ZAFT: December is here! First update of the month too!
DarkFoxKit: Indeed. That means we're close to the end of the year. Are you guys excited for the Holidays? Or are you dreading it because of things you have to do during this time of year?
ZAFT: I know I'm excited for the holidays, mainly Christmas, but then again, that's just me. '
DarkFoxKit: I'm usually pretty happy around this time of year, cause things are on sale, and lots of awesome games come out. But enough about that, let's head on to the chapter!
Chapter 19: The Forest Terminal
It was the next morning. Grumblemon was more than eager to run ahead to face those children again.
"Grumblemon, you're supposed to wait for the rest of us!" Arbormon spoke up to the gnome.
"Me going to Forest Terminal!" Grumblemon replied. "Must get Beast Spirit back from children!" With that said, Grumblemon turned and continued running ahead.
"Well, doesn't that sound like fun?" Ranamon chuckled as she hurried after Grumblemon.
"We may as well go see how these children fight," Mercurymon said as he walked up next to Arbormon. "And why those Digimon with them have been sticking with them all this time."
"I gotcha. But what about Duskmon and BlackGatomon?" Arbormon asked. "Aren't they gonna join us?"
"Duskmon hath no heart for battle." Mercurymon replied. "Those two would rather remain here than fight."
Arbormon grumbled. "Duskmon can get away with it, being the strongest of us all here."
"No matter, we may not need Duskmon for this." Mercurymon grinned.
As the 4 Legendary Warriors headed off, BlackGatomon and Duskmon watched them through one of the openings of the cave they were in.
"There they go," BlackGatomon noted.
"Yes, and to face those children." Duskmon mused. "We watch to see what the children are capable of. Then, if need be, we go in to help. The others may be hard to be around, but they are our allies."
"They can be fun to mess with at times though." BlackGatomon grinned.
BlackGatomon hopped off of the opening of the cave and ran on all fours to a clear pool of water. She looked into it, having it rippled for a moment. Duskmon walked over to join her as a picture showed on the water, showing the other 4 Legendary Warriors walking.
"Let's see if they can take on the children and the Digimon with them," BlackGatomon remarked.
"Yes, let's." Duskmon chuckled. "I want to see what these children are about as well."
Meanwhile, with Takuya and the others, they were walking through a forest on a foggy morning. They found train tracks and decided to follow it, until they came across a sign. The sign itself read 'Forest Terminal'.
"Wow, we're finally here!" JP said. "My legs feel like they're about to fall off, it's been such a long walk!"
"Yeah, it's about time!" Takuya agreed. "But now our journey to here is over."
"But shouldn't there be a Trailmon here or something?" Koji asked as he looked around.
"How can you see anything in this fog?" Zoe remarked. "It's like seeing through a haze."
"I didn't think the Forest Terminal would be so foggy." Kokuwamon noted.
"I wonder if the Trailmon just aren't running right now, that's been a real problem in the past…" Biyomon frowned.
"You think they may not be running?" Tommy asked.
"Maybe, or at least not running this way," Lopmon said. "Otherwise we would've taken a Trailmon to Forest Terminal by now."
"I wonder why then… is this place not safe or something?" Labramon questioned.
"Not safe!?" JP frowned.
"I mean why else were you guys asked to come here of all places?" Patamon pointed out. "Maybe someone really needs your help."
"I hope it's not against a super strong Digimon…" JP gulped.
"Hey, two of us have our Beast Spirits. It shouldn't be that difficult." Zoe grinned.
"Don't jinx us, please," Tommy grumbled. "Things had never been easy since we got here."
"Tommy's right, we better watch ourselves," Lopmon agreed.
"Alright, we'll be careful," Koji said.
"Everyone should stick close together. It might be easy to get lost and separated in this fog," Patamon warned.
The group nodded as they bunched closer together. They started walking, heading into the Forest Terminal. As they moved further in, they saw what looked like a train station, but it was empty. No Digimon or Trailmon in sight. They kept going, not sure where they were going, but something seemed to be keeping them moving forward.
They soon came upon a large, tall tree. There was an opening inside that led to a spiral of stairs. The fog was less blinding inside, and they didn't know where else to go, so they started going up the stairs.
"I wonder where this leads to? This sure is a long way up…" Zoe noted nervously.
"Is anyone getting tired?" Kokuwamon asked. "This is a lot of stairs."
"At least you're able to fly…" Lopmon grumbled.
"Whose idea was it to put this many stairs in a tree?" JP grumbled. "They could have put in an elevator or something similar…"
"If you keep complaining, it will seem worse." Koji huffed back.
"Just suck it up, we've walked all this way here, we can survive a few more stairs," Labramon agreed.
"Those two are becoming more and more like each other…" Biyomon grumbled.
"It's kind of cute," Zoe remarked. "I wonder if we're becoming more like each other?"
"I doubt it," Biyomon replied.
"Why do you say that?" Zoe asked in confusion. "I'd like to say we are."
"Because you're usually the positive one, I'm the more sour one here," Biyomon answered.
"I dunno, you seem to be more bright lately since we met Zoe," Patamon remarked with a small grin.
"And you seem to be more of a risk taker since we met Takuya," Lopmon added.
"Look at you being all sarcastic," Patamon huffed. "Maybe hanging out with Tommy brought that out."
"Nah, I've always been like this." Lopmon grinned.
"Are you implying I'm pretty sarcastic?" Tommy frowned.
Patamon blushed. "N-No… It's just…" He didn't know what to say to reassure Tommy the boy wasn't sarcastic. "You're not as sarcastic as you think!"
"Smooth," Lopmon said.
"I mean… you can be pretty sarcastic," Takuya chuckled.
Tommy gave a pouty face at Takuya. "I am not."
"It's okay to have a sarcastic side." Patamon reassured Tommy. "You just need to know when it is appropriate to use it."
"You trying to sound like a teacher now?" Lopmon asked.
"Yeah, I think he is," Tommy said. "Like Takuya."
Takuya and Patamon both sweatdropped.
"I don't know how, but they always seem to have something over us," Patamon said to Takuya.
"Gee, you think?" Takuya grumbled. "No matter what we come up with, they counter us…"
"Got any snacks, JP?" Kokuwamon asked. "I've missed my 10 o' clock feeding."
"I have a few meat buns saved up from the Fortuneteller Town…" JP said as he took out some meat buns from his pocket.
"When and where did you get those?" Zoe asked.
"There were a lot of vendors, and we had some extra cash after working with that monkey," JP shrugged. "I figured I'd get some snacks from them. Kokuwamon and I need to keep our strength up after all."
"The two of you are more alike than you think." Takuya snickered. "You both are smart, and love to eat~!"
"H-Hey! It's only to keep our strength up!" JP protested, his face burning with a blush.
"I do not eat that much!" Kokuwamon agreed.
"You eat almost every time we stop to rest." Biyomon pointed out with a grin.
"Well I have a metal body that needs a lot of energy to move," Kokuwamon huffed. "Since I don't eat batteries, I have to eat more food."
"Nice excuse," Biyomon replied.
Koji gave a sigh, but despite how often the group could lose focus, he didn't mind it very much. In fact, it helped him relax, knowing that despite the dangers and seriousness of the situation, the atmosphere wasn't soul crushing due to having some people nearby to make things lighter. It wasn't like they weren't making any progress either, they were still moving up the stairs while talking.
Finally, however, the group reached the top of the very tall tree. They started to walk out into the branches.
"We're up so high…" Tommy gulped.
"Well, we have to keep moving." Takuya said as he continued to walk up the stairs carved into the branch the group was walking on. "Just stick close together and don't lag behind in this fog."
"This fog makes me feel uneasy…" Lopmon frowned.
"You think something bad will happen if we linger in it too long?" Tommy asked.
"I'm not sure… I think it's mostly made to hide something," Lopmon replied. It's not like the fog is an unnatural color, it's just thick.
"So how do we find our way through like this?" Zoe asked.
"Just keep moving for now. There's only one way," Koji answered.
"One way?" Takuya frowned when he stopped, seeing two branching paths… literally. "You might want to reiterate that statement."
The two branching paths showed one path going further up, while the other was covered in leaves.
Koji scowled. "Great… Now what? We pick one at random?"
Tommy blinked as he felt his D-Tector vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and a… strange compass, shaped like an orb, came out of the screen, showing a signal coming from the right branch. "I think… we should head to the right. My D-Tector is picking up a signal coming from that direction."
"That's weird, our D-Tectors aren't doing that," JP noted.
"We might as well follow it, the D-Tectors seem to know things that we don't," Kokuwamon pointed out.
"Yeah, it's better than just going in blindly," Patamon agreed.
The group took the right path and continued walking up. But then they stopped when they saw more leaves, and there didn't seem to be any way forward.
"Now what?" JP asked. "Do we turn around and head back in the other direction?"
As if to answer him, JP's own D-Tector began to vibrate in his pocket. The chubby boy took it out and saw the screen glowing. He pointed it at the branches in front and some force made the branches part to reveal more stairs.
"Wow, that's pretty cool!" JP smiled.
"It looks like the further we go, your D-Tectors are showing us the way forward," Lopmon noted.
"And it seems to be reacting to different D-Tectors," Tommy added seeing how his D-Tector didn't show the path, but JP's did.
"Guess we better keep going and see what's ahead," Labramon said.
The group moved forward, but the fog got much thicker, making it near impossible to see anything ahead.
"This fog is a problem." Biyomon frowned. "I can't see anything."
"Yeah. We could be attacked." Koji agreed.
Zoe perked up as her D-Tector vibrated as well. Taking it out, she saw the screen glowing. "Maybe my D-Tector will do something as well." She mused before the device lit up a bright pink color. It forced Zoe to cover her eyes with her free hand.
The fog slowly parted under the glow of Zoe's D-Tector, revealing the path ahead.
Once the fog was cleared, what looked like a crystalline fairy tale castle was shown ahead of the group, peeking over the tree's branches and leaves around it.
"Whoa… what is that?" Takuya asked in surprise and awe.
The other children were looking at the castle in awe too. The Digimon, on the other hand, looked at the castle with relief.
"Good… it's still here…" Patamon muttered.
"Then… let's hurry on, we might be able to talk to him before it's too late," Lopmon said.
"What are you guys talking about?" JP asked. "Do you know this place?"
"We've heard of it," Biyomon answered. "We believe this is where one of the Celestial Digimon lives."
"Really?" JP asked. "Which one?"
"Not Cherubimon, we can tell you that," Lopmon replied. "They might be able to help us."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Takuya grinned. "Let's go and meet this Digimon already!"
"Whoa, you really just want to rush in there?" Koji asked. "Any place could be dangerous, even a place like this."
"Do you have to ruin the mood every chance you get?" Takuya grumbled.
"But Koji's got a point, we should stay vigilant and cautious. Even if a Celestial Digimon is here, it could be taken over by the enemy by now," Labramon warned.
"True, but we'll never get anywhere if we stay out here," Patamon pointed out.
"And besides, what if this is where the person from our D-Tectors lives?" Tommy added. "We did get a message saying to come here, right?"
The group stopped outside the main doors.
"Should I knock?" JP asked.
"I still say it's a trap." Koji grumbled. "We're better off playing it safe."
However, as if to say otherwise, Koji's own D-Tector glowed from his pocket. The boy took it out and the gates opened up instead of remaining closed.
Zoe snickered. "You were saying, Koji?"
"No one asked you." Koji grumbled to Zoe.
"I find it hilarious your D-Tector actually disagreed with you," Kokuwamon chuckled.
"Shut it," Koji grumbled to Kokuwamon.
"At least they're polite." Takuya said, albeit a bit nervously.
"Either that or it's a trick to lure us in." JP warned. "Our D-Tectors may be leading us here, but we can't just drop our guard."
The group stood there, staring at the door for a minute or two.
"Well, standing here isn't going to do anything, we might as well check it out," Biyomon said after a while.
"And if it is a trap, we'll be ready for them," Labramon added. "It wouldn't be the first time."
"And likely not the last," Koji sighed.
The group walked to the main doors. Once they reached the doors, Takuya reached up and knocked with the knocker hanging on the front door.
"Hello?" Takuya called, but no one answered.
"Maybe no one lives here." Tommy muttered, seeing how empty the courtyard was. It was like a ghost town.
"Someone definitely lives here," Lopmon said. "I think you meant to say 'maybe nobody's home'."
"Lopmon has a point." Takuya said as he looked back at Tommy. "It's likely this Digimon is busy or not here at the moment."
Takuya was interrupted when his D-Tector vibrated from his own pocket. He took it out and the device's screen glowed red, opening up the doors.
As soon as the doors opened, however, they were immediately met with a Digimon holding out a staff with a snowflake design on it. "Get back, you Cherubimon minion scum!"
The group backed up a little at the hostile greeting, seeing the Digimon looked very similar to a Wizardmon, but the clothes he wore were different.
"Isn't that Wizardmon?" Tommy asked nervously.
"No, he's got different clothes and a different staff." Koji noted.
"And he's a bit meaner too." JP remarked.
"Are you sure about that? Cause the Wizardmon we had to face nearly burned us alive…" Lopmon muttered.
"We can take him!" Takuya said, preparing for battle.
"Please wait!" Patamon spoke up. "Don't fight!"
Patamon quickly landed in front of the 'Wizardmon' Digimon. "We're not a part of Cherubimon's army!"
The Digimon looked at Patamon and seemed to be in shock. "W-what? You… how?"
Patamon shook his head. "Please, introduce yourself. I'm Patamon, these kids are here to see someone."
The Wizardmon-like Digimon slowly lowered his staff. "So… you're not with Cherubimon's forces?"
"No, why would we be?" Koji grumbled. "That guy's minions have caused us trouble, not the other way around."
The Digimon in question sighed as he lowered his wand. "This is what comes of fighting too much; everyone gets seen as an enemy."
The Digimon then looked up at the group before him. "I apologize for my behavior. I am Sorcermon. How did you find this place?"
Sorcermon looked at Patamon for a moment. "Unless… he brought you here?"
"Huh? No, we were told to come here by a message someone sent us to our D-Tectors," Takuya explained. "But when we got there, we didn't see anyone, so we kept going and before we knew it, we were right here on your doorstep."
"That's… a simple way of putting it, but that is what happened," Patamon confirmed.
"I see…" Sorcermon said as he considered the story told to him. It didn't explain Patamon's presence, but it did explain the presence of the human children at least. "It would appear my solitude has driven common courtesy from me. Please, come inside."
Sorcermon headed into the castle, the group began to follow him. Lopmon was staying behind the group, something told him it may not be a good idea to show himself to Sorcermon right now. Though it seemed nobody noticed this as they followed Sorcermon, they all seemed to be distracted by the castle's beauty. Tommy, however, did look back at Lopmon for a moment, wondering if Lopmon was tired or if he was doing it on purpose. Still, Lopmon didn't seem to have any problems keeping up with the group, he was just staying at the back.
As the group continued to follow Sorcermon, Sorcermon kept glancing at Patamon a few times. Patamon tried to pretend he didn't notice.
"Where are you taking us anyway?" Koji asked as they followed Sorcermon throughout the castle.
"To meet someone." Sorcermon replied vaguely.
"I bet it's a trap." Koji grumbled.
"You think everything is a trap…" Tommy sweatdropped.
"It is wise to be cautious, but only within reason." Sorcermon replied in agreement to Tommy's words. "This is no trap, I can assure you."
Sorcermon stood in front of a crystal wall, showing the group's reflection. Then Sorcermon put a hand on the wall, and the wall suddenly opened up like a door, leading them into another room. The room was large, spacious, beautiful, but also empty.
"Whoa, this place is huge," Labramon said in awe.
"And it's so shiny here it kinda hurts my eyes," Biyomon remarked, rubbing her eyes with her winged hands.
"It's big alright, but I don't see anyone here," Koji said. "Where's this person you want us to meet?"
"Look up." Sorcermon said as he pointed up towards the ceiling. There was a large crystal with what looked like an angelic form inside it, but the form was hard to make out due to the crystal being semi-opaque. "Allow me to introduce one of the Celestial Digimon, Seraphimon."
"One of the Celestial Digimon is in there?" Zoe frowned.
"Why's he in a crystal?" Tommy asked.
"He's been frozen after he took a direct and nearly fatal blow from Cherubimon," Sorcermon explained. "This was to prevent him from being turned back into a Digi-Egg. Although, I had feared the worst when…"
Sorcermon looked at Patamon.
"Hmm?" Patamon blinked at Sorcermon.
"Ah… forgive me, I may have mistaken you for someone else, Patamon," Sorcermon awkwardly apologized.
Takuya raised an eyebrow, but he didn't question it because he had more pressing matters on his mind. "So… what are we supposed to do? He's all frozen up in that crystal all the way up there."
"Perhaps not for long, there is a prophecy that foretold that Seraphimon can be revived and saved," Sorcermon replied.
"And what is this prophecy?" Biyomon asked.
Before Sorcermon could answer, they suddenly heard a familiar woman's voice echoing from their D-Tectors. "Let your light shine as one."
"That was Lady Ophanimon!" Sorcermon exclaimed as he recognized the voice. "She was the one who asked me to watch over Seraphimon!"
"Ophanimon?" Takuya asked, also just as surprised. "She must have been the voice that told us to come here!"
"Ophanimon is one of the Celestial Digimon as well," Patamon informed. "She and Seraphimon represent the human Digimon, while Cherubimon represented the beast Digimon."
"That's why I brought you here. It's all falling into place," Sorcermon noted. "The prophecy said that one day a group of wayward humans would come to the Digital World and free Seraphimon."
"Funny that, how humans seem to get to do everything around here," Kokuwamon huffed. "Aren't we gonna ever be able to do anything cool?"
"That's not why we're here and you know it, metalhead," Biyomon grumbled.
Kokuwamon grumbled, but he didn't protest because he knew Biyomon was right.
"So… what did Ophanimon mean?" Koji asked as he looked at his D-Tector.
"I think it may have something to do with our D-Tectors." Zoe guessed. "I mean, the D-Tectors led us this far, right?"
"There had to be a reason why our phones turned into D-Tectors when we arrived in the Digital World in the first place, right?" Tommy added as he and everyone else were looking at their D-Tectors, trying to figure this out.
Suddenly, all of their D-Tectors started glowing brightly. A beam of light came out from each of their D-Tectors.
"'Let your light shine as one'... Guys, try shining those lights on that crystal up there!" Patamon spoke up quickly.
"If you say so!" Takuya replied before he shined his D-Tector at the crystal. The rest of the kids followed suit, all of them pointing the light at the crystal.
As soon as the light hit the crystal, the crystal dissolved. The lights faded as the angel Digimon started falling. Sorcermon's eyes went wide.
"The prophecy came true!" Sorcermon smiled.
Seraphimon turned to his feet as he landed on the floor.
Sorcermon was smiling, even if his mouth could not be seen due to his high collar. "Welcome back, Lord Seraphimon!" He exclaimed with relief and joy in his voice.
"It's good to be back, my faithful servant." Seraphimon replied in a deep voice that was full of authority and a commanding presence. "You have done well."
"Whoa…" The group looked at Seraphimon in awe.
Now that the angel Digimon was out of slumber, they could truly witness the Digimon in all of his glory.
"So this is Seraphimon…" Patamon said quietly.
"Sorcermon, tell me… what happened after I fought with Cherubimon? There's so little I remember," Seraphimon requested.
"My lord, when your defeat seemed imminent, Ophanimon was able to get you to safety." Sorcermon replied. "She sealed you away from danger so you could be revived."
Seraphimon perked up at Ophanimon's name. "That's right! Ophanimon! Has she been harmed? Why isn't she here?"
"The truth isn't pretty, I'm afraid. Nobody knows where she is," Sorcermon answered grimly before gesturing to the humans. "But these humans have been in contact with her, she led them here so they could free you. So all is not lost."
"These humans?" Seraphimon asked as he looked at them. "But they're only children."
Takuya felt his eye twitch. "Hey! We're not just children!" He exclaimed in a huff.
"And if not for us, you'd still be stuck to the ceiling." Koji added, folding his arms.
"They were also chosen by 5 of the 10 Legendary Warriors," Biyomon pointed out. "That was how they were able to make it this far."
"Legendary Warriors? Impressive. I was under the assumption you had the Digimon with you fighting for you to get this far," Seraphimon noted. "In the ancient past, Digimon used to partner up with humans in order to get stronger and Digivolve. But humans inheriting the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors? That's new."
"Listen, just what is going on here?" Takuya asked. "All we know is there are Digimon after the Spirits for Cherubimon and we've been led all over, getting our butts kicked time and again. We don't even know why we were brought here anyway!"
"So you owe us some explanation," Zoe added.
"If I recall, most of you came here of your own free will," Biyomon sighed. "So don't start getting cheeky to a Mega level Celestial Digimon."
"You guys could've taken a Trailmon home at any time," Labramon added.
"And if you want Seraphimon to tell you something, just ask him. I know he sounded like he was condescending you with that 'children' comment, but look at it from his perspective, you guys are children after all," Patamon pointed out.
The kids all had the decency to look sheepish at the reminders.
"Yeah… I guess we did come here of our own free will…Well, except for Tommy…" Takuya admitted sheepishly. "But being called 'children' was kinda… well… it felt insulting… And after all we have been through, I just got mad…"
"I do apologize," Seraphimon said. "I did not realize you young ones inherited the Legendary Warriors' Spirits. I suppose it made sense why Ophanimon would've called you here. If you want answers, then you will have them."
Everyone went quiet as they listened to what Seraphimon had to say. Lopmon had been quiet all of this time. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he shouldn't be here.
"The story begins long ago." Seraphimon began. "When Human Digimon and Beast Digimon warred against each other. Their battle laid waste to the Digital World, befouling what was once beautiful. But then, Lucemon appeared and brought an end to the fighting."
Seraphimon took a breath before continuing. "For a time, he ruled in peace, but then he slowly became corrupted by his own power. In response, the Ten Legendary Warriors arose to free the oppressed and abused Digimon. They battled valiantly, and after a fierce battle, they were able to defeat the tyrannical Lucemon."
Seraphimon paused for a moment before resuming his tale. "After peace was restored to the Digital World, champions were chosen to protect that peace; Cherubimon, Ophanimon, and myself. But as before, our time of harmony was short-lived. Cherubimon wanted to control the Digital World by himself, and so attacked me. You know the rest of the story from there."
"Yes, now that you were able to free Seraphimon from his slumber, we may be able to turn this around," Sorcermon said. "The Digital World is facing a crisis thanks to Cherubimon's greed for power. As you can see here…"
Sorcermon held out his wand, showing a holograph of the Digital World itself. Large chunks of it was missing, the world itself looked like swiss cheese with all the holes it had.
"That doesn't look good for any world." JP frowned. "The only thing that should have that many holes in it is swiss cheese."
"Yeah, it's disturbing." Takuya agreed.
"And it gets even more bleak." Sorcermon confirmed. "Cherubimon has sent his forces to destroy the Digital World."
"This is even more serious than I'd imagined." Seraphimon said in a serious tone of voice. "We must find Ophanimon at once! We'll need her help to stop this!"
"Yes, my lord." Sorcermon said. "Surely the two of you could overcome Cherubimon's strength. You'll of course have my help as well. While you slept, I felt that I have as well, dreaming only of this moment when I could fight by your side."
"Dear Sorcermon, you're a true friend," Seraphimon replied. "Thank you, your courage gives me strength."
Seraphimon turned to the children. "And I must thank you for your courage. All would be lost if not for you. But I must ask you something…"
"Yeah?" Takuya asked.
"That Lopmon you have behind you… why is he here?" Seraphimon questioned.
Suddenly, all attention was on Lopmon. Lopmon felt like he was caught red handed, even though he hadn't done anything wrong.
"W-what?" Lopmon nervously asked. "I just came with the humans and my friends."
"How strange… are you not Cherubimon?" Seraphimon asked.
"Uh… no? Why would I be Cherubimon?" Lopmon questioned. "Why would I be fighting alongside everyone all this time to fight against myself?"
"For all we know, you could be a spy for Cherubimon," Seraphimon answered.
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on! Lopmon is not affiliated with Cherubimon!" Takuya said defensively. "He's been a big help to us the whole time we have made our way here! Every one of these Digimon has! Why would Lopmon be Cherubimon, or even affiliated with him?"
"Even if a Lopmon was Cherubimon's Rookie form, that doesn't mean every Lopmon would be Cherubimon," Tommy pointed out.
"You do not understand, children. This Lopmon holds Cherubimon's data within him, and Celestial Digimon are the only Digimon capable of keeping their data through rebirth," Seraphimon explained.
"That doesn't make any sense, I know I'm not Cherubimon." Lopmon frowned. "Cherubimon is still out there, causing all of this chaos, and sending his lackeys after us."
"Seraphimon…" Sorcermon spoke up. "If I may… that Patamon… I thought he might've been you, but I started to think he may have been a Digimon you created with your data as an agent of sort. Because I could sense your data within him."
Seraphimon looked at Patamon, who looked just as confused and worried.
"But… I'm not Seraphimon or his agent." Patamon frowned.
"This is very interesting." Seraphimon mused as he considered his old friend's words. "Two Digimon of my and Cherubimon's lines, holding both my data and Cherubimon's data, and yet acting so different as well. I do not believe I have ever heard of such a thing occurring before."
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but…" Kokuwamon spoke up. "We have something we need to talk to you in private about, Seraphimon. It… might explain why these two share your and Cherubimon's data."
Seraphimon turned his attention to Kokuwamon. "Really? This should be an interesting explanation then. I do not see why I should refuse to listen to what you have to say."
"It has to just be between you and us," Kokuwamon emphasized. "The rest aren't allowed to hear this."
"What? Why not?" Takuya frowned.
"Yeah, why not? Aren't we all supposed to be working together?" JP asked.
"This is important," Biyomon said. "You guys can't hear about this." Otherwise we'll get in trouble by the mastermind who set this up.
The kids each pouted, frustrated at what they were being told.
"It's not fair." JP grumbled.
"Nothing in life is ever fair, JP." Takuya sighed.
"You guys seriously can't at least tell us why?" Zoe frowned.
"Labramon?" Koji asked.
"Sorry… we can't…" Labramon answered, shaking her head.
Tommy frowned as well, he remembered having this conversation with Lopmon before. There was something the Digimon knew that they didn't. Something the Digimon wouldn't… or rather… maybe they couldn't tell them. The way Lopmon had said it, it sounded like they weren't allowed to tell them for whatever reason.
"Just let them go," Tommy said. "If it's something they feel they can't tell us, it's probably out of their control."
"I guess." Zoe sighed. "But I just feel like they should be able to tell us what it is they wanted to tell Seraphimon. I mean, we are the Legendary Warriors, aren't we?"
"That isn't the point," Lopmon said. "Just sit tight, we won't take long."
"Alright," Seraphimon said before he led the Digimon to the far end of the room.
Seraphimon set up some kind of barrier around him and the other 5 Digimon. "This is a soundproof barrier. Nothing we say will be able to reach the ears of anyone outside of the barrier. You are free to say wherever it is you need to say without worry."
"Okay… but you might need to brace yourself. What we have to say may… not be what you want to hear," Patamon warned.
"Tell me, and then I will decide if it's what I wanted to hear or not." Seraphimon replied. "I will admit, this has got me curious."
"We should probably start with something easy first," Biyomon suggested.
"Okay… what would that be?" Labramon asked. "Nothing about our situation is exactly an easy thing to swallow."
"I can say that I'm not Cherubimon," Lopmon said. "At least… probably not… um… definitely not the one from… this world."
"'This world'?" Seraphimon questioned. "Consider my curiosity piqued. Are you to say you come from another world?"
"Kind of… It's uh…" Patamon sighed. "It's a lot more complicated than that."
"Perhaps it might be good to start from the beginning," Kokuwamon suggested.
"Alright…" Lopmon said. "First of all… none of us are actually Digimon. We are humans… but our bodies aren't exactly here, instead, our souls are currently fused to our Digimon partners. These bodies we're in aren't our natural bodies."
"You are all humans? Is that the truth?" Seraphimon questioned. "I've never heard of such a thing being possible. How did this come to be?"
"It really shouldn't be possible… in reality," Biyomon stated.
"You see… our world was being attacked… our friends were being controlled… well, maybe not controlled exactly, they were brainwashed… and then accidentally corrupted," Patamon tried to explain.
"We had to look into what exactly happened, and we finally found the source of what caused it," Larbamon said. "We used the power of our partners and technology in our world to knock them out. But…"
"Someone else was waiting for an opportunity to try again. Start over… maybe make up for what happened," Biyomon sighed. "But they caused this problem to begin with. They took our friends away before we could get to them. We had been too weak and tired from the grueling battle to stop them."
"But… we were able to track them down," Kokuwamon spoke up. "We know where their base is, and where our friends were being kept. But… we couldn't get in, no matter what we did."
"The one who started this whole mess is using his partner to try to 'reprogram' our friends again. Thanks to my… unique abilities, I was able to snatch one of the technology helmets the man was using," Patamon informed. "And brought it back home to have it examined. We were able to gain access to what that man was doing to our friends' minds, and we saw the path he was trying to create for them. But…"
"When it reached the end, we saw the reason why they got corrupted in the first place," Lopmon continued. "For some reason, it always ends with them getting taken out by a powerful foe, whom we believe to be this world's Lucemon. The man didn't know this at first, so when he woke them up, he was taken by surprise by how they turned out. But this time he keeps them asleep. Whenever they reach that ending, being taken down and brainwashed by Lucemon, he would loop the dream again… the journey and the world will completely reset back to the beginning."
"From what I'm understanding… You're implying this is all a dream to your friends, who I am assuming are the humans?" Seraphimon asked. "That's quite the tale. You're saying this world is just a dream?"
"I'm… afraid so…" Labramon hesitantly answered. "I would hesitate to call it a dream, everything and everyone in this world has been so… lively."
"They say that dreams often lead one's soul into another world," Seraphimon chuckled. "I do not believe that we are nothing just just a product of someone's mind or power. However, despite what you say, it seems none of you see this as just a dream. You had been careful not to mess with anything."
"We didn't have a choice," Kokuwamon said. "If we tried to say our true names in this world, this would happen."
Small bits of electricity came out of Kokuwamon's mouth to give an example to Seraphimon.
"We used the technology we got from that helmet to replicate it for each of us," Lopmon explained. "Our intention was to get our friends out of here and return back to our world… our reality. But… this is also a world of his creation, or at the least, he has more control over it than we know. Because of our interference, it caused some things to happen that were unexpected. He doesn't want us to interfere with their 'process', but he decided to give us a fair chance. Turning this into some kind of game. He's the dungeon master and we're the players. He set up rules for us. Rules that if we don't follow, we'll be kicked out of this world, unable to return."
"We were forbidden to ever use our real names here, hence why we have these little things coming out of our mouths whenever we try," Patamon sighed. "We also can't tell the humans the situation they're in. We tried that once, when one of them started remembering their reality in the past… but the mastermind sent their Digimon to erase their memories of that, and even had them attack us. It was a warning."
"We are also only allowed to stay with them as long as they need us… but to be more specific, as long as they don't all have their… complete Spirits," Biyomon explained. "Meaning… when they all gain their Beast Spirits…"
"We would no longer be necessary," Kokuwamon finished.
"So we'd have to leave them, or else we'll be kicked out of the world," Labramon said softly.
Seraphimon was silent for a few moments before he spoke up. "You knew this would be a dream, and yet you chose to come to the aid of your friends, even under the extreme circumstances you now face. That speaks much to your character and devotion to them."
"They are important to us… and we only have one shot at this. There's only one way we'll be able to get them out of here, and end this loop," Patamon said. "And that's with the help of the 3 Celestial Digimon. Which is why we needed to tell you about this."
"So you're hoping to have my help." Seraphimon realized. "It's surprising you wanted my help, but I do not see any reason I shouldn't be able to help you in some capacity."
"You're not having any existential crisis knowing this world is a dream?" Biyomon asked. "I know I would."
"The Digital World is vast, and other worlds can exist, as shown by the human and Digital Worlds co-existing." Seraphimon replied. "Yes, it is unnerving to hear this is a dream world to you and your friends, but other Digital Worlds exist in many capacities. After all… I know I still exist despite this world being a dream. Because you exist, and you're here."
Seraphimon looked at Patamon. Patamon blinked at that. "But I'm not you…"
"Well, maybe not you exactly, but the partner Digimon you transferred your soul into," Seraphimon clarified. "The same goes for you, the one who is in Lopmon's body. It pleases me to know there is a version of Cherubimon who isn't evil and corrupted by darkness."
"Lopmon? My Lopmon?" Lopmon frowned. "But… he's a goofball, there's no way he's something like a Celestial Digimon."
"He is still a Celestial Digimon." Seraphimon replied. "Some Digimon can turn out to be very different from how their Rookie-level acts as they evolve."
"Um… as surprising as that is, we should probably talk about why we need the Celestial Digimon," Labramon spoke up. "Because remember what's supposed to happen next at this moment?"
"Oh yeah…" Patamon frowned. "We'll need the power from Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon in order to wake up our friends from this world, and break free from the corruption and brainwashing. The problem is… we need all three for this to work."
"That is a problem if what you say is correct, from what I am understanding." Seraphimon admitted. "You would have only myself and Ophanimon to help you. Cherubimon is too corrupted."
"There must be something we can do though." Lopmon frowned.
"You only need the power of the three Celestial Digimon to break free, yes?" Seraphimon asked. "Then perhaps there might still be a way. Is there someone in your group who has Ophanimon's data?"
"Hmm?" They all looked at each other.
"Well… we do have a friend who had a Salamon, but for some reason, her Digimon digivolved into a BlackGatomon when we came to this world," Lopmon answered. "She's with the 6th human child right now."
"Hmm… You say she is with a sixth human child?" Seraphimon questioned. "I only see the five humans you came with."
"Oh… well… the 6th human is in a… unique situation," Labramon hesitantly said. "He's not exactly… all there."
"He's been brainwashed by Cherubimon," Kokuwamon bluntly stated. "He doesn't even know he's human right now."
"I see." Seraphimon mused, taking this into consideration. "This is very complicated then."
"We're not sure if-" Lopmon began before coughing out some snowflakes. "... I mean BlackGatomon holds Ophanimon's data, but she's the only one who came with us who isn't here right now. But considering the pattern… it's possible she could have Ophanimon's data. If… what you said was true… about me having Cherubimon's data, and Patamon having your data… and we both have our own special… devices, then it's possible BlackGatomon might have the third Celestial Digimon's data…"
"Yes, and that means you would have the power of all three Celestial Digimon at your disposal to awaken your friends." Seraphimon confirmed.
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around that…" Patamon grumbled. "But… we are unable to digivolve. So even if we do have your data, we are unable to access your power."
"Then it seems we have a problem." Seraphimon said with a bit of a grumble. "If you can't access the power within you, then you cannot hope to save your friends, and this whole cycle will continue over and over again."
"We're not giving up. We'll find a way, even if we have to beat the stuffings out of Cherubimon, tie him down with digital chains, and make him help us. Though I suppose the easiest way to do it is to have him reborn as a Digi-Egg after the Legendary Warriors purify his fractal code," Lopmon grumbled.
"Yes, it would be easiest to accomplish that, but as you, and your friends, are now, you would have no chance against Cherubimon." Seraphimon admitted. "And Lopmon, you may be in danger. You got lucky that none of Cherubimon's minions had recognized you yet, but if they do, they may try to take you back with them."
Lopmon frowned. "Oh… that… never occurred to me being a problem before…"
"Well, it didn't help that you didn't even know you had Cherubimon's data in you until now," Kokuwamon stated.
"I will do what I can to help you, but we must find Ophanimon first," Seraphimon said. "What about the children then? Should we have them go back home?"
"No, they'll refuse to go back home," Biyomon informed. "We figured it would be best to stick with them until they find their Beast Spirits, then do things on our own."
"But there is one thing we have to worry about. Some beings were sent here to sabotage our mission," Labramon revealed. "They seem to harm the Digimon with their powers. We haven't seen them in a while, but they are dangerous."
"From what I understand, their rules are stricter than our's," Patamon said. "They're not allowed to be seen by the kids at all. And we've been sticking close to them for a while."
"Unusual beings that are sabotaging your goals? My, this predicament of yours is more serious than you made it out to be." Seraphimon noted.
"It's… been one thing after another… plus this bombshell," Lopmon sighed. "Definitely something Patamon and I will… need some time to think about when we have the chance. But for now… we might want to prepare."
"Prepare? For what?" Seraphimon asked.
"For the Legendary Warriors under Cherubimon's control," Kokuwamon answered. "They should be here any minute now."
Seraphimon's face might not have been able to be seen, but he was scowling beneath his helmet. "I see. Then you have your work cut out for you. The last thing you need is Cherubimon's minions after you, if what I am understanding is correct. Their presence only makes your job harder."
"Just… be careful, we need you alive if we want this to work," Patamon warned.
As if on cue, the crystal wall was shattered by Grumblemon's sledgehammer. Not only that, Grumblemon had a few others with him as well. Seraphimon let down the barrier, seeing how destiny was happening before his eyes.
"You 5 go back to the humans' side," Seraphimon instructed. "Try not to let these corrupted warriors get their hands on you."
"We won't let that happen." Patamon replied. "Besides, the kids can protect us if they need to."
"Come on!" Lopmon spoke up.
The 5 Digimon hurried over to the children, just as Seraphimon landed behind them. They stared down Grumblemon, as well as the other 3 who were with him.
"Well, what we have here?" Grumblemon snickered. "Whole brat brigade here before us!"
"And ready to fight!" Takuya said as he and the other kids got ready to do battle.
"You better be ready, cause me introduce other Digimon who can beat you," Grumblemon said. "Ranamon, Warrior of Water."
The blue-skinned humanoid Digimon grinned. "Charmed, I'm sure~"
"Arbormon, Warrior of Wood," Grumblemon continued.
The wooden android-like Digimon just gave a wave. "You're in for it now, right?"
"What's with that accent?" Koji frowned.
"And lastly, but not least, Mercurymon, Warrior of Steel," Grumblemon finished.
The metal-man-like Digimon gave a sneer. "So these be the whelps that gave thee so much trouble? Pathetic."
"They tougher than they look. Plus their Digimon make it more annoying," Grumblemon replied.
"Verily." Mercurymon agreed. "T'wil be a pleasure to defeat thee, and to hand Seraphimon another defeat in Cherubimon's name."
"With so many options, I don't know where to start," Ranamon chuckled.
"Hmm?" Mercurymon was studying the Digimon partners, mainly Patamon and Lopmon. "Those two…"
Lopmon and Patamon tried not to look nervous, but they could tell that Mercurymon was far more intelligent than Grumblemon was. If anyone was going to recognize them as having the Celestial Digimon's data, it was Mercurymon.
"Interesting… I sense a familiar power within those two." Mercurymon mused with a sneer. "Perhaps we should take these two back with us."
"Hmm? Why? They just weak Digimon who not know when to give up," Grumblemon questioned.
"Enough of your meaningless taunts," Seraphimon spoke up, not wanting Mercurymon to explain it to them. "Tell me where Ophanimon is, now!"
"Me no care about her! Me not know where she is! Me just want Beast Spirit back!" Grumblemon retorted as he raised up his hammer again.
"Then why don't you come get it, buddy!?" Takuya shouted back. "Patamon, you guys stay behind us."
"Y-yeah, be careful," Patamon replied worriedly.
"Yeah, these guys are Legendary Warriors too," Lopmon warned.
"We'll be careful, don't worry." Zoe reassured Lopmon and the other Rookie Digimon.
The kids all got out their D-Tectors to evolve.
Takuya held up his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Koji held up his D-Tector and the white digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the energy of the Spirit entered his body. His eyes became red as his hair shortened and turned almost platinum in color. A white helmet covered his head as white and blue armor covered his body. He grasped the beam sabers and swung them a few times before clasping them around his waist and firing off his arm laser. "Lobomon!"
The light green digital form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the familiar ring of fractal coding around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. He lost his hair and his body became white as snow. His fingers became like paws almost and he gained a more cub-like appearance to his body. Green chest armor formed on his body and his feet gained green and red boots. A headband that had the image of a bear on it formed on his head, and he gained a shoulder pad on each side, but one was red while the other was gray in color. He slid down and landed as a mushy pile before he reformed and grinned, calling out his name. "Kumamon!"
The magenta outline of her Spirit appeared visible on the screen of her D-Tector as she held it up. Fractal coding appeared on her left hand and she slammed the D-Tector against it as she brought the two together. Zoe then called out the familiar phrase she knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Her body became data as her clothes ripped away. Coding surrounded her in a cocoon of sorts and the power of her first Spirit flowed into her. Her hair became longer, flowing past her waist and turning a purple color. Her body grew in height, increasing her strength and speed. A bikini-like outfit appeared on her body as gloves, and high boots formed on her arms and legs, with shoulder guards appearing as well as a visor that covered her eyes. Butterfly-like wings appeared on her back and she landed, letting out a cry as she unleashed a kick before she came to a stop and said her name. "Kazemon!"
JP held up his D-Tector as the green outline of his Spirit became visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held it up. JP then held up his left hand as fractal coding formed around it, his D-Tector held in his other hand. Slamming the device against the ring of coding, he brought the two together. JP then called out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Coding encircled him as his clothes ripped away and his body became data, the power of the Spirit flowing into him. Blue and yellow armor formed on his body as he grew in height and strength. On his back, wings formed before they were covered by two halves of a hard shell and on his head, a horn grew. His eyes became green as a faceplate covered his mouth and he felt the power of thunder flowing into his body. He landed, slamming his fists together as he cried out his name. "Beetlemon!"
Now evolved, the other five Legendary Warriors were ready to fight.
"It's true, the Legendary Warriors have indeed returned," Sorcermon said in awe.
"If we could digivolve or were stronger, we'd join in on the fight too." Biyomon frowned.
"But as we are now, we'd just get in the way…" Labramon frowned as well.
Lobomon glanced back and gave a small smile. "Don't worry, we can handle this."
"Just don't get overconfident." Patamon warned. "You don't know anything about the other three."
Agunimon decided to make the first move, he powered up the flames in his arms. "Time to get warmed up! Pyro Darts!"
Agunimon shot out the Pyro Darts at the enemy Legendary Warriors. The enemy Warriors dodged the attack, scattering a little. Ranamon gave a smirk.
"Ooh, he's feisty~" Ranamon grinned.
But Ranamon had ended up where Lobomon wanted her. "Howling Laser!" He fired a bright white energy burst at Ranamon from his arm-mounted laser barrel.
Ranamon dodged the attack with ease. Beetlemon ran at Arbormon with his Thunder Fist, Arbormon jumped, dodging it. However, Kazemon flew in and kicked Arbormon's head with her feet, sending him down. At the same time, Kumamon shot out his Crystal Breeze at Grumblemon, who jumped to dodge. But Kumamon was fine with that, instead, he let his Crystal Breeze hit the floor, turning it to ice. When Grumble landed, he slipped on the ice, landing on his face.
"Ow! Me hate ice now!" Grumblemon grumbled from where he had landed on his face, his voice muffled by the ice.
"Looks like someone has cold feet." Agunimon snickered.
"Let me show you how it's done, kiddies!" Ranamon grinned before she summoned a large rain cloud. "Draining Rain!"
"Look out!" Lopmon shouted.
Agunimon turned at Lopmon's warning, his eyes widening as he realized he was in trouble. He acted quickly, calling forth his defensive move. "Plasma Sphere!" The reddish-orange transparent sphere appeared around him to ward off the rain cloud.
Kumamon saw the cloud coming and moved as well just as it went over Agunimon and Lobomon. Lobomon had his eyes on the enemy, so he didn't see the cloud coming in until it started to rain on him. The Plasma Sphere kept Agunimon safe, but Lobomon was quickly losing energy.
"W-what is this?" Lobomon hissed as he was slowly falling to his knees.
"Lobomon! That rain is draining your energy!" Agunimon warned, seeing what was happening.
"Roundhouse Punt!" Arbormon's foot came off of his leg, but it was still attached by a rope.
The foot slammed into the weakened Lobomon, sending him back. Beetlemon moved in quickly to try to help, but Arbormon's other foot came off at the same time, slamming Beetlemon in the face.
While Agunimon was safe in his sphere, he couldn't do much of anything due to the rain cloud pouring rain down. If he dropped his defense, he would get weakened as well. Agunimon gritted his teeth, realizing he was essentially useless due to being on the defensive.
"Hang on!" Kazemon called as she flew down to assist Beetlemon and Lobomon.
Kumamon headed over to Agunimon to see if there was anything he could do to help.
"Hurricane Wave!" Kazemon shouted as she unleashed a windy tornado at Arbomon, forcing him into a wall and to back off.
"Thanks, Kazemon, that wooden doll can kick hard," Beetlemon said gratefully.
Kazemon smiled back. "No problem~ Now, let's go help Lobomon and Agunimon. I think Kumamon went to help, but he could use some backup."
Ranamon was giggling as she was draining Lobomon's strength, and keeping Augnimon trapped in his Plasma Sphere.
"Don't blink or you're next~" Ranamon grinned at Agunimon.
Kumamon looked over at Ranamon. "Hey, don't forget about little ol' me."
Kumamon raised his blaster.
"Oh? And what's a cute little teddy bear like you going to do? Throw snowballs at me?" Ranamon chuckled.
"Maybe," Kumamon said before firing out a couple of snowballs.
Rananmon laughed as the snowballs that hit her torso just made her a little cold. But that was Kumamon's plan, making Ranamon believe his attacks were no threat, so he could do what he had planned. Kumamon aimed carefully before firing another snowball.
The snowball was bigger than the others, and it slammed into Ranamon's face, covering her eyes, and hit her with enough force to knock her back a little, disrupting the Draining Rain.
"Is it just me or are they doing way better than when we weren't here?" Patamon asked the other Rookie Digimon.
"Well, they do have Kazemon here this time… and we did help train them," Lopmon pointed out.
"Either way, it seems to be better than before." Biyomon noted. "This makes things easier for us, and for them."
"We still can't drop our guard, just in case things turn for the worse." Labramon warned.
"Even if they are doing better… I don't think this battle is meant to be won," Kokuwamon warned.
"Thanks, Kumamon!" Agunimon said gratefully when the Draining Rain cloud vanished.
"These little scamps are a lot tougher than I thought…" Ranamon hissed, wiping the snow off of her face.
Agunimon dropped his Plasma Sphere, only to then have more fire appear on his hands. "Let's see how you like a hot foot!" He exclaimed as he then launched his attack. "Pyro Punch!"
Ranamon was hit by the Pyro Punch attack, right in the face. She screamed in pain before falling back onto her butt. "Ow! You sneaky brat!" She exclaimed in anger.
Agunimon smirked. "You play with fire, you get burned~" He joked.
Things looked like they were going relatively well. Kazemon and Beetlemon came by to back them up. Arbormon, Ranamon, and Grumblemon were fighting back, using their own moves, though the kids were able to keep up with them.
"Yeah, that's it! Kick that water witch right in the face! And again on the back! Don't let her stand up!" Biyomon cheered.
"It seems the battle is going not as well as we'd hoped," Mercurymon noted, being the only one who hadn't participated in the fight yet.
"Brats stronger than look." Grumblemon panted as he made his way back to Mercurymon's side. "Have new moves too it seem."
"Verily, but we are stronger still." Mercurymon reassured the Warrior of Earth. "They are but mere children compared to us. So stop playing around."
"Very well then. Let me slip into something more comfortable then, yeah?" Arbormon said before a cocoon of code surrounded him. "Slide Evolution! Petaldramon!"
"No! Not another Beast Warrior!" Lobomon hissed.
"What is it with our luck and Beast Spirits?" Beetlemon groaned in dismay. "We've had enough experiences with Beast Spirits, thank you very much!"
The new Beast Spirit before them was almost like a giant iguana made of wood for the stomach and belly area, as well as the limbs, while the back was made up of leaves and vines. A large flower was around the neck and the head was wooden as well, resembling a coconut or seed almost.
Petaldramon stood up on his hind legs as the leaves on his neck started to move. "Leaf Cyclone!"
The entire room was filled with red leaves. The children Warriors and the Digimon were quickly caught up in it. Petaldramon's allies were the only ones who weren't caught up in the attack. Seraphimon had to expend some energy to create a barrier around everyone as they were quickly weakening. He knew the Rookie Digimon especially wouldn't be able to take the attack for very long, and it would be bad for the world if they all got wiped out here and now.
When the attack ended, everyone dropped to the ground. Although Seraphimon was able to protect the group from critical damage, they were still hurt from the attack.
"Is… is everyone… alright?" Lopmon weakly asked as he attempted to push himself up from the ground.
The Legendary Warriors were hurt, but they were, for the most part, alright. The Rookie Digimon seemed to be a lot worse off.
"Ugh… I think so…" Lobomon replied as he shook his head. "But dang… that was one intense attack…"
"I feel like I was just dumped from the dryer…" Agunimon groaned as he staggered to his feet, his left hand holding his right arm.
"I think… I've had enough being tossed around…" Kazemon grumbled as she got to her own feet.
"You think flying would help, but no… not against attacks like that…" Beetlemon huffed as he got up from a kneeling position.
"At least most of you have armor, so you're not a walking bruise…" Kumamon grumbled.
"Why did Kokuwamon have to land on top of me?" Biyomon huffed as said metal Digimon got off of her.
"You try flying in winds that strong!" Kokuwamon grumbled back.
"I'm fine… Somehow…" Labramon replied as she got to her feet shakily.
"I will definitely feel that tomorrow…" Patamon groaned as he got up as well.
"I hate how hard a Beast Spirit can hit…" Agunimon groaned.
"No kidding…" Beetlemon groaned as well.
"Thou are weak if that was all we had to do to put thou down," Mercurymon snickered.
"Enough! I will not let you lead us onto the path of ruin!" Sorcermon snapped. "I've waited a lifetime to see peace restored to the Digital World, and you're not going to stop it from returning! Crystal Barrage!"
Sorcermon held out his wand and shot out crystal shards at Mercurymon.
Mercurymon just sneered as he held up one of his mirror shields. "Thou art a fool! Dark Reflection!"
The crystal shards were absorbed by Mercurymon's right shield before being fired back at Sorcermon from his left shield.
Sorcermon was hit by his own attack, throwing him to the ground in pain, it destroyed his wand in the process.
"Sorcermon!" Seraphimon quickly ran over to Sorcermon, picking him up.
"Worry not… Seraphimon… I am still… okay," Sorcermon weakly assured.
"I don't think any of us are okay…" Labramon groaned. "Guys… come over to me… I can try healing you… But it's hard to move."
"Thou think we will allow thou to heal?" Mercurymon sneered sinisterly. "Tis but a fool's errand to hope to stop us."
Beetlemon grunted as he staggered forwards. "We won't quit… Not while we can still fight!"
Labramon groaned before she moved up onto her feet. I can't let this stop me. "H-hold on, everyone."
"If… if we don't do something soon… things are going to play out like they always do…" Kokuwamon said worriedly.
"S-so… shouldn't we do something?" Biyomon asked.
"What can we do? We're way out of our league here." Lopmon frowned. "You know what will happen if we die, don't you?"
"But what good would it do for us if we lose one of the Celestial Digimon?" Biyomon snapped back.
Labramon was hurrying to the human Legendary Warriors, when Grumblemon suddenly stood in front of her. Labramon yelped as she backed up.
"Me remember you, annoying dog, interfering with my battle to get one of the Beast Spirits!" Grumblemon snapped.
"Serves you right, you giant nosed gnome!" Labramon growled back.
"Me not let you get by, not now!" Grumblemon hissed before he lifted up his hammer. "No chance to help brats this time! Seismic Sledge!"
Grumblemon swung down his hammers at Labramon.
Lobomon ran at Grumblemon and Labramon, not caring about his own safety. He grabbed one of his lightsabers and as soon as was in front of Labramon, he tried to block the hammer with his sword. But because he was weakened, Lobomon couldn't hold Grumblemon for long, and was slammed into the ground.
"L-Lobomon!" Labramon called out worriedly.
"Ugh… I'm… fine…" Lobomon grunted out, feeling his body starting to ache. "Just glad… he didn't hit you…"
"The small Digimon are weak, but big nuisance!" Grumblemon shouted.
"I'll say. Let's take care of the little pints first. Dark Vapor!" Ranamon shouted as she began creating dark mist around the smaller Digimon.
The Digimon felt like they were burning as the acidic mist covered them. They cried out in pain. Hearing their friends in danger, the other Legendary Warriors ran into the Dark Vapor to save them, putting themselves in danger.
"G-get out… y-you'll g-get hurt!" Patamon shouted.
"I don't care! You could die here!" Agunimon shouted back, powering through the Dark Vapor as he picked up Patamon.
"You… shouldn't have to suffer like this," Kumamon said as he picked up Lopmon.
"N-neither… should you…" Lopmon weakly said back.
"Please… don't do this…" Biyomon pleaded weakly.
"Too bad, because we won't… let you die!" Kazemon replied, not caring about the Dark Vapor or what it could do to her as she lifted up Biyomon.
"You… would just… put yourselves at risk for us?" Kokuwamon asked as Beetlemon carried him to safety.
"You guys are our friends. We… won't abandon you if we can avoid it." Beetlemon replied.
Lobomon was holding onto Labramon, already getting her to safety. Labramon looked up at Lobomon in worry.
Seeing how the Legendary Warriors were getting weak trying to protect their friends, Seraphimon knew he had to step in. He knew that he was likely to meet his end here if the warnings of the other worlders were anything to go by, but he couldn't just stand by forever while others were suffering in front of him.
Jumping into action, Seraphimon landed in front of the evil Legendary Warriors, more than ready to take action. His body was tense for a fight. Surprised at Seraphimon's sudden arrival in front of them, the evil Legendary Warriors couldn't react in time to block his attack as he launched it. "Strike of the Seven Stars!"
Seven bright balls of light were launched from Seraphimon's hands at the evil Legendary Warriors, throwing them all back into the wall hard enough to leave craters the size of their bodies.
With the evil Warriors temporarily put down, Seraphimon turned to the group. "I'm afraid I must ask you to leave. If this keeps up, you'll all be destroyed!"
"We can't just leave! You wouldn't be able to take them all on by yourself!" Kumamon pointed out.
"And you just woke up, you're likely not at full power yet!" Lobomon added. "Please, let us help… Labramon… was able to heal some of my wounds… I can still fight!"
"You will not last against the evil Legendary Warriors." Seraphimon said sternly. "Now, I must ask again that you leave! I cannot fight them and protect you at the same time!"
Mercurymon was watching, he detected a severe weakness in Seraphimon, and this was his golden opportunity to seize it.
"Seraphimon… you can't… you have to leave too!" Patamon spoke up, practically begging him. "If you stay… you'll die!"
"What?" Agunimon frowned, surprised at what Patamon was saying.
"If that is the case in order to protect you, I am willing to risk it," Seraphimon said. "You must live, you are the only ones who can save them."
Patamon furrowed his eyes at Seraphimon's words, but he couldn't find any reason to argue back.
"What does he mean, Patamon?" Agunimon asked, despite knowing it was a bad idea to ask questions in the middle of a fight.
"You can't do this…" Lopmon frowned.
"Please… get out while you still can!" Biyomon shouted.
"We can hold on if we must!" Kokuwamon added.
"This fool's weakness is his compassion. Keep attacking the humans and the weak Digimon," Mercurymon instructed the other evil Legendary Warriors as they recovered from Seraphimon's attack.
"We must be fighting them, not each other!" Sorcermon remarked as he recovered some of his wits about him, seeing the evil Legendary Warriors coming at them again.
Grumblemon lifted his sledgehammer, Ranamon began summoning the dark cloud, and Petaldramon began to circle the leaves on his neck.
Seraphimon began to power up his attack. "Strike…"
"No! Stop! Don't do it!" Lopmon shouted.
But it was too late, Seraphimon's fate was sealed. Mercurymon made his move, snapping his finger as he teleported his mirrors, and then himself, right in front of Seraphimon.
"Of the Seven Stars!" Seraphimon shot out the 7 balls of light.
Mercurymon held out one of his mirror shields as the 7 balls of light went into it, and showed Seraphimon's reflection. "Dark Reflection!"
The 7 balls of light came out of the other mirror shield, and struck back at Seraphimon at full force.
Everyone could only watch in shock and dread when this happened and Seraphimon cried out in pain.
"That ability is so effing broken!" Kokuwamon snapped angrily.
"For once, I have to agree with you, Kokuwamon." Biyomon huffed.
"No! Lord Seraphimon!" Sorcermon cried out as he watched as Seraphimon's body became black and his fractal code began to show.
Mercurymon sneered as he saw this happening. "To the victor go the spoils~" He said as he began to absorb Seraphimon's fractal code.
As much as they wanted to rush in to stop Mercurymon from taking Seraphimon's fractal code, the human Legendary Warriors were in too much shock to even move.
"No! This can't be!" Sorcermon cried when he just witnessed his best friend and hope being reduced to nothing but an egg.
Mercurymon smirked. "How ironic. Seraphimon sought to fight against Cherubimon, but now his fractal code will be used for our end goals."
"The hope for the Digital World is gone…" Sorcermon looked down in despair.
Patamon, regaining some of his strength, jumped out of Agunimon's hold and flew at the egg. "No, hope is not all lost!"
Patamon grabbed onto the egg, which was about as big as his body, and quickly flew back to the others. The egg itself was a pale blue color, with a golden symbol pattern on it. The symbol itself consisted of angel wings surrounding a small golden dot with a point above the dot.
"Seraphimon can be reborn and regain his memories, right?" Patamon asked. "So he can still come back!"
"That's right!" Sorcermon realized as a new surge of hope went through him. "We must protect that egg at all cost! If we can get that egg to Ophanimon, she might be able to revive Seraphimon!"
"Thou won't get far!" Mercurymon hissed as he and the other evil Legendary Warriors intended to grab onto Patamon.
"Think again, metal face!" Lobomon snapped as he gripped his swords. His swords began to pulse with energy before he swung both of his blades. "Howling Shockwave!"
Twin energy shockwaves hit Mercurymon from the side, catching him off guard long enough for Patamon to escape.
Patamon hurried behind the human Legend Warriors, who quickly stood in front of Patamon to protect him and the precious egg he was holding.
"We're not going to let you take Seraphimon away!" Beetlemon hissed.
"Do you really think you pipsqueaks will be able to stop us?" Petaldramon questioned.
"We can certainly try!" Agunimon snapped back. "Especially after what you did to Seraphimon!"
Everyone stood their ground. Labramon was able to heal the others as best as she could, but she was running low on energy. Despite this, she, Kokuwamon, Biyomon, and Lopmon stood in front of Patamon as well.
"Then we shall use painful, agonizing, force," Mercurymon taunted. "But first… there are two other Digimon that had caught my interest. It may be best to capture them alive, or bring back their eggs."
"What you talking about, Mercurymon?" Grumblemon.
"I should be surprised you didn't realize it yet, but then thou aren't the smartest," Mercurymon stated. "The Patamon and Lopmon thou see, thou aren't ordinary Digimon."
Grumblemon raised an eyebrow. "Really? How they not ordinary? Don't see anything special about them."
"You know, come to think of it, I feel like I've seen them before, especially the Lopmon," Ranamon noted. "Now… why is that?"
"That's got nothing to do with you!" Lopmon hissed. "We don't know each other, and I'd rather keep it that way!"
Grumblemon heard Ranamon's words, and when he thought about it himself, the Lopmon in particular seemed familiar, but he couldn't explain why. "Me agree with Ranamon. The Lopmon seem familiar, but me not sure why."
"You leave them alone!" Agunimon snapped, feeling very protective of both Patamon and Lopmon; he couldn't explain it, but he felt like he had to protect the two Rookie Digimon for some reason.
While this was going on, Sorcermon was backed up against the wall. He was feeling out something until his hand hit an invisible panel. A button appeared on the wall, and Sorcermon quickly pressed it.
"Arrogance will be your downfall!" Sorcermon stated as the wall behind them cracked before shattering open, revealing another entrance… or exit.
The light from the shattering glass was enough to blind the evil Legendary Warriors long enough for the group to escape through the door that was now revealed.
Now on the run in a dark hallway, the children reverted back to their human forms. Their Digimon forms were too exhausted and injured to keep going, so this was their best way to keep running. They were holding onto their Digimon friends as well. JP had Kokuwamon cling onto his back since he was too heavy to carry normally. They were also following Sorcermon.
"Quick, down here!" Sorcermon said.
There was an explosion. They could hear Grumblemon's voice. "We come and get you!"
The group kept running, with Koji looking back while he was carrying Labramon. "They're gaining on us!"
Thankfully though, the group had reached the end of where Sorcermon was leading them. He hit a red button on the wall, opening up what was a hatch. "This way, through here!"
The hatch opened to reveal a yellow Trailmon waiting for a quick escape.
"A Trailmon! Thank goodness!" Takuya said. "Come on! Let's get on!"
Everyone hurried onto the Trailmon's cart, with Patamon being the last one on board. He looked back at Sorcermon.
"Aren't you coming?" Patamon asked.
"No." Sorcermon replied. "I'm not." His response surprised everyone.
"Why not?" Zoe asked in confusion.
"The egg is all that matters now." Sorcermon replied. "I must ensure its safety. Now go! There isn't much time!"
"That doesn't mean your life isn't important, Sorcermon!" Patamon shouted. "I don't want you to die, my friend…"
Sorcermon looked at Patamon shock, for a moment… he thought this was Seraphimon talking to him. But there wasn't much time to talk about it, because he could already hear the footsteps of the evil Legendary Warriors coming.
"I'm sorry… take care of Seraphimon! He's our last hope!" Sorcermon quickly said as he had the entrance slide closed.
"Sorcermon!" Patamon cried out.
"It's too late! He's gone!" Lopmon shouted as he grabbed onto Patamon with his ears before Patamon could get off the Trailmon.
The Trailmon started to move down the track as soon as the door closed.
The kids and their Digimon couldn't do anything except watch as the door to Seraphimon's castle got smaller and smaller in the distance. While they had survived, it didn't feel like a real victory. In fact, it felt like they had lost their first real battle…
"I can't believe this happened…" Zoe frowned as she looked at the egg Patamon was clinging to. "That's all that's left of Seraphimon…"
"We should've done something… anything to change this fate…" Biyomon frowned. "Why didn't we?"
"We couldn't have, Biyomon, we're not strong enough… we were nearly wiped out by one attack, what could we have done?" Lopmon pointed out.
"This… wasn't a battle we could win…" Kokuwamon sighed.
"Still… things shouldn't have turned out this way… yet they did…" Labramon said softly. "Are we… even really making a difference…?"
"We can't lose hope, guys!" Takuya spoke up. "We still have Seraphimon's egg. That egg must be the most important thing in the Digital World right now, we can't lose it."
"That's right, we have to keep it safe…" JP agreed.
"We're the only ones who can." Koji agreed as well, gripping the side of the Trailmon tightly. "We're the Legendary Warriors. We have to keep that egg safe at all costs."
"If we can keep the egg safe, then Seraphimon might be able to help us." Tommy nodded.
"You have no idea how true those words are…" Patamon said quietly.
The egg in Patamon's grasp started to glow suddenly.
"Huh? What's happening to the egg?" Patamon asked, surprised.
"Is it… already hatching?" Kokuwamon asked.
"That's impossible, Digi-Eggs aren't supposed to hatch this fast… right?" Biyomon frowned.
The egg then glowed so brightly that it blinded everyone on the Trailmon.
"What's going on?" Koji asked, unable to see what was happening inside the Trailmon.
"Patamon… the human soul within…"
Patamon heard Seraphimon's voice. Seraphimon?
"You said you needed my power to help the Legendary Warriors, right? You have my powers, yet you are unable to access them due to the nature of this world and rules placed upon you," Seraphimon's voice said. "But that doesn't have to stop you completely. You do not need me to be here to help you. You will be able to unlock my powers when the time comes."
What do you mean? Patamon asked.
"I apologize… there can't be two of us in this world. I will relinquish my powers unto you. Good luck, and may you be able to save the human children."
The glowing finally stopped. When everyone was able to open their eyes, they noticed the egg Patamon had was missing.
"H-huh?!" Zoe blinked. "W-where's Seraphimon's egg? I could've sworn we had it with us!"
"Patamon, what happened to the egg? You were holding onto it, weren't you?" Takuya asked.
Patamon frowned as he recalled what Seraphimon said to him. He felt around his body for a moment, before he pulled his bellywarmer out to see the symbol that had been on the egg on his stomach. The others saw the symbol on Patamon's stomach as well before the symbol faded away.
"Okay… That's new…" Biyomon remarked, having seen the symbol. "That's… never happened before…"
"What does it mean?" Lopmon asked.
"I think…" Patamon frowned. "Seraphimon just… gave me his powers… or at least the potential to use them."
"What?" Zoe frowned.
"It's… weird, but I heard his voice just before his egg disappeared… telling me he was giving me his powers," Patamon answered.
"So… does that mean Seraphimon is… just gone now?" Tommy asked.
"I know it seems… strange, and unlikely, but…" Lopmon began. "Patamon… just before the other Legendary Warriors attacked us, Seraphimon revealed to us that Patamon has his data inside him." I think it's alright telling them that. But no way am I telling them about the Cherubimon data I… might have.
"Huh?" The kids were all confused at Lopmon's words.
"But how?" JP asked. "That's not normal, is it?"
"There's nothing we can do about it now, we just have to focus on getting to safety, then we can talk about what to do after," Lopmon said, hoping to get off the topic. "We're still not out of the woods yet."
"Yeah, okay," Takuya said. "But we will definitely need to talk about this later."
"Y-yeah… it's something I want to talk about too," Patamon agreed. "I honestly didn't know this myself until Seraphimon told us. I'm… just as shocked and confused as you all are about this…"
"But where are we going?" Labramon asked. "We're just heading in any old direction it seems."
"Let's just hope it's somewhere far away from here, and somewhere safe," Koji said.
Titanic X: ZAFT: Glad you liked the fights and the BlackGatomon and Duskmon scene! XD
DarkFoxKit: You liked that? Well, I'm flattered that you did since it was something that was completely off script. XD
pokemon fan 1991: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, we wanted to make some changes here, and it'd make sense with the Digimon being there and stopping Grumblemon from taking Zoe's Spirit. And it'll be quite fun for Patamon and the others to meet Seraphimon. ;)
ZAFT: Tell me about it! XD It will definitely be a shock to the other Digimon~! :3
CT7567Rules: ZAFT: Glad you could check this story out! X3 You will have to read the other chapters to see how it changes up~! :3
DarkFoxKit: Your name looks familiar… have you reviewed any other stories I've written by chance?
ZAFT: No, they're one of my regular readers… '
DarkFoxKit: If they reviewed in any of the Digital Phantoms we wrote, that still counts since I did write those too.
ZAFT: They have in the past, so it's been a while since they reviewed. But glad you could review this one! :3
DarkFoxKit: Ah, okay.