Another chapter for your enjoyment. I decided to point out a little fact about one of the Digidestined that people tend to forget. Just because Mimi is a little… unfocused, ditzy, and girlish at times does not mean she is not a valuable asset. Her concern with fashion and lack of sense at times can make you forget that, but she has her moments of awesome too. When things get bad, she can get serious and pull off some surprises.
I had a little trouble with minor writer's block and school stress, and when I finally tried to post this chapter... the site wouldn't let me. Thus, I'm sorry it took a while. I hope it was worth it. Thanks.
He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. All Willis could do was stare at the empty space where a digimon once was. This was the first time he knew for certain that his mistake had directly killed someone. It was possible that Diaboromon had caused fatal traffic accidents or other problems by messing with electronics in the past and he always had his suspicions of what might have occurred while the virus corrupted to Lopmon, but none of those fears quite matched the horror of watching Ragnamon destroy a fellow digimon with a single blast. It didn't matter that digimon would become digi-eggs when they die. The fact that his creation killed someone meant that Willis was responsible for murder. Every death would ultimately be his fault. This monster was going to kill everyone: his partners, his friends, untold numbers of innocent people and digimon. And he would only have himself to blame.
"Willis, snap out of it," Mimi shouted, pulling his eyes away from the sky towards her face. The normally ditzy-seeming Digidestined of Sincerity looked rather determined. For a moment, the blond boy was reminded that this bubbly fashion-conscious teenager spent months in another world facing numerous digimon trying to harm her and came out not only alive, but having helped over throw a number of powerful evil digimon. One of the stories about the group's adventures stated she and Joe formed an army of ally digimon that she led to the battle against Piedmon. The pajama-wearing girl being carried by Kabuterimon might be usually carefree, but she could be serious and logical when she needed to. And she certainly wasn't ditzy at this moment. "We'll keep that from happening again, but we need to focus now."
Nodding slightly in response to her words, he looked at where Youkomon was heading with her passengers. The intersection between two streets offered plenty of room with no overhanging architecture that could fall on them and was far enough from Ragnamon that they could possibly breathe easier. The only problem with the location was that it was the edge of their mist-free area. They would be near the fog bank and about three Keramon were already there. They would have to clear it and since most of the champions and Lillymon were either transporting or defending their retreat, it would be up to the smaller digimon like Mikemon to…
"Lion-heart Blade!"
The shouted attack was accompanied by the destruction of a section of blue fog and two of the aggressive rookies. Stepping through the new opening in the mist was a large humanoid lion with a sword and a shield. He had a cape and looked very capable of taking on anyone present without even trying. Shifting his grip on his shield, he turned towards the remaining Keramon.
"Defensive Power!"
The leonine digimon hurled the round shield at the rookie like the comic book character, Captain America. And, just like the fictional hero, the normally defensive object did considerable damage to the target. Keramon shattered in a burst of data and the shield ricocheted off a lamp post behind the dissolved rookie and back to his waiting grip.
"It looks somewhat like Regulumon, an alternate mega form of Leomon," commented Izzy, who was apparently working off of memory since he couldn't access his computer while being carried by Kabuterimon. "But it's different…"
"Need some help?" the leonine warrior asked, his voice somehow giving the impression of having two speakers and one sounding almost female.
"Jeri?" gasped the Digidestined of Knowledge. "Prodigious. Is this Biomerging?"
"Sort of," the creature answered, but only with the female voice. "It's Biomerging with a mode change. Leomon and I are here to help." Switching to the deeper voice, he finished, "And we assume from the alarming digimon above the city that you require all the assistance you can get."
As he climbed off of the purple fox's back, Willis couldn't help muttering, "You can say that again."
Gallantmon had almost reached the titanic Ragnamon following behind Takato's idols, and was able to clearly see the destruction of Marsmon. One detached part of the tamer wondered when the former enemy mega had arrived the human world and when he apparently became an ally. A greater portion of his mind was staring in stunned horror of the effortless murder. A single attack had utterly destroyed the powerful entity and Ragnamon barely seemed to have noticed. In fact, judging by the creature's booming words that easily carried across the fog enshrouded city, all he had noticed so far was the presence of Willis somewhere below.
The demonstration of power was impressive, but Takato dug up enough stubbornness to counter any fear of defeat. There was no possible way he would let Ragnamon win and get away with all of this harm. They would win. They would find a way to stop him and save everyone.
The firm belief was matched by an equally fierce conviction from the digital half of Gallantmon, filling the mega with the willpower to face their powerful foe. This was the same unwavering faith of the possibility of success that allowed him to charge into the D-reaper to save Jeri. The concept of failure was not even conceivable. It wasn't even a possibility. He and Guilmon would not allow Ragnamon to cause any further harm.
The crimson knight could feel something powerful, a new form of strength, just barely out of reach. Somehow, he knew he was close to unlocking a new potential. An idea, a concept, or something equally enlightening was almost his. All he needed was to…
"Hey, Goggle-head," a familiar voice shouted, shattering the concentration of the mega. He lost his grasp on the nearly-realized capability and became abruptly aware of how quickly their thoughts had been moving and how little time had passed. Whatever he'd been on the brink of discovering had not taken any time practically. The interrupter, apparently changing direction to meet him, continued, "Did I just see that Hot-Head, Marsmon, bite the dust?"
Turning his head, he caught sight of someone who didn't quite look like Beelzemon and not quite like Fatemon. Instead, it was some kind of mixture between the two. But the voice was obviously Impmon's.
"Yeah," Gallantmon muttered, both halves sounding vaguely confused about the odd sensation earlier of nearly finding something important.
The grey-winged mega took the confusion to be in reference to his new appearance and remarked, "Then how about we introduce Big Blue to Fatemon Balance Mode? We can double team him. Unless you're set on working with the Hairball…"
Mako's voice added, "Please, Gallantmonn? It'll be so cool."
"Sure thing," he agreed. "Be careful though."
"We will," Ai's voice chirped.
As the pair of megas launched themselves toward the gigantic beast, Guilmon quietly asked his partner, "What was that earlier, Takato?"
"No clue," he answered from within his mental bubble, "but it was weird."
After two separate battles with Marsmon, she knew exactly how effective he could fight and how well he could survive attacks. He did, after all, back hand her Spirit Strike during their first encounter without even breaking stride. So watching him essentially vaporize in a blast of hot plasma was an unpleasant jolt of fear that she didn't appreciate experiencing. She had faced plenty of dangerous situations in the past with overwhelming odds and yet the idea of being this close to such destructive potential was not a comfortable one. And she didn't like being afraid. She was the Digimon Queen, a long-time tamer, and wasn't supposed to suffer from that sort of thing by this point.
"Fear is a warning of danger and nothing to be ashamed of as long as you heed the warning without being paralyzed by it," Renamon's voice assured her, though she sounded uneasy with what just occurred as well. "He's dangerous and strong, so we'll have to be smarter."
As Sakuyamon, she could feel the shock and horror radiating off the other digimon in response to Ragnamon's attack, though Dianamon was also putting off strong waves of hurt and fury. She could feel a more distant group closer to the ground level. They were reacting in fear with a distinct spike of guilt. Since she didn't know who she was sensing, she didn't know who might be experiencing the guilt. Perhaps that Willis person the enormous creature kept speaking about. What was creepy was the mixture emotions she could feel coming from Ragnamon himself. It was an impossible combination of smugness, an insatiable hunger for destruction, calm logic, a thirst for revenge of the past, and what felt like a twisted version of the love between partners. He felt insane and perfectly in control at the same time. A dangerous combination.
Once a moment of the group's shared stunned horror had passed, Ragnamon bared his fangs in a sickening smile. His expression of twisted satisfaction seemed to only enrage Dianamon further. It wasn't clear which of the mood-swinging mega's "sides" was in charge at the moment. She was completely united in her desire to destroy him.
"Die," snarled the crescent moon-covered being, her sapphire eyes blazing. "Arrow of Artemis!"
She grabbed and fired her icy projectiles rapidly, striking the creature's head, neck and shoulders in a crazed rush. Ragnamon seemed to find the storm of arrows annoying, though not dangerous, and turned to face her. She didn't wait to see if she could survive his attack better than her companion and took care not to end up in front of his mouth.
"We need some good defensive power and a plan to handle this guy," explained MegaGargomon. "We have an effective shield-like attack."
"We do too," responded Sakuyamon, glancing around the collective group of digimon who were preparing to rejoin the furious arrow-firing mega in the attack. "You cover the angels and Dianamon and I handle MetalGarurumon and VictoryGreymon?"
"Works for me," Terriermon's voice answered as the green mechanical being moved closer to MagnaAngemon and Angewomon.
"Final Justice!" a familiar dual-voiced entity announced.
The memorable attack slammed into the side of Ragnamon's face, resulting in an actual flinch. The crimson-armored Gallantmon, who she hadn't seen since the battle against the D-reaper and rescue of Jeri, was flying into battle alongside another mega that Renamon instantly recognized as another form of Impmon. The pair caught sight of her and MegaGargomon and paused.
"Did you shrink?" Takato's voice asked, Gallantmon's sword pointing toward the green metallic being.
Terriermon's voice swiftly answered, "Yes, but the firepower is just as strong as over." Aiming in the same direction as Dianamon's peppered arrows, the mechanical mega announced, "Mega Bombardment!"
"Elemental Kitsune!" Sakuyamon shouted, adding the enhanced fox-like entities to the battle.
"Love the new look, toots," the grey-winged mega grinned. "Try this one on for size." Lifting up what looked like a shrunken version of Beelzemon's cannon, he announced, "Chaos Destruction!"
The weapon produced an icy blue orb of energy that slammed into the creature in the same spot that one of MegaGargomon's missiles struck seconds before. The impact of the attack demonstrated the smaller size of the object had not lessened its deadliness, but only seemed to annoy Ragnamon and to draw his attention to a more stationary target than Dianamon was proving to be.
"Catastrophic Meltdown!"
"Purifying Flame Protection!" Sakuyamon screamed simultaneously, throwing up her shield around the mega barely in time to prevent disaster.
The plasma-like attack was halted, but the effort of stopping it was intense and left the shaman-like entity gasping. She should have known it would be powerful after what happened to Marsmon, and yet she still managed to block it. If she hadn't been in her Crest Mode and tried to use Talisman Sphere, Ragnamon would have shredded through it like rice paper. She did, however, have her doubts if she'd be able to manage too many more of those blocks.
"Thanks, toots," nodded her friend sheepishly after a moment. "I've got to watch out for that better."
"You better," Rika answered back from her mental bubble. "One of these days, you're going to run out of luck, get into trouble, and neither me, Renamon, nor a miracle will get you out of it in time."
Folding his wings to dive toward the underside of Ragnamon, Impmon's voice joked, "Fox-face would never let me down. She's crazy about me."
"Someone is crazy at least," the red-haired tamer muttered from within the mega before the data type shouted, "Ring of Truth!"
"Arrow of Artemis!" she snarled, firing rapidly at the enormous monster.
How dare he? How dare he? The blue-eyed mega continued to rain down her icy projectiles as she swerved through the air near the creature. Her explosion of hatred and violence that she was unleashed against him was actually a reaction from her calmer, gentler side. The harsher, more aggressive emotional reactive side would be far worse and would be too busy lashing out to try defending herself. However, both halves were united in the desire to make this creature pay. Not only for betraying and tricking GuardiAngemon, who she had served loyally and looked up to as a protector of those in need, but also for killing Marsmon. That death was the final straw. It was simply intolerable. The worst part was that she wasn't certain if she was more upset with Ragnamon for firing the attack or for the sexist, battle-eager fool for committing such a dumb suicidal move.
Out of all of GuardiAngemon's loyal followers, she'd always been closest to Marsmon. He wasn't as childish as Minervamon, who she could only get along with when she was in her better mood, and was more interesting than Valkyrimon. And the fact he was willing to concede that she was "almost" as good as a male in combat gave her hope that he saw her as a close friend as well. In the end, she would never know for certain if he viewed her as a team mate, a friend, something more special than that, or as merely a female who was slightly better than average. She would never know because he was gone.
"Arrow of Artemis!"she shouted again, firing at the creature's shrunken eyes. He closed them and gave an aggravated hiss, though it was uncertain if it was from her frozen bolts or the other digimon's attacks that she was vaguely aware of occurring around her. Growing frustrated, she closed the distance between her and Ragnamon to slice at his face with her large bladed weapon savagely. Completely ignoring the fact that she was essentially doing what led to Marsmon's death, she continued to hack away and snarled, "Why don't you just die?"
With surprising swiftness for a creature his size, Ragnamon raised one of his taloned limbs to slap her aside like a harmless insect. The question of whether she would survive the impact or be killed by the force was never answered because something faster reached her first. The blue-eyed mega found herself yanked aside by a fast and feathery friend.
"Dianamon, that was extremely foolish," commented Valkyrimon, releasing her after his quick rescue. "You need to take greater care."
"Sorry," she muttered softly before her eyes hardened. With surprising venom, she snapped, "Though I don't remember asking for your help."
Used to her swift changes in mood, he was unfazed by her reaction. With a nod, the avian mega shot back towards Ragnamon while drawing his blade.
"Feral Sword!" he shouted, his slash forming ice across the creature's cheek. Zipping across the aerial battlefield, he repeated his earlier move to the other side of his face. "Feral Sword!"
"Golden Ripper!" a deeply familiar and welcome voice announced, striking Ragnamon with a cross-shaped blast of glowing energy.
"Heaven's Charm!" another voice, Angewomon's, added as a similarly-shaped attack hit from the other side.
"Soul Vanisher!" a third speaker, Angemon, shouted and struck the creature with purifying energy.
The quick succession of attacks, at least three of angelic origin, actually managed to produce a pained hiss and a step backwards. The crashing should of other structures' destruction barely raised her notice. All she cared about was that her master, GuardiAngemon, was here. He would avenge the death of Marsmon. He would make Ragnamon pay.
Mari clutched Pafumon tightly in her arms. The large digimon that were trying to help and protect people, like the bug, the rabbits, the purple fox, Devidramon, the flower fairy, and now the lion warrior, were all impressive. On the other hand, the giant monster overhead was terrifying. Even her brother and Mikemon, the bravest people she knew, looked afraid. The other strange digimon, racing around the sky attacking it, didn't seem to be doing that great either.
"Pah," whimpered her baby partner.
"It'll be all right," she whispered, hugging the little digimon closer.
Abruptly, a blue metallic wolf broke off from the aerial combat and landed in the middle of the group. A blond teenager quickly climbed off and gave the digimon a nod.
"Good luck up there, MetalGarurumon," the teen smiled encouragingly before his partner took flight towards the monster again.
"Matt," shouted the older boy, Izzy. "Welcome."
"Glad to see you," he called back. "Saw you on the news and decided to come to the party. Care to explain who all these people are and how in the world Tai and Agumon combined together?"
"They Biomerged?" Izzy asked, his eyes widening in shock. "Prodigious. That is amazing."
"Bio-what?"" Matt responded.
"I'll explain later," answered the teenager. "Right now, we need a plan to help the others."
The girl wearing pajamas interrupted, "Anyone who can fly can help directly, but those on the ground can only reach Ragnamon's foot."
The blond boy's jaw dropped in shock," Mimi? When did you get here?"
"Willis and I came here because you're in trouble, silly," she responded. "Where else would we be when there's danger?"
"Even if we send in the aerial digimon and the ground forces against our opponent, we still need some defense for ourselves," Izzy reasoned. "Gargomon, Turuiemon, and Mikemon would be ideal for that task, but we need at least one more nimble digimon in order to be properly…"
His description was interrupted as another figure dropped down from above. Landing easily from the rooftop of the closest building, the strange being looked like a girl wearing a giant snakeskin and carrying a blade nearly equal to her own height. Mari thought she was rather pretty, if odd looking, with her blue braids and mischievous smile.
"Hi, do you need help? I'm supposed to be helping out since humans aren't really bad and annoying after all," the new arrival announced in a fairly excited and bubbly voice. "On, and I'm Minervamon, by the way. Since Diaboromon was mean and tricked everyone, all of us are supposed to do anything to help to make him sorry and to make up for the mistake. But I can't fly and hit the big guy, but neither can a bunch of you. So, want to work together and stuff?"
"Sure, you can help protect everyone," Mimi answered quickly. "That way, Lillymon and the others don't have to worry about us while dealing with the ugly creep, Ragnamon."
Nodding, Minervamon chirped, "You know, I think I'm going to like you. Which is good since I'm not supposed to pound your face into the ground anymore. I don't like beating up someone I like."
"Great," Kyo muttered. "She's crazy."
"But she's also a mega," pointed out Mikemon.
"I guess we have a plan," the grown man, Ren, nodded.
Blasting away at Ragnamon was like hitting a tank with a water balloon. Well, it was a little more effective than that. Occasionally, the behemoth would flinch or hiss in pain, but the attacks were more of an annoyance than a threat. Perhaps the energy-draining blue mist he had risen from had something to do with the creep's extreme invulnerability. Or it could just be this unnaturally strong. Luckily, his main attack was easy enough to avoid if you kept away from that fanged mouth. And, since Dianamon's near splattering, everyone had watched the clawed limbs for their dangerous speed. As long as they could avoid Ragnamon's retaliation, Fatemon intended to keep trying to do some actual damage.
So far, hitting the face or the underbelly of the beast hadn't yielded any results. His next move was to attack from above. Of course, getting above the giant would take a little effort considering the heights involved and he might as well take some back up with him.
"Hey Pineapple-head," he yelled across the battlefield to where the Biomerged mega was trying to slice at the creature's shoulder. "Follow me."
The two winged digimon started heading skyward, climbing far higher than anyone else was going currently. Hitting the digimon from this distance above would ensure that they would be out of easy striking range if Ragnamon tried to retaliate and no one else should get in the way of their strikes at this angle. The increased number of megas and ultimates joining in, especially those who relied on close-combat, and the limited vulnerable-looking area that wasn't protected by the shell, was raising the risk of harming an ally.
"Think we can break through the shell on his back?" asked Gallantmon as they continued to increase their altitude.
"Nothing else is working and it's worth a shot," he responded. "If we both hit him together, there is at least a chance."
Takato's voice muttered, "I don't have any better ideas, so we'll give your plan a try."
"Glad to hear it," grinned the green-eyed mega. "While everyone is distracting Big Blue, we hit the spot where the first two segments of shell meet. That should be one of the weaker areas of his back."
Gallantmon nodded. It was still rather odd to consider that the first opponent the Biomerged knight fought against was the crazed and violent alternate mega form of his current ally. The digimon portion of Fatemon found the idea that he was trusting and trusted by the same combined pair who once tried to kill him for his actions was the clearest proof of how much things had changed. Those who once fought against each other were now fighting with each other.
"Ready?" asked Gallantmon.
"Aim," nodded Fatemon.
As they prepared to finish their countdown, Ragnamon abruptly moved. Their target rose up on his back legs with a snarl. This unexpected action resulted in placing the pair at chest height with the creature. Before either could react, one of the taloned limbs grabbed Gallantmon in his crushing grip.
Cliffhanger time. Our Royal Knight in the hands of a crazy, giant creep. That can't be good. Hope you can stand the wait until this problem is handled.
Of course our American digidestined Willis is able to draw comparisons between our shield throwing leonine warrior and a certain shield throwing hero. I couldn't resist. I'm too familiar with comic book characters. And if you're wondering what was going on with Gallantmon earlier in the chapter... you'll have to wait for answers just like him.
Feedback is always loved by the writer. Thanks.