Chapter 21: Terror Revealed

"You can't tell me that this thing is a dark spire?!" Takato asked as he and Gary looked it over.

"It's a menace machine, whatever it is," Gary answered. "And that means I can catch it! Pokéball, go!" Gary hurled one of his empty pokéballs at the obelaser, and it disappeared in a flash of red light. "See? Nothing to it!"

"And that reminds me," Takato added, "Cleaver made a device that lets you destroy machines you've caught in those pokéballs. Only problem is that he had the device at the time we got separated. So…we don't know where it is, right now."

"So I have to lug this thing around in my pokéball until we find him and get it back?"

"Basically."

"Great. You do know that I'm going to run out of empties eventually, right?"

"I know. But let's use what we can while we can, okay?"

"All right," Gary sighed. He picked up his newly caught obelaser. "What do I do with this one in the meantime?"

"Give it to Tracy. He's another pokémon trainer, and he's the only guy left from our cataloguing staff."

"And what can he do with it?"

"Nothing for now. But he'll be able to use it later, assuming we an find Cleaver and the others back…" Takato sighed heavily.

"What's got you down?"

"Just that…Henry was with them."

"Henry?"

"He's a friend of mine, and…my best friend. I don't know where he is or how he's doing."

"Hmm…well, I know what my next door neighbor is doing and where he is," Gary said.

"Lucky. I bet my mom and dad are missing me a lot."

"Probably. So…do we get back to base, or do we---!!" Gary stopped as he saw a figure approaching. "Who's that??!!"

"That's Silphymon! That thing is a digi-clone, a creature that the Linonians made up using some DNA from the digimon native to this planet!"

"I'll see what my pokéballs do to her!" Gary pulled out another empty pokéball and hurled it at Silphymon. It dodged the ball.

"What was that supposed to do?" it asked.

"It was supposed to hit you and catch you," Gary shot back. "Arcanine, I choose you!" Gary shouted, throwing out Arcanine's pokéball. "Arcanine, use Fire Blast on that thing!"

Silphymon pulled a flower out of its hair. "Lily umbrage!" it shouted, growing the flower into a shield. The shield deflected the blast, but the fire tore the shield to shreds.

"See how that went?" Gary sneered. "Arcanine, Take Down!"

"Astro laser!" Silphymon shouted, smacking Arcanine with a green beam of light.

"Let me handle this! Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!"

"Guilmon, digivolve to…Growlmon!"

"And now…Digi-modify! Upgrade, activate!"

Growlmon felt his firepower increase, and he shot a stream of fire at Silphymon.

"Help him out, Arcanine! Flamethrower!" The combined fire attacks forced Silphymon to retreat, damaged and barely keeping in its ultimate form.

"Do we see where it's running to?" Gary asked.

"We already know where their base is. It's south of here, on one of the uninhabited islands."

"But it's not heading south!" Gary pointed out.

"…Okay, then we should follow it. Climb on Growlmon's back."

"Arcanine, return! …I should tell you that I've never ridden a dinosaur before."

"That's okay. C'mon up."

The three of them followed Silphymon's retreat. Takato had a blue card ready to swipe in case anything went wrong. And something did go wrong: Silphymon entered what looked like an armed building that someone had constructed in the middle of the street. "Do we go in after her?" Gary asked, clutching a pokéball and climbing off Growlmon's back.

"It could be a trap," Takato cautioned, jumping off next to him. "We need to---uh-oh!"

One of the building's turrets fired a blast of red energy at Growlmon. Growlmon was hurled backwards and regressed back to Guilmon.

"Okay, not good!" Takato thought aloud. A trapdoor opened on the building's right side, and a group of slagsters came rolling out. "Okay, more not good!" Takato thought again. "Got any pokémon that'll help for a fast getaway?"

"As a matter of fact…Gyarados, I choose you!" Gary, Takato, and a wounded Guilmon climbed onto Gyarados's back, and Gyarados flew away at top speed.

"Uh, Gary…should we be worried that they're following us?"

"Not really. They throw lava out their hands, and that's basically a fire attack. Fire attacks don't affect Gyarados much."

"That's good, but I'd still feel more comfortable knowing that they weren't tagging along."

"If you insist…Fearow, I choose you!" Fearow flew behind the slagsters and fired a few blasts of light at them. They didn't last.

"Wow…what was that?"

"Just my fearow. I used a TM and taught it the attack called 'Sky Attack'. That lets it shoot out those copies of itself made of pure energy, and those really hurt its opponents."

"That went really well, I guess," Takato sighed. "I sure wish that I could use a TM and teach Guilmon a few new tricks."

"Aren't your mod-cards enough?" Guilmon croaked, still nursing his wounds.

"The more tricks we know, the better, boy."

"Okay."

"One question, though…what was that building we just left behind?"

"It was probably one of their smaller bases. We should have someone take it out."

"Good idea."

******

"You know, I'm starting to see something," Suezo thought aloud as he, Yolei, Kari, Tina, June, Ash, and Misty flew towards the Linonian base on Cygnusmon's back.

"What do you see? You can't have very good depth perception with just one eye," Misty pointed out.

"Thanks a bunch," Suezo shot back. "What I'm starting to see is that it's kind of a good thing that us Monsters and pokémon don't have much along the line of transformations."

"Why's that?" Ash asked. "I'd love it if Pikachu could evolve up to something big."

"Ka chu!" Pikachu spat.

"Not that I don't like you the way you are," Ash added as he scratched Pikachu's ear. "But why do you think it's a good thing we don't, Suezo?"

"Because nobody can stop them if they don't exist."

"Oh…well, that is good, then."

"Just get ready to module-evolve, Suezo," Yolei cautioned. "We're going to need all the help we can get if Takato's report was accurate."

"I plan to do some tail-whipping," Suezo answered with a grin. "It's the only time in my life when I ever had arms! …And long-range, damaging special attacks!" He let out a euphoric sigh.

"You'll be back in action once we get there," Yolei said, brandishing the digi-egg of sincerity.

"So…where is this building, anyways?" Suezo asked.

"Takato said the corner of Walker and Thirty-first…so, how come there's nothing here but a control spire?"

"Ota H'vekk!" A blast of purple light flew out from the obelaser.

"Great…well, Ash, it's been nice knowing you, but---"

"We're not dying today, Misty!" Ash shouted.

"Laser Cannon!" Cygnusmon shouted back. One of her three cannons glowed and fired back at the point of the obelaser. The obelaser burst into data fragments.

"That was easy enough," Tina sighed, setting her digivice to detect-mode. "I wonder if---hello! Orange blips at ten o'clock!" Tina pointed. Yolei and Kari pulled out their digivices and looked at the screens.

"I'm getting them, too," Kari said.

"Me three," Yolei added.

"But there's just one thing…this batch is moving. The ones we found with that unfairy-ring never moved."

Yolei shook her head. "Then it looks like we have a problem on our hands…probably a new menace machine."

"Let's find it and finish it, already!" Tina yelled.

"After it, Cygnusmon!" Yolei shouted.

"I'm on it," she answered. They rounded the last corner before they were on the same street as the new machine, and there it was: Obelimn, a huge, tank-like menace machine. It looked kind of like an egg or a mollusk of some kind; it had a crevasse running all the way through its middle, and an arm rested in the crevasse.

GAZRIITOR:

Nickname: Obelimn (Ōberīman)
Real Name: Sawei-tor-lelwawo
Caste: N/A
Modes: One
Special Attacks:
Atat lel Yonota
Gazrii Dar Non
Comments:
The obelimn is a super-tor with heavy armor that stands a class above a Black Box. It is well-armed and well-manned with many crony menace machines. And as if that wasn't enough, its primary function is to serve as an obelimn factory; it moves about, literally pounding out obelimns with its main arm to block digivolution and serve as sentries.

"That's what we're looking for?" Yolei asked.

"Looks like it," Kari answered.

They watched wide-eyed as the Obelimn's arm pounded the ground, and, where the arm hit the ground, a new control spire emerged.

"WHAT?!?!" Yolei asked, gaping. "That thing makes control spires?"

"That makes this mission all the more vital. I just hope this factory is the only one!" Kari shouted.

"And here comes our welcoming committee!" Tina mused, looking down at the slagsters that were pouring out of the back of the Obelimn.

"Oh, it gets better!" June added as she saw Shakkoumon evolve out of the back, as well.

"Time for action, Suezo!" Yolei said.

"That's what I like to hear! Suezo, module-evolve to… ---huh? I can't module evolve!" he spat, disgusted.

"Then the control spires stop module-evolution, too?" June asked.

"Not for long," Cygnusmon shouted back. "Tempest torpedo!" She fired a missile at the obelaser, and it burst into data fragments.

"Suezo, module-evolve to…Saw-grass! Ash, Misty, grab ahold!"

"What do we do to get down there?" June asked.

"You ride me," Youngdramon explained. "And, June, you get to ride on the spot where you tore out my scales! Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!"

June and Tina jumped on Ikudramon's back. As they flew down, Yolei shouted to her daughter, "Be careful…that's an order!"

"I love you, too, Mom!" Tina shouted back. They landed, and they began their assault.

"Pidgeot, Snorlax, Heracross, Primape! I choose you!" Ash shouted.

"Staryu, Starmie, Golduck, I choose you!" Misty yelled.

"Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!"

"So…which one of us takes the big one?" Suezo asked, looking at Shakkoumon.

"We'll take him! Ikudramon!"

"Savamon!"

"DNA digivolve to…Mermon!"

"Heracross, Primape, Pidgeot! You handle the ones on the ground! Snorlax, take pot-shots at the big one!"

"You handle the slagsters too, Starmie and Staryu! Golduck, try and help out Snorlax and Mermon with Hyper beam!"

"Blossom Blade!" Saw-grass shouted, spitting sharp blasts of metal out at the slagsters. Looking at how his attack was doing and how the other's strategies were paying off, he though aloud, "This is just too easy; there has got to be a catch coming up---"

"Harmonious Spirit!" Shakkoumon shouted, firing a pair of energy beams out at the fighters.

"Mer Poleax!" Mermon answered, reflecting one of the two beams away. The other beam narrowly missed Saw-grass.

"Will you take that thing out, already?" Saw-grass begged.

"You think we aren't trying?" Mermon answered. "Destructor torpedo!"

"Snorlax, Hyper Beam!"

"Golduck, Hydro Pump!"

The three attacks flew at Shakkoumon.

"Data Vacuum!" it answered, letting its yin yang shaped port open up and suck in the three attacks.

"Okay, not good, I'll admit---Blossom Blade!" Saw-grass interrupted himself.

"There has to be some way to get him!" June cried.

"Mermon, try reflecting its own attacks right back in its face!" Tina suggested.

"Fine, then! Come on, big fella! Gimme your best shot!" Mermon said, dancing in front of its face.

"Harmonious Spirit!"

"Mer Poleax!" She reflected the two beams back in Shakkoumon's direction, but it sucked those two attacks right back into its port.

"This just isn't working!!!" June complained, shrinking back towards the ever-clustering group of humans.

"I know," Tina agreed. "If only we knew Shakkoumon's weakness…!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Now, the plot is starting to move! I'm hoping that Protocol Omega won't be as long at Arrival or Operation: Salvage Earth.

What do you think of Obelimn? I came up with that name while looking through the dictionary for words that start "li…" because I wanted to hook that up to "obe…" and make a word similar to "obelisk". I found the word "limn" that meant something like draw, and it dawned on me: that was the perfect thing for the machine that makes these control spires!

So…how do you like the way this plot is going? Let me know; I want to hear from you people! I worked my back off for months to get this far; I want to hear some feedback!!!