(A/N: To mistysong451, you can watch Digimon Data Squad almost anywhere. Just do a Google search of "watch Digimon Season 5" or "watch Digimon Data Squad". Two real good websites are AnimeFreak and KissAnime.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 29: Human Hunting
Tai stared at the scribble that was meant to be the map Kazemon had drawn for them. He couldn't make heads or tails of it. Clearly, mapmaking was not the fairy Digimon's forte.
Looking over his shoulder, Davis stared at the drawing. "Is this supposed to be Meralismon's castle?" he asked, pointing to a triangle with an X in the middle and what he thought was a bat on the top.
"It's Myotismon," Kazemon corrected. "And of course it is. It's plain as day."
"Um, I beg to differ."
"Gimme that," Shoutmon grumbled, snatching the map from him. "You just don't know the layout of the land." He studied the map for a few moments. "What are these stick figures here?"
"Oh, that's us," Kazemon told him. "Then you just follow the trail here."
The dragon Digimon stared. "That's not a trail, that's a squiggly line." He scanned the paper, his eyes landing on a second X, this one inside a rectangle. "So what's this?"
"That's Myotismon's prison. He doesn't keep his prisoners in his castle. He only keeps one with him as a time. He feeds from them until they die or until he gets tired of them and wants a different… um, flavor. Then he swaps them out for someone else in his prison."
Kari's hand was covering her mouth. "That's horrible! The poor things."
Gatomon crossed her arms. "It'll be even worse for them now that he has Cutemon. With her healing powers, he can force her to heal his victims so he doesn't need to worry about them growing weaker and dying on him."
"That's… really messed up," Davis muttered. "Honestly, I don't understand how so many people find the idea of blood sucking vampires to be appealing, let alone erotic, yet they're in so many books and movies about it."
"Hey, I'm just surprised you knew the meaning of the word erotic," said Takuya as he leaned over to take a look at the map. "Why would Myotismon keep his prison so far from his castle? Wouldn't that make getting to his meals difficult?"
"Actually, it's pretty smart," TK replied thoughtfully. "If his prisoners managed to escape, they'd all go after him for revenge. This way he keeps distance between him and them in case they ever got out and caused trouble."
Grumbling, Davis sat down. "Great. Then where would Cutemon be, the castle, or the prison?"
Tai thought about it. "Most likely the castle. If that's where Myotismon actually feeds on his victims, so he'll need Cutemon handy in case the Digimon he's feeding on starts dying on him."
"Ok, can we please stop talking about eating people," Takato begged.
"But it doesn't matter where Cutemon is," the older boy continued, ignoring him. "We're going to be going to both the castle and the prison. We're not leaving any Digimon behind, and we're not letting Myotismon get away with this."
Shoutmon burst out laughing. "Wow, you guys have some major hero complexes."
The others exchanged looks as the dragon Digimon continued to laugh. Takuya placed his hands on his hips and glared at him. "What's so funny about this?"
Wiping his eyes, Shoutmon gave them a serious look. "Listen, you may be having delusions of grandeur, but we're living in the real world." He looked around. "Um, figuratively speaking. You can't save everyone. If you try, you're going to get yourselves killed, and then you won't be able to save anyone."
Tai shook his head. "We're not having delusions of grandeur. All we want to do is save as many people as possible."
Gatomon sighed. "Guys, it's great that you want to help, but it's not going to end well for you, otherwise we would have gone after them ourselves. You'll just be walking to your doom."
TK made a fist. "It wouldn't matter. I couldn't live with myself anyway if I didn't at least try while knowing I had the power to do something."
Kari nodded. "He's right. We can't possibly save Cutemon and abandon the others."
Shoutmon snapped his fingers. "Hello! You're talking about fighting Myotismon. He's a very powerful, highly intelligent Ultimate. You think that just because we've got the power of MetalGreymon that we can beat him? It's going to take more than that. Now, if you were all Ultimates, that'd be a different story, but with only MetalGreymon and five Champions, we don't stand a chance. Especially since he has Duskmon and LadyDevimon on his side."
Kazemon sighed sadly. "I hate to admit it, but he's right. And Myotismon's got more than those two cronies backing him up. If you try and take him down, you're going to get yourselves killed. This is meant to be a rescue mission, not a war march."
Davis shook his head. "Not good enough. It's like TQ said, we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves. And who knows, maybe we can pull it off." He grabbed the air. "In fact, I'm sure we can. We kicked Devimon and Dragomon's butts. We can beat some lousy vampire wannabe."
Gatomon scoffed. "He's not a 'wannabe' anything. And you couldn't even beat his minions. How do you expect to beat him?"
"Well," Kari replied, "we are getting stronger abnormally fast by Digimon standards. Maybe we'll be strong enough to challenge Myotismon by the time we reach him."
Davis beamed. "Yeah, there you go. If we're not up to the challenge, then we just need to get stronger."
The three stared at them. A smile of admiration grazed Kazemon's face as Gatomon sighed. "There's no talking to you humans," she said, but she too was smiling.
Shoutmon chuckled. "Yeah, you gotta love them." He shook his head as he folded up the map. "Well, I guess there are worst ways to die."
"Aww, don't be like that," Davis told him. "I'll go get the gear, and we can head out."
He took off for the hut where the food and supplies the villagers had gathered for them was piled up. He was about to enter when he was suddenly thrown back as the entire hut blew apart
Landing hard, Davis looked up at the sky with stars in his eyes. "What'd I do?"
From within the rising smoke, a large figure slowly emerged, and it sounded an awful lot like Duskmon. "For starters, you came to a world you do not belong in, and now you must pay the price for your admittance."
The others hurried over as Davis sat up, rubbing his head. Shoutmon stared at the smoking wreckage in horror. "Aww, our supplied."
"I assume," Duskmon replied, "you will have no need for it."
He emerged from the smoke, but he wasn't alone. He rode on the back of a giant ghostly skeleton Digimon that resembled an undead saber tooth tiger with wings. Whatever type of Digimon it was, it didn't look friendly.
Tai's fists clenched. "Great, this guy again."
"And he brought a friend," Kari added.
Duskmon motioned to the beast he rode. "Meet SkullBaluchimon, a powerful Ultimate level Digimon with a real killer instinct."
Gatomon glared. "The snatchers never attack twice like this, and they never bring out SkullBaluchimon. What do you want?"
Not one to mince words, Duskmon pointed at Kari. "I've come for her."
She blinked. "Me?"
"The master is most curious about having humans in the Digital World. He especially wants to know how their blood will taste, and he has a fondness for female blood. Now hand her over, or I will kill you all and take her by force."
"Like hell!" Tai snarled, pulling out his Digivice. "Execute! Spirit Evolution…"
Nothing happened. He blinked in surprise, looking at the screen. It was blank. That hadn't happened since their encounter with Impmon. This was not a good time for this.
Duskmon leaned forward. "You were saying?"
Tai's eyes narrowed and he tried again. "Execute! Spirit Evolution…" Still nothing. The device didn't even activate. He began pressing the button desperately, but to no avail. "Come on, don't do this to me. Not now."
"Um, Tai," said Takato, "don't you think now would be a good time to bring out MetalGreymon?"
Tai growled, not even looking at him. "I'm trying, but it's not working!"
Davis pulled out his Digivice. "Then allow me. Execute! Spirit Evo… Why isn't it working?"
"Mine's not working either," said TK.
"Neither is mine," Kari added.
Takuya repeatedly pressed the button, but was only greeted by a blank screen. "Damn, they must be out of power."
Takato didn't even bother to check his. "We must have used all our energy in the last battle."
Duskmon's blades slid out of the skulls he had for hands. "Well, that makes things simpler. SkullBaluchimon, go!"
The undead Digimon roared and pounced at them. The teens fled as the beast landed right where they had been standing. Duskmon leapt off his back, jumping towards the teens with his blades raised. Kazemon slammed into the demon Digimon, sending him crashing through the roof of one of the houses. She landed in front of the teens protectively, and was quickly joined by Gatomon.
From out of the house, Duskmon calmly walked through the front door. "Stay out of this, Kazemon. The master still wants you. He demands that you remain unharmed until then."
"Ha!" the fairy Digimon laughed. "As if I'd ever let that leech taste my blood… or anyone for that matter."
Gatomon glanced at the teens. "Get out of here, you guys. We'll hold him off."
"I don't think so," Duskmon replied. "SkullBaluchimon, don't let them escape."
The skeletal beast turned to the teens and roared. They slowly backed away as the undead Digimon approached.
"Uh, guys, I think it's about time we RUN!" Takato shouted.
Taking his advice, they turned to flee. SkullBaluchimon roared and slammed a boney claw on the ground. "Grave Bone!" Around the teens, the ground seemed to cave in and rise up around them, threatening to bury them alive.
"Fiery Fastball!" Shoutmon cried, his attack blasting the ground apart, providing an opening in the rising ground for the teens to escape through.
SkullBaluchimon snarled and made to follow them, but Shoutmon leapt at him and hit him over the head with his Rock and Roller attack. The undead Digimon blinked and shook his head as Shoutmon clung to his skull.
Duskmon was currently engaged in battle with Kazemon and Gatomon, yet with his numerous eyes, he still saw the teens making their escape. "SkullBaluchimon," he cried as he blocked Kazemon's kick while simultaneously deflecting Gatomon's Lightning Paw, "what are you waiting for? Go after them."
The undead Digimon stopped trying to shake off Shoutmon and instead stomped after the teens. The dragon Digimon clung to him, whacking him with his mic whenever he could. SkullBaluchimon paid him no mind as he stalked after the humans.
They headed for the forest, but even with Shoutmon providing a distraction, the undead Digimon was quickly closing in. This was pure déjà vu off the back from when they first came to the Digital World and were always on the run from bigger and stronger Digimon.
"Into the trees!" Tai shouted, and the teens ran off the path.
Well, all but one. While the others had used the trees for cover, Davis had climbed up one, misinterpretation what Tai meant. SkullBaluchimon rose to his hind legs, snapping at the boy's heels, and very nearly chomping off his feet.
"Davis, what are you doing up there?" Tai demanded.
"When you said 'into the trees', I thought you meant literally."
Shoutmon was currently whacking the undead Digimon's face with his mic as he clung to SkullBaluchimon's head. "That's pointless. Didn't you notice he had wings?"
SkullBaluchimon then demonstrated his wings' abilities by taking to the air. He continued to ignore Shoutmon's blows as he slammed into the tree Davis was in, knocking it and several others over. The teen fell out of the tree and was covered by leaves and branches.
SkullBaluchimon snarled as he began clawing at the fallen trees to get to the human underneath. The others rushed over to pull their friend out while still using the remaining trees for cover. SkullBaluchimon lunged at them, but was cut off by all the vegetation, too big to fit between the trees.
Snarling angrily, he began knocking the trees over, determine to get to his prey. The teens fled deeper into the woods as SkullBaluchimon came crashing through behind them.
They finally burst out of the trees, and came to a stop. Before them was a waterfall, going down what had to have been at least a 200 to 300 foot drop into a raging river that went on for miles. They were trapped.
"You've got to be kidding!" Takato exclaimed. "This kind of thing only happens in the movies. No way does this happen in real life."
"I beg to differ, seeing as it's happening now," Takuya argued back.
A snarl behind them caused the teens to look back, and they saw SkullBaluchimon closing in. They turned back to the waterfall before all attention shifted to the leader for direction.
Tai silently swore. Either they faced SkullBaluchimon, or they took a leap of faith. Neither optioned presented good odds. But without the ability to Spirit Evolve, there was no chance against the undead Digimon.
"I hope you all got an A in swim class," he told them. A moment later, he jumped.
The others stared as Tai splashed down into the water. They shared looks of uncertainty as they wondered if this really was the best course of action. A determine look crossed Takuya's face before he jumped too.
"Well," said Davis, "I always wanted to try this. Cannonball!"
He too leapt off the edge. SkullBaluchimon was getting close now, sending leaves and splinters if wood flying as he tore his way through the trees. TK and Kari glanced at each other before joining hands and leaping off as well.
Only Takato remained. He took one last look at the approaching undead Digimon before placing his goggles over his eyes, pinching his nose, and jumping.
Trees crashed to the ground as SkullBaluchimon finally made it out. Shoutmon gave him one last whack before jumping off his head. Without hesitation, he made a run for the edge as the undead Digimon swiped at him, jumping off and dropping into the icy water below.
(A/N: Not the best start to a rescue mission. Now they not only have LadyDevimon and Duskmon to beat before they get to Myotismon, but this SkullBaluchimon is now hunting them. And in case you haven't figured it out, yes, SkullBaluchimon was the one Myotismon was keeping in his dungeon, and with good cause too; this guy is nasty. We'll be right back after a brief swim. See you next time.)
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New Digimon that appear. Replace the DOT in the link(s) below with actual periods.
digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/SkullBaluchimon
