Ominous Flame

Chapter 53

Author Notes: It's been soooooo long! Why must school and all my jobs get in the way of my fun time? Ce la vie I suppose *sighs* Anyways...Plans have been made. Now? Now it is time to execute. Let's see how it goes shall we? I do not own Digimon.

3rd P.O.V

"Ok darlings. Quickly and quietly now." It took a bit of back and forth talking with Shagumon over the last week and a half after their original conversation but a plan was in place. And now was as good a time as any to initiate it if they had any hopes of a brighter future.

Or...at the very least more time to fight for it. "Where's Takuya?" Zoe narrowed her eyes in suspicion as the fire warrior was nowhere to be seen. And her least favorite person(outside of Cherubimon of course) there to greet them with a grimace.

Her aquatic form fidgety as she stood there. "He's gathering some things before he meets us. Now hurry up." Ranamon glanced nervously as she further opened the cage that had been locking them in.

Her heart pulsed erratically as her anxiety spiked. "What's going on?" She had no time for this, none of them did when she frowned towards Koji. "Look, I'll explain things once we're out of here, but now's not the time."

The queen of the ocean didn't even know why she agreed to this. After all of the trouble these humans caused her, she shouldn't be bothering in trying to keep them safe. But she had made a deal for the sake of her and her fans survival.

So regardless of her feelings she had to suck it up with a nibbled lip while they file out one by one from the cage(in her opinion) slowly. "This way." At this point, everything was riding on this. Her head tilted upwards as the castle began to shake.

"Ranamon..." She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. No matter what she had to stick to the plan. "Pick up the pace." She led them through the winding back hallways, biting her lip again as the tremors grew stronger. "Graaaaaaaaa!" Now with deep, animalistic growls accompanying it.

Pain animalistic growls that sounded far too familiar. "That's Takuya!" Her hand reached out, grabbing ahold of Koichi's arm. Stopping him in his tracks, just like she was warned. "Don't. We're going this way."

They stared into each other frantic eyes for several moments, only to break up as the the shaking grew even worse. "Grr I don't have time for this!" Her grip on him tightened as she moved. Practically dragging the ravenette with her as she marched.

If the situation wasn't so dire everyone probably would've smiled-if not laughed at the scene. Sadly though things were dire, at the very least Ranamon was desperate. What little patience she had was slipping further and further as Ophanimon's chosen pestered her with questions.

But she said nothing. Instead she led them towards her a huge back door. "Alright, once you get outside of Cherubimon's castle, follow the path until you reach a tree full of glowing moss. There Shagumon will meet you."

With a grunt she pushed the large door open which led back into the dark forest. Tommy looked back at her with confusion and concern. "But what about you?" Despite her body trembling, she scoffed.

"Appreciate the worry honey, but I plan on hightailing it out of here. Cherubimon's gone back on his promises and I don't intend on sticking around." A frown formed on her face as they all stood there, still looking at her.

Were they deaf? "Hello! I can't leave until you go. The last thing I want is for Shagumon to torch me because I didn't make sure you left." To prove her point she waved her hand out. "Go on. Shoo shoo now!"

Zoe was about ready to open her mouth to retort. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, her gaze finding Koji's. "Alright. Let's get going guys." The underwater maiden sighed in relief as the group(finally, yet reluctantly) walked off.

Following the path just like she told them. "Phew! About time..." As soon as they were a good distance away, she rushed back in. Though she was panicking as the battle raging outside was only getting more intense.

The rumbling within the palace more dangerous and erratic to the point where she stumbled every few steps, but she kept moving. Her bared feet raced up the steps, grasping at the metal railing as she nearly tumbled backwards.

Her crimson eyes narrowed with determination as she made her way into Cherubimon's room. "Buy me a bit more time Shagumon..." She had to hurry. Her feet carried her further into the darkness. Her gaze trailed along every crevice...searching.

'An orb of fractal code?' Ranamon leaned against the wall with a frown. 'What exactly do you mean sugar?' Shagumon huffed as he crossed his arms, barely able to cover the wince that formed on his face. No doubt he was still recovering.

Neither have them have had an easy set of missions lately. 'He hasn't been absorbing the fractal code we've been collecting into himself like we originally thought. Instead he's been putting it all into some weird sphere shape. I'm thinking we take it now that he's just about done with his conquest.'

It was a bold plan. One she wasn't so sure would work. 'How do we do that? I highly doubt he's just going to give us a chance to swipe or destroy it...' At that her companion's lips twisted into a grin. 'He will...once I challenge him.' Ranamon's eyes widened.

'Challen-have you lost your marbles Shagumon!? You can't defeat him on your own.' He wasn't fazed by her outburst, merely shrugging. As if he didn't just come up with what sounds like a suicide plan.

And she wasn't sure if his behavior wasn't due to being overconfident or actually banking on getting killed...but he clarified his decision. 'I don't need to defeat him-though if I do it'll make things much easier, but I just need to stall until you find the orb.'

A suicide plan with chances of success that were seriously low. She didn't like this, not one bit. But he continued once more before she could even open her mouth to argue or dish out anymore insults to him and his idea.

'Look. You find and bust it, and that not only buys us and the world more time, but it also means he won't be able to power up and eliminate us like we were worried about.' Her mind drifted back to Mercurymon and how easy he was killed by Saldomon.

How much destruction he caused every time he was sent out on a mission. 'Do you really think you can handle him? There's also your little friends to worry about.' She saw his gaze flash for a moment, a blitz of blue before reverting back to red.

Was that a trick of light? She couldn't be sure. 'I will stall as long as you need me to, but you gotta get them out. Say whatever you have to in order to convince them, but get them out of harms way. Then destroy the orb.'

A shaky breath escaped her as she pushed herself off the wall. Her feet paced her back and forth. 'If we fail, that's it for us...' It didn't matter if she had arguably the simpler job, fear coursed through her. But as she turned to her ally, he shrugged again.

His expression determined, yet accepting. 'If we do nothing...that's it for us regardless. I for one don't plan on going down without a fight. But hey, if you got any other plans, feel free to speak up. With how things have progressed we got less than twenty-four hours before doomsday.'

No matter what Ranamon had to find it while Saldomon was keeping Cherubimon distracted. "Come on, where is it?" The code in her veins pulsed as she searched. Only to sigh with relief when she found it.

It indeed was some sort of sphere, with fractal code swerving and interlooping around each other. "Now...what do you think you're doing my dear?" Before she could turn around-or even widen her eyes a blast of agony shot through her back.

The force of the attack sent her forward, her body tumbling over itself multiple times before smacking into the wall. As she landed painfully on her stomach, her eyes(she didn't even know when she closed them) cracked open.

"N-no..." Just in time to see blurry yellow eyes full of mirth and a fanged grin staring down at her. "Thank you for your service Ranamon...but I'm afraid I no longer have any use for you." His claws grasped the orb as her vision left her.

The dark energy that struck her ate through her back before engulfing her entirely. "I'm sorry Saldo-" Within a matter of moments, her body disintegrated into code. As her egg flew away, her code flew to the orb.

Making it a tad bigger than before. "The time has come." The end was near as his shadowy form vanished in the room. The fractal code that was in his possession unraveled as it followed Cherubimon out.

to be continued

Author Notes: And so ends the tale of the little mermai-oh, sorry, wrong story. In either case we're down one water maiden. Damn, it was fun writing Ranamon too. There goes our elemental quartet as well.

We'll see how the next battle goes and if Shagumon decides to join them. That is it for now my friends. As always thank you so much for reading. If you like the series please feel free to fav/follow/review as it would mean a ton to see you all enjoying my story and I'll see you next time. Tchao for now.