110
Panic
"We know what happened to those who chanced to meet the Great God Pan, and those who are wise know that all symbols are symbols of something, not of nothing. It was, indeed, an exquisite symbol beneath which men long ago veiled their knowledge of the most awful, most secret forces which lie at the heart of all things; forces before which the souls of men must wither and die and blacken, as their bodies blacken under the electric current." – Arthur Machen, "The Great God Pan"
The attacks came in rapid succession.
"Flower Cannon!"
"Horn Buster!"
"Cocytus Breath!"
All three found their mark in a flash of light. Then WarGreymon came barreling in towards Panimon's chest.
"Brave Tornado!"
Panimon met the living drill with both hands, and the Chosen Children hoped, and half expected, that the attack would bore straight through fingers, fur, and flesh. Panimon certainly rocked back on his heels – but then his hands thrust down with irresistible force. The next moment WarGreymon was on the ground, half buried in the pavement. The Brave Tornado had been stopped cold.
The Chosen Children gaped, too dumbfounded even to cry out. The Digimon, even MetalGarurumon, were scarcely less surprised. Panimon's indulgent laugh chilled the whole group.
"I wasn't joking about being a god," he said.
"Th-That's impossible," Taichi stammered.
"How – how could it be that strong?" Mimi asked, her voice catching.
"I'm nothing like any Digimon you've ever fought," Panimon told them. "The World of Darkness was my birthplace. All its power is naturally mine." As he spoke, WarGreymon was struggling to rise. Panimon watched the movement with as little concern as one might watch the crawling of an insect. "Let's make things interesting," he said. He slowly raised one giant foot, which terminated in two hoof-like claws.
"Great Abyss!"
WarGreymon just barely managed to roll out of the way as the foot came down, smashing deep into the street's surface. A network of cracks appeared, widening into deep crevasses and thrusting up large slabs of concrete. The Chosen Children struggled to keep their footing as the road heaved beneath them. Then something came pouring up out of the chasms. It was like a dark steam or mist, and as it jetted up from the depths of the earth some of it spread outward to blanket the ground, while the rest sprayed into the air in great arcs.
The Chosen Children were a little too surprised to run, and before long they were more than knee deep in the clammy substance. When they did try to move, it was almost like wading through water – though apparently a gas, the stuff was more than mere vapor. They had been looking down at the flow of the unknown medium, but their attention snapped back up to the Digimon as they heard their partners utter exclamations of surprise.
Panimon had remained standing where he was, flanked by geysers of the storm-gray mist, but a swift change had come over the columns. Each had shaped itself into a cloudy but distinct form. The result was two monstrous bulks, one suggesting a horned, bull-snouted giant, while from the other a trio of serpentine heads had sprouted. Closer to the ground the mist seemed about to coalesce into other forms.
For a moment the partner Digimon hesitated, unsure what to expect, and that one moment was all it took for the cloud-shapes to spring into fluid motion. Fast as wind, the misty monsters lunged at Panimon's enemies. WarGreymon sliced off one of the three draconic heads, which exploded into shapeless mist, but the next instant one of the others twined about his entire body, and the third closed its gray jaws on an exposed part of his arm, sinking burning teeth into the flesh. The bull-headed figure lowered its horns and plunged at AtlurKabuterimon, the spikes of mist entering his carapace without effort.
Whatever the misty substance actually was, its consistency and properties seemed as variable as the shapes it took. The Chosen Children could wade through it, but its coils were substantial enough to pinion WarGreymon in midair. The teeth and horns of the cloud monsters sunk into the bodies of their prey leaving no mark, but they seared the nerves with intolerable electric cold. The jolt of their assault was enough to knock AtlurKabuterimon out of the air, and as he fell with a crash, his shell half sunken in ground mist, several shapeless spumes of it lanced down at his underside.
"AtlurKabuterimon!" Koshiro shouted.
Lilimon turned to her fallen comrade.
"Temptation!"
From her hands she flung clouds of pink pollen one after another at the tentacles of steam, each blast dispersing one of them into harmless vapor. Meantime MetalGarurumon set his sights on the minotaur.
"Cocytus Breath!"
The spray of frozen air ripped through the cloud beast from top to middle, freezing it into a million beads of vapor that fell like hail. Behind the target stood Panimon, who raised his arm as a shield, and the attack encased it with thick frost.
"Flower Cannon!"
The coating of ice exploded into shards as Lilimon's attack hit it, but still Panimon seemed unfazed. "Such spirit!" Panimon leered at her. "You'll be fun to tear apart." He raised the hand that had withstood the combined attacks over his head. As if in answer a number of mounds in the fog shot into the air, taking vague avian shapes as they swarmed to attack Mimi's partner. MetalGarurumon might have gone to her aid, but—
"Night Gaunt!"
Panimon's hand swung downwards, the extended and boneless fingers slicing like so many whips across MetalGarurumon's back as purple lightning surged through them. There was a crash like thunder, and again MetalGarurumon was struck to the ground. The mist took on new and threatening shapes as it flowed towards his prone body.
WarGreymon had been struggling to free himself from the jaws and coils of the fluid hydra, but its toughness was as extraordinary as it was unexpected. The pain continued unabated, but once the initial shock finally wore off an idea came to him. He could not move much, but his armor left him enough room to spin.
"Brave Tornado!"
His speed built up until the others saw him vanish in an orange blur that tore the heads and necks to shreds. The next moment it came to a stop, and WarGreymon charged through the air toward the towering figure of Panimon, a Dramon Killer at the ready. Panimon saw him coming. A gigantic fist met WarGreymon head-on with the speed of a bullet train. He flew backwards faster than he had flown forwards, and his body imprinted itself in the wall of a building.
Lilimon dodged left and right, back and forth, to avoid the gray beaks of the flying fog-shapes. There were four of the things, resembling birds or wyverns, and each as large as she was. She couldn't find an opening for an attack – it was all she could do to avoid their strikes, and she knew that if one of the things found its mark the rest would immediately follow.
AtlurKabuterimon was attempting to rise again, hampered by the pull of the viscous mist. Some distance behind him the Chosen Children were still mired in the same substance, unwilling either to retreat or to move forward in the direction of the combatants. Those of them who could take their gaze off the fight watched the stirrings of the fog with apprehension. So far Panimon's attack had left them unharmed, but it was impossible to stand in that swamp of gas and not feel the strangeness of the whole situation. At the moment the vaporous simulacra were focused on their Digimon partners. What if it decided to take an interest in them?
"It looks as though the battle is already coming to an end," Panimon said, looking in their direction. "Is this all there is to the legendary power of the Chosen Children?" He made a fist that crackled with purple energy, and smashed it into AtlurKabuterimon's face as he tried to sit up. There was a burst of light and a sound like an explosion.
"AtlurKabuterimon!"
Koshiro's partner had vanished as if that one punch had obliterated him. But as the horrified teen watched, Panimon scooped something up out of the mist and held it up, a little blob of pale pink between two fingers. Squeezed between the digits, it let out a little cry.
"Motimon!"
Koshiro pressed forward several steps in spite of the danger and hampering fog, then stopped as Panimon spoke again.
"Don't worry, I won't kill him yet." With a flick of his wrist he tossed the little Digimon in Koshiro's direction. Motimon hit first the mist and then the ground without bouncing, and Koshiro bent to feel about for him. "He can watch," Panimon finished, licking his lips. He began to wade towards the Chosen Children.
Some distance away from both Panimon and the Chosen Children, still embedded in a building's wall, WarGreymon saw what was happening. He had been dazed for a while due to the two impacts, but now his head was clearing. "Wait," he said, unheard by anyone. He pushed himself away from the building. The next moment he was flying in Panimon's direction, gathering not only speed, but an ever expanding aura of orange energy.
As he reached the outer fringe of the deadly fog it reared up like a great animal, only to melt away before the heat of the orange light, so that there was nothing to impede him as he closed the distance between himself and Panimon. The impact's force lifted Panimon bodily off the ground, and a few moments later he had crashed into the outlying trees of Shiba Park.
WarGreymon rose into the sky. A wide swath of the fog had been burnt away, and MetalGarurumon was visible again. No longer overpowered by the fog shapes, he shattered the phantom beast before him with his icy breath. Meanwhile, Lilimon still hadn't broken away from her flying pursuers, but putting on a sudden burst of speed she shot out of their midst, trailing the pink pollen of Temptation behind her. The wyvern-like shapes were blotted out, and then there were only clouds of pink mist falling slowly towards the ground as they evaporated.
"Nice, Lilimon!" Mimi called.
Taichi's eyes were on WarGreymon, and he nodded with satisfaction as his partner raised his hands and began gathering power between them. A full-scale attack might cause great damage to the park, but it was worth it to destroy that monster. The sphere of shining energy grew slowly, drawing strength from the earth and atmosphere, feeding even on the abyssal mist, which began to fade away. Sora's father would have observed that this, truly, was the power of Gaia. Soon the Chosen Children's legs were free of the clutching fog.
"Gaia Force!" WarGreymon roared, hurling the orb of searing heat at his enemy.
MetalGarurumon was prepared as well. "Cocytus Breath!" A torrent of ice poured from his mouth.
Panimon had finished getting to his feet, and raised his arms in defiance as the two attacks converged upon him.
There came an explosion that shook the earth. The Chosen Children covered their faces from the glare of the blast, and only just managed to keep their footing on the ruined street. For an instant the world was blotted out by clouds of flying debris, all crushed to a fine powder by the force of the combined attacks. After many long seconds the air began to clear.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon remained wh1ere they were – and so did Panimon. The three of them were motionless; only Lilimon moved as she rejoined her companions. Panimon stood with his arms now hanging at his side and his head bowed. A few seconds passed before he broke the silence.
"Very good, Chosen Ones. You haven't disappointed expectations after all."
They all stared at him a while longer.
"Now what?" Yamato muttered. He was about to call MetalGarurumon to attack once more when the group was surprised by Panimon's low laughter.
"What's so funny?" Taichi growled as the monstrous sound went on. "WarGreymon!"
As he called out the word, Panimon went into motion. Without any preparation, and before any of the other Digimon could react, he jumped forward, back into the street, one foot coming down on MetalGarurumon. There was a yell as Yamato's partner was crushed under the titanic weight, and the pavement buckled anew. WarGreymon immediately descended to help, but found himself immobile when Panimon's hand shot out and clutched him.
"Flower Cannon!"
Lilimon's energy bullet hit the furry wrist of the hand that had arrested WarGreymon, scattering into petals. No effect. Panimon threw back his head and laughed long and loud. When the hellish braying stopped he looked at Lilimon. His other hand flew at her, but she dodged backward and readied her weapon again.
"Flow—"
The attack was cut short. One of Panimon's fingers had rapidly lengthened, and was now wrapped about her. He turned his head towards where the Chosen Children stood gaping.
"Looks like I win," he grinned.