Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Really (How many times have I said that?)
A/N: Here's the next piece. It's a little awkward, so any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated. I'm still nervous that not everyone who had been following The Hammer Falls ended up here, so if you could drop me a review to let me know, that would be great. Thanks! Enjoy the show!
-dAEpisode XV
Amongst the Clouds
"How close are we?" Tai shouted into Izzy's ear, trying to make himself heard.
"I'm not really sure!" Izzy yelled back. "They're going slow, and they might not be where I think they are."
Both of them were yelling in order to make themselves overheard over the continued thunder of MegaKabuterimon's passage. Six humans, six rookies and two Champions hung to the outside of the giant red beetle as it shot over the ground at an altitude so high that they were passing above most of the clouds. The roar was a result of the hybrid Digimon's rocket-like exhaust that allowed him to move at such astonishing speeds, speeds that were sending Tai's hair all over the place, a sight that was, in itself, remarkable to behold.
"I thought you knew where they were?" Tai shouted back.
"I know about where they are. Just sit back and let me handle things, okay?" Izzy nearly screamed. "I can still barely hear you."
Tai sat back and sighed. He disliked waiting, but nobody else seemed inclined to try to make themselves heard over the thunder of their passage, and he knew that no matter how many times he bugged Izzy, he could never force the red-haired Digidestined to do anything else than his best. Which is what Izzy was doing right then.
Sora was sitting nearby, between him and Matt, watching the sunshine play on the gentle waters of a lake below them, while to the other side Joe and Mimi were actually sitting together, pointing wordlessly at different sights all around them. Their Digimon, mostly exhausted from the last fight, were lying around asleep. Ogremon was sharpening the spike in his huge club and Leomon was polishing his sword. Tai sighed once more and closed his eyes.
He only opened them again when someone tapped him impatiently on the shoulder. Until then he had failed to realize just how completely exhausted he had been, and he jerked awake with a start, staring around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Izzy was there, and the noise of the passage had dimmed, in fact, the only noise was the noise of the wind rushing past them. Izzy appeared disturbed about something, and he raised a finger to his lips to caution silence, before pointing around. Tai glanced around and suddenly realized that everybody else was asleep, lying around trying to stay comfortable. Tai nodded, and Izzy gestured him over to the front of MegaKabuterimon.
The view was incredible, huge mountains covered with lush green forests spread everywhere. Izzy, however, was concentrating only on a small gray point that was barely visible, inching along at an incredibly slow pace from here.
"Tai, can you get me a picture of that with your goggles."
Tai slipped them on quickly and magnified the image. When it appeared he raised both of his eyebrows in a gesture of surprise. A group of what looked like boats with wings were flying over the floor of a narrow, rocky canyon, their great bulk lending to their clumsy appearance.
"That must be the convoy with Piximon. We've got to figure out how to hit them before they get too close to the Pinnacle." Izzy muttered.
"Let's just hit them now!" Tai exclaimed excitedly, but Izzy waved him off.
"Sorry, but we can't successfully achieve anything with a pre-emptive attack. MegaKabuterimon is just exhausted, and I don't know about the others. Besides, those things may look like they can do nothing, but they carry guns, and some Digimon for protection. I think we need to rest up, settle down for the night, and take them tomorrow. There's a valley we can use for a campsite up ahead, and I suggest we use it. We can ambush them tomorrow."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tai muttered rebelliously beneath his breath. He kept his gaze fixed on the distant figures until they disappeared beneath the tilting horizon.
"You could have woken us up." Matt yawned. But he looked notably better, his eyes brighter, his gaze more fixed and more fierce after his nap. He did not look angry at all, only minorly irritated.
"Well, I figured letting us rest was all for the best. Besides, I thought we might want to get rest while we could." Izzy told them.
Tai and Joe had already left camp, going out to gather the evening's foraging, and Izzy and Sora were currently trying to arrange sleeping spaces. Mimi was picking up pieces of firewood, and Matt, who was still the designated cook, was resting up in preparation for his shift. Gabumon, Palmon and Biyomon were busy laying fuel in the firepit, small tinder mostly, and Tentomon was snoring off in the corner.
"So, what's the plan?" Matt asked.
"Don't look at me. Tai's the leader."
"Tai may be the leader, but you're the one with the most knowledge. It seems that you have a pretty grasp on this stuff, so maybe you should be the one who's running this part of the show." Matt responded, rolling his eyes.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I think Tai's a better choice for leading us. I have some ideas, but that's about all. All I really know is that whatever we do will have to be done in the sky. Maybe we can get another of our Digimon to go to Ultimate, but that's about all I think we can expect."
"So, no ideas." Sora finished brushing up around the beds of soft branches and dried grasses and looked around. The valley was not small, in reality it was quite large. But since Izzy's scanners had revealed that it was empty of Digimon, it looked safe enough. Overhead the pinnacles and verdant slopes of mountains covered with trees and low scrubs rose to the heavens, but gently, not like the angry young mountains who showed their barren teeth to the world, but gentle and round, like waves in the sea. With their shelter it was quite pleasant in the valley, and everything remained calm and quiet, refusing to budge from its normal state.
"I think you're just going to have to wait." Izzy replied, looking at the sky overhead. "I think you're just going to have to wait."
"So what's got you so excited?" Tai wanted to know. "I saw you starting to read that stuff you got off of Datamon's mainframe. You looked like your eyes were going to blow up or something. What got you so excited?"
"I think I know what this is all about." Izzy returned very calmly, and they all shot upright.
"You do? What does that mean?" Tai demanded after a moment.
"Well, I don't have the whole story. I don't have even half of it, but Datamon had extensive files on some parts of it, so I may know something about what's going on." Izzy tapped his laptop absently, searching for a good place to begin. "Remember when those guys who brought us here said something about a war?"
"Yeah."
"Well, Datamon's data backs it up. Apparently by Digital World time it was a long time ago. And I mean a loooong time ago. So Datamon wasn't around, and neither were any of the other Digimon we've met. There wasn't that much data about it to tell the truth, only vague notes about various different points that I couldn't even understand. But it means there really was a war.
"What was interesting is that Datamon had an ongoing project, to examine this particular aspect of the Digital World and see what its weaknesses and strengths were. And more important, to test its defenses. Agumon once told us that when Azulongmon gave up part of his power to help us, it weakened the defenses of the Digital World, but that's barely a consideration given what we're dealing with. Apparently there were many layers of defenses, but most of them were passive defenses."
"Passive defenses? What are those?" Biyomon wanted to know.
"Sort of like giant sized burglar alarms. Apparently there were mobile forces from some other authority who were supposed to intervene in case of trouble, and keep the evil from getting out of hand." Izzy tapped a few more keys on his computer.
"So where are they? And where were they." Tai wanted to know. "We could really use their help about now."
"Well, according to some of Datamon's notes, we are them. Apparently one of the programs seems designed to choose specific human beings who have the power to defeat evil and call them into the Digital World when there is danger of any sort. This seems to be the most effective part of the defenses. However, it also appears to be the one that is most hazardous to us.
"But the powers of darkness aren't just coming from here. They really are from other worlds. Datamon's notes said something about how the forces of Light were being kept busy elsewhere, and I think that this might have something to do with that war. If everyone else is busy fighting somewhere else, they really can't spare much to help us here. It seems that it's up to us. The good news is that whatever the bad guys send at us is all they have. They don't have resources to spare either.
"But what really bugs me is what Datamon wrote about the crests that we wear, that they are powered down versions of the weapons of the Light. I'm still trying to translate all his notes into some language that I can understand, but it seems that the forces of Light were engaged in some sort of experiment. They had the power to defeat evil, but there were too few of them, so they created a sort of copying program that would create copies of themselves. Not like clones, but copies of the power they used to fight against evil, and embed this in heroes who would be capable of fighting evil. If that's true, we were chosen for our affinity with our crests, which were designed as sort of an experiment to help fight against evil.
"That might not seem so important now, but it could be vital later." Izzy finished and looked around very seriously. "If I can continue to look into the way the Digital World was established, and the notes that Datamon and I have both made about our crests I might be able to determine the true magnitude of the powers at our disposal. We were told all about how our power was incredible, but I believe that we may have only just begun tapping into its true extent."
"If that's true does that mean that we'll all get stronger?" Agumon wanted to know.
"I think so. That's why understanding is so important." Izzy responded. "I believe firmly that knowledge may be the key to victory."
"You would." Tai responded, but he was smiling a little. "So what do we do tomorrow?"
"That's up to all of us." Izzy told him. "Someone probably has a good idea."
"Well, what do we know?" Matt asked.
Joe let his brain drift off as Izzy and the rest argued over their predicament. Izzy's analysis and observation were, as usual, extraordinary. From brief observation he had determined the probable airspeed of the enemy flotilla. From that he could tell them where it would probably be the next day when they launched their attack, and what it would probably be doing. From there on it was a series of wild ideas as everyone tried to figure out ways to get the ships to land so that they could sneak aboard and get Piximon off. It was a while before Joe spoke the thought that was in his mind. "Why don't we just attack them in the air?"
Everyone stared at him for a moment, and he rushed on before his idea could desert him. "We do have flying Digimon you know, and we do know how to use them. It might be easier to take them in their own territory than it would be to try and force them into ours."
"That makes a lot of sense." Gabumon agreed.
"So how do we do that?" Matt asked.
"We do the same thing that we did with Etemon, we distract them while we really sneak in and seize Piximon and then get out of there." Izzy was staring out into space, his face thoughtful.
"Okay, but how do we sneak in if they don't set down?" Agumon asked. "Some of us can't fly you know."
"Well, Lilymon is a really small Ultimate, but she can carry at least three people and their Digimon for short distances. She might be small enough to sneak into one of those behicles." Mimi suggested.
"And MegaKabuterimon is fast and big. He and I would make a perfect distraction." Izzy continued.
"I can fly too." Biyomon reminded them.
"Yes. I can see how this will work." Sora replied. "We can do this."
"All right everyone" Matt and Tai leaned forward eagerly. "This is how we do it"
"Doubts Sora?" Izzy asked quietly, startling the red-haired girl into jumping. As usual night watch was slow and boring, dull and quiet. Nothing was stirring in this little valley, except for the snores of some of the companions.
"Some." She admitted as Izzy walked over and sat down beside her, smiling gently and absently unfolding his laptop.
"Memories?" Izzy asked again, turning his head up to watch the stars.
"Some." She admitted again, continuing to look at the stars.
"I was thinking of that time before we went to get you back from Datamon. It seems so familiar now, so recent, and yet so long ago. We were different people in some ways, but in most we're still the same." Izzy breathed out and opened his eyes again, turning to look at Sora curiously. "How about you?"
"Something like that. Like those moments when we were talking before I got caught by Datamon in the first place. Memories, worries, you know how it goes." Sora responded, reaching down with one hand, picking up a branch and carefully beginning to peel off its needles.
"I wondered about that. Look, don't worry about it, I'm sure if we do our best it will go fine in the end. I'm sure of it."
Sora sighed. "Why is it the only time we see beauty like this, the only time we appreciate it, is when we're off to destroy something?"
Izzy could not answer that.
Sora sat silent for a few moments before bringing up one of the issues that had been bothering her. "Izzy, I know this is odd, but could I ask you for some advice?"
"Sure." Izzy did look surprised, but he quickly controlled himself.
"It's about my personal life." Sora continued, being careful not to make eye contact.
Izzy looked even more startled. Something akin to alarm seemed to be crossing his features. "You know, I'm really not somebody to ask about that"
"I know. Which is why I'm asking you. Think about it, everyone else is just as confused as I am, or even more so. I think that you're good enough to look at a problem from outside as well as inside, so you might have some insight I don't. Some thought I might miss. I hope you do anyway."
Izzy settled down for a moment, and Sora smiled inwardly at the amount of discomfort his body language was suddenly radiating. "Okay, shoot. But please not literally."
Sora laughed at that just a little. "Okay, the question is this. What is love, and how much of it is there?"
Izzy gulped most amusingly. He went red and pale at the same time. "UhI don't fully comprehend"
"I've got this problem. You know about me and Matt, but I think that Tai also likes me, and I feel something for him too. Anyway, that's how it started, but every time I think that I can make a decision, I get the nerves. That fight's as old as our friendship, but I'm really worried about what I'm supposed to do next. I've been avoiding Matt and Tai both to some extent, but I can't keep that up without offending them. I was just wondering if you could see anything that I don't."
"Hmmm" Izzy pretended to consider for a moment, but Sora could see that he was just relieved that the problem had nothing to do with himself directly. She felt a little guilty about frightening him like that, but she really did need some sort of help. "Well, I think the answer's obvious." Izzy stated after a moment, having regained his usual calm. "You're in love with both of them."
"WHAT?!?" Sora had to muffle herself at the last moment to avoid waking everyone, but Izzy was already pressing on.
"You see Sora, it's quite easy to understand. It's sort of like the way you love your parents and your family"
"That's not what I was talking about at all" Sora interrupted, her own face heating, but Izzy simply smiled at her and raised a cautionary finger.
"Don't they say that the more love you give, the more you have?" Izzy asked, and for some reason Sora couldn't bring herself to say anything about it.
"Anyway, like I was saying, you have the crest of Love. You probably have, if not an endless supply of love, then a lot of it. You can give it out to people who you like, and who you fit in with. In some aspects I wouldn't be surprised if you felt in some way similar to the way you feel about Matt and Tai about the rest of us as well. You're a generous spirit, and you give out your gifts to the world as such."
"You're making this out to be"
"I'm not done yet. You see, you're having a problem because you're convinced that you have to make a choice now and eliminate one of them from your life. I think you're overlooking several important facts. First, that we should be friends for the rest of our lives. That seems to come first and foremost. Second, you don't have to make a choice now, and that means you have time to think.
"Third, and most important, we're Digidestined. There are things higher than what most people consider love, than that foolish stuff that goes on back at school. Every time we go into danger for our world, we're already experiencing maturity and wisdom far beyond our years. I think that all that stuff we learn in Biology isn't as much linked with love as it is just thrown into the chemical mix. Since I understand biology very well, and don't understand love that well, I think that it has something else to do with how we view the world. I think that what we really want is to not have to go through the world alone.
"If that's true, you don't really have to make a choice. They'll be jealous and unhappy for a while, but the truth is, that no matter who you choose, all three of you will be together forever in a very special way. You're friends and you've risked your lives for each other. That means more than any ring could ever mean.
"In a way that's more important than any of those things you're probably thinking of. Love, given freely to everyone, can be the most important thing in the world. It keeps us together, and no matter what happens, you have to remember that you will never lose that bond."
Sora nodded, but her mind was even more turbulent now. "Thanks Izzy."
Izzy just smiled and moved quietly away.
Joe peered through his glasses as if his squinting could make the image clearer. It did not work.
"Izzy, this is Joe. I can see them, but not well. Ikkakumon and I can hit them from here." The blue haired boy whispered urgently into his D3.
"Excellent. We'll wait until they get a bit closer." Izzy responded.
"That's good, because at this range, all we'll do is hit the wrong places." Joe hissed back.
Sora glanced up quickly from where she was hidden beside Joe, looking doubtfully at the blips above her that could barely be seen in the bright sunlight. At this range they looked more like distant dots or far away birds than the massive airships they actually were.
"This is Tai on the covert approach." Another voice whispered through the D3s. "I see our entry point. It looks like some sort of door in the side of the main aircraft. Izzy, are you sure that's the one that Piximon is in?"
"I'm as sure as I can get. I only got a few images of him before I had to shut down my laptop, but this new and improved Digimon scanner seems to work pretty well. I pinpointed his location before they detected my probing actions, but I'm wondering if that set off their alarms anyway."
"Well, we'll just have to go with it. You cue the signal. Everything is in your hands now Izzy." Tai replied.
"I understand. Just remember, once you're inside the airship, you're on your own guys. Good luck. Izzy out."
Time passed with glacial slowness. One minute dripped by. Then another. Time fell slowly but inexorably, and, like watching water melt off the end of an icicle, Joe and Sora watched the dots grow larger in the sky, until they were clearly visible. Slowly as the spots grew into recognizable shapes the dread in the pits of their stomachs grew until it almost drowned out the panicked beating of their hearts. And then there was that last moment, the moment before action when everything stood still, and horror filled their hearts.
"Showtime." Izzy muttered into through the communication circuits.
"You're on Gomamon!" Joe howled.
"Gomamondigivolves toIkkakumon!"
"Harpoon Torpedo!" A series of green missiles rose into the air, speeding toward the cluster of airplanes. A moment later each craft was dotted with the sudden burst of smoke and flame from nearby explosions. One of the smaller craft smoldered as a wing was set aflame, circling to begin a barely-controlled crash landing, but the other four craft around the largest one sped off directly at them.
"De-digivolving time!" Joe yelled, but before he could even finish the familiar light surrounded the white mammal and Gomamon resumed his rookie form. Then the two of them were out and racing toward where Sora was hiding in the rocks, shooting through the trees and diving into the narrow cave, racing toward the other end.
Out of the corner of his eye Joe could catch a glimpse of Izzy, already entering a near-terminal dive. In the space of a few scant instants he went from being a dot in the sky, barely visible even if you knew what you were looking for, to a huge, diving insect-rider. MegaKabuterimon struck down like a thunderbolt, his Horn Buster blasting outwards and ripping another wing off of another airship in a fury of yellow energies. The blast seemed to momentarily stun the other airships, causing them to veer in all sorts of directions. By the time they turned back onto Izzy's tail MegaKabuterimon had fired another shot at yet another airship, blasting half of its tail off. The three damaged airships plunged downward in barely controlled falls, looking for some place to land, and definitely not worried about chasing anybody. Izzy took advantage of that to turn away and run for cover before the other two airships still in pursuit recovered from their surprise.
There was a brief flicker of motion that suggested that Lilymon had completed, or at least begun her part of the mission before the sky was blotted out and the four of them were racing through a tunnel.
Tai jumped through the door with Agumon right behind him, but there was nobody there to welcome them. Quickly, he waved Matt, Gabumon, Mimi and Lilymon through. This was the tricky part. The six of them would have to infiltrate a ship under attack and find Piximon. Worse, Lilymon was the only Digimon who could digivolve. In the narrow confines of the ship any of the others digivolving to their much larger states would cause what Izzy described as "aerodynamic inefficiencies" which, although they sounded mild enough, were probably catastrophic to send them all crashing into some nearby mountainside.
"Nobody here." Tai jerked his head back around one more time before rushing down one corridor. Izzy had told them approximately where Piximon had been held, but he had not been able to provide them with any guide to get there. Now it was down to them and the maps they could get their D3s to display.
"Good for us." Matt rounded a corner behind Tai and nearly crashed into a Bakemon who was edging his way out from one side corridor, not paying attention to where he was going. For a moment the ghost looked as flabbergasted as Matt, and then he reached out one black claw at the blonde Digidestined.
"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon carefully blew the Bakemon away from his partner, and the blue flames quickly burned the ghost down into digital data.
"Be more careful guys!" Mimi shrieked.
"We're trying to be!" Tai yelled back. "But we have to get through all this before they figure out that we're here."
Even as he spoke he was off and running again, with Agumon running right behind him trying to keep up with his longer-legged companion. Now there was the faint scream of alarms, and the corridors began to become obscure as smoke filtered in to the corridor from some damage somewhere.
"It looks like Ikkakumon got a little piece of this thing after all." Gabumon was observing right as Matt shoved him against a wall. A group of rushing Mamemon zoomed by on a corridor directly ahead, apparently going elsewhere and missing the Digidestined altogether. They had barely gotten started moving again before being forced to dodge a contingent of Bakemon going in another direction.
"This is getting us nowhere." Tai mumbled in frustration.
"I think I can distract them." Lilymon sounded as if she was considering something.
"Well, if you've got an idea, then now is a good time to say so." Tai yelled back, looking around for a plan of action.
"If you really want. Flower Cannon!" the blast from her combined hands smashed a huge hole through the side of the wall. There was a continuing explosion reaching out for a while, and then a hole formed that Tai could easily have jumped through into another corridor, now also covered in smoke.
"Why did you do that?" Matt screamed at the flower-like Digimon.
"They'll think that they're still under attack from outside. It will confuse them for a while. C'mon, we better get going." Lilymon pointed in the general direction they had been headed.
"Wonderful" Tai muttered. "Now I have a deranged flower along for the ride." But he started running anyway.
It quickly became a tense set of moments. First they would run through one set of corridors, then another, then another. Everywhere there was the scream of sirens, the yell of panicked voices, and the steady screams of people in danger or in pain. Blinded, blundering Digimon would stagger out of the smoke-filled hallways, feeling their way blindly by the metal pipes on the walls, running into the surprised group only to be quickly dispatched by the kids' Digimon escorts. Sometimes other explosions would sound, muffled, through the thick layers of hull.
Three times they ended up in a dead end, or facing a heavily populated section, and had to turn around. Tai was growing increasingly frustrated with the intricate design of the airship, and the fact that they were now hopelessly lost inside of it. Everyone was growing anxious. The time that they could remain undetected inside of the vessel was limited, and as the crew began to get their vessel under control, that time had shortened noticeably.
Izzy spared a moment to look backwards over his shoulder to confirm the bad news that his laptop had already given him. There were still only two airships following him, but they were falling further and further behind with every moment. The real problem was that each of them had apparently been carrying three Kuwagamon, and now the massive flying insect Digimon were roaring right after him, tearing up the air. MegaKabuterimon was still faster, but he could not run too far from his friends, and sooner or later he was going to run out of power.
One chance left. Izzy gulped. Academically, knowing that the time to take action was now did not make the choice and the decision any easier. For a moment fear clogged his mind and closed it off.
What the heck. I am a Digidestined. The thought surfaced rebelliously, and made Izzy smile for a moment.
"Turn around MegaKabuterimon. We might as well give them a real fight while we're at it."
"Got it." The huge beetle jerked around, corkscrewing so wildly that for a moment it felt like Izzy was going to fall off. But the sudden change in tactics confused the Kuwagamon tremendously, and suddenly there were four of them instead of six, two of them falling downwards, crushed contemptuously from the sky by the passage of their larger adversary.
Suddenly the airships were looming much larger in Izzy's vision, but he did not truly notice them, begin to intent on keeping to his seat. Sudden explosions from outlandish weapons dotted the skies, but it was apparent that the battle had, for a moment, become even more confusing.
"I don't like this." Sora muttered, gripping Biyomon's feathers harder than she normally would have. "They're taking too long."
"I don't like it either." Joe replied, "But I don't think that there's anything we can really do about it. Do you see another option."
Something in her wanted to digivolve Biyomon into Birdramon and fly up there to the rescue of her friends, but she knew that this would accomplish nothing except for possibly their final destruction. As she wrestled with herself time continued passing, as it was wont to do.
It was Matt who found Piximon, and it was entirely by accident.
They had been darting through passageways, always trying to avoid the crew who were still darting around in every possible direction when Matt nearly ran into a bulkhead. Skidding to a stop, he caught a glance through a slit in a door of a familiar pink ball of fluff contained in some sort of flickering energy field.
"Hey, it's Piximon." Matt almost shouted, changing the volume down to a hiss at the last instant.
Immediately all six of them congregated around the door. Indeed, inside was Piximon, the pink Digimon seemingly petrified in a beam of coalesced purple energy projecting from a circular aperture in the floor. That was all they could see through the narrow slit, whether or not there were guards around but they had definitely found their goal.
"So now what?" Matt asked quietly, trying to peer through the slit and see if there was anyone to the side.
"Sooner of later we gotta go in there right?" Tai asked.
"Right." Agumon responded firmly.
"Right. So let's go now. On the count of three. Matt, you and Gabumon take the left. We'll handle the right. Mimi, it's up to you and Lilymon to get our friend out of there if you can. Try whatever you can think of. Let's go. Three. Two. One!"
One of the keys of Tai's strategy was that he was simply giving the others no time to think, no time to worry about anything, and no time to lose their nerve. They simply reacted, and, at the count of three, smashed through the door in a sudden rush. Tai was already heading right, and ran almost immediately into a Bakemon. The ghost Digimon could normally have made a sandwich out of Tai, but the Digidestined had the advantage of surprise and a lot of forward momentum, which meant that his first punch was a lot more effective than it should have been. Another Bakemon behind the first gaped at them, but Agumon blasted him back into the wall. From the other direction there was enough sound from Matt to indicate that he had things well under control. For a moment Tai could get a sense of the room, a circular shaped room, with Piximon in the middle, and a whole mess of Bakemon surrounding the walls, monitoring a bunch of different control panels. Temporarily surprised, the white ghosts hovered there, not committing to a confrontation, still unable to piece together recent events, but they would recover soon. Even with Lilymon it looked like only seconds before they would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
"Flower Cannon!" The sudden blast of energy tore a deep gaping hole in the floor directly at the circular projector under Piximon. With a sudden crackle, the field of energy surrounding the pink Ultimate flickered and died, and Piximon was surrounded by a cloud of smoke from burned electronics.
When the smoke cleared, Piximon was blinking his huge, pupil-less black eyes in confusion, and the Bakemon looked, if possible, even more startled than they had when the kids had blown in on them in the first place.
"C'mon!" Tai yelled. "Piximon! Everyone! Time to go!"
"Right!" Matt responded, heading for the door. They were all turning when a not-quite paralyzed Bakemon made a sudden leap at Piximon. The Ultimate, still confused by his confinement and his release, reacted out of instinct.
"Pit Bomb!"
The explosion ripped a huge hole in the side of the chamber, blasting apart metal parts and electronic components like feathers out of a ruptured pillow. Suddenly the sparks of electronic fires and the familiar smell of burning material began to fill the compartment, drowning everything in smoke. From further into the hole, where everything was obscured by smoke and dust, secondary explosions began to roll, beginning to deafen everyone.
"Okay." Matt said quickly, looking back over his shoulder. "Now we're in trouble."
Izzy only caught a glimpse of the initial explosion as MegaKabuterimon literally stood on his side to avoid incoming fire, twisting to force the shots to pass wide. The pair of experienced freedom fighters had managed to maneuver themselves into an advantageous position that prevented the Kuwagamon still in pursuit from using their primary attacks for fear of damaging the airship ahead. Blasts of fire passed down from the airships ahead were now less accurate, the vessels maneuvering themselves to prevent MegaKabuterimon from closing enough to damage them at point blank range.
But, as the clouds of flame spewed from the stricken vessel, he spared it a single look to determine the depth of the trouble they had just landed themselves in.
"That's not good." Gomamon observed.
"You have a talent for understatement Gomamon." Sora shot back, trying to figure out what was going on.
In effect, the airship was supposed to be a giant airplane, capable of coasting gently from point to point on the lift from its huge wings and with guidance from its rudder-like tail.
Now, it was having some problems. First, the tail was missing, replaced by a giant gaping hole in the end of the airship, boiling smoke out in vast clouds that threatened to fill the sky, obscuring it completely. Second it seemed that without the tail fins to balance things the airship was too nose heavy, and it was spiraling down toward the ground.
"They're going to crash!" Joe yelled, pointing unnecessarily at the fiery wreck transversing the sky above.
"Not at that speed. They're going to splat." Gomamon replied.
"That's not much help!" Sora snapped at the marine Digimon.
"Sorry, but I don't have a single idea either."
"Biyomon, it's time to Digivolve." Sora reached down and grabbed her D3 firmly.
"Are you sure that's a good idea" Joe began, but the pink bird was already trying to get out of the immediate vicinity, to avoid knocking the others over in the transformation.
"Biyomondigivolves toBirdramon."
The huge orange bird, with Sora clinging to one leg, lifted off, soaring up higher and higher into the sky, trying to intercept the huge falling barge.
"Can we get out?" Matt wanted to know.
"I'm not sure." Lilymon was peering around, and Piximon, still recovering, was helping her. Their Ultimate-level senses allowed them to detect certain things that others could not, but it seemed to be of little help. All of them were mashed against the wall of a corridor by the force of gravity that had suddenly changed a flat floor into a tilting slide. Fortunately they were temporarily stable, but from the slant of their new trajectory, Tai was anything but reassured.
"I can't remember how we got in!" Tai screamed at himself, pounding his knee with one fist while Mimi tried to calm him down.
"It doesn't matter now." Piximon replied, his familiar voice returning them all to a measure of sanity. "Everything's gone topsy-turvy. We wouldn't even know up from down, or anything. It doesn't make sense anymore."
"That does it." Agumon exclaimed. "We'll just have to blast our way out."
"Nuh-uh." Lilymon replied. "Not until we're really desperate."
"Why not?" The dinosaur wanted to know.
"Think about it, this thing probably has fuel tanks somewhere near the center. Piximon probably triggered one of them to go off with his Pit Bomb. What happens if I blast my way through one of those?"
"Oooohhhhnasty. I see your point." Agumon conceded.
"Well, does anyone else have a better idea?" Matt demanded.
"Let's stay calm. Judging from the tilt of the airship we are going down somehow. Now, if there's damage, that probably means that there is damage to the ship. So, if we go to the part sticking in the air, we might find the damage." Piximon sounded thoughtful, but he was speaking very fast. "Probably I blew a hole in the aircraft, but I think I was aiming toward the rear of the ship, so there should be a hole uphill."
"Right. Uphill it is then." Tai tried to lead the way up the now slippery slope.
"Sora, I don't think I'm strong enough to hold this. And I can't find them in there." Birdramon strained with beats of mighty wings trying to match the altitude of the toppling airship.
"You'll just have to do your best. At least they aren't shooting at us anymore." Sora replied, her red hair whipping around her face.
"They probably have other things on their mind." Birdramon responded.
Sora had to admit to herself, as the massive airborne structure continued to topple down toward the ground, that her partner had a point. The vessel was huge, a mass of metal plates on a metal frame, kept aloft by vast and delicate aerodynamic systems. It must weight many tons, and Birdramon, even at her size, was unable to lift something of that particular magnitude.
But she did not really have a choice, did she? She had the crest of Love, did she not? Her power came from loving others, from giving to them freely. Friendship, but deeper, more profound, from the heart, ever growing, ever increasing. She may not have been able to figure out whether or not she had a true love, but if she did they were probably aboard that falling fiery wreck.
Suddenly what Izzy had meant to tell her through his confusing words snapped into clarity. She did not have to limit love to one person, she had enough love for her friends and family and all of those she cared about. She had love to spare to tell the truth, enough to give to everyone she wanted to survive. She loved all three of her human friends aboard that falling wreck, as well as their Digimon companions, and she could not afford to lose any of them. Her love was strong enough that it would drive her to save all three of them if she could, and to try as hard as she could if she could not. That was her power, to posses that strength that drove ordinary mortals to change the course of mighty rivers and alter destinies.
Her chest flamed with brilliant red fire, an aura of light to match the strength pouring out from her heart like a torrential rain.
"Birdramondigivolves to Garudamon!"
For a moment Sora lost her tenuous grip and was falling, and then she grabbed on to the first thing she could, the massive feathered shoulder of her Ultimate companion, right above the massive flapping wings. Aerodynamics dictated that Garudamon had to fly at s bit of a slant, meaning that Sora could struggle upwards to her favorite resting point, right above the massive bird's shoulders. From there she could watch the land rip by underneath her, zooming past at incredible speeds.
"Hang on!" Garudamon yelled, as her two arms reached out and grabbed on to the falling wreck.
There was a titanic impact, and then the airship, struggling against Garudamon's huge muscles, actually slowed down and began to steady out, but only for a few moments.
Hurry you guys! Hurry!
"We'll never find our way out!" Tai screamed in frustration as they found yet another dead end. He pounded the wall next to a large window showing the ground beneath them approaching.
There was a sudden jolt as the something happened to the airship, and the corridor tilted wildly, sending them all falling down, but Mimi's gaze never wavered.
"What's wrong Mimi?" Lilymon asked.
"We can't blow our way out because we might hit another fuel tank, right?" Mimi asked in a distant voice.
"Yes." Her Digimon replied.
"Well, that's a window. If you blow it out, you won't hit a fuel tank, will you?"
Tai and Matt smacked themselves in the head.
"Stand back! Flower Cannon!" The window exploded outward, sending shard of metal and glass arcing into nothingness.
"Hang on everyone!" Agumon yelled unnecessarily as Lilymon grabbed them in a bear hug and threw herself out of the door.
"They're out!" Garudamon's eyes matched those of the eagles and raptors from whom she took her shape, and even through the smoke and debris and flames, she could clearly make out the shapes soaring out from the sides of the ship. "And they've got Piximon."
"Let it go." Sora commanded.
Garudamon obediently dropped the ship and let it spiral to the ground, turning around and soaring onward against the buffeting winds.
"Where are we going?" Sora asked, as the wreck exploded against the hard, unyielding rock of a nearby mountainside.
"I thought we might want to save Izzy." Her companion remarked as they soared onward.
Tai looked down at the exhausted, sleeping, Tentomon, and the pale, wan Izzy, as they lay on the ground. His eyes brushed over the tired but triumphant Sora and the newly released Piximon. Then they glanced up and zoomed in on a point nobody could see.
"Daemon, we're coming for you."
A/N: Here's the next piece. It's a little awkward, so any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated. I'm still nervous that not everyone who had been following The Hammer Falls ended up here, so if you could drop me a review to let me know, that would be great. Thanks! Enjoy the show!
-dA
Amongst the Clouds
"I'm not really sure!" Izzy yelled back. "They're going slow, and they might not be where I think they are."
Both of them were yelling in order to make themselves overheard over the continued thunder of MegaKabuterimon's passage. Six humans, six rookies and two Champions hung to the outside of the giant red beetle as it shot over the ground at an altitude so high that they were passing above most of the clouds. The roar was a result of the hybrid Digimon's rocket-like exhaust that allowed him to move at such astonishing speeds, speeds that were sending Tai's hair all over the place, a sight that was, in itself, remarkable to behold.
"I thought you knew where they were?" Tai shouted back.
"I know about where they are. Just sit back and let me handle things, okay?" Izzy nearly screamed. "I can still barely hear you."
Tai sat back and sighed. He disliked waiting, but nobody else seemed inclined to try to make themselves heard over the thunder of their passage, and he knew that no matter how many times he bugged Izzy, he could never force the red-haired Digidestined to do anything else than his best. Which is what Izzy was doing right then.
Sora was sitting nearby, between him and Matt, watching the sunshine play on the gentle waters of a lake below them, while to the other side Joe and Mimi were actually sitting together, pointing wordlessly at different sights all around them. Their Digimon, mostly exhausted from the last fight, were lying around asleep. Ogremon was sharpening the spike in his huge club and Leomon was polishing his sword. Tai sighed once more and closed his eyes.
He only opened them again when someone tapped him impatiently on the shoulder. Until then he had failed to realize just how completely exhausted he had been, and he jerked awake with a start, staring around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Izzy was there, and the noise of the passage had dimmed, in fact, the only noise was the noise of the wind rushing past them. Izzy appeared disturbed about something, and he raised a finger to his lips to caution silence, before pointing around. Tai glanced around and suddenly realized that everybody else was asleep, lying around trying to stay comfortable. Tai nodded, and Izzy gestured him over to the front of MegaKabuterimon.
The view was incredible, huge mountains covered with lush green forests spread everywhere. Izzy, however, was concentrating only on a small gray point that was barely visible, inching along at an incredibly slow pace from here.
"Tai, can you get me a picture of that with your goggles."
Tai slipped them on quickly and magnified the image. When it appeared he raised both of his eyebrows in a gesture of surprise. A group of what looked like boats with wings were flying over the floor of a narrow, rocky canyon, their great bulk lending to their clumsy appearance.
"That must be the convoy with Piximon. We've got to figure out how to hit them before they get too close to the Pinnacle." Izzy muttered.
"Let's just hit them now!" Tai exclaimed excitedly, but Izzy waved him off.
"Sorry, but we can't successfully achieve anything with a pre-emptive attack. MegaKabuterimon is just exhausted, and I don't know about the others. Besides, those things may look like they can do nothing, but they carry guns, and some Digimon for protection. I think we need to rest up, settle down for the night, and take them tomorrow. There's a valley we can use for a campsite up ahead, and I suggest we use it. We can ambush them tomorrow."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tai muttered rebelliously beneath his breath. He kept his gaze fixed on the distant figures until they disappeared beneath the tilting horizon.
"You could have woken us up." Matt yawned. But he looked notably better, his eyes brighter, his gaze more fixed and more fierce after his nap. He did not look angry at all, only minorly irritated.
"Well, I figured letting us rest was all for the best. Besides, I thought we might want to get rest while we could." Izzy told them.
Tai and Joe had already left camp, going out to gather the evening's foraging, and Izzy and Sora were currently trying to arrange sleeping spaces. Mimi was picking up pieces of firewood, and Matt, who was still the designated cook, was resting up in preparation for his shift. Gabumon, Palmon and Biyomon were busy laying fuel in the firepit, small tinder mostly, and Tentomon was snoring off in the corner.
"So, what's the plan?" Matt asked.
"Don't look at me. Tai's the leader."
"Tai may be the leader, but you're the one with the most knowledge. It seems that you have a pretty grasp on this stuff, so maybe you should be the one who's running this part of the show." Matt responded, rolling his eyes.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I think Tai's a better choice for leading us. I have some ideas, but that's about all. All I really know is that whatever we do will have to be done in the sky. Maybe we can get another of our Digimon to go to Ultimate, but that's about all I think we can expect."
"So, no ideas." Sora finished brushing up around the beds of soft branches and dried grasses and looked around. The valley was not small, in reality it was quite large. But since Izzy's scanners had revealed that it was empty of Digimon, it looked safe enough. Overhead the pinnacles and verdant slopes of mountains covered with trees and low scrubs rose to the heavens, but gently, not like the angry young mountains who showed their barren teeth to the world, but gentle and round, like waves in the sea. With their shelter it was quite pleasant in the valley, and everything remained calm and quiet, refusing to budge from its normal state.
"I think you're just going to have to wait." Izzy replied, looking at the sky overhead. "I think you're just going to have to wait."
"So what's got you so excited?" Tai wanted to know. "I saw you starting to read that stuff you got off of Datamon's mainframe. You looked like your eyes were going to blow up or something. What got you so excited?"
"I think I know what this is all about." Izzy returned very calmly, and they all shot upright.
"You do? What does that mean?" Tai demanded after a moment.
"Well, I don't have the whole story. I don't have even half of it, but Datamon had extensive files on some parts of it, so I may know something about what's going on." Izzy tapped his laptop absently, searching for a good place to begin. "Remember when those guys who brought us here said something about a war?"
"Yeah."
"Well, Datamon's data backs it up. Apparently by Digital World time it was a long time ago. And I mean a loooong time ago. So Datamon wasn't around, and neither were any of the other Digimon we've met. There wasn't that much data about it to tell the truth, only vague notes about various different points that I couldn't even understand. But it means there really was a war.
"What was interesting is that Datamon had an ongoing project, to examine this particular aspect of the Digital World and see what its weaknesses and strengths were. And more important, to test its defenses. Agumon once told us that when Azulongmon gave up part of his power to help us, it weakened the defenses of the Digital World, but that's barely a consideration given what we're dealing with. Apparently there were many layers of defenses, but most of them were passive defenses."
"Passive defenses? What are those?" Biyomon wanted to know.
"Sort of like giant sized burglar alarms. Apparently there were mobile forces from some other authority who were supposed to intervene in case of trouble, and keep the evil from getting out of hand." Izzy tapped a few more keys on his computer.
"So where are they? And where were they." Tai wanted to know. "We could really use their help about now."
"Well, according to some of Datamon's notes, we are them. Apparently one of the programs seems designed to choose specific human beings who have the power to defeat evil and call them into the Digital World when there is danger of any sort. This seems to be the most effective part of the defenses. However, it also appears to be the one that is most hazardous to us.
"But the powers of darkness aren't just coming from here. They really are from other worlds. Datamon's notes said something about how the forces of Light were being kept busy elsewhere, and I think that this might have something to do with that war. If everyone else is busy fighting somewhere else, they really can't spare much to help us here. It seems that it's up to us. The good news is that whatever the bad guys send at us is all they have. They don't have resources to spare either.
"But what really bugs me is what Datamon wrote about the crests that we wear, that they are powered down versions of the weapons of the Light. I'm still trying to translate all his notes into some language that I can understand, but it seems that the forces of Light were engaged in some sort of experiment. They had the power to defeat evil, but there were too few of them, so they created a sort of copying program that would create copies of themselves. Not like clones, but copies of the power they used to fight against evil, and embed this in heroes who would be capable of fighting evil. If that's true, we were chosen for our affinity with our crests, which were designed as sort of an experiment to help fight against evil.
"That might not seem so important now, but it could be vital later." Izzy finished and looked around very seriously. "If I can continue to look into the way the Digital World was established, and the notes that Datamon and I have both made about our crests I might be able to determine the true magnitude of the powers at our disposal. We were told all about how our power was incredible, but I believe that we may have only just begun tapping into its true extent."
"If that's true does that mean that we'll all get stronger?" Agumon wanted to know.
"I think so. That's why understanding is so important." Izzy responded. "I believe firmly that knowledge may be the key to victory."
"You would." Tai responded, but he was smiling a little. "So what do we do tomorrow?"
"That's up to all of us." Izzy told him. "Someone probably has a good idea."
"Well, what do we know?" Matt asked.
Joe let his brain drift off as Izzy and the rest argued over their predicament. Izzy's analysis and observation were, as usual, extraordinary. From brief observation he had determined the probable airspeed of the enemy flotilla. From that he could tell them where it would probably be the next day when they launched their attack, and what it would probably be doing. From there on it was a series of wild ideas as everyone tried to figure out ways to get the ships to land so that they could sneak aboard and get Piximon off. It was a while before Joe spoke the thought that was in his mind. "Why don't we just attack them in the air?"
Everyone stared at him for a moment, and he rushed on before his idea could desert him. "We do have flying Digimon you know, and we do know how to use them. It might be easier to take them in their own territory than it would be to try and force them into ours."
"That makes a lot of sense." Gabumon agreed.
"So how do we do that?" Matt asked.
"We do the same thing that we did with Etemon, we distract them while we really sneak in and seize Piximon and then get out of there." Izzy was staring out into space, his face thoughtful.
"Okay, but how do we sneak in if they don't set down?" Agumon asked. "Some of us can't fly you know."
"Well, Lilymon is a really small Ultimate, but she can carry at least three people and their Digimon for short distances. She might be small enough to sneak into one of those behicles." Mimi suggested.
"And MegaKabuterimon is fast and big. He and I would make a perfect distraction." Izzy continued.
"I can fly too." Biyomon reminded them.
"Yes. I can see how this will work." Sora replied. "We can do this."
"All right everyone" Matt and Tai leaned forward eagerly. "This is how we do it"
"Doubts Sora?" Izzy asked quietly, startling the red-haired girl into jumping. As usual night watch was slow and boring, dull and quiet. Nothing was stirring in this little valley, except for the snores of some of the companions.
"Some." She admitted as Izzy walked over and sat down beside her, smiling gently and absently unfolding his laptop.
"Memories?" Izzy asked again, turning his head up to watch the stars.
"Some." She admitted again, continuing to look at the stars.
"I was thinking of that time before we went to get you back from Datamon. It seems so familiar now, so recent, and yet so long ago. We were different people in some ways, but in most we're still the same." Izzy breathed out and opened his eyes again, turning to look at Sora curiously. "How about you?"
"Something like that. Like those moments when we were talking before I got caught by Datamon in the first place. Memories, worries, you know how it goes." Sora responded, reaching down with one hand, picking up a branch and carefully beginning to peel off its needles.
"I wondered about that. Look, don't worry about it, I'm sure if we do our best it will go fine in the end. I'm sure of it."
Sora sighed. "Why is it the only time we see beauty like this, the only time we appreciate it, is when we're off to destroy something?"
Izzy could not answer that.
Sora sat silent for a few moments before bringing up one of the issues that had been bothering her. "Izzy, I know this is odd, but could I ask you for some advice?"
"Sure." Izzy did look surprised, but he quickly controlled himself.
"It's about my personal life." Sora continued, being careful not to make eye contact.
Izzy looked even more startled. Something akin to alarm seemed to be crossing his features. "You know, I'm really not somebody to ask about that"
"I know. Which is why I'm asking you. Think about it, everyone else is just as confused as I am, or even more so. I think that you're good enough to look at a problem from outside as well as inside, so you might have some insight I don't. Some thought I might miss. I hope you do anyway."
Izzy settled down for a moment, and Sora smiled inwardly at the amount of discomfort his body language was suddenly radiating. "Okay, shoot. But please not literally."
Sora laughed at that just a little. "Okay, the question is this. What is love, and how much of it is there?"
Izzy gulped most amusingly. He went red and pale at the same time. "UhI don't fully comprehend"
"I've got this problem. You know about me and Matt, but I think that Tai also likes me, and I feel something for him too. Anyway, that's how it started, but every time I think that I can make a decision, I get the nerves. That fight's as old as our friendship, but I'm really worried about what I'm supposed to do next. I've been avoiding Matt and Tai both to some extent, but I can't keep that up without offending them. I was just wondering if you could see anything that I don't."
"Hmmm" Izzy pretended to consider for a moment, but Sora could see that he was just relieved that the problem had nothing to do with himself directly. She felt a little guilty about frightening him like that, but she really did need some sort of help. "Well, I think the answer's obvious." Izzy stated after a moment, having regained his usual calm. "You're in love with both of them."
"WHAT?!?" Sora had to muffle herself at the last moment to avoid waking everyone, but Izzy was already pressing on.
"You see Sora, it's quite easy to understand. It's sort of like the way you love your parents and your family"
"That's not what I was talking about at all" Sora interrupted, her own face heating, but Izzy simply smiled at her and raised a cautionary finger.
"Don't they say that the more love you give, the more you have?" Izzy asked, and for some reason Sora couldn't bring herself to say anything about it.
"Anyway, like I was saying, you have the crest of Love. You probably have, if not an endless supply of love, then a lot of it. You can give it out to people who you like, and who you fit in with. In some aspects I wouldn't be surprised if you felt in some way similar to the way you feel about Matt and Tai about the rest of us as well. You're a generous spirit, and you give out your gifts to the world as such."
"You're making this out to be"
"I'm not done yet. You see, you're having a problem because you're convinced that you have to make a choice now and eliminate one of them from your life. I think you're overlooking several important facts. First, that we should be friends for the rest of our lives. That seems to come first and foremost. Second, you don't have to make a choice now, and that means you have time to think.
"Third, and most important, we're Digidestined. There are things higher than what most people consider love, than that foolish stuff that goes on back at school. Every time we go into danger for our world, we're already experiencing maturity and wisdom far beyond our years. I think that all that stuff we learn in Biology isn't as much linked with love as it is just thrown into the chemical mix. Since I understand biology very well, and don't understand love that well, I think that it has something else to do with how we view the world. I think that what we really want is to not have to go through the world alone.
"If that's true, you don't really have to make a choice. They'll be jealous and unhappy for a while, but the truth is, that no matter who you choose, all three of you will be together forever in a very special way. You're friends and you've risked your lives for each other. That means more than any ring could ever mean.
"In a way that's more important than any of those things you're probably thinking of. Love, given freely to everyone, can be the most important thing in the world. It keeps us together, and no matter what happens, you have to remember that you will never lose that bond."
Sora nodded, but her mind was even more turbulent now. "Thanks Izzy."
Izzy just smiled and moved quietly away.
Joe peered through his glasses as if his squinting could make the image clearer. It did not work.
"Izzy, this is Joe. I can see them, but not well. Ikkakumon and I can hit them from here." The blue haired boy whispered urgently into his D3.
"Excellent. We'll wait until they get a bit closer." Izzy responded.
"That's good, because at this range, all we'll do is hit the wrong places." Joe hissed back.
Sora glanced up quickly from where she was hidden beside Joe, looking doubtfully at the blips above her that could barely be seen in the bright sunlight. At this range they looked more like distant dots or far away birds than the massive airships they actually were.
"This is Tai on the covert approach." Another voice whispered through the D3s. "I see our entry point. It looks like some sort of door in the side of the main aircraft. Izzy, are you sure that's the one that Piximon is in?"
"I'm as sure as I can get. I only got a few images of him before I had to shut down my laptop, but this new and improved Digimon scanner seems to work pretty well. I pinpointed his location before they detected my probing actions, but I'm wondering if that set off their alarms anyway."
"Well, we'll just have to go with it. You cue the signal. Everything is in your hands now Izzy." Tai replied.
"I understand. Just remember, once you're inside the airship, you're on your own guys. Good luck. Izzy out."
Time passed with glacial slowness. One minute dripped by. Then another. Time fell slowly but inexorably, and, like watching water melt off the end of an icicle, Joe and Sora watched the dots grow larger in the sky, until they were clearly visible. Slowly as the spots grew into recognizable shapes the dread in the pits of their stomachs grew until it almost drowned out the panicked beating of their hearts. And then there was that last moment, the moment before action when everything stood still, and horror filled their hearts.
"Showtime." Izzy muttered into through the communication circuits.
"You're on Gomamon!" Joe howled.
"Gomamondigivolves toIkkakumon!"
"Harpoon Torpedo!" A series of green missiles rose into the air, speeding toward the cluster of airplanes. A moment later each craft was dotted with the sudden burst of smoke and flame from nearby explosions. One of the smaller craft smoldered as a wing was set aflame, circling to begin a barely-controlled crash landing, but the other four craft around the largest one sped off directly at them.
"De-digivolving time!" Joe yelled, but before he could even finish the familiar light surrounded the white mammal and Gomamon resumed his rookie form. Then the two of them were out and racing toward where Sora was hiding in the rocks, shooting through the trees and diving into the narrow cave, racing toward the other end.
Out of the corner of his eye Joe could catch a glimpse of Izzy, already entering a near-terminal dive. In the space of a few scant instants he went from being a dot in the sky, barely visible even if you knew what you were looking for, to a huge, diving insect-rider. MegaKabuterimon struck down like a thunderbolt, his Horn Buster blasting outwards and ripping another wing off of another airship in a fury of yellow energies. The blast seemed to momentarily stun the other airships, causing them to veer in all sorts of directions. By the time they turned back onto Izzy's tail MegaKabuterimon had fired another shot at yet another airship, blasting half of its tail off. The three damaged airships plunged downward in barely controlled falls, looking for some place to land, and definitely not worried about chasing anybody. Izzy took advantage of that to turn away and run for cover before the other two airships still in pursuit recovered from their surprise.
There was a brief flicker of motion that suggested that Lilymon had completed, or at least begun her part of the mission before the sky was blotted out and the four of them were racing through a tunnel.
Tai jumped through the door with Agumon right behind him, but there was nobody there to welcome them. Quickly, he waved Matt, Gabumon, Mimi and Lilymon through. This was the tricky part. The six of them would have to infiltrate a ship under attack and find Piximon. Worse, Lilymon was the only Digimon who could digivolve. In the narrow confines of the ship any of the others digivolving to their much larger states would cause what Izzy described as "aerodynamic inefficiencies" which, although they sounded mild enough, were probably catastrophic to send them all crashing into some nearby mountainside.
"Nobody here." Tai jerked his head back around one more time before rushing down one corridor. Izzy had told them approximately where Piximon had been held, but he had not been able to provide them with any guide to get there. Now it was down to them and the maps they could get their D3s to display.
"Good for us." Matt rounded a corner behind Tai and nearly crashed into a Bakemon who was edging his way out from one side corridor, not paying attention to where he was going. For a moment the ghost looked as flabbergasted as Matt, and then he reached out one black claw at the blonde Digidestined.
"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon carefully blew the Bakemon away from his partner, and the blue flames quickly burned the ghost down into digital data.
"Be more careful guys!" Mimi shrieked.
"We're trying to be!" Tai yelled back. "But we have to get through all this before they figure out that we're here."
Even as he spoke he was off and running again, with Agumon running right behind him trying to keep up with his longer-legged companion. Now there was the faint scream of alarms, and the corridors began to become obscure as smoke filtered in to the corridor from some damage somewhere.
"It looks like Ikkakumon got a little piece of this thing after all." Gabumon was observing right as Matt shoved him against a wall. A group of rushing Mamemon zoomed by on a corridor directly ahead, apparently going elsewhere and missing the Digidestined altogether. They had barely gotten started moving again before being forced to dodge a contingent of Bakemon going in another direction.
"This is getting us nowhere." Tai mumbled in frustration.
"I think I can distract them." Lilymon sounded as if she was considering something.
"Well, if you've got an idea, then now is a good time to say so." Tai yelled back, looking around for a plan of action.
"If you really want. Flower Cannon!" the blast from her combined hands smashed a huge hole through the side of the wall. There was a continuing explosion reaching out for a while, and then a hole formed that Tai could easily have jumped through into another corridor, now also covered in smoke.
"Why did you do that?" Matt screamed at the flower-like Digimon.
"They'll think that they're still under attack from outside. It will confuse them for a while. C'mon, we better get going." Lilymon pointed in the general direction they had been headed.
"Wonderful" Tai muttered. "Now I have a deranged flower along for the ride." But he started running anyway.
It quickly became a tense set of moments. First they would run through one set of corridors, then another, then another. Everywhere there was the scream of sirens, the yell of panicked voices, and the steady screams of people in danger or in pain. Blinded, blundering Digimon would stagger out of the smoke-filled hallways, feeling their way blindly by the metal pipes on the walls, running into the surprised group only to be quickly dispatched by the kids' Digimon escorts. Sometimes other explosions would sound, muffled, through the thick layers of hull.
Three times they ended up in a dead end, or facing a heavily populated section, and had to turn around. Tai was growing increasingly frustrated with the intricate design of the airship, and the fact that they were now hopelessly lost inside of it. Everyone was growing anxious. The time that they could remain undetected inside of the vessel was limited, and as the crew began to get their vessel under control, that time had shortened noticeably.
Izzy spared a moment to look backwards over his shoulder to confirm the bad news that his laptop had already given him. There were still only two airships following him, but they were falling further and further behind with every moment. The real problem was that each of them had apparently been carrying three Kuwagamon, and now the massive flying insect Digimon were roaring right after him, tearing up the air. MegaKabuterimon was still faster, but he could not run too far from his friends, and sooner or later he was going to run out of power.
One chance left. Izzy gulped. Academically, knowing that the time to take action was now did not make the choice and the decision any easier. For a moment fear clogged his mind and closed it off.
What the heck. I am a Digidestined. The thought surfaced rebelliously, and made Izzy smile for a moment.
"Turn around MegaKabuterimon. We might as well give them a real fight while we're at it."
"Got it." The huge beetle jerked around, corkscrewing so wildly that for a moment it felt like Izzy was going to fall off. But the sudden change in tactics confused the Kuwagamon tremendously, and suddenly there were four of them instead of six, two of them falling downwards, crushed contemptuously from the sky by the passage of their larger adversary.
Suddenly the airships were looming much larger in Izzy's vision, but he did not truly notice them, begin to intent on keeping to his seat. Sudden explosions from outlandish weapons dotted the skies, but it was apparent that the battle had, for a moment, become even more confusing.
"I don't like this." Sora muttered, gripping Biyomon's feathers harder than she normally would have. "They're taking too long."
"I don't like it either." Joe replied, "But I don't think that there's anything we can really do about it. Do you see another option."
Something in her wanted to digivolve Biyomon into Birdramon and fly up there to the rescue of her friends, but she knew that this would accomplish nothing except for possibly their final destruction. As she wrestled with herself time continued passing, as it was wont to do.
It was Matt who found Piximon, and it was entirely by accident.
They had been darting through passageways, always trying to avoid the crew who were still darting around in every possible direction when Matt nearly ran into a bulkhead. Skidding to a stop, he caught a glance through a slit in a door of a familiar pink ball of fluff contained in some sort of flickering energy field.
"Hey, it's Piximon." Matt almost shouted, changing the volume down to a hiss at the last instant.
Immediately all six of them congregated around the door. Indeed, inside was Piximon, the pink Digimon seemingly petrified in a beam of coalesced purple energy projecting from a circular aperture in the floor. That was all they could see through the narrow slit, whether or not there were guards around but they had definitely found their goal.
"So now what?" Matt asked quietly, trying to peer through the slit and see if there was anyone to the side.
"Sooner of later we gotta go in there right?" Tai asked.
"Right." Agumon responded firmly.
"Right. So let's go now. On the count of three. Matt, you and Gabumon take the left. We'll handle the right. Mimi, it's up to you and Lilymon to get our friend out of there if you can. Try whatever you can think of. Let's go. Three. Two. One!"
One of the keys of Tai's strategy was that he was simply giving the others no time to think, no time to worry about anything, and no time to lose their nerve. They simply reacted, and, at the count of three, smashed through the door in a sudden rush. Tai was already heading right, and ran almost immediately into a Bakemon. The ghost Digimon could normally have made a sandwich out of Tai, but the Digidestined had the advantage of surprise and a lot of forward momentum, which meant that his first punch was a lot more effective than it should have been. Another Bakemon behind the first gaped at them, but Agumon blasted him back into the wall. From the other direction there was enough sound from Matt to indicate that he had things well under control. For a moment Tai could get a sense of the room, a circular shaped room, with Piximon in the middle, and a whole mess of Bakemon surrounding the walls, monitoring a bunch of different control panels. Temporarily surprised, the white ghosts hovered there, not committing to a confrontation, still unable to piece together recent events, but they would recover soon. Even with Lilymon it looked like only seconds before they would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
"Flower Cannon!" The sudden blast of energy tore a deep gaping hole in the floor directly at the circular projector under Piximon. With a sudden crackle, the field of energy surrounding the pink Ultimate flickered and died, and Piximon was surrounded by a cloud of smoke from burned electronics.
When the smoke cleared, Piximon was blinking his huge, pupil-less black eyes in confusion, and the Bakemon looked, if possible, even more startled than they had when the kids had blown in on them in the first place.
"C'mon!" Tai yelled. "Piximon! Everyone! Time to go!"
"Right!" Matt responded, heading for the door. They were all turning when a not-quite paralyzed Bakemon made a sudden leap at Piximon. The Ultimate, still confused by his confinement and his release, reacted out of instinct.
"Pit Bomb!"
The explosion ripped a huge hole in the side of the chamber, blasting apart metal parts and electronic components like feathers out of a ruptured pillow. Suddenly the sparks of electronic fires and the familiar smell of burning material began to fill the compartment, drowning everything in smoke. From further into the hole, where everything was obscured by smoke and dust, secondary explosions began to roll, beginning to deafen everyone.
"Okay." Matt said quickly, looking back over his shoulder. "Now we're in trouble."
Izzy only caught a glimpse of the initial explosion as MegaKabuterimon literally stood on his side to avoid incoming fire, twisting to force the shots to pass wide. The pair of experienced freedom fighters had managed to maneuver themselves into an advantageous position that prevented the Kuwagamon still in pursuit from using their primary attacks for fear of damaging the airship ahead. Blasts of fire passed down from the airships ahead were now less accurate, the vessels maneuvering themselves to prevent MegaKabuterimon from closing enough to damage them at point blank range.
But, as the clouds of flame spewed from the stricken vessel, he spared it a single look to determine the depth of the trouble they had just landed themselves in.
"That's not good." Gomamon observed.
"You have a talent for understatement Gomamon." Sora shot back, trying to figure out what was going on.
In effect, the airship was supposed to be a giant airplane, capable of coasting gently from point to point on the lift from its huge wings and with guidance from its rudder-like tail.
Now, it was having some problems. First, the tail was missing, replaced by a giant gaping hole in the end of the airship, boiling smoke out in vast clouds that threatened to fill the sky, obscuring it completely. Second it seemed that without the tail fins to balance things the airship was too nose heavy, and it was spiraling down toward the ground.
"They're going to crash!" Joe yelled, pointing unnecessarily at the fiery wreck transversing the sky above.
"Not at that speed. They're going to splat." Gomamon replied.
"That's not much help!" Sora snapped at the marine Digimon.
"Sorry, but I don't have a single idea either."
"Biyomon, it's time to Digivolve." Sora reached down and grabbed her D3 firmly.
"Are you sure that's a good idea" Joe began, but the pink bird was already trying to get out of the immediate vicinity, to avoid knocking the others over in the transformation.
"Biyomondigivolves toBirdramon."
The huge orange bird, with Sora clinging to one leg, lifted off, soaring up higher and higher into the sky, trying to intercept the huge falling barge.
"Can we get out?" Matt wanted to know.
"I'm not sure." Lilymon was peering around, and Piximon, still recovering, was helping her. Their Ultimate-level senses allowed them to detect certain things that others could not, but it seemed to be of little help. All of them were mashed against the wall of a corridor by the force of gravity that had suddenly changed a flat floor into a tilting slide. Fortunately they were temporarily stable, but from the slant of their new trajectory, Tai was anything but reassured.
"I can't remember how we got in!" Tai screamed at himself, pounding his knee with one fist while Mimi tried to calm him down.
"It doesn't matter now." Piximon replied, his familiar voice returning them all to a measure of sanity. "Everything's gone topsy-turvy. We wouldn't even know up from down, or anything. It doesn't make sense anymore."
"That does it." Agumon exclaimed. "We'll just have to blast our way out."
"Nuh-uh." Lilymon replied. "Not until we're really desperate."
"Why not?" The dinosaur wanted to know.
"Think about it, this thing probably has fuel tanks somewhere near the center. Piximon probably triggered one of them to go off with his Pit Bomb. What happens if I blast my way through one of those?"
"Oooohhhhnasty. I see your point." Agumon conceded.
"Well, does anyone else have a better idea?" Matt demanded.
"Let's stay calm. Judging from the tilt of the airship we are going down somehow. Now, if there's damage, that probably means that there is damage to the ship. So, if we go to the part sticking in the air, we might find the damage." Piximon sounded thoughtful, but he was speaking very fast. "Probably I blew a hole in the aircraft, but I think I was aiming toward the rear of the ship, so there should be a hole uphill."
"Right. Uphill it is then." Tai tried to lead the way up the now slippery slope.
"Sora, I don't think I'm strong enough to hold this. And I can't find them in there." Birdramon strained with beats of mighty wings trying to match the altitude of the toppling airship.
"You'll just have to do your best. At least they aren't shooting at us anymore." Sora replied, her red hair whipping around her face.
"They probably have other things on their mind." Birdramon responded.
Sora had to admit to herself, as the massive airborne structure continued to topple down toward the ground, that her partner had a point. The vessel was huge, a mass of metal plates on a metal frame, kept aloft by vast and delicate aerodynamic systems. It must weight many tons, and Birdramon, even at her size, was unable to lift something of that particular magnitude.
But she did not really have a choice, did she? She had the crest of Love, did she not? Her power came from loving others, from giving to them freely. Friendship, but deeper, more profound, from the heart, ever growing, ever increasing. She may not have been able to figure out whether or not she had a true love, but if she did they were probably aboard that falling fiery wreck.
Suddenly what Izzy had meant to tell her through his confusing words snapped into clarity. She did not have to limit love to one person, she had enough love for her friends and family and all of those she cared about. She had love to spare to tell the truth, enough to give to everyone she wanted to survive. She loved all three of her human friends aboard that falling wreck, as well as their Digimon companions, and she could not afford to lose any of them. Her love was strong enough that it would drive her to save all three of them if she could, and to try as hard as she could if she could not. That was her power, to posses that strength that drove ordinary mortals to change the course of mighty rivers and alter destinies.
Her chest flamed with brilliant red fire, an aura of light to match the strength pouring out from her heart like a torrential rain.
"Birdramondigivolves to Garudamon!"
For a moment Sora lost her tenuous grip and was falling, and then she grabbed on to the first thing she could, the massive feathered shoulder of her Ultimate companion, right above the massive flapping wings. Aerodynamics dictated that Garudamon had to fly at s bit of a slant, meaning that Sora could struggle upwards to her favorite resting point, right above the massive bird's shoulders. From there she could watch the land rip by underneath her, zooming past at incredible speeds.
"Hang on!" Garudamon yelled, as her two arms reached out and grabbed on to the falling wreck.
There was a titanic impact, and then the airship, struggling against Garudamon's huge muscles, actually slowed down and began to steady out, but only for a few moments.
Hurry you guys! Hurry!
"We'll never find our way out!" Tai screamed in frustration as they found yet another dead end. He pounded the wall next to a large window showing the ground beneath them approaching.
There was a sudden jolt as the something happened to the airship, and the corridor tilted wildly, sending them all falling down, but Mimi's gaze never wavered.
"What's wrong Mimi?" Lilymon asked.
"We can't blow our way out because we might hit another fuel tank, right?" Mimi asked in a distant voice.
"Yes." Her Digimon replied.
"Well, that's a window. If you blow it out, you won't hit a fuel tank, will you?"
Tai and Matt smacked themselves in the head.
"Stand back! Flower Cannon!" The window exploded outward, sending shard of metal and glass arcing into nothingness.
"Hang on everyone!" Agumon yelled unnecessarily as Lilymon grabbed them in a bear hug and threw herself out of the door.
"They're out!" Garudamon's eyes matched those of the eagles and raptors from whom she took her shape, and even through the smoke and debris and flames, she could clearly make out the shapes soaring out from the sides of the ship. "And they've got Piximon."
"Let it go." Sora commanded.
Garudamon obediently dropped the ship and let it spiral to the ground, turning around and soaring onward against the buffeting winds.
"Where are we going?" Sora asked, as the wreck exploded against the hard, unyielding rock of a nearby mountainside.
"I thought we might want to save Izzy." Her companion remarked as they soared onward.
Tai looked down at the exhausted, sleeping, Tentomon, and the pale, wan Izzy, as they lay on the ground. His eyes brushed over the tired but triumphant Sora and the newly released Piximon. Then they glanced up and zoomed in on a point nobody could see.
"Daemon, we're coming for you."