Chapter 6: The Backfoot
Sora took a deep breath. Seven years ago, it was easy to panic when a larger scale battle broke out. Not that they had fewer worries nowadays, but they were all more acclimated to thinking in the heat of the moment by this point. Perhaps that was another sign that they had all seen too much fighting in their lives, but Sora brushed that thought aside, instead taking a couple seconds to break down what was in front of them.
SkullGreymon stood out the most, and not just because of what the form represented to both Tai and Rei. In the past, this digimon had been able to overpower their entire team. While they were all stronger now, SkullGreymon was still a walking wild card. She was a distraction at best and a dangerous enemy at worst.
Abbadomon was clearly the greatest single threat, despite having done nothing but talk up to this point. The Digidestined had dealt with plenty of enemies who had high opinions of themselves, though Sora could pick out those who could back up their confidence. Not exactly something she could put into concise words, but an aura and conviction that separated The Dark Masters from, say, Bakemon.
That left the now advancing Argomon, with more seeming like they were materializing from the mist that brought the initial wave. Their leader aside, they seemed less threatening, at least on an individual basis. They had the numbers advantage though, and plenty of past battles had proven that could make the difference. Numbers and persistence, which the humanoid Ultimate at the front of the pack seemed determined to prove.
"Gatomon!" Kari suddenly called out. Not out of panic, but a command. A battle cry.
Likely having already been in motion, Gatomon leapt upward and threw a paw forward. Colliding with the approaching Argomon's forehead, its charge was paused, though not completely deterred. Pushing off the point of impact, Gatomon back-flipped into the air, just as Kari's D3 began to glow with a pink light.
Glowing with a matching light, Gatomon digivolved, taking on a tall and humanoid form, with long blonde hair spilling out over the angelic wings sprouting from her back.
As Angewomon, she called on a bow with one of her hands, from which she loosed two arrows made of white light. The first connected with the Argomon's chest, and the second its head, causing it to falter before collapsing into a cloud of data.
"You too, Armadillomon!" Cody's voice came next.
A second glow followed, the spiked and heavily armored Ankylomon stepping out. After batting away one of the round Champion Argomon with his tail, he planted himself in a defensive position in front of Izzy and the dial he was working on.
"L-Let's try to help, BlackGarurumon," Mari squeaked out, standing just behind Sora's position. She seemed determined, though fidgeting hands and anxious eyes said she was not as confident as everyone else around her.
At Mari's side stood a Garurumon variant, with black fur to match his name. A steadfast look in his eyes, BlackGarurumon charged forward, leaping over the line of Argomon and bee-lining it straight for SkullGreymon.
Sora wasn't sure what her plan was, but wasn't really in a position to question Mari's decision. Looking to Biyomon, Sora found her partner ready, but also sending a quiet and knowing look her way. The pair of them were in a bind.
The chamber around them was plenty large, enough so that Sora was confident that Phoenixmon could fit if she had to. Fitting and being able to fly and effectively fight, however, were two different things. While more of her friends looked like they were joining the fray, some of them were hanging back, probably having come to the same realization she had.
Even if they were strong enough to beat their enemies, they were quickly running out of space down here.
Tai's reflexes kicked in, causing him to sprint the short distance towards Rei. SkullGreymon didn't seem to be moving with any intent, but that didn't make her any less dangerous. Whether on purpose or not, her boney tail swung wild, and Rei was in its path.
Luckily, Tai made it to her in mind, tackling her to the floor just as SkullGreymon's tail flew right around where her head would have been. Tai didn't pick himself up immediately after, turning his head first to see if the tail was coming back their way or if anything else was targeting them.
As a sign that Tai's luck was holding up, Greymon had managed to grab hold of SkullGreymon's tail and her attention along with it. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to like that very much.
Roaring once again, SkullGreymon tried swinging the appendage once more. Greymon resisted at first, but his feet were eventually lifted off the ground. Turning her whole body with the motion, SkullGreymon slammed him into the nearest wall, leaving a sizable indent at the impact point.
"Ow…" Greymon groaned, giving his head a shake like he was trying to stay awake.
SkullGreymon spun all the way around, bearing down on Greymon. With half a second's consideration at most, she splayed out one of her claws to slam downwards, but was stopped mid-swing.
Mari's partner, BlackGarurumon if Tai had heard the name correctly, jumped upwards and sunk his teeth into one of SkullGreymon's fingers. Either out of pain or irritation, she swung her arm around violently. BlackGarurumon let go, just managing to land on his feet. No lasting damage looked like it had been done, though he had bought enough time for Greymon recover and position himself to get back in the fight.
Tai shifted his eyeline, however, knowing there was a lot more going on around them than just this specific fight. His eyes gravitated to Abbadomon, who stood only a few meters away yet seemed uninterested in participating himself.
"Oh, don't mind me." Abbadomon glanced Tai's way, a smug look taking over all his mouths and eyes. "I'm just enjoying the show until it's my turn."
Biting his tongue so he wouldn't take the bait, Tai looked to his side. They needed to pacify the skeletal dinosaur currently turning the battlefield upside-down, and for better or worse, the best place to start solving that problem was Plan A.
"Rei, you have to call her off," Tai requested, clearly and loudly as he could without yelling at the girl.
Rei didn't react, however, eyes glued on her partner, and the rest of her face not giving any obvious emotions. For all Tai could tell, she could have been putting together her own plan or her thoughts were a world away.
"We'll need to up the ante if we want to break through this," Stingmon's voice broke through the chaos.
"Sounds good to me," ExVeemon replied. "Hey, Davis-!"
A snarl and a stomping foot halted their plan in its tracks. The Mega-leveled Argomon propelled himself forward and into the midst of the two Champions. Stingmon veered away at the last second, though by that point, Argomon had his sights set on ExVeemon.
Argomon reeled a fist back, before both precisely and brutally driving it into ExVeemon's gut. Following through on the punch, Argomon pushed upwards and forwards, the impact blasting ExVeemon to the chamber's back wall hard enough to crack the surface. The last Tai saw of ExVeemon was him reverting back to Veemon as he slid to the floor.
More crashing called Tai's attention forward again, this time to see Greymon just manage to dodge one of SkullGreymon's attacks. A burst of blue flames deterred SkullGreymon from following up, instead shifting her focus back to BlackGarurumon.
BlackGarurumon charged head-on, though only for SkullGreymon to clasp both her claws together and slam him to the ground. With what might as well have been the same motion, SkullGreymon raised a foot and stomped down on the wolf digimon with what looked like all her weight. By the time the dust had settled, BlackGarurumon had dedigivolved back into Gabumon.
Tai clenched his fists together, not at a loss as to what to do, but hating what he knew he would have to. A memory of Tokyo Bay flashed in his mind, of Ordinemon and her rampage that almost destroyed both the human and digital worlds. Of Meicoomon, whose life was the price of making sure everyone else would survive.
The decision he made that night stayed with Tai, because he forced it to. Because he needed it to, both a reminder of what was sometimes necessary and a sacrifice he would fight to never have put his friends through again. He didn't want Rei's partner to end up like Meicoomon, and he would still do everything in his power to make sure she didn't, but he couldn't let his fear cloud his judgment.
Standing back up, an orange light beamed from Tai's chest, causing Greymon to glow to match. His partner grew in size, his left arm becoming a large metal claw, armor plating materializing on his skull, and tattered wings growing out of his back.
"No more," Tai said under his breath as he took a couple steps forward.
MetalGreymon charged, shoving SkullGreymon clear of the injured Gabumon, and even causing Abbadomon to casually move to avoid them crashing into him. SkullGreymon took another swipe, though MetalGreymon parried with his metal claw. Balling his organic arm into a fist, MetalGreymon struck his opponent center mass.
Only briefly winded, SkullGreymon charged again, but MetalGreymon managed to catch her mid-stride. Despite both his arms being full, MetalGreymon reared his own skull back, before throwing it forward in an audible headbutt. With the crack across her head resonated throughout the chamber, SkullGreymon recoiled and fell to a knee.
A good start, though winning this fight wasn't Tai's priority just yet. MetalGreymon defeating SkullGreymon was a reliable Plan B, after he had completely ruled out Plan A.
Matt kept his eyes on the clashing forms of MetalGreymon and SkullGreymon, at least for a moment. With the Argomon swarming, he needed to divide his attention, especially with the Mega variant having personally removed Veemon from the fight. All things weighed as objectively as he could, especially his concern that Tai would make a rash and stupid decision, he realized there was only one correct action to take.
He made eye-contact with Gabumon at his side, an agreement passing between them, before they both faced Argomon. Matt could trust Tai while he dealt with the more immediate threat.
Within a second of Matt grabbing his digivice, Gabumon flew into the center of the action. His shape changed, into a large yet slender metal wolf, with yellow wings and a bladed tail.
Digivolution complete, MetalGarurumon braced himself where he stood. Panels on his shoulders flipped open, releasing a cluster of missiles on the enemies right in front of him. With good number of the lesser Argomon vaporized in the bombardment, he now had a straight shot to the Mega.
Argomon took notice, charging forward once again. Not a reassuring sight, especially given how this Argomon was easily four times MetalGarurumon's current height. With that said, neither Matt nor his partner had any plans of fighting this enemy head-on.
MetalGarurumon dashed to the side at the last second, claws out as he slashed at Argomon's left leg. Their enemy flinched and dipped slightly to that side, giving MetalGarurumon the chance to stop short and turn right around. Leaping upwards, he made a similar attack to the back of Argomon's head.
Argomon flailed his arms around in response, though the angle and his size gave MetalGarurumon just enough of a chance to dodge and land back on his own feet. Argomon grunted, before attempting another attack.
As MetalGarurumon dodged again, Matt chanced a look around to assess the rest of the battle. At that moment, Togemon crashed one of her boxing gloves into a Champion-level Argomon, while Angemon used his staff to defend against one of the Ultimates. Palmon and Patamon had each jumped jumped into the fight in hopes of evening the odds, though numbers were still on the enemy's side. As Angewomon flew closer to kick Angemon's opponent aside, Matt suddenly found himself feeling as though that skirmish was a bit too close for comfort.
"We're too boxed in here," Sora spoke up as she moved closer to Matt's side.
He had to agree. A fresh group of Argomon had replaced the group MetalGarurumon had cleared, all the while encroaching closer on the foothold the majority of the Digidestined were holding. Worse, they were becoming increasingly isolated from Tai's side of the chamber.
"Lucky for us, we have an exit," Izzy declared, directing all eyes to the active and glowing portal behind them.
"What's the plan?" Matt asked, not objecting but also not wanting to make a blind leap.
"If we can't defeat the enemy, we'll have to switch to objective denial." Izzy turned back to the control dial. "Akira and Salamon should-"
"Keep the portal open while everyone else moves through?" Salamon perked up, strained smile on their face. "Right on, great plan! Glad we're both seeing the best way to get through this."
"Salamon needs to stay with the portal so it doesn't close," Akira clarified, holding his D3 closer to his chest. "And I need to stay and help Salamon."
"I'm really starting to hate this," Kari said, a down look in her eyes.
"An organized retreat will be difficult in our current position," Ken pointed out. He was calm, though was clearly watching the battlefield in the corner of his eye.
"Then we'll have to work together to change that," Stingmon replied as he landed nearby, gently setting Mari's Gabumon down next to the girl in question. He then flew back to the front line, with Ken following behind as best he could.
Matt might have tried to stop him if he weren't so fixated on Mari. She looked completely demoralized as she knelt down and unsuccessfully tried to pick up her partner. Thankfully, Sora and Biyomon stepped in to make up for Matt's failure and help the two of them.
"Gomamon and I can take the injured through," Joe put forward reassuringly. "The rest of you can join us as you can."
"I always get stuck playing nursemaid," Gomamon grumbled as he moved to stand with his partner at the foot of the reality tear.
Davis was the first to join them, currently giving the semiconscious Veemon a piggyback ride. Frustration and indecision were clearly front and center in his mind as he looked over his shoulder and glowered backwards.
"You tell that big purple lug that he answers to me next time, especially if he messes with anymore of my friends!" Davis shouted as he stepped through the threshold.
"Yolei," Izzy spoke up again. "I need you to go with them to help coordinate things on the other side."
Yolei hesitated, looking both confused by the request and concerned about what she was leaving behind. After looking back and forth a couple times, she sighed and nodded.
"Alright," she said as she motioned for Hawkmon to follow her.
Izzy turned back around. "Cody, you-"
"No," Cody replied defiantly, or at least defiantly by his standards.
"Pardon?"
Cody shook his head. "I'm sorry, Izzy, but while I respect your desire to keep us safe, you can't expect us all to leave you undefended."
"You're such a dummy," Mimi joined in, disapproval in her voice to match her face. "You say you trust us? Prove it." She took off in the opposite direction, towards Togemon.
"Mimi!" Izzy called after her, only to pause and bury his face in one of his hands.
"Sorry to say, Izzy, but I can't bring myself to disagree with them," Tentomon chimed in, resting an arm on his partner's shoulder. "Honestly, the only reason I'm not fighting over there is because I feel I need to be here, protecting you while you work."
Matt sympathized with both arguments, even weighing a similar decision in his head at that very moment. They were in a tight spot, literally and figuratively, but that left them with less time to make decisions if anything.
"Sora," Matt said as he made up his mind. "You should go with Mari."
"And what about you guys?" Sora shot back, almost indignantly. She shot a quick glance in Tai's general direction.
"You said it yourself; we can't stay here," Matt answered, once again sympathizing enough that it made it difficult to argue. "Tai would say the same."
"I know…" Sora looked back down at Mari, then back at him with a soft smile. "It's why I hate you both."
Already having her hands full helping Mari keep Gabumon on his feet, she didn't bother coming back in his direction. Instead, Sora moved to the tear, though constantly looking backwards the entire time.
Once Sora's group was through, Joe and Gomamon stepped in after them. Matt turned back around, just in time to watch T.K. jog past him.
"Where are you going?" Matt called after his brother.
T.K. barely stopped in place. "Kari's gonna protect Akira, and you have to hold the line here, but I know neither of you are gonna be able to concentrate unless someone's looking after Tai."
Matt sighed, knowing arguing here was a losing battle. "Just don't do anything stupid, you hear?"
"Well, duh, somebody has to balance you out." T.K. looked upwards as started moving again. "Angemon!"
With MetalGarurumon still outmaneuvering Argomon, Matt refocused on the fight. This wasn't the first corner they had been backed into, so he told himself to stop treating it like it was. They just had to bide their time for one of their last minute saves.
MetalGreymon projected his claw forward, hitting SkullGreymon dead-on. Tai covered his face briefly, to protect against dust and pieces of rock dug up by SkullGreymon digging into the floor as she was pushed back. As MetalGreymon retracted his claw, SkullGreymon paused, slouching down slightly.
While she seemed to still have some fight in her, she was also slowing down. Tai hoped that at the worst, they could just tire her out so she would dedigivolve. Still, he remembered his own brush with this form, and the chip on his shoulder he carried in the time that followed. If Rei could reach her partner and calm her down, it would be as good for her in the long-term as would be for all of them to resolve this corner of the battle.
"Rei!" Tai called out as he turned around, finding the girl back on her feet. "I need your help over here!"
"I don't know what to do," Rei replied, barely looking at him, still no obvious emotions on her face.
At that moment, a group of Argomon were forced into SkullGreymon's periphery. Agitated, she roared and bludgeoned her way through them, stomping on one and skewering the another with her claws. Tai watched, weighing what he was seeing with what he had just heard from Rei, before tossing it all out and going with his gut.
"MetalGreymon!" Tai yelled as he pointed at his opponent. "We need her to listen to us!"
If Rei didn't know how to reach her partner, then Tai would help, the only way he knew how.
With barely a nod, MetalGreymon sprinted forward. Taking notice, SkullGreymon reeled back her left claw to respond, only to be stopped by a series of cables wrapping around her claw.
Stingmon hovered just out of arms reach, fingers projected outwards from his gauntlets and holding onto the skeletal claw with what looked like all his strength. SkullGreymon considered, but didn't get to respond. Togemon leapt up from just beneath her, delivering an uppercut that propped SkullGreymon up as Angemon brought his staff down on her head.
Tai caught a glimpse of Ken, Mimi, and T.K. in the corner of his eye, but kept his attention on what was in front of him. By that point, MetalGreymon had maneuvered just to SkullGreymon's right. Bringing his claw down on her neck, he didn't stab into it, but just around the bone. As SkullGreymon crashed forward, MetalGreymon's claw dug into the floor, locking her in place.
"Look, Rei…" Tai turned around, taking steps towards Rei to address her directly. "Agumon is still in there, but you're the only one who can reach her."
"Oh, please!" Abbadomon spat out. "You really think the Power of Friendship will fix this!"
"You have to try," Tai added, without turning around.
If Rei's eyes hadn't been glued to SkullGreymon before, they were now. Still, they seemed unfocused, exact eyeline seeming to be constantly changing as she tried to take in her partner's current state. She might have been more present in the moment, but no less uncertain.
"Yes, Rei, try," Abbadomon taunted. "It's not like you have anything left to lose."
Rei clenched her fists together and her eyes stopped moving, uncertainty falling away some. Carefully but intentionally, she walked about half the distance between her and her partner.
"Sk-SkullGreymon!"
SkullGreymon suddenly stopped thrashing, empty eye sockets locking on Rei. It was hard to tell given her current face's limits when it came to emotion, but there seemed to be some recognition on it.
"Hit that bastard with everything you've got!" Rei spun right around, gesturing to Abbadomon with renewed venom and rage.
SkullGreymon reached out with her right claw, digging her fingers into MetalGreymon's leg. Even though he recoiled and pulled off her, she didn't stand back up. Instead, the shark-like torpedo on her spine hummed to life, firing and hitting its mark, flames engulfing the target on impact.
Tai's shoulders sank before the smoke cleared. With seven years experience of fighting evil digimon behind him, he knew the worst of them couldn't be defeated so easily.
"To be clear," Abbadomon said calmly when the smoke did dissipate. "I do respect that call."
He stretched out his left arm, skin and teeth contorting and elongating, eventually settling into the shape of a cannon. With barely another twitch, he opened fire, a fireball emerging and barreling forward.
The attack didn't reach its target however, instead making contact with the ground just in front of SkullGreymon. Still in proximity, MetalGreymon, Togemon, Angemon, and Stingmon all braced themselves, though Tai lost sight of them in the flash of the explosion.
Abbadomon sighed and relaxed his firing arm. "Still, rowdy little orphans need to be put in their place."
"METAL WOLF CLAW!"
Angewomon's attention snapped to her right, just in time to see MetalGarurumon release a stream of blue energy from his mouth. The attack made contact with the Mega-leveled Argomon, encasing his left shoulder and upper arm in a block of ice.
Without pausing, MetalGarurumon sprinted forward, ducking to his right at the last second and sinking his teeth into Argomon's forearm. Firing his thrusters, MetalGarurumon yanked hard and ripped Argomon's arm clean off, leaving behind nothing but ice shavings.
As MetalGarurumon tossed the arm aside and let it dissolve into data, Argomon roared. At first, Angewomon didn't think much of it, at least until she paid closer attention his tone and gestures. Argomon wasn't screaming in pain, but summoning the weaker Argomon around them.
The two she was currently engaging broke off from the fight, doubling back to their leader. Once in proximity, they liquefied, turning into piles of green and purple goo and propelling up to the Mega's wound. Within seconds, they had reconstituted themselves into a new arm.
With surprisingly quick reflexes, Argomon swung his new fist at MetalGarurumon, connecting with sounds of bending and crashing metal echoing around them. MetalGarurumon flipped backwards in the the portal's direction, stumbling as he forced himself to stay on his feet.
"Well that's not good," Matt commented as he moved to stand next to his partner.
An explosion suddenly shook the chamber, drawing Angewomon's eye once more. As the flash and dust settled down, she caught a glimpse of the motionless forms of Agumon, Patamon, Palmon, and Wormmon, as well as a Koromon where SkullGreymon had once stood. Any other thoughts were instantly interrupted by Abbadomon casually turning his cannon in the direction of the reality tear.
"Move!" Angewomon shouted, already in motion.
Of the humans, Kari and Cody seemed to react first, pulling Akira and Izzy away from what was likely going to be the center of the next explosion. Getting as far away as they could in the small amount of time they had, Ankylomon moved to act as a wall between them and Abbadomon's target. Not willing to take any chances, Angewomon touched down next to them, conjuring of a glowing pink barrier as an insurance plan.
By this point, Abbadomon fired, the blast disintegrating the dial and taking out a huge chunk of the mural behind it. The chamber shuddered violently as the portal dimmed and dissipated. Angewomon lowered her barrier, drawing some relief that her charges were all still in one piece.
"No casualties, huh?" Abbadomon said with a shrug. "Eh, I can fix that."
Panning his firing arm to his left slightly, he settled on his initial targets. Tai and the others had moved to their respective unconscious partners, but were now in the line of fire.
Angewomon considered her choices carefully. With how Abbadomon was sadistically dragging things out, she likely could have made it across the chamber before he fired, even with all the lingering Argomon. The issue was more whether or not she was powerful enough to make a difference, or if she would just be prolonging the inevitable.
Her first instinct was to turn to MetalGarurumon, but it was Salamon who caught her gaze. The Rookie crawled to what was left of the control pedestal's base, once again tapping a paw against it. The two of them made eye-contact, just as the wiring below began to spark. Angewomon could faintly feel the tendrils of energy in the air, even if she couldn't quite see them anymore.
She looked to Kari, who gave their plan a nod of approval before thrusting her digivice into the air. With one more light, one more digivolution, Angewomon moved into action. Teal armor formed around her person, her wings became gold, and bow and arrows became a shield to match her armor and a golden javelin.
Now Ophanimon, she didn't turn her weapons on Abbadomon, but the remains of the control dial. Drudging up the energy buried beneath, the magnitude of what they were standing on top of became clear. Not having enough time sift through the different frequencies that Izzy had previously mentioned even if she had known how to, Ophanimon picked a single thread.
Drawing on the little she had learned from her meditation, whether it was her connection to Kari or the peace of mind that came with it, she conducted the energy in arch over the battlefield. The energy crackled to life as it touched down in the midst of Tai's group, causing even Abbadomon to hesitate. In a flash of white light, five humans and their digimon partners vanished.
"Fine…" Abbadomon muttered, before facing the rest of them once more. "Salamon, don't you think you've kept The Master waiting long enough?"
"You can tell Dragomon to go drown himself," Salamon growled back. "He's not getting my partner."
"Don't be like. After all, it's not like Akira will be going alone." Abbadomon dismissed the cannon on his left arm and extended the hand to them. "Dragomon would like you to attend our little party as well."
Ophanimon clutched her javelin tighter, though held off from attacking. Something wasn't sitting right in her gut. The Argomon had stopped advancing, now calmly standing at attention and watching them. With the exception Tentomon, who hadn't seen any fighting yet, they were all tiring out, so there was no reason for them to hold back.
"You're not getting either of them!" Matt shot back.
MetalGarurumon grunted in solidarity, as Ankylomon stomped over to stand at his side. Ophanimon brought her weapons up, but still couldn't shake a dark chill on her neck.
Abbadomon grinned. "Unfortunately, The Master's invitations are not declinable."
As if it had a mind of its own, the mist at their enemies' feet turned black and surged towards them. Before any of them could react, they were engulfed by the darkness.