Chapter Twelve

Digital Evolution

It was really beginning to get to Kim that they couldn't even touch the cat-like Bastemon. Nagainamon swooped to whisper in her ear. "We can't keep this up! This Digimon is an Ultimate, way too powerful if we can't Digivolve. And even if by some miracle we beat her, Puppetmon is even stronger!"

Kim stepped out of the way of a swirling claw, and jumped over a kick from behind. "Are you suggesting we run away?" she accused, slightly out of breath.

"We don't have a choice!" Nagainamon ducked as a Bastemon clone pounced at her.

Kim tried to punch the nearest copy, but it bent easily out of the way. "I'm not going to run away! Nuh-uh!" An impulse Kim had imagined, but never really known she had- she really didn't want to show cowardice. But a part of her was aware of how badly they were outmatched.

"You're being suicidal!" moaned Nagainamon. As if to confirm this, one of Bastemon's claws slid across Kim's cheek. She flinched.

Carefully, Kim searched her pocket for the right card. "I know it's in here somewhere…" she mumbled. Bastemon, infuriatingly, waited for Kim to find what she was looking for. "Here it is… well, all right Nagainamon- Digimodify! Seed of Swiftness, Activate!"

Nagainamon glowed briefly. Then she snatched the card out of Kim's Digivice, and flew to Gen and Uchimon, quicker than blinking. They were surrounded by a ring of shadow Bastemon, just like the other two. Gen looked surprised, but took the card anyway.

"Thanks," he shouted, and ducked under a claw. "But don't expect me to pose!" he added. Gen slipped the card into his own Digivice. Like it had with Kim, the card got stuck in the middle. One of the Bastemon copies watched, amused, as he pulled again, in vain. Finally, Gen got it out; he almost tripped. "That's definitely a design flaw," he muttered. Uchimon's fur stood up as he received the extra power.

"NOW RUN!" Nagainamon bellowed. The next second, she was at the end of the street. Uchimon followed, pulling Gen once again; the latter yelped.

"… Wait for me!" called Kim. She thundered after the rest of the group.

Behind her, Bastemon re-assembled herself. In a few moments, the transparent copies had slid together and became solid again. Bastemon licked her lips, and jumped eight feet to pounce on Kim. The human girl hadn't seen her coming, and was slapped onto the road. Nagainamon stopped running, and turned to her fallen partner.

"Electron Stream!" she breathed. The lightning bolt struck its target, shocking Bastemon- and, by extention, Kim. In her haste, Nagainamon had forgotten that would happen.

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Ushimon didn't stop. He ran so fast, his paws barely touched the ground. He spun haphazardly around corners; it was mostly luck that kept the puppy from ramming into a building. Leg wrapped in Uchimon's supple tail, Gen was pulled along, protesting.

Uchimon didn't stop until he reached the river. That was about when the swiftness wore off. He skittered to a halt in the shallow water, breathing heavily. Gen fell over backwards.

" I get the feeling you're not going to listen to me… But please, please, never do that again, " the boy panted.

Uchimon looked for any sign of movement, but the riverside was abandoned, as usual. His eyes were drawn to the sky. It was composed of various shades of blue, darker directly above his head, and lighter near the horizon. The clouds looked bleached white in this odd sky, and objects seemed brighter. Uchimon began to seriously wonder why the sky would be this color, of all others. Perhaps it had something to do with the atmosphere.

After getting his breath back, Gen sat up, wringing water out of his shirt and hair. " We're back here? What'd you come here for? "

Uchimon didn't listen to him. The puppy Digimon was just noticing the trees on the bank, and the windowed cliffs, upon which the rocks formed in a scale-like pattern. Rediscovering the world in daylight had absorbed his rapt attention.

Something else then caught Uchimon's notice. The weathered puppet Digimon from before swaggered onto the riverbank, twirling something lazily from its fingers. It dropped it, chuckling, with a small splash at Uchimon's feet, and disappeared. The puppy stared at the token.

The Digivice, which Gen had placed in his lap, began to beep frantically. The rhythm of the noise was similar to that of a quickly beating heart. Gen clutched the Digivice, and looked at its screen. It said: 'Alert! Energy at peak. Begin Digivolve.'

Directly beneath Uchimon, the yellow glow of the gate spread through the river. Mist rose from the water, thickened to fog, and obscured Uchimon from all else. Since he had not grown up in the Digital World, Uchimon had never experienced the rush of absorbing Data. He felt his spine tingle, and hackles raise, half glimpsing the information as it crammed inside him. It was too much for his small body to contain; a feeling that was almost physical. So, using instinctive knowledge, he transmuted the data into shape, around himself. It was at this point that he realized he was Digivolving.

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Gen stared. " What are you doing? " he gasped. He knew what the Digimon was doing, but was just too surprised. Light dimmed around the gray cocoon, as if it was absorbing sunlight for extra energy.

Tentatively, out of curiosity, Gen reached out to touch the cocoon. His hand sunk softly through the outer mist, and immediately sheer shock rammed out to meet him.

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Suddenly, something from the outside touched Uchimon. The Digimon felt the hand connect, and felt the transfer happen. He didn't have time to think on what it meant, though, for soon the Digivolution was complete.

With different content came a different name. As the fog dropped around him, the perfect name appeared in his mind. The first thing he did was announce it. "Uchimon, Digivolved to Atriamon!"

Gen fell backwards. Having stuck his hand into the more or less metaphorical electrical socket, sparks jumped off his fingertips, and the ends of each individual hair, which had fallen out of its locks; his eyes and mouth may have even glowed a little. But he seemed unharmed. When he landed in the water, there was a fizzling sound, and a bit of steam rose.

Atriamon nudged his partner, concerned. The boy groaned. He sat up slowly, rubbing his now-sore right arm. The glow was unseen now, though not necessarily gone. Atriamon picked him up by his shirt, so as not to hurt the human with his now deadly fangs. He swung Gen onto his back, where the boy grabbed hold. Slowly, they both smiled.

" Y-you look great… Atriamon, " Gen said. For the first time, he actually looked like he could be counted on. It was a tentative thing, though. He glanced around. " Are you strong enough to beat Bastemon? "

Atriamon flexed his claws. " I don't know. But the others need us anyway. " He felt for any sign of Digimon; he began to run. Towards it, this time.

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Cursing herself for her mistake, Nagainamon flew to the stricken Kim and Bastemon. The latter recovered quickly, twitching slightly from the shock as she got up, but mostly looking disappointed that she wouldn't get to torment Kim any longer. Kim didn't move; she didn't seem to be breathing, though Nagainamon didn't know much about the way 'Real World' creatures worked. It made Nagainamon so mad. She'd love to wipe that playful grin off of that pussy face.

Bastemon purred, batting a paw at Nagainamon. The dragon snorted a cloud of ions, and attempted to rake the overconfident Ultimate with her talons. Infuriatingly, the ducked, rolling, to come out in a handstand and kick Nagainamon from behind. Nagainamon stopped her momentum as quickly as she could, turning around to fire another Electron stream at Bastemon. Bastemon sidestepped it; the electricity left a dark spot on the road. The cat woman Digimon giggled "Vampire Dance," and began to spin rapidly again. Maroon streaks sliced the air around her. The faster she spun, the wider the streaks flew. Bastemon spun herself into a cyclone; Nagainamon had to roll in flight, and skid to the ground, to avoid the blood- soaked blades.

"Dispel Charge," screeched Nagainamon. The static emanating from her scales reached for the digital whirlwind, but was deflected by Bastemon's power. The cyclone tore towards Nagainamon, oddly leaving the road undamaged. Nagainamon thought again of retreat, but her speed was wearing off. Bastemon, however, was spinning faster than ever, the force of the wind sucking Nagainamon towards the vortex. She held her wings as tightly to her body as she could, and braced her claws against the pavement, but it did no good.

Kim blinked. The electricity had quickly drained away; it seemed merely a shadow of the searing, deadly lightning she had heard of. Kim sat up, and looked, still startled, at herself. Her sweatshirt wasn't even charred. Trying not to think about what had just happened, she stood up. At first she thought her ears were ringing; then she realized it was the sound of a high wind. She turned around.

There was the cyclone of Bastemon, closing in on struggling Nagainamon. Kim grimaced. Not taking her eyes off the scene, she felt on the ground for her Digivice. Nagainamon saw her. The baby dragon's eyes widened, before she was pulled into the cyclone.

"I'll save you, Nagainamon!" Kim tried to shout over the wind. She hesitated for about a second, then charged in.

In the center of the cyclone, Bastemon spun at an alarming speed. High above, Nagainamon was tossed about, just barely avoiding blades that would tear her in half. As Kim stepped within the structure of wind, she was lifted off her feet. She kicked her legs, trying to get closer to her partner, but she was at the mercy of the air. She could almost smell Bastemon's satisfaction.

Nagainamon shouted something, but she was drowned out by the wind's roar. Neither could Kim hear her Digivice begin to beep. So she was surprised when smoke swirled around Nagainamon. She thought it was another attack, and almost despaired for her friend. The air darkened, and time seemed to slow. The smoke twisted in its shape, finally blowing back.

"Nagainamon Digivolved to Kisakidramon!" Kisakidramon was long and serpentine, and sky blue. She had an aerodynamic head, and elegant eyes, and a broad blue shield sweeping back from her brow. She wore an electrum necklace, with white crystals hanging from it. The centermost crystal was shaped like a lightning bolt. Fastened to the necklace, and the neck, were three electrum spines. A fire-like crown hovered above Kisakidramon's head; similarly, two electrum axe blades hovered around the tip of her tail, and white fiery wings by her body. She had powerful claws, though her arms faded and didn't seem to connect to the body. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she hooted. Despite her predicament, Kim was impressed. Four yeses.

Kisakidramon slowly curved around. Her flame wings propelled her even through the cyclonic winds. She pushed towards the center, where Bastemon twirled. Whether or not the cat lady was oblivious to this or not, Kim was unsure. But, moving suddenly quickly, Kisakidramon wrapped her sinuous tail around Bastemon, and jerked. The sudden halt hurt Bastemon badly, and she yowled.

"Not so tough now, kitty," Kisakidramon sneered. She hastily released Bastemon, her axe tail cutting the cat's shoulder, and flew to catch Kim. Without Bastemon spinning, naturally the cyclone had stopped.

Lying in Kisakidramon's unusual arms, Kim whispered, "Don't gloat. It makes you sound like a bad guy."

The dragon chuckled. "You are so right. Pride always comes before a fall." She placed the human girl on the street.

"I dunno…" Kim muttered, half joking. "I wasn't feeling too proud just then…"

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