Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ My Heart is a Battleground ❯ Chapter 28

Chapter 28

 

 

Timberdale High

 

END OF PERIOD BELLLLL!!!!11

 

Luke grabbed his books and stepped out of the classroom and into the crowded hallway. He turned and started walking in the direction of his locker. He made another turn into a less crowded part of the school.

 

“Luke!” He turned suddenly to find Rose running up to him. “I've been looking everywhere for you!”

 

[flashback]

 

Rose opened a random door and found a classroom full of students looking over at her, also the History teacher at the front.

 

“Is Luke in here?” She asked.

 

“No! Quit asking!” The teacher said, pointing for her to leave.

 

[/flashback]

 

“It's really important.”

 

Luke gave her a questioning shrug, “What's so important that you couldn't—“

 

PWOOF!

 

Luke's eyes widened at the sound. It was almost like an umbrella opening. He looked over his shoulder and saw that all ten of his glowing wings had reappeared. “Gah!” He cried in surprise.

 

“Yeah,” Rose spoke, “Turns out the disguise only lasts two hours. I can get it to last longer, but not until I gain more experience.”

 

Luke looked at her pleadingly, “What are we gonna do?”

 

“Don't worry. We'll just have to meet up between classes so I can recast the spell,” she reassured her friend. She then opened up her spellbook and waved her hand at Luke. “Incognito morphoto!” She recited while picturing a wingless Luke in her mind.

 

Luke's wings painlessly receded into his spine. “Thanks,” he said. He looked at her for a moment. “Rose...” He started, “You do not look well.” Rose's skin was more pale than usual, and she was shaking a little.

 

Rose just stared back at him for a few seconds. Before Luke knew what was happening, Rose had collapsed into his arms, sobbing.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Lunch B

 

 

Vinni set his tray down on the same table as before. Strangely, he was the first one to get his food this time. He shrugged, sat down, and began to chomp on his pizza.

 

Not soon after, a pair of hands slammed down in front of him. Startled, he looked up to see the most beautiful girl he's ever seen, she was looking back at him with a blank, indifferent look. “Hey, Jewel!” He greeted politely.

 

“Here there be monsters.” She said quietly.

 

Vinni looked up at her for a couple seconds, then cocked his head in a confused manner, “Wha?”

 

Jewel looked around for any eavesdroppers, and then sat down across from Vinni. She put a hand by her mouth to project her voice to Vinni without others hearing. “I was attacked by a Digimon in the gym earlier.”

 

Vinni shook his head in surprise, “What!? Seriously? Are you okay?” Vinni grabbed her arm in an effort to examine it for wounds, “It didn't hurt you, did it? I mean, FanBeemon wasn't there and you're—“

 

Jewel snatched her arm back and motioned Vinni to shut the fuck up. “I'm fine. And don't touch me… It was an Arukenimon. An Ultimate level. I can't fathom how it came through without a Digivice.“ She paused for a moment. Vinni was listening intently while munching on his pizza. Jewel continued, “…I think it was trying to capture me for some reason. But the point is that the school isn't safe anymore. If more Digimon infiltrate our world, we could have a major crisis going on.”

 

“Hmm,” Vinni put his pizza crust down, “I think the others should hear this, too.”

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Digital World - On a cliff overlooking the Net Ocean

 

 

Pupumon was wrapped in spider silk and dangled on a tree branch that was stretching out over the cliff, with the sea pounding against the rock hundreds of feet below. SkullSatamon was hovering in front of the unconscious Pupumon with his staff pointed at her. The orb at the tip of SkullSatamon's staff glowed a deep purple. When he did this, a black aura formed around Pupumon, and then the aura flowed like smoke into the orb.

 

He grinned and whispered to himself, “That should do it.”

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Timberdale High - Lunch C

 

Cassidy sat down at the table. Alec and Derek had already started eating.

 

“Hey, where's your food?” Derek asked, noticing that she didn't bring any lunch.

 

“Oh, I just didn't want to spend any money today.” She explained.

 

“I see…” Derek responded.

 

“Mm!” Alec spoke up after taking a gulp from his soda. “I can't believe how cool Shadramon looked yesterday. Your Digimon's really powerful, Derek.”

 

“Heh, thanks. Me and Wormmon don't have to worry about being weak anymore,” he raised his fist in the air, “and it's all thanks to the power of courage!”

 

“Yeah, that's the spirit!” Cassidy smiled.

 

A few seconds of silence passed between them, and then they all burst into a fit of laughter.

 

“Man,” Alec chuckled, “We are such dorks.”

 

Vrrr!

 

All of their phones went off. They each received a text message: “Come to Vinni's after school.”

 

“You guys got it, too?” Alec asked. Derek and Cassidy nodded.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

That afternoon - Genesis Valley, just outside the Manor

 

 

BZZZZZT

 

The group reappeared in the Digital World. Vinni looked around. “Wait, if we could just zap here before, then why did you make us climb mountains for hours?”

 

“There was a magical field preventing instant transportation into the Valley,” Jewel explained. “I guess Babamon must've opened up clearance for our DigiComs.” Jewel looked over to see Babamon and all of the partner Digimon huddled together outside the Manor. They seemed to be in a deep conversation. “Hey!” She called to them.

Babamon and the others all looked over at the humans with surprised looks.

 

“Babamon,” Jewel said, walking over to them, “There's something I need to… tell…” She trailed off when she noticed the look she was getting from all the Digimon. “…What? What's wrong?” Jewel could tell something was wrong.

 

Suddenly, Jewel figured it out. Her realization hit her just as Babamon spoke, “FanBeemon's missing. She disappeared from her post hours ago.”

 

Jewel's eyes widened at her words.

 

“What!? Really?” Cassidy cried.

 

“No, we just thought it'd be a funny joke,” Gizamon commented sarcastically.

 

“Gizamon!” Vinni folded his arms disapprovingly at his partner's remark.

 

“A-Are you sure?” Jewel asked.

 

“We've had Babamon's hounds sniffing all around this place,” Salamon said.

 

Keramon gave a nod, “Yeah, and I scouted out the whole Valley from the sky.”

 

Wormmon spoke, “We're all really worried about her!”

 

Jewel slouched, looking down at the green grass of Genesis Valley. Her face was devoid of emotion.

 

Derek stepped forward, “Hey, it'll be fine. We can—“

 

“Shh!” Jewel shushed him. She had her eyes shut tight. She was concentrating inside her mind. Searching, listening with her heart. A few minutes of silence passed, Jewel raised her head and turned towards the East side of the Valley. “This way.” Jewel took off into the woods. The other teenagers and their partners followed after.

 

They dodged branches and leaped mud puddles until they came to a cliff that hung out over the sea. Jewel looked up and saw a small, lucid white Digimon hung from a tree branch that was grown out beyond the cliff's edge. Pupumon was dangled from a large tree with nothing but a long fall between her and the raging waters below. Jewel put her hand out, the others stopped a few yards behind her.

 

“Don't go any further. It's a trap,” Jewel warned.

 

“What makes you say that, Admiral?” Alec questioned her.

 

Jewel turned her head towards them, “You think this is the first time either of us has been kidnapped?”

 

“You know, for us being heroes, we sure do get abducted a lot,” Derek quipped.

 

Jewel pointed at the tree that was hanging over the cliff. “There are at least five Dokugumon in that tree. They'll rush us as soon as our kidnapper gives the order.”

 

“What the hell is a--” Vinni started to ask, but was interrupted by Jewel.

 

“We'll need Chrysalimon, Mikemon, and Shadramon if we want to stand a chance. Alec, Cass, Derek, are you guys ready?”

 

Vinni's expression fell, he motioned to Gizamon and they both reluctantly stepped backward. Alec, Cassidy, and Derek raised their wrists in the air.

 

“Keramon digivolve to... Chrysalimon!”

 

“Salamon digivolve to... Mikemon!”

 

“Digimental Up!”

“Wormmon armor digivolve to... Shadramon!”

 

The three Digimon stood proudly on the cliffside. Suddenly a voice started laughing slowly. The laughing grew louder until a ball of flame burst out of thin air over the cliff. SkullSatamon appeared from the fireball and looked down at the Tamers and their Digimon. Their DigiCom analyzers activated.

 

#SkullSatamon. Ultimate Level. Virus attribute. Evil type Digimon. Special: Nail Bone.#

 

SkullSatamon gave a bony smirk, “You saw right through my trap, kid! I guess that means I'll have to go and spring it anyway!” He raised his staff in the air. Several Dokugumon began crawling out from the tree branches, and then even more hopped out from the forest trees and bushes behind the Tamers.

 

#Dokugumon. Champion Level. Virus attribute. Insectoid type Digimon. Special: Poison Thread.#

 

“That's a lot more than five...” Cassidy said with a frightened look.

 

“Shit!” Jewel did not expect to be surrounded. “Be very careful! Their venom-laced silk will drain your energy fast.”

 

“Attack!” Alec shouted.

 

Chrysalimon flew at a group of Dokugumon. The Dokugumon all shot spider web nets at him, but he reacted quickly and sliced through the nets like a samurai with his tentacle blades. He grabbed one of the monsters with his tentacles and zapped it with his Data Crusher attack. Chrysalimon absorbed the data left over from the Dokugumon and then quickly dodged attacks from the others.

 

“Cat Claws!” Mikemon charged her claws up with green flame and rushed at a different group of Dokugumon. One of them snapped at her with its fangs when she got close. She swiped her paw, parrying the bite. She leaped onto the creatures head and stabbed her right paw straight into its skull. It dissolved on the spot.

 

“Great job!” Cassidy encouraged her partner.

 

“Yo, Cass!” Alec called over to her, “Try this one out!” He took a Digimon trading card out of his pocket and handed it to Cassidy. She looked it over, and nodded a thank you to her friend. She then turned back to Mikemon's battle and put the card through the slot on her Digivice.

 

“Digi-Modify! Speed activate!”

 

Mikemon flashed, and then ran around all the other Dokugumon at high speed, slashing at their legs. She was running so fast that it looked like two tiny, emerald-colored fireballs were dancing in a synchronized fashion around the Dokugumons' many sets of feet.

 

FWOOSH!

 

Shadramon had control of the last group. He was flying above them, using his arm cannons as flamethrowers. The Dokugumon began scurrying about in a panic, a couple of them rolled over and burned until their bodies dissolved. Some of the Dokugumon positioned themselves and shot balls of toxic gunk at Shadramon.

 

“To your left!” Derek called out. Shadramon weaved out of the way of an oncoming attack and continued dousing the spiders in flames.

 

As this was all going on,Vinni and Gizamon watched all this from the sidelines. “This is crazy!” Gizamon exclaimed, “There's gotta be at least thirty of these things!”

 

“Can't we do something?” Vinni asked hopelessly. “Huh?” After Mikemon knocked a Dokugumon into the air with an uppercut, he caught a view of Jewel climbing up the tree from which her unconscious partner was hanging. “Come on, Gizamon!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

They began running closer to the edge of the cliff where the tree was. They stopped in time to dodge a blazing Dokugumon as it flew by, and they covered their eyes as they ran through a cloud of red data particles flying towards Chrysalimon. They stopped a few feet from the edge of the cliff. Both Vinni and Gizamon were watching Jewel crawl up the tree trunk and make her way onto the branch Pupumon was on. She stood up on the thin branch and began slowly making her way towards the captive Digimon. She put one foot in front of another, keeping her arms out for balance. Obviously, after two years Jewel was no stranger to the effects of gravity on her body.

 

Vinni looked down at the crashing waves hundreds of feet below them, then back up at Jewel. “Oh, Jesus! Please be careful!” He whispered.

 

SkullSatamon appeared at the tip of the branch in a puff of black smoke. He snickered and swung his staff at Jewel. She quickly bent backwards to avoid a nasty blow to the head. This caused her to nearly lose her balance. Vinni was on the verge of screaming as he watched her flailing her arms on the narrow arm of wood. SkullSatamon cackled and floated there, watching her struggle to stay alive.

 

Jewel brought her self back up and glared at her foe. SkullSatamon gave her another evil smirk. She raised her left wrist like a gun, pointing her DigiCom at the Ultimate level. “Come now,” SkullSatamon started, “We both know I could easily avoid a blast shot from your Digivice. Besides, the recoil would knock you off this flimsy branch and you'd plummet to your end right there.” His smirk grew wider, “If you kill yourself, I won't have any fun torturing you anymore.” Jewel lowered her arm. “Good girl,” said the dark Digimon. Jewel scowled hatefully at him.

 

Jewel slowly began lowering herself into a crouch. She made her way onto her knees and grabbed the branch with one of her hands. She began reaching for the silk rope that held Pupumon.

 

“Ah, ah, ah!” SkullSatamon snapped his fingers, and Pupumon's silk lifeline was instantly severed by a tiny explosion. The passed out Fresh level Digimon fell towards the black waves below. Jewel jumped after her partner without hesitation.

 

“No!” Vinni yelled after her.

 

Jewel caught Pupumon in her arms in mid-fall. She mentally commanded her DigiCom to unleashes a bright light that enveloped her and made a thin forcefield around her body. She held her partner tightly to her breast and shut her eyes tightly. What seemed like several minutes passed, Jewel smacked the water and plunged deep into the Net Ocean.

 

The violent impact rocked Jewel and she spun violently as she sunk deeper into the darkness. After she felt herself stop, she opened her eyes. She was met by a pair of huge, glowing red eyes with deep black pupils. It had been a long time since Jewel had seen something as scary as this creature. She hugged the unconscious Pupumon tightly.

 

“Mrrrr... Why do they get to go to your world and not me?” A deep voice growled. “Why do you get the best of both worlds? Nothing is fair.” The eyes stared at Jewel for a few moments. “...You will give me what I need.”

 

A strange feeling came over Jewel, and she gagged as she was forced to open her mouth. An inky, black substance flowed up from within her and accumulated into a gooey sphere. The black stuff was drawn towards the giant eyes and disappeared into the darkness. The creature whom the red eyes belonged to then turned and swam away.

 

Jewel didn't know what was happening when the extraction of whatever that stuff was caused her to suddenly pass out.

 

Back on the cliff, Vinni's breath was heavy with fear and desperation. He and Gizamon looked at each other. Gizamon saw the look in eyes. “...What? No,Vinni, don't--”

 

Vinni threw himself off the cliff and went into a swan dive.

 

“Tamer!”

 

Vinni saw the rippling water rushing towards him and he shut his eyes. He could do nothing but think to himself, 'Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, what the fuck did I just do? I'm gonna die now! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead I'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdead I CAN'T DIE!' A light was emitted from his DigiCom as well, and a barrier formed around his body. Vinni made it to the end of his fall, and he felt his body hitting the water.

 

SkullSatamon was doubled over with laughter. “Yehahahahaha! Humans!” His laughter stopped suddenly and he snapped his fingers again. “Go, ShadowWhamon.”

 

Gizamon looked down at the water to see a living blob of black and purple surface, take a breath from its gigantic mouth, and dive after Jewel and Vinni. SkullSatamon vanished in another fireball.

 

“That's not good...” Gizamon backed up a few feet,and then ran at the edge of the cliff, leaped forward, and curled into a ball. Gizamon was spinning towards the ocean at an angle. When he hit the surface, his spinning body skidded across the water like a tire rolling on pavement. He sped around making donuts on the water. After the energy from his fall had been nullified, he jumped out of his rolling and dove into the ocean.

 

Vinni felt like he had been hit by a car. He felt the freezing cold water gnawing at his flesh, and suddenly remembered where he was and what he was doing. He looked around for something, anything. His eye caught the faint glimmer of Pupumon's body in the dark waters. He swam deeper and grabbed Jewel around the waist as she was sinking to the bottom. Although she was as unconscious as her partner, her arms still kept Pupumon safe.

 

He started swimming towards the surface when he heard a loud, song-like moan. He looked up and against the sunlight on the surface, he saw a titanic, fish-like creature swimming towards him. Vinni let out a muffled cry of terror, and watched hopelessly as it drew closer.

 

“Spiral Saw!” Gizamon's voice echoed brilliantly despite the fact that he was attacking underwater. His body spun violently at ShadowWhamon and sliced into its snout before it got too close to Vinni. It cried out in surprise and spun around in the water. Gizamon waved to Vinni and then paddled his webbed feet to face the corrupted Digimon.

 

It roared loudly and opened its maw. The leviathan began sucking water in, along with Vinni, Gizamon, and the others. Vinni was sure it was all over when his wrist vibrated violently and a light burst from his Digivice. The light engulfed Gizamon, lots of energy, you know the drill.

 

“Gizamon digivolve to... Gesomon!”

 

A pair of ghost-white tentacles extended forth and wrapped around ShadowWhamon's snout. His mouth was shut tight and the giant squid Digimon began spinning him in circles..

 

On land, Chrysalimon was tightening his grip on the neck of a Dokugumon. He twisted his tentacles tighter and tighter until its head popped off like a bottle cap. He greedily devoured the resulting data. He turned around from finishing off the last Dokugumon. The cliffside was littered with DigiEggs. Alec, Cassidy, Mikemon, Derek, and Shadramon were standing on the edge of the cliff, watching the water below.

 

“What, no cheering?” Chrysalimon asked, slightly offended. “Come on, that was practically a small army we just took care of.” The others paid no attention to him, “...Guys?”

 

Cassidy stared intently at the ripples in the water. “Do you think they're...?”

 

“No.... No...” Derek whispered.

 

Suddenly a large, black and purple Digimon resembling a whale was tossed out of the ocean and into the air.

 

#ShadowWhamon. Champion level. Virus attribute. Aquatic type Digimon. Special: Dark Spout.#

 

ShadowWhamon rose into the sky, above everyone's head. “Coral Crusher!” A projectile that looked like a glass bubble filled with ink was blasted from beneath the water's surface and struck ShadowWhamon in midair. The Digimon sang one last time before it exploded into data particles. A DigiEgg formed from the particles and dropped into the sea below.

 

“...Did we just see that?” Alec asked after a couple seconds.

 

Soon after, a white squid creature with black markings on its body and tubes around it mouth surfaced from the Net Ocean.

 

#Gesomon. Champion level. Virus attribute. Mollusk type Digimon. Special: Coral Crusher.#

 

On Gesomon's left hand-tentacle, Vinni stood holding Jewel in her arms, who still held Pupumon in hers. “They're gonna be okay!” Vinni shouted, grinning up at the rest of the team.

 

 

=-=

 

Jewel awoke with a gasp. It was dark, and yet she felt warm and dry. She noticed that she was lying on a couch with a blanket and underneath... Full-Metal Alchemist pajamas? She realized she must've been brought back to Alec's apartment, and this was the living room. Jewel glanced at the clock on the cable box. 3:16 AM.

 

She groaned and turned on her side. A white blob was moving up and down on the chair across the room. Pupumon was safe, Jewel let out a sigh of relief. She felt another presence still. She looked down and saw Derek sitting upright against the couch, fast asleep. Jewel smiled and put her hand on her brother's cheek. His head turned slightly towards the warm touch, and he grumbled something in his sleep. “Mm... Mom.”

 

Filled with an unpleasant shock, Jewel jerked her hand away. After that, she just sat there staring into the darkness until sunrise.