((Author's Note: Lmao! Got my first negative review. Thank you, multifandom fantic14 for being so butthurt that I wouldn't take your stupid, edgy, bad ending fic request that you decided to be a coward and leave a negative review just before blocking me. Talk about entitled. Cry me a river, man.))
Chapter 31: The Vengeful Spirit of MetalGreymon
I turned to my Digivice and saw information on this upgraded Greymon. Her name was now MetalGreymon and she was an ultimate level. Aside from Devimon's ability to control his size, she was by far the largest Digimon we had ever seen, and she looked angry. Very, very, angry.
The entire Twin Rivers police force had assembled and were trying to surround MetalGreymon as best they could. They had their guns drawn and were firing, but the bullets did nothing but bounce off her tough skin and metal plating. She snarled as she stomped her foot, causing the ground to quake.
"The police are in our way," Riley said. "Piper, since Gammamon won't fight, will you try to clear everyone out of here?"
"I'm on it," I replied.
"Ghostmon, you have to digivolve. Try to minimize the damage to the town," Riley said to his partner. Ghostmon smiled and digivolved into his ultimate level, Baalmon. He pulled out an amulet from his cloak and transformed it into a massive railgun that attached itself to Baalmon's arm. He charged up the weapon and fired, unleashing a powerful blast of energy at MetalGreymon. She raised up her metal arm and deflected Baalmon's attack.
I spotted Officer Lopez taking cover behind his car to reload his gun. I ran over to him first. "Officer Lopez, you need to get out of here," I said over the sound of gunshots and the roaring cyborg dinosaur. "It's too dangerous for you and the other officers."
"Piper? What are you doing?" He asked as he ducked behind his car again. "You and your aunt need to get out of here."
"You don't understand. Me and my friends can handle this."
"What are you talking about?"
"Buden Blast!" we heard someone call out from above us. Bursts of electricity were fired at MetalGreymon and she stumbled back. We turned up to see Deckard holding onto Boutmon's back as his partner hopped on the rooftops of the nearby buildings until they reached my house. Boutmon landed beside us and Deckard let go and joined Riley. Boutmon ran into the fight and continued throwing bolts of electricity at MetalGreymon. Baalmon joined in by firing his railgun. She roared and stumbled back, stepping on a car and crushing it.
"Those your friends?" Officer Lopez asked.
I nodded.
He stared dumbfounded at our Digimon and then tilted his head in agreement. "You know what? I think I will let you and your friends handle this."
He got onto his radio and called for a full retreat. The sheriff was about to argue but MetalGreymon's roar shut him up. The police all hopped back into their cars and drove off, most likely to focus on evacuating people from the town.
"Sophie's on her way," Deckard said as I rejoined the group. "I'm guessing that all of our Digimon could sense that thing."
"Plasma Splitter!" Another voice cried out and a beam of energy was fired at MetalGreymon. She howled in pain and turned her attention to the newcomer. Tobias was running over to us with AtlurBallistamon following close behind.
"Enough of this!" MetalGreymon howled. "Giga Storm!" Her chest plates opened up and twin beams of energy shot out of them and at our Digimon. They scattered to avoid the attack, and luckily, they dodged the beams. However, MetalGreymon's attack took out the upper portions of three nearby buildings, vaporizing them. Baalmon fired his railgun while Boutmon and AtlurBallistamon lobbed lightning bolts. MetalGreymon stood her ground and let out a deafening roar as the attacks exploded all around her.
Aunt Ruby placed her hand on my shoulder as she stared in horror at the destruction MetalGreymon was causing to our town. "Shouldn't Gammamon join them?" she asked.
"He's refusing to digivolve," I explained. "He's scared of turning into GulusGammamon again."
The streets were nearly cleared of people and we saw Sophie's red convertible speeding toward us. She slid to a stop, and she and Palmon got out of the car. As soon as her feet hit the street, Palmon digivolved into Ajatarmon. She ran into the fray and fired a Shotgun Moss at MetalGreymon's face, but the attacks were deflected by the metal helmet protecting her. She swung her massive metal arm at Ajatarmon, but she dashed around MetalGreymon and avoided being sliced.
MetalGreymon aimed her metal arm at Boutmon and Baalmon. "Mega Claw!" she bellowed as her claw disconnected from the rest of the arm and shot off like a rocket. The two just barely managed to get out of the way as the claw went right through Sweetheart's Donuts. The chain connecting her claw to her arm retracted and pulled the claw back into place. The building then caved in on itself in a cloud of dust.
"Plasma Splitter!"
"Buden Blast!"
"Shotgun Moss!"
Our Digimon continued to perform their most powerful attacks on MetalGreymon, but she was still advancing on us. I looked around at the destruction that was being caused. The roads were ripped up, cars and bikes were trampled, and buildings all around us were being blown apart. At the rate things were going, there wasn't going to be a town left to save.
"We have to get her into Cyberspace," I said.
"How?" Tobias shouted over the sound of battle. "One of us would have to be touching her in order to warp her in there, and I don't think any of us are going to try getting close to that thing."
Boutmon ran up MetalGreymon's tail and climbed her back. He jumped up and performed a spinning kick at the back of her head, but winced when he struck the metal plating of her helmet. MetalGreymon roared and bucked him off.
I knelt down and opened up my backpack for Gammamon to hop into. He got in and I slung the straps over my shoulders. I then turned to Aunt Ruby. "Can I borrow your phone? Mine's broken."
"Why do you need it?" she asked.
"Just trust me."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She handed it to me and said, "Please, for the love of God, don't do anything stupid."
I flashed her a mischievous grin. "You already know by now that acting stupid is my profession." I took off in a mad dash towards MetalGreymon. I could hear everyone crying out to me to stop and come back but I ignored them. Just as one of her feet slammed down onto the ground, making the earth below me quake, I jumped onto her ankle and held on tightly. With one hand on MetalGreymon and the other holding Aunt Ruby's phone, I tilted my wrist just so my Digivice was facing the phone and we were instantly warped into Cyberspace.
MetalGreymon paused when she realized what had happened. She glanced down at me and snarled. "What did you do?" she demanded. "Do you know how long it took me to get into the real world?"
I jumped off before she kicked and I just narrowly avoided getting launched into the air. She took a thunderous step towards me, rearing back her metal claw and preparing to slam it down on me. I ran as fast as I could. I felt my legs ache and my heart pound in my chest as I did my best to get away from her.
Just before her claw reached me, a burst of energy struck MetalGreymon in the face and she pulled back, baring her teeth at the new attacker. Gammamon poked his head out of my backpack and gasped. He tugged on my jacket and pointed at the one who had saved us.
It was Ogremon.
More blasts of light and electricity erupted all around MetalGreymon, and running up to her were Boutmon, Ajatarmon, Baalmon, and AtlurBallistamon. Ajatarmon fired more Shotgun Moss attacks while Baalmon launched bursts of energy from his railgun. AtlurBallistamon and Boutmon unleashed bolts of electricity at MetalGreymon, and she staggered back, overwhelmed by the onslaught. The others were calling out commands to their Digimon from the other side of the battlefield.
Surprised to see Ogremon, I ran over to him and greeted him. "Fancy seeing you here."
"You kids sure like picking fights with Digimon that are bigger than you," he said. "MetalGreymon is an incredibly powerful Digimon."
"Yeah, we noticed."
MetalGreymon swatted Ajatarmon away with her metal claw, then swung her tail at Boutmon, who tried desperately to leap out of the way, but timed it poorly and was struck by her. Boutmon was sent careening into AtlurBallistamon, who didn't budge upon impact. Boutmon sank to the ground and moaned in pain.
"I feel like I just got smashed into a wall," he rasped.
"Sorry, pal," AtlurBallistamon said. "My armor's pretty thick."
Baalmon fired his railgun repeatedly, aiming for the parts of MetalGreymon that didn't have metal plating to protect her. MetalGreymon spun around - her chest panels opened up and twin beams fired out of them at the ground. She turned as Baalmon circled her. Baalmon couldn't outrun her and was hit. He and Riley both howled in agony as Baalmon was enveloped by the beam. Once the attack ceased, we saw that Baalmon had de-digivolved back into Ghostmon.
"Why aren't you fighting?" Ogremon asked me.
"Gammamon won't digivolve," I replied. "He turned into something horrible and he nearly destroyed us all. He's afraid to digivolve."
"Afraid?" he scoffed. "What kind of excuse is that? How many times has he turned into this "horrible form" you speak of?"
"Only the one time, but-"
"So you mess up once and that's enough to turn you both into cowards? How in the Digital World did I lose to the likes of you?"
MetalGreymon shifted her attention to AtlurBallistamon and Boutmon. The metal panels opened up again and two missiles fired out of her chest. AtlurBallistamon helped Boutmon back up and they tried to outrun them, but the missiles crashed into the ground near them and exploded. The two were caught in the explosion and Tobias and Deckard stumbled when their partners were overtaken by the flames. After a few worry-filled minutes, Hagurumon and Pulsemon limped out of the smoke before collapsing.
"Don't you remember what I told you, right before you went and fought Devimon?" Ogremon asked.
My mind was going blank. I was too panicked about the battle to think straight. "What are you-"
"Keep moving forward and never look back. That wasn't just directions to find Devimon, it's the best advice that I can give you. You're going to mess up and make mistakes. That's just how life is."
"What if I turn back into GulusGammamon again?" Gammamon said softly. "I don't want to do bad things."
"And what if you don't? You won't know unless you do it."
"But, you don't understand what happened. He was like a totally different person. He-"
"Bah! I've just about had it with your pathetic excuses. Where are the proud warriors I fought before? The ones who bested me in battle twice and who took down Devimon - what happened to them?"
Ajatarmon ran circles around MetalGreymon, stopping briefly to fire her Shotgun Moss. The shot dissipated upon hitting MetalGreymon's armor, and Ajatarmon sprinted back to keep her distance. MetalGreymon's chest panels opened up and the twin beams fired out of them. Ajatarmon did her best to avoid them, but MetalGreymon moved with her, and eventually, one of the beams struck Ajatarmon. She was sent skidding across the ground and de-digivolved back to Palmon.
"If you two won't fight then leave," Ogremon said, readying his club. "Go back to the real world and hide, or whatever it is you cowards have been doing, but you're only in the way."
"We aren't cowards," I spat back.
"Then get in there and fight. Forget about the mistakes you've made. You can't change the past, but you can ensure that you still have a future. You have to fight to survive!"
He ran towards MetalGreymon and swung his club like a boomerang. It bounced off her steel helmet, not even so much as leaving a dent. The club spun back down and Ogremon jumped up to catch it.
I turned to Gammamon and said, "Everyone's been knocked out."
"I know…" he replied softly. "I'm scared, though."
"I am too, but we're the only ones who can still fight." I watched as the others were scurrying to gather up their fallen Digimon and get out of the battlefield before MetalGreymon took notice of them. "I think that Ogremon's right. We can't go back and stop you from ever taking that form. We just have to keep going."
I sat my backpack down and pulled Gammamon out, holding him up so we were at eye level. "I believe in you, buddy," I said. "I trust that you won't turn back into that thing. You're my best friend and I know that you have the power to stop MetalGreymon."
Gammamon turned and we watched as Ogremon battled our massive foe. MetalGreymon launched her metal claw at him, the talons digging into the gridded glass-like ground. Ogremon leaped out of the way just in time and punched the air, sending out a burst of energy at the underside of her jaw. She grunted from the impact and swung her claws at him again, but he continued to evade her.
Gammamon watched wide-eyed as Ogremon didn't stop fighting this impossible foe. We knew he wouldn't be able to win, but he didn't stop fighting regardless. "Piper…"
"Will you fight beside me, Gammamon?" I asked him.
He looked back at me with determination in his eyes, as if a flame long burnt out had just been rekindled. He nodded and said, "I'm going to make her go kaboom!"
He flew out of my hands and made his way over to the fight. Both Gammamon and my Digivice began to glow, and my partner cried out, "Gammamon digivolve to… BetelGammamon."
BetelGammamon ran up to Ogremon and stood beside him. "Sorshot!" he yelled as he threw fireballs at MetalGreymon. It felt like ages since I had seen BetelGammamon, and right then, I couldn't have been happier.
"Finally came to your senses, eh?" Ogremon said with a chuckle.
MetalGreymon fired her Gigastorm at them but the two split up and managed to stay out of the line of fire.
"Let's show her that we aren't afraid anymore," I called out. "Give it everything you've got, BetelGammamon! Just remember; Keep moving forward-"
"And never look back!" he finished, hurling a fireball at MetalGreymon.
"It doesn't matter what you do," MetalGreymon bellowed. "This battle will be over when I destroy the human. Giga Blaster!" Two missiles shot out of her chest and were aimed at me. Time seemed to stand still for just a brief moment as I watched the oncoming missiles. BetelGammamon was running back toward me, but I knew that he wasn't going to make it in time.
Somehow, this all seemed a bit too familiar to me. Hadn't something like this happened before? I recalled my first trip to Cyberspace and the battle with Argomon. That was the first time that Gammamon had digivolved into BetelGammamon. How many life-or-death situations had I been in since then? It was more than I could count.
But I knew one thing was for certain; the battle was far from over. I refused to quit fighting.
"I won't die here!" I screamed out to the missiles coming my way. "Not after everything I've been through. This isn't where it's going to end. I'm not afraid of you, MetalGreymon!"
My Digivice began to glow, as did BetelGammamon. Light erupted from him and I had to shield my eyes from the brightness. I felt a warmth all around and I heard the missiles strike something and explode, but I never felt the flames.
Suddenly, it was dark. I opened my eyes but all I could see was blackness. I nearly panicked at first, fearful that I was dead. I looked up and saw light peaking in, and I watched in awe as the sky opened up and giant draconian wings spread out from where they had shielded me from MetalGreymon's missiles. A long neck stretched up high and all I could do was gape at what my partner had transformed into.
He had become a giant, white dragon. Red scales lined the front of his neck and stomach, long horns protruded from his head and snout, and his claws glowed with a mysterious energy.
"Gammamon?" I called out cautiously, fearful that this may be yet another uncontrollable form. He lowered his head down to look at me and our eyes locked, and while I can't explain it, I just knew that he was still my Gammamon.
"I am Canoweissmon, now," his booming voice replied.
Canoweissmon helped me onto his back and I wrapped my arms around his neck. MetalGreymon roared and Canoweissmon did the same, the two dragons sizing each other up.
"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon growled as twin missiles shot out of her chest.
Canoweissmon flew up at the last second and avoided the missiles but MetalGreymon just launched more at us. From high in the sky, Canoweissmon spread his wings and began to glow. Bolts of light shot out of his wings and rained down on MetalGreymon like a meteor shower.
"Meteor Lux!" he shouted as his meteors of light hit not only MetalGreymon, but also the missiles she was firing at us. The missiles exploded upon impact, creating a massive smokescreen. Despite her torn wings, MetalGreymon flew up and shot out of the smoke. Her metal claw fired out of her arm, talons aimed at us. Canoweissmon grabbed the claw right before it could hit us and pulled MetalGreymon by the chain over to us.
She allowed herself to get dragged over to Canoweissmon and she opened up her jaws, ready to sink them into him.
"She's coming," I warned, tightening my grip around his neck.
"Just what I was hoping for," he replied as he let go of the chain. His claws began to glow and just before she could reach us, he called out, "Gallia Fissure!" and swung his glowing claws at her, raking her across the face. Unlike all of our previous attacks against MetalGreymon, the claws dug through the armor and left three noticeable slash marks across her helmet.
She faltered and fell back to the ground, landing on her feet. "How?" She demanded. "My armor is impenetrable. It's chrome digizoid!"
"My claws destroy chrome digizoid," Canoweissmon said.
"It's over, MetalGreymon," I added. "You can't beat us."
"That's what you think, puny human. Giga Storm!" she straightened her back and fired her twin beams again.
Canoweissmon's body flared with energy and I could feel a warmth radiating from him. His body glowed a bright red and he opened his jaws, energy gathering in his mouth. "Gran Nova!" he cried out as he unleashed a massive fireball. The ball of fire was so bright that I had to turn away. It was like looking into the sun.
The beams and the fireball collided. The beams started to push Canoweissmon's fireball back, but the flames suddenly started to grow brighter. The body of the fireball grew bigger as if it were absorbing the power from MetalGeymon's attack. Canoweissmon's Gran Nova continued to advance and absorb more of the twin beams.
"This is impossible!" she bellowed. "How are you doing this? Where did all this power come from?" She tried to feed more energy into her attack, but it only strengthened ours. Soon, the fireball completely enveloped MetalGreymon, generating a blinding explosion.
When the light faded, MetalGreymon had collapsed and was laying in a crumpled-up heap. We waited with baited breaths, but MetalGreymon didn't stirr. She was unable to continue fighting.
The battle was finally won.
Canoweissmon readied another Meteor Lux, when we saw Renamon teleport by the fallen MetalGreymon. Renamon placed a hand on her forehead and in the blink of an eye - they vanished. Cannoweiassmon ceased his attack. He lowered us to the ground and I slid off his back, still a little dizzy from the flight.
"You were amazing, buddy!" I said, hugging his leg tightly.
The others had just returned their Digimon to their Digivices and were running up to us as well. Deckard was the first to reach us and he was grinning widely. "You guys did it! And it looks like Gammamon's not afraid to digivolve anymore. I knew you two would pull through this funk."
I blushed at the kind words. Deckard's smile softened slightly as he shoved his hands into his pocket, nervously. "Yeah, that was really cool, Piper…" He muttered. We turned away from each other sheepishly. I guess we still weren't on the best of terms.
Tobias, Sophie, and Riley reached us as well and were looking over Canoweissmon. Sophie pulled me into a tight hug. When she let go, Tobias grabbed me and gave me a rough noogie. I groaned and pushed him away.
"You mean to tell me that you had that kind of power up your sleeve, and you never used it?" Tobias asked playfully. "Holding out on us, huh?"
"Not bad, you two. Not bad at all," Riley said.
Ogremon was the last to approach us. He looked worn out from the fight and had a few scuff marks on him, but he seemed to be in good spirits. "That was impressive."
"Ogremon, thank you so much for your help back there," I said. "We couldn't have done any of that without you."
"Eh. You just needed a push in the right direction."
"Why don't you come with us?"
He arched an eyebrow at me. "You want me to do what now?"
"Join our crew. With you on board, we'll be unstoppable." I turned to Canoweissmon. "I thought we made a pretty good team out there, don't you agree?"
He glanced at the ground and mulled it over. "It's true that I no longer have a master to serve and have been directionless for some time. I suppose I could lend you my assistance, but you'd better pull your weight too."
"You just saw that Canoweissmon and I can do that easily."
"You're right about that. Fine then, I'll stick around."
Canoweissmon de-digivolved back into Gammamon and he and Ogremon returned to my Digivice to rest. With everyone gathered together, we warped back into the real world. Aunt Ruby had just picked her phone back up and we all appeared beside her, making her jump in surprise.
"A warning would have been nice," she chided with a relieved smile.
"You're not going to believe what happened in there-" I began but was interrupted by an old, green Lexus honking and pulling up to us. I immediately recognized it as Lloyd's car. He came to a sharp stop, quickly got out, and motioned for us over.
"They ordered a full evacuation of the town," he said. "We should probably get going, too."
"But we took care of MetalGreymon," I argued.
"That's great, but we don't want to be hanging around when the authorities arrive. I have no idea if anyone knows about your connection to the Digimon, but we should probably get out of here to be on the safe side." He looked around at everyone and asked, "How many of you need a lift?"
"Where are we going?" Riley asked.
"My brother's and his wife's home. They live in the next town over, Sycamore, and they have plenty of room for us. They're both away on vacation, but I have a spare key and they won't mind us staying there - with this being an emergency and all."
I vaguely remembered Lloyd mentioning in passing that he had a brother, but it was one of those details I never bothered to commit to memory. I just didn't figure it would be important to me, I suppose.
"You kids should probably let your families know where you are," he continued.
"I'll call Dad on the way," Sophie said. "Deckard, do you want to come with me?"
"Yeah, sounds good," he said. "I'll give Mom a call on the way there."
Tobias sighed. "I just dropped my car off for an oil change. Can I bum a ride off of you guys for now?" he asked.
"Of course, you can," Aunt Ruby replied. "Does anyone else want to come with us? We need to hurry."
"I'll go with you guys," Riley said, which surprised me. I figured he would have rather gotten a ride with Sophie so he wouldn't be stuck in the back with two other people, but then I remembered their argument from the night before and knew it would be a better idea for them to have some space.
We got in our respective cars and headed out for Sycamore. I sat between Tobias and Riley as we rode down. Tobias pulled out his wireless earbuds and offered one of them to me. I accepted happily, as Lloyd was listening to some country music - a genre I wasn't really a fan of. Tobias mainly listened to synthrock, which I was starting to get into more by hanging out with him.
We drove for a long time. I checked my watch and saw that about forty-two minutes had passed since we began our trip. Tobias had leaned his head against the window and dozed off. Aunt Ruby and Lloyd were deep in a conversation and I didn't want to bother them. I turned to Riley, who was staring absentmindedly out the window while listening to something with his wireless headphones as well.
"What is it?" He asked when he noticed me looking at him.
"Why did you only want my help this morning with dealing with Cyberdramon?" I replied.
"Because I trust you."
"Really?"
"Don't let it go to your head. I still think you're kind of annoying."
"Only 'kind of,' huh? So I don't annoy you as much as I used to?"
He paused and shifted his gaze back out the window. "No, you don't. At least, not anymore."
I decided not to press him anymore about the subject. I knew it took a lot for him to even say those things to me, so I figured I should go ahead and give him some more space. I was beginning to figure out how to stay on his good side at least.
According to Lloyd's GPS, we were only about fifteen minutes away from his brother's house. I rested my head back and listened to Tobias's music, occasionally tapping my foot to the beat. I let my mind wander as I fought off the need for sleep. I hadn't gotten much that night, and I was dying to shut my eyes and doze off, but I figured I could just rest once we got there. I hated sleeping in the car anyway. I could never get comfortable enough.
Then my mind wandered back to the Digimon. I hoped that there wouldn't be any more trouble with them now that the town was evacuated, but who knew what plans Vulturemon could have scheming.
I wondered then how long it would be before we could return home. What was the news coverage going to look like? Were any of us seen fighting MetalGreymon?
A dozen questions filled my mind, but I knew at that moment that there was nothing I could do. We would just have to leave home and hope for the best. Surely they wouldn't keep us out of Twin Rivers forever…
Would they?
