Argetlahm Adventures, Chapters 17-24. Chapters are titled as follows: 17. Veemon, Gatomon and a Lime 18. Straight to the Source 19. MISSION #6 - Enter the Vertex 20. Rebirth of Hope 21. MISSION #7 - Critical Mass 22. Armageddon Rising 23. Epilogue 24. Beyond (While the Argetlahm Adventures take place, Keyvan and his henchmen reside aboard his own personal starship, the S.S. Ess Ess Ess......) RED ALERT!! RED ALERT!! Keyvan - Great, now what? King Kai - Aaaah!! There appears to be a fanfic of some sort melding with yours, captain! Bender - Aw, hell, now what? Fry - I don't know, it's some kind of... fanfic, I guess. Scanners say it's rated R, though. Gennai - Isn't that just great. Keyvan - (eyes wide) Damn it! I wanted this to stay PG-13!!! Evasive manouvers!!! (Loud explosion sound is heard. The bridge is dumped into a deep red light.) Trunks - Critical systems damage, captain. It appears the R fic is going to collide with the PG-13 one. Keyvan - Any reports? Lynx (from Chrono Cross, rather than a wild panther) - The fic stars Veemon. It's a kind of sidestory of the Argetlahm Adventures, when everybody rests on Server continent. ....( -_-' ) Keyvan - Lynx? Is there something you're not telling me? Lynx - It has a lot of expletitive sex talk. (walks over to a computer and starts typing) Cartman - What the hell does he mean? Keyvan - Uh oh. Apparently, the next chapter of the Argetlahm Adventures is... um... how do I say this... (extensive pause) Keyvan - A lime? DUM DUM DUUUUUUUM King Kai - God no!! Fry - AAaaaaaahhhhhh!!! Gennai - That's impossible!! Trunks - By the gods! Bender - Heh heh.. so it's a porn, right? (everybody glares at Bender) Bender - ...sorry. Keyvan - (sits casually) It depends on how you look at it. Lots of sex talk goes on, but nothing descriptive. You know. Bender - Sex ed videos. Keyvan - Shut up. Bender - Screw you. (A/N - Heed this warning, readers! If my overly confusing update did not get through to you, THIS CHAPTER COULD BE A POSSIBLE LIME!! Well, maybe not, people talking about... um... damn man, I can't do this... just read. Disgusted? Go to the next chapter, then. Of course, it isn't up. ;) To make a long story short, this is the one chapter in the Argetlahm Adventures that merits it its R rating. As long as I have my fire hose nearby, your flames cannot harm me.) Do sexual situations between the Argetlahm crew scare you? Last warning - SKIP THE CHAPTER!! This is mostly just something I wanted to try doing. Don't mind me. -_-' ) Server Mainland Day 18, 1:57 AM It was generally designed to be a long night. As everybody lied off in the distance in their sleeping bags, oblivious to the possible final fight that lied before them the following day, a large group of the men sat around a blazing campfire set up a short hike away from the makeshift campsite. Ultimanium wasn't there. Neither was Magnus. Or Raul. TK reached forward and tossed another log on top of the crimson waves that danced before him. Everybody sat silent, watching the heated disintegration of the wood ahead of them. Yeah, this was a philosophical night for some people. But these are the guys we're talking about here, for God sakes. Conker leant forward. "I have a case of beer still." Rodent leapt up. "Yeeeeeah!! Let's toss it on the fire and see how far the flames rise!!" Everybody stared at him. "...what?" Conker sighed. "Rodent, what are you doing here? You're not a man." "Yes I am!" Conker tossed the case of beer to Rodent. "If you drink all of this and come back in about half an hour, we'll call you a man." "oooooh!!" Rodent squealed. He bounded back into the bushes to have a nice long drink to his manly self. Even though he still thought Conker carried around "root" beer with him. Boy, he had a lot to learn. Tai confined a snicker to himself. "He's gonna come back smaaaaaaaaashed. 20 bucks says so." "30 bucks says he accidently steps into the fire." Serge said. Tai grinned. "You're on." As everybody joined in communal man discussion, Veemon watched from a nearby bush. In his left hand he held his rolled up sleeping bag. He unrolled it partially and glanced at a small stain on the surface. He pushed gently on it with his finger. Yep, still wet. He couldn't hide his lack of knowledge any more. He had to have a long, stern talk with the guys. For good times sake. Veemon quickly rerolled his sleeping bag and began to creep slowly to Davis' log where he was seated. Davis stared down at the ground. "...." Goku turned and slapped him on the shoulder. "Damn, man!" Goku laughed. "What's wrong? Ultramagnus scaring the wit out of you?" Davis sighed. "A tiny bit. Has he ever made you wonder what his true power is?" Goku leaned back and stared up at the starry Digiworld sky. "Can't say so. I've really never cared what my adversary's power is. I just go at a fight, I give it my best, and see who wins. I'm not into messing up the order of things any. If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose. Like Cell. You know Cell. I don't put time into figuring him out, I don't find his weakness, I just fight as I am. I'm not into winning. All I want is a fair fight." Davis sulked. "I see what you mean. But doesn't it bug you the least that you stand the chance of not winning?" Goku shook his head. "Nope. I don't lose a terrible lot. If I lose, it's my own fault." Davis turned his attention from his discussion to find that the entire circle had quieted down. They all sat and watched the burning wood in front of them, as if they were mesmerized by the glowing chars. TK looked up. "I'm glad I boarded the Argetlahm. Are you guys?" Everybody nodded. Conker grinned. "It's nice to know there's so many heavy drinkers out there." "You can say what you want," TK mumbled. "But... I've made so many friends in the past 2 weeks it's not funny. You guys are all so awesome." "You guys are pretty bitchin' too." Karsh smirked. "Your digimon-things saved my ass multiple occaisions." TK glanced back down. "Just wondering.. say, like we didn't win when we fought Ultramagnus.. what would be the last thing in your life you'd want to do?" Serge frowned. "Pleasurewise?" Davis bowed his head. "I'd like to make up to Kari some time... I've been ignoring her for the past while, and I think we're starting to split apart..." All the guys stared at him, expecting an answer. Davis glanced around nervously before sulking where he sat. "...I want to fuck her." The group erupted in applause. Tai just stared at Davis with a twitch in his face. Veemon stared at the group with a distorted look on his face. Alright, that just sounds funny. Davis, could I speak to you over here... it's about this 'vocabulary'... Izzy and TK put their hands behind their heads. "Haven't we all." More cheering. Tai glared at Izzy. Goku picked at his fingernails. "I wonder if Chichi is putting out." Hooting and hollering from the peanut gallery. Tai started laughing for the first time that night. Veemon shook his head. Putting out? Putting.. out? Putting what out? Serge sweatdropped. "Okay, Kid..." Everybody fell off their logs, laughing before Serge could finish. "Damn man, now THAT would be funny!" TK yelled inbetween giggles. Veemon snuck up and tapped Davis on the back, making him turn his head momentairly. "...Veemon?" Davis whispered. "Make it quick, we're trying to talk here." Veemon bowed his head. "It's about something serious." Davis got up and ducked back with Veemon into the bushes as everybody continued laughing. ******** "Alright, Veemon, what do you want?" Davis sighed. Veemon twiddled his thumbs. "Well... how can I say this without sounding like a kid of yours? Okay... give me a minute..." "You could have planned this out somewhat." Veemon grit his teeth. "I have... Davis? I need some knowledge of yours here." Davis rolled his eyes. "Talk to Izzy." "Birds. Bees. I want the talk." Veemon sighed. Davis stared at Veemon. "....t....t.....the talk?... Veemon, what's the deal?" "Normally, digimon's mothers would teach them about this kind of thing... anyways, it started with this." Veemon unrolled the sleeping bag and pointed to the stain. "Do you know what this is?" Davis sat motionless, looking at the small stain on the bag. ".....why, that's... um... that's .... what's the word?..." Damn it, how the hell do I say this to someone like Veemon? ... okay, keep him busy for a minute while you think of an answer. Yeah. "...I know what it is, but first you need to know what causes it." "What?" "Did you have a dream recently?" "Gatomon. And she... um...." Damn it, how the hell do I say this to someone like Davis? ... okay, keep him busy for a minute while you think of an answer. Yeah. "...she fought Machinedramon, and I watched!... but that's not the point." Davis checked around him to make sure no one was watching. "Did she do anything... 'funny'... during the dream?" "Weird stuff, Davis. She did..." "Something pleasureable." Veemon nodded vigorously. "Uncomfortable, yet pleasureable at the same time." Davis lied down on his back by Veemon, glaring at the stars above the two isolated heroes. "And you really want to do that again? Yes? Man, you must really want to impress Gato badly." Veemon blinked. "...impress?" Davis winced. "Okay... let's try it like this... okay... I like to refer to the creation of life as one giant jigsaw puzzle. Some people, and digimon in your case, have notches in them which let them interlock with other people/digimon! When these people interlock they create new puzzle pieces to make the entire puzzle bigger! Understand?" Veemon sweatdropped. "...no." ".. people put toppings on other pizzas; other people, and when people witness this more pizzas are made!" "...wha?" Davis made a ring with his left index finger and thumb, and drove the index finger on his right hand through it. "Look familiar to you?" he growled. "Can't say so." Veemon sighed, shrugging. Davis closed his eyes. "Screw A goes into Slot B. Envision it." Veemon sulked. "Nope." "What the hell!" Davis shouted. "Vee, you were able to humiliate Ken and Yolei when they scored during the Ultimatum, you were able to point out Tai and Sora's plan to sleep together then during a game of Truth and Dare, and I heard you talking from Kari's bunk with Patamon about the entries in Gato's diary when we raided the place (A/N - Chapter 4), and you can't say you understand any of this?!" "None of it," Veemon sighed, dropping to a sit. "I try to use your language so it seems like I'm more in the group when the truth is I couldn't identify any of it if my life depended on it. You could say I'm lucky you haven't detected it before. I just get an urge whenever she's near me, that's the only lead I have." The proverbial lightbulb above Davis' head flicked on. "...heh... hey, Vee, I have an idea. If this doesn't show you what I mean, nothing will." ******** Izzy glanced down at his watch. "...3...2...1.." Rodent flew out of the bushes in a frenzy, screaming his head off. "YAAAAAHH!!! IT'S AFTER ME!!! AHHHH!!" Being the stupid idiot he is, he ran straight through the campfire, lighting his boots on fire. He quickly dropped and rolled, extinguishing his blazing footwear. Serge grinned. Tai just rolled his eyes and handed him a wad of bills. "What's after you?" Conker sighed. "The EVIL ROCK GOLEM OF DOOM, MAN!!" Rodent wailed out. "I tried to run, but he turned into a brick and threw himself at my head! I nearly got knocked out, but Jesus himself came down and disintegrated it before it hit my face! The rock-dude had a flamethrower-bazooka thing though, and he scared Jesus away! And suddenly the trees all lit up in a blue flame and when the smoke cleared I was in a giant disco hall! So I started to fight my way out using what Ninjitsu I knew, however, some bouncers came after me and shot me with their eye lasers and I exploded, killing everyone! When I finally awoke, I was back in the Digital World except all the trees were painted plaid and a marching band began chasing me so I ran into this clearing and found everyone! Weird, huh?!" Tai glared back to Serge. Serge handed him 20 dollars back. A Gotsumon stamped out of the bushes, carrying a baseball bat. "Where'd that little bastard go?!" "You just missed him." Tai said flatly. The Gotsumon eyed the group. "Damn it, must've went the other way. Sorry." He turned and stomped back into the foilage. Izzy looked up from the laptop on his knee with a evil grin on his face. "How many of you like hentai?" Everybody rose from their seats and rushed over to get a good look at Izzy's screen. ******** Veemon staggered slightly as he entered the long field. He looked around at the vast plain in front of him and spotted 2 tents situated at the lowest part of the clearing. "Davis? What are we doing here?" "A little field exercise," Davis whispered. "I want you to go down there and get a good look into Kari's tent for me." Veemon blinked in confusion for what had to be the eighty-ninth time that night. "But what is it about Kari? It's not Kari that gets me..." "Just do it," Davis muttered, checking to make sure no one was watching. "You'll get the point... literally... if you catch my drift." Veemon blinked for his ninetith time, before turning and heading slowly down the rolling plain for the lit tents off in the distance. Whatever Davis wanted from him, he meant it. It must've been for his own good. But then again, it all depends on how you look at it... unfortunately for Veemon, he would have front row seats. As Veemon cleared the site limits and tiptoed cautiously up to the tent on the left, he stayed out of range of the light and listened silently. Veemon sat and watched the silouette of Kari and Gatomon fight over what looked like a magazine. "Hey!" Kari laughed. "I'm not done! Give that back! Just because you have a mindset on getting... er... whatever from one person doesn't mean I can't indulge in a good 'ol chick mag!" Veemon shook his head. "Getting whatever. Suuuuure. The metaphors just keep coming." He mumbled to himself. Inside the tent, it was visible that Gatomon drooped slightly. "Sorry, Kari," Gatomon sighed. "It just feels like I'm betraying Veemon with that in my vision." *Keyvan bursts out of a dimensional rip, somewhere else in space* Keyvan - Well, buy me a station wagon and roll me in hot tar! The bitch really does have the hots for that little freak! Gennai - Captain, please refrain from such language. Trunks - If this turns into a lemon, someone is going to die. King Kai - If this turns into a lemon, someone is going to get my condolences. Bender - If this turns into a lemon, someone is going to get my number. (everybody stares at Bender with a twitch in their faces) Cartman - Shut up shitface, and quit ruining the moment. (Bender and Cartman wrestle each other to the ground and start punching each other) Cartman - Bi-atch!! Respect my authori-tah!! *...er... back to the story...* Veemon scratched his head. "Betray? Me? What's reading a chick mag have to do with betrayal?" Gatomon stared up with a glint in her eye. "I'm sick and tired of sitting around like this! Veemon? You anywhere near this campsite? Then come and get me!" Veemon stepped in front of the tent opening, ready to scream "oogly boogly nya ha ha" and scare both residents, but froze as he caught sight of Gatomon. "... uh... hi.. Gatomon?" Veemon grinned uneasily and waved weakly to Gatomon. Kari rolled her eyes and got up where she stood, holding her sleeping bag in one arm and the magazine in the other. "Gatomon? Do you need some alone time?" Gatomon blinked. "Why, sure." As Kari left the tent scowling to herself, Gatomon turned her attention to Veemon. She threw her arms to the side and fell back onto her sleeping bag. "Say no more." Gatomon cooed. Veemon lit up, alongside a gigantic sweatdrop. "...uh...ah.... 'Screw A goes into Slot B'... I think I'm getting the hang of this..... hold on a minute, I'm coming...." Veemon gulped and began to approach. ******** Blackwargreymon opened his eyes. "Everybody! What was that?!" Piedmon looked up from his desk, situated off in the distance away from the girls' tents. "Why, I think it's the sounds of.. true love! Or so I'm told... why, yes! That would make an excellent production! I can see it now... 'A Midnight Summer's Digital Dream'.. or something..." He dabbed a feathered pen into an ink goblet next to him and began scribbling down notes hastily. Mummymon sat up. "These different-dimension Digidestined sure act funny, don't they? They almost act like.. me." Arukenimon sighed to herself as she looked down on the camp, arms folded. "Yeah, except they actually succeed." "That can be changed." Mummymon murmured as he slid closer to Arukenimon. "Get away from me, you freak." Mummymon winced as he slumped away. He lied down and returned to sleep. Blackwargreymon also returned to a lying-down position in the field. "Do not let your guard up. Ultramagnus is a crafty foe. These new warriors will help us greatly in the fight, and it is crucial we do not bother them while they perform their task." ******** Izzy gaped as he glanced back down to his laptop screen. "Davis! TK! Tai! Come here quick!" At this moment in time, the digidestined were the only ones remaining awake. Tai reached over and removed a half-full can of beer from a sleeping Conker's hand and dumped a small amount on the simmering campfire, sending it ablaze again. "What is it, Izzy?" "Scanners are showing an outburst of digital information in the vincinity. It's probably signifying the beginning phases of the creation of a new Digiegg." TK's eyes opened wide. "A new Digiegg? Where's it situated?" Izzy squinted down. "The signal hasn't fully picked up yet, but it's somewhere near the girls' tents." Or IN the girls' tents, if you want to be specific, Davis thought to himself with a grin. "So it's outside of the nursery. Maybe some Digimon got lucky then." "Maybe so," Izzy said, closing his laptop. "I can't say I've seen an occurance like this in a while. Most of the time the Digieggs just show up in the nursery. The only way the Digiegg could have been forged in the wild like this is if a Digimon mated." TK looked over. "If a Digiegg is formed in the wild like this, how long does it take to hatch?" Izzy shrugged. "Depending on the Digimon involved, anywhere from a day to a week. We'll probably wind up heading to Ultramagnus' HQ before we get time to look for it, so I guess we'll have to leave it alone." Tai leant back. "Aw, forget about it. It was probably two stupid Digimon experimenting, that's all." "I'm going to go take a piss," Davis said. "Be right back." As Davis made his way back into the bush and began unzipping his pants, he glanced over and noticed a small blue-white figure wobbling over the hill, dazed. Davis quickly zipped back up. "Hey, that looks like a Demiveemon! I wonder what a Digimon like that is doing out here?" "...Davis..." Demiveemon slurred. Davis blinked. "...huh? Vee? That's you? How'd you get beaten down to In-training, Gato got second thoughts?" "..nah... it was just a bit rough, that's all...." Demiveemon waddled a couple steps forward before falling, Davis catching him. "...never thought something like that could take so much out of a person... it was pretty cool, though... coooooooooooooooooooooooooll...." Davis looked slightly worried. One, Gatomon probably did him into near-unconsciousness, and two, Demiveemon was officially getting more than him. "...forget about it. You wanna go to sleep? I think I'm ready for a nap." Demiveemon smiled stupidly, before falling unconscious. "...cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooll....." Davis rubbed a hand over Demiveemon. "...poor guy." Instead of heading back to the fire at the top of the hill, he turned and began to carry the knocked Demiveemon back to his tent. He'd better get sleep at some point if he wanted to be useful during the next mission. "Rest well," Davis muttered. "It only gets worse from here. ...hey, Vee." "...whaaaat....?" "Was Kari naked?" "Sure was." "...figures it would be the one time I'm not down there...." Both figures plodded toward their tent. It was a long night in a short period of time, to be sure. Well, how do you like that, then? ...please don't hurt me. Finally, after much wincing, we finally get back to the problem on hand - Ultramagnus still has the Dragon Balls and Chrono Cross nearby, and that can only spell destruction for the universe. Can the Argetlahm crew get to him in time to stop him? Find out next time on the Argetlahm Adventures!! END OF CHAPTER 17 Kari (voiceover) - Last time on the Argetlahm Adventures, the Argetlahm crew waited on the continent Server in the Digital World for a shipment of wish granting artifacts called "Dragon Balls". Ultramagnus was planning to use these Dragon Balls to activate the Chrono Cross and tear a huge gate between the Digital World and the fourth dimension so his forces could get through. We ambushed the hydrofoils escorting the Dragon Balls to Ultramagnus, though we got in some tight fixes. However, Blackwargreymon and Piedmon showed up and helped us out. Pretty freaky stuff, considering they were dead in the 3.5 Digital World. It was soon revealed though that they were actually from the 2.5 Digital World. So we fought alongside them to stop the transports and get the Dragon Balls, but we soon figured out that they weren't in fact the real Dragon Balls, they were clever counterfeits. Ultramagnus was actually receiving the Dragon Balls from the other side of Server, and the entire hovercraft transport mission was a decoy placed by Ultramagnus. Oh, and recently, Veemon and Gatomon boinked. But that's not the point. (A/N - Guess you really should have read last chapter, huh. =P ) Me and Davis are the only ones who know, so keep it quiet. Now, with Ultimanium and his forces rallied, we have to make our way to Ultramagnus' weapons testing site where the wishing and maybe the final battle will take place, across Server on the legendary Epoch Rock, a steppe across Server that's been captured by Ultramagnus for his own purposes. Wish us luck. (A/N - Before you start asking as you begin reading, Mummymon and Arukenimon were inductees into the group from last chapter. They are 2.5 residents too.) Server Continent - Jungle Wastes Day 18, 11:34 AM All of Ultimanium's battalion trudged across the savannah plain, Ultimanium, Magnus and Lord Raul leading. Everybody else hung a good distance behind them. Blackwargreymon, Piedmon, Mummymon and Arukenimon moved alongside the Digidestined. Izzy winced. "So that's how everything went. I guess I'm happy I'm a 4D person." "That was quite a desolate place," Blackwargreymon sighed. "What you call the '2.5' World. When I had heard the Digidestined were defeated and Ultramagnus and MaloMyotismon still reigned high without so much as a scratch on them, I knew all was lost. Still, however, we fought against Ultramagnus, him being the weaker of the two..." Goku blinked. "MaloMyotismon's even stronger?" "That's what we thought, up until now. We were defeated by Ultramagnus on seperate occaisions. We barely escaped with our lives." "I'm not liking where this is going," Cody said, sulking. "If Ultramagnus can be compared to MaloMyotismon then we're in deep trouble." "Quite more powerful, I believe," Vegeta muttered. "I detected two major power levels during the missions in the third dimension - one was 2 million... the other was 50 million..." "Just great," Gohan growled, kicking a rock as he passed by. "We had enough trouble dealing with Frieza, and that was exactly 1 million... how can you detect power levels that high, anyways?" "Just a wild estimate." Vegeta mumbled. Squall waded through a tall thicket of grass, cleaving away what he could with his gunblade. "I never did like the outdoors. Hey, Magnus, about how far away exactly did you say Epoch Rock was again?" "Several thousand kilometers," Magnus huffed. "However, as soon as Agumon and Veemon are re-energized, Wargreymon and Imperialdramon will get us their in under 10 hours. Duo and Heero said too that they can hold two passengers apiece." Mummymon glanced up from an ant hill on the ground. "I think some of our other friends should be showing up shortly, as well. We may be able to hitch a ride with them." Berri lifted an eyebrow. "..other... friends?" Everybody stumbled forward in surprise as a honk from a jeep startled them. Before anybody could turn, the vehicle rocketed forward and slowed down next to the group. Two small figures sat in the front seats, and their heads just poked over the doors of the jeep. A large, cloaked figure with wings took up both of the back seats. "Well, heeeellooooooo every-body!" Digitomamon chirped, his accent holding its high regard. "Wazzup, hoodies!" Puppetmon yelped. "We all ready to lay the smack down on this Ultra-freak?!" "Greetings, mortals," Daemon snarled. "It's great to see new recruits." "New recruits?" Conker sighed. "Listen here, we all share the same status - 'person who kicks Ultramagnus' ass'. Understood?" Cloud shifted uneasily. "...Blackwargreymon? Piedmon? Are these your.. um... friends?" "Our personal militia, if you will," Blackwargreymon explained. "These are all '2.5' digimon from my world that would be more than happy to aid us in our crusade to destroy Ultramagnus. Like me, their world was destroyed at Ultramagnus' hands and they wish to extract revenge for what he has done." Serge glanced hesitantly back at Mummymon. "...well.. sure?" "We're in a real rush here," Gatomon groaned. "We have to get to the other side of Server right away, and we only have room for so many people." "Some of you can take our hella-fast jeep!" Puppetmon wailed. Karsh sweatdropped. "...eh... no thanks." ******** Ultramagnus glanced up. "What's going on? Have we got any status reports?" Servant dabbed a pen onto a Palm Pilot in his hand. "I believe so, sir. The HQ automated defenses will be up and running in less than half an hour, and the HQ itself will be completely finished in about a day's work. Long range scanners should be operational in a moment's notice." Ultramagnus threw himself into his chair. "It's about frigging time. I'm sick and tired of straining my mind to search for Ulty and his bandwagon myself. Tell me these scanners will be able to do the job." The chair turned slowly to the paned glass behind his desk, where he overlooked a good section of the Server surface. "I can't say you robots have been able to do anything that I can't myself. I wonder how Ulty and his posse have been acting without my careful supervision.. lessee here..." Ultramagnus slowly rose his hands to his temples. While Ultramagnus concentrated, another android walked in and mumbled something to Servant, handing him a printout. Ultramagnus blinked. "..ah, yes. It seems Ultimanium has advanced from his earlier position. They're on a trajectory with Epoch Rock. Oh, and what's this... they have to pass straight through my headquarters to get there! Yessir, this would be a fine oppritunity to test my supposed 'automated defense'..." "Master, I've received a note from recon," Servant mumbled. "It says that several species of Digimon are making their way here from the east. We've already scanned them thourough, and Kaiser speculates they with Digidestined..." "About time we got a workout!" Ultramagnus laughed, slapping his hands together. "Is Ultimanium with them?" "I don't believe these are Ultimanium's digidestined, sir." "Damn it. Oh well, might as well go on a hunt regardless..." "That's not all. Scanners also show the beginning of what seems to be dimensional ruptures on the north and west sides of the HQ." Ultramagnus blinked. "Ultimanium doesn't have the J3 though." ******** Davis glanced down upon his D3, to find several blinking dots in the upper-left corner of the screen. "..huzzah?" Conker stood. "Dave? Whatcha got there?" Raul peered over Davis' shoulder. "It appears the D3 is picking up several other readings. There's other Digidestined in the vincinity, but the question is, who are they and why are they here?" Blackwargreymon frowned. "More digidestined? Are these digidestined from your dimension?" " 'fraid so." Armadillomon gaped. "I know those readings anywhere. It's the rest, alright." "What are they doing here?" Ultimanium gasped. "They can't be thinking about attacking Ultramagnus head on! Most of those people can't get beyond Ultimate, for God's sakes! Where are they headed?" Ultimanium glanced down on Davis' D3, then turned away scowling. "Very well figures. They're headed for his HQ, too. We have to get there even faster now if we want to get there to assist them." "Wait, wait, wait!" Karsh belted. "You're insisting we attack before they do? We have to get a thousand km into the island in a couple minutes, and even then who knows what kind of crap we'll find at his base? The place is probably crawling with androids." Goku cracked his knuckles. "Well, if you have to bust a few heads on the way in, I'm there." "Already got transportation covered..." Veemon growled. Veemon... digivolve to... EXVEEMON!! Exveemon... DNA digivolve to... PAILDRAMON!!! Paildramon... Mega digivolve to... IMPERIALDRAMON!!!! Imperialdramon... Mode Change to... Fighter Mode!!! Agumon... warp digivolve to... WARGREYMON!!! "Everybody, choose a ride, quick!" Wargreymon bellowed. "If I know anything about who's headed to Ultramagnus, it's that we need to hurry!" ******** "This is insane!" Metalgarurumon huffed, shooting across and down the plain ahead of him. "We don't even know WHAT kind of force is eminating from that spot!" "You're one to talk!" Zudomon yelled. "You're the one who's running so fast!!" Zudomon ran after Metalgarurumon awkwardly, with thunderous steps echoing in his wake. "Izzy said he was meeting us at the center of Server continent," Matt shouted. "At the rate they just jumped toward there, we have to pick up the pace somewhat!" Joe rolled his eyes, gripping Zudomon's horn for dear life as his ride shook violently. "This is the wrong digimon to talk to about something like that. I mean..." "Shaddup!" Zudomon bellowed. Joe winced and gripped Zudomon harder. As Joe began to loosen up his grasp, a blur rocketed past Zudomon and Joe threw his arms back onto Zudomon, nearly losing his balance and tumbling a good 30 feet to the ground below. "Getting closer.." Sora mumbled, checking her digivice for what had to be the umpteenth time that minute. "...dark energy inbound. It's sort of like a reading from a whole bunch of control spires... it seems more concentrated though... almost like it's a dozen of them on one spot. How far?" "5 minutes time," Garudamon shouted. "I can see just a glimmer of it. I don't think it's a control spire..." Joe lifted his eyeglasses. "..funny... that doesn't look too much like a control spire.. it's way too tall..." "Who knows, maybe the control spire is inside it," Metalgarurumon sighed. "Let's just get over there and figure out what this is all about. This entire thing is freaking me out, if you ask me." Sora blinked. "Wait a minute, that's not a control spire!" "Oh, really," Joe sighed. "No.. it's like... an office building." Everybody screeched to a halt. "OFFICE BUILDING?!" Sora glanced around hesitantly. "... an evil office building." "AN EVIL OFFICE BUILDING!!" "This is worse than I thought," Matt gaped. "We have to get over there, and now. For all we know Digimon could be being put into slavery typing memos and we'd probably never know it. Or mail boys. Or something.... I just don't want to think about it. C'mon, let's blow this place to shreds!" "Metal Wolf Claw!!" Metalgarurumon shouted, a gigantic blue laser streaking across the plain headed straight for the HQ. Before the halfway mark, a counter-laser flew from nowhere and impacted against the energy blast, shredding it into several dozen minor lights and deflecting them back at the group. All three Digimon and their masters dove into a gulley in the field, narrowly missing the rebounded ice laser. "What the hell happened?!" Joe screeched. ******** As parts of the group rode to the scene of the disaster on Imperialdramon and Wargreymon, 6 other people were reduced to more mundane means of travel. Daemon, Ultimanium, Kari, Goku, Vegeta and Digitomamon were all squeezed into Digitomamon's hella-fast jeep, which was managing to streak across the jungle plains at an average speed of 600 mph. Ultimanium closed his eyes to avoid having them plowed out the back of his head. ".....eh...how...exac...tly... do...you....get....this....speed....with...a....jeep..." "It's a V12 powering this thing, baby!" Digitomamon squealed. "1200 horses under the hood! Turbocharged! The whole fix!!" "I feel like I'm going to get jet lag just riding in this thing." Kari winced. Daemon reached down to his robed arm and readjusted his watch three time zones ahead. "Believe me, you do." "I don't imagine this takes bumps very well at this speed, does it?" Goku sighed. "Well," Daemon said, scratching his head. "Now that you mention it..." Kari just managed to make out a dip in the ground before the hella-fast jeep dove into it and hit the other side, catapaulting it a good 50 feet in the air before landing with an exaggerated bounce, nearly tipping it. Everybody sat with wide, bloodshot eyes, breathing heavily. Except Digitomamon, of course. "Watch out, everybody!!" Digitomamon wailed. "Hill! Incoming!!" "What are you talking about?" Vegeta scowled. "I don't see a hi CRASH The hella-fast jeep shot straight up the hill and flew through the air in cruise control, clearing a canyon. The jeep started to drop from its 800-foot altitude and landed on Imperialdramon. Imperialdramon's passengers scattered. "Damn it!!" Davis wheezed. "Don't scare us like that!!" "Davis," Kari breathed. "Can we switch places?" Davis grinned. "Why, anything for you, Kari." He got up and took Kari's position in Digitomamon's jeep as it revved and dropped off of Imperialdramon and landed with a squeal on the ground below, shooting off ahead of Imperialdramon. Karsh stared for a second at the jeep on the ground, before it disappeared. "Man, bitchin' wheels..." Everybody jumped as the jeep hit the ground. Ultimanium stayed where he was. "Funny... Davis, do you notice anything funny on your D3?.... Davis?" A short distance behind them, Davis plowed straight into the ground with a sickening crack. He slowly lifted his head. "...kids, wear your seatbelts...." "What's going on, Ulty?" Goku asked. "You said something about the D3.. is anything going on?" "I'm not sure," Ultimanium mumbled. "It appears several more dimensional rifts are opening on different sides of Ultramagnus' HQ... the frequency of the rifts are quite unique... if they remain in that state for an extended period of time, they may open on their own. Where could they be opened from, though?" ******** Minonim sat on the bridge of the Argetlahm, punching buttons. "Yes, sir. The reinforcements you requested should be arriving shortly. When the J3 is activated, the remaining Z fighters and digidestined should take notice... are you sure dragging everybody into this fight is the wisest thing to do, Lord Raul?" "I'm certain," Raul spoke through his psychic link. "The Argetlahm crew, us and the other Digidestined are converging on Ultramagnus' HQ from different directions... if we can get more forces crossing ours up, we may stand a chance against Ultramagnus' bunkered defense. The HQ is extremely heavily defended and any help will benefit us greatly." ******** "Wing Blade!!" "Vulcan's Hammer!!" The bolt of energy and the wave of fire impacted harmlessly against the invisible barrier, doing little damage help than Metalgarurumon did. "This is getting us nowhere!" Matt shouted. "We can't do anything from the outside.. if we could get our digimon inside, maybe we would be able to do some damage at least..." Sora blinked. "That barrier doesn't look too solid.. maybe our digimon can get in while our attacks can't." Zudomon stopped next to where the attacks dissiapated and poked a finger through. "I guess. C'mon, guys, let's get in there and raise some he..." Zudomon trailed off. Joe glanced up. "Hey, Zudo! What's going on?" Zudomon began backpedalling. "..did you guys hear something? There's a siren going off a distance aways.." Matt remained still, on top of Metalgarurumon. "..I think I hear it too. Any idea what it means?" Intruder detected. Engaging defense matrix. Joe sweatdropped. "Is there a reason I didn't like the sound of that?" As Joe began whining, everybody lurched at the sound of a large clank off in the distance, followed by a sustained rattling. The group got their bearings back in time to defend themselves from an incoming hurricane of bullets. "What the...!" Automated turrets online. LRM engaging. "Guns? Turrets?" Garudamon howled. "This is real world intervention, alright. But by whom?" "Only one way to find out," Matt growled. "C'mon, everybody, we're going in there and getting some answers." ******** "Master," Servant hummed. "Scanners indicate the digimon have entered the defense matrix. The automated weapons have reacted accordingly, but there have been no confirmed kills. Perhaps we should send out a squad to investigate?" Ultramagnus nodded. "Do that." Another android darted in. "Sir! We're picking up signals from the southern defense matrix! The Argetlahm crew is here!" "Let's see how are little 'matrix' handles these infidels, shall we?" Ultramagnus laughed. "Start everything up. Make sure the entire southern matrix is armed and ready before Ultimanium arrives." ******** As Digitomamon's hella-fast jeep scorched across the plain, with Imperialdramon and Wargreymon overhead, Daemon reached behind the jeep where the spare tire would normally be strapped and took out a bundle of pipes. "Artillery accounted for!" Intruder detected. Engaging defense matrix. "This is it, everybody!" Imperialdramon bellowed. "Show those machineheads what we've got!!" "Here," Kid barked, tossing Elements to Karsh, Cloud and Squall. "Yer gonna need these. We have no choice but to fight ranged today. I hope you're all good with magic spells, the fireworks are gonna fly pretty quick." As everybody prepared themselves, the groups could make out in the distance several gun turrets rising from the ground and plateaus around the designated path to Ultramagnus' fortress. The canyon wound wildly - and everybody was headed straight for it. Everybody shielded themselves behind their respective rides and prepared for the barrage of projectiles that would follow. Tentomon... digivolve to... KABUTERIMON!! Kabuterimon... digivolve to... MEGAKABUTERIMON!!! Patamon... digivolve to... ANGEMON!! Angemon... digivolve to... MAGNAANGEMON!!! Gatomon... digivolve to... ANGEWOMON!! Armadillomon... armor digivolve to... DIGMON!! Daemon quickly began screwing the pipes together, and loaded a 160mm shell into the contraption. Davis, now back in the jeep with some broken bones, glanced over. "... now what the hell is that?" "Can't have a corporate raid without missiles," Daemon snarled, hoisting the long tube onto his shoulder. "Fire in the hole!!" Daemon yanked hard on the trigger, sending a rocket-propelled shell spiraling forward ahead of the jeep and slamming into a turret with a thunderous explosion. The force from the expulsion of energy tipped the jeep onto two wheels as it turned sharply into the canyon. Imperialdramon and Wargreymon shot by overhead, turrret shots tracing them in the air. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwww!!" Digitomamon yelped. Imperialdramon banked sharply through all three axes, a wave of autocannon fire tracing a stencil of him in the air where he once hovered. "I'm taking too much flak here! Guys, help out! I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!" "Clown Trick!" Piedmon shouted, sending a pitch-white ball of energy down upon the ground and shattering a nearby turret. A Celestial Arrow flew down following it, punching through another autogun and erupting it in flame. Kari concentrated on the Aquabeam Element supplied by Kid and focused a heavy pressurized beam of water down on the ground, crumpling a turret beneath it. Automated turrets online. LRM engaging. "Roadbloooooock!!" Davis wailed. Ahead of them in the canyon, a legion of androids awaited in a line for the hella-fast jeep. They began to open fire on the group. Goku quickly lept, landing standing on the seat. With rapid gestures, Goku hastily unleashed a fury of Ki blasts down on the choke point, sending any androids that weren't shattered instantly flying. The jeep roared through the chaos unscathed. ******** Servant tugged at his collar. "Sir, we're intercepting assaults on both flanks of the HQ. The Digidestined and the Argetlahm crew are punching through our defenses, however, they are being slowed greatly. Perhaps you would like to move the Dragon Balls and the Chrono Cross to Epoch Rock now for safekeeping?" "No," Ultramagnus growled. "Even if they get through the exterior defenses, there's no way they'll get close to my office." ******** "Giga Missile!!" "Vulcan's Hammer!!" "Wing Blade!!" Projectiles bombarded a phalanx of turrets as missiles winded over the digimons' heads. Matt slid slightly as the exploding turrets rocked the very ground that Metalgarurumon raced across. Sora sat on Garudamon as she rocketed forward through the air. She had her hands to her eyes, as she watched off in the distance as more explosions ravaged the landscape a long distance away. "Garudamon! There's other people attacking!" Matt flinched as he glanced at his digivice. "..uh.. guys.. I'm picking up other digidestined. It must be Izzy and his group! C'mon, let's kick it! We have to get there to meet him, and now!" Both Garudamon and Metalgarurumon and their passengers shot forward, bullets dancing across the ground and air that they covered momentairly before. As they began getting closer, the turrets immediately stopped showing up and were being filled in with larger ones. The sparks that once embraced the ground from the missed bullets were gradually being replaced with full-blown explosions from the heavy artillery shells fired from the new cannons. C'mon, Izzy, Matt thought to himself. Help us out here. ******** "Horn Buster!" A zig-zagging beam arced toward the ground, impacting against a missle turret and tearing it to shreds. "Positron Laser!" A blue-purple burst of light roared from Imperialdramon's arm cannon and tore along the ground, slashing through any automated defense setup that dared be in the beam's way. Daemon squinted at the horizon as Digitomamon's hella-fast jeep soared out of the canyon, landing on the rolling hills below with a thud. "Guys! I think I can make out the place now!" He passed a pair of binoculars to Davis. Davis glared through the eyepiece, eyeing the gigantic headquarters rising over the land ahead of them. "That's the place, alright," Davis muttered. "Never thought it would be so big though..." "DEFENSE has been BREACHED!" Wargreymon cheered, lowering altitude to shoot straight across the ground and tearing the ground beneath him apart. Imperialdramon, Wargreymon, the hella-fast jeep and the two Gundams stopped and hovered to a stop on the crest of a hill. Ultramagnus' HQ was less than a mile away, and the automated defense had already been cleared. The digimon, the jeep and the Gundams had taken moderate damage on the way here, but they were still kicking, at least to invade Ultramagnus' hideout. The group, on their transports, cleared that last distance between the massive compound and stopped on the concrete foundation surrounding the facility, radiating out from the HQ quite a ways. "This place is huge!" Conker gaped. Indeed it was. The HQ itself was easily the size of a small city, with smaller barracks, supply depots and comm centers in two tight circles around the compound, and the trademark tower in the center. "Ultramagnus' sanctum," Vegeta growled. "He has to be in there." As everybody talked among themselves, biding the time until Ultimanium could issue any new orders, Raul stared out back into the wilderness. "Hey, man," Goku laughed. "What's the big deal? We're here! It's almost over! We just have to trounce Ultramagnus and we can go home!... and... hey... what's wrong?" Raul turned slowly and stared at Goku with some solemnity in his expression. "Didn't that just seem a bit easy back there?" Goku shifted. "What are you getting at?" "I don't think that was the extent of Ultramagnus' exterior defense," Raul mumbled. "We'd better stay on our toes, there's no telling what we could run into before we get in there." "You mean me." Everybody turned in surprise and stared to the tower entrance... and were shocked to find what stood there. *Standing at the marble-suspended tower entrance, a digidestined is standing. Not particularly a happy one. He is wearing purple-white combat armor, with a cape, and yellow-framed purple tinted glasses. What stands here is the essence of an emperor past. And his vengence from the third dimension has returned to extract revenge.* KAISER - Dark Digidestined "Welcome, all. Especially you, Digidestined." Kaiser droned. Davis blinked. "..K..Ken?" Both Imperialdramon and a dedigivolved Gatomon stepped forward. "Davis! That's not Ken! That's the Ken from the third dimension! He's evil!!" Kaiser's face twisted. "Ah, it's Veemon and Gatomon, again, isn't it. I hope you're all happy with defeating Megakimeramon and all, I'll have you know I will not make a mistake such as make my creations do my fighting for me again." Tai twitched. "...creations? Megakimeramon? Is there something I'm missing here?" "We'll explain it after," Ultimanium barked, turning to Ken. "Alright, Kaiser, what do you want with us?" Kaiser threw his fist into his open hand with an echoing slam. "Just some revenge, that's all. Given that Ultramagnus is extremely busy right now, I supposed I'd help defend and get some revenge. My finest creation fell to your damn generic digimon - and I'm not going to lose again! Imperialdramon, get ready to fight!!" Kid chuckled. "This guy has got to be kidding. Eh, Goku?.... Goku?" Goku tapped his Scouter, turning it off. "His power level's 1,300,000..." A "WHAT?!?" echoed out of the crowd. Ken let loose a villanous laugh. "Yeah, that's right! Actually, come to think of it, why do I need digimon to do the fighting for me in the first place if I can eradicate you all by blowing on you? Imperialdramon, you and your friends had the nerve to destroy Megakimeramon, however it was your ambition. I think I'll let you die first." Ken grunted as a black/purple aura rose around him. "Up for a fight?" Imperialdramon reverted to Paildramon in a flash of light. "I'd be honored. Davis? TK? Cody? Would you do the honors?" Cody blinked. "..I forgot! Since Veemon has Wormmon's DNA.." Davis and TK joined in. "..we can Quad DNA Digivolve!" (A/N - a power obtained in the original Ultimatum) Kaiser folded his arms. "Whatever. Just don't get me too bored." Digmon and MagnaAngemon reverted to their rookie forms and begun the process... Patamon... digivolve to... ANGEMON!! Armadillomon... digivolve to... ANKYLOMON!! Angemon!...Ankylomon!.. DNA Digivolve to... SHAKKOUMON!!! Paildramon... Shakkoumon... DNA Digivolve to... QUATERISIPALIMON!!!! Quaterisipalimon unfurled his wings, threw out his bladed arms and swung his 12 chainguns in front of him in a stretching motion. "..ah, yes, it's good to be back." Goku and Vegeta flared up into their Super Saiyan levels. "C'mon, kid," Vegeta laughed. "Let's see how the power of the pimply-faced teenager faces off with the Super Saiyan!!" "Fools!" Kaiser screamed, his aura roaring up around him. "I am not a mere teenager! I am the Lord of Darkness, the Digimon Emperor!!" Ken swung his hand in front of him and fired off a burst of dark energy, which impacted against Quaterisipalimon with a shock of purple electricity. Quaterisipalimon let out a stifled roar as he stumbled back from the force of the blast. "Never did like Ken too much, anyways," Quaterisipalimon muttered. "Culprit Vene!!" Quaterisipalimon's armored lower legs began to pulse with pink energy. When everybody blinked, they could see Quaterisipalimon where he stood before, and a distrupted Kaiser that had dodged out of the way of Quaterisipalimon's lightspeed dashing attack. "You're going to regret that!" Kaiser screeched, lashing out with a malleable beam of scarlet energy. "Crimson Lightning!!" Tai ducked down out of the way of Kaiser's borrowed attack before leaping back to his feet. "How is he doing that? That's Myotismon's attack!" "Ken in this dimension performs genetic experiments with digimon," Gatomon growled. "Besides, I should know, he nearly got me. For all we know he could have spliced digimon data with his own genes. That would probably explain his power level." "Less babble, more battle!" Kaiser yelled. "Grisly Wing!!" Kaiser's cape flapped in the sudden gush of wind that surrounded the group. From the sides of the main tower, a swarm of bats dove at the group. As everybody battled and swatted at the onslaught, Gohan and Vegeta broke from the group and dove at the occupied Kaiser. Both unleashed a hard punch at the same digidestined's chest, narrowly missing, due to Kaiser's unnatural dexterity. As Kaiser backpedalled from the dazed Saiyans, Goku dropped out of the sky and dropped an elbow hard onto Kaiser's position. Kaiser dodged effortlessly and turned to Goku to begin countering the frenzy of fists that were being thrown at him. Matt blinked. "What the hell?!? Tai? Davis? Kari?! What's everybody doing here?!" Tai's eyes grew wide as he glanced over to the eastern side of the building to find a confused, yet prepared trio of Digidestined/Digimon. "Matt! Sora! Joe! Izzy got your message, right?" Joe adjusted his specs. "Yeah, we rushed here as fast as we could. What's going on with the tower and all? And... what the... Ken?! What's Ken doing in his Emperor outfit?!" "A fake Ken!" Tai growled, clenching his fists. "We have no time to explain! We need help and we need it now!" Wargreymon... Metalgarurumon... DNA Digivolve to... OMNIMON!!!! "What in blazes..!" Ken bellowed, shortly before being hit by a Wing Blade. Garudamon dove down on the distracted teen and attempted to bring a hard fist down on Kaiser, but Kaiser was able to dodge clean before his old standpoint was crushed. Daemon rocketed into the air from the jeep. "Alright, you little bastard! Leave us alone and let us do our job and we won't have to go to desperate measures!" "Ha! No single Digimon is going to bring me down! I am the amalgation!!" Ken laughed, pointing to a somewhat distraught Daemon in the air. "Evil Inferno!!" Daemon bellowed, letting a stream of nova-white flame down on Kaiser. Kaiser quickly threw up his cape to deflect the blast, and parried a good portion of the attack before it finally got through and hit Kaiser. Tai, Davis and Cody all rushed Kaiser at that moment and all cross-slashed him in a three-pronged attack, all three taking to the air at Kaiser's position with blades held high. All three landed and whipped to face the stunned Kaiser, grasping two of the induced slashes across his side. "Damn you!!" "Supreme Cannon!!" Goku threw his hands forward after a lengthly charging period. "....HAAAAAA!!" Kaiser crossed up his arms to block the two gigantic lasers screaming at him, but to no avail. As Supreme Cannon began to wear down Kaiser's defense, the Kamehameha slammed into him and sent him flying back through the tower lobby. Kaiser bounded back in a single swift motion, landing where he once stood. One thing for sure, he was furious. "D-D-Damn you all!! NO one does that to someone my stature and gets away with it! Crimson Lightning!!" Quaterisipalimon deflected the whip-like energy beam effortlessly with his arm. "We have to finish this quick! Dead or Alive!!" Reality itself began to slow down as Quaterisipalimon swung the autocannons on him forward and started firing. As the shells rippled through the air, Quaterisipalimon lept forward and brought down a heavy energy blade on Kaiser, stepping away as the shells rocketed forward again and hit home. Kaiser ducked back with a wail of pain. Shells had pierced him in more than 8 places. "Assholes!! Ultramagnus will avenge me!!" "Remind us to talk to him," Blackwargreymon snickered. He rose into the air and began charging an enormous ball of energy, whipping it down at the ground where Kaiser staggered. "Terra Destroyer!!" Shards of concrete flew everywhere from the blast, as Gatomon hurled herself into the fray. "I did this before, and I'll do it again because it's so damn fun! Lightning Claw!!" Gatomon brought down a heavy-bladed claw across Kaiser's face, reopening his previous scars and creating several new ones. Kaiser let loose another cry of pain. "Supreme Cannon!!" "Dead or Alive!!" "Metal Wolf Claw!!" "Wing Blade!!" "Vulcan's Hammer!!" As projectiles rained upon Kaiser, a final cry of absolution was released before the silence came. No one dared look down on the shattered limbs of Kaiser that lied among the debris as they moved by. "...eh.. Tai... now that that's done and everything, could we possibly get an explanation of this?" Sora questioned. Tai and the Argetlahm crew peered up at the tower that stretched over the sky before them. "Sora," Tai said flatly. "It's far from over." Tai and his friends are finally at Ultramagnus' HQ.. but still, can they get up the tower and face down Ultramagnus in time before he makes his wish to the Eternal Dragon and activates the Chrono Cross? Find out next time.. on the Argetlahm Adventures!! END OF CHAPTER 18 Serge (voiceover) - Last time on the Argetlahm Adventures, we were still stranded in the Digital World on the continent of Server, and Ultramagnus was still on the loose with the Dragon Balls and the Chrono Cross. Thankfully, he hadn't activated either yet, so we still had a chance to catch up with him and take him down before he got up enough nerve to tap into the artifacts. With our entire group in place, as well as some of Blackwargreymon's Dark Master friends and Digitomamon, we began the advance on Ultramagnus' headquarters. Of course, he anticipated us coming, so a full defense network was built surrounding the fortress for miles around! However, even that wasn't enough to stop us, but just as we thought we were out of the forest, Ultramagnus' cronie Kaiser attacked us! We managed to defeat him, and though our ranks were tired out some, more of the digidestined from the fourth dimension showed up - Matt, Sora and Joe, each along with their digimon. Reinforcements had arrived. We were ready to take Ultramagnus down. However, that wasn't the extent of help we were going to be getting, as we're going to find out... Ultramagnus' Digiworld Outpost HQ Day 18, 1:48 PM Everybody stood poised outside of Ultramagnus' towering HQ, the single building that stuck out of the blandly detailed supply depots and barracks like a sore thumb. While most of Ultramagnus' secondary facilities were sized averagely around the dimensions of a house, Ultramagnus' main tower shot straight into the sky and had extravagent designs carved in the pillars supporting the canopy above the set of double doors that led into the lobby. Ultimanium twitched as he stared nervously at the tribute to the near-god Ultramagnus. He knew. Something this boasting had to be defended well. Cautiously he turned to his waiting comrades and gave the order. "We're going in. Everybody keep your eyes peeled, this place is probably better defended than it looks." MISSION #6 - Enter the Vertex New Techno Tower has finished construction. Infiltrate the tower using any means necessary and find your way to the top. Seize the Dragon Balls and the Chrono Cross and get them out of the tower. Danger level is not accessible due to disorienting levels. Lethal force is encouraged maximum. Terminate all inhabitants with extreme prejudice. Good luck. The double doors both slid to their respective sides slowly as a small rain sprinkled itself on the ground outside. A gust of wind rushed in and rustled the leaves of some potted plants inside the lobby on both sides. The actual lobby itself wasn't terribly complex. The entire room was one long hall, the walls curving away and back in again as they reached the other end of the room. Several cylindrical pillars sat in two lines, stretching off to the other end of the room. Every surface of the lobby was coated in synthetic marble, throwing off an eerie reflection of whatever came in contact with it. "Now this is swanky stuff," Kid mumbled. "Ulty, you sure this place's defended? Doesn't look like more than a waiting room to me." TK glanced to his side, to see a particularly disturbed Goku. "...Goku? What's going on? What's with the face?" "Don't you guys hear that sound?" Goku sighed. "A constant squeal.. it's so damn annoying." Blackwargreymon shifted. "I can hear something high-pitched, but just faintly. I wonder what it is?" Raul sat still, staring up at the celing. "I think I know what it is. It's a Ki inhibitor." Everybody looked up at a small black console strapped to the celing with a metal slip. A red light on it pulsed on and off slowly. "Ki inhibitors emit a high-frequency sound that disrupts the synapses mildly. It's not enough to drive a person mad, however it's powerful enough to throw off a person's concentration. We're not going to be able to use any mind-triggered attacks in here." Cloud blinked. "M..my magic!" Gohan sulked as he turned to Goku and Vegeta. "We're as good as gone without our Ki. We won't be able to move as nearly as fast as we normally can." Conker rolled his eyes. "God people, it's only a black box!" He pulled his magnum from his side, pointed it up at the celing and fired. The metal slug shot forward and impacted with a loud squeal. The dented shell fell to the ground with a tingle as a purple ripple spread over the box. "Just our luck!" Puppetmon yelped. "The thing's shielded!" A loudspeaker dropped out of a small slit in the celing. "Why, welcome, friends!" Tai shoved forward to the front of the group. "Ultramagnus!" "Is that Ultramagnus?" Matt asked. "I must say, you did well to get through my automated defense... maybe if I knew that I was expecting transportation by air, I would have known to build defenses more accommadating to you. But, I figured I wouldn't mind testing out my interior defense... which, I must insist.. is a lot more spectactular than my outdoor one, I assure you. Ladies and gentlemen, I show you the next generation of commercial building security - the Vertex!" "Why deed I not like the sound of that..." Digitomamon sweatdropped. Floor 1 - Danger Room "Let's start out with the classics!" Ultramagnus laughed. "A lot of guns!!" As he finished his sentence a loud klaxon went off, and several panels in the floor and celing slid away as autocannons stuck through them, calibrating themselves on the group. "This is SO not funny..." Sora stammered. As the cannons whirred and clicked as they swung themselves to face the group, Raul quickly hummed a mantra under his breath and threw his arms out in front of the group, struggling to push his hands forward. As the autocannons opened fire, a wave of shells were stopped seconds in front of Raul, hanging in midair shortly before falling to the ground, lifeless. "I set up an Air Valm. We'll all be safe for the moment." Berri glanced around nervously. "There has to be at least 50 guns in this room! Are you sure you can hold them all off?" "Momentarily." Raul grunted, as the Air Valm shot up again and deflected another volley of shells. Garudamon checked her surroundings. "There's a snowball's chance in hell we'll be able to make it through here without some casulties. Once we get outside of Raul's shield, we're goners, with that many guns tracking us." "And even if we had the speed, like we do in my case," Vegeta muttered, "There's not enough room in a confined space such as this to manouver." "Raul," Daemon said. "Is there any way you can expand the barrier?" "What good would that do?" Magnus sighed. "If it reaches past the guns they'll be able to hit us." "We're not going past the cannons, stupid!" Digitomamon barked. "If we can get the barrier closer to the cannons we'll be able to hit them while they still have to deal with the barrier!" Raul slipped back slightly, then pushed back forward against the stream of bullets. A pile of expended ammunition had already risen to his knees at the foot of the barrier. "It's possible, but I would need significant energy to do so. Being pelted with projectiles during the process doesn't help terribly." Blackwargreymon shuffled himself to the front of the group and began charging a small Terra Destroyer in his hands. "Allow me." He thrust the ball of burning energy in front of Raul, and watched in satisfaction as the Terra Destroyer dissolved and was absorbed into thin air, adding itself to Raul's energy. A gust of wind kicked up and staggered everybody as the barrier rocketed forward several dozen feet, shooting past the first 2 sets of pillars and exposing 4 cannons to the group. Davis sweatdropped. "..great..." Goku and Gohan lept to the front of the group and started pounding loose shots away from the group. Vegeta remained behind them and caught any they missed. With the cannons accounted for, Conker started locking explosive shells in his magnum, while Berri and Rodent opened fire with their assault rifles, punching through the thick armor of the bunkered defenses and shutting them down. Smoke steamed from the slits in the turrets as small fires started around them. Serge focused a Fireball element onto the area in front of Raul. A sphere of flame hovered in front of Serge before shooting ahead of him, disappearing into the air. The barrier went forward again, giving another 6 turrets a chance at the group. With little notice, the guns started rattling off shells. Goku and Gohan worked hard to redirect the shells away from the group, but some got through. Vegeta swung and knocked several more out of the air, but several made their way through the supposedly invulnerable defense and lashed out at the group. Tai rocked back as a shell flew into him, knocking his wind out. However, it didn't penetrate, instead leaving a sizeable dent in his mythril plating. Conker finished loading and finally launched a explosive shell at the last remaining turret in the open, shattering it. "Close enough!" Karsh yelled. "We have 50 feet to go! Everybody make a break for it!" Karsh pointed the way, and the digimon and remaining crew members charged through the open space inbetween the barrier and the elevator at the far end of the room, bullet ricochets lining their path. Goku, Gohan and Vegeta backed into the elevator, nearly defeated by the constant onslaught of all the room's cannons, firing at them now that they cleared the barrier. "Raul!" Goku yelled. "C'mon!!" Raul threw down his barrier as another wave of shells carved through the air toward his position. He quickly threw his hands in the air to ready another spell and a translucent navy blue barrier encased him. All projectiles aimed at him deflected harmlessly off the shield as he began his run to the far end of the lobby. It was clear he was short of breath from the demands of the spell, but he pushed himself forward and dove into the elevator as the doors closed and his spell wore off. Floor 2 - Pandemonia The elevator was extremely large, possibly an express elevator. I mean, can you normally fit Omnimon in one? Didn't think so. Well, actually, none of the Mega or Ultimate did fit, so they needed to be dedigivolved once inside the elevator to avoid crushing everyone else. As soon as the ride had started, the elevator stopped with a ding and the doors slid open slowly. Everybody stood staring at the strange room ahead of them. A short distance outside the elevator, there was a large concrete pad embedded in the floor about 30 feet in both directions, with danger line in the floor seperating it from the rest of the floor - a tiled checkered design. The entire celing itself was only 15 feet off the ground. At the edge of the concrete, a small podium sat, a notepad upon it. Matt squinted at the writing on the pad. "..what the hell.." Elecmon is red, King Kai is blue, Never forget What I will say to you. One of the tiles In this greatly designed room, Once awakened and activated Will be the source of your doom. - Ultramagnus P.S. Don't even THINK about flying. The only thing keeping you from being electrocuted right now is your link to the concrete floor. Or the tiling, if you actually go that far. Lucky for Biyomon, she was walking on the ground when Matt was reading. Joe scratched his head. "What's that supposed to mean?" Goku grit his teeth. "The place is booby-trapped. One of these tiles is going to do something we will not like." "That could be any tile!" Puppetmon wailed. "Even the ones in front!" Izzy rubbed his chin. "I think I have an idea. Raul, you have lightning spells, right?" Raul nodded. "Sure do." "Great," Izzy said, sitting down and setting up his laptop. "I have a receiver for my laptop that can detect electrical signals. The tile that Ultramagnus is talking about probably has some sort of machinery guiding it, like a motion detector or something. If I could locate the tile accurately through the electrical signals it gives off, I may be able to shut it down in time before the 'doom' takes place. I need a volunteer." Veemon stuck up his hand. "Oooh!! Me me me me me me meeeeeeeee!!" Serge sighed to himself. "That guy is going to get killed before the rest of us, I swear." "Alright, Veemon. If I can't get a precise reading from my laptop, it'll be up to you to trigger the tile. Once we know where the tile is, Raul will send a shock through the floor there. I'll access the system safeguards from my laptop and activate the emergency shutdown sequence. The lightning blast from Raul should be severe enough to make the security system want to initiate an emergency shutdown to preserve its electronics from a power surge." Izzy started tapping keys on his pad. "...oooo...kay. I'm starting the scan now. Give me a minute." After a couple seconds of heated typing, Izzy looked up. "I can't get a good reading. Ultramagnus probably saw this coming and magnetically shielded the tiles. All I can pick up is that the tile is somewhere in this half of the room." Daemon nodded. "Then it's up to Veemon. Get going, squirt." Veemon began advancing to the edge of the platform. "It's not like we have anything to worry about right now," Karsh whispered to Ultimanium. "It's not like Ultramagnus would keep the trap tile right in front." As Veemon stepped off the platform, he could feel the tile beneath his feet sink considerably with a clank. "Uh oh." The loudspeaker in the corner of the room blared out an obnoxious laugh. "Well, well! That there sounded like a nice plan, but I didn't think it worked out too well in your favor, did it? Oh, well, all's well that ends well! Game over, Ulty!" The clank from Veemon's step echoed throughout the room once more as the celing began to slide down. Izzy's eyes grew wide. "NOW!! NOW!!" Raul quickly snapped from his trance and threw a charged bolt from his hands to the trigger tile.. with Veemon still on it, of course. A smoking Veemon soared forward and slid across the polished tile floor as the machinery beneath him crackled. "Ow." Veemon breathed as he flew by and landed with a cold thud. The roof was down to the 11 foot mark at this point. Izzy quickly threw open the scanning program again and put his hacking skills back to work. With some effort, he penetrated the security settings of the floor and typed hastily through the various menus. Goku stared up as the roof tapped his hair. "...um, hurry up there, will you?" Izzy still sat on the ground, typing. "Well, soooorry! Maybe I should've checked this out beforehand!" Rodent threw his hands up in disgust. "Well, thank you Mr. Knowitall." Everybody got down onto their knees. The roof was at 5 and a half feet. "Prodigious!" Izzy yelped, slamming his hand down onto the Enter key. The Emergency Shutdown was selected. A bar formed across the screen, with a small streak of green crossing across it. 4 and half. People were starting to get uncomfortable. The tallest members of the group were already lying down. "Almost there..." 3 feet. Izzy lied alongside his laptop. "One more second...." "I suppose size does matter," Daemon growled, nearly trapped between the floor and the celing. "But not in such a negative manner as this." "Done." The celing slowed to a crawl with a deafening growl. The celing was just under 2 and a half feet from the floor. Everybody breathed a collective sigh of relief. While it was a tight fit, everybody was able to crawl semi-comfortably to the stairwell across from them, partially blocked off due to the celing. "I have to lose weight," Gabumon huffed, as he slithered along the floor near the rest of the group. Floor 3 - Who Wants To Be Alive? Everyone finally climbed to the top of the nearly neverending stairwell, and stopped there, looking at their next challenge. They all sighed in relief. The room was a simple bland room with unfinished wallpainting. It was about 40 feet in both directions. In the center of the room there sat a coffee table and two swivel chairs, all damaged in one form or another. The coffee table was missing a leg and was being supported by a stack of phone books. Both chairs were scratched up immensely. In the corner of the room a spotlight stood facing the seating. Ultimanium's view shifted repeatedly. "Be on guard, everyone. This room isn't what it seems." Unbeknowest to anyone, Goku had already dropped into one of the chairs. "It's probably a break room." Before anyone could scream at Goku for being so lazy, the lights in the room went off, plunging the room into darkness. "..huzzah?" Conker gaped. "Goku, you dumbass, now look what you did!" Kid frowned. "Oh, fricking great! Now look what you did, you oaf! Anybody there?" "I don't think that was a good thing... can someone touch me? I don't know if I'm YAAAAH!! PERVERTS!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Davis grinned. "Just getting my bearings, that's all." "...live, from Server..!!...." Biyomon frowned. "Oh, now what..." "Who Wants To Be Alive?!" The spotlight flashed on in a nova of colours, effectively blinding everyone present. As the group screamed in pain, clawed their eyes out and generally woke up, the two chairs were finally illuminated in the flare-ish white light. Goku sat in one. Servant sat in the other. He was fully decked out in formal apparel. The android flashed a rented tuxedo and a greased toupee as he shuffled a deck of flash cards. "Well, well! Nice to see you arrived, Argetlahm crew! Welcome to challenge #3!" Serge held the Setra Weapon at Servant's throat. "Tell us what's going on here, android, before my blades get dull and I find a reason to sharpen them." "Now, now! I'm just running the third challenge, that's all! You can go ahead and kill me if you want, but Ultramagnus might forget about his grace and smite you all where you stand right now. It's your choice. As part of the challenges, it is essential that you complete this task or be formally thrown out of the HQ." "You and what army?" Piedmon laughed. The wall behind Piedmon slid up, to reveal a smaller room with at least 80 androids in it. "Why," Servant snickered. "That one. Now, please, let's get on with the game. Let's play Who Wants To Be Alive!" As Servant spoke, the spotlight dimmed into an eerie dark blue, dumping the room into near-darkness. "Alright... who's our first contestant? Ah, yes! You, Goku!" Goku blinked. "..huh?" "You are our first and last contestant! Screwing up on the questions I give you will mean the destruction of your team! This is an exercise of true intellectual strength!" Magnus put his head against the wall. "We're doomed." "First off... alright. Goku, would you mind reminding me... the elite guard android unit fights with WHAT type of weapon?" "Energy blades." Raul muttered. (A/N - See Chapter 16 if you don't believe him!) "NO HELP FROM THE AUDIENCE!!" Servant bellowed. "...that is, unless he uses a lifeline." "Energy blades." Goku sighed. Servant glanced down at his card. "..why, Goku! You are absolutely right!! On to the next question!..." Matt turned to Sora. "This guy's a fruit." "The next question... Goku, what time exactly did Ultimanium say that lunch aboard the Argetlahm was being served daily?" Goku snapped his fingers. "Well, duh! 1:00 in the afternoon!" "Correct! Who does Veemon like?" Veemon twitched nervously. "Gatomon." Goku said. Veemon face faulted as the rest of the digimon started in on uncontrollable laughter. "See if you can identify this spell," Servant gaped. "Okay.. a big black uncontrollable energy sword of utter and complete death all conjured by magic." "Laguna Blade." Goku answered. Magnus lifted an eyebrow. "How the hell is he answering all these? He was a total idiot before..." Servant threw his remaining cards down at the table. "Damn you!! You're supposed to be the dumbest sack of hammers on the Argetlahm and you can answer every single damn question in my damn stack effortlessly!! Ultramagnus, my master?! What have I done wrong?!? Noooooooooooooooooo..." Servant proceeded to shut down as he collapsed into a heap on the floor. Gohan sweatdropped. "....um.. yeah." Goku stood to his feet. "All I have to thank for this is Ulty's tech library and some extensive study periods." Ultimanium grinned. "No problem." Floor 4 - Fight Club As the elevator rose once again up the shaft, the rickety walls outside of the glass walling of the transport box were soon replaced by clear windows, allowing view of Server continent below as the elevator rose higher and higher into the sky. Tai could already see the very edge of Server. Who knows how high the elevator had flown at this point. One thing for sure, they were getting closer and closer to Ultramagnus. Everybody seemed able to sense the extreme power that radiated only a short distance above them. Vegeta cocked his head to the side. "I need a blasted fight, already. My joints are locking up." "Ultramagnus lies ahead," Raul sighed. "I think we're all going to get a workout, some way or another." Everybody was startled as the elevator halted abruptly. The door dinged again as it slid open.. into Ultramagnus' office. Ultramagnus rolled his eyes. "Nice to see you all again." He gestured to the Chrono Cross, alongside a jewelry case, sitting on the desk ahead of him. "Is this what you're looking for? Well, I have news for you bastards, you're not getting it. I hate to have to stain my hands with the blood of those inferior to me, so it looks like this has to be a job for my servant." "Your little 'servant' is down for the count!" Gatomon shouted. "C'mon, quit throwing your own men in front of us and let's finish this!" "If you're such a badass, show us!" Conker yelled. Ultramagnus grinned. "No, I was thinking of my other servant. I'll let her take care of you. Besides, I don't think reality itself is ready for the power I wield even now. With the Dragon Balls and the Chrono Cross, it can only grow. Anyways, I think I've been babbling far too long. I have a wish to be granted. Toodles." Ultramagnus floated out of his chair, before throwing himself at the roof, bursting through it. The Chrono Cross and the Dragon Balls trailing him as he scorched off into the horizon. "He's heading for Epoch Rock!" Cody exclaimed. "We have to go after him!" "None of you hotties are leaving this spot." *A dimensional vagabond, once more aligned with the livable dimensions under Ultramagnus' command. A passion-fueled woman, her sexual desires are what power her extreme abilities. She seems a bit tougher and experienced than last time. Yessir, you know who we're talking about here...* YOLEI - 6th Dimensional Superhuman "Not again." Armadillomon huffed. "I thought you'd all be happy to see me," Yolei cooed. "I mean, with my sudden abscence to the second dimension at all... however, I was picked up by Ultramagnus and now I see my destiny again... to get men like you back to the sixth dimension for the bidding of a goddess such as myself!" Davis went into a battle stance, Ragnaroks held high. "You're not getting me if I have anything to say about it!" Kari latched her arms onto Davis. "You heard him! He's not leaving this spot if we have anything to prove!" "... I had no idea it was still official." Kari grinned. "A bit neglected, but it's still official." She pulled Davis into a hug before backing off with the rest of the crew. "I think I've had enough of this bitch!" Karsh growled. "And her being an ally to Ultramagnus only worsens things!!" "I'd have to say I agree with you there, unfortunate as it may seem," Vegeta scowled. "Come, let's finish things." "Let's." "We're gonna do this now! Get ready, Yolei! Here we come!" Patamon yelped. Patamon... digivolve to... ANGEMON!! Angemon... digivolve to... MAGNAANGEMON!!! Gatomon... digivolve to... ANGEWOMON!! Veemon... digivolve to... EXVEEMON!! Exveemon... DNA Digivolve to... PAILDRAMON!!! Paildramon... Mega Digivolve to... IMPERIALDRAMON!! Imperialdramon... Mode Change to.. Fighter Mode!! Tentomon... digivolve to... KABUTERIMON!! Kabuterimon... digivolve to... MEGAKABUTERIMON!!! Armadillomon... digivolve to.... ANKYLOMON!! Agumon... warp digivolve to... WARGREYMON!! Gabumon... warp digivolve to... METALGARURUMON!!! Wargreymon.... Metalgarurumon... DNA digivolve to... OMNIMON!!!! Biyomon...digivolve to... BIRDRAMON!! Birdramon... digivolve to... GARUDAMON!!! Gomamon... digivolve to.. IKKAKUMON!! Ikkakumon... digivolve to... ZUDOMON!! (A/N - You can't tell me you've seen that many digivolutions in one place. .. or, at least, that many powerful digimon in one place.) "Move it, digi-freaks! I want my lover-boy!" Yolei screamed. Serge sweatdropped. "..oh, man.." "Sorry we're late!" A mechanical voice shouted. "Just couldn't fit into a building, that's all!" As the voice finished, machinegun fire strafed the interior of the building, shattering several of the windows on the side of the building. "Wing Zeromus!" Ultimanium shouted. "DeathHarvest! You're both here, thank God!" "You're both here, thank God for distracting them for me!" Yolei snickered as she swung her hands in front of her and fired of a wave of Ki blasts. However, they were easily intercepted by the digimon and were all deflected, absorbed or otherwise blocked. "Our turn!" Imperialdramon bellowed. "Let hell loose, everybody, and don't spare the infrastructure!!" "Positron Laser!" "Celestial Arrow!" "Horn Buster!" "Supreme Cannon!" "Wing Blade!" "Vulcan's Hammer!" Yolei swung her hands in front of her to parry the blasts from the digimon, but didn't anticipate MagnaAngemon and Ankylomon dropping from the sky on her, MagnaAngemon swinging Excalibur and Ankylomon dropping a heavy spiked tail on her head. They would have hit, however, the force of the ranged digimon attacks sent her flying back through the window, shaken, but not harmed. She removed her frontal defense and sat hovering in the air a short distance from the building. "Nice try, but it's going to take more than that!" Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and Magnus all went Super Saiyan as fast as they possibly could and lunged out into the open air above Server to attack Yolei, launching whatever limbs they had free at her in a continous blur of motion. Yolei was managing to dodge every blow from the Z Saiyans, however she had to put a little more effort to repel Magnus. Magnus eventually managed to clip Yolei, sending her back reeling. Conker watched from the building, shaking his head. "Stupid bitch. I never thought it would come to this." Conker lit up in a white flame, activated by the Ki, and dove out into the open air after the Saiyans. Yolei never saw it coming. Conker propelled himself up further in the air with a flip and brought his clenched fists down on Yolei's head with a crack, sending her spiraling down. Another Ki blast sent her back up in the air. Goku blinked. "..what the? Who was that?" "Your little reinforcements, that's who!" Krillin, Piccolo, Trunks and Tien all sat hovering off in the distance. "Quadruple dose of asskicking coming your way! Open fire, guys!!" Krillin yelled, all four Z fighters letting loose a proverbial hurricane of energy blasts on the stunned Yolei. The bursts of light homed in on the digidestined and pounded her repeatedly, the resulting explosions shoving her back and keeping her in her incapacitated state. All four fighters lurched forward through the air and started pounding Yolei with every last ounce of strength that existed in their bodies. With an elbow slam from Piccolo, Yolei was sent back through the busted window, where some pissed off male fighters awaited. Cody slashed, Davis slashed, Tai slashed, TK slashed, Serge slashed, Karsh slashed. All people slashed when Yolei came by them. Yolei's severed limbs lied lifeless on the floor. Her head landed perfectly straight up on Ultramagnus' desk, impaling itself on a penholder. Conker dusted his hands. "NOW she's done like dinner." Goku glared out at the four taskless warriors hovering outside. "Guys! What are you all doing here?!" Krillin shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me, you little friend Raul showed up at the Kame House the other day and said that you were in trouble and you needed reinforcements and we came. Raul explained to us all about the Ultramagnus thing..." "We used his dimensionsplitting device and returned here with him," Piccolo continued. "He said that there was a problem here that was worse than Cell, but I can't say I've seen much around here to justify that." "What he said," Tien sighed. "Anyways, if there's a Super Saiyan that invaded a dimension like he insists, it's up to us to take care of him," Trunks said. "We'd be more than happy to aid you in any way that we can." Vegeta looked out to the horizon at the far edge of Server. "I hate to admit it, but I think we are going to need help with this freak.." Ultramagnus has gotten hold of the Chrono Cross and the Dragon Balls and has finally begun his trek toward Epoch Rock to begin his wish.. will the Argetlahm crew be able to get to the site in time to stop the maniacal Super Saiyan from destroying the fourth dimension and attaining ultimate power? The gang begins the last stretch on the next Argetlahm Adventures!! END OF CHAPTER 19 Conker (voiceover) - Last time on the Argetlahm Adventures, the Argetlahm crew finally began their long-awaited assault on Ultramagnus' Digiworld compound, but were thrown off somewhat at Ultramagnus' choice of security. The place was a funhouse! Just the lobby itself had too many guns in it to count! On the second floor, when Veemon accidently stepped on a pressure plate, the roof literally came down on us! It was Izzy's quick thinking that shut down the security system and protected us from being flattened. On the third floor it was up to Goku to answer a quiz that defined the fate of the group.. however, he unexpectedly aced it and allowed us access to the end of the security matrix. We were able to skip completely up to Ultramagnus' office, but before we were able to fight him and take back the Chrono Cross and the Dragon Balls, that bitch Yolei showed up and stalled us while Ultramagnus made his escape! We were able to defeat her easily, especially with the unexpected intervention of several more of the Z fighters that Lord Raul had warped into the Digital World. As Ultramagnus begins to make his way to Epoch Rock for the final wish that could break all of the fourth dimension to his will, God only knows if we'll be able to stop him in time or not... Server Continent - Northlands Day 18, 4:23 PM Once again, everyone trudged slowly along the desolate northern wastes of Server, still stiff from a momentary break half an hour ago. While the group shuffled along like they had toward Ultramagnus' HQ, there was a definite depression hanging in the air. As people in the group moved along, they would stop every couple minutes and stare vaguely at the expansive mountain range that resided in the distance. The most prominent and highest-altitude cliff on all of Server, Epoch Rock, was their destination. Ultimanium glanced hesitantly back at the drowsy group. Well, they're aware of the risk they're getting themselves into, anyways. Conker slid soundless across the rocky terrain inbetween the crew and Ultimanium. ".. excuse me for saying this... but what if Ultramagnus' has already accessed the Dragon Balls? Is there even reason to continue?" "If the Dragon Balls were activated, we would be the first to notice," Krillin explained. "There are many symptoms of a Dragon Ball activation that can be detected from a long distance. The sky turns black... and then there's the dragon. Shen Long nearly takes up the entire sky, as many times as I've seen him." Davis blinked as he stared back at Matt, Sora and Joe, all walking alongside their Rookie digimon. "..hey.. guys.. just wondering, how exactly did you get into the Digital World? The digiports were locked down I thought." Joe shrugged. "Beats me, we got through them no problem." "The closing of the digiports probably wasn't Ultramagnus' will," Raul said. "I guess he didn't close them. It was probably just a technical problem." "I think I've figured this out," Izzy commented. "I can track the huge power level of Ultramagnus using some sample Scouter software. He's travelling unusually slow for a Super Saiyan of his status. It's like he's giving us time." Ultimanium sighed to himself. Here goes. "Everybody. I need to talk to you, now." Blackwargreymon nodded. "We're listening." "Well..." Ultimanium shuffled his feet. "Alright. Do any of you have any idea what kind of fight we'll probably be getting into tonight? In case you are not taking this seriously, let me give you a recap, as disorienting as it may seem. Ultramagnus is a monster. His power level is greater than that of the SSJ6 level, and he has used that to barbaric effect. He has effectively destroyed an entire world with his bare hands. Right now, if he succeeds in his efforts, he will destroy another world - in many cases, yours. One thing - he is extremely powerful. TOO powerful. Know this, even with a power level such as mine, he could flick my head off if he wanted to. "What I need to point out to you now is that you are entering a fight for all creation. If Ultramagnus is allowed to win here, than there are little to no forces in this galaxy that could remain to stop his rampage. To tell you the truth, we may not be able to defeat him. I hate to say this, but many of you will be forced to make sacrifices to defeat this menace. "Me, Lord Raul and Magnus will remain down on Server to survey Ultramagnus. I want you all to get to the nearest digiport and board the Argetlahm and find a reason to fight. If you can't, I can't say I'll particularly blame you, but your dreams and hopes will. An entire universe of life is depending on your efforts this night, but I can't make you fight if you don't want to. Just be aware.. of those who come down here after, there are some that aren't going to come back." Conker attempted to retort, but something stopped him. "... okay." Ultimanium turned his back to the group, hiding a discouraged face. "One hour. In one hour I want those who wish to fight down where I stand right now. For those who don't, Conker knows how to operate the J3. He will be able to send you home. That is all. I leave the rest up to you." Everybody stood in absolute silence. The northern wind howled through the mountain chasms in the distance, sending a shiver through the crowd. Izzy turned back slowly, looking down at his laptop. "There's a digiport about a 10-minute jog back over here. Let's go." As the entire group turned to leave down the winding mountain path, Ultimanium still stood facing up the path. Raul walked up to him, cautiously. "Are you sure that was the right thing to do? What if none of them come back?" Ultimanium sulked. "Then we die alone." Argetlahm Day 18, 4:26 PM The Argetlahm remained silent, the only noise radiating from it the constant blurred hum of the solid rocket boosters pushing the capital ship through the blindness of one-dimensional space. The training rooms were empty. The library was empty. The weight room was empty. The target range was empty. No one needed them, not for a fight of this magnitude. What they needed was some cold, hard reflection. ******** I can't believe this is happening. I treated this all as some game. Hell, everything has been a game, considering how fast every crucial fight in my life has ended so fast once I figured out my opponent's weakness. Wham, bam, he's gone. Raditz was vaporized. So was Frieza. But this has been a full-out war we've been fightning here. According to Ulty's mood about the fight awaiting us, the countless robotic soldiers of war we've destroyed so far.. all the android prototypes, compare nothing to this unstoppable threat. "I have combated your type before and lost," 25 droned. "I will be sure not to make that mistake again." Androids. Damned androids. I can see why Vegeta gets so pissed off at them sometimes. All it took for me to identify that rage was to picture them ravaging and pillaging the old third dimension, paving the way for Ultramagnus' invasion. It was all Ultramagnus' ideal that threw the third dimension into the chaos it is in today.. wait, what am I saying? That Ultramagnus is a villian? In that case, it looks like another challenge for Goku! These types of assholes have attempted to destroy/invade Earth before.. what makes Ultramagnus different than someone like Frieza or Cell? There has to be a weakness to him somewhere! I'd be damned if this third dimension wasn't going to get some retribution on my part! Finally gathering what courage Goku was known for, he stood to his feet and headed for the training room. Like hell he was going to fall out of shape for a challenge like this. ******** The rec room was completely silent, save for the occaisional cheer from the computer tables. While Agumon, Armadillomon, Tentomon, Gabumon, Biyomon and Joe sat on the computers, enjoying the last match of Quake 3 they knew they would probably ever have, the other digidestined, Veemon, Gatomon and Gomamon sat in a circle based around the couch in front of the television. A small stereo in the corner of the room churned out classical music. Sora broke the unusual quietness. "Gomamon? Why aren't you playing with Joe and them?" Gomamon examined his flippers, sadly. "I can't play with appendages like these. Besides, there's no computers left." "Veemon, Gatomon? What are you doing here?" Veemon stared emotionless at the floor. "We have something to fight for too." Gatomon nodded. Sora grinned. "Oh, yeah, you're the two lovebirds. I forgot." She gave Veemon an exaggerated noogie. "This is some ship your friend Ultimanium's got," Matt said, bringing a hand down on his knee. "...geez, guys? What's with the radio silence already? It's not like Ultramagnus is going to hear us from here or something." Easy for you to say. Ultramagnus has a full world under his control. He probably has found a way onto the Argetlahm, he's just keeping it secret to prolong the pandemonium. As much as I've loved the entire Ultimatum experience, I'm kind of regretting it in a way. I mean, I got Kari and everything, a full-out fantasy of mine since I first entered the Digital World, but we have a new menace to deal with. I've never kind of looked at it until now, but we have Ultramagnus himself bearing down on us right now. I'm not sure exactly how long we'll keep going before he brings his big flabby fist down on us and crushes the entire resistance. Davis Motomiya is a courageous person. But some odds are just undeniable. Man, what's wrong with me.... TK glanced over to Davis, who now forming tears. "I can't take this anymore." TK groaned, burying his head in his hands. Gatomon's eyes widened. What is WRONG with you people?! We've never backed away from anything like this and we never will! I would normally just go along with you guys because YOU are the decision-makers but I have my own opinion now! Some time now there's going to be a new digi-egg among us and I just can't stand to see Ultramagnus destroy us even with that knowledge! Ultramagnus will not stop until every one of us is dead! Until every force in his way is dislodged and destroyed! We can't give up now! We.. ukk... Gatomon sat up, some fury escaping through her face. "I'll be right back!.. aaaah... I'm going to the bathroom!" She leaped to her feet painfully and jogged out of the room. Kari blinked. "She looked kind of sick there, didn't she?" Veemon pushed himself to his feet. "I'll check." Matt started whistling, before TK smacked him on the back of the head. "Quit it, Matt!" TK yelled. "This is serious! We could all die here!" Tai shot up out of his seat, toppling over Cody. "I can't believe you all! What the fuck is wrong with all of you?!" Sora rested a hand on Tai's shoulder. "..uh.. Tai... calm down..." "I am NOT going to calm down! All of you have become such LOSERS since I last checked on you! Why the hell is Ultramagnus going to stop you? Davis! Why is Ultramagnus going to stop you?!" Tai strided over and yanked Davis up by the collar of his undershirt. "Why is Ultramagnus going to stop you?!?" "Ultramagnus is too powerful!" Davis winced. Oh my God. Did I just say that? What have I become? I'm not Davis Motomiya anymore... I'm... "You damn pussy!!" Tai bellowed, throwing Davis back to the ground violently. "All of you! Tell me how powerful MaloMyotismon was! Too powerful? Okay! Ultramagnus is too powerful! How did MaloMyotismon become Too Powerful? You let your fears give in to you! Ultramagnus is just like that! Ultramagnus and MaloMyotismon are both Too Powerful? Than you can't give up, otherwise Ultramagnus will remain Too Powerful! MaloMyotismon was Too Powerful, and he was defeated, why not Ultramagnus?!" Davis gulped. I remember now. The MST.. Tai... he said... Davis stood to his feet, a growl of demeanor on his face. "I know that you are all afraid, and so am I, but the more afraid you get, the stronger he gets! You’ve got to find the courage! You’ve got friends who will be there, and with your friends, there’s no limit to what you can do! We’ve got to find the strength! Together, we can win! Watch the fight. We’re down, beat up, and pummeled, but we aren’t giving up. We can’t win alone. If you’re all too chicken, then why don’t we just stop fighting and let him take over the world? If the whole planet won’t fight for it’s cause, we don’t need freedom. You’re only hurting yourselves! We’re earth, and earth doesn’t give up that easily! Remember all the fights and wars we’ve had. They weren’t fighting for nothing! They were for freedom, for rights, for our own land and planet!" Agumon watched as the Crest of Courage on Tai's chest pulsed wildly with orange energy. "Wow, that wasn't just a recital, that was from the heart!" "Davis is right!" Tai yelled. "Are we going to sit here and let Ultramagnus take us lying down?! Or are we going to fight back and take this third dimension with everything we've got?!" With a loud cheer, the answer was unaminous. As the seated group marched out the door, ready to head to Server to await their destiny, the computer people glanced over their monitors questioningly. Joe grinned. "I win. Let's go." ******** Conker stared into the men's room mirror with drooping eyes. It had been a long while since Conker regarded his own appearance during the last couple days, stranded on Server and all. Reaching up he shoved himself in the face with the wetted facecloth once again, sending another wave of refreshment across him. I've always wondered. What am I doing here? I remember... Ultramagnus threw the disorganized Tediz against the kingdom... all of that was the J2's fault and a heartless Ultramagnus.. maybe I do have a heart. I mean, it's not like I could just sit there and watch the place and its people get blown to bits... ah, what the hell am I thinking, those two dumbass guards probably have the entire kingdom in an anarchy for all I know. So why do I truly want to get... that's it! I want to get home! How the fuck did I miss that?! That's been my entire objective since I got out of the Cock and Plucker that night... and to think after a month I still haven't gotten anywhere near home... One thing's for sure.. I know Ultramagnus' motives. And if he's allowed to get his way I'm not going to have a house to return to. Maybe I shouldn'tve talked to Ulty like that.. I guess I should head down to Server and apoligize.. Conker was turning for the door as he saw a somewhat pained Gatomon hurling herself through the door, clutching herself... oddly. "MOVE IT!!! BABY ON BOARD!!!" With obscene strength, Gatomon bodyslammed Conker out of the way, sending him into a urinal on the other side of the room. Gatomon threw herself into a stall and slammed the door shut. "Hey, bitch!" Conker wailed. "This is the men's room!!" "THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!! BITE ME!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Conker winced at the sound of shattering porcelain that echoed throughout the vacant washroom. "...eh... that wasn't normal..." Veemon threw open the bathroom door and darted in. "Hey! Conker! You seen Gato?" Conker looked over his shoulder at the closed stall. "Right there. Is your bitch going into convulsions or something? Swear to God, she sounds like she's going to implode there!" With not so much as a word, Veemon shoved through Conker, sending him back into the urinal. Veemon ducked under the stall door and froze. Conker sat still in the urinal as it flushed and water from the top of the device flowed gently onto his head. "Damn it." "Eyyaaaaahh!!" Veemon wailed. "That's gross!" Conker couldn't see anything beyond the stall door, but for some reason he knew he didn't want to. Conker rolled his eyes. "..guys? Doesn't anyone else know something's going on here?" "HELL NO!! AAUUUUGGGGHH!!!" "No," Veemon moaned. "I don't think so." ******** Serge sat out in the turbolift, leaning against the wall, as did Karsh and Kid. "..what do you think's going to happen from hereonin?" Kid sat, sliding her dagger across a wetstone. "I'm gonna kick that Super Suhin's ass so hard he's gonna kiss the moons." "Super Saiyan." Karsh corrected. "Whatever! Someone's gonna die and I'll be damned if it ain't that asshole!" Kid scowled, before returning to sharpening her blade. Karsh held his ears from the acute grinding of the dagger. Serge frowned. Easy for you to say, but then again you were the one that got beaten down the most often, weren't you? The Time Devourer was happy with just screwing up dimensions royally. Ultramagnus takes them for his own purposes while leaving the dimensional structure unchecked. While Time Devourer consumes reality, Ultramagnus takes it and spits it back in your face. One thing's for sure, Ultramagnus could be very well even more difficult to defeat than Time Devourer, and he has a private army to boot. But we are on the Chrono Cross' side, and we're going to beat Ultramagnus if it means he won't be the one to screw around with it. Isn't that right, Kid? At least you're going to be a bit energetic than me. Serge stood. "C'mon, let's get moving. We're going back to Server and joining up with Ultimanium." Kid threw her hands behind her and flipped herself to her feet. "Now THAT'S more like it! C'mon, Karsh! Let's finish this bitch-in-heat!" Karsh rolled his eyes. "Whatever." ******** "What do you have?" "Full house." Heero tossed his cards on the table, scattering the deck. 3 aces and 2 kings. Duo scooped up the hand ungratefully and began shuffling the cards again. "Man, this sucks. Whoever writes this fic knows jack all about Gundam Wing." "You're telling me," Heero sighed, as he dug through his cards. "The Argetlahm Adventures would be so much cooler if we could get Epyon, Sandrock and Heavyarms on the Argetlahm." Duo nodded. "Yes, piloted by... that... weird Chinese kid with the sword... um... the blond whiny kid.... aw, hell, forget about it. We'll be able to get off this hunk of junk and remember everybody after the fic. C'mon, we got work to do." Keyvan - But we don't get it anymore on our TV! Honest! Duo waved to no one in particular. "Yeah, whatever. Maybe you should've thought about that before you added us in!" Keyvan - I'm sorry, really. -_-' Heero frowned. "This is the last fic I do of yours, swear to God." Keyvan - Even if I pay you extra? "Screw you," Duo began making his way over to the DeathHarvest. "Once Ultramagnus is dead I'm not starring in your sorry-ass fics anymore." "What he said." Heero said, folding his arms. Keyvan - No respect... no respect at all. >_< ******** Squall sat on his bunk, staring at the ground. On the top bunk lied Cloud. If I'd never lived in New York, I've I'd never left Tifa... I wouldn't be in this mess right now. I would still have my Buster Sword. I wouldn't have to work with whiny teenagers. I would be the mercenary that I was meant to be, not some taskmaster for some weird guys with yellow hair and goth black outfits and weird shiny armor. I wouldn't be tangled up in this battle for the universe. Fragging Sepiroth was good enough for me, thanks. But if saving the world is what I gotta do, then so be it. Keep in mind I'm not fighting for your sorry asses, no. I'm fighting to prolong myself. To keep myself ahead of the death that seems to follow me everywhere I turn... damn it, why does my life seem like a bunch of random battles? Watch out, Ultramagnus, you're going to have a pissed off Cloud bearing down on you soon. I want to get out of here and do something fun, and I mean it. Cloud hopped off his bunk and grabbed his Rune Tooth, storming out the door. A confused Squall followed him. ******** "Push! Push!" Conker breathed. "Damn it, I'm no good at this." Veemon brushed his brow off. "Well, geez, you've screwed Berri enough to have some sort of idea how to deal with something like this, right? Hey, is it me, or is it getting hot in here?" Conker glared disturbingly at Veemon. "If we had this problem with a Rookie instead of a Champion we wouldn't be in this situation." Gatomon glanced up from her lying down position, breathing heavily. "You guys done yet? I think I'm over the worst of it, but YYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! ....Okay, here it goes..." ******** Davis held up his D-Terminal. "Hey! Joe! We got a message for you here!" Joe glance up from his computer. "Yeah, what?" "It's from Veemon! He wanted to know if you do..." Davis blinked as a massive sweatdropped loomed over his head. "...emergency births." "EMERGENCY BIRTHS?!??" came the reply from a nerve-stricken group of digimon and digidestined. "Men's room, quick," Davis huffed, shoving Joe out the door and shutting it behind him. "Man, I do NOT like the sound of what's going on here." ******** Gohan stared at his... wall. Yes, Gohan, among other people, were bored silly waiting for their supposed deaths on Server below. With a yawn, Gohan stretched his arms out and rolled over... onto something.. hard. "Huh..." Gohan, still in a sleepy stupor, reached for the edge of the blanketing at the other side of the bunk and tore the sheets off. Gohan took the apparatus from the bare matress covering and examined it carefully. "Funny..." Gohan mumbled, scratching his head. "It's like one of those pager-things Davis and his friends carry around... it's probably his. I'd better get it back to him before we leave for Server." ******** Joe and Izzy stopped at the men's room door and cupped their ears against it. A muffled yell was heard. "Congratulations..." Conker stammered. "It's a... thing..." Joe backed up and charged at the door, screaming. With a slam, Joe blasted the door down with his shoulder and raged in... and stopped where he was. Inside, Conker was indeed holding.. a thing. Veemon and Gatomon were wiping up a black mess on the ground with toilet paper. Izzy lifted an eyebrow. "...what's.. going on... here?" Conker nodded. "Well, first of all.." Conker was cut short as Gatomon kicked him in the back of the knee, sending him down. Gatomon started twiddling her thumbs madly. "W-Well, it all started out like this... Conker was in here taking a crap..." Conker looked up. "Huh? Gato, what are you.." Gatomon kicked him in the head and sent him down again. "Well, anyways, Conker was you-know-what and when he went to flush the toilet it plugged! Well, I heard this from out in the hall so me and Veemon entered to see what the problem was, me being the excellent plumber in the group, and to get the plug down I had to flush myself down the toilet and shove it further! Veemon held my feet when I went down... and um... um...." Gatomon vision danced inbetween Izzy and Joe. "W.. well, you get the picture. Anyways, you know what we found was plugging the toilet?" Izzy looked somewhat confused. "...no." Gatomon nabbed the digi-egg out of Conker's hands and shoved it towards Izzy. "A Digi-egg!" Joe sweatdropped. "..a Digi-egg." Conker grinned. "A Digi-egg!" Veemon stuck his head out of the stall. "A Digi-egg!" Izzy turned to Joe. "A Digi-egg?" Joe nodded. "A Digi-egg." Conker pointed to the object in Gatomon's hands. "A Digi-egg." Izzy rubbed his chin. "A Digi-egg." Everyone stared longingly at the Digi-egg. "A Digi-egg." The Digi-egg shared properties of both the Courage and Light Digi-eggs, if you haven't guessed by now. It shared the red-orange stripe pattern of the Courage but in the pink-purple colours of Love. The blade on the front was slightly shorter, and the wings on the side arced out slightly. Before anybody could say anything more, the egg jolted slightly in Gatomon's hands. A fissure formed down the side of it. Izzy blinked. "What? It's hatching already?" The egg burst with a small temporary shower of red and pink light, subsiding almost instantaneously. Out bounded a Demiveemon. Veemon's jaw dropped. A SON?!? Izzy quickly looked down. "Impossible! Why would a Digi-egg hatch now? It's not supposed to do that until it gets to the nursery!" Joe grit his teeth. "Have there been any other occurances?" "Only when it's an emergency, like a dark force or something, and nearby there's..." Everybody stopped. "...another Digidestined?!" Gohan walked in. "Hey, guys. Have you seen Davis? I think he left his pager-thing in my bunk. Anyways, I WHAAA!!" Gohan stepped and slipped on the black liquid scattered on the floor, sending the D3 in the air and landing face-down. A button depressed. Demiveemon... digivolve to... OMEGAVEEMON! "WHAA!!" Izzy wailed, whipping his laptop off his back and moving his finger across the touchpad. The monitor blinked on instantly. "There's a massive power surge eminating from this digimon! It's power is incredible! There's no way in hell this could be a Rookie! Wait a second, I have to analyze its DNA... I have to check something here.." "Now you're in for it," Conker whispered to Gatomon. "Something's not right here," Izzy hummed. "It's like Veemon and Gatomon's DNA has been forced together. I had no idea this was possible! I don't think I've seen any case when Lizard and Angel type digimon were combined! Do you have any idea what power this digimon contains... with the strength of the Lizard.. and the magical aptitude of the Angel... this thing would be absolutely unstoppable if it digivolved further!" Joe blinked. He had gotten the point, unlike Izzy, who still rambled on about the "almighty power" that this digimon contained. "Veemon? And Gatomon? Say, Veemon was talking about an emergency birth in his message... were you two..." Veemon and Gatomon shook their heads. With the formal introductions out of the way, everybody turned to face Omegaveemon. Omegaveemon looked exactly like Veemon, though a bit shorter, and he was covered in an omnious gloss of gold shine - a tribute to power and the gift of the Angel. "Um... Gohan?" Joe asked, adjusting his specs. "Where exactly did you find your D3?" Gohan stood to his feet, grasping the digivice in his hand. "Is that what you call these? Under my covers, why?" Izzy snatched the D3 from Gohan's unaware hands. "This isn't Davis'. This is yours." Izzy handed the device back to an even more confused Gohan. "Huh?" Conker stood to his feet, brushing himself off. "I guess Veemon and Gatomon's little business here was our ace in the hole - we were able to detect that Gohan was a digidestined when his digimon arrived and he found a D3 by some bizzare chance." Gohan twitched. "Digidestined?" Veemon nodded. "Davis is a digidestined. TK is a digidestined. They all have guardian digimon. I think yours still wants to get to know you..." Omegaveemon shot forward in a blink of an eye, too fast for even Gohan to trace, and wrapped himself around Gohan's leg. "Guardian digimon, reporting for duty." ******** "Guardian digimon? What's going on here?" "I'd like you to meet Gohan." Izzy stated. "We already did, thanks." Tai sighed. "..the digidestined." Everybody in the rec room face faulted. "GOHAN is a DIGIDESTINED?!" Davis bellowed. "I'M the one with Veemon, thank you very much!" Conker grinned. "We have more help! How about that? Look here, everybody, an hour's nearly up and we need to know if we're going to head down to Server and kick some ass, or stay up here and get wasted?" Silence took the room once again, as past decisions came back to haunt them. Tai threw his arm up. "We're going forward! Ultramagnus is no better than MaloMyotismon and CAN and HAS to be stopped!" Serge held the Setra Weapon to his face. "The Chrono Cross is in great peril. If Ultramagnus is allowed to activate it there will be no homes to return to. We have to make a stand now, and now." Conker grit his teeth. "I want to go home already, how about you guys?" Vegeta folded his arms, threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. "No tyrant will match up to the TRUE Saiyan warriors, me, Kakarot and the child! We will return this day victorious!!" Heero flung the door open. "Let's get this over with!!" Cloud frowned. "I'm bored. Let's go down to Server and find something to do, like kick ass." "Yeeeeeeah!!" Rodent squealed. Berri and Kid threw out victory poses. "Yeah, let's, like, waste that fag!" Squall swung the Lionheart in an arc before placing it on his shoulder. "Swords will be true to me this day." Blackwargreymon slashed forth with his claw. "We shall be the winners." Piedmon, Daemon, Puppetmon and Digitomamon all linked arms. "Weeeee are the champions, my frieeend..." "What are we waiting for then?!" Goku yelled. "Let's go!!" Davis bounded off the floor. "You heard the guy! We have work to do!!" With a final victory roar, the entire group charged toward the computers, a digiport opened by TK. As everybody piled through the expansive gate, they couldn't be bothered to think of their own demises. They were going to win. Server Continent - Northlands Day 18, 5:25 PM Ultimanium paced back and forth, restless. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to do. Tell them of their own deaths than let them go. If they don't come back, I don't really see point in advancing any further either. What can I do though? Ultimanium gave the tundra around him one final look before gazing down on the ground, his vision not to be adjusted again. They're not coming. "Ulty!! Raul! Magnus! No way in hell you're leaving without us!!" Magnus grinned as he waved to the charging group off in the distance. "Looks like the welcome wagon is here!" Ultimanium jumped. "HUH?!? Everybody?! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be gone!" Vegeta grabbed Ultimanium by the collar. "Alright, listen up, there is no way in hell I am going to walk away from a fight this caliber! The Saiyans work for a true test of skills, and I have found it! We are coming with you whether you like it or not!" Goku nodded. "Every step of the way, Ulty." Davis lept forward. "Let's finish this!" The DeathHarvest and the Wing Zeromus both loomed over the group. "We're going to do this one last time." Duo said. Ultimanium sat in a moment of silence before speaking again. "Alright. Let's go. And hurry up." As he turned to advance, a grin spread across his, Magnus' and Raul's faces. The posse is back in business. Watch out, Ultramagnus, you're going to get a fight you'll never forget. Omegaveemon continued alongside the group, closest to the digidestined Gohan. Omegaveemon was created in the fusion of Courage and Light - two of many forces that, throughout the trials of time, have reigned high as the most powerful. The Courage to create the Light. It was an undeniable bond. Veemon and Gatomon knew that. And that legendary power was contained within Omegaveemon. What hazards will approach the reunited Argetlahm crew as they make their way onto Epoch Rock? Will Ultramagnus truly be defeated? What surprises does Omegaveemon have in store for the group? Some pretty powerful ones, I assure you... I mean, Veemon hasn't even activated his third shot yet! Fights galore throughout the dramatic conclusion to the Argetlahm Adventures and the Ultimatum Saga!! END OF CHAPTER 20 (A/N - This is my one shot at hardcore action, so please be gentle.) Cloud (voiceover) - Last time on the Argetlahm Adventures, it seemed Ulty couldn't bear throwing us into a fight that we didn't want to partake in, though I would've gladly, and he sent us back to the Argetlahm to recollect our reasons for fighting. No one particularly wanted to go home yet, however, and they all agreed to return to Ultimanium and continue on with the final advance on Ultramagnus. However, while on the Argetlahm, Gatomon finally got access to her and Veemon's digiegg and it hatched right there! It appeared that there was another digidestined on the ship that no one was aware of... Gohan! With the finally-recollected forces of Ultimanium back on Server, it's finally time to advance on Epoch Rock and put an end to this war once and for all! MISSION #7 - Critical Mass Advance on Epoch Rock, and assault Ultramagnus' weapons testing facility. Defeat Ultramagnus and seize control of the Chrono Cross and the Dragon Balls. Lethal force is encouraged. Raze everything. Danger level is classified under Defcon infinite. Good luck. Epoch Rock Day 18, 6:47 PM Power level incoming. Beginning DNA trace... DNA match successful. Ultramagnus landed with a heavy thud on the grass beneath him, looking around at the makeshift battlefield. Off in the distance a series of bunkers were lined up, carefully aligned to prevent damage from the frequent bomb drops that went on there. Scowling to himself, Ultramagnus turned on his heel and began to make his way over to a large building at the far edge of the chainlink-surrounded plain. An android jogged up to the disgruntled Super Saiyan. "Greetings, master! Did you bring the Dragon Balls and the Chrono Cross?" Ultramagnus stretched out his hands and dropped the 8 artifacts from the air into the soft grass in front of him. "Sure did. Are your defenses lined up yet?" The android looked stunned. "..sir, you never said anything about arming the defenses. You said you were going to activate the Chrono Cross right away, weren't you?" "So I'm changing my plans! Shut the hell up and do as you're told!" Ultramagnus began pacing as the android scooted away, back towards the building. "Damn it, Ultimanium and his little gang are on their way here right now! There's no way I can activate the Chrono Cross without the Dragon Balls or it taking accidental damage from them!" A message blared over the loudspeaker sticking out from the building. "Warning! Warning! Scanners are picking up several high power levels at 30 clicks! All defense personnel report to battlestations and await further instructions!" As Ultramagnus growled to himself, he was overspoken by the rattling of gun turrets. The northern district was under attack. "Positron Laser!!" A blue-purple flash erupted from over the hill as shrapnel bombarded Ultramagnus where he stood. "Everybody, get ready, here they come!" Ultramagnus flared up into SSJ6 and tore off toward the sight of the explosion. No way in fucking HELL are they getting by me this time! Conker whipped around as several dozen gun turrets rose out of the cliffside where he stood. "Damn it!" He quickly started tossing explosive shells into his Magnum, firing at the android-manned turrets with an assault rifle suspended in his other hand. "This is total chaos!!" MagnaAngemon and Angewomon dropped out of the sky, clashing hard against the ground. Indeed, the fight occuring around them was total chaos. In front of the main gates to the facility, every single person on the ground was deep in hand-to-hand combat with androids. Gun turrets pelted the ground around everybody with a constant stream of shells. How was everybody able to even survive a lop-sided fight like this? Nobody knew. Every single warrior fought with a newfound vigor and strength. Nothing got by them. "Spirit Surge!!" "Neo Crusher!!" Blue and black beams crossed each other up in the background as a steady stream of dirt blasted into the air. A pair of dismembered androids rolled to MagnaAngemon's feet with a sudden stop. "Meteorain!!" "Blasting Zone!!" A seemingly forever reaching laser crashed down from the sky, pursued by a small cluster of meteors. A deafening crash followed, sending up sparks, more dirt and shards of concrete into the air. "Nyaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" Davis screamed, over and over, as the two Ragnaroks found their way repeatedly to their targets, punching through androids' torsos almost as easily as it cut through the air. Davis had been barely able to handle the double greatswords before but was now wielding them with the dexterity of a god. Tai stood several feet behind him, facing away and covering Davis from any rear attacks. He too was handling the Ultima Weapons even quicker and deadlier than before. With a single stroke of his wrist, the shimmering crystalline blades carved straight through the shoulders of a line of 5 androids, sending them tumbling to the ground with a thunderous crash. TK dropped from the sky with the Sword of Truth as an android attempted to weave inbetween Davis and Tai's bidirectional guard, slashing it completely in half down the middle. Serge dashed through the crowd, spinning the Setra Weapon wildly above his head, decapitating anyone foolhardy enough to even come close. As he began to approach the gate, he brought the multi-element blade behind him, now pulsing with adrenaline-spawned energy and slashed it forward once more, dividing the great metal gates apart. As the doors flew open and off their hinges, another battalion of soldiers plowed forward.. with a familiar face leading the charge. *A veteran of the original Ultimatum, the great warrior was defeated at the hands of Davis. Revived under the cataclysmic power of Ultramagnus, the thief sword-wielding dervish returns to extract his revenge on the ones that betrayed him fouly. The man is sheathed in near-impregnable armor, a tribute to his theoretical immortality. The thief sword he wields is very much the bane of the holy might of the Ultima Weapon - the Lazarus Edge.* ZIDANE XL - Ultimate Thiefswordsman and Dyne Wielder "God damned mofos!!" Zidane screamed. "No one upholds the law of Ultramagnus and gets away with it!" Davis froze where he was, moving just in time to flip an android over his shoulder. "... oh.. my... God. It really is that little bastard!" As Zidane turned to face Davis, the very person that had humilated him and nearly slain him during the events of the Ultimatum, his eyes turned solely into a single white gleam, his remaining sanity succumbing to the bloodlust that coursed through his veins. **flashback** "You bitch!! You want a fight?!" Davis bellowed. With an outburst, Davis let go of the Buster Sword and forced Zidane off of him with a loose hand. Zidane flew off and rolled to a stop. When he sprung up, he barely caught sight of Davis charging him with the Buster Sword. With a leaping slash, Davis brought down the sharp side of the blade and busted the Ultima Weapon's shaft. Zidane fumbled to grasp the dual blades. Enough of the shaft remained on both ends to function as a weapon. Zidane swung both blades behind him. "I fight with daggers too, you know." "Er.." Davis was stuck. It was his one blade versus his two now. Zidane rushed Davis and threw him to the ground. Davis -2 HP "Alright, you little skid!!" Zidane shouted. "No one slashes THE warrior across the chest and gets away with it! You wi FWADDOOOOOM Davis kept his eyes shut. Maybe it was all of the afterlife bearing down on him. ..... Nothing happened. He opened an eye. Keyvan : Urrgghhh... The decapitated body of Zidane crumpled to the ground ahead of him. Behind Zidane there were five gaping holes in the wall. The Renzokamehameha had hit home. **end flashback** Davis winced as Zidane charged him, the black tempered obsidian blades of his thief sword held high. Davis was able to jaunt out of the way as the darkness blades crashed down hard into the ground where he stood, kicking up a storm of grass and dirt. Davis quickly brought up the Ragnarok, crossing in the middle to deflect Zidane's ravenous assault. The rest of the fight carried on around him as Davis and Zidane fought to settle the score. "Celestial Arrow!!" "Vulcan's Hammer!!" Bolts of light pierced away at the chain link barrier ahead of the mayhem, blasting it to shreds. As Karsh and Kid dove in they were greeted head-on by a near-legion of androids. "Axiomatic!!" As Karsh yelled out his command it seemed to have little effect, but every hit he landed on the android crowd ahead of him seemed to revitalize him, his blows speeding up with every hit. As the crowd thinned out and split to the sides, Karsh was very much a blur. Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien and Trunks all were in the fray of things, beating harshly on the elite guards, and dodging energy blade swipes from the improved and enhanced androids. Gohan and Krillin watched from a distance, breathing heavily. "This is absolutely nuts!!" Krillen yelled. "Gohan, we have to do something!" Demiveemon... digivolve to... OMEGAVEEMON!! Krillin blinked. "..eh.. Gohan? What's that?" Gohan glanced down at Omegaveemon, expecting a response. "Omegaveemon, do you have any attacks?" Omegaveemon threw his yellow hands forward so they overlapped each other and concentrated hard on them. "Super-Cutesy-Beam-Blaster!" Krillin sweatdropped. "I never thought this digimon thing was a good idea. Their attacks can't do jack all. I mean, lik..." KRACKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM Every tree in the Digital World shuddered slightly as Omegaveemon tapped into his power and cut loose with an epic beam of energy, nearly 200 feet across. The spire of blazing pink energy arced sharply and slammed down into the center of the base, blasting forth with a searing mushroom cloud. Imperialdramon staggered as he struggled to remain in the air. "What the hell was that?!" Berri and Rodent strafted out through the debris, with grenade launchers in each hand. More explosions rocked the ground where the melee fighters attempted to push onward. Squall staggered as he plunged the Lionheart deep through another android's chest. Davis nearly stumbled into him as he backed up, dodging another Lazarus swipe. Davis tossed one of his swords aside and gripped a single Ragnarok tightly as he and Squall threw themselves at the enraged Zidane, Zidane blocking both Squall and Davis' advances with opposite ends of his thief sword in true Darth Maul style. "Supreme Cannon!!" "Wing Blade!!" More attacks hit home. Barracks and supply depots erupted in flame. From the canyon top at the entrance base, Digitomamon's hella fast jeep drove up an incline and sailed through the air above the site, its passengers dropping even more attacks on the battlefield below. "Terra Destroyer!!" "Clown Trick!!" "Puppet Pummel!!" "Evil Inferno!!" Balls of energy. Balls of light. Balls of lightning. Balls of fire. Every attack hit home, delving the area into a inferno of blasts. As the jeep landed with a clank in the center of the base below, Digitomamon dove out and tackled another android. "Take thees!! Yaaaaah!!" By this time, TK had joined the sword fight between the manic Zidane, Squall and Davis. Cloud leaped in at the last moment. "Zidane!" Squall shouted. "Why are you doing this?!" Zidane refused to comment, only to continue slashing at Davis and Squall. When Cloud and TK stepped in, however, it was clear that he was beaten. "This is going to hurt me than it's going to hurt you." Cloud sighed, as he flared up into a red aura. "But still, when someone hurts my friends, well...." "Omnislash!" Everyone quickly backed away as Cloud's thief sword blades glimmered with a refreshing, yet vengeful light. As he began charging up the occaisional beam of light escaped from the wrathful weapon, until the light diminished and Cloud flung himself at Zidane, bringing down the Rune Tooth for a heavy slash. It appeared as if he would stop right there and rally before striking again, but with another gesture he brought the weapon back up across Zidane with merciless force and knocked Zidane clear off his feet. Again he beared down for a slash, Cloud began to speed up, slams with the sword echoing across Zidane's cracking armor with shockwaves of sheer force. After around a dozen heavy hits with the thief sword, Cloud paused for a second, expecting something along the lines of an apology. "Fuck you." was all that escaped from Zidane's tattered face. Cloud sprung at least 60 feet into the air, the handle of the thief sword letting off another shine, before he shot back down and plunged the rear of the weapon down through Zidane's gut, ending him then and there. Everybody turned, ready for another assault against the compound, when something stopped them. "STOP!!!!" Silence filled in the time between the echoing scream and the absolution. "That was Ultramagnus." Raul whispered. "He sounds pissed off." Everybody looked between the distance. From the smoldering wreckage of the base, shattered concrete lying everywhere, Ultramagnus stepped casually out of the flames of destruction where he had once stood. As a small scar on his cheek dripped out a speck of blood, Ultramagnus reached up and powerfully swept it off his face. "You Argetlahm personnel are a hardy bunch," Ultramagnus growled. "I hope you're happy. You can all say you've beaten me. .. wait, did I say that? You haven't beaten me... you've beaten my forces. What little you cretins know of me! I am Ultramagnus, SSJ6 level Saiyan and ruler of the third dimension. I have a world under my control, you can't underestimate me because of that. I am the most powerful fighting force in the universe, not some pimply-faced teenagers, not some cutey digital monsters or whatnot, not some musclebound freaks, not some damned squirrels! No! I am the most powerful force in the universe!" Blackwargreymon stood ready. "We're here to make some changes to the balance of power, Ultramagnus. Give up and we won't have to hurt you!" "How MUCH you have pissed me off! Time after time after time, you think you can just plow through Ultramagnus' little toy robot forces and say that he's been 'weakened'!" "Weak are those who need 'toy robots' to do their bidding!" Vegeta scowled. "Fool! You cannot even comprehend true power!" Ultramagnus nodded, a insane grin growing on his face. "So you insist I don't know true power, huh? Maybe so, but even if I didn't.. I have a little friend here who's going to show me true power!" With no warning, Ultramagnus whipped around to face the Dragon Balls in the grass, still where he had left them. "Rise, Eternal Dragon!! Grant me my wish!! Know that I, Ultramagnus, command you, Shen Long!!!" Goku sweatdropped, followed by everyone else. "Oh... no." The entire group, save for Ultramagnus, cowered at the sight of the rapidly blackening sky. The horizon was now a perfect darkness, severed only by the ocean that loomed off in the distance. Energy crackled between the seven Dragon Balls as they pulsed a deep orange-yellow. As Ultimanium began to push himself forward against his fear, A bolt of energy lashed upwards into the sky from the center of the Dragon Balls, flaring across the sky in a near-instant. As the light began to dim down, the omnious shade and awesome stature of Shen Long laid a seemingly neverending shadow upon the entire surface of Server. Shen Long's eyes slowly crept open, them showing a deep red upon the sky. "Who dares gather the Dragon Balls and summon me, Shen Long?" Shen Long's booming voice make the entire crew stagger back. Again, Ultramagnus resumed his proud stance. "It is I, Ultramagnus!" Shen Long's eyes brightened momentairly, before resuming their deep crimson gaze. "Excellent. Yes, you are Ultramagnus. Ultramagnus, you have gathered the Dragon Balls and summoned me, Shen Long. For your efforts you will be granted two wishes." Imperialdramon lunged out, alongside Magnus. "ULTRAMAGNUS!! DON'T DO IT!!!" Both were thrown back by a Ki blast from Ultramagnus' palm, crashing into the ground and sliding along the ground, leaving a crater trail. Ultramagnus smiled evily, then turned his attention back to Shen Long. "Eternal Dragon, I ask of you..." Ultramagnus held the Chrono Cross high above his head. "I ask that you activate this arcane artifact, unlock its secrets, reveal its dimension spanning secrets to me, Ultramagnus!!" Raul's eyes grew wide. "DAMN IT!! WE'RE TOO LATE!! EVERYBODY, GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!!!" "It shall be done." Shen Long's eyes once again rose into a higher shade of red before returning to its deep scarlet palette. ******** Minonim checked the panel on the Argetlahm bridge, again. And again. And again. There was no doubt about it. Everybody was in.. well, for lack of better wording, deep shit. "Goodness! What is going on down there? There's gates opening all over Server and the third dimension! What's going on down there?!" A couple of blue sparks shot from Minonim's vents as he attempted to jack into Lord Raul's thought. "Master Raul! Master Raul! What is going on there? Raul!!!" As Minonim turned, he bumped straight into the waist of an android. Minonim glanced around hesitantly. The entire bridge of the ship was being patrolled with androids. As an android picked him up and handled him gingerly before crushing his head between its two palms, one last wail of desperation was heard throughout Server. "KILL THE BASTARD!!!" ******** "BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" Ultramagnus bellowed, his laughing fit soon devolving into a giggling spree. "Looks like game over for you, Ulty! Soon the entire fourth dimension will be overrun by a surprise attack of androids! And to think even your little battalion couldn't do a damn thing about it..." Magnus clenched his fist, the Ehergiz on his hand pulsing with green Ki. "Damn you, Ultramagnus! You'll pay dearly for this!!" "Even if we have to expose our true forms!" Ultimanium screamed. "You and your army will die by the hands of the Argetlahm Battalion!!" Ultimanium lit up in a green-blue outlined blaze as the transformation began to take place... "Get ready!!" Wargreymon yelled. "We fight, NOW!!" Ultramagnus turned back to the night sky. "Eternal Dragon! I ask for my second wish! My second wish is to have my power doubled! Tripled! CENTUPLED!! MULTIPLIED!!! JUST MAKE SURE THESE ASSHOLES DIE ALREADY!!!!!!" "It shall be done. Done. Done. Done." As the Eternal Dragon carried out the will of his master helplessly, it almost seemed like all of reality bent at that point and made way for the final battle. Dimensional fabric shifted wildly as it threw the combatants into an area where they would not destroy all of creation outright. "Done. Done. Don. Deon. Enod. Node. Done." *Once the megalomanic ruler Ultramagnus, the light of the unholy force has only darkened, exposing the true power of the Super Saiyan ruler. He is beyond SSJ6. Or 7. Even something as proposterous as SSJ3000 stands little threat to him now. For he is a warrior of hatred, destruction, total annihilative power. The raw energies of MaloMyotismon, Cell, every evil in the galaxy thrown into one place... the tattered soul that was once redeemable is now cursed to burn in hell. Not that he's going to be killed anytime soon.* NEO NEMESIS - The Immortal Soverign The Ultimate Evil stands before you. I cannot be defeated. Ultramagnus has finally reached the pinnacle of his godly power - Neo Nemesis now ravages the lands of Server. Do Ultimanium, Lord Raul, Magnus and the heroes of the Argetlahm have what it takes to defeat an enemy of this magnitude? Find out next time in the last episode of the Argetlahm Adventures!! END OF CHAPTER 21 ??????? Day 19, 12:03 PM "We're not giving up yet!" Magnus bellowed. "Never!! Never!!" Conker was finally able to sit to his feet. However, as soon as he reached the apex of his sitting position, a hammering headache hit him hard, nearly sending him back down onto his back. "Ohh man, it's gonna be one of those days." "Witness The Ultimate Battlefield!" Neo Nemesis groaned. "Right Now We Are On Our Way To A Secluded Place, I Assure You! Here, None Of Your Meddling Friends Will Get In My Way And Disrupt My Ultimate Victory!" Trunks was finally able to push himself to his feet. "...freaky.. where are we?" Raul leaned on his knee as he struggled to get up. "The lights in this place are strange.. the velocity is nearly unbearable.. it's almost like we're tunneling through the dimensional structure itself! Ultramagnus! Where are you taking us?!" "Ultramagnus No Longer Exists! The True Power Exists, Neo Nemesis! The Power That Will Spell The Demise Of You And Your Accursed Argetlahm Crew!" Raul frowned. "Well, if you won't tell us, I guess we'll just have to figure out ourselves." Raul touched his palms to his forehead, trying to recollect his thoughts. "Minonim. We need directions no.. Minonim? What the hell, I can't pick up his signal!" "With Dimensional Travel Through The Chrono Cross Reaching To All Borders Of Reality, I Can Board The Argetlahm With No Problem! My Androids Are Wrecking The Place As We Speak!" Ultimanium clenched his fists. "Damn you!" Neo Nemesis finally stepped out of his shrouded darkness. He stood nearly 12 feet tall now, with a physique far greater than Ultramagnus'. His shoulders were extremely broad, supporting pale green plate armor that shielded his entire body. The Super Saiyan aura that surrounded him was far more outreached than before. While it appeared that Neo Nemesis possessed unstoppable power, his face remained in total darkness, the only things sticking through being a pair of white, perfectly round eyes and his SSJ hair, which was white now and wilted rapidly. Everybody stumbled back abruptly as the swirling rainbow background lurched to a halt. As the psychedelic barrier around them began to dissiapate, the entire group found themselves in city streets of some sort. "You Wish To Know Where You Are? You Exist Now In The Sixth Dimension. Hell, I Figured You Needed Some Sort Of Freedom If You Even Dreamed Of Having Defeated Me. Here We Fight. And Here You Shall Die." "Let me give him a scan..." Goku muttered, tapping his Scouter. "..beyond 10 million. That's the lowest reading I can get." "Let's do this!!" Tai yelled, as him, Serge, Karsh, and Cody all hurled themselves at the hulking behemoth, blades ready. "Psycho Crusher." Neo Nemesis simply pointed at Tai, and everybody around him screeched to a halt as Tai hit the ground, clenching his head. "Tai!" Serge shouted. "What's going on?!" "Yaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" Tai screamed in pain, as Neo Nemesis' cruel attack punched a full-out hole through his psyche. Tai hopped to his feet, staggering back as he grasped his skull, searing pain coursing across his very soul. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" "Asshole!" Ultimanium bellowed. "We aren't going to sit back and take you doing this to our friends!" Ultimanium crouched as a prismatic flame leapt around his heels. "You still haven't seen ME fight yet!!" Neo Nemesis rolled his eyes. "Oh Yeah, I Forgot About The Peaceful Guy. Whatever, Let's See What You Can Do." Ultimanium growled as his clothes tore off under the pressure of the flames enveloping him. Everybody backed away from the enraged deity as he rose once again in a brilliant flash of light. Whoever wasn't heavy enough or wasn't bracing themselves to stand was toppled by the shockwave that shot from underneath Ultimanium's feet. When Ultimanium reached his feet and the tremors stopped, all that stood in Ultimanium's wake was an entity of solid energy. "...Omnimanium." Magnus sighed. "His power level's only 3 million though!" Goku winced. "He's still going to get creamed!" "We have no choice!" Magnus said. "He's the only one that can stand up to Neo Nemesis now!" Before anyone could stop him, Omnimanium threw himselve at and above Neo Nemesis, a ball of Ki in his hands. "Super Spirit Surge!" Omnimanium brought his one hand down with undeniable force, a gigantic laser of blue light raining from the sky. Neo Nemesis threw up an arm and deflected the attack effortlessly, and batted Omnimanium into a nearby building. While Omnimanium struggled to get up, Neo Nemesis advanced on the rest of the group. "I Said, Game Over. What About 'Dead' Do You Not Understand?" "We're not going to give up to an ass like you!" Davis screamed. "Don't think we can't fight!" "Positron Laser!" "Supreme Cannon!" "Metal Wolf Claw!" "Wing Blade!" "Celestial Arrow!" "Gate of Destiny!" "Vulcan's Hammer!" "Luminaire!" "Blasting Zone!" "Meteorain!" "Horn Buster!" "Red Pin!" "Axial Axe!" "Super-Cutesy-Beam-Blaster!" Neo Nemesis wailed at the air in front of him, batting away every single small projectile that shot at him, and absorbing the larger ones. Neo Nemesis let out a deep wail as the giant pink Beam Blaster sent him flying back and slid him across the road, tearing it up behind him. Gohan threw up an arm. "Yeah! Take that!" The victory was shortlived, as in the meantime Neo Nemesis phased behind the group and brought a heavy arm down on Omegaveemon. Everybody delved into silence as Neo Nemesis lifted his heavy hand. A twisted Omegaveemon was revealed. "YAAAAHHHH!!!" Imperialdramon and Angewomon both dedigivolved as they both cleared the distance on the wounded Omegaveemon. "Ah! Omega!" Veemon wailed. "Tell me you're alright!" Gatomon could just stare down on the twisted body of Omegaveemon. Gohan sat over him, his face twitching. "Ah, Hell. Quit Your Damn Whining And Fight Already. If He's Dead, He's Dead. Get Over It." Both Veemon and Gatomon froze. They turned to Neo Nemesis slowly. "GET.. OVER... IT?!?" Veemon whipped back around, to find Joe attempting to lift Omegaveemon out of the crater. "Is he... going to be... alright?" Gohan sobbed. Joe shoved on Omegaveemon gingerly. "Something's fractured in there alright. He needs serious medical attention, and now!" "Not If I Have Anything To Say About It!" Neo Nemesis laughed. "How About I Put The Little Bastard Out Of Its Misery For You? Psycho Crusher!" Joe's eyes grew wide as Omegaveemon let out a pitched wail. "What the hell?! Fuck off, he's going to die if you keep beating him like that!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" "You are one sadistic bastard." Krillin growled. "Fuck off or we're going to have to get really serious!" "Can It, Baldy!" Neo Nemesis chuckled. "Do You Think I Give A Shit? It's One Less Hero To Deal With!" "How can you be so careless with people's lives?!" Berri cried. "This is just a child you're dealing with!!" "A Child That's A Threat To My Rule." Neo Nemesis growled. He held his arm up to the wounded digimon and began charging energy on the tip of his finger. "Say Bye Bye To Your Brat, Veemon. Courage And Light Shall Never Remain Forged!" "I have had ENOUGH of your crap!" Veemon screamed. Veemon... digivolve to... EXVEEMON!! Exveemon... DNA Digivolve to... PAILDRAMON!! Paildramon... Mega Digivolve to... IMPERIALDRAMON!! Imperialdramon... Mode Change to... Fighter Mode!!!! Imperialdramon... Mode Change to... PALADIN MODE!!! (A/N - Yep, that was the third shot.) "Quit Bluffing!! You Cannot Defeat Me!!" With a burst of energy, Neo Nemesis let loose his energy upon Omegaveemon. The energy just seemed to hang in the air as Gatomon realized the fate that awaited her spawn. "YAAAAAAAHHH!!! LIKE HELL YOU'RE GOING TO DO THAT!!!" Gatomon... warp digivolve to... MAGNADRAMON!!! Raul began concentrating hard. "Guys! Keep Neo Nemesis busy! I have an idea how to destroy him!..." As he began humming more runic language, he winced to himself. "I never thought I'd ever get up enough nerve to use this, but, boy, I'm going to destroy this ass even if I have to take the sixth dimension with me." Magnus blinked. "You're not serious! You're not going to use that spell, are you?" "Yes, that spell." Magnadramon brought herself down inbetween Neo Nemesis and the rest of the group, deflecting the energy blast off her thick hide. "We told you to screw off! Get out of here now or there's gonna be hell to pay!" Neo Nemesis brought up another charged hand. "Make Me!" "Dragon Flare!!" Magnadramon shot a heavy fireball into Neo Nemesis' chest, sending him flying back. He slammed through three office buildings before coming to a halt. Imperialdramon dropped down in front of her. "Super Positron Laser!!" Imperialdramon grasped his arm, bracing it. The force from the three lasers, one main one and the two winding around it, would be enough to catapault him back through Magnadramon if he left it unchecked. The energy blasts winded their way down the street, impacting against the rubble with a near-nuclear explosion, blowing pieces of rubble in the group's general direction. MagnaAngemon grinned. "I've set the Gate of Destiny for a more appealing battleground. C'mon, everybody! Through the door!" As the crowd plowed through the wide gate, MagnaAngemon focused his attention once again on the fight going on in the background. Imperialdramon extended his Positron Laser out of his arm cannon a short distance and brought it down on the grounded Neo Nemesis. Neo Nemesis flipped easily to his feet, sending the still attached Imperialdramon flipping into the air before regaining balance, as Magnadramon bodyslammed him down to the ground again. MagnaAngemon swooped in and clashed the Excalibur hard against Neo Nemesis, sending a visible pink shock through him. "Everybody!" MagnaAngemon yelled. "Through the Gate of Destiny! We have a more compelling fighting ground to attend!" Imperialdramon nodded. "Gotcha!" Him and Magnadramon broke from the battle in a single motion and advanced on the Gate of Destiny, it resizing itself automatically to fit the two Megas through. MagnaAngemon spun and slashed Neo Nemesis again before turning and making a dash for the Gate. Neo Nemesis rocketed through the air after him, following him into the swirling surface of the Gate. "Dumbass! No One Does That And Escapes With Their Lives!!" Neo Nemesis screamed as he dove through the shimmering liquid tunnel of the Destiny Gate. Neo Nemesis found himself in a surreal landscape. "Alright, You Little Shits, You Can Come Out Any Time Now, And I'll Make This Quick And Painless!" He lurched at the sound of whistling off in the distance. When he turned, he found Magnus leaning on the air itself, filing his nails. "Why, hey there, Neo!" Magnus laughed. "Betcha you're wondering where you are right about now!" "Tell Me And I Might Spare Killing You For A Couple Of Seconds." Davis walked up behind Neo Nemesis. "Why, you're in the very realm of creation!" Another Davis stepped out from behind the other one. "Why, I couldn'tve said better myself!" "Why, thank you!" Neo Nemesis glanced vengefully between the two Davises. "What In Blazes? Why Are There Two Davises?!" Magnus went back to filing his nails. "If you REALLY want to sound like you're thinking, you can call them Davi." Neo Nemesis flashed his heavy iron arm in front of him, punching through the left Davis. He disappeared in a puff of smoke. Neo Nemesis checked around himself nervously. "W-Where AM I?" TK stood off in the distance, a devious grin on his face. "Why, the only place where WE could win, of course." Karsh folded his arms. "Gotta hand it to you, you had us beat there." Conker grinned. "Still, it kind of bugs me that we had to resort to such cheap ways of killing you." "No One Shall Ever Kill Me!! I Am A God!!" Neo Nemesis screamed furiously, lashing out at Conker with a heavy metal leg. Conker dissiapated as Neo Nemesis hit home. He stopped, twitching for a second. He looked up to see Conker sitting on his head. "Hey, Iron Man! Missed me!" Conker bounded from Neo Nemesis' head as he landed a hard gauntlet on his own face. "Blast You!! Stand Still!! What Is Going On Here?!?" Neo Nemesis turned... and stared onwards in horror. Omnimanium stood at the front of the crowd. In the background, at least 5 of every Argetlahm member stood, awaiting a command. Every single digivolved form of every digimon present stood and hovered overhead. "Hey there, Neo. Looking for us?" Piccolo threw a pair of hard fists together. "We still have some asses to kick." He turned back to another 3 Piccolos. "Right, guys?" All the dopplegangers nodded. "No!" Neo Nemesis wailed. "What Is Happening?!" Tai smirked. "Funny, when I heard you were invading dimensions and such I thought this would be your first destination. But I guess I was wrong. THIS place is where true power lies. And we have it all harnessed." "What... How..." Izzy nodded. "When the second generation digidestined went through here, and the rift was still open, I recorded its dimensional coordinates just in case of another fight like MaloMyotismon's. I think I'm happy I did, what about you guys?" Cloud put his hands up in the air. "Welcome to the grand reopening of the Dream Dimension!" Neo Nemesis backed away. "...No! How? You Can't Be More Powerful Than Me!" Tien folded his arms. "Apparently in this dimension our true powers are realized. And we don't even need Shen Long guiding us, either. We have the advantage now." "And here we don't have to worry about hurting anyone accidently," Rodent added. "So we're going all out on this one, too." The entire group beared down on the stricken Neo Nemesis. "Nooooooooo!!!!" Magnus threw himself at Neo Nemesis, a glowing Ehergiz held high. "Your legacy of pain ends here, Ultramagnus!!!" Tentomon... warp digivolve to... HERCULESKABUTERIMON!!! Patamon... warp digivolve to... SERAPHIMON!!! "Pepper Breath!" "Nova Blast!" "Giga Blaster!" "Terra Destroyer!" "Blue Blaster!" "Howling Blaster!" "Wolf Claw!" "Metal Wolf Claw!" "Dash and Slash!" "Luminaire!" "Flying Arrow!" "Red Pin!" "Hotshot!" "Spiral Twister!" "Meteor Wing!" "Wing Blade!" "Super Positron Laser!" "Positron Laser!" "Positron Laser!" "Axiomatic!" "Terra Destroyer!" "Puppet Pummel!" "Marching Fishes!" "Harpoon Torpedo!" "Vulcan's Hammer!" "Final Flash!" "Tri-Beam!" "Spirit Surge!" "Shadow Surge!" "Braver!" "Rough Divide!" "Cross-Slash!" "Blade Beam!" "V-Laser!" "Celestial Arrow!" "Super Shocker!" "Electro Shocker!" "Horn Buster!" "Mega Electro Shocker! "Fated Circle!" "Evil Inferno!" "Hand of Fate!" "Boom Bubble!" "Meteorain!" "Finishing Touch!" "Blasting Zone!" "Omnislash!" "Lionheart!" "Dragon Flare!" "Clown Trick!" "Supreme Cannon!" "Desperado Blaster!" "Lightning Claw!" "Vee-Headbutt!" "Buster Shot!" "Justice Beam!" "Seven Heavens!" "Ultima!" "Ultimate End!" "Neo Crusher!" "...HAMEHAAAA!!" "...HAMEHAAAA!!" "...HAMEHAAAA!!" "YEAAAAUUUUUUGGHHHH!!!" Neo Nemesis screamed in primal pain as attacks from several dozen sources slammed into him. Lasers and energy bolts screamed and impacted with violent explosions all across Neo Nemesis. At least 30 people were at his heels, slashing and beating him with swallows, swords, staves, and that was all before the Knights of the Round showed up from Davis' Ultimate End, beating Neo Nemesis into near-death again. Three Kamehamehas impacted the ground in front of Neo Nemesis, blasting him back for what seemed like miles. Ultima erupted beneath him, making him airborne once again. There was absolutely no end to the destruction. The orbs of the Seven Heavens attack exploded harshly against Neo Nemesis with vengeful holy energy. "On my mark!" Conker screamed. "FIRE!!" All three gunwarriors, Conker, Berri, and Rodent, loaded up their antimatter shells and fired at the same time. All three shells impacted at once, blasting out a sphere of pure white death that washed over the entire group along with Neo Nemesis. If they had tried something like that outside the dream dimension, Earth wouldn't be standing. As the hurricane of blast wind rushed over Conker, flashing his Neo Conker cape nearly over his shoulders, he closed his eyes, as did the rest of the crew. "Alright! Let's end this!" Raul parted his hands. "Alright! Let's send this guy to hell!!! I'm all charged up and ready to go! As soon as I break the protective seal around the spell Neo Nemesis is dead!" Magnus tapped Raul on the shoulder. "There was a reason that there was a seal placed around that spell, you know. I'm not sure if even the dream dimension could contain a blast like that." Meanwhile, both Serge and Goku slammed their Planet Buster combination attack down on ground zero, inflammating Neo Nemesis once again with a blast of holy energy. "Cretins!!! I Will Not Be Defeated By Such Means!! AAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Raul blinked. "Lina Inverse would be pissed off at us right about now, but her seal's breaking before me. Here goes! Everybody, get back through the Gate of Destiny!!" As everybody broke off their attack and dashed to the gate, TK and Serge turned. "Hey, Neo." "...heuh... heuh... heuh..." TK waved. "We'll see you in hell." With that, TK and Serge dove through the gate as it closed behind them. Raul and Ultimanium ware the only ones remaining to fight Neo Nemesis. Raul held the Sword of Truth in his hand, which he deftly manged to steal off of TK's back during the fight. "Once more, for old times sake. Blade, be true to me this day." With a single motion, Raul held the Sword behind his side and started to chant. "Here goes... get ready, Ultramagnus! Here I come!" "...No... This Is Not Possible..." Ultimanium stood next to Raul. "This is it. Do this, Raul, and extermine this fiend for creation itself." "Sword, grant me your power. Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night! Justice was served. Ultramagnus, and his dominator ways would never walk the earth again, regardless of dimension. Lord of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos, I call upon thee, and swear myself to thee! Neo Nemesis looked up in denial. "Is... This What I Have Been Destined To Be? No More Than Cannon Fodder For The Fool Ultimanium? This Cannot Be! This Cannot Be My Destiny! I Was Born To Rule Over The Dimensions! Why? Why? I WAS DESTINED TO RULE!! YOU CANNOT DO THIS!!! MY MISSION IS MY DESTINY!!!" A vision pierced his mind. The entire Argetlahm crew standing, in front of him. All at once, the entire crowd put up their hands and extended their middle fingers. All at once, they spoke. "We speak for the entire dimension of people you've killed, Ultramagnus. "Fuck you." Lord Raul brought the Sword forward in front of him, now pulsing with black energy. May the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess! Sword, except this darkness and obey my command! Neo Nemesis reverted to his normal self, Ultramagnus. He looked up at Raul. "...um... Ulty? Can we at least talk abou this?" GIGA SLAVE!!" Regardless of dimension, everybody in existance buckled slightly as they all felt the energy of the god Ultramagnus, Neo Nemesis, dissipate violently in the ultimate subtractive magic that blasted in a massive sphere of death from the dream dimension. While every single person alive felt a sting as the wrath of Ultramagnus floated away, the dead from the third dimension felt a sense of retribution wash over them. After a long while, those killed in the rampage were finally able to enjoy their afterlife. (A/N - There's another chapter, people! ^_^) END OF CHAPTER 22 Argetlahm Day 23, 3:56 AM Tai kicked another android to his side. "I can't believe this." Stepping through the immobilized bodies of what appeared to be hundreds of Ultramagnus' soldiers, shut down somehow after the defeat of Ultramagnus, Tai hastened his step to try to catch up to Goku, who lead the group down the darkened hall. He glanced over his shoulder to find a more agile Agumon trailing him a short distance behind. Serge, Cody and Gohan were behind Agumon. Tai quickly snapped back to his senses and lifted his flashlight up to his view, lighting another section of the floor. "This way, guys." "Hey, I think the turbolift's still working," Goku shouted, further into the darkness ahead. "Lemme check..." A loud click was heard, followed by the tell-tale hum of the turbolifts starting up. "We're in business, baby!" As the remainder of the group filed into the elevator, Serge picked up an android and tossed it out into the hall. "This place is an absolute mess. It's kinda funny how Ultramagnus managed to open a gate to the Argetlahm, huh? Maybe the Chrono Cross was able to bypass the anti-dimensional barrier." Silence followed as the turbolift began to rise. Tai glanced over to Serge, with a grin on his face. "Thief sword." Serge frowned. "Swallow." "Don't start that again," Gohan sighed, rolling his eyes. "It took you long enough to forget about it." "Say, Gohan," Cody asked. "Did you ever hear how Omegaveemon was doing?" "He's fine," Gohan mumbled, twitching his toes. "Joe took him home when he left with the others. He said he's going to take care of him for the time being until his rib fracture gets better. He says it'll be about 2 weeks." Everybody looked up as the turbolift dinged to a stop. "This is our stop, guys." Goku chuckled. "Bridge floor. Computer equipment & software. TVs. Window plates." Serge smacked Goku on the back of the head as he stepped out of the turbolift, but his playful mood deteriorated greatly when he caught sight of the bridge. "...oh my God.. this place is wrecked!" As the group made their way along the bridge path up to the control panels, Serge leading, they took regretful glances at the bridge infrastructure. Many of the great pillars supporting the bubble dome above the command center were toppled. Debris lied everywhere. Many of the main control panels weren't functioning. Serge's eyes grew wide as he saw a mechanical arm stretching from the wreckage. "...Minonim!!" Everybody waited at the control panels as Serge furiously tossed away the plates of steel covering the probe. Serge lifted the robot, staring at it with depressed eyes. "...Minonim..." Minonim was completely wrecked. Much of his interior system was smashed into bits by both the androids and the structural damage, and his head was severed clean in half, much of his main CPU chips in pieces across the control panel floor. Serge dropped the tattered probe where he picked it up and turned away, pushing his hand into his face. "..M...Minonim..." Serge sniffled. Tai rested a hand on Serge's shoulder. "Don't hold it against yourself, man! There was nothing you could have done! If that ass..." Tai grit his teeth. "..Ultramagnus never locked us down there on Server this would never've happened!" Tai turned slowly to Minonim, shaking his head. "...a casulty of war..." Gohan bowed his head. "Minonim was always there with us. He hated Ultramagnus just as much as any of us. He always helped us against the androids... if I were him, I'd be happy about what I did for the group. I'd be proud." Goku stared solemnly at the wrecked helper. "Damn it..." He turned back to the last functioning control panel and squinted at it. "..funny... there's a scan program left open here... it must've been like Minonim knew we were coming back so he left it open for us. Wait, there's a message here..." Tell me Ultramagnus is dead. For all I know, you all could be dead, and I would never know it... Ultramagnus' forces are on board, and there's nothing I can do to stop them. I'm afraid this might be the end for me... but if you all are out there, I believe in you. Finish Ultramagnus off and give me some peace before I leave this world. - Minonim Everybody sat in a saddening silence. "It says here there are no more functioning androids on board. We're clear." Argetlahm Mess Hall Day 24, 11:34 AM Everybody was finally reunited aboard the Argetlahm after a lengthly cleanup period, all each indulging in bowls of baked macaroni and cheese. Ultimanium sat at the far end of the table, eating his food slower than the others. He was too busy paying attention to the discussions among the group, finally for once in a celebratory mood over the crucial defeat of Ultramagnus. "Hey, TM!" Davis wailed. "Have some pepper!" Davis screwed off the lid of the pepper shaker nearest to him and dumped its contents over TK's bowl, who was sitting next to him. TK stared, disturbed, at Davis. "TK." "Whatever, TO," Conker snickered, giving Davis a high-five. "Damn, man," Duo sighed, kicking back in his chair. "It's been a while since we've just been able to sit around and relax here, hasn't it?" "Sure has," Armadillomon cooed, dunking his head into his bowl. Kid picked up her bowl and dumped it over Squall. "Food fight!!" Magnus grinned. "BS! THIS is a food fight!" Magnus threw his bowl as hard as he can, it cupping perfectly over Kid's face as it hit home. The bowl smeared away from Kid's face, turning it yellow from the sauce. Ultimanium ducked as a pop can flew over his head and landed in a bowl of rice Raul was eating. "Hey!" Raul shouted. Ultimanium stood and walked to the window, arms folded behind his back, as bowls of macaroni flew in the background. "Everybody, it's time to go." Everybody stopped, Cody lying on the table as he held Cloud's bowl away from his face. "Huh?" Ultimanium turned slowly back to the group. "The Argetlahm has seen many adventures just within the past 3 weeks. However, I feel already it may be time to shift it from my control. The Argetlahm is a ship of war, and having it in my possession is only a reminder of the sacrifices that had to be made to defeat Ultramagnus. Conker, would you like to take control of the Argetlahm?" Conker blinked. "Ah, well, no thanks. I'm heading home after I get off the Argetlahm, and besides, I'd have nowhere to park it." "Then Magnus will take the Argetlahm." Magnus stood to his feet, pounding a fist into his chest. "I, Magnus Power, will take the helm of the Argetlahm and guide it from hereonin! Even after everybody leaves the Argetlahm, I'll be sure to leave the digiports here open, so you'll be able to shift here anytime you want as long as you have a digidestined escorting you." Magnus quieted down as Conker turned away. "That effectively keeps me, Berri and Rodent away from the Argetlahm." Conker muttered. "I guess I'm not going to be able to return here, huh?" Raul nodded. "Well, actually, you can. I've locked the J3 into one dimensional path. The only way it'll shift is if it is going to and from the Argetlahm. Conker, you can have the J3 and you can visit here anytime you please." Conker lit up. "...really?" Karsh rolled a cart into the mess hall, the J3 sitting atop it. "All aboard the J3 express!" Karsh shouted gleefully. "Conker, I believe this is yours." Conker watched as the J3 hovered off the cart on its own and turned to face him. "...wow, you really mean it, don't you?" Berri and Rodent were already examining the J3. "...well... I guess this is where I say goodbye. I have to get home and watch some damn TV on my own television for once. Davis, Goku... and the rest of you. It's been absolutely fucking awesome hanging with you guys. Tell me you're going to be coming back aboard the Argetlahm sometime." Kari nodded. "Absolutely!" "I know I will," Gohan laughed. "And dad's gonna be coming with me. And Omegaveemon." Gohan held up his D3 alongside Kari's, both devices letting out a friendly beep. Conker glanced at the floor. "Well... we'll see you all again someday. Until next time..." Berri nodded. "I have Kid's number." Rodent waved vigorously. "See ya all next time!" With the hearty grin Conker was known for, he brought a hard hand down on the J3's start button and tore through space-time to his destination. Berri and Rodent disintegrated shortly after. Goku stood from his chair. "I think we'd better get going too. We have another big fight in a while, and we need a rest. Wish us luck." Ultimanum nodded. "Cell, yes?" "Uh-huh." "I wish you best of luck," Ultimanium said. "While we don't have the J3, Gohan can use his D3 to shift you to the 3.5 Digital World. From there he can use it again to get back to the fourth dimension. You can use the computers down in the rec room." Vegeta stood and followed Goku and Gohan as they slid silently out of the room. "..hey... Ultimanium?" "Yes, Vegeta?" "It has been a while since I met a worthy warrior such as yourself. Could you possibly teach me that Shattered Reality trick sometime? Or at least the Spirit Surge?" "Yeah, sure," Ultimanium laughed. "Come back some time." Vegeta slipped out of the room, the mess hall door closing gently. Ultimanium turned back to his table. "...hey, where'd Serge and his gang go? And what about Heero and Duo?" Tai shrugged. "They said they were going to use the Chrono Cross secured during the fight to shift home. I imagine they took the new Gundams with them. Speaking of which, I think we'd better get going. Davis, Kari, TK, Cody? You guys set?" Everybody nodded, and stood from their chair. "This has been killer," Davis laughed. "We have to do it again sometime." "My pleasure," Ultimanium chuckled. As the digidestined marched out of the room, waving to Ultimanium, Magnus and Lord Raul on their way out. The digimon followed, with Veemon and Gatomon walking side by side, bringing up the rear. "Get home safely now," Magnus mumbled. ******** Conker finally stood at the crest of the rolling hill, peering down on the dip in the ground beneath him with his hands at his eyes. After a long, hard search, he had finally found it. At the base of the hill, among other houses, sat a trailer. Conker's trailer. "Berri. I've found it." Berri cleared the hill. "Have you. I need some TV too, what are we waiting for?" Conker grinned as he broke into a jog, and then a sprint as he dashed down the hill, finally relieved to reach his home at last, after a month lapse. Since that night.. that bad fur day... he wanted to get home, and finally he was here. Conker laughed to himself as he jiggled the door handle and forced his way in. "Hell yeah." ********* "Davis, God no, that's not how you do it! You never do the same move twice!" Cody's grandpa brought his Kendo rod down in a single graceful movement and knocked Davis clear back off his feet, landing several meters away. "Frick!" Davis muttered to himself, shoving himself to his feet with the Ragnarok. "Cody, how can you go through this?" Cody sat on the sidelines of the Kendo mat, nodding. "Practice." Tai shoved Cody over. "Hey, I want a try sometime soon." TK jumped up. "Me too! C'mon!" "I can't see this 'Ultimanium' handing swords to people as simple-minded as these, Cody," The grizzled trainer sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't be training them just for the sole interest of not hurting them." "But we got swordsmen on our team now!" Tai squealed, before exchanging high-fives with TK. Oh, and Veemon and Gatomon lived happily ever after. Like hell you care. ******** Serge just slept. Kid disappeared again. Let's just keep it simple. ******** After a lengthly departure, Cloud and Squall were finally kidnapped by their supposed loves, Tifa Lockheart and Rinoa Heartilly, after which they were dragged up to a lonely mountain cabin where they were glomped mercilessly by the two evil mistresses. Cloud and Squall were never heard from again. ******** Demiveemon... digivolve to... OMEGAVEEMON!! Master Roshi quickly ducked out of the kitchen, only to return with a broom in his hands. "Where'd that little varmint go?! AH!! There you are!! YAAAAAH!!" Roshi screamed as he brought a hard, spinning broom down on where Omegaveemon stood. By the time the broom hit the ground, he wasn't there. "What the hell?" He turned the broom toward Gohan. "You little punk! You let that rat in here and now it's going to start chewing up my upholstery if you don't do something about it!" "...eh.. that's what I was going to ask you," Gohan sighed, scratching his head. "I was wondering if you could take care of Omegaveemon for a while, while we're at the Cell Games. It shouldn't be too hard, just keep him fed, and he won't go In-Training and start crapping all over the place. I have yet to pottytrain him." As Gohan strided through the exit screen door and rocketed into the sky, destination Cell Games, Master Roshi let out a stifled snarl. "Get back here!!" ******** "Where are the Gundams?! What did you do with the Gundams?! I want some answers you pussies, otherwise your ass is KICKED out of the military!!" some half-assed lieutenant screamed at Heero and Duo. Duo grinned. "What Gundams? We have... The Gundam Twos!!" Duo turned and pointed to the obscenely armored mobile suits sitting parked in the corner of the hangar, a polished shine hanging off them. "Those aren't the Gundams!! Where are the Gundams?!" "As soon as we're out of prison, I'm escaping with Wing Zeromus," Heero whispered. "How about you?" As guards came and hauled both convicts off, Duo scowled to himself. ******** Ultimanium slumped into his chair. "That's it, huh?" Magnus twiddled his thumbs. "Yeah, the 2.5 digimon returned to their dimension already. They told me to tell you that. I think they were going to stop by again though. I heard Daemon say something about hosting a LAN party." "Nobody say anything, but I slipped the Sword of Truth back into Takeru's bag," Raul whispered. Ultimanium drummed his fingers on the table. "....so now what?" Magnus grinned. "We go out to Hooters and get hammered." Raul sighed, pushing himself up from the table. "I'm up for that." Ultimanium, Lord Raul and Magnus all got up and left the room, Ultimanium taking care to shut off the lights as he left. So many heroes had eaten in this hall. It would be a shame to just close it off now. Not to worry. He had friends now in high places. All his heroes could return to the Argetlahm as they pleased. The recording of the Ultimatum was finally complete. The true battle had come and gone. And what a battle it was. END The armed forces of Earth were able to take the invading androids relatively easily, since the full force had not made it through the dimensional gate. Casulties occured, but not nearly as many as there could've been. END OF CHAPTER 23 Epoch Rock Day 23, 12:00 PM Accursed.... Argetlahm! You will pay dearly for what has happened here today.... Shenlong paused for a moment, as if even he was shaken by the words of his supposedly deceased master. He has set an unstoppable force upon this world... still not measuring up to his own, though destructive enough to spell the doom of the dimensions. It couldn't be stopped. Not by mortal means. "Daisuke... Hikari... Goku... Vegeta.... Ultimanium... Raul... Conker... somebody.... You yourselves lack the power..." the Eternal Dragon trembled, thinking of the heroes that had placed their dimension homes on the line to fight Ultramagnus. "You Will Not Disobey Me, Servant!!" Neo Nemesis screamed. "I Am The Most Powerful Being In This Universe!!" Shenlong's deep crimson eyes narrowed. "You speak of a hypothesis you can't prove, mortal." "You Yourself Are My Power!" "I wasn't hoping I had to do this..." Shenlong paused momentarily. "I would really hate to have to show my true power without the assistance of the Dragon Balls. I mean, it would ruin the whole legend and all...." "What A Crock! Tell You What, I Will Destroy This Entire Dimension, You Just Watch!!!" Shenlong would waste no more time. As Neo Nemesis began charging up energy, the colossal dragon lunged down from the sky with an agility never heard of in reality and struck Neo Nemesis with a massive glowing claw, sending Neo Nemesis hurtling backwards, followed by tattered shards of his armor. Shenlong stared, satisfied, at the growing pool of blood where Neo Nemesis laid. He growled as the armor-clad behemoth began to raise himself from the ground. "Fool! You are just like the rest of your people... wishing for the silliest of things... you have no reason for destroying the lives of this dimension's people! I really wish you'd take a lesson from the warriors that struck you down in the beginning and give up your vain crusade!..." "I Refuse!" Neo Nemesis bellowed. "Ruling This Dimension Is My Birthright! I Don't Have It, No One Will!!" Shenlong glared daggers. "God giveth power, and God taketh away." Neo Nemesis had been given no time to contemplate. Shenlong hurled his massive body at Neo Nemesis and slashed away at him before knocking him up into the air, from which he landed with a crash. Overcome with the energy given off by the omnipotent attacks, Neo Nemesis simply disintegrated upon impact. Magnus stepped up. "Ouchies. Say, now that the guy's dead, and you're here, can..." Shenlong chuckled. "No freebies." "Damn. Well, see ya, Ulty and Raul are at Hooters right now." END OF CHAPTER 24