Ch13
Phew, finally put this chapter up. Wayyy longer than I expected.
Before you start reading, I need to clears out one thing. I had some problem describing Dianamon's weapons, can't find it on wiki and well.. that's it. You can look or search it but I tried my best to describe it here and for me, for me it's looking like a double-ended pickaxe or scythe. Of course I chose scythe, duh. So that's it.
KABLAM!
Takato ducked and pushed Ruki's head down, that attack barely missed them and stopped Kyubimon. Ruki and Kyubimon were too focused on the front, looking for the right way when that horn almost hit four of them. "You okay?" He asks Jian who's behind him, fortunately, no one waa hurt at all. Screams from behind quickly shifted their attention, that's because Antylamon has five of them to carry instead of just three. They see him running with Commandramons and Ikkakumons right behind him.
Even if the ceiling of this place isn't that low, it still doesn't have that much space for tall Digimon like him to jump, but Antylamon has more ideas than just running away. "Forgive me for this." After tossing Kazu and Kenta, Antylamon propels himself forward. Both of his big hands turn into axes and he slashes the ceiling with them, it quickly crumbles and creates a small cave-in to block the way. Still in mid air, he grabs both Kazu and Kenta again before landing with his back first. "Aghh.. sorry, that was reckless of me, everyone alright?"
Mako is laughing happily. "Wahahaha! That was cool! Do it again! Again!" He says it while imitating what Antylamon did with his arms. He's so happy, although his sister isn't' sharing the same joy.
"Yeah, really fun when you're not tossed like a volley ball over there, Mako.. ow ow, I'm going to turn into onigiri if you hold me that firm again." Kazu shaking his head, a bit dizzy from that sudden event. He stretches out his body, then stares at the rubble. "And.. there goes our escape route."
Kyubimon and the trio walk closer to check it as well. "Quit whining, Hirokazu. You're embarrassing us in front of Ai and Mako here." Said Ruki. "But.. you're right this time, we don't even know this place."
Looking at his friends, Takato can feel that they're a bit dejected. "Let's just focus on finding Yamaki first, we might meet the rest of our friends as well."
"We better start moving then, this won't hold them off forever." Jian added.
Blocking that way isn't making their journey even easier. After walking a bit further, Jian pointed out that the way they're looking for might have been missed before and they need to fight them off first. They keep searching for a while and find stairs going deeper into this place. With the other route mostly under construction, they decide to venture deeper. Everyone notices that it's getting more spacious the more they go deeper. After the stairs, there is a long corridor, which leads them into one place.
"That's the one?" Kazu pointed at a big door.
"That's the only place we haven't check."
They stopped and tamers got down from those two, if it's not because of them, they could just have barged in immediately. Takato looked back before staring at that door again. His shoulder tapped by Jian, his blue-haired friend nodded. This is their chance before all of those Digimons they passed through will find them, it's a race with time. Now they need to beat or slip through the guards, there are two Zudomons standing at the side of that door. Unlike before, they can't just buff them with speed and run past them, they need to open this thick and big door on top of dodging their attacks.
Kyubimon's expression hasn't changed, she's not worried too much about these Digimons and instead worries about her own body. It's better to conserve as much power as possible before the main fight. "I'll take those two, can you handle that door?" She believes that Antylamon is able to do it alone, that belief was answered with a nod from the bunny. The two guards notice that both of them are ready to move, their hammers start to spark bright, ready to counter them.
"Are you sure staying in this form?" Ruki asked her. "Conserving your power is too reckless, I feel like we're going to do it together after this anyway."
Thinking about it again, her partner has a good point and she's considering it. "If something goes wrong, I want you to act before that. Can you do that, Ruki?"
The girl chuckled. "That's a hard one you know, but you seems to forgot who am I. Is it that long since we parted ways?"
Just as they were about to fight, the big doors opened slightly. A calm yet threatening voice came from the other side of it. "You two, don't fight them and just go." Said the voice, which they assume to be directed for those Zudomons. Those Zudomons are just as confused as they are, they're also thinking about fighting them, yet their own leader said otherwise. "I said you can go, and let them pass."
One of them finally opened their mouth. "But we still can-"
"Don't, you're going to hurt yourself. Go, I'll handle them myself."
"Ah! I understand, we'll do as you wish." Zudomon replied. They both just walk past them, and aren't scared when Kyubimon takes a stance when they're so close to them. "Oh, good luck. You'll need that, heheh." Said the other Zudomon.
All of their expectations are thrown away the moment they enter this room. Nothing seems to be special about this room, all except that it's ridiculously big compared to this whole underground area. The rubbles and pillars are nothing impressive, those things are just weirdly natural rather than something that was intentionally made. Right in front of them, two Digimons are waiting for them to stop looking around. Takato uses his D-Ark to scan the bigger one since he already knows the smaller one.
"Dianamon, a Mega Level Digimon."
Dianamon eyes widen a bit, quite amused that her identity was revealed just from that. "That's a convenient little thing you got there, but that won't help much, boy." Her voice isn't that threatening, but she's still full of confidence. "Do we really need to do this? There is still another choice, if you wish to hear it first."
"Not. This. Again!" Sealsdramon looks at her. "Are we going to do the same thing again? You see how it work the last time? It's ridiculous, you're ridiculous."
Hearing her friend complain, Dianamon pats his head gently, which makes him more furious. "Is it your unfinished business? Are you that eager for a rematch with her?" She asked while looking at Kyubimon. "Hold that thought, they might not be much different from him. That's why you spared him, right?" Sealsdramon just grunted, it's more than enough for an answer. "Pardon us, why don't we have a little chat? Mind telling me your name, yes, I'm talking to you."
It's quite hard to decide, he wanted to learn about something but that'll give them more time to do some secret plan they might not know. Takato didn't hear any suggestions from his friends, so he went with what his heart said. "You can call me Takato. Dianamon, right?" He got a nod from her. "Where is he?"
The Mega level Digimon sighed, she stepped to the side to reveal someone behind her. There is some sort of little room way back in that room, a jail cell that's carved on the wall very roughly. Inside there, Yamaki seems to be sitting while drinking something out of a little cup. "Yamaki isn't your concern right now. This isn't his fight, so don't you worry about him." She can tell that they are quite agitated when seeing Yamaki, but the younger tamers seem to have some relieved expression. "I didn't need to harm anyone who's not important, he's just another one of their victims, just like the rest of you."
Takato doesn't give a response right away, which makes some of them especially the younger tamers confused. "I don't get it, what did you mean we're victims? From who?" He asked her. Before she could answer that, Sealsdramon who's still furious couldn't hold back anymore.
"From who?! From those 'GODS', you don't get it do you?" He sighs, taking a brief pause. He raises his left hand, gesturing Dianamon not to interfere. "Do you realize that those pesky sovereigns are using you and your friends, Takato? Oh, of course you don't. Cause you're that hero who saved both this world and yours, by working with them. Thank you for that but this... why don't you mind your own business on this one? They're just using you to extend their power, you're not better than a deva for them!"
Despite his temper, Sealsdramon doesn't look like he's about to attack them, so Takato takes his time and tries to be more cautious. Suddenly, Jian grabbed his shoulder and whispered to him before taking a step back.
Takato takes a breath very slowly, trying not to lose his cool. "Okay, but.. wanna tell us why you hate them so much?"
"Can't really see it, huh?" Sealsdramon is somewhat still keeping it together despite looking about to snap. "Fine! Fine.. They think they're gods who rule this world, but they only care about power and position. Look, listen, Takato. It's our problem with sovereigns, not yours." Replied Sealsdramon. "If you willing to leave this world, then we'll let you go. You know how much I want to smash your head cause you're with them? Hmm? Your friends are still fighting up there, right? You're hurting my friends here, I can't let that slide, but! But.. I'll make an exception, this time. Just because she said so, be grateful."
"Oh, no. You really think you can pull that off?!" Ruki steps forward furiously. "You think you're any better? All you did was hurt other Digimons outside your groups!"
The tension gets even worse as Ruki is also on the edge. Takato tries his best to hold her back, yet he's also frustrated about one thing. "I can't let you do that, because you're doing that to my friend. Where is he? Where. Is. Guilmon?"
Dianamon's eyes widen, she just realizes who's Guilmon's partner. "That's, I'm sorry. But you can't have him back, it's too late." That shakes their hearts instantly, which makes her feel bad. "Not like that, but it's too late. We're just trying to save him. I don't think he'll recognize you now, he only listens to me."
"Save him?! You gave him a virus, didn't you?"
Whoosh! A knife that was thrown at Ruki easily deflected by Kyubimon, the vixen leaps forward and shoots a blue flame towards Sealsdramon. That flame easily blocked by Dianamon's weapon as she placed it in front of him. With that, talking isn't an option anymore.
"Sorry Ruki, I can't help much this time."
Ruki smirked. "I got this, Goggle-head. Just help Yamaki over there, he must've known something about this place better than us."
A flash of light suddenly shines from Dianamon's legs. She managed to stop Sealsdramon who was about to attack them again, thinking she could end this fight quickly on her own since they're very close to each other. To her shock, she only sees a red sphere instead of their sleeping body on the ground, that sphere blocked her light before crumbling into pieces. Everyone is still awake and ready to fight. She notices Taomon still on her knees, her attack wasn't fully blocked by Taomon but she can't use that back-to-back. Seeing a chance, she glances at Sealsdramon. He jumps on the blade part of her weapon, and Dianamon swings her weapon with all her might, propelling him forward.
Cutting off their distance in the blink of an eye, he takes out both of his knives to stab the defenseless Taomon. Clank! Instead of hitting Taomon, he hit Antylamon's hands. "Huh? So hard." He uses those big hands as stepping stones to jump back, then throws his right knife at the bunny's head, which is still easily blocked.
Antylamon isn't fazed by those two attacks, he lowers his hands only to find nothing, almost not realizing that Sealsdramon is already closing in. "He's coming, Antylamon!" Shaocung's voice alerts him, the only possible attack with their distance is coming from the front and this cyborg Digimon is small. Just as he predicted, Sealsdramon thrust his knife directly at his chest. That was still blocked easily, he takes this chance and forms his hands into axes. "Asipatravana!" Antylamon spins in the spot, trying to slash Sealsdramon with axe-shaped hands. Unfortunately for him, Sealsdramon is just too fast. "A-Antylamon, you okay!? You're not hurt, right!? D-Did he-"
"I'm okay, Shaocung." It's just a moment when Antylamon turns his head a bit to reassure his partner, and Sealsdramon seizes that opening. A frontal attack is still chosen by the cyborg Digimon, this time he jumps and tries to slash Antylamon's head. Once again, it's blocked, but this time he's able to graze the bunny's cheek.
It's going with the same pattern. Even if the attacks come in different directions, the pace is just one or two attacks, then retreat before repeating it. Both of them understand their own advantages and maximize them, this becomes a problem for Antylamon because his opponent will just chipping him away slowly but surely. "Go, Antylamon!" When his partner orders him, he can feel something different in his body. It should be hard to catch up to Sealsdramon, so he chose to counter when he got attacked. He raises his arms again and slashes him, grazing his knife. Antylamon sees him reeling back, he's about to follow up with another slash before something comes out of his mouth. "Card slash! Agumon's Baby Flame!" Sealsdramon easily deflected the fire from Antylamon's mouth.
The cyborg sighs as he realizes that it is disrupting Antylamon's timing. "So much for a partner, you should've stayed as deva." Sealsdramon jumps to the side, and a big scythe's blade comes towards Antylamon. All that exchange of attacks made Antylamon too focused on Sealsdramon, not noticing that Dianamon was already this close.
"Thousand Spells." A few red papers were thrown and stuck to Dianamon's weapon, they combusted and created a small explosion. It's enough to knock Dianamon's weapon back without hurting Antylamon too much.
While a bit disappointed that her attack didn't land, Dianamon stays calm. Their strength is easily outclassed by hers, and Taomon is still recovering from her light. While Kyubimon's evolution into Taomon shocked her, it's still not enough, so Dianamon isn't rushing to defeat them. She turns to Antylamon first, spinning her weapon, then lifting it high before letting it down. Dianamon follows up her attack with a different pattern after Antylamon blocks that with his axe shaped hands. Clank! Clank! Clank! The sounds of arms and her weapon clashing can be described as steel hitting steel, both are hard, the different is the power to utilize them. It's coming from up, then front, then sides, barely giving Antylamon time to react. Everything Dianamon throws at Antylamon is blocked or deflected, yet all of that matters little to her, she'll get a clean hit sooner or later. And when that happens, it's the end for them.
It's cold and dry, at least this place isn't wet as normally it should be. All of this looks to be made out of ice after all, or that's what he can think of. That doesn't matter much for him, there is more dire problems he currently facing. The teens or kids he was supposed to protect are now arguing with their enemies. Even if he can't help much if those Digimons are fighting, he doesn't want to be a burden for them. As of right now, he can be used as a bargaining tool for Dianamon. Yamaki is hoping that they can talk themselves out of this, in which he doesn't have any faith whatsoever. Then, the worst possible things in his mind happen.
When the fight broke out, Yamaki tried to escape from this small prison. He punched the icy bars with his bare hands multiple times, resulting in his own injury. Kicking it doesn't give any result either, all he can do is watch the fight from afar. "Damnit!" He punches the bars once again, angry at himself. With a heavy sigh, Yamaki sits again. He notices something after he does that and quickly gets up again. It's tough, but a little piece of it shattered on the floor. In the end, this has some sort of similarity to that of ice, and it's not impossible for him to crush it. Yamaki gets some hope, he can chip it slowly. Unfortunately, there isn't any rock inside this little cell, so he took off his tie and wrapped his right fist with it before starting to punch it again.
"Yamaki!" Takato interrupts Yamaki's attempt to break out, he manages to slip away from that battle with Ai and Mako.
Ai looking at the man with worry. "Mister Yamaki! Are you okay?" She asked. They quickly noticed his hands. "Are your hands injured?" Mako added.
"I'm good, you guys?" The twin nodded, same goes for Takato. "You find anyone? Wait, Where is she?"
"Ah, Juri didn't have a choice but to stall some of them with Vajramon. Let's get you out of here-"
Yamaki quickly cut him off. "No, go find Guilmon. Now."
An explosion was followed by a flying rock that hit one of the many pillars of this room that's not too far from them. The twin shrieked and held Takato tightly, only to act tough again when the dust finally settled. Both Takato and Yamaki, couldn't ask for more, they already did their best to keep themselves together. Takato looks around and grabs a rock the size of his fist, he starts hitting the icy bars with it.
Watching his attempt, Yamaki tries to suggest that he leave him. But Takato just outright refused it. "I-I can't, the road blocked up ahead and.. " Takato looks down a bit, they can see how frustrated he is. "You heard her, right? He.."
Yamaki reaches over his shoulder and makes Takato look at him. "Hey! Takato. You really buying that?" He can see Takato's expression changed a bit. "You know better than any of us about Guilmon, and.." Yamaki chuckles, then shrugs. "Well, he's gullible. Once he sees you, we'll get out of this like breathing. Okay? And if that's not working you just bribe him with a bread, problem solved."
Takato pauses and stays silent for a moment, then smiles at him. "Sorry, maybe I'm overthinking that and believes her right away. But, the road is still blocked." Takato started hitting the bar again, Ai and Mako helping him with the lower part of the bar. "And, What was that, Yamaki? Ruki should've seen you talking like that."
"That's.. Let's drop the joke. It's better to find Guilmon than saving me. Those two are strong, but still.."
"I can't leave you behind, this isn't safe!" Takato said, trying to reassure Yamaki on his decision. "Don't worry, when it comes to this. Ruki is scarier than me, she got this. Let's get you out of here first, then we'll try to find him."
The tide of the battle started to turn a bit, leaning towards the tamers side. Dianamon who was relaxed now a bit worried after Ruki and Taomon biomerged into Sakuyamon, this explosive growth of strength keeps shocking her. While the advantages of Digimons having human partners aren't a secret by any means, seeing them with her own eyes inside a battle is a whole different thing. Her double-ended scythe clashed with Sakuyamon's staff once again, the sound of steel clashing filling the room and overshadowing the fight of two other Digimons. With her raw power, she pushes Sakuyamon back. Looking at Sakuyamon who's barely backing down, she grabs one of the six protuberances on her back.
"Izuna!"
"Arrow of Artemis!"
Dianamon 'pulled' out a long icy arrow from that quill-like protuberance, shooting it towards the incoming Sakuyamon's fox-like spirits. They clash mid air and explode, but her arrow is still coming out of that explosion. Sakuyamon creates a spherical barrier around herself, it's enough to protect herself yet her barrier cracks from an ice arrow that already went through an explosion. Another arrow will pierce it or shatter it instantly.
Inside Sakuyamon, Ruki isn't as full of confidence as she initially thought. After biomerged into Sakuyamon, she thought this battle would be a breeze because of Antylamon. They might be even with Dianamon, but Antylamon will overpower Sealsdramon easily, then it's two on one. Her doubt about the outcome of the fight can be felt by Renamon as well. "We're just starting right, Ruki?" The vixen asked her with a teasing tone, which she rarely hears when they aren't together like this.
"Of course we are, you really need to ask me that?" She replied with a chuckle.
The dust, or rather mist from that explosion is still there, they faintly see a figure coming out of it. A diagonal slash from Dianamon's scythe blows away the rest of it, she hasn't lost her cool and ready for her move. Sakuyamon is patiently waiting, she's not battered or bruised by any means from their exchanges of attacks, it's their distance that becomes a problem. Dianamon lifts her left hand and about to reach her 'quill' again, which makes Sakuyamon choose to move forward.
"Arrow of Artemis." A very fast ice arrow shot at her, Sakuyamon narrowly dodged it and about to reach Dianamon. Strangely, Dianamon isn't moving her weapon at all. Only when Sakuyamon is close enough, she notices that Dianamon's legs's armor is glowing bright, they shift towards her friends including Antylamon. "Sorry. Goodnight Moon." With no other choice, Sakuyamon abandons her attack and uses her sphere barrier on herself to protect them. Unlike when she was a Taomon, this barrier is way stronger to absorb that blast of light. Still, this isn't the outcome she wanted.
Sakuyamon turns to them. "What are you doing here, Hirokazu? Kenta? Didn't Takato go for Yamaki?" She asked them sternly.
Both let out an awkward chuckle. "We-uhhh.. Takato just left with Ai and Mako. We were about to go, but Sealsdramon kept moving around." Replied Kenta.
"Come on, Ruki, it's not like Jian coming with them too." Kazu added. "And his partner isn't here as well, right?"
"He's helping his sister! Get to a safe place, I can't keep-" An ice arrow hit her barrier, shattering it. Then she barely had enough time to block Dianamon's scythe with her staff. "Go! Now!" Sakuyamon pushes Dianamon back, trying to buy them time first. "Izuna!" Four spirit foxes launched at close range, Dianamon blocked the first two without much problem, but the other two slipped through and pushed her further. When Dianamon just fully recovers from that attack, she sees Sakuyamon wave her staff, creating spherical blue flames. It partially blocked using her scythe, some of it still hitting her shoulders and legs.
Meanwhile, Antylamon is still facing Sealsdramon. The fight dragged out too long for Antylamon, he is starting to get frustrated as none of his attacks landed from the start of this fight. One of them technically landed when he knocked Sealsdramon a few meters back, but his axe-hand was still blocked by Sealsdramon's knives, so it was not dealing that much damage. On top of that, Sealsdramon knives keep going deeper with each strike. Nothing serious for now, just grazes, but eventually it'll cut him if he can't hit him back.
Jian and Shaucong are standing side by side, they are still trying to help Antylamon with her cards. The fast paced fight quickly overwhelms Shaocung who never got into a heated battle like this, she keeps shuffling her cards and trying to find what's best for her partner.
After Antylamon got attacked repeatedly in a succession, he's still standing but giving big pressure to his tamer. This amount of pressure that Shaocung feels is too much and she starts breaking down, shedding a tear from her eyes. "W-What do I do? I.. If I.."
"Shh, calm down." Jian grabs her shoulders, then points out a few cards. "You don't need to be confused, if you can't choose the right card. Use these." Without much thinking, she slashes three cards on her D-Ark.
Sealsdramon still maintains composure, he throws one of his knives at Antylamon's face. It caught easily but he's going for his legs, just when he's about to stab them, Antylamon's coming down to him. That was too close, so he snatched his knife first before retreating. To his surprise, Antylamon is catching up to his speed. Those big and long hands are coming to him again, but they're not turning into axes. Raising his knife, Sealsdramon planned to defend it, but he got pushed back a few meters. Antylamon goes for the follow-up, he grabs Sealsdramon and throws him to one of the many pillars there.
Behind Antylamon, Shaocung's jaw dropped. "That.. wha-?" She was utterly confused, those cards she used weren't unique or looked strong at all. Her smile also came back when her partner gave her a thumbs up without looking back, it's kind of cool in her eyes. "How?" She asked her brother plainly.
"Antylamon didn't need that much help except for one thing, speed. You see how Sealsdramon moving so fast?" She nodded. "Giving him different kind of attack wasn't bad, but sometimes you just need to push him a little bit and believe in him. You said to Ai that he's already strong, right?" Shaocung looks down, it's speed, stamina, and power cards. Nothing special at all, yet very effective in battle. A tap on her shoulder snaps her back to the fight. "Hey, we're not done yet here."
Everything looks blurry, his head is still dizzy and his body is working against his mind. Two knives were laid in front of him, one of them chipped quite bad when defending that attack. After a few seconds, he gets up again. Thanks to his visor, he easily detects three figures. Instead of focusing on the strongest and biggest one, he's looking at the smallest. "That brat, it was her doing.." Even with the numb feet, Sealsdramon charging in once again.
Nothing different at first sight, another throws at Antylamon's face. But then, Sealsdramon went for Shaocung and Jian. He dashed towards them, only to be stopped by Antylamon so quickly. His body slammed down to the ground by Antylamon's right hand.
"Not on my sight, how dare you pulling that in front of me.." Antylamon couldn't hold back his anger, he's also a bit angry at himself. Even after the strength he got from Shaocung, he almost missed that. "Surrender, Sealsdramon. You can't win. I-huh?"
A lot of ice arrows hit randomly near them, two hit Antylamon and one of them landed near Jian and Shaocung. Jian managed to hug his sister and use his back as a shield, fortunately, he's only hurt from the shockwave. When the three of them regain their focus, Sakuyamon stands in front of them, protecting them from another attack. They can see Dianamon helping her friend and quite pissed after he was beaten by Antylamon, she then turns to them and it's nothing like before. This isn't exhaustion or wounds, but mental pressure from Dianamon staring at them.
Sakuyamon moves first before Dianamon even throws her attack. The rest of them can see that Sakuyamon is starting to back down when facing Dianamon head on, their difference in power getting wider. All they can do is watch as Sealsdramon joins his friend, making it one-on-two for Sakuyamon who's already losing.
Looking at her partner, Shaocung opened her deck again. She then stands in front of Antylamon with one card on her hand, this one was never used even once while playing or even for battle, but she has some confidence that this card is the right one. Still, Shaocung having a hard time to overcome her fear. What's happen if her choice proven to be wrong? Can she do this? Now her mind is starting to get cloudy, hands trembling, and breathing is starting to become a heavy task. Suddenly, she feels a gentle touch on her back, it's so gentle and calming. When she turns back, Shaocung sees Antylamon smiling at her. She looks at the card in her hand before putting it back. Instead of that, she holds her D-Ark more firmly.
"Wait! Shaocung, that one is different! You never did-"
"I know, but you already taught me about this, Jian. Now watch me Jian, it's my turn to protect you, hihi~ I hope Ai watching me from there~"
Shaocung smiles at him, then faces the same direction as Antylamon.
"Matrix Evolution!"
Whether it's under or above the ground, the battle is getting more intense with each passing minute. If Ruki's enemies are hard because of their strength, Juri has a hard time because of their numbers. Now it's not just a dozen enemies, she can't even estimate how many of them are there. The only thing keeping them safe is their enemy's fear. Both MachGaogamon and Vajramon are stronger than Zudomons, which are their enemies strongest Digimons. Plus, they're inside a building—or a broken one to be precise, which reduces the number of enemies they need to face at a time as well as the direction they're coming from.
Using many holes on those walls, Juri peeks a bit to check on them. She's getting more worried, it's straight up impossible to fight them all and they're starting to lose ground. Beating some Zudomons isn't helping much either, the weaker Digimons get scared, but they still march forward even if it's one step for each Zudomon that is knocked out.
"Juri, Juri!" She looks at her partner with surprise, it turns out MachGaogamon didn't get much of a break after the last Zudomon. One of them already trying to fight him again while Vajramon is fighting two at once. "Raaahhhh!" He howled when lifting Zudomon, then he throws him on to his peers. MachGaogamon isn't stopping there, he steps forward. "Winning knuckle!" His punch managed to knock some of them away but now he's too close.
"Hold on, card slash! Angewomon's Heaven's Charm!" MachGaogamon makes a horizontal swipe using his arms, a pinkish cross of light shines from him, blasting all Digimons that's right in front of him. It's working way better than Juri expected, now they take more steps back after that area of attack. Strangely, MachGaogamon is standing there silently. "Eh, are you okay?" She asked him.
The bipedal dog shakes his head silently, then turns to her. "No, it just.." His expression made her confused, he looks uncomfortable. "How to say it? Uhhh, that was weird Juri, please don't use that, I mean.. umm"
"But that work? Something's wrong with you after that?" Juri tries to scan him, nothing's wrong with him.
"No, that's not.. I assume you give me something like lightning from that deva or well.. not a pink light?" MachGaogamon shakes his head, he should've just focused on something more important. "Never mind, sorry about that Juri. Now-"
When he lifts his right arm and about to finish unconscious Zudomon, Juri runs to him. She holds his other arm, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please, don't."
"But they-" There is no word from Juri, but he decided to do as she requested. He believes it's not the time to argue with her, and he can't just disobey her after she helped him just a moment ago. "It's dangerous for you to be here." He carries her and walks back to Vajramon's side. On the way he glances at them, that seems to be enough to scare them after using that holy light.
Whoosh! MachGaogamon narrowly dodges a horn that shot at him, he holds Juri tightly and jumps away. Another horn is coming, and Vajramon deflects them while Juri steps down from MachGaogamon. When she finally gets behind them, he asks Vajramon to step aside. "Howling.." MachGaogamon takes a deep breath before unleashing it. "Cannon!"
MachGaogamon's howl is turned into an air cannon, it's so strong that a dozen of them are knocked back and the building starts to fall apart. They run into the basement, hiding there until it's over. The stairs aren't fully blocked and Vajramon realizes that they'll get overrun sooner or later, he believes that they're quite lucky that he and Machgaogamon are still unscathed up to this point.
"They're getting desperate, go! Help your friends!" When they're still staying there, Vajramon can't help but be embarrassed of himself.
Juri shakes her head. "But you-"
"I don't need to look around this time. Help your friend, I'll join you soon enough after blocking this place." Vajramon smiles when they finally leave, then he feels tremors coming from behind him, the deeper part of this place. Some of them start to move down the stairs, he beats them so easily. Vajramon chuckles, he did say that he'd block this place but this is the only way out. That's what he said and he'll do what he said. He'll block this way, although that's just going to be for a while. Vajramon tightens his grip and raises his swords, ready to make his last stand.
Amidst the chaos unfolding in this place, two Digimons arrived just right outside the main area. Four Digimons assigned to guard the bridge or portal caught off guard, they never heard any visitors would come and these two aren't looking friendly at all. The bigger one is growling like a beast, his eyes stare to the front, not even paying attention to them. On his shoulder, a smaller Digimon keeps slapping his head, trying to get his attention, but to no avail. They want to ask or order them because it's their job to check who's come to this place, unfortunately this tall Digimon brings fear unlike anything they've ever seen.
One of them slowly overcomes his fear, he's an Ikkakumon who has a higher level than three of his peers. "You, halt-" His words stopped when this Digimon grabbed his horn. Instinctively, he tries to pull it away. "L-Let go! I said let-" While he might not be as tall as this Digimon, Ikkakumon still thinks that he's heavy. Yet this Digimon lifted his whole body with one hand, and holding him right in the middle of his horn, which is harder than lifting him by grabbing his body. "W-Wait, hal-"
SLAM!
Watching their strongest friend slammed to the ground like nothing pushed their fear to the roof, two of them are just frozen in fear while the last one brave enough to aim his weapon at the assailant. "Raaahh!" The loud battle cry that almost encouraged the other two is cut short, all it took was one kick for each of them. In a few seconds, all the portal guards were taken down. Ikkakumon musters all of his strength just to stay on his feet, sadly, his attempt isn't going to last very long. He sees a barrel of gun the moment he looks forward.
Bang!
Terriermon left speechless when that Ikkakumon reverted to Gomamon, not to mention only from a single shot. "I.. I-Impmon.." That was too fast and too strong for them, and not a single word comes out of Beelzemon. Terriermon predicted an ambush before coming to this place, he just didn't see this result coming. While Terriermon is happy that his friend still has the means to protect them, he can't let him go like this. "Snap out of it! Impmon!" He slaps Beelzemon's head continuously. It's scary to think that Beelzemon might blast him off just like that Ikkakumon, but he needs to do this. "Screw your other name! You're still that annoying blueberry stick to me!" His slaps aren't stopping, he even started bashing Beelzemon's head with his small hands. "Come back to me, you idiot! Impmon! Impmon! Imp-ahhhhh!"
Nothing that Terriermon do is working, not the slap, not the punch. Putting his weak 'attack' aside, this should be more than enough to annoy him. Terriermon thinking about hitting Beelzemon with his signature attack, that should work again, right? The problem is that his friend isn't in his rookie form, but his strongest one. A small wind won't do anything against him, plus he can't just do that from point blank range and if he fails, then he can't catch up to Beelzemon's speed.
While howling like a mad Digimon, Beelzemon runs towards the ruins. He'll fight any Digimon that is trying to stop him, almost all of them have lower levels than his, so he only needs to do a light work. Punch, kick, or a slash from his hands that is more like a claw is more than enough. Beelzemon turned on the corner of a broken house and surprised by a big hammer swinging at his face, he barely reacted and blocked it with his arm.
Zudomon chuckled when his hammer stopped. "You're one of them? Too bad you late to the-" He doesn't wait and punches Zudomon right in the face, which makes the walrus take a few steps back. "Ugh, don't you think that's-"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots on the body and Zudomon fell to the ground, the sound of his fallen body touching snow silenced all nearby Digimons. All except his peers who're on the same level. "Impmon! Left!" The wall beside Beelzemon shatters and another Zudomon comes to get him, catching Beelzemon off guard and able to knock the gun on his left hand. Zudomon's hammer is now on the left bottom of his body, he quickly rotates his grip on his hammer and swings it again to hit Beelzemon with the sharp edge of his hammer. Beelzemon is able to catch the hammer with his left hand, his right hand moves forward and grabs Zudomon's right upper arm then throws him to the building behind him.
When Beelzemon grabs his dropped gun first, he hears Zudomon's voice. "Cold.." The dust and snow settled around the walrus, they can see his bulging muscle on his right arm holding his hammer high. "CRUSHER!"
A wave of ice comes from the spot below that hammer, freezing everything in front of it. It should've frozen Beelzemon's legs, then he could go for easy blows. What Zudomon didn't count as a possibility was Beelzemon leaping forward instead of dodging back, he only realized that when his face met Beelzemon's knee cap. Zudomon stumbles back and drops his hammer, gritting his fangs and trying to regain his composure. But Beelzemon mercilessly showers him with heavy blows.
"Enough, that's enough! Damnit, enough!" Terriermon keeps yelling right on his ear. "He's not the one you're looking for, please!" At this point Terriermon just trying anything to soothe his anger, and he suddenly recall the things Impmon said before jumping to this plain. "HE'S NOT A DEVA!"
To Terriermon's surprise, Beelzemon stops punching the lifeless Zudomon. The walrus unable to hold together his data and reverted to Ikkakumon. "Not.. him.." Beelzemon looks down and lets go of Ikkakumon. "I got, the wrong one.."
"Y-Yeah, definitely not this one, definitely." A bunch of Commandramons and Ikkakumons have already gathered behind them, and they open fire at them, shooting bullets and horns. "Ahhh!" Terriermon who's on Beelzemon's back is unable to react, fortunately, Beelzemon covers him using his hand.
Looking at Zudomon's hammer that is about to dissolve, he grabs it and throws it at them. It hit one of those Commandramons, shocking them and causing the attacks to stop. Beelzemon turns back and hide Terriermon behind his back, he then grabs the unconscious Ikkakumon in front of him. Their enemies are speechless as Beelzemon lifts that Ikkakumon high, he then throws Ikkakumon at them and causing panic. In that moment, Beelzemon charges into the middle of the pack.
This area suddenly filled with screams, gunshots, and the sounds of creatures hitting each other. Only for a moment, because in a few minutes they've gone quiet. Outnumbering your enemies can easily determine the result of a battle, most of the time. This time, the fewer number ones just have so much overwhelming power that losing in numbers doesn't mean so much for him. Beelzemon easily destroys them in a short time, they're still able to land a few hits but that's it, nothing more.
Beelzemon fell to his knees, panting and holding his head. "Hahh.. hahh.. what is.. w-where is he!?"
"What do you mean 'where is he'? Who are you even looking for?" Terriermon slaps his head again. "Bout time you wake up, Impmon. I swear.. you.. tch, what do we do now?" Terriermon is looking at the place around them, he doesn't know what to do. "Hey, that Zudomon said we're one of them. Maybe-"
"A trap, you're right."
Terriermon confused. "What? It's not what I-"
"He's waiting for me, eh? That damned dog of a deva." Beelzemon grinning, and at that moment, Terriermon sees that his back is glowing dark again. "Sending these weaklings before fighting me yourself, not much of a deva aren't you!? Hahhh! Fine, I'll play your game! Come at me! Today.. will be your last.."
Holstering his shotgun back, Beelzemon gets up and ready to fight once again. His face shows full confidence in winning, but there is no one for him to fight with at the moment. Suddenly, he hears a voice. "He's gone, there is no one to fight." It stops Beelzemon instantly, he growls angrily. "You're going to lose your friend if this keeps going! Get yourself together!"
"SHUT UP!" He shouted to the air.
"I'm not saying anything you prick!" Terriermon slaps Beelzemon's head, he can't wrap his mind around what Beelzemon is rambling about right now. A loud explosion stopped him from talking, a cloud of smoke and snow could be seen from far away. "Now what? Are they really in-ahhhh!"
Beelzemon runs toward that explosion, forcing Terriermon to hold tightly to his jacket. Some Digimons who were alerted by his scream before tried to stop him, standing on his way and trying to fight him. All Beelzemon does is charge forward while blasting his gun non-stop, he misses a lot but he doesn't care, his eyes are only fixated on one direction and only that.
"CATURAMOOOONNN!"
When their chances start to fade away, a new hope emerges from an unexpected place. That hope coming in the form of Digimon who gives a ray of hope like an angel. At first glance, his body is big and soft, ready to embrace and comfort anyone who needs his help. Unfortunately, that isn't the case for this angel. This angel doesn't bless anyone on his side, instead he strikes down anyone who dares to hurt his friends. That ray of hope, is nothing but a deadly crackling light that is thunder. Ready to burn his enemy's data into ashes.
It's not their first time seeing Antylamon digivolved into Cherubimon, but the first time he did that with Shaocung's help. Cherubimon floating behind Sakuyamon, his right palm open wide before making a motion of grabbing a long object. A blank space on his hand quickly filled with electricity, vaguely forming the shape of a spear. Without any delay, he throws it towards them.
A crater formed on the spot where that thunder spear hit, even a small area around it still has some crackling sound. A single lightning spear was enough for their caution to be inevitably heightened, they took a distance from each other to make it hard for him to attack.
"Izuna!"
Four spirit wolves are coming to get Dianamon, she's too focused on Cherubimon and almost forgot about Sakuyamon. "Tch!" She pulls out four arrows and shoots them at those spirits, obliterating all of them in mere seconds. Small explosions can be heard at the same time, she glances and finds out that Sealsdramon is in a pinch. Dianamon wants to help him but Sakuyamon already closing in their distance, so she focuses on her first and blocks her staff with her scythe.
Inside Sakuyamon, Ruki still isn't relieved after Antylamon and Shaocung biomerged. On the other hand, Renamon has the opposite thing on her mind. "We'll just stall this out, Ruki. Then it's two on one." Renamon said to her partner, she doesn't get an answer nor feels calmer. "Are you doubting them?"
"No, of course not." Ruki replied. The battle still going, they starting to get pushed back by Dianamon. But they're still unharmed by the current exchanges. "I just thinking that it takes more to bring her-?!" A powerul blow hit Sakuyamon's belly, it came from a punch rather than Dianamon's scythe. Sakuyamon notices that her opponent is looking to the side, she takes the chance to counter that punch. It's a wrong move, Dianamon follows that up with a shove rather than normal attack. Then an ice arrow comes at the foxy shaman, she's able to block it with her spherical barrier but her opponent runs away.
Meanwhile, Cherubimon managed to corner Sealsdramon by striking areas around him. The crater formed from his lightning spears makes Sealsdramon's movement advantage decrease even more when he already slowed down before he biomerged, now it's time for the final blow. Just in the nick of time, Dianamon blocked that lightning spear with her scythe. Her hands are trembling yet she pulls out her ice arrow again, shooting it at Cherubimon. It missed him, but then big ice spikes and rocks falling down at him. Dianamon was aiming at the ceiling from the start, she recovers from that earlier lighting spear and takes a moment to see Sealsdramon. Her eyes widen and she charges forward.
Cherubimon who's reeling back because of the falling ice surprised when Dianamon coming from the front, moving past those dangerous spikes and rocks. It's nothing like before, both of them see that Dianamon's eyes are full of rage. Sakuyamon quickly tries to help her, this time she can't do much. The flurry of Dianamon's attacks is way too different from before, they are faster and more powerful. Lighting spears and spirit foxes thrown only for nothing, they can see the damage on her yet she just won't stop. Sakuyamon stops moving back and tries to push Dianamon back using her staff, Dianamon stopped by her yet at the same time she realizes it was a wrong move.
It was shown multiple times, all of them know how powerful it is and well aware that it's not supposed to be used in close distance, let alone at point blank range. A powerful long range attack in the form of cold projectile. "Arrow of Artemis!"
Everything becomes silent for a moment, then a loud scream fills the room. "Ahhhhh!" Cherubimon couldn't hold back his anger because of Shaocung, she lost it when Ruki and Renamon were separated by that arrow. Seeing Dianamon still dizzy from her own attack, Cherubimon charges his lightning spear longer, it shines brighter and emits heat like never before. Too focused on making stronger, he doesn't put in mind the idea of her recovering faster than he expected, and she did. A ice arrow hit his spear and it exploded while still in his hand. Dianamon takes that moment to move closer, but she notices something strange. This room is darker than usual.
Lopmon is fully aware of where his partner is leading him, yet at the same time he has very few choices. "No! If we do that-"
"She hurt Ruki and Renamon! I will.." The room filled with crackling sounds, Dianamon runs back to Sealsdramon instead of facing Cherubimon. The angel won't stop, and his wrath will be felt by them.
"HEAVEN'S JUDGEMENT!"
A series of lightning strikes the room, destroying anything in its path. It's so strong that objects like rocks aren't shattered but dissolving and starting to evaporate into mist, some pillars are cracked and craters can be seen everywhere. Cherubimon sees Yamaki followed by his friends coming to them, he also feels calmer when everyone behind him is fine.
"Shaocung.." Lopmon said calmly.
Shaocung realizes she made a mistake and now afraid that Lopmon will be mad at her. "I-I'm sorry.. I forgot about them."
"It's fine, they're safe." It's hard for Lopmon to get mad at her, so he chooses to calm her down and prevent that from happening again. "It's our first time Shaocung, don't be angry at yourself. Come to think of it, how you feel about our body? Is it weird?"
Before she could put more attention on that, Ai calling them from behind. "Heyyy!" She waves at them. "Ruki said that you need to buy her some time! You hear me?" Cherubimon nodded, although he's not sure why Ruki asked that, the fight seemingly over now. Just when he think about that, Dianamon appears from a mist of evaporating data. Bruises are all over her body, one of the edge of her scythe has a little crack on it, and Sealsdramon can be seen sitting way behind her.
"Shaocung, let's move to the side. Away from them." Said Lopmon. A few seconds later, the two mega clashed once again.
While those two are fighting without anyone to disrupt them, the rest of tamers gather around Ruki and Renamon. Both of them have bruises all over their bodies, and Ruki is still holding her belly. That single arrow exploded right on Sakuyamon's body, then shattered into pieces. On the other hand, Renamon is able to bear the pain, she starts to feel calm and ready to join the fight again.
Jian isn't looking at them but watching his sister, he's worried about her. His fist clenched hard, if only Terriermon were here, then he would've been the one who fight right now. He keeps watching them fighting, it's getting slower and they're looking more desperate than before. "Renamon, I need your help." He turns to Renamon and Ruki. "Can you digivolve to Kyubimon and make a run for it? If only we can reach MachGaogamon or Vajramon, we can win this." He explained. "They don't need to hold those Digimons, if we can take down their leader, they'll get scared."
"No, I can do this with Renamon." Ruki is trembling when she tries to get up, Renamon and Takato quickly hold her arms and help her.
After Ruki able to stand properly, Takato releases her arm. "Ruki, you can't fight with her like this."
Ruki took out her deck of cards and started looking for a particular card. "Renamon will go alone, I.." She pauses when she finally finds that card, it has a mix of gold and red frame, this card also shines a bit unlike any other card she has. "Juri and Gaomon are too far, then those Digimons. We'll win with this but.. it's not just winning if I use this." She can feel Renamon's claw on her back, her partner nods to her. "Alright, one more. I asked her to buy me some time, right? They must've been waiting right now."
"Renamon digivolve to Kyubimon!" Kyubimon runs straight towards Dianamon, going at full speed despite her exhausted body. "Card Slash! Hyperspeed!"
It's not taking a long time before Kyubimon closes her distance, all thanks to the speed buff. She shouts at Cherubimon who just hit Dianamon with his lightning spear. "Go back! Protect them!" Despite being confused about why Kyubimon would want to fight her alone, Cherubimon nodded and went back, he believed she had her own reason for that. Now it's only her and Dianamon, until Sealsdramon stands between them.
Ruki quickly slashes another card, she can't take Sealsdramon lightly even if he doesn't look able to fight whatsoever. "Kyubimon, digivolve to Taomon!" The process happened when Kyubimon leapt mid-air and came down as Taomon while maintaining some speed. While sliding, Taomon brings out a large brush from her sleeve and hits Sealsdramon from below, right on his chin, sending him up in the air. Watching all of that, Dianamon leaps up and grabs him mid-air.
It's a brief moment, but Ruki won't miss this moment. "Card Slash!" Taomon points her brush up, right at Dianamon. In a second, every fiber on that brush set ablaze, even her arms engulfed by flame. The tip of that brush shines brighter than Cherubimon's lightning, even his charged up spear won't match this one. Then, she unleashed it.
"Zhuqiaomon's Crimson Blaze!"
The flame erupted like volcano, decimating everything in sight. No one is able to see it because they're blinded by its light, nor can they hear anything from the ringing of the explosion. Cherubimon was moving instinctively, covering everyone with his big arms and body. Not even he can process what happened. Once everything is quiet, Cherubimon moves his body away from them, he acted as a shield and they're unscathed thanks to him. Their senses feel cut off for a moment before slowly coming back, and then all they see is the sky above their heads.
Snow falls on their faces, and cold breeze touches their skins once again. Everyone stays silent, looking and checking everything around them, all of it seems to have been destroyed by the shockwave of that attack. One of them finally realizes that they forgot their own friends, Ruki slowly gets up, looking for her partner. When she sees Renamon lying lifeless on the ground, she naturally has panic attack. "Renamon!" Ai and Kenta help her to sit while Cherubimon goes to get Renamon. Renamon is still alive but her data looks to be distorted a bit, she laid down beside Ruki by Cherubimon. That attack wasn't an easy one, wielding some of Zhuqiaomon's power has huge drawbacks because her body isn't strong enough for it.
On the ground above, a lot of Digimons show up and surround this place. For now, they seem to be just staying up there and not attacking them, either they're afraid to go down or lack the confidence to attack from their current position. It's still quiet, but that was quickly interrupted by a roar. A big red lizard is jumping down to the lower lever, Takato just couldn't ask for more and runs towards him. It's been a long time and he's too happy to notice that Growlmon isn't on the right mind.
"Wait, Takato! I didn't mean it like that, Hey!" Yamaki missed the opportunity to hold him, he turns to them first. "I'll go for him, stay here." He said before following Takato.
Cherubimon can tell that Growlmon isn't acting normal, looking feral and growling nonstop. He was about to help Takato when he heard a big chunk of ice thrown up in the air, then a Digimon came out of the rubble.
Ruki and Renamon also watching Dianamon rise up once again. "You gotta be kidding me. What is she, immortal?" She looks at Renamon's condition, which is not good at all. Even digivolving into Kyubimon might be hard, and even if she can do that, facing a mega level Digimon is reckless at the very least. "Can you do it?" She asked Cherubimon, the angel is unsure but nods to her.
Dianamon is still holding Sealsdramon, the cyborg took way less damage thanks to her. She held him tight and took that attack from Taomon, now her body is a wreck. Carefully, she lays him down and grabs her weapon. Her double-ended scythe looks like a normal scythe now, with one of the edges losing half of its blade. She snaps that broken blade part entirely and slowly gets on her feet, limping towards Cherubimon. This fight will not end just like that, not when she's still kicking.
Meanwhile, Yamaki is almost catching up to Takato. "Takato! That's not him!"
Takato, who's overwhelmed by joy barely hears the blonde man. "Look! It's him! I.. haha.. hahaha! Guilmon!" He was just laughing with tears and waving his hands at Growlmon. Finally, he stops after getting close to Growlmon since Yamaki kept yelling at him to stop. "What are you talking about, Yamaki? He's-" Takato stopped, and he realized that something was wrong when he felt hot all of a sudden. he turned back and greeted by a raging fire coming at him.
Longest chapter so far, I hope the fight is good enough. If you noticed it, there is some difference of saying certain part *Cough, cards, cough~*. That's because I finally rewatch some part of episodes of season 3, I'll make revisions on certain chapters but it should be clear enough when you read it.
Anyway, hope you like this one! Feel free to tell me about your thought, I appreciate that~! See you on the next one~!