Hello readers...well, I'll just let you get to it.
After this disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I don't even think about buying it...until now
VenomMyotismon
A small, orange-furred body stirred. Closed eyelids squeezed tight, and slowly opened. Azure eyes, glazed with weariness, glanced blearily around. Things took their time to come into focus, but soon recognition filled the little digimon's face. Its bat-like wings slowly unfolded as it tried to move toward the familiar faces. Matt gazed long at his brother's partner. His expression soon turned from surprise to alarm as he saw Patamon fail to fly.
"Hang on there, little guy." He turned to his own partner. "Gabumon, you think you can get through the bars somehow?"
The digimon didn't think about it very long, and walked up to the cell. "Blue Blaster!"
Cobalt flames burst from the rookie's mouth and swirled around the iron bars. Matt sighed. This would take a while. "Just digivolve and get it over with."
The rookie paused and took a breath. "Well, I thought melting the bars would attract less attention."
"Hey, it's not like you didn't make any less noise when you digivolved a while ago."
The digimon didn't respond.
"You know what I mean?" Matt said.
"...Gabumon warp digivolve to...MetalGarurumon!"
The wolf poised in front of the bars. "Stand clear, Patamon!"
The little orange digimon huddled itself in the corner. MetalGarurumon rammed forward, head first into the iron. The bars snapped and were bent back like tree branches, leaving a jagged doorway to freedom for Patamon. As the mega stepped away, Matt entered the cell and gently scooped up the rookie digimon. Patamon curled up, grateful to be in friendly arms again.
Matt stroked the digimon as gently as he could. "What happened, Patamon? Where's TK?"
The digimon gazed up at him with a bleak look. "I don't know. I've been in that prison pretty much the whole time I've been here."
"You haven't seen TK at all?" Matt asked, concern filling his voice. Patamon shook his head.
"No...they took me. It happened a couple minutes after we went to the DigiWorld to look for TK. They beat me up for a while and then left me in there. I couldn't defend myself; there were so many."
Matt hugged the rookie closer. "Well, we're going to find him."
Patamon only nodded in reply. The human turned to his partner.
"Do you think it's safe to dedigivolve?"
MetalGarurumon replied, "After this."
He charged forward suddenly, head-butting the heavy-looking doors at the end of the hall, nearly snapping them off their hinges as they flew open. All three winced at the noise.
"And you thought we were loud while digivolving," Patamon commented to Matt. The boy chuckled quietly as his partner glowed with dedigivolution.
The small group began to make their way through the rest of the castle. Matt recognized the place more and more as the pathways became more unreal. Bridges stretched between the walls, woven together in a huge tangled mess. Torches burned upside down more than they did right side up. Matt couldn't even tell which way was up or down anymore. The ceiling stretched up into black, and beneath them was a bottomless pit. The three had to stop to somehow get their bearings, and the human let out a groan. A maze. He definitely wasn't ready for something like this. His patience was thin already. Matt had long lost track of time, and was worried that maybe TK had been in the Dark World too long.
The thought of his little brother spurred him on, and they hurried on their way. The maze was treacherous. Pathways that seemed to lead to the exit suddenly fell away before them. Once Gabumon had to catch Matt and drag him back from over the edge. Whoever was trying to kill them with the illusions seemed to enjoy toying with them first.
The better part of an hour passed before they saw signs of progress. They had come to what seemed to be the last stretch, and Matt's heart beat with anticipation of getting out of the maze of tangled bridges. He was more than ready to take on the master of the castle. They had to proceed cautiously, however. There was no way of knowing whether or not this last bridge was a farce like the others. The door came closer, and Matt reached out his hand to make sure it was real as soon as they came up to it. The feeling of smooth, stained wood underneath his hand was a great reassurance. He grasped the handle and shoved the door open.
They had reached the throne room. It had the feeling of an old monastery, though much darker and uninviting. The stone was dark, almost obsidian-like, and a blood-red carpet ran from the door to the throne itself, climbing several sets of stairs in the progress. Matt groaned inwardly as he saw them. He was almost fed up with all the upward walking they had done in the past few hours. Tall pillars ran along either side of the carpet and beyond them were black shadows obscuring anything else in the room. A second glance at the throne in the distance showed that it was occupied.
The three began their approach to the apparent master of the castle. Matt stared hard at the figure, trying to recognize it as quickly as he could, though he already had his suspicions. He soon discerned the dark blond hair, red mask, and blue outfit. The vampire from years past. They hadn't quite reached the throne, but they were as close as they cared to be. All three glared at the evil digimon, who smiled at them in return.
"Welcome. You intruders are quite the persistent ones, I daresay. It would have done you better to have turned around." Myotismon said.
"Not in your life," Matt replied challengingly. Lowering his voice, he turned to his partner. "Go to ultimate instead of mega. You're stronger now than when we first met him. No need to waste energy."
The rookie nodded in reply as Matt held out his digivice. "Gabumon warp digivolve to...WereGarurumon!"
The wolf digimon began bounding up the stairs towards the vampire digimon. Myotismon chuckled audibly.
"Do you not have better things to do with your time? I had believed you would like to leave this abode of mine and move on with your mission." Myotismon stood as WereGarurumon was charging up the last set of stairs. "Allow me to show you the way out!"
A shockwave of energy rippled out from the evil digimon, slowing WereGarurumon's sprint to a crawl. Matt shielded Patamon from the blast and following rumble. After that, all fell silent for several moments as Myotismon raised his hands. In response to his movement, it seemed as if the very shadows began flowing out from behind the pillars, and made their way towards him in dark tendrils. Matt stared, transfixed as they swirled around Myotismon, soon hiding him behind a black cloud. WereGarurumon took several steps back as the darkness intensified, and quickly began multiplying. Without warning, the cloud burst outward in a blast of dark power as the room was filled with violet-tinted blackness. The energy grew rapidly, and in an instant had blown away almost half the room. Matt dropped to his knees and ducked, shielding Patamon with his body. When he lifted his head, he found WereGarurumon kneeling over him, protecting him from the surplus of darkness. The three gazed around at the ruins, surprised that they hadn't been harmed by the destructive force. Matt's jaw dropped when he looked towards there the throne had once been. Myotismon's mega form stood in its place. The evil digimon smiled wickedly, and raising his hands, let out a bloodthirsty warcry.
"He never learned to drop the steroids," Matt said dryly, and then ordered his digimon. "WereGarurumon! Go straight to mega! There's no time to warp."
The wolf digimon was already sprinting towards his foe, glowing with the next stage. Matt ran in the opposite direction as he heard his partner cry out, "WereGarurumon mega digivolve to...MetalGarurumon!"
"Don't hold back!" Matt encouraged as he turned to watch his digimon go to fight their old opponent. MetalGarurumon was in the air, racing forward to attack, but VenomMyotismon's huge hand suddenly came down and struck him like a baseball. The mech wolf was sent flying into the last standing pillar. It fell to the dust with all the others. Matt's partner was soon back out onto the field, considering a next plan of attack. Apparently, the evil digimon had thought that last hit was hysterical, and was laughing madly.
"Man, I wish we had WarGreymon here," Matt muttered to himself, realizing he was missing the other's company. It was hard fighting alone.
Patamon's voice came, small and scared. "Uh, Matt?"
"Yeah?"
"I...I can't feel him..."
Matt had to think for a moment about what the digimon meant. He soon replied, "Well, that's okay now. There's no way you can miss a vampire that size."
The rookie's look was confused for a moment, and then he shook his head. "No, not VenomMyotismon. It's TK...I can't sense TK."
"What are you saying?" Matt asked, anxiety filling his mind.
"I've always been able to sense his hope. It's always been there since the day we met. Even when I sacrificed myself to beat Devimon all those years ago, he still had hope. That was what brought me back in the first place." Patamon lowered his head, tears brimming in his eyes. "It's gone. I haven't felt it for a long time now."
"You mean..." Matt's voice faded as he realized what Patamon's words meant. He spun to his partner, who had been listening in. "MetalGarurumon! This fight has to end NOW!"
"I'm on it!" The mech wolf sprinted forward, remembering the first battle with VenomMyotismon. The beast within. He gained as much speed as he could, and charged for the evil digimon's midsection. "Metal Wolf Claw!"
He dove, claws extended, and tore into the mega's abdomen, cleaving clean through and out the other side. VenomMyotismon roared in pain. The mech wolf didn't stop there. Pulling a flip, he came around for another run, waiting for the evil digimon's real, vulnerable form to show itself. It did, with a loud, taunting sneer. MetalGarurumon wound up. "Grace Cross Freezer!"
The icy blast shot right into the beast's haven, and exploded on impact, filling the area with a flash of bright white light. Matt again ducked away, covering Patamon, but the energy passed over them quickly. He soon looked up to see MetalGarurumon walking over from the spot where he landed next to the throne. Black smoke was swirling away from where VenomMyotismon was defeated, and retreated back into the darkness.
"What do you think it means?" MetalGarurumon asked as soon as he reached Matt. The mech wolf had apparently noticed the smoke too.
Matt shook his head in reply. "Not sure. Maybe...the darkness took on his form to try and defeat us. All I know is that he definitely wasn't made of data there."
"That's for sure. Not even the first VenomMyotismon we defeated lingered that long."
"Where to now?" Matt asked as Patamon finally brought himself to fly. The rookie soon came to rest on the human's shoulder. MetalGarurumon gazed at their surroundings. There was no sky above the broken roof of the chamber, just more grey stone. Matt climbed aboard his companion and rode up and into the open. He hummed in thought as he realized the castle was built in an underground dome. "Any way out of this place, MetalGarurumon?"
"Nothing comes to mind...except for the loud way."
"Well, I guess we're not trying to hide from vampires anymore. Go on ahead."
"Alright. Hang on, my friend!"
The mech wolf soared up closer to the roof of the cavern, and poised to attack. The detonation was more than enough, and instantly blew away the thin layer of rock that kept them sealed underground. The three flew out into the open, grey, and humid expanse of the Dark World. They found themselves in a barren field, filled with tall rocks and dotted with bottomless pits. It wasn't much more inviting than the place they had just escaped from, but at least it was lighter. The mech wolf landed, allowing his passengers to disembark. Matt stretched and MetalGarurumon dedigivolved, but soon all was business.
"Time to get a move on." The boy said decidedly. Even if Patamon couldn't sense TK's hope, the boy could still be alive somewhere. Matt told himself he needed to keep at least a little faith going. It was enough to keep him motivated for a while, but he sighed after they had only walked a few paces. "I have no idea where to go. Maybe if you two could keep a look out for any evil digimon, they may lead us to him."
"Right," Patamon replied.
"Sure thing," Gabumon encouraged.
They continued walking in silence, eyes and ears wide open. Matt didn't like the thought that TK was having to deal with enemies like VenomMyotismon alone, but even if an evil digimon was a clue to finding his brother, he was more than ready to take it.
Werewolves over vampires! No, I'm not a twilight fan.
Until next time!