The advance on the fortress had been quiet and uneventful since the encounter with Tankdramon. Jason looked down at the barren wasteland below, just to watch the ground race by. After the ground assault, RizeGreymon had been more cautious, taking things a little slower so he could properly scan the area. No one wanted to get drawn into another fight before they could reach the fortress, not after Aegiomon shared a few more tales about Digimon who had disappeared.
"I must once again thank you brave warriors of legend. I know with your might, the demon that calls this place home will be of no match." Aegiomon spoke up suddenly.
Vince was the first to respond, turning to look at the goat-man with a grin. "You know it! We'll finish this off and be home in time for dinner." He laughed, adjusting the strap across his chest that held the assault rifle from the Commandramon.
"You sure you know what you're doing with that?" Sienna asked, now safely in RizeGreymon's grip like the others.
"Point and shoot?" Vince asked with a grin. "Come on, it's not like I've never played Time Crisis or House of the Dead. I know how to shoot."
"In a video game," Jason chimed in.
"Yeah, with a gun controller. Do you two really need to doubt me here?"
"Just as long as you don't shoot yourself, or more importantly, one of us." Sienna shook her head. "I still think it's a bad idea."
"Yeah well, I don't" Vince retorted.
"Please, everyone we must focus. I believe you are strong enough, but teamwork has always been your greatest strength." Aegiomon held up his hands and was met with silence.
"Look, last time we were helpless right?" Vince was the first to speak again. "We couldn't really fight and had to rely on Gabumon and the others to bail us out when we got in trouble. But we're not kids anymore, and if this rifle actually hurt WereGarurumon, then at the very least I can back him up. I didn't see either of you down there against the Commandramon or Tankdramon. Hell, you even encouraged us."
Sienna sighed heavily. Her eyes shifted from Vince to Jason, then off towards the growing fortress. "You're right…" she admitted as she tugged at the sleeve of her cream-colored sweater. "I'm sorry, I just have a really bad feeling about this all of a sudden."
"You saw how much damage that Snimon got to do." Jason was next to contribute and he looked down after he spoke up. "I'm with Sienna, I don't feel comfortable."
"I know," Vince agreed, relaxing his stance and shaking his head. "We're just a little rusty. I could tell we we're getting back to it with Tankdramon."
"I know I felt better at the end there. Smashing that hammer down on that Tankdramon felt so much better than when we faced Snimon. Jason, we got this!" Gomamon added, raising his left flipper and winked.
"See, come on it's just nerves. This demon won't know what hit 'em" Vince raised his arm along with Gomamon and grinned. Gabumon followed suite, reluctantly, followed by Aegiomon, Sienna and finally Jason.
Silence overtook the group again. Vince shifted his weight and sighed again. Six years ago, there would have at least been some banter back and even a much more comfortable silence. He looked over at Jason and saw the look he was giving Sienna. There was something unspoken going on there, something he wasn't in on. Vince opened his mouth, but decided against it and just looked back over the side of RizeGreymon's hand. They were nearly there.
"Guys, someone is standing outside…" RizeGreymon bellowed.
"Let's land RizeGreymon," Sienna replied and climbed on top of his hand. When they were low enough, she jumped down and landed in a crouch. The rest followed her example and RizeGreymon stood there, towering over them all. Across the way was a figure in a red cloak with the hood drawn up. Standing beside the figure was a quadrupedal winged dragon like Digimon. Its head was encased in silver armor with a jagged blade protruding up from the snout. Its black body looked decayed and it had numerous tails wrapping around a silver spear like tail. The Digimon screeched loudly and aggressively at the intruders.
Aegiomon took a step back. "That's the assassin," he said in awe. "That person and that Digimon are the harbingers of the demon, where they go…" he paused and looked to Vince.
"Got it." Vince replied. "Ready?" he looked over his shoulder at Jason and Sienna with his Digivice glowing in his hand. Sienna pointed to RizeGreymon with a confident smirk while Jason nodded.
"Gabumon, Super-Evolve! WereGarurumon!"
"Gomamon, Super-Evolve! Zudomon!"
The three Perfect-level Digimon faced off against the snarling beast and cloaked figure, neither side seemed to want to make the first move.
"Light 'em up!" Vince yelled. RizeGreymon aimed the massive gun at them and fired three explosive rounds as Zudomon slammed his mighty hammer down, sending a jolt of electricity flying towards the figure.
The beast beat its bat like wings and took off, avoiding the attacks as they exploded on the ground where it was standing just a moment ago, blowing debris against the cloaked figure who stood there like nothing had happened. A hand was slowly raised with a finger pointed at RizeGreymon. The beast screeched again and took off making a straight charge for the large mechanized Digimon. He raised the gun appendage and brought it down to swat the attacking Digimon to the ground, but the creature was quicker and slammed its horded head into the mechanical chest, carrying them both away.
"Ugh," RizeGreymon grunted and activated the boosters on his wings to try and overpower the smaller dragon like beast. As their momentum slowed, RizeGreymon gripped the other beast with his hand, and pulled it free from his chest before throwing it towards the ground. His wings began to glow a neon blue as his chest opened revealing a canon there, at least part of his chest did. Where the creature attacked was stuck, so RizeGreymon grunted and ripped the damaged panel off. "Rising Destroyer!" he yelled as the chest canon fired a beam of neon blue energy along with his wingtips exploding all around the creature
Vince looked on from where they were standing but the sound of a keyboard caught his attention. He turned to see Sienna using some makeshift laptop with all these extra components added to it, including her Digivice.
"Death-X-DORUgremon, an Undead Digimon. It hunts Digicores…it…eats them…"
"Like, so they can't be reborn?" Vince asked.
"Yeah… Rizegreymon!" Her call was too late. Out of the fire Death-X-DORUgremon came rocketing again, forming a massive sphere of metal and launching it right into RizeGreymon's face, sending him crashing hard into the ground. The undead Digimon landed on the mechanical behemoth as a serpent like tongue twirled from its mouth. It lowered its head and jammed the blade into the exposed canon on his chest, screeching as it dug in, trying to get to the Digicore.
"Hey ugly!" WereGarurumon's voice got Death-X-DORUgremon's attention just in time to meet the foot of the werewolf Digimon. The impact sent it rolling over a few times in the dust as WereGarurumon landed on his feet and raised his fists into a defensive position. "Nice toss Zudomon."
The armored walrus like Digimon closed his eyes, smiled and gave him a thumbs up. The undead beast struggled to stand after the powerful kick and Zudomon reached back and hurled his hammer, spinning ender over end as it flew through the air and smashing into the armored skull of Death-X-DORUgremon, knocking the beast down again and the hammer flew back into Zudomon's hand.
"Some assassin." WereGarurumon grinned. "RizeGreymon, you ok?"
"Y-yeah…he got me good but I can still fight."
"Then let's make this quick." WereGarurumon raced off to where their opponent had landed and jumped over it as it stood back up with its cracked helmet. The snake like tongue shot out as it screeched in frustration and was met with a swift roundhouse by WereGarurumon. RizeGreymon then snatched its tails and hurled it back towards the waiting Zudomon.
"Hammer Spark!" Zudomon brought his hammer crashing down on the cracked helm, and pinned the creature's head.
"Trident Revolver!" RizeGreymon flew up with WereGarurumon standing on his shoulder, and aimed his massive gun arm down, firing off three explosive blasts down, all of which impacted in their target. Finally, WereGarurumon jumped down and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Kaiser Nail!" He slashed his claws in an 'X' on the body of Death-X-DORUgreymon and the beast writhed in agony, its body flicking in and out of stability.
Suddenly a gust of wind kicked up. Vince looked across the battlefield at the cloaked figure, the source of the wind, or so it seemed. The hood was lowered, revealing the face of Amanda
"I will not fail my lord." She said in a monotone voice.
"Who's that?" Jason asked and adjusted his glasses.
"Amanda, she's from my school…she went missing last spring with this kid Chris." Vince explained in disbelief.
"Death-X-DORUgremon, get up. I command you in the name of our Lord and King. Fight." The creature screeched again, struggling to stand while its body glitched.
"Amanda, hey it's me Vince. We had Trig together last year," Vince said, stepping towards her with his hands raised. "Come on, it's over…don't make your Digimon fight anymore, let's talk."
Amanda didn't seem to acknowledge what Vince was saying. Her eyes remained focused on her Digimon, her tool, as it struggled to obey her command.
"I suppose even the great assassin can lose a fight. Regrettable but not unexpected." Mephistomon spoke, appearing out of the fortress with Christopher by his side. "This Digimon is useless to our cause Christopher. Your assassin would be better suited with a new one. Shall I dispose of this failure?"
Aegiomon's eyes widened in horror. "It's the demon…" he gasped, though the others were too focused on the arrival of the other human to react.
Chris looked to Amanda then to her Digimon. "We can use the data." Mephistomon smiled and nodded, bowing his head in a sign of respect. He opened the palm of his hand and Death-X-DORUgreymon was pulled into his grasp. It squirmed, trying to break free before the demon's hand clenched through, deleting the undead Digimon. Amanda turned, and walked back to Chris' side, standing there unflinching.
"You monster!" Sienna yelled. "You just killed that Digimon in cold blood! Who do you think you are?"
"Silence! I am the one who will rebuild this world, reshape it into a true paradise. You dare have the balls to ask who I am?" Chris snarled. "I am the closest this world will have to a God."
"You sure have a big ego. Overcompensating much?" Sienna snapped back. "And you're no God…you're a monster and you sold your soul to a devil."
"Chris?" Vince asked. "Hey, we were in school together, history class. You've been here the whole time? Man, everyone was worried about you when they found your parents."
"Hmph, I'm surprised they could ID the corpses. They deserved what happened to them. If anything, we were too easy on them Mephistomon." He glanced up at the demonic Digimon by his side.
"You?" Vince asked, taking a step back. "You did that to them?"
Christopher smirked as his cape fluttered in the breeze. "I would have done so much more to them if we had more time. They tortured us our whole lives, they deserved everything they got and more. It's a shame they didn't live long enough to experience it all."
"You killed your parents?" Jason asked in disbelief as if what Chris just said didn't register in his mind.
"They drove Brittney to suicide, I was supposed to protect her, she was my sister..." he paused, cutting himself off from the rant and grinned. "And then he found me and I saw a way out, a way to end their reign of terror."
"And replace it with your own?" Sienna interjected
"And make a utopia, an Arcadia if you remember from class Vince." He snickered. "So, a few eggs need to be broken, it'll be worth it when Brittney is reborn here and the three of us live like gods."
"You…you..." Sienna stammered, disgusted by what Chris was saying. "You sick bastard! This world isn't for you to play in! Digimon are alive, they feel…look what you did to that girl, to her Digimon!" she screamed as her Digivice reacted to her emotions.
"RizeGreymon evolve!" The giant mechanized Digimon was encased in a shrinking cocoon that shattered, revealing an armored warrior like Digimon with a large sword standing no taller than WereGarurumon. "Victory Greymon!" He gripped his oversized blade tight in both hands and charged at Mephistomon, slashing the sword where the demon had been standing a moment before. "Ugh, stand still!" he grunted, swinging his blade wildly as Mephistomon dodged every blow.
WereGarurumon narrowed his eyes "WereGarurumon Evolve!" He morphed into a quadrupedal mechanized wolf, with missiles over his front shoulders, large retractable wings and a blade for a tail. "MetalGarurumon! Cocytus Breath!" He reared his head back and spewed air so cold it instantly froze anything around it, catching Mephistomon's cloven foot and trapping him to the ground. Mephistomon grunted as VictoryGreymon brought his sword down and managed to deflect the blow just enough that only his wing was cut.
"Arctic Blizzard!" a large white furred walrus Digimon, resembling a cross between Ikkakumon and Zudomon stood decked out in Viking style armor. Vikemon blew out super cold air, creating a wall of ice that was promptly smashed, sending the shards at Mephistomon. He roared in pain before he snapped his foot free with a sickening crack. The demon Digimon faced the three Ultimates and slowly backed up, dragging his broken foot along the ground and summoning a wall of hellfire to keep the Digimon at bay.
Mephistomon smirked and began chanting, reciting an ancient spell. Suddenly, Aegiomon grabbed his head in pain and dropped to his knees, groaning and getting the attention of everyone.
"What's wrong?" Sienna ran to his side, trying to comfort him but Aegiomon stopped and looked at her.
"G-get…a-way" he grunted, and struggled to compose himself. Aegiomon screamed again and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. His eyes shot open; his breathing relaxed. His hand crackled with electricity and before Sienna could react, he punched her, shocking her and dropping her to her knees before him.
Jason ran towards her yelling her name and Vince spun around to see his best friend throw caution into the wind for the first time ever. Aegiomon threw another punch, the electricity sparking from his fist but Jason dove to the side and rolled under the punch and the rolled away when the goat-man Digimon brought his hoof down. Vince stood there for a moment; it was like the game of dodge-ball they played at their summer camp all those years ago.
"Aegiomon, stop!" Vince yelled, aiming Commandramon's rifle at him. Aegiomon turned to look at Vince.
"I…can't…sor-ry" he managed to grunt out and then charged ready to shock Vince.
Vince let out a cry and pulled the trigger, a single gunshot echoed around the battlefield and Aegiomon collapsed face down before exploding into bits of data that dissipated. He tossed the gun and ran over to Sienna who had her head resting in Jason's lap.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Yeah. I think she will be too." Jason replied.
"Christopher, I believe the data here would put us over the top, look how strong they are…" he panted as MetalGarurumon stalked him slowly.
"I agree, "he replied and touched his right ear. "Unleash it." A black cloud floated from the fortress, settling into position then swiftly descended on the three Ultimate level Digimon.
"What the?" Vince yelled. "MetalGarurumon!" he called as the cloud surrounded his partner. He dropped on the ground, writhing and twitching as his body began to glitch out and then fell limp against the ground, followed by VictoryGreymon and Vikemon. Then their bodies exploded in multicolored particles, flying up and into the fortress.
"No!" Vince cried out. But it was too late, his partner was gone.
"Now we can build paradise" Chris grinned and turned back towards the fortress with Amanda and Mephistomon in tow leaving Jason, Vince and Sienna alone. Sienna looked up with tears in her eyes as the digivices reacted, pulling the most of the particles back together into three distinct Digi-eggs which landed before each of them.