Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Next Level ❯ Episode 20: A City Under Attack ( Chapter 20 )

After Kazu told Rika what had happened with Ryo, she ran to where Ryo had been seen last, her face creased with worry. She wondered what could possibly be wrong with Ryo as she ran. She had never known Ryo to act in such a bloodthirsty manner as he apparently had against Metal Tyrannomon. She skidded as she rounded a corner, coming to a quick halt in front of a door. It was another room that had been cleared out to give Ryo a place to stay. She knocked on the thick wood of the door, calling out for Ryo to open up.

 

“G-Go away!” Ryo's voice called from inside. It had an unusually harsh inflection, and it almost sounded like he had growled.

 

“Ryo, it's me, Rika! Open up, please!”

 

“Go away!” Ryo repeated, harsher than before. “You can't come in!”

 

“Like hell I can't,” Rika grunted, trying to turn the door handle. It was locked, but she didn't let that stop her. She pulled out a hairpin from her pocket and quickly worked the lock open. “I'm coming in whether you like it or not,” she announced, shouldering the door open. When she entered, the first thing she saw was Ryo sitting cross-legged on the floor in a corner of the room. She also noticed that he was hunched over and breathing heavily. “What… the hell happened here?”

 

“Please,” Ryo said, much softer than before. “Please, Sis, just leave me alone…”

 

“What's gotten into you lately,” Rika asked, leaning her hand against the wall to brace herself as she bent over. As she did so, she felt something sticky on her palm and brought it into the light. It was blood. “The hell?” she exclaimed, looking down at Ryo. For the first time she noticed that his knuckles were bloody as if he had been punching the stone wall as hard as he could.

 

“This is what I didn't want you to find out about,” Ryo explained, holding up his bloodied hands. “I don't know what's come over me, but I felt like if I didn't hit something, anything, I would explode. So, that's what I did.”

 

“Is that what happened earlier when you were with Kazu?” Rika asked, lowering herself into a sitting position next to Ryo.

 

“Something like that,” Ryo nodded slowly. “It seemed like there was this monster inside of me, telling me to kill Metal Tyrannomon and enjoy it. The thing is, I don't even remember when it started. Most of my memories from the point when I left for the Digital World up until when I woke up after you all defeated Revenmon are hazy. Like, I'm in danger of forgetting who I am.”

 

“Does this… have anything to do with Cyberdramon?” Rika inquired. “You and he had been biomerged for who knows how long when we came across you.”

 

“I… really don't know. That too is what scares me. I barely know anything and there's a chance I'll lose everything that I do know, like my friendship with everybody else and my relationship with you.”

 

“Well then,” Rika said, standing up and offering a hand to Ryo. “I and everybody else will just have to make sure that we keep reminding you about who you are. That's all there is to it.”

 

Ryo took the proffered hand and was lifted to his feet. “Thank you, Rika,” he said, putting his arms around Rika's shoulders, careful not to get his blood on her. Rika returned the hug and smiled.

 

 

******

 

 

“Young one…”

 

Takato blinked, looking around for the source of the strange voice. “Who are you? Where is this?”

 

“Young one…” the voice repeated somewhat louder than before. Takato strained to catch the direction that it had come from, stumbling through pitch darkness. He hoped that he had picked the right direction.

 

“It's no use,” a second voice said. “There's no way he can hear you.”

 

“I can hear you just fine,” Takato mumbled, sleepily. “What's going on?”

 

It was then that Takato spotted a faint blue light off in the distance and began to walk towards it. Gradually it began to get brighter and the first voice became louder. “Young one, I am relieved to find you. But… are you not well?”

 

“I'm… just a little tired,” Takato replied, already weary of small talk from unseen voices. “What do you want?”

 

Three more lights blinked into existence around Takato. There was a blue light in front of him, a strangely black light glowing on his left, a brilliant red one on his right, and Takato turned to face the white light behind him. Somewhere in the back of his head, the colors registered as something, but he couldn't quite piece together what.

 

“And you were ready to give up, weren't ye?” the black light pulsed with some strange accent. “Aye, ye were.” Strangely, the second pulse had a different accent. Takato chuckled softly at this.

 

“The boy cannot even take this seriously,” the red light pulsed with irritation.

 

“Hey,” Takato retorted with equal irritation. “It's my dream and I'll laugh if I want.”

 

“This is not a dream,” the white light pulsed matter-of-factly. “The four of us are sending you a message. An urgent message.”

 

“All right, all right,” Takato replied dismissively. “But could you hurry it up? I'm sure I've got much more interesting dreams after this one.”

 

“Perhaps if you knew who we were, you would be more receptive?” the blue light pulsed. “Fine then.”

 

For a second the blue light coalesced into the form of a long dragon. As Takato looked around, the other lights changed as well. The black became a two-headed turtle, the white a massive tiger and the red a large, four-winged bird.

 

“Hey, wait! I recognize those shapes! You're…!”

 

“Finally he understands,” Zhuqiaomon said with exasperation. “Maybe now we can actually deliver our message.”

 

“Yes,” Azulongmon said, ignoring Zhuqiaomon's remark. “We are the four Sovereign Digimon, what some might call the four gods of the Digital World.”

 

“All right,” Takato nodded. “I'm listening. You have a message?”

 

“The Digital World is in danger,” Baihumon told him. “It faces a threat exceeding that which was presented by the D-Reaper.”

 

“You're talking about this Digimon army that's been forming? We know all about it. I'm recovering from our first major fight as we speak.”

 

“The army is only a part of the problem, laddy,” Ebonwumon informed Takato. “Aye, an even bigger problem is the one what controls it.”

 

“You're worried about that Mr. Kurouji person? No, the army is the biggest problem.”

 

“You are too quick to dismiss him,” Azulongmon corrected. “His exact nature is unknown to us, and that worries even us. Not only that, but for some time now, we have been sensing a powerful dark force. It appears to be a Digimon of immense evil power, but our attempts to discover its whereabouts have all failed.”

 

“But, wouldn't a Digimon that powerful be easy to find?”

 

“That is precisely the problem,” Baihumon answered. “He should be, and yet, our every attempt at searching is in vain. Either he has obtained a means of disguising his power… or he is in the Real World biding his time.”

 

“Whoever it is, he's got to be really powerful to worry the four of you,” Takato said. “I mean, shouldn't four `gods' be more powerful than any one Digimon?”

 

“That is where we get to the other part of the problem,” Azulongmon started to explain.

 

“He does not need to know that,” Zhuqiaomon interrupted. “It is a personal matter.”

 

“It is vital,” Azulongmon insisted.

 

“I disagree.”

 

“Ya see, lad,” Ebonwumon spoke up, “Our powers as the four gods of the Digital World are weakening. We can only assume that it is a result of the barrier between your world and ours.”

 

“Ebonwumon!” Zhuqiaomon snapped.

 

“It had to be known,” Ebonwumon explained calmly. “Aye, so just calm down.”

 

“Is… is that true?” Takato asked, eyes wide with concern.

 

“It is even as Ebonwumon has said,” Azulongmon replied, sadness evident in his voice. “We possess only a fraction of the power we once had. Though Zhuqiaomon is loathe to admit it, we need your help.”

 

“I promise,” Takato said, clapping his fist to his chest. “We will do all we can to help.”

 

“Hmmph,” Zhuqiaomon snorted. “Don't mess it up.” With that, his red light blinked out as he cut off his connection.

 

“Coming from Zhuqiaomon,” Baihumon said with humor, “that's pretty equivalent to a thank you. You have my thanks as well.”

 

“Lad, I realize we have placed much upon your shoulders,” Ebonwumon said. “Aye, but we would not do so unless we had faith in you. We thank ye.”

 

“'Till we meet again, young one,” Azulongmon said.

 

One by one, the three remaining lights blinked out, leaving Takato once again in pitch blackness. For a few seconds he pondered the message that the four Sovereigns had given him before blackness overcame his senses once again.

 

 

******

 

 

The relative silence of the night was disrupted by the sound of a loud explosion somewhere not too far away from the manor. As alarms sounded throughout, the Tamers who were rudely awakened rushed out of their rooms.

 

“What in the hell is going on?” Rika asked, clad only in her t-shirt and panties. “What was that?”

 

“I don't know,” Kazu replied, “but that's a nice outfit.”

 

“This is not the time!” Rika snapped back. “Renamon, let's go check this out.”

 

“Of course,” Renamon inclined her head and followed as Rika ran down the hall.

Kazu ducked back into his room where Guardromon, Kenta and Marine Angemon lay still asleep. Guardromon had put himself on standby, so that wasn't unusual, but somehow Kenta and his partner were still asleep.

 

“Guardromon, power up,” Kazu said. “Emergency.”

In a second, Guardromon was fully powered on and quickly rose to his feet. “There's an emergency?”

 

“There was an explosion,” Kazu explained, crossing over to Kenta's sleeping form. “Close to here.” He shook Kenta's shoulders briskly, but the boy just turned over in his sleep.

 

“Five more minutes…”

 

“Ah, hell with it,” Kazu said. Outside the sounds of activity began to get louder as the situation became even more chaotic. “Guardromon! Let's go.”

 

In seconds, the main group was gathered just outside the entrance hall in various states of disarray. Kazu noticed that Rika had somehow found the time to fully get dressed, but that wasn't important. “What's going on?”

 

“We're under attack,” Henry said, weariness and frustration penetrating his calm voice. “It's not a large force, but they've come awfully close.”

 

“And Takato?”

 

“Still recovering. We'll have to take care of this one ourselves. First priority is to move the battle away from the more populated sections of the city.”

 

“Ryo…” Rika said hesitantly. “Maybe… you should sit this one out…”

 

“We might need all the help we can get,” Henry put in.

 

“He's right, Rika,” Ryo responded. “But… I'll be extra careful.”

 

“All right then,” Henry declared. “Let's do this!”

 

As the group ran towards the city, they pulled out their digivices and let out a collective cry of, “Biomerge Activate!”

 

 

******

 

 

Sakuyamon sped through the city, darting from building to building. Part of the city was on fire, no doubt a signal of the destruction caused by the enemy, flames lighting up the night sky. It was a terrible sight, but an evacuation had been ordered so, Sakuyamon hoped, there would be few if any casualties.

 

It wasn't long before she spotted the source of some of the chaos, a large iron clad Digimon which Sakuyamon recognized as a Knightmon. Landing in front of him, Sakuyamon thrust the tip of her staff into the ground and declared, “You shall not pass.”

 

“Well," the Knightmon chuckled. We'll just have to see about that, little girl.”

 

Sakuyamon's eyebrow twitched at this comment, but she held her ground.

 

“All right then,” Knightmon replied, drawing his huge sword from the scabbard on his back. “Let's go!” Holding his sword tip low to the ground, Knightmon charged, surprisingly fast for the heavy Ultimate, and swung his weapon up at Sakuyamon's side.

 

Realizing that the force of the attack was too great to block, Sakuyamon dropped to one side and ducked under the swing. As the blade went over her head, Sakuyamon swept her staff up, striking the back of the blade, adding even more momentum to the swing. This pushed Knightmon all the way around, giving Sakuyamon an opening to firmly plan her foot in the Ultimate's back, sending him sprawling forward and crashing to the ground with a resounding crash of metal.

 

“Not bad,” Knightmon grunted, getting to his feet. “For a girl.”

 

“Hmmph,” Sakuyamon replied. “You're not nearly strong enough to be able to brag like that.”

 

“Then I'll just have to get stronger.” Knightmon reached for something on the back of his wrist and suddenly his body began to convulse.

 

“What the hell?”

 

The convulsions stopped and Knightmon lifted his head. “Much better…” Crouching briefly, he picked up his sword with one hand and lifted it effortlessly to his shoulder. “Try this! Berserker Sword!” He brought his other hand up to the hilt of his weapon, bringing it slicing down through the air, bringing it quickly back up in one fluid, crossing motion.

 

What resulted was, much to Sakuyamon's surprise, a massive shockwave which threw the Mega backwards, crashing through a building behind her. “How,” she grunted, struggling to sit up. “How did he get so strong?” Breathing heavily, Sakuyamon stood up, her chest plate split by a large X. She tossed away the now useless piece of armor, which crumbled as it hit the ground and dissipated into data.

 

“You like that?” Knightmon laughed, holding his sword out in front of him one-handed. “I was skeptical at first but, with this power, nobody can stop us!”

 

“What power?” Sakuyamon inquired.

 

“This!” Knightmon crowed, lowering his left gauntlet. Around his wrist was a device that Rika was able to identify easily as a D-Band. “With this thing, I can increase my speed, my power, everything! You don't stand a chance!”

 

“We will just have to see about that,” Sakuyamon said, unfazed by the Ultimate Level Digimon's boasts. “So, they have D-Bands,” Rika noted to Renamon. “This guy is definitely another one of that jerk Kurouji's flunkies.”

 

“Yes,” Renamon agreed. “And that last attack was indeed quite powerful. Too many more hits like that…”

 

“I know,” Rika nodded. “Let's finish this ASAP.”