Chapter 58: Introducing: Borggarurumon!

"Ewemon II, warp-digivolve to…Borggarurumon!" Borggarurumon barely looked anything at all like Metalgarurumon. It had a pair of starship-engines jutting out its back, and its fur looked like it was made out of steel wool. It had a rack-like piece of metal attached to its head with a cannon mounted on it.

"Um…this wouldn't exactly qualify as 'good', would it?" June asked.

"Get to cover!" Matt shouted. "Metalgarurumon and I will handle this!"

"Not so fast, Matt!" Tina shouted. "We brought some insurance!"

"What's that?"

"His name is Ash Ketchem!"

"Pkikachu, do your thing!" Ash shouted, letting Pikachu jump off his arm.

"Amazonmon, co-op digivolve to…Thunderbard!"

"We'll go get help," Tina said, switching hats. "Digi-armor, energize!"

"Youngdramon, co-op digivolve to…Gryllotamon, the tunnel of adventure!"

"You'll need an extra boost of speed," Ash insisted, touching Gryllotamon with his sun stone.

"Gryllotamon, radio-digivolve to…Termon, the branching tunnel of adventure!" Termon looked a lot like Gryllotamon, except that she had more mandibles and was bigger. "Gryllotamon, mode-change to…streamline mode!" Similar to Gryllotamon, Termon had a dragster-like mode change at her disposal.

"Slick set of wheels!" Tina said, nodding in approval.

"Now isn't the time to admire the craftsmanship; we need to get moving!" Termon shouted.

Tina jumped into the driver's seat. "All right…let's haul back to base and get the others!"

"Hang on to your innards; this is even faster than velocity mode!" Termon's exhaust pipes burst into rocket-like flames, and they flew forward with unbelievable speed.

Metalgarurumon and Borggarurumon leapt into the air and began to test each other out to see who had which weaknesses and strengths. "Ice Wolf Claw!" Metalgarurumon yelled, spitting a blast of ice at Borggarurumon. Borggarurumon dodged.

"Parasite Beam!" The laser cannon on Borggarurumon's head fired a red blast out at Metalgarurumon. It didn't land a hit, either. Borggarurumon charged at Metalgarurumon with all speed, and, just to see how their speeds compared, Metalgarurumon took off in the opposite direction. Metalgarurumon looked over his shoulder. Borggarurumon either wasn't going as fast as he could, or had the same speed abilities as Metalgarurumon. "Rabid Wolf Claw!" Borggarurumon shouted, firing a single, huge missile out his mouth at Metalgarurumon.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" Metalgarurumon returned the attack with an entire volley of missiles. All it took was one of Metalgarurumon's missiles to detonate Borggarurumon's missile. Metalgarurumon was shocked at how big a blast radius the missile had, and kept in mind to avoid that attack.

"So…I bet you think you're safe with Borggarurumon busy, don't you?" The Unnamed Figure Sneered.

"We'll be safe once you're in prison," Thunderbard spat. "And I'm tempted not to bother with the prison!"

"Big talk, but little brains…Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!"

"Jaymon, digivolve to…Nekhbetmon!"

"This is going to be quick," Thunderbard said.

"Thunder attack!" Ash shouted, and Thunderbard strummed her guitar. Lightning flew down at Nekhbetmon…

"Digi-modify! Counter-crest digivolution, activate!"

"Nekhbetmon, digivolve to…Remon!" Remon reflected the bolts away with its spear.

"Impressive, but you're still not in the clear! Thunderbard, Earthquake!" Thunderbard strummed her guitar again, and the earth shook beneath their feet.

"I'm not impressed by your super pokémon," The Unnamed Figure shot back as Remon flew above the shaking earth. "Digi-modify! Co-op digivolution, activate!"

"Remon, co-op digivolve to…Black Rook!"

"Oh, right! Send a flying super pokémon after an electric!" Thunderbard muttered.

"Thunderbard, use thunder again!"

"Black Rook, faint attack!"

Thunderbard blindly shot her electric bolts into the air, hoping to do some damage before the vanished Black Rook landed a hit. It worked: Black Rook reappeared as a bolt smacked it to the ground.

"Quick! Use Earthquake!" The earth shook and jostled stones loose from Black Rook's wall. "Now, finish it off! Swift attack!" Black Rook leapt into the air just as the yellow stars were about to land a hit.

"Black Rook, use Spike Cannon!"

"Thunderbard, dodge!" Thunderbard still had enough agility to leap over and duck under the rails of metal that were flying at her. "Now, use Thunder!"

Black Rook crashed to the ground, and its flag caught fire and began to burn, despite the wetness of the rain.

"Now you're toast!" Thunderbard spat, pointing at The Unnamed Figure.

"Bulbasaur, hold him down with Vine Whip!" Ash shouted.

"In your dreams! Houndoom, don't let him go there!" As Houndoom was about to blow flame into Bulbasaur, Thunderbard paralyzed Houndoom.

"You can't win this one! You've lost already!" Thunderbard insisted.

"Actually, the destruction of Black Rook fits right into my plans!"

June tapped Matt on the shoulder. "He replaced Blackgatomon with Borggarurumon; just think of what he'll replace Jaymon with!"

"That's not going to happen," Ash said with defiance. "Bulbasaur, hold him down!"

"Digi-modify! Warp digivolution, activate!"

"Keramon, warp-digivolve to…Armagemon!"

Thunderbard swallowed hard. "I think this would qualify as 'not good'," she said as she looked at Armagemon's sheer size.

"You're both on par with mega-level power!" Ash insisted. "Hit him with all you've got! Swift attack!" Thunderbard obeyed, peppering Armagemon with a spray of yellow bullets.

"Terminator Blaze!" Armagemon answered, firing a blast of red-hot flames at Thunderbard. A dog-tired Tibemon and Pikachu came out of the attack.

"Now, you're toast!" The Unnamed Figure grinned. "And you'll make a fine addition to my collection," he added, looking at June.

June clutched Matt's arm, and Matt held onto her: even though he wasn't interested in a relationship with June, he wasn't about to let her fall into the hands of The Unnamed Figure. The Unnamed Figure only laughed all the harder, looking at June's fear, and in the full knowledge that Matt wouldn't be able to do anything about it…

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For those of you who don't know, Paramount Pictures' series Star Trek: the Next Generation had an alien species on it called "The Borg". The Borg were these cyber-organic creatures whose minds were linked electronically, so they had a collective mind. A lot of the time, individual Borg had pieces of metal machinery sticking out of their bodies, similar to Borggarurumon's cage-like cannon mount. That's where I got the idea.

There's another thing about The Borg: they were vampires, in that they could stick needles from their arms into a victim's body and, with time, the victim would become a Borg…