Disclaimer:
I do not own Digimon.
Author's note: At last, the digidestined are reunited, with the exception of Kari, and are about to take on Dragomon and his legions. Brace yourself for the darkest chapter of the series…
TRUE COLORS
Chapter Seven: Infiltration
By: UNKNOWN
The dark waters of the Dark Ocean churned and splashed as rain poured heavily onto the digidestined below. Davis and Veemon were struggling to keep up as the other digidestined walked towards the edge of the coast.
"How can we get into Dragomon's base? It's underwater and only Sumbarinemon is able to survive underwater…" Ken asked.
"Cody, I think you should go down first and tell us what you see," Yolei said.
"All right, let's go Armadillomon!" Cody yelled.
Armadillomon elongated and a harpoon like object protruded from his nose. White armor flashed and a cockpit slid open on his back.
"Hop on in Cody!" Sumbarinemon exclaimed.
'Well, I guess we're stuck here until Cody gets back," Yolei remarked.
Kari looked down at the lifeless room. It was dull and drained of life. The six digimon were still standing guard. She could hear the waters outside rumble and implode against one another. Dragomon had promised that he would be back today. Her time was almost up… I've got to find a way out…but how? She hopped onto the cold floor beneath her and immediately the six cloaked digimon turned their gaze to her. She felt frozen by their glares; they seemed to have immobilized her body. Slowly, she felt herself being lifted and put back onto the platform in the middle of the room. This time however, she was bound by invisible threads of energy.
The wall before her began to shimmer wildly. The ripples parted and as Dragomon walked through, it seemed as if the substance were rubber. Dragomon walked forward, his eyes bent low and his teeth bared. He turned to the nearest digimon which had melted into a statue.
"Death, Chaos, Famine, Apocalypse, Terror, Hatred. I have need of you. The digidestined have managed to tweak the fabrics of space and time and are here in the Dark Ocean. You six will destroy them, clear?" Dragomon asked.
The six statues straightened and liquefied into the cloaked figures and walked through the shimmering wall.
Digidestined? Davis, T.K., Yolei, Ken, and Cody must be here! Oh, I hope they aren't hurt by those six dark digimon… Kari lifted her head to stare Dragomon in the eye.
"If you want my powers so badly, then why don't you take them now?" Kari yelled.
Dragomon grinned, yellow teeth gleaming.
"You will see the destruction of your fellow digidestined and will feel the pain of being alone before you die," he replied.
"Even if you can kill my friends, I won't be alone!" she cried.
"No?"
"My friends are always with me! They always have and they always will. I believe in them as they believe in me, and our bond of friendship will be your demise!" Kari shouted, her face filled with fury.
Dragomon lowered his head.
"We will see about that."
He turned and snapped his fingers. Kari felt the ropes that tied her down dissolve. She sat up and rubbed her sore arms, then turned to watch Dragomon disappear through the wall. After he had disappeared, she quickly ran up to the wall and probed it for any traces of soft spots. When she could not, she plopped down onto the floor and sighed. It's hopeless…
"Maybe we should go up now Cody, I don't see a thing!" Sumbarinemon said.
Cody looked around in desperation. Dragomon's base would have to be somewhere underwater, but the ocean was too big to explore at once. Nothing even remotely resembled a place where digimon would likely live.
"Sumbarinemon, look to your right! What are those…?"
Sumbarinemon turned and noticed three figures flying towards the surface.
"I can't see. I can only make out their figures," Sumbarinemon replied.
"Well, we'd better follow. They're going towards the direction that Davis and the others are waiting."
Cody whipped out his D Terminal and began to type.
Yolei jumped as her D Terminal beeped. Everyone looked at her then laughed. Yolei began to blush, then looked down at the screen. The rain was pouring now, and streaks of purple lightning cut through the air.
"Cody says that three digimon are headed for us and he can't be sure if they're hostile or not."
Ken turned. "Then I think we'd better get ready."
Paildramon landed softly on the sand, followed by Acquilamon and Angemon.
Purple lightning struck the waters and it parted, allowing not three, but five digimon to surface.
"I never knew that Cody's counting was that bad!" Yolei said sarcastically.
"Quiet!" Ken growled, harsher then he intended.
The five digimon stood in front of them, their dark cloaks swaying in the heavy wind. Their giant frames were unwavering.
Acquilamon narrowed his eyes. "The Six Wanderers of Darkness!"
"Six? I only count five…" Yolei trailed off.
Another cloaked figure emerged from the waters. It was as if the water had no effect against the robes as it showed no trace of being wet.
The six dark digimon stood face to face with Paildramon, Acquilamon, and Angemon. Sumbarinemon popped out of the waters and slid onto the coast. He quickly de-digivolved to Armadillomon, then digivolved to Ankylomon. He merged with Angemon to form Shakuamon. The foremost digimon cocked its head, if it had one, then lunged for Paildramon. A blue sword materialized from its hand and it slashed. Paildramon went flying, crashing into the sand with a loud thud. Paildramon got up, then fired back with his guns. The digimon ran forward, hand outstretched. The lasers struck the hand, then repelled back and blew Paildramon back to the cliffs. Giant cracks cut through the walls and boulders the size of cars fell.
"Move Paildramon!" Davis yelled.
Paildramon crawled weakly, just in time to avoid being squashed.
Acquilamon and Shakuamon quickly joined the battle. Two more of the Wanderers of Darkness leaped in. Acquilamon batted one with his wings while ramming another with his horns. Shakuamon's size gave him a disadvantage, as the dark digimon were too small for him to be easily targeted.
As Acquilamon was struggling to regain altitude, one of the dark digimon shoved its hand in his face and fire shot through. Acquilamon dropped like a rock, feathers burning. Two swords clanged on Shakuamon's armor while Shakuamon shot wildly. Another two Wanderers walked in to help finish off Shakuamon. The swords began to show damage as Shakuamon's armor started to dent. Fire erupted from the hand of one and struck Shakuamon in the eyes. Paildramon, now recovered, ran in with rage.
"You think you're tough? Maybe you'd like a piece of this!"
His hands crossed and two steel blades sliced through the air, glowing with blue. Paildramon twisted and slashed, clearing a path in front of Shakuamon.
"Justice beam!"
Orange light erupted from Shakuamon's eyes and burnt a Wanderer. The cloak showed signs of injury, but the digimon did not. A skeletal hand beneath a sleeve protruded a scythe from under its cloak. It whipped through the air and struck a hole in Shakuamon's armor. Shakuamon groaned and fell into the sand.
"Shakuamon!" T.K. and Cody yelled.
Shakuamon shook and attempted to rise, but in vain. He glowed bright yellow, then parted into Upamon and Tokomon. T.K. and Cody ran to scoop them up.
It was now a five on two. Acquilamon managed to get up and join Paildramon in the battle.
"Acquilamon, tell us what you know about these guys," Yolei whispered.
"They are ancient history. In the old age, in the times of darkness, these six were the top leaders of power. All I know is that they were banished, and it appears that they arrived here."
"Do they have any weaknesses whatsoever?" Ken asked.
"Afraid not. However, their names represent the types of destruction: Death, Chaos, Famine, Apocalypse, Terror, and Hatred."
"What do their names have to do with weakness?"
Acquilamon looked down at Ken.
"Nothing. But think about it. If all they can do is destroy, what reverses destruction?"
"…Mechanics?" Ken guessed.
Acquilamon growled. "Life! When things are destroyed, life brings them back! If we can somehow harness the power of life, we should be able to defeat them. But for now…"
Fingers pointed at Acquilamon, the one called Famine blasted flames out of his outstretched hand. It was easy to see how it got its name. Every attack he used had something to do with heat and fire.
"Maybe some water could defeat Famine," Acquilamon suggested after dodging the dancing flames.
"Impossible. It's raining hard now and he isn't affected."
Paildramon and Acquilamon raced forward, weapons ready.
"Grand Horn!"
"Desperado Blaster!"
Once again, the attacks did nothing but anger the Six Wanderers, and they quickly looked up at the two digimon. The ones called Chaos and Hatred leapt up and swatted Paildramon and Acquilamon out of the sky.
"If Kari were here, we'd stand a better chance. I need Kari to DNA digivolve with Acquilamon!" Gatomon shouted.
Lightning struck again, this time in the center of the fighting digimon. The fire spread about, then died down.
Chaos withdrew a giant axe upon his back and struck the floor, sending waves of energy trembling through the floor. Being flying digimon, Paildramon and Acquilamon easily dodged the attacks.
The latter Wanderer, the one which had appeared last, let loose a growl of fury. All five of the Wanderers straightened, then pounced.
Kari! I need you! Gatomon thought.
Kari gasped, her eyes fluttering open. She quickly stood up, and glanced around the room. I heard Gatomon's voice. She must be close…but where? The wall before her shimmered, and Dragomon walked through.
"What do you want?" Kari asked.
"I want you to see the destruction of your friends…follow me," Dragomon said.
He pointed towards the shimmering wall and it parted, allowing Kari to walk through. Dragomon followed close behind. Kari was in a giant room which looked like a king's throne. A long walkway cut the middle of the room, which lead to a huge chair guarded by two dragon digimon. The pillars which supported the room stretched to at least forty feet high, and curved inwards at the end. Ten or more rooms branched off from this one; this was some kind of main building. Dragomon walked across to the other room and pushed Kari in. Inside was a kind of watery substance paved across the wall.
"I'll give you some decent treatment before I absorb you. You can watch your friends die and be helpless to do anything about it…" he said.
Dragomon laughed softly and walked out the door, sealing it with a shimmering wall. Kari pounded on the wall, desperate to escape. But when she found that she couldn't, she turned to look at the watery wall. It began to shift and shake, then Kari could make out blurred images. She could see a blue and green creature…Paildramon! The picture began to clear, and she could see the entire battle. Paildramon and Acquilamon stood one side; they appeared to be injured. The six dark digimon that guarded her in the last room stood on the other. The digidestined stood on one side, yelling out advice and encouragement. Upamon and Tokomon were held in Cody and T.K.'s arms and Gatomon stood by Ken's side.
"I've got to help Gatomon DNA digivolve with Acquilamon but without my presence, she doesn't have the power to!"
Kari took a deep breath, then glared at the screen. I've got to try and send my light to her, even as impossible as it may seem… She pointed her hands at the screen, focusing her powers the way she had when she destroyed Dragomon's minions, and let out a cry of surprise. Something from within her shot out and flew into the watery screen. Kari stared at the screen for a second, then rubbed her stomach. What was that?
Paildramon jumped back as fire swept across the floor. The rain washed the fire away, but Famine's attack was relentless. It kept firing and firing. Finally, the fire snaked around Paildramon and wrapped about him. The heat was searing his skin and steam rose from out of his body. At last, the rain cooled down the fire and Paildramon fell. Acquilamon was busy avoiding the chopping of Chaos' axe.
"I can't even land a blow on these guys!" Paildramon complained.
"Keep trying!" Acquilamon answered.
The fight raged on. The rain soon made it impossible to see. It was dark. Dark enough to make out the Wanderers' yellow eyes beneath their dark cloaks. The sixth Wanderer, Apocalypse, still had not moved from the position in which it had first appeared.
Suddenly, the air flashed pink as something which closely resembled the figure of a woman burst out of the water and rammed straight into Gatomon.
"What the hell was that?" Davis yelled.
"It's Kari! I can feel…it's like she's right here by me!" Gatomon cried.
Acquilamon turned. "Then we'd better do it now before it wears off!"
Acquilamon and Gatomon merged together to form Silphymon.
"Now things are a bit more even!" Silphymon growled. "Static Force!"
The attack hit a Wanderer and sent it tumbling into its comrades. Almost immediately, Hatred jumped back up and pulled a javelin out from its back. Silphymon and Paildramon rushed together, charging the lone Wanderer. Hatred put its javelin straight across its palms and stood its ground. The combined power of the two ultimate digimon couldn't even break the Wanderer's javelin. Hatred spun and slashed Paildramon in the face, then smacked Silphymon in the back.
Paildramon was weakening. He had been in the battle for the longest time and his weariness was showing. He stumbled as he tried to rejoin the battle.
"Paildramon! You've got to stop! They'll destroy you!" Ken yelled, his voice barely heard through the rain.
"I…can't let Silphymon…fight alone," he replied drowsily.
Terror ran up to Paildramon with a blurring speed and punched him in the face. It seemed like a punch until Terror withdrew its fist. From its knuckles extended a thin blade, almost two feet long. Paildramon dropped. His mask was cracked and a hole appeared where a mouth should have been. Terror jumped onto Paildramon and continued to stab the helpless digimon. Silphymon flew over to Paildramon and shoved Terror off.
"Paildramon, de-digivolve!" Silphymon roared.
Paildramon rolled over onto his back. "I'm not going to let you fight a-alone…"
Paildramon sat up as his guns fell off. One of his wings was broken and scratched. As he got into fighting stance, his knees snapped and he went down again. This time, he couldn't hold himself together. He de-digivolved.
"Watch out!" Davis cried.
Davis ducked under Silphymon's protection and snatched the two in-training digimon out of harm's way.
Silphymon turned back to face the Six Wanderers. How can we defeat these guys? It'll take a miracle!
Terror, Hatred, Chaos, Famine, and Death charged forth, weapons thrust outwards. Silphymon dodged Hatred and Death's attacks, but failed to see Famine's fire burst out of its palms. Terror's speed was still too quick and he slashed Silphymon in the thigh. Silphymon dropped and all five Wanderers were on him. Silphymon blocked what he could, but the Wanderer's power was overwhelming. In one last effort, he surrounded himself with a white aura which held off their attacks for two milliseconds.
"Silphymon!" Kari cried, her gaze transfixed on the glowing screen.
Then, the screen went blank.
"No!" she gasped. "What happened?"
Dragomon blew apart the shimmering wall and grabbed Kari's collar.
"I'll leave it up to your imagination to decide your friends' fate."
Once again, he tossed her into the room where she started out. She looked around, then walked over to the center platform. My friends…they're doomed. There's no way that they could defeat those digimon; let alone even one of them. Paildramon and Shakuamon are down, and I can be sure that Silphymon is next.
She looked up at the ceiling of the room, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Dragomon glanced at her for a brief second before exiting and resealing the wall behind him.
Was that pity I saw in his eyes…?
A single blast from Famine flung Silphymon across the coast. He slid across the mud and banged his head against rock. He struggled to get up, then launched an attack. The attack blazed on the cloak of Terror, but he showed no emotions of pain. Death calmly strode over to Silphymon, who was now lying on the floor. It reached for him with his hand and grabbed his throat. Pain! Every muscle in Silphymon jolted. Every data bit quivered. Silphymon was launched twelve feet into the air and hit the floor with a thud. Silphymon rolled over to his side, then de-digivolved.
As Yolei took Poyomon and Salamon, the digidestined watched fearfully as the Six Wanderers approached them. A wave of fear washed over them. Apocalypse raised both hands and made a crunching motion with them. The digidestined's minds felt like they were being crushed. They groaned in pain as they fell to the floor. Miraculously, Davis still stood, his hands grabbing onto his head.
I'm not going to let a bunch of evil digimon stop me from saving Kari! I've got to try- she's depending on all of us! Davis narrowed his eyes as he felt something inside him move. What was going on…?
"Ah!" Davis cried in surprise.
He shook his head as he began to feel warmth surge through his body. I must be dreaming! I remember this sensation from when I unleashed the egg of Miracles…!
The Six Wanderers glared down at him until he released rays of golden light. The light flashed once and the entire area brightened. Soon, Davis was glowing in a golden aura. His friends began to stand, seemingly revitalized by the power of his light.
"What's happening?" Yolei asked.
"I don't know…" Ken replied.
The Six Wanderers backed up, their hoods lowered.
"It's the crest of Miracles…" Poyomon whispered.
Everyone turned to him. "How do you know that?"
"Remember when we were in Ken's base when he was the digimon emperor? Davis discovered the egg in a sort of energy room. When he got near it, the egg felt that he had the power to take control of Miracles. So then, the egg made itself accepted to Davis."
"Then why did it disappear after Veemon became Magnamon?" Cody asked.
Poyomon seemed almost half-asleep, but his voice was full of energy.
"That's because of the presence of darkness. Normally, the digi-egg is full of light energy, which allows us to armor digivolve. But since it was in Ken's base, the egg became half corrupted. It was an egg made of half light energy and half dark energy. Therefore, the egg did not function properly when Davis claimed it. It should have digitized itself to be kept in Davis's D Terminal but instead, it imbedded the crest of Miracles into him."
"How do you know all this?" Ken asked.
"It's just a guess- none of us know enough about the digi-eggs to be sure anyways," Poyomon answered defensively.
The Six Wanderers couldn't seem to take the light. They were all slowly backing down, slowly inching towards the ocean. The rain had stopped; the fog was lifting.
Hmm…of Kari's power can blast things, I wonder what mine can do? Davis put his hands together and aimed at the Wanderers. Four leapt away but the other two were too slow to react. A golden blaze fired out of Davis's arm, leaping out from within his heart where all his courage was kept. His courage fueled the fire as he continued to burn the two Wanderers, now twisting in pain.
The two Wanderers, Hatred and Chaos, burst into flames and deleted with loud screams of pain. Dark gases erupted from their data and were soon blown away by the wind. Terror ran at a blinding speed, too fast for the naked eye to decipher. Somehow, Davis spun and nailed Terror in the hood with a fiery fist. Terror's head blew off, then the rest of its body deleted. The remaining three crouched in a defensive position, glaring at Davis with deep hate. Apocalypse growled loudly and put its hands on Famine and Death. Famine and Death began to shake violently. Their robes ripped and shredded; blue blood could be seen leaking under them. Their yellow eyes flashed red and fire burned them out. They howled in agony as they seemed to be accumulated into Apocalypse.
After the terrifying noises ended, Apocalypse unsheathed a sword from behind its back. Glowing with a violet- black aura, he struck Davis twice. Davis managed to parry the first blow, but the second caught him in the neck. Luckily, the power of Miracles deflected most of the concentrated power. Davis flung it off, then blasted a beam at Apocalypse. The beam went through Apocalypse and forced him to the ground. Apocalypse looked down at his body to see a gaping wound, blood flowing freely. One hand stretched forth, it sent tremors through the air that knocked Davis out of the air. As he landed, Apocalypse sent a ring of fire around Davis and swept it upwards like a net, ensnaring him within. Davis could feel the fire eating away at his powers. I need to focus! Apocalypse is trying to wear me out my playing mind tricks on me. I can't let it win or else it will destroy my friends without mercy!
Davis pushed with one foot and snapped the fire rope. He snarled, then jumped onto Apocalypse.
"Take this you bastard!" he screamed.
Davis shoved his hand into Apocalypse's hood and mustered all the firepower he could. Strangely, he could feel a hard hide beneath the hood. Apocalypse began to twitch violently as he struggled to throw Davis off. When it found that it could not, it began to roll in desperation. The fire spread throughout its body and eventually, Apocalypse erupted into golden flames. They ate away at its body until it burst into a shower of pieces and data. Davis landed on the floor, weary. Using his powers had depleted his energy. So this is how Kari feels when she uses her…powers… Davis blacked out.
Cody was the first to reach Davis.
"Davis! Are you all right?"
"It looks like he's blacked out…" Yolei mumbled.
"Let him rest. He saved us all anyways. I never thought he was capable of doing that…"
"Come on Cody! Davis's light revitalized me! We can go search for Dragomon's base now!" Armadillomon reminded.
"Oh, all right," Cody replied.
He turned to see Ken, Yolei, and the rest of the digimon gathered around a sleeping Davis.
"I'll be back soon!" Cody yelled, then went off with Sumbarinemon.
"Sumbarinemon, we've been searching for nearly an hour! " Cody complained.
"Ah, I can't take this anymore!" Sumbarinemon raged.
With that, he began to launch torpedoes all around the ocean.
"Sumbarinemon, stop! You might hurt someone!"
"Like there's anyone to hurt! This place is empty!" Sumbarinemon argued.
Amazingly, the missile struck a giant rock, blowing it to pieces. Behind the rock was a clear door. Cody looked up. The door was actually on the rock which supported the land that Davis and the others were standing on. He looked back at the clear door and noticed shapes squirming behind it. Cody gulped.
Oh boy.
Finally that chapter is over with! I also managed to finish two chapters in the break! Now that's a relief! If only I could finish with that big project I have coming up… Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'll be waiting for a decent amount of reviews to motivate me to post up the next chapter. Will Dragomon successfully absorb Kari's power, or will Davis and his power of Miracles stop him in his tracks? Everything will be revealed in the next and final chapter… By the way, I have changed my e-mail to yagaminoue@yahoo.com due to setbacks with my last account.