Everyone was having fun with their new Ultimate forms. Well, the fun mostly being Veemon and Tentomon getting used to their new forms as UlforceVeedramon and HerculesKabuterimon. This only left Patamon and Gatomon. The two were eagerly waiting for their own Ultimate forms to appear.
After resting and some snacking, the Children and their partners were once again in the reading room. And this time, Black had joined them once again.
"Why did you want me here this time?" Black asked with a mildly confused look.
"You'll see." Novice said before turning to the Children. "Kids, do you remember how UlforceVeedramon is a Royal Knight?"
The question caught them all off guard. "Yes... Why do you ask?" Yamato was the first to ask.
"Because aside from him, you guys have already met two of them." Novice said with a grin.
"We have?!" Was the universal reaction to that.
"Who are they?" Agumon continued eagerly.
Novice chuckled, "Funny you should ask, because the ones you've met are Omegamon and Magnamon."
Everyone's eyes widened at this news. "You mean... us together become a Royal Knight?" Gabumon said in awe.
"Well... It makes sense." Miyako commented.
"Omegamon does look like a white knight." Mimi continued with an interested look.
"But Magnamon too?" Veemon said in awe himself. "I... I can evolve into two Royal Knights!"
Black rolled her eyes at the Children getting excited over this. "Urgh. Royal Knights... a bunch of killjoys who can't mind their own *meow*ing business." Black glared at her human at meowing instead of what she wanted to say.
"Last I checked, stopping Seven Great Demon Lords IS their business." Novice said with an evil grin.
"Wait, what?" Came several voices at hearing that.
"Oh, right. In many alternate realities of the Digital World, The Seven Great Demon Lords and Royal Knights are opposing forces. Black here is from a World where they got beaten and their Digieggs were sealed away for good... Until I snatched them up." This earned the Overseer a set of glares. "Like I said kids, I know what I'm up against and know exactly what I'm doing."
This did not seem to make them any less annoyed, but they decided not to question it. Seeing as he already now has Lilithmon and Beelzemon under control. Although he did get hurt getting Beelzemon on a leash.
"So, who's reading now?" Patamon asked instead.
Novice brightened up at hearing that, "I'm glad you asked, Gatomon you're up." And the book floated to the surprised white cat.
"Me? Already?" Gatomon didn't look like she believed it.
"Before me?" Patamon complained.
"You were the last to evolve into Perfect in our adventure." Takeru pointed out. Patamon pouted, but decided not to comment further.
Gatomon quickly opened the book from the appropriate page. Her face was neutral, but her tail was swishing happily.
Light & Darkness! Mastemon!
The title card showed a silhouette of a digimon with feathered wings on one side and leathery wings on the other.
"Light and darkness?" Hikari said, now looking a little worried.
"But... Nora's Crest is Light? So how can this be?" Ken also questioned.
"The story will explain it, I'm sure." Novice said before feeling someone staring at him. Turning to look down, the Overseer saw Black giving him a suspicious look. "What?"
"...You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking." Black said in a threatening tone.
"...I'm not sure what you mean?" Novice sounded like he genuinely wasn't sure.
"Should I be worried?" Gatomon asked the black feline with a small glare at Novice.
"...I hope not." Black said before curling herself on Novice's lap.
Gatomon decided to just read.
The ground shook as the city receded. "3 down, one more to go," Gyro said, watching using his goggles. "All that's left is Piedmon."
"Good riddance to all of them," Ogremon snorted. "But do we really need to be doing this? I mean, aren't what we already have good enough?" he asked.
"Maybe, but we're about to fight the leader of the Dark Masters. I think we can all agree its better to be over prepared than under prepared," he said.
"...Knowing their track record, I wouldn't be surprised if Piedmon had some kind of ace up his sleeve." Daisuke commented, earning various looks of shock. "What?"
"He's... not wrong." Miyako commented as she now felt worried.
"I really hope he gets just curbstomped, but now I'm not so sure." Yamato commented.
"I'm sure that if they get all 10 Ultimates then they will do just fine." Taichi replied with a small grin.
"Okay, maybe you're right." Yamato relented.
"He does have a point," Dinohyumon admitted.
"I think we should do that, but if I may, we should make our way to Piedmon now," came Frigimon's voice as she walked up to them. "If the others have defeated Machinedramon, odds are they will be going to Piedmon now."
"It would be ideal to have all 10 Chosen Children gathered before you face Piedmon," Centarumon nodded.
"They've got a point," Jaune nodded as he, Gomamon, Yang, Biyomon, and Agumon came up.
"Right. We'll keep looking for more help, but we'll do it along the way," Gyro nodded.
"Alright then, let's go everyone," Yang nodded as the group soon rejoined with Grizzmon, Leomon, Chuumon, Gekomon, and Otamamon who were on lookout duty for now.
The group walked for a while, before someone spoke up. "You know…"Agumon mused. "The other Dark Masters all had some unique looking areas they controlled...but why would Piedmon make his area a wasteland?"
"From what we know, it's because he directly controls the forces of darkness, his troops are even called the Nightmare Soldiers, rather fitting considering we've seen mostly demonic Digimon as part of them." Centarumon explained.
"Don't remind me." Gomamon groaned as he remembered the various small pockets of demonic Digimon they had encountered from time to time.
"So basically he doesn't want anything BUT darkness, hence why his entire territory is the most depressing landscape we've ever seen," Biyomon summed up.
"Sounds about right," Chuumon nodded.
"You know, I don't think we ever really thought about that." Sora commented, "But it does make a scary amount of sense."
Everyone agreed with that.
"Well that sucks. Not to mention is really ironic seeing as he's basically a clown," Gyro mused. "Then again, clowns can be plenty evil, so I guess it works in a strange way…"
Novice snorted, which cause everyone to look at him. "There's a clown that is a homocidal maniac." The Overseer explained.
No one wanted to hear more, so Gatomon kept reading.
"Well...guess this is more reason to deal with him faster," Jaune mused.
"Why do you say that?" Grizzmon asked.
"Cause if this is all that's left of Spiral Mountain, the Digimon living here will starve," Gomamon commented, looking at the surroundings that while were forested, seemed more dead than alive.
Everyone agreed with that sentiment.
"...good point," everyone else admitted as they continued to walk. However, as they did, they noticed the landscape started to change...and become softer.
"Huh?" Gyro blinked, before testing the ground. "The ground is softer somehow…"
"Well...that's not surprising…" Leomon said with a frown.
"I guess we're close to the Primary Village of Server…" Chuumon said sadly.
All the girls clenched their hands into fists at the mention of the Primary Village of Server. Some of the guys also had a hard look.
"So… even this place huh?" Yang asked after a moment.
"Yeah, pretty much everywhere, even the Primary Village of File is damaged and corrupted, no clue on what the situation is for Folder and WWW though." Ogremon said with a sigh.
"So, every landmass has its own Primary Village then?" Jaune asked.
"That's correct, after all, it would be rather cumbersome if every single Digimon all came from File." Centarumon said with a nod.
"Makes sense." Jo commented, "The place would've been much more crowded if that was the case."
That seemed to erase some of the tension.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Heck, I'd feel sorry for Elecmon if he had to take care of every single Digimon that hatches in the world. He may be super nanny, but even he's gotta have a limit," Yang snickered, remembering the caretaker of the Primary Village of File.
The group couldn't help but picture the image of Elecmon and a nanny's outfit...and snicker at the mental image, enjoying the moment of mirth in the otherwise bleak environment. However, that was when they heard the sound of a nearby bush rustling.
The said image was projected on the screen, making everyone let out chuckles at the image.
"Who's there?!" Biyomon shouted as everyone had their weapons trained on the source of the sound.
"D-don't shoot! We give up!" came a voice, as slowly from the bush came out two Digimon.
The first of the two was a small bipedal cat with orange fur and several black markings on the fur, with a tuft of white fur around its neck, and two long scarf like appendages coming out the back of its neck while it had a large bushy tail, her green eyes bearing slit shaped pupils.
The other was a tall black and brown dog with a large spiked collar, blades on its heels, long claws, and small red jewels on its shoulders and thighs.
"Ok… so who are you two?" Gyro asked, still not lowering his weapons.
"I'm Meicoomon, and this is Dobermon." the orange cat said in a female voice.
"We come in peace?" Dobermon tried hesitantly with a male voice.
Digimon Analyzer: Meicoomon
Meicoomon. Data Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. Despite what it may look like, her small claws are actually rather long and just hidden by the amount of fur on her paws, and are much sharper than they appear. The two scarf like appendages are used not only to hide her face, but also act as actual scarf in cold weather. Her special attack is X Scratch, slashing the enemy with her claws in an X pattern.
Everyone nodded a little at Meicoomon's data.
Digimon Analyzer: Dobermon
Dobermon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. A Hunter Digimon that started life as a Virus before being converted to a Vaccine after a strange mutation. He excels at tracking his enemies, no matter how far they get, and will chase them down until capture. His special attack is Grau Larm, a roar that seals the opponent's power.
"Well...you don't SEEM like the Digimon Piedmon would have in his employ," Jaune mused.
"Or are you…?" Gomamon pressed, as the Hunters had pulled out the analyzer...and noticed the Dobermon WAS in fact part of the Nightmare Soldier family...though he was also part of the Nature Spirits family too.
"Just because he's of Nightmare Soldiers family doesn't necessarily mean he's evil." Takeru pointed out, earning a smile from Novice at hearing that.
"No we're not!" Dobermon angrily barked. "Don't you even DARE suggest we're working for that monster! We'd sooner throw ourselves into acid than so much as spit in his direction!"
"Well… disturbing imagery aside… I think we can trust them." Agumon said after a moment.
"Personally, I totally agree with them." Chuumon added idly.
"Well...I guess that's more or less proof they're not working for Piedmon," Frigimon said with a sweat drop.
"...yeah, I guess that's a good enough one," Ogremon shrugged.
"Alright, so if you're not with Piedmon, what ARE you two doing out here?" Dinohyumon asked.
The Children agreed that it was a fair question.
"We were looking for survivors," Meicoomon said.
"We've been going around, looking for anyone lost and helping them find safety...something that's ironically become harder since the other 3 Dark Masters were defeated," Dobermon sighed.
"Well the Spiral mountain was getting destroyed when each of the Dark Masters was defeated." Gomamon said with a worried look.
On one hand some of the first eight wondered for a moment if they may have cause Digimon to die. But then they remembered that once the world was saved, the Primary Village had a lot of eggs appearing there.
"So you're kinda like rescue workers then?" Gyro mused.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Dobermon nodded. "So, what are you all here for? You guys look armed to the teeth."
"We're heading to the top to deal with Piedmon. Our group has kind of been split up, but the others have already taken down two of the Dark Masters, and we managed to take down one as a whole group." Jaune answered.
"Wait… so you guys are the Chosen Children then? The ones from the stories?" Meicoomon asked hopefully.
"That's us yeah." Yang answered, even though it was strange to think there were stories and legends about them.
"We thought of the same thing actually." Sora said with a small chuckle at the end of that.
Meicoomon and Dobermon looked to each other, before nodding and turning back to the group "Take us with you, please. If you're really on your way to defeat Piedmon, we want to be there." Dobermon requested, with Meicoomon nodding in agreement.
"Well, can't say no to that, the more help we have, the easier things'll be." Gyro said with a nod.
"But the fact remains we don't actually KNOW you two," Centarumon said.
"So yeah, nothing personal, but if you turn out to be secretly working for Piedmon and are doing some elaborate scheme to trick us…" Agumon left the obvious threat hang. "Clear?"
"Transparent!" the two of them squeaked.
Other Digimon were looking at their Agumon.
"What?!" The yellow lizard shouted out at the stares he was getting.
"Then we're all in understanding. Welcome aboard," Gomamon said cheerfully as if they didn't just threaten them.
"...these guys are the Chosen Children?" Dobermon couldn't help but sweat drop.
"It helps keep them, and us for that matter, alive," Leomon shrugged.
"...I get that, but do they have to be that mean?" Hikari asked with a frown.
"Hikari, look at it this way, if they turn out to be not working for Piedmon then they don't have to go through with that threat." Gatomon said from her perch on Hikari's lap.
"...I understand." Judging by the look on her face she still didn't approve, but couldn't blame them either.
"...fair enough I guess…" Meicoomon sighed.
"So...since you two are searching for survivors...anyone nearby?" Yang asked.
"Oh, uh...no, there aren't anymore nearby. From what we found today, between here and the edges of the Dark Masters' castle, there isn't anyone," Dobermon said.
"Good to know, then our next course of action is set," Gyro nodded.
"Full speed ahead. Next stop, Piedmon's castle," Jaune nodded.
"Hope you're ready clown boy, cause we're coming for your ass," Yang grinned as she punched her fist into her hand.
For some reason, Black snickered at Yang's last words.
"...Do we want to know?" Novice asked with a suspicious look.
"...I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to." Black said before glaring at the green ring on her tail.
Meanwhile, further ahead…
"Alright guys, this is it…" Ruby gulped.
"Oh, it's Ruby and the others." Mimi said with a smile.
"Up ahead should be Piedmon's castle. We can begin now," Andromon said as he had a cable connected to Weiss's scroll.
"Right. Please begin," Weiss nodded as Andromon sent out a sonic ping through the ground, and soon they were able to map out the mountain AND the nearby area, giving them a layout of what lied ahead.
"Awful empty for an Overlord's castle. Guess he's not big on natural terrain," Pierce mused watching over her shoulder.
"Guess that means when we meet the clown, it's nowhere to run or hide…" Dorugreymon frowned.
"You say that like we wanted it any other way," Duramon smirked.
"Fair point," the red dragon chuckled.
Everyone else chuckled at the sentiment.
"Well...that is both good and bad," Blake frowned.
"Right, once we go past this point, we either win...or we die trying," Pyrrha nodded.
"...think we should wait for the others to come? I mean, they're definitely on the way, right?" Nora asked.
"Probably for the best." Ren said with a nod "It's likely they know of the progress we've made and are heading for the top as we speak."
"It'll be good to see them again, we've been on the road for a few days after all." Wormmon commented.
There were a few sounds of agreement before… "...huh, the universe must be feeling generous today…" Hisyaryumon commented, as the sound of wing beats were heard...followed by a familiar red humanoid bird flying in the air...followed by several familiar and unfamiliar Digimon as well.
"And they've brought the others too," Mamemon grinned at the familiar Digimon approaching.
When Garudamon landed, she took a moment to let everyone else get off, before reverting to Biyomon… right as Yang and Gyro were both bowled over by a red blur "Well.. .this feels oddly familiar."
It didn't take a genious to figure out what happened as some of the Children outright laughed.
"I wonder if Hikari and Takeru would do something like that." Novice said with a cheshire grin.
"No way!" The two younger siblings let out in annoyance.
Their older brothers rolled their eyes in amusement.
"You're telling me." Palmon said with a laugh as she went up to her and the two friends hugged each other.
"Sorry we took so long," Jaune chuckled when he got down. "We were getting reinforcements...and from the looks of it, so did you guys."
"I can't really see anyone because I got a facefull of Ruby's cape." came Gyro's voice as Ruby was hugging both him and Yang.
Eventually Ruby calmed down and they could get up, to which the group soon began catching up. However, little did they know, they were being watched.
"So it seems they've finally regrouped," Piedmon mused as he watched from a monitor as he was drinking a beverage, honestly looking not the least bit concerned despite the fact his fellow Dark Masters met their end at the hands of this group. "I think I should reward them for making it this far," he mused.
"That is never a good sign." Jo commented on Piedmon's lack of worry.
"I'm starting to think he might have something up his sleeve." Palmon added in.
"This is fortunate for us my lord. We can strike them all down in one fell swoop." answered a deep voice from the darkness.
"Impatient as always, I see," Piedmon chuckled. "But very well, be sure to treat them to our finest hospitality for making it this far," he said, as the owner of the voice stepped into view. It was a tall being with a mixture of goat like and demonic features, his legs and forearms covered in maroon fur, with large ram horns and wings that were slightly small for his body. "I trust you will not disappoint, Mephistomon."
Digimon Analyzer: Mephistomon
Mephistomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Fallen Angel Digimon. A Digimon born from the lingering data of a powerful evil Digimon, and follows a principle of extermination. He practices black magic and is endlessly cruel to his opponents. His special attacks are Black Sabbath, either chanting an incantation, or firing a dark shockwave from his hand, and those affected by it will soon die, and Death Cloud, creating a cloud of darkness that corrodes everything beneath it.
"Mephistomon. That's a new one." Koshiro commented on the evil Digimon.
"I wonder which evil Digimon's data he was born from?" Tentomon pondered aloud.
Novice made a quick private call to someone, and he gave a small smile at whatever he heard. "Swift gave me a permission to tell you, the evil Digimon in question is Apocalymon."
"What?!" Was the universal reaction at that bomb.
"Wait... if that's the case, then did the Apocalymon we defeat also become Mephistomon?!" Gomamon asked in slight panic.
"I don't think so." Novice said quickly, "I'm pretty sure his final attack erased any bit of data he had."
"But then... does this mean that there was an Apocalymon in this Digital World that was reborn as Mephistomon?" Iori also asked, having heard about the final enemy the first eight faced alongside the rest of the juniors.
"Hard to say," Novice shrugged, "But I doubt it. There was an alternate reality where Mephistomon escaped to a different Digital World before Omegamon of that reality could destroy him. This could be a similar case."
"What happened to the Mephistomon of that reality?" Patamon asked in slight worry.
Novice smiled, "He was destroyed by the heroes of the world he escaped to."
This eased everyone's minds on this subject. But if Mephistomon shares Apocalymon's will to destroy everything, then that means that the Remnant crew must definitely not let him live.
"It will be done, my lord," Mephistomon bowed. But just as he turned to leave, another figure appeared in the shadows. "Oh? You wish to join in welcoming them?"
"I'll allow it. The more the merrier," Piedmon waved off, not even bothering to let them ask the question. It really didn't make any difference to him after all.
With that said, Mephistomon and his new companion soon left the fortress, ready to 'welcome' the Chosen Children to their domain.
Black's ears folded behind her head as she gave a death glare at her human.
"Why are you staring at me?" Novice asked, not least bit intimidated.
"Oh don't give me that." Black complained.
The readers and especially Gatomon were getting suspicious. But the white feline decided to continue anyway.
"Alright everyone, this is it," Gyro said, pacing in front of the group, looking like a general briefing his army for war. "Once we go forward, there is no turning back, and we will not rest until we make it so that nobody will ever want to say the words 'Dark' and 'Master' in the same sentence without wincing. Any questions?"
"Just one, do we go for kill, or overkill?" Pierce asked with a raised hand.
"Overkill obviously." Gyro answered easily, being met with several eager grins. It should also be noted that the partnerless Digimon of the group were the ones EXTRA eager for this...for understandable reasons.
This scene did manage to shift attention from whatever their host might or might not be scheming. But Hikari decided to keep her thoughts to herself until after he tries to execute it.
"Alright, looks like we're all in agreement. Time to go break that clown in half," Yang said as they all turned to where the castle was in the distance and began marching...or they WOULD have if not for something happening.
"Death Cloud!" a new voice called out as the area was suddenly covered in a literal cloud of darkness, and from the cloud, purple lightning struck the ground, causing it to start corroding, though the group narrowly managed to avoid that.
"Guess clown boy got tired of waiting for us," Pierce sweat dropped. "Cause looks like he sent the welcoming committee."
"Well well, isn't this an honor, the Chosen Children, strolling up to my master's doorstep. I'm glad I could be the one to 'open the door' so to speak." they all looking up as they heard the voice, seeing Mephistomon (which Weiss identified quickly) looking down at them with a taunting grin as he performed a bow.
"Okay...you know what, I think we're just gonna put this one straight," Jaune sighed. "We got business with your boss, so unless you want to end up like the OTHER guys who got in our way of kicking your bosses off their thrones, I suggest you move. We REALLY want to fix the world they messed up now."
"I think you already know my answer to that," Mephistomon smirked.
For some reason, this interaction was strangely funny. Though it didn't earn any laughs.
"Eh...worth a shot," Blake shrugged. "Don't say we didn't warn you."
With that they all reached for their Digivices, intending to completely vaporize this guy by going Ultimate...if he didn't have a trick up his sleeve.
That did not sound promising.
"Death Cloud! Black Sabbath!" Mephistomon called out, chanting a spell in an ominous language, as the clouds above gathered, and a burst of darkness filled the air.
"Okay, don't know what he's doing but I don't like it," Ruby frowned, before pointing her D-Crest at Palmon. It lit up, and fired a beam of light at Palmon.
(Play Brave Heart)
"Palmon, Blast Evolution!" Palmon called out, before her voice became confused at the words she just said, as her form soon shifted into that of Togemon, before The Crest of Purity appeared over her, and moved downward, passing her body through it, revealing the large flower which soon bloomed to reveal Lillymon. "Lillymon!"
"Wait, what?" Lillymon blinked as she looked herself over.
Lillymon's reaction was exactly what the Chosen and their partners had at that.
(Record screech)
"Huh? But we were aiming for Ultimate. What happened?" Ruby asked in surprise as she looked at her D-Crest.
"Okay...that doesn't look good," Weiss frowned, before pointing her own D-Crest at Tentomon.
"Tentomon, Blast Evolution!" Tentomon called out as he too soon transformed into Kabuterimon, before the Crest of Knowledged appeared over him and passed through him, his form shifting into that of the outline of AtlurKabuterimon, which soon gained color and definition. "AtlurKabuterimon!"
"Again?" Koshiro commented.
"Okay, something's not right here," AtlurKabuterimon said, as he KNEW they'd intended to go Ultimate as well.
"Don't bother trying to reach your Ultimate forms," Mephistomon laughed. "As long as my Dark Cloud is covering this area in its power, your lights won't be strong enough to give the power you want," he smirked.
"That's cheating!" Veemon complained at his other not being able to reach Ultimate either if Pierce tried.
"Oh… shit, that's a pain in the ass." Gyro said with a frown "Well… at least we're finding out about this Blast Evolution thing though." he said, before aiming his Digivice at Agumon, who nodded in understanding.
(Resume Song)
"Agumon, Blast Evolution!" Agumon called out as he transformed into Greymon, before the Crest of Courage appeared on top of him and moved down, his form shifting into an outline of MetalGreymon, which soon gained color and definition "MetalGreymon!"
"So we're stuck at Perfect, huh? No biggie. We just have to kick your ass so the Dark Cloud disappears, sound about right?" MetalGreymon chuckled.
"Well, they still got numbers on their side." Ken commented on the gang still having three Perfects.
"That's assuming you can do it," Mephistomon smirked, before he surged forward, MetalGreymon soon meeting his charge. The two Perfects clashed, claws meeting and a few shockwaves being made by the impact.
"Giga Destroyer!"
"Black Sabbath!"
The two attacks met and exploded, sending both combatants skidding back.
"Alright everyone, rush him!" Ren said as he grabbed his D-Crest.
"I don't think so. Black Sabbath!" Mephistomon said, firing his attack...aiming it at Nora and Salamon, who were caught surprised.
Hikari visibly stiffened at Nora being the target.
"No!" Ren shouted, pushing them out of the way...but ended up getting hit himself.
"And now the stage is set," Mephistomon smirked as he took to the skies again, while the group ran to where Ren had fallen.
"Ok, what the hell?" Pierce muttered as Mephistomon flew up, but decided to focus on Ren, who was groaning as he slowly stood up.
"Where were you hit?" Jaune asked as they helped him back to his feet.
"My stomach I think." Ren said, before clutching said area with a pained groan.
"That's not a good sign." Blake said in worry.
"Wouldn't his Aura protect him?" Wormmon commented on Ren's pain.
"Unless it's some kind of curse, sure." Black commented non-chalantly earning a set of glares. "What? It's true."
"Not the point," Novice said before flicking the back of Black's head.
"Open your shirt Ren, we should see how bad it is." Gyro told him, with Ren nodding as he undid his shirt, and when it was open…
"Oh… that's REALLY not a good sign." Yang said with a wince as they saw the black mark on his stomach, and it seemed to be ever so slowly moving.
"See?" Black said completely oblivious to everyone else looking worried. Or she just didn't care.
"Anyone who is hit by my Black Sabbath is doomed to die. Once that mark reaches his throat, his life is forfeit!" Mephistomon laughed. "Not even the Holy Powers can break my curse!"
"That can't be true." Hikari protested.
"Depends on the strength of the Holy Power." Black commented, earning more curious looks, "It's possible that no Holy Power of a Perfect can break it, but an Ultimate might."
"...You sound like you're speaking from experience." Hawkmon commented with a suspicious look.
Black shrugged, "Meh, a group of Ultimate Holy Digimon tried to undo the damage of my Phantom Pain. Didn't work." the black feline had the audacity to look smug on the last part.
"Gatomon, just keep reading." Patamon said to his fellow Holy Digimon.
"Gee, thanks, now we've got even MORE reason to rip you in half," Salamon growled.
"A pointless effort. Even my death won't undo the curse," Mephistomon smirked. "However...I suppose it's possible for it to be removed," he added.
"If you're going to make a demand, spit it out already," Wormmon glared daggers at the demon. If looks could kill, Mephistomon would have a large gaping hole in his body by now.
"It nothing 'I' want. But something my associate wants. She has...unfinished business with you all," he smirked, right as a familiar barrier suddenly formed around all of them.
"She?" Was the universal thought.
"What's going on?!" Ogremon gasped, as they'd also been trapped in the barrier.
"This is...oh come on…" Lillymon" groaned.
"What is SHE doing here?!" Biyomon groaned in agreement.
"My, I'm flattered to know you still remember me," a familiar voice was heard, as Witchmon suddenly appeared from a portal already sitting on her broom. "It's been awhile, Chosen Children," she smirked.
"Of course it's her." Gatomon groaned at the witch.
"Of course you survived." Gyro said with an annoyed groan "So, what, when Myotismon kicked the bucket, you decided to change to another team?"
Witchmon laughed at his words "Of course not, I was ALWAYS on the winning team, we just needed Myotismon, he could give us some advantages after all." she chuckled. "But with that in mind, we've got some unfinished business to attend to," she frowned as she glared at them. "However, I'm in a...charitable mood. So...let's play a little wager," she said. "One of you against me. One on one. Win, and we'll TRY to remove the curse. Lose...well...then we'll just keep cycling through your group till either one of you wins or all of you are dead," she smirked cruelly.
"You say that like we have a choice," Weiss seethed.
"Or like they're going to keep their word." Yamato commented too.
"But they really have no other choice." Jo added in.
"Witchmon has proven that she has no regard for anything." Sora added in with a frown.
"...Let's hope my other can help then." Gatomon commented, seeing as this is supposed to be the chapter where her other reaches Ultimate. The question is how.
"Splendid~!" she clapped joyfully. "Well then, let's begin immediately. Who wants to go first?"
"We'll go," Nora immediately said, she and Salamon glaring at the two Nightmare Soldiers.
"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon! Super Evolution! Angewomon!"
Angewomon was soon in the air, while Nora stood by, acting as moral support for her partner, as this was supposed to be one on one.
"Now then, let's begin. But first...allow me to slip into something more...comfortable…" Witchmon chuckled before a seal of sorts appeared on the palm of her hand, and slowly shattered to pieces as her body was covered in darkness "Witchmon, Evolution!" she called as her body morphed slightly, her broom disappearing, before the darkness receeded back into her body, leaving her in her new form. It featured some exposed pale skin, while the rest of her body was covered in a black leather outfit that seemed to be stitched together with several chains hanging off her outfit, a pair of torn up wings on her back that looked more like a scarf of sorts, a piece of cloth floating up from her shoulder, featuring a smirking face on it, her left arm ending in a large clawed hand with long red nails, while her face was covered by a black mask, save for her mouth, and her long white hair spilling out the back "LadyDevimon!"
"Of course she evolved into LadyDevimon." Hikari commented with an unusually angry look.
Black scoffed at this before giving another glare at her human. Which was promptly ignored.
Digimon Analyzer: LadyDevimon
LadyDevimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Fallen Angel Digimon. A Powerful evil Digimon with a noble like presence, acting as if above others and without fault. Her dark powers are among the strongest for Perfect Levels, with only a handful of Digimon having more than she does. Her special attacks are Darkness Wave, releasing a swarm of bats within a small cyclone at her opponents, and Darkness Spear, turning her left hand into a spear to stab her opponents.
"I'd say I'm surprised, but honestly I'm not," Angewomon frowned.
"Awww, don't be like that," LadyDevimon smirked. "Now then, shall we begin?" she chuckled.
"Let's," Angewomon frowned, before the two charged forward, before flipping, and countering each others kicks. Immediately both flipped out of it and landed a pair of chops against each other, the attacks once again countering each other, forcing them back. "Okay...that's a little annoying," Angewomon frowned. "Why are we literally copying each other's moves?"
"...cause according to the Analyzer, you're basically the same Digimon," Nora blinked as she read up on the info. "I'm not kidding, she's basically a high level angel that fell into the Dark Area, so…"
The Children and their partners already knew this, so they had no comments on this, still...
"Hey Novice, is Black's Perfect form..." Taichi trailed off.
"LadyDevimon? Yes." Novice replied simply.
This prompted everyone to turn to look at the black cat.
The said cat glared at everyone, "Don't compare me to that lowly servant."
"Right, that makes sense," Angewomon frowned. "Then I'll use something she can't copy! Holy Arrow!" she called out, shooting her arrow.
"Too slow!" LadyDevimon smirked, evading the attack, and lashed out with her claw, forcing Angewomon to block it with one of her wings, minimizing the damage a little, but still wincing at the cuts. However, she quickly repaid it with a swift kick to the gut, sending LadyDevimon back, the two glaring at each other.
"You'll pay for that! Darkness Wave!" LadyDevimon called out, sending forth a wave of bats and dark energy.
"Saint Air!" Angewomon countered, spreading the holy energy, causing the two moves to cancel each other out again when they met. However, the two soon dashed forward while keeping their attacks up, the energy coating their bodies before they impacted, creating a sizeable shockwave from both the energies clashing, resulting in tearing up a section of the nearby area, and even causing damage near where Nora was standing, to which she'd already evaded.
"Well… that was destructive." Pyrrha said nervously after a moment, glancing at the section that was completely torn up.
Everyone agreed with that.
"Tell me about it, it's like a whole other kind of overkill." Gabumon added.
"Hope the fight doesn't drag on if that's what's happening," Jaune gulped.
Back to the fight, the two had disengaged, and were now taking shots at each other as they flew through the air, Angewomon firing Holy Arrows, while LadyDevimon countered with her Darkness Wave when she thought she had a good shot. So far neither were giving each other any openings and seemed to be more or less evenly matched.
Growling in annoyance, LadyDevimon suddenly lunged forward, seemingly right for a Holy Arrow. "Darkness Spear!" she called out as her left hand shifted into a spear, going right through the Holy Arrow, forcing Angewomon to evade, but not before the spear managed to nick her in the side, forcing her to get some range. However, LadyDevimon proved to be quite relentless as she grinned and went after her with the spear again and again.
Angewomon was put on the defensive as she had to focus on avoiding the spear, before in a close call, brought up one of her Holy Arrows to try and block. The two attacks clashed, and unsurprisingly, the arrow snapped, but it DID buy her enough time to avoid getting impaled, and kicked LadyDevimon in the gut again, pushing her back. "Gotta do something about that spear," she frowned, before she looked at an arrow she had formed...and got an idea. Creating two more, she started melding the energies together, thinking about something that would help her in this situation, and before long, she had a sword made out of light, created from her Holy Arrows. "This should help," she mused, right as she brought up the sword to deflect another strike from LadyDevimon.
Gatomon looked thoughtful at her other's improvisation. the white cat made a mental note to try that sometime.
"Give it up, you clearly can't defeat me!" LadyDevimon smirked as she put more pressure into her attack.
"Sorry, but giving up isn't in my vocabulary!" Angewomon growled back before rearing her head back, and ramming her helmet into LadyDevimon's face.
LadyDevimon grunted in pain as she was forced back again. "That was a rather cheap shot for an angel," she growled.
"Does this face LOOK like I care?" Angewomon shot back, as she lunged forward with her new weapon, and the two were soon clashing again.
"But... we can't see her whole face." Daisuke pointed out, earning a small round of laughs at that. "What?" the frizzy haired boy complained.
"Couldn't tell with that helmet on, but two can play THAT game!" LadyDevimon growled, before she soon returned the favor in the next clash, forcing Angewomon back.
"Okay, now you're REALLY getting on my nerves!" Angewomon growled.
"Oooh, poor princess, need a bandaid for that boo boo?" LadyDevimon laughed. The next thing she got was a hard slap on the face. "...oh you're asking for it now!"
"Bring it on, bitch!" Angewomon growled at the two of them lunged at each other again.
Fortunately the last word from Angewomon was censored.
What followed was...
"Well… this is… a thing." Gyro said awkwardly as everyone watched in morbid curiosity as the fight between the angel and devil quickly turned into a slap fight… which then became a catfight.
At this point the hunters found themselves in a rather...awkward...position…
"What is it about a catfight that makes us want to stare so much?" Jaune couldn't help but ask as he tried to look away.
The boys of the first eight were reminded of their Angewomon's fight with LadyDevimon.
"...Women are still scary when they're mad." Koshiro commented at the fight on the screen.
"I hear you." Jo commented awkwardly.
Most of the girls were glaring at the guys, except for Miyako who was busy covering Iori's eyes.
"Hey! What's going on?" The youngest member complained.
"I know, and my brain is telling me how wrong it is considering who's fighting" Pierce admitted, gulping thickly.
In response, Yang patted him on the cheek "I'll forgive you because even us girls can't help but stare."
Novice chuckled as he shook his head while Ken was finally able to avert his gaze, much to Miyako's approval.
"Kick her ass Angewomon!" Nora cheered as she pumped her fists in the air.
"Yeah!" That shout broke everyone from the spell and look to the source of that shout. Judging by her red face, it was Hikari.
Taichi couldn't help chuckling as he remembered that this was bascially the same situation they had back then. "It's alright, Hikari. We all agree with that. Right guys?"
A chorus of agreements was Taichi's answer.
Gatomon gave her partner an approving look before returning to the reading.
Angewomon was all too happy to oblige as she landed a sharp kick to LadyDevimon's face, knocking her off balance, before following up with a slash from her improvised sword, which was blocked by her spear, but this time the spear was cut off, causing LadyDevimon to shout in pain as she took a slash of holy energy.
"Damn you…!" LadyDevimon growled. "Don't think you've won! Even if I fall here, you'll never defeat Mephistomon! And even if you do, you'll never defeat Lord Piedmon!" she growled.
"You say that like it'll stop us from trying, and we'll come out on top just like all the other times!" Nora shouted.
"That's right! We'll NEVER surrender until all of you are defeated!" Angewomon agreed.
"Then I'll ensure you'll be fighting forever!" LadyDevimon roared. "Even if you defeat me, I will be reborn someday, and when that happens, I vow that I will keep coming back till all of you are dead!"
"Wow, she really hates them." Armadimon commented on LadyDevimon's vow.
"She really isn't capable of anything else." Biyomon sighed.
When Biyomon put it that way, everyone started feeling a little sorry for LadyDevimon. Just a little.
"Is that your final decision?" Angewomon frowned.
"What do you think?! Darkness Wave!" LadyDevimon roared, launching her attack, but Angewomon threw her sword, which exploded against the wave of dark energy, slowing it down.
"Then you leave us no choice. Prepare yourself!" Angewomon declared as she glowed with holy light, and clapped her hands in front of her. "Heaven's Charm!" she called out as an arc of holy energy formed, before spreading her arms to the side, creating a cross which fired forward as a beam, overcoming the Darkness Wave, and hitting LadyDevimon dead on, stopping her movements, before the rest of the cross was launched forward like a shockwave, hitting LadyDevimon head on, causing her to scream in pain before she shattered into data.
(Song end)
"And now…" Angewomon took a deep breath "To make sure you don't come back." she said, holding her hand out towards the data. This was something all Digimon knew how to do, but very few really practiced. A method that was normally viewed as a faster way to get stronger, but not one that was normally practiced unless the Digimon was THAT desperate to grow stronger, or for whatever reason, REALLY didn't want to have to deal with the Digimon they just defeated again. The ability to 'Load' the data of the defeated Digimon.
"What?!" Was everyone's reaction to what Angewomon was about to do.
"In one alternate reality, 'Loading' was indeed the fastest way to grow stronger. It's possible that this ability also exists in your world, but isn't much practiced for the reasons mentioned here." Novice explained.
"But... We've never heard of this."Palmon protested.
"Then it either doesn't exist or is forgotten." Novice shot back easily.
Everyone gave each other looks at that.
Slowly, the data flowed towards her, disappearing into her skin as it touched her, shivering in disgust as she felt LadyDevimon's power add to her own.
For some reason, Gatomon shivered too.
"Are you okay?" Hikari looked concerned.
"Yes, just... there's a mental image I didn't need." Gatomon replied, once again shivering at the mere thought. Hikari rubbed her partner's head to soothe her. It seemed to work.
And when the last piece of data entered her… she started to shout in pain.
"What's wrong with her?!" Blake asked in confusion.
Everyone else voiced the same thing Blake just did.
"Hold on, maybe I can use the Analyzer to figure it out." Weiss said, tapping away on her scroll, trying to scan Angewomon as she trashed around "It looks like… LadyDevimon's fighting her from the inside."
"That's possible?!" Nora asked in alarm, VERY worried about her partner.
"Is it?" Hikari asked Novice.
"Keep reading." Novice said with a frown, having his own ideas.
"Normally no, but well...I think its to do with her state of mind. She REALLY hated us when she was deleted, and well…" AtlurKabuterimon frowned. To say this was irregular would be an understatement. While it was possible for some will to influence data, not to this extent, especially not when it had already been loaded.
However, before they could do anything, a familiar shape loomed over her. "So it seems LadyDevimon has failed. So be it," Mephistomon said coldly, before his arm ignited with dark power, and he simply, almost casually, backhanded Angewomon, causing her to cry out in pain as she reverted to Salamon and was soon falling.
"Look out!" Lillymon shouted as she quickly caught her teammate before she hit the ground. "I got you!" she said, before quickly flying back and depositing the still twitching and groaning Salamon in Nora's arms.
"I suppose I'll have to deal with you all myself then," Mephistomon snorted.
"Oh, so he's not going to uphold that wager they talked about? Shocker," Pierce growled sarcastically. "Let's waste this guy."
"Yeah!" All the Digimon cheered at the idea. Except Gatomon who was being hugged by Hikari. The Chosen of Light knew it wasn't her partner that was being hurt, but she still couldn't help it.
And Gatomon offered no resistance.
"Wait," Gyro said, stopping him. "Keep in mind, as much as we'd all like to waste him, we're still going to be fighting Piedmon next. We can't afford to tire everyone out before that."
"He's not wrong." Taichi sighed, "This is why we saved WarGreymon against Piedmon."
"Gyro's got a good point," Weiss admitted. "Then perhaps everyone already in Perfect should fight. The levels are the same, so we SHOULD still have the advantage."
"That said though, we should hurry," Ruby said with a frown, looking at Ren.
"I told you that killing me won't have an effect," Mephistomon said simply.
"Won't know unless we try. Sides, not like you can actually prove that, unless you've died before and seen your curse still be in effect!" Jaune shot back.
Several eyes widened at this. "You know... he's right." Jo was the first to comment.
"He could have been lying this whole time." Iori agreed.
"...fair point…" Mephistomon couldn't help but admit after blinking for a moment.
Black actually chuckled at Mephistomon's response, earning confused looks.
"What? I can't appreciate the humor of that situation?" Black complained.
"Well then, let's get to it," MetalGreymon growled as he, Lillymon, and AtlurKabuterimon stepped forward.
"Yes, let's," Mephistomon smirked. "Dark Cloud!" Once again the lightning rained down, forcing them to dodge, before they began their counter attacks.
"Horn Buster!"
"Flower Cannon!"
"Giga Destroyer!"
The three attacks flew towards him, forcing him to dodge, while countering any that got too close with his Black Sabbath. Overall, the fight seemed more or less even, as Mephistomon was clearly the stronger one, but the three quickly made up for it with their teamwork, covering each others' backs where it was needed and doing what they could to support each other. Likewise, their partners followed as well, doing whatever they could to keep Mephistomon off balance.
However, that was probably among the farthest things from Nora's mind, as she was understandably very worried about the state of her partner and her boyfriend. Ren had been alright at first, but as the marks started to progress further, it was clear he wasn't doing so well, his body becoming feverish, and unable to stand up, hence why he was leaned against a rock, while Wormmon looked in worry, wishing he could do something more to help his partner, but as things were, he could only put his faith in his friends.
Likewise, in Nora's arms, Salamon continued to twitch and groan, the data she'd absorbed continuing to war within her. Nora frowned deeply. She wanted to do something. She HAD to do something...anything to help them. She wouldn't lose those she cares for, not now, not again!
Hikari tightened her grip on Gatomon ever so slightly. The white cat placed a paw on her partner's arm as a sign of comfort.
Miyako also looked towards Ken. While her crush on Ken wasn't the same as back when they didn't know that he was Digimon Emperor, she felt like it was a little more genuine now. And through that, she could understand Nora's situation at least a little.
At that moment, her Digivice started to glow, and when she looked at it, her world suddenly went white, and when it subsided...she found herself back in the Digilab, with Mirei sitting on the terminal before her.
"Welcome back, to the Digilab," Mirei said with a smile.
Now Hikari looked hopeful, "Is Mirei going to help?"
"Let's hope so." Agumon said with his arms crossed confidently.
Nora blinked several times at that "Uh… how did I get here?" she asked, utterly confused.
"You aren't truly here, your body is still where it last was, I merely called your consciousness here. Think of it like a dream in a sense." Mirei explained.
"Oh… yeah, that makes sense now." Nora said with a nod, much less confused with that explanation. "But...why am I here? The others are in trouble and Salamon and Ren...ah! Can you help them?" Nora asked.
Mirei held up a hand "Take a deep breath Nora, it's best you keep a calm mind in these situations."
Nora looked at her for a moment, before doing just that, breathing in through her nose, and letting it out slowly through her mouth "Alright… Yeah, I think that helps me a bit."
Mirei nodded "As for Salamon and Ren, first, let's focus on Salamon, as I know exactly what we can do for her."
Hikari's grip on Gatomon loosened ever so slightly at hearing Mirei knowing what to do.
"Alright, so, what is it?" Nora asked, eager to help her partner get better.
"First, you remember the legend regarding your Crest yes? How it was unclear what Digimon would emerge from its full potential?" Mirei asked to start.
Nora nodded "Yeah, Wizardmon said there was 3 different options at least."
Mirei nodded "Correct. Usually, only the first two are the attainable ones, and which one it is depends on if Salamon has her Holy Ring or not."
Gatomon raised her tail that had her Holy Ring. Although the question was about Salamon specifically so that may not apply. Still, as Hikari recalled, Gatomon did have a Holy Ring as Salamon too.
"Ok, Salamon has hers, so what's her Ultimate Level then?" Nora asked curiously.
"Her Ultimate Level would have been Ophanimon, a celestial angel of great power, and should she have lost her Holy Ring, her Ultimate form would have been Holydramon, a dragon with divine abilities." Mirei explained simply.
"So... I can become Ophanimon?" Gatomon said with a small smile at the thought of becoming one of the Three Babysitters.
"But Mirei said that it would have been Ophanimon." Koshiro pointed out.
"Wait… 'would have been'?" Nora repeated in confusion.
Mirei smiled as Nora caught her wording "Correct, Salamon has met the requirements for her third, and most powerful, Ultimate Level."
"How did she do that?" Nora asked, not knowing what Salamon did that was so special.
"She absorbed LadyDevimon's data. You see, her third Ultimate form is normally a fusion of Angewomon and LadyDevimon, but, in your partner's case, she absorbed the data of the other Digimon required." Mirei explained.
"A fusion... A Jogress?!" Miyako was the first to exclaim.
"With LadyDevimon." Gatomon said before her ears perked up at remembering something.
"...What?" Novice said when the white cat actually glared at him.
"...Did you plan to Jogress me and Black." Gatomon asked in a tone that promised unspeakable pain.
"I don't know what you're-" "Cut the crap Novice." Black interrupted, "I know your sometimes mad tendencies."
Novice looked nervous for a moment before speaking, "Alright, Black, Gatomon. After this reading, would you two mind if-" "Over my deleted body." The black and white cats said in perfect sync.
"Think of how strong you might-" "No power is worth Jogressing with that!" Gatomon shouted out while pointing at Black.
"What she said." Black agreed before bouncing off of Novice's lap and made her way to her basket.
Novice then gave a pleading look to Hikari, "Hikari, would you be so kind as to convince your partner that the pros outweight the cons?"
Hikari scowled at the Overseer, "Gatomon already said no."
Their host visibly deflated at hearing that. Unbeknownst to him, if Hikari hadn't immediately said no, the other girls would have told her not to do it. Because none of them had forgotten about what Black is like as Lilithmon. And neither has Hikari, and she didn't want anything of the Demon Lord tainting her partner. No matter how miniscule the chances were.
Gatomon decided to continue reading, just so she wouldn't have to think about it.
"But...the data is causing her pain! Are you sure this is right?" Nora asked.
Mirei nodded. "There is no mistake. The problem lies with the remnants of LadyDevimon's evil will. That is where you can help her," Mirei said with an enigmatic smile.
"How do I help?" Nora asked without hesitation.
"Use the light of your Crest...and erase everything that is LadyDevimon from your partner, leaving only her power to be harnessed," Mirei said.
"Wait, what?" Nora blinked. "By erasing...you mean…?"
Exactly what Hikari was thinking about it.
"Yes. Everything that was LadyDevimon save her power, it all must be gone. A being like her is better erased completely from this world," Mirei said.
Nora listened to her words, her face blank for a moment, before she took a deep breath and "No."
Mirei rose an eyebrow "Oh? Why not?"
"There's a line between killing someone, and making it like they never existed. I'm not going to cross that line." Nora answered firmly.
"I agree." Hikari said with a resolute look.
"But if you do not do so, then not only will your loved one die, but I cannot guarantee your partner's survival," Mirei said.
"Even so...there HAS to be another way. Even if I did that to save them...I know they wouldn't look at me the same, cause then...even if I saved them, I'd be no better than the monsters we're fighting!" Nora shot back.
"...She does have a point." Sora admitted, though she looked a little down.
"But... if nothing is done, then Salamon and Ren might die." Mimi pointed out hesitantly.
"There has to be another way." Hikari then said.
Mirei was silent for a moment...before she smiled. Like a mother proud of her child. "Well done," she said simply.
"Wait, what?" Nora blinked.
Nora's reaction mirrored everyone else's reactions or thoughts.
"You are correct. In the battle between good and evil, it is easy to forget the fine line that separates what is necessary...and what is in itself evil. You have passed the test, and with it, earned the greatest power of your Crest," Mirei said as the Crest of Light began to shine. With that, she opened her hand, revealing a black cube with a pair of white rings floating around it in an almost nebula-like manner. "Take this. It will seal away the evil will of LadyDevimon, and thus allow you and your partner to harmonize the power of light and darkness."
"Ahh, so it was a test." Daisuke commented with a grin.
"And Nora passed." Veemon added in.
Nora took the item and nodded. "Thank you. We won't let you down."
Mirei just smiled and nodded as the world around her turned white, and suddenly Nora found herself back in the battle.
"Nora! Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked.
"You kinda...zoned out there for a bit," Gomamon said.
"I'm okay," Nora said. "Let's just say…" she started as she opened her hand, and revealed the cube she'd gotten from Mirei. "Mirei called to give us some help." With that, she looked at Salamon, who was still twitching, and held the cube over her, which began to glow brightly, and once again Nora's world turned white, as she found herself in a void of sorts, with a number of 0s and 1s floating all around, and she also saw a core of some kind in what appeared to be the center. She also noticed what appeared to be a shadow in a familiar shape seemingly trying to attack the core. Seeing that, she frowned. "Nope," she said simply, before throwing the cube at the shadow. The shadow seemed to notice...too late, as the cube shot out chains of energy, binding the shadow, and causing darkness to leak out of it, but she could tell...it was only darkness. Nothing more, nothing less. The shadow itself was soon pulled into the cube, before the cube turned white, and began orbiting around the core, which released a powerful light, the darkness released soon swirling around, and the two began to circle around in harmony. Seeing that she smiled as the light once again covered her vision, and she was back in the battlefield.
Nora saying nope at LadyDevimon's shadow earned some chuckles from some of the readers.
"N-Nora?" Salamon asked, suddenly feeling much better. "What did you-?"
Hikari smiled at Salamon being alright again.
"A little present from Mirei," Nora said with a smile, before it became determined. "And she said we can go Ultimate now too."
"Wait… really? Alright then, how?" Salamon asked as she got up, surprised, but she quickly accepted it if Mirei said it.
"Well…" Nora started...then blinked, cause now that she thought about it, her Digivice hadn't changed, and her Crest was still here. However…
"What? But Nora passed the test." Armadimon pointed out.
"Yes, but I don't think she has shown her light yet." Gatomon muttered before continuing.
"Ren!" came Wormmon's worried voice as Ren had collapsed against the rock, and by now the marks were DANGEROUSLY close to his throat. There wasn't much time!
At the same time…
"Black Sabbath!" came Mephistomon's voice, as Agumon, Palmon, and Tentomon landed on the ground. The demon looked rather winded, but the fact remained...he'd managed to beat the three of them.
"What?" Everyone let out at Mephistomon beating three of the Perfects.
"Well... SkullSatamon was able to beat all of us." Patamon added in like he was ashamed of it.
"I don't know, but all I know is we gotta get in there and stop him first! We won't let him take away anything we hold dear!" Nora said, earning a nod from Salamon, before the two ran to the fight. Along the way, Nora's Crest began to glow, as she was soon glowing with its light. As she skidded to a halt, the light exploded into a pink pillar around her, cutting through the Death Cloud, her tag floating out of her clothes and shattering into pieces before the crest flew into her body and the light focused down to her hand, already grasping the D-Core which quickly changed into a D-Crest with a pink grip.
Gatomon's tail was swishing wildly at the sight of Nora's D-Crest on the screen.
"Ready?" she asked as she aimed it at Salamon.
"Always." was the reply as light started to shine forth.
(Play Brave Heart)
The Crest of Light appeared on the glass covering, before the beam of light erupted from the D-Crest, sending the Crest of Light flying out and into Salamon, who turned the same color as the Crest and did a backflip. "Salamon, Warp Evolution!" she called out, releasing a blast of pink light, revealing Gatomon, and by her side, a faded image of Witchmon, colored black. The two soon turned and released a blast of pink and black energy respectively, revealing Angewomon and LadyDevimon, before repeating the process one last time, as the two energies intermingled and became one. Emerging from the light was a female being covered in armor, with long hair tied into a ponytail, and two braids falling across her shoulders. Suddenly, a short skirt with long lengths of cloth hanging from it appeared around her waist. Following that, twelves small metallic pieces appeared floating behind her back, before 6 pairs of wings suddenly shot out of them, the wings on the right being white angelic wings, and the wings on the left being black demonic wings. Joining them were another, smaller pair of wings that shot out the edges of her visor, the one of the right angelic, and the one on the left demonic. Her finally became colored in after that, her hair revealed to be blond, the right of her armor being white with glowing blue lines and crystals coming out of it, while the left half of her armor was black with pink glowing lines and crystals coming out of it, the blue eyes of Salamon being visible behind her visor for a moment while the Crest of Light engraved itself onto her right thigh. Suddenly she floated up and spun on herself, holding her hands out as the world around her faded into space, with stars twinkling in the distance, while orbs of light and darkness appeared in her hands, snapping them shut after a moment "Mastemon!"
Gatomon had mixed feelings of having Witchmon and LadyDevimon at her other's side, but that was quickly oveshadowed by the appearance of her other's Ultimate.
"Talk about light and darkness working together." Takeru couldn't help commenting with a chuckle.
This earned small smiles and chuckles.
"Wow…that's really something," Gyro said in awe as he looked up at the new Digimon.
"Hang on, I'm looking her up," Weiss said, before finding what she was looking for...and she nearly dropped her scroll. "Its Mastemon...a REALLY powerful Digimon at that."
Digimon Analyzer: Mastemon
Mastemon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Angel Digimon. A Digimon formed from the union of two complete opposites, an archangel and a fallen angel, said to only be possible in times of great crisis. It possesses the power to travel through dimensions at will, thus bearing the title of the Tactician from Another World. Her special attacks are Chaos Degradation, fusing the energies of light and dark within her hands and opening a gate to another dimension, from which she can then trap an enemy within and destroy it, and Unison Raid, firing spheres of light and dark energy at her enemies that detonate on contact.
"Wait! Mastemon can travel between dimensions?" Koshiro let out with a surprised look.
"Yes." Novice replied, "In fact, in the game on my Earth she debuted in, you had to visit another world, but to do that you had to help Mirei form Mastemon."
"How did Mastemon appear in that game?" Gatomon asked out of curiosity.
"I'm not sure you're gonna like what you see." Novice said honestly.
"...Okay, now I have to see." Gatomon said with a suspicious look.
"Fine," Novice waved his hand and the screen showed what looked like Digi lab with Mirei standing between a normal black and white cat. The footage looked like something out of a game. Which according to Novice, it was. Mirei then held a glowing blue cube and a red glowing cube in her hand before throwing them into the air and they fell on the cats. The blue one going to the white cat, while the red one went to the black cat. The two cats were enveloped by the respective lights before out of the red light, came LadyDevimon that blew a kiss at the audience. Then Angewomon came out of the blue light, also blowing a kiss at the audience. Then the two spun around each other, until they took each others hand as they slowly closed in on each other. For a moment, some of the readers thought they were going to kiss. But instead, their foreheads connected and a bright light flashed from the contact point. When that light faded, Mastemon had formed, doing a twirl at what is apparently her big debut.
Some of the older boys had to shake their heads to rid the mental image that came from the scene with LadyDevimon and Angewomon.
"Those two... Seemed like best friends." Miyako was able to say, still unable to fully comprehend. As did most of the other girls who moments ago witnessed a fight between Angewomon and LadyDevimon.
Gatomon on the other hand looked like she was gonna hurl. The white cat turned to Black who was scowling at the scene in her comfy looking basket. As if sensing the azure gaze upon her, Black turned to Gatomon with a scowl. "The feeling is mutual, believe me." Black commented on the look on Gatomon's face. Then the black feline turned her gaze upon Novice. "Is that what you wanted to see when we Jogressed? Us acting like... Urgh, I can't even say it!" Black looked like the very thought made her sick.
Novice had the audacity to laugh, "I'm not that stupid. Telling you two to act like best friends is like asking Ophanimon to kiss a Raremon."
Gatomon's ears folded flat against her scalp at this idiot daring to put that image in their heads. "What's that over there?" Gatomon asked, pointing behind Novice. Everyone turned to look at what Gatomon was pointing at, including Novice. But no one saw anything out of the ordinary.
"Gatomon what were you-" Novice got interrupted by a pie splatting against his face. Gatomon wiped her paws with a satisfied look.
Everyone stared at the white cat. "What? He deserved it." Gatomon defended herself, which caused everyone to laugh as Novice wiped his face of the admittedly delicious treat. Even Black seemed to approve of what was done to her idiot of a human.
"Okay... I deserved that, I guess." Novice said with a slightly downcast look. "And with that." Novice made a holographic screen appear before pressing a choice buttons, "Your treat priviledges have been revoked."
"Fine by me." Gatomon shrugged before picking up the book again, while the others were still laughing at the Overseer getting stained.
"I-Impossible! How could you break through my Death Cloud?!" Mephistomon gasped.
"Heh, for an elite warrior you sure didn't do your homework. Don't you know? Nora is the bearer of the Crest of Light, of course HER light would be able to break through your little barrier," Mastemon chuckled.
Mephistomon growled. "It won't make a difference, all of you will die here!" he roared...and was easily, almost casually backhanded to the side by Mastemon.
Gatomon couldn't help smiling in satisfaction of her other getting some sweet revenge.
"What did he expect?" Gomamon commented, earning small chuckles at that, "He was going against an Ultimate."
"Maybe it's a bit of LadyDevimon's data talking, but I'm honestly a little disappointed my big debut is against a Perfect level rather than Piedmon himself. But, I'm in a hurry, so I can't afford to play around with you," Mastemon huffed.
Black scowled a little at a tiny reminder that infuriated her just a little bit. The same thing that infuriated Impmon too, and no doubt the other four.
"Bitch! Don't you dare underestimate me!" Mephistomon roared.
"Don't underestimate you? Okay, you asked for it," Mastemon chuckled as she gathered light in her right hand and darkness in her left hand, before joining them together, creating a powerful new power. "Chaos...Degradation!" she called out, as a dimensional gate opened in front of her.
Mephistomon grunted as he tried to resist, but it was no good as he was being pulled forward. "No..nononono! Not like this!" he roared as he was pulled into the Dimension Gate, which compressed and promptly exploded.
"...What does it say about me that I felt a little sorry for him?" Iori asked everyone.
"That you're a good boy." Miyako commented while patting the youngest Chosen's head.
Iori didn't look like he appreciated that.
With Mephistomon dealt with, Mastemon quickly flew down, going to where Ren was. Focusing her powers, she flowed them into the mark, and after a few moments, the mark shattered, and Ren's breathing soon became more normalized again.
(Song End)
"Of course, Mastemon could break that." Wormmon commented with a smile.
"Considering how strong she is, it would be strange if she couldn't." Black admitted, ignoring the surprised looks she was getting.
"That...was more tense than we'd expected it to be…" Pierce sighed, as Ren slowly got up...only to be tackle hugged by his girlfriend, while Mastemon and Wormmon watched in amusement.
"At least we got another Ultimate out of it," Blake chuckled, before idly pulling out her Tag, noting that she and Patamon were the only ones who hadn't reached Ultimate yet. Oh well, she figured if she did, it'd probably be a good trump card against Piedmon when the time came.
Blake's thoughts made Patamon perk up, "It's gonna be my turn soon." The winged guinea pig thought eagerly.
"Now then, is everyone still okay?" Ruby asked.
"We're good," Agumon, Tentomon, and Palmon all said. Sure they'd taken a beating, but they'd gotten more and more used to fighting like this, so they weren't as tired as they'd normally be. It helped they'd only been in Perfect form.
"Why did we have to get beat up here." Agumon complained a little.
"Novice said that Mephistomon was born from Apocalymon's data, so maybe he was stronger than most perfects." Tentomon pointed out.
"Also, Myotismon was also able to fight all of us off." Gabumon added in, remembering how much of a beatdown he took against the vampire back in Shibuya.
"That's really good to hear," Jaune frowned. "Cause look over there."
Everyone turned to where he was pointing, and gasped, as they could see a familiar clown-like Digimon making his way towards them.
"...guess the final boss decided to come to us," Gyro frowned as everyone readied their weapons. It was time to end this…
The book shut itself at the last word, earning surprised looks from everyone.
"A cliffhanger, really?" Mimi complained.
"Let's read the next one now!" Patamon said eagerly.
"Hold it!" Novice said as he had wiped most of the pie out of his face during all this. "Gatomon, are you sure you're not willing to-"
"No." the white cat looked ready to claw Novice's face out if he dared to continue.
"Oh, fine." Novice sagged before making a holographic screen open up. Then a pink light shot out of it and into Hikari's Digivice, which soon turned it into a D-Crest. "Similar to what Mirei did, that D-Crest contains the data of a LadyDevimon so that you can evolve Gatomon into Mastemon. Alternatively, you can choose to evolve into Ophanimon or Holydramon."
Gatomon looked pleased to hear that, while Hikari also smiled at the possibilities.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a shower." Novice said before getting up from his chair and moving out. "If you guys want to start immediately, then feel free to do so. I probably won't have to tell you who gets to read next." With those parting words, Novice left the room.
"Aww, and I was ready to offer him a *meow*." Black's playful complaint turned to genuine one when she meowed. "Seriously?"
Ophanimon: Why do I have the sudden urge to smack Novice silly?
Lotosmon: I think you're taking his little escapade a little too seriously. She is a psycho bitch after all.
Minervamon: Yeah. Still... I can't say I approve of him handing her over to Lilithmon. I mean... two wrongs don't exactly make a right.
Lotosmon: Fair enough *shrugs*