Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It wasn't an hour after they'd set foot on the continent that they were ambushed.

"Everyone, DUCK!"

Zoe's warning came only a split second before something fell from on high, striking the ground in front of the group like a meteor. Everyone screamed as the small clearing in the half-withered forest they'd been walking through was nigh-instantly swallowed, blotted out by the giant cloud of dust the impact kicked up.

Takuya waved the haze away from his eyes as he stood back up, his friends doing much the same just behind him. As the dirt settled, a silhouette became apparent behind the smokescreen, which gradually faded and revealed...

"Ranamon?"

The figure slowly shook her head, eyes unblinking.

"Afraid not. You can call me Exocoemon."

Takuya squinted at her. No, this was definitely Ranamon, albeit... also kind of Zephyrmon? It was as if they'd somehow merged, the features of the water and wind spirits having blended together to meet somewhere in the middle. Fins and feathers had become one, extending even further from her back, head, and hips than before, while her outfit was now a strangely metallic-looking swimsuit, gradually shifting from shining light blue across her torso to shimmering purple down her legs. Zephyrmon's silver claws remained in place, while Ranamon's empty gauntlets had shifted upward to become pauldrons, framing the torn scarf still wound around her neck. Her wings seemed drained of all color at first glance, but shone dully with a riot of rainbow hues when the light struck them right.

All of those features were more or less familiar to Takuya. Less so were her more... animalistic traits. Her posture was low and aggressive, far more predatory than before, and a short, fan-like tail foreign to both forms extended from her tailbone, draping behind her hips like a ragged half skirt. Scales (or were those tiny, scale-like feathers?) now covered her where her armor didn't, coating most of her skin and encroaching on her still-exposed naval. Only her face seemed completely free of them — though perhaps they were simply obscured by her face mask, the outside of which now bore a design reminiscent of jagged teeth.

From the small stretch of skin remaining between her mask and dangling headgear, two violet, slit-pupil eyes peered out, narrowed and angry.

"What happened to her?" JP said, asking aloud what everyone was thinking.

"A small... boon from Cherubimon." Exocoemon answered tersely. "One that I was stupid enough to ask for... but while I regret it, at least now my path forward is clear."

She held out an arm, claws extended in a beckoning manner.

"Hand over your spirits."

Takuya grinned even as he glared. Nice of her to make things simpler this time.

"Not gonna happen! Guys?"

Code enveloped each of them. Takuya felt the roaring flame of BurningGreymon reaching out for him, searing him for a scant instant before draining down into his being, infusing him with the spirit's power and form. As the code dispersed, he found everyone save Tommy had also chosen their beast spirits, even Zoe, who on land had to "stand" upon Calmaramon's two largest tentacles- though not for much longer, if Takuya had anything to say about it.

"We've gotten way stronger since we last met," he growled down at their now much-smaller opponent, who barely came up to his hip in this form, "and there's no water around for you to use this time. So what's actually gonna happen is that you're gonna give Zoe back her spirit, and-"

The pain hit before he even fully registered the movement as Exocoemon's armored foot slammed into his jaw. Takuya felt the metal of his mouth bend, and swore he even heard something crack as he unsteadily stumbled back. Since when did Ranamon have that kind of brute force?!

"Lupine Laser!"

"Bolo Thunder!"

A blur swept past him, resolving back into Exocoemon as she ducked under the lance of light and leapt towards the oncoming balls of electricity, whipping an arm around and-

"Hey, no fair!" MetalKabuterimon yelped as Exocoemon sprouted claws of wind and water from her gauntlets, almost doubling their size, and somehow grabbed the lightning chaining the projectile together, arresting its momentum and flinging it back the way it came. Wheels spun and treads squealed as everyone broke in different directions to dodge, Bokomon and Neemon frantically diving for some nearby bushes on the outskirts of the clearing.

"Still haven't gotten past calling your attacks I see." Exocoemon remarked.

"Oh yeah?!"

Takuya whipped his body forward, and the Wildfire Tsunami he'd been preparing tore away from him, the blazing twister gyring straight towards his foe — where claws of elemental fury instantly ripped it apart, leaving Exocoemon staring at him in equally furious disbelief.

"Do you seriously think that was any better?! Do you even understand the concept of not announcing-"

A blast of freezing crystals slammed into Exocoemon's blind spot, icing over part of her side and most of her right wing.

"Yeah, I think we get it." Takuya retorted, grinning back at Kumamon's own wide smile.

Exocoemon leapt upwards as KendoGarurumon's blades flashed through where she'd just stood, the thin coating of ice breaking off as she took to the air. She dove back down like a raptor an instant later, kicking MetalKabuterimon's attempted Electron Cannon off course and causing the attack to instead devastate the forest a little ways off — only for the forest immediately in front of her to suddenly come alive, tree branches stretching and deforming into wavering spirals.

"What-?!" was all their foe managed to get out before the branches lashed out and wrapped around her, Calmaramon continuing to make steady circling motions with her limbs as she spun the disparate pieces of wood into a tightly-wound cocoon. Exocoemon immediately began shearing the wood away, far faster than Calmaramon could add it, but it didn't need to hold her long, as Kumamon went flying off the end of an icy ramp-

Chapter Text

I hit the ground of Sakkakumon's steel area hard enough to knock the wind out of me, the top of my swim cap bouncing off a jagged mirror as I cry out in shock.

Loud, clanking footsteps approach. Groaning, I push myself up onto my unarmored elbows to see- well, the only Digimon I'd obviously expect to, given that his beast spirit just ate me.

“Greetings, milady.”

“Mercurymon, what are you-”

I freeze as a pair of mirrors appear on either side of my head, glowing with pulsing light. Since when can he-?!

“It has come to mine attention that thou hath been pursuing a rather interesting series of actions recently.” the warrior of steel pronounces. “Actions that perhaps indicate questionable loyalty to our beloved Lord Cherubimon.”

My eyes widen for a brief moment before I force them to narrow.

“What are you playin' at?” I growl. “What 'actions'?”

As I speak, I reach out, mentally questing for water... but there's none to be found. Obviously. Sakkakumon controls the entire contents of his inner worlds, and he clearly hasn't left any liquid present for me, let alone in this area. Could I slide evolve? Definitely not quick enough to dodge whatever attack these mirrors have readied, and while Zephyrmon is certainly sturdier than I am, that hardly means she'd take whatever this attack is at point blank range in the face all that much better.

“If you actually fell for those fake rumors ah spread-”

“I was thinking more along the lines of a certain beachside spat.” Mercurymon interrupts. “The one that took place between thee and those meddlesome children.”

It takes all I have to suppress a flinch. Wha- was he watching- surely he didn't follow-

“And what about it?” I hastily retort, trying to recover. “If'n you saw that, you must've also seen how ah whipped those kiddies like-”

“Spare me the excuses.” Mercurymon says, cutting me off again. “You've no recourse left that would lead me to believe you.”

I grit my teeth. Damn it all, don't think I can talk my way out of this one, but I need to say something if just to not end up getting mirror beamed through the skull. Stall, stall!

“You massive creep,” I accuse, “where do you get off bragging about how good you are at spying on people anyways?”

Mercurymon leans over slightly, as though squinting at me.

“Dropping thy airs, hmm? I'd not thought thee even capable of such before witnessing thy little snit... but perhaps I should only have expected such deception from a traitor to our master's cause.”

Why this little-

“That's awful rich coming from the guy planning on telling Cherubimon just where to shove it the moment he has enough power to do so!” I hiss.

Mercurymon smiles.

“Oh? Figured that out, have you?”

“Yeah, I have, you-”

“Excellent. If thou hadst not, this venture would be considerably less promising.”

I blink, thrown completely off track by that admission.

“You... wha? Venture?”

“Now that we hath confirmed we are on the same page, allow me to skip to the actual thrust of this discussion.” Mercurymon continues, seeming to relax slightly. “Our current circumstances be untenable in the long run. We both knoweth this to be true. As such, I would propose that we lend each other aid in deposing our mutual 'master'.”

I stare up at him, baffled.

“Come now, be not stubborn. Twould be beneficial for the both of us, would it not?”

…was. This all just his stupidly pompous way of “asking” me to work with him to take down Cherubimon.

“Shall I take thy silence as a refusal?”

Snapping back into character, I roll my eyes.

“Obviously not, ah just needed a minute to think about it. Ya can't just spring somethin' like this on a girl without warning and expect her to have all the answers in a snap.”

As if I could possibly say otherwise when he's got a metaphorical gun to my head... though, assuming he's being honest, I'd clearly want to say yes anyways. I've been in desperate need of allies since essentially the moment I showed up here, and Mercurymon is perhaps the literal best one I could ask for, given the number of possibilities that his abilities specifically open up — again, assuming this isn't a trick, but given he has me dead to rights here I would hardly see the point.

“Then, we have an accord?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Mercurymon's painted lips turn upward. “Excellent.”

The mirrors next to my head disappear. Sighing in relief, I push myself back to my feet and brush myself off.

“So, just checkin', ya do know there's easier ways to-”

“Do feel free to drop thy obnoxious affectation.”

I lid my eyes.

“...alright. Suppose I can't really take issue with that.”

Not like there's much point to keeping it up now anyways.

“Hmm,” Mercurymon hums, raising one hand to where his chin theoretically might sit, “yes, I do believe I prefer thy voice this way. One might even question what the purpose of such false fripperies was to begin with.”

I roll my eyes. “One might answer that it was a deliberately cultivated trait to make myself seem more harmless than I actually am.”

“Oh?” Mercurymon claps, metal banging against metal. “How impressive! I'd truly not suspected a thing.”

“Glad to know you approve.” I say flatly, one hand going to my hip. “Back to the point — you do know there are easier ways of asking for help, right? Were the abduction and the threats really necessary?”

Mercurymon shrugs showily. “Twas merely insurance, milady. I couldst hardly have you running to report mine intentions to Cherubimon were you disinclined to accept my offer, particularly were you not already aware of them.”

“And the part where you swallowed me?”

“A measure of security. Within my beast spirit, no others may intrude, nor may any eyes or ears even with methods like mine own surveil our conversation.”

...fair enough.

“Fine,” I grumble, “but maybe next time you need something, try just asking nicely.”

“Very well, in that case, I wouldst like to kindly request access to thy spy network.”

I blink. Spy network? Wha-

“You mean my fans?”

“Whatever thou wishes to call them.” Mercurymon replies, idly waving a hand. “I require their assistance in executing my ultimate plan.”

“...and what plan would this be exactly?”

Mercurymon smirks, standing straighter.

“I am presently in search of a troupe... that is to say, an army.”

He gestures to the field of reflective shards surrounding us, and I suppose at Sakkakumon at large.

“I shall store them inside my greater self, then teleport to Cherubimon's castle and pour them out upon his doorstep en masse. For all his power, tis doubtful he will be able to fend off a force hundreds, if not thousands strong, much less one with I at its head. Dragging him into an extended conflict shall avail me plenty of opportunity to turn his own power against him, as I did Seraphimon, and thus he shall chain us no longer.”

I squint. While that last bit is basically what I was hoping to suggest myself, the rest of this plan feels... rather needlessly complicated.

“I hardly possess the means to gather such personnel myself.” Mercurymon continues, eliding that the reason for that is his general lack of friends or sociability before gesturing to me. “You, however, possess the unwavering loyalty of countless Digimon spread across what remains of this planet, who will jump to do anything you ask of them. Tis the perfect way to combine our respective resources.”

“...maybe.” I say, unconvinced.

While I can't deny that Cherubimon probably won't just launch an easily reflectable attack at Mercurymon without some other factor involved, this plan is too showy and large scale, making it highly prone to potential failure. Not to mention with how much time it would take to gather any such forces, we'd be leaving more than enough time for Cherubimon in turn to notice and catch on to what we're doing... and frankly, I'm not all that thrilled with the idea of using a bunch of Digimon that all but worship me as cannon fodder. Honestly, I suspect the main reason Mercurymon is suggesting this way of going about it is actually just so he can analyze the attack data of every Digimon we bring along so he can use their attacks as Sakkakumon later. Is there a way I can-

Wait. Data?

“That... could work...” I say, choosing my words carefully. “...but I think I might have an alternative idea. It would be more immediately dangerous, but faster to execute, harder to notice, and — I think — more likely to actually succeed. Willing to hear me out?”

Mercurymon frowns and crosses his arms.

“I highly doubt it will prove particularly persuasive compared to my own plan... but very well.”

I start explaining. As I speak, Mercurymon's frown slips away in favor of surprise, followed by a slowly-growing smile.

The sound of a distant explosion pricked the ears of the angel on high.

Turning away from his object of obsession, Cherubimon flew to the edge of the floating pavilion, glancing down at the castle that the weightless mass of rock crowned. The towering edifice stood tall as ever, but was trembling minutely in a way it shouldn't have been.

His eyes narrowed.

Intruders...?

He flickered, data unwinding and respooling in an instant as he teleported to the spirit plinths beneath his castle's core. They remained untouched, the structure's foundations uncompromised.

The same could not be said of the entrance to his lair. A brief scan of the area found the stone portal leading inside destroyed, sliced cleanly in half. His Phantomon guards were also glaringly missing, save for several discarded chains-

No.

With a wave of his hand, the chains scattered across the crumbling ground flew directly to his palm. Holding the eyeball-shaped crystals dangling from their metal links up to his face, he watched as familiar red-hooded souls wisped about within.

Not missing. Trapped in their own tools... someone had clearly come prepared.

Their audacity would be matched only by their suffering.

He flickered again, this time to the Hall of Shadows. The fragmented souls that lingered from his past experiments were free of their enclosures, swarming around in a frenzy — at least until they registered his presence, causing them to instantly retreat to the corners of the space.

He glared briefly at the cowering geists, silently noting the lack of a certain additional presence. Oryxmon had possessed no opportunity to ally himself with hostiles, so presumably he'd simply taken this happenstance opportunity to flee. A shame — he'd so been looking forward to seeing the sympathizer's despairing expression as he realized all his waiting and efforts were for naught, in the brief moments preceding his final deletion.

That moment would have to come much sooner, now.

He began rapidly teleporting upwards through the halls of the castle, silently working through hypotheses all the while. Who would dare attempt to invade his personal domain while he remained within it? Seraphimon was now gloriously dead twice over, reduced to a mere egg, but this could hardly be the work of Ophanimon's oh so naive “chosen children”. As the group would soon be delivering the remaining legendary spirits directly into his hands, he'd been keeping a very close eye on them, and they had yet to even reach the Dark Continent.

But if not them...

His next flicker found him in the middle of an indoor flood, water rushing forward from the end of the hall in a swirling torrent. Riding the crest of the incoming whirlpool was a mismatched parody of a Digimon, a slipshod blend of aquatic data unfamiliar even to an angel such as he. The myriad Gargoylemon and Coatlmon meant to protect his castle's interior were floundering on the floor, damp wings fluttering uselessly, some having been replaced by large eggs bobbing on the surface of the water.

The unknown Digimon screeched as it spotted him, bright blue energy building at the tip of its horn before spearing across the hall. He swatted the pitiful attack away, then grasped the snarling creature as it fell upon him and crushed it in his grip. The rabid mon resisted for mere moments before bursting into data, no egg forming from it as the liquid it had spread across the hall collapsed to the floor, inert.

His expression contorted. Aquatic beasts... her?

No — she would be incapable of this on her own. An accomplice, at best.

The sound of rushing water continued to echo all around him, further screeching sounding from adjacent halls. Evidently, his uninvited houseguests had brought more than one of these creatures along.

Pointless diversions, easily dealt with at a later time. The aim of those responsible for this incursion was now obvious.

A final flicker saw him reappearing just beneath the roof of Ophanimon's prison. The crystalline walls shone with every imaginable color, reflecting myriad copies of himself across every visible surface... accompanied by those of the two smaller figures standing at the bottom of the chamber, the taller one readying an attack that threatened to undo the intricate web of light that kept his once fellow angel trapped.

Cherubimon dropped from above, landing in front of the pair with such impact the entire chamber shook around them.

“Mercurymon.” he rasped. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I would think that obvious, no?” Mercurymon smirked, his glowing arm mirror held out in front of him like a shield. “It means that we intend to serve at thy behest no longer. From this moment forth, the only masters we serve are ourselves!”

“Got that right~” Ranamon agreed, her tone infuriatingly casual.

Cherubimon leered.

“It seems I was too lenient with you.”

That his traitorous servants evidently failed to hold proper fear of him could only be his own failing. He would correct this, here and now.

“Oh? And how exactly dost thou intend to stop us?”

“Yeah, somehow ah doubt you can fight in here without freein' Ophanimon for us, honey.”

A dark smile graced his lips. “A futile hope.”

“Cherubimon-!”

Before Ophanimon could speak further, he cast a hand backwards, a fog of darkness pouring from his palm and swallowing the entire shining network. A moment later, his prisoner was gone, vanished to one of the identical backup cells he'd had constructed elsewhere in his castle for this very purpose.

“Ophanimon is mine.” he cackled. “Any such plan to free her was doomed from its-”

“Aww...” Ranamon whined, staring past him and up at the now empty space. “There she goes.”

“Indubitably.”

Cherubimon's eyes narrowed further until they were all but slits. Mercurymon's insolence was almost expected, now that he'd dropped his facade of sycophancy. But for even Ranamon to show so little response, and have somehow found the gall to interrupt him?

“Well, that's alright ah suppose.” Ranamon shrugged, smiling up at him. “After all...”

He lashed out without warning, striking Ranamon with enough force to disperse her code then and there — and found his hand passing right through her.

“...we were never even here.”

The pair abruptly vanished, the barely-solid reflections becoming obvious for what they were only a scant moment before winking out of existence. Mercurymon's mirror alone remained, hanging in the air for a fragment of a second before withdrawing into nothing, leaving not a trace behind.

A furious growl ripped itself from the bottom of Cherubimon's throat. Trickery-

Familiar laughter suddenly rang out, reaching Cherubimon's ears an instant before an enormous white and red hand burst through the floor and wrapped its freezing claws around his ankle.

-Somewhere slightly higher up-

“Can thou not fly any faster?!”

“In case you didn't realize, you're heavy, metal head!” I snap, struggling under Mercurymon's weight to the point I'm only making progress at all due to Zephyrmon's inherent mastery of air. “Can't you just teleport up there?”

“As I hath already said, there is naught a single reflective surface to be found above! Mine range without shall not suffice!”

“Then shut up, I'm going as fast as I can!”

As if I'm not already enough on edge doing this at all! Yes, it was technically my idea, but I'm pretty sure if not for Mercurymon's additions to the plan we'd have already been caught, and our myriad distractions still won't keep Cherubimon occupied forever! Not to mention Zephyrmon's instincts are practically screaming at me how wrong I was to even suggest this, telling me that there is a much larger predator nesting in the vicinity and we need to leave before it returns; that this is a terrible place to even so much as fly over, with no sun, no wind, no life to be found-

I pick up on a muffled sound of crystal breaking somewhere within the castle below.

“Our doubles hath been discovered!”

My thoughts scatter with panic, even as the upper edge of the floating pavilion we tricked Cherubimon into abandoning finally comes into view. Too frantic to even hear whatever else Mercurymon is saying, I swoop towards the floating rock, forcing the dead, stifling air to carry us the rest of the way there.

The moment we're past the pillars, I let go of Mercurymon, releasing him before his feet have even finished skidding over the ground. Screeching to a stop myself, I slide evolve back into my default form on the spot, freeing me of Zephyrmon's fear, if not my own. Ugh, I feel like I'm about to-

“Ranamon!”

Mercurymon's hand grips my chin, forcing me to look up at the pavilion's central feature. In the middle of the space sits a sphere of shining code, softly spinning on its axis over a simple plinth of rock.

Everything that Cherubimon has stolen of this world — all right here, in one place and piece.

The two of us breathlessly scramble over to the orb of accumulated data, ending up on either side of it.

“Uh- wait, how are we doing this?” I find myself asking. “Half and half-?”

The sound of an exterior wall shattering rings out across the sky, followed by a voice like gravel scraping against the bottom of the world, and a blood-curdling scream that I can only imagine came from the recently-released IceDevimon.

“It doth not matter! Quickly!”

I oblige, drawing code into myself as fast as I can while Mercurymon does the same from the opposite side. The sheer amount of it staggers me instantly — even so heavily compressed like this, it's all but a neverending font, to the point that I could easily lose myself within it were I even slightly less terrified. Come on...!!!

“Yes...” Mercurymon begins to laugh, growing in volume as he does. “YESSSSS!!!!!”

Fractal code abruptly envelops him, just a moment before something finally seems to hit a tipping point, and a similar shell promptly engulfs me.

[ W A R P - D I G I V O L U T I O N ]

The world fades away, and my body begins to move on its own, drawn through instinctive, dance-like motions as the massive swell of data swirls through my being.

I cast my arms outward as my gems begin changing hue, my gauntlets slowly sinking into my skin. My headgear broadens like clay on a wheel, shifting upwards and gaining mass.

I toss my head, and shimmering water spills down from the back of it, draping itself around me like hair.

Colorful scales slide over my thighs as I tiptoe forward, moving with grace I don't normally possess. I jump, backflipping like a dolphin, and my feet thin mid-leap, becoming encased in narrow, shell-like sheathes.

Gravity seems to slow, and I hang in midair for a seemingly endless moment, twirling as a bright pink kimono wraps itself around me. My body shrinks slightly to better fit the garment's shape, even as the sleeves spill out in a wave of fabric, a false tail forming from the train and playfully flaring out behind me.

The moment ends, and I finally finish falling, landing atop a gentle wave that rises up to catch me. The foam deposits a bright white staff in my grip, crowned with a ribbon of colorful seaweed and a huge, glowing pearl.

With a grin that flashes my pointed teeth, I spin the staff in front of myself and pose.

“Ariemon!”

A tangible burst of power sweeps through the stone pavilion as my transformation comes to completion. The air sparkles around me as the code recedes, and I step down onto nothing, my pointed legs simply hovering over the ground.

“HAH!”

I turn to see ShadowSeraphimon now standing at my side. His form wavers briefly, fuzzing like a bad TV connection, but stabilizes as the last of the data sphere joins with him.

“Finally!” he proclaims, voice resonating triumphantly within his new helmet. “My right of conquest hath manifested! Power beyond measure is mine at last!”

I just smile as I watch him exult, my prior anxiety all but gone.

I'd say that I disapprove of him using Seraphimon's data... but given what we're doing here? I really don't~

Coming down from his initial power trip, ShadowSeraphimon glances over at me.

“It appears thou were equally successful.”

“Sure was!” I say brightly.

I hop upward and perch upon my staff, holding it behind me at an angle just shy of horizontal as I extend my free hand forward.

“I am Ariemon! Warrior of waves and guardian of compassion! Protector of the weak and healer of the sick! All the ocean is my domain, and evil has no place within it! I-”

“What, pray tell, are you doing?”

I wink at my befuddled partner. “I'm a magical girl now! Gotta act the part, right?”

“...I knoweth not what that means.”

“Oh don't you worry about it-”

“You...”

We turn as one to see Cherubimon floating upward into view, shards of ice still falling from his feet, his expression just short of apoplectic.

"Aww, you couldn't have waited another minute or two?" I pout. "I was still working on my speech."

“As was I.” ShadowSeraphimon haughtily intones. “Tis a daunting task to summarize the myriad ways in which we have outsmarted thee.”

Cherubimon's eyes, already locked in angry slits, literally glow red as his rage is stoked higher.

“To not merely betray me, but dare to steal my data... this-”

“Your data?” I interrupt, enjoying my influx of confidence as I lay back on my own watery hair. “Remind me who it was that collected all that code while you sat back in your castle cackling to yourself?”

Cherubimon's eyes bulge in fury.

"But you don't even know why you wanted it, do you?” I continue, one webbed finger pressed to my chin. “Lucemon’s so deep in your head you can barely reason...”

For a moment, Cherubimon looks almost taken aback, before simply growling again, crimson electricity crackling around his arms.

“I shall make your ends painful indeed.”

“By all means, I invite thee to try,” ShadowSeraphimon retorts, seven light-devouring spheres forming above his palm. “for we are beyond even you, now.”

I grin, shark-like teeth on full display.

“And in the name of this world, and every other...”

I point my staff at Cherubimon, and water surges from behind me, flowing over my weapon and transforming it into a colossal spear.

“We shall punish you~”

Cherubimon responds to that by roaring and abruptly splitting in two, both copies immediately raising their arms to the sky. ShadowSeraphimon and I leap away in different directions, just in time to dodge the descending spears of lightning that crack the pavilion in half an instant later.

“Entangling Algae!”

The seaweed ribbon tied to my staff writhes and extends, magnifying a hundredfold before lashing itself around the Cherubimon closest to me. He grunts breathlessly as the greenery winds around him, binding his limbs to his sides.

“Incoming!” I laugh, diving towards him with my watery spear aimed squarely at his chest.

Cherubimon thrashes against his bindings as I fall toward him, snarling all the while. With a tremendous effort, he manages to rip one arm free, blocking my thrust with a crimson javelin that instantly forms in his grip.

“FALL!”

“Sure thing~” I say as his strength forces me downward, letting the impact flip me 270 degrees before lunging and slashing him across the stomach instead.

Cherubimon howls in pain as I reach the end of my ribbon's tether. Swinging my staff down with water-bolstered strength, I whip him through the air towards ShadowSeraphimon's own engagement.

“Now!” I yell, releasing the bindings.

My Cherubimon crashes into the other, knocking both of them off balance long enough for my partner to get his own attack off.

“Seven Hells!”

A septet of shining dark energy spheres impact the Cherubimon I just released directly in his stomach, right atop the gaping wound I left. He screams as his body breaks apart, exploding into a burst of black fog.

-obscuring the bolts that promptly blast forth from behind it. The lightning impacts both of us before we can react, and we scream in tandem as we fall from the sky, limbs twitching wildly.

The real Cherubimon reappears above us, accelerating downward as his hands expand to the size of buildings and whip down like oncoming comets. My staff hurriedly yanks me out of the way, while ShadowSeraphimon flips himself over and catches the attack on his palms, letting the far larger one smash him down into the rock below. He's left standing in a personal crater, still on his feet, but unable to move, visibly struggling beneath the weight of Cherubimon's hand.

“Fool...” Cherubimon cackles.

His laughter is replaced by a muffled cry as I land on his neck and wrap my watery hair around his face from behind, the liquid already pulsing with cleansing magic.

“Come on, I know you half want this!” I grit out, attempting to scour out Lucemon's influence.

There's a brief moment where I think it's actually going to work, until Cherubimon bites down on my hair like a giant dog. Rolling his neck, he whips me around and releases me at speed, sending me crashing down to skid painfully across barren rock.

“What a pitiful notion- rgah!”

Cherubimon recoils, clutching at his hand, a darkly-glowing sword having sprouted straight up into his palm from ShadowSeraphimon's arm.

“Tis you that are pitiful!”

ShadowSeraphimon lunges, forcing Cherubimon back into the air, another glowing javelin forming in his grip. Taking the moment to recover, I turn towards the castle, smirking as I spot several small waterfalls leaking from a number of upper windows.

Looks like we still have a few reinforcements around. Credit to Mercurymon, I'd certainly not known one could reformat data like this~

Forming my watery hair into giant hands, I fly upwards and commence ripping the walls away, calling the small army of MarineKimeramon we made back out into open air.

“To battle!” I cry, gesturing with my staff as I send the streams of water supporting the aquatic beasts down towards the ongoing fight.

Cherubimon momentarily breaks from his duel with ShadowSeraphimon to glare up in my general direction. He cups his hands together, then whips them apart, a swarm of large black orbs emerging from between them and exploding up at us like cannonfire.

Being summoned constructs possessed of only basic intelligence, the MarineKimeramon largely fail to react fast enough to avoid the barrage, even as I attempt to maneuver them out of the way. My multitasking skills ultimately prove unfit for the task as I'm forced to stop and spin my staff to knock some of the projectiles away, several of the amalgams at my side exploding into data as I do so.

Two of them still manage to make it through. The first one lands on Cherubimon's hand and immediately takes a bite out of his finger, only to end up being dashed upon a rock by a casual backhand, exploding into particles upon impact.

The second one snarls as the water around it twists into a midair whirlpool, sending itself into a drill-like spin before spearing towards Cherubimon's leg harpoon-first. The resulting stab wound is shallow, and Cherubimon's retaliation sees its maker disincorporated moments later — but it manages to distract him long enough for ShadowSeraphimon to come plummeting down from above, delivering a devastating energy-charged axe kick directly to the crown of Cherubimon's head.

“See now how you pale in comparison to us?” ShadowSeraphimon gloats as Cherubimon reels. “Let us end this! Seven Hells!”

Seven more purple stars appear within his palms, soaring towards Cherubimon in a repeat of the attack that took out his clone — but this time, Cherubimon simply grins, mouth gaping wide before he straight up inhales them.

“What-?!”

Cherubimon breathes out, and four of the stars eject from his mouth at twice the speed they entered. ShadowSeraphimon moves, but not fast enough, his own attack ripping a cry of agony from his throat as it tears all four wings from his left side.

“To use that form against me was unwise.” Cherubimon croons. “Perhaps you forget that Seraphimon fell against me once before...”

Tendrils of green extend and lash around Cherubimon's neck, but he whirls around in an instant, nearly tearing my weapon from my hands as his claws tear through the ribbon. Yanked off balance, I'm no more able to dodge than my partner was as Cherubimon spits the remaining three stars at me, leaving me screaming as the projectiles smash through my legs, pearlescent shell shattering away to reveal nothing at all beneath.

“...and believing mere evolution would allow you to defy me was FOLLY!”

Cherubimon leaps upward off of nothing, dozens of crimson javelins forming all around him before raining down upon everything below. I find the werewithal to get my staff beneath my broken legs and use it like a witch's broom, zooming down towards my now listing, half-flightless partner and yanking him along like an over-large familiar.

“Hang on!”

I take to the skies and begin evasive maneuvers, javelins continuing to fall from on high to the sound of Cherubimon's echoing laughter.

“Think to act as though thou hast won?!” ShadowSeraphimon spits from behind me. “Profane Descent!”

Dark clouds gather on the ground below, and I catch a glimpse of pitch-black lightning as it begins erupting upwards from their midst. The crackling bolts tear through the air, intercepting and destroying many of the javelins- but not all of them, while Cherubimon's efforts only seem to come faster, more and more projectiles spearing towards us every moment. Not good-!

Another few seconds, and the javelins are replaced by lightning bolts themselves, inaccurate but enormous fractals that rip the air asunder. The atmosphere begins exploding all around us, shockwaves battering us from every direction as we struggle to stay afloat. My trailing sleeves are left scorched and smoking from multiple stray bolts, each shocking payload just barely mitigated by the gems sewn into the fabric.

“I can't dodge these forever!” I shout, straining my voice to be heard over the deafening assault. “I have an idea, but I need a moment to breathe!”

I think I hear something to the effect of “Fear not!” as ShadowSeraphimon raises a palm, data rapidly condensing in front of it. Before I can even think to wonder what he's doing, an entire sideways island suddenly appears behind us, lightning still audibly impacting its other side as it begins to fall from the sky.

“That will hold for but a few moments!” he yells back. “I dearly hope that thy plan is a good one!”

“Something like that!”

I hope, at least...!

Briefly obscured by ShadowSeraphimon's enormous improvised shield, I dive, dragging us both down into the crack in the planet beneath Cherubimon's castle. There, I stop, hovering over the void.

“What art thou-”

“Trust me!” I insist.

I raise my staff over my head, leaving ShadowSeraphimon to hover in place on broken wings. Water far beyond my sight begins to respond to my will, surging at the distant coast-

Data explodes overhead as Cherubimon finishes obliterating the piece of world we left in his way, its code inhaled into his open mouth. He grins maliciously as he spots us below, another series of lightning bolts forming at his fingertips before exploding outward-

*!-!-ZAAAPTCCCH-!-!*

-and striking only the enormous watery sphere that rises up around us, the adjoining ocean having surged all the way underneath the continent to reach me. The mass of electricity flows around my aqueous shield, dispersing into the rising tide beneath.

“Come out and face JUDGEMENT!!!”

The bolts just keep coming, only growing in size and scope, forcing my bubble to draw up more and more water to disperse them. Safe at its center for the moment, I wrap my hair around both ShadowSeraphimon and myself, pulsing healing energy through it to regrow our respective missing limbs in a matter of moments.

“I thank thee,” ShadowSeraphimon speaks, still barely audible over the ongoing, if muffled lightning storm, “but I doubt this shall hold forever!”

“I know!”

I hold out my staff again, massive quantities of water from below beginning to swirl and gather at its tip.

“Put as much of your power in this as you can!”

“I shall not expend my life to-!”

“I'll heal you, just do it!”

With no time to argue, ShadowSeraphimon grudgingly complies, his hand latching onto the weapon just below mine. His energy pulses through it, setting the pointed end of the watery spear alight. He slumps slightly, before my energizing magic perks him right back up — but as it drains from me, I realize I'm starting to flag as well.

We need to make this count.

“Ready?” I ask, not waiting for an answer. “One... two...!”

The lightning abruptly stops, and I drop our shield, revealing Cherubimon floating over the edge of the gorge. He's struggling against countless tendrils of water, which are reaching up and lashing around his legs, more rising up every moment to replace the ones he vaporizes.

One strong thrash rips half the tendrils apart, allowing the fallen angel to glance down and bear witness to us now holding an elemental spear the size of a building. The tip of it glows with a corona of dark violet energy, so bright that I can barely stand to look at it.

“Now!”

We raise and release our weapon as one.

“Tidal Testament!”