DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).


CHAPTER 10

His Slave


REAL WORLD

Streets of Tokyo

12:29 JST

3rd July 2010

Taiki smirked, looking back at the three mega Digimon he had left strewn in his wake. It actually still surprised him that he had these abilities, but that didn't take away how impressive they were at all. A glance at the time increased his smirk, as he gathered a large ball of energy into his hand, and moved to face another building, two doors away from the previous target. He glanced back to WarGreymon, struggling to get up from his crater in the roadway; Phoenixmon landed not far away looking similarly worse for wear, and SaberLeomon struggling to stand up.

"See, this is why I will win…the Demons will win every time…" he told the bipedal dragon, before tossing the ball of energy into the building. The building quaked and began to collapse, cascading down as the screams continued, although were far less than previous collapses, the majority of people having fled upon seeing the battle approaching them.

"Why…are…you destroying buildings?" SaberLeomon asked through pain.

"Fear, and terror…you make your enemy scared of your power, they overestimate you…" WarGreymon replied.

"Except overestimating me is the last thing you would possibly want to do, isn't it?" Taiki mocked, tossing an energy ball in his hand. "Because, of course, the consequences would be very severe…" he taunted, tossing the ball at the bipedal dragon, who raised his shields and feebly blocked it, feeling the pain on his hands as he did so. "Pathetic…" Taiki complained.

"Tai, what do we do?" Sora asked, Taiki laughing at them all the while.

WarGreymon stood up, claw held out. "We keep on fighting!" he declared, flying along the street towards the boy, and beginning to spin. "GREAT TORNADO!" he yelled, orange flames surrounding his body as a fiery tornado streaked towards Taiki.

Taiki simply stood still, before tossing an energy ball into the tornado, exploding the whole thing. WarGreymon was thrown aside, slamming into a wall at great velocity, groaning in pain. "Not exactly a smart move, was it?" Taiki mocked. "A tornado naturally sucks up material…" he added, summoning another energy ball, and facing the dragon again. "Since you seem to be the most persistent of these pathetic excuses for Angels, you'll get a prize…death!" he yelled, the energy ball soaring towards WarGreymon.

"CRIMSON FLAME!" Phoenixmon shrieked, wings flapping and burning as a stream of flames let fly from her mouth, hitting the energy ball dead on target before turning to face Taiki, who screamed in pain as his skin singed. When the flames stopped, Taiki looked on in anger.

"You're only human…" Tai noted. "Which means that you are still as vulnerable as one…"

Taiki smirked. "But would you have the guts?"

"Huh?" came a confused expression from WarGreymon.

"Do you have the guts to kill another human?" Taiki chuckled, beginning to laugh. "Oh, I know your history, you leave digimon dying in your wake as you act as the 'protectors' of both worlds, but you stop short of killing other humans. To kill a Digimon, to kill a human, aren't their lives both worth the same?" he asked.

WarGreymon tried to maintain his determined glare, but it began to be broken as the thoughts ran through his head. Taiki began to smile; it seemed to be having effect.

"But those people you killed, their lives are worth the same as well! And you just killed them!" Jeri complained.

"Humph…but you forget one thing…the bad guys can do anything they want…" Taiki replied disdainfully.

"You disgust me…" Tai insulted.

Taiki chuckled. "Think all you want of me, I'm not here to impress you…I'm here to kill you and bring this whole pathetic rock to its end, and then I'll start on the Digital World until nothing remains…"

"But why?" Sora asked. "What do you possibly get from that in the end?"

"Fun…" Taiki replied, laughing evilly. "Pure and simple destructive fun…like killing ants with a magnifying glass…it is my vice, if you have not forgotten…the First Demon of Destruction…"

Taiki smirked at their disgust, turning around to face Ophanimon, Seraphimon and Imperialdramon.

"And do not think you can just sneak up on me…you Angels have overstayed your welcome…" he taunted, gathering a ball of energy once again, and facing Imperialdramon. Ophanimon and Seraphimon prepared their attacks.

"SEFIROT CRYSTALS!"

"SEVEN HEAVENS!"

Taiki leapt over each and every attack, dodging before tossing the energy ball at Imperialdramon upon landing. Imperialdramon raised his cannon.

"GIGA DESTROYER!" he roared, firing the blast which collided with the ball, and then the roadway, Taiki quickly dodging as the roadway exploded in a fireball.

"You couldn't even shoot your own foot…" Taiki taunted. "So pathetic…"

Taiki looked around, at the three weakened Digimon standing to one side, and the three strong ones on the other side. His hand glowed with energy as he faced the weakened ones, and he looked over his shoulder at the megas behind him.

"Don't you dare try to stop me, or else!" he ordered.

"EDEN'S JAVELIN!" Ophanimon summoned, ignoring the order and shooting a beam of holy energy from her javelin. Taiki dodged, before smirking.

"I warned you!" he said, before the energy shot forth from his hand like a large bolt of red and white lightning, colliding with Ophanimon's form, her screaming in pain as the destructive energy burnt at her.

"Kari!" Tai, TK, Davis, Jeri and Sora simultaneously yelled in alarm.

Taiki smirked, turning and hitting each of them with the lightning as his gaze passed them. Ophanimon fell to the ground, and WarGreymon screamed in pain from the bolts which ravaged at his armour and skin, breaking the former in places.

Taiki spoke above their roars and screams of pain in a defiant voice, proudly putting his fist to the air. "No-one defeats the Demons!" he proclaimed.


Hypnos, Floor 29, Tokyo Metropolitan Building

12:39 JST

The can of soda clanged against the steel bottom of the drawer as a hand pushed aside the flap, grabbing it and pulling it out, the flap swaying back into place afterwards.

Henry, clicking open the can absent-mindedly, glanced across the room to Terriermon, the clicking of keys rattling against their plastic holders echoing through the dimly lit room. Despite the light shining through casting a beam of hope and optimism on their glum situation, Terriermon has insisted that Henry close the blinds, along with doing various other things for the past hour and a half, the blue haired boy practically becoming the dog-bunny's slave.

Henry still lacked any idea of what his partner was doing, and any looks to Terriermon's work simply yielded a screen of zeros and ones, the two keys that were by now practically worn down to a thin sheet from the repeated pressing. Terriermon's determination had already broken two keyboards, which he had thrown aside before ordering his Tamer to get him a new one so he could continue working.

Henry walked over and sat down on a computer chair near the desk which the bunny sat on, leaning back in the chair and receiving a glare from Terriermon.

"What?" Henry asked, completely bemused as to what was wrong.

"Didn't you consider getting me one?" Terriermon asked aggressively, this work somehow changing his behaviour. Henry felt a tinge of pride in his partner's abilities, despite the grouchiness that he seemed to take on whilst working, and snapping at anyone who asked him what he was doing.

"No, you were busy working…" Henry coolly replied. Terriermon sighed, wiping a beat of sweat from his forehead and returning to work. "I really don't know how you are managing to work at a stretch like this…"

"Hey, when I'm into doing something interesting, I just keep on working non-stop…"

"But what makes this so interesting?"

"It's going to save the day Henry!" Terriermon cheered, not once looking up from his screen.

"It's a program to fix the problem with the Digital World, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So how does it work?"

"Guess…" Terriermon replied.

"A replacement Yggdrasil?"

"Yeah, right, like that'd work…"

"A mindless generator of new Digimon?"

"Wouldn't work, the system needs to have sense to work properly…"

"Giving the Sovereigns the power to create Digimon?"

"Yeah, putting Zhuqs in charge, great idea…"

"A new form of Digimon that clones others?"

"Are you kidding? That'd drive everyone crazy…"

"So what is it then?" Henry asked, by now his patience worn down to a thin line.

"It's an elegant solution…" the bunny replied. "That'll be done soon, so just shut the hell up!"

"I really don't like you when you're like this…" Henry replied.

"Quiet!"

Henry sighed, glancing to the time on his D-Arc. To the best that he knew from his occasional visits to the control room (in other words, the times he got a break from servitude for Terriermon), at the present moment the others were fighting a human and a digimon partner. The building collapsing was increasing, the next one due in a few moments time, at 12:45. He glanced across the room as there was a tapping on the door, attracting his attention.

"Come in…" he called to the person.

"No, you go out!" Terriermon insisted, as Kristy looked into the room. "You and your small talk distracts me, go away!" he insisted. "And close the door behind you!"

Henry sighed, standing up and walking to the door, Kristy and Kudamon giving him a look of bewilderment as he passed, closing the door behind him. "Has he gone insane?" Kristy asked.

Henry shook his head, sighing. "No, just busy working…"

"I have never seen him act like that before" Kudamon noted.

"Me neither, and I'm his partner…" Henry replied. "Well, I should take some pride in him; he does seem to be…committed to his work…"

"What's he working on?" Kristy asked.

"He said that it was a solution to the problem in the Digital World. You know about that, right?"

"Yeah, I've just been to the control room first…" Kristy replied. "It's awful…"

"How does he plan to solve it?" Kudamon asked curiously.

"No idea, he won't tell even me until he's finished fine-tuning it" Henry replied.

"Can't you just look over his shoulder?" Kristy asked. Henry shook his head in response.

"No, it's just ones and zeros…" Henry replied glumly.

"I could probably understand it; I am a Digimon after all…" Kudamon suggested.

"Yeah, but he'd beat you senseless if you tried…" Henry replied jokily. Kudamon frowned.

"So are you going to help the others fight?" Kristy asked. Henry shook his head, from what he had heard, they seemed to have it relatively under control, and MegaGargomon would be more likely to be a target than a fighting machine in a battle like this. To boot, it looked like Terriermon wasn't going to stop programming any time soon, surprising really since he was the one who normally wanted to fight.

"Are you?" Henry asked the little girl, who shook her head.

"If the battle reaches us, we'll need someone to defend us, and I'm going to be that someone!" Kristy cheered.

"Besides, we have not had any real biomerging experience; we would be as much of a target as MegaGargomon, and this enemy sounds like he likes taking out easy targets" Kudamon explained. Henry nodded.

"Slave, get back in here!" called Terriermon from the computer room. Henry sighed.

"Coming…" he said, Kristy chuckling at their odd relationship.

"Need a maid's outfit?" Kristy asked.

"More like a ball, a chain, a pickaxe and some rocks…" he replied.

"Henry, hurry the hell up and get in here!" Terriermon called once again.

Henry sighed, turning and leaving. "Bye…" Kristy said, a tinge of joking concern for his safety in her voice. She turned to Kudamon.

"Let's see what we can occupy ourselves with…" she said.

"I am not playing tag Kristy…" Kudamon insisted

"Of course not, we're indoors; I understand your objection…" Kristy replied. Kudamon inwardly sighed; Kristy still didn't seem to grasp his objection to the game which appeared to be her favourite.

"So what should we do then?"

"Let's try and help out in the control room…" Kristy suggested. "Besides, we have to stop Yamaki doing anything stupid…"


Streets of Tokyo

12:45 JST

Gallantmon and Sakuyamon flew through the skies relatively silently. The occasional explosion resounded from their destination, each eliciting a frown from the pair at the deaths they knew were occurring. A building cascaded away from the skyline as the sound of rubble falling met the occasional scream, overpowering it in the process until silence once again fell.

"This isn't going to be easy…" Gallantmon noted. Sakuyamon nodded, half concentrating on something else.

Rika frowned within her sphere; she had previously not wanted to fight, not wanting to take such a large risk with hers and her child's lives. The sights they were observing were disconcerting her further, as were Gallantmon's words. Takato had managed to convince her to join the battle, probably the only person who could do so in their current situation, but at the same time she had begun to have doubts. But there was no way out of the battle without telling the truth, something she still was not prepared to do. Having Takato by her side reassured her, but they were still facing a largely unknown threat, reports back from the battle being infrequent and vague at best.

Scanning the skies, she noticed another figure heading towards the battle, this one an orange dragon, flying not far from the buildings below him, and flying particularly fast. Sakuyamon and Gallantmon hurried their pace, arriving at the battleground.

They looked below to see a human standing, near the weakened forms of Imperialdramon, WarGreymon, Phoenixmon, Ophanimon, SaberLeomon and Seraphimon. The sight in itself was surprising, a single human taking on six mega level digimon, and this prompted Harmony's concerns. This couldn't be a normal human, so it had to be something far more devastating. The boy looked up to see the new arrivals, a triumphant smirk turning to a frown.

"Oh great, more of them…" Taiki mocked, faking exasperation. "Seriously, give up already…"

"Who are you?" Harmony asked.

"Ah…" the boy said, realisation sweeping across his features as his smirk reappeared. "Harmony, how kind of you to join this battle, Chaos too I suppose…"

"Who are you?" Renamon asked, irritation in her voice.

"Taiki Araki…" the boy replied.

"Yeah, but who are you? You're clearly not human…" Takato asked. Taiki smirked.

"Something you do not need to know…"

"But something we already know…" WarGreymon replied.

"You will be dead soon enough, stay down little dragon, or burn in hell before this planet does…"

"He's the First Demon of Destruction…" BlazeDonnermon told the others, landing on the ground.

"Demons?" Takato asked.

Sakuyamon's expression turned to one of alarm as Harmony began to realise something. Taiki smirked.

"Figuring something out, are we?" Taiki asked.

"Huh?" Takato asked.

"When we…I…created the universe, every action had an equal but opposite reaction…"

Taiki smirked. "Create Angels, create Demons too…such a mistake, I must add…"

"Shut the hell up…" Rika snapped at him.

"Feisty, aren't we?" Taiki asked.

"You're just a pathetic little boy who thinks that he can blow up the world…"

"Oh, but I can…using Hypnos…"

"Huh?" Davis asked. "How?"

"Destroy Hypnos, the gap is cleared…" Taiki replied. "Launch a destructive blast into the gap between the real and digital worlds, and they cascade in on each other, destroying both together…an elegant solution…"

"But why?" Guilmon asked.

"It's fun, that's why!" Taiki answered, smirking. "Something that Chaos doesn't seem to try, despite his own powers…"

"If I destroy the world, I destroy the pebbles too, so go to hell you…"

"Demon?" Taiki asked.

"Yeah, something like that…"

"I still don't understand, what do you possibly get from destroying the worlds?" Donmon asked.

"I told you, plain and simple fun, I live on it…"

"How many of you freaks are there?" Rika asked.

"Nine of us…"

Ryder chuckled.

"What was that?" Taiki questioned.

"We've got you outnumbered…" Ryder replied. "There are ten Angels…"

Taiki growled, annoyance in his voice. "Pah, makes no difference, I shall still turn this rock into an inferno merely on my own…" he replied, summoning an energy ball into his hand.

"SPIRIT SPHERE!" Sakuyamon called, Taiki once again growling in annoyance as a blue sphere encroached him.

"Let me out!" he called.

"No…" Rika replied. Taiki stopped punching the side of the sphere and looked across to one side, smiling when he saw something.

"Never mind, I have another way…" he replied, as BlackRyudamon appeared next to the sphere. "Did you complete your task?" he asked.

"No, the black vixen managed to digivolve and they escaped…"

"Hey, I was there, you got beaten!" Donmon insisted.

Taiki frowned; it was a setback, but so long as the rest of the plan worked, it would be unneeded. Why wipe out the Angels one at a time, when you can wipe out everything all at once?

"Are you ready Master?" the digimon asked. Taiki nodded, beginning to glow black as energy flowed out of a grey and red D-Vice on his arm, which Ryder noticed with surprise.

'No, he couldn't be…could he?' he thought, as the light of digivolution enveloped the area.

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

BlackRyudamon Biomerge Digivolve to…

Taiki fell back onto the samurai, as black light enshrouded them and a dragon shape began to form. Samurai-style armour flew onto the form, with an armoured dragon-like head similar to WarGreymon's. Secondary blades crossed on the top of his back, poking out to either side of his head, as a pair of sharp bladed swords materialised in his hands. He proclaimed his title.

Gaiomon!

Sakuyamon felt the bubble burst as the new figure escaped it, stabbing his swords through it. The damage to its surface was effortless, and the dragon flew into the air.

"Now, I must take my leave, I have tasks to attend to…" he declared.

"You're not getting away!" Gallantmon yelled, holding out his spear and tossing it forth. "FINAL JUSTICE!" he called.

Gaiomon slashed at the spear, sending it clanging to the ground before he crossed his swords and raised them to the air, which began to glow black and red above them as a storm began to surge. "GAIA REACTOR!" he yelled, the blast sent forth downwards and colliding with the biomerges.

"SPIRIT SPHERE!" Sakuyamon called, enveloping as much as she could in a protective bubble, but those left outside took the brunt, and they were those already injured.

Tai moaned in pain as he found himself lying on the floor, Koromon landing on him exhausted.

"Sorry Tai…" he apologised.

"Don't worry, we did our best…" he told his pink blob of a partner, before looking across to see Jeri with Elecmon and Sora with Yokomon, themselves lying on the ground. Gaiomon smirked, before flying away before any of them could return the attack, heading towards his next target.

BlazeDonnermon frowned, looking around to see Imperialdramon, Seraphimon, Ophanimon, Sakuyamon and Gallantmon all standing ready to fight. This battle wasn't over.

TO BE CONTINUED…


The final battle truly begins, and next time we will finally find out what Terriermon's plan is. Please review.

Next time…

What is Terriermon's plan? Do they have any chance of stopping Gaiomon? Is Rika safe to fight in this battle?

Find out in 'Her Reassurance', Chapter Eleven of Dimensions Book Five: Demons.