Eiji began to see the light. The big, bright light everyone says to avoid.
Helloogarmon, the Hellfire Demon Wolf, had taken the brunt of the Holy Knight Digimon’s blast, leaving half their body frozen solid.
Deep inside the DigiCore, Eiji—his consciousness, anyhow—quietly ceased breathing.
Eiji’s last memory would be of a cold so far below freezing it felt like everything was on fire. No amount of concentration could overcome the shock of the cold.
He felt as though his entire body—such as he conceived of it inside the DigiCore—was stiffening, and no amount of concentration could force his muscles to move.
He treaded water, desperate to stay conscious and focused inside the DigiCore as it threatened to grind to a halt.
It was all slipping away.
The DigiCore. Eiji’s consciousness.
His life.
Poor Helloogarmon.
The misshapen, misbegotten unformed Ultimate Digimon was now frozen in place, convulsing, unable to run wild and free.
Omegamon raised the Transcendent Sword with its left hand.
The Royal Knights were digivolved to destroy.
They were Mega Digimon, but also in a class all their own.
Their specs were immeasurable and unknown. No one had ever successfully communicated with one, and thus no one knew what their goals were—if they had any.
DELETE ALL
The moment the Transcendent Sword, on which those words were engraved, ran through Helloogarmon, they’d become so many scraps in the vortex.
Eiji’s consciousness would be consumed by digital noise. It was hopeless, now.
Eiji confronted certain death for the first time in his life, and there was nothing he could do about it.
It would visit upon him soon enough.
He had to let go of his obsession with winning.
Let go of his li—
CRACK.
Eiji felt the force of a blow, but not on his body.
Something had come between Helloogarmon and Omegamon.
“Loogamon!”
(I know that voice...)
Eiji swore he heard Pulsemon’s voice. The little static shock.
He focused his attention on the virtual monitor.
(Leon?!)
It was Kazuchimon.
They’d charged in from the side and tackled Omegamon, wrapping up the Digimon’s leg and letting momentum and gravity take over.
Eiji watched as both Digimon dropped into the gaping maw of the vortex.
The Digimon fell, intertwined, into the deep, dark pit of the vortex.
Omegamon glared at Eiji and Helloogarmon as it steadily, rhythmically thrust its elbow into Kazuchimon’s back.
Kazuchimon held fast, dragging the knight down into the unknown.
Kazuchimon had made its choice. They fell deeper, and deeper, and deeper still, until they were both out of sight.
“Eiji.”
A voice.
Leon’s voice, crackling and distant. So distant.
He was still in Kazuchimon’s DigiCore.
“Leon, let go! You’ll drop straight into the vortex!”
Eiji screamed.
“This is... Royal Knight... Stronger than Mega... Holy Knight... The last...” Leon’s voice was cutting out more frequently now.
But Eiji knew Omegamon was one of the system administrator’s gatekeepers tasked with guarding the Firewall. There was no way Eiji would be able to communicate with it.
He also knew that Omegamon would do its duty: Prevent any real world data from entering the Digital World.
Impartially.
Fairly.
Instantly.
This Holy Knight would bring Leon and Kazuchimon a swift death.
“Leon! LEO!”
“I’m sorry, Eiji. I can’t hear you anymore. I don’t even know if you can hear me. I tried to save you. I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know what else to—”
Silence.
One last, sharp elbow loosened Kazuchimon’s grip.
Omegamon, finally free, turned to flee the vortex.
“Shido Ittetsu!”
Kazuchimon’s electromagnetic barrier formed once more.
“You’re not getting away!”
Leon used the last of his mindlink power to seal Omegamon in with him.
It wouldn’t be quite so easy for the inscrutable Digimon to break this time.
“The inside of the barrier’s stronger than the outside. I’m not gonna let you lay a finger on my friend.”
Kazuchimon grabbed Omegamon from behind, wrapping its arms up in a full nelson hold.
Omegamon relinquished its focus on Helloogarmon and contorted its neck at odd angles, spinning its head around until it could look Kazuchimon in the eye.
Leon stared into the eyes of an angel of death.
Neither Leon nor Kazuchimon loosened their grip. Leon was a hacker, and this was righteous and just.
“You’re not going anywhere. I’m all yours, for as long as I’ve got left!”
Kazuchimon and Omegamon continued their descent into the vortex. They were nearly through.
That’s when it happened.
“They’re through!” Eiji yelped.
The virtual monitor was suddenly free of errors, and his commands were finally registering.
Eiji was back in touch with his partner Digimon.
Helloogarmon, finally free of the freezing blast from Omegamon’s Supreme Cannon, forced themself into recovery mode and downgraded to Rookie.
Back to the fuzzy little wolf who spent so many nights curled up on the loft in Eiji’s apartment.
“Loogamon! Hang in there, buddy!”
“Ngh... Eiji? What’s...happening?”
Loogamon was okay, Eiji was still conscious, and his tools were back online.
That meant the DigiCore was also likely intact.
Eiji enjoyed a brief moment of relief before calling out to Leon, who had just sacrificed himself to spare them both Omegamon’s wrath.
“Get out of there, Leon! I get it, I’ve lost! I’ll think about quitting code cracking! Just get out of there!”
He had no way of knowing if Leon would ever hear those words.
ALERT. ALERT. ALERT.
Alarms were going off in Kazuchimon’s DigiCore, with Leon’s consciousness locked inside.
The mindlink timer on the virtual monitor tool had long since hit zero.
He was well over the Limit Line now...
Kazuchimon, arms still locked around Omegamon, disappeared into the depths of the vortex.
A moment later, the hole in the Firewall closed without a sound.
Eiji tended to Loogamon’s injuries as they sat alone on the island of garbage data.
There was nothing more to do.
