Northern Dominion [Mission/Plot] 3/4

Skye had never been to the Northern Prominence before. But she had experienced a climate similar to it. Yes, life in the Empyrean Skies was advertised as the closest thing to heaven, but, the reality of the thing is that it can get damn cold up there.

Perhaps this was why she was perfectly comfortable in simply her fur as she walked the snowy plains. However, her partner was less tolerant of the sheer chill of the area. Hickory the Chuumon was sitting upon her shoulder, shivering and curled up in an attempt to prevent himself freezing over.

"God... I didn't know it'd be this freezing up here" he whimpered.

"I did offer you the chance to buy pants in Terminus City" Skye pointed out.

"Yeah, well, they had none my size, and I thought my fur would be enough!" Hickory complained. Well, there wasn't much use of complaining now. They were here and had to deal with it. Skye walked the plains for a while, hearing about a disturbance in the area. Since she had partially regained her memories, she... kind of wanted to help others in the digital world a lot more. Even if she had grown with a principle to simply mind her own business and let things play out without intervention, well, now she knew from experience that that kind of way of thinking simply allows atrocities and cruelties to play without impediment. And that wasn't something she was okay with.

When Skye entered the field of the "Dark Tower" that had been reported in the area, she knew about it alright. Her tail ring immediately sparked and grew dark from interference, sealing its powers within the field, reducing the Gatomon back to her rookie level. Hickory meanwhile was unaffected, but looked at his partner with worry.

"Skye... are you alright?" he asked.

"Something... bad is nearby" Skye answered, panting, trying to regain control of herself. That was some nasty effect she was hit with just now. Hickory glanced down at her blackened tail ring, then to her directly.

"Skye... that digimental you found in the Village of Beginnings" he said. "Do you think that'll work now?"

Skye pondered this. Legend had it that a digimental would grant a rookie level digimon armor and power almost at the level of Champion. Why, now that her ordinary Champion level powers had been sealed, maybe now was the chance to try it?

"Okay. Best hop off my shoulder for the moment, Hickory, let's test this thing out" Skye said, and reached into her backpack for the crystal-lined digimental she had found that day. She inhaled and exhaled deeply to gather her thoughts, then raised the artifact.

"Digiarmor energize!" she called, and to her and Hickory's surprise, it worked! Skye glowed with light as her form grew, obtaining the properties of the digimental.

"Gatomon armor digivolve to... Lekismon! The Archer of Responsibility!"

The light of the evolution faded, and Skye now stood at twice her normal height. She held her arms out in wonder, fascinated at her new form.

"Wow, Skye, that was amazing!" Hickory exclaimed. He supposed it was safe now, so he climbed back on her shoulder. "Regardless, something bad is up ahead! As much as it pains me to say, we should probably check it out!"

"Right on" Skye answered, and the Lekismon rushed toward the general direction of the control spire. And then she arrived, seeing a terrible battle erupting all around. This wasn't good. At once, Skye rushed to the side of the SnowAgumon, ready to help.

"I heard a distress signal from this area, what's the problem here?" she asked him with a tone of urgency.

"We're almost there! You've almost got it! The base is cracking!" Cas called out to Cloak and Dagger even as she flipped through her cards. Power chip would only last for a short time longer as would the guardians distraction. Best to take advantage of the situation while they could. Plucking a Beserk Protocol card from her deck the Doctor decided it was time to do some real damage. 

"It's time we bring this tower toppling down." Cloak murmured in response even as Cas slid the card through her D-arc leaving the Kotemon suddenly flush with two fold power as he leveled the blade that was his twin at the monolith. 

"BURN!" The Rookie roared out launching a blade of flame from his sword. The fire turning massive with the supercharged strike as it launched towards the base of the tower in a screaming inferno of heat. The fierceness of the attack enough to melt even the snow around the Cloak leaving him standing panting with effort on bare earth. 

---

Skye looked at the control spire. So... that was the thing that was interfering with her holy ring earlier? Well then, looks like it had to go down. Then SnowAgumon asked if she could possibly help out the 'weird lady' before Garurumon ate her.

"Alright, we will" she said. While ordinarily she would have passed at such an opportunity, well, something wasn't right here. Why was the Garurumon able to fight at Champion level and they weren't? Why was the control spire here in the first place? She felt that it would be her newfound duty to do her best to bring it down here. "Hickory, got anything that can help too?"

"Oh you're not bringing me in this are you?" Hickory asked, then gave a squeak as Garurumon suddenly became much more fearsome. The Lekismon took a step back meanwhile, she thought that getting near that thing would be a costly mistake, the shimmering ice spikes looking like they would leave more than a mark. Fortunately she had other options. It was her steadfastness that convinced Hickory to help out too.

"Alright then..." he sighed, taking off his hat, revealing a small yellow slice of cheese sitting there. How it got there? It was hard to say. But the Chuumon picked it up deftly in his paw, then with a cry of "Mozzarella Surprise!" hurled it at Garurumon's feet.

If his aim was true, it would explode into a sticky mess - not quite strong enough to pin down a Champion level, but enough to hopefully slow him down. With that, it was Skye's turn, she raised a paw in the air, gathered forth glittering ice crystals from her surroundings until it formed a great spear of ice, then she hurled it.

"Frozen Javelin!" she cried, and aimed it at the black collar around Garurumon's neck. It seemed to match the material and aura of the control spire, perhaps attacking that would be the way to go?

---

Skye uses Frozen Javelin on Garurumon's dark ring.

Frozen Javelin - Skye raises her paw over her head, condenses water into a frozen spear of ice, then launches it at the foe.


Hickory uses Mozzarella Surprise on Garurumon's feet.

Mozzarella Surprise: Conjures a different type of cheese and hurls it at the ground at the opponent's feet. Upon impact, it explodes into a sticky mess that will immobilize digimon up to the rookie level for 1 turn. [Cooldown: 3 turns]

"Finish it! It's almost down!" Cas called out as Cloak leveled the golden sword that was his twin at the tower one last time. Power built up along the blade as the little swordsman took his stance and aimed. Then with a sweep of his weapon he sent another wave of light crashed at the tower. 

"Dawn Slash!" He yelled out using his twins own signature technique as his slammed into the base of the tower. Meanwhile the other group was having their own difficulties with the Garurumon as it targeted the newcomer. Skye however, would find a glittering reflective shield between herself and the incoming fireball as Cas slid the Mirror shield card through her D-arc and concentrated on their latest ally. With any luck they could keep the ice dog busy just that little bit longer and aid in toppling the eyes sore that was the Dark Spire. 

---

Cloak The Kotemon Uses:

-   Dawn Slash: Sends a sweeping blade of light energy at the opponent through the air.

Active Abilities/Cards:

- 25% power boost to Kotemon with weapon attacks


Cas Uses:
VB-28

Card Name: Mirror Shield

Type: Modify

Rank: Gold

Duration: 1 Post

Effect: The target Digimon gains a shield made of pure light. It can reflect all damage from a single attack of your level or many attacks of the level below. It can reduce damage from an attack of a single level higher, but does not reflect them.
Target: Skye

Understandably Skye and Hickory's arrival wasn't welcome by the Garurumon, who seemed to rather take badly to being struck with ice and cheese. Skye trembled a little from the menace in his face as he turned to her, mouth glowing with blue fire.

"Not good..." she thought, then a torrent of blue fire came flying at her. Damn it, she'd have to leap pretty high to dodge that, but, it seemed, dodging didn't seem necessary, thanks to the efforts of the human.

A barrier formed in front of the Lekismon, just as Hickory squealed for her to dodge and instead took cover behind her head, shaking. The Howling Blaster struck the Mirror Shield, and it seemed to be completely deflected. Of course the raw power of Garurumon made her a little hot under the fur, draining some of her own energy to keep it active, but, with all her might, Skye made the remaining blaster strike the side of the Control Spire instead. She panted from the effort, unable to make another attack this turn.

However, Hickory felt rather relieved by what happened and stood back up on Skye's shoulder.

"Well, it's not much, but here goes!" he called, conjuring another slice of cheese in his paw. "Dangerously Cheesy!" he cried, and hurled the cheese straight at the control spire, which exploded as it struck.

---

Skye obtains Mirror Shield from Cas, which reflects Garurumon's Howling Blaster onto the Control Spire. She makes no other move this turn.

Hickory uses Dangerously Cheesy on the Control Spire.

- Dangerously Cheesy: Conjures a cheese shaped grenade in his hand and hurls it at an opponent, which explodes for small damage.

With the combat over Dagger was quick to resume his normal Zubamon form. Leaving Cloak to lean against him the Kotemon somewhat worn out from the constant attacks eve as the pair ambled over to the downed Strabimon. Circling around the unconscious rookie with lingering wariness. 

"Step aside." Cas ordered striding up to the group even as she tucked her cards away. Shooing the SnowAgumon and the twins back with her hands she knelt to check on the out cold Strabimon. Finding him thankfully alive and unharmed, but clearly exhausted.

"We should get him somewhere safe and warm. Other then having used up all his energy and burned himself out fighting us I suspect he'll make a full recovery with time a rest." The Doctor mused even as she scooped the gangly rookie up into her arms with a sigh. 

"Could you point us towards the nearest town or trailmon line?" Cas questioned tilting a head as inquired of SnowAgumon.

Much to Skye's surprise, the Control Spire had been damaged enough so that it looked like it was collapsing even before the reflected Howling Blaster hit it. Of course, all it did was accelerate the downfall. And as for Garurumon, well, now that the tower was destroyed, it seemed the control over him had been lifted, and he had collapsed and de-digivolved.

"Oh... gosh, is he alright?" Skye asked, approaching with concern. SnowAgumon mentioned that he seemed familiar. Hickory meanwhile, who had been trembling behind Skye's head the whole time until he heard the tower slam down in the snow finally looked up to see what had happened.

"Did... did I do that?" he asked, wondering if his cheese grenade had finished things off.

"Well, you helped, Hickory" Skye answered. "But it was going down anyway". With that, she looked at the others in the vicinity. The human seemed to be examining the wolfish rookie digimon, it seemed that she was some kind of medical practitioner. This made the Lekismon rather curious.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt, but, we just came from the Trailmon station" she answered Cas's question. "We can show you back there if you like. Oh, by the way, my name's Skye and this is Hickory" she introduced them. She felt a moment of guilt inside her as well, seeing the Strabimon unconscious like this. Had her attack caused him to be reduced to this condition?

"Also... I have the ability to heal if that would help, just letting you know" she felt the need to add. But if the human said that wouldn't be alright, she wouldn't press the matter. But there'd be one thing she'd insist on. "Would we be able to accompany you? I'd like to talk to Strabimon when he wakes up". She intended to apologize for attacking without warning, she didn't want there to be any bad blood between them.

Hickory meanwhile was more confused by the other digimon. "Where did she go?" he wondered out loud. But the thought of being in a warm Trailmon carriage was a better prospect for the Chuumon at the moment.