EPISODE 31 - ACE IN THE HOLE
The group moved toward the edge of the city with surprising speed and agreement. The Digimon who were suited to carrying their partners in their champion forms had evolved to do so, to cover as much ground as quickly as possible and to be ready just in case something happened. They might have been overreacting, but it was better to be safe than sorry, right?
And anyway, something told Damien that they were going to need it.
He sat behind Moxie on Pop’s back, Bumble clinging onto his own back. He could fly, yes, but he wasn’t nearly as fast as Pop when she was in this form. He’d offered to evolve and carry Damien, but he hadn’t really wanted to fuck around with “travel by giant wasp” when he hadn’t done so ever before. As such, the four of them were flying just behind Dare, staying low enough to be close with the others on the ground and weaving between the buildings that rose into the air before them.
Damien chanced a look down at the ground, ignoring the vertigo that whirled in his stomach as he did so. Other Digimon, looking confused or worried or both, were passing them in the street, with some looking out toward where the light had shone in the distance and others quickly moving away from it.
The group of humans and their partners were the only ones heading toward it.
Eventually they broke out of the city and into the forest, now having to fight their way through trees and underbrush rather than buildings and passerby. They picked up the pace, the Digimon below breaking into full-on runs and Pop and Dare beating their wings more fiercely to accelerate. The tree cover made it difficult to catch sight of the ground-bound Digimon, but they caught flashes of white and orange and yellow every now and then, enough to keep an easy pace with them.
Castor, at the front of the group down below, called out directions to the Digimon following him every now and then when needed, with Moxie’s digivice open to a call with Alex and Ryan’s so those in the sky could listen in as well. Aside from that, they didn’t speak much, a sort of grim quiet hanging over them all.
They didn’t know what they were heading toward. They didn’t know what could have possibly managed to split the sky with light and steal the breath from their chests. It could have been nothing. It could have been some sort of energy burst. But Damien didn’t think it was, and he got the feeling that nobody else did either.
As they flew, the dark gray clouds above them began to shift, and Damien’s heart skipped a beat as he prepared for another tearing of his lungs and flash of faux-lightning, but neither came. Somehow, that still wasn’t much comfort.
“Hey, I think I see something,” came Dare’s voice from up ahead, echoed a split second later by Moxie’s digivice, and Damien blinked. He peeked around Moxie to catch sight of Dare, seeing her ears pricked and Ryan leaning forward on her back, Miguel and Flip clinging tightly behind him. “Looks like a weird glitchy thing in a clearing up ahead. I’m gonna alter course. Heading slightly to the left. Dunno what cardinal direction that is.”
“Got it,” Alex said from Moxie’s digivice. “We’ll match your direction. When we reach it you should land so we can reconvene.”
“Roger,” Dare said, the digivice echo louder than her actual voice. “See you there.”
Damien frowned, looking out at where Dare had been looking, and caught sight of the clearing she’d pointed out. She was right - on the far side from them (maybe? It was hard to tell from this distance) was a strange distortion, looking almost like some sort of glitching-out filter had been placed in front of the trees and grass. It could have been a trick of the light - the clouds above had not let up, casting the world around them into further darkness as night quickly approached - but if Dare had also seen it…
Also not comforting.
Damien grit his teeth, looking between the clearing and Dare and the trees below a couple times before he shook his head in resignation. Fuck it.
“We need some sort of plan,” he said, speaking loud enough so Moxie’s digivice could pick up his voice, and Moxie - sensing his desire to speak, or maybe it was just that she didn’t want him yelling at her back - handed it back to him. “For when we get there. I don’t know what the fuck it is but I don’t think it’ll be anything good.”
“You’re not the only one,” Ryan grumbled. “Alex, have the others join so they can hear this too.”
“On it.” A few moments later, the familiar pings of new digivices joining the call rang out - Harmony and Ezra. “So does anyone have a plan?”
“I have a weak one,” Damien said, feeling something sting the back of his throat as he admitted it aloud. “Obviously if we end up fighting anything we should give it our all. If the Digimon need to evolve to ultimate -” (if they’re able to) “- then they should take turns. Half on, half off, that sort of thing. So they can conserve their energy.”
“So half of us in ultimate, half in champion,” Castor said, “and then if someone in ultimate starts to wear out, someone in champion takes their place?”
“Something like that,” Damien said, nodding even though he knew Castor couldn’t see it.
“Might be a bit tricky,” Dare said. “What with not ever having evolved to ultimate all together before.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Damien hissed, unable to resist. “That’s why I said it’s a weak plan. Sure, maybe we won’t need to evolve to ultimate. Maybe we won’t need to fight anything at all. But I think we all know that that’s not likely.”
The call was silent for a moment, the only sound filling the air being the flapping of Dare and Pop’s wings and the beating of Damien’s own heart. He ground his teeth again and ran a hand through his hair. He hadn’t meant to snap, really, but - but we’re all heading toward something we don’t know anything about, and we don’t know how we’ll have to deal with it, or if we’ll even be able to -
“And what happens,” Anna finally said, her voice faint, “if that’s still not enough?”
The line fell quiet again, something heavy hanging over their heads. It was longer this time. More potent.
Eventually Castor broke the silence. “Then we run.”
There wasn’t any arguing with that. If whatever they ended up facing became too much for them… they just had to make a break for it. They had to save themselves, right? Save their partners?
Save the world?
They continued forward, the conversation dying out of them. They’d made their plan. It wasn’t a good one, but it was still a plan, and that was all they could ask for. It was better than going in blind, than rushing into it without thinking it over. The air was thick with dread and fear, and even Damien felt it. He didn’t know why.
It could be nothing. A false alarm. Just a simple glitch in the Digital World.
But it’s not.
They reached the clearing quicker than Damien would have liked them to, with Dare and Pop descending to land beside the rest of the Digimon as the humans dismounted. The remaining rookie Digimon stretched and shook themselves out before evolving to champion, flooding the area in bright multicolored light for a split second. Damien reached a hand up to pat Bumble’s shoulder, and his partner dipped his head toward him.
That glitchy something was still there, hanging in the center of the football-field sized clearing, and they stayed as far away from it as they could. They hung back within the trees, not wanting to make their presence more obvious than it already was, but… aside from the weird distortion, they were alone. They couldn’t see or hear any other Digimon nearby, and the Digimon with more acutely tuned noses confirmed there were no strange scents in the air either.
But the strange sensation, the one that had preceded the rumbling noise and the constricting of their chests, was still there, twisting around them and quickening their heartbeats. They didn’t know what they were waiting for, or if they were waiting for anything at all. They didn’t know what they were about to face. They didn’t know any of it.
Damien tried to ignore just how terrified he was.
And then he felt it again, the crushing of the air around him, and he sucked a breath in moments before it was torn out of him. Around him, the other humans and Digimon had similar reactions, coughing and gasping for air as the pressure increased and choked the oxygen out of them. It was ten times worse this time, for what reason he didn’t know, but he closed his eyes and held his breath until it was over.
And when he opened them again, something was there in front of him.
The group instantly snapped to attention, the Digimon moving to stand in front of or next to their partners, creeping out of the trees into the clearing. The thing they faced was in the center of the clearing, right where the glitchy spot had been - which, Damien realized, was gone. The trees it had been in front of were solid and correctly aligned now, with barely so much as a leaf out of place.
But that was far from the forefront of their concerns.
It - the thing - the Digimon - was tall and humanoid, pitch-black armor covering its body, adorned with rows of teeth in various locations and a large red gem on its chest. The pauldrons on its shoulders looked like heads of their own, with no visible eyes but large mouths of those same teeth circling the jaws. A bony tail ending in a wickedly sharp blade lashed back and forth behind it, and it clenched its golden claws, some nonexistent light reflecting off the gold horns on its helmet.
It looked like it had wings at first, deep black in color and shaped like a bat (or demon)’s wings, but upon closer inspection, they weren’t wings at all, merely a long, flowing cape shaped as such. They flexed and fluttered, acting like one and the other and both and neither all at the same time.
And when the Digimon looked down at the group, some unreadable expression upon its face, the most frightening thing of all became immediately apparent: its eyes were not white, but a striking, piercing gold that for some reason felt strangely familiar to Damien, as well as the rest of the group, he knew.
The Digimon stared down at them for a few more agonizingly long seconds, the only movement being the ruffling of its wings and the swaying of the trees behind it. Neither side wanted to be the first to move. Damien didn’t dare look away from it. Though it stared at the dead center of the group, where Alex and Castor stood, Damien couldn’t help but feel as if it was looking at him and Bumble and the rest of the others at the same exact time. It was unsettling, the feeling of being stared at when its eyes were not on him.
It raised its head and its expression shifted to one of… disgust, almost. Disdain. Contempt.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen humans, I almost forgot how fragile they are,” it said. “I should have shown myself much sooner.”
Its voice was also familiar.
It was the voice that manic Digimon spoke with at times. When it seemed as if they had been taken over by something more than rage. Whenever one of the group called their leader an archangel.
Looking at him now, Damien couldn’t believe they’d ever taken to calling him as such.
Almost without thinking, he dug his digivice out of his pocket and aimed it at the Digimon. He noticed it instantly, his eyes sliding over toward Damien, but did not move.
“…Plutomon,” his digivice said after a moment of hesitance, and Damien furrowed his brow. It wasn’t supposed to hesitate. “Mega level god man Digimon. …It is a dark executioner who hunts the… ones who cannot be punished by light. It attacks… with terror and violence, and governs the realm of the dead. It wanders the world… …and it is said that… it appears wrapped up in a deep darkness.”
Okay, lots of things worrying about that, and not just the whole “attacks with terror and violence” thing. Why the fuck was the digivice pausing? It didn’t sound natural - it sounded like parts of its sentences were being cut out, which, what? What was missing? Also, why did it have three whole sentences about this Digimon? It was only supposed to give one. Was it because it was a mega level? Also also, it was a fucking mega level?
It was quickly becoming apparent that they were in way over their heads.
Out of the corner of his eye, Damien saw someone move, and he pocketed his digivice (I’ll worry about that later) and turned to see Alex - of course it was Alex - stepping forward. His mouth was pulled tight in a frown, and he clenched his fists as he approached the Digimon. To hide that his hands are shaking.
“What do you want?” he called out, staring up at the Digimon - Plutomon - and Plutomon tilted his head.
“That should be obvious enough,” he said, his tail twitching. “What has every other Digimon who’s ever hunted you down wanted?”
To kill them. They knew this.
“And yet we’ve managed to make it this far,” Ryan said, his voice less confident than Damien was used to hearing. He crossed his arms, glaring at Plutomon even as Dare beside him nudged his side lightly. “Your followers aren’t very good at their jobs.”
“I know,” Plutomon said. “I didn’t expect them to be.” (Damien frowned.) “That’s why I’m here. To finish what they could not.”
“What makes you think you’ll be any better than they were?” Ezra said. “It took you this long to finally show your face, and now you’re all confident you’ll be able to kill us when none of the other Digimon we’ve fought have been able to. We’re stronger than you’d think.”
Plutomon’s eyes narrowed. “I know how strong you are. I know how resilient humans are. And I know how easily they can die. In this world, without a partner, they stand no chance.” He looked down at one of his hands, curling his claws into a fist. “And even partners cannot always save them.”
How does he know that?
Plutomon looked back up at the group, his gaze sweeping over all of them. Damien tensed under his scrutiny, trying his best to ignore his quickened heart rate and shallow breaths. Why the fuck was he taking so long? Just talking to them?
This wasn't what I thought we’d have to face. I thought we’d have to fight. I thought we wouldn’t have enough time to prepare. Why isn’t he attacking?
Why aren’t we?
“You are not the first humans in this world,” Plutomon said.
“We know,” Azure said. They lifted their chin and took a step toward Plutomon, but they hesitated as they did so. “Whatever happened to them won’t happen to us. We won’t make those mistakes.”
“That belief,” Plutomon hissed, his tail thrashing, “is exactly what got them killed.”
Miguel balled his hands into fists, his knuckles practically going white as he looked up at Plutomon. “What? What are you talking about?”
Plutomon regarded him with unblinking eyes. “I have seen firsthand the determination of humans. I have seen how deeply they believe they cannot die. And I have watched them die because of that asinine belief. You are no different from them.” He tilted his head to look down at the Digimon, still standing in front of the humans, acting like a shield the best they could. “Even your partners will not be able to save you.”
…Oh.
Oh.
Damien had known for a while, really, just who the archangel they were up against really was - or, at least, who he had once been, a long time ago. The things the manic Digimon said to them, how convinced they were that he knew of humans and partnership and their destiny…
He’d known for a while. He just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it.
Because if he is, then -
It was Anna who finally said it aloud - what they all knew, and what they had known all along.
“You were one of them. One of the partner Digimon.”
Plutomon stared down at her, expression unreadable. “I thought it would have been obvious from the start. But it doesn’t matter now. You figured it out. Just as I figured out I have to take matters into my own hands.”
“Wait, but then - what happened to you?” Harmony called. She frowned up at Plutomon, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Why are you like this?”
“Why do you think?” Plutomon said.
Harmony winced, faltering slightly. “…I don’t know, we haven’t - if you were one of the partners, why do you hate humans so much? You saved the world with one.” She looked over at Ren, placing a hand on her shoulder, and then looked back up at Plutomon. “What happened to your partner?”
“Do not speak of him,” Plutomon snarled.
The transformation was practically instantaneous. One moment he had been speaking cordially (or as cordially as he could) to the group, with only mild annoyance, and mild levels of threat, and then the next it seemed as if he was someone else entirely. His cape flared out, his wings stretching practically the length of the clearing, and, for one short, almost unnoticeable moment, the air around them began to constrict again - but before their breath could be stolen away, it returned to normal.
The same could not be said for Plutomon.
He glowered down at the group, his golden eyes acidic in their anger. It was like a switch had been flipped, and he was now exactly what Damien had thought he would be - a raging storm, filled with hate and fury and the intent to kill.
For another moment, stretching into infinity, he simply glared down at them, his wings blotting out the clouds above and his tail cutting slices in the air behind them. He said nothing. He did not move. The group stood, facing him, waiting for whatever would come next.
And then he attacked.
“
They barely had time to react - and even if they had, it wouldn’t have done much. Plutomon aimed his attack, beams of scarlet energy shooting from the red gems on his chest and palms, directly at the humans, presumably having learned his lesson. The Digimon were caught between rushing toward him to attack back and staying behind to protect their partners, and though their indecision lasted for no less than a second, that was all Plutomon needed.
The beams cut through the air and across the ground, burning away at the grass and foliage they touched (strange; very few Digimon attacks usually did that), and the humans scrambled out of the way. Damien leapt to the side, just barely avoiding one of the lasers, and it shot at the tree behind him, practically snapping the trunk in two. Around and behind the group, more of the forest was left to that same fate, crumbling and burning and withering away as Plutomon’s attack continued.
Cries of pain went up from some of the humans - some of them had not been lucky enough to escape. Damien shoved himself up from where he had landed on the ground, looking around wildly, trying to recognize anyone amongst the chaos. Flashes of white shot his vision and he squeezed his eyes shut, ready for the stealing of his breath, but then he remembered that the white light followed that, and he opened his eyes again to see some of the Digimon - Dare, Flip, Ko, Pop, Bumble - had evolved to ultimate.
It was something, at the very least - but it wasn’t clear yet if it was going to be enough. Plutomon was a mega level - a stage that Damien had rarely ever heard of, and had certainly never expected to face off against.
And if he’s powerful enough to control hundreds, thousands, of Digimon from afar…
He shook his head, rising to his feet unsteadily, reaching out to grab onto a tree for balance. Plutomon’s attack had ended, but he was readying another, unfazed even as several of the Digimon leapt for him.
“
“
“
Plutomon swept Pop aside as she dove down at him, knocking her into Ko and sending the both of them tumbling to the ground. He shot a beam of energy at Dare from his palm to force her backward, not even calling out an attack, and then rounded on Flip and Bumble. “
Along his body, the rows of teeth opened wide, gleaming in the light of Ember’s flames as the lion shot toward him, and then streams of smoky black energy flowed forth, aiming for the Digimon. They wound around them, snaking down their throats, and every Digimon affected froze in place, their eyes and mouths wide, paralyzed.
But there was one Digimon who didn’t have a mouth.
“
Bumble’s blue laser struck Plutomon in the chest, refracting off the gem and into the mouth of one of its shoulder pauldrons. Instantly the mouth snapped shut, and the black energy pulled away as the rest of the jaws followed suit. The Digimon trapped by the attack cried out as the smoke ripped out of their throats, but they shook themselves out and rounded on Plutomon once more.
“
“
“
They were quickly learning that ranged attacks were the way to go with Plutomon, as whenever one of them got too close to him, he would shove them into someone else, knocking the both of them off balance and towards the ground. He knew how to counter their attacks. He knew how to trip them up. He knew how they fought.
Of course he did; he had been watching them fight from the very beginning, through the manic Digimon he controlled.
Damien clenched his teeth.
He couldn’t afford to take his eyes off of Plutomon. The tall Digimon kept turning toward the forest where the humans still hid, even as the partner Digimon tried to lead him away from them. He was more focused on the humans. It made sense. They were who he was after.
Learned his lesson, indeed.
Tearing his gaze away from Plutomon for a second when he was distracted by an attack from Dare, he scanned the forest, looking around for the others. He caught sight of Ryan and Miguel, crouched behind a fallen tree as they watched the battle, and he headed straight for them. They had to regroup and come up with a new plan, because they couldn’t beat Plutomon like this, and they were just going to get themselves killed if they kept this up. He said nothing as he slid in beside Ryan and Miguel, kneeling with one leg up in case he had to run, simply nodded. They returned the acknowledgement, faces grim and fearful.
A cry of “
Damien saw Dare jump into the air and swoop around to Plutomon’s back, her front half erupting in red energy. Beside him, Ryan inhaled sharply as she charged, spreading her wings and practically throwing herself into Plutomon’s back. “
Plutomon was pushed forward less than a foot, and he instantly whirled around to face Dare, eyes ablaze with rage. “
If Damien had not already seen that Plutomon’s mouth could not move, he would have sworn he grinned.
Plutomon whipped around before any of the Digimon making to jump at him could do so, and the energy tore its way out of Dare’s mouth. She screamed, crumpling to the ground, and Ryan grit his teeth so hard that Damien could hear them clicking against each other. He twitched as if preparing to stand up, but Damien - though he understood - reached a hand over to place on his shoulder, pressing down slightly.
Plutomon’s cape flared out behind him, and he raised his face to the sky, holding his hands out above his head. “
But before they could move, in the air above Plutomon’s head, a line of darkness stretched out - and then it opened up to reveal a gargantuan mouth lined with teeth, black energy swirling in the maw. It snarled, stretching itself as wide as it could, and then - like the smoke that came from Plutomon’s own mouths - dark tendrils shot forth, wrapping around the Digimon in front of Plutomon. They cried out, struggling in the attack’s embrace, trying to free themselves -
And then the tendrils pulled them into the mouth, and it snapped shut, strands of smoke spilling between the teeth that stuck out. The only Digimon left were Dare, behind Plutomon, and Bunny, small enough to avoid the attack.
Damien stared, dumbfounded, at the closed mouth.
Just like that, Plutomon had cleared the field of virtually every single one of their partners. They were gone. Just like that.
They can’t be dead. They can’t be. I’d know if they were. I’d feel it, or - or something. Right? I’d know.
Plutomon towered over Bunny, still standing in the grass, and raised a palm toward her.
“No!”
“
Bunny’s attack shot toward Plutomon at the same time as Anna shot toward her partner, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her to the ground to try to get out of the way of Plutomon’s attack - but he didn’t attack. The arrows smashed against his chest, dissipating harmlessly, and though he did not move or even flinch, the mouth in the air above him opened in a flurry of teeth and smoke, and the Digimon within rushed out, spilling onto the ground in front of him. Damien let go of a breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding as he saw Bumble right himself midair, antennae twitching and stinger primed to attack. As they landed, Castor and Ren went up in white light, fading away seconds later to reveal their ultimate forms.
Plutomon drifted backward a few feet, but the partner Digimon were quick, springing to action the moment they realized they were freed.
“
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“
“
Plutomon barely paid any mind to the attacks from the Digimon. It was like they had no effect whatsoever against him. Damien clenched his fists as Plutomon blocked Pop’s attack with an arm, sending the ball of electricity spiraling back toward her, causing her to have to jump out of the way to dodge it.
“
Goddamnit. They had to just bail out, right? There was no way they could win against Plutomon, even if the last few Digimon managed to evolve to ultimate. It was clear that he wasn’t going to stop fighting until either he or they were dead - maybe both. This was what he wanted, after all. To kill the humans. If their partners got caught in the crossfire, that was just collateral damage to him. They always had been, ever since this shitstorm had started three months ago.
He needs to kill us because we’re the only ones capable of stopping him.
But they couldn’t stop him. If this fight was any indication of their capabilities, the only thing it was proving was that he was too strong for them. He was a mega level. Seven ultimates and two champions weren’t enough to match him - even nine ultimates wouldn’t do much better.
But - but they couldn’t just give up. Before they’d come out here, when they hadn’t known what they would find, they’d made the agreement to run if it became too much - but they didn’t know they would end up facing the very Digimon they’d been chasing all along. This was him, the archangel behind everything. The one they needed to stop in order to save the world. This was their destiny - or as close to destiny as it could be.
Do we still run, or do we keep fighting? If we give up now, will we ever be able to defeat him? What if this is our only chance?
Damien hated how powerless he felt. He hadn’t felt like this very often; he always felt like he had at least some semblance of control over situations. Even the fight with Arukenimon just a few weeks ago, and Mephistomon, even more recently - he knew that he would make it out alive, because he had Bumble and Moxie and Pop and even the others with him, and he’d made it this far already, right? He’d make it out alive because he always had.
(Isn’t that exactly what Plutomon said got the other humans killed?)
But this - there was no getting out of this alive without killing Plutomon, and they couldn’t kill him. He was simply too powerful. Even when the ultimates attacked him simultaneously, timing their attacks to hit him all at the exact same time, he barely more than winced, and he was always quick to retaliate with an attack of his own. The only solace was that it seemed his Hell’s Gate attack was more difficult to use than his other two, and he had not summoned it again, but who knew how long that would last?
And even without it, Plutomon’s attacks were stronger than anything they had faced so far. It made sense, considering his level, but - but megas weren’t supposed to be this strong, were they? Enough rookies could hold off a champion, and enough champions could hold off an ultimate, and a large group of ultimates were supposed to be able to at least stand their ground against a mega. They shouldn’t be faring this badly.
And Plutomon was growing impatient, Damien could tell. He kept up with his attacks, and with sending the Digimon crashing into each other whenever he could, and even though the partner Digimon were doing their best to keep him away from the trees where the humans were hiding, he was drifting steadily closer to them. They couldn’t hold him off forever.
They should have seen it coming, really.
With a simple flick of his wrist, Plutomon sent Ko careening toward the ground, landing directly in front of where Pop and Dare were charging their own attacks. They faltered and took a few steps back, and Plutomon - again, without even calling an attack - shot a beam from his palm at the other Digimon circling around them and preparing to lunge.
With no Digimon standing before him, he turned toward the trees.
“
Damien stumbled backward, and around him, he sensed and saw the others do so as well - but they weren’t quick enough. The smoke wound around his body, snaring him in its embrace, and then dove down his throat. He tried to scream, but he couldn’t, paralyzed by the attack and unable to even blink.
It was like nothing he’d ever felt before. It felt like his organs were turning inside out, imploding and exploding and convulsing and pulsating all at once. He could have sworn he felt his heart freeze in his chest, no longer beating and pumping blood through his veins, and a pressure like no other steadily built behind his forehead. His eyes were going to burst out of his skull, his lungs were going to collapse, his heart was going to erupt, and he was going to die.
What a shitty way to die.
“
In a rush, the smoke pulled out of his throat, and Damien gasped for air, keeling over and falling to the ground. The others did as well, not even bothering to move themselves off each other as they collapsed atop one another. With shaking hands, Damien pushed himself up, looking out at Plutomon to see Bumble’s laser aiming directly at one of the mouths on his chest. It was closed, as were the rest of Plutomon’s mouths, and Bumble’s laser faded away seconds later.
At least they had some sort of counter against that attack, but…
In another flash of light, Ember evolved to ultimate, bringing his palms together and gathering flames within them almost before he had fully evolved. “
“There’s no use in trying to save them,” Plutomon said, the first words he’d spoken that weren’t an attack since the battle had begun. “They had their chance at an easy death. They didn’t take it. I will make them suffer for what they have done.”
“
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“
Damien tore his attention away from the fight, focusing on the humans beside him, helping them get to their feet or at least their knees. They were still shaking. So was he. He touched a hand to his throat, gently, as if pressing down any harder would summon the smoke once more.
He still felt it. The attack had left no physical wounds or scars, but it had left a sort of lingering presence. It was - he realized - similar to the distortions in the air that had been happening, only a thousand times worse.
That’s strange.
But he couldn’t focus on that right now. There was a crashing in the trees off to the side, and he was instantly on high alert, turning toward it with a sort of restrained panic flaring in his chest - but then the other three humans emerged, and he and Moxie’s eyes met, and she sprinted toward him, closing the last bit of distance with a jump and throwing her arms around him. She didn’t say anything, and neither did he, simply wrapped her in his own embrace and buried his face in the crook of her neck. She was trembling. He curled his fingers against the small of her back and pulled away, looking around at the others.
The looks on their faces were enough to indicate that they had suffered the same attack from Plutomon. They were all shaking, just as Moxie was, just as Ryan and Miguel and Anna and Alex and Ezra were - just as Damien himself was. They couldn’t focus on that right now. Out in the clearing, Plutomon raised his palms at the partner Digimon, and with a cry of “
Behind him, Damien heard Harmony suck in a pained breath, and whether it was physical or mental pain he wasn’t sure. “I can’t believe eight ultimates still aren’t enough,” she mumbled, placing her palms on her cheeks. “Even if Bunny evolves, they’re still not going to be able to beat him. What the hell are we supposed to do?”
“Mega levels aren’t supposed to be this strong,” Moxie said quietly, wringing her hands out and flinching as Plutomon kicked Pop out of the air, sending her plunging to the ground. “Something’s different about him.”
The Digimon were holding on the best they could. Plutomon kept knocking them down, and they kept getting back up, and they kept attacking him and he kept shrugging it off like it was nothing. They couldn’t keep this up forever. They’d have to figure something else out eventually.
Suddenly Plutomon stilled his movements, drifting backward away from the Digimon, and raised his face and hands to the sky. Damien’s breath hitched and he had to practically dig his heels into the forest floor to keep himself from running forward into the clearing. He knew what Plutomon was doing. He could only hope the Digimon would realize it as well and stop him or get out of the way or do something -
“
“RUN!”
Damien wasn’t sure who shouted it, or even whether it was one of the Digimon or humans - it could have been himself, for all he knew. But whoever it was who said it, everyone in the clearing save for Plutomon took heed of it. The humans took off, staying within the treeline to provide them some sort of protection, and the Digimon in the field made a dash for the opposite side of the clearing, some three hundred feet away.
They weren’t fleeing. They weren’t going to give up just yet.
Maybe that’s a mistake.
But they had to get away from Plutomon’s attack, had to make sure they weren’t swallowed, so that they could protect their partners. The Digimon moved to intercept the humans, grabbing them with far less grace than they usually did and taking off. In Bumble’s arms, Damien chanced a look behind the group, at where Plutomon still hovered not far enough away -
And he was steadily getting closer, the wings of his cape flapping as if he were truly flying as he raced after them. They were almost at the far side of the clearing - what were they supposed to do when they got there? What did they think would happen?
“
Plutomon’s voice interrupted Damien’s train of thought, and the attack interrupted the Digimon’s path. They stumbled to a halt as the beams of light cut in front of them, forcing them backward, and they whirled on their feet or in the air to face Plutomon.
The mouth, shut tight, still hovered in the air above Plutomon’s head, and the Digimon moved to stand between it and the humans. Plutomon raised his hands again, pointing his palms at the Digimon in front of him as black smoke began to spill out of the mouth.
God, this was so fucking stupid. Maybe they really should run. Plutomon couldn’t follow them forever, right? What if they went to the city to get backup? Surely there had to be some Digimon there who could fight, and who would be willing to - right?
Right?
The mouth opened wide, teeth gleaming, and out shot the shadowy tendrils. But the Digimon and humans alike knew what to expect this time. Castor and Ren slashed out at them, severing the trails of smoke in two, while Bunny and Ember shot blasts of ice and fire directly into the mouth. Some of the tendrils continued on, wrapping around Ko and Flip and Dare and yanking them back into the mouth - but none of the humans were caught, and when the mouth shut tight with only three Digimon in its maw, there were enough left behind to turn on Plutomon and unleash an onslaught of attacks.
“
“
“
“
“
“
Pop tossed her ball of energy at Plutomon, arcing through the air, and Bumble’s missiles and rush of air seemed to triple it in size and propel it forward even faster. Castor and Ember moved in, each taking one of Plutomon’s sides, and slashed and kicked out at him with a flurry of red energy and orange flames. Ren’s paper slips rushed toward Plutomon, wrapping around his torso and igniting in blue fire, and Bunny’s swirling orbs of water impacted him in the same spot, causing vaporizing damage where Ren’s flames fizzled out.
Just as before, Plutomon was unperturbed, but the sheer force of the attacks was at least enough to knock him slightly off balance - and it seemed like that was all it took. The mouth opened wide, and out spilled the three Digimon within, who wasted no time in coming back with attacks of their own.
“
But it still wasn’t doing anything.
“I don’t know how much longer I can keep going,” Dare huffed as she rejoined the humans, spreading her wings to shield them from Plutomon while he drifted closer. “He’s not letting up. Our attacks aren’t doing anything, and his are too strong. He’s too strong.”
“This is bullshit,” Castor muttered, flexing his claws and eyeing Plutomon warily. “He shouldn’t be this powerful.”
Plutomon tilted his chin up, staring down at the Digimon with something akin to condescension in his eyes. “I thought your partners were supposed to make you stronger,” he said, practically spitting out the word “partners” as if it were poison. “I suppose not. I don’t need one, after all. Not when I have so many loyal followers willing to give their lives to me.”
Against his better judgment, Damien took a step forward, cupping his hands around his mouth to shout up at Plutomon. “Stop speaking in riddles, asshole!”
He felt a hand tug at the sweater tied around his waist, pulling him back, and he relented, but only because Plutomon was clearly done talking. He raised his hands, aiming them down at the Digimon, and his wings flared out behind him. “
Damien and Ryan, the one who’d grabbed him, stumbled back as Bumble in front of them was knocked aside, and Damien clenched his teeth. The rest of the Digimon reacted in much the same way - that is, by being shoved out of the way and to the ground. The humans continued to back up, gathering together at the treeline and keeping their eyes on the fight to not be caught unawares.
“Followers giving their lives,” Moxie mumbled, speaking quietly enough to only be heard by the humans around her. Damien looked over at her to see her deep in thought, still looking up at Plutomon but her brow creased and chin in her hand. “If he can control Digimon from afar, and them devoting their lives to him strengthens him…” She shook her head, sighing. “I feel like I almost have something, but… we’re missing something. The key to it all.”
“Not really the time,” Alex said from beside her, and as if to prove his point, Plutomon tossed Bunny toward them, sending the humans scattering in opposite directions to avoid being crushed - save for Anna, who rushed toward her partner to help her up, then retreated to rejoin the group.
Plutomon kept attacking, and the Digimon kept fighting back. It was truly a miracle that none of them had devolved yet, even though quite a number of them were slowing in their movements, struggling to gather the energy to attack. For every hit they would land on Plutomon, he’d retaliate with one right back. The most they could manage to do was shove him to the side slightly, only ever enough to disrupt an ongoing attack or draw his attention.
We can’t keep this up forever. Sooner or later we’re going to have to run.
Ember was in the middle of preparing an attack, pulling his hands together and beginning to gather flames in their palms, when Plutomon turned toward him and pointed both of his own hands at him. “
Bunny darted across the clearing, skidding to a stop in front of Ember and lobbing two massive orbs of water up at Plutomon. “
In one final burst of white light, Bunny stood tall as Crescemon, pointing her scythe up at Plutomon. “Your sins weigh heavy on your heart. You will not escape atonement.”
Plutomon dipped his head. “You’re the most annoying of them all.
He was not aiming at the humans this time, but rather Bunny, and Ember, and the few Digimon close enough to them to be caught up in the attack. The shadows pushed themselves down the Digimon’s throats, stopping them in their tracks and leaving their eyes wide. Plutomon raised a hand toward Bumble and shot a beam of light at him without calling an attack, shoving him out of the air before he could react. Bumble was not the only Digimon unaffected by the attack, but they were wearing out, and only Castor managed to retaliate.
“
But they were finally reaching the end of their limit. Dare and Ko, when freed, were consumed in purple and teal light, reverting to their rookie forms. They didn’t have enough time to even get out of the way before Plutomon attacked again. “
He didn’t aim at anyone in particular, simply swept the beams across the clearing and Digimon and humans in front of him. Ember and Flip, the largest Digimon remaining, moved to shield the humans, but they weren’t quick enough. Cries of surprise and pain came up from all around Damien, and then he felt it - a searing, burning sensation stretching from his thigh to his ankle, cutting a clean line straight through his pants. He hissed, falling into a kneel, unable to stand any longer on that leg.
Fucking shit.
It was nowhere near the level of the shadowy energy, but the injury it inflicted left a lasting wound, and even when the attack faded, the pain that wracked his body did not. He shook his head and forced himself back up to his feet, wobbling a little on his bad leg, and Moxie reached out to steady him. They shared a look, and Damien closed his eyes.
“
“
“
Plutomon drifted backward out of range of the attacks, raising an arm and sweeping his tail and wings out to scatter the surrounding Digimon. They fell back, heading to their partners’ sides. Pop hopped toward Moxie, kneeling down next to her, while Bumble flew up higher into the sky above Damien.
Bunny did not move from where she stood, still right up against Plutomon, where she had made her attack from. None of the other Digimon moved toward her; none of them moved from their partner’s sides. They had to be ready in case Plutomon attacked again. Anna was struggling against Ezra’s hold on her, keeping her from running out to Bunny.
Plutomon rolled his shoulders back, lifting his left hand out in front of him. In his palm, something began to glow bright indigo, shining brightly enough to illuminate his face.
Bunny stepped back, raising her shield in front of her, but still she did not move. Plutomon tilted his head, and a breath later, his right hand shot forward and wrapped around Bunny’s body, her shield and axe clattering to the ground.
“No!” Anna screamed.
Bunny writhed in his grasp as she was pulled toward him, bracing both her arms against his hand and pushing as hard as she could. Her hands began to glow with a faint white light, but it immediately faded out - she couldn’t use either of her attacks in her current position.
“
Plutomon didn’t even seem to notice. He regarded Bunny with a cold stare, the glow from his palm pulsing just as brightly.
He pressed the glowing sphere into Bunny’s chest, and her eyes flickered white.
In that single moment - for not the first time that day - Damien felt his heart stop in his chest.
It barely lasted a second. Bunny shook her head violently and her eyes went violet again. She kicked her legs against Plutomon’s chest and managed to loosen his claws from around her, his surprise allowing her to free herself. She wrenched herself from his grasp and leapt backward to crouch on the ground, her entire body shaking. A hand darted up to wipe at her eyes and she took a deep breath.
It was only a second, but a second was all it took to change everything.
Plutomon recoiled, closing his left hand, his eyes narrowed. “You,” he snarled, glowering down at Bunny, his face dark. “You resisted it.”
Bunny dipped her head, staring down at the grass by her feet, still unable to speak.
Damien’s heart was pounding in his chest, nearly blocking out all sound around him. He squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to watch.
“What the hell.”
His eyes snapped open as he twisted around to stare at the source of the voice.
Anna had escaped Ezra’s hold and was standing between Bunny and Plutomon, her hands closed into fists held firmly at her sides, her eyes blazing with rage and fury. Bunny pinned her ears back against her head, reaching a tentative hand out toward her.
“What the hell did you do to her,” Anna spat, taking a step forward.
Nevermind Plutomon, what the hell was Anna doing? Was she stupid? What was she hoping to accomplish by approaching him? Killing herself?
Plutomon tilted his head down at her. “How foolish of you,” he said, his voice dripping with venom, “to come toward me.”
“What did you do to her,” Anna repeated, her voice rising in volume until she was practically shouting the last word. “What did you do?”
“Anna,” Bunny called out, her voice weak. She coughed once, trying to get to her feet but falling down again.
Damien glanced up at where Bumble was still hovering in the sky and waved to catch his attention before signaling down at Bunny. Bumble instantly zipped down to her side, helping her up on her feet and allowing her to lean against him.
“Anna!” Ezra shouted, reaching a hand out to her. “Don’t get near him!”
She ignored him. She ignored her partner.
She ignored everyone, and stepped toward Plutomon yet again.
Damien wished he could stop her, but when he tried to move, his knees buckled beneath him, and he sank to the ground, his fingers digging into the earth. It felt strangely cold beneath his fingers.
A quick glance around at everyone else revealed them to be in states of shock similar to Damien’s own; some of them were standing stock-still, as if frozen in place, while others were being held back by their partners. Ezra in particular looked like he was about to explode as he struggled against both Alex and Castor’s restraints.
Damien didn’t know what to do. What would be the least likely to get everyone killed? Stand still and watch it happen, or rush forward to stop her?
Plutomon isn’t attacking her right now, but if any of us make too sudden of a move -
What the hell do I do?
Damien sucked a breath in, forcing himself to stand up straight. This was all too familiar.
How many times have I been unable to do anything in a life or death situation like this?
It had been weeks by this point, but the Aegiochusmon fight was still so fresh in his mind. The way he’d been unable to do anything but watch as they attacked without restraint, forcing the humans away from their partners, nearly killing them - he’d hoped he’d never have to go through that again. That feeling of being completely powerless, watching everything unfold in front of him, incapable of stopping it.
But now here he was, again, a spectator of the scene as it played out before his very eyes, and he couldn’t even say something.
He gritted his teeth. Anna was only a few yards away from Plutomon by now, and she wasn’t stopping in her advance. Plutomon said nothing, simply stared her down with his dead yellow gaze.
Anna came to a halt a few paces away from him, planting her feet firmly in the ground, lifting her head up and up and up to look into Plutomon’s eyes far above where she stood.
“What did you do to Bunny?”
Her voice was quiet this time, barely above a whisper, but it rang out so loudly across the dead silent clearing that it may as well have been a shout.
Plutomon did not respond for a few moments, but when he did, it was not what Damien expected.
He laughed.
It was almost paralyzing, really, to hear such a deep, casual laugh from someone so intent on killing them all. Someone they’d fought tooth and nail to finally find. Someone they couldn’t win against.
Plutomon leaned down to be eye level with Anna. “I didn’t do anything to her,” he said, his voice smooth enough to send ice running through Damien’s veins. “I wish I could, but I can’t.”
He straightened up, his claws curling against his palms as he swept his gaze across everyone surrounding him, before it came back around to rest on Anna again.
“So I’ll just kill her.”
Before Plutomon could say another word, Anna reached a hand into her skirt pocket and retracted it almost immediately, brandishing her arm out in front of her at Plutomon.
In her hand, she held her digivice.
“Don’t you fucking dare touch my partner,” she said, and her digivice began to shine.
It was like a star going supernova; piercing light burned the clearing, bright enough to act almost like a sun of its own. When Damien’s eyes adjusted, Plutomon had both his hands aimed at Anna, his wings poised and flared behind him.
“
“
Bunny sprang to her feet, firing her arrow directly at Plutomon. He staggered to the side and his attack missed Anna cleanly, but he rounded on Bunny, the beams converging to strike her with a force hard enough to send her crumpling to the ground. With another flash of light, Bunny shrank down to her rookie form, sprawled in the grass just in front of Anna. The light from Anna’s digivice died instantly, almost with a snap, and then Anna grabbed Bunny in her arms and ran back toward the humans.
Plutomon tilted his head down at her.
The floodgates had opened. Plutomon had turned Bunny manic(?), even if only for a second. Anna’s digivice had gone haywire (almost like how mine did earlier). Bunny had devolved. Three of their partners were out of the fight; all of the humans were some sort of injured. They couldn’t back down, but there was no winning this fight.
This was the turning point, for a lot of reasons.
“
“
“
Bumble’s laser and Ren’s talismans burst into blue light against Plutomon’s chest, fueled further by the lightning of Flip’s hammer. Plutomon floated back a few steps just as the attacks ended, but they were followed by another round.
“
“
“
Castor, Ember, and Pop all jumped straight for Plutomon. Castor slashed the blades on his arms across Plutomon’s torso while Pop and Ember both focused on his arms, Ember pummeling one with flaming punches while Pop dove from the sky to land a kick on the other shoulder. Plutomon shook them off, the wings of his cape twisting around to knock them aside.
But the attacks weren’t over yet. Plutomon was too focused on the ultimate levels to notice that Dare, Ko, and Bunny were rushing for him, Dare’s mouth opened wide and Ko’s horn pointed forward and Bunny’s antenna glowing bright white.
“
“
“
Dare leapt up, spitting her cannonball directly into Plutomon’s face, while Ko went for his legs and Bunny aimed her attack for his chest just below Dare. Plutomon roared, more in anger than anything else, and swept his arms out to dislodge the three rookies. He rose into the air, floating high above their heads, his wings flaring out and blotting out the sky behind him.
This was another turning point.
“ENOUGH!” Plutomon roared, sounding very similar to the rumbling that had preceded the earlier distortions. His wings beat the air, almost as if keeping him aloft, and his face - though hard to read from this far away - was contorted with nothing but pure hatred. “
The mouth formed quicker this time, stretched wider, opened sooner. The tendrils that shot out aimed straight for the Digimon in front of him and pulled them inside before they could even get out of the way. There were no Digimon left on the field when the mouth closed, and it was only the fact that the humans had been too far away from Plutomon that they had not been grabbed as well - but the sudden absence of their Digimon was no more of a comfort.
Without even needing something to disrupt it, the mouth opened wide, spitting out the Digimon within. Bursts of colored light went up from several of the Digimon, orange and green and pink flashes splitting the clearing. The newly-devolved rookie Digimon staggered to their feet, warily looking between Plutomon and their partners behind them.
The only Digimon that remained in ultimate level were Castor, Ren, and Bumble. Damien chewed his lip and bit down hard. I have no idea how he’s managed to hold on this long, but I know it can’t last forever. He’s reaching the end of his power. They all are.
We can’t keep this going.
The few evolved Digimon turned on Plutomon once more, the rookies coming to stand next to and behind them, ready to provide assistance where possible.
Plutomon glared down at them from his position in the sky and sneered. “
Next to Damien, with the humans:
“We have to call it quits,” Moxie said, her voice frantic. She clenched and unclenched her hands, looking out at Plutomon but focused entirely on the others around her. “We can’t win this. We need to run. That’s what we agreed on, right? If it becomes too much, we run?”
“He’s just going to follow us,” Alex argued, wincing as Plutomon grabbed Castor and slammed him into the ground. “He’s not going to let us go just because we run away. He’s here to kill us, and he knows he can.”
“We don’t stand a chance against ‘im right now,” Azure shot back, their voice more heavily laden with their southern twang than Damien had ever heard. They shook their head and ran a hand through their hair. “We can’t defeat ‘im, but we might be able t’ outrun him.”
“We tried that earlier when he tried to swallow us whole and he followed us,” Ryan said. “I’m not any more interested in sticking around than you are, but he’s going to follow us, and we’ll just be cementing ourselves as cowards in front of him.”
“Trying to escape death isn’t cowardly!” Harmony cried, and Moxie nodded along, raising her fists in determination. “We can’t just stick around and let him kill us!”
“We’re not going to,” Anna said, and she opened her mouth to continue, but Plutomon cut Ren off in the middle of an attack and threw her toward the humans. They had to backpedal, getting out of the way before Plutomon could attack her or them, but she was on her feet again in seconds, though Damien saw the tips of her sleeves beginning to glow blue.
“I think we should run,” Miguel said quietly, wrapping his arms around himself. “I don’t think the Digimon can keep going much longer. We can regroup somewhere else? And maybe come up with a better plan?”
“Whatever we do, we need to decide fast,” Ezra said, covering his mouth with a fist and looking out at Plutomon. “We’re badly injured. The Digimon are either devolved or on the brink of being so. We can’t keep going like this.”
Damien cast his gaze out toward Bumble. God, even with everything that had been going on, even with all the hits he’d taken, he was still going strong. If I was a Digimon, I would have devolved by now. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but… I’m glad he is.
I hope he gets to rest soon. I hope we all do.
There was nothing he could do to help him or any of the other Digimon. He couldn’t even shout words of encouragement, lest Plutomon’s attention turn to him and the rest of the humans. He was absolutely useless here, and it stung him hard, hurting almost more than the slice down his leg.
Not the first time. Won’t be the last.
He shook his head and turned back to the group, preparing to give his own input - they were all still arguing amongst themselves, unable to come to a conclusion - but something on the other side of the clearing caught his eye. Something within the trees.
God fucking damnit, if that was another Digimon - a manic Digimon - they wouldn’t be able to handle that. It would be just like Plutomon to call for backup, to make someone else do his dirty work for him because he was growing bored or annoyed or angry - if it was another mega level, or hell, even an ultimate at this point might be too much for them -
Whatever it was, it shot out of the trees, a blur of black and white and hints of gold, and crashed straight into Plutomon.
There wasn’t enough time to get a good look at it, or assess its threat level, or determine whether it was on their side or not. It managed to knock Plutomon out of the sky, grabbing him and pulling him to the ground as they both fell, and then it righted itself and aimed a palm down at him.
“
It was barely noticeable, just a sharp intake of breath and a twitch of his eye, but it was something. As soon as the attack ended, Plutomon pushed himself up, turning on the new Digimon with a strange look on his face. “You again,” he hissed, tail lashing behind him.
The new Digimon said nothing, simply glared at Plutomon. When it did not move, Plutomon threw an arm out and turned to the rest of the Digimon on the field - the partners.
“
The beams converged, aiming directly for the black Digimon, but just as they were about to reach it - it disappeared. Flickered out of existence entirely. Damien blinked, looking around - it didn’t dissipate into data, so where the hell is it?
In another blink, the Digimon reappeared behind Plutomon. It raised a hand in the air and a light began to shine above it, forming into an axe-like sword, and the Digimon gripped it tight. “
It slashed out at Plutomon, leaving a glowing streak in the air, and Plutomon stumbled forward. The mouths on his body snapped shut and the trapped Digimon were released, collapsing to the ground. Bumble, Castor, and Ren were all consumed in primary colored lights, revealing their rookie stages only seconds later, and Damien bit back a scream (out of frustration or fear or something else, he wasn’t sure).
But Plutomon wasn’t interested in them anymore. He rounded on the black Digimon, his wings flaring out to mirror its white cape, and his eyes shone in fury. He didn’t say anything, but the black Digimon’s eyes narrowed in turn, tightening its grasp on its sword.
“
He scanned the clearing, his eyes darting around, almost as if he was looking for something. The black Digimon lunged for him again, but he simply dodged the attack, downing it with a cry of “
But the black Digimon was not done yet. When Plutomon’s eyes widened just slightly, pupils constricting, it disappeared again, blinking out of existence. Plutomon either didn’t notice or didn’t care, focused entirely on whatever it was he had seen.
He raised a hand and aimed at the trees, the gems on his palm beginning to glow, and the black Digimon reappeared in front of him.
“
When it cleared, and when Damien’s eyes had readjusted, there was a new figure in the clearing, standing just beside the black Digimon, staring up at Plutomon.
A human.
Plutomon dipped his head toward the human and flexed his claws. “There you are.”
The human drew themself taller. “Yeah. Here I am. I did promise we’d come back.”
Their voice carried throughout the clearing, loud enough to ring in Damien’s ears above the pounding of his heart and the intake of his breath. Slowly, the shaking of his hands stilled, and he breathed long and deep.
The human looked up at the black Digimon - clearly their partner - and nodded ever so slightly, and the Digimon nodded back and summoned its sword. “
It rushed forward to meet Plutomon, using the sword to push him to the ground, and then struck out at him. Where the sword touched Plutomon’s armor, it left glowing marks similar to the ones that followed it in the air, and Plutomon hissed, struggling to right himself.
Cautiously, the now-devolved partner Digimon crept back toward the humans - slowly, carefully, so as not to attract Plutomon’s attention, and they were injured and exhausted, unable to move at much more than a snail’s pace. They didn’t take their eyes off of the two battling Digimon, but when they reached the humans, they practically collapsed in a heap. Damien reached up to catch Bumble out of the air as he began to fall, stepping back a bit as his weight landed in his arms.
“Christ, you’re heavy,” he muttered, running a hand over Bumble’s head. His partner didn’t respond, simply closed his eyes and flicked his antennae.
“Who is that?” Anna asked, squeezing Bunny in her arms and frowning at the human, still in the field, watching the fight between the two Digimon. “Are they on our side?”
“I sure hope so,” Harmony said, brow creasing. She and Ren were supporting each other as they stood, and Harmony winced as she tested out putting her weight on one of her legs.
Moxie, standing beside Damien with Pop in her own arms, bit her lip as she stared down at her feet. “Do you think they’re…” She trailed off, not finishing her sentence, but it was clear what she was going to ask.
Castor grit his teeth as he pushed himself to his feet, shaking his head as Alex reached a hand down toward him. He lifted his head, looking out at the two Digimon, then at the human. “It won’t do us any good to speculate,” he said, his voice strained. “Plutomon doesn’t seem to be a fan of them, at least. Enemy of our enemy is a friend, you know?”
But whether that was a good thing or not was still up for debate. Gently, Damien released Bumble from his arms, letting him hover in the air next to him, though he was closer to the ground than usual, and Damien crossed his arms, trying not to let on how he was really feeling.
Plutomon clearly still had the upper hand, but he was struggling against the new Digimon more than he had against the entire group, and Damien felt a twinge of frustration. I know I should just be glad that someone is finally able to hold out against him, but… why them? Why not us? Why weren’t we good enough?
Will we ever be?
Plutomon shoved the black Digimon to the ground, out of the way of the human, and the mouths along his body opened once more. “
The human was unfazed and did not move as the smoke shot toward them, standing with arms crossed and chin lifted, simply nodding up at their partner. It lunged for Plutomon, summoning its sword and swiping out at him, then jabbed it deep into the mouth on one of its hips. The smoke recoiled just seconds before it would have reached the human, retreating back into the mouths from which it came.
Plutomon snarled, twisting around to sweep his wings out at the black Digimon’s legs. It darted backward, its sword disappearing in a flash of light as it raised a hand at Plutomon, but Plutomon was more focused on its human.
“
The beams cut across the field, but the human was quick and agile, dodging them almost effortlessly, and the few that did hit them seemed to have almost no effect - or maybe they were just powering through it, trying to get to the others as quickly as possible. They didn’t have to signal to their partner for it to attack Plutomon right back, disappearing and reappearing right next to him, shoving him to the ground and ending his attack, then readying one of its own.
“
“
The human stopped in their tracks as Plutomon called his attack, whirling around to face him and watch as the mouth unfolded above his head. They hesitated, looking between their partner and Plutomon and the group, and then they steeled themself, planting their feet firmly into the grass and shouting up at their partner.
“Keep going!” she yelled, one hand cupped around her mouth to help her voice carry, and then she turned toward the group. Behind her, her partner just barely avoided the shadowy tendrils that reached out to grab it, and the whole world seemed to shake as the Digimon summoned its sword and drove it into the ground in front of Plutomon just as the mouth snapped shut, empty.
The human didn’t even look over her shoulder, simply held an arm out to gesture at the trees on the far side of the clearing, pointing at them emphatically. “Run!” she shouted, wincing just slightly as the force of Plutomon shoving her partner to the ground shook the earth once more. “Stay in the forest! Don’t go to the city yet! We’ll catch up with you!”
“
Plutomon’s attack strafed the field, the beams dangerously close to the group and the human, and she pointed at the trees once more before turning on her heel to face the two battling Digimon. Damien grit his teeth and dove to avoid Plutomon’s attack, immediately pushing himself back up onto his feet and turning to the others.
“Can you evolve?” Moxie asked, looking at the rideable Digimon, and they nodded hesitantly. She nodded back, letting Pop hop to the ground, and flashes of light brightened the sky for a split second as the Digimon - however slowly, however unsteadily - evolved up to champion.
They wasted no time in pulling the humans onto their backs. They tried to ignore that Plutomon was quickly getting closer to them, and that he still hadn’t given up, and that even though the new Digimon was a better match against him it still couldn’t defeat him. Damien looked over at the human still in the field, and, despite every rational thought in his head telling him to stay put, ran a short distance toward them, ignoring Moxie as she reached out to try to stop him.
“Who are you?” he yelled, stopping in his tracks when a stray beam from Plutomon cut in front of him. “What’s your name?” He shook his head, preparing to turn and make a break for it if it came down to it.
He felt hands on his shoulders and tried to shrug them off, but Moxie held tight, yanking him back. The human turned toward him just as Moxie and Bumble pulled him up onto Pop’s back, and she caught his eye, something shining in her own.
“I’m Quinn,” she shouted back, some sort of tension falling out of her shoulders. “That’s my partner Alpha.” She nodded up at the large black Digimon, before smiling over at Damien - weakly, he could tell, but with a fire in her eyes that made up for it in full.
He didn’t know who she was, but he knew he could trust her - even more so when she spoke again, placing a hand on her hip and tilting her head.
“You may know us as the Catalyst.”