Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon
Crackle and Roar
"Oh so it's a Crest." Neo said knowingly. He paused for a few seconds before asking, "What's a Crest?"
Tai looked at the black crest nesting in his hands, then pulled out the tag and crest that recently returned to him. "A crest represents your strongest virtue and symbolizes your bond with your Digimon. Mine represents courage and allows my partner to reach his most powerful form." Tai explained.
"Partner…" Neo murmured to himself. "So what virtue does this crest represent?"
"I don't know." Tai replied. "Usually there's a symbol that tells us what it is, but this one is blank for some reason."
Neo contemplated what he heard, and then nodded as he took back the object. "Alright, so what did you come here for then?" He asked as he tucked the crest back into his desk.
Tai paused for a moment before he remembered what he wanted to ask. "Right… have you been getting any images ever since the day in the park? Anything that seems strange or familiar?"
The other boy sighed as he stretched back on his chair. "Yeah." He said, staring up at the ceiling. Koromon took a glance at Tai as he leaned in closer, anticipating answers to the questions that had swarmed his mind. "Some pretty weird things too. I remember… angels, demons, and monsters, all of them fighting on another, each of them dissolving away into tiny particles. Vanishing just like that bear did several days ago."
"Really?" Tai asked. "That's pretty similar to what I've seen too. I think we've seen something similar." Neo scoffed at the remark. "What's… wrong?" Tai asked cautiously.
"Do you really think that I have some sort of connection with these... Digimon? I don't think that's something anyone could easily forget… besides even if I did have something to do with them, I mean I would have at least gotten a… a… a partner." Neo trailed off, staring out of his window.
"Hey. Neo. Talk to me." Tai said as he snapped his fingers for the other guy's attention. Koromon blasted a stream of bubbles at his face. The bubbles reminded him of his guests and he quickly turned his attention back on to them.
"Sorry, I got a bit distracted for a moment." Neo apologized.
"It's fine. Is that all you can remember though?" Tai asked and suffered another awkward pause.
"Great." Koromon chirped. "Let's get home. I want to check on the others again."
"In a moment Koromon. Well thanks again Neo. I guess I'll call if anything else comes up. Can we borrow your computer?" Tai asked. He a moment passed with no reply, noticing that Neo had sat in his chair silently ever since their conversation ended, he decided that he should leave, that and Koromon started to squirm impatiently in his arms. The Bearer of Courage stood up, said a goodbye and walked towards the door.
"Blue." Neo murmured abruptly. Tai stopped his hand from turning the door knob, and turned back to the silver-haired guy.
"Did you say something?" He asked.
Neo shook his head. "No, sorry about that. I just have some other things on my mind to sort out. There's a computer in the room on the right outside of here."
"Alright, take care then." Tai said.
"Good luck sorting." Koromon waved.
They left the room, and a few minutes later Neo heard a strange sound from the other room. He sighed, reaching back into his desk. For the next few moments, Neo stared into the crest as if it would suddenly speak to him and answer the questions that he had.
"Just what are you planning?" He whispered at the object, and then he paused, waiting for an answer that wouldn't come.
His one-sided discussion ended abruptly when his door suddenly flew open. Neo raised an eyebrow as he looked at another unexpected visitor that day.
"Sigma? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be busy with yourself after getting caught up in one of Mari's events." Neo said with a trace of amusement. The other boy rolled his eyes and held up a flat piece of metal.
"I found this in my room, but I didn't recognize it. Is this yours?" Sigma asked, handing it over.
Neo carefully examined the broken mask in his hands. The mask was split right where the mouth should have been. What chilled him was that even though this was the first time he held or even seen this mask, he couldn't shake off the sense of familiarity it held. "No…" He answered. "I don't remember having something like this."
"Alright then, well you can toss it out for me. I don't even know why I had it anyways." Sigma sighed. "So, how are you guys holding up? Are you alright? Do you feel faint or dizzy?"
"I'm fine Sigma. Geez, I collapse once and everyone's acting like I'm dying." Neo remarked.
"We're just worried about you." Sigma said. "So are you going to mope around today or are we going to do something fun?"
"I could use some fun. You can go out first; I'll catch up in a moment."
"No problem."
Neo looked down at the broken mask once more and aimed it at his waste bin. He paused for a moment before throwing it, and tucked it inside of his desk next to the crest. Without a glance behind him, he left the room.
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"Piedmon? But, but you were destroyed. I DESTROYED YOU!" Tk exclaimed, dripping back into hysteria.
The clown shrugged. His mouth curved up into an amused smirk. "I got better, obviously."
"That's Piedmon?" Yolie gasped, remembering the horror stories that the others told her of the fight with the Dark Master that turned most of the original Digidestined and their partners into key chains.
"He's creepier than you guys made him out to be." Davis noted, Veemon, for once, hesitated to agree.
Minomon jumped out of Davis's jacket. "WHERE"S KEN!?" The bug screamed.
"What do you want?" Kari asked, her voice lined with a venomous fear.
"Not much, just the complete annihilation of you and your kind. But luckily for you, I can't yet, due to the boss's orders." Piedmon complained.
"Boss, ha, so you're just some guy's lackey?" Davis chuckled nervously.
"Davis. Stop annoying the Mega Level Digimon!" Yolie hissed.
"If you aren't destroying us, does that mean you'll let us go freely?" Veemon asked suspiciously.
"What? Of course not." Piedmon scoffed. The floating clown snapped one of his fingers and instantly on of the four swords on his back warped in front of his hand. "You're all going to be captured and imprisoned in a dark dingy cage."
Veemon tensed, he doubted he could defeat this enemy on his own. Plotmon and Poromon were weakly struggling to escape their partners' arms, to protect them no matter what state they are in.
Piedmon let out another round of laughter. "How precious! Do you honestly believe you can stand against me?"
TRUMP SWORD!
Piedmon threw down his blade and suddenly four swords became impaled in the sand in front of each Digidestineds' feet. "If you do than you've just became even more foolish since last time."
Davis grimaced, wondering how they could get away if Veemon could last a minute, or even a second against this freak show reject. He took a glance at his partner, who looked back at him with a similar nervous look.
The demon digimon dropped down to the sands, and started to walk towards them. Davis tried to move, but found that his legs mutinied against him. His partner looked equally tensed as Piedmon walked over, looking down on the little blue dragon. Davis wanted to scream for Veemon to run, to come back to him, to do something. He didn't. He could only stand there as Piedmon continued to look down on Veemon, who was visibly shivering under the demon's fear.
The demon clown suddenly scoffed and brushed past the both of them towards the other Digidestined. He had the sword that was in front of Davis's feet in one hand and grabbed the one in front of Yolie with his other hand. He walked over to Kari and Tk.
"It's been so long since we've all been together like this." Piedmon sneered. Salamon weakly struggled in Kari's arms but couldn't summon anymore strength and grew still. The demon clown slashed the blades at their feet with the ones he was holding. All four exploded into confetti and vanished, however, he held a white handkerchief in his hand instead. "Let's finish what should have been done last time."
Clown Tri-
Gold Rush!
A flurry of drills soared at the demon clown. None of them managed to damage him, but the attack made Piedmon look over to the origin of the attack. Digmon waited for his drills to return with Cody standing next to him. They arrived after hearing the clown's laughter from across the desert. "You little brat, wait your turn, you'll be next." Piedmon scowled before turning back to Tk and Kari. "Now, where were we? Oh right."
Clown Tri-
Vee Laser!
Piedmon scowled with annoyance, Exveemon and Davis freed from their stupor. "It seems like I have to take care of some pests first." The demon clown growled.
"Who are you calling a pest?!" Davis exclaimed, indignant.
"The one with the annoying hair."
"Eh, annoying?"
Trump Sword!
"Davis, move!" ExVeemon exclaimed, swiping his partner out-of-the-way of the incoming swords. The champion roared in pain as the swords pierced him, one in each shoulder and two in his leg. He quickly shrank down to rookie level, and the four blades clattered down to the sand besides him.
Piedmon chuckled as Davis scrambled over to his partner. "Shame, if he didn't try to help then all of those would have only missed you by a bit. Will you consider giving up now?" The demon mocked, but the Digidestined didn't seem to notice, more worried about his partner.
The Demon Digimon then focused his attention on silencing Digmon and Cody after deciding that Davis and Veemon weren't able to pester him anymore. Digmon quickly burrowed under the sand to avoid the flying swords.
"Are you alright, Veemon?" Davis asked as he reached for his wounded partner. The blue dragon struggled to brace himself on his feet, but repeatedly tumbled over. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I have to help Digmon." Veemon said as he tried to stand again, gripping Davis's sleeve. Minomon watched the two and said nothing.
"What!? But you're injured, you have to rest!" Davis insisted.
"Do you think Piedmon will rest?" Veemon asked quietly. Behind them, Piedmon played a sadistic game of whack a mole with Digmon. "There's no one else who can help, I can't give up now."
Davis became silent, and then gave his partner a grin. "We can't give up now." He said and took out his D-Terminal to send a message to Kari and Yolie:
We'll Stall, Take Tk and Head to Digiport
He didn't have time to see the others' reactions before Veemon hobbled away from him. Quickly, he cried out for a DigiEgg, and a reenergized Flamedramon rushed at Piedmon, blindsiding him with a Fire Rocket.
Piedmon growled and slapped the armored dragon away. "Meddle-some BUGS! Constant thorn in my sides! I'm getting tired of your games!" The clown Digimon ranted as he pointed a finger gun at the ground.
ENDING SNIPE!
A brilliant flash of light detonated on to the ground, forcing out Digmon who landed painfully on his back.
"I'm ok!" Digmon groaned before heavy debris started pelting him. "Less ok."
The Demon Digimon then took out a white handkerchief once again. "You are FAR from ok!"
CLOWN TRICK!
The cloth quickly flew down and almost engulfed Digmon, until a spiraling red tornado struck it and it flew slightly off its mark. Piedmon groaned in frustration to see Halsemon had joined the fray. The armored bird heaved heavily, the tornado had taken most of the remaining energy he had left.
Glancing back, he saw that the other three did not follow his instructions. He saw the angry, defiant glances that they gave him. The Digidestined sighed, knowing that he'd need at least a crane before they'd leave anyone else behind.
Instead of worrying about it any longer, Davis returned to the challenge at hand and watched as the three armored Digimon quickly tried to attack Piedmon again and barely avoid the Mega-Level's devastating swords. Even though they were getting a hit or two on the clown, the Digimon didn't seem to be making any real damage. Instead, the more they tried to fight the Mega, the more Piedmon became board with the fight.
Flamedramon threw a fireball at the clown while his back was turned. Piedmon avoided an attack from Digmon and noticed the attack coming for him. He scoffed and summoned another handkerchief.
Clown Trick.
He halfheartedly reflected the attack at Digmon. The armored Digimon managed to nearly avoid the attack, but it managed to singe him slightly.
"Really, I'm getting bored with this." Piedmon sighed. "Just give it up already. If I had known what kind of pushovers you'd all be I wouldn't have bothered going all out. You don't have any idea how disappointing this is for me."
"As if we care!" Flamedramon roared sending out another volley of flames. Piedmon scowled and simply slapped away the fire.
"Get it through your head! Why do you insist on having this pointless battle? Why do you continue to fight when it's hopeless for you to win!? Just give it up!"
CLOWN TRICK!
Before he could react, the white cloth quickly engulfed Flamedramon. It took the shape of a box and sparked with electricity. Piedmon chuckled in triumph and twirled a keychain around his finger.
Davis took a few steps towards the white cloth until he was running at it. He stopped in front of the large flat handkerchief and looked up at Piedmon. "Why do we fight?" Davis repeated the question. He gestured back to his friends. "I just won't leave them to you."
The white cloth shuddered slightly at Davis's words, and a small muffled voiced cried out from under it. Hearing it, Davis quickly pulled away the handkerchief. "Wha? Veemon?" He exclaimed.
Piedmon tilted his head in confusion and looked at the key chain that he had. Instead of a Flamedramon chain, it was a DigiEgg of Courage instead. "How odd." The demon clown murmured.
"I'm with you Davis!" The blue dragon exclaimed, turning back at Piedmon. "Do you hear that! We won't give up!" Veemon exclaimed.
With a renewed battle cry, Halsemon and Digmon redoubled their efforts in attacking, trying to force Piedmon's attention on them and not on their partners.
"After all, the future belongs to those who don't give up." Veemon continued softly.
It didn't seem like anyone heard that in the chaos, but Davis did. "Eh, that's a cool line." He commented.
"Yeah, I must have heard it somewhere before. Maybe in one of your comics."
"I guess," Davis considered, "So Veemon, are you ready to take on clown face again?" The Digidestined asked, taking out his D-3.
"Of course!" Veemon exclaimed. He winced for a moment before quickly recovering his mood.
"Really?" Davis pried. His partner had taken two direct hits from the Mega, no matter how it looks, he's near his limits. Should he really push him this hard?
"Of course." Veemon replied back with determination. His partner wasn't backing down. Davis stared for a moment. Soon he nodded and pointed his D-3 forward, a bright light shining from it. He wasn't going to either. The light now engulfed the blue dragon, and the armored Digimon charged forward. No matter what happens now, he's behind his partner, One hundred percent.
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Within moments, Halsemon and Digmon were also caught in the white handkerchief. Armadillomon and Hawkmon crawled out after a moment. Piedmon looked at the three DigiEgg keychains in his hand. "Must be a bug." He decided.
A bright light caught the corner of his eye. He turned over to where the blue dragon had landed. The demon clown strained to see what was happening in the middle of the light. Once a golden fist connected with his face, he had a decent idea of what happened.
"And who are you?" He asked, his hand going to his face. The Digimon made a crack on the black half of his mask.
"I am Magnamon! I'm going to defeat you this time, Piedmon!" The golden Digimon exclaimed as he charged for another attack.
First I got defeated by a MagnaAngemon and now they send a Magnamon? That's annoying. Piedmon thought.
MAGNA PUNCH!
Magnamon's fist became cloaked in a bright light and headed straight at Piedmon.
Trump Sword.
His sword appeared in his hand. The clown swung it down, creating a powerful gust of wind which forced Magnamon back. Piedmon then tossed the sword at Magnamon, and the other three blades teleported along with it.
The armored Digimon was warned by his human partner and quickly reacted.
Aura Barrier!
A shield of light surrounded Magnamon. Piedmon's attack still pierced through the shield, but stopped half way from hitting the armored dragon. They quickly vanished and warped in the box on his back.
MAGNA BLAST!
Piedmon collected the barrage of missles unleashed by Magnamon easily with his Clown Trick and reflected it back. The armor Digimon tried to avoid his own attack, but one or two managed to hit him. The demon clown noticed that the golden armored Digimon seemed to be running low now. It was probably due to the other attacks he inflicted on the Digimon when it was in its other forms.
"I will stop you." Magnamon said, his voice noticeably breathy.
Piedmon rolled his eyes. "I guess it's time to end this then. Give me your best shot," he gave a menacing smile, "If you can that is!"
Magnamon quickly obliged. Piedmon heard his partner and the other DigiDestined cheering words of encouragement and friendship. Of course none of that drivel could reach his ears.
MAGNA BLASTER!
A radiant unfocused sphere of energy shot out from the golden armored Digimon. Piedmon scowled. That attack could be devastating if it hit. He shaped his hands into a gun once more, focusing energy into his attack.
Ending Snipe!
He unleashed a stronger beam than the one he used before. The crackling laser pierced through the expanding energy and struck the golden Magnamon at its core.
The energy dissipated, and Magnamon fell to the sand below. Piedmon hovered down on top of the wounded Digimon. Although he managed to aim perfectly at the partner Digimon's heart, the golden armor blocked his attack. Piedmon stepped on the charred chest plate triumphantly and pointed one of his swords at his neck.
"Well played, but this is the end. Don't worry, we will deal with your friends soon after you're gone. This is it!" Piedmon chuckled triumphantly, raising his blade. He could see the pain and the defiance that shimmered in the armored Digimon's eyes, he wanted to cut through it. No matter what Deamon ordered, he could always retrieve the digiegg later.
"STOP!" Magnamon's partner exclaimed running. "DON'T HURT VEEMON!"
His voice burst loudly, even Piedmon heard it. The demon clown scoffed, as if he would be dissuaded by a mere human's words. This partner Digimon was going to pay the price for annoying him. Piedmon plunged down the sword.
Stop… Don't touch Piedmon.
The sword impaled the sand next to Magnamon's face.
What was that? The demon clown thought for a moment. The voice was soft and echoed through his mind. He looked down at Magnamon. All the bloodlust that he had moments before was gone now.
Piedmon withdrew his sword and started to walk away. "I'll leave for now." The clown said, shocking the Digidestined. "I'll be back another day. Don't be so boring next time. Fighting all of you was worse than listening to his stories."
The demon clown flew away and eventually vanished from view.
Magnamon soon degenerated down to DemiVeemon, who quickly found himself in Davis's embrace. Then after making sure Piedmon was gone, the DigiDestined carried Tk back through the Digiport, all of them thinking on the bittersweet events that day.
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I'm finally done! This chapter took forever, and there was so much stuff happening since the last update.
So thanks for those who follow/faved this story,
Brendan-Mudk, Kojo208, TheCrazyAnimeFan, and 1 Guest for reviewing.
Thanks for reading.
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