Chapter 29: The Blob
As the light cast by Arbormon and his spirit faded away, you glanced at the tiny screen of your D-Tector and saw a symbol. The elements were some of the few Japanese symbols you knew by heart and this particular one would translate as 'tree'. Made sense.
"Hooray!" The sewer Digimon all cheered as they saw that the pipes were cleared of the annoying roots. "The human did it! The sewer is ours again!"
"Glad to help! Now don't go trying to kill any more trees, okay? Give peace a chance."
Suddenly there was a deep overpowering rumble that shook the metal of the room so hard that some of the rivets popped out of the steel. There was a collective gasp from the Numemon and Sukamon before they all ran screaming back to the main sewer. You could only stand and gape upwards in shock.
From the seams and holes over your head oozed a viscous greenish-black substance, bubbling and writhing like a disgusting living creature. Its tentacles searched back and forth blindly until it seemed to home in on you and it surged with new purpose. You backed away as the goop dropped to the floor and gathered together, radiating malevolence.
"Oh, beans." This was very bad. You could tell that without a doubt.
Another great flash of light and the souls of your five spirits burst into being around you, all of them tense for battle.
"So, our enemy reveals itself at last," Mercurymon growled. He lifted one of his shields and positioned himself defensively in front of you. "Prepare yourself, girl. We'll finish it here."
"Um... okay..." you said hesitantly. You held up your D-Tector and prepared to evolve.
"How laughable," wheezed the goo in a thick soggy voice. "That you believe you can stand against me is pure naiveté on your part. I'll destroy you without even materializing fully into this plane."
"Mercurymon, we have a problem," Dramon muttered. "I can't reach out to the others."
"I'm well aware," the Warrior of Steel replied. "I've had no luck either. What of the rest of you?"
They all responded in the negative and your stomach churned even harder as a laugh emanated from the grotesque shapeless form. "I'm going to deal with this child and you spirits without any inconvenient interruptions Resistance is futile."
"We need to retreat," Dramon declared. "He's too strong for us to handle right now. We won't be any sort of match for him."
"Retreat where, sugah? In case y'all hadn't noticed we're trapped in a room in a sewer beneath a factory!"
"Yeah, and that big lug is blockin' the exit with his behind, right?"
"And me no good at digging through steel, Dramon."
"And I've grown weary of traveling with humans. I say we finish it now and send the hairless monkeys back to their own world."
"Excuse you, Mercurymon!" It was hard to not be offended whenever he 'opened' his 'mouth'.
"Good, use that anger in the fight, girl."
"I swear, somehow, someday, I will punch you."
"Don't, Ally!" Dramon shouted at you. "You're going to get yourself killed! Then nothing will be able to save the world!"
"It's like the others said, Dramon: we don't have a choice. And I don't have to win on my own. Maybe I can get that thing to move away from the tunnel entrance just enough to get through. Then we could call for the others."
Your spirit sighed. "I guess this isn't the sort of fight we can easily run from."
"SPIRIT EVOLUTION - Dramon!"
You charged the hideous blob, which by now had swelled to fill a third of the space. "Hey, ugly!" you roared. "I think it's time for you to get lost! Spirit Flame!"
The golden flames were in a frenzy like you had never seen before as they struck the substance. They actually seemed malicious as they raced across the surface and dug into the areas that you guessed were weaker. The talking blob quivered and howled with agony under the onslaught. Then from the corner of your eye you saw a crescent of darkness appear behind it. The exit was uncovered.
You well remembered Dramon's warning so you ceased your assault on the enemy and sprinted straight for the tiny opening. The second you were out you were going to head directly to the main floor of the factory, find your friends, and then together you would obliterate this talking ball of spit!
It almost worked, up until the horror seized you by the throat and slammed you into the floor hard enough to leave a dent. It was so violent that for a brief period you couldn't collect your thoughts enough to even move. A deadly lapse as the beast shook off your flames like they were nothing and proceeded to rain blows down on you with great amusement.
~?????????~
It was only reluctantly that I stopped my impressive attack on the transformed human girl. After all, she deserved it for daring to stand against me. And to actively try to wound me, even just a fragment of myself that I had extruded into this world for the sole purpose of wiping her out of it - oh, it was infuriating! I punched her pathetic Digimon form once more to release some of my anger. The rest I would work off in due time.
But not quite yet. I wasn't ready to fully manifest into this world to begin the real destruction. It was only the alarming rate at which she was locating the spirits that had spurred me to end her. Each was a weapon unto itself, but more importantly each was a fragment of something greater.
Suddenly a disgusting wave of light caught my eye and drew me from my thoughts. It was the human masquerading as a Digimon - her energy had run out and she had reverted to her true, tiny, frail form. Pathetic. Even more annoying was what the light represented: it was the legacy of my eternal foe, the Creator Dragon. Its influence was running rampant all through this world. And it needed to be stamped out.
"Well, girl. The one benefit of you having gathered so many of the spirits is that it now makes my resurrection that much easier."
I deliberately manipulated my energy to bring forth the girl's spirits to take. They hovered above her prone body, shedding that abhorrent light and humming faintly. If I hadn't needed them so badly I would never have gone near them.
But just before I could claim them I was forced back with a hiss. Five souls, one for each of the spirits, had appeared before the girl. Protecting her from me.
"We're not letting you lay one finger on Ally!" Dramon declared, baring her teeth at me.
"If you try, me hammer-smash you good!"
"I concur with my fellows. Much as the child irks me beyond description this world needs her."
"Yo, Mercurymon, howzabout I rough 'im up some to get the message across?"
"Ooh! What fun! Count me in, sugah!"
"You are all fools!" I bellowed in frustration. Damn that wretched girl! Her influence had already made the spirits too strong for me to simply take. To touch them now could mean my own destruction...
"Hah! Sounds to me like someone is afraid of five disembodied spirits and an unconscious human," Mercurymon laughed.
His taunt stirred my true anger but a brilliant idea struck me before I could act rashly. "You spirits have not seen the last of me. I will return and take you all from those pitiful humans to fulfill your real purpose in this world. And to be sure that I succeed next time, I'll start by wiping this one out!!"
I used the last of the energy I had channeled into this plane of existence to aim a destructive blast at the largest pipe clinging to the far wall. It started to shatter and liquid sprayed out. Whether it was water or sewage didn't matter to me - with my strength used up I lost my physical footing. But the outcome was foregone - the pipe would shatter, the entire sewer system would flood, and the human would drown. And with her gone, the spirits would lose power and be ripe for the picking when I returned to rip this world apart at the seams.
The thought so tickled me that I couldn't help but laugh and laugh as I vanished and the sewer filled up with a roar.
~Takuya POV~
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW?!" I swear, all of these monsters were deliberately toying with my head! "It's a simple question: is there a spirit here or not?!"
"And I told you, human, I don't know what you're talking about!" Andromon's sixth response was the same as his first, though probably much more irritated. But I was way more irritated that he was!
"Come on! You've gotta know!"
Suddenly Giromon rushed forward and his chainsaw burst to life. "He said he doesn't know, human! Want me to cut you up?!"
"Settle down, Giromon. If not, I'll be forced to reload you again."
The maniacal Digimon sagged and his weapon spluttered to a stop. "You're no fun, Andromon."
"Are you sure you haven't seen anything strange in the factory?" Izumi asked as she pushed me to one side. "Like energy surges or machines acting strangely?"
"I told you, no. I monitor all the activity in the factory and everything has been within normal parameters."
She sighed and gave me a shrug. "Face it, Takuya. There's nothing going on in this factory."
"Argh! I can't believe we came all this way for nothing!"
"And we nearly got cut to ribbons too!" Junpei yelled.
"Speaking of which," Tomoki began hesitantly, "has anyone seen Ally-san lately?"