Digimon Fan Fiction / Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Ultimatum 2: The Argetlahm Adventures ❯ Mission #3 - The Siege of New Guldove ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

(A/N - Hey everybody, Keyvan here! This is my first entry in HTML format, so if anything is screwed up in the formatting, drop me a line and tell me, and I'll try to fix it. Thanx)










Argetlahm War Room
Day 7, 7:34 PM



"Everybody!" Ultimanium bellowed. "To the war room! Now!"

As soon as everybody heard the beckoning message blast over the intercom, they all dropped what they were doing and made their way to the war room as fast as their feet would take them. They all quickly leaped into their seats and awaited further instructions.

The hologram projector lit up, and the three demigods phased onstage.

"Greetings, Heroes. I'm glad you could make it here post haste," Ultimanium barked. "We have a Red Alert going on, so I'm going to make this briefing short and sweet."

The holographic lit up to show a topographical map. This one, however, was not one of Magnopolis or any construction facility. The picture showed a small city carved into the side of a mesa bordering the ocean.

Magnus hopped forward. "You are looking at the city of New Guldove, a settlement a short ways off the shore of the continent of Magnopolis."

Kid jumped up. "Guldove?! It exists in the third dimension?!"

Magnus nodded. "Very much so. However, it was destroyed several years ago in a civil war of the denizens of that continent. New Guldove was build in its place. As Kid suggests, the Chrono crew did in fact visit Guldove at some point, but that was in the fifth dimension, one vastly different from the one we speak of now."

Lord Raul turned to the map. "New Guldove is situated on a massive reserve of iron ore. The civil war fought there years back in the third dimension was for this metal. New Guldove nowadays fights off attacks from Ultramagnus' forces, them trying to seize control of Guldove and its metal reserves. While they have been holding off attacks for several months now, they are beginning to outgrow Guldove's defensive capabilities."

"Ultramagnus has ordered a large naval fleet to attack New Guldove," Ultimanium said. "You all will go down there and assist in the defense of Guldove until the attack subsides. The fleets will arrive in Guldove coastal territory in approximately 5 hours. In half an hour, we will be dropping you into Guldove area, and you will do what you must to see that Guldove remains standing by the end of the night."

Tai shrugged. "Easy enough. C'mon guys, let's go."

"NO." Ultimanium boomed, making everyone fall back into their seats. "There is further I must say. Our last mission was a complete disaster, and it nearly costed many of our crewmates' sanities. Know that if any of you mess up major on any large mission here on in, you'll be sent home in a doggy bag. Understood?"

Everybody nodded nervously.

Ultimanium shook his head. "It's not like I want to kill you. I know you are this dimension's last hope, and I will help you in any way that I see able. You will not be able to take the attack fleet as you are, so I will need to grant you more power."




********


Conker, Goku, Gohan and Vegeta stepped into the training gym.

"...eh... Ulty?" Conker whimpered.

Vegeta folded his arms. "If I am not granted true power someone will suffer dearly."

"Hey, everybody," Ultimanium sung over the loudspeaker. "Look ahead of you. You should see a large concrete tank with some green stuff in it."

Goku looked up at the celing, hoping to find the speaker. "And?"

"I'll be opening it up in a couple of seconds. This is the ship's reserve battle energy stores, essentially a tank of Ki-boosting liquid. I saturated a large amount of raw Ki into a resovoir of green-apple flavored Gatorade and stored it here; had I stored plain Ki in it the case would not have been able to contain it. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, you will all have unlimited access to this Ki as you see fit."

Conker sulked. "What about me?"

"There's a gallon bucket next to the Ki storage. Do you see it?"

Conker glanced at the small plastic bucket on a bench near the Ki storage. "...yeah. What about it?"

"You will get that much Ki. 500 units. No more, no less."

"That's it?!" Conker growled.

"You have to be careful not to abuse Ki energy, Conker. Ki can be a very dangerous thing to the uninitiated. I will only be giving you a small amount of it for now, at least until I can see the effects it has on you. Goku, Gohan, Vegeta are all trained in the arts of Ki. Perhaps they will be able to help you understand it."

Conker looked nervously at the group. ".. you guys use Ki?"

Gohan nodded. "Every day. We focus Ki to use our energy beams."

The loudspeaker crackled again. "Ki, asides from enhancing the psychic abilities of a person, greatly enhances their strength and dexterity. Matrix style movement and strength."

Conker sighed. "Been there, done that."

"....supersonic travel on your feet?"

Conker lit up. "Heh...I suppose I could get used to this Ki stuff..."

Ultimanium tapped a button on the bridge. "....funny... there's only 499,994 units here... must've been a leak somewhere.. oh well. The doors are opening... now."

The glass panel on the tank slid open, and everyone beared down to drink their fill.


********


Lord Raul tapped Serge's shoulder. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Serge blinked. "Uh.. sure. Why?"

In a blink of an eye, Raul snapped behind Serge and yanked the Mastermune out of his surprised hands.

Serge swung his empty hands in front of him. "H-hey!"

Raul bowed and held the Mastermune in place in front of him. Serge watched in confusion. Raul closed his eyes and started humming mystic wording under his breath. Serge blinked again to find himself awash in a green light that subsided as he realized what was going on. Raul reached back and caught the Mastermune that fell out of the air. Or, both, if you want to be specific.

Serge looked back and forth between Raul's hands. In each he held perfect copies of the Mastermune. Raul, in a single swift motion, brought both swallows up, and fused them together at the centers of the handles with a blast of magic energy.

Serge pointed. "H-ho-how.." he stammered.

"Simple Additive Magic," Raul laughed. "Using just the most basic of the branches of Additive Magic, I can replicate anything before me, as well as bring things out of memory into reality... even enchantments like on your Mastermune here can be copied. Enchantments. Hey, that's a good idea..."

Raul bowed again, bringing the crossed Mastermunes with him. After a minute of hard concentrating, the four blades of the dual Mastermune erupted in different color flames - red, blue, yellow, green. He handed it back to Serge, still with a shocked expression on his face. "All done. Different elemental alignments on each blade. For identification purposes, I call it the Tetra Weapon. Have fun on your little sentry duty, and say hi to Takeru for me." Without as much as a word, Raul turned on his heel and marched down the hall, disappearing into thin air.

Serge held the Tetra Weapon up. "....cool..."


********


The Digidestined still continued on conversation. Veemon turned in his seat to see Ultimanium's head poked in the doorway, Ultimanium gesturing Veemon out of the war room.

Veemon hopped down and waddled out. He looked both ways down the hall to find nobody. "...Ulty?"

Ultimanium dove down from the celing and drove a needle into Veemon's back.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOWWWW!!!! ULTY!!! NOW WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?" Veemon squealed, holding the rupture on his back. Ultimanium walked up slowly and applied some hydrogen peroxide on the welt. "Give it some time, Veemon. You'll be thankful I did this."


********


All the heroes formed up quickly in the hangar. The three overseers walked up in front of them and stood with their hands behind their backs.

"You will be dropped down into Guldove territory shortly. For this mission, Magnus will accompany you, acting for artillery purposes. You rest of you will defend the shores of New Guldove from any landing forces. Do not worry if you miss some people, only attack those you think you will be able to defeat. The Guldove defense forces will be able to handle any androids you miss. Understood?"

No more was said. Everybody filed into the dropship and it rocketed out into one-dimensional space, shifting away from the darkness into the bright spectrum of the fifth dimension without so much as a jolt.











MISSION #3 - Siege of New Guldove

Help defend the shores of New Guldove from Ultramagnus' incoming fleet. Keep lethal force directed out into the open. Guldove special forces will handle any androids that make it into the city. Danger is defined under Defcon 3.

Among the fleet is 30 destroyers, 10 carriers, and three battlecruisers, as well as several troop transports. ARGETLAHM TEAM will defend against any android assaults as well as any warships that stray medium distance to the shore. MAGNUS will stay at a highpoint on Guldove Mesa and launch long range attacks against the warships.

Good luck.










Kid set her foot down onto the rickety wooden dock and looked around at the timber shacks placed randomly around the makeshift ocean platform. "Can't say Guldove's changed much."

Serge froze, his vision arced up. "Then I guess you haven't looked up."

Everybody glanced up at the massive towers that loomed over them. A full sized city was constructed and situated a little ways up the mesa from the original Guldove dock, much of it sharing the futuristic design of Magnopolis. However, this city was in far greater shape than Ultramagnus' adobe. Further down the beach, away from the wooden platform several makeshift bunkers were set up, with large guns placed on them. New Guldove was apparently expecting an assault but it didn't seem they could get the resources necessary to defend.

"We've already cleared things up with Guldove's elder," Magnus explained. "All we need to do is set up on the beach. I will be fighting from the mesa up there." Magnus pointed upwards at a large cliff that extended over top of the metropolis, carved into the mesa.

"So all we do is go down to the beach and watch for ships?" Goku asked., brushing back his black spiky hair.

Magnus shook his head. "It's not as simple as you think, Goku. When Ultramagnus' forces come, they're going to come hot and heavy. Get in as defensive positions as you can. Keep in mind that if anybody leaves their position, they are most definately going to be SWEPT AWAY. Understood?"

Everybody nodded, reluctantly.

Magnus rubbed his hands. "Great. Everybody get forted up, the rush is going to come in approximately half an hour and we have to be prepared as possible. I would suggest dividing into 4 groups to take different sides of the beachhead."




WEST BUNKER AREA


Davis
Veemon
Cody
Armadillomon
Kari
Gatomon


EAST BUNKER AREA


Cloud
Serge
Conker
Rodent
Berri
Izzy
Tentomon


NORTH BUNKER AREA


Tai
Agumon
TK
Patamon
Squall
Karsh Kid


SOUTH BUNKER AREA


Goku
Vegeta
Gohan




Gohan scratched his head. "We have a wall missing out of our bunker."

Magnus nodded. "You're the ones with all the long range energy attacks, so you get first hit on any ships inbound. If you didn't have a wall there, the feedback from your Ki blasts would kill you. And don't feel reluctant to use your most powerful attacks, either. There are no major islands in El Nido in that direction."

Serge stepped up. "There's Gaea's Navel."

Magnus smirked. "Nothing's going to bring THAT island down. Anyways, we're running out of time. I'll head up to the cliff, you guys get comfortable in your bunkers. See you in a couple of hours."

TK sweatdropped. "Couple of hours...?"


********


Kid threw open the door. "What are these bunkers like, anyways?" She peered cautiously around the cabin, half buried in the sand around it. A line of cots ran along the wall to the right of Kid. There was a small table in the corner with a radio on it, and several small chairs. Over against the slit-like window facing out to the beach, mounted energy blasters stuck out.


********


Davis looked around. "The place is pretty roomy. There should be enough room in here for everybody to digivolve."

Gatomon grasped the trigger of a blaster, but let go and stepped back. "I never was too wieldy with guns, anyways. Kari needs to use one though."

Veemon stared from his seat at the energy blaster ahead of him. It beckoned him onward. Slowly, he got up from his seat and made his way over to it and grasped its heavy handle. "...it's a gun."

"We were quite aware of that, thank you," Armadillomon groaned. "Get over here, we need to digivolve you."

Veemon whipped around. "Davish!" he said in an sickeningly sweet tone. "Can I use one instead? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Er.." Davis stammered. "It would be better if you could digivolve.. but I don't see any harm in it." I'm making a mistake here, Davis thought to himself.

"Yeeeeah!!" Veemon wailed. Quickly, he drug a chair over to the large cannon, leaped up and yanked hard on the trigger, sending a concentrated blast of light out to the shoreline.





********




"Master," Minonim buzzed. "Your assault fleet is beginning to enter New Guldove territory... any.. orders?..."

Ultramagnus turned in his swivel chair, with an angry frown on his face. "What the hell is wrong with you, Minonim?!"

"I don't possibly know what you're talking about, sir," Minonim chirped.

Ultramagnus slammed his fist down on the table. "You know what I'm talking about!! I apparently need to give a shit about my workers' 'emotional concerns' to get a damn confident word out of them! And if my workers aren't confident, they're not operating at full capacity! I need to wipe Ultimanium clean before him and his little shitheads get the upper hand on this war! TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!!"

Minonim straightened himself. "... I don't know why you have to bomb out New Guldove, that's all."

Ultramagnus grit his teeth, growling at Minonim. "Why? Why?! That hick town full of half-employed fishing freaks, situated in El Nido, contains one of the largest iron ore stores remaining on the surface of third-dimensional earth! That's ore that can be used to build androids! Androids to flush that ass Ultimanium out! Do you need any more 'reason'?!"

"I just don't think the people of Guldove deserve that." Minonim whipered.

Ultramagnus, struggling to contain his fit of rage, threw his chair back around and stared down on the city beneath him. "Just fucking peachy. The one connection I have with my troops has a conscience. And to think I trusted you with my orders."

Minonim lit up. "Y-you trusted me?"

"Not anymore," Ultramagnus barked. He turned and spoke into the microphone embedded into his desk. "Security? Come and remove our little friend Minonim for me. Make sure he doesn't leave the palace prison for as long as he lives."

"W-WHAT?! ULTRAMAGNUS!!"

An android lept in through the doors and fired a stun bolt into the office, striking Minonim and sending a wave of EMP lightning over his body. The probe body of Minonim hit the ground with a heavy clank as Minonim began losing his energy. The android hefted the probe over his shoulder and marched out, shutting the office door behind him.

Ultramagnus smirked to himself. He turned back to the microphone. "Could I get you guys to build me a new assistant probe?"

"Sure," A robotic voice hummed. "Anything else, master?"

Ultramagnus turned to the window. "Get the Guldove assault fleet attacking."






********



< br> Conker flexed his arms. "This feels funny."

"You're telling me," Cloud sighed. He peered out from the bunker onto the open ocean ahead of them. "I wish these guys would attack and get it over with. Hey, Serge, you still got your Tetra Weapon here?"

Serge held up the battlestar. "Sure do. Why?"

Berri sat down. "Well, if Ultramagnus' forces do swarm us like Magnus insists, they'll probably bust into our bunkers at some point. We need somekind of melee defense."

Conker shook his head. "No, not that. I mean I feel funny."

"I don't think we're in the mood for jokes." Izzy sighed.

"No, no, no! I feel funny... I'm stronger..." Conker reached over, grabbing a chair, and suspended it on his index finger.

Cloud rubbed his chin. "Hmm... funny..."


********


Goku looked up at the horizon. "...guys..."

Vegeta got up from his chair. "What's going on?"

Gohan gulped. "I think we have company."


********






The captain stood on the deck, looking out to New Guldove ahead of him. A sailor trudged up to him, saluting. "Sir! We have Guldove in sight and all weapons preperations have been made. Commence assault?"

The captain folded his arms. "Commence assault."

The troop transports rocketed ahead of the battlecruiser the captain was stationed on and screamed onward to the Guldove beach.



********


Magnus sat up. "...yeah. Attack." he went up in a fight stance and began concentrating. After a minute or so of silence, Magnus yelled out a war cry and launched a wave of Ki blasts at the oceanfront down ahead of him.


********


Gohan, Goku and Vegeta all leant back and shot multiple Ki blasts forward, impacting against the hulls of the faroff destroyers. 2 tipped over.


********


8 troop transports all lined up against the Guldove shore and all let off 30 androids each, which began charging up the shore breakless after departure.

"Incoming!!" Tai yelled. "Agumon! Let's do this!!"

Agumon nodded. "Gotcha." He ran outside the bunker, and hopped up the stairs leading to the ground level.

Agumon.... warp digivolve to...
WARGREYMON!!

Wargreymon lunged forward past the remaining bunkers and slashed through a group of androids, shredding 10 of them. The east and west bunkers began unloading with their energy blasters, bursts of light impacting against the ground and androids sending them crashing to the ground, and any that didn't flying.


********


"Yeeeeeehawwwww!!" Veemon wailed.

Gatomon grinned. "I've got my own explosive projectiles, thank you very much."

Gatomon... digivolve to...
ANGEWOMON!!

"Celestial Arrow!!"

A pink-white projectile sailed into the fray and erupted in a fazing white explosion in the center of the arranged bunkers. Still, however, countless soldier robots fought their way up the sand ramp leading into Guldove.

Cody let loose another shot. "We're not exactly getting enough projectiles out there! Armadillomon!!"

Armadillomon... armor digivolve to...
DIGMON!!

"Gold Rush!!"

A wave of drill bits sailed out through the opening and plowed through several more androids. A shell landed outside the west bunker, exploding and sending a couple more androids down.


********


"Damn it!" Magnus yelled. "The ships are getting too close! I have to do something about them!" He began charging again. "...KAMEEEE...."


********


Rodent squeezed off another shot. "We can't stay here much longer if the cruisers are bombing us! We have to fight somewhere else!"

"We can't leave!" Berri shouted. "You heard what Magnus said! If we leave we'll be swarmed!"

Without warning, Rodent dismounted his energy blaster from its emplacement and dove outside with it, hauling it up the stairs with him. He climbed on top of the bunker and began raining death from there.


********


"....HAAAAAMEEEEE...."


********


Goku stopped his concentration to bash down an android that had attempted to gain initiative on him. "I can't believe this! There's too many of them!!"

Vegeta threw another soldier to the ground, and turned to Goku with a strange smile on his face. "Relax, Kakarot. I have things under control." He threw his hands above his head and began to collect his Ki from there - however, some very familiar bolts of energy orbited it. "Child! Hold the androids off with your father while I charge!!"

Gohan sweatdropped. "No way... he's not..."


********


Davis turned, shocked. "Guys... we're not holding them off any better..." He quickly snatched his Buster Sword off the chair ahead of him and held it at his side, ready for an intrusion.

"There's too many of them getting around us!" Kari yelled. "They're going to get in here if we don't do something!"

Angewomon quickly dedigivolved. Gatomon and Davis turned to see the door burst open and a pair of androids dive through.

"Lightning Claw!!" Gatomon yelped. She dove at an android and lopped its head clean off. Davis charged at the other stunned android and drove the Buster Sword deep through its chest.


********


"....HAAAAAAA!!!" The energy exploded around Magnus. "Let's see how you people like a Renzokamehameha upside the head!!!" Magnus threw his arms infront of him to parry the energy and divide it. With a lightning fast arm, Magnus swung both hands in front of him and locked them together, unleashing the 8-Kamehameha attack. The bolts of raw Ki tore through the air, down along the ocean before tearing through several cruisers, making them sink nearly instantaneously.


********


Tai leaped from the celing of the bunker and cross-slashed another android across the chest. He spun around with the dual Ultima Weapon blades and pierced another robot's defense. Wargreymon hovered up to Tai.

"Tai!" Wargreymon bellowed. "You can't be out here! It's too dangerous!!"

"Reeeeelax," Tai laughed. "We have our friends Ultima and Weapon here."

Wargreymon spun around Tai and brought a heavy iron fist down on another android that was sneaking up behind him. "Shut it, Tai! You shouldn't be out here!"

"The androids are getting too close to Guldove!" Kid yelled, crossing another dagger over a robot's face. "We have to do some desperate things!"


********


Magnus smirked as he eyed the burning wreckages of the multiple cruisers. When his vision turned down onto the beachhead, his pleasure didn't last long. To his horror, more than half of the Argetlahm crew was fighting outside of the bunkers - very viable targets for a cruiser shell. He glanced nervously at the other end of the beach, where several androids each second plowed through the gates of New Guldove. In a fix, he dove quickly down from his vantage point and flew down to the Guldove entrance. "Guys! What are you doing?!"

Gatomon sat on Davis' shoulder, and lept off at an android, slashing off its arm. "What does it look like?"

"Everybody! Out of your bunkers!" Magnus yelled. 10 more transports docked at the other end of the beach, with soldiers in each of them. As everybody remaining in the bunkers struggled valiantly to fight them off, a good 200 androids were making their way up the beach. They were clearly unstoppable. As everybody turned to defend themselves, they were rushed by the androids, tearing away with lasers, punching, kicking, and otherwise plowing through everybody to get to Guldove. Davis was toppled, sending him and Gatomon to the ground.

"Kari!!" Gatomon yelled, being carried away in the rush of androids.

Veemon's eyes grew wide. "G-Gatomon?! Gatomon!!" He dropped his laser where it was and plowed out of the bunker into the impending crowd of androids. Veemon caught sight of Davis and screeched to a halt. "Davis! Davis! Where's Gatomon?!"

Davis stumbled to his feet. "Gatomon got carried away with those androids! I can't see her from here!"

Veemon threw his foot down. "I have to find her!! Davis, help me out here!!"

Veemon... digivolve to....
EXVEEMON!!

Exveemon hovered up above the crowd as fast as he could and looked over the charging parade of invaders frantically. "Gatomon...? GATOMON!!" Exveemon dove forward in the air into Guldove. The Guldove special forces were already in action, fighting off androids all over the place.

Serge lept into the fray swinging the Tetra Weapon like mad. A glowing red blade came in contact with the frail android ahead of him, enveloping him in flame. As Serge nailed various androids with the different flamed-blades of the Tetra Weapon, the rage of the elements was clearly coming into action. The sheer impact of the yellow flamed blade against its adversary shook the ground beneath it. Just swinging the green blade was enough to blow a squad of androids away.


********


Goku backed up as the androids beared down on his bunker group. "Eh... Vegeta... you done there yet?"

Vegeta blinked. "Sure am," he slowly brought his hands down in front of him, carrying the raging ball of Ki with them. Electric bolts arced all over the huge ball of psychic energy. "Damn androids!! You wish to feel the true fury of the Saiyan race?! I would be more than happy to share it with you!!!!"

"FINAL FLASH!!"

A gigantic beam of energy tore down the seashore, punching straight through all three battlecruisers, carrying on, going through 8 destroyers and 5 cruisers, and blowing Gaea's Navel to shreds.

"Vegeta, you ass!" Karsh scowled. "Now look what you did!!"

Goku, Gohan and Vegeta turned to see Karsh standing at the edge of the bunker.

Vegeta stepped forward and pointed. "Like hell YOU did anything beneficial!!"

"I don't destroy natural wonders!!"


********


"GATOMON!!" Kari yelled, above the clashes and clangs that echoed throughout the main square of New Guldove. The entire square was packed with soldiers and androids going at it, swords, guns. There was no empty space to stand in. "Exveemon, did you see her?"

Exveemon looked up to Kari on his shoulder. "I want to find her as much as you do! C'mon, she's gotta be around here somewhere!"


********


Everybody charged through the Guldove gates and thew them closed behind them. "Kari! TK! Cody!!" Davis yelled. "We have to get out of here! Another 15 transports landed at the beach!! We'll never last through it all!!"

Goku threw another android to Magnus while beating off another with his spare hand. Magnus drove a fist through the android and tossed it to his side. "There's no way we'll be able to beat all of these androids alone! We have to get out of here, NOW! Ultimanium!! Beam us aboard!!"

Conker punched an android down on the ground in the face repeatedly. "But we're not all accounted for!!"

Magnus looked around at the mayhem around him. "Everyone's here.. except for..."

"GATOMON!!" Exveemon bellowed.

"We have no time to worry about Gatomon!!" Kid yelled. "We have to get out of here before we lose everybody!!"

Kari whipped around to Kid. "I...I'm not leaving without Gatomon!!"

Karsh grabbed Kari's arms and held them behind her back. "Sorry, ma'am, but we have to get out of here."

Exveemon grabbed Karsh by the collar. "YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!!!"




Magnus shook his head. "...Guldove is hopeless.."

The beam roared down and brought all the crew back up. Guldove was doomed.














********


Ultimanium brought his hands down on the mess hall table. "I'M TIRED OF LOSING!!"

Everybody looked at him fearfully.

Ultimanium pointed harshly. "I said I didn't want anything like this to happen again, and I meant it. Ultramagnus is probably laughing his head off at you guys right now! As much as I want to kill you all right now, I realize I can't... you all are our last hope, need I say it again. Screw up again, friends, and you'll all be seeing my ANGRY side. Get out of here."

Everybody scattered out the door... except for Veemon, sitting at the center of the table.

Ultimanium turned around. "What do you want?"

Veemon stared at the table ahead of him, and let out a stifled sob.

Ultimanium frowned. "I didn't mean to speak so harshly..."

Veemon bowed his head. "..It's not that.."

Ultimanium took a seat across from him. "Tell me what's wrong. Bunkmates getting hostile on you?"

Veemon remained still. "...no...." he murmured. "..you wouldn't.. understand..."

Ultimanium grit his teeth. "...what happened down there?"

Veemon closed his eyes. "...it was Gatomon."

Ultimanium looked down at the table. "...Gatomon. I know... I'm sorry for what happened down there. I should've been helping out."

Veemon shook his head. "No.. it wasn't that.. this is all my fault. I should've digivolved and helped out everyone else instead of taking a position on the turrets. I could have prevented this whole thing... I..." Veemon drooped again, hiding his face from view. A tear dropped against the polished table.

"It wasn't your fault, Veemon."

Veemon turned in his chair to find Davis standing at the door. "....Davis?"

Davis took a seat next to Veemon. "Veemon, quit talking about yourself like that. You did what you could - I'm kinda jealous, actually."

Veemon gazed at Davis. "...huh?"

Davis leaned back in his chair. "That kinda got me thinking. You just dove into the fray, arms flailing.. you were willing to do what you had to, put your life on the line if it meant finding Gatomon. ... I wish I could do the same for Kari, but... well, you see how she acts now.. I had a thing going and I just wasted it," He placed a reassuring hand on Veemon's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Vee. We'll find Gatomon."

Veemon looked at Davis with relivened eyes. "..you..you mean it?"

"Of course we'll find her," Ultimanium said. "We all have our personal grudge against Ultramagnus. You've just found yours. He'll pay yet. We'll find Gatomon, even if it takes us months. You're part of the group, Veemon, just like everyone else."

Veemon sat up. "....thanks."

Ultimanium waved. "No prob. If you ever have to talk, I'll be on the bridge, making useless adjustments to the Argetlahm. See you around." With that, he phased out of his chair and disappeared.

Davis and Veemon looked at each other. Davis grinned. "Geez, lighten up." He turned on his heel and strided out of the mess hall.

Veemon stared after Davis until he finally disappeared. He turned his vision straight forward and smiled to himself. He was going to march straight down to the rec room and remember Gatomon.



And he was going to practice up on Quake 3 for the day she returned.











Ahh... Veemon's a bit relieved... but, what really happened to Gatomon? What is next for the Argetlahm crew? Find out on the next Argetlahm Adventures!