Shattered Light
By: Linkmaste
Chapter Thirteen: Vulcanusmon's Mines
Author's Notes: Another tidbit of info for you. This first part of the chapter was on the chopping block for a long time. I hummed, and ahed at it for awhile-I wasn't sure it would keep with the pace or it would be good to have in the story but in the end, I kept it. More Vulcanusmon-more battles, and we get to see what the heck those pearls will become as weapons.
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.
For three long days and nights, Vulcanusmon worked. He smashed his hammer upon the metal, twisting it and bending it to his will. With his Bomber Art attack, he unleashed a white hot flame capable of melting the densest of metals. His arms were moving constantly; checking on something, hammering, pushing a certain curious bunny digimon away, or even smacking a certain dinosaur digimon that was attempting to eat some scrap metal. As well, Vulcanusmon ordered Rika and Renamon to spar with him as Sakyuamon, to see how she battled. They complied, eager to do something other than sit around. On the dojo, Sakyuamon stood ready to attack. Vulcanusmon prepped himself by summoning a WarGreymon shield. It flickered into reality, and fit perfectly into his one arm.
"Amythest Malada!"
The attack knocked Vulcanusmon back several feet. It was good that Sakyuamon held back a little. If not, he would have hit the wall hard. The legendary mega grunted and summoned the Berenjena shotguns.
"Spirit Strike!" Four foxes unleashed themselves from within Sakyuamon to disarm the shotguns easily from Vulcanusmon. Cursing, he knocked a few back before calling off the battle. With a scowl, he limped off to his work bench.
"So, you like to send others to do your dirty work do ya...I hate magic...stupid damn foxes..." He continued to grumble, playing with the silver and blue orb pearl in his one hand. The mega split apart, leaving a smugly content Rika and Renamon.
It was on the third night that the group over heard Vulcanusmon cursing out loudly, blasting fire at a rock wall in anger. In a fit of rage, he slammed down some metal and threw scraps across the room-nearly taking out Takato's head in the process if Guilmon hadn't tugged him violently down. When he calmed down, the mega sat on the dojo, grumbling to himself.
Upon a poorly planned game of rock, paper and scissors, Henry was chosen to go ask what the problem was. He chose paper and lost.
"Not that it's my place..." Henry watched Vulcanusmon whizzed around to face him. "...but is everything alright?"
For a second, the Tamer thought Vulcanusmon was going to smash him with one of his arms. To his relief, he just slumped, looking depressed. His mechanical arms pointed to the workbench.
"I'm out of damn digi-ore. It is what I use to make my weapons. It is one of the strongest metals in the digital world and I just ran out. I forgot how long it was since I last practiced my craft."
"Okay, can you go get some more?" Henry asked. It seemed like a simple soultion but apparently it just caused the mega to become angrier. Vulcanusmon pounded the ground in anger, causing everyone to jump,
"It's in the God damn mines! You don't want to go down in those ruddy mines...not now..."
"What's in the mines?" Henry knelt down beside the digimon. A half laugh escaped his lips.
"Numemon."
Everyone exchanged odd looks. Numemon were very weak champion digimon-hardly worth the rage that Vulcanusmon gave. Without interrupting, they let the mega continue,
"They started to eat the damn ore and they changed to PlatinumNumemon! I would have deleted them but...there were so many of them. I couldn't get rid of them all so I shut down the mines-trying to gather as much ore as I could-and locked some away for future use."
"Momentai," Terriermon sprung up onto Vulcanusmon, waving his ears. "Let's go down to the mines and bust some Numemon. Easy, peasy!"
Vulcanusmon gave it some thought, weighting the options. It was a battle between wanting to finish his projects or the desire to avoid the Numemon. In the end, his passion won against his cautious side...which was strange to think he had one.
"Fine. If you wish to help, then let's go puny digimon. Just don't let those things touch me...disgusting, nasty things." The shudder could be understood as Numemon were very unclean digimon...and liked to throw their feces around.
"A little Rapidmon here, a bit of Gallantmon there, and a tiny pinch of Sakyuamon will make this whole trip to the mines a piece of cake. No sweat!" The green and white digimon waved his ears in a boastful manner.
"Rapidmon?"
A few grunts and blasts sounded, and then a response came in an struggled tone.
"What?"
"Remind us to kick your ass when we get out of here-this is not a piece of cake!" growled Sakyuamon, bashing a silver slimed digimon into data.
Rapidmon couldn't reply as he was busy throwing two more GoldNumemon off and deleted them with a well aimed missile. He fired his tri-beam attack just above Vulcanusmon's head and destroyed a sneaky PlatinumNumemon. The mega complained about Rapidmon's aim and collected more ore into his arms greedily.
Getting into the mine was easy since it was just below the dojo and pool room. An old elevator shaft carried the group down many levels below the surface. Vulcanusmon talked about how in his golden years, he constructed the underground mines with his own 'bare hands' and made himself the title as the best digi-smith ever. The group was impressed, but more star struck when they saw how large the mines were.
At the right height on the elevator going down, they could see it from a birds eye view. The mines stretched almost a mile long. Paths and chasms that lead deep into the darkness. A light glow came from several points, depicting places where Vulcanusmon stored the digi-ore for safe keeping. The sky was absent and left only rock and darkness, but its illusion made it feel like the place was bigger than it actually was. After the elevator trip down, they walked along an unsteady path that lead to the first collection of ore.
Just when Takato was about to ask about where the Numemon were located, they attacked in swarms. They were mostly silver looking, with angelic wings sprouting from their back and decorated in jewellery. A few were gold coloured but still looked utterly disgusting. They were dripping in slime, and smelled putrid.
Gallantmon started to fight along with Sakyuamon. However, Henry had to digivolve Terriermon into Rapidmon, for MegaGargomon was too large in the mines. The last thing the group wanted was for it to collapse. He had the job of protecting Vulcanusmon when he collected the ore.
It was easy at first, one hit killed the digimon. But after awhile, it became clear that there were so many, it might be impossible to kill them all. Still, the group did the best they could and moved through the mines with determination and trials of PlatinumNumemon code behind them.
Now, they were struggling with the last location of the ore in the area. Vulcanusmon needed more time to unlock the chest but the PlatinumNumemon were piling up upon Gallantmon and Sakyuamon. Their attacks became constant, never stopping for a breather or a quick one line quip.
Gallantmon bashed one with their shield and slashed another with the lance. Panting, they didn't notice a GoldNumemon attacking from behind and trying to bash in his helm. Crying out, Gallantmon struggled to get it off in time before he was covered in the PlatinumNumemon. It was futile, and Gallantmon lost enough energy to change back into Guilmon and Takato. The two gasped, looking at each other and the piles of silver and gold slime digimon. Sakyuamon banged their staff.
"Amythest Malada!"
A dome protected the two recently de-digivolved duo. They giving a shout of thanks. Vulcanusmon turned and ordered Rapidmon to help out the others.
"No, I gotta watch over you! Without that ore, it would be a waste to come down here." Rapidmon narrowed his eyes. Growling, Vulcanusmon dug into his suit with a free arm. In his hand looked like some kind of blue amulet.
"Then give this to Sakyuamon! I haven't finished detailing it, but it should work! Make sure they don't summon anything stronger than them!"
"Summon?" asked Rapidmon, but he didn't have time to question him. He blasted a GoldNumemon that was zooming to his face, and tossed the amulet to Henry. "Hen! Give this to Sakyuamon!"
"Gotcha." Henry caught it and ran to the shaman mega who was struggling to keep the barrier up. He jumped up and tossed the amulet onto the digimon's neck.
"Henry, what are you doing?" Rika's voice cried out. The digimon looked down at what Henry wrapped around her neck. It was some kind of necklace with the blue and silver pearl encrusted into the middle. A faint glow emerged from within it.
"Vulcanusmon told me you can't summon anything stronger than you two. I don't know what means but it must be your weapon! Use it!"
Without many other options, Sakyuamon banged her staff twice-holding off a large army of gold and silver Numemon. Within her, Rika felt the power of the amulet radiating. She could activate it with Renamon and digivolve further. There was no choice-it was this or lose. They activated the power.
MODE CHANGE
"Sakyuamon change to...Miko Mode!"
With a burst of silver and blue light, emerged a shaman woman clothed in a traditional Shinto outfit. She had Sakyuamon's fox mask placed upon her face but the rest of her changed completely. Her silver hair had split from two, to four tails, with streaks of red in them. The top of her outfit was white and had long sleeves with digi-runes encoded into them. Two brown belts held together her dark red pants that were loose and breezy. Upon her feet were not her combat boots but geta footwear and gabi socks. A red beaded bracelet hung loosely from her right wrist and her staff disappeared.
"Sakyuamon! You changed!" Takato cried taking in the beautiful shaman digimon. "It's a mode change! That's what those weapons must do! That's what it means in the prophecy-about the new levels!"
Sakyuamon Miko Mode felt not only a change in their appearance, but a change in her attack style. Without her staff, she didn't have a way to channel her attacks. However, something else took the staff's place. It was the amulet. It shined a radiant sapphire, becoming more beautiful. With a understanding of what she was capable of, Sakyuamon MM raised her hands to the sky,
"Summon, Cyberdramon!" With a cry, she cast her spell and there emerged a familiar ultimate digimon. He was slightly transparent, like anyone could stick a hand through him, but it became very apparent he was capable of hitting the digimon as he slashed one apart.
"Oh my God! She can summon digimon?!" Takato was losing his mind and he couldn't wipe the excited look off his face. This was the coolest thing ever! Imagine the possibilities of summoning any digimon she wanted! The excitement was carrying the goggle head Tamer into a fantasy land. Guilmon had to smack his Tamer and told him to focus on the task at hand: getting out of here with Vulcanusmon and the others.
"Right, right-sorry, Guilmon."
Vulcanusmon was ready to go and loaded up all the ore he could carry. With his eight arms, that meant quite a lot. Jogging, he trusted Rapidmon to safe guard him in case a PlatinumNumemon attacked. Henry followed behind, along with Takato and Guilmon who were panting.
The phantom Cyberdramon attacked ruthlessly-hacking and slashing all the slime angel digimon. He might have been an ultimate, but shaman mega knew he would take care of the job. She slowly retreated back along with the others, making sure she wouldn't lose focus on her summoning ability. The elevator was nearby and everyone rushed in. Vulcanusmon pressed the up button and shouted for Sakyuamon MM to hurry up.
The apparition of Cyberdramon disappeared and a white light burst from Sakyuamon to change back into a running Renamon and Rika. They dove for the elevator as it closed down, barely making it. Rapidmon had already changed back into Terriermon and gave a sigh of relief.
"Well, that wasn't easy, but we did it!"
The next few minutes were spend trying to pry Rika off Terriermon who was wailing on him, saying that he had no right to be so cocky about the mines. Henry broke apart the fight and asked how it felt to change modes as Sakyuamon. Rika and Renamon exchanged looks.
"Very...different."
"It is powerful though to summon any digimon we would like."
"Not any digimon, you idiots!" Vulcanusmon shouted, startling Renamon and Rika. "If you summoned a mega like yourselves and it is destroyed, consider all the power you used! It's gone! What energy you put forth yourself is the same energy that is taken from you! So, do not under any circumstances summon two mega level digimon or else you will be deleted! Do I make myself clear? I made Bodhi to help you, not to get you two fucking killed!"
"Bodhi?" Rika looked at the amulet that had been wrapped around her neck. It wasn't as appealing as when she and Renamon changed into their Miko Mode. It was hard metal wrapped around the soft blue and silver pearl she earned from her trial. It was circular in shape but had ridges where designs could have been detailed onto. A thin metal chain hooked it all together.
"Yes, that's its name. I still need to add details to it so I need it back when we get to my bench. I'm glad it worked. Never made an amulet before..."
With that, the smiting continued for Vulanusmon and the group waited around more. He finished detailing Bodhi and gave it back, warning her and Renamon again about the consequences of summoning digimon as strong as they were. With patience, the duo ensured Vulcanusmon that they would do no such thing.
The next weapon was a war hammer named Uchide. It was five feet long, with one side of the hammer being flat and ready to crush anything. The other side had a pick at the end, useful for prying things and attacking. In the middle of the hammer itself was the green and bronze pearl Henry received from his trial. The handle was a dark ebony colour. It very sturdy and unbreakable by Vulcanusmon's promise. Terriermon gave a displeased look at the hammer and made an annoyed sound.
"Uh, not trying to discredit you, Vulcanusmon. But, we're like really huge as our mega. That thing won't fit in our hand."
"Well, you haven't done your mode change have you?" He replied, giving a knowing smirk. Henry did a double take.
"We have a mode change too?"
"Of course! It's not really heard of, but this hammer will help you two change. Do a test run."
Terriermon ran out to the dojo, standing in a battle stance. Takato, Guilmon, Rika and Renamon stood back a fair ways away, unsure how the size was going to work on his new mode. If MegaGargomon became any bigger, they might as well just lay on their opponents to defeat them. Henry grabbed the heavy hammer, Uchide and walked over to where Terriermon was with some difficulty. Everyone looked unsure, examining the hammer. This was a weapon of truth? An amulet made sense...but this? Terriermon and Henry exchanged a look.
"Just fucking try it! Don't look at it like it's broccoli!" Vulcanusmon yelled, steam coming out of his body in short bursts. He stomped his foot.
Taking out his D-Arc, Henry took a deep breath.
Momentai...
BIOMERGE MODE CHANGE DIGIVOULTION
"Terriermon, Biomerge Mode Change to..."
Everyone expected the large dog mecha digimon to appear. Instead, a small humanoid robot appeared from the green and bonze light. He stood at four feet-the size of a child. Two green metal rabbit ears shape stuck straight out of his helmet. A dark visor covered half of his face while the bottom half showed a human mouth. The suit was still amour and had several sentries attached such as two on his shoulders, his chest, and arms. His feet were large bunny feet that looked ill proportionate to the rest of his body. Upon his back was Uchide resting. The war hammer that looked very large for him to carry but he showed no struggle from its weight.
"MegaGargomon Xiao Mode!"
The mega looked over himself, and looked up at the ceiling. Giving a whine, he slumped to his knees.
"We're tiny, Henry!" Terriermon cried.
"But we're more useful! Look, we can actually see our friends." Henry said.
The visor changed and two digitalized pixels appeared as his eyes. The expressions changed slowly, like an eight bit game. MegaGargomon XM changed from an annoyed expression to a cheerful one.
"That's true! Hey guys, what do you think?"
"You're so small now, but it suits you." Guilmon approached the digimon. "Can you fly?"
"Nope, but we can run fast!" To prove his point, MegaGargomon XM busted in a flash around the dojo, outside, and back inside within fifteen seconds. He was holding a Bukemon. Another fifteen seconds later, he came back-hopefully putting the poor Bukemon back to where he belonged.
"Okay, we get it you're fast." Rika folded her arms. "What about Uchide?"
With one fluid motion, MegaGargomon XM unleashed Uchide, the war hammer that was slightly bigger than himself. The green and bronze pearl dazzled brightly in the centre. Spinning the hammer, he proved the balance and control was superior and easy to use. It was made for his size perfectly. With a delighted grin, the mega turned to Vulcanusmon.
"You are pretty good at this, Vulcanusmon. Thank you."
A grunt was the only response and the sound of metal being hit by flame. The robot rabbit digimon split apart to Henry and Terriermon. After a few seconds, they realized that Uchide was no where to be seen.
"It only comes out when you change now." Vulcanusmon said. "Same with Bodhi and the next weapon I'm making-oh, I'm going to have fun with this one..." On the bench sat Takato's pearl that shone crimson and gold.
The waiting continued, and time was running short. Three weeks were almost upon them with less than a week left. Vulcanusmon worked day and night, without any sleep but enjoying his work. While he worked, regular practice with Uchide and Bodhi were needed. MegaGargomon XM would spar with Sakyuamon MM's summoned digimon. It gave the shaman mega practice to know what digimon she could summon and what she could not. The one time she attempted to summon Hopemon, who was useful because of her teleportation. However, it didn't work. Renamon assumed that since Hopemon was a hybrid digimon, they couldn't summon it.
The speed and agility proved to be very useful for Henry and Terriermon's new mega form. Their attacks might had been cut down but with Uchide, they could send flying digimon down to the ground, break shields, and even deflect attacks. The hammer was handy, that's for sure.
Takato and Guilmon were growing impatient for their weapon. Shooting ideas to one another, Guilmon was convinced it was going to be a bread shield. That made Takato laugh loudly. He argued a sword or a lace would be more appropriate. They had a mode change and both were curious how Gallantmon Crimson Mode was going to handle another weapon.
"AHA! I HAVE DONE IT!" Came a loud cry from Vulcanusmon. He was covered in burn marks and smoke-like a science project gone wrong. He waved several arms frantically. "Come! I have created the most destructive sword I have ever crafted!"
The group slowly approached the work bench, uneasy about Vulcanusmon's appearance. They looked at what was on the bench, and made a small gasp.
Laying on the bench was a long sword. It looked large, almost six feet long. The pommel had the crimson and gold pearl inside, encased with gold trim. The grip was made of metal as well but leather bounded so it would be more comfortable in the hands of a warrior. Upon the cross guard, detailed designs were created on it showcasing the digimon's specialty of smith work. The cross guard was hexagonal in shape and had digi-runes engraved. The blade itself was a deep red colour and had sharp edges running down a fine point at the end. It was powerful, Takato and Guilmon could tell just by looking at it. Vulcanusmon picked it up easily.
"Balanced well, easy to grip with two hands-but can go one hand if needed. A cross guard to help shift your swings, and most importantly, it can cut through almost anything." Vulcanusmon raised the sword upwards, admiring its beauty. "Takato and Guilmon, meet Jericho."
Author's Note: MODE CHANGES! AH! I LOVE MODE CHANGES! Sorry. I'll calm down. I figured since Gallantmon Crimson Mode had a mode change, it made sense for Sakyuamon and MegaGargomon to have one as well. Xiao means small so therefore It's MegaGargomon Small Mode. Cute! Miko mode is an actual mode in digimon-but I changed her appearance a little just to make it clear Rika has influence on Sakyuamon's appearance as well. I have their modes on my divivant art account-and now I can name them properly. I didn't want to spill the beans.
Okay, for the weapons they are named and now attached to the D-Arcs as the data is a part of them now. But by Vulcanusmon's orders, he needs to make sure they suit the digimon-or else you'll end up with horrible battles and weapons breaking.
The name Jericho came from a TV series but also I wanted something named after Jeri-who Takato fights for always along with Guilmon. Bodhi is Sanskrit and basically means 'enlightenment' or 'awakening'. I used it because of Sakyuamon MM's Summoning ability. (I have to agree with Takato-I would go crazy over that). Finally, Uchide is based on the legendary Japanese 'magic hammer' said to grant any wish. Well, this hammer can't grant wishes but it does help those two a lot! Especially in the battle they are all going to face soon. We're almost done part II of the story!
So, everyone meet Jericho, Bodhi and Uchide-the three great weapons of truth!