I don't own Digimon
The Light of the Tags
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"Hurry!" Jason implored Seadramon as the explosions erupted around them. Jason looked down; Steven and Ryuudamon had already fallen off of Seadramon in the very first attack a few minutes ago. Lucemon and Mark were gripping the scaly skin of Seadramon with a death grip.
A midnight blue blur slashed under Seadramon as it cut cleanly through the snow. "Spinning Cutter!" Blades shot up in swathes around Seadramon.
"The city!" Brendan was pointing forward. "We need cover, there's a factory…!"
"I can go faster with less weight," replied Seadramon as an exploding canister shot by.
Brendan nodded. He and Tapirmon leapt off as did Lucemon and Mark and Kevin and Snow Agumon. The children and digimon sunk down to about knee depth in the snow.
"Tapirmon digivolve to Dobermon!" the small elephantine digimon with the purple clouds on its back legs changed into a large black and brown spiked Doberman Pinscher. Brendan jumped on Dobermon' back and the digimon charged forward.
"Snow Agumon digivolve to Shima Unimon!" Snow Agumon glowed yellow before turning into the white and black, horned zebra. Kevin snatched up Mark and together they galloped towards the city. Lucemon dove low and glided next to Shima Unimon.
"What about Steven?" The angel asked. He turned his head back at the snow obscured landscape. Kevin was about to answer when a low rumble erupted in front of them.
"Uh oh…" Brendan was looking forward. There was a line of large metallic digimon. They had long barrel snouts and hands that looked like machine guns. Their feet were large caterpillar treads. Their metal armor glinted slightly in the moonlight.
"Tankmon," growled Dobermon. "Military digimon, Tankmon have cannons for noses and one good sneeze from him could clear a city block!"
"Hyper Cannon!" roared the group of metal digimon.
"SCATTER!" yelped Kevin as the explosions rammed the ground.
"Wild Thunder!" a strike of blue lightning shocked three of the tanks. They bowed slightly, but slowly regained their posture.
"Schwarz Strahl!" roared Dobermon. The black beam became invisible in the dark night but glinting metal of the Tankmon revealed the blast hit them to no effect.
"Their metal is too thick!" shouted Brendan.
"Tank Blaster!" The tanks lifted their arms and the gun barrels flashed. The two champions were ducking and weaving between waves of bullets, kicking up snow in large fluffy waves. Lucemon had shot upwards.
"Where's Seadramon?" shouted Kevin as he looked around frantically.
"Side Winder!" three missiles shot down from the sky. Seadramon was frantically ducking in and out of the shower of missiles from two large metallic pterodons.
"Pteranomon!" shouted Lucemon answering Kevin's unasked question. The angel turned and flew upwards. "Divine Feat!" A pulse of light struck one of the large reptilian birds in the head. The angel turned his head, "You guys keep going, and we'll cover your backs…"
"Lucemon, find Steven!" shouted Mark as Shima Unimon galloped off. The angel's eyes hardened and he nodded.
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"Guardian Missile!" a volley of projectiles shot forward. Amy was grasping as tightly as she could to Saberdramon's talons.
"Jaenryuu!" Youkomon spun around and the twisting wave of fiery scales and roaring heads of dragons slammed into the round brown colored robot as it staggered backward into its counterparts who, like dominoes, stumbled back upon others in a long chain reaction of falling metal digimon.
"Twin Beam!" buzzed a tinny voice that droned on like the sound of a thousand bees. Two red energy darts shot forward from the long metallic claws that ended metal digimon's long lank arms.
Labramon barely pushed Michelle out of the way before the blasts hit the snow filled ground. They were a couple blocks from Sorcerymon's house when the robots had started to attack. They were currently in a park somewhere in the city. Labramon grumbled as she helped Michelle up. The retriever looked up at Michelle. "Let's show these metal meanies some manners!" Michelle looked at the oncoming group. Digimon with large long metallic cannons for noses were rolling forward on treaded wheels. Above them was a large metal insect.
"We've got them!" cheered the insect. It dove down. "Finish them off! FINISH THEM OFF! An extra quart of oil to the one that destroys them!"
Michelle narrowed her eyes. "That's it…it was one thing to be ordered to destroy us…but to show glee in it! If they're going to get a quart of oil…let's make them work for it!"
Labramon nodded. The cream colored retriever leapt up. "Labramon digivolve to D'Arcmon!" The canine angel glided upwards shining against the mucky sky that covered the inner city. Her red shawl floated in the air as did her blue skirt-like shin guards. She held her staff in both her hands with it cutting diagonally above her chest. She landed in front of Michelle and without looking at the girl knelt down, "Get on my back!" Michelle looked surprised but did as D'Arcmon commanded.
"Destroy them!" growled the metallic insect. "I'll give three extra quarts of oil to the one that brings me the staff of that dog of an angel!"
"You'll wish you hadn't put that bounty on my head," smirked D'Arcmon. She leapt into the air.
"Hyper Cannon!" shouted the tank like digimon. Large canisters flew up at D'Arcmon. The angel swatted the canisters away sending them exploding into the distance.
"Twin Beam!" red energy arrows flew upwards from the thin lanky limbed digimon. D'Arcmon dove in and out of the wave of attacks.
"Guardian Missile!" another volley of missiles flew forward. D'Arcmon swung her staff sending most of the missiles flying into each other.
"Care for me to take my turn?" asked the angel as she swung her staff forward, "La Pucelle!" A blast of pink lightning shot forward that exploded into thousands of trailers that rammed into the small army of digimon. The glowing eyes of the assailants fell dark.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" shouted the metallic insect as it buzzed around the metal minions.
"Overloaded their circuits…don't worry your ugly little head, they'll reboot, eventually," replied D'Arcmon.
"Fine, you want to play…play with me!" the insect swirled around. It flicked its antennae up and sparks flew between the appendages. "Jamming Hertz!"
"We shouldn't let D'Arcmon have all the fun of squishing that bug," called Youkomon to Saberdramon. The purple fox dove forward. "Demon Fireball!" a purple blast of flame shot out and struck the blast of flung lightning from the metal digimon.
The resulting blast forced snow to fly everywhere. Saberdramon glided over and carefully flashed her wings releasing blasts of dark plasma. The bug grunted as its armor was pelted by the blasts.
"This guy's metal surface is tougher than I gave him credit," called Saberdramon as she wheeled around for another burst.
"Fools, my metallic surfaces are superior to you all!" suddenly the bug jetted forward and swiveled around on a dime. He was facing Saberdramon. "I, Searchmon, will not be disgraced by the likes of you! Busy Status!" a red orb shot forward and struck the bird. The large, black, raven phoenix yelped as its wings became rigid and its musculature became paralyzed. The bird crashed head first into the ground shoveling huge quantities of snow forward. Youkomon growled and leapt forward but not before the insect could swivel and strike again. Youkomon dropped to the ground in mid-gallop and tumbled bouncingly as she made contact with the snow. Even her tails were in a deep state of tetanus.
Amy and Janet skidded across the white snow filled ground and looked worriedly at their partners. Janet looked at Amy, "This is worse than what Assaultmon did to them!"
"Now for you…" chuckled Searchmon as the insect slowly swiveled around to face D'Arcmon.
"I wouldn't count on that," said D'Arcmon.
"I would! Busy Status!" Searchmon launched forward a blast of his red orb of paralysis shooting ahead of him.
Faster than Michelle could perceive D'Arcmon unsheathed one of the two short swords that hung on her hips. "La Pucelle!" the blade flew cleanly through the orb and then sliced the top portion of Searchmon's left antenna off. The bug digimon stopped dead in its tracks. The angel was now spinning her staff in front of herself. The staff was now nothing but a blur of metal and wood. "Battlement D'Amor!" orb after orb of light flashed down and smacked into the radar dish on Searchmon on his back. The digimon yelped and screamed as it was struck down and slammed into the ground. D'Arcmon flicked her staff forward. "La Pucelle!" a stream of lightning reached out to grasp Searchmon but the insect zipped out of its reach before the bolt could strike.
"Have to get away…have to find the General!" chanted Searchmon as he disappeared into the night. D'Arcmon lowered down and slid her staff over her two compatriots, freeing them from their tetanus entrapment. Youkomon and Saberdramon turned into their rookie forms and looked up at D'Arcmon. She had a fierce fire burning in her eyes.
"Remind me never to make D'Arcmon mad…" Penguinmon whispered. Renamon could only nod as she watched the anger burn in the angel's eyes.
"Put a bounty on me?" snorted the angel as she let Michelle down. "I'll give him a bounty…" She hit her palm with her staff.
"So…" Janet looked up fearfully at the angel. "Now what?"
"We must find the others…" replied D'Arcmon.
Janet looked doubtfully at Renamon and Penguinmon and then at Amy. "I-I don't think they can handle another digivolution so soon…"
D'Arcmon looked slightly annoyed. Amy shivered a little. Even though Sorcerymon's tea had done miraculous wonders on getting rid of her chill she still couldn't handle the cold real well.
Janet looked up. She could have sworn she heard the sounds of explosions far to the east of the city. She heard Amy groan and saw Michelle look off in the direction of the explosion.
"Ten dollars that's the boys," said Amy with a little disappointment.
"Nothing like male subtleness," grumbled Janet. She trudged through the snow and carefully inched past the frozen metal digimon.
"What do you mean!?" Michelle was running after Janet.
"She means that boys can't sneak undetected into anything, even if there was an explosion next door!" shouted Amy as she walked after Michelle with a bit of a growl.
Renamon and Penguinmon looked up at D'Arcmon.
"Humans…are weird," said the angel and she glided off.
"I didn't want to say it," said Penguinmon with a sigh of relief.
"The truth is a hard thing to tell," Renamon concurred as she walked off after the humans. Penguinmon followed closely in tow with the fox.
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Kevin, Mark and Shima Unimon ducked into a factory, well ducked in the way that Shima Unimon rammed the metal up-sliding door so that it caved in. Brendan wasn't far behind him.
"I think we lost them…" wheezed Brendan as he slid off of Dobermon's back, "but we have to be careful…"
"Yeah…" whispered Shima Unimon as he turned to the door.
Brendan looked around the factory, "It looks like some sort of power station…" He looked around. It was all automated. Brendan walked up to a large conveyor belt that had piles of coal on it. "Coal power…" He followed the piles of black rock as they moved towards a large oven, not unlike what one would see on old coal, steam trains. The coal then was burned and two large tanks of water were over the flames. The heated water then shot up past large turbines that turned generating power. A line of pipes and vents directed steam and smoke through the system. Smoke was sent away from the turbines and out smoke stacks. The steam was trailed through pipes past the turbines and then back to the water tanks where it condensed back into water to be evaporated again. He frowned. "Coal power is a fossil fuel, meaning that it will only get more expensive, and it is ecologically unsafe." Brendan walked along. Mark and Kevin were right behind as were Dobermon and Shima Unimon. He suddenly stopped. "Wonderful! A computer terminal!" Faster than Kevin and Mark could perceive he had his laptop out and plugged into the terminal. He skimmed through the database and a short gasp… "That is indeed odd…"
"What!?" yelped Kevin unable to maintain his composure.
"Well…this area has a significant history of geologic activity," responded Brendan without looking back. "In fact…the activity stopped…" Brendan narrowed his eyes. "Within a few days after the Temple of Calumon was attacked….there is some sort of plug on the geothermal vent that is in the lake…evidently this town was a bit like Iceland…"
"What?" Mark looked at Kevin who shrugged in ignorance.
"Iceland a country, they use the volcanic and geyser activity to power their country's cities," replied Brendan. He looked up. "These digimon used this vent here as a power source and then the plug pent up the energy. That's when Assaultmon came and forced them to buy his coal in order to survive…and if they weren't subservient to his generals then…."
"Let me guess, no coal…" said Kevin as he sneered.
"No coal…no power," said Brendan.
"No power, no heat," finished Mark. Brendan nodded.
"It's a lose, lose situation," grumbled Brendan. "Be subservient and live with disease causing pollution or don't be subservient and freeze to death."
"They could have run away," said Mark.
"I doubt Assaultmon would've let them!" growled Kevin. He clenched his fist. "This is nothing more than a prison!"
Brendan sighed and nodded. "Unfortunately, Kevin is right…" Something caught Brendan's eyes. He looked down. The medallion on his chest glowed softly. "My…tag…"
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"Lord Assaultmon!" whimpered the bug as it lurched in front of the metal overlord. The beetle was dented and burned.
"Where is your regiment?" growled Assaultmon.
"They have been incapacitated by the powers of the digi-destined…" the insect cringed under the infuriated gaze of Assaultmon. "I-I need more…"
Assaultmon growled softly, "No…face them on your own…"
The insect looked up in fear. "I can not! They will destroy me!"
"That is not my problem, Searchmon," He lifted his arms to strike Searchmon and then he stopped. There was an explosion close by. "Searchmon can you still detect the humans' devices?"
"Yes my lord…" Searchmon stuttered.
"Good…" Assaultmon caught Searchmon and yanked him close and pulled a plug down and jammed it into a port on Searchmon's neck. He then dropped the insect and turned to the screen. "Three of the humans…are in my coal power station…." He growled and turned to Searchmon, "You will go there and destroy them, and I will go along!"
"To…to help me?" Searchmon looked up in surprise.
"No, to watch you and make sure you get the job done!" roared Assaultmon. He kicked Searchmon forward, ripping the plug from Searchmon's port. Assaultmon growled. "Now go!"
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"Quadruple Storm!" blasts of lightning ripped forward. Ryuudamon was sent flying like a rag doll. Steven and his partner had been forced into retreat ever since they had been dislodged from Seadramon. He had watched the others make a run for it and saw Seadramon and Lucemon try and fend off the Pteranomon.
"Are you ok, Ryuudamon?" Steven knelt down and helped his lizard friend up.
"Yes, I'm fine; he does not have the best aim. I was more hurt by the chunks of ice that flew up than I was the actually blast," replied the lizard as he stood.
A flash of blue shot past them slamming both human and digimon backwards onto their rears. The blur faded and reformed into Rinkmon. His cold face was spliced by a cruel icy smile. His tight, blue, body suit was still glowing a little from the attack. His scarves blew around him.
"That's it!" Steven stood up and clenched his fists. "You're done using us like punching bags!" Steven looked down at Ryuudamon.
The lizard nodded and then turned to Rinkmon, "Get ready to go down! Ryuudamon digivolve to Ginryuumon!" The brachio-dragon leapt from the blue light that had washed over the small lizard and tackled Rinkmon. The dragon smiled, "I got you."
"So you think!" growled Rinkmon as he laid a well placed punch to Ginryuumon's head. The large black dragon was sent tumbling backwards through the white snow. Steven ran to his partner loping awkwardly through the soft, white, fallen precipitation. Steven slid his right leg sliding uncontrollably forward as his left leg was sent off at an insane angle. The boy fell on his butt and slid a few feet.
"What the…" Steven tried to stand, but the slick surface impeded his attempts. Rinkmon laughed as he slid further from them heading to the left and towards the western horizon. Ginryuumon stood slowly and then helped his partner up. Steven looked up at the armored dragon and smiled, "Thanks, now let's get him!" The dragon nodded and Steven mounted his leathery steed as Ginryuumon galloped awkwardly off.
"Fools," growled Rinkmon as he saw Ginryuumon galloping after him. Suddenly a small blue light exploded from where Ginryuumon was and flew forward. Rinkmon hadn't much time to get out of the beam's way and nearly lost his balance on the thick ice under his feet. His eyes followed the beam carefully. It led to the small island in the middle of the lake where the geothermal plug had peaked above the water. Rinkmon didn't understand. Something told him that he couldn't let that child reach the island. He growled and quickly swept around and followed the bar of blue light to the island where he would make his stand.
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It was quite a surprise when Brendan's tag started to glow. The young man looked down and inspected it. A soft violet light flooded forward in a constrained stream that wobbled forward and snaked its way around the pipes and machinery that filled the innards of the factory they were in.
The light rested softly on a pillar in the middle of the factory. It was unlike the other structural beams in the building in that this was a large marble pillar that seemed far out of place compared to its grimy, dusty and unpleasant looking kin.
"They must have torn the original building down," whispered Brendan as he walked after the light. "This must be the only portion of the original structure left…"
Mark and Kevin were following him with Dobermon and Shima Unimon. The two digimon felt uneasy about the peculiar light and though they had witnessed the interaction of tag and crest before; it still worried them immensely. They reached the pillar and looked up. The crest was out of reach by mere human jumping.
"Hmm," Brendan stood back and took an appraisal of the situation, "Just out of reach of jumping…but…" He looked at Mark and Kevin. "Give me a boost." The two boys looked at him dumbfoundedly. "You know, let me get on your back so I can reach the crest?"
"Oh…right…" Kevin chuckled softly more surprised that Brendan had even really realized that they had followed him.
Kevin stood next to the pillar as Brendan hopped up on the boy's back and scrambled up on Kevin's shoulders. The brown haired boy gave a terse grunt of dissatisfaction as Brendan's shoe scraped his side.
"This may be uncomfortable," whispered Brendan as he strained to reach the crest.
Kevin shook. He almost fell backwards. The explosion had been so close, like it had been just outside the building. A cold draft washed around his waist and something horrible told him to look back. He swung around just as Brendan made a swipe for the crest causing the boy to nearly fall forward. Fortunately he was able to grab Kevin by the shoulders to get himself stabilized. Brendan looked down at Kevin and glared.
"Sorry…" offered the boy in the red cap.
Something caught Brendan's eye. A silvery figure was gliding in and out of the pipes, but he was soon distracted by the sound of a large metal on metal clank. Brendan looked up and gulped hard. Standing in front of them was none other than Assaultmon.
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AN: Right upon the request of Sixsense05 I guess I can give you an extra chapter, I mean it is Christmas, and you guys, really rather deserve it! Though hehe, now you're on a worse cliffhanger than you were on! There will be a bit of a lapse, about a week(more likefive or six days)so I can get on with the next phase. Trust me this ice-filled mini-arc will be finished in a few more chapters! But I still have to figure out who I want to crestify next. I hope you liked this part of the arc, I feel it starts to get a bit on the ropey side from here on out…but it may just be my pickiness.