Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Summary: After Metal Greymon defeated Etemon. Taichi was pulled into a dimensional hole and transported back to earth. But what if that wasn't what happened, what if the hole stranded him in a completely new world.
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Altered Fate.
Part VII.
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Taiko here.
Last time, we found ourselves in a heap of trouble, with digimons attacking us from nearly every side, and just what is Michi doing here anyway, or is he the Michi from this world, all I know is that this time around I have a shot of getting him, but, he's not from my world.
Ah, I hate this other world stuff, plus, that Taichi guy, my male version from a yet another world is really getting on my nerves now, what with luring the evil digimon to me, as well as all the other digimons in this place.
At least I found my D3 and D-terminal.
Which means that at least Tailmon can become Nefertimon again.
----
Life currently sucked Taiko mentally spat out as she ducked a stray energy blast, barely paying any attention to the hole it tore through the solid stone wall, or the sound of digimons screaming around her.
She even ignored the smell of fire and carnage reaching her as the wind had shifted to blow the smoke from the burning city in over the fortress.
To think, that about a week ago, she had been safe at home, lying in her own bed pining over Michi and listening to her big brothers snoring, and then Parallelmon had showed up.
Bursting out through the first double door she spotted, Taiko slid to a complete stop as what seemed to be a whole legion of Starmons spun around to face her from their position inside the courtyard, each of them glaring death as they began to advance.
"Okay, who's first?" Spitting out the word, she snarled as she moved her attention from of them to the other one, freezing as her tough stance and look were ruined when first Tailmon hit her, bounced of her shoulder in a desperate attempt to move her partner, then that jerk male version of her from that other world tackled her outright.
Her jaw shaking as she impacted the ground just in time to avoid getting her head blown clean off, a small group of Starmons getting hit by Vajiramon's attack instead of her, her eye watering as fear shot through her mind, the familiar panic of battle and near death bring back bad memories of the past struggles with evil digimons. "No, I can't die here, I won't die here!"
Behind her, Taichi slid to a stop as soon as he and Greymon had cleared enough space for them. "Greymon, you have to evolve again, Metal-Greymon is our only chance now!"
Greymon merely nodding in response as he felt the courage from his partner flow into him, the familiar light flaring up around him as his strength increased. "Greymon evolve too, Metal-Greymon!" The large cyborg digimon towered up over everything else in the court yard. "Taichi, there's not enough space; I can barely fight down here."
Frowning, Taichi opened his mouth to respond, when Metal-Greymon merely did a jump into the air, the ragged purple wings on his back somehow holding him up as he gained height. "You can fly?"
Metal-Greymon grinned as he aimed his metal arm downwards, the light of the fires gleaming off its surface. "I can do more then that Taichi, Mega Claw!" Turning his full attention onto the door, the massive metal claw shot out, cutting through the air effortlessly just as Vajiramon exited as well.
The Bull deva doing a quick jump to the side, but faltering as he was met with a cat's paw attack right in the face, his swords nearly falling out his hands as he stumbled backwards not form pain, but rather shock. "You little pest, die!" Stomping the ground repeatedly, the deva attempted to pound the white feline digimon into digital paste as he followed her across the court yard. "Would you stop moving around so much, curse you!"
The very last part spat out as the Deva stumbled out an unfortunate Starmon getting creamed instead of Tailmon, the white coloured feline digimon landing on her back legs right before Taiko. "Come, let's do it, evolve me into Nerfertimon and I'll kick his worthless behind!"
Taiko having pulled up onto her knees, stared first at Tailmon, then over at Taichi, a confused expression on her face as she watched him glare at Vajiramon, the bull dava once again honed in and moving towards them slowly, his swords gleaming in the air as he ducked the claw attack from Metal-Greymon.
"Metal-Greymon can't beat him; his certain kill technique would take out the courtyard and us with it." Tailmon observed as she moved to stand not just in front of Taiko, but also that male version of her from another world, her eyes narrowing as she lifted up her claws. "You have to evolve me to Nerfertimon, if we are to stand a chance."
Nodding, Taiko finished pushing herself all the way up and pulled out her D3, freezing as he other hand held nothing but air. "My D-terminal!" Her head turning back and fourth as she tried to spot her precious device, completely failing to see it despite looking just about everywhere in her frantic search. "I can't evolve you without the digi mental of light!"
Vajiramon's blood lusting scream of rage cutting through all other things as he towered up over Tailmon and Taichi, his swords aimed downwards ready to impale both of them. "For the crimes you humans have committed!"
Then everything vanished in an explosion of light as the power from Holy Angemon crashed into Taiko, her eyes and body glowing brightly as a wordless scream erupted from her mouth, both her D3 and the digivice given to her nearly overloaded from the sudden influx of energy.
Her eyes closing, Taiko felt her stress, fear and turmoil burning away as one person came to mind, the one who would never surrender, who never gave up no matter the odds, the one who were always willing to help and listen to not just her, but everyone. "Brother!" The past rushing to her as she slipped down into the first memory of him, of when they had met.
----
"Papa, why did you have to?" The voice froze as a few tears suddenly slipped down her cheek as she kicked over her tower of building blocks, the messy haired young girl held back her sobs as she grabbed a hold of the word out teddy bear. "Papa, Papa I, mama's bringing home that jerk who trying to take your place."
"Taiko, Taiko where are you?"
Looking up from her building blocks and word out teddy bear, Taiko Yagami, age seven watched her mother as she walked in through the door, the otherwise sad and depressed expression she had grown used to see in the past two year time were gone, instead, there was a nervous look about her as she entered the room.
A older rugged man looking even nervous were standing behind her mother, kind eyes staring right into her own eyes as he smiled at her. "Hello there, I'm Takahata Akiyama, you must be Taiko."
Pure confusion on her face, Taiko blinked at first as she was caught completely of guard, who was this guy and why wasn't he acting like the monster she had expected him to be. Did he really think he could just walk in here and take papa's place in the family?
"Dad, just how long do you want me to wait outside?" A boy about a year or two older then her spoke out as he stuck his head around the corner and stared at the girl looking back at him. "Eh, is that her tomboy daughter, the one who's going to be my little sister?"
A look of anger crossing over her face, Taiko didn't stop to think before tossing the teddy bear into this boy's face as hard as she could. "I'm not a tomboy!"
"Taiko"
Spluttering as he recovered from the teddy bear attack, the boy barely had a chance to do anything before Taiko tackled him, both of them going down in a huddle of angry voices, shrieks and one teddy bear used as a club as both boy and girl started to fight.
"Taiko!"
"Ryo!"
The scene watched by with horror by both of their parents as they tried to pull the fighting children apart.
----
Recovering, Taiko glanced up as the power flowed through her, a faint whisper of regret briefly heard by her as she felt her arm rising up, not holding her D3, but the digivice given to her by Michi, its surface gleaming as her new power fired it up. "Tailmon, Evolve!"
The feline like digimon gasping as a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time rushed through her, her eyes nearly glowing as she rose up into the air. "Tailmon Evolves too-" Rising upward, Tailmon stood straight as her body grew larger, her tail splitting down the middle and turning into two leopard like spotted tails with twin golden rings around each one, while her lower cat like body gained the same colour and pattern as her tails.
Her upper body however, became more human like, wearing a rather immodest top and with a wail before her lower face; she had a mane of long red hair reaching even down to her feet, the last part of it tired into a braid. Her arms however still looked like rather cat like, even with the two ornate golden bracelets around her lower arm, each of them only had a three fingered hand sporting large red claws and a golden belt around her waist finished off her new body. "-Bastemon!"
Both Taiko and Taichi stared at the new Bastemon before coughing bit, then noticed the rather shell shocked and very love stuck look on Vajiramon's face as he stepped back a bit. "Hey, don't even think you have a chance with her."
Vajiramon growled a bit as he shook his head, his eye narrowed in anger as Taiko's words registered with him. "Who would want anything to do with a digimon who lowered herself to work for a human?" Lashing out with his right sword, he pointed it straight at Bastemon. "No matter how much you evolve, you're not stopping me, none of you are."
Cracking her knuckled, Bastemon merely smirked as she shot a quick glance up at Metal-Greymon, watching the cyborg digimon roar in anger as he took a step forward. "Oh I think we can take care of a calf like you, Deva!" Jumping upward, she spun her arms out while laughing. "You'll just be another deleted digimon in a few minutes, just like everyone else who threatened my friend Taiko."
"Hey, don't count me out." Metal-Greymon rumbled out as he hovered above, his trident arm one again primed and ready for action. "I want to get back at him for nearly beheading Taichi and me!" Getting ready to fire, the cyborg digimon barely looked up in time to avoid the dragon digimon flying down towards him from above. "Okay, looks like it a two on two fight then"
Majiramon merely grunting in disgust as he spewed fourth a sphere of fire, noting that Metal-Greymon were only fast enough to just escape getting hit. "You're too slow to win over me."
Titling his head downwards, he grunted as he watched Vajiramon charging forward, both swords ready for use. "Forget her Vajiramon; I can level the whole place now that the humans have come out into the open."
The bull deva ignoring the comment from above, sticking out true and firm with each sword, moving them in perfect sync with each other, yet still failing to score a hit on Bastemon who merely looked like she was dancing around each blade, her eyes glittering with amusement as her body kept hitting rather, flashy stance. "Stop moving around so much damn it!"
"As you wish!" Doing a quick row of back flips, Bastemon ended her rather abrupt move with a short slide across the ground, her arms held out behind her. "Take this, Vampire Dance!" her body flowing around in a exotic dance pattern rapidly, her mouth open to reveal her fangs.
Not amused by it, Vajiramon shot off; both swords flung out and ready to slice through the female digimon. "You think that will stop me you little-"
Then he lost all air as Bastemon's dance ended, both her hands slamming together in his direction, resulting in a powerful wave of energy erupted fourth at him, his front legs getting blown out from under him, along with his swords flying off to impact the walls of the court yard.
Bastemon merely growling at him as she rushed forward, her eyes narrowed at the interrupted sentence. "You filthy, stupid jerk!" Her rage reaching boiling point as she did an impressive somersault, planting both her feet right in his face, before jumping off in a roll. "Helter Skelter!"
The Bull deva screamed in pain and fear as he felt the effects of the attack pass over him, a deep and powerful wave of cold gripping him as he was frozen solid, his last act being an attempt to reach one of his swords.
"Heh, let that be a lesson to you!" Spinning around as she spoke, Bastemon showed no regret and one of her fist hammered right into Vajiramon's face, a thin spider web of cracks spreading out from under her fingers, rapidly spreading as the head broke apart. "If you get to reformat that is."
Through it all, Taichi had barely breathed out as he saw Bastemon fight. "She, she's strong."
"And don't you forget it pal." Taiko grunted out as she walked forward, an arrogant flick of her hands removing her pony tails as she stopped next to Bastemon. "Alright Bastemon, you kicked his butt, but, why this form? I thought you'd become Angewomon again."
"You!" The roared out word causing both of the two females and lone male to look up in time to see Metal-Greymon fall from the sky, impacting the fortress heavily as Majiramon flew down, fire licking out his mouth. "I shall destroy you all for this!"
Snapping open his jaws as a fireball grew fourth, the dragon deva honed in on the human girl and Bastemon first, wanting to punish them all for killing off his fellow deva. "Fire!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
Majiramon whipping about in time to avoid getting impaled through the head, glared death at the female digimon landing on the wall of the fortress, a second glowing arrow already forming in her hands as she aimed it at him. "You, you're helping the humans as well Angewomon?"
Turning his head lightly, the dragon deva grunted as a second figure landed on the opposite wall, this one more rabbit like then human and easily twice the size of both Angewomon and Holy Angemon, and giving off an aura of power rivalling both angel digimons. "And you as well Antiramon? Siding with the human trash despite all they have done to your world?" Rising upwards, Majiramon didn't say another word as he left his eyes half closed.
Merely gazing after him, the two newly arrived digimons didn't speak or attack either, both seemingly content enough to simply allow the dragon deva to leave the battle zone without a fight.
On the ground, Taichi and Taiko hadn't wasted anytime, the messy haired boy holding onto Koromon while the messy aired girl had grabbed a newly devolved Tailmon, joining her male counterpart in trying to escape from the courtyard unnoticed by anyone.
"You two, hold it!" The voice devoid of much emotion as a small shower of power hit the ground before them, clearly showing that Angewomon had noticed their attempt at leaving. "You will explain everything that has happened here."
Grunting in annoyance, Taichi lifted his head to stare at the angel digimon above, pure defiance showing through as he found her helmeted face focusing on him. "Look, this is not our fault; we didn't even know who those digimons were, or why they want to kill us."
Watching the messy haired boy as he spoke, Angewomon didn't answer at first, her arm shaking as a bit of deja vu washed over her, the same defiant face and voice ripping through her memory, nearly causing her to lose her aim and control as she could remember seeing it before. "You, but you died, she told me about it."
Antiramon frowning as he swung his head around to gaze up at her, still reframing from commenting on anything as he observed his partner, then returned his gaze to the courtyard in time to see the two humans leaving. "This change everything, doesn't it."
the first spoken sentence by her fellow, had Angewomon sighing, as the dull monotone voice broke through her memories, the power she had been holding fizzing out as she landed on the wall next to him. "That boy, I saw him in that girl's memories so long ago, the one who made it here despite all of the destruction."
"Chronomon preserve us." Antiramon muttered out as he jumped down into the courtyard, taking in the sights of damage and loss of digimons. "A new war might be starting up again, and those digimons, they were not from this world."
Angewomon nodded as she hovered upwards again, gazing out over the city around her. "Whatever is going on, this place is done for." Her gaze landing on one specific spot as a shudder whet through her as she could almost see where the other member of this worlds guardians had been, where her long time friend and allies had been deleted. "Holy Angemon, a powerful warrior and guardian, if not clouded by anger."
"We should round up the survivors and move them to our cities." Angewomon continued as she could begin to make out the digimons emerging from the wrecked city, her attention momentarily distracted as her gaze fell onto the cracked sky above them. "By Chronomon, the hole is growing larger!"
Turning around, Antiramon could only watch in shock as Angewomon's cry proved true, the churning cloud cover protecting them from the darkness retreated, allowing the crack in their armour to increase. "Angewomon, round up the digimons, we must prepare them for war, again."
----
Watching the work before him, Makuramon, the monkey deva nodded in appreciation as he saw the fire true sign of victory before him, the dark network was being crated before his very eyes, it's ability to attract and delete dark digimons were the last part of their long time plan.
His silent musings interrupted by Majiramon, the dragon deva rising up besides the ship he was on, the serpentine body twisting around before moving into a simple landing, the entire ship shaking and shuddering beneath the weight of the dragon digimon. "Vajiramon has been deleted, by a human no less."
"I see." Closing his eyes, Makuramon merely added the lost member of their group top the long list of dead friends and comrades in a war far more violent and deadly then the digimons of this world could ever hope to understand. "Do you wish to avenge his death?"
Majiramon hissed a bit at the cold expression on his leader face, and then sighed as he lifted up his head to observe the network before them. "Etemon, does he know of our true goal?"
"No, he thinks we'll use it to gain victory in both worlds." Pushing off from the railing, Makuramon smiled coldly as she walked over to look down at Refugia below them. "For our world to live, this one must die."
Majiramon coldly grinning as he lifted off, beating his wings and watching, feeling the anger within him churning endlessly at the thought of his lost friends. "Milleniumon will burn this world to ashes in seconds, but what's to stop him from returning home to our world again?"
Makuramon dark laughter sending a chill down the dragon digimon as the monkey deva turned his full attention onto him, those eyes radiating pure malice and joy. "Because my fellow deva, the dark network with cut him in half, Milleniumon to powerful to be deleted in one go, so he'll be cut in half, one part thrown out into this world, while the other one is deleted instantly."
"And while the remaining part destroys this world, we return to our world?" Majiramon inquired as he hovered in a bit closer to the ship, not wanting anyone but them to hear the rue plan.
Shaking his head, Makuramon looked for all in the world, as someone who were ready to toss his life away, a sudden possibility become far to real to the dragon deva. "This was a one way mission my friend, while the world burns, we destroy this network, effectively standing all of us, and Milleniumon in this world."
At the last word, silence filled the air as the two devas watched the work continue on the digital network, slowly but surely converting it into the dark network.
----
Emerging from the fortress, Taichi Yagami had to turn away as the carnage became far to clear to him, the smoke causing his eyes to water and his breathing to become ragged. "How can anyone do this? All those digimons deleted just to get to the two of us."
Taiko silently glaring down at the burning city, a dark glare in her eyes as she was reminded of far too many times like this one in her past. "We'll pay him back, that dragon digimon will pay for this." Turning to shoot a dark look into the fortress, she silently vowed to make these digimons pay as well. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."
Grimacing, Taichi held Koromon a bit closer to himself as he walked off, Tailmon following behind them three of them. "It would be best if we left the city completely." Looking down as he stepped across a shattered manhole cover, he sighed at the thought of a rather smelly, but safer escape route. "Hey Taiko, we should go down below, we can use the sewers to go below the revenge seeking digimons to the outskirts of the City."
Nodding in agreement as she began to pick up the first angry shouts in the distance; the first real smile briefly fluttered across Taiko's face as she turned back. "Not a bad plan, maybe you do have leader skills, Taichi." Moving over to scout into the hole, the messy haired girl nodded one more as she slid down the ladder, landing safely on the bottom. "Okay, the smells better, I think some of the tunnels getting blown open have let some the bad air out, so come on down."
Turning as she spoke, she grimaced as she saw Koromon fall down, her arms quickly moving to grab him. "Be a bit more careful dolt, he's your partner digimon, not a ball!" Moving rapidly as a white and purple feline shape passed by her, Taiko hissed at her own partner as Tailmon glanced up at her. "And you; don't aim for my head."
A flick of the tail her only response as Tailmon settled down, using the time to clean her gloves and cheeks. "This attack was just the first you know." Checking her tail for any damage of dirt while talking, the feline digimon didn't wait for any questions or comments before continuing. "That dragon digimon no backing down, plus, as long as we're around, he'll follow us."
"Which means we have to stay away from any city we see, otherwise, he'll destroy it just as he did this one." Taichi added in as he landed on the ground, taking a few seconds to adjust his goggles and headband. "We stay low until we come up with a plan or learn more about him." Grabbing Koromon as he bounded up into his arms, the messy haired boy smiled. "Also, with two perfect stare digimons fully rested, he can't beat us."
Humming as she started walking, Taiko mulled over her male counterparts plan, trying to see if such a simple strategy even stood a chance. "Remember, that dragon's more then the digimons you've fought so far, he took down that Holy Angemon guy I think, and levelled much of the city."
Remaining silent, Taichi didn't really have any come back to that, and to top it off, now that he was thinking about it more carefully, it wasn't just the evil digimons who were stronger, the team was in another dimension and to top it all off, all they had to win, were two perfect stage digimons.
On the other hand, things couldn't get any worse.
----
Somewhere deep below the Refugia's surface, a lone human boy cringed as he was dropped onto the ground of a rough stone chamber, his partner digimon hovering next to him silently. "I 'm sorry, but I had to go, I had to, he's back, he's come back."
"You told them too much child, far too much."
Michi cringed as he felt hands grabbing him roughly before forcing him to his feet, glowing eyes borrowing into his own as he dared to look up in fear. "I'm Sorry, I'm so sorry."
Released from the iron grip, Michi fell down as the figure before him walked away, while deep and laboured breaths echoed throughout the stone chamber, adding to his terror and panic. "But that boy out there is Taichi, he can set all of this right, he died for you remember?"
"Taichi Yagami is dead, no matter what he did doesn't change the fact that he failed." As the voice spoke, a faint light lit up the room, but still not showing the owner of the voice, but rather two other figures stranding slightly behind the owner of the eyes. "But in my eternal mercy, I've decided not to punish you for running away
A light chuckling filling the room as a tall, well shaped man with a long ponytail could be briefly seen as he walked forward. "You see my boy, the one up there is not Taichi, not the one you know at least, remember, he said it himself to you mere hours ago, he's from another world." As he spoke, the man sat down in a chair and swirled it to face Michi. "Now then, you nearly mentioned my hideout, risked exposing your existence to the digimons and handed over the two digivices I still need."
"Something like that deserves a punishment." Snapping his fingers, three more tubes lit up, two of them holding other human children and digimons inside of them. "You wanted me to find Juni and Yamato yes?"
Michi feeling a cold lump forming in his throat as he was pulled forward, twisting and turning in an attempt to escape the powerful grip on him. "Please, I won't tell, I'll do as you tell, just don't-"
"Save your breath child." The man interrupted as he stood up, walking forward. "Remember, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Lifting a syringe up, the man started to laugh at the fearful expression on his captive's face. "Yes, you humans failed me once, but after this, you won't fail, ever again."
His eyes showing nothing by sadistic glee towards the kneeling boy, a cruel smirk formed at the sight of his emotional suffering. "While these two suffer, you can sit there and think about this."
"It's your fault they're suffering."
And with those words, he plunged the syringe into Michi's arm.
TBC:
AN: A bit longer then I expected, and I really don't have an excuse other then having to travel further now then before to reach my current place of employment.
Yay for long car travels, now to be replaced with even longer train travels destined to leave me crankier and more tired.