Okay, now the question of who was behind the door will be answered. Sorry that I left you dangling so long. But I hope that you enjoy this chapter anyway. Now, who do you think is on the other side of the door? Beelzemon? Tai and Agumon? Well, just look and see.
As she opened the door, Mrs. Kamiya wasn't sure who to expect. Tai and Kari had their own keys and wouldn't have knocked. They would have simply let themselves in. Agumon might knock if he wasn't with her son, though Gatomon would have selected to come through the sliding door that led to the balcony. But the likelihood of the digimon coming here without their partners was extremely low. It could be one of the Digidestined, though she remembered that many of them were out of town. More likely was that one of the new children who'd spent the night here. One of them could very easily have come here. And if they entered the apartment, they and their partners would be in danger. She wanted to ignore the arrivals, but two small children needed her to obey the blond-haired woman's instructions. So she pulled the front door open.
Her eyes met a pair of yellow goggles. A boy with brown hair who looked vaguely like he could be related to her children stood there. His eyes even matched Kari's. But the mother recognized the boy as being not some distant relative, but one of the children from the night before. Specifically, he was the partner to the sweet Guilmon. The red reptile was not in sight and yet she still knew it was him.
Before she could speak, he began cheerfully speaking, "Hello, I'm selling magazine subscriptions for my school fundraiser. I was wondering if you would be interested. It's for a worthy cause."
Blinking in surprise, Mrs. Kamiya vaguely wondered what the boy was talking about. She could sense Mizutani and her allies out of sight, likely wondering something similar.
He continued, not bothered by her lack of response, "We have magazines on computers, nature, cooking… Pretty much most stuff. If you're not really interested though, is there anyone else in the household I should know about? To ask about magazines, I mean."
It suddenly clicked in her mind. This boy (Takato, she finally remembered) was suspicious that something wasn't right. He was checking to see if there was anything wrong without directly asking her. She didn't know how he knew, but she was thankful that the children weren't just walking into a trap blindly. Now, she needed to find a way to warn them of the danger without alerting the invaders in suits listening.
"Oh, a few visitors arrived unexpectantly to visit," she replied in a cheerful voice while her expression, which only Takato could see, changed to worry and concern.
Nodding slowly, he asked, "Do you think they could come to the door so I can ask them? I'm sure they would be very interested. And it's for a worthy cause."
"I'm not certain…" the parent began before an exasperated blond woman pushed her aside.
"No one here is interested in purchasing a magazine subscription," she explained rather sharply. "Regardless of what cause it is for. In concern for your safety, I suggest you leav… Wait, you said this fundraiser is for school?"
"Yes?" Takato replied uneasily.
Mizutani reminded, "It's summer. School is out right now."
"It's for… summer school?" suggested the boy, looking less than confident. "After all, even summer schools… needs stuff, right? Like textbooks or… really big fans because it's hot or…"
"I don't believe you," she interrupted.
"Oh… Well, I don't believe you're just a guest either," answered Takato. "Which is kind of a bad thing."
"And why's that?"
"Because I haven't given the 'all clear' yet," he smiled smugly before taking off running towards the stairs. "Let's go, Guilmon. It's a trap."
Mizutani's grey eyes widened at the name of a digimon and tried to chase after the fleeing boy. She was brought up short as a crashing sound of breaking glass erupted back in the apartment. Both the blond woman and Mrs. Kamiya jerked in surprise at the loud interruption, uncertain of what could be happening now.
When Mrs. Kamiya answered the door, Ai and Mako were surprised to hear Takato's voice. He didn't sound like he was coming inside or even acknowledging that he knew the woman. His voice sounded strange and fake, what Impmon and Rika both referred to his "really bad and unbelievable excuse" voice. But his presence at the door kept the five strangers' attention. The adults stood at the edge of the short hallway of the entryway, barely out of view of the pair at the door and they held their DD-guns like a bunch of cowboys in a showdown. The twins edged closer together.
"They'll get Guilmon," Mako whispered in her ear. "They'll take him away from Takato."
Closing her eyes, she replied softly, "We can't help them. Maybe they'll get away. They're really fast."
When the young girl opened her eyes again, she saw the scary blond lady move out of sight towards the door. She began speaking to Takato, his voice losing confidence with every phrase. The twin tamers sat there, hoping everything would work out in the end and yet not certain it could. But they were determined to keep that hope because that was all they had left. The young pair couldn't think of any more plans or strategies since their idea to warn Impmon and they couldn't envision any way to help the older boy and Guilmon now. The four year old children were at the limit of their abilities at being cunning.
No one in the room was prepared for the sliding door that led to the balcony to shatter as a fist slammed into it. The four men still inside the room and the young siblings spun at the crashing sound and turned their attention to the disturbance. Perched on the balcony, his fist still extended, was the familiar figure of Leomon. Beside him, glaring into the room, was an even more familiar winged-being.
It seemed, even after their heart-breaking attempt to drive their partner away to protect him, Beelzemon had come back to them. It was an impossibly wonderful sight, even with the concern for him his presence brought.
The destruction of the sliding door yanked their attention away from the boy selling magazines being interrogated by Mizutani towards the most terrifying sight these DADP agents had ever personally witnessed. Most of the digimon they'd been exposed to were the smaller partners of children dragged to PAD meetings by their parents. These two creatures were not cute, cuddly, or small in any sense.
The one who smashed the sliding door was a tall, muscular, humanoid lion with piercing blue eyes and a sword by his side. A thick mane around his head made certain that anyone who saw him knew of his similarity to the dangerous predator of the real world and the blade in his sheath demonstrated he was far more dangerous than a simple lion. He pulled his fist back from his earlier punch, his hand large enough to crush their skulls if he chose. But even with the muted anger in his expression was not nearly as intimidating as his companion.
The dark creature that glared at them from beside the leonine being looked like a vengeful angel of death combined with the most blood-thirsty biker to ever ride a motorcycle. A pair of guns rested in holsters for the moment, though they would likely be in his clawed hands shortly. His three emerald eyes burned with pure hatred as his midnight-black wings folded against his back. Crouching down, he stepped into the room. His boots, with thick spikes on the top, crunched on the broken glass. The DADP agents took an involuntary step back from the foreboding creature's approach.
"You have two seconds to get out," he growled, "before I do something that could ruin my 'nice guy' image."
One of the agents, more bold than the others or more foolhardy, charged the strange digimon with a mighty war cry and swinging his DD-gun towards the dark-winged being. Another, seeming to be more strategy oriented, moved towards the young twins with thoughts of human shields and bait rushing through his head. The two remaining DADP members moved to attempt to line up with the second of the creatures.
The original attacking agent came within the furious digimon's arm length before he truly suffered for his impulsive action. Rather than drawing his weapon, the dark creature backhanded the man. The human flew across the room to crash into the wall and was left groaning softly as a limp crumpled mass on the floor.
"Fine," the creature snarled. "We'll do it that way. Give me your best shot."
For a moment, Mizutani was torn between chasing the boy and investigating the chaotic noise in the apartment. Then, she tossed the strange child wearing goggles (a familiar image in her mind that she could not place) from her mind and ran back towards the living room with Mrs. Kamiya.
What she found was stunning to behold. Her idiotic lackeys were uncoordinated, unprofessional, and, in one case at least, likely unconscious. This sliding door that led to the balcony was shattered along the ground. Squeezing through the broken opening were two large figures. One was vaguely feline in appearance, but he was obviously not the small Gatomon they were seeking. The other was a winged-humanoid that seemed to summon dark images from the back of her mind. The key details that struck a chord screamed at her, lining up with another image in her head.
Three eyes. A dark helmet. Pale hair. Sharp, clawed hands. Pale blue skin. Long, thin arms. A burning look of hatred. But there, the present creature and the one that lurked in her mind diverged. Instead of the green-eyed individual with midnight wings and leather jacket, she saw yellow eyes, a black cape with red trim, and the torso attached to a giant purple and yellow polyhedral with extending metal claws. She felt her chest tighten in fear of the enormous monstrosity before her.
And yet, she knew that she wouldn't be facing him alone. She would force him behind the Wall of Fire with the help of all her new friends. Especially one special new friend who would always be there. If they all stood together, Apocalymon wouldn't…
Mizutani snapped out of her momentary lapse of attention, shaking off whatever the dark digimon's appearance sparked off in her mind. The name that she'd heard in that instant sounded like a digimon's, and yet she could feel that the image had been from her long ago hallucination. How did she know a digimon's name so long ago? Or did she only attach the name to that silly nightmare after the event? Either way, she shoved the entire episode out of her mind in order to focus on the present.
One of the DADP agents was already crumpled against the wall. Another was sprinting towards the young children, who were running towards the digimon without caution or fear of the creatures. The man, the one who'd been suffering from his earlier homemade snack, grabbed the small girl's wrist tightly. She gave a hurt yelp as he yanked her towards himself.
"Quiet, brat," he snapped. "I need to aim for…"
Mizutani didn't get to hear what crazy idea the dark-haired jerk was considering because a very ticked off demonic digimon ran (as best he could in the confining interior of the apartment with a couch in the way) across the room, grabbed the adult human by the neck, and slammed him onto the floor. Snarling inches from the terrified DADP agent's face, the green-eyed creature spoke with extreme force and fury.
"Never touch my partners or I'll make you pay."
Drawing her DD-gun, the blond-haired woman took aim at the threat to her minion. She didn't particularly like the man, but she was supposed to protect people from digimon. And here was her chance. Her stormy-grey eyes and his emerald ones met for a moment.
She didn't, however, count on a certain mother to fling her mildly-warm-from-the oven cake batter across her face. The goo spattered everywhere and left her trying to wipe it out of her eyes. Frustrated and covered in some disgusting attempt at baking, she shrieked at the insanity of Mrs. Kamiya.
"That," the mother stated, "is for threatening me, my family, and their friends."
Another crashing sound erupted, but not glass like before. While she couldn't see what was happening, the blond woman was willing to bet someone or something else had arrived to the fight.
Leomon knew that Beelzemon would not be the most clear-thinker in the rescue mission because of the threat to his young tamers, but he'd relented to a more planned attack. While Takato had gone to the front door to assess the situation with Guilmon just out of sight at the stairway for back-up, the leonine champion and dark mega moved to the balcony the virus already knew could be used as a point of access to the apartment. In addition, they had reinforcement waiting to join them when needed. If the boy hadn't found anything wrong, he would have called off the attack. Unfortunately, Beelzemon's instincts were correct and there was a trap. When the pair of digimon in position broke inside, they found their human opponents watching the tamer's distraction. From there, the four adult males adopted differing reactions to the pair. But one chose to directly charge an angry Beelzemon, only to be slapped aside. The fact the human wasn't dead (as evident by his groaning afterwards) demonstrated that even in his rage, the mega was restraining himself.
While the virus moved towards his young partners, Leomon concentrated on the two humans who were aiming oddly-shaped weapons at him. Even if they weren't digimon, there was no reason to dismiss their potential threat. Sometimes those who seemed he mildest and least capable could become the greatest dangerous. The leonine champion, hindered by the ceiling like his companion, would be slower and less mobile than the men in suits. Drawing his sword slowly, he locked his sapphire eyes on the two frightened men.
"You chose the cowardly way, capturing children to reach your goals," he growled softly. "Are you truly this heartless?"
While both were nervous of the digimon, especially as they caught sight of what Beelzemon was doing to the second human who got too close, one still managed to gain a look of firm determination and state, "We're following orders. If possible, we must disarm and capture the two of you."
Leomon ran the situation quickly through his head. Obviously, the human pair felt their devices could deal with both he and Beelzemon. And while he might be able to get to one of the men before they could act, he would not be able to reach both. His best choice would be to stop the more confident one and to hope the second one would hesitate until he could disarm him as well.
The champion's momentary pause to choose his battle plan was enough for their reinforcement to arrive. The wall nearest where the sliding door once stood crumpled as large metal claws ripped open a larger opening.
Using the distracting destruction of the wall to his advantage, the leonine warrior lunged from his crouching position towards his chosen opponent. Swinging his blade in front of him, Leomon slashed through the dish-like part of the man's weapon. His quick removal of the human's object shattered the earlier confidence the adult had summoned.
Unfortunately, the second man used this moment not to stare at whatever was ripping its way into the apartment, but to fire his own gun-like device on the champion. It didn't produce any noise, light, or even the agonizing sense of being shot. All Leomon noticed was an overwhelming sense of exhausting and weakness throughout his body. His limbs felt heavy and awkward, unlike his usual smooth movements in battle. Whatever the objects were, they were subtle and dangerous.
With the leonine digimon visibly weakened, the adult gained a smug grin, "You digimon aren't so tough. A little human ingenuity will always conquer over stupid programs."
Blinking tiredly, Leomon struggled to move. He needed to still get but with Mrs. Kamiya since the woman wouldn't recognize Beelzemon and the mega would be busy with his partners. But in order to get to the mother, he needed to move. With extreme effort, he took a step.
When the champion began to move again, the man raised his weapon again nervously. It seemed he expected the leonine creature to be completely stopped by the device and his lack of cooperation at the "capture the digimon" plan was worrying. Plus, the entire chaotic events occurring in the apartment were unsettling to witness and could be adding to the man's stress.
"Good kitty," he whimpered softly at the champion. "Stay down, please."
"No," answered Leomon.
Again, there was no sound or other evidence that the weapon was fired beyond a draining exhaustion that washed over him. But the tiredness was too much this time. He sank to his knees as he lost the energy to stand. Briefly, the description Impmon gave of the "bug-zapper building" trying to kill the rookie flashed through his mind. He wondered if there was a connection between the two as he felt himself falling to the floor. Not just falling… shrinking. He was falling to the ground, falling into a smaller form, and falling into unconsciousness.
I am so evil at times, aren't I? The DD-guns were set at a level to handle rookies and champions (like Agumon and Gatomon). They will have less of an effect on megas like Beelzemon. But Leomon… well, he isn't as lucky about resisting them.
And tell me that someone other than me (and Mizutani) has noticed some of the similarities between Apocalymon and Beelzemon in appearance. If you look at the humanoid portion of the ultimate evil in season 1, there are several aspects that are reminiscent of a certain Demon Lord.
There will be more on this rescue attempt soon. It just ended up being more involved than expected. There are so many views to explore and so many events to describe that it takes a while to properly handle.
So, let me know what you think of this chapter and this story in general. Feedback is always appreciated and often speeds up the updates. Thanks.