They still don’t belong to me, and I’m still not
making any money from them. The only repayment I seek is your enjoyment and,
ideally, your reviews.
***
When she thought back over the events of the
night and her reaction to them, Yolei Inoue had the distinct impression that
she was a bad person.
Myotismon had obviously discovered another
Shadow Crest, the counterpart to Matt’s Crest of Friendship, because Gabumon
had suddenly Dark Digivolved to Luperkalimon in the middle of the Teen-Age Wolves’ concert. In turn, he had wrecked the auditorium, and with
ruthless efficiency demolished any Digimon whom they had sent after him. He
would have killed Kabuterimon if it had not been for Angemon’s last-minute
intervention. He could still kill any one of them.
Yet, with everything that had happened around
her, all she was aware of was the warmth of Ken’s arm around her shoulder, the
sweetness of his breath on the back of her neck, the fizzy feeling he gave her
in the pit of her stomach. While everything was falling apart around her, she
couldn’t think of anything else except how glad she was that he was hers.
::Yep,
definitely a bad person.::
Ken must have interpreted her guilty expression
as one of worry or fear, because she felt his arm tighten slightly, protectively
around her, “I know they can do this, Yolei. They won’t let Luperkalimon win.”
She snuggled into his side, “Yeah, but he might
not let himself be stopped.”
Her boyfriend did not reply, and she knew he was
less sure than he pretended. He could see as well as she could that the Digimons’
attacks were having very little effect on Luperkalimon. They only needed to
weaken him for Angemon to purify him of his darkness, but even that seemed like
a faint and distant hope. They had been pounding him with their most powerful
attacks, yet he was in as good condition as he had been when he had first leapt
out of the auditorium. He seemed to absorb everything they threw at him. He
hadn’t even lost his balance once.
As she was looking, ExVeemon let fly with
another VeeLaser, hitting Luperkalimon full on the side. Unfazed by it, the
Dark Digimon snorted his contempt and leapt at Davis’ partner, catching him in
the stomach with his snout. ExVeemon doubled over with a winded puff.
Luperkalimon opened his jaws to finish him, but Greymon came charging towards
them and, lowering his head, knocked the Wolf Digimon flying. He twisted in the
air and landed on his feet, before loping towards his attacker again as if
nothing had happened to him.
::Nothing we do is working. There’s no way of
stopping him. . . .::
Sudden tears prickled in Yolei’s eyes, and,
unable to watch any more of the battle, she hid her face in Ken’s chest.
*
“While the others occupy Luperkalimon, we need
to get Tentomon to safety,” Kari looked down to where her partner was standing
at her feet. She had a scowl on her face, showing the pink inside of her mouth
and her sharp teeth, and her unsheathed claws glinted bright as needles,
“Gatomon, can you do it?”
She nodded her head, “I’m on it.”
“I shall cover you,” Angemon assured her,
gripping his staff tightly between his hands and holding it poised to strike.
Gatomon nodded her head at him, then dropped to all fours and scampered lightly
across the lot in Tentomon’s direction. Kari’s stomach tightened painfully
within her. Even though she knew that Gatomon was on the Champion-level and was
more than capable of defending herself, her partner looked so small and fragile
in comparison to the Dark Digimon; a kitten to Luperkalimon’s feral wolf. All
it would take was one snap of his jaws, one swipe of his paws, and . . . .
Despite the sticky warmth of the Tokyo evening, Kari went cold.
“I will not allow harm to come to her, Kari,”
Angemon said from above her, evidently reading her fear from the expression on
her face, “I swear you will not lose her.”
She gave him a weak smile, “Thanks.”
Reassured by the angel’s words, Kari turned back
to watch her Digimon sprinting across the tarmac. She never ceased to be amazed
at how graceful and agile Gatomon really was. She leapt easily over a pile of
rubble, ducked under Greymon’s legs, twisted through the barrage of lasers and
fireballs, evaded Luperkalimon’s half-hearted swat at her, and scooped up
Tentomon without pausing for a second. Even on two paws, she was one fluid
movement, one white streak of speed.
::What
was I worried about? Luperkalimon never had a chance of catching her!::
Panting slightly, Gatomon slowed to a halt in
front of Izzy and held Tentomon out to him. The boy stared at them for a long
time, with a strangely blank look on his face that scared Kari, then two,
silent tears trickled down his cheeks. She had never seen Izzy cry, but he was
crying now. He stretched out his arms to take his Digimon and hugged him
tightly to his chest. Embarrassed to witness such a private moment, she averted
her eyes.
::At
least something went right tonight . . . ::
*
“This isn’t working,” Tai punched the palm of
his hand in frustration, “We’ve got to try something different, something
extreme.”
“Like what?” Davis asked, “We need more
firepower, but we aren’t going to get that soon. With only half our Digimon
here, we can’t DNA-digivolve.”
“Yeah, we’re going to have to use what we’ve got
here,” Tai rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking at the Digimon fighting in
front of him. The sight disturbed him more than he could express. Even though
he knew what Luperkalimon had done to Tentomon and knew he would do the same to
the rest of them in a heartbeat, a part of him couldn’t help still thinking
that he had sworn never to make Agumon fight Gabumon again after their battle
so many years ago. Now, Greymon was grappling with Luperkalimon, powerful
muscles rippling beneath his blue-streaked skin. The wolf Digimon was on his
back haunches, his front paws planted on Greymon’s chest. It was almost like
they were locked into a deadly dance, moving backwards and forwards, neither of
them gaining the advantage. Eventually, however, the balance broke and the two
fell back to circle each other again. Tai’s eyes went upwards to the bright
angel hovering over the battle, an unnaturally serene expression on his face,
“And Angemon’s out, because he’ll need most of his power to turn Luperkalimon
back into Gabumon. That leaves ExVeemon, Greymon, Gatomon and Birdramon.”
“It’s not enough,” Davis told him, “They’ve been
hitting him with everything they’ve got, and he’s not even dented.”
“So we know the direct assault won’t work,” Tai
tapped the side of his head with a crooked finger, “We need to hit him another
way.”
“If you’ll excuse the interruption,” Ken said
from behind them. As one, Tai and Davis turned to face him. He still had one
arm around Yolei’s shoulder, her head hidden in his chest, and a thoughtful
look in his dusk-violet eyes. He tilted his head in a slight, polite bow of
acknowledgement, “I believe I may have an idea . . . .”
*
“This is a nightmare,” Sora Takenouchi told
herself, “Any minute, you’ll wake up and find yourself in bed. Any minute, your
mom will come through to see why you are screaming in your sleep.”
Unfortunately, for her words, her senses told
her that the scene unfolding in front of her was all too real. The fire casting
weird shadows across the lot. The crunch of the loose gravel beneath her feet.
The feral howl Luperkalimon lifted to the sky. The flash of light off his
silver body. The acrid stench of the smoke pouring from the concert hall.
And Matt’s pain was too real. He was staring at
his Digimon with such a strange mixture of fierceness and helplessness on his
face. If it hadn’t been impossible, if the Dark Digimon had not been between
them, she would have gone up to him and put her arms around him.
As she was watching, however, T.K. stepped up to
Matt. The young boy had a worried expression on his face. He closed his hand
around his brother’s, and said something to him in a low voice. His efforts
were rewarded with a tight smile.
“Sora?” Tai said from behind her, a hesitant
note in his voice, “Ask Birdramon to grab Luperkalimon and take him up really,
really high, then drop him.”
Not taking her eyes off the two brothers or
really listening to what her best friend was saying, Sora nodded her head,
“Birdramon, you heard what he said. Do it.”
Her partner screamed her understanding from
above her. Strong winds blew Sora’s hair into her eyes, as Birdramon set her
wings. Blazing against the dark sky like a comet, she swooped towards the
ground and snatched up Luperkalimon. Her talons screeched against the metal
needles that were his fur. Twisting in her grip, Luperkalimon growled and
snapped at her claws. Most of the bites were wild, his jaws closing around
nothing but air, but some connected with her Digimon. Nausea filled Sora at the
sight of fresh, red blood staining his coat. Despite her wounds, however,
Birdramon continued to spiral high into the sky, growing smaller and smaller
until she vanished against the backdrop of stars.
After what felt like hours to an anxious Sora, a
shriek like a hunting hawk’s tore through the silence. Birdramon was ready to
put their plan into action. Suddenly, the moonlight flashed off a streamlined,
silver body that was speeding towards earth at a shocking rate, and she
realised with a sickening jolt exactly what Tai had said to her. ‘Take him up high, then let him drop.’ As he
fell, Luperkalimon whimpered and scrabbled against the air with his paws. He
looked and sounded more like a lost puppy than the deadly, Dark Digimon who had
almost torn out Kabuterimon’s throat. Across the parking lot, Matt hid his eyes
with his hand.
::Luperkalimon
can’t survive that fall! He can’t! Did I agree to let them do this? If Gabumon
dies, it’ll be . . . It’ll be all my fault.::
The ground shook with his impact. Dust rose in
great clouds around them, causing her to coughed and her eyes to sting.
Luperkalimon’s momentum had carried him through the tarmac, creating a crater,
hiding him from view. No-one moved to check, no-one wanted to know. Sora wasn’t
sure which would be worse: the Digimon surviving his fall or him being killed
by it. She felt sick, as minutes seemed to stretch into hours and the dust
started to clear. She couldn’t imagine what Matt was feeling. She couldn’t even
look at the boy she loved. Suddenly, she saw movement where Luperkalimon had
fallen. Shaking his head, he crawled out of the hole and snarled his contempt
of their maneouvre.
“Impossible,” she whispered, just as Davis
yelled, “Hit him with everything you’ve got.”
Rising into the air, ExVeemon crossed his arms
then unfolded them to unleash his laser. A beam of brilliant light arced
through the air towards Luperkalimon. Following his lead, Greymon and Birdramon
attacked with fireballs of their own. All three hit him simultaneously,
exploding into light and noise. Luperkalimon staggered slightly, taking a step
or two backwards, but he did not fall. A white streak, Gatomon leapt at him and
slashed his face with a claw. He howled in pain and snapped at her, but she was
too fast for him. She was already standing in front of Kari by the time his
jaws closed.
“Now would be a good time, T.K!” Tai shouted.
The younger boy nodded, then looked up to where Angemon was hovering above him
on bright wings. He said something quiet to his Digimon that Sora was not able
to hear. Then, Angemon raised his staff to heaven, and pure, honey-coloured
light began to pour down into it. Just looking at it was enough to make her
feel warm and safe and loved, to make her believe that everything would turn
out for the best.
::The
light of hope.::
Slowly, Angemon lowered his shining weapon until
it was pointing at the Dark Digimon. Luperkalimon snarled in pain and anger and
fear, before launching himself at him.
“Angelic exorcism!”
A beam of light burst from the staff to engulf
Luperkalimon in the middle of his leap. The Digimon began to glow, silver-steel
fur becoming pure gold in a moment. He became a star, then a sun. Sora had to
shut her eyes against his brilliance, or else risk being blinded. When the
light faded, Gabumon was lying on the ground. His fur robe was ragged and
blackened in places, but he was otherwise unharmed. His sides rose and fell to
an even rhythm, and there were no signs of any wounds.
As Angemon sunk to the ground and himself
changed back into Patamon, Matt ran forward to scoop up his Digimon in his
arms. Tears were openly running down his cheeks, and he buried his face in Gabumon’s
fur to hide them.
“Gabumon . . . Gabumon . . . Gabumon . . . .”
Feeling like an eavesdropper on some moment too
private to be observed, Sora turned away from them to where Tai was standing
and talking with Davis.
“We’re going to get our asses whipped if we
don’t do something extreme,” the younger boy was saying, “We barely beat
Skullgreymon or Luperkalimon, so what will we do if Myotismon makes them both
Dark Digivolve at the same time?”
“Much as I hate to say it, I don’t know if we
can take two of ‘em,” V-Mon added in support of his partner, and the other
Digimon nodded their heads in agreement.
“Or what happens when he finds the next Shadow
Crest?” Ken interjected from where he was standing with an arm around Yolei’s
shoulder. The purple-haired girl’s eyes were red and wet with tears, and she
was rubbing them with a hand. She gave an embarrassed, little sniffle. Sora
smiled reassuringly at her, before turning her attention back to what everyone
was saying.
“Or what if it’s Gatomon or Patamon?” Kari
added, as she ran up to join them, “They’re angels with our normal crests, so
logically . . . .”
She trailed off with a little shiver, wrapping
her arms around herself. Everyone’s eyes went to Gatomon at her feet and
Patamon on his usual perch on T.K.’s head.
“I do not
want to have to face Devimon or LadyDevimon again,” Tai said emphatically,
“Once was more than enough. But what Kari said gave me an idea about what we
have to do,” he looked around his circle of friends, a determined expression in
his chocolate-brown eyes, “We need to defeat Myotismon and Davis is right that
we need more firepower to do that. And that means we need our crests.”
*
OVERPAID NARRATOR: Whom will Myotismon strike
next? And how are the Digidestined going to go about getting their crests? Find
out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!