Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Dorugoramon Reborn ( Chapter 41 )

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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Dorugoramon Reborn

By nightdragon0

 

 

 

“Not this thing again!” Zoe muttered, tightening the grip on her sword.

Why did he have to show up now? Sekata cursed as he raised his arm-blaster and fired. The Positron Laser had very little effect on Arkadimon other than causing it to roar in frustration. What now? I can't take it by myself…

“Zoe…” Sekata turned his head to face the Vritramon, a form he'd become so accustomed to calling himself.

“If it's me you're worried about, then you shouldn't.” Zoe said, voicing his thoughts. “We all know the risks. Even if you have feelings for me on a personal level, don't let those get in the way.”

Zoe wasn't even sure of the last part until it was out of her jaws. But by then, Sekata had turned to stare at her.

“I do, really.” He admitted slowly. “But it's not like that…”

Arkadimon roared again and lashed out with its tentacles, smashing them into the ground and shattering the pavement. Both Sekata and Zoe jumped away with their weapons ready.

The three Royal Knights had taken several steps back as well and watched as Arkadimon attacked again.

“Damn, why does that thing get to have all the fun?” Dynamo whined.

Sekata and Zoe had apparently backed far away enough, and Arkadimon turned to face the dark knight.

“Hey, what the?”

“Argent Fear!” Junon fired a shot from her Pile Bunker into the demon's face. “I highly doubt that anyone's in control of it now. It must be attacking on sight.”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Metallix braced himself on all fours and opened his weaponry section. “Garuru Burst!”

“Hargh!” Dynamo slid around Metallix's missile blasts and hacked at Arkadimon's tentacles. “Yeah, take that!”

However, the dark knight's smile quickly faded as Arkadimon simply regenerated its severed tentacles.

“You know, we outta get out of here.” Metallix said nervously.

“Lord Lucifer is still here.” Junon insisted. “It would be a disgrace to run!”

“Well we won't do him any good by letting his little pet tear us to pieces.” Dynamo interrupted. “The doggy actually has a point. Let's fall back for now!”

“…”

“Hurry, while it's distracted.” Dynamo gestured towards Sekata and Zoe, who were attacking Arkadimon with their ranged attacks.

“You can go if you want to, but I…” Junon began.

“All right, you're gonna hate me for this lady.” Dynamo folded his arms. “But this is for your own good!”

“Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!” Junon screeched as Dynamo grabbed his fellow knight and threw her over his shoulder.

“I've always wanted to rescue a princess like in those fairy tales.” Dynamo told Metallix, who snickered.

“Unhand me this instant!” Junon yelled, pounding on Dynamo's shoulder.

“Sorry, no can do princess.” Dynamo called as he ran with Junon over his shoulder and Metallix behind him.

Old princess. Jan… Dynamo thought. So, you're alive after all. Well, if you survive this, then we'll meet again. Until then…

 

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“What? Are they running?” Sekata gestured.

“Looks like it.” Zoe replied. “I suppose it's typical of them.”

“But notice how it attacked them too, even when unprovoked?”

“Yes. Probably means that they've lost control of it.” Zoe agreed. “Don't know if it's good news or bad news.”

“Possibly both! Move it!” Sekata jumped away as Arkadimon snapped its tentacles, sending shockwaves across the ground. He fired a burst of Positron Lasers at its knees and ankles, stopping the beast dead in its tracks.

Next, Zoe hit it with a spray of Corona Blaster bolts, setting its shoulders and arms on fire. The demon went down on its knees and roared, shaking the flames off.

Sekata and Zoe watched intently as Arkadimon slowly clambered back onto its feet.

“Our attacks didn't work?” Zoe gasped.

“They're doing damage, just not enough.” Sekata frowned. “Watch out! Dot Matrix incoming!”

Zoe got the hint as the demon opened its chest cavity, revealing a bright light within. The pair dove to opposite sides as the white burst tore down the path, leaving a long trail of destruction in its wake.

“Ugh…” Sekata cringed, watching as Arkadimon closed its chest cavity. “Hold on, you get what I'm thinking Zoe?”

“Hit it when it opens its chest?”

“Precisely.” Sekata grinned. “But we'll need all the power we can get. Think you can handle Kaiser Greymon's form?”

“Just watch me.” Zoe nodded.

“All right, I'll distract him till he gets ready to fire again. When he does, infuse the sword with your flames and stick it in his chest. I'll send a laser through afterwards and he's done for!”

“Waiting on you!” Zoe called, raising her…actually Sekata's D-Dragon. “Hyper Spirit Evolution!”

Got to finish this quick, before Zoe accidentally uses too much of the counter. Sekata thought as the flames enshrouded his companion. One shot…that's all we need!

Sekata lowered his body and charged forward. Arkadimon reacted exactly as Sekata had anticipated and extended its tentacles to stop him.

“Splendor Blade!” Sekata slashed first with his left, then right claws. The attack created a twin wave of energy that ripped the tentacles to shreds. He ploughed into the demon afterwards, pounding away at its head.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sekata spotted Zoe closing in. She was in his Kaiser Greymon form, sword in hand and ready. Sekata planted his feet against Arkadimon's body and kicked off, sending himself into an upwards spin.

Right on cue, Zoe activated the Ryuukonken's ability, opening its blade and firing out a burst of energy bolts. Arkadimon howled as the bolts pounded its armored body.

Still in the air, Sekata turned so that he could aim his wrist-mounted cannon down and pulled the trigger.

“Positron Laser!”

The blue lasers rained down on Arkadimon, leaving the demon staggering about unsteadily. Letting off a low growl, the demon faced the pair and opened its chest cavity.

“That's what we've been waiting for! Go for it!” Sekata ordered, dashing to the side and firing.

Arkadimon moved as the shots sent dirt and concrete flying all around, but remained with its chest open and the light charging within. Suddenly, Zoe leapt in from the other side, clutching her sword tightly.

The weapon began glowing with a fiery aura as she let it fly. And it struck its mark, hitting the left side of the chest, where the demon's heart would've been. Sekata rolled forward and fired without hesitation.

Again and again, his shots pounded the demon at his weak point, sending electrical charges coursing throughout its entire body. The built-up energies then accumulated until the point where a huge explosion occurred, forcing Sekata and Zoe to shield their eyes.

“Did we get it?” Zoe stumbled over to Sekata's side.

“Don't know…” Sekata half squinted towards Arkadimon's last known position, which was now a wall of flames. He could make out some of the rubble, and….wait…something was…

The blast came without warning. Both dragons were caught off guard and hurled dozens of feet across the courtyard as the blast shattered the buildings around them.

In the blink of an eye, Sekata found himself kneeling amongst a newly created set of ruins and gritting his fangs in pain. Parts of his armor had literally been torn off, including both shoulder pads, the left leg armor, the horns of the crown and the plates around his stomach area. He was bleeding too, feeling as much as smelling the warm blood on his hands and body.

His red, leathery Imperialdramon wings had been reduced to tatters, further adding to his agony.

Zoe was slumped against a nearby wall, but had her eyes open. She didn't look much better than him, with the shoulder and body armor of her right side almost completely gone. The scales beneath were not only bleeding, but singed as well.

“What…what…happened?” Sekata managed.

Zoe could only shake her head and point in the direction of the flames. Battered, but still upright, Arkadimon lumbered into view, shaking various pieces of rubble off itself. The sword was still stuck in its chest, or at least it seemed like.

In horror, Sekata realized that the sword had not pierced deeply into the chest. Instead, it had gotten caught in the chest cavity's armored covering and stuck there. Arkadimon exhaled, opened its chest and allowing the sword to drop out.

The Ryuukonken clattered against the ground with an ominously loud and depressing clang.

“I'm sorry…” Zoe whispered, struggling against the pain to move.

Sekata clenched his fists as he stared up at the approaching Arkadimon.

 

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“Wait you!” Siavon flew up onto the rooftop and glanced around. There seemed to be no sight of the female Digimon from earlier, but the BlackWargreymon certainly knew better. “Hmm…”

A flicker of movement caught his eye and Siavon glided across the rooftop. The dragon warrior had retrieved his single claw weapon before their party had met up with Aero, and he now brought it out, holding it pointed menacingly towards the other Digimon.

Evza stood calmly, seemingly unconcerned about the deadly Chrome Digizoid claw that was held inches away from her face. Siavon glared straight into her cold eyes, panting and hesitating awkwardly.

“You seem to be expecting an answer.” The Lilithmon spoke. “However, a question has to come first.”

“You…” Siavon grasped the locket by its chain and let it drop open. “This photograph…I have to know about it. I can recognize myself anywhere, particularly because of the scar. But the others…”

“It's been a long time. Many, many years since that fateful riot at Kencric.” Evza remarked. “But you don't remember that, do you?”

“Grrr…” Siavon clenched his other fist, with his clawed hand trembling.

“It's so much like your old self, the time when I first found you, washed up on the shore that day. You had no memories, no knowledge of anything. Nothing but the scar on your chest…”

Silently, Siavon ran his free hand across the affected section of his chest armor.

“And I helped out. At first, I promised to aid in seeking out your lost memories. But soon, it turned into far more than just that. It turned into them.” Evza pointed towards the locket.

Siavon was confused at first, but he soon realized that Evza had been referring to the other two figures in the picture. As his thoughts drifted, Siavon suddenly realized that Evza was gone and whirled around to face her again.

“You did your best in supporting the three of us.” Evza continued. “But in the end, you were always a little wayward. Perhaps it was that sealed portion of your memories that troubled you. And perhaps they were never meant to be unsealed.”

“All these…” Siavon muttered. “Why me? What keeps me from knowing?”

“I can only reveal to you the memories of the times we shared together.” Evza started walking to the side. “They are all as clear as crystal to me…from our first meeting till the day of the riot, the day that both of them were lost. It seemed then that you had died protecting them, but fate had you survive until now.”

“Tell me!” Siavon demanded. “Tell me everything you know!”

“It would take far too long right now. But seek me out later.” Evza tossed a small, glowing crystal into Siavon's hand. “Your heart will guide you.”

“My heart…”

A deafening explosion suddenly rang out, causing the building to shake and leaving the two clinging on to the roof's railing for support.

“Arkadimon's power has reached its maximum.” Evza remarked. “But until you understand its darkness as your own, the way to its defeat will remained sealed to you.”

Siavon glanced down from his position and realized that his companions were in trouble. Once again, he had forgotten and taken his eyes off Evza. By the time he even thought of looking up, Evza had slipped away again.

He was now left with the locket, her crystal and a strange, forbidding invitation.

Will this lead the way? He wondered. Rest assured, I'll seek you out. If you truly do have the answers to all my questions, then perhaps…

However, the BlackWargreymon pushed those thoughts aside and leapt off the roof. For now, there was a battle awaiting his entry.

 

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Arkadimon was closing in fast, regenerating its tentacles along the way. There seemed to be no hope for the two battered dragons until a flash of light tackled the demon, throwing it to the side.

“How'd you like that Strike Fang?” Janet taunted, stepping in front of Sekata and Zoe. “You guys all right? We came running when we saw the explosion.”

“Thanks Jan.” Sekata breathed. “Hmm? We?”

“That's right!” A small wave of fire appeared between Arkadimon and the party as Steve leapt into view. “Hey guys…”

“Steve?” Zoe looked up.

“He's back on our side now.” Janet grinned.

“Hell yeah. It's great to be back on the winning team.” The aforementioned Flamedramon nodded. “I guess I owe you guys big time. And I hope I can repay a little of that debt by taking this thing out. Plus, I have a score to settle…”

“We'll do it together this time.” Janet raised her Strikedramon claws. “There's no `I' on this team. I learnt that the hard way from the last time we fought him.”

“Well, there is a `me' if you rearrange the letters.”

WHAM! Janet gave Steve a whack on the head.

“V-Wing Blade!” Aero sent off another blast of energy for good measure as he landed. “Quit playing around you two. We've got a job to do.”

“Aero? I thought we were staying with Zelia.” Janet asked.

“I can't dwell on her forever.” Aero replied softly. “It's not something she would want. I thought it over and decided…this team needs me more now.”

All three raised their glowing Digivices as their forms changed in unison.

“Matrix Evolution…”

“Gaioumon!”

“Wargreymon!”

“Alforce V-dramon!”

Their single opponent was hardly impressed by the display and Arkadimon lashed out with its tentacles. The three scattered, Aero taking to the sky while Steve and Janet dodged to the sides. Janet dove in first with her twin Samurai swords in either hand.

She was able to get off several slashes before the demon knocked her left hand sword away. Undaunted, Janet continued her assault. Steve moved in from the other side and hacked some of the tentacles off. However, Arkadimon still had more and wrapped them around Janet's arms before hurling her into Steve.

As the two went crashing down in a heap, Aero swooped in from the air with his glowing AlForce Sabre. Arkadimon moved, but Aero still caught its massive bulk in the shoulder. The demon howled and swung its arms about wildly, knocking the blue dragon aside. Aero managed to right himself in mid-flight and landed on his feet, panting.

“Careful guys!” Zoe shouted. “That thing is stronger than it looks!”

“Not only that.” Sekata whispered to her. “Look at them. Every single one of us is exhausted from all this fighting. I don't know if we'll be able to outlast this one…”

Zoe regretfully noted that it was true. Steve and Janet were slow in getting to their feet, and Aero was unusually hesitant to make his next attack.

Suddenly, the hole Arkadimon had originally emerged from grew larger as a huge amount of dark energy poured out. All present felt the abrupt change in pressure as a strong, suction force began to draw them towards the hole. That was accompanied by the howling of ferocious winds that had all the dragons driving and grabbing onto the closest solid object. Arkadimon too dug its tentacles into the ground to prevent itself from being drawn back.

“What the hell is going on?” Janet screamed.

“Arkadimon must've opened that portal to the CHAOS that the Royal Knights were seeking!” Zoe yelled over the din. “But Arkadimon went out of control and…”

“So did the portal?” Sekata cut in.

“That's the basic idea!”

Another screaming voice caused the group to turn towards the hole, where Antiramon had scrambled up onto its edge. The rabbit was having a lot of trouble though, as she struggled to find her grip.

Steve looked up, and then turned towards Janet, who was closest to him.

“Jan! Make sure everyone hangs tight!” He shouted. “I've got to do something!”

Without waiting for a reply, the Wargreymon released his grip.

 

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“Steve! What the heck are you doing you maniac?” Janet roared.

Steve whirled his body into an attacking position and held his claw weapons together.

“Brave Tornado!” Steve started a mini-tornado of his own, spinning around and slamming into Arkadimon.

This startled the demon enough to cause it to let go, the vacuum dragging it into the hole. Steve then broke out of his attack sequence and caught hold of a cracked section in the road, positioning him just above the hole. With his other hand, he reached out towards Antiramon.

“Take my hand!” Steve ordered.

“W…why?” Antiramon stared. “Do you not consider me your enemy? I am a Deva too.”

“You're not like the rest of them! I've spent enough time around to see it in you!” Steve protested. “Now take my hand if you don't want to end up in the vacuum!”

Antiramon hesitated for a moment longer, but was quickly loosing her grip. Finally, she shoved her body forward with some effort and took hold of Steve's strong clawed hand. At that moment, the edge of the road she'd been clinging on to broke off, leaving her suspended precariously above the hole. Below that, lay Arkadimon, stubbornly latched to the wall, and the dark, swirling portal below.

“Gargh!” Steve dug both his free claw and his taloned feet into the wall, trying desperately to hold on. “It'll be worth all this if Arkadimon goes back into the void!”

“You can't hold on for that long!” Antiramon protested.

“Ugh…but I can try!”

He's risking everything to help me. Antiramon thought. I have to do something about it!

Reaching into her robes, the female pulled out a couple of red colored cards, marked on one surface with the symbol of Yin and Yang. As she tossed both towards the open portal below them, the cards glowed and formed a net of energy with two Japanese Kanji symbols, `Kabe' or `Wall', and `Seki' or `Barrier'.

Steve suddenly felt the suction force of the vacuum diminish and wasted no time in scrambling up into the waiting arms of his companions.

“You should've told me you could do that!” Steve panted.

“Those seals won't last very long against such a powerful force.” Antiramon warned, clutching her side in pain. It seemed that she too was drained.

“Help her out of here!” Steve ordered, shoving the rabbit into Aero's arms.

“But she's…” Aero started.

“Just hurry and do it!” Steve snapped as Arkadimon's tentacles appeared on the edge of the pit.

Aero complied and supported Antiramon on his shoulder as he led her away. Janet stepped forward and nodded to Steve, raising her twin samurai swords. Steve dug his claws into the ground and begun gathering up energy from the earth, in the form of a huge orange ball. Janet's version of the attack gathered energy existing in the atmosphere instead and concentrated it into her swords.

“Gaia Force!”

“Gaia Reactor!”

The two unleashed their attacks at the same time, both slamming head on into Arkadimon.

“Gaia Force!” A third ball of energy, though this one red in color, whizzed past and detonated on Arkadimon as well. Siavon landed silently beside Janet and Steve, watching the explosion intently.

Arkadimon was left standing shakily there afterward, its body literally steaming from all the built-up heat energy.

“I think we almost have him!” Janet shouted. “Maybe just a little more!”

However, her optimism was interrupted by a sudden howling. And it wasn't coming from Arkadimon. What she could only describe as ghosts or spirits rose out of the void. Each one was white in color and of random shapes, with holes forming their two eyes and a mouth.

“What the hell?” Siavon grunted, slashing at one. His claw passed right through it, but the spirit still plunged straight into his chest.

The armored dragon cried out in pain and dropped to his knees, with even more spirits hovering around and passing through his body. Steve and Janet were no better off, soon joining their BlackWargremon companion in agony.

“NO!” Sekata stared from further away. “What are those things? Don't we have enough problems to deal with already?”

“Must be the spirits of past warriors lost in the void.” Zoe shakily pulled herself to her feet. “Oh no! They're coming this way!”

No sooner had she gotten the words out of her mouth were the vengeful ghosts upon them. Sekata feebly waved his hands to ward off their attacks, but the pain hit him like a bullet. It was like some horrendous creature suddenly crawling beneath his scales.

Sekata screamed, and felt himself being lifted up.

 

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“Please, put me down here.” Antiramon gasped. “You have to go back and help your friends.”

“Steve wanted me to save you first.” Aero insisted. “And that's…”

The blue dragon paused and turned around upon hearing the howls of the spirits. What he saw when he turned back shocked him into complete silence.

“It's what I feared might happen with the portal open for so long.” Antiramon said softly, reaching into her robes. “Here, take this.”

The rabbit shoved a deck of cards into Aero's hand, the same cards she'd used earlier.

“Those are `In' Cards (`In' meaning `Seal' in Japanese). They're able to…ward off spirits…” Antiramon suddenly collapsed.

“Hey, lady!” Aero shook her and checked Antiramon's vital signs. The rabbit had passed out from exhaustion, but otherwise seemed all right. “Exorcist cards?”

Aero turned back towards the scene of chaos, tightening his fist. Even he could feel the energy radiating from the deck of cards in his hand. Steve, the real Steve, truly believed in this Deva.

Somehow, Aero felt the same way too. Or perhaps it was more of the fact that he didn't have a choice.

“All right, let's go for it…”

 

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Rising above the ground, Sekata saw himself, his own Kaiser Greymon body as well as Zoe's Imperialdramon form that he'd been inhabiting. The scenes flashed across his mind and seemingly all at once, he saw both Zoe and himself from third person, as well as through both their eyes.

But the pain remained throughout all those visions, at least until he hit the ground again. Sekata found himself able to move and struggled to his knees before realizing that he back in his own body again.

As in, back to being Kaiser Greymon. Sekata corrected himself. But how?

Grunts of pain sounded as Zoe knelt nearby, in Imperialdramon form. She had her hands held out, with a blue aura glowing in each of her palms. All at once, it hit him that Zoe had protected their souls from being stolen by the ghosts, somehow putting them back in their proper bodies at the same time.

However, she was weakening fast.

“Zoe…” Sekata reached out with a hand, feeling both pain from the spirits' attack and their earlier trashing from Arkadimon. That was when he saw the counter on the D-Dragon of his outstretched right hand, which caused him to stare in horror.

The counter read 88 percent.

This can't be! Did Zoe use that much up? She could've…no…it's not like that. Zoe doesn't know, but…damn, he does! Sekata's thoughts ran frantically through his mind. Did AncientGreymon know that we wouldn't be able to take Arkadimon out? Then perhaps he purposely put Zoe in my body to get her to overuse the powers? So many questions, but just no answers! Damn! I hate this!

Zoe's cry of pain caused him to snap out of his thoughts, but before he could do anything, a red card flew across the road and landed beside Zoe. It exploded into an energy net of white light that caused all the ghosts around to back away.

“Hargh!” Aero stepped onto the scene and threw two more cards, creating a wall of light that drove the remaining ghosts away.

“Gurgh…” Zoe mumbled in pain as Sekata crawled over to catch her. “That was close.”

“Thanks Aero.” Sekata agreed. “You really saved us.”

“You should thank that rabbit Deva Steve trusted.” Aero handed a card to Sekata. “These things really work well.”

“Interesting things…” Sekata muttered, looking over the card before slipping it into his belt pouch.

“Then go…save the others.” Zoe breathed.

“Yeah, go on.” Sekata added in. “We'll be right behind you.”

Nodding, Aero stood up and rushed to where Steve, Janet and Siavon lay, throwing the `In' Cards in practically all directions.

“Hey, nice to see you again.” Sekata whispered once Aero was far away enough. “Literally.”

“Yes, it's good to be myself again.” Zoe smiled.

“This one was really close. If not for Zelia and Siavon, then…I might've lost you to Makuramon back there…”

“Hey, you got free of the spell first, remember?”

“That I…well…yeah.” Sekata scratched his head.

Zoe suddenly took a hold of Sekata's claw, squeezing his hand tight in her own. The sudden move surprised Sekata a little.

“To think we could've lost the ability to do even that.” Zoe pulled herself up. “After all the times we've almost being killed, I was more afraid of that.”

“Sometimes, losing touch with the ones you love is worst than death itself.” Sekata whispered.

Upon Aero's sudden scream of pain, both snapped out of their trance and rushed towards their Alforce V-dramon comrade. Aero was down on his back clutching his arm, with the dropped deck of cards lying nearby.

 

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While Sekata ran to help the blue dragon up, Zoe grabbed the deck and tossed out several cards in rapid succession. The remaining spirits around their companions cleared out, and the fallen trio began to stir.

“Ouch I feel so sick…” Janet moaned.

“Yeah, you and me both.” Steve added in.

Siavon said nothing as usual, but was visibly clutching his head and shaking it to ward off the lingering pain.

The special cards scattered around the area had created a network of shimmering circles decorated with various forms of writing, all specially designed to ward off the restless ghosts. Those spirits had all backed away to the pit, leaving only Arkadimon standing before the group. The demon had not been affected by the spirit attack, and had in fact, used the distraction to recover.

“Like there's no stopping it in this form.” Aero remarked as the two groups of three reunited. “It must be drawing its strength from some energy source.”

“From that portal, where else?” Steve spoke up.

“He's probably right on that one.” Zoe nodded.

“If that's the case, then how do we beat it?” Janet added in. “That portal is temporarily sealed by Antiramon's magic, but Arkadimon is still recovering!”

“Arkadimon…” Siavon suddenly muttered. “Until you understand its darkness as your own, the way to its defeat will remained sealed to you. Evza mentioned that to me.”

“Evza? The scorceress?” Aero turned his head.

“Understand its darkness as your own…” Sekata repeated. “If that is true, then perhaps it's saying that darkness must defeat darkness.

“What are you getting at?” Zoe queried.

However, Sekata never got the chance to answer as Antiramon's seals on the portal broke that very instant. The group didn't need to see it, but it was unanimously agreed once the suction force started up again, sending all of them scrambling to grab onto something.

All except one.

 

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“Sekata? What are you doing?” Zoe screamed.

“Darkness must defeat darkness.” Sekata braced himself against the ground, one hand clutched firmly around Kaiser Greymon's Ryuukonken sword. “If that's so, then there's only one place I can obtain a sample of that same dark energy as Arkadimon! And that's the void! I have to fight it on its own grounds!”

“No! Sekata!”

“You have to trust me on this Zoe!” Sekata called back, setting his sword and body ablaze with flames. “Trust that I'll have the strength to! And lend me your own strength to do this!”

Zoe hesitated only for a moment longer, then gave Sekata a firm nod. The fiery dragon returned that smile before rushing forward and tackling Arkadimon, knocking both of them through the portal. Whirling around in mid-fall, Sekata tossed the single card Aero had given him earlier.

The energy barrier it created sealed Sekata and Arkadimon just inside the portal's entrance, stopping the strong suction force at the same time. The rest of the group ran over to the edge to see Sekata on the other side of the portal, raising his sword with a ferocious roar.

Black colored energy flowed into the blade as Sekata twirled it about, staring his opponent in the face.

“He's drawing on the energies within the void.” Zoe whispered.

Sekata stepped into a sword stance, with his legs apart, and made a downwards slash. The dark blade sliced part of Arkadimon's chest open, leaving some blackish goop to gush out like a fountain. While Arkadimon screeched in pain, the black liquid splattered over Sekata's face and upper body, leaving him crying out as well.

“I'm not done with you yet!” Sekata gritted his fangs and wiped the liquid out of his eyes. Raising his sword, Sekata slashed at Arkadimon again, making another long cut along its left shoulder plate.

The demon raised a fist this time and knocked Sekata to the ground. The armored dragon got to his knees and grabbed his sword, only to be slammed down and pounded on repeatedly. Sekata raised his right arm to ward off the attacks whilst taking hold of his weapon in his left.

Once again, the blade glowed with the dark energies of the void as Sekata brought it up and stabbed at Arkadimon's stomach area. The demon ceased its blows as the role of attacker shifted to Sekata.

“Get him man! Show old ugly who's boss!” Steve cheered from outside.

With a salvage cry, Sekata attacked with his sword again and again, each strike splattering out more of Arkadimon's `blood'. Gathering up his strength, Sekata charged up his sword for a final strike.

However, instead of his sword's normal fiery glow, the flames ignited were black. Those black flames danced backwards, spreading over Sekata's body. It seemed to hurt Sekata greatly as he dropped to his knees, roaring in agony and clutching his sides.

Both the flames and the black liquid seemed to burn through his armor, leaving several smothering sections to fall off. The liquid that had spread over his body was also reacting strangely.

Zoe saw several projections growing out of his body, like a horrible mutation taking place before her eyes. It didn't look like he was going to make it and she instinctively rushed at the barrier, only to be thrown back.

“We're not going to be able to get through in time!” Janet fumed. “Why'd that idiot have to go by himself?”

“He must've felt it was weak enough to take down.” Steve frowned.

“Can't we do anything?” Zoe cried.

“Perhaps we can…” Everyone turned towards Aero as he brought his Digivice up. A glowing blue sphere with red rings within emerged from it, floating into the palm of Aero's hand.

“An X-antibody!” The others gasped.

“Zelia…” Aero clutched the sphere tightly and closed his eyes for a moment. “Sekata! Listen to me! Catch this and use it!”

“You're not alone in this.” Zoe placed her claw on top of Aero's. Hers was soon joined by Janet's, Steve's and finally Siavon's.

Aero took hold of the X-antibody once more and hurled it towards the barrier with all his might. The glowing sphere passed right through and sped towards Sekata. Everyone held their breath as Sekata's hand reached up and caught the sphere. He made a thumbs-up as the X-antibody's blue glow begun to flow through his tortured body.

And it was beginning to change…beginning to evolve…

 

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With a tearing of flesh and scale, a pair of leathery wings ripped out of his back, followed by a silver armored tail ending in a triangular barb. Unlike other evolutions, this one was rather gruesome, causing many of the others to cringe. It wasn't so much of an evolution, more like a violent mutation.

His other features continued to melt into place, forming an upright dragonoid creature with three fingered claws and three taloned feet.

His primary color was silver, with purple covering the lesser sections. These included his exposed underbelly, his joints, neck and the leathery sections of his wings.

The wings were worth mentioning as when spread out, formed a pattern with the silver bone linings, wing phalanges, separating the purple wing webs. Each of the wing phalanges ended in spiked wing claws.

His dragon head was mostly covered in a silver helmet, with two curved horns on either side. The exposed parts of his head were the lower jaw and neck. Finally, a red jewel was embedded in his forehead, which matched that of his glowing red eyes, partially visible beneath his helmet.

In his new dragon body, Sekata stood up and shook bits and pieces of his previous form off. Letting off a thunderous roar, he flared his wings and whipped his tail about intimidatingly.

“Man…” Steve remarked. “Of all things, why does Sekata have to evolve into that?”

“Why? Does it bother you?” Janet queried.

“Sort of. A humongous, purple colored version of him only tried to eat me back when I was getting the X-antibody for you Jan.”

“So, Sekata's new form must be Dorugoramon.” Zoe remarked. “Wait a minute, didn't you tell Sekata and me that the version you fought had two heads?”

“Erm, well…” Steve started.

“Two heads?” Janet folded her arms. “Hey, you told me it was a fire and ice breathing dragon with three heads!”

“Oh, how coincidental that in my version of the story, the dragon breathed thunder and acid.” Aero added in.

“Eep…” Steve muttered, sweatdropping. “Well I really did fight a purple colored Dorugoramon! It was just that…”

An odd growling caught Steve's attention, but as he turned, a large claw sent him flying. The others whirled around in surprise…only to find an identical Wargreymon X standing behind them.

Siavon was the first to react and blocked a sudden claw strike from their foe. He then punched it in the face and shoved the copy to the ground.

“Hey, who are you?” Aero demanded as the others gathered round.

The copy let off an odd hiss and changed its shape in a flash of light. Its true form was a bloated, balloon-like green body. It had two oversized gray hands, and red colored wing-like appendages sticking out of its back. The head was elongated and had a beak like a bird's.

It seemed laughable, but Siavon had trouble keeping a hold on the Digimon, which slipped out of his grasp and changed into a copy of the BlackWargreymon.

“What the? RARRGGHH!” Siavon received a knee butt to his chest in that moment of hesitation.

The armored dragon fell and was about to be skewered by his clone's claws when Aero intervened, catching hold of both his foe's arms. Zoe and Janet had their weapons ready, but couldn't fire without Aero getting in the way.

“A Digimon that copies the forms of its opponents?” Janet muttered.

“Metamorumon, I think that's what it's called.” Zoe told her.

“But where the heck did it come from?”

“I don't sense it's a normal Digimon…but it feels very much like those ghosts that attacked us earlier.”

“Then, this thing was formed from the collective energies of those ghosts?”

“That's a possibility.” Zoe agreed.

“RARGH!” Aero was flipped head-over heels by their new opponent, who was now a copy of Alforce V-dramon.

“Get him now!” Janet yelled, leaping in and slashing.

Metamorumon changed shapes in the blink of an eye, copying her Gaioumon form. Janet's attack met with a parry from her own swords. As she drew back, her clone attacked with much more vigor, forcing Janet to back off slowly.

Zoe darted to Metamorumon's back and aimed her Positron Laser. The Gaioumon clone turned its head and spotted Zoe. This gave Janet the chance to strike, which she wasted no time in doing.

Unfortunately, Metamorumon whirled around and moved inwards, stepping right up to Janet's face and catching hold of her arm. With a noticeable grin, he flipped Janet over…and into the path of Zoe's laser.

BOOM!

“Oh no! Jan! Are you all right?” Zoe cried, running to her friend's side.

“I'm fine…” Janet gritted her fangs. “But watch out!”

Metamorumon, now as Imperialdramon, fired its own Positron Laser, blowing the dragoness duo away.

“Damn, it can copy attacks too?” Aero growled, taking to the sky. “Shinning V Force!”

Not only did Metamorumon change into Alforce V-dramon again, but it also activated the energy shield on its left arm to block Aero's attack. Before Aero could do so much as blink, the sly creature had changed into Gaioumon and sent the Gaia Reactor attack towards him.

Aero was slow in activating his shield, taking nearly the full bulk of the attack. The dragon knight ended up spiraling down to earth.

“Now I'm mad!” Steve was finally on his feet and pounced on their foe.

The Gaioumon clone abruptly shifted back into its regular form, causing Steve to miss. The hovering body was suddenly in front of him and stared into his eyes.

Steve was blinded by a green flash and suddenly felt very dizzy. Shaking his head to regain his senses, Steve found himself face to face with Magnamon, whose arm cannon was jabbed right at his chest.

“Oh son of a…”

BOOM! Steve was sent flying, screaming all the way, and landed face first in a shallow pool of muddy water. Metamorumon switch forms into Raindramon's and shocked Steve with a bolt of Blue Thunder.

“Gagrh! Arrrggghhh!” Steve roared, ending up on all fours as the electrical surge stopped. “All right, now I'm really mad! The Digimetal armor data was given to me by some good friends, and I'll never forgive anyone who uses them like this!”