Tagiru's Bizarre Adventure
Disclaimer:
Digimon is owned by Toei Animation
The various guest characters appearing in every arc are owned by their respective owners.
Okay, last chapter showed that Tagiru narrowly escaped his first wave of assailants, but now another set of assailants came and puts him in a corner and threatens to kill a hostage unless he gives up the "cartridge", and the teen has to think of a way to outwit them, save the hostage, and escape alive so he can unravel the secret of the mysterious video game cartridge of "Cloak And Dagger", in order to know why his assailants are willing to kill anyone just to get their hands on that "cartridge"...
So read up and enjoy!
Ch. 5: - Kyōfu no Mizu ni Noru
Just as Tagiru is about to leave Kamo River after leaving the shop, a new situation arises when another foreigner shows up, and demanded to the teen to give up the "item", which Tagiru pretended to play innocent, asking what he meant by that, but the foreigner smirked and told the teen that he knows what he meant, and simply told him to surrender the "cartridge", which Tagiru replied by saying there are no more cartridges as CD and DVD's are the formats being used in making video games.
"Found you, Japanese boy..."
"Huh? Do I know you...?"
"No...but I do...and I know you have it..."
"The what...?"
"The video game cartridge...hand it over..."
"Look...cartridges are now phased out...the only video game formats are DVD and Blu-ray..."
"Don't try to psyche me out...or else someone will pay on your account...look up there..."
"Huh?"
However, the foreigner rebutted that either he surrenders the "cartridge" or expect someone to die in front of him as he pointed up at the higher ground, where another foreigner is holding a little girl, threatening to drop her, while the girl's mother is being held at gunpoint, and there the foreigner simply tells him to surrender it or the child dies a horrible death, which made Tagiru clench his fists as he is again being placed in a corner and had to make a decision to rectify the matter or else his conscience would bother him for the rest of his life.
By then, he thought of something and there he came up with a plan, but only to buy time to let the hostage and her mother get away from here, and there he made his plea, which at first the assailant turned down at first, but relented, seeing that this may put things their way, thinking that Tagiru has no place to go, and then they can have their way with him once they get their hands on the "cartridge".
"Wait…you can't…"
"So…will you give us the cartridge…"
"Okay…"
"Now hand it over…"
"Not until you let the girl go…"
"Sorry…no deal…"
"If you let her go…I'll give it to you…I promise…"
"Okay…we accept. But no tricks…"
As Tagiru thinks of other options, he noticed someone wearing a "hip-hop" attire with a hood covering his head and Tagiru recognized it, and there he decided to stick to his game plan, and tells the assailant that he will give the "cartridge" after the hostages be set free, and the assailant accepted, in which he signals his cohorts to let the child and mother be set free, and after seeing that the hostages are leaving, Tagiru placed the "cartridge" on the ground, but then saw his assailant smirking and looked up, and saw the two other foreigner-assailants about to shoot them down. There the assailant grappled onto the teen and the two began to struggle, and exchanged words as they fought with each other.
"Gotcha!"
"You said you'll let them go!"
"No way we would after they saw what we did! And with you dead…problem solved!"
"You're willing to kill me for a video game?!"
"You saw what happened at Kyoto Mall…therefore you must be silenced!"
"What good will it do killing me over that game?!"
"Let's say I'm a kid at heart…and I'm going to rip your heart out!"
"Blast!"
As the other assailants about to shoot down the escaping hostages, the "person" in a hooded "hip-hop" attire jumped in to action, revealing to be Gumdramon and did a flying kick that struck the assailant and the assailant was staggering back, and collided with his cohort and the two fell off the cliff and landed on a pond, and there the Digimon saw Tagiru still struggling with his assailant and Gumdramon jumped from the cliff, and did a "missile dropkick" that sent the assailant towards the pond, and there the Xros Heart member and his partner meet up, grabbed the "cartridge" and made a run for it, heading for a theme park and there he told his partner the situation at hand.
"You okay, partner?"
"Yeah…thanks!"
"What was that about?"
"It's related to the incident at Kyoto Mall…just like I told you!"
"So what next?"
"Here…take this…let those foreign fools know you have them…take them to a wild chase…anything that would keep them from bystanders…"
"What about you?"
"Will have to get back to Mori…and see what he discovered…"
After giving instructions, Gumdramon grabbed the "cartridge" and heads off towards the west, where other foreigner-assailants appear and gave chase, while Tagiru went to the theme park to lose his attackers, seeing that they have set their sights on him, and the teen tries to think of a way to get back to Kyoto Mall and warn Mori of the danger, slowly regretting about telling him to play the game in order to discover the "cartridge's" secret.
By then he came across a queue where a "boat ride" is shown, and there Tagiru recalled that the boat ride would give passengers a lift from one "isle" to another, and hid among the line of passengers, and managed to get a ticket and hopped on. The assailants arrived and saw their target and are about to get there when the "ticket master" told them that the boat is full and will have to wait for the next boat to be ready, and the lead assailant glared at Tagiru, realizing that the teen will surely get away from their grasp, and grudgingly opted not to cause a scene to avoid attracting the police, and patiently wait for the next boat ride.
However, luck isn't on Tagiru's side, as the two passengers, who would complete the passenger limit of the boat, were arguing that the husband left his wallet and she wanted him to get it, and though he said that there is nothing left on that wallet, the wife twisted her husband's ear and drags him out of the boat to make him get it, and thus giving the two assailants "extra seats" and took the chance to make an attempt on Tagiru's life. The teen isn't pleased with the events and had to be ready for anything. By then the boat starts to move and a "leisure trip" is underway.
"Blast…I'm a sitting duck…!"
-x-
Meanwhile, Gumdramon is still leading the other assailants away from the park, hoping that Tagiru would make it back to Kyoto Mall, and as the Digimon is about to take a bus when more assailants showed up, and demanded that he surrender the "cartridge" without resistance, though the Digimon (still dressed like a child-sized person) played with them using words just to buy Tagiru more time, unaware that his partner is already in danger, and now he himself is about to get in to more danger.
"Okay, kid…stay put…"
"You want me…?"
"Just that tape you have…"
"Then go buy it at the mall! It's not that expensive…"
"What you got is…a rare collection…so give it to us or we make you regret it…"
"What losers you are…"
"Better not make me…"
"Come and get it, then!"
As the assailants are about to close in on Gumdramon, more of the Troopmons showed up, and recognized Gumdramon and told him that they are going to take his life under the name of their new leader, though the assailants dismisses them and told them to "get lost" as they have their business with Gumdramon, but the Troopmons answered back and again the two sides engaged in a melee, and unfortunately, Gumdramon got embroiled, and in the resulting melee, he dropped the "cartridge" and one of the assailants grabbed it and ordered his men to fall back, and as the assailants did so, the Troopmons are now focusing their attack on Gumdramon, and the Digimon is starting to get overwhelmed.
"We got you!"
"The new Bagra Emperor will be pleased!"
"Let's find his partner!"
"Let me go, blast you!"
"Glory to the new Bagra Army!"
"You're going to pay for that!"
"We take you back to Digimon world!"
"And then take your partner with us!"
However, Yuu and Taiki arrived, along with Shoutmon and Damemon, and the Xros Heart members fought and chased the Troopmons away, and there Gumdramon told them what he knows so far, and now they are discussing about why certain foreigners are after Tagiru and what is so important about going after a Nintendo 64 cartridge game and why the assailants are willing to kill just to get their hands on it. By then they saw the assailants threw the cartridge away and left the area, and there the Xros Heart members examine it, discovering that the "Cloak And Dagger" game was bought from a nearby shop, but Gumdramon told them that Tagiru showed him the "original copy" after leaving Kyoto Mall two days ago.
"What…?"
"Seriously…?"
"Yeah…but the mall guards dismissed Tagiru's claims…and right now…"
"I don't understand humans…why get worked up over a video game…?"
"Maybe it contains some important data…"
"Damemon's right, Shoutmon…if what Gumdramon says is true…then Tagiru is in serious danger!"
"We'd better find Tagiru…"
"We'll have to rely on our instincts…we can't call him by phone…or it'll attract his pursuers…"
"Should we call for help…?"
"We can't…unless we can show proof…Damemon…Shoutmon…Yuu…can I count on you guys?"
"Yes!"
"You can count on us!"
"I'm with you!"
"Then let's go!"
Taiki suggested that they head back to Kyoto Mall and asked Gumdramon to take them to the shop where Mori works, hoping that he might know something about the cartridge.
-x-
Back at the boat ride, Tagiru is constantly changing seats to get farther away from his assailants, who are following suit, and are waiting for the right time to make their move and murder the teen stealthily, and at one point, Tagiru came across a pair of foreign elderly couple and seemed to have noticed the pattern and started to befriend the beleaguered Xros Heart member, asking him why he is changing seats every minute, and there, left with no choice, told them that he is being marked for assassination, and the couple appeared to be in a state of disbelief at his claims.
"Excuse me, young man…"
"Huh?"
"What's wrong? You're constantly changing seats…"
"Is there something a matter…?"
"Er…um…ah…"
"You can tell us…"
"It's like this…"
"…really?"
"Are you sure about what you just said…?"
As the route approaches a curve, Tagiru saw that the curve has a nearby edge, and sensed that with a good timing, he could jump there and make an escape. As the boat approaches the curve, the assailant makes his move, shouting "THERE'S A FIRE!", and this caused the other passengers to react, and in the confusion, the assailant pulls a knife and is lunging towards Tagiru, but the teen dodges it, and delivered a front kick to his groin, and there the teen jumps out of the boat and got to the edge, making his way to shore while the boat moves farther away, ensuring that the assailants won't be able to go after him, and Tagiru makes his way to an unknown destination to plan on his next move.
To Be Continued…
Hope you like the action scenes, as well as the suspense where Tagiru narrowly escaped death...
Now that both Taiki and Yuu are slowly sensing that Tagiru is in danger, they are now planning to make their own move and figure out a way on why their friend is being hunted down and what secret the "cartridge" lies, and what secret does it possess that the assailants are willing to kill just to get their hands on it...
Again, more Troopmons showed up and are claiming to serve a "higher power"...but again they will take a backseat as the Xros Heart Team are going to solve this mystery to save their friend...
Preview:
While Tagiru is still being on the run as he is being chased...this time he slowly gets in to a deeper danger as two persons managed to get close to him...before taking him..