, farm girl. But again, she is far too sensitive when it comes to self-thought. She is a sniveler, a mamma's girl and all around soft in heart. However, her tears dry very quickly as her blood pressure rises and her body radiated of furious heat. A deep, primal growl revebrates in her throat and her eyes scrunch in fury, pupils dilated. She rolls to her feet and stands hunched up, like some animal in the parody of a human. Her teeth are bared and saliva starts forming on her lower lip. She tosses her head and hunches her back up even more and her head bows forward, her hands unclutch and lock into a position that make them look like unfurled claws. Her breath comes heavily, like a bull. What was once the kind and gentle girl Sam, is shed and replaced by the snarling, primal beast of a human before Ladydevimon and Yinroar.
"Oh my Satan! What are you suppose be? A big, mean tiger?" jeers Ladydevimon.
Yinroar remains silent. This is something which he feels even he cannot take lightly.
Sam does not pay any attention to the jeer, she might not even a word of English at the moment. She glares with the cold, savage stare of a starved predator at Ladydevimon and Yinroar. Then, without warning, she pounces like a tiger at the duo, growling, snarling, teeth gnashing at air.
Before even Yinroar can react, Sam is upon him, sharp fingernails dig deep and pointed teeth pierce through his decaying flesh.
Yinroar shakes her off ruefully, growling at the pain.
Sam twists in the air and lands on her feet like a cat, and she attacks them again. Her mind and instincts has been replaced with a tiger's, deep in the jungle, killing any that stands in its way.
S.K tumbles helplessly ever downwards. Despite he being covered in thick fur and being a fire type, he is shivering. The cold is terrible, it isn't a terrible chill or anything, it's just...cold, hollow.
He feels horrible, not because of the cold but because his friend is in potential danger for her life, and he failed to save her. Not like how she saved his life.
---'It's so cold!' yelped the Growlithe, shivering under a bush from the rain.
He sneezes and shivers some more, backing away from the many big raindrops falling through the leaves of his humble shelter.
Finally, he howls in despair and lays down on his belly, snorting tiny Embers to keep warm.
Sometime later, sounds of a person trudging through the wet mud approach the Growlithe and he trembles from fear. He had never been near humans all that much before, and he was frightened.
A hand pulled up the bunch of leaves and branches and Growlithe faces a young girl, looking down at him.
"Oh! You poor Pokemon!" she crys.
She takes off her raincoat and wraps Growlithe snugly inside. She peeks him up and presse him close to her chest as she ran home.
Growlithe snuggled against the warmth of the girl and is very happy.
---
Tears roll down S.K's muzzle.
He does not feel it at first but slowly, a sensation runs through his body, creeping through him, its intensity slowly increasing.
'What's this?' he gasps in surprise, as the intensity of the feeling goes higher.
'I...have felt this before! A long time ago...'
---"Your Arcanine is gonna be weak if you evolve your Growlithe with that dinky Fire Stone!" jeers a young boy.
"You'll see! This Fire Stone may not make him any much stronger but I'll train him! And he'll be the strongest Pokemon this side of Kanto! You'll see! Right, S.K?"
"Rowlf!" S.K barks in agreement.
Sam places the fragment of Fire Stone on her S.K and he glows brightly as he enlarges in size and his coat flares out.
---
'I'm evolving again! But an Arcanine can't evolve! What's going on?' thinks S.K in surprise as the bright light surrounds his falling form.
'I'm evolving into...'
In the darkness, S.K's new form can hardly be seen. He stops in midair and lands on his four feet, as if on solid ground. He controls the darkness now. He digs his enormous claws deep into the side of the black hole and he climbs up till he is running straight up!
---"S.K! Finish it!" shouts Sam, cheering for her Arcanine.
"ROWWLLl!" roars S.K as he shoots a mighty Flamethrower.
"Quaaggg...sire," the enemy Quagsire falls to the ground, charred.
"How could...how could you Arcanine beat my QUAGSIRE?" says the boy in confusion.
"YAH! S.K! We won!" shouts Sam in glee as she hugs tight on S.K's neck.
---
'Don't worry, Sam. We will win again!'
On the surface, Sam is losing. She has been losing steam as the battle progressed and now, she's having a hard time trying not to get hit badly.
"TAKE THIS!" shrieks Ladydevimon, shooting out her clawed hand.
It strikes Sam hard and she slids all the way to the edge of the black hole.
"I'll finish you NOW for sure!" roars Yinroar.
He unsheaths his yellow claws and charges straight at Sam. He is going to slice her through where she stands and let her fall down the hole in pieces!
"Oh...no," says Sam weakly, too tired to defend herself anymore.
"HELL!"
"FI!"
"RE!"
A huge blast of flame blasts Yinroar backwards, making him topple to the ground.
"WHAT! Was that?!" he growls, getting back to his feet.
Sam looks up as a huge shadow covers her and her eyes widen in shock.
Standing over her, is S.K. But not the S.K she knew. This creature is an enormous dog, short, jet-black fur with deep red, flame-like stripes covers it from headS to long, serpentine tail. But what is so shocking, is its three, long headS! They bare their ivory teeth and their growls make the ground vibrate. The three heads curve downwards over Sam protectively. The middle speaks.
"I AM,"
"CE," says the left head.
"BER," continues the right.
"MON!" finishes the middle again.