Æ
It was like a dream.
He was running through alarm filled hallways, already suited up...
Surreal, in that strange sense of things moving too fast to be ever considered real upon retrospect, and yet at the same time.
He was inside the seat, already bracing himself for the liquid to fill his lungs...
Time, moving faster, and yet somehow slower.
It never came. He was already on the surface, running down the streets, fists clenched, towards the monsters that were threatening his world.
It was the only possible thing. A dream.
They weren't Angels. No. They were too weird, even for them. And yet he had a sense of dread, as if the monsters were being controlled by an entity just as devious as those everyday invaders.
Controlled? When did he ever get the feeling that they were being controlled?
Zero-Zero was down, pinned beneath a multi-legged beast. He couldn't help. He was stuck fighting some other beast that looked angelic and yet, at the same time, held hints of corruption.
How did it get so bad?
Zero-Two was by his side in an instant, prog knife digging into the back of some other monster that had tried to sneak up on him.
Thanks for the save! I can't let you die now, now can I?
Then there was a roar, a strange light falling from the sky. Voices yelled in his ears, proclaiming that it was...Yellow? Did that mean it wasn't an Angel?
'OI! Listen up you beasts! This is our name! Engrave it on your hearts!'
A drill, piercing the heavens, fell upon the center of the monsters... and then they were sent flying in a blast of golden light!
A robot- An Evangellion- A collage of merged souls burning with a mighty flame!
It's body was comprised of ten pieces- golden shoulder pads, a silver blue spear in its right hand, a centaur construction, mis-matched rear legs, massive silver wings from it's shoulders and equally massive black ones from it's body, a shield in it's left hand, a Giant crimson V on its chest- all of which glimmered with light.
'We Are...!'
The screen cut black, and text flew in from the void-
A logo of words...
Then-
A Team's flag...
The two logos spun around, as if in an orbit around a sun...
There was a clash of lightning in the shape of a Z as the title Logo formed for all Meta Audiences to see:
NEON GENESSIS EVANGELLION
VS.
DIGIMON: XROS WARS
Topping it off, an old fashioned record spun into place behind the logo as the theme song kicked off.
*cue Innocence (TV Ver) SAO OP2*
*Cue Title Theme (Xros Wars)*
"X0VA-7! I WILL (NOT) TURN MY BACK!"
Following the usual title card came a set of text that faded into existence.
TIME LINE STATUS:
DOOMED.
Shinji Ikari woke with a start.
For a moment, he was baffled. Hadn't he just been fighting an army of monsters?
No. He was in his room in the apartment his Legal Guardian owned/rented/used. He'd been asleep, having a very lucid dream...if one could call it that.
As his eyes focused on the clock on the wall, he realized...
It was a Saturday morning, 4:59 A.M., and he was going to have no chances of falling asleep again.
For those who were new to this universe, Shinji Ikari was once a normal boy, he never had dreams of piloting a giant robot, tasked with the job of protecting the last of mankind. But his parents happened to be the leaders of the organization N.E.R.V. (the meaning of which Shinji had never been told due to rather contrived coincidences that always seemed to come out of nowhere), which was the sole defender of Earth from the invading Angels, as they were collectively called.
At this relatively obscure moment that happened to be a lull in the apparently complex attack schedule, at a relatively obscure point of multi-versal collapse potentially brought on by multiple timeline bifurcations, the Post Second Impact world of Earth was at peace.
The Evangellions were more than just machines. They were bio-mechanical, mostly giant towering "Synthetic-Humans" with pieces of machinery "Grown" into them. His mother's research team had come up with ways to make the Evangellions come alive. Synchronizing with the giant robots which were arguably just as alive as he was was a cake walk compared to some universes.
And he should know- considering that there was an inter-dimensional... "hiccup"with an Angel that shared their hyperspace arsenals dimension space a short time ago, in which all available pilots had been temporarily scattered across time and space.
Shinji knew he had it good compared to those other worlds, given that his own Eva, the Mark 01, was considered to be his own sister, rather than his mother. Hell, he even had a girlfriend, someone who he wouldn't have even met without Project Evangellion.
Even so, he suddenly felt as if something...something was not quite right.
Shinji sighed- even in his dreams, he was still partially affected by that journey- even though that they'd all returned safe and sound, things still didn't quite sit right with him. There were other hims piloting robots out there in other dimensions and they were NOT better off emotionally.
But this was different.
It was nearly six in the morning now, the sun should have been out already, Shinji observed, but it wasn't. For all Tokyo-3 cared, it was as good as being Three in the Morning with those pitiful light levels. Must be a storm or something, he reasoned, which wouldn't be surprising.
Being up so early, Shinji had been trying to keep quiet as he ate an early breakfast and watched an almost muted TV. Reruns of old 1990's Pre-Impact Anime, and honestly, he was surprised the tapes had survived that. Technology hadn't evolved to a point where TV could be stored Digitally on Disks like Music had been able to be stored... Not enough space, and then there was never enough time.
It was when he looked at the clock and realized that his present legal Guardian would soon be up that he noticed that there really was something wrong.
It was still too dark.
From the view from the nearby window, he could still see stars peeking over the buildings- And then the apartment's phone rang.
Cursing his rotten luck, Shinji went to the phone and picked it up, "Hello?"
"Shinji! You and Asuka need to get to NERV HQ right away!" Answered the voice of NERV's resident Computer Scientist, Ritsuko Akagi.
"What is it?" Shinji asked, panic over taking him, "an Angel?"
"Have you even Looked outside yet?"
The sky was very unfamiliar.
Over all of Tokyo-3 was, according to the Doctor on the phone, an unidentifiable energy bubble that was "effectively blocking all satellites from seeing the city at all."
"It's a Dirac Sea, but different from the one you were sent through!" The blond haired Scientist had continued, but that was majorly an understatement.
Instead of a black void- there were stars and planets above Tokyo-3. Shinji stared up at it in awe and wonder. It was exactly like those photos taken from space itself, and yet so different! Planets, whole spiral galaxies, giant burning stars! Everything looked so close that he could reach right up and touch them...
"As far as we can tell, we're seeing the exit of one of these things for a change, we don't know what- if anything- will be coming out, but if it's an Angel..." Ritsuko had said. "Anyways, get over to base ASAP."
For a few moments, Shinji wondered if this was what it was like to view the universe from God's eye view.
Then there was the Aurora.
Green tendrils leaking out from a single point, spreading out across all of the brilliant night sky, almost looking like roads, leading from the center of the 'verse to everything that existed...
"Woah...!" He'd been joined by Misato Katsuragi (the apartment's owner, and also his legal guardian) at some point in his stargazing, "Trippy."
"Is that supposed to be an Angel's idea of a joke?" Asuka, his girlfriend and fellow pilot, came out moments later.
After a few moments of hapless staring at the apparently harmless void, it began to change.
The Green Aurora began to slide down the color scale into the Red spectrum, and then it began to withdraw back onto its origin. But as it did, something shot across that brilliant night sky: a comet of brilliant gold energy. Then the "night" sky began to cloud over with what looked, and sounded, like Static, which once it had covered the night sky, began to fade out of existence into the morning sky that was supposed to have been there.
Then everything was calm.
Except for, you know, the giant purple mass falling from the sky- already tussling with a white and red armored, winged Eva.
KA-SPLASH!
A massive beast, known to very few in this world as "Algomon (Mega)", made a grand entrance with a devious look in his many, many, Many eyes.. all of which were held in the black void stretching from the bottom of his throat to the bottom of his chest armor.
Algomon was a giant, with a height rivaling even the biggest of Angels that had ravaged this city in the past. He let loose a warbling roar as he stretched his arms out to the side, confusion barely surfaced through his brain, instead over-run with the orders he'd been given.
"Destroy the City."
Even though it was a different city.
Then ShineGreymon punched him in the snout to establish superiority.
Algomon reared back, as the many eyes on his body glowed a brilliant purple. But it was a distraction well needed. Before ShineGreymon's eyes, the city had transformed itself, most parts having receded underground to protect itself with shielded armor.
So they could protect themselves? Algomon could break through it all in a moment...
"JUDECCA CANNON!" his warped voice roared as a blast of purple energy shot out of his chest and into the heavily armored Greymon.
The entire city shook with his destructive power- lights flickered dangerously as the few scientists in Terminal Dogma that early in the morning stared out in surprise.
"Did that thing just Talk!?" Dr. Akage's cried out in shock over the intercoms. "Since when did Angels TALK!?"
"Today just keeps getting better and better!" One Lt. Maya Ibuki remarked with sarcasm.
Algomon was impressed. A single second blast at close range put barely a dent in the armor. A lot of cracks, but not a dent!
Algomon couldn't help but chuckle in delight. He was going to have fun with this.
ShineGreymon simply smirked- although all that one could see of it was the way his eyes narrowed.
Ritsuko turned towards a tech, "Any word from the MAGI?"
"They can't confirm or deny what the thing is!" the tech replied, "At their best guess- and they're stressing Guess- it's DNA code is somewhere in the Green spectrum."
"What the hell does Green mean?"
Energy...
Algomon turned his head away from the Dragon Knight he'd been fighting, towards one of three new energy sources descending towards the surface.
The first one that came down was bright red, looking humanoid, and majorly smaller than he himself, it was floating on jet engines that pulsed with the energy of a Kings and Gods.
How adorable!
"DISTORTION LINE!" he spat out a blue laser from his mouth- targeting the red one specifically.
Much to his surprise, The King of Digimon threw his right hand forward, transforming it mid air into a sword that sliced through the blue laser like it was nothing.
And then the Crimson one with Raven wings crashed into the back of Algomon's head.
"What Agility!" a tech cried out as they watched the fights over the monitors.
"BRUTE FORCE!"
"[What the-!?]" Asuka's mother, Kyoko, broke down into a string of German swears as Algomon's many back tentacles rushed out and threw ShineGreymon into the ocean once more.
CRASH! TUMBLE
"Agumon!" OmegaShoutmon winced as ShineGreymon's GeoGreySword landed in the ocean near him, having been thrown out of the Mega's grip from the sudden assault. "Ow.. That had to hurt."
"Which way was up again?"ShineGreymon asked, somewhat dazed from the attack.
Meanwhile, Algomon turned towards OmegaShoutmon, and smirked as those many eyes glowed brightly. "JUDECCA CANNON!"
OmegaShoutmon dodged, for once thanking his increased speed as he barely managed to outrun the continuous beam of energy spewing from Argomon's chest. "Gotta run, gotta run, GOTTA RUN!"
Thankfully, KinGRavemon swooped down with another Drop Kick attack a moment later, "COME HERE, BUG EYES!"
Algomon roared in annoyance as he stopped his laser attack and spun around to swat at the Gurren Lagann themed Digimon. "NO! YOU COME HERE!"
Shinji thought it was FRIGHTENING when the enemy taunted you, especially with such a warbling and high pitched voice that sounded much like a child's.
ShineGreymon was back to his feet, and reaching for his sword.
Algomon noticed it, and launched himself towards the recovering Digimon with a speed that shocked everyone.
There was the windup...
"BRUTE FORCE!"
WHAM!
AND THE PITCH!
ShineGreymon was hit squarely in the front of his left shoulder, tearing the armor from its support and making the Mega cry out in pain as he was sent sprawling to the beachfront from the momentum.
CRASH!
A puff of sand went up into the air, and Algomon turned his attention towards the vacant city.
Maya dropped her coffee mug in surprise at how easily the Eva-like DIgimon had been taken down, leaving only the two small ones on the field. "What...?"
Rei grinned as she stood on top of a building's rooftop, watching the fight from as high up as could be considered even remotely safe.
She Recognized one of those smaller Digimon, from her trip across multiple dimensions which seemed like a really long time ago now.
Algomon was beyond any Angel that NERV had faced before. The downed Eva-like ShineGreymon was still lying where he had landed, either too stunned to move or too hurt to even try getting up.
"Heheh..." Algomon snickered as OmegaShoutmon shot water arrows at him, "Toys, toys, toys! That's all these playthings are to me! What does anyone even need them for? They're so pitiful!" he threw his arms to the sides and roared to the sky. "WHERE'S MY CHALLENGE!? I was fighting so many TRUE warriors just mere minutes ago, and now that we've fallen into this other world...You give me THIS PITIFUL RESPONSE!?"
Nobody could tell what was worse, the fact that he roared with laughter again... Or the fact that he did it with such an irritating voice.
"Oh well," His red claws flexed, as he pulled back a fist to swat one of the two crimson armored digimon out of the sky, "I guess it's time for play time to be over. I have a city to demolish and all...!"
"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Suddenly! A female voice shouted out as an emerald light shot down towards Algomon, twin axes in hand as another girlish voice added in: "RECORD SCRATCH!"
SLASH!
A downwards cut, Zig-Zaging from Algomon's right shoulder down to his left hip...
Then the emerald light circled around several times- trapping Algomon in a sphere of purifying energies.
"Blood Pattern Red Confirmed from new contacts!" someone reported, not that anyone was listening- the glowing light show was simply too awe-inspiring to see.
"Brute Force." And Algomon said it so simply that DeltAntylamon was about to do a double take when the Record Scratch was simply shrugged off by Algomon's vines.
Things...didn't not look well at all. That was what Shinji decided as he stared up at Algomon from his spot on the balcony, still advancing towards Tokyo-3 without missing a beat...
'How do we beat this thing?' he wondered almost absent-minded-ly.
And then he saw something standing on the rooftop of the skyscraper that Algomon was walking towards, out of the ocean.
It was shiny, glittery, almost golden.
No.
Crimson.
"OI! ALGOMON!" a voice called from that glittery thing, drawing the beast's attention to it, and confusing almost everyone but Shinji and Rei at that moment. "IT'S ABOUT TIME WE PUT YOU DOWN!"
And then something off of the roof as the crimson thing took to the air.
SMACK!
Algomon roared as he fell backwards from whatever it was that hit him in the nose.
Rei couldn't believe what she was seeing. A girl had jumped off of a rooftop... Punching the beast that had been attacking them?
Rei squealed. "I love it! Absolutely love it!"
And then the unconscious ShineGreymon began to glow crimson.
"D.N.A. ... BURST!"
There was a sphere of crimson light forming around the Knight's body, growing as the shape inside reformatted its armor into a better form.
The sphere shattered, and the Evangellion like thing that stood inside of it was already on top of Algomon as it cried out it's name with a rough grab of the shoulder, pulling Algomon back into the ocean, "SHINEGREYMON! BURST MODE!"
While Algomon was distracted, DeltAntylamon shot down towards where the girl had landed from her insane stunt.
Rei turned to look, pulling out a pair of binoculars.
She grinned even wider.
First was the DATS agent's sister, Kristy Damon, her brothers' translucent Crimson Red Xros Loader still glowing with the light of evolution. She smirked as ShineGreymon Burst Mode made a splash of an introduction.
DeltAntylamon had split down into two forms.
Second in this introduction was the General of Xros Heart, Akari Hinomoto, holding a normal Red Xros Loader with Lime green highlights. A determined look in her eyes flared with the will of a thousand suns.
Third was the younger girl, the Human form of a Lopmon, named Kaiyumi, holding a Brown and Purple Xros Loader. She had once been waist height when compared to Akari, but now had grown up to half-a head shorter than Akari.
"Ready?" Akari asked.
"Absolutly." Kaiyumi nodded.
"Let's kick Algomon back to where he came from!" Kristy grinned.
*Cue DigiXros*
CHIME!
The Three Xros Loaders flared open as the trio taped the tops together.
"TRINITY XROS!"
"SHINE-GREYMON BURST MODE!" Kristy roared.
"READY!" ShineGreymon cracked his Knuckles and took a few steps back from Algomon.
"OMEGA-SHOUTMON!" Akari shouted.
"YOKAY!" The crimson, flight enabled version of OmegaShoutmon struck a pose in the air, grinning like the King he was.
"KIN-G-RAVEMON!" Kaiyumi called out.
"GOTCHA!" The Future Form of one Cutemon spun around, flashing sunlight off of his crimson armor.
"DIGI-XROS!"
"DIGI-XROS!"
*Cut to We Are Xros Heart! (instrumental)*
With a flash, the two smaller Digimon shot down into ShineGreymon as bursts of crimson energy, who began a quick and simple transformation. His white, gold, and red armor changed colors, to a burning crimson, a smoldering black, and a blazing green. His metallic wings were replaced by burning emerald flames.
His Lower legs folded up into their upper parts as new lower legs were formed from OmegaShoutmon and KinGRavemon. Then, in the center of his chest, a massive V Crest burst into existence, shining in a brilliant golden color as a pair of emerald shades flashed into position on top of it.0
The Digi-Xros summoned the Geo-Grey Sword and immediately transformed it into something a tad more practical- A Giant Silver Drill. Finishing off the transformation was the replacement of ShineGreymon's helmet: Now the head wore the face of Victory King: Time Seven!
"GALAXY FUSION! SHINEGREYMON: OMEGA MODE!"
Algomon gulped from his spot on the beach.
With a roar, ShineGreymon's chest V Crest glowed and emitted a red Energy boomerang, which he grabbed and then flung at Algomon.
Algomon- bless his feeble attempt at escaping- tried to stumble away.
The Energy boomerang split into two and slammed into Algomon, carrying him high up into the air and spearing his arms and legs out as he sort of...hovered into a stop.
"GEO! GREY! DRILL!"
The Drill-Sword seemed to grow ten times in size, and as ShineGreymon: OM jumped into the air, proved to be surprisingly more effective than the sword was normally, piercing through Algomon's chest opening with ease.
"I WANT- FUDGE!" Algomon swore just before he shattered into tons of gelatinous cubes of varying colors over the city.
Then with a satisfied nod, ShineGreymon: Omega Mode glowed brightly, and then shrunk down towards the ground, where his companions waited for them.
NERV HQ_ _ _| SOME TIME LATER_ _ _|
"From what we were able to record of the fight- the Monster that was shooting off laser blasts was identified by the MAGI as having a Blood Pattern Green," Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother, was explaining to the pilots, and pretty much anyone else who was listening into the conversation that was being broadcast over the entire base. "We're not sure what this means yet, but if it's any consolation, the Eva-like creatures all had Red Blood Patterns- meaning they're on our side, probably."
"So w-where'd they come from?" Asuka asked.
"And what was with the sky just before it?" Shinji added on another question.
"We're not sure, exactly," Kyoko answered. "We got readings from the sky that matched what we got from the Angel Leliel's attack-"
"But it's not the same," Ritsuko interrupted. "Like I was saying earlier..."
MEANWHILE!
Tokyo-3 was unlike anything Shoutmon- King of the Digital World, One of many generals of the Xros Heart United Army- had seen up until this point.
The Entire City seemed to be one giant fortress, consisting of many moving plates that could recede into the ground at a moments notice.
Apparently- Monster attacks were a common occurrence here.
Agumon- former partner to the DATS Consultant Marcus Damon and veteran Inter-dimensional traveler- wasn't happy.
"What's got you all riled up?" Akari Hinomoto- Queen of the Digital World, and another of the many Generals of the Xros Heart United Inter-dimensional Army- had to ask as they sneakily wandered through the streets.
"This is Tokyo-3," Agumon said simply, "and in all... my time in Rythm's company, we were told never to come here."
"Why?" Simon, a certain Cutemon's human form, asked, "Is there something wrong with it?"
"This universe has a few anime adaptations all across time and space, the story's always the same, even if the names and faces and events are different-" Agumon explained, "Tokyo-3 is the center of a massive warfare staged by two Angels- Adam and Lilith-"
"Aren't those...?" Kaiyumi, a certain Lopmon's human form, asked.
"Yeah," Agumon nodded as he shifted into his human form, "Ancient mythology and all that."
"Adam sent his eighteen angels to cleanse the earth- Lilith rose the Human Race, and they, in turn, made the so-called protectors of the planet, the Evangellions," Shoutmon continued. "For about every possible combination of this basic formula you can imagine, because of the basic nature of timeline bifurcation, there are ten times as many variations that you can't imagine-"
"But someone else did," Agumon finished. "And how did you know all that?"
"We met Rei Ayanami," Shoutmon said, "Remember? Besides, I've seen the show you just mentioned."
"A Show. Keep that in mind! This particular part of the multi-verse is unstable," Agumon got down to the point, "I've seen it from the outside and it's an ugly, tangled mess."
"Care to elaborate for the newbies here?" Kristy raised an eyebrow.
"Take a string, twist it around, and loop it a couple dozen times until the beginning is tied to the end," Agumon said, "Then take the strings making up that string, and splinter them out in every direction possible, sometimes looping back onto themselves too, and making the branches in the first place." He sighed, "The Eva-Verse is the very definition of why Time Travel is a dangerous thing in the wrong hands- let alone the constant Angel problem that threatens every single moment of of it's history."
"So...Quartzmon's Scout being banished here from that last world is a Very Bad Thing?" Akari asked.
"You know what he did to your earth?" Agumon asked rhetorically, "Well, take that and multiply it times Infinity."
"By the way-" Shinji realized suddenly that they were a pilot short, "Where's Rei?"
A nervous look swept across the room.
"I said that out loud, didn't I?"
"But anyways- since we haven't been atomized yet, I'm assuming Rythm was just being overly cautious," Agumon finished as he crossed his arms. "There's still a chance things could go critical though."
"So we should leave?" Kristy asked.
"No way!" Shoutmon shook his head, "I won't do that, if Quartzmon comes we've gotta fight him back with all we've-"
"Heee~eey."
Everyone jumped at the intruding voice from above.
"I should have expected this," Shoutmon chuckled slightly, turning around to look up at who had just spoken. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Rei?"
"Yup!" The blue haired girl grinned from her perch on a dumpster bin nearby. "A few weeks or so, give or take, since I left through that rift. Man, you guys got old!"
"Weeks?" Shoutmon shook his head, "Heh, yeah well, it's been longer for us."
"How long?" Rei frowned.
"Try three years," Kaiyumi said as she took a step forward, "three years, fifteen super computers, who knows how many alternate dimensions and timelines, and one stupidly hard to catch Digimon."
Meanwhile- in a shady room on a shady part of the planet- Twelve Monoliths floated in a circle, with silhouettes of the people behind them talking.
"This doesn't fit in with the Scrolls," Monolith 7 said.
"The creatures, from what we've gathered from NERV's computers, registered as either human or an unknown," Monolith 3 said. "This appears to be an outside influence, possibly incurred by the Sea incident several weeks ago."
"You think they brought attention down upon us, then?" Monolith 11 asked.
"It's always a possibility," Monolith 8 mused, "that this is sheer coincidence."
"There is no coincidence when it comes to this world," Monolith 1 determined. "We will observe the continued actions of these interlopers and NERV...Should they deviate too much from the Scenario...you know what we must do."
"So...Quartzmon?" Rei asked after she'd gotten the whole story spelled out for her.
"Quartzmon." Shoutmon nodded.
"Quartzmon...!" Rei's eyes narrowed.
"Quartzmon," Akari nodded in agreement.
"Alright alright," Agumon groaned, "we get the point already! We all hate Quartzmon! Now can we move on from this before it becomes another running gag?"
"Alright," Kaiyumi said, "what do you have in mind?"
"Look, I get that we've probably just stumbled into another Quartzmon plot," Agumon said, "and as much as I think we should stay here to guard it so that way he doesn't detonate a multi-verse wide bomb by messing with the very delicate nature of this universal cluster..." He glanced over at Kristy, then sighed, "I think we should fall back and get reinforcements so we're not going at this alone like we were against Piedmon."
Shoutmon grimaced, and Akari noticed.
"That's a fair point," she said, "I don't think any of us want a repeat of that."
"So you guys are leaving then?" Rei asked, pouting slightly.
"If it all works out alright, you'll never know we're gone!" Agumon grinned.
"I won't," Shoutmon said quietly.
"Eh?" Agumon blinked, "What?"
"I won't turn my back on them!" Shoutmon said- louder this time- "Not even for a single moment! I won't turn my back on anyone!"
"Alright then," Kristy smiled and pulled out Mar- Her Xros Loader, "we'll go get reinforcements and meet you back here then!"
"I'll stay too," Akari nodded. "No need to risk splitting up any more than necessary."
"I'll go with them to get some tower scanners," Kaiyumi said, "make sure there aren't any more hanging around here..."
"Sounds good," Shoutmon nodded.
"TIME SHIFT!" Kristy called out- holding the Xros Loader up into the air.
"Wow!" Rei blinked, then grinned. "You were right! I didn't even notice you guys vanish!"
"...uh." Agumon glanced nervously at the Xros Loader, "We didn't actually go anywhere."
"Let me try," Kaiyumi pulled her Xros Loader out, "The Xros Loader probably's still having a hard time accepting an owner switch..." She did that, and raised the digivice to the sky: "TIME SHIFT!"
"..." Shoutmon glanced around the alley for a moment, "Um, is it just me or are the fancy time gates not opening?"
"It's not just you," Akari frowned, raising her Wrister up to speak into it. "Hello? Can anyone hear us?"
Nothing came out of the device in return.
Not even static.
"Well this is disconcerting," Simon observed.
"Sooo..." Rei began, "Anyone want to go get sodas or something?"
A SHORT TIME LATER_ _ _| A RANDOM NEARY CAFE_ _ _|
The lot of them sat in the booth in the furthest back corner of the cafe- and the owners were glad to give them space after the wide smile Rei had flashed their way.
"So..." Shoutmon said as he stirred his drink with a straw, "The Xros Loaders won't work and we're basically stuck here for the time being."
"Well, at least here I can pay you guys back for letting me stay in your universe," Rei said before sipping at her own drink. "Still, though, this shouldn't happen, right?"
"We know Quartzmon has access to a Digi-Xrossing blocker," Akari said, "from what Kiriha said Machinedramon had set up on...That place." She avoided naming it at Agumon's slight grimace. "How hard would it be to prevent outgoing portals from forming?"
"Pretty hard, actually," Kaiyumi said, "given that the time storms reach out to every point in history in every universe and every time line and every branch...sealing a portion of the universe up would be really, really hard."
"But it's possible. And I think Quartzmon didn't have anything to do with this." Agumon spoke up, and began explaining when everyone looked at him, "Rythm used to issue orders to seal up certain timelines and dimensions. No fly zones as it were...The Eva universe cluster was one of them."
"Woah," Rei blinked, "My universe is a persona non grata?" Agumon nodded. "Awesome!"
"Not really," Agumon sighed, "Marcus' Data Link..." he pushed through whatever emotional pain he felt to explain, "it read off of a global time listing at the base's main computer. Dimensions and Timelines we shouldn't be allowed to enter were listed in it, and the Digivices that had Time Leap coordinate programs on them basically took that list and said; 'Okay, I can't go here, so I won't open up a portal', and it wouldn't."
"I think I see where you're going with this," Kaiyumi said, "since the Xros Loaders gained the Time Shift function from Marcus' Data Link, they retained that black list of universes. Right?"
"Right." Agumon nodded.
"So what?" Kristy asked, "We're stuck here because someone didn't think to program the things to not open portals from banned universes?"
"Pretty much." Agumon sighed. "Thank you for screwing us over once more, Rythm!" He grabbed a pen out of a pocket and began doodling on a napkin out of frustration.
"Okay, so if it's a problem of a broken black list," Kaiyumi said, "I can probably fix it so that way we can get out of here." She grimaced, "But I left my tools in the last dimension we were in and I'm not sure if I'll be able to access the old Data Link programming with anything I could get at a local store." She sighed, "I don't even know what the local tech level is like around here. I could be wasting my time if I don't have the right input readers..."
"You could borrow a computer at NERV," Rei offered. "Or I can sneak you guys in and get you what ever you need. My sisters would be glad to help too!"
Shoutmon chuckled, "And don't we know it."
"Okay, so we have a solution for the Xros Loaders," Akari said, "but what about the wristers?"
"Good point," Kaiyumi put her hand on her chin and tossed the thought over for a few moments. "If the same black list is present in the Wristers- which it probably is because I borrowed Xros Loader code for the Xros Time part of the Wristers- then they're probably blocked too." She met Akari's eyes with her own. "What about it?"
"Well," Akari said, "we know SpaceTrailmon and Locomon got their Time Machine upgrades from some point in our future thanks to an older Emmit, right?"
"Right," Kaiyumi nodded.
"So what if future us have already worked around this problem and installed the loophole into those time machines?" Akari asked. "If we can get a signal out to my dad, Kiichi, Hideaki or Rina, then they could come pick us up and then we could work on the problem at a better pace."
"So the problem is still working around the black list," Kristy said.
"Not exactly," Kaiyumi said, nodding slightly, "if we skip using the Xros Time part at all, and just go to a straight out SOS broadcast on the Wrister frequency, we might be able to get someone to come pick us up." She looked to Rei and asked, "NERV has large signal broadcasters, right?" Rei nodded. "Okay, so if we super-charge one of those broadcasters on the Wrister wavelength, we might be able to pull this off then. And even if that fails, I'd rather take apart a Wrister or two than muck with our Xros Loaders in this situation."
Rei grinned, "That sounds like fun!"
Simon just groaned, "Why do I have the feeling this is going to be a long day?"
"Hah!" Agumon laughed as he finished his doodle on the napkin: A poorly drawn cartoon Rythm with the caption: "BLUH BLUH! HUGE TROLL!"
SOME TIME LATER_ _ _| NERV HQ_ _ _|
Ritsuko Akage rubbed at the bridge of her nose as she reviewed the footage of that morning's battle for what seemed to be the tenth time that hour. It had been a relatively short and simple affair, as far as Eva Battles were concerned.
Done and over with with minimal damage to the city.
And then there was the Fusion.
Three creatures becoming one- Ritsuko was sure Rei would have a field day with this when she found out and would be begging to have the Eva's do the exact same thing.
"Heee~eeey!"
Ah, speak of the devil.
Ritsuko sighed and didn't even turn around, "Yes, Rei-?"
"Can I borrow this thing here?" Rei asked- evidently hoisting something up by the sounds of a shifting power cord.
Ritsuko turned her head, odd, Rei usually didn't ask to borrow things, but then again... "Isn't that the prototype portable power amplification generator?"
"Yeah!" Rei was holding the large generator over her head. "Can I borrow it?"
"...Why?" Ritsuko narrowed her eyes.
"'Cause." Was all Rei said.
"..." Ritsuko sighed, "You're just going to take it if I say no, aren't you?"
"Yup!" Such a cheerful grin.
It was too early in the day for this.
"Sure, go right ahead, just don't break it." Ritsuko sighed, and turned back to the recordings...
"Will do! Thank you!" And then Rei was gone.
Ritsuko wasn't sure if she should report it to Yui and Gendo or not...
"I need coffee," She decided it could wait, at least, until she'd gotten another cup of coffee.
Somewhere in a part of NERV's many usually unoccupied storage rooms...
"Alright, that's everything!" Rei said as she plopped the power amplification generator down on the ground. "How's it looking?"
"I think that we've just about got it done," Kaiyumi said as she worked on screwing together the clamp that held two stripped wires together. "If this works out right, we'll have a direct line to someone..."
"So we just plug this generator in, and then we're hijacking the satellite feeds?" Kristy asked.
"Yup," Kaiyumi nodded, though frowned as she moved onto another wire set, "just so long as I got all the wires right."
"You did Green to Red and Yellow to Pink and Blue, right?" Rei asked.
"...I think so," Kaiyumi's frown deepened a bit as she tried to remember.
"This plan isn't filling me with a lot of confidence," Agumon grumbled. "Sneaking into a military like base through the air ducts? Stealing technology just to whip up a booster for the Wristers? Something feels like it's going to go wrong to me."
"Shooosh!" Akari scolded the boy, "Don't jinx us!"
AINCRAD FLOOR 100: SCARLET JADE PALACE.
TEMPORAL DIVE MACHINE CONTROL ROOM.
ALFHEIM STANDARD TIME: 9TH OF FIRST MOON, 1806.
The control console remained dim as it ran in maintenance mode- with two pairs of legs sticking out from underneath the console as their owners worked on the delicate inner workings of the device.
Suddenly! An alarm sounded, followed by the machine's central cylinder sparking. Not a second later, one Yuu Amano let out a yelp of surprise and quickly climbed out from under the machine to deal with the problem.
"What the hell!?" He muttered as he checked one of the flat screen monitors that was showing a protesting alert image. A few button taps later and a lever switched- and the screen gave a reason for it's alarm:
"Incoming transmission?" Yuu frowned, then quickly hit the button to accept the incoming call. "Hello? This is Yuu Amano of the Xros Heart United Inter-dimensional Army. May I ask who I'm speaking to?"
"Yuu?" Shoutmon asked in surprise, although his voice was drowned out in static, "Is *KRIZZLE*ly you?"
"Yeah, it's me," Yuu frowned, "Shoutmon? Hold on a second, your connection's not very strong," he messed with a few buttons and levers, "I'll try boosting the reception on my end..."
The control console gave off another protesting spark- and this time the girl under the console climbed out to glare at the boy. "Thanks for that! You just blew the circuit I was replacing!"
"Sorry, Liz," Yuu apologized, and fiddled with another lever before the signal strength improved. "Okay, Shoutmon! Try that again please?"
"Yuu?" Akari's voice came out next- but thankfully clear and crisp. "I don't know what you did, but that sounds a lot better."
"I just had to adjust the phase tuning and raise some noise filters," Yuu frowned as he looked at the readout of the incoming signals. "Where the heck are you guys anyways? This isn't a very loud transmission you're putting out."
"We know," Kaiyumi sighed, "we've sort of gotten lost in another Dimension. Our Wristers won't broadcast out and our Xros Loaders aren't opening a time gate."
"You think you could send someone to come pick us up?" Shoutmon asked.
"Ah..." Yuu started using the Time Machine's many scanners to pinpoint the signal origin, "I don't think I can do that, per say..."
"Why not?" Akari asked.
"Well," Lizbeth spoke up, "for one thing we're stranded in another dimension that wasn't the one we came from! The maneuvering controls got all cut up in the fight to take them back and we're trying to get them fixed right now. But for the time being, we're pretty much a rock in the river."
"Okay, thanks..." Agumon said... "Just one question."
"Yes?" Lizbeth asked.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" THUNK. "Ow!"
"Very. VERY rude, Agumon," Kristy remarked.
"You Punched me!" Agumon protested.
"And You're getting hyper," Kristy reasoned.
"Anyways," Yuu coughed, "right now I'm not in a position to send anyone your way, and I don't think anyone else will be picking up on this signal either going by how weak it is."
"Where the heck are you anyways," Shoutmon asked, "that you're getting this signal even if it's really weak?"
"Well for one thing," Yuu said, "we're actually at the furthest edge of your localized broadcast. I'm trying to track down your dimensional coordinates right now...But we're on subspace chat, as far as I can tell, not hyper broadcasting like the Wristers work..."
"In plain English, Yuu?" Simon asked.
"Right, sorry," Yuu shook his head, "The only reason we even picked this up is a fluke, honestly. The system's not calibrated for this kind of long distance chatting..." he frowned as the system pinged with a slightly narrowed down result. "Wow, no wonder the signal's so distorted. Initial results are placing you near a decaying branch of a massive timeline cluster."
"No shit, Sherlock..." Agumon did a double take, "Wait. Did you just say 'decaying branch'?"
"Yeah," Yuu frowned more as he narrowed down the search to that single branch- and then the alert message appeared once more. "Damn. Guys...this machine's telling me that you're presently inside a doomed timeline branch. Like Digi-Quartz became when Quartzmon did his thing back home...Just slower." He glanced at Lizbeth who was frowning at the message displayed on the monitor as well. She shook her head. No- it was impossible.
"Yuu?" Shoutmon asked.
"Guys...according to this the timeline you're in is near total collapse." Yuu gulped as he read the information out to them. "Even if I got anyone out there in time, at this point the temporal decay's listing a jump in or out as impossible... In another five days, your time, that branch isn't going to even exist. Entropy is already cascading in..."
"W...What happens if we stay here when it's erased?" Kristy asked as the aura of doom fell down upon them.
"Chances are," Kaiyumi said, "we'll get dumped out into another timeline like Tagiru and Chou did. We're not part of this timeline, after all."
"Actually..." Yuu sounded really concerned.
"What is it?" Akari asked.
"The system's giving us a lot of conflicting data," Lizbeth answered, "but it looks like someone is actively going back into that timeline's branch after your arrival there and is corrupting it as much as they can."
"Corrupting how?" Rei asked, eyes wide.
Yuu didn't reply at first, but then said simply:
"Quartzmon's using a tower to keep the timeline from branching when he changes something." Yuu finally said with a flat and neutral voice, "That five day estimate? That's already dropped down to four as the ripples are catching up to you." He took a moment to let it sink in, and then continued... "You're going to be erased with the timeline when it terminates."
Yuu was crying as he stared at the screen, "I'm sorry. I...I can't do anything from here but hope...hope that... that..."
"That the other us got out of this without a scratch?" Agumon offered bitterly.
"No." Yuu narrowed his eyes in indignation at that remark, "That you guys find a way out of this and survive." He clenched a fist, "We've gotten out of worse situations than this...And You guys make up Xros Heart's heart! Without you...we're...we've..."
"I'll try messing with our Xros Loaders then," Kaiyumi said, "see if we can get out of here in one shot."
"Good luck, guys," Yuu managed to say just before the signal was terminated on the broadcaster's end. "...You're going to need it."
"Doomed?" Rei asked the room. "We're doomed?" Her eyes widened just slightly, "D...Does that mean that Third Impact is going to happen? That it's going to wipe this earth out entirely?"
"It means there's probably a whole different set of us just out there eating cookies and-" Agumon's negative rant was cut off by Kristy punching him once more. "OW! FUDGE!"
"Yes, fudge," Kristy narrowed her eyes, "now be quiet on all the negative talk!"
"Do you not realize that we're in an even worse version of what happened back on our world?" Agumon asked, frowning slightly, "We were just going to be erased by a paradox and the timeline was going to continue on then. HERE? We're going to be erased and EVERYTHING ends!"
"No." Shoutmon said decisively.
"What?" Agumon glanced at the King.
"I said 'no'," Shoutmon repeated, "We're not going to die."
"How the hell are you so calm?" Agumon asked.
"Because I've died once already," Shoutmon said, "and I came back from that. A *LOT* of people came back from that, in fact! But I made a Vow. [We. Won't. Die.] Not here! Not like this." He turned to Rei, "Take me to your leader, Rei Ayanami!" He narrowed his eyes, "I've got to have a lot of words with a lot of people in not a lot of time."
Meanwhile- on a direct path towards that Earth- a meteor drifted lazily through space.
It was then that a certain Time Hopper appeared before it and threw a laser beam through it's core.
KABLAMMMAO!
The Meteor exploded into many pieces- and transformed into Towers that accelerated faster towards the Earth...
Quartzmon chuckled silently in space, 'Drill your way through this one, Xros Heart.'
And with that- he bliped out of that part of the timeline into the Dirac Sea...
"TERMINAL DOGMA" CENTRAL CHAMBER_ _ _| NERV HQ_ _ _| A SHORT WHILE LATER_ _ _|
"And that, ladies and gentlemen," Shoutmon concluded his explanation of just about everything that had happened in the previous 81 chapters, "is why I- the King of another world- am here to help." He glanced around the room at every shocked and confused faces, then grinned and asked, "Any questions?"
Akari face palmed, groaning as she did such, "Shoutou..."
"Um, yes, actually..." Asuka raised her hand, "why do you sound like one of the characters from the first Digimon anime?"
It was Agumon's turn to face palm- along with Kaiyumi as well, both muttering, "She had to ask that, didn't she?"
"Right...uh..." Shoutmon frowned slightly, "Because it's one of those inter-dimensional coincidences, alright?"
"I've got a question too," Shinji spoke up.
"Okay!" Shoutmon pointed towards him, "What is it?"
"You mentioned a few times that your friend there has dreams of the future, or of things to come," Shinji said, "and that it can affect other people to a degree?"
"Yeah," Akari nodded, "I can see through time, and share that sight with others, even unintentionally at times."
"Right so," Shinji took a breath, "I had a dream this morning that you guys would show up to help us fight off a massive invasion of weird, bizzarre creatures. But there were more of you- in a ten part centaur formation, rather than that three part one from this morning."
"Xros Ten?" Simon asked aloud, "Wow, we haven't used that formation in over a year."
"Yeah," Shoutmon nodded, "I can't see how we'd use it, given that half of the people in that Xros aren't here with us." He shrugged.
"Probably just an increase in inaccuracy due to a lack of most of the participants not being asleep." Akari said, "We probably won't be fighting off a massive army of Towers or anything like that."
"Akari!" It was Shoutmon's turn to face palm, "Don't you remember what happened the last time you said that?"
"What happened last time?" Rei asked.
It was exactly at that moment that the Angel Alarm System blared to life- something, several somethings in fact, had just been detected by Space Radar on a direct course for earth.
Shoutmon simply pointed above him, even as a technician reported the above sentence to the room, and said: "That."
Not five minutes later, the pilots were suited up and heading for the Evangellions, with Shoutmon, Agumon, and Simon accompanying them to the Eva docks as they listened to Dr. Yui Ikari explain the quickly written up plan.
"The first wave of inbound targets will be entering firing range in a couple of minutes, you'll shoot at the targets as they descend towards you and try to take out as many as you can before they hit the city. Any who slip through, you'll have to sorte with if they're Angels." She continued on even as Shinji and Asuka climbed into their Entry plugs. "The MAGI still can't identify what these things are yet, but if the initial wavelength reports are accurate, we're dealing with more creatures like the one from this morning."
"Gotcha," Rei nodded as she continued on past towards her own entry plug- for Unit-05. "Hey, Go-kun! Remember Shoutmon? He'll be accompanying us out today!"
"Yo!" Shoutmon waved even as he jumped up onto the Eva's shoulder.
"It's good to meet you again, if only it were under better circumstances!" The Robot said. "That said, however! It will be an honor to fight alongside you!"
"Are you SURE this is going to be safe?" Agumon asked as he climbed up along side Shoutmon. "These things are going to be flung up at a really fast rate and we're not going to be tied down to anything!"
Shoutmon grinned at the boy, "That's the fun part!"
"But you two have wings!" Agumon continued to protest as Simon joined them. "If anything goes wrong I'll be sent flying up into the atmosphere!"
"I'm going to quote Terriermon," Simon said simply, "Momentai!"
"I am not going to take it easy!" Agumon panicked.
"They are going to be okay, right?" Kristy asked as she watched the above scene occur on a monitor above her.
"Yeah," Kaiyumi nodded as she worked away on connecting the Xros Loader OS to one of the NERV computers, "they'll be fine."
"What about you?" Kristy asked as she turned to Akari. "You okay with letting them go up like that?"
Akari just smirked as a technician called out that the plug depth was being set.
_First Child Recognized_ The Synchronization computer within the Eva called out, _Unit 05 Activated_
Within the LCL filled Entry Plug, Rei smirked, "Let's rock 'n' roll!"
With a jerk- the three units- 01, 02, and 05, were pulled along the railings at speed towards the entry tubes.
"Oh boy, oh boy," Agumon was panicking, "This is actually happening, isn't it!?"
Shoutmon just smirked.
"Better hold onto something," Simon reasoned, "he's got that look in his eye...!"
"EVA..." Yui called out, "LAUNCH!"
With a massive roar of hydraulics, the three Units were flung to the surface at the utmost urgent of speeds.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Agumon squealed in terror at the speed.
Kristy paled slightly, "Did Agumon just scream like a little kid?"
"That he did!" Akari nodded.
Unit-05 broke the surface and ground to a halt- flinging its shoulder-born passengers high up into the air.
"D.N.A. CHARGE!" Kristy called out as she held her Xros Loader high into the air, "OVERDRIVE!"
Mid-air, the three Digimon changed forms.
Shoutmon slid into OmegaShoutmon- Simon into KinGRavemon- and...
"AGUMON FLASH DIGIVOLVE TOOO...!"
As he evolved, Agumon did a backflip to land on his feet...
"SHINE GREYMON!"
And he did- as ShineGreymon.
"Guuuhh..." He wobbled a bit on his feet, "Remind me never to do that again..."
"No promises," OmegaShoutmon said as he floated down towards a pile of rubble left over from the previous battle. He'd need the ammo for what he was about to pull off.
For several tense moments, everyone got into position to defend the city- the Evangelions readied their massive guns, OmegaShoutmon drew up two Resonace Cascade Cannons, ShineGreymon drew his hands together and prepared to throw a Glorious Burst, and KinGRavemon readied two swords to dive into whatever managed to get through the gun fire barrage.
There was silence- even as the sky began to turn red with the heat of several objects entering the atmosphere...
And then came the sonic boom.
Buildings creaked and glass cracked- everyone grit their teeth as the shockwave washed over the city- and as the incoming Towers became visible...
"FIRE!" Rei shouted.
Weapons fired- lasers shot through the air- fireballs lanced upwards like reverse meteorites.
The descending Towers exploded, unable to defend themselves in their atmospheric reentry mode.
Explosions and Explosions occurred- but inevitably, several Towers made it through the firing clouds and began transforming into Digimon- rather large Digimon, at that, for those particular species.
Raidramon- Sagittarimon- Centarumon- Ceburumon- Hippogriffonmon- Wendigomon- those beasts hit the ground and began their charges towards the massive Digimon that were shooting up into the sky.
"STARBURST STREAM!"
Thankfully- KinGRavemon's speed, combined with easy access to the Hourglasses on those Towers bodies, was able to strike them down before they could reach their targets.
Akari frowned.
"Something wrong?" Kristy asked.
"There's something familiar about this," Akari said as her frown deepened into a grimace. "I Can't Quite place it...but there's something familiar about these Digimon that the Towers mimicked..."
"You're right," Kaiyumi agreed, "something about them...It's like we've seen this before..."
Yui Ikari frowned upon hearing that, but looked to the radar and checked the amount of incoming Towers, "Just a few more minutes, everyone," She said into the radio. "This wave is just about through..."
"JUST?" Asuka shouted, "Do you realize how many of these things there are that we've shot down already?!"
"Damn it...!" OmegaShoutmon growled as his cannons ran out of ammo, and he had to switch to the Heavy Metal Vulcan cannons to compensate, "This is insane!"
Finally- they let up on the gunfire as the remaining Towers got splintered into pieces by one of KinGRavemon's drill barrages.
Silence fell over the city as the smoke settled above them.
"Did we get them all?" Shinji asked.
Moments passed...
And then a massive Viral Cherubimon broke through the smoke cloud that was above them- grinning down eerily at them.
"Yeah," ShineGreymon grumbled, "I'm going to have to say 'no' on that one."
MEANWHILE_ _ _|
The Twelve SEELE members watched the scene before them with muted horror.
"With this development," One began, "I do believe we must give that dreadful order."
Three gasped, "Are you sure?"
"Gentlemen of SEELE, it is with grave news that I issue this order..." One continued.
"Don't say it, please don't say it," Twelve muttered.
"Release the Mass Production Models on T-" It was then that the entire monolith for One flickered into static, and then cut out as the entire transmission was lost.
"One?" Six asked, "One are you there?"
"Thank God that wireless transmissions can still cut out at the best moments," Nine said.
"Nah, somehow I doubt that's the 'best moment'," Ten countered.
"Why do you say tha-" And it was then that Four's Monolith flickered and cut from static as well.
"That would be why," Ten said as he fell to the floor on his end- a blade shoved through his chest.
The remaining men tensed up at the sight- even as Quartzmon's chimera face lowered into visible view for all to see. "Hello, there."
"W...What the hell are you!?" Three shouted in surprise.
Quartzmon's maw split into a wide grin- "Answer me this," he asked, "how is it that you think you can keep your people in line when you don't even have a strict enforcer who punishes anyone for the slightest offense to your orders?"
"What are you blathering on about?" Five asked. "That isn't what he asked at all!"
"I know," Quartzmon grinned, "Isn't that hilarious?"
It was then that the other remaining active monoliths cut to static suddenly and equally.
ShineGreymon and Unit 01 simultaneously pierced the Cherubimon Tower with their swords- breaking the Hourglass logo on its chest through and through.
"GRK-" The Tower grimaced- and then exploded into the standard shower of cubes.
"Well that was a stupid fight," Asuka commented. "Why the hell do Angels seem to universally have lightning attacks?"
"You've got me," OmegaShoutmon shook his head, "some sort of universal constant, I guess."
It was hours later, after the battle, that Yui and Gendo Ikari discovered that the SEELE council was not at their seats come time for the daily report.
It wasn't much of a concern- at first.
But when the reports came in from their sister NERV complexs in Germany and the UK that two random buildings had spontaneously exploded at the same time that concern began to grow.
A quick check of other countries and their UN sponsors revealed that a grand total of Twelve such buildings had been destroyed in identical explosions- all within a minute of each other.
"Well," Gendo said flatly, "it seems we no longer have the pressure of SEELE baring down over our shoulders."
"Yes," Yui mused as she put her hands over her mouth in an intentional borrowing of her husband's signature move, "it seems so."
"I know that look," Gendo frowned slightly, "what's wrong?"
"What could destroy them so thoroughly?" Yui asked. "And for what purpose?"
"I suppose we'll find out eventually," Gendo answered.
"What now, silly pink tortoise shells?" Rei asked to nobody in particular, "Hmmm?"
Kaiyumi, assuming the question was directed at her, answered, "I'll probably pull an all nighter writing a whole new interface program for the OS the NERV computers are running on," She sighed, "there's no way I can make anything connect as it stands right now. The level of codex encryption between them is just too different."
"So we're spending the night in a Doomed Timeline," Agumon crossed his arms, "great."
"Aw, don't worry about it," Kristy laughed, "we'll be fine! We've still got...what? Three days before the timeline dies out?"
"Yeah, I guess so..." Agumon sighed.
TIMELINE STATUS:
DOOMED
TIME UNTIL ERASURE:
TWO DAYS.
From Space- Quartzmon observed the world below turn silently towards its death.
He held back the smirk on his face. Oh- he would let them have this 'victory' and let them bask in it for the solitary night they had left to live...
In the morning, he would descend along with his next wave of Towers and kill them all personally.
Entropy would dissolve the remainder of the timeline shortly there after.
Ah!- and even as he thought that thought, the time remaining began to draw even closer to a dead stop...At this rate, it might all be gone before his morning announcement! He felt a flicker from the Sun- something in its core had destabilized. In another few hours- it would go Nova and incinerate everything in the solar system.
No No No! This just would NOT do at all!
Quartzmon drifted towards the unstable sun and threw a beam of energy into it. There! That should keep its internal fission and fusion and fissures intact until he needed the sun to be gone...
Wait.
That gave him an idea...!
Quartzmon's silent chuckle echoed through space.
TO BE CONTINUED IN:
X0VA-9! YOU WILL (NOT) DIE!
NEXT TIME:
'Two months later, and it's hard to believe how things have changed.'
"But I can't remember more from that point onward."
"My name is Bishop, he is my brother, Rook."
"So those two become PawnChessmon in your world?"
"Eh? What?"
"My sisters can control life and water- and my niece can hide any object she wants to no matter how big it is, just so long as she can get her hands on it. You'll get used to it."
"X0VA-8: THE HOWLING CASTLE MOVES!"
A.N.: *BAM BAM BAM! PCHOOO!* [A DeLorean Time Machine comes to a halt from a time jump.] [DTC climbs out, shouting,] Quick! What day is it? [Someone answers] ...August Tenth? Wow, am I really far behind schedule here. So...here's the deal. This chapter was MEGA!Delayed by my getting sick over the last week. _; On the plus side, I *FINALLY* got my LEGO DeLorean! [DTC pats the Time Machine's roof.] So, that's one good thing about today! Heh... ANYWAYS! Another reason this chapter was partially delayed was because I wanted to make sure that I could use the Nobody Dies universe for this chapter... I never heard back from the original author so I can only assume he either didn't get my message or did and just didn't have time to reply, and I'm going ahead to post this chapter anyways. Buuut, considering how this is technically a doomed timeline and Quartzmon is deliberately meddling with things to make it progressively worse and worse, I don't think it matters much for what I've got planned and for how little I'll be using this universe... ^_^;