Sorry for the late update. I've been having trouble transferring the stories from my home computer which doesn't have the Internet to a computer that does. Something about me not having a Floppy Drive present. No need to fear though. I have a friend capable of fixing it. Until then, enjoy this latest chapter.
Digimon: Twilight Chronicles
Chapter Four (The Digital Deputies)
The digidestined continued rising and eventually, they were blinded by some sort of light. When Jamie opened his eyes, the six were laying in the desert at the edge of what appeared to be a ghost town. A group of tumbleweed blew past him as he climbed to his feet. He noticed his traveling companions lying unconscious next to him. He bent down next to Swiftarimon's unmoving body and shook the cheetah awake. He scoffed a bit and sleepily yawned. Then he rolled over. Jamie frowned and shook the sleeping cat again. This time, it awakened. "Huh? Wha...?" He stood up and looked at Jamie. "What is it, Jamie?" He observed their surroundings for a moment before asking, "Where are we?"
"I don't know, Swiftarimon, but we should probably check on the others."
"Right." The cat zoomed to each of the sleepers and gently woke them up.
Kai yawned and rolled over, much like Swiftarimon had done. Ariana woke up instantly as did her digimon counterpart. Panthurmon woke up and nudged his own partner awake. This time, Kai groggily climbed to his feet and stated, "This had better be good." Then he noticed his surroundings and once again, imitating Swiftarimon unknowingly, asked, "Where are we?"
"We're at the edge of the Barren Dunes." Ariana said as she checked her D-Ring.
"The Barren Dunes, huh?" remarked Kai who was wiping sleep out of his eyes.
"I think we should check out that town over there." suggested Jamie.
"Who died and made you leader?" teased Kai.
"Well, on the Digimon TV show, the one with the goggles is always the leader."
"I gave you those goggles! If I hadn't, then I would've been leader."
"I guess that's a good thing then, huh?" joked the brown-haired Jamie Gotaki.
"I have no problem with him leading us.." stated Ariana.
"Come to think of it," said Kai, "Neither do I."
"Then it's settled. To the town!"
The three digidestined and their partners embarked on their way towards the digital ghost town. It wasn't that far from where the data stream had spat them out, so they weren't very tired when they arrived. Digimon walked around carefree and when the tamers walked into town, the digimon turned their heads. "Humans!" one of them cried. All the digimon ran into buildings and a few minutes later, the streets were empty. A moment later, a digimon stepped onto the streets.
The digimon wore a long brown duster, a cowboy hat, and cowboy boots. The boots even had spurs on them. Six-shooters were secured to a gun belt around his waist, and he chewed on a cat-o-nine-tails. He had gloves on his hands, a badge on his coat, and, as he stared the tamers down, he spat at the ground. When he spoke, he did so with an old Texan cowboy accent. "You boys ain't welcome 'round these here parts. S'pose it's best if you just up and left 'fore you even walk in."
Jamie stared at the cowboy digimon. "Who're you?"
"My name's Cowboymon and I run this here town."
"You run it? What are you, the mayor or something?"
"I'm Dune City's sheriff and we don't like your kinda trouble 'round here."
"Trouble? What are you talking about?"
"If you don't leave, then it's best I arrest you right here this minute."
Jamie backed up and threw his hands up. "Fine! We're leaving. Yeesh!"
As they turned around, they saw sand being kicked up just outside the city. A few minutes later, men rode past them on horseback. As the head of the group rode past, he knocked Jamie over into the ground. The horsemen skidded to a stop in front of the Cowboymon. The head of the group stared down at Cowboymon and spat in front of his feet. The horse neighed a couple times before the gang leader spoke. "Where's all your town's crybabies at?" It was then that he noticed Jamie, Kai, and the others. "Who're these brats? Ain't never seen them 'round town before. They yer new lackeys?"
Cowboymon hesitated. "You tellin' me they ain't yer boys?"
He looked at the teens and spat at the ground again. "Heck nah! Wouldn't hire no humans. And ah especially wouldn't hire no dang girls. Ain't that right, boys?" The party behind him burst into uproar. There were various replies such as "Ain't that right?" and "You tell 'im, Boss!" The boss held up his hand and his gang immediately shut up. He stared back down at the tamers again. "What're you boys doin' in our town? Don't you know that that's bad fer yer healthiness?"
Jamie gazed defiantly at the gang's leader. "Bad for our health? Talking to us like that is what's bad for your health. And if you call her a boy again pointed at Ariana I'll personally see to it that your data is put to a better use that spitting at something that doesn't fight back!"
"You joshin' me, boy?"
"And you see, that's another thing. Don't...call...me...boy!"
"You yellin' at me?" He turned to his cronies. "He's yellin' at me, boys."
"Get 'im, Boss!" one guy said.
"Show 'im who's boss, Boss!" another cried.
Now, Jamie was angry. "Yeah, boss. Show him who's boss."
"Well, then, guess ah better oblige my guests." He dismounted his horse and stepped in front of Jamie. Now that he wasn't looking up with the digi-sun in his eyes, Jamie could see his foe more clearly. He looked kind of like the outlaws from a children's cartoon. He had a bandana wrapped around his face in order to hide it, and a gun was also strapped to his waist. He wore a John Wayne shirt and pants. He wore cowboy boots with spurs and a rope was sitting on the opposite side of the gun on his belt. In one of his boots, there appeared to be the handle of a small axe...a tomahawk. There really weren't any features to his face except for his orange eyes and he stood just a few feet taller than Jamie. "Should've watched who you was talkin' to, boy."
He reached out to punch Jamie, but right before he connected, something knocked him away. That something was the digital cheetah known as Swiftarimon. The indian growled as Swiftarimon disappeared again. The rest of his gang was dismounting, preparing to defend their leader, when Swiftarimon zoomed by them, knocking them unconscious. The indian grabbed the tomahawk and prepared to attack. Kai grabbed his D-Ring and activated its Data Storage section.
"His name is Outlawmon. His attacks are Shatter Shot and Battle Tomahawk. Kind of like the card, huh?" Kai continued to read. "Be careful, Jamie! This says that his attacks are extremely deadly!" Kai watched as the battle ensued.
"Swiftarimon, it's time for a power-up!" Jamie sifted through his deck of digi-battle cards and extracted the card he was looking for. He lifted it into the air and then brought it down, through his D-Ring, crying out, "Card Slash!" as he did. Instantly, Swiftarimon leaped into the air, a hammer appeared in his front paws, and he brought it down upon Outlawmon with powerful force. The card Jamie had slashed was known as Big Bang Hammer. "Great shot, Swiftari. Now use Fire Fly!" Swiftarimon sped up and a flaming ball encircled his body. This time, Outlawmon leaped into the air to avoid the attack and he grabbed his gun, preparing to use his Shatter Shot attack. "Swiftarimon, look out!" The hammer disappeared and Swiftarimon barely managed to avoid the bullet that zoomed by him and exploded upon impacting the dirt.
"Quick lil varmint, ain't'cha?"
Swiftarimon leaped into the air and his fur began to glow. "Swiftari Stars!" The flaming balls sped their way towards Outlawmon who, despite his efforts to avoid being hit, was knocked to the ground when they finally connected. Jamie extracted another card. "Hope you like the kitchen because here comes the Dragon Fire. Machinedramon's Dragon Fire! Card Slash" Jamie took the card and swiped it through his D-Ring. Swiftarimon instantly "grew" two cannons on his side and he directed them towards Outlawmon. The cannons exploded and launched two flaming beams at the foe. They impacted with full force and Outlawmon collapsed to the ground. Jamie flicked his D-Ring and activated the "Encrypt" option. Outlawmon reverted back to his digi-egg stage like Leracimon and Rezetamon had done during the tamers' last battle. Once again, the digi-egg vanished.
"I wanna thank ya'll fer helpin' out the way you done. I must say ma' sorries fer thinkin' that you was all members of them boys. 'Twas all one big mix-up. Hope ya'll can fergive an old cowpoke like mahself." He said as he took off his hat. Underneath, it could be seen that he had bright green hair. All of them had gathered inside the sheriff's office after Cowboymon had convinced the townsfolk that the tamers were not bandits.
"No problem, Cowboymon. I can see why you made that mistake." Kai stated.
"Yeah." said Ariana. "You were just looking out for your own townspeople."
"Seeing strangers stroll right into my town would probably freak me out too." said Jamie. "So who were those guys. Obviously they were some sort of outlaws, but who are they and how did they become outlaws?" He fell silent and waited for Cowboymon to answer his question.
"They call themselves the Shoot-Em-Up gang. They ain't nothin' but bandits."
"Bandits?"
"Yessum. They robbed a couple of horse-drawn carriages, the bank here in Dune City, and even had the nerve to skip out on their restaurant bill. Needless to say that Chefmon was mad 'bout that. After all, he spends countless hours fixin' us them perfect suppers. Least the customers could do is pay 'im fer it." Cowboymon explained.
Cowboymon positioned himself in the lounge chair behind his desk and cleaned his two six-shooters. "Yep, poor old Chefmon. If ya'll get the munchies, just stop by Chefmon's Cafe and tell 'im ah sent yah. He'll get ya'll's tummies filled up in no time at all. His tater soup is that best. Makes all other tater soups look like gazpachuh. Yeah. come to think of it, he makes good gazpachuh too. If you don't like tater soup, ask about his gazpachuh." He returned the two guns to their holsters and opened up a drawer. "Almost forgot." He pulled out six plastic badges and passed them to the tamers and their digital counterparts. "These're fer helping get rid of Outlawmon and his gang. These are honorary deputy badges. Hope you like 'em." The tamers took them and secured them to their clothes. Swiftarimon secured his to one of his gauntlets, Panthurmon secured his to his fur somehow, and Tierramon had Ariana hold onto hers for her.
"Thank you." expressed the grateful tamers and their digimon.
"You wouldn't happen to know where the Digimon King is, would you?"
"Why would you be lookin' fer that rascal?" asked Cowboymon as he took a swig of grape juice from the flask at his waist. Little did he expect the answer that he received.
"We're going to dethrone him." Jamie replied.
Sheriff Cowboymon spat out his grape juice (all over Jamie), and fell out of his chair. "Did you say what I think you said or did you just say something different that what I thought that you said? M'only askin' 'cause I think that you said you was goin' to take on the Digimon King. 'Course I musta had too much of this here grape juice or somethin'. Right?" He climbed to his feet and positioned himself back behind his cardboard desk.
"No, Cowboymon." corrected Jamie. "You heard right."
"And how exactly do you plan to take on the Digi-King?"
"Well, uh..." said Jamie, rubbing his neck, "We haven't figured that part out yet."
"Well, you better figure it out because if you don't then the Digi-King is gonna take you down faster than a dead bull in the slaughterhouse. Pardon my digi-western analogy, but it's all in the premise of truth."
"I understand, Cowboymon, but if you can help in anyway..."
"Oh no. I'm not gettin' on the wrong side of the Digimon King."
"You're already on the wrong side of him!" snapped Ariana.
"Wha...? Ariana?" Jamie looked at her in surprise.
"What're you talkin' 'bout, lil miss?"
"I'm saying that the Digimon King's goal is destroy all digimon and you're a digimon! Just because you're not trying to make him angry doesn't mean that he's just going to leave you alone. He's out to destroy you whether you like it or not! That's just something you'll have to accept if you want to live. We're offering you the chance to help us defeat the Digimon King and maybe even live rather than be deleted. But if you want to run away and hide out until he finds you then we won't stand in your way!"
"I beg your pardon, lil miss, but I'm just doin' what's best for the townspeople."
"Do you think that he's just going to delete you and not worry about your digimon townspeople? If that is what you believe then you're more ignorant than I thought. The truth is that when he gets the chance, he's going to delete all of you. He might start with you, but he could always start with the women, and if he decides to be exceptionally cruel, then he might even delete the infant digimon first. Now tell me, Cowboymon. Does that sound like something that's best for your people?"
Ariana had thrown the cowboy-digimon off-guard. "I guess not, lil miss."
"I didn't think so." After her long speech, Ariana fell silent.
"So you see why you can't just not help us?"
"I guess so, mister. But first, I owe you all a bite tah eat." He rose from his chair. "Follow me." He led the tamers outside and down the dusty road. Various townspeople joined their party as they walked down the road and eventually, Jamie and the group, excluding Cowboymon, were being carried to their destination. The mob carried the tamers and their digimon into Chefmon's Cafe. As they entered, the mob took their seats and the tamers were seated at a private booth reserved just for the town heroes.
The owner of the restaurant, Chefmon, even came out to greet his new customers. He wore all white---a kitchen apron, chef's hat, and cooking pants. He wore cooking knives on a white belt across his waist and a large butcher knife-like sword was across his back. He spoke with a Super Mario accent. "Welcome to my restaurant! I cook only the best for the town heroes! I cook only the best for the town, too! I cook only the best for anyone who comes in and orders from me. I cook anything you ask. What'll it be, my friends?" He fell silent as he smiled through his large mustache.
"Would you happen to have a pasta salad?" Ariana questioned the Chefmon.
"Why of course! Only the best pasta salad for the little missus."
"Could I get a steak?" asked Jamie.
"How do you like it prepared?"
"Well done, please."
"Could I get the same?" asked Kai whose mouth was watering. "And dripping with lots and lots of barbecue sauce! And maybe with a couple of baked potatoes on the side! Ooh, and some of that delicious potato soup Cowboymon was telling us about! And could you even prepare some of that gazpacho that he said was so good! And maybe even...oh yes! Some fried broccoli?"
Everyone fell silent and stared at Kai in disbelief. "Broccoli?"
Kai fell silent and looked at them all. "I was just kidding about the broccoli."
Chefmon smiled once again and replied, "Pasta salad for the miss, a steak fixed well done for Mister Goggles and barbecue steak with a side of baked potatoes, potato soup, gazpacho, and...broccoli or no?"
"No."
"And no broccoli, am I correct?"
"Correct!" the three tamers replied simultaneously.
The Chefmon turned to the three digimon. "And what shall you have, kitties?"
Panthurmon replied that all he wanted was a quadruple-decker hamburger with cheese, tomatoes, onions, pickles, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and barbecue sauce. Tierramon asked if she could have some fried fish. After Chefmon wrote down their orders, he turned to Swiftarimon. "And what will you have, spotted one?"
"Could I get a PB&J? Jamie fed me some in his world and they were the best!"
"PB&J? I do not believe I have heard of that?" He turned to Jamie. "Would you be as kind to show me how to prepare this PB&J. If it is truly the best, then it deserves to be in my restaurant. Please, Mister Goggles?" He bowed to Jamie.
Jamie pointed to himself anime-style. "Umm...sure. I guess so."
"Great! Follow me to my kitchen!" Chefmon took Jamie by the arm and led him to the back where the kitchen area was. There were pots, pans, forks, spoons, and knives hanging all around Chefmon's kitchen. Jamie had to duck to avoid some of them. "Now," started Chefmon, "What ingredients are required in this PB&J?" He said as he opened up one of the freezer doors. Inside was thousands of different kinds of foods. Some were exotic foods, while others were basic. Some of the foods Jamie had never seen before. "I have every ingredient under the digi-sun. Just let me know what you need and I shall graciously acquire it for you in your preparing of a PB&J. So, take your pick."
Jamie looked around the room for a little bit, but didn't see any of the things he needed. He turned to Chefmon. "Do you have any peanut butter or jelly?" Chefmon looked at him. "I'm also going to need some bread and maybe a butter knife." Chefmon smiled and quickly gathered up everything Jamie had asked for.
"Is that all you need in order to prepare PB&J?"
"Yep." Jamie took two pieces of bread, dipped the knife in the peanut butter and spread it onto one of the two pieces of bread. He scraped the remaining peanut butter back into the jar. Next, he dipped the knife into the jar of grape jelly and plopped the substance onto the second piece of bread. Once again, he scraped the remainder back into the jar. He pressed the two pieces of bread together and stared at Chefmon. "Do you want squares or triangles?" Chefmon stared at him confused and asked what the difference was. "Squares are when I cut the bread from top to bottom while triangles are when I cut the bread from one corner to the other." Chefmon nodded his understanding and requested triangles. "Coming right up." Jamie took the knife and cut the sandwich into two equally-sized acute triangles. He picked up the pieces and handed one to Chefmon and one to Cowboymon (the entire building had followed them to the kitchen). Chefmon bit into the bread and cried out in amazement.
"This...this is amazing! It is fantastic! It is stupendous! This is the best thing I have ever tasted!" He bit into the rest of the triangle and noisily gulped it down. "I have searched my entire life for a recipe this spectacular and now I have found it! Thank you, Culinary Master Goggles! Thank you!" He proceeded to hug Jamie.
"I must admit, mister. This is the best darn-tootin' samich I've ere atin'."
"Well, don't just stand there," cried out one of the townsfolk, "Make us some!"
"Yeah. We want some."
Jamie smiled and began to prepare more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
There were groans of joy signifying that the people were full from their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. People walked over and thanked Jamie as he sat with his friends. "I didn't know peanut butter and jelly could be that popular," he stated as he looked over the new menu Chefmon had just created.
"Yeah." Kai said. "Chefmon even made it his restaurant's special."
At the top of the first page, it read Master Goggles PB&J 8 DigiDollars
"I wonder." said Ariana. "Is eight digidollars a lot of money?"
Jamie shrugged. "I don't know. Good question though."
Cowboymon approached them and smiled. "Seems yer recipe has really caught on. Chefmon said he has just gotten seven and one orders from three different cities. All o' them want to know what his secret is. He just keeps telling them that Master Goggles is the one to thank. He's made you famous. The sheriff of Cactusville down the way sent me a newspaper and its got yer mug posted all o'er it. Congratulations, mister. You're famous." Cowboymon held up a newspaper. On the front was big picture of Jamie and a caption below it read: The famous Master Goggles, pictured above, has invented what has become the new gourmet meal for digimon across the world...PB&J sandwich.
"You didn't invent that." argued Kai.
"Technically he did. Just not in our world." Ariana told him.
Kai dropped his head into his hands. "I could've been famous."
That night Jamie couldn't sleep. Jamie's invention of the PB&J along with the tamers saving of Dune City had gotten them a free room at the local inn. Jamie turned over restlessly in bed. He hadn't been able to sleep. He missed his mother. He could just imagine how worried she was at that very moment. They had been in the digital world for three days but in his world, the real world, only three hours had passed. He could hear her voice as she her cries pierced the threshold between the real world and the digital world. "Jamie, where are you?" she sobbed.
Don't worry, mom. he thought. I'm all right. I'll be home soon.
Mari Gotaki was downstairs at her card shop. Her son was nowhere to be found. "This isn't like Jamie." she said to no one. "He wouldn't just run off like this without telling me, and especially without locking up first. Something must've come up. Still..." She locked the doors and returned upstairs to the living room. She flipped on her favorite soap opera and laid down on the couch to watch it. Oh, Jamie, I hope you're alright.
"Hey, J, wake up!" Kai shoved Jamie out of bed. The Gotaki child woke up after his head impacted with the wooden floor. "This isn't like you, man. Usually, I'm the one sleeping late. So what's the deal?"
"It's nothing, Kai. I just couldn't get to sleep last night."
"Why?"
"Insomnia, something I ate, no reason at all."
"That's weird."
"Yeah, I guess." Jamie replied as he threw on his shirt and picked up his D-Ring. "So what time is it anyways?" He said as he strapped on his digi-battle deck and secured the D-Ring to his belt. He picked up the goggles and hung them around his neck.
"Skin-thirty." Kai responded sarcastically. "Come on. Breakfast is ready."
"You go ahead. I will probably eat sometime later."
"Not hungry? You really must be feeling bad. Catch you later." He raced away.
Jamie stared at the D-Ring digivice in his hand. This thing can transport us anywhere, he thought, except home. And that is the one place I want to go. Not some bone-dry barren wasteland. If only I knew how to get home. Then maybe mom wouldn't worry any. I hope she's all right.
Jamie Gotaki had still not arrived home. Mari Gotaki was starting to get worried. Maybe he had gone to Kai Tenrio's house. That's probably it. she thought. He just went over to Kai's house. It was better than if she knew where her son was really at.
"So, how was your sleep?" asked the innkeeper as Jamie set foot downstairs. The innkeeper was an Okonomon. Jamie had discovered that the night before when they had brought the tamers and their partners to this particular inn. Ariana had extracted her D-Ring and scanned the Okonomon. The D-Ring quickly fed them the information on Okonomon.
Okonomon - A Rookie digimon who focuses more on defense and healing its allies rather than pure offense. Okonomon's main attacks are Aid Kit and Angel Serum.
"At least we know where a doctor is if we ever need one." Kai had joked.
Jamie smiled and replied, "Best sleep I've had in ages, Okonomon. Thank you."
"There was a girl with a Tierramon looking for you about half an hour ago. She told me to tell you to meet her down at the stables when you woke up. She said she had something important to talk to you about." He took up a dust rag and began wiping down the counter as Jamie thanked him and walked out.
As Jamie shuffled down Main Street, people waved and gave hearty "Good mornings." He passed Chefmon's Cafe and the Dune City jailhouse. He noticed Cowboymon rocking back and forth in a rocking chair chewing on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He tipped his hat as Jamie walked by. As he neared the stables, Jamie could hear the neighing of horses. Pretty soon, he could smell them too. He noticed Ariana leaning against one of the horse's fences. She reached out to pet the horse and it happily neighed as she did so. "Beautiful, aren't they?"
"Yeah, I guess." Jamie shrugged off the question.
"It's just that I've never seen one before. I've heard about them, but..."
"Wow."
"What is it?" she asked.
"So this is what deja vu feels like."
She chuckled at his poor excuse for a joke and continued petting the horse. "Yeah, I guess we had this conversation the other night, huh?" She stopped petting the horse and turned to Jamie. "What do you think of all this?" Her question caught him off-guard. Then again, Jamie never really kept his guard up, so it didn't mean anything.
"All of what?"
"This whole digital world adventure. What do you think about it?"
"It's okay, I guess."
She nodded as if contemplating his answer. "And what about me?"
"Huh?"
"What do you think about me?"
"Umm...you're cool."
"Am I...beautiful?"
"Beautiful?"
"Dude, you're so dim." Kai's voice resounded from behind them. "She is trying to figure out whether or not you like her. Of course, you're not bright enough to know that she's flirting with you." They turned to face him. He leaned against one of the walls with his hands in his pockets, and Ariana glared at him before speaking up.
"I am not trying to flirt with him, Kai Tenrio! You are so..."
"Ariana, you know it's the truth." Kai responded serenely.
"Who invited you here anyways?" she practically screamed.
"No one. I was eating in Chefmon's restaurant and saw the team leader walk by. I figured he was up to something by the way he was walking, so I thought he should have someone watching his back. No offense to Swiftarimon. Where is Swiftari by the way?"
Jamie responded. "He's back at the inn sleeping. I thought I'd let him rest. Two consecutive battles really takes a lot out of a rookie. So what about Panthurmon? Where's he at?"
Kai shrugged. "He pretty much has the same personality as Swiftarimon. He goes wherever he wants to go. It's not like I'm going to argue with someone whose claws can cut through steel like a hot knife cuts through a stick of butter." He pushed himself up and walked over to the group. He looked at Ariana and asked, "Where's Tierramon?"
"She wanted to look around town, so I told her she could."
"I guess that is..." Kai was cut off by the sound of an explosion and the screams that came afterwards. They were coming from the town. Apparently the chaos hadn't reached the stables, so they didn't know what was going on until they raced down to Main Street. When they arrived, they discovered the entire Shoot-Em-Up gang terrorizing the town. The leader this time appeared kind of like the Outlawmon except that this one had a shotgun slung over his shoulder and four six-shooters: two at his waist and two sitting in ankle holsters. Jamie grabbed his D-Ring in order to check the data on the Shoot-Em-Up gang's new leader. A holographic image appeared above the screen and the electronic voice began to read off the data:
WantedOutlawmon - Outlawmon's champion form, this digimon is known for being the most ruthless digimon in all of the Digi-West. His attacks are Shotgun Salute and Quadruple Gun Destruction.
"WantedOutlawmon, huh? I guess he needs to be taken down then if he's wanted." Jamie raced towards the criminals until he came about thirty yards away from them. Swiftarimon appeared beside him almost instantly. "Swiftarimon, you think that you can handle this guy?" Jamie questioned the cheetah-like digimon.
"This soon after our last two fights? You bet!" The cheetah disappeared and reappeared a moment later in front of the Shoot-Em-Up gang. "I hope you guys know what you're getting into because if you don't...well, we won't get into that." He bared his fangs and the Outlawmon turned from their targets towards him. All of them pulled out their guns and began blasting. He jumped out of the way of the first barrage, narrowly missed the second, but was overpowered when the third barrage of digi-bullets came flying his way.
Swiftarimon collapsed to the ground a few feet in front of the first gang member...the WantedOutlawmon. "You must be the one who deleted my little brother, Outlawmon. I guess I'll have to avenge my brother by deleting you, little one." He raised his shotgun and aimed it right at Swiftarimon. "Shotgun Salute!" His finger pressed back on the trigger and the digital bullet exploded out of the barrel and raged towards Swiftarimon who was trying to stand up. Then, it impacted. It didn't impact on Swiftarimon though. It impacted on some sort of invisible force field. Swiftarimon managed to catch a glimpse of his savior.
Tierramon tried her best to recover after the digital bullet had impacted her Tierra Shield. She managed to keep the shield active as Panthurmon rushed over to them. "How long can you hold it up," the panther asked. She told him that she could hold it for another few moments, but then she would have to let it down. "That should be long enough." He leaped out of the protection of Tierramon's barrier and dashed towards the opponents. He raised his claw, feinting a Panther Claw attack, and instead, he used his Dash Slam attack. As the enemy thought he was going to slash, Panthurmon flipped over the group and slammed into them from behind. He narrowly avoided the barrage that was redirected towards him, but it was just what he had expected them to do. "Now!"
With their backs turned, Swiftarimon rose to his feet. Tierramon broke her Tierra Shield defense long enough for Swiftarimon to use his Fire Fly attack. He shot through the gang with ease, igniting some of their fabrics on fire. Tierramon, under the cover of the blazing flames, moved in close enough to unleash her Amazon Slash attack. With this attack, she took down a few of the foes as well. However, the unaffected WantedOutlawmon slapped her aside with ease. He did the same with Panthurmon and Swiftarimon. He laughed sinisterly as he stood over the motionless Tierramon. "I guess we'll have to eliminate the women looks at the tamers and children first." He raised his shotgun at Tierramon. A shot from this range would delete her instantly.
"Tierramon!" Ariana screamed in horror.
"Swiftarimon, wake up! You've got to wake up and do something!"
WantedOutlawmon pointed his gun at Ariana who was running towards him and her lifeless partner. "Maybe it should be the children first and then the women. So many choices, so little time." Ariana stopped in her tracks when she noticed the gun pointed towards her. The champion digimon smirked evilly as he decided on his target.
"Swiftarimon! Wake up!" Jamie's D-Ring began to glow. Swiftarimon twitched. WantedOutlawmon glanced over at the cheetah. Swiftarimon moved again. He turned the gun towards Swiftarimon. "Swiftarimon, look out!"
"Can't have that, can we?" WantedOutlawmon sneered. As he pulled his finger back on the trigger, a beam of light shot out from the sky and impacted Swiftarimon. The light blinded them all, but the bullet still speeded towards the area where Swiftarimon was. When the light cleared, Swiftarimon was nowhere to be found. WantedOutlawmon snickered and said, "Guess that takes care of him." He turned his gun towards the tamers. Jamie collapsed to his hands and knees. "Swiftarimon? He's gone." He began to pound the ground. "Why? Why did I let him do that? I couldn't just let Kai and Ariana handle it. I had to be the hero. Why?" He continued to punch his fist into the dirt.
WantedOutlawmon smirked once again. "I'm glad you're making this an easy shot. I figured that I would have a moving target." He pulled back on the trigger and the bullet came flying towards Jamie. Jamie closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. It never came. Everyone looked at the stationary bullets that were keeping the ground company. It was as if they had been there ever since the battle started. It was as if gravity had pulled them down and refused to let them go any further. Jamie opened his eyes.
The bullets laid just inches in front of his face. "How the heck...?" WantedOutlawmon cursed. "That wasn't supposed to happen." He tried to pull the trigger again, but the gun simply clicked. He checked the barrel. "Dang! Out o' ammo." He tossed the shotgun aside and two extra arms appeared from underneath his duster. In the two hands, he held the guns that had once stood in his ankle holsters. With his top two hands, he held the guns that were once strapped to his waist. "Quadruple Gun Destruction!" he screamed in anger.
The gun's began emptying, but as soon as each one got even remotely close to Jamie, they dropped into a pile in front of him. By the time it was all over, twenty-four bullets lay in a pile in front of Jamie not including the two shotgun shells that lay buried beneath them. "Whatever you're doin', kid, stop it. I'm trying to make this as quick and painless as possible, but you're not makin' it very easy." He dropped the guns and pulled out four more. "Let's try this one more time. Quadruple Gun Destruction!" Once again, he unleashed a barrage of lead towards the tamer. Jamie knew something was up, so he wasn't afraid. He climbed to his feet as the bullets raced towards him. Just to mess with WantedOutlawmon's head, Jamie held out his hand and the bullets plopped into the pile in front of him. His scare tactics seemed to work because the evil champion's eyes bugged out. "How is this possible? You're not a digimon, are you?"
"No. I'm not. But I've got a friend who is." The cheetah appeared in front of him. He stood on his back legs and had two massive claws at the end of his arms. Gauntlets were still secured to his wrists as well as his ankles and its tail flicked back and forth. There was still a ring attached to that as well. He had spiked pads on his knees and elbows and shorts extended down to just above the kneepads. More spots had appeared on the cheetah's fur and his whiskers had extended somewhat.
WantedOutlawmon sneered at the new arrival. "Who are you?"
It was Ariana's D-Ring that answered the evil champion's question.
Cheetarimon - Swiftarimon's champion form. This is one cat who should have been declawed. He is faster than his rookie-level and his Speed Strike and Sizzle Kick attacks are not something to take lightly.
"So you managed to escape my little bullet barrage. Just because I'm out of ammo though, doesn't mean that I'm out of steam." He charged towards Cheetarimon. Jamie ran over to the side of the battle in order to better observe the fight. For a bulky digimon, WantedOutlawmon closed the gap fairly easily. It was because of his long strides.
As the leader of the Shoot-Em-Up gang was about to impact Cheetarimon, the cat disappeared and instantly reappeared behind WantedOutlawmon. "Sizzle Kick!" The cat flamed up and performed a graceful roundhouse which ended with a flaming kick to WantedOutlawmon's back. The gang member fell forward. He withdrew one of his empty guns and used it as a melee weapon. Unfortunately, Cheetarimon was too fast. He leaped into the air and came down upon the outlaw with the full force of both his own momentum and gravity behind him. The WantedOutlawmon melted to the ground unconscious.
Cheetarimon vanished and then reappeared across the street on top of a building. Jamie withdrew his D-Ring. "D-Ring activate! Encryption Mode!" The beam discharged from the digivice and made contact with the lifeless outlaw. He reverted back to his digiegg form, like the other foes did in the previous battles, and then the egg disappeared, on it's way to Primary Village. Jamie smirked in victory and Cheetarimon approached his tamer. "I thought you were a goner for sure." Jamie told his partner.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Cheetarimon responded.
Ariana and Kai jogged up to Cheetarimon and Jamie. "Swiftarimon?" Kai asked.
Cheetarimon looked at Kai. "I'm Cheetarimon now."
"You can be whoever you want, big guy."