Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon: Digital Monsters.
Episode L
Helios Ascendant
Fire and death danced around the lines drawn through the heart of the city. Where once flowed people in a steady stream, the living breathing heart of the great city of Tokyo convulsed like a beast in agony. Buildings designed to withstand earthquakes rocked under the steady rolling bombardment of artillery fire, of digimon roaring and screaming at their opponents, or blasts of light and ice and other elements that passed through the cityscape like wayward stars.
Beyond that, nobody could understand anything.
Tai understood that as the world dissolved yet again into clouds of billowing smoke. Rounds of heavy weapons fire continually punctuated the screaming of the city, but beyond that there was no noise to reveal what was happening around them. WarGreymon crept along with him, the two of them forming a stealthy team of razor-sharp death and destruction. Behind them, the smoldering piles of discarded data marked the presence of those who had, at the end, had not understood the peril that the two of them meant. It was taking time, and a lot of it, for them to break through the hordes of randomly milling digimon marking the dedicated assault on the center, but, like an onion, Tai and WarGreymon were slowly peeling back the layers.
He knew nothing, but he could still hope. He could hope and believe in the confidence that every digimon that he took out while they were still here was yet another digimon that would not assault the center, where his sister was still barely holding. Every figure that died at the hands of those sharpened steel claws was another life that would not stain his sister's hands.
In the darkness between worlds, fighting from the shadows, braving the fires of hell that had descended upon his city, Tai kept the flame of hope and courage alive within himself and pressed gamely onward.
Harmonious Spirit! Shakkuomon roared, and the beams of light carved great gashes through the smoke that covered the battleground. Something screamed, the scream cut off short as the beams found their target, and Cody was mildly surprised that he felt nothing. There was nothing left for him to feel, it seemed. Too many days in the heat of battle had reduced his innocence to little more than a pile of cinders, and his fingers gripped the familiar hilt of his sword. Steel flared in the darkness briefly, and then he was forward, the Vilemon who had sought to take the battlement by force screaming backward from that glowing avenger. Then it disappeared in a shower of data as a soldier drew a bead on it and blasted it from the world.
Cody sighed a little and watched the battle wind down. The enemy was possessed of what his grandfather would have called a fine spirit, but even they were not fanatics. The prospect of charging over the cleared thoroughfare, through the fire of both Shakkuomon and Silphymon and Team Eagle, and then storm a battlement built and held by the determined soldiers of the American 16th and the Chinese 51st divisions was not something that they were interested in. They still took potshots at anything they thought a reasonable enemy, but for the most part they huddled in place and attempted to keep their heads down.
A breath of fresh wind blew in from the sea, bringing with it the scent of rocket exhaust and gunpowder from the day long bombardment of the shore. With it came the roar of jet fighters screaming aloft, going to support the beleaguered center. The smoke, hanging in the air, dissolved almost as if it had been poured in water.
For a moment Cody could look down the ruined boulevard all the way to the Tokyo Tower, looming as it was directly nearby. For a moment he saw a figure that looked like Master Ishiguro jump down from the support and disappear into the chaotic rubble, but then the smoke swept in and everything was hidden in darkness.
We finally managed to restore satellite communications. Willis reported to TK. With Izzy and Ken both busy in other parts of the battlefield, he was the only technical genius close enough to come to TK's rescue, and Michael was adept at running Team Eagle in his absence. It wasn't too hard, but I won't bury you in the details. Here's the rundown. It's not just us, the whole world's fighting him. Willis unconsciously used the same terms that Tai had years ago.
How many? TK asked, staring down.
Well, the Chinese, the Koreans and the Europeans were already in on it, but the Indians just started moving up. They can't send much, but what soldiers they can send are already on the way. More importantly their air force is on the way, along with the Pakistani one. And miraculously, they haven't been taking pot shots at each other. The Israelis managed to send several squadrons of fighters to do the same thing, but they don't have much military strength ready to deploy overseas. The Russians still do though, and they're bringing it all, everything they can cram on those planes is already on its way over. The Americans are doing the same thing. Beyond themwell, every army on earth is sending troops of some sort. I guess this extra-dimensional invasion just made local politics take a distinct back seat.
Where are they headed? TK asked, trying to count things off on his fingers.
Since we managed to establish communications, everyone is headed straight for Narita International Airport. Willis traced the outline of the airport on the map with his finger. That includes fighters who are going to be in need of refueling.
Rosa's on the fuel situation. I'm confident that the pipelines will be ready before anyone can seriously show up. How's the situation elsewhere in Japan?
Osaka has already been liberated. General Alexander reported. But we only had paratroops enough to hit one non-Tokyo target, and that was it. Ships will be offloading the first Chinese regiment there tomorrow, but until then, there's not much we can do.
With elements of an American airborne division on the ground in Shinjuku, it may be possible to do a triple surround of the center. Alexander pointed.
That's how they're reacting certainly. TK stared. So what are they going to do when the real trap opens up on top of them?
The situation grows more dangerous. Bane noted absently.
I am aware of that. Khartan growled, his legendary rage thwarted by this figure of pitch blackness. Bane had even seemed to grow darker during the long days.
Nevertheless, you still havea chance. Khartan noted that Bane carefully skipped over using the word hope. Even altogether, their forces cannot possibly take Tokyo away from you for several days. They too are stalled in the middle of the killing zone. It is a matter of attrition, and soon we will not have to worry about that.
I am committing the rest of the Utopia ground reserves. I had wanted to avoid using the armored columns in the city, but that is now unavoidable. Khartan would have been grinding his teeth, if he had any. Nevertheless, I see this as a necessity.
I am not here to second guess you. Bane grinned sinisterly in the darkness.
Good. Now get out there and do something useful.
Kari hunched down in the dirt and sighed. It was difficult to do anything now. The afternoon sun had managed to work its way around, and the building was becoming warm in its own way, removing the freezing concrete that had occupied the lower level, but there was not much else that could be said. A fine cloud of dust hovered above the place where a dozen digidestined were crouched, making it difficult to see and hard to breath.
Their most precious possession, one that Davis had almost risked his life for, had been several boxes of tissues looted from a nearby store, ones that people were using to blow their noses as the dust got to them. Along with the spoils of a busted vending machine, this was all they had to remind them of a normal life. All around the shattered concrete and jagged edges of the broken-down stairwell were other pockets where other digidestined were hiding, conserving their strength. The wreckage of Tokyo station provided them with enough cover that they were at least out of immediate danger. However, it did not keep them completely safe.
Digimon from all groups kept a way watch on the exterior from fortified positions, weary yet wary eyes peeled, constantly crossing the horizon, searching for targets that might show themselves. Already more than a dozen attacks had been turned back, but this key position, the heart of the center of their lines, was still under almost constant siege. Fortunately, most of the artillery on both sides was busy shooting at each other, and none of them were wasting any time around here, so the digidestined and their adult counterparts huddled in a tenuous safety in the heart of the enemy offensive.
We can't do this forever. Ken noted gloomily. Sooner or later they'll wear us down.
Kari responded, keeping an eye on the white of Angewomon's wings, barely visible from where she was sitting. But sooner or later, if they focus here, everyone else will break through to us. It's just a race against time now. But remember, if worse comes to worse, ImperialDramon can evacuate us all, can't he?
That was the idea. Davis admitted. But they're shooting the sky up pretty badly out there. I don't know if we can make it through.
Then we'll have to hold here. Ken replied decisively. We are not going to give in and let the center collapse.
Not that we ever seriously thought about it. Davis grinned.
So, anyone up for a good game of tic-tac-toe while we wait? Kari asked, shaking her head at the two of them.
I know! Davis shouted. Let's play strip poker.
Davis. You do realize that making the enemy look at YOUR naked body counts as a war crime, don't you? Ken asked.
Why you Davis growled, leaping at Ken. There was a thump as they rolled over.
How did I get into all of this? Kari asked herself rhetorically.
More importantly, how do we get them out? TK asked himself. The map he was looking at still marked the fortified buildings in the center as islands of blue in a sea of red. Radio jamming had begun, and somehow Khartan had even managed to jam some D3 communications. They had lost track of Task Force Lionheart somewhere in the static, and were barely in touch with the Narita airlift. Admiral Kelliam had taken several of the warships out of the bay, and was busy fighting a running surface engagement with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, which appeared to be manned almost entirely by Utopia Corporation employees. Chaos had infiltrated central command in a hundred different guises, and TK yearned to be out on the battleground.
We don't have the forces in place yet. General Alexander admitted, his eye fixed on where his nephew was currently trapped along with Kari and several other digidestined groups. I don't see what we can do, especially with all those tanks that we've seen heading out way, without
Message from Izzy! A child TK did not know ran into the command post, waving a piece of paper in one hand. He says that he's in position and beginning the operation.
What do we do now? Alexander looked around.
Cross our fingers and pray. TK replied intently.
They brought the whole friggin' army! Michael shouted, ducking back behind a huge concrete wall. Where did they get that?
The entire avenue he was supposed to be watching over was literally covered in tanks, end to end, and the fire from their main guns was forcing every digimon with an ounce of self preservation to take cover.
We're not exactly having a joyride over here. Willis reported from where he was crouched behind what had once been a lamppost fixture a few streets over. These guys are everywhere. They must have committed their reserves in full. It's going to be nasty for a while over here.
Hey Michael. Seadramon turned to his human partner for a moment, a new light in his eyes. Want to see something neat?
Michael asked testily.
He breathed out slowly, the freezing breath rolling out of his mouth gently, like a cloud. The ground beneath that cloud froze solid, ice crystallizing on it as the cloud slowly rolled up the street. Michael understood almost immediately what his digimon was trying to do, and held his breath as the pale fog vapors crept up the street, waiting in the face of the roar of tank cannons for that fatal sound.
Then it came, the squeal of brakes, different for a tracked vehicle, but still there, the scream as metal hit metal and twisted on contact, the warping of steel. Following this came the sudden impacts of other vehicles, twisting and turning as they tried to maneuver around each other. Then the volume of gunfire aimed at the IDEF slacked off as more and more crunches resounded in the streets.
Man, enemy zero, traffic jams one. It wasn't particularly funny but several of the digidestined deployed around Michael began to laugh. Willis, we've uh temporarily derailed our problem. Do ya'need some help?
That was Willis sounding calm. Shakkuomon just discovered that he can shoot around corners. It looks like we're doing fine over here. In the background there was a sound similar to what it would sound like to send a dozen or so razor-sharp Frisbees hurtling through the air.
Well, they hit us, and we're still here. Michael flashed Yolei a thumbs up as the Odaiba digidestined rested. It looks like we're going to be able to do this after all. Let's move it out people.
That could count as a complication. Davis admitted, his eyes wide.
That's not only a complication. Ken ducked back down. That's a bloody disaster. And we're already tired, all of our digimon are.
Kari nodded, the fear in her throat closing in on her. It took her no effort to recognize the digimon treading toward them, the light glinting savagely off of ebony steel and polished angles. She had seen it in both her brightest dreams and her worst nightmares, a warrior of blades and fire and steel that loomed at her from beyond the abyss. She had hoped that the creation of the only one she had known had been a unique occurrence, but the grim visage of BlackWarGreymon looming over them, claws extended, quickly dispelled that particular illusion.
This could be beyond bad. Davis noted. He took a glance over to ImperialDramon fighter mode. The huge Mega was tired, back to the wall. His shield was flickering oddly, as if it too was on its last legs, and he was taking in air in great, huge gulps. The corpses of digimon, tanks and airplanes lay strewn around his position like child's toys thrown carelessly aside by some giant, but they had exacted their toll. The center's greatest defender was approaching exhaustion. Even his bright eyes had dulled, the life slowly draining out of him with each enemy he was forced to fight.
Even Angewomon looked exhausted. She could draw more power from Kari's crest than ImperialDramon could draw from Ken and Davis combined, but she was using it all. The entire battleground was sheltered under a beneficent aura that she emitted herself, shielding them from the worst of their enemy's attacks. Miracles, both of healing and destruction, had poured forth from her hands, and her voice had directed digimon and human alike in the defense of their impromptu citadel. All that had taken its toll, both on her as a digimon and on her partner, Kari was fairly dropping with exhaustion already.
How long can we hold him off? Davis asked Ken quietly.
I don't know. Ken replied seriously. But we have the best shot at it. Kari, if we hold him for some minutes, can you get away? Because we sure can't run away from him by ourselves.
No good. Kari shook her head, and pointed to where the members of European Legion London were exchanging fire with enemy digimon around their perimeter. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're completely blocked in. Those last dark digimon were just a distraction that they used to surround us. The only way out is right down their throats. They'll cut us to pieces.
Well, we've got to try something. Ken murmured, but at that moment BlackWarGreymon moved. His arms outstretched, he dove for his opponent, claws widened, but narrowing their angle of approach like an angry pair of jaws.
ImperialDramon reacted instantly, not by fighting, but by dodging, the power of flight allowing him to simply shift aside as BlackWarGreymon came past, and then slamming one armored fist into BlackWarGreymon from behind. The smaller digimon catapulted into the dust, but erupted from the wreckage a moment later, brimming over with furious anger. He dove for ImperialDramon even faster, and this time the big Mega did not move. Instead he stretched his blue energy shield between his arms and absorbed the attack head on, distorting the shield so that BlackWarGreymon was caught inside it, like a fly caught in a spider's web. Then he slammed his hands together.
BlackWarGreymon screamed in agony, but even as he did he used his claws to tear what was left of ImperialDramon's shield to ribbons. He broke free in a rush, only to meet the end of ImperialDramon's arm, wielded like a club, swatting him aside. The smaller Mega slammed into a wall, but flexed his legs and took off like a thunderbolt, shooting at ImperialDramon like a bullet. The exhausted warrior tried to get out of the way of his smaller and faster adversary, but misjudged BlackWarGreymon's target. Instead of hitting his enemy dead center, the dark digimon his the legs, sending his ungainly opponent sprawling. But even as that looked like a lethal mistake, ImperialDramon jerked around, somehow landing on one hand, his other hand pointed like an accusing sword. BlackWarGreymon extended his claws and howled like a banshee, unleashing the fullness of his wrath as he soared forward. But ImperialDramon's arm mounted cannon flared, and a beam of light lashed out to meet the smaller digimon.
BlackWarGreymon howled, and a wave of energy erupted out, whipping up the dust in a storm and forcing the watchers to shield their eyes. When the dust faded, there were two figures standing there. ImperialDramon, exhausted and on his knees, and a slightly injured BlackWarGreymon.
Let's end this. BlackWarGreymon's eyes gleamed in the sudden silence that their titanic clash had brought.
ImperialDramon's eyes seemed to narrow in response.
You can do it! Davis yelled.
Terra Destroyer! The blast of red energies gathered into a ball hurtled through the air, the aura sizzling and melting the ground near where it passed.
Positron Laser! ImperialDramon let off a roar that deafened those not already pounded by the sounds of battle. His voice seemed to boom out with a sudden authority, and Ken and Davis felt a renewed surge of hope as the blast of light smashed out, striking through the Terra Destroyer to arrow in at BlackWarGreymon. Then the world dissolved into fire, and chaos enveloped the watchers.
Slowly, the chaos subsided, the flames and dust storms died down. But the sight they cleared to show was not heartening. There, lying on the ground, clearly injured and exhausted, perhaps beyond reason, were Veemon and Wormmon. On the opposite end of a track blasted clean through the earth was a tottering BlackWarGreymon, his shield held out in front of him. There were a few moments of uncertainty, and then Kari could see cracks develop in the shield, and then huge chunks of the shield began to fall of the side. Moments later the entire artifact disintegrated into nothing more than dust, but all BlackWarGreymon did was laugh.
You really are fools. But you did cause some damage. It was a good fight. He stepped closer. But it's over now.
Kari, go and try to get out of here. Angewomon was suddenly there, floating between BlackWarGreymon and his targets. I'll hold him for now.
Kari began, too exhausted and suddenly worn to even protest correctly.
Angewomon flashed her a strangely calm grin. Don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll come up with something at the last moment.
Don't we always. Kari whispered sadly. Don't we always.
A claw tapped BlackWarGreymon on the shoulder.
Where I come from, WarGreymon began without preamble. We call what you're going to get a beatdown.
Something isn't right. Khartan stared at the map in mounting anxiety. There was something there, something hidden from him. He could almost feel it in the maneuvers of the divinely inspired blonde-haired digidestined, and the implications worried him. It was almost as if
They are moving rather far on the eastern flank. Bane noticed. We managed to get the power grid back up though, so our surveillance teams are monitoring their progress. It's going according to expectations.
Where are they going? Khartan angrily smashed his fist into something solid that crumpled like a house of cards. What are they doing?
I don't know. Bane admitted uneasily. They have set up positions here and here, although I am not sure why, those neighborhoods being in non-strategic locations. Some of their planning is very amateur, so it could be that
Khartan breathed out suddenly, and his finger darted out, pointing at one particular target that loomed in his vision. You can't let them do that! They can't be trying tostop them!
Bane also looked taken aback. The fools are smarter than I thought. We can no longer hold alone. I will send for reinforcements.
It will do little good for me. Khartan snarled. I go to prepare the final breach. Do what you will until then.
Bane muttered as Khartan disappeared into the black mist surrounding them. Run away and play your little games. You have not the power for this anyway. But I do, and I will use it here. This gambit must not fail.
He considered the map for a moment and then gave an order, his voice resonating throughout the entire building.
All units, converge on Highton View Terrace. We'll stop them there.
Well, it's all set up. Professor Takenouchi finished hooking the last few cables in place. I think we're ready. A graduate student that Hiroaki Ishida did not know flipped him a thumbs up.
Let's do it. The Ichijoujis gave Ishida a nod and a smile.
Hiroaki Ishida grimaced briefly and stared into the camera that they had set up hurriedly. The movie studio they had was used to produce shows for the local college network, and lacked the usual equipment that Mr. Ishida was used to finding in the grandiose Fuji TV studio. But he had no other alternative. In the end, this would have to do. Now it was all up to him.
He summoned all the courage and experience that a lifetime working in newsrooms had been able to give him. Despite that his stomach still fluttered, but he called up an image of his two children to given himself strength, and breathed quietly. Then he nodded and the camera flipped on.
At the same moment a patchwork program hastily written by a dozen graduate students came alive. Television was mostly out throughout the city, the airwaves were filled with static, and the radios were mostly dead. Still, some people, somewhere, were listening, and the world was connected once more. Those people who had been isolated, abandoned by the world at large, were suddenly connected once again as the telecommunications programs cut into all the carrier waves, radio and television that they could find.
This is Hiroaki Ishida, formerly of the Fuji Television Network. I am broadcasting to you from an undisclosed location. We are being sought out even now, and I do not know how long we can continue broadcasting, but we will repeat this message as often as possible. Call your families, your friends, everyone you know.
This is the news. Tokyo has been occupied by a being of evil from another world named Khartan, who has taken over the Utopia Corporation. He is powerful. But he is not invincible. Even now a coalition of forces from many different countries is attempting to liberate Tokyo. The battle is fierce. I do not know who has the advantage.
However, we should not be content to hide behind our allies. Tokyo is a proud city, home of a proud people. It shames our nation that we can no longer defend ourselves. Soldiers and children from a hundred nations are risking their lives to save us from the evil we have helped create. I will not tolerate this. I am calling on you, all of you, to rise up and help throw off our oppressors. To help those truly trying to liberate the city. This is a great moment in history, and I do not intend to sit it out.
Join us! Help us take back our city, our country, our worldthe future is now in your hands. We must unite, or we will fall forever.
This message repeats now.
Looks like they figured it out. Izzy looked over at the Scanner that Ken had graciously left him. He smiled to himself. They're too late though.
It was true that they had been noticed, as Mimi observed with widened eyes. Suddenly the ravaging bursts of red that had filled the monitor, clashing with other marks of blue, had broken off their attack. All of them were now converging on the place where Mimi and Izzy were standing, a giant ring attracted like lodestones to a magnet. But Izzy was still smiling confidently, so things could not be that bad yet.
If stones could talk, then these would have tales to tell, Mimi suddenly realized, that sense of déjà vu sweeping over her again. They were standing astride the footbridge that arched over the main road below. The bridge itself had already been destroyed twice, once by Parrotmon flinging Greymon into it, the second by Mammothmon blasting Birdramon into it. Now two digidestined stood upon it once again, and the fate of the world rested upon its worn surface. How many places had seen such great events pass by it before?
The ring closed on them fast, the blotches of red accelerating. The blue dots were making up ground too, but it was obvious that the red would get there first. Even as Mimi stood there, uncomfortably aware of how much a target she presented, the first anti-aircraft missiles screamed aloft from the hand-held launchers, rocketing into the air in search of their rapidly approaching targets.
Lilymon disappeared then, zooming upward, her wings dissolving into the dragonfly glimmer that told her partner that she was going as fast as possible. MegaKabuterimon was already gone, almost out of sight, his huge bulk visible only because Mimi knew which speck in the sky he was. Flying digimon all around them rose into the air, howling battle cries that would have routed most sane beings at the mere sight of their frightful arsenal. Beside them children with faces almost carved out of stone stood waiting, light rising from the digivices in their hands toward heaven like a reversed rainbow.
Already the first clashes were taking place. Digimon wearing the IDEF banners were diving from unimaginable heights, accelerating to near terminal velocity and using the speed of their strikes to knock the faster enemy digimon out of the air. A Devidramon, which had been rushing toward them collapsed out of the sky as a much smaller Flymon smacked it in the back. A Horn Buster attack silenced a screaming Airdramon before it could get close enough to launch its own attack. More explosions filled the air as the two sides began to clash in the air.
Mimi could watch them come closer in an inexorable tidal wave. Even as she watched Lilymon took on a trio of Ookuwamon. The three Ultimates were more powerful, but Lilymon was taking advantage of their low altitude, darting in and out of the buildings as the larger digimon crashed behind her. For a moment she would flicker in front of one and it would dive to the attack, giant pincers open in rage and anger. Then there would be a flash of motion, and Lilymon would move almost sideways, ducking into the gap between a pair of buildings, letting the larger flier crash into the ground. While the Ookuwamon was still regaining its bearings, she would dart out, there would be a flare of light, and then the sight of disintegrating digital data.
Still, the enemy kept on coming, teeth and claws bared as they tightened the ring. Despite the furious fire of the defenders, they were still focused on the center of the affair. They took horrible losses, but they ignored them, pressing on no matter the cost, no matter who got left behind. The enemy commander had finally realized the peril he was in, and had realized where Izzy was.
Too late.
Izzy hit a last key on his laptop and the world lit up, a vertical shower of light, in which Mimi could barely see the opening vortex that symbolized the beginning of the end.
Hidden, Khartan reached for the controls to the singularity box. He might have lost his jumping off point, but he was not out of it yet.
Oh hell! TK yelled as his senses suddenly told him the truth of what was coming next. Here comes the hammer!
What is it? Alexander asked, turning in concern to the blond boy.
They've just unleashed their trump card. TK gave a quiet smile. All right, everybody, we're in endgame 1. Everybody who has the faintest idea what I'm talking about better hightail it over to Highton View Terrace posthaste.
TK turned to General Alexander. You're in charge here. There's something I've got to do. That only I can do.
I see. General Alexander nodded.
Let's go Joe! TK called into the medical tent as he took off running.
That's our cue! Kari yelled as Angewomon came surfing over. The sudden change in focus of the attack had eased up the pressure on them, but Kari knew that it did not matter anymore. Everything had come down to a head, at Highton View Terrace.
They're a little exhausted. Ken pointed out, dragging Wormmon along as Angewomon dropped to a lower altitude.
We don't have a choice! Angewomon called back.
I know! Davis yelled. That doesn't mean that I don't want to do anything about it, you know!
Feed them something on the way! Kari jumped into Angewomon's arms. We don't have time for anything else.
Silphymon, cruising at barely subsonic speeds, pulled up behind the rapidly pumping Garudamon, Cody, Yolei and Armadillomon held firmly in his hands.
I hope TK knows what he's doing. Sora yelled over at them.
No reason to stop trusting him now! Yolei yelled back.
Rapidmon shot past them, a golden blur, Airdramon on his tail.
Let's step on it! Sora screamed. We don't have much time!
With a roar that rattled the walls of the buildings around them, Omnimon stepped down onto the already broken pavement, clawed feet digging deep into the ground. Crimson and pristine white swirled in the air as his cape opened up, and the runes on his burnished sword glowed in the light reflected from nearby windows.
It's about time. Izzy looked around. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have to do this all alone.
We would never abandon you Izzy. Four voices spoke as one, and then Tai and Matt jumped down from Omnimon's broad shoulders, freeing the huge Mega to engage his enemies without their added weight. With a gesture the huge cannon emerged from his right hand, and he began to search the sky for enemies.
Izzy turned around to the figures stretched out behind him. Are you ready?
We're always ready for a battle. Ogremon replied, confidently. Behind him hundreds of digimon were arrayed, partnerless digimon from the Digital World, each and every one a combat veteran ready to lay their lives down for their beliefs. Piximon had gathered them from every corner of the Digital World, digimon willing to fight evil regardless of the cost, or the distance that the journey would take them. Now a bewildering array of eyes and appendages stared out at Izzy, and he was aware of how odd this had all become.
Here they come. Piximon reported, staring outwards with his darkened eyes.
Well, at least they didn't bother to keep us waiting. Izzy murmured, staring at the dark cloud that was steadily getting nearer. At the rate it was expanding they had only minutes before that mass of swirling black shapes would coat the entire horizon from east to west.
Then explosions began to dot the sky.
Winters let out a vindictive howl as his first missiles exploded in the middle of the mass of swirling digimon. Dark shapes evaporated under the pounding of the warheads that the remaining fighters were pouring into the enemy. Then he was past, his fighter screaming for altitude as he left the confused mass of flying creatures unnerved and flat footed. Three of his wingmen were not so lucky, and more explosions filled the sky as fuel tanks exploded and metal alloys tore apart, but the rest of the strike was through, lifting away, leaving confusion in their wake.
We've opened a hole in their lines. Everyone who can, get through it soon.
Team Eagle roared through the hole caused by the sudden skirmish in the sky with Silphymon and Garudamon right on their tails.
It looks like they're all on their way TK.
We know. TK replied through the comm. net. They're already here.
Digimon roared on both sides of the line, fresh digimon from the Digital World suddenly making an appearance with greater effect than their numbers. There were only hundreds of them at the major intersections, and there were still thousands of Dark Digimon rushing to the battleground, but it was too late. The new arrivals were fresh, not as tired and exhausted as the digimon who had been fighting the long battle. They exchanged fire with their enemies at ranges as close as a few feet, and entire waves of dark creatures dissolved into shards of digital data.
Behind them the Narita airlift was finally beginning to make its weight felt. It was impractical to move thousands of troops into position for an extended campaign due to the weight of their equipment, but for a short battle like this they would move everyone they could as fast as they could. Soldiers came off the runways at Narita International in a steady stream, as fast as the air controllers could keep them moving. In a steady trickle they were arriving at the front, first branching into a stream, and then into a river. Hundreds paid the ultimate price as they rushed to the front lines, but more came up from behind them, filling in the holes in their ranks and creating a solid wall of steel between the portal and their ever more desperate enemies.
Dark digimon and fanatical humans, addled by the powers of their dark masters or by the tantalizing pull of greed and pride, threw themselves into the makeshift barricades like a tidal wave. They came on, howling. One group managed to breach a wall manned by confused Russian volunteers, slaughtering the defenders in close in combat, only to be pushed back by screaming IDEF digimon and soldiers freshly arrived from Korea, determined fighters with their faces screwed up in concentration. The Utopian forces refused to give up even an inch without a fight, but the IDEF was equally determined to take it back. When the battle ended, the bodies and the blood were waist deep at the front, but the enemy had fallen back, broken at that point. At another point five hundred Americans with digimon support struggled in a back and forth battle over a nearly empty street with a rush of enemy digimon and fanatical human soldiers. Gunfire started at long range as snipers took potshots at the soldiers moving from cover to cover. Then they were firing at each other with automatic weapons at ranges as close as a meter, or lower, spitting blood and carnage all over the street. Ammunition supplies failed, and men were clubbing and stabbing at each other at pointblank ranges, until one side would fall back to a safe distance. An officer, or someone in charge, would yell, rally their men and charge back into battle, and the bloodbath would start up again.
Even professionals were aghast. There was no more control, no more command, only chaos incarnate. The armies were no longer separate bodies, they were two animals, locked together in mortal combat, claws and teeth sealed to each other in a ball of hissing fury as they rolled over the floor. Nobody talked of the battle beyond the next few minutes. It was combat at a level that had never been seen before in the history of the Earth as armies of numbers that would have impressed the most jaded of history's conquerors slammed into each other at ranges too close for their weapons to even work properly. For the men and women in charge, the battle had become a meat grinder, into which digimon and humans were fed relentlessly, and nothing but ruin emerged.
Tai got brief glimpses of his team as the battle whirled around him. Omnimon had long ago left him behind in order to fight more effectively, and now he was stuck with some soldiers, trying to keep in one piece. Cody appeared once, sword waving, a horror to those who fought him at close range. Sora was visible for a moment, running desperately from one piece of shelter to the next, keeping one step ahead of her opponents. He swore that he had seen Davis as well, slamming a handy Bakemon over the head with a baseball bat before he had disappeared behind a wall. Otherwise, it was just him and a bunch of men he didn't know, trying to hold off the world.
What a clusterfuck. Somebody he didn't know muttered as he bandaged his upper arm from a wound that was bleeding profusely.
Tai agreed with him silently.
Something's wrong. TK, who had been standing back to back with Kari, holding the street against a rush of savage Gizamon, froze almost in midswing.
Kari managed to grab one of the last Gizamon, no longer surprised when it seemed to break apart at the touch of the light aura surrounding her, and stared back at him. Then it hit her, as if an oily blackness was unfolding in her stomach, filling her with an unholy dread. For a moment it felt like something was actually trying to get out of her mouth, to crawl out through her throat, and then she almost vomited on the pavement. From his pale face, TK was hardly doing any better.
What's wrong? Yolei appeared next to them as if by magic, her face flushed as she took in the two standing there.
Something's wrong. TK murmured. Some darkness is here, I don't know what, but I think it wants something.
It's big whatever it is. Kari whispered. She was still having some problems controlling her stomach, and that was never a good sign. And I don't think that it's going to count as good news.
We feel it too. MagnaAngemon set down beside them, purple sword aloft and flaming. It is a power of evil as ancient as it is cruel. I do not think that we can fight it alone.
Angewomon did not look any happier. I am unfamiliar with the taste. I fear it is
Whatever it was that the angel thought was threatening them was left unsaid in a rising storm of screams and startled exclamations around them. People all over were pointing up, into the sky, men and women yelling in alarm and near panic. Even dark digimon were backing up as if they wanted nothing better than to flee.
An inky blackness was rising into the sky. It seemed to be darker than smoke, rising in a way that was simultaneously threatening and disturbing, blotting out the light, not like it was shading those below, but rather as if it were sucking the light into it. Higher and higher it rose, billowing out first, then regrouping, first seeming to spread out and cover the sky, then concentrating its evil. And then, slowly, it resolved into a humanoid shape.
Hello there. A voice boomed out, so loud that it was all TK could do to force himself not to clap his hands over his ears. It seems that you mites have actually managed to gain a temporary victory. Massive jaws opened, revealing teeth the size of skyscrapers. A wave of darkness stole over the army with his breath.
Who is he? Kari asked Angewomon in a trembling voice.
The giant appeared to have overheard. I am Bane. Do you know me?
TK searched his memory. Khartan's last servant. But something about that did not seem right. The darkness here was greater than anything he had ever felt from Khartan's presence. True, his senses were more developed, but this did not feel like the evil that he had once stood in the presence of.
Servant! In name only. Bane laughed, a cruel, heartless laugh. Your precious world is in a very strategic position young Paladin. We wish it. Khartan is a bit of a crazed dictator, fond of his cruelties and his games. Like so many others you have faced, it leaves him open to defeat. So the Dark sent ME to keep an eye on him. To make sure that our plan succeeded, to take Citadel from the rear and end this war once and for all. Even as he spoke he drew himself up more, and TK sensed the dark power in him, that this creature standing in front of him was everything he claimed to be and more. A dark beacon, a power that was as far above Khartan as Khartan still was above TK.
You have forced me to take an active hand. For that I congratulate you. You will die like a man should, on your feet. A ghostly hand was raised and a wave of intolerable blackness fell down upon them, drowning TK in an ocean of despair. Even with his glowing corona, he could feel the darkness pressing at him, cutting him off. In an instant he had lost sight of the glowing figure of Kari, of the towering presences of the angels, of Yolei, of everyone. From the shouts suddenly smothered as effectively as if a blanket had been dropped on the city, he knew that his allies were suffering the same, and probably even his enemies. He was trapped, the darkness beat at him like water, like oil, and he could not have moved a step if his life depended on it.
Then, amazingly, there was light in the distance. First a single pinprick, and then more and more, a constellation of them. It was almost as if the darkness he was drowning in was only a black cloth, and someone was poking holes in it, letting the light through and freeing those trapped beneath. Like the clouds had gone, and the stars were coming out to illuminate the night. Suddenly the warm feeling of companionship flooded back, the realization that he was not alone, that he was standing only an arm's reach away from his best friend and the love of his life. That there were hundreds of others, even thousands, who were prepared to die in this battle, who had come with him to battle the darkness.
The blackness lifted and revealed an amazing sight, a forest of digidestined, their hands aloft, each holding a single blue-white gem of light in their palm. Thousands of digivices sent a light aloft that forced even the most impenetrable blackness to rise off the ground. Ten thousand throats inhaled a great breath in unison. Then the light rose to form a bubble above them, a fragile wall against the great darkness.
But Bane only laughed, and he sounded amused, not frightened or even annoyed by the sudden outpouring of light. And TK, in his heart, understood why. He could feel the digidestined projecting the umbrella begin to drain themselves. The weight of the darkness fell on their shoulders like an ever increasing weight, dragging them down. Some had already fallen to their knees, the light from their digivices dimming. For now, there was a balance as those standing kept the light aloft, and those fallen closed their eyes to the pain, trying desperately to stand. For now there was equilibrium, but TK knew it would never last.
This is it. The powerful Ultimate-level digimon stared at the corridor in irritation. We traced the illegal broadcasts to here.
Let's go get them. Someone else murmured, looking at the door to the broadcast center with hunger in their dull and darkened eyes.
With a creak, the door opened slowly. There was a brighter light inside than in the dim corridor, so for a moment the digimon standing around had no idea what they were looking at. Then the shape resolved itself into a man, wearing garb that the ancient samurai would not have found foreign. He was clearly old, but the bright steel of the katana in his hand did not waver an inch, and something in the dark digimon quailed at what they say in his eyes.
It's just one man. The leader muttered, more to encourage his followers than out of any real conviction to what he was saying.
Regardless, you will not pass here. Steel flashed, as did his eyes. I will keep you at bay until this battle is won.
Get him! A digimon screamed, and the others reluctantly moved to attack.
Chikara Hida met them halfway to the door, a scream on his lip, a loop of steel in his hands.
It occurred to TK why the light had formed a dome. Ordinary men and women, unprotected from the full power of that darkness were beginning to stir, to move around under the failing protection. Several of them lofted explosives and flares outside the dome to try and light it up, but they were having little luck. There was no overcoming that blanket of supernatural darkness.
Footsteps ran up behind him.
Heya kid. How's it going? Lieutenant Takaeda of the Tokyo Metro Police plopped down beside TK, obviously exhausted.
When did you get here? TK asked.
We saw the fighting start and decided to see if we could sneak through to your side. Get your families to safety. He glanced over his shoulder where several other digidestined family members were congregated, looking around nervously.
Where are the others? TK asked, a cold lump of dread anchoring itself in his stomach. He could not see his father's tall form anywhere.
We got cut off from Ishida's group a while ago. Don't worry. From the transmission he sent out, he's doing fine. I just don't know where he is. Wherever it is, it's probably better than here. He gestured over his shoulder with a thumb to where Davis, staggering but still holding a digivice alight, was being held by his crying mother and watched anxiously by his older sister.
Well, this party's not going anywhere. TK murmured.
Clever of you to notice Takashi. Bane was enjoying his omniscience, and his taunting voice drove TK to distraction.
But it was Davis who answered. You're going to lose anyway you big creep. Why don't you take it like a man and give up now?
Impertinence and defiance. Bane actually seemed delighted, and TK felt a sudden spike of sheer terror as the oppressive darkness above them rippled in response. I have to reward such behavior.
A spike of pure blackness struck down from above, a camera's negative version of lightning, driving down under the force of pure malice. It was hatred and agony and death all in one, a poison that would destroy any living creature's soul at once, but it had been given corporeal form, and it ripped through the air like a chainsaw. Davis only had time to gape at it as it rushed toward him, to hear the siren song of death approaching him.
TK flung out a hand, desperately searching for the reserve of power that would let him block that thing, but he knew it was futile. His logical mind, remote from his emotional self, understood that there was nothing he could do to prevent events from playing out. Even as he gathered himself, the bolt impacted into flesh with a horrifying discharge of latent power.
Davis screamed, but his skin was unmarked. In front of him, silhouetted like some perverse inverse image of reality was Jun, her last leap having carried her in front of her brother. She was outlined almost as if she had been painted in blue and black instead of her normal colors, and her screams were horrible. For a few impossible moments she was suspended in the air like a puppet, jerking and spasming horribly under the pounding of that godawful lightning. Then the blackness cut off with a suddenness that surprised them all, and she collapsed to the pavement, illuminated only by the light from the dome of digivices.
Davis rushed over to her, grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to force some life back into her, but she did not respond, eyes open and staring beyond into something that only she could see. Then she forced the words out, slowly as if she was already distant.
I'm cold Davis. So cold
Her voice failed. A moment later her hand, held out, dropped listlessly and limply to the ground. There was no movement in the enclosure as everyone watched, alert for one sign of breath, but there was nothing to reward their efforts.
Then Davis screamed. It was long and loud and it seemed to go on forever, rising from his gut to spill out of his mouth like a tidal wave, a hurricane even, a primal sound of rage and hatred and frustration and a burning need for vengeance. The world stood still for a split second, and then the boy fixed the full force of his glare on Bane. The dome of light flared violently, tinged with a distant but hateful red as it raged against the darkness. But what there was of Bane in the darkness only laughed. The other digidestined gasped in relief as Davis took some of the burden off onto his own shoulders, but he was already buckling under the weight.
Tai had just glanced away from that horrible scene when he saw the red light illuminate something in the darkness. Someone was there, an aura of golden light blazed like the sun briefly, and a figure appeared, walking through the darkness. Slowly the darkness between the dome and the man melted away. It was Hideo Ishiguro.
Master Ishiguro! Cody was standing near that end of the dome, and he stared suddenly at the martial arts master. With Jun's death, the wave of everlasting darkness, everything was piling on top of itself, and he simply could not keep track anymore.
Hello Iori. Ishiguro's smile was soft and gentle. He looked, even in the middle of the death and the carnage and the destruction, like a man who had finally found peace.
What are you doing here? Cody asked, breathless.
Just coming to borrow something from you. He looked at the dome. If there hadn't been a resurgence in the dome I never would have found you. I just need to borrow a little of it.
Cody asked.
Because it is pure. It's all so easy you see. Utopia had it wrong. Digimon respond to thoughts, feeling, things like that. But they're simple at heart. All thought is can be transformed into brainwaves, thought patterns, electric signals. This he pointed at the wall of the dome. this is just a physical manifestation of what is purely an electromagnetic phenomenon.
Even Izzy looked boggled at that. Behind them Davis sank to his knees, his overpowering rage not enough to keep Bane at bay any longer. His face was so strained he looked like his head was about to explode.
We always knew that you see. But we needed a source, and a disciplined mind. I've been training for years for this moment. Your light here is impressive, but it can be channeled, transmitted. All it is, when we come down to it, is a cold, hard science. Cold, hard but containing some element of fundamental mystery. Maybe that is what we can say about life as a whole.
What are you talking about? Izzy asked. Davis's scream took on a note of physical pain as the weight of the darkness began to crush him.
We need to borrow this, turn it into a digital representation of the electromagnetic spectrum and throw it over the town. We need to borrow a human, and turn him into an antenna. It was just too difficult to test. We needed your help. Helios Ascendant has been preparing for this moment for years, but our anonymous forbearers have been preparing for it for centuries.
I still don't understand. Cody stared at him.
You will one day. Master Ishiguro smiled and then reached for the dome. Just before he touched it he paused for a moment. I knew your father Iori. He would have been very proud of how you turned out. He would have been proud of all of you. Remember me always.
He touched the dome with one hand. With the other he produced a remote control from his pocket and pushed a single red button.
His entire body exploded with lightning. For a moment he stood there, a beatific smile on his face as the lightnings coursed up and down his body, burning it to a crisp from the inside out, vaporizing muscle tissue and nerve endings as if they were nothing more than paper. For one eternal moment he let the power of the device he had worn blaze through him and combine with the humming light of the dome into something that was unique, clear and never before heard in this world. And then his body vaporized to ash in a flaming explosion. TK winced away from that moment, but he would always swear that he had seen in those flames a pair of calm eyes looking back at him.
The harmonic song of the dome flared and spread, like a rippling tidal wave, over the entire city. It deafened even the radio and television transmitters of the building in which Cody's Grandfather was still fighting. It reached a specially constructed transmitter tied into the city's emergency power grid, and attached to the Tokyo Tower.
As it had been designed to do, the Tower reverberated like a bell, and sent that signal across the city loud and clear. It was the sound of the trumpets of heaven, calling the hosts to war. Dark Digimon grasped their heads everywhere in the city, howling in pain. Every TITAN unit in the city dropped on the spot, the souls inside freed, sent to their futures unchained by mortal devices. The darkness surrounding Highton View Terrace disintegrated in an instant.
And Bane was no longer amused.
The light shone in a dome now, brighter than even the sun. Uncloaked by Bane's darkness it dominated the skyline of the city, a new Eden beckoning to souls everywhere. Men touched by darkness fled at the sight of it. Even Bane, monstrous still but without his sheltering cloud, flung a protective hand in front of his eyes. But his other arm was rising, and TK could feel that darkness gathering again, preparing to strike forth, to smother and destroy. But for now, the light burned brightly, and fiercely, as if daring the encompassing dusk to try and snuff it.
But in that moment TK remembered that a campfire had more than one purpose than to drive away the darkness. One could wander the darkened hills, looking for sanctuary forever, until hope came into their breast at the sight of a glowing pinpoint of light in the distance. Light was used to signal, to carry messages, and this light carried a message to the whole world, and beyond. And out of it, in answer to a signal revealed by the drawing of a curtain, a figure stopped by the point where Hideo Ishiguro had perished and stared for a moment unmoving at the ashes before looking up. But when he did look up, his glare was horrible to behold.
Adam hissed. I have come for you.
Helios Ascendant
Beyond that, nobody could understand anything.
Tai understood that as the world dissolved yet again into clouds of billowing smoke. Rounds of heavy weapons fire continually punctuated the screaming of the city, but beyond that there was no noise to reveal what was happening around them. WarGreymon crept along with him, the two of them forming a stealthy team of razor-sharp death and destruction. Behind them, the smoldering piles of discarded data marked the presence of those who had, at the end, had not understood the peril that the two of them meant. It was taking time, and a lot of it, for them to break through the hordes of randomly milling digimon marking the dedicated assault on the center, but, like an onion, Tai and WarGreymon were slowly peeling back the layers.
He knew nothing, but he could still hope. He could hope and believe in the confidence that every digimon that he took out while they were still here was yet another digimon that would not assault the center, where his sister was still barely holding. Every figure that died at the hands of those sharpened steel claws was another life that would not stain his sister's hands.
In the darkness between worlds, fighting from the shadows, braving the fires of hell that had descended upon his city, Tai kept the flame of hope and courage alive within himself and pressed gamely onward.
Harmonious Spirit! Shakkuomon roared, and the beams of light carved great gashes through the smoke that covered the battleground. Something screamed, the scream cut off short as the beams found their target, and Cody was mildly surprised that he felt nothing. There was nothing left for him to feel, it seemed. Too many days in the heat of battle had reduced his innocence to little more than a pile of cinders, and his fingers gripped the familiar hilt of his sword. Steel flared in the darkness briefly, and then he was forward, the Vilemon who had sought to take the battlement by force screaming backward from that glowing avenger. Then it disappeared in a shower of data as a soldier drew a bead on it and blasted it from the world.
Cody sighed a little and watched the battle wind down. The enemy was possessed of what his grandfather would have called a fine spirit, but even they were not fanatics. The prospect of charging over the cleared thoroughfare, through the fire of both Shakkuomon and Silphymon and Team Eagle, and then storm a battlement built and held by the determined soldiers of the American 16th and the Chinese 51st divisions was not something that they were interested in. They still took potshots at anything they thought a reasonable enemy, but for the most part they huddled in place and attempted to keep their heads down.
A breath of fresh wind blew in from the sea, bringing with it the scent of rocket exhaust and gunpowder from the day long bombardment of the shore. With it came the roar of jet fighters screaming aloft, going to support the beleaguered center. The smoke, hanging in the air, dissolved almost as if it had been poured in water.
For a moment Cody could look down the ruined boulevard all the way to the Tokyo Tower, looming as it was directly nearby. For a moment he saw a figure that looked like Master Ishiguro jump down from the support and disappear into the chaotic rubble, but then the smoke swept in and everything was hidden in darkness.
We finally managed to restore satellite communications. Willis reported to TK. With Izzy and Ken both busy in other parts of the battlefield, he was the only technical genius close enough to come to TK's rescue, and Michael was adept at running Team Eagle in his absence. It wasn't too hard, but I won't bury you in the details. Here's the rundown. It's not just us, the whole world's fighting him. Willis unconsciously used the same terms that Tai had years ago.
How many? TK asked, staring down.
Well, the Chinese, the Koreans and the Europeans were already in on it, but the Indians just started moving up. They can't send much, but what soldiers they can send are already on the way. More importantly their air force is on the way, along with the Pakistani one. And miraculously, they haven't been taking pot shots at each other. The Israelis managed to send several squadrons of fighters to do the same thing, but they don't have much military strength ready to deploy overseas. The Russians still do though, and they're bringing it all, everything they can cram on those planes is already on its way over. The Americans are doing the same thing. Beyond themwell, every army on earth is sending troops of some sort. I guess this extra-dimensional invasion just made local politics take a distinct back seat.
Where are they headed? TK asked, trying to count things off on his fingers.
Since we managed to establish communications, everyone is headed straight for Narita International Airport. Willis traced the outline of the airport on the map with his finger. That includes fighters who are going to be in need of refueling.
Rosa's on the fuel situation. I'm confident that the pipelines will be ready before anyone can seriously show up. How's the situation elsewhere in Japan?
Osaka has already been liberated. General Alexander reported. But we only had paratroops enough to hit one non-Tokyo target, and that was it. Ships will be offloading the first Chinese regiment there tomorrow, but until then, there's not much we can do.
With elements of an American airborne division on the ground in Shinjuku, it may be possible to do a triple surround of the center. Alexander pointed.
That's how they're reacting certainly. TK stared. So what are they going to do when the real trap opens up on top of them?
The situation grows more dangerous. Bane noted absently.
I am aware of that. Khartan growled, his legendary rage thwarted by this figure of pitch blackness. Bane had even seemed to grow darker during the long days.
Nevertheless, you still havea chance. Khartan noted that Bane carefully skipped over using the word hope. Even altogether, their forces cannot possibly take Tokyo away from you for several days. They too are stalled in the middle of the killing zone. It is a matter of attrition, and soon we will not have to worry about that.
I am committing the rest of the Utopia ground reserves. I had wanted to avoid using the armored columns in the city, but that is now unavoidable. Khartan would have been grinding his teeth, if he had any. Nevertheless, I see this as a necessity.
I am not here to second guess you. Bane grinned sinisterly in the darkness.
Good. Now get out there and do something useful.
Kari hunched down in the dirt and sighed. It was difficult to do anything now. The afternoon sun had managed to work its way around, and the building was becoming warm in its own way, removing the freezing concrete that had occupied the lower level, but there was not much else that could be said. A fine cloud of dust hovered above the place where a dozen digidestined were crouched, making it difficult to see and hard to breath.
Their most precious possession, one that Davis had almost risked his life for, had been several boxes of tissues looted from a nearby store, ones that people were using to blow their noses as the dust got to them. Along with the spoils of a busted vending machine, this was all they had to remind them of a normal life. All around the shattered concrete and jagged edges of the broken-down stairwell were other pockets where other digidestined were hiding, conserving their strength. The wreckage of Tokyo station provided them with enough cover that they were at least out of immediate danger. However, it did not keep them completely safe.
Digimon from all groups kept a way watch on the exterior from fortified positions, weary yet wary eyes peeled, constantly crossing the horizon, searching for targets that might show themselves. Already more than a dozen attacks had been turned back, but this key position, the heart of the center of their lines, was still under almost constant siege. Fortunately, most of the artillery on both sides was busy shooting at each other, and none of them were wasting any time around here, so the digidestined and their adult counterparts huddled in a tenuous safety in the heart of the enemy offensive.
We can't do this forever. Ken noted gloomily. Sooner or later they'll wear us down.
Kari responded, keeping an eye on the white of Angewomon's wings, barely visible from where she was sitting. But sooner or later, if they focus here, everyone else will break through to us. It's just a race against time now. But remember, if worse comes to worse, ImperialDramon can evacuate us all, can't he?
That was the idea. Davis admitted. But they're shooting the sky up pretty badly out there. I don't know if we can make it through.
Then we'll have to hold here. Ken replied decisively. We are not going to give in and let the center collapse.
Not that we ever seriously thought about it. Davis grinned.
So, anyone up for a good game of tic-tac-toe while we wait? Kari asked, shaking her head at the two of them.
I know! Davis shouted. Let's play strip poker.
Davis. You do realize that making the enemy look at YOUR naked body counts as a war crime, don't you? Ken asked.
Why you Davis growled, leaping at Ken. There was a thump as they rolled over.
How did I get into all of this? Kari asked herself rhetorically.
More importantly, how do we get them out? TK asked himself. The map he was looking at still marked the fortified buildings in the center as islands of blue in a sea of red. Radio jamming had begun, and somehow Khartan had even managed to jam some D3 communications. They had lost track of Task Force Lionheart somewhere in the static, and were barely in touch with the Narita airlift. Admiral Kelliam had taken several of the warships out of the bay, and was busy fighting a running surface engagement with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, which appeared to be manned almost entirely by Utopia Corporation employees. Chaos had infiltrated central command in a hundred different guises, and TK yearned to be out on the battleground.
We don't have the forces in place yet. General Alexander admitted, his eye fixed on where his nephew was currently trapped along with Kari and several other digidestined groups. I don't see what we can do, especially with all those tanks that we've seen heading out way, without
Message from Izzy! A child TK did not know ran into the command post, waving a piece of paper in one hand. He says that he's in position and beginning the operation.
What do we do now? Alexander looked around.
Cross our fingers and pray. TK replied intently.
They brought the whole friggin' army! Michael shouted, ducking back behind a huge concrete wall. Where did they get that?
The entire avenue he was supposed to be watching over was literally covered in tanks, end to end, and the fire from their main guns was forcing every digimon with an ounce of self preservation to take cover.
We're not exactly having a joyride over here. Willis reported from where he was crouched behind what had once been a lamppost fixture a few streets over. These guys are everywhere. They must have committed their reserves in full. It's going to be nasty for a while over here.
Hey Michael. Seadramon turned to his human partner for a moment, a new light in his eyes. Want to see something neat?
Michael asked testily.
He breathed out slowly, the freezing breath rolling out of his mouth gently, like a cloud. The ground beneath that cloud froze solid, ice crystallizing on it as the cloud slowly rolled up the street. Michael understood almost immediately what his digimon was trying to do, and held his breath as the pale fog vapors crept up the street, waiting in the face of the roar of tank cannons for that fatal sound.
Then it came, the squeal of brakes, different for a tracked vehicle, but still there, the scream as metal hit metal and twisted on contact, the warping of steel. Following this came the sudden impacts of other vehicles, twisting and turning as they tried to maneuver around each other. Then the volume of gunfire aimed at the IDEF slacked off as more and more crunches resounded in the streets.
Man, enemy zero, traffic jams one. It wasn't particularly funny but several of the digidestined deployed around Michael began to laugh. Willis, we've uh temporarily derailed our problem. Do ya'need some help?
That was Willis sounding calm. Shakkuomon just discovered that he can shoot around corners. It looks like we're doing fine over here. In the background there was a sound similar to what it would sound like to send a dozen or so razor-sharp Frisbees hurtling through the air.
Well, they hit us, and we're still here. Michael flashed Yolei a thumbs up as the Odaiba digidestined rested. It looks like we're going to be able to do this after all. Let's move it out people.
That could count as a complication. Davis admitted, his eyes wide.
That's not only a complication. Ken ducked back down. That's a bloody disaster. And we're already tired, all of our digimon are.
Kari nodded, the fear in her throat closing in on her. It took her no effort to recognize the digimon treading toward them, the light glinting savagely off of ebony steel and polished angles. She had seen it in both her brightest dreams and her worst nightmares, a warrior of blades and fire and steel that loomed at her from beyond the abyss. She had hoped that the creation of the only one she had known had been a unique occurrence, but the grim visage of BlackWarGreymon looming over them, claws extended, quickly dispelled that particular illusion.
This could be beyond bad. Davis noted. He took a glance over to ImperialDramon fighter mode. The huge Mega was tired, back to the wall. His shield was flickering oddly, as if it too was on its last legs, and he was taking in air in great, huge gulps. The corpses of digimon, tanks and airplanes lay strewn around his position like child's toys thrown carelessly aside by some giant, but they had exacted their toll. The center's greatest defender was approaching exhaustion. Even his bright eyes had dulled, the life slowly draining out of him with each enemy he was forced to fight.
Even Angewomon looked exhausted. She could draw more power from Kari's crest than ImperialDramon could draw from Ken and Davis combined, but she was using it all. The entire battleground was sheltered under a beneficent aura that she emitted herself, shielding them from the worst of their enemy's attacks. Miracles, both of healing and destruction, had poured forth from her hands, and her voice had directed digimon and human alike in the defense of their impromptu citadel. All that had taken its toll, both on her as a digimon and on her partner, Kari was fairly dropping with exhaustion already.
How long can we hold him off? Davis asked Ken quietly.
I don't know. Ken replied seriously. But we have the best shot at it. Kari, if we hold him for some minutes, can you get away? Because we sure can't run away from him by ourselves.
No good. Kari shook her head, and pointed to where the members of European Legion London were exchanging fire with enemy digimon around their perimeter. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're completely blocked in. Those last dark digimon were just a distraction that they used to surround us. The only way out is right down their throats. They'll cut us to pieces.
Well, we've got to try something. Ken murmured, but at that moment BlackWarGreymon moved. His arms outstretched, he dove for his opponent, claws widened, but narrowing their angle of approach like an angry pair of jaws.
ImperialDramon reacted instantly, not by fighting, but by dodging, the power of flight allowing him to simply shift aside as BlackWarGreymon came past, and then slamming one armored fist into BlackWarGreymon from behind. The smaller digimon catapulted into the dust, but erupted from the wreckage a moment later, brimming over with furious anger. He dove for ImperialDramon even faster, and this time the big Mega did not move. Instead he stretched his blue energy shield between his arms and absorbed the attack head on, distorting the shield so that BlackWarGreymon was caught inside it, like a fly caught in a spider's web. Then he slammed his hands together.
BlackWarGreymon screamed in agony, but even as he did he used his claws to tear what was left of ImperialDramon's shield to ribbons. He broke free in a rush, only to meet the end of ImperialDramon's arm, wielded like a club, swatting him aside. The smaller Mega slammed into a wall, but flexed his legs and took off like a thunderbolt, shooting at ImperialDramon like a bullet. The exhausted warrior tried to get out of the way of his smaller and faster adversary, but misjudged BlackWarGreymon's target. Instead of hitting his enemy dead center, the dark digimon his the legs, sending his ungainly opponent sprawling. But even as that looked like a lethal mistake, ImperialDramon jerked around, somehow landing on one hand, his other hand pointed like an accusing sword. BlackWarGreymon extended his claws and howled like a banshee, unleashing the fullness of his wrath as he soared forward. But ImperialDramon's arm mounted cannon flared, and a beam of light lashed out to meet the smaller digimon.
BlackWarGreymon howled, and a wave of energy erupted out, whipping up the dust in a storm and forcing the watchers to shield their eyes. When the dust faded, there were two figures standing there. ImperialDramon, exhausted and on his knees, and a slightly injured BlackWarGreymon.
Let's end this. BlackWarGreymon's eyes gleamed in the sudden silence that their titanic clash had brought.
ImperialDramon's eyes seemed to narrow in response.
You can do it! Davis yelled.
Terra Destroyer! The blast of red energies gathered into a ball hurtled through the air, the aura sizzling and melting the ground near where it passed.
Positron Laser! ImperialDramon let off a roar that deafened those not already pounded by the sounds of battle. His voice seemed to boom out with a sudden authority, and Ken and Davis felt a renewed surge of hope as the blast of light smashed out, striking through the Terra Destroyer to arrow in at BlackWarGreymon. Then the world dissolved into fire, and chaos enveloped the watchers.
Slowly, the chaos subsided, the flames and dust storms died down. But the sight they cleared to show was not heartening. There, lying on the ground, clearly injured and exhausted, perhaps beyond reason, were Veemon and Wormmon. On the opposite end of a track blasted clean through the earth was a tottering BlackWarGreymon, his shield held out in front of him. There were a few moments of uncertainty, and then Kari could see cracks develop in the shield, and then huge chunks of the shield began to fall of the side. Moments later the entire artifact disintegrated into nothing more than dust, but all BlackWarGreymon did was laugh.
You really are fools. But you did cause some damage. It was a good fight. He stepped closer. But it's over now.
Kari, go and try to get out of here. Angewomon was suddenly there, floating between BlackWarGreymon and his targets. I'll hold him for now.
Kari began, too exhausted and suddenly worn to even protest correctly.
Angewomon flashed her a strangely calm grin. Don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll come up with something at the last moment.
Don't we always. Kari whispered sadly. Don't we always.
A claw tapped BlackWarGreymon on the shoulder.
Where I come from, WarGreymon began without preamble. We call what you're going to get a beatdown.
Something isn't right. Khartan stared at the map in mounting anxiety. There was something there, something hidden from him. He could almost feel it in the maneuvers of the divinely inspired blonde-haired digidestined, and the implications worried him. It was almost as if
They are moving rather far on the eastern flank. Bane noticed. We managed to get the power grid back up though, so our surveillance teams are monitoring their progress. It's going according to expectations.
Where are they going? Khartan angrily smashed his fist into something solid that crumpled like a house of cards. What are they doing?
I don't know. Bane admitted uneasily. They have set up positions here and here, although I am not sure why, those neighborhoods being in non-strategic locations. Some of their planning is very amateur, so it could be that
Khartan breathed out suddenly, and his finger darted out, pointing at one particular target that loomed in his vision. You can't let them do that! They can't be trying tostop them!
Bane also looked taken aback. The fools are smarter than I thought. We can no longer hold alone. I will send for reinforcements.
It will do little good for me. Khartan snarled. I go to prepare the final breach. Do what you will until then.
Bane muttered as Khartan disappeared into the black mist surrounding them. Run away and play your little games. You have not the power for this anyway. But I do, and I will use it here. This gambit must not fail.
He considered the map for a moment and then gave an order, his voice resonating throughout the entire building.
All units, converge on Highton View Terrace. We'll stop them there.
Well, it's all set up. Professor Takenouchi finished hooking the last few cables in place. I think we're ready. A graduate student that Hiroaki Ishida did not know flipped him a thumbs up.
Let's do it. The Ichijoujis gave Ishida a nod and a smile.
Hiroaki Ishida grimaced briefly and stared into the camera that they had set up hurriedly. The movie studio they had was used to produce shows for the local college network, and lacked the usual equipment that Mr. Ishida was used to finding in the grandiose Fuji TV studio. But he had no other alternative. In the end, this would have to do. Now it was all up to him.
He summoned all the courage and experience that a lifetime working in newsrooms had been able to give him. Despite that his stomach still fluttered, but he called up an image of his two children to given himself strength, and breathed quietly. Then he nodded and the camera flipped on.
At the same moment a patchwork program hastily written by a dozen graduate students came alive. Television was mostly out throughout the city, the airwaves were filled with static, and the radios were mostly dead. Still, some people, somewhere, were listening, and the world was connected once more. Those people who had been isolated, abandoned by the world at large, were suddenly connected once again as the telecommunications programs cut into all the carrier waves, radio and television that they could find.
This is Hiroaki Ishida, formerly of the Fuji Television Network. I am broadcasting to you from an undisclosed location. We are being sought out even now, and I do not know how long we can continue broadcasting, but we will repeat this message as often as possible. Call your families, your friends, everyone you know.
This is the news. Tokyo has been occupied by a being of evil from another world named Khartan, who has taken over the Utopia Corporation. He is powerful. But he is not invincible. Even now a coalition of forces from many different countries is attempting to liberate Tokyo. The battle is fierce. I do not know who has the advantage.
However, we should not be content to hide behind our allies. Tokyo is a proud city, home of a proud people. It shames our nation that we can no longer defend ourselves. Soldiers and children from a hundred nations are risking their lives to save us from the evil we have helped create. I will not tolerate this. I am calling on you, all of you, to rise up and help throw off our oppressors. To help those truly trying to liberate the city. This is a great moment in history, and I do not intend to sit it out.
Join us! Help us take back our city, our country, our worldthe future is now in your hands. We must unite, or we will fall forever.
This message repeats now.
Looks like they figured it out. Izzy looked over at the Scanner that Ken had graciously left him. He smiled to himself. They're too late though.
It was true that they had been noticed, as Mimi observed with widened eyes. Suddenly the ravaging bursts of red that had filled the monitor, clashing with other marks of blue, had broken off their attack. All of them were now converging on the place where Mimi and Izzy were standing, a giant ring attracted like lodestones to a magnet. But Izzy was still smiling confidently, so things could not be that bad yet.
If stones could talk, then these would have tales to tell, Mimi suddenly realized, that sense of déjà vu sweeping over her again. They were standing astride the footbridge that arched over the main road below. The bridge itself had already been destroyed twice, once by Parrotmon flinging Greymon into it, the second by Mammothmon blasting Birdramon into it. Now two digidestined stood upon it once again, and the fate of the world rested upon its worn surface. How many places had seen such great events pass by it before?
The ring closed on them fast, the blotches of red accelerating. The blue dots were making up ground too, but it was obvious that the red would get there first. Even as Mimi stood there, uncomfortably aware of how much a target she presented, the first anti-aircraft missiles screamed aloft from the hand-held launchers, rocketing into the air in search of their rapidly approaching targets.
Lilymon disappeared then, zooming upward, her wings dissolving into the dragonfly glimmer that told her partner that she was going as fast as possible. MegaKabuterimon was already gone, almost out of sight, his huge bulk visible only because Mimi knew which speck in the sky he was. Flying digimon all around them rose into the air, howling battle cries that would have routed most sane beings at the mere sight of their frightful arsenal. Beside them children with faces almost carved out of stone stood waiting, light rising from the digivices in their hands toward heaven like a reversed rainbow.
Already the first clashes were taking place. Digimon wearing the IDEF banners were diving from unimaginable heights, accelerating to near terminal velocity and using the speed of their strikes to knock the faster enemy digimon out of the air. A Devidramon, which had been rushing toward them collapsed out of the sky as a much smaller Flymon smacked it in the back. A Horn Buster attack silenced a screaming Airdramon before it could get close enough to launch its own attack. More explosions filled the air as the two sides began to clash in the air.
Mimi could watch them come closer in an inexorable tidal wave. Even as she watched Lilymon took on a trio of Ookuwamon. The three Ultimates were more powerful, but Lilymon was taking advantage of their low altitude, darting in and out of the buildings as the larger digimon crashed behind her. For a moment she would flicker in front of one and it would dive to the attack, giant pincers open in rage and anger. Then there would be a flash of motion, and Lilymon would move almost sideways, ducking into the gap between a pair of buildings, letting the larger flier crash into the ground. While the Ookuwamon was still regaining its bearings, she would dart out, there would be a flare of light, and then the sight of disintegrating digital data.
Still, the enemy kept on coming, teeth and claws bared as they tightened the ring. Despite the furious fire of the defenders, they were still focused on the center of the affair. They took horrible losses, but they ignored them, pressing on no matter the cost, no matter who got left behind. The enemy commander had finally realized the peril he was in, and had realized where Izzy was.
Too late.
Izzy hit a last key on his laptop and the world lit up, a vertical shower of light, in which Mimi could barely see the opening vortex that symbolized the beginning of the end.
Hidden, Khartan reached for the controls to the singularity box. He might have lost his jumping off point, but he was not out of it yet.
Oh hell! TK yelled as his senses suddenly told him the truth of what was coming next. Here comes the hammer!
What is it? Alexander asked, turning in concern to the blond boy.
They've just unleashed their trump card. TK gave a quiet smile. All right, everybody, we're in endgame 1. Everybody who has the faintest idea what I'm talking about better hightail it over to Highton View Terrace posthaste.
TK turned to General Alexander. You're in charge here. There's something I've got to do. That only I can do.
I see. General Alexander nodded.
Let's go Joe! TK called into the medical tent as he took off running.
That's our cue! Kari yelled as Angewomon came surfing over. The sudden change in focus of the attack had eased up the pressure on them, but Kari knew that it did not matter anymore. Everything had come down to a head, at Highton View Terrace.
They're a little exhausted. Ken pointed out, dragging Wormmon along as Angewomon dropped to a lower altitude.
We don't have a choice! Angewomon called back.
I know! Davis yelled. That doesn't mean that I don't want to do anything about it, you know!
Feed them something on the way! Kari jumped into Angewomon's arms. We don't have time for anything else.
Silphymon, cruising at barely subsonic speeds, pulled up behind the rapidly pumping Garudamon, Cody, Yolei and Armadillomon held firmly in his hands.
I hope TK knows what he's doing. Sora yelled over at them.
No reason to stop trusting him now! Yolei yelled back.
Rapidmon shot past them, a golden blur, Airdramon on his tail.
Let's step on it! Sora screamed. We don't have much time!
With a roar that rattled the walls of the buildings around them, Omnimon stepped down onto the already broken pavement, clawed feet digging deep into the ground. Crimson and pristine white swirled in the air as his cape opened up, and the runes on his burnished sword glowed in the light reflected from nearby windows.
It's about time. Izzy looked around. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have to do this all alone.
We would never abandon you Izzy. Four voices spoke as one, and then Tai and Matt jumped down from Omnimon's broad shoulders, freeing the huge Mega to engage his enemies without their added weight. With a gesture the huge cannon emerged from his right hand, and he began to search the sky for enemies.
Izzy turned around to the figures stretched out behind him. Are you ready?
We're always ready for a battle. Ogremon replied, confidently. Behind him hundreds of digimon were arrayed, partnerless digimon from the Digital World, each and every one a combat veteran ready to lay their lives down for their beliefs. Piximon had gathered them from every corner of the Digital World, digimon willing to fight evil regardless of the cost, or the distance that the journey would take them. Now a bewildering array of eyes and appendages stared out at Izzy, and he was aware of how odd this had all become.
Here they come. Piximon reported, staring outwards with his darkened eyes.
Well, at least they didn't bother to keep us waiting. Izzy murmured, staring at the dark cloud that was steadily getting nearer. At the rate it was expanding they had only minutes before that mass of swirling black shapes would coat the entire horizon from east to west.
Then explosions began to dot the sky.
Winters let out a vindictive howl as his first missiles exploded in the middle of the mass of swirling digimon. Dark shapes evaporated under the pounding of the warheads that the remaining fighters were pouring into the enemy. Then he was past, his fighter screaming for altitude as he left the confused mass of flying creatures unnerved and flat footed. Three of his wingmen were not so lucky, and more explosions filled the sky as fuel tanks exploded and metal alloys tore apart, but the rest of the strike was through, lifting away, leaving confusion in their wake.
We've opened a hole in their lines. Everyone who can, get through it soon.
Team Eagle roared through the hole caused by the sudden skirmish in the sky with Silphymon and Garudamon right on their tails.
It looks like they're all on their way TK.
We know. TK replied through the comm. net. They're already here.
Digimon roared on both sides of the line, fresh digimon from the Digital World suddenly making an appearance with greater effect than their numbers. There were only hundreds of them at the major intersections, and there were still thousands of Dark Digimon rushing to the battleground, but it was too late. The new arrivals were fresh, not as tired and exhausted as the digimon who had been fighting the long battle. They exchanged fire with their enemies at ranges as close as a few feet, and entire waves of dark creatures dissolved into shards of digital data.
Behind them the Narita airlift was finally beginning to make its weight felt. It was impractical to move thousands of troops into position for an extended campaign due to the weight of their equipment, but for a short battle like this they would move everyone they could as fast as they could. Soldiers came off the runways at Narita International in a steady stream, as fast as the air controllers could keep them moving. In a steady trickle they were arriving at the front, first branching into a stream, and then into a river. Hundreds paid the ultimate price as they rushed to the front lines, but more came up from behind them, filling in the holes in their ranks and creating a solid wall of steel between the portal and their ever more desperate enemies.
Dark digimon and fanatical humans, addled by the powers of their dark masters or by the tantalizing pull of greed and pride, threw themselves into the makeshift barricades like a tidal wave. They came on, howling. One group managed to breach a wall manned by confused Russian volunteers, slaughtering the defenders in close in combat, only to be pushed back by screaming IDEF digimon and soldiers freshly arrived from Korea, determined fighters with their faces screwed up in concentration. The Utopian forces refused to give up even an inch without a fight, but the IDEF was equally determined to take it back. When the battle ended, the bodies and the blood were waist deep at the front, but the enemy had fallen back, broken at that point. At another point five hundred Americans with digimon support struggled in a back and forth battle over a nearly empty street with a rush of enemy digimon and fanatical human soldiers. Gunfire started at long range as snipers took potshots at the soldiers moving from cover to cover. Then they were firing at each other with automatic weapons at ranges as close as a meter, or lower, spitting blood and carnage all over the street. Ammunition supplies failed, and men were clubbing and stabbing at each other at pointblank ranges, until one side would fall back to a safe distance. An officer, or someone in charge, would yell, rally their men and charge back into battle, and the bloodbath would start up again.
Even professionals were aghast. There was no more control, no more command, only chaos incarnate. The armies were no longer separate bodies, they were two animals, locked together in mortal combat, claws and teeth sealed to each other in a ball of hissing fury as they rolled over the floor. Nobody talked of the battle beyond the next few minutes. It was combat at a level that had never been seen before in the history of the Earth as armies of numbers that would have impressed the most jaded of history's conquerors slammed into each other at ranges too close for their weapons to even work properly. For the men and women in charge, the battle had become a meat grinder, into which digimon and humans were fed relentlessly, and nothing but ruin emerged.
Tai got brief glimpses of his team as the battle whirled around him. Omnimon had long ago left him behind in order to fight more effectively, and now he was stuck with some soldiers, trying to keep in one piece. Cody appeared once, sword waving, a horror to those who fought him at close range. Sora was visible for a moment, running desperately from one piece of shelter to the next, keeping one step ahead of her opponents. He swore that he had seen Davis as well, slamming a handy Bakemon over the head with a baseball bat before he had disappeared behind a wall. Otherwise, it was just him and a bunch of men he didn't know, trying to hold off the world.
What a clusterfuck. Somebody he didn't know muttered as he bandaged his upper arm from a wound that was bleeding profusely.
Tai agreed with him silently.
Something's wrong. TK, who had been standing back to back with Kari, holding the street against a rush of savage Gizamon, froze almost in midswing.
Kari managed to grab one of the last Gizamon, no longer surprised when it seemed to break apart at the touch of the light aura surrounding her, and stared back at him. Then it hit her, as if an oily blackness was unfolding in her stomach, filling her with an unholy dread. For a moment it felt like something was actually trying to get out of her mouth, to crawl out through her throat, and then she almost vomited on the pavement. From his pale face, TK was hardly doing any better.
What's wrong? Yolei appeared next to them as if by magic, her face flushed as she took in the two standing there.
Something's wrong. TK murmured. Some darkness is here, I don't know what, but I think it wants something.
It's big whatever it is. Kari whispered. She was still having some problems controlling her stomach, and that was never a good sign. And I don't think that it's going to count as good news.
We feel it too. MagnaAngemon set down beside them, purple sword aloft and flaming. It is a power of evil as ancient as it is cruel. I do not think that we can fight it alone.
Angewomon did not look any happier. I am unfamiliar with the taste. I fear it is
Whatever it was that the angel thought was threatening them was left unsaid in a rising storm of screams and startled exclamations around them. People all over were pointing up, into the sky, men and women yelling in alarm and near panic. Even dark digimon were backing up as if they wanted nothing better than to flee.
An inky blackness was rising into the sky. It seemed to be darker than smoke, rising in a way that was simultaneously threatening and disturbing, blotting out the light, not like it was shading those below, but rather as if it were sucking the light into it. Higher and higher it rose, billowing out first, then regrouping, first seeming to spread out and cover the sky, then concentrating its evil. And then, slowly, it resolved into a humanoid shape.
Hello there. A voice boomed out, so loud that it was all TK could do to force himself not to clap his hands over his ears. It seems that you mites have actually managed to gain a temporary victory. Massive jaws opened, revealing teeth the size of skyscrapers. A wave of darkness stole over the army with his breath.
Who is he? Kari asked Angewomon in a trembling voice.
The giant appeared to have overheard. I am Bane. Do you know me?
TK searched his memory. Khartan's last servant. But something about that did not seem right. The darkness here was greater than anything he had ever felt from Khartan's presence. True, his senses were more developed, but this did not feel like the evil that he had once stood in the presence of.
Servant! In name only. Bane laughed, a cruel, heartless laugh. Your precious world is in a very strategic position young Paladin. We wish it. Khartan is a bit of a crazed dictator, fond of his cruelties and his games. Like so many others you have faced, it leaves him open to defeat. So the Dark sent ME to keep an eye on him. To make sure that our plan succeeded, to take Citadel from the rear and end this war once and for all. Even as he spoke he drew himself up more, and TK sensed the dark power in him, that this creature standing in front of him was everything he claimed to be and more. A dark beacon, a power that was as far above Khartan as Khartan still was above TK.
You have forced me to take an active hand. For that I congratulate you. You will die like a man should, on your feet. A ghostly hand was raised and a wave of intolerable blackness fell down upon them, drowning TK in an ocean of despair. Even with his glowing corona, he could feel the darkness pressing at him, cutting him off. In an instant he had lost sight of the glowing figure of Kari, of the towering presences of the angels, of Yolei, of everyone. From the shouts suddenly smothered as effectively as if a blanket had been dropped on the city, he knew that his allies were suffering the same, and probably even his enemies. He was trapped, the darkness beat at him like water, like oil, and he could not have moved a step if his life depended on it.
Then, amazingly, there was light in the distance. First a single pinprick, and then more and more, a constellation of them. It was almost as if the darkness he was drowning in was only a black cloth, and someone was poking holes in it, letting the light through and freeing those trapped beneath. Like the clouds had gone, and the stars were coming out to illuminate the night. Suddenly the warm feeling of companionship flooded back, the realization that he was not alone, that he was standing only an arm's reach away from his best friend and the love of his life. That there were hundreds of others, even thousands, who were prepared to die in this battle, who had come with him to battle the darkness.
The blackness lifted and revealed an amazing sight, a forest of digidestined, their hands aloft, each holding a single blue-white gem of light in their palm. Thousands of digivices sent a light aloft that forced even the most impenetrable blackness to rise off the ground. Ten thousand throats inhaled a great breath in unison. Then the light rose to form a bubble above them, a fragile wall against the great darkness.
But Bane only laughed, and he sounded amused, not frightened or even annoyed by the sudden outpouring of light. And TK, in his heart, understood why. He could feel the digidestined projecting the umbrella begin to drain themselves. The weight of the darkness fell on their shoulders like an ever increasing weight, dragging them down. Some had already fallen to their knees, the light from their digivices dimming. For now, there was a balance as those standing kept the light aloft, and those fallen closed their eyes to the pain, trying desperately to stand. For now there was equilibrium, but TK knew it would never last.
This is it. The powerful Ultimate-level digimon stared at the corridor in irritation. We traced the illegal broadcasts to here.
Let's go get them. Someone else murmured, looking at the door to the broadcast center with hunger in their dull and darkened eyes.
With a creak, the door opened slowly. There was a brighter light inside than in the dim corridor, so for a moment the digimon standing around had no idea what they were looking at. Then the shape resolved itself into a man, wearing garb that the ancient samurai would not have found foreign. He was clearly old, but the bright steel of the katana in his hand did not waver an inch, and something in the dark digimon quailed at what they say in his eyes.
It's just one man. The leader muttered, more to encourage his followers than out of any real conviction to what he was saying.
Regardless, you will not pass here. Steel flashed, as did his eyes. I will keep you at bay until this battle is won.
Get him! A digimon screamed, and the others reluctantly moved to attack.
Chikara Hida met them halfway to the door, a scream on his lip, a loop of steel in his hands.
It occurred to TK why the light had formed a dome. Ordinary men and women, unprotected from the full power of that darkness were beginning to stir, to move around under the failing protection. Several of them lofted explosives and flares outside the dome to try and light it up, but they were having little luck. There was no overcoming that blanket of supernatural darkness.
Footsteps ran up behind him.
Heya kid. How's it going? Lieutenant Takaeda of the Tokyo Metro Police plopped down beside TK, obviously exhausted.
When did you get here? TK asked.
We saw the fighting start and decided to see if we could sneak through to your side. Get your families to safety. He glanced over his shoulder where several other digidestined family members were congregated, looking around nervously.
Where are the others? TK asked, a cold lump of dread anchoring itself in his stomach. He could not see his father's tall form anywhere.
We got cut off from Ishida's group a while ago. Don't worry. From the transmission he sent out, he's doing fine. I just don't know where he is. Wherever it is, it's probably better than here. He gestured over his shoulder with a thumb to where Davis, staggering but still holding a digivice alight, was being held by his crying mother and watched anxiously by his older sister.
Well, this party's not going anywhere. TK murmured.
Clever of you to notice Takashi. Bane was enjoying his omniscience, and his taunting voice drove TK to distraction.
But it was Davis who answered. You're going to lose anyway you big creep. Why don't you take it like a man and give up now?
Impertinence and defiance. Bane actually seemed delighted, and TK felt a sudden spike of sheer terror as the oppressive darkness above them rippled in response. I have to reward such behavior.
A spike of pure blackness struck down from above, a camera's negative version of lightning, driving down under the force of pure malice. It was hatred and agony and death all in one, a poison that would destroy any living creature's soul at once, but it had been given corporeal form, and it ripped through the air like a chainsaw. Davis only had time to gape at it as it rushed toward him, to hear the siren song of death approaching him.
TK flung out a hand, desperately searching for the reserve of power that would let him block that thing, but he knew it was futile. His logical mind, remote from his emotional self, understood that there was nothing he could do to prevent events from playing out. Even as he gathered himself, the bolt impacted into flesh with a horrifying discharge of latent power.
Davis screamed, but his skin was unmarked. In front of him, silhouetted like some perverse inverse image of reality was Jun, her last leap having carried her in front of her brother. She was outlined almost as if she had been painted in blue and black instead of her normal colors, and her screams were horrible. For a few impossible moments she was suspended in the air like a puppet, jerking and spasming horribly under the pounding of that godawful lightning. Then the blackness cut off with a suddenness that surprised them all, and she collapsed to the pavement, illuminated only by the light from the dome of digivices.
Davis rushed over to her, grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to force some life back into her, but she did not respond, eyes open and staring beyond into something that only she could see. Then she forced the words out, slowly as if she was already distant.
I'm cold Davis. So cold
Her voice failed. A moment later her hand, held out, dropped listlessly and limply to the ground. There was no movement in the enclosure as everyone watched, alert for one sign of breath, but there was nothing to reward their efforts.
Then Davis screamed. It was long and loud and it seemed to go on forever, rising from his gut to spill out of his mouth like a tidal wave, a hurricane even, a primal sound of rage and hatred and frustration and a burning need for vengeance. The world stood still for a split second, and then the boy fixed the full force of his glare on Bane. The dome of light flared violently, tinged with a distant but hateful red as it raged against the darkness. But what there was of Bane in the darkness only laughed. The other digidestined gasped in relief as Davis took some of the burden off onto his own shoulders, but he was already buckling under the weight.
Tai had just glanced away from that horrible scene when he saw the red light illuminate something in the darkness. Someone was there, an aura of golden light blazed like the sun briefly, and a figure appeared, walking through the darkness. Slowly the darkness between the dome and the man melted away. It was Hideo Ishiguro.
Master Ishiguro! Cody was standing near that end of the dome, and he stared suddenly at the martial arts master. With Jun's death, the wave of everlasting darkness, everything was piling on top of itself, and he simply could not keep track anymore.
Hello Iori. Ishiguro's smile was soft and gentle. He looked, even in the middle of the death and the carnage and the destruction, like a man who had finally found peace.
What are you doing here? Cody asked, breathless.
Just coming to borrow something from you. He looked at the dome. If there hadn't been a resurgence in the dome I never would have found you. I just need to borrow a little of it.
Cody asked.
Because it is pure. It's all so easy you see. Utopia had it wrong. Digimon respond to thoughts, feeling, things like that. But they're simple at heart. All thought is can be transformed into brainwaves, thought patterns, electric signals. This he pointed at the wall of the dome. this is just a physical manifestation of what is purely an electromagnetic phenomenon.
Even Izzy looked boggled at that. Behind them Davis sank to his knees, his overpowering rage not enough to keep Bane at bay any longer. His face was so strained he looked like his head was about to explode.
We always knew that you see. But we needed a source, and a disciplined mind. I've been training for years for this moment. Your light here is impressive, but it can be channeled, transmitted. All it is, when we come down to it, is a cold, hard science. Cold, hard but containing some element of fundamental mystery. Maybe that is what we can say about life as a whole.
What are you talking about? Izzy asked. Davis's scream took on a note of physical pain as the weight of the darkness began to crush him.
We need to borrow this, turn it into a digital representation of the electromagnetic spectrum and throw it over the town. We need to borrow a human, and turn him into an antenna. It was just too difficult to test. We needed your help. Helios Ascendant has been preparing for this moment for years, but our anonymous forbearers have been preparing for it for centuries.
I still don't understand. Cody stared at him.
You will one day. Master Ishiguro smiled and then reached for the dome. Just before he touched it he paused for a moment. I knew your father Iori. He would have been very proud of how you turned out. He would have been proud of all of you. Remember me always.
He touched the dome with one hand. With the other he produced a remote control from his pocket and pushed a single red button.
His entire body exploded with lightning. For a moment he stood there, a beatific smile on his face as the lightnings coursed up and down his body, burning it to a crisp from the inside out, vaporizing muscle tissue and nerve endings as if they were nothing more than paper. For one eternal moment he let the power of the device he had worn blaze through him and combine with the humming light of the dome into something that was unique, clear and never before heard in this world. And then his body vaporized to ash in a flaming explosion. TK winced away from that moment, but he would always swear that he had seen in those flames a pair of calm eyes looking back at him.
The harmonic song of the dome flared and spread, like a rippling tidal wave, over the entire city. It deafened even the radio and television transmitters of the building in which Cody's Grandfather was still fighting. It reached a specially constructed transmitter tied into the city's emergency power grid, and attached to the Tokyo Tower.
As it had been designed to do, the Tower reverberated like a bell, and sent that signal across the city loud and clear. It was the sound of the trumpets of heaven, calling the hosts to war. Dark Digimon grasped their heads everywhere in the city, howling in pain. Every TITAN unit in the city dropped on the spot, the souls inside freed, sent to their futures unchained by mortal devices. The darkness surrounding Highton View Terrace disintegrated in an instant.
And Bane was no longer amused.
The light shone in a dome now, brighter than even the sun. Uncloaked by Bane's darkness it dominated the skyline of the city, a new Eden beckoning to souls everywhere. Men touched by darkness fled at the sight of it. Even Bane, monstrous still but without his sheltering cloud, flung a protective hand in front of his eyes. But his other arm was rising, and TK could feel that darkness gathering again, preparing to strike forth, to smother and destroy. But for now, the light burned brightly, and fiercely, as if daring the encompassing dusk to try and snuff it.
But in that moment TK remembered that a campfire had more than one purpose than to drive away the darkness. One could wander the darkened hills, looking for sanctuary forever, until hope came into their breast at the sight of a glowing pinpoint of light in the distance. Light was used to signal, to carry messages, and this light carried a message to the whole world, and beyond. And out of it, in answer to a signal revealed by the drawing of a curtain, a figure stopped by the point where Hideo Ishiguro had perished and stared for a moment unmoving at the ashes before looking up. But when he did look up, his glare was horrible to behold.
Adam hissed. I have come for you.