Author's Note: I meant to have this chapter done yesterday, but boy if I haven't been a little worn out lately. Plus today I woke up with a headache. Well, better late than never.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 6: Escape and Fight
Yolei was standing by the door of her cell holding Hawkmon's cage with both her hands. From where she was she hoped that it would appear she was no longer in the room. It was only a matter of time before one of the Hagurumon she saw guarding the halls would come to check on her. Patiently Yolei waited, and soon enough one of Hagurumon arrived. The mechanical Digimon was surprised when it looked like there was no one in the cell. Naturally it used its card key to lower the force field and entered the cell. When the Hagurumon was far enough inside the room, Yolei hit the mechanical Digimon with Hawkmon's cage and knocked the mechanical Digimon against the wall. With the Hagurumon out cold, Yolei hurried and grabbed its card key.
"Sorry Hawkmon," Yolei told the bird as she unlocked his cage. "Your cage was the only heavy object on hand. Are you okay?"
"I think so," Hawkmon answered as he exited the cage with a slightly dazed expression. "Now what?"
"Now we get out of here!"
"But the place is probably swarming with Guardromon and who knows what else? And I think this place is a little too small for me to fight as Aquillamon."
"Not to worry!" Yolei declared with a confident smile. "I still have my D-Terminal on me. That arrogant psycho Ryo probably didn't think we could escape from our cell."
With that, Yolei pulled out her D-Terminal and fired up the device. Soon enough Hawkmon began to glow with a green light.
"Hawkmon armor digivolve to…Shurimon, the Samurai of Sincerity!" Hawkmon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name and title.
Hawkmon had become a white clad ninja with giant leaves for shoulder pads and coiled green vines for arms and legs. Three-pointed shurikens formed his hands and legs, and a larger four-pointed shuriken was on his back. With his transformation finished, Shurimon and Yolei exited the cell as quickly as they could. Very quickly they ran into an army of Guardromon in the corridors. Shurimon threw the giant shuriken at them and took a good number of them out. It was soon clear though that they were in for a long fight, as more Guardromon kept coming.
In another part of the fortress, Davis and Ken were also busy fighting off the Guardromon. Veemon had already evolved into ExVeemon, while Wormmon had evolved into his own Champion form, the giant dark-green and black humanoid insect known as Stingmon. The corridors of the fortress were just big enough for the two Digimon, but it was a tight fit and they could not fly. Plus while they were making short work of the Guardromon they encountered, more and more of the machine Digimon kept coming.
"Man, this is endless!" Davis complained. "How many of these rust buckets are there? They just keep coming!"
"I think it's time we take things up a notch!" Ken suggested.
"No argument here! Ready guys?"
Ken, ExVeemon, and Stingmon all nodded. After that, ExVeemon began glowing with a blue light, while Stingmon started glowing with a green light.
"DNA digivolve to…Paildramon!" the two Digimon cried in unison as they merged together.
The two Digimon had merged into a version of ExVeemon that wore parts of Stingmon's exoskeleton as armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs. Though part of the V symbol on his chest was still visible. The horned snout that ExVeemon had had receded and he wore a sort of black and red helmet with a white mouth guard. On his back he had sprouted a pair of small blue wings above his original white ones, and a pair of cannons was attached to his upper legs.
"Eat lead!" Paildramon cried as he grabbed hold of his two cannons. "Desperado Blaster!"
The approaching Guardromon were blasted away by a barrage on energy bullets. After what seemed like five minutes, the corridor was finally clear.
"Eat lead?" Davis asked Paildramon. "I thought the bullets that you fired were made of energy or something."
"They are. I've just always wanted to say that," Paildramon replied.
"Which 'you' is that?"
"C'mon guys! Let's get going!" Ken interrupted. "Remember that we're here to save Yolei."
"Right! Sorry," Davis responded, and with that the three continued on their quest.
Elsewhere, Rika, Izzy, and Cody were proceeding on their way to Justimon's throne room. Renamon had been leaving a trail of fallen Guardromon in their wake. Unfortunately, Motimon was too weak to fight, and Armadillomon had not yet fully recovered from their last encounter with Justimon. Fortunately Renamon was able to hold her own against the mechanical hoard, partly due to help from Rika's Digi-Modify cards. Five more Guardromon suddenly appeared in front of the group as they continued walking.
Renamon fired a blast of crystal shards at the chest of the first one, taking it out. Two others fired missiles from their rights arms. Renamon jumped out of the way before they hit. Then she delivered a fly kick covered in blue flames to one of them and then fired more crystal shards at the other. The two Guardromon shut down after being hit. Renamon then jumped forward to a position in between the remaining two Guardromon. The two robot Digimon turned to face her and fired their missiles. Renamon jumped out of the way, causing the missiles to hit the Guardromon instead. With five more of the machine Digimon eliminated, the group proceeded forward.
"That was…impressive!" Izzy praised with a look of amazement on his face.
"This isn't the first time Renamon and I have fought Guardromon," Rika responded. "A friend of mine has a Guardromon for a partner, and Renamon has sparred with him a couple of times. He's actually kind of a flake."
"Your friend or the Guardromon?" Motimon asked.
"Both."
"Even so, for Renamon to be able to fight off so many opponents without having to evolve is quite remarkable," Izzy commented.
"The Digital World where I come from is a much harsher place than the one you're familiar with," Renamon explained. "I fought many battles in order to survive in that world before I met Rika. Although since I met her I've become far stronger than I ever was."
"We're coming up on a large open section of the fortress," Cody interrupted as he looked at the map on his D-Terminal. "It's not the room we're heading for, but it is likely that we'll run into a lot more Guardromon in there. Be ready."
They entered the large corridor, but instead of finding more Guardromon, they encountered a Digimon that looked like an old wizard waiting for them on the other side. A fanged grin was on his face. Right away Rika and Renamon recognized the old Digimon. It was Barbamon.
"You're the one who kidnapped Ryo!" Rika accused.
Barbamon chuckled. "I see you remember me. I'm actually a little surprised that you were able to follow me through the portal. Not that it really matters."
"What did you do to Ryo?"
"That, my dear, is an excellent question," Barbamon answered as he flashed a fanged grin. "You could say I'm trying to bring out the best in him, that there is something within him I am trying to uncover. You have no idea what powers lie within your friend. In fact I bet before now you didn't even know that this universe is the one he was born in. It makes you wonder if you truly know your friend at all. What other things could he possibly be hiding from you I wonder?"
"Shut up!" Rika snapped.
Barbamon cackled. "I see I hit a nerve. In any case, I'm sure you will find out soon enough. For right now I'm curious to see what you're made of. To pass through the portal to your universe and survive the Dark Ocean and make it all the way here, you must have an impressive amount of power. I might be interested in acquiring that power for myself."
"Who are you?" Izzy asked.
"I am Barbamon, the Lord of Greed!" the demon lord replied.
Izzy went a bit pale upon hearing this. "Then…that means you must be on of the Seven Lords!"
"Ah! I'm impressed that you were able to figure that out so quickly my boy. You must be the Child of Knowledge. In any case it does not matter. Soon my plans will come to fruition, but for now I'm going to see what the young lady and her pet fox are capable of."
"If you want a fight, you got one!" Rika declared. "Let's do this Renamon!"
Renamon nodded and Rika's Digivice let out a mechanized cry.
"BIOMERGE!"
With that, Rika turned into a ball of blue light and entered Renamon, triggering the transformation.
"Renamon, biomerge digivolve to…Sakuyamon!" Renamon cried as she transformed. Once the metamorphosis finished, Sakuyamon stood ready for battle, her golden staff already in her hand.
"Ah! A priestess," Barbamon observed with a wry expression. "This should indeed be an interesting diversion. Show me what you're made of!"
With that, Sakuyamon released the four fox spirits from the tubes hung from her belt. The four spirits formed a helix and tied to hit Barbamon, but the old wizard knocked them aside with his staff. With their attack failed, the fix spirits went back to their tubes.
Barbamon shook his head. "Such a dissapointment. Can't you do a better attack than that?"
"You asked for it!" Sakuyamon cried. "Twin Blades of Beauty and Truth!"
Two giant rings of pink energy formed around Sakuyamon and began spinning. After they picked up enough speed, Sakuyamon launched them at Barbamon. The demon wizard was hit, but recovered after a moment.
Barbamon cackled with delight. "THAT was much more impressive! But let's see how you handle this. Pandemonium Lost!"
The red orb at the top of Barbamon's staff flashed and the whole chamber was enveloped in an explosion of black flames. When the smoke and fire finally cleared, Barbamon saw that Sakuyamon had erected a spherical barrier made of blue energy around herself, Izzy, Cody, Motimon, and Armadillomon. The barrier fell and Sakuyamon breathed heavily for a moment.
"Good! Good!" Barbamon praised. "I've used that attack to wipe out entire armies in the war against the gods. Your powers really are impressive priestess."
Sakuyamon caught her breath and gritted her teeth in frustration. She could see that the battle with Barbamon was not going to be an easy one.
Elsewhere, Yolei and Shurimon were continuing their escape. They had already made their way past several Guardromon, and Shurimon was becoming tired. The other problem was that Yolei had no idea where they were going. After they left the cell they turned left and went straight. At last the duo stopped to catch their breath.
"What now Yolei?" Shurimon asked.
"I'm not sure," Yolei answered. "This place is like a maze, and it seems like there are Guardromon around every corner."
Suddenly Shurimon was hit by something that caused a small explosion, causing the white ninja to revert back to Hawkmon. Immediately Yolei went over to tend to the wounded Digimon. The smoke finally cleared, revealing DarkSuperStarmon as the one who fired on them.
"Well, well. It seems that someone has escaped from their cell," DarkSuperStarmon observed as he approached. "You're going to have to be punished, and that's the type of thing that I enjoy doing personally."
Yolei felt terror rising within her as the evil Digimon approached. She was sure that her life was about to come to an end. Suddenly, the wall on the left side of the corridor exploded. When the smoke cleared, Yolei was greatly surprised to see Paildramon standing in the large hole that had been blown into the wall. Before DarkSuperStarmon could react, Paildramon extended a long stinger from his right forearm and impaled the evil Digimon through the center of his body. Paildramon retracted the stinger and the limp body of DarkSuperStarmon fell to the ground and began dissolving into particles of data. After a moment, Ken stepped out from behind Paildramon, and in an instant Yolei ran up to him and hugged him.
"Are you alright?" Ken asked.
"I'm am now," Yolei answered a bit tearfully. "I thought I was going to die there for a minute."
"See? I told you it was a good idea to take that shortcut," Davis remarked as he stepped up next to the couple.
"What a touching reunion," A voice sarcastically remarked. The group turned to see Justimon standing near by. "It's a shame that I'm going to have to kill you now."
"Okay Ryo, you got me here. Now what is this all about?" Ken asked.
"It's about revenge!" Justimon answered coldly. "Revenge for your lies and betrayal!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Ken, he thinks that you were in on that whole D-1 Tournament thing," Yolei answered.
"I don't just think, I know!" Justimon corrected. "You were in on the conspiracy from the very beginning!"
"Ryo, that's crazy! I knew nothing about the real reason for the tournament!" Ken insisted.
"LIAR!" Justimon shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at Ken. "You were in on it, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise! The time for words is over, the only thing left to us now is to fight!"
With that, Justimon snapped his fingers and they were momentarily bathed in a flash of white light. When the light cleared, they all found themselves standing in a large crystalline room. This was Justimon's throne room.
"Impressive, don't you think?" Justimon asked. "Barbamon certainly has provided me with a sophisticated castle. I actually find it a bit nostalgic for some reason. Anyway, I thought this room would make the perfect arena for us, and once I kill your pet Digimon, you shall be next!"
"Well Ken, it looks like we're going to have to knock some sense into this guy," Davis observed with a determined look.
Ken nodded in agreement. He could see that Ryo was beyond talking to at the moment. The only chance they had was to fight him. Ken remembered that when Sakuyamon was defeated in their last battle with Justimon, she split back into Rika and Renamon. It was Ken's hope that if they did enough damage to Justimon, he would split back into Ryo and whatever Digimon was his partner. Ken hoped that once he did, Ryo would return to sanity.
"Paildramon, give it all you've got!" Ken commanded.
"Paildramon, mega digivolve to…Imperialdramon!" Paildramon cried as he transformed in a flash of white light into a giant four-legged dragon with massive red wings, a mane of white hair, and black gauntlets with gold claws. But the transformation didn't end there. "Imperialdramon mode change to…Fighter Mode!"
Imperialdramon morphed into a humanoid shape. His original dragonhead became a face on his chest armor and was replaced by a more humanoid head wearing a green helmet. His front gauntlets changed to reveal a pair of hands, and the massive cannon on his back was moved to the wrist of his right gauntlet.
"Wow! I'm actually a little impressed," Justimon remarked. "But you know the old saying, size doesn't matter. I'm going to pound your dragon into the ground."
"We'll see about that!" Imperialdramon responded as he took a fighting stance. "For the sake of Ken and that girl Rika, I'm going to knock you back to your senses!"
Author's Note: I was originally planning to have a short fight between Shurimon and DarkSuperStarmon, but I decided that it would've been a little unnecessary. Plus I wanted to get this chapter done so I can move to the climax.
Please review and let me know what you think.