21: Hello again fanfic peoples! I bring you another update to my story. This is, so far, the longest chapter I've written. Again, like last time, this particular chapter was written over the span of 3 years, having only just been finished yesterday. However, I've read through it, and had another set of eyes look over it, and I think it's good to go. With this addition, the document containing my season 2 revised stories is now over 350 pages long. This is, by far, the longest single story that I've ever written, and I'm not even close to done yet. Granted, some of the lines are literally just digimon shouting their attacks but the total number of words in the document is now almost 140,000 (not including my intro/outro stuff, which I add on fanfiction), and I haven't even made it out of the Digimon Emperor arc yet! Fortunately there are only eight more episodes in the arc, which I've got planned out reasonably well, so it'll probably be 10 years (give or take) until I finish it and move on. (Just kidding, I hope...) One last thing I'll point out here, for those of you who may have read my other stories (and even those of you who haven't), I've stated that I'm working on revamping them and refining them because the quality of those stories isn't that great. Well, sure enough, a couple of days ago I posted an updated version of D0: The Satanmon Saga's prologue. I'm actually very happy with how it came out, so I'd appreciate it if you guys would take a look at it after finishing this.
In any case, it does feel good to be writing again, even if I do still struggle with the combat scenes. I'll remind all of you that I do not own Digimon, and we can move on to the next installment of my story namely...
Episode 13: The Good, the Bad, and the Slightly Deranged
(Davis): Last time, the Emperor easily defeated us thanks to his newest servant, MetalGreymon. Afterwards, we discovered the Digiegg of Friendship. In the process of attempting to pick up the Digiegg, Gentleman George was zapped and collided head first into a rocky wall. As a result, he returned to normal. (I told them hitting him on the head again would work, but no, they didn't want to listen to me!) As George flew off to heal himself from his extensive injuries, the Emperor showed up, intent on destroying us. Despite our best efforts, the Dark Spiral seemed indestructible. As MetalGreymon moved in to finish us off, Tai stepped forward and caused him to hesitate. At that moment, I realized what friendship meant and unlocked the Digiegg of Friendship, allowing Veemon to Armor digivolve into Raidramon. With George's help, we managed to destroy the Dark Spiral, free Agumon, and defeat the Emperor. Not too shabby, but I get a feeling it'll get worse from here…
The early morning tranquility in the Old West was shattered by several explosions that lit up the sky like fireworks. Their source was a fleet of Airdramon who were pursuing a single Birdramon, and not just any Birdramon. This particular Birdramon was the partner of Sora Takenouchi. Although a very capable fighter, fighting multiple opponents was beginning to take its toll on the orange bird.
"So tired," thought Birdramon, "but these Airdramon are not likely to give me a chance to rest."
"Fire again!" yelled the Digimon Emperor, who was perched atop the lead Airdramon.
"Spinning Needle!"
Birdramon began sloppily dodging the blasts, but got clipped on the wing by the last one. She began spinning as she hopelessly tried to regain her balance, but it was no use. The orange bird crash landed just outside of a little ghost town known, ironically, as Ghost Town.
As the Emperor commanded his forces to spread out and search the area, the now dedigivolved Biyomon began crawling towards the nearby town seeking shelter. Only one word was on the pink bird's lips.
"Sora," she mumbled.
Having just completed a rigorous training session for soccer practice, Sora had run to her gym bag with the intent of having a drink from her water bottle. When she got there, however, she noticed that something inside was glowing red and emitting a low pitched shriek. Rummaging through her possessions, she quickly discovered that her fears were justified. Her digivice was flashing a warning. Biyomon was in trouble!
"I've gotta go coach!" shouted the redhead, "something important has come up."
"Okay Sora," said the coach, "we were just going to finish up anyways."
The Child of Love ran as fast as she could towards the other side of the field where the high school boy's varsity soccer team was practicing, and, in moments, she was joined by Tai, as the two of them ran into the computer lab, where Izzy was teaching his computer class.
"…and so," Izzy was saying, with Yolei looking on, "learning java programming is just like learning another language. There are certain rules and logic that apply to its coding, just like there are grammar and punctuation in written languages to help us determine what the other person is talking about."
Casually, the lavender haired girl pointed to the two new arrivals. (Sometimes, when Izzy was in lecture mode, he failed to notice anything other than his audience.)
"Ah," said Izzy, "I uh, think that's enough for today guys."
"But Izzy," whined one of the students, "we've only just started the lesson."
"When Izzy says class is over, class is over!" yelled Yolei, causing the other students to flinch in fear.
"Yes, well," stammered Izzy, "what I want now if for you all to go home and write the standard first program as described in your online textbook section 1.1. If you have any problems, e-mail me…dismissed!"
The class slowly filed out chatting amiably about the latest RPGs, as the resident genius turned to the two soccer players.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Yeah," replied Sora, "Biyomon's in trouble!"
"Timber!" shouted George, as he and Sobekmon felled another Control Spire. They were patrolling the northern coast of Server knocking down Spires left after MetalGreymon's rampage. Having recharged himself again the night before, George had nearly fully recovered from his recent head injuries. Suddenly, George's sunglasses started ringing. Blinking twice, the Warrior of Power answered the call.
"What's up Izzy?" he asked, after the headset had extended.
"Biyomon is in trouble," replied the genius, "we saw you were in the area and wondered if you could find out what's going on."
"I'll check it out," said George, signing off.
"Shall I come with you George?" asked Sobekmon.
"No," said George, "you need to stay here and keep knocking down Spires. There's a lot of cleanup work to do after the Emperor captured MetalGreymon."
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" asked the Steel Soldier of Power.
"Fairly certain," replied George, "but just in case you don't hear from me within an hour, call the others."
Pausing for a moment, the Warrior of Power pulled out his digivice and held it out towards his partner.
"In case I do go missing, you can use the locator app that I modified to find me," he said.
"Understood," said Sobekmon taking the digivice, as George nodded and flew off.
"Well?" asked Sora anxiously.
"He said he'll look into it," replied Izzy, hanging up his cell phone.
"Good," said Tai, "but just the same we should get the others."
"Agreed," said Izzy as Yolei pulled out her D-Terminal and began typing an email.
The lavender haired girl frowned as she got back responses.
"Cody's at kendo practice, which won't finish for another 45 minutes, TK's at the library working on an essay for his literature class, and Kari is out with her parents," she said.
"What about Davis?" asked Tai.
"He got detention," reported the lavender haired girl.
"What for?" asked Sora curiously.
Davis glanced up at the clock for the millionth time. Barely a minute had passed since he had looked at it last.
"Damn!" he thought, "stupid Toyama and his stupid rules! Why can't I sleep during history class? It's just not fair!"
George's investigations had led him to the town of Ghost Town, which was the last place Birdramon had been seen.
"Hmmm," he thought, "maybe Starmon knows where she went…it's been a long time since I've been out here. I haven't had the occasion since then to wear my Western attire."
A few minutes later, and dressed in his trench coat, a cowboy hat, and boots, George walked into the saloon of Ghost Town.
Behind the bar there was a five pointed star shaped silver digimon wearing a cowboy hat as well. His arms and legs were covered in belts, and he wore blue and red gloves and boots over his hands and feet. The wrists and knuckles of the gloves and the tongue and toes of the boots were metal. Behind him trailed a tattered yellow ribbon. The digimon looked up from polishing the counters as George walked in.
"Mr. Helltower," he said pulling out a mug, "fancy seeing ya here."
"I'd heard tell that Biyomon was last seen in this area," said George, taking the proffered beer, "I was wondering if you've seen her."
"Biyomon eh?" asked the lawmon, "that does ring a bell…"
As George drained the mug, Starmon turned towards the back wall behind the bar looking at the various warrants. Eventually, he stopped at one and squinted.
"Ah ha!" he said, pulling down the warrant, "here she is!"
George looked at the sheet of paper.
"Wanted: Biyomon," it read with a picture and description below, "Reward: 5,000 digi-dollars…alive only. Known aliases: Birdramon and Garudamon."
"What's this?" demanded George, as Starmon handed him a second beer.
"Come ta think of it…" began the lawmon returning to the wall of warrants and looking again.
As George drank his second beer, Starmon pulled down another warrant and flicked the sheet casually at him.
"Wanted: George Helltower," read this one, with his picture and a description below, "Reward: 100,000 digi-dollars…alive only. Known aliases: El Barto, WarFalconmon, MagnaIceAngemon, Machinemon, Wildernessmon, George Helltower: Sovereign Mode, Captain Obvious, and Powerhouse."
"Sorry old friend," said the lawmon, advancing on the Warrior of Power, "but I've got ta take ya in."
Regretfully, George knocked down the glass as he charged at the lawmon, knocking off his hat, revealing the Dark Ring underneath.
"…I think we'd better take this outside," said George.
Finally out of detention, Davis ran to the computer lab. As he skidded to a stop outside the door, he heard concerned voices inside, so he charged in.
"What's going on guys?" he asked.
"Biyomon's in trouble," said Sora, "George is looking for her."
"Well, why aren't we helping him?" asked Davis.
"For one," said Yolei, "you just got here."
"For two," continued Izzy, "Cody will be here soon, so we're waiting for him."
"Besides," said Tai, "George can handle it. He usually knows what he's doing."
"Alright…" sighed Davis reluctantly.
"Don't worry Davish!" chirped DemiVeemon, "when Cody gets here we'll help find Biyomon!"
"I know," said Davis confidently, "but I just hope that we don't have to find George too…"
A lone tumbleweed rolled across the dusty street of Ghost Town. Starmon and George stood twenty paces apart facing each other. The Warrior of Power shrugged off his trench coat revealing the gun in its holster on his left hip.
"This town ain't big enough fer the two of us," said Starmon.
"Agreed," said George, "I challenge you to a showdown."
"Here're the rules," said the enslaved digimon, "first one ta fall over loses."
"Fine," said George as his left hand strayed to the holster.
Suddenly, a large shadow blocked out the sun as an immense being appeared behind the former lawmon. George's eyes widened in recognition at the sight of this particular being.
"No…" he said.
"Draw ya yellow bellied coward!" exclaimed Starmon, "ya'll be a hangin' in the morning!"
Quickly, George pulled out his gun, but it was too late, the shadowy figure launched a powerful attack which severely injured Helltower, causing him to fall to his knees.
"And now for the final blow!" exclaimed Starmon, raising his arms.
"Meteor Shower!"
A maelstrom appeared above the former lawmon, and within were several large chunks of rock, which launched straight at the beaten Helltower.
George was pummeled into unconsciousness by the falling meteors.
Upon Cody's arrival, Izzy contacted Sobekmon to determine what had happened with regard to Biyomon. The Steel Soldier said that he didn't know and was about to call them as George had failed to contact him.
"Where was his last known location?" asked Izzy.
"I'm not sure," said Sobekmon, "but I can find out where he is."
"How?" asked Yolei, "our D3s can only find someone within a relatively close range."
Sobekmon showed them George's digivice.
"Maybe your digivices can't find him," said the armor digimon, "but his can."
Having captured the notorious George Helltower, Starmon decided to phone his boss to inform him of the good news. Naturally, the Emperor was overjoyed to hear that George had finally been subdued.
"Excellent work Starmon," he said, "you shall be receiving the reward soon."
"Thank you, your Highness," said the corrupted lawmon bowing, "but what should I do with him?"
"He shall suffer the fate of all those who oppose me," said the Emperor smiling sinisterly, "I personally shall hang him at dawn!"
"Yes sir!" said Starmon as the Emperor signed off.
Meanwhile, a few feet away, George was still unconscious in his cell.
The Digimon Emperor was not pleased. After sending his minions to locate Birdramon, he had returned to his home base and continued reviewing his videos of the battle with MetalGreymon. He also figured out how George had managed to break the unbreakable.
"Damn that man is clever!" he said, kicking the wall in a frustrated manner, "somehow he must have gotten a sample of a Dark Ring and calculated its resonant frequency. That means any Ring or Spiral made from that material is useless to me!"
The Emperor followed up his kick with a few punches before settling down.
"It's okay, Ken," he muttered to himself, "you can fix this. You can be just as clever as he is. You just need to find a different material to make the Spirals out of."
The Emperor flicked through his list of materials he had synthesized for manufacturing Dark Rings until he found the one he was looking for.
"Material #4876 tested in very well for durability," he remarked, and then checked its other statistics, "unfortunately, amplification is insufficient to receive signals from adjacent regions…this leaves material #5102. That's the only material with satisfactory amplification capabilities and decent durability."
The Emperor sighed.
"That said," he remarked, "the durability does take a nose dive, but with material #5112 compromised, I'd rather take a less durable Spiral than a useless one. Besides, the Spiral shape gives it more structural durability than the plain old ring anyways…I'll also want to make sure these shatter and disintegrate completely upon destruction, just in case. If George was able to learn so much from just a shard of a Dark Ring, I don't want him obtaining another one."
The Emperor pulled up the appropriate schematics and modified them using the new material and inserted a self-destruct subroutine in the event of structural compromise. He clicked "save and upload," thus successfully downloading the patch on any active Dark Rings or Spirals. Between that and his orders for Starmon to execute Sora Takenouchi, the weaknesses of his Dark Spirals were taken care of.
The Emperor sighed and leaned back heavily into his throne. A dictator's work was never done.
Holding George's digivice in front of him, Sobekmon glanced at the nearby Ghost Town with aloof interest. The signal on the fallen warrior's digivice was strong.
"It seems as though George is somewhere in this town," he commented.
"I'd suggest starting in the saloon," commented Cody, "for all we know he could be slacking off and drinking."
Davis glared at the 4th grader.
"After all that he's done for us recently, you still doubt him?" he snarled.
"No," said Cody simply, "I'm just basing my recommendations on George's past behavior. George is addicted to alcohol; therefore the logical place to start looking for him is the saloon."
"I agree," said Sobekmon, "but not because George might be slacking off, but rather because an old friend of ours runs the saloon, a digimon known as Starmon. He's also in charge of maintaining law and order in this town."
"So he may know what happened to Biyomon," said Sora, "let's go!"
As the Digidestined approached the saloon, Starmon emerged from within, hat on his head and a big friendly grin on his face.
"Welcome Sobekmon, and welcome strangers," he said, "come on in fer some tall cool glasses of welcome milk!"
Happy for any excuse to get out of the parching sun, the Digidestined followed the enslaved digimon into the saloon.
Cody was completely immobilized in shock.
"H-he killed them all!" exclaimed the 4th grader, "Ken has transformed Agumon into a monster!"
As the demon stomped towards them, the Digidestined stood, powerless against such an opponent. The armor digimon moved in front of them.
"Move!" shouted Flamedramon.
"You're making a pretty big target," commented Pegasusmon.
Although the digimon encouraged them, the Digidestined just couldn't move. In one fell swipe, SkullGreymon slashed all five armor digimon causing all but Nefertimon and Pegasusmon to dedigivolve into their In-Training level (they dedigivolved into Gatomon and Patamon respectively), leaving the Digidestined defenseless.
"Dark Shot!"
The demon dragon's single missile sped towards the Digidestined, a harbinger of their demise.
"I must say," commented the lawmon, as he filled up several mugs with cold, foamy milk, "it ain't often we git visitors in these here parts. That's why this here town's known as Ghost Town."
"We were wondering if you'd had any other visitors recently Starmon," asked Sobekmon.
"Perhaps a few," said Starmon, sliding the glasses down the bar until there was one in front of everyone (without spilling a drop too), "now drink up!"
As the Digidestined and their partners began sipping their beverages, Sobekmon continued his conversation with Starmon.
"We have reason to believe that my partner is somewhere here in town," said the Steel Soldier, "he was out looking for Biyomon, the Child of Love's partner, so we can also assume she's somewhere here as well."
"I'm sure if yer buddies were here I'd be the first ta know about it," drawled Starmon, "and I ain't seen hide nor hair of either of 'em."
As Sobekmon was about to reply, Davis cut him off.
"Hey!" complained the gogglehead, "there's somethin' fishy about this milk!"
"Codswallop!" retorted the lawmon, "it's standard issue welcome milk."
"Maybe," said Davis, "but it tastes funny…"
The gogglehead suddenly collapsed as the tranquilizers in the drink took effect. All around him, Sobekmon's companions succumbed to the sedatives, falling in disarray before the corrupted lawmon.
"What have you done?!" demanded Sobekmon, drawing his pistol.
"Emperor's orders," said Starmon, unapologetically, "I had ta take y'all in."
"Well now you're going to have to deal with me!" exclaimed Sobekmon.
"I beg to differ," said the enslaved digimon casually, pouring the remaining liquid down the drain.
A shadow fell across the bar as another digimon entered the saloon.
Within moments, Sobekmon had collapsed among his comrades, having been struck from behind by the shadowy assailant, dedigivolving back into Crocmon.
"Excellent," said Starmon, glancing at the bodies, "you know what ta do!"
The shadowy companion nodded and began picking up the unconscious Digidestined.
Watching from far above the battlefield, the Emperor had a momentary grin. While it was true that SkullGreymon was out of his control, the Digibrats would still be defeated. He could easily work on controlling Ultimate and higher level digimon at his own leisure once the Digidestined were killed.
Suddenly, Ken noticed something unwelcome appearing on the edge of his vision, speeding towards the Digidestined from the opposite direction of the missile…George Helltower had arrived.
Cody awakened within a small, dimly lit, room. He carefully glanced at his surroundings. Behind him was a rough wooden bench cemented into a gray wall. There was a small barred window just out of reach. In front of him was a wall of bars held in place by a lock. The only source of light was coming from a bulb outside of the cell, so there was a corner of their cell that was obscured in shadow. Nonetheless, Cody felt sure he saw something stirring within that corner, and there seemed to be recent blood stains on the floor near the shadowy corner indicating someone had been there before them. All around him, the other Digidestined seemed to have already woken up (being bigger, the tranquilizer had a shorter term effect on them). Not wanting to take any chances, their jailor had tied them up tightly while they were asleep. Additionally, their digivices and mini computers had all been confiscated and placed in a pile on a desk outside of the cell.
"So you're finally awake eh?" asked Tai, looking over at the 4th grader, "you had us worried for a while."
"How long was I out?" asked Cody.
"About ten minutes longer than I was," said Tai.
"Is anybody else still unconscious?" asked the 4th grader.
"Only Crocmon," said Yolei, gesturing towards the unconscious reptile.
"We're not really sure what happened to him," remarked Sora, "he didn't drink Starmon's welcome milk."
"Well perhaps he can tell us when he awakens," commented the 4th grader.
After several agonizing and uncomfortable moments, the crocodilian digimon began to awaken.
"Welcome back," said Tai somewhat sarcastically.
"Do you remember what happened to you?" asked Cody.
Crocmon struggled for a few moments before replying.
"The last thing I remember, I confronted Starmon about the tranquilizers. Then the bar suddenly got dark. Next thing I know, I'm all tied up in a jail cell."
"So you don't know who attacked you or how you got here?" asked Sora hopefully.
"Nope," said the confused Crocmon, "sorry."
"That's bullshit!" exclaimed Davis, "how can you be attacked by someone and not know who it was?!"
"Maybe he was attacked from behind, nimrod!" shouted Yolei.
As the two of them got into another of their, oh so famous, shouting matches, Tai tried to diffuse the situation.
"Come on guys!" he said, "now is not the time to be fighting amongst ourselves."
"He's right," interjected Cody, "we need to figure out how to get out of here and then how to find George. Hopefully George will know where we can find Biyomon."
"Well," said Crocmon, "I may not have many answers, but I can help you in one way."
"What's that?" asked Sora.
"George is somewhere nearby," replied Crocmon, "I can smell him."
"YAAAAHHHH!"
The Digidestined heard a bizarre scream coming from behind them and barely had time to turn around when George flew over their heads towards the missile.
Having charged out of his control room as soon as he discovered Greymon's location, George had found that, indeed, the Emperor's scheme was more than it first seemed. Ken was now planning on controlling Ultimate level digimon. So far, it hadn't been a rip-roaring success, but George knew that Ken would figure it out sooner or later.
"Damn!" thought George, as the Digidestined appeared to get farther and farther away as the lethal missile closed in on them, "I'm not going to make it in time!"
Although the Warrior of Power sped up to his maximum velocity, he couldn't seem to close the gap between himself and the younger Odaiba Digidestined.
SkullGreymon's missile continued unimpeded towards the defenseless Digidestined.
The resulting explosion completely vaporized the nearby ground. At the epicenter of the explosion, a large crater had formed.
When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that the younger Odaiba Digidestined had been completely vaporized. Not a single recognizable piece remained of either them or their digimon partners. The shockwaves blew George backwards and he slammed upside down into a nearby cliff. As he struggled to right himself, George could only watch helplessly as the Emperor reclaimed Koromon. Laughing maniacally, the Emperor couldn't resist a parting remark to his nemesis.
"…and they were really counting on you too," he sneered.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted George as soon as he had air in his lungs.
His fury was so great, that a black bolt of lightning struck him, as he began to feel the dark energies of his evil inclinations taking over. His hair turned black, his eyes turned red, and the Crest of Power began glowing in a dark light as it began to achieve its full evil potential as the Crest of Darkness.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A violent scream erupted from the shadowy corner of their cell, causing the Digidestined to jump in shock. Moments later, George Helltower flopped into view. He was bound similarly to the Digidestined, but his face was blotched with severe burns and lacerations. Tears were streaming from the fallen warriors eyes as he opened them. As soon as he noticed the others, who were looking at him in a half frightened state of shock, relief flooded his features.
"You're alive," he breathed, "it was only a dream."
After a few more minutes of stunned silence, Davis recovered.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked.
"Nothing," muttered George.
"People don't just scream for no reason," remarked Cody.
"Bad dream," mumbled the fallen warrior, so quietly the others could barely hear him.
"Awww," mocked Davis, "did you forget to bring your teddy bear when you went to sleep?"
Not being able to move, George was only able to glare daggers at the youngest gogglehead, who promptly scooted as far away from the fallen warrior as his binds would allow him.
Sora cleared her throat.
"While the concept of George having a teddy bear is amusing, I'm a little more concerned about the location of Biyomon," she said.
"Agreed," said Cody, "also, I'd like to know just how you got here George."
Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, George attempted to remember how he'd arrived at his present location, pausing occasionally as he struggled to remember.
"I was tracking Biyomon…A Monocromon had mentioned seeing Birdramon being pursued by a squad of Airdramon going west…Shortly thereafter, I encountered a pair of Gazimon who swore they saw Birdramon getting shot down near Ghost Town…" he began.
"…and?" asked the horrified Sora.
"…I arrived in Ghost Town and promptly headed into the saloon," continued George.
"Starmon put tranquilizers in your beverage?" guessed Cody.
"No," said George casually, "I'm immune to tranquilizers…instead we had a showdown…evidentially I lost."
"Brilliant deduction, Einstein," scoffed Yolei, "what was your first clue?"
"Hold on," said Crocmon, "are you saying you lost a showdown to Starmon?"
"As bizarre as it sounds, that's what happened," said George, "but there's something else…some detail is eluding me…it's on the tip of my brain, but I can't seem to remember."
"I'm sure you'll remember sooner or later," remarked Tai, "in the meantime, it's good to know that Biyomon was last seen somewhere near here. That means that we're close."
"But she's hurt," said Sora sadly, as tears began welling in his eyes, "which means she's probably hiding somewhere in pain…the longer we wait, the more she suffers."
As Tai made soothing noises to comfort his girlfriend, Cody glanced towards George.
"Any ideas how we're going to get out of here?" he asked.
The fallen warrior struggled with his bonds for a moment.
"Working on it," he commented, still writhing.
Having secured the prisoners, Starmon and his mysterious companion had gone off into the town square to erect the gallows on which George would hang at dawn.
As he nailed a plank into the platform, Starmon began whistling, a mon clearly content with his work.
"I'm tellin' ya," he said, "the reward for this haul's gonna make us rich."
The companion merely grunted while hauling the massive wooden beams for the tree.
"Always a pleasure talkin' to ya," muttered Starmon.
Moving on to the next plank, the corrupted lawmon resumed whistling.
"I got nothing," said George, "these binds are too thorough."
"So we're stuck here?" demanded Sora.
"Not much I can do about it," admitted the fallen warrior.
As Sora opened her mouth to reply, the Digidestined heard a stage coach approaching the jail's entrance. Moments later, a bizarre digimon entered.
Basically a living gun, with the barrel as his chest, the digimon was about George's height. Wearing a belt made out of shotgun shells and a pair of blue jeans, a pair of legs with booted and spurred feet emerged from below the barrel (where the trigger should have been). There were two holsters in the belt, both of which contained Colt Peacemaker revolvers. To the sides of the barrel were the digimon's arms, which ended in gloved hands. Above the barrel, and partially obscured by a red bandana (worn over his mouth) and a large ten gallon hat, was the Digimon's head. His yellow eyes glanced curiously at the captives.
"Well now, what do we have here?" asked the strange digimon.
"Who's he?" whispered Cody
"Deputymon," said George, straining to see the newcomer, "Starmon's partner, his Justice Bullet and Russian Roulette attacks are not to be taken lightly."
"What're you guys doin' in there?" repeated Deputymon.
"Starmon put us here," replied Cody, "as for why, why don't you ask your master the Digimon Emperor?"
"What?!" exclaimed Deputymon, "the Digimon Emperor ain't my master!"
"Prove it!" exclaimed Yolei, "take off your hat!"
The lawmon pulled off his hat revealing his black head. No Dark Ring or Dark Spiral was in sight.
"See?" said Deputymon pointing, "ain't nobody controls me…not even me!"
"…He's a little strange," whispered George, as the lawmon continued to strip off articles of clothing to prove he didn't have a Dark Ring.
The girls suddenly started to blush as the lawmon removed even his undergarments.
"…ummmmm," stuttered Yolei.
Deputymon noted their discomfort and quickly began pulling his clothes back on.
"Oops, got a lil carried away," he said, as he slipped his hat back on.
"Well, if you're not working for the Emperor, can you get us out of here?" asked Armadillomon.
"Sure," said Deputymon, taking the keys, "but jus' the girls."
"Pardon?" asked Hawkmon.
"Ya see," continued the lawmon, "I love playin' cards, but I need other players ta do it…and boys cheat. Ain't that right Mr. Helltower?"
With this, the lawmon casually glanced at George, who was trying to look as innocent as possible.
"You cheated at cards?" whispered Tai.
"That depends on your point of view," George whispered back, "besides, right now, that's not important."
Quick as lightning, the deputy sheriff unlocked the door, and untied the girls. The lawmon then pulled out one of his guns and gestured Sora and Yolei out of the cell.
"What about me?" exclaimed Hawkmon, struggling against his binds, "I'm Yolei's partner! Where she goes, I go."
"Hmmmmm…." muttered Deputymon, "alright, y'all can join us, but only because I need a fourth player."
While Hawkmon was distracting the lawmon, Sora leaned over to untie Tai's bindings, but only managed to loosen them before Deputymon intervened.
"Now, now Missy," he said, "we can't be havin' any boys to ruin our fun now can we?"
"But," began Sora, attempting to protest.
"Go!" recommended George, "better that some of us should be free than for all of us to remain here."
Sighing, Sora, Yolei, and Hawkmon stepped out of the cell, collecting their digivices and Yolei's minicomputer from the pile on the desk, and tossing the other digivices and mini computers into the cell.
After rummaging around the desk for a moment, Deputymon slammed the door in the boys' faces and locked it with several padlocks to ensure that they wouldn't escape. Moments later, the captives heard the front door slam as Deputymon and the ladies exited the jailhouse.
"…I swear he's a good guy," said George as Tai, Davis, Cody, Veemon, and Armadillomon looked at him skeptically.
"That's that," remarked Starmon, as he finished hammering in the final nail, "the gallows are complete. The Emperor will be pleased."
"Shall we test them on one of the other prisoners before the Emperor arrives?" asked the shadowy companion, "just to make sure it will work."
"Good idea," acknowledged Starmon, "we wouldn't want the Emperor to arrive only for the gallows to break…and the warrants for the other Digibrats didn't mention that they had to be alive."
"Indeed," remarked the massive digimon, "only George and the digimon are not to be killed. The Emperor wants to kill George personally, and the digimon can be made useful to the Emperor."
Starmon snapped his fingers.
"I got a grand idea!" he said, remembering the Emperor's secret orders, "let's try out them gallows on that Sora Takenouchi girl! She's nothin' but trouble fer our operation."
Grunting, the shadowed digimon followed Starmon as he headed back towards the jailhouse.
"Well, what now?" asked Cody, "we can't just stay here until Deputymon decides to let the girls free us."
"True," said George, "but now that we have our digivices, our partners can digivolve, thereby breaking their ropes, after which they can free us."
"Just one problem with that idea," remarked Crocmon.
"What's that?" asked Tai.
"We're starvin'" replied Armadillomon, as Veemon's stomach rumbled, "and we can't digivolve without eating."
"…that is a problem," said George, as he returned to thinking.
"Tai," said Cody, glancing at the high school student, "Sora attempted to untie you. How much leeway do you have?"
The older gogglehead began squirming.
"A bit," he said, "it should be enough to allow me to escape, but it'll take some time."
"…and we're still going to need to find food afterwards," added George.
After a few awkward moments of silence, as Tai wriggled in his binds, Starmon entered the jailhouse.
"Hide the digivices," mouthed George, as the lawmon walked over to the cell and looked curiously at the numerous padlocks securing the door.
"That's funny," muttered Starmon, "I don't remember putting so many locks on the door."
"That doesn't matter," said a voice from outside of the jailhouse, "just get Takenouchi and get out here. We've got gallows to test!"
"Right," acknowledged the enslaved digimon, fishing out a set of keys, "I'll jest be a moment."
A few minutes later, Starmon popped the last lock, and walked into the cell. He took a look around, and pulled off his hat nervously and scratched his head.
"What the—" he exclaimed, "what in tarnation happened here?"
"What's wrong?" came the voice from outside.
"Sora's gone!" yelled Starmon, "as are the lavender haired girl and the bird with the feathered bandanna!"
"How'd they escape?" wondered the voice.
Starmon mulled over the problem for a moment, before connected the metaphorical dots.
"The girls are gone, yet the boys remain," he said savagely, "this smells of my ex-pardner, that lowlife Deputymon! That slime bag loves playin' with the girls…ever since he got cheated at cards by Helltower."
Once again, George put on his most innocent face as Starmon walked over to him, and picked him up by his collar.
"Where'd he take them?" demanded the corrupt lawmon.
"Heck if I know," said George, unfazed, "Deputymon didn't leave a forwarding address when he abandoned us here."
"Bah!" exclaimed Starmon, throwing George against the back wall and stomping out of the cell.
Once again, the door was slammed in the boys faces, as Starmon relocked every single padlock.
"Let's git goin' Garudamon!" he exclaimed, running out the door, "we've got varmints to round up!"
"Garudamon," said Tai, eyes widening, "then that means…"
Having picked himself up after colliding with the rear wall, George steadied himself by sitting on the bench.
"I think I remember how I lost the showdown," he said casually, "and I'm okay by the way…thanks for asking."
"How could you have forgotten something like that?!" demanded Tai, "that's a fairly important detail!"
"Take it easy Tai," interjected Cody, "George recently suffered some fairly critical head wounds. His mind may not have fully recovered yet."
"Yeah," agreed Davis, "besides, what're you getting so worked up about anyways? So Starmon has another accomplice, it's nothing we can't handle."
"Garudamon isn't just some random digimon," snarled Tai, "she's the Ultimate digivolved form of Biyomon, Sora's partner."
"…oh," said Davis, "that's not good."
There followed several more agonizing moments of silence as Tai redoubled his efforts to escape his bindings.
"So…" said George, "I suppose now would be a bad time to tell you guys the story of my fateful card game with Deputymon…"
All he got in response was a glare from Tai and Cody, a sigh from Crocmon, and a look of curiosity from Davis, Veemon, and Armadillomon."
"It all began several hundred years ago on a bright sunny day…" began George.
As they cruised through Ghost Town in Deputymon's stage coach, the girls looked around for any sign of a Control Spire.
"That's funny," whispered Sora, "I can't find one anywhere."
"Maybe he's taken to disguising them," replied Yolei.
They passed a fully built gallows and shuddered at the implications.
"Starmon's going to hang our friends," said Hawkmon, "this is terrible!"
"We have to find a way to help them," whispered Yolei.
"Don't forget Biyomon," added Sora, "she's around here somewhere."
"Did I hear y'all say Biyomon?" interjected Deputymon.
"What's it to ya bub?!" demanded Yolei, gritting her teeth.
"Well, now, I just might be able ta tell y'all what became of her," replied the sidekick digimon casually.
"You can?" asked Sora, "tell me!"
The gun shaped digimon sighed and took off his hat with one hand, while continuing to hold the reigns with the other.
"That lowlife Starmon a' captured her," he said, "I fled the town because I heard tell he was gonna turn her evil, and that the Emperor had the technology ta digivolve her."
"Why'd you come back?" asked Yolei, "if you were so afraid you should have just stayed wherever it was you hid yourself!"
"Forgot my spare hat," muttered Deputymon.
"You'd risk your life for a stupid hat, but you won't save our friends?!" demanded Yolei angrily, "what was so important about that blasted hat anyways?"
Deputymon pulled out a second cowboy hat that looked identical to the one he was currently wearing; he flipped it upside down and reached inside. Pulling away a false lining, the sidekick digimon pulled out a deck of cards.
"This here hat dun contained my favorite deck o' cards," he commented, putting the deck in his pants pocket.
"You're insane!" declared Yolei, huffing and folding her arms.
"I've been told that more'n a few times," commented the lawmon casually.
By now, the stage coach had left the outer boundaries of Ghost Town, and was traveling along a dusty highway in the middle of a desert.
"Pardon me for asking," remarked Hawkmon, "but where are you taking us?"
"My secret hideout," replied Deputymon.
"How far away is it?"
"Pretty dern far," commented Deputymon, "that's kinda th' point ain't it?"
"Well how are we going to get back to Ghost Town?" demanded Yolei.
"You ain't" replied Deputymon, "this here's a one way coach. We ain't never goin' back to Ghost Town."
"Fold," said the random player that nobody cared about.
"That leaves you 'nd me," said Deputymon, "what're you holdin' Mr. Helltower?"
"It'll cost ya another 500 ta find out," said George, pushing forward a stack of chips into the pot.
"Call," said Deputymon, pushing forward another stack of chips and revealing his hand, "four kings and an ace."
"Well now that's a might perplexing," said George raising an eyebrow, "seeing as I got four aces and a king."
"We never did figure out what happened, but neither of us stacked the deck…not that Deputymon believes me, of course," finished George,
"…and this is relevant because?" asked Cody, exasperated with George's antics.
"That's the reason we're in this pickle in the first place," replied George, "besides, I had to find some way of passing the time until Tai untied himself."
The fallen warrior chuckled to himself at the pun he just made. Unfortunately for him, it was lost in translation, so the others had no clue what he found so amusing. (A/N: I'll explain how George communicates with the Odaiba Digidestined in Season 1.5)
What wasn't lost on the others was that in the time George had been telling his story, Tai had managed to escape from his bindings. Quick as a flash, the gogglehead grabbed a rusty nail, and freed his friends.
"Good," commented Cody, "now the only thing that stands between us and freedom is this locked door."
George, the last one to be freed, rubbed his wrists to get the circulation going.
"Give me a moment," he said, "they had to make sure I couldn't gather any energy, so they tied me rather tightly."
Cody nodded, "then the next step will be to find food for our digimon. That way we can prepare for the upcoming battle."
"I suggest we raid the desk," said Tai, "at the very least there should be some money in there to pay for food."
George raised an eyebrow.
"Are you suggesting we steal money from a lawmon simply so that we won't have to steal food?" he asked, "if you keep up that behavior, you could wind up in jail."
Nobody laughed.
"What do you mean we're never going back?!" demanded Yolei.
The lavender haired girl was not happy. Upon hearing Deputymon's declaration, she crawled into the front of the carriage and began flailing her arms wildly while yelling nonstop at the lawmon.
"It means exactly what it sounds like," said the sidekick digimon, "we're not going back to Ghost Town."
"But what about our friends?!" demanded Sora, "you can't just leave them there! Starmon's going to hang them!"
"Now Missy—" began Deputymon coolly.
"Don't you 'now missy' her, you son of a bitch!" shouted Yolei, cutting off the lawmon.
"Yolei!" exclaimed Hawkmon, "watch your language or next thing you know you'll be as bad as that Davis character."
"I'm sorry," said Yolei heatedly, "but I've had it with this miserable idiot! It's your job to protect law and order, and yet here you are abandoning your job at the first sign of difficulty. You're nothing but a stinking coward!"
"I'll thank y'all not ta tell me how ta do my job," said Deputymon coldly, "and th' two of y'all should be praising me fer not doin' my job!"
"Why in the hell would we do that?!" demanded Yolei, "your slacking is going to cause our friends their lives!"
"Cuz my job ain't ta protect law 'nd order," said Deputymon, "my job's ta assist Starmon. If'n I were ta be a-doin' my job y'all would still be in th' cells with yer buddies. I've abandoned everything I've ever known, so don't y'all be goin' 'nd callin' me a coward…them's fightin' words."
Startled at this revelation, the girls sat in silence for a few moments as the coach rumbled onwards.
Suddenly, Yolei's D3 began beeping like crazy indicating the presence of a Digiegg in their proximity.
"Bang!" said George, holding his left hand out like a gun and aiming at each lock in turn.
Small energy balls launched itself from the tip of George's finger and blasted each lock as he fired them. The door swung open.
"Yes, we're open," wisecracked the Warrior of Power, as he blew on the smoking tip of his index finger.
Tai and Cody ran over to the desk, as George tripped over a loose floorboard.
"You okay?" asked Crocmon, a little concerned.
"Yeah," said George, "just a little dizzy."
"You're getting the shit beaten out of you lately," remarked Davis, extending his hand to help the fallen warrior.
"What can I say?" asked George taking the proffered hand, "I'm only human."
As soon as he was fully standing, George gave Davis a light rap across the head.
"Ow!" griped Davis, "what the hell'd ya do that for?!"
"That," said George walking over to the desk, "was for the teddy bear comment."
Starmon and Garudamon met up in the town square.
"Have you seen them?" asked the dark Ultimate.
"I ain't seen hide nor hair of 'em," drawled the lawmon, "they must've skipped town."
"Should we call the Emperor?" asked Garudamon.
"Don't be daft!" shouted Starmon, "we can't tell the Emperor we've gone'n lost 'em! He'd have our heads fer this!"
"So what do we do?"
"We round up a posse!" exclaimed Starmon, "we'll find the dirtiest lowdown scumbags in the entire Old West and hunt down those lousy jail breakers!"
Starmon whistled, and immediately, another horseless carriage pulled up next to him.
"Next stop, the Lucky Leomon saloon!" he shouted, snapping the reigns.
Starmon and Garudamon rode off into the desert.
"The drawers are locked," commented Cody, as he returned from looking for the keys in the next room, "but I found this hanging on a peg in the other room."
The 4th grader handed George his trench coat.
"I think I've got the keys," said George holding up his index finger once more, "right here."
"Not a good idea," remarked Crocmon noticing that his partner's eyes seemed unfocused, "we don't want to fry the desk, and the lock is too small a target to guarantee you'd hit it perfectly."
"…phooey," sighed George.
"So how should we open it then?" asked Tai.
"Why not try to pick the lock?" asked Cody.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Davis, finding the rusty nail once more, "stand back, I'll have this lousy desk open in no time!"
After a few moments, the lock yielded and the drawer opened.
"Impressive," remarked George, "I assume you developed such skills attempting to break into your own locker seeing as how you can never remember the combination?"
"Yep," said Davis, smiling proudly and not realizing that he was being insulted.
Meanwhile, Cody was looking through the drawer's contents. He found a boxed lunch, a Colt .45 revolver in its holster, a few decks of cards, George's sunglasses, some cash, and a few rubber bands.
Immediately, the digimon pounced on the boxed lunch, wolfing down the contents. Cody calmly handed George his sunglasses, but was surprised when George reached for the gun.
"What'd you want that for?" he asked.
"It's mine," commented George, pulling the belt back on, "Starmon confiscated it after I lost the showdown."
"Why do you even have a gun in the first place?" demanded the 4th grader.
"What did you expect I went into a showdown barehanded?" asked George incredulously, "even Deputymon, who's a living gun himself, wouldn't dream of such a thing!"
"Guns are evil!" insisted the youngest Digidestined.
"Guns aren't evil," counted George, "people are."
Noticing that Cody was about to protest, George continued.
"We can have this debate another time," said he, "right now, we need to worry about finding the others before Starmon and Garudamon do."
"For once you are right," said Cody, "and it looks like the digimon are ready too."
"I feel like I could take on the whole West!" declared Armadillomon.
"Let's go Davish!" shouted Veemon, pumping his fist into the air.
"Ready when you are George," said Crocmon, walking over to his partner.
"Let's do this!" exclaimed Davis, as he, George, and Cody pulled out their digivices.
"I'm not going to repeat myself again!" yelled Yolei, "pull over!"
The lavender haired girl grabbed the reigns from Deputymon and gave them a mighty tug. Instantly, the carriage screeched to a stop, nearly capsizing in the process.
"Are you plum loco?" demanded the rather shaken sidekick digimon, "ya don't just stop a carriage like that! Besides, we've gotta skidaddle! We're not safe from Starmon yet!"
"Look buddy," growled Yolei as she, Sora, and Hawkmon departed from the carriage, "maybe you want to run away, but we don't. There's another Digiegg somewhere around here, and finding it may be the key to solving our problems."
"And how do you propose we find it then?" demanded Deputymon, "lookin' fer it here'n th' desert'll be like findin' a needle in a haystack!"
"That's our problem," said Yolei, "you, on the other hand, can leave whenever you want for all I care!"
"Fine!" shouted Deputymon, "maybe I will!"
"Fine!" yelled Yolei, turning her back on the lawmon, and stomping away from the carriage.
Following the signal on Yolei's D3, she, Sora, and Hawkmon spread out to try and find the Digiegg. After a few minutes of muttering and swearing to himself, Deputymon descended from his carriage and started looking around as well.
"Well, well, well," scoffed Yolei, "look who decided to join us."
"Yolei!" reprimanded Hawkmon, "that's no way to address someone who is helping you."
The feathery digimon turned towards Deputymon and bowed slightly.
"I'm terribly sorry for my partner's rude behavior," he declared, "she appreciates your willingness to help us in our quest."
"…just don't git used to it," muttered the sidekick digimon.
The doors of the Lucky Leomon banged open, and Starmon walked through them.
Lohoclamon was seated behind the bar as usual cleaning a beer mug, but he noticed a reddish glow in the corrupted lawmon's eyes.
"Can I get you something, sir?" he asked slickly, putting down his rag.
Instead of ordering a drink, Starmon walked over to the counter, turned around and made a proclamation.
"I'm aroundin' up a posse to track down a group of renegade Digidestined 'n my ex-pardner Deputymon!" he exclaimed, "there's a large bounty on each o' them, so's the payout is terrific…now who's with me?!"
Immediately two giant cockroach like digimon in cowboy hats stepped forwards.
"The Roachmon brothers are at your disposal," said one of them.
A weird cactus like digimon in a sombrero and tattered yellow poncho also came forward.
"As is the great Ponchomon," he said in a thick Mexican accent.
Three digimon who were practically giant heads with no torsos and tiny arms and legs approached the corrupted lawmon.
"You can count on Nanimon, BomberNanimon, and Citramon!" said the one that looked slightly like a fruit.
A feline digimon, resembling an off-color Gatomon and wearing a strangely familiar pink cowgirl hat walked brazenly over to Starmon.
"Mikemon will help you too," she said seductively.
"Alright then!" shouted the corrupt lawmon, pulling out his guns, and shooting them into the air, "let's git going!"
Starmon returned to his horseless carriage, while the Roachmon and Nanimon brothers mounted DexDorugamon, Ponchomon saddled up his SandYanmamon, and Mikemon boarded her DarkTrailmon.
With roars and shouts, the posse departed the Lucky Leomon bar in pursuit of the missing Digidestined.
Having observed the proceedings quietly, Lohoclamon silently walked into a back room behind the bar. He picked up a phone and dialed. After two rings, the person at the other end picked up.
"Fujinmon," said Lohoclamon slyly, "we may have a problem…"
"Okay we're free," said Tai, "now what?"
"Starmon and Garudamon are off chasing after Deputymon," remarked George, "they've got a bit of a lead on us, but hopefully—."
George was cut off as his sunglasses started ringing. He blinked twice.
"Fujinmon, my friend," he said jovially, "what can I do for you?"
"Actually, it's what I can do for you, George," replied the Grand Marshal, "I've received a report from our friend Lohoclamon concerning a former friend of ours."
"Uh-huh," said George, nodding, as the others listened in to his half of the conversation.
"Lohoclamon says that Starmon, controlled by the Digimon Emperor, came into the Lucky Leomon not too long ago to round up a posse," recounted Fujinmon, "apparently they're out gunning for Deputymon and a couple of your pals the Digidestined."
"Interesting," said George, "how big are we talking?"
Fujinmon related everything Lohoclamon had told him about the bounty hunters who had joined Starmon's pursuit.
"That's bad," commented George putting his hand on his chin, causing the others, who could only hear him, to gaze at him confusedly.
George waved them off for a moment, while continuing his conversation.
"How many recruits are you up to at this point?" he asked.
"We've got plenty of recruits," replied Fujinmon, "but most of them are still in basic training. Hardly any of them are ready for organized conflict."
"How many is 'hardly any?'" inquired George.
"I'd say we've got roughly a squad's worth of competent soldiers at this point," answered the Grand Marshal, checking his clipboards.
"How soon can they get here?" questioned the fallen warrior.
"I'll get them there as soon as possible and inform them that they will be under your direct command," promised Fujinmon, "at your disposal will be the UDA's 1st squadron. Hopefully more will be on the way."
"Understood," said George, "you have my thanks, old friend. I owe you a drink."
With that, George ended the conversation, and turned to the others, who were looking at him slightly exasperated.
"Would you mind sharing with the rest of the class?" asked Cody, belligerently.
"I've got good news, and bad news," answered George nonchalantly, "the bad news is that Starmon has rounded up a posse to hunt down and kill our friends…and Deputymon. The posse is composed of several mercenaries and their transports. As it stands, we are outnumbered, and outgunned. It doesn't help that TK and Kari are out today leaving us short staffed."
"…and the good news?" asked Davis hopefully.
"The good news is twofold. First, by detouring to round up the posse, Starmon has given us the lead to find the others," replied George.
"But we don't even know where the others went!" exclaimed Tai, "how will we know where to even begin looking?!"
"Because I know the location of Deputymon's secret hideout," replied George, casually, "now then, if you'll let me finish. The other good news is that we will be receiving some back up."
"Allies?" asked Cody skeptically, "from where?"
"Before the Emperor captured Agumon, I asked a friend of mine to run the idea of a United Digital Army by the Central Digital Government," said George, "they approved the idea, and my friend has his first squad of trained recruits coming here to rendezvous with us and help take out the posse and Garudamon."
"…wait, you mean you actually took initiative and asked for help?" inquired Cody, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you had initially wanted to take out Ken by yourself."
"Sometimes what I want needs to take second fiddle in comparison to what the Digital World needs," said the fallen warrior sagely, "that's what it means to be a Guardian of the Digital World. Anyways, we should get going. We don't want to waste the lead Starmon gave us."
Sobekmon and Raidramon took off carrying the Digidestined and Armadillomon into the vast desert.
Ponchomon disembarked from his SandYanmamon. He leaned towards the ground and examined a peculiar pattern in the sand.
"No doubt about it," he said, "a carriage passed by here not too long ago."
"Then let's saddle up and go git 'em!" shouted Starmon, shooting a round into the air.
The posse roared its approval and followed the fading trail towards Deputymon and their reward.
"What's that?" asked Davis, pointing to a blurred outline a short distance away.
"I'm not sure," said George, "proceed with caution."
As the Digidestined approached the strange object, it was revealed to be a deserted carriage. A quick examination revealed that this carriage belonged to Deputymon.
"So where'd they go?" asked George, thinking out loud.
As he was about to pull out his digivice to look, all of their digivices pinged. George, Davis, and Cody all pulled out their digivices and looked at the screens. The display showed three dots, Yolei and Sora were indicated by a colored dot or the Crest of Love respectively (only on the newer digivices), while a white dot representing a Digiegg was just beyond either of their reach.
"Looks like we've got us another Digiegg," said George, in his best Old Western accent.
As they examined their digivices, they noticed that Sora and Yolei seemed to separate to look for the Digiegg. A nearby shot brought George's attention back to the present.
"The posse is catching up," he said, "the UDA's 1st Squad is still about five minutes out. You guys head for Yolei, she's closer to the Digiegg. I'll rendezvous with Sora and meet up with you. I'll pass along your coordinates to the reinforcements."
"Shouldn't someone come with you?" asked Cody.
"Nah," said George, "I'll only be gone a moment. What could possibly go wrong?"
With that ominous statement, he took off, leaving the remaining Digidestined to meet up with Yolei. Along the way, George pulled up the email function in his sunglasses.
"Feels like we've been searchin' fer hours," complained Deputymon, as he dragged his feet across the sand, "can't we jest ferget 'bout yer stupid Digiegg 'nd play cards already?"
"The fate of the Digital World is at stake, and you want to sit down and play cards?!" demanded Sora, "what kind of law enforcer are you anyways?"
"I already told ya," said Deputymon, "my job's ta listen ta Starmon 'nd do whatever he says, not to uphold the law."
"Whatever," sighed Sora, "I'm not sure why you had to go follow me around."
"That purple haired dame didn't seem ta like me very much," replied the sidekick digimon, "'nd I don't got one of them fancy do-dads you gals do, so I'ma stuck followin' one of y'all 'round."
A shot in the distance caught both of their attention.
"Damnation!" swore Deputymon, pulling out his revolvers "it seems like Starmon's acomin'! I knew we shouldn'ta dilly-dallied, but now our bacon's cooked."
"We should regroup with Yolei," said Sora, shivering despite the heat, "there's safety in numbers."
Deputymon agreed, and they began backtracking, but before long, Deputymon held out a hand in front of Sora, and leveling his revolver at a shadowy figure ahead.
"Who's there?" he declared, "C'mon out with yer hands o'er yer head!"
"It's just me Deputymon," said George, stepping into visual range, "Starmon's rounded up a posse to hunt you three down, so I'm here to help. The others aren't too far away, and reinforcements are coming."
As George stepped forward to close the distance between him and the other two, a shot nearly took off his foot.
"Well now," said Starmon jovially, "looky what we've got here! A coupla outlaws 'nd my lowlife ex-pardner. What say we give 'em some mob justice, eh boys?"
The posse howled evilly, as they closed in on our heroes.
Having reunited with Yolei and brought her up to speed, Tai glanced nervously at his watch.
"Shouldn't they be back by now?" he asked.
"It is possible that, despite George's best preparations, something went wrong," said Cody, somewhat sarcastically.
"Then I'm going after them!" said Tai, preparing to rush in the direction of Sora's signal.
"That's a negative soldier!" shouted a nearby voice, "you are too valuable to go running off wherever you please. For all you know, there could be enemy fire in that vicinity!"
The Digidestined whirled around to see several digimon approaching. In front was what appeared to be a bipedal rabbit with machine guns for hands. His long green ears stuck out from underneath a sergeant's hat, and he had on a pair of camouflage army pants. Instead of a shirt, he wore an ammo belt around his shoulder. Behind him were two tank-like digimon, two brown robotic digimon that resembled a combination of a safe and furnace with missile launchers on their arms, and two more robotic digimon that were gray, red, and blue with large horns. Each of the mechanical digimon sported a stylized logo with the letters UDA, and the number 1 underneath it. The rabbit had the same logo on his cap.
"Who are you?" demanded Cody, eyes narrowing.
"I'm Sergeant Gargomon," replied the rabbit, "and these are my men: Tankmon, Guardromon, and Ballistamon. We're here to report to General Helltower. Where might we find him?"
Several gunshots in the distance answered his question.
George reached for his revolver, but Starmon shook his head.
"Now, now," he said, "don't be too hasty, Mr. Helltower. We wouldn't want ya ta lose yer head afore the hanging, now would we?"
George and Deputymon glanced at each other, Deputymon gave a slight nod, before slowly walking away from Sora, and increasing the distance between himself and George.
"Starmon, ya lousy scumbag!" shouted the sidekick, "Lookit yerself! Ya've gone 'nd allied yerself wi' filth!"
Starmon's red eyes narrowed.
"Them's fightin' words, Deputymon," he said, his revolver now pointing at his former partner.
"Aww, g'won!" taunted Deputymon, throwing his guns to the ground, "y'all couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"
"That tears it!" shouted Starmon, throwing his hat to the ground, "posse, my lowlife ex-pardner jest insulted us. What're we gonna do 'bout it?"
In response, Ponchomon pulled out a rifle, the Roachmon brothers drew revolvers in each of their four arms, and Mikemon withdrew a pistol. BomberNanimon's fuse ignited, Nanimon punched his gloves together, and Citramon whipped out some delicious oranges.
"It's go time!" shouted the fruit-like digimon.
While the posse was distracted by Deputymon's taunts, George had stealthily crept closer to Sora. He nudged her arm, and she looked at him quizzically.
"Get ready," he mouthed. She nodded.
Nobody could tell who fired the first shot, but suddenly, the area was filled with bullets whistling through the air. As George grabbed Sora and ran, the Digidestined of Love noticed Deputymon fall to his knees and hit the ground.
"We can't leave him behind!" she protested, as George pulled her away.
"He knew this was going to happen," said George, "that was his plan. Distract them so we could get away."
"But," began Sora, pulling back as hard as she could.
"No buts," said George, picking up the protesting girl and flying away, "after we're done fighting, assuming we win, we'll go back and see if he's okay. Before that, our priority is staying alive. Understood?"
Wrapped in George's powerful arms, Sora could only nod mutely as tears ran down her cheeks.
"Alright troops, move out!" ordered Gargomon.
His troops fell in formation and began marching toward the sound of the bullets. Suddenly, two figures appeared flying towards them at high speed.
"Defensive formation!" commanded the sergeant, "secure a perimeter around the Digidestined!"
As the squad began to obey, the figures solidified, revealing George, who was carrying a slightly disgruntled Sora, who appeared as though she'd been crying recently.
"I wouldn't go thataway if I was you," said George, once he deposited his cargo into Tai's awaiting arms, "bit of a mess at the moment."
"General Helltower, I presume," said Gargomon, saluting.
"General?" asked George slightly bewildered, "since when am I a general? I never asked to be a general. I'll be a military consultant if necessary, but I don't think I'm allowed to be a general…you know, Guardian stuff. Can't interfere directly with the course of this planet, and all that."
"In any case, sir," said the sergeant, "my troops and I were ordered to report directly to you."
"Ah, excellent," said the fallen warrior, rubbing his hands together gleefully, "well then, let's take a moment to assess the situation. Over yonder there's a bloodthirsty posse gunning for my friends and me. Any moment, they'll realize Sora and I escaped, and will come looking for us."
Angry shouts and shots could be heard coming from the distance.
"Well, then," said George, "I guess that doesn't leave us with much time, now does it? The good news is, since I flew, there's no easy way for them to determine which way Sora and I fled. The bad news is, they're not that far away and we need to stay in this area."
"Might I inquire what's so special about this area?" asked Gargomon, "sir."
George showed him his digivice, and pointed at the odd signal.
"There's a Digiegg nearby," he said, "my friends were looking for it when you happened to come by. If we stay in the area, there's a good chance that Digiegg will become unlocked and reveal itself. That'll give us a bit of an edge."
"Understood," said Gargomon, "so what are our orders?"
"We need to prepare for combat," replied George, "all digimon assume battle formations!"
Within moments, Halsemon and Digmon joined the ranks, as the Digidestined attempted to close in on the Digiegg. Their UDA escort followed, posting guards around their charges to ensure no harm could befall them.
As they walked, George chatted with Gargomon.
"Seems a little small for a squad," he said, "do we have air support?"
Gargomon showed George a radar strapped to his wrist. On it, three blips registered.
"Fantastic," said George, smiling.
"Damnation!" shouted Starmon, "that lousy scumbag Helltower managed to escape with Takenouchi!"
The former lawmon walked over to his ex-partner's body and gave it a swift kick and spat on it.
"This's all yer fault ya dag-blasted idiot!" he groused, "but we've taken care of yeh, so's ya won't be botherin' me no more."
He turned to his posse, who were eyeing him carefully.
"Spread out 'nd look fer tracks!" ordered he ordered, "they couldn't've gotten far!"
Whooping, yowling, and shooting their guns in the air, the posse dispersed to search for their prey.
George radioed a signal through his sunglasses to the three remaining members of Gargomon's squad. These three digimon were shaped like gigantic airships covered in brown armor.
"Hello up there," said George, "this is George Helltower. To whom am I speaking?"
"We're Brimpmon," answered one of the Zeppelin-like digimon, "at your service, sir."
"Ugh, enough with the 'sir,'" muttered George, "my friends and I are closing in on a strange signal, roughly a half a mile radius from our current location. Do you see anything unusual in that area?"
"Affirmative," replied the Brimpmon, hovering over the area and scanning it, "there is an unusual rock formation approximately .51 miles due west of your current location. It resembles a teardrop with a circle inside it. In the circle appears to be a pit containing some sort of object."
"Fantastic!" exclaimed George, "that's exactly what we're looking for!"
With that knowledge, the Digidestined quickened their pace heading for the odd rock formation.
BomberNanimon's DexDorugamon howled, as he approached what appeared to be a series of sand drifts. BomberNanimon dismounted and investigated. The drifts appeared to have been caused by something soaring over the sand. The explosive digimon didn't need three guesses to figure out who caused it.
"Oh yeah!" he shouted, "I found their trail!"
BomberNanimon's shouts were overheard by the other members of the posse, and soon they were all riding off in the direction of the drifts.
The Digidestined and their escort arrived at the rocks undetected, and the UDA's First Squad surrounded the rocks in a defensive formation as the Digidestined headed into the inner circle, which turned out to be a crater, and the Digiegg within. In turn each of them began trying to lift the Digiegg of Sincerity. However, much like the Digiegg of Friendship, no matter who tried to pick it up, it would not budge.
"Seems like this Digiegg needs to be unlocked before usage too," said George thoughtfully.
"General Helltower, sir," called one of the Tankmon, "we've got a problem."
"Stop calling me General, I'm a military consultant," said George, walking over to the Tankmon, "what's the problem?"
"Bogies," replied one of the Brimpmon, through George's sunglasses phone, "heading your way at a fairly quick pace. Estimated time to arrival, 2 minutes."
"Not nearly enough time to get everyone to safety," said George, "but these rocks provide a decent defensive position. This battle was bound to happen anyway, so it might as well happen here. I'll go tell the others."
The military consultant headed back into the rocks and found the others, waiting anxiously by the Digiegg.
"What was the problem?" asked Tai.
"The posse seems to have found us," replied George, "they'll be here soon, which means we need to prepare for battle. You guys stay here, it's safer than anywhere else would be. Try to figure out how to unlock that Digiegg. That worked last time."
"That's your big advice?!" shouted Yolei, who was bordering on a nervous breakdown, "we're stranded in the middle of nowhere desert, and your advice is 'that worked last time?!' We're doomed!"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," said George, winking as he turned to head out and confront the posse, "I'll make sure to remind you of it after everything turns out alright."
Yolei slumped to the ground, hyperventilating and crying, as George walked out, withdrawing his revolver in his left hand and placing a blade of grass in his mouth with the other.
"Yolei, are you okay?" asked Sora, leaning over the lavender haired girl and placing a caring hand on her shoulder.
"N-n-no!" whined Yolei, "I d-d-don't wanna die!"
"Aww shut yer yap!" spat Davis, "we're not gonna die. We've got Raidramon! He broke the Spiral last time, so he can do it again. Just you watch!"
Meanwhile, outside the rocks, a standoff was in progress. George stood alone (having told the UDA troops to hide among the rocks), while Starmon sat in his carriage with the posse gathered around him about ten feet away.
"Mr. Helltower, this is yer last chance!" shouted Starmon, "surrender, and we won't have ta kill yer buddies."
"Starmon, y'all must be daft if'n ya think I'm gonna give up so easily," drawled George, in his best impression of a Western accent.
"So ya've got a decent defensive position," spat the corrupted lawmon, "my posse still outnumbers and outguns ya. Y'all stand no chance. Why waste time delayin' the inevitable?"
George shook his head sadly.
"Starmon, Starmon, Starmon," he sighed, "how far you have fallen. You used to be a protector of truth and justice. Now you're entire existence is a lie and you can't tell justice from a hole in the ground."
"That does it!" said Starmon, spitting on the sand, "I've given ya plenty o' warnings, but ya've ignored all of 'em. My patience has run out. We'll settle this on the field o' combat."
"Fine by me," said George, leveling his Colt, "I reckon the time for jawing is over then."
"Indeed so," drawled Starmon, "Posse forward!"
The posse rushed haphazardly toward the rocks in a flurry of blazing guns and shouts. George calmly instructed the Guardromon to advance to the front line and had the Tankmon flank from both sides. The Guardromon fired their missiles, while the Ballistamon, who remained hidden in the rocks, launched long range attacks at the oncoming enemies. While the posse was tripping over its own feet, Gargomon's men surrounded them. The sergeant smirked at the posse realized it was outmaneuvered. The mercenaries dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender. Starmon sat aghast in his carriage, fury emanating from him in waves.
"Ya see, Starmon?" called out George mockingly, "a little military strategy defeats even the most savage opponents. You may have outnumbered my friends and me, but you forget that I'm a master strategist."
"Yer right," sighed Starmon, "I shoulda remembered all them poker games ya cheated at. That said, ya haven't bested me yet!"
The former lawmon hopped out of his carriage and raised his arms.
"Meteor Shower!"
Starmon's attack began hailing giant rocks towards the soldiers, but each rock was picked off by a blast from above, as the Brimpmon, Halsemon, Pegasusmon, and Nefertimon fired at them.
"No good," said George, who was leaning against the rocks and pretending to yawn.
Starmon growled.
"Now ya've done it!" he yelled, "time ta reveal my ace in the hole!"
Starmon whistled and Garudamon burst out from the carriage, a Dark Spiral encircling her left talon.
"Attack!" shouted Starmon, as Garudamon took to the skies.
"Wing Blade!"
Garudamon's signature attack, a vacuum wave shaped like a giant flaming bird, shot towards the UDA soldiers, who scattered, allowing the posse to escape.
"Booyah!" shouted Nanimon, "It's go time boys!"
Nanimon and Ponchomon began charging towards the rocks. They were intercepted as they fell into a pit trap dug by Digmon. Digmon filled in the pit, trapping them, and he and Raidramon ran off to help the Ballistamon, who were being attacked by two DexDorugamon, while the Guardromon were swarmed by the other three.
BomberNanimon and Citramon began chucking bombs and explosive oranges at the Tankmon, who continued advancing despite the blasts. In short order, the two would be explosive experts were backed up against the rocks with nowhere to run.
Gargomon squared off against the Roachmon brothers, while George and Sobekmon faced down Mikemon, as well as SandYanmamon and the DarkTrailmon.
"Yard Sale Bomb!"
Several assorted objects began falling from the sky towards the sergeant. However, the nimble rabbit dodged all of them, jumping onto a giant falling piano.
"Gargo Laser!"
Bullets rained down on the Roachmon brothers as they raised all four of their arms in an attempt to shield themselves.
The piano crashed to the ground, as Gargomon jumped off it.
"Roachmon Exterminate!"
The Roachmon brothers assumed a combat stance and charged at Gargomon.
"Bunny Pummel!"
In response, Gargomon ran towards them and uppercut both of their chins, releasing a few bursts of bullets from his machine gun hands. The Roachmon brothers fell down, unconscious.
"Desert Storm!"
SandYanmamon buzzed its wings causing a mini sandstorm. George took cover behind the rocks, while Sobekmon merely stood there, completely unharmed. The Steel Soldier advanced on the insect digimon and slashed it with his electrified tail. The sandstorm subsided and George emerged from the rocks, still chewing his blade of grass.
"Cool Running!"
The DarkTrailmon attempted to charge at George and Sobekmon, but they took aim and shot out his pistons, causing him to grind to a stop, completely immobilized.
Mikemon hissed as her companion was incapacitated and charged forward.
"Neko Claw!"
Agilely dodging the bullets fired by George and Sobekmon, the feline digimon leapt at George and attempted to scratch his face. She was surprised as George spat out his blade of grass, which flew into her face, temporarily distracting her. George dodged and picked her up by the scruff of her neck when she fell forward. In spite of all the clawing and scratching, Mikemon couldn't escape, nor could she hurt George.
An explosion above reminded George of the bigger problem, as Garudamon chased after Pegasusmon, Nefertimon, Halsemon, and the Brimpmon. He nodded to Sobekmon.
"Go help them," he said.
"But what about—" began Sobekmon.
"I can handle our feline friend," said George, "they need you more than I do. Besides, from this point, I'll mostly be dictating strategy instead of actually fighting. I don't need both my arms to do that."
Sobekmon sighed and flew off to help the others.
Within the safety of the rock formation, the Digidestined heard the sounds of the combat. Explosions, gunshots, shouting, and a cacophony of other noises assailed their ears.
Sitting in the fetal position close to the Digiegg Yolei paled with each terrifying sound. She was lathered in a cold sweat, and tears brimmed in her eyes.
"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die," Yolei repeated over and over and over again, rocking back and forth.
Still holding the struggling Mikemon, George climbed up to the highest point on the rock formation, where he could get a good tactical view of the battlefield as well as the air above it. Mikemon hissed and squirmed trying to break free, but couldn't loosen George's hold.
"Stop squirming would you?" asked George, temporarily disabling communications with the troops, "you'll save both of us the energy."
"Do you not know who I am?!" demanded the feline digimon, "I'm Mikemon, the most feared female mercenary in the entire West! Ain't nobody disrespects me and gets away with it!"
"Fair point," said George, "but here's mine. Do you know who I am?"
"Just another mark," said Mikemon, shrugging, "Starmon is paying a pretty penny for ya and wants ya alive, but that don't mean I can't rough you up a little before I hand you over."
"Wrong answer," said the fallen warrior, "I'm George Helltower. Does that name ring any bells?"
Although she was already white, it seemed as though Mikemon managed to become even whiter upon hearing that name.
"The George Helltower?" she asked, no longer struggling, "the one that legends speak of?"
"Indeed so," said George darkly, "the very same person who survived the Great Digital War and the Battle of Tritania, took down Armageddonmon and his Demonic Dozen (with help, of course), wiped out UltimateChaosmon and his D-Brigade, and defeated Milleniummon. I am a Guardian of the Digital World and an honorary Sovereign, and you've managed to get on my bad side by threatening my friends. Congratulations, you're an idiot."
Mikemon sweatdropped.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated.
"I'm going to put you down now, while I keep an eye on this battle and coordinate maneuvers," said George, "if you run, I will hunt you down."
"Yes sir, understood sir," said Mikemon, nodding profusely, "I'll behave."
"Good," said George, smiling, "I'm glad we have an understanding."
George let go of Mikemon, and she sat quietly next to him gazing at him in a mixture of fear and awe.
In the air, the battle wasn't going as well as it was on the ground. Garudamon was fast and powerful. The aerial digimon scattered and attempted to confuse her by attacking from different directions, but that only served to delay the inevitable. Garudamon was much more powerful and faster than them and would eventually outpace them and wipe them out.
A crackle of static hissed over the Brimpmon's comm. systems as George began giving instructions once again.
"Hold on for a few more seconds," he said, "Sobekmon is coming. With the element of surprise, he should be able to score a direct hit. When he does, target the Spiral with waves at a frequency of 401 megahertz. It probably won't work, but it's worth a shot, just in case."
The Brimpmon heard gunshots in the background as Gargomon and Starmon were in a shoot off not far from George's location, but his orders were clear. They relayed the orders to the armor digimon, and scattered as Garudamon launched another Wing Blade.
Coming from below, Sobekmon's steel covered fist impacted against Garudamon's chin. The Ultimate digimon flew backwards from the force of the impact, flying head over heels. As her left talon became exposed, the digimon attacked.
"Tempest Wings!"
"Equus Beam!"
"Cat's Eye Beam!"
"Zeppelin Explosion!"
The attacks shot forward, and most of them connected with the Dark Spiral. However, due to the Emperor's modifications, the material did not resonate, and the Spiral remained mostly intact with only a few micro cracks forming, invisible to the naked eye.
Garudamon righted herself, smashed Sobekmon upside the helmet, sending him flying and charged at Halsemon. Caught off guard the Gryphon took the full brunt of the Ultimate's punch and hurtled to the ground, dedigivolving back into a beaten Hawkmon.
Seeing her partner plummet, Yolei snapped. She decided she didn't care what happened to her; she needed to vent her fury and frustration NOW. The lavender haired girl charged out of the rocks and into the middle of the battle. Shoving her way past Gargomon, she brazenly walked over to the corrupted lawmon and slapped him across the face (or whatever Starmon has that passes for a face).
Starmon stood stunned, as the battle itself paused in awe of Yolei's actions. Even George was rendered speechless, which was fine, since Yolei seemed to have one of her own.
"You son of a bitch!" she shouted, directing her comments at Starmon, "I thought your partner was a worthless sack of crap, but at least he cared enough about maintaining law and order to quit when you went off the deep end! I'm sick and tired of people like you claiming to be pursuing justice when, really, you're perverting justice and everything it stands for! You're a creep, and I hate you! I hope they lock you up and throw away the keys!"
As Yolei ranted, the Digiegg of Sincerity levitated over to her. She grabbed it and held it aloft in the air.
"Digiarmor Energize!"
"Hawkmon armor digivolve to—Shurimon: The Shinobi of Sincerity!"
Where Hawkmon had been, a masked ninja now stood. His arms and legs resembled springy vines tied to three pointed shuriken instead of hands and feet. He wore a simple white garment, with a forehead protector and shoulder pads made of leaves. With his arms lowered, the shoulder pads formed a makeshift outer cloak. He wore a four pointed shuriken on his back and a pair of belts around his waist. A tuft of red hair stuck out behind his headdress, and his mask obscured his entire face except for his glowing yellow eyes.
"…what just happened?" asked Davis, dumbfounded.
"I think Yolei just unlocked the Digiegg by having a hissy fit," replied George, casually from his perch on the rocks.
"Most peculiar," commented Cody.
"What I'm more curious is who's the ninja?" asked Tai, excitedly.
Sora rolled her eyes.
"Of course you'd be interested in that, Tai," she said, smiling coyly.
"I am Shurimon," said the ninja, "as Hawkmon I used the Digiegg of Sincerity to armor digivolve. My Double Star and Ninja Wind attacks will confound my enemies!"
Starmon regained his wits, and began to aim his revolver at Yolei.
"I'll teach ya ta meddle, ya lousy varmint!" he said.
"Ninja Wind!"
Shurimon disappeared in a flurry of leaves and reappeared behind his partner. Grabbing Yolei, he disappeared once more. Starmon's shot ricocheted off a rock and struck him in the forehead, knocking him out, but not breaking his Dark Ring.
Shurimon reappeared behind the rocks and set Yolei down.
"Stay here, Yolei," he said, "you'll be safe."
"Interesting," commented George, who had watched the whole incident "can you do that again?"
"Certainly," said Shurimon.
The fallen warrior nodded, as the seeds of a plan formed in his brain.
"Sobekmon, are you alright?" he asked, through his comm. channel.
"I'm fine," replied his partner, "just took a bit of a beating with that last hit."
"Scan the Dark Spiral," George said, "I'm willing to bet that Ken's new material isn't quite as durable as the last one. See if the attacks have done any damage to it whatsoever."
"Understood," said Sobekmon, using his helmet to magnify and scan the Dark Spiral, "there are several micro fractures located on the third ring behind Garudamon."
"Shurimon, can you get up there and attack that spot with your shuriken?" asked George, looking at the ninja.
"Sorry," replied Shurimon, "in this form I cannot fly."
"Then I guess you'll need a lift," said George, signaling a Brimpmon.
"Whoa, wait what?" asked the flustered ninja as he was airlifted by the Brimpmon (who incidentally were the only flying digimon capable to carrying him without being hurt by his pointy feet).
"New game plan!" said George, "Get Shurimon behind Garudamon so he can take out that Spiral. His blades, being made of ChromeDigizoid, should easily slice through the weakened Spiral. Sobekmon, Pegasusmon, Nefertimon, Raidramon, and Digmon, you guys run interference!"
The digimon nodded, and the Brimpmon took off to the skies, with one of them carrying a somewhat distraught Shurimon.
"Equus Beam!"
Pegasusmon attracted Garudamon's attention by firing off his laser attack, as she flew towards him, Raidramon and Digmon struck from below.
"Thunder Blast!"
"Gold Rush!"
Garudamon turned to dive bomb the duo, but was cut off by Nefertimon.
"Rosetta Stone!"
The tablet smashed into Garudamon, causing her to whirl around angrily.
"Wing Blade!"
The gigantic vacuum wave threatened to engulf the sphinx, but she dodged and flew out of harm's way. The Brimpmon, meanwhile tried to get into a position behind Garudamon.
"It's no good," one of them reported, "she won't stay still!"
"Pegasusmon, Nefertimon, hold her steady," ordered George, "Shurimon, you'll only have a moment, so make it count!"
The duo circled around Garudamon, and fired their combined attack.
"Golden Noose!"
The golden threads of light ensnared the gigantic bird, preventing her from moving, but she began using the light to haul in the two armor digimon.
"Now!" shouted George.
"Ninja Wind!"
Once again, Shurimon disappeared in a flurry of leaves, and reappeared on the second Brimpmon, then the third, which had positioned itself right behind Garudamon.
"Double Star!"
Hurling out his coiled arms, Shurimon struck the Dark Spiral with his bladed hands. The micro cracks grew into regular cracks, and the Dark Spiral began to spark. As George prepared to order another attack, the Spiral disintegrated completely, leaving no trace behind.
"Interesting, a failsafe disintegration subroutine," analyzed George, "Kenny must've realized how dangerous it is to leave the remains of a Dark Spiral in my hands."
With the Dark Spiral destroyed, Garudamon dedigivolved into a weakened Yokomon, who promptly fell out of the sky. Sora ran out to catch her, but Starmon, having recovered from his misfire, wasn't about to make things easy.
"Thought it was over did ya? Nah, ain't that easy!" he shouted, "Don't y'all be forgettin' little ol' me! Meteor—"
George casually took aim and fired a single bullet which struck the Dark Ring controlling Starmon.
"I didn't," he said, blowing the smoke from his revolver's barrel.
Uninterrupted, Sora caught Yokomon as she fell. The pink radish opened her eyes wearily.
"S-Sora?" she asked weakly.
"Shh," said Sora soothingly, "it's okay. I've got you."
The In-Training digimon yawned and nestled into her partner's arms, exhausted from the days events. Starmon shook himself, ridding the last vestiges of fog from his mind. Gargomon filled him in on the recent battle, and the duo arrested the members of the posse, who were mostly unconscious at this point. Offering no resistance, Mikemon allowed the handcuffs to be slipped over her wrists.
The Child of Love glanced over at George.
"Can we go check on Deputymon now?" she asked.
George nodded and jumped down from the rocks.
"Mind if'n I tag along?" asked Starmon, holding his hat in his hands, "I've been actin' like a darned fool, 'nd I want ta make it up to y'all."
"Not your fault, Starmon," said George reassuringly, as the group set off, "the Digimon Emperor brainwashed you."
As they left, George looked over his shoulder and issued one final command.
"The Control Spire is located in the water tower in Ghost Town, somebody go knock it down," he called.
After hiking back to the sight of the shootout, they noticed Deputymon's bedraggled body lying in the sand, slumped forwards.
"Is he…dead?" asked Sora.
"Not likely," said George, "if he was dead, he'd have long since been deleted by now."
A loud chainsaw-esque snore preempted any further questions, as it was revealed that Deputymon was just sleeping. Starmon stomped over to his partner.
"Wake up ya lazybones!" he called, "rise 'nd shine!"
"Five more minutes…"drawled Deputymon sleepily.
"Up 'nd at 'em!" said Starmon.
"Izzat you Starmon?" mumbled the sidekick digimon, "did ya git yer ring knocked off?"
"I sure did," said Starmon, "now things can return ta normal 'round here."
Deputymon immediately stood up and shook Starmon's hand.
"Good ta have ya back, pardner!" he said.
"It's getting late," said George, "why don't we go meet up with the others back at Ghost Town?"
Upon their arrival back in Ghost Town, they found that the UDA's first squad had placed the posse in the jail cells and that the water tower had been toppled, exposing the Control Spire underneath, which had been destroyed. George wandered into the saloon.
Starmon entered his office whistling merrily, Deputymon trailed in behind him.
"Hey!" shouted Citramon, "let us out of here you nitwits!"
Deputymon took a closer look at the incarcerated fruitmon.
"Ya look familiar fer some reason," he said.
The sidekick digimon thought for a moment and remember a fateful poker game, several hundred years ago.
"Well now that's a might perplexing," said George raising an eyebrow, "seeing as I got four aces and a king."
"Cheater!" snarled Deputymon, standing up and pulling out a gun, "let's take this outside!"
"Hold on now!" said George, raising his arms defensively, "I didn't cheat. I swear on my grandpapy's grave!"
"If'n you didn't cheat, then how did ya end up with all them extra aces?" demanded the sidekick digimon.
A sudden hiccup from the player nobody cared about interrupted the tension.
The duo glanced over at their intoxicated card playing companion, a fruit-like digimon who appeared to be completely drunk. As the citrus-esque digimon keeled over, several hidden cards dropped out of his boots.
"Huh," said George, wisecracking, "now don't that just beet all?"
"So yer the one who swindled me at cards, eh?" said Deputymon, looking at the flashback above, "all this time I've been mad at Helltower fer nothin'! Well, ya'll git yer just desserts, I'll tell ya that much."
Meanwhile, in the saloon, George placed a huge wad of cash on the bar and picked up a full bottle of 100 year old scotch. He gave the bottle to Gargomon and gave him instructions.
"Please get this to Grand Marshal Fujinmon with my compliments," he said, "put yourself and your entire squad up for commendations, as well. Battling against an Ultimate level digimon with no casualties. Good work, sergeant!"
"Thank you sir," said Gargomon, saluting, "it could not have been done without your militaristic knowledge and strategic mind."
"You pick up a few things about war when you've participated first hand in so many," George mused darkly, downing a pint of beer in one swig, "I suppose my dad would be proud of me…"
George trailed off and proceeded to down two more beverages in the same fashion as the first. Noticing the onset of depression, Gargomon decided that perhaps it would be best to leave and let George deal with his past demons.
"It was a pleasure meeting you and working with you, sir," said the sergeant hastily.
He turned to his men, who were milling around the saloon.
"Company, fall in! Company forward!" he ordered.
The UDA's first squad marched through the saloon doors and into the open desert, leaving George to drink himself into a stupor, while Starmon and Deputymon kept the Digidestined and their partners entertained.
A few hours later, after several friendly games of go fish, the Digidestined were ready to call it a night, but they noticed George was missing.
"Did he take off already?" asked Tai.
"Last I saw of 'im he was headed to the saloon," remarked Starmon, "mentioned something about needin' ta 'sterilize his injuries' or some such cadswallop."
"That's as good a place as any to start looking for him," remarked Cody.
"No need," said George, emerging from the bar in a better mood, "I'll escort you guys to the Digiport."
As the group departed, Starmon and Deputymon waved them off.
"Don't be strangers now, y'all!" called out Starmon, "yer welcome here anytime."
"Next time, let's play some poker!" hollered Deputymon.
As Ghost Town faded into the distance, Davis glanced over at George.
"I've got a question," he said.
"Go on," said George, pulling out a beer he had snatched from the saloon "after all, there's no such thing as a stupid question…only stupid people."
"Well," continued the gogglehead, "earlier you claimed to be immune to tranquilizers. Did that come as an effect of you being half digital?"
"Nope," replied George simply, as he took another swig of beer.
"So how did you become immune to tranquilizers then?" asked Veemon, chiming in.
"That," said George, getting a nostalgic look in his eyes, "is a fascinating story."
Several Hundred Years Ago (Digital Time)…
George and Crocmon sat atop Gargantuan Mountain looking down at the island below them. A half full 2 liter bottle of beer was in George's left hand, and several empty bottles were scattered around nearby.
"I'm bored," complained George hiccupping, "nothing interesting has happened in ages…"
"Well then, didn't you prepare a to-do list for times like this?" asked Crocmon.
"Oh yeah," said George seemingly pulling the sheet of paper out of thin air, "I nearly forgot. Let's take a lookit this thing."
To Do:
Keep evil at bay
"I think I'm doing okay at that for now…" commented George.
Finish building house
"Been done with that for ages…"
Master Vulcan neck pinch
"Already did that…"
Learn Jedi mind trick
"I have already finished that task," said George waving his hand.
Master the power of my Crest
"Meh," said George, "I'll get to that eventually."
Perform Diabolical Experiment
"Genius!" shouted George, putting the sheet back into his pocket, "to the lab!"
Moments later, George and Crocmon were standing in the lab floor of their home. The Digidestined was mixing together heavy doses of all known tranquilizers into his half empty beer bottle. The mixture fizzed and steamed.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Crocmon suspiciously.
"Chertainly," slurred George, "after all I'm only half humon, so's this mixture shouldn't have an affect on me."
"But—" began Crocmon.
"Bottom's up!" exclaimed George, as he upended the bottle into his mouth.
The Warrior of Power promptly slumped onto the floor in a deep sleep. Crocmon walked over and poked the comatose George with his tail.
"Uhhhh, George?" he asked.
His only response was that George began snoring loudly.
"Huh," said Crocmon, cocking his head to the side curiously.
Five Years Later (Digital Time)…
Crocmon was paying his daily visit to George's room to see if his partner had awakened. (After George had knocked himself out, Crocmon had dragged him into his own bed fearing the consequences if George were to wake up in the lab.)
As he gazed at his snoring unconscious partner, Crocmon began to wonder if George would ever wake up. The thought that George might not wake up saddened him immensely (especially since it had been George's own stupidity that caused this situation to begin with).
Sighing, the reptilian digimon turned to leave, but suddenly the snoring stopped.
Crocmon quickly wheeled around to look at the bed. George was sitting up, bright eyed and bushy tailed (metaphorically of course).
"See Crocmon," said George, as though nothing had happened, "I'm perfectly fine…now, how did I get to my room?"
"…and that's how I became insane," finished George, pulling out yet another beer and smiling fondly at the memories.
"…ummm, you were telling us about how you became immune to tranquilizers," remarked Tai, who had been listening in.
"Oh yeah," said George, "that too."
"Your past is frightening," commented Cody, who was shocked and appalled at George's irresponsibility and his casualness about this ridiculous story.
"…so you know the Jedi mind trick?" asked Yolei, who, in her spare time, was a space fantasy junkie.
"Yep," said George proudly.
"Prove it!" demanded the fiery tempered lavender haired girl, getting in George's face.
"These are not the droids you are looking for," said George, waving his hand in Davis's face.
The youngest gogglehead's features became blank and his eyes lost focus. A blob of drool formed near the corner of his mouth.
"These aren't the droids I'm looking for," he repeated dully.
"You are now going to pretend to be a chicken," said George, waving the hand once again.
"I am now going to pretend to be a chicken," reiterated Davis, as he began to flap his arms and cluck.
"You are now going to jump off a cliff," suggested George, purposely not waving his hand.
"I am now going to jump off a—hey!" exclaimed Davis, as the vacant expression disappeared and was replaced by his normal one, "I may be dumb, but I'm not that stupid!"
"If you say so," chuckled George.
The Digidestined shared a laugh, as Davis's face turned bright red.
The Digimon Emperor sat in front of his monitors. Displayed was the frozen tundra area controlled by Ikkakumon.
"If at first you don't succeed," sighed the Emperor, "get back up and crush all your adversaries!"
Narrator: What is the Digimon Emperor's scheme this time? Will the Digidestined be able to defeat him now that they have support from the UDA? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
21: and so ends another delightful chapter. I tried to include some more backstory for George. If I had actually written my stories in order, I wouldn't have to reference George's past so often since all you guys would have to do is read the previous stories and have his complete backstory, but I didn't. Some of you may have noticed that parts of this episode came from two episodes ago, namely George's nightmare. As much as George may dislike his teammates, his greatest fear is them dying. George feels responsible for their well being and safety. It's not a premonition of what's to come, it's a nightmare of what has already been.
In any case, I should also point out that I don't own Justice League or Justice League: Unlimited. Brownie points to anyone who can figure out why I need to make that disclaimer.
And now, I shall bid y'all adios, and I'll see you guys whenever it is I happen to update next.
-the21stMartian