Additional Author's Notes: Things kind of got off to a slow start because I was still trying to test the waters of the new series. In fact, I didn't get around to the next chapter for about three months after writing this one. That's also when things got a little more interesting, complicated and excessively over the top. Basically, I warned my friends that letting me near a Xros Loader would be dangerous and then I had to go and prove it.
Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.
| Digimon Xros Wars | Xtra | Part 2 |
"Do you wish to protect these young ones?"
Crystal was caught in a sudden haze of bright light, but this time she definitely heard a voice. It seemed to come from all around her without any identifiable source. There was, however, some kind of electronic gadget that could have been a cell phone or an MP3 player with a dull gray casing suspended in the air a short distance in front of her.
"Do you desire to help them?"
"Well," she admitted, "I'd like to do something."
"What is your name?"
"Crystal Mizuka," she answered although afterward she thought it was a bit odd that she was conversing with a strange voice that belonged to someone or something she couldn't see. Her voice bounced back at her several times before Crystal felt a vibration in the air that gradually became an audible sound.
The electronic gadget suspended in the air had reacted to her voice. The screen lit up and the casing rapidly became flooded with squares of metallic silver until the entire thing had changed color.
"Take this Xros Loader," the voice came again.
Crystal held out her hand as the strange gadget floated toward her. She probably would have been a little more weirded out by all this if she hadn't already been surrounded by a bunch of colorful monsters in such a surreal landscape. As the Xros Loader moved toward her it seemed to absorb the light that had enveloped her to reveal that she was once again standing amidst the crowd of small creatures that were cowering from the battle taking place in the distance. Seeing them restored Crystal's resolve and she grabbed the Xros Loader out of the air.
Then a thought struck her, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"A Xros Loader," Zapmon was staring at the girl in awe. "Does this mean you can activate Digi Xros?"
Crystal looked between the gadget in her hand and the small dragon, "I don't even know what that means."
A stray blast from Deltamon caused a row of boulders near where they were hiding to explode. A Psychemon and Chibimon quickly fled from the rubble along with a frightened group of Tsunomon and Koromon.
"There's no time to explain," Zapmon propelled herself on top of the boulders they were hiding behind. "You'll have to figure it out yourself. I need to go help Slashmon fight."
Zapmon was quick on her feet, but there were still times when she would mentally curse her stubby legs for not allowing her to run faster and her puny wings for being completely useless for flying. Still, it didn't take her long to get back to where Slashmon was trying to hold off Deltamon while Gururumon, Raptordramon, Lighdramon and Togemogumon were busy with the horde of Tuskmon. It looked like she was getting back just in time considering Slashmon was already looking pretty worn out from the effort of clashing with an inherently stronger digimon. Zapmon probably wouldn't fair much better, but she wasn't about to go down without a fight so it was worth a shot.
Electricity crackled along Zapmon's forearms as she projected it on Deltamon from distance, "Silver Lightning!"
As might have been expected, the big blue dragon barely even felt it. Zapmon shrunk back a little when Deltamon didn't even flinch at her attack.
"It's no good," Slashmon warned her. "We might have to make a run for it."
Zapmon shook her head in protest, "Where could we run? Let's try combining our attacks."
Of course, she was really hoping that Crystal would be able to figure out the Xros Loader to help them before it was too late.
Crystal had been staring intently at the gadget in her hand expecting that maybe it would do something, but nothing seemed to be happening. When she peaked over the top of the boulders she was hiding behind in the canyon she saw the big blue dragon preparing to fire off another beam. It looked like Zapmon and Slashmon were standing in the path of where the beam would hit trying to prepare a counter attack, but it was looking pretty hopeless.
"They've been protecting me since I got here," Crystal started mumbling to herself. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden on them. "There's no way I'm letting this place turn me into some pathetic damsel in distress."
She maneuvered around the boulders and started back toward where the fighting was taking place. Zapmon and Slashmon were too preoccupied with trying to hold back Deltamon's attack to realize she was coming. If they had noticed one or both of them would have been yelling at her to stop it. Crystal wouldn't have cared. She knew what she was doing was kind of reckless.
The Xros Loader finally started to respond. And that was when Crystal heard the strange voice once again.
"Use this Xros Loader."
The screen on the device lit up and the upper panel popped up to uncover a yellow v-shaped symbol that had been concealed underneath. Crystal had played enough video games to put together an educated guess of what needed to happen next. She kind of figured that since she was already taking orders from a disembodied voice it really wasn't too much of a stretch for her to use video games as a guideline for what she had to do. After all, it kind of fit with her present surroundings.
She held out her hand so that the screen on the Xros Loader was facing Zapmon and Slashmon. She was vaguely aware that she had become surrounded by a silver glow when she shouted, "Digi Xros!" Since that was what Zapmon had mentioned before, she assumed those would be the right words for it.
It must have worked because the digimon in question immediately became engulfed by a silver aura. Slashmon was simultaneously engulfed by a fiery golden aura. The two digimon engulfed in light shot into the sky and eventually slammed together into a single entity. The creature that emerged was a somewhat larger dragon with a combination of features from both of its component digimon. It had black scales interlaced with a pattern of crimson stripes shaped like bolts of lightning. The new dragon was roughly seven feet tall and perhaps nine feet in length from its snout to the tip of its tail. It had retained Zapmon's more humanoid hands and silver claws, but had also inherited Slashmon's metallic horns. To round it all of, the new dragon had silver eyes and an impressive draconic wingspan with scales fading from gold to crimson.
The newly generated digimon quickly turned on Deltamon. Gururumon, Raptordramon, Lighdramon and Togemogumon instinctively backed down from their respective opponents to get out of range. This new digimon seemed to be radiating with raw power and none of them wanted to get in the way.
The dragon spread its wings and took to the sky, already innately in tune with its new-found capacity for flight. Then it spread its jaws and exclaimed, "Pulse Blaster!" as it exhaled a resonating prismatic shockwave that made quick work of Deltamon and the horde of Tuskmon that had accompanied the large blue dragon. With its purpose fulfilled, the new digimon became engulfed in light once again splitting into the silver aura and golden aura that quickly assumed the familiar forms of Zapmon and Slashmon.
"That was awesome!" Zapmon beamed enthusiastically.
Slashmon whistled appreciatively at the empty space their antagonists had previously occupied, "That could come in handy."
And just like that the battle was over. Crystal was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened.
With nowhere else to go, Crystal accepted Zapmon's invitation to go with her and the other digimon back to their village at the other end of the canyon. There were still a lot of questions she wanted to ask about this Digital World and the digimon that seemed to inhabit it. The thought of finding a way to get back home was surprisingly far from her mind. This place was just too interesting.
To Be Continued... Well, Maybe.
Author's Notes: Just don't be counting on it.