Chapter 26: A Glimmer of Hope
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Dislcaimer: Don't own Digimon.
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She made her way through the barriers between the worlds, searching for someone that could fulfill the task set before her by the Olympus XII, an experienced team. She hoped that she could get back before the enemy got too powerful. For Kuzuhamon, her world meant everything, meaning that she'd do anything to save it.
After narrowly escaping the wrath of the Sovereign Zhuqiaomon for reading his mind and tearing information from him on any local digidestined, she made her way upwards, toward the globe that was so close to the orbital digital world.
So she slipped into the sphere in the orbital digital world's sky, ready for the next step in her plan.
###
Takato hurried. He hated that he was running late today, especially since as far as he could tell, everyone was already at the emergence site and they were still dealing with whatever it was. It had to be strong if that was the case.
"What up, Chumley?" the goggle-headed boy heard. He looked to his side to see Kazu catching up with him.
"Hey, Kazu, how's it going?" he asked.
"Same old, same old. The new teacher's been assigning us with way too much homework," the visor-wearing boy responded. "Hey, Tadashi's going to be having a group over to watch a movie tonight. You want to come?"
"That sounds like fun? How about you, Guilmon? Want to come?" Takato asked his partner who was running right beside him.
"That sounds cool, Takato," the red dino responded.
"So, what movie are we watching?" the goggle-headed boy asked out of curiosity as they got to the digital field that encompassed the monkey bars in the middle.
"Tadashi hasn't decided yet," Guardromon indicated as the quartet jumped into the digital field.
As soon as he entered into it, Takato knew something was off. He immediately started feeling drowsy and almost instantly collapsed, barely noticing the purple figure in the middle of the digital field.
###
The next thing he remembered, Takato was waking up in the middle of a straw hut of sorts. He had no idea where he was. The inside of the hut was decorated with masks and boomerangs, and a Sepikmon noticed him stir. The masked digimon immediately ran out of the small building and a woman walked in, looking like Sakuyamon only purple.
Okay, what the heck just happened? The brown-haired boy asked himself.
"Take it easy," the purple-clad shaman admonished him, using her hands to keep him from getting up too fast.
"Where am I?" he asked the woman.
"You're in another digital world. Don't worry, you're safe for now," Kuzuhamon said in as soothing a voice as she could muster.
Takato's eyes widened. "What are we doing here?" he asked in confusion.
"I brought you here," the purple digimon responded. "I needed your help."
"You kidnapped us, that's what!" Takato and Kuzuhamon turned to see an angry Rika, glaring at the shaman.
"I needed your help. Don't worry, it should only be for a few days," Kuzuhamon responded. "And besides, time passes faster here. Your families will barely notice your disappearance."
Rika cooled down a little bit, but she was still ticked at the Mega. Still, there wasn't much she could do at the moment, so she just figured she'd play along, get rid of whatever bad guy she was brought here for and get out. That is, unless Kuzuhamon was a bad guy instead.
Kidnapping was something that one just shouldn't do, no matter their intentions.
"So, where are the others?" Takato asked.
"They're slowly getting up," the red-head replied. "You think we should have a meeting about all this?"
"Yeah, that's a great idea. By the way, Kuzuhamon, what do we have to deal with, anyway?" Takato too found the situation suspicious, but he was willing to give the dark-haired digimon the benefit of the doubt.
"We have a threat that has been steadily growing bigger in the digital world. In fact, it has taken over most of this continent since I left to find you," the purple-clad digimon responded. "Like I say, time travels faster here." It was something that she didn't know when she first headed to their world; otherwise she would have hurried up far faster than she did.
In fact, she was starting to have her doubts about this plan working since the Emperor could control Megas now and controlled far more territory. He even controlled the area where the Dimensional Corridor was, so she couldn't go anywhere for reinforcements.
She wanted this to work, but she had to prepare for in case it didn't.
###
"So, we just need to beat this Emperor dude. Piece of cake!" Kazu exclaimed, confident that they could do it. The group was at the dining table, a large, mahogany piece of furniture.
"But if Kuzuhamon is telling the truth, the Emperor has Control Spires much like Ken," Henry objected.
"Oh, come on, just blow up a bunch of those stupid things and it'll all be over. Momentai!" Terriermon exclaimed, enthusiastic about finally having an actual enemy to take on instead of some wannabe.
"Terriermon, we don't know it will be. For all we know this guy's leagues ahead of Ken," the Chinese boy remarked.
"Still, the sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we leave," Rika told the group. "There's no way I'm staying around here much longer. I've had enough of other worlds the last time we were in the Digital World."
"I agree," Ryo concurred. "I'm done with these adventures and I'd rather be at home. I'm tired of having to be held back in school and I just want to have a normal life."
Takato nodded at that one. He was already starting to miss his family even though it hadn't been that long. "Okay, so all in favor of beating this guy as quickly as possible?"
Everyone raised their hands, wanting it so bad.
###
"So, where is the Emperor's base?" Rika asked Kuzuhamon as she, Takato, Ryo and Henry drew up plans to perform a surgical strike. Since the four of them were the only ones that could reach Mega, they decided to do it themselves while Kazu and Kenta held the fort.
The purple-clad Mega pointed to a location on the map in front of her. "Our intelligence has pointed to here as where the Emperor is living. Right now, we are here, relatively close to the border." She pointed at a location further to the south of the Emperor's territory.
"What about the local rulers of this world?" Henry asked. "What are they doing?"
"Unfortunately, the Olympus XII were either sealed away or enslaved by the Emperor," Kuzuhamon pointed out. "Either that, or they were deleted."
"Okay, so this should be simple," Rika commented.
"I don't know," Henry said. "There are the Control Spires to deal with."
"We'll just destroy every one we find along the way," the red-head responded. "Plus, we can all fly, right?"
"I can't," Takato responded.
"And neither can I," Ryo added.
"I can assist you in this," Kuzuhamon told the group. "Takato, are you aware that there is data inside of you that should allow a mode-change?"
"Uh, yeah, I did that before, actually," the goggle-head replied, smiling.
"Good, you might need it," she told him.
"So, what about Ryo?" Rika inquired, doubting that she would be of much help there.
"I shall accompany you to the Emperor's headquarters," Kuzuhamon replied, hoping to get on the team's good side, "and I will use my powers to carry Ryo with us."
"Sounds good to me," Ryo said before turning to a certain red-head. "So, wildcat, ready for our mission?"
Rika rolled her eyes. She was already dreading the whole thing.
###
The trip didn't take too long. MegaGargomon managed to destroy every spire from long distance, only losing a single piece of ammunition for each one. In the meantime, they got to enjoy the view from up above, passing through plains, mountain ranges that seemed to go on forever and a vast desert. Eventually, they reached the base, destroying every spire around it. It was situated in some badlands and looked like some sort of twisted, spiked tower on top of some red-rock formation. There were also many other formations that looked similar to the arches in Utah or something one would see on some alien world. Takato swore he saw the Guardian of Forever somewhere down there.
So they entered the building, disposing of every digimons' rings and spirals as they went through. So far, it had been easy. Almost too easy…
Then they found themselves in a room with the Emperor inside. The man was just standing there, wearing a long, black robe and a pointy, triangular mask that covered his entire face. He also had brown hair just on top.
"Oh, so you must be the digidestined that the rulers of this world decided to bring here. How exquisite," the Emperor joked. He looked to be someone in his early-to-mid-twenties. Obviously he had been here for years already.
"Okay, buster, what's the big deal? Why are you trying to take over this world, anyway?" Rika asked from inside Sakuyamon.
The Emperor just shrugged. "Well, as it turns out, while you losers are here, I'm in the process of invading that precious village that you came here from." The Emperor gave a flick of his fingers and images appeared all around him of an army of Ultimate-Levels led by the Mega-Level Merukimon laying waste to the village they started out in.
"What? No!" Takato gasped.
"Oh, yeah, I know," the Emperor said. "What a waste. Don't worry, your two friends that are still there will still be alive. They'll just be part of my awesome army."
Justimon moved forward. "That's not going to happen. We'll beat you today."
The Emperor just laughed. "Oh, is that true?"
Then he flicked his fingers again and his hologram disappeared. In his place stood another member of the Olympus XII, Vulcanusmon.
The Tamers fought him hurriedly so they could get back to Kazu and Kenta.
###
In the meantime, Kazu faced down Merukimon with Andromon. The battle was a disaster. So far, the cyborg was getting thrashed and was starting to lose most of his armor. There was no way that he was going to let himself lose. Even with MarineAngemon dealing with some of the Ultimates, they were still losing the town.
Then a spire came up just outside of town and everything went down the tubes.
Andromon immediately devolved back into his base form of Guardromon, causing the battle to be even less in his favor.
He couldn't bear to see his partner lose. Not now, not ever. He had only recently achieved Ultimate during one of the battles following the Parasimon Invasion. There was no way that he could reach Mega.
Maybe he could. He had been partners with Guardromon long enough.
"Come on, man, we have to beat this guy. Just aim at the Control Spire, man," he ordered.
"Alright!" The rust-colored android's arms opened and he shout out a salvo of missiles, which Merukimon simply intercepted, causing them to harmlessly impact his chest.
"Dang it!" Kazu shouted.
"What now?" Guardromon asked.
"We need a miracle. Come on, man, we need to defeat this guy together, even if we don't have digi-eggs with us." Kazu's fists clenched in determination.
With that, his digivice shined. He had never counted on Biomerging to work in the middle of a Control Spire Zone.
BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION
"Guardromon biomerge to… HiAndromon!" The rust-colored android merged with his partner to become a black, humanoid digimon that had a look similar to his Ultimate form except far more complete with red and blue shoulder pads shaped like skulls.
The digimon faced his enemy, prepared to either delete it or destroy the Dark Bangle on his right leg.
###
Volcanusmon moved forward and attacked Sakuyamon with his six knives. Sakuyamon barely had a chance to protect herself from the six attacks at once, but she stood her ground, whispering something as she did so. In the meantime, the other four Megas struck as well.
"Spirit Strike!" several ephemeral foxes of different colors flew out of Sakuyamon's staff, striking Volcanusmon's arms.
"Royal Saber!" Gallantmon Crimson Mode yelled, striking the Greek god in several different places along its body.
"Gargo Missile!" MegaGargomon shouted, opening up the frowning dog-faces and unleashing a salvo of missiles at the god.
"Justice Burst!" Justimon called out, transforming his right arm into a cannon and unleashing a beam of lightning, aiming for the dark bangle. The device was still there, clinging onto the Volcanusmon's back left arm for dear life despite some cracks that were on the surface.
The god decided to attack again once the four Megas finished their strikes. "Pinpoint Weapon Works!" The digimon instantly produced a machine gun, the Oro Salmon, and fired it at his opponents. Thankfully, it was only an Ultimate-level attack. However, it was more than a little annoying.
Gallantmon had enough. "Royal Saber!" he yelled, striking the Dark Bangle with his sword and shattering it.
"Naughty, naughty, you shouldn't have done that!" the Emperor's voice echoed throughout the chambers. Suddenly, they heard explosions all around them.
"What is that?" Sakuyamon asked as they turned around to exit.
"I set a bomb to go off once you destroyed my Dark Bangle," the Emperor explained as a hologram that stood in their path. The five Megas made their way through the projection and straight out the window of the building, flying towards non-imperial territory.
"Well, that was a waste of time," Ryo commented from inside Justimon as he rode on MegaGargomon's left shoulder.
"No kidding. We couldn't even save Volcanusmon," Rika remarked, annoyed. "I hope the others are having a better time than us."
"We did what we could, guys," Takato told the group from inside Gallantmon Crimson Mode. Still, he hoped that they could get out of that world in time.
###
HiAndromon moved forward, preparing an attack. "Atomic Ray!" he yelled, aiming straight at the Dark Bangle. Unfortunately for him, the god was too fast, dodging to the right. The cyborg looked on, preparing for an attack from the Olympus XII member.
"Thousand Fist!" Merukimon shouted, teleporting close to HiAndromon and giving the newly-evolved Mega a barrage, pummeling the cyborg's entire body. HiAndromon was thrown back and had a hard time getting up. He could also see fissures all over his obsidian armor.
Unfortunately, the god wasn't finished. "Spiritual Enchant!" he yelled, causing a rift in space-time to appear and various apparitions to come out. The phantoms headed straight for the cyborg, who braced himself.
"Digi-Modify! Mirror Shield Activate!" HiAndromon looked up to see Kenta to his side along with MarineAngemon. The attack from Merukimon didn't even graze the cyborg's armor.
"Man, am I glad to see you!" Kazu exclaimed from inside his partner's Mega form.
While they were still under the dome, MarineAngemon shot a group of hearts at HiAndromon, healing the fellow Mega. The Cyborg then got up, ready to strike.
"Copy Paste! Spiritual Enchant!" HiAndromon yelled, taking steps to seal up the space-time rift that Merukimon had created before the apparitions could damage him even more.
Showing how unreasoning he was as far as strategy was concerned, Merukimon struck using a different attack, albeit one that HiAndromon already knew about. "Thousand Fists!" The god teleported in front of the cyborg, who was still shielded by the Mirror Shield card that Kenta had scanned, meaning that the attack didn't damage HiAndromon at all, but instead hurt Merukimon in a thousand different ways. Seeing the opportunity and eyeing the dark bangle on the leg, the cyborg struck one last time.
"Atomic Ray!" HiAndromon yelled, shooting at the device that was controlling the Olympus XII Digimon and destroying it.
Merukimon fell backwards after the dark bangle was shattered, feeling something on the back of his neck. Whatever it was, it activated quickly, destabilizing the data in the god's entire body, causing him to disintegrate into nothingness.
HiAndromon just looked on, shocked that the digimon would have been rigged in such a way. Whoever this Digimon Emperor was, he was definitely a horrible person. Then again, Kazu thought about how he may have had a dark spore in him. Still, Davis' team never had to deal with this.
The visor-wearing boy clenched his fists. He was going to show the Emperor who was boss even if it was the last thing he did.
###
Seven Years Later (Almost Three Months Normal Time)
The truth was that when you woke up from sleep, you expect to be in your bed. Unfortunately for Rinchei, that wasn't the case. The dark brown-haired eighteen-year-old instead found himself asleep on cold, rock-hard ground and was confused as he got up. He adjusted his glasses as he did so and looked for his partner, Dorumon, who was lying right next to him. He was surprised to find himself dressed for the day in his normal outfit as well.
Rinchei stretched out before walking over to his partner and shaking him. "Ten more minutes…" the digimon mumbled.
"We're not in my room, Dorumon," the eighteen-year-old told him. He pulled his digivice out of his pocket and checked it, hoping to find an exact location. Instead, he found a world map that was altogether unfamiliar to him consisting of one continent from pole to pole with a mass of black signals covering most of it and he was right in the middle of it along with another digivice signal.
"Where are we?"
"I have no idea," the teen replied. This didn't make any sense. He had to be in a dream. Still, he had to track down the other signal, so he walked toward it, navigating the cave's chambers.
"Do you think we're in the digital world?" the purple animal asked.
"I'm… not sure," the dark-haired man replied. He continued on.
"Yeah, doesn't look like home to me," Dorumon replied.
A few more minutes of walking and the duo came across a sleeping Kurita and Liollmon, lying on the ground. "Hey, Kurita! Wake up!" he yelled out, hoping to get the heavy teen up.
"Just give me a few minutes, mom," Kurita said, prompting Rinchei to try a different tactic.
"You're going to be late to school!" he called out in a falsetto before chuckling at the ridiculous voice.
"What? Not again!" the blond exclaimed, shooting up. Then he realized he wasn't in his room. "Oh, where the heck… Rinchei? You pretended to be my mom?" Kurita was seriously disturbed.
"Right…" the skinny boy said, chuckling at himself. "So, you have any idea where we are?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," the blond said, picking up his partner who woke up. Somehow Liollmon had slept through the commotion though Kurita couldn't figure out how.
"Maybe we should head outside," Rinchei suggested as he walked through the cave, using his digivice's map program to guide the group of four.
After about ten minutes, they made it out of the cool cave and into a hot desert. "Wow, it's like a sauna out here!" Kurita exclaimed, shielding his eyes from the sun.
There were sand dunes for hundreds of miles but that wasn't all. There were also numerous black obelisks dotting the landscape in a pattern. Also, in the distance, the duo could see giant sandworms swimming through the dunes.
"Let's see, those are Arrakimon, Ultimate Levels," Rinchei told Kurita, reading from his digivice.
"Wow… Ever read Dune?" the large blond asked.
"Never heard of it," Dorumon replied.
"I can't say I have either," the skinny teen responded. "Still, it doesn't look like it's very safe out here."
"I agree. There's no way I'm going to stay out here much longer," Kurita commented as they went back into the cave. "For all we know we might find some Fremen in here."
"I have no idea what those are, so you'll have to enlighten me," Rinchei told the large man as they sat down.
"Well, how about we talk about something more important. You know what those black obelisks are?" the blond asked, grinning slightly.
"No, I don't," Rinchei answered, scratching his chin.
"Those are Control Spires. They restrict digivolution," Kurita responded before pulling out his digivice and looking at it. "And it looks like they cover half the continent if that's what these black signals are."
"Wait, so that means we can't digivolve?" Dorumon asked, a look of fear coming across his voice as Kurita nodded.
"Great… So, who put those there?" the skinny boy inquired.
"There's a Digimon Emperor ruling this place. I have no idea who he could possibly be, though," Kurita deduced. "Man, and to think everything was going to be easy until we went to the digital world with Immy and the others."
"Immy?" Rinchei asked, slightly confused.
"Mr. Immortal. I have to find a name for that guy that's not so verbose."
"Right… Doesn't your last name have like five syllables in it or something?" the skinny guy inquired, narrowing his eyes at his friend.
"Okay, you got a point. I wonder what his real name is," Kurita mused.
"You really think he's immortal?" Rinchei asked, doubting, raising an eyebrow.
The blond shrugged. "Maybe he's like a highlander so he can die by beheading," he suggested.
"Talk about a bad joke, plus I don't know what that is either. We have to do something…" the dark-haired teen said. "Maybe we should leave at night and then destroy those control spires."
Kurita thought about it for a few more seconds before answering. "We should leave at night since it's so dang hot out, but I don't think we should destroy them since the Emperor might notice them."
###
In a remote section of the continent, someone with brown hair who was wearing yellow goggles over their eyes was sitting while looking at various maps on a number of computer screens. He had detected Rinchei and Kurita's signals, though he had no idea who they were. All he knew was that there were now two signals that were unaccounted for and that they were deep in enemy territory.
He pulled out his white and gold D-Arc and looked it over before calling out for his partner. "Guilmon, are you ready for a trip?" the brown-haired man asked, clipping the digivice to his belt. He was wearing a black leather jacket with feathers on the inside and around the collar as well as brown pants.
"Yes, Takato, where are we going?" the red dino asked, running into the room.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" someone else asked. Takato looked up to see an older and wiser version of Henry walk into the room.
"What are you thinking?" the brown-haired man asked, looking at his friend of many years. He had some stubble on his face from not shaving in a few days.
"Well, you're the Emperor's number-one target. I think we should send in someone else to check out these signals like Kazu," the dark-haired man suggested.
"Okay, I'll do that," the brown-haired man replied before pressing a button on their base's computer. "Kazu Shioda, are you ready for a trip?"
"Are you kidding me? I'm ready to get away from this whole patrolling thing more than anything," Kazu replied through the communications network enthusiastically. "Just tell me where to go, man, and I'll go straight there!"
"They're in the middle of the Pangaea Desert, on the edge of an Arrakimon Colony. I want you to investigate and possibly bring these guys back," Takato explained.
"Alright, I'll head straight there, man!" Kazu exclaimed. "Kazu, out!"
###
Once nightfall hit, Kurita and Rinchei made their way out of the cave, being careful not to draw any attention to their location. The duo ran across the desert, being careful to remain close to any Control Spires. They basically ran from black obelisk to black obelisk. Thankfully the moons, one a pink crescent and the other yellow and almost full, helped them find the things.
So, they ran, though slowly and steadily. Hopefully they wouldn't have to do any fighting, especially since they had both only reached Champion a little while ago and some Ultimate-level sandworm would probably eat them.
They continued on while Kurita scanned the giant devices, hoping to find their source or weakness, but to no avail. He was probably going to need help to find that. Still, he continued on with his friend as they went from spire to spire.
It took them a long time to traverse the vast desert and it was dawn before they saw some mountains in the distance. The duo held their breath, hoping to reach that area before the sun rose completely. Unfortunately, it was completely up before they even reached the end of the desert and the start of grassland, meaning that they would be visible to whatever digimon that showed up. Still, they pressed on.
However, they were forced to stop when they saw a digimon heading straight for them. Kurita could identify the angel in front of them even without a digivice. "Piddomon, Champion Level, Vaccine Attribute!" the blond shouted just as they reached a nearby Control Spire. "And, yeah, he's got a ring on him!"
"Crap," was all Rinchei could say, his right eyebrow twitching. "Well, we know what to do. Dorumon?"
"Liollmon?" Kurita asked. The two beasts both nodded and attacked the Spire.
"Liol Claw!" the lion shouted, nailing the control spire his front paws.
"Metal Cannon!" the purple beast yelled, shooting a silvery sphere at the spire, causing numerous cracks to appear over its surface.
The tower crumbled, falling into the grass. There was a little bit of electricity that emitted from the tower as well as it fell.
"Digivolution Activate!" the duo yelled out, holding their digivices.
"Dorumon digivolve to… Dorurumon!"
"Liollmon digivolve to… Liamon!"
The two large beasts braced for an attack as Piddomon headed straight for them. However, the angel stopped, no longer under control of the ring. Immediately, he snapped the mind-control device off his arm and faced his would-be opponents.
"Thank you for freeing me," Piddomon told a pair of astonished teenagers. "I feel we should travel together. You know, for safety in numbers."
Kurita looked at Rinchei, slightly surprised. "Did we just get through that without a fight?" he asked.
"Well, that simplifies things," the brown-haired teen replied dryly, his eyes narrowing before he turned toward their new ally. "Okay, we'll accept your offer."
"Are you sure? He almost attacked us," Dorurumon asked.
"On the contrary, I was under the control of the Digimon Emperor when I nearly attacked you," Piddomon responded, slightly offended.
"I wasn't talking to you," the purple beast responded.
"Dorurumon, be nice," Rinchei scolded his partner.
"This digimon Emperor… He isn't Ken Ichijouji isn't he?" the large blond inquired of Piddomon.
"How should I know?" the angel replied. "He showed up about ten years ago without warning, capable of controlling Champions and Ultimates from the start and Megas shortly thereafter. The only reason he has not taken over the entire digital world is because a group of Digidestined arrived sometime later and halted his efforts. They have been defending this world ever since."
"Digidestined? No way…" Kurita's face changed from shock to glee as he realized what was happening. "We're going to meet actual digidestined!"
"How about finding a way to get home?" Rinchei asked, rolling his eyes.
"Come on! They need help here. Plus, this'll give us some good experience so we can help the rest of the team more easily." Kurita turned toward the angel. "So, any chance you can take us to these guys?"
"I will lead the way. However, we should probably find shelter soon, especially since the two of you destroyed that tower," the angel said, turning away and walking. "The Emperor is bound to send a search party after you two. In fact, it is inevitable."
"Okay, let's do that!" Kurita exclaimed before yawning. "I hope that we'll at least be able to sleep wherever we go."
Rinchei had to agree, since he was starting to feel extremely tired as well.
###
Kazu moved toward the Emperor's domains, safe from the inside of HiAndromon. He finally detected the two Tamers sometime after dawn, indicating that their life signs were in the range of his mega form's sensors.
"So, who do you think these new guys are? Man, it's hard to believe it's been seven years since we've seen anybody other than our group," the brown-haired man commented.
"Agreed!" his partner replied. "It will be difficult adjusting to going back home. Maybe these Tamers will tell us what everything is like."
"Yeah!" Kazu exclaimed from inside his data-sphere. "Maybe they can help us against the Emperor!"
Every so often, the android would destroy a control spire to prevent them from devolving. Originally, they could biomerge in areas governed by control spires but the Emperor figured out how to put a stop to that real quick. Hopefully they would be able to meet the other Tamers safe and sound.
"Mega-level signal headed our way!" HiAndromon exclaimed in warning. "Dark Bangle detected."
"Crap! Okay, do whatever you have to do to destroy that Dark Bangle as soon as possible. At least those aren't ever permanent," Kazu said in relief that they wouldn't have to kill a digimon this time.
The digimon eventually appeared in view. It was a Pukumon, a relatively weak Mega that looked like a dark blue spiked blowfish wearing red boxing gloves on his muscular arms. The bangle, a black object dotted with spikes was on its left arm.
"Crap, this guy's too small. We're going to have to destroy him as soon as possible!" Kazu ordered, not liking it. "Strength Program, Activate!"
While he didn't have any access to Professor Urrutía's OS upgrade for the digivice, Henry and Kenta managed to come up with an upgrade of their own by hacking the digivice. Because of it, they could modify their partners while in their Mega forms, though without cards.
"Atomic Ray!" HiAndromon yelled out, shooting a massive laser and deleting Pukumon in an instant.
I hope I don't have to do that again, Kazu thought to himself, knowing that he would have to. He had been constantly making hard decisions since coming to this world.
He hated it.
"Okay, how are your energy reserves doing?" Kazu asked his partner as they continued flying through the air.
"They're at eighty percent and charging," HiAndromon responded. The truth was that the use of programs was not without its drawbacks. More power meant using more energy and they couldn't risk going at maximum lest they run out, something that would have dire consequences for them in the middle of battle.
Still, he continued on. "Deactivate Strength Program," the brown-haired man said, gritting his teeth from inside the data sphere.
###
"That's odd," Kurita remarked. "A bunch of those black signals are gone."
"Maybe one of the Digidestined is on their way," Piddomon suggested. The five of them were currently waiting inside a vast cavern.
"That's great," the large man said with a smile. "Hopefully we'll get to meet him. Funny that I haven't detected him yet."
Rinchei didn't know what to think. On one hand, he wanted to meet these new Tamers. On the other hand, he was worried that they would be forced into a war they didn't want.
"Maybe." Then there a thought went through his mind. He wondered whether his younger brother, Henry, was in a similar predicament. He shuddered at the thought of the boy going through such a harrowing experience and having to lose his childhood innocence in the process.
He clenched his fists. If that was the case, then he would go after whoever was responsible and delete them himself.
"What's wrong, Rinchei?" Dorumon inquired of his partner.
"I was thinking, what if this was happening to my brother?" the dark brown-haired teen asked. "It's horrible even to think about."
"Sometimes I worry about Tadashi," Kurita told his friend. "I even worry about that temporal duplicate or whatever that was traveling across the digital world. To think of any version of my little brother having to go through anything disturbs me."
"At least you're a Tamer now so you can protect him," Rinchei responded.
"Yeah… But he won't let me." The large blond shook his head.
Just then, they heard footsteps heading for their location. The two Tamers and three digimon promptly hid as a humanoid figure clad in black entered into the cavern, scanning it. Kurita looked at him briefly and then came back down, sitting with his back against the rock. He looked at his digivice and saw what the digimon was: HiAndromon, Mega Level. That was all he had to read to realize he was totally outclassed if this digimon was under the control of the emperor.
It was about then that the powerful digimon spoke. "I am an enemy of the emperor. If you're an enemy as well, I would like to make your acquaintance."
Kurita took a deep breath and stood up, figuring that he might as well take one for the team. As he stood, he noticed his friend mouth three words. "Are you nuts?"
"The name's Kurita Nakabayashi and I'm a digimon Tamer," he said, holding out his orange digivice.
The black-clad digimon stood in shock. "A Digimon Tamer? No… No way!" This voice was slightly different from the one that had already spoken and somewhat familiar to the large man."
This time, Rinchei stood up as well. The two partner digimon as well as the refugee that was traveling with them made their appearance as well.
Then they heard some rumbling. "We've got to get out of here! The Emperor's forces are closing in fast!" the Mega told them.
"Of course," Rinchei said. "So, any ideas?"
"I have one." The digimon said, punching his fist into the ground. He then used an ability he had gotten from an AncientWisemon using his Copy Paste attack and that had been added to his arsenal permanently thanks to one of Henry's programs. Before an army of Sealsdramon and Mechanorimon could make their way into the cavern, the group of six had vanished.
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A/N: Well, there you have it. The first appearance of Takato's team since the beginning of the fic. Tell me what you think.
One thing I'm trying to avoid with these Emperors is making them duplicates of Ken. Thus you have some of David Symanski's humanity showing through as well as Samuel Joseph Krenzel having been under control of the spore so long that he's set up his controlled digimon to die if they get freed (though, only when they're Megas. However, some Champions and Ultimates have things called permanent rings and spirals that are buried in the digimon themselves).
And last but not least, the second half of this chapter was written weeks before the first half (in fact, it was intended to be Chapter 20. You can see the old Clock Shop man alluding to this idea in Chapter 19).
Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will come out quicker than this one. Part of my problem is that I hate writing fight scenes, especially ones with multiple combatants.