Chapter 28: When I'm Gone
Chunks of asphalt blew out from all around the car when the blasts collided. As I barreled forward, Lucemon pulled up, so as not to be hit by my own attack. The car weaved a bit before I finally regained control and kept driving, determined to get Lucemon away from Blackwargreymon. If we could keep them separated, we could win.
"Where do you think you're going?" Lucemon flew up and turned around, watching me tear back towards I-26. He dived down and gave chase, gaining slowly. "I see you found another talent." He harassed me as he inched closer, but I ignored him, focusing only on the road. "You know, I've been thinking, maybe it wasn't you who created me. Maybe I created you."
"Doubt it." I slammed on the brakes and he blew past me as rubber burned and screeched as I came right before Malfunction Junction. I quickly shifted lanes and got on I-20, a plan in mind. Lucemon quickly turned around again and flew down below the bridge where one interstate crossed over the other, bearing down on me as I cruised along at a relatively slow seventy.
"Duality!" The blasts of energy came down quickly and I slammed down on the gas again, focusing at the same time. I was thrown back into my seat as I careened up an exit ramp. They came together behind me and threw more chunks of road about. I slowed down again and turned right, unable to maneuver at the same high speeds that I had earlier. Traffic was heavy and I could hear people scream as Lucemon flew after me overhead.
"Daemon reconfigured me using your hate, your pain, your sorrow. In a way, I am that pain. In a way, I am you, the real you. Without me, you are but a small fraction of what you used to be." I ignored him as I rode towards stopped lanes of traffic at a red light. The worlds were so close; I could almost see the Digital World appearing in front of me. I blinked, but it didn't go away. As I neared collision with the cars, I focused. If the worlds were nearly on top of each other, then everything would be changing over to data right now. I focused as hard as I could and the parked cars began to glow.
"No Lucemon," I threw my hand up and the cars flew into the air, clearing my way, "you're nothing like me. You think that your own fears are reason enough to destroy the world."
"Just like you. You think they're reason enough to save it." I finally reached my bursting point and veered off to the right, stopping on the lawn in front of the police headquarters. I hopped over the car door and Lucemon dived down on me. "Now you will pay for your insolence. Time to show who made who!" He produced his spear again and charged. I dropped and rolled out of the way, letting him pierce the car. He pressed his foot against the door and pulled it out, swinging it behind him as he did, trying to hit me. I jumped up and grabbed it, focusing as I did.
"Celestial Fist!" I slugged him across the face, but the light around my glove was waning for no apparent reason. "Come on, not now…"
"See, subconsciously, you are ready to be one again." Lucemon recovered quickly, ripped his spear from my hand, and elbowed me away. He ran up quickly and clobbered me with the spear, as if it were a golf club, slashing me at the same time. I was knocked a little further back onto the sidewalk bordering the street and struggled to stand up. Why couldn't I beat him? "Just give up, this world is ours now." He hit me with a roundhouse kick and I flew across the street, crashing through the barred windows of a conspicuous looking building across the street. I slammed into a wooden rack and fell behind a counter. Lucemon flew across the street, not taking time to make out the faded sign. He flew in and looked around. Bullet-proof vests and police attire hung on coat hangers while patrol car sirens sat on shelves. He looked forward, but didn't notice the cases or see what was on the other side of the rack that stood with its side to him. "It's over, but don't worry. I'll make sure that you and your girlfriend get to be together as data."
"Eat lead bitch." I popped up from behind the counter wielding two, pump-action shotguns. I cocked one in each hand and tossed them in the air a short ways, catching them both by the handle. I didn't even have to try; energy seemed to flow by itself, pouring and spinning about the barrels of the shotguns, flowing down them into the shells. I pulled the triggers and two massive blasts of energy ripped out from the guns, filling the room with a bright white light, throwing me into the shelf holding more guns behind me. The vests and guns in the cases below the counter blew forward, shattering the display glass. Lucemon's eyes widened for a split-second before the blasts hit him. A moment later, the front end of the store exploded in bright, hot light, sending glass, steel, brick, and Lucemon into the street. I got back up and cocked each shotgun again, walking quickly through the now ruined gun shop. I found a box of shotgun shells spilled across the floor and picked up a few, reloading the shotguns.
"What the… what was that?" Lucemon shook his head, breathing heavily, as he pushed himself from the ground.
"I made my own hate. I made my own fear. I made my own pain. I made you." I walked up to Lucemon and he tried to jab me with his spear from his knees, but I knocked it out of the way with one of the shotguns. It fell to the ground and I kneed him in the chin, making him fall back. I whacked him with the same shotgun in my right hand across the head, the entire weapon glowing brightly. "Who made who?" I aimed both guns down at him and fired. This time I didn't fly back, but my arms felt like they were about to rip off. The two blasts of energy ripped through Lucemon, slamming into the already damaged street below, some of the force reflecting back into him. When the light cleared, glowing data spouted from holes scattered across Lucemon's body. He coughed up some blood and began to break apart.
"This isn't over. You can't get rid of me. It doesn't matter if you beat me, you'll never beat Daemon. You'll never beat the god of darkness, not a pathetic human like you."
"Human is more than anything you could ever hope to be." He finally broke apart and I absorbed his data. He maintained a vile smirk in the midst of pain until he was finally gone. I stood for a moment until I fell to my knees. I threw up and felt dizzy. I was exhausted and pain throbbed from every part of my body. "I can heal that later." I pushed myself from the ground and ran back to the gun shop, leaving behind the shotguns for a 357 Magnum that I found near the smashed display cases. I found some bullets, loaded it, and ran back out to the M3, still sitting on the now crater-covered lawn of the police headquarters. I cranked it up and pulled out slowly. I tried not to focus so that I could rest up at least a little before getting back to where I had left the others.
"Terra Destroyer!" Blackwargreymon wasted no time in attacking Wargreymon, determined to take him out of commission before he could react. Wargreymon dodged the shot, but the others weren't as lucky. The concussion blew everybody back, knocking them into the road or into the concrete median barrier.
"Blackwargreymon! Don't you remember how we fought together against Myotismon, against Daemon!?" Wargreymon tried to reason with him as he dashed up to attack up close.
"I was weak then in comparison to those I faced. I have power now, matched only by Daemon himself. I need not friends to carry me on, only power! Terra Destroyer!" Blackwargreymon charged up and threw another sphere of energy at Wargreymon at close range. He didn't have any time to react; the blast hit Wargreymon head on, throwing him into the highway below. "You are nothing compared to me!" Blackwargreymon dived down towards the battered Wargreymon, chinks of his armor missing.
"Come on Wargreymon, get up!!!" Chris yelled futilely as Blackwargreymon came down like lightning. Wargreymon caught Blackwargreymon's claws, using all of his strength to just hold them away. His armor creaked under the immense pressure put on by the dark warrior, standing, pressing with all his might.
"Now!" Wargreymon yelled as he struggled to keep Blackwargreymon from tearing him apart.
"Fujita Cannon!"
"Hailstorm!"
"Horn Buster!" The attacks all hit simultaneously on Blackwargreymon's head, blasting him off of Wargreymon. He landed a short ways away, but quickly regained his balance and footing.
"Terra Destroyer!" The blast flew down the highway towards the three digimon. Just before it hit them, Wargreymon jumped up from the ground in between the group and the attack. The blast smashed into Wargreymon's back, throwing more pieces of armor from him. He finally fell to the ground and devolved. Chris ran up to Koromon and picked him up.
"Koromon! Are you okay!?" Chris pulled Koromon close to him and ran back away from the fight.
"I'm sorry Chris, he's just too powerful." Koromon croaked out a few words dejectedly.
"Don't worry, we'll beat him!" Chris forced himself to sound cheerful, although his hopes of winning against Blackwargreymon were quickly fading. "Man, how can we beat something like that?" Chris thought to himself as he moved clear of the fight. Meanwhile, the others maneuvered around Blackwargreymon, trying to confuse and attack him at the same time. Blackwargreymon's arms flailed about, knocking away attacks.
"Enough!" Blackwargreymon threw his arms down and let the attacks pummel him from all sides. Everybody stopped for a moment to see how effective their attacks were. The smoke cleared and the sun reflected off of Blackwargreymon's armor—there wasn't even a smudge. "Now it's my turn." He jumped from the ground straight at Megakabuterimon, landing on his back. Kristen looked up at him and tried to scream, but no sound emerged. Blackwargreymon backhanded her off of Megakabuterimon and slashed down the bug's back. Megakabuterimon quickly devolved and Tentomon fell out of the sky.
"Slashing Snowstorm!" Polamon jerked out his blades and slashed them across in front of himself, sending a blast of energy, snow, and wind at Blackwargreymon. The warrior turned into it and the arc-shaped fields of energy broke upon him. He dived through the blizzard and slashed upwards on Polamon, sending him into the air. He quickly slashed back down, pounding Polamon back to the ground and into the highway. The bear devolved and Blackwargreymon leveled his claw at Joey.
"Fujita Cannon!!!" The blast hit Blackwargreymon in the back and his foot slipped slightly. He quickly turned around and rocketed towards Arashimon, but she was ready. She dived down and flew down the ruined interstate towards downtown. Blackwargreymon took the bait and chased after her, leaving the others behind.
"What is she thinking?" Chris ran up to help the others. "He'll annihilate her!" Kristen hovered in and out of consciousness.
"Where… she go?" She breathed heavily; Blackwargreymon had dealt a devastating blow against her.
"Towards the city." Chris looked in shock at Kristen, unable to decide what to do. "Oh man, you'll just have to stay here for a minute." She murmured out one last word, but Chris couldn't hear her. She gave up and simply rested on the asphalt as the sound of a motor came up in the distance. "He's back already?" I rode up quickly and screeched to a halt beside the battered digidestined and digimon.
"Holy smack! What happened?" I looked around at the scene and noticed. "Where's Jennifer!?"
"She caught Blackwargreymon's attention and led him away from us towards the city." My eyes widened and my heart dropped.
"If I'm not back in ten minutes, get the hell out of here." I slammed on the gas and focused, no longer worried about resting. "I'm coming Jen…"
Arashimon weaved back and forth over downtown Columbia as Blackwargreymon chased after her. She finally spotted the statehouse and flew towards it, determined to stay near.
"Damn you, stay still!" Blackwargreymon kept trying to slash Arashimon, but she nimbly dodged his every blow, the winds blowing with her as she flew, carrying her twice as fast as normal and just fast enough to maneuver around Blackwargreymon.
"What's wrong? Can't you hit me?" The she tried to dodge to the left, but the wind blew against her and Blackwargreymon finally landed a hit on her. He tore off the armor on her arm and she yelled in pain. "Ahhh!!!" She grabbed her arm instinctively.
"That's better." Blackwargreymon punched Arashimon across the face, leaving three deep cuts. She spun about in the air and fought to regain her maneuverability, but it was too late. Blackwargreymon stabbed her in the chest, driving his claws into her armor, thankfully without breaking the skin beneath, and slung her down towards the ground. She flew down and slammed into the sidewalk in front of the statehouse. Arashimon devolved and Jennifer wheezed, trying to catch her breath. Blackwargreymon dived down to finish her, but heard the screech of tires. He turned and looked at her.
"No, please, don't." Blackwargreymon laughed and quickly swiped her up with one hand and moved quickly towards the seemingly empty statehouse. Everybody in the city had taken shelter upon hearing about the approaching digimon.
"I'm gonna make this special for you." Blackwargreymon growled and slammed her into one of the Romanesque columns of the building, so that she stayed in it without falling out. He blasted into the air and out of sight.
I-126 ends and runs right into downtown Columbia. I drove madly down the streets, determined to reach the statehouse before it was too late. The tires burned and smoked every time I turned a corner, which was often. I finally emerged onto the far end of Main Street, which had the statehouse at the other end. I drove quickly towards the building and stopped just a few yards short of the sidewalk in front of it. I looked up and began to panic at the sight of Jennifer, slammed into one of the columns. I jumped over the door of the BMW, Magnum in hand, and ran up to her.
"Jennifer!!!"
"James… please… don't… run…"
"What?" I felt the data around me change just a moment before it happened. I turned my head about, pulling the 357 up across my chest, just in time to see Blackwargreymon sprint at me. I was about to turn around.
"Those who fight together," Blackwargreymon's claw pierced through my back, and stuck out of my chest, directly through my heart, "die together." The 357 was pierced too; a single blade was driven into the handle, causing the gun to hang stiffly upside down, barrel aimed to me. Blood ran down from the wound as I gasped in pain. Jennifer's eyes were wide with terror. Blackwargreymon lifted his arm up, raising me into the air, causing me to slide down his claws a little. The gun stayed where it was, firmly rooted in the claw that pierced it. I tried to look around, but my vision was blurry and fuzzy; light no longer seemed to show from anywhere. The pain had numbed; I couldn't feel anything as my head bobbed and rolled about.
"Heh." Blackwargreymon laughed darkly at my demise. I tried to breathe, but couldn't. I looked one last time at Jennifer. Tears were running down her eyes as she stared at me, hanging from Blackwargreymon's claw. I finally pulled together my last breath.
"I… love you." I closed my eyes and pressed down, forcing down Blackwargreymon's arm so that I was standing on the ground. I gripped the 357, still firmly attached to the claw that went through me. I focused and energy poured into the gun. Space and time seemed to melt around me as more energy than I knew I had poured into the gun. My digivice glowed and shook violently, erupting in a static light. I pulled the trigger and the gun exploded through me, and into Blackwargreymon. The blast blew clear through us, reaching into the sky without ever stopping. My data ripped apart and was carried away by the blast.
"I hope it's enough to save her." My last thought raced through my head, and I existed no longer, my data scattering in the blast field and the wind.