109

Conflagration

"There had been a collapse of several old brick buildings during a raid in which he has shared, and something about the wholesale loss of life, both of prisoners and of his companions, had peculiarly appalled him." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Horror at Red Hook"

The whole scene was surreal and terrible, like another bad dream. Taichi was lucky to be alive, given how close he and WarGreymon had been when the explosion struck. In another second or two they would have been well into the parking garage and well within the range of the blast. Not even WarGreymon could have shielded his partner from something so utterly unexpected.

The fires were still burning. They lashed at the lower stories of the building, and black smoke billowed upwards into the already dark sky. The cause of all the destruction was unknown, but it was hard for the Chosen Children to avoid thinking it must have some connection with their arrival. Taichi didn't much care what the exact explanation was. His concern – the concern of Koshiro and Mimi too – was that Hikari and the others might have been in the building, either killed or trapped by the explosion.

WarGreymon's body was naturally resistant to great heat, and he had offered immediately to plunge into the inferno to search, but he could only penetrate so far, since using a Gaia Force or Brave Tornado might do more harm than good. He was in the midst of the burning building now, while Taichi stood sweating on the sidelines with clenched fists.

AtlurKabuterimon and his passengers were still aloft. At first they had been unsure of what to do, but before long people started to emerge onto the building's roof, presumably trying to get away from the smoke and heat. The normal exits were all virtually impassable, blocked off by flame. The roof was the only avenue of escape.

Lilimon had rejoined her partner and the others, and it was decided that the Digimon would do what they could to help evacuate people from the roof. Many of the survivors were understandably frightened, and many didn't like the look of AtlurKabuterimon, but the Chosen Children and Lilimon were there to reassure them. Koshiro and Mimi scanned the faces, hoping to recognize some of them, but none of the people were known to them. It occurred to Koshiro that they might unwittingly be abetting their enemies' escape, but they didn't have the option of not aiding the innocent.

For her part, Mimi was recalling the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, which she and a group of American Chosen Children had been present for. It in turn had reminded her at the time of the August 1999 events in Odaiba. Tonight she was struck as never before by the omnipresence of injustice – would there ever be an end to the destruction of evil, which spared no continent and no world? …But she persisted in her efforts in spite of the sickness felt in her heart.

The evacuation progressed slowly, with AtlurKabuterimon ferrying frightened survivors from the rooftop to a nearby street that the fire and debris did not reach. Koshiro worried that the building might collapse at any moment. He couldn't persuade Mimi to seek safety, though, and had to content himself with the knowledge that Lilimon would be there to save her partner if further disaster struck. What would happen to those civilians still on the roof in that event, he didn't like to ponder.

Hopefully Taichi and WarGreymon could get clear if they needed to. Taichi's reply to Koshiro's concerned message had been purely perfunctory, and Koshiro was sure that all his focus was now on saving Daisuke and the rest if they were within the building. Koshiro personally doubted that they were. And if they had been, he doubted that they'd still be alive. Right now he did as Taichi did, and focused on the task at hand, trying to ignore the questions rumbling in the back of his mind.

MetalGarurumon's position made it difficult for him to use his attacks to good effect. The most he could do was try and slow Panimon's momentum, but before he could bring himself and his opponent to a stop Panimon hurled him away. His strength was phenomenal, and undoubtedly that of an Ultimate-level Digimon. MetalGarurumon stabilized himself and faced his enemy. They were in the sky now, and just clear of the park's borders. MetalGarurumon knew that somewhere behind him the smoke was rising from the burning building.

"Come on then," Panimon said. MetalGarurumon didn't need to be told twice.

"Cocytus Breath!"

Panimon went into motion as MetalGarurumon reared back with icy energy gathering in his mouth. When the attack came, it passed harmlessly under its target, and was interrupted when Panimon's huge, hammer-like fists came crashing down on MetalGarurumon's armored head.

"Straighten up!" Panimon said. "This won't be just any battle. Don't you lose without giving me a struggle."

MetalGarurumon said nothing and opened his mouth again, this time to bite with his powerful fangs, but they closed on air when Panimon delivered a swift kick to his jaw.

"You're boring me," Panimon told him. "Let's find your friends and get a real fight started."

MetalGarurumon's response was to leap away and launch another attack. "Garuru Tomahawk!" The plate in his stomach opened and he flipped backwards, launching his most destructive missile. It was on target, but with the effortless speed he'd previously demonstrated Panimon dodged, caught the projectile and spun around, slinging it back at its source with doubled velocity.

A tremendous explosion followed. MetalGarurumon cried out and was lost to sight behind a cloud of fire and smoke. Panimon gave a short laugh and looked towards the burning building not far away. "Catch me if you can!" he shouted, and with another flap of his wings shot off in that direction. A second later the smoke of the Garuru Tomahawk parted and scattered as MetalGarurumon followed.

There was a sudden change. Taichi saw the building visibly shift. What had caused it he couldn't say, but his heart lurched with the concrete. As the seconds passed it became clear that that first movement would not be the last, and soon anyone could see that the structure was not going to remain standing. Taichi knew he should flee from the disaster that was coming, and also knew that he couldn't, and that it would be no use even if he could.

With a roar that shook streets and sky the building fell, fire and debris rolling outwards from its base. Taichi was blinded and deafened for a minute. He had a sense of flying through the hot air, he seemed to be still alive, and when his senses cleared he realized that WarGreymon had anticipated the final collapse and had caught him up at the last moment.

In the aftermath the pair rose to what Taichi might have found a dizzying height if his mind hadn't been preoccupied with other concerns. They were over the worst of the damage, and away from the drift of the ever increasing black smoke.

"If you put me down somewhere," Taichi said in an unsteady voice, "then—"

"Taichi," his partner interrupted. "They weren't there."

"I know!" Taichi snapped back, with more certainty than he felt. "It's just…" It was just that even if Hikari, Daisuke, Takeru and the rest were not dead somewhere in that holocaust, they were no less unreachable. His last chance of helping them was now gone.

"I'm sorry, Taichi," WarGreymon said, apologizing for what was not his fault. "Maybe we should meet up with the others."

Taichi blinked fiercely at tears that were not brought on by the burning of his eyes. "Yeah," was all he could say.

It occurred to the pair to wonder if Koshiro and the rest had also come through the collapse safely. After a few tense moments they were relieved to spot AtlurKabuterimon, his carapace a more fiery red than usual in the glare of the flames, squatting in a wide street outside of the disaster zone. At almost the same moment Taichi's D-Terminal beeped – Koshiro, asking if he and WarGreymon were alright.

Instead of sending a reply, Taichi told his partner to land nearby. As they descended they saw Koshiro himself, standing with Mimi, Lilimon, and a number of people who were too much in shock to leave the scene. There were sirens in the night; before long the area would be swarming with police, firefighters, and medical personnel.

Taichi didn't bother to ask whether his friends had found any trace of Hikari and the other missing Chosen, able to see from their expressions that they had no good news to report. Koshiro and Mimi both looked distraught, and with good reason. That roof had not been entirely clear when the collapse began. Despite his paleness, though, Koshiro made an effort to remain informative.

"Sora-san and the rest are going to meet us near the edge of the park," he said. His expression grew grimmer. "They've met a new enemy," he said softly.

"Let's go," Taichi answered, secretly eager to channel his raging emotions into battle spirit.

With their partners hovering above them the three Chosen Children made their way as quickly as possible towards the park. Soon all six teens came within sight of each other. Taichi was surprised to see no sign of MetalGarurumon. He also noticed the condition of Sora and Jou's partners, and knew then that whatever the new enemy was, it must be a powerful fighter.

The two groups approached each other rapidly, but had not yet collided when there was a flash of light in the night sky, and a sound like thunder. As everyone looked upwards they spotted an object streaking downwards, and before anyone could react it had hit the ground. The impact was brutal enough to send little shards of pavement in all directions, and Yamato called out when he saw that it was his partner that had been hurled to the ground.

Taichi reached MetalGarurumon first. Something like purple lightning danced briefly across the metallic body. Although stunned and obviously in pain, the Digimon did not appear to be terribly hurt, but Taichi's examination was cut short by the sound of WarGreymon's voice.

"Who are you?"

Looking up, Taichi saw what the others had already spotted. A figure was descending from the night sky, half illuminated by the glare of the city lights, and Taichi and those with him had their first sight of Panimon. As they stared his wings shrank, and he fell to the street some distance away with a crash that, like MetalGarurumon's, shattered the concrete. The difference was that Panimon landed on his feet, and remained unharmed.

"I am your new god," Panimon answered, looking in the direction of Taichi's group. They flinched a little, hearing for the first time that subhuman voice that was even more grotesque than the speaker's appearance, but Taichi recovered quickly, and stood up. "Six Chosen Children…" Panimon continued. His sneering head swiveled from one of them to another. "Boys and girls both. Well, I'm not picky."

By this time Yamato's group had warily made its way over to Taichi's, and the Chosen Children stood together in a line, facing their enemy. Those partner Digimon that could still fight likewise arrayed themselves, ready to intercept Panimon at a moment's notice if he should try to attack.

"Were you the one who assaulted Ugaki-san and the others?" Koshiro asked. Panimon laughed in his throat.

"I didn't want to bother you right away," he said. "I was hungry, you see. The people of your city have fed me." He clenched and unclenched his shapeless fists, and his voice rose as he warmed to his subject. "I've grown stronger even than I was before. All their pain and fear was my food. Now I am ready to try you, Chosen Children. Let the torment begin."

As he spoke he began to expand, not just in one body part but in all. Violet energy crackled around him as he continued to grow, lifting his goatish head to the dark sky. When the transformation was complete he stood head and shoulders above the hovering Chosen Digimon, and nearly straddled the wide Tokyo street.

"We have to destroy this thing," Yamato said to Taichi in a low voice. "It's too horrible."

"You don't need to tell me that," Taichi replied. In a subconscious way, he was very glad that Panimon had appeared. It gave him some action to take and something to focus on besides the missing ones. Instead of brooding over thoughts of dead friends in the ruined building, he could avenge them and himself by wiping out this abomination. He raised his voice: "Alright, everyone! Attack!"

By now MetalGarurumon had recovered, and he joined WarGreymon, AtlurKabuterimon, and Lilimon in taking up battle positions. Panimon only stood where he was, and chuckled to himself.