The Fight of the Southern Pass

888

"Rise up," growled Lucemon as he looked at his fallen knights. "You pathetic knights," The knights barely moved and winced falling back to the ground. 'Rise up,' I said!"

RhodoKnightmon was the first to stagger to her feet. Then it was Alforce Veedramon. Medieval Dukemon and Dynasmon rose at the same time. They looked at the, now, very teenage angel. His cold stare made them flinch.

"Lord Lucemon…" Dynasmon lifted his hand slowly.

"No excuses!" Lucemon narrowed his eyes. "You were defeated; but you are lucky, for I am in a merciful mood." The angel turned from them. "Dynasmon, Medieval Dukemon, I trust you can watch the Digital World," A crimson gem flicked up between his fingers. "Use this to help our allies. It possesses a portion of my power. It is the same power I used to make Antylamon digivolve and it's the same power I used to make you. The crystal's power isn't infinite, so be judicious about your choices!" The jewel flew through the air and landed in Medieval Dukemon's hand.

"Master…" Alforce Veedramon looked at the angel.

"I am not finished!" said Lucemon barely containing his obvious annoyance. Alforce Veedramon stepped back from the angel. "Alforce Veedramon, RhodoKnightmon, we must go; someone is trying to usurp our paradise."

"I shall find the digi-destined and finish them off myself!" proclaimed RhodoKnightmon.

"Do not interrupt me," growled Lucemon. His white paw lashed out and backhanded RhodoKnightmon knocking the pink armored digimon to the ground. "You have already failed me once; I have not much patience for your future."

"If, it is not the Digi-destined you are worried about, then who?" asked Dynasmon quietly.

"I do not know exactly; but he has the power to plunge paradise into darkness," said Lucemon as he lifted off the ground. "Come, RhodoKnightmon and Alforce Veedramon, we must stop this before it rolls out of control."

888

"We are ready," said Damienmon quietly. His red eyes seemed to fade and glow in the shadow of Cthulhumon. "Open the digi-port Daemon."

"Do you not wish to face Lucemon?" asked the demon under the cowl. His eyes shone blue.

"I say we vanquish the angel!" growled Cthulhumon lifting his trident. "And then we can take his armies and add them to our own."

"Fools," said Damienmon quietly. "You could not handle Lucemon. He would over power you easily. I will not lose assets I just freed, now, Daemon, open the digi-port."

"Halt!" demanded two voices. Two angels rose over the mountains. One was a woman she had six wings. A blue ribbon rose over her blonde haired head from her left hand to her right. Her left hand had a winged bow on the wrist. She wore white spandex like material over her top and most of her right leg. The other angel was male; covered in white armor. He had eight wings. Purple armor covered his right arm and his head was adorned with a high reaching lavender face guard. A purple blade was on his left arm.

"We are the advance guard of Lucemon's southern forces, you will not pass," announced the male angel.

The woman pulled back on the air and a large white energy arrow formed along her winged bow, "If you attempt to leave we are to attack without prejudice."

"You have to be kidding me," chuckled Daemon quietly as he looked at the two Ultimates. "You can not stand against us, I am Lord Daemon, the…" There was a growl, "second in command of the powers of Darkness. You can not hope to be victorious."

A large beast rose up behind them. It was white. It had white fur and a yellow eagle's beak. It held its forward paws out like hands and its lionesque tail swished aggressively.

"I am Hippogryphomon," growled the beast. Behind him was a swarm of Piximon.

The sea rippled and a small figure glided upwards. It was nothing overly exciting. It had diminutive arms and wings. It had a large head with huge eyes. Its small body was dominated by a large heart, and it lacked any legs but instead had a smoky tail. "I am Marine Angemon!"

"Lord Lucemon will be here soon enough, and then you shall find his benevolence," said the male angel.

"Magna Angemon, Angewomon," Damienmon glided forward. "You can not hope to live through this battle, let us pass."

"Celestial Arrow!" the energy arrow zinged passed Damienmon's head. The boy winced feeling the energy of light at work and a burn sear across his cheek. The female drew another arrow. "Go no further, defiled being of darkness!"

"Fine, you want to fight, Daemon, clear the way!" Damienmon flicked his finger forward.

Daemon blinked quietly. He regained his composure and his lifted his hand, "Go, strike down these fools!"

"Hey blondie!" shouted LadyDevimon as she flew forward. "Darkness Wave!" a wash of darkness flooded forward towards Angewomon, but the attack came to naught as Magna Angemon slid in front of the wave and raised his shield.

"You will not be continuing pathetic rivalries here!" said Magna Angemon. He lifted his sword and stabbed it into the air. "Gate of Destiny!" Angewomon flew above him and fired an arrow of energy that fractured into a multitude of projectiles that exploded into everything they hit.

Daemon looked in surprise as the gate became wrapped in lightning and its contents condensed into single point that then belched forward slamming into the demon lord's chest. Daemon crashed into the mountain's hard soil and growled angrily.

"Skull Hammer!" Skull Satamon flashed forward in a burst of speed towards Magna Angemon. The angel parried with his Excalibur and then rammed an armored boot into the skull's chest. The red, barely fleshed skeleton was sent flying into LadyDevimon, who was helping her lord, Daemon, up. The three of them tumbled to the ground.

Damienmon growled. Daemon couldn't handle Lucemon's advance guard, how did he even think he could fight against Lucemon himself. The child turned and looked back at Cthulhumon. The large beast lifted his trident.

"It is time to test my new power!" growled the beast as his trident glowed a deep sea green. "Ancient Trident Crush!" a blast of cerulean lightning shot forward. Magna Angemon was blind sided by the attack and was sent crashing into the chest of Hippogryphomon.

The white furred beast grunted and opened its maw, "Heat Wave!" an orange beam retaliated against the squid-like Great One; but the jagged flesh that comprised Cthulhumon's skin didn't flinch.

The large beast grunted slightly as if someone had nudged him too aggressively and then opened its mouth. "Ocean Nightmare!" a long stream of darkness washed forward and reared itself up like a huge aerial Moray Eel. Angewomon had already started to defensively fire her arrows at the serpentine phantom. The eel shook off the arrows and snapped its jaw around the three holy Ultimates. The eel then wrapped around and around and around into a large ball that exploded tossing the three creatures haphazardly to the ground.

"See, I told you to respect your brother," remarked Damienmon as he glided past Daemon who was still disentangling himself from his generals.

"Feh, he's still a squid faced buffoon!" growled Daemon as he tossed his generals to one side. The demon lifted his hands and let them burn with an unholy fire. "I too have power! Flame Inferno!" the flames turned black and roared forward as a giant cannonball slamming the advance guard of Lucemon further into the mountain.

Suddenly the amassed Piximon joined together. Together they flipped their staffs forward and together they yelped, "Pit Bomb!" the attacks of some fifteen Piximon converged into one large blast. Daemon, not wanting to be outshone by his sibling lifted his hand nonchalantly and produced a dark barrier that deflected the blast towards the sea.

"Do away with them, Marine Devimon…" hissed Daemon.

The large, pelagic devil walked forward and opened its mouth. "Dark Deluge!" rocket of water rammed forward washing the Piximon from the sky. As the pink fur balls tried to rise from the attack the devil leapt over to them and started to spit acid on them chemically burning them alive. The Piximon screamed in pain as they sizzled away into deletion.

Magna Angemon, Angewomon and Hippogryphomon rose up. They growled softly as the Piximon were deleted.

"Ocean Love!" there was a blast of light. Cthulhumon roared in pain as thousands of heart shaped bubbles merged into his skin leaving large burns. The little nymph, Marine Angemon, giggled as he dove in and out of harpoons thrown by the Divermon, "You didn't forget about little old me did you?"

"Evil Flapping!" Daemon turned and his wings glowed deep maroon and he gave one strong flap and unleashed a blast of maroon lightning. The blast struck Marine Angemon. The little chibi-angel shrieked and his little form fell to the water; where the Divermon leapt on it. Daemon smirked. "Foolish creature…it didn't deserve to exist in the first place…"

"Kahuna Waves!" shouted a small voice and a beam of light exploded out of the water sending Divermon deleting in the ocean mist. Marine Angemon floated upwards in a large bubble.

"Pest!" growled Cthulhumon as he brought his trident to bear on the aquatic angel. "Storm of the Great Ones!" a black spiral swirled in front of the tines of the trident and then strikes of red lighting rammed into the bubble. The little film snapped under the pressure and the angel screamed in pain as the lightning raged into it.

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon released a large pink cross.

"Gate of Destiny!" Magna Angemon produced the gate and then released its contents on Cthulhumon.

"Sonic Voice!" rings of green energy warped from Hippogryphomon's mouth.

The three attacks crashed down on the Mega digimon. Cthulhumon growled in pain as he swept around and unleashed another storm on the Ultimates. Hippogryphomon exploded. Angewomon slammed down snapping her back on a stone that jutted out of wall of the mountain. Magna Angemon clattered to the ground. He took short uncomfortable breaths; one of his ribs was broken. Daemon flew up to the defeated angel and put his foot on the angel's back. His eyes narrowed. He leaned down and lifted the angel's head up by the face guard and then slammed it into the ground.

"You pathetic little fool, you don't deserve to die by our hands," growled Daemon. He flicked his eyes up. "Soulmon! Come here, beat this thing down till he deletes."

One of the ghosts glided up and pushed its hands forward. "Necro Magic!" black lightning coursed through Magna Angemon's body. The angel moaned in pain as its muscles contracted unwillingly. The ghost pushed forward and another burst of lightning, another groan. The ghost struck not three, not four, not even ten times but thirty times. The angel finally screamed in one last strike from Soulmon as it deleted.

"Let us go…" growled Daemon as he lifted his hands up and opened a digi-port.

"What about this one?" growled Cthulhumon as he lifted the limp form of Marine Angemon.

"Crush it," growled Damienmon uninterestedly. Cthulhumon nodded and threw the little angel up and snatched it up in his palm and then clench his fist until little black particles wafted through is webbed fingers. Daemon, Damienmon, Cthulhumon with their armies passed through the port chuckling quietly at their defeat of Lucemon's forces.

888

Lucemon looked over the area. He knew. Over there on a mountainside Angewomon deleted after her spine was snapped like kindling. Below him, Magna Angemon was killed after burst after burst of Champion strikes. Hippogryphomon had just died in midair. Marine Angemon had been just simply squished. Acid burns marked the places where the Piximon had died. The digi-port's energy still hung in the air.

"They've escaped into the Human World," said Lucemon to his two companions.

The one on his left was a blue armored, hulking, muscular dragon warrior. A pair of pink wings was outstretched to the air. An energy blade was glowing softly on his arm. The one on his right was thinner, but that didn't mean she was weaker. Golden ribbons hovered from behind her back. She was clad in pink armor, and a pink and gold shield was attached to her left arm.

"What do we do now, my lord?" asked the pink warrior quietly.

"You and Alforce Veedramon will go to the Human World, I must retrieve the Gospel and then I will join you," said Lucemon quietly. He looked at the pink warrior, "Do not disappoint me, I will not bring you back from the brink if you fail me again, RhodoKnightmon."

The knight nodded and turned, "Alforce Veedramon, let us make our lord proud."

The dragon turned and glided after RhodoKnightmon. Lucemon flicked his wings and turned and flew towards Chuuten City.

888

"Is, Motimon hurt badly?" Hiroshi sidled up next to Sumi.

"I don't think so, but he's been sleeping pretty much all day," said the girl quietly. She looked at Hiroshi; the boy was blushing slightly. "Is something wrong? Do you have a fever?"

"What?" Hiroshi blinked and looked at Sumi is shock.

"It's just, you have this horrible flushed looked on your face," said Hiroshi quietly. The blush on Hiroshi's face deepened. "Hiroshi?"

"Uh, I have…to umm, yeah I'm sure Kiyoshi needs to talk to me…" Hiroshi stumbled off towards his brother.

"What a strange child…" whispered Sumi as she cradled Motimon gently in her arms.

888

"You should have said something, Hiroshi," chirped Minomon quietly.

"What do you mean?" hissed Hiroshi quietly.

"Lucemon is getting more and more powerful…" said Minomon quietly. The little green bug shifted in his pine cone. "I don't doubt that we can beat him, but some one could get really hurt in the process, Hiroshi, what if it's Sumi-san, or you. You should tell her how you feel…"

"You don't understand…" Hiroshi looked down at the ground. "She's special, she's really smart like her father…and I'm not very special at all."

"Oh you are too special, you're the child of Sincerity, how much more special could you get?" yelped the little bug.

"I got that from my mother, it's not really my power…" whispered Hiroshi quietly.

"You may have inherited the power from your mother, but you've made it your own, you've surpassed your mother's strength, right?" asked Minomon as he looked up at his partner, "I don't see Silphymon digivolving to its Mega level…"

Hiroshi stopped and looked off into the forest. "We're being watched…"

Minomon looked around. "By whom?"

Snap!

Trees slid free of their trunks as a large red stag beetle lurched forward. Its eyes glowed crimson, matching his exoskeleton.

"Kuwagumon!" Hiroshi fell backwards looking into the snapping mandibles of the beetle as it loomed over him.

"Minomon digivolve to FanBeemon!" Minomon glowed softly before erupting forward as the yellow and brown bee. "Gear Stinger!" Nothing happened. "Gear Stinger!" yelped FanBeemon in terror. Again nothing; then suddenly he lost it and shrunk back to Minomon. "Oh no…."

"Digi…destined…" gurgled Kuwagumon as it took another step forward. Its mandibles snapped shut and a gurgling and buzzing chuckled escaped its throat. "I hungry…you food…"

Hiroshi grabbed Minomon. The mandibles were dripping with saliva. Hiroshi scrambled backwards as the beast reached out.

"Guruguru Fighting!" purple blades lashed out smacking Kuwagumon in the head. A purple cat flew forward on purple wings. "Tobutobu Phoenix!" a large flaming apparition filled the sky as it rammed Kuwagumon. "Hiroshi!" yelped the cat as it dove down defensively. "Go back to the others; you really shouldn't wander off…Just run left, I'll deal with Kuwagumon."

Hiroshi ran off towards the left. He pushed through the forest bush. The others were huddled together by a tree Hiroshi appeared out of the tree and Strike Dramon just about decapitated him.

"Oh, it's you," said the dragon as he leapt backwards. "You shouldn't run off on your own, Lucemon will be scouring the world to look for us. He knows we are weak now…"

"I know!" growled Hiroshi to Strike Dramon. He looked up at Sumi. The young woman was looking at him with annoyance. Hiroshi looked down, "I'm sorry; I was busy thinking about something."

"Next time don't think yourself into the maw of Kuwagumon," TobuCatmon glided out of the bush. "He was tough; but I got him…"

"I can't hold my digivolution," whimpered Minomon. He shifted in Hiroshi's arm. "I mean; I digivolved but…then I couldn't do anything and then I de-digivolved."

"Maybe it's a side effect of Lucemon's attack…" murmured Sumi quietly.

Hiroshi sighed. "Lucemon really kicked our ass…"

"He did it without breaking a sweat…" whispered Demi-Veemon.

"How are we ever going to beat him?" asked Isamu as he looked to the sky.

"We fight together," said Noriko, "We depend on each other."

"We never give up hope," said Kitai.

"We look for that shimmer of light even in the darkest hour, and he reach out for it…" said Akeno quietly.

"We don't forget what Lucemon has done to this world, how he destroyed the one thing our friends and family so lovingly fought to preserve," said Ai she looked at her D-3.

"If we have to we'll have to find away around his power," said Sumi quietly. "We have to keep our wits about us."

Suddenly there were five bursts of glowing light that merged into one.

"Upamon digivolve to Armadillomon!" the small little round digimon with the frilled ears turned into a smoky grey squat armadillo.

"Tokomon digivolve to Patamon!" the white cream puff with the big teeth morphed into the brown ear winged, guinea pig.

"Nyaromon digivolve to Salamon!" the yellow little feline shaped ball glowed and turned into the grayish puppy-kitten.

"Poromon digivolve to Hawkmon!" the little feather ball morphed into the child shaped purple hawk.

"Motimon digivolve to Otamamon!" the pink, plush, little sheet with arms changed in a bright light reemerging as a purpled tadpole.

"You…" the others looked down at the five digimon, "Digivolved…"

"Of course we did," said the rookies quietly. "We may be down but we're far from being out!" The children looked down at them smiling. Little tears forming in their eyes.

888

Yolei sat in Kari's room. She was looking out the window. It had gotten to hard to look at Kari. She was hooked up to pipes, and tubes. Her skin was covered in bandages and now she was wrestling with herself in some nightmare. Every once in a while she would jump awake shouting, 'Myotismon, No'.

The day was ending, though it was hard to tell. Smoke and clouds obscured the skies. Random blasts of some attack testified that the digi-destined of Tokyo were still fighting against the invasion of Lucemon's minions. Every time she saw a blast she winced hoping that Ken was ok. She sighed. Silphymon was still holding its Ultimate form and it had taken a lot of persuading for the doctors to allow the digimon into the recovery ward. Silphymon was now sitting next to Kari gently stroking her hair. Each time she winced; Silphymon would whisper about 'being there'.

"When will you release the DNA digivolution?" asked Yolei quietly.

Gatomon's voice spoke quietly, "I won't let Kari get hurt again, and if I have to I'll stay like this forever…"

"Hey!" yelped Aquilamon's voice.

"You'd do the same thing if it was Yolei," said the cat's voice. "I won't leave her defenseless again."

Yolei sighed quietly. She resumed looking out the window. Something caught her eye. A large red circle in the sky formed in the sky. Yolei called Silphymon over.

"What is that?" asked Yolei quietly. "Is it an attack?"

"No…it's a digi-port, a forced digi-port…and it's tainted…" responded Silphymon with a growl. The creature looked up.

"Dear kami…" whispered Yolei as a host of beasts flooded from the port. They were followed by one very recognizable shape, a large robed figure with bat wings. He had three creatures close to him. After him came a huge beast it also had three creatures with it. "That's, that's…Daemon…." Shouted Yolei as she fumbled for her D-terminal.

"No…" whispered Kari. Her eyes were open and her skin was glowing. "He's come for me…he must not find me…He has changed but he is the same…"

"Who, Kari, Myotismon?" asked Yolei worried that some how, they had resurrected Myotismon and he's found a new digivolution.

"No…The lord of the Dark Ocean…" whispered Kari as she fell back on her pillow and dropped into a tortured sleep.

Yolei typed feverishly at her D-Terminal sending the message to all digi-destined in the city. "Daemon is here, and he has help! Kari and I are at the hospital we'll be with you as soon as we can. Someone should get a hold of Tai, we may need Omnimon!"

Yolei hit send and shuddered at the thought of fighting Daemon and fighting Lucemon.

888

AN: The danger must be growing because the rowers keep on rowing and the darkness it is growing and there is an angelic maelstrom a blowing…Thanks to those who have reviewed the story.

Is there anything the digi-destined can do against the power of Damienmon and his cronies? Will Lucemon arrive in the Human World, and if he does, can the Digi-destined stop him?

Next chapter all heck in a hand basket breaks loose in: Shot in the Dark!