Author's Notes: I only included one Frontier Digimon at random so that doesn't mean the chosen kids may pop in and say hi. Now that I've gotten that down, let's get to the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any form whatsoever. Bandai, Toei and ABC own the rights and all that stuff.
Ascension – V 2.8
Takato didn't understand what had happened except for the key fact that his entire world seemed to shatter around him. As soon as the Digivice initiated the program, a powerful light erupted from both tamer and Digimon. This worried Armageddemon but he concentrated on his task and attacked nonetheless. "Mega Flare!!" The attack never reached its destination as it had been deflected by…something. He couldn't tell what it was because it was so bright.
A fog had begun to form around the area. Armageddemon didn't understand why or what the significance of the fog was except it meant that a new Digimon had arrived…at least in the Southern realm. A digital field…but they were all in the digital world. How is this possible? 'I may have to ask the master about this one.'
The pain was overwhelming…so much that a normal human being should have been sent to unconsciousness after about thirty seconds. Of course, Takato was not exactly a normal human being. However, he does have his limits. The longer he stayed awake, the more he felt that invisible forces were pulling at him from all sides, as if taking out pieces of him for their own purposes. He didn't know how much time has elapsed since he activated the program.
Then everything just stopped. The pain, the agony, the sensation of his consciousness being shattered…gone. 'Man…that was just totally weird!!' He looked at himself and saw a pair of armoured white hands. 'I turned into Gallantmon…okay.' When he got up, he was feeling quite disoriented and drained.
"G-Guilmon? Are you there, boy?" He waited for a response from his partner but got nothing. The holy knight couldn't see anything through the fog but he could hear noises of a battle not too far away. He would have rushed to check out what was going on but he was still feeling weak. 'Okay…rest first. I have to wait and get some strength back before I can go and fight.'
Gallantmon gave a small groan. "That's definitely an experience I wouldn't like to go through again." "Very well." The holy knight froze at that voice. Before he could try and figure it out, he felt a sharp tip at the very back of his neck. "When I'm through with you, you won't ever have to go through any of life's more unpleasant moments…ever."
'Oh God no…please don't tell me…' "Shadowgallantmon?" asked the holy knight in a weak voice. An amused chuckle came from behind. "Bravo!! And on your very first guess too!! I guess that deserves some reward. Tell ya what…I'll even let you turn around and watch as I pierce my lance right through your heart!!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Are we there yet?" asked the little girl for…who knows how many times she asked. Gennai and Lopmon had lost count after forty. The man had to remember that Suzie was a little girl and that little children are somewhat impatient. "No, Suzie. Just a bit farther." She gave a shrug before trudging on behind her partner.
The trio had been walking for some time now to get to Azulongmon's domain and now Lopmon was beginning to share some of her tamer's impatience. They wanted to get back to their friends and help them out in whatever way they can. But the former Deva knew that the Sovereign would only have called them if the situation is most dire. She then noticed that they were drawing closer to the dragon Digimon's home with the familiar mountains surrounding an area. "This is it?"
Lopmon gave a small nod. "Yes, Suzie…now we have to wait for Azulongmon to show up." Gennai went to a spot and sat down, cross-legged. He appeared to be meditating, to silently summon the great dragon Digimon. Above the trio, the clouds began to shift. Suzie looked up to see some glimpses of chains wrapped around another body. "Wow!! Pwetty!!" Finally, the head of the Eastern Sovereign popped out to greet his guests.
"I realize that time is of the essence so I will get right to the point. Zhuqiaomon is dying." This drew simultaneous gasps from both Gennai and Lopmon. The question that was running through their minds was 'how?' The dragon Digimon answered that question after pausing momentarily. "During the crisis with Millenniumon, Zhuqiaomon had been acting rather abnormally. He still had some shred of rationality but he made some rather questionable choices. It turned out that this was due to an encounter with an unknown program. Only now, we have discovered that there is still a trace of that program inside of him and that it is slowly deleting him from the inside."
"So what can we do?" asked Suzie. Azulongmon looked at the little girl with sadness in each of his eyes. If she did make this choice to help, then she will have to go through much grief. "Do you know about the purpose of the Devas?" Lopmon blinked in surprise. "The Devas were created by Lord Zhuqiaomon to protect the digital world from potential threats."
"Let me start from the beginning. The concept of the Devas was something that all of us Sovereigns came up with. But we decided that Zhuqiaomon needed the Devas in his realm since there were no chosen children that could easily transport to the digital world. So we all contributed a part of our data to help in constructing your physical forms. Although Zhuqiaomon could have easily supplied all the data, we all voted that it was not a good idea, since having the Devas all viral could create some problems. So you see, the code of the Devas contained the vital algorithms needed…to become one of us." The rookie Digimon could hardly believe it. "W-what?"
The Eastern Sovereign continued. "All the vaccine Devas have the capability to digivolve to Ebonwumon while all the virus Devas have the capability to digivolve to Zhuqiaomon. The data ones could digivolve to either another version of me, although not as good looking, or to Baihumon, depending which of us supplied the initial data. Of course, we couldn't have multiple copies of Sovereigns so we placed certain safeguards to make sure that you can't reach that level. We did not willingly create this possible evolution step. It was simply a consequence of us supplying the data."
"I see…so what you are saying is that you are going to make me digivolve and replace Zhuqiaomon?" asked Lopmon. The dragon Digimon gave a small sigh. "That is one possibility but it would be best if Zhuqiaomon's experiences and accumulated wisdom stay intact." An uncomfortable silence followed. The nature of Azulongmon's dilemma had begun to dawn upon Lopmon and Gennai while Suzie was still left in the dark.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The holy knight slowly turned around to face his dark counterpart. "So this time, you're just going to kill me? What about proving your superiority or something?" Shadowgallantmon did not flinch. "I already did…don't tell me that you forgot about the time when I defeated you in combat. I have earned my prize. Now…any last words?"
Gallantmon frantically tried to come up with something to stall while he could try and figure out a way to get himself out of this mess. "It's odd but in a strange sense, what you represented helped me to survive during that time at home with the random Digimon attacks and the humans who wanted to take us apart to study through a microscope. It must have been those certain survival instincts or something." His brain gave a mental shout of triumph as a last minute, adrenaline rushed plan came to mind. "Believe it or not, it's been…interesting to know you."
The dark knight remained silent…and then chuckled again. "I suppose I can say the same to you…in some sense. Goodbye." Gallantmon prepared to execute his plan. It needed extremely precise timing or it wasn't going to work. As Shadowgallantmon brought back his lance, the holy knight started to shift his weight. But before he could do anything, his chest exploded in pain.
His vision started to blur. 'Damn…should have remembered that he's a part of me and that he would have anticipated that.' He started to give a small, insane laugh as he looked down, expecting to see a black lance plunged right through his chest. But there was nothing. This stopped the holy knight from laughing further. 'What's going on? Did I die already?'
He could still recognize the surroundings of the digital world. Maybe not very well with his blurry vision and the fog however he was definitely in the digital world. So where was Shadowgallantmon? He was there just a moment ago, ready to send him into oblivion. That question was soon answered as he saw a black and blue shape moving to avoid something…big and red. Gallantmon focused on clearing his vision.
When his eyes readjusted, he was not prepared for the sight before him. He had been aware of the chaos, the anger and the primal forces that had resided in him. He had been aware that he had taken a form to reflect that chaos but he had never truly seen it before…until now. Megidramon gave a mighty roar before charging the dark knight again. Shadowgallantmon gave a snarl before attacking. "Obsidian Lance!!!" The dragon then delivered his own punch. Both blows struck each other…forcing both contestants to go back. Gallantmon collapsed as his body felt the impact of both blows. 'So…I'm connected to them both? This just plain sucks.'
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"…the one thing that has bothered me throughout my stay at the Dark Ocean was where that message in a bottle came from." Ryo had just finished his story of the events that had occurred in the Dark Ocean to the others. Most of the children had gathered close…or as close as their flying Digimon could get them for those who had flying Digimon. Cody and Armadillomon were given rides by Aquilamon while Grani carried Rika and Renamon. "Message in a bottle?" The legendary tamer nodded.
"It had something to do with the Four Great Dragons. I wish I knew some more about them." Then Nefertimon began to speak. "The Four Great Dragons were created when the digital world was in its infancy…that message could be an observation made by a priest or prophet about what gifts the reincarnations of the Dragons could have." The group remained silent on the subject for a while.
Rika crossed her arms. "Why couldn't I have gone with Taichi? At least he would be better company than him…" Renamon gave a small sigh. "Henry was the logical choice to accompany Zero and Taichi. Not only does he have a D Terminal to communicate with us, Megagargomon would be more effective in penetrating Daemon's defenses."
While the other Digidestined were focused on the journey ahead, Cyberdramon flew a little bit closer to Grani. "Hey, how are you holding up?" asked Ryo. Rika just ignored the boy. He continued to talk. "So, tell me about the guy who stopped Millenniumon's rebirth." The Digimon Queen shot a glare. "Okay…what are you up to?"
"Nothing!! I just want to get to know Takato better and since you're the person who's closest to him, I thought you can offer some insight." The girl remained silent before she figured out what she wanted to say. "If you want to get to know him better, then just talk to him yourself. Now just stay away from me!" Ryo gave a sigh. "Look…I just don't want you to get hurt or anything." "Excuse me?!?!?"
"Rika, you're only…what? Eleven? Twelve years old? The feelings that you and Takato have for each other could be nothing more than puppy love or some sort of crush. You can't seriously be thinking that this relationship can last until the both of you are in your rocking chairs." Rika's violet eyes narrowed. "Ryo, for the last time, leave me alone and stay the hell out of my love life!!"
The boy sighed. "I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all. But you may want to re-evaluate the relationship before you keep going. In every person's lifetime, relationships will come and go." With that said, he focused himself on the journey ahead. Rika tried to do the same but now she was quite troubled by what the legendary tamer had said. The main issue that was troubling her mind was the fact that Ryo could be right about the whole relationship thing.
"We better step up the pace just a little bit. I want to dismantle that tower at the end of the hour," growled Cyberdramon. The others seemed to share the same feeling and started to speed up but not to the point of exhaustion. Ryo had a worried look as he glanced at his partner. Obviously, there had to be something huge to bother Cyberdramon this much.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
'Damn that stupid ass dragon…' Megidramon had created a large circle of flames around the dark knight and was focusing his Megido Flame attack directly on Shadowgallantmon. He would have moved to a safer place but so far, Megidramon seemed to cover all areas of escape. The dark knight had repeatedly attempted to tap into his hypertime ability (AN: remember from chapter 37 of BTOS?) to get himself out of this jam but for some reason, he couldn't activate his power.
He then started to raise his lance into the air. "Demon's Disaster!!" A wave of dark energy gathered around in a circle and started to spread out, extinguishing the flames and destroying the landscape at the same time. But the circle died down shortly since Shadowgallantmon did not put a large amount of energy into the attack. Come to think of it…he couldn't afford to put too much energy into that attack…not without risking total exhaustion. 'What's wrong with me? Maybe the dragon's punches are finally catching up to me.'
What the dark knight didn't notice was that Megidramon wasn't in the best of shape either and neither was Gallantmon. In fact, to say that Gallantmon wasn't in the best of shape would be a major understatement. After the amount of brutal punishment that his body took, it's a wonder that he's still conscious at all. 'Just stop fighting already! The both of you are pretty beat up and if you continue to fight like this, you'll probably kill each other…and me in the process!!'
But unfortunately, both of these Digimon have inherited Takato's stubborn attitude and 'don't give up' philosophy. Shadowgallantmon and Megidramon had gotten up and they were ready to fight again. Gallantmon simply watched them as he had little strength to actually stop the two contestants from continuing the battle. As the chaotic dragon and the dark knight charged to meet in battle again, the worn out holy knight just bowed his head in defeat for death seemed to be inevitable.
A noise was made as the dragon and the knight met…but it was not the noise of a fist making contact with armour or a lance piercing the skin. No, it was something completely different. Gallantmon looked up and gasped. He had seen many strange things before…and when he saw both Shadowgallantmon and Megidramon at the same time, he thought it couldn't get any stranger…until now. Standing in between the two contestants, with one arm stopping the lance and one arm blocking the punch was Gallantmon, Crimson Mode. He looked at both the dragon and the dark knight with a calm expression. "Now, now…can't we all just get along?" That was the last thing Gallantmon heard before slipping into darkness.
Lately, I've been reading that Gallantmon Crimson Mode would wipe the floor with Imperialdramon Paladin Mode. I see them as evenly matched as Imperialdramon cuts the power of any opposing virus Digimon in half and with Gallantmon's power quintupling against any Digimon with "Mode" in their name…well, you should know where I'm getting at. Yes, I know I've created quite a splendid mess but I can promise you that an explanation will be coming soon in the next chapter…or the one after. I don't know. Well, I'll see you guys next time!!