Chapter 11
#11 of Next Generation- The Digivolution Saga
And with this we come to the end of the completed chapters. If enough people like this, I'll try to continue it. I sort of remember where I was going with the next chapter, so I should be able to pull it off should the masses request thus.
An old friend, a new place, and a strange enemy!
The eyeball flapped wearily as it entered the humungous hall. It had taken the strange creature three days to reach this place, as it had somehow lost control of its path when the light had shifted, bending strangely just after it had entered that night. But it was here now, and that was good. It landed in the clawed hand, folding its wings around its body, shivering slightly before sinking into the open palm.
"Interesting," the hand's owner chuckled, "Very interesting indeed..."
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"I can see it!" Mary shouted as the two Riders raced alongside each other.
"This layer's Citadel station," Argon called above the hum of the two vehicles, holding out his arm in the direction of an impressive looking building, much like a huge church, with a thick beam of familiar purple light erupting up from its centre.
Craig laughed as Karen oohed and aahed at the beam, which they had actually only been able to see the top of recently, disappearing into the sky. But now it was fully visible to them, as was the mysterious Citadel station they had heard so much of, but knew almost nothing about.
"We finally see our enemies true face, huh?" Craig muttered to himself as the three girls on his Rider all stared past him, chatting excitedly, "Well, it certainly looks impressive."
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"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" The young digimon muttered under his breath as he read and reread the report he had written, "This is not good! How are we supposed to regulate the Data Beam when we keep getting all these weird readings?"
The boy hurried through the halls quickly, dodging expertly around other digimon as he continued to read, checking the graphs against a small screen he held in his other hand. He glanced up every now and again to check where he was, before looking back down to continue reading and checking, muttering more curses under his breath as he went. As he was reaching the end of the report, he glanced up again to check his location, and nearly dropped the carefully ordered papers as he realised he had just passed his destination. Blinking in surprise, he quickly shuffled the stack of papers neatly, before straightening his white robe and rich purple sash. He smiled at the piece of fine fabric, showing that he, despite being so young, was a Regulator, a position that was revered among those in his field.
Taking a deep breath, he walked confidently up to the large gilded doors and knocked, before opening them and hurrying into the room.
"Vice Commander! I have something of extreme importance to...show...you..." he trailed off as he stared at the group who was gathered in the vice Commander's office, all of whom were now looking at him intently, "Uh...I...sorry, I'll come back later!"
He turned swiftly, nearly running to the door as he gripped the papers tightly, freezing when the vice Commander called him back.
"Ashrith, you need not hurry off, I had just finished talking to our Commander's...guests," the tall Archengelwomon said calmly, beckoning to him, "You may speak once they have left."
The teen nodded obediently, hurrying off to stand to one side as the vice Commander turned to a tall White Sharamon, who was lounging on one of the high backed chairs and seemed to be the leader of this strange group. Ashrith stared in awe as his evolution form stood, watching in fascination as the vice Commander shook his hand, then said goodbye, visibly relaxing as the group left.
"Vice Commander! There were Impure with them!" Ashrith hissed as he hurried to the large desk, placing the report carefully in front of the tired looking woman.
"I am aware of that, Ashrith," She sighed, rubbing her eyes as she leant forwards, "What is that man doing? Even if they are Digi-destined..."
"Digi-destined?!" Ashrith interrupted, "If they're Digi-destined, that may explain the strange energy patterns we've been seeing in the Data Beam!"
"Show me, Ashrith," the vice Commander ordered, spreading the report out on the desk as the young white feline began to talk excitedly.
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"Wow, what a stuck up woman," Mary huffed, jumping playfully onto Annalla's back, making the angel squeak in surprise, "She tried to not even look at us, let alone speak to us!"
"Tell me about it," Craig sighed, stretching his shoulders and arms, "The number of times I nearly hit her for calling you guys "Impures"...dammit, it made my shoulders all tense!"
"She...well, we are not used to having...uh...others, in the Station," Argon explained, catching himself before he said 'Impure', "So it may be difficult for other agents to speak to you. In the mean time, I think it is best if all of you, regardless of appearance, were to stay in your rooms until the Commander returns."
"Yeah," Craig laughed, patting the canine on his back, "That sounds like a good idea to me to!"
The group hurried down the hallway of the church like building, heading towards the guest area. A silent figure watched them from a balustrade, his hand gripped tightly around the hilt of his sword, his bright white armour seeming to shine slightly even indoors.
"What has happened to you, Argon?" the Citadel Knight growled, clenching his teeth tightly.
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Craig sighed happily as he lay on the bed, the girls having gone with another nervous looking 'squire', as Argon had called her, to the baths. Craig glanced over at Argon, watching the white dog digimon as he cleaned his new sword, occasionally running a piece of stone over it, making a slight grating noise.
"Hey, is that sword a digi-quip?"
Argon jumped when Craig spoke, looking at the human-digimon hybrid in surprise, "Yes, though it is only a basic one, it has no elemental effects, and can only be used to channel an attack..."
"And that armour? Was that a kind of digi-quip too?" Craig continued, smiling slightly as Argon chuckled.
"Do you really not know this? Why not check that contraption on your wrist?" he asked, apparently amused by Craig's lack of knowledge.
"It's only got the basics on it, I have to learn more for it to, like, update, I guess." Craig sighed, pulling up a holo-screen on the watch, scrolling through the data entries he had available, "I also gain a little knowledge from each of my absorbed enemies, so I guess I have a few tit-bits I've yet to read."
"But not much on digi-quips?" Argon asked, walking over and looking at the page of writing as it scrolled slowly across the screen, "Very well, I shall teach you some more on the subject, but first I believe we should bathe."
"Right you are," Craig chuckled, "Don't need to be stinking out the girls when they come back all shiny and clean!"
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"Argon? Not only talking to outsiders so freely, but Impure beings as well?" the female digimon asked, tears welling up in her eyes, "No! That can't be true!"
"There were females in the group as well, Lerranna," the White Canimon growled, "I never thought my brother would stoop so low! I am shamed by his actions."
"But we don't know why he brought them," the third member of their group sighed, "I've been hearing rumours that they are guests of the Station Commander! If we attack them, we could face a court marshal, or worse!"
"Selinta, I pity your breeds fear," the dog barked, as the feline hissed at him, making her fur stand on end, "I shall cleanse our Station of their taint, and I shall be rewarded for it!"
"Shadow Wind Scythe, Pierce."
"What was that?" Selinta hissed, leaping back in fear.
"He intends to attack!" The Canimon shouted, barely able to draw his sword as the elemental scythe exploded through the wall just in front of him, blasting a wide hole into the hallway.
"Sup." Craig said as he leapt through the hole, slamming his fist into the Canimon's stomach as the surprised digimon collapsed, gasping for air as Craig tapped something on the digivice's holo-screen.
Tendrils of darkness shot out of the watch and wrapped themselves around the three digimon. The Canimon managed to swear as he was suddenly picked up and slammed into the opposite wall, the structure crumbling around him as he was dropped to the floor, the two females being gently lifted and placed on top of him. They stared at the feline holding the crackling staff, a look of annoyance on his face.
"Seriously, if you're going to talk that loudly in the room next door to me, you might as well fall on your own swords to save me the trouble," he growled, suddenly throwing the two females through the hole and dropping them into the water of the large public style bath house, "As for you two, I suggest you leave so I can rip this guy into little pieces without mentally scarring you."
"I think I may already be scarred," Selinta giggled, glancing down at Craig's bare crotch, the boy seemingly unfazed by her staring.
"Unhand me you foul creature!" the Canimon shouted, struggling against the dark tendrils, "Release me so that I may impart holy judgement upon th-aargh!"
Craig tossed the dog across the room with a flick of his wrist, slamming him into the far wall. Watching as the stunned knight clambered to his feet, he smiled evilly. "True Form."
The grey light of the digivice flooded over him, changing his fur colour back to its usual dark grey, before shadowy tendrils snaked around his body, forming the thick black cloak which covered his body. With a sweep of his arm, Craig tossed the cloak over his shoulders as he crouched low to the ground, the elemental scythe held out behind him.
"You wish to fight?" he chuckled, his black armour now clearly visible, "Then come at me, Child!"
The White Canimon gave a roar as he charged at the feline, his sword held high above his head.
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"You destroyed the male bath house..." Namico stared at Craig as he grinned foolishly, eating an apple at the same time, "Completely annihilated it... you are an idiot."
"But I'm your idiot," he chuckled, tossing an apple to Argon as he walked in, a look of embarrassment on his face, "And don't worry about apologising on behalf of your brother, Argon, I get that he thought we'd corrupted you or something."
"I...uh...thank you," he managed as he watched Karen jump into Craig's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him passionately, making the white dog blush.
"Heh," a quiet laugh from one corner of the room drew his attention as he looked at Selinta, sitting on the floor in one corner of the room, "I wouldn't blame you if you had though, Argon, these guys are really something!"
"Selinta! Shush!" Lerranna scolded, "We're supposed to be on guard duty!"
"Oh blah, blah, blah Lerra, these guys are pretty relaxed," the feline laughed, "I doubt they'll do anything unless we actually attack first!"
"Still...," the canine blushed as she glanced at Argon.
"Still nothing, yah big girl! You and your stupid crush trying to impress Argon!" Selinta laughed as both canines went bright red, Argon immediately moving to the opposite side of the room as Lerranna stood up straight, "Hah, like little kids."
"Not that you're helping them," Craig said, throwing his apple core against the side of her helmet, "And you could at least quit fooling around and act a little more professional."
"Oh, I can think of a way to be more professional for you," she sniggered as she stood up, yelping as she dropped her spear, "Ow, what in the Sovereign?"
"My man, lady," Namico growled, sitting next to Karen in Craig's lap, "And don't forget that all that metal makes you pretty good lightning conductor."
Sparks jumped across Namico's fur as she said this, an evil glint in her eyes. She didn't have time to threaten the other white feline again as the building suddenly shook, the two guards staring at each other in surprise as a large crack suddenly snuck along the floor between them.
"What the hell?" Craig said as he jumped out of his seat, a piece of ceiling bouncing off his head.
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"What is it?!" the archenglewomon stuttered as she stared out from the Station's roof, the strange silver box suddenly shifting as it unfolded into a vaguely humanoid shape.
The F-1ND3R mark 8 scanned the surrounding area briefly before it focussed it's sensors on the large building in front of it, the information it had recently received stating that its target was currently being held inside the structure. Scanning through the thick walls, the F-1ND3R searched for the specific data-signature, taking note of the other signatures surrounding it as it found the target. This was the third layer it had visited, and it had experienced hostility on each of the two previous layers, the data of its deleted attackers currently stored in a special containment vessel built into the machine's main body. It now gathered a section of this data, ordering it so as to create a specialised program for its own purposes. Taking aim, it prepared to fire.
The Angelic Digimon watched in horror as the strange creature suddenly went rigid, it's chest swinging open as two prongs, with what looked like data swirling between them, extended out of the hole. She screamed when the data suddenly rippled, then launched off of the prongs, slamming into the side of the Station, making the entire building rock violently beneath them.
"Damage report!" she yelled, staring at the terrified soldiers as they scrambled desperately across the roof, trying to set up the specialised cannons they had just for such attacks. Getting back to her feet, the Archenglewomon grabbed one of the scrambling knight's by his canine ear, screaming at him to make sure he could hear over the ruckus happening around them, "Get me a damage report on the Station, and a status report on the "Guests", now!"
The Canimon nodded wildly, tearing away from her the second she released him, disappearing into the Station as he dragged a fellow knight behind him. Sighing, the Vice Commander turned to inspect their strange new enemy, smiling when she heard a triumphant shout.
"Fire at will!" she roared as the three elemental blasts fired one after the other.
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"Shatter!"
Craig coughed as the ceiling that had been caving in on him mere moments before suddenly turned to dust, settling heavily over him as the group tried to escape the crumbling building.
"What happened to this place?" he yelled at Argon, who was swearing at the large pile of rubble blocking their path.
"I don't know!" he replied, "Wait! Go through there!"
The group squeezed themselves through a crack in one of the walls which was just wide enough to accommodate them, gasping as the fell into the dusty room on the other side, several rows of shelves laden with strangely shaped objects. Picking one up, Craig swore when the Digi-quip suddenly activated, dark grey designs glowing along the length of the bow as a thin string formed out of black smoke.
"The hell?" Craig coughed, waving away the dust that fell from the item.
"This must be the Forbidden Armoury!" Lerranna gasped, picking up a short black tube, a rope of fire suddenly erupting from the end as she shrieked, dropping the elemental whip in surprise as she suddenly clung to Argon's chest, sobbing slightly, "All these 'Quip are Impure! I have tainted myself by using one!"
"This room is filled with Digi-quip?" Craig said slowly, a wide smile creeping over his face as he held out his left wrist, "Digivice, Mass Storage!"
The group stared at the black and grey watch as it remained silent, Craig shaking his extended arm slightly as he repeated himself, "Hey! Digivie, Mass Stor-woah!"
Both he and Mary gasped when their 'vices suddenly lit up, a single beam from each shooting up and joining just below the roof, a large holo-screen forming at the connection. The screen remained blank for a short time, then words started scrolling across it as a thin stream of light rotated around the room, absorbing every piece of digi-quip from the shelves, before quickly being replaced by a progress bar as the two Tamers stared at each other in shock.
"What the hell does "Digi-quip Synthesis" mean?" Mary asked, watching as the smiled reappeared on Craig's face, this time stretching even wider than before.
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The Archenglewomon stared at the strange opponent as the smoke cleared, the elemental blasts they had been raining down on it having no effect as it slowly advanced on the Citadel station. She gave a weak sob as she collapsed on the roof, cursing her Commander for his absence. A strange prickling sensation suddenly covered her skin as she looked up, staring at the dark figure looming over her, a longbow held in his hand as he drew back the strangely shimmering string, an arrow of pulsating energy poised directly above her.
"Fluctuation Arrow," he said, releasing the attack as the air around them rippled.