A.N.: AS a note before I begin proofreading this chapter, the word count is 9,626. ;) This is just after *UPLOADING* Holy quab in a hat I've written up a monster haven't I? EDIT: After spell checking, count is now 9,861. Yeesh. I think this is the longest chapter in this story yet!
*cue Title theme*
"XROS HEART! Saviors of the Dying Flare!"
The Empire's forces stormed out of the loading docks and began to sweep the area that Team "Mess Shit Up" should have been standing in...
The Troopmon found nothing.
And so they branched out into the surrounding hills, hoping to find them all hiding in the barren expanse before them.
A Devidramon squadron flapped up to the still rising Record...
Excluding the blood splatter and the apparent traces of battle, nothing appeared to have ever been on the Record at all.
But nobody had seen the golden giant ZekeGureimon leave- let alone anyone else.
Sealsdramon elites searched the rubble where Kotone should have landed, going by the trajectory, and found nothing that would have indicated that a body would have hit it, nor any signs that anyone had caught her and then subsequently landed.
After all, they had to have hit. Everyone had seen Taiki's group fall from the Code Crown following that light show.
"Call off the search." The lead Sealsdramon said into his radio. "Xros Heart has escaped."
DarknessBaguramon surveyed the remains of his castle as he addressed the amassed troops behind him. "Xros Heart has dealt us a major blow, but we still remain, united." he said with a low voice. "But we shall ascend towards their precious Earth, and take it as our new base of operations!"
The Troops all cheered- Troopmon, Tankmon, Bulbmon, Bullmon, Gorillamon, Sealsdramon, Missimon- all of them cheering at an order they all doubted on some tiny degree.
THE CODE CROWN_ _ _|
Trompeaurmon hit the crystalline construct, fracturing it's already spider-webbed surface even more. "GAH!"
"You shouldn't have sided with them!" Gravimon sneered at her as he held her up against the Code Crown by the collar of her shirt. "You've betrayed the empire, girl, if you truly are who you claim to be!"
"I'm the one who's been betrayed." She spat at him. "DarkKnightmon killed my dad and took his place!" she glared at him. "So what if I've sided with Xros Heart in the mean time? You know what they say..." she smirked just the tiniest bit. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"RAARH!" Gravimon flung her across the room, where she impacted against a wall, and fell to the floor, unconscious. "It's not possible." he said instantly.
THE GOOD FRIDAY_ _ _|
Zenjirou stared up at the Earth as the ship flew straight towards it. "We're coming, everyone..." he whispered silently...
They were traveling upwards through the still cleared static storm, whose portal like properties were still functioning despite the static being cleared. The Earth and the Digital World were almost equally opposite them now...
"How's the time looking?" Wizardmon was asking of DarkVolumon, who was currently piloting the ship.
"Wisemon's chronometer says we've not traveled a single second, even though my memories indicate we've been traveling for ten minutes now." The robot replied. "I hate time travel."
Zenjirou sighed. "Ten minutes huh?"
"INCOMING!" Mervamon cried out from the crow's nest. "Six Imperial Whamon Transports off starboard bow!"
The Betamon, Geckomon, and Biyomon at the cannons swiveled their cannons around to target the Whamon transports.
"I don't got a lock!" A Biyomon protested.
"I do!" the Geckomon to her right exclaimed as he lit the fuse on his cannon.
KTHWAM!
The cannon ball vanished the moment it got a foot away from the barrel.
"It's gone!" The Betamon to the Biyomon's left gasped.
"It'll be back!" The Geckomon grinned. "You just gotta wait for it to go where it needs to!"
"He's right!" Marcus shouted as he went to the center of the deck. "Don't rely on your eye sight! Just go with what feels right to do in that exact moment, and trust that's what needed to be done!"
"So...?" An Otammamon raised a flipper to ask his question. "We roll with the punches?"
Marcus gave a thumbs up. "That's exactly it! We roll with the Punches!"
"Roll with the Punches!" Became a quick sort of motto among the ship's crew as they immediately began going about tasks that would seem inconsequential even in the long run.
Several Betamon dragged out a few mattresses from the ship's crew quarters and flung them out randomly onto the deck. The Cannon Crew began firing cannon balls randomly, watching with glee as each of those spheres vanished the moment they left the cannon mouths. Even DarkVolumon got in on the act, spinning the ship's navigation wheel around so that they were turning directly towards the incoming Whamon transports, who seemed unaware of their presence as of yet.
"Hey!" A Biyomon ordered. "Get me all of the turkey and ham you can find! We're going to load them into the cannons next! And bring all of the cutlery too!"
"Someone bring me ten buckets, three pumpkin seed packs, and a watering can, stat!" Spadamon called out into the ether, having no actual plan to use with those items.
"Cue that funky music, DJ!" Lunamon shouted towards a random planet in the distance, having no clue why she did that other than to do it.
As Olegmon sauntered out onto the deck, he stared on with bemusement as his crew went about doing things that wouldn't have been doing other wise.
"CHEESE! CHEESE FOR EVERYONE!" A happy-go-lucky Agumon threw the ship's supply of cheese over the railing.
"What the hell is going on here?" Olegmon grinned at Zenjirou as he stepped over to the boy. "I want in!"
"You've got me." Zenjirou shrugged. "They're rolling with the punches, I guess."
And then Kotone and Nene fell from seemingly nowhere, landing firmly on one of the random mattresses that had been strewn about, much to one of the Betamon's surprise.
"Woah! It's raining girls!" he exclaimed.
Taiki and Sparrowmon landed on another mattress a moment later.
"And Generals!" Lunamon cheered as she ran towards them. "EVERYONE! They're Coming back!"
"Keep it up!" Olegmon ordered his happy crew. "Keep doing whatever it is you've been doing!"
"Um..." Sparrowmon blinked as Kiriha, Lopmon, and Akari landed on another mattress nearby. "What just happened?"
"You've got me." Taiki looked around in confusion. "How'd we get into space?"
"SPAAAAAAAAAACEEEEE!"
The Space Core from before shot over head like a shooting star, being carried along on it's momentum back from when Marcus had thrown him into a portal a whole Intermission ago.
"Hey, buddy!" Marcus waved at the core.
"It's simple, really." Hephaestus lamented. "We've all died and this is what Hell looks like, isn't it?"
"Why are we in a meat cabinet?" Yuu asked of a Geckomon who was fetching the meet that one Biyomon requested.
"You've got me on that one." The Geckmon shrugged. "We're just rolling with the punches now!" and so he scampered off with an arm full of ham.
"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Revolomon whistled lowly. "How'd we get back on the Friday?"
"At least we're back on familiar turf!" Starmon grinned.
"Yeah!" The redpickmon agreed. "And at least there aren't any pesky pumpkins being stolen from my garden!"
ProblemChessmon just patted him on he head. "And no birds to do said stealing either!"
"I heard that!" A Biyomon shouted from another room, causing him to gulp.
Lila was giving everyone a hug as they came up on deck. "It's so good to see you guys again!" she was near crying. "I know it's only been a few days but those have been the longest days ever!"
"It's good to be back." Kiriha replied. "But things are a bit rough right now. We're down by a few major players, and Baguramon..." He frowned, looking over at Akari. "...is planning to take over the Earth."
"Good thing we're getting closer to it then." Beelzebmon said with a smirk. "Even though we're not flying at it at all right now, we're getting closer now than we were before."
"Why are you guys flying out here anyways?" Taiki had to ask. "I'm not complaining, but what changed your side of the plans?"
"The transportalizer died." Spadamon said offhandedly. "Either it lost power or got destroyed on the other side." {Simultaneously, Kiriha and Cabarat the PawnChessmon paled, both of them remembering their own actions (The Power generator shut down and the subsequent tower obliteration by giant record) that could have caused that.} "We couldn't follow through when they caught up to us."
"We've hit a lot of road blocks so far." Zenjirou picked up. "So Lila just said that maybe we should fly straight up and use the void to ride back to where we needed to go!"
"And here you are!" Lila squealed as she gave a hug to Lopmon. "Was that the best idea or what?"
"It certainly saved us a lot of trouble on escaping from that place." Nene began. "But We're still missing Gureimon and Shout-" She squeaked as a burst of cold air blew down her back. A moment later, she sent an equally cold stare at Kiriha, who was whistling innocently.
"Gureimon can take care of himself." Typheus replied. "Shoutmon's got his own plan in place too, apparently."
Taiki shot a glance over at Akari, who was sitting over in the corner staring at the necklace around her neck. "It wouldn't have something to do with that necklace would it?" he asked.
"Shoutmon...Ah..." Kiriha looked off to the side. "Well, we used the triple attack on Baguramon..." he shrugged. "Didn't do what we expected it to."
"We know." Sally grumbled as she crossed her arms. "Big ol' blast of light that cleared the skies and froze us stiff for a few minutes."
"So that's what that was!" Zenjirou snapped his fingers. "Now that makes sense!"
"Anyways, Shoutmon got..." Kiriha seemed to be avoiding some specific phrasing. "He went to go drag everyone who's died back from the land of the dead, kicking and screaming if he has to."
"And how did he go about doing that?" Echidna narrowed her eyes.
"He went and got himself killed." Typheus said before Kiriha could reply.
"He did WHAT!?" Hephaestus shouted.
"Oi oi!" Kiriha waved them all down. "Keep it down, would you?"
"It's the truth!" Typheus countered. "Threw himself right in front of Baguramon and got himself-" Kiriha put his hands over his own mouth, much to the Denizen's surprise. "MRPH!"
Zenjirou raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright there?"
Kiriha pulled his hands away, though shaking the one to get some saliva off. "Yes, I'm just fine." he scowled. "Typheus, did you HAVE to lick my hand?"
"Hey. It's my hand too, you know!" The Denizen replied. "I can lick whatever part of my-" Back the hand went over the mouth.
"O...kay." Beelzebmon turned to Taiki, ignoring Kiriha and Typheus' squabbling much like everyone else was now trying to. "So what's the plan?"
"Well..." Taiki glanced over at Akari. "I don't know how much energy Kotone pulled out of the Code Crown, but if it was enough, then I'm sticking to the idea we had before...Though the hard part is going to be getting back to the Code Crown now that we've gotten out of it."
"So we're back to square one then?" Marcus asked.
"Not exactly." Taiki looked over at Nene. "How far does Echidna's teleporting range go?"
EARTH_ _ _|
The sky, filled with static, suddenly began to glow a bright golden color... All those who were in the active-time zones stared up at the changed sky in wonder...and fear. (Everyone else around the world were either asleep or were night owls who didn't even look outside when they were awake that late at night.)
Governments began to assemble their soldiers, preparing for the worst...
And then the Golden changed static cleared away- revealing an astonishing night sky.
For a whole day, Children all over the affected areas stared up in awe at their new, apparently permanent night sky, while astronomers stared up at it with gobsmacked looks of confusion. Some fear-mongers were claiming that it was the end of the world, while news stations all over tried to calm the public with the news that that the world was not in fact ending.
And then came the Whales.
The Bagura Army's Imperial Whamon transports descended from above over Japan- Needless to say, the whole planet was waking up to the fact that Shit had just gotten heavily real.
The Armies of the world prepared for the worst, staring up at the approaching forces with fear.
And then DarkKnightmon, through Baguramon, spoke to them all with a single television and radio broadcast- a broadcast that translated to every language at once without fail.
"People of Earth." he addressed them. "I am Baguramon, leader of the Bagura Empire, the current leader of the Digital World." (Instantly, Twitter exploded with the news: "Digimon are real.") "My Empire has conquered my own world to bring it into unity, only to face strife and turmoil along the way thanks in part to a rebel task force led by humans and renegade the Digimon partnered with them seeking to claim the world as their own."
The World grew alarmed, each country looking to the other with the question "Did you know about this?"
"My forces have put a pause on these rebels, this so called 'Xros Heart', and their actions for the time being. I myself have slain their leader, yet still they exist elsewhere, preparing for a counter strike. So now, in retaliation, and perhaps as a trump card, I turn to your world, the source of these pesky children who dared to meddle in things they should never have meddled with."
Now the world began to unite against this 'empire' in emotion. It didn't matter what had happened to bring this on their doorsteps, the fact that children were at stake was enough to make them all realize that this man- this Baguramon- was truly evil.
"Surrender, Earth, or forever face the consequences." he ended the transmission with four words: "You have one hour."
EYE CATCH?
LOL NOPE.
Bagura's main forces emptied out over Japan through sheer coincidence- centered almost exactly over the lake that Tactimon had been fought over not a day before.
The IceDevimon froze the water solid, and their forces marched out of the Whamon and into the streets. Troopmon marched with their guns held high, causing most citizens to cower inside their buildings and cars. Massive Rhinomon stomped through the remains of the broken bridge itself, and Mamothmon blocked off the ports and other such places.
"Is this really the right thing to be doing?" A Troopmon asked of a Sealsdramon. "Attacking a whole world just because of the actions of a few kids?"
"I don't know man!" The Sealsdramon replied. "I just don't know! Baguramon's just gone off the deep end after DarkKnightmon betrayed us like that!"
"That's just it!" the Troopmon exclaimed. "This was never part of the plan! So how the hell did he have this strategy figured out after just a few hours?"
A school girl hidden nearby recorded the exchange with her camera-phone and uploaded it to the internet.
Even despite the invasion from another world, the internet still moved on at a blinding speed as people everywhere discussed the implications of this recording. Governments heard of the news and began discussing the possibility that this "Empire" was not representative of the whole Digital World.
In their house, Taiki's mother and father simply watched all of this unfold with unease.
"So they finally remember the Digital World." Miyako mused aloud.
"Do you think Taiki and the others got there too late?" Daiko asked.
"No..." She shook her head, "if anything, they got to where they needed to be right on time."
ZekeGureimon found himself floating in the air one moment, and submerged in water under a block of ice the next. "GRMPH!" He quickly held what little breath he had and focused his Rail gun attack on the ice just above him.
The poor Troopmon marching across the ice found himself suddenly flung into the air as bullets caused the ice to shatter, and then explode upwards as ZekeGureimon pushed himself to the surface.
The News Media caught wind immediately: Helicopters and cellphones all turned to the skies as ZekeGureimon began blasting his way through whatever resistance in the Bagura forces he encountered.
Twitter tags exploded: "It's a Greymon!"
"RAIL GATLING!" he fired down upon the Bagura forces in the city as precisely as he could to minimize damage and to conserve ammo. "Damn it! Come on guys, Where the hell are you!?"
Troopmon exploded from the single fire shots, while the rest fought back with no regards for the environment around them.
As a Tankmon rolled up to target the golden Gureimon, he just snarled and summoned a properly sized Record underneath said Tankmon.
The Tank's shot didn't even go off as he was jerked up into the air right into the path of a cannon ball that appeared out of thin air.
"Didn't mean to do that." ZekeGureimon mused. "But I like it!"
Elsewhere, similar incidents were occurring. Cannon balls were just falling out of the sky, appearing from nowhere! They smashed through the control rooms of several of the Whamon transports, causing them to be unable to land properly.
As all of this was occurring, DarknessBaguramon seated himself on the head of the Rhinomon, now sitting squarely at the edge of the harbor. "So Xros Heart sill interferes. Oh well. It doesn't matter." He checked the time on the counter before him. "Twenty minutes." Twenty minutes until the Code Crown would be in place, although he still had to wait another ten after that before the Earth Surrendered.
*Cue LEGEND XROS WARS (instrumental)*
At that moment, there was the sound of a fog horn.
DarknessBaguramon scowled as he turned his head to the side...
There was a boat, sailing towards them on the skies itself.
Does it even need saying what flag it was carrying?
Taiki nodded to Ballistamon and DarkVolumon, who nodded in turn and began broadcasting the television signals being put out by the six Monitamon gathered around the field- one of which had his face turned directly towards Taiki.
"Attention, Bagura Empire!" He began. "This is Xros Heart! We have you surrounded!"
They had borrowed a hologram projector from Bright Land as well, so the Boat was broadcasting Taiki's transmission in a visible form to the Disposed emperor as well as being sent to the entire world.
DarknessBaguramon scowled. "Surrounded? What kind of a fool do they take me for?"
Suddenly, one of the Whamon Transports was cut in half by a burst of light and a cry of "ALL DELETE!"
As the Whamon exploded, a white form with gold and blue arms shot out from the debris. "Xros Heart and the Oblivion Knight's banish you from this world, Bagura!" Omegamon declared as he leveled his sword at the Imperial forces on the ground.
The aquatic forces in the water suddenly were thrown out of it, through the ice, and high into the air by a massive cyclone of water. The MarineDevimon and Octomon soon died a second later as DarkDramon speared them through and through with his attack.
"Take that you fish-breathed fools!" he yelled in delight.
The rest of the ice in the harbor was pushed back as Leviamon's massive head reared out of the water. "Your puns could use some work, Darkdramon."
"Eh-Sorry!" The dragon replied.
DarknessBaguramon just stared as his other Whamon turned to flee from the forces that had just appeared out of nowhere. "Wh...What!?"
"GATE OF DESTINY!"
And then a glowing circle of light formed in front of one of the Whamon, and pulled the massive beast into it's portal event-horizon with little trouble.
"It appears that nobody was expecting our return on this day." HolyAngemon smirked to himself.
Another Whamon exploded violently as twin swords of flame cut through the metallic structure and organic flesh with ease- revealing the impressive form of ShineGreymon: Burst Mode in the smoking data.
"Man, It's been a while since I beat up some bad guys." He cracked his neck to the right, and then to the left. "I've gone stiff from all that flying."
Down in the streets, ZekeGureimon watched in amusement as an Impmon and the Patamon Trio reeked havoc on some Goburimon that were trying to harass some younger children. "About time you guys got here!" he grinned.
"Hey! We're just fashionably late is all!" Hangyomon replied with a laugh while he stabbed at a Fugamon.
"TERRA DESTROYER!"
And now BlackWarGreymon was in on the action, tossing a massive sphere of crimson energy straight down a Whamon's open mouth.
The transport exploded immediately as a normal WarGreymon tunneled up through it with his "BRAVE TORNADO!" attack.
"Hahah!" the Agumon-Trio Xros cheered. "We've still got it!"
"Keep this up and we might even get them on the run!" BlackWarGreymon giggled. "But for now!" She narrowed her eyes at another Whamon transport. "Why don't we give the old twin attack thing a try?"
They stood shoulder to shoulder, and threw their arms up as they summoned their sphere attacks.
"DOUBLE!" BlackWarGreymon roared.
"TROUBLE!" WarGreymon called out.
"GAIA FORCE!" and they threw the massive- even more so than usual- sphere down at that Whamon.
Another Explosion.
"Basically." Taiki smirked as he concluded: "Run."
DarkKnightmon's eyes stared out of Baguramon's as he lost his control for a single moment.
The Bone arm shocked him with a lot of electricity as it tried to pull itself off. "STOP THAT!" he grabbed at his arm, and tried to hold it on. "You are MINE!"
In his mind, Baguramon cackled at his brother, unable to do much else than that at this moment.
Musyamon and KinGRavemon dashed through the streets, accompanied by their partners, Zenjirou and Lopmon.
"Since when did Cutemon have a Digivolved form?" Zenjirou asked of the bunny girl.
"Since we fought the ocean in Gold Land." She replied.
"Wait." He did a double take. "You fought an ocean!?"
"DROP KICK!"
A Sealsdramon flew through the air- crash landing on another Sealdramon as Musyamon closed in with his sword.
SLICE
MarineAngemon swarmed the streets, seeking out any Empire forces that may have been hiding behind hostages and luring them out with their love spell attacks.
As the Empire mooks wandered out of hiding, leaving their hostages behind, Hangyomon threw his spear alongside Reena's Trident and ProblemChessmon's Gatling Gun Imagination Key.
The Troopmon and Sealsdramon died instantly, smiles on their faces and hearts in their eyes.
One kid who had been held captive by a Troopmon would later comment on Twitter: "These Pokemon ripoffs even had Attract down pat! Did you see the hearts on their masks?"
*end track*
The World went ablaze with the news that Xros Heart had appeared in full- and were taking on the Bagura Empire before they even completed their invasion.
Xros Heart's United Army appeared throughout the entire city that the Empire had unluckily chosen to be his new home base and pushed them back through the streets and alleyways and hills and rivers and back to the harbor they had landed in.
It took several minutes, but by the time it was all said and done, they had the Bagura Army surrounded...
And hey, there was the Code Crown, finally in perfect balance between the Digital World and Earth.
Nothing could make a better start to an epic final battle than this folks.
*Cue Cascade (Beta)*
[00:00]
Dondokomon counted the drums off of the deck of the boat as Riska fired up her guitar.
Typehus and Kiriha soared into the air, and launched a series of tornadoes down upon the Bagura forces as they tried to retaliate against the entire Xros Heart United Army.
From his side, Nene and Echidna threw in needle like strands of energy down through the air, twining together with the tornadoes and causing the Bagura Forces to face upheaval like nothing they had seen before.
Nearby, The Oblivion Knights did their work, flinging attacks left and right to keep the Empire's goons from escaping the path laid before them. The Empire's forces just couldn't retaliate at all. Examon in particular fired off energy bolts from his lance to keep the enemy forces from retreating.
Yuu and Corone finally got into the action with a leap off of ShineGreymon's back leading into multiple back flips that ended with a Breath Impact that sent even a Mammothmon flying.
[00:36]
On the boat, Akari's eyes narrowed at DarknessBaguramon in the distance, sitting oh so comfortably on his Rhinomon seat. Wait. No. He was standing up now.
[00:44]
The Camera zoomed into her left eye as she narrowed them both, and then through the orange tinted reflection, getting closer and closer to the Emperor-Possessing Knight with every second.
[00:52]
The camera flipped around to a normal perspective, and dropped the orange coloring.
[00:56]
DarknessBaguramon's neck flinched to his left as green electricity sparked across his body.
[01:00]
He forced that electricity down into his bone arm and kneeled down as he collected it all at his fingertips...
[01:08]
And then he flung his arm up into the air, launching a burst of green lightning straight up at the Code Crown as he roared the name of the attack:
"GREEN RADIATION!"
The Lightning shot up into the Code Crown, and then out in all Directions, but mostly pointed straight upwards into the Seven Lands of the Digital World, which then continued to pump that lightning out into all OTHER directions, causing a continual cascade of Green Lightning that flung out through the entire Void Space, reaching out to every instance and every time of every planet and every dimension and then some- Blasting through stars, puncturing asteroids, devastating whole solar systems...
The energy continued to grow and grow and grow finding its way to every point in time and space in all of history and all of the universe, using the rift as it's path to reach those points. And as it reached a crescendo, it began to crash back down onto itself, inviting untold destruction onto everything-
[01:32]
And all of this was reflected in the lenses of Taiki's goggles as he seated himself into the Pickmon sling shot, which was tied up to the Justice DoruluCannon.
"Akari!" he called out. "Get over here!" he motioned for her to come over.
"Why?" She asked with a melancholic tone, but strolled over anyways.
"We're going to go get the Code Crown back." Taiki said with a kind smile as he summoned his jet engine wings, making sure that they would cap precisely on the muzzles of the Dorulu Cannon. "I need you there with me! So Come on!"
With a little reluctance, she walked around, and climbed into his arms. "Alright. Let's go."
"Perfect!" Taiki grinned...
[01:47]
And before she could protest, Revolomon fired the cannon, sending Taiki and Akari flinging high up into the air at speeds well beyond what Taiki was capable of handling normally.
They flew.
High up over the battle field, they flew.
Akari's eyes widened as she saw the whole extent of the battle field- Everyone was working so hard to keep the Empire from progressing from their one little point- To the point that at this point they weren't even shooting to kill anymore, only to distract and dismay.
Her eyes locked with Sparrowmon's, who gave her a thumbs up...
And Akari couldn't help but return it.
[02:12]
And then they vanished in a burst of lavender and white sparkling energy- having been teleported away to the Code Crown itself by Echidna.
[02:20]
Sparrowmon narrowed her eyes, and then turned her attention to DarknessBaguramon in the distance- Or rather, the Rhinomon he stood upon.
Meanwhile, Taiki and Akari reappeared in space just outside of the presently being electrocuted Code Crown Chamber- and they were flying straight at the doors without any way of stopping.
They flung through the doors, Taiki dismissing his wings immediately so he could fit through- leading to him hurtling straight into the Code Crown itself.
Impact- the Code Crown Cracked, discharging electricity directly into Taiki for a single second before it resumed its course into space, Akari flew to the side, landing somewhere next to Trompeaurmon.
As this happened, both of their Xros Loaders fell loose and landed on the floor between them.
[02:32]
And then Gravimon struck, leaping straight towards Taiki with gravity enhanced fingers primed for crushing.
Hephaestus' reactions saved Taiki from certain doom as he brought up his sword to block.
"YOU!" Gravimon snarled. "How did you get back in here!"
"Bad Luck?" Hephaestus shot back.
"Not good enough!" Gravimon snarled as he began to push in closer.
[02:48]
"WING EDGE 'N' CRASH BOOM!"
Sparrowmon transformed into beams of energy and shot for the Rhinomon, slicing and dicing through the Armored beast with relative ease.
[02:52]
Taiki reached back with his one hand and shoved it into one of the many fractures inside the Code Crown's surface...
And Gravimon's eyes widened in horror as a massive surge of electricity pumped through both of their bodies.
[03:00]
And as The Rhinomon shattered into data, dropping DarknessBaguramon down to the ground and canceling his electricity attack, Riska took over the whole song with her guitar solo.
"HOWS THAT FEEL, HUH BUD!?" Hephaestus roared at Gravimon through the massive discharge of electricity. He changed the sword into a baseball bat and hit Gravimon out of the park- sending him flying out the very doors that Taiki and Akari had flown in through and sending him tumbling out into space.
Down below, Sparrowmon continued her rampage on DarknessBaguramon, slicing and dashing through him, thoroughly giving the trouncing she for so long wished to give to her former employer more than he deserved.
Typheus and Echidna redirected their Tornado and Life blasts at Baguramon...Or Rather DarkKnightmon...
As the tyrant to be was lifted heavily into the air, Yuu and Corone threw one precisely targeted Demon hunter at the combined triple attack, making it a quadruple.
There was an explosion as all of DarkKnightmon's "Baguramon" disguise was thoroughly destroyed, leaving the Bastard Knight to fall down into the middle of his 'borrowed' forces as all of the fighting came to an immediate halt.
[03:56]
And as the song wound to an end, everyone turned their attention to the Code Crown Chamber above them, still pumping out the green miles attack, although it was stalling out and no longer expanding through the sky.
*cue Flare (Cascade)*
"Ow." Taiki coughed as his body finished absorbing all of the Scratch Energy from both Beat Mesas.
"Taiki!" Akari called out from where she was looking over Trompeaurmon. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." He coughed again as he tried to pull his hand out of the Code Crown... "Ah...No..." he frowned. "I think I'm stuck."
"Yeah, no duh we're stuck." Hephaestus growled. "We're still being electrocuted by whatever DarkKnightmon's been pumping into this thing. You're just ignoring it 'cause all of that 'Resetting'energy is stuck inside of us."
"Ah..." Taiki coughed again. "Well that would explain why I'm coughing so much."
"Yeah. All of that energy is killing off every living cell in our body and replacing it with a brand new one." Hephaestus rolled his eyes. "We're just going through it slowly because we're still attached to the Code Crown and because OF that, we're still being killed and revived in the exact same moment."
"That sounds bad." Akari frowned at them. "Please tell me you're not really dying?"
"I feel fine." Taiki flashed a pained smile at her. "Just peachy. Be even better if I could get my hand out."
She scowled at him. "Why did you even do that?"
"Yeah!" Hephaestus demanded of his host. "Why did you even DO that!"
"Seemed like the right thing to do at the time." Taiki shrugged, painful as it was with one hand stuck in a giant crystalline piece of programming. "Rolling with the punches and all that."
"Well gee, thanks to that, we're stuck in here now!" Hephaestus grumbled. "Oh well, might as well do what we came here to do..." and with that he began focusing on reversing the flow of energy through the Code Crown.
"Well..." Taiki said after a moment. "Think we can use the Code Crown to bring everyone back?"
"Maybe." she frowned even more. "It looks a little broken right now though."
"Eh, a little glue and it'll be good as new again." he started to laugh, which turned into a cough again.
"Stop this, Taiki." Akari stood up and walked over. "You and Shoutmon just don't know when to stop with these things!"
[00:40]
"I think it's a bit late for that now." Taiki sobered up a bit. "What with me being stuck and all."
"And who's fault is that again?" She reminded him.
"Both worlds are in a sorry state right now. I had to try something." he reminded her. "DarkKnightmon's trying to take over the whole universe right now!"
"Why doesn't he ever quit?" she huffed.
"No clue." He chuckled. "But hey, you look at it this way, we're starting over with a clean slate once this is all over."
"Huh?" she blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, We're still playing the chess game, in a way." Taiki explained. "Tsuwamon was DarkKnightmon's King, which he took himself, ending the game- forfit! But the problem is, we were playing real-life chess, not a board game. So in a sense he regisurped his own King."
"What?" She sighed. "I don't play chess, Taiki."
"I tricked him into thinking there were two standards of play." he continued. "We've been playing Skaian standard the whole time." The look she sent him was absolutely scathing. "Alright alright, it's...Like this. He took his own king, making another piece, Baguramon, king, and expanding the board to a wider field of play- the whole world."
"I still don't get it." she growled. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"I swapped my King and Queen, Akari." He grinned at her. "Kiriha for Lopmon, YOU for Shoutmon."
"Wait..." She frowned as the pieces started to click together. "What?"
"Shoutmon was the queen on the board- You're the *King* for this game." Taiki repeated. "DarkKnightmon thinks the game is over- DOUBLY so! But the thing is, we just WON the game, Akari. Look at where we are!"
She did such- They were inside the Code Crown Chamber. And if what Taiki was saying was true...
"Wait." She looked at him in shock. "You planned this?"
"Nah, not really." he shook his head. "It's just a funny little coincidence when you think about it. But come on! You've got to appreciate the irony of it all!"
"I...guess so?"
"So yeah!" he grinned. "We won! He lost! Now we reset the board and bring back every piece that was taken by the other side."
"Even Shoutmon?" She asked.
"Shoutmon." he answered. "Him and every piece down to every last pawn."
"But How?" She demanded of him.
"The Code Crown, obviously." Taiki nodded over his shoulder at the device he was stuck in.
"But it's broken!" Akari protested. "And it's being used to funnel energy everywhere and every when!"
"But that's the beauty of it all." Taiki replied. "The rift is using DarkKnightmon just as much as he's using it!"
"...And you've lost me again."
"The Storms are everywhere at once. Every moment of history in every dimension." he continued to explain. "But how did it get there? Through an object that was already everywhere! DarkKnightmon's attack!"
"But he's using the time storms to fire the attack in the first place!"
"Paradox!" Hephaestus shouted suddenly. "This thing is a paradox machine- powered by the code crown! I can't reverse the flow of energy without creating a massive tear in space time and the energy required to mend such a thing is-"
Taiki cut him off with laughter.
"What's just so funny?" Hephaestus lamented.
"Shoutmon, Gureimon, and Akari all used their combined attacks to create a massive burst of useless energy." Taiki replied. "And what did that final form attack look like again?"
"A Giant record that I scratched." Akari replied.
"Exactly!" Taiki was grinning like an idiot. "And what device of Hephaestus' was made to reset history?"
"..." she blinked.
"Oh you are kidding me." Hephaestus groaned. "This is ridiculous! The Beat Mesa somehow was applied into the three Evolved forms of three random Digimon?"
"Retroactively through the storms." Taiki grinned. "We're about to plant the powers themselves into Akari's and Gureimon's past selves via that amulet around her neck, I think."
"Wait..." Akari did a double take. "You think Shoutmon realized this was going to happen?"
"That amulet is a paradox in of itself." Taiki mused. "The only way it can work is if Hephaestus creates it in the future to work in exactly the same ways it's worked in the past. And I'm betting that we also left a clue for ourselves in it. Probably it unlocked instructions in Shoutmon's mind after we formed Time Seven!"
"So if Shoutmon knew that something was going to happen then why didn't he tell us?" Akari frowned.
"Fixed point of time." Taiki shrugged. "Shoutmon probably didn't even know why he was doing the things he was until he actually did them. But if he said something it would have messed up time and then the paradox wouldn't even worGAK!" He choked on his words as the room went dark.
[02:00]
"Taiki?"
"Get back!" Hephaestus ordered. "Everything started reversing on it's own all of a sudden! It's funneling right into us!"
Akari took several steps away from Taiki and the Code Crown as it pulsed with energy and began to dissolve away...actually merging with Taiki! "Taiki... What's going on?"
The boy looked at his hands as his skin began to glow with a bright golden color, data peeling away from his whole body en mass and yet his whole form not even changing. "I don't know..." he looked over at the Xros Loaders lying on the ground. "Take cover." he ordered.
[02:11]
The Loaders were radiating energy of their own in time with the nonexistent music. At the same time, Taiki's eyes began to flash with numbers and letters zipping past.
"Taiki...!" Akari took a lot of steps backwards, back over to Trompeaurmon. "Don't die! Sally'll kill me if you do!"
He only chuckled in reply as he leaned back and spread his arms out wide.
There was a pulse, and then Data began to flow from his hands and face in an explosion of golden light as the whole room began to shake.
[02:22]
Neigh, it was the whole chamber quaking and pulsing as the green electricity it was putting out began to be drawn back in- not because it wanted to, no, but because it was being pulled by time requiring it to do such.
As the energy reversed, it's color changed- green to red.
Below on earth, everyone stared up as the Code Crown Chamber flared in alternating green and red energy- always interspersed with random white bursts.
On every Xros Loader, every TV screen- one single code rushed past in a blur:
W3 4R3 XR05 H34RT
3N6R4V3 1T 0N Y0UR HE4RT5
[02:30]
The Digital World's Seven Lands jolted and then began to be pulled inwards towards the Flaring Code Crown Chamber.
Likewise, the earth was jostled out of it's orbit in time and space, and was pulled in closer.
In all of time, and all of space- the Red Miles broad-casted that one signal through the rift before they were pulled into the gravitational pull of the first ever Lord of Time to be born inside the void itself.
The Code Crown Chamber collapsed into a bright red outlined version of a Black hole.
The Digital World was pulled in- Earth and it's moon were pulled in- Even the stray record launched from the triple attack from before was pulled in.
And then the Digital World was united whole- Circling around the inside of that flashing, burning singularity at a parallel orbit to Earth. So fast did they orbit that there were blurred trails behind them, almost making it appear as if the Yin Yang Symbol had been made out of two planets alone, or perhaps even the classic shape 69.
And so the two worlds were united whole- the purposes they were always meant to fulfill finally realized- their destiny shown to all.
The Earth Awoke with a Mighty tremor.
*cue Savior of the Dreaming Dead*
Kiriha's eyes opened to a sight he was very confused to see... Deckerdramon- standing right before him- who looked equally bemused.
"Ah, Kiriha?" Deckerdramon blinked. "Wasn't I just absorbed into that Anubimon?"
Before he could reply- ZekeGureimon let loose a cheer of delight and joy.
"KIRIHA!" He cried out- Inside the Digi-Xros, he was hugging his restored- and very confused- friend. "MailBirdramon's awake! He's Back!"
"Um...I seem to have missed a few things." MailBirdramon asked of his Xros Partner. "What's going on?"
"KROKET!" Kiriha glanced over to his side- where before there were six PawnChessmon, there were now Eight once more- Kroket and Ruefieo had been restored to life- both of whom were being hugged tightly by their fellow pawns...
"Don't you ever do somefin' like that ever again!" Reena was hugging Kroket the hardest. "You silly guppy! I ain't ever forgettin' your name again!"
"Okay...?" The confused pawn blinked, unsure as to what was happening.
Meanwhile with the band on the boat...
Riska blinked her eyes and looked around in awe. "Woah..." She could see- properly now. Her broken eye had been mended whole! "It's so... beautiful...!"
Nearby, Knightmon stood up as he looked over his body. "I've been healed...!"
"Incredible." Wisemon stared up at the sky as snow fell without a cloud to cast it.
All around them, there were revived Digimon who seemed to have no clue what the hell had just happened to them- Even random Bagura Digimon who had been killed during the whole war!
"HEY!" A revived Ravemon cried out as he spotted DarkKnightmon. "There's the bastard who sent me out to die a pointless death!"
"Uhhh...!" DarkKnightmon took several steps away. Everyone was glaring at him now, although their attention really should have been on the burning red light in the sky. "hello?" he waved apologetically.
"Not happening." A revived Zamielmon cracked his knuckles at the 'Mon who once left him for dead.
[00:55]
MEANWHILE, inside the remains of the Code Crown Chamber, Trompeaurmon had woken up all too suddenly to a burning inferno of a dissolving wasteland. "What the-"
"TAIKI!" Akari cried out to the source of that fire- a single boy standing in the middle of the inferno seemingly unharmed. His clothing was made up of a crimson red fire- a long coat, spiked boots, and a very fancy pair of goggles- all of it flame.
He turned around, and a pair of calm grey eyes met Akari's golden ones. He smirked faintly, and then warped the necklace from off of her neck as well as the two Xros Loaders from off of the ground to a single point in front of him.
[01:11]
Each hand grabbed a Xros Loader and he flung them out to the sides, suspending the Omega Necklace in a band of energy between the two Loaders as they begun to spin beneath his open palms.
A Single sphere of light formed around the amulet as data flowed out of the Xros Loaders and straight into the Amulet.
The boy was using the Loaders as keypads for hacking open the amulet!
Data waves roared up and down as the the Amulet responded in kind, opening up the data stored within it and activating a single program that sounded much like Shoutmon's voice yelling out Akari's name, though faint as that sound was.
[01:26]
The Amulet exploded- and from the smoke emerged legs, clad in shoes of red coloring and pants of black- emerged arms, with one hand holding a familiar microphone staff- and emerged the rest of the body- clad in a black hoodie shirt with an emblem embroidered on the chest- The Golden Omega Shape surrounded by white curving spikes that seemed to make one instantly think of "Space."
[01:39]
The camera panned up past the yellow scarf wrapped around his neck to reveal the boy's face, complete with glowing blue eyes, and then panned back and away as the Guardian behind him manipulated the Xros Loaders and then warped all of them out of the burning fortress.
From above, that red light shot down like a shooting star, grabbing everyone's attention as a single voice cried out as the star came to a halt just above a particular hill.
[01:57]
"HELLO EVERYONE!"
The Falling Star shattered, revealing Shoutmon, floating on the air itself, with Taiki, Akari and Trompeaurmon standing on the hill itself below him.
"So You lot are all fighting over the Code Crown, Right?" Shoutmon spoke into his microphone stand. "Well, bad news everyone- It's gone! Poof! Audios! Taiki back there absorbed the whole thing cause he did the stupid thing and punched it!" he couldn't help but chuckle as Marcus let out a "YEAH!" in response to that. "So since nobody's really supposed to do that, both our worlds got pulled into their own unique little reality now. How's that for a Resurrection ceremony, eh?" he pointed at Kiriha. "I told you'd I'd be dragging them all back, didn't I? I warned you I was going to do it!"
"That you did!" Kiriha grinned across the field to the dragon-boy.
[02:27]
"IMPOSSIBLE!" DarkKnightmon roared at him from across the field. "I Stabbed you in the chest! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"
"So now the question of the hour is: What're you all going to do about it, huh, Dorky?" Shoutmon inquired of the knight. "Now I reckon that's a question you ALL are asking, Am I right? I mean..What even happened here? Didn't DarkKnightmon get killed by Baguramon or something? He shouldn't be just standing here like that." Shoutmon paused for a second. "Oh! Wait! Now I get it! It was the other way around! Dorky there killed Baguramon instead and used his face! Wow. Speaking of faces, yours looks a little red there, Dorky, you okay there?"
"RAAARRHHH!" DarkKnightmon roared in frustration.
Shoutmon chuckled. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that." he turned his attention fully to the Bagura Army below him. "So what do you say? Is it time to turn on that traitorous son of a bitch and show him what's been coming to him, or are you just going to sit on the sidelines and watch the fireworks go off?"
All of the Bagura Army unanimously aimed their weapons at DarkKnightmon.
"It's his fault we're even in this mess to begin with!" A Sealsdramon roared. "Xros Heart would've left us alone if he hadn't gone and separated the whole world into those Lands!"
"YEAH!" A Troopmon chimed in. "That bastard promised me three weeks vacation if I signed up for this gig and what did I get? NOTHING!"
"HE KILLED MY DAD!" Trompeaurmon cried out, setting off the whole Bagura Army, everyone began chiming in with their own reasons for turning on the Bastard Knight.
[02:59]
Taiki took to the air, floating without wings, summoning every last Xros Loader on the field to his location. As the Loaders began circling around him, they each transformed into brilliant spheres of light representative of their own colors.
Across the Digital World, beams of white light shown down upon every village, every town, every last individual live that had been ruined by the Bagura Empire, and all of those that had been aided by Xros Heart in the past.
Together, they ascended.
[03:14]
Shoutmon flew high into the air, encased in a beam of white energy. "ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" he roared without the microphone. "INFINITE XROS!"
And then Every digimon- Every human- Ever sentient life on both worlds- hell, even the Human and Digital Worlds themselves- Shot towards him and fused with him- the one Digimon Strong enough to hold the weight of two entire planets worth of life on his very soul.
DarkKnightmon suddenly found himself floating freely in space as the ground beneath his feet vanished in a burst of white light. "Oh Crap." Didn't even begin to describe the thoughts running through his head as several distinct symbols formed on the brilliant white sphere before him.
[03:29]
Omega.
[03:30]
Lambda.
[03:31]
Zero.
[03:32]
Shades.
[03:33]
Delta.
[03:34]
Sigma.
[03:35]
Zeta.
[03:36]
The Victory King Time Seven logo shot up to where the head would be as Two sphere shapes began to separate from the main body- forming wings as the rest of the shape narrowed out into something vaguely humanoid.
There was something more...a very familiar flag was waving over this "Infinite Xros's" head.. Xros Heart! DarkKnightmon suddenly realized that he was out numbered the moment his feet touched down on the very record they had launched earlier that day- wait. He realized much to his horror. That had been a whole day ago already thanks to the travel time it took to get from the Digital World to Earth.
And then the white energy exploded outwards from the Digi-Xros as two worlds united against the one bastard.
*Cue WE ARE XROS HEART! (Ver X7)*
"WE ARE XROS HEART!"
Time and space sung aloud as DarkKnightmon got an eyeful of the Digi-Xros before him.
It had Ballistamon's torso- Dorulumon's upper legs with the lower condensed down into the left leg so that ZekeGureimon could form the right lower leg- On the shoulders were massive pieces of armor that were designed to remind one of both OmegaShoutmon and DeltAntylamon- On the Left arm was a Sparrowmon shield- in the Right Hand alone was A Massive version of Shoutmon's Microphone stand- and the wings... The wings were simply bands of white energy tied out to each of the two worlds that floated at the ends.
"INFINITELY BURNING SOULS! XROS HEART: TIMES EIGHT!" The Digi-Xros roared with the harmony of every voice imaginable- working together for a common goal- the power of such a thing wrote the words themselves into the blank space behind him.
kono michi wa itsumo gekitou no BURNING ROAD
The record stretched out to a seemingly infinite distance- or was it he who had shrunk?- and DarkKnightmon just stared out hopelessly at the inevitable doom before him. "And to think all I ever wanted originally was to rule just the two worlds."
kake nuketekita sa kimi no yume no tame ni
"INFINITE!" Xros Eight flew backwards, stretching the wings back while the planets remained in place...almost like a...
A slingshot.
kasaneta kizuna ga kirifuda sa
"Was that too much to ask for?" he mused aloud. "...I suppose my folly was trying to reach out to the universe and beyond."
saigo no chikara wo mi-se-ro!
"STAR!"The Wings snapped, flinging Xros Eight flying towards him with a massive amount of speed- faster than light? No. But perhaps *at* the speed of light itself.
ima subete ga GREAT XROS toke au
"Of all the things you choose to muse upon in your final moments." he heard his brother's voice lament as Xros Eight slammed into him with the burning Microphone. "And it's this?"
ore ni kure minna no kagayaku SOUL wo
"IGNITION!"
The Planets detached from Xros Eight and began to orbit DarkKnightmon instead as his very essence- his very soul was ignited for all eternity in the void- exploding for a single second for every second that time could ever want.
ima moe tatsu GREAT HEART asu no kiba
He got his wish after all.
Ah mirai ni mukatte
He became a sun to rule over the two worlds for all eternity.
WE ARE XROS HEART!
When the Digi-Xros broke apart, Everyone found themselves back where they had been standing the moment before the Xros had begun.
Both planets and their inhabitants took several moments to think over what the hell had just happened.
And they cheered.
"SHOUTMON!" slap
"OW!" Shoutmon reeled back a bit. "That hurt Akari!"
"It was supposed to." She pouted at him. "Don't you EVER scare me like that again, do you hear me!?"
"Alright alright!" He relented. "I promise! I won't needlessly sacrifice myself ever again!"
"Good!" and with that, Akari looped her arm around his and began dragging Shoutmon over towards Taiki's house. "Taiki! We're borrowing the guest room again for the night!"
"Ah, sure." he waved, a grin on his face as they went off. "Have a good night!" It was only Five in the afternoon.
"We will!" Akari called back, leading Shoutmon to chuckle:
"Work work work!"
"WHOO!" A lean boy with black hair and square looking goggles hopped over to him next. "Taiki! That was awesome back there!" His voice sounded like a much squeakier version of Gureimon's, leading Taiki to assume that it was him in his human form, potentially to dodge all of the fan girls that he was now sure to have after the solo-fight he had to pull off until they all had arrived. "I mean! WOOSHHA! Two Whole Planets! Plenty of awesome!"
A girl with long black hair laughed as she put her arm around the boy's shoulder. "I gotta hand it to ya, Taiki. You've fixed my eye, you've fixed two worlds, and you've made John here more happy than I've seen him in...well! Ever!" Ah, and there was Riska, you could tell just by her voice alone.
"I'm glad to be of service." Taiki bowed to them a bit, a smile still on his face. "Just don't expect a Xros Like that ever again. I don't think the universe could handle it a second time."
"C'mon!" Gureimon/John grinned at the girl next to him. "Let's go check out Tokyo tower! I've never been there before!"
"Alright!" And off they went.
Taiki chuckled as he turned towards the one girl he wanted to see the most at the moment. "Hello Miss Sparrow." he said with a goofy grin on his face. "How are you on this fine afternoon?"
"Just fine, Taiki." She smiled at him. "How about you?"
"Oh, I'm fine." He lied through his teeth. "Never been better."
"Really now?" She saw right through it, and raised an eyebrow to call his bluff.
"Well, I could use the company of a beautiful soul for the time being." he smiled. "I believe we had a date to go on?"
"Why yes, yes we did!" she smiled at him, then held out her arm. "Shall we?"
"We shall!" And so he linked his arm with hers. "So where shall we go to first?"
"First?" She laughed and leaned against him as they walked into the city. "Maybe somewhere a little less, broken?"
"Probably." he nodded as they walked past everyone else. "By the way, did you see where Nene, Yuu, and Kotone went? I wanted to talk to them about something, but I couldn't find them."
"Dragged Kiriha over to meet their parents." Sally replied. "And to reunite with their own family, I think." She paused. "You could tell me about it?"
He thought it over for a moment... then reached for her one hand and dragged it over to one spot on his chest...then over to another spot.
She blinked.
He grinned.
She looked up to him as she sputtered out one word. "What."
"What indeed." He grinned even wider.
"What." She repeated, louder this time.
"Hehe..." He picked up the pace, and she immediately went to follow.
"WHAT!" She yelled at him. "Taiki Kudo, you stop right this moment and explain or else I'll keep repeating 'What' until the universe if so full of Whovian references You'll never see the light of day AGAIN!"
He just laughed. "I don't doubt you will!"
"WHAT!"
END: ACT 2: ACT 2.
START: INTERMISSION 2.
NEXT TIME!
"The Next arc is Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters that Leap through Time!"
"But first! Don't we have some more important plot points to cover first?"
"Yeah! Like what's with the earth being able to be Digi-Xrossed! Isn't that an impossibility or something!?"
"And what about our parents? How did they even fight a Milleniumnmon without Digimon!"
"All that and more Coming up in the future!"
"Next time!"
"Intermission 2A: Past Heroes! Present Danger!"
"We've got to turn our back's on this world!"
"Wait, WHAT!?"
"Sally...I think they've had enough of that for one day."
"Alright, alright..."
A.N.: I realize now that the moment I had two whole *PLANETS* merge into the Digi-Xros that reality would not be restored as I had planned. Instead, the adventure would continue on into this starry expanse of which I've given only a fleeting glimpse. I can only speculate where this story will go from this point, but such conjecture is futile. For now, I close, remembering that perhaps the ending has not yet been written.