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 8|
"Knuckle Fire!" The metallic claws of Black Fladramon's flame patterned gauntlets began to glow with intense heat as he began tossing fireballs at the swarm of Kuramon that were invading the Terminal Zone as they fled from the Network Zone. He knew he couldn't stop them. There were just too many of them. And with so many computer terminals for them to exit from, the most he could do was eliminate the ones that were right in front of him. Fortunately, the one-eyed jellyfish-like digimon didn't appear to be at all interested in Akari or Zenjirou so as long as the two humans he had been asked to look after kept low to the ground the Kuramon would leave them alone. However, it was deeply disconcerting how the Kuramon were all converging on a single point directly overhead.
Several moments later the four human generals tumbled out of a portal accompanied by yet another slew of Kuramon. Nene somehow managed to come out standing, but the other three landed in an awkward heap with poor Taiki on the bottom. Crystal managed to get away from the pile up without much difficulty, but Kiriha seemed to enjoy having Taiki pinned beneath him a little more than was absolutely necessary, especially given the situation unfolding with the Kuramon.
Beelzebumon quickly joined Black Fladramon in his efforts to blast down the swarm of Kuramon and it didn't take long for the rest of the digimon to emerge from their respective general's Xros Loader to join the battle, but even then they were still severely outnumbered by the seemingly endless mass of Kuramon filtering from the computer terminals all around them.
"Just how many of these things are there?" Dorulumon growled as he crushed several beneath his massive paws.
"Too freaking many if you ask me," Zapmon replied from somewhere up above. The small dragon was balancing precariously on one of the levitating Kuramon as she lashed out at a section of the surrounding swarm with her claws electrified claws.
Then, without warning, the flood of Kuramon ceased just as suddenly as it had started. By that point the vast majority of the small digimon were concentrated in the air. The Kuramon were so densely packed together that even the combined strength from Sparrowmon, Mail Birdramon, Thunderbirmon and Gryphomon was beginning to have no effect. And that was when the Kuramon began to lose their individuality as the wriggling mass of tiny digimon began to merge together to form a single giant entity in their place.
"I should probably warn you that Armagemon is even more powerful than Diablomon and much more dangerous," Wisemon remarked helpfully.
Armagemon swung his huge limbs effectively swatting the aerial digimon that had been in proximity to him to the metallic ground beneath him. Then the strange compartments on his back opened up as he unleashed a barrage of dark, missile-like projectiles down on the area beneath him. Slashmon charged into action, striking down one of the incoming projectiles with his glowing claws. Greymon utilized his powerful tail to swat down several that came within range of him. Within seconds the rest of the digimon had also joined in the counterattack. However, some of the dark projectiles did manage to impact the metallic ground sending tremors throughout the surrounding area.
"That guy has some serious firepower," Crystal commented from behind a row of broken computer terminals.
"We're going to get pulverized if we let him keep us on the defensive like this," Kiriha seemed ready for another fight.
"Blade Lightning!" X-Slashdramon generated a strong electric field around its body, concentrating it along the blade extending from the Lighdramon helmet on its right arm before slashing at Armagemon to form an electrified energy blade.
"Plasma Deckerdra Launcher!" Decker Greymon fired a blast with the outward appearance of a small exploding star up at Armagemon from his main cannon.
"Impact Laser!" Shoutmon X5 fired a spiraling green laser stream from his shield cannon up at Armagemon.
The attacks hit their mark and exploded violently against Armagemon's body as the humongous digimon continued to hang ominously in the sky. However, when the smoke cleared, it was readily apparent that they hadn't put a scratch on him. The huge digimon's jaw unhinged as an enormous ball of solar-hot energy shot from the back of his throat causing the three Digi Xrossed digimon to scatter as it burned past them to form a huge, smoldering crater in the metallic ground beneath their feet.
"Hey guys, I think we could use a new strategy," X-Slashdramon remarked uncomfortably. "I'm afraid all I've come up with so far is don't let a blast like that hit us."
"In fact," Kiriha interjected, "it might be preferable not to let him do that again."
Crystal ran a hand through her hair as she contemplated the situation. "This guy seems to be pretty invulernable on the surface so we might have to resort to blasting him from the inside," she noted even though the idea gave her some pause.
"You might be right," Taiki was also trying to analyze their opponent and he had reached more or less the same conclusion. Armagemon's only apparent vulnerable spot was the inside of his mouth.
"Which means we're going to have to wait for him to open his mouth to launch that attack again and strike before he has time to finish," Crystal concluded. "And since Decker Greymon is pretty much grounded," she looked meaningfully at Kiriha, "that means we're going to need him to cover X-Slashdramon and Shoutmon X5 in case Armagemon decides to hit us with more of those other projectiles. Think you guys can handle that without taking any cheap shots?"
"Given the circumstances I think we can certainly agree to that," Kiriha responded in slight amusement. "Although, I do wonder how you're planning to pull this off."
"Actually, I was counting on X-Slashdramon to give him a nasty stomach ache," was Crystal's response.
"Supernova Impact!" X-Slashdramon's body became engulfed in white hot flames as it sped high into the air and slammed into the underside of Armagemon. As soon as they made contact, the flames rapidly exploded outward to engulf the bottom half of Armagemon's body with intense heat. They might not have been able to break through all that thick skin, but it looked like Armagemon definitely felt X-Slashdramon impacting with his body and the painful heat of the flames that spread from the point of impact because Armagemon was roaring out in pain.
"I should have warned you that even though you can breath fire, mine is a hell of a lot hotter," X-Slashdramon proclaimed triumphantly. Then, to ensure that Armagemon's huge jaws would remain open long enough for Shoutmon X5 to land the finishing blow, X-Slashdramon slammed a flurry of high speed punches into Armagemon's underside. "Rapid Strike!"
Shoutmon X5 circled around to come at Armagemon from the front and plunged his sword into the enormous digimon's mouth to pierce the solar heated blast that had begun forming at the back of Armagemon's throat. This caused the blast to explode within Armagemon's enormous jaws, rebounding throughout his humongous body. Then, with Armagemon's jaws still wide open, Shoutmon X5 unleashed a laser stream from his shield cannon to finish the job. "Impact Laser!"
Armagemon's gigantic body began to plummet from the sky as it slowly faded into a humongous golden cloud of data. At the very center of the data cloud was one of the pieces of the Code Crown. A second piece emerged from one of the remaining computer terminals that hadn't gone offline from being rocked by all the explosions. Both pieces drifted gradually, eventually making their way over to Taiki. Kiriha shrugged it off. There were still plenty of Zones left for him to conquer on his own time.
"That guy was one seriously messed up piece of work," Zapmon commented from her newly established perch on Crystal's shoulder.
"At least we beat him," Shoutmon reminded her.
"You couldn't have done it without my help," noted Kiriha.
"Aren't you glad I went and got you?" Nene asked him in a deliberately teasing manner.
Kiriha shrugged. "Don't push your luck. You were in just as much danger here as the rest of us."
"Yep," Zapmon grinned as she launched herself off of Crystal's shoulder and glided over to land on Taiki's so she could pat him on the head. "Nothing like getting kidnapped to bring everyone together."
"Something like that," Taiki laughed nervously. Zapmon seemed to follow some very strange logic. He gently lifted the small dragon off his shoulder and set her on the ground. If she wanted to perch on someone, then she could go ahead and perch on Crystal. They were partners after all.
"I'm out of here," Kiriha waved over his shoulder as he prepared to transfer to another Zone. "And Taiki, don't expect me to go easy on you next time. I don't care if you've found yourself another ally. I still intend to defeat you."
And with that, he disappeared through the portal.
"Is he always like this?" Crystal had to ask.
"You have no idea," was Taiki's reply.
"I should get back to searching for my brother," Nene decided. "Try to stay out of trouble for at least a little while, alright?"
And sure enough, Nene left too.
"I guess that means we should be leaving too," Zenjirou suggested. "I don't know about the rest of you, but this Zone kind of gives me the creeps."
"There really isn't anything left to do here," Akari agreed.
"Sounds like a plan," Crystal didn't want to stick around in this Zone either. "Hopefully we can avoid any further detours."
"Then let's move on to the next Zone," Taiki could certainly stand for a change in scenery. Clearly, he had become a little too popular with the Bagra Empire.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Well, it's been a ridiculous couple of chapters. I think I might want to let things wind down a little bit for the next one, but you never know what might happen.
Additional Author's Notes: And yet, in spite of all the things that have happened so far, the status quo continues to remain unchanged. For some reason I find that to be somewhat comforting. Of course, who knows how long it will stay that way?