Chapter 25 -Troubled Water
He surveyed his surroundings from the roof of the skyscraper he was standing on.
That was what he should have done earlier. He could not allow the Digidestined to interfere with his master's plan. He had to make sure that no more than one of then was there, for he could not afford to lose. He had come too closer earlier today. He had to make sure.
His reward…
He shuddered with delight just thinking about it.
Down in the crowd of people there was only one Digidestined, a weak one at that. He signaled, and MetalSeadramon moved in.
"RIVER OF POWER!"
The attack crashed headlong into the crowd of people. Only two figures stood their ground.
Digivolution_
Armadillomon Digivolve to… Anklyomon!
Anklyomon Digivolve to… Scorpiomon!
Perfect…
While this Digidestined's ability to digivolve to ultimate was a surprise, it was not a problem. He smirked.
All was going according to plan.
"TWIN SWORD!"
"ULTIMATE STREAM!"
MetalSeadramon's attack easily overwhelmed Scorpiomon's, and Scorpiomon was knocked backwards and down, almost hitting his Digidestined. The boy's urgent pleas for his digimon to get up were laughable.
"MetalSeadramon… finish him… slowly."
MetalSeadramon, as asked, slowly moved in for the kill. There was a low rumble in the distance, but the man dismissed it as thunder, for the sky was darkening with clouds.
"RIVER OF POWER!"
To the man's surprise, the wounded Scorpiomon managed to move out of the way.
"TAIL BLADE!"
The man smirked.
No matter if the ant managed to dodge. His attacks don't make a dent in MetalSeadramon.
The rumbling was a bit louder now, and the man looked around, seeing nothing. He looked at his digivice, and saw no incoming Digidestined. He smirked again.
Doesn't matter what the sound is. Not a Digidestined, so MetalSeadramon will take it down easily.
Still, his master's commands were explicit.
"Do it MetalSeadramon! Now!"
He got a feral roar in response.
"HELL SQUEEZE!"
MetalSeadramon coiled around Scorpiomon like a snake, squeezing tightly. The rumbling noise turned into a screech as a larger than life motorcycle swerved out of an alley and into a stop.
"Now that really pisses me off."
A large biker digimon dressed in black leather stepped off the bike. He cracked his knuckles.
"DARKNESS CLAW!"
The man's mouth fell agape when the single attack forced MetalSeadramon off of Scorpiomon. The biker grinned.
"Come on, what's the matter?"
Damn.
His master's instructions were explicit. With a digimon capable of delaying him unnecessarily on the scene, he was forced to flee. MetalSeadramon knew this as well, and hurried to his master, before the two vanished among the darkening clouds. None of the three below could see well enough to know the man had ever been there, not noticing he had been there throughout the entire encounter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that afternoon, I listened casually to Mimi while she was on the phone, not really meaning to eavesdrop.
"Hi Maria! I just called to see what's up with you guys? Uh huh… really? Phil did what?"
She smiled and laughed, and I smiled too.
She could certainly use some cheer.
"I honestly don't understand what you see in him Maria. And I can't believe he got Lou involved. Steve I could almost see going with him, but Lou? Aggg…"
She frowned then.
"Maria? What's wrong?"
Her frown deepeend.
"What? What was it you weren't going to tell me?"
There was a pause while she listened to Maria on the other end of the line, then her eyes widened. She spoke again, but softly.
"What?"
Her hand came to her mouth and a horrified expression came over her face.
"When…?"
She sat down, and her hand moved up to cover her eyes.
"H-How is he taking it?"
She swallowed and sat down.
"I-I see. That's understandable. Tell him… tell him I'm sorry."
There was a pause while she listened to the other end.
"What? Are you sure? I see. No, no, everything's under control, we'll be fine. Look, just tell Lou that we're very sorry about it. I'll call in a few days. Okay? Bye?"
I looked at her.
"Mimi? What's wrong?"
"Lou…"
"What about him, Mimi?"
Never having actually met him, all I remembered about Lou was that he was an American Digidestined. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but Mimi was frantic.
"T-There was a MetalSeadramon… it…"
MetalSeadramon? Don't tell me…
"It what, Mimi?"
"It deleted Tortomon…"
The floor seemed to shift under me for a second.
"D-deleted…"
My mind reeled at the possibilities. I had always known Tentomon could be hurt in battle, and I knew that digimon could be deleted, but the possibility had never seemed real before.
"Do you think that this MetalSeadramon was the same one that we've been facing Mimi?"
She nodded.
"It happened yesterday. Lou and Tortomon were wandering near the harbor, an out of the blue, it just…"
She started crying then. I embraced her, letting her cry on my shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wait… he attacked you too, Cody?"
He nodded, holding Upamon, who was looking extremely depressed.
"Yeah. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Impmon."
I glanced down at the little guy. He was scuffing his foot against the ground.
"I came in to clobber the guy, not save your hide…"
I smiled a little. The virus was an okay guy.
"Whatever you say Impmon, whatever you say…"
Then I frowned.
"Two attacks in one day. He really gets around doesn't he?"
Izzy nodded.
"From the amusement park to the intersection Cody was attacked at? Not to mention New York and back… He's really moving Tai."
I nodded, and looked at Takato.
"What do you think?"
He sat for a moment.
"I might have encountered a situation like this before. If I'm right, his only real purpose is terrorism and destruction. Still, something doesn't seem right…"
"You mean the fact that you can't contact Azulongmon?"
He nodded.
"Or my… intermediaries… something with that kind of power isn't to be taken lightly."
I slammed my fist into my palm.
"This is the second Dark Master to be revived! In addition to taking MetalSeadramon down, we also have to figure out what is blocking Azulongmon and just who is reviving these digimon."
Izzy's face turned grim.
"And I think we'll find that we get the same answer to both questions."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening, I was back on the roof with Impmon.
"What do you think about all this?"
He sighed.
"I'm not really too sure. I don't really have the right to say anything. I deleted Leomon, remember?"
I shrugged.
"Yeah, but I ended up deleting you a few minutes later."
He nodded.
"I suppose we can try and reason with him…"
I nodded.
"That sounds good. But if we can't reason with him?"
Impmon's eyes became hard as rocks.
"Then we delete him."
I nodded.
"That's the difference between the us and him Impmon. At least we know it's wrong."
He nodded slowly.
"I guess, but after Leomon…"
"I know. We don't have a choice though."
"We'll do what we have to then."
"Yeah…"
I looked down at him and smiled.
"Nice to have someone I can talk about these things with."
He grinned.
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't so tired Takato.
I smirked.
"Sure, Impmon, sure…"
Then I frowned in concentration.
"I think 'Takato' is going to be taking a vacation to find Azulongmon."
He looked up at me.
"Huh?"
I smiled.
"That's just my excuse."
I narrowed my eyes and continued.
"Actually, I think it's time ChaosGallantmon took a hand in this little game."
He grinned.
"You want me to stick around here I take it?"
I nodded.
"If you don't mind. They can always use the extra help."
He nodded.
"Sure. But you owe me one!"
I chuckled.
"Yeah. Whatever."
"Hey! That's my line!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Here Upamon, I brought this for you."
Upamon looked at the food in my hand.
"No thanks Cody."
I looked down at Upamon, extremely worried. He had been looking worried and afraid, and the only other emotion I'd ever seen him with other than some form of happiness was anger. And he was never one to refuse food.
"Okay, Upamon, what's wrong?"
He looked up at me, a worried expression on his face.
"Cody… I think Tai's wrong…"
"What about?"
"About the Dark Masters being resurrected."
I kneeled down beside him and put the food on the floor for later.
"Why Upamon?"
"Well, it's just…"
He sighed, then continued on.
"Cody, have you ever been really ashamed of something?"
"You mean like the time I lied to get Joe out of class to help us?"
"Yeah, but worse than that. Something so bad you couldn't ever tell anyone. You're just that scared of what they would think or say or do if they ever found out."
"What does this have to do with these attacks Upamon?"
"Tai is wrong. I don't think it, I know it. Puppetmon was a fake. Well, he was a Puppetmon right enough, but he wasn't the same one as the Dark Master. Neither is MetalSeadramon."
I frowned.
"How do you know this Upamon?"
"Puppetmon just didn't feel like the real Puppetmon did."
"You could feel that even inside the altar we found you in?"
"Not exactly…"
"Then what? How do you know?"
He looked up at me, his eyes full of tears.
"Because Cody, I was the original MetalSeadramon!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~A Week Later~
I growled under my breath as I went down the street in my car.
Where did he go this time?!
Joe had run out again, this time in the middle of a test. His pocket had started beeping, and he had excused himself to answer it. He had rushed back in, apologizing to the teacher and promising he'd be back to take it another day, then grabbed his stuff and ran out of the room.
This wasn't the first time either. In the last week, Joe had cut every one of our dates, study or otherwise. He even ran out on a lunch that we had planned for the last two weeks.
Then, I was suddenly jolted out of my thoughts as there was a traffic jam on the bridge. I cursed under my breath and then sighed.
Where are you Joe? I just wanted to help you…
Then I saw it. Out in the fog there was a shape. It was long and skinny, like a serpent. The shadow came out of the fog and looked at those of us on the bridge like appetizers. People were out of their cars and running. I got out myself, but like some others, I just stood there, shocked.
What is that? I hope Joe isn't caught up in this…
It looked similar to the beings from the attacks three years ago, and the ones that came before that. The media didn't know what to think of them, and the government hadn't given any details, they had just said that 'the crisis is over'. No one knew anything. The only thing I remember was that my mother was killed in the first assault.
Mother…
It howled then, it's eyes glowing a dark red, and it looked at the bridge. Then to my surprise, it spoke…
"RIVER OF POWER!"
A bright beam of energy erupted from its nose at the bridge, and me, exploding. Or at least it should have. When I realized that the bridge wasn't collapsing beneath me, or that I wasn't fried to a crisp, I looked up.
There was what looked like an oversized evil knight standing over me, holding his shield up to the blast. The blast poured in, and the road beneath him started to crack under the pressure. Those that hadn't run before were now, but I was too frightened to move.
Mother…
He looked down at me and said something, but in my panic I couldn't understand. I backed off slowly, away from his blood-red eyes, away from him. And then the bridge collapsed beneath me.
I allowed myself to scream as I fell…
He surveyed his surroundings from the roof of the skyscraper he was standing on.
That was what he should have done earlier. He could not allow the Digidestined to interfere with his master's plan. He had to make sure that no more than one of then was there, for he could not afford to lose. He had come too closer earlier today. He had to make sure.
His reward…
He shuddered with delight just thinking about it.
Down in the crowd of people there was only one Digidestined, a weak one at that. He signaled, and MetalSeadramon moved in.
"RIVER OF POWER!"
The attack crashed headlong into the crowd of people. Only two figures stood their ground.
Digivolution_
Armadillomon Digivolve to… Anklyomon!
Anklyomon Digivolve to… Scorpiomon!
Perfect…
While this Digidestined's ability to digivolve to ultimate was a surprise, it was not a problem. He smirked.
All was going according to plan.
"TWIN SWORD!"
"ULTIMATE STREAM!"
MetalSeadramon's attack easily overwhelmed Scorpiomon's, and Scorpiomon was knocked backwards and down, almost hitting his Digidestined. The boy's urgent pleas for his digimon to get up were laughable.
"MetalSeadramon… finish him… slowly."
MetalSeadramon, as asked, slowly moved in for the kill. There was a low rumble in the distance, but the man dismissed it as thunder, for the sky was darkening with clouds.
"RIVER OF POWER!"
To the man's surprise, the wounded Scorpiomon managed to move out of the way.
"TAIL BLADE!"
The man smirked.
No matter if the ant managed to dodge. His attacks don't make a dent in MetalSeadramon.
The rumbling was a bit louder now, and the man looked around, seeing nothing. He looked at his digivice, and saw no incoming Digidestined. He smirked again.
Doesn't matter what the sound is. Not a Digidestined, so MetalSeadramon will take it down easily.
Still, his master's commands were explicit.
"Do it MetalSeadramon! Now!"
He got a feral roar in response.
"HELL SQUEEZE!"
MetalSeadramon coiled around Scorpiomon like a snake, squeezing tightly. The rumbling noise turned into a screech as a larger than life motorcycle swerved out of an alley and into a stop.
"Now that really pisses me off."
A large biker digimon dressed in black leather stepped off the bike. He cracked his knuckles.
"DARKNESS CLAW!"
The man's mouth fell agape when the single attack forced MetalSeadramon off of Scorpiomon. The biker grinned.
"Come on, what's the matter?"
Damn.
His master's instructions were explicit. With a digimon capable of delaying him unnecessarily on the scene, he was forced to flee. MetalSeadramon knew this as well, and hurried to his master, before the two vanished among the darkening clouds. None of the three below could see well enough to know the man had ever been there, not noticing he had been there throughout the entire encounter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that afternoon, I listened casually to Mimi while she was on the phone, not really meaning to eavesdrop.
"Hi Maria! I just called to see what's up with you guys? Uh huh… really? Phil did what?"
She smiled and laughed, and I smiled too.
She could certainly use some cheer.
"I honestly don't understand what you see in him Maria. And I can't believe he got Lou involved. Steve I could almost see going with him, but Lou? Aggg…"
She frowned then.
"Maria? What's wrong?"
Her frown deepeend.
"What? What was it you weren't going to tell me?"
There was a pause while she listened to Maria on the other end of the line, then her eyes widened. She spoke again, but softly.
"What?"
Her hand came to her mouth and a horrified expression came over her face.
"When…?"
She sat down, and her hand moved up to cover her eyes.
"H-How is he taking it?"
She swallowed and sat down.
"I-I see. That's understandable. Tell him… tell him I'm sorry."
There was a pause while she listened to the other end.
"What? Are you sure? I see. No, no, everything's under control, we'll be fine. Look, just tell Lou that we're very sorry about it. I'll call in a few days. Okay? Bye?"
I looked at her.
"Mimi? What's wrong?"
"Lou…"
"What about him, Mimi?"
Never having actually met him, all I remembered about Lou was that he was an American Digidestined. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but Mimi was frantic.
"T-There was a MetalSeadramon… it…"
MetalSeadramon? Don't tell me…
"It what, Mimi?"
"It deleted Tortomon…"
The floor seemed to shift under me for a second.
"D-deleted…"
My mind reeled at the possibilities. I had always known Tentomon could be hurt in battle, and I knew that digimon could be deleted, but the possibility had never seemed real before.
"Do you think that this MetalSeadramon was the same one that we've been facing Mimi?"
She nodded.
"It happened yesterday. Lou and Tortomon were wandering near the harbor, an out of the blue, it just…"
She started crying then. I embraced her, letting her cry on my shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wait… he attacked you too, Cody?"
He nodded, holding Upamon, who was looking extremely depressed.
"Yeah. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Impmon."
I glanced down at the little guy. He was scuffing his foot against the ground.
"I came in to clobber the guy, not save your hide…"
I smiled a little. The virus was an okay guy.
"Whatever you say Impmon, whatever you say…"
Then I frowned.
"Two attacks in one day. He really gets around doesn't he?"
Izzy nodded.
"From the amusement park to the intersection Cody was attacked at? Not to mention New York and back… He's really moving Tai."
I nodded, and looked at Takato.
"What do you think?"
He sat for a moment.
"I might have encountered a situation like this before. If I'm right, his only real purpose is terrorism and destruction. Still, something doesn't seem right…"
"You mean the fact that you can't contact Azulongmon?"
He nodded.
"Or my… intermediaries… something with that kind of power isn't to be taken lightly."
I slammed my fist into my palm.
"This is the second Dark Master to be revived! In addition to taking MetalSeadramon down, we also have to figure out what is blocking Azulongmon and just who is reviving these digimon."
Izzy's face turned grim.
"And I think we'll find that we get the same answer to both questions."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening, I was back on the roof with Impmon.
"What do you think about all this?"
He sighed.
"I'm not really too sure. I don't really have the right to say anything. I deleted Leomon, remember?"
I shrugged.
"Yeah, but I ended up deleting you a few minutes later."
He nodded.
"I suppose we can try and reason with him…"
I nodded.
"That sounds good. But if we can't reason with him?"
Impmon's eyes became hard as rocks.
"Then we delete him."
I nodded.
"That's the difference between the us and him Impmon. At least we know it's wrong."
He nodded slowly.
"I guess, but after Leomon…"
"I know. We don't have a choice though."
"We'll do what we have to then."
"Yeah…"
I looked down at him and smiled.
"Nice to have someone I can talk about these things with."
He grinned.
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't so tired Takato.
I smirked.
"Sure, Impmon, sure…"
Then I frowned in concentration.
"I think 'Takato' is going to be taking a vacation to find Azulongmon."
He looked up at me.
"Huh?"
I smiled.
"That's just my excuse."
I narrowed my eyes and continued.
"Actually, I think it's time ChaosGallantmon took a hand in this little game."
He grinned.
"You want me to stick around here I take it?"
I nodded.
"If you don't mind. They can always use the extra help."
He nodded.
"Sure. But you owe me one!"
I chuckled.
"Yeah. Whatever."
"Hey! That's my line!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Here Upamon, I brought this for you."
Upamon looked at the food in my hand.
"No thanks Cody."
I looked down at Upamon, extremely worried. He had been looking worried and afraid, and the only other emotion I'd ever seen him with other than some form of happiness was anger. And he was never one to refuse food.
"Okay, Upamon, what's wrong?"
He looked up at me, a worried expression on his face.
"Cody… I think Tai's wrong…"
"What about?"
"About the Dark Masters being resurrected."
I kneeled down beside him and put the food on the floor for later.
"Why Upamon?"
"Well, it's just…"
He sighed, then continued on.
"Cody, have you ever been really ashamed of something?"
"You mean like the time I lied to get Joe out of class to help us?"
"Yeah, but worse than that. Something so bad you couldn't ever tell anyone. You're just that scared of what they would think or say or do if they ever found out."
"What does this have to do with these attacks Upamon?"
"Tai is wrong. I don't think it, I know it. Puppetmon was a fake. Well, he was a Puppetmon right enough, but he wasn't the same one as the Dark Master. Neither is MetalSeadramon."
I frowned.
"How do you know this Upamon?"
"Puppetmon just didn't feel like the real Puppetmon did."
"You could feel that even inside the altar we found you in?"
"Not exactly…"
"Then what? How do you know?"
He looked up at me, his eyes full of tears.
"Because Cody, I was the original MetalSeadramon!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~A Week Later~
I growled under my breath as I went down the street in my car.
Where did he go this time?!
Joe had run out again, this time in the middle of a test. His pocket had started beeping, and he had excused himself to answer it. He had rushed back in, apologizing to the teacher and promising he'd be back to take it another day, then grabbed his stuff and ran out of the room.
This wasn't the first time either. In the last week, Joe had cut every one of our dates, study or otherwise. He even ran out on a lunch that we had planned for the last two weeks.
Then, I was suddenly jolted out of my thoughts as there was a traffic jam on the bridge. I cursed under my breath and then sighed.
Where are you Joe? I just wanted to help you…
Then I saw it. Out in the fog there was a shape. It was long and skinny, like a serpent. The shadow came out of the fog and looked at those of us on the bridge like appetizers. People were out of their cars and running. I got out myself, but like some others, I just stood there, shocked.
What is that? I hope Joe isn't caught up in this…
It looked similar to the beings from the attacks three years ago, and the ones that came before that. The media didn't know what to think of them, and the government hadn't given any details, they had just said that 'the crisis is over'. No one knew anything. The only thing I remember was that my mother was killed in the first assault.
Mother…
It howled then, it's eyes glowing a dark red, and it looked at the bridge. Then to my surprise, it spoke…
"RIVER OF POWER!"
A bright beam of energy erupted from its nose at the bridge, and me, exploding. Or at least it should have. When I realized that the bridge wasn't collapsing beneath me, or that I wasn't fried to a crisp, I looked up.
There was what looked like an oversized evil knight standing over me, holding his shield up to the blast. The blast poured in, and the road beneath him started to crack under the pressure. Those that hadn't run before were now, but I was too frightened to move.
Mother…
He looked down at me and said something, but in my panic I couldn't understand. I backed off slowly, away from his blood-red eyes, away from him. And then the bridge collapsed beneath me.
I allowed myself to scream as I fell…