Chapter 51:
Vice
Kei slowly opened her eyes, and found herself standing in an open, green field, with a dirt road snaking ahead in the distance. She looked down to see Terriermon standing beside her. She looked over and saw Yuka and Lopmon standing nearby.
“Welcome back to the Digital World.”
Kei looked in the direction of the voice, and smiled. “Naoko!”
Yuka looked around at the otherwise empty field. “Where’s everyone else?”
“I’ve already sent them where they need to be.”
“Where do we need to be?” Kei asked.
“I’ve set up emergency exits along this path that will take you where you need to go,” Naoko said, “There are five Digital Gates left that won’t open to the Real World for another 3 to 8 days, but we’re going to get ahead of the game and seal them before they’re ready to deploy the Dark Seed bases. And destroy the Dark Seed bases while we’re at it!”
“Will you be coming with us?” Yuka asked.
Naoko shook her head. “I’ve got an important mission of my own to accomplish. But can I count on you four to handle the Digital Gates?”
“We can do it!” Yuka said.
“You can count on us!” Kei added.
“Better get going, then,” Naoko said, sending them on their way.
As the four of them walked down the path, they turned around and waved at Naoko. Naoko waved back, then lowered her hand. Her expression grew serious. She reached out a hand to summon a bright, shining portal, similar to an emergency exit, then stepped through. The portal closed, winking out like an old television set turning off.
“There’s the first emergency exit!” Terriermon pointed out the bright blue curtain of light hanging over the path ahead.
“Let’s go!” Kei said, breaking into a run, with the others following. They entered the emergency exit and were converted into a bright beam of blue light. After what felt like a few moments, they landed on firm ground again.
“Whoa,” Kei said as she looked around her.
They were surrounded by a stark, dark wasteland, with nothing but a Dark Seed base sitting out in the open, a cloud of Apocalymon copies flanking it, and a circular gate standing behind it.
“You can’t get much more obvious than this, can you?” Kei remarked, pulling out her D-Coder. Yuka nodded quietly, pulling out hers.
“Ready, guys?” Kei asked.
Terriermon and Lopmon nodded.
“Terriermon, warp evolve to… SaintGalgomon!”
“Lopmon, warp evolve to… Cherubimon!”
As the light from the evolution faded, the Apocalymon copies immediately locked on to them and zoomed closer, like metal to a magnet.
“Here they come!” Kei shouted.
“Burst Shot!”
“Heaven’s Judgment!”
The black polyhedrons immediately disintegrated, then were replaced by more polyhedrons.
“They just keep coming!” Cherubimon said.
“Just keep shooting them,” SaintGalgomon replied, “They’ve gotta run out eventually!”
SaintGalgomon was right. After what seemed to be a very long time, the last Apocalymon copies dissolved into data, leaving the path to the Dark Seed base clear.
Kei walked up to the towering black polyhedron and pressed a button on her D-Coder. A bright light blasted out, surrounding the polyhedron in a circular barrier. She nodded over to SaintGalgomon and Cherubimon.
“Giant Missile!”
“Lightning Spear!”
The barrier absorbed their attacks and amplified them against the dark polyhedron, causing it to crack. Dark Seeds spilled out, contained by the barrier, and the amplified energy ground the Seeds to dust.
The barrier quickly faded away, then Yuka pointed her D-Coder directly at the Digital Gate. A bright beam of light shot out of it and sealed the Gate shut.
Yuka lowered her D-Coder. “One down…”
“Four more to go!” Kei finished. “Come on, let’s find the next emergency exit!”
The next emergency exit was only a few feet away from the sealed Digital Gate. The four of them stepped through it and found themselves in another ominous setting.
“An amusement park?” Kei asked, “Cool!”
“It’s all abandoned and falling apart, though,” Yuka added.
“Eww. Not cool.”
“Shall we move on?” Cherubimon asked. “This place is large, and the Dark Seed base could be anywhere!”
“Right.” Kei and Yuka held out their D-Coders to track the Dark Seed base’s location.
Defeat Apocalymon copies.
Destroy Dark Seed base.
Seal Digital Gate.
Wash, Rinse and Repeat.
The four of them had found a Dark Seed base not only in the wasteland and in the abandoned amusement park, but also one in the middle of a stormy cornfield, and one in a creepy abandoned church.
“Whoever’s placing these Dark Seed bases has some really bad taste,” Kei said as she and the others walked through a spooky, ruined town covered in snow and wispy fog. “Did it have to be snow?”
They walked on in silence for a while as they tracked the next Dark Seed base on the D-Coders.
“Hey…” Yuka spoke up, “Did you notice? We’ve sealed off four of these gates, and nothing seems to be stopping us.”
“No Midnight Army, no nothing,” Kei added. “Come to think of it, there hasn’t been anything guarding the Dark Seeds except the Apocalymon copies. I wonder why?”
“Maybe we’re so strong that nothing else can go up against us!” SaintGalgomon exclaimed.
“Or maybe the Midnight Army’s too busy terrorizing people in the Real World to pay any attention to us!” Cherubimon said.
“Well, in any case, this is the last one,” Kei said, “If they’re going to do something against us, they’ll have to do it now.”
As they neared the last Dark Seed base, a group of Apocalymon copies rushed over to engage them.
Kei sighed. “Here we go again.”
“One more time, guys!” Yuka called out.
“Giant Missile!”
“Lightning Spear!”
The attacks blasted the copies out of the sky, deleting them into data immediately. They were immediately replaced by another group of floating Apocalymon copies.
A few more minutes of this, and the area was littered with shattered black shells and remains, and the path to the Dark Seed base was clear.
“All right, then, that was easy,” Kei murmured. She raised her D-Coder and prepared to erect the barrier around the Dark Seed base.
A crackling noise suddenly filled the air. A dark portal formed, and from it, a dark purple and green beast-type Digimon emerged, radiating darkness from its ravaged body.
Kei gasped. “You!”
Yuka looked from Cherubimon to the Digimon that just appeared. “It… looks just like Cherubimon, but… darker?”
“Cherubimon Vice…” Kei’s eyes narrowed.
Cherubimon Vice let out a laugh like a huge bellow. “I… told you… I would… be back…”
SaintGalgomon immediately aimed his missiles at Cherubimon Vice. As his attack charged up, Cherubimon Vice simply smirked at him.
“Giant Missile!”
Cherubimon Vice caught both missiles in his hands as if they were tennis balls, and flung them back at SaintGalgomon.
“Watch out!” Kei shouted.
SaintGalgomon dodged the missiles and launched into the air, firing at Cherubimon Vice’s back.
“Burst Shot!”
Cherubimon Vice blocked the shots with his arm and swatted SaintGalgomon away.
“Whoa!” SaintGalgomon barely missed being hit by the dark Digimon’s giant hand.
“Lightning Spear!”
Cherubimon’s attack slammed into Cherubimon Vice’s side, causing him to stagger. SaintGalgomon followed with an attack to his other side.
“Saint Tackle!”
Cherubimon Vice landed on the ground, momentarily stunned. Cherubimon hovered over him and brought down several white lightning bolts.
“Heaven’s Judgment!”
Cherubimon Vice flipped over, missing the lightning bolts, and jumped into the air to tackle Cherubimon. Cherubimon struggled for a moment, then fired a lightning bolt directly into Cherubimon Vice’s back, stabbing him.
“Lightning Spear!”
Cherubimon Vice let out a bellow, and fell back to the ground with a crash. There was silence as the dust cleared.
“Did you get him?” Yuka asked.
She was answered by Cherubimon Vice’s roar, as he got up and flung his arms down violently.
“Final… Judgment…”
Hundreds of dark thunderbolts rained down, causing Cherubimon and SaintGalgomon to scramble to avoid getting hit.
“Rrrr… all right, you!” SaintGalgomon shouted, “Desperate measures!” He charged at Cherubimon Vice, and the moment he made contact, he spun him around at supersonic speed.
“Mega Twister!”
He tossed Cherubimon Vice, sending him flying through the air. Cherubimon summoned her white thunderbolts, hitting Cherubimon Vice in midair.
“Final Judgment!”
The attack slammed Cherubimon Vice into the ground. As he struggled to get up, Kei looked over to SaintGalgomon and Cherubimon.
“Now’s your chance!” Kei shouted.
“Burst Shot!”
“Final Judgment!”
The attacks fragmented Cherubimon Vice, and as he dissolved into data, he let out a final roar.
Kei and Yuka gave sighs of relief.
“You did great, guys!” Kei exclaimed.
“You were amazing,” Yuka added.
Kei turned toward the Dark Seed base sitting inert nearby. She raised her D-Coder, pressed a button, and a bright light shot out of it, surrounding the dark shell in an impenetrable barrier.
“Just a little more,” she said, looking over at the Digimon.
SaintGalgomon and Cherubimon charged up their attacks and fired at the barrier.
“Giant Missile!”
“Lightning Spear!”
As the barrier absorbed their attacks, bright lights enveloped them and they reverted to Terriermon and Lopmon. The dark polyhedron cracked open like an egg and the Dark Seeds inside were quickly turned into dust.
When the barrier and the remains of the Dark Seed base faded away, Yuka raised her D-Coder and pointed it at the Digital Gate. A bright light shot out, sealing the Gate shut.
Immediately, Kei and Yuka’s bodies began to fade in and out.
“I guess that means our job is done!” Yuka said, smiling.
“About time, too,” Kei said, shivering. “This place gives me the creeps.”
A drowsy feeling came over Kei as the Projection machine prepared to bring her back to the Real World. She picked up Terriermon and hugged him, then looked over to Yuka and Lopmon.
“See you on the other side,” she murmured.