Ok, ok, I'm writing as fast as I can! (which aint very fast I know.) I just can't write very quickly. My ideas just don't come all at once and neither does my writing and…oh forget it. To answer Raven's question, no I don't think Sephiroth will be back in this. They've got enough problems as is! I'm going to give them a little help though…you'll see who and what in this part.
Dark Empire
5: Escape from West Shinjuku
The woods just outside West Shinjuku
"We're in trouble!" Ken screamed as he and his group narrowly dodged another Venom Blast.
"The others should be coming," Cody replied.
Stingmon was weaving around Arachnomon whilst Anklyomon tried to shield Cody and the others. Both, though, knew they were outmatched. Arachnomon was more annoyed by their attacks than hurt.
Tai had now woken up and was starting to wish he hadn't! Both he and Koromon were still too weak to do much of anything.
Arachnomon had by now lost patience. "Enough of this! Tangler Net!"
Arachnomon shot out a stream of sticky cobweb that tangled up both Stingmon and Anklyomon. He then turned to Ken's now defenceless party. "Now, which of you would like to volunteer to be eaten first?"
As much as she feared spiders, Daisy wasn't scared enough to freeze up and be eaten. Nor would she have her friends eaten either.
"I'll lead him off, you run for it!" she ran for the trees before anyone could argue.
This was a rash move though. Arachnomon smiled as he calmly tracked her. "So we have a volunteer. Good, that deserves a reward. Today's reward is a painful death! Venom Blast!"
Arachnomon's shot caught her at point blank range. She screamed in agony as the poison infected her entire system and collapsed. However, as Arachnomon turned back to the rest of the group, TK and Angemon arrived on the scene.
"Hand of Fate!"
Arachnomon lurched back as the attack burned the ground in front of him.
"Don't even think about it!" TK snarled.
"And who's going to stop me, you?"
"He's not alone!" Silphymon had appeared behind Angemon.
"You've got that right!" Cody raised his digivice and Shakkoumon soon joined the party, tearing up the Tangler Net as he did so.
Faced with 2 other Ultimates, Arachnomon decided retreat was the safest option. "Don't think you've seen the last of me, Digidestined! I'll get you yet!" With that he scuttled away toward the city.
Mr Wong ran over to Daisy but it was already too late; Arachnomon's poison was so potent it had killed her in seconds.
"Damn it!" he slammed a fist into the ground in rage and pain. "Why did she do it?! We could have escaped together…"
The Digidestined didn't know what they could say. "I wish I'd got here sooner," TK eventually managed. "Shakkoumon could have…"
"Forget it," Mr Wong said. "It's not your fault."
"TK…"
"Tai!" TK had finally noticed Tai and the state he was in.
"Did…everyone…?"
"We all got away, Tai," TK reassured him.
"If we want to stay free we'd better go before Arachnomon calls in reinforcements," Ken warned.
TK nodded. "Alright, let's get out of here!"
The MDB
"Dad!" Henry had never been happier to see his father.
"I'm glad you're safe, son. I just wish Daisy had made it too…"
"What happened?" Gennai asked.
Ken and Cody quickly filled him in.
"He was like Dokugumon but more powerful," Ken said. "He really seemed to enjoy it."
Gennai snorted in disgust. "He did. His name's Arachnomon, another of Necromon's dark generals. He's also Necromon's oldest ally and servant. They were working together long before this invasion. You were very lucky, his Venom Blast makes Dokugumon's Poison Thread look like a mild case of the sniffles."
"Tell me about it," Mr Wong said bitterly.
Gennai turned to Mr Wong. "I'm sorry about your friend. If it's any consolation I doubt she suffered for long. She probably never knew what hit her."
"Tai!" Matt and Kari were appalled at his injuries.
"Get him inside quickly," Gennai ordered.
As Tai was taken to a medical bay in the back of the MDB, Matt quickly filled the others in. "It doesn't look good. They've taken the city and they've got a lot of people penned up in the park."
"Including our parents and all our friends!" Takato growled angrily.
"What do you think they'll do with them?" Cody asked worriedly.
"Knowing Necromon and the other Dark Masters, they'll kill them all no matter what," Matt said grimly.
"We have to save them!" Henry and his father were appalled. Henry's sister and the rest of the family were among the prisoners.
TK considered. "We'll have to wait until tonight. Doing anything during the day will be far too risky."
"How do we get to them?" Ken asked. "There are hundreds of digimon in there, and won't they be expecting us?"
"No, I don't think so," Matt said. "For all they know we've just run for the hills, especially since we just met Arachnomon."
"How are we going to do it then? A frontal attack's out, right?" Ken went on.
TK nodded. "Dead right it's out. We'll have to go underground again and tunnel in underneath them."
"Uh, that's great but how will we know where to tunnel up?" Rika asked sceptically.
"If we're in contact with Gennai he can tell us where to drill," Matt told her. "He can monitor the whole city from the base and our locations from our digivices."
Gennai heard Matt as he emerged from the MDB. "That's right. Plus now I've got one of these…" he held up Mr Wong's mobile. "I can contact you directly rather than using e-mails. Oh, one other thing, I need a Tamer digivice for a second."
Takato shrugged. "No problemo," he tossed his digivice to Gennai.
Gennai went back inside and inserted the digivice into a scanner. After a minute he took it back to Takato. "Good. Now I can keep tabs on you as well."
"How's Tai?" Kari asked.
"He'll be alright. Wargreymon absorbed most of the hit," Gennai explained. "But both of them will be out of action for awhile."
"So we just sit and wait for nightfall," Matt said. He glanced at the Tamers. "Time to trade stories, I guess."
"Good idea," Gennai said. "I'll keep you informed if anything changes."
As Gennai went back into the control room, he was taken aback to find Tai there. He could barely stand up.
"Tai, what are you doing out of bed? You're in no condition to…"
"Gennai…I know where we can…get some help."
Gennai started to help Tai back to his bed. "What do you mean?"
As Tai explained Gennai listened in amazement, wondering why he hadn't thought of it himself. "Tai, it's a good idea. I'll see what I can do. Now do us all a favour and get some rest."
Hypnos building
"Are the construction crews across safely?" Necromon asked.
"Yes, my lord. However, they are lacking in materials. We will need a lot more if they are to complete their task."
"I anticipated that. We'll be moving on with the invasion shortly. Hopefully we should capture the material we need in short order."
"My lord!"
Necromon turned to see his long-time servant Arachnomon. "What is it? You're supposed to be guarding the edge of the city!"
"I was, my lord. I…had an encounter with the Digidestined…"
"And let me guess, you let them get by you!" Necromon gave him an intense look that would have split stone.
"Forgive me, my lord. They were too powerful for me alone!"
"So they're out of the city now?" Daemon was none too pleased at that news.
"So it would appear," Necromon was disappointed too. He had hoped to pin them down in the city and then annihilate them there. He glared at Arachnomon. "If you hadn't served me so loyally over the years, I'd delete you right here. If you fail me again, I won't be so merciful! Now get out of my sight!"
Arachnomon scuttled away before Necromon's mood got any worse.
Necromon cursed again. "We'll just have to wait until they resurface again. In the meantime we'll press on with the invasion. Whatever they do now, they can't stop us doing that. We have too much power and…"
"My lord, we have some new enemies."
"What? Show me!"
The Hahgarumon brought up the view from one of the cameras at the edge of the city. It showed a large number of tanks and soldiers approaching.
"Well, well, so the humans are taking us seriously at last."
"Seriously? They still don't know what real power is!" Daemon scoffed.
"They will soon," Necromon promised. "Machinedramon, we have a few human pests approaching the city. Take some forces and squash them, would you? I would appreciate it."
"They're as good as squashed!" Machinedramon cackled.
Necromon smiled. If only everything could be as easy as this…
The subway
"Gennai, are we in the right position?" Henry asked through his cell phone.
"You're in the best position I can get you," Gennai replied. "Start drilling up now and you should come out in the park trees. Hopefully you won't be seen too quickly. I'll see you back here later. Good luck."
"Ready, Digmon?" Cody asked.
"I'll drill us up there in a flash!" Digmon started to drill upward.
Takato brought out his digivice and cards. "Ok Guilmon, Digi-Modify…Digmon's drill Activate!"
Guilmon's hands became drills and he started to dig alongside Digmon.
"Try and keep it quiet," Matt advised. "We'll be in REAL trouble if we're discovered…"
"I hope so," Rika said quietly as she held Calumon. "I don't want me and Renamon to get rusty!"
"Since when was drilling quiet, Matt?" Takato complained.
"Yeah, I know. Let's get this over with and get out of here, right Takato?"
Takato didn't argue with that.
The park
There was nothing but fear, despair and desolation in the park after Necromon's 'announcement'.
"You can't do this! We created you!" Yamaki had raged. "You think we're going to be conquered by bits of data?! Humanity will never go down to you scum!"
Necromon sniggered. "Very funny, human. Maybe I should keep you around just to make me laugh!"
"The idea of digimon having anything to do with humans…it turns my stomach!" Metalseadramon added. "Shall I destroy him?"
Necromon shook his head. "Leave him to suffer in his own misery. He'll be dead soon along with all the rest. Come, we have other business at hand."
With that, the Dark Masters had left to return to the tower.
"Now what?" Takato's Dad was full of fury. "We just sit here and wait for them to pick us off one by one?!"
"We wait, but only until tonight," Yamaki said grimly. "Then we'll try some sort of escape then. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not just going to sit here and wait for a digital nightmare to kill me."
The entire group nodded in agreement. As Kenta turned back to Jeri, who was still trying to bring Kazu out of his low state, he noticed a glowing coming from Kazu's pocket where he kept his cards. Before he could say anything, however, it disappeared.
Writing it off as a hallucination, Kenta sat down to rest and wait. He was still waiting for a miracle 2 hours later. He hadn't much faith in Yamaki's escape bid. Even at night, dinosaur digimon were expert trackers and detectors. What they needed was a miracle, not a desperate escape. A second later he got his wish.
"Jeri, you hear something?"
Jeri did. It sounded like electric drills. "Who's drilling?"
Kenta soon found out as Guilmon drilled up right underneath him! He just managed to scramble away in time.
"Guilmon!" Jeri had never been more relieved to see the red digimon.
"Keep it down!" Takato followed Guilmon out of the hole. "We've got a way out but we need to keep it quiet! Oomph!"
Takato had barely finished speaking when his parents practically smothered him.
"Takato, are you all right? We thought you were…"
"Mom!" Takato groaned in protest as Cody and Digmon drilled up to the surface.
Henry, Rika, TK, Yolei and Kari scrambled up behind Digmon with their digimon.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get everyone out!" Cody said eagerly.
"We'll have to do it slowly," TK cautioned. "If everyone goes missing at once…"
The message was clear. Even a fool would figure out that something was wrong.
Yamaki was stunned. Where had all these extra Tamers come from? He thought Hypnos had got a handle on all of them. Still, he wasn't going to complain now. "You've got a secure way out?"
Takato, Henry, Rika and their digimon glared at Yamaki with distaste. Given their history it wasn't surprising.
"How the mighty have fallen, eh?" Despite the circumstances, Henry couldn't resist gloating a little.
Riley came to his rescue. "I know we've not been on the best of terms but can we work together for awhile and get out of here?"
"Fine by me," Takato growled. The sooner this was over the better as far as he was concerned.
His parents were having a lot of trouble taking all of this in. "Takato, what is going on? Who's or what is that with you and…"
"Mom, Dad, I'll explain it all when we're out of here, ok? Don't worry about Guilmon. He's a good friend of mine."
The Digidestined were now beginning to sneak around the park and direct people back to the escape tunnel. It was a slow and risky process. There were Tyrannomon and Monochromon patrolling on the ground and Snimon watching from the air. Any detection and…none of them wanted to think about that.
Meanwhile below in the subway, Matt and Gabumon had discovered another problem. Matt had tried calling Gennai on Rika's mobile to check if there was anything headed their way. But he wasn't getting any reply. In fact he wasn't getting a dial tone, period. Matt checked everything over. The battery was still fully charged and he still had a good signal despite being underground. Matt was starting to like this less and less. Gennai wouldn't just abandon them. What if he's been found and…?
Matt swiftly pulled himself together. Ken and Wormmon were with him and Gennai could look after himself. Besides he had enough to contend with here with the steady stream of people that were coming down the tunnel.
The MDB
The reason Matt didn't get a reply was that Gennai had moved the MDB to another realm at Tai's insistence. Fortunately the co-ordinates Tai had given Gennai were accurate and they'd come out in the right place in the right realm. Now they were on their way back with 5 new 'passengers'.
Mr Wong was struggling to keep up with everything. "Real digimon, a digimon invasion and now a machine that jumps worlds? This is giving me a real migraine…"
"Tell me about it, no one mentioned this before," Ken wasn't doing much better.
"It gets easier, trust me!" Tai grinned. He was fully healed now thanks to the guests he'd brought aboard, except for a nasty scar over his eye and down the right side of his face. "You sure you're ok with this?" he asked them.
"You helped us before and you were nearly killed for it. We owe you the same favour. But you and Matt will have to retrain with me later if the threat's as big as you say it is. You're 3 years out of practice."
Tai groaned. That meant a load of pain with extra fries later.
"Ready to jump back, Tai, everyone?" Gennai asked.
"We're ready, Gennai. Just make sure you put us back in the same place. The others will need us."
"Don't worry. The co-ordinates will still be the same and I think I've got the time difference nailed down. Ok, here we go."
Another guest chipped in. "Finally, some more action! Good you showed up when you did, Tai. We were getting bored!"
Tai smiled grimly. "Trust me. You won't be getting bored where we're going…"
The park
By now, Jeri and Kenta had discovered who the Tamers' new friends actually were and they were having a hard time keeping them quiet.
"Listen guys, you can't tell them we've seen them on TV!" Takato muttered. "What do you think that's going to do?"
"Ok Takato, we get the idea!" Kenta replied.
Takato then noticed his other friend. "Kazu? What's wrong?"
Kazu had been jolted back to reality by seeing the Tamers again but he was still feeling down. "I'm…okay Chumly."
"He's been through a lot," Riley overheard the conversation. "That red leader of theirs strung him up and threatened to splatter him over a wall unless we gave him the access codes to our computer!"
"Sounds like Necromon all right," Kari sighed.
"Well, don't just stand there. Let's get out while we can!" Rika said impatiently. "If we stay here he'll string us all up!"
"What's the hurry, human slime?"
Cody and TK knew that voice all too well. They turned around and weren't disappointed. Arachnomon stood a short distance away with 2 Tyrannomon and 2 Monochromon as back up.
"I expected you to return to try and free this lot. Emotion is such a pathetic weakness!"
"That's a compliment coming from something like you!" Henry shot back.
"Then here's another one! Venom Blast!"
Everyone fell aside or took cover behind the trees. No one wanted the same fate as Daisy.
"Time to digivolve!" TK grabbed his digivice. All the Digidestined and Tamers did likewise.
"Get going," Rika urged her mother and everyone else. "We'll stop this little spider! Ok, Digi-modify…digivolution activate!"
"Here we goooo!" Calumon's forehead started to glow. So did the Digidestined's digivices as they started their digivolutions to Champion level.
"Awesome!" Kenta never tired of seeing that. Then an idea struck him. "Kazu, Jeri, grab your cards. They might need help!"
As Kazu fumbled through his pockets for his cards he suddenly realised something else was in there too. His mouth fell open when he realised what it was.
"Hand of Fate!"
Arachnomon was blasted onto his back but he didn't look badly hurt.
"Blast Rings!"
"Gold Rush!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
"Gargo Laser!"
"Pyro Blaster!"
"Fox-Tail Inferno!"
The Tyrannomon and Monochromon never stood a chance against that much firepower and were deleted instantly.
"What's wrong, arachnid? Not so cocky now?" Rika gibed.
"Nice moves, kiddies! But did you think they were the only digimon here? Now it's our turn!" Arachnomon looked upwards as he finished speaking.
Everyone followed his gaze to see a wave of Flymon and Snimon bearing down on them!
"Twin Sickles!" Aquilamon and Yolei were the first victims for a Snimon. In the blink of an eye they fell to the ground and Aquilamon reverted back to Hawkmon.
"Brown Stingers!"
Angemon quickly used his rod to bat away the Flymon's attacks.
"There's too many of them," Cody said desperately. "We've got to go now!"
"He's right, there's another wave of mechanoid digimon coming in," Angewomon warned. "And Metalseadramon's with them!"
"Alright, let's fight our way back to the tunnel. They can't follow us there," TK decided.
Henry nodded. "Gargomon, clear us a path!"
"Got it, Henry. I hate flies anyway! Gargo Laser!"
Gargomon knocked out 8 Flymon and caused the rest to scatter.
All the other digimon concentrated their attacks on Arachnomon again and sent him flying backward. Before he could get up and return fire, his enemies were long gone.
Rika, meanwhile, was having trouble forcing Takato's parents, Yamaki and Riley to go down the tunnel. None of them had seen a digimon battle before and all had 'frozen spectator' syndrome.
"For the last time, get down!" Rika was screaming. "Before one of them…" She trailed off as she saw a Monochromon heading their way.
"Dragon Wheel!" Kyubimon slammed into his side, causing him to turn on her in rage.
"Sir, let's go!" With the action so close, Riley had regained her senses.
"We should have been able to stop this sooner!" Yamaki raged before starting down the tunnel. "I can't believe it's come to this!"
Takato's Mom had to be dragged down the tunnel by his Dad. "We can't go, Takato's still…"
"Takato will be alright…I hope," he added under his breath.
Rika breathed a sigh of relief as they vanished out of sight. The relief didn't last. "Kyubimon, look out!"
"Volcanic Strike!"
Kyubimon was bathed in fire thanks to a very annoyed Monochromon and she reverted to Renamon. Worse still, a Guardromon was coming up behind and was powering up his attack.
Rika was reaching for a recharge card when she got some unexpected aid.
"Digi-modify…Power activate!"
That caused Rika to look up with a start. Had that been Kazu's voice?
"Grenade Destroyer!"
The Guardromon's point blank missile shots obliterated the Monochromon, who disintegrated into data in sheer disbelief.
"YEAH! Do we rule or what, Guardromon?" Kazu appeared behind the Guardromon, holding a brand new orange digivice.
Kazu a Tamer? God help us! That was Rika's first thought as she ran over to Renamon who was slowly getting up.
"Rika, is everyone out now? We…Kazu?" Takato was speechless.
"Hi Chumly! See, my very own digimon! Now I'll really rule!" The old Kazu was definitely back.
"Yes Gogglehead, everyone's out. Everyone but us."
"Another Tamer? Maybe we do still have some luck!" TK and the other Digidestined came up behind Takato and Henry.
"Yeah. But we have to get out of here first!" Cody warned.
"He's right. We have to go now, Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon deleted another wave of Flymon.
"Digmon, can you widen the tunnel?" Cody asked.
"No problem! Rock Cracking!"
"Let's go!" TK ordered.
"What about them?" Henry was worried. "Now we've widened the tunnel they'll be able to follow us down."
"Not if we collapse the tunnel on the other end!" TK grinned.
Matt was waiting at the other end with Yamaki and the rest for that very purpose. "Everyone out?"
"Everyone we could get," Kari replied.
"Alright. Get back. Ready, Growlmon?" Takato asked
"Ready! Pyro Blaster!"
Kazu grinned. "We'll give you a hand, right Guardromon?"
"Grenade Destroyer!"
The combined shots did the job and collapsed the park tunnel behind them.
"Let's get moving before they find a way through," Takato advised.
"And all this time I thought they were playing games…" Yamaki was amazed at how wrong he'd been.
"Some game!" Henry said bitterly as he walked past him down the tunnel.
Yamaki and Riley had no reply to that.
Hypnos building
Necromon could scarcely believe what he'd just heard.
"All the prisoners gone through the subways? An audacious plan coming from children. They're more dangerous than I thought."
"Can we still stop them?" Daemon asked. "Most of our forces are still engaged against the human army."
"Fortunately I have a plan in reserve. Tell Metalseadramon to pull one of the work crews away. He'll know what to do with them."
"Yes my lord."
"The Digidestined think they are untouchable where they are now. That mistake may well be their undoing…"
The MDB
"At least we're back in the same place," Ken said as he lowered the ramp.
"I'll see if I can contact them," Gennai said, picking up the cell phone.
It didn't take long to get a reply.
"Gennai! What the hell happened to the early warning?!" Matt screamed down the phone. "Some Drimogemon just drilled down to us with Gattlomon behind! We're getting slaughtered!"
"Hang on, Matt! Help's on its way!" Gennai replied.
"Damn! I should have known this would happen," Tai cursed. "Come on, Agumon, let's go."
"Not you, Tai!" Gennai warned.
"What? Why?" Tai couldn't believe it. "Gennai, Kari's in trouble! Not to mention Matt and all my other friends! I can't just leave them!"
"We're not abandoning them, Tai. Everyone else is going but I'd rather you stayed behind for now. Necromon still thinks you're dead. Best we keep it that way for as long we can. You're an ace in the hole that he doesn't know about and we're going to need every one of those we can get. Besides, Wargreymon isn't exactly built for fighting in enclosed subway tunnels."
"He's right, Tai," Ken added. "Let us handle it. We'll bring them all back, I promise."
"I'll hold you to that!" Tai could never forgive himself if his sister or friends were killed while he did nothing.
"Then let's get going!"
The subway
"Keep going, we're almost there!" Henry managed to gasp.
Everyone in the group, human and digimon was running like hell. At first everything had seemed ok since they'd sealed the park tunnel. Everyone had assumed they were safe underground. Wrong! Takato had been the first to sense trouble when he heard drilling noises. He knew Guilmon wasn't drilling and Digmon had reverted back to Armadillomon after his heavy drilling sessions. Which meant…
"What's wrong, Chumly?" Kazu had asked, seeing Takato's expression.
"Can't you hear that?" Takato had shot back.
Matt quickly realised what it was and was immediately proved right as 2 Drimogemon broke through the tunnel wall behind them.
Angemon and Angewomon reacted quickly.
"Hand of Fate!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
Both scored direct hits and destroyed the Drimogemon but were then faced with a Gattlomon.
"Gattling Striker!"
Both angel digimon were caught head on and TK and Kari were forced to catch Patamon and Gatomon as they fell from the air.
"Will this never end?" Jeri wailed.
"Run for it, I'll cover you!" Matt ordered.
"You can't fight in here. The tunnel will come down on us!" Yamaki protested.
"We'll have to take that chance," Takato snarled back. His D-Power was picking up multiple signals. More Drimogemon were drilling down and that meant more trouble. "Now run!"
Henry and Gargomon went to the front to protect the group from that side. But Henry knew that if any Ultimates crashed the party from his side and they ended up surrounded…
"Run faster, we're nearly out of the city."
"I was built for modelling not running!" Rika's Mom groaned.
"Grenade Destroyer!"
"Pyro Blaster!"
Both attacks hit the 2 pursuing Gattlomon but they didn't have much effect.
"They're Ultimates! We can't compete with them!" Takato was losing hope fast.
"We can, right Gabumon?" Matt asked confidently.
"If I go Mega in here, I might bring the whole tunnel down," Gabumon countered. He was amazed the roof was holding up with the Gattlomon firing.
"If they get us we're dead for sure, now warp digivolve!" Matt ordered.
"Right!"
A second later, Metalgarurumon had joined the action.
"Metal Wolf Claw!"
This time the Gattlomon lost the power struggle. Fortunately the tunnel stayed solid too.
"How do you like that, digi-losers!" Kazu gloated.
It was then they heard a scream from up ahead.
"They're hitting the front too!" Matt realised. "Collapse the tunnel here, I'll go!"
Henry, the younger Digidestined and the others had run out of the tunnel…straight into the sights of another Gattlomon and a Mechanorimon.
"Target in range…Twin Beam!"
Gargomon ended up on the receiving end of a red energy bolt and he was knocked out of the fight.
"Gattling Striker!"
The Gattlomon opened up, straight…at…Henry!
"Look out, get out of the way!"
Henry was suddenly shoved aside, unfortunately that meant his rescuer got the shots instead. Of all people, it was Yamaki. He crumpled to the floor; his front riddled with gattling fire.
"Everyone get down now!"
Hearing Matt's voice, everyone hit the floor giving Metalgarurumon a clear shot.
"Giga Missile!"
Both dark digimon fell to the heavy missile shot.
"Is everyone ok?" Matt asked when the dust settled.
"Actually no!" Henry and Riley ran over to Yamaki. He was in a real bad way. His breathing was quick and laboured and his chest was a scarlet mass. "Hang on, we're going back to our base. We'll get you some help…"
"I'm…going somewhere alright. But I don't (cough) think it's with you," Yamaki gasped. He rolled onto his side and managed to stretch out his arm to reach for his briefcase. Riley picked it up herself to save him the effort.
"You'll need what's in there, Riley. I hope it'll help…Henry, Takato…"
"Yeah?" Henry and Takato ventured together.
"They…mustn't win. They (cough cough)…can't!"
Takato knew what he was asking for. "They won't!" he promised him.
Yamaki smiled at that, gave one last cough, and then lay still as blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Matt cursed. Another death to blame himself for. He didn't dwell on it though. "Alright, let's go."
Riley was appalled. "What?! We can't just leave him!"
"She's right. He saved my life!" Henry added. "He was a jerk but if it weren't for him it'd be me lying there!"
"There's nothing we can do for him now," Matt shot back. "Unless we want to end up exactly like him we get out of here now. It's only a matter of time before they drill through the mess back there. So come on!"
Both of them knew he spoke the truth. Taking one last look at her former boss, Riley picked up the briefcase and strode away with her head down. Henry soon followed her in a similar state with Terriermon trying to comfort him. "Momentai, Henry, momentai…"
"Matt?" Gabumon looked at his partner in some concern. Matt was staring intently at Yamaki's body.
"Let's go, Gabumon. We'll have to wait for another day to settle up with Necromon."
Hypnos building
"They've escaped again, my lord," A Tankmon reported. "They should have been stopped at the tunnel exit but most of our reserve troops were delayed."
"Delayed how?" Necromon asked, his anger obviously showing.
"Some humans attacked them. These weren't regular humans either, we lost over 30 digimon."
"Humans? How many?"
"4. Well 5, if you count the wolf creature they had with them."
"4 humans and 1…animal did all this?!" Daemon was incredulous.
So was Necromon. "So they found some new allies. I want a full report on the attackers within the hour."
"Yes, my lord." The Tankmon signed off.
"No matter, they've won this little skirmish but they'll win nothing more. Are the next wave of troops ready to cross over?"
"Yes, my lord, they can cross over at any time."
"Good, tell the castle to send them. It's time to move to the next phase of the invasion."
"What is the next phase?" Daemon asked.
"A massive assault to the north. The target is Tokyo," Necromon replied. "A lot of dead humans and it will be a great psychological blow to see the capital of the country in ruins, won't it?"
Daemon chuckled. "A pity you didn't return to the game sooner."
"Yes, run Digidestined. Run far away. The next time I'll deal with you personally…"
The MDB
"Welcome back," Gennai said. "I'm glad to see you all made it. I see you have a new Tamer too…"
"What happened, Gennai?" Matt was a little on the angry side. "Where did you step out to? We lost some people because we got caught cold!"
"Sorry Matt. Tai suggested we get some friends in and we had to move to another realm to do it. It worked though. They kept a lot of trouble away from you during that fight.
"He's right, Matt," Tai chipped in as he emerged from the MDB. "You'd have been buried in digimon if they hadn't been here. You and me might regret it later though…"
"Tai!" Everyone was shocked and delighted to see him walking again.
"Tai? Is that the same Tai who's was on the T…mmmph!" Takato and Rika had to gag Kazu. Not being the smartest kid around, he'd only just realised who he was with.
Kari could barely contain herself. "How did you get back on your feet so fast? Are you all ok now? Does that still hurt?" She looked at his scar worriedly.
"I'm ok," Tai assured her. "I had some help getting fixed up. He's over there."
Kari and the others looked round to see a man who could have passed for Matt's big brother, or even his father. Spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, heavily muscled, a gigantic sword on his back and clad in a purple combat bodysuit.
"Nice to see you again, Matt," Cloud Strife grinned. "I hope I haven't missed too much of the action!"
TO BE CONTINUED…