Chapter 21

The Battle within a War

Beginning of Episode 12

The three of us were off the next day, and we'd picked our argument for the most attractive digimon back up. I was still pulling for Ophanimon, and Zac was still stuck on Lilithmon, but Stephen had added his opinion and was saying Rosemon.

"Come on bro," I said from KnightGreymon's back, "you can't honestly think a plant beats an angel."

"I do and it does." said Stephen on top of Chrysalimon's head, "being able to control nature is hot."

"I still say Lilithmon," said Zac as he rode ChuninGarurumon, "I mean face it, evil chicks rock."

"Okay," I said, "my comment about Lilithmon yesterday still stands; you only like her because of her outfit. Plus we both know Stephen's reason for saying Rosemon."

"Yeah," said my brother, "and why's that?"

"Because you've got a Lillymon for a girlfriend." said Zac.

Stephen grimaced and there was a slight blush.

"That has nothing to do with it," he shouted, "and she's not my girlfriend!"
"How about the three of you be quiet." said Greymon.

"If you don't," said Garurumon, "we are willing to throw you off."

"Or at least knock you out." said Chrysalimon.

My digivice went off at that moment, about the same time that I'd noticed that we were now on the edge of the forest and on the border of what looked like a huge war zone. I also saw that it was getting very late.

"Well this looks familiar." said as I pulled my digivice out.

The map had appeared again and showed the green marker was very close by.

"Weird," I said, "it says that whoever's here is just a few feet away but all I see is…"
"Cog Crusher!" yelled a voice.

A gear flew straight at my head. I ducked just in time to turn and see an army of Hagurumon.

"Oh good," said Zac, "more bad guys."

"De-digivolve the digimon," I said, "we need to hide from those things."

We quickly got off our digimon while the Hagurumon continued to fire, and then our digimon de-digivolved and we ran to hide.

There was a row of rocks nearby and we got behind that, only to find more digimon back there.

"Sorry," I said to no one in particular, "I didn't know this hiding spot was taken."
"If they're hiding, too, I don't think they mind." said Stephen.

"LaKota?" asked a familiar voice next to me.

I turned to see Jacob with GunmenGuilmon standing next to him.

"Well," said the red reptile, "if it ain't the brainiac."

"What the heck is going on here?" asked Squire.

"It's a long story," said Jacob, "and this really isn't a good place to talk about it."

"Unless you've got an idea to slow down the gearheads back there so we can slip back into the HQ." said GunmenGuilmon.

I looked at Zac and we both smiled.

"Squire." I said.

"Gabumon." said Zac.

The digimon looked at us.

"Inferno." Zac and I said in unison.

The digimon nodded and jumped up.

They both fired their fire attacks, and as they fused together they yelled, "Mini Violet Inferno!"

The big purple fireball deleted at least half of the Hagurumon, and what was left of them ran in fear.

"That slowed down enough?" I asked.

"That should do it." said Jacob as he kneeled down and opened a trap door in the ground.

"Into the hole in the ground if you want to live." joked GunmenGuilmon.

We all shrugged and climbed into the hole, and we were amazed at what was there.

It was an entire underground city filled with thousands of digimon.

"Wow." was all I could say.

"So I guess indoor plumbing is out of the question." said Stephen jokingly.

We entered a small house-like structure where we were instantly greeted by three Guilmon.

One Guilmon was the standard red, the next was mostly black with red markings, and the last was an orange-yellow with black markings.

They all tackled the slightly bigger GunmenGuilmon.

"Someone want to explain?" I asked.

"Give him a minute." said Jacob while his partner struggled under the dog pile.

"GET OFF ME!" yelled GunmenGuilmon.

All three of the smaller Guilmon got off and stood at attention.

"Now," said Jacob, "meet GunmenGuilmon's three younger brothers Black, Red, and Yellow."

"What?" said Stephen, "Wasn't one of them bad enough?"

"They're each named after their color?" asked Zac.

"Our parents weren't very creative." said Red.

"Nope," said Black, "that's why big brother's name is Gunmen."

"Yeah," said Yellow, "but everyone calls him Gunny."

Zac and GeninGabumon both busted out laughing.

"Wow," said Zac, "no wonder you're always in a bad mood."

"Yes," said Gabumon, "I'd be angry, too, if I had a name that bad."

"Don't make me hurt both of you." said GunmenGuilmon.

"Okay," I said, "enough laughing. Jacob, how'd you get here and what the heck is going on."

"Oh," said Jacob, "well, we landed near the edge of this area two days ago and got attacked by some Hagurumon."

"We could've taken them," said GunmenGuilmon, "but the digivice didn't work."

"That's due to interference caused by that barrier Devidramon made." I said.

Red, Black, and Yellow hissed at me.

"Sorry," said Jacob, "they do that when people call the Dark Master by name."

"Really?" said Stephen, "Devidramon."
The three hissed.

"Devidramon."

Hiss.

"Devidramon."

Another hiss.

"Devi…"

"Stephen!" I yelled.

"Heh, sorry." said Stephen.

"So anyway," continued Jacob, "Guilmon and I thought we were goners until his brothers showed up."

"And if you're wondering what this whole war is about," said GunmenGuilmon, "The mechanical digimon used to be friends with us until they started listening to that stupid BlackGuardromon. Since then they've hated organic digimon."

"Yeah," said Jacob, "GunmenGuilmon here use to be like the general before I showed up. Since then, the organic digimon have been losing a lot, but with him back they all expect an attack that will finally end this."

"Well," I said, "we'll help if we can."

"Thanks Brainiac," said GunmenGuilmon, "I'll let you know once I've got a plan of my own."

I nodded and then remembered one last thing I had to do.

"Can I talk to Jacob and GunmenGuilmon privately please?" I asked.

Stephen, Zac, and their digimon nodded and walked outside with Squire behind them.

GunmenGuilmon looked at his three brothers, "Out."

They nodded and left as well.

I heard Stephen outside say, "Devidramon."
I then heard Red, Black, and Yellow hiss.

I just shook my head.

"So what's up?" asked Jacob.

I sighed.

"Before I say anything," I said, "you can't get ticked off at me."

"Why would we get mad?" asked Jacob.

"It's not like you've done anything stupid, yet." said Gunmen.

"Not now," I said, "but the night after we found Joe I had a dream that…" I sighed again, "It told me that we were going to get separated."

Jacob and Guilmon's eyes suddenly went wide in, what appeared to be, anger.

"You knew that," said Jacob as he clenched a fist, "and you didn't tell anyone?"

"I didn't want anyone to worry," I said, "and I know that's no excuse, but I thought if I could figure out how to stop it myself…"

"Just stop," said GunmenGuilmon, "you could've prevented all of this, just by telling us what was going to happen, but you decided it would be better to hide things from us."
"Look I…"

"Ya know," Jacob interrupted, "maybe I was right when I was under IceDevimon's control, and maybe you don't want us to go home."

Now it was my turn to be angry.

"Now you listen here Jacob," I said, "I was only doing I thought was right. I may have all the knowledge in my dang head, but I'm not freaking perfect. If it was my choice I'd hand this title of leader to someone else, but it's not my choice and the Digital World picked me. Now you be mad at me all you want, but that won't help us get home any faster, the fact is it'll probably slow us down. So get over the fact that I made one lousy mistake, or just give up on the idea going home right now."

Jacob and Guilmon continued to look angry for a moment, but then Jacob sighed.

"It doesn't matter anyway," he said Jacob, "as long as the war is going on here, we can't leave."

I smiled, "Then we end it today."

By the time sunset had come, I had a plan that I immediately put into action, even if no one helped me.

I walked up to where GunmenGuilmon had told me the mechanical digimon's HQ was, and of course I was stopped by two Kokuwamon. I immediately showed I was unarmed and they took me in and brought me to BlackGuardromon.

As soon as I saw him, my digivice went off, but I didn't check it, seeing as I already knew everything about him.

"Aren't you going to look at that Digi-Destined?" the digimon asked in a German accent.

I tried not laugh at that as I answered, "I don't need to. You're BlackGuardromon, Champion Level, Virus Type. Your attack is Assassin Barrage."

"Impressive," said the machine, "you must be the one that Devidramon talks about all the time."

"Yeah," I said, "he and I don't really see eye to eye on what I should be doing with the knowledge I have. He seems to think I should help him take over the universe, while I believe I should delete him permanently."

"Hmmm," said BlackGuardromon, "you've aligned yourself with the fleshlings, correct?"

"I tried," I said, "they seemed to have very little interest in what I had to say."

"And why is that?"

"I hid from my team the fact that I knew we would get separated. Only a few of them have accepted my apology, but the one who is partners with the general of your enemies refuses to accept. So I figured I'd come here alone to see if I could talk you into leaving Devidramon."

The machine rubbed his chin for a moment and then said, "Nien."

The Kokuwamon from the door grabbed my arms and held me in place.

"I shall make you another victim of this war," said Guardromon, "and send your remains to the fleshlings, this will weaken their resolve."

"I would strongly suggest against it." I said.

"Be silent." said Guardromon as he ready his missiles, "Assassin Barrage!"

The projectiles flew towards me, but suddenly a blur of yellow was in front of me and shouted his own move.

"Chivalry Shield!"

All the missiles were blocked by shield the size of WarGreymon's.

It shrunk down to reveal SquireAgumon standing behind it.

"Oh," I said, "did I mention I brought an entire army with me?"

Suddenly the building shook.

"What was that!" yelled Guardromon

"The entirety of the fleshing forces knocking on your front door." said Squire.

Just then, the door to the room we were in was knocked down to reveal Stephen, Chrysalimon, Zac, ChuninGarurumon, Jacob, GunmenGuilmon, and the three Guilmon brothers.

"Room service!" yelled Stephen.

The Hagurumon in the room turned to attack, but they were quickly stopped by the Guilmon brothers firing their fireball attacks.

"You've lost Guardromon," said GunmenGuilmon as he approached the evil robot, "my men outside are already capturing the mechanical digimon, and once you're gone they'll come to their senses and work with us again."

Guardromon looked incredibly angry.

"I will not lose," he said, "I'm the mechanical king!"

He ran at us it rage.

"No you don't!" said Garurumon as he ran to block the bot.

But Guardromon simply knocked him aside and caused him to de-digivolved.

"Squire, let's double team." said Chrysalimon

Squire nodded and jumped onto the Virus's head. They charged together towards BlackGuardromon, but they, too, were thrown aside, and Chrysalimon de-digivolved, slamming into Stephen in the process.

"Ow!" my brother yelled loudly.

It was at that moment that I realized that the robot soldier was coming right at me.

I was about to run, for all the good it would've done me, when GunmenGuilmon jumped in front of me and grabbed Guardromon's arms.

"Now," said GunmenGuilmon as he struggled to hold the vile bot back, "I can't have you killing my buddy. I mean I just forgave him, and he really didn't deserve it."

"Your emotions make you weak fleshling!" said BlackGuardromon as he knocked the reptile to the ground.

"Guilmon!" yelled Jacob.

"Brother!" yelled the three Guilmon.

The three lizards were now very angry and stepped forward.

"What do you plan to do?" asked Guardromon, "Avenge your brother?"

Three eggs suddenly formed around them.

"Guilmon digivolve to… Growlmon!"

"BlackGuilmon digivolve to… BlackGrowlmon!"

"YellowGuilmon digivolve to… YellowGrowlmon!"

Guardromon laughed, "You think that just taking Champion level with no experience can stop me?"

"Pyro Blaster!" shouted all three of the lizards.

Guardromon laughed and lifted himself off the ground with his jet boosters, dodging the attacks. The three Growlmon tried to grab for him but they missed.

"Now," said BlackGuardromon, "feel my rage! Assassin Barrage!"

The robot fired his missiles and they hit the three Growlmon.

"Bros!" yelled GunmenGuilmon.

The smoke cleared to show Red, Black, and Yellow unconscious on the ground.

"Now," said Guardromon as he recharged his attack, "to finish…"
"DON'T YOU TOUCH THEM!" shouted two angry voices in unison.

We all turned to see Jacob and GunmenGuilmon standing and looking angrily at BlackGuardromon.

The digimon and tamer shared the exact same angry gleam in their eyes.

Jacob's digivice glowed suddenly and he looked down at it.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked, "use the digivice."

"Right." said Jacob as he pulled it out and pointed it at GunmenGuilmon.

The symbol of anger floated out and entered the red dino and an egg formed around him.

"GunmenGuilmon digivolve to… MortarGrowlmon!"

The well-armed champion before BlackGuardromon, who he dwarfed in size.

BlackGuardromon floated backwards a bit.

"You scared yet?" asked Growlmon, "If not, you're about to be!"

Growlmon slammed a claw into the robot and knocked him to the ground, and then he kicked him back into the air and aimed his Gatling gun.

"Max Gattler!" the gun fired, putting holes all in Guardromon's armor.

BlackGuardromon landed on the ground and MortarGrowlmon pulled a grenade off his belt.

"Grenade Toss!" he yelled as he threw the bomb into the biggest hole in the armor.

The grenade went off, and BlackGuardromon exploded into data.

We all cheered and all four Growlmon de-digivolved.

"Alright!" yelled GunmenGuilmon, "That's what I'm…"

Suddenly, his three brothers tackled him.

"You did it brother!" said Red.

"You ended the war!" said Black.

"We can live in peace again!" said Yellow.

"Wow," I said, "this has been great."

"And it's about to get funny." said Keramon.

"GET OFF OF ME!" GunmenGuilmon shouted.

We all laughed.

Later, after GunmenGuilmon had gotten what was left of machine digimon to sign a peace treaty, we all were invited to sleep in the organic digimon's underground city. We graciously accepted.

As we got ready to sleep, I walked over to Jacob and GunmenGuilmon.

"So," I said, "you guys okay?"

They looked up at me with looks that said they knew that's not what I want to really know.

"Okay fine," I said, "you two never really gave an answer to my apology and I'd like to know if I can still call you my friends. So, we cool."

Jacob looked at GunmenGuilmon who smiled and shrugged.

Jacob smiled in turn and looked at me, "Yeah, we're cool."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks dude."

Jacob and I hi-fived and then I walked back to my bed, flopped down, and drifted off to sleep.

My eyes opened and I was suddenly standing in the circle again, but the part I stood in was bigger and the outer section was now only split into two sections.

Joe sat in one that was a forest and he was oblivious to my presence, but in the other Brittni stood in a field of flowers with a worried look on her face.

"Hey Brittni," I said, "what's wrong?"

"The digimon I'm staying with told me that Devidramon moved his palace to an island somewhere," she said, "he's calling it his Black Castle."

"Well that won't matter," I said, "cause there's only you and Joe to find now, and then it'll be the end of Devidramon."

"I hope you're right." said Brittni.

Just then, there was a sudden bolt of lightning that shook everything around us.

I looked up at the sky to see tons of dark clouds.

"What does that mean?" asked a nervous Brittni.

Before I could answer, I heard the voice of Devidramon in the wind whisper something in a voice that sent shivers down my spine and made my blood run cold.

"Death awaits all."

I bolted upright. The sun had just barely risen above the horizon.

I took a deep breath and got up, and then prayed Joe and Brittni were alright.

End of Episode 12