Old Ones Return (VII)

Presumably Taiyo and Taomon Biomerge as well as Hideki and Cyberdramon. Sakuyamon sics fox spirits on the Gizumon while Justimon shoots them with their shooty arm that I forgot the name of.

*Kylie and Lyra both biomerge with their partners, then Dianamon begins to fire arrows at the Gizumons' eye things, and Crusadermon uses Laser Lattice to create a net to hold the Gizumon down while the others fire on them*
===
*Karatenmon turns around and uses Feather Flare and MetalGarurumon's Blaster on Imperialdramon before its armor reforms completely*

*The combined Mega-level attacks manage to destroy the Gizumon, but Chaos begins to flow down the chasm. Not wanting to stay there, Plesiomon picks up Monitamon, sets it on her back, & begins to fly out.*

<"He must know where we are. But at least his attacks seem to be weakening. The army must be fending him off.">

Mrs. A<Honey...>

<"Can't talk. Busy.">
==================================
*That's just barely enough to destroy it, though he can already see the data flowing in the direction of the nearest data stream--eventually, Kurata will retrieve it. Apparently not liking her change in fortune, Megidramon flies off.*

Th"...You're the reason he can't Digivolve, you know."

*Euryale looks around, surprise turning to anger.*

E"What was that?"

Th"It's true. You have to recognize that we're both dead weight right now, & we need to fix that. In your case, whatever problems or worries you have, you need to put them aside for now. It is your strength that is needed, not your emotions."

*Mr Sorenson looks at Tsuna's parents*

Mr. Sorenson:<We need to let the kids work right now. They know what they're doing.>
---
*Dianamon takes off after Plesiomon. Crusadermon follows*
===
*Karatenmon again flies off towards Ceresmon*

Cameron:<That's not to say your emotions aren't important. It's just...we need to make them productive.>

The non-Biomerged Digimon scoop their partners up and fly off with the others.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Th"No, they really don't matter."

E"Fuck you."

*Thiera grimaces.*

Th"You see? In the old days, you would have said something like 'you're looking at me, but you're really saying that to yourself.'"

*Euryale looks away.*

Th"You've lost your force of will. You're a shell of who you once were."

*Euryale balls her fists, teary-eyed, but instead of looking up, shouts at the ground.*

E"Yes, we get it! I suck! What do you want me to do about it?!"

*Ceresmon Medium places a hand on Euryale's back, frowning at her sympathetically.*
===========================================
Mrs. A<But--but they're only children!>

Mr. A<We can't make them fight for us while we just--just sit around doing nothing!>

*They emerge to find that, by this point, the boar has left the Chessmon lying broken & defeated on the scorched earth, having swollen to several times its original size, to the point where it's merged with the remaining D-Reaper Agents & is now wrestling Ebonwumon, the agents copying the attacks of anyone who tries to help. Being continually burnt by the chaos & unable to attack due to the agents & not wanting to get its faces burnt off, Ebonwumon is beginning to falter. Zuquaiomon is unable to help, as it is presently stuck to the ground via thick tar.*

Mr. Sorenson:<The only thing we can do to help them is not get captured by Kurata. And send them our love and support, of course.>
---
Dianamon:<We have to take out the pig and unstick Zuquaiomon! If we can digivolve to burst mode, we should be able to get him unstuck!>

*Dianamon flies over to Zuquaiomon, then attempts to shift into burst mode. Assuming that is successful, she starts to freeze the tar so that he can escape. Crusadermon teleports behind the pig and uses Spiral Masquerade on it*

Angewomon, MagnaAngemon, and Sakuyamon launch attacks at the pig while Justimon hacks away at the tar.

Mr. A<That isn't good enough!>

Mr. R<Hey, at least you know where in this warzone your little girl is! For all we know, Euryale could be....>

*He trails off & looks guiltily at his now-sobbing-into-her-hands wife, whom the Psyches step forward to console. As they Digimon have been running on almost empty, sustained by timely energy-donating abilities for a while now, Crescemon falls out of Burst Mode soon after freeing Zuuquaiomon, who swoops around, trying to cut off as many D-Reaper agents as possible. Having both not read the post & forgotten what the D-Reaper "spy" agents do, Harley's characters have their attacks copied & fired back at them. Because Spiral Masquerade is a melee attack, Crusadermon cuts off some of the D-Reaper Agents before they surround him & replicate the attack. Ebonwumon is blasted in his right face by a kind of burning wheel from the pig's mouth, & that head is knocked out, along with the opposite side of his body.*
=====================================
Th"If you're not going to go down and take control of the situation, you should just go home! Anyone without a Digivolving partner is worse than useless here! We're in the way, and you just know Kurata is going to attack us!"

E"I...I can't do that either. How could I handle the guilt if I just left everyone here? If they died instead of me?"

Th"You're going to have to pick one. We don't have time to waste arguing here, and if you don't go down there now, I'm dragging you back to the human world the first chance I get."

*Bancho Leomon stops staring at where Saber Leomon disappeared to, and turns to Karatenmon.*

Bancho<She is right. Should you still be able to fight, I humbly request that you come with me to repel the reborn Vikaralamon.>

*Karatenmon dips his head*

<I am still able to fight. Should I take Cameron with me?>

*Speaking of Cameron, he just stands there awkwardly*
===
*Dianamon flies up and starts to hack at the agents with her scythe. Crusadermon teleports behind the agents attempting to copy them, and repeats the same thing again*
---
Mr. Sorenson:<Well then I would start my trying to find a 'Mon of your own so you can become a robot or a flying dinosaur or something.>

*Mrs Sorenson pats him on the shoulder*

They move to evade, Sakuyamon moving in close to brain the Agents with their staff.

Bancho<That shouldn't be necessary.>

*Agumon walks up to Euryale, taking her hand in his claw.*

A<You don't have to know where you're going, you know. You just have to take the step. Once you can't go back, you'll just have to go forward.>

E"But what if I just wind up relying on everyone else to save me?"

A<We both know you're too afraid we'll fail to let that happen.>

E"I guess that's true...not exactly the most inspiring pep talk, though."

A<Let's just take the plunge.>

*Euryale nods & then they take a running leap off of Ceresmon like crazy people. As they hurtle towards the ground, Euryale screams & Agumon is consumed by the Light of Digivolution. When the egg bursts, Metal Greymon takes flight alongside Azulongmon, & they fire their attacks on Vikaralamon. Bancho Leomon jumps onto Azulongmon's back & joins in with a Fist of the Beast King.*

Azulong<It's a start.>
=======================================
*With all of the agents peeled away, Vikaralamon does an about face, spitting chaos-infused tar at the Digimon attacking him & opening his mouth in a last-ditch effort to destroy them by devouring them. Zuquaiomon flies out of the way, pelting him with fireballs, as lightning, a glowing lion head, & missiles come at him from the other direction.*

*Karatenmon grabs Thiera and Cameron, then uses adds in Feather Flare and MetalGarurumon's blaster to the other attacks*
===
*Dianamon and Crusadermon also fly out of the way, Dianamon adding in her arrows and Crusadermon using Fist of Fear as long as they can pull it off without getting hit by the other attacks*

They all move to avoid that nonsense, blasting the Deva with ranged attacks of sorts.

*The Deva finally bursts into a cloud of data that flies up into the sky.*

Ts"Ugh, what's the damn point if Kurata just recollects the data & makes the stupid thing stronger? The others said they were going to find out how to store it, why aren't they back yet?!"

*And so the ground shakes as the 3 wounded Sovereign plow into it, eyes half-closed while the dust settles around them. Metal Greymon lands nearby soon after.*

Mr. R<Euryale!>

Mrs. R<You're okay!>

Psyches<Where is Thiera?!>

*Karatenmon lands nearby, placing Cameron and Thiera on the ground*

Karatenmon:<Don't worry, I've got her!>

Mrs. Kornel:<Lyra, are you...?>

*Crusadermon dips their head slightly, but says nothing*

Sakuyamon flies towards MetalGreymon, specifically wherever Euryale would be as she would be close by.

*It was mentioned that Euryale is riding on Metal Greymon, though when she sees Sakuyamon coming, she looks away. Meanwhile, Thiera walks up to the Monitamon.*

Th"I will get straight to the point: There is a line of code in the old D-Reaper data that lets it know not to attack itself. Do you have that data?"

Yamaki<Yes, we retrieved an archived script while studying the D-Reaper during its invasion of Shinjuku, which we made sure to take with us when we left Hypnos. As that program is less complex than a calculator, we should be able to isolate the recognition code within an hour.>

*Meanwhile, Plesiomon regresses.*

G<So...why didn't you do that before?>

Yamaki<We've been examining the data whenever not trying to communicate with you or develop new defenses for our network, but understand, we had no idea what weaknesses to test it for. And for all we knew, Kurata may have written the code to hybridize Digimon & D-Reaper data himself.>

Sakuyamon lands on MetalGreymon and regresses, Taiyo throwing herself at Euryale.

Taiyo: "Are you okay?"

*Everyone also regresses back to rookie*

Cameron:<Well, that's some much needed good news. I guess.>

*They would probably topple off of the cyborg dinosaur--which is incidentally scaring the shit out of the parents--if it didn't reach up & steady them. Euryale looks up at Taiyo with a nervous grin & a quaver in her voice.*

E"Yeah. Of course. You?"

Th"Now that we have that taken care of, I have one other thing to ask: Would it be possible for you to arrange a passage from the Digital World?"

Yamaki<Well...I thought you may ask that. Our current technology is nowhere near what we had at our disposal during the D-Reaper Crisis, but with the assistance of a Digimon experienced in moving between worlds, and a day or so to prepare, we may be able to do it.>

Ts"Hey, what's this about? You're not planning to go after Kurata already, are you?! No way in Hell are we ready for that!"

Mr. A<Young lady, language!>

Th"No. You are correct, and one of the things you need to do to prepare is to shed any dead weight."

Taiyo: "Uh-huh. Especially since you are."

Kinda.

Cameron:<What are you talking about? You're the furthest thing from dead weight.>

*He gestures at himself with his thumb*

<Biyomon and I can protect you. We all can.>

E"Yeah...right...guess it's a good thing you didn't need me...."

*Euryale stares hard into MetalGreymon's skullcap as Thiera looks at the others out of the corners of her eyes, which are cold & unfocused.*

Th"That is the exact definition of dead weight. You think for a second Kurata won't take advantage of that attitude? He already got rid of one of you by relying on her to act as a shield, we can't afford to keep giving him what he wants."

*So she looks back to the Monitamon.*

Th"I will not change my mind. I am leaving as soon as possible. I can join Mr. Yamaki, Mrs. Ohtori, & Ms. Onodera in advising you. If you need assistance contacting us, you have Monitamon, Datamon, & Vademon. Probably others, too."

Ts"If Vademon & Datamon are even still alive."

G<Don't say that!>

Ts"Well, Kurata did just drop a nuke on the pirates, & I really doubt that underwater bubble will hold forever."

*The parents are, of course, totally lost. Calamon is totally oblivious to all of this, having apparently decided to chase something in the background that might actually be imaginary. Meanwhile, a Marine Angemon tends to the wounded.*

Cameron:<No, Thiera! I...>

*Biyomon tugs on Cameron's arm, interrupting him*

Biyomon:<It's her choice. She'll be safer with her parents, you know that. You're just being selfish.>

*Cameron crosses his arms and glares at Biyomon. Lyra takes a few steps towards Thiera, then stops and looks away. Kylie and Lunamon sit nearby, just watching*