Chapter 26: Motives
Tiger sat down at the table next to Hare with a huge, ear-to-ear smile on his face. Hare, on the other hand, had a frown on his face, and sat with his chin resting on his hand, picking at his food. Tiger let out a sigh of joy, and that grabbed Hare's attention. "What're you so glad about?"
"Isn't she the cutest creature ever?"
"Who?"
"Rufusmon!"
"Rufusmon? …I wouldn't know; I've never seen her."
"She sitting right over there."
Hare looked, and the only two people at the table Tiger was looking at were Rika and Renamon. He looked away with a scowl of disgust. "I only saw Renamon," he spat, and he emphasized his disgust on the word "Renamon".
"Sure, now she's not so great, but when she digivolves…she's the best-looking thing I've ever seen!"
"You're in love with Renamon?"
"Yeah!"
Hare felt a pang of jealousy. He was reluctant to show it; he had such mixed emotions right then that he was speechless.
"I know; she leaves me speechless, too!"
******
The squid roared at them with the strangest noise they'd ever heard. There was an interesting answer: "Hooooooowaaaaaaaaah!" Suezo jumped out of the water, except that he wasn't Suezo: he was Saw-grass. He'd module-evolved with the digi-egg of sincerity.
"Time you met your match, because you're not the only one with a few arms to spare!" Saw-grass spat as he set Yolei's backpack on the ground. "Roto-saw!" he shouted, thrusting the spinning blades in his hands forward. The blades made a pair of scratch marks, but did little more.
"The opening!" Swampangemon shouted. "Plug the opening, and you'll finish it off when it fires again!"
"Huh? …Blossom Blade!" Saw-grass shouted, spitting a metal blade out his mouth. It landed straight in the cannon on the squid's head.
The squid shouted, "Tuli Telo Non!" and the blast somehow reflected back into the squid's body and blew its tentacles off. It ceased to be a crackone and became a pair of snake-like creatures---which had been the surviving tentacles‑‑‑and the body of the squid: mallusk.
Swampangemon got up. Tossing a beam of static at one of the tendrills, she said, "I got the idea when I saw one of its shots reflect off some metal underwater."
"Quick thinking," Yolei shouted.
"Blossom Blade!" Saw-grass cut a hole in the mallusk's armor shell.
"Moochi Cannon!" Moochi fired into the mallusk's exposed innards, and it sank to the bottom.
"Now, there's only the snakes left," Swampangemon thought aloud.
"No problem!" Saw-grass grinned.
"Tarrwawo Don!" the tendrills howled. The chainsaw blades on their heads whirred.
"Moochi Cannon!" The tendrill reflected Moochi's attack away with its blades. " 'No problem' is easy for you to say!" Moochi grumbled.
"I sure hope it is! Roto-saw!" Saw-grass immediately got in a chainsaw fight with the tendrills. It was enough distraction for Swampangemon to pick up Moochi, get behind the two menace machines, and, along with Moochi, blow them up with a few attacks.
"What do you know? I got both my wishes!" Suezo beamed. "Sweet evolution, and stylish, functional duds!" He looked at his reflection in a window glass. He had a pair of leaves for capes attached to his back, and his clothes looked quite a bit like Shurimon's. "Yeah. I wish I'd had this fighting Moo!"
"Enjoying your day in the sun?" Kari joked.
"Sun?!" Swampangemon spat.
"Okay, so it's raining, but the sun is also out, making this too weird, but still---!"
Swampangemon sighed. "Excuse me for a second." She flew up into the air, just behind a wall in an alley. For a few seconds, there was a loud panging of water drops against the metal. She flew back up over the wall, snapped up her slicker, and tightened her hood strings. "Just getting the saltwater off with my spin-cycle."
"One question---how did you make it underwater so long?" Kari asked.
"I can breathe underwater," she answered.
"Really? Then I think you're the highest-level digimon who can go underwater besides Mermon."
"Huh…then I'd better get used to the water! And that's easier said than done!"
"Well, at least you can always dry off by spinning super fast."
"I guess."
"So…now what?"
"I don't know. But I'll be able to carry back any hostages we find if I go to giga mode and carry them in my pockets."
"Are your pockets dry?"
"The zippers on my pockets are airtight, so of course they're dry---" Swampangemon felt and saw something wiggle in one of the many pockets of her slicker. She reached in to check what it was, and she pulled a live fish out.
"Uh-huh…" Kari murmured.
Beginning to eat the fish, Swampangemon insisted, "That one came open! The others are bone dry: feel for yourself!"
"You have an ulterior motive: you're really staying in this form to keep dry beneath that coat."
"That's true, but I haven't lied to you once: I can carry hostages in this thing!"
"Oh, all right. Come on."
GAZRIITOR:
Nickname: Tendrill (Karunagi)
Real Name: Eflo-tor-j'mao
Caste: Ro Var'ka
Modes: One
Special Attacks:
Tarrwawo Don
Comments:
The Tendrill is a water
tor. It has no long-range attacks, and is faster than it is agile. However,
its chainsaw-like head allows it to burrow into coral reefs and sand beds to
hide, so that it can ambush and attack people, boats, and water-dwelling
digimon. Two tendrills can combine with other water machines and a mallusk
to form crackone, one of the most serious threats in the water.
GAZRIITOR:
Nickname: Mallusk (Kyumeitōru)
Real Name: Eflo-tor-bezo
Caste: Yon Ro Var'ka
Modes: One
Special Attacks:
Ro Dar
Tarrwawo Trii
Comments:
This tor looks sluggish
awkward, but is very fast and agile in the water. It draws water through
the intake between its fins and jets it out its eight turbines. This
propulsion system is what allows its higher form, crackone, to combine its
constituents' attacks. The mallusk is armed with eight torpedoes and three
laser eyes, and can digest biomass by inserting it into its beak with tiny,
unseen arms beneath its body.