Chapter 24: Struggles
"Aim them a little higher! Yeah! Most of them will be coming from the air so we need to be ready!" Kristen yelled out at a couple of soldiers manning some artillery. She rode on the back of Kabuterimon, steadily weaving back and forth across the beach as she gave orders to troops setting up the defenses. The number of missile batteries, tanks, and other various weapons of war made the beaches outside Pusan intimidating.
Since Kristen was the smartest when it came to things like this, Jennifer and Joey had quickly put her in charge of setting up defense. They merely ran about helping the troops on the ground. Kazemon was flying guns and sandbags onto the tops of buildings near the beach while Kumamon quickly took things from one side of the beach to the other; he had created a solid path of ice across the beach to quickly slide through it. The sun was just beginning to set, casting a red-orange glow onto the sky.
"Kristen," Kabuterimon interrupted Kristen as she began to tell a group of soldiers where to set up mortars, "can we take a break? We've been flying back and forth for two hours."
"Sure thing, but let's get the others first." Kristen gripped harder as Kabuterimon dived lower to the ground, his wings spraying sand to the sides.
"Right!" Kabuterimon picked up speed to catch the bear as he tore across the beach. Kristen called to him, cupping one hand around her mouth like a megaphone while she held tightly with the other.
"Hey Kumamon! Time to take a break! I think these guys have things under control!"
"Finally; I'm starving!" He tossed down the bag of ammunition at the feet of a soldier. Kumamon skidded sideways, sending an icy mist about before sliding back down the beach towards a beachside restaurant. Kabuterimon turned and flew to Kazemon, who was supplying a group of Korean troops who were garrisoning the roof of the restaurant.
"Kazemon! Take five!" Kabuterimon called out as he landed on the sidewalk alongside the two-story building.
"Only five? I hope you mean hours." Kazemon flew down and digivolved with Kabuterimon as Kumamon came running up. He followed suit and the four walked inside. It was fine dining restaurant, filled to the brim with soldiers quickly eating their last meal before the suspected attack. "Table for four!" The finely dressed man scoffed at the kids and Tentomon, thinking them to be normal, immature children.
"Right this way." He said it in a slightly stuck up tone. The restaurant had been somewhat brought under new management, as the officers of the thousands of troops along the miles of beach in front of Pusan had forced every restaurant to help supply food, giving out IOUs. The man led them to a booth and handed out menus. "Your waiter will be with you momentarily. Forgive me if it takes some time, as you can see we are very busy right now." The man walked back to the front.
"I don't see any Chicken Nuggets on here." Joey scoured over the extensive menu, frowning as he looked at the Kid's Menu.
"I don't think they have any Joey. We'll probably get stuck eating noodles again." Jennifer looked over Joey's shoulder at the menu, making sure she was right. Kristen turned around to the neighboring booth, looking around the soldiers that sat there.
"Oh, don't mind me; I'm just trying to decide what to order." One soldier sitting on the far side of the booth pointed out Kristen to his comrades sitting on her near side. As they were ordering, there was a loud racket from the entrance.
"Everybody to your positions, now!" A mix of Korean and American soldiers ran through shouting to the eating men. "They're coming!" In an instant, there was a flurry of green, brown, white, and black as the soldiers jumped up from their tables and towards the door. The digidestined looked at each other.
"Already!? But the guys are still gone!" Kristen shouted over the noise at Jennifer.
"We'll just have to fight until they get here!" Jennifer threw down her menu and nearly dragged Joey out of the booth by the arm. They ran outside behind the troops and moved to get out of the way. "Let's go!" Jennifer pulled out her digivice. "Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kazemon!" The light cleared and she waited a moment before it rose up again, the Crest of Love glowing brightly. "Kazemon digivolve to… Arashimon!"
"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kumamon!" Joey didn't even wait for the bright, blue light to die down before continuing to ultimate. "Kumamon digivolve to… Polamon!"
"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!" A moment passed and… "Kabuterimon digivolve to… Megakabuterimon!" Kristen hopped on her partner's back along with Polamon, the two airborne digimon taking flight to see past the rabble The soldiers were right; in the distance the clouds of Devimon had begun to fly directly at Pusan.
It was like watching a blast of smoke miles wide and hundreds of feet tall come flying at you. In the waters there were Marinedevimon swimming as fast as they could, trying to keep up with the Devimon and Ladydevimon. Polamon jumped off and took a position with the soldiers, dug into the sands of the beach, while Arashimon and Megakabuterimon hovered above. They could hear officers shouting at soldiers below.
"Hold your fire!" The soldiers did as they were told out of instinct; fear would have them open fire immediately, but the Devimon were still out of range, about a hundred kilometers away. Soldiers manning the artillery and missile batteries dashed about, preparing to be the first to open fire since they had the range to hit them. A few moments later the order was given to them. "Fire!" Shouts went out across the edge of the city, whose citizens had been evacuated to the west side of the peninsula—with the exception of those who could help. A roar of artillery and missiles launching boomed out from the beach as the shells and explosives flew rapidly at the equally paced Devimon. The shots slammed into the cloud and screams could be heard from the injured digimon. Fire plumed out for a moment, but was quickly engulfed by the other Devimon. More shots rang out as the batteries were reloaded. The sun had set, leaving the projectiles to sear the dark, ocean sky, lighting up the approaching wall. Data burst everywhere, but seemed to just fly backwards towards Japan.
Arashimon stared, barely breathing as more shots rang out from the cannons along with the hissing, roaring noise the missiles made. Megakabuterimon inhaled heavily, impatient to fight and be done with it, win or lose. Kristen looked in fear at the approaching wave of despair. Polamon lied on his stomach on the side of a foxhole with two other soldiers, with all of his Hailstorm Cannons aimed up to arc, looking over the edge, ready to join the others when they opened fire. Ten minutes passed as the batteries fired steadily, their fires mixing with the lights from the city to show the approaching Demon Corp. Jennifer looked off to the far left and thought she saw something stand out, a speck of white. She quickly turned back though.
"FIRE AT WILL!!!" All the officers shouted simultaneously; they had coordinated with walkie-talkies when to attack. The beach exploded as assault rifles sent bullets screaming into the night. The streaks of glowing, hot bullets pelted into the Devimon, but they refused to go down. A few seconds passed before they finally began to break into data, falling back into the others.
"HAILSTORM!!!" Polamon screamed as loud as he could, his shouts heard over the chaos of the fight. Baseball sized chunks of glittering, glowing ice blasted into the Devimon, bringing down dozens as he dug into the sandy side of the foxhole to keep himself from falling off.
"Fajita Cannon!" Winds from Arashimon's attack sent sand flying everywhere, dropping visibility to near nothing. The blast of energy cleared through a couple of Devimon before dissipating. Meanwhile, she charged up another shot.
"Horn Buster!" A bolt of electricity shot from the horn of Megakabuterimon towards the Devimon. It glowed through the sandstorm Arashimon had made like a flare and slammed into the evil digimon. Hundreds of Devimon and Ladydevimon were being downed every few seconds, but the attack showed no signs of letting up. Finally, the Devimon slammed into the troops on the beach, tearing them apart. Polamon did a back-flip out of the foxhole, changing the aim of his attack as he did, blocking the attacks of the Devimon with his arms. Megakabuterimon and Arashimon landed quickly to keep from being knocked out of the sky and continued firing from there. There was no more organization; soldiers shot blindly as best they could as the Devimon filled every space and flowed freely past the massive blockade. The shouts of soldiers could barely be heard over the screeches and insane laughter of the Devimon as they tore apart the defense.
The jeep bumped along violently as it peaked eighty miles per hour down the dirt path. They were nearing the city when I felt him.
"Stop the vehicle, now!" The Hummer came to a screeching halt at my command, slinging us all towards the front of the vehicle.
"What the hell!? We've got to go now!" The commander raged at me as I knocked open the door to the military vehicle. "We don't have much time before the attack!"
"The attack's already begun! You guys go on and do what you can; I'll do my fighting from here!"
"What? What kind of coward are you!?" The commander was infuriated, thinking I was trying to run.
"He's not running!" Chris jumped up and restrained the commander, closing the door to the Hummer, well aware what I was about to do. "Go, now!" He shouted to the driver and the Hummer took off, finally coming off the dirt road onto a highway. It took a left and flew towards Pusan. I turned around and ran through the trees towards the beach. It was pitch black, but I still retained some of the benefits of being evil—I could see pretty well in the dark. I came out on the beach and saw it; just a short ways away the attack had begun. The cloud of Devimon stretched all the way back to Japan and the horizon, with no signs of an end. They slammed into the defenses, but that was the least of my worries. As I watched I saw him veer off in my direction, the point of white light in the ocean of darkness. He flew with amazing speed and landed on the beach a few yards down in a matter of minutes while I waited.
"So, why is it that you have come out here all alone? Do you think you can beat me by yourself?" Lucemon spoke in a sarcastic tone as he stood, staring at me.
"Why is it you have come out here to meet me? Why aren't you happily attacking the soldiers in Pusan?" I retorted and took a step forward, clenching my fists tightly. Dark energy began to form, my digivice glowing a negative. I knew the others weren't nearly powerful enough to stand a chance against Lucemon, and the only reason I could even hold out was because of the reconfiguration link between us.
"If you want to die then fine." His eyes squinted and a thin blast of crimson light shot at me. I threw up my gloves and blocked it, my sneakers digging into the sands as I was pushed back. It finally cleared and Lucemon dived down on me from the sky above, wielding what looked like a lance, which was odd because I had never seen him with a weapon. I dodged it and countered.
"Zero Fist!" Dark energy burned around my gloves and I punched Lucemon in the chest. He took a step back but nothing more.
"You're trying to kill evil with evil? You're more ignorant than I thought." My heart dropped. If I couldn't hurt him then I was merely a diversion, biding my time until I was taken down. Lucemon lifted the lance out of the sand and knocked me away. I flew towards the water and landed on the wet sands as the water receded a bit. Lucemon took a swipe at me and I grabbed hold of the lance as the tip of it cut my face. I struggled to hold it, but Lucemon was immensely powerful.
"Think James… what did Gennai tell you to do?" I spoke softly to myself.
"And now he's finally lost his mind, how pathetic." Lucemon pressed harder. A memory of my talk with Gennai rung through my head as the lance began to press into my cheek.
"Just try to not think of your past, but hope only of the future and what it holds for you." Hope; if hope was my crest then that was what I had to do, damnit; hope. I focused harder, my eyes closed. I was going to defeat Lucemon. The reinforcements from North Korea would arrive and we would beat back the Demon Corps. And finally, we would beat Daemon himself. There was no way we could lose, too much depended on us.
"I hope you came prepared." My eyes snapped open as the dark energy around my gloves disappeared.
"For what?" Lucemon pressed ever harder, but to no avail.
"For your worst nightmare." I focused and a blast of light erupted from my digivice and from my gloves. I pushed the lance to the side and it fell to the ground. "Celestial Fist!" I jumped up and attacked at the same time. I slugged Lucemon across the face and he was knocked away a couple of feet. "Who's the weak creature now?" We would rebuild Pusan and then Japan. Then after that, we would repair the damage to the Digital World, no matter how long it took.
"There's no way I'm losing to a punk like you! Duality!" Lucemon quickly formed an orb of darkness in one hand and an orb of light in the other. He threw them at me and as they came close, energy began to spread between them.
"Guess what?" I caught the orbs and was thrown back a few yards, the wind knocked out of me. Lucemon looked in shock. "I can control both too, thanks to you. Oh, and one more thing." The orb of light turned dark. "You know no light. You are corrupt to the core and know nothing but hate." At this, both orbs turned light. "But me, I know how to use my darkness now. Holy Nova!" I slammed the two orbs together and the beam shot out from my hands. Lucemon blocked, but was hurled down the beach as the blast of light pummeled against him. Finally it cleared and he landed, breathing heavily for a moment before getting back up.
"Fine! I guess I'll just have to kill you the old fashioned way!" Lucemon lunged at me, wings spread, and tackled me to the ground. He punched me across the face a few times, the cuts widening, before I finally got a chance to react.
"Celestial Fist!" I threw my punch into his chest and he went flying into the air. I got up and wiped blood away from my face. The cuts and punches seemed like they were everywhere and blood ran freely down my face. The wounds burned from the sand and salt water. Lucemon regained his balance in the air and began to come back down on me when there was a massive explosion. We both looked towards Pusan and saw as the entire side of the city ripped apart from the blast, throwing Devimon back into each other. Data flew everywhere as the entire front end of the attack was vaporized. Dread shot through me.
"Jennifer." I took off running down the beach, but Lucemon began to fly after me. Things were different though. I could… feel the world around me—every detail, sight and sound. My surroundings seemed to go by in slow motion without blur. Everything was so sharp, so precise, so defined—the worlds were getting closer. I was getting closer to the data of the Digital World. I focused as much energy into my legs as possible and looked down. Light flew back from my shoes as I ran faster. Lucemon flew down, keeping up, but unable to catch me.
"Damn you." I turned my head and saw him staring at me, just out of arms reach. His mouth didn't move. "I will not allow you to interfere." I could hear his thoughts.
"Nothing will keep me from her Lucemon, nothing short of God himself." I thought to myself and could see Lucemon's eyes widen. He was experiencing the same effects as I was from the nearing dimensions.
"That won't be long then James. His rebirth is at hand." He finally gave up the chase and flew up. I looked back forward and saw the Devimon beginning to pour back through the city. I ran faster.
"I hope they're okay. I hope that wasn't the end. I hope…" My thoughts were cut off by a sudden grab of my arm, slinging me back in the direction I had been running from. I was lifted into the sky and turned about quickly, prepared to attack, thinking it was Lucemon. Instead I found Kristen looking at me. She smiled weakly but turned back forward.
"You're alive!" I yelled out, nearly hugging her. "Are you okay? Where is everybody else?"
"I've been better. As for everybody else, well…" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder and I looked back down Megakabuterimon's back. Joey lied moaning on the back of the bug, rivulets of blood slowly making its way down his face. He gripped onto a deep gash in Megakabuterimon's hard back. Beside him was Chris, looking out behind us towards the city. He bled, but didn't have nearly as many cuts as Joey. Out to our side flew Arashimon carrying a tired battered Agumon. Pieces of her armor were missing and she too had various cuts and gashes, along with Agumon. The searing pain that had dominated my face a moment ago seemed to fade upon seeing the others.
"I'm sorry we didn't get back in time." I looked down and Chris scooted towards Megakabuterimon's front so that I could hear him.
"Chill man. From what I hear we couldn't have made much of a difference." His face was grim.
"What was that explosion?"
"Daisy Cutter. Didn't you see the aircraft?" I shook my head. "Well look up!" I looked above the city and in the darkness, the heat from the thrusters of dozens of fighters and bombers could be made out. "Turns out there was an aircraft carrier nearby and that they could help. I think the Devimon have shifted towards it now though. Pusan will be safe until it's gone, but after that…"
"So we lost, completely. The entire Demon Corps hasn't even gotten here yet and we've lost."
"What do you mean?" Kristen stopped staring out in front like a pilot and turned around.
"You didn't see? That mass stretched all the way back to Japan." Kristen sighed painfully.
"I just don't see how we can stop this thing." She laid down on her partner's back.
"Hey, don't give up hope just yet. What kind of Digidestined of Hope would I be if I let you guys give up now?"
"A really crappy one." Arashimon dropped Agumon on Megakabuterimon's back and landed. She devolved and fell to her knees, weary from flying, fighting, and lack of food. "Where were you?"
"Fighting Lucemon." Everybody looked a little shocked.
"Then how in the world are you here right now?" Kristen sat up quickly and looked at me like I was a ghost.
"The reconfiguration link puts on about a level playing field. I may only be like a champion or ultimate to most digimon, but against him I'm a friggin high-end Mega. And you say that like I whipped him without breaking a sweat. He's still alive and well, and as you can see I took my fair share of blows." I pointed at the gashes on my face. Everybody went silent for a moment and stared into the darkness. We finally came out from under the dark clouds that seemed to accompany the Demon Corps and the night sky shined down on us, a full moon and starry sky out.
"Well what do we do now?" Chris finally broke the silence.
"I wanna go home." Joey whined, pulling himself towards us. I thought for a moment. If Joey's mom had been in Japan when the attack began then… I stopped. I didn't want to think about it or have to break the news to the young child.
"I want to go home too." Kristen looked down. We all began to think of home and life before becoming digidestined. "My dad's probably worried sick about me."
"Nah, remember? The UN was going to keep us there and return us to our homes until we broke away from them. They probably told our parents what had happened to us." Chris tried to speak in a forced, cheerful tone, but it was plain that he was homesick too. I looked at Jennifer. She just stared into the night sky, which seemed to be brighter than usual.
"There are too many stars out tonight." She spoke with a vacant, empty voice.
"There can never be too many stars Jen." I scooted over to her. If we hadn't just escaped a bloodbath, weren't all homesick, and weren't riding on the back of a giant bug, the sky would have been a really romantic sight.
"No James, seriously. There aren't that many stars visible from earth by the naked eye." She waved a pointed finger across the sky.
"Oh my god, she's right." Kristen looked up as well. Everybody else followed suit.
"Those must be digital stars then." I spoke as I looked at one star in particular. "The worlds are getting closer, I can feel it. The stars projected by data are visible now along with our own."
"Wow. It's beautiful, in an eerie sort of way." Jennifer didn't stop looking up.
"I hope we can see this again when we're done." I thought aloud.
"What?" Jennifer turned to me.
"Hmmm? Oh, nothing."