"I thought he'd be bigger." Rika said, unknowingly voicing her thoughts. She, Hitomi, and their digimon partners watched as the energy field broke off from over the Hypnos building, and drifted slowly to their position. Out of it stepped a large white tiger, with pieces of armour covering it.
"The Baihumon my father knew was able to change his size and shape." Hitomi answered. Rika realized that she'd said that last part aloud, and berated herself. "But of all the Guardians, he was the kindest of them. He was the reason my parents met." Hitomi went on.
"I doubt that this guy's the same." Karatenmon said, never taking his eyes off of the approaching mega-level digimon.
"What happened to the Baihumon in your world?" Rika asked.
Hitomi swallowed. "He was killed by an evil Imperialdramon."
Good, Rika thought to herself. "That means we can take this one." She saw Hitomi nod, a little nervous, and smiled. She drew a card out and glanced at Taomon. "Ready?"
"Always, Rika." Taomon replied sombrely.
'Rally! Defeat the king of the west, Baihumon!'
Yamaki scowled at the damage Baihumon's entry to this world was causing. He could hear, faintly, the sound of electronics exploding as the digimon's presence caused the systems to overload. He looked around. Everyone was out, including the children and their pe...no, their partners, he corrected himself. "What came out?" he asked.
Dobermon, standing protectively beside Alice, glared towards the park. "Baihumon." he said. "One of the Sovereign."
Reilly gasped. "'One of'? I thought that the Sovereign was one digimon!"
"No." Dobermon answered. "The Sovereign is our name for the four strongest digimon in the digital world. I believe you call them mega-level digimon. It is they who are in charge of defending the digital world as a whole. Each of the Sovereign controls three of the Devas. At least, that's how it was when I left. For one of the Sovereign to come here is...unprecedented. It would be like using an atomic bomb to put out a house fire." He glanced at Alice. "If we are to have any hope of stopping him, we must move now." Dobermon glanced at Alice, and the two started running for the park.
"That's where Rika and Hitomi are!" Jeri gasped. "Come on!" she yelled, as she and Gabumon ran off. Takato quickly followed her, Guilmon following Takato.
"Big sister Alice!" Suzie squealed, starting to run, but was blocked by her father and Henry. "Let me go! Daddy!"
"No, Alice." Janyu said firmly. "You're too little. Houndour?" The pokemon looked up at him. "Make sure she stays away from the battle, alright?"
"Normally, I don't run from a fight." Houndour replied. "But...hey, isn't that YOUR job?"
"No, because I'm going with Henry." Henry blinked, startled. "Well, now that Kotemon's my partner, I should be able to go see what all this 'digimon taming' business is about."
"Dad." Henry moaned. "Just...don't copy my card slashing technique, alright?" Glancing at Terriermon, he asked "is this sounding a bit surreal?"
"No, but I am loving it." Terriermon replied. "Come on, let's save your girlfriend."
"Alice IS NOT..." Henry almost snarled. "Let's just get on with it. I...hey, where's Khumbiramon?"
"I thought one of you took him away." Houndour answered. "The last I saw him, he was in the control room, being stuffed inside one of those containment things."
Talli glanced up at the tower, wincing at some of the electrical sparks she saw coming out of the building. "Those units don't have an independent power supply." she said ominously.
"Go." Yamaki said. "Baihumon is the larger threat. Reilly, keep an eye on Miss Wong." he glanced at Suzie, who stepped back. "As for the rat Deva..." he hefted the rifle he had used to menace the tamers not too long ago, and smirked. "I'll handle him."
"And you'll need the Juggernaut system." Dolphin added, throwing a querying look at Babel, who nodded. "If we can restore the original program, we might be able to take Baihumon down a few pegs." He saw Janyu's concern, and waved his hand. "Go, be with your son. I'll do what I can here. Just...make sure Alice is alright, okay?"
"Will do." Janyu replied, as he and his son moved off for the park.
Chatsuramon nodded to the portal. "Come with me, Impmon. Your destiny lies back in your home, not on this dead world."
"Dead?" Impmon asked, unimpressed. "Seems pretty lively to me."
"Only a formality. Once we retrieve the Catalyst, we can finish our work here and in the digital world, and bring order to everything."
"I don't care about order or chaos." Impmon replied, a bit put out. "I just want to be the strongest. And yeah, that includes being stronger than you, Fido."
Chatsuramon tried not to laugh. "Of course.
"And what's this 'Catalyst' you're talkin' about?"
Chatsuramon thought for a second. "You would know him as...Calumon, yes, that was his name. Did you not know? Calumon is not a real digimon, but is instead the very essence of evolution, given physical form." The Deva snorted at Impmon's expression. "His is the power that enables digimon to evolve. I believe those humans have been using him to evolve their digimon."
"Huh. The little creampuff actually is good for something. Hey, what about that weird squiggle that he merged with?"
"'Squiggle'? Please, tell me all you know. And tell me of this...Yamaki too. I would like to have words with that one."
A bit worried, Taomon thrust her arms forward, sending out a barrage of ofuda at Baihumon, all of which hit and exploded. No effect. From a different angle, she saw Karatenmon release two black streams of energy, his Shadow Flash attack, with similar results. Oddly, there were no counter attacks from Baihumon. Instead, he was ignoring the two attacking digimon, and heading slowly towards...Taomon's eyes went wide as the realisation hit her. "Rika! Hitomi! RUN! It's you Baihumon's after!"
As if on cue, Baihumon roared, and made a wild leap at the two girls. Snarling, Karatenmon went straight for Baihumon's throat, swords out.
"Hyper Speed Activate!" Moving at incredible speeds, Leomon ran over, grabbed the two, and got them clear of Baihumon's strike, placing them down near where the other tamers had gathered..
Nami ran over and hugged Hitomi. "I found the others coming this way, so I led them here. Are you and Rika alright?"
Hitomi nodded. "Where's Kenta?" (He got sent back to his home. Poor guy. -ed)
"Later!" Rika said, still a bit unsteady. "Wait, Calumon, where is he?"
"Right here!" Calumon waved, flying over and landing on Rika's head. "Is that big tiger a friend?"
"No, that big tiger is going to eat us." Takato answered. "Uh oh..." Baihumon had swatted Karatenmon away, and was advancing on the humans again. "Umm...okay, I think we could use some help now, Calumon?"
"YOU don't need me now!" Calumon said cheerfully.
"He's right." Rika explained. "We just have to...want it to happen." That sounds so corny, Rika mentally groaned.
"Makes sense." Henry nodded. "The cards are just a focus for us, right?" he asked Calumon, who shrugged. "Right, forgot who I was talking to."
"Henry!" Janyu said, a bit shocked.
"Wow, Rika must be rubbing off on you."
"Terriermon." Both Henry and Janyu warned. Rika chose to ignore Terriermon, as well as the faint smile Alice suddenly had.
"It's good to see you again, Hitomi." Kotemon said, nodding to the tamer.
"You know me?" Hitomi asked.
"We'll talk later. Janyu?" Janyu nodded, staring at he card. He gasped as the card seemed to vibrate, then turned blue!
"Yeah, like that!" Henry said, doing the same with his card. Quickly, the other tamers did likewise.
"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution activate!" everyone shouted.
"Guilmon, matrix digivolve to...Wargrowlmon!"
"Terriermon, Matrix digivolve to...Rapidmon!"
"Leomon, Matrix Digivolve to...Grappleomon!"
"Dobermon, Matrix Digivolve to...Black Were Garurumon!"
"Kotemon, Matrix Digivolve to...Kyuukimon!"
"Woah..." Takato gasped. "Did we just...skip the Champion level? Wow, what a blast."
"Everyone...ATTACK!" Black Were Garurumon snarled, leaping forward.
Hypnos
Yamaki and Talli stalked the halls, searching for Khumbiramon. With them were Dolphin and Babel, the two monster makers, both watching the walls, expecting a giant horde of monsters to explode out at them.
"Once we get back to the control room, you won't have much time to get Juggernaut back on-line" Yamaki whispered. "Talli, once they're done, take them out of here and link up with Reilly at Site 2. I'll stay here and activate Juggernaut. Oh, and tell the tamers to get clear of the target zone. I can't guarantee that the aiming program will be fully functional."
"Sir?" Talli asked. "Oh...the automatic firing sequence must be offline." Yamaki nodded. Talli heard something metallic, spun around, and saw nothing. Then Babel knocked her over as Khumbiramon, shouting almost incoherently, leaped out of a half-opened door, trying to rake the technician's face.
Snarling, Yamaki aimed his rifle and fired, drawing some pleasure from the fact that, somewhere, Impmon was in a lot of pain right now.
Between Worlds
Impmon doubled over, howling in pain. "That...Hey, Rover, take me back! I'm gonna MURDER that freakjob!"
"The human you are partnered with? He is doing this to you?"
"Yeah, he's got some sort of crazy gun. It feels like I'm getting slammed in the gut with a sledgehammer every time he uses it on another digimon. I think he put one of those toys those kids use on their digimon in it."
Chatsuramon looked at the small blue sphere contemplatively. "Yes...perhaps we should pay Mr. Yamaki a visit..."
Park
As the battle carried on, Hitomi remembered some of Kari and Izzy's stories about their battles against the four Dark Masters. Especially the part about how seven Ultimate level digimon were no match for a single Mega- level digimon. Well, there were seven Ultimate digimon here, all fighting one Mega digimon...and having about as much effect.
"Baihumon!" Grappleomon roared. "Why are you here? Why have you sent the Devas here?"
"You know that already, traitor." Baihumon growled. "For Calumon, he who's true power you cannot begin to appreciate. For vengeance, against this world that tries to destroy ours, and for the Devas, who's lives and data you have..." Baihumon stopped, sniffing the air. "You have not...absorbed their data...You have denied them even this last honour? DIE!"
"I think he's mad." Rapidmon commented, dodging a claw swipe. Snarling, Wargrowlmon moved forward, trying to grab Baihumon's head.
"No, don't!" Hitomi yelled, too late. Baihumon's mouth opened up, and Wargrowlmon was blown back by a powerful bolt of energy.
"We cannot defeat him at close range!" Taomon said, launching another mystical attack. "Everyone, stay back and hit him from a distance!"
Kyuukimon, who had been hanging back, shook his head. "I don't do long range." he answered. "Blade Twister!" he shouted, spinning in place, arms extended. Kyuukimon had no hands, his arms ending in a pair of ultra-sharp blades. The pink and white whirlwind suddenly jumped up, and flew into Baihumon, arms carving gashes in the mega's hide.
"NOW!" Henry yelled. "Digi-Modify! Offence Plug-in A activate!"
"Rapid Fire!" Rapidmon shouted, launching a barrage of powered up missiles at Baihumon's injured side.
The 'fight' with Khumbiramon was almost anticlimactic, in Talli's mind. Two shots from Yamaki's digimon rifle had weakened the Deva to the point that a swift kick from Babel had put it out of the fight. Now, the Deva was inside a containment bottle, which had been hastily patched into the emergency power system. "Juggernaut's been 48% restored." Dolphin called, while he and Babel worked madly at the remaining terminals. "Talli, how about the targeting system?"
"I've narrowed it down to the park." she reported. "And I have the scanner back online..." One of the screens lit up, showing the battle in progress. "It's not good. According to those readouts, Baihumon is many times stronger than all of the kids digimon."
"Hear that?" Dolphin asked. "Janyu's now a 'kid'. I feel old."
"You know what I meant." Talli replied, voice a bit cold. "Okay, I think I can aim Juggernaut well enough to hit Baihumon, but the other digimon will have to move at least 500 meters away, or they'll be caught in the effect."
"It'll have to do." Yamaki answered, still on guard. "Dolphin, Babel, how long until Juggernaut's ready to go?"
"Another few minutes." Babel replied. "The only real problem is limiting the scope from city-wide, which would be useless because of the reduced power we have available, to hit just one digimon. In a way, it's a good thing this building's taken so many hits; we need fewer broadcast systems, and the auto-system's already taken the damaged ones off-line, meaning we have a narrower beam. And relax." he added, not looking at Dolphin. "Alice will be fine."
"Thanks." Dolphin replied, still working.
"There." Chatsuramon said grimly. "That is the part of the server that we can use to get into this 'Hypnos' place. I would meet the man who would destroy all of us."
"I'd rather you eat him and that freaky gun of his." Impmon snarled. "But not before I get my shot in, understand?"
Kyuukimon tried to dodge Baihumon's Iron Claw, but was caught, and sent spinning away, reverting to Kotemon as he landed. Janyu and Hitomi ran over. "Kotemon!" Janyu said, worried.
"I am fine." Kotemon managed, sitting up. "Though I think I am out of this fight for now." He glanced at Hitomi. "Your parents would be proud, if they saw you now." he said. At her confusion, he went on. "Forgive me. I evolved from the Tyrogue that Hiroki had."
"You're...Hiroki's?" Hitomi asked, face lighting up.
"Actually, I'm his now." Kotemon answered, nodding to Janyu. "A Houndour and I came here when we felt that Mr. Wong and his daughter were in danger."
"Then the portal home...?"
"I don't know." Kotemon said sadly. "At the time, all I could think of was getting here safely." Hitomi's face fell a bit. "But," he added, "we know it is possible to get you home now." He nodded back to where the other tamers were. "I think you're needed again." Hitomi got up and ran over.
Janyu helped Kotemon up. "So...Hiroki's her boyfriend, right?"
"What was your first clue?" Kotemon answered.
Meanwhile, back in New Bark Town...
Izzy worked frantically at the keyboard, trying to stabilise the portal. "It's no good!" he snarled. "When Kotemon and Houndour went through, it must have upset the link we have with the world Hitomi's on!"
From a second console, Ken looked up. "Power levels are going nuts...GET OUT, IT"S GOING TO BLOW!" Not waiting, Ken jumped up, grabbed Izzy by the shirt collar, and dragged him out of the lab, seconds before the portal exploded.
"No..." Izzy gasped. "The portal is...is..."
"We can rebuild it." Ken said grimly. "We were planning to anyway, right?"
Okay, back to the fight...
"Takato, Rika!" Henry called, pulling out three cards. "Use these! The rest of you, try to give us some time!"
"Got it!" Karatenmon yelled, tossing one of his swords to Black Were Garurumon. "Grappleomon!"
"Lion Killing Wave!" Grappleomon shouted, firing a massive pulse of energy at Baihumon. Dashing in just behind the blast, Karatenmon and Black Were Garurumon made lightning fast slashes at the giant tiger, inflicting some more damage on it.
"We're not doing enough damage." Alice observed. "All we're doing is scratching him. At this rate, we'll be here all night. If we survive." She glanced at Calumon, standing behind Rika and peeking out every now and then to cheer the digimon on.
"Don't count us out yet." Karatenmon said, seeing Hitomi take another card out.
"Digi-modify! Imperialdramon's Positron Laser activate!"
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Karatenmon grinned as the cannon appeared on his right arm. "Alright, here's a move from back home...POSITRON SABER!" Focussing the beam of the Cannon into a relatively short length, Karatenmon swooped down, managing to land a severe blow to Baihumon's back, out of reach of his claws.
"Saber?" Takato asked. "Shouldn't that be laser?"
"Hitomi told me about it." Jeri answered, eyes not leaving the battle. "It's like a giant lightsaber that her parents used when they fought an evil Imperialdramon."
"Cool." Takato breathed. "Gundam-y, but cool."
"Something's not right." Janyu said, watching this. "Baihumon's barely fighting back. If he's as powerful as everyone says, then why are we able to do so much damage to him?"
Hypnos
"Juggernaut is online!" Babel said, pumping his fist. "Okay, start the program and let's get out of here! If this doesn't work, this building's going to be the first thing that goes!"
"No, you will!" Chatsuramon roared, tearing a rift open and charging through.
"RUN!" Yamaki ordered, bringing his rifle around and firing. Chatsuramon dodged the blast, and, before Yamaki could fire again, side-stepped and allowed Impmon through. The small digimon ploughed into Yamaki and the two started wrestling with each other. "GO!" Yamaki said again. Everyone left, Talli keying in a quick command before she got up and ran. Good, Yamaki thought as he tried to bite Impmon's ear. Now they'll have to destroy the entire building to stop the Juggernaut.
"I'll stuff that rifle down your throat!" Impmon snarled.
An image of Ryo flashed before Yamaki's eyes. Eyes narrowing, Yamaki snarled "I won't need my rifle to tear you apart, monster!"
Chatsuramon watched the two fight, mildly interested. Then he heard frantic poundings coming from off to the side. Curious, he padded over, and saw Khumbiramon trying to claw his way out. "Ah, Khumbiramon. You're looking well."
"Get me out of here! Chatsuramon, please!" Khumbiramon begged.
"The deal," the dog Deva said, almost conversationally, "was that you were to kill the humans. And you failed. Is this making any sense?"
"Please, it wasn't my fault!"
"Oh, silence, rat. You were better off as a messenger boy. Why you were made a Deva is still beyond my reasoning capacity."
Yamaki struggled with Impmon; all of his loaded data made him much stronger than his small frame would have suggested. Finally, with a crunch, Yamaki was able to throw Impmon off. He brought the rifle up and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.
"Looking for this?" Impmon asked, clutching Yamaki's D-Arc in his had, bits of wire attached to the black digivice. "Let's see how you do without the hardware!" He leaped forward, but Yamaki revered his grip on the rifle, swung, and managed to send the small demon digimon flying across the room.
"Impressive, for a human." Chatsuramon observed. "I can see why the sovereign considers you humans a threat."
"Come closer, and see how much of a threat we are, creature." Yamaki kept his grip on the ruined weapon.
"No need for that, Mr. Yamaki. Or should I say Akiyama?" Yamaki stopped, rifle lowering a bit. "Yes, I can see the resemblance between you and Ryo. He has proved as much a thorn in our side as you have. What if I were to tell you that your son is now alive in the Digital World? I could bring you to him."
"You lie!" Yamaki snarled.
Park
Rika, Henry, and Takato all slashed their cards at once. "Digi-Modify! Trinity Burst Activate!"
With an almost subsonic whine, Taomon, Rapidmon, and Wargrowlmon glowed brightly, seemed to merge together, and made a single lancing strike at Baihumon, the tiger unable to dodge the attack in time.
Renamon, Guilmon, and Terriermon appeared on the far side, exhausted. "Okay, THAT had to have done it." Terriermon sighed. "Nothing could have survived that."
"Except Baihumon." Renamon snarled, seeing the tiger, badly wounded now, manage to get back to its feet. Oddly, its skin was no longer white, but was pulsing with a faint red glow.
"Ah nuts!" Guilmon whined. "Takato, he won't stay down!"
Takato was about to pull another card out, when Hitomi's pokegear rang. Hitomi opened it up, listened to the message, and nodded. "We have to get out of here." Hitomi whispered to Takato. "They're about to activate the Juggernaut!"
Rika and Henry overheard this, and told the other tamers to start pulling back. Baihumon snapped at the digimon as they tried to edge around, Guilmon alternating between flinching and trying not to go berserk and attack the tiger by himself.
"Break!" Janyu yelled. Everyone ran, leaving a confused Baihumon behind.
Hypnos
"You cannot beat us." Chatsuramon said to Yamaki. "Why not join us?"
"I don't have to beat you." Yamaki answered, glancing at his watch. "I just need to stall you for another minute."
"Ah, good, you've activated the Juggernaut. Excellent." Yamaki's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Didn't you know? This whole exercise was to get you to use the Juggernaut program. The Devas, sending Baihumon in, all of it was to force you to use the program that weakens the wall between our two worlds."
"No...that's not...we wiped all of Makuramon's changes!"
"Fool." Chatsuramon laughed. "We were born in the computers you cherish so, we were easily able to alter your weapon to suit our needs!"
"Your Sovereign is still out there, and the Juggernaut will kill him!"
Chatsuramon shrugged. "He is expendable. All we want is for you to open a rift between our worlds, which your Juggernaut will do quite well for us."
"No..."
"Hey...Yamaki..." Impmon growled, clawing his way back up to his feet. "We still got business."
"I just realized." Chatsuramon said, looking at Khumbiramon. "I know why you were made a Deva, Khumbiramon."
"Why?" the rat Deva asked.
"For this. TREASURE MALLET!" Chatsuramon's body shifted into a giant mallet, and flattened Khumbiramon, container and all. Switching back, Chatsuramon glanced at Impmon. "Take his data!" Eagerly, Impmon did so. "Now, hold him! The Juggernaut must fire, after all."
"Right." Impmon snarled. "DEVA CLONE!" he yelled, splitting into several copies of himself, and swarming Yamaki.
Chatsuramon blinked. He had never seen a digimon actually use another digimon's powers after loading their data. They both bear further study, Chatsuramon mused.
Park
"Why are we running?" Calumon asked, gripped firmly in Rika's arms.
"'Cause every digimon in a 500-meter radius around Baihumon's about to get deleted!" Rika answered. Already, she could feel an electric charge building around everything. A short distance away, Janyu waved to the other tamers, indicating that they had found the safe distance.
Baihumon was baffled; then he felt a tearing sensation, as the data that made up his body was slowly pulled apart by the power of the Juggernaut system.
"It's working!" Jeri yelled.
"Yeah." Takato said, a little uneasily as he saw Baihumon get, quite literally, pulled apart, bit by bit.
"Are you alright?" Nami asked Hitomi, who had bit her lip.
"Back home, Baihumon was a bit of a hero." Hitomi answered quietly. The tamers watched as Baihumon disintegrated, agitated but not overly concerned.
Janyu watched this, deep in thought, muttering something. "Dad?" Henry asked.
"I was just going over how the Juggernaut works, and I-" He stopped as he caught Baihumon's face, the last part of him to vanish, seem to twist into an evil grin. "NO!" he yelled, deafening Henry for a second.
As Baihumon's body vanished, the separated data seemed to coalesce into a bright red ball, which shot back towards the Hypnos Towers, and exploded over top of them.
Hypnos
Impmon dismissed the other clones of himself. When Chatsuramon had told him he actually wanted Juggernaut to be used, all the fight had left Yamaki.
"It doesn't have to end like this." Chatsuramon rumbled. "A price for your...vendetta must be extracted. But I could...reunite you with your son. You miss him, don't you?"
Slowly, Yamaki nodded. "Why not kill me now?" he asked.
"Because, for all the trouble you have caused, the Sovereign is quite...fascinated by you humans and how you interact with those digimon you claim to have tamed. We were planning to use Ryo and Cyberdramon, but if we had you...well, we might be less inclined to hunt your son down."
Slowly, Yamaki got up. "I agree." he said quietly. Nodding, Chatsuramon opened another rift, and motioned for Yamaki to go through. He did so, taking one last look around the lab.
Outside
Everyone gaped at the bright red...tear in the sky. 'Tear' was the only word that could describe it. Inside of it, it was red and had a grid pattern. Takato could just make out shapes moving alongside the edges of the tear.
Dobermon stiffened. "It can't be!"
"It is." Renamon replied. "We're seeing the Digital World!" As she spoke, a bolt of lightning shot out, slamming into one of the towers on the Hypnos building, shattering the top few levels.
"Dad!" Alice gasped. A few more bolts shot out, and the tops of the towers were reduced to twisted metal and cracked concrete. Henry was about to say something to comfort Alice, when the howling started.
"Trouble." Karatenmon said, tightening his grip on his swords.
With a sharp howl, every airborne digimon Hitomi knew erupted out of the rift and swooped down, claws and beaks extended, on top of the tamers. There seemed to be no real strategy, just a frenzied claw and bite, until they heard Calumon start yelling.
"Let me go!" the small white digimon yelled, gripped between two Flymon. Cawing loudly, Noctowl exploded out of Hitomi's pokeball, flew up, and smashed the two digimon with a pair of Steel Wings. A Confusion blast got a third incoming digimon, then the owl pokemon was overwhelmed, forced down by a Vilemon. Hitomi recalled Noctowl as Rika tried to get to where Calumon was.
Renamon jumped over her, destroying any digimon between Rika and Calumon. Wordlessly, Rika slashed a card through her D-Arc, calling up Musyamon's katana. Renamon put it to deadly effect. (Told you they were good. -ed)
"They must be after Calumon." Takato realized, getting a 'well DUH!' look from Henry. "Guilmon, help protect Calumon!" Roaring, Guilmon started launching fireballs into the air.
"Go!" Alice said to Black Were Garurumon. "You have to help too!"
"I'm not leaving you." the digimon snarled. "Besides, I'm not much good at fighting Aerial opponents." This point was proven as an Aquilamon flew down, catching Alice in its claws.
"Big sister Alice!" Suzie yelled. D-Arc in hand, she turned to Houndour. "Please, do something!" Instantly, Suzie's D-Arc started glowing.
"Houndour, digivolve to...HOUNDOOM!"
Henry glanced at the newly evolved pokemon, at Suzie, at his father, and came to a decision. "Suzie! Use this!" he called, throwing a card to his sister. "Just like we do!"
Suzie caught the card, looked at it, and nodded. "Digi-modify! Hyper-wing activate!" Instantly, six wings sprouted from Houndoom's back, enabling her to fly. "Hang on big sister!" Suzie called. "Houndour...uh...FETCH!"
Repressing a comeback, Houndoom flew up, landing on Aquilamon's back, who was engaged with Karatenmon, and using Alice as a shield. Seeing no other way, the pokemon leaned over and sunk her fangs into the bird digimon's neck. She followed the bite with a Flamethrower attack, the flames going right into the injured neck. Cawing, Aquilamon released Alice. Karatenmon flew down and caught her, while Houndour leaped off the back of the giant bird, just in time to see Black Were Garurumon jump, grab onto a leg, and deliver a Shadow Crescent into Aquilamon's gut, destroying it.
Karatenmon landed, placed Alice on the ground, and flew back. Suzie, for her part, flew into Alice's arms, sobbing. Houndoom strode over, satisfied. "Hey, I kinda helped up there." she said.
Alice glanced at the pokemon. "Thank you." she whispered, glancing at Henry a second later. She was about to say something to him as well, when they heard Renamon and Rika both shout. Eyes wide, they saw a crimson red skeletal horror jump down, throwing both tamer and digimon to one side, and then pick up Calumon in one of its hands.
"Skull Satamon!" Jeri gasped.
"Treacherous vermin!" Grappleomon snarled. He dodged around the hand holding Calumon, and drove a single punch into the demonic digimon's head, shattering it and the digimon. However, a second Skull Satamon landed, trying to surprise the cyborg. It was sliced in two by Karatenmon's blades.
"They always travel in packs!" the digital pokemon called.
"Thanks!" Grappleomon answered, then looked up, gasping. "No, it can't be him!" Looking up, Karatenmon saw a giant firebird appear in the rift, almost ghostly in appearance, and drop a massive fireball on top of them.
Eevee and Gabumon landed at the feet of their tamers, nearly unconscious. "Z...Zhuquiamon..." Gabumon moaned, passing out.
"Look!" Takato said, pointing. Calumon, also knocked out, was enclosed inside a ruby-red sphere, and was rapidly whisked up towards the rift. Then, the rift imploded.
1 hour later
Rika sat up abruptly, throwing off the sheet someone had placed over her. "Calumon! Where's Calumon?"
"They...got him." Henry answered. "Another of the Sovereign, Zhuquiamon, appeared and dropped a fireball on us. We never had a chance. And they levelled Hypnos too."
"Renamon?" Rika asked, suddenly worried.
"I am here, Rika." Renamon answered. "I'm sorry. I let Calumon get away."
"It wasn't our fault." Takato interrupted. "But what do we do now?"
Hitomi looked up, face dark. "I think...we have to go after him."
Reilly stepped into the tent. "They have Mr. Yamaki too. I got a stream of the security cameras from the lab. I saw Impmon," everyone stiffened at his name, "and a giant dog appear, say something to him, and then led him through another portal."
"Chatsuramon." Gabumon said grimly.
"So, they have Yamaki, Calumon,-" Henry started to say.
"And Ryo." Reilly added. "I was able to pick out his name." Helplessly, Reilly looked at the group. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to do anymore."
Hitomi looked up. "I think...I think we should go after them."
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Next Episode: While the Monster Makers and the remaining Hypnos staff work to find a Digiport that can be used to save Yamaki, Calumon, and Ryo, the tamers prepare to leave for the digital world. Who will go, and who will stay behind? Find out, next time on Digicross Tamers episode 21:
-Setting out!
"No. I absolutely forbid it." "Papa...please...?"