Cerebrumon =Cerberusmon
Shisamon= Seasarmon
Matadrumon= Matadormon
Yukidarumon= Frigimon
-next day-
Davis came always late to school.
And currently he had a justified reason. Being on time would mean to be stormed with questions and occasionally even fan clubs. Today he hadn´t been speared, even though he was late once again. He sat in his class´s first period and the teacher was oddly late. Meaning it provided enough time for his classmates to suffocate him, Kari and TK with questions about the development in the Digiworld.
It was pretty annoying, even more so, because there were no good news to tell. Or rather imply. As a rule the Digidestined did not give statements, because it would lead to confusion if everyone said something else or got misunderstood.
So to say that Davis was surprised was a slight-very huge actually- understatement when the teacher finally arrived. He had almost hoped the teacher wouldn´t come at all. But no, he came, all right. And not alone. Two people tagged along. Two people he knew and two people who he had definitely not expected to see here. In school.
He glanced over at Kari. She was equally stunned, but managed a small smile. She was nice after all. She didn´t need a reason welcome friends. It wasn´t in her nature. From Davis definitions however at least one of the two in front did not yet count as friends, though. Responsibility sure, but friend … not just yet. Davis was not sure about the other of the two, either. Sure, like everyone had pointed out so nicely yesterday, they had some strikingly similar characteristics. And he was sure he could easily become friends with him. The reason he still didn´t count him as a friend was simple: Davis had hardly exchanged a word with the guy.
He glanced over at TK, not surprised to see a hard mask on his face. But TK couldn´t help it, he knew. It wasn´t all TK´s fault.
"Attention class." The teacher started. "As you can see we have two new students today." This had Izzy written all over it. Two new students in the same class as them. Not to mention that both of them are technically non-exist. "Please introduce yourselves."
The one with goggles, hat, red shirt a khaki jacket and grey pants stepped forward ."I´m Takuya Kanbara. I moved here from Shibuya." Moved? Well, it was the best description of their situation the public would get.
"I´m from Shibuya as well. My name is Koichi Kimura." Koichi wore a white-blue shirt and jeans.
Both perfectly normal students.
Takuya got seated in the last row at the windows and Koichi few seats behind TK. They should have changed seats. If only to prevent TK from getting a cramp in his face.
During the lesson Davis glanced to both of them often. That proved to be quite a challenge, though, since both were sitting behind him. But Davis did manage to steal a few looks at them.
Takuya had been sleeping. Using his arms as a pillow, hiding behind the book he was sleeping and in the winter sun. All save there.
With Koichi not so much. When Davis glanced at Koichi for the third time he almost fell of his chair. The first two times everything was ok. Perfectly normal. Koichi just stared at the blackboard with empty eyes. Nothing wrong with that. But the third time….
Davis saw that it took every bit of control that TK had to not jump from his chair and …. do not so nice things to Koichi.
Koichi still stared at the blackboard, but his brown eyes were shadowed by a painful frown and he bit his lip. But that was not all. Parts of his body, especially his arms were clouded by dark matter. Davis watched fascinated till the dark fog disappeared, Koichi´s expression relaxed and his eyes changed back to a dark blue.
Davis was confused, all right.
He stole another glance at Kari and TK only to see that both of them were close to freaking out. Strangely enough, though, none of the other students seemed to have noticed that Koichi had been clouded by a nasty aura.
The next time Davis looked over, Koichi was the same as before; emptily staring up front.
A certain somebody will be answering questions at the next best opportunity.
Or that had been his idea. Davis should have known better. The ten minutes in the morning had not been enough by far to answer two weeks' worth of questions. Moreover so since students from other classes crowded as well. Hence Kari, TK and Davis were once again surrounded by a mob of worried or just plainly interested classmates.
Takuya and Koichi were questioned as well. Just not about the Digiworld. Guessing from the majority of female attention the two got it were more personal questions. But Davis had no space to feel sorry for them; he was way too busy avoiding his own mob. And that was quite a challenge. Especially, because few had partner Digimon left behind in the Digiworld. Either ´cause they hadn´t been allowed to keep them at home or because they thought the crisis would be over quickly. A friend of his from the soccer club was one of the latter. A wave of guilt hit Davis as he looked at him; they hadn´t lived up to the expectations and not-knowing worried so many other Digidestined. Davis was sure that he would get crazy from that; not knowing if Chibimon was still alive. He was somewhat lucky that he was in the middle of the action, but then again he was not. All the battles, the danger to V-mon… and it still made Davis blood freeze thinking of all the Digimon Imperialdramon had deleted. Some of those Digimon might have had partners. He swallowed hard and forced the memories back into the past. Back then it couldn´t been helped. Either that or ….
Davis hardly noticed that Takuya had left his crowd behind and that he and Koichi had left the room. When he finally got rid of all his classmates Davis thought the two of them would have already been swallowed by the endless school building. Instead he almost ran into a wall as soon as took one step out of the room. In his hurry he hadn´t seen somebody standing right in front of the door.
"What are you doing standing behind a door?" Was his very intelligent question. There was a small mountain of more important ones, like 'what are you doing in school' or 'are you trying to drive TK crazy'.
Both turned around. Takuya put a hand behind his head and smiled embarrassedly.
"Well, actually we wanted to eat lunch, but then Koichi remembered that we don´t know where the canteen is. I was just about to convince Koichi that searching for it would be more fun than asking when you came along. So mind giving directions?"
"Sure. All of us are usually meeting outside, though. Sadly it is kind of impossible to have a quite break with so much attention." Davis walked through the corridor towards the stairs at the end with both of them following.
"Yeah, I noticed." Takuya glanced back to the overly loud classroom behind them. "What´s up with that? Are the three of you some kind of celebrities?"
"No." Davis sighed. "It´s just that the Digiworld is locked down at the moment and us Digidestined are the only ones that know what is happening on the other side." Takuya looked at him as if Davis had just spoken in another language.
"As long as we haven´t taken care of the crisis in the Digiworld other Digidestined aren´t allowed or able to enter it." He tried to explain, but it didn´t seem to do any good. If possible Takuya had an even bigger question mark on his face, which surprised him. Even Davis wasn´t that dense. Maybe his explanation was strange?
"There is no contact between the human and the Digiworld-"
"Are you saying that the Digiworld and Digimon are public knowledge?" Koichi asked; surprise and disbelieve in his voice.
Now he got it. No wonder Takuya didn´t understand him.
"Yeah. Since about 4 years ago. There are plenty of Digidestined besides us 12."
"Then how come only you are fighting?" Takuya frowned. "It´s not fair that you guys are carrying all the responsibility."
"It´s not that they don´t want, it´s just that they can´t and that we don´t allow it." Davis continued. "We have the most experience and strength. Only few of the newer Digidestind can evolve their partners to champion level. They are just too weak."
Takuya´s frown didn´t disappear on the contrary; it deepened. "They can´t get stronger if you don´t give them a chance."
While Davis agreed with him the risks were just too huge. They would end up having to kill their opponents because they don´t have the possibilities to overpower them. They might end up captured or dead ´cause they were to weak. And that´s what Davis told him.
"But sill-"
"You should ask Izzy about that. You´re staying with him, right." Davis cut Takuya off before he could argue back, he was not made for explaining. "More than that, these Spirits you guys have, what level do they have? They do have a level, right?" Davis had been wondering about that for a while. If they were representing one element they had to be strong. Even more so if even the 'host' –Davis still didn´t get that part- was influenced enough to make him heat resistant.
"I´m not so sure about that." Takuya mused. "In our dimension levels didn´t mean all that much."
"I´d say our Human Spirits are champion level and Beasts are ultimate." Koichi answered as he opened the door to the canteen. So not as strong as Davis had expected. "But even then we still have trouble to rank all of our evolutions." Koichi added in a by-the-way tone. It was Davis turn to be confused now, but he didn´t manage to put it into a question before Takuya took over.
"That´s how it is, i think. We are familiar with normal levels, but I don´t think they apply to our Spirits directly." He paid for his food and waited for Koichi to do the same while he continued. " You see, I defeated a Cerebrumon in my very first battle in the Digiworld. And I still didn´t have my Beast Spirit then. On the other hand I had trouble fighting a Wizarmon."
"Defeating a Cerbrumon and trouble against a Wizarmon?" Davis asked incredulously, but Takuya just shrugged. What a messed up system. But than again it had advantages, not being bound by levels. Battles against higher leveled Digimon were almost always a sure loss to them.
Davis didn´t know how Takuya and Koichi used to fight, but it was clear that they couldn´t now, since they didn´t have Digivices. Maybe the Digivice could somehow give the Spirit a body? I was a different kind of Digivice from theirs after all. Called D- tec-something. He voiced his question.
Takuya and Koichi traded glances before agreeing with him. That would have been fine if it hadn´t been for that stupid smile on Takuya´s face. An amused and sly grin.
They were leaving the canteen now and to Davis it was seriously a mystery as to why he hadn't been swarmed all over again. He was not going to stick around to find out why, though. He hurriedly left the canteen and the school building behind and led Takuya and Koichi to the place where he and the other Digidestined that went to this school always met. He wasn´t sure all of them could make it today, though. Davis himself had left his crowd to TK and Kari while Cody and Yolei were the only active Digidestined in their grade. So maybe they were to 'occupied' to come.
Leaving the school ground, crossing the street and entering an apartment building nearby, Davis felt freer. The reason they were never bothered during their breaks was simple. Students were not allowed to leave school grounds. Davis however did not see the need to obey that rule and the others quickly followed after unsuccessfully trying to find a quiet place for lunch on the campus.
Shortly after Davis had opened the door to the roof he was attacked by a hungry Chibimon.
"Davish!" He squealed giggling as Davis lifted him from his head. "I´m hungry!"
Smiling he set Chibimon back to the ground. In-training Digimon were always hungry. And they had more energy than good for them; like there was this one time when they were waiting for a bus…..
"Where is Yolei?"
"And Cody?" Respectively pink and yellow balls of fur asked; the pink one with a feather sticking from its head flew-jumped up and down on the roof while its yellow counterpart was bouncing towards Davis.
"Escaping their fan clubs, maybe?" He dropped down to the floor and pulled his lunch out. "I´m sure they are trying. I only managed because I ditched my part on TK and Kari." Chibimon happily swallowed the chocolate Davis´ mother had packed for him.
"You did what?" Gatomon asked from a far corner. In a very not pleased voice. Patamon was next to her. Why hadn´t Davis noticed them before? But even from the distance Davis could see Gatomon´s narrowed eyes and he could swear he could see her claw sparkling. Almost choking on his bite Davis tried to explain.
"It wasn´t my fault!" Gatomon would never hurt him, but she was still a bit scary. "It was their fault!" He pointed at Takuya and Koichi with his chopsticks. The two of them were chatting idly behind him leaning at the railing.
Chibimon blinked. As did Upamon and Poromon.
"Why are they here?" Chibimon asked, whipping his mouth with a 'hand', coloring it brown as well.
"Of course they are here because…." They were here because…..damm. He forgot all about that. " So, why are you here?" He asked, facing two who, looking now, weren´t chatting all that carefree. Takuya gave him an annoyed smile.
"While Izzy and Gennai are working on a strategy they sent us here so that you can –and I quote – 'properly protect us'." Davis didn´t need to be a genius to figure out that at least Takuya was not pleased at all with that decision. "So he hacked into the computer system and sent us off to the class with the most of you in it." He leaned back and watched the sky. The smile faltering just a bit.
"We might get called back soon, though." Koichi added, because it was obvious that Takuya was not exactly present anymore. "When we left it was only a matter of the place anymore."
"What place?" Davis inquired not specifically fond of the idea to leave before soccer training.
"Yeah, what place?" Davis jumped almost to his feet. He hadn´t noticed her at all. The owner of the new voice sat down beside him and passed sweets to Poromon.
"When did you get here, Yolei?" Davis asked.
"Just now, actually. So what place?" She emptied her usual bag of sweets and didn´t pay much attention. Koichi looked at her, raising an eyebrow, but didn´t say anything. It was Takuya who took over again.
"A place for a trap."
Davis didn´t miss that his eyes glistered in excitement. He used to feel the same after all. But all that's left now is worry.
"What kind of trap? The kind where we hope to defeat as many enemies as possible or the kind where we have an ulterior motive?" Yolei asked while handing Poromon a new snack with, teasing him with it before finally looking up with a serious expression. Davis couldn´t help but wonder how she always changed her moods so fast. Had to be a girl thing.
Takuya grinned. "The second kind. We are going to save our friends." Well that is good.
Wait- what?
"How?" If they had a possibility to save them why didn´t Izzy or Gennai say something earlier? So much they could have done. So many could have been saved. So many Digimon could have been freed. "I thought Izzy and Gennai had no idea how to save your friends?"
"We kind of gave him a new direction." Though Davis didn´t know what he meant, he did notice that Takuya´s smile once again faltered. Just a little. That wasn´t all that good.
Davis didn´t want to think of this new 'direction' as something extreme as Takuya´s burning-ball action. Even though Davis was not one to fear risky moves -he was after all the second generation of the courage Digidestined-, but no one else would survive a jump in a fire ball. Starring in those mischievous eyes Davis sure hoped Izzy knew what he was doing.
"Then do you know some details? Like how we get your friends out of there?"
" Well..."Creepy! Why was he almost sparking with excitement? Koichi looked nothing like that. "One of you is going to infiltrate the fortress with Koichi while I´ll play decoy and you are protecting me."
Yolei spilled her drink. And Davis could only guess how stupid he himself looked. Decoy? Infiltration with one the guys the enemy wants? Takuya was kidding. There is no way that Gennai or Izzy would approve of that.
Though the plan didn´t seem all that bad... If they could keep the attention enough to give the infiltration team time….
"But why is only one of us going with Koichi? And why Koichi in the first place?"
Yolei gasped at him. "You aren´t seriously agreeing with him, right?"
Davis shrugged. "Why not? We need to get them out, so better this than nothing." He grinned at her. "And if you don´t want to do it, the enemy won´t expect us doing this either."
"Hmpf." She glared at him. Somehow that only raised Davis´s spirits more, but he looked at Takuya again and waited for an explanation. Said one grinned as always.
"Not so sure about the first one, but Koichi is going because one of us Warriors is needed to find the others and it´s Koichi, because Izzy said they´d want Fire more than Darkness. But don´t worry about that. We have an idea how to confuse them."
"But still… only one to protect Koichi? Isn´t that a bit few?" Yolei argued. Davis knew she was still by far not argeeing, but oh well….
"Not to protect." Takuya said sternly. "We can protect ourselves. The one will be tagging along for backup and support." Davis stared at him. Takuya almost died in his first confrontation and now he says they don´t need to be protected? Davis took the liberty and reminded him of it.
Takuya crossed his arms and pouted. Davis knew he was only pretending, though. Why else would his lips twitch upwards? "Why thanks, I do remember that. To me it was just the day before yesterday." He dropped his mask and gave him a regretful smile. "It was just that back then I didn´t know I could."
"So now you can?"
"Yeah?"
"How?"
"It´s simple, really. We just forgo our D-tectors."
This was not Davis´s definition of simple.
"What do you mean by that? How can your Spirits fight without a Digivice?" Yolei pointed out with a frown.
"Yeah. Digimon need a Digivice to evolve."
Davis almost jumped again. Gatomon had sneaked up behind him and was sitting with the other in-training Digimon eating sweets now. She eyed Koichi, though.
"Apparently that rule doesn´t exactly apply to Spirits." Takuya explained, lying down on his back and watching the sky. "We can evolve without them. There are just a few catches, but it´s nothing you need to worry about."
"Huh? But I thought your Digivices give the Spirits a body." Davis remembered.
"Kind of. Our Spirit Evolution with D-tector overwrites our Data with that of the Spirits. Now without Digivices our Data will get fused." Koichi answered, exchanging glances with Takuya, who had that stupid sly grin of his again. "That´s what I was preparing for earlier in the classroom, by the way."
"…"
Davis was lost after the first sentence and Yolei didn´t seem to fare any better than him, but he did understand that that creepy fog was part of an evolution. Davis sure was lucky he wasn´t all that sensitive towards Darkness. Poor TK. "Well… what matters is that you can fight."
Koichi gave him a strange look but agreed. A few minutes later, while Davis was happily chatting with Takuya about soccer and promising him to introduce him to the trainer later the four D-terminals showed a massage from Izzy.
Admittedly the plan was good.
That was if one ignored the various uncertainties. The idea was to have Izzy, who hadn´t appeared on the battlefield until now, pose as Koichi. His hair was already colored black. Then, while the decoy group pretended to be caught off guard and lured the enemy fortress to the designed place, Koichi and Cody – using the fact that the fortress only flew about a few hundred feet above the ground- were going to infiltrate; extraordinary huge trees that were growing serving as cover.
Then, after Digmon had made a hole into the fortress, both of them were going to search the inside for Spirits and their Digidestined while at the same time they were sending data that a modified D-terminal was going to collect to the other D-terminals where the Data would be converted into a map. The decoy group on the other hand was supposed to fight desperately to protect Takuya. They wouldn´t be able to run, because the next TV was going to be broken. After half an hour of combat one of the Digimon - didn´t matter which one- would break through the enemy lines, infiltrate as well create a commotion on the inside, destroy as much as possible and if needed provide backup for the other two. If by some miracle everything would have gone as planned Digmon would dig them out of the fortress hopefully with 8 Spirits and 4 humans- how Digmon was supposed to carry that many was ignored.
That was the plan. It really wasn´t bad, Kari mused. Reckless and high-risk maneuvers wasn´t what they had done so far and the enemy wouldn´t expect it, but….
There was no end to the list of buts. For example it was all based on theories and possibilities. They had no way of knowing if the enemy would arrive with their fortress or without. It was a gamble. Next they were relying on the idea that no one was going to notice that Cody and Digmon were not on the battlefield, not to mention Izzy´s Koichi-imitation. While it was possible to make an entire army of who knows how many Digimon follow them; hiding, letting them pass only to sneak up and enter their headquarters was not so much. And then there was the little problem that Izzy and Gennai had no idea if Digmon was able to even scratch the black material that made up the fortress.
The list goes on like that; full of uncertainties and dangers. Thinking about it now as she stared at tall steep mountains on the one side and a deep canyon on the other, Kari just couldn´t believe that Izzy had agreed to this gamble. To top it, it was Izzy´s idea in the first place.
Gatomon sat on her shoulder and twisted her tail around Kari´s neck. Something she only did id she was nervous or anxious. Kari patted her head unconsciously.
The weather was fine. The sky was blue and the white tips of the mountains almost merged with it. Kari shifted uncomfortably. Snow screeched as she left a new mark in the withe ground. She stood outside of the group rather taking in her surroundings; the scenery that would become a battle field soon if the enemy took the bait of Takuya –and Koichi- being in the Digiworld. The actual would-be battlefield was still further away, but the countryside would remain the same.
Kari sighed as her gaze shifted to the center of her friend´s attention. Just now Koichi was entrusting Takuya with the Beast Spirit of Darkness. Apparently that was needed in case the enemy had some kind of radar to track Spirits. And it had to be the stronger Spirit so that it might overshadow the Human Spirit´s signal. Again only an assumption.
Koichi parted with it only reluctantly if she interpreted the frown on Koichi´s face right. From what Kari could see Koichi handed a dark cloud to Takuya. He took it carefully and as it disappeared –in Takuya´s body or mind or whatsoever- Kari saw a solid form beneath the swirling darkness; a black and gold object. Small compared to the power it wielded if it indeed was the Spirit. And to Kari´s surprise she only got a feeling of overwhelming power from it. Nothing negative or positive at all. Neutral.
She sighed. That´s what he had said. Not evil.
Koichi, Cody and Armadimon headed into the bordering forest while the rest followed her brother in the opposite direction near the future battlefield.
This countryside was not the best choice for an ambush, but a better place would have been suspicious as Izzy said.
Kari fell a bit behind as she watched her friends chatting happily about school and other things they had missed during their 2 week mission. The calm before the storm. Only once in a while somebody –mostly Joe- would steal a nervous glance behind them and check the surroundings quickly. Kari, too, was unnaturally relaxed. It was new for her and it wasl slightly creepy to be so calm. Had it not been for Joe she could have thought they were just going to help out a poor Digimon that needed help. Nothing dangerous or suicidal at all.
To keep the appearance of a normal visit Izzy had organized that a not-so-troubled Digimon would be waiting for them somewhere ahead and ask for help. Then they would follow it to a landslide where another Digimon was buried beneath the rubble. In reality there was no such Digimon. And hopefully the attack would occur then. If not, they might as well go home.
"Ow!"
Kari rubbed her nose and looked up to the person she had just walked into. Eyes as brown as her own looked worried at her. Her brother had left the front and was now walking beside her. She felt his worried glance but didn´t pay it much mind. If Tai wanted to know, he would ask and then she would answer if she wanted to. But he didn´t. So Kari focused on the way ahead of her so that she wouldn´t hit somebody else.
The mood was really not what normally happened when they headed to battle. Right now it was much more cheerful. Takuya and Davis were the best example. One goggle head laughed then said something and made the second leader laugh as well. Must be nice. Though she was relaxed and not exactly nervous, she still had and underlying anxiousness.
"What are you worrying about?"
Kari shifted her gaze to Tai´s worried face and couldn´t help but sigh again.
"I´m just wondering why Izzy came up with this idea." To her surprise Tai nodded and a deep frown appeared between his eyebrows as he studied the usually redheaded genius.
"I know what you mean. This coming from Izzy, I can´t help but think of this as a desperation act." Kari noticed his eyes flash to two goggle heads. "This plan is something either Davis or me perhaps also Takuya would come up with. Maybe, since it was Izzy, we really don´t have much time anymore." He set his jaw and grinded his teeth. With his stubborn gaze he followed Takuya´s every movement. Kari nodded. She had entertained similar thoughts, but hoped she was far from the truth. Takuya´s friends were close to dying. And maybe that even had something to do with the sudden announcement that they didn´t need a Digivice to fight. And she wondered what the price was.
"Do you know how they are planning to fight?"
Tai´s eyes lit up in a way that had become rare over the years. Momentarily she felt like the 8 year old she had been during her first trip to the Digiworld.
"Takuya said they fused with their Spirits," he grinned excitedly at her confusion," he said he would turn into a Digimon."Kari´s look hushed over to Takuya.
"I couldn´t believe it either, but I mean, why not?" Tai continued, "He does come from a different dimension. Who said it wasn´t possible. And Izzy seems to have built this plan heavily on that thought. Apparently the enemy wouldn´t expect them to be able to evolve, because –don´t look like that I´m just repeating what Izzy told me- the contact to their home dimension is still jammed. Which is why they will only fight if it can´t be helped otherwise, to keep the surprise factor for as long as possible." He smiled in his typical smile. One that had really a calming effect on everyone and Kari smiled as well. That was her brother. Making worries and problems disappear with a smile.
One that fell, when the earth started to shake and the laugher of her friends was drowned by battle cries. The good part was that indeed the fortress was there. The bad part started with the unaccounted number of other Digimon that Kari had not yet seen following the command of the enemy. Vademon, Giromon, Shisamon, Stegomon, Sangloupmon, Cerberumon, Matadrumon. Thinking they had been outnumbered before seemed ridiculous now.
And she doubted they would leave the battle alive. The sky was tained by the sheer numbers.
Angewomon dodged Cerberumon´s green flames and Kari strengthened her old on Angewomon´s arm. It was all still going according to plan. Theoretically.
The army followed and they were moving towards the right direction. It was just that it couldn´t be called luring. Much more running. All Angewomon managed was to run away and avoid as much as possible. All Ultra level Digimon only ran away and yet they were covered in scratches.
Kari smelled burned hair. She wasn´t sure whether it was hers or Angewomon´s. A cut on her arm from when Angewomon hadn´t evaded fast enough burned in the cold air. And frostbite on her legs from a head on ice attack made her loose feelings in them.
WarGreymon and Impreialdramon tried to cover for MetalGarurumon who was targeted, because he carried both Matt and Takuya. But really, they too, could only try. Both had already some more or less deep wounds. Same for their partners, Kari guessed. She couldn´t really see that, though.
Angewomon dodged with a barrel roll and Kari lost sight of them. Green flames scorched her hair and her eyes strung from the heat.
Suddenly Angewomon cried in pain and dropped in altitude. Red hot blood ran from her shoulder in Kari´s clothes, in a disgusting way shielding her from the cold. Kari didn´t have time to ask if she was alright. With the next move air was pressed from her lungs and she was left to hold on for dear life.
The ground had come uncomfortably close when she opened her eyes the next time. And even though it was covered in white snow she wouldn´t survive a fall. Angewomon flapped her wings and quickly left the ground behind again. Attacks meant for her missed and melted the snow, showing brown soil beneath. As Angewomon evaded a Giromon Kari noticed a red substance sticking to its saw.
Maybe it was Angewomon´s, maybe someone else's, but the message was clear: at this rate they were all going to die. Wasn´t there something they could do?
Kari tried to get a better gasp of the battle. So far nobody had died and from what Kari could see all Digimon were still engaged in battle. But that was not good enough. Soon they had to stop running and hold their ground to buy Koichi and Cody time. It was just, that at this rate, the second they did that they would be overrun by enemies; then, surrounded from all sides, ground and air they were going to be killed. What to do to prevent that? Her mind was working overtime.
The momentum of another dodge shifted Kari´s gaze towards the mountains and then to the canyon.
It was a long shot.
The glowing blue dot of MetalGarurmon was already heading into the Matt had the same idea.
"Into the canyon, Angewomon!" Kari didn´t know if Angewomon had heard her or if she had had the same idea or was just following MetalGarurumon, but she changed curse. Lilimon was following as well. Maybe more, Kari didn´t know. Angewomon dived into the canyon and followed after WarGeymon, dodging some kind of energy ball. The attacks got fewer but more focused and the stray attacks often ripped parts down from the walls left and right. Sure, the danger of a collapse was there, but in turn the walls also provided cover.
And with a grim smile Kari realized that now they were using the numbers of the enemy to their advantage. There were only so many Digimon that could shoot at once without hitting their comrades. But she wondered if the Digimon had a feeling of comradeship. The majority was controlled after all. In front of her WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon and Imperialdramon Fighter Mode had come to a stop and were defending their partners on the ground now. Now they had to buy time; not run anymore. From above them Garudamon flew –or rather fell- down as well, protectively holding Sora in her hand and bracing for impact.
Lilimon was still flying behind Angewomon, shooting her flower canon while with the other arm hugging Mimi´s hip. Actually Mimi had been supposed to fly with Garudamon, but they had been too surprised by the attack to do that. Kari felt Angewomon´s grip around her tighten. So much that she hardly had space to breath, but that was not what worried her. Angewomon almost scraped over the ground and her flight was unsteady. Her blood was still flowing freely.
Kari strained her neck to study her face. It was pale and her lips were pressed in a tight line. Hot and cold air from WarGreymon´s and MetalGarurumon´s attacks brushed blond hair in her face and shadowed her sight. But she had seen enough.
Angewomon flew past MetalGarurumon and stopped in the circle that the Digimon were forming to protect their partners. Angewomon kneed down and set her to the rocky ground where she was greeted by a worried and scratched up Tai. She ignored him and held on to Angewomon, who wanted to take off again despite the running blood.
"You stay here." Kari said firmly. Angewomon´s eyes were hidden behind metal, but Kari didn't need to read them to know that she was not ageing with her. "You won´t be going anywhere before Joe took a look at you."
"I´m fine. It´s just a swallow cut." She stood up, ignoring Kari´s protests. She was just about to return to battle when somebody else spoke.
"I agree with Kari." Tai said as he put an arm on his sister´s shoulder. "You should stay here and cover from behind with your arrows." The ground shook heavily. And Tai had to raise his voice even more. "Not only because of your injuries, but because WarGreymon and the others won´t be able to hold all Digimon off. "
Kari agreed with him. And reluctantly Angewomon agreed as well.
No matter how much the canyon provided cover, it posed an equally huge thread if it should collapse. And even now she had to be careful not to be hit by raining rocks and such. And what if Digmon would attack from underground again? The Digimon can hardly deal with fighting of the enemies right now and it is only just the beginning. Right now they were still kept at relative distance but it was only a matter of time until they would be more or less overwhelmed. Kari guessed that more than half of the enemy Digimon were still outside the canyon, maybe searching where all of them by now had disappeared to. And both sides of the canyon were already swarming with them. So many that they limited each other's movements, which was kind of stupid. But that didn´t matter. At best they might be able to hold out for ten minutes – which was far from the planned 30. And then there was the problem that they had no escape route down here. They were trapped.
Maybe using the Canyon hadn´t been such a good idea after all. Ant to make matters worse, Kari realized it was too narrow for Impreialdramon in its normal mode. So that possibility was down as well.
Kari didn´t cover her ears even though they hurt from the vibrations and noise of battle. Kari walked over to her friends in the middle of the protective circle. She eased Davis´s worries by saying that it wasn´t her blood.
"But are you ok? You look terrible." She asked him. Davis had many scratches and cuts. One she specifically noticed was on his lower cheek. The blood had run down and left a fine trail behind that disappeared beneath his jacked. His clothes were slightly burned and ripped at some places. He looked down at himself as if he had just remembered his wounds.
"It´s nothing." He gestured at the others. "Only minor injuries. You look much worse than us." He added worriedly.
"It´s Angewomon´s blood."
"Oh." He broke eye contact, looked at Angewomon shortly and then back to her, trying his hardest to give her a reassuring smile. "Don´t worry." He glanced at Takuya who was staring at his D-terminal. "Takuya said Koichi has freed at least one already." Davis´s smile turned from attempt to real. "Look!" He pointed at the battlefield. Kari didn´t see anything special. Just chaos.
"The Ice Digimon are fleeing."
Kari looked again and this time she saw a Yukidarumon disappear into the masses of other Digimon. Leaving an icy trail and several partly frozen enemies. A huge wave of relive washed over her only to die away again shortly after. There were enough Digimon to fill the Ice-types holes. Moreover, Ice Digimon were only few in number in the first place.
But if Cody and Koichi hurry, maybe…
She let her gaze wander to the one most likely able to tell if the infiltration team can succeeded more. He had few scratches and a lense of his goggles was broken. Takuya was still holding his D-terminal, but he didn´t look at it. He watched the battlefield puzzled.
"I´ve been wondering about this before," She overheard Takuya ask Tai, "but why are you holding back so much? Why aren´t you deleting them?"
I´m really sorry that the update took so long, but now it holidays again. To celebrate the first chapter in quite a while and Christmas this chapter is extra long.
Merry Christmas to you. :)
Please comment and thanks for it.
The next chapter will be up in 2 or 3 days. pleas look foreward to it.