Chapter 48 - …And Mate

I watched carefully as my partner, Asuramon, started pummeling Murmuxmon with his massive fists. It didn't do a lot of damage so far as I could tell, but it kept Murmuxmon from keeping his total attention on Gigadramon, who was picking himself up off the ground.

"FIST OF ASURA!"

Asuramon upped his attack so that his ally could regain flight, but it was a little hard for the winged digimon to roll over so his wings would work properly once more.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

Asuramon braced himself, folding his four arms over his face and chest, bracing himself. I clutched my digivice tightly, willing Asuramon to survive, to conquer.

I was really starting to scare myself, but I understood, too. If we lost… I didn't want to think about it.

"Come on, Gigadramon…"

I watched painfully as my digimon tried to get up off the ground, something difficult when his wings were trapped below him. I felt Maria squeeze my hand, and I looked over and gave her a half smile before turning my attention back to the fight.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

The gout of flame pouring from Murmuxmon crashed out over the other Digimon, Asuramon, who braced himself rather than dodging. Then he countered.

"MULTIPLE FACES!"

Asuramon's head started spinning around, revealing all the faces in rapid succession. Each spewed out a different colored orb, the faces spinning faster until it looked like a multi colored stream of energy. Murmuxmon attempted to dodge, but was clipped in the shoulder. Being a mega, he successfully ignored the attack, but at least it looked like it did a little damage.

With a roar, Gigadramon managed to flip himself over and get off the ground again. I grinned as he targeted Murmuxmon's back.

"DARKSIDE ATTACK!"

Gigadramon opened his mouth, spewing forth black fire, scorching Murmuxmon with its heat.

"Ahhh!"

Murmuxmon lashed out backwards with his fist, spinning around as he did so, hitting Gigadramon off to the side. He growled.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

"DARKSIDE ATTACK!"

Gigadramon used the dark flame from his mouth to block the orange flames from Murmuxmon's hands, but it was a loosing battle, considering the difference in levels.

"FIST OF ASURA!"

Asuramon used the distraction to get close and start pummeling Murmuxmon's back with its fists. It came a little to late though.

"Muchomon!"

My digimon had used up too much power and I raced forward to try and catch him. I grabbed the red bird from the ground and started sprinting back towards where Maria, Lou and Steve waited.

"You all right, Muchomon?"

"I'm okay… I think I might be up for digivolving in a few minutes. Just gimmie a minute to catch my breath.

I gazed up at the fight in progress. Murmuxmon was concentrating on Asuramon fully now, and unless we came up with a miracle, we weren't going to get those few minutes… and even that probably wouldn't help that much.

Maria spoke up.

"Wait… maybe we can try what the other digidestined did earlier. Powering up the digimon already out there!"

I grinned.

"Yeah! Muchomon'll definitely be able to get up there and kick some butt then!"

Maria looked a little guilty.

"Actually… I was thinking more of Asuramon… If we can provide enough energy, we might be able to push it into mega."

"Oh. Right." I guess it's a valid point… "Ready, Muchomon?"

He nodded.

"Then let's go."

Muchomon concentrated, and energy flowed from my digimon to Asuramon.

I squeezed Carmela's hand again as her partner tried valiantly to keep up with the mega in front of him. Carmela didn't have enough experience to see it, but I could tell Asuramon was loosing strength rapidly. His attacks were coming less frequently.

"MULTIPLE FACES!"

He started up his beam attack, but Murmuxmon blocked it with a slowly burning hand then raised the other.

"GEHENNA FLAME!"

Fire shot out and consumed him. But then, streaks of energy shot out from the lower cave where the New York digidestined were, and struck as well. The energy helped, and Asuramon was able to survive the attack. Then Carmela let go of my hand and stepped a little closer to the ledge. She closed her eyes and clasped her hands over her digivice.

"Please…"

A glowing pink light struck her in the back, came out from between her hands and shot out at Asuramon, who glowed in its power.

Digivolution

Asuramon digivolve to… SlashAngemon!

The new mega was tall, and dangerous looking. Well, at least as dangerous looking as an angel can get. It's wings were made of metal blades, as were its arms. There were also blades mounted to the undersides of its feet and its forehead, all of it the same metal, likely Chrome Digizoid. Murmuxmon took in the sight for a moment, then attacked without hesitation.

"NECRO INTERROGATION!"

The void of energy appeared around SlashAngemon, attempting to drain him like the others.

"HEAVEN'S RIPPER!"

SlashAngemon's wings glowed brightly, and expanded to full wingspan, bursting through and eliminating the void. It smiled coldly at Murmuxmon.

"No longer will you terrorize innocents, or kill their families. Fall Murmuxmon, fall like the demon you are. HEAVENLY ESPADA!"

SlashAngemon swooped into a charge and sliced through Murmuxmon with ease. He deleted swiftly, and SlashAngemon glowed and dedigivolved as he fell to the ground. He became far too small for Kotemon, and Carmela collapsed soon after.

"Carmela!"

I rushed to her side even as I heard Palmon using her 'poison ivy' to gather the fallen digimon. I nearly collapsed myself in relief when I saw that it was just over exhaustion. I picked her up gently, and Gomamon took her digimon. Overexausted himself, SlashAngemon had gone all the way back to his baby stage, MetalKoromon.

I looked at Tai, who nodded.

"Okay, let's try to find a way out of here."

I strode into the valley, carrying Grani in my arms. He was getting a little heavy, but that was the least I could do for my friend. Sovereigns knew he carried me all the time. I grunted as I set him down.

"Still with me Grani?"

"Yes…"

"Good."

Not seeing Azulongmon in the area, I reached out with my mind.

"Azulongmon? Are you there? I need help with Grani. He's hurt."

I didn't get an answer for a moment, and was about to try again when he came rushing in.

"Takato! How did it go?"

I grimaced under the faceplate.

"Fine, as far as I know, but I need help with Grani, fast!"

He nodded, the closed his eyes and looked like he was concentrating briefly before opening them again.

"I've summoned Gennai."

I nodded, and returned my attention to my friend. Gennai appeared quickly, and not in his own sweet time as was usual. He took one look at the situation and started giving me orders on how to treat my friend. I followed without hesitation.

I carefully lead the Digidestined down a series of small ledges in order to get to the bottom of where we'd fought Murmuxmon, where the New York Digidestined were waiting for us. After a few minutes, we reached the bottom, where they waited for us, Agumon a step behind me like always. I stuck out my hand to Lou, who took it.

"Thanks for bailing us out, again. Couldn't have done it without you."

Lou smiled and waved his hand dismissively.

"No, you would have figured it out eventually. We merely helped things along."

Another one of them, slightly stout, with a hat, Phil, if I remembered correctly, spoke up.

"Who had that SlashAngemon? That was pretty cool."

Joe answered that one for Carmela who was still out cold in his arms.

"She did… it's taken a lot out of her though."

Steve, his SnowAgumon in his arms squinted through his glasses at her.

"Who's she? I don't remember her…"

I took over for Joe again.

"Her name's Carmela. From what I understand, she's only had her partner for a week. Kind of a record for digivolutions."

Lou and Steve nodded, but Phil got weird look… until Maria noticed and elbowed him in the gut. I ignored it and continued.

"You guys find a way out?"

Maria nodded and they started leading us back down the tunnels.

"Yeah. Well, sort of. All the entrances were collapsed, but we led ChaosGallantmon to what used to be an exit, and he re-opened it with an attack."

I frowned.

"Speaking of which… where is Takato, anyways?"

Gennai groaned and looked up at me.

"Look, Takato, I'm telling you it'll be fine. Matt and Tai got hit in the real world and they came out just fine. You'll be okay if you dedigivolve. It's not that bad."

I frowned.

"Look, I know the process was the same, that's the only reason I risked it, but I assumed the process with the digivice made it… safer. I mean, what if BlackGuilmon missed some of the data?"

Gennai sighed.

"You'd know if that happened. Trust me, you'd know. It's like… missing a toe, or a finger or something. You'd just know. Does anything feel off?"

"No… but…"

"'But' nothing. You're fine. Just do it!"

Gulping a little apprehensively, I closed my eyes and dedigivolved. When I hit the ground, I felt all over, trying to find something out of place. Nothing.

"Okay… so I'm okay here. What about the real world though? Am I part digital something… like a digimon… or you?"

Gennai sighed again.

"You're freaking out over nothing, Takato. Besides. If that were going to make a difference, it would have happened the first time you biomerged in Zhuqiamon's lair."

I blushed.

"Oh. Right. Heh, sorry."

He shook his head.

"It's all right."

Kari was leaning on my shoulder as we walked through the tunnels to get out. I glanced down at her, more than a little concerned.

"You okay, Kari?"

She smiled wanly.

"I'm fine, TK. Just tired."

I frowned.

"You sure? Because it seems like you got tired really fast back there in the fight – and you didn't even participate in it."

She shook her head, trying not to seem to tired at the moment.

"No, it's fine, really. I… It's just everything catching up to me at once."

"You sure, Kari?"

She nodded.

"Yeah. Just get me to a TV, and home into my own bed. I couldn't sleep too much on those floors. I'll be okay after a little rest."

I nodded, and didn't say anymore on the subject – but I wasn't sure I believed her.

Several hours after we left the Odaiba digidestined to go through their own digi-port, I stood with Maria out on a New York wharf looking over the water. Maria was irritated with me, I knew that much.

"Phil, what was your problem back there? You were downright rude… and to someone who passed out saving our butts, too!"

I sighed and was silent for a bit, attempting to put my feelings into words. I adjusted Muchomon in my arms.

"I just… I hate being useless."

She frowned at me, not getting it.

"Hey! We made a difference! If we weren't there-!"

I cut her off.

"I know. I know they couldn't have done it if we hadn't been there. But the only thing we did was take lumps for them… What kind of help is that?"

She sighed.

"I… think I understand what you're getting at, but what does that have to do with being so rude to Carmela?"

He sighed.

"I guess… I don't know. We've taken hits for years, all of the effort, with only to ultimates to show for it so far. Then she waltzes in, and has a mega in under a week. What does that say about us?"

Maria bit her lip.

"What do you think it says, Phil?"

I shook my head and looked at the water again.

"I'm not sure… no. I know what it says… it says that sooner or later, we'll be useless… well, more useless than we usually are."

She started getting steamed again.

"We aren't useless Phil."

I groaned.

"We will be. This time there were two megas, and we couldn't digivolve for most of the time. What happens next time? What if next time the Odaiba crew isn't there to pulls us out of the fire after we distract the enemy for them? We don't have the firepower."

She groaned.

"Great. Look, I'm going to go. I'm… not saying you're wrong, Phil… but I think you're being a little pessimistic about this."

I sighed and looked down at Muchomon, sleeping in my arms.

We don't have what it takes to protect her, buddy. But we will someday. Someday we'll have what it takes to take on anybody – even WarGreymon - for her if we have to.