And thus we bring the Felucia arc to a close with our next update for Impmon. My next project will be the Every 50 oneshot for White Keyblade Oathkeeper, who finally did get back to me with a new idea that I can work on (I went with option one). And not to mention Movie-Brat won the oneshot for Every 50 AGAIN! I'll work on that one when I've written Chapter 55. If I reach 350 reviews before I post Movie-Brat's oneshot, then I'll be moving it to every 100. I don't want to spend too much time focusing on oneshots instead of the main story.
Secret of the 327th
Chapter 50:- Haunting
The cavern roof loomed high above, casting a series of shadows across the floor and the walls with the many lance-like stalactites that hung down like stone icicles. The stalagmites rose up to meet them in numerous places, occasionally meeting to form a pillar, but, all in all, it made the cave look like a giant mouth full of fangs, ready to chomp down on anyone that intruded into the tunnels.
The air was thick with malice and evil. All warmth seemed to have been stolen away from the deep and foreboding place. It ought to have been the place where you might see skeletons lying around of devoured humans and animals. There was none of that here, but there was a sense that something must have died here, horribly and disturbingly. It reeked of death and despair, and the only thing that could be vaguely compared to happiness was a sadistic glee.
A large pool of water took up most of the back of the huge natural construction. The giant, red crocodile Demon Lord, Leviamon, was semi-submerged in this pool. His two tails and the back half of his torso and legs were underwater, while the rest of him rested on dry land, looking for all the world like a real crocodile, except for his obvious differences.
A large, stone altar-like construction rested in the centre of the dry area, decorated with carvings of snakes, demons and Digimon being tortured, with large stone teeth jutting up from the top and large claws around the base. Surrounding it were five figures, all bathed in shadow and none of them saying a word. There was the occasional swish as a tail swept back and fourth, and the tapping of a staff on the stone floor, but other than this, the figures could almost be statues. Large, terrible, evil-looking statues. The darkness seemed to swirl around them, intensifying and congealing at the point where they all stood, as if trying to get as close as possible to them.
"So nice of you not to start without me," said a voice, as a seventh figure entered the cavern. From the faint light emanating from the entrance, it was quite clear that the newcomer was Lilithmon. She floated down towards a space beside the altar which had obviously been left for, swaying her hips and displaying her chest prominently.
"About time you got here, you sorry excuse for a prostitute," snarled a male voice with a heavy accent. "I don't got all day here. I could have been out loading more data by now."
"Now, now," said a rich, male voice, with what sounded like a smirk. "Language, Beelzemon. I'd appreciate it if you didn't go insulting all of your comrades like that. It doesn't make me happy."
"Whatever," Beelzemon snorted. "I can call her whatever I like. She can't do nothing about it."
"Oh, couldn't I?" Lilithmon smiled seductively. She brought her rotten and gnarled arm out from her dress and displayed her prominent claws. "You are too overconfident, Beelzemon. Perhaps I should fix that for you."
"Bah!" Beelzemon's shotguns appeared in his hands in the blink of an eye. "Bring it on! I'll fill you with so much metal you wouldn't be able to escape a magnet."
"Enough," said the other speaker, in a voice that wasn't quite a shout but wasn't normal volume either. Beelzemon and Lilithmon remained glaring at each other angrily for a few more seconds before Lilithmon dropped her aggressive stance.
"Yes, my lord Lucemon," she said, adding a playful edge to her voice. Beelzemon snorted in disgust and holstered his weapons.
"Honestly," said another voice – a elderly, wizened sounding one. "You both are always so quick to flare up. Why can you not just put aside your brazenness for while."
"Or what?" asked Beelzemon. "You gonna cast a spell on me, Barbamon? You're so slow you never get anything done so don't go telling me to..."
"Can we please get on with this," Leviamon hissed from his pool. "I am a very patient Digimon, but we have been planning this meeting for a week now and I am reaching my limit. Let us proceed to why we are here."
"I agree," said a deep voice, deeper than Beelzemon's. "The Digital World lies in chaos under our iron fist and I want to crush the last of the resistance from the native Digimon. I cannot wait to pull them apart, particle by particle and harvest every last scrap of their data."
"You said it, Daemon," Beelzemon nodded. "We're wasting time here. Time we could be using to grow stronger and take on the Sovereigns."
"All in good time, Beelzemon," said Lucemon Chaos Mode, his wings, both angelic and demonic, expanded and flapped in anticipation. "But we must first plan what we are to do. I may be the Demon Lord of pride, but even I am not too proud to believe that the Sovereigns will be easy to take down."
"Ha!" Daemon growled. "We have murdered and ravaged across three-quarters of the Digital World and have harvested the data of hundreds of Digimon. We should march on the Sovereigns castles right now and wipe them off the face of the Digital World."
"By all means, Daemon," said Lilitmon. "Go ahead. We aren't stopping you."
"For once I agree with the bitch," said Beelzemon. "Go, if you think you're strong enough. When you get killed, it'll mean more data for me."
Daemon scowled and his hand erupted in a flame, lighting up the area briefly. Lucemon looked relatively human, except for the wings sprouting from his back and head – on one side they were white and feathered and on the other side black and skin. Barbamon resembled an old man in a flowing black, red and purple robe, a long staff with a red jewel embedded at the top in one gnarled hand and a long, flowing beard descending from his chin to his feet.
The other being there was floating in the air. Compared to everyone else there it looked rather cute. It was a giant teddy-bear, with bat-like ears and ram's horns protruding from its head and chains wrapped around its torso, securing what looked like an alarm clock to its chest.
"What's to stop me from deleting you and taking all of your data, Beelzemon?" Daemon growled, holding the flame in front of the Demon Lord's face. Daemon himself looked more like the Devil than a Demon, a figured with a hooded red robe that covered his face and made only his glowing, yellow eyes visible, and horns protruding from the sides of his head.
"Yeah, yeah," Beelzemon grunted. "There does that Wrath of yours again. But face it, you'd be dead meat if you went up against the Sovereigns. You're not that powerful yet."
"Do be quiet, Daemon," Lucemon held up a hand. "Get much louder and you'll wake up Belphemon."
Daemon grunted and extinguished his hand, plunging everyone back into darkness again.
"And now, we shall commence with the meeting," said Lucemon.
"About time," muttered Beelzemon.
Lucemon waved his hand and the altar they were all standing glowed and the top of it suddenly took on the image of a map of the Digital World, divided into seven to represent each individual plane of existence there.
"As Daemon so eloquently put it, three-quarters of the Digital World is ours. The Sovereigns have been powerless to stop us before, but now that we are nearing their strongholds we shall have to be discrete. I have isolated the most powerful Digimon that we have left to slay and take their data. The best approach would be to split up and take them on our own. I believe we are now strong enough to take anything except the Sovereigns individually."
"I look forward to it," said Daemon.
"When do we head out?" asked Leviamon.
"As soon as we divide the enemies between us," said Lucemon. "But there is another thing to consider. As you all know, the human World rests alongside the Digital one we are now conquering. I believe I have discovered a way for us to head for that world – a world that the Sovereigns have no control over and where there would be no-one to stop us. That is a possibility too, is it not?"
"A whole new world of riches to exploit?" Barbamon rubbed his clawed hands together in anticipation.
"And new opportunities for me," said Lilithmon, licking her lips. "I look forward to it."
"Oh come on," Beelzemon snarled contemptuously. "What's the point of heading there? We need to take on powerful opponents to get lots of data, not go scrabbling around amongst a bunch of weaklings like Rookie-level bullies."
"Aaw, do you feel sorry for them?" asked Lilithmon.
"No, bitch," Beelzemon sneered. "But I've heard about humans. They're tiny, weak things with squishy skin with all this gunk inside it. There's no challenge in that. We'd just be wading our way through them, hacking them to pieces and getting covered in mess from their frail bodies, and what would be getting for it? Nothing! They don't even have any data for us to load."
"No data?" Daemon growled. "What's the point?"
"There isn't one," Beelzemon said. He chuckled and added, "Although, while killing them wouldn't really help us, it could be fun to tear them apart and watch them scream. And they'd leave bodies behind. That'd be an interesting development. But, I don't believe they'd be worth the effort."
"A valid point, Beelzemon," said Lucemon. "It is true that it wouldn't help us in the long run. However, to have control of two separate world would be highly desirable. How about we put aside that idea for now, and, once we rule the Digital World completely, then we can head to the Human World and have some fun."
"Now, that's a plan!" Beelzemon grinned. "I'm in."
It took considerably effort for Impmon not to cry out as he sat up from his perch on the windowsill, breathing heavily and sweating like he'd just run a marathon. He felt his supper welling up inside his stomach and was threatening to come rushing back up his throat. After what he'd just heard himself saying, he had to fight hard to make it stay in.
The Beelzemon he remembered looked pale in comparison to the Beelzemon he was remembering. The idea of delighting in the torture, murder and gore of killing human being sickened him to the core. Granted, he hadn't actually seen him doing it, but still, the way he had described it didn't leave much for his imagination.
He looked over at the twins, sleeping peacefully in their beds. He grimaced, extremely thankful that whatever fate had befallen him that had caused him to change had happened before he'd had the chance to carry out the terrible things he had said. The idea of harming the twins repulsed him, but the idea of mutilating them, as well as other human, was just wrong. On so many levels.
It took a while for Impmon to get back to sleep. Horrible and unpleasant images were rapidly filling his brain, and the images of his old colleagues, the other Demon Lords illuminated in the glow of Daemon's fire, wouldn't leave him alone.
But he knew that he'd be alright for the rest of the night. The flashbacks he were experiencing came every few days, so he wouldn't have another one tonight. Deliberately trying to think of something, anything, else, he shut his eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep again.
The village was in flames and looked like it had been burning for half an hour. No sign of life could be seen amongst the orange, flickering tongues of fire, sweeping across the old straw and wood huts that used to be homes of innocent Digimon. But all of them were now dead and had been completely absorbed by evil.
Except one.
The Mikemon shivered in horror and dread as she felt the claw running down the back of her head again, rising up and them repeating the action. She resembled a Gatomon in exact shape and size, but her colour was very different. She was white across the stomach, limbs and the bottom half of her face, but the top half of her head, including the ears, her tail and her back were calico – orangey-brown in colour with several black flecks. The tufts on her ears and her gloves were brown and she had no tail-ring. She was also battered and severely beaten, looking like she was only just clinging to life.
Beelzemon held the cat Digimon against his chest, rubbing his claw down the back of the terrified Champion, who wasn't even struggling to escape his grasp. Beelzemon was forcing her to stare at the ruin that had once been her home. Mikemon, resigned to her fate, stared dumbly at the fire and the collapsing huts.
"How does it feel, little one?" Beelzemon crowed quietly into Mikemon's ear, making her shudder. "How does it feel to be the last one left of your pathetic little civilisation."
Mikemon didn't answer. Beelzemon frowned and twisted her ear, eliciting a yelp of pain from her. "Answer me," he hissed.
Mikemon stuttered through the pain as Beelzemon held her ear at the wrong angle. "It... it... it feels horrible."
"That's the best description you can think of?"
"Terrible. Horrifying. As if a bottomless pit of hopelessness and despair has been emptied into me."
"That's better," Beelzemon sneered, releasing the ear and allowing Mikemon to take a breath of relief. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Why?" Mikemon whimpered, looking up at her, captor, who had one hand clamped around her torso and the other had resumed the stroking of her head. "Why do you do this? Why do you pillage and burn and destroy wherever you go? What does it achieve?"
"Dumb questions, if I ever heard any," said Beelzemon. "Let me give you some enlightenment, Puss. There's only one thing that I seek to gain, and that is power. True power is the only thing in this world that is worth possessing or seeking out. To be the best, to be the strongest, that is all I desire. To continue rising to the top until I am undefeatable."
"But why?" Mikemon asked.
"You are a prime example of what I am striving to achieve," Beelzemon sneered at his captive. "You look up at me with utter fear and dread. You know that I am stronger than you and could easily crush you into data. True power is about being in control. Everyone to obey your every beck and call, for fear of being destroyed if they fail. I shall only truly be the best when everyone looks on me as you do now."
"So you seek recognition?" Mikemon asked. "Is that all that this is about?"
"Partly," Beelzemon grinned. "The other part being the sense of self-satisfaction. I'd be the strongest for as long as I live; unopposed, dominating and feared. True power isn't merely about becoming the best, it's about maintaining it, and having everyone else quake beneath your feet. It must be mine! And it will be mine!
"But the other Demon Lords," Beelzemon's smirk grew full of contempt. "Most of them don't understand. They don't appreciate power the way I do. They're all absorbed in other, useless and utterly pointless things to realise what I have realised. Take Belphemon for example. All that lazy lug does is sleep around for the majority of the time and then go on a quick rampage and then fall asleep again. He's just too damned languid to do anything beyond getting off his arse once a week and blowing something up. He's a useless sack of a Demon."
"And Barbamon. Pah! All he cares about is things that glitter and sparkle. His mind is always focused on treasures and money and other things that shine, gathering them up like some dismal Crowmon to store them in his hoard. What good is treasure? It doesn't do anything for you beyond being something for you to look at. Utterly useless. But Barbamon's just too blind to see it. That old fart will probably get killed when someone back-stabs him because he was too damned busy staring at his gold to notice. Actually, now that I think about it, that's not a bad idea.
"Don't even get me started on Lilithmon. You should be grateful that it was me who ruined your village and not her. The only thing she seeks is to dominate others through rape and other similar urges. Come on! What's the point of that? All that grants you is a brief moment of satisfaction before you have to go off and look for it again. But domination through power and strength, now that's permanent and worth looking for. If Lilithmon were here, she'd already have violated your little body, even though you are the same gender."
Mikemon gulped at this revelation.
"As for our great leader, Lucemon," Beelzemon laughed out loud. "If you ask me, he's gone round the twist. He's always talking about how he loves all living things, but also how he hates all living things as well. How the hell you can you love and hate everything at the same time? Anyway, he says that he wants to completely annihilate everything in the Digital World, and then build a brand new one in its place and then blow it up all over again. In a continuous cycle. There is no point to anything that he seeks to do. It's almost as bad as what Lilithmon wants."
"Of everyone else, only Leviamon and Daemon have any sense at all. They both want the same thing I do – more power. But Daemon's far too brazen. He just charges in. He gets overconfident far too quickly. If you ask me, he's gonna get himself obliterated before too long. And you know what, I'm not gonna be that bothered when he does. Only Leviamon is a Digimon I would consider sane."
"You're the one who's insane," Mikemon cried. "You all are."
"Ah, a little defiance at the end," Beelzemon sneered. "Good for you. But, I'm afraid I've been wasting my breath for the last few minutes. I've got power to gain." With that, he snapped Mikemon's neck with a wrench of his hand. The Champion level cat disintegrated into data, which was sucked into Beelzemon's chest.
"And you're just the next rung in the ladder," Beelzemon smirked.
Impmon really did cry out this time. His eyes shot open and he leapt off the windowsill, tumbling to the floor with a loud thud. Cursing, he extricated himself from the rocking-horse that the twin's owned and sat down, holding his head in his hands. The flashbacks were getting more frequent. That was the first time he had had one two nights in a row. And this was the first one where he had had a real look into the mind of his past self.
Mikemon had been right. He was insane.
Impmon glanced over at Ai and Mako. Somehow, the twins had not woken up after his loud cry. The two of them looked so peaceful and innocent, tiny kids without a care in the world. But he... he had done so much crap in the past, so much vicious mutilation that he flat out didn't deserve them as partners.
Still, he had promised that he wouldn't leave them a second time. He knew they'd be concerned for him if they knew what he was going through, but Impmon also knew he wasn't going to tell them. They weren't old enough to know the things that were currently bouncing around in his head.
Impmon didn't go to sleep again that night. A third flashback in a row might be more than he could take.
The following day, Mrs. Terada insisted on taking the twins out into the city with her as she went shopping. Usually, she felt it okay to leave them on their own, considering the unusual level of maturity the two of them showed ever since they'd resolved the constant spat between. But right now, she didn't want to let Ai or Mako out of her sight. Whether this was because she just wanted to be with them after them being missing for two weeks, or she didn't want them to be alone in Impmon, was unclear.
Either way, the twins were dragged out into the city, and, despite Mrs. Terada's protests, Impmon tagged along behind them. The purple Rookie was unusually subdued, as a result of his experiences like that. He was barely listening as Ai and Mako eagerly described their adventures to their increasingly agitated mother.
"And then Zhuqiaomon looked like he was about to explode," Mako was saying. "It was so cool. He was like, on fire. Literally, his wings looked like they were burning up, but he was fine. He roared really loudly so the whole place was shaking."
"And then, he began to ask questions about Parallelmon," said Ai. "And when we told him that he had whisked some of us into thin air with his attack, he did it again. Nearly blew up, I mean."
"He was a bit rude to Impmon," said Mako, his face falling a little. "He called him a Demon Lord."
Impmon winced.
"But we know better," said Ai. "Impmon would never hurt anyone unless he had to do it to protect someone else."
"Except perhaps flies," said Mako, remembering something Impmon had said at one point in the Digital World."
Stop it, Impmon mentally pleaded with them. You guys really aren't helping.
Mrs. Terada glanced down at Impmon. The Rookie was walking a little ways behind them, watching mostly where his feet were treading instead of where he was actually going. His expression immediately told her that he was deep in thought, and that immediately made her suspicious. Impmon wasn't usually the type to think about stuff too deeply. If an idea came he would usually just set out and do it.
"Alright, what are you planning?" she demanded, stopping and glaring at him.
Impmon, startled out of his reverie, glanced upwards. "Huh?" he said articulately.
"I know that you are hiding something," said Mrs. Terada sharply to the little guy. "And whatever you are planning to do, I will not let you involve my kids in it, do you hear? My children do not need to get involved in anything that can cook up. It'll probably end up getting the police involved."
"Evidently whatever GranKuwagamon said to you had a short-lived effect, huh?" Impmon scowled. "I'm not cooking anything up, lady, so why don't you cut me some slack? Is that too much to ask? Don't you think that I might actually be taking something seriously for once? I got a lot of stuff happening to me and I am this close," he held up his fingers to create a tiny gap, "to going into a funk AND I DON'T NEED YOU ADDING TO MY PROBLEMS!" Impmon shouted the last bit.
People in the street stopped and stared at Impmon after his outburst. Mrs. Terada looked momentarily shocked, and then embarrassed at the fact that everyone was staring at her and muttering. She wasn't sure if they were wondering what she'd done to rile Impmon up, or if they were commenting on her behaviour, but she didn't stick around to find out. Taking the twins hands in her own, she quickly walked down the street.
Impmon sighed, turned to crowd and asked, "What are you looking at?" before following his Tamers down the road.
Impmon and Mrs. Terada ignored each other for the majority of the rest of the trip after this. They would proceed from shop to shop, and Impmon would wait outside until they came out again, before proceeding.
Impmon felt rather ashamed of himself for snapping in front of the twins, but he really couldn't help it. He was beginning to feel that he was reaching the end of his rope. The fact that he didn't know why he was having all these flashbacks, coupled with the disappearance of his friends and the fact that the flashbacks seemed to be accelerating and were getting more horrifying, were pushing him to the limit.
He really didn't know how much more he could take.
It was at this point that he began to get a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It was the kind of feeling you get when you know that there's someone behind you, watching your every move.
Impmon stopped and listened. He couldn't hear anything but the walking of other people and sounds of the street, like cars and bicycle bells and other assorted noises. But that feeling wouldn't go away. In fact, it seemed to intensify.
Impmon kept walking, jogging a little to catch up with Ai and Mako and their mother. As he walked, he began to feel increasingly on edge. He began to sweat and his breathing began to get more and more intense with each step he took. The odd feeling seemed to loom over him, getting stronger and stronger, until it felt like there was someone directly behind him.
Impmon whipped around.
Nothing. There was no-one there except the other pedestrians. Nobody was paying him any attention, except a couple of kids who were pointing at him excitedly. The moment Impmon had turned around, the feeling of foreboding had vanished. Or perhaps 'fled' would be a more accurate word.
Impmon turned around again. Immediately, the feeling returned, faint again now, and as Impmon walked, it once again began to grow. Impmon was now sure that there was someone following him, and, whoever it was, they weren't friendly.
In an attempt to catch them off guard, Impmon span about early. There was still nothing that he could see to indicate that anyone was following him on purpose. He turned back and kept on walking.
Over the course of the next ten minutes, this process kept repeating itself. Every time Impmon turned around he would find nothing there, and yet every time he turned back the feeling would start again, just as it had before, getting stronger and stronger until vanishing when he turned to look.
Finally, Impmon didn't turn around for longer. He waited, and waited, shivering as the feeling of evil intensified further and further, growing and growing, until it felt like something was about to touch the back of his head. At that point, he turned around.
And he thought he saw, out the corner of his eye, a shadow flitting down a side-street behind him. Impmon frowned. Something was messing around with him, and if there was one thing Impmon didn't like, it was being messed with.
He turned back and said, "Teradalets. I'll be right back, okay. I just gotta take care of something."
"Okay, Impmon," said Ai.
"See you in a bit," added Mako.
"Yeah," Impmon managed a smirk. "Catch you later." But when he turned around so they could no longer see his face it became a mask of stone, a furious glare pasted across his features. Nobody messed with Impmon. Nobody.
He took off at a run and skidded to a halt by the side-street where he'd seen the shadow disappear. It was a dark alleyway, but even then, Impmon spotted the even darker shadow that vanished around the corner at the other side.
"Playing games with are ye?" Impmon growled, as he set off in pursuit. "Well, I don't play games with strangers. Whoever you are, you are going down."
And with that said, the chase began. Impmon was sprinting flat out as he ran down the alleyway and emerged into another street. Once again, he spotted the shadow flitting out of the way, so fast he couldn't make out the shape before it vanished from his line of few. He kept running, sweeping into alleyways, leaping over roads by jumping from car to car and sliding down the streets. Each time he rounded the corner, he would see the shadow going around another one.
It didn't take him long to realise that he was being herded somewhere. Whoever he was pursuing obviously had a set destination in mind, and were coaxing him into some kind of trap.
Well, that was fine by him. If they had set a trap, he would spring it for them.
People in the street yelped as he exploded into light, and within a few seconds, Beelzemon was flying down the street in all his Blast Mode glory. The chase began to increase in pace. Beelzemon and the shadow swept through the city, neither gaining any ground over the other.
Eventually, Beelzemon rounded a corner and pulled to a halt when he saw that he had reached a dead end. This, he supposed, was the trap area. The shadow was nowhere to be seen, but the feeling of someone watching him had intensified again. Whipping out one of his shotguns and holding Berenjena ready, Beelzemon slowly circled, his three eyes scanning the walls for any sign of the mysterious interloper.
"Alright, whoever you are!" he shouted to thin air. "Get out here now so I can beat the snot out of you! You asked for it and you got it! Here I am, Beelzemon, and if you've got any guts whatsoever, you'll step out here and face me like a mon. Or are you gonna skulk around like some cowardly stalker?"
The breeze picked up a little, but other than this Beelzemon got no response. The ex-Demon Lord wasn't that surprised. Whoever was following him around was skilled at staying hidden, and for some reason, he got the feeling that they were here for more than a simple battle. If that had been why they were here, they could have simply attacked him in the street instead of playing these games.
Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, Beelzemon's consciousness was hurled into the dark recesses of his past, and he found himself in the middle of his third consecutive flashback of the day.
Beelzemon wasn't even trying. This was too easy, no challenge whatsoever in this little skirmish. But data was data, and a bunch of In-Training and Rookie level Digimon in numbers like at this village would amount to the power of a couple of quite powerful Champions.
He strode down the main street, glancing left and right as he went and aiming one of his shotguns at every little Digimon he saw. A bullet would fly and a Digimon would die, resulting in more data for the already powerful Demon Lord.
He sneered as he took out a bunch of Kunemon that had tried to escape by scurrying over the rooftops. "Yeah, that's right," Beelzemon said, bored. "Just scuttle off to hide in the woods. You should know by now it's not gonna do you no good." He spun around and shot a Flamon that had been cowering in a corner. "I will root you all out sooner or later."
The In-trainings were bouncing swiftly along in their attempts to get away from the marauding Mega. Their homes were not going to help them against him and they knew it. The Demon Lords were gaining such renown that some Digimon were beginning to shudder whenever they spoke the names of any of the members, as if afraid that they would bring them down upon themselves whenever they did.
But Beelzemon was easily keeping pace with them. He sent bullets whizzing into the backs of the fleeing Digimon without prejudice. It didn't matter that they were practically kids – they were shot all the same.
But Beelzemon was distinctly uninterested in this particular village. There was no-one standing up to him, nobody was strong enough to provide him with something interesting. He'd been on massacres like this before, and they were losing the exhilaration he'd experienced with the first few.
One Vegiemon made a desperate attempt to escape by swinging upwards on one of its creeper-like hands and catapulting itself into the air. Beelzemon twirled his shotgun and blasted it out of the air with a single shot.
Beelzemon yawned. "It's a shame there aren't that many Megas around anymore. Nobody's been bold enough to fight me since I-don't-know-when."
Up ahead, a Yokomon stumbled off its stubby little "feet" and collapsed onto its face. The blue flower on its head twitched in despair, knowing that its fate was near. Her kind wasn't built for running. There was no way that any of them would be able to get away.
An Otamamon up ahead noticed that Yokomon had dropped back. He turned around and said, "Yokomon! Get up! Run away!" Several other small Digimon also stopped and tried to verbally encourage Yokomon to keep going. Yokomon stumbled to her feet under their encouragement, but she was far too slow. Beelzemon's boot smashed into her and sent her flying into the air like a football. One clean shot later and Yokomon was no more.
Beelzemon scoffed at the sight of the horrorstruck In-training and Rookie Digimon that had witnessed the brutal murder. "Oh come on!" he said. "What's gotten you so bloody flabbergasted? You knew I was going to do that anyway. Did you think I'd have a sudden change of heart? Hate to break it to ye, but last time I checked I didn't have a conscience."
Abruptly, one of the little Digimon bounced forwards a couple of yards and glared hatefully at Beelzemon. It's face resembled that of a Tsunomon, but instead of the horn and brown fur, it had a large yellow frill sticking out of its head and a monkey-like tail protruding from behind it. A Frimon.
"You are a big, mean Digimon," he said.
"Ah, the inventiveness of youth," Beelzemon chuckled. "I can think of several other words to describe myself. Diabolical, sadistic, merciless, cruel and ruthless to name a few. But you probably don't know what any of those are, do you?"
"You're all of those things and more," Frimon yelled. "And you will pay. I challenge you to a duel."
Beelzemon blinked.
"Frimon, are you nuts?" a Motimon cried. "You'll be killed in an instant? Let's run." The little, pink blob-like creature turned and tried to waddle away, but Beelzemon's next bullet smashed into his back and deleted him straight away.
"Nobody leaves," Beelzemon sneered. Then he turned to look at the defiant looking Frimon. "I want all of you to watch this. Alright kid, you got yourself a deal. I'll battle you right here, right now. If you win, you can all go free. If I win, we can continue the screaming and the fleeing. That clear or do I need to go slower?"
"I got it," Frimon glowered.
"And to make things fairer," Beelzemon snickered. "No shotguns." He holstered one shotgun to his leg and then put the other one across his back. "See, we'll fight hand to hand. Agreed?"
"Agreed," nodded Frimon.
"Now get over here so I can beat you to a pulp," Beelzemon said.
Frimon yelled loudly and leapt forwards. The frill on his head expanded and hardened as he cannoned through the air at Beelzemon's chest, determined to knock the Demon Lord for a loop. Beelzemon smirked, waiting until the last minute before leaping aside and letting Frimon sail past and hit the ground in an unceremonious heap.
"That's it!" Beelzemon encouraged him. "Attack me. Always go for the frontal assault. It's the most fun."
Frimon sprang once again, yelling a loud warcry as he sailed for the exact same spot on Beelzemon's chest. Beelzemon side-stepped again, so Frimon smacked into a wall. The In-Training Digimon rebounded off the wooden wall and shot at Beelzemon again. The Demon Lord neatly stepped to the side again, lifting one arm so that Frimon would sail underneath it and crash to the floor again.
"Whoa," Beelzemon said with mock admiration. "A very nice rebound. I may have underestimated you. I better watch myself or I could come out of this fight the underdog."
"You won't come out of this fight at all," Frimon yelled angrily, attacking again. Beelzemon jumped right over him and somersaulted to land on the ground.
"Felt some breeze on that one," he declared. "Come on, give it your best shot!"
Frimon attacked twice more, but the result was the same both times. The In-Training was so furious he didn't appear to register that he wasn't succeeding in doing anything to the larger Digimon. On his next attempt after this, Beelzemon ducked and Frimon sailed over the top of his head, only to meet Beelzemon's tail head on. The long, whip-like tail smacked him across the face and threw him bodily into another wall.
"Aaw, too bad," Beelzemon sniggered. "And you were doing so well."
"I'm still raring to fight," Frimon cried angrily.
"Then give me your best shot," Beelzemon tapped his chest and pushed it out, presenting it like a target. Frimon took the message and sprang forward again. "TAIL WHIP!" he cried and span in the air and slammed his tail into Beelzemon's chest.
Beelzemon staggered. "Oh! Oh bloody hell! I'm wounded!" he cried, dropping heavily to his knees. "You... you got me. What was that attack?" Beelzemon's clawed attack flew to his throat as he gasped for breath. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe! You've broken my ribs!" He fell to his hands and knees. "You... you heartless creature! You have killed me! I go to meet Anubimon. My limbs are growing cold. The light is fading. Goodbye, cruel world!" He reared upwards and collapsed onto his back. Reaching a hand up to the sky, he said in a choked voice, "Fanglongmon! Take mercy on my poor, twisted self! Have mercy..." He went limp.
Frimon looked stunned. "I... I did it?" he asked, confused. "I beat him?"
"No." Beelzemon's tail whipped out and wrapped around Frimon's own tail, hoisting him into the air with a cry. Beelzemon leapt to his feet and leered into the suddenly terrified Digimon's face. "Did you really think that would work?" He asked. "Did you really think that an In-Training Digimon like you would be able to beat a Mega like me?"
Frimon began to tremble.
"Do you know why you lost, little one?" asked Beelzemon. Frimon didn't answer, but Beelzemon continued anyway. "It's because you are weak. And I am strong. And no matter where you are in the Digital World, the rules are always the same. The weak always lose to the strong."
Beelzemon flung Frimon to the floor and dived down at him with a cry of "DARKNESS CLAW!"
The other In-training and Rookie Digimon turned away as their friend was vaporised by Beelzemon's attack. They peeked up in time to see Beelzemon loading Frimon's data and turning to them, a brutal grin on his face.
"Right," he said, pulling out his shotguns. "Who's next?"
And he fell upon the terrified group like an entire pack of ravenous Sangloupmon.
At some point during the flashback, Beelzemon had de-digivolved into Impmon. As he returned to the realm of the present, he was only vaguely aware that the evil presence had vanished. He was only vaguely aware that he was on his knees in a grimy alleyway on his own. The only thing Impmon could think to do was grasp his head and scream. He screamed and screamed and screamed, long and loud, slumping against the nearest wall. He didn't care if anyone heard him. He didn't even think about him.
Impmon yelled himself hoarse as he beat against the side of his head – desperately trying to rid him of what he had just witnessed. But it wouldn't leave him alone. It just kept replaying and replaying in his mind. The mock duel against that poor, brave, foolish Frimon seemed to have been set on loop in his brain.
It took several minutes before Impmon finally subsided. When he did, he sat up, then wrapped his arms around his knees amongst the filth of the alleyway and sat there, rocking backwards and forwards as highly uncharacteristic tears began to leak from his eyes. Why? Why was this happening to him? Why now?
Impmon lost track of time. He had no idea how long he sat in that mess by himself. He didn't wonder if the twins were beginning to notice the fact that he was gone. He just wanted to forget about the real world for a while and escape the horrific existence that was his life.
He was eventually startled out of his reverie by a sudden and rather loud shout. "YAAAY! IMPMON! IT'S IMPMON! I'VE FOUND YOU! LET'S PLAY! LET'S PLAY! LET'S PLAY!"
"Look, Calumon," Impmon sighed, looking up at the Catalyst that had landed in front of him and bouncing round in pointless circles. "Now's really not a good time for me, okay? Just leave me alone."
Calumon stopped bouncing and slumped disappointedly, his ears retracting into his head. "You don't wanna play too? Aaaww. Nobody except Guilmon ever wants to play with me anymore. Not since Terriermon, Lopmon and Suzie all vanished."
"There's probably a reason for that, cream-puff," Impmon said. "There's a lot going on right now and we've all been occupied."
"But you're not doing anything right now," Calumon pointed out. "So why can't we play?"
"It's personal," Impmon said bitterly, resting his chin on his knees.
"Oh," Calumon nodded knowingly. Then he added, "What's that mean?"
"It's a polite way of saying, 'It's none of your business.'" Impmon glared. Calumon took a couple of steps back under Impmon's stare, and Impmon's face fell. Calumon's face looked like those other In-Training Digimon from his most recent vision. Like them, Calumon was too innocent to realise the full extent of the horrors of the world – and too oblivious. Ostracizing him wasn't going to help matters.
"Sorry," Impmon sighed. "I just got a lot going on right now. My mind is a hell right now."
"Bad dreams?" asked Calumon. "I had one of those once. I dreamed that Takato's bakery closed." He shuddered. Despite everything, Impmon couldn't help but chuckle. It was just like Calumon to think that was an utter disaster and not just a minor inconvenience.
"Sort of," said Impmon. "But, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not go into it."
"Neither would I," Calumon shuddered again. "No more cream-puffs. It's too horrible to think about."
"Yeah," Impmon nodded, getting up and brushing himself off as best he could. He glanced at his gloves and grimaced. They were going to need a wash later. Why did that shadow have to lead him into such a dank alley anyway?
"Can we play now?" Calumon asked hopefully.
"Maybe later," said Impmon. "I gotta get back to Ai and Mako. They'll be wondering where I am."
"Okay. I'll come with you. Then when you can play, they can play too," Calumon grinned excitedly.
"Yeah, sure," said Impmon. "Great. Now I gotta find my way back through the city. Should have paid more attention to where I was going."
After a considerable traipse through the city and several wrong turns, Impmon finally spotted his partners and hurried over to them as they emerged, looking excruciatingly bored, from a shoe shop. Impmon and Calumon approached and Impmon noticed Mrs. Terada glancing at the dirt all over him suspiciously. She didn't say anything though. Perhaps she'd finally decided to cut him some slack, or perhaps she was just remembering his outburst from earlier.
"Impmon, there you are," Ai said, and the twins brightened up immediately. "And you brought Calumon."
"Really?" Impmon made a strained attempt to sound nonchalant. "I hadn't noticed."
The twins both frowned. They had gotten to know Impmon quite well and it was now quite obvious to them that something was bothering him and that whatever it was, it was big. They had previously thought that it was the whole situation with their missing friends, but now they were beginning to think it was more than that.
"," said Calumon loudly, landing right on Mrs. Terada's head. "My name's Calumon and you must be Ai and Mako's mum. Huh? Huh? Are ye? Huh?"
Mrs. Terada blinked and shook her head, trying to get Calumon loose. As this was going on, the twins converged on Impmon.
"Impmon," said Mako. "What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Impmon tried to look confused. "What's wrong? Nothing's wrong? Look at me, I'm a practically carefree mon." He grinned falsely.
"That's not going to work on us, Impmon," said Ai. "We know you. We know that something big is bothering you."
"We wanna help," said Mako, nodding eagerly. "We're partners, right? That means we look out for each other, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," said Impmon. "Aw, come on. You don't seriously believe that anything could keep me down, do ye?"
"Impmon," Ai folded her arms and tapped her foot in a frighteningly good impression of her mother.
"Yeesh, don't do that," Impmon winced. "Alright. Alright." He stopped hesitantly, unsure how to proceed on such a delicate subject. Eventually he said, "You remember how before we went to the Digital World, I told you I was having have these, ye know, flashbacks to my former self."
"Yeah," nodded Mako. "But I thought they'd stopped."
"They haven't," Impmon shook his head. "They're still going strong. And... they're getting worse. And to cap it off, that's not the only thing going down right now."
"What else is happening?" asked Ai. "Tell us."
Impmon glanced from Ai to Mako and back a few times before saying, "Look, if you really wanna know, then we'll discuss it later. We'll give the other Tamers a call and I'll let them all know about what's going on. If I'm gonna get things off my chest, I'd rather do it all in one go."
Ai and Mako looked a little put out but they nodded in acceptance.
"And could you do me a favour?" Impmon added after a moment.
"Anything," Mako said immediately.
"When we get home, can you play with Calumon?"
That evening came around and, since Mrs. Terada didn't want her children to leave the premises for a while, the other Tamers had all gathered at their place. Mrs. Terada was inside, working, so the Tamers and the Digimon took their conversation outside. The mother of the twins felt more comfortable with having them outside if Jeri and Elecmon were there to watch over her children. She trusted the two of them in a way that she didn't trust the others.
"Okay," Kazu brashly started off the conversation. "So what's all this about anyway. You wouldn't tell us anything over the phone except that it was extremely important, Impmon."
"Same here," nodded Kenta. "But at least you didn't leave us out this time. Next time you go on an adventure to the Digital World, let us know, will you? We missed out on all the action."
"There wasn't all that much action, to be fair," said Ryo. "Except for a little spat with a MarineDevimon. You didn't really miss all that much."
"Yeah, but even so..." Kenta began again, but Jeri interrupted.
"I think it would be a good idea if we all stayed on topic. Is everything alright, Impmon? You sounded really troubled over the phone."
"I did?" Impmon asked. "I was doing my best to hide it."
"That's my partner," Elecmon chuckled. "She just knows these things."
"That she does," agreed Takato, glancing across at Jeri. Jeri glanced back and the two quickly turned away, blushing furiously. Old habits died hard with the two of them. "So," Takato said quickly. "What's this important thing of yours, Impmon?"
Impmon fought the urge to roll his eyes at the embarrassment of the two. They should really be over the blushing phase by now since the two were going out together. But he put it to one side. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I've been having visions."
That got everyone's attention. Having a vision of some kind was rare with them, but it wasn't unheard of. They'd all heard of Takato's bizarre dream on the day he first got his D-Arc when he had observed Rika and Renamon fighting a Lynxmon, a battle which really had happened. Renamon had even been able to recall feeling some kind of presence there but had seen nothing when she looked. Takato had then confirmed that Renamon did indeed glance at where he'd been floating.
"About what?" asked Takato. "Is it the others?"
Impmon shook his head. He suddenly felt much colder, and he gripped his elbows and shivered. Slowly, he went on. "No, it's not the others. Well, actually, there was one that was," he brightened at this one. "With all the horrible visions going on I forgot to mention my good one. I had a vision showing the others in some jungle somewhere. Terriermon was performing to a crowd and everyone else was watching and laughing. They all looked just fine."
There were mutters from the other Tamers and looks of hope coming across their faces. Hopefully the efforts of Ryo, the twins and their partners had not been in vain after all. If the others were alright and HYPNOS successfully completed their machine, then there was a chance that they'd get them back.
"But that's not the emergency," Impmon said. "I've been receiving multiple visions the past few weeks and only that one has ever been good. The others are... horrible. Terrible. Evil. And horrifically graphic," Impmon held himself tighter. "They're not really visions. They're flashbacks." Impmon paused for a second, and haltingly added, "Back to the time I was a Demon Lord."
Silence from everyone else. Jeri's hands went to her mouth, Takato and Guilmon glanced at each other nervously, Ryo's face became a grim mask and Kazu and Kenta both looked slightly awed and slightly bewildered.
"Oh, Impmon," Jeri said. "How bad are they?"
"They're truly sickening. Every week I was getting a new memory of some terrible new atrocity I committed on the Digimon of the Digital World. I was a diabolical monster. I was insane. I was murdering innocents without a care in the world. I was always loading their data and then I'd just start going to get more. And while I know you don't want me to leave what I saw up to your imagination, I think that what I have to say would be worse than someone of you could imagine."
Takato, who easily had the best imagination, shuddered as he pictured the Beelzemon he had seen, only much, much worse. It was not a pretty picture.
"Alright," said Kazu slowly. "I understand why that's bad. Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for you, buddy, but, is that the only reason you called us out here or is there more to it?"
"There's more to it," nodded Impmon. "I did clue Terriermon and Renamon into this before I disappeared, because I wondered if either of them had an explanation. Terriermon suggested that it was simply happening because I now knew roughly what had happened in the past and my memories were catching up to me. But they've started accelerating. I got two just last night, and not to mention I got one earlier today as well, when I was wide awake. That's never happened before – they'd always come in my sleep."
"Oh, you poor Digimon," Jeri whispered.
"You know that's not who you are anymore, Impmon," said Elecmon. "You proved that against the D-Reaper."
"Yeah, I know," said Impmon. "But, the things I've done... forgive me for saying this, but a lot of it makes what I did to you look like a family picnic."
"Ouch," said Kazu.
"That sounds horrible," Guilmon muttered. "I can't imagine what you must be going through."
"No, Pineapple-head, you can't," Impmon nodded. "But, just today, there was another element thrown into the mix. Did any of you Digimon... feel anything at all today."
"I felt hungry," volunteered Guilmon. "Does that count?"
"Kazu's mother kicked me again earlier," Guardromon added. "Does that count?"
"She did?" Kazu blinked. "Aw man, I thought we'd worked past that."
"No, they don't count," Impmon said. "I'm talking about a bioemergence or something. Before I received my flashback, I got this feeling like something evil was right behind me, but whenever I looked there was no-one there. I eventually spotted a shadow, and I followed it, trying to catch it, but it was damn fast."
"That's why you ran off so suddenly," said Ai. "Isn't it?"
"Yeah," said Impmon. "But I didn't catch it though. It vanished in the middle of my third flashback."
"Spooky," MarineAngemon declared helpfully.
There was a moment of silence, as everyone contemplated Impmon's words. But then:-
"I felt something," said Cyberdramon.
"I thought you might have," said Impmon. "You're the only one who sensed Parallelmon before."
"Yes," said Cyberdramon. "I felt a slight tingle in my spine – the feeling we all get just before a Digimon bioemerges. But it didn't get any more pronounced. My spine tingled for fifteen minutes or so, and then it faded. I assumed it was a false alarm."
"Well, it wasn't from where I was standing," said Impmon. "It was damn creepy."
Cyberdramon growled. "I'm getting sick of Digimon entering our world and being too cowardly to let me get a lock on them. Next time that happens, I won't ignore it."
"So you think your flashbacks and your mysterious shadow are linked?" asked Takato.
"Possibly," said Impmon. "I don't think Terriermon's theory applies anymore. These flashbacks are coming for a reason, and I'm beginning to believe that somebody, whoever that shadow was, is putting them in my head."
"But that might mean that what you saw wasn't real," pointed out Jeri. "That it didn't really happen."
"Oh, it happened," said Impmon grimly. "Don't ask me how I know that. I just do."
There was a few moments of silence. Then Takato said, "Alright then. If that's the case then we need to keep an eye on things. If someone's coming after Impmon then we have to stop them. Next time that happens, give us a call and we'll be right there."
"Cyberdramon and I will be on standby in case it happens again," nodded Ryo.
"We have no idea what we're looking for," said Takato. "And that means we'll have to be careful. We should all stay wary of a possible attack. If there is a threat, it could come at any time. And Impmon, if you keep having flashbacks, let us know. We can set up a watch on the house or something."
"I don't think Mum would be very pleased with that," said Mako.
"Well, she'll have to lump it," said Kazu. "We're Tamers and we look after our own."
Impmon looked rather relieved. Maybe he should have gotten all that out sooner. All the same, he had an uneasy feeling that there was very little that the other Digimon and the Tamers could do to help him.
You're not meant to know what the mysterious shadow thing is. If anyone would like to guess they are more than welcome to and I'll let you know if you are correct or not.
I'd like to thank Bookworm Gal for her help with Impmon's flashbacks. The first one was mostly my idea, but the other two were her ideas, which I added to slightly. Credit where credit is due. Zephyrclaws also suggested an idea for a flashback, but I didn't use it because Bookworm Gal got hers in first. But don't worry Zephyrclaws. Your idea is a good one, and I will use it in future.
And, now, we move into Arc 6 of Secret of the 327th.
Next time...
We take a bit of a break in the story and it skips ahead a few months. There will be a brief outline of the main events through that time period, along with the beginnings of a new mission to another planet. A planet that Obi-Wan, Anakin and Aayla have all been to before.
Coming up:- Chapter 51 : Spearhead of the Republic
