Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.
The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier
Chapter 26: Guardian Angel of the Persecuted
"Can't we talk about this?" JP pleaded with the newly digivolved digimon over them.
"SURE! LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS OVER THE BODIES OF THE CHILDREN YOU SLAUGHTERED!" Cherubimon roared out angrily, her voice echoing through the open fields and creating strong gusts of wind. JP almost fell over backwards from the wind, struggling to stand as her bellows kept knocking her back down. Then she raised her arms up over her head and summoned a bolt of electricity. The electricity shaped itself into a long spear in her hands, which she then threw at them.
"LIGHTNING SPEAR!"
They all ran as fast as they could away from where she threw it, just barely getting out of the way of the impact. It struck the ground, shattering the surface with such force that they went flying again. Electricity arced along the ground around it. Rocks crumbled and what few body parts lay near it were scorched to ash.
"What the hell? What did we do?" JP shouted in surprise, looking back up at Cherubimon in surprise.
"Now would be a good time to fight back," Beetlemon said inside his head. JP would've agreed, if he didn't see Cherubimon just punch a hole in the ground with lightning. It was hard to believe this was the power the digimon had been keeping secret - this was Lopmon at full power. Which made him wonder just what kind of power Gatomon had been hiding. But it wasn't like they'd be able to run away either. Not when they were fighting a digimon who could throw lightning at them. Besides, where could they go?
"We can throw lightning too!" Beetlemon's voice said in his head.
Oh right…he could. JP produced his digivice and held it out. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!"
In a flash of light, he became the tank digimon MetalKabuterimon and rolled towards Cherubimon. He raised up his arms at them and took aim, "So you like to attack with lightning! Well let's see how you like this!? BOLO THUNDER!"
Lightning shot out of his arms and arced its way through the air towards Cherubimon. It should've been a direct hit, but the angel digimon knocked the lightning away with a flick of her wrist.
"Oh come on! She can do that!?" Zoe complained, looking back in stunned disbelief.
MetalKabuterimon couldn't believe it either and prepared to fire again, "Let' see her block another one!"
"Don't waste your time!" Tamer said. "She's a mega level digimon! She's way above any of us individually. We'll have to work together if we're going to calm her down!"
Bokomon, Neemon and Gotsumon were all exhausted by the time they'd reached Ophanimon's Castle.
"Here! Here!" Poyomon said excitedly as they made their way towards the large doors.
"I still don't like this," Gotsumon protested again for the hundredth time.
"We heard you the first hundred times. You don't have to stick around now that we're here, it's not like we're keeping you," Neemon said to the rock digimon.
"And miss out on the chance to say I told you so?" Gotsumon said with a raised eyebrow. "Not on your life."
Gotsumon took a few steps back, and put both hands on his bag's straps. "I"m just going to stand here so that I can run away as soon as things go south."
"Isn't south in the direction of the castle?" Neemon scratched his head in confusion. Bokomon sighed, annoyed at Neemon's ignorance but also just a little confused how the digimon could know which direction was south but not understand the meaning of Gotsumon's expression. Then again, he really shouldn't have been surprised by any of the rabbit's phrases anyway. The digimon was an enigma in and of himself.
Bokomon banged his fist against the large wooden door, hoping either Sorcermon or Gatomon would greet them at the door. He grew impatient at having to wait so long for a response and banged the door again, desperately hoping someone would come out to meet them. Someone had to be here. Anyone.
He banged on the door one more time and the large wooden door creaked open. Gatomon poked her head through the crack with the foulest scowl on her face, "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, WHAT!?"
She paused her screaming when she who was waiting for her at the entrance to the castle, but her expression turned from anger to annoyance. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Gatomon! Please stop! These are our guests!" Sorcermon said, appearing beside her and opening the the door fully. "Please forgive her. She doesn't like to be woken from her naps…especially after she's had a few."
"Oh it's not I don't like being woken up. It's that I hate it! Now what do you want!?" Gatomon hissed at the digimon.
"This is the mighty Ophanimon? You're joking," Gotsumon said from behind them. Bokomon ignored the digimon's remarks but noticed Gatomon wasn't as keen to do so, glaring daggers at the rock digimon. Bokomon quickly positioned himself between the two to keep things from escalating, all that did was earn himself the ire of Gatomon.
"We're sorry to bother you. We wouldn't have come back if it wasn't important!" Bokomon began, sweating under the digimon intense gaze. He swore the cat was getting angrier with every word out of his mouth. "It's just that we thought you'd want to see Poyomon as quickly as possible."
Gatomon raised an eyebrow at them then turned her attention towards the little blob resting in Bokomon's arms. Poyomon started bouncing in Bokomon's arms excitedly, "Ophanimon! Ophanimon!"
"Oh shit, he's alive," Gatomon said at just above a whisper, stepping out of the doorway to inspect Poyomon a little more carefully. The little digimon continued to shake happily in Bokomon's arms as Gatomon came close. Behind the cat, Sorcermon sank down to one knee in a bow towards the digimon. He couldn't imagine what was going through their heads - especially since they must've believed Poyomon dead until now. Then Gatomon grunted. "How many more times are you going to let yourself get killed? You can't keep playing that card, you know? One day, you're going to be reformatted and the you who comes back won't know who we are."
"Bleh," Poyomon answered by sticking his tongue out at her in protest, much to Gatomon's annoyance.
"At least you're still you in there…somewhere," Gatomon said with an annoyed smile. Then she turned her attention towards Bokomon. "So…you lot brought him back. Who are you guys and why do you look familiar?"
"We were here before with the digidestined. When Sorcermon brought us all together," Bokomon answered. Gatomon stared for a second, then she closed her eyes and put a paw to her chin as if she were trying to remember. But after a long and extended silence, she shrugged. "Nope, doesn't ring a bell."
"It doesn't matter. The point is we're here now and we're here to bring Poyomon to you!" Bokomon said.
"And I'm very glad for that. What happened?" Gatomon asked the little white blob. "We honestly thought you were done for…that maybe Cherubimon absorbed you."
"Went to talk. Find Cherubimon. Then I die. Then wake up. Like always," Poyomon squeaked happily. "Digidestined here?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't get too excited about it if I were you," Gatomon said with a frown. "They all seem kinda dopey to me and it isn't our digidestined even though I'd really like it if it were. But what're you gonna do?"
"Destiny…on track?" Poyomon asked.
"How the hell would I know the answer to that question? I don't even know what this stupid prophecy means!" Gatomon grumbled, throwing her arms up in obvious frustration. "I'm the one always complaining about how stupid it is!"
Poyomon stared at her, tilting its entire body slightly, "But you call them."
"Yeah. I'm trying it your way. But if that means getting killed, I'll have you know that I'm not going down without a fight," Gatomon said matter of factly. "I'm gonna hit back at whoever does it as hard as I can. Make 'em work for it."
Bokomon heard Gotsumon grunt from behind them and Gatomon could no longer ignore his presence. "Do you have something to say? Who are you?"
"I'm nobody. I was just showing these two how to get here. And now I'm gonna be going before I get killed by you," Gotsumon stated, quietly hurrying to leave.
"Sorcermon. Stop him," Gatomon stated.
"On it," Sorcermon complied, snapping his fingers and suddenly appearing in front of Gotsumon with his staff pointed out towards them. "I'm afraid we can't let you leave."
"See! I knew it! We're going to be killed!" Gotsumon said in a panic, trying to maneuver around the wizard. But with every step he took, Sorcermon just snapped his fingers again and teleported in front of him.
This was in contrast to his attempt to be comforting, "Relax. We're not going to kill you."
"Unless we determine you're an enemy agent," Gatomon stated.
"Not helping!" Sorcermon scolded the cat digimon. She replied with a scoff while Poyomon giggled. Neither put Gotsumon's mind at ease as he continued trying to get around the white wizard digimon. After a few more feints, Gotsumon made a break for it past the wizard only to be nabbed by the loop of his bag. "Relax. We're not going to kill you. We just…can't let it get out that Seraphimon is alive until he's back to his full power."
"Well, you can count on me to not say anything," Gotsumon said, trying to get free of Sorcermon's hold but unable to get loose without losing his bag. Sensing this, Sorcermon yanked the bag off Gotsumon's back.
"I can trust that you won't so long as I hold on to this. Right?" Sorcermon asked deviously, holding the bag up over them rock digimon. Bokomon could only imagine the smile beneath his high white collar and contemplated kicking Sorcermon to get him to let the bag go. But he wasn't that strong, so instead he opted to throw his book as hard as he could at Sorcermon.
The book flew wide, missing the wizard but catching his attention. He tilted his head towards Bokomon, "Do you take issue with how I'm handling this?"
"He's the one who brought us here. I don't think he's going to tell anyone what he's seen," Bokomon argued for Gotsumon, but Sorcermon's blank reaction told him that it meant nothing. Sorcermon had no intention of letting Gotsumon go. And Gotsumon had no intention of staying. The moment he had his bag, he would be gone.
"Can you two stop it for like five minutes? I think there's enough crazy in the world right now without you two adding to the mess," Neemon said. He produced a box of juice from his seemingly infinite pockets and offered it to them. "Here, have a drink."
"No. I've seen what you put in those pockets," Gotsumon protested with his tongue out in disgust.
"I doubt a box of juice is going to resolve the issue here," Sorcermon added quietly.
"Come on! Who can be angry or fight when you've got a full belly?" Neemon said, reaching into his pocket and producing a half eaten sandwich. One that Bokomon did not even recall him putting in there. Just where was he getting all this food and how long was he storing it in there?
"Me hungry!" Poyomon said ecstatically. "Want yummy!"
As he said that, Bokomon's stomach grumbled and he was reminded of the fact that he hadn't eaten in a while. But that didn't mean he wanted to eat the food that Neemon had on him. He wanted something fresh that he at least knew wasn't past expiration. Still, Poyomon's plea for food was enough to finally ease tensions between Sorcermon and Gotsumon. Gatomon sighed, "Fine. We might as well get something to eat. I could use some more wine anyway."
"We really need to talk about your drinking problem," Sorcermon said, only for Gatomon to stick out her tongue.
She held the door open for them as they all made their way inside for food. Except for Gotsumon who was clearly only following because Sorcermon still held his bag. Once they were all inside, Gatomon slammed the door shut behind her just as the world in front of them began to splinter open - cracking apart like glass. Floating cracks suspended just in the air.
"It's a trap! I knew it!" Gotsumon shouted, hurrying to grab the bag out of Sorcermon's hand but unable to get the wizard to let go.
Eventually, Sorcermon was able to yank the bag away, "Relax! This isn't us. We don't know what this is."
"And here I thought you knew everything," Gatomon frowned. "Well, everything except that moon speak the Ancients used. So! Who wants to figure out what this crack is and what it's doing in my castle?"
"I have a few ideas," Bokomon said. "It could be a crack in reality. Or it could be that someone stole the fractal code of this part of the Digital World. Or, it's possible we're all hallucinating from the fumes of your wine."
"Don't be ridiculous! Alcohol doesn't make hallucinogenic fumes!" Bokomon pointed out to the wizard, but the sorcerer just laughed at him.
"Just because we call it wine, that doesn't mean Gatomon is drinking wine," Sorcermon remarked.
"And you didn't have to tell them any of that," Gatomon rolled her eyes disapprovingly, keeping her attention squarely on the cracks. But what exactly was she drinking then that just vapors could cause this level of hallucination. Or perhaps that was another joke.
"No, I'm pretty sure this is real. Otherwise we wouldn't all be seeing it," Gatomon said. A fair assessment but far from comforting. And it was at that moment that they could hear screams followed by the unmistakable sound of things hitting the ground.
"ACK! Why did I fall on my head?"
"My arm! I can't feel my arm!"
"Get off me! You're heavy dammit!"
"I don't wanna be here anymore!"
"I think I'm crazy now after seeing that."
"Why us!? OW!"
"Mommy!"
"What even was that!?"
The blinding light faded as the cracks closed on themselves, showing them a mess of children mutilated in many assorted ways - hurt and bleeding. Amongst them were a Terriermon, a Renamon, a Guardromon, a MarineAngemon, and several other assorted digimon wearing armor. The guards that they'd escaped from only a few days ago. Only now the children were hideously injured. Bokomon didn't want to think about what'd happened to them, but Poyomon's shaking was unmistakable - whether from terror or outrage, he couldn't be sure.
But Gatomon came across more annoyed than alarmed by the sight, "Okay. What are you chuckle fucks doing here?
"What are we doing here? What's the big idea bringing us here!?" Terriermon protested. "First you attack us, then you teleport us to your castle, not to mention what you did to the kids! What are you up to!?"
"What are you talking about!?" Gatomon threw her arms up in anger, before she noticed the various wounded children. "HOLY SHIT! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THESE KIDS!?"
"We were defending them! From you!" Terriermon said again.
"Us? What the hell do you think we were doing?" Gatomon asked sarcastically, her arms spread out to gesture at the castle around them.
"Attacking us!" Terriermon scolded again. Gatomon blinked for a second, taken aback by the certainty of Terriermon's statement and clearly trying to figure out how to contest it. In fact, Bokomon was pretty sure she was shaking in anger.
"We've been here the whole time!" Gatomon argued back once she regained her composure, thumbing towards Bokomon and Neemon. "Those two will vouch for us!"
Bokomon's eyes darted between Gatomon and the Terriermon guard, worried that Terriermon would recognize him. He was about to open his mouth to respond when Gotsumon interrupted.
"How the hell would they know!? We all just got here!" Gotsumon said angrily, finally breaking his silence.
"I knew it!" Terriermon said proudly, his assertions seemingly confirmed by the one digimon.
"Are you freaking kidding me!?" Gatomon groaned, rounding on Gotsumon. "Y'know, for someone who really doesn't want to be killed, you're doing an amazing job at giving us reasons to do it."
"Hey! Aren't you guys the ones who were with the digidestined?" Terriermon asked, pointing a finger at them accusingly. Bokomon should've figured they'd be recognized. After all, it wasn't like they could hide who they were.
"ENOUGH!" Renamon called out to them all, finally silencing the arguing. "We have enough on our hands without you all arguing! We need to help the children!"
Bokomon turned his attention back towards the many kids. Some lay on the ground, wide eyed and unmoving. Others were screaming or crying in pain, nursing various injuries they had on their bodies. Bokomon thought he'd seen many terrible things during the conflict - but he'd never seen a body remain after they'd died. Bokomon sighed and set down Poyomon, "You're right. We should…wait, why isn't Lopmon with you?"
"What are you talking about? She's right…here…" Guardromon began, gesturing to nothing and trailing off as he realized that their leader was not present. Panic set in amongst the digimon as they finally seemed to realize their leader was gone.
"She's probably still back at the Hollow Bastion!" Renamon said.
"We gotta back there! She won't last long on her own!" Terriermon gasped, suddenly scrambling for the door.
"Crap," Gatomon blurted out, her tone shifting to one of increased annoyance and anger. "CRAP!"
"What's wrong?" Sorcermon asked.
"All of you stay here and take care of the kids. I'm going to help out Lopmon!" Gatomon snapped, dashing past Terriermon towards the door. She kicked it open before Terriermon could even catch up.
"To do what? Finish her off!?" Terriermon snapped.
"HELP HER YOU IDIOT!" Gatomon snapped back. "BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I DIDN'T WANT ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN! I DIDN'T WANT US FIGHTING! I DIDN'T WANT THIS STUPID WAR! AND I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T WANT ANY OF YOU TO FEEL LIKE WE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT YOU!"
She seethed angrily for a moment, leaving Terriermon to stare back at her silently. Whether or not it was out of anger or surprise, Bokomon couldn't tell. But a new question came to his mind after all this - did these digimon all know each other? It sure seemed that way. But before he could ask, Gatomon turned back to face outside. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to save my friend! Gatomon! Warp-Digivolve to!"
Gatomon disappeared into radiant glowing pink light, transforming into a majestic angel with golden wings adorned in emerald armor. Her face was mostly obscured by a similar emerald helm with a golden cross emblazoned across the face helmet. But that was enough for Bokomon to know the form.
"Ophanimon!" she declared as the light faded away, revealing a golden shield in one arm and a golden spear in the other. She spread out her wings and glided her way out, "I'll be back. Sorcermon! Help them take care of the kids! The rest of you try not to make a mess in my castle!"
"BOLO THUNDER!"
"HURRICANE GALE!"
"AVALANCHE AXES!"
"LUPINE LASER!"
"PYRO BARRAGE!"
The cries rang out as all five of them threw every attack they had at Cherubimon but it wasn't enough to even faze her. Every single attack was either knocked aside with a flick of her fingers or dodged. This was itself incredible given that she was larger than all five of them combined. And with that same speed, she would close any gap that they created and knock them around. Korikakumon put up the biggest fight, swinging his axes wildly any time she came close. But his might meant nothing when compared to how quickly she could move - slamming him hard into the ground with an open palm and pinning him there. She enjoyed hearing him grunt in pain, far more than she reasonably should've. But she was too angry at them to think about their well being.
"KORIKAKUMON! LEAVE! HIM! ALONE!" BurningGreymon stammered as he roared, turning on the spot to aim his weapons at Cherubimon.
Cherubimon shot him a dirty look, then raised her hand up to strike down on Korikakumon again, "Why? You showed no mercy to the humans!"
"We weren't even here!" BurningGreymon answered, charging the weapons on his arms and firing a blast of fire. "PYRO BARRAGE!"
Every single blast hit its mark, but failed to leave a mark on Cherubimon. He must've known it wouldn't work - nothing they'd thrown at the digimon had worked. But Cherubimon couldn't understand why he was even bothering. Still, at least it made him a still target for her. And she was more than eager to reunite them if that was what he wanted. "FINE! YOU WANT HIM! CATCH HIM!"
She lifted Korikakumon up and threw him as hard as she could directly at BurningGreymon. The digimon just barely had enough time to stop firing, looking up in stunned surprise as Korikakumon collided with him and sent him tumbling away.
"YOU'RE OPEN!" KendoGarurumon shouted at them. Cherubimon looked over her shoulder to see the metal wolf had leapt into the air behind her. He spun his body, unfurling the many blades on him so that he turned into a spinning wheel of death. "KLINGE WINDRAD!"
Cherubimon didn't have to do much to get out of his way, watching as he spun past her directly at BurningGreymon and Korikakumon. It looked like the digimon was about to do her work for her when a blast of wind knocked him off his path so that he crashed into the ground beside them.
"Watch it!" Zephyrmon told him off. "You'll kill them if you're not careful!"
"You could've pulled them away instead of pushing me around!" KendoGarurumon protested, forcing himself back up.
"Or we could stop fighting each other for a second and focus on the big scary rabbit thing!" MetalKabuterimon shouted at them. It was a novel idea, but Cherubimon doubted they had the capacity to pull it off. After all, they hadn't coordinated their attacks together to fight her. In fact, they'd mostly focused on fighting her one on one - even when they were attacking at the same these were the digidestined, she was sorely disappointed in them. And she had no idea how they could've ever hoped to live up to those who came before.
Still, just thinking about it annoyed her and she clapped her hands together - summoning together as much energy as she could. Then she released it out, creating a storm cloud that darkened the skies above them. "HEAVEN'S JUDGEMENT!"
"CRAP!" MetalKabuterimon said as the first bolts of lightning rained down around them.
"Take cover!" BurningGreymon shouted at the others, who scattered every which way. Except for Zephyrmon who glided higher and began spinning in a circle, creating a powerful wind current that turned into a cyclone. Cherubimon wasn't sure what she was trying to do but she wasn't going to let her do it - hurrying through the air towards the flying digimon and smacking her down towards the ground with all her might. Zephyrmon hit the ground with a crash and yelped in pain.
"Zephyrmon!" MetalKabuterimon said, dashing towards her just a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck him hard on the head. "AARGH!"
He crumpled under the electrical charge, his torso falling limp upon his tracks. Just the sight brought a smile to Cherubimon's face. Two down. She turned towards the remaining three - KendoGarurumon had rejoined Korikakumon and BurningGreymon who were getting back up to their feet. The three of them made their way through the lightning, putting themselves between her and their injured allies.
Perfect. She would be able to finish them off in one blow like this. She brought her hands together and summoned another bolt of electricity which she prepared to throw at them. "LIGHTNING SPEAR!"
"Shit!" KendoGarurumon had just enough time to say as the lightning drew closer. That should've been the end of it. They were going to die, here and now. She was going to avenge all of her friends. All of the humans they'd senseless slaughtered. And the whole thing felt so hollow. It gave her no satisfaction. All she could think about was making them go away.
But before the lightning came close, a figure clad in green armor appeared and blocked the lightning with a golden shield. It bounced off the metallic surface, arcing back up into the clouds and disappearing. The angel was the last person Cherubimon wanted to see right now. "Why are you here, Ophanimon?"
"I came here to help and instead I found you trying to kill the digidestined. What's that all about? Did I miss something?" Ophanimon asked, looking around in confusion. "Seriously, I heard you were under attack."
"I was! These…saviors-," Cherubimon said bitterly while gesturing at them, "-slaughtered the other human children who came to this world and my friends! They were all gone!"
"What? No they're not. They're at my castle! Speaking of which, do you mind telling them to leave? I'm kind of hungover and really don't want to deal with all of that right now," Ophanimon said nonchalantly.
"LIAR!" Cherubimon spat back angrily, furious that Ophanimon would so casually lie to her about the lives of her friends. "THE BLOOD WAS ON THEIR HANDS!"
"I literally just picked up a severed arm when we ran into each other!" KendoGarurumon shouted back at her.
Ophanimon looked over her shoulder at him, "You just randomly pick up severed arms?"
"I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS!" KendoGarurumon added quickly. Their babbling was growing on Cherubimon's nerves.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" She snapped at them, hearing her own heartbeat in her ears as she felt her face flush over. "Get out of my way Ophanimon! I'm going to end this here and now!"
"I can't let you do that," Ophanimon said. "Please, listen to me. Whatever you think happened, didn't. The others are still alive. Well, some of them. And that's not helping is it? Look, I…just calm down and let's talk about this. For old time's sake."
"Really? You're making an appeal to our friendship now? After everything that's happened?" Cherubimon said in disbelief. Ophanimon couldn't have been that stupid. "Let me guess. You want me to let them live because the prophecy said so! You want me to just wait for things to work out. Meanwhile, hundreds of Digimon from my world are killed every day and I'm expected to sit by and do nothing about it. Is that what you want?"
"I mean…kinda?" Ophanimon said.
"No. Not this time. I am Cherubimon! The Guardian Angel of the Persecuted! I've already seen so many lose so much. Not again. Not ever! I'm not going to sit on idle hands while more die! I'm going to make sure no one else loses anything else ever again. Whatever it takes, I will protect the digimon from my world!" Cherubimon snapped back angrily.
"You realize how stupid the plan of 'stopping death by causing more death' is…right?" Ophanimon half asked, further angering Cherubimon.
"At least I'm doing something besides getting drunk all day!" Cherubimon fired back, striking a nerve with Ophanimon finally as she finally had nothing to say in return. That was exactly what Cherubimon wanted to hear - silence. Now if only she could hear it from the digidestined. "And as for you! You're next! It's time to die!"
"Like how you killed Seraphimon!?" Ophanimon finally asked.
That question gave Cherubimon pause, "Don't you put that on me. We both know it wasn't."
"It wasn't?" Ophanimon asked with a tilted head.
"Of course not! I've been busy trying to protect Digimon from my world! Why would I waste my time on Seraphimon?" she asked back. Ophanimon was again silent, even though Cherubimon expected a completely sarcastic remark from her former friend. But none ever came. For a moment, it seemed she'd broken Ophanimon's mind. Not that she had to work hard to do that - she was probably still nursing her hangover.
Good. That would've made dealing with her easier if she wasn't going to fight back. Cherubimon raised up her arms and prepared to summon another bolt of electricity when she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her back and a force that pushed her forward.
Cherubimon looked down to see a fist with golden circlet piercing through her chest. But who…or what…would've been powerful enough to pierce her from behind? She glanced over her shoulder to see a small boy with blonde hair and angelic wings behind her.
"Who…are you?" she managed to say just as the boy pulled his fist back out of her. She felt herself go limp, weakening as she fell back towards the ground. Then her entire body began to glow again, and she felt a ticklish feeling all across her body as she fell. Was this…reformatting? No…she was turning to data. As she felt everything fade to darkness, her last thoughts were on the others - Terriermon, Renamon, Guardromon, MarineAngemon, Guilmon…those were better days. How she wished she could have them back.
"What did you do!?" Ophanimon hissed in disbelief as she watched Cherubimon fall to data.
"Skipping past the part where you two talk back and forth like an old married couple," the angelic boy answered with the most unnerving smile Zephyrmon had ever seen. He clapped his hands together as his attention turned towards the digidestined. "You all did admirably well. All of you. Well, mostly. Actually, you underperformed to be honest. I'm disappointed in all of you. Still, it's nice to be able to see you all in person."
"Who are you?" Zephyrmon asked, trembling as the angel descended towards them. Now that he was so close in front of them, she could see that he really was small - only about a head taller than Tomoki was.
"It's Lucemon," BurningGreymon said weakly, massaging his temple.
"Hello again, Digimon Tamer," Lucemon said, his smile vanishing into a frown. He glided his way towards BurningGreymon and placed a hand against the dragon's head. "Having a head ache? I hear that happens with your kind."
With a gentle push, he sent BurningGreymon flying backwards into the ground and laughed. "What's the matter? Can't bring yourself to fight? No clever tricks? Isn't that the one thing your people thought you were good for?"
BurningGreymon struggled to push himself back up but still kept a hand firmly on his hand. This was definitely something that wasn't supposed to happen going off of how he was reacting. But they weren't able to make any kind of mark on Cherubimon. How were they going to stand any kind of chance against Lucemon when he took her out so quickly.
"What's the matter? Are you afraid of me?" Lucemon asked, noticing Zephyrmon and relaxing slightly. "Aw, and here I thought we were good friends after all the time we'd spent together."
"What do you mean?" Zephyrmon stammered, not sure what he meant by that.
"Oh? Haven't figured it out?" Lucemon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Let me give you a hint," Kazemon's voice echoed inside her head.
"Maybe that will help you out," Zephyrmon's Guardian Spirit echoed as well. She had no idea what to make of that. Then she glanced at the others who were appearing just as unnerved as she was. Everyone except for BurningGreymon who was still holding his head and doubling over in a pain she could scarcely imagine.
"Still can't get it? Then let me speak plainly," Lucemon said, his smile widening.
"I have been every voice-" Kazemon added.
"-Inside of your head-" Zephyrmon went on.
"-since you first found the Guardian Spirits," Lucemon's voice echoed inside of her head. Zephyrmon felt the blood drain from her face at the revelation. He'd been there the whole time?
"I know every thought as soon as you think it," Kazemon's voice went on.
"Every plan as soon as you plan it," Zephyrmon's voice added.
"That you want to go home," Beetlemon's voice added inside her head.
"That you don't want to fight," Agunimon's voice added.
"I can even hear your panicked screams as you try to remain calm," Lobomon's voice said. Zephyrmon was frozen in place, unsure of how or when this happened.
"You mean…all those times Kumamon was telling me to…and all those times Korikakumon said to-" Korikakumon's voice shook as he finally spoke out, always beginning a sentence but never really finishing. "It was you?"
"Since the very first time you found Kumamon," Lucemon said, his smile widening. "You're such a whiner. Has any one ever told you to stop whining so much?"
Korikakumon shook violently with every word Lucemon spoke, before running forward with his axes out. "YOU USED ME! I'LL KILL YOU!"
He leapt into the air with his axes over his head and made to bring them down on top of Lucemon, only for the angel to stop them with his bare hands. At least, that how it seemed at first. On closer inspection, Lucemon's hand was just a few inches away from Korikakumon's axe - an invisible force keeping the blades from connecting. And the angel digimon laughed, "Are you kidding? Why did you think that was going to work? I literally killed Cherubimon in one go! And now…it's your turn."
"NO!" Ophanimon said, appearing beside Korikakumon and throwing him backwards away from Lucemon. He landed beside BurningGreymon who was doubled over in pain, still holding at his head.
"GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF!" Ophanimon shouted at them.
They didn't need telling twice, and all five of them turned to run away. As they fled, Zephyrmon could hear the voice echoing inside her head again. "Run wherever you want. I'll know where you are."
Author's Notes: How will the digidestined handle this new revelation? Will Ophanimon make it out of there alive? And how will the others react to the fact that Cherubimon has fallen? Find all out this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in six weeks on Friday December 8th at 8 PM CST! Let me know your thoughts in the reviews section! And don't forget to follow the story to keep up with all the latest updates and to favorite to show support! That's all for now, until then is leonardo1123581321 signing out!
