Chapter 17
"Let's do it, then," she said icily.
"Pipermon?" Jyou asked.
She gave the Digidestined a look of pure determination. "I'm going to help you," she said without any hint of a waver in her voice. "If it takes my final breath to do so, I will help you destroy her." She fisted her hands and continued in a frigid whisper, "Kurarimon has hurt me for the last time..." She looked at Izzy, who appeared a little worse-for-wear. "I will not see any of you children killed because of the ambiguity of my actions... I won't watch you be defeated because I hesitated."
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Tai clenched his hands.
"All right then," he said, pumping one fist into the air, "let's go take back the Digital World!"
Mimi sighed and turned her palms skyward. "It's always about saving the world..." She shook her head.
Pipermon whispered a few quick words, and a swirling breeze of green glitter spun all around them. Agumon and the other digimon felt a sudden sort of rejuvenation, a power within them that they thought they had lost. Pipermon winked at Agumon, and he instantly knew that he had been healed of his wounds and his digivolving powers had returned. The Digidestined were back in business.
Kurarimon slowly got to her feet, still unnerved by the fact that Pipermon had been powerful enough to really hurt her. True, Kurarimon had found she had sort of an immunity to other digimon attacks...she could easily deflect even a Mega level digimon's attacks with a simple flick of her wrist. However, for some reason, it wasn't so with Pipermon. Perhaps it was the whole "fight fire with fire" idea...one genetically engineered digimon to fight another? Perhaps she wasn't protected from Pipermon's attacks because they were the same as her own, and alike to no others. Nevertheless, Kurarimon was determined to do what she had set out to do originally.
She was still stinging from the fact that the red-haired boy had survived. The Obsidian Sphere had been intended for Taichi, and, had it hit him like it was supposed to, it would have killed him. In poisoning the boy's mind and stealing his eyes away from him, Kurarimon had learned his limitations. In getting into his head, she had discovered just how much the fearless leader of the Digidestined could take before his body just gave out. She had engineered the attack just for him...enough power to kill him, and no more. Why waste energy?
Blast that little computer genius, she thought in fury. They're so loyal to one another that they would be willing to sacrifice themselves in order to save the other...it's so...nauseating... The red-haired one must have different limitation standard, she added as an afterthought, as my Obsidian Sphere didn't destroy him... No matter, she continued, straightening her back, they will all die anyway. Be it now or later, I shall destroy them.
"Clown Trick!" she shouted as the Digidestined began to regroup.
"Pepper Breath--poi!!"
"Blue Blaster!"
Kurarimon's attack blasted through the two counterattacks like they were not even there.
"Marching Fishes!"
Gomamon's fish obediently rushed forward and created a wall to block Kurarimon's power. The fish bowed against the power of the attack, but managed to hold fast, then snapped back into place, sending the attack back to Kurarimon.
"Yes!" Jyou shouted. "Now that's what I call 'Return to Sender'!"
Even wounded as she was, Kurarimon was fast, and dodged deftly to the right, evading the backfire. "You'll have to do better than that," she taunted.
"You asked for it," Pipermon snarled. "Harlequin Bells!"
This time, Pipermon had a trick up her sleeve. She aimed and fired, but instead of a single beam of pure energy, she fired several short bursts, a rapid-fire approach to her signature attack. Kurarimon crouched low to the ground like a spider, and jerked quickly from side to side in an attempt to avoid the barrage of golden energy beams. After a few near misses, though, she began to lose steam. Her reflexes began to slow from the constant dodging, and one of the energy beams hit her in the arm. She yelped and pitched to the side, grunting as she was hit by another, and another, until she was doubled over on her knees, clutching her shoulders. Pipermon gave the children a pointed look--an order for them to stay back--and she darted forward.
A snarl on her face and an angry glare in her eyes, Pipermon approached her fallen master. Breathing shallowly, her chest heaving, the wounded Kurarimon looked up with a startled gasp as Pipermon snatched her by the collar and yanked her to her feet. Shaking her head slowly, Pipermon narrowed her eyes.
"You poor, piteous, wretched creature," she said coldly. "You would reject your own heart to destroy these children...wouldn't you?"
A crazed grin crossed Kurarimon's face, and she snapped her arms out, breaking Pipermon's grip. She staggered to her full height and gave Pipermon a wild-eyed look. "Poor and piteous?" she echoed, wiping her bloody lip on the back of her sleeve, leaving a streaky red stain on the snow-white fabric. "A wretched creature, am I?" She threw her head back and cackled. "Oh, what pleasure I will take in seeing you, after your precious Digidestined are destroyed, on your knees, begging to return to my service."
Pipermon's eyes flashed. "You're a fool if you think I would even CONSIDER coming back to you now," she spat.
"Come now, Little Piper," Kurarimon went on, the insane grin never leaving her face. She placed one hand on Pipermon's shoulder. "Why not come to your senses, Little One, and come back over to the winning side?"
Quick as lightning, the hand on Pipermon's shoulder moved toward her throat.
"Yaii!"
Kurarimon jerked her hand back with a cry. A bloody scratch was raked across the back of her hand, and she recoiled in horror and rage. Pipermon spun her flute between her fingers, and squinted her eyes as she watched a trickle of blood run down the end of her fife.
"I AM on the winning side, Kurarimon," she said. "I'm one of them now."
Her teeth bared, and the cut across her hand stinging sharply, Kurarimon lifted into the air. "Not for long," she hissed. "Soon, the only thing you will be is a MEMORY!" She spread her arms. "Clown Trick!"
Pipermon ducked down low and rolled to the side to avoid the attack, but wasn't quite fast enough. The distortion wave skimmed the top of her head, cutting the bands that held up her hair. Her bicolor locks tumbled down around her face, the bells still suspended in her hair, as she leapt upward into the air.
"Deuces Wild!"
Tai watched as the two titans fought, a little fearful for Pipermon. Kurarimon was a stronger digimon, even if she WAS injured. If given even the smallest opportunity, she would take the upper hand by force without hesitation. He turned to Agumon.
"Okay, Pal," he said with a grin, "you know what to do."
"You, too, Gabumon," Yamato added, and cast a look toward the battle raging on up above them. "Let's give Pipermon a hand."
"Right!" the two digimon responded, and Tai and Yamato's digivices began to glow again.
"Agumon..."
"Gabumon..."
"...warp-digivolve to..." they said in tandem, and they began to change. But it was a different transformation now... Rather than just moving up one level at a time, the two powerful digimon phased through all of their previous digivolutions to reach a new level...
Wrapped in a golden orange light, Agumon became Greymon, then Metalgreymon, then the light became stronger. He grew tall, and stood erect like a human, his two powerful legs wrapped in armor, a shield adorning his back. A helmet protected his head, and long, dark red hair spilled out from beneath it. Swinging the huge claws on his arms, the Mega Level digimon let out a powerful war cry, and tossed his head, ready for battle.
"Wargreymon!!"
Gabumon, meanwhile, was going through a similar process, zipping through his evolutions, and returning to a quadruped form after achieving Weregarurumon. The new digimon's body was composed entirely of metal, and four sheets of metal protruded from his back like wings. Baring his teeth, the digimon threw his head back and howled to the heavens.
"Metalgarurumon!!"
Kurarimon had barely noticed that there were two other Mega digimon in the area now, she rather had her hands full with Pipermon. As the other children's digimon quickly digivolved again into their Ultimate forms, Pipermon swept her hair out of her eyes to cast a desperate look at her master and enemy.
"Can't we stop this??" she cried as they continued to rise into the air, now caught in a fray about twenty feet above the ground. "I don't want to have to destroy you, Kurarimon!"
"You surely think too much of yourself, Pipermon," Kurarimon jeered. "I won't be destroyed by the likes of you, trust me."
"Why can't you see that you've taken the wrong path?"
"Because I haven't!" the evil digimon snarled. "I KNOW my path, I never strayed from it! You, Pipermon, are the one who moved from your trail and became lost in the wood. No one will help you find your way back now, Little One..."
"I have no desire to find my way back to that path," Pipermon replied icily, "for it led only to a dead end. It is the path I follow now that will save me...and it could save you, too, if you would only let it!"
"Never!" Kurarimon cried. "You have grown weak, and these children are the cause of it!" She curled her lips back in an expression of disgust. "I have learned this much: You have to choose your road, and stay true to it always, no matter what! You must not be distracted by such trivial things as emotions!"
"Then you haven't learned ANYTHING!" Pipermon wailed, and ducked away as Kurarimon tried another Clown Trick attack.
"Terra Force!" Wargreymon shouted, and Lillymon darted up, shoving Pipermon out of the way as the attack hit home. Kurarimon had been too distracted to deflect the powerful Mega attack, and it hit her full-force, slamming her up against the wall.
"Metal Wolf Claw!" Metalgarurumon yelled, sending a wide beam of ice hurtling toward Kurarimon. But she wasn't about to be made a fool of twice. Raising her hands, she caught the energy from the ice attack in her hands and sent it flying back toward a very startled Metalgarurumon, who managed to dodge just in time.
"Deuces Wild!"
"Flower Cannon!"
The combined attack caught Kurarimon off-guard, and distracted her just long enough for Wargreymon to land another Terra Force. Leaving Lillymon behind, Pipermon zipped forward, and flung her arms out to her sides.
"Winds that Bind!" she called, and Kurarimon let out a startled squawk when a pale blue-green bubble popped up around her. She placed her palms against the sides of the magic sphere and pressed. The magic bubbled bowed outward, but she could not break it.
"Pipermon..." she growled, "what do you think you are doing?"
Ignoring the question, Pipermon looked back over her shoulder. "Do it now, Hikari-san," she called.
Kari frowned. "But I dunno what to do!" the child protested.
"Trust yourself," Pipermon said with a smile. "The light within will guide you."
Kurarimon scowled and pouted inside the bubble. "Pipermon," she beckoned, and Pipermon looked at her. "Don't do this, Pipermon," she said, her voice stony. "I know what you're up to, and it won't work. These children don't have the power to destroy me, even YOU should know that."
"Shut up, Kurarimon," Pipermon snapped. "You dug yourself this grave...now you'll lie in it."
