Chapter 23: Legion
Herpetomon and I were the first ones up again. Our room was on the bottom floor so we couldn't tell whether the sun was up or not yet. I slept very well, even with Nick's snoring, and was anticipating the battle ahead. Herpetomon got up and started stretching, I just sat in bed thinking about all that we've been through so far. I became ecstatic again when I re-realized that I was living my dream. I was surrounded by my best friends, and were all on an adventure with our digimon, amazing.
"Good morning, I'm going to go see if the sun is up yet." I whispered to Herpetomon.
"Yeah, good idea." Herpetomon said and continued stretching. When I left I realized I'd forgotten how to get back to the desk so I wandered around until I found it. The Gazimon at the desk fell asleep on his papers. I crossed the empty lobby and opened the doors. Brilliant sunlight and a wondrous view greeted me. From the hotel door I could see down two of the long streets in Gazitown, they were bustling with hundreds of Gazimon and a few outsiders that were easy to spot. Among them were a Piximon buzzing around and a black and surly looking Apemon, I was suspicious of him. I let it pass for now and went back to see the others. The light was on in our room so they must've been getting up. When I got there Nick and Fatomon, and Anissa and Finchmon had gotten up. K, Matt and their Digimon were still out cold.
"G'morning." I said to those who had gotten up.
"Yeah." Nick said. "What time is it?"
"I have no idea, but the sun's up so let's go!" I said.
"My aren't you cheery." Anissa said. Then moaned as she got up, not a morning person.
"You're not happy? I'm quite, joyous." I said.
"No, I am, but why do we have to get up so early?" She asked
"Because we don't know when the attack will happen, we have to be ready." I said.
"Alright, so shouldn't we get them up?" Anissa asked, pointing to the four who were still asleep.
"Yes, lets." I said. I took Kayla, Nick took Matt. I just shook her and Gotsumon awake. She moaned, Gotsumon turned over.
"Come on, get up." I said.
"Mmmuuh. Why so early?" She asked
"Oh come on! We need to be prepared!" I said loudly.
"Fine, give me a minute." K said. Gotsumon sat up and yawned.
"Yeah, he's right Kayla we should get up." Gotsumon said.
"Fine! Get off me." She said. Gotsumon hopped off the bed and K got up. I sat by the door impatiently with Herpetomon. It took about 20 minutes for them all to get up and ready.
"Ok, are we ready?" I asked. Some nodded, Codamon and Matt aptly replied 'Yes sir'. It was random and unnecessary, but those two are serious about everything they do, respectfully. I led us out of the room and back up to the lobby, we woke up the napping desk attendant.
"Ahh, did you enjoy your stay?" He asked.
"Yes, thanks." Matt said.
"Good, we try our best to help the D-Corps." The Gazimon said smiling. We waved and walked outside. We assembled in a huddle in the area outside the inn.
"So, what's the plan?" Nick asked
"I'm not too sure, but I think we should each take a different part of town and if we see something we can get the others." I said.
"Sounds logical." Fatomon said
"Right. I don't care where you go, and this town is pretty small so if you see each other just go somewhere else, that way we'll always be on the look out." I explained "SO anyone think of any combo moves yet?"
"Um, I did." Finchmon said. "I was thinking that as Aeromon I could run electricity through this guy, maybe soup him up a bit." She was referring to Codamon.
"Is that Ok with you Codamon?" Matt asked
"Yeah sure. What's it called?" Codamon asked.
"What it has to have a name?" Finchmon asked.
"Well yeah, for convenience." Codamon explained.
"Ok, well how about the Voltage Up?" She said.
"Sure, let me know when you want to try it." Codamon said.
"Ok, good, any others?" I asked, no one said anything "Well I have one. With Gotsumon and Fatomon. Ok, Gotsumon, you could throw one of your huge boulders at Fatomon, and then he could hit the thing like a baseball at an enemy, would that work?"
"I can handle it." Gotsumon said.
"It'll be the Boulder Blast." Fatomon said.
"Can't wait to see them in action." Matt said.
"Alright, now I think we should split up and look out for the attack." I said. We were about to split up when the black colored Apemon from before approached. He stood in front of the group and didn't say a word. He grimly pointed behind the hotel. Then he walked over and snuck behind the building.
"What was that all about?" Asked K.
"I think he wants us to follow him." Herpetomon said.
"Yeah, but we can't trust him." I said.
"No, I think I know who that is, can we go see?" Codamon said.
"Fine, if you say so, if he turns out evil he's only a champion, we can handle him." I said. We walked over to find the black Apemon looking around as if looking for lurkers. We walked up behind him and stood there until he noticed us. When he did he made an awkward smile. Then he motioned for us to stand in an area away from him. He took a step back from the group and there was a poof of white smoke. A second later a new Digimon stepped out. It was a human looking digimon with pale white skin. On his face he wore some kind of make-up. His midsection was horizontally striped black. He also wore black shoes.
"Ha, I knew it was you, what are you doing here Mimon?" Codamon said.
"Shh, no one can know I'm here." He said.
"Oh, this is Mimon, the covert agent." I said.
"Yes, that is me, I'm under cover as an agent of Alice-M. As you can see I have the ability to change shape, but like you saw earlier, when I'm in another form I can't speak." He said.
"Oh wow, that's so cool." Nick said.
"Yes, but that's not important now, I've come to warn you about the attack today. An army of about 20 different Digimon will be coming. I've learned that 19 are soldiers, Rookies, and there is one leader who is one of the Ultimates."
"20!" Nick said moaning.
"Yes 20, but like I said, most are rookies so I think with your upper levels you should be able to handle it." Mimon said. "You are the saviors after all."
"Right, now let's see if we can live up to it." I said.
"Good, the army is a way off, I imagine they'll get here as soon as it's dark out. They are coming from the North east which is opposite of the direction where you entered the town." Mimon explained.
"Where are you going to be?" Matt asked
"I was only able to get away from the headquarters for a little while, I have to go back very soon to keep up my identity." Mimon said.
"Ok, well good luck, and thanks." Matt said. Mimon stepped back and was about to change back.
"Wait!" I said. "I have a question. When we were back in the city near Hub tower we were attacked by some weird shadowy digimon. He slaughtered some innocent Digimon and didn't say a word. The D-Gadget said his name is Ruhemon, do you know anything about him?"
"Oh, him. He is basically the second in command. Technically he is in the ultimate group of Alice-M, but his powers far surpass any ultimate. He's Alice-M's favorite. Speaking of Alice-M, Ruhemon is the only one who contacts him. No one else even knows what he looks like." Mimon said. "I don't know why Ruhemon was out there, but you must be wary of him, his powers are immense. Now I'm sorry, but I must leave. Good luck."
"You too." We responded. He meditated for a moment and another poof appeared and he re emerged as the black Apemon. The he dashed off into the sunlight field beyond Gazitown. It was good to know we had more allies out there looking out for us. When that was over I led us back to the center of town. We sat around the fountain. It was a pretty tense atmosphere.
"Can you believe this, 20 Digimon! Can we take this?" Anissa said
"Just calm down, everybody, it's not so bad, stay positive. We still have Ultimates that haven't appeared yet, and now we have these combo attacks too. We'll be unstoppable." I said. Morale was dropping fast, and my mind was blank.
"Guys come on, we need to be strong. We can't just lose this, our first fight. We have to take advantage of this and use this fight to show Alice-M how tough we are." Nick said. I was surprised, he'd been quiet for a while and out of nowhere he comes up with that, not bad.
"He's right, come on, we can handle this. Think of who we've beaten in the past, no problem." Codamon said. "Not only that, but we're even stronger now. We have 4 possible Ultimates, The flare, combos, and teamwork, there's no way we can lose."
"That was really corny. But he's right, we can handle this, we just need to stick together." Anissa said.
"Ok, so get ready as much as you can, stretching and everything. You never know when it's going to turn dark." I said. We proceeded to lounge around that fountain all day. Occasionally one of us would get up and walk around the Town Square. For our first mission this would be a big one, and we'd be tested, but I figured we could handle it. I was so anxious. It seemed like a long day, it just dragged on. At this point Fatomon was training with his sword. Nick was on a walk. Herpetomon was playing with the fountain along with Gotsumon. Anissa, Kayla, and Finchmon were talking. Matt and Codamon were napping. Soon after I had gone for my 8th walk of the day the Gazimon began going into their houses, the darkness was on its way.
"We'd better get over there." I said. Herpetomon and I led the group down the alley and to the right. We saw a gap between two houses so we snuck through and stepped into the field, our first battlefield. When we were all arranged in a line at the beginning of the field we could see the darkness coming. It was a majestic sweeping crescent that made it's way across the lands spreading calm, or unrest in our case. The wave hit us and washed over, we were all eager to get the fight underway. Slowly I began to see digimon making their way across the field. There were few at first, but then we began to see the ferocity of their numbers. I could make out a few Agumon, there was at least one Elecmon, and there were some Candlemon also. Lastly, their leader, the ultimate. The fearful presence came over the crest of the hill and we all got chills. A LadyDevimon. We were faced with a small army, 10 on 20.
"Heh, they are legion and there are many of them." I said.
"Huh?" Nick asked.
"Bible quote. Legion was the name of evil spirits who possessed a man. They said "I am legion and there are many of me." We are fighting a veritable legion." I said.
"Well, this Legion is going down!" Nick yelled. The legion was directly in front of us.
"Ok, now remember that we aren't fighting just 1 or 2 enemies here. Also, combo attacks, don't forget. Oh and the crests too."
"We know!" some exclaimed.
"Alright then, let's do this!" I yelled. Herpetomon who was practically writhing with viral instinct was let loose and pounced on a nearby Agumon. Codamon unleashed a Laser Dynamo into the group, maiming several. Finchmon was Fire tricking all of the flame attacks that came at her and throwing them back to her foes. Fatomon was caught in a grapple with one of the Guilmon in the group. Meanwhile, Herpetomon was slashing at the Agumon he'd originally attacked. The Agumon had some friends gathering. Herpetomon went in for another Lizard Claw, but the Digimon dodged and used a Pepper Breath. Herpetomon was hit and immediately the Agumon nearby piled on him. He was flat on the ground and in need of a boost. "Herpetomon Digivolve!" I yelled
:Digivolution Activate:
"Herpetomon Digivolve too…!"
"Skymon!"
The Agumon on top of him were now hanging from him. Two dropped off.
"Hey Fatomon." Skymon said with one of the Agumon struggling feebly in his hand. Fatomon finished off one of the legion and looked at Skymon. Skymon made a throwing motion and Fatomon nodded. Skymon then threw the Agumon at Fatomon who brought his sword down on it. It was a brutal kill, the Agumon was very defeated. By now Skymon had killed 2, Fatomon had killed 2, Finchmon had killed 3, Codamon had killed 4, and Gotsumon had killed 2. Leaving us with 6 not counting the LadyDevimon. Our digimon were getting much stronger. Luckily the Lady Devimon was waiting for us to finish. Either she was being kind or she was so sure of her success she saw no need to intervene. Either way I was glad with how we were going, but Codamon and Finchmon had been badly hurt over the battle.
"Keep it up, seven left." I yelled over the din. Gotsumon picked up one of the Candlemon and threw him at a weakened DemiDevimon, both were destroyed. Skymon had done a "Lizard Claw" and ended two more. The only rookies left were a DemiDevimon and an Agumon.
"Allow me." Fatomon said. He walked up to face the two on his own. After his previous performance we were sure he wouldn't lose. The Agumon charged at him and used Pepper Breath. Fatomon charged some kind of aura and slashed at the fireball, it was sent hurtling back at him and knocked the Agumon to the ground. Meanwhile the DemiDevimon had flown up and was slashing at Fatomon with his claws. The attacks did little because of all of Fatomon's armor. The DemiDevimon soon realized this so he retreated and used his Demi Dart. The little pink ball of energy shot out at Fatomon. It caught him off guard, but he quickly swung his sword in front of the blast. The blast dissipated. Then Fatomon stepped foreword and slashed the DemiDevimon out of the sky and into nonexistence.
"Fatomon look out." Nick yelled. The Agumon Fatomon knocked over had gotten up and was rushing him.
"Edge Drive." Fatomon yelled, he turned on the Agumon and drove his blade straight through him. The Agumon quickly disappeared into data. Fatomon coolly turned on LadyDevimon.
"You're next." He said quietly. LadyDevimon looked amused.
"So, this is the great prophecy? You don't look so extraordinary to me. Maybe when I defeat you Alice-M will grant me ascension." She said.
"No, you will not get through us. I don't know what you want with this town, but you aren't going to have it." I said stepping up.
"Well aren't we spunky?" LadyDevimon said.
"Enough talk." Fatomon said, and he charged LadyDevimon
:Digivolution Activate:
"Fatomon Digivolve too…!"
"Castimon!"
"Gotsumon Digivolve too…!"
"Icemon!"
"Finchmon Digivolve too…!"
"Aeromon."
All our champions joined Castimon in his charge. It was also our first time seeing Aeromon. She was much larger than Finchmon and Aeromon was a wintry white color. Castimon reached LadyDevimon and called "Villain! Thousand Stabs!" He began stabbing into a flurry. We thought LadyDevimon would be devastated, but she blocked every hit, every hit with her large mean claws. When his attack was done he was worn and she slapped him out of the way. Skymon grabbed her from behind and backdropped her into the ground. After his attack LadyDevimon teleported so she was now behind Skymon. Before she could attack she was pummeled by Icemon's Ice Bomb. She was hit with her hand in front of it and even though she was pushed back in the air she was able to toss the Ice Bomb back at Icemon and towards Kayla and Anissa. "No!" Icemon yelled and jumped back and caught his attack.
"Gotcha." LadyDevimon said. "Ghastly Claw." She swung around her huge claws and swept Icemon out from under the icy boulder. She had him in her hand and she then threw him into the ground. Icemon was barely able to get up again. Skymon was now launching "Lizard Claws" at her. Somehow LadyDevimon was able to dodge most of them. Then LadyDevimon made another move, she flew towards us the Tamers. Codamon got in her way.
"Are you ready?" Aeromon asked Codamon
"Yes, do me up." He said.
"Ok, let's try it. Charge Current!" Aeromon began creating balls of electricity and sending them into Codamon while Codamon began popping up his arsenal. LadyDevimon was till approaching. Codamon was now crackling with electric energy.
"Slug Scatter." He called. This time his attack was even more impressive. With every shot of his guns a small burst of electricity could be seen, also, every shot whizzed with electrical energy. LadyDevimon was stopped, caught in small explosions of electrical energy, which lit up the area. When the impressive light show was over LadyDevimon was nowhere in sight. Then, from nowhere LadyDevimon came out from behind Castimon and pinned him to the ground with her massive hand. Castimon's sword had fallen away from him. The others ran in to assist, but then LadyDevimon lifted her head. "Dreaded gaze." She called. Instantly the Digimon who were running to help all collapsed. I didn't think they were dead, just hurt and paralyzed. I ran to Skymon's side, he was trying desperately to move, but he couldn't. That's when it hit me.
"Nick, remember your crest, share your strength with Castimon." I yelled. Nick paused for a moment then ran up to Castimon and LadyDevimon. Nick was only one human, but he tried to lift LadyDevimon's hand with him. Castimon noticed this.
"Nick, what are you doing here, get back you'll just get hurt." Castimon said.
"No, you need my strength, with our combined strength we can make it to ultimate." Nick said. Castimon too paused for a moment, then he nodded. They began to lift the hand together.
"What, what's this?" LadyDevimon said.
"Grrrrah, Strength!" Nick and Castimon yelled. They slowly lifted the hand up and then threw it off to the side. The pair was glowing.
:Digivolution Activate:
"Castimon Digivolve too…!"
Castimon jumped in the air and once again his armor was stripped. Then he began to grow wings. Long red wings. Also new armor began to form it was very thick, black, with a red outlining. After the armor covered his chest a Triforce, like the one on Nick's crest appeared on it. The armor traced up his neck, but stopped at his head. His head was now exposed, and much more dragonic than before. He had two long horns out the back of his head. And red eyes to match his red skin. Lastly another sword appeared and matched the other one.
"Ungarmon!"
Our new ultimate landed on the ground with a crash and charged LadyDevimon. Then I had an idea "Flare activate" I said. Skymon began to glow, and slowly he could move again. He stood up slowly.
"Are you ok?" I asked
"Yeah, I'm alright." He said, before rushing off to help Ungarmon. I went around to my fellow tamers and told them the flare would help. A moment later we were back in full force. Meanwhile Skymon and Ungarmon were brawling with LadyDevimon. Then Ungarmon stepped back to use his attack "Double Disaster!" He called. Then he took out both sword and magically lit them on fire. Then he began an amazing combination of majestic sword slashes. Skymon was behind LadyDevimon, holding her so she wouldn't get away. When Ungarmon's attack was done LadyDevimon was hit by every slash and stab. She was hurt badly, when Skymon let her go she fell to the ground.
"So, you have some skill." LadyDevimon said "But you don't have what it takes, you'll never get past Ruhemon and the others. Ha ha ha" She began laughing incessantly
"Lizard Claw" Skymon called and shot LadyDevimon right in the face with it. LadyDevimon was gone, defeated.
"What was that for!" Kayla asked
"She needed to go." Skymon said.
"Yeah, but she was dying anyway, there was no need." Kayla said.
"He's right, she would've just tried something, who knows what she could've done." I said
"Yeah, but that's so mean." Kayla said.
"But it was also necessary." I said. There was a moment of silence in the dark field that was a battlefield only moments before.
"What should we do now?" Anissa asked
"I guess we should wait for someone to contact us again." I said. "That wasn't so bad was it?"
"I guess not, we plowed through the rookies." Codamon said.
"Yah we did." Aeromon said.
"LadyDevimon was pretty sneaky though. She had a point though, how can be beat Ruhemon and the others? We could barely touch Ruhemon the first time we saw him." Matt said.
"Don't worry about it, we'll find a way." I said "Plus only two of our digimon have gotten to ultimate, maybe yours will be able to hurt him too."
"Good point." Ungarmon said.
"Well, I guess we should just go back to the inn." I said. We all turned and began to head back. I could sense the pride we all had that we were able to accomplish our first mission.
By this time it was nearly pitch black outside. Ungarmon was so full of flaming energy he was actually giving off a red light. When we had nearly reached the inn I looked back over the field and at the scars we'd left upon the ground there. It was really a battlefield. Off in the distance I saw a slight glimmer. I didn't think it was anything important, but then I noticed it was moving towards us.
"Hey guys, wait a sec. Look at that." I said. They all turned.
"It's Protagamon." Codamon said.
"Here to tell us what to do next I'm sure." Kayla said. Protagamon approached rapidly. She hovered above the ground with those glorious wings. She was beaming.
"You did it! Oh, I knew you would." Protagamon said upon reaching us. It was odd seeing her so cheery, she was normally very professional.
"Yep, we did it, all of us." I said mentioning the whole group.
"Ah, you caught up with Anissa, good. I knew you were the ones from the prophecy. Judging by your performance I can see I was right, but we'll have to see what else you can do." She said.
"Well thanks, what's our next mission?" I asked.
"You're ready, right now?" Protagamon asked. I looked around and everyone was nodding their heads. "Ok then. Your next mission is to return to the D-corps base. From there we will plan an attack on Alice-M's base."
"Good, but how will we know where it is?" I asked.
"Codamon is in the D-Corps you moron." K said.
"Oh yeah, ok then, we'll meet you there I guess." I said
"Very good. Please hurry, we'd like to get this fight over with as soon as possible." Protagamon said "See you there." Then she began hovering away in the direction she had come from.
"Well, back north again." I said.
"Yes, but there's actually a faster way than cutting through the forest again. Now, if we go directly north there's a big chasm, and we can probably cross it with our Champions and Ultimates" Codamon said. "So you guys should stay that way until tomorrow."
"Actually I don't think I can hold the form over night." Skymon said.
"That's our dilemma, we can't keep our forms like you can." Ungarmon said to Codamon.
"By the way, why can you stay Champion?" Matt asked his partner.
"I can stay this way because I got to this level by defeating enemies and loading their data. That way I was able to accumulate enough data to change and stay with it. You guys use the mystical power of the D-Gadgets so you are able to get stronger in the other forms, but you can't hold it forever." Codamon explained.
"Right, that explains it." Matt said.
"So what should we do, Brendan?" Anissa asked.
"Huh? Oh well I think we should go out and make it over the Chasm tonight, then once we are past it we can take a break and let you guys Digivolve back to rookie. Then we go north I think until we hit the D-Corps base." I said, all this leader talk was throwing me off guard, I still wasn't used to it.
"Ok, let's go quickly then." Nick said. He was right, we were forced to leave the town we had just defended. I felt like we had done a good job, served our purpose. We began walking away from the torn field. Ungarmon continued to light the path.
"Hey Skymon?" I asked
"Yeah?" He said
"Will you carry me again?" I asked smiling up at him.
"Ugggh, fine." He said and lowered his hand. I stepped on, he lifted me up and we moved on. The others, except Kayla did the same. Anissa was riding Aeromon, Nick was on Ungarmon's shoulders, and Matt was laying on Codamon's broad back.
"Now look what you did!" Aeromon said to Skymon. "If you do it for one of them then they're all going to want a ride."
"See this is why we never stay in our big forms." Ungarmon said.
"Ooh, look at mister funny." I said laughing. The others did too. While we were walking Skymon said that he really didn't mind, to him, I was pretty light.