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Chapter 3 - His War Games
Takato struggled to draw breath as he watched the villainous Piedmon jump down to street level and draw another of his swords from the sheathe on his back. "What fun…" the calamitous clown chortled as he pranced over the deep fissures left in the street by the Tyrannomon towards Takato and the prone form of Guilmon, now de-digivolved from Growlmon. Takato gritted his teeth and with every bit of his strength he hauled himself up from his knees onto his feet. "Ready for more I see, good…" the words fell from Piedmon's red lips with perverse joy. Spinning his blade in the air, he grabbed it in a reverse grip and held it far behind his back, readying himself for another throw. "Let's see how you deal with this, human!", with that he let the sword fly, sending it darting straight for Takato's head.
"BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION : BIOMERGE ACTIVATE- GUILMON BIOMERGE TO…GALLANTMON!"
Charging forward, Piedmon's sword bounced off Gallantmon's shield, spinning uselessly away and embedding itself in a nearby wall. Without slowing, Gallantmon bashed into the clown with every bit of force he could muster, sending the dark digimon flying away. Piedmon cried out in pain as he flew, but recovering in the air he put his two hands together and shouted "Clown Trick!". With that, he disappeared into thin air. Gallantmon wheeled about, his shield raised, expecting an attack from any angle. Moments later two swords flew down from the sky, and the knight Digimon leapt to the side, watching at the blades struck the ground where he'd been less than a second before. Hopping on to the roof of a nearby abandoned minivan, Gallantmon gained a better view as the infamous clown flew through the air towards him. Internally, Takato and Guilmon weighed their options.
"He's smart…" said Takato
"…and fast.." agreed Guilmon.
"Then we need to draw him in to a trap!"
Allowing the clown in close, Gallantmon feinted to the left and then struck hard from the right, thrusting his lance with a terrible force that struck Piedmon's left shoulder, missing his head by inches. Falling back, the clown's look of amusement was now gone, replaced with one a mixture of hatred and hunger. "I can't wait to present your corpse as a gift to my master human" spat the clown digimon. "You wish!" yelled back Gallantmon, throwing himself backwards as the clown advanced, backing down a narrow alleyway. Piedmon advanced on him until Gallantmon's back was touching the wall at the end of the alley. Drawing all four of his swords at once, Piedmon cried "take this- Trump Sword!" At that moment Gallantmon raised his lance, not to face Piedmon but to high above his enemies head. "Lightning Joust!" He cried in return, sending a spear of pure energy high into the two buildings above. Heavy debris fell down, forcing Piedmon to dodge and weave. Looking at the alley's end, Piedmon now only saw his four swords embedded in the wall, pinning Gallantmon's red cape to it. But where was Gallantmon?
From above, Piedmon heard a voice cry "Shield of the Just!" and before he could avoid it an impossibly powerful freight train of energy impacted into him, turning the two buildings and the alley floor into a massive pile of rubble.
Landing on the edge of the pile. Gallantmon lifted his cape free and with a flourish re-attached it to his body. "I hate clowns." He said dejectedly.
"The feelings mutual". With that a hand burst free from the concrete rubble and grabbed Gallantmon by the neck. "Clown trick!" yelled Piedmon, and Gallantmon was sent flying backwards, through the wall and into the building behind. His metal body turned a wooden staircase to splinters, and there he lay, trapped in the middle of it. Shaking off the rubble, an injured but still whole Piedmon limped forward, picking up one of his swords from the debris. Placing its point against Gallantmon's chest, Piedmon put his other hand on the pommel, ready to drive it forward. "Goodbye human, it's been a scream!"
"Darkness Claw!", the words rang out, unmistakeable to Gallantmon. He watched Piedmon's frozen shocked expression for a few moments, before the clown burst into a stream of data. "Nice moves pineapple-head" said Beelzemon, stepping into the building. "Thanks Beelzemon, I appreciate it". said, Gallantmon, rising out of the collapsed staircase. "Don't mention it kid. Now tell me, what the hells going on?"
"I wish I knew" replied Gallantmon "but I think this Barbamon guy has declared war on the world. I don't know how they all managed to Bio-Emerge at once like this though, it seems like they've torn a rift between our world and the digital world."
"And every mook Digimon who ever wanted to visit this world has come along for the ride" said Beelzemon. "Come on kid, let's get some air and see if we can find our friends". With that, Beelzemon sprouted his wings from his back and took to the sky. Jumping out of the building Gallantmon shifted form to his Crimson Mode and joined Beelzemon above. Surveying the scene before them, they saw a variety of disasters playing out below. On one street, a group of Vilemon were darting down into a screaming crowd and lifting terrified citizens high into the air before dropping them. In the park, an Infermon fired shells of destructive energy from its mouth, destroying trees and cars as people fled in horror. In the river, a MarineDevimon barrelled through bridges with its enormous form. So much to do, so little time.
"Hey dudes, need a hand?" Gallantmon and Beelzemon turned to see Kazu Shioda floating towards them on the back of a flying Guardomon. "Kazu, where's Kenta?" asked Gallantmon.
"Oh, he's down there!" said Kenta, pointing to the street below where Kenta stood, MarineAngemon beside him. With his usual ease, MarineAngemon sent out heart-shaped bubbles that made the Vilemon lose all urge to fight, sending them falling into a pile below.
"And he's not the only one!" said Kenta, pointing to Antylamon, who sprang out from the trees and struck Infermon repeatedly in the head with her gigantic arms, before sending him spinning away with a roundhouse kick. Suzie Wong watched from a nearby parapet, cheering on her partner. "Listen," shouted Kenta, "the rest of the guys are near Henry's place fighting some big robot jerk, they sent me to find you!"
"Thanks Kenta, we'll head there now!" Shouted Gallantmon, gesturing for Beelzemon to follow him as they flew away towards the busier section of the city, where dozens of columns of smoke rose into the sky. "Don't mention it buddy!" Replied Kenta, as he and Guardramon flew low, firing rockets into MarineDevimon's eyes.
— xx — xx — xx —
MegaGargomon and Machinedramon traded fire, the fiery bursts of their ordinance shredding the streets as they approached each other. From inside MegaGargomon, Henry Wong was seething. This metallic lizard had already displayed a willingness to put buildings, freeways, and any human structure in his way to avoid Henry's fire, something Henry himself would not do.
"That's it, I've had enough of this!" Said MegaGargomon, abandoning his barrage and launching himself forward, catching Machinedramon just as he appeared from around the corner of a five-storey apartment building. Raising his arms, the green automaton sent a flurry of punches and kicks into the metal leviathans frame. "Unwise." said a low voice rumbling out from Machinedramon's vacant face. With that it's three-clawed arm shot up and embedded itself into MegaGargomon's side. Inside, Henry and Terriermon screamed in pain. Being pushed back, Machinedramon now had room to lower its body, putting its cannons right in MegaGargomon's face. "Giga Blaster", said that terrible emotionless voice. Before the cannons could fire, MegaGargomon saw Justimon fly in from the side and deliver a flying kick into the side of Machinedramon's head, pushing the creature far enough out of the way to make his Giga Blaster miss MegaGargomon entirely. At the end of the street, a multi-storey car park was blasted into atoms.
Taking advantage of the distraction, MegaGargomon grabbed the claw piercing his side and pulled it free, then continued pulling. Gaining momentum, he brought his body into a hard spin, until finally he threw the vile Machinedramon down the street. With a hard impact, their enemy struggled to recover for a few moments. MegaGargomon fell to his knees, clutching his side. Rising, Machinedramon prepared to fire his cannons again. This time with no possibility of either fighter closing the distance, MegaGargomon turned to Justimon. "Go, leave me".
"Not a chance." replied Justimon. Internally, Henry grew angry.
"Damn it Ryo, don't die on my account!" he shouted.
"Momentai Henry, nobodies dying today" said the voice of Terriermon, calming his partner. It was then Henry noticed the protective barrier beginning to surround them. Sakuyamon floated into view just as Machinedramon's Giga Blaster impacted against her shield. "I'm always covering for you boys." said Sakuyamon affectionately, before turning back to Machinedramon.
"Monster, your rampage is now at an end. Spirit Strike!" Sakuyamon's multi-coloured magical attack flurried through the air and curled its way around Machinedramon, making him roar in pain. "Is that all you humans have? I am amused". He said. It was only as he prepared to retaliate that he saw what was about to happen. MegaGargomon had risen to his feet again and was sprinting towards him, covered by Sakuyamon's attack. With a thunderous clash of metal, the two armoured behemoths collided again. MegaGargomon wrapped his two hands around Machinedramon's throat and started to pull. Machinedramon attempted to yet again attack his enemies undefended sides, but found this time that MegaGargomon was ready. Raising his leg, MegaGargomon pinned his enemies grasping clawed arm to the wall with his knee, hugging his body to the mecha-lizard so as to avoid his less manoeuvrable other arm.
Machinedramon began to feel something it had never felt before, and something it quickly decided it didn't like. Panic. As it struggled more and more desperately to be free, MegaGargomon's grip only tightened. A terrible high-pitched screech of over-stretched metal filled the air, like a metallic death rattle, and then with an almighty wrench, MegaGargomon pulled Machinedramon's head clean off. The two separated halves of him remained present for a few seconds, before bursting into a stream of data.
MegaGargomon sagged, falling to his knees. In a moment, he separated back into Henry and Terriermon. Justimon and Sakuyamon landed beside him. "That was amazing guys!" said Sakuyamon. "We know, just don't ask us to do it again!" replied Terriermon, obviously exhausted.
— xx — xx — xx —
Gallantmon and Beelzemon were nearly in view of Henry's apartment building when Barbamon appeared before them. As if from nowhere their path was blocked by what looked like an old man with a long beard carrying a staff, with six bat-like wings sprouting from his back. He had an unmistakable aura of power and malice. Both on their guard, it was Gallantmon who spoke first. "Let us guess, you're Barbamon right?"
"You ain't winning no prizes for that one pineapple-head!" said Beelzemon dryly. As if ignoring them, Barbamon turned and looked off into the distance. For a moment he simply stood in silence, then with a wave of his staff, three balls of dark energy flew down from the rift in the sky to his side. One by one, the balls coalesced into three forms. First, the unmistakable visage of a LadyDevimon. Next, a Vademon- recognisable from his enlarged brain and thin sickly form. And finally, a Datamon.
"To your duties then" said Barbamon with little interest, as the three digimon flew off in the direction of the Hypnos Building. "Hey wait-" shouted Gallantmon, readying himself to chase, but Barbamon was ready "No, I think not." said the Digimon Lord with little interest. Raising his staff, he simply said "Death Lure…". For a moment nothing happened, but then Takato heard an ungodly roar from behind him. Looking back, he saw Beelzemon had begun to grip his own head, as if trying to tear out some terrible thought. With his eyes bulging, he began to shout "No, no, no, no!". His whole body tensing, Beelzemon was surrounded by a dark aura.
"What's wrong Beelzemon?" Gallantmon asked, flying towards his friend. It was at that moment that Beelzemon launched himself at Gallantmon, his eyes turned a burning red. Snarling, he raked his claws again and again at his friend, before reaching for one of his shotguns. "Double Impact!" He roared, sending out a blast that Gallantmon tried desperately to avoid, but which ended up striking him in one of his wings. Losing air quickly, Gallantmon could only avoid his friends attacks, unwilling to fight back. As this went on, Barbamon watched from above with faint amusement. Finally, he called out.
"Beelzemon, kill this one and then join us at the Headquarters of this Hypnos Organisation- we have an appointment with the humans there!"
Flying away, he left the two friends to their fight.
- Continued in Chapter Four. -
Next time: The Conclusion to Takato's story, we check in with Kari, and we find out more about the enemies intentions. Less fighting next time, more talking (probably).