Ken and Yolei battled with the controls to keep the ship in flight. There were three Gigadramon circling the ship. Every few seconds, one would let off a huge volley of missiles, causing the base to shift out of control.
“These impacts are going to break through the hull if we don’t do something quickly.” Ken growled while wrestling with the joystick. A stray missile thundered into the ship just below the front window, rocking the bridge uncontrollably. Matt struggled to keep himself upright.
“Can’t we carry out evasive manoeuvres?” he yelled to Yolei.
“We’re a floating lump of stone- evasive manoeuvres don’t work!” she shrieked back as another missile cracked the glass.
Matt ran his fingers through his hair. They had to be able to hold them off somehow. But with already low power reserves and fewer forces than they’d ever had before, they certainly wouldn’t be able to keep them at bay for long. And where there were digimon, the Sentients were waiting not far behind. Losing the Haven would be a major blow to any efforts to restore peace. But if they died then everything would be lost.
What should he do?
“Ken...” he shut his eyes. He didn’t want to give the order. “...Order an evacuation of the Haven. Get everyone to the transport ship in the hangar.”
“What about the Gigadramon?” Ken asked anxiously. His hands were quivering.
“Aidan and I will take care of them,” Matt boomed. “Just make sure everyone gets out.”
Ken and Yolei looked at each other. They could see the fear in each other’s eyes. Ken pressed a button on the desk in front of him. “Evacuate the ship.” His voice wavered slightly. “Everyone is to proceed to the emergency hangar immediately and get into the transport ship. I repeat, evacuate the Haven.”
Matt put on his sunglasses. He hated Sora seeing him lose hope. It was there in his eyes. The ship rumbled slightly as he pressed another button on the panel. “Aidan, you and Gabumon are to come with me to give the transport ship cover immediately!”
A faint voice hissed through the radio. “On my way.”
* * *
The Gigadramon cackled menacingly as they launched missile salvos into the defenceless base. Slowly, it began to tilt to one side. One of the Gigadramon drew back its enormous fist and plunged it straight into the side, creating a gaping hole in the rock surface. He grinned at the damage he’d caused. The other two watched and laughed evilly as they heard frantic screams and cries from inside. Relishing the terror, they opened their metal claws and prepared to fire off the final round. One hesitated as it saw something leave the top of the ship.
A streak of white light shot through its shoulder, causing him to let out a terrible roar. Aidan was brandishing a large steel longbow and threatened them with a second shot. The first Gigadramon grimaced in pain and flew back a few metres. The other two growled at him impatiently.
“Not smart!” hissed the second one, opening his claws. Two missiles screamed from the barrels and flew straight at Aidan. Quickly, he slammed the longbow onto his left wrist and crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive position. The missiles exploded, leaving a mass of smoke floating in the air. The Gigadramons growled triumphantly. But, as the smoke dissipated, they saw a white sphere in front of them. It disappeared in a flash, leaving Aidan hovering there, completely unharmed. The longbow had changed shape into a steel crossbow.
“Idiots.” He scoffed. His Light Shield was put up just in time.
Roaring fiercely, the third Gigadramon charged straight at him. Aidan drew his sword and held it in front of him, pointing downwards, bracing himself for the impact. Gigadramon’s hard metal helmet collided with Aidan’s sword, sending him crashing onto the roof of the base.
The Gigadramon snorted indignantly and gestured to the other two to keep attacking. They floated round to the back and charged up their cannons, eager to destroy it as soon as possible. A sudden explosion in the side wall distracted them. Smoke drifted from an open hole. Cautiously, one of them edged closer to see the source. As it drew nearer, it could hear metallic noises.
Suddenly, a massive burst of missiles zoomed from the smoke and exploded in his face, freezing it completely. Incapacitated, he plummeted down into the ocean far below.
The second Gigadramon aimed his cannons at the hole and fired several missiles into the cavity. Debris exploded outwards and the Gigadramon turned his attention to the dome, content that whatever it was had been vaporised.
Aidan couldn’t move. The force of the floor hitting his back had temporarily paralysed him. Groaning in pain, he tried to open his eyes. He could see the Gigadramon salivating over the opportunity to end his life.
“Not yet...” Aidan choked.
The ominous sound of Gigadramon’s cannons charging up pierced his ears and he prepared himself for the final hit... but something else happened. Instead of a deafening explosion, all he heard was a loud ‘pop’. Opening his eyes again, he saw Gigadramon frozen with pain, his cannon split down the middle.
MetalArmadillomon flopped out of the end, stunned and covered in soot.
He’d jumped into the cannon.
Aidan smiled weakly and below him heard a new sound- the roar of engines.
On the transport ship, Sora was struggling to get everyone to calm down. Many of the children were in hysterics, and even Tentomon walking into the door frame wouldn’t calm them down. On top of that, the ship was stuck inside- the bay doors wouldn’t open. Struggling to remain calm herself, she handed over the controls to Yolei.
“Someone needs to open the doors, Yolei. I’m going to go.”
Yolei grabbed her arm. “Sora, that’s insane! You’d fall out and... I don’t want to lose another friend,” she pleaded. Sora looked at the doors again- they’d changed shape. A huge dent had appeared in them. As she studied it closer, they imploded and a massive metal claw appeared where there used to be a door, groping around for prey.
“It’s okay, Yolei. This bozo’s done it for us!” She jumped into the pilot seat and slammed down the throttle lever. The engines roared into life and it accelerated forwards. Gigadramon peered inside to see what he’d found when Yolei took the gunner’s seat. Screaming in rage, she held down the trigger. A minigun on the roof of the ship burst into life and fired straight into Gigadramon’s evil eye. He reared back, roaring in pain.
The remaining Gigadramon jumped and stared at the one holding its eye. It saw the ship shoot out of the hangar.
“Easy prey!” he sneered, discarding his damaged claw. MetalArmadillomon saw what he was going for. Leaving Aidan on the dome, he rolled after Gigadramon.
“Hey, you! Over here!” he yelled.
Gigadramon turned round and swatted him with a claw. MetalArmadillomon slammed into the tall mountain structure, leaving a large crater.
Gigadramon advanced on the ship, dribbling in anticipation. As he drew closer, he heard something behind him.
“You’ll have to do more than destroy a wall to get rid of me!” MetalGarurumon boomed. “Ice Wolf Claw!”
The attack thundered into Gigadramon’s back and he disappeared, deleted. Matt held tightly to MetalGarurumon’s back.
“Great work, pal. Once we’ve picked up Aidan and MetalArmadillomon we’ll catch up with the ship.” He patted his back, impressed.
MetalGarurumon whirled round and flew back to the base, which was now falling fairly rapidly towards the ocean. Aidan and MetalArmadillomon were sitting on tope of the dome. Aidan’s right wing was badly hurt- he couldn’t fly.
MetalGarurumon landed gingerly on the dome and let them clamber on. As they flew towards the ship, Aidan recounted the battle.
“Wait! What happened to that third Gigadramon?” he asked.
An evil laugh boomed behind them. “Time to die, vermin!”, the one-eyed Gigadramon roared. Ripping the mountain structure from the top of the base, he swung it at MetalGarurumon. He couldn’t move. The lump of rock crashed into his side and threw him off balance, knocking the three others off his back.
Drained of energy, he de-digivolved to Gabumon and all four of them plummeted down into the ocean…
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Slightly less pleased with the structure of this chapter than the first. But this was four years ago :p I shouldn't be too picky. This used to be the second half of chapter one, believe it or not. Mmm-hmm, long.
Next thing I post up will be something different. I may edit it a little to update it, too.
