Part 11: Birdramon to the Rescue!
Iori noticed all of them staring at him again, with shocked expressions. He then stood back up as if nothing had happened at all.
"What's wrong with you guys? You act as if you all have just seen a ghost." Iori then noticed the laid out Koushirou next to him, groaning and grumbling in pain, Mimi and Tentomon right by his side. This sight alarmed the young boy. "What happened to Koushirou-san!!"
"Iori, are-are you feeling okay?" Miyako asked nervously and worriedly.
"I am fine, but what about Koushirou-san! He needs medical aid!"
"If you're okay, then why did you attack Koushirou just now like you were in some kind of martial arts competition!" Mimi demanded of the boy angrily, looking up from the spot she was kneeled in on the ground. "All he wanted to do was to check out your Digivice!"
The goggle boy of the group wanted to be sympathized for as well, but no one really heard him.
"Hello, over here," Daisuke waved with his good hand. "Boy's wrist was squeezed and twisted…feels like it was broken…"
"And you hurt poor Daisuke-kun!" Hikari added after Mimi. "How could you hurt such a nice person! He didn't do anything to you!"
"Neither did Koushirou!"
A love-struck smile appeared on Daisuke's face, as well as a blush after Hikari had spoke about him.
"She really does care!" he thought while staring over at Hikari, hearts in his eyes.
"What's with him?" Takeru asked, noticing the love-struck smirk plastered on Daisuke's face.
"Who knows what's going on with him," Patamon bluntly stated.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," V-mon then whispered to Patamon, "it's probably another Hikari moment for him."
Patamon laughed.
"I don't think you're in your right mind right now, Iori," Armadimon cautiously insisted.
Takeru, Daisuke, Hikari, and the Digimon shook their heads as Iori clutched onto his Digivice tighter.
"Why is he so possessive over that Digivice of his?" Patamon wondered out aloud.
"It's bad to have something that you are obsessed over. I hope I never end up like that."
Gabumon, along with the other Digimon sweat dropped from Tentomon's statement.
"I'm not saying a word," Gomamon said.
"Will you all just listen to me for a change!! I'm fine!! Koushirou shouldn't have tried to take my D-3 away! It is mine, not yours! The fool had it coming to him! He should've taken my warning much more seriously!" He then laughed a bit.
"How can you laugh at poor Koushirou like that!" Mimi trembled, as she cradled Koushirou, who would occasionally give out a groan due to the pain he was feeling. His head was giving him the most trouble since Iori had hit him so hard there, just as Iori had his back. Koushirou was grateful that Iori didn't hit him hard enough to cause him to black out. At some points, during his encounter with him, he felt as if Iori was holding back.
"Yeah, how dare you hurt my Koushirou-han!" Tentomon argued, flying up into Iori's face, who only swatted him away with the back of his hand, causing him to land head first into the sand.
"Tentomon!" Koushirou called out.
"Iori-kun, there is something definitely wrong with you," Jyou insisted, keeping a slight distance from the boy. "You would never act like this."
"Forget about it," Koushirou groaned, wanting to get to Tentomon. "I'm...fine," he grunted.
"Koushirou, you are not, fine!" Mimi scolded, forcing the boy to lie back down, his head resting on her lap. "Iori hurt you terribly, now lay here until Jyou-senpai can help you!" He felt a bit awkward for being in such a situation, lying on Mimi's lap, but he didn't mind too much.
"I am tired of all you second-guessing me! You never listen to me! You never take me seriously! Even when I'm right, you don't listen to me! Yesterday's battle was a good example of that! I told you not to trust him, but no," he screamed fiercely at them, "you wouldn't listen to me!"
Iori then crossed his arms, anger and rage in his eyes.
"You all would've been better off killed by that no-good excuse of a broomstick. Maybe then, you all would've learned that you should take little Iori a bit more seriously. Too bad it would've been too late since you all would've ended up dead!" He scoffed. "I wouldn't have cared!!"
Everyone started to back away from Iori, Armadimon included. They were literally scared of him, especially after that death threat he had just delivered.
"Why are we backing away so slowly from a nine year old?" Jyou whispered to the others. 'I don't know what he's capable of, we should probably be running, but we can't run anywhere with the condition Koushirou is in.'
"Because this nine-year-old kid is pissed, knows how to fight, and he can hurt your wrist badly if he gets a hold of it," Daisuke said, rubbing his sore wrist.
"Not to mention that he just indirectly said that he wished all of us would've been killed yesterday in battle," Takeru added on to Daisuke's statement.
"He normally doesn't yell at us either!" Hikari shook.
"This just isn't right," Hawkmon said.
"Iori would never act this way!" Miyako said, as if she could cry.
"You never listen to me, and believe me, you all will pay for that grave mistake!" His tone of voice then turned to that of an angered one instead of a spite-filled one like it had been earlier. "Armadimon, we have work to do!"
"But Iori, we rescued the others and we destroyed the Dark Towers. Why do you want me to evolve, and what are we going to battle against?"
Iori got a dark, sinister look about him and darkly murmured, "You will soon see." Armadimon, nor the others, liked the tone in his voice when he said it.
"Digimental Up…NOW!!"
Armadimon tried to armor evolve but he couldn't; well, he didn't feel right trying to. When he finally did evolve, he felt nothing but pain and misery.
"Armadimon, armor evolve…" he grunted, and then screamed out in pain, "D-D-Digmon…the wisdom of…"
He didn't manage to finish as he fell to the ground.
"Digmon!" Tailmon called in alarm. "What's happened to him!"
Iori grew annoyed with this display of weakness and walked over to the digging, bug-like Digi.
"Get up, Digimon, and do as I say!!"
Iori hit him with the same stick he had Koushirou. Everyone stared on in shock. They just couldn't believe that someone like Iori was being so mean, not to mention yelling at them, something he never did.
"Iori, stop that!!"
After ordering the boy to halt, which obviously didn't work since Iori just ignored him, Daisuke ran up to Iori to hold him back, even though his wrist was still throbbing with pain. It really felt as if Iori had either sprained his wrist or even worse, broken it.
Iori just growled out, "Stay away!" and pushed the older boy down roughly.
"Daisuke!" V-mon and Miyako called.
"Are you okay, Daisuke-kun?" Hikari asked in concern.
"Nothing I can't handle," the boy said, giving them a lopsided grin and a thumbs-up.
"What's...wrong with you, Iori," Digmon grunted between the hits.
"Nothing! Have you not listened to a word I've said!"
Right at that moment, Digmon felt linked to Iori again. The Digimon's eyes turned to a dark shade of red. Without thinking twice about it, he turned and attacked all of the others, Koushirou and Mimi currently the most open and vulnerable to such an attack.
The other Digimon blocked off their partners off, luckily none of them were hurt, the Digimon included. Digmon had purposely missed them, using his "Goldrush" attack, shooting his drills at them. He didn't want to hurt them. Iori smiled with pleasure.
"Good job, Digmon, but next time try and hurt them."
"Why am I doing this? They are our friends, I don't want to harm them…"
"Because you are my Digimon, and you have to no choice but to do as I say! I am in control of you through my D-3! Get rid of all of them! Ichijouji-sama has ordered me to!"
"Iori-kun, how could you say such a thing!" Hawkmon uttered in pure astonishment.
"How could you work for someone so evil!" Tailmon shouted at the boy, her normally calm manner turned to that of an angered one.
"When did this happen?" Gomamon asked.
"I'll show you! Because of you, I couldn't protect my tree house!" Tentomon glared at the boy, preparing to evolve.
"Yes, he is going to evolve," Iori stated nonchalantly, not feeling threatened at all. "Go ahead."
"Okay, I will!"
Tentomon tried his best to evolve, but he couldn't due to Iori. For some odd reason, none of the others could evolve past their child (rookie) stage, unless it was to their armored forms, with the exception of Tailmon since she always had the energy to remain at her adult (champion) level, but they were all tired from their earlier battle.
As a matter of fact, after they destroyed the Dark Towers, Holsmon, Nefertimon, Pegasmon, and Fladramon all devolved back to Hawkmon, Tailmon, Patamon, and V-mon since they needed to conserve their energy.
"To answer your question, Hawkmon," Iori started, after laughing at Tentomon's feeble attempt to evolve, "Ichijouji-sama is my ruler and master! I only listen to one and only one, and that is the Digimon Kaiser! We will rule this world together, and you dim-witted morons will ignore me no more! For I am Hida Iori, and I will make myself known and heard to you ungrateful brats!" He then turned to his partner. "Digmon, attack them!"
Digmon nodded, this time, he was fully under Iori's power. He no longer had control of his thoughts, and could only do what Iori told him. The only voice of reason that he could hear was Iori's.
The bug was about to attack, when the group heard a voice call out, "Meteor Wing!" and in result, an inferno of flames hit Digmon, knocking him back.
"Get away, everyone!" the group heard a voice belonging to that of a teen-aged girl call. "Iori isn't himself right now."
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, curious whom it was who had saved them.
"It's Sora and Birdramon!" Mimi pointed up towards the sky.
"That's who attacked Digmon!" Jyou exclaimed.
"Good thing, too," Koushirou managed to say as both Mimi and Jyou helped the computer whiz to his feet.
Birdramon flew in, and riding on the bird-Digimon was Sora, along with two other people. A handsome blonde and a brown-haired boy, all three riding on Birdramon's back. Sora normally rode along on Birdramon's leg, but didn't want to take the chance in case she had to attack.
"Taichi/Oniichan!" Agumon and Hikari called.
"Yamato/Niisan!" both Gabumon and Takeru called out.
Iori stared at Sora and Birdramon, his eyes narrowing in malevolence, realizing who it was that had prevented his Digimon from attacking.
Birdramon landed, letting both Yamato and Taichi off. When they did, Hikari rushed over and gave her big brother a big hug.
"Hi, oniichan!" the girl greeted with a perky smile.
"Oh good, you're still safe," Taichi said in relief. He then noticed the small orange, reptilian Digimon beside her. "Agumon!"
"Taichi!"
"Great to see you again, Agumon! I was worried about you."
"Nothing I can't handle. I had everything under control until Birdramon came along." Agumon then smugly said, "I had them right where I wanted them."
"Sure you did," Taichi laughed.
"Looks like you all are holding down the fort," Yamato said, his arms crossed, to Takeru.
"I haven't done much of anything lately. I'm nothing but a jinx!" Takeru grumbled, angered at him self. 'We should've listened to Iori-kun,' Takeru thought sadly. 'We should've taken him seriously! I knew something wasn't right earlier, and I even sensed that it had something to do with Ichijouji, but I didn't say anything.' He then gave an inward sigh, 'This is all my fault...'
"Why would you say something like that?" Gabumon asked, wondering why Takeru would think of himself as a jinx.
"I think he's still upset over Hikari's getting kidnapped by the Digimon Kaiser and his encounter with Pinocchimon yesterday," Patamon whispered to the dog-like Digi. "He's been really beating himself up over it."
"Pinocchimon?!" Gabumon questioned.
Taichi, who had overheard Patamon, who couldn't whisper if his life depended on it, turned to his sister. "Hikari, that Kaiser creep kidnapped you!!"
Takeru gave Patamon a look of annoyance, who could only respond by saying, "Oops."
"Why didn't you say anything to us!" Yamato demanded.
"It doesn't matter," Takeru snapped. "Just forget about it!"
'Wow, Takeru sounds a bit stressed,' Daisuke noticed. 'I wonder why.'
"We didn't want to worry you, oniichan."
"Where is he!" Taichi growled as he pounded his right fist into the palm of his left hand. "How dare he abducts my little sister!"
"I want to know more about the Pinocchimon thing!" Jyou said. "How could you encounter him if he was destroyed by Yamato and MetalGarurumon?"
"He was creepy, and had the weirdest idea of how to have fun!" Mimi shuddered.
"I didn't know about that either," Koushirou said as he made sure not to lose his balance on both Jyou and Mimi, who were still holding him up, an arm around each of their shoulders. Mimi was slightly shorter than him, not by much, and Jyou towered him. Keeping his balance was somewhat a challenge. "Would you guys mind explaining that?"
Iori was starting to grow very impatient. During their conversations, he was trying to get their attentions, but every one was so focused on Taichi, Yamato, and the events of the previous day, that they didn't even notice Iori's attempts to get their attention.
Before the younger kids could explain the events of the previous day fully, or at all pretty much, Sora yelled down to the others from Birdramon's back.
"Everyone, get out of here and let Birdramon and me fight and hold off Iori and Digmon! He's preparing to have Digmon attack you all again!"
"You can't, Sora-san! You might end up hurting Iori!"
"Miyako-chan, I have no choice! He'll end up killing all of us if we don't fight against him! Just get out of here before you all get hurt, and by the looks of things, Koushirou-kun already looks hurt somewhat. Yamato and Taichi will explain the entire thing to you…just get out of here!!"
"But…but Iori!" Miyako nearly cried, her eyes glistening a bit, but no tears falling. "I don't want him to get hurt."
"No one mentioned anything about my getting hurt," Daisuke muttered selfishly under his breath.
Koushirou let go of both Jyou and Mimi and limped his way over to Miyako to try his best to comfort her, but not in the physical sense.
"Don't worry, Miyako-kun, Iori-kun will be fine. She's just giving us some time to get away. We will get him back to normal as soon as we figure out how and what caused him to change in the first place."
"You promise?" Miyako sniffled a bit.
"Cross my heart and hope to die," Koushirou smiled. "I promise to try my best to help get him back to his normal, polite, selfless self."
Mimi walked up beside Koushirou and held Miyako's hand. "I know how you feel, Miyako-chan. I hate fighting too, especially if it's a good friend, but Koushirou is right."
"Did she just voluntarily say you were right?" Jyou asked in disbelief.
"I'm just as surprised as you are," Koushirou blinked.
Miyako looked at Izzy and then at Mimi and nodded.
"Come on guys, let's get out of here!" Taichi urged, running off, Agumon and his sister by his side.
Everyone nodded and started off, Mimi still helping Koushirou along who had insisted on his being fine enough to run on his own. She didn't want to take any chances, and stuck with him.
'Iori-kun, I know you aren't yourself right now, but I can't let you hurt the others!' Sora thought, bracing herself to have to fight against a person who was once her ally. "C'mon, Birdramon, attack Digmon to keep him from harming the others! We'll just stick with attacking Digmon until everyone is in a safe distance away from here."
"Okay Sora!"
Birdramon was about to attack using her Meteor Wing, but Iori only chuckled darkly at Sora, seating himself on top of Digmon's back. Digmon then took out his wings, which were always very well hidden under his bug-like skin. He then flew up, preparing to attack Birdramon using his Gold Rush attack.
Sora froze. She didn't know that Digmon could fly, and she knew that she couldn't have Birdramon attack Digmon if Iori was riding on him.
"We can't attack Digmon now, Birdramon! We might end up hurting Iori! We just have to dodge Digmon's attacks!"
"But what else can we do if I can't defen---" the bird managed to say before letting out a loud, echoing screech of pain.
"Birdramon, what's wrong!"
Since Digmon had flown so close to them, and Iori was now very close to them, Birdramon only felt great pain. The pain was so unbearable that she could barely keep her strength up.
Her strength felt as if it was just taken away from her, which caused the giant, bird-like Digimon to devolve back to Piyomon, which wasn't the type of Digimon that a human could ride on due to her being so small.
Sora started to plummet towards the Earth, as well as Piyomon, who was so depleted of energy, she could barely flap her wings in an attempt to save herself or Sora.
Sora instinctively screamed out, which alerted the others to turn to see what was happening.
They all breathed out in fear as they saw the elegant Tennis Player, heading towards her doom, to the sandy desert floor below…