Back in the tamer universe to check in on the insanity there. Things are getting a little tense there and things need to be handled carefully by those involved. And as hard as it might be to write a battle scene normally, it isn't any easier to add a motorcycle to the mix. Hope you like the chapter.
It was terrifying, fast, and unbelievably insane, but Kazu couldn't help but smile slightly. He was riding Behemoth at high speeds again, weaving through the forest after one of the Dark Masters without his D-arc and Guardromon falling further behind, but things couldn't be more exciting. Takato would have trouble beating his story. He was going to go down in tamer history if he pulled this off.
"This is getting boring," moaned Puppetmon from above the racing vehicle. "Let's try another game. How about tag? I'm 'it'."
With a chillingly-cheerful laugh, the wooden creature leapt down right behind them and swung his hammer at them.
"Puppet Pummel!"
Behemoth gained an extra burst of speed just in time to move out of impact range or else the explosion that accompanied the hammer's blow could have killed Kazu. But the demonic bike didn't stop at simply dodging the attack. It cut its tires sharply and charged at the wooden puppet. The mega blinked in surprise right before the front wheel slammed into him. Puppetmon went sliding across the ground while the sentient vehicle spun around for another attack.
"That's cheating," complained the marionette, climbing swiftly to his feet unharmed.
"Evil bikes make up their own rules," Kazu shouted over the pleased rumbles of the motorcycle. "Now give me that D-arc back."
"Or what?" he asked, pulling his weapon back.
"Guardian Barrage!" cried out the metallic champion, opening fire on the crazed toy. While the explosion were little more than a distraction and annoyance to the mega, it still gave Guardromon an opportunity to fly close with his jetpack and grab his partner's D-arc out of Puppetmon's grip. "Or we shall take back what you stole by force. That is 'what'."
"Not bad," grinned the boy from his position on the demonic motorcycle. "And that was your own material. I'm proud of you."
"Puppet Pummel!" the wooden being shouted, swinging at the boy's partner. Luckily, Guardromon managed to move slightly to the left of the oversized mallet trajectory, resulting in the puppet destroying the trunk of a tree instead of a digimon. "Hold still. I need to smash you now."
"Perhaps pulling back to a safer position would be advisable," the champion suggested as he eyed the smoldering remains of vegetation uneasily. "At least until we can form a proper counterstrike."
Kazu began to reply, but the sentient motorcycle sped towards the deadly living toy at full-speed once more. Puppetmon planted his feet in preparation for the impact that Behemoth would cause. The marionette widened his eyes in shock as the bike pulled up short, turning so it was sliding sideways at the mega. The action flung dirt, broken branches, and leaves on him, leaving the viral mega sputtering and blinded by debris. The demonic motorcycle then pulled back up-right, turned abruptly enough that its back tire side-swiped the wooden digimon, and swerved closer to the champion robot. All of this was accomplished without unseating the once-again petrified, but strangely happy tamer.
"That was insane," he gasped, staring down at the handlebars. "But cool. Please never do that again."
"Kazu, here," began Guardromon, reaching out to hand him the brown-ringed D-arc, but a furious voice interrupted.
"Flying Cross Cutter!" announced the puppet, throwing the wooden cross from his back like a boomerang, spinning swiftly through the air at their heads.
"Move," shouted Kazu, yanked his hand away to grab the bike again.
It wasn't clear who the order was directed towards, Guardromon or Behemoth, but both responded. The coppery champion, still holding his partner's device, fired his jets and propelled himself behind another tree. The bike launched itself forward once more, actually performing a wheelie as it weaved through the forest as the wooden projectile followed.
"If you want to play dirty," Puppetmon sneered, brushing some of the dirt off his shoulder, "so can I." He raised and caught the returning cross. "Let's get even rougher. All my nice new toys are about to break."
"Kazu," called the robotic digimon. "We must fall back."
The boy, clinging to the demonic vehicle currently circling around for another strike closed his eyes and hissed, "Behemoth, we're going to get creamed without a strategy and my D-arc. Stop provoking the evil puppet and get me close to Guardromon. Then, we can stomp him properly."
With a confirming roar of the engine, the motorcycle adjusted its direction slightly. While still bringing them closer to the dangerous mega, the new trajectory provided more coverage and brought the tamer within arm reach of his partner once more. With far better hand-eye coordination than he generally exhibited in normal life, Kazu snatched his D-arc while the bike continued at high speed.
"Yes," he grinned. "Perfect timing. Now, to level the playing field."
Though neither of them had attempted this particular trick since they lost Ryo, the boy and champion could vividly remember the unbelievable power they could obtain. This time, there was no Calumon to help them reach that final step. It would be completely and utterly their accomplishment. It was the final proof of their partnership and how powerful their bond was.
And it was the coolest trick in the entire taming package.
"Guardromon Biomerge to… HiAndromon!"
Replacing the bulky metallic champion and the hat-wearing youth was the tall, dark metal, robotic figure of the Biomerged mega. A pale face barely peeked out from under the helmet that covered most of his head besides his mouth. On his shoulders were a pair of red and blue objects shaped like miniature heads, but served a greater purpose than simple decoration. His fingertips ended in sharp points and they were currently wrapped around the handlebars of Behemoth. By some stroke of luck, the act of combining together still resulted in HiAndromon riding the sentient vehicle.
"We need more space," the dual-voiced being stated. "If we can get enough room to maneuver, then we can have Behemoth pull off his insane stunts properly without worrying about crashing."
Acting on the mega's suggestion, the demonic bike chose another direction. This time, it raced away from Puppetmon. The wooden virus' jaw dropped as his opponents fled him.
"Get back here," he shouted, swinging his hammer in the air. "I'm not finished with you."
Running after the robotic digimon and sentient vehicle, he continued to shout after them about how he intended to 'flatten them, ker-splat." Within his mental sphere, Kazu took a calming breath. As terrifying as the bike's idea of assault might be, it was fairly effective in the right circumstances. And now that he was a mega, he could do more than cling to the motorcycle and try not to scream in fear and excitement.
"You know, Guardromon," the boy mumbled to his other half as the mega glanced over his shoulder at the pursuing Puppetmon, "now that I know Behemoth won't necessarily kill me, this is kind of fun. Like the craziest roller coaster ever."
"Perhaps this reflection on the entertainment value of its driving ability could be postponed until our opponent is defeated," his partner suggested.
"Flying Cross Cutter!" announced the wooden mega.
As before, the journey through the lightless cave was completed as quickly as possible, though Justimon was able to navigate the gloomy depths even without the rookie's instruction. DemiDevimon still acted as helpful as when he first met the human and digimon, but the bat seemed to have become more and more suspicious in the mega's view. If it wasn't for the fact that the virus still seemed to hold the answers they so desperately needed about the past, the Biomerged vaccine would have left him behind.
"Even if none of these digimon we've faced seems innocent or harmless," Ryo muttered from within his mental bubble to his partner, "something is off about all of this. He says that he needs this power to face those traitors who killed us, but he hasn't told us much else about them. Obviously, we'll be facing them eventually, but all we know is that they're humans with digimon like us and that they're dangerous. DemiDevimon has told us more about Puppetmon and his other targets. At least we know their names."
"Doesn't want to distract us?" his partner growled as a suggestion, not nearly as concerned.
"Maybe, but what if it is more than that?" It's almost like gaining power is his main goal rather than gaining justice for what's happened to us. What if… he's just using us and everything is a lie?"
"Not everything," the digimon pointed out gruffly.
The boy considered for a moment, "No, maybe not everything is a lie. Some of my memories seem to match. I did know others. I knew humans with digimon partners once. And we once lived in a world far from Floramon's village. Even the fact DemiDevimon knew us before all of this happened seems true considering everything that he knows. But he's hiding something. Even Destiny said so. Something about Devimon…"
Their inner conversation came to an end as the mega and rookie reached the cave entrance. A smile formed on the tamer's face, even if Justimon couldn't display one. There was nothing as comforting as the familiar sight of the forest level, their home plane.
The tall buildings, pedestrians, and rush hour traffic greeted his eyes. It was an extreme contrast to the world he'd just left, but it was still familiar to him. The similarly-shaped inhabitants of this world, humans, were everywhere here and he just seemed to belong. This was the kind of world he'd lived in most of his life and he was happy to return.
There's no place like home.
The moment of reflection was swiftly interrupted by a distant rumbling and far-off explosions. While the noises of destruction were growing increasingly common in their lives, the other sound was harder to name. After a moment's consideration, Ryo's slowly-returning memories offered an identity to the rumbling.
"Is that a motorcycle?"
DemiDevimon frowned for a second before firmly declaring, "Follow that bike engine."
It was a dangerous risk. There was no guarantee that the distant sounds of battle and a motorcycle would be connected to Puppetmon. In fact, destruction and combat were far too common an occurrence in the digital world. But DemiDevimon had a feeling it would serve him well to go there. If nothing else, it was better than admitting he was less certain about locating the viral mega than the others. Puppetmon tended to travel more in search of new "playmates" than the others. Still, he needed that digimon's help. Or at least his data.
The rookie could feel all that excess data he'd absorbed. With so many high-level digimon in such a short time period, he could easily digivolve to a far more powerful form. And he would do so. But only when he completed the collection. By combining himself with Vilemon, Myotismon, LadyDevimon, SkullSatamon, and Puppetmon, he would become one of the most powerful digimon.
And that Destiny girl even said so. "The bat shall become the End." Thus, he could risk a long-shot like chasing after a bike. Even the final words of the skeletal ultimate couldn't dampen his confidence. Or the fact that his two "allies" could recall their past at any time and remember who actually killed them. All he really needed was to keep them occupied just a little longer. After they finished with this last victim, it wouldn't matter. But he would have to keep their minds on current events and off potentially problematic memories.
Luck was apparently with the viral bat. As he and his pet mega burst into a large clearing, one that bore the signs of previous occupation and fire damage, they managed to catch sight of the individuals causing all the noise before they spotted the new arrivals. One was, by a miracle that DemiDevimon could scarcely believe, the wooden figure of Puppetmon. The high-level virus seemed to be chasing the motorcycle they'd heard earlier. Riding the bike, however, was a familiar digimon the bat had never expected to be present.
"Puppetmon and HiAndromon," he growled.
"Who is HiAndromon?" asked Justimon.
"One of the traitors," lied the rookie. "He is Biomerged like you are. He was one of those heartless monsters who killed you both. With his lying tongue, he came close enough to attack you unexpectedly. Listen carefully. You need to take him and the other digimon out quickly, ignoring whatever lies he tries. He'll speak of 'friendship; and 'teams,' but it is just a ploy."
With hidden eyes, the vaccine seemed to be staring at him. DemiDevimon kept his expression sincere and trustworthy, hoping he hadn't lost his influence on the pair. If Justimon should turn on him, the bat would be helpless.
Finally, the mega nodded towards the yellow-eyed digimon, agreeing to the rookie's advice. Justimon then leapt into the air, his featureless face focused on the unsuspecting fighting creatures. DemiDevimon allowed himself a sigh of relief.
"Suckers," he muttered cruelly.
The metallic mega weighed more than a terrified tamer, but it didn't slow Behemoth down much. As swiftly as possible, it found a clearing to serve as a battleground for it and HiAndromon against the living puppet. The fact the chosen location exhibited clear evidence of past destruction was merely a cheerful bonus for the bike. It could easily smash through the fire-weakened walls of the lost village without losing speed, allowing plenty of collateral damage while the digimon riding on it fired back at the viral mega. All the bike had to be careful of was keeping the mega balanced when he let go to unleash his attack.
"Atomic Ray!" he shouted, energy forming above the two turbines on his shoulders before he combined them in his hands and firing it as a beam at the pursuer.
Unfortunately, Puppetmon dodged the attack and retaliated with a cry of "Flying Cross Cutter!"
Behemoth turned sharply left as the wooden shape flew towards them again, vanishing into the empty shell of a building. It would have smiled at the marionette's frustration, but the motorcycle lacked a face. While it wasn't as fun as terrorizing a village or running rampant with Beelzemon, tormenting the wooden being was still an interesting experience.
With an extra burst of speed, it broke through another wall and slammed against the viral mega on the other side. Stumbling forward, Puppetmon caught himself and tried to swing his mallet at the bike before he was out of range again. The robotic digimon leaned sideways with the motorcycle, resulting in the hammer finding nothing but open air in its path.
Unfortunately, both the digimon and the sentient bike were too focused on their known opponent to react before another being joined the fight.
"Thunderclap!" a silvery digimon announced as he slammed his hand to the ground, shockwaves radiating out and slamming Puppetmon, Behemoth, and HiAndromon away from the epicenter.
After tumbling across the ground like a leaf in a tornado, the bike came to rest not far from its passenger. The sentient vehicle remained still, trying to determine what exactly had just occurred and if he was about to suffer another "Gallantmon scenario" where the battle suddenly switched from an obvious victory to a crushing defeat. The mega moaned slightly and began to climb upright after a moment. Behemoth gave a soft rumble, surprising itself with its mild concern for the Biomerged creature. HiAndromon gave a slight wave, indicating he was unharmed, before spying his attacker and freezing.
"Justimon?"
Sorry the chapter is kind of short, but this is the perfect place to stop for now. You knew that this was coming. Kazu vs. the Legendary Tamer. HiAndromon vs. Justimon. And Puppetmon is still there too. Will they get through to Ryo in time or will he remain DemiDevimon's puppet until it is too late? What is the bat's plan? Will Yamaki, Suzie, and the others get there in time to help? And will I ever run out of odd questions? Find out as more is revealed in the future.
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