Chapter 24: Trump Card

The battle between Rico, Ajax, & Lord Himi continues in a two-on-one light-saber duel to the end. Jumping & dodging, slashing & blocking. It's an intense battle.
Lord Himi blocks Rico & Ajax's attacks with his saber. Himi then tries to hit them, but Rico & Ajax block his move as well. Himi takes a swing at Ajax, but Ajax dodges to attack. Himi also tries to hit Rico, but Rico jumps from the attack. Jump, dodge, swing, slash, block. The fight rages on.
Lord Himi then blocks Rico & Ajax's next attack & then pushes them both back a few steps. He then makes a huge jump toward another catwalk near by, which is a little higher up. Rico & Ajax wasn't going to let Himi get away. Both of them jump off the catwalk together, jumping to the catwalk Himi landed on. They both land on the catwalk. They both see Himi running toward the sphere complex. Rico & Ajax run after him.
Himi enters the sphere complex. He runs through a hallway, which has some scanners on both sides. Each scanner on each side is a few feet away from each other. Red lights glow from each scanner, facing each other. On each side of the hallway, there are 18 scanners, which add up to 36 total.
Rico & Ajax aren't far behind. They too enter the complex, & enter the hallway. Himi reaches the end of the hallway, which leads into main engineering core, a large complex, cylindrical, with computer terminals on the walls. A catwalk circles around the edge of the complex. The center of the complex is a large circular platform that goes down a few feet, separated from the edge, & connected by four catwalks of stairs. About 50 feet above the platform is a large gold sphere of energy hovering in midair.
Rico & Ajax are about halfway through the hallway.
Then, the scanners began to glow brighter, & then force fields came on, blocking every few feet, with no way of getting through. Rico & Ajax stopped, trapped between two force fields. Himi is already at the end of the field-blocked hallway, & at the core. He turns to face Rico & Ajax, who are about ten feet away from him, caught between two of the fields. Himi speaks.
"The force fields here are to protect the core from intruders. They turn on & off every five to six minutes. You'll have to wait until then if you want to continue our battle."
"You know Himi, your plan to take over Digi-World sounds stupid," said Rico, "Besides, the ground troops you have sent to the surface won't last forever down there. The DigiDestined & the digimon down there will destroy them. I bet they will all be done for by tonight."
"Your wrong," said Himi, "I can sense what is going on down on Digi-World. There are 2000 digimon fighting off 6000 troops. And from what I can tell, both sides are doing well against one another. The digimon believe they will win. Well, they don't know about my 'Trump Card.' As for the forces in orbit, I can't tell what's happening."
"What is this 'Trump Card' Himi?" asked Ajax.
"Simple, my dear Ajax," explained Himi, "When I took those digivices & tags & crests, I did some tests. I found that they are the same as our morphers, in every detail. So, I decided to scan one & copy it's systems & material, & insert it into my ground troops. The result, well, in about a minute, those ground troops are about to get a little 'up-grade.' Your digimon allies won't be able to stop them then. They're finished."
Rico & Ajax look at each other with concern. If what Himi says is true, then the DigiDestined & digimon are in trouble.

The battle on Digi-World continues. The ground troops were still coming, but were getting smaller in number. The count, thanks to Rald's missiles, was down to 2000. Rald knew that they would win now. Firing all those missiles caused a lot of damage to the enemy. After ten to fifteen minutes of digimon attacks, staff-weapon firing by the DigiDestined & their parents, & firing all those delta missiles, the whole digimon blockade couldn't believe that they would win this easily.
"Looks like we got the winning hand," said Tai's Dad.
"It seems that way," said Joe.
"It's over for those drones!" said T.K.
"You got that right!" said Matt.
"Those delta missiles took care of those troops with no trouble at all," said Gennei.
"Well," said Jim, "it's definitely going to be over soon."
"It's over," said VT-10, "These drones are finished."
"Maybe when it's over we can go home," said Sora's Mom.
"I agree on that," said Izzy's Mom.
"Me too," said Izzy's Dad.
"By the Moons of Ka," said Maya, "it's soon going to be over."
"Alright!" said Tai, "We're winning!"
"It won't be long now," said Kari.
"This is great!" said Mimi.
"You got that right!" said Mimi's Mom.
"These aliens are just too easy," said Leomon.
"Agreed," said Andromon.
"The rest are still coming," said Zudomon, pointing to the remain troops who are still moving toward them.
Just then, the ground troops stopped. They were about 50 yards from the blockade shield. The digimon were confused at this.
"Huh?" said Rald.
"They've stopped," said Lilymon.
"What do you think is going on now?" asked MangaAngemon.
"Beats me," said Angewomon.
The whole digimon blockade was confused at what was happening. The drones are now just standing like statues just 50 yards away. What is happening? The DigiDestined & their parents were concerned about this too.
"Why did they stop?" asked Sora.
"You got me," said Izzy.
Then, the cockpits of the drones opened up. Inside were green digivices! The whole digi-gang was shocked at this.
"They have digivices!" said Kari's Mom.
"This is bad," said Maya.
Then green digivices begin to glow in bright blinding gold. The remaining drones also begun to glow. A blast of bright light explodes from the drones. The DigiDestined & the rest of the blockade cover their eyes. When the flash of light passed, the blockade opened their eyes.
The whole blockade, especially the DigiDestined & their parents, were all completely in shock. The drones have digivolved into strong valkyries with battle armor & laser cannons. Each drone was covered in black-colored armor & had bazooka-like laser cannons.
"This is very bad!" said Maya.
"They digivolved!" said Matt's Dad.
"Yeah," said Joe with some fear, "into armored Super Valkyries!"
"Ho my god," said Angewomon.
"This can't be good," said Rald.
"Not good at all," said MegaKabuterimon.
The drones rise their laser cannons at the blockade & begin to move toward them.
"Let's continues to attack," said Rald, "FIRE!"
The DigiDestined's digimon & Rald use their powers on the new drones.
"GIGA BLASTER!" said MetalGreymon.
"WOLF CLAW!" said WereGarurumon.
"WING BLADE!" said Garudamon.
"HORN BUSTER!" said MegaKabuterimon.
"FLOWER CANNON!" said Lilymon.
"VULCAN'S HAMMER!" said Zudomon.
"HOLY WATER!" said MangaAngemon.
"CELESTIAL ARROW!" said Angewomon.
"FIST OF THE BEASTKING!" said Leomon.
"RING MISSILES, FIRE!" said Andromon.
"DELTA MISSILES, FIRE!" said Rald.
The gang's firepower heads straight at the drones. Boom!! There's a big explosion. The digimon believe that they might have gotten them. However, the drones were still standing. The digimon couldn't believe that they survived.
"Not a scratch!" said MetalGreymon.
"Damn!" said Rald.
The front line of drones look up & aim their cannons at Rald & the digimon in flight. They fire their weapons. The digimon & Rald are hit! They fall to the ground & land near Leomon. Rald got out of VT-03. They were O.K. The digimon got up. They too were O.K. VT-03 transforms back to warrior mode.
"This is not good at all sir," said VT-03.
"I know," said Rald.
Leomon runs to his fallen friends.
"Are you all O.K.?" said Leomon.
"We're fine," said MangaAngemon.
"Those valkyries are tough," said Lilymon.
The other digimon run to Rald & the others.
"These drones are much stronger now," said Zudomon.
"I know that," said MegaKabuterimon.
The drones aim at the Rald & the DigiDestined's digimon again. They fire.
"Look out!" said Kari.
It was too late. The digimon & Rald were hit again, along with Leomon & Andromon. They were thrown back toward the DigiDestined. They hit the shield. They're digimon digivolve back to rookie form.
"Are you guys alright?" asked Mimi's Mom.
"Yeah," said Agumon.
"That was tough!" said Gabumon.
"Too tough!" said Biyomon.
"There's no stopping them now," said Palmon.
"They're unstoppable!" said Tentomon.
"Their power is amazing," said Leomon.
Izzy opened up is computer, getting a analysis on the drones.
"According to this," explained Izzy, "The drones have digivolved into armored valkyries. They have laser cannons that could destroy anything. Their armor is made out of tricromium. That means they can only be destroyed with plasma rifles."
"I got some bad news for you all," said Maya, "We don't have plasma rifles!"
Just then, the front line drones surround the DigiDestined's digimon, Leomon & Andromon, & VT-10 & Rald. They aim their cannons at them. One of the drones speaks to the DigiDestined.
"Surrender now. Your friends here are our next targets. Turn off the shield. It won't last long anyway. Turn the shield off, throw down your weapons, & surrender. Or you can watch your friends die!"
The DigiDestined & their parents were in shock of this action. They knew that if they surrender, it would be over for them. Also, if they did not surrender, their digimon would die. Maya knew this as well. So did the other digimon, who were showing angry eyes. The DigiDestined could see that their digimon were showing fear.
Maya & the others knew that they had no choice now. They had to surrender.
"Alright," said Maya, "We surrender."
Maya drops her weapon & puts her hands up. The DigiDestined & their parents, along with Gennei & Wizardmon, did the same.
"We surrender," said Tai.
"Same here," said Gennei.
The DigiDestined & their parents, Gennei & Wizardmon, VT-03, & all the other digimon surrender, turn off the shield, & put their hands up.
It was over for them. They've lost.

Lord Himi sensed all that was happening down on Digi-World. So did Rico.
"Well," said Himi, "I told you I had a Trump Card. Now your digimon allies have lost. As for the warriors in orbit fighting the Hur'g, who knows. They might lose anyways. HA HA HA!"
"You fiend!" said Ajax with anger.
"Now you will all die at the hands of Lord Himi," said Himi with a evil smile.
"Our friends might have given up," said Rico, "but we haven't!"
Just then, the force fields turned off. The six minutes were up.
Rico & Ajax begin to run toward Himi, light-sabers ready to attack. Himi got ready to attack as well. Rico & Ajax jump & slash at Himi & the battle continues.
Rico couldn't believe it. The DigiDestined have lost. He knows now that it is up to him now. However, unknown to Himi, & forgotten by Rico, reinforcements would soon arrive to help.
The battle wasn't over yet. Not at all.