Digimon.EXE 3

By Wolf O'Donnell

Author's Note: If you haven't guessed by now, I based all the Final Bad Guys of the Digimon.EXE Series on the Final Bad Guys of the original Digimon Anime. So Juggernaut Virus looked like Apocalymon from Season 1, Malo2 looked like MaloMyotismon from Season 2... Can you guess what evil Season Three villain DAEMON is supposed to look like?

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File 20: Mirai e no Message - (Message to the Future)

The entire Digital World began to shake again. A red mass began to rise and it took on the shape of a cloaked human. On its head was a golden mask with six eyes, three on either side, arranged in a circle. On either side of its head was a golden fan of metal. Emerging from its body were two metallic, robotic arms. Though it was red, it was also translucent, and they could see that somewhere in the middle of its body was a round sphere.
"So, this is DAEMON?" exclaimed Gallantmon in surprise.
"Yeah, that must be it," said MegaGargomon with a nod of his head.
"It's huge," announced Sakuyamon.
DAEMON began to bulge and grow until it was easily as large as the Juggernaut Virus had been. It looked to be ten times taller than them and its robotic arms grew along with it. The arms looked like the pincers on WarGreymon, although they had a chunkier look, and resembled missiles more than anything else.
A rocket booster on the end of both of its arms suddenly fired. One arm was propelled straight at them, and the other curved round and hurtled at them from the side. All three Digimon managed to dodge the two attacks.
Gallantmon aimed his lance at the prototype Internet and then fired. His Lightning Joust attack smashed against the monster's exterior. It only dented DAEMON's body and didn't do much to harm him.
"What?" he exclaimed in surprise. "That didn't even scratch him!" The dent slowly disappeared, much to his dismay.
One of DAEMON's eyes suddenly glowed brightly and then a second and then a third. Soon, all six eyes glowed brightly. The mask opened up and a beam of white energy flew down and struck all three Digimon. DAEMON's robotic arms charged straight back towards the Digimon. One hit MegaGargomon and a second hit Sakuyamon. Only Gallantmon was unharmed by the robotic arms.
All three of them struck the ground heavily.
Without warning, red, gelatinous, translucent tentacles shot up from the DAEMON-covered ground. They curved in the air, like ropes being flung over a tall object, before lashing down towards the Digimon.
"Mega Barrage!" cried MegaGargomon, before shooting missiles straight up at the tentacles. He was surprised to see the tentacles ensnare the missiles and then pull them down into DAEMON's gelatinous body. "He's... he's absorbing them!"
"We've got to get off the ground! Now!" cried Sakuyamon, as she leapt up. "Gallantmon!"
The red tentacles were already ensnaring Gallantmon, wrapping around his neck, his limbs and his torso. They were snaking around him, probing at the metallic surface of his armour. They held his arms back, so that he was unable to use his lance to severe the tentacles that now held him tight. Then with a scream from Gallantmon, the tentacles burrowed into his digital body, merging him with DAEMON.
Within Gallantmon, Takato found himself unable to breathe. He himself felt as if the tentacles were restraining him, preventing him from taking control. They covered his mouth, so he was unable to call out to his Digimon, even though they were as one being. Slowly, his thoughts began to disappear into a fuzzy haze.
"Hey! Stop that!" protested Sakuyamon, as she flew down and swung her staff at the tentacles.
They loosened their grip on his limbs, all except the one that had burrowed its way into Gallantmon's head.
The knight Digimon turned his lance towards Sakuyamon. He then thrust it straight at Sakuyamon, only to miss as the golden armoured Digimon dodged it. Gallantmon swung his lance sideways in an attempt to cut her with the pointed edge of his lance, but missed again.
"Gallantmon, what are you doing?" cried Sakuyamon, as she floated away from him. "Please, don't do this!"
"Takato!" called out Ruki from Sakuyamon's body. "What do you think you're doing? Please, stop this! I don't want to fight you... not like this!"
MegaGargomon couldn't believe what was going on. He turned to face DAEMON's main body.
"You," he cried, as he pointed a metallic finger at it. "You're not going to get away with this!" He fired a huge missile straight at DAEMON, only to see a missile emerge from DAEMON's body and hurtle straight at the one he fired. "No!" he cried in disbelief, as the two missiles hit each other and exploded, cancelling each other out. "I don't believe this!"
A needle suddenly emerged from DAEMON's main body, but it looked suspiciously like a lance. It crackled with electricity, before sending a bolt of lightning at MegaGargomon, electrifying his body. DAEMON then fired one of its robotic arms straight MegaGargomon. It flew through the air like a missile, before striking the Mega level Digimon, sending him crashing to the ground like a meteorite.
"No, MegaGargomon!" cried Sakuyamon, as she ducked underneath Gallantmon's lance. "Get up!" she cried out to the now unconsicous Digimon. "Get up!"
Unbeknownst to Sakuyamon, DAEMON had another trick up its proverbial sleeve. Two machine gun barrels appeared on either side of its head. They swivelled round to aim at her, before they opened fire, sending a stream of bullets hurtling straight at the Digimon.
With her keen vulpine sense of hearing, Sakuyamon heard the bullets as they left the machine gun barrel. Then again, any other Digimon could have, provided they weren't deaf. She leapt out of the way, before the bullets even hit her. Turning round, she saw the bullets bounce off of Gallantmon's raised shield. A thought suddenly occurred to her.
"No! Not that!" she cried.
Gallantmon turned round, the surface of his shield glowing brightly. A beam of pure light suddenly flew from his shield with such force it sent air rushing against him, making his red cape billow out behind him. The ray of energy flew straight at Sakuyamon at lightning speed.
Sakuyamon only had a few seconds, but that was all she needed. She created a forcefield around her. The beam of energy hit the forcefield and threatened to bring it down. She strained, using all her energy to keep her forcefield to break, even though her every muscle felt weak. She had to hand it to DAEMON. This monstrosity was far quicker than the Juggernaut Virus and just as powerful, which made it far more deadly. Its abilities were far more advanced than the Juggernaut Virus and that was what troubled her.
Slowly, the energy beam subsided and Sakuyamon allowed herself to relax. It was then that a thought occurred to her. DAEMON was everywhere. She looked down and saw red gelatinous, translucent tentacles had sprouted up from the ground.
"Ah, no!" she cried, as she saw that DAEMON had already began to absorb her. The red goo that made up its body was covering her bit by bit, millimetre by millimetre and was slowly drawing her into itself. "Stop it, you freak!"
No, it couldn't end this way. She wouldn't let it end this way. The entire Digital World was depending on them, and not just that, also the Real World. If DAEMON was allowed to succeed, the Real World would become a nuclear wasteland and she was not going to let that happen.
With a prayer on her lips, Sakuyamon took aim with her staff. She knew she had to be quick and her aim had to be true. Already, DAEMON's gelatinous mass was rising up her body, sucking her into it.
"Please, oh spirits, guide this staff," she muttered to herself, before she threw it.
It flew through the air like a beam of golden light, before it landed on the floor, severing the tentacle that had ensnared its way into Gallantmon's head.
What was once a thoughtless, fuzzy haze, now began to take shape. The first thought— I am. More thoughts soon began to take and memories came back to life, bringing with them sensations, sights and smells. Takato's consciousness emerged, as did Gallantmon's. They soon became aware and gradually, all five senses were returned to them.
Sakuyamon! Gallantmon noticed that she was being drawn deeper into DAEMON's mass.
"Take my hand!" called out Gallantmon, as he rushed straight towards her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of DAEMON's robotic arms lash out at him. He leapt back, narrowly avoiding being hurt by its pincers. "Sakuyamon!" he cried, as he saw the golden-clad Digimon disappearing into DAEMON. He rushed forward and tried to grab one of her arms, but it was far too late. "No!"
Gallantmon suddenly realised that MegaGargomon would also be in danger. He turned round, but where was he? MegaGargomon was nowhere to be found.
"MegaGargomon," he screamed at the top of his voice. "No, not him as well." He turned his head to face DAEMON. He felt a fiery rage building up within him. How dare DAEMON take his friends away from him like that? How dare DAEMON try to destroy the world that he and his friends lived in?
"You're going to pay for that!" cried Gallantmon, as he rushed straight at DAEMON with his lance drawn. Tears streamed from his eyes, as he ran, not caring what happened to him.
DAEMON lashed out at Gallantmon, hitting the Digimon with one robotic arm and then another. It charged up and opened its mask up again, before firing another beam of energy down at the Digimon.

~ ± * ± ~

'I feel as if I'm falling,' thought Jenrya, as he lay there with his eyes closed. 'Will someone catch me?'
"Jiangling," called out a voice. "Jiangling!"
Jenrya's eyes snapped open and he sat up. He looked around himself and found himself sitting in a room. It was quite an ordinary room, except that there were many computers sitting on the desks, many of which were joined up together. From the looks of them, the computers seemed incredibly old, antiquated even. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was being devoured by DAEMON. Was this room inside DAEMON? Jenrya got up to his feet.
"Where are we?" asked MegaGargomon from beside Jenrya.
"I wish I knew," replied Jenrya, as he looked around him. It was then that he saw Ruki lying on the floor and Sakuyamon as well. He rushed over to them and knelt down beside Ruki, as MegaGargomon knelt down by Sakuyamon's side. "Ruki!" he called out to her. "Ruki, are you all right? Speak to me."
Slowly, she stirred and her eyes opened.
"Jenrya?" she exclaimed in surprise. She had not expected to see him after being devoured by the Beast. "Jenrya, where are we? How did we get here?"
There was a laugh and it sounded quite old. They looked around them and soon saw an old man standing not too far away from them. He had quite a large nose and a white moustache. His head was quite bald, as he stood there with his arms crossed behind his back.
"Welcome to my Lab," he greeted.
"Who are you?" asked Jenrya curiously.
The old man looked quite surprised at Jenrya's question.
"What? Don't you recognise your own Grandfather?" asked the old man calmly. He then turned to face MegaGargomon. "Terriermon, you remember me, don't you? I was there with Jiangling's father when you were first created."
"Grandpa! I remember you now!" exclaimed MegaGargomon. "But I thought that you were... that you were..."
"Dead?" exclaimed the old man with a smile on his face. "Well, in a way, I guess I am."
Jenrya shook his head.
"I don't understand it," he said out loud. "It doesn't make sense. How can you be my Grandfather, Dr. Gennai Lee? You died when I was just three years old."
"You can't be Dr. Gennai Lee," protested Ruki with a shake of her head.
"No, but he is," argued Sakuyamon. She too recognised the Father of all Digimon, even though he died before she was ever created. "That is Dr. Gennai Lee, I can sense it, somehow."
The old man smiled, as he sat down on a small office chair.
"I bet you're wondering about all this," said Jenrya's Grandfather calmly. "Let me explain. You see, when DAEMON went beserk, eleven years ago, no one was able to stop it. No one, not even Dr. Oikawa, its creator, could destroy it. So Dr. Merzuno proposed to seal it away and it almost worked, had it not tried to escape."
"Were you the one who stopped it?" asked Jenrya.
Dr. Gennai Lee nodded his head in reply.
"The Biofeedback Headsets which transported you here to the Digital World are my invention," explained Dr. Lee calmly, "although I see my colleague, Dr. Yamaki has improved on it somehow." He sighed and shook his head at the thought of Dr. Yamaki. "Oh, Mitsuo. Why can't you see that Digimon and humans can live together peacefully?" He sighed again. "Well, anyway, I used this Biofeedback Headset to enter the Digital World myself and stop it. I helped the Four Guardians, powerful Digimon that a colleague of mine created, to seal DAEMON away. The seals were not enough, though, so I left a part of me here to keep watch over DAEMON and make sure that DAEMON stayed dormant."
Jenrya understood now. He understood why no one had attempted to destroy DAEMON after they had sealed it away.
"So, you've been inside DAEMON all this time?" asked Jenrya curiously. He worried. If they destroyed DAEMON, would they end up destroying his Grandfather as well? "Then, we can't destroy DAEMON."
"But you must!" protested his Grandfather. "You must, you simply must do it! Nothing can put DAEMON back in the Dark Ocean now. It's far too powerful." He swivelled round in his seat and opened a drawer, pulling out an envelope. "Jiangling, my Grandson, it was so nice to see you again for one last time. Here, take this. Give it to your father."
Ruki watched as Jenrya slowly went up to his Grandfather and took it from Dr. Gennai Lee. It pained her to think of what Jenrya was going through at that very moment. She feared what pains he would be feeling in his heart and soul.
"Now, let me take you out of here," said Dr. Gennai Lee. "You must leave here, so that you can help your friend, Takato."
Sakuyamon shook her head sadly.
"I'm sorry, Grandfather," she apologised to Jenrya's Grandfather, "but I fear we are too weak to help Takato and Gallantmon."
"Nonsense!" protested Jenrya's Grandfather. "If you give him what remains of your power, Gallantmon might have the ability to be able to delete DAEMON. That is, however, only if you hurry. For you see, as long as DAEMON is awake, it will only get stronger, absorbing more and more of the Digital World and growing in strength as it does. Only if you hurry out of here, will your efforts not be in vain."
"Grandpa, if we destroy DAEMON, what will happen to you?" asked Jenrya, almost mournfully.
Dr. Gennai Lee shook his head sadly, as he sat down on a swivel chair.
"You must not worry about me, Jiangling," he told Jenrya, calling him by his Chinese name. "I am an old man now. I have lived a full and long life. There is nothing for me to fear now. Do all your best to destroy DAEMON. Do not hesitate one bit or your world will die. That would bring me much sorrow, more so than not seeing you again."
"Now, quickly, let me take you out of here before it is too late!"

~ ± * ± ~

Gallantmon got back up to his feet and looked up at DAEMON. He saw the thing breathe a huge jet of flames straight at him. The knight Digimon raised his shield and blocked the attack as best as he could, but he could still feel the heat of the flames as they struck the Chrome Digizoid of his shield.
The left robotic arm flew forwards and struck the shield. The force of the impact sent Gallantmon crashing to the ground. It returned to DAEMON's body. The right robotic arm flew at Gallantmon sideways.
The knight Digimon scrambled to his feet and leapt out of the way. Gallantmon turned round and charged again at DAEMON. He saw two machine gun barrels appear on either shoulder. He raised his shield, as DAEMON opened fire, letting the bullets bounce off its metallic exterior, as he rushed straight at his opponent.
"You want to devour the world?" he shouted at DAEMON. "Well, eat this! Lightning Joust!" He fired a bolt of lightning at DAEMON, which dented its body. "Shield of the Just!"
A glow emanated from the exterior of his shield and soon a huge beam of white energy flew out and smashed into the exterior of DAEMON, pushing back its gelatinous body to reveal a sphere underneath it.
"Lightning Joust!"
The third attack hit the sphere, DAEMON's Kernel. A terrifying, bestial and inhuman screech of pain echoed all around them as the lightning bolt hit.
So that was DAEMON's weakness, was it? Gallantmon smiled. Yeah, he could defeat it now. He ran up DAEMON's side as quickly as he could and at the last minute, he jumped in an arc and landed in the indentation on DAEMON's body. Holding his lance firmly, he stabbed it into the Kernel.
With an elastic spring, DAEMON's red mass bulged outwards and propelled Gallantmon away from the kernel, before covering it and protecting it from harm. DAEMON roared angrily and lashed out with its robotic arms, hitting Gallantmon once, twice, three times, four times and two more times. It then opened fire with the machine guns poised on its shoulders, each bullet hitting Gallantmon's metallic armour.
He hit the ground with a heavy thud, which seemed to jar every bone and joint in his body. Gallantmon got up and saw tentacles spurt up from the ground. He slashed at them with his lance, as he leapt up from the ground. Aiming his lance down, he fired a bolt of electricity down at DAEMON, burning a hole in DAEMON to reveal the floor underneath.
From the gelatinous mass rose up three objects, which soon took on the shape of Sakuyamon and MegaGargomon. They clearly weren't the real deal, as both were as translucent as DAEMON itself.
"So, that's your game, is it?" growled Gallantmon angrily. "Well, let me tell you this! I won't be defeat by clones of my friends!" He rushed the two, not caring what would happen to him, as long as he could somehow defeat DAEMON. "You hear me? I won't be defeated by you!"

* * * * *

Sirens wailed through the military base, as the soldiers did their best to unfreeze the system.
"How long left?" asked the military technician.
"Five minutes and counting," came the reply.
So, that was how long they had until the end of the world, was it? Five minutes until the world burned to the ground. The military technician smiled manically, as he continued sending DMDs to his Digimon in an attempt to delete the D-Bugs that had infected the entire system.
"Five minutes, eh?" he chuckled. "Boys, unless Fate's feeling mighty generous today, you can kiss your butts goodbye."

To be continued...