"Beware the Eastern Sun"
Chapter 2
"Up was down and
left was right,
Friend was foe and day
was night."
- Rime
of the Lone Warrior by Joe Kido
The jungle was still. A small rodent
sniffed the air, then scurried for cover. Suddenly a rainbow shot from the sky
and three strange boys popped up out of nowhere. Izzy was sitting cross-legged
on the grass. Tai appeared in mid-air and fell to the ground. Joe appeared in a
shallow pool of brackish water. The three took a moment to reorient themselves.
"So this is it?" Tai looked
around. The misty jungle was unsettlingly still.
"I guess...so."
"It would seem that something is
amiss," Izzy observed.
"Looks the same to me." Tai
shrugged.
"Does it feel the
same?"
A brief pause. "Good point."
Joe moaned, catching Tai and Izzy's
attention.
"Why do I always go through the
most pain?"
"I feel fine." Gomomon
peeked his head out of Joe's bag and looked around.
"Well, as long as we're all
here..." Tai looked around uneasily, suppressing a shiver.
"So what now?" Joe queried.
"You die."
They turned to see Garurumon staring
at them with cold eyes. Joe looked at Izzy and Izzy returned the quizzical
look, but Tai continued to stare. He looked at the eyes and saw a cold depth,
like a pool of water frozen over, a thin layer of ice shielding view of the
terribly cold depths below. They remained unblinking.
"Eh...I...uh," Joe began, in
an almost obligatory manner.
The huge head swung to look at the
pathetic creature before it. The ears twitched once, the nostrils flared, and
the ears twitched again. The silence was oppressive. Neither party moved and
the world seemed to freeze like an all too real painting. Overhead, the cry of
a raven was heard.
A laugh emanated from an indistinct
point around the three boys. They looked around at first, eyes constantly
flickering back towards the huge beast before them, but the laugh was too
unsettling. It had begun in a silent manner, as if one was laughing about some
personal joke. But as it increased in volume, it took on a more frantic tone,
like some half-madman on the verge of chewing of his own arm, tendon by tendon.
A shadow began to resolve itself as a figure drew near from the edge of the
three boys' field of vision. All three sharply inhaled.
It was Matt, but then it was not.
There he stood before them, but like some apparition of the boy that they knew.
It was like the lifeblood had been sucked completely from him and only the
shell remained, to forever roam the world in some phantasmal somnambulation. A
cold, empty stare came from the being that was not.
But if one looked closely, one could
discern the tentative feeling of warmth. And looking deeper, one could see a blaze,
a fire so powerful, waiting, waiting for the moment it could be unleashed to
consume all with its licking tongues. Such was the inside of this cold, cold
shell.
There was one thing, however, that
drew the immediate attention of all three boys. Hanging from his right
shoulder, like some leech attempting to devour him, was a ghastly, metallic
beast. In a maze of wires, circuits, and the like, the aggregated mass blended
into the flesh in a union only conceivable by those dreamers of science who
toil in their minds, writing books. It hung, asserting itself as a part of the
apparition, with five slender projections divided by joints. It was a
mechanical arm.
"So you returned." Matt
broke the silence, putting on an evil grin. The others could only stare in
silence. "I've been waiting for a very long time. Yes, a long time indeed.
I have been counting the days when this confrontation should take place."
He slowly paced a circular path, keeping his distance from the three. "And
now here it is. Tai, Joe, and Izzy, in the flesh and blood." He stopped by
his hound, who lowered his head. Matt scratched behind the ears and the beast
let out a low rumble of pleasure.
"Yes, only you. Only you three
would have the audacity to return here." He began his circumnavigation
once again, like some predator hunting its prey. "You had your chance, you
know. But no, that would not do. Not for you three. You dared," he
nearly shouted the last word as he paused to stare at the trio. "You dared
to return." He spoke with deliberate slowness.
"And now, as such. You shall
suffer the consequences. A pity. You would have made subsatisfactory
minions." He began to turn away.
Finally overcoming the shock, Tai
began, "Woah, woah! Hold on just a minute! What the heck is going on
here?"
The wolf bared his teeth and growled
as Matt whipped around. His eyes narrowed to slits as he slowly approached the
visitors. "You dare to say that?! Say that to me!"
"Hey, chill, man. What the heck
has gotten over you Matt?" Tai glanced nervously at the arm.
Matt stared back silently for a
moment. The mechanical hand flexed in anger, once, twice. His ragged breathing
became louder and louder.
"Don't tell me any of that! I've
been 'chilling' for years! It's too late for that Tai! There was a time when I would
take that kind of crap from you, but that time has long gone. I'll enjoy your
annihilation." He walked away.
As Garurumon bore down on the three
boys, three shadows jumped up out of nowhere.
"Agumon, digivolve
to...Greymon!"
"Gomomon, digivolve to...Ikkakumon!"
"Tentamon, digivolve
to...Kabuterimon!"
"So, the rodents have some fight
in them, do they?" Garurumon growls.
"Less talk, more pain!"
Greymon called back, as he made a slashing charge.
Garurumon deftly sidestepped the
attack and struck low into Greymon's gut, causing him to bellow in pain. In a
graceful continuance of the motion, he pounced onto Ikkakumon and gnawed him
until he got the proper response. They were too slow. He could already see
three or four moves ahead. Next he would fire a Howling Blaster onto
Kabuterimon, which, of course, would take two or three shots. By that time he
would be through with his first strike and then he would circle around for
another run. Things would go smoothly. He knew. Then he would see how things went
from there.
"He's too fast!" Greymon
cried from the ground. He struggled to rise as he heard an unreal scream that
seemed to come from Ikkakumon. Less than a second later, Kabuterimon was
falling from the sky. Garurumon looked amused.
The fighters' blood rages through
me.
With a cry of war, he charged
Garurumon, who merely looked at him in an almost pitying way. He let out a Nova
Blast and was shocked to see Garurumon almost bat it away. Nevertheless, he
continued his charge. He had to protect Tai.
At the last minute, Garurumon became a
blur. Before he noticed that the digimon had even moved, he felt the slashes.
One, two, three, straight across the belly. The blur was before his eyes, and
his vision was stained with red, the flashes of pain surging through his body.
He let out a wail and fell upon his back.
Their crests began to glow.
"Greymon, digivolve
to...Metalgreymon!"
"Kabuterimon, digivolve
to...Megakabuterimon!"
"Ikkakumon, digivolve
to...Zudumon!"
"Now, you're just humoring
me!" Came the mocking voice of the wolf.
The three defending digimon cried a
war cry that would be sung about in legends. It was a grand picture, if not a
sad one. There, as the three digimon rose valiantly to defend their human
partners. It was a fateful moment.
For the three who rose were soon to
fall, and the evil darkness ruled over all.