As Lethal began flying at full speed around the room trying to throw me off of his back, the other moths, whenever they got close enough, would try biting at my arms and legs.
"Mod, if I survive this, I'm gonna kill you", I shout out loud as if expecting him to hear me as Lethal then decided to take a spiral-like nosedive into the floor. He was hoping that I would either be thrown off by his spiral movements, or jump off of him at the last minute to avoid the crash. Unfortunately for him, I did neither. Instead I pulled back on his two antennae as if I were controlling a plane (at least that's how they do it in movies). Lethal shrieked for a moment in response to the sudden pain I inflicted on him, and then straightened up as he began to fly wildly around the room as he did before. "Ha, nice try", I said to him feeling a little cocky for outsmarting him. It was then that Karma decided to be the bitch that she is as Nightmare rammed straight into Lethal from underneath, which caught us both off-guard, to the point where not only did I lose my grip on Lethal, but both he and I plummeted to the ground below.
"Fuck you, Karma", I said with a groan as I picked myself up off the ground. It was then that Nightmare, now on the ground with us, began charging at me with his teeth bared. With six legs propelling him at me, he was quick, despite his husky size. When he got close enough to sink his teeth into me, he tries biting at me. In response to this, I Change into my bear form and catch his teeth in my paws. "Settle down! Calm down, Nightmare", I tried reasoning to him as I attempted to push him backwards. Nightmare responded by flapping his wings as he pushed back, giving him enough of a boost to begin pushing me backwards as I struggled to use the claws on my back paws to keep myself in place. What saved me from being completely overpowered, much to my surprise, was Lethal, who didn't appreciate Nightmare's sneak attack as he rammed into his side, causing a fight between them to break out.
I then turn to run to another side of the white room, Changing back into Lobomon as I did so, but my objective was interrupted by the familiar sensation of something biting my tail. As I roared in pain, I then found myself being lifted into the air by one of the other three moths. The one that held me in his teeth was flying towards the other two, Grinder and Killer, which told me that Jiant was the one that was biting me. Before I could even think of how to avoid being eaten, Grinder rushes over to us and bites down on the scruff of my neck. He then tries to yank me out of Jiant's mouth, as Jiant responds by yanking back. It was basically how two dogs would play tug-of-war with one another if both happened upon the same piece of rope, except that I was the rope, and the two dogs were instead two giant mutated moths. I whined a canine whine in response to the two behemoths fighting over me, as it was becoming very painful at my expense. Grinder's teeth were tolerable for the moment as he was merely biting into the scruff of my neck. Jiant on the other hand, was pulling on my tail so hard that a part of me feared that he was going to tear it off.
When I couldn't take the pain anymore, I let out a frustrated roar as I tracted the claws on my back paws and then kicked them at Jiant's face. Immediate relief washed over my tail as Jiant released his grip on it in response to my claws scratching across his face. Jiant responded with a frustrated shriek, but I couldn't help but notice that it sounded more whiny then angry. Grinder then shook his head vigorously with me still in his grip, again, much like a dog with a rope or a toy. He then dashed away as Jiant gave chase, trying to get his "toy" back. By this point, Nightmare and Lethal had ended their fight and joined in the fun as they hovered nearby, positioning themselves to where the two of them and Grinder had made a small circle, with Jiant in the middle, as one by one, they began tossing me to one another as Jiant frantically tried his best to intercept me from the air before one of the other three moths could catch me. These moths went from treating me like a rope, to treating me like a ball within a matter of minutes as they were essentially playing "Keep Away" with each other at my expense.
Oh, I don't believe this, I thought to myself as I was now pissed off as I flew back and forth between each moth. Eventually one of the moths throws me high into the air, where an eager Killer was waiting for me as he rushes towards me. Jiant, still desperate to get his toy back, zooms up towards me in a last-minute attempt to snatch be back. "Enough", I shout with a roar as I drew my fist back. I then used my werewolf strength, once Killer was close enough, to punch the top of his head as hard as I could. The purple moth shrieks in pain as he plummets towards the ground below, crashing into Jiant in the process, which in turn caused him to crash into the ground as well. The other three moths simply hovered where they were for a moment, shocked at my sudden strike against their two companions, giving me just enough time to land back onto the ground as I prepared for their retaliation.
Once they had recovered and rose back onto their feet, Killer and Jiant joined the other moths in a unified angry hiss at me as they slowly moved closer and closer towards me, as if they were wolves cornering their prey up against a wall. It was at this point that I grew tired of being submissive. The time for diplomacy was over, now it was time to fight. I responded to their hissing by pounding on my chest for a moment and then letting out a loud roar, Changing once again into Lobomon as I did so. I then returned to all fours and began clawing at the ground with one of my paws as if I were a bull or a relative of a bull "hoofing" at the ground before preparing to charge at my opponents. It didn't matter that the herbivorous gesture didn't match my individual species, or that the moths were ignorant to most other animals due to their secluded lives of isolation and experimentation, their animal instincts knew full well that my gesture was just a fancy way of saying, "come get some".
As expected, the moths eagerly accepted my challenge, the first of whom being Nightmare, who I quickly discovered was the true brawler of the bunch. Again, he rushes in with his sharp teeth bared, and just like before, I catch them in my paws, as his attacking style was becoming a tad predictable at this point. Nightmare liked to rush in head-first, his intentions being to over-power his opponents, while at the same time, having no fear of the possibility of a counterattack. On one hand this was a foolish trait for Nightmare to have, especially considering that Nightmare and his companions were swarming insects, and therefore are at their strongest, at least in theory, when they attack as a unit, but on the other hand, considering that moths in the wild go to great lengths to avoid conflict with most other animals, it was pretty ballsy for one, even a giant one, to storm ahead of the swarm and attack a mystery enemy head-on as Nightmare did. This allowed me to gain some respect for Nightmare as his unusual sense of courage, along with the coloring of his stripes on his wings reminded me greatly of a hot-headed tiger I'd known ever since he was a cub.
"Not, this, time", I growled at Nightmare as this time I managed to push him backwards, still in wolf form mind you, despite Nightmare once again flapping his wings trying to overpower me for a second time. He had gotten the better of me last time, but this time, I was ready for him, not to mention pissed to no end. It was at this point that Jiant, still whiny and frustrated, charges in from my right flank. Anticipating contact, I swing Nightmare by his teeth towards my right, releasing him as he slams into Jiant. With those two wincing in pain for a moment, I turned my attention to Lethal, who was leading Grinder and Killer in an organized attack plan as indicated by how they zoomed past me one by one in choreographed flight pattern. I also found this impressive once I realized that they weren't trying to attack me and were just missing me as I stepped out of the way, they were boxing me in, cutting off any chances of escape. Lethal was more concerned with keeping me still, as opposed to defeating me. Upon realizing that, I look back over at Nightmare and Jiant, who had just recovered from my last attack, which told me that Lethal, Grinder, and Killer were simply stalling for time while their friends recovered.
In response to this, with a little help from some really lucky timing, I managed to grab onto one of Grinder's legs as he flew by me. The blue moth, now in a slight panic due to not expecting me to grab him, takes a page out of Lethal's book and frantically flies off. This once again, resulted in the other four moths storming after us. As expected, Nightmare, once again being the first to react, storms at us from underneath with the intent of ramming into Grinder just as he did to Lethal earlier. What was different this time was the fact that I was grabbing onto the Grinder as opposed to vice versa, putting me in a more adaptable position. At the last minute, I swing from Grinder's leg just as Nightmare collides into him. I then manage to land on Killer's back, which immediately led Killer to try and buck my off. It was during this ordeal that I noticed something on the far wall in the distance of the room. Up towards the top, a few feet underneath the ceiling was a round part of the wall that looked like some sort of dome-like bulb.
Why does that look familiar, I thought to myself as my werewolf instincts kicked in yet again and slowed everything down around me. It took me a minute, but eventually I recognized what I was looking at.
It was indeed a dome-like bulb, but what was familiar about it was that I usually ever saw them in shopping malls or other types of shopping areas that had security cameras. They usually sat on the ceiling and were painted pitch-black so that you couldn't see inside, and therefore couldn't tell when and what the camera inside was focussing on. What stood out about this one, was that it was painted white, most likely to camouflage it into the wall, which to its credit, worked just fine considering that I got extremely lucky in spotting it, and there was no way a naked human eye, even if they did manage to locate the bulb, could see that inside were nine cameras, each one pointing in a different direction. This was yet another one of Killer Moth's concerning yet impressive tactics as this was a clever way of instilling the false hope of privacy for whoever happened to be in the room at the time. The bulb's white color made it damn near impossible to spot, the tinted glass made it to where you would assume that there was simply one camera within as opposed to nine, making it difficult to avoid being seen, even if you could predict the camera movements, the cameras were positioned so high above the ground that even couldn't reach it without flying, or at the very least attracting attention to myself, and this was all in addition to the fact that I was currently tangling with five giant mutated moths.
I'm really glad I didn't use any of my Elemental powers yet, I thought to myself as I had been tempted to Change into my armored form for a while now. The world around me resumed normal speed as I noticed Jiant rushing towards me and Killer. It was then that I noticed that Jiant was positioned with the cameras directly behind him, giving me the perfect opening to get rid of them. "Time to go", I growled as I grabbed Killer's antennae and tugged them forward. Killer shrieked in pain as he rushed full speed into Jiant, as instructed by the direction of my tugging. He tucks his head as he slams into Jiant's underbelly, but I wouldn't allow him to slow down as I tugged even harder on his antennae in the exact same direction. Obligated to follow me commands due to the pain, Killer continues to push Jiant backwards as I led the two of them into the camera bulb. I wince for a moment from the impact of the three of us crashing into the wall, destroying the bulb in the process as the nine cameras and broken glass then fell to the floor.
Killer, having received most of the pain, then plummets to the ground, causing me to leap from his back at the last minute, landing on all fours. Jiant then dives towards the ground as well, but for a different reason. The yellow brute suddenly became interested in the tiny cameras and all of the loose wiring that hung from them as he began stuffing his face with them. It was then that I realized Jiant's role in the swarm. Lethal was the Beta, Nightmare was the brawler, Grinder was the mischievous, yet evasive one, Killer was the patient (though I use that word loosely) one that only acted whenever the situation called for it, and Jiant was the sort of baby of the family as he tended to whine and act on impulse in comparison to the others, and that included Nightmare's hot-headed and reckless nature.
Finally, some privacy, I think to myself in response to Jiant's appetite obliterating Killer Moth's only means of spying on me. It was then that I noticed another angry shriek coming from overhead. I turned to see Lethal shrieking down at me.
"Fight! Fight now", he shrieked at me. I hesitated for a moment in response. With the moths being completely silent (in the sense that they said nothing other than a series of untranslatable shrieks up until this point) upon my meeting them, I was under the assumption that they couldn't speak. It turns out that they could, though they were very articulate apparently. "Fight! We fight now", he repeated. In response to this, the other four moths all stopped what they were doing and look in my direction. Once again, I was amazed at how much these individuals differed from other moths. Among other things, it was interesting that these moths had developed a swarm with each other, as moths aren't really known for swarming, except maybe under a lightbulb. That said, the swarm these moths had formed was more closely related to a wolf pack. Though both swarms and packs attacked as a unit, what made these five moths a pack and not a swarm was their sense of restraint. Though impulse and instinct led them to attack me individually prior to this moment, the other moths did recognize and respect Lethal's role as their leader as they patiently sat on the sidelines while he challenged me to an honorable one-on-one fight for dominance. This was also made evident when Lethal organized his previous triple attack with the help of Grinder and Killer. "Up! Up! Fight me! Up", Lethal continued.
Despite the lack of a flowing speaking voice, a large vocabulary, and the fact that he was a moth, Lethal was actually pretty intelligent. Despite him never actually saying a full sentence, his message was clear. He was saying, "get up here and fight me". That alone isn't too impressive, until you stop and realize that Lethal, in theory, should have no idea that I have the ability to fly, nor should he assume that I have the ability as he had just met me that day, and I was purposely restraining myself from using my Elemental abilities, including my non-"normal" animal forms. However, having witnessed me Change back and forth between a wolf and a bear, Lethal both predicted and anticipated that I could Change into a flying animal, and was preparing himself to fight me once I Changed into said animal.
In response to his challenge, I roar at him, as if confirming whether or not he truly wanted to fight. Lethal responded by shrieking back at me. The other four moths then began to chime in as they, too began to shriek.
"Fight! Fight! Fight", they all shrieked as if they were a group of school children. At this point, Lethal had earned my full respect, so I responded by honoring his request.
"Lobomon armor-digivolve to…. Gizamon", I said in a growl as I took to the air to meet Lethal face-to-face. With nobody else in the room other than the moths, and Killer Moth having no way to spy on us anymore, I had nothing to hide. Though the four moths below us seemed a bit stunned at the sight of a flying wolf, Lethal was in no way surprised to see Gizamon, as he continued to challenge me with another shriek. I replied with another growl as we began circling one another in midair. After a few moments of intense silence, the two of us take off like rockets toward each other as our battle began. Once we made contact with each other, the two of us immediately begin snapping our jaws at one another, sinking our teeth into each other's skin every so often as we each frantically tried to put the bite on our opponent while at the same time avoiding their teeth. Eventually, Lethal clamps his jaws down onto my abdomen. Once he had me there, he decided to keep me there as he then begins to shake his head vigorously. Desperate to break free, I reach up and begin to claw at his face, expecting him to release me just as Jiant had earlier. Much to my surprise and my dismay as I noticed that Lethal refused to give up his grip on me as he completely ignored the many slashes I made to his face. It was then that I decided to switch up my game plan as I began punching his face instead. Lethal, now having endured as much pain as possible, finally releases me from his jaws, allowing me to escape, though my abdomen was in severe pain due to his sharp teeth and was bleeding.
Before Lethal could make another move, I flew above him and shot downward with my right elbow sticking towards him. I then proceeded in delivering a massive pile-driver move on him as I drove him into the ground below onto his stomach. Lethal let out a groan as he laid on his stomach, but I had one more point to get across. I then lifted Lethal over my head and let out another roar, pretending for a moment that I was Tarzan lifting up Sabor's dead body and presenting it to an awed audience. My display of power worked as the other four moths stared in both respect and fear as they witnessed me overpowering their Beta, thereby acknowledging that I was their Alpha. I knew that Lethal had accepted me as his Alpha as well as he could've very easily flapped his wings and flown away as I lifted him up over me. Instead, he decided to stay where he was, allowing me to assert my dominance over him. Once I felt my point was made, I give Lethal a small toss, throwing him onto his side. I wait for the exhausted green moth to rise to his feet before I approach him. I then took the time to spell it out for him one more time in a way I was certain that he'd understand.
"Me, Alpha", I said with another growl as I rose to my hind legs for a brief moment and pounded on my chest again. "Lethal, Beta."
"No! Lethal no Beta! Lethal no Beta", said Lethal, now seemingly more irritated than just a moment ago. I returned to speaking normally to him in response to this sudden outburst.
"What do you mean, "Lethal no Beta"? If you're not the Beta, than who is?"
"No! Am Beta", he began again as he took to the air. "Lethal no Beta! Lethal no Beta!" Lethal then began flying in circles overhead. The other four moths responded by joining Lethal in flying in circles in a single-file line overhead. It was then that I finally realized what Lethal was referring to.
"Duh", I said as I facepalmed myself, having returned to my human form at this point, with the exception of my wolf ears. "God, I'm stupid!" I had just noticed that the five moths all had pitch-black underbellies, except to Lethal, whose underbelly was white. I also noticed that in comparison to the other four moths, Lethal was slightly smaller than the others. "You don't like the name, "Lethal", do you? Because you're a girl, aren't you?", I called up to the moths. Lethal responded by immediately rushing down and tackling me, as I had hesitated having been unprepared for the moth's response. With the moth pinning me onto my back, Lethal then began biting at my shirt and shaking it as if a giant playful puppy and not a moth. It was then that I noticed a cheerful look in Lethal's eyes, having appreciated the fact that I acknowledged that she was indeed a female moth. "I'll take that as a hard "yes"", I said sarcastically as I petted the side of the moth's face. "Okay, um, how about, "Lola"?" The moth then takes to the air again and begins flying around wildly in hyperactive excitement.
"Lola Lola Lola Lola Lola Lola Lola Lola", she repeated over and over again, which told me that she liked the new name. Lola then flew back down towards me, though she waited until I had just picked myself up off the ground, only to tackle me again.
"I think I should've named you, "Bayleef"", I said sarcastically to Lola as if I expected her to understand my reference.
"Lola Lola Lola", she repeated again just before she playfully nipped at me again. It was clear that she liked me at this point as her bites were in no way painful despite her sharp teeth. Her biting was innocently gentle as she was only playing with me.
"Okay, okay, I like you, too", I chuckled to her, unable to keep a straight face anymore. The others responded by flying down to us and joining in on the fun as the other moths also began playfully nipping at me. "Guys, cut it out", I chuckled again as I struggled to free myself from the giant moths, who at this point were more like a group of oversized puppies. It was then that the moths heard a noise.
"Master", shouted Lola as she and the others retreated to the air and began flying around wildly. I immediately learned what they were referring to when I heard the mechanical sounds of the ceiling/floor above beginning to open again. I responded by Changing back into Lobomon again to conceal my human form. Once the opening was completely open, Killer Moth descended from above, showing off his moth-like wings once again.
"Sorry for the interruption", began Moth. "Just wanted to see how you were progressing in taming these five." I knew right away that his answer was bullshit. If he wanted to check for progress, he could've waited until some significant time had passed and then checked on us. The only reason he was there was because Jiant ate his security cameras less than ten minutes ago. "Seems like I've come at the perfect time", continued Moth. I then noticed some aggression in his voice. "Looks to me like you're beginning to slack, Wolfman."
"On the contrary. I've already managed to tame your so-called Big Five", I said confidently, though slightly worried. Though I was successful in earning the moths' respect, particularly Lola's, I hadn't had any chance to work with them, so my statement, while technically true, was in reality a huge bluff.
"Is that so", asked Moth as he pulled out what looked like a metal baton, though smaller than most. He then pushed a button on it, which resulted in a long stream of energy sort of "extending" from it. It took me a moment, but I soon learned that it was a whip that Killer Moth was holding, in fact it was identical to the energy the masked men used to restrain and capture Adryen. Upon seeing the whip I couldn't help but growl. "Relax, Wolfman. This isn't for you." Moth then flicks and cracks the whip up at the moths, the closest one to it being Lola. "Come, Lethal!" Upon hearing her rejected name, Lola shrieks angrily at Moth. "I said, "Come"", he repeats as he cracks the whip again, this time striking Lola as he did so.
"Knock it off", I shouted at him impulsively with a roar.
"What did you just say to me", challenged Moth.
"Knock it off, Moth", I said more calmly as I tried to recover from my sudden outburst. "I already made record time taming these moths, I don't need you screwing it up." I immediately regretted saying that to him as I had just realized how arrogant it came off as. As expected, Moth did not take it well.
"You don't talk like that to me", he shouted as he cracked the whip at my paws, I rose to my hind legs in response to this. Upon seeing Killer Moth crack his whip at me, Nightmare let out an angry shriek as he immediately begins to rush at him. I Changed into my bear form and growled at him in response to this. Upon hearing my outburst, Nightmare stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me. Killer moth, stunned by Nightmare's oncoming attack also stops and stares in awe. With Nightmare looking me dead in the eye, I simply shook my head at him. Nightmare then backed away from Killer Moth and rejoined the others in the air above. I look back at Killer Moth to see that he was still frozen in awe at how I handled Nightmare. I took advantage of the situation immediately.
"As you can see, the moths and I have an understanding. As you wished, they have accepted me as their Alpha, and as their Alpha, I will be the one who commands them."
"That's cute, Kid. But it seems to me that you've gotten a little too comfortable with me. You seem to have forgotten that I am your master, and you are to follow my orders." It was at this point that I snapped again. I had had quite enough of Moth's egotistical bullshit. Again, as far as he knew, I was volunteering my help for his cause. I had no obligation to tame his moths, assist his plans, or help him take over the city. I was actively choosing to be there with him, and he was in no way the boss of me, especially considering the way he bitched out whenever confronted by his own daughter. Besides, taking the whole authority aspect of the situation out of the equation, in addition to infiltrating Moth's base and ruining his plans in order to protect the city, I was also taking it upon myself at this point to protect Moth's prisoners, too, those being Lola, Nightmare, Grinder, Jiant, Killer, as well as Fixit, too. Despite being untamable up until that moment, it was obvious that the moths still feared their creator, so as long as I was around, I would do my best to shield them from him. If Killer Moth still wanted the help he thought I was going to provide, then he was going to have to listen to me.
"Wrong again, Moth. You may have created these moths, but you cannot control them, and that little toy of yours hasn't helped you in the least. Why should I take orders from you, when you're so desperate to control your own creations that you need me to do it for you? Without me, you have no hope of having the Big Five battle ready by tomorrow. If you want my help in taking over Jump City than you'll listen to me." Killer Moth then begins to approach me slowly, dragging his energy whip on the ground as he did so. I could hear Lola and the others growing restless in response to this, but I lifted my paw at them to reassure them and keep them where they were. Killer Moth, once he was close enough, looks up at me and stares, completely unfazed by the fact that I towered over him as a bear. We stood there like that for an awkward moment of silence, which was finally broken by Moth, once again chuckling.
"You've got spunk, Wolf. A whole lotta spunk", he says as he deactivates his whip. Upon seeing him do so, I returned to my wolf form, but remained on two legs upon doing so. He then puts his arm around my shoulder and begins leading me to the hole in the ceiling. "Come, Wolfman. Tonight we celebrate the fall of Jump City, and the destruction of those wretched Titans." Once we were directly underneath the hole, he pulls me against him tightly as he flies us up and out of the room. As the floor closed behind us and we landed on the floor, I immediately break away from Moth and begin brushing myself off, as the lift up was an uncomfortably awkward ride.
"So now what", I asked him having finished brushing myself off.
"Now, we eat", he responded as he tried to reach his arm around me again. At this point I had had all the weird touching I could take for one day. I responded to his suggested movement towards me by dropping to all fours and heading towards the hallway.
"Sweet! About time", I said sarcastically trying to draw his attention away from me dissing him. Moth simply chuckles in response as he flies ahead of me, leading me back to the dining room where his associates were waiting for us.