Raven: Keyo, what's the word count?
Keyo: IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAND!!!
Raven: …
Keyo: I've wanted to do that since I started work on this. All notes are in their usual place and all property belongs to its proper people.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 21: Raid (pt 5)
Light at the end of the Labyrinth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Phew, that was close." Dainya released a relieved sigh as the saw blades blurred by, apparently unable to turn corners, an ability that had allowed Dainya and her companions to escape a rather sudden end to their campaign.
"I'm rather impressed that we were able to maintain our lead for so long." DemiDevimon contributed, taking roost upon Lupmon's head.
"Actually, I was referring to my Mom. I was sure she'd come running after I screamed like that."
After letting what she'd said sink in, Dainya began to chuckle at her sense of priorities and concerns. Had she really been in mortal danger, the thought of someone rushing in would have been a welcome relief, but given the actual scenario, her mother's appearance would probably have come with the advice-like order to go to bed. Placing her hand once more upon the wall, Dainya smiled at her digital cohorts.
"Shall we carry on then guys?" She asked, the Digimon nodding their agreement, Lupmon taking once again to padding along at Dainya's side while DemiDevimon chose to remain on the wolf's head.
With relative peace restored, Dainya allowed her thoughts to return to exactly what she planned to do here. She could hardly plan to break through and defeat every member of the organization, growing successively stronger until facing off against their master like in some shonen action manga story, but she had hardly come equipped with a great diplomatic speech, and to say 'she just wanted to see Cait' made her sound like one of those dopey heroines from a shoujo action manga who fall in love with the villain.
'Maybe I can play it out like one of those cop dramas.' She thought to herself. 'Burst in and be all like 'I want answers!' Be all, kick ass and chew gum style…' A twinkle entered Dainya's eyes as she began to envision herself as the hard-cop, trench coat and boots, striking fear into the heart of the criminal underworld with her relentless efforts and unbending iron will.
Then she walked into a wall.
"Gah!" She exclaimed, 'ow' being redundant as pain was impossible, but frustration very much so.
"Day-dreaming, in a place like this? My, you are dedicated." DemiDevimon chuckled, Lupmon joining in on instinct, despite her usual lack of understanding.
Dainya turned a bit red before taking over emphasised strides past the sniggering pair, quite rightfully embarrassed as she resumed trailing her hand along the wall. She couldn't believe she had let her mind wander like that, this was a serious scenario and it had been getting her down all day, it made her feel rather guilty to have become distracted by so silly a fantasy. Taking a look behind her, she could see Lupmon, face turned upward, asking DemiDevimon her usual barrage of questions about all things, which DemiDevimon answered with a patience not normally associated with his kind. Letting her thoughts wander a little once more, Dainya remarked again on how amazing this game was, once again failing to understand how anyone could want to try and ruin it all, it just didn't make any sense.
'Maybe,' She wondered. 'I should be handling this in a shonen adventure style.' But then she remembered Cait and Min's vague comments regarding it all, as if there was something to it all that was a lot more complicated than could be resolved by simply beating up the bad-guy. 'Not the Sythe probably sees it that way.' She thought of the rather aggressively styled player.
Her thoughts simultaneously turned to her absent companions as she turned the next corner, only to release a loud squeak of an 'eep', before ducking back around, her back flat against the wall in full dramatic fashion.
"What's goin' on Dainya?" Lupmon directed her latest, and most relevant, question to her partner.
"Shhhhhh!" Dainya pushed her finger to her lips, before motioning for the pair to join her.
As a group, they all stuck their heads around the corner, taking it slowly and cautiously enough for it to almost be comical. Looking along the corridor they could see a very large Digimon, its bulk filling a good portion of the labyrinth's passageway as it slowly stomped around. Every so often it would swing its big bull like head, complete with brass nose ring, around, before taking a few more stomping steps with its great booted feet. It's pelt looked to be clothing rather than part of its body, a subtle clue lying in how it hung around the lower jaw, exposing pink flesh, a more blatant clue being the large zipper that ran up the front of its body. If one were to look past the fact it was a giant bull of doom, the most noticeable thing about it would be the odd jackhammer like device that substituted its left hand.
Name: Minotaurmon
Type: Virus
Level: Ultimate
Attacks: Earthquake Drill, Matador Attack.
"I shouldn't be surprised, not really." Dainya muttered to herself as she slid her Digivice back onto her belt. "I mean, this is a labyrinth, why shouldn't there be a minotaur?" She gave the large ultimate level another glance. "Why does their have to be a minotaur?" She moaned.
"Miss Dainya, I think we may have another problem." DemiDevimon intruded upon her thoughts, drawing the girl's attention to the growling Lupmon. In that moment, Lupmon made to run at Minotaurmon, her combat instincts taking over, but was thankfully restrained as Dainya seized the belted collar around her partners neck, DemiDevimon too pulled back at the wolf's fur, flapping his wings to try and keep her back around the corner.
"We can't fight that Lupmon!" Dainya almost hissed as she tried to control her partner, who seemed to ignore her, continuing to try and break away and charge this apparent enemy.
"Miss Lupmon!" DemiDevimon hissed through his efforts.
A loud snorting noise suddenly caught their attention, and while they kept their tight grip upon Lupmon, DemiDevimon and Dainya turned their attention back around to Minotaurmon, who was making a great display of waving his nose in the air, snorting loudly.
"It can smell us?" Dainya burst out in a loud whisper.
"It certain has a big enough nose." DemiDevimon lamented.
With a final, long, dragging, nasal inhalation, the great body of beef turned to face the corner the trio were doing a terrible job of hiding behind. With what sounded like a cross between a moo and a roar (which was both appropriate, and oddly terrifying) the monster began rampant dash towards the group, its great muscled arms swinging as each step sounded like a small explosion. Naturally, matters got worse when Lupmon broke free and began to race towards her adversary on all fours, her feral growl drowned out by Minotaurmon's charge, blue light wrapped around the wolf as Dainya instinctively went for her Digivice.
"Lupmon Digivolve to…LYKIOMON!" The words sounding more like a battle cry than anything else as the large canine bounded forward, speed increased thanks to stronger limbs, before throwing herself into the air. "Spiral Fang!"
"Earthquake Drill!" Minotaurmon responded, its metal hand swinging up and meeting Lykiomn's attack dead on. For a brief moment there was a grinding noise before a sound like 'crack-thoom' as the metal hammer shuddered, the piston blasting out and repelling the wolf with such force that she flew back down the distance she had covered in her galloping charge and impacted with the far wall before crumpling to the ground.
"Lykiomon!" Dainya rushed to her partner's side, cradling the wolf's head in her lap as she began to panic. "C'mon Lykiomon, get up." She pleaded.
"Shleeepeee…" Lykiomon droned, her eyes rolling around and up.
"Waaauuurrrghhh!" Minotaurmon roared in triumph, waving its arms in the air in celebration, causing Dainya to look up before scouring her disc collection, praying that at some point she had picked up a healing disc and had simply forgotten about it.
"Excuse me!" DemiDevimon flew by Dainya's head, spending a few moments hovering over Lykiomon's body before giving himself a small nod, a large syringe appearing in one of his claws. "Demi Dart!" He called, plunging the needle into the wolf.
"What are you doing?" Dainya panicked.
"These darts can boost a Digimon, as well as drain them." The devil bat explained as Lykiomon began to stir. "I can't give her too many though."
With what sounded more like a grumble, than a growl, Lykiomon rose shakily to her feet. For once, the champions eyes were round and clear, the force of Minotaurmon's blow having knocked her senses back into place.
"Daiiinya." She whined. "That really, really hurt."
"I think it's going to hurt more soon." DemiDevimon settled on the player's shoulder, pointing one wing back towards Minotaurmon, who was now crouching and scuffing at the ground with one foot, preparing to charge.
"Lykiomon!" Dainya drew back her partner's attention, while climbing up onto her back.
"Yes?" Lykiomon asked, head tipped up and sounding ludicrously innocent and calm.
"RUN!" Dainya spared little emphasis in giving the instruction, and Lykiomon needed no second bidding. With her partner clinging tightly onto the wolf's studded collar, Lykiomon broke into a fresh gallop, hurtling back along the way they had come.
"MATADOR ATTACK!" Minotaurmon bellowed, charging behind them in a rather classic bull fashion.
Still clinging to Dainya's shoulder, DemiDevimon released one claw for a moment hurl a Demi-Dart back, only to watch it harmlessly bounce off of Minotaurmon's super thick hide.
"It was worth a try." He gave in way of explanation once his full grip was re-established.
And the chase drew on, both moving too fast to try and turn safely as they raced along the corridor. Once they came to a forced turn, and Lykiomon had to rebound off the walls, bouncing around in order to avoid a crash, Minotaurmon wasn't so agile, and his effort to turn left him grinding against the wall, chipping and scraping parts away as it relentlessly continued its pursuit.
Things looked to be heading towards a perpetual pursuit until a rumbling began to fill the air and walls began moving around them. Specifically up ahead where one was growing from the ground. Lykiomon needed no prompting as she gave a push to accelerate, leaping up and through the narrowing gap, tumbling upon the other side as she crashed back down, her passengers rolling off in the process. With a small flash, the large wolf shrank back down to a very tired looking smaller one, the energising boost from the Demi-Dart having now worn off.
"Oooh…so tired…" Lupmon whined, lying flat on her back, her bright pink tongue hanging out of her mouth as she panted.
Dainya gave a smile towards her partner the was swiftly ruined as the wall exploded, Minotaurmon bursting through, carrying on undaunted, not stopping until he realised that his prey was no longer before him. Coming to a halt, the great Digimon took a few moments to lumber around, before finally looking back the ways, finding Dainya and DemiDevimon gazing up at it with slack jaws, and Lupmon nearly unconscious upon the ground.
"Oh snap." Dainya whispered as Mintaurmon raised his Jackhammer in the air, preparing to smash it into the ground, only to be body-checked into the sidewall of the corridor as its opposite collapsed, GeoGreymon bursting through and inadvertently tackling the virus.
"Finally!" Sythe exclaimed as she climbed through the rubble. "Something that isn't a wall!"
"Sythe!" Dainya exclaimed in relief, picking herself up and running towards the white clad player.
"Dainya! Hi!" Sythe waved, oddly cheery as her partner began to wrestle with Minotaurmon, the dinosaur being large enough to equal its opponent in size. Turning to her partner, she proceeded to perform her own scan of Minotaurmon, her face scrunching up a little at what she saw. "GeoGreymon, don't play around, this guy's tough!" Sythe warned, pulling out a disc. "Take him down, fast! Stat Modifier! Power Up!"
The disc slashed through, GeoGreymon's red glow was renewed, his body shuddering as he once more allowed himself to lose ground while charging his attack.
"MEGA-VOLCANO!" He roared, unleashing the super torrent of flames upon the ultimate level foe, who cried out its response.
"MATADOR ATTACK!"
As if undisturbed by the eruption of fire, Minotaurmon lunged forward, ramming its head against that of GeoGreymon, cutting off the dinosaur's attack before slamming its horned head down again, and again, and again, GreyGreymon eventually crumpling under the repeated assault, Minotaurmon letting him fall to his knees before raising up its massive jackhammer.
"Earthquake…GROAAA!" It wailed suddenly, dropping its metal hand down and clutching at one eye with the flesh one.
"Bull's-eye!" Desperamon quipped, his Star Revolver levelled at the beast.
"You're nothing but trouble kid."
"M-Min!" Dainya stuttered as the witch-a-like stepped up along side the gunman, Demi perched upon her hat and Sephy in tow.
"Don't get us wrong, we're only in this for the blood." Demi quipped, before receiving a rebuking blow from her partner. "Fine, fine I am. Though I'm curious as to where you found such good looking company." She gestured to DemiDevimon, who had reclaimed his place upon Dainya's shoulder. "But enough talk…Min?"
Smirking, the Nightmare Soldier officer drew out her Digivice, the wine red light pouring into it as Demi left her perch.
"DemiDevimon digivolve to…"
"Earthquake Drill!" Minotaurmon roared, slamming the jack-hammer into the ground and triggering the disaster that lent its name to the attack as the floor was torn apart by the force.
"Witchmon!" The evolved Digimon finished, sailing clear over the ground based attack, Desperamon reaching its right hand up and grabbing a hold of the broom, evading the assault as Witchmon pulled him higher into the air as the raced towards their foe.
"Star Revolver!" He called, swinging the barrel up and firing round after round into Minotaurmon's body, only for the shots to bounce harmlessly off of its thick pelt.
"Matador Attack!" Minotarumon rushed forward again, Witchmon and Desperamon responding with Aquari Pressure and Star Revolver, but finding no success in slowing the charge. With Minotaurmon's bulk leaving no room to dodge around the beast, Witchmon turned as tightly as possible to try and head back, but with Desperamon's added weight, failed to manage the turn, and Minotarumon was upon them, his jackhammer finding Witchmon and discharging, shattering her broom and throwing her away down the corridor, his flesh hand reaching out and snatching Desperamon from the air before smashing him against the wall and throwing him to the ground, the metal hammer swinging for him once more.
"Earthquake Drill!"
Desperamon rolled to the side, but it didn't matter, the hammer's impact caused the ground to erupted once more and the gunslinger was thrown up against the corridor wall before being barraged by flying chunks of flagstone.
"I saw that…going a little differently in my head." Demi moaned, devolved and on the ground with a dazed look upon her face.
"Bulletmon!" Spehy cried, running to his half buried patner.
With a roar, GeoGreymon made one last mad rush at the ultimate, only to have the Earthquake Drill impact upon his chest, throwing him back and causing him to revert to a pain stricken Agumon.
"My everything hurts now…" The little dinosaur groaned.
"And so it ends…not with a bang but with…well, okay, it was with a bang."
Shadows whipped and swirled as the cool, condensing sound of Eight Ball's voice entered the corridor, the hacker stepping out into the dim torch light of the corridor, Komodomon at his side and Eclipsemon at their backs.
"Ani…Aniki…" Lupmon panted, able turning her head to look at the crimson lizard.
"Eight! You are going to be in so much trouble!" Min yelled in a very teacher-like tone of voice.
"Am I?" Eight smiled. "I've won this little exchange Major, the only evidence of what I've done will be the account of you and your psychotic partner, after all, we all know who Mowgli and Strabimon will side with."
Min spat a curse under her breath while Demi, held limp in her arms, grumbled something like 'cheater' while Eight turned his eyes to Sythe.
"I must say, you were a surprising addition to this little sortie, but no matter, you shall be expelled with the rest." Eight smirked; full of the satisfaction of victory, while Sythe clenched her fists and glared, hating her current helplessness. "Don't be too upset, after all, Minotaurmon is the pride of my little drones! A simple mental programme like Golemmon made him easy to re-write unlike most Ultimate levels, but he more than makes up for it with all that raw power of his." Waving a hand out, he indicated where Dainya stood with DemiDevimon, Sythe and the heavily dazed Lupmon. "Minotaurmon, expel these pests."
Growling, the bulky Digimon turned to complete its task, stopping when a bolt of fire smacked against the back of its head. The blow was weak, far too weak to do damage, but enough to gain his attention as the beast lumbered back around to glare to the spot beside Eight, the organic hand rubbing at the singed spot while its eyes narrowed.
"Ember Fang." Komodomon released the words slowly.
Groaning, Eight pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Don't tell me you're joining this little revolt too Lieutenant." The hacker sighed.
"Sorry Lieutenant-Colonel, but Min we both know the General would never have allowed this…and what sort of Aniki would I be…" he glanced at Lupmon briefly. "if I wasn't willing to stand by my followers when they needed me most?"
"Fine, your funeral." Eight waved, turning and walking away from the red lizard, Eclipsemon following. "Minotaurmon, if you would be so kind?"
Lumbering forward, Minotaurmon drew back his jack-hammer as Komodomon shifted into a fighting stance. Looking on, Dainya wanted to ask 'why', but she wasn't sure which 'why' it would be. Why was he here without Cait? Why had they been brought here, why was he going against the organization to help them? There was also a how. How was he able to act alone like this? But the time for questions ran out as Minotaurmon launched his Earthquake Drill attack, and Komodomon exploded in light.
"Komodomon Digivolve to…"
The jackhammer held in place as the light settled, revealing the red dragon warrior, his wings fanning out as his whole body strained to hold back Minotaurmon's colossal power, his claws clamped on either side of the jack-hammer, keeping it out of reach and at least temporarily nullifying the attack.
"DRAKEMON!"
"You are in serious trouble Eight."
"Lieutenant-Colonel, sir!" Min exclaimed as Cait paced along the corridor, glowing digivice in hand as he approached the battle scene.
"I log on and find the mansion empty, and our guests locked in some twisted trap." The adventurer and officer berated, his cloak casting shadows upon his body thanks to the torch-light as he glared at the hacker. "You have a lot of explaining to do." His eyes slid across to Minotaurmon. "But first, I better clean up your mess." A trio of stat modifiers, red, blue, and white were produced from his cloak. "Ready Drakemon?"
"Been ready…for the last…half-hour." His partner grunted. "Let's just do this!"
Roaring, Minotaurmon swung its arm back up in an effort to slam Drakemon into the ceiling, only to have the dragon release its grip and push back with his wings, escaping Minotaurmon's melee range and leaving it immune to the main purpose of the Earthquake Drill.
"Stat Modifier! Power Up!" Cait called, slicing the red disc and causing Drakemon to shine.
"Dragon Burn!" The dragon roared, unleashing a barrage of explosive fireballs upon the enemy, who roared in anger and launched into a fresh Matador Attack.
"Stat Modifier! Speed Up!" Cait sliced the blue, adding it to the colour surrounding Drakemon, who swept forward, continuing to release the Dragon Burn before swooping in and around the gap left under Minotaurmon's arm, coming low enough to skid and pivot on one clawed foot, changing trajectory back towards the ultimate who was only now turning back around.
"Stat Modifer! Critical Up!" Cait sliced the final white disc, causing the colours around Drakemon to intensify as he swept in close to his lumbering foe.
"Impact Claw!" Drakemon cried, striking Minotaurmon under the chin before raining blows over his head, focusing on areas that were softer, sweeping back once more when the ultimate level was able to co-ordinate a counter, Drakemon opting to land down beside Dainya, one arm extended, not as a guard, but almost in offering of a perch.
"Would you care to finish this sir?" Bemused at his words, Dainya turned as DemiDevimon nodded from his place on her shoulder and hopped into the air and made a short glide to Drakemon's outstretched arm, his claws gripping the thick muscles for balance as Drakemon took flight once more, before swinging his arm out and propelling the small rookie at Minotaurmon.
"Wha…?" Dainya babbled.
"All yours, sir." Cait, bowed his head as a second figure entered the corridor.
"DemiDevimon Digivolve to…" The rookie called as a brilliant swathe of purple light erupted from his form, brighter than the previous evolutions as he raced to meet the maze's guardian.
"Earthquake Drill!" The bull roared, swinging out with its jackhammer.
Once again the bull found its arm stopping before it was meant to, but this time the hammer did discharge, but unable to push forward, it sent the force back, causing Minotaurmon to wail in pain at the backlash of its own weapon.
With the light settling, DemiDevimon's new form could be seen as long, gloved fingers clasped the jackhammer. The Digimon was clad in a fine purple suit with an almost naval motif, the same bat emblem Min wore sitting on one shoulder, fine gold embroidery for the details of the outfit while a dark cape with fashionably frayed edges sat around its neck, trailing to the floor, its inner lining a bright blood red, and its collar as tall as the digimon's head. The head itself was in a fashion handsome, but with pale purple features and pointed elf ears, a red bat shaped mask sat upon his face and his lips were deep purple, his toothy grin exposing enlarged canines.
"Myotismon." He carefully enunciated, as if to make things perfectly clear.
Undisturbed, unlike Eight who now looked decidedly nervous, Minotaurmon pulled its other arm back to swing at the floating vampire type Digimon, only to be beaten to the almost literally punch as Myotismon struck with an attack as quick as its namesake.
"Crimson Lightning!" He called, lashing up with the stream of red energy that poured from his free hand, easily cleaving the great hunk of beef in two before it exploded into data fragments, Myotismon kept its arm extended, drawing in the data as experience.
Name: Myotismon
Level: Ultimate
Type: Virus
Attacks: Crimson Lightning, Grisly Wing, Nightmare Claw.
"Woah." Sephy gawked, his scanning preformed almost on instinct as he watched.
"Sir!" called Min as she snapped to attention, cradling Demi in one arm.
"Cr-eep." Muttered Eight.
Lowering his arm, the vampire and former shoulder riding devil dust bunny, swept into a deep bow, facing Cait and the new arrival.
"Target eliminated General Stoker, sir."
Stepping aside, while standing to full attention, Cait allowed the player to pass. Everyone paid full respect to the head of the nightmare soldiers, Drakemon standing straight, even Eclipsemon made an effort to defy his crooked posture before his ultimate superior, Eight too, despite his obvious concern, stood with correct disposition.
The General himself appeared as an elderly gentleman, fringes of his neatly cropped hair turning to grey, with a face that displayed the wisdom of age. His movement drew taps out as his fine leather shoes moved with even, measured steps across the cold stone floor, his body clad in a lush velvet suit with dark jacket and trousers, a red waistcoat and white shirt, golden cufflinks adorning the cuffs of the jacket, shining in the torch light as he smoothed out his lapels. Overall, his appearance matched up with grand Victorian Mansion up above the maze, refined, rich, and gentile.
"Thank you, Brigadier-General Myotismon." His voice was just as lush and rich as his appearance as the leader of the Nightmare Soldiers nodded to his subordinate, before fixing his crinkled green eyes upon the hacker. "Lieutenant-Colonel Eight Ball, why have you been treating our guests so rudely in my absence?"
Eight Ball only had the fortitude to look like a schoolboy who had been caught teasing the new kid, unable to draw out a response, witty or otherwise. Passing through the wreckage of the fight, General Stoker approached Dainya, standing a respectable distance from the now very confused and bemused girl, and bowing in a gentlemanly fashion.
"I apologise for your treatment since your arrival, I assure you this was not the manner I intended to have you received tonight. I hope you will be able to forgive my subordinates for their rudeness, and I am more than willing to answer any questions you may have about our organisation and our operations."
Giving the elderly gentleman an almost blank look, Dainya had left the realms of unofficially confused over these matters to unbelievably confused as the scenario took a total 180 and she found herself nodding. To have come this far, and become this confused, it really was the only thing for her to do.
---
The gas lamps were fully lit in the great meeting chamber, and Dainya found herself seated across from Sephy and (a much relieved looking) Bulletmon, and alongside Min, who was currently treating a very ill and irate looking Strabimon for his poisoning, DemiDevimon chuckling from her common perch on Min's hat (which was on the table rather than her head) at the slight colour change the canine warrior was experiencing.
"I can't believe you didn't have a cure poison disc!" She berated Mowgli, who for once was in a seat, rather than upon the table. "Look at him, he's almost green!" Looking around the tint altered Digimon, she glared at the grammatically defunct officer. "You, big idiot." She complained, spreading her arms out to emphasise the use of the word big, to which, Mowgli stuck his tongue out, while Strabimon did his best not to pay attention, closing his eyes.
Sythe and Agumon, who sat to the left of Dainya, looked decidedly irritated at the situation, possibly, to she assumed, because the fighting was over now. The rest of the Nightmare Soldiers were also seated, with Eight tucked away at a lower corner, as if trying to hide from his superiors, while Cait seemed to be trying to hide from Dainya, seating himself closer to the top end, where Stoker and Myotismon were seated in the large throne like chairs that resided there. Komodomon and Lupmon sat together, or rather, Komodomon sat, listening and watching Lupmon as she recounted their experiences in the maze, bouncing around in a hyper fashion as she enjoyed the full attention of her Aniki, as she had been doing so all the way up from the maze. Heads swivelled when the large wooden doors of the meeting room swung open, and Dainya watched with wide eyes as a Taomon strode into the chamber, a large tome cradled in one arm.
"I apologise for my tardiness General." She gave a small, formal bow, removing the small round glasses that perched upon her nose and tucking them into her sleeve as she rose. "I was going over the records and became a little too engrossed."
"It is quite alright, Brigadier." Stoker nodded, having risen from his seat when she entered. "We were just about to start the meeting." He gestured to her seat and the priest-like Digimon padded up past the table, allowing her eyes to stray for enough to note the positions of the non-members before setting her book to one side and sitting down, paws draped along the arm rests. "Now then," General Stoker began, his words carrying enough authority that the hall fell silent, even Lupmon resuming her seat, and all eyes turned to the leader of the Nightmare Soldiers. "I suppose you are very confused as to why you were summoned here." He looked to both Sephy and Dainya, who both nodded, unable to muster a more detailed verbal response.
"Lupmon not!" The wolf broke out, waving a claw in the air. "Lupmon came to find Aniki, and she found him!" She pointed to the chair next to her where Komodomon sighed, giving his follower a small hush and telling her, in a polite manner, to keep quiet for now, to which Lupmon gave her usually enthusiastic nod while Dainya almost took to hiding behind her hand in embarrassment.
The outburst did not, however, disturb General Stoker, who simply smiled in a genial fashion at the lupine's antics before continuing.
"I feel before that is explained, it would be best to explain to you the goals of the Nightmare Soldiers, as otherwise our motives for involving you would make little sense. Besides," he let his eyes focus upon Cait and Min for a few moments. "The Brigadier-General informs me that some members of our organisation have given you cryptic messages that have done little more than pique your curiosity." Min looked away at this, pretending to check up on Strabimon, while Cait seemed to try and hide his face beneath his bandanna. "Lieutenant-Colonel Cait, has also informed me that you, Miss Dainya, spoke with Moderator Duke about us, and have learned of our reputation as a collaboration of ill-willed hackers."
As Cait was mentioned, Dainya looked up at the supposed explorer and found him looking back at her, averting his eyes as soon as he noticed he had her attention, looking as if he had just been found out for telling on his friends to the teacher.
"What you must understand is that this reputation is a front. While we do our best to maintain the secrecy of our structure, our goals force us to act within the game, thus threatening the exposure of our true motives to the Moderators and Administrators. If they think any members they happen upon are organised, we allow them to receive the impression that we are nothing more than collaborating hackers looking to commit the usual array of sinister miss-deeds. But," The tone of his voice changed, taking on a heavy kind of seriousness that tightened the skin around his eyes. "our true motives, and our true structure can never be discovered by anyone with loyalties to Pandai, or all our work will be undone and lives will be lost. It may sound overly dramatic, but it is the truth. If I am to tell you, you must solemnly swear to never speak of it with anyone who is not one of us. If you cannot perform this, I will expel you now or have Lieutenant-Colonel Eight Ball freeze you from your accounts." Eight visibly winced at the rather limited tone used upon his rank, while Dainy and Sephy exchanged looks before turning back to the General and nodding their accent. Flowery words, after all, did not make a promise more honest. "The Digimon too." Stoker insisted, causing Sephy and Dainya to exchange looks of the confused variety, before Bulletmon suddenly rose from his seat.
"I swear it sir, none shall hear what you speak of from me." The virus swore, one hand upon where a human would carry their heart.
Lupmon meanwhile looked to her Aniki, who nodded, prompting her to turn and face the general, nodding her mad nod.
"Lupmon promise too."
"Good." Stoker nodded, carrying on with his explanation. "Within this game world, we of the Nightmare Soldiers, or NS, are both its greatest enemies and protectors." Eyelids were blinked at this paradox bearing statement. "While it is true that we seek to break the protective code around the Yggdrasil server, and undermine the moderators, our goal is not to harm this game but to unearth the truth behind it. You see, for as much as this all seems to be a brilliantly constructed game, there are Digimon here who are not simple code, but actual, living, or rather, sentient beings. We of NS seek to protect these Digimon and discover the secret of this game, and hopefully, uncover the real digital world!" The General's voice began to rumble with contained excitement, and when he finished, he, and all those gathered, turned to look at one of their 'guests' as a slightly uncomfortable silence began to settle in.
"Say wha…?" Sephy cocked an eyebrow, having now completely lost the plot.
"You're kidding, right?" Dainya asked. "I haven't, well…not actively…" She blushed a little in embarrassment. "believed that Digimon were real in years! You can't honestly expect me to believe you've been running around playing DATS all this time and actually thinking their real…right?" Her voice wavered, unsure of her own words, especially with all these eyes on her.
"If you're having doubts," Eight suddenly intruded. "then look to your own partner." He gestured across to the table, catching Lupmon's attention and prompting the wolf to look around behind herself, before raising a claw and pointing and placing it against her nose, seeking confirmation, which came in the form of Komodomon patting her shoulder and telling her 'yes, he is talking about you.'
"Lupmon is probably the clearest example of Digimon sentience for you." Cait suddenly spoke up, his tone reserved, and still unable to look at Dainya. "She asks many questions, mostly somewhat relevant to what is going on around her, and responds to the answers. She formed a loyalty to Komodomon upon her own violation. Many of these aspects could be programmed…"
"But not even I could make her that chaotic." Eight finished.
"You're being very co-operative all of a sudden." Min glared at the hacker, immediately distrustful. "What gives?"
"I'm simply being a good loser." Eight waved her off. "I'll sit back, be nice, and plot my horrible revenge."
Sighing, Min picked up the explanations.
"Don't forget those two." She pointed to Sephy and Bulletmon. "While the kid isn't the spiciest pakora in the take out," a 'hey' was elicited from Sephy, who then grumbled something like 'what's a pakora anyway.' "His partner has proven to be quite the brain box, remember how useful he was back against Golemmon. Without him, Sephy-kins would probably never have made it out of Root Town."
"Oh yeah!" Sephy yelled, forgetting suddenly where he was, and not actually realising he had gotten the point. "Well I suppose it explains your dumb arguments with your partner you old hag."
"Who you callin' old!?" Min's glare returned as she hurled her hat, still bearing DemiDevimon at the boy. With the Digimon's added weight, the force was enough to knock Sephy back into his seat. DemiDevimon promptly untangled herself and took flight, (hat in claws) back to her side of the table and prepared to get into another fight with Min, while Bulletmon moved to calm Sephy down, Lupmon and Komodomon chuckled at the scene while Strabimon sighed and Agumon shook his head. Looking at the reactions of all the Digimon, it became very easy for her to believe what she was being told. Seeing this realisation dawn in the eyes of his guests (even if Sephy was more preoccupied with being mad a Min) General Stoker called silence and continued.
"We dub the sentient Digimon 'Wild Ones', after the Hypnos term, and have found that their appearance is not restricted to partnered Digimon, but NPCs as well. Brigadier Taomon is an example of that." He gestured to the Digimon, who proceeded to give a nod. "It is our theory that this game is somehow tied to the, or a, real digital world, and that it is the source of all Wild Ones."
"This is theory is also backed by what we've dubbed 'Wild Lands.'" Eight picked up. "Areas of the game that have hidden aspects beyond those of their programmed environment, typically things like the time it takes for terrain damage to heal." Cait gave the hacker a brief glare, the incident in the mountain garden was clearly not forgiven, but Eight carried on unflinchingly.
"If there is a key to accessing the digital world, we believe it is within those Wild Lands. When you first met Lieutenant-Colonels Cait, and Eight Ball they were under orders to conduct an investigation of the Eniac Ruins, as well as cover it up." General Stoker resumed.
"What do you mean, cover it up, exactly?" Dainya asked. She expected either General Stoker or Eight to answer, but the General turned to look at Cait, prompting him to give the explanation. The cloaked officer sighed a little, made an effort to look at Dainya, failed, and settled for gazing at a spot a few inches before her.
"We don't know how much Pandai knows about all this, or how much they're manipulating, but in any case we couldn't let on that we knew. The plan was initially to have Eight Ball break into the areas coding,"
"Something that yields more definitive answers if done 'in-game'." The hacker supplemented.
"while I would apparently 'intervene' and be able to provide a report to the Moderators on his actions." Cait continued. "Eight's reputation and my testimony would have been enough to make it look like he was trying to crack Yggdrasil. The moderators would be left none the wiser to what we were actually doing,"
"Which was just looking to compare the Ruins' data to other Wild Lands, like our Mansion." Eight once again added his commentary.
"and would be likely to seal the area from players while they looked for damage, which they did, and ensured the place would be vacant for a week or so." Cait finished.
"Which, so far, it has been." Eight wrapped up.
"So…why bring me along?" Dainya asked, willing Cait to actually look at her, which he did, but only for a moment.
"When I met you, I began to suspect that Lupmon was a Wild One, and I wanted to see if you had the potential…" He took a breath. "To…become a member…of…well…us…"
"Oh." Was Dainya's reaction, placing a hand to her mouth. Things were certainly much clearer now. "Is that why you took me to the Garden?" She asked, her voice becoming a little harsher than she liked. It was one thing to be betrayed, another to be viewed as a statistic, or potential grunt. "And let Sephy come, because you heard about him from Min?" Her eyes darted to the witch for a moment.
"No." Cait answered, twiddling his thumbs and looking rather nervous. "I really did just want to show you it, because I thought you would like it. And I let Sephy come because, well, you were babysitting him."
Sephy made some kind of grumble, which seemed a mix of irritation and disdain, while Dainya softened a bit, finally getting the answers that she had first come here for.
"I'm sorry." Cait apologised, head hung.
"Now why can't you be more like that Sythe?" Eight's loud voice suddenly broke the solemn mood Cait's apology had struck. "You went and broke our door and my maze and you haven't even looked sheepish!"
"They were in my way!" Sythe yelled, indignant with raised fist.
"Private White-Sythe, please control your temper." Brigadier-General Myotismon sighed. "We've had enough fights today already."
"Private?" Was the collective question from the non-NS members, who now stared in surprise at the white garbed PvP specialist.
"Private White Sythe of the Nightmare Soldiers." General Stoker nodded. "Indeed she is one of our operatives, though I'm curious as to why she didn't immediately try to contact myself or Lieutenant-Colonel Cait when she heard about Eight's challenge letter, I do remember you being informed of our plans to offer membership to Dainya and her companions after all."
"Because this insensitive jerk made Dainya cry!" Sythe exclaimed, jagging an accusing finger up at Cait, who leant back a bit in his chair in response and once again tried to vanish behind his bandanna.
"Umm…I never, actually…eh…cried…" Dainya made what she thought may be a protest, or correction, gingerly raising her hand to try and catch Sythe's attention.
"But you were holding it back weren't you!" Sythe swung her arm around to point at Dainya now, one foot up upon the table as she swung on in full dramatic mode. " All the sorrow and pain he caused you with his callous deceptions, I had no choice but to come down here and seek bloody justice!"
Silence fell for a few moments after the outburst until, quite naturally, Eight spoke up.
"So who comes and gets the people in white coats when they go crazy?"
Sythe growled, and was about to go for her chair when General Stoker found himself calling for silence once more.
"The long and short is, we would like to offer you, Miss Dainya, Miss Lupmon, Masters Sephy and Bulletmon, a place within our organisation."
"You mean you think we're awesome enough to help save the digital world?" Sephy asked, eyes as large as a child's could be, looking back at Bulletmon for a moment. The discovery of his partner honestly being real was a child's wish fulfilled, and he wasn't afraid to look incredibly happy about it, just as Eight wasn't afraid to taunt him.
"Actually we think Bulletmon is awesome enough, you're just part of the package."
"I'm sure the digital world placed Bulletmon with Sephy for a reason." A cold voice crept into the room, chilling Sephy's fire before he could retort and all eyes fixed on Eight, the group watching as a figure began to rise out from beneath his chair. "Just as it had reason to pair me with you."
Sliding into the chair beside Eight, the voice's form, such as it was, could now be seen. It did not take a genius to fathom that this was likely to be Eclipsemon's rookie form, the being was of the same deep obsidian as the champion, and bore the same eerie glowing eyes. It bore no wings and seemed to be made of a swirling dark mass, as parts of its body seemed to cease being corporeal and bleed into a kind of dark mist, its fingers seemed more like claws and were of unusual lengths, and one could see them shifting in size if they looked hard enough, but staring at the deep dark of the body didn't feel like a good idea.
Name: Shademon
Level: Rookie
Type: Virus
Attacks: Shadow Jab, Haze bomb.
"Given the scenario, I think that was kinda rude." Sythe hissed at Sephy, who stuck his tongue out in response before putting his Digivice away.
"Mystic voodoo is no match for a good pun kid." Eight quipped, causing his partner to roll his eyes, or so was the assumption. Shademon had no pupils, so the odd shimmer of their ghostly light had to serve as an indicator.
"Hang on!" Dainya broke into the discussion. "You mean to tell me, with the exception of Sephy, all the players I've hung around with have been one of you guys! Am I the target of some conspiracy or…"
"Relax, Miss Dainya." General Stoker calmed her. "While Private White Sythe is an operative of ours, she is renown for acting on impulse too much." The general frowned across at the white clad player.
"I just saw that you were lookin' for Cait and wanted to help." Sythe expanded. "You can trust this face," She pointed both fingers at her cheeks, giving a cheery smile. "I've never had time for all the sneaky, back-door, hush-hush stuff."
A sarcastic look passed among those gathered, Sythe's lack of appreciation for stealthy arts had been more than apparent this night.
"And what about Demi, er, Myo…um…I'm sorry, I've forgotten your rank, eh, Mr Myotismon Sir." Dainya's voice wavered as she looked to the tall vampire.
"Brigadier-General." Myotismon smiled at her. "And I'll admit my motives were a bit more underhanded. I overheard Lieutenant-Colonel Eight Ball's scheming and decided, for which I apologise General, to allow him to act out his plans so that I could observe how Dainya and her comrades would respond to the scenario. I simply wanted to see you all in the same way Cait and the others had."
The General gave a cough as he once more tried to steer the topic of the meeting back on course.
"If we could return to our main topic…Dainya, Lupmon, Sephy, Bulletmon." He looked to each of them in turn. "Will you accept your offer, and work with us? You may refuse, but if so, I urge you to keep to secrecy everything you have heard here tonight."
Lupmon gazed over at her partner. She really didn't understand what was going on, but she knew it was about her and Dainya, and Dainya would know what it all meant, she was very smart after all, like her Aniki. Dainya, for her part, was twiddling her thumbs under the table, sneaking glances at Lupmon. Could she believe Lupmon was alive? Yes. Did she want to believe she was alive? Yes. Did she believe she was alive…?
Yes.
But that wasn't what was holding back her answer.
Before Sephy could blurt out his response, Dainya spoke up.
"How!" She paused as she succeeded in spooking herself with the sound of her voice. "How do I know you're all…really the good guys…?" She wavered a little, growing embarrassed again as all focus fell on her, but she could see all the members of NS setting their minds to work, tackling the very important question. "I mean…" She continued. "I know good guys is a pretty loose notion, but how do I know you're really all you say you are, I mean, I've watched a lot of movies and…y'know…" She twiddled her thumbs again, cheeks red, the attention having become too much for her to handle.
"Well, Shademon, for one, is definitely not a good guy." Komodomon grinned, pointing over at the shadowy virus.
"I look forward to your expiration you scaled rodent." Shademon returned, his voice dripping with cold venom. It seemed he wanted to say more regarding an end for Komodomon, but restrained himself. "My motivation," he spoke to Dainya, his voice now simply cold. "should be little concern in your decision." Dainya knew it shouldn't, but the look she gave the little demon told her she wanted to know regardless. "It was the will of the Digital World that I work with Eight." Shademon sighed. "I do not know why this is so, but the Nightmare Soldiers are my best link to my origin. When I uncover the Digital World's intentions, then I will choose whether or not to follow them."
"It'll be a dark future if you like what it has to say…" Komodomon grumbled, the words still able to reach Shademon who narrowed his eyes to dangerously glowing slits.
"It is true that Shademon's morals are…questionable, at best." General Stoker tried to pick his words with care. "But his rather unique stealth abilities have proven a valuable asset to our operations."
Dainya sighed, they weren't doing a very good job of convincing her of their alignment.
"I don't know…if we can prove our intention to you." Cait spoke up. "Forcing himself to look at Dainya, though he still looked nervous and guilty and apologetic. "We hid a lot from you in order to preserve ourselves, and when we decided," The 'we' was stressed, and his eyes roved to Eight. "to let you in, you weren't given the best of receptions." He turned back to Dainya, looking her in the eyes for the first time all evening. "We won't try and force you, but we really think you would be able to help us find the truth."
"Plus, you're kinda hot." Eight threw in.
"That's it!" Sythe suddenly exclaimed, going for the chair again as those around her once more moved to try and stop a rather pointless brawl, as none of the players could actually feel pain, from breaking out.
And it helped Dainya. These were, mostly, good people. A bit odd, but none really seemed malevolent, but she had a few more questions to put forward before her mind would be at ease.
"If…" she began, just as General Stoker managed to restore order. "If a Digimon…if Lupmon," She rephrased to the heart of her concern. "If Lupmon and I were to lose a battle here, and she was destroyed…" She glanced briefly to her partner, before looking to the General again. "What would happen to her?"
Sighing, the General leant back in his chair, nursing the bridge of his nose, looking suddenly more of the old than gentleman.
"As you know her, she would die." He explained, his voice full of grave seriousness. "The game would piece her back together, but she wouldn't be the same…the part of her that was alive would be gone and she would simply be an ordinary programmed Digimon."
At this, Stoker looked to his partner, and Dainya was aware that all of the NS were paying attention to their partners, the ones whose lives were at risk in what they did. Even Sephy had caught on and was staring intently at Bulletmon, though when the Digimon noticed, the boy looked away, trying to look tough but failing as usual.
"So if Eight's Minotaurmon had finished us…" She rolled the thought out into words.
"Which it didn't!" Eight threw in.
"She would have died, yes." Stoker fixed his glare upon Eight.
"I assure you, sir, I had no intention of killing anyone." The hacker protested. "I simply sought to highlight their inexperience and prove that they would not be of benefit to the organisation, regardless of how hot she is." Dainya went red and Sythe, with a cry of 'dam-eep you ba-eeep' went for the chair, only to be restrained by Agumon.
That settled matters for her though. She couldn't, in good conscience, keep playing the game and putting Lupmon's life in danger for the sake of fun, but she didn't want to be parted from the wolf, especially not now that she knew…
Besides, Charley was always telling her she needed to be more adventurous, and this was the sort of adventure she dreamed of.
"I…I'll do it." She practically stuttered, but still catching everyone's attention. "I want to stay with Lupmon, and I want to know more about what's going on!" She was getting excited; her eyes darted to Cait, Komodomon, Sythe and Agumon. She wanted to stay with them too, and understand them a little better. "If it's okay with Lupmon that is." She added, pointing over to the wolf who simply swung her head in a mad nod.
"Lupmon is happy to be with Dainya and follow her Aniki." She proclaimed.
Eyes turned to Sephy.
"I was in back at 'Digimon are real.'" He shrugged, grinning broadly.
"And I will follow Kaiser wherever he may go." Bulletmon added.
"Welcome to the family Dainya." Min swung an arm around the girl's shoulder and pulled her in close in what would have been a crushing hug in real life. "We're a bit mad, and there are a bunch more of us out there in places, but we know how to throw a party." Demi chuckled, leaping onto Dainya's head.
Smiles filled the table, and Myotismon allowed himself to grin and nod to Dainya, having grown fond of her in the time he'd spent upon her shoulder, he could see why Cait had wanted her to become a member.
"Good. With that settled I assign the four of you the rank of 'private', you will be functioning under Lieutenant Komodomon's command within Lieutenant-Colonel Cait's division." The General gestured to the adventurer, who gave Dainya a sheepish look before hiding within his bandana again. "This also brings me to our second order of business tonight." The General gestured to the Brigadier-General, who rose to speak, cloak swirling about him as he did so.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Eight Ball." He began with a grave tone, the joviality was gone from his voice, but it certainly did not look like he was dreading this task. "For acts of insubordination, you are here by stripped of the rank of 'Lieutenant-Colonel' and demoted to the rank of Major, henceforth to serve within the unit of, and as subordinate to, Lieutenant-Colonel Cait."
The faces of both officers paled, working together did not seemed to be an option they relished, and Shademon allowed his eyes to give a piercing glare of almost pure hatred to Komodomon, who promptly ignored him.
"Major Min," The vampire turned. "You are here-by promoted to rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and are to take over the duties formerly held by the now Major Eight Ball. Congratulations." He grinned as he finished, and Min spent a few moments in shock before sly looked dawned on her face and she looked around Strabimon.
"Oh Mowgli…Me, "She pointed to herself, before pointing to the wild player. "your boss now." If she didn't have some professional reserve, she'd probably have launched into maniacal cackling as Mowgli took to looking glum.
A large echoing boom washed through the hall, dulled somewhat by the stonewalls and thick doors, but still so loud that it rattled everyone in the room and drew many to their feet.
"Major Eight Ball! What is going on?" The General snapped, switching to full military mode.
"Obtaining visual." The hacker responded, fully serious as he summoned monitor screens identical to those he'd used to observe the maze. "But I get the feeling someone just re-used Sythe's knock-knock joke. And I don't think it's gonna be quite as funny this time around."
Calling up an image of the front foyer, Eight enlarged the screen to allow everyone to see the destruction that had been wrecked upon not just the repaired door, but most of the front wall as pieces of stone and wood and glasses lay scattered everywhere and purple shapes moved through the dust.
"Gizmon…" Cait gave a worried and troubled sigh.
"Rookie and AT models." Eight grimaced. "And I wouldn't be surprised if there were XT models in the wings."
While Sephy tried scanning, but only received an image and the name 'Gizmon', Dainya sought to understand the new problem before them.
"Aren't Gizmon from the 'Savers' series?" She asked.
"Yeah, as the villain's shock troops." Cait kept his eyes on the screen, while Eight called up more camera images. "But here, they work for the moderators."
"So if one of you is wearing a wire, fess up now." Eight cut in, before turning the latest screen to face them all. "I want to be able to get real mad at someone before we all get wiped out."
The screen showed the outside of the mansion, swarming with Gizmon of all varieties. And amongst them all was a colossal blue Digimon with gold details to its armour, great metal claws upon its feet and grand wings that remembered a tattered cloak. Great silver spikes grew from the back of its helm, and a grand golden 'V' was attached to its chest. Upon one pauldro there stood a man clad in a blue suit, his hair following the same scheme and spiked back with a sporty pair of blue sports sunglasses upon his face.
"You can scan that one Sephy." Min growled. "UlforceVeedramon, one of the moderators."
An unsettled feeling naturally grew through all those present, a mega level royal knight and an army of purple doom bugs can do that to you, especially if Eight's implication that someone had ratted them out was true.
"Nightmare Soldiers, prepare for immediate, emergency evacuation." General Stoker commanded.
Outside, the moderator watched as his Gizmon troops advanced into the mansion, tearing down the wall that stood in their way. He wondered how much a fight they would put up, and whether he would be able to receive any real fun from this hunt.
"Konichiwa, Nightomare Soldiers." He grinned, his voice laden with a Tokyo accent. "Ready or noto… Here. I. Come."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raven: I personally feel that this entire labyrinth arc ending on a rather awkward note. However, we really didn't want to turn this into the Bleach Soul Society arc with people running everywhere, so we decided to cut it sort and get back to the important stuff; plot twists. Though, let's be honest, I'd bet fifty kudos bars everybody saw this coming.
We came up with the idea for the Nightmare Soldiers, and what their purpose was way back when. After people kept commenting on the parallels between this story and dot.hack, I watched some and played through some, and discovered the Twilight Brigade. Realizing just how similar these two guilds are is insanely creepy. The main difference is what they are looking for, and the fact that the NS knows what exactly it is.
Finally, the mods get to do something, and we end up cutting the chapter beforehand! Aren't we just mean?
Keyo: And so I finally had enough time (with summer holidays being over for normal schools I'm not needed so much at work) to write a 9000 word chapter. Yay!
Really, there is a whole lot I could say on this…I think. I've been looking forward to this for ages now. I love the NS crew and I really wanted to reveal them for what they are…completely mad! But now I get to write the Digimon properly, and that makes me happy. I also get to have Cait back as a good guy and write a lot of fun stuff for Min and Sythe, they're awesome, pity the creampuff hit the fan.
On a side note, Minotaurmon's attack is actually called 'Bull Fighting Attack', but this sounded very clumsy, so I took some liberties to play around with it. A Matador is the top rank of bull fighter and their name means 'Killer', so I felt it fit a bit better than 'Bull Fighting.' I often think of how these foriegn names are cool, but when it's your language, it's all clumsy like Bull Fighting Attack.
And now to explain the name, 'Nightmare Soldiers'. Nightmare Soldiers is one of the Digimon family groups, and in the anime, all of Myotismon's henchmen were from the Nightmare Soldier family. I thought this was cool, so all the NS members are from that Family (yes, even Taomon). Most of our fan-mon would be too, though Komodomon could fit into Dragon's Roar.
Also, there are no typos in the last line; I just tried to type the moderator's accent.
See you next chapter!!!
Keyo & Raven.