Crystal Tamers
by Tremor3258
Growlmon's Big Train Ride or
Gift of the Demon Dragon
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Any discussion on the growth of Digimon has to include the Mega stage. Any Mega practically has the power of a god, to create or destroy to a large degree. The four Dark Masters pooled their power to literally rebuild the Digital World to suit their own twisted desires. The Four Legendary Holy Beasts, whose existence is the closest thing the Digital World has to belief in gods, are apparently Megas. This stage of digivolution is one step beyond that which Digimon naturally achieve, in the aptly called 'Ultimate' or 'fully digivolved' stage. The energy required to go to Mega is apparently something that Digimon cannot normally acquire within their lifetimes, and even the original Digidestined only managed it by combining the powers of two angel Digimon and four crests with the powers of their two strongest members. The best advice if you see a Mega is that you hope its on your side. The best advice is you RAISE a Mega is brace yourself. The Digital World obviously needs you for something.
- excerpt from Chapter 4: "Furthur Digivolving" from Care and Feeding of Digital Partners, Second Edition, Jyou 'Joe' Kido
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Senior Detective Ken Ichijouji, hair going grey, which made him look even more respectable; looked around the playground in Odaiba ward. The Digidestined, except for Ken, who lived a distance away, had gone to school on this site, though the building (but for a memorial plaque) had been replaced twenty years ago. There had been many rumors of the week of new Digivices making their appearance, and super-powerful Rookies. The school was closed, it was Saturday afternoon, and children were taking advantage of it.
The people living around the school were merely thankful for the extra protection and had filed no reports. They were thankful since it kept them out of the grips of those who held the rest of the area, who demanded hefty protective fees and had been charged several times at inciting violence.
Ken ground his teeth at that. Everyone having Digimon meant small spaces were a problem, and some people seemed to have gotten infected with the need for territory until the watch program had been legalized. Some people were just and good, but they usually got steam rolled by other's greed. And all the Digidestined hadn't agreed on the issue, so they hadn't made any public statements.
However, one of the 'collection officers' for the local tongs had filed a complaint report about coming under an attack. Apparently some member of the Agumon family had ended up attacking him with a gate of destiny. Ken had seen the gate of destiny in action, and the school wouldn't have been standing if the attack had been used. Still, the reports of rookies using bizarre powers for their level and type fit well with everything else coming out of Odaiba lately. Combined with mysterious disappearances, Ken had decided to make a follow-up into the area, and had discovered there had been a bizarre amount of Digivolution happening recently, along with an Agumon transforming into something that wasn't on any of the analyzer programs. Suddenly Digimon cards had picked up a great deal of value, as two rookies, sometimes abetted by a Champion, had been wiping out bizarre pseudo-Digimon for a while now.
Stingmon floated down by Ken. "There's definitely been a lot of gate activity in this area. The scent of data is far stronger than usual."
Ken looked around, "What about powers involved?"
Stingmon looked embarrassed, "You may want to find a Wizardmon for that, but there has been a lot of energies used, and technology isn't very good at identifying attacks from beside broad categories. Off hand, darkness-inspired, poisoning, fire, ice, energy, and holy attacks have been used." Ken gave a whistle. This place was a war zone.
Ken sighed, "Well, something's up, and not many people here are willing to talk to us. They're afraid of killing the Golden Goose and coming under the sway of the gangs. Besides, with kids hero worship might get me some answers, but legally, I would have to fine them for attacking Skullmeramon, who was in his rights."
"What are you going to do, Ken?" asked the champion.
Ken smiled softly, "Easy. Gennai hasn't been any help recently, as he's busy trying to track down the disappearances, besides working on some program against when the next evil threat rises, as he doesn't have the staff who made the crests the last time. Besides, some of the rumors match a man facing Gennai's current description with a monster who came out of a fog bank, just like the Devimon who was apparently here a few hours ago. I think it's time to call in a higher level of government." Ken pulled out a cellular phone and dialed a number.
"Hello? Yes, this is Ambassador Kamiya's office," said a secretary in the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, "Oh! Mr. Ichijouji! I'm sorry, he's out of town for the weekend at his estate. Yes, I can get you his number," the secretary rattled off a list of numbers. "Have a good day, sir!"
Ken nodded, "Well, let's hope this works. Tai's usually in a good mood when he gets to get away from all the problems of both worlds. I hope he doesn't mind something spoiling his time." Ken quickly reached Tai and explained a plan. Tai was intrigued by some of things suggested, and knew that bizarre new Digivices usually meant something was up, and quickly agreed.
"In fact, I should have done this earlier. An old friend of mine stopped by the office yesterday to pump for information," Tai said, "It'll be good to meet those whom that egg speaks so highly of."
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"Hello? Yes, this is the Silphius residence," said Jessica's mother. After a few moments, Jessica was called over to the phone from where she had been slumped bonelessly on the couch, watching the news. Card slashing plus nearly getting stepped on had worn her and Crystalmon out, and right now they were just sending lazy vibes at each other as they recuperated.
A deep male voice was on the line as Jessica picked up the extension. "Jessica Silphius?" it said.
"Yes?" Jessica said cautiously. She had enough weirdness leaping out her for the last few weeks, and even Digitamamon's sources had started to run dry with not a bit of information for his valiant efforts.
"This is Digital World Ambassador Taichi Kamiya. I've heard interesting rumors about various events happening in Odaiba recently, and I was wondering if you'd like to chat with me up at my home for a few hours tomorrow. You should be receiving some passes for the trains in that area electronically shortly."
Jessica was gaping, but managed to ask, "What about my friends?"
Tai laughed, "Oh, right. Don't worry, I'm extending invitations to them as well. Do you accept?"
Jessica frowned. She had to do this. "Hang on, let me ask my parents," she said, before yelling, "Mom! Is it okay if I meet with an old Digidestined up in - Um, Mr. Kamiya, where are you again?"
"Kyoto," Tai seemed amused.
"Kyoto? Probably early in the morning to night?" echoed Jessica to her mother.
Her mom popped her head out of the kitchen, "Who else is going?" she asked sweetly.
She's humoring me, thought Jessica. "Probably Hikari and Allen, from school," she replied.
"All right then, just be back before ten," said her mother. The doctor said we needed to humor her as long as it wasn't dangerous, and I'll ask their parents about it later, thought Mrs. Silphius. Still, Digitamamon seems to have been caught up in it, so it can't be all bad.
Jessica hashed a few more specifics out on the phone, and grabbed the tickets when they were printed out by the phone. (Author's Note: Gotta love mid-twenty first century-technology/ plot devices!) She quickly grabbed Crystalmon, who yelped, as she was still a little sore, and ran into her room. Evidently, her mother noted, Jessica hadn't had as rough a day at school as her mother thought, judging by the excited squeals coming from behind the closed doors.
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Demon was still playing with his orb when Lady Devimon came to report, "We seem to have acquired our nine Digidestined, as they withstood the Fire Wall successfully, but they are, as yet, unable to access their Crests, my Lord," she said with head bowed.
Demon tapped the ball a few more times on his desk before setting it aside. He would crack its secrets eventually. "This is not wholly unexpected, though still unfortunate. Within them rests the potential for great power, which they managed to use against the Wall, but we had them trapped too tightly for too long. I assume they are still dark digivolving?" Lady Devimon nodded. Demon sighed, "Curses. We need them to see the truth of things and rely on themselves. I doubt keeping them hear near the Wall of Flames is helping measures." Demon pondered for a moment, "Alert your two compatriots. I'll need you to maintain the spell of darkness to keep the two on their toes, but SkullSatomon and MarineDevimon should be able to begin training them. Plus, anything that keeps those two occupied can only keep us concealed longer. We'll keep the other children around for now if one turns out to be a dud," Lady Devimon bowed and left.
Demon frowned when his underling had left and looked at the orb in frustration. He had stumbled upon the device in the Dark Ocean, wresting it free of the undersea master in a glorious battle. Demon kept the master alive mainly because he had been working off so much stress for being trapped in the Dark Ocean by Imperialdramon. The dark seeds would have granted him great power, but all that idiot Myotismon could think of was plunge the world into darkness. And once he had succeeded, he got fried by the Digidestined. Typical narrow, short-sighted thinking on that Digimon's part.
But back to the orb, thought Demon, thoughts of idiotic former adversaries can wait. The orb was the key, according to the texts he had found here in Infinity Mountain, to unlocking the power of the crests and reviving the Digital World. Demon had been hoping to use the dark spore as a substitute, but the Digidestined had inadvertently let him find his treasure. Now if he could just get it working.
"Two crests remain beyond me, but they're also the two that work. They should have arrived here by now, and it's obvious that my Constructs are insufficient to activate their digivolutions. I need all the children here, because of the possibility I may have a Digidestined-dud, and I don't have the troops to get them killed activating powers that will, at first, be used against me," Demon pondered for several minutes, and then thought back to the gate. "Of course! Some humans are far more power hungry than even I! The gate is connected to the spell binding the two Digidestined. I send dark energy through the gate, and it will find its way to someone in their area. A simple promise of power to a fool, in exchange for some champions." Demon left his desk. He had unholy rituals to perform, and a renewed sense of purpose.
"Jessica, Hikari! How are you doing!" Allen yelled. He and Guilmon had made it to the train station relatively easily. Train stations were neutral territory, due to the needs for mass transit in Tokyo, and locals weren't ready to go after Guilmon after yesterday. The Tyrannomon that had recently digivolved and had helped out yesterday had agreed with its partner to guard the area.
Jessica waved as Allen came over, and said, "This is really great! We get to meet a Digidestined. I can't believe your parents are letting you take an hour's ride to Kyoto by yourselves."
Allen said in an amused tone, "Well, they weren't, but when they called your mother and said that she was letting you go, and everyone knows how protective they are of you, they figured it had to be safe."
Jessica said contemplatively, "Well, what do you know, there are compensations for your parents thinking you're going crazy."
"Going crazy?" asked Crystalmon, "You've been hearing voices with no source, doesn't that qualify?"
"Not when other people hear them, too, Crystalmon," said Jessica with a trace of a smile.
Hikari looked at the train with approval, "Well at least we get to take the car set for larger Digimon, because poor Palmon's going all over the place with her digivolution level. I've heard the view is a lot better." Palmon perked up a little. The uncontrolled digivolving had made things stressful for the two of them. Allen turned his head to hide a smile.
Hikari was possibly the only person in school who envied their D-Powers. While they got the digi-modify ability, the Digivices hadn't done any digivolving yet, despite facing Champions. Hikari would LOVE to not have to deal with random digivolving and de-digivolving. For that matter, Hikari didn't think the extra-strength bond with their partners that Allen and Jessica had was a liability, as in battle they did feel a bit of the pain that happened to their rookies. But battles happened so rarely, and Hikari would really like to get to know the Digimon who had been with her since birth even better.
A train quickly arrived. The two would have to change trains again to get to Kyoto, and then take another train to where Tai's house was, up in the mountains. Allen looked around with interest. He could see a few Tyrannomon, a Woodmon, and a Shellmon on the platform as well. People looked at them askance for not having Champions at first on the covered double-height car that was the large Digimon section, but Palmon suddenly fluxing to Togemon stilled the glances.
Togemon sighed and sat down, "I really, really hate this. My energy levels are all over the place as well. I wish that the turbo-boost you gave Hikari's Digivice had an off button. It's hard to work out when one minute you're at full strength and twenty-feet high and the next minute you can barely move and you're a four-legged head."
Poor Togemon, thought Jessica, I wish I could do something, but people know more about why digivolving works rather than how it works. Allen tapped her shoulder, handing over a card. Jessica smiled, Perfect.
"Here, Togemon. This is something you can use to boost your energy that should match whatever state you're in," said Jessica as she pulled her D-Power off her wrist and held it in front of her. The cactus perked up at that as Jessica ran the card through the slot. "Digi-modify! Training grips!" Crystalmon looked at the giant rubber bands that had appeared on her fore claws with confusion. "Those are Togemon's, Crystalmon!" The dragon nodded her understanding as she quickly untangled herself and handed the straps over to Togemon, who stuck them behind her head, and bowed her thanks. "Those should last for at least twenty minutes or so, and you can get some training in without bothering anybody."
The two reached the main platform to go to Kyoto without anything else happening but for Togemon becoming Tanemon, and not even Hikari could hold back her laugh at the sight of her tiny companion wrapped twice around with the grips and its root-feet straining to hold the grips apart.
Jessica felt a slight chill, but she assumed it was merely the result of the card-slash when she got on the train that would take them to Kyoto. She didn't know Demon had managed to open a Digital Gate over Odaiba and launched the spell through. It hovered like a dark mist over the area for a moment, before speeding off in the direction of the trio, and quickly moving ahead of them, searching the area around the Kyoto train station for a likely victim.
The mist soon found a chance. An older teenager was looking at one of the shrine's with a large dragon on it. Next to him was a large green dinosaur champion with red and black striped tusks. The trainer sighed, "There's supposed to be ways to digivolve to Ultimate, but I'm not sure what they are. Wouldn't it be cool to fly, Tuskmon!"
Tuskmon said, "Well, I can jump pretty high..."
"But it's not flying, is it?" said a voice, from the shadows around the dragon statue. "Come now, people far younger than you can get to the ultimate digivolution, and I can offer you something that will help make up the gap, as you seem worthy." A flash of light exploded from the dragon's mouth, and a black ball floated out over to the teenager. "This will increase Tuskmon's strength greatly. If you want the power of ultimate, then I need you to prove yourself first and defend Kyoto. There are three very special Digimon riding a train from Tokyo with human partners. One will be some sort of plant, but the others will be larger than normal for rookies. They utilize forbidden ancient digivolution techniques. If you can defeat them, I believe I can gain energy from them that will allow you to digivolve."
The boy was entranced by the sphere fascinated by such power in a tiny orb, "Of course I'll do it. How do I turn this thing on?"
The dragon laughed lightly, "Place it on Tuskmon's forehead. But be careful! I am weakened with age and I can only keep the power flow for a short time."
The teenager nodded, "Right! Let's go Tuskmon. We have to save the city!" The boy jumped onto Tuskmon's back and rode on his head, the two trotting down the street towards the station.
Demon sounded incredibly pleased with himself, "Well, a story put together under a minute and he bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Demon, you old fox, you certainly can pick them." Demon watched from within the black orb on Tuskmon's forehead. This would be interesting. Demon idly tapped on his desk and waited.
About fifteen minutes later, the train came to a rest in Kyoto. Hikari was looking at a map, Tanemon sitting on her head as the young girl searched the complicated lines for their destination. "Okay, these bus passes should get us about five minutes away, but we will have to pay a toll on the bus." Jessica shook her head, but forebore to comment. There were priorities on helping the Earth, but she did have friends in trouble, and if anyone could help on Earth, it would be a Digidestined, a real Digidestined from fifty years ago, not today's cheap copies.
Allen looked at the platform in surprise. It was busier than he expected, but then again, it was a Saturday. He saw a lot of rookies, and a few champions in the area. The biggest one was a friendly-looking Tuskmon with and a person on top holding some sort of bowling ball. The person seemed to notice Allen's gaze and stood up and pointed.
"I am Tuskmon! Forbidden ones, you are mine!" roared the dinosaur Digimon in response.
Probably a big mistake. Several people held out their Digivices and digivolved up to champion. One shouted, "This area is under our protection! How dare you disturb the sanctity of the truce area!" The boy, well, young man really slammed the bowling ball into Tuskmon's forehead.
"Tusk Buster!" roared the dinosaur, shooting red beams of energy from his horns as each champion tried to get close. Each one that was hit flew the air, reverting to Rookie. A Greymon roared and fired a Nova blast, but Tuskmon crossed his arms before his face and the attack boiled off uselessly. Rushing to the orange dinosaur, Tuskmon picked the Greymon up and tossed it into the street. Everyone started to clear out as Tuskmon stomped forward.
"Jessica, Hikari! Get out of here and find help!" The two started to protest, but Allen explained, "This isn't some wimpy construct, this is one tough Champion, and in-training Digimon are no match. And Jessica, neither your or Crystalmon are recovered from the fight." Jessica brushed hair out of her eyes and stared at Allen for a moment, and decided he probably wouldn't change his mind.
"Here! Take this recharge and Metalgreymon cards. They may come in handy," Jessica said. Hikari passed over her Magnaangemon card and a Brave Shield card. Allen nodded her thanks. These were probably the best they were carrying, and if Allen got in trouble, Jessica was leaving herself at a disadvantage. The two started to run off to find cover for the time being.
"All right! Digi-modify! Heavy metal!" Guilmon's body transformed to steel and Guilmon started running forward. Tuskmon smiled and lowered his head, accepting the challenge. Allen smirked, Tuskmon, despite those nasty pointed things on his head, was right where Guilmon and Allen wanted them. "Digi-modfiy! Seed of strength!" Guilmon held out his hands as the two came to a devastating close with each other, and Guilmon managed to actually hold onto Tuskmon's tusks before actually pushing the Digimon back several feet.
"Pyro sphere!" roared Guilmon, firing a bolt of flame which exploded against Tuskmon's head. Tuskmon shook it off and charged, this time getting past Guilmon's guard and knocking the metal-enhanced dinosaur back several feet with a clang.
Jessica called from hiding, "Allen! I know you're too busy to sense, but there's a lot of dark energy flowing from that bowling ball."
"Got it! Guilmon! Digi-modify! Metalgreymon!" Guilmon held his hands over his head and a giant missile appeared in them, coalescing from data. Guilmon ran forward and heaved the Giga Blaster like a javelin, exploding it against Tuskmon's forehead. Guilmon smiled as the head was covered in smoke, but then Tuskmon launched his Tusk Buster from it. Guilmon slammed backwards, the armor wearing off and leaving Guilmon barely able to move from the energy blast.
"Digi-modify! Recharge!" Allen shouted, and felt the world almost explode into fire. His endurance was up after a lot of card-slashes to this wasn't a problem, especially with the extra energy he had untapped yesterday, but he was doing it too fast, as if there was a limit he was hitting. Guilmon managed to get up, and launched a pyro sphere at the ball. This time, Guilmon hit dead on and cracked it slightly. Tuskmon roared as he felt his energy drain. Allen closed his eyes, "I have to win this for everyone. I'm the only one who can fight right now. I have to keep going, no matter what it takes from me!"
"Are you sure?" came a voice from deep inside him. Allen's eyes widened in surprise. It sounded like the voice that he had spoken too right afterwards Guilmon was created from Agumon.
"Yes. If I don't keep fighting, I'll never save Margaret and everyone else, and we'll all get trampled on. Jessica was willing to give up a lot of her strength that she could have used to let Crystalmon fight temporarily. I don't care if I'll get a fever. I'm going to swipe the Magnaangemon card!" Suddenly, with a flare of blue light around him, Allen's fever broke fast enough to give him chills, and acting almost on instinct, he pulled a card from his pocket.
The words came naturally enough: "Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!" The D-Power hummed with energy, and it was all Allen could do to stay upright as he felt the power go towards Guilmon.
A female mechanical voice from within the D-Power stated, "Digivolution." Jessica and Hikari watched in awe as a series of red rings flew out of the screen of the D-Power, binding together into a an egg shape around Guilmon. "Guilmon, digivolve to!" Energy crackled and the two nearly screamed in astonishment as Guilmon seemed to be coming apart, leaving only a wireframe that blurred quickly into a much larger shape. The rings moved to match as Guilmon seemed to pull himself together as his skin returned, making him look organic again. He was MUCH larger, though with similar coloration and white hair. Blades were ready at his elbows. "Growlmon!"
"Get the orb!" Allen whispered. He felt tired, but not nearly as feverish as he had before, and could feel Growlmon's elation at the pounding rush of energy. Tuskmon launched another blast, but Growlmon jumped over it.
"Dragon slash!" roared Growlmon, and the blades on his elbows were energized as he swiped at the orb. Tuskmon went stumbling backwards, and the teenager on the dinosaur's back jumped off in panic. The orb's outer surface cracked off. Growlmon took a deep breath, and flame started to lick around his mouth, "Pyro blaster!" roared the dinosaur, letting loose a giant column of flame at Tuskmon. Tuskmon groaned, but a high-pitched cracking noise announced the death of the orb. Growlmon ceased the torrent, waiting to see what happened.
Tuskmon blinked, "What happened? Last thing I knew, I was at the dragon statue!" The boy nearby nodded, and Tuskmon bowed in gratitude, "Thank you for saving us." Growlmon waved a claw, and the two trotted off.
Growlmon went over to Allen, who reached up a trembling hand, "You did great Growlmon," he whispered, "I just need to sleep for a little while." Jessica and Hikari ran out of hiding, going over to check on the Tamer.
"He'll be all right," said Jessica with relief, "he's just worn out from the stress and everything. You did really good Growlmon."
Growlmon actually blushed, "It was all that training I've been getting recently," claimed the Digimon, "That and Allen transferred a lot of his energy to me. You're sure he'll be fine?" asked the massive champion plaintively.
Hikari nodded, "He's fine. Now, be a good boy and dedigivolve so we can get our bus."
"How?" asked Growlmon innocently, "I felt my pattern shift up while digivolving, I'm not sure I can just dump the energy."
Jessica and Hikari exchanged a look, "Oh boy," they said at the same time.
Demon, meanwhile, shuddered slightly when the mental link to the globe was broken, but that was nowhere near the massive joy he felt. Things couldn't have gone better if he'd actually been pulling strings himself.
To be continued.
Author's Notes: Well, there's Growlmon. Why is he going to be stuck at this level for a while? Notice that unlike Tamers, these kids aren't bothered by watching their Champions take the opposition out quick and painfully, since they've been seeing Digimon battle most of their lives.
I've decided to keep the long-term champion digivolves. Explaining it in Adventure's storyline should be interesting.
So much for those bus passes...
And the Digidestined are still alive, at least some of them, just feeling rather old.
Demon's dangerous because, among all the other toys and the Digidestined he's captured and turning to the surface, he doesn't know the meaning of the word 'collateral damage' and can open and close gates at will.
This was the least relevant opening quote of all. I had already done a champion digivolve one, so I did one saying Demon is god-awful powerful, basically.
Next episode: The Volcano of Wargreymon!
Tai talks and interrogates the kids, and gives them some pointers. Demon continues to try and manipulate his plans as things go the same for the otherwise. Plus: Demon just might get that orb + stalagmite-like stand to work... (Brownie points to anyone who figures it out).