Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Legacy ❯ Apocalypse: Chapter 2 ( Chapter 15 )

December 22, 2016

Apocalypse: Chapter 2

When the citizens of Tokyo awoke in the bright early morning, they had hoped that the events of yesterday were only a dream; that their city was not under attack from an otherworldly invader. However, a glance outside their windows quickly proved them wrong, the massive red mass of the D-Reaper was still slowly bubbling out from the center of the Hypnos building, absorbing and assimilating everything in it path. It was growing at such an incredible rate that the city officials were afraid that the entire city would be inside of the red blob in a matter of days. They began to evacuate the citizens, leaving most of the streets bare, except for the army presence, of course.

One of the army generals was standing inside of his temporary headquarters, examining a computerized satellite image of the city as it now stood. The D-Reaper had now assimilated nearly five blocks in all directions, with the Hypnos building acting as the center. The invader was quickly gaining more and more of the city. Unless something was done, this war would be over.

The general raised an eyebrow when a soldier walked into the tent. "Sir!" he quickly saluted him.

"What is it?"

"The Hypnos representative is here."

The general frowned. "Send her in."

The soldier saluted the general then exited. He returned a second later with Tally following him. She bowed to him. "Sir."

"What is the purpose of your visit?" he asked, making it completely clear to her that she was not welcome. Tally ignored his attitude and continued to talk.

"Sir, as you are no doubt aware, the Hypnos building was under attack by the being that is out there now. This being is known as D-Reaper, and it used the Hypnos mainframe to invade the city. Commander Yamaki and others were trapped inside."

"And you're telling me this, because...?"

"They need to be rescued.."

The general chuckled. "You really expect me to jeopardize my soldiers to save a few 'spies?"

Tally struggled to keep her temper under control. "They know more about D-Reaper then you do."

The general chuckled. "You're wasting my time. Now get out."

She stared at him for a few seconds before turning around and stomping out.

As the rising sun slowly rose in the morning sky, it cast its rays along the ground, moving across the city. It reached the evacuated school at 7:34, shinning a bright yellow beam into Mr. Kamiya's classroom, where the male Tamers were sleeping peacefully. After the battle they were engaged in yesterday, they were not sure they would ever sleep again, but all of them were asleep before their heads hit the ground.

The sun kept blazing through the windows directly at Takato's face. Still half-asleep, he used his hands to reach for the shutters, only to find that they were not there. He sat fully awake and yawned a few times, glancing around the room. Henry and Terriermon were sleeping on the ground under a pile of blankets that they found in the back of the classroom. Kazu was on a counter, snoring loudly. Guardromon sitting on the floor next to him. Mako and Impmon were curled up in the corner, fast asleep. He hated to disturb the peacefully site, but he knew that he had to.

He walked over to the wall and flicked the lights on. "Time to get up!" he shouted. Everyone instantly shot awake.

"Was that really necessary?" Henry asked, obviously annoyed at being awaken so abruptly.

Takato smiled and shrugged.

"I'll wake the girls," Kazu volunteered, jumping off of the counter and running across the hall.

Mako yawned and rubbed his stomach. "I'm really hungry."

Guilmon's stomach started to growl. "Me too."

Henry turned to Takato."We need to think of food."

The goggle-wearing Tamer was going to respond when they heard a loud scream, followed by Kazu running into the classroom. Kasumi, Miki, Snow Agumon and Ai came running in a second later. "Kazu!" Miki screeched.

"What happened?" Henry shouted, trying to be heard over the girls' screams.

Miki pointed to the teenager hiding behind Guardromon,"He snuck a peak at us when we were changing!"

Henry turned to him. "Kazu, I can't believe that..." He suddenly spun back around and looked at the girls. "What do you mean you were changing? Where did you get extra clothes?"

"Never mind!" Kazumi shouted, her face red with embarresment,"It's not important!"

"They weren't fully dressed," Kazu grinned.

Kasumi and Miki launched at Kazu, intending to strangle him, but Takato and Henry stopped them.

"We don't have time for this!" Takato shouted.

After finally pulling them apart, Henry addressed the team. "I think we should try to find somewhere to eat. Everything in this section of the city has been evacuated."

Takato nodded, and then caught something in the corner of his eye. He turned to glance out the window and gasped.

"Maybe the cafeteria?" Miki suggested.

Takato walked towards the window, still in awe.

"The food's probably bad by now," Kasumi sighed,"Besides, that would be stealing, wouldn't it?"

Takato stopped at the window and stared outside. Standing in the middle of the field was a figure that he instantly recognized. "Jeri?"

The others turned to him. "What did you say, Takato?" Guilmon asked.

The goggle-wearing teenager blinked a few times, and Jeri was gone. "I saw her!" he shouted, running back to them,"I saw Jeri! She was standing right out there!"

"Jeri?" Kazu asked,"I thought she was in East Matsumoto? How did she get here?"

"I..I don't know, but that was her! I wasn't dreaming!"

"Okay, okay. Easy."

Henry walked over and placed his hand on Takato's shoulder. "Maybe you're just hungry. We've got to find somewhere to eat."

Takato looked to the ground, then suddenly smiled. "I got it. We can eat at my bakery."

The others shrugged. "Do you have any cream puffs there?" Ai asked.

Takato chuckled slightly. "We'll have to see if there's any left. Come on."

While Tally was trying to recruit rescuers, those trapped inside the D-Reaper were slowly coming to realize exactly what had happened to them. The small broom closet that Ryo had thrown them inside before D-Reaper commandeered the building had quickly become quite possibly the only room in the building that was safe, something they were still trying to discover. Thankfully, the case that Riley had escaped with not only contained the cds of the Hypnos mainframe, but also a military laptop. Wong and the purple-haired technician were quickly analyzing the invading program, trying to discover why they were still alive, and how to use it to defeat the D-Reaper.

Tai crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. He watched as Wong, Yamaki and Riley huddled around the small laptop. Ryo and Cyberdramon stood guard at the door, waiting for the inevitable time when the D-Reaper realized they were still alive. Alice and the rest of the digimon were seated on the floor, staring up at the three computer experts. They had been at this all night. "How much longer is this going to take?" Tai asked.

"I'm sorry we're not working fast enough for you, Kamiya," Yamaki sneered at him.

The Master Digidestined sighed. "Sorry, I'm just a little stressed out. Do you have any information?"

Wong sighed this time. "All I've manage to discover is that we appear to be in a 'corrupted' section of the D-Reaper's program. It's unreadable to the D-Reaper, so that's what's been keeping us alive."

"What caused it to become corrupted?" Alice asked.

Wong shook his shoulders. "I don't know, but it's probably only a matter of time before we're found."

"We're searching on a way to escape right now," Riley explained,"As soon as we think of something, we'll let you know."

Cyberdramon growled. "All this waiting is making me crazy! All I want is a shot at D-Reaper! He won't know what hit him!"

Tai walked over to the door. "What's wrong Tai?" Agumon asked.

"On the other side of this door is a foe that is quite possibly more powerful than anyone we've ever faced before."

"We'll beat it," Gatomon said,"We've always won before."

Tai sighed. "I hope so."

The Tamers had managed to sneak through the streets and into the evacuated Matsuki bakery. After breaking through the door, Takato lead them into the kitchen, where they all looked completely lost as they stared at the assortment of baking goods. "Takato," Kazu said, lightly running his hands across a bag of floor,"I guess I should tell you that I can't cook."

Takato ignored her and turned on the faucet. "Well, we've got water." He walked over to the gas stove and smiled when the flames came out. "We've got heat. Now, let's make some bread."

"I did tell you that I couldn't cook, right?" Kazu asked.

Takato opened the closet and pulled out a pile of aprons. He threw one to each of the Tamers. "Put those on, then do what I say."

They reluctantly pulled the pieces of fabric on and started to follow Takato's instructions. He grabbed a large pot and filled it with water, then placed it on the burner. "Henry, get some yeast out of that pantry over there.

The black-haired teen opened the door and pulled out a Tupperware container filled with small particles. "Is this it?"

"Yeah," Takato took it from him."Kazu and Kasumi get a large pot and milk the milk, sugar, shortening and salt. Then place it over here and mix it together. DON'T burn it, or you'll kill the yeast."

"Uh, right," Kazu said. He saw that Kasumi was starting to get the ingredients, so he grabbed the pot. After mixing it all together, he placed it on the burner.

After the milk-mixture had cooled, Guilmon poured it into a large bowl. "Miki, add more flower, then mix it together."

"Um, gotcha."

After she was done, Takato poured the yeast into the mixture, then added more flour, mixing it all together. "Henry, get the baking sheet and place it on the table. Cover it with floor."

"Sure....Is this good?"

"Perfect," he said. He put the dough onto the table and covered it with flower. "Ai and Mako, this is your job to kneed this."

The two younger children grinned and stood on the chairs to be able to reach the table. Takato showed them how to kneed the dough properly, and then they took over. After they were done, the chief placed it in a bowl and covered it.

"We've got to wait an hour for it to rise," he explained.

"What do we do until then?" Kazu whined.

"Watch some t.v.," Snow Agumon suggested.

He grumbled and matched into the Matsuki's living room..

After waiting an hour, Takato separated the dough into equal sections for every human and digimon pair, then instructed them on the remainder of the bread making process and shoved the pans back into the oven. After waiting almost another hour, the timer finally buzzed and it was time to eat.

"I hope I don't poison us," Kazu said to Guardromon.

"Don't worry, Kazu," he said,"My stomach is able to withstand many types of poison."

"Thanks a lot," he muttered.

"It looks delicious," Ai's mouth watered,"I can't wait."

"Yeah," Mako and Impmon nodded.

They were about to start eating, when Terriermon's ears started to twitch. "What's the matter?" Henry asked.

"Something's outside," the dog/bunny said.

"A digimon?"

"I don't think so," Takato said, looking at Guilmon's eyes,"He usually detects them too."

"But what is it?" Miki asked, standing up from the table.

Takato ran to the door. "We'd better find out, come on."

"But the bread..." Ai complained.

"Let's go!"

The Tamers stood nervously in front of the door. They took a deep breath as Takato opened it, but quickly exhaled when they found out who was on the other side. "Tally?" Miki gasped.

The blond technician smiled slightly."Hi."

"W..what are you doing here?" Takato asked.

"I'd be happy to tell you, but do you mind if I come inside?"

"Oh sure, sure," he stepped aside so they could walk in,"Are you hungry?"

"There's not getting any of our bread!" Ai protested, holding her loafs in her arms.

She came inside and joined the Tamers in a late breakfast. After they were finished, she started to speak. "Okay, we have a big problem."

"What?" Takato asked.

"As you probably know, the D-Reaper program invaded the Hypnos building and used it as a launching point to infect the rest of the city."

"That's terrible!" Miki gasped,"Everything's...gone?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know. What I do know, is that Yamaki is trapped inside, along with Riley and..Mr. Wong and Master Kamiya."

Henery and Kasumi gasped. "What?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Kasumi stood up,"But...but..my father should be in the hospital!"

Tally nodded her head. "I don't know why he was there, but he's trapped inside."

Takato nodded firmly. "So, what do you want us to do?"

Tally smiled slightly. "We need you to rescue them." She grabbed a rolled up piece of paper and placed it on the table. When she flattened it, the Tamers could see it was a blueprint of the Hypnos building. She took out a red pen and drew a line around the building. "Now, the D-Reaper's bubble ends here and here. If you enter through this side, you might be able to enter in here."

"Is the building even still standing?" Kazu asked,"Not to be a downer or anything, but we don't know what's happening inside the D-Reaper."

Tally smiled. "Recent satellite observations indicate that the building is still standing. Besides, it appears that the D-Reaper used the Hypnos mainframe to infect the rest of the city. If it destroyed the building, it would be destroying a part of itself."

Takato glanced at the others. "Well?"

"Let's go for it!" Terriermon shouted,"We'll kick its butt!"

"I agree," Kasumi said,"We've got to get my father and the others out of there."

Takato smiled as he faced Tally. "We're in."

Calumon trotted along the sidewalk around the edges of the D-Reaper's bubble. Every few feet he glanced at the red mass, them kept walking. "Oh, Jeri..."

"Hey Calumon."

He gave a small yelp and jumped into the air. He turned around and saw Rika and Renamon standing behind him. "Sorry," the teenager said,"I didn't mean to scare you."

Her digimon partner looked at the small digimon with worry. "What are you doing here, Calumon? It's dangerous to be so close to the D-Reaper."

The small digimon pointed towards the twin towers of the Hypnos building. "I was trying to find a way to save Jeri."

"Jeri?" Rika asked,"Jeri's in there?"

"I think so."

The red head looked to the ground. "I used her as bait to make Takato fight us. Could she be trapped because of..." She shot her head back up, a determined look on her face. "Come on, Renamon."

"Where are you going?" Calumon asked, trailing behind them.

"I suddenly have a searing pain in my chest, I think its called guilt," she muttered.

The mobile Hypnos base, to be more precise, the armored Hypnos van, slowed to a stop near the sidewalk that was adjacent to the park, or rather what was left of it, as the D-Reaper had covered that part of the city as well. The side door slid open and the Tamers and their digimon jumped out. They stared up at the red monstrously in front of them.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Tally asked from the driver's side window,"We could come back later."

"When?" Henry asked,"Who knows how long my dad and the others have. We've got to do this now."

"He's right," Terriermon grinned,"We can do this. There's nothing we can't do when we're together."

Snow Agumon sighed. "A little corny, but..."

Takato turned to his partner. "Ready, buddy?"

"I was born ready!"

Each one of the Tamers grabbed their digi-modify cards and slid them through their D-Arcs. "Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!"

MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION:

"Guillmon matrix digivolve to Wargrowlmon!"

"Terriermon matrix digivolve to Rapidmon!"

"Snow Agumon digivolve to Veedramon!"

"Impmon mega digivolve to Beelzemon!"

Miki's body twisted and changed until it was in the figure of a young woman. "I am Artemis, Digital Hunter!"

The digimon stared at the edge of the D-Reaper's bubble. Groups of bird-shaped creatures shot from the red mass and hovered over the group. "Here come the Searchers!" Veedramon shouted.

The D-Reaper's agents stared at the group of digimon, then darted back to the main bubbles of the red rouge program. The Tamers and the digimon stared at each other in awe. "What's with them?" Beelzemon asked.

Rapidmon squinted his eyes. "Wait, I think they're coming back."

Guardromon studied the images. "My sensors indicate that these are different Agents."

The combined group watched as two figures launched from the D-Reaper: one was a blue torso, minus the legs, a small head and a massive pair of arms to support itself. The other one was a large human figure with a giant horn attached to the head. Both of the D-Reaper's newest agents landed on the ground in front of them.

Kazu stared at both of them for a few seconds before pointing at the first creature. "I'll call you Creep Hands, and you'll be Horn Striker."

"Kazu!" Takato shouted.

Before the visor-wearing Tamer could protest, the two agents leapt into battle. Horn Striker jabbed his protruding blade into the robotic partner of Kazu, sending him tumbling backwards into a tree. He grabbed Beelzemon by the leg and used him to knock Artemis into the ground. Before the two warriors could get to their feet, he propelled himself in the air and slammed his horn into Beelzemon's back. The sheer pain caused him to unleash a blood-curdling scream.

The others were not fairing any better against Creep Hands. Wargrowlmon threw his razor forearm at the creature, intending to slide it in half, but it propelled itself into the air before landing on Veedramon's head.

"Hold still!" Rapidmon ordered, pointing his gun barrel arms at the blue dragon and the creature on her head,"Rapid Fire!"

"Rapidmon!" Veedramon shouted, attempting to leap out of the way, but she was not fast enough. The armored rabbit's missiles exploded against her, but Creep Hands jumped off of her seconds before.

Henry's digimon cringed. "Uh, sorry about that."

"Rapidmon!" Henry shouted,"Behined you!"

He spun around just in time for Creep Hands to start to pound him with a barrage of punches. The green armored rabbit tried to stay afloat, but the pain was too much, and he fell to the ground. He may have been grounded, but he was still able to fire another round of his Rapid Fire at the Agent, but Creep Hands proved to be too fast for him.

"Wargrowlmon!" Takato ordered, "It's up to you!"

"Right, Takato," the massive metal armored answered. He spied Creep Hands jumping around on the ground, mocking him. He growled in rage and placed his two hands together. "Radiation Blade Attack!" A tremendous beam of energy exploded from his hands, heading straight towards the deadly agent. Creep Hands did leapt out of the point of impact, but Wargrowlmon's attack caused enough of an explosion to severe the cable connecting Creep Hands to the D-Reaper. With it's connection gone, Wargrowlmon's simple physical attacks were enough to destroy it.

"That wasn't so hard," Takato grinned.

Kasumi pointed towards the other members of their group. "I think they need some help! Horn Striker is tearing them apart!"

She was right. The D-Reaper's most powerful agent at this point was thrashing Beelzemon around like he was a rag doll. Artemis and Guardramon were on the ground, licking their wounds. They would have to do much better as the horned agent slammed Beelzemon into them.

Takato nodded. "Okay, Wargrowlmon, let's go…"

"No!" Kazu shouted,"Listen, we'll distract him while you free the others!"

"Are you sure" Henry asked.

"You don't have to do this," Kasumi said.

Kazu grinned. "Hey, don't worry about us. Go and save them."

Takato nodded. "Alright, come on guys." Kasumi, Henry and their digimon followed him up the hills of the grassy fields of the park until they reached the edge of the D-Reaper's red bubble. The Searchers were hovering around in the sky, but so far, they had not found them. The group stared at the red wall in front of them. "Any idea how to get inside?" Rapidmon asked.

Henry was about to answer him, when they heard Kasumi and Veedramon scream out. "Takato!" The black-haired teenager spun around and saw Wargrowlmon and Takato being pulled inside the bubbled by a stream of Searchers that had wrapped around them.

"Hang on guys!" Rapidmon called. He and Veedramon tried their bests to pull the D-Reaper's first agents off of them, but they were not strong enough. Both Takato and Wargrowlmon were pulled inside of the red bubble.

"Takato!" Henry shouted.

"What are we going to do?" Kasumi asked, almost in tears,"We've got to do something!"

Henry started glancing around. "We've got to find a way inside! We'll get them back, but.."

"But what?"

"But why did the D-Reaper pull them inside, and not us too? What makes Takato so special?"

Unknown to any of the Tamers at that point, Rika and Renamon were following Calumon's newly discovered 'sixth sense' to the other side of the massive D-Reaper's main bubble. The trio stared up at the red wall. The Digimon Queen turned to the small digimon. "Are you sure Jeri's inside this?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Rika sighed and looked to Renamon. "Well, how do we get inside?"

"Rika!" the fox gasped, pointing to the sky, "Look!"

The teenager and Calumon shot their heads to the sky, a stream of bird shaped creatures shot down to them. "Searchers!" she shouted.

"Oh no!" Calumon screamed, jumping behind them.

Rika yelled out to intimidate the agents, but suddenly found that she had merged with Renamon once again.

"You're Sakuyamon again!" Calumon gasped in awe.

The mega fox woman flung her staff and destroyed the horde of Searches. She them glanced at Calumon. "So, where to?"

The small digimon pointed to the two towers of the Hypnos building, the only part still visible above the D-Reaper's bubble. "She's there."

"But, there's nothing up there," the mega protested.

"But, I feel her."

Sakuyamon glanced at him, then back at the towers. She sighed as she lifted him up. "Alright, let's go."

They hovered above the largest bubble and flew directly towards the two towers. However, they quickly found they could only progress so far as they soon stopped short.

"What happened?" Calumon asked.

Sakuyamon tapped the sky with her staff. "Something's here."

"Like an invisible wall?" he asked.

Sakuyamon smiled. "Yes, exactly. Stay back."

Calumon floated backwards. When he was a safe distance away, Sakuyamon slashed her staff into the wall. The sky shattered a second later, revealing another red ball, hovering between the two towers.

"Wow," Calumon gasped.

The hole was starting to close. Sakuyamon quickly grabbed the sides and held it open. "Hurry, Calumon!" she moaned.

The digimon dove through the small hole and appeared inside of the red bubble. Surprisingly, he found that he was still safe.

Outside, Sakuyamon breathed a sigh of relief. "Now I've got to get inside."

A stream of red cables shot out of the red bubble and wrapped around her. "Uh oh."

She screamed in pain as she was pulled inside.

Back at the battlefield, Kazu's group was still trying to overpower the dreaded Horn Striker. The D-Reaper's agent had managed to subdue Artemis, who had changed back to Miki. Guardromon and Beelzemon were still trying to destroy the deadly creature.

"Come on, Guardromon!" Kazu shouted, "Get it! Destroy it!"

His robotic partner pointed his arms at Horn Striker and fired his Guardian Barrage. Followed shortly by Beelzemon's Double Impact. Unfortunately, the Agent was un-harmed.

"I don't believe this!" Kazu grumbled.

"Beelzemon!" Mako shouted,"Why can't you destroy 'im?"

"I..I don't know," the mega answered, completely awestruck, "Why ain't our attacks workin'?"

"The cord!" Ai suddenly shouted, "I remember Sakuyamon destroyed the cord yesterday!"

"She's right!" Guardromon gasped, "If we sever the cord, then Horn Striker here should lose most of its power."

Beelzemon just grabbed his gun and pointed it forward, "Enough with the egghead talk! Jus' tell me where ta shoot!"

Horn Striker suddenly charged at Beelzemon, throwing the demon lord digimon into Guardromon. Both digimon slammed through an adjacent tree. The D-Reaper's agent did not give them time to recover as it began mercilessly pounding Beelzemon with its fists, every attack resounding through Beelzemon's body and injuring Guardromon as well. The D-Reaper's agent grinned at is raised its fists for a final attack, but stop when it became aware of a glowing light on its right.

"Primal Orb!"

Kazu and the two young children gasped as a glowing ball tore through Horn Striker's cord, leaving the Agent severed from the main D-Reaper. "Beelzemon!" Ai shouted, "Now's your chance!"

The mega digimon grinned as he stared at Horn Striker. "Hmm, Crimson Claw!" He threw both of his claws across Horn Striker, blasting it apart. He slowly stood up and panted. "Well, that wasn't that hard." He glowed brightly, and regressed back to Impmon.

"Who saved us?" Mako asked, turning around. He gasped as he saw a familiar monkey riding atop a dragon hovering a few feet from them.

"Makuramon?" Kazu gasped,"What are you doing here?"

Inside of the infected Hypnos building, the trapped members of Earth's forces were desperately trying to discover a weakness in the D-Reaper, so sort of error that could use to escape. So far, all of Wong's probes had been destroyed by the overwhelming presence of the D-Reaper itself. He feared that if he made them any more powerful, the D-Reaper's central intelligence would become consciously aware of them. The group was becoming more desperate, and they had decided to simply charge into the thick of it and attempt to break free.

Ryo and Yamaki stood in front of the door, ready to lead the group through the D-Reaper. They were the only members of the group that had any power already activated. Agumon and Gatomon would have to digivolve, and if Tai still had his sword he would have been able to help, but it was dropped in the Digital World following his battle with Hakkado. Once they were in hallway itself, he would risk evolving Gatomon and Agumon. Wong and Alice were next, unarmed, but Lopmon swore she would defend them as best she could.

"Okay, are you ready?" Yamaki asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"Everyone nodded. "We're ready," Tai answered.

"Okay, Cyberdramon," Ryo said,"You know what to do."

The dragon digimon growled slightly and kicked the door open. The group leapt into the hall and gasped. They were prepared to face anything on the other side, a hallway swarming with D-Reaper agents, or a building collapsing from extreme decay. What they were not prepared for was a hallway covered in a red mass, the walls and ceilings connected to each other through a series of red tendrils. The entire floor moved and heaved, as though it had become a living being.

"What the heck happened here?" Tai gasped.

"Very interesting," Wong mused, "It appears that the D-Reaper has integrated the entire building into itself. I've never seen assimilation like this on such a grand scale. It appears as thought this 'D-Reaper', can bend the laws of nature!"

"You're kidding, right?" Ryo asked,"How can it do that?"

Wong was about to answer, but the entire hall started to moan. "Maybe we should save this conversation for another day," Tai said, lightly pushing Alice and Lopmon,"I think the D-Reaper knows we're here."

The walls suddenly became alive, shooting out tentacles of red slime. The group started running, but a group of small Pendulum Feet appeared. "We're trapped!" Alice shrieked.

"No we're not," Tai said, grabbing his two digivices, "Agumon and Gatomon, now!"

"Agumon warp digivolve to Wargreymon!"

"Gatomon digivolve to Angewomon!"

The three digimon, plus Ryo and Yamaki tore through the groups of D-Reaper agents, clearing a path for Tai, Wong, Alice and Lopmon to run through. Once they were safely down the path, the others followed. Unfortunately, a new Creep Hands appeared in front of them.

"This isn't going very well," Tai sighed.

The D-Reaper's agent started running towards them. "Wargreymon! Angewomon!" he shouted.

Alice cowered in his arms, "No!"

Tai covered her with his body as best he could, prepared to die for her. Despite the situation, he was shocked when he saw Lopmon running towards the D-Reaper's agent. "Lopmon, what are you doing?"

"Lopmon digivolve to…"

Inside of the D-Reaper bubble, Takato and Guilmon were surprised to find that they were still very much alive. They were standing inside of the giant red bubble, and they could clearly see all of the buildings were covering in the same red substance. However, they could make out that they were still standing in the park, but all of the trees and grass were still un-touched.

"Guillmon, are you all right?"

The red dinosaur nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. Where are we Takato?"

The goggle-wearing Tamer took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "I think we're inside of the D-Reaper? Look, you can see all of those buildings, but why are the trees still okay?"

"The organic components could not be assimilated."

The duo spun around and saw a figure that they never expected to see. "Jeri?" Takato gasped,"Jeri…w..what are you doing here?"

The Jeri figure continued to stare at him.

"Jeri," Takato gasped, "What are you doing here?"

Jeri grinned. "Subject Jeri Katou is at another location."

"What are talking about?" Takato gasped,"Jeri, what's wrong with you?"

"This is not Jeri Katou," she replied, "This unit designate as ADR-1. I assumed the form of Jeri Katou to analyze humanity and determine a course of action."

Takato and Guilmon watched in horror as the Jeri before them started to grow larger. Wings sprouted from her back and her hands blew apart to reveal blue claws underneath. Takato growled in anger. "Where's Jeri? The real Jeri!"

She stared at him. "Subject Takato Matsuki, your feelings are strong. You would do anything to retrieve subject Jeri Katou, wouldn't you?"

"Of course."

"You love her, don't you?"

"……yes."

"You would die for her, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

She laughed. "Self-termination is illogical. No other beings die for others."

"You're wrong!" he shouted," and even if you are right, that's what makes us human."

The Jeri clone exploded apart and in its place was a large blue skinned creature with wings cast in Jeri's image, wearing what looks like a red swimsuit. "That is why humanity must die!"

Takato fell to the ground in shock. "Ah!"

Guilmon ran to his side. "It's J-Reaper!"

The Jeri clone slowly marched towards him. "Now, Subject Takato Matsuki, prepare to die!" She was about to lunge at him, but an explosion off to the right caught her attention, as well as Takato and Guilmon. They watched in awe one of the walls of the infected Hypnos building blew apart, followed shortly by a Creep Hands and a large rabbit creature.

"Antiramon?"

While the rabbit Deva battled Creep Hands, they turned their attention back to the hole in the building's side. Wargreymon emerged a second later, carrying Tai, Wong and Alice. Ryo and Cyberdramon floated out next, the dragon digimon carrying Yamaki. Angewomon shot out last and flew to help Antiramon against Creep Hands.

"Master Kamiya!" Takato shouted,"You're okay!"

The J-Reaper stared at the force of digimon, especially Cyberdramon and Wargreymon. She glared at Takato. "We'll finish this another day." She jumped into the air and vanished.

"Who was that?" Tai asked.

Takato sighed. "It wasn't Jeri, that's all I know."

The group heard a loud moan, and upon turning around, found that Angewomon and Antiramon had succeeded in destroying the Creep Hands. They quickly joined the others. "That wasn't so hard," Angewomon smiled,"But now we've got to get out of here."

Guilmon frowned. "It wasn't so easy getting in here either."

Ryo and Tai stared at the red barrier, then nodded to each other. "Wargreymon," the Master Digidestined started, "You know what to do."

Ryo nodded. "Help him, Cyberdramon."

"Gladly," the dragon grinned, charging over to join the hovering mega digimon.

Wargreymon stared at the wall. "On three, got it?"

He growled. "Fine."

"One…two…three! Terra Force!"

"Desolation Claw!"

The two attacks merged together and created enough force to blow the red wall apart, leaving a massive hole in the side. Unfortunately it began to repair itself almost instantly.

"Everyone through!" Yamaki ordered, "Quickly!"

The trapped members of Earth's forces dove through the closing hole. They had seconds to spare as Yamaki's foot brushed against the retreating wall.

The Hypnos commander stared at his foot. "That was close."

"Daddy!"

Tai turned around just in time to get tackled to the ground by Kasumi. "Dad, what were you doing in there?"

He was going to answer but he saw Makuramon and Migiramon standing behind them. "What are you doing here?"

The Deva smiled slightly, "We are here to help."

Tai smiled. "That's good. We need all the help we can get."

Makuramon pointed to the sky. "However, I watched Sakuyamon and the Catalyst fly into that bubble. I was unable to get to them in time."

Everyone glanced upward and gasped as they became aware that another red bubble had appeared. Terriermon sighed. "Figures. We save some, we lose others."

Tai sighed. "All right. We all need to recuperate. Let's move out and return after we get some of our strength back."

The others nodded and followed the Master Digidestined out of the infected park. Takato stared at the mass of D-Reaper. "I don't know where you are Jeri, but I'll save you. I promise."

Inside of the red bubble between the two towers of the Hypnos building, Calumon found himself floating in an area of nothingness. He hovered in no direction at all until he spotted a transparent bubble floating in the air. He flew until he was close enough to glance inside. What he saw made him gasp, a teenage girl wearing a familiar green dress. She was sitting on the ground with her head buried in her knees.

Calumon frowned. "Jeri…"

To be continued…

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