“Yagami.. Yagami... Yagami... why don’t they have English in these blasted phone books?” Carter snapped closed the book as Hikaru and Sean were searching through two other phone books. “Because it’s Japan,” Penguinmon said from where he was raiding Hikaru’s uncle’s refrigerator. He sighed. “Don’t they have any Bud Light?” “This is Japan, they have Sake,” Sean said from his seat at the table. “Besides, don’t drink, you’ll be too wasted to evolve.” “Find Hikari’s number?” Hikaru asked Carter as she paged through the book in search of the number of the Ichijojis. “Nada. Sean, any luck?” Sean shook his head. “No such luck. I’m having enough trouble reading this phone book as it is.” He scowled. “Learning how to speak Japanese was hard enough; reading it is a whole new story.” “Great. We get a alert and we’re stuck without a ride there!” Carter banged his hand on the table as the news report played out in the background, detailing the ice dome around Edmonton and the gradually freezing countryside. “Well, at this point, all we can do now is go and search for them ourselves. Renamon is already out there looking for her. She’s got a communicator so we’ll know what’s up if she does find them.” Hikaru sighed. “Another vacation ruined. It does seem to be my luck.” “Beer?” Carter took the can Penguinmon offered as he popped the top. “This is going to be a long day,” Carter intoned before taking a swig and immediately passing out. “Fastest drunk in the cosmos,” Sean remarked as Carter snored on the floor. “Like you’re any better,” Hikaru said playfully as she took a sip of the Japanese beer and scowled. “Damn, that’s bad stuff.” <><><> Renamon leapt from building to building as she searched for any of the Odiaba chosen. “How hard could it be, finding kids with digimon? BAH! It’s like trying to sift boulders through a strainer!” Renamon leapt to the nearby ledge and prepared to leap to the next one when a low moan caught her sensitive ears. “Hmm?” Taking a quick peek, she found her prey; two of the Odiaba chosen in a very compromising situation. Renamon checked the photo of the Odaiba chosen to assure that they were the real deal and shrugged. She moved around to the door and rapped on it. After a minute or so, Hikari answered the door, a bit breathless and hurriedly dressed. “Yes?” “Hi, are you Hikari of the Odaiba chosen?” Renamon asked. Hikari blinked at the blunt question. “Um... yes?” Renamon punched the communicator on her wrist. “Hikaru, I found them. Home in on my signal.” “On our way.” <><><> Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003 written by Shaun Garin Archive wrote the mainstream series. Toei made the basis. I just write. <><><> File 17 : The Citadel “I’m really sorry for the problem that my Renamon caused,” Hikaru said to Hikari as Yagami nodded. “There was no real harm done,” Hikari said quietly. Ken and Daisuke had been called in for assistance, and they were currently going over the battle plan that Carter had made up. Everyone was speaking in Japanese to make everything easier for the Japanese Chosen. “.... we’ll be coming in this route,” Carter said, tracing the map of Edmonton he had brought and made some red marks on it. “This way, we’ll be out of radar range if we fly high enough. Once there, we need Imperial Dramon to blast a hole in the ice wall.” “Once there, we’ll distract any guards they may have,” Ken added, “we’ll try not to kill any of them.” “Bring along a laptop,” Sean recommended. “But if you wind up fighting in a dense fog that none of the digimon can seem to leave, use your D3’s to open a portal to the digital world in the fog.” “We can do that with fog?” Ken asked, surprised. “It’s a digital field. Sort of a condensed piece of digital world appearing in the real world.” Carter shrugged. “I’ve been working on a theory on how it occurs. It’s not natural, I can tell that much.” “Great, we go in blind.” Daisuke sighed as he looked over at Patamon half flirting, half talking with Renamon who was thoroughly enjoying the harmless flirtation. Tailmon looked irritated at the winged-hamster like digimon. V-mon and Wormmon were staring at Renamon. “When we get there, we’ll set up a portal to Odaiba in case you need backup,” Takeru said as he looked over the plan one more time, Daisuke returning his attention to the plan. “Takeru and I will be on standby. Just contact us if you need backup,” Hikari added. Carter removed his communicator and handed it to Hikari. “Push the blue button to contact us, push the red one once to keep a line open. We’ll call, don’t worry. But once inside, the possibility of not being able to communicate is at best, sketchy.” “Blind AND deaf. Perfect.” Tailmon looked up at the gathered humans who were at the table. “Anything else we should know?” “Um..... we have to pick up Eric from New York. From emails, he’s gotten together with the New York digi-destined.” Carter said in thought. “I’ll call him now.” Hikari handed him back the communicator as he made the call. “We’ll make roundabout trip.” Daisuke turned to V-mon and Wormmon on the couch with Renamon and said, “are you guys ready?” The two digimon nodded as they hopped off the couch and leapt out of the open window, shouting in a strange unison : “V-mon/Wormmon evolve!” The pair stopped in midair as they finished their evolution with a dual shout of, “XV-mon/Stingmon!” “XV-mon!” “Stingmon!” “Jogress evolve!” The pair called out in unison as they merged into a half dragon/insect digimon. “Paildramon!” They then shot up into the air with a shout of, “Paildramon ultimate evolve!” They landed with a tremendous crunch, neatly flattening a nearby car. “Imperial.....aaaaawwwww nuts, someone’s going to have a fit.” As the dragon digimon removed his foot from the wreck-formerly-known-as-a-Toyota, Daisuke ran out and groaned. “Damn, that’s gotta suck,” he said, eyeing the flat as a pancake car. “I didn’t do it,” the XV-mon part of Imperial Dramon’s voice said lamely as he pulled the others onto his back. “Next time, watch where you’re landing,” Ken suggested in Japanese. Hikari and Takeru watched the huge dragon digimon rise up into the air from the balcony, turn and take off with a huge backwash. “You think they’ll be able to pull this off?” Hikari asked. “I don’t know,” Takeru said. “Those three can handle themselves, not to mention Ken and Daisuke.” “But will the younger kids handle it? This is their fight after all and they haven’t been chosen long.” Hikari blinked as Takeru patted her shoulder reassuringly. “They’ll pull through. They’re chosen.” “I wish that statement was more assuring than it sounds,” Hikari said. Patamon looked over at Tailmon and asked, “What do you think?” He blinked as Tailmon ignored him as she walked away. “Wonder what I did to make her upset?” <><><> Mimi looked out from the backyard of Michael’s large home. “Do you see them?” Mimi asked the other digi-destined who were watching the skies with assorted telescopic devices. “Not yet... wait! I see a speck in the horizon!” Steve called. Michael aimed in Steve’s direction, frowned and then said, “Clean your lenses.” Steve chuckled in embarrassment as he wiped up the glass. Lopmon’s sensitive ears suddenly perked up. “I hear something high above!” Descending rapidly was Imperial Dramon as he landed with a huge whoosh of air in the backyard, this time, careful not to crush anything in the yard that was potentially breakable. The small group were lowered to the ground from his back as Eric waved. “Carter, Sean, Hikaru, Renamon, Penguinmon!” “Daisuke, Ken!” Mimi joined the pair. “So you two have been reduced to taxi service, huh?” Ken blushed. “Well, you see...” Daisuke stepped in to save his friend from further potential embarrassment as he tried out his English. “Um..... Daisuke and Ken..... bring chosen....” Mimi smiled at Daisuke’s boundless enthusiasm, despite the way he sounded while trying to speak English. “That’s good. Try not to kill, okay?” she said, the seriousness in her voice belaying the light way she said the words. “No worry.” Daisuke said, patting Ken’s backpack. “We pack... um... um.....” “Laptop,” Ken said, filling in for Daisuke. “That word.” Daisuke said, clearly embarrsed from his inability to speak coherant English. “If you guys would mind, could you start moving a bit faster? It’s getting cold out here,” Imperial Dramon called out. “You know what, it is getting cold.” Eric looked worried. “That means the cold front has already reached the states.” “We’d better hurry,” Ken said. The eight were pulled onto Imperial Dramon’s back as he took off with a rush of wind. <><><> “Slow down Imperial Dramon,” Ken ordered as the large digimon slowed to a hover over the large dome. “You can see the dome from a mile and a half up. How BIG is this thing?” “Half to three quarters of Alberta, and growing,” Carter said as he scanned the area. “And boy is it growing fast.” “I have a bad feeling about this,” Eric mused. Daisuke glared. “You so...” he continued in Japanese as he looked irritated at himself. Suddenly, a blast exploded to the left as Imperial Dramon went into a series of evasive maneuvers, quickly outdistancing the attackers. “What was that?” Hikaru called out. Carter aimed the Tricorder at the specks that were closing in. “Airdramon squad!” A warning beep came two seconds late as Imperial Dramon pulled into a steep dive that knocked them off their feet. “And Devidramon!” “Remind something...” Daisuke bit his lip from saying anything else. The last thing Ken needed to be reminded of was his stint as the Kaizer. A goofy mental image of Daisuke speaking like Shampoo from Ranma made Eric snicker in the heat of battle. “That’s not all,” Sean called as he scanned the area. “More digimon, Flymon and Snimon! Closing fast at 150 klicks!” “Can you outrun them?” Renamon asked Imperial Dramon in Japanese. “Yeah, but we’d definitely run into a barrage of firepower from either way,” Imperial Dramon replied testily in the same language, having not learned English, as he dodged a barrage of Twin Sickles and a salvo of stingers. “As we stand, we’d have more chance fighting off Demon than getting out of this situation unscathed. It’s not the levels of the digimon that worry me, it’s the sheer overwhelming number of them! Hold on!” Imperial Dramon went into a steep dive as he raced for the top of the huge dome which was growing rapidly by the second. “Positron Laser!” The bright beam sheared through the ice wall as he dove through, the ice sealing itself after he slid through the large hole he had created. “Well that was fun,” Penguinmon remarked as the group as they raced towards Edmonton. Sean looked down at the towns engulfed in ice. “Airdre, Innisfail, Red Deer, Lacombe, Ponoka, everything is covered in ice!” “People are down there, probably frozen solid,” Hikaru added. “I’m reading numerous lifesigns but a lot of them are dimmed. I can’t get a lock on how many are down there.” “Hundreds, thousands, considering the sheer size of this dome,” Ken said morbidly. “Some may be dead already.” “Big city,” Daisuke called out. “If you don’t count the half a million flying digimon or so,” Lopmon pointed out. There was a literal wall of digimon of all air types. “How could have the digimon who orchestrated this event get so many followers?” Eric asked. “It isn’t how many he’s swayed to his side, it’s how many he can create from ice!” Ken handed Eric his binoculars. Eric looked through and gasped. “You’re right! All of them, probably those digimon squadrons up in the skies were probably all crafted from ice!” “It’s got to be Ice Devimon,” Sean added. “But how did he get so much power? He’s only a champion level digimon with limited abilities.” “Not sure... but perhaps, he got an item from the spirit world, or maybe, he’s draining someone with tremendous potential power,” Ken mused. “Imperial Dramon, charge!” Daisuke shouted. “Right!” Imperial Dramon sped forth like a steel bullet. The faux digimon began to rake the skies with freezing energy as the ultimate level digimon stood his ground and charged right on through, taking out a huge group of ice clones. “Nice work, Imperial Dramon!” Ken said. “I’m detecting several biosigns gathered around and inside Parliament Building. We should land there first.” Sean said. “Daisuke, Ken distract,” Daisuke suggested. “Let off, near.” The dragon sped on as the ice copies began their pursuit. <><><> “Bit Bomb! Bit Bomb! Bit Bomb!” The constant salvo of explosives rocked against the icy gates. Slowly, they opened with a tortured groan as Piximon fluttered down onto Lee’s shoulder. “That’s one gate down,” he said. Gina nodded as she walked up to the next gate, Chibimon clutching to her shoulder. Her lips were blue from the cold, despite her very thick down jacket and scarf that was wrapped around her neck. “There’s fifteen more gates,” she grimaced as she kicked a rock ahead of her and a series of icy spikes shot up. “And hundreds of traps.” “I feel like I’m in an RPG,” Lee remarked as the pair maneuvered throughout the pattern of traps, poking the road ahead of him that lead to the citadel before him. “Which game?” Gina asked, trying to keep her spirits up. “A mix of Final Fantasy Six’s Narshe and the craziness of all the trap laden places combined in all games,” Lee answered. Suddenly, a pair of ice created digimon appeared before them from the frozen road. Lee scowled. “And a freaking BOSS at the door leading to the main gates.” “We serve our master,” the ice clones of Frigimon said in unison. “We will defeat you.” “Yeah yeah. Lets get this over with.” While the “boss” digimon were annoying to fight, they did prove useful to their great and powerful master by wearing down both of them. At the moment, their attacks were dangerous, but they had so little defense, Chibimon’s Pop Attack or a strike from the flame sword Gina had found in a chest a few gates down took them down. With a crushing blow from a mallet from Piximon and a slash from the flaming sword, the pair of Frigimon were either shattered or melted. Gina sighed as she lowered the flaming weapon, careful not to burn herself with it. “You’d think that one who was all powerful and trying to freeze the whole continent wouldn’t have chests and bags all around the area filled with items we can use.” She sighed. “You can’t imagine how many potions I was able to stick into my pockets.” “I found another chest!” Piximon went over and popped the top. “Heeyyyyy! This is nice!” Lee walked over and pulled out a large halberd that had flame runes engraved on it, the weapon emitting heat. “Yep, I’m thinking that in a sick and twisted way, the “final boss” as it were wants us to use these weapons and items.” “Found some more stuff!” Chibimon popped open a few more chests and a couple of bags, rattling off the items one by one. “Lets see.. Life Bottle, Reverse Doll, Lovely Mitten, 14353 gold pieces...” he blinked. “That’s handy. Wonder if there’s a store around here?” He reached into the next bag and withdrew a small ring. Chibimon put it on and fired a small light sparkle. It hit a nearby wall and melted a hole in it. “An instant door maker. From Tales of Destiny 2.” Lee commented. We’re dealing with an otaku digimon.” “Where’d you figure that out from?” Gina asked as Lee blushed. “I... play a lot of video games in my spare time,” he admitted. Gina picked up the lovely mittens and put it on. She felt a tingle wash over her. “No doubt about it, someone is into games and giving us a sporting chance at this.” “Makes you wonder if we’re going up against the Riddler,” Lee commented as he looted another chest that made him grin. “An Ice Shield.” He checked the backside of it. “Protects against Ice Attacks.” “Next level?” Gina asked. “Next level,” the others chorused as they strode through the gates to the next “room” as it were. <><><> “Looks like they went in here,” Sean said, scanning the area, speaking in English. “And looks like there’s still some traps around the area that haven’t been set yet.” “It’s like one big tunnel that leads to the citadel,” Hikaru added as she rubbed her hands, trying to keep her fingers warm. Up above, Imperial Dramon was still dealing with the hordes of icy clones as Carter cracked his knuckles. “No time like the present, eh guys?” He strode into the tunnel. The pair followed him as they maneuvered through the litters of shattered ice and opened chests. “Wonder what’s with all the chests?” Renamon mused. “It’s like one big RPG without a walkthrough,” Penguinmon added. “Halt!” The pair stared at the copies of a Platinum Sukamon guarding the entrance. “You will not pass puny humans!” “Oh joy,” Hikaru said. “I’m cold enough, I don’t need shit all over me when this is done. Renamon, hose em.” “Fox Leaf Arrowhead!” The blast tore into the animated ice as they exploded, scattering bags of money, items and a very large sword. Carter gaped. “That was way too easy,” Carter remarked. “Dibs on the sword,” Sean called, grinning as he picked up the blade. It was easily the size of Cloud’s from Final Fantasy Seven and was pure steel. He blinked. “Funny, you’d think that it would be heavy.” Hikaru gathered up the gold while Carter stuck the items in his backpack. “We might as well take this stuff along,” Carter said, eyeing a handful of red feathers. “This looks like a Phoenix Down.” “We’re in a giant game,” Eric said as he picked up a few potions and stuck them into his pocket. He grinned. “This is so cool.” “Well, at least we might have the equipment to survive the long haul to the citadel,” Lopmon pointed out. The small group journeyed along the ice tunnel, defeating ice clones and picking up items along the way. By the time they had reached the mid point, the group was decked out in mismatching pieces of armor, various weapons and toting enough money and items to make an Gamer envious. “Are we there yet?” Renamon asked plaintively as she backhanded a Goblinmon clone, the Dragon Claws shearing through the ice golem quickly. “Almost.” Carter stepped through a previously made hole and smirked. “Well hello people.” Gina, Lee, Piximon and Chibimon were enjoying a hot fire as a real Frigimon sat to the side, a huge sack of wares. Like them, Gina and Lee were suited up in surprisingly matching pieces of armor, obviously purchased from the Frigimon who was acting as a store keeper. A glowing sparkle of light sat to the side, glittering in the flames. “Hey, you came back!” Chibimon remarked. He looked absurd in the beret that seemed to give him some defense, and was wearing a Freeze Charm around his neck. “Yeah, we did,” Eric replied, jerking a thumb at Frigimon. “Who’s he?” “Frigimon’s the name,” The snow bear greeted. “I honestly don’t know what happened. One minute I was enjoying the sun and the next, I was here, standing around and waiting for someone to buy my wares.” He shrugged. “It’s a living, I guess.” “If he’s here, then do you think that fields are still opening around the city?” Penguinmon asked, gesturing to Frigimon who had taken out a bag of chips and began devouring it out of sheer boredom. “Possibly.” Carter sat down next to the fire, the floor dry asphalt. “If so, there’s no one out there to stop real digimon.” He paused. “Well, except for Daisuke and Ken.” “They’re here?” Lee asked, surprised. “Daisuke, Ken and Imperial Dramon Paladin Form?” “Yep,” Eric said. Although Imperial Dramon, Daisuke and Ken are dealing with the ice clones of multiple digimon. And the most they can get is Imperial Dramon Fighter Form.” Hikaru walked over to Frigimon and asked, “Do you have any healing items?” “Strangely enough, yep.” The Frigimon dug into his bag and withdrew several bags of what seemed to be different colored gummis, each about a inch and a half wide. “I don’t know where I got it though.” “I recognize these,” Renamon said, taking one of the bags, careful not to rip the bag with the claws on one hand. “They’re Gels, from Tales of Destiny. The red ones are Apple Gels, the orange ones are Orange Gels, and the bright yellow ones are Pine Gels. Apple and Pine Gels can restore HP up to thirty and sixty percent, and the Orange Gels can restore energy for techniques and magic... though I doubt it would help.” “I’ll take a bag of each,” Hikaru said. “No sense leaving without an advantage.” As Hikaru paid for them, Renamon walked over to Piximon and handed him three Orange Gels. “Try eating them.” Piximon ate them and smiled. “Takes like orange. Wow!” His body glowed for a moment. “I feel my energy for attacks returning!” As Hikaru and Renamon passed around the Gels, Carter pulled out his Digi-Locator and checked the grid. “We’re about seventy five feet to the building. I wouldn’t doubt that Ice Devimon has the whole building wired with traps or animated ice golems.” Carter checked his scans as he linked up the Tricorder to the Digi-locator. “There are also four gates left, each one with a ice replica of a ultimate level digimon at the front.” “They’ve been dropping like flies between the pair of us,” Piximon said as Gina held up her flaming sword. “So far, it hasn’t been a challenge. I wonder why he keeps throwing these ice statues at us?” Gina wondered. “Probably to keep people out,” Ken said in English as he and Daisuke walked into the room, holding Chicomon and Leafmon. The pair of digimon were tired out from blasting so many ice clones and then working their way through the levels. “Either that or to wear down the ones who may be trying to attack the citadel.” Ken sighed. “We tried blasting the Citadel but it’s indestructible for ice. But we dealt with the ice clones.” As Hikaru gave them all about a half handful of Pine Gels and Orange Gels for their digimon and themselves, Sean frowned and asked, “Hey, where’s Raine?” “Inside the building,” Lee replied. Eric nearly choked on his Apple Gel. “WHAT?!” he shouted. “Why didn’t you TELL ME?!” He demanded, grabbing Lee by the lapels. “Eric, calm down!” Lopmon said, tugging on his pants, trying to dislodge the furious boy. Eric let go as Lee wheezed for a moment, taking a Apple Gel from Piximon. “She went there to check out the source of the disturbance. We never expected the place to freeze over.” Eric snarled before he turned away and started to stomp out of the room. “I’m going. If you guys want to save her, lets go.” “Wait up, Eric!” Lopmon called as he raced after the goggled boy. “Eric, upset?” Daisuke asked as he gave Frigimon some coins in exchange for a giant claymore. “Why is light?” “Not a clue,” Ken replied, deeming to answer Daisuke’s second question as their partnered digimon evolved from the restoration of their strength. <><><> “Eric, slow down! You’re going to leave them behind!” Lopmon raced after his partner. As Eric crossed into another room, the wall sealed closed and the dog digimon bounced off the wall with an audible thump. “Eric! Eric!” Lopmon called out, trying to find a way through the wall. Behind the wall, Eric pounded the ice fruitlessly. “Damnit,” he snarled. “I should have stayed home instead of going on vacation. Because of me, Raine is in trouble.” “That depends on your definition of trouble.” Eric spun to see a formless white light. It seemed to raise an eyebrow as it continued in a female voice. “Do you expect to save her on your own, without your friends?” “What can I do?” Eric asked angrily. “She’s my best friend. I can’t let her die in the clutches of a mad digimon.” “I see.... and how far will you go to save her?” The voice continued. “I’d go to the ends of the earth and gladly leap off the edge,” Eric replied stubbornly. The light seemed to smile at that. “Well, there’s no doubt in your voice.” Her tone turned serious. “You do realize you cannot do this without your friends.” “I.... guess so,” Eric said, deflating. “They’re my friends. Even Daisuke and Ken, even though I just met them. They’re like family.... even closer than that.” He smirked. “Although it’s fun to tease Daisuke since he can barely speak or understand any English.” The light seemed to nod. “I see.... then, I deem you worthy.” The ground shook and the frozen asphalt buckled to reveal a weapon that stood in a iron anvil. “Don’t look so surprised,” she said as Eric gaped. “This is the Sword of Spirit, a sword imbued with the holy light.” “I can’t accept this,” Eric said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t feel right just getting a Dues Ex from someone I don’t know. And seriously, I don’t know how to use a sword.” The voice was tinged with humor. “Oh, Eric. Don’t you see? The Sword of Spirit is a manifestation of your spirit. Your will alone powers it. But for the powers of the sword to come into full, you must trust and believe in your friends, family, and the goodness of the people around you. Now, take the sword.” Eric reached out in trepidation and grasped the polished wood handle. It flared and his D3 rose and melted into it, the device becoming a functional item on the hilt. Pulling it free, he gazed at the weapon. It was a medium sized sword, oval like in it's shape as it widened about mid blade and tapered to a vicious point, the blade about three feet. A polished wooden handle casing over some type of steel hilt revealed his D-3's screen and buttons imbedded within the hilt, barely visible. The hilt was roughly seven or eight inches, making up most of the length. Along both sides was a strangely familiar script that Eric swore he saw somewhere. “Blazing Ice!” The wall exploded in as the small party walked in, Lopmon looking cross. “Eric!” he called out. Eric turned with the sword in hand. The weapon seemed to melt into his hand, transforming into the D3. “Yeah?” The others shook off their initial shock as Ken cleared his throat. “Let's keep moving.” <><><> Lee shook his head as Eric slashed away with his new toy, humming a cheerful song, Lopmon spinning around in his Petite Twister. Even with the intense martial arts training Lee had received, it was hard using the weapon in his hand. Gina was supporting herself, showing some European styles in the way she handled the sword, Chibimon watching her back. Daisuke and Ken were relying on their digimon more than the weapons in their hands, although the ice golems were numerous. Sean was relying heavily on his own gigantic sword, having no digimon of his own. Renamon was darting in and out, slashing and releasing her Fox Leaf Arrowheads at groups of golems. Carter was covering Hikaru’s back, having found what Lee thought was the biggest gun on this side of the planet in a chest in the previous room. Hikaru, while agile, was the best with a staff. Her inexperience with a bladed weapon clearly showed as she greatly over extended on the slashes and thrusts. Piximon strafed the room, dropping large megaton anvils with his Fairytale attack while the evolved form of Penguinmon, Saberdramon, was releasing its attack on scores of the golems. Lee watched Eric. He was using a flurry of slashes, thrusts. The sword seemed to be an extention of his arm as he moved it around like one would swing his wrist. Something was up with that sword of Eric’s. Soon enough, the room was cleared as the door to the stairs opened and a elevator opened up. “Two ways,” Lee commented, panting while leaning on the large blade. “The Devil or the Deep Blue Sea,” Sean quipped in English. “What?” Daisuke asked, confused. Ken gave him the rough translation as Daisuke sighed. “Me hate language.” “Let's see... there are eight of us so we’ll split up. Daisuke, Ken, Hikaru and Eric, take the elevator. The rest of you, I hope you’re prepared for some stair climbing.” Carter said. “I go Ken?” Daisuke asked. “Yep,” Ken said, pulling Daisuke along with him. “Great, and me without my sweatbands,” Saberdramon quipped as he reverted back to travel size as he followed Sean, Lee, Gina, his partner and their digimon up the stairs. <><><> “That was the last boss,” Eric said, standing over the powder that was once known as Piemon. “That sword of yours... where did you get it?” Ken asked as Eric jammed it into the door and started to cut through it like a hot knife through butter. “Some glowing light,” he answered off handed as he sheared a huge hole in the door. A blast of cold air greeted them as the door gave way to the top of the citadel. There, hanging on a cross fashioned of ice was Raine, her digimon, Labramon still frozen in the block next to her. “Raine!” Eric shouted, running for her. “Well well, it seems my little game hasn’t exactly worn your out just yet. Too bad.” Jullie walked out from behind the cross, smirking at them as Eric skidded to a halt. “Girl?” Daisuke gasped. “Jullie?” Eric whispered in shock, dropping his sword, the weapon changing into his D3. “I am no girl, fool,” Jullie replied. “I am the frozen wind of the north, the winds of destruction. I am your executioner.” “We’ll just see about that!” Ken shouted as their digimon jogress evolved to Paildramon. “Heh.. you have no idea. The fun is about to start kiddies.” With a gesture, a thunderous detonation rocked the citadel. “There. I just slowed your reinforcements.” Hikaru clenched her teeth. “You’re one sick digimon.” “I am more than that.” Jullie’s eyes glinted with a tinge of madness. “I am death incarnate.” She started to shake with laughter, stumbling around holding her head as the laughter intensified. “My god,” Renamon whispered as the transformation took place. “Shit,” Daisuke gasped. Ice Devimon stood up, feeling the same ice cold pallor of his skin. “My my, how the tables have turned. I’m sure that dear little Eric can’t fight me now.” His grin turned evil. “Could he?” Hikaru checked the Tricorder and her eyed bugged out. “Oh no....” “What?” Ken asked, barely taking his eyes off Ice Devimon. “He’s a champion.... with the power of an ultimate....” Hikaru reported. “Right.” Ken said. “Evolve, Paildramon!” Daisuke ordered in Japanese. “Paildramon ultimate-evolve!” He shot up into the air and came down as the massive dragon with the metal mask and cannon on his back. “Imperial Dramon! Lets get it on,” the dragon digimon growled as he stared down Ice Devimon who smirked, formed his arm into a blade and leapt at him. <><><> Authors notes : To Be Continued... I know you hate it when people do that. Some of you are probably wondering how Ice Devimon got so much power. Things will be explained in the next chapter.