Ch5
Do I need to say it? Well, I guess that's the norm, or no, whatever. Happy new year! Like I said on the last chapter, I post this on the 'next week'. I have a lot of fun and challenge to write this chapter, the fight itself already hard. But what's harder is when a lot characters is put on the same room, it's hard for me to give each of them a spotlight. I'll put more of this on end chapter note.
One blow of his fire is already enough to create a huge hole in that building, it's barely holding on its own anyway. Though the building isn't that important, what's inside of it is. Not all of those two Digimons are his target, only one of them is his target. But what does he care? All he needs to do is do what he was commanded to do. Nothing else is important for him, including the one that's on the same side. Just when he's about to leave, he hears something. "Grr..." He lets out a low growl, then checks that building, which only has two floors left.
Not too far from that building, two Digimons are staring at each other. They barely dodged that attack and takes a moment before resuming their fight. Sealsdramon glances outside, he sighs and a bit disappointed in his boss. A reinforcement is a good gesture and he's happy that his boss takes this matter seriously, but he wants to fight this alone. It's not just about defeating or capturing Renamon, he wants this to be a test for himself.
The yellow vixen not wasting her time when her enemy seems to be lost in his thoughts, it's not a cowardly move when her life is on the line. Sealsdramon heard her initial footstep and blocked her punch, yet he still pushed a few steps back. "I didn't expect you to be so eager to fight me." He slaps her arm away and takes one of his knives on his back with his right hand. He instantly does a diagonal slash but Renamon jumps back.
Sealsdramon not letting her get away, he dashes forward. "Diamond Storm!" Very sharp and hardened leaves were thrown in his direction, most of them dodged or blocked by his armor. One directed right at his face and Sealsdramon blocked it with his knife, the sound created from it is like steel clashing. He throws his knife yet she able to parry it by hitting its side, causing the knife's trajectory to slightly change course.
It took just a split second for Renamon to check the knife position, that moment still seized by Sealsdramon to close their distance and it surprised her. Their speed is on par while he has an advantage in power. Renamon forced to dodge his punch and moves away again. They take a breather as both don't want to move hastily. A little slip up could be used for a counterattack. Even Sealsdramon who is supposed to outclass Renamon is very wary about her moves, he understands that Renamon has more experience than him.
"What have you done?" Renamon asked, her claws clenched from pure anger. "I give you a chance to explain, Sealsdramon."
It's suffocating, that's what he feels right now. He's the one who has an advantage in level and even in power, yet the mental pressure from Renamon is very huge. The yellow vixen eyes are still on him and she stays still, not moving an inch. Thanks to his goggle he could glance at his surroundings without alerting Renamon, and he could see his arms trembling a bit.
How could he fall into fear? Shouldn't he winning by now? Those questions and doubts start filling his mind, he's not even answering her question just yet. His eyes darted outside once again, looking for Growlmon. "Did I just.. looking for help?" He thought. "That can't be, I can do this. I-"
When he is trying to reassure himself, Sealsdramon almost loses his focus completely on her. He managed to see and dodge Renamon's Diamond Storm, almost all of them. Some of those leaves grazed his arms and right temple. Sealsdramon brushes away his thoughts for now, but.. she's gone!
Just a moment ago Renamon was right in front of him, now she's nowhere to be seen. Tap! Tap! Tap! Sealsdramon is still able to hear the sounds of her swift footsteps. He turns to his left and she's already right in front of him. He could react to her left arm that about to deliver a palm strike, he moves his arm that's holding his knife to counter it. It stopped so suddenly, he's too focused on her left arm that suddenly stopped and Renamon throws an uppercut on his chin with her right. It's not a normal fist uppercut that uses a fist, she used her sharp claws to deliver more damage.
Renamon not letting go of her chance when Sealsdramon staggered in place, she kicks him in the gut and pushes him back. His armor may protect him but he's not in any position to defend himself. What comes after it is a barrage of punches, chops, palm strikes, and kicks.
Strike! Strike! Strike! Renamon's continuous attack keeps him in that vulnerable state and cracks some parts of his armor. His joints are in worse condition since those parts of his armor aren't as thick as other parts. She ends her barrage of attacks with a roundhouse kick to the head. Sealsdramon flung back a few meters to his right, unable to respond immediately.
Sealsdramon slowly gets up to sit, his body trembling from the pain. "Ugh.. you-"
"Diamond Storm!" His scream fills the room as multiple leaves penetrate his legs, now he lost his speed. "It's over, now answer my question, Sealsdramon. What have you done to Guilmon?"
It's better not to give Sealsdramon any chance at all, so she grabs his knife and throws it away out of the building, he could only watch while trying to stand up again. With a cold stare she kicks him back to the floor. By any means he still able to fight her again even if he's not able to use his full strength, it's just his current position that prevents him from doing so.
"I've done nothing to him, not a single thing." Renamon isn't taking that answer, that didn't explain anything at all. "Guilmon met my lord before, I didn't get a chance to even fight him." He chuckled when he said that. "They seemed to agree on something, that's all I know. Shame, he's supposed to be the muscle brain one, right? I wanted to test him first before he joined us."
Renamon still not believing his words, she still thinks that Sealsdramon is quite high in whatever their group hierarchy is. "Don't take me as a fool, you know it won't work with me." Sealsdramon laughed at her. "So the-" She stopped when a loud thud heard from a distance. It's coming to them.
"The hard way?" He smirks. He's in a good mood right now, even though he's quite disappointed in the reinforcement from a moment ago. "Throwing my knife away was a mistake, no?"
Growlmon smashed the floor they are on, both of them barely dodged it. Nothing's good goes in her way, Sealsdramon already moved behind Growlmon and she could hear more reinforcements coming, possibly Commandramons again. She stares at her red friend, he looks like a mindless puppet that attacks her without any thought. Renamon couldn't attack him, not only because he is her friend but her own body couldn't keep up for another battle. Moreover Growlmon's strength is way stronger than that of Sealsdramon.
"Growlmon! It's me, Renamon!" She tried to bring her friend back, she believes he still there. "Guilmon!" She yelled at him again with his rookie form's name to no avail. Alas, her friend keeps attacking her with his big claws or using his fire breath. With no cards in her hand, Renamon runs away the moment Growlmon's fire about to hit her. It causes an illusion that she's defeated by him, but Sealsdramon knows she just got away.
A few minutes later, a few blocks away from the battle, Renamon takes a little break and switches from running to just walking. "Ruki... I need your guide.." She looks down, trying to choose her next move. That fight gave her nothing, not even a shred of information that she desperately needed. Her friend is on the other side while her partner is in the other world, she's alone. Wandering without any destination isn't a good choice, she's aware that those Digimons could track her down.
Renamon stopped to look at the sky, it's white from the snowfall. After a few deep breaths, she turns around.
Whoooshh-Blam! An Ikkakumon thrown into an outpost and destroys it completely, he's unable to get up after getting hit once by Pajiramon. The deva still couldn't get a break, he covers his face from the rain of bullets from Commandramons. "Tch!" He shot and the arrow pierced concrete before hitting one of those Commandramons, causing panic amongst them. In the middle of the bullets that flying towards him, a thick horn launched at him. Pajiramon managed to narrowly dodge it, but it still grazed his cheek. It's another Ikkakumon, he quickly uses his crossbow and hits the champion level Digimon while running towards Commandramons. With a sweep of his arm, he throws some of them back. "Ryo!"
"Coming through!" Ryo slashes one of his cards, giving Cyberdramon extra defense from the incoming attacks. They charge through those Digimons, only to be stopped by an ultimate level Digimon, Zudomon. Zudomon tries to attack using his hammer. "His wrist!" Yelled Ryo, Cyberdramon managed to hold Zudomon's wrists and then throw him to the side. "Digi Modify: Zudomon's Cold Crusher!" After he slashed a card, Cyberdramon unleashed a wave of ice to freeze Zudomon's in place, then moves for the kill. "Not now!" The cyborg dragon growls in disapproval yet does what his partner told him to.
Not far from them, Guardromon is fighting an Ikkakumon when a Zudomon appears from his back. Before Zudomon's hammer could hit him, a bubble protected him and burst on contact, injuring Zudomon. "Thank you."
MarineAngemon smiles at him. "Piii!" The mega then heals Guardromon. Their body is in very good condition, but they're surrounded by enemies. Multiple Ikkamons and a Zudomon blocked their way, that's not counting Commadramons who chose to stay on the back lines.
As they are trying to flee, Cyberdramon comes in fast and punches an Ikkakumon away. Then he slashes Zudomon's hammer weilding arm with Desolation Claw, which causes the arm unable to move for a while. Ryo takes out a card from his deck. "Digi Modify: Greymon's Mega Flame!" The flame from Cyberdramon's maw pushed those Digimon back.
"R-Ryo!?" Guardromon still remembers the tamer's name, though he's confused about why he's there. "How you-"
Ryo instantly replied. "Let's get out of here first."
MarineAngemon holds on to Ryo's shoulder while Cyberdramon grabs Guardromon's body. They retreat immediately, not stopping until they regroup with Pajiramon. They were greeted by a scene of Pajiramon surrounded by defeated Digimons, those Digimons didn't stand a chance against this deva. From what Ryo sees, Pajiramon didn't finish most of the weak Digimons and seemed to be on high alert.
The deva noticed their presence. "Took you long enough, let's move. I sense something com-"
THUD!
A big tremor caused by a hammer shocks them. Not just that, a wave of ice spreads from the ground and Ryo aware that this is another Zudomon. That's what he thought until the wave of ice created sharp ice spikes that sprouted up to attack whoever stand on the ice, or whoever got caught on that freezing wave. Now their backs are against a building just to dodge that attack. Just as Ryo predicted, a Zudomon walks in their direction, but this one feels different. This one looks so calm, eerily calm.
"You think you're any different? Preposterous!" Pajiramon shot his crossbow, the arrow deflected by Zudomon with his hammer. Although it still staggered the walrus, Pajiramon could tell its difference from the other Zudomon. He glances at Ryo. "I'll go with that plan, just this one."
Ryo hold this D-Ark firmly. "It's been a while. Cyberdramon, Matrix Evolution!"
Hiding inside one of those buildings that could only be described as ruins, she tries to sneak past a group of Digimons that already looks like an army. Most of them consist of Commandramons, Ikkakumons, and Zudomons. She thought it was quite strange when she saw Zudomon reporting something to the injured Sealsdramon a few minutes ago. Despite their level, those Zudomons seemed to regard Sealsdramon as their superior. Her hunch was right, that Sealsdramon is someone special. That also makes her mad at herself, she had him on her hand and she missed the chance to dig up important information.
Renamon slips past a few Ikkakumons and gets even closer to Sealsdramon. Even when she's on the fourth floor, she doesn't dare peeking from the window. Silently, she moves down to the second floor, eavesdropping on their conversation.
From the tone of Sealsdramon, she could tell he's not pleased at all. "It's only two of them, not Renamon or Guilmon either." None of them dare reply to him. "Fine, I'll deal with them myself." Said Sealsdramon, she heard him playing with his knife before it sheated back on his back.
"But-"
"But what?"
"Our lord already sent him to the battle, he should be arrived by now." Replied the Zudomon. "We heard that those two got a reinforcement as well, a human spotted from afar"
Not much information that she could get after that, most of it was just Sealsdramon arranging a team to find her and those Zudomons were worried about his condition. They kept saying that their 'lord' really worried about Sealsdramon and ordered him to face them. Unfortunately, Renamon not able to get any shred of information about this 'lord', not even a name or description.
Moving past them again, she planned to leave for good this time. Before that, Renamon watches Growlmon from afar. He seems to be fine for the most part, but lifeless. No more that innocent and pure attitude from him, something is wrong with him yet she doesn't know what caused it. Did he agree to work with them? That shouldn't be the case, even if that's the case then he would've recognized her. Did he get infected by a virus? Or worse, it was whoever this lord power is. Renamon keeps exploring the possibility of it while she makes her way to a certain plain.
Renamon's destination isn't far, only a plain above this one. From what she heard from some Ikkakumons before, that plain is still their territory. Though she assumes it's not heavily guarded, especially when that Zudomon mentioned the lord sent 'him' to deal with the trouble. Her hopes were not that high, but the thought of meeting two of her friends and one tamer definitely sets her on fire again.
This cold breeze somewhat complements the warm feathers of Zhuqiaomon, he feels refreshed all of a sudden. It's been only a few minutes since he's on his edge and nearly got into another fight in bad condition. Now he can relax as one of the strongest Digimons carrying him into their place. Impmon glances at his friends, one still scared and the other just using his time as best as he can to get some rest. He's getting bored and hoping for a little chat with Terriermon, it's going to help the scared bunny as well. Unfortunately, his friends succumb to their fatigue first, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Unable to sleep and bored, he moves carefully to Zhuqiaomon's head. He could sense the anger from the sovereign when he started to move, yet his boredom got the best of him. "You really like to get on my nerve, not in the past nor present."
Impmon chuckles. "Oh really? Perhaps I was influenced by a power from a certain Digimon, dunno~"
His response makes the sovereign huff, he has never seen a Digimon so bold in front of him. Not even one of his devas dare to do this. "I could drop you at any moment, you better keep your mouth in check, Impmon."
The first reaction Impmon gives is silence, he's not expecting that at all. "Hah! I could teach you one or two things if you kindly ask me. Your threat is just a lukewarm breath of nothing, birdie." He chuckled. "Is it that bad?" Asked Impmon. "You even call me by my name, you know. That's not a slip of tongue, no?"
"You're not as dumb as you look, I give you that." Impmon huffed, though that's still a praise from a sovereign, from one that's very hostile as well. "Let's see how many things you can grasp for now. What do you think is happening right now?"
"Those Digimons.. clearly targeting us, I'm sure of it.." His fist clenched quite hard, he still recalls the moment Guardromon sucked in by the data stream very well. Part of him also angry at himself, he could've done better. Impmon took a few deep breaths, and it seemed that Zhuqiaomon noticed that and let him calm down first. "Something from the past?" He asked the sovereign back.
"Perhaps." Suddenly, Impmon could feel the sovereign's body getting hotter each second before cooling down. "They think the same thing, but I just feel like these ungrateful brats are chewing something more than they can swallow. I will-"
Zhuqiaomon cuts his words so suddenly that it quickly sends Impmon to high alert, almost like a flight or fight situation. Then, some portals appeared on the ground. Those portals are quite big as well. What stresses Impmon is that these Digimons seem reckless and not at the same time, either they blindly try to pull an attack despite there is a sovereign presence or they believe that they're strong enough to take down a sovereign.
A rain of strange projectiles targeting them from the ground, it's so fast for Impmon to see in his current form. Fortunately, Zhuqiaomon able to dodge most of it, and those that hit him didn't seem to have any effect. Impmon about to question why Zhuqiaomon didn't retaliate, only to realize that he's a burden for the sovereign right now.
"What are you doing!? Burn whoever that is! I can take care of-" A pitch dark beam hits the sovereign's right wing, which shocked both of them. The balance tilts to the right. "H-Hey! We're going to fall!"
"That weakens my wing!" Screamed Zhuqiaomon.
When they are in full panic, a surge of power gathers on their backs. A dark spot in the sky catches Impmon's attention. What comes after that is that same dark beam, this one seems to be stronger than before. Zhuqiaomon forced to dodge it as it targets his left wing, if it hits then he won't have a prayer. They barely hold on when Zhuqiaomon tilts to the right side even further, but one of them can't hold on to his feathers very well.
"Terriermon!" Lopmon trying to reach his hand but he's too late, his arms are too short to reach him.
Impmon jumps from Zhuqiaomon's head then uses his neck as a footing to propel him faster. He reached Terriermon's ear, they are hanging on the tip of Zhuqiaomon's wing. His grip starts to slip as he barely able to hold their body weight. Then, another dark beam. Both of them fall when Impmon loses grip, they hold each other tightly as they are about to hit the ground. Only to see a portal appear before them.
"AAhhhhhh!"
As their scream cuts off, that portal disappears.
Inside Hypnos headquarter, tamers with Yamaki and Reika are having a private conversation with Siduramon. No other agent except Yamaki and Reika is able to hear the deva, they still record all of it but not broadcasting it to everyone for now. It's Siduramon's request and the reason for it is that he doesn't want to spread panic, this extra step is just another measure to keep it secret despite they are already inside a secret base.
There still one problem, Yamaki demanded Siduramon take off his golden weapon. The deva outright refused that and kept his 'Bao Chu' with him, it caused some tension but Yamaki couldn't force him in the end. Sinduramon stares at Yamaki because of that, he dislikes the blond man's attitude at first then laughs. "Ahh, you're that mad man." He leans closer to him. "Guess we all can change, Yamaki."
"Let's just get to the point." Replied Yamaki short. "You said that you can't afford to stay for too long in this world."
Sinduramon huffed. "Give me a moment, okay? I'm on my death door just a few hours ago. From what happened, I thought it's coming again. But all I found are Digimons rebelling against us." He sighs. "Some of them are strong, very strong."
Tamers and Yamaki look at each other, they can understand the rough idea. Now they could trust Sinduramon a bit more, although some of them are still skeptical about the deva, especially Yamaki and Ruki. Jian asked him first before anyone else, he wanted to know everything he could for now. "Can you tell us where are our partners? And what happened to you?"
"I'm about to tell it, boy, and I don't have any reason to keep it secret anyway." Replied Sinduramon. "Let's start with those Digimons, they attacked anyone that's not on their side, as simple as that. They dare to challenge their authority, and.." He tilted his head. "Did some of them pay a visit already?"
Takato nodded. "Only one. What about our partners? Are they okay?" All of them are expecting some good news, if not at least any news about them. They could only look down with a sigh and disappointed look on their faces when Sinduramon shook his head, the deva didn't even try to cheer them up by lying or something like that. For now, this is all he can do for them. The deva about to open a portal to Digital World before he remembered something.
"If you wonder where he is, he's in the Digital World right now. He's been working with us for a while, I swear that boy is just like you, mad man." Said Sinduramon while staring at Yamaki.
"That idiot.." Ruki muttered in anger. "How long since he got there?"
The deva only shrugs his wings. "I don't know, but he kind of took on the role of that rabbit. For some reason, my lords didn't want to replace that rabbit position, maybe they want him to keep his title despite joining your team." Sinduramon started to create a portal connecting both worlds. "Since you only got one visitor and from the looks of it you can handle that, I'll bid farewell. Abandoning my duty isn't an option and that would taint my honor as a deva." Some electric current is coming from his weapon and slowly swirling in front of them, causing some disturbance to nearby electronic devices. Though it stopped when the portal fully established.
As they watched Sinduramon about to enter the portal, Mako whispered to Kazu. "If we follow him, will I meet Impmon again?" Asked the boy.
"Yessss, but.. umm.." Kazu has an idea, but he's not sure about this. He moves closer to Takato and bumps his shoulder while still staring at the portal. "Hey man, you know what's on my mind right now?"
Takato huffs and whispers back. "I want to, I want to meet Guilmon again and this might be the chance, I can feel it. But.. you think they let me do that? I could feel Ruki and Yamaki glaring at me."
"Well luckily, you got a friend like me~"
Out of nowhere, Kazu borrows Mako's deck of cards and shuffles it. Mako doesn't understand at all why Kazu does this so suddenly, then one of the cards flies towards the portal and sucked inside of it. "Noo! My card!" Kazu acts like he follows Mako and both of them go inside the portal to take that card back. Ai quickly follows his brother then Juri tries to stop Ai from doing that, and Shaocung who's the same age as Mako and Ai follow them as well.
It was so bad and quick that the rest of them just stared in disbelief. Reika and Yamaki understandably panicked when the rest of them walk to it as well,. "TAKATO! You don't-"
"It's too late! We need to go as well!" Then the rest of them run into the portal.
"Tch, Reika! Throw that to me!" Reika grabs a rifle and throws it to Yamaki, the blond man makes a run for it and almost misses the portal. The moment he gets in, the portal closes.
The room suddenly got quiet, leaving Reika alone. Some agents enter the room in a panic state, they keep asking her who's still in shock. She could only make a dumb smile and weird chuckle. "Ya.. Ya.. YAMAKIII!"
So how's the chapter? I hope I still able to kept them on character. Also like I said in early note, giving each character reaction or spotlight for every moment is hard. But I feel like some moment will explain more of certain character's aspect, which I want to try.
The next chapter will be.. well, you think I'll tell you that? What's the point of it? All I can tell is it almost done except re-reading it and revisions, I'll keep my next chapter target upload in two weeks \after each chapter. But I hope I'll post this on the next week.