Play of Spirits
Chapter 19 - Gaping Holes

There were no Kokuwamon in sight. Just a Snimon making gashes into the wall and Wolfmon dodging them all – though just barely. Junpei winced as another slash of the blade nicked his staff and Wolfmon stumbled into the reactor, before pushing off to dodge the next strike and aiming a haphazard laser had missed by a good foot.

And that glowing light was like a kaleidoscope. Junpei was distracted by it himself and he could only imagine how Kouichi, who hadn't managed that well with the burner at Flame Terminal, was dealing with it.

Another crash near him and he jumped. Wolfmon dashed over to the other side of the reactor and Snimon followed. Snimon, at least, hadn't seemed to have spotted him at all. Or maybe he thought an earth gnome would be a sitting duck.

It didn't really matter. He'd decided to do something about that glow and he considered it. It was coming from underneath them. That much was obvious. Through the cracks in the floor where Snimon's blades had nicked… and maybe some of those were from Wolfmon's blades and laser beams as well.

Which meant he needed to break the floor. Enough so that he could get down there but not so much as to tip Kouichi and Snimon down as well. Or the alternative would be to cover it up, which meant breaking the roof.

Hmm…

He wouldn't be able to reach the roof easily though. Wouldn't that be far too risky? He didn't know what was above them. At least he knew what was below.

Right, then.

He caught Kouichi's eye, gestured, and then swung the hammer, hoping the cracks didn't spread too far and that Kouichi had gotten the message and that the whole thing didn't just crumble on them because he'd gone ahead with the initiative for once – but nope. Rather, it seemed to have worked in their favour because Snimon hadn't caught the signal and stumbled, so Wolfmon managed to score a clean hit with his saber.

And Grottemon jumped down neatly though the hole he created. It didn't go very far down, but still Junpei felt pain shoot up both legs as he staggered on the landing. Oww…

And then he took in the sight before him. That… was most certainly another spirit. Like a beetle hunched up, and glowing fiercely like it was calling someone. Like how the spirit of earth had looked when he'd fallen towards it – and for all he knew, it had drawn him there in the first place. For all he knew, this spirit had drawn him too.

Except that didn't make any sense. None of them could make the spirits of ice or wind budge, so why was this one calling?

He reached for it anyway. It felt so much warmer than the earth spirit he had. So much more comfortable. Like static because he'd been rolling on the ground with magic tricks or little electronic trinkets. Like chocolate melting in the pan or in his mouth.

For a moment, there was a wall. Like that voice in his head telling him not to eat another chocolate bar. Sometimes he'd ignore that voice and go ahead anyway, though.

This was one of those times. He hadn't even brought enough chocolate bars to last a trip through another world.

He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was floating. His body felt lighter. It tingled, too. And he had wings. 'I can fly!' he cried. It was a pity no-one was there to see though. He flew a bit anyway, zigzagging in the hole the spirit had been in, before flying through his self-made crack. The earth spirit floated up as well. It must have gotten ejected from the device when he made contact with the other spirit. He wondered where it would go now. And what sort of attacks he had this time. And what the switch had been, that allowed him to get this spirit when the others couldn't change theirs.

There'd been a test they had to pass. Had he passed it?

But Snimon and Wolfmon were still fighting, and he should help them out.

Or not. Wolfmon had pinned Snimon to the single, unbroken wall. And the mantis was slowly crumbling into data. 'You didn't save any for me,' he pouted. 'And I came with a cool new spirit too.'

Wolfmon turned towards him. 'It was my responsibility anyway.' And then blinked. 'New spirit? And are you flying?'

'Yeah, not sure how it happened… but that weird glow thing? Turned out to be a spirit and lemmie tell you: this one is way easier to move around in.' He did a loop in the air to prove it. 'See?'

'I see.' Wolfmon grinned slowly. 'This one looks better on you, too.'

'You don't think a beetle is weird?' he hedged… though Junpei didn't think he minded the beetle-like appearance. He had nothing against them, even if it wouldn't have been at the top of his list.

'I think Takuya being a water nymph is the weirdest,' Wolfmon shrugged. 'But since he helped my burns and was off fighting a three-headed dog while I was unconscious, I can't really complain.'

'Well, you took out the big boss on your own,' Junpei pointed out. 'We've all got our strengths and weaknesses and things we're capable of doing and things we can't, and it's just a balancing act managing all of that.' He paused, thought about it a little more, then added: 'Maybe that was the point. Of us having incompatible spirits first off. To overcome weaknesses we didn't even think about or just tried to avoid.'

Wolfmon gave him a considering look. 'Maybe…' he agreed, before sinking against the wall and devolving. 'Does me not passing out or throwing up mean improvement?'

'Considering how distracting that glow was, I'm going to say yes,' Junpei decided.

Kouichi laughed and his eyes fluttered. The amused expression melted into shock and he was scrambling. 'Move!'

Junpei moved almost too late, but he managed. Kouichi had gotten a head start at least, and unlike Junpei, he could see what the danger was. Junpei just looked everywhere, wondering what caused the wind to rush past him so fast. 'Junpei-san!' Kouichi cried again – and then he shrieked as the hammer changed directions mid-air and came after him.

He dodged it though. Which was pretty impressive considering he was in human form. He was picking up those attacks fast. And Junpei finally spotted the problem. Grottemon, stepping out from behind the reactor.

…wait. Grottemon!

That made no sense at all, but Grottemon was going for Kouichi again and a head start was only going to allow him to dodge so many times in human form, so Junpei swooped in. Time to see what the new me can do!

He brought his fists down on the hammer's handle. 'Thor hammer!'

Electricity shot through the hammer and it fell with a clatter. Kouichi scrambled away from it, not wanting to get electrocuted by association. And Junpei couldn't blame him. That didn't sound pleasant at all.

Though that did mean the earth dwarf wasn't immune to thunder attacks like would've been the case in something like pokemon. That worked to his favour.

But still…

'Why are you attacking us?' Junpei asked, flying out of the way of a clumsy punch.

'You warrior of thunder,' growled the dwarf. 'Me defeat.'

Which didn't answer the question at all, really, but at least it showcased his intentions loud and clear. 'Can't we talk about this?' Junpei tried, dodging another strike. 'You're not the Snimon, are you?' The Snimon had disappeared entirely by that point… But was that even possible, for the spirit to latch onto the first non-attached being it saw when they got their proper spirits? In which case, shouldn't it be fighting tooth and nail to get to Kouichi, who was the one about ninety-nine percent responsible for its demise.

Considering there was no way Snimon knew that it was Junpei who'd kicked those events into motion, right?

Kouichi got back to his feet. 'You stay out,' Grottemon snapped.

'Oh-kay.' Kouichi blinked, but he kept a wary eye on the battle anyway. One hand was gripping that device. The other was clenched, as though trying to summon up digi-code and failing miserably. He was definitely sitting this one out after dealing with Snimon.

In comparison, breaking a measly lock didn't take much energy. It just too care.

Which meant it was up to Junpei, unless the others were done with their bits and came to help. 'Thor hammer!' he tried again. It smashed into Grottemon's fists and sparked.

Nope, no good. He needed something hardier. 'Lightning Bomber!' And he flew at Grottemon, ramming him into the wall. The wall tumbled down. And then the ceiling. Oh crap. 'Kouichi!'

'Here!' Kouichi cried, and Junpei grabbed him around the waist and pulled him out. Behind them, the roof crumbled like falling dominos, and they could only hope the Kokuwamon had gotten out – and the others hadn't come after them.

.

The others hadn't come after them. Instead, they were watching in horror as the factory collapsed and the Minomon were set loose on the wind.

And then gaping as a digimon they'd never seen before flew out of the destruction, carrying Kouichi to safety.

'That's Blitzmon,' Bokomon exclaimed, flicking through his book. 'The legendary warrior of thunder. 'But how did –'

'I got my spirit.' Junpei set Kouichi on the ground and did a spin in the air. 'And this one fits so much better.' Then he groaned and sat down, devolving as he did. 'But wow, flying uses up muscles I didn't even know existed. And ramming hurts.'

'We missed a whole adventure,' Tomoki pouted. 'What in the world happened?'

Junpei opened his mouth to tell the others all about it when something creaked behind them. 'Don't tell me he followed us,' Kouichi groaned.

Grottemon had indeed followed them. And the others stared as he broke out of the collapsed factory and slowly stalked towards them. 'Uh… what's going on?' Izumi tried. 'Junpei, how are you in two places at once?'

'That's not me!' Junpei waved his arms. 'I have no idea what happened. I touch this guy and that one pops out and starts attacking us. At least Kouichi took care of Snimon before that happened, otherwise it would have been a madhouse.'

'Considering we'd taken out three walls and half the floor before you got there, I think it was a madhouse anyway,' Kouichi corrected.

'How?' Tomoki blinked.

'Snimon's blades were pretty sharp. So is Wolfmon's saber. We wound up missing each other and hacking the walls to pieces.'

'…well,' said Bokomon, after the silence echoing that matter-of-fact statement from Kouichi, 'I for one am glad you didn't get poked to pieces instead.'

'Yeah,' Takuya agreed. 'Shows we made the right choices after all. Everything worked out perfectly!'

'Uhh…' said Neemon, 'the big mean dwarf's coming closer.'

They checked themselves. And each other. Both Kouichi and Junpei were out after that grand escape. Takuya insisted he was fine but flopped as well. Apparently he'd over-extended himself on running diversion. Izumi thought she could do a bit, but not a lot. Which left Tomoki to do the bulk of the fighting and that didn't sound like a great matchup, but as Junpei pointed out, if electricity worked against an earth attribute, there was no reason fire couldn't work either.

Though it would've been nice if Takuya could evolve. Ranamon's rain clouds should have been a big help, especially if Blitzmon's electricity could be combined with it.

Electricity…

A lightbulb went off in Junpei's mind. 'The Kokuwamon!' He stood up. His muscles ached but he managed it. In fact, he was surprised they didn't ache more. But maybe it was because he wasn't flying. And that was mostly his fault anyway. He'd been having too much fun flying in loops. He'd never been able to move in three dimensions like that after all.

He was sure that, if the others sprouted wings, they'd do the same thing. An entire other dimension opened up, after all.

The others stared after him as he ran into the compound, explaining his idea to the other Kokuwamon. They didn't have much water, sadly, but they did have cables. Lots of cables. And half of the humans couldn't evolve but they could certainly carry cables. And Izumi had detachable limbs that could safely throw them.

And the Kokuwamon could stay well out of the way and still help out. Or the ones who weren't on night duty, anyway. Junpei left it to the chief to sort that out. He busied himself carrying a cable over his shoulder instead.

'This was a smart idea,' Izumi said admiringly, as he handed the cable to her. 'Though it does seem weird Agnimon's struggling on a one to one match, especially after you and Kouichi already fought him.'

'I didn't fight him,' Kouichi corrected.

'No,' Junpei agreed. 'You just pointed out I was about to have my head hammered off.'

'Oh, gross.' But Izumi looked appreciative. 'You've got a sharp eye in the dark, don't you. Did you eat too many carrots when you were little or something?'

'Carrots help night vision?' Kouichi asked.

'Or that's what my parents told me when I didn't want to eat them. They might've just been making it up – go Tomoki!'

Tomoki, with the help of the Kokuwamon's electricity, managed to knock Grottemon back.

'All right!' Takuya cheered. The rest of them echoed the sentiment.

But they'd celebrated too soon. Grottemon was aglow when he scrambled back to his feet. The same sort of glow that Junpei had seen not that long ago. Even though it was impossible, right? There couldn't be another spirit in the factory?

But there was, and not even one for them. Grottemon was engulfed in it instead.

'What's going on?' Neemon asked, bewildered.

None of them could answer that. They could only watch, agape, as he transformed into something bigger. Sturdier. And looking a lot more powerful.

'Me Gigasmon,' he roared, raising his fists and hammering the ground. They fell like scattered dominos: the humans, Neemon and Bokomon, and all the Kokuwamon too. 'You no match for Gigasmon now.'

They scattered as the digimon leapt into the air and then landed where Agnimon had been standing. The tremor made the ground shake again anyway. The Kokuwamon huts fell one after another and they stared, horrified.

Agnimon's limbs became engulfed in fire as he lashed out. But the fire just bounced off the thick skin. The cables spluttered, ineffective. Arbormon tried to punch but they bounced off as well. Junpei, Kouichi and Takuya all reached into their pockets and tried to evolve again.

They didn't quite get there before the ground was lifted up from beneath them. One of Izumi's arms manages to grab Junpei, though the other misses by the sound of her cursing. The others scream, until he's not sure who's where except for Arbormon holding onto his arm hard enough to hurt.

It doesn't matter. He'll take that if they don't get separated.

Because the only other thing he can see is Gigasmon, quite literally, swallowing the ground up.

Then they were all falling and could only hope they managed to land in the same place and safe… and the Kokuwamon managed to get away. Because it would totally suck if they'd gone through all that trouble to free them from the factory and that Snimon, only for them to wind up out of the frying pan and into the fire.