Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Next Level ❯ Episode 17: Dual Battles ( Chapter 17 )

Valkyrimon's sword once again met empty air as Justimon evaded his attack. Earlier, such a move would have caused him some concern and perhaps a little frustration, but at this late point in his training, he was well prepared for just such a thing. He was prepared as well to swing his blade up to deflect the slice Justimon aimed at his shoulder. The two weapons, one brilliant Chrome Digizoid, the other pure energy, clashed in a miniature shower of sparks.

Wasting no time, Valkyrimon turned the block into an attack of his own, slicing for Justimon's chest. The blue warrior stepped around, and Valkyrimon grimaced as he realized he had made a rookie mistake and given his opponent a shot at his back as the swing took him farther around than he had counted on. He threw himself forward, Justimon's energy blade passing mere inches from his back. Despite that, he still felt a hard impact from the rear and lost his balance, falling flat on his face. He had just enough time to flip over onto his back before he found the tip of Justimon's blade at his throat.

"Damn," Valkyrimon said, letting his head fall back onto the ground. "And I thought I was doing well."

"You did do well," Justimon reassured him. "You just made a critical error at the end. Do you know what you should have done there?"

Justimon reached out his hand and Valkyrimon grasped it, using it to hop back to his feet. He thought for a second, reviewing the myriad 'tips' that Justimon had given him over the extended sparring session. None seemed to fit the situation, and he told his instructor that.

"You're right," Justimon nodded. "That brings us up to tip number 22: Sometimes a sacrifice will be necessary. Sometimes, it's best to take a hit if it means ending the battle. If you had allowed me to hit you, you would have been in a position to get in a potentially final blow."

Valkyrimon winced as he realized that he had seen the opportunity to go after Justimon's neck during his back attack, but he had been more concerned with avoiding the hit.

"I think that's enough for now, don't you?" Justimon asked his pupil. "You've improved quite a lot today."

"Thanks to you!" Valkyrimon grinned. "Y'know, man? I really appreciate this. I just hope that I can be as strong as you one day."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Valkyrimon nodded. "I really look up to you, you know that?"

"Well," Justimon answered, turning his face away, "you really shouldn't…"

"Huh?"

Any response Justimon might have given was interrupted by a loud tearing sound. Valkyrimon and Justimon whipped around to see a large tree uprooted and shoved to the side by a large metal arm. The rest of the from became visible as what appeared to be a large metallic dinosaur, wires and cables running across its body. Kazu recognized it easily as a Metal Tyrannomon, Ultimate level.

"Tamers… I found you," it said simply, glaring at the two Megas.

"Yeah, so? Now what?" Justimon asked.

"Now, I kill you!"

******

Gallantmon sighted down the tip of his lance at Black War Greymon, waiting for his opponent to make a move. He was breathing heavily, and the weapon was wavering slightly as a result, the rapid rising and falling of his chest moving his arm. He held his shield close to his body, covering a large section of his armor that had been removed by one of Black War Greymon's attacks. His cape was in tatters and there was a myriad of cuts and pits in the rest of his armor.

Across from him, Black War Greymon wasn't in much better shape. He was down to a single clawed gauntlet and he too was breathing heavily, but his armor was in better shape, having gotten the better of Gallantmon in several attacks. "You fight well," he commended his opponent. "Better than I could have ever hoped. But, it is past time that I ended this…" He drew his arms back by his side and Gallantmon grimaced as he began to gather dark energy.

"Damn," Takato cursed, one hand holding his side where Gallantmon had been injured. "I just need you to hold one a little longer, okay?"

"I… I don't have a choice," Guilmon answered. "But, yes, I think I can keep going."

"Well then, let's see if we can't end this right now!"

"Gaia Destroyer!" Gallantmon leapt forward as soon as he heard Black War Greymon call out his attack, hoping for the best case scenario of stopping the attack before it had enough strength. Black War Greymon was quicker, though, and the dark fireball streaked through the air before Gallantmon could stop it.

"This is it!" Takato yelled through Gallantmon's mouth. With a sweep of his shield arm, he deflected the Gaia Destroyer, much to Black War Greymon's surprise, and lowered his shoulder. Black War Greymon had not yet recovered from his attack when Gallantmon plowed into him. The dark Mega staggered backwards under the impact of the rushing body blow as Gallantmon dug his feet into the ground to stop and proudly lifted his shield.

"We end this now!" Guilmon cried, channeling all of his remaining energy into the holy shield. One by one, the triangular symbols around the edge lit up, and the center design shone brightly as power flowed into it.

"Shield… of the Just!" Gallantmon yelled. His entire shield turned blindingly white before a massive red blast of energy erupted outward, forcing all watching to turn away. Black War Greymon cursed loudly as the light of the attack began to envelop him, followed by an enormous explosion. Gallantmon slumped to his knees, his body going limp as the exertion took its toll.

"Did we… get him?" Guilmon asked in earnest.

"I… hope so," Takato replied, his eyes closed to rest. "'Cause, right now… I… don't think I can even… move."

******

"Holy!" Rika began to curse before the glare of Gallantmon's attack forced her to turn away. "His ultimate attack… It has to be over after that… right?"

"I…" Taomon began, but she soon shook her head. "I'm afraid not…"

A large cloud of dust had obscured the results of Gallantmon's effort, but that was beginning to clear. When it had finally settled, the results became all too clear. The Dark Mega was far from defeated, as he still crouched on the ground, holding a large black shield up in front of him. He had not weathered the attack perfectly intact, his armor pitted more deeply than before. Energy burns now covered most of it, some sections still smoldering and smoking.

"Hell," Rika sighed. "All that, and he managed to defend with that goddamn shield…"

******

"Aww, man!" Kenta exclaimed as he too witnessed Black War Greymon's defense. "That is so not fair! What are we going to do now?"

"Fight," Marine Angemon piped in, rising up from Kenta's shoulder. "I'll fight!"

"Are you sure?" Kenta asked his partner. "I thought you were more of a lover than a fighter."

"Well…"

"Well," Lopmon interrupted. "That's why I'm going to fight."

"Lopmon," Suzie said. "Are you sure about this? I mean, Takato…"

"Takato said we were here for backup," Lopmon answered. "This qualifies."

"Well," Suzie said hesitantly. "If you're sure…"

******

Gallantmon let out a cry of dismay as he saw that his attack had failed to seriously damage Black War Greymon. "No…" Takato breathed. "We put everything we had into that one, too… Damn! It can't… end like this!"

Black War Greymon grimaced in disgust at his shield, large cracks nearly splitting it into fragments. "That," he grudgingly admitted, crouched over and breathing heavily, "was one seriously powerful technique. Heh… Lucky I had my shield, or that attack would have finished me off. Even so, this thing's done." He stood up, tossing the ravaged shield to the ground and approached the kneeling Gallantmon. "It's almost a shame that I'll have to finish you off now," Black War Greymon continued. "You were the first real opponent I've had in a long time. But, now, you die." He raised his one remaining gauntlet and prepared to deliver the killing blow.

Stoically, Takato kept his eyes open as he waited for the dark Mega's final blow, but it never came. Instead, his eyes widened as he saw what Black War Greymon could not, Antylamon leaping to attack.

Black War Greymon could tell from Gallantmon's reaction that something was up, but he still let out a howl of pain as one of Antylamon's axes cut across the armor on his back. He lurched forward, nearly falling onto Gallantmon before he could recover. With one eye closed from the pain, Black War Greymon spun around to face his latest attacker.

"How… how dare you!" he raged. "You insolent little…"

"I won't let you hurt my friends anymore," Antylamon stated. "This ends… now."

"Fine…" Black War Greymon growled. "I'll have to teach you a lesson for attacking me from behind." His mouth twisted up in an imitation of a smile. "I hadn't expected such a cowardly attack… from a Deva."

"Hmmph. And what would you know about Devas?"

"Only that it'll be my great honor to finish the last of you all off. Heh… It's just too bad you won't be there to see your precious Sovereigns fall before us!"

"Black War Greymon!"

Everybody started at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. To everyone's surprise it was the gentleman in the black suit that had been with Black War Greymon. Intent on watching the battle, he had been all but forgotten about. "You talk too much…"

"Well then," Black War Greymon said, turning his attention back to Antylamon and completely ignoring the man. Once more, he poised his claws in preparation to attack. "Let's see what you can do, little bunny."

Antylamon's charge was surprisingly swift, her axe arcing for Black War Greymon's neck, but the dark Mega ducked under the seemingly wild swing. Before he could counterattack though, Antylamon brought her other axe up across her body, and Black War Greymon threw himself backwards to avoid taking a serious hit. The momentum of her swings turned Antylamon's back around towards the dark Mega, but once again the apparent weakness was deceptive. Before Black War Greymon could charge in, the twin axes came back around as Antylamon continued the spin. Scowling, the dark Mega could only fall back or dodge the flurry of single and double axe strikes.

"It looks almost like she's dancing…" Suzie breathed. "C'mon… you can do it. I know it…"

******

Whistling softly at Antylamon's display, Kenta and Marine Angemon rushed over to where Gallantmon was slowly recovering his strength on the ground. "That was one hell of a battle," Kenta said to his friend. "You going to be all right?"

"That…" Takato breathed, "took all of our energy… Honestly, I can barely move…" He could feel his strength beginning to return, but he knew it wasn't nearly enough to continue fighting with.

"Aww, man," Kenta grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, we'll just have to see what we can do about that. M.A.?"

The miniscule Mega nodded and floated over to Gallantmon, hovering just in front of his face. "Don't worry," he piped, "this'll help. Kahuna Waves!" Marine Angemon blew gently, and a stream of small blue bubbles began to wash over Gallantmon's head and shoulders.

The Holy Knight closed his eyes with a grateful smile as he started to feel his energy return. "Thanks, I needed that," he said. "But, don't strain yourself too much. I lost too much strength for you to restore."

Marine Angemon cut off the stream with a slight sigh. "'Kay." He floated back to rest on Kenta's shoulder as the boy turned to watch the continuing fight between Black War Greymon and Antylamon. The former Deva was fighting well, but Black War Greymon was quickly gaining the upper hand. Antylamon's dance had deteriorated and the dark Mega had begun to exploit ever larger openings to devastating effect.

******

With one desperate effort, Antylamon slipped around to Black War Greymon's back, sweeping an axe towards the dark Mega's leg. With a grunt, he managed to jump over the attack, spinning to drive his elbow at Antylamon. The ex-Deva took the blow, her head snapping to one side, but she managed to retaliate by planting an axe in Black War Greymon's side. The dark Mega howled in pain and repeatedly lashed out with his arm, clubbing continually into Antylamon's head.

Knocked dizzy from the blows, Antylamon staggered to one side, her axe pulling free of Black War Greymon's side. Eyes wild from the pain, Black War Greymon rammed his fist into Antylamon's chest, the arm with his gauntlet held tightly to his wound. The air rushed from the ex-Deva's chest in a loud gasp, and she doubled over in pain. Black War Greymon pulled his fist back, driving it once more into Antylamon's stomach. One final club to the back of the neck, and Antylamon collapsed onto the ground, reverting to Lopmon before completing the fall.

******

"No!" Suzie screamed in terror. "Lopmon!" Try as hard as she might, she couldn't seem to get her legs to move in order to rush over to her partner. "No…" she repeated, falling breathlessly to her knees.

******

"My god…" Rika cursed softly. "Antylamon…"

"Enough," Taomon growled, rising quickly to her feet. "Fully restored or not, I can't sit here and watch this any longer."

"I couldn't agree more," Rika nodded, pulling out her digivice. "It's time to show that jerk Black War Greymon what we're made of! Biomerge Activate!"

******

"I… can't believe it," Kenta gasped. "What… what are we going to do now?"

"Takato… I think it's time," Guilmon said to his partner.

Inside Gallantmon, Takato nodded. "You're right…"

"Time?" Kenta repeated, confused. "Time for what?"

"Time to call for an old friend," Gallantmon replied. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort to this… This may take some time."

"Don't you worry about that," Kenta assured him. "We'll protect you as best as we can."

"Thank you…" Gallantmon said softly, closing his eyes. "Old friend, we need your strength… Please, one more time… lend us your wings…"