Author's Note: This chapter ended up being shorter than I thought it would be, so I was able to finish it in one night. By the way, there's a tiny Battlestar Galactica reference in this chapter. See if you can't spot it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 5: Storming the Castle
After making a few preparations, the group of Digidestined and their Tamer friend Rika had arrived in a wasteland area of the Digital World. It did not take them long to find Justimon's fortress. Hovering in the sky not too far away was an immense crystal palace. Upon seeing it, Izzy noted that it looked similar to the palace Moon=Millenniummon had before Ryo faced him that final time before disappearing. Ken and Rika were a bit disturbed by the observation, but they put it out of their minds for the moment, for they had other things to worry about.
"Any ideas on how to get up there?" Ken asked the others.
"Easy! We just fly up there on Imperialdramon and blast our way in!" Davis suggested.
"You really are as stupid as you are on the T.V. show!" Rika told Davis. "We can't just charge our way in there like that! For all we know that fortress could be armed to the teeth!"
"Ms. Nonaka is right Davis," Izzy agreed. "We need to find a way to enter the castle that's a bit more subtle."
"Well I don't see you guys coming up with any better ideas!" Davis said sounding offended. "I mean c'mon! That thing is a fortress that's in the sky! How're we supposed to find a subtle way in?"
While the rest of the group was talking, Cody was examining the fortress through the binoculars he brought with. He soon noticed something that looked like just the way in they needed.
"You guys! I found something!" Cody told the group. "It looks like a hanger of some sort. It's on the lower part of the castle."
Each of the group took a turn looking through the binoculars to see what Cody was talking about. At the top of the inverted cone-shaped base of the fortress was a large rectangular opening.
"I think that's just the way in we needed," Izzy agreed after looking through the binoculars. "And I think I have just the way to get up there. Tentomon?"
"Leave it to me Izzy." The little beetle Digimon said before glowing with a purple light. "Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"
In a flash of light, Tentomon had transformed into the large blue and grey insect creature that was his Champion form, the transformation was not finished there.
"Kabuterimon digivolve to…MegaKabuterimon!" Kabuterimon cried as he transformed into the giant red beetle that was his Ultimate form. With his transformation complete, MegaKabuterimon crouched low to the ground. "Hop on guys."
The rest of the group climbed onto the giant beetle's back. With everyone aboard, MegaKabuterimon's rear ignited and the beetle took off like a rocket and started flying towards the castle.
On the bridge of the castle, DarkSuperStarmon was sitting in his command chair monitoring the operations of the fortress. Several small dark-grey and gold gear-shaped robots with red eyes, jagged mouths, and two smaller silver gears for hands were operating the consuls on the bridge. These were Hagurumon, and one of them detected MegaKabuterimon's approach on his consul.
"Sir! I'm picking up an object approaching the fortress," one of the Hagurumon told DarkSuperStarmon. The mechanical Digimon brought up the image of MegaKabuterimon and his passengers on the main screen. "Shall we open fire sir?"
"Not just yet," DarkSuperStarmon answered. "We should inform Lord Justimon first."
At that very moment, Justimon was sitting on his throne waiting. Barbamon was standing next to him. Suddenly a holographic screen showing DarkSuperStarmon flared on in the middle of the room.
"My lord, the Digidestined are approaching the fortress," the star-shaped general informed Justimon. "I believe they are trying to enter the castle."
"Let them come," Justimon ordered. "Leave the hanger door open, but don't make it easy for them to get in. Open fire on them but do not target them. I don't want them dead just yet. In the meantime station more Guardromon in the corridors. Especially in those leading to the brig and my chamber."
"At once my lord!" DarkSuperStarmon replied, and with that the holographic screen faded away.
"You really are making it hard for them to come," Barbamon commented with a fanged grin. "You realize that even if the gunmen aren't targeting them, there is still a good chance your old friend and that girl will be blown out of the sky."
Justimon shrugged. "Like I said, I want to push Ken to his limits, and Rika too. If they want to get to me that badly, then they're going to have to walk through fire."
Back on the bridge, DarkSuperStarmon pressed a button on the arm of his command chair. In an instant a Guardromon was standing before him.
"Triple the amount of troops in the corridors leading to the brig and Lord Justimon's throne room!" DarkSuperStarmon ordered.
"By your command," the Guardromon replied in a cold mechanical voice before leaving the bridge to carry out his orders.
"Fire cannons in the projected flight path of the approaching enemy but do not target them!" DarkSuperStarmon ordered the Hagurumon. "Also, leave the hanger door open. Those are Lord Justimon's orders!"
"Yes sir!" the Hagurumon replied in unison.
As MegaKabuterimon continued flying towards the hanger, a shell suddenly exploded in front of him. The giant beetle narrowly avoided getting caught in the blast. That explosion was far from the last however. Soon the sky around them was filled with fire and smoke. MegaKabuterimon had to quickly correct his course several times to avoid getting hit, causing his passengers to cling on for dear life.
"They don't seem to be doing a good job of hitting us!" Izzy shouted over the explosions.
"You're complaining about that?" Davis shouted back.
"Izzy's right!" Renamon observed. "They don't seem to be firing at us, but in our path to the hanger!"
Suddenly an explosion caught MegaKabuterimon near his left leg. The beetle Digimon roared in pain, causing Izzy to become very concerned. However, they were at last near the hanger, and with the last of his strength, MegaKabuterimon flew in. The beetle Digimon fell to his right side, causing his passengers to fall off. At this point, MegaKabuterimon reverted into a small pink blob-like creature with stubbly arms and two black marble-like eyes. This was Tentomon's In-training form, Motimon. Izzy went over and picked up his weakened partner. It was clear that Motimon would be of no help in the battle that was to come.
"Well, we're in. Now what?" Davis asked the others.
Still holding Motimon, Izzy looked around the large hanger and found what looked to be a computer consul nearby. He went over to the consul and after setting Motimon down for a moment, pulled out his laptop and plugged it in. Izzy then proceeded to hack into the fortress's main computer, and after a moment found what he was looking for.
"Okay, I've managed to find a general layout of the fortress," Izzy explained to the group. "This should help us in finding our way around."
"Can you find where they're keeping Yolei?" Ken asked.
Izzy nodded. "I believe so. They seem to be holding her in the brig. That's actually not too far away from our current location."
"What about Ryo?" Rika asked. "Can you find out where he is?"
"I believe he's in a large chamber in the center of the fortress," Izzy answered. "That place seems to be a little harder to get to I'm afraid."
"But it's where I need to be! Just tell me how to get there."
"Hold on, we shouldn't split up!" Ken told Rika. "We should save Yolei first then go after Ryo."
"I said I'm going!" Rika insisted. "Don't try and stop me!"
Ken looked in the determination in Rika's eyes. It was clear to him that there was no way he could talk her out of going after Ryo.
"…Okay, but you shouldn't go alone." Ken told her. "Davis and I will focus on getting Yolei. Meanwhile you guys can go after Ryo."
"Fine by me." Rika agreed.
"I'm sending a full copy of the layout to Ken and Cody's D-Terminals." Izzy explained as he typed a few more things into his laptop. "We should be able to use them to get around."
"Okay then, let's go Davis!" Ken told his friend.
"You got it man!" Davis enthusiastically replied.
The duo headed for the exit to the hanger, but Ken stopped and turned to Rika. "Just remember, Ryo is my friend too. Whatever's happened to him, I hope you can get him back to his old self."
Rika nodded. "Don't worry. I will."
Ken nodded and continued heading out to save Yolei.
Author's Note: It actually took me a bit to figure out how the group was going to get into the fortress. It was a flying fortress after all, and I didn't want to use Imperialdramon. One of the reasons for that is because I'm trying to use Imperialdramon as little as possible in these stories because he was so overused in the anime. Of course he'll be used in the climax of this story. Anyway, I just decided to have them fly up on MegaKabuterimon's back, it seemed like a simple enough solution. I've never really written an aerial battle scene like the one in the chapter, so I'm not sure if it's any good.
Please review and let me know what you think.