Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 3: Dark Hero
Ken and the others stood in silence as they tried to figure out what to make of Justimon. It was clear to the Digidestined that Rika and Renamon knew Justimon. The question was if Justimon was a friend or a foe. Renamon's reaction seemed to indicate he was indeed the latter, but Rika's expression seemed to show something different. Her expression seemed to be that of confusion.
"Hello Ken! It's been a long time since we last saw each other," Justimon called down from his perch atop the lamppost. "You're looking well I see. I'm guessing that the girl in the glasses must be your girlfriend, Yolei. She's a bit plain-looking, but I guess we can't all date beauty queens."
"Hey! Try coming down here and saying that to my face jerk!" an angry and insulted Yolei shouted.
"Well she is feisty, I'll give you that," Justimon laughed before taking another look at the group and noticing Rika. "Well, I'm certainly surprised to see you here Rika. I don't know how you and Renamon managed to come to my old world, but I have to admit this is a real treat."
"What's going on here Ryo?" Rika responded.
Ken and the others were confused by why Rika had just referred to Justimon as Ryo. Though Ken did note something a little familiar about Justimon's voice, but he could not see how Ryo and Justimon could be one and the same.
Justimon chuckled. "You want to know what's going on Rika? It's very simple. I'm here for revenge."
With that, Justimon jumped down from the lamppost. His mechanical forearm transformed into a much larger arm with a three-fingered hand. Justimon slammed his arm into the ground and sent a shockwave at the group. They managed to dive out of the way just in time. Meanwhile, Justimon laughed as his forearm returned to its original shape.
"Rika! Something has happened to Justimon!" Renamon told her human partner. "I don't think we have any choice but to fight him!"
Rika's fists clenched at her sides. "I guess you're right. Ready?"
Renamon nodded and Rika's Digivice let out the mechanized cry of one word.
"BIOMERGE!"
With that word, Rika turned into a ball of blue light that entered Renamon and caused a transformation that was startling to the Digidestined.
"Renamon, biomerge digivolve to…Sakuyamon!" Renamon cried as she transformed.
When her transformation had finished, Renamon had changed into a more human looking Digimon. She had long silver hair that had been braded to look like two foxtails. On her face she wore a golden fox mask, and golden armor on her chest and shoulders. Under that armor she wore a black bodysuit with a white section on the stomach. She retained the elbow-high fingerless purple gloves she wore as Renamon, and also had on a matching pair of knee-high high heeled boots. A black belt with four tubes and a gold buckle in the shape of a fox head completed the outfit. The Digidestined and their Digimon looked at Sakuyamon with shocked expressions.
"Did…did they just…merge?" a very stunned Yolei asked.
Izzy nodded. "It would appear so. And this merging seems to have caused Renamon to evolve."
"Hold on!" Ken cut in as he suddenly realized something. "If Rika and Renamon can merge together to become Sakuyamon, then maybe that means that Justimon is Ryo merged with his partner."
The rest of the group was equally shocked by this revelation. Meanwhile, a golden staff appeared in Sakuyamon's right hand as she prepared to do battle with Justimon. With a wave of her staff, Sakuyamon sent a blast of crystalline cherry blossoms at the dark hero. Justimon jumped out of the way before the blast hit him.
"So you're actually going to fight me?" Justimon asked sounding amused. "You don't really think you stand a chance, do you?"
"Oh, now you're just asking for it!" Sakuyamon responded in Rika's voice, sounding irritated. "I don't know what's gotten into you Ryo, but I'm gonna enjoy knocking some sense into you! Dragon Helix!"
With those two words, four multicolored fox spirits emerged from the tubes hanging from Sakuyamon's belt and formed a helix that hit Justimon. The dark hero seemed unfazed however.
"Okay, I'll admit that wasn't bad, but how about THIS?" Justimon spoke before firing a ball of blue energy from the fist of his mechanical arm.
Sakuyamon batted the energy ball away with her staff, but as soon as she did Justimon jumped into the air and delivered a flying kick to her stomach. Before Sakuyamon could fully recover, Justimon changed his mechanical forearm to its giant form and slammed it into the ground, creating another shockwave. The wave hit Sakuyamon and caused her to fall to the ground and split back into Rika and Renamon.
Justimon let out a cruel laugh. "You always were the weakest of the Tamers. Even after you and Renamon were able to biomerge you could never quite hold a candle Takato or even Henry, and certainly not to me. Maybe I should just finish you off right now. Then again if I did, I wouldn't be able to have the fun of beating and humiliating you all over again."
"Stop it Ryo!" Ken called to Justimon. "This isn't like you! The Ryo I knew all those years ago wouldn't do this! What's happened to you?"
"Shut up you pathetic insect!" Justimon shot back at Ken. "You know nothing about what I am! You yourself are nothing more than a pitiful shadow to a brother who was far superior to you!"
Justimon's words caused Ken to flash back to when he and Ryo fought Millenniummon. They were almost the exact same words that Millenniummon had said to him back then. Ken became lost in that flashback, causing him to freeze up and for Yolei, Davis, and Wormmon to worry.
Justmon laughed. "Don't waste your time on someone like him. As useless as he is, he can't help you against me."
"Shut up!" Davis shouted as he pointed a finger at the dark hero. "That's it! I say we take this guy down now!"
"I don't think that's a very wise idea," Izzy told him. "Look at the power Justimon has demonstrated so far. Considering the condition Ken is in right now, I don't think we can defeat him."
"I think Izzy is right," Cody agreed. "Fighting Justimon as strong as he is on our own would be a really bad idea. We should retreat and get help."
"You think this nut is just going to let us leave?" Davis retorted. "We have to fight him! Veemon, go get him!"
Veemon nodded and began glowing with a blue light.
"Veemon digivolve to…ExVeemon!" Veemon cried as he began to transform, his voice becoming deeper with the utterance of his other name.
Veemon had transformed into a very large and well muscled humanoid dragon with white wings and a bladed metal horn on his snout. On his chest was a V symbol with two lines below it that formed it into an X.
"I guess I'm with Davis. Go help him out Hawkmon!" Yolei commanded.
Hawkmon nodded and began to glow with a red light.
"Hawkmon digivolve to…Aquillamon!" Hawkmon cried as he transformed, his voice deepening with the utterance of his other name.
Hawkmon had transformed into a giant eagle with blue talons and a pair of large black curved horns on the side of his head.
"Well, I suppose at this point we have no choice but to back them up," Izzy told Cody. "Tentomon, get in there!"
Tentomon nodded and began to glow with a purple light.
"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!" Tentomon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name. Tentomon had transformed into a giant blue and grey insect-like creature with four wings. His transformation was not yet complete however. "Kabuterimon digivolve to…MegaKabuterimon!"
With his second transformation finished, Kabuterimon had become a giant red beetle-like creature with a single axe shaped horn and a green gemstone on the back of his shell.
Cody sighed. "I guess we better help too. You get in there too Armadillomon!"
Armadillomon nodded and began to glow with a purple light.
"Armadillomon digivolve to…Ankylomon!" Armadillomon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.
Armadillomon had transformed into a large gold Ankylosaurus-like creature with a black mace-like tail and a row of black spikes along his back. The four newly evolved Digimon stood ready to face Justimon.
"Do you really expect to beat me with those weaklings?" Justimon asked in an arrogant tone. "Ah well. I suppose that's all you can manage since my old buddy Ken has frozen up like the coward he truly is."
Ankylomon then charged at Justimon, but the dark hero slammed his giant mechanical forearm into the ground that sent the Dinosaur Digimon into the air. As soon as his forearm returned to its original form, Justimon jumped into the air and hit Ankylomon with a flying kick. Ankylomon was knocked unconscious and reverted back to Armadillomon before hitting the ground. As Cody ran over to his fallen Digimon, ExVeemon fired a beam of energy from the symbol at his chest. Justimon jumped out of the way before it hit him and then delivered an electrified punch to ExVeemon's jaw with his mechanical fist.
ExVeemon fell to the ground and reverted to Veemon. It was then that MegaKabuterimon charged at Justimon and attempted to ram the dark hero with his horn. Justimon leapt back into the air and landed on the giant beetle's horn. His mechanical forearm changed into a large rectangular box-like device with a blade of red energy emitted from the end. Justimon then leapt off of MegaKabuterimon's horn, flipped in the air, and then slashed the giant beetle across the back. MegaKabuterimon fell on his right side and reverted back to Tentomon.
Justimon landed back on his feet behind the fallen beetle Digimon and his mechanical forearm changed back to its original form. Aquillamon then flew at Justimon and fired a red ring of red energy at him. Justimon once again jumped out of the way and fired a ball of blue energy from his mechanical fist. Aquillamon was hit by the attack in the chest and reverted back to Hawkmon. Justimon then grabbed Hawkmon by the neck before the bird Digimon could hit the ground.
"Hawkmon!" Yolei called as she suddenly started running out onto the battlefield.
Justimon landed behind Yolei and hit her on the back of her head with his left hand. The dark hero caught Yolei before she hit the ground, and after slinging her over his left shoulder he flipped back onto his original perch atop the lamppost.
"Yolei!" Davis called out, finally snapping Ken back to reality.
Ken looked up to see that Yolei and Hawkmon were captured.
"Ah! Welcome back Ken. I was wondering when you would finally join us again," Justimon called down. "Don't worry. At the moment I don't intend to kill your girlfriend, or any of you for that matter. But if you want her back, you're going to have to come get her at my new castle in the Digital World. You may bring everyone else that's here right now if you want, especially my dear Rika. But bring Tai or Matt or anyone else, and I won't hesitate to snap Yolei's neck. I'll be waiting for you, assuming of course you even have the guts to show up."
A portal suddenly appeared behind Justimon. The dark hero flipped backward into the portal before it vanished. Ken called Yolei's name just a second before the portal closed.
Within the halls of a floating crystalline palace in the Digital World, Justimon emerged from the portal still carrying an unconscious Yolei and Hawkmon. Awaiting the dark hero was a dark-blue star-shaped creature with arms and legs. The creature wore very decorative red and black boots, and a pair of pointed shades on its core.
The star-shaped creature bowed as Justimon approached. "Welcome back Lord Justimon."
"Ah, DarkSuperStarmon. I trust things have been carrying on smoothly in my absence?" Justimon responded.
"Of course my lord," DarkSuperStarmon replied. "Forgive me for asking, but who are the two you've brought with you?"
"They're bait to draw out someone I wish to settle a score with. Put them in the same cell, and just to be sure make sure to put the little birdie in his own cage."
"Of course my lord," DarkSuperStarmon responded. The star-shaped Digimon general snapped his fingers to call a nearby pair of Guardromon over to take Yolei and Hawkmon from Justimon to a cell. "By the way my lord, Lord Barbamon is awaiting your presence in your throne room."
"Thanks for the heads up," Justimon replied before turning to leave.
A bit later, Justimon entered his throne room to find a humanoid Digimon awaiting him. The Digimon in question looked like an old man with yellow skin and a long grey beard that grew down past his knees. He had red eyes, pointed ears, and a large nose. On his back were three pairs of red bat-like wings, and his robes were red, purple, and black. He had blue abnormally large hands and long dark-blue claw-like fingernails. He wore several rings on his fingers and carried a staff with a red orb on top held in place by an animal skull.
"It is good to see you have returned Lord Justimon," the old Digimon greeted as he bowed humbly. "I trust that you were able to accomplish what you went to go do in the human world."
"Of course I did Barbamon. You would be able to tell right away if I wasn't," Justimon coldly replied as he walked to his throne to sit down. "It was actually a pleasant diversion, now that I think about it."
"So did you destroy the one who betrayed you all those years ago?"
Justimon sat down his throne and tented his fingers. "There's no rush. I do want to kill him, but I thought of a more fun idea. I captured his girlfriend to lure him here. If I'm right, he'll muster up what little courage he has to rush here to rescue the girl."
"So you're going to kill him here?" Barbamon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Right after I push him to his limits. I want to give him one last glimmer of hope for victory before I crush him completely. THAT will be a more fitting revenge."
Barbamon chuckled. "You are far more devious than I ever imagined, my lord. I assume that once you are finished with your revenge you will proceed with your plans to become master of all worlds?"
"Of course. I will be a far greater ruler than that weakling Ken ever tried to be. He tried to be the Digimon Emperor, but I shall become the Digimon God!"
Barbamon grinned evilly at his so-called master, thinking to himself that everything was going exactly as he planned.
Author's Note: There was a lot of fighting in this chapter. I think I'm getting more confident with writing battle scenes. I thought that Rika and Renamon biomerging would be real surprising to the Digidestined since they weren't prepared for it (imagine how shocked they'll be when T.K. and Kari return, since I gave them the ability to biomerge in Home by the Sea). I wasn't originally planning to have Justimon (Ryo) kidnap Yolei, but I thought it'd be more exciting if I raised the stakes a bit. Oh, and if you've read Demon Crisis Book 1, than you probably already know what's really going on with Justimon and Barbamon (though I think I've made it pretty easy to figure out either way).
Please review and let me know what you think.