Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Under Control ( Chapter 38 )

Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

 

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Under Control

By nightdragon0

 

 

 

The area before the two Digimon was a road winding through a series of warehouse docks. It was late and dark, with the dim streetlamps barely giving off enough light.

One warehouse, an old one with gray paint peeling off its outside walls, was the scene of their battle.

The one known as Tiger Vespamon was currently on the attack. This warrior was a cybernetic hornet with a humanoid form, who retained much of the characteristics of the insect he was based on. His body was slim with a golden coloring and black stripes all around. He had two pairs of translucent insect wings, a samurai-like helmet and wore a red scarf around his neck.

Tiger Vespamon also wielded a pair of sleek fencing swords, glowing with blue energy, which he swung at his opponent.

Ou Ryuumon easily ducked beneath the clumsy attack and whirled around to his foe's back. This Digimon was a golden armored `Eastern' style dragon, with a long serpent-like body. He too wore a beautifully decorated golden helmet adorn with horns and red jewels, with enough space to let his purple mane fly in the breeze.

This dragon had a pair of three-fingered upper limbs, in which he wielded two silver scimitars. He swung those deadly blades at Tiger Vespamon, knocking the cyborg with the flat sides of his blades and sending Tiger Vespamon spinning to the ground.

“Grrr…you!” Tiger Vespamon sprung to his feet and charged, only to have the serpent-like dragon dodge and whip his face with his dragon tail.

“Rarrr!” Ou Ryuumon executed a spinning maneuver and struck Tiger Vespamon with his tail again, knocking his foe into the warehouse's outer wall. “After all this time, you still lack the skills and discipline to beat me!”

“Hargh! Mach Stinger!” Undaunted, Tiger Vespamon attacked with his special ability, thrusting his twin rapiers at the golden dragon.

“Urghh!” Ou Ryuumon raised his scimitars to block, but was still taking scrapes and blows to his armor until he called out the name of his next attack. “Eisei Ryuu Oujin!” (Eternity Dragon King Blade)

For an instant, Ou Ryuumon transformed into a gigantic version of his scimitar, which thrust into Tiger Vespamon, knocking the cyborg out of his attack. With a scream, Tiger Vespamon hit the ground as one of his weapons went flying, knocking into a set of scaffolding constructed alongside the warehouse.

Ou Ryuumon reverted to his original form, grinning with satisfaction. However, his smile quickly faded as he spotted a frightened Tokomon, a pink baby Digimon with long ears, huddled beneath the falling scaffolding.

“Oh no! Watch out!” Ou Ryuumon dropped both his weapons and threw himself beneath the structure, protecting the Tokomon with his own body as the scaffolding came down on top of them.

Coughing, Tiger Vespamon staggered to his feet and glanced over, spotting Ou Ryuumon trapped beneath the rubble.

“You all right, kid?” Ou Ryuumon panted.

“Mon…mon…” Tokomon squeaked.

“Haha…I'm glad.” The golden dragon then turned and looked Tiger Vespamon in the eye.

“What a fool! You would risk yourself to save that child?” Tiger Vespamon pointed his remaining rapier at him. “What sort of a warrior are you?”

“Humph.” Ou Ryuumon looked away. “Now's your chance then. Finish me off. Kill me and the clan will be all yours.”

“Huh?” Tiger Vespamon gasped.

“However, allow me to ask you something first.”

“What is it? Hurry up!”

“Do you know what you will lose if you defeat me? I will tell you that it is something truly precious.” Ou Ryuumon closed his eyes. “Even if you have all the power in the world, it will not matter. True strength will never come from that. And then, you will continue only to deceive yourself.”

“Wha…then…what is this true strength? Where does this true strength come from?”

“I will tell you. True strength….true strength…is love.”

“Love? Wha…?” Tiger Vespamon stood dumbfounded for a while, then dropped to his knees whilst clutching his head. “Oh no! How could I have been so blind? Sensei, for the first time in years, you've opened my heart! I've…I'm the one who's lost!”

“Even you may be able to find true strength one day. Keep looking, long and hard enough within yourself.” Ou Ryuumon wiggled himself out of the rubble, carrying Tokomon in his arms. “Indeed…it is…true love.”

Ou Ryuumon then glided away into the night, leaving his student to quietly sob to himself.

“Bah, they call this entertainment? It's all a bunch of sloppiness!” Siavon switched the television off and tossed the remote control aside.

It was fortunate that there was no one else inside the train cabin to hear him. Siavon still had a fair distance to go and made use of the extra space to stretch his legs out and lie down to get some much needed rest.

After all, the train wasn't going to stop that close to the Dark Continent and the dragonman had to fly part of the distance for himself.

It seemed like he was always going out of this way to help those dragon kids. However, his thought this time were also drifting towards the raptor. Zelia was her name?

Siavon touched the patched-up section of his chest armor and remembered the girl had been staring at it. There was something about her that almost seemed…familiar. But what?

 

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“This one?” Janet punched the huge sphere repeatedly until it shattered. However, there turned out to be nothing inside.

Sekata and Zoe were off to the side, but clearly heard Janet's frustrated roar. For what seemed like hours, the trio had been taking apart spheres as large as themselves in search of their imprisoned Aero V-dramon companion.

And without much luck either.

“Guys, I can hear you, but I can't really see clearly.” Aero's voice sounded. “I can't move and the view's too blurry from in here…”

“This could take forever…” Zoe sighed.

“I'm starting to agree with you.” Sekata flopped down on the ground.

In a fit of rage, Janet kicked the nearest sphere. She failed to note that there was a slight slope to the area, for the sphere rolled up and then came back down towards her.

Without thinking, the Strikedramon stepped sideways…leaving the sphere to zoom past and knock another sphere out of position. This created a chain reaction before Janet's astonished eyes, displacing row after row of spheres.

“Everyone! Run!” Janet yelled.

The sight of dozens of spheres rolling towards them was more than enough motivation for Sekata and Zoe to get moving.

“Hey! What's going on?” Aero shouted. “Huh? GGGAAARRGGGHHH!”

Whatever he was going to say turned into a long scream, which was soon drowned out by the rumbling noises of the spheres.

Zoe dodged left and right, but suddenly stumbled into the path of a boulder-like sphere. Fortunately Sekata was there to drag her out of harm's way, pulling her beneath a raise ledge.

“Keep your head down!” Sekata shouted over the din of the avalanche.

The female dragon ducked and covered her head. Then she felt a pair of arms around her shoulders. It was Sekata, protectively shielding her with his arms and wrapping his wings around them both.

While it wasn't an entirely essential move when it came to safety concerns, it felt…Zoe didn't really know how to describe it. Elated, perhaps?

Then, the rumbling stopped as the avalanche slowed to a halt. Sekata raised his head to look around, then released his grasp and stood up. The Vritramon faced her for a while and almost seemed to blush…however Sekata quickly turned his head away.

“Thanks.” Was all she got out. And it didn't really have the tone she wanted it in.

“No problem.” Sekata nodded.

“You two all right?” Janet sprinted down. “Sorry about that guys.”

“At least we're not flattened or anything.” Zoe added in. “Which is more than I can say for…”

All three looked across the bizarre black and white area, which was now littered with the various pieces of the broken spheres. Sekata's eyes fell upon a blue tail sticking out of a pile of shattered bits, and he gestured to the others.

“Aero!” The group took hold of his tail and yanked hard. With a yelp, Aero flew free from the pile and landed headfirst in a ditch, moaning loudly.

“Ooohh…did anyone get the number of that truck?” The dazed dragon muttered, drooling with swirls showing in his eyes.

“How does he look?” Zoe asked.

“Alive, that's for sure.” Janet replied, jabbing a finger at his ribs.

“Come on, let's go.” Sekata grabbed Aero's tail and begun walking, dragging the Aero V-dramon along with him.

Truth was, he didn't even know where to go and was walking in random direction with the girls in tow. That was when the group felt the ground shaking beneath their feet.

“What the hell?” Janet growled, bracing herself.

“Something must be going on.” Sekata muttered. “Outside…”

 

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“RRarrghhh!”

“Hey! Get off me! Gargh!” Makuramon yelled, swatting uselessly at Zelia's head. However the raptor already had her jaws firmly clamped around his wrist, and was shoving her body weight against him.

The radio went flying as Makuramon rolled down on the ground and fell into the open, joining the already chaotic battle scene.

“Hello?” Antiramon's voice came over the radio. “And fire?”

“Yes! Gargh!” Makuramon shouted. “Aw crap! Wait! Not yet!”

CRUNCH! Zelia stomped on the radio in mid-battle, cutting off their communications.

“Hurgh!” Junon backed away and blocked another claw swipe with her ribbon weapons.

She knocked Dynasmon's next attack away and ducked beneath his arm, spinning around and tripping the dragon knight. Whilst he was down, Junon threw one of the ribbons around the Dynasmon's neck and locked him in a chokehold.

“What's going on here?” Junon demanded.

Steve / Dynasmon didn't reply, but instead thrust his elbows backwards into Junon's body. As the pink knight grunted in pain, Steve reached over and threw Junon head over heels. She hit the ground hard and quickly rolled away before her opponent could stomp down on her.

Still on the floor, Junon kicked Steve's shin, stunning the dragon knight for a second. She used the time to pull herself to her feet and deliver a couple of kicks to his chest. Steve lurched over, as if in pain, but as his head turned up, his mouth was open…as if struggling to speak.

“Hmm?” Junon stared. She then turned and spotted Makuramon struggling to get Zelia off him. Unfortunately, she spent a moment too long looking.

Dynasmon suddenly launched back into action and raised both his arms, palms out-front. A laser stream fired out from each palm, the Dragon's Roar attack, and caught Junon off guard. With a scream, the Rhodo Knightmon was thrown against a pile of rubble and knocked out.

“Damn! Junon!” Dynamo gasped, noticing the scene. “Gargh!”

The Strikedramon was still attacking him, and Dynamo had just taken a blow to his head. Metallix leapt in from behind knocked Strikedramon off, pinning her to the ground.

“Hey! I gotcha covered!” The metallic wolf called.

Man, he's actually good for something. Dynamo thought as he ran towards the fallen Junon. His path was immediately blocked by Aero V-dramon.

With the blue dragon being in too close range to use his lance, Dynamo dropped both his weapons and locked hands with the Aero V-dramon, grunting and shoving. From the corner of his eye, Dynamo saw the Vritramon and XV-mon preparing to fire.

Thinking quickly, Dynamo grabbed the Aero V-dramon and used him as a shield to block the incoming energy attacks. The blue dragon howled in pain and Dynamo threw it into its companions, knocking all three down.

“Gurgh…good thing they don't fight like their normal selves.” Dynamo panted, retrieving his weapons. “Eh? Huh?”

The area had begun shaking, with some strange rumbling and humming noises coming from beneath the ground.

 

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All around the ancient courtyard, various forms of laser cannons emerged, aroused from their hiding places. None of the combatants took notice of the old weapons until they started firing.

Sorceress Evza drew back as a laser caused a small explosion between Mihiramon and Majiramon.

“The ancient technology has been activated?” Evza wondered with curiosity. “Hmm…the Devas managed to find its source? I should look as well.”

Chanting a soft spell, Evza faded into the darkness of the night, shrouded by her cloak of invisibility. Meanwhile, the tiger and dragon Devas ducked under the cover of several rocks.

“Hey what's going on?” Mihiramon growled. “Did somebody seriously screw up the plan?”

“Don't ask me.” Majiramon huffed, jabbing a dragon claw at his comrade. “You're the one who was all up for a straight up fight.”

Dynasmon, likewise, was busy dodging laser fire and trying to find cover.

An old building by the street was hit by the defense systems, toppling it over. The rubble both hid and separated the group of Devas fighting Lucifer and Arkadimon from the main battle.

As Dynamo ducked the next barrage of laser fire, he saw Vritramon and XV-mon getting buried beneath another pile of rubble, while their Aero V-dramon companion hit the ground face-first, probably unconscious. Metallix was still busy with his Strikedramon opponent, so Dynamo dashed across to try and get to Junon.

Along the way however, the struggling pair of Makuramon and Zelia rolled straight into his path. Startled, Dynamo stumbled and stepped on Makuramon's stone jug, shattering it with a loud bang.

Immediately, several soft screams emitted as four small toys were thrown about the area.

However, that wasn't Dynamo's immediate concern, for he fell forward and landed on Junon. The female knight woke up just in time to see Dynamo on top of her body, with his face resting on her chest between her boobs.

“YOU!” Junon's face went red with rage beneath her helmet.

“No wait! I can explain!” Dynamo protested. “It was all a mistake!”

“MISTAKE THIS YOU HORNY, PERVERTED JACKASS!”

“Wait…”

BAM!! To viewer standing far away, it would seem like Dynamo's shadowy form flew vertically up into the air, screaming all the way, and then came back down, landing with a loud thud.

“Humph, men. They're all just the same.” Junon muttered, cracking her knuckles.

“Ow…” Dynamo moaned (With stars swirling around his head).

Several feet away, Makuramon was staring in disbelief.

“NNNOOO! You've messed everything up!” The monkey Deva yelled, glaring furiously at Zelia.

“Rrrrrrr…” Zelia crouched low and hissed, preparing to lunge.

“What the? I'm stuck in this stupid sphere again!” Aero's voice suddenly sounded. “Zelia? Hey Zelia! Is that you!”

Both the raptor and the Deva turned towards the source of the voice, the glowing blue sphere off to the side. The two eyed the sphere, then each other, then the sphere again and leapt towards it at the same time. Zelia managed to both step on Makuramon's hand and grab Aero's sphere in her jaws. She then knocked the monkey aside and sprinted.

“Guess I shouldn't be complaining.” Aero sighed. “But Zelia, did you really have to pick me up in your mouth? Hey!”

Zelia curled her tongue around the sphere and held it in her mouth as she ran, with Makuramon yelling in frustration behind her. The raptor turned and looked back, just to be sure that the monkey wasn't catching up.

And she ran straight into Junon, who had just finished pounding on the hapless Dynamo. Junon cried out in surprise and hit the ground face-first. Zelia fell backwards and gulped hard, almost choking and not catching her breath.

Junon was still on the floor moaning when Zelia took off in another direction. It was then that she remembered Aero and put a claw into her mouth to retrieve his sphere…only to find that it wasn't there.

Hmm? Did I drop him along the way? She wondered. No, I would've heard him call if I did. Unless…

Zelia hiccupped and suddenly stopped, putting both her front claws to her jaws in shock.

Uh-oh! I think I swallowed him!

However, she didn't have much time to think, because the huge shadow of Dynasmon was suddenly looming over her.

WHAM!

 

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“Wha…rarrrgghhh…” Sekata moaned, staring at the world around him. “I…I can't feel my body again! Damn! We must be out of that dimension inside the jug!”

Even though he couldn't move his head, the puppet form of Sekata saw the night sky above with the area he was in surrounded with strange tall buildings and large piles of rubble. Of course, everything looked gigantic to him now that he was smaller.

There was shouting and sounds of explosions all around too, as if a huge battle was going on.

“Sekata?” Zoe's voice called. “You here?”

“Zoe! Gargh! Where are you?” Sekata struggled in vain, unable to produce any sort of movement from his puppet body.

“Must be close by if you can hear me.” Zoe replied. “But if we can't move again, then we must the back in the real world.”

“Yeah, I figured that out.” Sekata spoke. “Then what do we…aaarrggghhh!”

Sekata cried out in surprise as a huge hand grabbed his body and picked him up. It was one of the Devas, Indramon the horse, who'd found him. The gold and purple Deva had morphed his front hooves into a pair of five fingered hands, which he used to handle Sekata's puppet form.

“There you are!” Indramon growled. “I'll need to make use of you.”

“Grrr…let go of me!” Sekata hissed furiously.

“Sekata!” Zoe called after them, although her voice was soon left far behind.

Indramon ignored both of their voices completely and raised the Vritramon puppet. Rocks and stones flew everywhere as Sekata's actual Vritramon body burst out from beneath the rubble, letting off a thunderous roar.

“Gargh!” Indramon ducked as several lasers flew over his head and maneuvered his hovering shell-shaped horn to block the rest. “Vritramon, attack the laser turrets now!”

The fiery dragon did as it was commanded, blasting with its arm-mounted cannons and blowing the lasers apart without too much effort.

“Good. Now I can go after that Lucifer again.” Indramon grinned.

Sekata growled softly, but there was nothing he could do as the horse Deva strode confidently along with both his toy and his actual body in tow. Indramon had taken several steps forward when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and spun around.

“Wha…garghh! Urgghh!” Indramon stuttered, staring into the eyes of his assailant…the Vritramon he thought he had complete control of.

“Sorry, but I'm tired of playing along with your little game.” The towering Vritramon form spoke, grabbing the Deva around the neck. His eyes too, had changed from their yellowish glow back to their normal blue color.

“How? But…but you're in here!” Indramon choked, shaking the puppet in his hand.

“I'm not doing anything!” Sekata's voice sounded from the puppet.

“Oh, wouldn't you like to know?” The Vritramon grinned, tightening his grasp. “Too bad you won't be alive long enough to hear the answer.

Vritramon covered Indramon's mouth and twisted the Deva's neck, breaking it with a deafening snap. Satisfied, he tossed Indramon's lifeless body into the rubble and blew it to ashes with a burst from his laser cannons.

The red dragon then strode over and retrieved the puppet that currently contained Sekata's soul.

“Hey! Who are you?” Sekata demanded. “What are you doing in my body?”

“Oh come on. I'd think that you would be the last dragon in the Digital World to ask me that.” His body replied.

A cold wave of fear and confusion ran through Sekata. That thing was speaking with his own voice, but there was definitely a different tone to it, one very scornful and arrogant. Almost like…

“No…it couldn't be…” Sekata gasped.

“Hahaha, yes it is.” The Vritramon laughed. “Perhaps your mind currently isn't in this body, however mine still is. I just let those Devas think they had control over me.”

“You…” Sekata stared. “You're An…”

“Oh don't spoil the surprise just yet.” Vritramon shoved Sekata's puppet form into his belt pouch and zipped the compartment shut, drowning out all of the puppet Sekata's muffled cries.

With that done, he continued onward and flew to the top of a nearby warehouse to watch the battle. He knew for one thing that this was the night that the full moon would disappear. And when it did, Sekata and the others would be returned to their proper bodies.

For now however, `Vritramon' still had a little time left.

“This is a most interesting scenario indeed.” He remarked, folding his arms. “Now, just to decide where I should come in…”

 

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“Grrr…not again!” A soft voice screeched, obviously very frustrated. “Why am I still stuck like this? AARRGGHH!”

It however, was a voice Dynamo found awfully familiar as he slowly pulled himself to his knees. Junon was on her knees nearby and seemed stunned, but otherwise all right.

“You hear that voice?” Dynamo asked.

“Uh…I believe so.” Junon nodded.

Dynamo's gaze fell upon a small Strikedramon puppet lying in the rubble and he curiously reached out for it.

“Huh? No! Not you!” The `puppet' cried. “Anyone but YOU!”

“Hey, that you in there?” Dynamo wondered, giving the puppet a shake.

“Get your dirty paws off me dammit!”

“But if you're here…” Dynamo continued. “Then…”

“Yo! Whew!” Metallix interrupted, leaping over. “I think I finally lost her.”

“Who?” The black knight glanced around.

With a loud crash, the Strikedramon's actual body burst through a nearby wall, leaving the remains of the stone structure to collapse.

“Or maybe I didn't.” Metallix gulped.

“Hey! That's my body!” The puppet in Dynamo's hand gasped.

Letting off a low growl, the Strikedramon charged. Metallix blocked the first claw swing, and then ducked beneath the swinging tail. Dynamo too had to flip backwards as the commando dragon launched a spinning kick that almost took Metallix off his feet. However, a shoulder charge from the dragon was finally successful in knocking the cyborg wolf to the ground.

“Hmmm…” Dynamo muttered, raising the puppet. “Hold it there you!”

The Strikedramon immediately stopped and remained motionless in its standing position.

“Grrr…you…” The puppet continued its cursing.

“So, that's how they're controlling your bodies, new girl?” Dynamo looked up at the tiny puppet. “Well, I'm pretty exhausted, but I have control of your body now. Better than the Devas using it, eh?”

“Shut up! What are you getting at?”

“Look, since we both have something against the Devas, why don't you tell me where the rest of your friend's puppets are?” Dynamo suggested. “And I can use them against the Devas for you. Something like a truce for now, you know?”

“What? So you can turn us into your slaves once we're done?” The puppet's voice yelled. “Hey I personally know what it's like making alliances with you! And I'm not about to get stabbed in the back by you again! And this would be what? The third time?”

“Erm…again? Third time?” Dynamo shrugged. “Wait a minute, I recognize that tone of voice!”

“After knowing me for so long Dynamo, it's taken you long enough to figure out!”

“Princess? Hey so you are alive after all!”

“You sound so cheerful about it.” Janet's voice hissed.

“Yes…I mean no…I mean…” Dynamo stuttered.

“Mind telling me what's going on here?” Metallix scratched his head with a paw. Unfortunately, he failed to notice the incoming laser blast that knocked a nearby rooftop down and sent it crashing onto his head with a loud scream.

Standing across the courtyard was Zoe's XV-mon form, standing in its battle stance. Behind her was Makuramon, with the toy form of the XV-mon clutched tightly in his hands.

“Those things are ours!” The monkey gave them an angry glance. “I'm the one who got control of their bodies in the first place!”

“Well you ain't getting this one from me so easily!” Dynamo declared, while Junon sat behind and watched the scenario playing out with curiosity.

“Grrr…I hate this!” Janet fumed. “I can't move a muscle and…”

(Jan? Hey Jan, can you hear me?)

“Wha…Zoe? Hey how are you doing that?”

(I seem to have a bit of my powers back for some reason, but nothing major yet.) Zoe telepathically told her. (But I think it's because the spell's effects are wearing off. Remember them talking about finishing the second ritual before the full moon ends? I think that the full moon will disappear pretty soon.)

“And we'll get our real bodies back after that?” Janet whispered, being careful not to let anyone else hear.

(That's what I'm thinking. So it might be in our best interest to keep them occupied.)

“Hmm…I know just how to do that.” Janet muttered. “Hey Dynamo! Not scared of the monkey and his magic tricks are you?”

“What?” Dynamo gasped. “Hey! This pipsqueak doesn't scare me!”

“Oh really? Then why are you trembling?”

“I am NOT!”

“Hey, you're holding me in your hand. Think I wouldn't be able to feel it?”

“Grrr…all right! I've had enough of you monkey-punk!” Dynamo jabbed a finger in Makuramon's direction. “Go get him!”

At his command, Janet's Strikedramon body lunged forward. Makuramon immediately dodged and sent Zoe's XV-mon form to intercept, the two dragons clashing and locking both claws together.

Great, now I've just got to keep provoking Dynamo. Janet thought, watching `herself' and Zoe fighting it out. And hope that my body doesn't cause too much damage to Zoe's.

The currently mindless XV-mon pushed away, ducked beneath its Strikedramon counterpart's arm swing and rammed hard, sending the armored dragon flying into the nearest wall.

On second thought, perhaps I should be hoping that she doesn't cause too much damage to me… Janet sighed inwardly.

 

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“Sukara!” Vikaramon continued to spit out the red energy balls from his mouth, keeping Arkadimon pinned down.

The ancient city's defense systems had suddenly been activated, unfortunately firing indiscriminately at friend or foe. Many of the buildings around them had collapsed, leaving just Vikaramon and Shinduramon to continue the fight with Lucifer and his `pet'.

“Hmmm…these defense systems are impressive, but they're wasting too much of my time.” Lucifer said to himself. “They can't deter me…not when I'm this close. Perhaps I'll have Arkadimon utilize some more of his powers.”

Meanwhile, Shinduramon flew behind Vikaramon and nodded to the boar Deva, a signal that they were going to team up on Arkadimon while Lucifer seemed distracted.

Vikaramon launched another volley of his red energy attack, then moved in with a sudden charge. Arkadimon shifted its stance, however not quickly enough and was tossed into the air where Shinduramon struck with a series of lightning bolts.

The demon roared in fury and crashed to the ground, panting. The two Devas then landed side by side and launched their attacks at the same time.

“Arkadimon! Now!” Lucifer ordered.

Arkadimon braced itself against the ground and opened a section on its chest, drawing the energy attacks right into it, much to the shock of Vikaramon and Shinduramon.

“Go! Dot Matrix!” Lucifer grinned.

The demon's response was a roar accompanied by a powerful energy wave that blurred out everything in sight. Specifically, Arkadimon had been absorbing the Devas' attacks and threw the force back at them, along with some of its own energy.

Both Devas were immediately disintegrated and their remaining data absorbed, drawn into the chest cavity of Arkadimon. The synthetic demon then dropped to one knee, giving off a mournful groan of pain.

“No, get on your feet.” Lucifer ordered, sheathing his sword. “I must have you with enough energy to open the portal!”

With a howl of protest, Arkadimon complied. The creature wasn't entirely invincible as the battle had inflicted some damage on it. Arkadimon had tapped into much of its power reserves to launch the exceptionally powerful Dot Matrix.

In addition, the tests Evza and himself had been performing on the creature to make sure it would be able to open a stable portal had left it noticeably drained. And with it using much more energy than it did at its lower stages, their Arkadimon might not last too long.

But it will be enough. Lucifer told himself. Enough for me to work with.

On a nearby rooftop, Vritramon was crouched low, having watched the entire battle. The red dragon considered jumping in, but instead chose to remain hidden as Lucifer directed Arkadimon to another prominent location.

The ancient structure consisted of three curved pillars, designed like claws and surrounding a circular design in the floor. Lucifer and Arkadimon stepped onto the spot, which rumbled as a hidden elevator activated itself, descending with the pair onboard.

“Hmmm…” Vritramon muttered, before leaping off into the darkness.

 

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“Makuramon Sir, can you hear me?” Antiramon tapped the radio. “I've activated the defense systems, but there are some problems getting control of them. The system's locked me out.”

However, there was nothing but static over the radio.

“Sir, are you there sir?” Antiramon put the radio away with an annoyed glanced.

The rabbit Deva stood in what seemed like a generator room, with a featureless gray generator grinding behind her, giving off loud hisses of steam and metallic hums. In front of that were a table of screens and monitors, all of which Antiramon had painstakingly gotten up and running.

Antiramon was wondering what was happening outside when she sensed another presence in the room and sprang into a battle stance.

“I know you are here.” Antiramon's eyes narrowed.

“Very good.” Evza replied, materializing from the shadows. “It takes one with considerable skills in the magic arts to see through my cloak of darkness.”

“You are not the only one who has studied them intensively.”

“Phantom Pain!” Evza put her palms together and created a dark wave.

“Hurh!” Antiramon nimbly dodged the wave, which simply turned and came back for her. “Ashipatoravana!”

Producing a pair of enchanted axes, the rabbit Deva hurled them into the dark wave, dispersing it completely.

“Nazar Nail!” The Lilithmon brought out her right demon hand from beneath her robes and swung, releasing a crimson red `slashing' projectile.

Once again, Antiramon tossed her twin axes. Unfortunately, the magical weapons bounced off Evza's attack and spun wildly around the room. One of them pierced into the power generator.

With a crackle of electricity, smoke began pouring from the old machine. Both Digimon looked at each other, and then the generator before hastily taking cover.

It was just in time too, for parts of the generator blew up, cutting the power off and plunging the room into darkness.

 

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The raptor was really mad, pulling herself up and growling ferociously. Steve would definitely have felt intimidated if not for his current state of mind.

She has a good reason to be angry with me. Steve thought. Sekata and the others…they all do. I…the Devas…damn they used me to betray them! And I was helpless to stop it! Why…why am I so useless?

The Devas had used him as an experiment after his accident with Arkadimon. They has restored his crippled body and charged him up enough to take his Mega form of Dynasmon.

Steve would've been happy to finally have his Mega, a much more powerful form that he, amongst his friends, had always lacked. But he never wanted to have it this way.

Although they had restored his ability to move, the metallic implants along his spine and various parts of his body were also linked to a sophisticated control mechanism. And with it, the Devas had taken control of every voluntary function of his body.

He had watched helplessly as they used his voice and body to deceive the others, while Steve within was screaming in outrage.

From what he knew, the Devas had him on a sort of `auto-pilot' most of the time, where the control mechanism tapped into his mind and made him behave as `normal'. Steve really didn't know how to describe it. It was as if his mind was sometimes lost in a fog, but he hadn't had any control over himself since the incident.

“There, I still have our Dynasmon's control device.” Steve heard the voice of Majiramon the dragon in his mind. “I see him over there with the raptor. We can use him to take care of her for good!”

“Hey, didn't the boss say something about not using the thing to directly control him too much?” Mihiramon's voice sounded.

“Aw screw him! Let's not waste this chance.”

Steve realized that the pair was probably close by and watching his fight with Zelia. He felt the shocks running through his body, as it was for every time they took direct control of him, and his arms moved.

As he was preparing to use the Dragon's Roar, Zelia rolled to the side and pounced. His body involuntary cried out in pain as Zelia knocked him over. As the two rolled about, Zelia clamped her jaws onto his right hand. With her tail, Zelia whipped at his legs hard, sending waves of pain through his body.

“Grrr…come on! Come on!” Steve's voice sounded, although it was not will of his own, but Majiramon controlling him.

His left hand curled into a fist and repeatedly punched Zelia's head until the raptor was forced to let go. Steve then kicked her across the courtyard, smashing her into a wall.

Zelia came back with blinding speed and rammed him in the chest, taking the wind out of his lungs for a second.

“Come on! How can she be this fast?” `His' voice muttered again. At the same time, Steve started to feel a great strain on his body, as if a wave of exhaustion was suddenly setting in.

“Don't you think you're overdoing it?” Mihiramon asked.

However, Zelia didn't give the duo time to converse any longer as she attacked Steve again. This time, Steve lashed out with a tail whip, followed by a spinning kick that took Zelia down.

Steve pounced on her, pinning the raptor down with his body weight and grasping his right claw around her neck. Zelia hissed and choked, with sparks flying from the metallic components on her head and chest.

His left hand slowly rose up, palm outstretched with the jewel within showing. And it was beginning to charge up for his Dragon's Roar attack.

Zelia stared at him with rage in her eyes, sensing her impending doom and struggling from her life.

“Zelia? Hey what's going on?” It was Katsu's voice, coming from inside a pouch the raptor had around her body.

“Damn! It must be a big battle out there!” Cimons continued. “It's shaking like crazy!”

“Zelia, you all right?” Adrian called. “Hey Zelia!”

“Gargh…garkk…” Zelia grunted, trying to force her words out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve spotted the XV-mon and Strikedramon bodies of Zoe and Janet slashing away at each other. They too had been trapped in puppet bodies and their real forms taken control of to be used for the Devas' battle.

All this…because of me…

Steve felt the charge in his claw growing stronger.

“Rarrghh! Gargghh!” Zelia hissed.

Everyone's…like…this…

The dragon desperately wanted to close his eyes.

No…I don't…want to do this! But…but I can't…can't…do…anything…

Time seemed to stop from everyone but Steve as an object around his neck snapped and fell. Steve's eyes were fixed on the leather choker, whose strap had apparently broken during his struggle with Zelia.

He saw that orange colored keychain, shaped like a sun with patterns, falling…falling and landing on Zelia's forehead.

What did…that represent? A voice seemed to echo in Steve's mind. The voice didn't belong to anyone…not Zelia or his friends, nor his captors.

It was for once…his own.

Courage…that's what it is. That's what I am! Burning Courage! Flamedramon!

With a will he'd never known before, Steve fought back. It seemed like an eternity of struggling, but for the first time in ages, he moved his firing arm. Majiramon and Mihiramon screamed as Steve's stray shot blew them away. However, his shooting didn't stop there, and continued even as Zelia pushed up against him.

Steve briefly remembered blowing a lot of the scenery up, in particular the floor. For the next moment, he was plunging down into the depths. A glittering object was falling together with him…the crest of courage keychain.

What does it represent?