Chapter 27:
Out of Control
Kodamon shivered as she looked up at the menacing dark Digimon floating overhead. Black as night, the Digimon looked down at her, smirking evilly. The most evil Digimon she had ever seen.
Daemon.
He was strong. Much too strong. Even if Kodamon had evolved to Kodiamon, she would never be strong enough to defeat him.
But perhaps there was another way...
“Akira!” Kodamon shouted. “Get your Crest ready!”
Akira blinked. “Huh?”
“I'm going to try to super evolve!”
Akira's eyes widened. “ What?! ” she shouted, “Are you insane? You can't!”
“Guilmon's already done it!” Kodamon shot back, “He's stronger now because of it. Why can't I do it, too?”
“Kodamon-”
“He can't fight alone! I need to help!”
Akira glared. “Kodamon, my Crest is damaged! Have you forgotten?” She held it out, showing the cracks and splinters along the surface. “I don't know what'll happen if you tried to evolve past Adult level! It could... I don't know, it could just not work, or it could not give you enough power...” She looked back at her fearfully. “It could even delete you!”
Kodamon looked down. “I know that, but...” She looked up at her again, staring intensely. “We have no other choice. If this goes on-” She gestured over to the fight between MegaloGrowmon and Daemon, with MegaloGrowmon clearly weakening. “If this goes on, we're going to lose! And then what'll happen?!”
Akira's eyes were closed. She held her broken Crest in a shaking fist.
At that moment, Daemon hit MegaloGrowmon with a super-strong attack, knocking MegaloGrowmon off his feet and reverting him back to Guilmon.
Kodamon gasped, and turned to Akira. “Akira!”
Akira opened her eyes again. “All right,” she said in a pained voice, “Let's do it.”
Kodamon nodded.
Akira's Digivice and Crest glowed brightly, with a brilliant blue light.
“Kodamon, evolve to... Kodiamon!”
Kodamon's tall, slim, and powerful Adult form appeared, and was subsequently enveloped in blue light.
“Kodiamon, super evolve to...”
Immediately, something felt different. Drastically different. Instead of feeling warm and energized, Kodiamon felt cold and drained.
She could feel her body changing, but was unable to tell in which direction she was changing. Perfect? Or back to Child? For a moment, she thought she had reverted back to Kodamon, and felt a faint wash of energy flow through her, as if she had been run through a scanner or copier.
Then, she was Kodiamon again, and felt that familiar warm, energy-filled feeling. She smiled. It was working!
“Kodiamon, super evolve to...”
But then, she started feeling hotter, and hotter. Energy crackled and cascaded, and she felt a burning sensation. She grimaced as the pain increased, more and more, until it was almost unbearable. It was as if...
It was as if she was being burned alive...
Kodamon woke up with a jolt. She sat up, breathing heavily, and wiped cold sweat from her fur. She looked around and saw that it was still dark – the pre-dawn sky was colored a light blue-violet.
It was early. Way too early for anyone to be awake.
She got up, taking care not to wake Akira and Gazimon, who were sleeping near her. Gazimon snored as she passed by, and Akira shivered and mumbled something about soccer balls. Kodamon smiled a little, and slowly walked away.
After a while, she came to the edge of a high plateau, with nothing but an open sky, which was slowly brightening. She walked closer to the edge, amazed, and looked down at the view below her. Her eyes widened.
At that height, she could see all the places they had been on their adventure. The forests. The villages. The fields and gardens. The mountains of crystal, and beyond that, the desert. She could see the razed-over clearings caused by Jun and Mana's barrier overload, and the snow-covered trees, and...
She sighed. They had been everywhere, and yet had gotten nowhere. After what seemed like days and months of searching and exploring, the children and the Digimon had only found out a little bit of why they were here in the first place. They had discovered only a small fraction of what appeared to be an infinite mystery, with the answers locked in the past.
A past that Akira couldn't remember.
A past that, after a certain limit, Kodamon could no longer remember...
The cracking of a twig startled Kodamon out of her thoughts. She whipped around, her paw charging up with energy.
“Whoa!” a familiar voice called out softly, “It's me, it's me!”
Kodamon looked again, and saw Akira standing there, surprised, holding her Digivice in front of her as a shield.
She sighed, and let her paw drop. “What are you doing up so early?” she asked.
“I should ask the same about you,” Akira answered, yawning.
Kodamon looked troubled. “I couldn't sleep,” she said softly, “I've been thinking about a lot of things.”
Akira nodded. “I noticed. You didn't seem well last night.”
Kodamon said nothing, and stared out at the expanse below.
“It's an amazing view from up here, isn't it?” Akira asked, staring at everything in awe. “It's hard to believe we've been to all of these places.”
After a few moments of silence, Kodamon spoke up again. “Akira...”
“Yeah?”
“That time... when it was just us and Rion and Guilmon... did you have a Crest?”
Akira looked at her, surprised, then looked down, thinking. “I think...” She pulled her Crest tags from under her shirt. “I think I did...” She glanced at the Crest of Courage, frowned, and shook her head. “But it was a different one. It wasn't Courage. It was...” Her eyes wandered toward the empty tag for a moment. The memory of a light blue Crest flashed in its place for a split second, then faded away. “I don't remember which one it was.”
Kodamon's eyes narrowed. “I see...” she murmured. “Can you remember... did it work correctly? Was I able to evolve up to Perfect level?”
Akira stared at her Crest tags, thinking hard. “I... I don't know...” She looked down at Kodamon in alarm. “Why are you asking me, all of a sudden?”
“I had a dream,” Kodamon answered blankly, “A dream about the past. It was what woke me up so early.” She then proceeded to relate the dream to Akira.
By the end of it, Akira could only stare at her in shock.
“That time… when I tried to evolve and it hurt…” Kodamon said dully, “that’s the last thing I remember. Everything else is blank.” She turned to Akira, worry etched on her face. “My memories stop right there.”
Akira stared back at her. “Why?”
Kodamon shook her head. “I don't know.”
Akira looked down in silence, then spoke up again. “Well, then... what's the first thing you remember after that?”
“After that? Well...” Kodamon paused to think. “It was when I met you again... but didn't.”
Akira blinked, and thought a moment. “The game?”
Kodamon nodded. “I woke up alone, in darkness. I had no idea what had happened to me, and I couldn't remember much of what happened in the past. I could only remember you.”
Akira didn't answer. She just listened in silence.
“I looked around for you, but I never saw you,” Kodamon continued, “I kept calling out your name, but you never answered. There was nothing to see but blackness, and nothing to hear but my own shouting. And then...”
“And then?”
“And then I heard you. I heard your voice, and then the darkness faded away. I was in the Digital World again, alone, but not alone.” She turned to Akira and smiled. “I could never see you or touch you, but I could hear you speak to me. In my mind. No matter what happened, no matter how many battles I fought, you were always there.”
Akira smiled.
“And then one day, you finally came back,” Kodamon went on, “Somehow, I had a feeling you had forgotten some things too, just like I had. But at the time, I didn't care – I was just so happy to see you again!”
Akira's smile faded. “If we only knew...”
Kodamon nodded. “Some awful things must have happened to us, before, to make us forget that badly. In my case, it was probably that broken evolution. And in your case...” She faced Akira with a horrified look on her face. “That fireball...”
“Kodamon-”
“Whatever reason I had for doing that,” Kodamon interrupted, eyes glistening, “it must have been really terrible of me, wasn't it?”
Akira looked back at her, horrified.
“I'm sorry, Akira!” Kodamon wailed.
“Kodamon, that wasn't your fault!” Akira shouted, hugging her tightly. “I don't blame you for any of that,” she added. “It was something you had to do.” She gave her a bittersweet smile. “I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Kodamon looked up at her sadly. “Really?”
Akira nodded. “Really. So stop feeling so bad!”
Kodamon looked doubtful for a moment. Then she smiled, and nodded.
Suddenly, the moment was interrupted by a tremendous explosion, far off in the distance. It was immediately followed by a series of loud, deep roars. The ground shook.
Akira and Kodamon looked up suddenly, startled.
“What was that?” Akira asked.
Kodamon shrugged. “I don’t know.”
They both looked around suspiciously. For a moment, everything was quiet. Then, another explosion and roar echoed through the trees, followed by a series of very familiar screams.
Akira gasped. “The others!”
“We have to get back to them!” Kodamon added, “Quickly!”
Akira nodded. “Right!” She started running, and pulled out her Digivice. “Get ready!”
“Gotcha!” Kodamon answered.
Akira's Digivice glowed, and Kodamon was enveloped in bright, pale-blue light.
“Kodamon, evolve to...”
Suddenly, a massive blast of energy shot out of the trees and slammed right into the both of them, sending them sailing into the air. Kodamon crashed into a tree and landed with a loud crack. Akira landed hard on the ground, her Digivice skittering away from her.
Akira sat up slowly, taking deep breaths. The wind had been knocked out of her.
“Kodamon!” she yelled, looking around desperately. She spotted Kodamon lying on the ground nearby.
“Kodamon!” she shouted again, crawling toward her. “Kodamon, are you all right?” She tried to shake Kodamon awake. Kodamon slowly opened her eyes and moaned.
“What... what was that?” Kodamon asked weakly. She sat up and immediately doubled over in pain. Electrical interference cascaded over her.
Akira stared at her in horror. “Kodamon!” She looked around for her Digivice. She spotted it nearby and scrambled toward it. But at the moment she knelt down to grab it, a shadow fell over her. She looked up, and her eyes widened.
“Rion!”
Rion looked down on her with darkened, black eyes.
Akira quickly reached out and grabbed her Digivice, but before she could pick it up, Rion slammed his foot over her hand.
Akira winced, and looked up at Rion again. She glared.
“What's the matter?” Rion asked mockingly, “Want me to stop?” He pressed his foot down harder.
Akira winced again and shut her eyes. She tried to pull her hand away, but the pressure from Rion’s foot was unusually strong. As the pressure increased, electrical sparks shot out from the Digivice, and it beeped wildly.
Then…
With a sickening crack, the Digivice shattered.
Akira let out a scream as pain shot through her hand and up her arm, followed by more electrical pulses.
Rion smirked, and violently kicked Akira’s hand away from under his foot. The action knocked her down to the ground.
“You should have seen it coming, Akira,” Rion said nonchalantly, “That Digivice was as old as the hills!”
Akira could do nothing but cry from the pain in her hand and arm. With vision blurred by tears, she stared desperately at the fractured, red-stained Digivice lying on the ground near her. Trembling, she reached for it with her good hand. It was cold, dark, and completely dead – not a single spark or beep issued from it.
Suddenly, she was aware of a loud humming sound near her head. She turned toward the sound, and was immediately faced with a glowing, black Digivice.
Rion smiled back at her, evilly, and focused the Digivice closer to her.
“This is it, Akira,” Rion said lightly, “After today, you'll never bother me again.”
He gave her a twisted smile, and pushed his Digivice even closer to her face.
“Sayonara…”
“Rapid Fire!”
Suddenly, a blast of green-gold missiles rained toward Rion, knocking his Digivice away and sending him flying a couple of feet.
Akira looked up suddenly in the direction the attack had come from, and saw a large, metallic green robot Digimon fly out of the trees. It zoomed over her head and landed nearby.
“Akira!” a familiar voice called out.
Akira looked toward the voice, and saw Kei emerge from the trees.
“Kei!”
“Akira, are you okay?” Kei asked worriedly, taking deep breaths from running.
Akira nodded weakly. “Yeah... Yeah, I'm okay...” She got up slowly, wiping her tear-stained face, and looked around. “Where's Rion?”
Rion was nowhere in sight.
“Rapidmon must have scared him off...” Kei answered. She looked over to Rapidmon, who was looking Kodamon over. Kodamon was still suffering from uncontrollable energy cascades.
“Kodamon!” Akira called out, rushing toward her. The movement jarred her injured arm, and she stopped, wincing in pain.
Kei gasped. “Akira!” She grabbed Akira’s arm, and her eyes widened when she saw blood streaming from her hand. “You're not okay!” she shouted.
Akira shook her head. “Don't worry about me,” she answered wearily, “I can manage. But Kodamon...”
“Kodamon's code is damaged,” Rapidmon said grimly, “It's almost like what happened to me...”
Kei turned to Akira in alarm. “Was she hit by a Dark Seed?”
Akira shook her head. “No... she was just hit by Rion's Digivice beam...”
Kei looked down in confusion. Then, her head suddenly whipped up. “Oh, no!” She took Akira's other hand and pulled. “I forgot!!” She shot a look at Rapidmon.
Rapidmon nodded. He carefully picked Kodamon up and rocketed off.
“Forgot what?!” Akira asked, alarmed.
“Everyone else!” Kei answered, “They're in trouble!”
“What happened?” Akira asked, wincing as they moved faster.
“It was Guilmon,” Kei explained, “He evolved all the way up to MegaloGrowmon and attacked us, before we even had a chance to wake up properly!”
Akira looked back at her in surprise.
“Terriermon and Lopmon heard him coming first, and tried to warn us, but it was too late... we all just started getting blasted with attacks! It took forever for Terriermon and the others to evolve, and there wasn't enough time for the rest of us to take cover!” Kei closed her eyes for a moment, remembering.
“Things were getting really bad for all of us, and we all ran off in different directions,” she continued, “I don't know where the others went. But eventually, Tian found the two of us, and told us to get away and find you and Kodamon...” She looked up at Akira. “Kodamon wasn't hit by a Dark Seed, right? If she evolves, she'll be healed!”
Akira shook her head. “Kodamon can't evolve anymore,” she said shakily. With her good hand, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the shattered remains of her Digivice.
Kei gasped. “No way...” She stared at the broken Digivice with teary eyes, then looked back at Akira. “What'll we do now?” she wailed.
“I don't know...” Akira answered hopelessly.
They were interrupted by a massive explosion, knocking them off their feet and kicking up clouds of dust into the air.
Kodamon fell from Rapidmon's grasp and bounced along the ground. She let out a painful shout as electricity ripped through her.
Akira got up, wincing, and squinted through the dusty air. “Kodamon!”
When the dust finally settled, Akira could see Kodamon on the ground, struggling to stand.
“Kodamon!” Akira ran over to her. “Don't strain yourself! You're just going to hurt more!”
“But, Akira-”
Just then, they heard a moan coming from the trees. Taomon appeared, exhausted and staggering. She fell over and reverted to Renamon.
“Renamon!”
Tian ran over, stumbling to the ground and trying to shake Renamon awake. “Renamon, are you all right?”
Renamon got up slowly and nodded.
Tian sighed in relief, and looked up to see Akira and Kodamon. “Where have you been?” she shouted.
“Rion,” Akira answered bleakly. She held up her injured arm and her broken Digivice, hoping it would explain everything. Tian's eyes widened in shock.
Another explosion rocked the ground, followed by HolyAngemon and Angewomon falling from the sky and landing as Patamon and Salamon. Jun and Mana followed, running.
“This is insane!” Mana screamed, scooping up Salamon in her arms, “There's no way we can beat him!”
“We tried,” Jun added stressfully, “But he's a lot stronger than any of us thought!”
“We’re going to need Helamon’s power just to give him a scratch!” Mana shouted, giving Akira a pleading look.
Akira looked down at the ground. “That’ll be impossible…” She glanced at Kodamon, trying hard to fight off electrical interference and stay standing.
A series of red energy blasts landed, just meters away from where they were all standing. MegaloGrowmon emerged from the trees, followed by GrapLeomon and Antiramon.
“Lion Whirlwind Kick!”
“Mantra Chant!”
The attacks bounced right off of MegaloGrowmon.
“Akira! Kei!”
They turned to see Yuka running toward them, followed by Seita.
“Akira!” Seita called out, running to her. “Are you ok-” He caught a glimpse of her hand and his eyes widened. “Akira, what happened to-”
“Don't bother!” Akira interrupted sharply, urging him to run. “We don't have time!”
Seita swallowed, and nodded, pulling Yuka along.
“Atomic Blaster!”
A massive red energy ball smacked into GrapLeomon and Antiramon, sending them into the air and reverting them to Gazimon and Lopmon. They both slammed into Seita and Yuka, knocking them down.
“Rapid Fire!”
Rapidmon rocketed across the sky, shooting at MegaloGrowmon fiercely. MegaloGrowmon simply knocked his attacks away. Then, with a massive, armored arm, he knocked Rapidmon away.
“Rapidmon!” Kei called out, worried.
Rapidmon wobbled a little, but still stayed aloft. He looked very weak.
“Rapidmon!” Kei shouted, “Hang on!” She looked at her Digivice and Crest as their lights flickered. Making a last-minute decision, she took the Crest and slotted it into the Digivice.
The Digivice and Crest erupted with light, and a bright, golden glow enveloped Rapidmon. The golden light soon faded away, revealing Rapidmon with his sunset-colored gold and magenta armor.
“Rapid Fire!”
Rapidmon attacked again, full-force, this time with great effect. The golden missiles slammed straight into MegaloGrowmon, causing him to stagger and wobble.
Then, Rapidmon focused, forming a triangular-shaped light.
“Golden Triangle!”
A brilliant triangular energy beam shot out, hitting MegaloGrowmon head-on. MegaloGrowmon fell to the ground, and reverted to Guilmon.
Kei watched the entire thing with wide eyes, too amazed to speak.
“Wow…” Akira whispered. Kodamon managed a painful smile.
Rapidmon hovered for a few moments, then landed. Kei, as well as everyone else, hurried to meet him.
“Rapidmon!” Kei shouted gleefully, throwing her arms around his neck. “You were amazing!”
“It was all because you helped me, Kei,” Rapidmon answered.
Kei giggled.
Rapidmon looked down at her warmly. Then, he quickly looked up, aware of something in the distance.
“Watch out!” he shouted, pushing Kei away.
Immediately, Rapidmon was struck by a beam of dark energy. He let out a shout, and fell, fading back to Terriermon.
Alarmed, everyone looked in the direction the beam had come from. Slowly, a small figure appeared in the distance. A boy with hard darkened eyes, holding a shining black Digivice.
“Rion!”
Kei broke away from the others and walked closer to him. Rion pointed his Digivice at her, causing her to stop and take a few steps backward. He glared at her, hard.
“Take one more step,” he said in an eerily quiet voice, “and I’ll shoot you.”
At this, Guilmon got up slowly, shaking his head. He looked up and saw Rion standing nearby.
“Rion!” he called out.
But Rion didn’t hear him.
“Rion!” Kei cried out. “Why?”
Rion didn’t answer her.
Akira ran over to Kei and took her hand. “Whatever you’re about to do,” she called out to Rion, “don’t do it. You’re making a mistake!”
“Shut up!” Rion snarled, pointing his Digivice over to her.
Akira looked back at him fearfully, and pulled Kei closer to her.
“How could you tell me I'm making a mistake,” Rion yelled, “when the mistake was yours? You don't care anymore, do you, Akira? You'd rather just go around exploring with all of your other friends than bother about me, right? You wouldn't give a damn that I'm always fifty steps behind you and the others, always left behind, and I'm doing all I can just to keep up with you!”
Akira stared back at him, trembling. She couldn't give him an answer.
“I never understood it...” Rion murmured, keeping his Digivice leveled at them, “The way all of you could get so strong, so easily! It was impossible – you had absolutely no experience, and your Digimon were so weak! Even without Akira and Kodamon's help, you ended up stronger than us! I could never figure it out.”
He shifted his glance from them to Guilmon and back. “For weeks, and months, we've had to live with the fact that we could never, ever defeat you!” he added forcefully, “Never! No matter how hard we tried! But now...” He laughed and gave them a twisted smile. “Now, that'll all change.”
He looked down at his Digivice and Crest. “With the power we have now, we'll be stronger than all of you put together! And we'll wipe all of you off the face of the earth!” He laughed, and started to slot his Crest and Digivice together.
“No!” Akira shouted, pushing Kei aside and charging at Rion. Rion aimed his Digivice at her, and a dark energy beam shot out of it. The beam shot directly into her injured arm.
Akira screamed and clutched her arm, sinking to her knees.
“Akira!” Kei ran over to her. Seita almost followed, but Gazimon held him back.
“I've had it with all of you!” Rion shouted, glaring at all of them with blackened eyes, “You can all just die!”
With a quick, sweeping motion, he slotted his Crest into his Digivice.
“Rion!” Akira shouted desperately, “Stop!”
“I HATE YOU!!” Rion screamed out, “I HATE YOU ALL!!”
His Digivice and Crest exploded with power, and a dark, black mist surrounded Guilmon.
Guilmon looked back at Rion, and tears fell from his eyes. Then, his eyes turned a hard, metallic gold.
The sky suddenly darkened, and a strong wind blew.
“Guilmon... warp evolve to...”
Lightning struck, and thunder boomed. The ground began to quake and crack.
“Megidramon!”
The blackness disappeared to reveal a giant, menacing, snakelike dragon with ragged wings and sharp, jagged teeth. Hazard symbols adorned his shoulders and chest.
Akira stared at Megidramon in horror. Megidramon stared back at her, his hard, golden eyes boring right into hers. There was no trace of the compassion that Guilmon once had.
Megidramon looked down on all of them, and gave a mighty roar.
“Run!” Akira screamed.
They all scattered in different directions, trying to escape the dark, flaming attacks that suddenly seemed to rain from the sky. Seita and Yuka disappeared into a clump of bushes, while Jun and Mana took cover behind a cluster of trees. Tian and Renamon ran elsewhere. Akira, Kei and their Digimon scrambled behind a large rock.
“We're all going to die, aren't we?” Kei whispered hysterically. “I'm going to die!”
“No!” Akira said sharply, making Kei flinch. “Don't ever think that way!”
“But-”
Akira looked away. “Nothing bad will ever happen to you,” she said softly, “Not while I'm still here!”
Kei looked up at Akira in surprise. She saw the grim, determined expression on Akira's face as she looked out in the distance. She felt Akira's good hand grip hers tightly, while her other hand hung limply at her side.
“I'll protect you,” Akira whispered, “No matter what!”
She fell silent as Megidramon approached. As his shadow grew over the rock, Akira motioned everyone to be quiet, hoping he wouldn't notice them.
Then…
“Megido Flame!”
Akira quickly sprang out from behind the rock, yanking Kei along with her. Terriermon and Kodamon followed. The rock exploded into bits.
Megidramon turned away from the remains and looked toward the four escapees.
“Megido Flame!”
They all screamed as the dark, flaming attack headed toward them. Just as it was about to hit them, it was blocked by a massive blast of light.
Megidramon immediately roared and moved away, shielding his eyes.
Akira opened her eyes slightly. Squinting, she was able to get a better look.
A bright, brilliant pillar of light stood between them and Megidramon. It hovered along the ground, reaching high up into the sky and fading into the clouds. It moved toward Megidramon for a few moments, then stopped, deathly still. Then, the pillar suddenly changed direction.
Akira's eyes widened when she realized where it was going.
“Watch out!!”
Akira quickly shoved Kei and Terriermon away, just as the pillar of light slammed into her and Kodamon.
Kei fell to the ground, and looked up. “Akira!”
Akira and Kodamon were suspended in mid-air, enclosed in the bright pillar of light.
“Akira!” Kei shouted again, “Kodamon!”
Inside the pillar, Akira trembled. She opened her eyes a crack, and looked toward Kei. She smiled weakly…
And then, the pillar disappeared.
For several moments, Kei stared at the empty spot in shock. Tears fell from her eyes.
“Akira!!”