“You... what are....” Ikuto trailed off, moving to dodge a swing from Takeru as Seraphimon formed a sword made of light and slashed at Ravemon, who ducked under it.

Cherubimon watched this with interest. Noguchi Ikuto and Ravemon were noted to be a few of the top agents of DATS. Plus if there was any chance of Seraphimon actually losing the fight, he and Ophanimon could step in easily and finish it for him. Not that they were really going to need to do that of course, Noguchi and Ravemon were good, but nowhere near as good as Daimon Masaru, Touma H. Norstein, or other DATS agents.

“I think that should be obvious, shouldn't it?” Takeru asked, slashing down at Noguchi again, who blocked the strike with his massive boomerang, dark violet digisoul covering his body as he grit his teeth.

“But why!?” he shouted, pushing Takeru's blade back with a burst of digisoul and launching his boomerang at the blond haired man.

Takeru just ducked under the blade effortlessly and struck at Noguchi with the flat of his blade. “Because I've fought against the powers of darkness my entire life. Evil must be eradicated, no matter where it is.”

Noguchi went stumbling to the ground even as Ravemon and Seraphimon slashed at each other with their blades. “What the hell kinda answer is that!?” Noguchi shouted, getting up to his feet and grabbing the boomerang.

Takeru laughed. “It's the truth, obviously,” he said. “The real reason I 'retired' to being a teacher was that I couldn't stand to force Patamon in that unnatural transformation for my cover anymore.”

Noguchi grit his teeth and ran towards Takeru again, swinging down with his boomerang.

Takeru slipped out of the way and threw a punch to Noguchi's stomach.

Noguchi grabbed the arm with his free hand and pulled Takeru closer to him, throwing a knee into the blond's stomach.

Takeru let out a gasp and stumbled backwards, only for Ikuto to swing his boomerang across the other man's side, sending him flying into a nearby set of seats.

Cherubimon smirked as Takeru got out of the rubble and Seraphimon broke his sword-lock from Ravemon, flying back and vanishing his sword as seven golden balls of energy formed in front of him. “Seven Heavens!” the blue angel shouted, the balls of light flying towards Ravemon, knocking him through a wall. Seraphimon just stared at the hole that the other ultimate had made for a moment, as if he were bored.

Cherubimon smirked. Even though he wasn't getting a chance to fight himself, this was entertaining enough that he didn't care.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 31: Duel of the Fates

.o0o.

Relena stared at Chika and Kouji as they fought... while she lay down on the ground, completely helpless and barely able to maintain her evolution. That bitch... she had taken them out with no effort at all. She knew that Chika was stronger as Slash Angemon, but even so! That was just...

“Were Garurumon, can you stand?” she asked, as she tried to make it to her feet. But she just collapsed on in a heap back on the ground.

“No,” Were Garurumon answered, not even bothering to try it.

She turned her attention from Chika and Kouji's sword fight and looked over at her partner. His black fur was matted together, black specks floating out of his body, but not at a lethal rate at least. Which made sense, considering Chika had just been playing with her the entire time. Damn bitch...

And so far, Kouji was it. Ravemon had managed to defeat Tomoki and Junpei with little effort, and Chika easily did the same for Takuya and well... Izumi kinda defeated herself trying to help Takuya. She could see their spirit's laying in front of their prone, unconscious bodies.

Relena tried to stand again. Chika barely seemed tired, but she could tell that Kouji was struggling to keep up the evolution of Beowulfmon, each of his strikes against Chika were getting slower and slower, while Chika seemed like she was just ready to parry each strike. It was only a matter of time until Kouji lost, and it looked like Chika didn't want to waste the energy that she'd need to help Ikuto and Ravemon against the Three Great Angels.

At least Takeru and Seraphimon should be enough to take care of Chika, if only due to the shock of seeing him against her, against DATS.

But that was little help to her right now, since she had no way of helping Kouji. And considering what Chika had done to Takuya, what she had done to her father... she needed to do something.

Yet she couldn't move!

Chika apparently decided that she had enough, as Slash Angemon started going on the offensive with the sword strikes. Her blades battered against Kouji's as he was barely able to block her onslaught.

.o0o.

Taichi Yagami could tell that this battle was not going anywhere near as well as they had figured. There were too many Virus Busters forces in the area for the Nightmare Soldiers to be attacking at the moment. “War Greymon!” Taichi shouted as he punched a nearby Angemon in the chest, his body set ablaze with orange digisoul flickering around him.

War Greymon flew into the air, part of his armor broken off and his trademark claw gauntlets missing... if only because he had two Angemon grasped in his hands by the head as he flew... before slamming into the ground, causing chunks of pavement to spilt up to the ground, the Angemon smashing into against the concrete and dissolving into digieggs, leaving the Ultimate level digimon alone. War Greymon leaped over towards him, his gauntlets materializing around his fists as he quickly slammed the claws through two other Angemon, flinging their bodies behind them as they landed on the ground. “Taichi! Something here isn't right!”

Taichi nodded. “I've realized,” he said, looking around at the bodies of his forces as they battled against the Virus Busters. Several of his soldiers who had survived the initial attack on Yokohoma were on the ground, unmoving with their partners either still fighting on or lifeless digieggs near them; Taichi couldn't really tell which, and that was what he hated about being this far up on the command chain.

As it was, the Virus Busters forces had this section of the city way too well defended for what they were expecting. Wherever Patamon had managed to get his information had obviously been a trap.

“Fall back!” Taichi shouted to any nearby agents. “We need to get to regroup and get to a better position to attack!” He hated to do that, but even so, at the rate things were going, they weren't going to be able to hold this that much longer.

Of course, just as he said that, several Gizmon appeared suddenly, and it got worse. Much worse.

.o0o.

Relena somehow managed to bring herself to her feet, growling as she readied her lighting around her body, ignore how her body burned and screamed to just pass out. “Blue Thunder!” she shouted, sending off a bolt of lightning over at Slash Angemon.

The blast didn't even do anything, she just kept focusing on Kouji, swinging her blades down at him.

Relena growled again. If she didn't do something soon, Chika was going to kill most of them, most likely. She certainly wasn't too concerned about the safety of Takuya.

She wasn't going to let that happen. She had already lost her father to her. That was enough. This wasn't going to happen. “V-mon! We have to stop this!”

Were Garurumon groaned, struggling as he stood up to his knees. “I'll... stand by you...” he said with a whisper.

Relena's heart felt like it was had been stabbed at that, looking at how much he had been hurt. And still he was willing....

Relena nodded at Were Gaurumon. “Let's go then...” And with that... something started feeling... not wrong, but there was a growing heat in her chest, no, her body. Something she had never felt before.

It took her a few moments to realize that both she and Were Gaurumon were glowing.

And then... it happened.

.o0o.

Slash Angemon slashed down with their swords, knocking the warrior of light's sword out of his hand and finishing it with a slash to his chest. The warrior's body started to break apart into strands of that strange digisoul as a teenager fell to the ground. Two white objects clattered onto the ground in front of the boy. So... those were the spirits. They looked so... ordinary up close.

Of course, Slash Angemon soon realized that they had bigger problems when there was an explosion of light behind them, along with a shout of “Jogress Evolve!” The Ultimate quickly turned around and turned to see... a black, armored wolf with a giant cannon on its back in place of both Relena and Were Gaururumon. “Z'd Gaururmon!”

If Slash Angemon didn't know they were going to have to fight it, they almost would've been proud of them.

Of course, immediately after that, the new ultimate digimon charged straight for them, letting out a large, powerful blast of energy from its mouth. “Blow Back Breath!”

Slash Angemon crossed both of their blades across their chest, but the force of the blast of energy still sent them staggering backwards. They slashed their swords down, causing the energy to dissipate into the air. Things weren't done yet here. Not at all. “Relena!” they shouted, slightly pained. That attack was greater than they had been expecting.

.o0o.

Z'd Gaururmon couldn't believe the power that was pulsing through them. It was... amazing. It felt like a constant stream of energy was constantly pumping through their body. And that attack... how Slash Angemon was staggering backwards. They had actually made Chika have to try.

Chika had to try...

Z'd Garurumon wasn't going to waste any time with replying to what Slash Angemon said. While they were stronger than they have ever been, Chika and Piyomon have had years to use this form. They couldn't afford to mess this up. Not now, not if they wanted to protect Takuya and the others. They readied the several guns jetting out of their body, staring down at Slash Angemon. “Full Metal Blaze!” they shouted, firing almost every gun they had at once.

Except for the large cannon on their back, all of her weapons fired in a cloud... all of it focused on Slash Angemon. The angel quickly ducked out of the way, flying up into the air briefly to avoid her blasts before landing on the ground again.

Z'd Garurumon wasn't going to have any of that, and fired their weapons off at Slash Angemon again. This time Slash Angemon flew into the air and stayed there, flying in the position of a cross for a moment, light gathering around Slash Angemon's body, forming a giant cross of light.

Before Z'd Gaururmon even knew it, Slash Angemon was flying back and then spinning forward into a cross... and a massive blast of light was speeding towards them, way too fast for them to have been able to jump out of the way of the blast.

Z'd Garurumon did the only thing they could do. “Z'd Cannon!” they shouted, firing a blast from their massive cannon that sent them almost pushing against the ground with its recoil, sending out a strong blast of light that collided with Slash Angemon's. But the blast was smaller, and while the blast did collide against Slash Angemon's, it looked like it was going to be overwhelmed by it, and Slash Angemon's blast would keep heading towards them.

Z'd Garurumon moved out of the way right as they were proven wrong and the two blasts exploded. They broke into a run. No reason to give Slash Angemon a chance to speed at them through the smoke from the explosion. They couldn't afford to take any hits. If they did, they were most likely done for.

They couldn't risk it, but even so, Z'd Garurumon couldn't see Slash Angemon. Where did that angel go to? Z'd Garurumon blindly fired most of their weapons into the air through the smoke to be safe and kept running... right as Slash Angemon's sword collided with the ground where they were standing, but this time it was different. Instead of two blades Slash Angemon was holding a single massive sword.

Slash Angemon turned to them and flew forward, sword ready to strike.

Z'd Garurumon fired their massive canon again and jumped out of the way when Slash Angemon slashed down and cut the blast in half. They bit back a curse and found themselves having to dodge another slash from the ultimate level angel digimon. They fired most of their weapons at Slash Angemon again and ran as far as they could to the side, trying to put as much distance between themselves and Slash Angemon as they could.

But even then, all Slash Angemon did was just fly towards them again, the angel's blades splitting back into two as it charged at them.

Z'd Garurumon fired their cannon again, and just got the same result as the last time, Slash Angemon's blades cutting through the attack. They knew that at this rate they were going to lose, the couldn't fire off many more blasts at that level of power. It just wasn't possible, they could tell they were running out of energy.

Slash Angemon kept speeding towards them, and Z'd Gaurumon wasn't able to dodge the strike this time, the flat of one of Slash Angemon's blades smacking them in the head, sending them staggering around. “Relena, V-mon. Stop this now,” Slash Angemon commanded.

Z'd Garurumon growled. They weren't going to give up just yet. There had to be some way that they could beat Slash Angemon, some weakness that the other ultimate had. There just had to be!

Slash Angemon frowned. “Don't you realize where this revenge thing is going to lead you!”

Z'd Gaururmon growled and ran forward, firing off most of their weapons again.

Slash Angemon ducked out of the way of the attacks, but that was fine, they weren't expecting them to have actually hit or done anything... but it did get Slash Angemon away from them, gave them time to think.

But it wasn't enough time, as Slash Angemon was already speeding back towards them, blades extended and ready to slash, this time with the actual blade end of the swords. Maybe if they...

No, Z'd Garurumon jumped to the side as Slash Angemon got closer. Firing off the main cannon as Slash Angemon flew towards them wasn't going to work, the attack would just get cut in half again. But unless it was fired at extremely close range there was nothing that they were going to be able to do much if any damage to Slash Angemon. They needed a distraction, something that would allow them to get close and...

Several Gizmon and the familiar face of Mephismon suddenly appeared. “Attack now!” Mephismon shouted, and the Gizmon did, firing their deletion beams at Slash Angemon.

Slash Angemon broke of its attack and switched attention to the several attacking war machines, stabbing a blade through two of them as it started flying towards them.

Mephismon flew over towards her. “You're Norstein, right?” he asked, but Z'd Garurumon could tell that he already knew for sure.

Z'd Garurumon nodded anyway.

Mephismon smirked. “Leave the rest of this to them. Slash Angemon will be done for before you know it. And after this, you can finally go back to the base.”

Z'd Garurumon snarled, although now that they were there, Slash Angemon...

Daimon Chika would be done for.

But then again, it wasn't like Gizmon had that great a track record against Ultimate level digimon...

Slash Angemon landed on the ground, blocking a deletion laser from a Gizmon with its two blades... and its back was completely exposed to them. While Slash Angemon was fighting the Gizmon...

Z'd Garurumon snarled. “No. We're ending this now!” they shouted, running forward as fast as they could go, ignoring the shocked shout of “RELENA!!!” from Mephismon, not even caring that he had used her first name, or that he actually seemed worried.

That didn't matter.

Slash Angemon...

There was an opening.

They were going to take it.

Z'd Garurumon's legs were burning now, but they weren't going to let that stop them. Not yet. They'd have plenty of time to rest once this was done with.

Slash Angemon turned to face them, mouth wide open as they charged at it.

There was no way that Slash Angemon was going to be able to dodge this blast. No way in hell. Z'd Garurumon poured all the energy they could into this next blast. If this didn't work...

No.

“Z'd CANNON!” They shouted, as the fired their biggest blast yet at Slash Angemon, the energy slamming into the angel digimon's body at point blank range.

It was over so quickly. One moment Slash Angemon was there, and the next it was flying through several buildings before there was a massive explosion throughout the city, vaguely reminding them about a mushroom cloud... not even an Ultimate digimon couldn't survive that, could they?

In the next moment though, Relena and V-mon were separated, the small digimon falling to the ground, panting as he lay on his back. Relena fell to her knees. Had they.... had she...?

Mephismon flew over to them for a moment, before looking over at the Gizmon. “All of you, collect the discarding spirits and capture these Virus Buster forces.”

The Gizmon started doing their orders without complaint... obviously. Mindless machines did that.

But Relena was no machine. “What's going on!?” she shouted, trying to stand.

“Orders are orders Norstein,” Mephismon said. “Besides, these fools can't be trusted with that power. After today, the Virus Busters are finished. Go get some rest. I'm going to go after Daimon.”

“Like that's even necessary,” a coarse voice said from the sky, flying down towards them. “After all, with these kids Spirits, we have all ten sets. We don't need the data shoved into Daimon's baby sister anymore.”

Relena barely gave Bio Darkdramon a look. “What do you mean orders!?”

“If you're that upset about it, then ask that grandmother of yours later,” Mephismon said, before turning to Bio Darkdramon. “And this is less about regaining possession of the Digimental of Love than about making sure that Daimon is dead. Left alive she and Piyomon are just as much of a threat to us as Masaru and Agumon are.”

And with that, Mephismon took to the sky and headed in the direction of the explosion.

.o0o.

Cherubimon couldn't believe it, but with how long Ravemon and Seraphimon's fight had been going on... he was starting to get bored. He turned over to Ophanimon. “This fight's gone on too long. Something is not right here...”

Ophanimon nodded. “But what could it be,” she whispered.

At that next moment several Gizmon burst into the chamber and started firing at everything. Cherubimon barely managed to fly off of his perch before getting blasted by one of their beams.

Ophanimon wasn't so lucky, the beam slamming into her face and bursting through her head before she could even blink, and in the next moment she was dissolving into data before his eyes.

Cherubimon could only stare.

“This wasn't part of the plan!” Ravemon shouted as he and Seraphimon stopped fighting and began concentrating on the Gizmon, which got Cherubimon's attention. Plan? What did that...

Before Cherubimon could think anything else, a deletion laser burned through his skull and...