Ok, there seems to be enough demand so here's part 2. Oh, by the way, Peter Kim was absolutely right on all counts but Necromon doesn't know the Tamers' abilities. He'll probably regret relying on Impmon for information! Having said that, this is set halfway through the Devas' arc in the Tamer series. They've reached Ultimate level but will that be enough against 2 Dark Megas?
* This is covered in another of my fics. One I haven't got around to finishing yet (I hopefully will when I get the chance! Work's become a curse the last few months!)
Dark Empire
2: The Gathering Storm
Tai and Kari's house
All the Digidestined, save for Mimi (still in America), Davis and Kari, had assembled at Gennai's request. Now that Davis was…indisposed, TK and Gennai had agreed on the need for everyone to be involved. Plus they didn't want to have to repeat the story several times.
"Necromon…that's a name I never wanted to hear again," Matt said grimly.
"You got that right, Matt," Tai growled.
*Tai and Matt had special grudges against Necromon. He had sent the original Digidestined team to another world during the time of the Dark Masters. They'd escaped and returned to the Digital World, but Tai and Matt had never been the same afterwards thanks to a madman in that world by the name of Sephiroth. Thanks to him, Tai and Matt had fallen into that world's 'Lifestream' and had become infused with its energy. The effects had never worn off. They became super strong and super fit but the change had almost proved lethal to them. Although they'd defeated Sephiroth both still had nightmares from their 'transformation' and both were a little disappointed when they found that Necromon was apparently dead when they returned. Needless to say, however, now they weren't too happy to hear that Necromon wasn't as dead as they thought.*
"How did he survive? And what's he up to now?" Joe asked.
"I don't know how he survived. Like you I thought he was destroyed 3 years ago along with the other Dark Masters," Gennai said bitterly. "He's certainly not been idle. While we were fighting Ken and then MaloMyotismon, it looks like he was building a secret army of his own. But it doesn't look like he's preparing to invade the Digital World or here."
Izzy considered this. "He's been opening portals but not here or the Digital World?" Then he realised. "He's going to invade another world!"
"What good would that do him?" Tai wondered.
"Don't you see, Tai? He can't conquer the Digital World thanks to Oikawa and us being here. But if he takes another world he can come back even stronger than he is now! He might even find a way of undoing what Oikawa did!"
"So how do we stop him?" Sora broke in. "We don't know what world he's gone to and we've got no way of following him."
"Not entirely," Gennai said. "I've got a way to follow him but there's a vital part I'm missing."
"And that is?" Matt asked.
"I need precise co-ordinates for the portal. I need to know precisely which world he's gone to."
Yolei wasn't overjoyed. "How are we supposed to get those? Go back to the castle and ask?"
"We go back to the castle, sneak in and find out for ourselves," TK said grimly.
"I think I can help you get inside thanks to the information you got on your D3's," Izzy said.
Just then Kari arrived back at the apartment.
"How's Davis?" Yolei asked.
"He'll live but he's going to be down for awhile," Kari said. "He's still in good spirits though."
That was an understatement. Davis was furious that he was out of the game. "Tell TM not to get too cosy! I won't be gone too long!" was the last thing he'd said to Kari before she had left.
"I guess we're needed again now Davis is out, right Matt?" Tai guessed.
"Yeah, with him gone our digimon are the only ones that can go Mega," Matt replied.
"I talked to Azulongmon about that," Gennai told them. "He said he'll release all the energy he can spare. It should be enough for Agumon and Gabumon to reach Mega level. I don't think it'll be enough to get Omnimon back though."
"I hope that's enough," Tai added. "So when do we leave for the castle?"
Izzy broke in as he finished analysing the castle readings. "Only 2 or 3 of us should go, Tai. I can't guarantee getting any more than that past the castle's sensors."
"Let me go with Cody and Ken, Tai," TK suggested. "If we get into trouble we can still DNA digivolve and get out again."
"Ok, but be careful. We can't lose anyone else!" Tai warned.
Tamer World: Under the city
Impmon was sitting by himself in a dark corner of the sewers, mired in self-pity and self-loathing. He'd been humiliated and beaten by Indramon and now he was a laughing stock. He had tried his best but it seemed there was no way to digivolve without a human. But as much as Impmon wanted to digivolve he'd sooner be dead than join up with the 'loser patrol' of humans!
"I thought I'd find you here," Impmon looked up to see Necromon coming out of the shadows. "Yes, I saw the fight. I, or should I say we, were looking for you and, well you know the rest. You needed this realm's Digidestined to bail you out, how humiliating!"
"Are you sure this digimon can help us?" Daemon emerged from the darkness close behind.
"Uh, who's this? Nice outfit!" Impmon quipped, though he was nervous at the sight of Daemon.
"Daemon is a new associate of mine. You'd do well not to get on the wrong side of him."
"So, uh, what do you want with me now?" Impmon said. "I'd thought I'd seen the last of you."
"You thought wrong," Necromon said coldly. "Why did you run from me the first time?"
Their first meeting had been a brief one. Necromon had stumbled across Impmon on one of his jaunts while Impmon was being his usual self, attacking people on park benches with a few bada-booms. Impmon had run off before Necromon could gain much information but he had resolved to find him again.
"Hey I thought you were after my data!" Impmon retorted. "It's bad enough with the loser patrol and their digi-rats and those humans in the tower…"
"What?!" that had piqued Necromon's interest. "What do you mean: the humans in the tower?"
"Geez, for such a big digimon you're pretty clueless, ain't you? There's a bunch of humans that keep snatching digimon off the streets and taking them to that big tower in the centre of town. You can't miss it. It's the biggest block with 2 smaller towers on top."
"Interesting…"
"They came after you too, huh?"
"Not exactly, but I've a feeling they may have been responsible for a little trouble I had recently."
"How do you know all this?" Daemon asked with a scowl.
"Hey, hey take it easy! I've been in that tower once or twice. Pretty fancy set-up. They can take out some digimon before they even get here!"
This confirmed Necromon and Daemon's suspicions.
Necromon grinned nastily. "Well, it's time for a few changes around here." He pulled out a communication device. It enabled him to contact his home base in the Dark Ocean no matter where he was. "Lock on to my location and send through package number 1!"
2 minutes later a small portal opened and a small case dropped through. Necromon picked it up and checked it. "Good. No damage, they obviously only target digimon and living things. Which will be their undoing!"
He turned back to Impmon. "Since you're obviously tired of being the 'loser that can't digivolve', I'll make a deal with you. I want you to sneak back into that tower…"
"WHAAAAT!!!" Impmon looked like he was close to a heart attack. "Forget it! I may be down but I certainly don't want to be out, capisce?"
"Oh? What a pity, it was such a good offer I had for you too. Oh well, if you want to remain at this pitiful level of power that's fine by me…"
All of a sudden, Impmon changed his tune. "You can make me digivolve? Why didn't you say? What do you want me to do?"
"I thought you weren't interested," Necromon teased.
"If you can get me to digivolve, I'll do anything. Short of getting myself killed!" Impmon replied with force.
"Anything, eh? All right, here's the deal. Slip into that building again. You've seen how everything operates in there, right?"
Impmon nodded.
"Good." Necromon opened the case and brought out a computer disk. "Once you sneak in, I want you to upload this into their system. Once it's done, return here. We'll be waiting for you. Succeed and digivolution will be yours."
Impmon grinned. His dream was finally within reach! "You can count on me."
"I hope so," Necromon's expression turned nasty. "Because if you fail, I'll finish the job that Indramon started on you! You capisce that!?"
"I get it! I'm going, I'm going!" Impmon scampered away at the rate of knots.
"Aren't we relying on him a little too much?" Daemon asked.
"Even if he fails, nothing's lost. I've got plenty more weapons where that came from."
"What was on that disk?"
"Oh, just a little something I've been cooking up for such an occasion. We're well prepared to fight all kinds of enemies. If all goes as planned, this city will be ours and the human filth in that tower will never know what hit them!"
"What of the Digidestined of this world? Or the Tamers as we now know they're called."
"Yes, they're stronger than I anticipated," Necromon admitted. "Serves me right for relying on bad information. These Tamers certainly have more potential than their counterparts back home. They can do much more for their digimon than the Digidestined ever could. But, for all that, they are only 3. What are they going to do against our army?"
Daemon seemed satisfied with that. "Nonetheless we should deal with them at the first opportunity, should we not?"
Necromon nodded. There was no sense in risking unpleasant surprises. "When the army comes across, we'll make them a priority target."
City Park
Takato Matsuki was in a good mood. He had just destroyed another Deva and Guilmon had finally reached Ultimate level!
"So Takato, do I rule or what? You'd have been dead without my card, right?"
Takato sighed. The only damper on the whole thing was that it had been Kazu's blue card that had enabled Guilmon to reach Ultimate and Kazu was taking every opportunity to remind him about it.
"So you've told me about 200 times already," Takato eventually said.
"Well, I'd better be around for all your fights from now on then!"
Takato rolled his eyes. Kazu never seemed to grasp that these were real battles with real digimon and they were facing death every time they fought.
"Yeah, but can we stay out of the line of fire next time?" Kenta was more cautious, even if he did strangle the cat every time he tried singing.
"There's no guarantees in battle," Rika Nonaka said coldly. Then she smiled slightly. "Or perhaps you're not up to real battles?"
"Hey, I resent that! Give me a real digimon partner and I'll rock!" Kazu retorted.
"Seriously though it's not as fun as it looks," Henry Wong was always the most serious of the Tamers.
"They did help, Henry. Momentai!!" Terriermon said as he perched on Henry's head.
Takato yawned. "Well, I'll see you later, guys. I'm pretty tired." For some reason he felt just as drained as Guilmon after the fight with Indramon. Each Deva they encountered seemed to be stronger than the last. He hoped the next one would take its time in coming. He could use a rest from battle.
He never saw Daemon and Necromon watching him from the shadows.
"Why don't we kill them now?" Daemon snarled.
"Patience, Daemon. You want to advertise our presence here? You'll get the chance to deal with them soon enough…"
Digital World: Gennai's home
Gennai's house still looked the same as it did 3 years ago when the original Digidestined had visited it. But for some reason, Gennai was nowhere to be seen when Tai, Matt, Kari and Yolei arrived.
"You're sure he told us to meet him here, Yolei?" Tai asked.
"I'm positive," Yolei said, confused.
"We're down here!" It was a voice from the back of the house.
"We?" Matt wondered who Gennai had with him as they walked through the living room to the back where they found a staircase. They went down and found themselves in a workshop, or rather a cross between a workshop and a library. There were books piled high in one corner of the room and tools and a workbench in another. There was also a heavy metal shutter, just like in a garage, next to the workbench.
Gennai was sitting at the workbench waiting for them. "Good, you're here. Just the 4 of you?"
Tai shrugged. "Ken, TK and Cody are still trying to get into the castle. Everyone else is waiting for them back home."
Gennai nodded. "Come on, everyone else is next door."
Gennai pushed a button and raised the shutter. Everyone gaped in shock.
A massive vehicle stood in the next room. It consisted of a massive metal dome built on tank treads.
"The order's prototype MDB. What do you think?" Gennai said proudly.
"MD what?" Tai asked.
"MDB: Mobile Dimensional Base. The order was building this in case of a threat from outside the Digital World. I stored it here to prevent Piedmon or anyone else stealing it. Something I should have done with the tags and crests come to think of it."
As Gennai finished talking, a ramp was lowered from the side of the dome and 2 very familiar digimon ran out.
"Tai!"
"Matt!"
Tai and Matt grinned as they ran to meet their digimon partners. "Good to see you again, Agumon!"
"Gabumon!"
"Let's get aboard," Gennai suggested. "We've still a few last minute details to take care of."
"Did Gennai tell you everything?" Matt asked his partner as they climbed into the base.
"Yes. Necromon and Daemon together, I can't think of much worse," Gabumon said gloomily.
"Can we beat those 2 together?" Agumon asked in worry. "Imperialdramon couldn't beat Daemon on his own!"
"Hey, we'll think of something!" Tai said fiercely.
2 of Gennai's 'clones' were waiting inside the dome that housed the control centre. Ilya and Jose had come over to help with the final preparations.
"Is everything ready?" Gennai asked.
"Almost but the power grid still has a few bugs in it," Jose said, checking one of the many control consoles.
"It's those relays. They're acting like they ate some bad borscht!" Ilya added unhappily.
"Change them then, we've got to be ready to leave as soon as the others get those co-ordinates," Gennai warned. He wasn't optimistic. Chances were the next time Necromon used his portals he would be launching his invasion.
Just then Kari received e-mail from TK:
We're inside the castle. No sign of Necromon or Daemon here. Must have gone through a portal somewhere. We'll try and get the co-ordinates next time they use it.
TK
Hypnos building: lowest level
By now, Impmon had managed to sneak inside the building through its ventilator shafts. He was wondering why no one had come looking for him; they had on the last occasions he'd sneaked in for a look. What he didn't know was that Yamaki, Riley and the other controllers had their hands full monitoring the battle with Leomon and the latest Deva, Kunbiramon.
He spotted an untended computer terminal, crept past Henry's Dad and the other technicians who were too buried in their work to notice anything, and slipped the disk into it. He smiled with malice as he started uploading. Finally he would get to digivolve and these humans would pay for every insult and indignity they'd ever caused him!
A small beep brought him back to reality. UPLOAD COMPLETE, the screen read. Impmon ejected the disk and fled back into the ventilators.
"Merry Christmas, suckers! Hahaha!"
Necromon's castle
Sneaking in had been easier than they thought, largely thanks to Izzy and Digmon. Izzy thought they wouldn't have much surveillance underground and, thanks to Digmon and his Rock Cracking technique, they'd been able to take advantage and drill in under the castle. Now they were on a landing overlooking the control room as TK sent his e-mail.
"I hope we don't have to stay much longer," Cody whispered. "The longer we stay the more likely we are to get caught!"
As he said that, however, one of the Hahgarumon spoke up. "Lord Megadramon, Lord Necromon is calling again!"
Necromon appeared on the screen. "Our little ally claims he succeeded in his mission. I want to test that. Send over 5 digimon, it doesn't matter what type."
"At once," Megadramon replied. He summoned 2 Gattlomon and 3 Tankmon. "Get to Portal room 2. Lord Necromon requires your presence."
"Here's our chance," Ken whispered. "We've got to follow them!"
"Ok, quietly," TK warned. It hadn't been easy sneaking around the castle corridors with the amount of digimon that were here. Luck was still going their way though and they managed to follow the 5 'volunteers' undetected.
TK recognised the portal gate instantly: another direct copy of Myotismon's gate.
"We're ready to cross," the lead Gattlomon reported.
"Stand by," came the reply from the control room.
As the gate opened TK, Cody and Ken all raised their D3's and scanned the portal.
"Let's get out of here!" Cody advised as the portal closed again.
No one argued with him.
City sewers
Necromon smiled as the 5 digimon he'd asked for came through the portal.
"Excellent. You had no trouble crossing? No ill effects?"
The lead Gattlomon seemed confused. "No, my lord. Should there have been?"
Necromon grinned even more. "It looks like my little trick worked. They weren't detected!"
Daemon was happy. "So if this little posse came across safely then the army can now do the same!"
"Yes, and they won't see us coming!"
Impmon spoke up. "Uh, I hate to ruin your moment but can I…"
"Oh yes. I hadn't forgotten. You kept your word and so will I." Necromon reached for his communicator again. "Open a portal. Transport back for 1 only. On arrival take him to the enhancement chambers."
Another portal opened up.
"You've earned yourself digivolution, a place in my army and in the history books, Impmon! I'll look forward to seeing you again when you're improved."
Impmon grinned in anticipation and stepped through the portal.
The portal had no sooner closed than another message came through Necromon's communicator.
"My lord! Wonderful news! We think we've found the data templates you requested for the special project!"
"You've what?" Necromon could barely contain his excitement. "Are you sure?"
"As sure as we can be, my lord."
"If you're right, how long will it take you to implement the project?"
"A few hours at least. It'll take time to restore something of this magnitude."
"I realise that. Put all your efforts into it. Contact me again when there's any developments."
"Why the delay? What is this special project?" Daemon asked impatiently.
"If the project succeeds, victory here will be absolutely assured. Don't worry Daemon. It'll mean only a few more hours' wait. Besides I'm told the best time for an invasion is at dawn. Who are we to break with tradition?"
Gennai's house: inside the MDB
"We've got the co-ordinates!" Kari said excitedly as she received another e-mail message from Izzy.
"Right, tell everyone to get down here. We've got to go now!" Tai said.
20 minutes later TK, Cody and Ken and their digimon were all in the control centre staring in awe.
"I'll bet Izzy is going to regret not coming!" Cody said.
"The others aren't joining us?" Matt seemed puzzled.
"Not yet. Sora said someone should stay behind and make sure things are ok back here," TK revealed. "Anyway, Davis will need someone to fill him in when he gets back on his feet."
"In theory we've got enough power in this thing for several jumps," Gennai said. "We'll can come back for Davis later. All right, get strapped in and we'll get going."
Everyone took a seat and pulled down a heavy safety harness that wouldn't have looked out of place on theme park rides.
"Are these really necessary?" Ken asked, somewhat worried.
"Just a precaution," Gennai said. "I don't know how bumpy this ride's going to be. But don't worry, the order spent years perfecting this."
"How many times have you used this before?" Cody ventured.
Gennai grinned. "We're the first!"
"WHAT!!!" everyone had time to scream before Gennai pressed the start button.
Necromon's castle: breeding chambers
"How is the special project going?" Gigadramon asked as he entered the room. He hoped it was going well. He needed results he could take to his brother and to Necromon.
"See for yourself," a Hahgarumon controller replied.
This was a room that was normally filled with breeding tanks where the new dark digimon would be grown, formatted and digivolved accordingly. Now most of the tanks were gone, they'd been replaced with 2 enormous ones. Dark Ocean water was being pumped into both. Through the blackness, Gigadramon saw a glint of metal in one. Looking closer, he saw it was a large metal foot.
"When will they be fully reconstructed?"
"About 4 hours, assuming there are no glitches."
"There'd better not be!" Gigadramon threatened. "The invasion begins in 6 hours. This will be our greatest moment!"
Just outside the city
The MDB had materialised in a clearing in the woods near the city. Unfortunately it was now the dead of night.
"It's 5:00 AM here now," Gennai said apologetically.
"How come? It was daytime back home!" Tai grumbled. "How are we going to find Daemon and Necromon now?"
"Are you sure this is the right world, Gennai?" Cody asked.
"Positive. This is the world those digimon came to," Gennai was puzzled. "Odd that he hasn't started the invasion yet. Hold on, I'll try and get an idea of exactly where we are."
"How can you do that?" Matt asked.
"If there's any computer networks on this world, I can tap into them from here."
Soon Gennai had a map of the area on his screen. "Looks like this world's practically a mirror of yours. Same country, same area, same technology…"
"But different world," TK finished.
"Exactly. Good sort of place for Necromon to start."
"So where is Necromon?" Tai asked impatiently.
Gennai tapped in a few more calculations. "According to this, he should be in the city that's close by. At least that's where his portals went."
"What's the plan, Tai?" Ken wondered.
"The invasion hasn't started yet, right? So we've got to find Necromon and Daemon and take them out before they can start it."
"That's a tall order, Tai," TK said.
"It'll be a taller order to take them on and their entire army," Ken pointed out.
"Since no one's got any better ideas, let's go to the city and find them. If their army gets here…" Tai let his words hang. Everyone knew what he meant. If that happened, their chances of winning were almost non-existent. With that in mind, they hurried out of the MDB and headed for the city.
City sewers
At 6:00 AM, Necromon received another message from the castle.
"Some good news and bad news, my lord."
"I'll have the bad first," Necromon said.
"We detected a portal from the Digidestined world to where you are now. It's safe to assume they've crossed over and are now looking for you."
"Irritating but hardly unexpected. Besides, in just over…2 hours, they won't be much of a problem when the invasion starts, will they? So what's the good news?"
"The special project was a complete success."
"Haha! It'll be good to see those 2 again. How are they?"
"Eager to see you and even more eager for battle. Shall I send them across with the main army?"
"Yes, do that. Get the troops ready and make sure everything proceeds on schedule."
"So the Digidestined are here?" Daemon wasn't happy at that news.
Necromon shrugged. "With Gennai helping them I expected them to show up sooner or later. Well, all the performers are now on stage. How convenient, we can now destroy them all in one blow!"
"True, but what if they link up with the Tamers? That might become a problem."
"We must ensure they do not, or at least not until it's too late," Necromon said. "Do you think you can handle that? I have to plan the invasion of the city."
"I'll handle it with pleasure!" Daemon sneered. "Consider them as good as dead!"
Necromon smiled as Daemon left. Even if the Tamers did survive Daemon's attack and allied with the Digidestined it wouldn't matter too much. By the time those children joined up, his army would be on the streets. As he had said to Daemon, all the performers were now on stage. The dance tune, however, was about to change. It would be interesting to see if they could all adapt to it and survive. Necromon doubted that very much…
TO BE CONTINUED
Yeah, I can hear you cursing me for leaving you in suspense again! Will the Digidestined be able to help the Tamers in time? And who are these 'special project' digimon? You'll have to wait until next time! (Meanwhile keep reviewing with suggestions/comments. I'll add part 03 as soon as I can).