Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Forever to Hold ( Chapter 40 )

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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Forever to Hold

By nightdragon0

 

 

 

“Hargh!” Charged up in his AlForce V-Dramon form, Aero extended the energy sword at his right hand.

Majiramon hardly seemed impressed and brought his claws down. Aero dodged between his hands and slashed his laser weapon, sending an energy wave into his opponent's face.

The dragon Deva hissed furiously and shook the attack off. Aero attempted to move in further, but was met by a strong wind-elemental breath attack from his foe. Even the dragon knight couldn't keep his wings steady, crashed into the ground and left a large crater at his point of impact.

As Aero staggered to his feet, Majiramon began chanting again. A bright flash of light from above prompted Aero to look towards the night sky…just in time to see dozens of white energy beams raining down upon him.

There was no time for him to do anything but activate his left hand's energy shield and brace for the shockwaves to come. And the beams came down hard, immediately forcing Aero to his knees as he struggled to keep his shield up. Flying rock fragments and debris were also thrown into his face and body from all the explosions around, destabilizing him even more.

Guugghhh…I'm still…too exhausted….can't keep this up…much…longer…

A blur of gold suddenly raced past him, winding in between the storm of energy beams. In a mixture of shock and amazement, Aero realized that Zelia had gotten up and was attacking Majiramon.

Although she was taking multiple hits, Zelia somersaulted and let loose with a couple of slashes to the gigantic dragon Deva. Majiramon howled in pain and staggered out of his attack sequence.

“Zelia!” Aero shouted after his fellow knight, who was busy leaping around and slashing at the dragon's head.

Majiramon caught Zelia with a lucky claw swipe, knocking her to the ground and stomping down with his right foot. Zelia was left pinned with her back downwards as the huge dragon pushed harder. By this time, Aero was on the move and stabbed his Alforce Saber into Majiramon's leg.

The Deva kicked Aero away with the affected foot. It gave Zelia time to crawl away, but also sent Aero face-first into the dirt. Battle instinct saved the blue dragon as he rolled to the side, just in time to avoid being smashed by Majiramon's tail.

Unbeknown to the combatants, Sorceress Evza was watching intently from the shadows of a run-down building. Utilizing her magical powers to escape from the generator room had drained her both physically and mentally. Evza needed to rest and recover, and had stumbled upon the battle by chance.

“Grade Slash!” Zelia's golden knight form became a blur of motion as she dashed about, stabbing essential points like Majiramon's shoulders and knees.

“My Zelia, how you've grown.” Evza whispered. “I never thought you would be able to progress this far.”

With their opponent distracted, Aero flew up and gathered what energy he had remaining. The V section on his armor's breastplate glowed with a golden radiance as Aero threw his arms wide open.

“Shinning V Force!” At his command, a brilliant V-shaped beam shot out from his chest, growing large and brighter as it approached Majiramon.

Zelia saw the attack coming and steered clear, but Majiramon took the blast head on. The Deva let off a roar of agony as the beam pierced straight through his chest. However, Majiramon still managed to shoot off two huge bursts from his jaws as he collapsed.

Aero was too exhausted to move and closed his eyes as his impending doom approached.

 

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CLANG! Swords met claws as Janet braced herself against Steve's attack.

We look so similar now. Janet thought. It's strange too…Steve's been apart from us for all this time, and now I feel closer to him than ever.

Steve pushed his claws upwards, knocking Janet's hands away and off balancing her. However, she managed to turn her fall into a backwards flip. The Wargreymon's attack slashed into the empty space Janet had once been at.

It was now Steve's turn to stumble and Janet delivered a hard kick to his chest. She followed that up with a second, then a third kick. Janet was startled when Steve managed to catch hold of her leg, and twisted.

She spun into the air, dropping her swords as she kicked off a wall and somersaulted over Steve's head. Janet received a fist to her chin, then a knee butt to her side. The Gaioumon dropped to her knees, panting, and narrowly evaded Steve's next claw swipe by ducking low to the ground.

Snarling, Janet jumped up and shoved an elbow into Steve's face. Her opponent stumbled, allowing Janet to grab his shoulder and ram his head with her own. The amount of damage it caused to Steve's armored head however, was questionable.

Siavon had been struggling with the pillar pinning him down all this time with little success. Gritting his fangs, the old dragon gathered up his strength for his Gaia Force ability. He didn't channel it at full blast, but the energy burst was enough to shatter the stone pillar.

It was still taking the force of his own attack at close range, and Siavon clamped his jaws shut as the pain coursed through his body. Last thing he needed was for the kids to hear him screaming.

Staggering to his feet, Siavon saw Janet being hurled across the room. She landed with a loud crash amongst the rubble in the corner. Siavon raced across the room and tackled Steve, grasping his hands around Steve's waist and flying up through the hole in the ceiling.

“At least there's more room out here.” Siavon muttered.

Janet retrieved her swords and made her way back to the surface level as well. Siavon had just rammed Steve into the wall of a building and was attempting to subdue him when the younger dragon kicked hard, sending Siavon spinning to the ground.

“You all right?” Janet asked, kneeling by his side.

“I'm fine.” Siavon spat furiously.

Steve too dropped down onto the ground and landed shakily on his feet. Janet and Siavon watched intently as Steve stumbled around, seemingly about to collapse. However at the last moment, Steve held his claws up and begun gathering a blue glow between them. There was an almost watery glow and effect to the huge ball of energy he was holding up.

“Damn it!” Siavon charged up his own attack, his reddish energy glowing in a similar form.

“This is for the best Steve.” Janet crossed her blades as they started to glow with an orange pulse. “I have to do this…for you.”

The three dragons stared at each other for only a moment longer before releasing their respective attacks.

“Poseidon Force!”

“Gaia Force!”

“Gaia Reactor!”

The three huge energy balls collided, and the resulting explosion both deafened and blinded everyone around.

 

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With a yell, Junon ducked between the slashes of Sekata and Zoe, whipping the pair with her ribbon weapons. The two dropped backwards onto the ground and Junon pounced towards Zoe.

Immediately, the Vritramon rolled away, leaving Junon to miss by inches. Sekata was quickly on his feet, and barged Junon's back with his shoulder, sending the pink knight flying.

“Hargh!” Junon broke into a roll and flipped onto her feet.

“Desperado Blaster!” Sekata sprayed Junon with a volley of energy bolts from the blasters at his sides.

Zoe touched her waist to find her own blasters not there, then remembered that she was in a different body now. She locked her current arm-mounted weapons into position and fired.

“Corona Blaster!”

In a blur of motion, Junon dodged the shots left and right. She then sprang into the two, lashing out with her ribbons. Zoe took a hit to the stomach and lurched over in pain, but Sekata managed to swing and catch Junon with a reverse kick.

With a strangled cry, Junon hit the floor, clutching her side.

“Man, you're good no matter what form you're in.” Zoe muttered.

“Not really…” Sekata admitted. “I just have a little more fighting experience.”

A wolf's howl suddenly sounded as Metallix burst out from one of the stones piles, stretching and shaking stone fragments off himself.

“Rargh! I'm tired of things that keep coming down on my head!” The cybernetic wolf complained.

“I see you're finally awake.” Junon tapped his side.

“Yeah, and ready for a grand howl!”

“Then you can help me out here.”

“Oh them?” Metallix turned towards Sekata and Zoe, raising his weapons. “Garuru Burst!”

Multiple sections on the wolf's body opening, revealing missiles that launched and headed straight for the pair. Zoe leapt out in front and aimed her arm-blasters before returning fire. Her shimmering energy bolts contacted every one of Metallix's missiles, causing them to detonate harmlessly in mid-flight.

“What?” The Metal Garurumon X stared.

“And you say I'm good?” Sekata gasped.

“Well…that was using a little of my powers too.” Zoe grinned, scratching her head.

On the opposite side of the courtyard, Dynamo had managed to get to his feet and shakily stumbled over to join the other members of the Royal Knights.

“Damn…Jan really knows how to hit where it hurts.” The dark knight moaned.

“The girl isn't interested in you in case you haven't gotten her point yet.” Junon told him. “Trust me on this one.”

“And what would you know?” Dynamo snapped. “There's just….this thing between us.”

“And that requires you to get hurt like an idiot?”

“Yes…argh…I mean no! Gargh!” Dynamo clutched his head. “Quit picking on me just because you think you're smarter!”

“This looks bad.” Sekata whispered. “We're now outnumbered.”

“We might need our higher forms to take them.” Zoe suggested.

“Well…no, Zoe, let me use Imperialdramon.” Sekata insisted.

“But…”

“You hang on and back me up for now.” Sekata waved a claw over her jaws. “Please, trust me here!”

“All right.” Zoe nodded. “Just don't get overconfident.”

“I won't.” The Paildramon nodded, raising the D-Dragon on his wrist. “Matrix Evolution!”

 

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However, what Aero heard instead was Zelia's scream, and snapped his eyes open to find Zelia hovering in front of him. She'd blocked the attack with her own body. The tattered remains of her cape were flapping amongst her golden armor, which was now battered and charred.

“Zelia! You…” Aero couldn't find his voice as he stared in horror. The AlForce V-Dramon landed on his feet and caught Zelia in his arms as the Grademon fell.

“This is…one of the things I owe you.” Zelia managed a grin from beneath her reptilian helmet.

“Hang on! Please!” Aero begged, not noticing that Majiramon's body was still moving.

“Why should it matter so much?” Zelia spoke, slowly shifting back into Raptordramon form. “I'm different from you and the others…”

“It doesn't matter to me!” Aero's grip tightened. “What matters is that you're someone special to me! Someone I care about!”

“Aero…I truly thank you for your concern. But there are things…many things you don't know about me.”

“I've always had my suspicions.” Aero agreed. “But now I know for certain…”

“Indeed, what you believe is true. She is not a true living Digimon in a sense.” A somber female voice cut in.

Aero brought his head up to see Evza standing close-by, amongst the rubble. Although he didn't have the energy to draw his sword, Aero sensed that the Sorceress was not looking for a fight.

“Mistress…” Zelia muttered.

“You…you're the one who…” Aero started.

“Yes, I was the one who created Zelia in a matter of speaking.” Evza explained. “Or more specifically, brought her back from the dead.”

“So…that's it…” Zelia nodded.

“Having to keep her body cool, and all those instruments in her circuitry…” Aero added in.

“You were the first of my experiments, delving deep into both the fields of science and sorcery. However, there were flaws, in particular with your memories and your ability to express emotions.” Evza closed her eyes. “Only the most basic of those could be imparted onto you back then. I never dreamed that you would be able to progress this far.”

“But why?” Aero demanded. “How can you have such disregard for life that you could do this to her?”

“It's a feeling you will never understand.” Evza's eyes seemed glow ablaze as she spoke. “When you are a mother who'd just lost her entire family…all except for one.”

“Wha…what?” Aero stuttered.

“Yes…a mother who could not bear to let go of her daughter.” The sorceress continued. “One who once hoped against hope that she would be able to speak to her daughter again. One who turned to the path of dark arts just for that chance.”

“And you have, for now I truly speak with you again.” Zelia fought against exhaustion to look Evza in the eye. “Mother…”

“I believed for so long that I'd lost your father and brother as well…until I saw him here.” Evza reached into her robes and pulled out a circular, golden locket. “But alas, I have traveled too far down this dark path. There is no turning back for me now.”

“Mother…”

“Forgive me, my dear Zelia.” Evza dropped the locket on the ground. “I just…desired this chance to bid you farewell.”

“And so do I.” Zelia replied.

A sudden moaned interrupted the reunion as Majiramon raised his head, opening his jaws to fire.

“Phantom Pain!” Evza threw open her arms and sent off a dark cloud of energy.

Majiramon choked as the cloud surrounded his face and entered his open mouth. An internal explosion from the energies built up there blew his head into bloody chunks of flesh and bone, leaving the headless dragon body to sink to the ground.

 

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“Ugh…” Siavon opened his eyes and pulled himself into a sitting position. His ears were still ringing and his head hurt like hell, but he was alive at least.

Blinking to clear his vision, Siavon glanced around at the surroundings, trying to get his bearings.

The combined explosion had certainly made a big mess of things, with buildings within a large radius reduced to rubble. He noticed some movement to the left side and discovered Janet, who'd returned to her normal Strikedramon form.

“How are you feeling?” Siavon queried.

“I'm fine.” Janet nodded as she lay down. “Just let me rest…for a while…”

“Understood.”

“Where's Steve? Have you seen him?”

“Hmm…” Leaving Janet, Siavon stood up and paced around the area, keeping an eye out for any signs of movement.

A soft moaning alerted the black armored dragon and he started digging with his hands. When the moan turned into a snarl, Siavon quickly jumped away. What he'd found hadn't been exactly what he had been looking for.

“Grr…” Mihiramon the tiger Deva got shakily to his feet.

“Crap, it's that tiger again!” Janet cursed. “Siavon, watch out for him! He's one of the Devas!”

“Damn, you're back to normal already?” Mihiramon muttered, glancing from Janet to Siavon.

“I can take him.” Siavon insisted. “Come on! Give me your best shot!”

“All right! You asked for it!” Mihiramon pounced.

Siavon stepped to the side, leaving the tiger to crash into the ground. Undaunted, Mihiramon charged again and Siavon repeated the stunt. This time, Mihiramon managed to keep his balance, but Siavon simply delivered a spin kick that threw the tiger aside.

Mihiramon sprang up and swung his tail, which flashed and turned into a Nunchuck-style weapon. Siavon started dodging left and right, slowly being forced to back away. The tiger felt that he'd gained the advantage and continued to attack, pushing Siavon towards the wall of a building.

Once Siavon had his back to the wall, Mihiramon swung his tail weapon hard. That was the moment Siavon had been waiting for, and jumped up to avoid the blow. Mihiramon's tail smashed into the wall, missing Siavon completely.

Since Siavon was already in the air, he pushed off the wall and flipped forward, stomping on Mihiramon in the landing process.

Dusting his claws off, Siavon smirked with satisfaction. Behind him, loud creaking and cracking sounds came up as the wall began to fall to pieces. All of a sudden, Siavon's smile faded as he noticed another figure close to the building.

“Gargh…” A Flamedramon was groaning, balancing unsteadily on all fours.

“NO! Steve! Watch out!” Siavon yelled.

He barely even thought before sprinting across the path and throwing himself beneath the damaged wall, protecting Steve's body with his own. Seconds later, the wall came down, stirring up a huge cloud of dust.

Mihiramon coughed and blinked as the dust cleared. Siavon was partially trapping under the rubble, still crouched protectively over Steve.

 

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With a thunderous roar and a blinding flash of light, Sekata had assumed the larger and more draconic form of Imperialdramon (Dragon Mode). He stamped the ground and hissed, causing the enemy trio to back away from the quadruped dragon.

This is Zoe's form. Sekata reminded himself. I'm still in her body. But she can at least use Imperialdramon without restrictions…unlike me…

“Being bigger don't change nothing!” Metallix snarled, opening the hidden missile section on his chest. “Garuru Tomahawk!”

“Argent Fear!” Junon fired a burst from her shield, the Pile Bunker.

“Judecca Prison!” Dynamo did likewise with an energy shot from his shield.

The three attacks combined into a brilliant laser that Sekata took in the shoulder, instinctively turning his head to the side. The dragon was pushed back several feet, his claws digging into the ground and leaving tracks in their wake.

With a mighty roar, Sekata shoved against the laser, throwing it off and dispersing it, much to the astonishment of the enemy party.

“It doesn't change anything.” Sekata agreed. “But it certainly helps! Positron Laser!”

The two knights and the wolf were forced to scatter as Sekata blew a large crater in the scenery. Metallix bounded to the side and sprayed Sekata's rear right thigh with a freezing breath. The dragon hissed furiously and whipped the cyber wolf off with his tail. However, the frostbite left his leg muscles stinging.

“Hey, remember how it's always the knight who slays the dragon?” Dynamo jumped out, brandishing his lance at Sekata. “Demon's Disaster!”

The dark knight thrust forward with a fury of lance attacks. Sekata ignored the pain in his leg and jumped away, allowing him to avoid most of the strikes.

“That's just in the fairy tales.” Sekata responded with a growl.

He slammed a paw down and unfortunately missed Dynamo, who skipped out of the way and dashed around Sekata's front claw. Dynamo lashed out with a lance thrust that narrowly missed Sekata's face as he bent his neck to the side. Sekata quickly swung his free claw and knocked Dynamo back.

Junon had been preparing to attack as well, but was cut off by Zoe. Still in Sekata's Vritramon body, she grabbed Junon from the rear in a chokehold. The two struggled for a while before Junon managed to throw Zoe forward.

The armored dragon went into a 180 degrees spin and landed on her hands, flipping forward onto her feet. However, the maneuver left her rear exposed and Zoe received a kick in the back for it. Zoe growled and swung her tail, which Junon easily ducked under.

The pink knight then threw a punch that Zoe scrambled to block. She successfully knocked Junon's hand away and returned the attack, her fist catching Junon at the chin. Zoe took advantage of the knight's resulting stumble and kicked her backwards.

Junon quickly steadied herself and prepared her ribbon weapons. Zoe too remembered Sekata's huge dragon sword and pulled it out, although its weight felt unfamiliar in her claws. Staring each other in the eye, the two charged like blurs of light and clashed, sparks flying as their weapons contacted.

The pair then landed on opposite sides of the courtyard with their back to each other. Almost immediately, Zoe dropped to her knees, clutching her side. Junon remained standing for much longer. Then, sparks suddenly erupted from her side and Junon went down with a scream.

“Ha…gottcha…” Zoe grinned, panting.

“Damn…it…” Junon cursed.

“Come on, we can take them!” Sekata called, moving into position to stand beside Zoe.

“Ugh…well I'll show you!” Dynamo reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a grenade.

“Watch out!” Zoe yelled, diving to the side.

Sekata wasn't as quick to move and the explosive device detonated at his feet. The grenade released a wave of purple energy that crackled around Sekata's body, causing the dragon to howl in pain.

“Rargh! Gargh! What's…going….on?” Sekata cried.

The pain soon subsided…but so did all the feelings in his body. Sekata struggled and realized that he couldn't speak or move a muscle as the purple energy continued to course throughout his body.

“What the heck was that?” Metallix asked.

“Those energy waves interfere with mechanical systems.” Dynamo explained. “Any of any type too, including those of partially cybernetic Digimon like Imperialdramon.”

“Sekata!” Zoe called.

The larger dragon managed several grunts and groans, but couldn't get anything else out. Even though his eyes were simply glowing red lights with no visible pupils, Zoe could sense the genuine fear from her friend. She had to do something to help him…but what?

 

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By the time Aero had taken in all of this and blinked, Evza had once again disappeared into the shadows.

“Don't cry for me, my friend.” Zelia reached up and wiped the side of Aero's face. “Now I know…the truth at least.”

The armored knight pulled his helmet off and tossed it aside, wiping his eyes. The locket was lying, half open, on the floor nearby and Zelia pulled it with her other claw, glancing intently at a photograph fixed within it.

“Zelia…I…” Aero simply couldn't find the words.

“You don't have to speak for me to know what you want to say.” Zelia stroked his face again. “I know it in my heart. Even though I had to die and come back to life…it was worth it…just to meet you.”

“I've…never felt this way before…” Aero sniffed. “Not since…Alicia…”

“I'm sorry for reviving that pain within you.” Zelia's voice was growing softer. “I've already died once…can't be that bad all together. But perhaps things happen for a reason, as you put it once. Here, please take this.”

Zelia touched her chest and a blue energy sphere begun to form within her claw. Aero stared at the blue and red rings within the sphere and realized that this was a copy of the X-antibody. Zelia's forms had been enhanced with its energy all along.

The AlForce V-Dramon clasped her claw in his own, feeling the soft glow of the X-antibody flowing into his Digivice and his body.

“I am…glad to have met you too.” Aero told her. “No matter how the times separated us…I…I truly enjoyed those days with you.”

“Life is too precious, yet fragile…but still, it becomes a joy when we make the most of what we have. Even if it was for a while…I felt like I truly….lived again.” Zelia coughed. “Promise me, Aero…”

“Any thing.” The dragon knight squeezed her claw with both hands.

“Live on…in this world…for me…” Zelia's head dropped back, and fell limply into Aero's arms.

“Zelia?” Aero whispered, shaking the raptor's body. “Zelia? No, please Zelia! Zelia! No! NO! ZZZZZEEEEEELLLLIIIIIAAAAA!”

The dragon warrior's anguished cry rang far out into the night, echoing through the remains of the ancient city.

Zelia's locket slipped from her claw and landed face up, opening itself in the mud. Contained within was a Digital Photograph with four figures in it. There was Evza, who was a Lilithmon, and by her sides were a V-dramon, a Champion level blue dragon, and a velociraptor who was recognizable as a Raptordramon without the wings and cybernetic enhancements.

And the last figure, standing a little off to the side, was a BlackWargreymon.

 

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“Oh no…ugh…” Janet tried to stand, but she was too far away and her aching body wouldn't allow it.

“Hey old man.” Steve panted. “What was that…for?”

“Shut up.” Siavon replied. “I'll take it that you're all right then?”

“Thanks to you.”

“Well, I'm glad.”

“Humph, you're such a fool.” Mihiramon taunted, approaching slowly. “Why risk your warrior's pride to save the kid? Now I've got you just where I want you…”

“Grrr…” Siavon glanced down and closed his eyes.

Then, a barely noticeable grin came across his face.

“Now's your chance then.” Siavon spoke. “Finish me off. Kill me and the clan will be all yours.”

“Huh? Wha?” Mihiramon stared, scratching his head in bewilderment.

“Hurry up! Or are you afraid?”

“I…ar….” The tiger glanced around, as if expecting someone to start giving out orders.

“Then allow me to ask you something first.” The BlackWargreymon turned away. “Do you know what you will lose if you defeat me? I will tell you that it is something truly precious.”

“What…what is it?”

“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.”

“True strength?” Mihiramon asked. “Is that it? Then where…where does true strength come from?”

“Do you really want to know?” Siavon turned his head to face the tiger. “I will tell you. True strength….true strength…is love.”

“Love? Wha…?” Mihiramon stood dumbfounded for a while, then lowered his tail and dropped to his knees whilst clutching his head. “Oh no! How could I not have realized!”

Tears were streaming from the tiger's eyes as he continued.

“You've truly…opened my heart! I'm…I'm the one who's lost! I'm…I'm such a useless Digimon! WWWWAAAHHH!”

“Even you may be able to find true strength one day. Keep looking, long and hard enough within yourself.” Siavon wiggled himself out of the rubble, carrying Steve in his arms.

The BlackWargreymon turned and gave Mihiramon one final glance before walking away.

“Indeed…it is…true love.” Siavon finished, deliberately speaking loudly enough for Mihiramon to hear.

The tiger Deva lay there and continued sobbing as Siavon approached Janet's position, where the Strikedramon had managed to get to her feet.

“Ugh…that was a nice one old man.” Steve muttered.

“Yeah, seriously.” Janet agreed.

“Humph.” Siavon huffed.

“That is, a nice, perfect repetition of every line from the last scene from the movie, The Legend of Ou Ryuumon.” Steve continued.

“Grugh!” Siavon choked as his eyes went wide. A large sweatdrop also appeared at the side of his head.

“That movie?” Janet cut in. “It was more like a soap opera really. Hey, I didn't know you were into this kind of thing Siavon.”

The sweatdrop at Siavon's head grew bigger.

“Yeah, and I thought you really hated mushiness old man.” Steve smirked.

“Grrr…shut up.” Siavon dropped Steve into Janet's arms. “And let's just get out of here.”

“Hey old man.” Steve called. “I've got the second part back at base. Want me to lend you a copy later?”

“I am going to take a deep breath, and pretend I never heard any of this.” Siavon growled as he walked ahead.

“Siavon!”

“Relax…and breathe…” Siavon clenched his fists. “Breathe in…and out. Breath in…and out…”

 

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“Makuramon, Sir?” Antiramon fumbled with her radio to no avail. She was not receiving a signal from the other end.

Sighing, the female Deva turned to survey her situation. She was in an underground passageway, having fled there when the generator had blown up earlier. Evza had long since disappeared from sight, leaving her alone in the darkness, lit only the light of her torch.

With no way to receive any more orders, Antiramon continued down the corridor. Up ahead, she sensed voices and slowly dimmed her light to avoid detection. Peering around the corner, she gasped at the spectacle before her.

“Lucifer…” Antiramon whispered. “Is he opening the seal already?”

Arkadimon Ultimate stood in the hallways beyond, almost motionless in the dim lighting. However, what he was standing in was a circle of runes engraved into the ground. Those runes were glowing with a purplish light as Arkadimon slowly moved its hands about. Lucifer stood behind the huge demon, pointing and giving directions to the creature.

“Those chants…” Antiramon mimicked the motions with her hand. “Gate…Open…Darkness? So, this is the portal to the CHAOS…”

The rabbit Deva was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Lucifer had suddenly vanished from the scene. That was, until he sprang out from the shadows and grabbed her in a chokehold from behind, holding his sword to her throat.

“I'm quite impressed that you managed to follow me all this way.” The fallen angel spoke. “Hmm…I sense that you bear the powers of a priestess, do you not?”

“Urgh…” Antiramon said nothing, but choked as Lucifer tightened his grip.

“Then perhaps you can help me with completing this ritual.” Lucifer grinned. “And I strongly suggest that you agree to my terms…”

 

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Zoe's mind raced desperately as the enemy trio approached. Sekata was basically a sitting duck for them now.

I can take them if I have to. Zoe told herself, tightening her grip on the Ryuukonken sword. But why am I shaking? I'm not that frightened…am I?

She then looked down and realized the reason behind it was that the sword was trembling in her hands. Curious, Zoe closed her eyes and focused her thoughts towards it. There was definitely some strange power, and a strong one, dwelling within.

Suddenly, she heard a roar in her mind's eye and `saw' an armored, four-legged dragon rushing towards her. Zoe couldn't catch much, but she did note the Greymon-style helmet and that his body was shrouded with flames.

Gasping, she forced her eyes open and realized that she was now holding the sword outwards in a horizontal position, with one hand on the hilt and the other palm pressed flat against the blade. As she watched, flames begun to glow from within until they covered the blade completely.

Zoe panicked slightly and almost lost her grip when the flames ran over her claws. However, her current Vritramon body was mostly unaffected by them. Instead, she felt a strong energy growing.

Changing her grip so that both claws were on the hilt now, Zoe raised the weapon as the flames formed into an orange draconic head. She then pointed the sword towards Sekata and brought it down. As the blade moved, so did the flames, which formed into a huge column led by the dragon's head.

Like a serpentine Eastern-style dragon, the flames flew and coiled around Sekata's body, turning blue as they did. Startled, the Royal Knights all stopped and shielded their faces from the blinding light.

The blue energy swirled about, `snapping' off the purple bonds like chains. Sekata roared and shook the last of the paralyzing feelings off, replacing those with a new surge of power running through his veins.

“Imperialdramon, Mode Change! Fighter Form!”

The dragon mode of Imperialdramon morphed slightly, moving to stand upright on two legs. The front paws shifted to become wrist-guards, revealing five-fingered claws beneath. The back mounted cannon moved to his right wrist instead and the dragon's head shifted down onto the chest, revealing an armored humanoid face with a crown-like headgear. Others features, including the tail, the armor color and the red, leathery wings, remained as they were before.

“Harh!” Sekata positioned himself with the cannon supported by both wrists and fired. “Positron Laser!”

BOOM! BOOM! Huge clouds of dust were thrown up as the Royal Knights dodged the laser shots.

“You're all right!” Zoe cried happily, putting a hand on his shoulder. The Imperialdramon seemed to have shrunk a little in this mode, but he was at least a head or so taller than Vritramon.

“Thanks to you.” Sekata returned the smile.

“You should thank this thing really.” Zoe held the sword up.

“Hmmm…” Sekata frowned inwardly. Unless Zoe had discovered some hidden power that he hadn't, it probably meant that AncientGreymon was involved. As much as he hated to admit it, the ancient dragon had pretty much saved his butt again.

“Hey, we're not through with you yet!” Junon shouted.

Dynamo and Metallix were beside her, readying their respective weapons. Sekata nodded to Zoe as they too took up battle stances.

“Bring it on then!” Sekata growled.

This time, the stare down was abruptly interrupted by an odd rumbling.

“You feel that?” Metallix whispered.

“Yeah, the ground's shaking.” Dynamo agreed.

“There's one more thing too.” Junon added in. “All the automated weapons that were firing at us earlier are gone now. The city's systems must've shut down.”

“This can't be good…” Zoe muttered as Sekata and herself took several steps back.

Huge cracks began appearing in the ground before they gave way to a huge circular hole. Immediately, dark black energy poured out it as a claw clamped onto the edge with a metallic clang.

“Is that…” Sekata stared. “No…”

The creature beneath pulled itself onto the surface, revealing itself as a muscular, demonic figure. Its body was mostly light gray with purple claws on the right hand and tentacles on the left. It sprouted two pairs of bat-like wings and a batch of purple hair on its head. However, it was the featureless face and the mouth-like opening on its chest that gave it away.

Arkadimon, in its Mega form.

 

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“This is it! This is what I've been searching for!” Lucifer declared.

Arkadimon had apparently gone out of control after the ritual and had blasted its way to the surface, possibly in search of prey. But the demon had served its purpose and the portal was open. He didn't have the time to worry about anything else for now.

Antiramon watched from a corner of the room as she struggled to free her hands. She had been forced to help Lucifer with the final incantations and had been chained to a nearby pillar thereafter.

“If only I had more time to study these fascinating phenomena.” Lucifer said softly.

From what Antiramon could see, the circle of runes had changed into a black void, which occasionally spewed out dark streams of energy. Lucifer was standing on front of the portal and waited until one of those energy streams poured out. The fallen angel quickly caught it in his hand and held it towards the portal.

The raw energy in his hand solidified and formed into a large crystal.

“A fragment of the CHAOS itself.” Lucifer grinned.

“But what would that help to do?” Antiramon questioned.

“To lead me to my quarry of course. Beyond this portal lies a great void of emptiness, and somewhere within awaits CHAOS in its dominant state. This crystal, formed from the energies of CHAOS, will guide me through the void….”

A sudden shaking caused Lucifer to stumble and accidentally slam the crystal against the wall, breaking off several shards from it. Antiramon noted with interest that one landed right by her foot, but continued talking.

“Then do you seek to harness the energies of CHAOS for yourself? From what I've heard, many have tried and some have succeeded. However those that did were driven completely insane by its dark energies.”

“Indeed, it is the lessons of the past that allow us to plot the future.” Lucifer straightened up and adjusted his coat. “My plans for the CHAOS differ from that of my ancestors. I intend to keep my mind intact and leave the void.”

“The CHAOS is said to be a collection of all the dark energies in the void, plus the energies of those who have fallen to it.” Antiramon recalled. “It cannot be controlled by mortal means. Instead, it will become the entity that controls us.”

“You Devas seem to know this, and yet you still intended to steal it from me.” Lucifer looked back.

“My leader does not understand this entirely.”

“And you continue to aid him in this endeavor?”

“I…”

“Most interesting indeed.” Lucifer gave the rabbit Deva one final glance, then held out his CHAOS fragment and stepped through the portal.

Antiramon then used her toes to grab the crystal shard by her feet and tossed it into her hands. The Deva proceeded onto the daunting task of trying to free herself from her bonds.

 

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“Aero!” Janet called.

The bruised Aero V-dramon stumbled over to their party, carrying Zelia's raptor body in his arms.

“We're glad that you made it too!” Janet panted, gesturing towards Steve, who was being supported by Siavon. “Steve's been freed from the Devas' control now, and…”

Aero was barely listening and seemed lost in his own world.

“Aero?” Janet asked softly. “Are you…”

“I'm all right.” Aero breathed. “But, she's…”

“Oh no…” Janet realized, running a claw over Zelia's limp body.

“Man...I barely even knew her.” Steve muttered, hobbling over to Janet. “This is all my fault.”

“No, you couldn't have had any control over it.” Aero replied. “She was my responsibility…and she ended up protecting me instead.”

Siavon then approached and stood silently, starting down at Zelia.

“You're here too Siavon?” Aero queried.

“Yes. She…called me to help.” Siavon explained.

“Could she have known?” Aero whispered.

“Known what?”

“This.” Aero held the locket out. “Does this seem any bit familiar at all?”

Siavon took hold of the locket, staring long and hard at the photograph contained within. When he looked up however, Siavon spotted the dark, gothic figure of Evza perched on a nearby rooftop.

She was out of everyone's line of sight other than Siavon's, almost as if calling out to him.

“Stay here, I'll be back soon.” Siavon clenched his fist around the locket before dashing off without another word.