VENGEANCE
Chapter 23 – The Trial of Kindness, Part III
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Ken felt as if his blood had gone cold. In front of him was his former self; the evil personification of himself whom he thought he would never see again. The Digimon Emperor was standing there, with a cool expression and a sneer on his face. His right hand was seen holding a whip which was familiar to Ken. It was the whip which Ken used to whip Wormmon and other digimon when he was the emperor.
"You... you're not real!" Ken sputtered disbelievingly.
The Digimon Emperor walked confidently towards Ken, causing the latter to take a few steps back.
"You're wrong, Ken," the emperor said smoothly, still smiling his haunted smile. His voice echoed all over the cave, which caused Ken to cower slightly. The effect was commanding and impressive at the same time. It was the tone Ken recognized as his own, while he was the emperor.
"I am as real as you are," the emperor continued. "I am real, flesh and blood. If you don't think you can believe me, perhaps you will when I..." The emperor unsheathed the whip from its blue placeholder, revealing a sharp pointed blade. Ken never even knew that his former whip had a hidden blade, and was surprised. Taking out the glove of his left-side hand, the emperor proceeded by piercing his palm with the blade, and red blood began to trickle from the thin line formed by the blade. Ken let out a soft gasp, but the emperor, still bearing the smile which Ken began to find as sickening, wiped the blood with his right gloved hand. Instantly the wound was healed.
"How can this be?" Ken wondered. "It can't be... because I'm you. I was you, I was the Digimon Emperor. How can you be here, when I'm here?"
"Tsk, tsk," said the emperor. "Hear yourself out, Ken; you're not making any sense. It's such a shame for a boy genius like you to speak in such manner. I wonder what your late brother would say about this. Or, what your girlfriend would say about this? I bet they would laugh themselves out when they hear that."
Ken's face flushed. "You leave them out of this," he growled.
The emperor nodded. "I would, you know. But..." The emperor snapped his finger and grinned. From the shadows two figures stepped out, both were familiar to Ken. A boy and a girl, and both had lavender hair. "I don't think they would agree."
"He's right, Kenny boy," the boy spoke out. "You're not making any sense."
"Sam..." Ken whispered hoarsely. "It can't be. You're... you're...."
"Dead?" Sam cut in, his violet eyes glinting from the lights cast from the emperor's body. "Is that what you've wished for me, Kenny boy? I loved you, and you wished me dead? I tried to be a good big brother for you. I know sometimes I make mistakes to you. But never, not even once, that it occurred to me that you're a burden to me. Never. I always think of you as my gentle and kind little brother, whom I thought I should protect. That was why I didn't want you to touch that strange device that appeared from my computer last time. You on the other hand disobeyed me. I thought I should punish you, and I am sorry for that... but then you wished me DEAD, and I've NEVER had the chance to rectify my mistake. How could you?! "
"No! I didn't mean it!" Ken said desperately as he dropped on his knees. Tears began to form on his eyes; Sam's accusations pained him deeply. What Sam had just said to him was true, more or less. "I didn't mean it, I swear it. I never wanted you to die."
"Oh save it, Ichijouji," the girl with lavender hair snapped. "What a baby. To think that I actually liked you! Hah! I would never love a wimp like you! Davis, TK, or Cody is far BETTER than you, and they stand on their own! You... why, if it weren't for the Dark Spore, you're NOTHING! I should just go back to the others and tell all of them to ditch you from the team."
"Yolei..." said Ken softly, no longer bothering to stop his tears from flowing. "Why are you saying this?"
Yolei laughed loudly, and Ken cringed. Her laughter wasn't like any of what he'd heard before. It was a dark and evil laughter which Ken thought would never come out from Yolei. He would have believed it if HE was the one who laughed like that; he'd heard that coming from the emperor, and he also had heard it during the times when he was one as well. But never from Yolei. Not ever. Ken was reminded of his conversation with Yolei outside the cave. Yolei was encouraging him, and she was sympathetic of his past. The girl who was standing in front of him was an exact opposite stranger with Yolei's face. Thinking of this made Ken got up to his feet again.
"That's right," Yolei sneered. "Go back, and take that worthless worm partner of your with you."
"SHUT UP!!" Ken shouted, and Yolei's expression contorted into a look of surprise. "You're not Yolei! The Yolei I know is a caring girl, a girl worth to be the bearer of Love and Sincerity. You... you're just a spiteful stranger who looks like her. The real Yolei was waiting for me outside. She encouraged me while you insulted me. You're not her! You're the one who should go back to wherever you came from!" Ken quickly wiped away his tears and his face glowed with confidence. He then smiled slightly as he watched Yolei's figure becoming more and more transparent, until she vanished in the shadows.
"And Sam," Ken said softly, turning toward Sam. "I truly deserve your accusations. But I've never wanted you dead; I was just overwhelmed with emotions when you hit me... it was the first time you hit me remember? In truth, I always looked up to you, and still am now. Mom and dad miss you too, and there's never a day gone by without us thinking about you. And... remember the World of Dreams? You appeared to me..."
Before he could finish his words, Sam Ichijouji smiled and raised a hand to stop him.
"Take care of yourself, Kenny boy," he said softly, and disappeared in the same manner as Yolei was before, leaving Ken feeling dazed and content.
The Digimon Emperor however, wasn't finished. While Ken was distracted with what appeared to be apparitions of Sam and Yolei, he had sneaked past Ken and retrieved the unconscious Wormmon. Gliding without being noticed back to the place he was standing earlier, he was there just in time as Ken averted his attention towards him. Fixing a grin on his face, the emperor held Wormmon close to him and called out to his good persona.
"Well, well, well. Look what I have here. Someone's been leaving a partner behind."
Ken was shocked to see that his helpless partner was in his evil persona's hand. "Put him down!"
"I don't think so, Ken. You see, my whip has been deprived of its pleasure, which is whipping other digimon. Isn't that your favorite pastime when you were me, Ken? Whipping poor Wormmon even though he had done nothing wrong?"
"No! Don't you dare!" Ken warned. "Don't you dare hurt Wormmon." Then, his face grew solemn as he looked at his fallen partner. "He's been through so much. I've done him wrong too much in the past. If you really want to whip someone really badly, then whip me instead."
This shocked the emperor. "You... are willing to do that? For him? For this worm?"
"Yes," Ken answered with full determination.
"My pleasure!" boomed the emperor, and he hurled the whip towards Ken. The bearer of Kindness was stunned to feel the whip slapping on his face, and pierced his very skin. The pain was agonizing, and Ken could feel blood trickling down his face. The emperor then proceeded by pounding Ken on the body, hands and feet, slashing through the light shirt and trousers he was wearing, and caused cuts to form on various places on his body and extremities. Ken lost his balance and instantly tumbled on the floor. However, not once did he let out a cry of pain. It was then he realized how digimon had felt when he had whipped them. His heart sank when he realized how Wormmon must have felt when he was whipped.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you sacrificing yourself for him?" the emperor demanded as he whipped Ken again and again continuously without showing any trace of mercy. "This is incongruous! You are a human, a far more superior being than this insignificant digimon! Ask me to stop, and I will stop beating you and go for Wormmon. He deserves to be whipped! A lowly creature such as he..."
"You're wrong! "shouted Ken defiantly, as he began to see things in a new light. While it was true that he deserved to receive the beatings, he was no longer the emperor. It was the emperor who did all the bad things. Ken was no longer the emperor, but he saw someone who truly deserved to be whipped. And so, when the whip was hurled again towards him, Ken raised his right hand into the air and felt the whip coiling around his fist. Immediately he pulled his hand back towards him and managed to jerk the whip out from the emperor's hand.
"Why you..." snarled the emperor angrily.
Ken quickly got up to his feet, and quickly wiped away the sweat and blood on his face. His face was set, and for once in a long time, his violet eyes turned cold as well. The whip was now in his hands.
"We'll see who deserves the whipping more now," said Ken dangerously. "I'll show you how proper whipping is done!" With the whip, Ken now gained the upper hand and he begun whipping the emperor. At first the emperor was momentarily dazed, but he quickly regained his composure and rolled on the ground to avoid the whip. Swiftly, he took out a knife from his boot, and rolled towards where he had put Wormmon. He grabbed Wormmon and aimed the knife towards Wormmon's head.
"Don't come any closer, or poor Wormmon will suffer the fate of your foolishness!" the emperor, also now bruised and battered, warned. "Don't you think I could end Wormmon's life right now? I have the means. Even though you decide to try and take Wormmon away, I'll always be quicker to sink this knife into his body. Even though he is a good digimon, there's still a chance for him not to get reconfigured. For all we know, the rules might work differently in this cave. "
"No! Don't do it!" shouted Ken frantically. "Don't do it, please! I.. I'll do anything! Take me instead!"
The emperor gasped upon hearing it. "You... would sacrifice yourself for him? Even your life?"
Ken nodded. The emperor shimmered upon receiving Ken's silent answer, and without any warning, he burst into million bits of data. The data of the emperor swirled around Ken and healed all his injuries inflicted from the whippings. His clothes remained torn, but the injuries were no longer there.
"Well done, child of Kindness! You have certainly proved your worth. Proceed to the heart of the cave and undo what you have done long ago."
It was the same voice that had spoken to him at the entrance of the Cave of Illusions. Ken was slightly baffled to learn that all things that he had been through were just a test. However he was glad when the mysterious voice had referred to him as the child of Kindness, as it had questioned Ken earlier whether Ken deserved the virtue of Kindness. He retrieved Wormmon quickly and walked deep into the cave, which was towards the heart of the cave. As if knowing his way, Ken guided himself successfully towards his destination, owing to the sense of familiarity he was feeling right now. Somehow, the cave didn't seem to be so dark anymore, and Ken could see where he was going. Ken mused about this silently, but the reason of the sudden visibility then made itself apparent. Not far from where he was, the walls of the cave were lit with torches.
"The heart of the cave," Ken murmured to himself.
Indeed, Ken had reached the end of the line. He was now inside a circular chamber, with the torches hanging in one line around the chamber, enlightening the cave with soft yellow and red lights. Scrolls of ancient digimon alphabets were seen hanging, and there was a small rocky fountain in the middle of the chamber. A bizarre stone formation which looked almost humanoid was seen beside the fountain. Upon closer inspection, Ken realized that it wasn't just a stone, but...
His memories began to rush back and he remembered the day clearly. Bringing the vial Duskmon had given him, Ken made his way successfully inside the cave. He encountered the guardian of the cave, and had splashed it with the contents of the vial. Instantly, the guardian who was also a digimon solidified and turned into stone. Ken gasped in horror of what he'd done, and for a while he froze in his track. Then, he saw what he was looking for, and retrieved it quickly before fleeing the cave tearfully.
"The guardian of the cave," whispered Ken as he stood in front of the tall frozen digimon. The guardian resembled Stingmon, but was not as tall. "I am sorry for what I've done to you. I don't know how to restore you back... but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to do so. If I'm given the chance, if I can turn back time, I would stop myself from doing this to you. I am so sorry." Ken felt tears stung his eyes again, realizing that he had ripped an innocent digimon of a chance to be reconfigured again after turning it into stone.
"You don't deserve this fate," continued Ken sorrowfully. "If it can be done, then I willingly will exchange place with you. I deserve it."
Suddenly, Ken's Diginizer of Kindness ignited with violet lights. The virtue of Kindness materialized from it, and the same symbol appeared on the chest of the frozen digimon. It then shimmered, and slowly reverted back into its living form. The digimon's resemblance to Stingmon was obvious, save for the color of the armor, which was light green in color with red and yellow jewels embedded on many places. The armor covering both its hands had long pointed claws which went past its humanlike hands. This digimon had long white hair flowing down its back, and by its appearance Ken realized that this digimon was female and human based, which was evident from the face visible underneath her insectoid mask. She was indeed an impressive-looking digimon, and stood tall twice Ken's height. She held a long staff with a red star-shaped blade attached on top of it.
----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Jewelbeemon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Ultimate
Type : Warrior
Specialty : Flying
Attacks : Spike Buster, Shot Claw
Power Level : 67
Jewelbeemon is thought to be the feminine subsidiary of Stingmon's digivolutionary line. With the Spike Buster, Jewelbeemon wields her staff until the spiked star emblem glows and thrust the staff towards the enemy. Using her long-range Shot Claw technique Jewelbeemon could blast any enemy from afar with rays of concentrated red and yellow energy beams.
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"The child of Kindness," Jewelbeemon said, acknowledging Ken's presence. Her voice was soft, calm yet strong. "Finally, you have undone all your wrongs in the past. I am glad to meet you."
"You're not mad at me?" Ken asked, astonished with Jewelbeemon's attitude which suggested that she held no grudge against Ken. "After all I've done to you, turning you into stone for... three years?"
Jewelbeemon smiled while maintaining her calm demeanor. "An act done out of ignorance is not merit of punishment. After all, I do not think that you are to blame completely. You were under a bad influence that fateful day, I could sense it. I have been watching you from the moment you have stepped into the cave, Ken Ichijouji. Even in my frozen state earlier, I maintained my consciousness. The voice you are hearing is the spirit of the cave's voice, and he is my eyes and ears while I am frozen. Now that you have set me free, the spirit is one with me again, as it was separated from me when I was frozen. I have to say that I am proud of you. You are willing to sacrifice yourself time and time again for the safety of your partner. You are certainly worthy of carrying the virtue of Kindness."
Ken was enthralled to hear the praise coming from Jewelbeemon, but his expression faltered when he realized that there was one more thing that he needed to set right to. As if reading his thought, Jewelbeemon motioned for Ken to hold Wormmon up. She held Wormmon with her left palm, and touched Ken's Diginizer with another and became silent. Violet aura glowed from her body and was transferred into Wormmon's freezing body. Ken suddenly felt his partner became warmer gradually, and was ecstatic when Wormmon finally opened his eyes again.
"Wormmon! Thank goodness you're alright!" said Ken happily and hugged his partner.
"Ken? What's going on?" came Wormmon's muffled reply as he was crushed under the pressure of Ken's hug. As Ken released him from the hug, the worm digimon was appalled to see that Ken's clothes were torn in various places.
"Ken, what happened to you? Have you been in a fight?"
Ken smiled. "That's a long story, Wormmon. I'll tell you about it later."
"Ahem," said Jewelbeemon, drawing the attention of the happy duo.
"Woah, Ken. Who is she?" Wormmon asked, evidently awed by the impressive digimon who was standing before him. "She looks just like me, when I'm Stingmon. I've never seen her around before. "
"This is Jewelbeemon," Ken introduced. "She's the one who cured you, and she's also the guardian of this cave."
"Really? Thank you, Jewelbeemon. And it's a pleasure to meet you," said Wormmon politely.
Jewelbeemon nodded with what seemed like an amused smirk on her face. "The pleasure is all mine, Wormmon. But listen here, the two of you. Ken, to whom you have given the prophecy of time when you took it from here? It is imperative that the prophecy does not fall in the wrong hands."
Ken's face fell slightly. "I've given it to Duskmon; he's the one who has brought me here. Just recently, all of us were involved in a fight with him. He calls himself Chaos Specter, and he has captured the four Harmonious Ones not too long ago. We don't know what he wants from them."
"You have just fought him?" asked Jewelbeemon, and Ken nodded. "Our situation is precarious now. It is evident for now that this Chaos Specter does not have the right means yet to activate the prophecy. Can you take me to him?"
"Do you want to fight him?" asked Ken. "It's very dangerous. He's gotten incredibly strong."
"He must be stopped," said Jewelbeemon solemnly. "I can't do this alone. Will you help me?"
Ken and Wormmon looked at each other. Then Ken spoke up. "Of course we'll help you. It's my fault in the first place that the prophecy has fallen into his hands. But... I'm afraid the two of us are not strong enough to aid you. Among the six of us, only three of us could digivolve our partners into Ultimate level by using the method of Transdigivolution. The two of us still haven't got the chance to Transdigivolve yet."
"What must you do in order to achieve this Transdigivolution?" asked Jewelbeemon curiously.
"Well... I'm not sure. A friend of mine, Kari, managed to activate it as soon as we received our Diginizers. TK and Patamon reached Ultimate level during the whole Devimon fiasco. Davis and Veemon became Paildramon from the powers of the three Minomon from Harmona," Ken answered thoughtfully. "And Wormmon... digivolved into Deathbeemon when I used the Crest of Kindness, but the digivolution was corrupted because of my anger. It happened before to a friend of ours, Tai and his partner Agumon. Because he forced Agumon to digivolve, Agumon became SkullGreymon instead of MetalGreymon. When I was the emperor, I managed to tap in Agumon's darker side and made him digivolve into SkullGreymon again."
"I hope I don't digivolve into Deathbeemon again, Ken," said Wormmon with a shudder. "I still remember the feeling, and it's not good."
Ken twitched slightly upon hearing the innocent comment from his partner. "I sure hope not too, Wormmon. But something came to my mind just now; My crest had exploded and formed an arrow leading me here. It seems like I were meant to accomplish a kind of quest. Now that the quest is fulfilled... maybe we can tap into your real Ultimate level, Wormmon."
Jewelbeemon nodded in agreement. "I believe so too. When I touched your Diginizer, I could feel the presence of a strange power inside of it which I am not familiar of. I know how it feels to digivolve, and the power felt like it too... but something is different. That power had freed me from my stone imprisonment in the first place. If I am not mistaken, you have already tapped into the power of Kindness after what you have shown to all of us today. If it is true, then you can digivolve."
"Let's try it then, shall we Wormmon?" asked Ken.
"Well I... don't know. But I trust you and Jewelbeemon. Let's do it then, Ken," answered Wormmon.
"Diginizer Activate!" Ken pressed the first button on his Diginizer, and to their surprise the device reacted by releasing bursts of lavender light around Ken and Wormmon. The symbol of Kindness materialized in the air around them as they were surrounded by a vortex of swirling colors in different shades of violet. Within seconds, Ken and Wormmon became purple silhouettes as they began merging together into one.
:: Transdigivolution Activate ::
"Wormmon Digivolve to..."
Within seconds, Wormmon's silhouette transformed into Stingmon and in the background, the apparition of Exveemon swirled around him. The apparition burst into data particles and Stingmon absorbed it. His size increased and he took on a hunching posture as his arms underwent a metamorphosis, turning into Exveemon's muscular arms. Then, Exveemon's draconic white wings erupted from his back and the dragon's tail shot out from his behind. This new digimon looked like a bizarre mix of Stingmon and Exveemon, and judging from first sight it was apparent that Stingmon appeared to be more dominant should the two had DNA Digivolved. Flapping his wings, he let out sounds of buzzes like that of insects but gave a loud dragon-like roar as he announced his name.
"Dinobeemon!"
Chaos Specter walked in slowly inside the throne room of the Velvet Claw without alerting Catrina, who was sleeping on a large velvet maroon cushion beside the throne. His normally neat pale face was dirty, his jet-black hair was slightly disheveled and his outfit had a few tears all over resulted from his scuffle with the Digidestined earlier. He would have won the battle, but the combined powers of the three Ultimate digimon were stronger than he had expected. The sudden appearance of Deathbeemon who went berserk was the least expected part of the outcome.
Walking past the throne room, Chaos Specter headed into his private chamber which was behind a large yellow door. Pushing the handle slightly, the formerly dark room was instantly lit all over with faint yellow lights. The room was fully carpeted with dark maroon velvet carpet, and on the center of the room was a large king-sized bed with maroon covers and black pillows. Almost everything inside the room was decorated with the same color scheme, with the exception of the wall which he had left as dark grey – the color of the walls of the interior side of the fortress.
He walked over to the wall which had a large mirror hanging, he dismantled the cape he was wearing and the upper part of the garment he was wearing in order to inspect the wounds inflicted on him during the battle. There was a slight wound on his chest, and another one on the abdomen, both being only superficial types of wounds. Seeing the wounds served as a reminder to Chaos Specter that despite his command over digimon and awesome technology of the Digital World, he was still human. He was not like Gennai who was born in the Digital World, thus was composed of data in the same manner as digimon were. Reflecting old times, which seemed to be a very long time ago that it barely appear as fragments in his minds, Chaos Specter thought that something had come over to his mind momentarily, but disappeared just as soon as it appeared. Shrugging it off, he cleaned himself up, treated all wounds and changed into a different outfit. It was a long-sleeved leather suit and outfit, with silver-grey durable armors covering his shoulders, chest and abdomen. Then, he walked out from his room and went straight towards the throne room, and sat on the throne.
"Chaos-AI, what is the status for the experimentation on that Demidevimon?" he asked the computers of the fortress.
The large screen flickered and then showed three tubes full of green water, containing digimon. The tubes on the sides contained Pharaohmon, whom he had defeated and captured from the Protocol Ruins, and Wargreymon, originally his prized servant Chaos Wargreymon. The tube at the center formally contained Demidevimon, but apparently it had undergone a digivolution.
"The subject has successfully digivolved into Champion level Devidramon during your absence. Health status is one hundred percent."
"Call upon Datamon to me at once, I wish to speak with him."
"Affirmed. Command initiated. Command is successful, Datamon is on the line."
The screen flickered again, showing Datamon. He had been assigned by Chaos Specter to monitor the growth of the Demidevimon and to make sure that the digimon was growing properly in accordance with his plan.
"Datamon, have you been able to extract the Zeed Crystal from that Wargreymon's body?" asked Chaos Specter.
"No... it's practically impossible to do so master. I'm sorry, but the crystal is too strongly embedded on his body, not only in his armor. I have tried draining his power and transferred it to Demidevimon up until his digivolution, hoping that the crystal would be separated from Wargreymon's body. It didn''t work, this Wargreymon is too powerful. There's no other way but to force a DNA Digivolution between Wargreymon and Devidramon to get what you wanted, master," replied Datamon nervously.
"Only do it when Devidramon has reached his Ultimate stage or higher, Datamon. We have to make sure that Devidramon will advance to Kimeramon."
"Do you want me to compile the necessary information from the digimon used to create Kimeramon, master?"
"There is no need to do so, Datamon. Didn't I tell you that Devidramon has already been injected with the digital DNA blood sample from Neodevimon? Neodevimon's blood has already contaminated with Kimeramon's data when he tried to use Kimeramon's body as a means to escape the Dark Whirlpool?"
"You did, master. I was merely suggesting it as a precaution."
"There's no need to waste our time for that. Neodevimon's blood within Devidramon is reliable enough. Just do everything as I say and everything will turn out perfectly."
With the final command already been issued, Chaos Specter disconnected the communication link between the throne room and the Protocol Ruins where he had set up a workplace for Datamon to monitor his experiment. Sighing, he commanded Chaos-AI to display the prophecy of time again on the computer screen. He then brooded over the words, trying to figure out what the whole prophecy actually meant. The first verse was currently displayed over the screen, and Chaos Specter read them over silently.
The creation of darkness and time
The fusion of machine and mutant
"This part simply means Milleniummon. Proceed with the second verse."
The power to transcend time
Despite countless downfall
It shall always return
Unbeatable and undaunted
It will always prevail
'Milleniummon has the power to transcend over time. He has been known to fail so many times, but after each failure he always managed to return back to power. Who would have thought that he was actually the partner of a lone Digidestined from another dimension? That Akiyama boy had somehow DNA digivolved Zeed Milleniummon and that rookie digimon he'd met in the past and came up with a digi-egg. From what I've heard, the boy has already tamed the digimon, who is quite feral due to the effect of having Zeed Milleniummon within him. However, somehow I suspect that Milleniummon knew the outcome of the battle even before he sent that boy into the past. Somehow he had foreseen his defeat, and created a crystal containing apart of himself. It was like a smaller version of himself, as he was already Moon Milleniummon then.'
"Proceed with the final verse."
One weakness it does possess
Is within its greatest enemy
One with the same power
One of the opposite side
When four greatest join as one
Come forth the savior of time
'This verse is most confusing. I've never heard of any digimon who has the same power as Milleniummon. There is Clockmon... but he's too insignificant and as far as I know, he cannot control time completely. He only keeps track of time. Milleniummon's weakness lies within its greatest enemy... that's the Akiyama boy again as far as I know; he was Milleniummon's greatest enemy and also his one weakness. Given these two sentences to stand on their own, it could mean Akiyama, but then the following sentences make it sound like it is not Akiyama. One with the same power... I don't think Akiyama could even stand a chance against Milleniummon on his own, so this sentence cancels him out. One of the opposite side... evil's opposite is good. When four greatest join as one... it could be the four Harmonious Ones, I have them in my hand already although I'm not sure of what actually to be done with them. So far I'm progressing quite well without them. Come forth the savior of time... no one knows about that one.'
"MetalTyrannomon has been located. Awaiting command to display location on screen."
This interrupted Chaos Specter's train of thoughts and sparked his interest immediately.
"MetalTyrannomon? I've almost forgotten about him. Display his location on screen."
A map materialized in the screen and MetalTyrannomon's location was marked with an X. It was somewhere at the south-east quadrant of the East Sector. As Chaos Specter have already learnt about the location of Tyrannovalley from MetalTyrannomon, he could easily deduce that MetalTyrannomon had come from his valley. For a while, Chaos Specter wondered what could MetalTyrannomon been doing inside the valley where he was already labeled as traitor. Chaos Specter hadn't made up his mind yet on when to attack Tyrannovalley, mainly because he didn't have any particular interest upon the valley of dinosaur digimon.
"Turn the map into full picture."
Chaos-AI complied with the command and showed MetalTyrannomon, who was actually a red Agumon now, running from the gate of Tyrannovalley with a horde of dinosaur digimon chasing after him. He looked like he was unable to fight back, which made Chaos Specter wonder of the reason. With the power as a Chaos Force member, MetalTyrannomon should be more than able to dispose the lesser digimon who were chasing after him. He could even digivolve into Mega level. Something must have happened to him while he was at the valley, which left him powerless.
"With Chaos Wargreymon's betrayal, it's about time for me to find a suitable replacement. And MetalTyrannomon will be a fine choice."
"Look out!"
The cry of warning coming from Angewomon came at just the right time. MagnaAngemon, who was preoccupied with holding the Gate of Destiny intact, didn't realize the incoming attack. Quickly he positioned the gate to be placed right in front of him and Kuzuhamon to protect themselves from the attack; MagnaAngemon doubted that he could counter the attack alone. Chaos Seadramon's attack shot into the Gate of Destiny, and suddenly the gate glowed brighter with violet aura as it swallowed the energy beam. Winds of cherry blossom petals began to generate around the yellow laser beam, and a pulling force was generated from the gate as it took more and more energy beam.
Chaos Seadramon was aghast. He had drew out a large portion of his power to attack the Digidestined, but it didn't work out. MagnaAngemon and Kuzuhamon had thwarted his plans. He had to think of another way. MagnaAngemon, he decided, was the current biggest threat with his Gate of Destiny still hovering in mid air. And so he planned to take down MagnaAngemon first.
"Giga Ice Blast!" he roared, spraying the archangel digimon with a ray of powerful ice blast. Once again MagnaAngemon positioned the gate to protect himself, but to his horror the ice blast diverged before hitting the gate. Then, it enveloped the whole Gate of Destiny, and froze it completely before bursting it into data particles.
"Oh no!" cried MagnaAngemon, feeling aghast.
"Oh yes," said Chaos Seadramon evilly. "Without that gate, you're no longer a threat for me! River of Power!"
The attack launched by the Chaos General was too quick; MagnaAngemon didn't have the time to fly away at all. His life was in danger and he would end up as the gate if he didn't do something. Then he felt something was pulling him backwards just as the attack was about to hit him. He had to close his eyes, but when nothing happened MagnaAngemon forced himself to open his eyes again. He saw that he was inside a transparent dome, standing on a circular platform designed in a pattern he recognized as a tai-chi. He had seen the pattern back home. Standing beside him was a digimon whom he had never seen before. The digimon looked like a cross between a fox in a garb that of a Taoist priestess which he had seen inside one of his books. The fox had light purple fur, and something about it was familiar to MagnaAngemon.
"I am Doumon, the Ultimate form of Kuzuhamon," the fox-priestess introduced herself quickly. "I can no longer maintain my Mega level after giving out all my energy to you, and I had reversed a step back to my Ultimate form."
----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Doumon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Ultimate
Type : Priestess
Specialty : Flying, Spell-casting
Attacks : Demon Gate Escape, Spell Prohibition Paper
Power Level : 68
Doumon is a master of onmyou magic and she excels in curses and assassination. Her Demon Gate Escape can be used as portals for her to travel to any place she desires, as well as a means for escape when she is overwhelmed by an enemy. Using her Spell Prohibition Paper technique, Doumon unleashes a wide array of attacks by using paper talisman which would act according to her desire, but is most effective against wizard digimon where her technique would nullify any spell cast by the enemies.
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"Thanks for saving me, Doumon," MagnaAngemon said gratefully.
Doumon nodded, and with a flick of her sleeve, which was too long for her, she pulled in Angewomon and Paildramon as well. The dome-barrier magically expanded to accommodate Paildramon's bigger size. Both had seen Kuzuhamon de-digivolved earlier and had learnt of her identity through their digimon analyzer.
"What now?" asked Angewomon despairingly.
"I can hold on for only a while," said Doumon. "I am not strong enough to stop Chaos Seadramon, especially when I am no longer in my Mega form."
"We have to go out and fight again. We can't let that overgrown snake win!" said Paildramon. "I'm going out!" Before anyone could stop him, Paildramon shot through the barrier and hovered outside, ready to fight Chaos Seadramon again.
"That Davis..." Angewomon groaned and leapt out as well, leaving MagnaAngemon and Doumon.
"Do you have any plans to stop Chaos Seadramon?" MagnaAngemon asked.
"No, I afraid not," replied Doumon. "But I will help you fight." With a flick of her sleeve again, the dome disappeared and they joined the others.
Chaos Seadramon roared in laughter. "When will you fools learn that I am invincible?" he demanded.
"We'll do whatever it takes to stop you!" Paildramon shot back defiantly.
All of a sudden, a burst of lavender lights exploded in mid-air somewhere above them. Three figures emerged from the lights; one of them was a familiar eagle whom the Digidestined recognized as Aquilamon, and the other two were newcomers with both of them resembled Stingmon in one way or another.
"The cavalry has arrived!" announced Aquilamon.
"Hey guys!" cried Yolei, who was riding Aquilamon. "Ken and Wormmon have Transdigivolve too!"
All of them were stunned to hear the news and observed the two newcomers closely. At first glance, it was quite hard to guess which one was Wormmon as the two bore close resemblances with him. And so they resorted to analyze the two digimon.
----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Dinobeemon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Ultimate
Type : Warrior
Specialty : Flying, Speed
Attacks : Irritant Buzz, Hell Masquerade, Spiking Strike, Moon Shooter, Insect Antenna
Power Level : 78
Dinobeemon is the masculine offshoot of Stingmon's digivolutionary line, and would be the result of the DNA Digivolution between Stingmon and Exveemon, with the former being dominant. Dinobeemon releases a concentrated amount of hypersonic waves from his mouth with his Irritant Buzz, and is able to make duplicates of himself to overwhelm his enemy using his Hell Masquerade technique. By the method of Transdigivolution, Dinobeemon also has his Champion self's techniques at his disposal.
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"Awesome! Dinobeemon is way too cool! Way to go, Ken!" exclaimed Paildramon.
Dinobeemon made a saluting motion towards the others before advancing towards Chaos Seadramon with Jewelbeemon, while Aquilamon flew down to take Yolei away to safety. They were joined by the other Ultimate digimon as they prepared to fight Chaos Seadramon again.
"Give up while you still have the chance, Chaos Seadramon," said Dinobeemon calmly.
"No way! Even if all of you gang up against me I will still win the battle," replied Chaos Seadramon confidently. "I will not lose to a bunch of Ultimate digimon; my powers are far greater than any of you combined!"
"Then don't say we didn't warn you," said Dinobeemon and he zoomed towards the Chaos General with unrivalled speed. "Irritant Buzz!"
Waves of purple and white spiraling waves shot out from Dinobeemon's mouth, accompanied by extremely high-pitched buzzing sounds. The others had to close their ears tight as the sound was absolutely deafening. Even Chaos Seadramon was no exception, but he was the most affected of all as he had no means to block out the sounds. However as Dinobeemon had locked on to his target, the others soon felt as if the sound had dissipated. Chaos Seadramon was hit by the supersonic wave and was momentarily stunned as it had hit on the center of his head and had affected his cerebral area. Taking advantage of his temporary immobilization, the others charged for a full scale assault onto the enemy.
Jewelbeemon took the lead and aimed both claws forward. "Shot Claw!"
"Spell Prohibition Paper!" Doumon joined in, showering Chaos Seadramon all over the body with hundreds of purple fiery talisman papers.
Angewomon, Paildramon and MagnaAngemon all fired their attacks, and let Dinobeemon delivered the coupe' de grace.
"Hell Masquerade!" he shouted, and performed a series of eerie dance steps over the air. As his body began to glow crimson his movements became quicker and more intense, and the others could then see only red blurs buzzing over the air. Then three figures identical to Dinobeemon leapt out from his body, and all of them cornered Chaos Seadramon.
"All together now," said the main Dinobeemon. "Irritant Buzz!"
"Spiking Strike!"
"Insect Antenna!"
"Moon Shooter!"
Chaos Seadramon found himself overwhelmed by a series of attacks coming from the four Dinobeemon. That was not all, when the other five digimon stepped in and fired again with all their might. Chaos Seadramon was sent crashing onto the ground, right in front of Emeraldo City. The commotion drew out the attentions of the citizens of the city, and all of them gathered over the gate to watch as the Chaos General was defeated by the Digidestined and their two allies. They cheered for the Digidestined for being victorious, and Chaos Seadramon had never felt humiliated. He was defeated by a bunch of Ultimate level digimon!
Dinobeemon's three personas merged back with him as all of them descended towards the ground. Then, he and the other Transdigivolved digimon reverted back into their humans and digimon forms. Doumon and Jewelbeemon were with them as well.
"What do we do with him?" asked Ken, looking over Chaos Seadramon's massive armored stature, which seemed to be tainted with scorch marks. Some chips were hanging lose, and there were a few broken sections all over the blue armor of his.
"We can't just leave him here," said Davis. "He's not exactly what I'd say as a sight for sore eyes!"
The others laughed upon hearing Davis's comment. Then, Doumon stepped forward.
"I will handle this," she offered, and a giant paintbrush materialized on her hands. She approached the fallen serpentine master and lifted herself over the air. Hovering over Chaos Seadramon, Doumon made a swirling motion on the air with her paintbrush.
"Demon Gate Escape!"
The air crackled with winds and lightning as a giant circular gateway that resembled MagnaAngemon's Gate of Destiny appeared above Chaos Seadramon. The only major difference between the two gates was that Doumon's gate was midnight-blue in color and wasn't as fancy as MagnaAngemon's. Strong winds rushed out from the gate and pulled Chaos Seadramon into it. His body glowed yellow before he was sucked into the gate before the gate dissipated into data particles.
"Is he gone for good?" asked Gatomon testily. "Because I certainly don't want to meet him again."
"I afraid not," Doumon answered as she landed back onto the ground. "My Demon Gate Escape does not work the same way as the Gate of Destiny. It is mainly used as a means of escape during a losing battle, and for transporting me to various places. I summoned the gate to send Chaos Seadramon back to wherever he came from."
"Someone's not going to be very happy about that," said Davis, grinning as he dusted off dirt from his clothes.
"Yeah, two words. Chaos Specter," said Ken. "Think about it, all of us have just defeated a Mega digimon."
"We weren't doing so well until you arrived, Ken," said Veemon, crossing his arms over his body and shifted his attention towards Wormmon. "Dinobeemon is really awesome, Wormmon. Is that your real Ultimate form, or is it Deathbeemon?"
"Veemon!" snapped Gatomon, glaring at Veemon dangerously.
"What?" said Veemon, his face faltered in confusion.
"That's really insensitive of you," Patamon pointed out. "You shouldn't remind Wormmon about that. I know Agumon hates it when anyone reminds him of that SkullGreymon incident."
"Oh..." said Veemon, nodding slowly in understanding. "Sorry about that, Wormmon."
"Nah, that's okay Veemon," replied Wormmon. "Gatomon, Patamon, thanks. I think I would really like to talk to Agumon about this sometimes... this isn't exactly something that can just be forgotten. I wonder how Agumon puts up with it."
"You and Ken are welcomed to come over anytime," said Kari warmly. "But not today though, we still have to do some unpacking from the trip... which reminds me. We better get going for now. Come along, Gatomon." Kari opened up a Digiport and disappeared into it with Gatomon.
"Me too. Mom and Grandpa will be so worried if they saw that I wasn't at my room," said TK.
"Sorry to ruin your vacations," said Ken apologetically.
"Nah... I'd say that it just got a bit more interesting," replied TK as he summoned up a Digiport as well. With Patamon perched on his shoulder TK walked into the Digiport and returned back to France.
"Something's still bothering me ... " said Wormmon thoughtfully. "What exactly happened to me when I was Deathbeemon? I remembered being frozen till a near death... but I don't know who did that to me."
"Regretfully to say, it was my doing," Doumon admitted. "I saw how dangerous Deathbeemon was and did the only thing I thought possible... I froze him."
"You could have killed him!" said Ken, appalled.
"No, it would not," countered Doumon. "I admit it was too strong for Wormmon to handle, but I have reduced the power of the attack. It will only stun. Nevertheless, I really am sorry about that but I was only trying to save the others' lives."
"Well... "Wormmon replied, and looked at Ken who was slightly scowling. "I guess it all ends well... so it's all right, Doumon. If it wasn't for this then maybe we couldn't find Jewelbeemon and Ken couldn't right the wrongs he'd done before."
Ken nodded slowly. "He's right. One way or another, you helped us to achieve Transdigivolution."
"I am honored to hear that. Thank you," Doumon answered gratefully.
"So... Doumon, Jewelbeemon, what brings you two here?" Davis asked. "It's not often that we have the privilege to meet two tough chicks."
"I beg your pardon?" both Doumon and Jewelbeemon asked. Davis frowned and rectified his sentence.
"What I mean is that, we've never meet you two before and all of the sudden you're here helping us fight our enemy?"
"It is not safe to speak here, we might be watched," stated Jewelbeemon.
"Have you got a secure place for us to go?" asked Doumon.
"Well... I guess we can bring you guys to Asuka Lab. We have to ask Gennai or Piximon about this first," said Cody.
"Ah... Gennai. It has been too long since I have met him," said Doumon thoughtfully.
"You two know each other?" asked Yolei, bewildered. "Are you a friend of his?"
Doumon shook her head slightly. "We have met before... but we have barely spoken to each other for me to consider him as a friend. An acquaintance would be more precise."
The Digidestined contacted Gennai and received his permission to bring over Doumon and Jewelbeemon to Asuka Laboratory. After exchanging a few words with the citizens of Emeraldo City who were grateful for their help, the remaining Digidestined and their allies went back to Asuka City as Doumon and Jewelbeemon both had important news to tell. What they were going to inform the Digidestined would enlighten them of the current threat they were facing with, and just how dangerous it was for them. Find out about it, next on Vengeance!
Author's Notes:
10/17/04 – exactly one year after Vengeance is first written. I have to say that it has been a great one year for me as a fanfiction author. The reviews I've been getting have really encouraged me. Thank you for the valuable comments, advices and tips. I feel that I am so lucky to have reviewers pointing out flaws and valuable tips for me to improve my writing skill. I still have a lot to learn.
DTV – Thanks for the review. Sorry about not answering all of your queries last time. Firstly, when I outlined the basic plot for Vengeance I didn't even know about Chronicles and V Tamer. Not to say that I was ignorant... but I kinda was like in a dark about it. Whether they will be included in the Multiverse I have set in this story, I really don't think so. I think I've said that there were nine other alternate realities connected to the 02' reality. That includes the Dark Ocean, the Dream World, the Tamer's Digiworld, the Frontier's Digiworld, Catrina's homeworld and four unnamed realities. Right now I don't have any plans to include Chronicles and V Tamer into my fic yet. As for X antibody villain, it's also not in the original plan for this fic but while outlining the plots I have kept some plots open for modification. In the prologue of Legend of the Digidestined, there is Omnimon in Transcendence Mode, he is actually Omnimon X but at that time I only have the picture but not the name. As for the first DDs, I've recently added into the Vengeance outline for their brief appearances or cameo, but whether they'll make it into this fics or not it will depend on how this story is progressing. They are older than Tai and the others, that's for sure, but not too much older. As for the story idea... I really don't have a clue. For your information, I've only watched a few animes... that includes Digimon, Pokemon, Dragonball Z GT, Sailor Moon and some others which I watch from time to time. Your idea sounds interesting, but I can't guess the identities of the villains you have in mind. Sorry about that.
J.D. Guy – Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad that you like those two chapters.
Quinton Norwen – Thanks for the review. Yes, I admit it's pretty hard but I still enjoy writing them. I'm not an expert when writing about characters, so from time to time they might seem to be two-dimensional and plain... I really need to work on that. It wasn't so hard when writing about the current existing DDs, but when writing about my original characters in Legend of DD I admit it really needs a lot of work.
