Retrieve The Xros Loader!
Chapter II: Strategy 32
"What's your plan?" Taiki asked as Kiriha stepped out of the baths at the inn, in a change of clothes and a towel around his neck. He, Zenjirou, Akari and Nene stood in the room outside of the baths.
"...I still smell it," Nene said. "Not nearly as bad, though."
"Again, Numemon," Kiriha said, frowning at Nene. He turned to Taiki. "You all have to do exactly as I say for this to work, all right?"
Taiki nodded. "What do we do?"
"Get Dorulumon, Balistamon, ChibiKamemon, Starmon and Pickmon to protect the villagers near the back of the city," Kiriha said. "When Tactimon arrives..." He explained his plan to the group.
Zenjirou crossed his arms. "You're kidding, right?"
"No, I'm not," Kiriha said. "It will work, Tactimon should be cautious enough."
"Tactimon could blast us all and leave nothing but a smoking crater, and you think THAT will work?" Akari shouted.
"Trust me. What other choice do we have?"
The group exchanged skeptical looks. "...I'll help," Nene finally said. "It is our only option."
"If we all die, I swear I'm going to haunt Tactimon for this..." Zenjirou muttered. "...All right, get me a broom."
"Good," Kiriha said. "I'll wait atop the city gate. You guys do your part, I'll do mine."
The group stepped out of the inn and into the village, only to find Shoutmon still up a tree with the others surrounding him. Cutemon had joined in with a handful of small pebbles on behalf of Dorulumon.
Kiriha let out a sigh, saying, "We might have to do something about that first..."
Tactimon led his troops through the forest outside of the village. Around his neck was Kiriha's Xros Loader. He would hold it up and stare at it now and then, sometimes whipsering the word "Perfect" to himself.
Once his forces were through the forest, he raised a hand to signal them to halt. He gazed upon the city and, smiling under his mask, he said. "This battle will be a slaughter. Enjoy yourselves."
"All hail Lord Tactimon," his Troopmon cheered.
Tactimon motioned to continue, he stood at the front of his army as they approached. "To destroy those humans, all in one fell swoop...I can hardly wait..."
The city gates were shut tight. Atop the city gate stood Kiriha, with a wooden guitar in hand and Cutemon at his side. Tactimon looked up at him. "Remember this?" He held up Kiriha's Xros Loader with one hand, shaking it back and forth ever so slightly. "I suppose you want it back...Feel free to come and get it."
Kiriha said nothing.
A bit annoyed by Kiriha's silence, Tactimon shouted up at the gate, "Do you have any last words? Or are you going to play me a song? You think music will tame this savage beast? Ha! Play away, I could use a merry tune while I put an end to your existence!"
Kiriha remained completely silent. He began to play a tune on his guitar, calmly.
As Kiriha played, the gates opened. Taiki, Zenjirou, Akari, Nene, Jijimon and Shoutmon calmly walked out of the city with brooms in hand. They swept the city street for the awaiting army and, once done, they bowed their heads low and motioned for Tactimon to enter.
Tactimon stood, dumbfounded. "...What is this?"
Kiriha continued playing his tune.
"They obviously have some sort of plan," Tactimon thought. "But, what? They couldn't possibly think they stand a chance against me...Is this a surrender? ...No, that idiot Taiki and his friends aren't the type to give up without a fight. There's more to this..."
Kiriha finished his tune, he stared down at Tactimon with a smile and a look on his face that said "Your move."
Tactimon spent a little more time pondering the situation. "...Fall back," Tactimon said, raising a hand.
A troopmon stepped up behind Tactimon, "But...Lord Tactimon-"
"I said, 'fall back,'" Tactimon gave the Troopmon a warning glare. "We'll make camp in the forest and come back later."
The troops exchanged surprised looks, but they knew the price of disobeying an order from Tactimon. One by one, they all turned and started back into the forest.
Kiriha watched as the army retreated, Tactimon being the last to depart. He waited until they all disapppeared into the forest.
Finally, he let out a sigh of relief once the army was out of sight.
"...That...That actually worked..." Zenjirou said in disbelief. "...He...Actually used the Empty City Scheme..."
"The what?" Taiki asked.
"Don't you know your history?" Zenjirou said. "The Empty City scheme! From China's Three Kingdoms period!" The look on Taiki's face caused him to let out an annoyed groan. "Zhuge Liang, the great strategist, was trapped in a city with barely any troops! He did this to scare off the hundred thousand strong army of Sima Yi, because Sima Yi knew Zhuge Liang would never pull a trick like that if he wasn't one hundred percent sure he'd win!"
"...Oh," Taiki nodded. "Cool!"
Zenjirou groaned again. "Let's go see what Kiriha's next plan is... I'm getting a headache." He, Akari and Taiki went back inside the village and up to the city wall. Kiriha still sat there with his guitar. "...How did you know that would work?"
"...Actually, I didn't think it would work," Kiriha said after a moment or two.
"What?" Taiki, Akari and Zenjirou said, in perfect unison.
"I thought he would charge into the city anyway, I had a rope ladder on the wall over there to escape while you guys distracted him," Kiriha said, pointing to the eastern wall.
"Y-You...You were going to sacrifice us so save your own ass?" Akari screamed, lunging at Kiriha. Zenjirou held her back. "LET ME GO, ZENJIROU!"
"Akari, no, don't kill him!" Zenjirou said.
"WHY NOT?"
"'CAUSE I WANNA DO IT!"
"I had full confidence in either your miraculous victory or swift, merciful demises," Kiriha said. These words caused Akari to struggle harder against Zenjirou's grip. Even Taiki had to intervene, not to hold back Akari but to hold back Shoutmon.
"G-Guys, the plan still worked! Let's let this one go...Can we?" Taiki said.
"NO!" Shoutmon, Zenjirou and Akari screamed.
Kiriha got up. "We should take this time to evacuate the villagers to safe place, then worry about getting my Xros Loader back." He walked past the group and down into the city.
"I hate him, I really, really hate him..." Zenjirou muttered.
"As Taiki pointed out, the plan worked," Nene said. "We should worry about the villagers."
"Yeah, right..." Zenjirou let go of Akari, who was starting to calm down.
Xros Heart, Nene and Kiriha helped the villagers pack up whatever belongings they could carry. Nene volunteered to lead them to a safe location.
"What do we do now?" Taiki asked, looking over the emptied city from atop the gate.
"I suppose our best option is to sneak into Tactimon's camp and steal back my Xros Loader," Kiriha said. "It will be dangerous."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Akari rolled her eyes. "Why should we even bother helping you after that little 'escape' stunt?"
"Did I use the rope ladder?" Kiriha replied.
"No, but you would have!"
"Guys..." Taiki trailed off, standing between Akari and Kiriha.
"Taiki, how can you help this creep?"
"I can't just leave someone helpless, especially against Tactimon!" Taiki said. "Besides, we still owe Kiriha for saving us before. It wouldn't be right!"
"You and your sense of honor and bad habit..." Akari growled.
"He said he was making camp in the forest, right?" Taiki said. "Let's wait until dark and get it then. While he's asleep!"
"Somehow, Tactimon strikes me as the type that doesn't sleep. Or sleeps with one eye open," Zenjirou said.
"We have Dorulumon with us, and we can use Shoutmon X4 if we need to," Taiki said. "And if we can get Kiriha's Xros Loader, he can back us up, too!"
"Fine, but we're even from that point on," Akari said. "No 'he saved us' crap!"
"...Agreed," Kiriha said.
With that, Team Xros Heart waited for nightfall...
Across the city, Shoutmon and the other Digimon met up.
"So, we'll be sneaking into Tactimon's camp," Dorulumon said. "This will be interesting," he looked to Cutemon. "And dangerous. You should stay behind."
"I want to be of help to Dorulumon!" Cutemon said, shaking his head.
ChibiKamemon spoke up, "I-I'm amazed Kiriha's plan worked...I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you guys up front, though..."
Shoutmon shook his head. "Kiriha knew you'd look so scared, it'd give the plan away to Tactimon!" He didn't notice tears start to well up in ChibiKamemon's eyes at these words.
Others did. "Brother..." Starmon and Pickmon came up behind Shoutmon. "...Do you want to go back up the tree again?" They all said in an ominous tone.
"Eh heh heh...Just kidding, ChibiKamemon..." Shoutmon laughed nervously. "You'll be a big help when we sneak into Tactimon's camp!"
"R-Really?"
"...No," thought Shoutmon. "Of course!" He said aloud.
To Be Continued...
BONUS! TACTIMON BING FA!
Hello again, Dummies.
I, the Great Strategist Tactimon, will now give you a lesson on ambushes.
Simply put, an ambush is where you place hidden troops that will strike your enemy when they least expect it. Of course, it takes great skill to properly set up the perfect ambush and to either guess where your enemy is going to move or successfully lead them into it.
A good ambush, for example, is from the Human historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which a "strategist" by the name of Zhuge Liang successfully deduced his rival, Cao Cao, would escape through a certain path after a defeat. He sprang three ambushes upon him along this route...
...Of course, had it been ME, I would only need ONE ambush to crush Cao Cao. Ha ha ha, he even ESCAPED in the end! Can you believe that? He ESCAPED three ambushes! What kind of strategist allows that? Ha ha ha!
Of course, there's an example of a horribly placed ambush, which is was those idiots of Xros Heart used in today's battle. I mean, could that have been any more obvious? Sweeping the streets for me, inviting me into the city with open arms...They just lacked a sign that said "AMBUSH FOR TACTIMON HERE!" Ha ha ha-...Wait a minute...
...A city gate...Music...Sweeping the streets...
...Th-That...THAT LITTLE SON OF A BITCH! HE ZHUGE LIANG'D ME! HE ACTUALLY PULLED THE EMPTY CITY SCHEME ON ME! HE USED STRATAGEM 32, WORD FOR DAMNED WORD! THE NERVE OF THAT PATHETIC HUMAN! TO THINK HE ACTUALLY HAD THE AUDACITY TO EVEN THINK OF ATTEMPTING SUCH A SCHEME, LET ALONE USING IT? I SWEAR, NO MERCY IN OUR NEXT ENCOUNTER! I WILL TEAR HIM LIMB FROM LIMB! I WIL-...Uh...
*Ahem* Of course, that is the reaction I would have had, had I actually FALLEN for such a stupid scheme...A Perfect Strategist such as I wants to crush his opponents when they are at their weakest, to give them some false hope of victory...I LET them think I fell for that silly, silly scheme. After all, I can (AND WILL!) do so much worse things to them later.
Our next lesson will be on fire attacks. All great strategists must realize the battlefield advantages and not to mention the soothing and stress relieving properties of LIGHTING YOUR OPPONENTS ON FIRE!
That is all for today, Dummies.
Regards,
Lord Tactimon
Original Author's (AKA Ori's) Notes:
Eh, this chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be, but I had to cut it short to add this chapter's Tactimon Bing Fa...You just KNOW a strategist has a MASSIVE ego when they talk down towards Zhuge Liang (AKA God). Especially considering Tactimon completely missed the point of letting Cao Cao escape...
When I heard Xros Wars had a full scale conflict theme and a villain named Tactimon...Well, let's just say I've been scanning every episode for references to Three Kingdoms (because you can't have a strategist hero\villain in anime WITHOUT mentioning Kongming\Cao Cao!). I really, really wish Toei would throw in a shout out to Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi at some point, you just have to with a villain like Tactimon. I'm sort of hoping Taiki gets help from a Zhuge Liang-esque mon or human at some point...
...What if it was a Zhuge Liang-esque Vamdemon? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!
"From this great dream, who would waken first? All along I've known the part to play, to sleep in spring and ask no more. Though outside, longer, longer grow the days...NIGHT RAID!"
(...I'm well aware that I'm going to Taoist Hell for that...)
Now we just need a Guan Gong-style character... Hm...
Taiki's Notes:
Zhuge Liang-esque Vamdemon? Ori, you need to let Adventure go. I don't think Toei wants to use him ever again after the whole BelialVamdemon thing in 02.
And, again, it's not too late to pair Taiki and Zenjirou! Hm? Please?
-Taiki Matsuki