I don't own digimon.
Story 68
Venus with a vengance
Jolyne was honestly surprised it took this long for this to happen. She had her fair share of crazed stalkers and paparazzi, but this was on a whole different level. Leave it to the digimon impersonating Steve's sister to pull out all the stops here - Belphemon.
"Was that really necessary? You could have easily waltzed into my hotel room and slit my throat." the musician announced, hands reaching out to her guitar. Even up close to Belphemon, it would probably destroy the instrument and leave her without anything to play music with. Outside, standing in the hotel parking lot, that should've been easy. If not for the fact that Belphemon had just torn said bus to shreds and was looking mighty ready to throw said bus in the direction of
"Yes. I can't have you getting in the way of the things that I wish to do." Belphemon announced, a twisted smile proudly hanging on her lips. Jolyne really wanted to wipe that grin clear off of her face, but she refrained. Would probably result in her getting killed.
"So you had to blow up the bus the roadies use to haul equipment because?" Jolyne countered and got laughter from Belphemon. Figures. Of course the bitch would justify her actions without a proper reason. That was so her. Went without saying, though.
"Yes. It got your attention, didn't it?" Belphemon answered, purple chains raising up in anticipation of binding the musician in place. Bending down, Jolyne scooped up a rock. Throwing it at her opponent, that was she needed to throw off Belphemon's concentration. Rushing in the direction of the hotel's entrance, Jolyne scanned the area for anything to defend herself here. Eventually settling on a hotel cart, she shoved it in the direction of her opponent. Just catching a glimpse of Belphemon attacking the cart, Jolyne took a moment to calm her nerves.
"This would be a good time to appear, Cho Hakkaimon." Jolyne muttered and clenched her guitar that much harder. Knowing her luck, that probably wouldn't happen. Or if it did, her partner got distracted by way of ducklings. Honestly, she didn't blame Cho Hakkaimon for wanting to go see them. Ducklings were absolutely cute, after all. But could she really lead Belphemon in the direction of a nearby pond?" Jolyne doubted it. Now, what were her other options? Thinking it over for a moment, the musician found herself coming up empty. What she did know was that Belphemon wouldn't not wait long in order to strike again. In turn, she needed some kind of distraction to enact her plan. But what? Tempting as it was to just pull out the guitar and begin playing a tune, that would bring the wrong kind of attention. Unless… Yes, that could work here.
"Hey! There's going to be a big concert outside!"
Waiting a moment to see if there were any bites, Jolyne was met with a large crowd of people. Perfect. Hopefully they wouldn't mind being duped like this. She would just hold the actual concert later. Nonetheless, the musician snuck her way into the crowd. Wading her way through, she could feel Belphemon's gaze on every move she made. Part of her had hoped that the demon lord of wrath's focus would be on the crowd swarming her, but that had been wishful thinking on her part. Collateral damage was very much something that Belphemon was fine with doing. Regardless of the consequences of said actions eventually catching up to her.
"Coward. I thought you were going to fight me. Not run away like the baby you actually are." Belphemon announced, Jolyne not even looking her way. Instead, her gaze was on the nearby pond. While she couldn't see anything in the way of her partner, that could easily change in an instant. Perhaps there would be ducks there. That would be nice, but Belphemon would just destroy them.
"Have you never heard of a strategic retreat?" Jolyne countered as she pushed through the last of the crowd. Rushing for the pond, the sound of Belphemon's chains getting ready to strike echoing forth behind her. Her destination was just a little bit further. Once she got there, then it would be time to take her stand. Using all her skills and wits, all in the vain hope of her partner appearing to fend off this threat. At least, that was what Jolyne hoped would happen. Far better than being bound and promptly squeezed to death.
"Yes. You're just delaying the things I plan to do with your body as a message to everyone else. How does that sound to you?" Belphemon taunted and Jolyne rolled her eyes. Part of her even wondered why she bothered responding to these taunts. Not only did it give her opponent even more ammo, it was just asking to get her ass kicked that much sooner. Unless she could figure out a way to use that against the demon lord, she was a sitting duck otherwise. Literally, in this case. Shoving that thought away, the edge of the pond came into view. Letting out a deep breath, Jolyne forced her gaze to meet Belphemon. While still a bit away, that could easily change at any moment.
"Cho Hakkaimon, this would be a good time to show up." Jolyne thought and let out a deep breath. Perhaps if she closed her eyes and prayed, that would be all it took to bring her partner back. Considering everything that had happened up to this point, that was mighty unlikely. Instead, she would need to keep Belphemon at bay and/or direct her anger elsewhere until that time came. If she couldn't, innocent people were very much at risk of dying here.
"Your partner can't save you now. Especially once she sees the things I plan to do." Belphemon countered, only to get a rock thrown at her face. Taking it with the grace expected of a demon lord digimon, she picked the rock back up and threw it at her target. Missing Jolyne entirely, it provided the perfect opportunity for the musician to throw it back one more time for good measure. Sadly, Belphemon ate the rock right after and brought a swift end to that chain.
"Then what do you plan to do to me? Perhaps she's seen worse and your point would be moot. Did you even think about that?" Jolyne countered and Belphemon froze. Picking up a rock, she stuffed it into her jacket pocket. While another chain of rock throwing sounded nice here, Belphemon would likely not fall for that trick again. No, she would instead eat it and/or bind her. Neither outcome was usable nor helpful in this situation.
"I beg your pardon. The kind of punishments I'm able to inflict are far greater than that brat of a digimon is capable of." Belphemon countered and got a yawn from Jolyne. Was she really boring her target? Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. At least her previous targets had the decency to actually lean into her taunts and quips, especially when the chains came out. But not this woman. No, she was far too good for that. It was almost as if she was purposefully baiting out a response in order to buy time for her partner to appear. The absolute nerve of this bitch. Bad enough that she was a stuck-up country singer. But to add this wrinkle into the mix? Jolyne would very much pay for her behavior. Belphemon was absolutely certain on that front. At the same time, she would need to play along to get the results she desired.
"Then tell me what you plan on doing and then I'll decide if it's good enough. How does that sound?" Jolyne countered and Belphemon raised a paw to her chin. Or as close as the miniscule appendage allowed her to get in that regard. Bringing it back down a few seconds later, a nod followed.
"To start off with, I plan to squeeze you as tight as possible." Belphemon started and Jolyne rolled her eyes. As for ways to go out, it sounded terrifying. At the same time, it also sounded like someone attempting BDSM without a clue of how things should go.
"Nothing in the way of name calling?" Jolyne countered and was met with a confused look from her opponent. For someone who was supposedly the demon lord of wrath, she came across as relatively inexperienced here. Did she not do anything in the way of research before taking a stab at attacking her. Considering that Belphemon's goals came down to creating chaos in the hopes of getting at Steve's partner, that honestly wasn't that surprising. If she had something more beyond that, then perhaps she would've waited until they were all together and killed everyone in one swell swoop. That was what she would do here. But Jolyne let that thought fade.
"Would that make your experience that much more horrible?" Belphemon answered and was met with a nod here. Guess that was the answer to her question here. Good. These were the kinds of things she needed to know. Would suck to go through all that trouble, only to end up with a lackluster torture method. Heck, she could even use this as a stepping stone ahead of the big confrontation with Ophani. At the rate her allies were gathering, the demon lord of wrath was going to need an equally massive army if not more. Preferably more. That was always the right option in situations like this. Making a mental note to return to that thought, Belphemon let her chains rise up.
"Anything else that I need to add to really make it truly awful to kill you?" she continued and Jolyne brought a hand to her chin. While part of her had expected Cho Hakkaimon to be here by now, that wasn't looking to be the case. What could be holding her partner up now of all times. Knowing her, she was probably still being held up by a task and/or sidetracked by something or other. Possibly even both if the musician was really unlucky. Went without saying at this point.
"Are we just using chains here or are you capable of creating other bindings?" Jolyne suggested and watched Belphemon's gaze fall to the ground. Taking a moment to think that question over, her face shot back up.
"If I could create something other than chains, I would've had you tied up already. Bitch." Belphemon countered and brought her chains up. Shooting them out in Jolyne's direction, the musician dived for the pond. Caution thrown to the wind, the musician landed with a splash. Staring up to her opponent, purple fire formed around Belphemon's chains. Shooting off in the direction of the pond, they sizzled away upon hitting the water. "Slut! Whore! Go back to the kitchen where you belong!"
Rolling her eyes, Jolyne held in a chuckle. Was that really the best that the demon lord of wrath could come up? If it was, she honestly couldn't believe it. Her fellow musicians could come up with better insults that didn't resort to stooping to the lowest. Some of them were actually quite good. She kept those ones to herself. Belphemon didn't need any more ammo than she already had at the moment.
"But if I stay in the kitchen, how the fuck would the people get their food?" Jolyne countered, reaching down to scoop up some mud. Not even balling it up, she flung it in Belphemon's direction. Landing square in the middle of Belphemon's face, the demon lord of wrath struggled to wipe it off. Once she had, an inhuman scream echoed forth. Jolyne did her best to tune it out, to no avail. For now, she would continue standing in the pond. If she left, that would make her even more open to her opponent's attacks. Considering what Belphemon was planning to do, one hit was all she needed. Anything to increase that number was always welcome.
"They have legs, dipshit. They just walk in. God. I actually thought you were smart. But you're nothing but a brainless bimbo." Belphemon answered as she got more chains ready. This was starting to get tiring. For such a simple capture, everything looked to be working against her at the moment. Just once she wanted something to go right. That was asking too much from the forces to be. All they could offer her was nothing but pain and trouble. Humans were the absolute worst. Why the hell did they need digimon partners in the first place? For what little good they supposedly did, the bad massively outweighed it. Seemed like every couple of years there was a mess. This time, it was her who caused it. But all the other times, those were other digimon.
"Says the woman who couldn't do her job right." Jolyne countered and got a glare from Belphemon. That definitely pressed some buttons. Even after all the years of not even hearing a peep, she had more than enough stories to fill an entire book. Something to think about once this mess was dealt with.
"Well, your music is shit. How about that?!"
It took every part of Jolyne to not laugh her ass off. For something meant to be an insult, this was more a case of taste than anything substantial. Part of her had hoped Belphemon would understand that concept, but that wasn't looking to be the case. Reality was often disappointing in that regard.
"I'm glad to hear that." Jolyne answered and watched her opponent's expression shift to that of confusion. This could either be really great, or she was about to be facing down quite a shitshow here. Heck, a combination of both was possible here. The musician let that thought fade
"You're supposed to be mad, not happy!" Belphemon announced and bounced against the ground. By no means doing anything, it did bring attention over to the pair. Heading their way, that could only spell trouble here. Either people were going to get in their way or Belphemon would take hostages to get her to yield. Because of course she would. Why play fair when you can instead play dirty and read all the benefits? People like her were the worst.
"You've never been an artist, have you?" Jolyne announced and made a hand gesture. Watching the chains shoot out, she dodged to the best of her abilities. While one or two chains came awfully close, none of the binds managed to score a direct hit on her.
"I have told quite a number of artists that they couldn't take time off. Does that count?" Belphemon answered and Jolyne rolled her eyes. Belphemon very much knew the answer to that question. She was just asking it to get on her nerves. Not that such taunts were really working. No, they were just providing more ammo for her to use as the fight continued on.
"Not in the slightest." Jolyne answered and Belphemon raised an eyebrow. She had to know why exactly that didn't count in the slightest. Opening her mouth up, that was the demon lord of wrath's cue to throw some mud. Coming awfully close to hitting her, it instead hit the face of one of the bystanders. Before said bystander could react, that was Belphemon's cue to squeeze them tight with her chains. The bystander turned pale, struggling to get another breath. Sadly, their body was just not capable of fending off this attempt to end their life. Falling to the ground right after, their gaze looked to be fixated on Belphemon.
"Oops. Aren't you glad that wasn't you?" Belphemon announced, Jolyne staring at the body. Glad as she was to still be alive, that didn't change the fact that someone else had died in her place. Forcing her gaze back to the demon lord of wrath, a flood of emotions came over her. Pulling her arm back, she charged for her opponent. Smashing her fist into Belphemon's face, she followed it up with a kick. Running back to the pond right after, Jolyne could feel the drops of sweat fall down.
"Oh. Did the previous little flower finally find the balls to actually strike me? How cute." Belphemon announced, silence falling upon the pond and the group of bystanders dumb enough to remain after seeing what happened to their friend.
"To the big turd who has taken to murdering humans, I ask you to get away from my partner." a voice called out and Jolyne looked to her left. There, Cho Hakkaimon stood. Dressed in a cyan set of the normal armor, a duck face hung over her helmet. A large rake was cradled in large cyan gauntlets. Did make the swimsuit on her body all the odder. Done up in a blackish blue color, cyan edging could just be made out.
"Oh. Now you show up?! Go fuck yourself." Belphemon announced and brought her chains back up. Shooting them in the direction of the duck knight, Cho Hakkaimon dodged with ease. Waiting a moment for a path to be cleared, her focus shifted back to Belphemon. Grinding the dirt into her feet, a look of rage hung over her head.
Roast of the Duck!
Charging for her opponent, Cho Hakkaimon smashed into Belphemon. Knocking her into the ground, she ran over the demon lord with relative ease. Looking back to her partner, Jolyne flashed a thumbs-up. Just in time for Belphemon to return to normal. Scowling in the direction of the duck knight digimon, she attempted to flip her off. But all that accomplished was getting a laugh from Cho Hakkaimon.
"Oh. Is the giant turd attempting to piss me off? Perhaps you need to grow before you can accomplish that." Cho Hakkaimon announced, red eyes filled with determination to kick the demon lord of wrath's ass here. The perfect cue for Belphemon to teleport somewhere else. Heading back over to Jolyne, she was met with a hug.
"I've missed you." Jolyne whispered and squeezed her partner. Accepting the gesture, Cho Hakkaimon squeezed. While she wanted to believe that would be the last time their paths crossed, the duck knight digimon knew better. They would be having a rematch alright. But the when and where were fuzzy. Something to hammer out with Jolyne.