A/N: I want you all to leave a loooooooong review about how I handled this last part of the arc. Everything from Wizardmon/Mystimon's warning, to this chapter.
The radiance that Magnamon was giving away was something none of the present in the room had seen before. His whole posture just set him apart from Flamedramon and Raidramon, like... Like he was a powerful knight ready to impart justice.
"Magnamon..." Davis breathed in awae, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this was his partner — His blue little partner!
Stigmon was also staring at the newly form of the blue Digimon with wide-eyes. Who knew that, all this time, Ken had a Digi-egg under his control without realizing it. The more he looked at him, the more Stigmon believed that he could take down Kimeramon and finally help Ken open his eyes about his actions. To help him be whom he was before.
From the entrances above, the rest of the Digidestined observed the miraculous evolution with wide eyes. And their partners all started glow. "Uh? What's this?" Salamon asked, feeling the power.
"I don't know but I feel rejuvenated!" Upamon said, jumping off Cody's arms and bouncing around on the floor. "Upamon Digivolves to... Armadillomon!"
"Poromon Digivolves to... Hawkmon!"
"Salamon Digivolves to... Gatomon!"
Everyone was in awe as they saw their partners return to their usual states thanks to the glow emanating from Magnamon. "This is amazing!" Yolei said, her gaze going between their partners and Magnamon. "It's like he recharged them completely! How?"
"And how did the evolution happened?" Kari wondered, not tearing her gaze from Magnamon's form. "It's an Armor Evolution but... How?"
"I don't know," T.K admitted. "I thought we already had all the eggs... How can there be a ninth one?"
"Whatever the case... We can't deny that this evolution could change the tides in our favor now that our partners are back to full health," Cody said, getting his Digivice out just in case.
Outside of the base, Kimeramon could feel something... He was feeling something coming from that base. A source of light... A source to be destroyed. Light couldn't — shouldn't — exist.
He gave out a roar and turned back to the base of his creator. Creator, not master. He didn't needed a master, he had the power of the shadows, and with it he would destroy anything that stands on his way.
The Emperor continued running to find an exit of his own base to find Kimeramon, and force that ungrateful waste of data and dna to continue to fight for him. Who did he think he was? He created him! Gave him all his powers! Went to that godforsaken whirlpool to gather data for his creation and this is how he thanks him?!
"It's all because of those damn Digidestined!" The Emperor cursed. Somehow, someway, they damaged his creation! Them and the damnable Zoldyck! And now they even stopped his base from functioning.
He had to make them pay. They will all pay! Pay!
"Ichijouji!" A familiar voice called and caused him to stop on his tracks. Baring his teeth, he turned around to face the newcomer that dared to stop him.
Killua skid to a stop, not looking winded after running for a while to chase after the Emperor. He also looked strangely recovered, even after going against Kimeramon along with the other armored Digimon.
"What do you want, Zoldyck?!" The Emperor spat venom as he spoke. "I am too busy to play with you, I need to get Kimeramon back."
"That's not going to happen, Ken," Killua said, clenching his fists and getting into a battle position.
"That it's not my NAME!" He roared, saliva flying from his mouth and his eyes becoming bloodshot. "I am the Digimon Emperor! The sovereign of this world! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ACCEPT THAT?!"
Killua's eyes narrowed even further as he observed the form of the Emperor. Stigmon was right, Ken was more erratic and violent than usual. Where before he maintained an air of superiority and cockiness, now it was all pure rage, boiling and about to explode.
"I can't let someone like you, who has caused so much problems to my friends, to continue with this madness," The Hunter explained, letting his aura flow around him. "I won't let you get to Kimeramon, this will end here Ichijouji."
The Emperor's teeth grinded together, Killua swore they were about to break as he heard them clench against each other. "Fine!" He spat. "Want to die so badly? I'll grant you that wish myself!"
The Emperor turned to face a wall and slammed his left hand against it. A moment later the wall exploded and revealed an exit to the exterior of the ship, the sun has already came out and there was no signs of Kimeramon whatsoever outsite.
The Emperor's jumped off the base and landed safely on the floor, Killua following him. The dressed up boy started running again to gain some distance from his base, the Hunter never leaving his sight even once. The Emperor was obviously wanting the chance to get his rematch after the last fight they had ended in his total defeat.
'This is nothing but a setback,' The Emperor thought. 'I trained myself everyday ever since that defeat, I was able to go on par with Blademon, that treacherous bastard, on every one of our training sessions. Now I'm going to show Zoldyck who's the only one worthy of having this power!' He growled as he continued to run.
Killua for his part just looked calmly at The Emperor before turning his gaze back to the base, where his friends were still inside. His sharp eyes whoever, noticed a figure circling back to the ship before crashing inside. 'Kimeramon! Why did it came back?! Shit...' He turned to glare at Ken's back. 'Now I can't allow him to go back there.'
Killua stopped running and crossed his arms. "Enough. This is far enough. Want to settle this or not?!" He demanded.
The Emperor stopped too and turned around to glare at him. "Fine..." His aura spiked out and he threw away his cape. "Want to die so badly? Then this will be your... YOUR FINAL PLACE OF REST!"
With a roar the Emperor dashed at Killua to deliver a punch to his face. He crossed his arms over his body to defend himself and scowled at him. The battle between the two Nen users has begun.
Inside of the base, Magnamon tensed when he felt somehow coming towards them. He looked down to see one of the walls bursting open and revealing the monstrosity that was Kimeramon arriving into the scene. "He's back."
The beast charged recklessly at the golden warrior, his jaws opened to charge a blast of heat viper on his jaws.
Magnamon saw the attack coming and immediately tackled Davis out of harm's way. "Davis!" He exclaimed as he shoved his partner away. The infernal blast of fire destroying the part of the bridge where the boy has been standing just a few moments ago.
The dust settled and the two looked at the destroyed bridge. "T-That was close..." Davis breathed out, feeling like he's been saying that a lot on the span of a day.
"Davis, go reunite with the others," Magnamon said as he got up and glared at the beast. "I'll deal with it in the meantime."
"We both will," Stigmon said, floating at his side. "I'm tired of only sitting around and letting bad things happen."
Davis looked at the two Digimon and nodded. "Okay... I'll be counting on you two," He said and clenched his fists. "This has to come to an end!" He turned around and ran out of the room to reunite with the rest of his friends.
Magnamon and Stigmon turned to glare at Kimeramon. The beast glared back and charged another blast of Heat Viper from its jaws. However, Magnamon was faster and he shot forward to deliver a powerful uppercut that shot the monster's mouth shut. "Magna Punch!"
Kimeramon shook his head and raised the Devimon's arms to crush the bug. But then from his left side, various missiles started impacting, aiming for the set of eyes on that side of his face. The behemoth turned to see Stigmon firing constant barrages from the stingers on his knuckles, he moved his arms to swat him away like the bug he was.
Magnamon took the chance of the distraction his new formed ally gave him and delivered a drill kick to the gut of the monster that smashed him against a wall. Kimeramon roared in pain and anger. He started charging another blast of green fire on his mouth, but Stigmon acted fast, he shot the stingers at the mouth of the beast while it was still open, causing the attack to implode inside of his jaws.
"Nice shot," Magnamon complimented.
Stigmon nodded in thanks, but the comment was cut short, when the long arms of the Digimon tried to reach out for them. Magnamon moved and dodged the arms to deliver a double fist punch to the head of the beast and then proceeded to pummel him in any possible way.
It didn't took long for Davis to find the others, he was running up through the long corridor of stairs when he spotted their backs. "Hey guys! Wait up!"
They stopped and turned around to see him, relief washing over their faces. "Davis, you're safe!" T.K said, giving the boy a smile.
"What's happening there?" Kari asked. "And where are the Emperor and Killua?" She asked.
"Sparky left to find the Emperor," Davis explained. "If I know sparky, he's probably giving the Emperor a beat down right-" A sudden crash made him jump forward, as a massive elbow suddenly bursted through the wall. "- NOW!"
The elbow retreaded and the group dared to take a peek of the battle occuring on the engine room. Magnamon and Stigmon moved around Kimeramon to attack him from different angles, Magnamon's going for more close-combat attacks like punches and kicks, while Stigmon kept his distance and just shot his stingers at the artificial Digimon, aiming mainly at the eyes of the beast or at his massive jaw each time it tried to launch its signature attack.
"Stigmon is helping us?!" Cody couldn't help but blurted out, surprised that the Emperor's partner joined them in this fight.
"Yup, apparently not even the guy's partner wanted him around," Davis said. "He's the one who helped me get that new, weird Digi-egg that turned V-Mon into that bad-ass super Digimon."
One of the monster's massive hands passed too close to the hole where they were watching the fight, causing them to take a few steps back to stop themselves from getting damaged. The beast started to fire various blast of fire consecutively, they carried less power, but that way the bug wouldn't make them implode while they were charging on his mouth. The blasts impacted against all the walls around the engine room, causing various explosions and further compromising the status of the ship.
"This thing is going down!" Armadillomon said with panick. "Time to evacuate!"
"Are you guys okay to do it though?" Kari asked, remembering how bad they were after their first encounter with the monster.
Gatomon nodded. "Absolutely. Whatever Magnamon did to us it gave us our strength back."
"So I saw we deploy the wings and get out of here!" Hawkmon said.
Davis looked at the fight, worried for his partner. Magnamon dodged another of the blasts from Kimeramon and caught Davis' eyes, noticing his worry and looking around at the damage of the ship, the golden warrior nodded and turned to Kimeramon. "Hey ugly! Follow me!" He then proceeded to take down a wall with a punch and fly away from the base. "C'mon, Stigmon!"
"Coming!" The insect said, following the armored Digimon.
Kimeramon roared and gave chase to his two opponents.
Davis sighed in relief and turned back. "Let's get going."
"What about Killua and Ken?" Kari asked. He was worried that her friend might get trapped on the crash, and while they all disliked Ken, bordering on hate, she didn't wanted him to die.
"I'm sure he's okay," T.K said. "He was chasing Ken, who was chasing Kimeramon when it got away. So they're probably outside by now."
"Then we should follow their example," Yolei said, getting her Digivice out. "Digidestined, let's do this!"
Everyone nodded and raised their Digivices. "DIGIMENTAL UP!"
"Hawkmon Armor Digivolves to... FlyBeemon! The Soaring Knowledge!"
"Armadillomon Armor Digivolves to... Pteramon! The Armed Love!"
"Patamon Armor Digivolves to... Pegasusmon! The Flying Hope!"
"Gatomon Armor Digivolves to... Nefertimon! The Angel of Light!"
While normally Davis would have been in cloud nine for riding on Nefertimon's back while holding close to Kari, his worry for his friends outweights his crush at the moment. They all came out of the base as it came down and the boy turned around to see if Magnamon and Killua managed to escape. 'Sparky... Magnamon.'
The giant flying base impacted against the floor, causing a courtain of dust to lift up in the air. When it settled down the group saw two things in the distance. One was the ongoing fight between Magnamon and Stigmon against Kimeramon, and the other was a second fight happening a few meters away, between Killua and the Emperor.
"They got out," Kari said, relieved that everyone was safe from the crash.
Yolei for her part scowled as she saw the fight between the boys. "What is that jerk doing?! We're all risking our lives and he just runs away, I hope Killua is giving him the thrashing of his life!"
"Maybe if we stop him, then Kimeramon will finally stop fighting," Cody deduced, narrowing his eyes on the Emperor's direction. "Let's go to them!"
"What about Magnamon and Stigmon?!" Davis asked, watching his partner and the Emperor's working together to keep Kimeramon at bay.
"If Cody is right then we can stop Kimeramon without them getting hurt," T.K said. "If it doesn't work, we come back here to help them."
Davis frowned and bit his lip, but decided that the idea had some merit. And hey, maybe they could kick the Emperor's ass together and that would stop Kimeramon. "Fine then."
The decision made, they all flew to where the Nen users were having their decisive battle
After The Emperor threw his first punch and Killua blocked, the hunter moved the push the Emperor away. The Emperor recovered rapidly and started to throw punches at the Hunter, who dodged and blocked each of the strikes coming his way. Growling in annoyance, the Emperor threw a jab aimed for the face, but Killua leaned his body in a way that his torso was on parallel to the punch and taking advantage of this position, he planted his hands on the floor and delivered a stomp kick to the Emperor's chest, followed by a spinning kick with Nen focused on the feet.
The force of the impact sent the Emperor flying. He grunted and flipped in the air to land on all fours, his hands and feet digging on the ground to stop his momentum. Killua wasn't going to give him a chance to use his ability and charged at him, he crouched to be on eye level with the Emperor and delivered an uppercut to his jaw that caused his feet to separate from the ground. Killua followed by digging his open palm on his solar plexus.
The Emperor's mouth open as the air left him and he was sent bouncing to the ground. He panted for breath and growled, he turned to glare at Zoldyck and activated his hatsu. He slammed his right hand on the floor to sent spikes of earth at him in the hopes of impaling him. Rather than dodging however, Killua focused Nen on both of his fists and proceeded to punch the spikes that came his way without any kind of problem.
Seeing this, the Emperor clapped his hands together and place them on the ground again, from the ground a large spiked bat bate of metal came out. He turned around to glare at the Hunter and focused Nen on the plant of his feet to shot himself forward at the Hunter. Raising his bat hight on the air to slam it against the boy's head.
Killua dodged the swings the Emperor did to try and bash his skull in. Killua's eyes narrowed as he noticed something... Off about the Emperor. Compared to their last fight, he was being more reckless and less boastful than before, he wasn't making useless monologues or presuming how he was going to defeat him effortlessly. 'He's mad. Completely lost in his rage that his plans are crumbling around him... I could use that in my favor.'
One last mad swing attempted to reach Killua's side, but he raised his arm to block it, using Ryu to focus Nen on that arm to add defense, and upon impact the bat completely shattered like glass. The Emperor gasped in surprise and leaped back, his eyes wide and his teeth clenched.
Killua narrowed his eyes and took out one of his yo-yos. He launched it in an downward arc that would impact with The Emperor's head, the tyrant leaped back to dodge it and the toy slammed in the floor, leaving a sizable crack on it. Ken's eyes buldged in surprise that something that looked like a common toy could pack quite a punch. Killua tug it back and launched it forward with less strength and more slowly towards his foe's chest.
The Emperor caught the toy with his left hand and stared at it for a moment, before frowning and clenching his teeth.
Killua smirked. 'Caught ya,' He thought. "Can't destroy it?" The question seemed to take the Emperor by surprise. "That's what your ability does, right? With your left hand you destroy, with the right one you change the shape of an object, and when you clapped them together you do both — Deconstruction and reconstruction — to create something new with the same materials."
If the way The Emperor's eyes seemed to shrank each time Killua explained everything step by step, he was hitting every nail down the coffin.
"Of course such an ability must come with limitations... You never tried to deconstruct me with your left hand so either you're too dumb... Or you can't," Killua said, a sinister smile forming on his face. "And you didn't destroyed my yo-yo because you either want it for yourself or don't know of what is it made of. And you probably won't, it's a special alloy made by one of my brothers, not even I know what it's mead of." He does, but he's just bluffing. He pried it out of the pig he had for a brother so he could recreate them as a conjuring technique. "It's a powerful ability... But sadly you're an incompetent user," He said tugging back his weapon.
"ENOUGH!" The Emperor exploded, his aura roaring around him and shifting from dark purple to red. "YOU THINK YOU CAN COME HERE, TO MY KINGDOM, AND THREAT ME LIKE I'M INFERIOR?!" As he spoke, the Emperor felt a pain on the back of his neck, but he ignored in favor of his unyielding rage. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
Killua narrowed his eyes as he saw the change on the Emperor's aura. He let out his own Ren and got ready to use Godspeed to finish the fight already if necessary.
However an explosion called their attention and both combatants turned to see the Emperor's base crashing down and everyone inside evacuating. Killua watched Kimeramon swat away Stigmon and a Digimon he didn't recognized, while the others got away on the flying evolutions of their partners.
The Emperor at seeing his creation started to regain his composure, his red aura changing back to dark purple. "Hehehehe...AHAHAHAHA! YES, SEE THAT ZOLDYCK?! KIMERAMON HAS COME BACK TO HIS SENSES!" He brought his gauntlet close to his face and spoke through it. "Kimeramon! Come here and help me kill this mongrel! Then we can deal with the rest!"
Killua glared at him and got ready to attack, but to their surprise Kimeramon didn't moved from where he was fighting the others. The Emperor's momentary state of happiness vanished. "Kimeramon! Didn't you hear me?! Ignore them and come here! ... Kimeramon!"
The beast continued to ignore him, only fighting against Stigmon and the golden Digimon in the distance. The Emperor growled and yelled through his gauntlet. "DON'T IGNORE ME USELESS WASTE OF DATA!"
Kimeramon finally stopped for a moment and even from so far away, both enemies could feel the creature glaring at his creator. The Emperor flinched and took a step back, while Killua grew confused. Did the creature developed a mind of his own? 'This is worse than I thought then...' He thought. "That thing is completely out of control now..."
"He is not!" The Emperor roared. "He is perfect, like me! He is my creation and I do not make mistakes!"
"Open your damn eyes already, Ichijouji!" Killua growled. "Things have changed and if that thing isn't stopped, you'll pay the consequences just like the rest of us!"
"Shut up!" He took out his whip and lashed it at Killua, who didn't bothered to dodge it as it wouldn't damage him. "This is just a game! And I'll end up winning! I'll beat you and Kimeramon and I will conquer this world together, once I remind him of his place!"
"Killua! Ichijouji!" Davis' voice called as everyone flew towards the two of them. The group, both human and Digimon glaring at the Emperor.
The Emperor gave them all a crazed grin. "You will never deat him. You won't stand a chance against Kimeramon! You've all lost!"
"Shut your trap!" Davis snapped. "Lose? This isn't a game, Ichijouji! Cut the crap already!"
"You committed a serious crime against nature by creating that freak!" Yolei continued, peeking from over FlyBeemon's shoulder. "I mean, who do you think you are?!"
"You didn't even created anything!" Cody accused. "You just gathered data of Digimon already existing and put them together! They're not some toys to disassemble and reassemble!"
"Oh shut up all of you!" The Emperor barked back. "Do you feel bad when an NPC of a videogame loses their HP? Or when you erase an old E-mail?! No, right? Because their only bits of data that can be replaced! Heck, from what I gathered Digimon can reborn! I just didn't find the fucking village where they do so!"
"Just because they come back to life doesn't mean they don't suffer!" T.K yelled, the subject being even more touchy for him. "Look at them Ken. Look at our friends and tell us they're not alive!"
"And sometimes they don't come back!" Killua growled. Remembering Pumpkinmon, Gotsumon and Puppetmon. Two of them dying in the real world and the other being created by Apocalymon. "If they can stay death, then where's the difference between them and a human?!"
The Emperor just growled at glared at the creatures. The hate on their eyes almost palpable... Too real. No! It was absurd! They were data, nothing but data! Even Wormmon is nothing but data! And what if they didn't come back from death? Their data was just totally erase, thrown to the trash bin and then the trash bin getting emptied.
"You are a Digidestined, just like us!" Kari said, showing her D-3 at him. "You have the responsibility of helping this world. You have to understand something as simple as the bond we have with our partners! Stigmon is your partner and yet he is helping us because it's the right thing to do!"
"He is doing what?!" The Emperor turned around to see Stigmon fighting against Kimeramon alongside the golden Digimon. But... That was impossible, Wormmon was programmed to obey him! Just like... Like Kimeramon was supposed to... No! No! No! No! "Then he is a traitor..." He growled, feeling the pain on his neck increasing. "Then the only Digimon... Deserving to be my partner is... KIMERAMON!" He raised his Digivice high up in the sky and it started glowing. "KIMERAMON FINISH THEM OFF! TAKE ALL THE ENERGY YOU NEED BUT DO IT!"
The black Digivice liberated a wave of dark energy that travelled all the way to Kimeramon. The beast roared and the power behind his Heat Vipers increased. Now he could launched them rapidly and with the same power as if they were charged. The attacks managed to push Magnamon and Stigmon back, making it hard for the two reach the giant monster again.
"Magnamon!" Davis called in fear for his partner.
"Hahahahaha! Get them, Kimeramon!" The Emperor cheered, completely lost in his madness.
"Damnit Ichijouji, stop!" Killua said, launching one of his yo-yo to wrap it around his hand and yaking it so he could drop the Digivice.
"Agh!" The Emperor yelped as he let go of his black Digivice.
The corrupted D-3 fell on the ground and stopped emanating the waves of dark energy. Yet something else seemed to happen, the dark coloring of the device seemed to start to fade changing from a pitch black tona more grey color.
"Go! Go help them against that thing!" Killua said, struggling against the Emperor trying to free himself from the chords of his yo-yos. "They'll need all the help they can get!"
"Got it!" Everyone said and turned around. Leaving the two Nen users to continue on their fight.
The Emperor snarled and yanked himself free from the yo-yo. "It's useless!" He declared. "Kimeramon is more powerful than ever now that I gave him more of the power of darkness!" He knelt down and picked his D-3. "It's useless to try and stop us!"
Killua pocketed his weapons and glared blankly at Ken. His eyes slowly losing any mercy on them. He straightened himself and let his aura flow. "I'm done."
"Uh?" The Emperor quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean done?"
"... What I mean is that the kid gloves are off," Killua said, his aura starting to ooze lighting. "No more holding back on you... Don't worry, I won't kill you... Just because I don't want to. But... It'll be very close."
The temperature seemed to drop various degrees just by the voice change of demeanor. His blue eyes had turned into bottomless pits of cold water, anyone starting at them for long might drown completely surrounded by the dark depths of the ocean.
The Emperor took a step back in fear. H-How... How can someone give a vibe like this? It felt like if he just took a step forward he could die... He would be murdered before he could even realize.
N-No... That was absurd. Zoldyck couldn't, wouldn't kill him. He was a goody two shoes like all of those Digidestined fools. He wouldn't dare to do something like that.
The boy in question got into the start position of an Olympic runner, a sinister smile appearing on his face once the position was ready. "Now... You'll get just what you deserve."
He couldn't do anything when the attack came. Killua shot forward with the speed of a bullet and nailed an elbow strike on the side of Ken's face, that cracked the lenses of his goggles. With his opponent stunned, Killua unleashed a flurry of kicks that hit Ken in various places, almost at the same time. Chest, shoulders, face legs, abdomen. There was no place where the Emperor didn't felt the pain flaring up each time a kick connected. Killua delivered a roundhouse to the sides, and a knee to he chin. The kicks turned to take a sole focus on his face, his face spanning in all directions due to the hits that by the time they were over he was seeing quintuple. The cherry on the top was a powerful hook on the stomach that lifted his feet from the ground.
All air left the Emperor, he could feel his eyes watering and the saliva dripping from his mouth. Killua finished everything with an axe kick to the head that sent the Emperor crashing on the floor.
He whimpered in pain and struggle to find a way to get back up. But even with his aura, he could just feel his body screaming in pain. The worst part was that Killua didn't even seemed tired, he didn't even bothered to use his Godspeed ability that he used to defeat him the last time.
A shadow was casted over him and he struggled to look up. The same pits of ice were looking down at him with a smile. "Ken... I'll give you this... You are a talent of one in a million," He crouched down and grabbed him by the hair, lifting him up. "But I? I am a talent of one in ten million."
He threw him in the air and gave him a double punch to the sides that sent him rolling down a dune a hill of sand.
The Emperor could barely cling to conscience. His body hurt, he... He couldn't even lift his arms to use his ability. He turned his head to the side and saw his creation, continuing to fight those insects. "Kimeramon..."
"You're still on about that?" Killua slid down to his side, watching the fight from afar. "That thing doesn't serve you anymore. What's the point of clinging to it as a safe line?"
"He's my creation... He's perfect... He'll crush you all!" He said, slowly getting back to his feet, but both him and Killua doubted he had the strength to fight. "Go and join them if you wish. It won't make a difference!"
Killua rolled his eyes and dashed towards his friends, leaving behind a broken and battered Emperor who was slowly trying to compose himself.
"Rosetta Stone!"
"Shooting Stars!"
"Spike Attack!"
"Missile Storm!"
"Stinger Attack!"
"Magna Missiles!"
All of the attacks from the six Digimon collided at the same time. Yet just like always, it was all for nothing as Kimeramon broke out of the smoke and started firing fireball after fireball like he was a machine gun.
The Digidestined had climbed down from their partners, just like in the hangar, for protection. Davis gritted his teeth at the artificial nightmare's constant resistance. "This shit is getting old!" He growled. "Is there nothing we can do to take it down?!"
Magnamon floated in front of the monster with a glare. "I might have something! Everyone, step back!" He ordered to all the Digimon whom complied without a doubt. "Extreme Jihad!"
All the parts of the armor encasing Magnamon's body started glowing before shooting powerful beams of energy that started to calcinate the body of Kimeramon. The beast covered his body with its six arms while screaming in pain, the beams apparently affecting him and finally giving the monster some substantial damage.
... Unfortunately, Magnamon ran out of power and the beams stopped. Kimeramon uncrossed his arms and glared at the golden knight with hatred. Magnamon only panted and struggled to keep himself in the air. "That was... My strongest attack... Now... I got... Nothing," He slumped down, lowering his guard.
That was all Kimeramon needed to shot his arm forward to grab him. Magnamon gasped as he suddenly found himself on the grasp of the monster, the life being slowly squeezed out of him. "A-AAARGH!"
"Magnamon! Hang on!" Pteramon said, preparing the attacks. "Missile Storm!"
The projectiles were all launched at the monster's head, but Kimeramon used his other set of arms to block them. He shot four of his long arms forward, two of them busy with Magnamon, and managed to snatch the partners of the Digidestined mid-air, all of them slowly being squeezed to death.
From the ground the kids all gasped at seeing their partners captured. "Magnamon no!" Davis tried to get out of their hiding place to do something, but various arms grabbed him. "Guys, let go!"
"Davis I know how you feel, b-but..." Kari's voice was struggled to not crack, as she observed Nefertimon on one of the monster's hands.
All of their Digidestined watched hopelessly the scene before them. Even if Killua joined the fight, it was demostrated there wasn't much that he could do... Was this the end? Was the Emperor going to win? Or even worse, was Kimeramon going to be free to rampage all over the Digital World without anyone to stop it?
Had they lost?
Someone else watched the horrifying scene. Stigmon was floating above Kimeramon while observing the suffering of the Digidestined's partners. His fist clenched with anguish. 'Ken... Why did you do it? Why give him that boost? Why can't you see the wrong of all this?' He had noticed how Kimeramon seemed to regain strength before the others joined the fight. '... What I remember from you it's so different from what you are now. I remember waking up and you being the first person I saw. You had such a kind look back then and... We laughed and played all night.' He struggled to keep the tears from leaving his eyes, he looked down to see Ken's creation control to torment the others.
He clenched his fists and gathered energy from within his core. 'The next time you appeared in my life... You changed so much. You ordered to call me Digimon Emperor... But I never couldn't, because for me you'll always be Ken, it doesn't matter how you look!' I never cared about the wrong things you did as the Emperor, I always believed that you could go back to being who you were... And I still believe it'
Magnamon stopped struggling for a moment, when he suddenly felt his strength coming back a pink glow covering him softly. "What is this? My strength..."
Stigmon saw how Magnamon recovered his powers and readied his stingers. 'I still believe in you Ken Because I know you're true self is not that of the Digimon Emperor but... The kind and sweet boy I met all those years ago,' Stigmon's whole body was covered by that same pink glow as Magnamon. He extened his stingers far more than he ever did before and charged at the head of the beast. "STINGER ATTACK!" He declared the name of his attack while also doing a great declaration on his mind. 'I KNOW, YOU STILL HAVE KINDNESS IN YOU, KEN!'
Stigmon dug his stingers as deep as he could into the metallic skull of Kimeramon. The beast roared in pain and let go of his prisoners while turning around to face the one resposible for his sudden pain.
All of the Digimon floated away from Kimeramon. Magnamon's eyes widened when he realized the position of their ally. "Stigmon!"
Kimeramon turned and opened his mouth, launching a Heat Viper point blank at Stigmon. The fireball sending him flying to the remainings of the ship where it exploded upon impact.
Everyone let out a gasp of horror at the act of violence committed in front of their eyes, and Magnamon's eyes shrank in horror. "STIGMON!"
Stigmon's burned body was on a crater on the side of the wall. The glowing pink shooting forward towards the golden knight. "Magna...Mon... Destroy... Kimeramon... Save... Ken..." The injured Digimon collapsed to the ground, reverting back to Wormmon.
The Digidestined's all rushed to the poor Digimon's side, while the pink energy was received by Magnamon, transmutating to gold upon contact. "I can feel it. Stigmon's power has restored my strength!"
Kimeramon turned around after finishing with the meddling insect that damaged his skull, he found himself subject to a glare full of fury courtesy of the Warrior of Miracles. "You've made a great mistake big guys... Everyone cleared the area!" Not needing to be told twice, all of the flying Digimon descended to where their partners were, while Magnamon's whole body glowed with a golden radiance.
Kimeramon roared and lauched his most powerful Heat Viper at Magnamon in the hopes of killing him once and for all.
"MAGNA EXPLOSIOOOOOOOON!" The glow from Magnamon expanded into a great explosion that consumed everything in his awake. Completely overpowering the Heat Viper coming his way.
Kimeramon could only roar in pain and horror as the giant blast started to consume him. He had just gained and consciousness of his own and they were disappearing him! THIS COULDN'T BE HAPPENING!
The explosion lit up the entire sky, and the two other people in the area had observed the outcome of the fight. Killua stopped running towards them as he observed the sky. There was no trace of Kimeramon and all that remained was a tired Magnamon. "They did it! It's over..."
For his part, The Emperor watched everything with disbelief. His creation just vanished, just like that. His perfect creation was... Gone. "I-Impossible..." He collapsed to his knees as his mind tried to process what happened.
The Digidestined surrounding the wounded Wormmon couldn't help it. Despite the poor Digimon injured amongst them, they couldn't help but fill the area with shouts and cheers over the destruction of their most monstrous enemy. Davis for his part took off running towards where his partner was.
Magnamon floated slowly to the floor and reverted back to Demiveemon, something falling off his armor as he collapsed on the floor. "Demiveemon!" Davis skid down to his side and cradled him. "Buddy, hang in there!"
The small Digimon stirred awake and blinked his cute little eyes open. "Davith? Is it over?"
"Of course it is! Great job, buddy!" He said, hugging the small Digimon close.
"Davis!" The boy looked up to see Killua approaching. "Is everyone okay!?"
Davis gave out a smile and got up. "Y-yeah..." Then his face fell. "Well... Not everyone..."
"Uh?" Killua gave him a confused look at the answer, before something caught his eye on the sand. "What the-" He knelt down and gasped as he recognized the object. "A... Crest?!"
He picked up the rectangular piece, eyes wide in surprise. It looked like the others the group had before they were destroyed by Apocalymon. What was it doing here and who did it belong to?!
"Digital World to Killua," Davis said, snapping the boy out of his thoughts. "Dude you okay?"
"Uh, yeah... Just... Look we'll discuss it later," He said and looked at Davis seriously. "Who's hurt?"
Davis frowned and turned around and gestured to the boy to follow him. The two reached the place where the others were crowded around the injured form of Wormmon. Killua's eyes widened as he saw his burned body. "Wormmon you..."
"Is Ken... Okay?" The poor Digimon rasped out, even to the end worried for his partner.
"Y-yes... He was conscious last time I saw him..." He explained, then he looked at Wormmon. "Thank you for helping us... Sorry I doubted you."
Wormmon only gave a tired smile.
Footsteps could be heard behind them and they turned to see the Emperor walking to them, before he fell to his knees a few meters away. "How...? How did you do it?! This doesn't make sense!" He said, gripping his head.
The group exchanged looks and walked to the fallen form of their enemy. All ready for any trick he might pull out his sleeve.
"I lost," He mumbled. "I lost... How could this happen? Everything was supposed to play in my favor!" He weakly punched the floor. "This is the most terrible ending, the worst possible outcome! I'll have to start from the bottom! Even reprogram the Digital World if needed!"
"Reprogram... The Digital World?" T.K asked in disbelief as they all surrounded Ken. Only Hawkmon and Armadillomon stood behind to look out for Wormmon. "What are you babbling about?"
"I'll go back to that damn house and erase everything," He said. "Every data on my computer, and then I'll start again!"
"I'm not getting this," Davis said. "What are you saying? Because I only hear nonsense."
Killua narrowed his eyes at the pathetic form of the Emperor. "Dear lord... You actually think this is just some advance videogame, huh?"
The Emperor perked up and gave Killua a side-eyed glare. "What else could this place be? It's named Digital for God's sake!"
"Then explain the pain you felt moments ago!" Killua growled, taking a step forward that caused The Emperor to flinch. "If this is all Digital, explain the pain you felt a moment ago, yesterday, or back in the Valley of the Death!"
"I-I... I..." The Emperor stammered. Why... If this was all Digital, why did his body didn't healed right away? Even now he felt bruises all over.
"Listen, Emperor," Cody continued with heat. "You can't reprogram the Digital World! This place is as real as you and I!"
"Huh?!" The Emperor's voice was full of disbelief. He turned to see the Digimon accompanying them. All of them... They were all in the soccer game... The blue one on the loudmouth's hands was the same one Zoldyck had back in the football game. He thought they were stupid plushies this imbeciles had! Imbeciles? Were they truly...? "S-so what I saw in that game were..."
"We aren't data in a computer," Demiveemon said tiredly, cuddling on Davis' arms.
"The Digimon are just like us," Davis said, keeping a protective grip on Demiveemon. "They are made of flesh and blood, they breath, they live, like us!"
"They... Do..." The Emperor's eyes widened in horror as flashes of his actions came to his mind. The Rings, the Towers, the Spirals, his colosseum. All the Digimon he killed in his training, the ones Blademon killed. "N-No! No! What have I... What have I being doing all this time?!"
"Oh wow, don't tell me you've grown a conscience all of the sudden," Killua said coldly.
T.K crossed his arms and continued to glare at him. "This place isn't yours to manipulation anymore," He said.
Kari grabbed her arm and looked to the side, not daring to actually feel sympathy for the Emperor's crumbling form. "It's a real place. Just like our world."
Then to everyone's shock, the Emperor started to scream bloody murder. He got up and walked away from them while screaming, his aura leaking from him and letting out a blood-red aura. He gripped his goggles and ripped them off his face, letting them crash on the ground before they vanished. From the back of his neck, they could see something buldging, a gash wound appeared on it and... black dust seeped out from it.
The Emperor collapsed down, panting heavily and the rest of his attire vanished, even his hair style changing to how he looked in the human world. All that remained of the Emperor was the sobbing form of Ken Ichijouji, on his gray Tamachi uniform.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group, not knowing how to react at this sudden turn of events. Killua for his part was confused at the sudden change of his aura and the strange particles that came out of the boy's body.
"Guys! Come here, Wormmon is getting worse!" Hawkmon voice called.
The Digidestined turned and ran towards the fallen worm. Ken also heard what Hawkmon said and lifted his head. "W-Wormmon?"
Everyone had gathered around the Digimon's form. His body fizzling in and out of reality, struggling to stay together and live to see another day. Ken limped his way towards him, the others receiving him with glares that he ignored. He only had eyes for the worm... For his partner.
Wormmon opened his eyes and looked at the boy. He recognized him instantly, this wasn't the Digimon Emperor, it was the boy he met years ago. "You went back to being your old self..." He said with a smile.
"My old... Self?" Ken muttered, his head threatening to split in half due to the headache.
"Your eyes... Are full of kindness again..." Wormmon panted.
"Kindness...?" Killua mumbled before a glow came from his pocket. The Crest flew off it and towards Ken. "Uh?!"
The boy cupped his hands outwards and let the small object fall into his hands. "This is... Mine?" He mumbled, his voice sounding completely lost.
"That Crest is yours... The Crest of Kindness," Wormmon said between gasps of pain.
No one could believe their ears. Kindness? Ken? Without a negative in between like Ken lacks Kindness? Or Ken has no Kindness? What was the meaning of this? And since whe was a ninth Crest? All of them were destroyed five years ago by Apocalymon.
"Please believe me... Ken is kind..." The poor Digimon defended.
Ken pocketed the object and walked to Wormmon, dropping to his knees and cradling him with the outmost care. The others were ready to jump at him in case he tried anything. "Wormmon... I forgot... How light you were..." He mumbled, holding him close.
Wormmon closed his eyes, happy that he could reunite with his true partner. "Goodbye Ken..." Wormmon vanished after saying his last words, leaving only an empty space on Ken's hands.
The boy himself looked confused at what just happened. "W-Wormmon?"
The veterans all looked down in sorrow, the younger kids having never witnessed the death of a Digimon. "He's dead..." Killua said, surprising the younger ones and causing them to imitate the veterans on bowing their heads.
"D-dead?" Ken's mind went to a halt. He could hear the sound of a car skidding to a half and a body hitting stone. "Dead?!" He asked again.
Suddenly... He wasn't on the Digital World anymore. He was on a stree as an eight year old, watching the body of a teen sprawled on the floor, blood seeping through his head.
"Osamu!"
An ambulance carried the teen away.
"Osamu!"
A monitor with a flat line next to a body.
"OSAMU!"
Ken finished breaking down as he gripped his head. "No... Not again! This can't be happened again!" He sobbed. "Why did I do it?! Why?! Why?!" He asked tearing on his hair while crying in despair.
The group exchanged looks amongst themselves. This... This wasn't the Emperor. This was just a broken shell, a boy crying the death of his partner after just starting appreciate him. There was no sense on kicking him while he was down.
He started to crawl away while slowly sitting up. Walking aimlessly towards the wrecks of the ship. "H-hey..." Davis called. "You... You should go back to your house okay?!" His mind drifted to the news broadcast that showed the parents of the boy. "There's people that want to see you again!" Ken continued walking, his shoulders shaking. "Go home!"
He vanished in the wreckage and the group exchanged looks. The air feeling heavy after this turn of events. Finally Killua sighed. "It's over..."
"Yeah we... We won," T.K said.
This wasn't what they envisioned. They hoped to be whooping and cheering after winning. But now, there were mixed feelings in the air.
Kari turned to look at the leader. "What now?"
Killua exhaled. "Now... We go home."
What. The. Fuck.
"Hey there Matt~!" Jun Motomiya waved as she arrived at the campsite. Izzy's eyes buldging, Tai spitting his soda, and Matt's face becoming paler than a Bakemon.
Matt facepalmed. "This girl is a Terminator I swear!" He grumbled.
The girl stopped and pouted. "Matt that stunt wasn't fun! You won't know what I had to go through to get here! I lost the bus, then some nice old couple get me a ride, but turns out they were going somewhere else! That wasn't as fun as you might think!"
Matt sputtered for an answer. "W-well at and then, what can I say?" He said, his word not making sense even for him.
The girl humphed and put her hands on her hips. "Where are Daisuke and the others?"
The three teens froze as they heard the question. Matt immediately turned to Tai. "Tai, where are they?"
'Child of Friendship my ass!' He growled as Matt throw him under the bus. "Umm, well, Davis, I mean Daisuke, he is with and in er..." He turned to the redhead. "Izzy! Tell her!"
'Child of Courage my ass!' Izzy thought with a yelp before bolting upwards. "I... I'll go check!" He said while running to the forest, leaving a confused Jun behind.
Deep into the forest of the mountain. Izzy looked nervously at his computer. "What do I do now?! We don't know if the others are already-" He received a message and suddenly the Digiport program appeared. "-Done?"
A flash of light later and suddenly the world was upside down for everyone. As a dogpile was suddenly made with Izzy at the bottom and the current Digidestined on top. "Another perfect landing..." Killua grumbled.
To distract Jun, the two boys served her some dessert, yet the girl wasn't stopping with her questioning. "Seriously, where are Daisuke and the others?" She asked, crossing her arms. "I thought you all came here to spend time together."
Tai and Matt were sweating bullets at this point. "W-we do... Right Matt?" Tai said.
"I er... They went hiking," Matt said, pointing to the forest. "To connect with the nature I won't be surprise if they appeared right..." Just as he was saying this the group emerged from the forest. "Now..." They both sighed in relief.
Davis blinked and glared at the girl. "Jun, what the heck are you doing here?!" He asked.
"Hi!" She waved.
"Heeeeeeey!" Jun complained as the group started packing their things on the van. "How come you guys are already packing!?"
"Unlike you we did a lot of stuff around here," Davis explained. Already salty at the fact that he doesn't get to share seats with Kari. "We wanna go home and..." A yawn escaped his lips. "Sleep," He said while climbing on the back with T.K, Yolei, and Cody.
The girl pouted but didn't said anything else.
At the front of the van, Hiroaki frowned at the passengers. "Kids we have a problem, we don't have enough space. Someone has to stay behind."
Jun quirked an eyebrow. "How so? I thought you guys came in another card," She pointed to the youngest group.
Matt came to the rescue again. "Argh, well the car had to leave a day before!" He explained.
"Sorry, Matt, you'll have to use the bus," Hiroaki said.
"Eh?! Why me?!" The blonde exclaimed.
The answer came from inside the van. "Everyone else called shotgun on going in the van," Killua said.
"Shotgun!" All of the kids inside the van said.
Hiroaki pulled some money and passed it to his son through the window. "Here, this should cover everything for the way back."
"B-but wait, can't we call shotgun again... And isn't that for the front seat?" He tried lamely find a way in the van.
"Nope, not this time," Tai said.
"Sorry, Matt," Izzy shrugged and waved at him.
The doors where then closed by a beaming Jun. "Then I'll go in the bus with Matt!"
"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" The blonde's jaw hit the floor and his eyes buldged outwards.
Jun wrapped her arm around his and smiled at the group. "Don't worry, he is in good hands now!" She said with a smile, while Matt looked ready to die.
"N-No wait, you let go!" He tried to get free, but then the van started leaving. "WAIT! DON'T LEAVE ME HEEEERE!" The poor devil wailed.
And that's when Matt learned that karma is a bitch.
"In other news, Ken Ichijouji has apparently returned home safely after being missing since may. There are questions still unanswered that we hope the boy himself can solve for us. We'll continue after this messages..."
Tai turned off the radio and leaned back. "Seems the crisis is over for now..."
"Yeah," Izzy said looking back at the kids. "I can't help but feel proud that they managed to do it."
"Yeah," Tai looked at the sleeping form of the new kids. "Seems like the torch has been passed. What do you say Killua?" He said, addressing the boy.
He looked at Tai with a shrugg. "They all do a good job, what do you want me to say? We'll have to wait and see what comes next," He said.
The two veterans nodded and looked back at the road. Meanwhile Killua leaned on the window, staring at the lake that surrounded the mountain and letting out a sigh. His mind still carrying many questions for himself.
'How did Ken learned to use Nen? Where did he find the Crest? Is there more of them? Where's that old coot Gennai? Where did Blademon go after betraying Ken, and why betray him and not play along?' He sighed and looked down. 'And what are we going to do from now on?' The van suddenly bumped and he felt something falling on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Kari's sleeping face resting against it. He smiled at her and looked out of the window. 'Well I have a promise to keep for now... Don't worry, Alluka, Nanika, I'll find a way back to you guys.'This is how the fight against the Digimon Emperor ended. The first great battle of the new Digidestined was a great success... However...
On the Ichijouji household, what should be a time of celebration, just continued to be a time of worry and sorrow. With the wife burying her face on her husband's shoulder at the state of their son. "W-why? Why isn't he waking up." The man could only hug her close while fighting tears as well.
On his room, Ken was completely sprawled on bed. Tears still running down his face despite his unconscious state.
There's still some things Ken Ichijouji will have to do... Soon enough.
On a damp cave, on the Digital World, a familiar hooded figure talked through a TV. "I see... So Ken has failed," The voice of Yukio Oikawa mused from the TV.
Blademon bowed. "Should I have stayed with him, master?"
"No, you did the right thing," The man assured. "With the data Ken was planning to put on that project of his, he would have become a problem in the long run. If that Kimeramon itself didn't first."
Blademon snorted a bit. "That brat never stood a chance..." He said. "Zoldyck was on just another level for him... And he didn't even used your gift."
"True, that's a shame," Oikawa said, extending his palm and creating a diminutive black sphere. "Maybe with it he could habe won... But then you wouldn't have your revenge, wouldn't you my friend?"
Blademon frowned and nodded, his blue eyes glistening with anger. "Oh don't worry, my friend. Your time will come. He needs to pay... What he did to you is an injustice."
Blademon clenched his fists as the memories came to him. Memories of happiness and laughter, and then loneliness and abandonment.
"He doesn't remember who I am..." He said, with a hint of sadness. "I might have evolved since we saw each other, but he didn't have a clue. It wasn't worth the effort to remind him... I'll do it when he's on my feet, begging for mercy!"
Oikawa smirked as he felt the rage of the Digimon. "He deserves nothing less," The man said. "After all... He is your partner isn't he?"
Blademon growled and got to his feet. "No... Not anymore. Not since he abandoned me." He turned around and brandished his sword. "I have to go master. To make sure no one touches the towers."
The screen went black and Blademon walked out of the cave. As he stepped out a cold wind hit his face knocking his hood off, revealing a mop of white hair. He growled and pull it on again.
Soon. Soon he will have his revenge. Killua will pay for abandoning him, for leaving him to die.
His partner will receive what he deserves.
A/N: I... Want... Reviews... Please.