Digimon Adventure ND Book One: Manipulamon Reigns - Chapter Twelve

Finally we have our first Perfect (Ultimate) Level Digivolution. Just like with the original series, Digimon Adventure, it is the leader's Digimon who Digivolves to this level first, though here it is far less dramatic than it was in that series. I could have made it matter a bit more, and affect the story more, but I didn't see the point. Anyone who has already seen Digimon Adventure has already seen this, and not only would rehashing that particular theme be unoriginal, it would interrupt the character arch that I'm writing for John using the situations in these past few chapters.

In the case of the first Perfect Level Digimon to join the team, his design is simple and to the point. He is a larger and more physically powerful Dragonterramon, but with powerful wings which eliminate the dragon Digimon's one obvious weakness: the fact that he loses to flying targets. He has a new, more powerful fire attack as well, and he can still use his previous form's Terra Flame if he is close enough to the ground. He can still use Terra Strike with his claws and tail as well. Maybe not the most original Digivolution stage of all time, but it didn't need to be to be cool and effective. And WingedDragonterramon is certainly effective.

 Chapter Twelve

A Ghostly Enemy

I pulled out my Digicomp handheld as the many ghosts charged forward, most veering up toward the flying horses, with many others veering down to the ground toward my two Digimon. BrauntoPhoenixmon swooped forward and moved to intercept MetalPhantomon himself. I called up the Digimon analyzer and scanned the ghosts first. They read as Bakemon, ghost Digimon that become very dangerous is groups. By now, though, I didn't need anyone to tell me that. The Bakemon were surrounding the Digimon, hovering around, and floating out of reach whenever the Digimon counterattacked.

“We can't catch them!” Dragonterramon roared as he missed a pair of Bakemon with his claws, and immediately had to endure a hit from theirs as they darted inside his guard and slashed at him.

“This is impossible!” BlackStaliamon cried as he kicked with his hooves, missing a Bakemon completely, and immediately suffered the same fate as his counterpart. Then he did something that I never thought I'd see BlackStaliamon do: he ran from the enemy, running up the nearby inside wall of the chamber, avoiding his foes' attacks.

Above me, the pegasi were weaving between the Bakemon. BattleStaliamon slung blades from his hooves, to no avail, as the Bakemon merely wove around the blades as they approached. Fillimon likewise tried to attack with her Hoof Beams, but the Bakemon responded the same way.

“They're too unpredictable in their movements,” said BattleStaliamon, frustrated.

“We do have one move,” Fillimon said, “that's more difficult to avoid than others.”

She and BattleStaliamon flew together in formation and circled the Bakemon that they had been battling. They began to glow and called, “Celestial Ring!” The ever-reliable glowing ring of light formed along their path and then closed around the ghosts, but the ghosts simply banked up and phased into the ceiling of the chamber before the ring could close around them.

“What?!” BattleStaliamon exclaimed. “But the Celestial Ring is our trump card.”

“We'll have to play with a bad hand then,” Fillimon said, “and hope we can find another way to win. Now get ready!”

The two flying horses braced themselves, just as the Bakemon reemerged and resumed their attack.

Meanwhile, BrauntoPhoenixmon took up most of the airspace in the chamber, clashing with the general. He used his greater size and weight to knock the phantom around, but the Perfect Digimon seemed unfazed. He was laughing and hadn't even had to use his scythe yet, for attack or defense. BrauntoPhoenixmon was getting into it, though. He dropped down, slamming into MetalPhantomon and knocking him away, and then flapped once and pulled back. The feathers around his neck lit up, and fire spread down the length of his wings. He called out his attack, and unleashed the biggest Dino Fire that I'd even seen. It formed into a phoenix and flew right at MetalPhantomon. He stopped laughing and raised his scythe, spinning it in front of him and dispersing the attack.

“Well,” he said, “I'm not enjoying myself anymore. Time to end this!” MetalPhantomon swooped forward, and with a single swipe of his scythe, BrauntoPhoenixmon de-Digivolved into Chickomon, and fell from the sky to the lake below.

“Chicko!” Amanda cried from her place across the chamber, near where we'd come in. The others were with her, and they, like me, were dumbstruck. The Bakemon had temporarily halted their assaults to marvel at their master's power. BrauntoPhoenixmon had never been able to defeat a Perfect Level on his own, but to be taken out with only one attack, even from a Perfect Level, was unthinkable! If MetalPhantomon was really that strong, then could we even win?”

“Heh heh,” MetalPhantomon laughed, and spoke to us, saying, “I know all about your defeat of Scorpiomon and IceDevimon. Do you think that beating those fools has prepared you for fighting a Perfect Level? IceDevimon was only an Adult Digimon, and he was full of himself, and Scorpiomon had strong armor, and he could do a lot of damage in a radius around him, but he had no other powers, and he couldn't even fly. I am on a whole other level above them! With my supernatural powers, I can defeat you all easily. I've only allowed this fight to go on as long as it has because I was bored and was looking for some amusement!”

He sounded like he was posturing, but as I listened to MetalPhantomon's words, I realized that he had no reason to do so. He had us beaten already, now that BrauntoPhoenixmon was out of the battle, and he knew it. There was no reason for posturing. It was in that moment that I realized just how badly I'd screwed up. I'd rushed in headlong once again, expecting things to magically work themselves out, and now we had only two options: we could run away, or we could try to save as many lives as possible before we were killed.

“NiseDrimogemon,” I said, opting for the latter, “the Bakemon aren't hiding in the ground anymore. You and your people can escape and hide again from Manipulamon and his forces. Go, now!”

“I'm not sure how you knew of our plight, human,” NiseDrimogemon said, a combination of sadness, relief, and desperation all swirling together in his kindly eyes, “but you have saved my people this day. Thank you.”

NiseDrimogemon turned and began organizing his inner circle to head out into the population and start the evacuation. Meanwhile I turned and looked up at MetalPhantomon. I'd made the mistake of rushing in and attacking without thinking, and I was going to make sure that I was the only one who was punished for it. I would get my Digimon to leave before MetalPhantomon could finish me off, too, if I could. I just had to figure out how. Luckily MetalPhantomon was still staring down the remaining Digimon, and had yet to attack again, and his forces were waiting for him to take the lead, and so hadn't attacked yet, either.

I have no choice, I thought, and then I jumped down from the ledge upon which I'd been standing, sliding carefully down the chamber's inner wall. From there I ran past my Digimon and ran right under the flying horses. I yelled up to them, “You guys! Get Chickomon and get him and yourselves back to the others. Tell them I said to head outside and help any of the Drimogemon who end up evacuating to the surface. They can't all fit in the underground tunnels at once!

“What about you?” Fillimon asked.

“Me, Dragonterramon and BlackStaliamon will hold these guys back, and then catch up with you. Just go, now!”

I watched as the two horses swooped down and scooped the unconscious Dinosaur Digimon up in a hammock made of light, and carried him away. Meanwhile the Drimogemon started to disappear into the walls, most heading deeper underground, but the rest heading toward the surface, where I could see that Dre was already offering them encouragement and taking charge.

Meanwhile I turned, with my two Digimon at my sides, to face MetalPhantomon. Dragonterramon growled in my ear, “We know what you're doing, John.”

At my other side, BlackStaliamon added, “You plan to give your life to give the others time to escape. We want you to know that we're with you, until the very end.”

“I was looking for something to amuse me,” the reaper Digimon said, laughing again, his ghost minions floating around him, “and you, human, have succeeded. I care not if the the Drimogemon escape for now. We won't even need them once you're destroyed. You're the leader of your group. Without you, the others will be easily overwhelmed and defeated. So die, leader of the Digidestined. Die, and seal this world's fate!”

He swooped, the Bakemon at his sides swooping along with him, claws and scythe raised in anticipation. Every fiber in my being was screaming for me to turn and run, but I stood my ground.

“Alright,” I told my Digimon, “if you won't leave me, then I won't leave you. We'll all fight together!”

I ran at the oncoming Digimon. My Digimon ran at my sides. I raised my fist, for all the good that it would do. Then, just as our two sides were about to clash, We all stopped abruptly, as a bright orange flash bloomed from the Neo Crest of Courage around my neck.

“The courage that you found to fight for others, even if you died,” Dragonterramon growled, “has unlocked your next level of power. I-I can Digivolve again!”

“No,” said MetalPhantomon, “I won't let you!”

He renewed his dive, but as he approached, knowledge flowed from the Crest into my mind. I passed my fingers over my Crest, and it floated from its golden tag. Energy surged from it, and MetalPhantomon recoiled, as the Crest changed shape, becoming a disk. I connected my Digiplayer to the back of my Digivice, and scooped the Crest Disk up in the disk loader of the player, and I hit the Digivice activation key.

“Initiate,” I declared, “Digiplayer Digivolution!”

The ground shook as Dragonterramon's aura flared outward, swirling visibly around him. He roared, “Dragonterramon, Digivolve to!”

He grew larger, though not by more than a few feet in length. His teeth each grew an inch longer, and his claws and talons grew longer and sharper. The ridges above his eyes grew more pronounced. Flames spouted from his shoulders, as broad orange wings sprouted there, the wings themselves ablaze. He flapped his wings once and rose several yards into the air, and with a roar declared, “WingedDragonterramon!”

My Digimon moved faster than I ever would have thought possible for a creature of his size, blasting right past the Bakemon and slamming into their master. As he did, heat rolled off of his wings, and caught several of the Bakemon ablaze, burning them up.

“I'm tired,” WingedDragonterramon growled, speaking to the reaper as the two grappled, “of having to almost die every day to save my fellow Digimon from the likes of you. Today I send a message to Manipulamon. Today I say that no matter how strong his general is, I won't allow them to do what they want!”

He roared again, fiercer than ever, and engulfed MetalPhantomon in a stream of fire from deep in his gullet. Then he kicked the phantom back, and flapped his wings quickly. Fireballs formed in front of each wings, and then a final wing beat sent those fireballs hurling toward the foe, but before they could hit him, the remaining Bakemon floated into their path and took the hit themselves. They were destroyed in a massive, white hot blaze, and before my newly-Digivolved Digimon could react, MetalPhantomon plunged at him through those flames and swung his scythe.

WingedDragonterramon brought up glowing claws to block, but the force of the swing was still enough to knock him from the air. He fell and landed in the subterranean lake below. He looked up at his opponent and growled, as MetalPhantomon bore down on him and swung again, catching him square in the back. He tried to breath flames on the phantom again, but he swooped low, and phased into the cavern floor to escape.

“Look out,” BlackStaliamon said at my side, stepping closer to me protectively, “he could come up anywhere.”

“No,” I said, somehow sure of it, “he'll come back up near WingedDragonterramon and attack him again. He said he wanted a challenge, and now he has one, and that's what he'll focus on.”

There was a pause, and then out of nowhere MetalPhantomon rose up from beneath the lake, behind WingedDragonterramon, and struck again. The dragon Digimon barely had time to side-step and avoid the brunt of the attack. With another roar, he swung his tail, but MetalPhantomon dipped back, out of his range.

“Even as a Perfect Digimon,” MetalPhantomon gloated, “you still cannot defeat me.”

He raised his scythe, and called out, “Soul Predator!” His scythe glowed with red-violet light, and grew even longer, and MetalPhantomon swung it wildly as he moved closer and closer to his foe. WingedDragonterramon was injured, and tired from the long fight, and the sudden Digivolution. There was no way that he would get out of the way in time.

“This one will kill you!” MetalPhantomon screamed, laughing wildly, but just before his scythe could make contact, he was slammed out of the way by a fast and powerful black blur. MetalPhantomon dropped back, his scythe returning to normal as his attack ended, and turned toward the thing that had hit him. There, standing between MetalPhantomon and the injured dragon in the edge of the water, his hooves alight with white energy, was BlackStaliamon.

“You forgot,” the horse Digimon announced, “that you two aren't the only ones in this fight. I'm here too, and as long as I can stand, I'll continue to fight!”

He charged at MetalPhantomon full speed, and jumped right up into the reaper's bony metal face. MetalPhantomon dipped back again, knocking the charging horse back with the broad side of his scythe blade, only to find that right behind BlackStaliamon, also charging full speed, was WingedDragonterramon, his wings tucked close to his sides. He blew flames at the foe, and then jumped right at him, biting and slashing, tearing at the ghost Digimon's cloak. When MetalPhantomon fell back yet again, WingedDragonterramon spread his wings, lit them on fire, and summoned up more fireballs, flinging them at the foe as he called out, “Wing Fireblaze!”

MetalPhantomon, however, was too agile to be hit by WingedDragonterramon's attack. He swooped up above it, and the attack continued through, hitting the far wall of the chamber. Luckily the Drimogemon were already gone, because the entire wall exploded.

“This is no longer amusing!” the phantom called. His scythe began to glow and grow again, and he dropped back toward my Digimon. WingedDragonterramon braced himself to deflect the attack and counter as best he could, but there was no need, because it was in that moment that a large number of the Drimogemon returned.

Out of the tunnels leading to the surface poured the same dozens of Drimogemon who had escaped that way only a few minutes ago, led by the rest of my team, and Dre and Moji, who issued a battle cry. “Let's show that guy why he shouldn'ta messed with us Drimogemons!” Dre declared, Moji running at his side with a big happy grin on his face. The group ran down to the chamber floor and lined up along the edge of the underground lake, and they drove their drills into the ground at once. The ground split, all the way up the opposite wall, and across the ceiling above MetalPhantomon. He looked up, surprised, as the ceiling shattered, and collapsed on top of him.

“Nooo!” MetalPhantomon cried. He was pelted by tons of rock before he managed to phase through him. When he reemerged from the rocks, he'd dropped his scythe somewhere beneath them. He looked up at his assailants, just in time to see BlackStaliamon leaping at his face, hooves forward.

With effort MetalPhantomon was able to phase through the charging Digimon, but he was surprised once again by WingedDragonterramon charging just behind him. He was injured, and this time he wasn't able to avoid the dragon's attack. WingedDragonterramon slashed with his claws, and then spun, slamming MetalPhantomon with his tail, and then spread his wings.

“Wing Fireblaze!” WingedDragonterramon called. A massive fireball built up in front of each wing, and WingedDragonterramon flapped, flinging them at his foe. This time they hit, driving MetalPhantomon into the far wall. With another huge, fiery explosion, MetalPhantomon was gone. The chamber itself began to rumble menacingly.

“Alright,” I said to my allies, “I think it's time to go.”

Together we ran from the chamber, through the same tunnel that we'd used to enter. Even before we reemerged onto the surface, we heard the chamber behind us collapse. Once we were out, we climbed the cliff and we saw that the ground for several hundred yards had collapsed into a new valley. I smiled as BlackColtmon stepped up to my side, the tiny green snake, Snakemon, at his side. After the fight, WingedDragonterramon had been so spent that he'd de-Digivolve further than ever before after a fight, and he didn't seem up to Digivolving again right away. My Crest had changed back from a disk since the end of the battle, and was secured again in one of my two Crest Tags,

I heard the sound of footsteps and shuffling behind me, and I turned around, facing my team and our new Drimogemon friends.

“You guys came back for me,” I said. Jen nodded. She of all people had to have realized that I'd planned to stay behind and sacrifice myself for them.

“We weren't going to,” said Jen, “but the Drimogemon realized that you weren't following us, and they insisted on going back.”

“Aw, it was really Moji's idea,” said Dre, smiling with pride. He was the one who noticed, and insisted that we go back to make sure you were alright. He gave a speech and everything!”

“I said,” Moji added, saying more words than I'd realized he knew, “that even though I'm not too smart, I know enough to realize that the Drimogemon have been hiding for a long time, and that it's time to do something about that.”

“And he was right,” said Dre. “It's why he and me went to join up with the fighters, and it's why all of us here, now, who were brave enough to go back for ya are gonna go and create a new village where we'll learn to be stronger and less cowardly, and where we'll let those who are on the run from Manipulamon hide out for as long as they need to. And it's all because you guys taught us that sometimes you gotta be brave for those who need ya to.”

We said goodbye to our new friends, and went on our own way, but first, I took Dre aside and spoke to him.

“I'm sorry,” I told him. “I was too quick to act, and I almost got my friends and all of you Drimogemon killed. My friends and I let our recent victories go to our heads, and we acted without thinking. I also really want to help our friend, the other human that you mentioned, and I get a little reckless whenever I think I might find him. He and his Digimon, Mechmon, are supposed to be on our team, fighting against Manipulamon.”

“His Digimon is called Mechmon?” Dre asked, looking a little confused. “What a weird name for a fire Digimon!”

“Wait,” I said, “Jeremy doesn't have a fire Digimon partner. Mechmon is a machine!”

Meanwhile, far across the new valley created by the collapse of the underground chamber, a beaten and battered MetalPhantomon emerged from the rocks. He'd been able to phase into the stone wall just ahead of WingedDragonterramon's final attack, and avoid being burned up, but he'd still been gravely injured. He hovered several feet, just above the ground, and looked up as another figure approached him.

“Good,” he said, “it's you. Help me out. I have to recover and get revenge on those Digidestined before Lord Manipulamon can find out that I lost!”

He looked up at the new arrival. He was a tall human, taller than most high-schoolers, with spiky red hair that resembled a flame. He was pale, with dark circles under his green eyes, and a menacing grin on his face. He flicked a silver lighter that he held in his hand, producing a small flame which he waved his hand over several times before he spoke.

“You know why I like this thing so much?” he asked the battered ghost Digimon, referring to the fire, “It's because I love fire. It's powerful, and it's destructive, and it's unpredictable, but all within a pattern. It's chaos and order all in one. You never know quite which direction the flames will flicker, but you do know that if they touch something, that they'll catch it on fire too. And that's what I want to be, I want to be fire! And that's why I follow Manipulamon, because he allows me to do anything I wish, as long as it causes trouble for others, and amuses me.”

“I don't understand,” MetalPhantomon said, and as his only response, the red-haired young man snapped his fingers. A living flame appeared behind him, and then grew larger, passing over MetalPhantomon and burning him to ashes. The young man laughed, as if he was enjoying himself.

The flame creature shrunk back down and orbited the young man's head, as he looked across the valley at the receding forms of his fellow humans.

Get stronger, he thought, because as you are right now, you aren't amusing to me at all!

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