Chapter 23: Angels at War
Tai looked downward at the snowy horizon from atop a hill. The smoke had stopped from afar a while back and there were no other signs of any activity in the Ice region of File Island. This worried Tai. Several reasons for the silence popped in his head. Either the smoke was a fire that Matt used to keep warm and he was now on the move or there was a battle that might have hurt Matt. He didn't wish for the latter.
The sound of footsteps came from behind him. He turned to see Sora approaching him. She looked a little gloomy and rubbed her arms as she moved to keep warm. Her steps were slow and narrow as she made her way to him up the hill. "Everyone is ready to continue." Sora said as she met his eyes.
Tai turned to the Ice region and crossed his arms in thought, "We've lost any sign of a trail." He shook his head, "Whatever happened here... It covered anything signs of Matt and Gabumon."
Sora looked at the snowy plain in front of her. The entire plain was perfectly smooth. There were no signs of anyone being there for quite some time, "Do you think Matt was ever here?"
"Oh, he was here alright," Izzy's voice came from behind them. He pulled out his digivice and it began to glow. "In fact..." Izzy turned his digivice and looked at it. A red dot appeared on it's grid-line map. "He's still here."
Tentomon flew over to the trio and complimented on Izzy's discovery, "Excellent idea, Izzy! We can use the digivices to locate him by his own digivice's signal!"
The rest of the group was now walking towards the trio of humans. The walked at a steady pace that showed they were well rested. Tai looked at his own digivice at the red dot that represented Matt's digivice, "This doesn't make sense though." He said.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked as she peeked over his shoulder to look at the map.
"According to these readings," Tai explained, "We should be able to see Matt right now." He held the digivice so that the grid map overlapped with the actual landscape. "See?" He explained, "He should be right there." He put down his digivice and pointed at at the base of a hill.
Sora sighed, "Do you think he might have dropped his digivice?"
"I don't think so," Izzy said. "Matt's not the kind of person to leave something behind."
By now the rest of the group had reached the trio. Immediately, conversation broke out between the entire group about how to proceed. They all made arguments about the digivice signal and the fact that there was nothing visible to the naked eye. This went on for a few minutes before Tai finally broke it up, "Wait!"
Everyone stopped talking and turned their heads to see what Tai had to say. Their complete, undivided attention was now centered on him.
He lowered his arms, which were spread out when he yelled for their attention. "As long as we're here," he said, "We might as well go check it out."
Everyone agreed and began to walk down the hill. Tai yelled at them again, "Stop!" They all immediately stopped in their tracks and turned to him again, "I think that some of us should stay here."
"What?" Joe asked, "Why? We're much better as a team."
Tai nodded in acknowledgement, but disagreed, "I think some of us should stay up here and watch in case something happens."
Joe adjusted his glasses and nodded, "Alright, then who should stay here?"
Tai looked at the entire group and thought it over for a moment. He could easily just leave a single person and his or her digimon behind, but he felt that something was out there. Myn's sword spoke to him in his mind and warned him of incoming dangers, but this time it wasn't saying anything. He wondered about about the evil that the sword told him about, the one that had returned. He suddenly remembered the problem at hand and decided, "Alright," he said, "Joe, I want you to stay here with Mimi and Kari."
Joe nodded again and turned to the two girls he was placed with. Mimi smiled as his gaze moved over to her. They had been going out for nearly a year now. KAri also smiled when he looked at her. Not because of inner feelings, but because it was part of her good nature.
Gomamon interjected, "What do you want us digimon to do?"
Tai looked at the little, white digimon, "stay with your human companions of course." He looked at the group of digimon, which didn't include his long lost Agumon. A spike of pain and guilt filled his heart as he remembered how he lost him in battle. He fought the pain away and continued, "It won't do us any good to encounter trouble and be without our digimon."
The digimon all broke into the groups that their companions were in and they soon parted. Tai led Sora, Izzy, and TK down the hill towards the signal from Matt's digivice. As they got closer to the source, they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. No footprints, no signs of a skirmish. Nothing.
Izzy looked at his digivice and reported, "We're here."
The group stopped and looked around them. Nothing but white snow and jagged ice surrounded them. There was no digivice, let alone Matt and Gabumon. "There's nothing here," TK said.
Sora looked at the ground, "Do you think it's under the snow?"
Izzy looked at what Sora meant and nodded, "That would make sense." He explained his logic, "In theory, Matt had come here and possibly dropped his digivice. If indeed he dropped it and din't know, it's buried under snow that accumulated since Matt came which would also explain the absence of footprints." As he finished he kneeled down and felt the snow with his hand. It sank into the soft blanket of white easily and made a crunching sound as it press the snow. "This snow is still soft, which means its newly fallen snow."
Tai felt the snow and thought about it, "How do you know?" He asked Izzy, "We don't get snow in Tokyo."
Izzy looked at Tai form where he kneeled, "I read about it."
"Well, well!" A familiar voice came from above along with a menacing laugh, "A quartet of my favorite do-gooders!" DarkAngemon slipped down through the clouds with his scythe in his hands. His helmet hid his sadistic eyes, but not the evil joy in his smile.
The Digidestined stared in shock and fear as the six black wings of the cursed angel spread wide and blocked out the shining sun.
- A top a hill -
"Look!" Kari shouted. She pointed at where Tai and the others stood in the distance, "There's something else there!"
Joe and Mimi looked closely as a six winged figure fell through the clouds carrying a scythe, "My God!" Joe exclaimed, "It can't be!"
Mimi also remembered the figure and stood up, "We have help them!"
- Base of Hill -
"You!" TK shouted with his fist shaking with anger, "It was you!" He stepped forward, "You were the one that got Matt!" He pulled out his digivice and held it tight in his hand, "Patamon!"
Patamon flew into the air and made his way toward DarkAngemon. He began to glow brightly as TK filled him with energy, "Patamon, digivolve to... Angemon."
Angemon flew in with his staff and swung it downwards on DarkAngemon's scythe. The sound of colliding metal rang through the sky as they let their rage fuel their attacks.
DarkAngemon twisted the blade of his scythe around Angemon's staff and pulled Angemon into his kick. The force of the kick separated them, giving DarkAngemon the chance he needed. He lifted his fist and concentrated his anger into it. A red glow covered his fist as he punched forward, "Hand of Hate!"
Angemon saw what was happening and concentrated his own holy energy into his hand. He punched just like DarkAngemon had, "Hand of fate!"
The two beams of energy, one holy, the other devilish, collided. Their negative forces fused together into a singe ball and rejected their opposite properties, causing them to rip apart. The force of the pulling caused an explosion that shook the ground. A shockwave pulsed outward and rattled the snowy hills and cracked the chunks of ice lying around.
The energy from the collision seemed to increase and expanded the ball of holy chaos. Angemon fired at the incoming danger to try to ward it off, but was too weak to offend it away. He flew to TK and covered him with his arms and wings.
The other digimon digivolved into their champion forms and protected their human companions with their large masses. Kabuterimon's hard exoskeleton shielded himself as well as Izzy while Birdramon's wings were more than enough to protect Sora.
Tai struggled to stay standing as the explosion sent shockwaves downward on him, knocking him down. The wind blew harder and nearly lifted him into the sky to play with. He pulled out his sword and thought about what he had to do. He felt the blade hum to life as it brought out the energy within him. It felt warm and welcoming. He closed his eyes and let the world disappear around him. He was deep within himself. He concentrated a little longer, allowing the energy to build up. He opened his eyes and let the reality of the world return to him as he released his energy. It shot outward as strands of light that wrapped around his body. They formed the silhouette of Myn around Tai and completely encased him. The light shattered to reveal Myn in Tai's place. But it wasn't Myn. Tai had mearly changed his physical body into the digital representation of Myn.
He was now strong enough to stand against the wind and shockwaves with ease. Tai launched off of the ground and flew into the explosion. He formed a barrier over his hands and around the explosion to prevent it from reaching his friends. Using this barrier he pushed against the hot impulse. The force of the explosion was strong enough to hold Tai back, but his limitless source of energy allowed him to slowly gain ground against it.
The light from the plasma completely blinded Tai from seeing anything. He held his eyes shut to try to prevent the white light form blinding him forever. He pushed with all his strength to deflect the explosion. The ball began to lose to him and slowly moved higher into the sky as Tai continued to push it.
When the explosion was far enough away for the others to see, the digimon released them. DarkAngemon's shadow covered them from above as he floated over them in the explosion's light. He didn't seem interested with Tai and the fact he had turned into Myn. He merely motioned the other digimon to fight him.
Kabuterimon held Izzy back, "Don't worry. The three of us are more than enough for this clown!"
Izzy remembered their past battles with DarkAngemon and shook his head, "I don't think so, KAbuterimon. You remember what happened last time?"
Kabuterimon stood perfectly still as he tried to remember what had happened. He suddenly remembered that they were powerless, even in their Ultimate forms. "Right," he said, "Better digivolve. Kabuterimon, digivolve to... MegaKabuterimon!"
MegaKabuterimon flew over DarkAngemon and powered up his horn to dive at him. He sent out a thunder bolt before he began to descend, "Horn Buster!"
DarkAngemon saw the thunder bolt coming and quickly brought up his scythe to deflect it. The bolt bounced off the metal blade and flew, harmlessly into a hill. The water molecules in the snow caught onto the electricity and sent it flowing through the ground. The digidestined all screamed as it ran through their bodies and sent them into spasms. The electricity died out and smoke began to run off of the digidestineds' bodies. they slowly got up to continue the fight.
MegaKabuterimon's dive hit DarkAngemon dead on and slammed him into the ground. Snow flew up and masked the others from seeing anything. They covered their heads as the wave of snow flew onto them. As Izzy swept the snow off of him he saw MegaKabuterimon rise into the air. He also noted that DarkAngemon was lifting him, "Oh no! MegaKabuterimon!"
DarkAngemon threw the giant insect digimon into Birdramon and turned around as Angemon came up behind him. "So," he said with a grin, "We dance the dance again!"
Angemon grit his teeth and shouted, "No more, demon! Angemon, digivolve to... MagnaAngemon!"
MagnaAngemon rammed into DarkAngemon and pulled out his sword. It glowed purple as his energy flowed through it. He slashed upward at DarkAngemon's neck, but was blocked by his scythe. MAgnaAngemon flew back a few feet as the long reach of DarkAngemon's scythe nearly ripped him in two. He powered up his fist as he saw that the wide swing caused DarkAngemon to slow down as he worked to balance the blade in his hands again. "Hand of Fate!"
DarkAngemon saw the incoming holy attack and desperately attempted to get his scythe up to protect him. This proved only to put him in a worse position as he lost his grip on the blade with one of his hands. The weight of the weapon caused the arm still holding it to drop while the other arm flew upward from the sudden drop in the weight it carried. This left his entire body wide open. The blazing beam of holy light shot right into his chest and tore out the other end. Blood leaked out of his new wound and made his body feel cold as it made its way downward. He tried to scream, but felt overridden with pain and silently fell to the ground with a loud impact.
TK jumped into the air with his hands high and cheered, "Yeah! Way to go, MagnaAngemon! You show him who's boss!"
MagnaAngemon smiled at his young companion and reverted to Patamon. Birdramon and MegaKabuterimon both reverted to their rookie forms and ran to the small, winged hero. They laughed as they lifted Patamon into the air and cheered his victory. "Thanks guys!" Patamon shouted through his laughs, "I'm just glad we're all safe!"
"Not quite," Izzy said in a low tone. He pointed upward at Tai, who was still holding the energy ball from exploding any further. "I don't think there's any way we can help..." He continued, "This is Tai's fight." He lowered his head as the feeling of helplessness entered his mind.
Sora put her hand on his shoulder. She didn't look at, but watched Tai. Keeping her gaze on the struggle, she offered Izzy her words of comfort, "Don't worry. Tai will win."
Tai indeed was pushing the ball away, but the strain on his body was immense and it began to show on his face. The task he faced was too taxing on him and he would have to complete it soon or face a swift death. Tai suddenly felt the ball become stronger and he saw the ground getting closer. He summoned even more strength and halted the advance quickly before they were too close to his friends. Have to get rid of it!
"Ah! But will he win in time?"
"What!?" Sora whipped around to see DarkAngemon standing. A gaping hole went right through his chest where he was hit by MagnaAngemon's attack. Blood still leaked out and stained the snow below him. "How!?"
DarkAngemon breathed heavily and his body visibly shook as he struggled to keep up right. "Did," He couched out some blood before speaking again, "Did you really think I'd be defeated so easily?" He laughed as he usually did, but two voices could be heard. DarkAngemon's and LordDevimon's voices could both be heard as he spoke, "I am the product of two wills! Two souls!" Even as he described his condition his wounds healed themselves. The Digidestined could see the hole's walls begin to stretch out fleshy tendrils. The tendrils met and tied together to form new flesh and stop the bleeding.
Izzy marveled at the entire process. DarkAngemon had acquired healing abilities that surpassed any other digimon since he apparently gained the soul of LordDevimon. This made him more dangerous than he had imagined. Not only were they outmatched by him, but he could also now heal with ease.
"But enough talk!" DarkAngemon pointed his scythe at the children as his wings flapped and carried him back into the air. He growled under his breath, "Let's finish this!"
"You got that right!" A woman's voice shouted from behind.
DarkAngemon turned his head to locate the source. He suddenly felt his back burning as something exploded on it. "Argh!" he shouted as he turned around and saw Lillymon and Angewomon elevated to his level. "So, the rest of you want to play?" DarkAngemon's voice seemed to be even more consumed by LordDevimon's. He didn't seem to notice or care, "All at once for all I care! You'll still lose!"
Lillymon charged forward as Angewomon fired her celestial arrow at DarkAngemon. The digimon easily dodged the arrow and willingly allowed Lillymon to ram into him. The duo spun in the air as they struggled. DarkAngemon, with his superior strength, grabbed Lillymon by the head with one hand and laughed. "You'll be the first to go!" He brought Lillymon's face in closer and kissed her. Lillymon struggled to break free from his grip bought suddenly felt her energy being drained. She screamed under the kiss as DarkAngemon completely drained her and let her fall to the ground below.
"No! Lillymon!" Mimi ran to her fallen friend and lifted her limp body. She feared the worst when she didn't move. Tears ran down her face as she held her friend in her arms.
"Don't worry... Mimi." Lillymon's voice was weak. "I'm just tired..."
Mimi let her friend down as she went into a deep sleep to regenerate her energy.
"Don't stop now!" DarkAngemon mocked the others, "That's just the preview of what will happen to the rest of you!"
Sora looked at Biyomon, "You have to help Angewomon!"
Biyomon leapt into the sky and readied herself to join the fight, "Biyomon, digivolve to..." Nothing.
"Oh no!" Izzy paniced, "The last fight must have drained our digimon. They can't digivolve!"
DarkAngemon now faced Angewomon one-on-one. His confidence in himself and his chances at winning brought laughter to his face again. He charged forward at the single digimon that stood in his way.
Angewomon prepared to dodge. she had no weapon and didn't dare go against the scythe wielding Digimon hand to hand. DarkAngemon twirled his scythe into a downward slice. Angewomon flew back to easily dodge the reach of the long blade.
DarkAngemon released his left hand from the staff of the scythe as he spun with his swing's momentum. Right after the missed cut, he used his Hand of Hate attack with his free hand on the unsuspecting Angewomon. The red beam wasn't too well aimed and only managed to clip one Angewomon's six wings.
She fell slightly before she could compensate for the loss of the wing's added lift. She wish she had allowed herself to fall, however, because DarkAngemon was coming in fast with another slash. A slash she wouldn't be able to dodge.
"It's over, Angewomon!" The words were lost as Zudomon burst out of the snow below. His horn coming between the two angels. He lifted his hammer and brought it down on DarkAngemon. A loud clang sound echoed as the hammer drove the black angel into the icy ground.
Joe ran over to the other children from behind a small hill. By the time he reached them, DarkAngemon had flipped Zudomon onto his back, sending tremors through the soft floor. "Where's Matt?"
Izzy shook his head, "His digivice signal leads to here, but we couldn't find any trace of him!" He ducked as an ice crystal fell over, nearly crushing him and the others. "Our digimon are too weak to digivolve!"
Joe didn't hear the last thing he said. The loud cry of the planet roared over any other noises made as the crust below the Digidestined began to open. "What's going on? What's causing this shaking?"
The Digidestined and their digimon all fell to their stomachs as the ground split open with a loud groan. Lava leapt out of the crack and melted the snow to reveal a brown wasteland underneath it's serene cloak. Tai saw the whole disaster unfold and felt a rush of rage and energy pulse through him as he found his friends in danger. Worse, his love, Sora, was kicked up by the violent shaking. He looked to his right to see that DarkAngemon was out of harms reach in the air while Angewomon and Zudomon had both reverted to Gomamon and Gatomon. No risk. He spun the explosive ball of energy and began to build up a centripical force on it. The ball was carried by his energy barrier and began to circle Tai like it were on a rope. As he felt the spinning bring the force to the limit he released the ball and let it fly towards DarkAngemon.
The sinful creature never saw it coming. He was too deep in his own amusement at the chaos that rocked the Digiworld. He suddenly turned as the white light from the ball shined on him. Too late, he merely screamed as the ball was released form Tai's barrier and expanded to consume him. The air around him burned and evaporated as the heat from the explosion seared into his flesh. He felt the pain, but knew himself to be healing just as rapidly. His body felt a constant pull from all directions as his flesh quickly stretched and fused to heal the onslaught of burns.
The following explosion that brought the end of the ball sent DarkAngemon tumbling to the ground. His forced descent was too fast and cracked the ground as he was driven deep into it. The quake soon swallowed him as the fiery depths of the underworld sprang upward to welcome their new guest. DarkAngemon didn't falter. He welcomed the flames and damned souls as they ate at him. Entered him. He was the vessel that carried the devil, the lord of the damned. His only question. The source of the quake.
Tai fell to the ground in a hurry to get to Sora. His struggle with the energy sphere and using it to defeat DarkAngemon had taken everything he had. He lost his grip on his transformation and returned to his normal self before reaching the ground. He flipped over to try to land on his feet, but was too weak from the battle to stay on them once he landed. He struggled with every muscle he had to crawl over to Sora and his friends.
They all were gripping onto each other and the ground for dear life as the quake became even more violent. They suddenly heard a roar that sounded as if it had come from a wolf and the quake stopped. the roar echoed through their ears and bounced off of the vally walls created from the quake. Everyone slowly got to their feet when it finally ended and made sure they were all alright.
They all heard a growl aimed at them. Turning slowly, the Digidestined prepared for the worst. What they got was far more menacing than anything they had imagined. A feral beast with three heads and demonic wings. Its fur a deep black that seemed to consume the light around it. A long tail with a violent flame at its tip whipped back and forth as the monster stared at them with its blood red eyes. Smoke blew out of its three noses and fire sprayed forth with each breathe the beast took.
The Digidestined didn't know what to think. Their digimon were all too weak to digivolve to face this creature. Tai himself had completely exhausted himself saving them from the explosion of energy created by DarkAngemon and MagnaAngemon while Lillymon was in a comatose state, recouping from being drained by DarkAngemon.
The beast's rage filled face sent shivers down the children's spines. Their digimon all valiantly stood against the creature. Ready to lay down their lives as WarGreymon had for Tai. None of them expected to get out of it alive. They only hoped they could give their friends enough time to escape.