"We need all of you for this," Luke says, sounding truly panicked. "With the excess of data out there, more evil digimon are being formed and whole sections of the digital world are being deleted. There can only be one cause."
"Arkadimon," Heath says softly, feeling it deep in his bones. Enzo and Cass exchange uncomfortable looks as Luke confirms, their partners stopping short in the middle of energetic play and listening too. "We barely made it through the last times, what're we gonna do now?"
Alicia looks around at all of them. "Well, there are more of us this time, and more of us are at Mega level, so maybe we have a better chance?"
"That's not comforting," Kevin Owens declares, staring down at his own partner who, although having gained the ability to digivolve to Gryzmon, is still somewhat weak in comparison to the others, since Owens is relatively new to the digiworld. It's even less comforting for Enzo and Cass, whose partners haven't been in battle yet.
"We'll protect you best we can," Seth says to the three. "But we need you there as backup, just in case."
"This is an awful idea," Owens grouses but follows along anyway, Enzo and Cass just ahead of him as they enter the digiport to head to the latest alert of trouble.
They're deposited in Armageddon. At least, that's what it looks like. The ground is charred, still on fire in some places, and there's a heavy sheen of data scattered all over. Whatever village may have been here is long destroyed, but the creature at the root of it remains for some reason. Dark blue body, shrouded in shadows, he's barely visible, but his voice is hard to ignore as it echoes through. "I sensed you coming," he says simply, tentacles whipping around his body. "I have been waiting for this opportunity for so long..."
"You are him," Heath says, flashes of memories haunting him of being kidnapped and used against his friends. His hands curl into fists. "Arkadimon. I knew it."
The evil being all but laughs in his face as he floats ever closer. "I am Arkadimon Super Ultimate, you pathetic human. I digivolved after your last attempt to rid this world of me permanently failed. And now it will fail in the most lasting way possible, because I will rid the world of all of you!"
The next few moments are lost in a haze as tentacles and beams of light burn and whip at all of them, the only thing keeping them moderately safe being a handful of digivices going off at once as mega digivolution is achieved by the majority of the digimon, shielding the humans from the worst of it. Enzo blinks away the flashes just to find he's on the ground, Cass hovering over him, all of them looking around anxiously. Veemon and Hyokomon stand in front of them, unable to do much while they're still in their rookie forms. "Ya alright, Zo?"
Enzo nods, looking up at Cass. "Are you?"
"Uh huh." The two of them regroup and sit up, watching as Veemon and Hyokomon adjust their own positions to allow for this. "Do you two think ya can digivolve?" Cass asks their partners, Hyokomon and Veemon exchanging glances.
"Yeah," Veemon finally says, voice quiet.
"Great, go for it," Enzo says, holding out his digivice. It's quick and frantic, like everything else going on around them, the light blinding so that by the time Enzo and Cass can see again, Veemon and Hyokomon are replaced by a tall creature covered in golden armor and a winged creature with a flame-crested robe, two swords and a straw hat covering its bird-like head.
Sharp eyes gaze back at them before facing forward once more. "We'll do the best we can to protect you both," Buraimon promises, his swords scraping together as he draws both of them and holds them in an x-pattern, waiting and watching.
It's hard to keep track for Enzo and Cass, neither are accustomed to battles, especially high strength ones like this between ultimate and mega level digimon. Kevin isn't faring much better, yelling out every time a blast hits anywhere near where he and Gryzmon are trying to stay safe at across from Enzo and Cass. Only a few moments later, Gryzmon lets out a sharp gasp when a beam of light strikes not far from where they're standing, the ground fading into a tunnel of 1s and 0s. The attack seems unending, only becoming more terrifying when it shifts positions and heads right for Enzo, Cass and their partners.
Seth is the first to notice, MetalSeadramon's attacks doing very little to alter Arkadimon's aim. "ENZO! CASS!" he yells, but it's too late. The attack is upon them.
The tag partners grip at each other and gape as their lives, separate and together, flash before their eyes, the death beam reflecting in their wide eyes.
