Present: The Defragmented Mountains
"Uuuuhhhnnnn...."
HeraldAngemon groaned. His body was turning cold and he could feel
whatever residual energy Tsuriai left behind when she was torn out of him
drifting away. He lay there on a pile of jagged rocks, his white suit
bloodied and ripped. Even his mask and armor had lost their gleam.
"Suri..." his voiced cracked, weak and scratchy. Pain shot
through him like lighting bolts, and he shivered in the chilly night air.
But, just when he thought he was going to be deleted and may never see Tsuriai
again, he felt something touch him. "Huh?"
The angel digimon flashed his eyes open, almost frightened. But what he saw made his heart skip a beat. A familiar lion creature hung over him. "Oh!" he gasped. "Leomon!"
The ghostly apparition smiled down at him, not saying a word. And then other translucent figures came into HeraldAngemon's view, some of whom he recognized. "Chulak! Centaurumon!" There was another digital monster there as well, but he had never met this one before. But, standing amid this group of specters that kneeled over him as he lay on the cold, sharp rocks was the face of a young man he missed so dearly. Veric swallowed hard, his eyes wide and disbelieving. "Ryoichi..." It was his creator and friend. It was Tsuriai's brother...or at least some representation of him. The boy, like the four digimon with him, wasn't solid. HeraldAngemon could actually see right through every single one of them. And they floated above the ground like clouds, not standing on it like mortals.
Suddenly,
Leomon and the others backed away, gesturing for the angel digimon to get up and
giving him room to do so. HeraldAngemon grit his teeth, trying his best to
ignore the sharp, burning pain coursing through him as he tried to move.
The ghosts all watched, observing how weak he was. Ryoichi nodded toward
the alligator creature who had betrayed Negabyte and the Pirates for the sake of
the Digital World. Chulak nodded as well, and then stepped up to the
injured angel digimon. Slowly, Chulak's ghostly form dissipated, his green
data floating through the dark sky like tiny fireflies. The glowing bits
of data inserted itself straight into HeraldAngemon's body, and, as it did so,
the angel's form began to glow once again. He was healing!
Veric closed his eyes, allowing the warm feeling of his energy recharging overtake him. Chulak, whom Ryoichi had made into a ghost, was now giving up his data to assist him!
Finally, the pain dulled somewhat, becoming more tolerable. HeraldAngemon pulled himself up. His muscles were incredibly sore and blood still trickled from the corner of his mouth and a terrible gash in his thigh. But he was feeling a million times better than he had just seconds ago. He looked down at himself, amazed, and then looked back up at Leomon and Centaurumon and Ryoichi. "I...I can't believe this!" he smiled.
The
ghost of Tsuriai's brother then nodded toward two of the other digimon.
The half-horse, half-man and lion-like digital monsters stepped up to the angel
digimon, smiling and laying comforting hands on Veric's
shoulder. "Centaurumon..." HeraldAngemon's voice trailed
off. "Leomon..." These Champion-level digimon had been
good friends to him and to Tsuriai. They had even given their lives to
protect her and to delete the younger Negabyte. The mythical beast digimon
just gave a single nod of understanding. Neither he nor Leomon could
speak, but words didn't need to be shared. All three of them knew exactly
how the others felt. And then, just as Chulak had, both of them broke apart
into tiny specks of data; Leomon yellow and Centaurumon blue.
Their data loaded directly into HeraldAngemon's body. The angel digimon looked down at himself in wonderment, watching as the rips in his suit magically mended themselves. Even his cuts were healing! And finally, when the last bit of their deleted yet unreconfigured data saturated his very being, his wings began to glow once again. The pain was gone!
HeraldAngemon turned quickly to face the ghost of Tsuriai's brother. "Ryoichi," he sighed, his tone grateful and astonished. "I...I..." But he couldn't find the words to say everything that was swimming through his mind at that very moment.
The human boy just smiled and gave a single nod. He understood. And then the boy raised his hand, gesturing for the angel to pay attention to him.
"Yes." HeraldAngemon understood. The ghost had something important to tell him.
Ryoichi
gestured toward the Talisman of Light, indicating the object and then pointing
at himself and the remaining digimon. Over and over he did this.
Veric nodded slowly. That other digital monster must be Ryo's digimon! he figured. He looked directly to Tsuriai's brother. "You two are going to load your data into the Talisman," HeraldAngemon guessed.
The boy and his digimon nodded.
"So I can save my energy to attack OmniNegabyte once more."
Again, he was correct. But the ghost had more to tell him. He used both arms to point at the magical objects on the ground. Then he brought one of his arms back in front of him, sticking one finger up in the air.
HeraldAngemon furrowed his brow. "Use the Talisman and the Scepter?" he asked, his head cocked to one side.
Ryoichi smiled. But then he shot his one finger back up in the air, using his other hand to touch the angel digimon on his muscular arm while he did so.
"Muscle..." Veric thought hard about what the silent boy was trying to say. "One...muscle...one..." he ran it over and over in his head. And then it hit him. "I got it!" he cheered. "I have enough strength for just one shot."
Finally, the ghostly boy stepped back, still smiling. He was proud of who and what Veric had become, and HeraldAngemon could sense that. Then, Ryoichi waved good-bye to the angel digimon. In the next instant, both he and the reindeer digimon that was with him crumbled into a cloud of colored data, fluttering through the air toward the Talisman of Light like glowing embers from a fire.
Veric nodded his head in determination. "Right!" He knew he had been given one last chance to set things right, and he wasn't about to waste it. "I've got a virus to wipe out!"
The re-energized Mega-level digimon bent down and picked up both the scepter and the talisman. He could feel the power of so many loved ones filling his entire being. Chulak, Centaurumon, Leomon...they were all with him. Even the little bit of residual energy Tsuriai left behind when OmniNegabyte forced her out of him was still there. HeraldAngemon looked up to the sky above him. The calming colors of dawn were beginning to peek from over the sides of the defragmented mountains. The Horn of Harmony glimmered with the new light. Morning was coming.
His mission set, the angel digimon lifted himself up from the ground, his body floating straight upward while he held his two weapons, one in each hand. Once he was in the air, he paused a moment to observe the brutal fighting before him. Seraphimon, Shakkoumon, Magnadramon, and Omnimon were all throwing themselves at the weakening OmniNegabyte, but the monster was still more powerful than they were. HeraldAngemon could see that all of his fellow digimon were tired and beaten. But they weren't giving up. However, it was time to end all that now.
Veric tossed the Talisman of Light into the air, allowing it to hover in front of him. Then he took the Scepter of Hope with both hands, raising them above his head as he charged it. The angel's wings glowed a blinding white, gold lining his feathers. And a lavender light surrounded his body.
"What?!"
OmniNegabyte spotted the bright light behind him with the corner of his
eye. Gripping Seraphimon by the throat, the evil monster turned around
with a start. "What's this?!?!" For a moment, the light
was so bright that he couldn't see anything. But then, he swore he saw the
silhouette of a six-winged angel. He even caught glimpses of the shiny
purple ribbon wrapped around it. OmniNegabyte finally recognized who it
was. Angrily, he threw Seraphimon down and snarled at the other angel
hanging in the sky like a bright star. "HeraldAngemon..."
Actually, he was still HeraldAngemon Advanced. But Veric didn't care. There was only one thing on his mind. "It's over, Negabyte!" his low voice resounded with confidence and determination. "Your trail of chaos ends here and now!"
"HA!" OmniNegabyte spat. "I'll crush you until you're so compressed and corrupted that your data won't even have a chance of being reconfigured!"
The angel digimon looked down upon his enemy, his face grim and serious. "Even if I fail here today," he shouted. "There's no escape for you. No matter where you go, you will be hunted. And one day, you WILL be punished for your crimes." Finally charged, HeraldAngemon swung the Scepter of Hope down, aiming it directly at the Talisman of Light. "GOOD WILL EVENTUALLY PERSEVERE!"
Suddenly, OmniNegabyte saw an image replace the angel digimon's face. It was just a flash, perhaps his mind playing tricks on him. But he swore he saw it. It was a face...a human one. Those last few words had been said to him once before, by the son of the Takaishi family from the future. "Ryoichi..." OmniNegabyte froze, his muscles paralyzed with a sudden fear that struck him. It was as if he had seen a ghost. Distracted, the black monster momentarily forgot about HeraldAngemon above him.
The angel digimon yelled as loud as he could, his ominous voice echoing throughout the mountain range while he summoned his final attack.
HARMONIOUS HEALING!
