48

Threats

They lumber through the night

With their elephantine tread;

I shudder in affright

As I cower in my bed.

They lift colossal wings

On the high gambrel roofs

Which tremble to the trample

Of their mastadonic hoofs.

- Robert E. Howard, "Out of the Old Land"

"You've done well, Chosen Children. I should have known my servants had no chance."

"Who are you?" Taichi asked.

"What are you doing in this world?" added Yamato.

"Haven't you heard what we've been doing?" she replied with a smile. "We came to this world to kill and torture as many humans as we could. As for who I am, my name is Lilithmon. I am the queen of darkness, and your lives are mine for the taking, children."

"Not while we're here," Piyomon piped up. "Magical Fire!"

"Baby Flame!"

"Petit Fire!"

The green, orange, and blue flames converged on Lilithmon, but fizzled out on contact with her chest and torso, leaving no mark behind. The demoness closed her eyes and gave a low moan as if just coming in from the cold. She followed it with a brief titter.

"That tickled," she said, opening her eyes and looking down at them again. "You're all so cute. I could just eat you up." She spread her arms. "Darkness Love…"

A wave of grayness swept out of the sky, flowing over the Chosen Children and their partners. Its effect on the humans was difficult to describe. It was almost a pleasing sensation, but that just made it more disgusting. In that moment they felt strangely exposed, somehow indecent. The Digimon, on the other hand, simply devolved, returning to their Baby II forms and Plotmon without any other effect. Lilithmon laughed again.

"Save your energy for later," she said. "I'm going home to set up a game for you."

"A game!?" Daisuke growled. Logically there was nothing they could do at the moment, but the enemy's attitude angered him, and he wanted to let her know.

"Maybe we don't want to play," Sora said grimly.

"You'll have to, if you want the violence to stop," Lilithmon retorted. "If you don't come, we'll just keep killing until you change your mind."

When they didn't immediately reply, she continued.

"Tomorrow night I'll send a messenger who will lead you to me. I hope you'll come… We'll have so much fun."

So saying, she ascended, soon disappearing from sight as she passed over the apartment building.

The Chosen Children and their partners were silent for a minute or so. When it became clear that the enemy was gone, there was quiet discussion as they took stock of the situation. For most of the Digimon, the damage was nothing they hadn't taken before. With their devolution the marks of violence had already begun to fade, leaving them hungry and tired.

Koshiro was worried about Mochimon, however. When he did manage to speak, the little pink Digimon was almost incoherent, as though talking in his sleep. Phelesmon's final attack had taken a mental as well as physical toll. But Koshiro remained patient, and eventually there were signs of his partner coming back to his full senses.

"Thanks for showing up," Taichi said, resting a hand on Koshiro's shoulder. "I hope Mochimon can pull out of this."

"I think he will," Koshiro replied. "There doesn't seem to be any permanent damage… at least, that's what I hope." There was a pause. "I would have been here sooner, but I finished Gennai-san's program."

"Now we'll know where the enemy is?" Daisuke asked. He had caught the last part of the conversation, and leaned forward eagerly. Since the end of the battle he had been feeling morose over his inability to have been of much use. Taking the offensive would make him feel much better.

"Well," Koshiro said, "If the enemy continues to bring Dark Towers into the Digital World, we should be able to at least narrow their location down to a reasonable area for you to search. If all goes well, we should be ready to find the enemy base by some time tomorrow."

"Alright! We should let the others know."

"I'll contact them through the D-Terminal once Mochimon is better. For now, it might be best if we started resting up for the coming battles."

"Speaking of which," Sora said, "What are we going to do about that Digimon from just now?"

"Can we really follow her messenger, knowing that it's a trap?" Yamato asked.

"Doesn't seem like we have a choice," Taichi answered. "We'll just have to be very careful. Maybe by that time Daisuke and the rest will have been able to defeat the enemies in the Digital World, and we can beat the rest in the human world."

"I'll look Lilithmon up on the Digimon Analyzer when I get home," Koshiro told the others. "Maybe it can help us come up with some sort of plan to fight her."

Koshiro left once his partner was again fully lucid, though still weak.

"If Lilithmon was telling the truth," he told the others before he went, "then we won't have to worry about further attacks on us personally until tomorrow night. She may have been lying, but hopefully we'll have the entire night to rest."

They all knew that it was an empty hope. If they were not being attacked physically, they would still be attacked beyond the wall of sleep, no matter how much they pretended that they had just a normal, peaceful night to look forward to. In a few more minutes they had split up again, walking back to their respective apartments and carrying their respective partners. Their families would be wanting to know that they were alright.

Sora led Mimi back into the center building, and Yamato walked back into his own. Daisuke went up the elevator with the Yagami siblings, but this time he did not accompany them to their door. Taichi gave Daisuke a reassuring pat on the back as they parted ways, but said nothing. Hikari neither said nor did anything, little more than her brother's shadow. Soon the doors of the apartments were all closed again.

Koshiro made sure Mochimon was comfortable on the bed before he checked the Digimon Analyzer. He plugged in his Digivice and called up the most recent Digimon he had seen.

LILITHMON

Ultimate Level

Demon Lord Digimon

Special Attack: Phantom Pain, Nazar Nail

Koshiro read it, then leaned back heavily in his chair. He ran his fingers through his hair and thought of what this might mean. So the enemy did have Ultimate-level Digimon among their ranks. It was no wonder Lilimon and the others were defeated so easily. The Digimon's type, Demon Lord, caught his attention as well. There were only two other Digimon the Chosen Children had ever encountered with that type: Demon and BelialVamdemon, two dark Digimon so powerful that they could not be defeated through normal means.

Koshiro leaned forward again and began typing. If he and the others were to have any hope of defeating this Lilithmon, they would need the ability to evolve to Ultimate. In 2002, Qinglongmon had been able to provide the energy needed for Agumon to Warp Evolve, and as the balance of the Digital World righted itself in the wake of BelialVamdemon's destruction, both Agumon and Gabumon had regained the ability to reach the Ultimate level. Soon Koshiro was back in the chat with Gennai.

Koshiro: Gennai-san, an Ultimate-level Digimon has appeared in the human world. Are Agumon and Gabumon still able to Warp Evolve?

Gennai: I am not sure, with the amount of dark energy in the Digital World rising. I will contact the Holy Beasts and see if they can help. I'll also be watching for the enemy to make another move, so that we can track them down.

Koshiro: We're counting on you, Gennai-san. This Ultimate Digimon has challenged us to a battle tomorrow night, so we will need WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon by then.

Gennai: I'll be working on it. For now you should stop worrying about everything and get to bed.

Koshiro didn't respond for a few moments. He was debating whether to mention the futility of doing so, but in the end all he put was, I will, before signing out of the chat. He closed the lid of the laptop, but did not shut it down. If the night became sleepless, he might need it to while the hours away. It's what he found himself hoping for.

Anzu said goodbye to her friends when still some distance away from her apartment building. She really didn't mind walking home by herself. It was a new tradition for her this summer, and she enjoyed taking her time as the city's activity wound down, reflecting on the events of the day as she walked. She had maybe stayed out a little late tonight, but that wasn't a big deal on summer break. She didn't know what her parents were so worked up about. Now that she was a middle-school student, she deserved some freedoms.

She was actually less eager to get home than usual. The past few nights had been a little restless for her. She had weird dreams. Today the subject had come up among herself and her friends, who said they also had been having trouble sleeping. Chinatsu had made a bad joke about the possibility of some sort of "nightmare sickness" going around, and they had spent an hour or so recounting to each other the dreams they could remember.

Maybe it was thinking about that conversation, but Anzu soon found herself picking up her pace. Her parents would be worried, and she'd rather not have to put up with them much tonight. If she didn't want to sleep immediately she didn't have to.

She had spent her first week or so of August evenings finding as many new and interesting ways of getting home as she could, and by now knew what shortcuts to take to cut back on her time. She was more than halfway down the last alley when it happened. Something slid down from above, its shapeless bulk brushing against the sides of the two buildings that framed the alleyway. The light from the main thoroughfare was behind it, so no details could be seen, but as it reached the pavement there was a thud and a loud clicking sound.

Initially Anzu was frozen. Her brain had trouble processing what she was seeing. It took her a moment to realize that the thing was still moving, and that it was therefore alive. It seemed to be moving away from her, and she had hopes of escaping its notice. But something was wrong. The object really was growing smaller, but the surroundings showed her that it was actually moving toward her. She couldn't tell what it was, but she could see now that it had a form of some kind, with arms and legs.

That realization broke her paralysis, and she began stumbling backwards, wanting to get away but unwilling to turn her back on it lest it should pounce when she was no longer looking. They passed that way through the darkest part of the alley, and as the light grew, she could make out more details. It came capering forward, feet clicking as they kicked the concrete. The proportions of the thing were all wrong for a human, and she could see shrinking wings disappearing behind the main body. It occurred to her then that she didn't want to see it any clearer.

When the thing laughed, her composure broke entirely and she turned to run out of the alleyway. The throaty, liquid sound continued behind her, then suddenly stopped as she felt misshapen fingers fasten themselves in her hair. The other appendage grabbed her arm and spun her roughly around. She hit the pavement with the breath knocked out of her. When she saw the goatish face leaning over her, she opened her mouth to scream, but the furry palm clamped down on her mouth before she could.