Chapter 15: Fusion
The flames raged on their path towards the Digidestined children. They cowered in fear as the flames tore through trees and rocks. The digimon stepped in front of their human companions and attempted to deflect the flames with their attacks.
"Spiral twister!"
"Super shocker!"
"Blue blaster!"
"Blow bubble!"
The four attacks were harmlessly consumed by the massive fire as it continued to advance. Tentomon flew back to where the children were huddled together, "It's no use! We have to digivolve!"
Izzy took out his digivice, but was unable to activate it, "It's no good! We can't seem to activate them! It must be because of our fighting."
Sora suddenly jumped up and screamed at the top her lungs, "It's almost here!" Her eyes became wide and looked like they were ready to pop out of her head.
Matt punched the ground, "We're all going to die! And it's all my fault! Why did I let Mastermon control me like that?"
Joe caught Matt's fist before it could pound on the ground again, "It wasn't your fault, Matt. None of us could have known Mastermon was secretly controlling you."
Mimi suddenly got up, "Wait! Kari, you can fight!"
Kari got up and gave a confused look, "What?"
Mimi put her hands together and smiled, "You and Gatomon weren't involved in the fight, so you should be fine."
Kari pulled out her digivice and it turned on with high pitched whistle, "You're right, Mimi!" She pushed the digivice forward, "Alright, Gatomon, digivolve!"
"Gatomon digivolve to... Angewomon!"
Angewomon quickly moved in front of the blaze and summoned the energy of the Heavens, "Heaven's charm!" Energy from the skies came down and formed into a white ring of energy. Angewomon swung the ring in front of her and blocked the flames as they hit her. The ring deflected the flames from Angewomon and the children.
Kari leapt into the air and clapped, "You did it, Angewomon!"
LordDevimon remained, floating in the sky, "Damn it! Mastermon, you worthless pile of wood!" He landed on the ground and slammed his fists into the hard, rocky surface. Spikes shot out of the ground as LordDevimon sent tremors deep into the crust. "If you pests will not burn on Earth then you shall burn in Hell!"
Matt caught his brother as he fell to the ground, "Whoa! He's going crazy!"
Izzy spread his arms to try to keep balance. His body waved around as the ground reshaped underneath his feet. "He's going to trap us in the ground!"
Angewomon flew towards LordDevimon and prepared to fire her celestial arrow. The arrow of light formed in her hand and she began to aim, "Celestial arrow!"
"Cold stare!" LordDevimon gave Angewomon a cold look with his blood red eyes. Angewomon froze and fell to the ground. She twitched as she de-digivolved into Gatomon.
LordDevimon slammed his fists into the ground again and again to increase the intensity of the tremors. "Burn in Hell!" He shouted as the ground cracked open and lava leaked out.
The explosions of lava and fires gave a red glow to everything and masked the blue sky. Tai flipped Myn onto his back and lifted up his sword, "Myn, you have to do something!"
Myn coughed and struggled for breath. He opened his eyes, slowly, and looked around. He mumbled just loud enough for Tai to hear, "I am too weak..."
Tai placed the sword into Myn's hand, "But you can just share energy with us, right? You're a digimon!"
Myn closed his eyes as he gripped the sword, "I am no digimon. I am a man."
Tai stared off into space as he thought about what Myn had said, "A man?"
Myn coughed as he continued to speak, "Yes. I was one of the first digidestined." Myn stopped talking as a sudden jolt sent him flying into the air. His sword dropped from his hand and stuck into the ground as Myn smashed into the ground. His body flopped to a resting position, "Tai, I am unable to continue the battle." He grabbed Tai's hand and placed the sword in it, "You must continue for me."
Tai tried to break free of Myn's grip, but found himself too weak to even break Myn's weakened grip, "No way! There's no way I can carry on for you!" Tai covered his head with his other arm as rocks shot upward and began to fall downward towards him.
Myn tightened his grip and pulled Tai's ear to his face, "You must!" He took the blade of his sword and cut his hand as well as Tai's.
Tai screamed as the cold, metal blade sliced the palm of his hand open, "What are you doing!"
Myn stuck the sword into the ground and pushed his cut palm against't Tai's cut palm. He mumbled something to himself and began to glow. Tai also began to glow, and he stopped struggling. Warm, loving energy flowed through his body. He could feel his worries disappear as the glow became more intense and blinded the chaos from his eyes.
Sora crawled towards them as the shaking ground began to crack open, "What's happening Tai? Tai!"
Kari also tried to reach them, but fell as the shaking tripped her, "Brother!"
Tai could just barely hear the cries for him as he joined minds with Myn. He could hear Myn's thoughts and feel Myn's pain. He felt a sudden comfort as his soul joined with Myn's It felt as if his body was warm, and unharmed. For that brief moment, it felt like the world was alright. He sudden saw the chaos that LordDevimon was causing, but Myn's body was gone. He turned around and saw Sora and Kari staring at him. "What's wrong?"
Sora tried to get up but fell as the violent shaking became more intense, "What have you done with Tai?"
Tai looked confused, "What do you mean? I am Tai!"
Kari pointed at a puddle of water beside him, "No. Look at your reflection."
Tai looked down into the puddle. The shaking of the ground made it hard to make out what he was seeing, but the colors said it all to him, "My hair! It's blue! He looked at his hands and clothes and suddenly noticed he was taller, "Oh my God! I'm in Myn's body!"
Sora looked confused again, "Tai?"
"Yes?" Tai ran his hands threw his hair as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.
"What's happened to you, brother?"
"I don't know, Kari." Tai answered in an unsteady voice. Sweat ran down his face and gave a salty taste in his mouth. He spat out saliva and wiped his forehead.
Some rocks exploded and hit Sora with pieces of debris. The sharp edges made small cuts along her arms and face. "Ah! Tai, Myn, whoever! You have to do something!"
Tai got up, "Right." He flew into the air and shot off towards LordDevimon. LordDevimon continued to pound the ground and made no sign of noticing Tai. Tai dropped in and rammed his fists into LordDevimon's ribs.
LordDevimon fell to his side and pressed his hand where he had been hit, "Who dares face me?" He turned his head over and saw Myn's body kneeling over him, "so, Myn. You still wish to fight me?" He squinted and gave Myn a hard look, "Wait... Something's different about you."
Tai wasted no time. He reached back and pulled out his sword. LordDevimon saw Tai make his moved and rolled as the sword slashed at his head. The blade missed and became stuck in the ground. Rather than struggle to get the blade out of the ground, Tai punched downward at LordDevimon's chest. The metal chest-plate buckled as his fist smashed against it.
LordDevimon grabbed Tai's hand as he threw another punch and pushed him off. LordDevimon quickly got to his feet and flew into the air before Tai could retrieve his sword and attack him again. Tai followed LordDevimon in pursuit into the clouds. LordDevimon smiled as he exited the top of the clouds. He's fallen for it! LordDevimon turned around and threw waves of fire into the clouds.
Tai was unable to see in the thick cloud coverage and lost site of LordDevimon. He paused as the clouds above him began to glow a bright red and orange. He dodged to the right as balls of fire zipped at him. Tai shot back to the left as more flames tried to hit him. As the next wave came, Tai was too busy dodging the current wave and was too slow to react. He put up his arms to protect his face as the flames engulfed him in a red blaze. The flames made him feel cold, rather than hot. The feeling of death no doubt. Tai tensed his muscles and could feel his energy forming a thin shield in front of him. He felt the warmth of his body again and rammed through the flames to the top of the clouds.
LordDevimon watched as the flames spread out as they hit something. He threw more flames as the object they hit got closer. As it continued to break through his attacks, he could make out that it was Tai. Tai broke out of the top of the cloud below LordDevimon as a red ball of fire. The flames shot off of his body in all directions as he spun towards LordDevimon. Tai pulled out his sword and made a downward slash across LordDevimon's right arm. Pieces of metal broke off and dented as the blade sliced into it.
LordDevimon dropped back as the blade was pushed past the metal and into the flesh. He pulled his arm back so the blade slipped out and spun back to punch Tai. Tai ducked under the high swing and stabbed his sword through LordDevimon's stomach.
Tai struggled to push his blade farther down LordDevimon's stomach and could feel the blood rushing into his arms. He heard cracking noises as his blade punctured LordDevimon's spine. Blood ran out of LordDevimon's wound and down Tai's arms. Unlike human blood, LordDevimon's blood gave Tai a cold feeling and made him feel weak. He felt his muscles begin to give way to the cold and found himself getting farther away from LordDevimon. He suddenly realized LordDevimon's hand was around his neck and that he was being pushed away. He choked as LordDevimon tightened his grip and began to crush his wind pipe.
LordDevimon laughed as Tai's body started to become limp and his face turned red. "You should have known better than to stand against a Devil!" He tightened his grip some more and was welcomed by the sound of Tai gasping for breath.
Tai dropped the sword from his hand and tried to pull LordDevimon's hand off of his neck. He struggled to get free, but the loss of blood circulation made him weak and dizzy. The world around him began to spin. As his face became hot from the rush of blood and his body became cold, the world became dark and reality began to fade. Tai could not deny that he was dying. I'm sorry, Sora...
Tai closed his eyes as they began to give him a burning sensation from the overload of blood in his head. He could feel his heart pumping twice as hard to try to get blood threw his arteries. He let his body rest in LordDevimon's grip and could feel a tired sleep overcome him. In the distance he heard voices calling out for him. There were at least 5 voices. They only called for his name, nothing more. He awoke as he made out one of the voices. Sora needs me! He focused the energy threw his mind and called the sword back up to him. He gripped the handle as the cold shaft hit his hand. Without conscious thought, Tai brought the sword around and sliced LordDevimon's un-armored arm off.
LordDevimon released his grip on Tai's neck and squeezed the stub on his right side where the arm once was. He screamed in pain and shut his eyes as the open wound began to send a burning sensation through his body. He fell down, through the clouds and slammed into the ground.
Tai followed, after LordDevimon with his sword drawn. He landed a few meters away from where LordDevimon was laying. Looking with watchful eyes, Tai began to walk, slowly, towards LordDevimon.
"Look! There they are!" Matt shouted to everyone as he pointed out into the distance. Tai and LordDevimon appeared to be little insects from where the other digidestined were standing, but they could not be mistaken for anything else.
Sora smiled, "Thank God, he's alright!"
Kari pointed as Tai began to rush forward, "Look! He's moving!"
Tai thrusted downward with his sword, but missed as LordDevimon sprang up to his feet and away from the slash. He pushed his good arm forward and struck Tai in the ribs. Tai kneeled down a little as the blow sent a tingly feeling through his right side.
LordDevimon stood to his full height and rasped, "Foolish human!" He threw his open hand forward to send a blast of fire at Tai, "Your pitiful existence ends here!"
Tai jerked his arm forward to bloke the attack. He charged his own energy blast and they collided. The reaction of the two energy attacks exploded into a white, fiery blaze. Tai flew back at such a speed he felt like he was being crushed. He finally came to a stop as he smashed into a large rock near the digidestined.
Sora rushed over to Tai and began to pull him out of the rock, "Are you alright?"
Tai fell out of the rock and onto the ground as a limp mass. He breathed heavily and choked as he spoke, "I'm alive..."
Sora giggled and gave him a smile as he rolled onto his back, "You sure?"
Joe started to yell in a rushed voice, "Look! LordDevimon is disappearing!"
In the distance, LordDevimon's body could be seen. It was beginning to form into small ball of light, just like WarGreymon had. The ball of light consumed all of LordDevimon's body and flew away. Matt took in a deep breath, "It's finally over..."
Izzy shook his head, "I'm afraid not. The message that Myn gave me said that there was a great evil on the continent of Mainframe."
"A whole new continent?" TK asked.
Izzy nodded, "That's right. There's also supposed to be three Magi there."
Joe joined Izzy, "Magi? you mean like the wisemen from the history books?"
"I think so. They may be creations from the data on the internet about them. Of course, that's assuming that the Digiworld still functions by reading the data on the internet."
Tai screamed and pushed on his stomach. He whipped around as he gave a look of pain and suffering.
Sora grabbed him by the shoulder, "What's wrong?"
Tai spoke slowly and un-steadily, "Burning feeling... Feels like I'm being torn apart!"
Joe freaked out, "Oh no! He's going to get torn apart, just like WarGreymon!"
Sora turned her head to him and gave him a judging look, "Joe!"
"Sorry, I'll be quiet."
Tai began to glow. A warm feeling spread through his body and he stopped struggling, "Ah, I feel at peace now."
Sora gave him a hard look, "Don't say it like that!" She removed her hand from his shoulder as he glowed too brightly for her to see. She looked away as the light became an intense white.
Tai could feel a strange tugging around him. He soon realized the obvious as the process was almost finished. His body shrank and twisted to its original shape and he stopped glowing. He scanned his body with his hands and smiled, "I'm back to normal!"
Everyone cheered and rushed in to hug their returned friend. When they stopped, Izzy spoke, "Ok, there's no time to lose. We better start moving to find a way to Mainframe."
Joe adjusted his glasses and gave a nod, "He's right. We have to fix what's wrong as soon as possible! Too many lives have been lost because of trouble like this! We needn't drag it on farther!"
"Alright! Lets go!" TK shouted and began to march.
Kari and Mimi followed immediately after TK with their digimon. Joe, Izzy, and Sora began to follow as well. Sora stopped and turned, "What are you two waiting for? Let's go!"
Tai looked at Sora with affectionate eyes. Everyone else stopped and looked at him and Matt, "Sorry, guys. But I've got go on my own." He put the sword Myn had given to him into his sheath on the ground and put around his back, "A lot has happened to me. I have to figure out what's going on with me and Myn." He looked at his digivice and crest, "I also have to figure out what's going on with Agumon."
Sora gave him a sad look, but nodded, "Ok, I understand."
Kari waved as he began to walk away, "Good luck, Tai! Come back to us soon!"
Joe waved too. He stopped as Tai disappeared into the forest, "And what about you, Matt?"
Matt looked at the ground, refusing to look at his friends in the face, "I have to leave too. It's my fault we got into that jam back there."
Mimi came forward and protested, "No, it's not! Mastermon was controlling you!"
Matt looked up and shouted back, "Even then! He was right! Deep down inside I though Tai was useless!" He looked as his crest, "The crest of friendship... I'm always being tested! I have to come to terms with myself!" Matt turn and ran from the group followed closely by Gabumon.
Sora held out her hand, "Wait! Matt!"
She started to run after him, but Izzy quickly grabbed her arm, "Let him go. He'll come back after he's had some time to cool off."
Sora stood there as the others started off again towards the desert. "I hope you're right..." Sora turned around and joined her friends on their journey to the continent of Mainframe, "I hope you're right."