Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Like Myself ( Chapter 48 )

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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Like Myself

By nightdragon0

 

 

 

“That was close.” Zoe panted.

A lot of things were still puzzling the morph as she piloted the boat back towards the city.

Something big had happened when those two Chaos Shards had come into contact. It seemed to be in their ability to breach the gap between space and time. But then, exactly what was this world they were in?

Zoe was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the `cloud' of fog until she steered the boat right into it.

“What the?” She gasped, barely able to see a foot in either direction. The boat's motor chose this moment to splutter and die, leaving Zoe to kick the machine in frustration.

The morph suddenly realized that her left hand was glowing. She turned the palm downwards and found a dragon-head symbol glowing on the back.

“My D-Dragon?”

However, the glow faded just as quickly as it had appeared. A sudden splash caused Zoe to look up, forgetting about the odd light for the moment.

Something was moving nearby and it didn't sound like another boat. Frantically, Zoe tried the motor again, but to no avail.

The splashing was closer now… then suddenly stopped.

Zoe leaned against the edge, trying to pinpoint the direction of the last sound. A huge tentacle abruptly shot out of the water, barely missing the boat. However, it created a strong wave that sent Zoe dropping to the bottom of the vehicle.

The panicked girl scrambled up just in time to see the head of a gigantic white squid, Gesomon, rising above the water level.

What the heck is this thing doing here? Was all she could think of before one of the Digimon's tentacles smashed the boat in two.

Zoe plunged into the cold, dark waters and forced her eyes open. Not very adept in water, her lungs quickly screamed for air as brown haired girl swam desperately for the surface.

All she could manage was a couple of breaths before a second wave knocked her under. Gesomon was moving rapidly, sensing her position.

The dragon head symbol on Zoe's left hand glowed once again and she closed her eyes. A ring of Digicode formed around her other hand and Zoe put the two together, much like Sekata had done earlier.

Matrix Evolution!

Suddenly, the changes commenced…becoming a draconic form that was so familiar to her by now.

First, her fingers extended into claws and toes into talons, ripping her shoes apart. Tears appeared in her clothes as the muscles bulged out, but the rest of the material seemed to merge with her skin as it became blue scales.

A tail and a pair of red leathery wings emerged. Fangs lined her mouth as it elongated into a pair of lizard-like jaws. Zoe's joints rearranged themselves so that she would've been quadruped if standing on dry land, making loud crunches as they did.

Her hair was replaced by a white mane before it too was covered in a set of black armor that went over Zoe's entire body.

I'm Imperialdramon! She realized, paddling with her limbs.

The result was very different and had her shooting forward… straight into a startled Gesomon. The squid released a cloud of black ink in its panic, but that didn't stop Zoe from, slashing its cartilage open with her claws.

Threshing and squirming, Gesomon sank back into the depths before disintegrating into data particles.

Zoe was on the surface the next moment, gasping for air. The Imperialdramon forced her already worn muscles to move, propelling her to the raised embankment.

A sudden `falling' sensation followed as she tried to climb out. Zoe hit the pavement as a very wet human in tattered clothes.

At least I'm alive. She breathed.

The dragon symbol of her left hand flashed once more before vanishing.

 

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“Garrgghhh…”

“Hey, be careful there.” Janet knelt down and helped Sekata into a sitting position.

Coughing, Sekata looked down at the ripped remains of his silver jeans. A cold draft blew past, causing the half-naked man to shiver involuntarily.

“Here, this should help.” Janet passed him a black jacket, which Sekata gratefully accepted.

“Where are we?” Sekata asked.

“It's the car repair shop where I work.” Janet replied. “Or at least, that's how it seems to go.”

“I know.” Sekata nodded, glancing around the various shelves, tools and cars parked within the building. “This is a crazy world we're stuck in. Heard anything form Zoe?”

“No, not yet.”

“Then we'd better…”

“Don't rush it.” Janet held a hand up. “Chaosdramon won't do anything to Zoe, or he wouldn't have bothered to call. It's you that he really wants.”

“Yes, I do agree with that.” Sekata pulled on a pair of worker's boots. “But that's not a good reason to keep Zoe waiting.”

A pail suddenly toppled over, causing a loud crash that had both heads turning.

“Is anyone else here?” Sekata hissed. Their area was lit only by a small lamp, making it impossible to see the exact source of the sound.

“No, it's the middle of the night.” Janet whispered her reply. “I opened the back door myself.”

“Did you lock it behind you?”

“Erm…no…”

Sekata immediately switched their light off as Janet and himself crouched low, waiting intensely. Someone was definitely here…and closing in on their location.

Janet then nudged Sekata's shoulder with a `follow me' motion. Crawling along the ground, Janet led her companion to the wall and down to the right. Presumably, it was towards an exit.

Neither one had gotten very far before all the room's lights suddenly came on.

“Well that sucked.” Janet sighed.

Now that the room was fully lit, Sekata got his first clear look at the area. Janet and him had been on a raised section in the Northeastern corner, with several computers behind them.

To the south were the parking lots for the vehicles, all in various states of repair. Dozens of tools were also scattered around the path, but most of the equipment was arranged neatly on shelves at the other side of the room.

A man in a black suit suddenly jumped onto the table beside Sekata. He was easily recognizable as the first man who'd attacked him earlier, and was still wearing his sunglasses despite it being the middle of the night.

With a fierce yell, Sekata shot his foot out, intending to topple the metal table over. What he did however, was smash its legs to pieces, sending his foe to the ground.

“Run, Mr. X is back!” Janet pulled Sekata's hand as she scrambled away.

“Mr. X?” Sekata asked curiously.

“Well, we need something to call these weirdoes.”

“Then I suppose that this is Mr. Y! Duck!” Sekata knocked Janet to the ground as a dagger flew over their heads.

The new attacker was the second opponent Sekata had faced earlier in the day. The black suit was standing directly below a lamp, making it easier to see that he had a more Asian look as compared to his Western companion.

“Hargh!” Sekata sprang up with a rising kick.

Y caught his leg with one hand and hurled the morph into the ceiling, sending shattered glass and bits of plaster flying everywhere. After which, Sekata hit the ground with a loud groan.

Mr. X was approaching from the rear and Janet snatched up a wrench off the floor. Throwing it like a boomerang, the mechanic sent it spinning towards her pursuer.

X simply raised a hand and blocked the attack. The wrench broke into two pieces which clattered loudly across the floor.

“They're not human, that's for sure!” Janet exclaimed.

Almost as if in response, X pulled out a handgun and fired. Janet saw the bullets coming, but the strange thing was that she saw them in slow motion. One by one, the morph dodged each bullet simply by twisting and moving her body.

The next instant, Janet found ten bullet holes in the wall, but not a single scratch on her. A dragon-head symbol was also glowing on her left fist, giving off a soft, reddish shine.

“I've got it too!” She whispered.

In the midst of the fight, neither of the two had noticed a strange fog creeping into the room. The mist of a Digital Field.

X was reloading his pistol for another round and Janet snatched a fire extinguisher off the wall.

“Sekata! Heads up!” Janet tossed the fire extinguisher into X's line of fire. The bullets blew the fire extinguisher apart in a mini-explosion which gave the morphs time to get away.

By the time the view cleared out, X and Y were left standing in the room by themselves.

“Another Digital Field.” Y sounded. “They're getting more and more frequent.”

“Their powers are being intensified.” X confirmed.

“Indeed, and that is the reason for these portals being opened. The gap between our two worlds is being breached, merging them into one.”

“And that will spell disaster. We must hurry then…”

 

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“Hey, look there bro!” Rain yelled over the roar of the motorcycle's engine.

“Where?”

“By the side of the road! Someone's waving to us!”

Steve pulled the motorcycle over and opened his helmet's visor to have a better look. A dripping wet girl in tatters was kneeling by the side, signaling desperately to them.

“Are you all right?” Steve asked, jumping off the bike.

The dragon-head symbol on his left hand suddenly glowed…as did a similar one on the girl's hand.

“Huh?” Steve gasped. “You have this too?”

“Steve? Steve, it's you!”

“Zoe?” The blond dashed forward and caught Zoe as she collapsed into his arms.

“Am I glad to see you.” Zoe panted.

“Things going badly?”

“The usual.”

“Oh great, what else is new?” Steve sighed.

“Yeah, I thought it was you.” Rain knelt by her side and offered Zoe his jacket. “I recognized you from the photographs.”

“Photographs?” Zoe pulled the jacket on.

“Yeah, Rain and I found them back at our place. Where we live in this reality at least.” Steve replied. “But what I'm more…”

“We might have to continue this later!” Zoe warned. “It's coming!”

“What is?”

“The Digital Field!”

Steve then noticed that the area was unusually foggy. The entire row of shops was all dark and the streets were void of any life as far as eye could see. Even though the street lamps lining the road were all lit, it was definitely more difficult to see.

BOOM! The entire group was thrown to the ground as it suddenly trembled.

“What the hell was that?” Steve sprang to his feet in surprise.

Zoe looked down into a puddle of water…which vibrated as another rumble shook the area.

“I think it's here.” Rain got to his feet and walked to the nearest building, a two-story shop. Peering around the corner, the youth noticed nothing out of the ordinary and shook his head.

The wall suddenly erupted behind him, throwing Rain to the ground as a gigantic head burst out. It belonged to a dinosaur standing taller than the building, a Brachiosaurus type. This particular species of dinosaur were massive, four legged vegetarians with long necks and tails.

However, this Digimon instead had a ferocious, armored lizard-like head with glowing yellow eyes. The rest of its body was also ablaze with orange flames that covered everything other than its padded feet and a couple of glowing crystals on its chest.

The fiery beast also had four `mini-volcanoes' on its back, similar to a camel's humps.

Appropriately, this Digimon was named Volcdramon. And it stomped on the ground, sending out a shockwave that hurled everyone to the floor for the second time.

Its tail swung about wildly, hitting into the side of a nearby building. Huge pieces of concrete fell and threatened to crush a terrified Rain beneath them.

“NNOOO!” Steve cried, charging forward.

I won't lose another brother! I can't! Not if I can do something about it!

As if in response to his desire, a ring of Digicode formed around his right hand. Steve brought it up to the glowing symbol on his left, placing the two together in mid-leap.

“Matrix Evolution!”

The morph first saw his face bulge out into a reptilian snout that was quickly covered by a silver helmet. His shirt ripped apart as Steve's muscles grew more than double in proportion, right into their armor-clad Wargreymon X form.

Hands turned into claws and toes into talons before the weapons were added on. And those weapons were the deadly Dramon Killer Claws.

With a click, shield plates on his back snapped together as the stubby tail emerged. The rest of his body quickly followed, becoming the gleaming golden and silver armor that Steve was so accustomed to by now.

“Wargreymon!”

Steve got his body between Rain and the falling rocks, knocking them away with his shield plates. Rain still stumbled and fell, but was otherwise unscratched.

“Bro…” Rain gasped.

“You all right?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I'll be fine.”

“Good, then watch out!”

Volcdramon suddenly turned all its aggression towards Steve and spewed a huge wave of flames in his direction. Shoving Rain to safety, Steve brought up his shield plates in either hand and blocked the attack.

It was working, but seriously turning up the heat on Steve's side.

The Wargreymon pushed harder and Volcdramon in turn intensified its flames. However, Steve's perseverance was steadily, though slowly, winning the war. Inch by inch, Steve was moving himself forward.

He had almost reached Volcdramon when the dinosaur suddenly swung its long neck forward. Caught by surprise, Steve was knocked onto his back and barely managed to scramble to his knees before Volcdramon stomped down upon him.

Having nearly been crushed, Steve grunted as he tried to maintain his position down on one knee.

“No, this isn't going to happen!” The morph roared.

Steve pushed off the ground and shot forward, tossing his shield plates aside. His whirling body was instantly consumed by the flames, which formed into a fiery tornado due to his spinning.

“Dramon Killer!” Steve spun right through Volcdramon's leg, up into its body and neck, and finally out from the top of its head.

The dinosaur howled as it collapsed, defeated by the sudden strike. Its body slowly disintegrated into data particles, leaving a moaning and charred Wargreymon panting on the ground.

“Another Digimon…” Zoe muttered.

“Hey…” Steve breathed. “You two…ok?”

“We're fine, but…”

“Ugh…don't worry about me bro.” Rain staggered to his feet.

“That's good…” Steve managed before he collapsed, changing back into human form as he hit the ground.

“Steve!” Zoe dashed to his side. “He's passed out from exhaustion.”

“Zoe…” Rain hesitated. “There's something we need to tell you. Back at our house, Steve and I found several photos of the three of us together.”

“Hmm?”

“It showed the three of us as younger humans.”

“Could it be?” Zoe gasped, looking up.

 

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“Is it just me, or is that Digital Field actually following us?” Janet panted.

“I really don't know what to expect.” Sekata replied.

Having escaped from the black suits in the workshop, the pair had blindly dashed out onto the road. And much to their dismay, straight into a thick gray fog that Sekata recognized as a Digital Field. Hoping to avoid another battle, the duo had run till their muscles burned with exhaustion.

But no matter how far they ran, the mist seemed to be constantly behind them.

“I'm through with running!” Sekata declared, pulling himself to a halt. “I'll fight.”

“Sure you'll make it?” Janet asked with concern. “You still look…”

“I'll be fine.” Sekata insisted. The dragon head symbol on his right hand suddenly begun to glow.

“That light again…” Janet muttered. She had a dragon symbol of her own blazing, although hers was on the left.

“Did you hear that?” Sekata waved a hand towards the sky.

“Huh? No I…” Janet stopped short. She had, in fact, heard the noise and it was almost like the jet engines of a plane.

“Incoming!” Sekata warned.

All Janet saw was a sparkle in the night sky before her instincts took over.

Sekata flipped over the plane-shaped Digimon in a graceful maneuver and Janet slid beneath it. She could literally feel the heat of the jets for that instant, before the Digimon sped off.

“Did you see what it was?” Janet breathed.

“Pteranomon X.” Sekata grunted. “Here he comes again!”

True to its name, Pteranomon took on the structure of an ancient flying reptile from Earth's Cretaceous era, known as the Pteranodon. However the Digimon version was covered from beak to talon in a set of black metal armor.

Its wings were triangular and built just like the wings of a fighter jet, complete with guns and missiles mounted beneath them. The tail stuck out and spread into three sections, exactly like a plane's as well. Even the forehead of the beast had a translucent section that resembled a cockpit.

The flying reptile was a perfect cross between beast and machine, screeching as it swooped in to launch a second attack.

Janet dove out of the way and crashed into a street lamp in the process. However with her arms held covering her head, the morph snapped the lamppost in half instead.

On the other side, Sekata found himself sprinting as Pteranomon went for him. With the wall of a building suddenly in front of his face, Sekata leapt up and planted his feet against the wall.

The seconds slowed as he pushed off, somersaulting over the flyer's head. That left Pteranomon to smash through the wall, shattering glass panels in the windows with a loud crash.

“Nice job.” Janet ran over.

“I'm very sure of it.” Sekata remarked, looking down at the dragon symbol on his hand. “We're more than just human. Besides our evolution abilities, some of our Digimon traits have also carried over.”

“Yeah, figures.” Janet replied, shooting a glance at the broken lamppost.

Suddenly, the remainder of the wall above them blew up as Pteranomon burst out. Before either could react, tons of debris rained down upon them.

 

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But that kicked in was more of an instinct by now.

“Rrrarrrgghh!” Sekata smashed his way out as a roaring Dorugoramon. “Janet!”

A similar roar sounded as Janet emerged in her black armored Gaioumon form. Greatly resembling BlackWargreymon in structure, Gaioumon was instead outfitted in a set of samurai armor and equipped with a pair of twin oriental blades.

“You should know by now not to worry about me.” The dragoness grinned.

“Humph. Then let's get `em!” Sekata spread his wings and took to the sky, chasing after the already airborne Pteranomon X.

The flyer had turned around by this time and sent a volley of missiles at Sekata in its trademark attack, Sidewinder. Sekata dodged some of the missiles and whacked others away with his claws. He was easily more powerful than his foe, and the Dorugoramon was sure of it.

Pteranomon wasn't able to do anything as Sekata pounded the back of its head, sending the reptile spinning to the ground. And just in time for Janet to strike it with a glowing orange sword.

“Rinkazan!” The mini explosion shattered Pteranomon in a shower in data particles.

“That was pretty much overkill.” Sekata remarked as he landed on the street.

“Erm…” Janet suddenly looked up. “Why hasn't the Digital Field dispersed yet? Didn't the one from earlier do that?”

“Yes, it did. But… uh oh, it's not over yet!”

Janet didn't really have time to ask as a series of missiles exploded between the two. Three more Pteranomon swooped onto the scene, forcing the duo to dive for cover amongst the building debris.

“I'll lead some away!” Sekata called, taking to the sky. Two Pteranomon followed him, leaving one to deal with Janet.

“All right, bring it on flyboy!” The Gaioumon hissed.

Pteranomon fired a missile which caught Janet off guard. Although her armor absorbed most of the impact, the force still blew the katana out of her left hand.

“Ouch…fine be that way.” She grimaced in frustration. The morph was feeling a lot more exhausted than she expected herself to be.

The evolution had come with a quick burst of energy, but now it was as if something were sapping her strength.

It's like we can't stay in out Digimon forms for too long. Not in this world at least. So that means that I've got to finish this quickly!

The Pteranomon screeched as it made another round. The flyer shot off more missiles this time, but Janet was better prepared. Grasping her katana tightly with both hands, Janet swung its flat end in a wide arc, slapping the missiles aside.

Two buildings on either side of the road were hit, blowing part of their walls out. Ignoring the explosions around her, Janet concentrated all her remaining energy and focused on the approaching target.

Pteranomon was now charging in for a close range attack. At the last possible instant, Janet stepped aside and brought her blade down. The two halves of the enemy Digimon fell to the ground and exploded in a cloud of data particles.

“Huugghh…whew…” Janet panted, raising her eyes. “When did it take so much out of me just to defeat one armor level Digimon?”

“Janet!” It was Sekata's voice.

“You're done already?” Her vision was shaky and blurred, but the dragoness roughly recognized Sekata's features. A pillar of Digicode surrounded Janet as she changed back into human form.

The mechanic's overalls she wore were badly ripped up by her transformation, but at least still wearable.

Hey, was Sekata wearing red earlier? Janet wondered.

The figure in front of her suddenly rushed forward and slammed his elbow into her face. Janet hit the ground with a loud thud, knocked out cold by the blow.

“Grrr…” Chaosdramon in human form snarled, holding up his hand.

Blue energy was swirling around it. Energy left over from Janet's light of evolution. And Chaosdramon knew that he could make use of it to assume his actual form. Letting off a scream, Chaosdramon allowed the energy to flow into his body.

The scream soon turned into a roar as the mechanical dragon appeared in his Digimon form.

His shiny red armor gleamed under the light of the remaining street lamps, as did the huge pair of cannons mounted on his shoulders.

Turning his eyes towards the sky, Chaosdramon traced Sekata's aerial battle from the ground and started running closer to its location.

 

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Meanwhile, another figure hidden in the shadows had been observing the entire battle. He was also one of the mysterious men dressed completely in black.

However, he was a fourth man that none of the group had encountered before. If the two Sekata had fought were X and Y, then Zoe's pursuer would've been `Z'. That left the title of `W' for this remaining fellow.

Nevertheless, he silently disappeared into the shadows of an alley as Janet begun to stir.

 

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Sekata turned left, making a tight corner around the building. The two Pteranomon were still hot on his tail, following him on an exhilarating chase round the city.

Dodging their missiles had been easy enough, but it was quickly wearing him down. And in his current state, Sekata could not afford a long, drawn out battle.

All right… The Dorugoramon thought as he approached the waterfront. Time to get serious!

He rose high above the buildings and suddenly changed course, plunging down towards the river. The Pteranomon duo was quick to follow, firing off their missiles. Sekata grinned as the shots whizzed past him and glanced down towards the water.

He'd constantly challenged the others to similar stunts and the silver dragon was sure he could pull it off. Moments before crashing, Sekata pulled up, feeling the water splashing all around.

The lead Pteranomon wasn't able to replicate the maneuver quickly enough and plunged into the water. It disappeared beneath the surface with a gurgled screech.

However, the second one managed to pull up in time, heading for Sekata again. The morph had already turned to face his now solitary opponent.

Unfortunately, something else stopped him first.

“Hyper Mugen Cannon!”

“RRAARRGGHHH!”

The explosion blew the final Pteranomon to pieces and sent Sekata spiraling out of the sky.

That attack…it's Chaosdramon. Sekata realized, watching the ground approaching him at a rapid rate. Can't keep up…gonna die…

The pain coursing through his entire body had him on the verge of unconsciousness. Sekata could even see the smoke around his charred form as his eyes fell close.

No! I'm not going to let him win!

With a final burst of strength, Sekata veered to the right, smashing part of a building's roof in the process. Ending up in the water with a loud splash, the Dorugoramon struggled against the cold, dark waters.

Chaosdramon lumbered to the river bank and glanced down at the group of bubbles rising to the surface.

“Humph.” The mechanical dragon huffed.

“Not yet!” Sekata suddenly sprang out of the water and latched his claws onto Chaosdramon's shoulders.

Pulling his body backwards, the morph hurled his screeching opponent into the river.

“Too bad I don't die so easily!” He managed, before dropping to his knees by the water's edge.

However, a second surprise was in store for Sekata as Chaosdramon's claws reached out and pulled him beneath the surface.

In that moment of panic, Chaosdramon grasped him from behind, wrapping his arms around Sekata's body, arms and wings. The mechanical dragon sank to the bottom, dragging his struggling opponent with him.

“I don't need to breathe.” Chaosdramon laughed. “But I know you do!”

The grip was like a vice and all of Sekata's struggling didn't help in the least. Whipping his tail against Chaosdramon's legs didn't do any good and he wasn't at an appropriate angle to use his talons effectively.

Sekata's mind screamed with horror as he realized that Chaosdramon fully intended to drown him down here.

A shadowed figure suddenly rammed Chaosdramon from behind. Its shimmering blade flashed as it slashed at the mechanical dragon's shoulder, forcing Chaosdramon to release his hold.

Feeling a tug on his arm, Sekata looked up into the eyes of Janet as the Gaioumon dragged him back to the surface.

“That was a close one.” Janet gasped, pulling him to the relative safety of the street.

In the midst of coughing and regurgitating excess water from his system, Sekata managed a quick `thank you' nod.

Chaosdramon soon jumped out onto the river bank, splashing water about as he roared in fury.

“Poseidon Force!”

A blue ball of watery energy suddenly slammed into the red dragon's back, throwing him across the street.

“Sorry I'm so late.” Steve smirked, landing beside the two. “Changing into Wargreymon took a lot more out of me than I expected.”

“Better late than never.” Janet returned his grin. “Sekata, you hang back and recover. Leave him to us!”

The pair of armored dragons charged and immediately engaged Chaosdramon in a furious hack and slash match.

“Sekata!” Zoe, in Imperialdramon Fighter form, ran up to his side.

“Zoe, you're all right.”

“I should be the one saying that about you!”

“Yeah, but I'll finish him off this time!” Sekata struggled to his feet.

“Wait Sekata!” Zoe grabbed his shoulder. “You shouldn't fight him. He doesn't have any bad intentions, he's just misguided.”

“Misguided or not, you do know that he just tried to drown me and kidnapped you earlier.”

“I know! But I managed to talk to him too. And he's not just the plain machine you expect him to be!”

“Hm?”

“He could think, feel when he was in human form, and I know he can learn.” Zoe insisted. “Chaosdramon just doesn't understand. He's basically a newly created Digimon with too much power, like handing a hatching a gun!”

“Even if that's true, he's far too dangerous.” Sekata waited a while before responding. “I'm going in!”

 

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Ignoring Zoe's shouts from the rear, Sekata rushed into the heat of the battle.

Steve was currently darting around Chaosdramon's shots while Janet had ducked behind a building for cover.

“Quit with the aerobics Steve!” Janet yelled. “You're just gonna tire yourself out!”

“Hey, this is everything I've learnt from being Flamedramon!” Steve called back, spinning around a couple of lasers. “It'll take a lot more than this to wear me out!”

True enough, Chaosdramon eventually had to stop firing and recharge his shoulder cannons. And Steve knew this was his chance to make a move.

The Wargreymon X was met with a swift arm blow that he managed to block with his claw weapons. However, the impact sent him flying, dropping his Dramon Killers in the process.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Janet leapt forward and stabbed one of her swords into Chaosdramon's left side. That was as far as she got before Chaosdramon hit her with his other hand.

Janet's sword was left stuck in Chaosdramon's stomach as the Gaioumon was thrown into the air.

Her other weapon clattered noisily to the ground as Janet managed to upright herself in mid-spin. The morph landed on the side of a building, digging her claws and talons into the brick walls.

Chaosdramon snarled as he raised his left arm to fire the laser hidden within his palm. Janet tensed as the open sections glowed with energy.

Then, Sekata entered the scene. The Dragon Morphs' leader rolled forward, taking hold of Janet's dropped sword and throwing it forward. His aim was true, sending the blade directly into the palm. The laser's mechanism was beyond being able to stop, and its attempted discharge resulted in a chamber explosion that blew Chaosdramon's left arm off.

Janet's sword was tossed away and landed further down the road, out of reach. However, the damage had certainly been done.

The mechanical dragon glanced at his severed limb and roar in fury. He didn't feel any pain, but the move had certainly frustrated him.

“Great one!” Janet cheered. “Get my other sword! It's still stuck in his stomach!”

Sekata lowered his body and charged, the barbed tail of his dragon form swinging rhythmically behind him. Chaosdramon was expecting the move and fired with his remaining palm-mounted laser.

However, Sekata threw himself down on all fours, allowing the laser to fly over his back. Using his momentum, the Dorugoramon flipped forward with his front claws planted firmly on the ground. His feet went up and straight into Chaosdramon's face, followed up with a whack from his barbed tail.

The mechanical dragon stumbled as Sekata completed his flip, giving the morph enough time to pull Janet's sword from Chaosdramon's stomach.

A quick swing of the blade sliced Chaosdramon's other arm off at the shoulder joint. Chaosdramon kicked in retaliation, sending Sekata into a wall and leaving the impression of his body in it.

“Hargh!” Steve jumped in from the other side with both his claw weapons now ready. He cut Chaosdramon's tail clean off and continued to pierce his claws into the machine's left knee joint.

Chaosdramon abruptly spun his body and threw Steve off. Janet was back in action by this time, leaping onto the machine's back and grasping her arms around his neck. Without his arms, Chaosdramon couldn't toss her off as easily.

As the two struggled, Sekata urged his aching body back to his feet. Taking note of Janet's position, Sekata lashed out with the bladed end of his tail.

Its sharp end got stuck in the left side of Chaosdramon's stomach. Smirking, the mechanical dragon lifted his left leg, maintaining his balance in the midst of the struggle, and stomped down on Sekata's tail.

The Dorugoramon's eyes went wide as an ear-splitting crunch sounded. He managed to pull his tail away, but at least half of it was twisted at an odd angle and useless.

“Sekata!” Janet cried.

Her grip loosened at this time, allowing Chaosdramon to finally throw her off.

“Nobody breaks my tail and gets away with it.” Sekata gritted his fangs in pain. “Even if we can't hurt him, we'll keep at it till we completely rip him apart!”

Channeling the pain into his fury, Sekata fell upon Chaosdramon with his claws. Steve took that as a cue and was quick enough to back his comrade up.

In his badly damaged state, Chaosdramon couldn't deal with two swift opponents hacking at his legs. He lost both limbs as a result and tumbled to the ground, landing flat on his chest.

 

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“You're finished!” Sekata snarled.

“Grrrr… Hyper Mugen Cannon!” Chaosdramon still had his shoulder cannons functional and positioned them to fire.

“Positron Laser!” A blue laser beam flashed across the scene and blew Chaosdramon's cannons apart. Zoe stood further behind, with her arm raised and the blaster mounted there held up to shoulder level.

The desire to protect her friends was too great, despite Zoe's unwillingness to fire. However, Sekata didn't take it that way.

All he could see was red as the Dorugoramon assaulted his armless, legless and tailess foe with a wild hail of slashes. Chaosdramon let out a furious howl as Sekata's claws tore into his body.

Even Steve and Janet held back in the wake of Sekata's rampage.

Sekata eventually broke the mechanical dragon's neck, sending his head rolling away. It was still snarling however and Sekata noticed the binding symbol on the inner section of Chaosdramon's upper jaw.

That's it!

He immediately sprang over and grabbed the mechanical dragon's severed head. Using his claws, Sekata pried Chaosdramon's jaws open. A gurgled screech came out as he resisted, but the advantage was clearly on Sekata's side by now.

The Dorugoramon used one claw and a knee to hold the jaws open while he raised his other claw to strike.

“This is over!” Sekata roared.

“Sekata! Don't!” Zoe grabbed his arm. “Please.”

“Grrr…”

“Don't Sekata. I know you're just fighting because you're angry, and who wouldn't be? But he doesn't deserve this.” Zoe insisted. “Give him a chance to understand.”

“Zoe…”

“Remember when you were in there?”

Sekata closed his eyes as the scene flashed through his mind. Back when his soul had been placed in the machine, he'd almost received the fatal strike to his binding symbol.

It was the same strike that he was seconds away from delivering.

I would never stoop to the level of an abomination like you! He remembered shouting at AncientGreymon once. I am NOTHING LIKE YOU!

Considering how much we're already alike…

It would be so much easier for Death-Xmon to assimilate you.

“It's not his fault he's this way. He didn't have a choice.” Zoe's voice snapped Sekata out of his thoughts. “But you do. And I think it's that choice, being able to make that choice, which separates you…from him.”

Sekata knelt poised there for a long while.

Finally, the Dorugoramon lowered his claws and instead used his knees to force Chaosdramon's jaws shut. The head was still squirming about, but Sekata held it firmly nevertheless.

“Only problem is, what do we do with him now?” Janet asked out loud.