Cavecat:
I meant this chapter not the last one. I can't say whether Sorcramon
will be appearing again. It depends how the rest of the story turns
out.
Disclaimer:
Toei and Bandai own Digimon, and Nintendo owns
Pokemon. Some Digimon used in this fic belong to me. Some reviewers
have contributed the following characters.
Metal Devidramon - Ninetalesuk
Skyemon - Gijinka Renamon
Socramon - Cavecat
By: RB3
Chapter 19: Beelzemon Buys the Farm
"Hi Warriors, like my new farm?" asked Betsumon
"It's a nice place, Betsumon!" complimented Zoe.
"Thanks," said Betsumon. "We need somewhere out of the way to prepare our attack on Beelzemon's fortress."
"Are you sure it's wise to hire people like that?" asked Koji, in reference to the workers. "Won't they blow our cover?"
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Koji my man!" stated Betsumon. "Take a closer look!"
Koji gazed at the people working around in the fields. In particular, Betsumon pointed out a man hauling bails of hay onto the back of a truck. Koji stared at the worker until he saw the man's image flicker, revealing the figure of a minotaur. The Warrior of Light was startled and quickly turned his head to examine the other workers. The image of one of the women flickered, revealing a D'Arcmon underneath. Koji caught sight of a dog whose image flickered momentarily to reveal it was a Dobermon in truth. Every person on the farm was a Digimon in disguise!
"Get it now?" asked Betsumon. "You guys stick out too much. Your disguises are in the house. Change into them and meet me outside."
The Warriors entered the home and found their costumes lying on the beds in their rooms. JP put a nice set of denim overalls and a straw hat. As he came out of the room, he remarked that Tommy had a similar style to his own. The two boys couldn't look more like hillbillies than they did now. Takuya and Koji exited their rooms wearing jeans, boots, and plaid shirts. They looked almost like a pair of cowboys in their disguises. Their female counterpart, Zoe, stepped out of her room in a feminine version of the ensemble.
"Do we really have to wear these things? My shirt is really itchy!" remarked Zoe, as she scratched herself.
"Betsumon says we have to wear these to blend in. Looks like we have no choice," said Koji.
The cowboys and cowgirl returned to Betsumon. The Digimon spy laughed as he saw the Warriors in their disguises. "Ride'em cowboy, ha ha ha!"
"If I get a rash, it's your fault Betsumon!" exclaimed Zoe.
Betsumon chuckled. "I take it the country life isn't for you, huh?"
"I'm a city girl, not a cowgirl!" objected Zoe.
"What do we do now?" asked Tommy.
"You can help me set up some equipment," said Betsumon. "We'll need it to be ready for our attack on Beelzemon's headquarters. I only need two to help me, though. In the meantime, the rest of you can go to Oklahoma with Minotarumon and get acquainted with the city."
"Count me in, anything to get me off this farm," said Zoe.
"I'm in, I want to try some American food!" said JP.
"Anyone else?" asked Betsumon.
"I guess I'll go," requested Takuya.
"Great, get home before sunset," said Betsumon. "Have a good time!"
As the Warriors took a trip into town under Minotarumon's guidance, life continued in Oklahoma City despite Demon Lord occupation. The people seemed to go about their business as normal, despite the presence of Beelzemon's Sinners patrolling the streets like police. Overhead, a swarm of almost bee-like creatures patrolled the sky. These creatures had violet wings decorated by the emblem of an open eye. These eyeless creatures had six legs each tipped by sharp claws and mouths flanked by a trio of equally sharp mandibles. These creatures, the Flymon, were easily Beelzemon's airborne division.
-Digimon Analyzer
Name: Flymon
Attributes: Virus, Champion Level, Poison Element
If Beelzemon is the Lord of the Flies, then the Flymon are his subjects. Though weak individually, these Digimon make up for that with sheer numbers. These Digimon consume excrement and garbage as their main source of nourishment.
Special Abilities/Traits:
Flying
Brown Stinger - Flymon can fire the stinger on their abdomens like a missile. His stinger grows back within a split second afterwards for the next shot.
Poison Powder - Flymon can use their wings to blow a cloud of sickening toxic powder onto their foes.
Below, the Cannibals took care of security on the ground for Beelzemon. They were surprisingly docile and non-hostile towards the people. They didn't do anything to interfere with their lives. The people paid them the same courtesy for fear of reprisal. This uneasiness was evident in the behaviour of the people whenever they were near a Cannibal. However, every time an obese person passed by, the Cannibals would lick their lips in salivation. It happened almost every time because virtually the entire population of Oklahoma was overweight. One of these people ducked into a fast food restaurant known as "Freeman Burger."
According to its memorabilia Freeman Burger had its humble beginnings as a small, family-owned burger joint. Almost overnight, it grew to a national franchise and Freeman Burger expanded into other food markets, becoming Freeman Foods Inc. in the process. Nowadays, it was almost impossible for anyone to run through Oklahoma without coming into contact with the products of this corporation. Many of the local farmers, meat packers, and grocery stores were owned by Freeman outright. They had a virtual monopoly over the city's food supply.
Freeman Burger was running a promotion where a customer could buy five hamburgers for only five American dollars. This promotion caused the store to be packed with hungry customers. A Cannibal passed by the restaurant and smiled as he watched the "cattle" eat. Tonight, he knew he was going to have a delicious meal, all thanks to the suckers in the restaurant. Night soon fell and more Flymon took to the streets. They came upon an obese husband and wife duo and snatched the two into the air. As the people below panicked, the Flymon continued to kidnap people, looking for the fattest among them.
The Flymon took their victims to a location some distance north of Oklahoma City. In the horizon, a disgusting pigsty of a ranch came into view. On the ground were hundreds of Cannibals, all seated on stumps along gigantic rectangular wooden tables loaded with food, especially meat and meat products like sausages. These disgusting, slobbering Sinners were devouring everything they could grab, stuffing their mouths as fast as the Flymon could refill the plates. Much of the food didn't even end up in the Cannibals' mouths. The food ended up on the ground as scraps for other Flymon and their larvae to feast on.
The Cannibals soon consumed all of the food on the table, but they were still not satisfied. They grey very restless and angry. "MORE FOOD!" screamed one of the Cannibals in a voice garbled by the food still in his mouth. He slammed the table hard out of sheer dissatisfaction.
"Alright, be patient they're coming!" said a Flymon waiter to calm the Cannibals. The Flymon flew to a Flymon outside of a slaughterhouse to deliver the message. "We need more food out there, the piggies are getting angry!"
"There's a shipment over at the store house," said a second Flymon. "Give that to the piggies."
The second Flymon returned his attention to the humans in the pen out of the slaughterhouse. The humans were rightly terrified of what was about to happen to them. The Flymon forced the people into the slaughterhouse despite their reluctance. As one of the men was forced in, a loud thump resounded in the building. It was followed almost immediately by the sound of dicing machinery. One by one the people were herded into the slaughterhouse to be processed by the butchers.
One his way to the storehouse, this Flymon passed another Flymon waiter, who rolled a full wheelbarrow to the tables. It was filled with steaks and sausages made from the meat processed humans. More Flymon came, bearing wheelbarrows filled with delicious fruits, vegetables, and pails filled with sauces. As soon as the Flymon unloaded the food, the Cannibals instantly grabbed what they could and stuffed it into their mouths. The Cannibals greedily devoured whatever they could grab, occasionally dropping scraps on the ground for the Flymon and their larvae to eat. Beelzemon walked onto the grounds to watch the meal.
"Yes that's it, gorge yourselves to your heart's content!" encouraged Beelzemon, pleased with what he saw.
Hours before sunset even came, the Warriors returned home to the ranch by truck. Normally, they would have come home by around sunset, but their trip had been cut short due to poor health. All of them had a sickly white pallor and were groaning and rubbing their stomachs in agony. They suffered from severe stomach aches brought on by the food they had eaten while in town. Betsumon, Tommy, and Koji rushed out to greet only to have their joy turn to great concern. Before any of them could say a word, Minotarumon, still disguised as a human, rushed them to the farm's washrooms.
As they went, the Koji pumped Minotarumon for information. "What happened to them?" he asked.
"I think it might be food poisoning," admitted Minotarumon, who returned to his true form. "I took them to a Freeman Burger to eat. I didn't eat anything, but they did and got sick afterwards. They kept going to the washroom constantly so I had no choice but to return them for medical attention."
"Okay, have our doctors take care of them," ordered Betsumon. "Minotarumon, do you have any samples of the food they ate? I want our scientists to take a look at them just to be on the safe side."
"Yeah, there are some half-eaten burgers and fries in the truck," replied Minotarumon.
Betsumon fetched the food samples for the scientists. Tommy and Koji assisted their friends in reaching treatment in the infirmary in the basement of the house. The infirmary was a room filled with cots for injured patients. At the moment, the three sick Warriors were the only patients in the room. It also had an area for a laboratory where the doctors could study objects in further detail and develop more efficient and effective cures. Betsumon returned with the boxes of half-eaten fast food and gave them to a Bakemon for inspection.
As the Bakemon examined the food, a small, green skinned ogre Digimon known as a Shamamon handed the sick Warriors a medicinal drink. Shamamon was dressed in the skins of wolves and seemed very wise like the elders of a native tribe. His medicine was an herbal tea that clears toxins and eases the pain in their stomach. The Warriors drank the tea, which had a bitter flavour. Though it didn't cure them, it did ease their suffering slightly. Takuya, JP, and Zoe still looked terrible.
"Hang on guys, you'll get better soon," encouraged Tommy.
"Yikes, what is this stuff?" asked Bakemon after examining the leftovers through a microscope.
Betsumon looked through the microscope and reared back in disgust. Tommy did the same and covered his mouth as though to keep himself from vomiting. Koji went to look at the sample of the food. Under the magnification, he could see several white objects squirming over the surface. They resembled the grubs or larvae of various insects like flies and ants. These bugs writhed through the pores of the food like earthworms digging through the soil. Koji was sickened by this disgusting, stomach-churning sight and back away from the microscope.
"Is that what was in their food?" asked Koji. "Uggh, what the hell is that stuff?"
"I think they're parasites of some kind, but they look more like microscopic fly larvae rather than normal parasites," explained the Bakemon.
"Man, that was some disgusting shit!" commented Betsumon. "From now on, no one is to eat anything from Freeman Burger. Hell, no one is to eat anything from the city at all. We have no idea at what point the food became contaminated. We can't risk anyone else getting infected. Doctor, send this order out immediately! Once you come back, do some experiments to find out more about these parasites."
"Yes sir!" responded Bakemon, who left to pass on the word.
"Tommy, Koji, I want to get another sample of food from Freeman Burger," said Betsumon. "I have my suspicions and I want to know if I'm right or not."
"Sure, let's go," agreed Koji.
The trio went to town and returned with several samples of food from various Freeman Burger outlets. Bakemon took a break from his work to examine the new samples of food. Like the originals, these new ones were contaminated with the same grub-like parasites. This contamination was common to all of the food from all Freeman Burger outlets. The Warriors' poisoning was not mere coincidence. It seemed they were victims of unethical corporate conduct in the pursuit of profit. However, Dr. Bakemon had a new wrinkle to add to the parasite mystery.
"I tried to cook them in a frying pan but they still survived even at maximum temperature! There's no way these things can be natural!" reported Bakemon.
Betsumon mused over this new discovery. "So these are supernatural suckers."
JP, on the cot behind them, had a valid question. "I don't get it. If so many people ate this stuff, how come we're the only ones sick?"
"Good question..." admitted Betsumon.
"I think I can answer this," replied Dr. Bakemon. "I suspect it's because of the Spirits. They make you different from normal humans. I suspect they are trying to protect you by causing your body to expel the parasites. That's probably why you guys are going to the washroom all the time."
"That's hardly a relief..." groaned JP.
"You may be luckier than you think," said Dr. Bakemon. "We still have no idea what they do to a normal human. Betsumon, I think you should do some digging and see what you come up with."
"I'm one step ahead of you, Doctor," replied Betsumon.
"Where are you going to look?" asked JP.
"At the local hospitals," replied Betsumon. "I want to check their medical records to see if they have anything on file."
After Betsumon left his farm in disguise, a group of men in suits moved towards the farm. The leader knocked on the front door and was answered by Minotarumon in his human guise. "Hello, what can I do for you?"
"Hello, I'm Fred McFly. Would you be the owner of this establishment?" asked Fred.
"Yes," replied Minotarumon.
Fred proceeded to advertise his company to the disguised Digimon. "Wonderful! I'm member of Freeman Foods Inc. We at Freeman Foods are committed to bringing good nutrition to the average joe. Our products are sold in outlets across the USA and sales have been brisk. Our success has spurred demand in Europe and Canada, where we're expanding our business."
"Please cut to the chase," requested Minotarumon. "If you're selling anything, we're not interested in it."
"Don't worry, we aren't selling anything," assured Fred. "In fact, we're in the market to buy something; namely your farm. It is a very nice, profitable operation. Your farm would be a tremendous asset to the Freeman Foods family. We're willing to pay top dollar for your enterprise."
"No deal!" stated Minotarumon.
"...But sir, you haven't even heard our offer," objected Fred. "We're willing to pay a million dollars for your farming collective! You'll be rich! You'll never have to work ever again!"
"If I wanted to be rich, I wouldn't have chosen to be a farmer in the first place. I'm sorry but no deal," objected Minotarumon, this time more strongly.
As Minotarumon kicked the salesmen out, Fred employed a more forceful approach. "Don't think this is over! You're making a big mistake!"
Morning dawned two days later with Minotarumon arising to drive a hay-filled truck over to his animals. As he opened the doors, he spotted a corpse lying in the middle of the barn. The dry, bloodless body was clearly not human. It was one of the fat, pig-faced monstrosities that patrolled Oklahoma City. The creature's abdomen had been chewed open and swarms of maggots now writhed and squirmed over the carcass. From the appearance of the corpse, it seemed like the maggots had devoured the creature's internal organs before chewing their way out of the stomach. Minotarumon immediately called the others to investigate.
Upon seeing the scene of the crime, Koji and Tommy were disgusted beyond belief. Betsumon looked over the body. "Blech..."
"Who could've left this here?" asked Minotarumon.
"I don't know. Was there anyone that had a grudge against us?" asked Betsumon. "I can't think of anyone off the top of my head."
Minotarumon remembered his meeting with McFly. "A guy from Freeman Foods came over to buy our farm."
"When did this happen?" asked Betsumon.
"Two days ago. I refused to sell and he was quite irate about it," confessed Minotarumon.
Betsumon pondered this incident. "First these parasites infect three of the Legendary Warriors, then thugs from Freeman Foods come over to buy our farm, and now we find a body of a Cannibal in our barn. What's the connection?"
"Can we get rid of this thing now? It's making me sick..." said Tommy.
Betsumon ordered his Digimon forces to move the body elsewhere for research and experimentation. The Digimon in disguise bagged the maggots and hauled the Cannibal's corpse into a cave in the wilderness east of the farm. From that point on, the body was kept under strict lock and guard to ensure no one tampered with it. The Digimon scientists began to work on plumbing the secrets of the Cannibal and the maggot-like parasites that were housed in its body. The only problem now was if Beelzemon discovered that the body of one of his soldiers was on the farm. Unfortunately, that moment came sooner than anticipated...
That evening, an alarm spread across the farm. "Beelzemon's coming to the farm!" cried a scout.
The alarm reached Betsumon and the Warriors. "Oh great!" commented Betsumon. "Where is he? Is he alone?"
"He's twelve miles and closing on the road that passes by the house. He's brought three Cannibals and a dozen Flymon with him. There's no one else with him," reported the scout.
"Takuya, JP, and Zoe still haven't recovered yet!" cried Tommy.
"Calm down," ordered Betsumon. "This might work even better than we planned. With Beelzemon away from the safety of his main forces, this is the perfect opportunity to take him out. If any of you can become a Unified Hybrid, we definitely have a shot at this."
"I can become Magna Garurumon, but that's only for a short time," said Koji.
"That should be enough," said Betsumon. "We can pull this off. I'm rallying our forces to prepare an ambush for Beelzemon's little clique. We don't much time to waste let's go!"
Betsumon whipped the Digimon into action in preparation for their ambush on Beelzemon's group. They moved the sick Warriors back to Cherubimon's spire for safety before they enacted their impromptu plan. The Digimon forces had scouted out a tactically advantageous location for their ambush shortly after occupying the farm. About five miles down the road was a cliff surrounding the asphalt road. This cliff was flanked by wilderness and overlooked the road on which Beelzemon was travelling. Due their scouting and familiarity with the terrain, the Digimon were able to set up their trap quickly.
The Digimon surrounded the road so as to box in the area and trap their victims in the crossfire once the shots started to fly. As Digimon on the cliff rained destruction from above, their brethren in the wilderness would follow suit. Within minutes, Beelzemon and his body guards came into view, oblivious to the ambush that awaited them. Koji waited until Beelzemon was well into the kill zone before Unified Evolving into Magna Garurumon. He snuck into position behind Beelzemon's troops.
Magna Garurumon steadied his gun and released a Magna Rocket. It slammed into Beelzemon's back, jarring him into alertness. "Ow! What the..." Before Beelzemon could even mutter another would two more Magna Rockets slammed into his back, sending him face first into the pavement.
Minotarumon proceeded to use his arm-mounted pile driver to pound the ground. The Darkside Quake shook the earth repeatedly with tremendous force, nearly causing the three Cannibals to lose their footing. The Digimon on the cliff opened fire on the Cannibals as well as the Flymon that hovered over their heads. A flurry of elemental blasts rained on the enemy, knocking two Flymon out of the air in the initial volley and downing another in volleys afterwards. Beelzemon dove out of the way of Magna Garurumon's volleys and faced the Warrior.
"You! Ah, I see now!" said Beelzemon, realizing what was truly happening.
Magna Garurumon pursued Beelzemon, intent on crushing the Demon Lord as quickly as possible. Beelzemon rolled into a better firing position and unloaded his clips of Berenja handgun fire. The Lord of Gluttony sidestepped as he unloaded round after round into his foe, who reciprocated. The two could see the ripples in the air as the bullets soared back and forth between them. A few of Beelzemon's bullets struck the Warrior of Light's armour, igniting sparks of flame as they ricocheted off.
Magna Garurumon's bullets struck the Demon Lord as well, evoking a series of grunts with each hit. With a final rocket to the chest, Magna Garurumon forced the Demon Lord to drop his handguns. Out of exhaustion, he slumped onto one knee. The Warrior had his opponent right where he wanted him when the most demoralizing event happened. Magna Garurumon's strength began to fade as his body glowed with a pale blue light. Magna Garurumon realized that he serious trouble as he devolved into Beowolfmon.
"No! Not now!" cried Beowolfmon.
Beelzemon smiled. "Seems the tables have turned now, buddy!"
Beelzemon grabbed his handguns and proceeded to unloaded everything he could at Beowolfmon. The Warrior of Light raised his sword to defend himself but the bullets gnawed at his resistance. Soon, they overwhelmed Beowolfmon and threw onto the ground. The Spirits union with Koji broke, leaving the Warrior now defenceless on the ground. As Beelzemon moved in for the kill, Dai Penmon emerged from the chaos and whacked him in the back of the head with Blue Hawaii Death. The Demon Lord went crashing into the road as Dai Penmon spirited Koji to safety.
As Beelzemon recovered from that sneak attack, Dai Penmon stepped forward to confront him. "Bah, you think you're strong enough to handle me? You're dreaming!"
"Beelzemon, I'll whatever it takes to see that you get what you deserve," replied Dai Penmon. "You have lied to everyone, and killed people and Digimon without batting an eyebrow! You turned the Warriors against each other! Someone has to stop this and I will be the one to do."
"You sent three Unified Hybrids after me and yet you still couldn't get the job done. I'd say my chances are much better than that of a giant ice dispenser!" retorted Beelzemon. "See how you like this!"
Beelzemon raised his guns and unloaded a hail of bullets, cocking the trigger as he fired. Dai Penmon was forced onto the defensive, blocking the hail of bullets with the side of his popsicle. After a few seconds, a click came from the handgun alerting Beelzemon to the fact that he had run out of ammunition. Despite this little inconvenience, Beelzemon did not let it deter him. He sheathed his handguns and brandished his claws in preparation to go into hand-to-hand combat with Dai Penmon. The living ice dispenser sprayed a blast of shaved ice to exploit Beelzemon's lack of ranged offence.
At that moment, several flies began to swarm around the space between Beelzemon and the shaved ice. Dai Penmon's icy blast froze the cloud of bugs, preserving them in giant blocks of colourless amber. Beelzemon was left unharmed and more flies moved in to replace their fallen brethren. They covered Beelzemon's entire body like a layer of living armour. Beelzemon, having decided on a more direct approach, charged forward with claws outstretched. Dai Penmon raised his popsicles, protecting himself from Beelzemon's Darkness Claw swipe.
Dai Penmon lunged with his Blue Hawaii Death, catching Beelzemon squarely in the chest. Though the flies absorbed some of the impact, the hit still carried enough force to knock Beelzemon onto his back. The Lord of Flies leapt to his feet and sicced his flies on the Warrior of Ice. Dai Penmon made whirling swings with his popsicles, freezing every fly that came too close. Beelzemon snuck in while the penguin was distracted and tagged him with a Darkness claw to the ribs. The Demon Lord leapt over Dai Penmon's counter-attack and floored the penguin with a kick to the head.
"Whadid I say?" asked Beelzemon. "I told you weren't a match for me. Three Unified Hybrids couldn't take me down. I'm just too good for you!"
"You got lucky those last times, Beelzemon. Sooner or later, your luck will run out," warned Dai Penmon, still reeling from Beelzemon's onslaught. "You've hurt far too many people and I'm going to stop you right here, right now!"
Dai Penmon's sheer determination seemed to have struck a chord with the Spirits of Ice. The Warrior of Ice's body glowed with icy blue light as freezing winds blew from his body. The icy winds turned into a raging blizzard that consumed everything in its path in snow. The sound of a trumpeting elephant rang throughout the blinding whiteness as a call to arms. The raging snow storm grew ever fiercer, making it impossible for Beelzemon to see even the closest of objects. The only thing he could see was a golden point of light that came from the direction of Dai Penmon.
Dai Penmon, in the throes of the power of Ice, ascended to a higher level of power. "Execute, Unified Spirit Evolution!"
The great blizzard surrounded Dai Penmon in a rain of blinding whiteness and fierce, hurricane-force gales. A massive chunk of ice formed around the penguin's body like a crystalline cocoon for Dai Penmon's miraculous metamorphosis. The penguin's feathers transformed into the thickest, shaggiest coat of icy blue fur. His body grew to enormous proportions and took on the shape of a two-toed sloth. His head widened as turned into that of a mammoth with a long, slithering trunk and frost-coated ivory tusks. The sloth-mammoth hybrid raised his trunk in a deafening trumpet and unleashed a massive flow of ice after stomping his foot.
"Mammoth Megatheriummon!"
-Digimon Analyzer
Name: Mammoth Megatheriummon
Attributes: Variable, Unified Hybrid, Ice element
The trumpeting of this Digimon behemoth heralds war in the icy wastes of the Digital World. At his beck and call is the pinnacle of the power of Ice; the fierce ice storms and glaciers that make up the coldest regions of the Digital World.
Special Abilities/Traits:
Elemental powers: ice
Aurora Breath (Ice) - Mammoth Megatheriummon's truck can spray a blast of violet coldness that can freeze a victim solid.
Pleistocene Glacier (Ice) - With a stomp, Mammoth Megatheriummon can propel ice along the surface of the ground. When it reaches an enemy, it jets upward like a spike and may freeze them in place.
"So here comes another Unified Hybrid. Once you've seen one, you've seen'em all..." commented Beelzemon, unimpressed by the spectacle.
"You should be scared, Beelzemon," replied Mammoth Megatheriummon in a booming, nasally voice. "Your luck has just run out. In a few moments, you'll meet your end."
"Try me!" dared Beelzemon, who sicced his flies onto the icy mammoth.
The flies swarmed around Mammoth Megatheriummon like bees around their hive. The temperature in the air around the Warrior dropped sharply as a bitter coldness fell over the area. The flies began to pile up around the icy mastodon, each of them coated in layers of hardened frost. The freezing cold killed the flies so quickly that they were preserved intact. Beelzemon's flies may have had the strengths of their normal cousins, but they also had their cousin's weaknesses as well.
The Demon Lord was irritated by this setback. Since using his flies offensively was out of the question, Beelzemon recalled them to his person for defence. The Demon Lord charged forward in an attempt to beat his opponent the old-fashioned way; in hand-to-hand combat. He dodged Mammoth Megatheriummon's incoming trunk and leapt at the beast. Suddenly, the mastodon lunged forward, ramming his head straight into Beelzemon's ribs. This super-powered head butt shot Beelzemon backwards and into the ground.
The Lord of Flies summoned his loyal minions to attack. Predictably, Mammoth Megatheriummon froze the air around him to kill the annoying pests. However, Beelzemon charged in and slashed the mammoth with the Darkness Claw as he leapt upwards. The Demon Lord descended with a hard kick to the back of the head. With a final Darkness Claw rake to the back, Beelzemon leapt to safety. Suddenly, Mammoth Megatheriummon stomped his foot. A Pleistocene Glacier raced along the ground right to the spot where Beelzemon was about to land from his leap!
A blast of ice shot out of the ground, caking constraining frost onto the Demon Lord of Gluttony. The snowy layer impeded his moments, yet despite his best efforts, Beelzemon couldn't shake it off. Mammoth Megatheriummon's trunk came in to crush the Demon Lord, who barely made it to safety due to the frost. The trunk came in once again and Beelzemon leapt into the air for safety. Unfortunately, Beelzemon could only watch as Mammoth Megatheriummon raised his trunk at the Demon Lord.
"Oh shit!" cursed Beelzemon.
A blast of the Aurora Breath overtook the still airborne Demon Lord. He was helpless as the coldness penetrated his very being. The cold air applied layer upon layer of hardened, crystalline ice. Beelzemon struggled to break free of the ice even as it closed in around his body. The sheer terror was frozen on Beelzemon's face as he was imprisoned within a coffin of hardened ice. It descended onto the ground and crashed into the ground like a bomb. With a booming, earth-shaking thud, the Warrior of Ice stomped the icy coffin flat.
The Digimon forces reunited in their hideout at Betsumon's farm. "Guys, we did it! We beat Beelzemon!" cheered Betsumon.
Though still sick from the parasites, the other Warriors were happy. "Way to go!" cheered Takuya.
"Yeah, Tommy was our MVP. He evolved into Mammoth Megatheriummon and wiped the floor with that fool!" said Betsumon.
"Ah, it was nothing..." said Tommy modestly.
"Great work little guy," congratulated Zoe.
"Yeah, you held down the fort even though we couldn't help," added JP. "Now if we knew what those parasites were, it would make my day."
"Don't worry, me and my troops are working on it. With Beelzemon gone, his troops will be in disarray. It will be easy to find out what they were up to," promised Betsumon.
Over the next few days, the Digimon dug up everything they could about Beelzemon's operations in Oklahoma City. The afflicted Warriors had returned to full health thanks to Digimon medicine. Betsumon discovered the horrifying truth of Beelzemon's operations by interrogating captured Cannibals and Flymon. In addition to being the ruler, Beelzemon was also the owner of Freeman Foods in his human guise of Bill Freeman, president of Freeman Foods Inc. The parasites were completely artificial, magical constructs bred in secret labs. They were mixed into the food to infect the people.
These facts prompted the Digimon to storm the Freeman Foods headquarters. The Freeman Foods head office was a beautiful silver monolith to the power of the corporation. Situated in the heart of Oklahoma City, this seemingly innocent building housed secrets that the Digimon and Warriors were intent on discovering. Digimon of all shapes and sizes descended on the building. They had it completely surrounded and sent numerous forces inside to seize control. Much of the building was staffed by Cannibals and Flymon, who were overwhelmed by superior Digimon forces. The same event played out as other Digimon raided a Freeman Foods processing plant.
Betsumon raided the building's archives and plumbed the depths of the corporation's secrets. He had hit pay dirt and narrated his discoveries in the president's posh office. "When introduced into the human body, the parasites make you crave more and more food. When you eat, you are eating for hundreds of mouths instead of your own," he said paraphrasing a scientific document.
"No wonder why everybody here is so fat," stated Koji bluntly.
"It's worse than a mere obesity epidemic," warned Betsumon. "These parasites look like larvae because they ARE larvae; for Flymon, baby Flymon in other words." Betsumon looked over his papers. "In the process of maturation, these bugs not only make the host crave food, it also mutates them..."
"...Into Cannibals," finished Tommy.
"That's right," confirmed Betsumon. "They turn the host into the next big piggy."
"No way!" cried JP. "You mean to tell me that those little things would have turned us into that?" JP glanced at the body of a dead Cannibal just outside the office.
"That's right," replied Betsumon. JP, Zoe, and Takuya were sick to their stomach. Betsumon continued his report. "If you're feeling sick now, wait 'til you hear what happens to those that don't become Cannibals. We know his parasites fatten people up. Once they are nice, plump and juicy, he has them ground up like beef and fed to his Sinners. Those larvae extracted from the carcass, as well as the adult Flymon, are fed in the same way."
JP rubbed in stomach in empathic sickness. "Uggh, when I get home, I'm never going to eat another piece of meat again."