He so enjoyed psychological torture. He'd been on the receiving end of so much, after all. It would be...liberating to inflict it on these two fine examples of hatred and loathing. He sniggered, then laughed, as Josh and Michael, each locked in a separate cell, groaned...
Digimon: Digicross Episode 42 Force 3 - Socramon!
Socramon and his evolutions created by Cave Cat. Nice person, very tolerant of this lazy author.
Again, this chapter's rated PG-13 for non-cartoon violence, language, and mature subject matter (that wonderfully vague warning that tells a reader nothing)
Gail glanced behind her, making sure that Jake and Kristen were still with her. All she could remember was the apartment, seeing Josh trying to kill Michael (which still tore at her heart. Was this Josh's fate? To become as much an animal as his father?), then that strange talking beetle electrocuting her ex and...
This place. This couldn't be the Digital World Josh always spoke of, could it?
"Mom!" Kristen gasped, pointing to an exit. The three headed out.
"What about Josh?"
Gail shook her head. "We have to find help first, Jake," she answered. "We don't even have one of those...things to help us right now." She stopped, confused. "Does anyone else...hear waves?"
"Great." Jake snorted. "Spring Break in Hell."
"Shut up." Kristen hissed.
"Quiet, both of you. We need to find a way back."
Real World
Normally, Izzy would have called the other digidestined as soon as Murmuxmon had shown up. However, he had spent the last few minutes holding Kari, who had started to speak, then fell to her knees, trembling.
"It's alright, Kari. He's gone now."
"It's...I shouldn't be like this," Kari answered, voice still a bit shaky. "I've faced evil digimon, why was this different?"
Izzy smiled a bit. "Because it's always different when it's a human. Face it, with digimon, you usually know where you stand. But someone like that...thing," Izzy was reluctant to call Michael a 'man', "well, it's not the digital world."
"We're going to have to save him too, aren't we," Gatomon asked.
Izzy sighed. "Yeah. We'd be no better than Josh's dad if we left him behind."
"Stop that." Kari said quietly, some of her wit coming back. "Kyle's supposed to be the noble one."
"No," Izzy replied, "Kyle's the apologetic digidestined. You're the noble one."
"Stop it!" Kari blushed a bit.
"You are. Anyone else would have just wanted to leave Michael behind. Me included."
"Don't be so sure. Part of me does. He's..." Kari sighed. "I thought the Dark Masters were that evil."
Izzy held Kari tightly. "Yeah, I know. But we're better than that, right?"
Dark Ocean
Jacob tripped, fell over, and slid partway down an small black hill, mother and sister half running, half sliding after him. Wincing, he forced himself to get up. "Skinned elbow. Great."
"Around here, that's mild," someone commented. A humanoid...cat strode into view, grey and black fur seeming to melt out of the shadows. "But then, you're not from here, are you?"
"Get away from him," Gail snapped, hand going to where she had kept her handgun.
"Relax," the cat replied. "If I was here to hurt you, I'd have done it when you came stumbling out of Murmuxmon's little camp."
"Murmux..." Kristen stumbled over the name.
"Local Mega level digimon that wants to take over Demon's place as boss of this area. Be glad Demon didn't get you, or you wouldn't even be alive right now. And, no, I don't work for him, either."
"Who are you anyway," Jacob asked. "And why should we trust you, anyway?"
"Black Socramon. Oh, and, to be honest, you don't have much of a choice, now do you?"
Gail glared at the digimon. "What's in it for you?"
Black Socramon shrugged. "Simple. We both want out of here. It used to be fun, but I'm tired of all the fighting going on here. I'd much rather spend a night sneaking around, not dodging Skull Satamon. Let me tell you," he winked at Kristen, "it gets old real quick."
"So, you help us, we help you." Jacob shrugged, "sounds fair." As his mother started to speak, he cut her off, "Look, it's not like we have a choice, right? We get out of here, find those other digidestined Agumon told us about, and come back for Josh. You know him. He'll be fine."
Murmuxmon's lair
Murmuxmon watched as he subtly altered the thoughts of his two captives , delighting as that energy triggered the desired responses and the generation of dark energy, much more potent than the type normally emitted by the Control Spires. Once enough was generated, he could claim it and try another attack on Demon's forces.
The boy in particular was a fountain of dark energy. And his partner Agumon was the perfect barometer, if the greying of the digimon's skin was anything to go by.
He'll never control anyone again. I'll kill him before he harms my family again.
Even if I have to die in the process.
He'll either obey me or die. They all will!
Real World
Everyone had made it back to Izzy's home, where Izzy and Kari recounted their encounter. After one blistering outburst by Tai, Kari and Sora had led him aside, while the other digidestined planned their next move.
"So, we're going after them, right?" Cody asked, face still a little red. "What about that guy Michael?"
Izzy sighed. "Him too, even if it's just to drop him off at a police station. We just have to ge to the Dark Ocean again."
Ken frowned. "It'll be hard. Everytime we've opened up a portal, it's sent a signal to Demon that we're coming in. Plus the places that we can open a portal are very far between. Logically, the place where the portal was last opened might be the best place to form a new one."
Izzy nodded. "My thinking exactly. I think we'll need Imperialdramon again."
"Wait," Yolei said. "If we go charging in with Imperialdramon, won't that draw even more attention? Maybe a sneak attack or something might work better."
"Maybe," Izzy agreed. "But I want to keep this just to this group, alright? None of the other digidestined we've met have any experience fighting the Dark Ocean."
"How about Paildramon and Komainumon go in separately?" Davis shrugged as everyone glanced at him. "Well, they're pretty sneaky on their own, and if things go bad, we can just super evolve to Imperialdramon and bust our way out."
"Not bad," June said, impressed.
"I have my moments," Davis replied.
Dark Ocean
"This way." Black Socramon said to the humans. "I remember seeing some dimensional weaknesses a while ago. There are a lot of guards here, so we'll have to be careful."
Gail looked back. "This is wrong. I'm going back for Josh."
"And do what," Black Socramon asked sharply. "It'd take an army to get whoever you're talking about out of there. Listen to the kid," he nodded at Jacob, "he's right."
"You're right about one thing," a female voice challenged. "It will take an army to get him out. But you...it'll take a miracle." Sneasel grinned evilly, claws already extending.
"Oh, just bring it, cutie." Black Socramon replied, matching her smile.
Murmuxmon's lair
Josh, still half-blinded from Murmuxmon's treatments, staggered down a hallway. He knew that he had to get out of here, but he couldn't remember why. Just that he had someone to find...
He squinted, as a door opened, flooding the hallway with a dull light. Arm across his eyes, Josh staggered out, just now managing to clear his eyes. "Whoever's out there, this ISN'T FUNNY!"
"Oh, I assure you, I take this endeavour most seriously."
Josh looked up, recognising the voice. "You. Where's my family?" He glared at Murmuxmon. "And where's Agumon?"
"Oh, your family and your digimon are most safe, I assure you," Murmuxmon lied. "In fact, I was just about to arrange a reunion with one of them. I am sure that you have...much to discuss." Josh heard a door open behind him. His next words vanished as he saw Michael stride out, apparently none the worse for wear. "I believe that your father has a few things to say to you, too."
Everything else left Josh's mind, replaced with an all-consuming fury. If he had any awareness left, he might have marvelled at the fact that he was, quite literally, seeing red. With little more than a snarl, he charged forward, hands reaching for Michael's throat.
Michael reacted the same, though for entirely different reasons. As the two enemies fought, Murmuxmon leaned back, watching the dark energy the two were giving off slowly build.
Elsewhere in the Dark Ocean
Socramon landed heavily as Sneasel flipped over his head and delivered a powerful kick. "Pathetic. When Arukenimon said that she had detected something prowling around this area, I was hoping for something more challenging."
"I'll give you a challenge." Black Socramon growled, energy crackling over his body. "Nightmare Thunder!"
Sneasel lazily dodged the bolt, unconcerned. "Pathetic. But, if you want a fight, I suppose I could stop holding back. Sneasel, Dark Digivolve to...Lady Devimon!" Transforming into the giant dark angel, Lady Devimon floated over, leering at the smaller digimon. "I suppose that I have an unfair advantage."
"And?"
"What," Lady Devimon answered. "I just said that I have an unfair advantage. Darkness Wave!" Black Socramon just barely got out of the way, trying to figure out just why he was fighting for these humans.
With a surge of energy, Black Socramon darted forward, jumped off a rock, and managed to land a strike on Lady Devimon, tearing a gash along her face. "Still think I'm pathetic?"
Lady Devimon traced a finger along the wound, smiling. "Yes, if that's all you can manage." She flinched slightly as a rock bounced off of the back of her head. Glancing behind her, she saw that Jacob had picked up several small stones, and was hurling them at her. "Is that supposed to be accomplishing something?"
Gail looked on in shock, wondering how her son had managed to get over there, and what had possessed him to attack the giant digimon. Her shock doubled when she saw that Kristen had joined her brother.
Real World
Izzy frowned as he worked on the computer. Kari and Tai were just outside. Kari was uneasy about re-entering the place where she had been attacked; Tai had offered to stay with her, whether she wanted him to or not. "You're clear on what to do?"
Kyle nodded. "Go in, get the Josh's family, knock out Michael in necessary, come back here."
"And drop that slimebag off at the police station, then ferry everyone else to the pokemon world." Davis completed. "Simple."
"Yeah, but how do we knock out someone like Kari described? I mean, you have a black belt, Ken, but still..." Yolei trailed off, wondering if she had said too much.
"No problem," Kyle answered. "I have Windy with me." He indicated the pokeball that held his one ghost pokemon (Gastly, remember? -ed). "Any trouble, and I'll just hypnotise him. Wouldn't be the first time I've had to do this." Kyle shivered a bit at an unmentioned memory. June, standing by him, made a mental note to ask him about it sometime.
"Alright," Izzy said, still uneasy. "Just give me a few more minutes, and I'll have the portal ready. Ken?" Ken nodded. He was the one who had to actually open the portal, something that still troubled him.
Murmuxmon's realm.
The two humans were fighting with a ferocity that might have terrified more rational watchers. Michael's nose was splayed across his face; one of Josh's eyes was half-swelled, and both sported numerous bruises and cuts. Both were fighting with a level of pure hate that made even Murmuxmon look astonished.
Still, the minor shock passed, and Murmuxmon leaned back to enjoy the horrific battle, watching as the two continued to fight. And, he was pleased to note, the amount of energy being generated showed no sign of tapering off. More, he was able to pick out the subtle variations in the energy fields generated by the two. The older human's field was almost pure in its fear and loathing of the younger human's defiance, streaked with a good amount of rage and confusion over that defiance. The boy's aura, on the other hand, was almost crystalline in its clarity. The need to protect his family from the elder human had been perverted into a psychotic, homicidal rage, any compassion burnt away by Murmuxmon's manipulations.
Somehow, Murmuxmon knew that, despite the difference in physical strength, the one called Josh would eventually kill his father. The older man had too much fear in him, which blunted the power of his ferocity.
Of course, Murmuxmon intended to step in far before that happened. Both humans would be ideal batteries for him. And he knew which of their buttons to press now.
Black Socramon staggered to his feet. "Well, this bites. Saved by humans."
The two children ignored him, dodging attacks from Lady Devimon. "Well, I suppose I should thank you for making this somewhat interesting." Idly, she sent a few bats at the two humans, forgetting about them. She hovered forward, blood-red nails glistening slightly. There was a sharp crack. Gail, .38 still smoking, took aim at Lady Devimon's head. "Cute."
The gun spat, making everyone flinch. There was a blur, then, somehow, Gail was staring at Lady Devimon, who was holding the small bullet between two fingers. With a smirk, she bent her hand back, and flung the projectile at Black Socramon. He yowled in pain, and collapsed.
Gail stepped back, gun clattering to the ground as Lady Devimon floated forward. "There are some on my homeworld who would reward such devotion. Luckily, such concepts are not welcome here."
Jacob and Kristen ran to where Black Socramon had fallen. "Get up!" Jacob said. "That witch is gonna hurt mom!"
Real World
"Okay," Izzy said, getting up and stepping away from the laptop. "We're ready."
Nodding, Ken stepped forward, black D-3 out and already humming slightly. Yolei watched, nervous. She knew how much he hated calling up the darkness inside him. Seeing the strain he was going through, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, her other hand on his, helping him to hold his D-3 steady.
"Get ready to go." Kyle said. beside him, Growlithe grinned, ready. The other 3 digidestined and their partners that made up Imperialdramon made similar exchanges.
After a minute, the digiport on Izzy's computer screen shimmered, and changed into a swirling black vortex. "It's ready!" Ken said. "Let's go!" The four digidestined went through, the four digimon DNA digivolving to Komainumon and Paildramon in transit.
The portal opened, and the six beings came out in a large cavern. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to visit," Arukenimon taunted. Behind her, dozens of control spires shifted into evil digimon, all ready to attack.
"Izzy goofed," Davis asked.
Ken nodded. "I knew there'd be more interdimensional drift," he sighed as the battle started.
Michael had, not surprisingly (to Murmuxmon's eyes) gone down first, falling before Josh's rage and fury. Josh had toppled over a few moments later, and the two were sprawled, only a few feet apart. Not that it mattered. Two amorphous blobs of energy had formed over the two, and now these forms, the incarnation of both humans' very spirits, grappled with each other.
Murmuxmon was ecstatic. This was exactly what he had hoped for, but on a scale he hadn't dared dream of. Both combatants hated each other so much that their hate had taken physical form now, and continued the battle after the bodies had worn out. Even from where he sat, he could already feel his strength increasing, the dark energy released from the fight filling his corroded body with raw power.
Gail's back struck a large stone. She was trapped. Sensing this, Lady Devimon raised her hands, ready to launch a final attack. With a shout, a hand came down, slamming into the rock beside Gail's head, crushing it. The other hand dove, then twisted, aiming behind her. "Say goodbye to your brats."
Gail had no time to scream as the red claws shot at Kristen. There was time, however, for the wounded Black Socramon to twist, jump, and intercept the attack! As he did, he seemed to glow, and a small sphere came out of his body. Before it could resolve, the attack struck, and the sphere split into three pieces, each one going into the hands of one of the humans.
"No!" Lady Devimon pulled back, already calling up an attack to strike the digimon down. "Bloody Claw!"
"Evolve...Cheetahmon!" a voice shouted. The item Jacob held flared, and Socramon's body shifted, transforming into a humanoid cat, dressed in army fatigues with a large...bazooka?...slung over its back. The attack skittered off the back of the bazooka, scuffing the paint on it but little else. The digimon rolled to the side, glared at Lady Devimon, and countered. "Electricity Cannon!" An azure blast of lightning shot out of Cheetahmon's mouth, and was deflected by the dark angel. "I don't know what you did, but I LOVE IT!" He did a quick backflip, nearly tripping as the bazooka on his back threw his balance off. "Alright, ROUND 2!"
The spirits recoiled from each other, merging back into their respective bodies. "Excellent, this is the perfect time to claim my prize." Murmuxmon stood up, and leaped over to where the two lay. Bony hands extended, the undead digimon started drawing in energy from both humans, body swelling as his strength increased. As he exulted, he failed to notice Agumon regain consciousness, and start trying to break out of his cage.
An eyebrow reformed just in time to twitch. Josh seemed to be resisting him. "Hm, that won't do. Well, I suppose I can make do with just one battery." Murmuxmon's hand raised as soon as it finished draining the energy out of Josh. "A shame really. Of the two, your energy was much darker." An ebony spear materialised, aimed at Josh's heart. "Well, so long, then."
"NO!" Agumon shot out, jaws clamping onto Murmuxmon's arm.
Jacob bit back the urge to swear. He'd seen a few anime shows, and it seemed to be a rule that the new hero was supposed to be invincible during his intro episode.
Sadly, reality was wrecking that myth. Cheetahmon was holding his own, but lacked the power to do any real damage. "Doesn't this thing do anything else," he snarled, shaking the small digivice. It was different from the one Josh had. This was smaller, oddly shaped, with what looked like a small plug on one side. It was pulsing in time to Cheetahmon's attacks.
Jacob made his way over to Kristen. "I'm open to ideas."
Kristen skipped the obligatory brother/sister repartee. "Why's your's blinking? Mine's not."
"No..." Jacob trailed off, seeing that, what he had mistaken for a slot was actually a plug-in point. "Maybe..." He reached out, his digivice plugging into Kristen's, the two digivices flaring up again.
Cheetahmon was about to reach for his bazooka when he felt the change happen. "Evolve... Cougmon!" The digimon changed again, this time smoothing out a bit, still humanoid but clad in armour, massive talons coming out of his hands and feet.
"Okay...you got the fighter, I got the shooter. I wonder what mom got?" Jacob shrugged, and watched as Cougmon changed tactics, surprising Lady Devimon with a flurry of claw strikes. He winced as Cougmon jumped, spun, and landed four blasts of electricity on Lady Devimon, a move he seemed to call 'Fury Claw.' He seemed to be doing a little better, but Lady Devimon still had the edge.
As the fighting continued, Gail, her own piece of the digivice forgotten in her pocket, made her way back to the coliseum. She still had to save Josh.
Murmuxmon swung his arm, flinging Agumon off. "Very well, if you want to die now, so be it." A hand was raised, and a red and black ball of energy formed, aimed at Agumon's head.
"Josh..." Agumon whimpered. "Josh, please wake up..."
The ball launched. I am going to die, Agumon realized. "JOSH!"
Josh's eyes snapped open. In the millisecond between that and the ball striking, Murmuxmon noted a sudden shift in the energy coming from Josh's body. Then the ball struck Agumon, enveloping the little digimon completely then exploded, kicking up a huge dust cloud.. Murmuxmon stepped back, waiting.
His wait was rewarded as Metal Tyrannomon flew out of the cloud, blue-white Nuclear Laser stabbing at the undead digimon. The beams struck, actually drawing a grunt from Murmuxmon and forcing him back a few steps, just as Metal Tyrannomon's claw grabbed onto Murmuxmon and lifted the digital lich skywards. Murmuxmon looked into the eyes of Metal Tyrannomon. Despite the situation, he laughed. "Ah, so you have the ability to draw on Dark Energy as I do, eh? A shame I know how to use it better."
Metal Tyrannomon's only reply was a snarl and firing a Giga Destroyer. The missile didn't even clear the barrel in his claw hand, exploding and sending Murmuxmon flying, demonic cackle continuing. Metal Tyrannomon, hand blown off, staggered back to his feet, eyes sparking blue. A bit of Josh's rage fuelled him now, driving him on regardless of personal cost.
Murmuxmon got to his feet. "I suppose this is where we duel for the body and soul of your friend Josh, me with my command of all the Dark Energy I've harvested, you with your righteous indignation. Well, I'm not in the mood. Plus, I've spotted your weakness." Faster than the massive digimon could track, Murmuxmon darted over to Josh, and clamped a hand over his neck. Other hand above his head, Murmuxmon cried out, and drained the energy directly out of Josh. Metal Tyrannomon took two steps, staggered, then collapsed, reverting to Agumon.
"Mmmm. Tangy." Murmuxmon mused, walking over to Michael and repeating the procedure. The figure that tackled him mid-feed was mistaken for another meddling digimon.
Then he saw that it was the boy's mother. "More for the feast."
"Get away from her," Josh groaned, forcing himself up.
"Or what," Murmuxmon asked sardonically. Josh had to admit, he didn't have much left to offer. Murmuxmon had done something to him. He couldn't focus, he felt drained of all his rage and anger, only a void left in him.
Jacob winced as Lady Devimon blasted Cougmon away with another bolt of energy. Despite the digimon's claims to the contrary, Lady Devimon was slowly wearing him down. He glared at the fallen angel, wishing for a miracle.
Which came in the form of a white haired witch being tossed in front of Lady Devimon, and a weird green and blue digimon aiming a pair of autocannons at her. "Walk away," Paildramon ordered. Jacob could almost hear the ammunition being chambered in the two cannons. A short distance away, there was a yell, and two other digimon sailed into the ocean and exploded on contact with the water. Another digimon, taller and dressed like he was going to a kung-fu movie festival, approached. "You are out of control spires, Arukenimon. Give up."
"I'm never out." Arukenimon snarled, slamming a hand into the ground. Two more spires shot up, just as Lady Devimon charged at Paildramon. Arukenimon shifted from her humanoid form to her spider body form, and sprayed Komainumon with a web. The hybrid digimon struggled as the venom tore into his system, weakening him.
"FURY CLAW!" With the other evil digimon distracted, Cougmon was able to recover, and slashed at the web trapping Komainumon, freeing him. The damage was done, however; There was a flash of light, and Arcanine and Leomon were left standing there.
"Thanks," Arcanine growled. "Leomon!"
Leomon reached out, plucked the silver needle that Arukenimon had hurled at them out of the air, and sent it right back at her. It buried itself in Arukenimon's torso, slamming her back into one of the control spires she had created and pinning her there. She howled as the pin was drawn into the spire, along with Arukenimon. Enraged, Lady Devimon charged, but was tackled by Paildramon. The two started fighting, the battle going up several meters, both flying upin an attempt to gain an advantage over the other.
Four humans made their way over. "Is that...Arukenimon," Davis gasped.
Ken nodded, then glanced at Jacob and Kristen. "Are you okay? Kari told us that you might be somewhere in this world."
"Kari," Kristen asked.
"That girl Josh ran into," Jacob, "Agumon told me about her. Maybe...mom? MOM!"
Kyle glanced at Arcanine. "Anything?"
Arcanine sniffed around for a second. "Back that way, Kyle." He indicated a large building in the distance.
"She went back for Josh." Jacob groaned.
"We'll all go," June said.
"No," Jacob shook his head. "This is our fight-"
"And we'll take all the help we can get," Kristen interrupted. "You are NOT pulling a Josh on me, got it?" Jacob sighed and nodded.
The spire, having partially consumed Arukenimon, exploded. Arukenimon staggered out, her body horribly twisted by the spire's power. She was back in her humanoid form, but it was charred and as big as her beast form now. The red trenchcoat was replaced with black armor, and a long silver needle extended from the black of her right hand. One swing of it sliced the spire next to her in half. "What have you done to me," she demanded, voice now an electronic wail. "I'll kill all of you!"
"DRAGON RAGE!"
"FIST OF THE BEAST KING!"
The two attacks slammed into Arukenimon, but were ignored. "That can't be her digivolved form," Ken gasped. "Can it?"
"Change of plan." Jacob said. "You stall, we get Mom and Josh. Deal?" Kristen sighed, almost resigned.
"Sure, if you can get around," Davis answered. Arukenimon advanced, parts of her body seeming to fade in and out of sight. "Or through."
Two rainbow coloured arrows slammed into her, and a white figure shot overhead. Kan caught on first, recognising Angewomon. "Go, GO! We'll handle this one!" Jacob, Kristen and Cougmon ran after the angel as Leomon and Arcanine started attacking Arukenimon.
Gail tried to keep up with what was happening. First, Murmuxmon had tossed her aside like a rag doll, then threatened to kill her, or something. What did he say? "My dear, I applaud your courage. But sadly, you are of no use to me. Now those two, they are very handy as power sources. I just need to borrow them for a little while, do you mind? Oh, you do? Well, that's too bad." Yeah, that's about what he said. That she could keep up with.
It was when the giant angel fired a pair of arrows into Murmuxmon, then landed so a smaller girl, about Kristen's age, hopped off and ran over to Josh. Kari, that was her name. That's when she just gave up trying to understand what was going on. She ran over, paradoxically worried about how well Josh knew this girl.
She was his mom, after all.
"Josh," Kari called, shaking the boy slightly; he had collapsed only seconds after threatening Murmuxmon. Agumon was still out cold, not having moved at all. "Josh? Josh!"
"K...Kari...?" Josh lifted his head up a bit. "Weak...can't focus."
"That thing did something to both of them," Gail explained. "We have to get him out of here." Kari nodded. Behind them, there were shouts as Angewomon called down attacks on an uncaring Murmuxmon, seeming to just take the attacks, neither attacking nor defending.
Gail grappled with her next decision. Finally, she sighed. "Michael too. He's too dangerous to leave here with that maniac. He said something about using him and Josh as batteries."
"Izzy's already called the police," Kari said. "But he left out the part about the alternate dimensions and digimon."
"Well, good then." Gail allowed herself to feel a bit better.
"And we found a place where you can live without Michael ever threatening you again," Kari added.
"One piece of good news at a time," Gail replied, waving her hand. "No!" She and Kari gasped as Murmuxmon, finally tiring of Angewomon's attacks, raised a hand and struck the angel down with a single bolt.
As she landed and de-evolved, Murmuxmon arched an eyebrow. "Well, you must be the infamous Gatomon I've heard so much about. So, why the switch to good? Evil is much more rewarding. As you've just experienced." He glanced at Kari. "And you must be the girl who was touched by the spirits of light. Hmm, I wonder how your energy will taste?" Cougmon landed on him, all claws and teeth. He was tossed off by an annoyed Murmuxmon. "This is getting tiresome."
"Yeah," Cougmon replied, "so why don't we just all go home, eh? Save me the trouble of roughing you up some more."
There was a flash as Arcanine and Leomon DNA digivolved back to Komainumon. Whatever Arukenimon had transformed into cackled, and, with a wave of her arms, summoned up two more control spires. They exploded and formed into weaker copies of herself, which immediately went after Kyle, June, Ken, and Davis. Komainumon immediately took on the two, while Arukenimon laughed, seemingly unwilling to launch her own attacks.
Up above, Paildramon and Lady Devimon circled each other, both fatigued from the battle. Okay, Paildramon thought to himself, maybe we SHOULD have brought the other digidestined in. Angrily, he extended both of his wrist blades and charged.
"Rage getting the best of you, mutant?" Lady Devimon taunted. "Lady Arukenimon is now stronger than ever, thanks to your own ally's blunder! How do you hope to win?"
Paildramon blocked a swing, and pulled back. "With a little move I've been working on." His cannons swung back up. "Maybe you can critique it for us...DOUBLE HERO!" Paildramon glowed blue and green, then separated, Exveemon and Stingmon suddenly appearing and landing a blinding array of attacks on Lady Devimon. The two appeared seconds later, both still glowing with still-stored energy. "And here's the finisher," Exveemon said. "DRAGON STINGER!"
The next few seconds were hard for Lady Devimon to follow. Exveemon fired his V-Laser, but Stingmon seemed to fly right -into- the beam, following the beam in and absorbing some of its energy. Then, what was left of the beam struck her, followed by a pair of powered up energy blades courtesy of Stingmon. "Impossible." Lady Devimon muttered, falling to the ground, landing near Arukenimon. "A...Arukenimon...help me..." Sneasel moaned as she lost her evolution.
Arukenimon did nothing, save cackle again as Stingmon and Exveemon landed on her two clones. Then she moved in.
Jacob and Kristen made it to Gail's side just as Murmuxmon was dealing another energy blast to Cougmon and Gatomon, both of who were barely able to hang on. "Mom! Come on, let's get out of here," Kristen said. Then she saw Josh, and a few feet from him, Michael. Then Cougmon. "There are other digidestined outside, but they're not going to last long! I...eh?" She glanced at her digivice. It was pulsing faintly, as was Jacob's. "Mom, didn't you get a piece of this thing too?"
Gail reached into a pocket, and pulled the third shard out. As she did, Cougmon was struck by another bolt and sent flying, changing back to Socramon as he landed. "Mom," Jacob urged. "Put your piece together with ours...I think they all plug together!"
Glancing back at Josh and Socramon, Gail leaned forward and touched her digivice to the other two. All three combined to create a small hexagonal object, the small screens on them all touching and glowing white.
Murmuxmon, Gatomon, and Kari didn't even have time to register the flash of light. A second later, a giant skeletal beast was standing between Murmuxmon and Kari. "Alright, that's MUCH better," Skullcheetahmon growled.
"I like it," Jacob said. Gail took advantage of the distraction to get Josh and drag him over to where Jacob and Kristen were. While Jacob watched, Kristen and Gail tried to wake Josh up.
"mmmm...Mom? Kristen," Josh whispered. "What happened? Why'm I so tired?"
"It'll be alright Josh," Gail said quietly. "Jacob, can you get Agumon?"
"Sure." Murmuxmon and the new digimon didn't move, each waiting for the other to make a move.
Then it happened. The skeletal digimon blurred, then dashed at Murmuxmon, spiny bone blades digging into the tattered clothing the undead digimon wore. Murmuxmon grunted, but didn't react. The attacker then spun, two missiles appearing on his back. "Skeletal Missiles," he roared, launching the rockets at Murmuxmon, who still didn't react.
The attacks splashed off a barrier just centimetres from Murmuxmon's body. "I permitted that as a demonstration of futility-"
"Ahhhh SHADDAP!" The skeletal digimon snarled. "Kamikaze Fireworks!" Bristling with energy, he fired off several energy duplicates of himself, all of which made multiple attacks on Murmuxmon, all with no effect. "What does it take to KILL you?"
"More than you have to offer, Skull Cheetahmon. Much more. Even if I hadn't absorbed all that wonderful energy, I'm still a Mega level digimon. You, while powerful, are only an Ultimate digimon. The power levels are quite different, you will agree."
"Says you," Skull Cheetahmon replied. "Way I see it, there's four of us in on this. And if the good-lookin' cat over there could hurt you, then so can I." As he spoke, the bone blades on his body all shifted, pointing forward. His tail snapped around, kicking up bits of dust and dirt. "Don't worry," he said in a lower voice to his partners. "I'll get you out of this." Three more blades sprouted out, one over his head, the other two swinging forward from the sides of his face. Two more missiles appeared, locking into place and igniting, but not launching.
"Oh, man...he's going JATO!" Jacob gasped. "GET DOWN!"
(JATO: Jet Assisted Take Off -ed.)
"GRIM REAPER!" Skull Cheetahmon, missiles roaring, shot forward, ploughing into Murmuxmon and, to the undead digimon's surprise, breaking through the shield, one of the blades punching into his torso. The two slammed into one of the coliseum walls, just as the two missiles were released from their launchers. There was an eardrum splitting explosion, and Skullcheetahmon flipped away, landing with catlike grace only a few meters away from the humans.
Murmuxmon staggered out of the crater, obviously wounded. "That. Hurt. GRASVESHUDDER!" A horde of skeletal digimon clawed their way out of the ground, attacking the humans. "You have cost me much of the power I have gained, fools. I will suffer no more." Some of the skeletons grabbed Michael, and dragged him off, while the others tried to grab the other humans. Gatomon, who had recovered, was keeping them away from Kari, while SkullCheetahmon was busy defending the Johannesens.
Jacob, carrying Agumon, kicked at one skeleton while making his way back to the rest of his family. "Josh? JOSH! WAKE UP! WAKE THE HELL UP NOW! WE NEED BIG RED!"
Josh's eyes snapped open. "Mom?"
June fell back as Arukenimon's arm slashed at her; the mutated digimon was now wildly attacking both human and digimon, murder in her eyes. "We need Imperialdramon!"
Davis looked up from here he was pulling Veemon out of the ground. "Veemon's too weak! Fighting Lady Devimon took everything out of him. Ken?"
Ken glanced at Stingmon, still barely in the fight. "Not much better. I don't think we can even go back to Paildramon."
"So we do this the hard way," Leomon snarled, getting between June and Arukenimon, slashing at the attacker with his sword. "Though a miracle would be nice right now!"
Arukenimon tried to advance but stopped. It was hard to attack when a sword had just punched itself through her torso.
"Someone call for a miracle?" June blinked; she hadn't remembered seeing Kyle send Pyroangemon out. Then she saw that it wasn't her fiancée's second partner at all.
The attacking digimon had a faint resemblance to Pyroangemon, but was purely mechanical. Muted light glinted off of silver and gold wings. He held a massive two handed sword, and was just now drawing it out of Arukenimon. Stepping out from behind her, June could make out more details. Silver armor, with midnight blue accents. Oh, and a giant skeletal tiger with him. No, a cheetah. There were four people riding on the cheetah, no five...Kari! And Gatomon was in her arms. "We're leaving. Now," the angel commanded. Arukenimon hissed, then shimmered again, vanishing. Leaving a very confused Sneasel behind. With a hiss, she got to her feet, evolved to Lynxmon, and ran off.
Pokemon World
It was two days later, and Gail and her family had managed to locate a house. Jacob and Kristen were inside, already fighting over who got which room. Outside, Josh stood beside his mother and Kari, lost in thought. "What's wrong?"
"I feel...like I lost something," Josh replied. "I think Murmuxmon took something from me, but I don't know what. Or why I can't seem to get angry about it." He smiled a bit ruefully. "I never used to have that problem."
"Murmuxmon said that he wanted to drain the dark energy out of you." Kari walked over. "How are you doing?"
"Okay, all told." Gail admitted. "The house is lovely. And Jacob and Kristen seem to have accepted Socramon into their lives. They're not going to go off..."
Kari smiled at that. "Well, you do have a third of the digivice." Both laughed a bit at that. "What about you, Josh?"
"I want too, but...I'm sorry. I think I need to rest for a while. After-"
"You don't have to explain." Kari explained. "So, no sign of him?" There was no need to ask who Kari was referring to.
"No," Gail answered. "Murmuxmon took him. If we see him again..."
"We'll be here," replied Kari. "Just call us, promise?"
"Sure." Gail entered the house, already telling Jacob and Kristen to keep it down.
"One thing," Josh asked Kari. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why'd you get involved?"
Kari smiled softly. "You needed help. And digidestined always help each other."
Josh smiled. "Thanks."
"You'd better get in there. You've got a new life ahead of you. Oh, Josh?"
"Yeah?"
"Call me sometime?"
It was Josh's turn to finally smile. "Anytime." He went in, joining in the family shouting match. Socramon and Agumon could be heard inside too.
A pair of arms wrapped around Kari. "Is he alright," Izzy asked.
Kari relaxed slightly, leaning against Izzy. "Yeah. He'll be fine." A pause. "There's nothing between us."
"I know. Come on. We've got 5 minutes before Tai finds out I promised to escort you home." Both laughed and left the area.
Next episode No more messing around. Final five episodes of this series. Love, betrayal, shock, angst, and really big freakin' digivolutions. Next Episode?
-'The Empress'