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The Four Seasons

Chapter: 66

Fourth Arc: Symphony of Thirteen

Coliseum Finish! Part: 2

Within the depths of the digital world, a plume of smoke rose into the air, signing the site of the crater-marked landscape where two contestants fought. On one side was a massive, dark creature, reminiscent of other creatures, but only vaguely, as though it had long since transitioned away from their forms. Misshapen with four, spindly arms, a glowing aura sitting astride its top, and a pair of massive cannons affixed to its back. On the other side was a smaller, roughly humanoid, but warrior dragon-like creature encased in armor, and behind him stood a teenage boy with desert-stained clothes, a red bandana wrapped loosely around his neck, and a metal gauntlet attached to his forearm. His crystal blue eyes focused on the larger creature towering over him and the warrior dragon, a razors edge focus taking in everything around him, looking for a way to win this battle.

In spite of his age, the boy had seen much battle, particularly against this creature. One could say that their battle was timeless.

"Do not fight me, Ryo," the much larger entity spoke, its voice carrying with it the sound of distant thunder. "Not this time, anyway."

"Not fight you?" the boy scoffed. "What do you take me for, Milleniummon? An idiot"

"No…I take you for being brainwashed. The world you are in now is not the world you knew. Nor is it the one you belong in. You have been…altered. I can return you to the way you were and revive your memories…"

Ryo gritted his teeth, not believing his opponent for an instant. Their battle had been long and personal, stretching across time and space. No matter how many times he thought this one was defeated, he always came back, more powerful than ever, and always…always fixated on him. From their first encounter, he always looked to have a psychological edge over the boy. Why should this time be any different? Especially this time, where he had been stalking him for weeks on end as some bizarre entity of static. Ryo chastised himself for not thinking about who it could have been rather than what.

"Milleniummon…I'll tell you where you can stuff your offer…"

Milleniummon's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I see. Then I will have to reveal my full hand. I will no longer hold back. Your fate, and the fate of all the others, is too important for me to play nice with…"

Lightning crackled around the demon-god's eyes and quickly expanded outwards in one vast wave that enveloped the entire area.

"H-How?" stammered Demon Dayz next to the smoking crater from where he had just been scant seconds ago, one arm visibly trembling as he took in the massive form of Milleniummon. His voice soon found greater strength, and he leaned forward to add emphasis to his words. "How?! You're not supposed to be here! Your data…it was fractured by the Lord of Fantasy's D-Leter program! You're supposed to be integrated into this website! You're…"

"…Not under your control," sneered Milleniummon. "Did you think one such as you could contain me? You were too confident."

"That explains nothing!" Demon Dayz shouted. "You were integrated…!"

"Pieces of me, yes, but not all. I'm not at my full power. Pieces of me are still missing, and I intend to find them. When I do…" a malicious grin crossed Milleniummon's face and he took an earth-shattering step forwards. Demon Dayz shifted, trying to maintain his balance while putting up a brave front against the massive dark digital god. However, it was not easily accomplished. Everything—everything—had been greatly upset. This was not supposed to happen. The muse had been accounted for, but Milleniummon?! He was supposed to be a part of not only the sites security system, but also what gave it its vitality and reality. True, there had been odd…incidents that had been responsible for much of the recent problems with characters but to think that it would all amount to this…a confrontation with the most powerful of the assembled characters…

Demon Dayz was interrupted from his thoughts as Milleniummon fired another series of blasts at him from his cannons, forcing the author to jump out of the way. Slashing his swords in midair he strained to counterattack, sending waves of white energy surging towards his opponent. He doubted it would do any good, even with the editing code imbedded into it.

On any other character it would work, but this guy…if we couldn't contain him even in his fractured state, a rewrite isn't going to so much as stop hi…

Demon Dayz was again cut off abruptly from his thoughts as Milleniummon caught his energy slashes in one hand and quickly crushed them into his palm, grinding them and letting small sparkling bits of data to rise into the air. Snorting derisively, Milleniummon stretched out one arm and casually flicked Demon Dayz out of the air and into the stadium seats. The seats exploded as the author impacted into them with tremendous force, eliciting a cry of pain from him. Milleniummon snorted again.

"Ryo…see to the characters. I'll deal with the author."

"You got it," nodded Ryo. With that, both Tamer and digimon, for what was perhaps the first time in their entire existence, united in a common cause, leapt into action. Milleniummon dashed forward, firing round after round of his Dimension Destroyer attack as Demon Dayz crawled out from the wreckage of the stadium. Howling with rage the author-possessed Deva leapt into the air, raining an onslaught of energy waves upon the digital god, but not a single one of them did any good. Milleniummon's golden aura flashed, and a protective sphere materialized around him, easily deflecting the attacks and sending them off to the side where they carved trenches into the turf.

"This is going well," mused Terriermon from Henry's arms, a tired smirk on his face. Henry nodded in agreement as Ryo approached him.

"Hey! You guys okay?"

"Oh, sure. Nothing like getting your arms chopped off to start your day… How do you think I feel?!"

"If he can shout this loud, then I guess he's fine," grinned Ryo in relief. "What about you, Henry?"

Henry could only shake his head in bewilderment. This sudden turn of events was a welcome one, and he had to admit that he felt relieved that the situation looked to be getting better. Still, that didn't change the fact that mere moments ago they were on the very edge of defeat.

"Hey," urged Terriermon from his spot in Henry's arms. "Henry. Hellooo…Earth to Henry."

"Huh?" Henry started as he snapped back to reality. "What?"

"Ryo was askin' you how you were doing? You kinda zoned out there for a second…"

"Sorry," said Henry, forcing an embarrassed grin on his face. "Guess I'm a little bit startled. I'm okay, though Terriermon could use a boost."
"No problem," said Ryo, forking the half-Chinese Tamer a Recharge card from his deck. Henry gratefully accepted it and swiped it through his D-Arc, restoring his partner's power. Ryo then turned his attention to Ryan who, still carrying Terriermuse, was watching Milleniummon's battle with a dazed expression.

"Hey," Ryo urged, shaking the OC's shoulder lightly to get his attention. "You okay?"

"Uh…" Ryan blinked, his mind feeling strangely clouded. "…I think I got separated from my waist for a few seconds back there, but…" Ryan glanced down at himself before finally shrugging. "…It doesn't seem to be a problem now. I'm a little worried about this muse guy though." His mind began to pick up its pace now. The fog lifting, Ryan gestured with his arms, indicating Terriermuse. The diminutive dog-bunny-muse lay limply in his arms, a blank look in his eyes.

"What happened to him?" asked Ryo, concerned. The rabbit-muse was not moving, or even looking as though he registered his surroundings. He might as well have been a rag for all intents and purposes.

"We were both hit by Demon Dayz's attack," replied Ryan worriedly. "It…um…it went right through us, but somehow we returned to normal, except…well…"

Ryo nodded. Unlike the other Canon Characters, his memories of the true reality had been completely and fully restored, and as such he better understood the nature of muses and characters.

This isn't good. If it weren't for this guy, I would have thought that Milleniummon had done something to fix them when we showed up. His very presence tends to distort and alter reality around him. If that were the case though, this little guy would be all right. At least he should be all right, but since he's not…

Ryo's thoughts broke off when a roar erupted from Milleniummon. He spun around, worry rapidly worming its way through him. Digimon of any kind or strength roaring wasn't anything new to him, but long experience had taught him to detect the variations within that needed interpretation. One of the two most common ones was the one that signaled their intent to attack anything that so much as moved and happened to be in their line of sight. The second one involved pain.

And a roar of pain coming from Milleniummon was definitely not something that could at all be considered a good thing.

Ryo was not alone in this assessment. Rika, Richoemon, and Tapirmon, coupled with Takato and Guilmon, whom they had met at the main entrance, vaulted over guardrails and into the stadium. The two Tamers eyes widened at the site in front of them as they took stock of the situation.

"I…don't believe it…" breathed Takato, rubbing one eye to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things.

This isn't good, thought Rika.

Demon Dayz struggled to his feet, growling a fearsome number of curses under his breath as he used one sword to maintain his already precarious balance.

"You haven't won," he spat at the Mega, data flying from his lips. Milleniummon's shadow fell over him as the digital god chuckled.

"Oh? It looks as though I have to me. You're standing there, broken, battered…out powered. Even at my weakest I am more than a match for you." Milleniummon's eyes glowed with a burning golden light that matched the cannons as they charged up another Dimension Destroyer attack. He did not look in the least bit concerned, a stark contrast to Demon Dayz's appearance, in spite of his words.

"You forget," Demon Dayz said carefully, "I…am…an author!"

Raising his sword towards the sky, white light tore free from the blade and rocketed upwards. Milleniummon watched it go, a look of interest on his face. As he watched, clouds began to circle around the central area where the beam of light went, and a black, crimson lined portal began to materialize. Electricity leapt around its edges. Milleniummon frowned, puzzled by this development.

What is he planning? He wondered. No sooner did the thought finish a searing sensation ripped through his mind. His eyes shot down at Demon Dayz in surprise.

"You didn't…!"

"Did," Demon Dayz replied succinctly, a triumphant smirk appearing on his face at the precise moment that a mountain of red cables and steel scythes emerged from the portal in the sky. The author turned his face up towards the blood-stained sky. "D-Reaper! Descend! It is time to bring this story to its conclusion!"

A scythe swung down from the mass of cables and tore through Milleniummon's defenses with frightening ease, imbedding itself into his body, sending data flying through the air. Milleniummon screamed as the D-Reaper programs all-consuming data spread its way through his body like wildfire.

Demon Dayz's laughter echoed upon the air, beating in time with Milleniummon's howls.

"This isn't good," said Richoemon aloud as the D-Reaper ripped its scythe free from Milleniummon and let loose a powerful roar. Next to him, Rika's hands were curled into tense fists.

"You can say that again," replied Rika, her eyes set in a hard line. "I remember that thing. There's no way that we can beat it. Not unless we can go Mega and Takato can go Crimson Mode."

"Huh? I can do what now?" asked Takato, but Rika waved him off.

"Worry about that thing now," she told him. Takato nodded.

"Yeah. For some reason…I get the feeling that I've seen it before."

"Me too, Takato," growled Guilmon, crouching low to the ground, his pupils turned to slits.

Rika scowled. "I'm willing to bet that this was the big bad from our series. This is going to be tough."

"If we beat it before, then we can do it again, right?" asked Takato, his eyes taking on a determined line to them. In the space of one heartbeat, his hands dropped to his D-Arc and cards. Lightning flashed as he slashed a blue card through his digivice's slot. Guilmon dashed forward as energy surged through his being, causing him to grow and transform. White hair sprung free from his scalp as his body lengthened and bulged to tremendous proportions. Metallic armor materialized around his chest and arms and jaw. Two, massive, axe-like blades ripped free from his armored arms, glinting dangerously. The bright glow that had enveloped him during his transformation died down, and steam rushed free from his nose as he snarled.

"Guilmon…Matrix digivolve tooo…WarGrowlmon!"

His transformation complete, twin engines leapt up from his back and fired. WarGrowlmon plowed forward across the stadium, crimson energy gathering around his blades. Demon Dayz, who had been gloating over the fallen form of Milleniummon, didn't see him coming until his shadow fell over him.

"Oh shi—!" was all the author-possessed Deva was able to get out before he leapt away from the massive, hazard-marked dragon. Concrete flew through the air as WarGrowlmon drove his arm blades into the spectator area. Spinning on a dime, the crimson war-machine's golden eyes tracked the black form of Demon Dayz as he vaulted through the air and landed deftly in the turf below. Demon Dayz's remaining blade flickered white as he drew upon the editing data stored within. WarGrowlmon eyed it warily. Although he didn't know how dangerous the weapon now was to him, he didn't need to be told to steer clear of it.

Red energy swirled around the cannons centered on his chest just above the hazard symbol emblazoned upon it. Turning, WarGrowlmon took aim.

"Atomic…BLASTER!!!"

Two crimson energy beams shot outwards, tearing towards their target with enough force to shatter a mountain. However, before they could even reach their target, a wall of red cables shot out from the sky and imbedded themselves in the ground, taking the attack. Demon Dayz grinned as the attack tapered off.

"Now...now for round two," he grinned, swishing his sword through the air. The cables parted away from the author and a loud roar resounded through the air. Scythes rained down into the stadium, affixing themselves like anchors into the turf. Above the stadium, the faceless mass of cables and scythes began to pour downwards. Below, Milleniummon pulled himself to his feet, the glowing aura on his back flickering.

"Damnation…" he growled, power building up in his main cannons. "Dimension Destroyer!" The digital god roared as he let loose round after round of energy blasts upon the relentless program. The D-Reaper howled as the attacks struck home, melting off whole chunks of its body with each shot. Scythe arms shot out and dug into Milleniummon's golden aura and sheered into his energy cannons. A surge of energy shot through the cable, causing one cannon to detonate. Toppling to the ground, Milleniummon caught himself with his arms and gritted his fangs. His energy aura was flickering in and out of visibility uncontrollably now.

Still…too weak. This battle is starting to test my strength to its limits. If something can't be done soon, I'm afraid our story will be over before too long…

The ground shook as part of the D-Reaper crushed down into reality. Its head swiveled around towards the digital god, and cables tipped with scythe blades rose into the air like snakes. With a flash they swung through the air, aiming towards Milleniummon's face.

Rika's violet eyes flashed as they swung one direction to the next. The tension hung thick in the air as the battle raged back and forth, becoming increasingly lopsided. Something had to be done, and she was getting sick of sitting on the sidelines.

This is supposed to be the day that Renamon digivolves to Taomon, right? It may not be much compared to Sakuyamon, but it should change things up a bit.

"Renamon!" Rika called out, quickly spying an unmoving form of golden fur. Fear leapt into her chest and she dashed forward without thinking, ignoring the battle that rampaged around her. Milleniummon's roar, the D-Reaper's triumphant howl…they were all gone to her as she raced across the battlefield towards her partner.

"You know…" began Ryan irritably, glaring at the Cable Reaper entity as it began to force itself down into the real world. "…This would be a whole lot easier if this story wasn't trying to psychologically damage us with that thing." A small shudder ran the length of his body as the creature's inhuman roar shook him to the core of his character. "It's bad enough that this we have to keep out from being underfoot in a kaiju fight."

"…At least that's all you have to do," complained a blue scaled reptile as he approached. Ryan's eyes widened in surprise.

"Veemon!"

The blue dragon sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It's V-… Oh, why am I even bothering? Glad to see that you finally remembered me."

"Ah…!" Ryan flushed and looked away, ashamed. "Sorry…"

V-Mon shrugged and massaged his bruised shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I saw you and the muse get skewered. What's going on? Is that the Cable Reaper from the D-Reaper thing?"

"You got it," said Ryo. "We're in a bit of a jam here because of that. If we can just get the muse to wake up…"

"I don't think that's going to happen, buds," said Daisuke's voice from thin air. "I've been trying to get in his head and there's nothing there. It's like he's…I don't know. Gone."

"Jeez…" mused Ryan, scratching his head. "I knew Terriermon wasn't playing with a full deck, but I didn't think his muse counterpart would take after him this much."

"Hey!" exclaimed Terriermon angrily.

"He's quiet, dude. I don't think that counts as 'taking after him.'"

"Point."

"I don't know what's wrong with him," said Ryo, exasperation evident in his voice. "But we can't stick around to find out. This place is getting to be too dangerous…"

"Yes. Yes it is."

"Shit."

All characters turned as a shadow fell over them. Towering over them was the form of Demon Dayz, battered, bruised, but a triumphant smirk grew on his face all the same.

"This is the end of the line for all of you," the author said, hefting his sword. "You fought well, but in the end this piece of work is mine. The story will be rewritten." White light emanated from the sword as it rose above his head. "Goodbye…"

Twin blasts of lightning struck the blade full on, sending it spinning out of Demon Dayz's hands and into the dirt behind him. Looking away from his burnt, smoldering hands, the author's gaze fell upon the sight of two angelic entities hovering in the air above the characters. One was female with wings of midnight black and narrowed eyes that promised reality to every threat they carried. The other was male with wings of white ivory and a soft, gentle face. Their hands were joined together, energy crackling around them.

"Wha…?" stammered Demon Dayz. "This can't be…"

Ryan's eyes widened in surprise. Those two angels…he recognized them! But how…?

"Sorry we're late," the two angels spoke in unison, their voices blending together harmoniously. "John sends his regrets that he cannot presently be here to assist in the battle. However he has sent us to fulfill this task in his stead."

Ryo Akiyama grinned and nodded.

"Erimon…Eromon…good to see you two again."

"Yeah," said Daisuke's voice. "Care to lay the smack down on this guy for us? We're kinda in the middle of something here."

In response, the two angels each raised a hand. Golden energy sparked at their fingertips as they took aim.

"Celestial Radiance!" they intoned together before a lance of pure golden lightning lanced out, blitzing a path towards Demon Dayz before striking home in the center of his chest, driving him backwards and into the dirt.

"Whoa…" Ryan breathed, relief flooding and surprise flooding him all at once. "This is…whoa… We might actually make it out of this in one piece after all."

"Oh ye of little faith," grinned Ryo. "You new OC's should know that main characters in a story always get saved at the last minute."

"Yeah, but wasn't that because the story demanded it?" asked Terriermon pointedly.

"You just had to go and ruin my point…"

"Be a nice rabbit," chuckled Henry, rapping his partner on the side of his head. He frowned a second later. "This doesn't really change much though."

"The battle's been turned a little bit," said Ryan, confused as to why Henry was being pessimistic.

"Has it?" asked Henry, looking around them. Ryan followed his gaze. Outside of the numerous craters that littered the landscape and the severe damage to the stadium, Ryan had to admit that he was rapidly finding himself in agreement with Henry's unspoken concerns. The fact was, there wasn't much of a reason to voice them. Guilmon, having reverted back to his Rookie form from WarGrowlmon, lay battered on the ground, having obviously lost his fight with Demon Dayz. Milleniummon, his gold and blue flame colored aura having now vanished, continued to struggle against the Cable Reaper as it slashed at him with its scythe arms. His remaining energy cannon hung limply off his back, attached only by a pair of wires. One arm blurred in and out of view. Takato was racing across the field towards his fallen partner, and further off, Rika was crouched down next to her unmoving partner, trying to rouse her into action.

Erimon and Eromon are both just Champion level OC digimon that my author created and gave over to John, thought Ryan. As powerful as they are…they're no match in a fight like this. Damn it! There's got to be something we can do!

"RYAAAN!!!"

"Huh?" Blinking, the brown haired OC looked up to see his partner Richoemon, with Tapirmon following in close pursuit, racing towards him. "Richoemon! How…? Never mind!"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said the orange-scaled reptile as he drew to a halt. "Things don't look good here. Are we going to fight?"

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice," grimaced Ryan, glancing over at Demon Dayz as he pulled himself back to his feet. Smoke curled up from off his armor, but otherwise he looked completely unscathed. Ryan ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, man…what I wouldn't give to have an air strike right now…"

And right on cue, a series of rockets shrieked through the air and impacted with Demon Dayz, causing him to stagger in surprise at the unexpected attack.

"It sure seems to be that time for interruptions," observed Terriermon as all eyes were directed towards the direction where the rockets had come from. Search lights lit the stadium as a small fleet of helicopters hovered in the air, all weapons armed and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"That would be Hypnos," said Henry, one hand raised to protect his eyes from the glaring light. Terriermon chuckled.

"They sure do like to make an entrance, don't they? Not that that helps them against the D-Reaper and 'Mr. A-godmon-am-I'…"

"Can't argue with you there." Henry's mind raced. This wasn't good. The situation was already badly out of control as it was. If the military opened fire…

"Do not worry yourself, young Henry," spoke up the two angels. "We can remedy this situation. It took us time to prepare, and John gave every last bit of his energy to ensure its success, but this will most definitely ensure that the danger you fear will not come to pass."

Clasping both of their hands together once more, Erimon and Eromon closed their eyes and began murmuring to themselves under their breath. Light surrounded them quickly and soon began to expand outwards until the entire stadium was engulfed in the light.

"Memory reinitializing…complete," they intoned, and almost as soon as it appeared, the light vanished. Demon Dayz gazed at the assembled crowd, humans, helicopters, and digimon alike. Growling under his breath, he waited. No one seemed to be moving. This was his chance. Looking over at his sword he prepared to launch himself towards it…

A red-cabled scythe arm stabbed out in front of him, slicing a long, thin trench into the ground. Demon Dayz gasped and jumped backwards reflexively. Following the scythe, he found himself staring up at the Cable Reaper as it towered over him. As he watched, its faceless head transformed, taking on an appearance that was all too familiar to him. Jeri-Reaper stared back, eyes wide and a wide, gaping wound of a mouth stretched out in a thin smile.

"Bad fics," it intoned without emotion in its voice, "should be deleted."

Uh oh…

A/N: I originally wanted to finish up this arc with this chapter, but as it kept getting larger and larger, I decided to break it up into two (hopefully two) smaller chapters. A brief word on Erimon and Eromon. For those unfamiliar with my work, they previously debuted in my fic 'Unbroken Hearts', and a reviewer who helped me with the design of Eromon asked if he could use them. I figured I'd translate that into this fic as well. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. 'Till next time.

-Crazyeight

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