"There was a hole in time," An unknown girl said to whoever was listening. "A hole so big with cracks so wide that time started falling in on itself."
Our camera view rested on an Earth and its moon- surrounded by clouds of static and miles of red and green tendrils.
"It was a hole so bad that everything bled over- and suddenly you may wonder," The girl continued on, "was the hole actually a hole? Wasn't it natural that all these ideas and concepts from these other worlds bled over to different places, different times, all under the guise of being 'fictional'?"
The Earth blurred in a cut of static- becoming a different Earth- one with red seas instead of blue, and having been flooded massively. The Moon had a streak of red across it's surface.
"Should that hole be fixed? Or should it's creation be ensured?"
Another blip- suddenly it was as it was before- except now it had pink oceans and yellow and green and blue landmasses.
"It's the same as another well known paradox- Do we risk changing things for the better, and chance them getting worse?" the girl questioned. "Or do we risk staying the same and chance having something miraculous happen?"
The planet vanished into the static, as the camera pulled back away to reveal the static being viewed in one of four panels of a four panneled Television of sorts- a Frenstrated Plane.
"By the very nature of Cause and Effect- this choice has made two time lines."
The Screen Bifurcated- Showing the same planet on the top two monitors, and the same person on the bottom two.
"The world where you Stopped the chaotic event, and the world where you Failed to prevent it."
The bottom screens showed the person going about different actions- and on the left side, the planet and person were eradicated in an explosion. On the right side- the planet and person stayed the same.
"But what then of other people's individual choices? What branches do they make? What paths do they consider risk-able?"
The screen bifurcated again- showing four people- two on the right side that were different, and two on the left side that were different.
"Having made that first choice, what then does the second person do? Do they make the same choices? And if so, what happens as a result of your first choice?"
The screens cut to static.
"And so on, and so forth." the girl said with a sigh. "Eventually- the timelines of multiple realities start merging with eachother. Branches coliding and paths uniting..."
The four screens changed- showing different teams of people. On the top left- Taichi Kamiya's team of Eight- facing off against the menace Apocylamon. On the top right- Davis Motomiya and his team of Six, facing off against the menace MaloMyotismon. On the bottom left, Takato Matsuki and his team of Four, fighting inside the D-Reaper. On the bottom right, Takuya Kanbara and his team of Five facing off against the Royal Knights Dynasmon and Crusadermon.
"What happens when the lines twist and tangle because of that hole- because of the bleeding- because of one person's unified will across all multiversal duplicates of himself?"
The Screen changed once more- Showing Xros Heart during their final battle in Sword Zone against Grademon on the right most monitors, and the DATS team during their final fight against Yggdrasil on the left most monitors.
"Cause. And. Effect."
The screens changed to show Tagiru's group celebrating the victory of having caught Volcdramon on all four monitors.
"But what if the Cause is the Effect? How can you tell what can possibly be done when timelines so converge that all choices have been narrowed down onto a single path? A single result?"
The screens returned to static- showing the Red and Green tendrils being quickly overcome by Lightning Blue energy.
"So now we must ask ourselves: Success... or Failure?"
The Static and Lightning Blue lines vanished- instead replaced by a combination of the 69 symbol and the Record Scratch Z.
"Heads... or Tails?"
*cue BURST THE GRAVITY (TV size) by ALTIMA*
DIGIMON XROS WARS
THE YOUNG HUNTERS THAT LEAP THROUGH TIME.
*cue Title Theme*
"XROS THROUGH! The Eye of the Storm!"
DIGI-QUARTZ_ _ _| BETSUMON'S WAREHOUSE_ _ _|
"It's empty," Gumdramon said flatly.
The crate was completely empty. More than empty, in fact.
Inside of that oddly shaped crate was a massive tunnel that went downwards and downwards...
Witchmon cast a small sphere of light, and then dropped it down into the well.
A second later it was out of sight.
"Wait for it..." She held up a hand.
Five seconds passed...Ten...Fifteen...Thirty...!
plink!
"Yeeeah," Haruki frowned, "We're not going down that way, are we?"
"Not unless you can fly," Airu huffed as she crossed her arms. "Seriously, who makes a tunnel like that?"
"Well," Gumdramon ventured a guess, "I'd say someone who could fly!"
"Yeah, but that's just about anyone," Witchmon pointed out. "Wait, *I* Can fly! We can just take my broom down and-"
"No! I mean THAT GUY RIGHT THERE!" Gumdramon shouted, pointing upwards suddenly.
MetallifeKuwagamon was descending towards them, blaster hands drawn and ready to fire.
"Woah! Hey, buddy!" Haruki held his hands up to appease the Digimon, "We don't mean you any harm here!"
The Golden Digimon stared at them for a few moments- and then the Hourglass on it's forehead glowed. "Homing Laser," it said electronically.
Beams of light shot out of it's fingers and started dancing around wildly before converging towards the warehouse.
"I DON'T THINK SO! ASTRAL LASER!"
Suddenly- a Silphymon threw itself into the line of fire and fired off a pink aura duplicate of itself that cut through the lasers (absorbing them straight into the aura) and straight into MetallifeKuwagamon- sending it flying backwards in surprise.
"YAHOOO!" Cried a cheerful girl's voice from outside, "That's the way you do it, Silphymon!"
"Good work, Silphymon!" came a second girl's voice.
"Let's go!" Airu shouted before running outside to go see what was going on.
Standing outside were two girls. The older one had a beret on over her dark purple colored hair. She was wearing a pair of round lens glasses, a set of jeans that went down to her knees, and a green T-shirt with a radio station logo on the front. Her boots looked like they'd been ripped straight out of a video game.
Her name? Yolei Inoue.
The younger one was just a head shorter- having matching shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. She had on a yellow bandanna around her neck, was wearing sleveless pink shirt with three red diamonds on the front and a pair of dark purple shorts, and hand an absurd amount of watches on her wrists. She had on a completely average pair of white and yellow sneakers.
Her name? Hikari Yagami.
Both were holding Digivices that were completely unusual- oval shaped bodies with opposite colored trim + main colors, and black antennas sticking off from one side. Yolei's was red trimmed, Hikari's was pink.
"Alright! Let's take this fake of a Digimon out in a flash!" Yolei shouted.
"Got it!" Silphymon agreed in one of it's two voices- the deep male one- indicating it as a Xrossed Digimon. "Hey Ugly!" it shouted in the other- the higher pitched female- voice, "Why don't you come back down here and pick on someone three-tenths your size!"
MetallifeKuwagamon would have snarled if it had been programmed with the emotion. "Emit Blade." It held it's hands flat out like blades and summoned blue energy beam blades. It dove down towards them with a killing intent.
"So you wanna play it like that, huh?" Silphymon asked with both voices, then glowed pink like it was about to fire off another astral double- but then condensed it down into a sphere of pink energy in their hands. "STATIC FORCE!"
One thrust- and a bullet like burst of energy shot through the air- piercing MetallifeKuwagamon in the forehead (straight through the hourglass), and forcing it to colapse into it's cube-like data structure with all of it's momentum held intact.
It started raining gelatin cubes of green, yellow, white, and blue.
"..." Gumdramon stared at the sight for a few moments, then took a breath and shouted, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"
Hikari turned towards Yolei and smiled, "I think we should give them an explanation, ne, Yolei-san?"
"Yeah, probably," Yolei was more focused on making sure that all of the cubes that landed around them had started melting away. "Looks like we're clear!"
Kotone arrived at the warehouse just in time to watch Yolei hold her Digivice into the air and order a command; "DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!"
Meanwhile- Hikari shouted a similar command, "DIGIMENTAL UP!"
"HAWKMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOOO!"
"TAILMON ARMOR SHINKAAA!"
It was an amazing sight- the small hawk and the small cat were surrounded by rings of energy as they changed forms. Ghost images of other Digimon seemed to briefly appear inside the formations of energy- Biyomon, Birdramon, Garudamon, and an Angewomon.
Metal wings shot out of the red storm of energy as a new Digimon took a step out onto Digi-Quartz: "HOLSEMON! THE WINGS OF LOVE!"
Angel wings shot out from a sphinx's body that stepped out of the pink storm of energy, calling out a slightly different phrase, "SHINING SMILES! NEFERTIMON!"
"Wow, despite being such an identical process," Airu was saying- completely surprised, "it's really different between you two!"
"Different Dimensions and all that jazz," Yolei brushed it off. "Izzy could explain it better than I can. Well...Any Izzy, really. Why did we bring so many of him like we did?"
"I'm just glad that we could combine our digimon just the same though," Hikari smiled, "I was concerned that the Joggress wouldn't work."
"D.N.A. Digivolve," Yolei corrected a small multi-versal difference.
"Yes, whatever," Hikari laughed.
"Uh..." Kotone coughed politely, as if to introduce herself, "Hi."
"Hey ther-errr," Airu stopped the moment she saw what Kotone was wearing, "what's with the fan service outfit?"
"One of Tagiru's classmates pulled us all into Digi-Quartz during gym," Kotone said simple, "can one of you guys come back with me so we can get our Xros Loaders back?"
"Your classmate?" Hikari asked, surprised, "What happened?"
"It's really embarrassing and I don't want to talk about it here. All you need to know is that Chou stopped it." Kotone crossed her arms with a huff, then noticed the open box, "So what the heck is that?"
"Tunnel Quartzmon left," Gumdramon said simply, "we think it leads to a lab."
"Okay then," Kotone turned towards Haruki ad Airu, "so about that ride?"
"I'll go," Airu volunteered, "if my cousin put a stop to something, I really want to hear all the details!"
"Alright, I'll fill you in on the way," Kotone turned to Gumdramon, "you coming too?"
"Nah, I'm gonna check this tunnel out with these guys," Gumdramon flashed a grin, "gotta make sure Betsumon didn't leave any traps behind."
"Alright then! That sounds like a plan!" Yolei clapped her hands and rubbed them together with a grin on her face, "Let's get spelunking!"
"Is...she always like that?" Witchmon asked.
"Don't look at me," Hikari smiled uncomfortably, "my Miyako is a touch calmer than this."
"So who were they?" Kotone asked as she surfed her and Airu back towards the school.
"Heroes from other dimensions that the Watch Maker recruited," Airu answered. "Apparently we'll get around quite a bit over the next few months!"
"Time travel?" Kotone asked.
"Yeah, basically," Airu smirked, "now tell me! What kind of trouble did Chou put to an end?"
"Well...!"
MEANWHILE_ _ _| EARTH_ _ _| KAIYUMI'S SCHOOL_ _ _|
"What's going on?" Kaiyumi asked as Tairru pulled her out of class.
"Taiki called," The girl answered, "apparently he can't teleport anymore. Quartzmon's making his move so he wants us all together A.S.A.P.!"
"What do you mean he can't teleport?" Kaiyumi asked.
"I asked the same thing!" Simon said as he joined up again, having split off to grab Konata and Clubs from elsewhere. "It's exactly what it means! He can't teleport right now!"
"But that's impossible! The teleports are just a subset of his greater powers given by the Code Crown," Konata ranted, "he can't not do it because he didn't seal that power away! Isn't that how it works?"
"Well, it's not working now," Tairru huffed, "so we can't risk being split up right now. Quartzmon's making his move."
"He is?" Kaiyumi asked, "Wait- all the missing people, right?"
"Not just that," Tairru said as she lead them out into the school's entry hall, "Watch Guy got us back up from other dimensions Quartzmon's terrorized. They've met our future selves and they can confirm that we told them that this is the time Quartzmon accelerated everything."
"Wait- we've got multiple stable time loops?" Simon asked as he went up to his shoe locker, "That can't be good!"
"Not so much time loops as inter-dimensional walls not lining up at the same point," Kaiyumi corrected as she too went to her locker, "That said, if this IS the day we've been waiting for- the day that the Time Storms were born, then that might be why Taiki can't teleport."
"What do you mean?" Clubs asked as he opened the door to his locker.
"Taiki once got a glitched teleport- he and Sally didn't wind up where they wanted to be, but instead wound up somewhere else in time-space. Another world alternate to ours," Kaiyumi explained as she started trading shoes out. "They figured that Taiki's teleporting was actually hijacking a Time Storm in a localized space, and in that case, the storm decided not to play along."
"So basically if we're at the epicenter of the time storms, then Taiki can't actively find a time storm?" Konata asked as she put her school shoes back into her locker, "Is that how it goes?"
"Probably." Kaiyumi looked to Tairru, "I bet Taiki already came to that conclusion?"
"I'd guess so," the older girl shrugged, "he didn't really tell me anything other than to pick you guys up."
"What about Tagiru and the others?" Kaiyumi asked as they started for the doors.
"We lost contact with Tagiru's school about an hour ago," Tairru said, "but Airu wristered us a few minutes ago that she was with Kotone, so evidently things got sorted out on that end." She paused for a moment then added, as if remembering something crucial, "Oh! Also, Shoutmon and Yuu found a construction Yard for a Gate. But the one they destroyed was done in the wrong way- the Watch Maker thinks it was a fake."
"So what's our plan now?" Kaiyumi asked.
"Evacuate as many off of earth as possible," Tairru said, "Sally and Nene are handling the logistics of that, but the way it's looking with all the wildlife vanishing like it has, and all the missing people? Earth isn't looking habitable anytime soon."
"Digi-Quartz," Simon deduced.
"Exactly," Kaiyumi nodded, "So this is the end eh? Thirty years? Forty?"
"Yeah looks like," Tairru glanced to the sky and smirked, "Ah, and there's our ride!"
"Huh?" Konata glanced up- seeing first hand exactly what it was that was descending towards them. "No Way!"
It was an Imperialdramon.
"Attention passengers! We are now landing at some middle school in the middle of nowhere," Imperialdramon said in the alternating voices of Stingmon and ExVeemon. "Please prepare for boarding! We will be taking off momentarily!"
Clubs whistled, "Now that's what I'd call back up!"
On top of Imperialdramon's back stood a boy- wearing a blue and red flame jacket and yellow-grey pants. Holding his mess of reddish-brown hair in place was a set of Goggles. "I'm glad you guys approve!"
His name? Davis Motomiya.
"Attention! This is a Public Safety Announcement. As of this moment, all world leaders are advising their citizens to flee to the Digital World." A news Reporter interrupted a local broadcast. "Due to increasing evidence piling in the last few hours- there are concerns that a major world-wide catastrophe will strike and that the world's citizens will not be safe should this-"
KZZT.
"But the real question is what is CAUSING this?" A man asked. "All of the Dolphins in the world suddenly jump ship to the Digital World? That's straight out of a science fiction novel! But it's not just the Dolphins either. World Wide we are starting to see animal populations vanish nigh instantaneously. At the Denver Zoo we had a first hand witness who was cleaning the monkey cages observe the monkeys simply vanishing into portals of some kind."
KZZT.
"It's a conspiracy," A woman said simply, "the Digital World's Denizens are preparing to terraform Earth and absorb it. They've been planning this for over a year now. It's all a simple matter of-"
KZZT.
"Operations have been put underway to reach third-world nation countries who have no clear method of transport to or from the Digital World." A man explained, "The process is slow going as the key people involved in organizing these events have gone missing."
CLICK.
Ren shut the Television off. "They were off by four months," was all he said with regards to the sudden apocalypse.
DIGI-QUARTZ_ _ _|
The Tunnel went down for quite some time before it leveled out and headed in a completely different direction.
"I'll run low on magic at this rate," Witchmon muttered as she recast another light sphere.
"Don't worry, we'll reach where ever it is we're going before then," Haruki put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Then you can rest up, recharge..."
"Right," She smiled back at him.
"So I never got a straight answer on this before," Yolei began talking at the Dragon riding on Holsemon's head in front of her, "Digimon and Humans in this world are...compatible, right?"
"Hm?" Gumdramon raised an eyebrow. "I guess it depends on what you mean by 'compatible'."
"Well, we just defeated our big bad," Yolei explained, keeping the spoilers at a minimum for Hikari (whose own timeline hadn't reached that point yet), "and now our Earth and our Digital World are aware of eachother. How well does that work? Inter-planetary wise?"
"I suppose it's alright," Gumdramon shrugged, "I never really paid any attention to politics, if that's what you mean."
"I know the feeling," Yolei laughed just a bit. "It's already been a bit of a mess..."
"To be honest, I think it worked out better here because our rulers can shift forms on the fly," Gumdramon started rambling. "If someone's not comfortable talking to a giant dragon, they just shift to human and bam! Instant ease of relations."
"I guess a major problem is that our Digital World doesn't really have a ruler," Yolei frowned. "Usually any time it happens, bad things start happening." She sighed, "Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I can't shake the feeling that if we don't keep tensions low, that my earth is going to try launching an invasion on our Digital World. I...I just wouldn't know where I'd stand on that."
"Heh, you and me both," Gumdramon laughed hollowly. "Honestly? If I could stay out of politics for the rest of my life, the better I'd be. But I know I can't..."
"Oh?" It was Yolei's turn now to raise an eyebrow.
"Tagiru keeps getting all these facts shoved in his face that he's gonna go back in time and become someone important, and I've gotta stick with him, ya know?" Gumdramon held his hands out for emphasis, "I can't just leave him alone in the past like that!"
"That's a feeling we all know well," Holsemon chuckled. "I would never be able to leave Yolei to such a fate. We're friends to the end."
"Aw, Holsemon, you big softy!" Yolei playfully punched at the metal wing in front of her.
"Heh," Gumdramon chuckled, "I don't think you've got too much to worry about, Miss Inoue!"
"Call me Yolei, please," Yolei sweated just a little, "Miss Inoue sounds like my mom."
"Haha," Gumdramon laughed, "Sure thing!"
"Everyone," Hikari called out, "I think we're here!"
Indeed, they were.
Before them now was a massive metal, spiral gauge gate. (Or maybe rather, an Iris, if you will?)
"So how do we get it open?" Haruki asked.
"Eh, knowing Betsumon...?" Gumdramon coughed a few times, and then tried his best Betsumon impersonation- "Password."
There was a click- and then the metal door began spiraling into the wall- opening the passageway into a round room that looked like it was an assembly factory of sorts.
On the ground were three ring shaped dents that looked like they would hold Gateways perfectly.
Only two were empty.
"For once, I think we hit the jackpot," Nefertimon noted.
EYE CATCH!
One the first side of a disk was every human character that had xrossed over to this universe that would be seen in this episode.
On the second side of that disk was every Digimon character that had xrossed over to this universe that would be seen in this episode.
EYE CATCH!
EARTH_ _ _| A RANDOM TRAIN STATION_ _ _|
Everything was as quiet and peaceful as could be given the world wide order to evacuate.
And then a floating tower of rock appeared in the sky with a flash of time static. It had a green face with a red " TuMuT " written on its face. Nobody knew what it meant at all when spelled like that.
"Alright, Palmon!" A girl wearing a Pink Dress and an equally Pink Cowboy hat ran out from under an overhang, a green digivice similar to Joe's was held in her gloved hands. "Let's show that overgrown meanie who's boss!"
"Right, Mimi!" The Palmon at her side nodded.
Mimi Tachikawa held up the Digivice and a beam of light shot out at Palmon. "Let's do this, Palmon!"
Palmon leaped into the air, shouting out "PALMON BIOMERGE TOOO!" as she and Mimi transformed into beams of energy that fused together, showing each of Palmon's intermediary forms as sort of 3D models before settling on the highest form- whose body gained detailing and color as she emerged from the beam of light- "ROSEMON!"
The Tower didn't react to the lone digimon soaring up towards it, although the people in the train station cheered at the sudden light show.
Excluding two.
"Ch, c'mon Renamon," Rika Nonaka smirked and held up her blue trimmed, white bodied D-Arc, "you don't want to get shown up by flower girl here, now do you?"
"Heh," Renamon chuckled, "I suppose not!"
"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"
There was a sudden gust of Cherry blossom petals from the spot where the duo stood- and a second later a cry could be heard as a blue light, surrounded by a raging sphere of petals, leaped into the sky: "RENAMON BIOMERGE TOOO!"
The newly-formed Mega blew the barrage of leaf-petals away as their combined form revealed itself- "SAKUYAMON!"
"Uwwaah!" A kid cried out, "That was awesome!"
Now- with two Megas in front of it, the Tower finally noticed it's challengers. The emoticon on its face shifted to a "TuWuT" before it glowed completely and shifted forms- becoming a massive, bipedal castle of a beast:
RookChessmon (Black).
"Ch-" Inside of Sakyuamon, Rika smirked, "I don't think this guy's going to be much of a problem!" And with that, she drew her staff and quickly chanted a spell that launched off a storm of cherry blossoms at the beast. "AMETHYST WIND!"
"I like your style!" Rosemon crossed her arms and then glowed red as she prepared her own attack. "FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION!"
Twin storms of flower petals blew around and surrounded the RookChessmon Tower.
"Castle Wall!" It tried to bring up it's defenses, but it was too late.
Its outer brick masonry was being peeled away by the storm of wind and petals- the Hourglass logo could be seen on its chest clearly now.
"Now, then Palmon!" Mimi shouted, "Let's use That attack!"
"Right!" Rosemon pulled the left whip back and then threw it at the exposed Hourglass: "BEAUTY SHOCK!"
"It's time to finish this!" Renamon quickly opened the four vials attached to her belt as she and Rika called out their Finishing Move, "SPIRIT STRIKE!"
Four Fox Spirits leaped out- Lightning, Wind, Fire, and Water- and circled around Rosemon's vine-spear as if forming a drill tip of some kind.
KTHRWRRRR-SMASH!
The Hourglass logo was destroyed in an instant- and the Tower began collapsing before it could even pull off an attack.
"Well that was easy," Mimi remarked as the gelatin cubes began falling towards the ground below.
"Nice job," Rika said through Sakuyamon as she held up her hand- which Mimi met with a High Five through Rosemon.
"Thanks!"
"We now have confirmation! Unknown creatures have begun attacking various parts of the world." A reporter advised as an image of a Tower appeared next to him, "Authorities are advising to seek cover when these objects appear!"
KZZZT.
"In what's becoming an absolutely amazing show of defense, guards assigned to help keep order during evacuation boarding have been able to destroy the towers with the uncovered weakness of the hourglass logo that appears on the transformed bodies at various points of the-" A female reporter was saying.
KZZZT.
"I'm telling you, it's a conspiracy " a insisted, "The Hourglass logo on these creatures is the exact same one as a local network station logo in Japan. The fact of the matter is that this is NOT a coincidence at all and-"
KZZZT.
"The Militaries of the world are scrambling fighter jets to target these UFOs, tentatively named "Towers" after their tower like form," a woman representative of some various government was explaining, "whenever and where-ever they appear. At the moment, we're fairly certain that these Towers are only targeting the major rail stations and-"
CLICK.
"Well THAT's certainly done it," Sally muttered as she shut off the news reports feeding in from all over the world now.
Quartzmon was stepping up his game. He really didn't want people leaving earth for some unknown reason- why else send the Towers to attack train stations?
"Ahoy!" Came a familiar voice from outside- she glanced outside of the office she had borrowed and saw Tagiru, Chou, Airu, Dorulumon, and Kotone walking up- with a tied up Mami in tow.
Kotone was the one who had called out, and was also the one towing Mami along inside a massive bubble of floating water. Chou was carrying...Wait what? Sally blinked. Did her eyes deceive her, or was that the rocket hammer, that had gone ballistic, that Chou was holding?
Sally had to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "What the hell have you guys been up to all day?"
"You wouldn't believe us even if we told you," Chou laughed as she hefted the hammer a bit.
"Anyways!" Sally changed the subject, "We need to regroup, and get as many people off of earth as possible. We think Quartzmon's doing something to all of the people over age twenty to make them vanish like they have been."
"Wait," Dorulumon's eyes widened slightly, "you can't possibly mean that he's-?"
"He is." Sally nodded glumly.
"Can someone explain what's going on here?" Airu asked with a frown.
"Long story short?" Kotone began, "My parents and their friends made this world twenty years ago- now anyone who was 'born' native-ly to earth before that time doesn't realy exist as fully as people born after that time."
"What? Seriously?" Airu gawked at Kotone in disbelief.
"About as serious as we can get," Taiki said as he strolled in, Kaiyumi at his side. "It's a subtle kind of difference, but it's enough to give Quartzmon an edge."
"That's why we're evacuating earth," Sally added, "Save as many lives as we can, worry about what Quartzmon's doing after that and-" she frowned as she saw a look of horror flash in Tagiru's eyes, "Are you okay?"
"No," Tagiru shook his head, taking a few steps backwards, "My parents are-They were-"
Chou seemed to get his meaning, as her eyes widened as well, "Oh man, we've got to get over there right now!"
"Wait," Taiki started, "what's wrong?"
"No time to explain!" Taigru turned and ran off, Chou close behind him. "We've got to go!"
"Tagiru!" Kaiyumi called out, "Wait just a second...!"
But it was too late- those two could be really fast if they wanted to be, and they were already out of sight before anything could be done.
"Damn it," Sally grumbled, "that's just what we need right now. History's most important people going awol."
"I'll go after them!" Airu turned to leave too, "Maybe I can figure out what's wrong on the way?"
"Good luck!" Kaiyumi's wishes weren't even heard as the other girl shifted forms and darted out of there like a bat out of hell. "Wait...since when could she shift forms?"
"I don't really think this is the time to be discussing these kinds of things," Kotone snapped, "right?"
"Right," Sally shook her head, "we've got to-" and as she turned- she realized that Taiki was gone too. "Damn it, Kudo." She growled, and then took off her ID badge and threw it to Kotone, "You just got promoted! You deal with all of this!"
And a moment later- she was running out after Taiki and the others.
A Tower drew close to another train station- preparing to rain energy blasts down upon hapless citizens below-
"POSITRON LASER!"
-Only to be smashed into pieces by Imperialdramon blasting it through the face with a laser.
"Nice job, Imperialdramon!" Davis gave a thumbs up...
"Uh, Davish...!" Imperialdramon cautioned in ExVeemon's voice.
"Uh oh..." Davis regretted that quick-jump-to-victory instantly as three smaller towers appeared from the ruins of the first one- each shifting forms into identical shapes- MaloMyotismon. "That's not good."
"You're telling me!" Imperialdramon took to the skies as the trio of MaloMyotismon's followed them- anger clearly evident on their faces.
"GAIA FORCE!"
"SHIELD OF THE JUST!"
"GLORIOUS BURST!"
Suddenly- explosions rocked the trio of MaloMyotismons as a WarGreymon, a Gallantmon, and a ShineGreymon descended on the scene.
"Hey, Davis!" Taichi Kamiya waved from his spot on ShineGreymon's right shoulder, next to the ShineGreymon's owner- a Younger looking version of Marcus! "Don't let your guard down!"
"Like I'd ever do that, Tai!" Davis flashed a grin at the younger, alternate version of his mentor.
"Uh...guys...!" Gallantmon spoke up with the usual dual voice of Takato and Guilmon, "We didn't finish those Myotismons!"
Indeed, the trio of Myotismons seemed to have barely been scratched by that onslaught.
"We didn't hit their weak points," the alternate Marcus growled, "I can't see any hourglasses on them, do you?"
"Let's hope it's not split between them," WarGreymon grumbled.
And then...
...A KaiserGreymon descended upon the trio with a roar and a mighty down swing from his sword.
SLASH!
The first MaloMyotismon was cut in half in an instant- dispersing into cubes that melted away from the sheer heat of the attack.
The Other two reeled backwards in surprise-
SWISH SWASH!
-Only to be bisected by a VictoryGreymon in two neat strokes from behind.
"Woah," Davis stared on in surprise, "now that's an entrance!"
"No way...!" Gallantmon said in Takato's voice, "That's...!"
"Yo!" The VictoryGreymon gave a wave as it greeted them in Taichi's voice. "And what do ya know, there's another me here too!"
"Eh?" The first Taichi stared on in confusion. "What the-!?"
"Biomerged, right?" Takato asked.
"Yup," The VictoryGreymon nodded.
"Dang, don't tell me there's other versions of me running around here too?" The younger Marcus nearly shouted in surprise.
"I hear the one who was here already fell down some stairs and is in the hospital," the KaiserGreymon remarked- talking with the voice of none-other-than Takuya Kanbara.
"What? Seriously!?" The younger Marcus actually shouted in surprise. "Maan! What a lame way to get stuck out of fighting!"
"So..." KaiserGreymon ventured, "Out of all of us who're in Digimon form right now, who wears goggles normally?"
Gallantmon and VictoryGreymon raised their hands.
"Niiiice," KaiserGreymon grined- though you couldn't see it through his face plate. "Goggles rule, man!"
"That they do!" VictoryGreymon and Taichi agreed with a shared, identical laugh.
Davis, meanwhile, was just staring on with a mildly befuddled expression on his face. "Man...that's five Tai's I've met since we started this," he muttered, "why are there so many out there?"
"I don't know, Davis," Imperialdramon said with Stingmon's voice, "I really don't know."
Shoutmon turned his head the moment Taiki ran past them- "Wait, what?" He turned to Joe, who was driving the car they were in, "Hey! Stop the car!"
"What?" Joe hit the brakes rather suddenly. "What's wrong?!"
"Nothing! I've gotta get out here!" Shoutmon threw the door open and jumped out of the car before slamming the door closed behind him, "Get going! We don't have all day!"
"Right!" And with that, Joe sped off before anyone else could protest.
"TAIKI!" Shoutmon turned to run after the goggle wearing boy. "Wait up just a second!"
"What the hell was that all about?" Yuu blinked in confusion.
"I don't know," The Watch Maker muttered, "but this can't be-"
Moments later- Sparrowmon whizzed past the car going nearly twice the local speed limit.
"-Good," Tsuwabuki finished.
"AQUILAMON!"
"TAILMON!"
"DIGI-XROS!"
That had been the compromised term for the two Jogress/D.N.A. Digivolve partners from across dimensions.
"When in Rome," Yolei had reasoned.
"SILPHYMON!"
Gumdramon shifted into a makeshift sort of Car-Jack, and, with that form aiding them, Silphymon, Witchmon, Haruki, and Yolei managed to wrench the Gateway out of it's hole in the floor, and onto it's side.
"Wheewf..." Yolei wiped some sweat off of her forehead, "This thing's heavy, even with it's weight reduced by half with Magic!"
"Wow...My Miyako never would've wanted to help with that..." Hikari was impressed. "Maybe I'm living in the wrong universe?"
"Let's worry about that later, and focus more on getting this thing out of here," Gumdramon wheezed as he slowly pulled himself back into his regular form. "Man, I don't want to do that ever again..."
"Nothing better to do than to roll it, I guess," Haruki suggested.
"Let's get crackin' then," Yolei laughed as she stretched her arms out before her- some small cracks and pops coming from her wrists and fingers as she did such. "No pun intended!"
Ren Tobari ran face first in Ryouma Mogami without having even seen the silver haired boy approaching him. "Oh, sorry, Ryouma!"
"Ren! I've been looking all over for you," Ryouma started. "What's all this nonsense about evacuating?"
"That," Ren simply pointed to the sky where Imperialdramon Fighter Mode bashed a Tower across the city with alternating punches and kicks.
Ryouma stared up at the sight casually, then looked back to Ren with a completely baffled look, "Who was That?"
"Hell if I know," Ren shrugged, then reshouldered his bag and prepared to leave. "I'm getting out of here, though."
"What?" Ryouma jumped- no, not at Ren's statement, but instead at the massive explosion that came from Imperialdramon Fighter Mode's Giga Crusher Cannon being fired on the tower. "Why?!" Much to Ryouma's chagrin, Ren stayed steady on his feet.
"My parents are gone, Ryouma," Ren said flatly. "I watched them disappear right out from under my nose not ten minutes ago."
"W...What?" Ryouma seemed surprised, "But people aren't vanishing anymore like that, they're-!"
"Haven't you been keeping track of the News, Ryouma?" Ren actually scowled- a genuinely angry scowl. "An hour after those towers started appearing, people started DISappearing. Faster. No discernible pattern."
"But, but that's not-!" Ryouma's floundering excuse was cut off as Tagiru and Chou rounded the corner and ran past them.
"Sorry! No time to chat!" Tagiru apologized.
"...What the...?" Ren turned to look after them when- not a moment later- Sparrowmon shot overhead- with Taiki riding on her back, crouched to survive the high speeds, and Shoutmon barely hanging onto Taiki's shoulders.
"WWAAAAAHHHH!" the King was crying in a rather un-kingly manner.
"On second thought," Ren started chasing after them, "I'm going to go see what this is all about!"
"Wait! Ren!" Ryouma- once again- was left standing in the dust of time rushing past him like water flowed around a rock in the river. "...What..."
Betsumon smirked inside his little cell. "What a day, what a night! What a week long fright!" He giggled madly. "Oh I wish to see the sight! Of when these fools realize their plight!"
TO BE CONTINUED.
BEGIN: ACT 3 INTERMISSION 20.
The Watch Maker had come to visit.
Davis Motomiya and Yolei Inoue were not quite sure what to make of the man's offer to their gathered team on that special anniversary day. "Help those who once helped you, and prevent a tragedy"?
Mimi Tachikawa and Tai Kamiya wondered why Gennai had held them back after their victory over the Dark Masters, but when that man...Emmit Brown...had shown his face, they suddenly understood everything.
Joe Kido had been asked once to save two worlds- and he'd stepped up to the challenge more times than some had seemed necessary. He wondered idly, as he stepped through the Old Man's time portal, what was one more added to his resume?
Takato Matsuki and Rika Nonoka had made a deal to keep their Digimon friends on earth safely after the defeat of the D-Reaper. Help as many worlds as was necessary to pay for that price. The Old Man was with other versions of them, who had already finished paying that price, after all.
They seemed...Content. Hikari Yagami smiled to herself as she watched the younger Digimon play around in the Computer Lab. Sure- things weren't quite looking up at the moment- BlackWarGreymon was still out on a rampage, and it would be a long time before things got better, but even so, things would definitely get better!
The Remorseful Scientist appeared through the computer's Digi-Port, interupting her thoughts.
Taichi Yagami and Yamato Ishida had just teamed up to defeat a nasty Computer Virus taken Digimon form- but instead of being returned to earth like each had expected, they found themselves inside a virtual Clock Shop somewhere on the internet.
The Clock Shop's Owner offered them tea as he gave them a chance to continue on their adventures.
Takuya Kanbara and his friends went into that old abandoned clock shop on a whim because of the logo of the Ten Elements on the faded sign. Inside- they found it less than abandoned, and the Watch Maker inside gave them an opportunity to reunite with some old friends from a far-away world.
Bokomon never would admit it- but Neemon confided that the researcher was happy that some trivial chaos had popped up to bring them all together again.
Marcus Daimon and Agumon wandered the wastes of one of the Digital World's many deserts... It was there that they ran into a curious, strangely out of place clock shop, and an old man who offered them tea.
Maybe it was the dehydration, or maybe it was the promise to be able to return home to visit his friends and family once more, but Marcus and Agumon decided that it was Fighting Time once again.
The Watch Maker gave an amused smile as all these heroes were gathered in his shop- oh so many hereos, so many successes-
And all of these specific heroes would be long since dead had this Universe's Xros Heart not gone to pull them out of trouble at some point in their pasts- whether they knew it or not.
It was time to close some karma-bound time loops around Quartzmon's neck.
END: ACT 3 INTERMISSION 20.
NEXT TIME!
"Mom! Dad!"
"We've got to speed up the evacuation!"
"Hurry! Hurry!"
"GUYS! GUYS!"
"The Tower Ruse...!"
"...Was a DISTACTION!"
"We HAVE The GATE!"
"Oh no...That's impossible! That's...That's...!"
"You fools. Next Time on Digimon Xros Wars, the two part finale!"
"Whaaat?! Is it a Two part special?"
"XROS OVER! A Branches' Ends!"
"XROS OUT! Quartzmon's Symphony!"
"IT IS!"
"Oh wow, this can't be good at all!"
"It's Not."
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Have a nice dream."
}DTC: Attempt Highly Dangerous and Extremely Abnormal 2X Cliffhanger + Q&A Session Combo
I attempt to pull off the above mentioned 2X Cliffhanger + Q&A Session Combo. I leave you all to judge the results.
}DTC: Explain this nonsense!
What? Like a recap or something? Be patient! Wait for next two episodes please! It's not going to be all THAT long of a wait.
}No, not that. What's with all the inconsistencies from Canon?
Eh? But isn't it obvious? They're from alternate realities from the Canon Series. Come on, didn't you read the Intermission just now?
}I skimmed because of all the music stuff, I really wasn't into all that Karaoke every single week. There wasn't anything important in there, was there?
You really should go back and re-read the intermissions if you skipped over them. Now is the chance to do that before we go into the finale for Hunters. I stopped with the Karaoke stuff after Zenjirou proposed, but that said, I can see why you would've. I was getting tired of writing those things, to be honest.
}I read the intermissions! 0u0
^U^ Great! Then some of the things that are going to happen in this next arc that really depend on those intermissions- one in particular, actually- won't seem like they come straight out of nowhere!
}DTC: explain about quartzmon's plan! i don't understand it at all!
Can't do that just yet. Spoilers~
}DTC: Five Tai's? Really?
Sorry, Davis but I can't help how dimensions and timelines branch off.
}DTC: End this highly absurd Cliffhanger+Q&A Combo! It's eating up word space!
Gladly! I've got plenty to Write and not a whole lot of time to do it! Hehehe