Authors note:
Sorry how long this has taken to update but as I said on my profile page my computer has crashed taking the final chapter I had almost completed with it. To make it up to you guys this chapter is almost twice as long as average. I had to write this on my phone...my thumbs ache. This is the final chapter but there will be an epilogue so enjoy! A big thankyou to everybody who read and enjoyed this story, it was a lot of fun for me! Anyone who reviews gets a digital cookie, its shaped like a voltorb!
Chapter fourteen: Trial
Koushirou steadied himself as the entire room began to shake. He crouched over Mimi, who was still sitting on the floor, and grabbed her to shield her from the storm of sand that was kicked up as the old decrepit door rocketed off its hinges slamming into the far wall. He sqeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on Mimi.
"Koushi! Earth to Koushi!" his eyes snapped open and he looked down at Mimi. She was giving him an amused look and brought her face so close to him that their noses were touching.
"It's been over for a while now...not that I mind. I think its adorable how you can't keep your hands off me." She giggled up at him, shifting her body closer so that her ample bosom brushed against his chest.
"Tha-tha-thats not it! I was just trying to keep the sand off of you since you seem to detest it so much!" He yelped, releasing his hold and backing off a few steps with a deep blush blooming on his cheeks. Mimi pouted and lifted herself off the floor. She sashayed over to his new position against the wall and bent toward him with her fists on her hips.
"You didn't want to hold me?" She questioned. Koushirou felt like his face was on fire and he couldn't quite find any words. This alarmed him since he had never felt this tongue tied in his life. He started stammering incoherently. Mimi tilted her head and let out a small giggle.
"You are so cute Koushi~"
Koushirou blinked at her. He gingerly stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand. "The only cute one here is standing right in front of me." he whispered. She tilted her head toward his touch, the perplexed look she was sporting let him know she hadn't quite heard him. He slowly leaned toward her and placed a very chaste kiss on her unsuspecting lips. She stared at him in astonishment.
"You kissed me?"
"Yeah...isn't that ok?"
"Ok!?" Mimi squealed happily. "It's better then ok!" She was smiling radiantly. He was still a little confused but he loved the warm feeling he got from her happiness. He leaned forward for a second kiss when the door to the cell swung open. Mimi whipped her head around to see several T.A.C. ambling into the cell. It wrapped an elongated arm around each of their waists, lifting them off the ground and carrying them out.
Koushirou noticed Zui was also being brought out though she was still shackled. As they exited he took in the state of the previously immaculate room. Only two of the eight original pillars remained standing but even those were covered in cracks and missing chunks. Both the ceiling and floor were riddled with cracks ranging from small enough to resemble a mosaic to massive lines. Large sections of the ceiling had fallen to the ground.
Koushirou frowned as they approached a small opening that led into a stone hallway with a low ceiling and sand for a floor. This wasn't what caused him concern however, it was the area surrounding the entrance. Blood speckled the floor and walls on either side, but one section in particular worried him. A jagged piece of debris was jutting out of the ground; its side was coated in a dark liquid and there was a large smear of the crimson essense screaming against the white floor. It looked like whoever had been the unfortunate owner of the blood had been dragged toward the opening.
Koushirou closed his eyes as they were carried throught the hallway. He wished desperately that it hadn't been his friends who were involved in that blast but his logical side was against him.
He observed the new room quickly, briefly examing the ornate chairs on either side of the room and the dark gem at the head of the throne in the centre before he spotted eight tall wooden chairs with their backs to him in the middle of the room. There was also a triangular cage on the far right side of the chairs, Koushirou saw Zui get thrown into it before he was brought around and thrust into one of the chairs.
"Glad to see they didn't hurt you Kou..." Tai's voice wafted toward him and he turned his head to see his friend leaning forward from his position two chairs down from Koushirou. Koushirou scowled at the site of his friends as the T.A.C. clamped his wrists and ankles to the arms and legs of the chair with the built in clamps. Mimi was treated in a similar fashion on the chair to his left.
Hikari was in the seat next to Koushirou on his right. She was covered in filth and small splodges of blood from various nicks and cuts. She had her eyes closed in apparent pain from a wound on her head, blood was caked into her hair around it. She was bracing her head against the back of her chair.
Takeru was in the next seat beside her leaning toward her trying desperately to close the small gap between them, of course it was impossible due to the restraints but he was trying anyway. He was in a similiar state to Hikari though the only serious injury was a large puncture wound on his left calve.
Tai was next, his shirt was torn down the left side and there were various bruises covering his arms and legs. His left eye was forced shut due to caked in blood from a deep cut just above it. His right wrist was twisted in a grotesquely unnatural direction against his restraints, it was obviously broken and had turned a disturbing shade of purpley black.
Sora was seated on the furthest end to the right beside the triangular cage. Though she was also covered in dirt and scratches she was the least injured of all of them. She was leaning toward Yamato who was sitting between her and Tai repeating his name over and over but getting no response. Her lemon blouse was stained an odd reddish/brown colour in large places but by the way she moved it was obvious the blood hadn't come from her.
Yamato's head lolled forward, his eyes closed and features contorted into a grimace. His golden hair was covered in blood and dirt, parts of it were plastered against his forehead thanks to the thin sheen of sweat covering his pale complexion. The cloth covering his injured arm was soiled and had come slightly undone. He had a deep cut stretching along the right side of his ribcage. It had been bleeding for a while, saturating his clothing and running down the seat and leg of the chair creating a small puddle by his foot. The blood had started to congeal around the wound, fusing it to his shirt and slowing down the flow.
"Yamato! Are you alright? Its me, Zui!" Sora scowled at Zui as she pushed against the bars of her new prison in an attempt to see him better. Her view was mostly blocked by Sora who wouldn't have moved even if she could.
"Don't you dare talk to him. It's your fault we're here in the first place!" Sora hissed at her. Zui's concern for Yamato quickly turned to rage.
"Why not!? I let him leave with all of you, fat lot of good that did him! I can't heal wounds I didn't make, what did you do to him!" Zui was frantic; Sora could tell it wasn't just about her concern for Yamato, she seemed terrified of something in the room.
Sora flinched at the comments. She bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. "I didn't want him to get hurt anymore...but he's so compulsive." Her voice was cracking a little and she was trying to hold back her tears. Her mind drifted back to less then a few hours ago...
The blast threw them all. Sora smashed into the wall, hard enough to send her falling forward after the hit. She groaned, everything sounded muffled and her vision was incredibly blurry. She thought she might have heard Tai's voice from somewhere to the left of her but she couldn't be sure. Rolling onto her back with several grunts of protest she couldn't quite hear even though it was her own voice. She lay spreadeagled waiting for the throbing in her back to die down.
She watched with detached fascination as a large crack crawled across the ceiling. She still couldn't think properly and barely registered the danger when a piece gave way. It came hurtling towards her and she closed her eyes since the sight of it was making her feel sick.
She felt the floor vibrate beneath her as the debris slammed into the ground beside her narrowly missing her outstretched hand. She heard someone calling her name, the husky voice was enough to clear her head. Opening her eyes she squinted at the blurry image above her. Eventually features became visible: golden hair, concern and pain filled cobalt orbs, sharp facial features and perfect lips that were slightly chapped now.
Yamato was crounching over her much the same way she had done back at Shin's place. He looked relieved to see her open her eyes. Smiling at him she slowly reached up and laced her hands around the back of his neck. He let out a sharp hiss of pain when she pulled him toward her waiting lips. She froze, feeling something warm splash onto her side. Releasing him quickly she glanced toward the direction of the discomfort and glared angrily at the dark liquid covering her yellow blouse.
The debris was sticking into Yamato's side, he grunted in pain as he fell onto Sora releasing himself from the rubble. She struggled into a sitting position with his head resting limply on her shoulder.
"Yamato what did you do!? You can't be so reckless!" She whispered urgently into his ear. He chuckled softly thought the action caused him some discomfort.
"Does that mean I don't get a thankyou?" He whispered back tilting his head toward her face to see her reaction. Smiling weakly and rolling her eyes she cupped his face with both her hands and brought his gaze level with her own.
"Thankyou." A soft kiss on his forehead. "Thankyou." One on each eye. "Thankyou." several fluttering along his cheekbones. Even though his injury ached he couldn't help but moan softly at how wonderful her lips felt against his skin.
"Thankyou." She whispered, her mouth hovering just centimeters away from his own. She leaned into him, his lips moved against hers hungrily. Ignoring the pain he pushed himself forward. He ran his tongue over her lips several times, this made her open her mouth slightly to let out a small giggle and he took the opportunity eagerly. She let him deepen the kiss and moaned involuntarily at the skill of his tongue.
She was about to return the favor with a few tricks of her own when something wrapped around her waist. Her eyes widened in alarm as she was ripped away from him. She watched him slump forward without her to hold him up, whipping her head around angrily she saw it was a T.A.C. that had taken her away from him. She yelled many choice swears at another one that had lifted Yamato off the floor ignoring his injury, he cried out and then lay still in its grasp.
...He had yet to wake up since they had been brought here. "If I had moved he wouldn't have gotten hurt." Sora thought remorsefully.
Yamato shifted and groggily lifted his head. Where was he? What had he been doing again? Sight, smell and feeling seeped back into his conciousness as he realised they had been brought back into that odd throne room. He squinted at a black blob floating several feet away.
"Glad to see your still with us...that thing has our digimon in it." Yamato nodded slowly at Tai's words.
"Yamato I'm so glad you're awake." He whipped around at the sound of Sora's voice and regretted it immediately as pain shot through his ribs.
"Don't move too quickly!" Sora pleaded urgently. He gave her a small smile which she returned, he was about to say something to try and erase the sad look on her face when several minature tornados kicked up around the ornate chairs and throne. The digital writing above each seat began to glow and morph into different symbols none of the digidestined recognised. When the tornados died down each chair was filled with digimon they had never seen before.
On the seat to the left closest to the digidestined position in the centre of the room sat a female digimon that looked practically human. Her body was perfectly curved with sensual hips and a generous bust. Two pairs of black wings protruded from her back, one small haggard set near her head and one longer set resting casually on the armrests. She was wearing a purple robe which hung low revealing her shoulders and chest, it had a thick black ribbon wrapping around where fabric met skin that extended past her forearms creating gravity defying loops. Her black hair was held back by a golden headpiece with arrow like protrusions on either side. Her clothing was black latex with golden thread extending from several yellow gemstones, one in the center of her chest and one on either knee. She was examinig her golden finger like extensions on her right hand, the tips looked deathly sharp.
On the middle seat on the left clinging to the backrest was a crocodile like digimon. Its snout had metal plating all along it that stopped between its blood red eyes. Rows off razor sharp teeth could be glimpsed each time it opened its mouth. Its body was red with short legs that had sharp claws and blue fins along the joints. Its tail split into two at its base, along them and its back were blue flaps of skin that almost looked like blue flames. These ended in fin like tips on the end of each tail. It snorted multicolored smoke from its nostrils and looked as annoyed as could be.
In the next chair on the left closest to the throne was a digimon with great wings that were purple on the inside. He was human shaped, though quite a bit larger then the average human, with a purple cloth wrapped around his head that only allowed his sharp, white curved horns and red eyes to be seen. He was wearing a thick red robe, a strip of white ran down the middle of it and formed two bands on either arm. The white fabric was gold trimmed along its edges. There was a zig-zag of gold going down the centre of the white ending in a upside down pentagram like star. There were gold stars on the white bands on his arms as well. He had a large beaded necklace that ended in a golden pendant with a yellow cat like eye in its centre. He was sitting perfectly rigid.
In the seat closest to the digidestined on the right sat an adorable tiny digimon. He had a round, chubby head with a cat like mouth and smaller body covered in chains. The chains all connected to a strange device that resembled an alarm clock on his belly. His little hoof like feet stuck out beneath the chains. He was brown with bat like ears that were purple in the centre and thin ram horns that curved down the back of his head. There were several bone like protrusions along his head leading to several pink slash scars on his forehead. His eyes were closed and he was snuggled into a corner of the far too large seat with a snore bubble rising and falling with his breathing.
In the centre seat on the right sat another digimon that had a human shape. He was wearing black combat gear with various metal guards over his forearms and shins. He had a black mask that juted up his head, it vaguely resembled a bikers helmet but had groves in different places. His hair was spiky, blond and seemed to shoot out from behind the mask. He had a red handkerchief tied around his right arm. His legs were crossed and was resting his head against the base of one of the twin single barrel pistols that he held in either hand.
On the seat closest to the throne on the right sat a digimon that resembled an old man. His face had a golden hue to it and his nose was like a massive beak. He had a long silver beard that extended all the way down to his feet. He was wearing red shoes and very baggy dusty green trousers. He had several pairs of red bat like wings that ranged for relatively small to rather large. A poncho covered most of his upper torso, it was a dark color with large red upside down triangles and purple trimming. He had a necklace that was composed of many rows of yellow fangs under another necklace of large red circular gems. His hands were large with long yellow nails and many golden rings adorned his fingers. One of his giant hands was curled around an intricate staff. The staff was long and thick with silver decoration snaking its way up. The top of it was some sort of skull that could have belonged to a digimon or an animal. In the jaw of the skull was a massive bright red spherical gem. He was rapping his fingers on his armrest impatiently and regarding the digidestined with disgust.
All of these digimon were new to the group but the one that disturbed Yamato the Most was the small child occupying the throne. He had four pairs of magnificent angelic wings sprouting from his back. He had soft blond hair with two fluffy wings sticking out on either side of his head. He was wearing white linen which stretched over his body leaving his left shoulder, arms and legs bare. Ancient purple digital writing crawled up his body starting on his foot and crawling up until it ended on his cheek just below his eye. His eyes were metallic silver and his wrists and ankles were glad in holy rings. His legs were too short to reach the floor so he was swinging them back and forth playfully. He smiled at the digidestined and swung his arms wide.
"Welcome to your trial digidestined! I am Lucemon, these digimon you see before you are my loyal entourage! The lovely lady over there is Lilithmon, the reptilian fellow is Leviamon, the stoic one to my left is Daemon, that's sleepy little Belphemon, the grumpy ones Beelzemon and finally this elderly genius is Barbamon. Now that you have been introduced to your judges its your turn to plead your case." Lucemon looked pleased with his introductions and waited expectantly for the digidestined to speak.
"Aren't we missing one?" Lilithmon asked quickly pointing to the empty chair beside Mimi.
"The child of Reliabilty won't be collected, he is with 'His' possession of light and 'He' doesn't want her involved anymore then she already has been." Lucemon shrugged.
Tai's eyebrow twitched in annoyance before he yelled. "Trial? What are we accused with? What fucking gives you the right to 'charge' us with anything."
Lucemon was amused by Tai's outburst and pointed to the gem above his head. "I really couldn't care less about any of this, but we kinda have a deal with 'Him'. 'He' says that you have interferred where you don't belong. The child of Friendship and Love have given his possession-" he pointed at Zui's cage, she backed away from his accusing finger even though he was far away "-powers she wasn't meant to have. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough already, the child of Friendship set her free and she escaped. 'He' doesn't like it when you touch his things." Lucemon said the last part as if it it should have been obvious.
Tai growled. "Bullshit. This is fucking ridiculous, you're acting as if we meant for all of that to happen. If you know so much already you should know Yamato and Sora didn't even know they had given her anything, and Yamato definitely didn't want to help her escape! We didn't even know she fucking existed till a week or so ago!"
"My my what a cute boy." Lilithmon oozed suductively. Tai shot her a glare which just made her smile grow wider.
"He's right this is a goddamn waste of time...lets just get it over with." Beelzemon said earning himself a warning look from Lilithmon.
"I have a few questions." Koushirou said calmly. "Firstly how come we have never seen or heard of or from you in all of our adventures? You seem to know a lot about us, were you involved with Gennai's work? And if we are such a problem for this mystery person you keep speaking of how come we have never been confronted before?"
Barbamon scoffed and spoke in a derogatory tone. "Gennai's work? I wasn't even the least bit interested in that little pet project of theirs. The fact that you think we were involved feels like an insult."
"Haha...well to answer your other questions 'He' found you rather interesting and wanted to see how you'd far against the, er, horrors of the digital world. You weren't considered an issue until you meddled with her the last time you were here. To be honest he was pretty pissed that you entered that cave in the first place." Lucemon explained happily.
"Can we finish this? I want to go..." Leviamon whined as he crawled behind his chair.
"No need to be impatient. Child of Courage, Tai was it? You are the leader right? Well heres the chance to have your say on behalf of your teammates, what say you in their defence?" Lucemon was bordering on giddiness as he spoke, for reasons unknown to Tai he seemed to be enjoying this immensely.
"I say you let us all go, we haven't done anything wrong." Tai stated firmly.
"Okay, everyone can vote now." Lucemon shrugged.
"I say we should excute the children of Friendship and Love since they caused this whole mess. And we should also get rid of the children of Light and Hope since they may become...problematic in the future." Lilithmon proclaimed.
"Just kill them all so I can leave! Belphemon agrees with me." Leviamon whined. Lucemon giggled but said nothing against the prompted vote.
"The children of Friendship and Love should pay for their folly." Barbamon stated with disgust.
"I agree, they should suffer for their misjudgement." Daemon said, speaking for the first time.
"This whole thing is stupid, theres no sport in killing them in this state. Just let them leave." Lucemon quirked an eyebrow at Beelzemon's vote yet still remained silent.
"Well then thats two votes for your release, two votes to execute all of you, two votes for just two of you and one vote for four. That means I get to cast the deciding vote!" Lucemon was overly pleased with this revelation. He jumped off his throne and sauntered over to Tai, he leaned close to his ear and Tai resisted the urge to headbutt him. "I think I'll let you live...in the future I want to see if you can stop me." He whispered so low that Tai had to strain to hear him.
Tai gaped at him as he danced back on his heels and spun around. "Execute the children of Friendship and Love, they are the ones that were dumb enough to anger 'Him'." Lucemon said dismissively waving his hand in Yamato and Sora's direction.
"You said you'd let us go!" Tai protested. Lucemon laughed and spun around, winking at Tai before jumping backwards onto his throne.
"I said you not all of you." He stated simply causing Tai to growl again.
"Finally the judgement is over...I'm leaving." Leviamon whined as a small tornado enveloped him, seconds later he was gone.
Yamato cast Sora a worried look, to people who didn't know her well she would have just looked angry but he could tell that was just a mask to hide her fear. These digimon were strong, even without using Koushirou's laptop he could tell their digimon would have trouble even if they could somehow get them loose and allow them to evolve. He sighed, trying desperately to stay awake. His injury was going slightly numb and he knew he needed medical attention very soon or he might not make it even if they all miraculously escaped.
"The sentencing is final. 'He' will deliver their judgement." Lucemon pointed at the gem above his head. As if on cue dark energy began swirling around the crystal slowly gaining speed and form.
"Wait!" Yamato croaked out. It hurt to talk at this point so he figured he might as well give what he had left to the one he loved. "I did it...I gave Zui the power to contact our world and gave her my own body as a vessel for her escape. If someone must die it should be me."
Lucemon considered it for a second before a shout interrupted his thoughts. "Fuck that! Jesus Yamato how many times are you going to try and throw yourself under the train? I don't want you to die! You're going to live and come home with me!" It was Sora who had cried out, digimon and humans alike stared at her, she was red in the face and panting a little.
"You tell him Sora! Theres no way we're leaving anyone behind, I think you've been reckless enough for one lifetime." Tai laughed despite the situation.
"Jeez Nii-san I swear how many times are we going to have to convince you to stop opting for death every opportunity you get." Takeru sounded annoyed and Yamato could pratically see him shaking his head.
"Though just now a way out is eluding us that does not give us the right to give up." Koushirou added.
"I have a trip to the beach planned, who's going to cook if you're not there?" Mimi interjected.
"We'll get out of this. We always do." Hikari was smiling as she spoke.
Yamato looked first to Tai then to Sora, he laughed quietly despite the pain the action caused. "I have a bad habit."
"You're telling me." Sora grinned at him.
The dark energy around the crystal had focused into a single point and shot out zooming toward Yamato and Sora. They both looked far from fearful, smiling comfidently at the ray of doom.
"For those I love." Sora said softly. A beam of deep red light sprang for her chest and intercepted the dark energy ray slowing it down.
"I know we can do it!" Koushirou declared solidly. A beam of bright purple joined the beam of red and slowed the ray down even more.
"Lets kick butt!" Mimi would have punched the air if she wasn't shackled to her chair. Her greem beam joined the others.
"I'll never give up, we will all survive this." Takeru spoke matter-of-a-factly as his golden light joined in.
"They can't defeat us...I won't let them!" Hikari declared. A beam of bright white light joined the rest.
"They're dreaming if they think they have us on the ropes! We'll smash down anything they send our way!" Tai's voice, unlike the others, resounded around the room as his orange light crashed its way into the centre of the fray. The dark energy ray ground to a complete halt with the new addition.
"I can't die here...not when I have all my friends to support me." Yamato smirked as he spoke. As soon as the blue light that erupted from his chest joined the others the dark beam exploded forcing the watching digimon to shield their eyes. When the dust cleared a giant dark sphere swirled around were the digidestined seats had been, encompassing the captive digimon as well.
"Are they dead?" Lilithmon stated quietly.
"No dear Lilithmon...thats a sheild." Lucemon growled lowly.
"Maybe it was worth coming after all." Beelzemon smirked.
Yamato watched Zui quizzically. The blast had released all of their bonds and completely destroyed the cage holding Zui and the restraints keeping her powers at bay. As soon as she was freed she had cast a barrier around them all.
He glanced at Sora who gently patted his knee to get his attention. The others had practically leapt out of their chairs when they were released but he had remained seated for fear of opening his injury, it was far from healed but the blood had become congealed enough to stop the bleeding.
Biyomon trotted up behind Sora with Gabumon in his weapon form in her arms. The blast had released them as well and, after a brief hug, Sora had asked her to go get Gabumon since Yamato couldn't move. He gratefully took his partner from Biyoumon and held it affrctionately before he frowned.
"I can't use him...I can't even stand..." He stated with frustration. Sora smiled sympathetically. "I know, Tai can't use Agumon either with his wrist in that state."
"Um...Can I help?" Zui approached the two cautiously, Sora gave her a dirty look while Yamato schooled his features into forced indifference.
"Please...my shield won't last long. I can change him back to his original form and I want to heal the cuts on your arm." She continued.
Yamato eyed her suspiciously before holding his arm out in defeat. Zui carefully took the loose bandages off, she was painfully aware of Sora glaring hatefully at her. She ran the tips of her fingers over the cuts and they closed up seamlessly. She then gently removed the weapon from his hand and placed it on the floor, her hands hovered over it emitting a dark light. The weapon morphed and changed until Tsunomon was left blinking in its place.
"Tsunomon..." Yamato struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice at the sight of his friend. Tsunomon jumped carefully onto his lap.
"I wanted to speak with you so badly. I could see and feel eveything that happened but I couldn't talk...I'm sorry I didn't protect you." Tsunomon said sadly.
"Tsunomon you did protect me, just having you there was good enough." Yamato smiled at him and gently stroked the side of his head.
"Hey, can you do that for me and T.K.?" Tai's questioned was laced with dislike but if Zui heard it she chose to ignore it.
"I can try, Shin's the one who made yours but I am stronger then her now." She responded.
While Zui went to work on Takeru and Tai's weapons Takeru came up beside Yamato. Takeru ripped a large strip off his shirt and knelt down beside him.
"You ready?" Takeru asked a little nervously.
"Yeah..." Yamato said, his own voice betraying his reluctance. Sora intertwined their fingers and kissed his forehead as Takeru started wrapping the fabric tightly around his wound. His entire body seized up and he started feeling physically sick, pain shot through him and stars sparkled his vision when Takeru pulled it tight and tied it off. He was squeezing Sora's hand almost painfully but she just continued stroking his hair and whispering encouragement into his ear.
He gave a shaky half sob half sigh when Takeru finished and pulled away. Sora and Takeru both watched him with concern since he was breathing heavily and had yet to open his eyes. Once he was sure he wasn't going to be sick he opened his eyes and offered them a small smile.
Takeru was going to say something to him but was interrupted when Patamon jumped onto his head. Takeru laughed at his friends antics and rubbed the little digimons ears.
"Can you stand?" Sora asked him softly. He nodded and she helped him to his feet. Tai stood beside him with Agumon at his side.
"Ready to defeat some pompous jackasses?" Tai asked with his trademark grin.
"As ready as I'm ever going to be." Yamato replied with his own smirk.
"Should we be doing something?" Lilithmon questioned with annoyance.
"You want to attack that thing be my guest but I'm going to wait for them to come out..hopefully at full strength." Beelzemon snapped at her. She sneered at him in response.
"Well we gave the sentencing so we have to complete it." Lucemon mused.
"Why? 'He' was supposed to carry out the execution and 'He' failed." Beelzemon snorted. Lucemon propped his elbow on the armrest and rested his head on his knuckles with a sour expression.
"Why don't you go against 'His' wishes then? I'd love to see how you fair against 'Him'." Lilithmon hissed with her sneer still firmly in place. Beelzemon scowled and settled further into his seat with his arms crossed.
Something dawned on Lucemon but he didn't show it, the only indication of his realisation was the small smirk he allowed to grace his features. Barbamon looked at him curiously but said nothing. Lucemon said his next words in a whisper so low only his loyal companions could hear him due to many years of practice. "This could be extremely advantageous to us...my new friend may help relieve us from our oppresion."
Barbamon smiled broadly and cast a careful glance at the gem above Lucemon's head, it remained motionless with no traces of movement within.
"Ok now this has gone on long enough! Barbamon, Lilithmon, Daemon and Beelzemon...demolish that shield." Lucemon declared loudly, the gem above him seemed to glow darkly at his word almost as if it approved.
Daemon, Lilithmon and Barbamon sprang into action but Beelzemon remained seated. The barrier fluctuated under their combined efforts and burst sending a wave of air gushing out. When it cleared Omnimon stood before them with Tai and Yamato standing on his shoulders. Angemon and Angewomon were hovering over him. MegaKabuterimon and Garudamon flanked him on either side.
Beelzemon grinned and rose from his seat "That's more like it." he laughed. He charged straight for Omnimon with guns blazing but Garudamon intecepted with a Crimson Claw. Beelzemon's feral grin grew wider as Garudamon adopted a fighting stance.
"Wanna dance little birdy?" Beelzemon tauted.
"No, I want to finish you quickly." Garudamon retorted.
Lilithmon was trying to land one of her Naizer Nail attacks on Angewomon but she just kept avoiding her without fighting back. She flew away from Lilithmon at top speed and headed toward the ceiling, swerving a the last second forcing Lilithmon to get her attack stuck. Angewomon floated in the air in front of her with her hands on her hips.
"Are you mocking me?!" Lilithmon shrieked, wrenching herself free and charging at Angewomon.
"Oh I wouldn't dream of that." Angewomon chuckled sarcastically. She dropped down at the last second to reveal a ready and waiting Angemon who lauched his famous Hand of Fate.
Lilithmon flew past Omnimon's head forcing him and his passengers to duck. He was dodging several Evil Inferno's Daemon was sending his way. He made sure to go in a direction that wouldn't endanger the others. Yamato clung onto him for dear life, the constant swaying and leaping was making him feel sick again. He glanced over his shoulder and saw MegaKabuterimon rolling on the floor desperately trying to put out the Crimson Flame attack Barbamon had landed. Garudamon wasn't fairing much better, she was clutching her left arm and painstakingly avoiding Beelzemon's Double Impact shots.
Frowning he glanced at Lucemon who had yet to move from his seat. Spotting Yamato's glare Lucemon gave him a wink, Yamato's expression melted into shock at the gesture. Suddenly he started feeling woozy again and sank down to one knee.
Tai watched him with concern. "Omnimon stop wasting time! Beat this guy already!"
"Right!" Omnimon took careful aim and began to fire his Supreme Canon. Remaining where he stood he swung his body around quickly to chase the fleeing Daemon, luckily for MegaKabuterimon the shot of icy air sailed straight past him and was enough to put out the blaze.
A loud rumbling caused everyone participating in battle to pause. The large gem had begun gathering energy again only this time it was on a much larger scale. The entire room was quaking forcing the digidestined still on the floor to fall either on their backsides or knees.
"Do you think we can stop it again?!" Yamato yelled over the booming runbling.
"I don't know! Its a lot bigger this time! Damn, if Joe had been here we would have destroyed it with that last blast!" Tai sounded frustrated. He saw Lucemon look straight at him, then to Omnimon's sword and finally to Angewomon and Angemon. Lucemon did this several times and Tai could only blink in response.
"So whats the plan?!" Yamato asked, he was still calm but a tinge of worry had found its way into his words.
"Um...something to do with Kari and T.K.?" Tai sounded so unsure that Yamato shook his head in disbelief. Then he snapped his fingers and turned determindly to Tai.
"That's genius Tai! How in the world did you think of that?"
"I don't think I've fully thought of it yet."
Yamato rolled his eyes and turned around. "Hikari, T.K.! Can Angemon and Angewomon charge Omnimon's sword with Holy power? That thing uses dark energy so the best counter is holy light, if we use Omnimons raw power we should be able to smash it!"
Hikari and T.K. nodded and sent Angemon and Angewomon over. They began focusing energy into the sword. Yamato had a strange feeling he couldn't place and then he realised it, the enemy digimon weren't attacking anymore. Scouring the room for them he found them standing off to the side around Lucemon. Lucemon had a positively triumphant look on his face.
Yamato suddenly felt this might not be such a brilliant idea but Angemon and Angewomon had already finished. As soon as the last of their energy was used up they devolved and fell away to Hikari and T.K's waiting arms.
Omnimon's arm shook with the raw power of his now glowing sword. He plowed forward slamming the blade into the gem. The tip burrowed itself in but other then that small chip the crystal remained intact.
"You can do it Omnimon!" Tai encouraged.
"You will succeed." Yamato said confidently.
Sparks flew from the impact point. Omnimon roared as he pushed with all his strength.
"Crimson claw!" Both boys whipped their heads around to see Garudamon pounding the hilt of Omnimon's sword with her own attack. Thanks to their combined efforts the blade sunk deep into the gem. As soon as it did the entire room was enveloped in a bright white light that forced everyone to shut their eyes.
When Yamato opened his eyes again he saw and felt two very unexpected things. The first was the dark grey sky assaulting his vision. The second was the realisation that he was floating on his back in what was hopefully water. He decided it was a dream since he could no longer feel his wound nor could he move at all. The water was lapping against his skin soothingly and he wondered if one could fall alseep within a dream.
"Do you like it here?" A voice boomed all around him. It was distinctly male, extremly deep and almost as soothing as the lapping water.
"I suppose, but I really shouldn't be dreaming right now." He answered without opening his mouth. Again he accepted his spontaneous telepathic powers as a part of the dream.
"You're not dreaming. But I suppose it doesn't really matter if you believe that. I underestimated Lucemon's disloyalty...and apparently you and your friends." The soothing edge to the voice disintergrated into malice.
"Who are you?" Yamato asked suspiciously. This was turning into more of a nightmare. The water around the left side of his face rippled oddly and he turned toward the sensation. A pair of feet, glowing white against the dark water and grey sky, were standing before him. He tried to look upward to see the face of the owner of the feet but found he couldn't move again.
"Who am I? After everything you still know so little. Listen carefully Yamato Ishida. You have taken something of mine...I always repay my debts tenfold. I suggest you enjoy the short time you have left as much as you can. You and that pretty little thing that's stolen your heart away." The last sentence was dripping with sarcasm and hatred.
"I don't care if this is a dream...don't you dare even think about touching her." Yamato growled. He could practically see the smile on the person's face as he knelt down.
"It's not like you're going to have a choice in the matter." The person stated flatly. Yamato felt a hand caress his temple. It was extremely cold and if he could have he would have recoiled away.
"What are you doing?" His voice was groggy even to his own ears. The cold felt like it was seeping into his very core, numbing him from the inside out.
"Just a...precaution." Those were the last words Yamato heard as he slipped into uncousiousness.
"Yamato! You okay?" Yamato snapped his head up at the sound of Tai's voice. Realising he was still standing on Omnimon's shoulder he turned to Tai who grinned at him and pointed to the gem. A large sword shaped golden light was sticking out of it, the gem was cracked and broken around the impact site.
"We did it." Tai said happily.
"Bravo!" Lucemon was obviously being condescending, clapping his hands together slowly.
"We didn't do it for you." Tai barked. Yamato nodded in agreement. The temporary relief from the wound had made regaining the feeling even harder to handle. He sank down, his knuckles going white against his hold on Omnimon. Tai noticed this with growing alarm.
"We don't have time to deal with you now!" Tai yelled at them.
"Don't worry you truly have done us a favor. We will leave it at this for today." Lucemon smiled at him before he and his entourage vanished with a swirl of wind.
Once Tai was sure they were actually gone he ordered Omnimon to devolve. He had to catch Yamato to keep him from falling when he no longer had Omnimon's support. Zui stood before them both wringing her skirt with her hands much like Shin had done the first time they had all met her.
"I'm taking Mimi to get her digimon...I'm really sorry for everything I've done. Please don't seal me away again." She was on the verge of tears. Yamato sagged against Tai barely registering her words so Tai took it upon himself to answer.
"We wouldn't do that. You have helped us after all. We'll work something out."
Zui smiled at him before running off very quickly. Tai looked over his shoulder and saw the reason for her hasty retreat. Sora was running over, she hadn't seemed to have noticed Zui at all as she hoisted Yamato's free arm over her shoulders.
"Stay awake for me Yamato." She said softly but with authority.
"Sora..." Yamato gazed into her eyes. The dream had greatly disturbed him, especially since in the few seconds before he had fully come back to reality he had still felt that cold sensation in his temple.
"I'm here." She smiled at him and brushed a few strands of golden hair away from his eyes.
"Stay with me..." he muttered leaning his head against the crook of her neck. She cast Tai a worried glance to which he nodded.
"I'm not going anywhere...come on, lets get you home." She said softly, helping Yamato onto Tai's back. He never let go of her hand as they started the long journey home.
Well there we go, its been fun but now its done! Hehehehe...I know theres a lot of loose ends but thats what sequels are for. I'm writing another fic first so it might be a while in coming. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this, please look forward to the epilogue!