Crystal Tamers
by Tremor3258
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Heck, this Disclaimer isn't even original. Please don't sue.
pt. 3 The Shadow-Bursting Infusion of Energy!
(mini Author's Note. That actually sounds like the name of a card...)
"The Four Holy Beasts? Only Gennai seems to know them to any degree. Even Centarumon knew only of ancient myths about these creatures. I haven't seen any of them, but the younger Digidestined, back when that term was specific, met Azulongmon briefly, and said he was massive and wise. I DO know that it took only a pittance of power from one Holy Beast to grant us back our higher-level digivolutions. So, logically, we'd never have beaten MaloMyotismon without them." - Koushirou "Izzy" Izumi, in an interview, the transcript of which is the opening to The Book of the Beasts, the sacred book of the Cult of the 4 Great Ones.
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The Digital World is a place of astonishing variety. Every landscape imaginable, from those of the ocean to those of Impressionistic paintings, can be found, usually right next to each other. The typical first rule of Digital World travel was that nothing could be taken for granted in the Digital World. However, the past fifty years had been a time of change for the Digital World, first with the arrival of humans. Then butterflies had become nearly as common as fish, as part of the seal that held off the Dark Ocean, and the living manifestation of the Digital World's energy.
The latest constant was a depressing one. Some areas of the Digital World were brilliant with light shining off white beaches, while others were areas of stygian darkness and swamps. At least, they had used to be. Now, things were dimmer, as if seen through a piece of slightly fogged glass, and the butterflies had started to die.
However, a far darker shadow flew over the Digital World. Lady Devimon had realized after a few hours that the two Chosen still free wouldn't be coming through immediately, and her lord had put her on a far more important project. That had been a few days ago. Lady Devimon, considered herself a simple warrior caught up in a grand crusade, and took a moment to consider the powers being fought over as she flew.
There were twelve traits that held the primal energy of the Digital World, and its shadowy reflection, the Dark Ocean. These same powers had gone to the creation of the Digimentals, and the nine most associated with Good had been crafted into crests for the original Digidestined, Kindness having been lost when Ken entered the Digital World in an attempt to slow down the darkness, but had been infected with a Dark Spore.
However, the original Digidestined, Chosen of the Crests who had maintained the integrity of the Digital World before restoring its balance, were getting old. They had sacrificed their crests to maintain the power of the Digital World against a slow seeping drain caused by several foolish, but powerful, Digimon, but the energy of the second group of Chosen was decreasing. Hence Lady Devimon's lord's project. The traits of the Digital World maintained the Wall of Fire against evil lords who wanted nothing but to destroy all the worlds. The wall was fading, and Apocalymon would return unless something was done, but the Guardian remained complacent, knowing there were years and years before the situation became critical.
Lady Devimon smiled. Lord Demon was smarter than other Mega viral Digimon. He had fought his way clear of the Dark Ocean, a holding bin for the detritus of the Digital World, and returned to discover the Digital World fading. He had taken immediate steps to save the Digital World, and had discovered a set of old tablets scattered around File Island., detailing ancient prophecies. The plan that had been built upon that foundation was complex, long-term, and required an enormous amount of toil. The reward would be a stable Digital World. A Digital World that was owned by Demon was merely an added bonus.
Unfortunately, the plan had evolved as far as it could without the Digidestined. The energy of those particular humans had to be obtained. Unfortunately, with the lack of manufactured, bonded crests, one couldn't wait for the Digital World to summon the new group. Demon, doing research of ancient texts, had found the apparent likely steps to become a Digidestined, and had taken long and involved steps to cast spells designed to prevent those traits from preventing themselves over all the likely candidates until Demon was ready for them.
Lady Devimon said to herself in an amused tone, "And for now, we have exactly two that we know for certain are Digidestined, and they remain outside our control!" Lady Devimon laughed to herself as she reached Infinity Mountain. A small bunker had been built on top, barely large enough to hold a Greymon. However, this was just cover for the real activities going on below. For Infinity Mountain was in the middle of File Island: literally the heart of the Digital World, and beneath it was the physical representation of the Digital World's most important protective program: the Wall of Fire, a massive column of eternal flame.
It used to be a barren cavern, but now Demon had built his forces a home underneath the mountain, with lodgings carved into the walls and floor of the massive chamber. Demon himself had built barracks for the various candidates Demon had found by forging stone within the Wall of Fire. The black, red streaked stone could withstand most Ultimate level attacks without even a crack for the Digimon's efforts. Demon's own office was nearby. Where, or if, he slept, his subordinates didn't know, as Demon was a firm believer in survival of the fittest, and so he kept his own schedule unpredictable in order to make assassination that much more difficult.
Still, he usually managed to show up if an underling approached with urgent business. Demon was waiting over his favorite item of power, examining it for further secrets. It resembled a petrified small tree or pitcher plant, running from its roots up for about six inches, where a black orb was lovingly cradled, only half visible. Demon, a tall humanoid Digimon swathed in red robes almost completely obscuring his form, but for red eyes and his horns, was poking at the orb with a claw, seemingly entranced by the sparks it produced.
"My lord, no attempt has been made at the gate yet," said the Ultimate demon-type, standing at attention. Demon heard, of course.
Demon nodded. The most ancient of the tablets had contained a small mention of the odd Digivices that Lady Devimon had glimpsed before she was forced to return to the Digital World to ensure the latest captives safe passage across the barrier between worlds. As with all Digivices and such artifacts, their power was mentioned as incredible, and Demon was well aware of the damage a human equipped with a Digivice could do!
However, the presence of those Digivices was actually a reassurance to Demon. The prophecies spoke that the inheritors of the crests would possess the funny shaped devices. It meant that at least two of the future Digidestined had been hit by his spells of darkness, binding them away from their trait as much as possible. The fact that they had broken through the spells, somehow, was a minor inconvenience at worst, and meant Demon simply reappraised these two Digidestined a notch or two higher on the value scale.
The most critical event to Demon's plans were that they were older Digivices, and thus couldn't create gates on their own. D-3s could create temporary warps in space to travel between worlds, but other Digivices were simply along for the ride. Travel to the Digital World was restricted via the Digi-port until a partner reached champion at least, so they had some time, as most of the Gates were monitored carefully. Since Demon couldn't go walking through computer screens, he had created a gate of his own in the playground at the school in Odaiba which was in the general center of where most of the candidates lived, and where Jessica and Allen went to school. Lady Devimon had used power to block the gate partially, and the apparent limitless power hadn't extended to breaking through, and so Demon had ignored it. Evidently, they were waiting for allies.
Demon shook himself from his ruminations. He doubted anyone had noticed the lapse, but it was unwise to encourage such habits, "How goes your other project?" he asked, tapping the orb in a random pattern. It flared for a moment, and Demon took note. He would eventually get the blasted thing working....
Lady Devimon slumped slightly. "Well, while we can be certain that we have two who who's crests have begun to activate, it will be a while before they have enough energy to help restore the Digital World. We're having difficulty with the others. Convincing them to help us with their crests are running up against the same spell that weakens them sufficiently to allow us control. Unless we can do something, when and if they do break free, we won't be able to get them to help stop the energy drain."
Demon laughed, "You're missing the obvious. We have far more candidates than Digidestined. Put them through a test. I want them ... forged is the best word I believe. It is drastic, but even the Wall's power cannot hide us forever from those who seek us."
Lady Devimon gulped and looked at the Wall of Fire. Demon had been unclear of his origins, but his knowledge of the Digital Gate made Lady Devimon assume he was a local, 0rn born of the Dark Ocean, since all the Wall of Fire Digimon had been able to access the Real World via ancient gates, or warping the world so far out of balance it touched the Real World. Still, it was rumored that even Apocalymon had barely survived his passage, and all the Digimon who followed once the barrier was broken had been weakened despite the far greater ease of passage. And it was obvious that one of the few things Demon feared was the Wall of Fire, since Demon only feared what he could not control, and that was a very short list topped by the four foolish Holy Beasts. What Demon was suggesting could very well end up with a lack of candidates.
Demon explained. Holding your cards close was one thing, but if a Digimon trusted what you were doing, things went better. "The Wall of Fire is an immense power of good and light around a vortex of evil, burning away all that is not pure. Since nothing is pure goodness except for the Spirit of the Crest of Light, and POSSIBLY the very spirit of the Digital World itself, most are at least scorched by a close approach to the Wall. However, the spells we placed should shield the children temporarily, if they have merged with a crest, the darkness spells will be stronger, and the Digidestined will be able to approach close enough to come into a minimal contact with the void," Demon said. He gestured at the black stone of his desk and the barracks, and further explained, "Nothing can stand near the Wall for long without being either consumed, or touched by the evil power within. They will die, or they will be in our service, in possession of their powers and unwilling to allow the Guardian to continue with his plan."
Lady Devimon smiled and agreed. When it was said that way, it made sense. After all, something was usually lost in the process of obtaining greater things, and the reward at the end was sweet indeed. And Demon was further right that waiting for the Digidestined to reveal themselves was time they did not have. The 4 Holy Beasts were aware that something was beginning to upset THEIR plans for the Digital World, and if they were found, it would all be over before things had begun.
Demon said, "Now begin the testing process, and don't return until you've determined who was merely tempted, and which is a broken Digidestined. I have a plan for the other two to put into effect." Lady Devimon flew towards the barracks and Demon allowed himself one tiny chuckle. "Gennai, you old fool, did you really think that something as valuable as a Digimon creation spell would simply be lying around?" Demon concentrated on the orb in front of him, and mist flew out of it and began to gather.
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It was a cloudy day back in Odaiba district, city of Tokyo, Kanto prefecture, in the state of Japan. Jessica and Allen had been training under Digitamamon before school each day now for almost a week. The egg Digimon had reached ultimate with the help of Jessica's mother, and was familiar with basic strength and speed exercises. "It's easier with two Digimon, though Jess, since they can get an idea for what works and doesn't even in a mock-battle," explained Digitamamon. The other portion of the training was to learn which card combinations worked well and which didn't, as well as increase the endurance of the Tamer holding the card.
"Don't call me Jess," Jessica corrected automatically. Only her parents and their Digimon called her that, and she'd been trying for years to break them of the habit. It made her sound young. Crystalmon and Guilmon had been working for about a half hour now. Neither used their special attacks to decrease the risks of permanent damage.
Allen had discovered early that Guilmon had great endurance, and decent enough speed. Strength or Toughness enhancements were Allen's usual way to go, since they seemed more effective than speed enhancements anyway, so that when Guilmon landed a hit, it would be enough to earn a fall.
Crystalmon, meanwhile, had little enough toughness beneath thin scales that there was little data that could be enhanced. Speed or power modifiers worked well. Jessica's current favorite was the iron claw, that didn't slow Crystalmon down very much, but gave Crystalmon the ability to tear at concrete even!
Right now, however, the two Digimon were lying on the ground, panting. They were both worn out, and tied with an even number of falls. One more fall would end it, since they had to go to school. Jessica glanced at the next card she had chosen. The recharge card would fully restore Crystalmon's energy, but was intended for higher-level Digimon. Jessica had decided it was the step a few days ago on the way to trying out a digivolution card, and since they had managed four digi-modifies lately without falling down, and they had each tried one today. Jessica decided it would at least catch Allen totally by surprise if it worked, and if it didn't, then nothing would happen and she would try something smaller. Jessica flipped the card around, quickly bringing it through the reader attached to the D-Power. "Digi-modify: Recharge!" Jessica yelled, and then felt the usual energy drain, but it seemed to be going on for a little longer than normal. Jessica watched the data progression meter climb up, and noted it started to slow. "Oh, no you don't! I'm going to do this!" Jessica cried, and she focused on the D-Power greatly. The last thing she heard was Crystalmon standing back up before she collapsed.
Crystalmon slumped over again, the recharge having not taken full effect. Digitamamon caught the girl with a Nightmare Syndromer as Allen dropped his D-Power to run over. Guilmon stumbled over to check Crystalmon, and was relieved to find she was still breathing. Any excess energy had simply left, leaving her where she was. After a moment, she stood and walked by her Tamer.
Digitamamon examined the card and said angrily, "What was she thinking? That's way higher than we said was safe? She's usually such a good listener. I'm starting to wonder about these D-Powers."
Allen said simply, "Pain is part of growing, Digitamamon. And Guilmon could feel it almost work. I could sense his surprise." Digitamamon blinked a bit at that. He had figured it had been a last gesture of defiance, but she may be stronger than the butterfly he had thought her to be. Allen being able to pick up on the emotions sent by Guilmon wasn't anything surprising by now. When Crystalmon was Slithermon, she and Jessica had been doing it all the time.
Jessica stirred and said weakly, "Well, did it work?" After her eyes fluttered open, Allen shook his head. Jessica sighed and said, "Well, it almost worked. I thought with just a little more effort..." Jessica closed her eyes and relaxed, enjoying the floating sensation of the Syndromer for a moment.
Crystalmon said in an encouraging tone, "You were close. Maybe next time, if you haven't done any digi-modifies yet, you could pull it off!" Jessica smiled and stroked Crystalmon for a moment before standing, though her knees were shaky for a moment.
Guilmon said, "Well, your recovery times have been going way up since we started, at least."
Jessica said in a husky tone, "A little more of this and I'll be ready to help go after them." Jessica looked at her watch and then yelped, "Okay, no time to go and shower off before school! My grade's headed to the Digital World on a field trip today, and then there's the first club meeting since Lady Devimon!"
Allen looked interested. He was one grade higher, and hadn't heard about this, "Planning on a little side trip?"
Jessica said wistfully, "That would be a good idea, but I don't quite feel up to wandering around the Digital World myself right now. Maybe if that card had worked."
"Next time," Crystalmon said firmly and Jessica nodded in agreement.
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The school day passed relatively quickly up to the point of the field trip. Jessica's class was looking forward to seeing the natural paradise that was the Digital World. They had been quite somber with the apparent Wild One attacks and disappearances. Jessica had decided Gennai didn't want to alarm anyone and had kept his own council.
Soon the class crowded around a large holographic monitor that quickly displayed the transfer program when their teacher put her D-3 up to it. Children and Digimon crowded around eagerly, and chanted the access phrase together. A bolt of blinding light filled the room as people were transferred across the dimensions, leaving one surprised Tamer and her Digimon.
"You know, this thing was working this morning, right?" Jessica asked. Crystalmon nodded in surprise.
"Twenty-six, twenty-seven," counted the teacher, "All right, who's hiding! It's not funny?"
"Digi-port open! Oh, come on! Digi-port open!" Jessica yelled at it. The hologram crackled with energy. Jessica's teacher turned in surprise to see the hologram going in and out of focus along with the picture, before snapping back in relief as a force threw Jessica backwards into a chair, Crystalmon slamming into her. Jessica hissed as one of Crystalmon's back-ridges slashed her on the arm.
Jessica's teacher's Wizardmon said in astonishment, "It's warded against her! It must have been you got caught in what wiped out the Wild Ones last week. I haven't seen this happen in a long time! Sorry Jessica, I'll see if I can ring up a Guardian later and figure out what's going on." The Gate program, no longer supported by the D-3 blinked out a second after that.
"Lady Devimon," Crystalmon said as a curse. "She doesn't want us going through until we face her." Jessica nodded. It made sense. One didn't set up a duel and let someone try and sneak by the conditions. Still, it meant Jessica's relaxation time was off.
"Come on, let's get to the Principal's Office or something," Jessica said, "What a lousy day."
"Oh, can't we stay? I know where your teacher hides the Tootsie Roll Pops!" said Crystalmon eagerly. Jessica laughed, her mood improved a bit.
At the end of the day, she was feeling a bit more depressed. Walking around school had worn her out more than usual falling her fainting this morning, and she would have rather been exhausted walking around the Digital World. Not to mention the filing she had to help with when she had been stuck in the Office, and cleaning the classroom. Allen had shown up at the usual meeting classroom early, and the two were waiting for everyone to show up. "I guess the Digital World trip took a little while longer than they thought," offered Allen when it was the time of the meeting.
"Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me!" yelped a young voice down the hall, "I'm so late!!!" came a wail before the door flew open, and a young girl with brown hair done up in pigtails with freckles dotting her face stood huffing there, a Tanemon, leafy green and cute, held tight in her arms.
Jessica grinned, "Hey Hikari! Come on in, you're right on time!" Hikari Akagi was two grades lower than Jessica, and so barely into the school. Still, she firmly believed that Digimon were meant to protect people, emotionally and physically, and was sweet to boot.
Hikari's face drooped, "So they're not coming today, huh?" The others looked quizzical and Hikari explained, "Everyone got a little worried with all the attacks last week, and wondered what was going on with the club, since a lot of people were suddenly having Ultimate-level power-ups, and then you've both got different Digivices and Digimon. They weren't sure if they were going to come."
Jessica put her head down for a moment and Hikari winced, knowing Jessica had a good week, but... Jessica raised a hand in the air, fist clenched in partial victory, and said, "Well, at least you trust me, Hikari. We're down a little, but not out."
Hikari flashed a victory sign, "Definitely the spirit to have! Frankly, I think Crystalmon and Guilmon look cool, and you've got such a neater Digivice than mine," she said, displaying her standard model. "Though we're all going to have to bring a lot of brownies to the bake sale." The two others nodded in agreement. If they were at three members instead of ten, and they had promised a certain amount for the all-club fair, they were going to be busy.
The two went over various club activities. Hikari had brought her cards, and a card reader, and she was busy playing with the decks that Allen and Jessica had brought. "That's funny," she said, "You don't have any advanced level cards in here at all. You'd get your butts beaten in for sure."
Guilmon said casually, "Well, we can't quite digi-modify with the top level stuff yet."
Hikari leaned forward in interest, and Jessica hit her head on the table. "Guilmon! My parents don't know about that yet!" said Jessica. Guilmon blushed and looked chagrined.
Allen rolled his eyes and asked, "Why haven't you told your parents? Hikari, I'll explain in a minute."
Jessica said, "Well, for one thing, you saw what happened with the newspaper. They thing I'm ready to snap for anything, and I haven't yet, and I was like that for a long time. If they thought I was preparing to go rescue some people, they'd lock me or Crystalmon up. For that matter, they're pretty set in with the status quo, and I'm not sure how they would take it." Desperation rolled off Jessica for a minute before she swept her hair back, "But we are doing good, right Allen? It's been a rough week, and I'm not sure if anything's improving."
Allen gave a brief synopsis and Tanemon and Hikari's eyes shone. "That is so cool!" she said, "Digivolving takes forever to get to, but that means you're actually doing something to help instead of just shouting pop psychology at them! I'd love to be able to do that." Jessica looked at the young girl in surprise, who grabbed Jessica's hands and said, "What you have is a very special gift, Jessica, and you're dealing with the unknown, just like you've always wanted to."
Jessica's smile widened, "You know what? You're right?" Jessica embraced the other girl for a second, "Thanks a lot Hikari. I wish I saw things as clearly as you did."
Tanemon boasted, "Thank you. She's some of my finest work." Everyone chuckled, and the tension left the meeting as they discussed baking issues and such.
Allen frowned, and then thought for a moment, "I guess I'll see if anyone's hanging around and couldn't make it because they were worn out by the field trip." Allen paused, and said, "Wait: Hikari, you're over in another wing in the building, right?" Hikari nodded. "I'm on the third floor of Odaiba middle, and Jessica was in the office, so did anyone actually see any of Jessica's class make it back?" Everyone mulled that for a second, before the three Digimon suddenly gasped, Jessica and Allen going pale for a second. Hikari looked envious. She wished she could feel what was going on.
"Construct? Why would it appear here" Jessica asked when she recovered. Still shaken, Crystalmon merely nodded.
Tanemon said weakly, "It's not just that. It seems funny. It's not radiating the normal sort of energy that even a ghost Digimon has. It feels .. hungry." The three thought about that silently for a little while.
Allen gasped, "Oh no! With your class gone, that means most of the rookies are gone as well, and it's only been the possibility of Phantomon coming back that's held off other gangs. No one's going to respect a group of rookies, even Guilmon."
Hikari gulped, "You mean there really isn't anyone to guard against it?" Instead of replying, the two grabbed their decks. Hoping distantly, Hikari grabbed her combat-ready deck as well. Tanemon couldn't do a lot right now, but strange things had been happening lately.
"There you are!" roared the Digimon in a monotone when the three ran out of school. It was a large tree-like creature, with glowing points for eyes. Behind it, they could see just a trace of a portal into the Digital World closing. Jessica thought, saddened, Great, we hesitated and we missed a chance to try and get through! Allen ran the analyzer program on his D-Power.
"Woodmon. Champion level. It's a viral type. It drains opponents energy or beats them with its branches," reported Allen, "You guys sure it's just a construct?" The three Digimon nodded and jumped forward.
A sphere of flames, two darts of light, and a set of bubbles impacted against the champion. The bubbles merely popped against it, and the shard daggers picked splinters out of one branch, but the pyro sphere set its top ablaze.
Woodmon ignored it, "Lady Devimon said to tell you your class was a lovely addition. It's a shame that you three are too weak to get through, as then she would have been content with merely Jessica," the tree calmly reported. Jessica gaped at the statement. It wasn't one of Gennai's, this had been sent just to torment them.
However, evidently it was a lot smarter than Gennai's, as it used the moment of confusion to grab Crystalmon and shout, "Energy drain!" in a monotone. White light coursed along the branch, before extinguishing the flame still burning in the top.
Allen was angry, "Don't you dare do that! Digi-modify, seed of strength!" Blue lightning skittered along the card for a moment, and Guilmon roared with Allen jumped twice as high as usual as Allen wiped the sweat off for a second. Odd, that was hardly draining at all, thought the Tamer.
Guilmon impacted on top of Woodmon, and started ripping at in fury, Allen cheering it on. Hikari and Tanemon were looking at the worried Jessica and Crystalmon, who laid unmoving, and Jessica wasn't doing much better. Hikari said, "Jessica! You've got to help Allen! He's too close to Guilmon right now, and Guilmon's revulsion at the construct is affecting both their judgements! Look!" Jessica stirred slightly at the order, looking through blank eyes at Allen gnashing his teeth for a second, uncomprehending.
Jessica took a deep breath and shook yourself. "Right. I can't retreat into myself right now, and if Woodmon can hit Guilmon with a branch, it's all over. It's too strong! This isn't Crystalmon's little claws, he should be hanging back." Jessica suddenly felt through her pockets, "Hikari, where's my cards?" she asked urgently. Hikari pointed and Jessica groaned. She had dropped them when she saw Crystalmon go down. She scrambled to reach them, but then Guilmon was finally hit with a flailing branch. Red energy fed the Woodmon, fixing most of its damage. Allen fell to his knees, not quite back to his senses yet.
Hikari pushed a card urgently into her hand, "You need a strong card right now! Try this!" Jessica laughed, despite the situation when she saw it was a recharge card like earlier.
Okay, the Tamer thought, I can do this. People are counting on me, or more people will get hurt. We can't let stuff come through that gate. Hikari looks up to me, and we need to knock this thing back and teach them they can't just slap something together, let it think, and use it as a weapon. Concentrate!
Jessica closed her eyes and focused inwards. "I'm going to need your help," she said inside the blackness. It wasn't quite as cold.
"Agreed. I'll do what I can. Focus on reaching outwards," suggested the voice coming from the depths of Jessica's mind. Jessica simply stood for a second, though Woodmon continued to trot towards them.
Hikari yelped but hung onto Jessica's arm when her skin went cold for a second, followed a soft pink light seeming to emanate from inside her. "What's going on? Is this a Tamer thing?" she asked Tanemon. The tiny plant looked up helplessly and kept throwing bubbles at the advancing menace.
Jessica was paying no attention to what Hikari said, and didn't seem to notice that she was glowing with energy when she opened her eyes, staring only at the card held in her hand. "Digi-modify! Recharge!" A flare of lilac lightning ran across the D-Power's screen as the card went through the reader, and Hikari, still holding onto Jessica's arm, looked in wonder as energy passed through her, down her other arm, and into the Digivice. Operating on instincts she wasn't quite sure about, the pigtailed girl held the Digivice high into the air. Crystalmon, meanwhile, had her eyes snap back open and she growled at the Construct. The recharge evidently was a bit much for a rookie, judging by the extra white lightning over the Digimon's form. Wood mon paused as it tried to put this through her programming.
The Digivice's energy shot outwards, enveloping the in-training Digimon in front of Hikari. "Tanemon, warp digivolve to Togemon!" said the tiny plant, quickly becoming what big cactus. Togemon rubbed her gloves together, "All right you sorry excuse for a tree! Let's see what happens when you pick on someone your own size! Needle spray!" Togemon hunched slightly before launching a shower of darts that bounced off the outer bark. The cactus was undeterred, "Lightning jab!" Togemon stomped forward, giving a powerful right hook that sent the tree stumbling backwards.
"Dragon fang!" roared Crystalmon as Jessica stood there, smiling proudly. The energy surge and the triangle that formed were larger than usual, and left a nasty scorch mark through the outer bark of the Construct right below Woodmon's nose.
Hikari shouted, "Togemon! There's your target!"
"Gotcha, Hikari! Needle spray!" Togemon launched her special attack again, directing the shower into the broken spot in Woodmon's armor. The tree paused, stricken, as a dozen needles were lanced through his face, before sighing slightly with release as his data dissolved.
Hikari cheered and ran up to hug Togemon, "Great work! You hit two levels higher and you stopped Woodmon from doing any damage!" Togemon grinned, but right before Hikari got there, shrunk to Tanemon, before going through Palmon to Togemon, and back down again. "Huh?" said Hikari intelligently.
Guilmon, a bit recovered and looking sheepish at his breakdown in discipline, said, "I don't know how Jessica got all that energy, but you got a big unstable jolt of it, and so did Togemon. Her digivolution code has been activated, but the energy flux means she isn't stabilized anywhere yet, though she'll probably settle on her rookie stage." Hikari nodded. "Speaking of energy," continued Guilmon, "that digi-modify felt different from practice."
Allen said, "I don't know. I was worried for Jessica and Hikari, and I didn't want them hurt. I blanked out a little after that." Allen waved himself, "Is it hot out here? I feel like I'm burning up. It's getting better, but it's like I was in a blast furnace for a minute." The two shook their heads. "Oh well, it's fading."
Jessica said to the younger girl, drawing the attention back to herself, "Thank you so much Hikari. I feel a lot more myself than I did. It's been a bad day, but thanks for showing me where my priorities should be." Hikari grinned warmly in response. Jessica said, "Come on, let's head inside. I feel chilly and shaky from that digi-modify, and we've got brownie duty to divvy up, as well and see what happened to the kids." No one noticed the black crack of energy as the gate by the school was set fully shut again.
Demon scowled slightly into his orb. Behind him, the wall crackled as children were driven to their breaking point by being presented to its power. Some shattered, but one or two so far had broken clean. More would follow, but this was more important for the moment.
There was greater power than he had expected yet, though it had disappeared as quickly as it had begun. Obviously, they couldn't control that energy, or the girl would have digivolved her much stronger rookie to a champion rather than let the plant move in for the kill. He'd have to see about putting in a spy to see if there were side effects. Lady Devimon's taunt about the children only seemed to make them fight harder, and Demon made a note to make no such mistakes in the future.
"Lady Devimon, what did you do with the children?" he asked.
The female bat-winged Digimon replied, "I found a few that possibly could be used. The rest I had standing by in a wait-state to be released back to the classroom after Woodmon was destroyed. If you want, I could go in and grab those Digidestined."
Demon shook his head, "No. We learned quite a bit today from this fight, especially on how to and not to handle a Digidestined. Besides, the added power to their Digimon, which I would like to know more about, by the way; set them emotionally and mentally off-balance for a moment. I need to see if they're stable, or we should see about tracking down two other Crest-bearers if they spontaneously combust. If we bring them to the Digital World now, the extra strength granted to their Digimon could make it impossible for us to communicate with us, especially with the dumbed-down version of the Construct spell I used so we could cover our retreat. That reminds me: Go see and make sure that the Constructs haven't gotten stuck by a wall in there way or something." Lady Devimon turned to leave, but Demon had one more soft comment to add, "Actually, send in a child. I'd like to know more about these cards." The Ultimate Digimon saluted once and faded out, and Demon sat back to contemplate. The game was afoot, and he needed to know more about his hand.
To be continued:
I thought Demon got underused in Plothole City of Season II. He deserves a second chance at evil, as he's obviously very powerful. He'll be ONE of the villains.
Second chapter for fanfiction net finished today (well, started yesterday -within nine hours). So .... very... tired.
Well, they do have some limits on their powers yet, huh. I figured a few growth chapters would be good before they get the energy to at least hit champion. Not sure for how I'm going to handle the higher levels.
Hikari was brought in as damsel as distress, and someone will need to give a visible presence to prevent someone nasty from taking over the neighborhood. Togemon fits the description nicely. I'm not sure what will happen to her yet in the end, but for now the Tamers need a cheering section to access their strength.
Demon's clever, and he feels he can wait. After all, he has numbers on his side, and he's already started to start the process of training his Digidestined.
I didn't feel mean enough to wipe out an entire class of unnamed extras. They'll probably be shaky though.
I was planning for Jessica to be more morose, but I decided she was now a little stronger than that. Any one of the things today would have broken Jessica under Demon's spell. In this case, it just slowed her down and weakened her a little.
The focus is on Allen next time as they experiment more with their powers, and we'll see what is the end result of the area near the school. Will it stay serene, or turn into a battlefield?