--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--
Author's Note:
Links to sketches of Kunomon, Ceyamon, and Arisimon are now up on my bio page.
--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--
--o--o--o--
Chapter 12
Knocking on Heaven's Door
--o--o--o--
Istaqamon stood beside Arisimon, watching the quarrelling devas. He had often wondered why the Sovereign hadn't sent all his devas to Earth at one time. Now he thought he knew: Digimon did not play well with others. Getting a handful of different types to cooperate was a Herculean task at the best of times-- away from their master's direct control it would have been impossible.
Arisimon handled the situation with her usual lack of grace and restraint. She held out one armored hand and a blaze of crimson energy flowed into it from the two Ultimate devas who had been about to turn their argument into a real fight, leaving behind two very surprised and very ordinary Rookies. Her poleaxe flashed down, obliterating one Rookie, and then swung up again above the other.
Istaqamon interposed the haft of his lance, preventing Arisimon from killing the cringing agumon. She gave him a glance full of meaning. He would have a scant few seconds to justify his action.
He lowered his lance and addressed the little yellow dinosaur. "What is your Sovereign's first rule?" he asked in a voice that sounded as if it could etch steel.
"'No fighting amongst ourselves'," the agumon dutifully replied.
"Did you dislike the power she gave you so much?"
"No! I-- I forgot myself! I'm very sorry, it will never happen again!" This last he directed to the scowling Arisimon.
Istaqamon waved the end of his lance through the dissipating cloud of data that had been the other digimon. "That-- is the penalty for a bad memory." He looked pointedly at the other devas. "I am sure no further examples will need to be made." He turned and bowed deeply to Arisimon. She gave him a cold stare for a moment and then tapped Calumon's cage with a finger and pointed to the agumon. Dark energy flowed from Arisimon's hand, mixing into the digivolution vortex that took only seconds to transform the agumon back into his Ultimate form.
Metal Greymon knelt before Arisimon. "Thank you, my Sovereign Lady," he said. But he glanced aside toward Istaqamon as he said it.
Arisimon waved the deva to his feet, then turned, walked away, and motioned for Istaqamon to follow her. They climbed the ridge of rock overlooking the Great South Gate.
"Looks like the Guardian has gone AWOL," Istaqamon observed, "all the better for us."
Arisimon wouldn't allow herself to be distracted. "Explain your actions back there."
Istaqamon was getting to be able to tell the difference between various shades of anger in Arisimon's voice. He was fairly sure this was a mild form. "You can't afford to loose any more devas. You had to throw this group together in an awful hurry and there's no time left to replace any of them before we attack. We may need every single one to win. Besides," he allowed himself a small grin, "the rest will be all the more loyal for that bit of mercy."
"Very well," she said. "But there will be a price for thwarting me in front of my servants."
"The only time you ever smile is when you're about to do something particularly nasty."
"You promised to obey me. You've broken our agreement and so--"
"Oh, no!" Istaqamon shouted angrily, "No, you don't!"
Ceyamon phased in at his side. "It's all right, father, I want to fight with the rest of you!"
Istaqamon knelt and gripped her by the shoulders. "You don't understand! We are going to go up against one of the four most powerful digimon in existence and there's a good chance we may all be destroyed. I can't lead you into that sort of danger!"
"Okay," Ceyamon gave him a brilliant smile, "Then I'll go first."
Istaqamon nearly screamed in frustration. Ceyamon put a hand firmly on his wrist. "Istaqamon," she said in a serious tone of voice he had never heard her use before.
He bit back what he had been about to say. She had always called him "father". This was the first time she had ever used his name. "Yes, Ceyamon?" he asked quietly.
"I'm powerful. I'm a blend of the best of you and Renamon-- you've said so many times-- and you've given me better training than any digimon has ever had before. I love you for wanting to keep me safe but I'm a digimon-- fighting is what I'm made for." She gazed up at him earnestly with her clear, emerald eyes. "Please, father, let me fight."
Istaqamon didn't trust himself to speak. He simply let go of her shoulders, touched one finger to her cheek in a tender gesture, and nodded. After a moment he took a deep breath and turned to Arisimon. "Okay-- now that I've been schooled by my own child, let's get on with it. But without your tricky little backdoor in the mix."
"Why should I agree to that?" Arisimon asked.
Istaqamon just looked at her silently and after a long moment she nodded. He was a bit disturbed by how well they had come to understand one another. He lowered his gaze to the unhappy little digimon in the cage that hung around her neck. "Hey, creampuff," he said in a sad, gentle voice, "make it a good one for my kid, will you?"
It hurt him to see the hopeless look in the little digimon's eyes. He hoped that Calumon's spirit hadn't been completely broken by Arisimon's brutal treatment. If things worked out, he'd have an opportunity to free the little guy sometime soon. If they weren't all killed by Zhuqiaomon first, that is.
The vortex bloomed.
"If you get her killed, I'm going to kick your ass from one end of the Digital Dimension to the other," Istaqamon said to Arisimon conversationally. The Mega just chuckled as the vortex faded away.
Kayamon's legs were as elegantly sculpted as her previous form's-- she just had two more of them in her new body. Her animal shape was long and lean-- almost delicate looking-- and had mostly kept the same colors and patterning as her bipedal form.
Istaqamon was grinning broadly. He clanked an armored elbow against Arisimon's breastplate. "Is my kid a looker, or what?" He popped out of phase for an instant and when he became visible again he wasn't smiling. "Arisimon, check this out-- I've never seen anything like it."
Arisimon flickered out of phase for an instant while Kayamon did a graceful little dance, trying out her new body.
"There seems to be some sort of energy armor surrounding her." The Mega said when she reappeared. "There's a lot of power there." She turned to Istaqamon and smiled nastily, "I think you'll be better off worrying about your own safety."
"Hey, sweetie," Istaqamon said as he knelt beside his daughter and placed a hand on her shoulders, "have you got a handle on your new abilities?"
"Oh yes!" she sang out joyfully, "I've got some great attacks and I can--"
"Good, good," Istaqamon patted her on the shoulder and stood up. "Then we've got to get moving while we still have the element of surprise."
"And now that the Guardian of the South Gate is absent?" Arisimon asked of him.
Istaqamon grinned. "We walk right in like we've been invited to a Birthday celebration."
Arisimon nodded with satisfaction. "Call my devas to battle," she commanded him.
"HEY, YOU UGLY BASTARDS!" Istaqamon bellowed to the waiting digimon, "TIME TO PARTY!"
Arisimon sighed and rolled her eyes.
--o--o--o--
"He's only got a couple of devas left," Istaqamon whispered to Arisimon as they approached the huge door to the central chamber of the Sovereign's castle. "I'm more concerned about Beelzemon. I don't really know what he's capable of but he's strong. If he shows up we need to nail his ass fast!"
"Why, Istaqamon," Arisimon smirked, "I do believe you're nervous! We've been over all that before-- there's no time for doubts now."
Istaqamon grimaced. "It's just that it's been too easy! We waltzed in here with no resistance at all!"
"Wasn't that the idea?"
"Well-- yeah-- but my plans never work out like they're supposed to!"
"Now you tell me."
He turned to goggle at her. "Holy Tesla, you do have a sense of humor!"
"I must have. I made you my Captain, didn't I?"
Captain Istaqamon just gaped at her.
"Close your mouth and announce me," she waved a hand at the imposing portal.
Istaqamon waved the devas forward and raised the butt of his lance to pound on the vast door before him. "Open for Lady Arisimon, True Sovereign of the South!"
There was a brief pause that felt like an eternity to Istaqamon. He was just beginning to realize how silly he'd feel if it turned out that the Sovereign wasn't home when the immense doors swung open to reveal the audience chamber of Zhuqiaomon.
The titanic phoenix digimon was not amused. "Who dares to lay claim to my title?" he roared in a voice of flame, spreading his four gigantic wings until they brushed the walls of the enormous chamber.
Arisimon strode forward with no more apparent concern that if she were approaching a friendly puppy. She took something from Calumon's cage that looked like a tiny bead in her huge hand and flung it to the floor of the chamber where it spun with a ringing sound, quicker and quicker until it clinked to a stop. It was a simple circular band of chrome digizoid.
"You gave me the name Kunomon and put that thing on my wrist," she said, pointing to the shackle with the end of her poleaxe. "Now I have become Arisimon and I am your destiny-- your doom!"
Zhuqiaomon's great beak opened to reply but Arisimon was through with talk. She swung her poleaxe above her head and its blade erupted with violet flaming energy.
"GO!" Shouted Istaqamon to the devas clustered behind him as he flung out an arm, "go, go, GO!" They sprinted around the periphery of the chamber, surrounding the astounded Sovereign.
The storm of glowing blades from her Blazing Axe attack flooded from Arisimon's poleaxe to rip into Zhuqiaomon's throat only seconds before Istaqamon loosed his Star Scatter attack. Kayamon was a blur as she leaped high over the phoenix, her tail trailing a line of silvery energy. The other devas launched their specials as they reached their assigned positions.
Zhuqiaomon's surprise lasted no more than a second before it turned to outrage. He screamed in wrath as the attacks tore into him and he staggered under their combined force. He tried to launch his Blazing Helix attack but the wings on his right side wouldn't open to the correct position. He turned his head and snapped at the silvery line that bound his wings together.
Breaking the entangling trail of energy took him long enough to allow the devas to launch fresh attacks, Istaqamon's second Star Scatter streaming up and into the Sovereign's right eyes in an effort to distract him from freeing his wings while Kayamon, with another of her graceful leaps, wove another line of Binding Tail energy around him.
The struggling Sovereign abandoned his attempts to free himself and, instead, unleashed an attack that needed no limbs for guidance. His Phoenix Fire attack jetted from his gaping beak and struck Arisimon dead on, hurling her back against the wall of the chamber with horrific force. The devas watched in dismay as their leader's poleaxe dissolved as it skittered across the chamber's floor and the roiling flames dissipated to reveal a badly burned and battered Kunomon huddled at the base of the wall.
"Nobody told you to stop fighting!" Istaqamon roared at them but they all hesitated except Kayamon, whose jaws sparkled with the rising energy of a Wind Fang attack.
"I will destroy you all for your insolence!" Zhuqiaomon thundered, and then paused in astonishment as Kunomon raised her head.
She was smiling.
As she raised herself up, revealing the metal cage she had sheltered beneath her body, a digivolution vortex swelled around her and within an instant, she stood proudly as Arisimon once more, whole, unharmed, and as powerful as ever.
Zhuqiaomon stammered out his amazement. "You-- how could you--" he was interrupted by Kayamon's Wind Fang attack tearing giant flaming feathers off of his flank and Istaqamon's full-throated laughter.
"That's right," the huge armored coyote howled with glee, "you're screwed buddy!"