Ikuto ran back to Takeru as the Gizmon swarmed around them. “I thought the Nightmare Soldiers were supposed to give us the distraction to stop Ophanimon and Cherubimon!” he shouted, grasping his boomerang and throwing it at a Gizmon that was set to fire on Ravemon.

Takeru let out a growl. “Obviously Agatha Norstein's forces were even less trustworthy and Ophanimon and Cherubimon assumed.” He said.

Ikuto grabbed his boomerang as his digisoul flared across his body. “... Norstein? Touma's...”

“You mean Commander Satsuma didn't tell you?” Takeru asked. “That just... nevermind, we'll deal with it later. We don't have the time to be distracted now. Seraphimon! Make sure your armor isn't breached by their attacks, but defend Ravemon as best you can!”

“You didn't have to tell me that!” Seraphimon shouted, before gathering energy in front of his body. “Seven Heavens!” he shouted, firing off the balls of energy towards a nearby Gizmon, who tried to fire at Seraphimon with its deletion laser, but the blasts hit it before it could finish charging. The artificial digimon exploded like so many had before.

Ikuto ran forward and jumped into the air, swinging his digisoul covered boomerang at the nearest Gizmon, managing to knock off one of its legs. Before it had a chance to do anything else, Ikuto threw the boomerang at the machine's eye. The weapon gent straight through.

Ikuto blinked. For the Perfect-level model of Gizmon, these things were really... weaker than usual. Like Kurata had been putting even less energy into producing the things than he usually did. “Does something seem wrong about these things to you?” Ikuto asked Takeru.

Takeru ran across and jumped into the air, throwing a punch at a Gizmon and knocking it back. “They probably mass-produced these ones for the invasion!” he shouted as Ravemon flew forward and stabbed the Gizmon through the eye with his blade, destroying it.

Ravemon was forced to then dodge the blasts of another two Gizmon... which Seraphimon jumping in the way of a third blast, letting out a pained sound a bit, charging up more energy. “Seraphimon!” Ravemon shouted as he moved out of the way. “Don't do that you idiot!”

“I'm fine!” Seraphimon shouted, thrusting his arms forward. “Seven Heavens!” he shouted, seven balls of light speeding off in the direction of the Gizmon, each ball speeding off into a different direction, slamming and exploding against a different Gizmon, the data scattering all over the place.

But that still left three more of those things to take care of...

But as Ravemon landed in front of him, Ikuto knew that wasn't going to be for long. Ravemon's white wing extended as he flew forward, speeding towards the nearest Gizmon and diving under the beam that it fired at him. “Blast Wing!” he shouted, slashing towards the Gizmon's body with wing, cutting the bipedal war machine in half.

Before anything else could happen, Ravemon pulled his sword out of its sheath and threw it towards another Gizmon, piercing it through its eye as it turned towards him. Both Gizmon dissolved into data, Ravemon's sword harmlessly clattering against the ground.

Seraphimon charged forward, throwing a fist at the remaining Gizmon. The machine slammed into the nearby wall. The angel only pulled its hand away for a second... only to throw his fist at the thing again, repeatedly punching it into the wall, pieces of purple metal cracking and falling off of the artificial digimon's body.

After a decent amount of punches Seraphimon moved back a bit, firing a Seven Heaven's attack point blank at the creature. There was practically nothing left as the force of the blast sent the thing through the wall as it exploded.

Seraphimon and Takeru turned towards Ravemon and Ikuto. “Well... they did do our job for us,” Takeru commented. “But even so... that was way too easy.”

There was then laughter from behind them, and everyone turned to see a cyborg dragon standing behind them. One who's dark armor and laughter was very familiar to Ikuto. “You!” he shouted, clenching his fists.

Bio Darkdramon just smirked. “Yes. Me. Kinda sucks that we did you DATS people a little favor, but I'll deal with it.” He stepped closer to them, laughing some more. “And too bad about Daimon's little sis, but Norstein's kinda already took care of her for us, which just leaves you too.”

And with that, Bio Darkdramon charged towards them.

Ravemon screamed and met the charge, swinging at Bio Darkdramon with his blade.

The sword just hit the armor, and Bio Darkdramon laughed. “Really? That's all you were planning to do?” Almost as if to prove his point, the bio-hybrid causally tossed Ravemon into a wall. “Heh, this seems to almost always happen with you, doesn't it?”

“You know nothing about me!” Ravemon shouted, climbing to his feet.

Ikuto clutched his digivice and turned towards Takeru. “Takeru! You and Patamon get out of here and check on Chika and stop Kurata's other forces in the city!” He shouted. “Ravemon and I will take care of this!”

“Alright!” Takeru shouted. “Seraphimon! Let's go!”

Bio Darkdramon laughed. “Oh, like Ravemon alone is really going to be able to stop me!”

Ikuto smirked as his digisoul burst to life around his body. “Charge!” He began, running his hand over his digivice. “Digisoul BURST!”

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 32: Burst the Limit

.o0o.

Ravemon wasted no time, charging at Bio Darkdramon as Ikuto's power flowed through his body, his jumpsuit bleaching white as everything seemed to go on fire inside him.

But for some reason, despite Seraphimon and Takeru leaving the room, Kouki didn't seem worried about this at all. “Gigastic Lance!” the hybrid shouted, rushing forward, white feathered wings flapping as he thrust his arm with the spear towards Ravemon.

Ravemon ducked out of the way, extending his arms forward and speeding into Kouki's side, wings glowing dark purple. “Lightning Flash Stab!” he shouted, vanishing only for the next moment to slam into Bio Darkdramon's side and send him flying through a wall.

Ikuto smirked. Kouki had no idea what he had gotten into this time. “Ravemon! Finish this quickly! We don't have time to waste with him!”

Ravemon nodded and flew in the direction that Bio Darkdramon had gone flying.

Kouki just picked himself off of the ground and laughed. “That's it? That's Burst Mode?” He laughed. “I can't believe it. All this time, all this planning, near needless!”

Ravemon just sent a blast of violet energy towards the hybrid, which sent him flying through another wall. “You can say that all you want, but your power is little more than what it was when you lost to Masaru ten years ago!” the ultimate shouted.

Kouki just picked himself off the ground again. “Maybe so, but it's still enough to take care of this!” With that, a large black sphere of energy shout out of the hybrid's mouth and sped towards Ravemon. “Dark Roar!”

Ikuto's eyes widened. “Ravemon!” he shouted.

Ravemon just stood still as the blast collided with him and exploded... but Ikuto soon saw that he had no reason to worry about his partner. Ravemon stood unharmed in the smoke from the blast, purple energy shining brightly around his wings.

Bio Darkdramon stepped back. “What? That's impossible! You... that still should've hurt!”

Ravemon chuckled. “You didn't get what I meant, did you? That power, that false power given to you by Kurata, you can't grow at all. While Ikuto and I...” Violet light started glowing around Ravemon's wings again, shining brighter than before. “Have increased our power throughout this entire decade!” And with that, Ravemon sent a massive blast of energy at Kouki.

Kouki screamed as the blast collided with him, sending him flying back into yet another wall.

Ikuto walked up to Ravemon. “You think he gets it yet?”

“NO!” Kouki screamed as he got to his feet, his tail smashing against the ground. “I WON'T ACCEPT DEFEAT! I'LL... I'LL DESTROY YOU AND SETTLE THIS WITH MASARU ONCE AND FOR ALL!”

Ravemon just scoffed. “How do you expect to do that?” he asked, firing another blast of violet energy towards Kouki.

A wild torrent of artificial digisoul suddenly burst to life around the hybrid as the blast hit, the light of Ravemon's attack spreading out all over the place as Kouki let out a massive, loud scream.

“What... is that?” Ikuto asked, grasping his boomerang.

Ravemon just stared as Kouki let out a laugh.

“You... didn't really think that Kurata would let his work stagnate over the last decade, did you?!” the hybrid cackled, his armor turning completely jet black, as did his wings, while the lance on his arm started glowing with a sickly purple light.. The feathers on the wings moulted completely and turned to black flame as he let out a scream. “Now! Feel the WRATH of MY BURST MODE!”

Ravemon stood back as the digisoul exploded around the hybrid, fading from view... before Bio Darkdramon was speeding towards him. The ultimate grabbed out with his clawed hands, but found himself unable to hold the hybrid back, his body started sliding backwards. Ravemon's talons clawed into the ground, but it was no use as he was still pushed back. “This power? It's...”

Kouki smirked and opened his jaws. “Dark Roar!” he shouted... and a blast of dark energy instantly shot out of his mouth.

Ravemon went flying through the same wall that Kouki had gone flying through moments before.

Ikuto looked around, the walls of the city hall were shaking now. “Ravemon! We need to get out of here. The building isn't going to survive this fight!”

Ravemon got to his feet and charged towards Kouki. Either not hearing Ikuto or not caring. The bird-man digimon sent one of his arms flying towards Kouki's head. The cyborg just smirked and ducked out of the way, slamming at Ravemon's abdomen with one of his arms.

Ravemon let out a gasp of pain and staggered backwards.

Kouki chuckled... then flat out started laughing like a maniac. “Oh god. THIS POWER! Why do you fools not bother with this!? If you had used this all along THERE WOULD'VE BEEN NO WAR LEFT TO FIGHT!”

And with that, Bio Darkdramon flew up into the air, launching a blast from his mouth that caused a massive hole in the ceiling to form and flew out of it.

The entire place was rumbling now. “Ravemon!” Ikuto shouted, moving over to his partner. “We need to get out of here now!”

Ravemon nodded, grabbing Ikuto by the waist and taking to the air, flying through the building's ceiling as it collapsed entirely.

Ikuto looked around, seeing Kouki flying away from them. “After him! We don't know what he's planning on!” he shouted. And this really didn't make any sense. It wasn't like Ravemon had done anywhere near enough damage to them to make Kouki need to escape, so what was he planning?

It didn't take them that long to find out just why Kouki was running. The hybrid sent multiple blasts of his black energy all over the city, the beams of energy causing explosions everywhere. The sounds of explosions and screams... from people, digimon, as he was firing at everything in sight. “Ravemon! We need to stop him!”

Ravemon didn't say anything, but as far as Ikuto was concerned he didn't have to. Kouki couldn't be allowed to hurt anyone else, that's all there was to it.

“Ikuto!” Takeru shouted as Seraphimon flew up to Ravemon. “We're in trouble, the majority of both DATS forces here and the Virus Busters have been destroyed by Kurata's Gizmon!”

Ikuto cursed. “That means it's up to the six of us to take care of Kouki! Where's Chika and Piyomon?!”

“No idea!” Takeru shouted. “But we can't afford to wait around for her to show up again! Seraphimon, take Bio Darkdramon out!”

“You really don't have to tell me that!” Seraphimon exclaimed, moving his arms in front of his body as seven golden balls of light appeared in front of his hands and sped towards Bio Darkdramon's back.

Bio Darkdramon fired another blast towards the city below, causing a building to explode and cave in when Seraphimon's attack slammed into him. He staggered forward a bit.. But Seraphimon could tell it was nowhere near as effective as it should've been.

Bio Darkdramon turned towards them, and Ikuto heard Takeru let out a gasp. “That's... he... a hybrid... Burst Mode?”

“No,” Ravemon shouted, stopping his flight as Kouki flew towards them. “This is what Shine Greymon first used ten years ago!”

“That can't be!” Ikuto shouted. “Kouki's still too... Kouki!”

“Gigastic Lance!” Kouki shouted as he charged at them, thrusting with his lance arm.

Seraphimon and Ravemon both ducked out of the way, but if anything that just seemed to make Kouki more excited. Bio Darkdramon started laughing and pointed the lance at Seraphimon again. “Gigastic... Laser!” he shouted, a sickly purple beam of energy shooting out of the lance and slamming into Seraphimon's armor. Seraphimon went speeding towards the ground.

“Takeru! Seraphimon!” Ikuto shouted as Ravemon headed down to the ground to avoid a second blast from the hybrid, landing on the ground next to Seraphimon who had managed to land on his feet. Ravemon quickly bent down and put Ikuto on the ground, while Takeru jumped off of Seraphimon's back.

“You two need to stop him, now!” Takeru shouted. “We can't let that amount of power go unchecked any longer than we already have!”

Ravemon and Seraphimon stared up at Kouki. “You going to be able to cover me?” Ravemon asked.

Seraphimon snorted. “I think that'd be a little too easy for me to do.”

Ravemon bent down, preparing to fly back towards Kouki. “Well, unless you have access to a Burst Mode, that's probably going to be all that you can really do.”

“In case you forgot... I was holding back against you,” Seraphimon counted, stretching his golden wings. “Did you honestly think I could've gotten my position in the Virus Busters with just that power I was throwing your way?”

Ravemon chucked a bit. “Well, you're just going to have to show me then, won't you?”

And with that, both Seraphimon and Ravemon took to the air, flying back towards Kouki.

Ikuto just stared for a few moments, before turning back towards Takeru. “We should go find Chika,” he said, pretending to ignore what he just saw.

Takeru nodded. “Yeah, there's not more we can do in this fight.”

And with that, the two of them ran off, leaving the battle to their partners.

.o0o.

Ravemon growled as he flew towards Bio Darkdramon, grabbing his sword out of his sheath as he charged forward, taking a swing at the hybrid's neck.

Bio Darkdramon just laughed and blocked the swing with the armor on his arm, knocking Ravemon back. But that was fine by Ravemon, that attack wasn't meant to hurt anyway.

Seraphimon charged towards Bio Darkdramon's from behind, his arm pulled back, fist glowing with golden light. “Divine Breaker!” he shouted, thrusting his arm forward into Bio Darkdramon's back and releasing the energy point blank. The energy exploded, sending Bio Darkdramon hurling towards the ground. “Don't give him time to react!” the angel shouted, already preparing another attack.

Ravemon didn't need to be told twice. Takeru was right. This guy needed to be stopped. Ravemon's wings extended, power flowing off of the feathers. “Unmatched Soaring Wings Formation!” he shouted, sending off a beam of purple energy from his wings towards Bio Darkdramon.

Seraphimon reached out towards the sky and then threw his arm towards Bio Darkdramon. “ Ascension Hallow!” he shouted, a massive sized bolt of lightning shooting down from the sky.

Both attacks slammed into Bio Darkdramon and sent him flying into the ground, where there was a massive explosion. Ravemon would've felt bad about that, but with how much damage the city had already taken in its invasion earlier and from Kouki's blasts... chances are there already wasn't enough of Yokohoma left for them to even worry about the city ever being able to return to normal. Hopefully the citizens were able to evacuate when the fighting started.

Of course, Bio Darkdramon let out a scream and flew out of the smoke from the explosion. “Dark Roar!” he shouted, firing off a black blast of energy as he sped towards the two of them.

Seraphimon fired off a Seven Heavens attack, while Ravemon sent another beam of purple energy at Bio Darkdramon, both attacks colliding with the Dark Roar and causing an explosion.. Bio Darkdramon quickly flew through the smoke and thrust his arm towards Seraphimon, while hitting Ravemon across the face with his tail, cackling madly. “You'll never defeat me! The two of you are completely worthless!” he shouted, savagely attacking Seraphimon with his lance arm, cracking through the armor of the angel's body.

Seraphimon went flying back a bit, but managed to say in the air and speeding right back towards Kouki, golden light swirling around his fist as he threw it forward and hit the hybrid in the jaw.

Ravemon had already straightened himself and fired off another wave of energy, slamming it into Kouki's back and knocking him to the ground. He then did something really stupid and looked over at Seraphimon, who was breathing heavily now, a few specks of data floating out of the large crack in his armor. “You alright?”

“I'm fine!” Seraphimon shouted, clutching his chest, hand placed over the crack. “We're supposed to stop him, remember!”

At that moment a black blast of energy sped up from the ground and only barely managed to miss the two of them. Ravemon let out a growl and turned his attention back down to Kouki, who was speeding back up towards them, cackling madly.

… And then he suddenly stopped, the flames coming out of Bio Darkdramon's back fading out as the hybrid started hyperventilating, data flying off of his body. “What's... going...” Kouki panted, the data flowing away from him faster now.

Pretty soon, there was nothing but a human and a Digiegg where Bio Darkdramon had been... both of them falling to the ground. Seraphimon grabbed the egg out of the air.

Ravemon grabbed Kouki, who's hand had stopped clutching his chest, eyes closed shut.

It took Ravemon a few moments to realize that he wasn't breathing.

Ravemon and Seraphimon both landed on the ground, where Ravemon placed Kouki down gently. He turned back towards Seraphimon as his bodysuit darkened from white to black, while Seraphimon devolved to Patamon... while holding the Digiegg that had been part of Kouki.

Ravemon grabbed both of them before Patamon crashed into the ground. “You think we should leave it here?” Patamon asked.

“No,” Ravemon said. “Doing that is just asking Kurata to use it again.”

Of course, now they had to go find their partners quickly before anything else happened to them.

.o0o.

Ikuto could tell that Kouki was done with when he stopped hearing the massive roars and screams behind him, but at this point he had no idea if they should even go back to wait for them or not.

“Keep going,” Takeru said, keeping up with him. “Patamon and Falcomon will be able to find their way back to us on their own, but we need to find Chika and regroup. Figure out what we're doing and what all this means.”

Ikuto frowned, but didn't say anything. He knew he and Falcomon had a connection, but the way that Takeru made it seem was like that was a given part of it. If he was right...

… that'd just be one thing that annoyed Ikuto about him. He was just glad that at this point it was the only thing.

Ikuto shook his head and kept going. “You're sure they said that Chika went flying this way?” he asked.

“For the last time, yes!” Takeru shouted.

Ikuto frowned again... and stopped running when he saw the massive crater. There was rubble from the street and buildings littering the bottom of it, along with pieces of metal that used to be cars.

And the three figures in the center of it... Chika, Piyomon, both of them laying on the ground... and a large, black demon digimon.

Both Takeru and Ikuto wasted no time with getting down into the crater, preparing the completely stupid act of trying to fight off a perfect without their partners with them. And then Chika started laughing bitterly. The shock was enough to make both Takeru and Ikuto stop running for a moment.

“I...” Chika began, sitting up slightly, clutching at her chest. “I'm... alive.... and...”

“Chika!” Ikuto shouted, running over to her and turning to glare at Mephismon, clutching his hand into a fist, violet digisoul gathering around it.

“All this... I...”

Mephismon just stared down at her. “Chika. Pull yourself together and hand over the Digimental. I can't fake your death and get you off the radar without it!”

“What the hell are you talking about!” Ikuto shouted.

Chika frowned, and cuddled up to Piyomon. “Right... right... the whole point of you going there was to stop them.”

Ikuto and Takeru both moved down and went closer to her, Takeru being the one to get a good look at her face. “I see,” the blond said, moving away from her and turning to Mephismon. “So you're our mole. Mind telling me why we didn't know about your little detour into our mission here, or why Kouki was able to use Burst Mode?”

Mephismon didn't say anything, but Chika just sighed. Ikuto went to wrap his arms around her when he noticed something.

The heart shaped symbol that she had been hiding for the last five years was gone. Chika's forehead was completely normal. And she was so out of it... “I... tore out his throat, that's why. He's stuck like that... 'cause of me.”

Chika leaned forward into Ikuto's chest... and closed her eyes. Ikuto noticed that her hand was clutching something to her stomach. He moved his hand down to hers and opened it, a rather small white egg-shaped object landing on the ground near her legs. And it had the same symbol that had been on Chika's forehead. “Ikuto-kun... give Me... no, Franz Norstein that...okay?” And with that, Chika passed out, her breath going even.

Ikuto turned his head to turn to the perfect digimon. “Franz Norstein? But how?”

Mephismon looked away. “Why are you so surprised? It isn't like Chika's father hadn't done this already. But you need to give me the Digimental. With that back, no one's going to be hunting her anymore, they'll think she's dead.”

Takeru moved over and grabbed it. “It's been a long time since I've seen one of these,” he said offhandedly.

Ikuto stood up, sliding an arm under Chika's legs and neck as he got to his feet, looking over at both Takeru and Franz.

“But you know, I really think giving this to you isn't a good idea. Surely you had to have some plan to fake Chika's death if this didn't come out of her,” Takeru said.

Piyomon groaned and made it to his feet.

Franz frowned. “I'm working with what I have here. Besides, at this point with what has already been collected from those hybrids that the Virus Busters employed, the digimental is actually completely worthless to both Kurata and my mother. Why use a cheap knock-off when you have the full set of what inspired your plans in the first place.”

Ikuto saw Takeru frown before he tossed the small egg shaped thing over towards Franz, who caught it in his massive hand. “You're talking about the Spirits of the Warrior Ten. That explains why your forces were sent here in the first place. But what should we do from here? And what are you going to do with those kids.”

“Going into hiding would be your best bet, at least until Chika recovers from this,” Franz answered. “As it is now, with Chika supposed to be dead, that does us an unparalleled opening. If we're lucky...” he shook his head. “Nevermind with the ifs. There should be a way for us to bring down my mother and Kurata soon enough.” The human and digimon moved closer to Takeru and handed him a small radio-like device. “With this I should be able to contact you once we have a good opportunity to take them down. Just keep her safe for now, okay? As for the children... the ones that our forces beside Kouki got to will be imprisoned, most likely.”

Takeru stared. “Kouki's the one who killed Chiaki, isn't he?”

Ikuto just stared at Takeru.

Franz nodded. “It shouldn't have had to come to this, in a better world...”

“It's pointless to think about that. Not now, anyway,” Takeru interrupted. “We have to deal with what we have to deal with, it's that simple. Now get back to your troops before your cover gets blown.”

Franz nodded, and took to the sky, flying back towards the center of the city.

Takeru turned to Ikuto. “You have Chika okay?” he asked.

Ikuto nodded. “But what do we do now?” Ikuto also wanted to ask Takeru about everything. There was no reason he needed to keep secrets from the two of them. Not anymore.

“We get out of here,” Takeru said. “And get Chika to someplace where she can rest, outside of Kura... no, Agatha Norstein's territory.”

Piyomon frowned and nodded. “If only I could...”

“No,” Ikuto said. “That'd give us away.”

At that moment, Ravemon flew down to them and quickly devolved He, Patamon, and an egg fell to the ground in a heap.

Takeru sighed and picked up the egg. “Patamon, get up, we need to leave.”

Patamon nodded and flew up onto Takeru's head as Falcomon got to his feet.

Ikuto sighed. Running was all that they could really do right now.