Seth is uncomfortably silent. Watchful. The last few nights haven't gone well for him, and it shows by how pale he is, how dull his gaze is. The other digidestined remain silent around him, even Asuka for once walks on in silence, not even taking the opportunity to rant at Lana in Japanese like she normally would.
"Where are we going?" Lana eventually asks, cutting through the tension and causing Seth to pause mid-step before turning to look at her, brows furrowed. "I mean..."
He reaches towards her and she bites her lower lip, unsure how to feel about the dark look on his face. He grabs her digivice out of her hand and holds it before her face. "The map shows it," he says disdainfully. "This dot here shows you the village we're heading for."
"Y... yeah." She's cowed by his anger, his pure disgust which has been on show for all to see since Murphy kicked him in the face and lost them the match on Sunday. "Right. I see." She takes her digivice back and hugs it close to her chest, exhaling when Gatomon presses close to her, trying to silently comfort her.
Seth stares at her for a few moments before turning sharply and continuing to walk, his shoulders tense and each breath sounding louder than the last. The others slowly begin to follow, and-
Massive arrows rain down upon them, stopping their progress short. "Oh shit," Owens mutters, staring down in horror at the glowing weapon that's embedded in the ground just inches from where he's standing. Seth is already searching the tree line, any raised area that this strike could've happened from, and before the others can even get over the sudden shock, he's off, running, yelling at Betamon, who immediately digivolves by his side.
MetalSeadramon sets upon the white bodied digimon immediately, snarling and sending energy blasts from his snout, but the wielder of those arrows seem unbothered, merely blocking and tossing MetalSeadramon aside before shooting more arrows at him. "METALSEADRAMON!" Seth cries out as his partner squeeches and flails away, collapsing to the ground as the arrows embed deeper into his flesh. His gaze turns once more to the tall digimon with a spiked circle of energy behind him, glowing a bright gold. "What are you?"
The digimon stares back at him and lifts his arms. "I am one known as Gaiamon. Many years have been spent in research, learning all there is to know from base net data, learning humans' hearts and all that their intelligence has to offer."
"Oh shit," Owens mutters from where the rest have just stumbled up onto the battle. "If his actions are inspired by what humans reveal of their hearts online, we're kind of screwed."
"Gaiamon," Seth repeats in awe. "Isn't that...?"
"A god, yes," Gaiamon says, turning his focus to MetalSeadramon, who tries to stand, prepares to battle once more. "You are a strongwilled creature, unfortunately it will merely bring you death here." The spiked circle of energy on his back starts glowing and thrumming, and everything changes down to the gravity around them, Seth finding it hard to watch as Gaiamon lifts his hands and-
Lotusmon and Beelzebubmon lunge in, blasting the creature with bullets and aura from their weapons. MetalSeadramon hesitates for only a second before moving over to join them, Lotusmon looking up at him as Beelzebubmon cackles, only stopping his rapidfire shots enough to address his teammate. "Did you think we'd let you have all the fun?"
MetalSeadramon rolls his eyes and the three of them lunge forward once more, Gaiamon meeting them head on with more arrows, but the more he attacks, the better they get at dodging or defending. "I'm not sure what to do, he has so much darkness within him. How I missed it at first, I'm not even sure. He's been very corrupted by all of the data he analyzed," he breathes out, tossing his head back and sending fresh energy blasts at Gaiamon.
"Yes," Lotusmon agrees. "We'll find a way, just keep looking for a vulnerable spot!" Her staffs flash as she spins them around elegantly, blasting first white then black beams at him.
Beelzebubmon resumes cackling as his bullets dance around Gaiamon, eyes glinting as he lunges forward, then falls back to avoid more arrows. "Sounds good to me!"
Gaiamon roars out in anger as MetalSeadramon lands a solid strike against him while he was in the midst of focusing on the gleaming power on his back, and immediately resumes shooting off arrows. This seems to be the motivation needed as Mach Gaogamon appears behind him and aims vicious punches at the creature's back, blasting right at the spikes as he unloads desperately. It's almost as if Gaiamon doesn't notice at first, too distracted by the three mega digimon before him, but then he lands a solid strike, bending the golden circle, and Gaiamon immediately stops short, trembling slightly.
"AAAAAAAAH!" He lets out an echoing scream that startles everyone, before turning sharply and blasting an arrow through Mach Gaogamon at close range. "How dare you attack me from behind?" he demands, gripping the arrow's firey shaft and digging it deeper into Mach Gaogamon's chest, causing more data to stream from the horrible wound.
"MACH GAOGAMON!" Owens yells, running forward and ignoring the others' yells and horrified gasps, needing to be by his partner's side. He's had a rough enough week, he doesn't need this too- not Mach Gaogamon- not this way-
"Kevin," his partner gasps, voice weak and shaking, as if he's dying right there in front of Kevin.
"I'm here-" Kevin lunges around Gaiamon, ignoring him, and touches his partner- desperate to do anything to help, even if he knows he's next to useless against something like Gaiamon. "It- it's going to be ok." Tears are dripping down his face, snagging in his beard before splashing down upon Mach Gaogamon. "Please-"
The arrow is still embedded into his partner's flesh, but then Gaiamon tears it out viciously and fresh data rains down upon them, Kevin shuddering as he feels his partner's lifeforce fade away against his bare shoulders. Mach Gaogamon collapses to his knees in front of Kevin and wavers. "I'm sorry- Kevin, I-" Mach Gaogamon can barely speak, each word clear agony, but he still fights to talk one last time to his partner. "Please-"
"Shhhh," Kevin says comfortingly, trying to sooth him with light touches. "It's ok- it'll be... it'll be ok..." He rests his forehead against his partner's chest plate and tries to imagine a world without Bearmon by his side, fresh tears filling his eyes. "It's going to be alright..."
Then things shift again, and Mach Gaogamon gasps out. Kevin slowly opens his eyes, fearful of what he's about to see- but no, there's a blinding glow coming from... from him, and Mach Gaogamon is reflecting it, and he... he looks amazing, fur whipping in the wind brought up by this power, and... "MACH GAOGAMON DIGIVOLVE TO..." His form shifts, grows a little taller as armor plates click into place over his body. Large claws grow out of his fists, which he promptly slashes through the air with, and a bright red cape streams over his shoulders as he lands before Owens, a calm expression on his face. "MirageGaogamon," he announces, standing resolutely for a moment before looking down at Kevin. "Thank you, Kevin," he says simply. "For everything."
And then he's off, claws extended, shredding through the already battered circle of energy on Gaiamon's back, tearing straight through it. Gaiamon screams out in pure agony this time, collapsing to his knees, and MirageGaogamon twists to face him, claws aimed right at his head. "I will not let you hurt anyone else," he informs him. "I sense you were once a pure digimon just looking for knowledge but the vast reaches of the internet holds many horrible things, enough to warp anyone's ideals. Unfortunately, we cannot let this stand, and we need to end this now."
Gaiamon laughs, a cruel, sharp sound. "You may destroy me, but there are many, many others like me. This will never end. There will always be more."
"I know," MirageGaogamon says. "But with the Digidestined by our side, we will continue to fight to our last breath to put an end to it, to bring peace back to our world." Before Gaiamon could say anything else, MirageGaogamon rears up, power spiraling around him in a dizzying array, and he shreds straight through Gaiamon's body with his razor sharp claws, Gaiamon immediately exploding into fine particles of data.
Immediately, MirageGaogamon collapses and dedigivolves, Kevin just barely lunging forward in time to collect Bearmon out of the sky, protecting him from the impact with the ground. "I've got you," he whispers, hugging his partner tightly. "You're safe now."
Bearmon stirs weakly and smiles up at him. "I am," he whispers. "Thank you."
Kevin laughs brokenly and rests his forehead against Bearmon's. "You're incredible. Get some rest."
Bearmon nods, already half asleep in the warmth and safety of Kevin's arms.
As Kevin walks back to the others, he stares down at his sleeping partner and closes his eyes briefly, exhaling out all of the tension and grief that's been weighing him down since Gaiamon first attacked Mach Gaogamon. He's going to be just fine.
