There’s No Rest for the Wicked
Disclaimer: If you think I own Digimon, take it up with my lawyers. (G: What lawyers?) *puts a finger over her lips* Shhh! That's the point.
***
Chapter 6 - Daemon vs. the Digidestined, Round Three! Fight!
"Kachina Bomb!"
Mephismon jumped high into the air, easily clearing the approaching ball of fire.
"Static Force!"
The goat-like digimon then touched down and dodged the pink blast.
"This doesn't seem to be working," Shakkoumon flatly stated.
"You think?" Silphymon sarcastically commented, coming over to hover beside him. "So, any bright ideas?"
Mephismon laughed out loud. "Oh, just give up already! Once my master is through over there, you're next. It'd be wiser for you to surrender now and join the winning side while you still can."
Silphymon growled lowly. "Not on your life!" The beast man digimon was about to leap back into action when a metallic hand halted the headstrong attack.
"Hold it, Silphymon. This looks like a job for teamwork, not to mention a bit of strategy," Shakkoumon said.
Calming down somewhat, Silphymon queried, "Like I said before, any bright ideas?"
"Have you been watching his movements?"
Silphymon nodded, both in affirmation and understanding. "I getcha. I'll take the high ground, and you take the low ground?"
"Right."
"I'll be waiting." At that, Silphymon took for the sky, disappearing into a patch of dark clouds overhead.
"Where did your cowardly companion fly off to?" Mephismon snidely asked. "Gone to get help? Or did you think you could take me on by yourself?"
"You said it, not me," Shakkoumon taunted.
"Fool! Well, it looks like I might as well take advantage of the situation then." Mephismon cupped his hands together, gathering dark energy for his most powerful attack. "Black--."
However, Shakkoumon wasn't just going to sit around and wait to be blown to digital shrapnel. "Kachina Bomb!" he called out loudly, letting loose another ball of fire.
His attack interrupted, Mephismon reflexively jumped up into the air--
--only to be hit by a pink blast of energy.
The fallen angel digimon cried out more in surprise than pain. As he tumbled over and over towards the remains of the forest below, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Silphymon bursting through the clouds, another blast being prepared by the data type digimon.
Mephismon didn’t want to stick around for that, though.
Once he touched ground, the virus digimon leapt to the side in anticipation of his enemy's second attack.
But all he succeeded in doing was running into Shakkoumon's strategically fired Justice Beam.
Mephismon let out an enraged howl and fell to the ground, taking down a few more trees with him. How dare they trick him like that! His back smoldering from the hits he’d just received, Mephismon tried to stand up and fight back, but the battle had taken its toll on him; he found that his body was in too much pain to stand. "This...can't...be!"
"Quickly, Silphymon, before he has a chance to recover. Kachina Bomb!"
"Astral Laser!"
"NOOOO!!!" Mephismon wailed as he was blasted into bits of data.
Both Silphymon and Shakkoumon breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the last of the fallen angel digimon disintegrate.
"Whew, I thought that would take forever. Good thinking, Shakkoumon," Silphymon complimented.
"It was nothing, but right now, don't we have something else to take care of?"
Realization hit the other DNA-digivolved digimon like a Zudomon's hammer. "Oh no, I almost forgot about ExVeemon! We left him high and dry back there!" Silphymon exclaimed. "We've got to hurry back to him. He could be injured or worse by now!"
"You don't have to tell me twice," Shakkoumon agreed.
The two ultimate-level digimon immediately headed back to where they left their friend, but as soon as they got there, they froze in shock at the sight that greeted them.
"So, who do you think's going to win the soccer championship this year?" ExVeemon was leaning casually against one of the few standing trees in the demolished forest.
"Tamachi High, of course," chirped the Blue Meramon leaning against a tree right across from him.
"No way! Odaiba can kick their butts any day of the week," the turquoise, dragon-like digimon hotly contested.
Silphymon and Shakkoumon face-vaulted.
Apparently not aware of either of them, ExVeemon continued, "Besides, Davis is going to be co-captain of the team this year, so they're going to be unbeatable."
Blue Meramon snorted, "Only if Tamachi forfeits. Rei's going to be the captain of the Tamachi team, and he's going to wipe the floor with your bushy-haired partner."
"Oh yeah?" Growling, ExVeemon stood up and shoved his face up to Blue Meramon's.
"Yeah!" Blue Meramon shoved his face mere millimeters from ExVeemon's and started growling, too.
"Hey, just what is going on here?" Silphymon demanded like a schoolteacher to two bickering children. After recovering from their shock, Shakkoumon and Silphymon had curiously flown up beside the two unnoticed.
"Wha--?" ExVeemon gave a start, breaking off his staring contest with Blue Meramon. "Oh hi, you guys. When did you get here? Done already?"
Silphymon appeared ready to smack the champion-level digimon for his laid-back attitude, but Shakkoumon interrupted their conversation before anything could happen.
"ExVeemon, do you know this digimon?" Shakkoumon asked eyeing the Blue Meramon warily.
"Huh? Of course. This is Rei's partner digimon. You remember: Davis and I used to play soccer with him and Rei in the park a few years back. Of course back then, he was a Candlemon, and I played as Veemon--"
"This is Rei's Candlemon?!" Silphymon asked incredulously.
"Yep, in the flesh...er, flames," Blue Meramon confirmed.
"Wow, it's been awhile all right." Shakkoumon extended a friendly claw towards Blue Meramon. "I haven't seen you since Rei's family moved to Tamachi two years ago so that he could go to Tamachi High School. How's Rei doing, by the way?"
Giving Shakkoumon's proffered arm a quick shake, Blue Meramon cheerfully answered, "He's doing great. He even has a girlfriend now, which is kinda the reason why I got mixed up in all this in the first place."
"Really, how so?"
"Well, ya see," Blue Meramon explained, "Rei kinda wanted to spend some quality time with his girlfriend back home--wink, wink--so he told me to stay in the Digital World for a few hours. Of course, being the nice 'mon I am, I agreed, but no sooner had I popped out of the T. V. when I felt something hard hit my arm. The next thing I knew, I was here with that other freaky digimon telling me you guys worked for the Digimon Emperor." He gave a short laugh. "I should have known he was lying the minute he said the Digimon Emperor was back. He couldn't possibly..." Blue Meramon trailed off upon seeing the gloomy looks on Shakkoumon's and Silphymon's faces. "He was lying, right? I mean, the Emperor's gone for good, so you guys can't really be working for him."
Shakkoumon put a metal claw on the flame digimon's shoulder. "It's a long story. Remind us to tell you later, but right now, you've gotta get out of here. It's too dangerous."
"Oh, come on," Blue Meramon said cockily. "From the looks of things here, you guys are gonna need my help."
"Don't worry about us. We’ll handle Daemon ourselves," Shakkoumon assured.
"Besides, you must be low on energy from battling us," Silphymon added.
Blue Meramon snorted. "Yeah, but I got a long chance to rest after I recognized who ExVeemon was." He leaned back on a tree again, putting both hands behind his head in a relaxed posture.
"That reminds me, just how did you manage to recognize him?" Shakkoumon queried.
The flaming blue digimon gave a short laugh. "Hah, are you kidding me? Only the Veemon I know would cry out for Davis like a baby in the middle of a fight."
"Hey, I resent that," ExVeemon snapped, but no one paid any attention to him.
"Still, I think you should leave. Rei would never forgive us if you got deleted," Silphymon said.
"But I'm telling you, I'll be fine. See? I still have some fight left in me." Blue Meramon jumped up and performed a few fake jabs before striking a victory pose.
No sooner had he done that, though, when a white glow surrounded him, and he began to shrink.
"What in the world?" Silphymon as well as Shakkoumon and ExVeemon were puzzled to say the least.
Seconds later, in Blue Meramon's place was a tiny digimon that resembled a lit candle with faces on both the candle stem and the ball of fire burning on the wick.
"Oops, maybe I spoke too soon," the face on Candlemon's candle stem squeaked out.
"Then it's settled: you're going back home," a half-relieved Silphymon ordered.
"Oh, fine, and just when I was having fun with my new powers," Candlemon moped.
"New powers?" ExVeemon questioned.
"Yeah, when I entered the Digital World, I was like this, but after I came to my senses, I found myself as an ultimate, and it felt great!"
'Ken must have made him digivolve with those Dark Bands of his,' the Aquilamon half of Silphymon thought.
'That's no big surprise; he's done it to Agumon before,' the Gatomon half answered.
'So why do I sense that you're still puzzled by something?'
Gatomon gave a mental sigh. 'Well…the old Ken used to always digivolve digimon along their viral line, but this time he digivolved Candlemon to Blue Meramon, a data form, instead of Death Meramon, his virus form.'
'Hmmm, that's strange all right,' the Aquilamon side conceded, 'but we can't ponder this now. We have to help the others out.'
'Right, this can wait.'
Aloud, Silphymon called, "Come on guys, we've got a pointy-headed creep to deal with. Candlemon, you're going home, and that's final."
"Aw, nuts," the rookie-level digimon whined. "I always get to miss out on the fun."
"Now!" Silphymon scolded.
"Fine, fine. I'm going, see?" With that, Candlemon hopped away in the direction of the nearest Digiport.
"He always did want to be where the action was," Shakkoumon commented once the little digimon was out of earshot.
"Speaking of where the action is," ExVeemon started, "isn't that where we're supposed to be right now?"
"You're right," Silphymon agreed. "Let's go finish what we came here to do!"
And so the three digimon flew back, unaware that Fate had more in store for them than meets the eye.
~~~
"Here they come!" Cody called from his lookout position atop a boulder on the edge of the beach.
"Okay, Emperor, they're returning; time to spill the beans. What's this plan of yours?" Yolei snapped at the teenage boy who still hadn't moved from his previous position of command.
His signature smirk still plastered on his face, the Digimon Emperor stood his ground with his gaze still fixed on the fierce battle overhead.
"Hey, you said once they came back, you'd explain! So talk already!" A frustrated Davis practically shouted, ready to try to throttle him again.
"Davis!" ExVeemon shouted, landing right beside his human partner. "You wouldn't believe what I just heard," the blue dragon digimon began to chatter excitedly. "It seems that we're working for the Digimon Emperor now, but it's not Ken, it's some dark thingamajigger that took over his body and--"
An unintentionally fierce glare from Davis' direction immediately silenced his digimon partner. By the tinges of hurt he could see in the boy's chocolate brown eyes, ExVeemon could tell that this was probably one of those things he was mentioning at a bad time.
Suddenly, to the surprise of all, the Emperor turned to face them, taking in everyone present with his gaze. His eerie smirk widened. "What do you think I've been doing in the time that you guys were sitting around twiddling your thumbs?"
He reached into the folds of his cape and pulled out a small, black device that resembled a matchbox.
"What the heck is that?" Davis was the first to voice what was on everyone but the Emperor's minds.
"This is the key to our victory," the young dictator said cryptically.
"Erm, okay." Puzzled, Davis scratched his head. "So what kind of a lock can we open with that puny thing?"
While everyone else groaned at Davis' misinterpretation, the Emperor's expression contorted into something that resembled slight annoyance. "Well maybe if you would stop being a moron and let me explain..." the dark-haired boy started as he ominously stomped towards the goggle-head.
"Hey, hey, let's not get nasty now. We're supposed to be fighting Daemon, remember?" T. K. intervened, stepping in front of the Digimon Emperor before he could continue with his threat.
The regally dressed teenager gave a "humph" and turned his gaze back to the ebony night sky. "Tell ExVeemon to place this on Daemon's back, as close to his neck as possible," he ordered the Digidestined in a voice void of emotion and held out the device towards them in his outstretched, black-gloved hand.
"What?! Are you nuts?!?" Davis and ExVeemon exclaimed simultaneously.
"That's suicide!" T. K. joined in.
"No way we're going to let him do that unless you tell us why!" Yolei snapped.
The rest of the Digidestined and their digimon gave the Emperor determined looks in support of their comrades.
"I don't have much time. Despite his appearance, Ghoulmon's energy is running out. I'll explain it as soon as you do what I tell you," the Digimon Emperor hurriedly said, his indigo eyes darting back and forth to keep up with the battle. He grit his teeth in concentration as he struggled to telepathically command his banded digimon to perform a tricky aerial maneuver to avoid Daemon’s latest barrage of fire.
Cody growled, "And just why should we tru--?"
"You don't have a choice but to trust me." His arm still extended, he shook it once for emphasis, as if re-offering the device.
"It's okay, guys; I'll do it," ExVeemon said.
"Are you sure about this, buddy?" Davis turned to his partner with concern written all over his face.
"Yeah, don't worry. This'll be a piece of cake," the blue dragon digimon chirped. "I just have to put that on him and run, right?"
"Without being a klutz and breaking it, yeah. Keep in mind I only have one of these, and it may be the deciding factor in this battle, so don't screw up," the Emperor instructed as Davis took the device from him and gently put it in ExVeemon's claw.
"Gee, some pep talk," ExVeemon muttered.
"Just shut your trap and go," the Emperor scowled.
"Fine, fine, I'm going, but if I die, can someone work on my game of Donkey Madness until I come back?"
"GO!" the Emperor roared, whirling around to glare daggers at the insolent digimon.
"Yikes! All right, all right!" The turquoise digimon took to the skies before the despotic boy decided to turn Ghoulmon on him.
No sooner had he took flight when the Digidestined turned to the Emperor, mouths open and ready to bombard him with questions about his plan, but before they could do so, the young tyrant barked out another order.
"I’m going to need Angewomon and Magna Angemon as well. Make Gatomon and Angemon digivolve into them now!"
For a moment, everyone's inquiring faces were replaced with shocked-silent ones.
“Wh-what? Are you kidding?!" T. K. finally managed to sputter out.
The indigo-haired boy waved off his questions and acted as if nothing were out of the ordinary. "Well, what are you just standing there for? We don't have much time. Hurry up and do as I say!"
"Hold the phone, buddy--and I use that term loosely." Davis crossed his arms over his chest. "We're not doing anything else for you until you tell us why my partner is risking his neck to plant your stupid doohickey on that horned creep."
"I told you I'd explain everything as soon as you did what I told you, didn't I?" the Emperor seethed like a frustrated parent trying to convince his stubborn little children to do their chores. "Do this one more thing, and I'll tell you everything you need to know."
"Only one problem, Einstein," Cody hissed as Silphymon and Shakkoumon split into their champion-level component digimon, prepared to follow the Emperor's orders. "It's been a while since Gatomon and Angemon have been able to digivolve into their ultimate forms, but even if that weren't a problem, it's not as if we have the Digicores around to give them enough power to do so like we did four years ago."
"Uhm...Cody," piped up his giant, yellow partner digimon who stomped closer to him. "There may actually be a way..."
"What?" The bearer of the Digieggs of Knowledge and Reliability gave Ankylomon a puzzled look.
"He's right." Aquilamon landed on the sands nearby next to Yolei. "If I give the last of my energy to Gatomon, and Ankylomon gives the last of his to Angemon, they may have enough power to digivolve into Angewomon and Magna Angemon without the aid of Crests or Digicores."
The chilling smirk returned to the Emperor's face. "Not bad for a birdbrain. You managed to figure that out all by yourself. I'm surprised. Now shut up and do it!" He finished with a scowl.
"Wait, what'll happen to you two, Aquilamon?" Gatomon asked with concern. "If you donate the last of your energy..." Out of the corner of her crystal blue eyes, she spotted Wormmon hanging his head in despair. The small, insect digimon must have remembered the time he donated his energy to help Magnamon defeat Chimeramon.
"Don't worry," Ankylomon assured her and everyone present. "We still have enough energy left in us to remain in our in-training forms after we help you guys out."
"Then let's get this over with, so that we can get to the bottom of whatever this jerk has in mind," growled T. K., cocking his head towards the Emperor, whose facial expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
All of a sudden, a faint yellow light surrounded both Aquilamon and Ankylomon, who both slowly began to shrink. Moments later, the same light began to glow around Gatomon and Angemon.
"I hope this works." A ray of light burst from Ankylomon towards Angemon.
"Good luck, you two." A simultaneous burst came from Aquilamon and traveled to Gatomon.
"Angemon digivolve to...."
"Gatomon digivolve to..."
"It looks like explaining time for you, Emperor," Yolei shot towards her former boyfriend as she gently picked up an exhausted Poromon. Cody did the same for his equally tired Upamon.
"Magna Angemon!"
"Angewomon!"
The two angel digimon hovered in the air to await the Emperor’s explanation as well.
The young dictator gave a slight growl, “Fine, but just be aware that I’m still fighting my own battle here, so don’t gripe if decide to pause for a second or two.”
~~~
In the meantime, ExVeemon was having a hard time trying to even follow the two viral combatants, much less sneak up on Daemon.
Although most of the Demon Lord’s concentration was focused on the larger threat of Ghoulmon, Daemon still suspected the pesky blue digimon was up to something, so he made sure his back was never turned to him for a millisecond.
“Death Arrow!”
Reflexively, Daemon dodged the black blast to the side—right into ExVeemon’s path.
‘Now’s my chance!’ the champion-level digimon thought.
Putting on an extra burst of speed with his arm outstretched and ready to tag him with the device, ExVeemon shot like a bullet towards Daemon.
Ghoulmon also flew towards his opponent, but instead of Daemon sticking around for a grappling match as the Emperor had intended, Daemon let himself drop a few yards below.
ExVeemon had to struggle to veer away at his speed to avoid running into Ghoulmon.
“Hey, watch it, you overgrown eyeball!” the vaccine digimon yelled from a safe distance away at the Emperor’s pet.
Ghoulmon gave him a deadly look with his single, giant red eye that mimicked the Emperor’s.
ExVeemon imagined that Ghoulmon would have shot something other than a glare at him if it hadn’t been for Daemon firing another Chaos Flare at his formidable opponent.
This was definitely not going to be easy all right.
~~~
“So you’re all wondering what’s in my black box, eh?” spoke the Emperor, his voice resonating over the beach so that all the Digidestined and their digimon could hear but not loud enough to allow Daemon to listen in. “It’s simple really. Inside that device I put a chip with a program that will rewire the flow of information in Daemon’s physical composition, ultimately freezing up his data and leaving him vulnerable to attack.”
“Hold it, Emperor,” interrupted T. K. “This is Daemon we’re talking about. I don’t think it’s that easy to beat him.”
“Yeah, otherwise someone like Skull Satamon, who froze up Imperial Dramon last time, could easily have come along and already beat him,” Cody remarked.
“Daemon’s powerful enough to fry that thing even if it did succeed in paralyzing him.” Yolei shivered and hugged Poromon closer.
“Hah, looks like you aren’t that smart after all, Ichijouji,” Davis mocked.
The Digimon Emperor clenched his fists in fury. If there were anything he absolutely would not tolerate it was being criticized. “You don’t think I know that?! Let me finish you worthless pea brains!” He was half-turned, ready to pull out his whip and teach them a lesson when out of the corner of his eye he saw Daemon hammer Ghoulmon down towards the ocean.
The Emperor scowled and turned back to the battle. If he weren’t handicapped like this, he would have really given them something to joke about.
Taking a deep breath to clear his mind, he continued in a surprisingly calmer voice, “I then expect him to expend an enormous amount of dark energy in an attempt to destroy the device placed on him. That’s why I put a second device inside that box.”
~~~
Daemon barreled down through the sky like a hawk swooping in for its prey. His glowing palm outstretched, he was ready to shoot a finishing attack at his still falling opponent.
Ghoulmon was close to deletion; he could sense it. As he flew in closer and closer, he gave his worthy foe one last look over. The other mega-level virus digimon remained still with his large eye shut, and he seemed to make no attempt to pull up even though he was plummeting like a stone towards the monstrous ocean below.
‘No matter,’ Daemon thought, ‘this battle was mine right from the start.’ Fire building up around his extended claw, he let out his final attack. “Chaos Flare!”
~~~
Small beads of sweat trickled down the Emperor’s furrowed brow. Inside his mind, he struggled frenetically to reestablish his mental connection with his banded slave, while on the outside, his voice was becoming more emotionless, as if he were an automaton reciting a written explanation. “As soon as the outer part of the device is destroyed, the second component will absorb the energy expended and use it to power a mechanism that will attract and enhance that the powers that best counteract the viral energy it feeds off.”
“The powers that best counteract the viral energy…?” Yolei thought aloud.
~~~
Accelerated by Daemon’s dive, a stream of fire rained down upon the unresponsive Ghoulmon.
Just as the flames were about to lick the outside of the falling form, Ghoulmon’s massive eye opened, and he steered himself out of harm’s way in the nick of time.
“What?! Impossible!” the crimson-robed digimon screamed.
From the sandy beach the Emperor saw his chance.
Because he hadn’t expected Ghoulmon to recover so quickly, Daemon hadn’t given a thought to stopping any time soon. Now that he saw that the banded digimon had miraculously dodged his attack, Daemon hastily tried to pull up, but it was too late.
Hovering in midair for a split second longer, Ghoulmon caught Daemon in a firm bear hug as the Demon Lord fell past him.
‘Gotcha!’ the Emperor thought to himself.
Daemon struggled to get free, but Ghoulmon’s grip was solid as steel, giving ExVeemon enough time to quickly swoop in and set the device over the back of Daemon’s neck before flying away as fast as his wings would let him.
‘Playtime’s over.’
~~~
“Counteract?” Davis’ clueless expression begged his friends for help. Unfortunately, no one thought that this was a good time to give him a vocabulary lesson.
“Of course!” Cody pounded a fist into his other open palm. “Virus digimon are vulnerable to powers from a vaccine digimon. Their powers would best counteract Daemon’s viral powers.”
“Which is why you wanted us to call Angewomon and Magna Angemon—they’re both vaccine digimon whereas Silphymon and Shakkoumon are data type,” Kari chipped in.
The Emperor smirked, though it remained a mystery as to whether it was because they had figured it out or because his device was starting to take effect.
~~~
Daemon’s vocal chords seemed to be the only part of his body that was responding as he howled in panic. “What’s going on?! What sort of trick is this?”
However, even that function was starting to slip from his grasp.
Seeing that Daemon no longer needed to be contained, Ghoulmon released him, letting the Demon Lord hover under his own telekinetic powers, and backed away, as per the Emperor’s orders.
‘This is all Ichijouji’s doing!’ Daemon mentally exclaimed. ‘It must be the object that annoying gnat put on me. Well, if he thinks that piece of scrap metal can hold me, he is seriously mistaken.’
A faint, black glow engulfed the mega, virus-type digimon and slowly began to increase in intensity.
This was what the Emperor had been waiting for.
~~~
“Hurry, before he regains control of his body! Send them out to attack at once!” With a flutter of his cape, the Emperor whirled around to face the Digidestined, now that he didn’t have to control Ghoulmon’s actions.
“I think he means us. Ready, Magna Angemon?”
“I’m way ahead of you.” The archangel digimon was already rocketing towards the incapacitated Demon Lord.
Holding their breath in anticipation, all six teenagers and three digimon watched intently from the shore.
All the while, the dark energy radiating from Daemon was growing more and more intense.
“Angewomon,” Magna Angemon called back, “it looks like he’ll break free any second.”
“I get your drift.” Still soaring at extraordinary speed, Angewomon transformed her left hand into a bow and summoned an arrow in her right hand. “Celestial Arrow!”
With a furious roar, Daemon destroyed the outer shell of the device, as expected, and stretched out his arms and wings. But the Demon Lord couldn’t help feel that there was still something wrong with him.
He didn’t have time to ponder that, though, for he barely caught a glimpse of the light attack before it stuck him in the side.
Daemon let out a shriek of both pain and surprise. Although the battle with Ghoulmon had weakened him, an attack like that shouldn’t have caused him as much agony as it did.
“Excalibur!” Magna Angemon slashed at Daemon with his energy blade before backing off to let Angewomon have another crack at him.
“Heaven’s Charm!” Angewomon put her hands together and spread them out, hitting Daemon with an arc of pink energy.
Magna Angemon and Angewomon continued to barrage him with their attacks, not letting up for a second.
“Finish him off! Now!” The Emperor’s booming voice carried on the wind and reached the two angel digimons’ ears.
“With pleasure.” Magna Angemon flew back a little ways and formed a giant circle in the air with his magenta blade. “Gate of Destiny!”
A round, golden gate formed inside the circle and split in half, opening the way to oblivion.
Immobilized this time because of the damage he took, Daemon was unable to fight against the vortex that threatened to suck him in. “This…isn’t…possible! How…could this…have happened?” he panted.
“Oh it’s very possible, Daemon,” the Emperor murmured quietly. “You dared to challenge me—a mistake that you’ll forever regret in oblivion!”
“NO!!!” Daemon’s wails of terror were silenced as the golden disk shut over him.
The Digimon Emperor closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
They had won.
~~~
“All right! Do we rule or what?” Davis excitedly punched a fist in air. ExVeemon touched down on the beach and dedigivolved into Veemon as he ecstatically ran over to his partner.
Yolei and Poromon cheered along with them, and Kari grinned wide as she watched her and T. K.’s digimon return and dedigivolve into their rookie forms. “Salamon, Patamon, you were great!”
In the meantime, Cody set down Upamon so that the in-training digimon could celebrate with the others, but he remained where he was and stole a quick glance at T. K.
A determined look in his eye, the tall, blond boy nodded perceptibly at him. They hadn’t forgotten their back-up plan all right.
Without warning, both teenage boys rushed at the Digimon Emperor in hopes of restraining him and dragging him back to the Real World.
However, the Emperor had no intention of falling for such a predictable move.
Seemingly out of nowhere an Airdramon with a Dark Band around its tail appeared overhead. Just as the two Digidestined lunged for him, the lithe, dark-haired boy jumped up and flipped gracefully onto the back of the flying, snake-like digimon.
The rest of the Digidestined immediately stopped their celebrating and incredulously craned their heads upward.
From where he perched on the hovering Airdramon, the Digimon Emperor cackled, “Mwahahaha, not today fools!”
Yolei looked helplessly from her two failed comrades, to their tired digimon, and finally to the possessed love of her life.
“No! Ken!” she cried desperately. The bearer of the Digieggs of Love and Sincerity ran underneath the Airdramon and fixed her gaze upon the Emperor with tears threatening to stream from her eyes. “You give him back now!”
Unfazed by her demand, he simply leered down upon her with a cruel smile. “Oh, but Kenny boy and I still have so much more to do--so much of the Digital World to conquer, so little time.”
He swept a cold gaze over the people below, who seemed like nothing more than defiant insects to him, until he spied what he was searching for in the Digidestined of Light’s arms.
“Ah, just what I was looking for.” Faster than they could blink, the young tyrant snapped out his whip and mentally ordered the Airdramon to fly closer to his target.
“Kari, look out!” T. K. shouted.
Before the brunette could react, the Emperor had coiled his whip around Salamon and ripped the tiny puppy-like digimon from her arms.
“Kari, help!” Salamon cried powerlessly.
The scarlet-eyed girl watched the retreating form of her digimon in horror. “Salamon, no!”
After quieting his newly captured digimon with a Dark Band, the indigo-haired boy looked over his shoulder to spy an orange digimon coming up his way.
“You give her back!” screeched Patamon in his high-pitched voice.
On the ground, T. K.’s face had turned pale. “Patamon, no, stay away!”
The Emperor smirked. “Right on time, my flying fuzz ball!” He whipped out another Dark Band from behind his back and threw it at the incoming rookie digimon.
“No!” T. K. fell to his knees as he saw the band wrap around Patamon and his digimon partner’s eyes glow red.
Seeing the despair in Digidestined’s eyes, the Emperor laughed more maniacally than ever, but he paused for a moment to deliver his ultimatum. “If you ever want to see your little friends again, just ask Yolei!” With that, the Airdramon began to rise.
“Ken, wait!” Wormmon who had witnessed the entire thing in silent horror next to Yolei now scurried after the retreating digimon.
“Wormmon, what are you doing?!” After all that had happened, the lavender-haired girl didn’t want anyone else leaving them. Dropping Poromon, she tried to stop the insect digimon, but he was too fast for her.
“Silk Thread!” Wormmon shot a line of webbing at the Airdramon’s tail and was pulled up in the process out of the girl’s reach.
“Wormmon, no! Come back!” Yolei shrieked in anguish. “We can’t lose you, too!”
It was too late, though.
Wormmon in tow and the round figure of Ghoulmon joining him, the Emperor flew up into the clouds and disappeared from sight.
***
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