A moment later Vince was through to the other side. No matter how many times he moved between the Digital and Human worlds, it was still an odd feeling, like his body was surrounded by static electricity. He emerged standing on top of a bluff overlooking the valley below. When they first arrived in the Digital World, it was in a quiet village surrounded by kind Digimon, babbling brooks and a vibrant forest. It was a perfect place to bond with their partners, each other and get accustomed to the world before they headed out to save everyone. Everything seemed so fantastic with hints of circuitry in the trees, clouds and even the water; it was an amazing experience. Even the most barren regions had unique qualities about them just.
What lay before Vince was nothing like that. Aegiomon had said they would be close to the old fortress but the landscape was so desolate, like the land itself was dead or corrupted. If it weren't for the familiar sight of the structure just off in the distance, Vince would have believed Aegiomon had set some trap for them.
"What happened here?" Sienna asked from behind Vince. "This place is horrible."
"Are you sure this is the right place?" ToyAgumon walked past everyone and turned his blocky head to see what was behind them, but the landscape was just more of the same.
Six years ago, when SkullMeramon held the fortress, the land around was charred with persistent flames burning. There were minions, guards and even Digimon living in villages around who thought what he was planning was the right course of action. There was life here, sure, most were enemies, but the land was lived in.
"Yes, and all of this desolation happened within the last few months when the demon appeared. The fortress was previously inhabited by Centauramon and his scouts but I lost contact with them when this occurred." He waved his hand over the land around them.
Jason frowned. "Is he dead?"
"We do not know. No Digimon who gets too close is ever heard from again."
Vince took a step away from the others with Gabumon by his side. Centauramon had been an early ally of theirs, coming to their aid when Deltamon nearly wiped them out in their first real fight. The three headed dinosaur was too strong for Garurumon, Ikkakumon and GeoGreymon with each of the heads able to not only focus on but handle the Digimon. Centauramon provided the distraction, and firepower needed to tip the scales in their favor.
After that Centauramon properly introduced himself and his scouts with Unimon, the winged unicorn like Digimon, being very helpful. It was Unimon that first found the fortress and thanks to him, Sienna and ToyAgumon were able to flank SkullMeramon. Of course, he found a portal to the human world so that was for nothing, but still it was a hell of an effort. They even provided a safe haven during the rise of Black Chaos to many refugee Digimon. If Centauramon and Unimon were gone it was personal to him.
"We'll avenge them Vince." Gabumon assured him, looking up with a smile. Vince looked down at his partner and placed his hand on top of Gabumon's head, petting the Garurumon style fur that covered his head.
"I know buddy. Hey, when this is over you can come back home with me," Vince smiled "We'll get you take-out."
Gabumon shook his head with a smile and looked out across the scenery before them. "I think I can fly there, but that would leave Gomamon and ToyAgumon behind," he turned back to face the others. "Aegiomon, couldn't you have gotten us closer? At least into the valley?"
The response was a slow head shake. "We'd have been spotted almost immediately."
"You know a lot about this place," Jason said, walking up behind Aegiomon. He crossed his arms as Gomamon hopped to his side.
"I have been watching for some weeks now. I assure you I am on your side." He replied, holding his hands up just at head level. "From here we can fly to the fortress, like in the legend of your heroics. Sienna, you and ToyAgumon can fly us, can't you?"
"Yeah, RizeGreymon can carry everyone easily." Sienna looked at her partner. "Are you up for it?"
"Of course Sienna, let's do this!" He closed his eyes and started running towards the cliff edge; leaping into the air at the edge "ToyAgumon, Super Evolve!" The Digimon was encased by light which seemed to rapidly expand many times their original size. "RizeGreymon!" the ball of light shattered revealing a massive orange dinosaur like Digimon with blue stripes along his legs and tail. His upper body was covered in red mechanical parts, twin sets of jet boosters on his back and a large body length gun for his left arm. He hovered in the air just off the cliff and held out his right hand; waiting for everyone to climb aboard. Sienna took her place atop of his armored head with Vince, Jason and the others were held in his hand. "Hold on" he said and turned away from the bluff. The jet boosters kicked on and they climbed into the sky flying towards the fortress.
Vince looked down at the ground below as they raced through the sky. The wind whipped through his hair was actually relaxing to him, the peace of being so high up really helped get him and Gabumon in sync. He looked up at Sienna riding proud on the left horn of RizeGreymon just grinning like she did six years ago. The first time Vince laid his eyes on RizeGreymon he was in absolute awe by the size of him. Sienna had been fighting against HippoGriffomon and her ability to fly was something none of their partners to handle. She was subjugating and tormenting a village before they intervened, and the fight was not going in their favor. Sienna and ToyAgumon were the first to reach the Perfect level and RizeGreymon had been a major asset not only in fighting, but also getting around the Digital world.
"You ok Gomamon?" Jason asked and looked at his partner who had his eyes clenched.
"I'm not meant to fly…" he groaned
"It's fine, RizeGreymon knows what he's doi-"Jason was cut off as an explosion appeared in the sky just in front of their flight path. Another appeared just next to them, knocking the flying Digimon down a few feet. Vince looked at the ground below, noticing small explosions just moments before the larger ones appeared in the sky around them, knocking them down further which revealed the attacker's positions.
"We're under attack!" Sienna yelled. "Vince."
"Right!" He climbed up RizeGreymon's hand, standing on the edge. Gabumon joined him and his digivice began to glow.
"Gabumon Super Evolve!" Gabumon grew, about twice his size, and stood on two legs like a werewolf with torn denim jeans with spiked knee pads, and a bandolier across his chest. "WereGarurumon!" he howled and waited for Vince to climb on his back. "Hang on!" he growled and dove towards the ground. He flipped over at the last second, and hit the ground feet first in a crater
"Freeze!"
Vince looked up at the top of the crater at the dozen or so dinosaur Digimon decked out in full combat gear holding assault rifles. "Out of the crater, hands up!" the same one said, moving his rifle in the direction he wanted them to go.
Vince crawled off of WereGarurumon's back and raised his hands in a surrender. WereGarurumon could most likely handle these Digimon, but Vince wasn't so well equipped to fight.
"Trident Revolver!" RizeGreymon bellowed. The armed Digimon looked up at the three massive bullets as WereGarurumon crouched over Vince to shield him from the explosions. With the threat gone, WereGarurumon jumped from the crater with Vince on his back again.
"Vince, I've analyzed the data, those little ones are Commandramon, but the one we need to worry about is Tankdramon." Sienna's voice came through the Digivice. "We'll try and draw their fire; you guys take him out down there."
"Thanks for the assist," Vice replied and nodded to his partner who took off towards the source of the attacks.
They didn't have to go far as the ground exploded in their path, sending them both flying to the side. WereGarurumon rolled through and ended up crouched in front of Vince who was much slower to get up glaring at the new batch of Commandramon that stood before them with their rifles trained on them.
"I'll protect you Vince." WereGarurumon growled just before the Commandramon opened fire, their bullets exploding against the Perfect level Digimon. Vince smirked slightly, the power difference between WereGarurumon and the Commandramon was enough that this was nothing but an annoyance. To his horror, WereGarurumon dropped, facedown to the ground clearly hurt badly by the barrage.
"WereGarurumon!" Vince yelled, scrambling to his partner's side as the Commandramon closed in. He glared at the nearest one, and jumped at the dinosaur, knocking him to the ground and they wrestled over the gun. They rolled around in the dirt, with the rest of the Commandramon looking on, each gaining the upper hand for a moment before the other took it back. The dinosaur rolled Vince onto his back and snapped its jaws at his face, but Vince kept the rifle between them and pushed up as hard as he could to keep himself from being eaten.
"Kaiser Nail!" WereGarurumon's claws slashed through the crowd of onlookers. The one on top of Vince looked over, letting his grip on the rifle loosen. Vince took that moment, grabbed the gun and smacked the butt of the rifle into Commandramon's face, knocking the dinosaur to the ground. He scrambled to his feet and aimed the rifle down.
Commandramon grinned and gripped a grenade in his right claw.
"Vince!" WereGarurumon yelled, snatched his partner and ran a few steps away before the grenade exploded. He stumbled, dropped Vince and collapsed to one knee.
"I thought they were Child level. Are you ok?" Vince put his hand on WereGarurumon's snout, gently touching the fresh wounds. His partner closed his eyes and nodded. The ground shook from the rumble of an approaching tank and WereGarurumon pushed Vince aside and out of the way as the Tank/dragon hybrid Digimon crest the hill. The right gatling gun aimed at WereGarurumon and spun up with that trademark whirr.
He narrowed his eyes at Tankdramon in anticipation. The bullets flew out hitting the dirt where the werewolf was crouched just a moment before. WereGarurumon flipped through the air and dove down at Tankdramon with his left leg extended. His foot made contact, knocking the armored Digimon's head to the side with the force of the impact. He clenched his fist and slugged Tankdramon across the face, and again before the armored beast could aim a weapon at the more agile Digimon.
Tankdramon was unphased by the physical onslaught, but with WereGarurumon so close, his weapons were useless. It didn't stop WereGarurumon, he threw punch after punch with his spiked brass knuckles just trying to crack the strong armor that encase most of Tankdramon's head. He landed and performed a backflip, catching the armored behemoth's jaw with his foot in an attempt flip him over and expose the weak underside. Like the punches, the kick did little except to force him to raise his head. Tankdramon raised his hand like spikes and swung them across the werewolf's face knocking him aside. He spun his treads quickly in reverse, backing up to gain distance so his large canons could target the wolf. He leveled his weapons, the gatling gun spinning up again and smirked.
Suddenly a large hammer ricocheted off of Tankdramon's cannons, bending them and flying back into the air. Vince, WereGarurumon and Tankdramon all looked up in time to see a large bipedal walrus like Digimon with a massive spiked shell on his back falling quickly.
"Zudomon!" WereGarurumon grinned.
"Hammer Spark!" Zudomon bellowed, smashing his hammer down onto Tankdramon, aided by his own velocity. The armored Digimon cracked, then exploded into data. Vince grinned as both Zudomon and WereGarurumon reverted to their main forms of Gomamon and Gabumon and RizeGreymon landed just a few feet from them.
"It should be clear now. Come, I will heal you all so we can attack the fortress," Aegiomon beckoned with Jason standing beside him.
"You weren't kidding when you said there was a small army here," Vince chuckled, running his right hand through his head and slung the rifle over his shoulder. If this weapon was capable of hurting a Perfect level it was something they needed to take with them at the very least to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, despite it was already in the wrong hands.
"Yes, and you all exceeded your legendary status. They say Tankdramon has never lost a fight, but it was no match for your combined might," Aegiomon said in awe. He put his hand on Gabumon and Gomamon and closed his eyes. He began to chant something and his palms glowed filling the two with healing and life energy to bring them back to full strength. He repeated this by touching RizeGreymon's leg.
"All aboard, next stop SkullMeramon's Fortress!" Sienna yelled down to the others.