Hello!
Joe is getting ganged up and Mimi has disappeared, this is going to be fair…
Oh, before that, Davis is about to get the biggest scare in his life.
Here we go…
Chapter 25: "Her"
The boredom of being tied up all by himself had sent Davis to sleep, but given how uncomfortable it is, staying asleep for long was not easy.
Davis opened his eyes as his back hurt from the cramp, much to his surprise this time though, he wasn't alone.
Hmm? Ahead of him, a figure sat on the floor, not very far away from him.
It was an Angewomon, Davis barely made it out by the helmet and wings, but this wasn't Kari's Angewomon, he just somehow knew.
But something felt so alien about this particular digimon.
She just sat there, all lonely and curled up. Her arms wrapped around her thin legs and her helmet-hidden head rested on her knees, completely obscuring her face. There was something not right about her, even her wings were down, which is something that Davis had never seen from Kari's Angewomon.
Just looking at her made Davis feel… empty… sad, angry, bitter, frustrated, all that.
"Um… Hello?" Davis asked unsurely, there was no reply, not even a slight reaction, "Hello? I am Motomiya Daisuke; they took me hostage here, what about you?"
Silence…
She didn't even budge…
Davis stared at the strange digimon, he wondered if she was conscious… or if she was alive at all… because she just didn't move, not even breathing. Just like a statue…
A flash of purple light caught Davis's attention, to his right, one of the robed beings appeared with two unconscious Fugamons next to him.
"Hey! You!" Davis quickly shouted at it, "What are you planning here? What do you want with Veemon?! Tell me!"
It simply ignored him, just like an annoying fly.
With two jolts of purple electricity, the Fugamons suddenly woke up from their artificial slumber as the creature teleported away in a puff of smoke and dust.
The Fugamons looked around curiously at where they had been brought to, their bone clubs ready in their hands. Davis wondered why these two stupid brutes were brought here.
It wasn't long before they noticed the Angewomon sitting on the floor, instinct drove them to get closer to find out what she was.
Was it really safe to leave her with those two? Davis didn't really think so.
His suspicion was justified, one of the two Fugamons lifted up a club and charged towards Angewomon with a yell as if it was about to attack.
"Hey! Run! Get away!" Davis suddenly jumped up in an attempt to get the Angewomon to move, the Fugamon was rapidly coming up to her!
And she still just sat there.
…
Davis didn't really know what happened, but all he knew was a sudden explosion of a thick mist of blood that obscured whatever was going on there…
A heart-wrenching scream was heard as the Fugamon lay on the floor in a pool of blood, his arms and legs were torn from his body and hung in midair around him.
Davis's jaws gapped opened and he stared frozen at the sight that made him feel sick.
The torn limbs fell onto the floor and something smashed down on the Fugamon's head and sent the skull exploding in a spray of blood and brains.
The other Fugamon was absolutely terrified by what just happened, he turned and was about to flee for his life until something telekinetically grabbed him and lifted him up into midair. Davis forced his eyes shut as the body started clicking and the upper torso started turning to its left in a clearly unnatural way…
"CRACK!"
A hot splash of blood splattered onto his face as Davis abruptly opened his eyes, he wish he hadn't…
He was staring at the severed upper torso of a still alive Fugamon; his face was twisted by the pain, the eyes showing the indescribable horror of his last moments before disappearing as data.
Fear and disgust froze Davis in place; he could not believe what he just saw…
Until the churning in his stomach reached the limit of his control and made him throw up what little food in his stomach…
What… the… hell… was that…?
Tears welled up in his eyes as Davis could not get those sickening images out of his head! He opened his eyes and looked…
She was still sitting there…
She hasn't moved at all, completely still, completely normal, haven't made even a whimper of a sound…
There are no words to describe how horrified Davis was…
Joe's Position:
Gomamon swung left and right as if in a seizure to escape whatever took over his body. He was trapped in between two opponents and things weren't looking good!
Joe strained his eyes and could just barely make out thin wires that were only visible because of the prismatic light from the sun. They extended from the long sleeves of one of the robed creatures and buried themselves into Gomamon's joints. That must be what's wrong with Gomamon!
Joe unfolded his Swiss Army Knife and hesitated slightly, the robed beings gave off an unmistakable air of intimidation. He readied himself before daringly dashing forward and brought the small knife down on the wires. They snapped and Gomamon slammed onto the floor from the sudden disappearance of strain.
"Quickly! Joe!"
Joe aimed the digi-vice and said:
"Gomamon digivolve to…"
"Ikkakumon!"
Ikkakumon turned his head and aimed at the first opponent…
What… the… heck…?
Standing where the creature was, were three identical robed beings walking towards Ikkakumon in quick silent steps, not even slightly intimidated by horn that aimed at them.
Doesn't matter, attack them! Ikkakumon lowered his head and growled:
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
A black horn shot forth from his head and split in mid-air to reveal the small torpedo inside. The missile flew straight into one of the three and passed right through it before exploding somewhere in the background…
What was that…? Ikkakumon stared at what just happened.
"A… phantom?" Joe watched for a few more second seconds as Ikkakumon fired several other shots at them.
The three robed beings disappeared…
And five more appeared!
What the… how am I suppose to attack them like this?! Ikkakumon jumped back to fire several shots at each one of them.
After the first few shots they all disappeared again and now there are ten of them!
No surprises… just another one of their abilities… Joe watched their movement carefully.
They had both forgot about the other one.
Joe quickly turned around at that thought; he searched the corners of his vision for their black robe…
Too late! Rainbow coloured strings jumped out from the bushes and wrapped themselves Joe's elbows and knees, some kind of twisted manipulation took hold of his actions…
Joe fell onto the ground on his knees and raised both hands up with the knife gripped in his palm…
"What are you doing?!" Ikkakumon turned around to pounce at Joe as he brought both hands down to stab himself in the stomach.
NO! Stop! Joe struggled against his own muscles as his arms brought the knife down onto his body, he could not stand against the force! His hands started sweating and cramped as the tip of the knife touched flesh, come on, Ikkakumon…
Ikkakumon jumped at Joe and pushed his arms onto the ground. This was one opportunity to attack that the robed creature couldn't miss! All the phantoms disappeared as it dashed forward to stab Ikkakumon with a purple energy blade. Ikkakumon wasn't slow to react either, he turned his head and jabbed his horn at the robed creature several times, effectively locking each other in position.
"Icicle Coat!"
Spikes of ice protruded from the ground around Ikkakumon and forced the creature to jump back. He immediately decided to follow up on the attack…
If not for Joe suddenly jumping up and stabbed Ikkakumon in the side…
What am I doing?! Let go of the knife! Quick! Joe tried with all he could to let go of the knife which he had stabbed into the side of Ikkakumon's ribs, but he only made it worse! Ikkakumon hissed as Joe twisted the blade to make the wound bigger, red blood soaking his white fur.
It became pretty clear by now that the other creature's ability is to manipulate actions, but how could Joe possibly had the strength to pierce Ikkakumon's hide with a Swiss Army knife?!
The situation was awkward; Ikkakumon had to defend both Joe and himself from two overpowering opponents!
Ikkakumon swung his paw and severed the rainbow coloured wires glowing in the air. He immediately fired several missiles into the bush where the creature was hiding.
They were relentless, just as Ikkakumon focused on the puppet-master, the cloning shadow dashed at him, its energy blades flashing through the air and agilely slashed at Ikkakumon in a deadly dance. Ikkakumon had no choice, he turned his head and forced it back with his horn. Sensing its disadvantage, the clone completely wrapped itself in the cloak of its robe and vanished in thin air.
Joe moved back slightly to watch out for the other opponent, strange… the digi-vice says that its coming this way… he looked around, the clone was gone and the puppet master was nowhere in sight.
It is right at his position! That's weird, it's not around…
Then…
A shadow that slowly loomed over him caught Joe's attention…
It was above him!
Too late to even move! Joe instinctively lifted up his arms and covered his face as if waiting for any blow to strike down. Its black robe flapping in the winds, two energy orbs gathered in its hands as the creature readied a strike against Joe's head.
A powerful gale rushed past Joe and knocked him over.
Something swooped overhead and caught the creature just before it reached Joe. It was Lillymon in flight.
Lillymon grabbed the thing by the waist before swinging it in the air a few times and sending it flying. The puppet-master, seemingly intimidated by the disadvantage that had just presented itself, quickly retreated back into the bushes.
"Thank god… you got here…" Joe sat on the floor and panted, that was a bit close…
"No problem, I am just glad I managed to get here in time." She walked up to Joe in a gesture to pull him up, but they were still alert, the enemies were not gone…
Ikkakumon turned his head a few times, something was not right…
"Oh, no you don't!" He quickly jumped back and swung his huge paws down at Lillymon; he caught her on the shoulder and thrashed her harshly into a nearby tree. "Palmon and Mimi would never leave each other! The fact that you can only camouflage as one is the failure in your disguise!"
Damn! I couldn't believe I fell for that again! Joe quickly stood back up and looked out for the other enemy. He didn't have to wait for long as it burst out from the bushes and readied a coordinated attack together.
Ikkakumon and Joe stood back to back, the phantom cloner split his image into five once again, they marched forward to his position in identical fluid paces. Ikkakumon kept up the fire but every attack only caused the clones to duplicate.
They weren't going to win without any reinforcements!
They are just a few metres away now; Joe was dodging flailing wires with all his worth! Getting caught by even one would be terribly problematic. There was no point in this anymore! They are cornered and they are just getting worn down!
Joe turned quickly to see anything he could... it doesn't matter if he get caught, the result will be the same!
Common sense… that's all you need!
"Ikkakumon! Attack the one with the shadow!" Joe shouted quickly as something stung deep into his back.
Of course! The illusion may fool their eyes, but it does not fool the light of the sun. The twelve phantoms jumped up simultaneously to attack Ikkakumon, but this time, they lose!
Seeing the one stretched shadow cast down by the overhead sunshine, Ikkakumon jumped up and skewered that one right on his horn. The moment black blood splattered and blinded his vision, every other clone disappeared.
Yes! He shook his head left and right quickly before slamming the body hard onto the floor. The sensation of finally being able to counter attack felt so good! Now it's time to find Joe!
Ikkakumon turned around and froze as he saw Joe hanging from a tree. He was struggling against the wires tied around his neck like a noose. Joe stretched out and flailed his arm as he gasped for air and fought back the pain, "I'm coming!" Ikkakumon dashed forward to Joe's position, but behind him, something suddenly moved…
What?! It isn't dead yet? The creature cloaked itself and vanished once again, it has learned from the previous mistake and jumped under the shade of trees, now not even sunlight can show its position.
Never mind! Ikkakumon turned and fired above Joe's head, severing the wires and freeing Joe's body.
Joe coughed violently and took huge mouthfuls of air, Ikkakumon rushed to his side quickly, but he did not get there first.
"Watch out behind you!"
The two of them heard Mimi and Palmon's voice, but Ikkakumon didn't wait, he immediately fired a torpedo towards Joe's position, interrupting the phantom that just appeared out of nowhere behind Joe, ready to slit Joe's throat.
"Got you!" Joe yelled as he jumped back towards Ikkakumon. The smoke cleared and the phantom vanished, except Joe's Swiss Army Knife was floating in midair, its torch turned on full, a shining beacon stuck firmly in the invisible enemy.
"Good one Joe!" Ikkakumon did not hesitate to unleash an endless barrage of Harpoon Torpedoes at the position of the knife. The phantom was caught off-guard by the failure of its stealth, it attempted to dodge and jump away, but was far too unprepared and within seconds, was blasted into a storm of fading black confetti.
"Stay still everyone!" Palmon gave the instruction. Everyone was aware there was another opponent, but it was completely hidden in the surrounding bushes. They were wary of what to do, but at least it seems that Palmon had a plan.
Palmon stood in-between the two bushes, the vines extending from her claws and digging deep into the ground, her eyes were closed, every part of her mind focusing completely into the surrounding area, she was waiting… for any movement.
Several snake-like strings slowly crept out from a nearby shrub, in the shade it was invisible to the naked eye, yet as it travelled, it struck a leaf.
"Poison Ivy!"
With a yell, Palmon's vines thrust out of the earth from beneath the robed creature and impaled it from all sides, trapping it in a cage of thorny ivy.
"Leave the rest to me!" Came Veemon's voice deeper into the bush.
Hearing this, the robed creature did not hesitate any longer, it gave up fight, bursting into a bolt of smoking darkness and darted away across the sky.
An unexpected and abrupt end to the battle…
"Where were you guys?!" Ikkakumon de-digivolved back into Gomamon and shouted furiously at the late Mimi and Palmon.
"That thing ambushed us as Joe! We…" Palmon looked slightly ashamed at being defeated, "I… fell for it."
"Don't sweat it, so did I…" Joe added guiltily.
Gomamon panted heavily from the exertion and looked worriedly, he replied, "Sorry, I shouldn't have shouted at you, are you alright?"
"Veemon found us before we could have been killed, but I guess they thought they could just come for you next." Mimi sat next to Joe and took out a handy first aid kit, "They didn't even fight, the two of those creatures just ran away at the sight of Veemon."
"OK, this whole thing is just not making sense; we need to get to the others as soon as possible." Gomamon tried to be brave and ignore the stinging pain in his side, but it didn't take long for Palmon to notice though.
"Of course, Mr. Obvious. Now stay still while I treat your wound." Palmon replied slightly more cheerfully as Veemon appeared out of the bushes to catch up with the four of them.
Sorry about the gruesome beginning of this chapter if you are squeamish, personally, I love those scenes…
And please don't blame me for skipping out a battle scene dedicated to Mimi, I never expected her to be much of a warrior. Anyway, the story telling will continue, despite there is still one more fight to go through…
Review please! Thank you! And no flaming!