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Digital Manifest
KeepersChapter 9: "…Is Always Calmest…"
The entity soared into the air before finally settling on an indiscriminate rooftop. It swiveled its head around left and right, reaching out with its senses as it tried to locate its targets. There were two heading in its direction, and two others were a ways off. The entity waited a bit, as though it were gathering energy, and then opened its mouth and reared on its legs as if it were calling out though no sound came out. After closing its jaws it took off, heading for the closest of its targets.
Gray Richoemon floated in the strange liquid, completely oblivious to the world around him. Scientists busied themselves with the screens in front of them, occasionally looking up at the strange digimon to see if there was any change in his condition visually before returning to their work. If they have learned nothing else about digimon, they could not count on their instruments to give them a heads up if something unexpected occurred. As their eyes returned to their work, no one noticed Gray Richoemon's eyes snap open.
Ryan had to admit, he was impressed with Renamon's infiltration abilities. She had gotten them past the front door, security, everyone, and all without being detected! Now they were sauntering down the halls towards where Ryan's digivice was leading them. As they approached the door Ryan spoke up.
"Renamon?"
She turned to face him.
"I just wanted to say 'thanks' again for helping me, even though you promised Chris not to…" Ryan stopped as the sensation of alarm tore through his head inexplicably. The vulpine digimon was about to ask him if he was alright when, as if on some sense of instinct, she leapt and tackled Ryan to the floor just at the exact same time that a fireball tore through the door that they had been standing in front of. Now the clang of an alarm rang through the air as Renamon got up and turned towards the remains of the door. As the kitsune watched, a gray colored version of the rookie digimon known as Richoemon stalked out of the room and sniffed the air before taking off down the hall at a run.
Renamon broke into pursuit.
Ryan watched in stunned amazement, but the realization of what had occurred brought him out of it and he got up. As he got ready to give chase he took a quick look into the room that his 'partner' had broken out of, finding the bewildered faces of numerous scientists and technicians. Ryan was about to call out and ask if everyone was all right when he was hit by a wave of dizziness.
What the heck?
He didn't notice the small glow that his dark-colored digivice gave off.
Renamon tackled Gray Richoemon only to be flung off a second later. Quickly recovering Renamon paused slightly to note data forming around the rookie digimon, merging into the familiar sphere that came with digivolving.
Only something was different.
The data sphere didn't fully form around Gray Richoemon, but instead seemed to settle into his body. As Renamon watched, the dinosaur's body lengthened to almost man-height, the claws and tail enlarging and becoming more pronounced, making him appear almost like a miniaturized version of Growlmon. Both Renamon and Gray Richoemon registered the transformation with surprise, but between the two of them Renamon was the first to recover. She didn't know precisely what just happened but if it distracted Gray Richoemon enough to immobilize him than it didn't matter right now. Leaping forward, Renamon drew back a fist, preparing to deliver an earth shaking punch.
However, it was not meant to be.
Whatever had caused the unusual change apparently did more than make Gray Richoemon bigger and meaner; it also made him faster. Spinning, the enlarged saurian lashed out at the vulpine with his tail, smashing it into her face at full force and redirecting her path of flight into a nearby wall. Not bothering to see if she was alive or not, the gray colored dinosaur continued tearing down the hall at break neck speed, knocking over a posse of guards that were just now rushing onto the scene. Continuing on his course, Gray Richoemon broke down another door and smashed through a window. As he fell towards the streets below him a black light enveloped the dinosaur and he spoke the words that signified his digivolution to his ultimate form.
"GRAY RICHOEMON! DARK DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"
"HEY!"
"Watch it!"
"Crazy kid!"
Chris and Caramon ran (well, Chris ran, Caramon just rode) through the panicking crowd, experiencing some difficulty with doing so as they were going against the flow of traffic rather than with it.
This is getting ridiculous. We've got to get to the danger zone FAST! Chris looked at his reptilian friend with a grim look on his face. Caramon simply nodded in understanding. They had been through enough similar situations to know what the other was thinking without really having to ask. Caramon leapt off Chris's shoulder as a glow surrounded him, matched by a similar glow by the digivice attached to his partner's pants.
"CARAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"
"DRACARAMON!"
Chris didn't bother waiting for the pandemonium to change directions. He climbed onto his partners back and nudged him forwards with his legs. With one mighty leap, the champion digimon jumped onto a car roof and bounded off of it towards another one, using the cars as a frog would a lily pad. The crowd, who had paused long enough to witness the amazing spectacle resumed panicking while Dracaramon continued vaulting onto car roofs, getting closer to the disturbance. Chris pulled out his digivice and activated the detector program. C'mone, c'mone, where is it? Where…?
A flurry of movement and a glow of energy caught his attention, and Chris opened his mouth to give his partner a warning, but apparently one wasn't needed. With reflexes and instinct faster than any verbal warning Dracaramon leapt up into the air, just barely avoiding two purple-colored energy scythes as they tore through a red mini-van and gouging a trench in the sidewalk.
Well, thought Chris as he held on tightly to his partner, waiting for his stomach to find its center of gravity again. At least now we know where and what the problem is. As soon as Dracaramon landed Chris jumped onto the ground, scanning the area around him visually before checking his digivice. Of their quarry there was no sign. His brow furrowed in concentration as he looked at his digivice. Well, we knew where it was. Where'd it go? His scanner program couldn't seem to pick up a continuous signal that he could use to lock on. It kept fading in and out, and it never appeared in the same place more than once. Chris growled in frustration.
"Dracaramon, help me out here. Can you tell where this thing is? Whatever it is it's fooling around with the digivice."
Dracaramon looked around, testing the air. There seemed to be a scent, but there wasn't anything definite. Not even his keen vision could find anything. There was something very disturbing about what was going on. And the scent, what little he could pick up over the smell of so many humans (which he found to be quite unsatisfactory to his tastes) told him that whatever they were dealing with, it wasn't really a digimon.
"Dracaramon? Talk to me here."
"Sorry, Chris. But I can't tell…" He stopped as his eyes were drawn to the alley directly across from them. Something in the shadows moved. Probably nothing, he snorted but the sudden alarm from Chris's digivice ended that line of thought. Looking towards Chris he saw that the digivice's screen was glowing and making agitated noises. Something was clearly upsetting it.
"I've got a signal!" Chris exclaimed. "It's directly ahead!"
Dracaramon's head whipped back towards the alley in time to see a figure part from the shadows. It resembled a Snimon in almost every way except for its color. A mantis with scythe like arm blades, standing on four legs, its entire body black instead of the usual green. Chris didn't bother checking his digivice. He and Ryan had encountered a Snimon back in the digital world, so they had 'personal' experience with its attacks and capabilities. Besides, despite its difference in coloring, he had a feeling that the only information that he'd get on the insectoid digimon would be that of your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill Snimon. That dark coloring that it had was an all to familiar shade.
Either way, Chris wasn't to concerned, though the memory of what had transpired that morning still haunted him. He had faced Snimon before and had its stats almost down to a science. Even Dracaramon didn't look at all concerned.
But concerned or not, why take chances?
Dracaramon threw himself at the Snimon, his claws digging into the creature's tough carapace, seeking a weak point in the armor. What happened next took both Chris and Dracaramon by surprise. In a blur of motion, the Snimon brutally smashed its right sickle into Dracaramon's head, and using its left, pushed him off before executing two rapid slashes that signaled its special attack.
Yet, like the Apemon from earlier, it didn't say a thing as twin violet slashes tore through the air, sending Dracaramon spinning like a rag doll.
Dracaramon somersaulted through the air, crashing into a nearby car.
"Dracaramon! You okay, buddy?"
"Rrrrgh!" Dracaramon growled as he righted himself.
I'll take that as a yes.
Dracaramon regained his footing only to be tackled by the Snimon.
Oh yeah. This is going real well, thought Chris as he watched the two combatants roll across the ground, the sound of metal and breaking glass filling the air and mixed with snarls and hisses.
"DIAMOND CLAW!" Shouted Dracaramon as he delivered a slash at the Snimon's face. The force of the blow threw the Snimon off of him and Dracaramon leapt into the air, his scales parting slightly, revealing hundreds of spikes hidden beneath them. Dracaramon opened his mouth and pronounced the words that activated his attack.
"SCALE BLAZE!"
Hundreds of needle- sharp spikes filled the air and imbedded themselves in the body of the insectoid digimon. The Snimon fell back, its body destabilizing but not yet fragmenting. Chris let out a cry of triumph at the sight.
"All right, Dracaramon! Finish 'em…" His outburst was cut short when he noted a change in the digimon that had been their opponent. The data that appeared to destabilize now began to warp and change. The body grew in size, the scythe like blades lengthening and deepening their curves while the carapace grew more pronounced while spines shot out of its back. Two extra clawed arms grew out of its back to finish the transformation, and the reborn Snimon stood back on its feet. As Dracaramon backed up to assess the new appearance Chris took a look at his digivice to see what kind of information it had on it. An image was displayed, but below it were two messages flashing.
NO DATA!
And
UNKOWN DATA PATTERN!
Unknown data pattern? Chris took another look at the creature as it advanced towards Dracaramon. This can't be good.
Dracaramon growled.
Ryan picked himself up from off the floor with a groan as a headache ripped its way through his skull. A comforting paw placed itself on his back as a yellow furred kitsune helped him to his feet.
"Give me a status report, Scotty," mumbled Ryan as he massaged his temples. Renamon cocked her head at the boy but chose not to comment on the odd statement and instead opted to follow through on the request.
"Your partner has left the grounds of Hypnos and may already have digivolved. As to how high a level I don't know, but I believe that we should stop him before he causes any more trouble."
"What do you mean we?" Asked Ryan. "I'm not exactly a digimon…"
"Your friend Chris told us how you made Richoemon reverse digivolve by placing yourself in danger."
Ryan nodded in understanding. "Well, that could've been a fluke, but what the heck. I'll do it."
"Then come on," said Renamon as she lifted Ryan into her arms and phased out of visibility, barely giving Ryan time to get out his digivice and activate the scanner program.
The last thing he thought of as the world disappeared was of what his digivice was picking up.
BAM!
Metal Dracaramon was punched through a building like a cannon ball, landing hard on the streets as said building began to crumble. Sirens and car alarms were going off, and all around the ultimate level digimon people were fleeing in terror. To think that once back in the digital world he had expressed a desire to see more humans, and now here he was practically tripping over them. It was a miracle so far that they hadn't hurt anyone in their fighting. Getting back to his feet, Metal Dracaramon used his sensors to see through the smoke, and what he found didn't thrill him too much.
The Snimon had morphed for the third time (the second being in response to Dracaramon's digivolving to ultimate), this time shedding most of its armor for more flexibility and replacing its scythe like blades with something resembling spiked hammers. Poor Chris had no idea what was going on; his digivice wasn't giving him any useful data at all, except for when the Snimon went through its transformations, during which it would give him a message that said data transmutation and not going into any details as to what it meant. Of course, the change in form was a dead giveaway, but did that mean it was digivolving? He did a quick mental checklist of all the usual suspects that showed up during digivolution.
Flash of light or darkness?
No.
Call of original name and name change during digivolution?
No.
All it did was shift from one form to the next, each one getting stronger than the last. If the digimon was digivolving it had to be somewhere on the mega level by now, which meant that if he and Metal Dracaramon didn't get any backup soon, they were screwed.
Rika flipped over a card for what had to be the fiftieth time in this one hour. It was her own personal training and meditation that helped enable her to focus her mind. Even though she didn't like fighting as much as she used to back in the days before she met Takato and Henry (and even for a time after that) she was always making sure that she would be in top form for the next battle, especially now with those new kids in town trouble didn't seem like it was going to be far away. Taking into account two simultaneous attacks, one from two regular ultimates and another from an unusually powerful champion that seemed perfectly capable of handling a group of champions and a couple ultimate level attacks with hardly any trouble.
Just what is coming our way? She wondered. It has to be something bad. It almost always seems to be. Wonder if it's going to be anything like D-Reaper? Ugh, why can't we get any good news for a change?
The sound of thunder caught the girl's attention and curious she got up to take a look outside. She didn't remember any thunderstorms being in the day's forecast. As she slid open the door to her room she caught a flash of light off in the distance as it lit up some smoke that was billowing up from the chaotic battle that was now going on. Rika's eyes flashed and a second later she had her cards and D-Arc attached to her belt and she was running towards the trouble. Knowing Renamon she was probably already on her way there, but why didn't her digivice alert her to what was going on?
Stupid thing must be broken, she thought. Another thought came to mind and she pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialed Henry's phone number. No luck. Busy.
These guys really need to get themselves cell phones, she mused as she dialed Takato's home phone.
"Matsuki residence," came a female voice from the other end.
"ARSENAL BARRAGE!"
With a cry, hidden compartments opened up all over Metal Dracaramon and missiles streaked from them, aiming towards the Snimon and impacting with deadly accuracy. Metal Dracaramon tensed as the smoke billowed up towards the sky, and a figure erupted from its embrace.
Wha…? It shifted form again?
The creature that started life out as a Snimon had once again morphed, this time developing a protective cocoon like shell around its back and reforming its scythe like claws. As Chris watched helplessly from his vantage point, the Snimon smashed into his partner and began cutting into his body. His metal armor fortunately protected him from the worst of the blows.
Every time Metal Dracaramon tries something, this guy changes form and makes things tougher. I wish that there were something that I could do to help him.
Just where is that backup? Chris groaned.
Hidden safely in the shadows, a pair of golden eyes glowed ominously. It watched the battle, its cold mind calculating as it studied the combatants. After a moments consideration it leapt forward.
Metal Dracaramon plowed into the strange monstrosity that was once a regular Snimon, making it stagger backwards. With a snarl, Metal Dracaramon primed his laser cannons and fired them at close range on his adversary.
"LASER DISCHARGE!"
Green energy blasts forced the Snimon back and a number of compartments once again popped open and fired missiles, creating a shockwave that blew the ultimate cyborg digimon to the ground. Groaning, Metal Dracaramon got back to his feet, his battered armor creaking as he did so.
I'm starting to sound like an old mon, he thought sarcastically.
As the smoke cleared, the raging Snimon emerged, again unharmed by the cyborg's attack.
"Oh, come… ON!" Shouted Chris in frustration. His partner had been fighting for too long with no visible effect to show for his efforts besides the massive amounts of property damage and no doubt innocents who were hurt or dead as a result of this battle. They needed to end this fight, and fast.
I wish someone would get here, thought Chris miserably as he gripped his digivice, watching the Snimon advance once more on his friend.He had never felt so useless before in his life. We could really use a breather here.
As if in answer to the boy's silent plea, a large, dark form crashed into Metal Dracaramon's enemy, forcing it to the ground as spines and claws snapped out of its forearms. As Chris and Metal Dracaramon watched, their minds agape at perhaps what must be the strangest angel God could ever send to save them, the creature began slashing at their foe.
"GRIM SLASH!"
Metal Dracaramon looked at Chris. "Is that who I think it is?"
"It sure looks like it," said the blonde haired boy.
The creature, long and large, had a viscous and muscular reptilian look to it that matched its actions, which consisted of the most primal urge to destroy and conquer all enemies. Bony spikes extended themselves through the creature's blue and gray skin, and flexible but strong armor dotted its body around the face, chest, arms, and back. The armor on the chest, rib-like in appearance, seemed to have a thin line running down it, as though it contained something hidden.
As the monstrous creature tore into its new foe with a fervor that bordered on rage, one could tell that it lived by only two basic rules: That which moved dies. That which resists, dies first.
Chris looked down at his digivice and brought up the analyzer program. While this time it provided data on their target that he could use, it didn't make him feel any more comforted, as it only confirmed his worst fears.
GRIM TERRADRAMON
STAGE: Ultimate
TYPE: Virus
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Grim Slash, Death's Heart
Chris looked back at the fight, and once again wished that backup would hurry up and get here.
"So," said Metal Dracaramon wistfully. "Who do we root for?"
"I'll have to get back to you on that," replied Chris.
And that was when Renamon and Ryan phased into view, nearly giving Chris a heart attack.
"Renamon!" Chris nearly shouted. "It's about time. I was wondering when you guys would start getting here! Metal Dracaramon and I have been knocking ourselves out fighting this strange digimon and… RYAN?!" Chris's eyes went wide in shock.
"Renamon…" Chris began as he glared at the vulpine digimon. "You promised…"
If Renamon had said anything in response, it was drowned out when Grim Terradramon was hurled to the ground and pinned beneath the shape-shifting digimon's claws. Chris turned back to the fight.
"Uh, Metal Dracaramon? Better get in there…"
"RIGHT!" With a roar of thrusters being activated, Metal Dracaramon leapt into the air, laser cannons cycling through their warm-up phase as they charged up with energy.
The world seemed to slow to a crawl as Ryan's eyes locked with the cold yellow ones of Grim Terradramon. A fleck of dust hovered in the air; a chunk of debris kicked up by Metal Dracaramon floated lazily near the ultimates rear paws; Cyberdramon's silhouette could be seen against the moon alongside another that was human shaped and had a long pair of angelic like wings. None of this mattered though. The world seemed to have shrunk down to just Ryan and Grim Terradramon. Ryan heard his heart beating in tune with that of his partner.
Thump! Bump!
Thump! Bump!
Ryan stared into depths so cold, so icy, that he felt chilled to the bone, making him worry slightly that he might catch pneumonia just by looking into the monsters eyes.
Thump! Bump!
Ryan blinked. There was something in those eyes; something other than that coldness. Something wanting, needing to be let out. Calling for help. It looked so lost…
Thump! Bump!
It was Richoemon.
Thump!
I can't let him fight this alone, thought Ryan.
Bump!
As the world returned to its regular pace, Ryan's digivice glowed like a star hailing the start of a new dawn. The light enveloped Ryan as Renamon and Chris shielded their eyes to avoid being blinded. The light contracted a bit and then shot towards Grim Terradramon before dying down. Chris blinked, trying to clear his eyes before looking at where his friend was. Then he blinked again, just to be sure that he had seen what he thought he saw.
"Where'd Ryan go?" He asked.
The sound of Grim Terradramon shouting something caught hold of his attention again.
"GRIM TERRADRAMON! SLIDE DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"
"MEGA TERRADRAMON!"
As Chris, Metal Dracaramon, and Renamon watched, the bony extensions on Grim Terradramon retracted into his body, his reptilian form becoming more human shaped while still retaining a reptilian appearance. Wings shot out from his back and razor sharp, steel, fang-like blades erupted from his elbows and snapped outwards while another blade sprung from his snout. To complete the transformation his color shifted his color shifted from gray and blue back to his original orange coloring with black stripes.
With a mighty roar, the reborn ultimate level saurian forced his enemy back, charging one of his arm blades with a orange-gold energy before slashing at his foe.
"DRAGON FANG!"
The attack struck home, and actually tore off a chunk of the dark monsters armor. Undaunted, the creature lunged at Mega Terradramon, almost knocking him on his back while he charged up both of his arm blades for a double Dragon Fang attack. Before he could do so, a shout rang through the air and an energy blast slammed into the two combatants.
"CORONA DESTROYER!"
The creature that had once been a Snimon disintegrated under the unexpected attack, while Mega Terradramon fell to the ground, separating into the two distinct forms of a boy and a dinosaur like orange digimon. Richoemon and Ryan both looked at each other before the world went dark for them.
Wrapped in the embrace of the shadows around it, a dark form watched as the events played out. His plan had backfired on him, and led to unexpected results.
No doubt this will attract the attention of Loki, the figure thought grimly. I should make haste to claim what is rightfully mine.
The shadows shifted as the dark form retreated from the image of the scene of the child and digimon.
10