Staring down at the sea below, the kids' expressions were grim. Their foe, MetalSeadramon, was somewhere beneath the waves. Tai didn't know why MetalSeadramon had come here, but at least that might make bringing it down easier.
"We've shown up on its turf. MetalSeadramon should've detected us by now. Its signal's been stationary, though… which is weird." Tai rested his chin on his hand, puzzling over the scene.
"Tai, what should we do next?" Izzy broke into his thoughts.
After a beat, Tai said, "I'll scout the seabed first. Best case, we lure MetalSeadramon onto land—this ocean is its home field. And only Gomamon can comfortably fight underwater. We need a way to drag it ashore."
"Tai's right. But… how?" Matt frowned.
Tai smiled slightly, stepped to Blimpmon's controls, tapped a few keys, and a missile-like device extended from the hull and fired toward the water.
He pressed another button; a display rose beside him, showing the feed from Blimpmon's probe.
The probe dove, streaming the seafloor's vistas onto the screen. Much of the Digital World had been copied from the human world, so the undersea scenery looked familiar enough. The kids couldn't help praising how beautiful it was. The picture, bright at first, dimmed as the probe went deeper.
Soon the probe reached MetalSeadramon's location—but all it relayed was a massive black cocoon, and it was still expanding. By Tai's estimate, the cocoon was almost as big as Whamon now. Just as he nudged the probe for a closer look, a gigantic dragon's head burst from the cocoon and snapped the device apart.
The screen fizzed into static.
"Battle stations. It's coming," Tai said evenly, while Blimpmon banked toward the coast.
A thunderous geyser erupted. Sheets of seawater fanned in every direction.
The children looked back—and saw a Digimon break the surface: a serpent with MetalSeadramon's head, longer than Whamon from nose to tail, its body clad entirely in the strongest Chrome Digizoid.
GigaSeadramon swept the sea with its gaze, then fixed on the airborne Blimpmon.
The cannon in its jaws burned with light, power gathering. "Giga Sea Destroyer!"
A colossal beam lanced from its mouth straight at Blimpmon. Agumon leapt out without hesitation.
"Agumon, Mega evolve—WarGreymon!"
"Gaia Force!" WarGreymon fired, his blazing sphere slamming into Giga Sea Destroyer. Light flared; the sea heaved with the shock.
GigaSeadramon didn't let up, belching another Giga Sea Destroyer. WarGreymon yanked the Brave Shield from his back and braced into the blast. As he held the line, ports irised open across GigaSeadramon's spine and a hail of anti-air energy rounds screamed skyward. "Skywave Barrage!"
Pinned on defense, WarGreymon couldn't intercept the new salvo.
"I'm going too!"
"Gabumon, Mega evolve—MetalGarurumon!"
"Grace Cross Freezer!" Launch ports popped all over MetalGarurumon's frame. A cloud of micro-missiles streaked out, meeting the Skywave Barrage midair. The clash turned the world white and thunderous; the kids clapped hands over eyes and ears as the sea below exploded into mountainous swells. The shock even tossed stunned fish up from the depths.
WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, and GigaSeadramon—all armored in Chrome Digizoid—had only been warming up. The destruction looked apocalyptic, but none of the three had so much as a scratch. That alloy's hardness could make anyone despair.
GigaSeadramon whipped its titanic body toward them. WarGreymon rolled aside to avoid the ram; MetalGarurumon's back thrusters flared and he shot upward, evading the strike.
"Giga Wave Cannon!" The serpent's next blast hammered WarGreymon's shield. But instead of pressing him, GigaSeadramon vaulted skyward, knifing straight at the turning MetalGarurumon.
"Look out, MetalGarurumon!" Matt yelled.
MetalGarurumon slashed with the blade in his tail; sparks showered where steel met Chrome Digizoid. He used the recoil to skid aside from the serpent's horned head—but GigaSeadramon's enormous tail whipped around and smashed into his waist. MetalGarurumon cried out. WarGreymon fired another Gaia Force to cover him, but GigaSeadramon was committed—harrying MetalGarurumon to finish him first. MetalGarurumon darted and juked, barely staying ahead of those relentless strikes.
Weaving past WarGreymon's fire, GigaSeadramon caught MetalGarurumon mid-dodge. Its body twisted at an impossible angle and coiled around him.
Where they pressed together, sparks blasted outward. MetalGarurumon howled as the coils tightened. WarGreymon kept hurling Gaia Force after Gaia Force into GigaSeadramon's plated hide, but the serpent only constricted harder. Another second and it would crush MetalGarurumon flat.
"MetalGarurumon!" Matt's fingers dug white into the window frame. He could only watch his partner's peril, powerless.
Through the ringing in his ears, MetalGarurumon seemed to hear Matt's voice. He forced an eye open toward him. "Matt—ah!"
"MetalGarurumon!" At that instant, Matt's Crest blazed. A pillar of light speared down into MetalGarurumon.
GigaSeadramon's coils convulsed, pried open by a sudden surge of power.
"MetalGarurumon—Mode Change: Warrior Mode!"
When the light cleared, a new Digimon hovered there: a blue, humanoid frame sheathed in Super Chrome Digizoid, a MetalGarurumon head forming its left gauntlet. With both hands it forced GigaSeadramon's coils wide—its brute strength obvious at a glance. Its helm echoed Omnimon's lines.
MetalGarurumon (Warrior Mode) heaved, flinging the coils apart, then burst from the loop as it widened. Hanging in the air, he chopped his right hand down—and the blade from MetalGarurumon's tail snapped into his grip as the Garuru Blade.
"Giga Wave Cannon!" GigaSeadramon spat another beam.
Warrior Mode slashed once. The Garuru Blade cleaved the beam in two; it detonated far behind him.
The kids erupted in cheers at the reversal—but Tai couldn't share their relief. If MetalGarurumon stayed in Warrior Mode, he couldn't combine with WarGreymon into Omnimon. Their biggest trump card would be off the table.
While the others were glued to the fight, Tai eased back a couple of steps and opened a data analyzer. Only Kari noticed, curiosity in her eyes, and padded over.
"Tai, what are you doing?" she asked.
He looked up with a smile. "Nothing big—just logging battle data. Don't worry, Kari. We can win this. Come on, let's see how WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon finish the job."
"Shouldn't Gatomon and the others go too?"
"They don't have the power for this one. Jumping in would just waste their stamina."
Kari lowered her head. "Sorry, Tai. I can't help you."
Tai set his hands on her shoulders, serious. "Kari, you never have to apologize to me. I'm your brother. I won't let you stand in front of me on the battlefield. Okay?"
"Thank you, Tai."
Outside, since shifting to Warrior Mode, MetalGarurumon's strength had surged. Working with WarGreymon, he'd gone from being pressed to meeting GigaSeadramon head-on. They alternated, one attacking while the other defended, their teamwork carving real damage into the serpent. Even so, at this rate the best they could hope for was a draw. The hardness of that Chrome Digizoid armor was just too absurd. WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, GigaSeadramon—same material, same problem. No one could deal a decisive blow. The fight stalled.
Just then, Tai's analyzer chimed—data from the Steel Empire. He pushed the Warrior Mode logs to the central processor, looking for a way to let MetalGarurumon (Warrior Mode) and WarGreymon merge again.
"I see…" Tai murmured. "MetalGarurumon's Warrior Mode is a mode change, not an evolution. And WarGreymon… can mode-change too—to a Battle Mode. Perks of being a modified-type Digimon? Cruise in standard form to save energy, flip to a battle form to output at a hundred percent. If Warrior Mode and WarGreymon's Battle Mode can fuse, I wonder what Omnimon would look like…"
His Crest of Courage flashed. Light shot from it toward WarGreymon on the field.
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