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 17 |
"Digi-Memory, Chronomon Holy Mode!" Crystal suddenly remembered the other item she had retrieved from the hidden room beneath Temporal Tower just before it collapsed. She inserted the cartridge into the slot on her Xros Loader. "Holy Flare! Activate!"
The semi-transparent projection of Chronomon Holy Mode materialized in front of her with his arms folded in front of him so that the markings on his arms produced a complete image of the sun. The sun-shaped symbol started to glow with a light as bright as the sun that became a powerful beam of a pure light energy that threatened to engulf both Dark Knightmon and the massive, four-armed Kyuukimon. However, Dark Knightmon's loyal subordinate quickly moved into the path of the devastating attack to shield Dark Knightmon from receiving any damage by taking it in his place. As such, the massive Kyuukimon took the full force of Chronomon Holy Mode's attack and was instantly reduced to a harmless cloud of data while Dark Knightmon came out of the experience completely unscathed.
"Your resilience is impressive," Dark Knightmon acknowledged the human general. "However, now you are completely defenseless."
"And you greatly underestimate my capacity for losing battles," Crystal retorted. She held up her Xros Loader. "Dorumon, Raptordramon, Thunderbirmon, Gryphomon, Digi Xros!"
"Digi Xros!" The digimon she had selected came together and assumed the shape of a four-winged, draconic quadruped with Thunderbirmon's wings in front and Gryphomon's wings positioned behind them. The upper body had Gryphomon's coloration while the underbelly was the same vibrant orange as Raptordramon's main body. Thunderbirmon's facial mask with its central spike shaped like a bolt of lightning covered the dragon's face surrounding the red, triangular interface from Dorumon's forehead. The tip of the dragon's tail was equipped with a large black metal trident formed from the back spike and bladed wing-like extensions from Raptordramon's armor. "Doruguremon!"
The newly Digi Xrossed digimon immediately took on a defensive stance facing Dark Knightmon.
This should at least buy us a little more time for the others to get here, Crystal thought as Doruguremon prepared to face off against Dark Knightmon.
Meanwhile, as Imperialdramon flew over the desert outskirts of the appropriately named Fossil Zone, Black Fladramon finally spotted the members of Xros Heart locked in battle with the Bagra Army's Spinomon accompanied by a whole unit of Skull Baluchimon. Of course, they didn't have time to wait for them to finish.
"Position Laser!" Imperialdramon fired the massive spiraling beam from his main cannon causing the beam to split multiple times so that he could strike down all of the enemy digimon simultaneously. Once that was taken care of, the huge dragon transported Black Fladramon onto the ground using his tractor beam.
"That's weird, what's Black Fladramon doing here with Imperialdramon?" Akari quickly caught on to the overall strangeness of the situation. "Wasn't he with Crystal?"
"I was," Black Fladramon explained urgently. "However, we were blindsided by a powerful enemy after we thought we had cleared out the Bagra Army's forces in the Time Zone. She sent me to get help."
"Then we shouldn't waste time talking about it," Taiki could easily detect the seriousness of the situation just by listening to the flame armored digimon. "Take us to her."
"Bloody Tower!" Doruguremon struggled to deflect continuous blows from Dark Knightmon's twin spear using the blades on his tail. Dark Knightmon had him completely on the defensive and the four-winged dragon was tiring quickly since Dorumon wasn't really accustomed to being the core component in a Digi Xros. With each successive blow he deflected he could feel himself growing weaker until he could no longer hold the form of the Digi Xros and until Dorumon and the rest of the digimon that composed Doruguremon collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap.
"Sorry Crystal," Dorumon apologized. "I just couldn't hold it together anymore."
"Don't worry about it," Crystal responded as she loaded the four collapsed digimon into her Xros Loader. "We're all pretty tired and you did the best you could."
However, she knew she couldn't hold out much longer now that only Togemogumon, Yuki Agumon and Monodramon had any strength left on her team. Black Fladramon, where are you? Crystal thought, finally dreading the possibility that help might not be coming in time.
"Giga Death!" Imperialdramon appeared suddenly in the sky and shot a condensed blast of dark matter from his mouth at Dark Knightmon, which the evil knight easily deflected with the huge axe on his shoulder, but it still managed to divert Dark Knightmon's attention away from Crystal.
"Took you long enough!" Crystal was relieved, to say the least.
"The search took longer than expected," Black Fladramon spoke apologetically. "I'm glad you're safe."
"Picking a fight with Dark Knightmon by yourself, do you have a deathwish?" Zenjirou hadn't overlooked who the powerful enemy Black Fladramon had mentioned turned out to be.
"Hey, I sent for backup!" Crystal protested.
"And just what do you think would have happened if we hadn't arrived just now?" Akari promptly scolded her. Honestly, that girl was potentially even more irresponsible with her own safety than Taiki. And that's saying something.
"Then I'd probably have gotten killed," Crystal answered truthfully and without a hint of irony. "But you're all here now so let's just forget about that and focus on the situation that's at hand since there isn't much point it worrying about what might have happened to me in some other universe as long as I'm still standing here."
"Anyway, we can't really do much about Dark Knightmon as we are now," noted Shoutmon X4.
"Yeah, without Nene and Sparrowmon we can't make X5," Taiki was struggling to come up with something. Well, they did have Imperialdramon at the moment so that was something. He was pulled out of his reverie by an unfamiliar voice coming from Crystal's Xros Loader.
"Digi Xros me with Imperialdramon," Baihumon had regained consciousness after being partially healed while inside the girl's Xros Loader. "That should give us an edge."
"I don't think you've really had enough time to recover all your strength, but I guess we can't afford to hesitate right now so we'll give it a shot," Crystal held up her Xros Loader. "Baihumon, Imperialdramon, Digi Xros!"
"Digi Xros!" The white tiger combined with the white-armored dragon. Imperialdramon's armor became rearranged to fit the enormous tiger while the flapping of his huge white wings lifted him off the ground. "Imperial Baihumon!"
"Then I guess we'd better try a team attack," Taiki suggested.
"Way ahead of you," Shoutmon X4 boasted as he prepared to swing the Star Sword. "Burning Star Crusher!" He swung the blade to generate the familiar v-shaped destructive crimson shockwave.
"Iron Prominence!" Imperial Baihumon exhaled a powerful metallic blast so that it combined with the shockwave from Shoumont X4's sword attack.
"Treason Vortex!" Dark Knightmon spun his twin spear to produce a swirling vortex of darkness to counter the approaching attacks, only partly successful in neutralizing them both as a portion of the combined attacks still managed to break through, but it wasn't enough to cause any structural damage. All it did was push him back a little. It didn't take much for him to realize that his opponents might actually manage to give him some trouble if the fight were to continue. And his presence in the Time Zone had already been drawn out quite long enough by Crystal's earlier stalling tactics.
"Very well, I will withdraw for now," Dark Knightmon slipped through a portal into digital space. "I have little use for this Zone anyway..."
Imperial Baihumon split into his composite digimon as soon as Dark Knightmon was gone. Shoutmon X4 held his form a moment longer before also splitting back into his composite digimon with Shoutmon saying, "That was kind of anticlimactic, don't you think?"
"You shouldn't complain since it did turn out in our favor," noted Akari.
Crystal went down on one knee, visibly tired out by her ordeal. "Quite frankly, I'd have been more bothered if he hadn't been worn down by all the hell we gave him before you guys got here."
Black Fladramon was immediately at her side. "You should rest now. You've been pushing yourself way too hard today."
The humanoid, flame armored dragon scooped the human girl onto his back, supporting her by the legs as she hung her arms loosely around his neck. "Wait," Crystal continued to hold herself up with one hand on Black Fladramon's shoulder as she used her free hand to reach down into the pocket of her jeans. "I've still got to give this to Taiki." She pulled out the Time Zone's Code Crown, which Taiki caught reflexively once she tossed it over to him. Then she raised her arm back around Black Fladramon's neck so she could support herself more easily.
"But you worked so hard to retrieve this," Taiki was understandably shocked. "Shouldn't you be the one to keep it?"
"Hey now, you're the one who is going to save this world," Crystal responded with a yawn. "I'm just doing what I can to help."
"You guys can go ahead and do whatever else you think you've got to do," Black Fladramon spoke up. He tilted his head to indicate Imperialdramon. "We'll take her back to the Resort Zone to recuperate."
"Hey, don't count us out!" Zenjirou protested
"Yeah, we're coming too," added Taiki.
"It's not like she can really be considered sane enough to be left alone after that performance," noted Akari.
Several hours passed and Black Fladramon was still keeping watch outside the room where Crystal had been put to bed. So far as he could tell, she was still sleeping soundly. The rest of the team had already recovered inside of her Xros Loader and had dispersed throughout the Resort Zone to eat and play with the younger digimon. Only he had stayed behind.
"You're really concerned about her aren't you?" Taiki had slipped over to find out how things were going.
"The feeling is mutual," Black Fladramon answered automatically. "Of course, I wish she would be a little more concerned about herself. Humans are far more delicate than digimon, but she tends to disregard that fact whenever there's trouble." He paused to peer through the open doorway at the sleeping human girl. "But then, you appear to be the same in that regard."
"You know, Akari said almost the same thing," Taiki commented with a nervous laugh. "But she didn't go overboard like this when she was traveling with us so I had no idea. Well, there was that one time in the Haunted Zone."
"She doesn't want to be a burden," Black Fladramon explained softly. "So, when she's by herself and she gets into trouble, she behaves like she has to sort it all out herself and deserves whatever punishment she gets. But, of course, once me or any of the other digimon are at our limit, we can just recover in the Xros Loader, but since she's human she doesn't have that luxury so it eventually takes a toll on her unless she finds time between battles to rest it off. And, on the off chance that we become overwhelmed like we were today, well, you saw what can happen."
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Crystal grumbled from the bed she had been sleeping in. She kicked off the covers and swung her legs over her side preparing to get up.
"You're only complaining because it's the truth," Black Fladramon retorted. "Anyway, aren't you supposed to be sleeping."
"I can't sleep when I'm starving," Crystal murmured. "I'm sure you can understand that."
"Then let me fetch you something to eat," Black Fladramon offered. Taiki couldn't help chuckling at the way Black Fladramon was smothering Crystal like a mother hen. It was a relationship dynamic he hadn't previously encountered with the digimon.
Crystal was already on her feet though. "Well, since I seem to be able to walk, I think I'd rather get it myself and let everyone else know I'm alright. Besides, you could use some rest yourself." She quickly brushed off the flame armored dragon in a manner no different from a defiant teenager brushing off the concerns of their parents. For all intents and purposes it seemed like Black Fladramon had taken on the role of her surrogate father while she had been living in the Digital World.
"It's alright, I'll keep an eye on her," Taiki volunteered.
"I don't know, she can be kind of handful sometimes," Black Fladramon responded while rubbing the back of his head.
"Then it's a good thing I'm still exhausted," Crystal interjected. "It'll keep me out of trouble."
That said, she staggered out of the room and into the corridor leading outside to where she could find the food vendors. It had been a brutally long day, but at least the night was shaping up to be a fairly peaceful one.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note: First off, just to get it out of the way before it becomes a little too obvious-yes, I am a fangirl for Taiki and not just completely infatuated with the Digi Xros battle system introduced in Xros Wars. Alright, that's pretty much a blatant lie, except for the part about me being a fangirl. Clearly, I have a little too much fun with the battle system. Heck, a lot of the Digi Xros combinations that have been used in this fanfic were made up on the spot as I was writing out a given chapter in spite of the comprehensive chart of previously established Digi Xros variants I've been organizing on the side. And the simple truth is when I think of a possible combination, well, I can't not use it so then I have to figure out some way to incorporate it into either the current chapter or conspire to work it in later on.
Secondly, don't expect too many of these rapid fire updates. Even if they were planned out well in advance, churning out two chapters in the same week is like a once in a blue moon affair so just take what you can get.