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Guard Tamer: The Ripper
of Time
By: RB3
Digital Assault and Terror Squad 2: Assault on Thomas' Lab
Ivan led Masaru to a dressing room area where he could change into his disguise. DEDO had prepared a designer suit for him. The shirt, worn on the inside, was a plain white piece of clothing that any person attending a formal would wear. The jacket and pants were of dark violet fabric, but far still flamboyant than regular suits. When he put it on, it made Masaru resembled a Yakuza thug much more closely.
Ivan looked over Masaru after he had put on the suit. "Wow! With that thing on, you look like Lord Daimon even more now," remarked Ivan.
"Bah, I hate this suit. It feels so tight and uncomfortable," said Masaru, fidgeting to express his disapproval.
Ivan took Masaru back to the central monitoring room for the others to see. "Hey, looking sharp there, Masaru," remarked Kouki.
"So handsome!" said Ayame swooning with heart-filled eyes at the sight of Masaru.
"Eh hehehe! You had me fooled there for a second," remarked Akihiro. "For your mission, you're going to meet up with Nanami in the Digital World. She'll be your support for this mission. She'll give you all the items you need to break into the lab. Good luck Masaru."
Masaru stepped into DEDO's Digital Gate and was transported to a camp somewhere in the Digital World. Nanami stepped over to greet and brief him on the mission. Masaru's job was to break into the lab, scout it, and locate the dimensional oscillators and their blueprints. Once Masaru found them, he was to sabotage the lab's security system so that DEDO could launch a full attack. Rika and Ayame will take part in this attack.
Masaru travelled to Thomas' lab escorted by a squad of Digimon. When he reached the security booth, the Kokuwamon guard looked over his squad's papers and waved them in. When he entered the front door, Thomas, in a lab coat, rushed up to greet him. "Hi Masaru, I'm surprised to see you here."
"Yeah, I just came back from roughing up some wise guys over at Ice Road City. They won't be making that mistake again," said Masaru. "Now, I'd just like to kick back and relax."
"Well then, make yourself comfortable," said Thomas. "There are some rooms down the hall you and your boys can use."
Masaru and company walked down the metal hallways of the lab. They seemed to hum as though machinery was operating behind the walls. The lab was built with the most modern and new technology there was available, such as fluorescent lights. It was decorated by copies of classical paintings from dead artists across the different ages and nations of the world, but most were European and American in origin. Masaru could only recognize the most famous of them like the Mona Lisa and Whistler's Mother.
He walked to the local gym to get in a few hours of training in. Masaru threw several blows to a punching bag to maintain his boxing technique. After his training, it was about eight o'clock, time to return to his quarters and relax. Once it was late in the night, he and his Digimon began their operation. Earlier in the day, some of his comrades had scouted out the lab to determine the locations of various things. They discovered a lab area that was much more heavily guarded than the others. They concluded that this was where Thomas was conducting his experiments.
They were astounded by what they saw within the lab area. There were dozens of Digimon suspended in specimen tanks filled with green preserving fluid. In others were the unhatched Gizmon, still in their purple eggs. The specimen tanks had tubes connected to the Gizmon tanks, suggesting that the Gizmon were created by cloning the data of Digimon. They were not the only Digimon being created. In a large central vat was a Digimon known as Chimeramon, the same species Darkfryer became when he Digivolved into an Ultimate. Masaru's helpers had heard rumours of cloning and genetics experiments, but now saw the truth with their own eyes.
Upon passing through the lab area, they found another one sealed off nearby. Masaru waited as his Datamon ally tapped into the access panel to the lab. "Hurry up! What's taking so long?" asked Masaru.
After entering a few commands, the door suddenly slid open. Masaru entered Thomas' lab and gazed up a device much like the Digital Gates used by DEDO. It was a circular ring of metal with wires and circuitry exposed by square openings. In front of the new space-time oscillator was its control terminal. Datamon spotted a computer on a nearby desk and began to hack it. After cracking through a password system and some encryption, he found the plans easily. Datamon proceeded to download the plans onto a handheld device.
"Masaru!" cried a voice as he stormed into the lab.
The voice belonged to Thomas, who was brandishing a hunting crossbow. Thomas fired a bolt straight at Masaru, who suddenly reached out and snatched the bolt mid-flight. Masaru immediately threw the bolt back, but his target slinked behind a nearby wall. The street fighter didn't have time to revel in his newfound power as Thomas peeked out and fired a freshly loaded bolt. Once again, Masaru caught the bolt but declined to throw it back at its sender. He threw a punch at Gaomon, who attempted to blindside him. Masaru's blow propelled the wolf Digimon through the glass window.
As Gaomon hit the wall in the hallway, Masaru charged up his Digisoul to Digivolve Agumon into Geo Greymon. The towering dinosaur advanced on Gaomon, only to end up facing Gaogamon when Thomas activated his own Digisoul. Geo Greymon blew Mega Flame which Gaogamon dodged and returned in kind with a Spiral Blow. Geo Greymon stumbled back as the whirling winds rasped against his body. He charged forward and clawed at Gaogamon, tearing into his flesh painfully. Geo Greymon got his teeth into the wolf and hurled him into a nearby table.
By now, the fighting had triggered alarms throughout the lab. Outside, Nanami, Rika, and Ayame watched the commotion hidden behind bushes. "At least you've got the plans for us," said Nanami as she glanced at a handheld device which was downloading the files from Datamon. "We're storming the place now." She turned to her friends. "Okay girls, time to move out."
As DEDO Digimon and Tamers closed in on the lab, Nanami transformed into Bio Coatlmon. Ayame mirrored the move by changing into an Aquilamon and Renamon Digivolved into Kyubimon. A DEDO Shurimon pelted a patrolling Gizmon AT with dozens of shuriken. A second Gizmon AT charged in with guns blazing only to be cut down by Ayame's Blast Rings. Kyubimon leapt over a Gizmon AT's energy blast and rotated into a Dragon Wheel. The flames washed of the Gizmon AT and consumed it. Rika called upon a Snow Agumon's card, which sprayed a jet of freezing snow at another Gizmon.
Back inside the lab Masaru and Thomas continued their personal feud. "I should've known you were an impostor!" growled Thomas.
"Yeah, sure sucks to be you, doesn't it?" retorted Masaru.
He jammed his bolt into Thomas' crossbow, breaking a critical firing mechanism. Thomas threw the useless crossbow away and raised his fists. "I didn't need that thing to beat you anyways. I can do it with my bare hands."
Thomas threw a punch, followed by another. Masaru blocked the shots and threw a pair of his own once he saw an opening. Thomas blocked the blows and came charging forward with a flurry of punches. He knocked Masaru into a wall and came in for a punch. Instead of Masaru, he hit the wall when his foe slipped out. Masaru went on the offensive with a trio of blows, taking advantage of Thomas' injured hand. Thomas blocked the first and second before the third slipped past his defences.
Masaru scored a right hook to the chin, followed by a left which floored his nemesis. Masaru climbed on and proceeded to pound Thomas, but he toppled him over and got up. Thomas wiped blood from his lip and exchanged glares with Masaru. Both could hear the sounds of explosions and clashing metal coming down the halls. "Sorry, but it looks like it's time for me to leave," said Thomas. "Gaogamon, let's go."
Without saying another word, Thomas ran deeper into the lab complex with Gaogamon following. Before Masaru could follow, he sensed enemies coming from behind. A pair of Gizmon AT smashed their way into the R&D area and fired at him. Masaru rolled out of the way as Geo Greymon pounced onto one and took a bite out its head. Even in its sparking, damaged state, it continued to resist. Its eye lit up, prompting Geo Greymon to back off before a beam streamed into the roof. The Gizmon AT got up and fired more beams which Geo Greymon evaded. He breathed Mega Flame on the robot, melting its body down into a Digiegg.
The other Gizmon fired at Masaru, who dove away. Masaru charged in and clipped the Gizmon's wing-like shoulder piece. His blow took off the wing and caused sparks to jump from the damaged connection. Masaru evaded the Gizmon's tentacles and hit the same place again, tearing it off. He got onto the robot's back, where he jabbed his fists into its head. He had opened a hole in the Gizmon before it shook him off. Masaru picked up the broken wing and manoeuvred into the enemy's back. With a mighty throw, he hurled the wing into the hole, destroying the Gizmon.
"Boss! Thomas got away," said Agumon after having returned to this form.
"Yeah, don't worry about him. We got what we came for," said Masaru before spitting on the ground.
The fighting in and around the lab began to die down as enemy troops fell. There were dozens and dozens of Digieggs littering the lab area, which DEDO troops collected. The lab complex itself had taken quite a bit of collateral damage. One of the walls had been punched open and was used as an entryway for DEDO's invasion forces. In the R&D area, shattered glass was lying about with smashed tables and equipment. Fortunately, the space-time oscillator got through the battle mostly intact and could be salvaged and used after a few repairs.
After stripping the lab of anything and everything of use, DEDO returned to the Real World. "Great work everybody, especially you, Masaru," complimented Akihiro. "By taking out that lab, we put a big crimp into their Gizmon production and denied them new technologies all in one shot."
"So when can we get home?" asked Rika.
"Nanami is working on that as we speak," said Akihiro. "She'll have Thomas' oscillator up and running sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, just sit back and relax."
The next morning, Masaru went for a walk through town. Despite some stores being different than what he remembered, this Tokyo City was pretty much the same as the one back home. It was bustling with people moving from place to place. Children marched off to school with books loaded in their backpacks. Adults in suits took subway trains and buses through congested streets to the offices within towering skyscrapers. He thought he would have some time alone until a certain shape shifting girl decided to pay him a visit.
"Hi Masaru!" chirped Ayame flirtatiously.
"Oh brother," said Masaru.
"So whatcha doing?" asked Ayame curiously.
"I'm just going for a walk around town."
"You don't say," replied Ayame. "I'm coming with you. I don't get to visit many cities back home. I've lived with my clan for my whole life, at least until the Kervus War."
"Kervus War?" asked Masaru.
"Yeah, the Kervus are a clan of Digimon Tamers. They don't turn into Digimon like we do. They ride Digimon into battle like a knight would ride a horse. They attacked my village to get this." Ayame showed Masaru the ruby necklace she was wearing. "My necklace is only a fragment, but they were looking for the Crystal Matrix Ruby."
"What's so special about this rock?" asked Masaru.
"It's the treasure of my village. It's one of the things needed to revive Grand Dracmon," replied Ayame. "He's a powerful, evil Digimon who was sealed away by one of my clan's ancestors. The Kervus were going to revive him and use him to conquer the world."
"Somehow, I don't think it worked out," remarked Masaru.
"Oh no, the moment he came back, he betrayed them and levelled the Kervus' city. My friends and I had no choice but to stop him, which we did."
Masaru and Ayame continued on their impromptu "date" in Tokyo City. Everything seemed to be going fine until a dozen unusual Digimon appeared out of thin air. They resembled Greek gods, from their curly dark hair, muscular builds, togas, and sandals. Each of them carried a water pitcher over their left shoulders with the open end facing outward. When they spotted Ayame and Masaru, they fired water blasts from the pitchers.
Masaru, Agumon, and Ayame, dove for cover behind a car. The people nearby panicked and nearly trampled each other in a mad dash as they ran for safety. Masaru scanned these Digimon from the safety of the car. He was only able to get a name. "Pitchermon?" asked Masaru.
"Who are these guys?" asked Ayame as she evaded a blast of air. Instead, the air hit the car she had used as cover and sent it flying into a storefront. "I haven't seen anything like them before."
"Me neither," replied Masaru, who released Agumon.
"Oh great, I was getting cramped in there, boss," said Agumon.
"Whoever they are, it's look like they mean business," said Ayame, who turned into a Kabuterimon.
Masaru evaded the Pitchermon's water blasts, which they kept shooting from their water jugs. He successfully socked the nearest one in the jaw, knocking it onto the ground. He fled before the others could inundate him with blasts of water. Using his newly acquired Digisoul, Masaru Digivolved Agumon into Geo Greymon. The orange t-rex breathed Mega Flame which the Pitchermon shot down with a jet of water. The Pitchermon's water pierced through the flames and went right into Geo Greymon. The water propelled him to the ground.
Another of the enemy fired at Ayame the Kabuterimon. She blocked and returned fire with an Electroshocker. The ball lightning shocked one of the Pitchermon. He convulsed uncontrollably before collapsing onto the ground. His comrades focused water streams which struck her chest, putting her flat on her back. Masaru socked another of the enemy and followed up with a furious combination. Masaru elbowed another in the gut before being staggered by an unseen punch. The sneaky Pitchermon punched him in the gut before kicking him down.
"Man, these guys are strong," said Masaru.
A relentless barrage of Thousand Spells came from behind and hit the Pitchermon. The talismans spewed out of Taomon's sleeves like bullets from a machinegun. The Pitchermon staggered and writhed under this assault. Rika used a card to recreate Kabuterimon's Electric Storm. Bolts of lightning descended from clouds above. On contact, they caused uncontrollable, paralyzing convulsions in the Pitchermon. Masaru took this opportunity to drill a haymaker into the enemy's chin. He reactivated a second Digisoul which he used to Digivolve his partner into Rise Greymon. Rise Greymon slammed his gun barrel into enemy.
Ayame activated the Crystal Matrix Ruby, which glowed with crimson light. Through its power, she transformed into a Mega Kabuterimon. Now towering over the enemy, she grabbed one of the Pitchermon and slowly crushed him between her claws. She fired a Horn Buster into a crowd of three Pitchermon. The immense electricity fried the flesh of its victims fatally. She weathered the onslaught of the remaining Pitchermon and hurled her toy into the crowd. The Pitchermon projectile bowled over his buddies, leaving them flat on the ground.
The team had a lot of questions about who their assailants were. "Who are these guys? Friends of yours?" asked Rika.
"Nope, I've never seen them before," said Masaru.
"Me neither," said Ayame. "They just had to show up during my quality time with Masaru-honey."
Masaru nearly choked. "Masaru-honey?"
"Oh blech," remarked Rika in disgust. "Are boys the only thing you ever think about? You can do better than this blockhead!"
"Who are you calling a blockhead?" blurted Masaru.
At that moment, Ivan entered the scene. "I was coming to help, but apparently, I see that my help isn't needed now."
"Yep, piece of cake," replied Masaru.
"You know, this may sound funny, but it looked like they were coming after us specifically," remarked Ayame.
"If that's the case, they might be more of Chronomon's servants," suggested Renamon. "They probably came here to prevent us from getting home."
It wasn't long before Nanami got the oscillator up and running. The Tamers waved good-bye to the new friends they had made before leaping into the shimmering doorway between worlds. Like before, they hurtled through an infinite void of darkness. Scattered at various locations were bubbles filled with the places and events of countless worlds both familiar and alien. When they came to, they found themselves in a coral-like temple made from aquamarine. Rika recognized this place as Neptunemon's temple. She didn't get her hopes up for fear they may have been accidentally sent to an alternate universe's counterpart of it.
"It looks like we're in Neptunemon's temple, but is this one the right one or another one?" asked Rika.
"Masaru! You're finally home!" said Satsuma as he came to check on the newcomers.
"Captain, you're here?" asked Masaru.
"Yeah, we've just made an alliance with Neptunemon and his Digimon. We're making this place our staging area for the battle against Chronomon. Yoshino and Tohma have already come home along with Akira and Matt. We still haven't seen Ikuto or the others yet."
"Akira's here too?" asked Masaru.
"Yeah, he's training the others for the fight with Chronomon," replied Satsuma.
"Where are they now?" said Masaru.
Satsuma revealed that the others were training in an unused soccer field just to the north of the temple. No sooner than he said that that Masaru rushed off to see them. At the field, Tohma conjured a storm cloud while Akira watched. His hands were aglow with his blue Digisoul as the clouds churned overhead and blasted lightning onto the ground. Akira said some unknown words to Tohma before checking up on Matt. The Digidestined of Friendship was creating and throwing a small version of his crest like shuriken. When they hit the practice dummy, they embedded into and froze them on contact.
Yoshino and Darkfryer were sparring. Yoshino was at the centre of a terrifying sight, a swarm of buzzing wasps aglow in her pink Digisoul. Darkfryer flung spheres of homing negative energy which she shot down by flicking seeds. She sent the wasps at Darkfryer. In turn, he killed them and devoured their life force with a burst of negative energy. "Masaru!" cried Yoshino as she noticed him watching from the bleachers.
"Hi everybody, I'm back!" said Masaru. "What're you doing?"
"We're training," said Lalamon.
"I can see that," said Masaru, who then looked over Yoshino. "Have you been working out?"
"Oh, it's just a side effect of my new powers," replied Yoshino.
"New powers? So you got new abilities too," said Masaru.
"She sure did. Maybe you'd like to join our training session?" offered Akira.
"I guess, I don't mind getting a work out or two if it'll help fight harder," said Masaru. "What do I do?"
"Well, why don't you spar with Yoshino for a few minutes," suggested Akira. "That way, we can see the progress everyone's made."
"Hey, wait a minute," interrupted Masaru. "I'm not the kind of guy who goes around hitting girls."
"It's not like you're trying to beat her up for real," said Akira. "Besides, she's quite tough now. She could be quite a handful."
"Well, we'll see about that," said Masaru. "Let's go!"
The others cleared the field for the two warriors. Masaru raised his fists while Yoshino prepared herself. When Akira signalled to begin, Masaru channelled a beam of Digisoul energy at Yoshino. To his surprise, Yoshino called her wasps to form a living shield in front of her. She sicced the wasps at Masaru who rolled out of their way. Unlike typical projectiles, the wasps continued to chase him, eventually surrounding and nipping at him. With no other alternative, Masaru spun in a circle, whirling a fierce funnel of air which blew out the bugs.
As he charged forward to close the gap, Yoshino flung seed bullets at him. To her surprise, Masaru was fast enough to catch them with his bare hand. He discarded the seeds and hurled a punch which Yoshino sidestepped. Her wasps lifted her into the air where she breathed out a trail of sparkling gold pollen. It surrounded Masaru who momentarily felt drained from inhalation. To Yoshino's surprise, he was able to snap out of his trance and fired a Digisoul beam in retaliation. It knocked her out of the sky, but she righted herself slowly landed on the ground with her wasps' help
She threw seeds at Masaru which he was forced to block. Other than some soreness, the seeds caused no lasting harm. Akira raised a wall of darkness between. "Stop! That's enough," he announced.
"So what do you think?" asked Masaru as he rubbed the sore spots. His Digisoul energy activated and began to relieve the pain.
"You've basically a super karate fighter," remarked Akira. "Watching you, I can tell that you're even much faster, stronger, and tougher than when we first fought. Those seeds she fired at you are like bullets. A normal human would be down after taking a hit like that, let alone several like you did. Even though you can shoot Digisoul beams, you're mostly a close-up kinda guy."
"Cool, after hearing that, I'd really like to go a few rounds with Tohma sometime," said Masaru.
"You'll get your chance eventually," said Akira.
Meanwhile, a dark castle floated within the infinite void. It was an island in the vast sea of darkness that was the space between worlds. The castle was quite out of place in this void, being a structure made from obsidian stone. It was a medieval-styled castle with cylindrical towers which rose high upwards. Inside, a meeting was taking place between Chronomon and his underling, a Digimon known as Alphamon.
Alphamon kneeled in the presence of his master. He was a titan of a Digimon, clad entirely in shiny grey armour. Even such a subservient position could not mask the great power he had at his disposal. There was a gold rim around each of his armour's openings. He had a ruby gemstone on his forehead and a pair of serrated metal wings on his back. He was a knight Digimon, and was in fact Chronomon's knight. When Chronomon gestured for him to stand, Alphamon's tattered blue cape flowed along the ground as he arose.
This noble Digimon is one of the Royal Knights, a group of
knight Digimon which exists in many Digital Words. The Royal Knights
are a defensive force against threats from outside of the Digital
World. Though this specific Alphamon isn't a true Royal Knight, he
still carries with him the doctrines of that group. Special
Abilities/Traits: Digitalize
of Soul - This attack has two modes of function. The first summons
monsters made of green energy to attack his enemies. The second is
Alphamon using the energy directly as long range blasts. Grade
Alpha (Holy) - Alphamon can create Grade Alpha, a holy sword made
purely of golden positive energy. Since Grade Alpha's blade is
energy, it can cut through virtually anything.
-Digimon Analyzer
Name:
Alphamon
Attributes: Vaccine, Mega Level, Metal/Holy Element
Flying, Dimensional Travel
Chronomon proceeded to list the worlds in which the barrier generators had to be constructed. The first was to be constructed on the planet Anuras, the home world of Digimon Tamer Anura Slaad in the Digital Stars world. The planet Anuras was a world covered in swamps and bogs. It had frequent rainfall, making it the ideal place for the frog-like Anuran race. The Anurans possessed space-travel technology, which they used to expand outwards into the galaxy. Like humans, the Anurans had discovered the Digital World, which was another planet just like Earth and Anuras.
The second barrier generator was to be located on the world of Laputia. It was the home world of Ayame Sorano, the Digimon Shaper. It was politically divided into several clans, each with their own way of interacting with Digimon and the Digital World. Such clans included the Kervus Clan of Digimon Tamers and the Marise Clan of Digimon Shapers. Many of the clans lived on floating islands known as "laputas" which were named after their clan. This world had seen its share of turmoil with sporadic border skirmishes between clans.
The third was to be located on the world of Escalon. Unlike the most worlds, humans and Digimon interacted all the time on Escalon. Instead of the wars against evil Digimon overlords, Digimon on Escalon participated in sport fights. Such sport combat was an exciting crowd pleaser and big business, making several million US dollars annually. Adults and children were captivated by the battles and tamed Digimon so they could one day be like the heroes on TV. Escalon was not without its problems, mostly in the form of Digimon-related crime.
The fourth had to be built on Witchelny. Although most Digital Worlds had some influence from fantasy and the myths and legends of their Real Worlds, this aspect was especially strong in Witchelny's. It was a world much like that of an RPG game with castles, princesses, heroic warriors, and wizards. Unlike most Real Worlds, people could use magic commonly in Witchelny's Real World. Magic was as common there as science was in most Real Worlds.
"It is imperative that you construct these generators as quickly as possible," stated Chronomon.
"Yes my lord," replied Alphamon. "I will see that this is done immediately."
Alphamon vanished, leaving Chronomon alone. Chronomon left the throne room and returned to his dimensional and temporal experiments. As he channelled power into the magical symbol, countless images of locations and times across the multiverse flashed by. Some were related to Digimon and their associated Digital World. Others had their own events transpire, and their own heroes and villains fighting for their goals. The image of a bird-like Digimon with white feathers appeared through the mists of time and dimensions. As quickly as it came, it vanished.
END OF CHAPTER
Dimensionally Shifted:
Rika,
Masaru, Ayame, & partner Digimon: DEDO HQ, Tokyo (Digital Assault
and Terror Squad) - Neptunemon's Temple, Hook City (Digital
Asgard)
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