Tamers Unlimited
Chapter Four: Dusk in Shades of Grey
Takato stared in shock at this sudden development. Before him now stood a larger version of Terriermon, with guns instead of hands. He also had pants now, as well as a belt of ammo.
He was screwed, he realized. Well and truly.
Two Adults? He had been forced to use a ton of cards to keep up with just one.
He opened his mouth to say something, though he honestly wasn't sure what he was going to say. He should probably give Impmon some new orders; adapting to the situation and all that.
But he didn't have a plan.
He'd built his deck around the possibility of fighting one Tamers partner. He'd planned to either catch them off guard or hit them before they could react.
But he hadn't planned for a second Tamer to get involved. Which, in hindsight, was really stupid. He was aware of the existence of at least two Tamers; if he ever needed to fight against the other Tamers, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't gang up on him. On the contrary; outnumbering your opponent and kicking his ass was pretty much the oldest trick in the book. He should have considered it, planned for it.
But he hadn't.
Which meant he had to think off a plan now; he knew that. He just couldn't think of a way around two Adults and their Tamers.
And suddenly, all of Takato's thought processes stopped. He'd been so lost in his own shock and despair that he hadn't noticed when the situation changed again. Jenrya's Adult level partner had focused on Takato for a moment before he did another thing Takato hadn't expected.
Galgomon pointed his guns at him.
Maybe it was stupid, but there was another thing he hadn't considered. The fact that he might die.
Maybe it was because this was only his second day. Maybe it was because it was Impmon who did all the fighting. But he'd never thought he'd be this close to dying.
So he did the worst thing he could have done. He froze. And Galgomon fired.
And when he did, several things happened. Jenrya's eyes widened, though whether out of fear for Takato's life or because his partner was about to kill someone, not even he knew. Ruki watched silently, while Kyuubimon lunged at her fellow adult.
And Impmon, who had started moving the moment he'd seen Terriermon evolve, knocked Takato out of the way.
"What do you think you're doing kid!" Impmon screamed at his partner.
Takato was breathing hard, as if standing still had exhausted him. He didn't reply to his partner.
But it was no longer shock that was keeping him silent. It was realization. He'd realized something in the moments after his life had been saved.
Galgomon was firing randomly; he wasn't aiming specifically for any of the people in the area. He was firing at anything and everything that caught his attention. Takato had just happened to be the first thing to do so.
In other words, he was acting like a stupid animal.
Takato's breathing suddenly evened out. He'd let fear get the better of him; he should have thought things through. He did so now that he was calmer.
The situation had changed, that was true. But it had not necessarily changed for the worse. And that was because of one simple fact.
Galgomon wasn't on Ruki's side. Galgomon wasn't even on Jenrya's side.
But maybe, just maybe, he could be on Takato's side. If not knowingly.
Or willingly.
"Impmon, get off of me. I have a plan."
His partner immediately became serious and got up; Takato had proven himself more than able to, at the very least, keep his partner alive. And it just so happened, with an Adult that specifically wanted to kill him on one side and another Adult that wanted to kill everything in the area in general, that remaining alive had somehow magically jumped to the top of Impmon's priority list.
Takato remained close to the ground, hiding behind cars and looked around at the area to see what he had to work with. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself. He wasn't running out of cards, but he only had a few that were going to help him in this situation; he was going to need to conserve them if he didn't want to run out entirely. That meant he was going to have to use his brain and the surroundings instead.
"I don't think Galgomon has noticed you yet; we need to keep it that way. The closest cars to Galgomon are that blue one, those two red ones, and that black one." Takato nodded at the cars in question. "Move behind those three cars to get behind the black one." He pointed at three cars. "Then attack from an angle as close to Kyuubimon as possible without moving from behind the car. Got it?"
Impmon nodded.
"How many of the cards are still working?"
"Most of them have already worn off, and the rest will wear off shortly."
Takato blew air out from between his teeth, before nodding and reaching for his deck.
"There's no helping it. Vaccine Killer, Activate!" He slashed the variant of Data Killer. "I'm not sure I'll be able to use any more cards without seriously hurting Galgomon, and we don't know what he'll do if that happens; he might just start firing bullets everywhere. But at the same time, you need to at least hurt him enough to piss him off; we want him to shot in your direction. Specifically…"
"At Kyuubimon." Impmon finished before his voice faltered a bit. "Hey, kid…"
"Yeah?"
"Do you really think this is the time to go after Kyuubimon? That seems a bit more relentless then I'd have expected of you."
Takato paused; his partner was right. When had he become this ruthless?
He shook himself. Now wasn't the time.
"We could run if you want." He offered Impmon, but a large part of him, a part he didn't understand, felt offended at the very notion.
Impmon snorted.
"Don't kid yourself; I was just wondering when my partner became so much like me."
Impmon rushed into action, leaving Takato with his thoughts. He wasn't worried about Impmon; he had no doubts that he would pull this off.
And that was what worried him. They'd been partners for only two days; when had he developed this much faith, this much trust?
I was just wondering when my partner became so much like me.
That's what Impmon had said. And it made Takato wonder, too.
Was he becoming more like Impmon? If so, why? Because they were partners?
Did it matter, either way?
No, he decided. They were in a life or death situation. Anything that was unrelated to victory or survival was unimportant.
Impmon was in position. He was in a place that Galgomon couldn't see, but Takato could. Impmon looked at his Tamer, silently asking if this was good enough. Takato nodded silently, the fact that he'd understood his partner's intentions in a glance not lost to him.
He prepared his attack.
"Night of fire." Impmon whispered, black flames gathering in his hands. He stood there for a minute, just aiming, waiting for a good opportunity.
It was Takato, not Impmon, who noticed it.
Galgomon turned, his random firing turning him so that his back was to Impmon. But Impmon, being behind a car and unable to see, couldn't possibly notice.
But he did.
Takato didn't even have time to wonder how he should let Impmon know without revealing his own position, when Impmon leapt from behind the car, hurled his attack, and dove once more for cover.
Galgomon released a startled yelp as the unexpected attack took him in the back of his head. Thanks to the Vaccine Killer, it hurt a great deal and more then accomplished its purpose; pissing off Galgomon.
He spun quickly, and narrowed his eyes when he spotted his enemy.
Kyuubimon, for her part, looked surprised by this turn of events.
The barrels of Galgomon's gun-like hands began to glow green, before a multitude of bullets were fired in the direction of the nine-tailed fox. The majority of the bullets would probably end of flying wide; Galgomon wasn't really aiming very well. However, the sheer number of bullets would insure that Kyuubimon was injured.
But Kyuubimon was no fool. She wasn't going to stand in the path of a hail of bullets and hope for the best. She fully intended to dodge everything she possibly could.
And, fortunately for Kyuubimon, that happened to be everything.
All any of the Tamers were able to see was a yellow blur with vague tints of blue. It occurred to Takato and Ruki that her speed enhancing cards had also worn off. She was doing this with nothing but her own speed.
Takato was forced to realize that he'd been correct. If the fight between Kyuubimon and Impmon had continued, had Ruki continued to enhance her partner, Impmon would inevitably have lost.
In fact, Takato realized in shock and horror, he probably would have lost very quickly; as soon as the boosting effects of his cards had worn off. Which could have quite possibly been only a few more seconds into the fight.
He thought about the card he'd been about to slash. Would it have been enough without the other cards there to back it up? He didn't know; he couldn't know. Not without knowing what cards Ruki had held in her hands.
Or, at least, what card she had been preparing to slash before they'd been interrupted.
Takato turned towards the girl, and watched her silently for a moment. Who was she, really? He didn't know.
And, Takato felt sure, he needed to find out.
Later, he told himself, returning to the battle. Kyuubimon had taken the offensive. Or, at least, that's what most people would have thought. But Takato had seen Kyuubimon go on the offensive before, so he knew what was happening.
Kyuubimon was holding back.
Takato frowned. He hadn't expected that. He glanced at Ruki, to confirm his suspicions.
She wasn't slashing any cards. She didn't want to take Galgomon down. Then what did she want?
She wanted him to control himself, he realized.
Takato glanced at Jenrya, and could tell by looking at his face that he was aware of what was happening as well.
Takato's frown deepened.
This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all.
If Kyuubimon somehow managed to get Galgomon under control, then he and Impmon were screwed. Chances are good that Jenrya would take Ruki's side if it came down to a fight; he'd only know Takato even existed for a little more than a day, whereas he seemed to, at the very least, associate with Ruki to some extent.
And if it came down to a fight between the Child level Impmon and his nearly out of cards Tamer vs. the Adult level Kyuubimon and Galgomon and their Tamers, both of whom still have the majority of their cards, then it was pretty much guaranteed to end badly for the newbie's.
Hell, as far as he knew, Jenrya hadn't used any cards, not even to evolve his partner.
The only way Impmon had even the slightest hope of victory is if this battle remained a free-for-all. Which meant that he couldn't let Galgomon calm down and, more importantly, he couldn't let Kyuubimon calm him down.
He quickly thought his way through several courses of action, and discarded pretty much all of the ones that involved dealing with Kyuubimon directly; that type of plan would pretty much be guaranteed to end badly. That pretty much left three options; Galgomon and the other Tamers.
Ruki was discarded almost immediately; hostility directed towards her wasn't going to bother Galgomon, it would just piss Kyuubimon off.
Jenrya would be a workable option, so long as Galgomon retained enough sense to remember his partner; something he wasn't sure he wanted to bet on. Not to mention the fact that Takato didn't really want to hurt Jenrya; he didn't have anything against the guy, he barely knew him!
Which only left Galgomon. In other words, he was back where he started. Galgomon had proven to care about himself, at least, so the probability of success with him as the target was near certain. On the other hand, he was still crazy, and was now ready for action. In addition, everyone was watching him closely now, after he'd attacked Kyuubimon. If he just had Impmon go for an all-out attack, chances that someone would notice and understand the obvious, that he and Impmon were working against them, was pretty high.
That was also likely to end badly.
He had to do this subtly. But he didn't have any cards with him to allow that.
And then inspiration struck.
If he didn't want them to know he was on a different side, the easiest way would be to make them think he was on their side.
It wouldn't even be that hard, he realized. Vaccine Killer increased the amount of damage Impmon inflicted on Galgomon, true. But as far as he could tell, the card hadn't had any observable traits; it didn't seem like Impmon's attack had changed visually in any way that mattered.
Had any of the other Tamers seen him slash that card? He didn't think so. In other words, nobody but he and Impmon knew that Impmon's attacks hurt Vaccine type Digimon so much.
Meaning, that is he could move things so that he appeared to be on their side, and then have Impmon attack in conjunction with Kyuubimon, it was unlikely that anyone would blame Impmon if Galgomon was hurt a bit more badly than expected. After all, Kyuubimon was the Adult level, not to mention the Data Type.
But how to make them think that they were on the same side?
Takato barely refrained from smacking himself as he realized the obvious answer.
He glanced once more at Galgomon, making sure he wasn't looking over in his direction. Then, he quickly began to scurry towards Jenrya, staying as low and out of sight as was possible while also moving quickly.
"Lee-san, what's going on?" Takato asked, trying his best to seem confused. "Why did Galgomon evolve? And why is he acting like this?"
Though, to be honest, he didn't know the answers to either of those questions.
It was just that he honestly didn't care.
Lee looked at him grimly.
"He evolved because he was in danger; what were you and Ruki thinking! Fighting like that, in a place like this! You're lucky no one was hurt, not to mention that no one's seen you!"
Takato glanced away, as though chastised, though honestly he was more annoyed than anything else. He didn't want Lee to know that, though, hence why he looked away.
"But what about Galgomon?" He asked, trying to change the subject away from himself.
Sure enough, Jenrya's focus shifted from his fellow Tamer. He obviously cared more about his partner then about either of the others.
"He's lost control again."
Again? Takato filed that interesting tidbit away. He also decided to look into whether this was a common occurrence, and, if so, how he could use it against others.
He pondered quickly over whether or not to start fishing for information right now, but decided against it. He was trying to come off as an innocent, but foolish, new guy. It was probably better if he didn't make Lee start thinking he was smart. At least, not until he was through with him.
Besides, would an innocent person start looking for advantages in future fights while an insane Adult is firing his guns in the background? Probably not. Not acting suspicious is the best way not to look suspicious.
So, instead, he asked a different question, sticking to the matter at hand; advancing his goals while hindering his opponents.
"How can I help?"
Jenrya looks at me speculatively. He seemed vaguely suspicious so I did my best to look sincere. Apparently, I pulled it off; a surprise since I'm usually a horrible liar.
"You seem pretty egger to help for someone who was making Ruki look tame just a minute ago."
Okay, maybe not.
"I never meant for Terriermon to get dragged into this, Jenrya." Takato said, using his first name to add emphasis.
That much was true; he'd had no intention of fighting two Digimon, much less getting involved in a Digital Free-for-all.
"It's my fault that this happened;" He continued, carefully veiling his thoughts.
That, however, was a lie. If it was anyone's fault, it was Terriermon's, for getting in the middle of something that had nothing to do with him.
"I want to do everything I can to help." He finished, hoping it would sound convincing.
It was sort of true, though; he really did want to do all he could to help.
Help Impmon that is.
But what you don't know can indeed hurt you, which was something this plan relied upon; them not knowing and thus getting hurt. So he would play along for as long as he needed to.
So he smiled like he meant it. He was a nice guy; he'd made a mistake, but wanted to make up for it.
Sure, why not?
And Jenrya nodded.
"We're trying to wear out Galgomon." He said.
"Will that work?" He asked; mainly to see if this really had happened before.
"Yes." Lee didn't elaborate.
Takato filed that information away the moment he heard it. Wear them out and they'll calm down. This wasn't necessarily a onetime thing.
Takato took a moment to decide how to best ask what he wanted to. This was the most important part, and also the most risky. If Jenrya was going to notice anything, he would notice it now, and that was something Takato could let happen.
"Lee-san, there's something I want your permission for."
"What?" He asked distractedly, having already focused on the battle again.
"I'm going to need Impmon to use his attacks if I want to help."
Lee snapped back to attention, refocused on Takato. Takato, for his part, saw the objection forming before Jenrya's mouth had even opened.
And he was ready to cut it off before it left it.
"Impmon's a Child level, not to mention a Virus type. He'll be at a severe disadvantage compared to Galgomon, an Adult level Vaccine. If he wants to fight effectively, he's going to have to give it all he's got."
All of that was true, and Takato paused to let that sink in before adding.
"Not to mention that I'm out of cards; I used pretty much everything I had in order to fight on par with Kyuubimon."
That also had a lot of truth to it.
"And with all those disadvantages, it's unlikely that Impmon could even hurt Galgomon."
That, however, was a Blatant Lie.
Jenrya looked at him for a long moment, and it was all he could do not to cheer. He swung towards the battle just in time to see Impmon's first success.
The first attack wasn't one of Impmon's special attacks, it was just an anti-Vaccine punch, and it was synchronized with an attack from Kyuubimon. Kyuubimon had taken a swipe at Galgomon's left side in an attempt to turn Impmon away from her Tamer, who he'd ended up facing. It succeeded mainly because of Impmon's interference.
Kyuubimon and her Tamer both did a double take when they realized that.
It seemed Kyuubimon hadn't noticed Impmon had involved himself, until she'd seen him attack. Takato supposed she had been distracted by Galgomon's machinegun fire. That was understandable, he supposed.
She turned to snarl at Impmon, but didn't even get a chance to make a single noise, as Impmon landed in front of her before bouncing away.
Galgomon, for his part, seemed enraged, even though he had been calming but moments before. And as he turned and aimed for Impmon, the one whose attack had hurt him the most, he ended up with his guns aimed at Kyuubimon again.
Déjà vu had never been so life threatening.
The bigger problem, Takato realized, was Ruki. She was practically on the other side of the room; there was no way she'd heard any of his and Jenrya's conversation. I.e. she didn't know what they'd talked about, which meant she no doubt still believed him to be her enemy.
Which, he had to admit, was true. But it was also something he didn't want her to believe.
He and Ruki had gotten off to a bad start, trying to pummel each other's Digimon and all. And, if anything, her second impression of him probably didn't make her like him any better; he was probably close to the top of her 'Most Hated' List.
Not to mention the fact that she knew he wasn't a confused little boy who'd stumbled into a violent world and wasn't sure what to do, which was the impression he'd given Lee. Hell, he'd had Impmon attack first in this fight, and spent most of it beating up Renamon and Kyuubimon.
All of which left him with the impression that deceiving her into believing him an ally, if not a friend, would be much harder than it had been with Lee.
Takato frowned. Maybe Lee could do it? Ruki almost surely liked Jenrya better than him.
A glance a Lee told him that he was thinking the same thing.
And then, inspiration struck.
"Lee-san, this isn't looking good. Something just pissed off Galgomon." Said the man responsible. "I think things have gone from bad to worse, and I'm almost out of cards…"
Takato purposely trailed off, just as he intentionally widened his eyes.
"Lee-san!" He spoke with false urgency. "Do you have your deck with you?"
"What?" Lee asked, startled by the sudden question, but he quickly recovered. "Yeah, I have them."
"Do you have a Supreme Training Manuel card?"
Takato figured he must have one, and probably a Dark Training Manuel, too, which turned a Digimon's Attribute to Data and Virus, respectively. Digimon Attributes were much like rock-paper-scissors; Virus beats Data, Data beats Vaccine, and Vaccine beats Virus. Having an Attribute that is superior to your opponents will give you a small, but noticeable advantage in a fight. Generally, it's not as powerful a boost as most types of Option cards, but on the hand, it also lasts for a long, long time.
Takato himself had a Supreme Training Manuel card, and a Light Training Manuel, too, but he'd rather use Lee's, partially because he found it deliciously ironic to give Jenrya a part in his partners downfall, but mainly because making it seem as though he didn't have one would help support his Newbie act.
And sure enough, Jenrya leveled Takato with a look that made it obvious that he thought that was a dumb question.
"Of course I do." His expression shifted suddenly, probably remembering that I was the new guy, and should know this stuff. "Sorry. What I mean is that the Training Manuel cards are a fundamental part of a Tamers deck. After this is over, you should put two of them in your deck; one for each type that isn't natural to your partner. In your case, I guess that would mean the finding a Supreme Training Manuel and a Light Training Manuel, since Impmon is a virus."
A bit late for that lesson; he'd already done that. Takato decided to play along none the less.
"So you would have a Supreme and Dark Training Manuel, right?" Takato said, all the while thinking 'hurry up.'
"Yes, exactly." Lee nodded, apparently satisfied with his understanding.
"Can I use it? It'd give Impmon an edge against Galgomon."
Lee frowned at me for a long moment, before nodding slightly.
"Here, take this." Galgomon's Tamer said, pulling out and handing over his deck. "I can't use it while Galgomon's like that. I'll be right back; let me just talk to Ruki."
Takato was surprised; this was not what he'd planned. On the other hand, the results were so good, he could really complain. He briefly wondered if Lee would notice if he, ahem, borrowed a few cards, but decided that Jenrya had probably memorized his deck to keep that from happening; at least, that's what Takato had done.
Besides, if he did notice, he'd know Takato was the one who did it.
So it seemed he wouldn't be stealing anything today.
He was still going to cheat like a motherfucker using that deck, though.
He watched Jenrya until he was close enough to Ruki and, more importantly, far enough away to not notice what her was doing. As soon as he was, Takato got down to business.
First things first, he decided, before quickly slashing the Supreme Training Manuel. He glanced up at the battle to confirm its effects.
What he saw surprised him, and he immediately berated himself for taking his eyes off the battle; as far as stupid mistakes go, that was a pretty damn big one.
While he'd been distracted by Jenrya, the battle had changed course dramatically, though thankfully in a good way. Kyuubimon had apparently accepted Impmon as an ally, and they were now working very well together, keeping Galgomon completely on the defensive. Kyuubimon was handling the attack, generally with her claws and teeth. Impmon, on the other hand, was keeping Galgomon distracted and off balance with his fists and blasts of black fire. He still scored blows whenever he could, which succeeded in keeping Galgomon angry.
However, Takato quickly noticed the downside of this new found team. Or, at least, he considered it a downside.
They were working perfectly.
Kyuubimon and Impmon were beating him back, and he never got a chance to fight back in any meaningful way. Sure, he fired off a few shots here and there, but so what? A few shots wouldn't take down either Kyuubimon or Impmon, even if they did hit. Which they didn't.
Due to the current course of battle, Takato's card didn't have any visible effect. Impmon was hitting harder now, sure, but how hard Impmon hit was no longer the problem. Galgomon was plenty angry; he just couldn't do anything about it.
He had to change the course of battle, this time in a way he hadn't planned for. He needed to make Impmon worse, not better. And in a way that didn't draw too much attention.
He could turn Impmon into a Virus again, but that wouldn't do anything either; Impmon had been doing just fine as a Virus.
He could use some other card to worsen Impmon's performance, but Jenrya had, for obvious reasons, avoided cards that would make his partner worse in a fight, leaving him with few options.
He could have Impmon make an intentional mistake, or-
Takato shook his head. He couldn't do anything as use more cards or have Impmon screw up. He may be pretending to be a newbie, but even a newbie could see that the fight was going great. It wouldn't make sense to interfere in a fight that was basically over. Even if Impmon could pick up on his intentions again, it was risky; someone could notice Impmon's mistake and ask why he made it. Who knows? They might be able to recognize whatever it is that told Impmon what to do.
No, if things were to run smoothly, someone else needed to make a mistake; in other words, Jenrya, Ruki, or Kyuubimon.
Jenrya had little effect on the fight, so he was out, leaving two options. But how would the two of them make a mistake, especially a mistake big enough to break the rhythm of this fight.
And suddenly, Takato had an idea. A really nasty idea, to the point that he was shocked that he'd even thought of it.
Galgomon's bullets would have little effect on a Digimon, true.
But if they hit a human…
Slowly, Takato found his eyes being dragged towards the other two Tamers in the room.
And, despite how much he didn't want them to, ideas, dark and wicked ideas began to form in his mind.
He tried to shake them away, but…
He couldn't. For one simple reason.
He was pretty sure it would work.
It would have been easy to dismiss as disgusting and monstrous if, perhaps, he was unaware of the probability of its success, but he wasn't. And he couldn't.
If he could direct Galgomon's fire towards Ruki, the Kyuubimon would react and protect her; that wasn't a probability, he was completely and totally certain. He was also pretty sure he knew how she would react.
She would protect her Tamer, and then counterattack without holding anything back; friendship and camaraderie were all well and good, but as far as Kyuubimon was concerned, if it was either Galgomon or Ruki, then really? It was just Galgomon.
Kyuubimon would use lethal force; she might back off if he miraculously survives, but she won't stop until he's no longer a threat; in other words, dead, unconscious, in control of himself, or reverted back to Terriermon.
In the process, it would be easy to excuse pulling Impmon out of the fight; as his Tamer, he decided to extract his partner from such a dangerous environment.
And without Impmon, Kyuubimon was likely to take a great deal of damage, especially since she'd already fought and taken a beating from Impmon. She would be in no condition to fight Impmon, backed up by Jenrya's deck, for though he'd fought Kyuubimon, he wouldn't have to fight Galgomon any further. And Takato was sure Jenrya had some health restoring cards.
Better yet, if Kyuubimon takes Galgomon down, and appears to be ready to finish him, he could have Impmon sucker punch her, using protecting Terriermon as an excuse, which might even endear him further to Lee.
It was relatively simple.
It would almost certainly work if one prerequisite, Galgomon attacking Ruki, was met.
And it made Takato feel dirty just thinking about it.
And he felt even dirtier when he gave Impmon the go ahead.
He tried to justify it to himself, he really did.
'You saw how fast Kyuubimon could move; Ruki's not in any danger.'
He thought of that. And he knew it was true; in all likelihood, Ruki was in no danger. So it was a pretty good argument; he might have even been able to convince himself of it is he didn't already know the truth.
But he did.
He couldn't justify it because this had absolutely nothing to do with Ruki and whether or not she was in danger. This was a distraction for Kyuubimon; a way of making her fight Galgomon and nothing more. Ruki didn't matter any further then as a way to convincing her partner to do so.
And that was the problem.
He'd already objectified Ruki; she was nothing but a piece on the chessboard. And that made him question himself. He wasn't treating Kyuubimon, Galgomon, or Ruki like actual people. They were pawns right now.
Why? Why was he doing this? Why was he doing this far?
He didn't know.
This was just a grudge match; a fight that broke out between a Digimon that had been crushed and a Digimon that had done the crushing. There was no need, no point, in taking things as far as he was taking them; to the point of risking lives.
So why was he?
And why did it feel so right?
He knew the answers; he just didn't understand them. Renamon, Kyuubimon, had stood against them and crushed them. She was more powerful than they were; if she had time to prepare and was given a reason, she could defeat and even kill the both of them. She was a threat that could not be ignored and she had to be dealt with as quickly as possible. They needed to destroy her and download her data; it would both remove a threat and make them more powerful. Such was the natural way of things.
Only it wasn't, Takato told himself. That wasn't how the world worked; at least, this world worked. Or it didn't have to be.
Did it?
He wanted to say no, but he couldn't for some reason. He couldn't say 'no' wholeheartedly, because part of him, for reasons he couldn't begin to fathom, wanted the answer to be 'yes.'
What was happening to him? Ever since Impmon became his partner, he'd felt different.
No. Not just different.
Better.
He was drawn out of his thoughts when Impmon began to implement his plan.
It began quickly, and Takato only noticed because he was watching. Galgomon was firing a burst of shots at Impmon, none of which had any real hope of making contact. Impmon was…not too fast, per se, but too agile to be hit while Galgomon was off balance. Indeed, he was in a position to easily dodge the bullets.
And dodge he did.
Specifically, to the left.
He was in a position where it didn't really matter whether he went left or right, so it could have easily been a coincidence. But Takato knew that he specifically chose to go left.
Because when Galgomon clumsily tried to shift his guns after his Target, his bullets ended up dangerously close to Jenrya and Ruki. Well, within twenty feet of them, which Takato considered dangerously close where gunfire was concerned.
Kyuubimon apparently shared his opinion.
She immediately shifted her pattern, breaking the routine she and Impmon had set up. She turned a maneuver that would have placed her in a strategic position into a frontal assault to distract Galgomon. She hit him, and she hit him hard.
"Watch it." She hissed.
"What? Those bullets didn't even come close to me!" Impmon pretended not to understand what she meant.
"The Tamers." She snarled.
She didn't have a chance to say anything further, however, because Galgomon had apparently realized what she'd done and why. And since he was no longer being kept off his guard by the pattern the other Digimon had forced him to fall into, he managed to mount an assault.
Which did absolutely nothing, because Takato took the chance that presented itself and slashed a card he'd been preparing.
"Accelerator, activate!"
Impmon moved from beside Kyuubimon and reappeared in the line of fire, following Takato's will flawlessly.
"Summon Fire!"
The wave of fire had such power that the bullets didn't even melt, they sublimated. Takato was impressed, even though he knew most of that was because of the Vaccine Killer.
He dismissed those thought as he mentally 'informed' Impmon of what he should do.
"I'll protect the kids; you take him down." Impmon told Kyuubimon.
Kyuubimon, for her part, didn't say a word. The moment she was sure her Tamer was safe, she turned on Galgomon again.
And Takato could tell that this time was different. Galgomon had threatened her Tamer. Twice. Once intentionally. She was through playing around.
She wasn't going to hold anything back. Not anymore.
Surprisingly, she started small; she slammed into Galgomon full force instead of, say, lighting him on fire. Still, the blow was strong enough to lift Galgomon off his feet, slam him into the car behind him, crush said car like a beer can, and then push both Galgomon and the car into the wall.
Takato winced. It seemed ridiculous to worry about such a thing after the who knows how many yen of property damage he'd already caused, but he hoped the owner of the car had insurance.
Actually, he hoped all the other owners of the cars in here had insurance, too.
And the owner of this build should probably hope he insured this place.
Shaking himself from his thoughts again, he noticed the Kyuubimon had no intention of letting up just because her opponent was down. Takato's eyes widened and he quickly backtracked.
Just in time, too, as a Dragon of Blue Flames slammed down upon Galgomon.
The car Galgomon was stuck in literally exploded, and, whether because of the Dragon or the Explosion, so did the cars to the left and right of it. The wall, ceiling, and floor were both severely damaged, and Takato suddenly realized then instead of worrying about the property damaged, he should be worrying about the structural integrity of the building.
Suddenly, moving until he was a lot closer to the exit seemed more than a little strategic, and Takato quickly did so.
And he quickly felt really smart for doing so. He winced as a number of blue fireballs descended upon where he assumed Galgomon was behind all that smoke. He was beginning to wonder if Galgomon was even going to be able to fight back.
His fears were laid to rest as quickly as they formed.
"Gatling Arm!" Galgomon shouted, and Takato was surprised that he could even speak.
Was this a sign that he was regaining his senses?
Based on how he was attacking Kyuubimon, that seemed unlikely.
But then, she did just attacking him.
Takato frowned suddenly as he noticed something different about this attack. It wasn't the same as the bullets he'd been firing previously.
To Takato, the bullets fired looked the same; from what he could see of them, which wasn't much due to their speed. But there were definitely more of them and, hard as it was to judge, they seemed fast as well.
The latter observation was based off the fact that they actually hit Kyuubimon.
Oh, and they seemed to have a lot more force, since they left holes the size of a fist in the wall.
Takato was beginning to worry about a stray bullet killing him. After all, he was the only one without a partner.
But it was only fair, right? He was putting Jenrya and Ruki in danger, not to mention the Digimon. It was only right that he was willing to face a risk or two as well.
Kyuubimon's reaction to the attack was somewhat surprising. She didn't vocalize any of the pain she was no doubt in. In fact, she didn't even slow down when the bullets tore small holes in her body wherever they hit. She just attacked.
With extreme prejudice.
Takato was alarmed to find how quickly Galgomon was being taken down, but not as alarmed as he was to note the brutality that Kyuubimon was now exhibiting. Though Galgomon cried out in pain as Kyuubimon's claws and teeth tore at his hide, though he screeched when her blue flames burnt his flesh, Kyuubimon herself did not hesitate for even a moment; she just attacked, and attacked, and attacked.
But more than anything, he was worried. He hadn't realized exactly how much Kyuubimon was holding back. The original plan had accounted for Galgomon to be approximately equal with Kyuubimon, though probably weaker due to his type disadvantage.
That wasn't the way things were turning out. Galgomon was getting crushed by Kyuubimon now that she was no longer holding back.
Why?
Was Kyuubimon really that much stronger? If so, why? Was it because Kyuubimon wasn't acting irrationally? No, that shouldn't really matter. And Kyuubimon alone shouldn't be so much stronger; Impmon had held his own.
What determines such deference in power?
Their Tamers, Takato realized, were the most likely explanation.
But Ruki wasn't slashing any cards. Was there more to being a Tamer? Things that Takato didn't know about?
There must be.
And luckily, Takato knew an organization that could tell him all about it.
But first, he had to keep their good will.
Well, at least Jenrya's good will.
Kyuubimon was readying her finishing blow, and another dragon of blue flames was bearing down up the beaten, broken Galgomon. This fight was over; all that was left was the coup de grace.
If Impmon was going to step in and 'save' Galgomon, he needed to do it now, because he probably wouldn't get another chance.
So he did. And his Tamer reacted accordingly, slashing the card he had prepared since he thought up this plan; a card he was both surprised and pleased to find Jenrya had in his deck.
A familiar card.
"Brave Shield, Activate!"
Wargreymon's shield materialized in Impmon's hands, enormous compared to them; to Impmon's entire body, even. It imposed itself in front of Kyuubimon's attack, and withstood its force effortlessly.
Impmon's actions invoked an immediate reaction, naturally.
"What the hell!" Ruki shouted.
Takato had expected that obvious reaction, since it was…well, obvious.
"Ruki-san, if you go any further, Kyuubimon will kill Galgomon."
Ruki narrowed her eyes. She had probably realized the truth of his words, and was debating her next course of action. Takato could practically hear the gears turning in her head; she was probably coming to the same conclusions Takato had.
On one hand, Galgomon was too dangerous to leave on his own, and he'd showed no signs of reverting to Terriermon. He didn't seem to distinguish between friend and foe. He may very well attack his own Tamer.
But on the other hand, he was at least an ally; could she really just kill him?
This was a tricky part of the situation, because it was also where Takato's plan ended. Why? Well, because he had absolutely no idea how Ruki would react.
He'd predicted Kyuubimon based off how protective Digimon seemed of their Tamers, but Ruki? He had no idea what relationship she had with Jenrya and Terriermon. She probably wasn't an enemy, but what was she? A rival, friend, ally, or teammate? Hell, for all he knew, she was Jenrya's secret lover.
She could react in any number of ways that Takato couldn't hope to predict without knowing her, which he didn't. It was her move, and he was going to have to react to it.
Ruki opened her mouth to speak, probably to give Kyuubimon an order of some sort.
Unfortunately for Takato's curiosity, he never got to hear that order, because it was interrupted by a matter of pressing concern.
The roof was collapsing.