Reality Redux
By ArchangelUK & Digicowboy

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Wolfie sleeps tonight....In the jungle the mighty jungle, she knocked out Pumbaa's lights...
Nes pas ownay le Digimon capeche?

Chapter 21 - Evil To The Core

"Mother?" Sora tilted her head to one side, as if trying to establish that the woman infront of her was indeed that of her mother. Her long black hair released from it's usual bun, it was surprising how a hairstyle could make someone look so different. She seemed younger, more full of life, she gave a dazzling smile as she took in the sight of the four figures before her.

"Sora dear, it's good to see you again and you Angelus - nice wings."

"Jasmine is your mother?" Angelus asked, recognising the woman for who she really was.

"My mother is Jasmine?" Sora blinked, doing a double-take between parent and Gatekeeper.

"That what I just asked you." Angelus held a hand to his forehead, "As if this thing wasn't as complicated as a blooming Rubik Cube already."

"Yes. I am Jasmine, and yes I am your mother Sora. You've grown up a lot Angelus." Jasmine smiled noticing the Gatekeeper's arm around her daughter, Angelus gulped and smiled.

"I'll take that as a complement. You'll have to forgive me, I recognise you but I cannot remember meeting you before." Archangel made a face. A lot of things in his brain were still a jumble, other things that he could really do with knowing (such as how to repair a broken sword for one), he glanced over at his older friend angrily. She seemingly understanding his train of thought smiled nervously and subconciusly took a step back.

"That is to be expected, I trust you have met the chosen Traveller?"

"Yes we have - why didn't you tell me I had a brother?" Sora's eyes betrayed the emotional confusion she must be going through.

"I wanted to my dear, but it would have jeapodised things. This way you have found out your true identity on your own." Jasmine ran a finger through her daughter's hair, brushing a couple of strands away from her eyes.

"We even went to Entherial." Biyomon added, hopping up and down. Jasmine patted the Digimon on the head.

"Which means you must have met Aeth? Hmm."

"Yep."

"Sorry to interrupt." Wolfie said, waving a hand infront of Angelus's face to get his attention. "But aren't you supposed to be saving the world or something?"

"Who is this?" Jasmine asked, pointing to the oldest of the Gatekeeper's group - not counting the demi-god himself, who naturally waws at least a millenia older. Although technically counting the years as 'ArchangelUK' he was indeed a good 8 months younger.

"Someone who really wishes she wasn't here." Wolfie remarked rolling her eyes, wherever they were they seemed to be standing in some blue mist. She kicked at a tendril of the blue vapour which dissipated somewhat, dispelled by the disturbance in the air more than the physical disturbance of her foot.

"Jasmine allow me to introduce Wolfie." Angelus said, making introductions.

"Ah! Wolfie."

"You know of me?"

"Obviously her reputation preceeds her..." Sora muttered under her breath.

"Sora..." Hissed Angelus.

"We will meet again in the future young Kiwi, we all have destinies, yours will be seen in time."

"Uh, thanks."

"Devimon." TK whispered, the large champion spread it's hole ridden black wings as if to stretch. It leered at the youngest of the original Japanese Digidestined.

"Why little boy Hope, my how you've grown."

"Last time I saw this digimon it was in that dark pool."

"So good to see you again Emporer, you should really have taken my advice - it would have saved you a lot of trouble."

"Grr....don't call me Emperor."

"As you wish boy. I am not here to fight you, at least not yet, I am here to fight you TK and your partner."

"I am ready for you Devimon." Patamon said cooly, flying off of TK's hat. "Patamon digivolve too... ANGEMON!" The mighty angel twirled it's staff and moved into an offencive posture.

"Ah, now that's more like it." Devimon smiled, "Only problem being things have changed a bit since the last time." The wind picked up and the clouds grew dark, as Devimon seemed to grow in size, larger even than the time he used the Black Gears to enhance his champion powers. "Devimon digivolve too... METALDEVIMON! MetalDevimon digivolve too... HIGHDEVIMON!"

"He digivolved to mega?" Angemon asked surprised.

"WING CRUSHER!" The massive black angel brought both it's wings together and they smashed into Angemon who was knocked sprawling to the ground.

"Who are you?" Yamashita said warily as the figure who had called out stepped forward into the dim light. A scubamon (with scuba skin on) cautiously but with an air of confidence that seemed puzzling crept forward. He smiled, as such, at the Toei man and got down on one knee bowing his head in respect of the Keymaster.

"I am a loyal servant of my Lord Dragomon, Lord Keymaster. I am the leader of the Scubamon that are loyal to him still even in death."

"What do they call you Scubamon?"

"A... name?" The Scubamon was somewhat nervy now, some part of Yamashita seemed to recall that Dragomon had given very few of his Scubamon names. Only the more important or senior of the creatures was even entitled to go under anything other than 'Scubamon', identities as such were strictly regulated. Any Scubamon found to be possessing a name illegally would not wish to be caught - it was a deletable offence.

"My Lord Dragomon did not see fit to name me." The Scubamon said with genuine sadness in it's raspy voice. "However those like me who remain loyal are referring to me as Bateth, it means 'Annointed' in our ancient language."

"Well Bateth, why do you come here? And more importantly how can you help me to seal this gate."

"This my Lord Keymaster." Bateth produced a sphere aparently from nowhere. It was a charcoal grey globe that seemingly held a pulsating dark star, it also seemed to radiate darkness. The surface crackled with what could only be described as black electricity.

"A Digicore?" Yamashita asked, unsure.

"A Dark Digicore oh mighty Keymaster." Bateth made emphasis on the 'mighty' to dispel and possible comeback on the fact the Scubamon had corrected him. "Lord Dragomon before leaving for this world gave it to me with instructions to go here and wait for you to arrive. This Digicore will allow you to turn this dimensional tear into a gate."

"A gate?" Create a gate? A new gate? Yamashita frowned, was that possible? But not just that how did Dragomon know he would be here and that the Traveller would use the dimensional tear to travel to... where ever it was he went. Bateth shuffled from one webbed foot to another, obviously ill at ease on the hard concrete floor.

"Yes Lord, you are not....as strong as you will become oh Keymaster. If you use the Digicore you will be able to make the tear into a gate, which you will then be able to seal. "

"What about the Gatekeeper?" Yamashita silently asked the dark voice inside his head.

"The other chosen one will be weakened by the sealing of a gate, even one that is newly created." That didn't seem exactly logical to Yamashita, but he wasn't going to argue. Bateth lowered his head again and offered the Digicore to Yamashita. The rotund man laughed mighily and accepted, wrapping his slightly chubby fingers around the sphere and lifting it with two hands. He turned his atention to the gate as Bateth shrank away into the shadows.

"Now the game really begins."

MetalGreymon delivered a solid blow to HighDevimon, but it did little more than annoy them mega. The same result occured when a Garuru Kick found it's mark, a Tusk and Horn, a Celestial Arrow... nothing was working. The Digimon of the chose children just couldn't seem to put up enough offence to even hurt HighDevimon.

"DEATH FROM ABOVE!" An array of black missiles peppered buildings as the Digimon got rapidly out of the way.

"We're not strong enough!" Matt shouted, sheltering behind a phone box. "Without Ben or Angelus here we don't have enough energy, WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon can't digivolve."

"Neither can Angemon." TK called from the hidey-hole he shared with Kari and Izzy, "We need some help fast!"

"Dev-mon bad?" Tyranomon asked the nearby Yolei, he had managed to learn some human words and comprehended what they were saying. Alas he still had very little concept of the way names were pronounced.

"YES!" The purple haired human cried.

"He hurt Tyranomon? Tyranomon's friends?"

"In a heartbeat." Ken replied, pulling Yolei behind a wall as a blast of power decimated the spot where she had been standing. Tyranomon growled, these man-things had been kind to him and now this Dev-mon sought to destroy them. He watched as the Ang-mon got up off of the ground and started to fly again towards the now mega level Dev-mon. Tyranomon was impressed with it's bravery, it wanted to help...

"Tyranomon help Yo-Li." It said, "Tyranomon help his friends." And it set off to join the battle...

"You lied to him yourself Gennai." Aeth said, sipping a cup of tea. "You did not tell your brother all that there was to know about gates and their effect upon him. Should the Keymaster seal a gate..."

"It may help to remind him of a few things he has forgotten."

"It may help to near kill him Gennai." Gennai looked over as Aeth helped himself to a buttered scone.

"It won't kill him."

"How do you know it won't?" Gennai said nothing, Aeth sighed. "You didn't tell him about the prophecy The Light gave you?"

"He needn't know, not yet. Not until it is too late for him to act upon it."

"Very wise." Aeth said, and poured himself another cup of tea.

"Fire Blast!" Tyranomon hurled the fireball at HighDevimon as hard as he could, it appeared though to have little effect.

"What are you doing?" MetalGreymon asked,

"Tyranomon help Met-Greymon." He said simply, the reptilian android grinned.

"Thankyou."

"Thank him for what? WING CRUSHER!" HighDevimon's wing slammed Tyranomon back into a building, leaving it in a permanent state of being structually unsafe. Tyannomon groaned, Kari crawled out to check it was okay.

"Tyranomon try Hik-Kary"

"We know, thankyou."

The Tyranomon began to glow, but it wasn't being deleted, the white light that surrounded it shrunk as the Digimon did also. He was dedigivolving to his rookie stage - Raptormon. When the light disappeared Kari found a D2 digivice by it's side, it was not translucent blue however, it was white, the buttons and features etched in a navy blue colour. Kari pocketed it and with the help of TK and Izzy dragged the unconcious Rookie back behind the wall.

"What happened to your sword?" Jasmine asked mortified, Biyomon, Sora and Angelus glowered at Wolfie who stuck out her tongue. "Well, Wolfie shall fix it."

"I beg your pardon Jasmine, but how?"

"She has special abilities herself. She is a mender."

"A mender?" Wolfie asked, tilting her head.

"Must I repeat everything to you? Yes, a mender. You have the gift of Molecular-Rejuvinosis you can put things back the way they were physically." Jasmine thrust the sword pieces into Wolfie's hands. "Fix it."

"I'm more of a...er..." Wolfie murmured. "Smashy smashy person." She and Angelus said together, he grinned at her, she glared at him.

"Imagine it fixing itself." Wolfie closed her eyes, she saw many things... darkness being one, but she did have her eyes closed. For some reason she saw a cake as well, which made her hungry. Eventually after a brief dalliance with a room full of Cadbury's chocolate she focused on the sword. She saw it whole, gleaming and shining like it had been before she had smashed it against the rock of course. When she opened her eyes she found the sword pieces had mysteriously knitted themselves together. The hilt was joined to the sword point, but it was together.

"Try again." Jasmine groaned, Wolfie thought more about the chocolate...

Some two hours later the sword was whole - and working - Angelus having already summoned a gate that was was waiting to take them back to Tokyo. Jasmine stood infront of another gate to take her back to the DigiDestined's world, she bent down beside a tree and upon standing up held an object in her hands.

"Here." Jasmine said, "This is for your brother when you meet up with him again." She passed onto Sora a large staff made of a dark oak wood, inscribed with lettering of the digital language, roughly six feet tall, capped with an golden orb that seemed to shiver and change all the time - come to think of it it was exactly the same as the one Aeth had given Ben.

"It is the staff of the first traveller." Jasmine said smiling, Sora and Angelus looked at each other. "Take care of my daughter Angelus, I love you Sora." Then she vanished before they could speak the question they both wanted to ask.

"Now what?" Wolfie asked noticing the worried faces.

"Ben already has a staff, Aeth gave it to him. He said it was the staff of the first traveller."

"But isn't that the staff of the first Traveller?

"Jasmine wouldn't lie to us." Angelus said, preparing to lead everyone through the gate. "Which means the staff DC has is a fake."

"What do you propose to do now Angemon?" HighDevimon asked, holding the angel in the air a gigantic black claw tight around his neck. Angemon struggled against it's grip, Angewomon charged the mega despite Angemon's pleas and ended up crashing down into the road.

"What now?" HighDevimon grinned, "You can't digivolve because you are too weak, which is exactly what you are - weak, you always have been and always will be."

"You're right in...that...I can't digivolve Devimon...but...I...am...not....WEAK." Angemon' s hands began to prise apart the fingers of HighDevimon, much to his surprise.

"How!?! I am a mega level digimon!" He roared.

"He's done it before." Angewoman pointed out, nailing the harbinger with a Celestrial Arrow.

"Garuru Kick!"

"Spiking Strike!"

"Tail Hammer!"

"No...I will not allow you do defeat me again. DEATH FROM ABOVE!" A volley of missiles grounded all the digimon but Angemon. It was at that moment that a gate materialised in the alleyway and three humans and a digimon fell out of it. Angelus was instantly aware of an intense buzzing sensation in his head, there was a great pressure being exerted but he couldn't really identify where it was coming from. It seemed as though from all around him, they looked up to see Angemon manage to escape from HighDevimon's clutches.

"Hand of Fate!" The attack seemed to amuse HighDevimon rather than hurt him.

"Now we've been here before haven't we?" A large claw sliced downwards and Angemon had to move fast to avoid it. It was at that moment TK noticed the Gatekeeper's presence.

"Angemon! Angelus is back, try and digivolve!"

"How could you being here effect their digivolving?" Sora asked aloud.

"I don't know..." The Gatekeeper replied before his DX wailed and that pressure inside his head increased in magnitude. He gritted his teeth, surpressing the groan and said nothing. TK's D3 digivice also began to buzz and glow, a beam of yellow light went from TK to Angemon causing HighDevimon to shrink back. Angemon glowed brightly, so brightly no one could see him anymore, all they could hear was -

"Angemon digivolve too... MAGNAANGEMON!" But the light continued to travel from TK to his partner and the ultimate began to disappear again, then reappear, then disappear.

"Come on MagnaAngemon!" TK yelled, "I believe in you!" And on TK's expression of Hope -

"MagnaAngemon... MEGA DIGIVOLVE TOO... SERAPHIMON!"

Yamashita held the dark digicore up and it flared with black light, a beam of such darkness emitted from it and struck the tear dead centre. A few seconds later the digicore exploded in sparks, but as it did a grey gate materialised where the dimensional rip had been.

Ben groaned, the sunlight was bright and hurt his eyes. He rolled over only to find himself banging into something at his side, he pushed at it and it angrily pushed back. He finally opened his eyes to find himself staring at Mimi's stomach. He groaned and tried to focus on where they had landed, it was in a park of some description, there was plenty of trees and grass. Some buildings could be seen in the middle distance, though he couldn't really make out what kind they were. Palmon collapsed next to him, as dizzy as he was. Myotismon was slumped the other side of a nearby tree, looking better than he had done in a while. Mimi yawned and sat up, inadvertantly causing a clash of heads neither one could have really done with.

Mimi smiled despite her pain, and gave her boyfriend a peck on the forehead, specifically on the place their heads met. Ben smiled back and reciprocated with a kiss on Mimi's forehead.

These turns of events were interrupted when a voice infront of them surprisingly announced loudly. "What the hell?"

"HALLOWED KNUCKLE!" Seraphimon seemed to disappear, but the fact was he was moving faster than the human eye could comprehend. He rematerilised infront of HighDevimon delivering a devastating punch that knocked the last Harbinger down, crushing the thankfully well deserted park.

The pain in Angelus's head was excruciating, and yet he made every effort to surpress his pain. He wasn't sure why, but it had seemed to increase when Angemon Warp Digivolved. Suddenly all pain vanished, a wave of what could only be described as ecstacy flowed through him. He'd never know such a feeling of complete bliss, it was like every cell in his body had been revitalised. This time he did gasp, in surprise at the sensation.

"WING CRUSHER!" HighDevimon missed...

Yamashita waved a hand and the grey archway flipped thrice over horizontally before it disappeared. Sealed.

The Traveller was trapped, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

HighDevimon looked for a way to escape, but he was in for no such luck. The emotionless helmeted face of Seraphimon seemed to be wherever he turned. "SEVEN HEAVENS!" White balls of hot, burning energy smashed into HighDevimon, he swayed backwards and forwards slightly before falling down and disipating into data. Seraphimon lowered his hands and dedigivolved into an exhausted Patamon, the action however was far from over.

Sora backed away nervously as Angelus began to glow blue, he drew his sword and held it point touching the floor. The air swirled, and a new symbol seemed to appear on his sword, glowing a bright blue, he grinned not really knowing what was happening. Then his smile collapsed, and his eyes widened. The symbol abruptly disapeared from the sword. He could feel it coming, but all ArchangelUK could do was mutter a simple. "Oh no." An invisible force threw him backwards into the wall, and up it, suspending him with wings spread against the concrete some 6 feet off of the ground. If the previous sensation had been a wave then this was a Tsunami; his mind felt as though it had been dipped in lava, then washed off with a good acid bath. Every thought burned in his skull, every pain sensor in his body was active he screamed for the longest time as black electricity coursed through and around his body. The others watched in horror as whatever force that was holding him prisoner released their friend. A burned and battered Gatekeeper crumpled to the floor, he was unconcious... and still he screamed.

To Be Continued....

Sora: What on earth has happened to my Archangel! *DC rolls eyes, Sora glares, AAUK groans* Where have Mimi and Ben landed, how will they get back now the gate is sealed and what now the Harbingers are defeated will Yamashita do next? Stay tuned for the next instalment of Digimon : Reality Redux!!!

Kari's Angels - http://www.geocities.com/happy_hylian/