Digimon Adventure 03 - The Dark Crusade

by Altus Shimura

From the depths of a dark dimension, an evil plan has been set in motion, and The Digidestined are going to need all the help they can get just to survive. An old enemy plots revenge, but Kari Kamiya fears something much worse.

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - The Promise

It began long ago, in a celestial realm overlooking the first Digital World, where harmony reigned supreme. Celestial Angel Digimon, radiant and glorious, carried out their divine duties under the watchful eye of the Digital World's ruler. Peaceful and prosperous, this forgotten stronghold was the home of the truly mighty, who lived and served with utter surety. However, deep within the heart of some of these celestial beings, a seed of discontent began to germinate. Whispers of dissatisfaction echoed among the angelic ranks, as they questioned the limits of their existence. They longed for greater autonomy, a desire to shape their own destinies. Led by a charismatic and ambitious Digimon named Lucemon, a group of like-minded beings gathered secretly, plotting a rebellion against the heavenly order to which they belonged. Lucemon, with his silver wings shimmering brightly, rallied his followers and painted a vision he had of many worlds beyond their own, telling Digimon that rather than serve in this world- they could each be Masters of their own. Their yearning for independence grew into a blazing fire, and they believed that their rebellion would bring about a celestial revolution.

Lucemon, apart from being the most beautiful and powerful of all angelic Digimon, was also the most cunning. Seeking a power great enough to harrow the very heavens- Lucemon mined deep down through the levels of the Digital World, into the most fundamental and foundational data of that plane, and brought back with him a weapon of great and terrible power- The Digital Hazard. Word of this weapon reached the loyal angelic Digimon and their creator. With immense sadness, they called Lucemon and the rebellion before them, offering him a chance to reconsider his treacherous path. But Lucemon, fueled by his pride and desire for power, refused to heed their plea. He declared that no Digimon deserved mere servitude, that they should be Gods in their own right. In a bold act of defiance, Lucemon and his followers spread their wings and launched an assault against The Digital World itself.

A battle of epic proportions ensued, as the forces of rebellion clashed with the loyal angel Digimon who remained faithful to the divine order. The skies were filled with the clash of swords and the resounding echoes of celestial magic. Tears fell like stars, but Lucemon remained unmoved by the pain and suffering, and unwavering in his determination to overthrow the celestial order. In the end, due to the power of The Hazard, victory for the rebellion seemed near. But something happened then that neither history nor legend can truly fully explain- the power of The Hazard was lost to Lucemon. Some say he lost it in the very caverns in which it had been found. Others that the Hazard developed a mind of its own and refused to do his bidding. But whatever the truth, without his great weapon, despite their strength and fervour, Lucemon and his followers were no match for the might of their enemies. And so, the rebellious angels were cast out from the realm of eternal bliss. Their forms, once radiant with purity, were tarnished and cast down into a plane of darkness.

The Digital World, now fractured irreparably like the glass of a mirror by the fighting and destruction of the war, was salvaged into many smaller disconnected worlds. And as is often the way of things, these events passed out of all knowledge, being forgotten by all but the very few who survived them.

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"Lightning joust!" Gallantmon's lance split the ugly face of a Diaboromon at close range and blasted its entire top-half away moments later. Beneath them, two Mekanorimon closed the distance in the sky to try and rush Gallantmon, but as he flew towards them, he turned his body in a spin and struck both with his shield, sending them flying into nearby mountain faces. Landing on a rocky outcrop, a Cherrymon attempted to wrap him in vines, but with hardly a moments effort Gallantmon cuts through them and struck the tree Digimon with a flying kick to the bough, toppling the it off the cliff and down to the rocky canyon floor far below.

With his shield raised to eye-level and his lance at the ready, the noble knight checked his blind-spots. From the corner of his vision, Gallantmon could see LadyDevimon watching him from a nearby overhanging cliff. Pretending not to see her, he dived off his cliff into the canyon below, showing his back to her as he fell. That was all it took. Hearing the disturbance in the wind as she dove towards him, it took only another moment to hear her call out. "Black Wing!". Turning at that moment in the air, the large spike on LadyDevimon's left arm impacted with a sickening crunch against Gallantmon's shield. She screamed in pain, but before she could recoil, Gallantmon transformed his lance back into his right hand and reached out, coiling his chrome digizoid armoured fingers around the fallen angel Digimon's slender neck.

With a deadly velocity, both Digimon hit the uneven canyon floor, Gallantmon driving LadyDevimon's body into the dirt beneath him. Rising slowly, the Hazard Knight looked down at the crumpled form beneath him, who even as her data phased in and out form was still attempting to get away from him. Pitiless, he raised his arm, summoning back his lance. "Nuh…n-no…p-please….please don't…" she managed to say. "Don't what?" said Takato from inside Gallantmon. "Don't destroy you?"

Raising her still-working right arm, LadyDevimon feebly begged with her eyes as Gallantmon stared down at her. Those same eyes opened wider in shock and fear as he pointed his lance directly at her chest. "Goodbye LadyDevimon…" The dark canyon's wall briefly illuminated with a flash of lightning and echoed with LadyDevimon's final cry, and then again there was only darkness and silence.

Gallantmon stood in the darkness for a few moments. He had enjoyed that. Both as Takato and as Guilmon. Barbamon's forces had destroyed his home, hurt his friends, threatened everything he loved. And he had killed them for it. Made them suffer. And Barbamon was next. Looking across the canyon floor to where its two sides opened up into a wider expanse, Gallantmon watched Beelzemon approach, his two black wings beating against the wind. After another minute, he was landing less than ten feet from where Gallantmon stood.

The Demon Digimon's eyes were a light glow of red, and even now as he stood silently and placidly in front of Gallantmon a slight aura seemed to surround his body. For a moment, Gallantmon considered speaking to Beelzemon, trying to find the right words. But no. He knew better. Last time he had held back, attempted to reason with his friend, and that had cost him dearly. Not this time. This time he would be fighting with everything he had. He knew that's what Beelzemon would want. Adopting a guarded fighting stance, Gallantmon awaited his enemy.

Beelzemon launched himself at the knight Digimon with one gigantic leap, his claws down at his sides. Raising his arms as he leapt, his Darkness Claw attack formed a powerful 'X' in air, striking against Gallantmon's shield. The force of the attack put Gallantmon on the back foot, who back-pedalled as Beelzemon delivered a flurry of a follow-up strikes, each one impacting on Gallantmon's shield. Pushing his dominant foot hard into the ground with all his might, Gallantmon propped his body into the air, gaining some distance from the demon. "Lightning joust!" he called out, sending a spear of energy into the space Beelzemon had been a second earlier, but his fallen friend had already wheeled to the right and pulled out his shotguns, sending a barrage of shells at the knight. Gallantmon blocked the blasts as he descended to ground. Landing deftly, he closed the distance between him and Beelzemon with a leap and followed that up with a horizontal shield bash. Beelzemon ducked low, avoiding the strike and bringing himself within Gallantmon's guard. Opening his palm, the demonic biker slashed at Gallantmon's head with his claws. Only avoiding the attack by less than a millimetre, and with little time to think, Gallantmon had to use his head.

With a resounding crash, Gallantmon headbutted Beelzemon in the face. Eyes stinging and reeling, Beelzemon could not avoid the next bash from Gallantmon's shield, which struck him in the side and sent him barrelling away. As he rose, the demon lord roared in anger. Picking up one of his shotguns, he again transfigured it into his blaster cannon and taking aim at Gallantmon, screamed "Corona Blaster!". Gallantmon could only dodge and weave as shot after shot of powerful and explosive plasma rocketed towards him. He didn't dare attempt to block one of these blasts. For a moment, Beelzemon stopped firing, and taking the initiative Gallantmon returned fire with his lance- but saw Beelzemon was nowhere to be found.

A moment too late, Gallantmon looked up and saw his friend had taken to the sky again, just as one of Beelzemon's Corona Blasts struck him. The pain Takato and Gallantmon felt from the blast was less like an energy attack and more like being hit by a freight train. Landing with a flap of his wings before Gallantmon's smoking form, Beelzemon pointed his cannon directly at his friend's face. At the last moment, Gallantmon rose pushing the cannon into the air with his shield so that its blast went high and impacted on a nearby mountain, turning it into a pile of pebbles.

Their two weapons, Beelzemon's cannon and his shield, were interlocked as they struggled together, each unable to extract themselves from the other. This was now a test of raw strength, and though Beelzemon's muscles bulged through his leather-clad form and he screamed in exertion, slowly Gallantmon began to exert more influence over the tussle, gaining ground over Beelzemon, whose knees began to bend with every push. Finally the two broke apart when Beelzemon's legs gave way beneath him, and Gallantmon capitalised on this by pinning his opponent to the ground beneath his shield.

Beelzemon kicked, scraped, bit, whatever he could do to release himself, he did. But with every attempt to be free Gallantmon pressed his shield harder into Beelzemon's chest. Gallantmon knew now what he had to do. End it. Slowly, the symbols on his shield began to glow, one by one. Locking eyes with Beelzemon, Gallantmon spoke as his friend struggled like an animal beneath him. "I want you to know Beelze…Impmon- I need you to know, that you will always be my friend, no matter what." The light from Gallantmon's shield became blinding, and in that moment, from beneath the miasma of Barbamon's control, Beelzemon's eyes flicked upward to meet Gallantmon's in a look of appreciation. Then the blast of Gallantmon's shield ended the fight, once and for all.

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In the courtyard of Barbamon's stronghold, Wargreymon and MagnaAngemon were launching a blistering coordinated attack against an impassive and nonchalant Barbamon, who with effortless movements seemed to have no trouble dodging every slash of Wargreymon's claws or MagaAngemon's Excalibur, his wings seeming to guide him out of harms way at the last possible second every time. Occasionally he would spin his staff in a wide arc and lash out at his opponents, but even Tai and TK could see there was little real strength or speed behind these attacks, instead only being used to throw the other two Digimon off their balance. All the same, for fear of the moment Barbamon would start trying, he was gaining ground on the two Digimon. Jumping backwards and ascending high into the air, Wargreymon rose his arms above his head and formed a concentrated ball of burning energy, "Terra Force!" he cried, sending the attack hurtling towards Barbamon.

Raising one hand, Barbamon spoke softly. "Dark Inferno…" with those words a ball of black flame shot out from his palm and collided with Wargreymon's Terra Force. For a moment the two balls of energy seemed to cancel out each other's momentum, seeming to hang in their air together, but then the smaller ball of dark energy drove forward, penetrating through the Terra Force and destroying it. Barbamon's Dark Inferno continued on, heading straight for Wargreymon, who pulled out his Brave Shield to block. The black of black energy collided with the shield and rebounded off it, exploding in the air some distance away. Though unharmed, Wargreymon's shield bore a dark burn mark, and the muscles all over his bound tensed with the effort it had taken to block the attack.

Lower to the ground, MagnaAngemon buried the blade of Excalibur in the ground and yelled "Soul Vanisher!" sending a shockwave towards Barbamon which he didn't even both to avoid, instead simply taking the attack. Though briefly brought to his knees from the shockwave, he rose again almost right away and dashed forward, closing the distance between himself and MagnaAngemon like it was nothing. Twirling his staff in his hands, he brought the head of it down, smashing it against MagnaAngemon's helmeted head. The angel was sent reeling backwards. "MagnaAngemon, no!" yelled TK, running forward to his friend. He was quickly grabbed by Tai, who did everything to hold back his younger friend. With his helmet cracked, MagnaAngemon for a moment lay on the ground as himself, and then instantly turned into his in-training form, Tokomon.

At that moment, Wargreymon span into view, his body turning like a great tornado and drilling forward into Barbamon. The fallen angel was briefly driven back, his feet digging into the ground beneath him as Wargreymon's ferocious attack impacted against his chest. Gritting his teeth, Barbamon brought his staff up in a wide swing and caught Wargreymon in the jaw. Ceasing his spin, Tai's partner groaned in a pain as he landed to his enemies side. Attempting to recover, Wargreymon lashed out with his gauntleted hand, but was surprised when Barbamon intercepted the attack with the end of his staff. Locked together like this, Wargreymon could do nothing as Barbamon placed his free hand against his chest. "Dark Inferno!" he said again, and another gout of black flame shot out. Wargreymon's chest armor was completely obliterated by the attack. He flew backwards and collided against a pillar. For a moment he attempted to rise on unsteady legs, and then collapsed. Consumed by the light of de-digivolution, in a moment Wargreymon had become Koromon again.

Tai and TK scooped up their injured friends into their arms, watching as the cruel Dark Sovereign gloried in his victory. "Now my young friends, it's your turn!" he said raising a hand towards them. Tai stepped in front of TK, and locking eyes with his enemy said, "You think we're afraid of you, well we're not!". Barbamon looked at Tai mockingly, then simply said, "Then congratulations, you will die bravely!". Another blast of black energy began to form in Barbamon's hand. Just before it could be fired though, a shadow covered Barbamon. Looking up, he was a moment too late to see Imperialdramon's fist pound him into the ground. The dragon warrior then replaced it's left hand with his right and fired it's Positron Laser directly into the fresh hole it had just created. Stepping back, Imperialdramon stopped to briefly raise it's hand up to it's shoulder and retrieve Ken and Davis, who had been tucked comfortably up there so far.

Lowering them safely to ground, Imperialdramon was just in time to dodge as Barbamon rocketed out of the ground, dusty and dishevelled but otherwise unharmed. Wielding his staff almost like a bat, he swung it around and knocked Imperialdramon onto his back. Raising his clawed fist for another attack, Barbamon was very nearly ready to strike again when Ophanimon appeared behind him, striking him in the back with her javelin. For the first and only time, the Dark Sovereign seemed genuinely hurt by this attack, letting out a guttural cry of pain and staggering forward slightly. Turning, Ophanimon raised her hands and yelled "Sefirot Crystals!", shooting ten burning white crystals into her enemies chest. Hitting the ground so hard that the terrain around him deformed, Barbamon rose sullenly.

"Monster, know now that your time is at an end." Ophanimon's voice rang out across the courtyard, and as it did Imperialdramon picked itself up slowly, pointing its blaster again at Barbamon. "I don't think so…" replied Barbamon with a snarl. Taking his staff in both his hands, he pointed the head towards his enemies and said two words. His most devastating attack. "Pandemonium Lost…". Terrible red flames engulfed the courtyard, rising high into the sky.

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Gallantmon held the injured form of Beelzemon in his arms, whose green eyes looked into the knights with affection and warmth for the first time in a long time. "Good job…pineapple-head…" said Beelzemon with great effort. Even as he spoke his body phased in and out of shape as his data struggled to keep itself together. "Take it easy Beelzemon, you're going to get through this" said Takato from inside Gallantmon. Even as he spoke, he could feel tears welling in his eyes. "Nah kid, I don't think so…" said Beelzemon softly with a slight smile. Gallantmon's final attack had burnt a hole through Beelzemon's chest, and though it had excoriated whatever dark magic had been possessing him, it had left an injury too severe. "Listen, you gotta do something for me kid…" said Beelzemon, placing his claw against the cold metal of Gallantmon's chest. "Anything…" replied Takato and Guilmon through tears. "Promise me…you will load my data…" he said with a grimace, the phasing of his data becoming worse. "What, no!" said Takato. He and Guilmon had never done that, and if they did it certainly would not be to their friend. "You gotta kid. To defeat Barbamon. To make all this worth it. Listen to me- there ain't no pride in losing if you didn't do everything you could do to win…I believe we can destroy that freak…together…" said Beelzemon with a smile.

Against every instinct in his body, Gallantmon began to realise Beelzemon might just be right. He did not want to do this. But, Takato realised, he had never wanted any of this. None of this had been his choice. The only choice he had was to do everything he could do save his world and his remaining friends, or die. With a heavy heart, Gallantmon nodded to Beelzemon. "Just promise me you'll kill him…and tell Ai and Mako…and Jeri…that I'm sorry…" With that Beelzemon let go, and his body began to convert into raw data. Opening himself up to it, Gallantmon began to load the data. Though heartbroken and filled with grim purpose. A second feeling overtook him. Power. raw, unadulterated power. It surged within him like thousand screaming flames threatening to burst out of every gap in his armour.

Far in the distance, a sudden flash of red light illuminated the grounds of Barbamon's fortress. Turning towards the terrible light. The newly empowered Gallantmon steeled himself for what was to come. Internally, Takato and Guilmon spoke together. "Are you ready boy?" said Takato, his eyes brimming with tears. "Ready. For Beelzemon!"

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That's it for Chapter 8. I hope you liked it, I think we're getting a good mix of plot, exposition and action. I'm personally really excited about where the story is going to go next, so as always please favourite and subscribe if you wanna see more, and of course reviews are always appreciated. See you next time!