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Chapter 15
Reunion
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Takato never knew how close he came to destroying the Digital Dimension and all of his friends. If Guilmon, in his monstrous Mega form of Megidramon, had been able to resist Beelzemon for another minute, the energy he was draining out of the dimension's basic structure would have caused a cascading failure of all the matter imitation routines, breaking everything and everyone into disassociated bits of data. The watching tamers and their digimon stared in shock and anguish as the great dragon collapsed, not knowing how near he had brought them to annihilation.
None of them were in any condition to handle even an ordinary fight after the battering they had received from the superweapon that Beelzemon had become and Rika groaned aloud as she noticed the approach of another digimon.
"I just hope it's Coyomon," she said wearily as she unclipped her digivice from her belt.
Renamon tried to take up a fighting stance in front of her tamer but stumbled and fell to one knee. "I've failed you," she said in a miserable voice. "I'm supposed to protect you and I can't even stand."
"You haven't failed anything," Rika told her as the info disk blinked on. "Your job is to rest now."
"Now what?" Kazu had noticed the approaching digimon with dismay.
"Kayamon," Rika read from her digivice, "Ultimate level-- data type-- specials are--" She broke off suddenly. The strange digimon had arrived.
"Hi!" Kayamon cried out to the group as she skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust. "What's going on? Who's fighting over there? Is it over? Did I miss it?" She noticed what Rika was holding. "Hey! That's a digivice, isn't it? Oh, wow! That means you're a human! I've never met a human before. Do you have any special attacks? Is this your partner digimon? She looks like-- like-- oh." Kayamon trailed off as she gazed at the battered and exhausted Renamon. She ducked her head nervously and shifted her balance as if to partially hide herself behind Rika. Renamon was staring at her with an icy-blue intensity undiminished by her injured state.
"You-- you're--" Kayamon began hesitantly, and then summoned up enough courage to ask in a soft little voice, "Are you my mother?" Her question wasn't quiet enough that all the rest of the group didn't hear her, though. There were several gasps from the crowd and Kazu actually burst out laughing.
"Yes," Renamon said, stilling the watchers instantly, "I think I am."
Everyone tried to speak at once and Kayamon actually flinched at the amount of unexpected noise.
"Quiet!" Rika shouted angrily, "BE QUIET!" The expression on her face was so fierce that the commotion died without protest. Rika turned to the now silent and uncertain Kayamon. "Okay-- you can explain all that later. Right now I want to know where Coyomon is."
"Oh," said Kayamon, happy to have a subject she was comfortable with, "he's talking with the Sovereign."
"Talking?" Rika asked incredulously. "With Zhuqiaomon?"
"Oh, no!" Kayamon grinned, "not Zhuqiaomon! We killed him! I mean the new Sovereign, Yasuramon." The commotion was twice as loud this time and it took several moments for everyone to calm down.
"I think she'll be a better Sovereign," Kayamon tried to reassure the group, misinterpreting their reactions, "She doesn't want to invade your world or anything like that. She even gave us Calumon back. He's a really strange little digimon, he can't even fight and he's got this glowy thingy in his head--"
"Wait, wait!" Rika interrupted her. "The Sovereign gave you Calumon? Where is he now?"
"He's--" Kayamon's eyes went very wide. "Oh-- I-- oops."
"'Oops'?" Rika asked, raising an eyebrow.
Renamon chuckled weakly, "Oh yes-- she's Coyomon's child, alright."
--o--o--o--
The heads of Metal Greymon and Silphymon slammed together with terrific force. It wasn't something either of them had planned. They had been so wrapped up in their tug-o-war with the long-suffering Calumon that they hadn't noticed Istaqamon's approach. Istaqamon had reached out and banged their skulls together by way of a gentle admonishment. Metal Greymon staggered backwards, releasing his grip on Calumon. The curving metal horn on his head armor was bent to one side. Silphymon's helmet was considerably lighter than Metal Greymon's and he collapsed in a heap, moaning.
Istaqamon scooped up the whimpering Calumon and tucked him in the crook of an elbow. "It's okay, creampuff, nobody's going to hurt you any more."
"Istaqamon--" Metal Greymon began.
"That's Captain Istaqamon to you, soldier!" The armored coyote barked out in his best imitation of a movie general.
"Huh?"
"Oh for--" Istaqamon sighed, "Try to get into the spirit of things, will you?"
Metal Greymon just looked bewildered for a second and then went on. "We can use Calumon to digivolve! We all could be Sovereigns, too!"
"So," Istaqamon smirked, "you and Silphymon were just arguing about who was going to go first?"
"Uh--"
"Yeah. That's what I thought-- didn't trust each other, did you?" Istaqamon shook his head. "Suffering Tesla! If Calumon stays another week in the Digital Dimension, half the digimon are going to kill each other off over who gets to abuse him next. No, I think I'd better remove this temptation from reach. You guys were Rookies yesterday and now you're Ultimate devas. Be satisfied with that."
Silphymon staggered to his feet and exchanged looks with Metal Greymon. Istaqamon sighed again. "No, the two of you can't take me, so don't be stupid. You're lucky it was me who caught you-- Yasuramon isn't exactly the forgiving type."
There were a few more traded glances and Metal Greymon finally said, "Yes-- Captain." Silphymon nodded and then winced.
"Now-- I assume, from the tracks, that my impulsive daughter went in that direction?" Istaqamon asked, pointing at the dissipating dust cloud on the horizon.
Silphymon started to nod again and then stopped and said, "Yes," in a sullen tone.
"Good!" Istaqamon said cheerfully. "You boys hold down the fort while I go off and save the day."
--o--o--o--
"Hey," Kenta shouted, "Something's happening over there!" The group turned to see the shining figure of Galantmon rise from the desert floor to confront Beelzemon.
Rika stared at her digivice in puzzlement. "Another Mega form? What the heck is Takato doing? Not that I'm complaining if it means we still have a chance to beat Beelzemon."
"I can help!" chirped Kayamon, and then turned to Renamon. "Can we fight together, mother? I'd like that!"
Renamon shook her head sadly, "I'm too weak. I--"
"Oh that's okay! I've got plenty of energy!" She reached out and tapped Renamon on the chest with a paw and there was a brilliant flash of light. Renamon leaped to her feet with a gasp of surprise, her body tingling with strength.
Rika wasn't slow on the uptake. An instant after she realized Renamon was at her full fighting strength again she swiped a blue card through her digivice. "Go get 'im!" she cried out as Kyuubimon emerged from the vortex.
Mother and daughter bounded away toward the battling Megas.
"Um--," Henry hesitantly began as the two digimon raced away, "Rika, do you want to explain how Renamon's got a daughter all of a sudden?"
"It's simple, dummy!" Kazu interrupted him, laughing, "Rika's partners have been 'Doin' the Nasty'!" He turned to Rika, grinning. "How do digimon do it, Rika? Did you watch them when--"
Rika whirled around and punched Kazu in the stomach. It was a good, solid hit that would have been pretty painful even if her fist hadn't been blazing with blue ghost fire. As it was, Kazu flew backwards for several meters and dropped like a stone, moaning. Guardromon instantly stepped between them, the ports of his shoulder-mounted rocket launchers flipping open. Rika's fists and feet flared even brighter and it looked for a second like she was actually going to take on Kazu's digimon by herself.
"Rika." Henry said quietly.
Rika stepped back and the ghost fire flickered out. "Get him out of my sight," she told Guardromon coldly and turned her back on him.
"Holy Cow!" Terriermon said from where he lay in Henry's arms, "You got any other surprises for us, Rika?"
Rika had her back to Henry and Terriermon, watching the renewed fight across the shattered plain and they only just caught the reply she muttered under her breath: "I sure hope not."
--o--o--o--
Istaqamon pounded across the plain, jumping the wide rents that had opened up in its surface and occasionally detouring around the ones too wide to jump. He cursed his relatively slow pace but wasn't willing to loose all his Ultimate strength just to revert to his much faster Rookie body.
"Hey, creampuff," he said to Calumon as he ran, "Do you think I'd be faster as a Mega-- maybe with wings or jet engines or something? Hint, hint!"
There was no answer. Istaqamon looked down and saw that the tiny digimon in his arms was curled up and deeply asleep.
"Oh well," he sighed, "You've earned some rest, little guy. I guess I'll just have to make do."
--o--o--o--
Kayamon and Kyuubimon ran side-by-side, leaping the fissures and jagged rubble of the mangled ground with nimble grace. Ahead they could see Beelzemon using his monstrous bike's speed to dodge Galantmon's attacks.
"We need to pin him down so Galantmon can get a good, solid hit," Kyuubimon called out to her daughter.
"Okay!" Kayamon replied, "Do you know 'Make-a-Wish'"?
Kyuubimon smiled. "I certainly do! I'm happy to learn your father hasn't neglected your education!"
The pair angled toward the spot Beelzemon was going to be in a few seconds and leaped, simultaneously rotating out of phase. As the roaring black bike passed underneath them they dropped, both in space and out of phase, each clamping their jaws down on one of Beelzemon's wrists and letting their combined weight tear him off of his motorcycle.
The three of them skidded across the cracked earth for a few seconds and then Kayamon and Kyuubimon used all of the power of their legs to back away from each other, hauling Beelzemon's arms out to either side. He cursed and struggled violently against the strength that would have torn many a lesser digimon in two. The pair held him immobile and outstretched for long seconds until he summoned the vast reserves of his Sovereign-given power and brought his fists together violently-- intending to smash his tormentors into each other, which was the exact instant, of course, that they released his wrists.
Beelzemon's fists cracked together with all the strength he had mustered and he howled in pain, losing more precious seconds of reaction time. When he recovered and looked up, Galantmon was standing over him, the point of his shining lance only a fraction of a second away from impact.
The power released by Galantmon's Lightning Joust attack blasted a crater into the plain and pelted the mother-daughter team with fragments of rock as they darted away, trying to head off Beelzemon's demonic motorcycle which was circling back to aid its master.
Kayamon was in the lead and Kyuubimon called out to her, "Alley-Oop?" trusting that Coyomon would have instructed his daughter in this particular strategy. It was one of his favorites.
"Yay! Fun!" Kayamon sung out, which Kyuubimon took for a yes.
Kyuubimon didn't expect the Binding Tail attack but it did the job. The bright line of energy from Kayamon's tail whipped around one of the grips of the bike's handlebar and twisted it to one side, causing the bike's front wheel to pop sideways and dig violently into the earth. The speed and weight of the bike flipped it up and over, into the air and out of control. Kyuubimon's Dragon Wheel attack met it from directly below and it fragmented into a glittering fountain of twisted metal and burning oil and tires.
Kayamon whirled and danced with joy. "Oh, mother! That was so much fun!"
Kyuubimon couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the fight's not over yet."
But she was wrong. Just then, the energy pulse of the edge of the Shield of the Just attack knocked them off their feet. They leaped up again to see the victorious Galantmon standing over Beelzemon's helpless form. It was over. They had won.
--o--o--o--
A few minutes later, Istaqamon was relieved to finally see the tamers as he leaped a small ridge of broken rock but he was also bitterly disappointed to find that there was no longer any fighting going on. He waved as members of the group called out to him and trotted up to them, motioning to them to lower their voices and pointing to the sleeping Calumon in his arms.
He knelt and handed Calumon to Takato, then turned and gave a wide smile to his tamer, mate, and daughter. "I'm so glad to see all of you beautiful ladies together at last," he said quietly as Takato carried Calumon away. Then he noticed the subdued mood of the group, the absence of Leomon, and the addition of Susie (Henry's little sister) and a strange digimon that looked a lot like Terriermon.
"Uh--" he said, as his smile faltered a bit, "--did I miss something?"
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Author's Notes:
As always, reviews are welcome.
Updated and added pictures. Links can be found on my bio page.
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