Chapter 27: The Strongest Demon Lord Beelzemon Appears
The scene was the Real World, where the company president of Toy Origins Entertainment Inc. could be seen sitting at the end of a gray executive style table with a group of the company's workers gathered around it.
"So tell me again what happened those days ago," the man grumbled. "And why the hell wasn't I informed?!"
"Forgive us, sir," replied the woman with long brown hair tied into a ponytail. "We didn't want to tell you until after we knew exactly what went on. Unfortunately, we still aren't sure. All we know is this, the program we used to track those mysterious IP addresses was deactivated for a short period of time by a password override sequence, and then it was somehow reactivated. However, when it was reactivated, we lost the ability to track it apart from the ability to tell if it was working or not. Then, the program just died; it went blank."
"So, you're saying a password override was used, right?" the president questioned, still annoyed at not being told any of this immediately.
"That is correct," the woman confirmed.
"This is definitely curious," the president said to everyone gathered around the table. "Yoroi, tomorrow I want you to head over to Nero's house and request that his mother to allow you to speak with him. If he can't speak or isn't around, ask her if Nero's ever shared any codes with her. Once you have an answer, return here."
The man with short black hair in a bowl shape nodded his head and agreed to do as he was asked.
"When I first met him, I could tell that Nero was not the type of person to share a powerful code like that with anyone," thought the president. "If his mother doesn't know the password, then I'm certain that Nero deactivated the program. Still, the reactivation and deletion of the program still puzzles me. If Nero himself deleted it, why on earth would he go and turn it back on first?"
As the company president resumed the meeting he was in with some of the other employees, Nero and the others could be found in a small item shop just outside the desert region of the southern portion of the Digital World.
"Are we almost ready yet?" Veemon grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall outside.
"Just hold your horses, Veemon," said Alex with a sigh, leaning against the wall as well. "Nero knows better than anyone what supplies we'll need to cross the desert, so have a little patience."
"Maybe if you and Agumon weren't such gluttons, we wouldn't need so much food," Ryudamon stated, sitting with her arms and legs crossed upon a small rock.
Hikaru placed his hand over his mouth and yawned, not really wanting to get involved in an argument so early in the morning. Even though it was around 9 AM in Japan, it was approximately 7 AM in the area of the Digital World Nero and the others were in.
Aimi stepped outside of the store with Agumon, yawning as well. She had just used the restroom inside. Soon Zaki and PawnChessmon followed, both of them having used it as well, and then Ana and Andrew. Approximately three minutes later, Nero and Forumon walked out as well, with Nero's Digivice now stocked full of supplies. However, there was something else that was different. In addition to Nero's usual attire, he now had a pair of round black goggles strapped around his forehead.
"Hey, Nero, what's with the goggles?" asked Andrew with a smirk. Kudamon, perched upon Andrew's shoulders, gave a little smirk at the sight of the goggles too.
"I was messing around a bit in there and put them on for the hell of it," Nero answered. "Dorumon said it looked good on me and insisted that I buy them."
"Hey, you gotta admit that it looks cool!" Dorumon giggled innocently, his tail swaying from side to side.
"Well, it does suit you," Ana admitted.
"By the way, I got something for all of you," Nero announced, looking at his Digivice and activating one of the menu items. A small group of shades appeared on the ground before the group, and everyone grabbed a pair. When a few more were left, the Digimon realized that they needed some too.
"Thanks, but what are these for?" Aimi wondered.
"These look like normal shades, but they're in fact special glasses," Nero informed. "We'll be crossing the desert, and sandstorms are a high possibility. The game is designed so that anyone not wearing them will be scattered to some random place if they aren't wearing these special shades. That goes especially for all of you Digimon, since these were mainly designed for you!"
Everyone nodded their heads, with the humans storing the items in their Digivices. Nero stored a pair in his Digivice for Dorumon, while he kept the goggles on his head, which would serve the same purpose as the shades in the desert.
Elsewhere, Beelzemon, the Demon Lord in charge of the sector, could be found in a large and luscious oasis somewhere in the desert. The oasis had a fairly decent-sized lake in the middle top of it. Several straw dummies had been set up near the side of the lake, where Beelzemon shot at each of them with his pistols. They all had holes in the direct center of their heads and chests, suggesting that the Digimon had perfect aim.
"Lord Beelzemon!" a voice called from above.
"What is it?" asked the Demon Lord, not even bothering to look up and knowing full-well that it was DemiDevimon.
"The master just wanted me to let you know that Lord Yggdrasil and the others have entered your sector of the Digital World!" the small flying Digimon reported. "He sent me because he was busy… Something about BlackGabumon and one of the other Digimon."
"Tell me, DemiDevimon," requested Beelzemon, putting his guns away and still refusing to make eye contact. "Why does the master have such an interest in BlackGabumon?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," DemiDevimon answered. "Well, later!"
Out view and lurking behind a nearby tree was a tall skeleton-like Digimon. His bones were orange, with a grey area on the inside of his chest, and had two gray wings sprouting from his back. He wore silver armor-plated gauntlets and boots, as well as long silver-colored pants. In his hand he carried a reddish-orange staff with a yellow orb, which was used to attack his enemies.
As DemiDevimon left, Beelzemon drew one of his pistols and aimed at one of the target dummies. His finger was poised to pull the trigger and take the shot.
"I know you're there!" he grumbled.
The skeleton-like Digimon made a "Yipe!" sound and scurried off, only to end up running right into Beelzemon, whom had appeared before him.
Beelzemon reached out and grabbed him by the throat, holding him in place as the Digimon shook in fear.
"What the hell is one of the Daemon Corps doing in my territory?!" he demanded to know. "Answer me, SkullSatamon!"
"P-Please f-forgive me, Lord Beelzemon!" begged SkullSatamon. "I didn't mean to spy."
"That's not what I asked," growled Beelzemon. "Why are you here?! Keep in mind that I don't want any help, even if Daemon asked you to!"
"Th-That's not it," SkullSatamon answered. "The master…told Lord Daemon…to have me do this."
"Do what?" Beezlemon questioned further, loosening his grip enough for SkullSatamon to speak properly. "I want to fight Dorumon alone while he's at full power!"
"It's got nothing to do with Dorumon," SkullSatamon admitted. "It's about BlackGabumon…"
Beelzemon listened in and released SkullSatamon as he told him exactly why he was in his territory.
"I see…" said Beelzemon, turning his head to the side. "So that's the story with BlackGabumon, eh?"
"Yes, Lord Beelzemon," the skeleton-like Digimon responded. "Lord Daemon said the master is certain of this, and that is why I was ordered here."
"Well, with me around, I don't see why they would even ask you to come here?" the Demon Lord chuckled. "Your mission will be accomplished the moment I finish off Dorumon and the others. Just remember this, if you find them before I do and so much as make Dorumon waste even an ounce of his energy, I will hunt you down and kill you myself! Is that clear?!"
SkullSatamon cowered in fear at the threat, knowing that not only was Beelzemon serious, but he was also telling him not to even go near any of the Digimon around Yggdrasil, for if he attacked one, the others, including Dorumon, would strike back. He agreed to the condition and fled the scene, scared of the Demon Lord.
Watching the Digimon run away, Beelzemon stood in place with a smirk. "Things have just become very interesting."
Back in the desert region, Conrad and Jillian were still in the same town they had been for a couple weeks at this point. After such an intensive amount of Digimon with the Digimon in the town, Wizardmon had already reached his Ultimate stage of digivolution. He now resembled a human with long brown hair, his head covered with a long and pointed blue hat attached to a silver helmet. His body was covered in silver armor with gold embroidery and blue pearls attached to the back of his gauntlets. Underneath his armor he was dressed in red robes. A purple cloth hung from his groin and down past his legs, and a cape of a darker purple color draped over his back.
The Digimon leapt backwards with a flaming sword in his right hand, heaving a sigh of exhaustion after sparring several of the Digimon in the town.
"Good work, Mystimon!" cheered Conrad. "At this level, we should definitely be of assistance to the group heading our way!"
"If only I had achieved this level of strength sooner," Mystimon, the next level of Wizardmon, stated. "Perhaps then we could've left this town and escaped the desert to meet with them earlier."
"Don't worry about it," Conrad told him.
Conrad knew that Candlemon would've been strong enough as Wizardmon to ensure that the two of them made it through the desert safely, but Wizardmon was uncertain about whether or not he could protect both Conrad and Jillian. Protecting Jillian should have been Veemon's concern, but Veemon still lacked the ability to digivolve to even the Champion level. He had trained alongside Candlemon for quite a while, but for the last few days, he had refused to train.
"Come on, Veemon," Jillian said to her partner, whom was sitting outside an old western-style store. "Don't you wanna train?"
"What's the point?" he whined. "I can't digivolve, so what good am I? It's not like I enjoy fighting anyway. Maybe this is a sign that I wasn't meant to."
Not liking the way he was talking, Jillian embraced her partner in a hug, something that cheered Veemon up a bit.
"I don't care if you can't digivolve," she said. "You're still partner, and my friend."
That statement resulted in a smile from Veemon, and made him realize what he had thought before he went into his slump. He needed to figure out how to digivolve so he could protect his human partner, even if he really didn't like fighting.
Meanwhile, a few hours had passed since Nero and the others crossed into the sandy desert, travelling across dune after dune of sand. The sun was beaming from above down onto them, with each and every one of them sweating bullets. They constantly had to stop to drink some bottled water that Nero stored in his Digivice, though even Nero questioned if he had brought enough. Since it had been a game, Nero didn't take into account how hot it would actually be, even if it was a desert. Nero had chosen the most difficult path for reaching the town Conrad and Jillian had taken refuge in, but it was far less populated by players for that reason, and they were less likely to encounter any wild Digimon and waste even more of their energy.
"How much longer?" Agumon moaned, his stomach growling as usual.
"If we were taking the faster route, we'd be there by nightfall," Nero answered. "However, with this route, I'd say it'll take us about another day if we stop and rest tonight."
"That long?" Aimi complained.
"Well, I'd prefer it if we didn't run into other players," informed Nero. "Frankly speaking, I'd rather take a route where something like that was less likely to happen."
"Why is it so important that we don't run into other players?" Zaki wondered.
"Well, if time passes at the rate here I think it does, then that means we've all been missing from our world for quite a while now," Nero explained. "Imagine what would happen if people found that humans had been zapped into a game? For starters, to try and 'rescue' us, they'd probably do anything in their power to get us out, and they could mess with the game enough to crash it and trap us here forever. Second, human nature suggests that scientists and the government might want to find a way to gain access to this technology, and I wouldn't want the Digital World to suffer for it. And then there's what worries me the most… If humans can get in here, what's stopping us from pulling the Digimon out? I don't know if it's possible for Digimon to enter our world or not, but if they did, the military would probably want to use them as weapons, creating war and causing millions of humans and Digimon alike to suffer. I just don't want anything like that to happen! I would never be able to forgive myself if that happened due to a simple game I created."
The Digimon were a bit shocked by Nero's words, not knowing that he cared so much about their wellbeing.
"I just wish it wasn't so hot though," Ana said in an exhausted tone of voice.
"Try not to think about it so much," Kudamon suggested.
"Easy for you to say," Veemon pouted. "You don't have to walk."
"For once, I'm not going to complain about something that came out of your mouth," Ryudamon said to Veemon.
All of the Digimon seemingly glared at Kudamon, causing him to irk and cower behind his partner.
"If you guys would prefer, I could let him walk," Andrew giggled. "Though with all of this sand, I'd hate to spend another day out here just to try and find him because he got lost underneath it all."
The Digimon all sighed and returned their attention forward while Kudamon thanked his partner for sticking up for him.
To avoid stopping for lunch, Nero was forced to draw out food stored in his Digivice and give it to everyone to eat on the go. They would become that much more exhausted if they stopped, though they were tempted to do so. Within the next couple hours, the group would find themselves using the shades Nero had purchased for them sooner than expected. An ominous wind stirred up and began to blow, and with it a massive cloud of dust. Nero brought the goggles down from over his forehead and placed them over his eyes, while pulling the shades he got for Dorumon out of his storage and placing them on Dorumon. The other humans did the same as the sandstorm blew over them, and they placed their arms over their faces for protection.
"We need to find shelter!" Alex announced.
"There is none!" Nero shouted. "Don't worry though, in the Digital World it isn't anywhere near as bad! SO long as you keep those over your eyes, nothing bad will happen!"
"I'm afraid something just did," an evil voice cackled.
Everyone immediately focused all of their attention to the front, but the sandstorm made it difficult to see anything. The wind began to dye down a bit, but not enough to suggest that the storm was nearing its end, and the group regained just enough visibility to see who was speaking to them. Standing before them was Beelzemon with one foot upon the seat of his motorcycle, Behemoth. Nero took out his Digivice to give the best information he could on him, and the other humans did so to follow and also prepare for a fight.
"Beezlemon," Nero growled, recognizing him. "He's a Demon Lord, just like Belphemon and Lillithmon, and is naturally of the same attribute. He's constantly on the search for strong foes, and is the most powerful of the Demon Lords. His Double Impact and Darkness Claw attacks are nothing you want to be on the opposite end of."
"D-Did you just say…strongest?" Guilmon stuttered.
"Yes, strongest," bragged Beelzemon. "You guys you're so tough for defeating Belphemon and Lillithmon, don't ya? Well, I got news for ya! I'm on a whole 'nother level!"
"So I guess that means if we beat you, then we can beat anyone, right?" Veemon pointed out. "Let's go, Hikaru-Alex!"
"So impulsive…" sighed Ryudamon. "Come on, Hikaru-sama!"
Veemon and Ryudamon both digivolved to their Ultimate stages, with the other Digimon doing the same after. Amazingly, the shades they all wore stretched to fit their new sizes.
"We'll keep him busy," Qilinmon told Nero and Dorumon, who had yet to digivolve. "That should give you an opportunity to strike!"
As the Digimon charged at Beelzemon, the Demon Lord to took no action to defend himself. He took the full front of the various attacks while Dorumon digivolved to his newly acquired Mega-level form of Alphamon. When the smoke cleared from the attacks the Digimon had fired, Beelzemon was shown without a scratch on him. Alphamon brought his down on him, charging the anti-virus program through it.
"DAV Holy Judgement!" he roared.
Beelzemon held up his right arm, catching the sword with his right hand.
"Is he serious?!" Nero thought. "Even if he hasn't taken any serious damage, taking the full force of Alphamon's DAV attack is an automatic suicide for a Demon Lord!"
To Nero and Alphamon's surprise, Beelzemon didn't succumb to the attack. Rather, he easily pushed the sword away, not even feeling the slightest tingle apart from a small bloody wound on his palm.
"Was that it?" he asked in a disgruntled tone.
"Th-That's impossible!" Nero gasped. "That should've allowed his sword to slice right through you!"
"Really?" Beelzemon retorted with a faint smirk. "So that was the attack you used to defeat Lillithmon then? That's the fabled anti-virus program that HE is so afraid of?"
Beelzemon began laughing at his own statement.
"What's so funny?!" Alphamon spat.
"You impudent fools," Beelzemon cackled evilly. "That won't work on me, because the master never infected me with his power!"
Nero's eyes widened in horror at the sound of that, while everyone else wondered what was going on.
"Now then, you brats! Are you going to fight me seriously now? Or must I end our fun…permanently?"
While Alphamon wasn't about to give up, Nero knew better than to engage Beelzemon in combat at the moment. Beelzemon grew impatient and drew his guns, hoping to spur a reaction. He fired a shot from each at Alphamon, who was prepared to block with his sword. However, before he could do so, he suddenly felt the shades covering his eyes disappear. He disappeared before Beelzemon's eyes, vanishing form sight; Nero was gone as well.
"What?!"
Qilinmon was the first to realize what had happened, remembering Nero's words from earlier.
"Everyone, take off your shades!" he announced. "Now!"
The Digimon and humans quickly did the same as what they believed Nero to have done, disappearing just as Beelzemon fired shots at them too. The sandstorm finally ended, allowing complete visibility. Beelzemon cursed aloud as he was left alone, swearing that he would he find them.
