07/04/2012
Disclaimer: By my calculations, I shall have acquired the rights to Digimon, Kamen Rider, and other mentioned properties featured in this chapter, right about…Never. Pity, I had such plans (Muhahaha).
FanAuthor's Note: Fun fact. Laptop stopped working during a trip, and half of the intended chapter 9 was on said laptop. Not wanting to wait till it was fixed, I decided to restart writing the chapter. I'll incorporate some things I wrote before into this one, but I just couldn't wait another week.
Also, for those not interested in OC centered fics, worry not. Some actual franchise characters are slated to appear. Not anytime soon, by realistic estimates of when I get chapters out, but eventually. I have plans, most diabolical plans (muhahahaha, again).
Chapter 9: On the Run
/Blistering Path
Break, Away from Everybody,
The two travel companions continued on to Hyperlink Town. Night had fallen on the fabled Blistering Path, and the moon didn't so much as mildly warm the area around the two of them. Colin had decided to see whether or not he could continue to play music on his D-Arc as it was now. It seemed to be working fine.
Break, Away from Everything.
Elecmon gave his friend a slightly annoyed look, as the D-Arc lacked headphones and the song was being blasted loud enough for likely the whole desert to hear.
If you can't stand, the way this place is,
Take yourself to higher places.
"Do you mind?"
"Sorry?"
"Turning down the music a bit?"
"If you can't stand…"
"Don't make me zap you."
Smiling, Colin complied and brought down the volume, all the while whistling.
"You seem to be in a better mood."
"Didn't I say the same thing to you recently?"
"Yeah, but still, you were a little sour a while ago."
"Guess it's just the-"
"Hi there, kids."
"Oh god, you're still here."
The two of them could here LM laughing away inside their heads.
"Well someone's got to look out for you two fools."
"Colin, play nice with the wanted hacker."
"…If I must."
Going on a few minutes without saying a word to one another, Colin thought of something else to talk about.
"So Shin, about your friend Starmon. By friend I assume that he's like you, right?"
"You mean is he an 'anomaly' likes me, as the Elders like to refer to us? Yup, otherwise we wouldn't be able to actually reform Maul, and I'd get deleted while you'd get instantly booted and eventually arrested."
"I ask a simple question and you go and remind me, once again, that what I'm doing is illegal. Thank you Shin, I had forgotten since the last time you brought it up."
"Well someone's getting cranky."
"Shut up, Lucky."
Lucky chuckled a little, and then spoke solely to Shin.
"Hey, weren't you going to fill him in on the Digital World?"
"Did you tell him I was going to do that?"
Colin, not having heard Lucky a moment ago and hearing Shin seeming talking to him, responded.
"Did I tell who what?"
"Not you Colin, Lucky. Give us a second."
"Well yeah, I thought it'd be better hearing about this place's creation from you."
"You and I disagree on how the Digital World was formed."
"There are parts that both of us do agree on, though. Come on, he'll just dismiss anything I say. It's you he trusts."
Sighing, Shin turned towards Colin as they continued their journey.
"Apparently Lucky said that I'd fill you in on how the Digital World was formed. Care for a history lesson?"
"Is this how MAGAMI says they created it, or your version?"
"I prefer to think of it as the 'true' version, but yes, it'll be my side of the story."
"I've never been one to hate story time as a kid. Sure, why not?"
/Popsicle Town
"Fireball!"
"Snow Punch!"
The two weary Digimon repeatedly clashed their ranged attacks. For the first time since he started playing the game, Dmitri was not in complete control of a fight.
The two Champions struck again and again, becoming the focus of battle for Popsicle Town. Even DinoHyumon and Seasarmon's fight with Seadramon was second fiddle in attention to the duel between Meramon and Hyogamon. Dmitri was barely noticing how much attention he was getting, due to how badly the fight was going for them.
Hyogamon was on an entirely different level, when compared to the other Champion level Digimon Dmitri and Meramon had faced up to that point. Having already used a combo involving his Lighter and Kunemon hive cards, as well as wasting his Flymon card prematurely and Gasoline card, and now using Energy to keep a winded Meramon moving, Dmitri was very irate.
I try increasing Meramon's power, and all Hyogamon does is dodge and make Meramon waste his energy. Now he's running on fumes; wasn't I chewing out Colin and Asami for being just this situation a few hours ago?
Returning his thoughts to the fight before, Dmitri used one of the Weak Codes installed in his D-Arc to refresh his deck, as well as a Power Charge to refresh Meramon. The Digimon immediately perked up after this, attacking the Ice Troll anew. Choosing a more aggressive tactic this time around, he slide three cards through his D-Arc, hoping to end this battle quickly.
Digi-Modify: Gasoline Activate!
Digi-Modify: Lighter Activate!
Digi-Modify: Woodmon (2x) Activate!
Meramon appeared to be suddenly coated with oil, which caused his flames to intensify greatly, as well as gaining a red lighter in his right hand. At the same time, two Woodmon drones appeared in front of him. Hyogamon was unimpressed by this, and simply raised his ice club defensively. Meramon stared down his opponent, before motioning for the Woodmon to attack.
"Take this, Fireball!"
Hitting both of the Woodmon with a fireball, the two Nature Digimon sparked up like a bonfire, but still remained for the most part intact. Taking up positions on either side of Hyogamon, the two flaming sentinels lunged forwards, clearly planning to catch him between them.
"Woody Smash."
Hyogamon simply leaped over the two, the burning tree Digimon colliding beneath him and briefly resembling a burning pile of logs before disappearing into data. Hyogamon looked almost smug for a moment, before he felt an uncomfortable and recognizable heat about 5 feet in front of him. Looking up as opposed to the now nonexistent Woodmon, the ice troll saw a soaring Meramon, who was positioning the lighter before his mouth, and roared into it like it was a microphone.
"Magma Blast!"
Molten rocks flew of in all directions from Meramon, while a rather large blue stream of fire flew off of the lighter that Meramon had roared into, striking Hyogamon square in the chest. The blue flame moved faster than the rest of the attack, and Hyogamon found that he couldn't avoid the molten rocks as they also struck him before he even returned to the ground. Landing on his back unceremoniously, Hyogamon quickly jumped back upright, and released a volley of counter attacks as Meramon began to descend.
"Snow Punch! Snow Punch!"
The wintery blasts removed a good deal of the extra heat Meramon had gained, and Dmitri grimaced as Hyogamon actually resorted to taunting.
"And just as you were 'Evening' the playing field with your little toys, I, a real Digimon, show how weak you really are compared to me."
Goddamn, this difficultly curve came out of nowhere. How is this fair at all? First day seems easy, with only a Kunemon swarm and a Tapirmon herd to deal with. Heck, even this morning was more manageable. He then recalled how Colin had been doing just about as well as he had, before having his Kumamon deleted by this very same Boss Digimon. I am not getting booted out like Colin. No disrespect to the guy, but I have something a little more serious to do here than 'playing for my little brother'.
Bringing his strapped D-Arc up to his face when no one was looking, he was able to see that it had downloaded a good deal of the game's environmental and spawning specs, as well as something that both surprised and alarmed Dmitri. On his D-Arc were schematics for some sorts of weapons. Among them was a gun like device that from what little Japanese Dmitri knew off-hand, seemed to suggest that pointing this thing at an electronic device or even a building and firing it would either simply turn off its power or corrupt it in some way, though it got rather vague in that part of the description. The schematics that had his undivided attention, however, were the ones that depicted some sort of tank like vehicle.
What the hell? I better get paid well for this weird sh-
"What'cha looking at?"
Shocked out of his little world, Dmitri quickly hid his D-Arc to his side as he came face to face with an overly-curious Reiko. She had apparently switched targets and was having Seasarmon engage a group of Icemon.
"Nothing that concerns you. Do you mind?"
Pouting, Reiko ran off to rejoin her Seasarmon, who was still fighting any Icemon it encountered. It was surprisingly quiet for a partner Digimon, from what Dmitri had experienced so far. Even Candlemon regularly quips when it hits Champion level. What's up with hers, does it not come with pre-made taunts?
"Seasarmon, don't leave any Icemon for the meanies, they're no fun."
"Complying."
Targeting a group of Icemon, it unceremoniously began to engage them, no jokes or threats, just simply assaulting them.
"Sun's Courage."
Not even raising its voice when calling out its attack, Seasarmon leaped above the Icemon and unleashed a flurry of light arrows upon them, deleting a good deal of them and absorbing their data. The surge of data still didn't seem to bring any visible emotion to the 'mon. The creature was more emotionless than Hyogamon, who was at best cold or extreme in his temperament. Speaking of Hyogamon…
"You no longer seem so sure of yourself, fire-starter."
Grinning defiantly, Meramon raised both his arms into a fighting stance, while puffing heavily.
"What are you talking about, I'm doing fine. I just glad to finally have something to challenge me."
"Really? Because to me you're barely any more threatening than a Numemon."
About half of the people and Digimon present stopped what they were doing to look their way, especially at Meramon, who was darkening with rage. Being called pathetic or weak is a typical insult, one that any person could brush off. But for one Digimon to compare another with a Numemon, that's a call for blood.
"Take that back, unless you want your card to end up inside a WaruMonzaemon's backside."
Not at all affected, Hyogamon countered, his expression blank as usual.
"Still be in better hands than a no account, fleshy reliant 'anomaly' like yourself."
No one but the Sorcermon seemed to pick up on the anomaly comment, though they continued to fight Icemon and SnowGoblimon for the moment.
As the two engaged each other once more, Dmitri sighed out of weariness. Hoping that Asami was having better luck than him, Dmitri briefly focused on how DinoHyumon's battle was going. It was definitely something to witness, if simply for the interactions between Asami and Reiko, who had again chosen to fight Seadramon.
"Reiko, quit getting in our way. There are literally hundreds of other targets for you to engage, so leave Seadramon to me and DinoHyumon!"
"Why should you get to claim something as big as Seadramon? You're just afraid that I'll delete him before your partner even gets the chance to land a blow, aren't you? Well to bad, Ass-ami, first come first serve."
Not even wanting to bring up the point that both she and DinoHyumon were the 'first come' in this case, Asami fumed silently and supplied DinoHyumon with his Crabmon card.
Digi-Modify: Crabmon Activate!
Bringing his Ronin blade behind him, DinoHyumon charged forward, and jumping up over another sweep of Seadramon's tail, slashed his blade at seemingly nothing about 10 feet away from the beast's face.
"Scissor Magic!"
Three energy crescents rushed at Seadramon's face. All of them struck the Digimon's face, causing him to howl in anger and power up another attack.
"Asami honey, please tell your overgrown lizard to get out of Seasarmon's way; not very sportsman-like of you."
Speaking for himself, DinoHyumon grunted back as he leaped over Seadramon's tail that he had thrashed towards him.
"If you want your 'pet' to score a hit, then you should work for it. I'm not pausing to let you 'score points', brat!"
Stomping her foot repeatedly and pouting, Reiko whined to a nearby Sorcermon, who was engaging an Icemon.
"She's being mean to me. Make her play fair."
Seeming to ignore the 'Tamer Queen's' request, the Sorcermon still turned to Asami after fending off an attack. Its cold eyes unnerved Asami a bit as it spoke.
"You don't seem to be inputting responses into your partner. How exactly are you causing it to speak?"
"Uh, I'm not. He just talks on his own. Isn't that normal? I mean, your speaking freely."
Shaking his head, the Sorcermon pointed at Reiko's Seasarmon, who was currently attacking Seadramon head on.
"Sun's Courage."
Lacking the enthusiasm or volume of DinoHyumon, Meramon, or Maul, Seasarmon launched five orange energy arrows at Seadramon. The feral Digimon blocked two of the arrows with his tail, but the other three continued on and struck his belly, setting the parts they his aflame as they did. Seadramon cried out in pain, while Reiko squealed like a little child. Seasarmon was all together unresponsive to this all, as if it had nothing to do with what just happened. Sorcermon spoke again.
"Outside of calling out attacks, Digimon are not meant to speak unless a Tamer, likely the more…devoted individuals, inputs phrases or dialogue into their Digimon's temporary data using their D-Arcs. Even my lines are delivered by a MAGAMI Administrator at their Headquarters. Your Digimon on the other hand-"
The Sorcermon pointed his staff at DinoHyumon's back, who was busy dodging Seadramon's Ice Blasts. Asami's eyes lit up as she realized what the Elder was doing.
"-appears to be suffering from an anomaly. He shouts all his attacks, appears to have a very aggressive attitude, to the point that he is unpleasant to players. I'm afraid I'm going to have to delete him."
"DinoHyumon, look out!"
"Crystal Barrage."
As quietly as Seasarmon had been, Sorcermon launched multiple ice shards at DinoHyumon with little fanfare. The lizard man had only just noticed that he was being targeted, and didn't have proper time to mount a defense as seven jagged pieces of ice embedded themselves into his back.
"DinoHyumon! Leave him alone, he hasn't done anything wrong!"
The Sorcermon stared blankly at Asami, cocking its head to one side in confusion.
"I'm afraid the safety guidelines of the game require me to eliminate all anomalies that I come across. When you are logged off, expect to have MAGAMI security come by to discern how your Digimon became rampant."
"Oh, so I seem rampant, do I?"
Looking back at his target, Sorcermon found that DinoHyumon had appeared directly in front of his face. Kneeing the wizard elder in the stomach, DinoHyumon sheathed his Ronin Blade and brought back out his butcher knives.
"Lizard Dance!"
Unleashing a fury of cuts and slashes, DinoHyumon assaulted the Popsicle Town elder with little hesitation. Asami looked on in shock, but before DinoHyumon could land a final blow in his combo, a blizzard suddenly sprung to life between him and his target.
"Ice Illusion."
As the snow storm cleared, the two could see that two other Sorcermon had rescued their comrade, and had used some of the blizzard to create a small tornado to bring him over to them.
"Well now they're definitely not going to listen."
"What was I supposed to do, let him continue to attack me while you try 'reasoning' with him?"
"It worked for Shin."
Thinking back, the two suddenly realized that their Elecmon ally was nowhere to be seen, despite having chosen to accompany them to deal with the Icemon earlier.
"Where the hell is he, by the way?"
"I think we have other things to worry about that wayward Elecmon, mistress."
Proving his point, the three elders were all now pointing their staffs at both DinoHyumon and Asami. Reiko had briefly halted Seasarmon's battle with Seadramon to watch what was going on, with a look that showed she was clearly thinking of what to do in this situation.
"Crystal Barrage."
A fierce looking volley of arrows soared towards the two. Not wanting a repeat of just a moment ago, and not desiring to find out what having icicles lodged in one's digital avatar felt like, Asami quickly slashed a card through her D-Arc.
Digi-Modify: Aero Wings Activate!
Grabbing Asami the moment he felt the wings spring out of his back, DinoHyumon took to the air. It was a good thing too, because Seadramon was growing rather tired of being ignored, and had chosen to attack the spot the two were previously standing at.
"Ice Blast!"
Seeing that their best chance of survival was to be as aggressive as possible, Asami wasted no time slashing another card through, and a smile came to DinoHyumon's face as he recognized the power.
Digi-Modify: ShimaUnimon Activate!
"Mirage Blaster! Mirage Blaster! Hah!"
Launching two volleys of energy blasts at the Sorcermon below, DinoHyumon smirked as he saw them scatter out of the way. Most of them anyway, as one took a direct hit from the attack and disappeared. Once he did, however, no data flowed to DinoHyumon like it would normally. His smirk faded after realizing this.
"What madness is this? Why aren't you getting a card or me anymore power?"
One of the elders, dusting himself off from his dodge attempt, chose to answer.
"Players are forbidden from engaging Elders, and doing so successfully will not earn them any in-game bonuses. Instead-"
He paused, and looked directly at Reiko while speaking, while his counterpart faced Dmitri and got his attention.
"-They will have made themselves targets to be ejected from the game. This can either be done by other Elders, or players who desire a bonus."
Dmitri caught on to what the Sorcermon was suggesting, and was against it himself. Reiko and Meramon had other ideas.
"Did he just put a hit out on you two?"
"Sounds fine by me. Fireball!"
DinoHyumon had to veer out of the way of Meramon's attack, and both he and Asami fixed Dmitri a dirty glare. Dmitri looked shocked and angry by his partner's aggressive act.
"What the hell Dmitri! I'd expect that from the new girl, but not you! Call your partner off!"
"I didn't tell him to do that."
"Hah, that's funny- CALL HIM OFF!"
"Well maybe he's having control problems-"
DinoHyumon sensed someone unwanted behind them, and spun around mid-air to find Seasarmon leaping towards them, with some familiar orange orbs forming a circle in front of him.
"But I'm not. Seasarmon?"
"Sun's Courage."
The Shishi Digimon launched his solar arrows at the two. DinoHyumon turned back around so as to take the brunt of the attack, saving Asami from getting damaged. The fire started to burn his wings, and the Digimon below them didn't seem like he'd be sparing them of more flames.
"Fireba-"
"Meramon, stop it!"
Meramon turned mid swing to sheepishly face Dmitri, who was looking a little bit livid.
"What the hell is your malfunction? At what point did I seem to suggest that I'd be okay with you attacking Asami or her partner?"
"But earlier DinoHyumon was-"
"I don't care, you don't attack our friends! Do understand me?"
Before the shamed fire Digimon could answer, a wintery force knocked him into one of the burning huts near the town hall. DinoHyumon had to tuck Asami under him and roll out of the way, so as to not get caught in the blast. Dmitri followed the attack back to his source, and saw an irritated Hyogamon with his arm still outstretched.
"If the human puppets see fit to delete you traitor Digimon, that's fine. But your fight is with me."
The human puppets in question began to focus on Dmitri now, having noticed something undesirable about him as well. Two of them aimed at where Meramon had landed, and their staffs began to glow.
"Crystal Barrage."
Surprised by the sudden attacks, Meramon raised his arms to block as many of ice shurikans, knives and other assorted ice-created weapons that were flying towards him. Hyogamon took this opportunity to again attack the distracted Champion, rushing him and raising his ice mace high.
"Ice Cudgel!"
The spiky ice mace collided harshly with Meramon's head, sending the poor 'mon flying. Dmitri turned his fury upon the Sorcermon, as Hyogamon ignored the ice attacks that began to then pelt his hide.
"What the hell, we are on your side? What has gotten into you guys?"
"Player Dmitri, your Digimon is an illegal anomaly. Most unsettling, having two players in the same village and that have conversed with one another using illegal game characters. Such behavioral modifications are dangerous to have in an A.I., and your virus partners shall be deleted. You will then be questioned as to how you obtained or made such a program. Resistance shall bring about harsher consequences than already required."
"Excuse me? Meramon's a Data-type, you idiots, and so is DinoHyumon, so what do you mean our Digimon are anomalies? What kind of 'behavioral modifications' are you going on about?"
"Furthermore-" continued another Sorcermon, ignoring Dmitri as he let out a blast of ice from his staff, without calling out an attack. Dmitri instinctively rolled out of the way, and saw that the blast had nearly struck his D-Arc.
"-we have detected that your key pass and in-game Digivice have been tampered with, and are currently illegally copying data pertaining to this game, including the schematics of the game's Virtual Reality engine. This is a much more serious offense."
Dmitri's eyes widened as he realized that he'd been figured out, and only on his second day. Well there goes my reputation. The other hackers will never let me live this down. That, and if I don't sign off immediately, I can expect some serious jail time. MAGAMI lawyers aren't known for their lenience in these matters.
"Lizard Dance!"
DinoHyumon had taken the opportunity to attack the distracted Sorcermon, cutting him to ribbons in a matter of seconds. Again, no data was retrievable for DinoHyumon once that was over. The lizard man saw Meramon struggle afar upon seeing DinoHyumon appear so close to Dmitri, and put his tamer's fears to rest.
"Apparently, they don't seem to be any fonder of you than they are of us. So if you don't feel like attacking us again, how about we all get out of here before things get ugly?"
Dmitri looked to Asami, who DinoHyumon had set down behind a building after landing. She nodded in confirmation, and the young man thought of what to do next.
All right, so how about a recap. It's only my second day, and I'm already found out and wanted by MAGAMI officials. Not only me, but now a new friend of mine are in some serious trouble for something we didn't even consciously do. What exactly can we do? Ignoring DinoHyumon's suggestion, there is literally nowhere we can go. This is just a VR, and even if we outrun the in-game patrols, they've likely already sent the officials they got waiting in the hotel to come find me in the VR machine. Our best bet is to…
His thoughts were cut short by his partner crashing in front of the three of them, ice shards and dimmed flames all over his body. Asami and DinoHyumon instinctively reached over to check him, while Dmitri stood back in shock. Focusing more on who could have done this to him, he turned to see that Hyogamon was busy backing into them unknowingly, as the Sorcermon Elders barraged him with 'Crystal Barrage' attacks.
DinoHyumon brought his attention to the nearing Hyogamon, and brought out Akinakes, his Ronin Blade having final run out of time, and put it in a defensive pose as he spoke to the Orgemon Boss.
"Looks like you got yourself a lot to deal with. We'll just leave you to it then."
Hyogamon turned his head slightly to fix DinoHyumon a cold glare, and the two of them failed to notice a white and gold dog Digimon bared down on them and proceed to leap into the air. Asami rose her head up from inspecting Meramon (as best as she could) when she heard a cocky voice she had grown to dislike.
"You're not going anywhere, cheaters. Seasarmon?"
"Complying."
DinoHyumon and Hyogamon looked up, and the lizard man gave the shishi a bemused look.
"I'm ready for you pup this time, girl. What exactly do you expect him to do?"
Seemingly having more concern for Asami then her own partner, Meramon sat up and knocked her away, as he seemed to sense what was about to happen next.
"Sekkantou."
Despite the lack of enthusiasm the Digimon put into calling out its attack, the effects were enough cause to worry for Meramon, Hyogamon, and DinoHyumon. A strange looking energy wall erected itself all around the three. When Meramon, feeling a bit better, tried to run through it, he was bounced back painfully into Hyogamon. Shrugging his former opponent off, the ogre like Digimon attempted to free himself.
"Snow Punch!"
"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Reiko's teasing remark had weight behind it. The minute Hyogamon's attack struck the energy wall; an arc of orange energy struck back and knocked the ogre on his back. Meramon jumped out of the way as his opponent landed like a falling rock.
"Well that went as well as expected."
"Shut up!"
"Hey, you brought this about with your 'anomaly' crap! What the hell was that about?"
"I can answer that."
The three trapped Digimon, Asami and Dmitri turned to look at a Sorcermon, who had a screen pop up next to his head showing some guy with a headset, in some sort of communications room.
"Dmitri Durov, right? From St. Petersburg, Russia I believe? The supposed 'Scarlet Hacker', given the name because of how badly damaged you leave whatever systems you enter, and because of the injuries you inflict on any real person who gets in your way."
Dmitri's eyes widened as he realized his cover was blown much worse than he had thought. The speaker smiled upon seeing his reaction, and continued.
"I'm just Justin by the way. Little old Justin, no fancy name or title for me. Oh, and to answer your rampant Meramon's question, anomalies are Digimon such as it that are extremely aggressive and have the illusion of independence with their acts of disobedience and violence. They're also notorious for selling each other out to our avatars, 'the Elders', so as to attempt to get off on their inevitable deletion. But see, Dmitri, we have a problem. Or rather you do, if you don't delete all that you've collected and turn yourself in nice and quietly. Let the Sorcermon log you off, and we'll see if we can come to some sort of understanding."
"And by logging off, you mean?"
"Well he'll delete your anomaly partner, of course."
Behind the energy barrier, both Meramon and DinoHyumon growled as they heard this.
"Like hell I'll let that happen."
Shaking his head, Justin sighed.
"Really, I just don't understand why all you hackers have to go and make such unruly programs. What's so wrong with having a quiet little Digimon that does exactly what it's told? This reminds me-"
He turned his attention to Reiko, who seemed to already know what he was going to say and was smiling gleefully.
"MAGAMI Entertainment will happily boost your partner's power up to Ultimate-level for free. Once you eliminate that hacker's cheap Digimon."
"Gladly. Sorry D., but I don't like cheaters. Seasarmon?"
"Complying."
All three of the trapped Digimon recognized the move as Seasarmon leapt into the air. Shoving the other two occupants in front of him, Hyogamon hoped to have his 'cell mates' absorb the brunt of the attack.
"You dirty bast-"
"Sun's Courage."
Striking the front two targets with a barrage of light arrows, DinoHyumon and Meramon howled out in pain. Not about to leave her partner to be deleted, Asami slashed two cards.
Digi-Modify: Power Activate!
Digi-Modify: Stamina Activate!
Looking much better, DinoHyumon proceeded to block as many of the arrows fired that his new found strength could. Seeing his ally's efforts were concentrated on stopping the arrows, Meramon started attacking the energy barrier.
"Magma Blast! Magma Blast!"
Summoning multiple molten rocks, Meramon launched them all at the cage that was leaving them at the mercy of Seasarmon. Though it didn't seem to cause the barrier to cave, no energy arced towards Hyogamon in response
"I'm not just gonna stand here and watch as some scrub tries to delete my Digimon!"
Clearly having had enough, Dmitri brought out what he considered his ace card, and ran it through his D-Arc.
Digi-Modify: Starmon Activate!
The sky began to darken around the entire village, even in the dead of night, and suddenly it cleared up of any smoke caused by the burning city. All the combatants and random A.I.'s could see the stars, especially the ones that were seemingly coming closer.
Meramon sparked fiercely, with Hyogamon backing away in visible worry.
"Meteor Shower!"
Surpassing any 'Sun's Courage' attack that Seasarmon could have mustered, multiple fireballs rained down on him, and quite a few Sorcermon. The strikes to Seasarmon were enough to release whatever hold he had on the energy wall keeping them boxed in, and Justin's Sorcermon was badly damaged by the attack.
"Ugh, damn. I didn't know he had such a high-level card, for a File Island player. Getting rid of Durov is going to be harder than I thought."
Seeing that most of the surviving Elder's Council were too heavily damaged to safely continue battling, he had all their eyes go blue for a moment, as he input retreat commands into them. He then had his personal avatar address Dmitri once more.
"You do realize how ridiculous this is, right? The minute to log off, either because of us or those wild anomalies, your but is ours. Both of you."
With that, the Sorcermon returned to 'normal', and he and his fellow Elders simply retreated from the battlefield. Leaving only Hyogamon, Reiko and Seasarmon, Seadramon, and a whole lot of Icemon and SnowGoblimon left for Asami and Dmitri to duel with.
"Dmitri, use your Flymon card and let's get out of here."
"In a second, we have something to settle first."
Looking to Meramon, who nodded in agreement, they both turned to face a weakened Hyogamon, who didn't look as sure of himself as he had before.
"We don't have time for you to settle your battle! Stop acting like a little boy and think."
"I am thinking. You heard what the admin said. We literally have nowhere to run, realistically. At least I can finish this up before we're ejected."
Realizing that he had a point, Asami prepared DinoHyumon with two cards she's rarely used, in hopes that they can at least clear enough enemies between them and the gate out of the town.
Digi-Modify: Stamina Activate!
Digi-Modify: Training Grips Activate!
Weighted gloves and boots appeared on DinoHyumon, and he groaned slightly at the weird combo he had been dealt.
"Quiet, this will work. Trust me."
Snorting but keeping any comments he had to himself, DinoHyumon readied himself and went back to back with Meramon. At least for a few seconds before the fire giant charged down Hyogamon.
"Fireball!"
"Snow Punch!"
Unlike the last few times that both attacks were launched at each other, the fireball overpowered the frosty gale and continued on to its intended target. Hyogamon felt the air leave his lungs as it became his turn to be sent flying, right into a group of his SnowGoblimon underlings.
"Huh…huh. This…isn't happening. Not to me."
"Actually, it really is happening. Magma…"
"Seadramon! I need your help!"
"Ice Blast!"
Meramon turned around and saw a stream of ice headed his way. Closing his eyes as he braced himself for the attack, he soon realized that it hadn't yet struck him. DinoHyumon had intercepted the attack, looking mightily pissed afterwards.
"Hyogamon, weren't you the one earlier complaining about weakness? Why'd you need another 'mon's help?"
"My exact words were 'any Digimon that fail in my midst are exterminated'. There are no rules forbidding one from assisting their boss."
The SnowGoblimon looked at their leader, surprised by the hypocritical words coming out of his mouth. Hyogamon began to notice his 'mon moving away from him, and he roared at the retreating Digimon in anger.
"Where do you all think you're going? You have a problem with what I just said? You know how our gang works, what your place is!"
Meramon wasn't going to wait for him to finish scolding his gang.
"Meteor Shower!"
Using what power he had left of the Starmon card, Meramon once again called down cosmic fireballs to assault his target, this time the sole Hyogamon. The ice troll abruptly ended his tirade to try and lessen the damage he would receive. For all the good it would do him.
"Snow Punch! Snow Punch!"
The wintery blasts just bounced off the meteors, and each one found their mark on Hyogamon. Barely able to keep on his feet, the ice troll looked up as Meramon strode up to him, placed his fist an inch away from his face, and then drew it back.
"Fireball."
The attack blew Hyogamon's head clean off, before the rest of the body was reduced to body. What happened next surprised all Tamers and 'anomaly' Digimon present. A blue object, small and not of any recognizable design rose out of the data that was once Hyogamon, and after Meramon had finished absorbing the Digimon's data, flew into him. At the same time, a regular looking card, which seemed to be a bit damaged, flew to Asami with Gururumon's visage on it. Along side that, a green card with Hyogamon's image flew towards Dmitri, as he D-Arc cried out.
First Orgemon Brothers Boss defeated. First Key rewarded. Congratulations.
Dmitri stared at the card for a moment, flipping it over and checking both sides. Looking to Meramon, who signaled that he was fine, the boy spoke to Asami.
"Asami, what do you make of this?"
"Be with you in a second. DinoHyumon?"
"Got it."
As the time ran out for both the Stamina and Training Grips cards, DinoHyumon flexed and showed off his massively increased muscles, intimidating the remaining lackeys. Save for Seadramon, Reiko and Seasarmon.
"Let us go, and you get to keep from being added to my collection."
Reiko stuck out her tongue and pulled the bottom lid of her eye.
"In your dreams. Seasarmon, take him!"
"Complying."
Seadramon just roared.
"Rah, Ice Blast!"
Gata Gata Gata Ga!
DinoHyumon didn't so much as dodge the attack, rather he simply did not appear there when it landed. He had instead found his way yet again in front of his enemy's face, butcher knives drawn.
Gata Gata Gata Ga!
"Lizard Dance!"
Slashing multiple cuts across the sea monster's face, DinoHyumon found himself suddenly coiled up and trapped in Seadramon's tail.
"I…have…you!"
"So, you can speak. Then listen to this!"
Bring his elbow down hard on the monster's tail, DinoHyumon heard the crack as he definitely broke some of the creature's bones, forcing him to let him go. Wasting no time, he drew his giant blade and brought it to one side.
"Akinakes: Iai Blow!"
Reappearing suddenly on the other side of Seadramon, DinoHyumon had confused most of the viewers of what exactly had he done. It became clear to all when Seadramon's body suddenly split in half, then disappeared into a data cloud that DinoHyumon was absorbing.
"Heh, guess you can say I cut him…like an onion."
Dmitri and Meramon sweatdropped at the corny reference to the Digimon anime, and Asami ran up and knocked her partner on the head for thinking to say that. Reiko on the other hand, was looking a little worried, as did the Icemon and SnowGoblimon.
Asami noticed this, and turned her attention towards her.
"Still want to tussle with us?"
Before the girl could answer, her Seasarmon had begun to carry out her last request and started running for DinoHyumon.
"Sekkan-"
"Magma Blast!"
Interrupting the shishi's attack, Meramon struck the Digimon with molten rocks, sending it crashing down before his Tamer. Dmitri saw that the Icemon and SnowGoblimon were looking more confident again, and even saw some other nearby Tamers pointing and talking about them, and the look in their eyes wasn't exactly friendly.
"Asami, we should probably go. Like now!"
"Oh, now you want to go!"
Not wasting anymore time bickering, the two used yet another weak code stored away, and slide their respective flight cards.
Digi-Modify: Flymon Activate!
Digi-Modify: Aero Wings Activate!
Grabbing a hold of their partners, Meramon trying to lessen the flames around the hand Dmitri was holding onto, the four took off out of the village as their enemies grew in number, and attacks were called out with their names on them.
"Bolt Strike!"
"Iceball Bomb!'
"Sun's Courage."
Hiding behind some rubble and burned buildings, two familiar cat like creatures watched the four fly away. One of the two made off over one of the walls surrounding the town, and was soon followed by his reluctant other.
The two travelers' journey was almost to an end, with the town being visible now as the Elecmon began his tale.
"So here's the story, at least how I was told it. Not to long ago, really just a few years ago in your time, a group of scientists were working at a think-tank. They were trying to create a working Virtual Reality machine, one that a person could become completely immersed in, and act out their fantasy. To get funding for this project, they approached pharmaceutical companies with the idea of using this machine to connect families to coma patients via a link with their minds. Loved ones could visit their injured family members and actually converse with them, in whatever setting they desired."
"I remember hearing about that. Didn't it end up being canceled?"
"Yes it did. The reason why was never fully revealed to the public, and even most Digimon don't know why this came to be, but thankfully, the group of six scientists chose a different route. Unfortunately, I also can't say exactly how they managed to do this, but the Six figured out in their experiments how to create artificial life. That life being us, Digimon. Sadly, we were restricted to data form in high-powered computers and machines that can sustain our amounts of data, but from what I have learnt, the Six and the Original Digimon had a disagreement. Since the Six were responsible for creating them, they felt that Digimon were to be subservient to them in all things. The Digimon did not take kindly to this, and in the best way we knew how, we rebelled."
"How exactly did you do that if you were stuck in computers?"
"Easy: we all acted like virus pests. Even vaccine Digimon would create falsified, incriminating documents and threaten to mail them to the authorities if the Six didn't change their attitudes."
"Did that happen? Also, a there's just a little something that was bugging me about your story. Why did the Six, whoever they are, base you guys off of a children's TV show?"
"I'll answer your second question first. Apparently, we didn't have proper forms at first, just varying levels of data and intelligence. Since our creation was secret, one of the Six suggested we model ourselves after the show, with the higher levels like Ultimate or Mega being assigned to those who had more data than others. It was like a fanfiction come true for her."
"Her?"
"From what I was told, yes it was a female member. Anyway, the Six did appear to relent, and even offered to give these wandering Digimon sprites a proper field of existence to call home. By this point, their progress into making a Virtual Reality was nearly finished, and they were already detailing their first trial run after the Digital World depicted in the anime. They had also contacted Toei to let them know that they had done so, expecting them to be pleased and/or touched that their children's show had inspired this group of scientists."
"If I recall from the MAGAMI vs. Toei trial a few years back, before the game was released, I guessing they weren't."
"Nope. Toei tried to straight up grab the Digital World away from the Six under some complicated 'Stolen Property' clause or something. As you may have figured out, one of the Six had connections with the MAGAMI Co., which supplied them with the tech they were using and was paying for most of the funds at the time. Some time into the trial both sides came to a settlement, and the Six were to be given proper recognition for their work so long as Toei was in charge of distributing the 'game', as you, Asami, and Dmitri are accustomed to calling our world."
"So I can only guess that the Six didn't feel like mentioning that the world they just gave Toei access to already had occupants in it."
"No, they didn't. It was payback for us demanding autonomy. They would later 'reveal' to Toei that in the desire to emulate the show, they had unfortunately created 'rampant anomalies, Digimon data that would act out violently and give the illusion that they were sentient'."
"So then why we allowed to play…enter your world if Toei's convinced that there are hostile Digimon roaming around?"
"Because the Six managed to somehow create Artificial Digimon, who are intelligent enough to understand and follow commands, but don't think independently or act on their own. And they convinced Toei that the VR could be presented as a game if you 'players' spent all your time attacking and deleting all Wild Digimon you come across. That's also why they modeled the game after the canceled Tamer's Season, so players concentrated more on deleting Digimon and increasing their own partner's power, instead of trying to 'save the Digital World'."
"So I've been deleting innocent Digimon from day one just to satisfy some six people's fickle revenge?"
Shin shook his head.
"The Orgemon Brothers gang is far from innocent, and from what the BlackGatomon and Mikemon told me about you guys in Popsicle Town, neither were the Unimon pack. You haven't attacked any innocent Digimon at all, though granted you only played for one and a half days. It's probably that decency that allowed you to be bonded to Maul."
Colin gave Shin a confused look.
"What?"
"I don't necessarily believe this, but some Digimon think that proper sentience was granted to Digimon by one of the Sovereigns, Baihumon. They also think that 'Destined Children', kids with good hearts are chosen from the many to by Baihumon to be partnered with real Digimon, in order to preserve our world from those who mean it harm."
"So basically some people think I'm a Digidestined. Really?"
"Who says you're a Digidestined, partner?"
Looking around, Colin suddenly realized that he had walked into an Old West-styled town absentmindedly. But the thing that had drawn him away from his conversation with Shin was the fact that someone had called him 'partner'.
"…Maul?"
"Maul? Don't know any 'mon by that name. I'm called Deputymon."
The Digimon addressing him was literally a humanoid gun with a cowboy hat, jeans, and boots. Apparently being a huge gun wasn't enough, as the Digimon had two extra pistols holstered.
"Oh…hi there."
"Hi yourself. Say, you look like a rather fit guy. Care for a game?"
Shin gave Deputymon a look, but the Digimon ignored him. A crowd of Chuchidarumon, Clockmon, Togemon, Centarumon, SandYanmamon, and JungleMojyamon came to see the newcomers, with a few of them recognizing Shin and waving to him. Colin, remembering Shin's warning earlier, took a back step as he replied.
"What kind of game?"
"Oh, just a little round of Town Russian Roulette!"
Surprised that the game featured what appeared to be one of Deputymon's attacks, Colin made the mistake of actually grabbing the pistol that was tossed to him. Shin sweatdropped as Deputymon instantly took that as an 'okay' to start.
"Russian Roulette!"
Colin's heart skipped a beat as he heard the bang erupt from the gun. Checking himself all over, he found that he wasn't hit at all, and then saw a good deal of the crowd laughing at his reactions. Angry, he took his on pistol and aimed it at the Digimon.
*Click*
Nothing happened. Deputymon laughed himself this time.
"You have to say the attack if you want it to work."
"Is that so?" asked Colin, not at all amused.
"Colin, just put down the gun, you don't have to play."
Shin was promptly ignored, as both players raised their guns again and shouted the attack.
"Russian Roulette!"
Again, nothing happened. Before the two could try again, Deputymon was suddenly placed in a rough headlock by a human sized silver-star.
"Sheriff, I'm kinda busy at the mo- gack!"
"Deputymon, I have told you again and again not to haze new comers. Have I not?"
"Well yes, but come on, just this once can I-"
"Russian Roulette!"
Colin didn't wait for Starmon to let go of Deputymon, and actually managed to fire a shot off at the Digimon. It flew into his nozzle, and sent the Digimon flying out of Starmon's grasp and onto his backside a few feet away. Colin walked over to him and dropped his pistol on his chest.
"Don't play with me today; I am not in the mood."
Looking into the boy's eyes, he nodded and reached out his hand. Colin took it and helped him up. The two shook, with Deputymon sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"I didn't mean nothing by it. Just wanted to have some fun, is all."
"I warned you about your type of 'fun' before, deputy."
Turning to lock eyes with Starmon, Colin addressed him.
"I take it you're the Starmon Shin was talking about."
"I'm right here Colin, you could just wait for me to say so."
Smiling, Starmon nodded and introduced himself.
"Right, sorry we didn't get to greet each other proper like. My name is Starmon, and Shin's told me about your problem. You want to bring your partner back."
"Yeah."
"Okay, follow me then."
Shin and Colin followed Starmon, who was dragging Deputymon along with them, to the biggest building in town, the Alluring Lilymon Saloon. Inside a group of Palamon was dancing on stage, with various male Digimon cheering away. Starmon led his group down a flight of stairs behind the bar, where they were greeted to the site of some kind of lab. Near the sole window down there was some kind of altar, with a hole carved into it that looked like it could perfectly fit a D-Arc.
"So, Colin is it? You must really care about your partner to do all that you're doing right now."
"He died on my watch, trying to help me. I owe him for that."
Starmon shared a look with Shin, who sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"I see you're not completely buying our story. I'm sure Shin's already given you some version of the story on how us talkative Digimon came into being, so I won't waste anytime trying to convince you further. Whatever your reason, I'm just glad you agreed to this. Having a Digimon's partner not be here for the ceremony usually breaks the 'mon's will to live."
This disturbed Colin a little, understandably.
"You mean you've had to bring back other people's partners before? Not just other…free-willed Digimon? Why didn't they come?"
"Multiple reasons, usually the main one that likely almost kept you from coming. They find this all to be too ridiculous. Anyway, let's get this started."
Directing Colin to the altar, Starmon pointed at the hole.
"Place your D-Arc here, please."
Doing so, Starmon then went over to some the computers on the other side of the basement. Turning them on, he activated some scanners over the altar than buzzed to life. They ran a beam over the D-Arc, and Kumamon's data appeared on the screens of the computers. Starmon then went about fixing whatever corruptions he found and replacing any basic lost data. Satisfied that he had done enough, he turned to the other occupants of the basement, and threw down a switch. Silver data flooded the D-Arc, and a Digimon began to form from it. Colin looked on, with a faint smile on his face, as a familiar cat head with an 'M' birthmark and tail was properly formed. The Digimon opened his eyes, and initially seemed frightened at its unfamiliar surrounding. It then recognized Shin, who nodded his head to someone behind Wanyamon. Turning around, he saw his Tamer smiling warmly at him, and sprang onto his chest.
"Colin! Hey partner, where have you been?"
The boy remained silent as he happily hugged the lively furball, not at all sure what to do next. It seemed that answer would come from unwanted company.
"Starmon!"
Another Deputymon burst into the basement, this one having a blue scarf on as opposed to the first's red one. Starmon stomped his foot in frustration.
"Dang nambit, son! Didn't I tell you not to you not to bother me when I'm restoring 'mon? These two are trying to have a happy moment."
"I'm sorry sir, but one of our Biyomon's just reported in. They say that Popsicle Town has fallen to the Icemon and SnowGoblimon."
All of the room went silent. Elecmon clenched his teeth in anger, and Starmon became more serious.
"Where any of ours in the town?"
"Some Frigimon, some hiding Ikkakumon, and many others. I think the Gatomon couple might have gotten out, but there's no word yet."
Colin's thoughts were immediately focused on his friends.
"So Popsicle Town has fallen to Hyogamon…"
"Actually boss, I hear a Meramon partner Digimon took him out. That's why I only mentioned the SnowGoblimon and not him."
Colin and even Shin looked pleased at this, and had a pretty good idea who that Meramon's partner was. This brightened their moods greatly.
"But I'm afraid that's where the good news ends boss."
"I take it there is still some bad news."
"…Fugamon and his group are headed here."
The room was quiet again, before Starmon started barking orders.
"Well what are you standing here for? Alert the town! Tell all the Digimon with homes out of town to get back there, and have the locals ready for combat in the next hour!"
Shin went over to his friend.
"I'll help with that."
"I can't ask you to do this, Shin."
"Then it's a good thing I'm volunteering."
"We'll help too."
The two looked to see Wanyamon bouncing up and down on the altar. Colin's eyes widened and he snatched the little guy up.
"Wait a second, you were just revived! You can't just go off and…"
Wanyamon started to glow, and recognizing the light Colin let go.
Wanyamon…digivolve to…Kumamon!
Adjusting his cap, Maul turned to his partner with a cocky grin on his face.
"Hey, we still have some things to settle with those Orgemon Brothers, remember? That can't wait for me to get my nails done. We got to knock out those punks as they come."
Colin continued to look concerned for a moment, but then a smile crept onto his face.
"You crazy bear. Fine then, let's go."
Shin bared the way as the cub tried to pass, and looked the Rookie dead in the eye.
"I'm not as easily persuaded. You should be resting. Leave this fight to us."
"Ah come on, Shin, let me-"
"Kumamon, listen to me. You want to get back at them for deleting you, that's natural. But you and Colin are staying here till this situation is controlled, or at least I'm sure you're ready to start fighting again."
"Since when did you get to say when we do and don't fight?"
Staring at the boy, Shin started to glow as well.
Elecmon…digivolve to…Leomon! RAWR!
Towering over both of them, Shin spoke in a firm, but kind voice.
"You. Are. Staying. Here."
He then turned to leave, Starmon following behind him with the blue scarf Deputymon. Colin tried to follow as well, but his way was barred by the red scarf Deputymon, who had both his pistols drawn.
"Sorry, but when Leomon tells someone to do something, it's best to do. Trust me; you'll live longer and happier that way."
Having had enough of people telling him what to do, Colin reached to his mounted D-Arc, only to find that is wasn't there.
Right, it's on the altar. Better grab it, and then take out Deputymon.
Turing towards the altar, Colin saw that his digivice was no longer there. Feeling both sides of his pants, he realized that his deck of cards was missing as well.
"…that bastard's quick."
/Entrance to Bootsector Forest
Having made it to Download Plains, the four fugitives landed at the edge of Bootsector Forest. Dismounting off the back of a tired DinoHyumon, Asami moved to catch the weary Digimon as he reverted back to his Rookie form. Dmitri let go of Meramon's hand and nursed his arms, as he had been hanging onto the Digimon for dear life during the entire flight. Meramon also de-digivolved back to Candlemon, looking like he could hibernate for a week. Silence reigned between them, until Dmitri tired to break the awkward silence.
"Well, that happened."
"Yeah. Speaking of which-"
Dmitri caught a swing from an angry Asami, but took a full blow to the gut and found himself being flipped over the very next second. Candlemon was too tired to do anything, so he just hissed his dislike.
"-you're a fucking hacker? What, you and Colin couldn't just play the game like normal people, you had to go and mess with our Digimon and get the admins down on your asses, as well as mine?"
"Whoa whoa, wait a second. Firstly, ow, that freaking hurts. Second, yes I'm a hacker, but I didn't do squat to any of our Digimon. I got mine the same way everyone else did. And third, Colin isn't in on this. I told you he got kicked because Kumamon was deleted."
Having apparently not heard Dmitri the first time he said this, both Kotemon and Candlemon were visibly saddened by this bit of news. Asami still glared down at the boy.
"But then why the hell are the game admins after us, or at least me. You apparently have been downloading their shit, so it's clear why their not happy with you."
"Yeah, well I doubt anyone's going to be very 'happy with them' once they see what MAGAMI has hidden behind the base code of the game."
"What?"
After getting back on his feet (and being sure to take a few steps out of Asami's reach), Dmitri went through his D-Arc for a while before a pop-up screen emerged in the air, displaying the information he had gotten so far.
He brought up in more clarity some sort of three pronged device, which kind of looked like a gun. A video underneath the picture was turned on, which appeared to show real life footage of unknown men testing the device on an assault drone. The device glowed red as someone held and aimed it at the drone, and a few seconds later the thing crashed only a few feet away from the man. Asami's eyes grew wide as she realized what she was looking at.
"Is that a-"
"EMP gun, yeah. By the looks of it, and from the information I've been able to translate, though most of it is in Japanese, it can take out at least all the electronics in a two-story building, or corrupt them in some way. I don't quite understand a few of these words."
"What's that next thing?"
"This I didn't even get a good look at earlier, cause of Reiko."
Asami soured upon hearing that name.
Retracting the previous screen and bringing up another, the D-Arc now showed a six-wheeled vehicle. It had an opening on top of it like a tank, as well as some cannons on the front and back of it. Some of the ordinance resembled the EMP gun, but the weirdest features were the painted on eyes. For a military weapon, it was an odd choice. The text next to image was all in Japanese, and unfortunately for the two, the video showing what this thing could possibly do didn't manage to get downloaded before Dmitri had to stop. But the text caused Asami's eyebrow to raise as she read it mentally.
"What, what does it say?"
"…that this is to be used to send Digimon into the real world, as an invasion force."
"Hah, funny. Seriously, what does it say?"
"I am not shitting you, that is what is says."
Silence reigned again amongst the four. They didn't seem to notice that they were being watched by two sets of yellow, feline eyes, being too tired and shocked by what they've discovered to pay attention to their surroundings.
"Dmitri, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Sorry about the wait, a lot of sad things have happened around the time I was working on this chapter. This ends the Ice Arc, next comes the Desert Arc. Hope to keep you interested. Ciao!
