Just like with Manipulamon Reigns, everything in this book culminates at the Machine Citadel, and everything changes once it does. The final battle doesn't happen at the Citadel like in the last book, but the forces who face Tyranterramon in that battle originate here. From here on out the final battle is on. I'm condensing a few of these chapters down, so I don't know for sure how many there will be overall, but it will be something like eight or nine chapters of nothing but the final battle with Tyranterramon as he pushes toward the final Core. It was really ambitious for me at the time to write such a drawn out battle, and this shows a bit, but it holds up okay. I think readers will enjoy it.
Chapter Eleven
The Final Core; Machinedramon’s
Underground Complex
We were depressed. To say that we were depressed would be a disservice to just how depressed we were. We were losing a war which would decide the fate of billions. Depressed didn't cover how we felt. Even though deep down we knew that Tyranterramon’s actions weren’t our fault, we still took it out on ourselves, and to a lesser extent each other. The only thing keeping us going was the knowledge that with four of the five Digital Cores destroyed, we only had one more chance to defeat Tyranterramon and restore this world to what it once was. If we failed again, everything would be lost.
The night after our most recent loss, my band and I stopped for the night to rest and recuperate. We had time. Even though it had long since become clear that we couldn't accurately predict how long it would take Tyranterramon to awake from each hibernation, we knew that this most recent one would take longer than any of the others before it. Before bed, we circled around our camp fire to discuss our situation over dinner. With the numbers we’d amassed, it took almost an hour to find enough food for everyone. I waited to speak until everyone had finished eating, letting myself bask in the seemingly endless silence of our severely lacking dinner conversation. Then finally I spoke.
“This isn’t working,” I said simply, in a matter of fact tone.
“Well that’s obvious,” said Jeremy, not even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice. I chose to ignore him.
“It’s obvious that fighting at the sight of each core has afforded us certain advantages," I explained. "The power of the Desert Core Digivolved Dokugumon and Tuskmon. The Forest Core gave of the Power of Unity, and the Mountain Core helped Chickmon and TechnoPupmon reach Ultimate. But benefits aside, standing against Tyranterramon at the sight of each core is obviously the wrong strategy. As strong as Tyranterramon will likely be the next time he awakens, if we’re anywhere near the core next time, we’ll almost surely lose it as well. We have to fight him before he gets to the core, regardless of the disadvantage that it places us at.”
“For that to work,” said Mechmon, “we’ll need to increase our power. The fastest way to do so would be to increase our numbers.”
“Machinedramon and his army would help us,” said TechnoPupmon. “He won’t have completely restored his forces by now, but he’ll have enough soldiers to at least make a difference. I’m actually surprised that he hasn’t made a move already.”
Jijimon smiled, “So you already know Machinedramon, huh? That will make things easier.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because,” Babamon chimed in, “The Final Core, also known as the Metal Core, is the best hidden. It is concealed deep beneath the Machine Citadel in a hidden control complex. Machinedramon and his entire army would gladly give their lives to defend it.”
“Why put the core under the Citadel?”
Amanda asked.
I was the one to answer, “The cores came before the Citadel. That means that the Citadel was built over the Metal Core.”
“Correct,” said Babamon. “The ancient Guardian of the Metal Core was Millenniummon, a Chimera-Dragon with traits of many types of Digimon. This gave him power over the rest of us guardians.”
“He was as strong in general as I was in my home region,” said Garudamon. “He was our leader, an unshakable force.”
Jijimon nodded, “But like all non-robotic Digimon, Millenniummon was subject to the passage of time. Most Digimon find themselves ready to die, as Digimon tend to live for a very long time, but Millenniummon had a city-state to run. Without him, the greatest organized force in the Digital World would cease to function. So Millenniummon used the Citadel’s technology combined with energy borrowed from the Ocean Core, the core with the power of life and rebirth, to build himself a living robotic body, modeled after a machine Digimon with similar capabilities to Millenniummon. Millenniummon became this Digimon, known as Machinedramon.”
“So Machinedramon is a Guardian as well?” Jen asked.
“The weakened form of one, yes,” Babamon replied.
“Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’ll sleep through the night and at dawn we’ll leave for Machine Citadel!”
Mechmon and TechnoPupmon woke us the next morning at sunrise. We packed up and began moving further into the northern forest, the portion of the forest that was governed not by the energy of the Forest Core, but by the energy of the Metal Core. On foot the journey would take a day or more, so we decided to fly. Our Digimon Digivolved to their largest winged forms, and they and Garudamon carried everyone in our makeshift group through the air. We arrived at Machine Citadel within the hour.
We touched down outside of Machine Citadel opposite the entrance gate. The Digimon de-Digivolved and we circled the massive structure on foot, keeping close to the tall metallic wall. I looked up over the wall at the dozens and dozens of irregular pointed buildings that made up the Citadel’s interior. We passed a section of the wall that resembled a patchwork quilt of metal. It took me a second to realize that this was the section that had been damaged during our battle with ViralManipulamon, still under repair. It wasn’t much longer before we reached the gate. There was a tower to either side of the massive metal doors. Atop each tower was a machine Digimon guard.
“Halt!” one of the guards, a Guardromon, called down to us. The brown, square-bodied robot stood opposite a Mekanorimon, a machine with a rectangular chrome body, with a dome where its head should be and a face on its chest. I stopped walking, even though a Guardromon saying "halt" is basically the equivalent of you or I saying "hey, how's it going".
“You know us,” I said. “We’re the Digidestined, and we’re here to see Machinedramon.”
The robot guards opened the gate and let us through. We made our way immediately down the main street to the Central Tower, Machinedramon’s home. We stepped through the massive doorway into Machinedramon’s control room. There stood Machinedramon, in all of his glory. He was a massive wingless robotic dragon with a head and posture usually attributed to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. His arms were thick and strong, each ending in a different claw-like weapon, and he had two huge cannons on his back. He was connected to the Central Tower’s computer network by a series of retractable cables, and holographic display screens swarmed around his face. Even with his many distractions, he was not too busy to acknowledge our arrival.
“It’s good to see you again Digidestined,” the giant machine said. The holographic displays disappeared, and the massive machine bent down, looking directly at us. “I see that it’s true. You have amassed quite a fighting force.” He looked from Babamon to Jijimon, and from Jijimon to Garudamon. “It is good to see you again my fellow Guardians. I only wish that our reunion could be under better circumstances.”
“I take it then that you know about Tyranterramon and his plan?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” said Machinedramon. “I’ve been readying my forces as hastily as possible to intercept Tyranterramon’s next advance. I wish I could have fought him earlier, but my army was not yet ready. Of course Tyranterramon will be on his way here next. According to my rather extensive calculations we have until tomorrow before Tyranterramon will awaken from his hibernation. My time to prepare is drawing to a close.”
“Do you have a plan?” I asked.
“Yes,” Machinedramon answered. “The energy of my Metal Core is nearly impossible to detect, and thankfully Tyranterramon does not know the location of the Citadel. He likely doesn’t even know that the Citadel exists. Even with the power of the first four Digital Cores, Tyranterramon will need to return to the point in this world where the energies of all five cores once intersected. The point to which all underlying data flows. Only then will he be able to detect the Final Core.”
“Where’s this place?” Jen asked.
“The place where the veil between worlds is thinnest,” Machinedramon replied, “because it is this convergence which, in fact, makes the veil there thinner: the former site of the Desert Tower. When Tyranterramon awakens tomorrow, he will make his way to the Desert Region. He’ll remain there for at least twenty-three minutes. I will amass my forces tomorrow morning and we will move to intercept him before he can reach the Citadel.”
“We’ll help of course,” I said, speaking for my team, Digimon and human alike.
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Machinedramon. “There’s something that I’d like your opinion on.” He looked into my eyes, “Leader of the Digidestined, please come with me.”
Suddenly the floor behind Machinedramon’s perch descended in increments, forming a massive staircase. Machinedramon disconnected himself from his control room computers and began his descent. The stairs were much too high for me to traverse myself. Thankfully a grouping of cables descended from the ceiling, lifted me up, and carried me down to the bottom of the stairs, releasing me in the midst of the commotion to which it led. I looked around, surveying my surroundings.
I was standing next to Machinedramon in a massive underground chamber probably half as big around as the Citadel itself. To my left, taking up nearly two thirds of the space, was a massive construction complex. There were machines that were processing what looked like pieces of raw data and converting them into Machine Digimon parts. Others were assembling these parts into recognizable forms. The finished machines were then carried to the surface by way of several industrial sized platform elevators. The process was overseen by hoards of small Machine Digimon laborers. To my right was quite a different sight. Ringing the entire wall along the remaining third of the room was a long string of computers, each manned by one of the gear-like Child Digimon, Hagurumon. In the center of the room was a crystal that gave off silver light.
Machinedramon and I stepped closer to the line of computers. Above them was a massive monitor, obviously designed for Machinedramon himself. The monitor clicked on in response to the machine general’s approach. The only thing pictured on the monitor was a simple block of words:
When the Greatest Powers of Ancient Times reunite
Their strength will be restored to what it once was
And through their efforts, the Heroes will reach their full potential
And finally facilitate my rebirth into this world
HEED THE WORDS OF YOUR SOVEREIGN, PROTECTORMON!
I should have commented on the expansiveness of the room in which I found myself, but all I could focus on were those words.
“As soon as the Ocean Core was destroyed,” Machinedramon said, noticing where my attention was directed, “the remaining four cores began transmitting a signal. My Metal Core is transmitting it now as we speak. The message embedded in that signal is always the same. Upon translating it, we get this, for lack of a better word, prophesy. I want to ask you, what do you think this message means?”
I read it over again twice, and took a minute to think, but no matter how I looked at it, only one thing came to mind. “Stop me if this sounds stupid,” I said, “but from where I’m standing, it looks like it says that when the Sovereign, this Protectormon, faded away, he set it up so that he could be reborn when the Guardians were once again reunited. It looks to me like he designed a means for the Guardians to summon him back from the dead when Tyranterramon eventually broke free.”
Machinedramon nodded his immense metal head, “That was my interpretation as well. Even utilizing the vast stores of knowledge at my disposal, I can discern no other meaning. This presents a certain problem-.”
“Yeah,” I said grimly. “If reuniting all of the Guardians is really the key to winning the coming battle, we could be in some serious trouble.”
“This is why I need your help. I’d like you to utilize the library computer to research this prophesy. See if you can come up with any other possible meanings.”
"Why me?" I wondered.
"I have been a machine for a long time," Machinedramon answered. "My thoughts are patterned. It is hard for me to think in a creative way. But you are human, a very imaginative species, and a smart human at that. If anyone can do what I ask, it is you."
I sighed, “I’ll do my best.”
I was the one to answer, “The cores came before the Citadel. That means that the Citadel was built over the Metal Core.”
“Correct,” said Babamon. “The ancient Guardian of the Metal Core was Millenniummon, a Chimera-Dragon with traits of many types of Digimon. This gave him power over the rest of us guardians.”
“He was as strong in general as I was in my home region,” said Garudamon. “He was our leader, an unshakable force.”
Jijimon nodded, “But like all non-robotic Digimon, Millenniummon was subject to the passage of time. Most Digimon find themselves ready to die, as Digimon tend to live for a very long time, but Millenniummon had a city-state to run. Without him, the greatest organized force in the Digital World would cease to function. So Millenniummon used the Citadel’s technology combined with energy borrowed from the Ocean Core, the core with the power of life and rebirth, to build himself a living robotic body, modeled after a machine Digimon with similar capabilities to Millenniummon. Millenniummon became this Digimon, known as Machinedramon.”
“So Machinedramon is a Guardian as well?” Jen asked.
“The weakened form of one, yes,” Babamon replied.
“Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’ll sleep through the night and at dawn we’ll leave for Machine Citadel!”
Mechmon and TechnoPupmon woke us the next morning at sunrise. We packed up and began moving further into the northern forest, the portion of the forest that was governed not by the energy of the Forest Core, but by the energy of the Metal Core. On foot the journey would take a day or more, so we decided to fly. Our Digimon Digivolved to their largest winged forms, and they and Garudamon carried everyone in our makeshift group through the air. We arrived at Machine Citadel within the hour.
We touched down outside of Machine Citadel opposite the entrance gate. The Digimon de-Digivolved and we circled the massive structure on foot, keeping close to the tall metallic wall. I looked up over the wall at the dozens and dozens of irregular pointed buildings that made up the Citadel’s interior. We passed a section of the wall that resembled a patchwork quilt of metal. It took me a second to realize that this was the section that had been damaged during our battle with ViralManipulamon, still under repair. It wasn’t much longer before we reached the gate. There was a tower to either side of the massive metal doors. Atop each tower was a machine Digimon guard.
“Halt!” one of the guards, a Guardromon, called down to us. The brown, square-bodied robot stood opposite a Mekanorimon, a machine with a rectangular chrome body, with a dome where its head should be and a face on its chest. I stopped walking, even though a Guardromon saying "halt" is basically the equivalent of you or I saying "hey, how's it going".
“You know us,” I said. “We’re the Digidestined, and we’re here to see Machinedramon.”
The robot guards opened the gate and let us through. We made our way immediately down the main street to the Central Tower, Machinedramon’s home. We stepped through the massive doorway into Machinedramon’s control room. There stood Machinedramon, in all of his glory. He was a massive wingless robotic dragon with a head and posture usually attributed to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. His arms were thick and strong, each ending in a different claw-like weapon, and he had two huge cannons on his back. He was connected to the Central Tower’s computer network by a series of retractable cables, and holographic display screens swarmed around his face. Even with his many distractions, he was not too busy to acknowledge our arrival.
“It’s good to see you again Digidestined,” the giant machine said. The holographic displays disappeared, and the massive machine bent down, looking directly at us. “I see that it’s true. You have amassed quite a fighting force.” He looked from Babamon to Jijimon, and from Jijimon to Garudamon. “It is good to see you again my fellow Guardians. I only wish that our reunion could be under better circumstances.”
“I take it then that you know about Tyranterramon and his plan?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” said Machinedramon. “I’ve been readying my forces as hastily as possible to intercept Tyranterramon’s next advance. I wish I could have fought him earlier, but my army was not yet ready. Of course Tyranterramon will be on his way here next. According to my rather extensive calculations we have until tomorrow before Tyranterramon will awaken from his hibernation. My time to prepare is drawing to a close.”
“Do you have a plan?” I asked.
“Yes,” Machinedramon answered. “The energy of my Metal Core is nearly impossible to detect, and thankfully Tyranterramon does not know the location of the Citadel. He likely doesn’t even know that the Citadel exists. Even with the power of the first four Digital Cores, Tyranterramon will need to return to the point in this world where the energies of all five cores once intersected. The point to which all underlying data flows. Only then will he be able to detect the Final Core.”
“Where’s this place?” Jen asked.
“The place where the veil between worlds is thinnest,” Machinedramon replied, “because it is this convergence which, in fact, makes the veil there thinner: the former site of the Desert Tower. When Tyranterramon awakens tomorrow, he will make his way to the Desert Region. He’ll remain there for at least twenty-three minutes. I will amass my forces tomorrow morning and we will move to intercept him before he can reach the Citadel.”
“We’ll help of course,” I said, speaking for my team, Digimon and human alike.
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Machinedramon. “There’s something that I’d like your opinion on.” He looked into my eyes, “Leader of the Digidestined, please come with me.”
Suddenly the floor behind Machinedramon’s perch descended in increments, forming a massive staircase. Machinedramon disconnected himself from his control room computers and began his descent. The stairs were much too high for me to traverse myself. Thankfully a grouping of cables descended from the ceiling, lifted me up, and carried me down to the bottom of the stairs, releasing me in the midst of the commotion to which it led. I looked around, surveying my surroundings.
I was standing next to Machinedramon in a massive underground chamber probably half as big around as the Citadel itself. To my left, taking up nearly two thirds of the space, was a massive construction complex. There were machines that were processing what looked like pieces of raw data and converting them into Machine Digimon parts. Others were assembling these parts into recognizable forms. The finished machines were then carried to the surface by way of several industrial sized platform elevators. The process was overseen by hoards of small Machine Digimon laborers. To my right was quite a different sight. Ringing the entire wall along the remaining third of the room was a long string of computers, each manned by one of the gear-like Child Digimon, Hagurumon. In the center of the room was a crystal that gave off silver light.
Machinedramon and I stepped closer to the line of computers. Above them was a massive monitor, obviously designed for Machinedramon himself. The monitor clicked on in response to the machine general’s approach. The only thing pictured on the monitor was a simple block of words:
When the Greatest Powers of Ancient Times reunite
Their strength will be restored to what it once was
And through their efforts, the Heroes will reach their full potential
And finally facilitate my rebirth into this world
HEED THE WORDS OF YOUR SOVEREIGN, PROTECTORMON!
I should have commented on the expansiveness of the room in which I found myself, but all I could focus on were those words.
“As soon as the Ocean Core was destroyed,” Machinedramon said, noticing where my attention was directed, “the remaining four cores began transmitting a signal. My Metal Core is transmitting it now as we speak. The message embedded in that signal is always the same. Upon translating it, we get this, for lack of a better word, prophesy. I want to ask you, what do you think this message means?”
I read it over again twice, and took a minute to think, but no matter how I looked at it, only one thing came to mind. “Stop me if this sounds stupid,” I said, “but from where I’m standing, it looks like it says that when the Sovereign, this Protectormon, faded away, he set it up so that he could be reborn when the Guardians were once again reunited. It looks to me like he designed a means for the Guardians to summon him back from the dead when Tyranterramon eventually broke free.”
Machinedramon nodded his immense metal head, “That was my interpretation as well. Even utilizing the vast stores of knowledge at my disposal, I can discern no other meaning. This presents a certain problem-.”
“Yeah,” I said grimly. “If reuniting all of the Guardians is really the key to winning the coming battle, we could be in some serious trouble.”
“This is why I need your help. I’d like you to utilize the library computer to research this prophesy. See if you can come up with any other possible meanings.”
"Why me?" I wondered.
"I have been a machine for a long time," Machinedramon answered. "My thoughts are patterned. It is hard for me to think in a creative way. But you are human, a very imaginative species, and a smart human at that. If anyone can do what I ask, it is you."
I sighed, “I’ll do my best.”
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