Chapter Text
In the aftermath of Arkadimon’s latest attack, the DigiDestined and their new allies were thrown into a bit of disarray. Stranded a fair distance from Holy Angel Castle with all of their partners either unconscious or in forms below the Rookie level, they didn’t have the option of quick travel in a situation where every second might count. Neo seemed to accept that he would have to rely on others to help him in this fight, so he immediately placed himself in charge of getting everybody where they needed to go as quickly as possible. He had Jijimon ride Centarumon back to the castle, knowing the doctor was the most important part of the picture at the moment. Then, he had Cody and Yolei help load Davis and HolyAngemon onto the Tyrannomon so both unconscious members would be carried back. This left the others to make the walk back to the castle, but with all the Digimon either stored away in a Digivice 01 or in their baby forms they could at least manage that.
By the time everybody made it back to the castle, Davis had woken up. After Hideto filled him in on everything that had happened, Davis quickly made a decision. He turned to Jijimon, who was busy tending to HolyAngemon, and spoke in an authoritative tone. “Doctor, I know HolyAngemon is in rough shape, but focus on getting Minomon strong enough to at least make it to the Champion level. And you can take DemiVeemon out of that tank—he’ll be fine.” Jijimon didn’t want to leave HolyAngemon, who had a nasty black scar extending over his chest, but he decided to trust Davis. After all, this was the person who had managed to make ancient legends come to life. He must have had a good reason for this decision.
While Jijimon didn’t question Davis’s plan, the other DigiDestined seemed to want to ask why he was choosing to do this. Before they could, Davis asked his own question. “Neo, you’d probably be the best one to answer this. When we arrived here, this continent was completely cut off—no communication to the outside world, no Digital Gates, nothing. How did Daemon do that, and would it stop us from flying out of the area physically?”
Ken smiled as he caught on to Davis’s plan, but he let Neo do the talking. “I’m not exactly sure how Daemon did it, but it involved some ancient barrier centered in his old castle. It only works on interdimensional communications, though, so you should be able to fly out if you wanted to. Why?”
Davis nodded at Neo’s information before continuing his explanation. “I believe we agreed that we would need more backup for this fight, correct? Well, we’re going to bring in plenty. When Wormmon and Veemon DNA Digivolve and then reach the Mega level, they become Imperialdramon, who can fly at supersonic speeds. We’ll fly out of the range of the barrier, go back to Earth, and then pick up the other eight DigiDestined that make up our team. All of them have at least one Mega level, and we can even add another Omnimon to our roster. While we’re gone, Neo will go pick up his partner, and Sigma, Willis, and whoever else might be good at this sort of thing will work on bringing the barrier down at least here so we can jump back from Earth to here instead of having to show up a continent away. Any objections?”
Everybody could only stare in shock at Davis. Not only was he being a leader that even Neo couldn’t argue against strategically, but he was carrying himself like a real general instead of just the leader of a group of kids. Following his orders, everybody split into various groups. He and Ken had to stay together in order for Imperialdramon to cross the barrier, but the others pretty much divided into three groups. Hideto and Neo were going to the Metal Factory, with Michael tagging along because he still didn’t fully trust Neo. Sigma and Willis immediately started working on hacking Daemon’s barrier, with some assistance from Yolei. Meanwhile, Mari and Cody were also staying at the castle in order to help Jijimon heal as many fighters as possible.
With the groups decided, the teams began to move out. Hideto left Omegamon at the castle since he was still nowhere near healthy enough to Partition or fight, leaving Betamon as the only Digimon heading to the Metal Factory. Knowing the distance would be too far to travel on foot in a reasonable timeframe, one of the Tyrannomon volunteered to carry the group. He may not have been the fastest of Digmon, but he could still move faster than humans could run. A few minutes after that group left, Wormmon was finally ready to Digivolve after Jijimon’s care, so Davis and Ken headed outside. After a quick use of the Digimental of Miracles to bring DemiVeemon up to Magnamon and then an instantaneous reversion to Veemon, the two DigiDestined were ready to set off. As Wormmon and Veemon went through the series of transformations needed to reach Imperialdramon, Ken turned to his friend.
“That was really mature of you back there, Davis. I know you’ve been worried that as a whole our group was going to be completely useless now that the original eight all can reach Mega, so it must have been tough to turn to the others for help. You certainly earned those goggles.”
Davis let out a weary sigh. “Honestly, I’m just too tired to think of a way to win other than asking for help. Wake me up when we get back to Earth.” As he said this, he boarded the newly formed Imperialdramon, and he was fast asleep within minutes. Ken hoped he would be able to get enough rest, since even with the others helping UlforceVeedramon was the only Digimon who had completely cancelled out Arkadimon’s deadliest techniques.
After a long trek, Tyrannomon had finally made it to the Metal Factory. He let his passengers hop off before he collapsed to the ground, needing a long rest after his even longer run. Besides, he wasn’t too keen on going inside the Metal Factory. He had heard horror stories about what happened to Tyrannomon who came here seeking more power. Shaking his head, he resolved to let the humans deal with whatever they would find in there before drifting off to sleep.
Within the Metal Factory, Michael was having many of the same misgivings Willis had when he had first obtained his Crest. The various pieces of Machine Digimon lying around were bad enough, but it was the half-completed models that unnerved Michael the most. He couldn’t help but feel like he had walked straight into a horror film. Hideto and Neo, however, didn’t seem to care about the state of the factory, as Hideto had seen worse things within Daemon’s castle and Neo had done worse things himself when creating the artificial Digimon from Arkadimon’s data. Walking right up to the door they needed, they entered a code to unlock the door and let it open.
Michael almost jumped as he saw what was behind the door, but he managed to restrain himself at the last second. “Well, Neo, I have to hand it to you—you’ve got an intimidating partner. And from the stories Mimi told me, I’d say he fits your personality. But hold on—Hideto, didn’t you say you never beat Neo when he used this monster? Shouldn’t Warg have been able to slice him to bits with his Dramon Destroyers?”
Neo ignored Michael’s nervous babbling as he went through the process of reactivating his partner, but Hideto decided to answer. “Yeah, Warg would have had the advantage if he got a hit in, but as someone who’s been around a bunch of action movies I’m sure you know what happens when you bring a knife to a gun fight. And no, I’m not talking about those cannons you see right now. Just wait until this guy fully wakes up, and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.”
As he said this, Neo seemed to finish reawakening his partner, as the formerly deactivated Machinedramon’s eyes flashed a blue color before he started moving with a metallic clanking sound. Michael found himself wondering how everybody else would react when Neo showed up riding this mechanical monstrosity…
Gathering all the DigiDestined together had proven to be a difficult task. Daemon’s communication barrier extended beyond the boundaries of the Folder Continent, forcing Imperialdramon to fly halfway across the ocean before Ken finally could communicate with the outside world. His D-Terminal was flooded with messages as soon as he could receive them, but he ignored them in favor of sending his own message telling all the DigiDestined to pick up their partners in the Digital World before returning to Earth, where Imperialdramon would pick them up if they hadn’t found a way to take down the barrier. Then, it was a simple matter of finding a Digital Gate, and the collection mission could begin.
Having arrived in Odaiba, the first stop was to pick up Sora, Joe, and Izzy. Izzy still hadn’t fully recovered from his illness, but he assured everybody else that he was healthy enough to help in the upcoming battle. They left the Legendary Warriors in charge of defending Lilithmon and the rest of Japan before flying out over the Pacific Ocean in order to pick up Tai and Kari in San Francisco. Luckily, the world as a whole was a bit more used to the presence of Digimon, so the sight of Imperialdramon flying into the city didn’t cause too much panic. However, they still made sure to spend as little time as possible near the city just in case the local DigiDestined or the army decided to do something about the menacing-looking dragon suddenly appearing in their airspace.
After picking up Tai and Kari, Imperialdramon started flying to New York in order to pick up Mimi when Ken got a message from Willis. They hadn’t managed to completely shut the barrier down, but they had managed to punch a hole through it. They were working on setting up a Digital Gate in Holy Angel Castle so everybody would be able to at least show up on the right continent. Since setting up the Digital Gate would only take a minute, Ken sent TK and Matt a message saying they would be better off waiting for the Digital Gate to form and heading to Holy Angel Castle on their own instead of waiting for Imperialdramon to pick them up in Paris. Sure enough, Willis and Sigma had the Digital Gate all set to go as soon as Imperialdramon touched down in Central Park to pick up Mimi, and after a brief delay while Ken worked on connecting to the newly opened gate the DigiDestined were all back in the Digital World.
Davis woke up just as Imperialdramon arrived at Holy Angel Castle. He was a little bit confused at first, since he had told Ken to wake him up when he got back to Earth, but he supposed any sleep he got would only help UlforceVeedramon in the upcoming battle so he couldn’t really complain. Entering the castle, he saw that they were the last group to arrive, as everybody else was already waiting in the courtyard. As soon as they arrived, Michael walked up to the group, focusing on Mimi.
“Listen, I know we don’t have much time to talk, Mimi, but I wanted to say I’m sorry. I was stupid to argue with you, and I’d rather not have my stupidity affect us when we’re fighting together.” Despite Michael’s claim of not having time to talk, Mimi started pulling him off to one corner of the courtyard. Not wanting to get involved in his friends’ personal lives, Davis quickly walked over towards the others, only to stop short when he noticed a new face standing with TK and Matt. She was absolutely gorgeous, with blue eyes and long, curly blonde hair. Davis stared for a few seconds before mentally slapping himself. Right before a battle was not a good time to be checking out a pretty face.
Davis was lucky to have composed himself when he did, because TK and Matt seemed to choose that exact moment to lead the girl and her Floramon partner over to the others. When they arrived, Matt immediately went to Sora’s side, while TK went up to Kari before starting the introductions. “Everybody, this is Catherine, a French DigiDestined. Tai and I met her on the world tour, and her family actually ended up becoming really close friends with my grandma and grandpa after that incident. Catherine, this is my girlfriend Kari, you’ve already met her brother Tai, and there’s Matt’s girlfriend Sora, our friends Davis, Ken…”
TK continued briefly telling Catherine everybody’s name, but as soon as he finished listing off everybody he knew Tai immediately cut in. “Listen, Catherine, I’m glad you wanted to tag along and help, but I’m not sure this is the best place for you at the moment. From what I hear, we’re going to be fighting against something far beyond the Mega level that’s already shown it has no problems targeting helpless bystanders. Kiwimon can only do so much to protect you.”
Matt cut his best friend off. “Don’t bother trying to change her mind, Tai. She was with us when we got the message about needing to go to the Digital World, and she wanted to help out. Once she got our grandma to take her case, we really didn’t have a choice—I’m sure Grandpa told you all about what she’s like.”
Not wanting to have Matt do all the speaking for her, Catherine immediately cut in. “I know Kiwimon and I are not the strongest fighters, but that doesn’t mean we cannot help. After all, if you are all busy fighting against this Arkadimon, somebody still will have to go and take care of—I think her name was Rei, yes? Why not send someone who couldn’t really help in the main fight even if they tried?”
Davis didn’t know what stuck out to him more: Catherine’s French accent that gave her a beautiful voice, or the fact that she had effectively just shut down Tai’s argument. He found himself once again needing a reminder to focus on the upcoming battle. This wasn’t like the old days where he could still win fights while fawning over a female companion, after all. It would probably be best if he gave Catherine a wide berth until after the fight was over, especially since he needed to be more focused than everybody else thanks to his connection with UlforceVeedramon.
Lost in his own mental argument, Davis didn’t notice Tai and the others all start to head over and talk with Neo and the Aliases. Trying to shake himself out of it, he started walking after them, only for someone to grab his shoulder. Turning around, he found himself staring directly into Catherine’s eyes. As a blush started forming on his cheeks, he couldn’t help but notice his whole ‘avoid Catherine’ plan was really not working out.
Luckily for Davis, Catherine didn’t seem to notice his reaction. “Davis, was it? Is there…something wrong with Tai? He seems much more… irritable than he did six years ago. Did something happen?” Davis quickly composed himself before responding.
“Yeah, he isn’t normally like that, but there’s just a lot piling on all at once. First, he seems to be under the impression that he has to act like Kari dating TK is the worst thing ever, even though everybody knows he’s happy for them. Then, he knows he has to lead us in this fight alongside Neo who pretty much caused this whole mess, and he’s probably stressing out over how well the team can work together. To top it all off, he apparently has a thing for Rei, who is not only kidnapped but also Neo’s sister. Add all this to the fact that we’ve been fighting a full-blown war and I think he’s allowed to be a bit irritable.”
“Wait, Tai is also involved with someone? So, Matt has a girlfriend, TK has a girlfriend, and now Tai is about to go rescue this girl. Why must all the cute guys be taken?”
Davis understood her plight a little bit, having lived through the experience of liking someone who was interested in somebody else, but he still couldn’t help but mutter, “Hey, I’m not taken…” under his breath.
Unfortunately, he might not have said it quietly enough, as Catherine immediately turned back to him. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
Davis responded a little bit too quickly. “Oh, no, nothing important anyway. We should probably get going though. Don’t want Imperialdramon to fly off without us, now do we?” Catherine could only shake her head as Davis practically ran off. Why did he think his own partner would leave him behind?
After the brief stop at Holy Angel Castle to pick up all the mostly-recuperated partner Digimon, everybody hopped on Imperialdramon in order to fly off after Arkadimon. Luckily, the Super Ultimate wasn’t that hard to track down: much like BlackWarGreymon, Arkadimon’s presence created a disturbance in the Digital World, and it was a simple matter of finding the disturbance and going towards it. This led the entire group to Daemon’s castle, where Arkadimon was simply floating above the building, seemingly oblivious to everything. Unfortunately, the behemoth was inside another defense mechanism of the castle, which took the form of an orange barrier comprised of interlocking hexagons.
Seeing the barrier, Neo started taking charge. Tai had taken a little bit of convincing to let Neo lead, but as the person who knew the most about Daemon’s castle and Arkadimon he was the best choice to plan the offensive. Tai wasn’t exactly happy about working with Neo, but he understood it was necessary in order to stop Arkadimon and save Rei. Neo ordered Imperialdramon to land and let everybody out before explaining what was happening.
“Okay, what you see before you is one of the many backup defenses of the castle. Whoever built this place must have imagined a scenario where the tags would fall into the wrong hands, so they created this energy field as a last line of defense. I’m surprised Arkadimon managed to turn this thing on, but it can’t be helped. I can’t turn it off from the outside, but I can test its power. Stand back. Now, Machinedramon! Use Giga Cannon!”
In one swift motion, he materialized his giant partner and scanned the barrier just as the mechanical dragon unleashed the golden blasts from its two cannons. The blasts exploded on the barrier, but seemed to do no damage. However, Neo only smirked. “Well, I guess the barrier isn’t as strong as I thought it would be. Hideto, if you wouldn’t mind lending me Omegamon’s power, I think the two of us will be able to bring it down.”
Hideto nodded and materialized Warg and Melga before Jogressing them. As the Royal Knight turned to face the barrier, Matt cut in. “Wouldn’t it be better if you had more help? After all, Hideto isn’t the only one with an Omnimon. All of us working together could shatter that thing no problem.”
Neo shook his head. “All I need is Omegamon and Machinedramon. It will take a lot of energy, but I’d rather place that burden on as few Digimon as possible so we have more fighters against Arkadimon. Leave all of your partners at the Mega level, though. I want as many chances as possible to turn the tide in our favor.”
Matt nodded, going along with Neo’s plan. As soon as the barrier came down, they expected Arkadimon to attack, so everybody had their partners Digivolve to Mega, with the obvious exceptions of Catherine and Mari, who resolved to sneak into the castle and look for Rei while everybody else was fighting Arkadimon. It wasn’t like Kiwimon or Datirimon would be able to do anything in a fight of this level anyway. With everybody ready, Neo decided to show off his trump card.
“Now, I suppose I wasn’t completely honest earlier when I said I could do this with Machinedramon and Omegamon. It will take two Digimon beyond the Mega level repeatedly blasting this thing to make it fall. Luckily, this Machinedramon isn’t your ordinary monster.” As he said this, Machinedramon suddenly flashed red before growing slightly. A vicious horn grew out of his helmet, and his armor turned crimson. Between the plates of armor, he seemed to emit an orange glow, and his cannons took on a sleeker, more modern design. It looked like he had Digivolved, but he was already a Mega and Neo hadn’t even used the Digimental!
As everybody except Hideto and Neo stared in shock at the new and improved Machinedramon, Neo couldn’t help the smirk that came to his face. “Everybody, I’d like you to meet the first Digimon I ever raised. He was exceptionally powerful when I got him, but he had this glitch that caused him to randomly grow beyond the Mega level for brief periods of time. Obviously, this wasn’t something that should have happened, so I got to name the phenomenon. I call it Burst Evolution, and this new form is named Chaosdramon. Are you ready, Hideto?”
Hideto nodded, and then both Tamers sent a simultaneous command to their monsters. Omegamon began pelting the barrier with his Omega Howling, while Chaosdramon flipped his two cannons forward and launched a barrage of red energy with his Hyper Infinity Cannon. Between the superdreadnought-class artillery blasts and Omegamon’s freezing barrage, the barrier had no chance of remaining active. When the barrier fell, Arkadimon seemed to wake up and started moving towards the group, but Omegamon and Chaosdramon bought their allies some time by attacking the Super Ultimate.
Neo immediately moved to the next phase of his plan and had all the DigiDestined huddle together. “Okay, Chaosdramon may be impressive, but he’s probably weaker than Omegamon is, so neither of them will be a match for a Super Ultimate like Arkadimon. That’s where you all come in. Now, I’m not sure if any of your partners are even capable of Digivolving further, but we don’t have anything to lose by trying, now do we?” He held up the Digimental of Legends, and it started activating once again. Neo was surprised when eight Digivices responded to the ancient artifact, and eight partner Digimon began transcending the Mega level.
“WarGreymon, Burst Evolve! VictoryGreymon!”
“MetalGarurumon, Burst Evolve! ZeedGarurumon!”
“Phoenixmon, Burst Evolve! Varodurumon!”
“HerculesKabuterimon, Burst Evolve! TyrantKabuterimon!”
“Plesiomon, Burst Evolve! Aegisdramon!”
“Rosemon, Burst Evolve! Rosemon Burst Mode!”
“GranKuwagamon, Burst Evolve! GrandisKuwagamon!”
“MetalSeadramon, Burst Evolve! GigaSeadramon!”
Neo supposed splitting the Digimental’s power so many different ways caused it to be less potent than it would normally be, but eight Bust level Digimon were still far more powerful than Neo had been expecting from this little stunt. However, the energy released from the Digimental wasn’t finished, as three more Digimon started to Digivolve as well, even though the Digimon shouldn’t have been able to Digivolve as they were either at their evolutionary limit or their partners didn’t have a Digivice with that functionality.
“Piedmon, Burst Evolve! ChaosPiedmon!”
“Kiwimon, Digivolve to… Blossomon!”
“Datirimon, Digivolve to… Budmon!”
Neo was surprised the power of the Digimental had expanded far enough to affect Mari and Catherine near the castle entrance, even if their Digivolutions were comparatively disappointing next to all the other ones. He didn’t have time to think any further about this, as the Burst Digimon all rushed in to relieve a tired Omegamon and Machinedramon, whose Burst transformation was extremely short-lived and had expired. ChaosPiedmon, who looked like his Mega level wearing black instead of red, started by charging black energy into his hands and shouting “Masks Square!”
Throwing the energy, the entire area surrounding Daemon’s old castle was transported into ChaosPiedmon’s own dimension, something three times the size of what Piedmon used to be able to control. He had purposefully left the castle out, keeping Mari and Catherine a dimension away from the fight. Arkadimon began glowing which Neo knew preceded the God Matrix attack, but the glow abruptly stopped as if the attack had been cut off. ChaosPiedmon only laughed.
“Can’t let you do that, Arkadimon. I’ve managed to seal away its God Matrix attack. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the limit of my control, but I’m sure everybody else will be able to take care of him now that his trump card is up my sleeve.”
With Arkadimon’s most fearsome attack now a complete non-factor, everybody else no longer had to worry about keeping their distance and started letting Arkadimon have a taste of their power. Rosemon, who was feeling a little underwhelmed at her transformation as she didn’t even get a new name and only switched into a white outfit, started with her Jewel of Heart attack. Shooting the Tifaret jewels floating around her head at Arkadimon didn’t do the most damage, but Arkadimon was too large for her to use her more fearsome Charité attack and she wasn’t about to use her Kiss of Breath attack in front of everybody else.
Following Rosemon’s attack, GigaSeadramon decided it was his turn. The sea serpent was larger and deadlier looking than MetalSeadramon, looking like a biological Assault Carrier. He unleashed his Sky Wave, sending a flurry of anti-aircraft energy shells from launchers all throughout his body into Arkadimon before topping off the barrage with his Giga Sea Destroyer, which was essentially a River of Power attack doubled in power, condensed into a torpedo, and fired from GigaSeadramon’s mouth.
Before Arkadimon could even attempt to repair the damage from GigaSeadramon’s attack, Varodurumon and Aegisdramon hit the Super Ultimate with a devastating combination. The Holy Bird Digimon had flown high above Arkadimon with her six wings before intensifying the rainbow glow of holy energy that surrounded her. With a call of Aurora Undulation, she focused the glow into a single point before firing it at Arkadimon’s head, causing an explosion that resembled a supernova on a small scale. At the same time, Aegisdramon had targeted Arkadimon’s lower half with his Shine Breaker. The Cyborg Digimon looked like a cross between Plesiomon and MetalSeadramon, and his body contained more cannons than the average battleship. All of these cannons blasted Arkadimon with a shining energy, encasing the Super Ultimate’s lower half in a golden glow that perfectly matched the holy explosion surrounding Arkadimon’s head.
After taking so much punishment, Neo wasn’t sure if Arkadimon could survive even with all of its power, but his former tool managed to regrow any body parts it lost and even lashed out with Dystopia Lances. Even with this show, however, it was obvious it hadn’t been able to heal off all of the damage. As its tentacles shot towards targets at random, the other Digimon started adding their attacks to the mix. MegaGargomon unleashed his Mega Barrage attack on all approaching tentacles, while Vikemon and Valkyrimon froze the attacks coming for them before smashing the now-brittle appendages. Cherubimon, Seraphimon, and Ophanimon were working together, synergizing their holy energy with each other in order to greatly increase the power of their Lightning Spear, Seven Heavens, and Sefirot Crystal attacks. Machinedramon, UlforceVeedramon, and Omegamon also worked together, pooling their efforts to make sure ChaosPiedmon didn’t take a hit and drop Masks Square.
Whereas the other Digimon were working just to repel the tentacles, the remaining Burst level Digimon planned to attack straight through the swarm. GrandisKuwagamon, who looked almost like a cross between WarGreymon and GranKuwagamon, easily sliced his way through any obstacle with his Gran Killer attack, while VictoryGreymon took a different approach. Instead of using his massive sword to break through the tentacles, the Dragon Man Digimon who still resembled his Mega form decided to copy some moves from his lower stage. He split his Dramon Breaker sword into three pieces and equipped them to his arm, resembling claws. Then, he began gathering energy just like for his Terra Force attack, but instead focused it into the tips of his blades. With a cry of “Trident Gaia!” he fired the energy and cut completely through Arkadimon’s body.
While GrandisKuwagamon and VictoryGreymon were inflicting damage by focusing their power in a small area, ZeedGarurumon and TyrantKabuterimon took the opposite approach. ZeedGarurumon, who looked like a larger MetalGarurumon with the addition of a giant cannon on his back, unleashed his Full Metal Blaze attack. In addition to blasts of energy from the superdreadnought-class cannon on his back, he unleashed a seemingly endless hail of bullets and missiles in an attempt to mow Arkadimon down. Not one to be outdone, TyrantKabuterimon added his own attack. The King of Bugs flew through the swarm of tentacles, letting their blows glance off of his purple shell composed of high-density Chrome Digizoid. When he reached Arkadimon’s main body he shouted “Shine of Bee!” The attack may not have had the most impressive name, but it certainly made up for it in terms of damage as a searing explosion radiated from TyrantKabuterimon’s entire body, burning much of Arkadimon’s body to ash.
Though Arkadimon was clearly losing the fight, it still slowly regenerated and pulled itself together. Neo almost felt sad for it: the creature was too mindless to understand things like defeat or strategy, so it couldn’t know it was doomed to failure. Arkadimon was essentially a rabid dog at this point: it was a danger to everything around it, yet it wasn’t capable of understanding why. Still, it was too late for regret, as all the Digimon rushed in to finally end Arkadimon’s existence.
Before their attacks could connect, a deep laughter suddenly came from Arkadimon’s chest. Acting completely on instinct, Neo, Hideto, and Michael all returned their partners to their Digivice 01s, and not a split second too soon. A familiar sounding voice called out “Dark Spreader!” and Arkadimon’s body seemed to convert entirely into dark energy before exploding outwards, engulfing everything in its path. UlforceVeedramon at least managed to outrun the explosion enough to land in front of all the humans and throw up his Tensegrity Shield in the hopes of protecting them, but the other Digimon were not so lucky. Even with the Tensegrity Shield, UlforceVeedramon struggled to keep the attack away from the humans.
When the wave of darkness finally dissipated, Neo couldn’t believe what he saw. UlforceVeedramon was standing in front of him looking mostly unharmed, but the Tensegrity Shield looked noticeably worse for wear than it had in its last appearance. Instead of twinkling and constantly forming a complete sphere, the web of energy was now incomplete and appeared to be frozen, as UlforceVeedramon struggled to even take it down. Looking beyond UlforceVeedramon, he saw all their other Digimon scattered throughout the area, but apart from ChaosPiedmon they had all reverted to a lower level, with Gatomon, Palmon, and Patamon the only ones who managed to stay above the In-Training level, probably because they had been furthest from the explosion.
However, for all of these details, Neo was more focused on what had happened to the enemy Digimon instead of his allies. All that was left of Arkadimon were the dark blue pieces of armor that seemed to have been blown off of the now-missing mass of tentacles. However, it wasn’t so much Arkadimon’s fate that worried Neo as it was the new figure flying over Arkadimon’s remains. He may have grown to four times his usual height and gained a much more muscular physique, but Neo’s former ally was easily recognizable.
“Daemon? How?” The sound of Neo’s voice seemed to wake all the DigiDestined from their shock. Mimi, TK, and Kari tried to have their partners Warp Digivolve, but their Crests failed to activate. Acting on a hunch, Mimi tried using Dark Digivolution, and was rewarded when Palmon was covered with a purple glow. TK and Kari started to copy her, but the remaining fighters weren’t waiting for them to start. ChaosPiedmon started with his Trump Swords II attack, throwing his four swords into Daemon’s chest. Then, Neo materialized Machinedramon and had his partner fire his Giga Cannon into the demon’s face. At this time, Palmon had finished Warp Digivolving, and Puppetmon used her Puppet Pummel to shoot Daemon’s neck. Next, Michael finally remembered how to materialize his partner, and while the Burst Mode seemed to have worn off he still was capable of having MetalSeadramon blast Daemon with his River of Power.
Despite taking the strongest attacks from the four Digimon that had made up the Dark Masters, Daemon only started laughing. “Yes, that felt great! Now, could you do the same thing on my arms and legs? They’re a little stiff. I’ll need some time to get used to this new, Super Ultimate body of mine.”
Neo glared at his former employer. “Super Ultimate? You shouldn’t even be here, let alone have the ability to Digivolve. I made you disappear when I fed you to Arkadimon! You only existed as a shade within my mind controlling my actions and then influencing Arkadimon after I kicked you out!”
“Don’t underestimate me, brat. I didn’t disappear because I entered Arkadimon of my own free will! I needed to use the power of the Digimental to reach my Super Ultimate form, but such a holy relic would never grant me strength. So, I fused with Arkadimon and then stole the power of the Super Ultimate from the inside! Even that mindless beast sensed my presence growing within it and it tried holding me back, but you never saw the truth that was right in your face. You really were the perfect pawn, faithfully doing my bidding right up to the point where you were no longer needed!”
Neo scowled as he thought back to all his interactions with Daemon. The whole time, he had viewed the Demon Lord as little more than a means to an end, and Daemon’s actions had played perfectly into that scenario. Neo had always thought he could outmaneuver the Demon Lord, who only sat back on his throne and let Neo set up his own plans. However, if Daemon had wanted to be absorbed all along, Neo could quickly see that everything he did played right into Daemon’s scenario. What Neo had thought were his own goals at Daemon’s expense had been what Daemon wanted all along.
Realizing this, Neo addressed the Demon Lord. “Fine, Daemon, I’ll admit that you outmaneuvered me before. You planned for everything I would do, and made sure no matter what happened you would benefit. And now, you’ve got your wish, and have reached the Super Ultimate form. But there’s one thing you forgot to include in your little scenario. We’re still here! And that means this fight isn’t over yet!”
At Neo’s words, UlforceVeedramon decided to stop trying to put away his Tensegrity Shield and instead smashed through it with his Ulforce Saber. However, any momentum he was planning on gaining in this fight instantly went away when Masks Square faded out of existence and ChaosPiedmon fell from the sky, hitting the ground right in front of UlforceVeedramon. As Sigma ran to his partner, everybody could hear Piedmon struggling to speak.
“Sigma… I’m sorry… I tried holding Masks Square longer but… after keeping everybody else alive in that explosion… I just… didn’t… have… the…” Piedmon never got the chance to finish his sentence, as he burst into data leaving only his mask behind. Sigma collapsed to his knees, only to see Piedmon’s mask suddenly shift into a yellow DigiEgg. Sigma grabbed the egg and held onto it like a lifeline, and Davis couldn’t help but sigh in relief. At the very least, Piedmon had only died from expending all of his energy instead of falling to one of Daemon’s attacks. Either way Piedmon was dead, but at least now he would be reborn instead of Daemon absorbing his data. The last thing they needed was to have Daemon capable of using Masks Square.
Seeing Piedmon die before his eyes, UlforceVeedramon found himself angered to the point where he would be capable of using Dragon Impulse if he was still AeroVeedramon. Luckily, the Ulforce overwrite didn’t cause him to lose control of himself like the standard overwrite did, but it didn’t change the fact that he dearly wanted to see Daemon’s data scattered to the wind. He charged at the Demon Lord with his Ulforce Saber, only for Daemon to continue laughing.
“You fool; don’t you realize that your Ulforce is useless against me? I’ve already eliminated it!” UlforceVeedramon didn’t listen, instead using his speed to dart forward and stab Daemon between the eyes. Or at least, that had been the plan. UlforceVeedramon wasn’t really expecting his blade to snap in half as soon as it made contact with Daemon’s skin. The Demon Lord only smiled before hitting the Royal Knight with a headbutt, knocking UlforceVeedramon from the sky and crushing one of his wings when he landed awkwardly. The Royal Knight fully expected the healing Ulforce to restore his injury, but after a few seconds where nothing happened he realized something was seriously wrong.
“Now do you believe me? My Super Ultimate Dark Virus is stronger than your Holy Ulforce! Your overwrite responds to the data changes due to emotions, but I can control that data now. Your overwrite is sealed away! Now, all I have to do is remove Lucemon from the picture, and I will have complete control over both the human and the Digital World!”
UlforceVeedramon tried to get up and prove Daemon wrong, but without one of his wings he couldn’t fly. Luckily, he wasn’t alone in this fight. TK’s Daemon launched his Evil Inferno attack at his Super Ultimate counterpart, but the hellfire hitting the evil Daemon’s body only seemed to elicit a sigh. “Please, did you honestly expect that to work? I have the Code Key of Wrath and a level advantage. Hitting me with my old attacks isn’t exactly the smartest idea. Though if you’d like, I can show you what real hellfire is like. Algol’s Flame!”
Daemon spat a green fireball towards his weaker counterpart, purposefully angling his attack so it would travel along the path of the Evil Inferno. TK’s partner saw the attack passing through his own as if it was facing no resistance at all, and he wisely decided to dodge out of the way. Even though he managed to avoid the fireball, the residual heat was still strong enough to light his fur on fire, and the Mega level Daemon had to quickly fly to the ground and roll out the flames.
As the Super Ultimate Daemon laughed at the humiliation of his weaker counterpart, he felt a slight stinging sensation in his arm. Looking down, he saw Lilithmon with her Nazar Nail buried in his left bicep. “Now see, this was a plan that at least had a slight chance of working. Even though you don’t have a Code Key, you would still be able to theoretically corrode my data with that attack. But, if I can control the zeroes and ones of other monsters, don’t you think I’d be able to control my own? At least you tried, but this may as well be a bee sting as an attack.”
Having said this, he took his right hand and flicked Lilithmon away. When she managed to stop her fall, Daemon frowned and swatted her again, this time successfully knocking her into the ground. He started to turn away before a wicked grin crossed his face. “You know, I was going to ignore you since your power is so insignificant, but even without a Code Key you can be useful. I don’t need the advantage, but absorbing your data could only help me get revenge on that other bitch who betrayed me… Algol’s Flame!”
The green fireball rushed towards Lilithmon, who was too disoriented to dodge out of the way. Luckily, before the attack could connect, a red energy blast collided with the fireball, knocking it off course. Daemon turned to the source of this, only to see Chaosdramon firing a missile from his right hand. The Destroyed Hook attack hit the Demon Lord in the face, and Daemon cried out in pain as it felt like his face was melting. He managed to heal off the damage, only to get hit by a full barrage of Hyper Infinity Cannon while he was still off balance. The red blasts actually managed to knock the Demon Lord backwards, until somebody else joined the fight. Omegamon had finally recovered his energy after his first use of Omega Howling, and was now using the attack on Daemon’s wings. With his face bombarded by the searing energy blasts and his wings frozen, Daemon fell from the sky.
Kari turned to Neo. “Thanks for saving Lilithmon, Neo. I’m not sure how she would have survived if you hadn’t ordered Chaosdramon to attack Daemon.”
Neo sadly shook his head. “I didn’t order him to attack Daemon. I ordered him to deflect the blast, and then I asked him if he would attack Daemon with all of his power. I ordered him not to go through with it if he didn’t want to, but this was just as much his choice as it was mine. He’s going to keep blasting Daemon until one of them is destroyed, and I’m pretty sure Daemon will be able to outlast Chaosdramon. It’s like when AeroVeedramon used Dragon Impulse on Arkadimon.”
Hearing this, Davis threw his hands in the air. “Well isn’t that just great. UlforceVeedramon has his power blocked, our Daemon and Lilithmon can’t do anything in a fight, Omegamon is running on fumes, and Chaosdramon is about to kill himself trying to do some damage. We go out of our way to bring in reinforcements for once, and we still can’t win!”
TK put his hand on Davis’s shoulder. “Relax, I know it looks bad, but we can win this.”
Davis snapped back at him. “Oh really? Then what major advantage am I not seeing? You have some new form tucked away you’ve been saving for a dramatic moment?”
TK rolled his eyes. “Okay, first, I’m the DigiDestined of Hope. It’s kind of my job to think we can win. That doesn’t always mean I know how we’ll win. In this case, that’s probably your job, considering you’re the DigiDestined of Miracles. And I don’t have a new form that can win this, but we can buy you a few minutes. It might be best if you close your eyes for a while, though.”
Davis turned towards TK to send him a questioning look, only to wish he had listened to TK’s advice. He really could have gone without seeing TK and Kari engaged in an extremely heavy make-out session, holding each other so tightly that there was no space between them. Davis quickly found himself growing angry.
“That’s you’re brilliant plan to buy a few minutes? You’re going to disgust Daemon by sucking face! I expected more from you and Kari…” Davis trailed off as TK and Kari both emitted a purple light, and a representation of the orange Code Key of Wrath and green Code Key of Lust appeared and seemed to overlap before the light surrounding TK and Kari shifted to black. Glancing towards Lilithmon and TK’s Daemon, Davis only saw a giant black mass before he heard the voices. “Lilithmon, Daemon, DNA Digivolve to… Ogudomon!”
The spider-like Incarnation Digimon immediately started running towards Daemon, just as Chaosdramon fired his last shots before reverting to a silver DigiEgg. Omegamon managed to extend the duration of his attack a few more seconds before he no longer had the energy to safely fire. Luckily, Ogudomon arrived at just that moment, meaning the Royal Knight didn’t have to sacrifice his own life to buy a few more seconds. While Daemon was still on the ground, Ogudomon jumped on top of him, biting into Daemon’s chest while sinking all seven of its legs into the ground to hold the Demon Lord in place. Daemon struggled to remove the monster, but all of his efforts were nullified as his own malice allowed Ogudomon to negate anything the Demon Lord tried.
Davis turned back to TK and Kari to apologize for his outburst, only to see them both blushing and avoiding eye contact with anybody. Tai looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel after watching the blatant PDA, and Matt was carefully positioning himself between his best friend and his little brother just in case. Knowing that TK had said they were only getting a few minutes, Davis decided it would be best for them to start explaining everything now.
“So, you guys managed to unlock Ogudomon. How did that happen?” TK and Kari glanced at each other before TK started talking.
“Well, I know you weren’t there, but I’m sure you know all about what happened to us in the Dark Ocean before we freed Tai and Matt from Lilithmon’s control. Kari and I lost control of ourselves, and though we eventually snapped ourselves out of it we wanted to avoid that happening again. Since we were also the key to breaking each other out of the influence of our particular sins, we started working on getting a handle on each other’s sins as well, and eventually we just sort of synced up and unlocked the new form.”
Tai was obviously struggling to keep control of himself. “So you two… decided to go off alone… and practice your lust?” Kari immediately cut her brother off.
“You reacting like this is exactly why we didn’t tell anyone about what we were doing. Well, that and the fact that we didn’t want anybody seeing stuff like that happening…” She realized she wasn’t doing a good job of calming her brother down, she tried again. “We were never alone, though! We mainly worked on it when it was our turn to guard Lilithmon, or with the Sovereigns when we needed to test Ogudomon’s power against something other than a Demon Lord.”
Tai let out a long sigh. “Fine. I can’t say I like it, but ever since this mess with the Demon Lords started I haven’t liked a lot of things we’ve had to do in order to stand a fighting chance. Now, how much time is Ogudomon good for just holding him like that? I’m assuming this Ogudomon is weaker than the one Lucemon became, and we need to know how much time we have to come up with a plan.”
TK responded. “Best case scenario, Ogudomon can hold that form for five minutes. Luckily, this is pretty close to the best case scenario. Unlike when Lucemon fused all seven Demon Lords, we only have two to work with. That means we can only completely negate damage coming from wrath or lust instead of any sin. Against anybody other than a Daemon or a Lilithmon, Ogudomon would still take damage from attacks. And we don’t have any attack power to speak of, so all we can do is stall. I haven’t been keeping exact track of time, but we probably only have a few minutes left.”
Neo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “So, you combine two Megas to get a monster that has no attack power and can only negate damage against two specific foes. Normally I’d say that was an absolutely stupid idea, but I see the universe just lines everything up so it works for you DigiDestined.”
Kari just smiled. “What can we say; saving the worlds numerous times must make the universe more likely to throw good luck your way. Besides, if you want to talk about impractical, after we got the hang of Ogudomon we tried to see what would happen if we had Seraphimon and Ophanimon DNA Digivolve. That form only lasts two seconds before we burn through all of our energy.”
The shocked look on Neo’s face was priceless, but Davis decided not to waste any more time. “Right, well, I guess we may as well see if the universe is still smiling at us. Neo, could I have the Digimental please? I know it didn’t work for me before, but I don’t see any harm in trying again.” Neo was about to object, but then he handed the Digimental over. After all, Davis had always pulled a miracle out of nowhere in each of his earlier fights, so if anybody could pull this off, it would be him.
Sure enough, as soon as Davis grabbed the Digimental both it and his Crest started to glow in tandem. A bright light shot from him into UlforceVeedramon, healing the Royal Knight of all his wounds. However, that was only the first step of the process, as the glow intensified and UlforceVeedramon let out a tremendous yell. “UlforceVeedramon, Super Ultimate Digivolution! UlforceVeedramon Future Mode!”
Apart from a few new spikes on his armor, UlforceVeedramon looked the same as a Super Ultimate as he did at the Mega level. The only real difference was the divine glow that seemed to emit from his body without him trying to do anything. He flew over to his partner’s side, only for Neo to immediately question him. “Are you sure you’re a Super Ultimate? You called yourself UlforceVeedramon Future Mode and you don’t look that different, so maybe you only Mode Changed or Burst Evolved…”
The Royal Knight rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s a critic. Listen, when Arkadimon reached Super Ultimate, you still called it Arkadimon, and now that Daemon’s a Super Ultimate we still call him Daemon. So my slight name change is more than the other Super Ultimates got. Then again, it would probably be best if you just called me UlforceVeedramon. UlforceVeedramon Future Mode is kind of a mouthful. Oops, hold on a second, got to go.”
UlforceVeedramon seemed to freeze in place after saying this, but after a few seconds Neo realized the Royal Knight had flown away so fast he had left an image of himself behind. And it wasn’t a second too soon, as Ogudomon reverted to Tokomon and Salamon at that exact moment. Daemon started to get up, only to hear a voice shout “Ulforce V Saber!” However, Daemon only heard the voice after UlforceVeedramon’s sword bisected him, as the Royal Knight had far outstripped the speed of sound. UlforceVeedramon managed to catch Salamon and Tokomon and bring them back to their partners before Daemon finally felt the pain from being cut in half.
Daemon let out some terrifying screams before he started laughing again. “I’ll admit, that was a nice attack. But in case you’ve forgotten, I have absolute control over my own data. I can regenerate from this! And I have a source of energy that will last far longer than your human will! You can’t stop me!”
As Daemon said this, he heard a sudden rumbling from his castle. Turning to look, he saw a section of the wall suddenly collapse as a Blossomon cut it away with her Spiral Flower. The giant plant was followed by a Sorcermon and a Witchmon, who seemed lost in the middle of an argument. The Sorcermon was gesturing towards the wall with his staff.
“See, Pal, I told you my ice magic was better than your wind magic. I helped us get through that wall, and you just stood there doing nothing!” The witch just responded by whacking the sorcerer with her broom.
“Yeah, well just wait until I find a way to combine my water and my wind. It’ll be ten times better than your ice, Pul. Besides, Blossomon could have taken out that wall even if it wasn’t frozen!”
However, Daemon didn’t care so much about the Digimon escaping from the castle, but when he saw who was following them he couldn’t help snarling in anger. There was Rei, wearing two Digivice 01s and accompanied by Mari and another blond girl! After all that work to take a hostage, she had to go and escape! Daemon’s stopped his internal ranting when he noticed something indigo hanging around Mari’s neck. Looking closer, he immediately recognized the object, as well as the black, silver, and brown objects Catherine was carrying.
“What? They found the Crests? Impossible! Nobody else even knew those existed, let alone where they were! They were lost to history until I uncovered them. They’re mine! Algol’s Flame!” He launched the green fireball at the party, but UlforceVeedramon almost lazily put himself between them and the attack before calling out “Tensegrity Shield!” The holy barrier blocked Daemon’s attack just as easily as it had blocked Arkadimon’s, but UlforceVeedramon wasn’t finished.
“Let me guess, your secret energy source just left your castle. I’ll admit, stocking four Crests was a pretty good idea, but even if those weren’t what you were talking about I’ll just destroy you so thoroughly that there isn’t enough of you left to regenerate. Shining V Force!” The attack was similar to his Ray of Victory, only it came from his entire body instead of just the V on his armor. It was also significantly stronger, and the holy light utterly obliterated the Demon Lord before he could register the fact that he had been hit. UlforceVeedramon waited around for a few seconds to see if Daemon would reform himself, but he needn’t have worried. Daemon hadn’t so much as left a Code Key behind.
With the fight over, UlforceVeedramon gave Rei, Catherine, Mari, and their partners a lift to reunite with the others. When they arrived, the three Crests Catherine was holding suddenly sprang to life, flying to their destined owners. The silver Crest went to Neo, the black one to Sigma, and the brown one to Hideto. As soon as they received their Crests, Sigma and Neo also received another pleasant surprise, as their DigiEggs both hatched. Sigma looked overjoyed at the yellow Zurumon he was holding, but Neo only looked doubtfully at the MetalKoromon that resembled a computer mouse. He wasn’t quite sure if he deserved another chance at raising a Digimon after everything he had done.
While everybody else was busy watching Sigma and Neo, Davis kept staring transfixed at the site where Daemon had finally been defeated. He didn’t react when UlforceVeedramon landed in front of him and reverted to Chibomon, which immediately worried the Baby Digimon. However, nobody else seemed to notice Davis until Catherine walked up to him and gave him a hug. “You know, I wasn’t sure what to think of you when I first met you, but now that I’ve seen what you can do—Davis? Is everything okay?”
Catherine had noticed how Davis’s eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular, and realized he wasn’t really reacting to her hug. She started shaking him trying to get a response, but all Davis did was mumble “We won…” before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed forward. Catharine hadn’t been ready to catch him, so she also ended up falling to the ground beneath his weight. Blushing slightly at the situation, she called out, “Can somebody help, please? I believe using the Super Ultimate level was a little too demanding for Davis. And he is heavier than he looks!”
Gryphonmon sat perched on the roof of Daemon’s castle, staring out at the location where the Demon Lord had perished. The DigiDestined had all left an hour ago, but Gryphonmon knew there were still important matters to attend to. And sure enough, his vigilance was rewarded when he saw an orange Code Key begin to reformat itself from stray data. Satisfied with his findings, Gryphonmon flew off. He had to report this to his master. After all, Lucemon would want to know the location of the sixth Code Key as well as the fact the DigiDestined had enough power to actually destroy Code Keys temporarily. And if his master were to tell Lucemon these things, the rewards were sure to be great indeed…