Chapter Text
An endless, rocky expanse. That was all that covered the peak of Spiral Mountain. Grey stone and dust, with jagged spires and zig-zagging canyons crossing the otherwise flat landscape. At the very edge of the plateau, a clawed hand reached up and gripped a ledge. “Remind me.” Vikemon grunted, heaving himself up. “Why don’t we just hitch a ride on Kabuterimon or Garudamon and fly up there? Or bring Jesmon with us?”
“Because, fur ball,” Magnamon said from a few feet to the side. “Piedmon’s probably on high alert. He’ll be expecting us to try and fly in, so he’ll have anti-air defenses that are likely tailored for those two, and Jesmon’s busy rounding up all the other digimon who got scattered when the City fell.”
“I like this idea because it means I don’t have to worry about getting shot out of the air.” HerculesKabuterimon contributed, scaling the cliff like a bug crawling up the wall of a house.
“Plus, it’s a good workout!” WarGreymon chuckled, gauntlets sheathed at his hips so his hands were free. “How you hanging up back there, Tai?” He asked, his partner grabbing his horns as Tai sat on his shoulders.
“This is awesome!” The boy whooped, arms in the air.
“I just wish it wasn’t so bumpy.” Mimi groaned, sitting with Izzy and Palmon on Kabuterimon’s back, while Joe rode with Sora and Biyomon on Vikemon. “At least they’re having fun.” She pouted softly, seeing WereGarurumon leap around the ledges while T.K. and Matt rode piggyback, with Patamon hovering next to the Ultimate.
“How much longer to the top?” Davis asked, sitting on Magnamon’s shoulder pad. On the other pad, Kari giggled, while Gatomon stood on the knight’s head and held onto his helmet’s horns.
“Relax, Davis. I’m sure we’re almost there!” Sora called. A minute later, the climbers peeked up over the side of the plateau, slowly scanning the area, before rising the rest of the way and depositing their passengers.
“Welcome to the end of the world…” Gatomon muttered, ears drooping as they all looked around the seemingly infinite wasteland.
“I hate this…” Sora muttered, fists clenched. “The Digital World shouldn’t be so empty and lifeless.”
“Don’t worry, Sora.” Biyomon cooed, nuzzling against Sora’s arm. “It’ll be better soon, you’ll see.” The girl smiled, rubbing the bird’s head.
“Oh, no…” T.K. suddenly muttered, before taking off with Patamon.
“Wait, what the heck?!” Matt gaped, running after his brother. “T.K.! What’s gotten into you?!”
“Anyone see what’s wrong?!” Izzy asked over the sudden stampede.
“No clue!” WarGreymon shook his head, then skidded to a stop as they rounded a hill and were met by a massive, cracked building block. “...oh…” He murmured, as the eyes of everyone widened in shock.
“Is this…?” Mimi gasped, hands over her mouth.
“Primary Village…” Tai gulped.
“Piedmon’s got a sick sense of humor.” Magnamon growled. “Putting the Village of Beginnings in his own backyard like this.”
“Elecemon!” T.K. shouted, running between the fallens blocks, eyes wide in worry. “Elecmon, where are you?!”
“Elecmon!” Patamon called out, flying above. “Marco!”
“Crap, this isn’t good!” Magnamon grunted, lifting a block out of the way for the taller children and digimon to follow after T.K. “I’ve never seen Primary this bad, and I was there after a Titamon nearly flattened Infinity Mountain!”
“A what ?!” Davis gaped, momentarily running backwards as Magnamon followed after them.
“Later!”
“You always say that, but stuff happens that makes “later” become “never”! You notice that?!”
“Oh, Drasil…” Magnamon paled under his helm as he gazed out over the field of darkened digieggs, all the vibrant and excited life seemingly drained away before they even hatched.
“What happened to them all…?” Kari whispered, kneeling and rubbing her hands over the shell of one.
“Evil is getting too strong.” Magnamon realized. “The light of life can’t break through the shadows and fill these eggs with the strength to live. Unless that changes, all that’s here are empty shells and broken dreams…” He knelt, pressing a hand onto the top of an egg and bowing his head. “I’m sorry, kid…” He muttered to the unborn digimon.
“ELECMON!” T.K. shouted from a distance, followed shortly by a gruff, yet fond voice.
“T.K.! Patamon!” The red and purple Rookie smiled, standing up on his hind legs and spreading his arms out to wrap the boy and digimon in a hug. “How have you two been? Eating alright? Do you need to rest?”
“We’re alright!” Patamon chirped, only for his ears to droop as he looked back at the lifeless eggs. “We should be asking you that…”
The electric Rookie’s ears fell as he shut his eyes, holding back tears. “It… it all happened so fast… One moment it was a normal day, and then suddenly the ground shook. One of the towers collapsed on me, and when I crawled out, all the eggs were like this and my babies… my babies… ” He let out a sob, burying his face in his hands.
“Elecmon…” Sora whispered, gritting her teeth at the pain such a kind and selfless digimon had to go through.
“I’m sorry this happened, Elecmon.” Tai said, walking over to the Rookie. “Do you know anything about how to beat Piedmon, or where he is? If we take him down, then the Digital World can go back to normal.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know any way to help.” The Rookie shook his head, then pointed towards a tower of blocks to the northern edge of the village. “But from there, you should see the mountain Piedmon built his castle on.”
“Got it, thank you.” Tai smiled, while WarGreymon grabbed him and flew him up to the tower, followed by Magnamon and Davis. “Now, let’s see what I spy with my little eye…” He hummed, putting his telescope to his eye.
“I spy something gray.”
“Is it the rocks, Davis?”
“No, it’s the clouds.” The boy stuck his tongue out at WarGreymon, who snapped his fingers in irritation.
“Dangit!”
“Hey, Magnamon?” Tai asked, brows furrowing as he pulled his scope away.
“Yeah? What is it?” The knight turned, kneeling next to him.
“Am I crazy, or does that mountain not look like a mountain?” He continued, handing Magnamon the telescope.
“What, like a mountain’t?” Davis tilted his head, momentarily distracted from the game of rock-paper-scissors he was in with WarGreymon.
The blue scaled knight took it, a brow raised in confusion at the phrasing, and followed Tai’s gaze, where his shoulder pads shot up and out in agitation.
A few moments later, he gently and deliberately lowered the telescope, set it down next to Tai, turned around, and hopped off the tower. “I’m going for a walk. If anyone needs me,” He began, walking past the others in a way that would have seemed at ease, if not for the scorching golden corona radiating off his armor. “ DON’T.” He snarled, reaching the edge of the village and blasting off like a rocket.
“Should we go after-?” Joe asked, only to be cut off by an earth-shaking boom as a distant mountain was cut in half by a golden explosion.
“If you wanna get in the way of him venting, be my guest.” Matt chuckled uneasily. “But I’d prefer to live long enough to become a teenager.”
“Do you think Magnamon’s cooled down?” Agumon asked a bit later, watching the smoking crater that had replaced the peak of a mountain several minutes ago, and appeared to be the last of over a dozen pulverized mountains.
“Probably, considering he hasn’t gone for another one.” Gabumon shrugged. “What do you think set him off like that?”
“Don’t know. He just looked at the not-a-mountain- or mountain’t as Davis is calling it- and left.”
“So, the mountain’t is the issue?”
“I guess.” It was Agumon’s turn to shrug as they stared at the hazy bump in the distance, which would have appeared to be just another mountain if not for the rounded, glass top. “Hey, Gabumon? Do you ever… dream?”
Gabumon blinked, turning towards his friend. “Everyone dreams, Agumon. A couple days ago, I even dreamed about this big cheeseburger that-“
“No.” Agumon shook his head. “I don’t mean things like that- but tell me about it later. I mean dreams that don’t feel like dreams.”
Gabumon froze for a second, eyes widening minutely, before slowly nodding. “Ever since I first became MetalGarurumon.” He admitted in a whisper. “Whenever we’d take naps or get knocked out, I’d see… I don’t know, flashes. A forest, other Gabumon and Garurumon, but mostly…”
“A big tree.” Agumon finished. “And a digimon with black and gold armor, and a giant in white with a sword.”
“Yeah…” Gabumon nodded. “Then the sword’s gone, and suddenly things get hazy.”
“What do you think it all means?” The saurian asked, tapping his claws together in a nervous tick.
“I don’t know.” Gabumon sighed. “Do you think the others have the dream?”
“Maybe, but-” Agumon was cut off as a golden sparkle began to fly back from the smoking mountain. “Talk later? It looks like Magnamon’s back.”
“Sure.” The coat-wearing Rookie agreed.
“Piedmon knows where we are.” Magnamon began without any preamble.
“What?!”
“Ok I guess we’re just throwing out bombshells, huh?!”
“How’s that even possible?”
“We haven’t had a connection to the internet since the City! How could he-?”
“Because,” Magnamon growled, glaring off in the direction of Piedmon’s lair. “Laughing Boy’s built his castle right on top of Yggdrasil. Or what’s left of it, at least.” The digimon all paled, while the humans blinked.
“Wait, so it’s plugged into Drasil’s physical form?” Izzy asked. “Is that even possible?”
“It is when they’ve cut the World Tree down and built a palace on the stump. Now Piedmon has direct access to every root across the Digital World.” The knight clenched his fist in anger. “No wonder King Drasil was so damaged!” He snarled, turning and punching a crater into the cliff face behind him. “DAMNIT! I should’ve known! I should’ve been here! I could’ve stopped this!”
“But you also could’ve ended up just like the other Royal Knights.” Tai argued, stepping forward. “If you were here instead of on Earth, do you honestly think things would have changed? You saw what happened when you tried to fight Piedmon last time! He knocked you back into Veemon with one attack!” Magnamon whirled around, glaring down at the boy as his eyes flashed gold.
“Are you saying I’m weak ?” He growled. “That I can’t stop this threat?”
“I’m saying you need to calm down!” Tai shouted back as Agumon moved to stand in front of him, ready to defend against the knight. “We try and do this without working together, we’re gonna fail, and we can kiss both our worlds goodbye!” His glare matched Magnamon’s, while everyone stared in shocked silence.
After a tense minute, Magnamon stepped back, nodding. “Fine. But I’ve got dibs on Chuckles.”
“Deal.” Tai nodded back, holding his hand out, where it was wrapped in Magnamon’s larger grip for a handshake.
“Here’s what we know.” Magnamon said an hour later, kneeling around a bowling pin taken from one of the Village’s toy boxes. “The castle’s here, perched right on top of Yggdrasil’s stump. Chances are, Piedmon has a room dedicated to tapping into the security system of the Digiworld, which means he has an almost perfect array of cameras across the land that exists.” The knight placed a clown peg doll beside the bowling pin.
“I can’t help but notice you said ‘almost’.” Izzy noted.
Magnamon nodded. “He doesn’t have total control. Not while Omegamon, Dynasmon, Jesmon, and myself still live.”
“Wait, what?” Joe blinked. “How does that work?”
“Whenever a Royal Knight was inducted into the order, they were given a section of a key.” Magnamon explained, holding his hand up as a spinning barcode of blue, purple, and white light materialized. “In the event that Drasil became corrupted or unable to function, the key would be reassembled from the fractal code and allow access to the Core, where the Royal Knights could then take over until things were repaired.”
“Prodigious…” Izzy muttered, looking at the band in awe. “I’ve never seen digicode do that before!”
“It’s old Digiworld stuff.” Magnamon explained, clenching his fist and making the circle dissipate. “But since one Knight is missing, two of us were off world, and Breakdramon managed to hide half of Examon’s inside his own data before handing it off to Jesmon, Piedmon only has the sections belonging to Alphamon, Gallantmon, Crusadermon, Craniamon, Duftmon, Gankoomon, UlforceVeedramon, Kentaurosmon, and the blue half of Examon.”
“Which means he doesn’t have complete access to the Core!” Tai realized while Izzy typed it all down. “So, what can and can’t he do?”
“Well, he knows where we are, roughly.” Magnamon admitted. “But he shouldn’t be able to listen in. He also doesn’t have access to the defense grid, so he’s likely packed his fortress full of his goons.” He set down a dozen or so bat-like stickers around the pin. “Not to mention he likely has elites, like Lotusmon or Fujin, Raijin, and Suijinmon.” He put down a few troll dolls surrounding the clown. “What we don’t know is the numbers or who exactly he has waiting to roll out the red carpet.”
“I have a question.” Davis raised his hand from next to T.K. and Kari, where they were sitting cross legged. “If Piedmon knows where we are, how come he hasn’t come after us?”
“He’s probably twisted and wants us to come walking to our destruction instead of hunting us down.” Magnamon grumbled. “Luckily, that means we’re all playing by our timeline. That gives us time to train and prepare for the battle.”
“Alright, then what do we do first?” Matt asked, crossing his arms.
“First, we rest.” The knight said, pointing to the distance, where the sun was creeping over the horizon. “We’ve had a long day, and we need to recharge. I’ll go check things out and try to get a read on what we’re up against.”
“Whoa, we just got done agreeing to go at this as a team. You can’t just-”
“Oh, relax. It’s just scouting. But if it bothers you that much....” He stood, then flashed as he reverted to Veemon. In a manner that seemed to be muscle memory, he handed the Armor to Davis. “There, happy?” The Rookie spread his arms, then turned to walk towards the stump of Yggdrasil.
“Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed…” Gomamon muttered.
“Can you blame him?” Mimi asked. “In just a couple days he’s lost his friends, his world, and now what he promised to protect. I’d be testy too.” They all looked down at that, while Davis stared at the sleeping Armor.
Veemon scowled, kicking a rock across the floor of a canyon as the stars began to peek out from the gloomy clouds. ‘What do they know about me? Nothing, that’s what! They don’t get to tell me how I should or shouldn’t act! I’m a Royal Knight! I’ve seen more battles than they ever will!’
“And yet here you are, acting more childishly than they. I didn’t spend over a decade teaching you how a Knight should carry yourself, only for you to throw a tantrum as soon as we left.” Veemon whirled around at the ghostly, disembodied voice that whispered through the jagged canyon, yet left not even an echo off the walls.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” He lifted his fists up, an uneasy feeling in his gut as his glaring eyes went back and forth. Eventually, he sighed, hands dropping as he stood up. “I must be losing it… I’m hearing things…” He turned, then slammed into something solid, when just a moment before there had been nothing in his way. “Ow! What the-?!” He looked up, rubbing his snout, then gawked at the scene before him.
Sitting against the canyon wall was the armored form of Craniamon, one leg flat on the ground while the other was bent at the knee. Though the eyeholes of his helmet were dark, Veemon swore the disciplined knight was staring directly at him. The Rookie shut his eyes and shook his head, and when he looked, it was just a pile of rocks, with the bent leg being a distant mountain. “Yeah, definitely losing it.” He decided, continuing his trek, though now his body carried a stiffness of unease.
“Losing it? That implies you ever even HAD it!” Veemon whirled, seeing a streak of blue and grey out of the corner of his eye, yet was only met by the wall of the canyon and not the chortling form of UlforceVeedramon.
“Jumping at shadows now, are we?” He spun again, seeing a pillar of spire of rock that almost matched Crusadermon’s figure perfectly.
“Can you blame him? I’d be freaked, too!” Veemon looked around, trying to find the source of the heavy hoofbeats accompanying the latest voice, but there was no sign save a flicker of red at the edge of the canyon.
“What the hell’s going on…” He hissed, grabbing his head as the voices of the dead sounded out around him. “YOU’RE DEAD! YOU’RE ALL DEAD!” He shouted, eyes darting to every flash and flicker. Lightning in the sky, illuminating a titanic, winged form in the clouds. Emerald eyes gleaming from the shadows of an outcropping under a pair of pure ruby eyes. The tail of a white coat flapping in the wind as the wearer walked around a bend. A quartet of crimson triangles on a silver and gold blur.
Again and again these images appeared at the corner of his eyes, making him spin around in circles before Veemon finally fell to his hands and knees, kicking up dark water that had begun to fill the bottom of the canyon, then lifted his head and froze as he stared up at the imposing form of Alphamon. The black Knight’s arms were crossed at the edge of the canyon as he looked down at the Rookie, his eyes unreadable from such a distance, before he turned and vanished from view. ‘What do you all want?! Did I fail so bad you came back to taunt me?’ Veemon grit his teeth, pupils sinking into his irises as they turned a murky red.
“Veemon!” Davis’s voice called out through the haze that had draped over the Rookie like a heavy blanket. “Veemon!” He repeated, kicking up the water as he ran to the digimon, dropping to his knees beside him.
“…Davis…?” Veemon murmured slowly, sounding almost confused. “What’re you…?”
“You’ve been gone for hours!” He said, picking him up. “TAI, I FOUND HIM!”
“Hours…?” Veemon blinked slowly, snout scrunching up as he tried to understand. “But… I just left…”
“You’re worse with time than me!” Davis grunted, throwing Veemon’s arm over his shoulders. “It’s almost midnight!” Tai ran over and grabbed the Rookie’s other arm, Agumon close behind and launching fireballs into the sky.
“Night…” The Rookie repeated, head hanging limply to stare at the water below. “Is it raining…?”
“What? No, it hasn’t rained at all.” Tai grunted, supporting him. “ Davis, are you even lifting? ”
“But… if it’s not raining…” Veemon’s brows furrowed as clarity returned to his eyes and they shot open wide. “GET OUT OF THE WATER!” He screamed, moments before several geysers erupted, cutting them off from the approaching forms of Birdramon, Kabuterimon, Garurumon, and Togemon. The waterspouts twisted and writhed like serpents, before suddenly turning around twenty feet up and slamming down onto the two boys and the pair of reptilian digimon, becoming a pulsing cylinder of dark blue water.
“TAI!” Kari screamed, held back by Sora . “DAVIS!”
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Matt shouted, hoping off Garurumon’s back while T.K. remained tucked between the blades on the wolf’s back.
“DID THE WATER JUST SWALLOW THEM?!”
“IZZY, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!”
“I don’t know! Nothing in Gennai’s database of “Digiworld Phenomena” mentions living puddles!”
“Because that’s not a phenomenon…” Kabuterimon offered with mounting dread as the water began to reshape, lifting itself up on four thick legs while a massive maw with two rows of sulfur yellow teeth split it almost completely in half. “It’s Splashmon.”
The fluid tiger let out an ear piercing scream as its body thrashed and rolled like the surface of a stormy sea. “Something’s off…” Garurumon growled deeply. “Splashmons are meant to be light blue with purple stripes, not dark purple with blue stripes.”
“You wanna tell him that?” Gomamon shouted, before yelping and ducking back down on Kabuterimon’s back as Splashmon turned its glowing red eyes to the seal. “Just a suggestion.” He squeaked, peeking over Joe’s shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s blue or purple or yellow with polka dots!” T.K. shouted, raising his Digivice. “Let’s kick his butt!”
“Easy, Rambo!” Matt scolded. “Tai, Davis, Agumon, and Veemon are in there, remember? If we try to fight it now, we could hurt them!”
“Then what are we supposed to do?!”
“I have a suggestion: DUCK!” Patamon screamed, tackling T.K. down as Garurumon hit the deck, barely avoiding a high-pressure beam of liquid that carved through the wall of the canyon like a hot knife through butter.
“Tai! Tai!” Agumon urged, shaking his partner by the arm and letting out an anxious whine as it did nothing to break him from the ball he’d curled into. “What’s wrong with them, Veemon?” He turned to the other Rookie, who was leaning against Davis with an anxious expression, trying to rouse him.
“It’s water from the Dark Area.” The knight explained in a whisper, looking around the dim, almost pitch black bubble they were in, where the only light shimmered and shifted high above on the surface of the water. “It’s one of the ways Evil managed to break digimon to its side. It rips away at the one submerged until only wickedness remains.”
“Well that won’t work!” Agumon argued, huffing out curls of smoke from his nostrils. “Not to Tai and not to Davis! They’re nothing but good!”
“I know.” Veemon nodded shakily, looking at the humans. “That’s the part that scares me the most…” He reached into Davis’s hoodie, and wrapped his hand around the angular form of the Golden Digiegg.
“TIGER TYPHOON!” A narrow whirlpool burst from Splashmon’s maw, filled with fangs and claws.
“ICE WOLF BITE!” MetalGarurumon’s sub zero steam froze it solid, with the change in density making it fall to the ground and shatter. “We can’t keep playing defense like this…” The wolf growled, while the other seven digimon circled the tiger.
“It’s not like we have a choice!” Rosemon shouted, spinning her whip like a fan and slashing a jet of water into a fine mist. “What do we know about him, Izzy?”
“Splashmon, Mega level. Uses small multicolored drones called “Splashers” to lure or weaken prey, then ambushes them from a body of water!”
“And does it mention anything about glowing?” Vikemon asked, too nonchalantly to be casual. “Because…” He pointed a mace towards the now twitching form of the sixty foot tall Mega, where a light was seen in the depths of its stomach and getting brighter with each moment.
“What are you doing?” Agumon blinked, looking up at the shining form of Magnamon as the golden glow filled the space.
“Hopefully, I’m about to cut a hole through him for us to escape!” He grunted, straining to push his light through the shadows.
“…why does it matter…?” The glow flickered for a moment as the two digimon turned to Davis, surprised he was talking after being so quiet.
“Davis…?” Magnamon muttered, worriedly.
“Are you ok…?” Agumon reached out and shook the boy’s shoulder, only for him to shake his head.
“It’s my fault…” He said, voice tight and strained as tears began to swell in his eyes. “I… I got Breakdramon out of the hole, and he died… Maybe Puppetmon and Lotusmon were right… maybe I should have been remo-“
“DON’T YOU DARE FINISH THAT!” Agumon shouted, while Magnamon stared in silent horror at the boy’s words. “You’ve been helping us out so much! You got us food to re-energize, then distracted Myotismon from focusing on Kari, remember?!”
“And then I just kept getting in the way…” He muttered. “I snuck along to fight VenomMyotismon, but couldn’t do anything to help. I ran into the Gate because I wanted to join, but all I’ve done is take up space…” He buried his head behind his knees, much like Tai was doing. “And when I finally think I can help, I get a ‘Mon k-killed. ”
“Davis-” Magnamon began, only for Tai to speak up.
“No, it’s my fault…” The Bearer of Courage whispered. “I should’ve told you to stay back on Earth. I was too stupid to realize how dangerous it’d be for you. How the others stand me, I don’t get…”
“Tai!” Agumon shouted, offended by his partner’s self-deprecation, then gasped as the two boys began to darken, slowly turning to shades of dark blue and purple and matching the colors of the water.
“ENOUGH!” Magnamon shouted, armor reigniting in a glorious blaze. “MAGNA RAY!”
Splashmon howled, then suddenly went silent as the upper half ruptured like a water balloon. The Digidestined on the outside stared in horror as Magnamon struggled against a seemingly elastic sphere that stretched with his punches, while Davis and Tai were little more than grey-scaled silhouettes.
“Magnamon?!”
“What’s happening to them?!”
“GUYS!” Magnamon shouted, digging his claws into the bubble and trying to find purchase where the beams of energy had split, only to find it repaired.. “THEY’RE FADING! THEY NEED HELP, OR THEY’LL BE LOST TO THE DARK AREA! CRA-!” He screamed, as Splashmon suddenly reformed, now radiating a furious aura and drooling slobber that steamed and ate at the rock below.
“The Dark Area? Like the one from Drasil’s story?!”
“What have we gotten ourselves into this time?!”
“No, it’s what are we getting those two out of .” Kari corrected, face set in steely resolve.
“Kari?” Sora asked, looking over from Garudamon’s other shoulder.
“My big brother and my best friend are stuck inside there, and they’re all alone!” Kari shouted, turning to face the taller girl. “I’m not about to leave them like that! Not when I have the Light! Angewomon!”
“Kari, are you sure?” The Ultimate asked, even as the girl leapt onto her back and held onto the bases of her uppermost wings.
“I’m sure.” She nodded. “Let’s go save them.”
“WH-KARI!” Sora screamed, watching as the Angel suddenly tucked her wings, twisting past the fangs of another Tiger Typhoon, and dove into Splashmon’s body.
“KARI?!”
“NO!”
“CRAPBASKETS!”
Sora stared at the weakening ripples that spread across Splashmon’s back in shock, mind filled with a loud hum as she tried to make sense of it. Then, she grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes, coming to a decision. “After her, Garudamon!”
“Right!” The Ultimate of Love flapped into the air, grabbing her partner from her shoulders and cradling the human in her giant hands, then dove, piercing right into Splashmon’s body.
Sora thrashed as she was suddenly engulfed in freezing cold water, blindly grabbing for her partner, only to find Garudamon had shrunk to Biyomon. She had barely wrapped her arms around the pink and blue bird when a hand grabbed onto the back of her shirt and dragged her through the chilling murk.
There was a momentary pause, then suddenly she could breathe, gasping for air as she coughed up purple water. “Wh-what was- where are we?” She gagged, looking around.
“The belly of the beast.” Magnamon explained, stepping back from her. “Literally.” He looked over to Kari, who was glowing pink as she gripped her Crest tight, and trying to shake Tai and Davis out of their curled up positions. “She’s been at it since I dragged her in a minute ago, but she’s made more progress than Agumon or I.”
“What’s happening to them?” Sora asked softly, seeing the dully-colored forms of the boys. “You said something about the Dark Area?”
“Right.” Magnamon nodded. “This Splashmon is made of Dark Ocean water, so unless you manage to keep yourself in a positive mindset, the shadows will seep into your soul and rip away all the good until only evil remains.”
“That’s horrible…” Biyomon tweeted softly, hopping over to where Kari and Agumon were reminding Tai of all the good he’d done.
“You don’t know the half of it.” The Knight sighed. “For most, it’d be torture. But for these two? It’s a death sentence. They don’t have an evil bone in their bodies, so if all the positive gets removed and the negative is left…”
“There’ll be nothing at all…” Sora realized in a horrified whisper.
“One minus one is zero.” Magnamon agreed. “If we don’t get them out of this mindset, they’re done for.”
Sora stared at them, then set her face. She marched over, knelt next to Kari, and grabbed Tai by the shoulders. “Look at me, Taichi Kamiya!” She barked, glaring at the bushy-haired boy until he raised his downcast face, normally bright and sparkling brown eyes now as blank as a clod of dry dirt. “Get a hold of yourself! Where’s all that optimism you’ve always had? That confidence to go charging at Etemon with your bare hands?!”
“And look what happened…” He sighed. “Everyone scattered because I had to run headfirst into things, and Myotismon almost tore us all apart…”
“And then you fixed it as soon as you came back! You got T.K. and Patamon to iron things out! You helped Mimi stop being a spoiled princess and join us again!”
“But what about before that, huh?” He asked, not aggressive, but just tired in a way that felt bone-deep. “I made Agumon Dark Digivolve to SkullGreymon because of my pride, and he could’ve hurt you guys, and it would’ve been my fault...”
“That’s not-!”
“And before that, the only time I ever really helped was that first day against Shellmon, and even then all I did was get captured…” Tai closed his eyes and bent his head, hiding his face behind his knees. “Just leave me here, Sora…”
“Why you-!” Sora growled, putting her plans on his cheeks and forcing him to look at her, before slapping him with a crack like a whip and knocking his goggles from his head.
“Whoa…” Gatomon blinked, while Biyomon and Agumon gasped. Davis looked over, eyes widening at the bright red handprint on his role model’s face, while Kari and Magnamon continued to mutter their own encouragement to him.
“Sora…?” Tai muttered, gingerly touching his cheek.
“You’re not a quitter, Tai!” She screamed, hopping to her feet as her Crest began to glow under her shirt. “Not now, not ever! So what if you tripped up a few times? You’re still our leader! You’re still my closest friend! We’ve had each other’s backs for years, and I’m NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND LET YOU BEAT ON YOURSELF!” She reached down, hauled Tai to his feet, and wrapped him in a steel hug, shoulders shaking. “ No one’s allowed to bully my best friend, not even my best friend. ” She swore, as the red light reached a crescendo, mixing with Kari’s pink aura and exploding into a nova.
“Sora…!” Biyomon gasped again, her feathers swirling away to reveal a red wireframe. “BIYOMON WARP DIGIVOLVE TOOO…!
“TIGER TYPH-!” Splashmon’s attack was cut off with a choked gurgle as its midsection began to bubble and steam, a red light growing at the core.
“Oh, now what?! ” Vikemon shouted, fur soaking wet and matted from the constant barrage of water attacks.
“If he ruins my hat next, I’m going to bottle him!” Mimi screamed, wringing out the bottom half of her dress.
“I think we’ve got bigger things to worry about!” Izzy warned, his laptop screen showing a thermal image of Splashmon, and how the center of the Mega was white-hot. “EVERYONE DOWN!” He dove away from the edge of the canyon, laptop over his head and joined swiftly by Mimi, with Tentomon covering the two and Rosemon covering him. MetalGarurumon and MagnaAngemon flew up to the other side of the chasm, hunkering down, while Vikemon leapt behind a turn in the canyon, hunched over to protect Joe.
Just in time, too, as Splashmon let out a final roar, then exploded into a mushrooming cloud of steam, revealing a yellow, four winged bird with several tails and just as many metallic ribbons trailing behind it. “PHOENIXMON!” The twenty five foot tall digimon cried, wings extended and launching rivers of flame from the tips, while Sora, Kari, Tai, and Davis rode on her back.
“Well, that’s one way out of there.” Magnamon chuckled, a touch incredulously, as Agumon and Gatomon sat on his shoulder pads.
“Fascinating…” Izzy said several hours later, laptop on Tentomon’s shell. “In a twisted kind of way. To think that a digimon could not only be corrupted by the Dark Area, but even mix with it to create a new subspecies!”
“Yeah.” Veemon sighed, crossing his arms. “I’ve been a Knight for over a thousand years, and even I have to admit that’s a new one. But what concerns me the most is the fact that this is hard evidence of the Dark Area returning.” He rubbed his chin, glaring towards Piedmon’s castle in the distance. “First that evil power the Dark Masters had, now this? There’s more at play here than any of us realize.”
“Well, I think you’re about to have a chance to ask him.” Mimi gulped, holding Tai’s telescope. “I think he’s tired of waiting.” She handed it to Veemon, who bristled as he witnessed the leisurely approaching form of Piedmon.
“He wasn’t waiting.” Tai grunted, slowly sitting up from where Joe and Sora had been hovering over his sleeping form. “Splashmon was a trap. Chuckles was waiting for it to handle us, and either we’d be toast, or we’d be too beat up to fight back.”
“How do you figure that?” Matt asked, helping the brunette to his feet.
“Why else would it mess with Veemon, but not go for the attack until more of us were there?” Tai grinned weakly.
“So, he turned me into bait?” Veemon glared at the red, green, and yellow blob of color in the distance.
“Well, joke’s on him.” Davis snickered. “Now we’ve got one more Mega than before!”
“He’s right.” Kari nodded, a confident smile on her face. “Six Megas, two Ultimates, and a Royal Knight?”
“I like our odds.” Agumon pumped his arm with a toothy smile. “You ready to go, Tai?” The others turned to the goggle-head, grinning at him.
Tai blinked, looking at the others one by one, and not seeing a trace of doubt, not even from Matt. “You guys really want me to…?”
“Of course we do.” Sora smiled, grabbing his hand. “You’re our leader, so get leading.” She held his discarded goggles out in her free hand, and he smiled, cheeks coloring slightly.
“Thanks, Sora.” He chuckled softly, grabbing the eyewear and situating it back on his head before smirking to the others. “Now, LET’S MAKE PIEDMON REGRET PICKING A FIGHT!”
“YEAH!” Eight Digivices and the Golden Digiegg began to glow with energy as their users powered up for the final Dark Master.
“WARGREYMON!”
“METALGARURUMON!”
“PHOENIXMON!”
“HERCULESKABUTERIMON!”
“ROSEMON!”
“VIKEMON!”
“MAGNAANGEMON!”
“ANGEWOMON!”
“MAGNAMON!”
The nine glared out over the wasteland, feet shifting in the gravel and drawing faint scraping noises as Piedmon became close enough to see the reds of his eyes. “Well well well!” The clown chuckled, arms outstretched. “I must admit, I had fully expected you to perish on the trip here. Maybe not to Puppetmon or MetalSeadramon, but to escape Machinedramon? Bravo!” He clapped, tapping his fingers against the heel of his hand.
“Well we have a lot of practice taking down dirtbags who think they can get one over on us.” Vikemon smirked, pulling his maces from his back.
“Next up on the list: You. ” WarGreymon growled, stepping forward as his claws slid out of his gauntlets.
“Oh my, are you sure you want to play this game?” Piedmon gasped in fake shock, hiding his grin. “After all, you and Fido over there were felled by a sneeze last time!”
“We’ve had a lot of practice.” MetalGarurumon snarled, stepping forward as icy vapor hovered around his maw and his missiles primed themselves. “Plus, we have backup.”
“That you do!” Piedmon cackled. “Two pairs of extra spicy chicken wings, a fur rug wearing a fur rug, an overgrown roly-poly and the one I’m certain he’d like to pollinate with, two Ultimates, and dear Magnamon! The final true Knight left in the Digital World! The runner! The coward!” Piedmon grinned, then blinked as, instead of leaping onto the offensive, spitting with rage, Magnamon simply crossed his arms and glared, joined by the other digimon.
“...Are you done?” Magnamon asked, raising a brow. Piedmon blinked again, baffled by the shift in demeanor, and was verbally steam-rolled over as the Knight continued. “Because if you’re going to stand there and insult us, then think again, Bozo. These digimon and their partners have done more than you’ll ever accomplish in all the lives you’ve had or will have. They outgunned MetalSeadramon’s navy. They outplayed Puppetmon’s forest. They outwitted Machinedramon’s city. They’ve fought all the way to the top of Spiral Mountain, and now the only thing standing in their way- our way- is a Clown College dropout.” Magnamon let that sink in, then smirked behind his faceplate. “Plus, none of us have a corn muffin for hair.”
Piedmon scowled, hate burning in his eyes as the Digidestined and their digimon snickered. “Oh? So you think you can outjoke a clown now? Well, you’re not the only ones with back up, brats!” He snapped his fingers, and they boomed like a gunshot over the wasteland. The Digidestineds’ partners fell into their battle positions while the ground began to rumble slightly, a cloud of dust appearing at the base of Yggdrasil’s trunk while dark wings blackened the skies over the distant castle. A massive pack of red-furred Fangmon appeared from the dust, while Devidramon and bat-like Vilemon swarmed overhead and Soulmon arose from the rocky ground, stretching from one end of the horizon to the other in a sea of black, red, and white
As if that wasn’t enough, six figures stepped forward from the hundred- maybe even two hundred- Champions, standing beside Piedmon. “AND NOW TO INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR MERRY TROUPE! IN THE RING TO MY RIGHT, WE HAVE THE LORD OF SPIRITS, METALFANTOMON, AND THE GRIM BEASTS FOR LANDS AFAR, SKULLMAMMOTHMON AND SKULLBALUCHIMON! IN THE RING TO MY LEFT, WE HAVE THE FEMME FATALE LADYDEVIMON, MASTER OF VILEMON, BOLTMON, WITH THE STRENGTH OF FIFTEEN ULTIMATES, AND GHOULMON, THE ‘MON OF THREE EYES!! And taking Center Ring, of course, IS YOURS TRULY, PIEDMON! NOW, send in the clowns. ” Suddenly, four pitch black Volkswagen beetles the size of go karts with skulls, spiders, flames, and smoke painted across them in dark reds, blues, purples, greens peeled up, swerving around craters and bumps in the wasteland. Their tires screeched and kicked up smoke that reeked of burning rubber as they came to a halt in front of the Mega.
In sync, the doors opened, and legs black, curly toed shoes with purple socks and teal leggings stepped out. Soon the rest of the digimon followed, revealing five jesters in purple tailcoats, black and red jester hats, and wielding ominous, garnet-bladed scythes. They stepped to the side, and a new batch of five stepped out, then another, and another, before ending with a fifth set. The twenty jesters lined up, ten on each side of Piedmon, who clapped. “Oh, bravo! Bravo! I do so love it when my Jokermon are all in a row!”
“Five Megas, twenty two Ultimates, and who knows how many Champions against our ragtag group?” Magnamon wondered aloud, a gleam in his eyes. “I like our odds.”
“Are you sure? Because we're seriously outnumbered and-!” Rosemon was cut off as Magnamon grinned at her.
“Come on, I just got done telling Chuckles there how strong you all are. Have some faith in yourselves. Besides, you guys have the easy part. I’m the one who’s squaring up against Piedmon.”
“If we’re calling dibs then the skank is mine.” Angewomon scowled, glaring at the smirking form of LadyDevimon, who made a taunting kissy face.
“I’ve got SkullMammothmon.” HerculesKabuterimon offered.
“And if Piedmon wants a circus, I’ll give lion taming a go with SkullBaluchimon.” Rosemon nodded.
“I’ll take Boltmon.” WarGreymon decided.
“And I’ve got MetalFantomon.” MagnaAngemon chimed in.
“I’m big enough to hold Ghoulmon off.” Vikemon cracked his knuckles, glaring at the black and grey winged triclops.
“Then we’ll take the fodder.” MetalGarurumon growled, sharing a nod with Phoenixmon.
“Let’s do it!” She crowed, taking off in a rain of ember.
“BREAK!” Magnamon rocketed forward, beelining for the grinning face of Piedmon.