“Yagami.. Yagami... Yagami... why don’t they have 
English in these blasted phone books?” Carter 
snapped closed the book as Hikaru and Sean were 
searching through two other phone books.

“Because it’s Japan,” Penguinmon said from where
he was raiding Hikaru’s uncle’s refrigerator. He
sighed. “Don’t they have any Bud Light?”

“This is Japan, they have Sake,” Sean said from his
seat at the table. “Besides, don’t drink, you’ll be
too wasted to evolve.”

“Find Hikari’s number?” Hikaru asked Carter as she 
paged through the book in search of the number of 
the Ichijojis.

“Nada. Sean, any luck?”

Sean shook his head. “No such luck. I’m having 
enough trouble reading this phone book as it is.”
He scowled. “Learning how to speak Japanese
was hard enough; reading it is a whole new story.”

“Great. We get a alert and we’re stuck without a 
ride there!” Carter banged his hand on the table as 
the news report played out in the background, 
detailing the ice dome around Edmonton and the 
gradually freezing countryside.

“Well, at this point, all we can do now is go and 
search for them ourselves. Renamon is already out 
there looking for her. She’s got a communicator so 
we’ll know what’s up if she does find them.” 
Hikaru sighed. “Another vacation ruined. It does
seem to be my luck.”

“Beer?” Carter took the can Penguinmon offered 
as he popped the top.

“This is going to be a long day,” Carter intoned 
before taking a swig and immediately passing out.

“Fastest drunk in the cosmos,” Sean remarked as 
Carter snored on the floor.

“Like you’re any better,” Hikaru said playfully as
she took a sip of the Japanese beer and scowled.
“Damn, that’s bad stuff.”

<><><>

Renamon leapt from building to building as she 
searched for any of the Odiaba chosen. “How 
hard could it be, finding kids with digimon? BAH! 
It’s like trying to sift boulders through a strainer!”

Renamon leapt to the nearby ledge and prepared 
to leap to the next one when a low moan caught 
her sensitive ears. “Hmm?”

Taking a quick peek, she found her prey; two of 
the Odiaba chosen in a very compromising 
situation. Renamon checked the photo of the 
Odaiba chosen to assure that they were the real 
deal and shrugged.

She moved around to the door and rapped on it.
After a minute or so, Hikari answered the door,
a bit breathless and hurriedly dressed. “Yes?”

“Hi, are you Hikari of the Odaiba chosen?”
Renamon asked.

Hikari blinked at the blunt question. “Um... yes?”

Renamon punched the communicator on her wrist.
“Hikaru, I found them. Home in on my signal.”

“On our way.”

<><><>

Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003

written by Shaun Garin

Archive wrote the mainstream series. Toei made
the basis. I just write.

<><><>

File 17 : The Citadel

“I’m really sorry for the problem that my Renamon 
caused,” Hikaru said to Hikari as Yagami nodded.

“There was no real harm done,” Hikari said quietly.

Ken and Daisuke had been called in for assistance,
and they were currently going over the battle plan 
that Carter had made up. Everyone was speaking
in Japanese to make everything easier for the
Japanese Chosen. 

“.... we’ll be coming in this route,” Carter said,
tracing the map of Edmonton he had brought and
made some red marks on it. “This way, we’ll be
out of radar range if we fly high enough. Once
there, we need Imperial Dramon to blast a hole in 
the ice wall.”

“Once there, we’ll distract any guards they may
have,” Ken added, “we’ll try not to kill any of them.”

“Bring along a laptop,” Sean recommended. “But
if you wind up fighting in a dense fog that none of
the digimon can seem to leave, use your D3’s to 
open a portal to the digital world in the fog.”

“We can do that with fog?” Ken asked, surprised.

“It’s a digital field. Sort of a condensed piece of
digital world appearing in the real world.” Carter
shrugged. “I’ve been working on a theory on
how it occurs. It’s not natural, I can tell that
much.”

“Great, we go in blind.” Daisuke sighed as he 
looked over at Patamon half flirting, half talking 
with Renamon who was thoroughly enjoying the 
harmless flirtation. Tailmon looked irritated at the 
winged-hamster like digimon. V-mon and
Wormmon were staring at Renamon.

“When we get there, we’ll set up a portal to
Odaiba in case you need backup,” Takeru said
as he looked over the plan one more time, 
Daisuke returning his attention to the plan.

“Takeru and I will be on standby. Just contact
us if you need backup,” Hikari added.

Carter removed his communicator and handed
it to Hikari. “Push the blue button to contact
us, push the red one once to keep a line open.
We’ll call, don’t worry. But once inside, the
possibility of not being able to communicate is
at best, sketchy.”

“Blind AND deaf. Perfect.” Tailmon looked up
at the gathered humans who were at the table. 
“Anything else we should know?”

“Um..... we have to pick up Eric from New
York. From emails, he’s gotten together with the
New York digi-destined.” Carter said in thought.
“I’ll call him now.” Hikari handed him back the
communicator as he made the call.

“We’ll make roundabout trip.” Daisuke turned to 
V-mon and Wormmon on the couch with 
Renamon and said, “are you guys ready?”

The two digimon nodded as they hopped off the
couch and leapt out of the open window, shouting
in a strange unison : “V-mon/Wormmon evolve!”

The pair stopped in midair as they finished their 
evolution with a dual shout of, “XV-mon/Stingmon!”

“XV-mon!”

“Stingmon!”

“Jogress evolve!” The pair called out in unison as
they merged into a half dragon/insect digimon.
“Paildramon!” They then shot up into the air with
a shout of, “Paildramon ultimate evolve!” They
landed with a tremendous crunch, neatly flattening
a nearby car. “Imperial.....aaaaawwwww nuts, 
someone’s going to have a fit.”

As the dragon digimon removed his foot from the
wreck-formerly-known-as-a-Toyota, Daisuke ran 
out and groaned. “Damn, that’s gotta suck,” he  
said, eyeing the flat as a pancake car.

“I didn’t do it,” the XV-mon part of Imperial 
Dramon’s voice said lamely as he pulled the 
others onto his back.

“Next time, watch where you’re landing,” Ken
suggested in Japanese.

Hikari and Takeru watched the huge dragon
digimon rise up into the air from the balcony, turn 
and take off with a huge backwash. “You think 
they’ll be able to pull this off?” Hikari asked.

“I don’t know,” Takeru said. “Those three can
handle themselves, not to mention Ken and Daisuke.”

“But will the younger kids handle it? This is their
fight after all and they haven’t been chosen long.” 
Hikari blinked as Takeru patted her shoulder 
reassuringly.

“They’ll pull through. They’re chosen.”

“I wish that statement was more assuring than it
sounds,” Hikari said.

Patamon looked over at Tailmon and asked, “What
do you think?” He blinked as Tailmon ignored him as
she walked away. “Wonder what I did to make her
upset?”

<><><>

Mimi looked out from the backyard of Michael’s
large home. “Do you see them?” Mimi asked
the other digi-destined who were watching the
skies with assorted telescopic devices.

“Not yet... wait! I see a speck in the horizon!”
Steve called.

Michael aimed in Steve’s direction, frowned and
then said, “Clean your lenses.”

Steve chuckled in embarrassment as he wiped up
the glass.

Lopmon’s sensitive ears suddenly perked up. “I 
hear something high above!”

Descending rapidly was Imperial Dramon as he
landed with a huge whoosh of air in the backyard,
this time, careful not to crush anything in the yard
that was potentially breakable. The small group 
were lowered to the ground from his back as 
Eric waved. “Carter, Sean, Hikaru, Renamon, 
Penguinmon!”

“Daisuke, Ken!” Mimi joined the pair. “So you
two have been reduced to taxi service, huh?”

Ken blushed. “Well, you see...”

Daisuke stepped in to save his friend from further
potential embarrassment as he tried out his English.
“Um..... Daisuke and Ken..... bring chosen....”

Mimi smiled at Daisuke’s boundless enthusiasm,
despite the way he sounded while trying to speak
English. “That’s good. Try not to kill, okay?” she 
said, the seriousness in her voice belaying the light 
way she said the words.

“No worry.” Daisuke said, patting Ken’s backpack.
“We pack... um... um.....”

“Laptop,” Ken said, filling in for Daisuke.

“That word.” Daisuke said, clearly embarrsed from
his inability to speak coherant English.

“If you guys would mind, could you start moving
a bit faster? It’s getting cold out here,” Imperial
Dramon called out.

“You know what, it is getting cold.” Eric looked
worried. “That means the cold front has already
reached the states.”

“We’d better hurry,” Ken said. The eight were 
pulled onto Imperial Dramon’s back as he took 
off with a rush of wind.

<><><>

“Slow down Imperial Dramon,” Ken ordered
as the large digimon slowed to a hover over the
large dome. “You can see the dome from a
mile and a half up. How BIG is this thing?”

“Half to three quarters of Alberta, and growing,” 
Carter said as he scanned the area. “And boy is 
it growing fast.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Eric mused.

Daisuke glared. “You so...” he continued in
Japanese as he looked irritated at himself.

Suddenly, a blast exploded to the left as Imperial
Dramon went into a series of evasive maneuvers,
quickly outdistancing the attackers. “What was
that?” Hikaru called out.

Carter aimed the Tricorder at the specks that
were closing in. “Airdramon squad!” A warning
beep came two seconds late as Imperial Dramon
pulled into a steep dive that knocked them off
their feet. “And Devidramon!”

“Remind something...” Daisuke bit his lip from saying 
anything else. The last thing Ken needed to be 
reminded of was his stint as the Kaizer.

A goofy mental image of Daisuke speaking like
Shampoo from Ranma made Eric snicker in the heat
of battle.

“That’s not all,” Sean called as he scanned the
area. “More digimon, Flymon and Snimon! Closing
fast at 150 klicks!”

“Can you outrun them?” Renamon asked Imperial
Dramon in Japanese.

“Yeah, but we’d definitely run into a barrage of
firepower from either way,” Imperial Dramon 
replied testily in the same language, having not
learned English, as he dodged a barrage of Twin
Sickles and a salvo of stingers. “As we stand, we’d
have more chance fighting off Demon than getting
out of this situation unscathed. It’s not the levels
of the digimon that worry me, it’s the sheer
overwhelming number of them! Hold on!” 

Imperial Dramon went into a steep dive as he
raced for the top of the huge dome which was 
growing rapidly by the second. “Positron Laser!”

The bright beam sheared through the ice wall
as he dove through, the ice sealing itself after he
slid through the large hole he had created.

“Well that was fun,” Penguinmon remarked as the
group as they raced towards Edmonton. 

Sean looked down at the towns engulfed in ice.
“Airdre, Innisfail, Red Deer, Lacombe, Ponoka,
everything is covered in ice!”

“People are down there, probably frozen solid,”
Hikaru added.

“I’m reading numerous lifesigns but a lot of them
are dimmed. I can’t get a lock on how many are
down there.”

“Hundreds, thousands, considering the sheer size
of this dome,” Ken said morbidly. “Some may
be dead already.”

“Big city,” Daisuke called out.

“If you don’t count the half a million flying digimon
or so,” Lopmon pointed out. There was a literal
wall of digimon of all air types.

“How could have the digimon who orchestrated
this event get so many followers?” Eric asked.

“It isn’t how many he’s swayed to his side, it’s
how many he can create from ice!” Ken handed
Eric his binoculars.

Eric looked through and gasped. “You’re right!
All of them, probably those digimon squadrons up
in the skies were probably all crafted from ice!”

“It’s got to be Ice Devimon,” Sean added. “But
how did he get so much power? He’s only a
champion level digimon with limited abilities.”

“Not sure... but perhaps, he got an item from the
spirit world, or maybe, he’s draining someone 
with tremendous potential power,” Ken mused.

“Imperial Dramon, charge!” Daisuke shouted.

“Right!”

Imperial Dramon sped forth like a steel bullet. The
faux digimon began to rake the skies with freezing
energy as the ultimate level digimon stood his 
ground and charged right on through, taking out a 
huge group of ice clones. “Nice work, Imperial 
Dramon!” Ken said.

“I’m detecting several biosigns gathered around 
and inside Parliament Building. We should land 
there first.” Sean said.

“Daisuke, Ken distract,” Daisuke suggested.
“Let off, near.”

The dragon sped on as the ice copies began their
pursuit.

<><><>

“Bit Bomb! Bit Bomb! Bit Bomb!”

The constant salvo of explosives rocked against 
the icy gates. Slowly, they opened with a tortured 
groan as Piximon fluttered down onto Lee’s 
shoulder. “That’s one gate down,” he said.

Gina nodded as she walked up to the next gate,
Chibimon clutching to her shoulder. Her lips
were blue from the cold, despite her very thick
down jacket and scarf that was wrapped around
her neck. “There’s fifteen more gates,” she
grimaced as she kicked a rock ahead of her and
a series of icy spikes shot up. “And hundreds of
traps.”

“I feel like I’m in an RPG,” Lee remarked as the 
pair maneuvered throughout the pattern of traps, 
poking the road ahead of him that lead to the 
citadel before him.

“Which game?” Gina asked, trying to keep her
spirits up.

“A mix of Final Fantasy Six’s Narshe and the craziness of 
all the trap laden places combined in all games,”
Lee answered. Suddenly, a pair of ice created
digimon appeared before them from the frozen
road. Lee scowled. “And a freaking BOSS at
the door leading to the main gates.”

“We serve our master,” the ice clones of Frigimon
said in unison. “We will defeat you.”

“Yeah yeah. Lets get this over with.” While the
“boss” digimon were annoying to fight, they did
prove useful to their great and powerful master
by wearing down both of them. At the moment,
their attacks were dangerous, but they had so
little defense, Chibimon’s Pop Attack or a strike
from the flame sword Gina had found in a chest
a few gates down took them down.

With a crushing blow from a mallet from Piximon
and a slash from the flaming sword, the pair of
Frigimon were either shattered or melted. Gina
sighed as she lowered the flaming weapon, careful
not to burn herself with it. “You’d think that one
who was all powerful and trying to freeze the
whole continent wouldn’t have chests and bags 
all around the area filled with items we can use.”
She sighed. “You can’t imagine how many potions 
I was able to stick into my pockets.”

“I found another chest!” Piximon went over and
popped the top. “Heeyyyyy! This is nice!”

Lee walked over and pulled out a large halberd
that had flame runes engraved on it, the weapon
emitting heat. “Yep, I’m thinking that in a sick
and twisted way, the “final boss” as it were wants
us to use these weapons and items.”

“Found some more stuff!” Chibimon popped
open a few more chests and a couple of bags,
rattling off the items one by one. “Lets see.. Life
Bottle, Reverse Doll, Lovely Mitten, 14353 gold
pieces...” he blinked. “That’s handy. Wonder
if there’s a store around here?” He reached into
the next bag and withdrew a small ring.

Chibimon put it on and fired a small light sparkle.
It hit a nearby wall and melted a hole in it. 

“An instant door maker. From Tales of Destiny 2.”
Lee commented. We’re dealing with an otaku
digimon.”

“Where’d you figure that out from?” Gina asked
as Lee blushed.

“I... play a lot of video games in my spare time,”
he admitted.

Gina picked up the lovely mittens and put it on.
She felt a tingle wash over her. “No doubt about
it, someone is into games and giving us a sporting
chance at this.”

“Makes you wonder if we’re going up against
the Riddler,” Lee commented as he looted another
chest that made him grin. “An Ice Shield.” He
checked the backside of it. “Protects against Ice
Attacks.”

“Next level?” Gina asked.

“Next level,” the others chorused as they strode
through the gates to the next “room” as it were.

<><><>

“Looks like they went in here,” Sean said, scanning
the area, speaking in English. “And looks like there’s 
still some traps around the area that haven’t been set 
yet.”

“It’s like one big tunnel that leads to the citadel,”
Hikaru added as she rubbed her hands, trying to
keep her fingers warm.

Up above, Imperial Dramon was still dealing with
the hordes of icy clones as Carter cracked his
knuckles. “No time like the present, eh guys?” He
strode into the tunnel.

The pair followed him as they maneuvered through
the litters of shattered ice and opened chests.
“Wonder what’s with all the chests?” Renamon
mused.

“It’s like one big RPG without a walkthrough,”
Penguinmon added.

“Halt!” The pair stared at the copies of a Platinum
Sukamon guarding the entrance. “You will not
pass puny humans!”

“Oh joy,” Hikaru said. “I’m cold enough, I don’t
need shit all over me when this is done. Renamon,
hose em.”

“Fox Leaf Arrowhead!” The blast tore into the
animated ice as they exploded, scattering bags of
money, items and a very large sword. Carter
gaped.

“That was way too easy,” Carter remarked.

“Dibs on the sword,” Sean called, grinning as he
picked up the blade. It was easily the size of
Cloud’s from Final Fantasy Seven and was pure steel. He
blinked. “Funny, you’d think that it would be
heavy.”

Hikaru gathered up the gold while Carter stuck
the items in his backpack. “We might as well 
take this stuff along,” Carter said, eyeing a handful 
of red feathers. “This looks like a Phoenix Down.”

“We’re in a giant game,” Eric said as he picked
up a few potions and stuck them into his pocket.
He grinned. “This is so cool.”

“Well, at least we might have the equipment to
survive the long haul to the citadel,” Lopmon
pointed out.

The small group journeyed along the ice tunnel,
defeating ice clones and picking up items along
the way. By the time they had reached the mid
point, the group was decked out in mismatching
pieces of armor, various weapons and toting
enough money and items to make an Gamer
envious. “Are we there yet?” Renamon asked
plaintively as she backhanded a Goblinmon clone,
the Dragon Claws shearing through the ice golem
quickly.

“Almost.” Carter stepped through a previously
made hole and smirked. “Well hello people.”

Gina, Lee, Piximon and Chibimon were enjoying
a hot fire as a real Frigimon sat to the side,
a huge sack of wares. Like them, Gina and Lee
were suited up in surprisingly matching pieces of
armor, obviously purchased from the Frigimon
who was acting as a store keeper. A glowing
sparkle of light sat to the side, glittering in the
flames. “Hey, you came back!” Chibimon
remarked. He looked absurd in the beret that
seemed to give him some defense, and was
wearing a Freeze Charm around his neck.

“Yeah, we did,” Eric replied, jerking a thumb at
Frigimon. “Who’s he?”

“Frigimon’s the name,” The snow bear greeted.
“I honestly don’t know what happened. One
minute I was enjoying the sun and the next, I was
here, standing around and waiting for someone 
to buy my wares.” He shrugged. “It’s a living, I 
guess.”

“If he’s here, then do you think that fields are
still opening around the city?” Penguinmon asked,
gesturing to Frigimon who had taken out a bag
of chips and began devouring it out of sheer
boredom.

“Possibly.” Carter sat down next to the fire, the
floor dry asphalt. “If so, there’s no one out
there to stop real digimon.” He paused. “Well,
except for Daisuke and Ken.”

“They’re here?” Lee asked, surprised. “Daisuke,
Ken and Imperial Dramon Paladin Form?”

“Yep,” Eric said. Although Imperial Dramon,
Daisuke and Ken are dealing with the ice clones
of multiple digimon. And the most they can get
is Imperial Dramon Fighter Form.”

Hikaru walked over to Frigimon and asked, “Do
you have any healing items?”

“Strangely enough, yep.” The Frigimon dug into
his bag and withdrew several bags of what 
seemed to be different colored gummis, each
about a inch and a half wide. “I don’t know
where I got it though.”

“I recognize these,” Renamon said, taking one
of the bags, careful not to rip the bag with the
claws on one hand. “They’re Gels, from Tales
of Destiny. The red ones are Apple Gels, the
orange ones are Orange Gels, and the bright
yellow ones are Pine Gels. Apple and Pine
Gels can restore HP up to thirty and sixty
percent, and the Orange Gels can restore
energy for techniques and magic... though I
doubt it would help.”

“I’ll take a bag of each,” Hikaru said. “No sense
leaving without an advantage.”

As Hikaru paid for them, Renamon walked over
to Piximon and handed him three Orange Gels.
“Try eating them.”

Piximon ate them and smiled. “Takes like orange.
Wow!” His body glowed for a moment. “I feel
my energy for attacks returning!”

As Hikaru and Renamon passed around the Gels,
Carter pulled out his Digi-Locator and checked
the grid. “We’re about seventy five feet to the
building. I wouldn’t doubt that Ice Devimon has
the whole building wired with traps or animated
ice golems.” Carter checked his scans as he linked
up the Tricorder to the Digi-locator. “There are
also four gates left, each one with a ice replica of
a ultimate level digimon at the front.”

“They’ve been dropping like flies between the
pair of us,” Piximon said as Gina held up her
flaming sword.

“So far, it hasn’t been a challenge. I wonder why
he keeps throwing these ice statues at us?” Gina
wondered.

“Probably to keep people out,” Ken said in
English as he and Daisuke walked into the room, 
holding Chicomon and Leafmon. The pair of
digimon were tired out from blasting so many ice
clones and then working their way through the
levels. “Either that or to wear down the ones who 
may be trying to attack the citadel.” Ken sighed. 
“We tried blasting the Citadel but it’s indestructible 
for ice. But we dealt with the ice clones.”

As Hikaru gave them all about a half handful of
Pine Gels and Orange Gels for their digimon and
themselves, Sean frowned and asked, “Hey, 
where’s Raine?”

“Inside the building,” Lee replied.

Eric nearly choked on his Apple Gel. “WHAT?!”
he shouted. “Why didn’t you TELL ME?!” He
demanded, grabbing Lee by the lapels.

“Eric, calm down!” Lopmon said, tugging on his
pants, trying to dislodge the furious boy.

Eric let go as Lee wheezed for a moment, taking
a Apple Gel from Piximon. “She went there to
check out the source of the disturbance. We
never expected the place to freeze over.”

Eric snarled before he turned away and started to
stomp out of the room. “I’m going. If you guys
want to save her, lets go.”

“Wait up, Eric!” Lopmon called as he raced
after the goggled boy.

“Eric, upset?” Daisuke asked as he gave 
Frigimon some coins in exchange for a giant 
claymore. “Why is light?”

“Not a clue,” Ken replied, deeming to answer 
Daisuke’s second question as their partnered 
digimon evolved from the restoration of their 
strength.

<><><>

“Eric, slow down! You’re going to leave them
behind!” Lopmon raced after his partner. As Eric
crossed into another room, the wall sealed closed
and the dog digimon bounced off the wall with an
audible thump. “Eric! Eric!” Lopmon called out,
trying to find a way through the wall.

Behind the wall, Eric pounded the ice fruitlessly.
“Damnit,” he snarled. “I should have stayed home
instead of going on vacation. Because of me, Raine
is in trouble.”

“That depends on your definition of trouble.” Eric
spun to see a formless white light. It seemed to
raise an eyebrow as it continued in a female voice.
“Do you expect to save her on your own, without
your friends?”

“What can I do?” Eric asked angrily. “She’s my
best friend. I can’t let her die in the clutches of a
mad digimon.”

“I see.... and how far will you go to save her?”
The voice continued.

“I’d go to the ends of the earth and gladly leap
off the edge,” Eric replied stubbornly.

The light seemed to smile at that. “Well, there’s 
no doubt in your voice.” Her tone turned serious. 
“You do realize you cannot do this without your 
friends.”

“I.... guess so,” Eric said, deflating. “They’re
my friends. Even Daisuke and Ken, even though
I just met them. They’re like family.... even
closer than that.” He smirked. “Although it’s
fun to tease Daisuke since he can barely speak 
or understand any English.”

The light seemed to nod. “I see.... then, I deem 
you worthy.” The ground shook and the frozen 
asphalt buckled to reveal a weapon that stood 
in a iron anvil. “Don’t look so surprised,” she 
said as Eric gaped. “This is the Sword of Spirit, 
a sword imbued with the holy light.”

“I can’t accept this,” Eric said, shaking his head. 
“I wouldn’t feel right just getting a Dues Ex from 
someone I don’t know. And seriously, I don’t 
know how to use a sword.”

The voice was tinged with humor. “Oh, Eric. Don’t
you see? The Sword of Spirit is a manifestation of
your spirit. Your will alone powers it. But for the
powers of the sword to come into full, you must
trust and believe in your friends, family, and the
goodness of the people around you. Now, take
the sword.”

Eric reached out in trepidation and grasped the 
polished wood handle. It flared and his D3 rose
and melted into it, the device becoming a 
functional item on the hilt. Pulling it free, he gazed 
at the weapon. It was a medium sized sword, oval
like in it's shape as it widened about mid blade and
tapered to a vicious point, the blade about three
feet. A polished wooden handle casing over some 
type of steel hilt revealed his D-3's screen and 
buttons imbedded within the hilt, barely visible.
The hilt was roughly seven or eight inches, making
up most of the length. Along both sides was a
strangely familiar script that Eric swore he saw
somewhere.

“Blazing Ice!” The wall exploded in as the small
party walked in, Lopmon looking cross. “Eric!”
he called out.

Eric turned with the sword in hand. The weapon
seemed to melt into his hand, transforming into
the D3. “Yeah?”

The others shook off their initial shock as Ken
cleared his throat. “Let's keep moving.”

<><><>

Lee shook his head as Eric slashed away with
his new toy, humming a cheerful song, Lopmon
spinning around in his Petite Twister. Even with
the intense martial arts training Lee had received,
it was hard using the weapon in his hand. 

Gina was supporting herself, showing some 
European styles in the way she handled the sword, 
Chibimon watching her back. 

Daisuke and Ken were relying on their digimon 
more than the weapons in their hands, although 
the ice golems were numerous.

Sean was relying heavily on his own gigantic 
sword, having no digimon of his own. Renamon 
was darting in and out, slashing and releasing her 
Fox Leaf Arrowheads at groups of golems. 

Carter was covering Hikaru’s back, having found 
what Lee thought was the biggest gun on this side 
of the planet in a chest in the previous room. 

Hikaru, while agile, was the best with a staff. Her 
inexperience with a bladed weapon clearly showed 
as she greatly over extended on the slashes and 
thrusts.

Piximon strafed the room, dropping large megaton
anvils with his Fairytale attack while the evolved
form of Penguinmon, Saberdramon, was releasing
its attack on scores of the golems.

Lee watched Eric. He was using a flurry of slashes,
thrusts. The sword seemed to be an extention of
his arm as he moved it around like one would
swing his wrist. Something was up with that sword
of Eric’s.

Soon enough, the room was cleared as the door to
the stairs opened and a elevator opened up. “Two 
ways,” Lee commented, panting while leaning on 
the large blade.

“The Devil or the Deep Blue Sea,” Sean quipped
in English.

“What?” Daisuke asked, confused.

Ken gave him the rough translation as Daisuke
sighed. “Me hate language.”

“Let's see... there are eight of us so we’ll split up.
Daisuke, Ken, Hikaru and Eric, take the elevator.
The rest of you, I hope you’re prepared for some
stair climbing.” Carter said.

“I go Ken?” Daisuke asked.

“Yep,” Ken said, pulling Daisuke along with him.

“Great, and me without my sweatbands,” 
Saberdramon quipped as he reverted back to
travel size as he followed Sean, Lee, Gina, his
partner and their digimon up the stairs.

<><><>

“That was the last boss,” Eric said, standing over
the powder that was once known as Piemon.

“That sword of yours... where did you get it?”
Ken asked as Eric jammed it into the door and
started to cut through it like a hot knife through
butter.

“Some glowing light,” he answered off handed
as he sheared a huge hole in the door. A blast 
of cold air greeted them as the door gave way 
to the top of the citadel. There, hanging on a 
cross fashioned of ice was Raine, her digimon, 
Labramon still frozen in the block next to her. 
“Raine!” Eric shouted, running for her.

“Well well, it seems my little game hasn’t exactly
worn your out just yet. Too bad.” Jullie walked
out from behind the cross, smirking at them as
Eric skidded to a halt.

“Girl?” Daisuke gasped.

“Jullie?” Eric whispered in shock, dropping his
sword, the weapon changing into his D3.

“I am no girl, fool,” Jullie replied. “I am the 
frozen wind of the north, the winds of destruction. 
I am your executioner.”

“We’ll just see about that!” Ken shouted as their 
digimon jogress evolved to Paildramon.

“Heh.. you have no idea. The fun is about to start
kiddies.” With a gesture, a thunderous detonation
rocked the citadel. “There. I just slowed your
reinforcements.”

Hikaru clenched her teeth. “You’re one sick
digimon.” 

“I am more than that.” Jullie’s eyes glinted with a
tinge of madness. “I am death incarnate.” She
started to shake with laughter, stumbling around
holding her head as the laughter intensified.

“My god,” Renamon whispered as the 
transformation took place.

“Shit,” Daisuke gasped.

Ice Devimon stood up, feeling the same ice cold
pallor of his skin. “My my, how the tables have
turned. I’m sure that dear little Eric can’t fight
me now.” His grin turned evil. “Could he?”

Hikaru checked the Tricorder and her eyed
bugged out. “Oh no....”

“What?” Ken asked, barely taking his eyes off
Ice Devimon.

“He’s a champion.... with the power of an
ultimate....” Hikaru reported.

“Right.” Ken said.

“Evolve, Paildramon!” Daisuke ordered in
Japanese.

“Paildramon ultimate-evolve!” He shot up into
the air and came down as the massive dragon
with the metal mask and cannon on his back.
“Imperial Dramon! Lets get it on,” the dragon
digimon growled as he stared down Ice
Devimon who smirked, formed his arm into a
blade and leapt at him.

<><><>

Authors notes : To Be Continued... I know
you hate it when people do that.

Some of you are probably wondering how Ice 
Devimon got so much power. Things will be 
explained in the next chapter.