Yamato Ishida (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
angry_friendship_wolf) wrote2020-03-04 12:56 am
angry_friendship_wolf) wrote2020-03-04 12:56 am
[tri OOM] The Sun and the Moon
Under CaptainHookmon’s steady hand, the ship cuts through the water towards File Island, the distinctive peak of Mount Infinity becoming visible through the darkness as they curve about towards the icy region to the east of the island.
“Sora and Meiko have got the data for the rendezvous point?” Taichi asks as they get closer.
“They’ll be waiting for us,” Yamato says. “Just like the Mystery Man. Once Meiko and Meicoomon are aboard the ship and in CaptainHookmon’s care, we’ll scatter, drag the Dark Masters to opposing points of the island, then move to meet up at the next rendezvous point.”
“Not taking any chances with Meiko, huh?” Taichi asks, arching an eyebrow.
“She’s a noncombatant, and she isn’t really one of us. Making sure she doesn’t get hurt is priority one.”
Now they just have to wait. Wait until they get close and the Mystery Man plays his hand.
For a few minutes, as they get close enough to the icy cliffs to see the cracks across them, Yamato wonders if he didn’t miscalculate, if the Mystery Man is going to hold off, pass on the strategic advantage of attacking them out at sea, rather than committing the remainder of his forces to taking them down all at once.
Then the sky hums, and a pillar of blue light crashes into the ocean one klick to the north of them, the shadowy shape of a vast serpent rearing up within. MetalSeadramon, the first (or last, depending on your metric) of the Dark Masters, proof that the Mystery Man has every intention of killing them here.
“MetalSeadramon, one klick starboard,” Yamato yells back across deck. “Koushiro, Jyou, Hikari, you’re up.”
As the light fades and the great, golden shape of MetalSeadramon coils out of the water, Koushiro, Jyou, and Hikari are already leaping off the edge of the ship, their Digimon glowing and transforming as they do.
“Tentomon, warp evolution. HeraklesKabuterimon.”
“Gomamon, warp evolution! Vikemon.”
“Tailmon, super evolution. Angewomon.”
One by one, their Digimon catch them, HeraklesKabuterimon and Angewomon soaring forward to engage MetalSeadramon, while Vikemon swims after them. Yamato sees a flash of lightning as all three commence their attacks.
“That’s one,” Taichi murmurs. “Two more to go.”
The second materialises from a pillar of yellow light as the ship drops anchor. Pinocchimon, wooden and long-nosed and gripping a heavy steel hammer, comes flying towards them, eyes blank and red.
“Pinocchimon, dead ahead!” Yamato calls. “Mimi, Takeru!”
“Palmon, warp evolution! Rosemon.”
“Patamon, warp evolution! Seraphimon!”
The two Digimon grab their partners and soar forward to meet Pinocchimon, sending him tumbling back into a cliff.
Yamato frowns. He and Taichi need to be quick about this, there’s only so long the others can hold back two Dark Masters.
“CaptainHookmon,” he calls over his shoulder. “As soon as our associate is on the ship, set sail immediately using the course we laid out earlier.”
Then he jumps out of the ship, sliding down a rope onto the icy shore. Taichi lands next to him a second later, giving him a short nod as their Digimon leap down onto their shoulders.
Time to find Sora and Meiko.
---
Seeing Sora and Meiko at the rendezvous point, a frozen canyon just beyond the shoreline, with Piyomon and Meicoomon at their sides, is a relief.
Seeing the Mystery Man materialise directly in their path is not.
With a snap of his fingers, the Mystery Man summons another pillar of light, a clanking metal shape forming within it, until the light flickers out entirely and Mugendramon, massive and dead-eyed and bristling with guns and claws, stands with Sora and Meiko on one side, and Yamato and Taichi on the other.
Yamato doesn’t slow, slipping his ring onto his fingers and muttering a few words into it. With a flash of blue fire, his claws form over his arms and feet, his hair turning moonlight-white as he tries to throw himself past Mugendramon.
A claw smacks against him and sends him sprawling, and with a crackle and spark of blue, his transformation fades, shrinking back into the ring on his finger.
“Impressive as your little science project is, it really can’t match up to an Ultimate-level Digimon,” the Mystery Man says mildly, his form flickering from Ken’s shape to Koushiro’s, as Yamato pulls himself to his feet. “And if I’m not very much mistaken, none of you have reawakened your Crests yet. So it would appear that I’ve -- …”
“I know who you are.”
Yamato’s eyebrows rise. Sora has taken a step towards the Mystery Man, mouth set into a grim line. The Mystery Man swings his head towards her, raising an eyebrow, studying her over several long moments.
(Yamato quietly flicks a hand, gesturing the Digimon to the cliff next to Mugendramon.)
“You do, don’t you?” The Mystery Man says. “And here I was so sure that Koushiro Izumi would be the one to figure me out.”
“The more I thought about that attack out at sea, the more I started to suspect you,” Sora says, taking another step. “And the more I heard from the others, the more sure I was. Using Castle Vamdemon; knowing how to manipulate Andromon; how you only ever disguised yourself as one of us; how you seemed to know us but we can’t remember these orders you say we gave you or these promises you say we broke, because we weren’t the ones who gave you those orders in the first place, or made those promises, you were always talking to our Crests. But most of all, we’ve only ever met two people who knew how to create Digimon from raw data, and you aren’t Professor Oikawa.”
The Mystery Man smiles slowly, turning fully towards her. “Very well done, Sora.”
Sora inclines her head, a terse gesture of acknowledgement. “Thank you for saying so, Gennai.”
The Mystery Man’s disguise flickers again, but this time it fades around him, Koushiro’s form giving way to black and grey robes, blue eyes, a square jawline, and dark brown hair. Not Gennai as they first met him, when he was old and seemed to be teetering on the edge of death, but Gennai as he was first created, young and hale.
“You did give me my task, the purpose for my existence carved into my kernel, all those hundreds of thousands of years ago, before you wore those faces,” he says, and not for the first time Yamato thinks he sounds almost sad. “To preserve the peace of the Digital World. A task you knew was impossible.”
“I suppose they did know,” Sora says. “No matter what anyone does, peace is always being broken somewhere, and peace never lasts forever. I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair to put that responsibility all on you.”
Gennai smiles sadly, shaking his head. “And you, little wolf,” he says, angling his head to stare at Yamato out of the corner of his eye. “You, who even then took so much pride in never breaking his word, made me one of your vaunted vows. That when I grew weary and strayed from the path laid out for me, you would be there to grip my hand and lead me into one final death. A promise that, even with the power of prophecy, you haven’t kept.”
Yamato feels that stab at his heart, feels a surge of guilt that he isn’t sure is his own. “I’m not -- Gennai, you know I’m not him. You know I don’t remember what he said and did. If I’d known, I would’ve -- …”
“It’s too late,” Gennai says flatly. “Just as Warudamon couldn’t deny the purpose you forced on her, I can’t deny mine either. I will bring peace to the Digital World, just as you asked. A peace that is never broken, that never ends.”
Sora grimaces. “You mean you’re going to do what Apocalymon tried to do, right? End all of reality.”
“What more perfect peace is there?” Gennai asks. “The long, quiet peace of the grave. This world and every other world will return to the depths of the Dark Ocean, and there will be no more war, no more suffering or violence, no more of anything.”
Yamato glances over at Sora. She’s still staring straight at Gennai, and he wonders for a moment if she’s going to try to change his mind, but the set of her shoulders and the grim determination on her face tells him that she already knows that’s impossible.
“And then you’ll get to rest too,” she says instead.
Pressing his fingers to his collarbone, Gennai bows low. “My lady of wind and sky,” he says softly. “You are as keen as ever, I see.”
“You’re very kind,” Sora says. “And very easily distracted.”
Her gaze flicks over to Yamato, a silent signal, and he flicks his hand at Gabumon. “Now!”
Gabumon, Agumon, and Piyomon, assembled at the cliff, all let loose with streams of fire, blasting loose a tumbling avalanche of ice and slow, crashing down over Mugendramon and engulfing him.
It will hold him for a few minutes. Long enough for them to flee, and nobody needs Yamato yelling an order for them to do that.
---
“We’ll meet up with you soon,” Sora says warmly as she helps Meiko onto the rope, hovering nearby as the other girl starts climbing up. “For now, it’s safer for you to take a separate route to us. Gennai’s going to be after us, after all.”
Her point is proven spectacularly by Vikemon crashing onto an icy cliff, propelled there by a blast from MetalSeadramon. With a low roar, Mugendramon comes stomping out towards the shore, with Gennai perched on his shoulder.
The cogs in Yamato’s brain start spinning. Mugendramon is by far the biggest threat, able to fire his cannons far enough to catch the ship no matter how fast it sails away, and his sensors mean that he needs to be met and distracted directly, not simply evaded.
MetalSeadramon and Pinocchimon need to be distracted as well, but even together they’re a lower priority, and easier to avoid. Whoever distracts them just needs to be enough of a threat in Gennai’s mind for him to commit two Dark Masters to the task of killing them.
“Koushiro, Mimi, Jyou, Takeru, Hikari,” he rattles off into his wrist computer. “Join Sora and engage Mugendramon. Keep him distracted until Meiko and the ship are out of the range of his cannons. Taichi and I will distract MetalSeadramon and Pinocchimon.”
Mugendramon bears down on them, storming through the snow. Yamato sees him angle his cannons, taking aim at the ship, ready to incinerate them in a single blast.
“Giga Horn Buster!”
“Forbidden Temptation.”
“Arctic Blizzard!”
“Strike of the Seven Stars.”
“Holy Arrow!”
Five attacks slam into Mugendramon’s chest, driving him backwards into the frozen canyon, as five Digimon swoop (or lumber clumsily across land, in Vikemon’s case), after him.
“You’re going to distract the other two by yourselves?” Sora asks. Yamato can just hear the disapproval in her tone. “Don’t either of you dare die.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Taichi chirps. “We’re indestructible.”
Sora gives him a quick glare, then sprints off back into the canyon, with Piyomon fluttering behind her.
Taichi watches her go, the smile fading from his face, before he glances over at Yamato. “Guess we’re taking a swim in icy waters.”
“Only place we’re going to be able to evade them,” Yamato replies. He turns, dropping onto one knee in front of Gabumon, reaching forward to ruffle his fur. “Hey, buddy. You … you don’t have to join us for this one. We can -- …”
“I’m going with you,” Gabumon says sharply. “Haven’t the last few months made that obvious by now? I’m always with you.”
“Both of us are going with you!” Agumon adds, waving his arms. “We can’t just run away!”
“All right,” Taichi says. “Then let’s go.”
---
With a deafening roar, Mugendramon swung his tail, a tendril of white light bursting out from the end of it and lashing against each of the Digimon in turn, sending them sprawling backwards.
Gennai peeled back his lips into a grin, flickering off Mugendramon’s shoulder, reappearing on the ground by his feet. “Do the six of you truly think you can defeat Mugendramon? Even Taichi could only barely win,” he said. “And believe me when I say, none of you are Taichi.”
A sharp yell is the only warning he gets before Jyou barrels into him, knocking him down onto the ice. Two punches land against his jaw, before Gennai throws out a hand, blasting him back with a ripple of purple light.
Rosemon lands behind him, flicking her whip, and a flurry of sharp vines entangle him, tethering him to either side of the canyon.
“Stay there. And quiet,” Sora says. “Form up, everyone. Mugendramon isn’t moving out of this canyon.”
---
Pinocchimon speeds above them, spraying the water with yellow bolts of energy. One of the reasons Yamato and Taichi chose to swim out to sea -- when they see a flash of yellow out of the corner of their eye, they can duck beneath the waves, letting the bolts of energy dissipate harmless across the water.
MetalSeadramon is more of a problem. Sometimes he swims far beneath the surface, too deep for them to see him. The only hint that he’s about to surface is the swelling of the water, a split-second warning for everyone to scatter.
Yamato’s starting to tire, but the ship is still visible, not yet far enough out to turn around and move past the cliffs at the edge of the bay, and until it’s away and safe, they have to keep the Dark Masters busy.
“Ready, Gabumon?” He says, picking up the Digimon. “We’re only going to have one shot at this.”
Gabumon gives him a nod, and he swims backwards, waiting for that telltale surge of water.
It takes a few moments, but eventually he feels the water moving beneath him, feels the swell of it under him. He darts back just as MetalSeadramon surfaces, throwing Gabumon up into the air, and the little Digimon breathes a stream of fire out across the Dark Master’s eyes.
It screeches, diving back into the water, blinded for the moment.
“Good work, buddy!” Yamato enthuses, dragging Gabumon into a hug. Gabumon gives a happy noise, throwing his arms around him in return.
“T-thanks, Yamato-kun.”
Yamato blinks at him. “Kun?”
“Gabumon was wondering earlier if he should really be using just your name,” Taichi explains smugly.
“Taichi!”
“Where’s my kun, Gabumon?!” Taichi calls back.
The water swells again. No time for all of them to move this time. Yamato throws Gabumon to one side, seeing Taichi do the same, just as MetalSeadramon bursts up from beneath them, coils around both him and Taichi, and drags them both under the water.
---
He’s drowning.
Just like when Gennai blindsided them on the raft. He’s drowning, and worse, Taichi’s drowning. Worming free of MetalSeadramon’s grip was simple enough, but he’s left them deep beneath the water, where only the faintest slivers of light penetrate.
Yamato kicks his legs, swimming up towards the surface, drawing up alongside Taichi as the other boy strains up. Taichi runs out of breath first, and Yamato swims over to him and grabs him, holding him with one arm and pushing through the water with the other.
They’re too deep. Yamato finds himself running out of breath, and they fall, drifting down to land on the sand and silt at the bottom of the sea.
As his back hits the sand, he sees the two glowing figures standing by them, faint, hazy visions that both are and aren’t there.
“Why did you save us?” Agumon, and not Agumon. The Agumon who died, the new Agumon, and something older and harsher, speaking through the vision of him.
“He was going to hurt you,” Taichi replies.
“Why did you come back to the Digital World?” Gabumon, and not Gabumon. The Gabumon who died, the new Gabumon, and something older and harsher, speaking through the vision of him.
“I wanted to see you again,” Yamato says.
There’s air in Yamato’s lungs. He doesn’t know how that’s even possible, but it’s there, keeping him breathing, keeping him conscious. Or maybe he’s already dying and just doesn’t realise it.
“But isn’t that a huge risk?” Agumon asks.
“What if you didn’t find us?” Gabumon adds.
“What if something else went wrong?” Agumon asks.
“What if we died again?” Gabumon adds.
Yamato grimaces. “We had to take that chance, right? I had to see you again,” he says, shrugging a shoulder. “I came here to see you, after all. Only you.”
“We belong together,” Taichi says. “We were destined to be together.”
Yamato looks up towards those faint slivers of light. Just faintly, he can see Gabumon and Agumon, the real Gabumon and Agumon, swimming down towards them.
“I want to be strong enough to fight, Taichi.”
“I want to protect you, Yamato.”
The Crest pendant on Yamato’s neck turns icy cold. Looking down, he sees the faint, sputtering flickers of blue light from it. Taichi’s pendant starts burning orange, radiating heat strong enough for even Yamato to feel.
Kicking off, Yamato swims up towards Gabumon, grabbing his digivice from his belt. “Gabumon!”
Taichi swims up alongside him, his digivice starting to flicker with light. “Agumon!”
---
“Everyone hold on, we’re experiencing some damnable rocky waves!” CaptainHookmon yells as the seas whip up, waves buffeting the side of the ship.
Meiko curls an arm around Meicoomon, holding her close, and grips the railing with her other hand. “It’s okay,” she says softly. “It’s okay.”
With a crash, the clouds are blasted apart, revealing a blue full moon sharing the sky with an orange, midday sun, the sky around them flickering and glitching, turning to interlocking octagons of night and day, as if some catastrophic error is happening with its textures.
Something rumbles beneath them. Two pillars of light, orange and blue, burst up from the sea behind them, stretching all the way into the sky.
“It’s okay,” Meiko whispers to Meicoomon again, but the little Digimon is staring at the pillars intently, tensing in her arms.
---
The island is shaking. The sky is glitching, half of its octagonal zones flickering into day, the other half a deep, dark night, as the moon and sun circle around each other.
Sora feels a sharp pain in her head, hears the same strange singing sound she’d heard when Hikari’s Crest activated. Around her, everyone’s Crests are flickering with light, responding to the song, resonating with it.
When the two pillars of light appear over the cliffs, in the direction of the sea, she realises what’s happening. Mugendramon swings his head towards it, momentarily distracted.
Gennai scowls at first, before his expression softens into something like pride, Sora thinks.
---
“Agumon, warp evolution! WarGreymon!”
“Gabumon, warp evolution. MetalGarurumon.”
Yamato feels himself barrel out of the icy water on MetalGarurumon’s back, curving through the air, as WarGreymon, with Taichi settled on his shoulder, erupts from the water and sprays fireballs at the two Dark Masters, forcing them backwards.
The light around them fades, and slowly the sky begins to return to normal, the sun and moon fading away, but the pendant around his neck is still glowing and humming with energy, and a glance over at Taichi confirms that the other boy’s eyes are burning orange.
“I’ll take MetalSeadramon, you take Pinocchimon?” Taichi asks.
He needn’t have bothered. WarGreymon’s high durability, and his damage boost against dragon Digimon, makes him the perfect opponent for MetalSeadramon. MetalGarurumon’s speed and range makes him the perfect match for Pinocchimon.
Yamato gives Taichi a quick nod, and meshes his mind with MetalGarurumon’s, the two of them peeling off towards Pinocchimon.
Pinocchimon tears away, and before long they’re streaking across the sky, the fastest Dark Master against the fastest of the Chosen’s Digimon, firing barrages of energy beams at each other, dodging and weaving through the clouds.
Yamato’s missed this. The wind in his hair, the stomach-churning feeling of spiralling and cartwheeling through the sky with only his tenuous grip on MetalGarurumon keeping him from falling to an untimely death, the feeling of his mind synced up so closely with his partner’s that he can’t tell MetalGarurumon’s sensor inputs from his own senses.
“Switch to burst ammunition, ready full spread of missiles,” he says softly. MetalGarurumon’s gaze flicks back towards him, before he shuts his eyes, making the changes. “Fire.”
MetalGarurumon unfolds, nearly every part of his body opening up to reveal bristling missiles, and fires them, sending hundreds of streaks of blue and white outwards in screeching, careening arcs.
One by one, they explode into bursts of ice. Pinocchimon darts between them, trying to speed away, only for one to catch his leg, encasing it in completely. As he slows, another catches his hammer, freezing it solid, and a third collides with his shoulder.
Weighed down and chilled, his speed drops to a crawl. Slow enough for MetalGarurumon to line up a finishing blow.
Yamato funnels energy into MetalGarurumon, channeling his Crest energies through the Digimon, as he gathers energy in his jaws and aims it at Pinocchimon.
“Cocytus Breath.”
A blast of cold freezes Pinocchimon completely, inside and out. Yamato watches as he drops out of the sky, landing against one of the cliffs and shattering.
Beneath them, WarGreymon slams MetalSeadramon onto land, gathering a fireball between his claws.
“Gaia Force!”
The fireball slams into MetalSeadramon, engulfing it in flames, and Yamato hears a split-second roar before he scatters into data.
Two Dark Masters down. One more to -- …
A wave of exhaustion hits Yamato like a tsunami, settling into his bones with such force that for a few seconds he thinks he’s going to pass out right there.
Right. It’s been months since I last channeled my Crest’s full power. I’m out of practice.
“We need to land,” he murmurs, but MetalGarurumon must be feeling just as tired, because he’s already floating down, engines disengaging as he lands on the shoreline next to WarGreymon and Taichi.
Yamato has just enough time to climb off him before the power of his Crest gives out, and MetalGarurumon shrinks back down to Tsunomon in a flicker of data. WarGreymon is quick to follow, his body dissolving into data cubes, leaving Koromon behind.
Without the strain of using his Crest, Yamato finds his feet, getting his legs under him and blinking away the blurriness in his vision. For a second, he wonders if he’s lost his powers again, but no, no, the Crest pendant is still burning cold against his chest. They’re back for good.
“We need to find Sora and the others,” he says, scooping up Tsunomon in his arms.
Taichi gives him a short nod. “Let’s go.”
“Sora and Meiko have got the data for the rendezvous point?” Taichi asks as they get closer.
“They’ll be waiting for us,” Yamato says. “Just like the Mystery Man. Once Meiko and Meicoomon are aboard the ship and in CaptainHookmon’s care, we’ll scatter, drag the Dark Masters to opposing points of the island, then move to meet up at the next rendezvous point.”
“Not taking any chances with Meiko, huh?” Taichi asks, arching an eyebrow.
“She’s a noncombatant, and she isn’t really one of us. Making sure she doesn’t get hurt is priority one.”
Now they just have to wait. Wait until they get close and the Mystery Man plays his hand.
For a few minutes, as they get close enough to the icy cliffs to see the cracks across them, Yamato wonders if he didn’t miscalculate, if the Mystery Man is going to hold off, pass on the strategic advantage of attacking them out at sea, rather than committing the remainder of his forces to taking them down all at once.
Then the sky hums, and a pillar of blue light crashes into the ocean one klick to the north of them, the shadowy shape of a vast serpent rearing up within. MetalSeadramon, the first (or last, depending on your metric) of the Dark Masters, proof that the Mystery Man has every intention of killing them here.
“MetalSeadramon, one klick starboard,” Yamato yells back across deck. “Koushiro, Jyou, Hikari, you’re up.”
As the light fades and the great, golden shape of MetalSeadramon coils out of the water, Koushiro, Jyou, and Hikari are already leaping off the edge of the ship, their Digimon glowing and transforming as they do.
“Tentomon, warp evolution. HeraklesKabuterimon.”
“Gomamon, warp evolution! Vikemon.”
“Tailmon, super evolution. Angewomon.”
One by one, their Digimon catch them, HeraklesKabuterimon and Angewomon soaring forward to engage MetalSeadramon, while Vikemon swims after them. Yamato sees a flash of lightning as all three commence their attacks.
“That’s one,” Taichi murmurs. “Two more to go.”
The second materialises from a pillar of yellow light as the ship drops anchor. Pinocchimon, wooden and long-nosed and gripping a heavy steel hammer, comes flying towards them, eyes blank and red.
“Pinocchimon, dead ahead!” Yamato calls. “Mimi, Takeru!”
“Palmon, warp evolution! Rosemon.”
“Patamon, warp evolution! Seraphimon!”
The two Digimon grab their partners and soar forward to meet Pinocchimon, sending him tumbling back into a cliff.
Yamato frowns. He and Taichi need to be quick about this, there’s only so long the others can hold back two Dark Masters.
“CaptainHookmon,” he calls over his shoulder. “As soon as our associate is on the ship, set sail immediately using the course we laid out earlier.”
Then he jumps out of the ship, sliding down a rope onto the icy shore. Taichi lands next to him a second later, giving him a short nod as their Digimon leap down onto their shoulders.
Time to find Sora and Meiko.
Seeing Sora and Meiko at the rendezvous point, a frozen canyon just beyond the shoreline, with Piyomon and Meicoomon at their sides, is a relief.
Seeing the Mystery Man materialise directly in their path is not.
With a snap of his fingers, the Mystery Man summons another pillar of light, a clanking metal shape forming within it, until the light flickers out entirely and Mugendramon, massive and dead-eyed and bristling with guns and claws, stands with Sora and Meiko on one side, and Yamato and Taichi on the other.
Yamato doesn’t slow, slipping his ring onto his fingers and muttering a few words into it. With a flash of blue fire, his claws form over his arms and feet, his hair turning moonlight-white as he tries to throw himself past Mugendramon.
A claw smacks against him and sends him sprawling, and with a crackle and spark of blue, his transformation fades, shrinking back into the ring on his finger.
“Impressive as your little science project is, it really can’t match up to an Ultimate-level Digimon,” the Mystery Man says mildly, his form flickering from Ken’s shape to Koushiro’s, as Yamato pulls himself to his feet. “And if I’m not very much mistaken, none of you have reawakened your Crests yet. So it would appear that I’ve -- …”
“I know who you are.”
Yamato’s eyebrows rise. Sora has taken a step towards the Mystery Man, mouth set into a grim line. The Mystery Man swings his head towards her, raising an eyebrow, studying her over several long moments.
(Yamato quietly flicks a hand, gesturing the Digimon to the cliff next to Mugendramon.)
“You do, don’t you?” The Mystery Man says. “And here I was so sure that Koushiro Izumi would be the one to figure me out.”
“The more I thought about that attack out at sea, the more I started to suspect you,” Sora says, taking another step. “And the more I heard from the others, the more sure I was. Using Castle Vamdemon; knowing how to manipulate Andromon; how you only ever disguised yourself as one of us; how you seemed to know us but we can’t remember these orders you say we gave you or these promises you say we broke, because we weren’t the ones who gave you those orders in the first place, or made those promises, you were always talking to our Crests. But most of all, we’ve only ever met two people who knew how to create Digimon from raw data, and you aren’t Professor Oikawa.”
The Mystery Man smiles slowly, turning fully towards her. “Very well done, Sora.”
Sora inclines her head, a terse gesture of acknowledgement. “Thank you for saying so, Gennai.”
The Mystery Man’s disguise flickers again, but this time it fades around him, Koushiro’s form giving way to black and grey robes, blue eyes, a square jawline, and dark brown hair. Not Gennai as they first met him, when he was old and seemed to be teetering on the edge of death, but Gennai as he was first created, young and hale.
“You did give me my task, the purpose for my existence carved into my kernel, all those hundreds of thousands of years ago, before you wore those faces,” he says, and not for the first time Yamato thinks he sounds almost sad. “To preserve the peace of the Digital World. A task you knew was impossible.”
“I suppose they did know,” Sora says. “No matter what anyone does, peace is always being broken somewhere, and peace never lasts forever. I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair to put that responsibility all on you.”
Gennai smiles sadly, shaking his head. “And you, little wolf,” he says, angling his head to stare at Yamato out of the corner of his eye. “You, who even then took so much pride in never breaking his word, made me one of your vaunted vows. That when I grew weary and strayed from the path laid out for me, you would be there to grip my hand and lead me into one final death. A promise that, even with the power of prophecy, you haven’t kept.”
Yamato feels that stab at his heart, feels a surge of guilt that he isn’t sure is his own. “I’m not -- Gennai, you know I’m not him. You know I don’t remember what he said and did. If I’d known, I would’ve -- …”
“It’s too late,” Gennai says flatly. “Just as Warudamon couldn’t deny the purpose you forced on her, I can’t deny mine either. I will bring peace to the Digital World, just as you asked. A peace that is never broken, that never ends.”
Sora grimaces. “You mean you’re going to do what Apocalymon tried to do, right? End all of reality.”
“What more perfect peace is there?” Gennai asks. “The long, quiet peace of the grave. This world and every other world will return to the depths of the Dark Ocean, and there will be no more war, no more suffering or violence, no more of anything.”
Yamato glances over at Sora. She’s still staring straight at Gennai, and he wonders for a moment if she’s going to try to change his mind, but the set of her shoulders and the grim determination on her face tells him that she already knows that’s impossible.
“And then you’ll get to rest too,” she says instead.
Pressing his fingers to his collarbone, Gennai bows low. “My lady of wind and sky,” he says softly. “You are as keen as ever, I see.”
“You’re very kind,” Sora says. “And very easily distracted.”
Her gaze flicks over to Yamato, a silent signal, and he flicks his hand at Gabumon. “Now!”
Gabumon, Agumon, and Piyomon, assembled at the cliff, all let loose with streams of fire, blasting loose a tumbling avalanche of ice and slow, crashing down over Mugendramon and engulfing him.
It will hold him for a few minutes. Long enough for them to flee, and nobody needs Yamato yelling an order for them to do that.
“We’ll meet up with you soon,” Sora says warmly as she helps Meiko onto the rope, hovering nearby as the other girl starts climbing up. “For now, it’s safer for you to take a separate route to us. Gennai’s going to be after us, after all.”
Her point is proven spectacularly by Vikemon crashing onto an icy cliff, propelled there by a blast from MetalSeadramon. With a low roar, Mugendramon comes stomping out towards the shore, with Gennai perched on his shoulder.
The cogs in Yamato’s brain start spinning. Mugendramon is by far the biggest threat, able to fire his cannons far enough to catch the ship no matter how fast it sails away, and his sensors mean that he needs to be met and distracted directly, not simply evaded.
MetalSeadramon and Pinocchimon need to be distracted as well, but even together they’re a lower priority, and easier to avoid. Whoever distracts them just needs to be enough of a threat in Gennai’s mind for him to commit two Dark Masters to the task of killing them.
“Koushiro, Mimi, Jyou, Takeru, Hikari,” he rattles off into his wrist computer. “Join Sora and engage Mugendramon. Keep him distracted until Meiko and the ship are out of the range of his cannons. Taichi and I will distract MetalSeadramon and Pinocchimon.”
Mugendramon bears down on them, storming through the snow. Yamato sees him angle his cannons, taking aim at the ship, ready to incinerate them in a single blast.
“Giga Horn Buster!”
“Forbidden Temptation.”
“Arctic Blizzard!”
“Strike of the Seven Stars.”
“Holy Arrow!”
Five attacks slam into Mugendramon’s chest, driving him backwards into the frozen canyon, as five Digimon swoop (or lumber clumsily across land, in Vikemon’s case), after him.
“You’re going to distract the other two by yourselves?” Sora asks. Yamato can just hear the disapproval in her tone. “Don’t either of you dare die.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Taichi chirps. “We’re indestructible.”
Sora gives him a quick glare, then sprints off back into the canyon, with Piyomon fluttering behind her.
Taichi watches her go, the smile fading from his face, before he glances over at Yamato. “Guess we’re taking a swim in icy waters.”
“Only place we’re going to be able to evade them,” Yamato replies. He turns, dropping onto one knee in front of Gabumon, reaching forward to ruffle his fur. “Hey, buddy. You … you don’t have to join us for this one. We can -- …”
“I’m going with you,” Gabumon says sharply. “Haven’t the last few months made that obvious by now? I’m always with you.”
“Both of us are going with you!” Agumon adds, waving his arms. “We can’t just run away!”
“All right,” Taichi says. “Then let’s go.”
With a deafening roar, Mugendramon swung his tail, a tendril of white light bursting out from the end of it and lashing against each of the Digimon in turn, sending them sprawling backwards.
Gennai peeled back his lips into a grin, flickering off Mugendramon’s shoulder, reappearing on the ground by his feet. “Do the six of you truly think you can defeat Mugendramon? Even Taichi could only barely win,” he said. “And believe me when I say, none of you are Taichi.”
A sharp yell is the only warning he gets before Jyou barrels into him, knocking him down onto the ice. Two punches land against his jaw, before Gennai throws out a hand, blasting him back with a ripple of purple light.
Rosemon lands behind him, flicking her whip, and a flurry of sharp vines entangle him, tethering him to either side of the canyon.
“Stay there. And quiet,” Sora says. “Form up, everyone. Mugendramon isn’t moving out of this canyon.”
Pinocchimon speeds above them, spraying the water with yellow bolts of energy. One of the reasons Yamato and Taichi chose to swim out to sea -- when they see a flash of yellow out of the corner of their eye, they can duck beneath the waves, letting the bolts of energy dissipate harmless across the water.
MetalSeadramon is more of a problem. Sometimes he swims far beneath the surface, too deep for them to see him. The only hint that he’s about to surface is the swelling of the water, a split-second warning for everyone to scatter.
Yamato’s starting to tire, but the ship is still visible, not yet far enough out to turn around and move past the cliffs at the edge of the bay, and until it’s away and safe, they have to keep the Dark Masters busy.
“Ready, Gabumon?” He says, picking up the Digimon. “We’re only going to have one shot at this.”
Gabumon gives him a nod, and he swims backwards, waiting for that telltale surge of water.
It takes a few moments, but eventually he feels the water moving beneath him, feels the swell of it under him. He darts back just as MetalSeadramon surfaces, throwing Gabumon up into the air, and the little Digimon breathes a stream of fire out across the Dark Master’s eyes.
It screeches, diving back into the water, blinded for the moment.
“Good work, buddy!” Yamato enthuses, dragging Gabumon into a hug. Gabumon gives a happy noise, throwing his arms around him in return.
“T-thanks, Yamato-kun.”
Yamato blinks at him. “Kun?”
“Gabumon was wondering earlier if he should really be using just your name,” Taichi explains smugly.
“Taichi!”
“Where’s my kun, Gabumon?!” Taichi calls back.
The water swells again. No time for all of them to move this time. Yamato throws Gabumon to one side, seeing Taichi do the same, just as MetalSeadramon bursts up from beneath them, coils around both him and Taichi, and drags them both under the water.
He’s drowning.
Just like when Gennai blindsided them on the raft. He’s drowning, and worse, Taichi’s drowning. Worming free of MetalSeadramon’s grip was simple enough, but he’s left them deep beneath the water, where only the faintest slivers of light penetrate.
Yamato kicks his legs, swimming up towards the surface, drawing up alongside Taichi as the other boy strains up. Taichi runs out of breath first, and Yamato swims over to him and grabs him, holding him with one arm and pushing through the water with the other.
They’re too deep. Yamato finds himself running out of breath, and they fall, drifting down to land on the sand and silt at the bottom of the sea.
As his back hits the sand, he sees the two glowing figures standing by them, faint, hazy visions that both are and aren’t there.
“Why did you save us?” Agumon, and not Agumon. The Agumon who died, the new Agumon, and something older and harsher, speaking through the vision of him.
“He was going to hurt you,” Taichi replies.
“Why did you come back to the Digital World?” Gabumon, and not Gabumon. The Gabumon who died, the new Gabumon, and something older and harsher, speaking through the vision of him.
“I wanted to see you again,” Yamato says.
There’s air in Yamato’s lungs. He doesn’t know how that’s even possible, but it’s there, keeping him breathing, keeping him conscious. Or maybe he’s already dying and just doesn’t realise it.
“But isn’t that a huge risk?” Agumon asks.
“What if you didn’t find us?” Gabumon adds.
“What if something else went wrong?” Agumon asks.
“What if we died again?” Gabumon adds.
Yamato grimaces. “We had to take that chance, right? I had to see you again,” he says, shrugging a shoulder. “I came here to see you, after all. Only you.”
“We belong together,” Taichi says. “We were destined to be together.”
Yamato looks up towards those faint slivers of light. Just faintly, he can see Gabumon and Agumon, the real Gabumon and Agumon, swimming down towards them.
“I want to be strong enough to fight, Taichi.”
“I want to protect you, Yamato.”
The Crest pendant on Yamato’s neck turns icy cold. Looking down, he sees the faint, sputtering flickers of blue light from it. Taichi’s pendant starts burning orange, radiating heat strong enough for even Yamato to feel.
Kicking off, Yamato swims up towards Gabumon, grabbing his digivice from his belt. “Gabumon!”
Taichi swims up alongside him, his digivice starting to flicker with light. “Agumon!”
“Everyone hold on, we’re experiencing some damnable rocky waves!” CaptainHookmon yells as the seas whip up, waves buffeting the side of the ship.
Meiko curls an arm around Meicoomon, holding her close, and grips the railing with her other hand. “It’s okay,” she says softly. “It’s okay.”
With a crash, the clouds are blasted apart, revealing a blue full moon sharing the sky with an orange, midday sun, the sky around them flickering and glitching, turning to interlocking octagons of night and day, as if some catastrophic error is happening with its textures.
Something rumbles beneath them. Two pillars of light, orange and blue, burst up from the sea behind them, stretching all the way into the sky.
“It’s okay,” Meiko whispers to Meicoomon again, but the little Digimon is staring at the pillars intently, tensing in her arms.
The island is shaking. The sky is glitching, half of its octagonal zones flickering into day, the other half a deep, dark night, as the moon and sun circle around each other.
Sora feels a sharp pain in her head, hears the same strange singing sound she’d heard when Hikari’s Crest activated. Around her, everyone’s Crests are flickering with light, responding to the song, resonating with it.
When the two pillars of light appear over the cliffs, in the direction of the sea, she realises what’s happening. Mugendramon swings his head towards it, momentarily distracted.
Gennai scowls at first, before his expression softens into something like pride, Sora thinks.
“Agumon, warp evolution! WarGreymon!”
“Gabumon, warp evolution. MetalGarurumon.”
Yamato feels himself barrel out of the icy water on MetalGarurumon’s back, curving through the air, as WarGreymon, with Taichi settled on his shoulder, erupts from the water and sprays fireballs at the two Dark Masters, forcing them backwards.
The light around them fades, and slowly the sky begins to return to normal, the sun and moon fading away, but the pendant around his neck is still glowing and humming with energy, and a glance over at Taichi confirms that the other boy’s eyes are burning orange.
“I’ll take MetalSeadramon, you take Pinocchimon?” Taichi asks.
He needn’t have bothered. WarGreymon’s high durability, and his damage boost against dragon Digimon, makes him the perfect opponent for MetalSeadramon. MetalGarurumon’s speed and range makes him the perfect match for Pinocchimon.
Yamato gives Taichi a quick nod, and meshes his mind with MetalGarurumon’s, the two of them peeling off towards Pinocchimon.
Pinocchimon tears away, and before long they’re streaking across the sky, the fastest Dark Master against the fastest of the Chosen’s Digimon, firing barrages of energy beams at each other, dodging and weaving through the clouds.
Yamato’s missed this. The wind in his hair, the stomach-churning feeling of spiralling and cartwheeling through the sky with only his tenuous grip on MetalGarurumon keeping him from falling to an untimely death, the feeling of his mind synced up so closely with his partner’s that he can’t tell MetalGarurumon’s sensor inputs from his own senses.
“Switch to burst ammunition, ready full spread of missiles,” he says softly. MetalGarurumon’s gaze flicks back towards him, before he shuts his eyes, making the changes. “Fire.”
MetalGarurumon unfolds, nearly every part of his body opening up to reveal bristling missiles, and fires them, sending hundreds of streaks of blue and white outwards in screeching, careening arcs.
One by one, they explode into bursts of ice. Pinocchimon darts between them, trying to speed away, only for one to catch his leg, encasing it in completely. As he slows, another catches his hammer, freezing it solid, and a third collides with his shoulder.
Weighed down and chilled, his speed drops to a crawl. Slow enough for MetalGarurumon to line up a finishing blow.
Yamato funnels energy into MetalGarurumon, channeling his Crest energies through the Digimon, as he gathers energy in his jaws and aims it at Pinocchimon.
“Cocytus Breath.”
A blast of cold freezes Pinocchimon completely, inside and out. Yamato watches as he drops out of the sky, landing against one of the cliffs and shattering.
Beneath them, WarGreymon slams MetalSeadramon onto land, gathering a fireball between his claws.
“Gaia Force!”
The fireball slams into MetalSeadramon, engulfing it in flames, and Yamato hears a split-second roar before he scatters into data.
Two Dark Masters down. One more to -- …
A wave of exhaustion hits Yamato like a tsunami, settling into his bones with such force that for a few seconds he thinks he’s going to pass out right there.
Right. It’s been months since I last channeled my Crest’s full power. I’m out of practice.
“We need to land,” he murmurs, but MetalGarurumon must be feeling just as tired, because he’s already floating down, engines disengaging as he lands on the shoreline next to WarGreymon and Taichi.
Yamato has just enough time to climb off him before the power of his Crest gives out, and MetalGarurumon shrinks back down to Tsunomon in a flicker of data. WarGreymon is quick to follow, his body dissolving into data cubes, leaving Koromon behind.
Without the strain of using his Crest, Yamato finds his feet, getting his legs under him and blinking away the blurriness in his vision. For a second, he wonders if he’s lost his powers again, but no, no, the Crest pendant is still burning cold against his chest. They’re back for good.
“We need to find Sora and the others,” he says, scooping up Tsunomon in his arms.
Taichi gives him a short nod. “Let’s go.”