--o--o--o--
Chapter 19
The Real Enemy
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"Kenta," Takato said urgently, "take Jeri and Impmon back into the cave with Susie and Calumon. Get as far back as possible and don't come out until one of us comes to get you."
"Uh," Kazu said, "Maybe Guardromon and I ought to go with them-- to protect them."
"Good idea," Takato said, waving him away. "Now-- Renamon Spirit Mode?"
"Just 'Renamon' is fine."
"Okay, you said you still have all this energy from Beelzemon stored inside you?"
"Yes, we do."
"Can you share it with the rest of us? If we are going to have to fight two Sovereigns at once--"
"Of course, Takato. That is an excellent idea." The glowing figure turned toward the group and a radiant light flowed out ward from it, enveloping both humans and digimon. After only a moment the tall figure shuddered, began to shrink, and its mask fell away, bouncing once before it became Coyomon. Renamon in her familiar Rookie form stood beside him.
"Wow--" Takato shook himself out of the dazed state he had fallen into at the inrush of energy. "Hey, you guys didn't need to give it all to us. You should have kept some for yourselves."
Coyomon shook his head, "I'm afraid not. You see, along with all that special deva strength Yasuramon gave me, she also put in a way to instantly cancel it. Kayamon's an exception. The best thing I can do for you guys is try and talk to Yasuramon when she gets here--"
"Oh no," Takato interrupted him, "I don't know exactly what went on between you and her but I'm not going to take the chance that you'll make her even more angry. I'm doing the talking."
Coyomon looked around at the rest of the group. Everyone seemed to agree with Takato. He shrugged and went to stand beside Rika.
"Here's your stick, flea-bag," Rika told him, handing him the black metal staff she had been carrying around for days.
"Thank you," He said and took up a ready stance on her left side. Renamon mirrored him on their tamer's right and Kayamon, for lack of a better position, stood behind Rika and loomed over her.
"How did you do it?" Rika asked Coyomon as the rest of the group stood silently, watching the Sovereigns approach.
"It was the energy transfer technique," he told her. "I just pulled instead of pushing. Beelzemon was too beat up to resist me." Coyomon looked down and scuffed a toe in the sand in embarrassment. "I didn't realize how much power had been put into him. It was like trying to drink from a fire hose. If Renamon hadn't rescued me--"
Rika looked at her other partner. "How'd you rescue him? And-- what did it feel like, being-- together like that?"
"The how was easy," Renamon said. "A mask is meant to be worn. I just--" She mimed putting on a mask. "Together we could manage to handle the amount of energy."
"Ha!" Coyomon snorted. "Don't let her fool you, Rika, it was much more difficult than that! The energy disruption was tearing the place apart and Renamon had to--"
"Yeah, yeah," Rika waved him to silence. "Renamon's strong and brave-- you think I don't know that by now? What did it feel like to be-- well, like that?"
Coyomon and Renamon exchanged glances above her head. Finally Renamon spoke. "I don't think we could describe it in any way that would make sense to you, Rika. You'll just have to find out for yourself."
"Huh?" Rika frowned at her.
"Oh, come on, Rika!" Coyomon nudged her gently in the ribs. "Are you going to admit that gogglehead can do something you can't?"
"Oh." Rika said, realizing what Renamon was suggesting. "Um--"
"Don't sweat it, tamer!" Coyomon grinned, "Maybe Takato can talk us out of this!"
The Sovereigns had arrived.
Azulongmon hovered above the group and lowered his huge head as far as possible. Yasuramon landed beside his head and took a step forward, her expression unreadable.
Takato moved forward on shaky legs and gave a very deep and polite bow. "Please excuse our intrusion into your realm. We only came to rescue our friend and we will return to our own world as quickly as possible."
"There," Yasuramon said to Azulongmon, "This boy called Calumon his friend and it is clear he is not a liar. Zhuqiaomon was wrong about humans. He was the cause of all this trouble, not I."
"Ooh--" Coyomon said under his breath, "trouble in paradise?"
Yasuramon's gaze blazed out at him. "Don't joke, you fool! The entire Digital Dimension is in deadly peril."
"Is there any way we can help?" Takato asked, almost reflexively.
Azulongmon gazed down at the boy. "I don't know much about humans but I think you must be a very remarkable young man. Why is it that you are so willing to help digimon?"
"Well, sir," Takato turned to look over his shoulder at Guilmon, who was staring up at the Sovereigns in awe, "maybe because my best friend is a digimon."
Azulongmon nodded. "First you must know exactly what it is that threatens our world."
"Yes," Yasuramon put in, "It turns out Zhuqiaomon did have a good reason to invade Earth-- he wanted some place to escape to."
--o--o--o--
The Sovereigns told the team about the Ancient Enemy. How it had been in the Digital Dimension from the very beginning and seemed to grow more active whenever digimon digivolved. Azulongmon told them how he placed the Shining Digivolution into Calumon, who had been created for that very purpose, to stop digivolution in the Digital Dimension and prevent arousal of the Enemy. Zhuqiaomon had wanted Calumon to enable him to create an army of Megas to conquer the Earth. Kunomon had thwarted those plans but, by capturing Calumon and learning to use his power at will, had enraged the Enemy beyond what had ever been known before. The Enemy had always deleted digimon but now it was deleting the very substance of the Digital Dimension.
There were many questions but Takato got right to the heart of the matter. "Can it be hurt? Can we stop it?"
"Many digimon have tried to defeat it. None have succeeded." Azulongmon told him.
"We can't just let it destroy everything!" Takato insisted, then flinched back as Yasuramon leaned forward, her gigantic nose nearly touching him.
She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the boy and when she spoke it was in tone of near disbelief. "I have watched you and your partner defeat much more powerful digimon. I have seen you and your friends work together in ways that no wild digimon would ever dream of doing and Coyomon assured me that I didn't comprehend the half of your strengths."
"Um-- thanks, I guess," Takato mumbled, unsure of what Yasuramon was getting at.
"That is why I think that if the Enemy can be defeated, you and your friends will be the ones to do it." Yasuramon sighed and bowed her head. "Will you help us? I will give you whatever you ask, if it is within my power."
"Make sure my sister gets home safely," Henry said immediately, "no matter what happens to me."
Takato nodded, "And Jeri, Kenta-- and the rest," he gestured to the cave.
"And you?" Yasuramon looked at Rika. "What do you want?"
The girl had Renamon's digivice in her hand and was thoughtfully stroking her thumb along the edge of the screen's blue bezel. She looked up at the Sovereign and said solemnly, "I want first crack at it."
--o--o--o--
From the air, the ragged red line that gnawed away at the desert seemed to move slowly. The team looked down from the backs of the two Sovereigns in horror. They had seen destruction on a massive scale before-- swathes of Tokyo in ruins-- but this was more frightening for being more final. Behind the Enemy was a void-- a blackness that seemed more absolute than just empty space.
Yasuramon spread her wings and they glowed with radiant energy. She flicked them toward the void and great sheets of flame leaped outwards, roaring and blazing with power until they crossed the boundary behind the Enemy. There was no noise, no sense of any impact-- the Fire Wing attack just vanished as if it had never existed. It was an effective demonstration of what awaited them if they failed to stop the Enemy.
Then a third flying figure approached, curving around the edge of the world defined by the Enemy's presence.
Coyomon nudged Rika to get her attention away from the black void. "Hey, look, Rika!" he chuckled, "It's your boyfriend!"
She turned and her gaze followed his pointing finger. "Oh, no," she groaned, "not him!"
Ryo, riding on Cyberdramon's back, swooped down until they flew level with the Sovereigns. "I'd like to help, if I can!" he shouted to them.
"Follow," Azulongmon said to him and turned away from the world's edge to land in the place the team had already selected for their confrontation with the enemy.
"Hi, wildcat!" Ryo grinned at Rika when they had reached the ground. "Good to see you again. It looks like we're going to have quite a fight ahead of us. You ready for this?"
"Us?" Rika raised an eyebrow at him. "You think there's going to be something left of that thing for you to fight after I get done with it?"
Ryo laughed a bit nervously, "That's the spirit!"
"Hmph," Rika snorted and turned away from him. She walked to the front of the group, Renamon, Coyomon and Kayamon following her.
"Did Rika pick up a third partner?" Ryo asked Takato quietly.
"No, that's Renamon's daughter--" Takato began and then hesitated at Ryo's shocked expression. "Long story-- I'll tell you after the fight-- if there is an after."
Ryo shook his head in confusion and then saw what Rika was doing. "Hey! You're not really going to let her go up against that thing alone, are you?"
Yasuramon swung her massive head around to look at Ryo. Cyberdramon bared his teeth at her but she took no notice. "I promised it to her. If you try to interfere I will destroy you."
Cyberdramon crouched and growled and Takato quickly stepped between him and the Sovereign. "The rest of us will be ready for the second strike. You can join in then, Ryo."
Ryo calmed his partner. "Okay, but I still don't like the idea. Rika could get hurt."
Coyomon, one big ear swiveled back to catch Ryo's comments, chuckled. "Your boyfriend is worried about you, Rika."
"Would you stop calling him that? He's not my boyfriend!" she snapped.
"But he's so cute! Maybe if you impress him enough--"
Rika stopped and gave Coyomon a ferocious look. "Okay, okay!" he said, throwing his hands in the air in surrender, "you win-- wildcat."
Rika actually smiled at him. "Thanks. I know you're just trying to take my mind off-- that." She gestured at the Enemy, "but I'm okay-- really."
Coyomon nodded and let his gaze linger on her and Renamon for a long moment. "Okay, girrrls-- kick its ass!" He didn't wait for an answer but trotted back to the group, waving Kayamon after him.
--o--o--o--
The Biomerge Digivolution of Rika and Renamon was spectacular. Their combined Mega form shone with unearthly strength and beauty. Even the watching Sovereigns were impressed.
"Sakuyamon," Henry read from his digivice and then looked down at his partner. Terriermon was looking up at him with a tight, fierce smile. Henry grinned back. "Looks like fun, right partner?"
"You'd better believe it, Henry!" Terriermon said with enthusiasm.
Sakuyamon leaped into the air and spread her arms, the rings on her staff jingling musically. Her voice was powerful and clear and everyone heard her words as she sang them out, gathering her power.
"I, Sakuyamon,
protector of all things true,
will do my duty.
"River of chaos--
oh, red sea of destruction--
follow now my voice
"and feel the twin blades
of beauty and of truth-- then
fall before my might!"
Her staff swung and two great crescents of color swept out, cutting through the air with a sound like a high, pure note from a flute. The blades cut through the Enemy as if it offered no resistance and it vanished from sight. At first most of the watchers assumed that the cloud of particles that floated on the air towards them were the normal bits of data from a defeated digimon but soon the difference was apparent.
Coyomon plucked one of the floating petals from the air and sniffed at it. "Cherry blossom," he informed the others, wonderingly. "Now that's classy!"
"I don't believe it!" Ryo said. "That thing nearly killed Baihumon and she just brushed it aside like it was nothing!"
"Can it be?" Azulongmon rumbled, his long serpentine body twisting uneasily. "Is this our destiny, to merge with humans? To create a new sort of life, greater than both?"
Kayamon nudged Coyomon gently, her nose against his shoulder and spoke in a whisper. "What's wrong, father? You should be happy that mother defeated that evil thing."
"I am," he assured her. "I was just thinking-- how nice it would have been to know this was possible-- years ago." He suddenly shook himself and gave out a joyful howl that echoed off the cliffs. "YAHOO! Tamers: 1, Ultimate Evil: 0! Who's yer daddy, red blobby thing?"
"That would be me," Sakuyamon laughed as she landed gently on the sand and smoothly separated into digimon and tamer again. Rika turned to Renamon and they gave each other a high-five. The group cheered.
"I must admit, Rika," Ryo said. "You were unbelievable!"
Rika gave him an open smile as she reached up to gather her hair back into her usual spiky ponytail. "Thanks, Ryo. Sorry I didn't leave anything for you and Cyberdramon." She turned to the Sovereigns. Yasuramon was looking uneasy. "How about a ride to the Southern Portal? I think we'd all like to go home now."
"Of course," Azulongmon said. "And if there is anything else we can do for you--" He stopped and lifted his head, looking into the distance.
In the air above the cliffs, rapidly growing larger, was a human-looking figure surrounded by a cloud of digignomes. "I'm so sorry to tell you this," Shibumi called out, "but it's not over yet."
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Author's Note:
Some of the pics linked to on my bio page have been updated.
There's also a new one of Kayamon.
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