Chapter 49: "Roar of the Storm Rider"
In which chains flash, thunder sings, and a lion learns he was never alone.
Arachne hovered, her body twisting midair in an elegant arc as one of Digitamamon's dark eye-beams shattered against a swirling web of violet silk. She giggled, voice sultry and dangerous.
"You're fun, egg boy. But let's not pretend you're the only star in this hellshow."
She flicked her wrist, and a dozen blood-red cutting webs lashed through the air. Digitamamon blocked with his shell, which cracked slightly as his own Nightmare Realm surged up, swallowing the arena in a field of flickering shadows.
But Arachne wasn't paying attention to him anymore.
No.
Her many eyes—half-veiled behind her crown of spindly horns—had turned.
To Naruto.
The real one.
She saw it. Saw the golden chakra, the way Machmon responded to him like they were born for speed together. The glint of evolutional momentum in his aura.
Power. Potential. Progress.
Her eyes narrowed with admiration. Then with possessive fury.
"So… you're the real one."
She whispered it like a secret to the wind.
"Such delicious energy. So close to blooming." Her tone dipped—half-purring, half-hunting.
Then she screeched, her voice echoing like a banshee queen across the battlefield:
"ALL UNITS—ELIMINATE THE BIKE RIDER!"
In that instant, a swarm of spiders—dozens, maybe hundreds—leapt from the ruined spires around them, dropping like fanged stars. Their legs clicked, eyes glowing red. Some were sleek and fast, others big enough to flatten trees. Their webs hissed in the wind, weaving a net around Naruto's path.
Machmon swerved, tires screeching on frosted terrain.
"They're locking onto us!" the bike Digimon shouted.
Naruto's eyes were sharp. Focused.
"We're not slowing down. Hit full burn!"
Machmon howled, activating his Overdrive Nitro Mode. Flames burst from his exhaust, and he tore forward like a thunderbolt from heaven.
Meanwhile, Arachne turned to Metal Etemon.
He was laughing as he threw MagnaAngemon into a ruined pillar, golden mic glowing with anti-chrome energy.
She spoke smoothly:
"Etemon, darling. Forget the others. Bring me Naruto. Dead or alive. Preferably broken."
Metal Etemon paused mid-laugh.
"You sure? This angel's kinda fun."
Arachne's tone changed.
Deadly. Whispered like poison silk.
"Do it. Or I'll turn your golden skin into my new throne."
The monkey Digimon paled slightly.
"...Right. Bike boy it is."
He leapt skyward with unnatural agility, soaring toward the distant golden blur that was Naruto.
Then it happened.
A beam of darkness seared past Arachne's head, shaving a lock of her silky hair.
She hissed, eyes snapping to the attacker.
Digitamamon.
He hovered calmly above the battlefield, his black aura pulsing with chaotic energy, the air around him distorting like a fever dream.
"You should be watching me, Arachne." His voice echoed from the void of his body, an unnatural stillness in its tone. "Not every parasite gets to bite a god and walk away."
Arachne bared her fangs.
"You have too much guts for a digi egg of evil." Her voice dropped to a primal snarl. "Just because your hope has arrived, you forget something…"
She snapped her fingers and dark energy twisted behind her.
"I have never lost a battle in this new world."
Digitamamon chuckled softly.
"Right. Let's forget the live broadcast of your battle against Andiramon."
The battlefield trembled as her eyes widened, venomous fury rippling through her aura.
That name.
That shame.
"SHUT UP!" she screamed, her words laced with dark magic. The world around her dimmed. Shadows twisted and bled outward from her feet in growing circles.
Then the ground beneath her split, and her form changed.
No longer the beautiful, aloof spider sorceress—her body cracked and split like a silk chrysalis, revealing her true form.
Eight jagged legs snapped out. Her eyes multiplied. Her once-human face elongated into something more monstrous, yet still eerily elegant.
Arukenimon.
The Weaver of Nightmares, the fallen Queen of the Black Web, revealed in full.
A pulse of power surged outward, dimming even the light around Digitamamon.
Her voice became a blend of silken grace and gutteral wrath.
"I didn't take you for a talkative egg," she hissed. "I think I'll take my time boiling you alive, and listen to what else you have to say while you scream."
Digitamamon didn't flinch.
He hovered still, his aura darkening, nightmare energy boiling around him like black stars.
"Then you'd better start spinning, spider," he said.
"Because you're not the only one who can mutate."
---------------------------
The sky was bruised violet, thunder rumbling in distant agony as the earth below trembled with fury. The battlefield had become a maelstrom of claws and chaos, where the only light was the golden blur that refused to slow down.
Naruto, blazing like a comet atop Machmon, sliced through a wall of Insect Digimon—Kuwagamon, Dokugumon, Snimon, and Flymon. His Blade Kuwagamon hissed with chakra and data-fire, trailing arcs of destruction in wide slashes. The air reeked of ozone, burning carapace, and the copper tang of blood—some of it his own.
A Snimon's blade caught him across the shoulder as he passed.
Naruto winced, blood spraying from the gash.
Another hit—this time a sting from a Flymon, piercing his thigh.
His grip tightened on the blade, his jaw clenched.
He didn't stop.
He couldn't.
Behind him, a tsunami of red eyes and gleaming mandibles surged forward.
And above, Metal Etemon descended like a falling god, laughter echoing with madness.
"Come on, Bike Boy! You can't ride forever!"
Far off—atop another Machmon—Raikomaru saw it all.
The tide.
The blood.
The pain in Naruto's eyes… and the sheer refusal to yield.
Raikomaru's hand trembled.
Not with fear—but with longing.
He gritted his teeth, eyes burning behind his mane.
"He's always ahead. Even when I'm riding, I feel like I'm standing still…"
Naruto was never supposed to be a savior.
He was just a boy who helped him once.
But now?
Now he was a symbol.
A sun trying to break through the void.
Raikomaru tightened his grip on his sword.
His voice cracked with raw resolve:
"Machmon. We're going in. I'll stand by him… or die trying."
Machmon grinned.
"Then let's die like warriors."
They burned forward.
The moment Raikomaru entered the tide, the world turned red.
A Kuwagamon's claw struck his chest, tearing his fur and slicing deep—ribs cracking under the force. He didn't scream.
He kept swinging.
He cut through a group of Tentomon, only to be swarmed by three Dokugumon that spat corrosive silk, burning through his arms and legs.
He bled. He bled hard.
His shoulder dislocated when a Kabuterimon slammed into him mid-ride. His grip faltered—but he held on with one hand, roaring in pain, blade swinging.
Every breath felt like fire.
But he never stopped.
Naruto looked back for a heartbeat.
And his eyes widened.
"Raikomaru…?! What the hell are you doing?!"
But the lion was smiling, face bloody, arm limp, teeth bared like a berserker.
"Coming home, brother!"
They carved forward together, side by side—bleeding, breaking, burning.
Two Machmon roared, wheels slicing across bug corpses and icy rock.
Above them, Metal Etemon shouted,
"You idiots want to die together?! FINE!"
He raised his mic.
A beam of anti-code golden lightning struck down.
It hit Raikomaru's Machmon, sending both flying into a twisted wreck of tree roots and stone. The Digimon screamed.
Raikomaru rolled, slamming into the dirt with a sickening crack. His arm shattered.
He couldn't move.
Naruto screamed his name, but was forced to keep moving as more bugs converged.
Piximon dove in like a pink meteor, slashing enemies from the air.
Zudomon threw his hammer, crushing a wave of rookies to ice.
Weregarrurumon was a blur, claws tearing like steel wind.
MagnaAngemon flew high, casting Gate of Destiny, absorbing a battalion of enemy Digimon into golden void.
The cavalry had arrived—
But the tide did not end.
And at the heart of it all…
Naruto bled.
And Raikomaru, broken and battered, dragged himself upright, whispering through bloodied lips:
"Not… yet… I'm not done… not until I see him evolve… not until I stand beside him…"
And in the darkness…
something heard him.
-------------------
It was a strange thing—what one could feel in the quiet between the thunder.
Raikomaru couldn't move. Not really. One leg was bent at a wrong angle, and his arm—well, let's just say bones weren't meant to poke out that way. And yet, as he lay there, half-buried in the dust and ruin of the battlefield, he saw it.
Naruto.
Still slashing, still running, still bleeding—fighting as if the stars themselves had declared him the only hope of the world. But there was more than desperation in his eyes as he glanced Raikomaru's way.
There was love.
And that… that melted everything else away.
The pain. The doubt. The fear of being less.
In that single glance, Raikomaru understood: he wasn't just a tagalong in Naruto's story. He was part of it. Maybe… even a core piece.
Beside him, Machmon gave a weak whirr, its systems flickering. The loyal speedster who had never stopped—not once—even as his circuits burned and his plating cracked.
"You're a good partner..." Raikomaru whispered, placing a trembling hand on the chassis.
And then—
everything changed.
A roar shook the clouds.
Lightning leapt from the sky to the ground like gleeful wolves.
Data surged.
It spiraled around them like wind and flame, pulling them together—flesh and machine, soul and code.
And where once lay a dying lion and a broken bike…
Now stood Raileomon – Rider Mode.
He rose with grace and thunder. A towering lion-shaped knight, fur laced with bolts of stormsteel, armor pulsing with yellow energy. His greatsword—Lionfang Saber—buzzed with anticipation.
And beneath him, the monstrous roar of Stormfang, now reborn, answered the call of battle.
"You saved me once, Naruto…" Raileomon whispered. "Let me return the favour."
With a crack of thunder, he rode into the tide.
The battlefield groaned as Stormfang streaked across it, lightning trailing behind like a comet's tail. Every motion was sharp, fluid—deadly. Rookie-level Bug Digimon were torn apart in seconds, their data scattering like fireflies.
Mamemon—a walking metallic toddler with a cruel grin and explosive fingers—laughed from atop a broken tank.
"Heeheehee! What's this? You got wheels now, kitty? Gonna cry when I pop your tires?!"
Raileomon didn't answer. He shot forward.
Stormfang's front end morphed mid-charge—deploying side blades that tore the ground as he passed.
Mamemon tossed a string of bombs like candy, the battlefield bursting into fireworks.
But Raileomon burst through the smoke, unharmed.
He aimed his shotguns—
"Twin Thunderhowl."
Two bursts of compressed storm energy ripped through the air, spiraling arcs of plasma that sang like wolves. They hit Mamemon square in the chest and shoulder, sending him flying into a hill.
Raileomon followed, chains firing from Stormfang.
"Storm Chain Execution!"
Crackling, glowing chains ensnared Mamemon mid-air, dragging him back along the road of lightning. The little gremlin screamed, sparks exploding off his form, before Raileomon leapt high and—
"RAIL BREAKER SLASH!"
He came down in a brilliant arc, sword glowing like the dawn, and sliced Mamemon in half.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Mamemon's laughter, fractured and fading, echoed:
"Wheee... you're not so bad... for a kitty with chains..."
And he vanished into particles of data.
Raileomon didn't rest. He turned, roaring as he saw the tide still pressing forward.
Piximon darted above, flinging sparkly hurricane-like projectiles.
Zudomon was freezing swaths of enemies at once, then shattering them with his hammer.
MagnaAngemon's wings shimmered with light, slicing through the chaos.
And Naruto…
Naruto had made it to Groundramon, sword locked with the serpentine beast as Rebellimon fought on its other flank. Their struggle shook the cliffs.
But behind Naruto… the tide still surged.
Raileomon raised his blade, then slammed it into Stormfang's engine.
"Full speed! Let's give them a road they'll never forget."
"ROAD OF ROARING SKIES!"
Stormfang howled as lightning exploded around its wheels. It tore through the field, burning a path of storm-charged energy. Allies that stepped onto it felt faster, lighter—empowered.
Raileomon stood atop Stormfang like a knight of thunder, sword pointed forward.
"Come, bugs! Let's dance."
And they did.
Champion-level Snimon tried to flank him. He cleaved them in half.
Dokugumon attempted to web him. He swung, and they burned.
Flymon swarmed from above. Shotgun blasts turned the skies electric.
And through it all, Raileomon smiled.
Not because he was winning.
But because—for the first time—he felt worthy.
Not just a lion with a sword.
But a partner… a protector…
A storm rider in the wake of a sun.