Digimon: Symbiosis (Remastered)

by Dragon Champion Zero

Everything changed the night the sky lit up. Now, with everything in two worlds laying on the line, they'll have to join together to survive and overcome - in the most literal sense possible.

18. Chapter 18: Targeted Assault

It's that time of the month again. Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 18 - Targeted Assault

—

Rudy's lab wasn't really set up to have crowds in it, and it felt awfully cramped with all the symbiotes in there. But comfort was about the last thing on their minds at this point. At least the computer monitor was rather large, offering them all a vision of the map of the city. They waited with bated breath to see what would be pulled up, how many they would have to fight, how much of a challenge they were facing…all of them trying to prepare themselves for the worst.

And yet, they still weren't ready for it.

"…Is…that it?" asked Reyn dubiously.

"Five clusters doesn't sound like an 'is that it' situation to me, bud," countered Derek.

"I mean, that's not great, but Commandramon was saying this was supposed to be some pretty big strike force. This doesn't seem nearly as large as that."

"I'm certainly not going to complain about having to fight LESS than I thought I would," agreed Breezedramon. "But no one said they were all coming at once, right?"

"Emperius holding back? That would be…annoyingly in line with the weird way they've been behaving…" Salmandmon huffed. "Yeah, I don't like this at all. And they're all spread out, too, that's going to make taking them on difficult."

Isaac nodded in agreement. "Trying to make things tough for us…wait." He leaned forward, eyes narrowing at one of the clusters. "…Son of a bitch. That's my house."

"What?"

"I've had to look at that thing on a map too much these days. You have no idea how paranoid I've been since we heard about Skullsatamon going after Reyn directly…wait a second. Data, you have those pins I asked you to keep?"

"Yeah, I do. What about…" Datacarnomon trailed off, and then made a foreboding noise of discomfort. It only took a moment before he caught on. "…Shit."

"Well, I haven't heard THAT out of your mouth in a while," Shockavimon said tensely. "What is it?"

"This isn't an accident. All five clusters are near your houses." Datacarnomon gave a growl. "This is a nasty ploy they're pulling. Trying to force us to split up and take on the threats, hoping that they can catch us alone and take us out, and then the REAL force shows up to lay waste to the rest of the city. And the worst part is, we HAVE to try to play into their hands."

"My family's still at the house…" Reyn muttered, his stomach lurching a bit.

"So's mine," Skylar said grimly. "And Dad's probably going to try to pretend nothing's there…he won't be ready for this at all."

"Mine're gonna be there, too," Isaac rounded off.

"My parents are all here, and so are Derek's," said Iris. "Maybe we could help you guys?"

"Inadvisable," disputed Blackcanismon. "That provides full latitude for the targeters of your domiciles to execute shenanigans aplenty following their initial campaigns. It is necessary to assail them forthwith."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right out there?" Rudy asked shakily. "None of those are single dots, you're going to be outnumbered…we can't afford to lose you."

"We're just going to have to do our best to make sure we do," Salmandmon declared fiercely. "I don't think we need to ask any questions about who's got what. We each have one task, guys: protect them all and bring them here where they'll at least be safer. They're caught in the crossfire because of us. We can't let them take the punishment for our resistance."

"And we need to save our families from them," agreed Reyn through clenched teeth. "There's no time to waste. Everyone, move out! Show those assholes just what kind of mistake they've made!"

—

On an empty street, the air flickered and wavered, and then a flash arose. As the brightness faded back, Blazereptimon and Mecharexmon were steadying themselves. "Oof…I am NEVER getting used to that," grumbled the red lizard as he shook off the dizziness. "How the heck do you get through that so easily?"

"Internal stabilizers and practice," replied Mecharexmon. "Has to be better than trying to run all the way, right?"

"Can't argue that. Be careful, Rex. You know they're expecting you."

"Same to you." The two went off their separate ways, each heading towards their own residence, hoping that they weren't too late. It was going to be a longer trip for Blazereptimon, but since he could move faster, they had agreed that it made more sense to come down closer to where Isaac's family lived. Now Mecharexmon was pushing himself as fast as he could, his heavy footfalls echoing through the mostly silent streets. It was eerie just how dead it was out there…he could tell that it wasn't as empty as it looked, there were still plenty of people holed up in their houses despite the recommendation for evacuation. Not that that's surprising…they barely had any time to get ready, if they didn't have someplace to go right away, they wouldn't have gotten out before everything came crashing down. We have to make sure we keep them safe as well, as much as we can…

But at the moment, there was one house that was in more danger than any other. And he could hear he didn't like in the distance…and see signals he didn't like showing up on his internal map at that notable spot. Three of them…two in the house, one outside. Dammit, I hope I'm not too late… The human signals were coming in, and it didn't look good, he could only see two outside, one inside. They were showing up as still alive, at least, but he didn't know how long that would last…

As he neared, he could see the digimon outside the house, and that only made him more nervous. It was a draconic digimon with a somewhat spindly appearance, dusky gray scales covering its narrow torso and lean and misshapen arms and legs, each digit tipped with wicked red claws, its wings more leathery than scaly, curved horns off the back of its head, and an unsettling aura around it. Malicedramon…demon dragon digimon. Champion, but it's a stronger one. It feeds off of the terror of its targets…dammit, it's probably working its monstrous magic on some of them right now. He raised his cannon, firing off at Malicedramon, forcing him to break off whatever it was doing and dive away.

"Well, well…looks like the fun's about to REALLY start, now." Malicedramon seemed less than perturbed about the interruption, which wasn't making Mecharexmon feel any better. He slowed to a stop in front of the house, facing down the demon dragon with his cannon outstretched. Not far from the doorway, he could see Alphonse and Lilith against the wall, looking rather haggard and terrified. No sign of Ashley, and he could hear something from inside the house…this was already going terribly. "Welcome to their doom. It'll be a pleasure to be the one bringing it."

"Only doom here is going to be yours…" growled Mecharexmon. He was tensing a bit as he felt something around him…something oddly familiar. "…Chaos energy?"

"Oh, you noticed, did you?" Malicedramon spread his wings, making himself look bigger and more imposing as he raised his hand, the eye-shaped markings glowing wickedly. "Then you must know what that means - that I'm more powerful than you! Nightmare Eye!" A large red beam of energy fired out at Mecharexmon, who stumbled a bit as he dodged to the side, counterfiring with a shot from his cannon. One of Malicedramon's wings swung down to block the shot, the impact blunted against that thick surface. Oh, jeez, those wings can nullify a lot of punishment. I need something a lot more powerful than that. Power wasn't something he was lacking, but he needed concentrated power, fast…

"Hrhrhr, I can already feel your fear. Your heart racing, your body keyed up…you'll be a delicious meal, and the chaos energy will only make it easier to draw from you." Malicedramon fired off another Nightmare Eye, forcing another rapid move out of Mecharexmon that wasn't really his strength. "A pity that I can't actually end you here."

"You…what?"

"I have a greater purpose…and you factor into it. I've been ordered to make sure you stay alive." Malicedramon's grin got more malevolent, and Mecharexmon felt a chill down his spine - it wasn't every day that being told you weren't going to die felt like the more sinister option. "Still, I can drain you as much as I like up to that point…and there are plenty of others I can sate my bloodlust on here."

"You won't get the chance! Saur Blaster!" Mecharexmon fired again, this time not letting up as his chain gun burst out hot and hard. Malicedramon brought both wings to cover him, being pushed back by the shots, claws cleaving furrows in the asphalt as he was driven back little by little - but that wasn't actually taking him down. I need to get around those wings! he thought in frustration as he ceased the assault. And he's not even the only one I need to deal with! I can't waste time, someone's inside and Ashley might still be in there!

"Nice try, but you aren't going to win this one! Ascending Chaos!" With a flourish, Malicedramon spread his wings back out, but it didn't seem like anything was happening…until suddenly the ground got unpleasant under his feet. Without warning, a dark blast erupted from under Mecharexmon, making him roar out as his body was enveloped in pain. He dropped to one knee as the attack ceased, that had hit far harder than he was ready for…he heard gasps from the house, wasn't sure who it was but it didn't really matter, he needed to do something about this…

"Heh heh heh…now you know what a true demon's power feels like." Malicedramon's voice dripped with smugness, grating against Mecharexmon's ears. Ugh…they love to talk when they think they have the edge, because it helps reinforce the feelings of fear and allows them to drain more effectively…I can't let myself be scared of this guy, I can't help him.

He pushed himself back to his feet, trying to shake off the pain. Then an idea occurred to him…he raised his gun again, firing off again, and again Malicedramon blocked it, predictably enough. But that was exactly what he wanted…as soon as Mecharexmon stopped firing, he started charging. The power built in his cannon, a power that he was sure would be enough to get through even those defenses, and if he was lucky, Malicedramon might not even realize what danger he was in in time…

He should have known his luck wouldn't be that good. Malicedramon caught on to what he was doing, and just as he reached full charge but before he could unleash it, Malicedramon threw a hand up towards the house, directly at his parents. "Ah, ah, ah…you're not going to get that off before I get mine off. Even think about that, and you'll find they pay the price."

Terror seized Mecharexmon - it was a standoff moment now. If he fired, Malicedramon would get his attack off before he died, and it would be the end of Alphonse and Lilith. If he didn't, Malicedramon would feed off them all, and he might just kill them anyway. He didn't have any options that seemed good now…nothing he did seemed like it could keep them all alive. No…I can't…I can't let them…but I can't… His internal warnings were getting louder, telling him the drain effect was latching on, but he couldn't push the fear out this time…

"Hrhrhr…That's right, surrender to your fear. I wonder if your power will make me stronger than an average digimon's…the humans are certainly delicious, but not especially filling." Malicedramon growled deviously, staring at the paralyzed cyborg. "You certainly seem to be full of it…I'm surprised these Emperius fools denigrate this power rather than coveting it. The rabble really are worthless…the true rulers of the world will be much more sensible. In fact, they already are." Mecharexmon didn't really want to know what Malicedramon was talking about, he wanted to figure out a way out of this and that yammering was not helping his focus. His mind was running at top speed, trying to problem-solve a way out of this mess without the wrong people dying…

A sudden sound from the house drew both their attention. Suddenly the door was blown off its hinges, a Fangmon driven through it by a powerful ray of electricity, vanishing into data as it and the door hit the road. A whirling blur of orange-yellow surged out of the vacant doorway, flying up into the air in a spinning ball. "Surge Wheel!" The spinning ball of lightning shot at Malicedramon, who wasn't quick enough to get his wing up and get pasted, flung off a ways into the road.

The spinning ball bounced back and the figure landed on the ground. An orange-furred mammalian digimon, with a wild mane that extended down its back, limbs that seemed equally suited to being on two and four legs, a short muzzle with long fangs, crackling with electricity. Mecharexmon felt his heart leap. Entruenmon! One of those signals wasn't an enemy at all!

"You okay?" Entruenmon rose up a bit; he looked a bit cut up, but otherwise fine.

"Better now that I know what's going on. Draw his guard, I'm gonna end him!"

"You got it!" Entruenmon and Mecharexmon split off, the speedier electric being looping around and drawing the demon dragon's attention. Malicedramon was clearly trying not to be outflanked, but Entruenmon wasn't making it easy for him, as he formed a ball of electricity between his hands and let it loose in a concentrated ray. "Generator Beam!" Caught between guarding against one attack or none, Malicedramon brought his wings up to protect against the blow - but there was no way he could get to Mecharexmon behind him, who still had his charged attack lined up.

"This ends now! Saur Blaster!"

The piercing beam barreled out of Mecharexmon's cannon, hitting Malicedramon square. The demon dragon's body actually broke in two from the raw force, moments before it was deleted with an agonized, chilling howl. The breeze swept the data off as it dissipated into nothing, leaving just Mecharexmon and Entruenmon standing. For the first time, the cyborg felt himself settling down…the chaos energy fading away was probably helping with that as well, but most of it was coming from the fact that, as far as he could tell, everyone who needed to be alive was. He lowered his arm, letting it back to claw mode. "That was too close…"

"You're telling me," huffed Entruemon as he stepped up towards Mecharexmon. "They came at us without warning…I got walled in trying to keep Fangmon away from Ashley. These places are NOT made for fights…"

"Yeah, no kidding. They aren't even made for guys our size. So maybe now's a good time to get away from them."

The two turned and hurried over towards the house again. Ashley had finally come out, and was kneeling next to her parents, who looked rather faint. At least, they did until they saw the two approaching, at which point Lilith let out a wavering scream. "Don't come any closer! Don't hurt us! We don't…we don't have anything for you!"

"Easy! We're not here to hurt you-"

"Get away from us!" shouted Alphonse, though it looked like it took everything he had. "D-don't you take…another step closer to us! We won't…"

"DAD! Snap out of it!" shouted Ashley, shaking both him and Lilith. "These aren't bad guys!"

"You…but they…"

"But they nothing! Seriously, Dad, that big metalhead, that's Isaac and his goofy robot buddy! Trust me, I've seen them do this a bunch of times already."

GodDAMMIT, Ashley! Mecharexmon came very close to facepalming with his metal arm once again. "Wouldja actually ASK before blowing up all my secrets, Ash?"

"You have to admit, it seems to have worked…er, kind of," remarked Entruenmon. Indeed, Alphonse and Lilith weren't freaking out about the monsters being close by anymore…though a different sort of freak-out appeared to be taking place.

"See? They aren't dangerous at all!" Ashley declared. "Well, I mean, not unless you're one of the bad guys, they're apparently pretty darned dangerous to them."

Both Alphonse and Lilith seemed to be at a loss for words, and Mecharexmon decided that now was probably a good time to try to get through to them. "Okay, yeah, listen, it's me, Isaac. And…well, I think you're going to need a LOT more explanation about all this, and there's one place you can get it while I'm still actually able to do what I'm supposed to be doing out here. Besides that, it's not safe here anymore, we need to get you somewhere where at least someone can help defend you. We're kind of set up in the BICI downtown right now, that's probably the safest place in town at the moment…not sure it'll stay that way forever but right now we're pretty limited."

There was no response for a few seconds, and Mecharexmon was a bit worried that they weren't able to process what was really going on…until Alphonse suddenly rose up a bit. "THIS is what you've been doing when you've been sneaking out of the house?! You're in BIG trouble, buster! I never gave you permission for THIS nonsense!"

"…Nice to know our priorities are all in order here," growled the cyborg, rubbing his head in frustration. "We need to not be wasting time. Ash, try to keep them focused and not flipping out over me…Entruenmon, scout around us just in case someone else decides to jump in and bother us, but keep close by because I'm pretty sure you don't know where we're going."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, I do NOT want to get lost out here again," agreed Entruenmon.

"Can't you just do your fancy robot teleportating thing?" asked Ashley.

"I've never used it with humans and I'm not taking any chances that it doesn't work as well with them," replied Mecharexmon, leaving no room for argument. "I think they need the time to get their heads in order anyway…"

—

Making an entrance was not a challenge for Jetdramon - when one moved as fast as he did, it rarely went unnoticed. Slamming into the ground, skidding along the pavement and kicking up debris as his claws dragged furrows in the asphalt, one hand already on his voulge, he was clearly looking for a fight. And he was about to get one, right after the Mystimon recovered from being startled half to death. "Damnation and curses! You twisted freaks are a menace to my sanity!"

"As opposed to just being a general menace like you?" spat back Jetdramon. "Get away from here!"

"Oh, are you the one we're supposed to be going after? You're a bit too late." Mystimon huffed a bit as he brandished his flame-bathed sword. "My magician crew is taking care of things in there right now. You shouldn't have tried to stay against us."

"NO!" roared Jetdramon. "Cowards! Fight ME!"

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of you. Blast Fire!" A huge gout of flame erupted from Mystimon's sword, forcing a quick backwards hop from Jetdramon. He tried to swing around, but his leg speed wasn't nearly as great as his air speed, and Mystimon's flame forced him back. "Trying to get around me? You'll never get to them. You want to have even a slight chance of saving them, you'll have to go through me!"

"Grrrr…" Jetdramon clenched his weapon hard, snarling deeply. He didn't want to deal with this nonsense right now, his family was in danger! "Fine, then, die quickly! Gale Voulge!" He slashed hard, loosing a cutting blade of wind at Mystimon, who parried it with his sword. Jetdramon followed that up by darting in and trying to connect directly with his voulge, again being parried, but that at least forced Mystimon back - the magus digimon was no weakling, but didn't have Jetdramon's raw power.

The problem was, he knew this, and another Blast Fire attack drove Jetdramon back, his scales feeling the heat as he was pounded with the flames. "Hm, simpleton dragon, you're too easy to fight. If you think brute power is any match for my magical mastery, your last moments will be quite unpleasant! Core Darts!" He threw his crystal up, and it fired out sharp beams of raw magic at Jetdramon. The dragon reacted almost on impulse, spinning his voulge in front of him and deflecting the darts off in other directions. "…What?! Impossible!"

"Tch, if if worked for bullets, it'll work for your stupid magic!" Jetdramon raised his other hand, which was already glowing. "Jet Stream!" He fired it off, the blast moving too fast for Mystimon to avoid and flinging him back almost into the house. He leapt forward, trying to follow up before Mystimon could recover, but the magus was back up far too quickly and the dragon was forced to scramble to block the blazing sword before it did a lot nastier to him. That ended up throwing him down to the side, where he tumbled a bit before collecting himself and unleashing another cutting attack that Mystimon deflected again. "Oh, come on, stop that!"

"No. Core Darts!" Another projectile attack from that crystal, but it was starting to bother Jetdramon - it wasn't that hard to block the shots, but Mystimon was clearly wasting time. Even if he managed to beat Mystimon, if his cronies took out everyone inside, he still won in the end…he needed something to change the course of this battle fast! Fast was supposed to be where he was good, he didn't like that he wasn't getting it done…

A scream from inside the house, and Jetdramon felt his stomach lurch in horror. "Benny!"

"Oh ho, that's a sound I like to hear," laughed Mystimon. "Young child, is it? Too many of my colleagues are too protective of them, but rest assured, MY crew wouldn't be so weak as to let them go…"

"Monster!" Jetdramon surged forward, then yelped as he got a faceful of fire once again. But he bore through it, driving his voulge down…Mystimon just barely managed to hold it back, but got knocked back almost into the door of the house. Jetdramon was forced back yet again by another fiery blast, which he wasn't going to risk trying to endure again, his face felt like it was still burning from that.

"You're testing my patience, dragon. Why don't you be a good weakling and die already?" Mystimon raised his crystal again to fire off yet another time-delaying attack…but he didn't get it off this time, as the door smashed off its hinges and drove the magus digimon forward. Something fell away from the side, but Jetdramon couldn't think about what it was at the moment - he lunged forward, driving his arm forth to ram the blade of his voulge straight through Mystimon's chest. A tortured cry rang out as Mystimon vanished into nothing, only a splash of blood on the ground and the blade to show that he had been there.

"What?! Boss!" Jetdramon looked up to see a FlameWizardmon looking stunned at the sight of Mystimon's data blowing away. This proved to be its own undoing, as a large metal cannonball attack slammed into its skull, letting it join its master. Jetdramon jerked his head around to see Dorugamon on her side on the ground, panting hard and looking relatively scorched herself; in her arms was Benny, the boy clinging to her almost painfully tight.

"Benny! Is he…"

"He's scared to hell, but I didn't let that asshole singe him," Dorugamon spat. "There's two more in there! Ebondramon's taking them on, help him!"

Jetdramon didn't need to be told twice, holstering his weapon and barging inside the open doorway. The kitchen and living room were a mess, there were holes in one wall, and the door to the bedroom of Skylar's parents was being fiercely defended by a sword-wielding black dragon digimon almost too tall for the room, who looked violently defiant even as he was assailed by electric and ice attacks. The new intrusion was an apt distraction for both Wizardmon and Sorcerimon, who jerked their heads around as Jetdramon barged in. "No! Where's Mystimon?!" shouted Wizardmon.

"He can't have fallen!" Sorcerimon gasped.

"You miss him? Join him, assholes!" The claws on Jetdramon's right hand lengthened and glowed blue as he leapt at Sorcerimon, the confined space giving no room for him to dodge. "Shear Claw!" The claws violently ripped through Sorcerimon's body, and he thumped down onto his knees before vanishing with only a short pained grunt.

Wizardmon stood petrified, which was the wrong move for him, as Ebondramon made his own move. "Shatter Breath!" he roared, billowing a wicked dark breath attack which enveloped Wizardmon, a cut-off cry heralding his own demise. It added a bit to the mess inside the room, but at the moment, that was secondary consideration to everything else, as Ebondramon let out a heavy breath. "Glad you made it when you did, I don't know how much longer I coulda held out."

"I think I'm the luckier one…" panted Jetdramon. "When did you guys get to be able to evolve again?"

"I realized I could after Kirsten got that stuff off me. Must've been just wearing off around then." Ebondramon stepped aside from the door, motioning towards it. "Get in there, the woman's hurt, one of Sorcerimon's ice attacks caught her. I couldn't tell how she was doing."

"Dammit…" Jetdramon hurried into the door, only to almost run into the pointy end of a kitchen knife. Kirsten was holding it right up at him, her eyes wild and fearful. "Jesus hell!"

"…Skylar!" Kirsten lowered the knife shakily. "What…what's going on? Where's Benny?!"

"Dorugamon's got him, he's fine! Where's mom? She was hurt?"

"Ah! Y-yeah, she was!" Kirsten pointed to the bed, where Corrine was holding an arm across her stomach, looking to be in a good bit of pain. Near the window, Marcus was standing almost catatonic, not looking anywhere near them. "She got cut on the stomach by some ice thing! And Dad's freaking out, I barely was able to drag him in here!"

"We gotta get them outta here…" Jetdramon hurried towards the bed, but Corrine shrank away from him in terror, letting out a wheezing cry as she tried to squirm away from him. "Mom! Settle down! It's me, Mom, it's Skylar. I'm getting you somewhere safe."

"…Wh…S-Skylar?" Corrine's eyes widened, fear twisting with new confusion. "Wh…what…how…"

"Someone'll fill you in where we're going, I literally don't have time, we could be under a hell of a lot more attack at any moment. C'mon." Jetdramon grabbed Corrine while Kirsten pulled at Marcus, the man numbly complying without saying a word or looking at anything.

Never was Jetdramon so glad to be outside his house…the mess in there wasn't going to be fixed any time soon, and there was a bigger mess than needed priority. Ebondramon had gotten out there, checking on Dorugamon, who was still trying to calm Benny. "Ebondramon! I need your help. I want you to carry her while we take everyone to somewhere safer."

"Got it." Ebondramon didn't even hesitate, taking Corrine from the blue dragon; she didn't seem any less confused or uncertain about being in the arms of a different scaly creature, but there wasn't a word of complaint from her. "I'm guessing you're going to play escort, then?"

"Escort and scout. I don't want anyone getting even near you, I'm gonna be sweeping around like mad to try to find anyone. Kirsten, take everyone to be BICI, I'll watch over you guys."

"I…o-okay…" Kirsten still seemed pretty shaken, but of all the humans there, she was still the most together. "Sky, what's going on? Why did they attack us?"

Jetdramon clenched his jaw. "They attacked you because they were targeting me. They're trying to go after all of us…and it's not even close to over yet. So book it as fast as you can, because I don't want anyone else in the line of fire when the next ones get here."

"Okay…" Kirsten took a deep breath and started walking, the rest of the group following behind as Jetdramon shot up into the air again, scanning over the city in front of him for any activity he that might impede them. The ugly feeling in his gut over that vicious assault had him cursing Emperius harder than ever before…and hoping against hope that the others were all right, too.

—

Blood was pounding in Blazereptimon's ears as he tore over the street, leaving trails of flame in his footsteps. Memories of Skullsatamon were flooding back to him, and he wasn't there to stop it this time…if they had gone any farther than that skeletal fiend had, the result could be devastating. No other thoughts were on his mind other than trying to reach the house before the worst could happen…he knew his parents were well aware of the danger, but that didn't mean there was much they could do about it. If any of them was even remotely hurt, 'scorched-earth' would seem like a mild bonfire.

It already wasn't good as he started getting close, he could hear the sounds of attacks being fired off. NO! They're already acting! I have to stop them! He hurled himself into an all-out sprint, taking aim at the first thing he saw - which, in this case, was a Harpymon that had just launched a wind attack and pushed itself back over the street. The creature screeched when it saw the reptile charging at high velocity towards it, firing off a Wind Seeker attack at him, but Blazereptimon barely noticed it as he leapt through it, delivering a punch square in the face of the Harpymon that snapped its head back viciously and made it fall to the ground before shattering into data. Whipping around, Blazereptimon faced down the rest of his foes…and then found himself in a moment of confusion.

Wait. Are they…fighting each other?

A Cyclonemon threw back a saurian digimon, sending him tumbling to the ground. He looked like a large raptor, colored green with streaks of yellow along his back, with bladed feather-like scaling all over his body, several longer bladed 'feathers' along its arms and head, and a particularly large sickle-like toe claw on each foot. He shook off the attack and leapt up as Cyclonemon tried to follow up with an Arm Bomber attack, slamming the ground and leaving an impression that was definitely better NOT left in the dino's body.

This move, however, left the Cyclonemon vulnerable to another attack, which it got from a large cat-like digimon with goldenrod fur striped with dark brown, a bush of white fur around her neck, two short horn-like feelers on her head, and shimmering golden rings around each limb and tail. Said rings were glowing with an eerie power, and as she whipped around she kicked out with a yell of "Power Ring!" and launched ring-like beams off of them into Cyclonemon, sending him sprawling. "Watch yourself, Raptormon!"

"I'm fine, Panthermon! You take care of the dumb dog!" snapped back Raptormon, as he descended on Cyclonemon again before the odd-shaped reptile could get back up. "Slicer Kick!" Landing nearby, he let loose with at Cyclonemon, sending blood spraying out and hurling Cyclonemon away, the creature almost getting flung into a hastily-evading Dobermon - presumably the aforementioned dumb dog. That huffy, testy tone, almost brainlessly belligerent…no, that HAS to be Talomon. And that means that has to be Felismon. When did they get the ability to evolve back?

"Oy! Are you just gonna stand there and watch!" Raptormon's voice snapped Blazereptimon out of his haze, and he jump in next to them, facing down the Cyclonemon and Dobermon, who suddenly looked to be even more out of sorts. "About time you got here, we already wrecked one of them!"

"In case you didn't notice, he just obliterated that Harpymon that was haranguing us," remarked Panthermon with some annoyance.

"Still late!"

"I came as fast as I could," growled Blazereptimon. "Worry more about yourself if any of them got hurt."

"They're still inside, under as much cover as they can be," reported Panthermon. "We knew something was going on before they got there, we've been doing our best on defense. I don't think they were expecting us, because they haven't been doing too well." Cyclonemon and Dobermon did indeed look to be out of sorts, both bleeding and unsteady, and annoyed that the three were playing catch-up but not appearing to be in able to try to hurl themselves back into the fray.

The Dobermon opened his mouth, but a sharp look from Blazereptimon made him shrink away. "Don't test my patience, mutt. If you want out, get out, or you're going to be in a lot of pain."

Both enemies hesitated, but before they could do or say anything, another voice popped up from nearby. "Tsk, tsk…I have to do everything around here, do I?" All eyes turned towards the new arrival, a bigger and more powerful-looking digimon, fiery and sinister in appearance, with a dark body and four muscular arms, and a head with multiple faces, though only the red-masked one was facing them. "I'd better not see any deserters or I'll end them as quickly as I end these foolish traitors and tainted ones."

"Some loyalty to your kind, Asuramon," Blazereptimon spat.

"Cowards aren't loyal, and deserve none. They can't go far, anyway…this is a one-way trip for us. We will set up our stronghold here, and the rest of this pathetic world will be easily picked off."

"Chatty one, aren't you?" Blazereptimon had figured that Asuramon was trying to hide his apprehension to fight…but suddenly he got a weird prickly feeling, slowly picking up as he realized it. "What…chaos energy? You're…you're with those other demons?"

"Oh, you've cottoned on to that, have you?" Asuramon grinned in a rather twisted way. "Good, that'll make things easier. You'll surrender to me, right now, or I can make you give in the hard way - and I'll be happy to introduce as much collateral damage as I can. These other worthless beings around here are of no interest to me."

"You won't touch any of them, you-" Blazereptimon's anger flared again, but just before he got lost in it, he registered a sound from his left, and leapt up to avoid Dobermon's Schwarz Strahl attack, the black beam sailing harmlessly off into the air.

He turned to face the canine, but Panthremon was already engaging. "We're more than a match for these two! But Asuramon's no joke, you've got a better chance!" Behind them, Raptormon was jumping at Cyclonemon again, and the creature seemed more than outmatched already…he needed to let them do their part, as long as he had the luxury of not fighting alone.

Blazereptimon turned to face Asuramon again, who seemed only too happy to be the lone target of attention. "Wipe that smirk off your face. You won't be alive for long."

"Bold words, lizard, but you can't back them up." One of the demon's arms raised, becoming cloaked in fire. "But I'm glad you chose the hard way, that's much more entertaining! Asura Ennetsuken!" He punched forward, unleashing a potent fireball at Blazereptimon.

The reptile reacted quickly, raising an arm to block the flame. "Throwing fire at a fire lizard? That's your big-OOF!" Blazereptimon wasn't ready for Asuramon to rush forward and slam a fist into his gut, and then another under his chin, knocking him backwards. He was up again quickly, growling and panting a bit. "Hmph, okay, fine, that's how you wanna do things, is it?"

"Very much so! Asura Ennetsuken!" Another fireball punched towards him, and this time Blazereptimon didn't fall for the bait, charging through it and lashing out with his own fists. And quickly finding that this was NOT a good matchup, as he did not have the four arms his foe had, which meant that Asuramon had two arms that could be dedicated to blocking and two to counterattacking. His swings were plenty hard, but Asuramon was also quite strong, and quite fast - and trying to get around all those arms was proving to be more trouble than he expected, as each jab and hook was parried and he was forced to duck and weave quickly to avoid taking more shots. He tried to change things up with a kick towards Asuramon's legs, but the golden leg guards were more than capable of blunting that, and he got another crack to the jaw for his efforts. His rise was a little bit slower this time, though it didn't reflect the intensity he felt inside…weirdly strong, but it reminded him of that Chrysalimon battle, the chaos energy was doing something to him, he didn't want to know what.

"Rethinking your decision to fight like a fool?" crowed Asuramon. "I'm a match for everything you can do and more. Your flames won't do much to me, and I can out-hit you easily. Give up now, while you still have some pride left!"

"Pride is overrated," spat back Blazereptimon. "I have more important things to care about, like protecting people from you! Blaze Stoker!" The reptilian warrior flared with heat as he charged himself up, and then rushed back in to challenge Asuramon. With the rush of the technique amping up his speed and power, he came out swinging and started to push Asuramon back a bit, though the demon wasn't faltering yet - the added advantage of extra arms was keeping him from being overwhelmed, even if he was taking more punishment from Blazereptimon's strikes. But it was Blazereptimon changing up his tactics that was having more effect - when Asuramon's swings forced him to move, he moved much more, swinging around to the side and assailing Asuramon from that angle, where he didn't have nearly the ability to protect himself. Blows to the side weren't quite the knockout shots that the face and gut were, but they were solid strikes that had Asuramon staggering until he managed to get around to fight optimally again. He was trying to get Asuramon to slow down, soften him up so that he could hit the most vital spots harder, and he seemed to be finally getting the demon on his heel, the rush of the fight not even close to dying away.

But in his fury, his vision narrowed a little too much - he got too focused on the damage he was doing, and not on Asuramon's counterattack. A swing around got Blazereptimon's tail into Asuarmon's gut, and the demon made an exaggerated stagger backwards…Blazereptimon thought he saw his opening, and lunged forward, only to get clocked under the jaw by Asuramon with a loud yell of triumph. He staggered back, reeling a bit, and Asuramon didn't hold back. A roar of "Asura Shinken!" was all the warning Blazereptimon got before the demon rushed forward, and suddenly he was being pummeled with four fists at top speed, his body locked in place by the move's power as he was pummeled ruthlessly. Only when the last hard strike landed did he go flying back and smack the ground hard, bouncing and then tumbling before ending up flat on his back.

Blazereptimon's head was spinning as he forced himself to lean back up into a reclining position, his arms shaking a bit more than he would have liked. He glowered up at Asuramon, who had one pair of arms folded as he stepped forward towards the downed lizard. "Not bad at all, for a pathetic non-demon. I see why they wanted you…but you can't beat me. You lack the power to overcome someone of my caliber, especially when the chaos energy is with me!"

Blazereptimon growled and hacked, spitting up some blood as he forced himself back to his feet; his body didn't feel like it was going to cooperate with trying to engage Asuramon again, though, and that was a problem he couldn't let on. "I don't care what you say…I KNOW I can beat you."

Asuramon just smirked. "You can barely stand. Do you think I truly fear you?"

"Do you think I care?" shot back Blazereptimon, as he tried to channel a Blaze Stoker. The technique fizzled immediately, though; as he feared, it had a cooldown that hadn't remotely reached its limit. He needed something more than this…Asuramon wanted him alive, but beaten to within an inch of death and forced to watch everything go to hell was a worse fate than death. He had to stand and fight, but anything he could do from a distance wasn't going to amount to much…

"Raaaugh!" A roar from behind him made him whip around, just in time to see Cyclonemon get hurled into Dobermon by Panthermon's blow. The canine digimon was crushed and vaporized, and Cyclonemon didn't take long to follow on account of the deep wound in his neck that left behind only a lot of blood on the grass. Raptormon and Panthermon were swinging around to face Asuramon, both looking plenty worn in their own right…still, three on one seemed like a better prospect to Blazereptimon. He steeled himself and faced back towards Asuramon, but the demon was prepared for that, two fists glowing with flame.

"Hm, the rabble truly is useless. But three beaten-up weaklings isn't going to make me any more worried. Do you think you can survive my fire, when it's been strengthened to the limit? You traitors have one chance to reconsider your allegiances…though Emperius may not be as kind as I am."

"I'd say go to hell, but I think you like that climate," growled Panthermon. "I'm not listening to their lies anymore."

"You tried to kill me once already, I'm not giving YOU a second chance!" snarled Raptormon. "Slicer Kick!" He flung himself into a backflip, kicking cutting energy crescents at Asuramon, who met them with fire from one fist while the second fired off at the vulnerable dinosaur. Blazereptimon leapt in the way, blocking the fireball with his body, but it took just about all he had and he barely managed to stay on his feet as he landed.

"Amusing insects…but it's time to finish this!" Asuramon channeled the fire in his hands again, leering at Blazereptimon. "You think you can block both of these at once? I'd dearly like to see you try, your despair will be ever so pleasing to me. Asura Ennetsuken!" Two blazing salvos launched off at Raptromon and Panthremon; the former managed to leap back and over just in time, the fireball leaving ash and cinders on the ground as the grass was torched. Panthermon met hers with a Power Ring attack, but it only partly blunted it and she grunted as she endured a searing attack over her body. Blazereptimon knew that it wasn't going to end well if he didn't do something, but his legs weren't cooperating…he wasn't really going to have to watch them die without being able to help them, was he? Come on, I need more power…I need to get in there and make myself the target so they can get him!

Finally, he managed to get his legs working and ran back in front of Asuramon, fangs bared as he put up a defiant stance, though he didn't know how much he had left in him. Asuramon laughed, and stood aggressively in front of him. "Still haven't had enough, lizard? Maybe another hundred blows will put you down for good! I admire your tenacity, though…you'll be a perfect servant for-HLK!"

Blazereptimon started as Asuramon's eyes went wide, his fists unclenching and the flames going out around them. He pitched forward, and then slammed into the ground in a cloud of dissipating data. Standing behind him was a tall, muscular, red saurian with a single long horn, coated in steaming blood, looking a bit battered and unsteady on his feet.

"C...Ceramon? Y-you're alive?!" gasped Panthermon.

"More or less…" Ceramon's voice had a tightness in it that belied his fatigue. "No thanks to the guys hunting for me…you guys all-WAH!"

The question was cut off as Blazereptimon suddenly pounced on Ceramon, his eyes blazing red as he slammed the ceratopsian onto the ground, one hand coming down on his neck as the other raged with flames above him. "HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?! HOW THE HELL DID YOU COME BACK?!"

"Gah! G-get off! What are you, crazy?!" Ceramon's eyes bulged out as he tried to force Blazereptimon's hand off his neck, those angry red eyes striking terror into his core, just as much as that fiery fist that was threatening to cave his skull in. The words were barely registered, Blazereptimon had only one thought, which was that he was fully prepared to put the monstrous enemy into the ground a second time, however many it took…

Until a shout pierced the the haze of rage. "REYN! STOP!" He seized up hearing the voice of Cayden, full of shock and terror…he paused, blinked, the redness disappearing from his eyes, and registering properly the digimon under him…NOT the Ceramon he had fought days ago. That one had been green, this one was red…

Suddenly it clicked, and he let up off of him, his flames fading out as he pulled back. "Dammit…sorry, man. I…are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I think so, though I think you took a decade off my life there," mumbled Ceramon as he rubbed his neck. "What the hell was that?"

"…I think…maybe I'm not as over what your, uh…what your brother did to me, as I thought I was…" Blazereptimon rubbed his head, feeling an ugliness inside him. How could he have made such an obvious mistake? Of course this wasn't the same one…but when I saw him, I just…immediately thought about that Ceramon and what he did to me, and what he was threatening to do…nngh, I think…that chaos energy got me all worked up last time, maybe it was that… He shook his head and stood up, helping to pull Ceramon to his feet. "I'm sorry, I think that Asuramon got into my head a bit…I owe you big-time for putting him down."

"Call it even if you're not gonna be taking any swings at me." Ceramon looked over at Panthermon and Raptormon, who were coming cautiously over; behind them were Reyn's family, all looking various degrees of terrified. "So…you two survived Ashinkaimon, huh?"

"Only just," huffed Panthermon. "Where were you all this time? We all thought you bit it in that melee!"

"Locked up, for the most part. They wanted to send me back, no one was taking."

"No shock there," hissed Raptormon. "They woulda seen us dead before even thinking of bringing us back. Can't believe you're the one who jumped in and saved us…"

Meanwhile, Blazereptimon stepped over towards his family. Treylor and Minerva looked like they were struggling to keep it together, Cayden was torn between awe at Ceramon and Raptormon and horror at everything else, Alisin was clinging fiercely to Minerva, and Wally looked to be in a vacant daze, numb from shock. "Are you all okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"They didn't get to us, thankfully…th-those two got out there before it happened," mumbled Minerva. "Are YOU okay? You looked like you got hit so hard out there…"

"I've had WAY better fights, that's for sure. Wish I could say I hadn't had worse…" Blazereptimon shook his head. "You guys being okay is what matters most to me, though, I'll be fine as long as you're all alive. But this was meant to draw me out…it's not safe for you to stay here."

"I had a feeling that might be the case," Treylor said grimly; he was holding a rather large bag, which Blazereptimon had to presume had medical supplies inside, clearly he had been prepared to depart. "You have any idea where we should go?"

"Yeah. We're gonna try to gather everyone at the BICI. I don't think they know much about that building, they wouldn't have had any reason to think it was important…it's not like there's anywhere that's totally safe here, but things aren't going to be quiet for long so we have to use the best available option now. And since I don't know who's gonna pop up or where or when, I'm taking you there."

"If we're going to have to hoof it, I'd definitely feel better about that," agreed Treylor. "We'll all stay together, as much as possible."

"Hopefully it won't require a heck of a lot." Blazereptimon nodded and then turned towards the digimon. "You guys gonna help guard them while we're getting them where we need to go?"

"Depends, are you gonna freak out on us again?" snipped Raptormon.

"Promise I won't. I shouldn't have the first time…"

"I blame that stupid Asuramon's chaos energy," harrumphed Panthremon. "It makes people act unpredictably. Hate ever being around it…"

"Same here." Blazereptimon decided it wasn't a good time to bring up that so far it had made him act a lot more predictably than unpredictably…he had to do a better job of keeping himself under control, he hadn't forgotten what the first Ceramon had done to him and how he'd managed to do it. "Right, then let's go. And let's hope that the trip there is a lot quieter than the starting point. Ceramon…I don't really have any right to ask you, but…"

"It's fine," Ceramon replied evenly. "I can't blame you…he was good at getting under people's skin. But, uh, he's gone now, so…best if you don't keep him alive by letting him stay there."

Blazereptimon nodded. "I'll work on prying him out, for sure."

—

It was entirely quiet when Ionfalkemon set down from her flight, the city's silence almost eerie. She knew she wasn't far from home, but she didn't know exactly where the enemies were…but her first order of business was catching up with Darkvargmon, who would have a better idea by virtue of scouting ahead. "What's the good word, Wolf?"

"I can think of many, but none of them appropriate for polite company."

"I don't think I like the sound of that. Also, actually appearing might not be a bad idea."

"I just wanted to get a better sense of their movements." Darkvargmon popped up from the shadow of a tree and shifted to his advanced form as he stepped out onto the road. "Which are in our general direction…I think we may, however, want to meet them head-on before they arrive at your domicile, lest they commence another foul campaign of desecration."

"Don't tell me they trashed your house!"

"At the very least, I don't think they bothered going inside, but the outside is a mess. Ice and mud everywhere, and some of that mud looked suspiciously not-mud-like…the siding was beaten on and the ground-floor windows were busted out." Ebonvargmon's expression was as foul as Ionfalkemon had ever seen it. "Vandalous miscreants. I'll return upon them what they've done tenfold."

"I don't think they'll survive that much, but I won't be complaining if you try. Let's go get 'em." Ionfalkemon took off again, but not high up, staying low in the air over the road as she flew towards the her house, Ebonvargmon hurrying under her with an agile step. She definitely wanted to try to stop them before they went any further…property damage could be fixed, but she doubted they'd leave it at that if they had half a chance. "What're we looking at, then?"

"They number four. Fewer than we had seen, I suspect some of them may have broken off, but I couldn't tell you where. BlueMeramon is the likely leader of the group, they scarcely put lower-levels in charge of higher-levels. The trio presumably under him are a Fugamon, MudFrigimon, and, inexplicably, a Nanimon."

"Nanimon?" Ionfalkemon winced; now the insinuation of 'not-mud-like mud' was making more sense. "I would've thought Emperius would be above employing refuse-slingers in their army."

Ebonvargmon huffed. "Considering the nature of their beliefs, I daresay it's the opposite, they are merely manifesting the incarnation of their ideas in grotesque physical form."

"True, but it's not like THEY'D think of it that way." As Ionfalkemon banked around the intersection, she spotted their bogeys not far off in the distance - and it was rapidly mutual, as the quartet let out excited shouts. "Oh, goody, they're happy to see us. I think we're going to have to rapidly change that."

"Agreed." Ebonvargmon drew his blade, readying for the engagement. "And emphasis on rapidly, if our time before the next wave is limited."

They certainly didn't have long to wait before they were greeted by the aggressors, who looked as eager for a fight as they'd ever seen. "Hah! It is them, just like we were told!" MudFrigimon exclaimed. "This'll be a cinch!"

"Could you believe they'd be this stupid?" guffawed Nanimon. "So predictable! Those other idiots just couldn't handle being as smart as we were!"

"I daresay I'm not convinced of your intellectual nature," growled Ebonvargmon. "If you're going to try to convince us we've fallen into some sort of trap, I'm afraid I'm going to have to respond with the utmost dubiousness."

"Heh, not every trap requires setting up," BlueMeramon replied with a dark laugh. "Sometimes the simplest things are the most effective!"

"I couldn't agree more," Ionfalkemon snapped, spreading her wings. "Let's make this as simple as possible! Dervish Bolt!" The electric attack burst out from her, sailing right at the quartet - but just before it got there, a yellow aura surrounded each of the foes, and the electricity crackled around them harmlessly before falling dead. Ionfalkemon's eyes widened. "Wait, what?!"

"An elemental barrier?" Ebonvargmon huffed. "I admit, that was unexpected…Emperius rarely employs such tactics as this. But it appears you concentrated too much on one! Shadow Bolt!" Four spheres swarmed up behind the canine, lengthened in shape, and fired out at the enemies - but, just as before, an aura rose around them, this one black in color, negating the shots on impact. That didn't sit will with Ebonvargmon, who felt nerves rising in him. "I…what? How?"

"Heh, you like it? Of course you don't, which is why we REALLY like it," cackled BlueMeramon. "Active Elemental Barriers! Changing element to block what's nearest to us! You can't get through our protection, and you don't have any! Our victory is assured! Boys, take 'em down!"

"Hell yeah! Victory over the tainted ones!" roared Fugamon as he leapt at Ebonvargmon, the canid dodging hastily as he slammed his bone club into the road, sending asphalt flying. BlueMeramon tried to fire off an icy shot at him where he landed, but Ebonvargmon was fast enough to read it and leap up and out of the way, landing off to the side. He fired off a Nether Blow at Fugamon, but the barrier protected him as before. This is crazy…I'm going to have to get in with my sword, but I'm outnumbered, and I've got nothing to threaten them with!

"Feeling the heat, fuzzy?" BlueMeramon laughed. "I'll help you cool off! Cold Flame!" A smattering of flame-shaped icy projectiles launched off of the elemental creature, swarming Ebonvargmon. He escaped the bulk of the swarm, but a couple of them hit, and they hurt - the chill was intense, leaving a lingering pain and tightness in his shoulder and side where they hit. Growling, he rolled his shoulder a bit to try to keep the blood flowing and warm him up, but that was making it hard for him to actually swing his sword…which, of course, was the point.

Ionfalkemon wasn't getting any better results from her attacks, each electric shot being completely negated by the shields of MudFrigimon and Nanimon. She had her spear in one hand, but she couldn't get in towards them - whenever she tried, she was assailed by either mud or dung, each of the two more than generous with the projectiles. She took a chance trying to get Nanimon, but a Mud Ball attack from MudFrigimon hit her square, flinging her to the ground. She flew up again, but the weight of the mud was slowing her, making it even less likely that she'd be able to outspeed them.

"Hahaha! How's that mud taste, birdy?" laughed MudFrigimon. "Go ahead, try to shock me again, your moves are useless!"

"Ya wanna try ta come at me again? I can get ya smelling even fresher!" taunted Nanimon, a dung pile in his hand ready to be hucked. "Come an' get it!"

"Ugh, hard pass," replied Ionfalkemon with a grimace. This approach wasn't working, clearly…they needed something else and fast. They knew we'd favor distance attacks, because they're mostly better close-range fighters. All right, Active Barriers…they react to danger in the moment. In theory perfect protection, but they're vulnerable if the attack comes out before they can react, or it overpowers it…but they're designed to not waste power until it's needed, so that's harder to do. But multi-elemental…they have to be rotating elements in the moment based on what's close by. Rotating means only one can be active at once…that's right, Active Barriers can't multi-task, they're low-energy by design and they don't have the juice to multi-protect. That's the key, we need to get them hit with both our attacks at once!

The problem was conveying that to Ebonvargmon without letting them know…and also actually pulling it off, because the two were being kept apart by the quartet of assailants. Ebonvargmon was on his heels being double-teamed by Fugamon and BlueMeramon, while MudFrigimon and Nanimon were throwing their literal and figurative crap around just to keep her from playing support to him. The good news was that she had mostly flung the mud off of her, at least, but she still couldn't get in on either of them. A spear throw would be more dangerous, but they would easily notice that…

…Wait. I'm thinking too narrowly.

She swung her spear around, grabbing it firmly and raising it in an obvious gesture, preparing to throw it. She could see Nanimon and MudFrigimon readying themselves to react and get out of the way, as she reared back…and then, at the last second, she turned and slung the spear at BlueMeramon. "Boss, look out!" Nanimon cried out, getting BlueMeramon's attention as the spear sailed towards him; the elemental flung himself backwards and out of the way, but it was the opening Ebonvargmon needed, and he tore through it, bypassing Fugamon and diving and rolling under the hurled projectiles of the other two. Ionfalkemon landed down next to him, her spear reappearing in her hand as she put up a Static Arc to protect them as Ebonvargmon recovered.

"You okay?"

"Mmph…I've been worse, but I've been better. I can't get in on them…BlueMeramon is too fast, and covers too well for Fugamon, and I can't afford to get hit by that club…"

"We can wait alllllll day for you, wimps," Fugamon taunted. "Especially because there'll be a whole lotta backup coming for us…you think there's gonna be any coming for you? I doubt it!"

"We can't keep this up forever," muttered Ionfalkemon. "We need to double-hit them. Their barriers can only react to one at a time."

"You…know that for sure?"

"Had to work on strategies around them when I worked for the Kaiser. Now we just need the strategy for this one…"

Ebonvargmon grunted a bit. "They aren't going to let us double-team any one of them, and I think if they notice both of us trying to attack from different angles, they'll focus on disrupting one of us, knowing the other can't do anything if they just stop one of us."

Ionfalkemon didn't doubt that…they couldn't split up, for sure, but their attacks were different enough that it was unlikely they could successfully time them without being disrupted somehow either. If they could both attack at the exact same time…suddenly she remembered. When Skydramon and I took down Aquilamon…I charged his attack with my power. It took to him so quickly, it felt almost natural…could we do that again? "Wolf, do you think you can lend me your power?"

The canine looked up at her. "Uh? I…can try, certainly, but do you think it'll work?"

"It worked once before, we might as well try it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?"

"I suppose not…" Ebonvargmon wasn't sure what he was supposed to do exactly, but he focused on trying to send some dark power towards Ionfalkemon. He didn't know what he was supposed to expect…but it certainly wasn't feeling the tingle of electric power linking to him at the same time. "Ah…what…I thought you wanted me to…"

"No, I…I feel that too." Ionfalkemon hadn't even tried to - it was like when she felt Ebonvargmon's power touch hers, her own reached out and linked back. But there was something in it… "Wolf…I think…"

"Yes…I think you're right, Bolt!" Ebonvargmon didn't even need her to finish - there was a rush through him that told him all he needed to know. "Let's do this!"

The Static Arc was dropped, and the enemy group seemed more than ready to rumble, especially when they saw Ionfalkemon spread her wings again. "Hah, what an idiot! She never learns!" boomed Nanimon mirthfully. "Just give it up, your little shocks are worthless!"

"Laugh while you can, chucklehead, because that won't be for long." Ionfalkemon's body felt charged beyond normal, though perhaps in a way that was true - she certainly never had anything like this in her before.

Ebonvargmon felt it as well, and added to it by leaping up and landing on the avian's shoulders, strengthening the link between them. Electricity and darkness both swirled around them, as the quartet of goons suddenly found themselves sweating. "Your campaign is at an end!"

"Wh-what is that?!" Fugamon asked blankly. "No one ever said anything about this!"

"It can't be…g-get away!" cried out BlueMeramon, but it was too late, as the two symbiotes flared with their unified energies.

"Synchro Strike! Twilight Thunder!"

A vicious barrage erupted from them, in appearance like Ionfalkemon's Dervish Bolt, but several times larger and more powerful, and tinged with jet-black electric bolts cracking with streaks of yellow and black around them. And rather than just one salvo, it launched off in multiple rapid waves, cascading over the Emperius goons with no hope of escape. The barriers shattered as they were overwhelmed by the dual elemental burst, and they weren't the only things to break down, as Fugamon, MudFrigimon, and Nanimon were rapidly deleted. When the attack ceased, only BlueMeramon was still alive, and barely standing.

"…No…that…they can't have…" BlueMeramon raised his hand shakily, trying to form another ice attack to fire at them, though he could only manage a feeble blue flame. "We were…invincible…"

"You should've looked into why Active Barriers are rarely used in combat outfits," snapped Ionfalkemon unsympathetically. Ebonvargmon launched off her shoulders, and she threw her spear dead at Bluemeramon, the weapon skewering him through. A moment later, Onyxvargmon's Alux Blade cleaved through him as he landed in front of BlueMeramon, splitting him apart and shattering him into data.

The canid rose, banishing his blade away. "Timely knowledge once again…would that we had been aware of this earlier. The learning curve on these bodies leaves an immense amount to be desired."

"We really are at a pretty dreadful disadvantage in that regard," agreed Ionfalkemon. "But at least when we do figure it out, it provides its own advantages…I'm just glad we figured it out when we did, I was not looking forward to having to run off and get the others."

"I daresay you're more to thank than I am for that…" Ebonvargmon bowed to the avian. "You knew how to work around those barriers and how to unify our power, I could only follow along. Perhaps one day I'll be able to be as quick in the head as you are, Bolt, but until then, I can only admire it."

Ionfalkemon felt herself redden a bit. "Ah…uh, thanks, Wolf. Uh, we should probably check on the others, make sure everyone was okay."

Ebonvargmon nodded. "Indeed, let's make haste. I hope they've all made it through safely…"

—

The roads in front of the BICI had been blessedly quiet for a while, after the chaos of the earlier fracas. That was changing again, but at least not as badly as it had. Jetdramon was the first to set down, reaching the door and waving towards his cadre as everything looked clear. "Head's up, we've got folks coming."

The door opened, and Elias stepped out, looking around himself. When he caught sight of the group, his eyes widened. "Wait, there's mo-er, digimon with them?"

"Unexpected allies. Sort of like yourself, and I'm not complaining, they probably saved some lives."

"…I know the feeling. You, uh…you remember that helicopter?"

Jetdramon looked at him curiously. "Huh? Couldn't possibly forget it, but I wouldn't have expected YOU to know about it…I swear if you tell me you were on it…"

"Not me, but my brother. He's alive because of you."

"Oh…well, I'm glad I was able to help. Let's hope we can help a lot more people…speaking of, can you go in and tell someone to set up a treatment spot? Mom's hurt and she's going to need to be looked at."

Elias nodded. "I can let 'em know…but I don't think we have any medics in there."

"They're on their way." Something Jetdramon was glad he could say confidently, having seen so from afar while escorting his own crew back. "I'll keep the guard up out here for now. Oh, and, uh, let them know we've got…foreign friendlies, I don't want them losing their cool."

"Right. Give me a couple to make sure there's no freak-outs." Elias ducked back inside, and Jetdramon could hear his footsteps retreating. Hard to believe that connection…no, wait, that's probably why he deserted in the first place. He already had a good reason to trust us. And if he hadn't, then we might never have gotten that word from Commandramon about the coming attacks, he would have walked up to humans thinking they were allies and gotten gunned down immediately…and if we don't know about that, we might not have been ready when they came for our families. Jesus, what would have happened if he hadn't been there? Okay, I need to NOT think about that, this is stressful enough as it is…

Instead, he focused on Kirsten, who was still taking the lead with both parents somewhat out of commission in their own respective ways. "How are they?"

"Mom's in pain but she says she feels okay. Dad still won't talk. Benny's a wreck but he's calmed down a bit at least."

"They aren't gonna go nuts if we go in there, are they?" Dorugamon growled, clutching Benny to her protectively. "If they put him in danger, I already had to put one asshole down…"

"I had someone let them know that there were digimon coming. Hopefully that message will get around fast enough to keep anything bad from happening, but we're gonna wait a couple minutes for the all-clear. At least you won't be alone…"

"We won't?! Who else is coming?"

"DORUGAMON!" An ecstatic roar made the humans jump, whipping around to see an overeager Panthermon rushing forward, a wide-eyed Alisin clinging fiercely to her back. "You're alive! I thought you'd been wiped out out there when Ashinkaimon came through!"

"Oh, jeez, that was the scariest thing ever!" Dorugamon shuddered. "I was lucky I didn't get in its sights!"

"You were SO lucky. I almost died, and in the worst way possible! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Nice to know SOMEONE gets some concern about them," growled Ebondramon in annoyance.

Panthermon looked a bit chastened by that, as she glanced nervously at Ebondramon. "Oh, uh, I already knew YOU were alive, Ceramon told us about what happened to you two."

"He…wait, he's out here?" Confirmation was provided only moments later as the second batch came down the road, with Raptormon and Ceramon leading the way towards the BICI, the rest of Reyn's family hurrying behind. "Guess even he can surprise sometimes…"

"Something tells me he probably didn't have too many options." Jetdramon wasn't as interested in them as he was in Treylor and Minerva, though, hustling over to them as they approached. "Please tell me that bag has medical stuff in it."

"Someone's hurt?" Treylor was immediately all business.

"Mom is. I don't think it's, like, five-minutes dire or anything, but it's bad enough she should be looked at."

"Let me take a look…my goodness, this is a crowd all right. She's in the arms of a…black dragon. Mm, I don't want to hear one word about my stories being boring ever again." Treylor hauled his bag over towards Ebondramon and Corrine, while Minerva was wrapped up with trying to get Wally to approach, the older boy shrinking away at the sight of so many otherworldly creatures. Cayden at least seemed to be entirely preoccupied with Raptormon and Ceramon, so for the moment things seemed to be getting under control.

Blazereptimon came by seconds later, looking rather frazzled. "Swear to high heaven, I can't STAND feral cats…"

"Let me guess, you heard one and just had to make sure it wasn't another digimon ambush," remarked Jetdramon.

"Got it in one. You'd think with all the other crap we're dealing with that ONE thing in this world could leave us alone. Your crew all right?"

"Not unscathed, but it could've been a lot worse. You look like you got pretty beat up."

Blazereptimon rubbed his head tiredly. "Mmph, you should see how I feel. Asuramon actually kicked the tar out of me. Ceramon saved our bacon…and then I almost went and turned him into mush."

"Wait, you attacked him? Why?"

"Let's just say chaos energy and PTSD don't play well together."

"I don't get it…oh, hey, there's Bolty and Wolfy!" Jetdramon waved down Ionfalkemon and Ebonvargmon as they came around the corner and made their way towards the group. "Guess we're just waiting on one more…of COURSE it's going to be him…"

"Watch it," growled Blazereptimon. "You're not gonna be laughing if he's pulling up the rear because a disaster happened."

"It didn't, I saw them making their way here. Very, very slowly."

"Jeez, it's kind of crowded out here," remarked Ionfalkemon. "Are we waiting for permission or something?"

"More or less," affirmed Jetdramon. "Probably best that a bunch of digimon they've never seen don't just barge in without warning. How'd things go with you?"

"My house is trashed, but at least we paid them back for it," Ebonvargmon huffed. "Would that I could bill Emperius for restitution, but I daresay none of them will be alive long enough for that at this point."

"We found out something else, too," added Ionfalkemon. "We were able to pull off some kind of unison attack thing. And it was no love tap, believe me, looks like they can pack a punch."

"Why are we just now finding this out?" bemoaned Jetdramon. "Seriously, why couldn't these forms have come with instruction manuals or something?"

"We haven't had a whole lot of chances to find that out, though, have we?" mused Blazereptimon. "We've been forced to fight separately a whole lot more than I would've liked, and even when we were together, we didn't have a lot of chances to experiment with things."

"Better late knowledge we're alive to try to take advantage of down the road than never finding out at all," agreed Ebonvargmon. "I fear we're still missing one of our team, though."

"I think that's him over there." Ionfalkemon pointed down the other road, where indeed Mecharexmon was finally showing up, clearly hustling as fast as he could, while the others were able to keep pace pretty well. "Can't he teleport? Why'd he take the slow way?"

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Blazereptimon replied evenly. "Though, the way he looks, I kind of think he WANTS to teleport away at the moment…"

Ebonvargmon's ears twitched. "Mercy…I would want to as well. Apparently they aren't at all happy with him…"

"You can hear all the way over there?" asked Jetdramon.

"These ears are quite good, even in daylight."

It wasn't long before the rest of them could hear it as well, Lilith's sharp voice carrying over the rest of the clamor. "And if you think we're going to let you keep up this foolishness, you've got another thing coming, buster! I won't let you just…throw yourself out at these creatures like it's nothing! You have to be more responsible!"

"I don't want to hear any more about you sneaking out and doing this, you're going to have to be MUCH more forthcoming about where you're going from now on!" Alphonse asserted harshly. "No more muddy vagueness from you, I want to hear crystal clear details, and you'd better not spend one minute more out there than you say!"

"They…do realize they're talking to a ten-foot cyborg dinosaur with more firepower than some nations, don't they?" asked Jetdramon.

"Right now, I think all they see is Isaac," sighed Blazereptimon. "You'd think they'd have bigger things to worry about…"

Mecharexmon made a beeline for the group of symbiotes as soon as he could, Ashley pulling her parents away while Entruenmon joined the group of digimon to another round of relieved joy. "I don't want to hear ONE WORD about how long it took me to get here," he snarled before anyone could say anything. "And no, I did NOT want to risk that I couldn't teleport humans safely."

"I guess that's as good an excuse as any," conceded Ionfalkemon. "Were they reading you the riot act all the way?"

"ALL the way. I dimmed down my audio input volume for most of it, though, it's more of the usual nonsense I get when they aren't happy about something. This is why I wish Ash hadn't blown my cover, I knew this was gonna happen."

Blazereptimon blinked. "…You…didn't tell them what was going on."

"What's the big deal about that?" asked Jetdramon. "It's not like I told my parents, either."

"…You didn't think that MAYBE, informing your parents that we were about to engage in SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC WARFARE wasn't a priority?" Ebonvargmon queried dubiously.

"Hey, I thought we were being on the down-low here! You only said something because they found out on their own!"

"That was back when we WERE trying to hide," groaned Ionfalkemon. "The whole point of coming to this place yesterday was that we weren't going to be doing that anymore! The whole idea was that we were going to get exposure! How the heck much longer did you think you'd be able to keep it a secret at that point?"

"You two were the ones who actually HAD the luxury of letting it out on your own terms!" growled Blazereptimon. "And yesterday, before you literally engaged the freaking ARMY, was the perfect time to do that! You know, give them notice that something big was going down today and MAYBE they wouldn't be wondering where the hell you went on a day where you clearly weren't supposed to be going anywhere if you had any sense in your heads!"

Mecharexmon rubbed his head. "…All right, maybe that one's on me a bit. Not like they would have accepted it any more, though…"

"No, but they wouldn't have been as ambushed by it, and would have been more prepared to protect themselves," said Ebonvargmon darkly. "I'm betting they had no idea they had to be ready for danger. Even though you were the one keeping actual tabs on everyone's houses, you neglected to take the vital step of preparing the RESIDENTS for that eventuality!"

"All right, all right, I give! I screwed up. Ugh, I'm so used to trying to avoid the lectures and whatnot, I guess I just kind of lost sight of that…"

"I guess I should have said something, too…" agreed Jetdramon contritely. "Then again, Dad wouldn't have believed me anyway, and he might've actually put himself in more danger just trying to prove there wasn't any…I guess I could've told Mom, though. I mean, Kirsten already knew…"

"You have to be more careful," admonished Blazereptimon. "Things are already against us enough, we can't afford to have unforced errors. My family was prepared but Asuramon still nearly had the opportunity to end them. They can't be out of the loop anymore, Emperius is not at all above using them to try to get to us."

"Well, they're gonna find out everything at this point anyway, no way they aren't all going to be talking in there," said Mecharexmon. "But I'll do better going forward."

"I'm sure you will. Oh, hey, finally!" Blazereptimon's exclamation came from the door of the BICI finally opening, and Elias allowing the very mixed group to enter inside. "Took them long enough. I'm starting to get what they say about the government moving like molasses."

"Please don't, one pundit is more than enough," Ionfalkemon bit back.

"Sorry, I'm just getting antsy, I guess. Out here is too exposed, I've been jumping at sounds, I won't rest easy until they're inside and…well, safer."

"A sentiment I can hardly fault anyone for," agreed Ebonvargmon. "I won't mind getting in and getting a bit of a break myself, before the chaos kicks back into high gear."

"…Werewolf, you just HAD to open your mouth," growled Mecharexmon.

"What are you…w-wait…" The wolf's ears twitched again, picking up the sound of a low hum in the air. "…God dammit…"

"Next lecture's going to be about not taunting Murphy, it looks like," groaned Blazereptimon. He looked up into the sky, where there was a disturbing amount of waviness. "No rest for the good guys, it seems. Oy! Get inside, everyone! The next wave is here!" The reptile's warning incited a much more vigorous scramble inside, which did not include the symbiotes as they steeled themselves for yet another round.

"They said it could be as many as two hundred…" muttered Skydramon. "We only fought, what, maybe 15?"

"Ceramon said he got a couple who went after him, but that only barely adds to the tally," hissed Blazereptimon. "This is it, guys…this is what it's been building to. This isn't just a skirmish now, this is a full-on assault, and we're outnumbered BIG-time. We've only got a few advantages - we know the territory, we knew they were coming, and they still think we're weak because we're fused together. The BICI's got some defenders now, so we can focus on taking down these invaders and making them regret they came over here."

"It's not the first time we've faced a bad numbers game…we've made Emperius regret throwing bodies at us before, we'll do it again," asserted Ionfalkemon.

"I'd feel a lot better about that if I could throw out attacks like Cyclodramon had, but what I've got'll have to do," Jetdramon declared, clenching his fist.

"I gotta lotta attacks that'll hit hard from a good distance, that's always good when the numbers are a problem," rumbled Mecharexmon.

"At least this time, we can throw our all at them…that'll be a nice departure from that annoying army engagement earlier," Ebonvargmon growled. "We shall leave them gravely wounded in body and spirit, and make them regret their invasion."

"We're as ready as we're going to be. It's time to make our stand!" Blazereptimon's eyes were almost alight with determination. "Bolt, Skyder! The sky's your domain! Everything up there is up to you! Hold nothing back, don't let any big bodies land on anything! Rex! I want you scoping out the biggest ground-based digimon with priority, focus on small fry only if they're around the big ones, you've got the weaponry to put them down fastest! And I need you to watch the river, you're our aquatic specialist! Wolf! You're our land speedster, use that to cover lots of ground and prioritize the quicker ones as much as possible! And remember, we're all out in the open now, cast away any fears of being seen and let loose with all you've got!"

"RIGHT!" With that shout, the five dispersed, flinging themselves into the fray, forcing themselves to set aside the fatigue from the earlier fights and draw on everything they had. Blazereptimon had confidence they all could, though - they all had experience to draw from in handling situations like this, even when they weren't at their freshest. When everything was on the line, that was where Zetta Unit had always shone brightest…they wouldn't back down when tasked to call on it once more.

…Wait. Why were they all taking commands from me? Dammit, don't tell me they're making me the leader AGAIN…I'm gonna have to do something about this. Later, though.

—

"…! You're here!"

"I'm here. And now that you know that, we need to get moving, ASAP."

"Now?! There's monsters all over the place there!"

"I'm well aware of that. Which is why we need to be ready once they're gone. If we don't act quick, we might lose everything. Get our forces ready to move on the double, I don't care how apprehensive they are, this is too important for us to fall short on."

"Y-yes, of course. We'll prepare to deploy immediately. The primary target is the BICI building, right?"

"Yes, but we've got one other target. You've been tracking their movements, right?"

"As much as possible. We'll be ready with two forces. We won't let them go any further."

---

Here's the first case of one chapter turning into two. Technically it was more like a split of ideas than straight up chopping it in half, though. Diminishing the chaos for the sake of readability, even though the actual events going on aren't going to be short on chaos, is something I tried to work on here.

Battle scenes are still hard as heck to write. Translating quick actions to words in a punchy fashion has always been a challenge. Not to mention that things can sometimes get a bit talky…though, I'd say that's not super inaccurate to the source material. I think they're a bit cleaner and clearer than the original, but I'd be lying to say it was anywhere near my comfort zone. The aphantasia doesn't help, but so it goes.

One key thing this helped accomplish: the team attacks. This was always a thing I wanted to do in the original, but it barely got a chance to slip in, only really getting in there near where I ended up stopping. It's going to be done more here, though for reasons that will be easily understandable it's going to go away for a while before it comes back in earnest. Why have them at all? They're cool. Don't judge me.

These fights don't go particularly great for the good guys! Sure, any fight where you can walk away is a win, but that doesn't mean it's a convincing win. They go significantly better in the next chapter, which might seem odd with how much more lopsided the numbers are, but here's a bit of something that might help clear things up: if you're sending two forces, one intending to cause general mayhem and one intending to strike deliberately at your biggest threats, which one of those are you going to make sure consists of the better fighters?

Custom mon behind-the-scenes:
-A few evolutions here, most of which are fairly obvious. The lone outlier there is Entruenmon. I don't have a lot of designs which were direct alternate evolutions of canon digimon, but this was one where I really didn't have much affinity for anything I could find Elecmon evolving to. At the time, none of the things he became really kept him very 'him', and I wanted that, so I came up with this. I know evolution is pretty free-form in the series proper, but I have a personal preference for a bit more consistency, it makes things easier to track for me. Won't be much of this through the rest of the fic, but maybe a few more scattered instances.
-Malicedramon is one of my multiple dark dragon lines, which come into play in a concept I introduce several chapters later. I reworked his appearance to be a little less generic.