Miracles No More
888
The man stood before them as they hung in dark bubbles. Taichi winced as he felt the vibration. It was a pulsing that throbbed through his entire body. It was as if it was a car passing with the bass turned all the way up. Taichi looked down. The man closed his eyes and took a long deep breath. Behind him, thronging him, were WarGreymon, Metal Garurumon, Valdurmon JumboGamemon and the dark Cherubimon. Another pulse of vibration rumbled, dust, and bits of brick rained down hissing across the brick-laid floor of the gate room.
"What is that?" Mimi asked looking around. "It…hurts…"
"Ultrasonic frequencies at specific pitches can cause capillary hemorrhaging." Jyou replied as he looked at his fingers.
"I don't think it's just sound…" Koushiro said as he pulled out his laptop from a bag.
"You really take that everywhere don't you!" Yamato grumbled.
"It's saved us more than once." Koushiro said as he held it and tapped. "It's not just sound…it's…everything."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.
"She's coming-" The man said as he opened his eyes. He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. The Cherubimon shifted slightly and the bubbles lowered and touched ground, depositing the children on the ground. The man walked towards them. "You should count yourself lucky, not everyone can claim to have been in the presence of the right hand of God itself…"
"Who is…she?" Mimi asked looked at the man.
"Your benefactor-" The man said as he turned to the gate.
"Stop being so cryptic!" Yamato shouted as he slammed his fists against the bubbles which rippled ineffectually.
"Shakamon-" the man said quietly. "The being that created your destiny, has led you along this path since the very moment that your existence began, before you were born…moving you into position…"
"Shakamon…" Taichi said as he narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that-"
"The digimon that Gennai's people worshipped." Koushiro said standing up and closing his laptop.
"The liar." The man replied smirking. "Telling all those lies that love, knowledge, reliability, sincerity, friendship, courage are virtues. Telling you, meek things that they have given you some kind of power." The man walked to the edge of the bubble. "Tell me, children, tell me, where have those virtues led you? What power do you have, now? What kind of world have you brought forth?"
"They brought us together, we stopped so much evil, we've saved the-" Mimi started and then looked up at Valdurmon looming over them.
"You stopped evil?" The man asked, turning. "All I see is a constant turn around, you beat one enemy and another crops up; this world, is on the cusp, your dear benefactor willing to destroy it to preserve some concept of victory in the face of total defeat." The man closed his eyes. "And you still deny the truth, and in the denial you remain separated, segregated individuals, grasping feverishly into the cold, cold night, afraid and alone, insecure and unloved, ignorant of your own inconsistencies. Suffering every indignity because you are too obnoxiously obstinate to accept reality's one infinite truth."
"If you think we're going to give in because you're going to talk us to death-" Yamato started.
"No, I don't think that will work either." The man said as he stared into the blonde teenager's eyes. The man tilted his head and smirked. "I tried preaching once long, long ago, but even the ones willing to listen were too limited by their own existential instincts to fully subsume themselves to the truth. That fool Siddhartha came back after all, claiming to teach but really because he couldn't quite give up the habit."
"The habit?" Jyou's eyebrow quirked up curiously.
"The habit that every one of you have." The man said quietly, a low growl forming in the back of his throat. "The habit all things have, from the smallest particle to the grandest of universes. An endless addiction, to a drug that is part of the very fabric of everything that has ever been or will be. A sickness I will see ended."
"What the hell are you going on about?" Yamato growled. Taichi watched as the blonde shook his head.
"You exist." The man said, stonily as he looked at Yamato.
"Yeah, join the club, so do you, dude." Yamato said in a tone that did not sound very impressed.
"Only because you force me to take on this…" The man grimaced as he displayed himself, "insult."
"Wait, wait, you mean to tell me that prior to when you took over Gennai's body, you didn't exist?" Koushiro asked. The cinnamon haired boy looked at the man intrigued.
"I was forced here, to start my divine goal." the man said as he turned. "To end all existence, anywhere it crops up. To bring all of us back to the truth…to the perfection that we were all a part of before the others deigned to exist."
"So you're going to destroy the world?" Sora asked.
"That's horrible…" Mimi added.
"No, you ingrate." the man growled. "Nothing so superficial would be sufficient."
"I think my head hurts." Jyou grumbled.
"These vibrations are getting worse…" Mimi said as she gently put her hand on his shoulders.
"That's not what he meant." Yamato grumbled as he rubbed his temple and shook his head as he looked at the man with Gennai's body. "The poor bastard's gone mad…"
"She's nearly here, I'd say pray to your god, but she'll be here soon enough!" The man said almost giddily, as he walked towards the gate doors.
888
Daisuke groaned as he felt the light burning through his eyelids. He slowly shook his head, feeling the liquid inside slosh from one side to the other. His entire body felt like a water balloon. It took him a few minutes to stand on his feet. He slowly, wearily opened his eyes to the blaze outside. A light so bright it circled back to the other side engulfing everything in darkness.
"The rods in your retina are overloaded…" He heard Ken's voice grumble. Daisuke turned his head slowly he could sense a movement in the enlightened darkness and slowly that movement focused, refined into a shape, that shape into a body, that body into Ken. Ken's body stumbled over to Daisuke and he gently leaned against him as Daisuke blinked. Ken slowly lifted his hand and gave him a thumbs up. "Give it a minute, for your eyes to adjust."
Daisuke nodded and looked around. They were in a hallway, a white hallway, a long, white, hallway lined with doors. Takeru and Iori were leaning against the wall, as was Miyako. Their digimon were sitting, groaningly and blinking on the floor.
"Where's Hikari?" Daisuke asked, he felt his heart speed up as the anxiety set in. He twisted and turned, looking feverishly around.
"Where's that Maki lady?" Takeru grunted as he pushed himself onto his feet, staggering slightly as he turned to Iori.
Hawkmon and Veemon helped Miyako to her feet.
"That way-" Salamon said pointing further down the hallway. "I can feel it, both of them…"
"Let's go then." Daisuke said as he walked slowly forward, feeling his legs, like mud slodge forward.
"Where are we?" Miyako grunted as she looked around.
"We can ask questions when we catch up to Hikari and Ms. Himekawa." Ken said as he followed Daisuke. He reached out and grasped Miyako's hand. He looked up and caught her eyes with his. "Let's go, sooner we're moving the sooner we'll get answers."
Miyako blushed brightly and then followed in tow. The digimon staggered forward and Takeru and Iori tailed behind. They walked for what seemed like miles. Daisuke tried counting the doors they passed but quickly lost track, each door, identical to the one that last went past. Eventually he could make out the silhouettes of two forms ahead of them. One was an adult the other a young teenager.
Daisuke ran to them, the others struggled to keep up with him as he ran to the teenager. He could see her now. He reached out to grab her. She turned and he hugged her tightly. She giggled as he twirled her around, and gently put her down.
The others caught up to them. Miyako huffed and puffed as she leaned down and braced against her knees. Takeru hugged Hikari briefly and Ken grasped her hands gently and smiled at her. She reached up and patted Iori on the head.
"Are you ok?" Salamon asked as she looked up at Hikari with a worried look.
"I feel…" Hikari smiled, "great!" She turned and looked to Ms. Himekawa. "For the first time in a long time, I feel…like I'm where I'm supposed to be."
"Where are we, anyways?" Miyako asked as she looked around at the doors and the hallway. "Are we in the Digital World, or are we…somewhere else?"
"Yes…" Ms. Himekawa said as she looked at the doors.
"'Yes', we're in the Digital World? Or 'yes' we're somewhere else?" Miyako asked.
"Yes." Ms. Himekawa replied, looking around, her eyes narrowed as she seemed to be trying to work something out.
"Yeah but which one because you're being vague-" Miyako said as she scratched her head.
"It's complicated." Hikari finally said quietly. "We're umm, in well, how should I put it?"
"We're in Shakamon's mind." Ms. Himekawa said abruptly as she frowned.
"Are we dreaming?" Iori asked quietly. "Because how can we be in a mind, I mean we're physically here…aren't we?" Iori reached out and poked Armadillomon.
"Sure don't feel like dreamin'!" Armadillomon said as he reached up and poked Iori.
"Shakamon is a being that exists in multiple realities simultaneously, her mind intersects with many as a physical plane of existence. " Ms. Himekawa explained as she turned and started to walk down the hallway. "We're using that as a means to create a conduit to the Digital World we wish to access."
"What's up with the doors?" Daisuke asked as he walked up to one. He reached out and grabbed the door knob.
"Don't touch that!" Ms. Himekawa and Hikari shouted simultaneously, turning to him as he turned the knob.
Daisuke yelped and pulled back, slightly opening the door. Ms. Himekawa ran forward and pushed the door closed. Ms. Himekawa looked at Daisuke with an insane glare.
"The doors are a physical representation of gateways to other realities." Ms. Himekawa said between breaths. "Each door represents a portal to a completely different reality, where the rules of existence could be very alien. Worlds where the skin of humans and digimon could be flip-flopped, or you could be turned into walking tomatoes or you could annihilate into a massive nuclear explosion because the laws of physics are different…"
"Wait…" Takeru walked forward and looked at the doors. "That sounds…familiar…" Takeru closed his eyes and furrowed his brow and then snapped his fingers. "Gennai said the same sort of thing when we chased Myotismon back to Earth when we were searching for Hikari…there was this giant gateway in Myotismon's castle, I remember it was all weird because the inside of the castle didn't match the outside and things got all upside down and sideways-"
"That must be the main physical linkage between our Digital World and the multiverse." Ms. Himekawa said as she pushed away from the door and walked down the hall. "The dimensions must've been twisted due to the gateway."
"How are we going to find the right door?" Iori asked as he walked along, looking at each door with suspicion.
"We'll find the central core, when we get there we'll be able to call up our door." Ms. Himekawa said quietly.
"And you know where the central core is?" Ken asked quietly as he walked alongside of Daisuke.
"It'll show up eventually." Ms. Himekawa said.
"Eventually?" Daisuke shouted, "how long is eventually? Taichi and the others…"
"She's going to our Digital World…" Hikari said, she closed her eyes. "Soon all of this will be just one door."
Ms. Himekawa stopped and turned looking to Hikari. She walked forward and grasped Hikari's head. "Are you…are you ok?"
"I am fine." Hikari said smiling. "I've never felt so…"
Hikari winced and pulled away.
"Kari!" Daisuke yelped as reached out to catch Hikari.
Hikari turned, pivoting and as she did so, slapped Daisuke's hand away. "You are inside…why are you here?"
"Kari…it's me, Daisuke…" Daisuke whispered as he tugged at his brown and red duffle-jacket as if it were proof.
"Hikari, you need to regain control!" Ms. Himekawa shouted. "Remember, your brother, remember your friends…"
"You have intruded into things you should not intrude upon!" Hikari shouted, she clutched her head. "You cannot stop this, destiny has failed, do not continue forward! You will only make things…"
Hikari fell to her knees and she shook her head. She took several long deep breaths. Her hands dropped to the floor and she sat there on all fours for a few minutes, breathing. Miyako knelt to her side and Daisuke dropped to one knee in front of her.
"Are you ok?" Daisuke asked.
"She knows we're here." Hikari whispered on quavering lips. She slowly lifted her head. "We need to move…" Hikari winced and then shouted. "Now!"
Miyako helped Hikari get to her feet. Daisuke helped balance her and the group of humans and digimon hurried along the corridor.
"What was it talking about?" Iori asked as he jogged alongside the other kids.
"Whatever is attacking the Digital World it has her afraid." Ms. Himekawa said.
"What could scare something like Shakamon?" Takeru asked as looked to Iori who met his look with skepticism.
"The Quartzworks' Engineer, The King of Reapers, The Inevitable Tyrant, The Leviathan's Keeper, The Handler of Apocalypse, The Poisoner of Yggdrasil," Hikari said between gasps. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. "I saw it, but just flashes of it, I don't know what it means…all I saw was destruction in its wake."
"Here!" Ms. Himekawa called as she pointed, there was an intersection. Ms. Himekawa turned right and the kids and their digimon ran after her. They came into a huge amphitheater. In the center of the room was a podium with a console like interface on it. Ms. Himekawa ran to the console and looked at it. "Ok, we're here…this is it…"
"She's here, she's…" Hikari gasped as she slumped forward. Daisuke caught her and propped her up. Salamon and Veemon helped him, hold her up. Hikari weakly opened her eyes. "She's raging in my head…I'm so tired…"
"Uh…guys-" Miyako gulped slightly as she looked upwards.
Daisuke turned his head back and even he couldn't contain the shudder. It was huge, and white with a long, flowing, golden cape. The sharp edges of the head of a WarGreymon swept outward releasing a long blade.
"It's…that's…" Ms. Himekawa started.
"Omegamon…" Iori said swallowing slightly.
This white knight was jagged, sharp edged, harsher. Its glowing eyes glaring down at the children and the adult. The knight swung the tip of the sword around and pointed it at the children.
"Omegamon X-" Hikari breathed as she pulled herself onto the console. Her eyes were glowing. Daisuke held her close as Salamon hopped between the girl and the knight. "She summoned him here…"
"X?" Iori asked.
"The survivor, he survived the last time the enemy that Shakamon fears attacked reality…" Hikari said between gasps. She twisted her body around and started pushing at the console's interface.
"What are you doing?" Ms. Himekawa shouted as she stared at the girl.
"I'm not…it's-" Hikari whimpered as her fingers flew over the console. She looked up. "Oh no, that's what she's going to do." Hikari pushed herself away from the console and grabbed her head. "You can't! You can't!" Hikari fell to her knees. Her head slumped.
"I have to…" Hikari's head lifted her eyes were bright with light. "The only way to stop it now is to purge the Digital World and restart anew." Hikari's head turned to Omegamon X. "You have your orders. Execute them."
"Yes, Mistress." Omegamon tilted its head to Hikari. There was a loud clap of thunder. The children, barring Hikari, their digimon, Ms. Himekawa turned to see a door materialize in the room. It was now the only door in the room.
"Purge the Digital World?" Iori asked sharply. "What does that mean?"
"The world as it is will be erased, and re-initialized." Hikari's voice replied. "All Delete command functions will be engaged. The world will then be re-initialized, all memories will be erased, we will begin again."
"What about the Digi-destined? The ones still in the Digital World?" Takeru ran around to Hikari's side. "What will happen to them?"
"Their lives will be erased, a small sacrifice in trade for the preservation of reality itself." Hikari's voice returned as she turned to the console. Her fingers started to fly over the console again. There was a creaking sound as the door slowly started to open.
"You can't do that!" Miyako shouted as she ran to Hikari. "You have to stop. Let us get them out at least! You can't just let them die! What about Taichi, that's your brother!?"
"I have no brother." Hikari's eyes narrowed. "The biological organisms are irrelevant. Existence takes priority."
"Are you nuts?" Miyako shouted.
"It's not Hikari, it's Shakamon-" Ken said sternly. He glared up at Omegamon X who more or less had ignored them. He turned his head back to Hikari. "She's in there though, fight it, Hikari!"
"Kari-" Daisuke grabbed the girl's hand.
"You dare-" The girl's hand flew, and Daisuke's face burned. He winced, but didn't let go.
"You are in there, I know you are, Kari!" Daisuke said, he narrowed his eyes. "You're strong! I know you are! You can fight back! SO DO IT!"
"I-I…" Hikari winced, she staggered backwards. Daisuke ran and caught her as she slumped backwards. Veemon was at his side. Salamon leapt towards them as Omegamon X started to move.
"He's…part of it-" Hikari whispered. "We have to stop him..." She reached up and touched Salamon. "Please…"
The little puppy-kitten burst with light erupting upwards. Within seconds there was a female angel glowing in the room.
"Angewomon won't be able to do it on her own!" Miyako said as she grabbed her D-3 from her side. "Hawkmon!"
"Indubitably, let's go!" the brick red hawk called as he took flight glowing and shifting through a horned eagle form and a cybernetic silph. The angel and the silph merged and exploded forward as a blue armored ophanim.
The angel dove between the knight and the door way.
"Stop!" Ophanimon commanded as she swung her javelin forward.
"I will not be denied the opportunity to serve my goddess!" Omegamon X relied as the knight drew its sword.
The sword dropped down. The blade met resistance, in the form of Ophanimon's javelin and ClavisAngemon's key blade. Daisuke looked over to Takeru and Iori, the two were holding up their D-3s. The knight roared loudly and pushed, driving the two angels backwards through the doorway. Takeru and Iori ran after them. Miyako looked down. Daisuke and Veemon were trying to help Hikari to her feet.
"Go, we'll be along shortly!" Daisuke shouted to Miyako. Daisuke looked over to Ms. Himekawa. "Help me with her!"
The woman looked up slightly shocked and ran over to Daisuke and helped him. Ken was watching them. Daisuke took a deep breath.
"We're really doing this?" Ken asked.
"We don't have a choice." Daisuke said.
"Fools-" Hikari's voice hissed slightly. "Do not do this-"
Daisuke turned his head back to Hikari and saw that she and Ms. Himekawa were glowing. Daisuke frowned. "Look, I don't know what kind of thing has got you scared but my friends are in the Digital World, we and they have fought for you over and over again. You can wait until we get to safety before you drop whatever bomb you're going to drop! Now leave her alone!"
Daisuke grabbed Hikari's hand. The girl winced and the glowing faded. Both Hikari and Ms. Himekawa slumped slightly forward. Daisuke caught the both of them and Ken rushed over and shouldered Ms. Himekawa. With Veemon and Wormmon helping them they heaved themselves towards the portal.
888
The vibrations were getting worse. Taichi could hardly think. The massive iron-wrought doors snapped open, slowly. The sound of their hinges creaking slowly.
The evil Gennai clapped and cheered as the room blazed with a white light.
"SHEEEEEE'SSS HEEEEEERRRRE!" The man crowed loudly as he maniacally jumped up and down.
What followed was hard to follow. There was a blast and before he could catch it, Taichi became aware of the fact that Ophanimon and ClavisAngemon were in the room with them. That also a third digimon one very familiar if not infinitely more severe looking was also with them.
"Is that!?" Yamato looked up.
"Omegamon?" Sora gasped.
"Edgy Omegamon-" Jyou said as he adjusted his glasses.
"MATT!" A shout called out.
Taichi looked up to see Takeru and Iori running towards them from the doorway. Behind them was Miyako. Taichi ran to the bubble's surface and pressed his hands against it. He looked hoping to see her and then finally, slowly, Hikari, with the help of Daisuke and Veemon, came hobbling into the room. Behind them was Ms. Himekawa, whom Ken and Wormmon were helping.
"Well isn't that disappointing!" evil Gennai grumbled, he turned and glared into the light. "I suspect you thought you'd be clever, hmm?" He then smirked. "But then again, I'm clever, too." The man lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Takeru and the newly arrived children stopped cold as ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon screamed. The Omegamon slapped them aside as they crashed to the ground. The two angels then numbly stood. "Cherubimon, it's time. Get'em boys."
The chunky beast snapped to life. It launched itself towards the Omegamon. The man lifted the D-3 he'd gotten from Wallace. He pointed it towards WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon. The two Mega digimon melted into black static and merged, reforming as a darker, less sharp version of the knight that had burst through the gateway. The man then pointed to Valdurmon and JumboGamemon and then swept his hand towards the white knight. The six Mega digimon crashed down on the knight as one force.
"Do it, Cherubimon!" The entity in Gennai's body shouted. Cherubimon's arm smashed down onto the Omegamon's head. The other five digimon were piled on the knight as energy arced from Cherubimon's thick hand into the knight's head.
"What's going on?" Takeru and Iori looked towards Taichi and the older kids.
"Your digimon must have been infected, too-" Koushiro said.
"When we fought Diaboromon that's when, the Kuramon infected them, too." Taichi said, frowning. "That guy has control of all of our digimon…and now…"
"Veemon, let's go!" Daisuke shouted. Taichi looked up and saw the blue dragon glow and morph and emerge as Paildramon. Ken was standing next to him. Wormmon was already DinoBeemon.
Before the two digimon could merge DinoBeemon was send smashing backwards by Ophanimon who had the insect pinned against a wall. Ken twisted around and as he did on the breath of wind Cherubimon appeared next to DinoBeemon and the bestial angel's fist enclosed around the insect.
"Wormmon NO!" Ken screamed as energy crackled around the terrible insect.
"My, my, my…" The man crowed loudly as he walked towards Hikari and Ms. Himekawa. "Seems, I'm sweeping the board."
"Not yet!" Paildramon growled as he lifted his guns. "Desperado-"
Both Omegamons dropped down between the dragon and the man in dark robes. Paildramon staggered backward. The dragon twisted just in time to evade the hand of ClavisAngemon. JumboGamemon and Valdurmon loomed over him. Ophanimon and Cherubimon closed of the dragon's egress from above. The Mega digimon simply corralled the dragon as the man clapped loudly.
The man turned to Hikari and walked towards her as she slumped to the ground. "Now, I assume you will surrender, then?"
"Leave her alone!" Daisuke growled. The boy was still next to Hikari. He stepped slightly between her and the man. "Or I'll…I'll stop you!"
"Empty threats from an empty thing." The man growled. He turned to Hikari and loomed over her and reached out towards her. She slumped over and he reached down towards her. "Time, I think, that you came to accept the truth."
"I won't let you hurt her!" Daisuke shouted and he leapt forward and curled his hand into a fist. The man flailed backwards as he twisted away from the punch. Ken ran to Daisuke's side, and lifted his hands prepared to fight.
"Cherubimon-" The man growled as he rubbed his jaw. "Finish the jo-"
Ken's D-terminal buzzed to life. The boy looked down and pulled the device from his pocket. As he did so, the device opened. The Digimental of Kindness emerged from it. The rosette of pink unfurled, the petals wafted into the air and swirled around Daisuke. Daisuke looked around himself and then reached out. The flower's petals landed in his hand and reformed, glowing with a golden light.
"It's-" Daisuke gasped as the light solidified into a sharp-edged Digimental made of golden digi-chrome. He looked to the man, smiled and lifted the digimental to the air. "Let's do it, Digi-armor Energize!"
The golden digimental flew towards Paildramon. The dragon didn't even get a chance to devolve to Veemon. The armor engulfed Paildramon. A golden radiance erupted outwards and the seven Mega digimon retreated as the armor transformed Paildramon. The golden light condensed around Paildramon and the dragon disappeared and what emerged from the light was familiar. Daisuke punched the air as the massive golden shoulder blades emerged, and the golden armor that covered the digimon's chest. Golden gauntlets over blue fists punched forward. The waist was encircled by a golden skirt and the feet were covered in golden armored boots. The helmet fell over the digimon's head, the large spikes that shot of the digimon's eyebrows and the crown of its head gleamed in the light of the transformation.
"Magnamon!" Daisuke cheered.
The seven Mega digimon snarled and leapt towards Magnamon. There was a golden blur. Seconds later Valdurmon, JumboGamemon, ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon were sent crashing into the ground. The two Omegamons staggered as Magnamon briefly smashed his foot into each of their chests. Magnamon slowly turned as Cherubimon rose up behind the golden knight. The armor of the knight glowed brightly.
"Magna Blast!"
There was a blaze of golden radiance as Magnamon charged towards the bestial angel. The explosion shook the castle. Shards of Cherubimon hung in the air as Magnamon rocketed through the bulk of the beast. The sharper of the two Omegamons stood and lifted its Garuru Cannon towards the knight.
"This stops now!" A voice rang from all directions.
Everything froze for a second. Time itself froze as reality stuttered, light coalesced out of the shadows, form came into focus out of the light. A smile grew across the face of Gennai's face, under the control of whatever thing had taken over the sprite. Taichi turned and saw it before the man turned. A being with multiple arms, a body vaguely human shrouded in golden robes stood in the room. Orbs rotated around it. The voice was that of many voices, but it was also a single voice. The air moved weakly and in stutters around it, as if the universe was buffering around the being.
"There it is." The man said and then turned to face the new arrival. "After such a fanfare, this is quite a disappointment, Shakamon. Where's the razzle-dazzle, as the sprite says in his mind?"
"It would most certainly be lost on something like you." The being replied. "I had hoped that this could be done neatly with Omegamon X. A simple re-initialization program executed to restart the Digital World and purge it of your presence." The being then turned its head towards Daisuke. "However, I see now that that is not possible."
"I will soon have all of your little soldiers under my control." The man said, he snapped his fingers and as he did, Cherubimon started to reform around Magnamon. Daisuke yelled towards the golden knight, but the beast had the knight soon engulfed in its bulk. "It is done, Shakamon, you are beaten, I win."
"Win?" The entity asked.
"Please, Veemon…Magnamon…" Daisuke called out. "You can do it! I know you can!"
"The battle is not yet met." Shakamon said, turning to the man, as Magnamon exploded from Cherubimon, it's golden radiance burning every scrap of the beast.
As the monster burned the black bubble that held Taichi and the other older kids, dissolved. The older children ran to the younger kids. Taichi ran directly to Hikari. Yamato ran to Takeru. Sora, Mimi and Jyou ran to Ms. Himekawa as Jyou checked her for injuries. Koushiro ran to Miyako and Iori and the three of them moved towards Hikari.
The man growled angrily and then smirked. "I still have the digimon I've infected."
The group of Mega digimon turned and launched a flurry of attacks at the entity. The being didn't even seem to move. Rather the streams of energy, ice, fire and water seemed to shift around Shakamon, as if in deference to the entity's mere presence.
"Not for long. This world will go dark." The entity said quietly. "As I said before, Omegamon X would've been neater, seamless, but I have been forced into a hard reset, the countdown has begun. You will be trapped here and will be erased, purged from this reality."
The being then folded its hands in front of itself and disappeared.
"Countdown? What's she talking about?" Koushiro asked.
"Purged?" Mimi asked.
"She's going to delete the world and reboot it." Iori replied. "That's why we were fighting with that strange Omegamon. She's going to do it whether or not we're still here when she does it!"
"Wait, we're going to get deleted?" Jyou yelped.
"No, the plan is that you leave." Ms. Himekawa said quickly. "I made a promise to Daigo, you twelve get out. The portal is still open, we can get out, but it won't hold open for long, Shakamon is retreating."
"Oh, but you must stay, my little human friends." The man that looked like Gennai said. As he did ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon dropped down between the kids and the portal. "I insist."
The two angels almost instantly got smashed backwards as Magnamon assaulted them. The golden knight turned to Daisuke.
"You have to go!" the knight shouted as he turned and charged towards the two Omegamons. He ricocheted off of one and propelled himself into the other, sending both staggering back briefly. He dropped down in front of the kids. "I'll hold them off, you have to go though, now! Before its-"
The knight was cut off as JumboGamemon slammed its heavy fist down on top of him. Valdurmon dropped down and pressed down on top of Magnamon.
"He's right-" Taichi said as he picked Hikari. He turned to Daisuke. "We gotta go."
"But-" Daisuke watched as Magnamon heaved the two massive Mega digimon off of him, as he did so DinoBeemon came from behind and grabbed him and drove him into a wall.
"He's giving us a window. We gotta take it." Taichi said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't like the idea of leaving Omegamon or any of the others behind but…"
"I know it's just-" Daisuke started.
"We don't have time." Ms. Himekawa said, she turned. "The portal's closing, we go now, or we don't."
Taichi started running towards the portal. Hikari was limp in his arms, her eyes looking worriedly back. He looked back. Yamato and the others were running along behind him, at the back of the pack was Daisuke and Ken, they were helping Ms. Himekawa. The doors of the portal were closing. Taichi ran towards the portal. His legs hurt, his arms ached. His could hear the fighting behind him. He knew that Agumon was in there somewhere, trapped within whatever viral control that man had him under, but he had to get everyone home safely. He looked down at Hikari. It was his responsibility.
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They were running. Daisuke hated that. He hated running away. He hated worse the idea of abandoning his friends, and everything. He looked back regularly. Magnamon was getting triple and quadruple teamed. The golden radiance was fading. The power was weakening. It wouldn't be long now. They were nearly to the portal, but the doors were closing.
That's when it happened. DinoBeemon broke away from the fight. The mighty insect dove at them. Ken shouted but the beast was beyond his voice. Ken pushed Ms. Himekawa down as his partner digimon buzzed towards them. Daisuke stopped and ran towards them. He leapt. He put all of his shoulder into it. His body hit the hard endoskeleton of the insect and bounced off of it. DinoBeemon swerved off as Daisuke fell to the ground. Ken was already on his feet, he was helping Ms. Himekawa to her feet. Daisuke saw DinoBeemon swinging back around. He grunted and jumped to his feet. Mortar and rock had been falling from the ceiling. Already great shards of light from outside were piercing basement room they were in from above. Ken turned to see DinoBeemon diving towards them. Daisuke grabbed an armful of rock. He ran and put himself between DinoBeemon and Ken.
"Go! I'll keep his attention!" Daisuke shouted as he slung rock at the insect.
"But-" Ken started.
"Take Ms. Himekawa, get her out. NOW, KEN!" Daisuke screamed as he threw more rocks.
Daisuke glared back at Ken. The dark haired boy gulped and nodded and ran towards the portal. DinoBeemon dipped and dove around as Daisuke kept trying to keep the large bug's interest. Daisuke turned his head and saw Ken and Ms. Himekawa scramble through the portal. Daisuke turned and ran. The doors were swinging closed. That's when he heard it, the scream. He skidded to a stop. Magnamon was pinned to the ground. It had taken all of the Mega digimon, but they had him pinned on the ground. It was all that was needed.
The massive weight of DinoBeemon crashed down on top of him. He felt its clawed hand press his body to the ground. He struggled but like Magnamon he was pinned. The man that looked like Gennai walked towards him.
"You were so close." The man said, as he looked up at the gateway behind Daisuke. The man then knelt down and tilted his head. "You just couldn't quite manage it though, could you?"
Daisuke heard the doors of the gateway slam closed.
Daisuke looked up at the man. "Well, at least if I'm going to be deleted, you're going to be deleted, too."
"Ah, well, that's the difference between you and I." The man said, reaching forward and gently slapping Daisuke on the cheek, in a show of condescending sentiment. "I created a backup that'll survive and continue past the reboot; whereas you didn't."
The man turned and walked away. Daisuke was aware of a sizzling hiss. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. He struggled and fought to free himself. There was a squeal and he looked up to see that DinoBeemon was melting into ones and zeros. Daisuke pulled himself free and ran towards the gateway. The walls around him were melting, disappearing. He slammed his fists on the doors but they were unyielding. He pressed his head against the cold metal and then turned and slid to the ground. The digimon, all of them, were now nothing more than flickering silhouettes that were dissolving into data streams. Soon enough he was alone, soon enough the world around him was gone, soon enough he felt it, that strangest of sensations, the sensation that he was gone as well.
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Hikari screamed and it took the combination of Taichi, Yamato, Jyou and Mr. Nishijima to restrain her as she fought them reaching towards the computer screen that they had emerged from. Ken looked at the screen. It was dark. Over the course of the next few hours it became apparent that the world itself had experienced a global digital black out every screen everywhere had gone dark. It only lasted for a few minutes, but in the modern world, it was enough to nearly sink the economies of the developed world into a depression. Later reports said that people had died as surgeries failed, planes and trains crashed, cars stalled, boats drifted off course. For a few minutes the world had the digital footprint of the nineteenth century. Ken clutched his D-3. The screen was blank, the device felt cold. They were gone, his closest friends, Wormmon, Daisuke.
"What are we going to tell Mr. and Mrs. Motomiya…?" Ken heard Miyako ask quietly.
"What are we going to tell Jun?" Taichi asked.
"That he was a hero-" Ken said quietly, looking up at the others, "that he was miraculous…and that we won't forget him."
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AN: So umm, the Cherubimon portion of the story is over. We got to see Magnamon…that was cool right? Kinda?