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


CHAPTER 12

His Battle


REAL WORLD

Hypnos, Floor 29, Tokyo Metropolitan Building

12:59 JST

3rd July 2010

"You can't be serious?" Henry asked, as it dawned on him what Terriermon was proposing.

"Huh? Why not?" Terriermon asked.

"Your solution to the problem is to give Digimon the ability to breed…"

"It's based on the real life methods of evolution that have resulted in intelligent life forms, stopping short at Kazu and Kenta though…it'll make Digimon survive and flourish, and it'll probably stop half of the fighting in the process…"

"How does it work?" Henry asked, stumped by what Terriermon's plan was.

"A pulse of data would be swept across the real and digital planes, downloading the program to each Digimon it encounters in a matter of seconds…"

"So, it's like, Digimon V2?"

Terriermon scrolled down the page, to where those words were already displayed. "Hey, stop stealing my lines!" he complained.

Henry chuckled. "Great minds think alike, isn't that what you say?"

"Yeah…I suppose…"

"This feels like playing God…"

"Not really, it's just assigning the most suitable gender to each of the multitude of Digimon out there; it's a very intelligent program…"

"So that explains the length of the code?"

"Yeah, took me hours and days to make."

"So Digimon really don't have genders then?" Terriermon shook his head in response. "So Renamon was actually telling the truth…I didn't believe Rika when she told me…"

"Trust your dad and his pals to forget such a basic thing…"

"When he first created the Digimon, you were just small amounts of data, nothing compared to what you've become."

"And yet Yggdrasil has held us back…"

"But I thought Digimon already had the emotions for love? I mean, look at Guilmon and Renamon…"

"The emotions seem to be learnt from their partners…I mean, look at me, I'm smart because you're smart…"

"Smart and a smart-alec…"

"Naturally…"

"The thing that surprises me the most, and disturbs me the most Terriermon, is that you must have spent countless hours on Wikipedia researching these things…"

"Yeah, that and medical websites…I think I got the gist of all their jargon…anyway, what's your point?" Terriermon asked, genuinely not understanding what Henry was getting at.

"I don't think this is such a good idea. I mean, how will they react? And how do you know it even works?"

"I don't know whether it'll work, and they shouldn't even notice, that's how the program is built…"

"We should talk to my Dad…"

"No, he'll just say no…"

"Exactly, he'll put a different viewpoint on things…"

Terriermon frowned. "Henry, I did some calculations, the Digital World is already going into meltdown, and there's a point past which even this system will stop working…" he warned.

"Which is?"

"It's today Henry…"

"What?"

"We've got to make a decision quickly…"

"How quickly?"

"A few hours…"

Henry sighed, sitting back in his chair. The concept of letting the Digital World whither away and die was awful, but at the same time, he was perturbed by Terriermon's plan. It felt like a mistake, like it'd have unintended consequences that they would not want. Plans like this had a habit of coming back around to wreak revenge on their creators, the Digimon themselves and the D-Reaper incident 20 years after their creation was a perfect example of this.

Terriermon looked expectantly into his partner's eyes. "Can you trust me?" he asked. "Or do you think I'm just joking around?" he added.

"Huh?" Henry asked, surprised at the question.

"I may act like a clown sometimes, but I'm smarter than you think Henry…"

"I know, you've outsmarted me plenty of times in the past"

"So why don't you trust me now?"

"It just seems…wrong…"

"Does that make any difference?"

"We should at least ask Harmony and Chaos first about this…"

"When exactly? Last time I checked, they were out getting their asses whooped by Taiki out there…"

"You said that we have a few more hours to make this decision…"

"Yeah, about seven hours before the number becomes too low. There have to be enough pairs for it to start recovering again before it reaches zero…"

Henry sighed, as he began to hear the fire alarm resounded through the building. Kristy arrived at the door, Kudamon on her shoulder, as the pounding of feet began.

"Henry, Gaiomon's going to get to us soon, Yamaki called the evacuation…" she said.

"Okay…" Henry replied, realising that they didn't have any time to move. He turned to his partner. "What do you need to activate the program?"

"A computer with internet access, and this disk…" he replied, ejecting the disk from the drive and holding it up.

"Really? That's all?" Henry asked, surprised that such a complicated procedure could be done with such limited resources.

Terriermon nodding, before sighing. "Okay, I'll admit it, I have to use Hypnos' transmitters as well, but I hacked into their system and found out the passwords and everything…so I can activate it from anywhere using the internet!" he cheered.

"Terriermon!" Henry complained.

"Think of the bigger picture Henry!" the dog-bunny cheered. "The power to give life back to the Digital World, without any stupid egg timers messing it all up!"

"There's a flaw in this plan, isn't there?" Henry asked.

"Nope, nothing, two digimon, one male, one female, and you get a digi-egg…"

Henry cocked an eyebrow. "A digi-egg?"

"Yeah, eggs. That's how it works for humans, isn't it?" Terriermon asked, naivety on his features.

"Um…yeah…" Henry replied, knowing that it was by now far too late to change anything, and it'd probably complicate matters far too much anyway. His partner clearly had mixed up a few things, and he quietly hoped that that was the full extent of it.

Henry put the CD back in its jewel casing, as Terriermon leapt onto his head. "Let's get out of here!" he cheered, pointing to the door as Henry began to sprint. He glanced to see Kristy and Kudamon waiting for them by the emergency stairs, employees racing down them as the evacuation of thousands of people from the building began.

"We haven't got that long…" Kristy told him.

"Let's get moving then…" Kudamon added, ditching politeness for desperation as they headed down the stairs.


Shinjuku Park

13:06 JST

The sounds of explosions began to echo through the area, disrupting the peace which had descended on the park. Mari opened her eyes from her peaceful rest and sat up, the sounds of tranquillity she was listening to now disrupted. Youkomon stood back onto her four legs, and looked to a gap in the high-rise buildings nearby, Mari following her gaze soon afterwards.

"Huh?" she pondered, climbing to her feet and looking at the two figures now clashing in the skies above Shinjuku. She glanced at her D-Vice for the time, 13:07.

"That appears to be BlazeDonnermon fighting an unknown Digimon…" Youkomon commented, her green eyes focusing on the battle. Mari nodded distractedly, before she glanced once again to her D-Vice, pausing only to tap its screen and bring up the information. She frowned when nothing appeared at first.

"I've got no data on him…" she said to her partner.

Youkomon nodded. "Some Digimon are rarer than others, they take longer to look up from what I have heard and seen…"

"And here I was thinking that this thing was high-tech…" Mari joked, although it was a frustrated joke. She breathed a sigh of relief when the data finally appeared. "Here we go, Gaiomon, Virus Type, Mega Level, attacks Gaia Reactor, Rinkazan and Rinkageki…"

"Do you wish to observe the battle from here or from closer up?" Youkomon asked.

"Personally, I want to fight in it, but I know that's not going to happen…" Mari replied. "But…I want to be there for Ryder…to help him in my own way, you know…" she added.

Youkomon nodded, understanding her Tamer's wishes. There was a slim chance that they could help, but it was a chance nevertheless. The risk was unlikely to be major so long as they kept to a safe distance, and Mari disregarded the risk anyway, so Youkomon had to follow her in that, as she felt her partner grab onto her fur and pull herself up to rest on her back. Mari put her leg over Youkomon's back and gripped onto her mane, glancing forward. "Are you ready?" Youkomon asked.

Mari nodded, smiling. "Yeah, let's get moving…" she replied.


Skies of Shinjuku

13:07 JST

BlazeDonnermon touched down onto a building, avoiding a blast of energy that flew over his head as he did so. He looked back to the sky, seeing Gaiomon glaring at him with swords drawn, ready to continue his assault. BlazeDonnermon felt weakened from the attacks, but at the same time, adrenaline coursed across him, urging him to keep fighting. He glanced to the road adjacent to the building, to the multitude of Tamers and the remaining populace watching. It surprised him to see that anyone remained who hadn't fled the area yet at all, expecting that they would've left at the first opportunity, like in plenty of movies and TV series.

BlazeDonnermon shook his head, getting his mind back on the subject, with good timing as he dodged to the side of an arrow of light.

"Ryder, we've got to keep away and use long range attacks…" Donmon advised.

"Yeah, but he specialises in those as well…" Ryder replied, noting the nature of his enemies' attacks.

"Up close though, he'll use his swords. We may have sharp claws, but they're no contender." Donmon warned.

"I know who my money would be on…" Ryder replied jokily, as BlazeDonnermon flew into the sky, wings glowing white as he did so, and at the same time, fire summoned into his mouth. Gaiomon looked up, before flying in a different direction.

"What's he doing?" Donmon asked.

"Not sure, let's follow…" Ryder replied, as BlazeDonnermon changed his course, still charging his attack. Gaiomon stopped all of a sudden, and BlazeDonnermon took his chance to use his power.

"ANGEL INFERNO!" he roared, the sweeping of his wings forward combining the holy energy with the flames. The blast swept forward, as Gaiomon leapt aside at the last moment, leaving BlazeDonnermon to look on in horror as the blast collided with the building.

"I didn't know you were trying to assist me…" Gaiomon replied, smirking. "Thank you regardless…" he replied, raising his hands as they began to glow.

"Attack now!" Donmon yelled, as BlazeDonnermon flew forward at high speed towards Gaiomon, whose back was turned and was seemingly distracted by the energy charging, since he didn't turn.

"SWEPT…" BlazeDonnermon began, preparing to slash his claws.

Ryder and Donmon screamed in pain as a sword collided with their side, throwing BlazeDonnermon onto the building in the process. His form rolled over across the rooftop, as Gaiomon smirked.

"GAIA REACTOR!" he roared, the blast from the sky released to collide with the structure, and BlazeDonnermon at the same time. Gaiomon smirked at the screams that followed as the building disintegrated and BlazeDonnermon plummeted to hit the solid concrete that was all that remained below, sweeping dust into the air as he landed.

Watching from not far away, the Tamers looked on in horror as Gaiomon began to laugh manically.

"Boy, that's got to hurt…"

"We have to help him!" Jeri said, beginning to run forward, before being stopped by Tai.

"You can't, you'll get yourself killed out there…" Tai warned, his voice exhausted.

"I can't stand by and watch someone get hurt like this!" Jeri replied.

"I know…" Kari reassured. "But none of us, Ryder least of all, want anyone else hurt or killed in the process of helping them, it isn't worth it…"

Jeri frowned, stopping sadly. "So what can we do?"

"RINKAZEN!" Gaiomon roared, pointing his blade downwards and hitting BlazeDonnermon with a bolt of energy as he prepared to stand. Ryder and Donmon screamed in pain, as Gaiomon chuckled.

"Leave him alone!" yelled a voice, and BlazeDonnermon looked to one side to see a defiant Mari, sitting on Youkomon's back as they stood in the middle of the adjacent road, fists clenched in anger as she glared up at the samurai-like dragon in the sky above, floating near where the top of the building once stood.

Gaiomon began to laugh evilly, looking down at the girl with her champion level partner who dared to challenge a powerful mega. "Or what?" he replied. "You'll hit me with your puny fires?" he taunted.

"No…" Mari replied, as Gaiomon continued to laugh. "I wouldn't see what's so funny, the Second Angel of Control is hardly a useless power…" she replied, determination in her voice.

"The Angels are pathetic compared to the Demons; you have to care about saving people and never get any fun…" Taiki replied.

"Oh, but I do get fun…" Mari replied, raising her glowing hand. "Coincidences are very fun…SYNCRONICITY!" she yelled, the dust from the collapsed building suddenly being whipped up by an incredibly fast wind into a tornado which enveloped the samurai, who roared in pain as it ripped at his armour. The wind also brought BlazeDonnermon to his feet, allowing him to stare on in amazement at what was happening. He looked to Mari, speechless.

"Ryder, you're an Angel, use it!" she told him.

BlazeDonnermon nodded, as his wings tapered back, the dust storm beginning to die down as the nearby buildings became caked in it, turning their sides a dull yellow as Gaiomon began to growl. BlazeDonnermon leapt into the air, flying straight up.

"Good luck!" Mari wished, Youkomon nodding to give the same sentiment.

"SWEPT SLASH!" BlazeDonnermon yelled, slashing at Gaiomon's legs and knocking him to one side. Gaiomon growled, looking back at the other dragon, who moved straight into preparing another attack, his hands glowing. Gaiomon raised his sword, he wasn't about to be hit again.

"RINKAZEN!" he roared, the bolt of lightning-like energy beginning to streak towards BlazeDonnermon, who turned round and smirked.

"RETCON!" he called, his hands stopping glowing as the lightning curved around and struck its user, who screamed in pain.

"Wow, that was easy…" Ryder said to his partner, noticing the others staring on in amazement nearby at what he had done.

Gaiomon growled as the initial pain subsided, turning back to his foe. "How did you do that?!" he asked.

"Random attacks like that which change so often are very easily affected by probability, because their course is constantly being re-determined…" Ryder explained.

Gaiomon growled again, Taiki's voice in anger. "Cheap trick…" he replied.

Ryder laughed once sarcastically. "Yeah, and like your moves aren't…" he replied.

Gaiomon lifted his hands, which glowed. "Time to go down like the rest of your petty clan…" he taunted, as a storm cloud was raised above him. BlazeDonnermon flew aside, before lifting his hands, which glowed.

"While we're starting a storm, why don't we make it a FIRESTORM!" he yelled, as flames burst from his hands and flew down through the storm cloud, which exploded, ripping through the air and quaking windows and roads below. Mari grabbed tight onto Youkomon, as Gaiomon growled, lifting his swords again.

"RINKAGEKI!" he called, firing an arrow of light at BlazeDonnermon, who screamed in pain from the quick move, but felt at the same time that something was wrong.

"That was far too weak compared to what he's used before…" Ryder said to his partner.

"Yeah, I think he's up to…"

"GAIA REACTOR!" roared the dragon, interrupting Donmon as the Hypnos towers were at the top cloaked in the storm.

"Holy…" Terriermon began to curse, as they ran from the building.

"It's too late!" Jeri panicked, fearful for those yet to escape, along with the building itself and Taiki's plan that would follow.

BlazeDonnermon threw all of his energy into one attack, feeling his wings weaken as he did so. "BLAZE BLASTER!" he called, the fireballs firing from his cannons at high speed and concentration. The blasts collided with Gaiomon, who burst suddenly, data seeping away as an orb containing Taiki hit the ground and vanished.

"No…way…that fanfic was right, that was almost completely identical to when Takato lost Guilmon…" Ryder thought, alarmed.

"We have to land!" Donmon insisted. Ryder nodded within his orb, and landed near Taiki and Mari, as a collective breath of relief ran through the air, tinged with alarm at the fact that Taiki had lost his partner.

Taiki's form lay flat on the ground, as BlazeDonnermon landed and split into Ryder and Donmon.

"Ryder, you did it!" Mari cheered, walking over to him. Ryder seemed to ignore her, as he determinedly walked over to Taiki, who was beginning to sit up weakly. The other Tamers approached, eager to see the results of the battle.

Ryder held Taiki's palms together behind his back with one hand as the black haired boy stood up, angered.

"Don't move!" Ryder threatened. "Create an energy ball, you destroy both of your hands, so don't dare try anything!" he insisted.

Taiki growled at his captor angrily. Ryder turned to Mari.

"Mari, gun!" he barked, Mari looking confused as Ryder held out his other hand.

"What?" Mari asked.

"Pass it!" he ordered. Mari realised what he meant, and unsurely pulled the gun from the holster on her leg. She tossed it to Ryder, who grabbed it and clicked the safety off, cocking the gun and placing it to Taiki's back.

"Consider yourself under arrest for genocide…" he told the Demon, his voice angered and determined. Taiki glanced behind him, and began to laugh. "What is so funny?!" Ryder snapped.

"No prison in the world could hold me…" he chuckled.

The other Tamers had arrived by now, including Henry and Kristy, plus their partners, and currently stared on in shock at what was going on.

"Imagine it…all those kills…all those deaths…" Taiki replied, laughing insanely at the concept.

Ryder pushed the gun into Taiki's back threateningly at what he had said.

"Don't pretend you will actually fire that thing, you're far too much of a wuss…" Taiki mocked.

"Ryder, what are you doing?" Jeri asked. Ryder ignored her, looking on at Taiki determined, his eyes narrowed.

"I will fire!" he said.

"But what will you do? Arrest me? Imagine a jail blown to pieces…all those deaths…all those deaths on your hands because you aren't brave enough to…"

The gun fired, and Taiki looked on in horror as he felt a sharp pain in his back.

"Congratulations, you've got guts…" the Demon said through clenched teeth, before his body collapsed to the ground. Ryder's eyes widened at what he had done, as he dropped the gun and dropped to his knees.

He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, no tears ran down his face. He felt weak.

What had he done?

He felt arms grip him gently, familiar arms. Random shapes filled his vision, as he felt his consciousness fade.

"Ryder!" he heard a fearful Mari call through the blackness…

TO BE CONTINUED…


And so a dramatic end to the action part of the story. There's still one chapter left in the actual story, and then there is an epilogue style series of chapters.

Right, as for the whole update situation, since I've ended up with a backlog of chapters for Dimensions, only publishing one a day even though at one point I was writing two, I've been able to concentrate on Deviations with my spare time.

However, since the recent 12500 word Deviations chapter has taken two days to write on its own (longest chapter ever), expect a bit of a slower upload rate for both fics after this chapter of Dimensions (although Chapter 14 doesn't need much more to finish, after which I'll be able to put up Chapter 13). I'll try to get another chapter of this done by Sunday, but don't hold your hopes up.

Next time…

How will Ryder deal with what he has done? How will Takato react when Rika tells him? Will Henry and Terriermon be able to use their program?

Find out in 'Their Demons', Chapter Thirteen of Dimensions Book Five: Demons.