Chapter 5: Uprooted
Taikei opened up his locker to find a shoebox that was labeled "Taikei" Taikei sighed "really? Boundless resources and they give us our gear in a shoebox from 1998" Taikei grabbed the box and opened it, there was a small black card devoid of any features sitting on top of his uniform "the hell is this thing?" Taikei pondered as he studied it "that's a Trace Card" a voice from behind Taikei answered. Taikei turned around to see Daichi "oh...well, what does a Tracer Card do?" Daichi was about to answer when a voice from behind him interjected "they can open anything that requires a keycard" Taikei looked behind Daichi to see Akira glaring at him. Akira walked over to them "they're usually reserved for high ranking espionage Agents, but I guess anybody can get them now" Taikei scoffed in response "they gave one to you didn't they?" Akira punched him in the arm and chuckled. A voice cut through the merriment "yeah, now they'll just give them to any punk off the street".
Taikei arrived in the hangar where a transport ship was waiting, he felt a little sick from going through the Tube but he kept it together. Taikei walked over to it but someone bumped into him causing him to drop his Digivice, the person kept walking "hey, watch where you're going" Taikei said aloud with the person, who Taikei could now see was Mamoru. Taikei picked up his Digivice and noticed Veemon walking up to him. each step was charged with enthusiasm, Veemon has a large backpack strapped to his back "Taikei! Look what I brought!" Veemon rushed over and opened the backpack "it's our first real mission so I brought snacks, I got sandwiches" Taikei nodded "can I have one?" Taikei asked with Veemon smiling at him "I ate them!" Taikei sighed "of course you did" Veemon kept digging "I have trail mix, chips, do you want a burger?" Taikei shrugged "sure" Taikei held out his hand and Veemon placed a nearly flat burger with no wrapping in his hand "welp, better than nothing" Taikei said before taking a bite. Taikei and Veemon boarded the ship and sat next to Aiko and Tentomon, Veemon dug into the bag and pulled out a bag of trail mix offering it to Tentomon who declined. Taikei noticed that Mamoru and Akira were keeping their distance and were conversing while glaring at him, Taikei sighed "man, am I really that hated now?" Aiko responded "yes, it's because of your actions that we are all in this situation of limbo-employment, people like Mamoru and Akira who are more emotionally expressive will make this more apparent to you" Taikei looked down then asked "do you feel that way?" Aiko responded in a cold manner "no, not in the slightest" Taikei couldn't tell if she was behing sarcastic or not which worried him.
Keiko climbed aboard and briefed everyone "alright everyone, this DATS Facility will be heavily guarded, so stay in character and don't draw attention to yourselves, also, there's a village about ten klicks North of the facility, we don't want to frighten the locals so be sure to be discreet". The carrier began to take off as the hangar door opened, the cold wind of the mountains wrapped around the ship, even inside the air got to everyone. The ship took off at such a speed that it nearly floored everyone, Taikei managed to hang on to the netting of the ship, Veemon was not so lucky and slammed into the cargo door. The ship stabilized and everyone recovered "man, if that cargo door opened-" Taikei was interrupted by Mamoru "we wouldn't have two pieces of dead weight onboard" Takei sighed "let it go Taikei". The ship began to slow as the approached the facility "look alive team we're dropping in three twoooo- what is that?" Keiko suddenly whispered. everyone else looked out to see the fairly large facility was completely overrun with tube-like appendages, the appendages were wrapped and piercing almost every window and wall. Taikei looked at Keiko who was biting at her nails, Taikei looked around and saw a small patch on top of the building that was unbothered "there, drop us off there" the pilot nodded and brought them down.
The team dropped and Aiko took out a tablet, she attached a scanner to it and began to analyze the tubes "they're comprised of Plant Data, they are a part of a Digimon" Mamoru touched a tube "these things are coming from a Digimon?" Taikei looked around and saw the staircase that led into the building, Taikei walked over to see that it was overrun with vines "damn" Taikei whispered before looking around to notice the ventilation system. Taikei walked over and pried open the vent, Taikei looked i side to see that it was spotless "hey guys, I found our way in" Aiko approached the vent but was stopped by Mamoru "hey...don't trust what he says, he might try to betray you again" Aiko looked at Mamoru "that is very unlikely, considering he was already pardoned once so he would not risk another time" Mamoru deflated in stature "do you always have to be so logical?" Aiko responded "someone has to be".
Aiko scanned the vent "this area is clear" Taikei hopped into the vent with Mamoru making a remark "good, he's going first, so if he gets in trouble we can all run the other way" Taikei shot him a glare and Mamoru tried to chest up "what? You got something to say?" Taikei said nothing and slid down the vent. Taikei landed and saw that the vents were still clear "it's clean, all the way through" Taikei said through the vent to the others. Aiko followed, then Daichi, and finally Mamoru and Akira. Taikei maneuvered through the vent with Keiko calling him through his earpiece "what's your status?" Keiko asked with Taikei responding "nothing to report so far" Taikei looked through an opening in the vent and he almost fell back "I got a visual of the agents stationed here..." Keiko responded "what? Where are they?" Taikei answered the question "I'm sending a visual" Taikei pointed his Digivice in the opening and Keiko saw the agents strung up in cocoons, something was draining from them. Taikei pulled back and the group kept moving "we have to find a safe exit and find those files" Aiko said with Akira looking around "easier said than done, this place is infested with those vines". Just as she said that a giant vine smashed through the vent and grabbed Daichi pulling him out of the vent, Mamoru acted quickly and grabbed onto Daichi's arm pulling it.
Taikei looked back "oh man, this is not good" Taikei pointed his Digivice "Veemon, Realise!" Veemon popped out of the Digivice "Veemon, smash through this vent!" Veemon looked back and nodded before spinning his fist and smashing the vent open "Aiko, let's sever that vine" Aiko nodded and jumped onto the vine with Tentomon following behind. Aiko flicked her DNA Charge onto her hand and reeled back, her and Tentomon struck one spot of the vine at the same time completely severing it. Daichi still fell as did Mamoru hitting the ground with a comedic thud "ouch, that hurt" Daichi said while rubbing his head, Taikei jumped down with Veemon and Akira "okay, looks like stealth isn't an option" Taikei said before multiple vines came down and surrounded the group, a strange voice seemed to trap them "aaaahhhh, it seems that I have caught more tasty morsels" everyone looked up and saw it, it was a giant yellow face, with jagged teeth and small eyes with flower petals around the edge "what the hell is that thing?" Taikei asked with Aiko answering "this Digimon is known as Blossomon, an Ultimate level Plant Digimon" Mamoru interjected "so it's powerful" Aiko nodded "however, I have never seen a specimen of this scale" Blossomon giggled "yeeees, those of my kind could never dream of becoming this powerful, but feeding on the DNA of the people in this place has given me untold amounts of power!" Blossomon opened its mouth and tendrils shot out, Aiko acted quickly "Tentomon, Umbrella Formation!" Tentomon sprung into action and opened its wings "Electro Dome!" Tentomon said as an electric barrier covered everyone, the tendrils hit it and it sent a shockwave through them and into Blossomon who was barely stunned, but it was enough "Veemon, go for it!" Taikei shouted with Veemon nodding and jumping up while winding up his fist "Boom Boom Punch!" Veemon smashed Blossomon through the ceiling and into the upper floor.
Taikei jumped up after Veemon "you guys get that file, me and Veemon'll take care of this guy" Aiko opened something on her tablet "this file is on the third floor, we are on the twelfth" Akira responded "so we have a long way to go, Aiko corrected her "Daichi and I have a long way to go, you and Mamoru should assist Taikei" Mamoru protested "no way, I'm not working close to him, he might try something" Aiko responded "we have no time to argue, I recommend you give Taikei your support, Keramon and Impmon are the most combat effective Digimon on our squad aside from Veemon" Mamoru tried to object "you guys will need protection" Daichi finally spoke up "Mamoru stop it!" Mamoru was stunned "Daichi?" Daichi tried to stop himself from crying "n-no! You need to grow up, Taikei is on our side, I believe in him, I can feel it so stop with being a child and help him!" Mamoru backed up and looked down "Daichi..." Daichi stood there "please, if Taikei dies, it's all on us, and it's all because you were so stubborn as to not atleast help him, you don't need to trust him but you can help!"
Taikei and Veemon stared Blossomon down "heh, you have fight in you, those type are so delicious" Blossomon launched tendrils at Taikei and Veemon. the tendrils impaled the otherside of the room "hahhah, looks like there wasn't much fight afterall" Blossomon's expression changed from smug to worry when they noticed Taikei and Veemon were nowhere to be seen, Blossomon looked up to see Veemon swinging through the vines but couldn't do anything to stop him, Veemon reeled back and punched Blossomon knocking it back into a wall. Taikei jumped down from the ceiling "we're too hot to handle for your tastes" Blossomon's eyes widened and its eyes became bloodshot "you! You will not make a fool out of me!" Blossomon summoned vines that had mouths on them "y'know I could never have taken this place alone, but my Master makes sure we never operate alone" the mouths opened and began to drop oval shaped objects all over the floor, about 60 of them that opened up to reveal Digimon inside, they were goblin-like with clubs in their hands. Taikei and Veemon backed up "that's definitely not good" the goblin Digimon looked at Taikei and Veemon, one roared and all of them charged.
Akira looked up at the hole after Daichi's outburst and gritted her teeth "oh screw this, if he dies then he'll haunt me forever!" Akira shouted before jumping into the hole "please Mamoru, just find a reason, if you don't, we'll all suffer, you don't have to like him, you just need to help..." Mamoru clenched his fist "fine! But only because you asked me to!" Mamoru jumped up hanging onto a piece of debris and swinging up only to get blindsided by a goblin getting smacked in the face by a club and was tossed across the ground "ow..." Mamoru whimpered. Veemon punched one of the goblins and knocked it into a group taking out all of them, Impmon summoned a ball of ice and froze a handful of them, and Keramon flew overhead bombarding the small army. Akira backed away from a group of them "Goblimon, these guys are nasty little things" a group of Goblimon jumped up and grabbed onto Keramon dragging it down "Keramon!" Mamoru yelled with Keramon trying its hardest to break free. Veemon jumped up and with one fierce kicked knocked the Goblimon off of Keramon "yeah! Good job buddy!" Veemon gave Taikei a thumbs up but his attention was grabbed by a large figure raising a weapon, Veemon jumped away, the assailant was large ape-like Digimon with yellow fur and a bone club. Akira looked at the Digimon "that's an Apemon, Champion level" Taikei smirked as did Veemon "good" they both said with Veemon jumping up and punching Apemon knocking it down "whoa" Mamoru whispered.
Aiko and Daichi made their way down the building as the commotion upstairs distracted Blossomon "we are four floors away from our destination, we must keep moving" Aiko said with Daichi responded "right, I hope they're okay up there". Veemon springed off of a Goblimon's head and spun his fist "Boom Boom Punch!" Veemon then punched an Apemon sending it flying into a group of Goblimon. Taikei kicked a Goblimon back "we're thinning them out!" Mamoru said as Keramon swallowed one whole, Blossomon began to giggle "that was just one platoon, this is the real army!" the mouth vines lined on the ground and opened up where a swarm of Goblimon rushed out at them. Veemon stepped up and punched the nearest one sending it flying back but the horde kept coming overwhelming Veemon, Taikei ignited his DNA Charge and slammed it onto is Digivice, Veemon's voice came through the swarm "Veemon Digivolve to..." Veedramon suddenly burst out of the horde with a mighty uppercut sending the droves of Goblimon flying in every direction.
Veedramon swung his tail and knocked scores of them away. Blossomon watched with worry "I must bring my core here, this one is too powerful!" Blossomon opened its mouth and fired an energy beam from its which Veedramon saw and responded with his own blast of blue energy cutting through Blossomon's and exploding upon contact with Blossomon Blossomon's eyes twitched as the scorch mark on its head smoked and sizzled "you...harmed me" Blossomon began to lose it "how-how dare you?!" Blossomon's eyes rolled back into its head and the vines around the group began to shake, the lights above them began to flicker some even bursting into a cascade of glass. A bulb filled with a ghostly light travelled through a vine and into Blossomon's giant head, Blossomon's eyes returned to normal and it opened its mouth again charging a beam. Blossomon suddenly turned around and aimed at the town in the distance "BEHOLD THE POWER OF DNA!" Blossomon yelled with Taikei running forward "stop it!" Blossomon unleashed a blast so bright it made everyone shut their eyes.
The impact sent a shockwave that reached all the way back to the HQ, the force knocked Taikei back and shattered every single window in the building. The glow faded and everyone opened their eyes to see the horror, the town was gone, all that was left was a smoking crater in the ground "you...killed all of those people" Taikei said in shock with Blossomon cackling "Oh, it is a shame, I was so hoping to destroy that village up close, but I guess the result is still the same" Taikei got up and ran to the window looking out, the smell of smoke and ash was beginning to invade Taikei's nose. Taikei gripped the window sill, his rage beginning to manifest in his right hand as DNA, in one swift motion Taikei ended Blossomon's cackling with a right cross that left a mark on Blossomon's cheek, Blossomon's eyes darted to Taikei and it lunged at him but was brought to a halt by Veedramon who grabbed Blossomon by the face and began punching it repeatedly "get em Veedramon! Make em pay!" Veedramon grabbed Blossomon with his other hand and jumped slamming Blossomon into the ceiling then slamming it into the floor when he came back down.
Meanwhile in the lower levels
Aiko and Daichi felt the entire building shake around them "that battle is getting intense" Daichi said with Betamon cowering behind his leg. Aiko flipped through her tablet in a frenzy "that was a massive release of energy just now, what is happening up there?" At this point the vines were so thick that they were covering the windows so there was very little light, the only light was coming from the glowing bulbs of energy and most of those moved upstairs. Strange Purple vines were hanging from the ceiling, Aiko looked to Daichi "don't touch those" Aiko looked around "this floor is just above where we need to be" Aiko moved toward the stairs but saw that it was blocked off by vines "that is unfortunate" Daichi ran over "w-w-we have a problem" Daichi pointed and Aiko looked back to see something lurking in the dark "this is not good, it's a Digimon, one perfect for hunting us here, in the dark" the Digimon was large and bipedal, it's arms had spike-like apendages that had membrane attached to it resembling wings and its fingers were tipped with curved claws, it had a bat-like head and its eyes were milky white "Vespertimon" Aiko whispered.
Aiko studied the Digimon carefully, it had white fur on its head and a large orange mane around it's neck, it clicked and screeched around darting it's ears, Aiko grabbed Daichi's wrist and led him to a corner "it relies on echo location, stay as quiet as possible". Daichi did his best to keep silent as Vespertimon slowly skulked by, as it passed Aiko grabbed a piece of debris and threw it down the hall, the clang and clatter of the piece caught Vespertimon's attention and it barreled toward the sound, the sound of it's screeching became more distant. Daichi sighed and began to move...he tripped on a vine and went crashing to the floor with a loud bang, Aiko could hear Vespertimon stop and a deafening screech, she screamed at Daichi "Run!" Aiko and Daichi started running down the hall with Vespertimon charging after them. Vespertimon was getting closer and closer until Daichi could feel it's breath on his neck Aiko pushed Daichi out of the way and dove in the opposite direction causing Vespertimon to miss its lunge. Vespertimon fumbled on the ground but recovered, Aiko stomped her foot creating noise, Vespertimon lunged and Aiko dodged it by crouching down as low as she could, she then dove forward and rolled getting to her feet.
Vespertimon turned and lunged again with Aiko sidestepping and Vespertimon runnung right into a purple vine, the vine contracted and wrapped Vespertimon restricting its movement, multiple other vines rained from the roof and attacked Vespertimon, Vespertimon tried to fight back but the vines wrapped it up and raised it to the roof and binding it. Vespertimon whimpered as it struggled, Aiko dusted herself off and motioned for Daichi to follow. Daichi looked at Vespertimon "Betamon, do it" Betamon nodded and shot electricity at Vespertimon striking it and turning it into a Digiegg, the egg fell and Daichi caught it, Daichi scanned the Digiegg and it went into his Digivice. Aiko studied the vines "Daichi, have Betamon aim at that spot" she pointed at where the purple vines were emerging, Daichi instructed Betamon and Aiko did the sams with Tentomom, the purple vines began to wither and curl as a hole began to form "just as I thought, structural integrity is not as up to par as other places because those vines need to be maleable". Aiko lifted her hands and grabbed onto Tentomon's legs as it hovered them up, Daichi grabbed Aiko's ankles and Betamon grabbed onto Daichi.
Veedramon lifted Blossomon and reeled back his fist "Graaaah!" Veedramon roared and punched Blossomon sending it crashing to the floor "How dare you!" Blossomon screamed, a massive swarm of vines broke through the floor attacking Veedramon, Veedramon clawed and blasted through the vines but the swarm was too much, Veedramon's arms and legs were restricted and Blossomon began to laugh "this is the end for you, once I turn you into an egg your power will be mine!" Blossomon opened it's mouth and a ball of energy began to form, Veedramon responded by charging his own energy ball. Blossomon commanded vines to keep Veedramon's mouth shut. Taikei jumped up and pulled at the vines "I'll get you out buddy, don't worry" suddenly a ball of fire hit Blossomon distracting it, Blossomon looked over to see Impmon forming another one, it then got hit on the opposite side, it was Keramon. Taikei heard a faint buzzing sound and he looked to see Aiko, Daichi, Tentomon, and Betamon flying towards them. Tentomon flung all of them then spread it's claws "Hard Claw!" Tentomon cut the vines holding Veedramon, Veedramon opened his mouth and a ball of blue light formed in it's mouth, all of the Agents stood infront of Veedramon as it charged. Blossomon shot its own beam and Veedramon finally fired his, the beams collided and Veedramon's sliced through Blossomon's cleanly, the beam made contact and half of Blossomon's face was vaporized "h-how?!" Taikei ran forward seeing Blossomon's core exposed, Taikei jumped off of an elevated part of debris and reeled back, Taikei grabbed the core ripping it out "NOOOOO!!!" Blossomon screeched as it began to crumble away "I was going to finally reach my final form, I just needed moooooore..." Blossomon fell to dust and the building was freed of the vines, the bulbs holding the DATS Agents disappeared "we must leave, before everyone regains conciousness" everyone nodded and made their way to the roof where their carrier was waiting, everyone boarded and it lifted off, Taikei sat in his seat looking at the core in hand, Keiko sat next to him "did you guys get the data?" Taikei and Aiko looked at one another with Aiko nodding "yes, I managed to get into their systems and..." she looked at her tablet "out of all the encrypted files, I can't find anything on the X-Virus" Keiko sighed "that's not good".
Everyone was in the briefing room as the Director on the big screen looked at everyone "looks like this operation was a wild goose chase" Mamoru groaned and Aiko spoke up "it makes no sense that this Blossomon attacked the facility for no reason, it's safe to assume that it was after something, but what?" Taikei stepped forward and held out the core "I think this might be of some use" Aiko approached Taikei and looked at it "that's Blossomon's Memory Core, it holds all the data that Blossomon attained over it's life, maybe..." Aiko took the core "Director. Permission to suspend this meeting and analyze the Memory Core, maybe Blossomon absorbed some information which is why we couldn't find it" The Director thought for a second "Permission granted, hit the showers everyone this meeting is adjourned and we will pick up if Aiko finds anything" the Squad saluted and the Director signed off.
Several Hours Later
The base was quiet, everyone had went to bed except Aiko, her computer illuminated her face as she typed, wires were connecting the Memory Core to her system. Aiko opened a file and began to read it "EUREKA!" She shouted, she rushed out the door and barged into a living quarter, it just so happened to be Daichi "Daichi, wake up, I need to show you something" Daichi rubbed his eyes "what is it?". Aiko rushed out of his room and into another one "Akira, wake up, I found something. The whole crew stood in her lab looking at the computer "you see this? This file seems to be just a file on workplace safety, like a backup for the main one incase it gets lost, but it's not, this is an old DATS trick from back in the day, she then turned the colors negative and text appeared on the screen "this is the complete file of the X-Virus, my working theory is that whoever was controlling Blossomon sent it to find this file but Blossomon didn't catch on so it stayed when it didn't need to" Keiko spoke up "so, what does this mean?" Aiko responded "it means that the mission wasn't a waste, we now have all the research DATS ever did on the X-Virus"...