Hello Readers,
Guest IG: The cards do look cool, but the game is very hard when starting for the first time. It's actually getting in the way of my writing time. Probably going to stop playing after BT18 hits.
Another new month, another release.
Here is the chapter: Howling Star Slipstream!
Before Lobomon could meet the ground with a splat, he felt something grab his hand pulling him back to the sky. Opening his eyes, he saw a familiar lavender fairy with silky, white wings and shouted.
"Kazemon!"
"Seriously?" She berated Lobomon. "I leave you alone for 20 minutes after beating the Vegiemon and next thing I see, smoke is coming out of the middle of the island, and you're falling from the sky! What happened?!"
"He has my beast spirit!" The Light Warrior kept it short, pointing to Megadramon.
Kazemon stared at the retreating cyborg dragon. His figure was getting smaller and smaller.
"Hang on!" With a flap of her wings, Kazemon shot through the air with Lobomon attempting to catch up with Megadramon. They left Sukomobanare Island and flew over the sea. Although the cyborg dragon had a head start, the Wind Warrior was fast and agile. She would catch up to him in no time even if she was carrying someone.
"Where is he even going?" Kazemon asked. Her sight never left Megadramon. "We're in a fractal field. He can't exactly escape."
"I don't know," Lobomon answered. "But he has to stop at some point."
Whenever a fractal field appears, it covers a certain perimeter of the Real World. As for the size of the area, it depended on the Digimon's level and quantity. For example, a fractal field caused by an ultimate-level Digimon would be bigger than one caused by a champion-level Digimon. Numbers also affected the size. The more Digimon they were inside, the bigger the fractal field.
No matter how strong or the number of Digimon inside. One thing was always certain, The fractal field only covered a limited area. Even if a Digimon flew to the edge, they wouldn't be able to pass it.
Sure enough, after flying in one direction for a while, Lobomon and Kazemon saw fabrics of fractal code moving about. The data acted like a dome wall keeping everyone inside.
"Still not understanding why Megadramon wants to come here," Kazemon said.
"Wait!" Lobomon responded and pointed. "I see something! Over there!"
A little bit ahead of Megadramon, near the borders of the fractal field, was a small bat. His body looked like an eighth note of a musical sheet and had built-in red speakers on each wing.
Soundbirdmon: A rookie, avian-type Digimon whose Special Attacks are Soundfinish and Giga Scream. The bat-like creature is characterized by their speaker built-in wings. When something suspicious draws near one, it will drive them away by screeching at high volume.
Lobomon looked at Soundbirdmon in confusion. Why would Megadramon want to meet the bat here? What was the purpose?
"What's the point in flying all the way here just to meet a small bat near the end of a fractal field?" Kazemon wondered the same thing but out loud. "Soundbirdmon is only a rookie, so it's not exactly strong in a fight."
'Fractal field… Rookie…," Those few words resonated with Lobomon then his mind lit up in understanding. "I got it! That bat is gonna leave the fractal field with my beast spirit!"
The second option to exiting a fractal field was for a Digimon to suppress their strength to the rookie level. A long time was needed, and it was not recommended to use in a battle. There was no way an enemy would let you escape while fighting. One attack could interrupt the whole process.
Unfortunately, the suppression difficulty only applied to champion-level Digimon and above.
Since rookie-level Digimon are already rookies, they have no problems leaving a fractal field. The process was pretty seamless for them. All they had to do was walk through the borders of data and leave. If a stronger Digimon tried the same method or forced their way through, it would be like slamming into a metal wall, very painful.
Megadramon's plan was simple but effective. He would give the Beast Spirit of Light to Soundbirdmon, and the bat could easily escape the fractal field with the spirit in tow. The Legendary Warriors wouldn't be able to go after him.
Kouji and Izumi could exit the fractal field too, since their human forms were technically classified as rookies. But they would have to de-digivolve and be stuck in the middle of the ocean. Without their Digimon forms, there was no way they could catch up to Soundbirdmon in the Real World.
"Okay, so what do we need to do?" Kazemon asked, understanding the whole situation.
"Here," Lobomon took out his Digivice and pressed some buttons. Fractal code streamed out and transferred to Kazemon's Digivice. "Take this."
"Lobomon…," The Wind Warrior looked at the new data on her Digivice in surprise. "This is…"
"When the time is right, use it." The Light Warrior readied his armguard. The thing has been charging ever since they chased after Megadramon. "Right now, it about time I give those two a nice light show."
True to the Lobomon's speculations, Megadramon did travel here to transfer the Beast Spirit of Light to Soundbirdmon. Without the beast spirits, a big chunk of strength would be gone from the Legendary Warriors making them easier to defeat. When the cyborg dragon was close, he raised his right gauntlet in front of the bat ready to transfer the beast spirit.
[SCA: Howling Flare] Before anything else could happen, Lobomon fired a single bullet of light. This one felt different from the other light bullets. The brightness kept flickering constantly as the light bullet shot toward Megadramon and Soundbirdmon. When it finally went in between them, the thing exploded out releasing an intense light like a flare going off in the night sky.
And Megadramon and Soundbirdmon were right at the center of it.
Megadramon closed his eyes blocking most of the light. He felt his body heat up a little, but that was all. The flare attack did barely any damage to him.
Soundbirdmon, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The light was like poison to him and felt like being cooked by the sun. His body couldn't take it anymore, and fractal code appeared.
The data left, and Soundbirdmon transformed into a bat that flew away. Megadramon's sight cleared, and followed the fractal code seeing two familiar enemies.
"You!" The cyborg dragon growled angrily. His plan to safely secure the Beast Spirit of Light blew up in smoke. "I was going to come back and pick up what was left of your fallen body. But fine!" His left gauntlet opened out. "I'll just finish you two off here and now!"
[Dark Side Attack] Organic missiles flew out and targeted Lobomon and Kazemon. They looked like a swarm of terrifying gray piranhas ready to rip at them piece by piece.
[Howling Laser] Lobomon fired multiple small lasers out of his arm guard. The laser beams hit some of the missiles causing them to implode prematurely. He staved off the first onslaught, but it wasn't over yet. The second barrage of missiles came in fast after the first and were almost upon the duo.
Kazemon, thinking quickly, swerved left dodging the first missile by a hairbreadth. Other missiles came at them, but she closely avoided them as well while still carrying Lobomon. All the missiles from the second barrage were close to hitting but never did. Kazemon always narrowly avoided them. How was she doing this?
The answer was simple: vibrations. Those missiles made a lot of noise in the air, and Kazemon could sense that through the winds. Whenever a rocket piranha came at them, the Wind Warrior would feel the air vibrations and make the appropriate action dodging at the last minute and moving just enough for the missile to not explode. Although she couldn't dodge all of them, she didn't need to. Lobomon was with her firing laser beams from his armguard at the excess missiles.
Kazemon's flight maneuverability and Lobomon's precision shooting. Together, they fought through the missile onslaught telling their enemy that this wasn't going to be enough. But Megadramon expected it. His Dark Side Attack was just the appetizer.
The cyborg dragon had his arms crossed. Energy slowly gathered around him filling up like a balloon. It looked like he was inside an inflated balloon.
"Kazemon! We have to get away!" Lobomon shouted, gripping her wrist tightly. The energy around the dragon seemed like it was ready to blow. "Fly now!"
[DG Dimension] Like popping a water balloon, Megadramon stopped gathering and unleashed a massive energy explosion. Wind blew away the clouds and massive waves surfaced from the sheer blast. On an island below, birds couldn't even fly before tumbling to the ground due to the shockwaves. And Lobomon and Kazemon took the brunt of it.
When the attack cleared, there was nothing but clear blue skies.
Megadramon looked at his handiwork in accomplishment. No one in range could've survived this unscathed. He looked around for any remnants of Lobomon and Kazemon. Even if their vessels are destroyed, their spirits can still be intact and captured.
Unfortunately, the cyborg dragon didn't find any trace of the Legendary Warriors: human or spirit. He should've sensed their energy signatures by now. Did he completely obliterate his enemies?
It was then that Megadramon felt something on his right purple wing followed by a stabbing pain.
"Ugh," He grunted and turned to look at his wing. At first, he saw nothing, but slowly the colors on a spot changed, and Lobomon appeared. The Light Warrior's sword was lodged deep in his purple wing.
"How…?" Megadramon asked in shock. He was surprised that the Light Warrior escaped the explosion but was more surprised at how Lobomon appeared. He recognized color blend ability immediately. It was exactly like Chamelemon!
*FA: Chamelemon's Chamoflage] During the explosion, Kazemon stretched out her wings and used the blowback to fly away even faster avoiding most of the attack. It was like a leaf flowing through the winds. Then fractal code exited out of the Digivices and two phantom images of Chamelemon appeared. They covered Kazemon & Lobomon blending them into the environment.
After the explosion cleared, The invisible Kazemon sneakily flew closer to Megadramon and dropped Lobomon on the cyborg dragon's wing leading to this stabbing situation. This was the third newest function of the Digivice: Fractal Assist.
Fractal Assist gave the Digi-Destined the ability to copy other Digimon's attacks as if they're using them. When Legendary Warriors were in the Digital World seven years ago, the fractal code of their defeated foes weren't of much use. At most, they released the enemy's stolen data back into the Digital World, reviving the land or Digieggs. But now their fractal code can be put to better use.
Depending on the special attack, the function would form the weapon the Digimon uses or a phantom image, like an avatar, of the Digimon utilizing the attack. The best part of the function was that the Digi-Destined could use it in any form, whether as a Digimon or a human.
Unfortunately, Fractal Assist did have its limitations.
The first was power. For every special attack copied, the offensive power would only be around 60%. The enemy could easily destroy the avatar with one attack, so it wasn't good against a similarly powerful Digimon.
The second was usage. Each Digimon's fractal code had a one-time use only. Once a Fractal Assist finishes, the code would turn into unusable, raw pure data. The Legendary Warriors also couldn't repeat the same attack even if they had multiple fractal codes of the same Digimon.
For example, Kazemon had a bunch of Vegiemon's fractal code, but she could only use one of them. The rest was just extra storage which was why Lobomon transferred the second Chamelemon's data to her. Better to give to an ally to use than leave in the Digivice collecting data dust.
The third was interruption. When the Fractal Assist was active, the Legendary Warriors couldn't use their own attacks. If they did, the assist would be interrupted and deactivated like what happened to Lobomon. As soon as he plunged his light sword attack on Megadramon's wing, Chamelemon's Camouflage immediately ended causing the Light Warrior to reappear.
In summary, fractal assist was not good against direct battle, but it wasn't supposed to be. The key feature was the attributes. Fractal Assist can copy and utilize a Digimon's signature attributes perfectly.
Take Chamelemon as an example. His attacks weren't very strong, but his attribute to camouflage into its surroundings was. Lobomon and Kazemon didn't need the lizard's attacks but his camouflage. It was the perfect move to get close to Megadramon without him noticing.
"Get off me!" Megadramon shouted. Being fooled by his own ally's move left a bad taste in his mouth. He shook his wing in an attempt to fling Lobomon off, but the Light Warrior held on tight.
"Ugghrrrh," Roaring out loud, Lobomon pushed his sword through until it cut through on the other side of the wing causing heavy damage.
Without both wings, Megadramon lost the ability to fly and spiraled downward. He was like an airplane spinning out of control. Lobomon jumped back into the air, and the invisible Kazemon grabbed him. They both watched the cyborg dragon make an emergency crash landing on Kakeroma Island.
Boom. Megadramon crashed into the forest with a sound like thunder. Trees broke apart from the impact. The cyborg dragon struggled a bit and used the ground to stabilize his body from the impact pain.
[Lobo Kendo] Kazemon flew down and dropped Lobomon. The Light Warrior landed on Megadramon's right arm and stabbed his light sword deep in the dragon's flesh.
"Raahhhh," Megadramon roared in pain. His gauntlet forcibly opened, and the Beast Spirit of Light came out floating near the ground a few meters away.
Lobomon was about to retrieve it, but Megadramon wasn't down yet.
Using his metal head, the cyborg dragon swung at the Light Warrior causing him to go flying.
"Ugh," Lobomon crashed painfully against a tree breaking the trunk and fell to the ground. Fractal code surrounded him, and he transformed back into Kouji.
"Time to go blow you up to kingdom come!" Megadramon aimed his gauntlet at the boy. He was going to unleash missiles blowing Kouji to bits.
[Hurricane Wind] Before he could release the explosive projectiles, a strong gust of pink wind came from above and slammed Megadramon's face to the dirt. In the sky, Chamelemon's Camouflage was dispelled, and Kazemon appeared.
"Kouji!" She yelled. "This is your chance! Get your Beast Spirit!"
Kouji didn't need to be told twice. He took out his Digivice and aimed it at his beast spirit. Like a magnetic pull, the spirit flew and entered the device. The Symbol of Light appeared on the screen.
Kouji closed his eyes, slowly relaxing. He could feel bestial energy surging through his body. The Beast Spirit of Light has reunited with him.
[Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution - KendoGarurumon]
When Megadramon pulled himself back up, he saw the same armored wolf he defeated in the cavern. But this time, KendoGarurumon wasn't in spirit form anymore. The Beast Warrior of Light could now use his real strength, and the wolf was angry. Small trinkles of light gathered between his jaws.
[Lupine Laser] KendoGarurumon breathed out a thick beam of concentrated light at Megadramon. The cyborg dragon used one of his metal gauntlets and blocked the attack. The light beam deflected from the metal before exploding out.
Did that do it?
"Hehehehehe," The smoke cleared with the undamaged appearance of Megadramon's maniacal laughing. "Is that all you got?" He asked.
His metal claws opened, and scythe blades came out attaching to his arms. Megadragmon may have temporarily lost his flight capabilities, but he was far from down. "If so, it's time to skin a wolf!
[Big Mega Fire] Megadramon slithered to KendoGarurumon swinging his scythes erratically. Trees and broken branches cut through like butter as the cyborg dragon made his way to the wolf. He was going to slice him up like pork tenderloin.
Like a car going in reverse, KendoGarurumon drove backwards dodging the scythe by a hairbreadth. His speed increased, and he sped out of the blades' attack range.
"What's the matter?" Megadramon asked tauntingly. "Are you afraid of my scythes, puppy?
KendoGarurumon growled at the provocation. His claymore blades on his wings opened up. "Kazemon!" He shouted. "I need your wind!"
"You got it!" Small pink tornados appeared from Kazemon's fingertips. She then flung the tornados at KendoGarurumon blanketing him with wind.
[UA: Howling Star Slipstream!] The Light Warrior revved up his wheels and shot towards Megadramon like a speeding race car. His golden claymore wings gleamed in sharp light.
"Useless! Useless! Useless!" Megadramon met the incoming wolf with his scythes. Both blades clashed against each other making a loud clang. "Your speed is no match against my might!"
KendoGarurumon zoomed at different angles attacking from multiple sides. If anyone could see, all they would see is a blur.
But Megadramon always met him at each turn. He swung his scythes with absolute precision never letting the Light Warrior too close. Although the cyborg dragon couldn't see him due to the speed, he used his instincts to locate his enemy's location and deduced the next strike. Speed would not be his disadvantage!
After clashing about 50 times, KendoGarurumon ceased his attacks, distancing himself from Megadramon and staring at him.
"What's the matter?" Megadramon retracted one of the scythes on his gauntlet and aimed at the wolf. He was going to release his Dark Side Attack on the canine. "Are you tired from running too much, puppy? This battle has just started!"
"No…" KendoGarurumon answered, locking his claymore wings back. "The battle is already over."
Megadramon didn't understand those words until he felt immense pain. Looking at his body, he saw multiple deep cuts all over him. The cyborg dragon couldn't believe it. He was certain he parried all of Light Warrior's attacks. "How…?"
Usually, if KendoGarurumon used his Howling Star, Megadramon would have been able to parry all of his attacks. But the Light Warrior wasn't using Howling Star, he was using a unison attack: Howling Star: Slipstream.
It was a combination attack between him and Kazemon. The butterfly blanketed KendoGarurumon with wind making his body light having zero wind resistance. With the wind boosts, the Light Warrior's attacks became much faster.
Megadramon did counter KendoGarurumon's attacks, but he didn't counter all of them. Many went through. He just didn't know it.
In fact, KendoGarurumon was so fast that the pain didn't even register with the cyborg dragon until this very moment.
"Ahhhh," Megadragmon issued a final roar before fractal code appeared around him.
[KendoGarurumon - Slide Evolution - Lobomon]
"Soul that squirms in darkness," Lobomon stood next to the fractal code with his Digivice in hand. "May my light purify you! Fractal Code, Digitize!" He scanned the data.
The fractal code left Megadramon and entered the Digivice. The cyborg dragon transformed back into a lizard. The small metallic coloring on his skin slowly faded off and the little creature crawled away.
Fabrics of fractal code surrounded Lobomon transforming him back to Kouji. The boy looked at the screen showing a picture of his beast spirit and smiled. 'I t's good to be working with you again, KendoGarurumon.'
"You did it!" Kazemon said, flying down next to him. "You got your beast spirit back!"
"Yeah," Kouji responded. "But this is just the beginning. I've got a feeling things are going to get much harder from here on out."
During the trip to the island, Takuya and Tomoki relayed their experience getting Korikakumon. The Demon Lords were sending small squads after them now. More and more Digimon were coming through from the Digital World. They had to get the other spirits back quickly before the situation became worse.
"Before transforming back, can you fly us back to Sukomobonare Island?" Kouji asked his flying friend. "I personally don't want to explain to the boatman how we got stuck on another island while our clothes are still dry."
Agreeing, Kazemon grabbed Kouji and took flight again heading back to the island.
Their next destination awaited them.
Kouji managed to get his beast spirit. Yay! While he and Kazemon travel back to Sukomobonare Island, we're going to be moving on to our last pair: Junpei and Koichi. I wonder how they're doing...
To find out. Tune in next time on Digimon Frontier 2: Fractal Fusion.
Preview: Sapporo TV Tower