Chapter 47 - Check…

Kotemon shook with rage as he faced down Murmuxmon. I was really impressed by his courage. I looked down at Agumon.

"Are you sure you don't have anything left, buddy?"

He nodded.

"It was a starvation diet, Tai! I don't have the energy to digivolve."

Matt was panicking. It was only a matter of time before Murmuxmon lost patience with the banter he and Kotemon were throwing around and attacked.

"What about you, Gabumon?"

Gabumon just shook his head.

"I've got some left!"

Sighing with relief I turned to look at the brave soul. It was Bearmon. Without hesitation, or even waiting for me to say something, Bearmon jumped off the balcony to support Kotemon. I groaned. Jun ran to the edge beside Carmela as Murmuxmon looked up at us.

He said something, probably commenting on the fact that we were all out of our prison, but I didn't hear it properly. Matt was too busy shaking me.

"Are we depending on Jun for our salvation?!"

I nodded sadly. I understood.

"It looks like it, yes."

I could tell Matt wanted to break down and cry. And I understood. Jun would never let him live it down, and because she'd proved herself able, she'd be coming along to the digital world every time we went.

She'd insist.

Matt would probably get over it after he'd adjusted, but right now the thought that she even had a digimon was still stunning him, and now she was saving his butt. I managed not to snicker. Sora would have killed me.

I redirected my attention to the edge of the ledge, and forced Matt to do the same. Murmuxmon sneered and raised his hand to strike at Bearmon and Kotemon. I made what is called a command descision.

"Everyone, give what you have left to those two."

"But…"

I cut Sora off.

"If they can't digivolve, we're dead anyways. It's the only chance we have."

She nodded, and the digimon all glowed, sending out whatever they could. Whatever they had left.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

I crossed my fingers as the light and the attack hit at the same time.

Digivolution

Kotemon digivolve to… Yasyamon!

Bearmon digivolve to… Grizzmon!

Yasyamon digivolve to… Asuramon!

Grizzmon digivolve to… GrappLeomon!

The two ultimates stood there, relatively fine, if a little scratched. Not bad considering it was a pumped up mega. Without wasting any more time, they attacked.
I paused in attempting to find an exit. Grani was getting a bit heavy.

Looking at the forked path beside me, I choose the one that led off to the right. It had to lead outside eventually, right?

Trudging through the halls was misery, but at least they were clear of the minor annoyances, like enemy digimon.

Or not.

A Gigadramon came out of the tunnel ahead of me. I shifted my stance and brought out my shield, charging it with energy.

"Stop!"

I blinked.

Humans?

Then I actually recognized him. It was the American Digidestined, Phil. I reverted my shield into my hand and re-shifted Grani in my arms. I nodded down at them, as the others began to join him on the ground.

"Do you know the way out?"

They shook their heads. Lou answered with a bit more precision.

"No. All of the exits are closed. We found a map."

Great. Nothing is ever easy.

"I don't suppose you could lead me to a former entrance, could you? My partner… he needs help."

They nodded, and Lou motioned with his hands as they reversed course.

"There's one not too far this way."

I followed, and true enough, there was one not a hundred yards away from where we were. I nodded down to them. They wouldn't see a smile through my faceplate anyways.

"Thank you. Now stand back."

Shifting Grani again, I leveled my shield at the wall.

"JUDECCA PRISON!"

It took a lot to punch through the wall. The fight with MedievalGallantmon had refreshed me somewhat, but my strength was still not all that it could have been. I could feel the data waiting, just out of reach. It was a strange sensation, but I supposed it was because our forms were so similar. I ignored the feeling, and let the beam go when I stopped feeling resistance.

Sunlight, finally.

I looked down at the others.

"Are you coming?"

They looked at each other, but ultimately Lou shook his head.

"No… we should find the other Digidestined."

I nodded.

"I need to get to Azulongmon and inform him of the situation - and get Grani help."

Lou nodded.

"Thank you, for all you have done. For Otamamon, and this…"

I nodded, an exit was important to them. We quickly went our separate ways.
"FIST OF ASURA!"

"CYCLONE TURBINE!"

I sighed. Asuramon's attacks weren't having the effect I'd hoped they would against the other digimon, but at least the constant six-fisted assault was keeping the other digimon from attacking them for a bit.

I gazed at my digimon, taking in it's new appearance. It was tall, six-armed, and three faced, just as the Asura of legend were. He was red, and fire seemed to leap off his hands as he struck, making Murmuxmon flinch, but not truly damaging him.

It was not the solution I'd hoped for, but then I'd never expected for My digimon to take a true forefront in the battle, either.

His companion, GrappLeomon, was having just as little luck as Asuramon. GrappLeomon was a bipedal lion with several cybernetic enhancements, most notably covering the wrists, as his hands rotated as incredible speed, supposedly increasing the damage I assumed.

But still, it had little effect.

I smiled grimly, and clutched my digivice tighter. I had just gotten Joe back. I would not loose him here. I would not. With that settled, I silently urged Asuramon onwards, hoping he could eventually break through the mega leveled digimon's tough defenses.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

Asuramon and GrappLeomon both went to dodge, and did so - barely. This would not be any easy fight by any stretch of the imagination.

"MULTIPLE FACES!"

"BEAST KILLING WAVE!"

Asuramon's head spun, and as each of his three faces looked upon his opponent, they spewed fire, even as Jun's digimon started launching bladed of air in waves from its kicks.

I closed my eyes in frustration. While the long sequence of attacks slightly dazed Murmuxmon, there was still too little damage being dealt, at the cost of too much of their stamina. Eventually our digimon would get too tired, and then… well, I didn't want to think about it.

I just stood there, and believed in our victory, because that was all I could do.
He watched the pool.

He watched Murmuxmon fight, and be out fought by two ultimates. He shook his head in resignation.

At least the fool is expendable at this point.

He glanced over his shoulder at the approaching figure. He turned back to the pool, even as he addressed her.

"I assume you have it."

"I wouldn't have come back without it."

He nodded.

"Good."

There was a slight shuffling behind him.

"Actually, I couldn't tell one set from another, so I simply brought them all."

He nodded again. It would be something of a pain to decipher all of the documents, but to have it would be well worth the effort.

And who knew what other hidden gems would be within the stack of Murmuxmon's blueprints anyways?

He turned his attention fully back to the pool and gestured at a rack he'd had an Ogremon build.

"Place them there."

"Of course."

He could hear his will being done even as he watched the fight progress further. He shook his head again. The fool was worthless now that he was without his inventions. Just as he had been all those years ago. Daemon reflected on that for a moment.

Of course, he tended to lay more complete plans in those days. Perhaps he has grown overconfident.

He shrugged the thought off. It mattered little. He could tell the way the battle was going. To beat the Digidestined in battle, one needed to be swift, precise, and overwhelmingly powerful. None of these aspects Murmuxmon possessed. He nodded shortly to himself as he determined that the Digidestined would doubtlessly triumph in this encounter.

And if by some miracle they didn't, his work would be easier.

But even so, he continued to watch. No matter who won, it would be important to know the manner of the loser's defeat, so that he would not make the same mistake, and determine any new weapons gifted to the winner. He grew a cold smile as the girl came up beside him.

Still, watching the ants struggle does possess a certain amount of entertainment. Perhaps some will be left to provide such entertainment when the final phase is complete.

He glanced over at the girl once more, noting that she was not watching the struggle, but him instead, awaiting orders. He sighed.

"Very well. You are dismissed until my next summons. Your work has been… above average."

As close to actual praise as Daemon would ever give a servant. The girl nodded and left. Such was her role in the scheme of things. Servant. It was the nature of all things to have a master, even the only master was time, and death.

As he once more reflected on the days of before, he wondered what his master would say when next they met.
"FIST OF ASURA!"

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

Oh… come on! Get up GrappLeomon! UP!

As I thought about it, GrappLeomon did just, that rising to his feet and diving in at the enemy. This attack would do it, I was sure.

"CYCLONE TURBINE!"

The attack hammered in and I jumped lightly. This one was in the bag, I knew it. I glanced over at Matt, who was looking nervous. I shrugged it off. Matt was always such a worry wart all the time.

He needs to loosen up a little.

"NECRO INTERROGATION!"

My eyes widened. Murmuxmon's attack hit my poor GrappLeomon dead on, lifting him and surrounding him as he howled in pain. I got closer to the edge.

"Hey, you! Stop that!"

Then, a swirling amount of light came out of GrappLeomon and went into Murmuxmon, throwing Bearmon back at me.

"Bearmon!"

I caught Bearmon, but his weight sent us both backwards. He looked up at me, a little dazed.

"Sorry, Jun… I tried…"

I smiled back down at him.

"Don't worry, you did your best, and that's all that matters. I promise. We'll win for sure!"

I glanced out. Now alone, Carmela's Asuramon wasn't doing the best. It was all he could do to dodge those stupid flames, and send back his own.

"MULTIPLE FACES!"

"GEHE-"

"METAL SMIRK BOMB!"

"DARKSIDE ATTACK!"

Murmuxmon stumbled from the two shots to his back as two other digimon came in. I heard Izzy behind us.

"Gigadramon and MetalMamemon!"

Murmuxmon spun to face them, but Asuramon took advantage of it.

"FIST OF ASURA!"

Then the other two closed while he was distracted.

"METAL CLAW!"

"GIGABYTE WING!"

Murmuxmon shielded himself with an arm, then aimed wildly.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

He got super lucky when he hit both MetalMamemon and Gigadramon, but he did get them.

"NECRO INTERROGATION!"

"FIST OF ASURA!"

"DARKSIDE ATTACK!"

They tried, but it proved to be a little too late as the energy was sucked right out of MetalMamemon. One of the other guys ran out and caught his digimon while the others covered for him. I frowned. This bad guy was not going away like he should have by now. But, at least we still had two digimon left.

I felt Matt's hand on my shoulder and smiled up at him as the digimon down on the ground watched each other carefully, like in one of those old westerns. The anticipation was killing me.

Then, it was on.

"GIGABYTE WING!"

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

"MULTIPLE FACES!"

I grinned as I watched. I knew we would win. The Digidestined couldn't loose. Not as long as I was here. Matt wouldn't let them.