VENGEANCE
Chapter 22 – The Trial of Kindness, Part II
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Screaming in agony, Ken struggled with all his might to break free from the dark mist that was surrounding him but was stopped by an invisible barrier that seemed to form around him. His feet felt like being pricked by the sharpest of needles, his hands seemed to be frozen stiff, and that his body was being electrocuted which forced him back to his feet involuntarily. Strangely, neither sensation seemed to be causing bodily harm upon Ken, but the pain he felt was nevertheless excruciating.
"YOU!" A loud voice boomed out of nowhere. "You are not worthy to enter the Cave of Illusions! Only those who are good may enter here!"
Waves of memories flooded Ken's mind. The first was during the time he was still young, when his older brother Sam was still alive. He was watching Sam playing with his computer when a Digivice popped out from the monitor. Sam warned Ken not to touch it, but Ken disobeyed him and ended up being in the Digital World.
"You disobeyed your own brother!" the same voice said loudly.
"No… I didn't mean to."
After his return, Sam found out about it and was angered. Ken ended up screaming, wishing Sam was dead. And unfortunately, not too long after that Sam was involved in a fatal accident, a case of hit-and-run. He was dead on the spot.
"You wished that your brother was dead!"
"No… I didn't mean for that!"
The scene shifted into Ken and Duskmon, plotting to enter the Cave of Illusions for the first time. Ken had used the vial given by Duskmon, who was actually Chaos Specter, to turn the guardian of the prophecy into stone.
"You used underhand means to defeat the guardian of this cave!"
It then showed Ken, at the Dark Ocean, turning his Digivice into a Black D3 Digivice, and continued shouting its accusations.
"You embraced the side of darkness!"
Next, it was the countless number of times Ken had whipped Wormmon, regardless of the fact that Wormmon was his partner.
"You tortured your own digimon partner heartlessly!"
After that, it was the times when Ken, as the Digimon Emperor, distributed the Dark Rings and Control Spires all over the eastern quadrant of the East Sector. Ken was forced to see the times when he had enslaved the digimon there, forcing them to fight among themselves for his entertainment.
"You treated digimon as if they were lifeless creatures!"
Subsequently, the strange voice revealed the moment when Ken was dreading the most. It was the time he used Devimon's data to complete the creation of his Kimeramon, and subsequently causing the return of the fallen angel back on File Island. Ken was forced to relive the moment when Kimeramon had caused deaths of many innocent digimon during its rampage. Ultimately, it showed Ken the battle between Kimeramon and Magnamon, which ended up in Wormmon being deleted. And finally, the most recent event played in Ken's head as it showed how Ken's anger forced Stingmon to Dark Digivolve into Deathbeemon.
"You created a monster, and caused the loss of many innocent lives and also of your own partner! You are not worthy to be called a Digidestined, and definitely not deserving the Crest of Kindness! You caused the death of your own partner digimon! Even though he gave you a second chance, you decided to pay him back by forcing him to evolve into a digimon full with bane and hatred. You turned him down! Wormmon deserves a better partner than you!"
All of the accusations echoed in Ken's mind, and caused a tear to roll down his face. He slumped on his knees onto the ground, still under deep pain but for a moment, he didn't seem to care. Looking at the unconscious Wormmon, who was obviously oblivious of what was going on around him, Ken felt the same pain which he felt when he discarded the Digimon Emperor within him the previous year. It was worse than any bodily-inflicted pain, perhaps it was the worst kind of pain anyone could ever feel. It was the pain deep within the heart, which was stabbing him from the inside.
"You're wrong…" he sobbed, but Ken himself sounded unconvinced with himself.
"Prove it!"
Ken raked his mind for anything to counter the accusations thrown by the Cave of Illusions. An image of himself, his friend Ryo Akiyama, and a Paildramon appeared within him. They had defeated Milleniummon, and had saved the Digital World. Ken shook his head, knowing that it was nothing compared to the evil deeds he'd done before. Then another memory came; it was when he and Wormmon were reunited after the latter was deleted during the scuffle with Kimeramon. They destroyed the Control Spires together, learning that it was actually Arukenimon who was behind the erection of so many spires. The moment when Stingmon and Exveemon had DNA Digivolved into Paildramon, and subsequently Imperialdramon, formed a slight smile on his face. Indeed it was a warm feeling, and Ken still felt it as if the event had just happened.
Then, Ken recalled the times when he had committed a selfless act by surrendering himself to Yukio Oikawa in return for the safety of the kidnapped children, who unbeknownst to him at that time, were going to be used as Dark Spores hatching places. He didn't do it because he had to, but because he'd wanted to. He had wanted for the kidnapped kids to be safe, to be happy and not to end up like him. When Daemon arrived, Ken had willingly used his D3 to open a portal to the Dark Ocean, knowing too well that it might caused him to suffer as well. Luckily his fellow Digidestined friends had been there to support him. Ken eventually took part in the final battle with MaloMyotismon, recalling that Sam had told him that the digimon had no longer blamed him for his past deed, though some might still remain unconvinced. Wormmon had assured him that it was time for Ken to forgive himself as well, as everyone had forgiven him. Finally, MaloMyotismon was defeated and Ken, along with the other Digidestined all over the world, had saved two worlds from being invaded by darkness.
To his amazement, all the pain he was feeling subsided almost instantly.
"Very well," the voice of the cave boomed again. "You are certainly no longer evil, but are you worthy of your crest's virtue? We shall soon see. You may enter."
Ken was stunned and wanted to ask what the cave had meant, but was only met with silence. The voice, strange as it was, had left him on his own. He glanced outside and saw Yolei and Hawkmon were looking at him in concern. Ken nodded to assure them that he was alright, and flashed a thumb's up with a weary smile to indicate that. Yolei nodded back and mouthed something which Ken concluded as a wish of good luck and to be safe. The barrier was still erected on the entrance of the cave, which blocked all sounds from coming through it. He then went back up to his feet and picked Wormmon gently. The worm digimon's body was still freezing, but it was no longer as cold as it was when Wormmon was Deathbeemon.
"Here we go," said Ken, and began to enter the dark cave, unknowing of what to expect.
"We meet again, Digidestined," said Chaos Seadramon, his voice echoing all over Emeraldo City. "How I long for the chance to destroy all of you, and thankfully the master have decided that he would let me to do the honors."
"Your master has fled simply because he's too chicken to fight all of us!" said Davis defiantly. "He's letting you to do the dirty work because he was no match against all of us!"
"Don't talk about the master that way!" replied Chaos Seadramon angrily. "Mekanorimon, Blossomon, attack them!"
As the swarms of Mekanorimon and Blossomon charged towards the Digidestined, the disciples of HolyAngemon quickly flew past the Digidestined, followed by Piximon and Ankylomon. Piddomon indicated that the Digidestined, sans Cody, should all Transdigivolve with their partners to face Chaos Seadramon while they took care of his minions. Davis, TK and Kari quickly merged with their partners, and as Paildramon, Angewomon and MagnaAngemon charged towards Chaos Seadramon, Cody was left with GrapLeomon.
"You should join the fight as well, GrapLeomon," asserted Cody. "Your strength is an asset to them."
"Maybe so, but your safety is more important to me," said GrapLeomon. "Right now, you are most vulnerable to any attack."
"You're right about that," Cody grumbled. "How I wish I can Transdigivolve."
Together they watched as Ankylomon rammed over a few Mekanorimon, causing them to malfunction. Cody had been apprehensive about killing digimon, so Ankylomon bore that in mind. Although, he'd rather finish them off quickly as they were servants of Chaos Specter. Seeing that Mekanorimon could be damaged without deleting them, the ankylosaur digimon dealt with them less-violently.
In the meantime, the three angels of HolyAngemon took the more aggressive approach against three wild Blossomon. All of them had glowing red eyes, which meant that they served Chaos Specter. The angels decided to tackle one Blossomon at a time, as they were no match for the rampaging Ultimate in one-on-one battle.
Paildramon, Angewomon and MagnaAngemon were hovering on the air, facing Chaos Seadramon. The Digidestined were awry of the Mega digimon; Chaos Seadramon possessed more power than any average Mega digimon and with the three of them being only Ultimates, they would need to combine all they attacks together to stand a chance against him.
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- DIGIMON ANALYZER -
Name : Chaos Seadramon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Mega
Type : Cyborg
Specialty : Water
Attacks : River of Power, Giga Ice Blast
Power Level : 125
Chaos Seadramon are one of three Chaos Generals who were under Chaos Specter. He possesses the similar kinds of attacks that any data-type MetalSeadramon has, but those attacks are intensified in power due to an upgrade given by Chaos Specter for his three servants. He also owns the similar ability of swimming at great speed and is capable of flying. Protected by Chrome Digizoid armor all over his body, it would be next to impossible to inflict any bodily harm onto this Chaos General's body.
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"He's even stronger than Tai's Wargreymon!" said Angewomon. "We really have to be careful."
"Not only that," said MagnaAngemon. "He's even more powerful than that crazed Chaosdramon Davis and I met back at Harmona!"
"I'm stronger than any of you pathetic cretins put together!" exclaimed Chaos Seadramon, and his metallic snout glowed with blue lights. He launched his most devastating attack, the River of Power, towards his three opponents to finish them off quickly. Luckily, they managed to evade the attack simply by flying away. Paildramon quickly retaliated by firing off his Desperado Blaster, which had no effect against Chaos Seadramon's Chrome Digizoid armor.
"Drats!" he muttered angrily. "Not a dent!"
"Are you attacking me just now, because I only felt tickles on my body," taunted Chaos Seadramon. "You should know that I possess an advantage against you. A mere Data digimon can't cause much harm on a proud Virus such as me!"
"You think you're hot stuff!" growled Paildramon. "How about a dose of Exveemon's specialty, that'll ought to change your mind! Vee Laser!"
The laser attack generated from Paildramon's chest simply bounced harmlessly against Chaos Seadramon's heavy armor, but it did cause a slight scorch there. Paildramon sighed in frustration and was about to let out another attack until MagnaAngemon stopped him.
"It's no use, Davis. The attack will simply rebound again no matter how often you attack. We need a plan," said MagnaAngemon.
"What do you have in mind?" Angewomon joined in.
"Spill it already," groaned Paildramon.
"It's pretty obvious that if our attacks won't work against him, then our only option is to banish him into the Gate of Destiny," said MagnaAngemon. "The thing is, I don't really have enough power to do that on my own. I…" Before he could finish his sentence, all three Digidestined had to scatter away from another incoming attack from Chaos Seadramon.
"Heaven's Charm!"
"Desperado Blaster!"
The two attacks from Angewomon and Paildramon were aimed at the organic parts of Chaos Seadramon which were unprotected by the armor. However Chaos Seadramon immediately used his tail to whip both attacks away.
"What we really need is a Wargreymon," gasped Angewomon. "As I can recall, only a Wargreymon's Dramon Destroyer could destroy a Dramon-typed digimon such as Chaos Seadramon."
"No kidding," muttered Paildramon. "I'm not going to give up, though! Elemental Bolt!"
Paildramon sent four energy balls consisting of the four of the major elements of the world; namely Fire, Ice, Electric and Poison attacks. The ice elemental bolt simply rebounded against Chaos Seadramon's thick armor, but the fire, electric and poison attacks were seen to be entering Chaos Seadramon's organic parts. The serpentine digimon seemed to shudder for a while, but he immediately shrugged it off and looked unscathed.
"That really stung," declared Chaos Seadramon. "But like I said, you are a mere Data so your attack has no major effect against me!"
"Then let us Vaccines teach you a lesson!" said MagnaAngemon loudly. "Soul Banish!"
MagnaAngemon slashed his Excalibur in mid-air, and a strange glowing silver pentagram appeared. Inside the pentagram were large Digital World alphabets which MagnaAngemon himself didn't understand really well. Patamon, inside the body of MagnaAngemon, translated the strange characters as the word 'Banish'. The pentagram let out a brilliant flash of dazzling silver lights which blinded Chaos Seadramon.
Angewomon decided to join in the attack as well. "Celestial Arrow!"
Both attacks collided with Chaos Seadramon's armor, and after MagnaAngemon's attack hit him, Angewomon's arrow managed to break a part of the armor near Chaos Seadramon's chest. Seeing an opportunity, Paildramon instantly summoned the Elemental Bolt again and fired onto the unprotected part of the snake's chest, previously exposed by his two angelic counterparts.
"GAAAAH! You'll pay for that!" Chaos Seadramon roared angrily and retaliated with, "River of Power!"
In the meantime, Piximon and Ankylomon had taken care of all the evil Mekanorimon without destroying them. They simply malfunctioned, causing Chaos Specter's power over them to dissipate, but whether it was for the time being or permanently, nobody knew. They then decided to help the angels who weren't having better luck. D'Archmon was already injured and had to retreat, leaving only Angemon and Piddomon to fight all three Blossomon.
"Spiral Flower!" all three Blossomon chorused together, and pelted the angel brothers with spinning flowers erupting from their plant-like limbs. Both Angemon and Piddomon were sent flying away almost instantly. Roaring madly, the Ultimate plant digimon stampeded towards the angels when Piximon and Ankylomon moved in to attack them. The Blossomon immediately roped Ankylomon with vines, and tossed him on the air while whipping him continuously with their vines and leaves. It was rare for any digimon to be able to lift Ankylomon, who weighted a lot, but with unrivalled team work the Blossomon had just set a record. Every whipping caused Ankylomon to become weak gradually.
"Let him go!" Piximon warned, but the Blossomon paid no heed to him. "Okay, you ask for it. Pit Bomb!"
Piximon's attack went soaring towards one of the Blossomon, and hit it squarely on its face. The unfortunate Blossomon immediately released its grope on Ankylomon and angrily went for Piximon while the other two continued their torture towards Ankylomon.
"Data against Data, Ultimate against Ultimate," said Piximon, analyzing his oncoming opponent. "It's been a while since I really have a good fight."
"Spiral Flower!" roared the Blossomon, sending spinning flower that befitted the manner of the shuriken used by ninjas. Piximon, being a great digimon trainer he was, expertly dodged all the attacks and defended himself with his staff.
"Is that all the best you can do? Pit Bomb!"
The Blossomon lashed out its vines towards the attack sent by Piximon. Without replying to Piximon's taunt, it continued to attack Piximon again. The battle between the two Ultimates was getting more intense, and after exchanging flower-shuriken and bombs both party were getting exhausted. The Blossomon suddenly stopped attacking as it was already exhausted.
Piximon smiled smugly after noticing the Blossomon tiring. "You are lacking stamina, rookie."
However his victory was cut short when Piximon suddenly felt something really, really heavy collided against him on the back. It was Ankylomon, thrown away towards him by the other two Blossomon. The unexpected turn of event caused the battle to be in the Blossomon's favor as Ankylomon was too injured to sustain his Champion level any longer, while Piximon was hurt by Ankylomon's sudden weight and could not continue fighting. He and Armadillomon rolled over to where Cody, GrapLeomon and the angels were at.
"Sorry, Cody," sighed Armadillomon. "Those flower freaks were just too strong for me."
"You did your best, Armadilllomon," assured Cody.
"It's time for me to take part in this battle," said GrapLeomon grimly, and motioned for the other digimon to keep an eye for Cody.
But as he was beginning to make his move towards the Blossomon, a tall figure dressed in purple armor brushed past him swiftly. The stranger was holding a staff, and judging from its figure GrapLeomon concluded that this digimon must be a female. The mysterious female digimon then raised her staff and tapped the ground lightly with it while reciting what seemed to be a poem. Waves of purple aura and thousands cherry blossom petals showered out from the staff and surrounded the three Blossomon. Amazingly, the single attack from her caused all three Blossomon to be deleted.
"Amazing," muttered GrapLeomon in awe, as the lady stranger turned to walk towards them.
"She…destroyed them," said Cody, but brushed the thought aside, remembering that the Blossomon chose to be evil. It was an act of free-will. Cody then decided to get to know of this mysterious stranger.
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- DIGIMON ANALYZER -
Name : Kuzuhamon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Mega
Type : Sorceress
Specialty : Ice
Attacks : Reverse Spirit Strike, Amethyst Wind
Power Level : 95
Kuzuhamon is the viral version of the usual compassionate data type Sakuyamon, and has an aura of mystery around her. So far there is only one Kuzuhamon recorded to be seen on the Digital World. She serves the Harmonious One of the North, Ebonwumon, and resides in the Ice Lake within Kulon Mines. Nothing else is known about her, but sources say that her history dates back to the era when the Digital World was first invaded by the forces of evil.
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"Intriguing," said Cody. "She's ancient!"
"She's hot!" chimed in Armadillomon, earning a glare from Cody. "What? Just look at her!"
"I've never heard of a Kuzuhamon, or a Sakuyamon," said Cody confusedly. "She's a Virus type digimon, but the analyzer said that she's serving Ebonwumon, so she must be on our side."
"That's good to hear," said Armadillomon. "I certainly don't want to get on her bad side."
A loud deafening BOOM! was suddenly heard from the sky, where the three Transdigivolved Digidestined were battling Chaos Seadramon. This caught the attention of everyone down there. Kuzuhamon glanced towards the sky, and without warning she shot up straight into the air.
"Let's hope that she's going to help Paildramon and the others the same way she did to us," said Armadillomon, totally in awe of Kuzuhamon.
Chaos Seadramon had just launched his mighty River of Power again, and it took all three Digidestined to come up with a counter-attack powerful enough to defend themselves against the Chaos General. However, fighting a strong Mega digimon caused the three of them to weaken, but they were not willing to give up.
"Hand of Fate!"
"Vee Laser!"
"Heaven's Charm!"
Their efforts proved futile as Chaos Seadramon was still exceptionally strong and was able to withstand the attacks easily although MagnaAngemon and Angewomon's attacks did hurt him a little whenever those attacks hit his organic body parts. As a Data type, Paildramon had to constantly resort into using Exveemon's attacks, which had Vaccine attributes, to combat Chaos Seadramon. However, even by doing so they were still outclassed by the powerful Mega.
"We really could use a Mega digimon now on our side!" Paildramon sighed in frustration. As if on cue, a lady digimon in purple armor flew past him elegantly and hovered near him. Paildramon couldn't believe his eyes as he scanned the newcomer's information.
"Consider your prayers answered, Davis!" said Veemon.
"Leave him to me," said Kuzuhamon. "The three of you, take cover."
"Another challenger?" inquired Chaos Seadramon, feigning interest. "You're sending a puny lady-mon to fight your battle?"
"Reverse Spirit Strike!" summoned Kuzuhamon, and a giant specter of a fox materialized from her back. The fox ghost emitted an icy aura which caused the Digidestined to feel the intense cold, and shuddered. The ghostly attack of Kuzuhamon flew through Chaos Seadramon's snout. With amazement, the Digidestined saw that Chaos Seadramon's helmet was frozen first, then his whole body was covered with frost.
"Awesome!" said Paildramon.
Chaos Seadramon was baffled. He instantly realized that he was facing a Mega digimon with the same attribute and specialty as him. It was least expected; especially because her attack had caused the effect Chaos Seadramon was feeling now.
"Not so puny, am I?" asked Kuzuhamon seriously.
"I'm impressed. You really make any icy viral Mega digimon proud," said Chaos Seadramon with a wicked snicker. "However you should have realized that who you are dealing now is a direct servant of Chaos Specter." With a glowing red aura around his body, Chaos Seadramon immediately broke free from the effect of Kuzuhamon's attack.
"I've fought one of your fellow general before," she said coldly. "I definitely know what I'm getting myself into."
"You must mean that traitorous Chaos Wargreymon," said Chaos Seadramon snidely. "You've fought him, and you're still alive? I must say that I'm amazed. Surely he went easy on you."
"I want to know where Chaos Wargreymon is right now," demanded Kuzuhamon.
"What business do you have with him?" asked Chaos Seadramon curiously. "Wait… it's something to do with that crystal the master had sent for him to retrieve is it so? If that's the case then you are also a threat for the master's plan. I shall eliminate you together with these three cretins! Giga Ice Blast!"
"Ahh!" cried Kuzuhamon, quickly evading the attack as she was unprepared to receive the attack. But by doing so she had exposed the three unsuspecting Digidestined in danger. "Reverse Spirit Strike!"
Paildramon, Angewomon and MagnaAngemon had barely enough time to dodge when Kuzuhamon's spectral attack swirled around Chaos Seadramon's attack, and slowly deleting it. The delay was enough for the three Digidestined to move away from danger.
Kuzuhamon quickly regained stance at waved her staff over the air. "Amethyst Wind!"
Chaos Seadramon found himself to be showered by cherry blossoms all over, which struck him all over his body. The attack was surprisingly strong, and Chaos Seadramon felt himself being weakened. Kuzuhamon quickly struck him again with another blast of her Amethyst Wind attack, but Chaos Seadramon shot out a powerful ray of energy beam from his snout, thus canceling the second attempt of Kuzuhamon.
"Do you think we should help her?" asked Angewomon.
"She told us to leave this battle to her," replied Paildramon.
"But it seems like she needs one," said MagnaAngemon. "We should assist her; after all she did come to our rescue."
"Something is off about her," said Paildramon suspiciously.
"What do you mean?" asked Angewomon.
"Her fox-ghost attack is ice based, right? I was thinking… could she be responsible for Wormmon being frozen to a near-death?"
Both MagnaAngemon and Angewomon were stunned to hear Paildramon's accusation.
"We'll ask her about that later," MagnaAngemon decided. "Right now, if we want to know whether she is responsible for freezing Wormmon we should make sure that she's alive."
The three of them then joined Kuzuhamon in the fight. Kuzuhamon seemed to be grateful for the assistance; she wasn't doing so well on her own as Chaos Seadramon proved to be stronger than her. However, the odds may rose against him if Kuzuhamon and the Digidestined worked together.
Kuzuhamon then advanced towards Chaos Seadramon, waving her staff and sent away her Amethyst Wind attack again. She was followed by Angewomon, who flew forward and released her Heaven's Charm attack to assist Kuzuhamon. The effect from their combined power was unexpectable; the pink aura of Angewomon's attack blended in with Kuzuhamon's attack and turned her gentle attack into a glowing pink blizzard of cherry blossoms. Chaos Seadramon cried in pain, the effect of the attack had broken parts of his strong Chrome Digizoid armor. Bits and pieces of the armor were peeled of off his body, exposing his grey, scaly organic skin.
"Gaahh! Giga Ice Blast!" roared Chaos Seadramon in rage, and blasted Kuzuhamon away with his mighty attack. He was furious for being bested by two female digimon, and was determined not to let both Kuzuhamon and Angewomon get away with this. He would be shamed in front of Chaos Specter and Chaos Piedmon if he couldn't defeat the two female digimon.
"Kuzuhamon!" cried Angewomon, as another attack from Chaos Seadramon was coming towards her. Folding her wings tight, Angewomon channeled her energy towards her eight pure white wings, making them her shield from the oncoming attack. She was hit, and was sent flying straight towards the grounds. Crashing onto the ground, she reverted back into a much weakened Kari and Gatomon.
Both Paildramon and MagnaAngemon were surprised and angered for what was happening towards their dear friends.
"You prepare the Gate of Destiny, TK," ordered Paildramon and he pelted straight towards Chaos Seadramon. "Desperado Blaster!"
"I'm getting really tired of you, foolish Data!" said Chaos Seadramon wearily, and snapped his metallic tail towards Paildramon. Paildramon was expecting to be whipped with the tail, and prepared to defend himself. However, Chaos Seadramon seemed to change his mind and used his tail to rope Paildramon instead. He exerted strong force in crushing Paildramon, wanting to get rid of the dragon man digimon.
"Davis!" cried MagnaAngemon, and had to abandon his plan of forming the mystical Gate of Destiny to help his friend. Not too far from him, Kuzuhamon was looking at Paildramon in concern, hesitating to attack.
"No, TK! Form the gate, now!"
MagnaAngemon stopped dead in track. "But you'll be absorbed as well!"
"I'll risk it," said Paildramon, his voice sounded really strained.
Kuzuhamon approached MagnaAngemon from behind. "Do as he said."
"I don't have enough power to pull in a digimon as strong as Chaos Seadramon into the gate!" said MagnaAngemon despairingly.
The dark lady fox digimon was thoughtful for a while before her expression become serious again. "Listen. Do you think you can pull in that serpent into your Gate of Destiny if you have more power?"
MagnaAngemon hesitated for a while before answering,"I… yes, I think I can."
Kuzuhamon nodded. "Now, what do you have to do to form the gate?"
"I'll need to charge up the Excalibur first before forming the gate. That's where the problem is, I don't think I have much energy left."
"Don't worry about that. Energize your blade now," ordered Kuzuhamon.
MagnaAngemon quickly did as he was ordered, while Kuzuhamon began to stand still and one of her hand was posed into a meditating stance, while the other was holding her staff. She was uttering a prayer, and instantly her body glowed with light violet lights as cherry blossoms flew in from the aura around her. Kuzuhamon then used her staff to direct the cherry blossoms to surround MagnaAngemon while continuing with her chanting. MagnaAngemon suddenly felt himself full with Kuzuhamon's power, and instantly his Excalibur glimmered with brilliant purple lights, with cherry blossoms flying around him. Suddenly Kuzuhamon's purple armor, gloves, boots and mask vanished from her body, leaving her clad only in black cat suit. Her long white hair flowed freely behind her back, no longer neatly tied as it was before.
"Now you have the means," she said, her strong voice now sounded slightly tired and strained. "You are now wielding my powers as well as your own, use it to finish off that serpent."
"This is really amazing," exclaimed MagnaAngemon, and cried out loudly, "Gate of Destiny!"
Instead of the usual Gate of Destiny, MagnaAngemon had formed a larger gate which would accommodate Chaos Seadramon's size. From the gate, blizzards of cherry blossoms were pulling Chaos Seadramon into the dark vortex inside. The winds were getting stronger each second as Kuzuhamon's power was flowing inside MagnaAngemon. Chaos Seadramon felt shaken and tried to maintain balance. In his effort to avoid himself from being sucked into the Gate of Destiny, Chaos Seadramon had unknowingly weakened his grasp onto Paildramon. Paildramon realized that this was his chance to escape, and quickly focused his energy onto his chest, and generated a Vee Laser strong enough to cause Chaos Seadramon to release him. Flying around Chaos Seadramon and after making sure that he was at a safe distance, Paildramon fired the Elemental Bolt to force the large serpentine digimon to succumb into the gate.
"It can't end like this!" Chaos Seadramon roared. "I would not be defeated by a bunch of sniveling INSECTS!"
He energized all of his remaining power and prepared to unleash his deadliest attack. "River of Power!"
Instead of the usual blasts that came from his snout, this time around the attack seemed to increase in multifold. A mighty, concentrated energy beam made out of Chaos Seadramon's raw power was speeding towards MagnaAngemon and the weakened Kuzuhamon threatening to set ablaze anything that caught in its way.
"Look out!"
If there was something that annoyed Chaosdramon the most, it was being interrupted just before he would achieve his goal. The sudden appearance of Lady Sakuyamon of the Ivory Citadel was certainly unexpected, as she was an aloof digimon and didn't really bother much about the welfares of the members of Tyranno Clan. It was the first time any of them saw her coming out from Ivory Citadel since her arrival years ago. Those who were hatched after her arrival didn't recognize her, while the elder ones were surprised of her sudden appearance. What would be the reason for her to interrupt a dangerous digimon killing off the ex-ruler of Tyranno Clan?
"What do you want, woman?" he demanded angrily.
Lady Sakuyamon didn't answer the question, she just continued approaching the gargantuan Chaosdramon with an expressionless face. Of course, it was hard to tell what she was feeling because half of her face was covered by the yellow fox-head helmet, but from her demeanor anyone could see that she was a calm yet calculative digimon.
"Milady," MasterTyrannomon choked out, struggling to release his head from Chaosdramon's feet. "It's dangerous out here for you. Please go back to the citadel, where you will be safe."
"Unhand him," said Lady Sakuyamon calmly, ignoring MasterTyrannomon's pleas. "Or do you want me to make you do just that?"
Murmurs and gasps were heard from the crowd. Everyone was speculating whether this lady was actually challenging the crazy Chaosdramon.
"I've defeated him in a fair battle," said Chaosdramon. "You… it's not your place to interfere, woman. Go back to where you came from."
"Is that so?" replied Lady Sakuyamon, sounding mildly irritated by Chaosdramon's reply. "Well, if you are the NEW leader of Tyrannovalley… then you will have to accept any challenge for the position of ruler, am I right?"
"Are you saying that you are challenging me to a fight?"
"I am glad that we have reached an understanding."
"What makes you think that you will fit in as the ruler of this valley? For generations, the ruler of this valley has always come from the Tyrannomon generation line. Should there be no Tyrannomon to ascend the throne; another digimon of dinosaur origin will be chosen. It is our custom, right Triceramon?"
"Better the lady than you, traitor!" declared Triceramon. This was met with loud murmurs of agreement.
Chaosdramon let out a sickening laugh. "I can't believe it! All of you! You rather pick an outsider to be your ruler… and furthermore, a woman! Very well… if you want it that way, then I shall not fail you. As the leader of this clan, I demand that you show to us of your worthiness of taking over from me. You shall receive ten blows from me, and IF you survive all of them than I will step down willingly."
Lady Sakuyamon was silent after hearing the demand, contemplating her chances quietly inside her mind.
Chaosdramon guffawed while seeing the hesitation of his challenger, knowing that she was not a match for him. No digimon could stand and receive ten blows from him, and remain alive. It would be a short battle for him, and he was half-expecting that the lady challenger would back down and return to her sanctuary. However, he was proved wrong after hearing her response.
"Don't be too sure of yourself, Chaosdramon," warned Lady Sakuyamon and took off onto the air. She stood on the top of the skull of SkullMammothmon, and with the winds blowing her long shining white hair over the red background of the sky and the valley, she looked impressive in the eyes of most digimon of the valley. Some however had doubts of her chances.
"I see that you've made your mind," said Chaosdramon. "But what's in it for you, woman? Why do you interfere with my plan of ruling MY clan? You have been given sanctuary in our domain by our late master, and he had forbid anyone from coming close to the Ivory Citadel where you live now. I'm now offering you a chance to return to your home, and I will obey to our late master's order to stay away from the citadel."
"Your late master also told me to see to it that his clan would always remain in good hands, should I want to repay his deed," said Lady Sakuyamon shortly. "He had handpicked his own successor to ascend to the throne. You on the other hand, are not the rightful one to rule this clan."
Chaosdramon eyed Lady Sakuyamon angrily while thinking, 'I'll have her strong data to add on my own. It'll be an easy fight for me. How foolish of her to think that she can challenge my power, I'm now the strongest Mega digimon alive!' Indeed, he was too confident in himself. After having killed many innocent digimon to strengthen his hold of his Mega form, Chaosdramon felt that no one would be able to defeat him. He would take over Tyrannovalley and then…
"What are you waiting for?" inquired Lady Sakuyamon, interrupting Chaosdramon's trails of thought.
'Damn,' Chaosdramon thought silently. "Well, lady's first."
"Gallantry will get you nowhere, Chaosdramon," replied Lady Sakuyamon, and she begun by waving her feather duster gently into the air.
"What are you doing? Wiping dust off the air?" taunted Chaosdramon, laughing heartily. "That's SOMETHING!"
Lady Sakuyamon merely smiled mysteriously, and suddenly the air around her warped into glowing pink aura with thousands of cherry blossom petals swirling like a blizzard. The flower petals struck Chaosdramon forcefully on all directions, causing the maddened Mega digimon to be pushed several steps backwards.
The effect of the attack surprised Chaosdramon. "How could this be?" he wondered.
"Bonhitsusen!" cried Lady Sakuyamon, and drew a symbol of yin and yang onto the air with her feather duster. The black and white symbol then let out a strong ray of holy white lights which engulfed Chaosdramon, causing him to yell out a surprised cry of pain. As a Virus digimon, Chaosdramon was supposed to be able to withstand any attack caused by Data digimon, but strangely Lady Sakuyamon's attack affected him. There was only one explanation, and judging from his opponent's way of attacking Chaosdramon was completely sure that he was right.
"A holy attack!" said Chaosdramon angrily.
"An attack derived from my Ultimate form's very own, yes. It is holy. In my Ultimate form I was a priestess," said Lady Sakuyamon calmly.
"Curse it!" muttered Chaosdramon, but hid his anger. Holy attack was his weakness, although Chaosdramon wasn't a dark digimon. It was because he had disobeyed the strict rule set by the four Harmonious Ones, he had succumbed into the side of darkness.
Chaosdramon then proceed by attacking Lady Sakuyamon with his Hyper Mugen Cannon. The attack was powerful and was aimed towards where Lady Sakuyamon was hovering. Locking on his target, Chaosdramon maneuvered the cannon to make sure that it would hit Lady Sakuyamon before firing cannonballs made out of raw energy. Lady Sakuyamon had to evade the assault by flying around the sky with great agility, trying her best to defend herself. Her efforts were however futile, as Chaosdramon had programmed the cannonballs not to stop until they had blasted Lady Sakuyamon to death.
"Aha! I knew it," said Chaosdramon triumphantly. "Your power does not match mine's, Lady Sakuyamon! I am much more powerful than you can ever imagine!"
Lady Sakuyamon was stunned to see that the cannonballs were still chasing after her even though she had been doing everything she could to prevent herself from being hit. She already knew for a fact that she wasn't a match for Chaosdramon, but in order to repay the debt she had with Tyrannovalley's former ruler she was willing to fight Chaosdramon, hoping to win the throne back to its rightful successor.
"I can't just defend myself like this," she panted while still evading the attack. "In order to win I have to take the offensive again. Bonhitsusen!"
The attack collided with the zooming cannonballs… and bounced away without affecting the cannonballs in any way. Surprised, Lady Sakuyamon proceeded by firing the same attack again and again, but the result was still the same.
"Two… three… four," said a Pteramon, counting on how much of Lady Sakuyamon's attacks had collided with Chaosdramon's cannonballs.
"Only six more to go," announced ExTyrannomon with vigor. He and the Pteramon were supporting Lady Sakuyamon, as they would certainly not going to welcome a traitor of their clan as their ruler.
"If I heard correctly, didn't the traitor say that the lady would win if she RECEIVES all his ten blows, not the amount of attacks she has used to fend off his attack? By right, Lady Sakuyamon still has not taken ONE blow from him," said Metalgreymon.
"Lady Sakuyamon is not Chaosdramon's match. It would be better if this battle ends quickly," said Triceramon darkly. "She's risking her life to battle Chaosdramon for us."
"Seven… eight…. nine… TEN!" shouted the Pteramon and ExTyrannomon vigorously. "She has taken ten blows from you! Now, go away and leave us with our NEW ruler!" cried Pteramon.
'Fools,' thought Chaosdramon, but he decided not to reply and concentrate on battling Lady Sakuyamon. She was still evading the cannonball launched by him, and it looked like she was going to be weakened if this was prolonged. So, Chaosdramon merely observed Lady Sakuyamon struggling to fend off the programmed cannonball.
"I'm getting really tired of this," he muttered, and fired off another cannonball to fluster his opponent even more.
Lady Sakuyamon now had two preprogrammed cannonballs aiming for her life. She was having a hard time to even defend herself with one cannonball chasing her, let alone two. She would have to take drastic measures now. Flying towards the sky as high as she could, she then took on a meditating stance. Her whole body flared with pure yellow lights, and four fox spirits erupted from her back.
"Spirit Strike!" she announced, and the four foxes representing the elements of fire, water, wind and lightning loomed down to meet the cannonballs. She then focused all her energy towards the spirits, and used them to envelop both cannonballs. The spirits of fire and wind engulf one of the cannonball, and those of water and lightning countered the other. Then, Lady Sakuyamon chanted a haiku, and on her right fingers appeared two talismans in the form of small red papers. Next, she shot both talismans towards the cannonballs. The effect was amazing; one cannonball blazed in a small fire tornado, while the other was electrocuted by lightning from one of the spirit engulfing it. As the result, both cannonballs were destroyed.
'I've dealt two blows from him, and already they took a lot out of me,' thought Lady Sakuyamon. 'I'm not strong enough in this form, if only I could reach my true Mega form, just like…'
Her thoughts were interrupted when Chaosdramon fired off three more cannonballs towards her from down below.
"Amethyst Wind!" she countered, and sent cherry blossoms to counter the cannonballs. However the force from the cannonballs were too strong for the cherry blossoms to handle, and Lady Sakuyamon was already too tired to deal with more attacks again. Thinking fast, Lady Sakuyamon came up with a dangerous, yet a perfect solution.
'It is kamikaze, but hopefully it will work,' she thought, and quickly descended down towards the valley with all three cannonballs following her. Once in a while, the cannonballs were about to hit her but she gracefully evaded them and loomed down even faster. She was heading towards Chaosdramon, who was laughing madly over his easy victory. It didn't occur to the viral digimon that his enemy was getting nearer and nearer to him, and when he did realize it…
"Spirit Strike!"
… he was blasted in close proximity by Lady Sakuyamon's attack, and felt a sudden chill, a burning sensation, and a feeling of being electrocuted crept all over his body before a gust of abnormally strong wind blew his feet away, causing him to fell on his feet. This caused uproar between all the members of Tyranno Clan, and they were cheering on Lady Sakuyamon to go on and defeat him straight-away.
Lady Sakuyamon however stood in silence, as if waiting for the three cannonballs to get near her. When they did, she glided with unrivalled agility and shot straight towards the fallen Chaosdramon. With a wave of her feather duster, she generated a soft, translucent pink sphere around herself covered with glowing cherry blossoms, and went on to stand very, very near on Chaosdramon's cannon.
"How about a taste of your own medicine?" she said with a genuine smile, as the three cannonballs grew nearer.
"No!" exclaimed Chaosdramon, as the three cannonballs loomed down heading towards him. He then realized Lady Sakuyamon's true intention – as she wasn't able to beat off his attacks, she was making him to receive the blows as well. The cannonballs were getting nearer, and he struggled to get on his feet. Unfortunately, he was too heavy and massive and found himself unable to do so.
"Your attacks shall be your own downfall," said Lady Sakuyamon, and she glided away swiftly just as the three cannonballs shot down straight onto where she was formerly standing – his cannon on the back. The other two cannonballs fell onto the nearest area from the cannon – which unfortunately were his head and chest. An earthshaking explosion resulted from the unexpected twist of event. The sheer force from the outburst caused the lady digimon to lose her command over her shielding spell, and catapulting her towards the gathering crowd.
Smokes and fire resulted from it, and stones, splinters of bones and sands were flying in random direction everywhere over the air. Everyone's visions were obscured by the smokes. Lady Sakuyamon then managed to regain control of her shielding spell, and promptly caused it to halt over the air before it collided with the Tyranno Clan members. The air was suffocating, and Lady Sakuyamon feared for the safety of the others who were unprotected. She launched her Amethyst Wind attack again to clear the air and steer away all the flying objects from hitting the other digimon. With the smokes cleared, she saw that Chaosdramon was no longer around; instead it was a severely injured MetalTyrannomon who was lying on a small crater caused by the explosion. His condition was extremely bad, all his limbs seemed to be dysfunctional as it looked dislocated and were bleeding with strange oil-smelled black blood.
"You have lost," said Lady Sakuyamon solemnly.
MetalTyrannomon was too weak to answer, but his eyes still reflected arrogance despite the great pains he was suffering.
"Do you concede defeat?" someone called out from behind Lady Sakuyamon, surprising her slightly. It was Triceramon, the advisor to all ruler of Tyrannovalley. He got no answer.
"By keeping silence, you admit defeat and will pass over the position as ruler to Lady Sakuyamon," he said finally. When no answer came from the treacherous digimon, Triceramon nodded towards Lady Sakuyamon. "Milady, you are now rightfully our ruler."
"No," she said softly, almost sounding like she was whispering. She walked slowly towards MasterTyrannomon, who was standing amongst the crowd.
"Milady, I…" he began, but Lady Sakuyamon raised a hand to stop him.
"It was your former ruler greatest wish to see you ascend the throne of this clan and valley, and to rule it with benevolence and pride. The throne is rightfully yours, MasterTyrannomon."
"But… it is you, milady, that has won the title now, fair and square," sighed MasterTyrannomon. "I don't fit to be a ruler, not when I have been defeated and defied so openly."
"You lack experience, but even the greatest ruler starts badly in the beginning. Look around you, all of your subjects want you to lead them. I may have won the title, but I do not desire it. I am not a member of this clan, although your former master accepts me to live in your sacred citadel."
"But the custom…"
"Should be followed, I know."
MasterTyrannomon nodded, looking down towards the ground.
"But as I will be under solitude, it is my wish that you rule Tyranno Valley in my absence, MasterTyrannomon."
Instantly, MasterTyrannomon's head shot up. "You mean it, milady?"
"Yes, I do mean it. I have no desire to rule, and I am not good at it, because it is not in my nature to do that. I only wish to remain in the Ivory Citadel, and wait for the time when I will be needed again by someone who is so dear to me," said Lady Sakuyamon, her voice sounded remarkably sad at the end. Quickly, she shook her head to brush off her feeling away. "I am sure everyone is happy with this decision. This way, no customs are violated."
MasterTyrannomon knelt before Lady Sakuyamon. "Thank you, milady, I will do my best to rule Tyrannovalley on your behalf."
"I am sure that you will do just fine. You did that before," said Lady Sakuyamon, with a smile that lit up her entire face. She then flew over towards the small crater where MetalTyrannomon was, and landed not too far from him.
"In order to make sure that he will not be a threat to us again, I will strip MetalTyrannomon off his power," announced Lady Sakuyamon. She waved her feather duster and surrounded MetalTyrannomon with cherry blossoms, and chanted a spell. All the injuries on the cyborg digimon's body were instantly healed, but then glowing pink data particles began to leave his body. With an intense flash of pink light, MetalTyrannomon was no more and in his place was an Agumon – a red Agumon with dark grey eyes to be exact.
"Be gone, traitor," ordered Lady Sakuyamon.
Agumon glared at Lady Sakuyamon and MasterTyrannomon, infuriated of losing all his power to digivolve to his Mega form.
"One day, I will return!" he shouted, and ran off quickly from the valley. Some of the younger digimon of the clan chased him out all the way to the gate. With him gone, Lady Sakuyamon left for Ivory Citadel to her solitude, and the rest of Tyranno Clan finally got their peace again.
It was getting really dark inside the Cave of Illusions as Ken walked deeper into the heart of the cave. Holding Wormmon with one hand, Ken used his other hand to wipe off the sweat that was trailing down his face. The temperature was hot but the air was humid inside the cave. Squinting his eyes, he tried his best to make out where he was going and to avoid his head from hitting the low and narrow cave.
"I don't remember the roof being this low," muttered Ken. "But then again, it was years ago since I've been here and I was so much shorter back then."
His voice echoed all over the cave. Ken groaned, and decided to have a short rest for a while. It had been nearly an hour since he departed from Yolei and Hawkmon back at the entrance of the cave, and Ken's feet was sore from walking non-stop. Looking at Wormmon who seemed to be undisturbed from his deep slumber, Ken sighed softly and felt his partner's skin. It was still too cold to be normal, and some trails of frosts were still there.
"Hang in there, Wormmon," he whispered. "It's not really far ahead, I hope."
Ken was about to resume his journey when he detected a faint source of light coming from the darkest part of the cave. Someone was coming over to his direction. At first, Ken thought of hiding himself and Wormmon in fear of probably meeting a wild digimon who would attack them even when unprovoked. Then he remembered that this cave he was in only permitted those who were good to be inside, so whoever was coming, it would certainly not going to be evil. However, he decided to distance himself from Wormmon just to be safe – he didn't want anyone to get on hold to Wormmon should there was a digimon with evil intention coming towards them.
"Hello? Is someone there?" Ken called out.
The lights were getting clearer, and from the reflections coming from the walls and the roof of the cave, Ken concluded that the source of the light could probably be a flaming torch. It looked like it was flickering, judging from the way the lights were moving about. He then heard footsteps, which sounded so much human, or at least, a human-like digimon. The footsteps didn't sound too strong; it was like the light steps Ken would usually use when he was walking. A reflection of a human figure loomed over the walls of the cave, and it seemed to Ken that whoever was coming to him, it was probably about Ken's size as well. The thought of that made him relaxed much more.
But his head quickly shot up when he heard silent laughs coming from the direction where the stranger he was anticipating to see was. He recognized the voice, only that he didn't think that he would be hearing again. Blood drained from his face when he saw a familiar figure, wearing a midnight blue cape with yellow linings and a blue suit of clothes. The figure was human, and had locks of spiky violet-black hair. His eyes were covered by large violet glasses with yellow frames.
"Hello, Ken," the newcomer greeted in an over-made polite voice.
"The Digimon Emperor!"
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Author's Note:
Sorry it took me more than a month to update this fic. I've been continuously writing and editing this chapter, and some of you might notice that this chapter is quite long compared to its previous chapters. Some of you may be happy with the return of Kuzuhamon, and take note that I've changed her attack name to "Reverse Spirit Strike". I wrote them as only "Spirit Strike" in Chapter 12: Of Foxes and Fire. This is in conjunction with the Japanese names of Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon's attacks, which are "Rice Cord" and "Reverse Rice Cord" respectively. However I retained the name of the second attack which is "Amethyst Wind", simply because I liked it although I wanted to use "Womb Mandala" at first. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter as much as I'm enjoying writing it.
DTV – Thanks for the lengthy review. Yes, I have to admit that I don't know much about Duskmon and Velgamon as I haven't watched Frontier yet, so I'm really thankful for you supplying the attack names for these two characters. I did see the review of the Digimon X upcoming movie, and I'm excited as well. I like the new approach of the producer making a full-length CGI movie on Digimon, the graphics are absolutely superb. In my opinion they should make a brand new series of digimon using CGI.
Quinton Norwen – A new reviewer! Thanks for your thoughtful review. The few recent chapters of both Vengeance and Legends of the Digidestined have been corrected of the 'plural' flaws, so you will see only digimon as both singular and plural terms. About the side quests, I find that if I don't write some of it then the whole story will have a huge gaping hole by the end of the series. Although I admit that some of them are unnecessarily long. I'm working on making the side stories relatively shorter than the main plot… perhaps this chapter will have the longest side story before it will move on to the most major plot. I'll try my best. About the Piedmon thingy, I didn't watch the American dubbed version so I don't really have a clue on how Piedmon speaks, but thanks for the input. Yes, this story will DEFINITELY need cleaning up, I'll do that after I've finished writing this series.
Lodis Lord – Hey, you're back! Thanks for reviewing and for the comments. As for your question, I'd say that it won't be too long now. Keep on reading.
Latest update: February 20, 2005 – Thanks to Dark Qiviut for pointing out the huge problem this chapter is having. I tried to reupload this chapter, and the fanfiction(dot)net's editor program made a huge mess to the story by joining all the sentences together in one huge paragraph.
