Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Digimetal Up! Brothers at Heart! ( Chapter 6 )

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"Jan?" Zoe gasped, staring up at the MegaloGrowmon (aka Wargrowlmon).

"Get down!" The Cyborg dinosaur roared, the chest mounted cannons glowing a bright white.

"Yikes!" Zoe hit the floor as Jan blew the remaining zombies in the area to bits. "Whew, that was close!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Jan agreed. "But there is a problem…"

"What?"

"GET ME OUTTA THIS THING!" The human turned Digimon blurted out in a voice that probably carried all the way over the mountains.

"Whoa, calm down Jan." Zoe said, waving her claws. "There has to be some way to do it with your Digivice…"

Jan shifted a foot, and…CRUNCH!

"Oh no!" She moaned.

"Hold still…and move your foot a little." Zoe reached down and brought up Jan's Digivice from where'd it had fallen off her arm when she'd evolved .

The Digivice was still in one piece, but it was twisted at an angle and had a crack across the screen.

"Don't tell me it's busted!" Jan gawked, staring down.

"Erm…I won't tell you then." Zoe replied meekly. "But I think the Evolution Program is frozen."

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zoe had to kneel down and cover her ears.

"Sorry." Janet muttered.

"I'm OK." Zoe replied. "Try not to worry, we'll think of some…"

A roar of pain interrupted her in mid sentence. Zoe scanned the area until she remembered the mausoleum the others had gone down. Only then did she recognize the voice.

"Sekata!"

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"RRaarrggh!"

Lights flashed as the energy blades clashed. Sekata crossed his blades in front of his body, deflecting a strike from Myotismon's double blades weapon. Sekata shoved with all his might, throwing the vampire lord back.

"Your courage is admirable boy, but face the fact: you're no match for me." Myotismon taunted.

"We'll just have to find out!" Sekata faked an attack by making a slight motion, and then somersaulted over his opponent.

Myotismon whirled around and was caught in guarding against a frenzy of strikes and slashes. In the midst of that, Sekata got a little careless and let one of his lightsabers slip slightly. And his opponent took advantage of that with a swift counter attack.

The Cyberdramon cried out in pain as his right wrist was cut by the sword blow. Sekata fell backwards, losing both his Digivice, strapped to the affected wrist, and the weapon he held in his hand. The wound was deep, rendering his hand nearly immobile.

"Let's see how you fight with one hand!" Myotismon yelled, lunging for the fallen warrior.

With one saber still in the grasp on his left hand, Sekata rolled to the side, sprang up and slashed. Myotismon was caught aback by the sudden recovery and only had time to block with the center of his dual sided weapon. Sekata unintentionally cut through its power core, resulting in a small explosion which threw both combatants back, losing their respective weapons in the process.

"Just as well that I'm a left hander!" Sekata grinned, climbing to his feet.

"Grrr! Damn you! That was an antique you just destroyed!" Myotismon fumed.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's ancient around here." Sekata muttered. "Erase Claw!"

"Grizzly Wing!" The vampire dodged and set forth a swarm of bats.

"Dammit!" Sekata cursed as he desperately swatted around.

"X-laser!"

BOOM!

"Urgh!" Zoe's attack sent Myotismon to the ground, at the same time distracting him so the bats dissipated.

"Glad you could make it!" Sekata called.

"Let's take him!" Zoe agreed.

"Hmmm…it seems I must take my leave now." Myotismon muttered. He hovered over and snatched up Sekata's dropped Digivice.

"Hey! That's mine!" Sekata roared charging.

"Crimson Lightning!" The vampire lashed out with a pair of red energy whips, slamming Sekata into a wall. He moaned and slipped to the floor, leaving a dragon-shaped impression in the stone wall.

"Sekata!" Zoe ran to her friend's side as Myotismon made his escape through a hidden passageway behind a bookshelf.

"Ow…did you get the number of that truck?" Sekata moaned before collapsing into her arms.

"He should be fine. I think what got hurt most was his pride." Magnamon had managed to pull herself up and was leaning against a wall for support. "But Myotismon got away…"

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"Everybody all right?" Sagittarimon was asking.

"Yeah fine." Gargoylemon replied. "But what about…?"

The three Armor Digimon and Janet turned to see Zoe helping both Sekata and Magnamon out of the entrance to the mausoleum.

"Well, you kids look like a mess." Sagittarimon commented. "Did you get him?"

"No, more like he got us." Magnamon sighed.

Yasyamon folded his arms and shook his head.

"We regroup back at base, get some R & R, and then decided a course of action." Magnamon decided, assuming her role as commander.

"There's a problem with that through." Zoe jerked a thumb towards the towering MegaloGrowmon.

"I think she'll hit her head if she tries to walk in the front door." Gargoylemon muttered.

"Thanks for being so sympathetic." Jan replied sarcastically.

"Hey guys!" Gold V-dramon came running onto the scene, carrying Depthmon on her back. "Sorry I'm late, but I've got something important to discuss with you."

"Can't it wait till we get back?" Magnamon asked.

"No, I think I have to tell you about it now, right here. Cause…erm…it involves Raindramon and your friend Steve…"

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Taking his fury out on the punching bag was helping slightly, but not by much. It wouldn't help his current situation, and he'd have to face the truth sooner or later.

Steve had put most of his Flamedramon armor back on, except for the mask and the gauntlets. His own healing system, enhanced by the medical herbs, had brought his strength back pretty fast. His left arm still hurt from the injury, but Steve simply didn't feel it.

He was so preoccupied with his punches that he didn't hear the figure stepping up next to him.

"Steve?" It was Gold V-dramon.

"Hey." Steve replied glumly. "How did it go?"

"Not very good I heard." The female replied. "Got a few injuries here and there, but nothing too serious. I need to ask you too if I could borrow your Digivice for a while. Janet's was damaged, and we want to compare Zoe's and yours to try and repair it."

"Here." Steve tossed it in the direction of her voice.

"Whoa! I'm not good at catching!" Gold gasped. "You…you mad at me because I didn't tell you about…"

"No, it's nothing to do with you." Steve shook his head. "It's frustrating! That's all! Rargh!"

With a final whack, he broke the punching bag in two.

"Its cause Gargoylemon said this might help you. Here, hold still."

Steve felt her pushing something over his face. Some sort of visor that covered just his eyes.

"How's this supposed to help me?"

"Just look through it and tell me if you see anything."

"See pah, that's a…Hey! I do see something!"

Out of the darkness, a shape had suddenly formed in his field of vision. Slowly, it became clearer as Gold adjusted a knob at the side. At its best, Steve could make out Gold standing in front of him, though everything was in black and white.

"I'm not sure how it works. Gargoylemon's always the one playing around with these gadgets, but I think it's better than nothing."

"Makes a lot of difference." Steve lifted his three fingered claw, getting a first glimpse of his hand without the gauntlets on. "Thanks Gold, really!"

He gave Gold V-dramon a kiss at the side of her face, causing the golden dinosaur to turn bright red.

"Erm…yeah, no problem." She blushed, silently glad Steve couldn't see her color change. "Well, I'd better get going. The others will want to have a look at this."

Steve could, however, see her expression and smiled as she hurried out the door.

"Aw, isn't that sweet, Steve."

"Janet? When did you get in here?"

"I'm not. I'm standing outside the window."

"This window…yikes!" Steve started as the MegaloGrowmon lifted her head into the window's view. "Cool! You've hit Ultimate!"

"Cool?!" Jan roared. "I'm stuck in this 7-story, mechanical dinosaur's body and you call that cool?! I can barely hold anything with these claws I've got for hands!"

"Hey, you could be the next Godzilla!"

"Grrrrr! Why couldn't you have gone mute instead of blind?!" She muttered, trying to calm her nerves. "But put your jokes aside and get down here. I've got something to discuss with you…about your 'brother'."

Steve glared down, realizing she was in a very serious mood.

"All right. I'll meet you in the garden at the rear of the castle."

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Unbeknown to Gold V-dramon, the Digivice she held in her hand actually had several words flickering across its screen.

'Scan Complete.' Was the message she never saw.

What she was looking at was Yasyamon leaning against the corridor wall with his arms folded. The samurai stepped in front of her and made a gesture towards the Digivice.

"Oh? You want to have a look?"

Yasyamon took it by its reverse side, therefore not noticing the screen flickering briefly, just as it had before. As silently as before, he shoved it back into Gold's claws and walked off.

"Hey! A 'thank you' once in a while would be nice!"

Yasyamon simply waved his hand behind him as he disappeared round the bend.

"Never changes, does he?" Depthmon peered out of a nearby door. "Anyway, got the Digivice?"

"Here, give it to Gargoylemon." Gold V-dramon nodded, tossing it to her friend. "In the meantime, I'm going to check on Raindramon. Got to make sure he's all right…until I work myself out of this mess Steve got us into."

"Will do." Depthmon replied, not noticing either the Digivice had flickered as he'd caught it. "Hey guys!"

He was currently standing at the edge of a workshop. Balancing on his dolphin-like tail was probably a better term. Gargoylemon, Magnamon and Sagittarimon were all gathered around a table, examining Zoe's Digivice and Janet's damaged one.

"Oh good." Gargoylemon said. "Stag, you mind taking its readout with the machine over there?"

The gargoyle pointed to a contraption that looked very similar to a flat-bed scanner.

Sagittarimon brought the Digivice over, pushed several buttons and frowned as the machine refused to start.

"Gargh! How do you work this thing?!" He yelled, banging on it with his fist.

"NO! Don't do that!" Gargoylemon flew over and shoved Sagittarimon away, snatching up the Digivice at the same time. "Don't you know how to treat electronic equipment properly?! Especially delicate and expensive ones!"

"Bah, you young Digimon are so caught up in all this. A good bow and arrows never failed me in my time."

"That's cause you're an outdated, dumb old fart." Gargoylemon cursed under his breath.

"What did you call me?! Don't think I didn't hear that!"

"Stand down, both of you!" Magnamon shouted angrily, shoving her way between the two and grabbing the Digivice. "This isn't the time to be arguing!"

"Yeah…erm, sorry."

"I apologize."

"Forget about it." Magnamon placed the Digivice back down on the table. "We've still got some repair work to do. And Myotismon is still to be dealt with."

Of course, there was a lot of physical contact between the three knights and the Digivice.

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Sekata groaned, slowly pulling himself back to consciousness. He realized he was lying down and felt something soft beneath his back.

"You're back in the castle Sekata." Zoe spoke, standing over him.

"Urrgh…Zoe? What happened?"

"You passed out on the way back. Looks like you took a harder hit than we thought."

Sekata nodded, too tired to reply.

"By the way, it is kind of nice seeing your eyes for a change." The XV-mon smiled. "Well, they're not really yours in a way, but you get the idea."

"Seeing my eyes?" Sekata wondered, lifting his hand. He gasped upon finding it was a purple, three fingered claw.

Wait a sec! This means I…

"Yeah, you kind of de-evolved again. Here, take a look."

Before he could protest, Zoe shoved a full length mirror in front of his. Instantly forgetting his previous exhaustion, Sekata sprang up on the bed and stared, eyes wide with shock, at his Monodramon reflection.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Sekata screamed so loudly that all the Digimetal Knights, Gold V-dramon and Raindramon included, came barging into the room at full speed.

"What's wrong?!" Magnamon asked. "Are you two all right?"

Sekata was now gawking, mouth opened, and pointing a finger at his reflection.

"I…LOOK…C…C…C…C…CUTE!"

(Everyone faints.)

"YOU MORON! Why'd you have to scare us over something trivial like that???????!!!!!" Zoe roared furiously, promptly strangling the Monodramon in a scene reassembling that of a certain Simpson duo.

(Everyone sweatdrops.)

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"Are all 'humans' this weird?" Magnamon sighed, as the knights returned to the workshop, leaving Sekata and Zoe to scream at each other in the other room.

"I think they're like that because, well, they like each other." Gargoylemon laughed. "That was kind of like you and Fla…"

Sagittarimon stomped on his tail, cutting him off just in time. Raindramon was right next to them, and talking about his brother would be a rather delicate matter, made worse by the current situation.

"Gurgh…nothing!" The Gargoyle finished, his face contorting as he tried to contain his scream.

Yasyamon stepped in front, hiding Gargoylemon from Raindramon's sight, and clamping a hand to keep the armored Digimon's mouth shut.

"Anyway, I believe the blue Digivice will be enough for us to work with. We can return the other one to…"

"To bro?" Raindramon asked. "Sure, I'll do it!"

Taking the Digivice in his mouth, the young knight enthusiastically dashed down the corridor. Depthmon peered out of the room and gave the 'all clear' signal once Raindramon was gone.

"AAARRGGHH! MY TAIL!!!" Gargoylemon started screaming and jumping around the moment Yasyamon let him go.

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"What was that you wanted to talk to me about Jan?"

"I'm sure you know." Jan growled, taking as best a sitting position as she could in her current form. "That's a really wonderful stunt you've pulled."

"I did it with the best intentions." Steve insisted.

"Best?! Do you realize how cheated Raindramon's going to feel once he finds out?"

"That's a down point, I admit, but right now, he's already as hurt as he is." Steve turned and looked towards the sky. "He's lost someone close to him, and people do need support in times like those."

"He also has to accept the truth sometime."

"He will…I'll bring it up to him at the appropriate time."

"And how long will that be?! Months? Years? You willing to stay here that long?!"

"As long as it takes Jan." Steve growled. "It will take time…but he'll get over it."

"How would you know Steve?! How could you possibly barge in and know what Raindramon's feeling?!" Jan yelled angrily.

"You want to know why Jan?! My brother died too! I know EXACTLY how he feels!" Steve blurted out.

Jan gasped in shock. That was something she had never heard about the always easy-going and energetic Steve. The afore mentioned Flamedramon was facing away, clenching his fists.

"My brother was a New York City police officer. He was killed in the line of duty. I very young back then. For a long time, I simply couldn't accept the fact. I'd wake up at night thinking he was still here, calling my name."

"But…you told us you were an only child." Janet muttered.

"That was when my family moved to a new city, and…I shoved the memories out of my mind." Steve turned back towards Jan. "It's a terrible feeling. One I don't wish for anyone else to have to go through. And when I heard about Raindramon…it just stirred up those memories."

A long growl caused both to turn towards the doorway. Steve barely held up his claws in time as a black shape slammed him onto his back. Pain shot into his mind as his newly recovered left shoulder hit the ground.

"I don't believe you! How could you lie to me like that?!"

"Raindramon?!" Steve gasped, staring up at the armored Digimon poised on top on his chest. "I…I…"

"I don't want an explanation from you!!" Raindramon roared, the blue lightning charging up at his horns.

"Raindramon! Stop please!" Jan yelled, approaching.

Raindramon turned his lighting elemental attack on her instead. Being too startled to block, Jan took its full blow and fell to one knee.

"I HATE YOU! DAMMIT! I HATE YOU ALL!!!!!!" Raindramon leapt off Steve, scaled the garden's wall in one bound and sprinted off.

"Raindramon wait!" Steve cried, noticing his Digivice had been left lying on the ground. "Oh god! He must've been behind the door the whole time!"

"We've got to go after him!" Janet decided.

As Steve nodded, the tracking feature on his Digivice activated, with an arrow pointing in the direction Raindramon had run off in.

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"Damn, how fast can he run?" Steve panted.

Running across the open field had been fine, but Raindramon had led them into a more forested area. Janet was having a hard time because she was so insistent on not causing unnecessary damage to the forest.

"Magnamon told something about this forest." Jan said. "Something about it being forbidden."

"Forget it. There he is!"

Raindramon had stopped, panting, in front of an impassable twisted mass of trees. He turned back and growled as the pair approached.

All of a sudden, the trees behind Raindramon moved, opening a hole through. Vines whipped out and wrapped themselves around the young knight, screaming in panic.

"Raindramon!" Steve dashed forward. "Knuckle Fire!"

Another set of vines came forward, swatting out Steve's flames. Meanwhile, Raindramon was dragged back, screaming, into the darkness of the forest. The vines continued to lash at Steve and Jan until that was done, then they retreated, sealing off the pathway once again.

"NO!" Steve cried desperately, hacking away at the vines and trees.

Jan joined his assault, however, no matter how many they cut through, more simply grew back in their place. Both eventually stopped, panting with exhaustion.

"DAMN! DAMN!!!!!" Steve pounded the floor in frustration. "This is no use!"

"What…do you mean?" Jan panted. "Come on, we've got to keep trying!"

"Raindramon…he…would he ever forgive me? Would he even want to be rescued by me?! Dammit! Why am I even doing this?!" Steve threw his Digivice against a nearby tree.

Jan swung one of her arms, whacking Steve with the non-bladed side. The Flamedramon stumbled, losing the visor which allowed him to see. Steve was plunged back into darkness, but he couldn't have cared less at that instant.

"Fine! Blame me then! I screw up EVERYTHING! I'm a walking mistake! There, I've admitted it! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW????!!!!" He screamed, tears coming to his eyes.

"I'm not mad at you for making mistakes Steve." Jan replied, looking down. "What I am mad at you for is giving up."

Steve rubbed his eyes and turned towards the source of her voice.

"There are people who care about you." Jan continued. "I care about you. Here."

Delicately gripping Steve's visor in her claws, she handed it back to him.

"Jan…thanks." He sniffed, putting the visor on. "You may be stuck up there in that MegaloGrowmon's body…but it's still you underneath. I guess I have to stop pretending too."

Then, a bright pillar of light shot out of Steve's Digivice.

"What the?!" Steve picked it up and pointed it at the blocked up pathway.

The light seemed to 'hurt' the curled up trees, and they unwound slightly, opening a small path.

"I'll never fit through that." Jan muttered.

"But I can. You go back to the others and get some help." Steve decided. "I have to deal with my own mess."

"Be careful."

Steve nodded, then took a running start and leapt though.

Hang on kid! I'm coming!

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The forest beyond that was even more dark and gloomy, but his Digivice provided some light. Steve's mind raced as he surveyed the area, trying to decide what to do.

"Urgh!" That was when he was abruptly slammed to the ground.

"You're very brave to come charging in here by yourself." A voice laughed. A Blossomon stepped out of the shadows. "Brave, but stupid nevertheless."

"Where's Raindramon?!" Steve demanded.

"I'm afraid your friend's a little tied up at the moment." The plant Digimon laughed, gesturing towards the unconscious form bound by vines to a tree.

"Raindramon!"

"I'd be more concerned about myself if I were you! Spiral Flower!"

"Knuckle Fire!" Steve dodged to the side and let off several fire balls. The two projectile attacks connect and canceled each other out.

"Thorn Whips!"

Steve held up his arms to ward off the barrage of vines. Unfortunately, one blow managed to knock his visor off.

"NO!" He cried, desperately groping around for it. "SHIT! Where is it?!"

Blossomon swatted him aside.

"So our brave little boy is blind, is he? Well, this should be a walkover. Spiral Flower!"

"RRRAAGGHHH!" Steve took blow after blow until he was down on his knees.

"What you can't see with your eyes, you see with your heart." Raindramon's voice was barely audible. "Bro…I'm sorry…about just now."

"I'm sorry too." Steve said softly. Whether to himself or to Raindramon he wasn't sure. But what did happen was the bright light shinning out of his Digivice, causing Blossomon to hesitate.

"Huh? This power…" Steve wondered. "The knights? It's the Digimetal's power! Did my Digivice duplicate their data somehow?"

Steve brought his Digivice up and placed it at his heart.

"DIGIMETAL UP!"

In his mind, Steve saw himself standing within a circle. Surrounding it were the Digimetals of Friendship, Light, Hope, Faith (Reliability), Purity (Sincerity), Miracles and Fate. At his feet lay the Digimetal of Courage.

I get it!

Choosing one, Steve made a sprinting motion towards it.

(His body glows brightly and the Flamedramon armor 'breaks' off, leaving a humanoid dragon shape. This shape touches the Digimetal of Hope and immediately morphs, changing to Sagittarimon's form. The new armor clads his body, first the body, then gauntlets and finally the mask. Steve whipped the bow up in front of him and struck a pose with it.)

The crest on Hope engraved on his belt shone brightly.

"Hope's ray of judgment… Sagittarimon!"

"What the?!"

"Judgment Arrow!" Steve let an arrow fly, exploding in a burst equal to a flashbang, lighting up the entire area.

"AArrgghhh!" Blossomon flew backwards.

"Not such a walkover now, am I?" Steve laughed, silently admiring his new form at the same time.

"You haven't won yet! Thorn Whips!"

Blossomon shot out a bunch of vines, entangling Steve.

Sagittarimon isn't much on the maneuverability side, but…

"DIGIMETAL UP!" Steve glowed as he changed again. This time into Yasyamon. "Take that! Gordian Knot!"

With one swing on his swords, Steve twirled around and cut himself free. He then tossed both swords at Blossomon, distracting her. She fired a randomly aimed Spiral Flower, which only succeeded in hitting an empty patch of ground.

"Huh?!"

"Up here b****!" Steve roared. He was in the air, having evolved into Gargoylemon. "White Statue!"

Throwing off a ball of white energy from his claw, he temporarily paralyzed Blossomon. With a roar, Steve dive bombed the vegetation Digimon and launched into a fury of slashes, punches and kicks. Even as Blossomon collapsed, Steve somersaulted over her and switched his armor one last time.

"DIGIMETAL UP! Friendship's storm…Raindramon!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve noticed Raindramon's utterly startled expression at staring at a carbon copy of himself. Steve grinned…he'd chosen this form for a reason.

"This one's for you, bro! Thunder Blast!"

Blossomon screamed long and loud as Steve shocked her into submission.

"My defeat will mean nothing! You will never stop master Myotismon's plans…" She screeched, before breaking up into a cloud of data bits.

Steve switched back into his default Flamedramon body and brought up his Digivice.

"This devil's spirit…my burning flames will purify! DIGI-CODE SCAN!"

As Sekata had done before, the data was drawn to the Digivice. Steve glanced down at the image of Blossomon on the screen.

"Hey, wait a minute! I CAN SEE!" Steve suddenly blinked, staring down at his claws.

"You must've gotten a bit of data from all of us." Raindramon suggested. "All the knights were handling that device of yours earlier on."

"Damn, it's smart. It duplicated their data." Steve realized. The previous ache in his injured shoulder was now completely gone. "And that data must've healed me somehow."

"Bro, you were so cool just now!" Raindramon commented as Steve cut him loose.

"You still…want to call me that?" Steve asked. "Say, I'm sorry about the whole thing. I…"

"No, you don't need to apologize. It should be me doing that." Raindramon shook his head. "You've made me realize I have to accept the truth. My brother's gone…but I'll always have his memories."

"Raindramon…" Steve knelt down to face him. "You've made me realize too. The memories…are what count."

"Besides, we can always be brothers at heart." The young knight grinned.

"Brothers at heart…yeah…" Steve smiled, giving Raindramon a hug.

Inside, Steve felt that Raindramon's brother, Flamedramon, would be proud. And Steve knew too, that his own brother would feel the same way.

"Come on, we'd better get back to the others."