...
[-Tentomon Digievolved to... Kabuterimon!-]
Giving off a strong white light, Tentomon's small figure began to warp and contract before rapidly stretching and enlarging. I instinctively blocked the light with my arm and when it finally disappeared I couldn't help but let out a cry of disbelief at the creature before me.
[=====]
Name: Kabuterimon
Level: Adult
Type: Vaccine
Data: 134 / 500
...
Description: A fairly unique Insect Digimon, even among newly discovered Digimon. The details of how it evolved into an insect Type are unclear, but it has both ant-like power and the flawless defensive ability possessed by a beetle. It swoops down on hostile Virus Digimon without mercy. Its head has been metallized, and boasts the defense of an iron wall.
Special Attack: Mega Blaster, Beet Horn, Electric Storm, Danger Sting
[=====]
I looked away from the holographic screen to admire the huge Digimon in front of me. 'That explains why I didn't want to Digievolve inside the pyramid...'
Kabuterimon was, to the naked eye, huge, almost as big as a freaking building if not more. The color of its exoskeleton was a deep blue color with small black and gray muscle-like parts, perhaps the most striking of the insect were its four arms and its large head covered entirely in metal from which protruded a large, sharp horn. On its back four powerful insect wings made the air vibrate, raising a cloud of dust and sand around it.
I looked closely at each part of the huge insect with a mixture of fascination and fear. "...I think it's the biggest Digimon I've ever seen."
"Sora's Birdramon is pretty big too, though not as cool as Kabuterimon" Izzy replied with a laugh as one of Kabuterimon's hands helped it up onto its back. "What are you waiting for? Come on up!"
I nodded dazedly as I climbed onto one of Kabuterimon's four hands along with Filmon who kept muttering things about height and other nonsense. With a nod from Izzy, Kabuterimon quickly took off into the sky before heading for the pyramid at a frankly terrifying speed.
I definitely didn't let out a scream at the takeoff, nope.
It was only a few seconds before we reached a small cloud of dust moving in a straight line in the direction of said structure. From the height, Garurumon didn't look so big and intimidating. Perhaps because he was riding on a freaking insect kaiju!
Garurumon's fur was clearly dirtier thanks to the desert sand and dust, Matt for his part seemed to have covered his nose and mouth with his shirt. We didn't bother to alert him to our presence and instead advanced at a brisk pace towards the pyramid.
Kabuterimon was huge, but the pyramid was easily three or four times his size which was frankly terrifying and awesome at the same time. It made me wonder if Nanomon had built it from scratch or if he had had help from some other Digimon.
When we reached the combat zone, I felt my throat go dry as I watched Sora, TK and Mimi captured by Etemon's wires along with their Digimons. Said wires enveloped them almost completely holding them completely captive and at a simple command from Etemon to be killed.
The self-proclaimed King of the Digimons was torturing and brutalizing BlackGarurumon by deliberately breaking the jet wolf's limbs. His legs were pointing to the wrong places while his body seemed to have been the victim of several blows from Etemon leaving him in a precarious and extremely weak state.
Feeling anger wash over me like a tsunami, I acted quickly climbing onto Filmon's back and give a quick series of instructions to my fellow Digimon.
"Izzy" I called out to the little red-haired boy without really looking at him as a plan to follow quickly formed in my mind, if only to keep me and Filmon alive for a short period of time. "Go free the others, I'll buy us some time."
Izzy frowned at my words as confusion came over his face.
"We can't beat this monster just the three of us" I took a deep breath as I tried to control my anger. "I trust you, Izzy."
Without waiting for Izzy's response, I jumped Kabuterimon's hand.
Following my instructions to the letter, Filmon fired a precise and rapid burst of wells injected with reddish electricity towards the wires containing what appeared to be a huge phoenix, a sort of cactus with boxing gloves and, literally, an angel.
I felt a strong tug throughout my body as Filmon crashed heavily to the ground raising a cloud of dust around him. I quickly got off Filmon as I superficially glanced at the information of all the Digimons present.
'Birdramon, Togemon and... Angemon...' I noticed each Digimon's human partner and couldn't help but be impressed by the Sacred Digimon that was TK's partner.
I took a deep breath before shouting at the top of my lungs. "ETEMON!!"
The orange monkey stopped all its movements before turning its head to look at me intently, I almost thought it failed to recognize me. But then an annoyed groan came out of his mouth before turning into a full-blown outburst.
"Are you serious?! That useless Nanomon! He can't even hold a prisoner captive?! Why am I surrounded by such incompetent Digimons?! Because of Yggdrasil's code!" the orange monkey muttered with barely suppressed anger. "Good! Now that that smartass is gone, I can finally get my claws on you!"
That made me frown thoughtfully. 'Nanomon was protecting me from Etemon's machinations?-, no, he was simply making sure not to miss the opportunity to seal the monkey with my Data. It was a shithole for another shithole.'
Completely ignoring me, Etemon went on prattling on about various things I really didn't care about. "You don't know how much I've been looking forward to making you my slave! Can you imagine!!! A chosen child licking my toes! I would be the biggest celebrity in the Digital World!"
"I thought you were already the biggest celebrity in the Digital World" I smiled viciously. "Or maybe you're just bluffing to make up for something else...small."
Etemon almost seemed to choke as he heard my taunt before pointing at me with a scowl. "Th-That's-that's not the point!"
""Noah!""
I turn my head back to see all the boys running in my direction. Part of my mind can't help but wonder about Tai, but the vast majority was simply relieved that they were all finally here.
I gave them a lazy smile as I waved at them. "Guys-"
Pam!
"Ouch!" I clutched my head as I looked at Mimi angrily, said girl had her fist raised as she scowled at me. "What the hell was that for?!"
"For letting you capture you lazy idiot!" Mimi exclaimed as she grabbed me by the collar and pointed her finger at me. "You know that worrying a lady is bad for the skin?! What if I get wrinkly and old before my time because of you! Huh?!"
I looked at her blankly for a moment before giving her my classic, legendary blank stare. "...Mimic..."
"Did you say something?" Mimi asked with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes as she raised her fist again.
"Nothing!" I replied with an innocent smile that made Mimi squint her eyes for a moment before releasing me with an exasperated sigh before smiling.
"And we're back to square one..." I heard Izzy's sigh but simply ignored it.
Despite being...well, Mimi. I could tell her annoyance was coming from her concern for me, Mimi may be an airhead and more vain than an American model most of the time, but she was pure and loyal to a fault.
I looked to the side and can't suppress the small smile on my face as I saw the pure joy on TK's face. It seemed like a lot more time had passed since I last saw him, now TK seemed more concentrated and focused than before.
Part of me wondered if that had been because of my absence or an attempt to copy BlackGarurumon's stoic attitude.
"Hey TK" I greeted him casually as I pointed to the flashing angel flying above us. "Looks like Patamon really Digivolved into something cool no?"
TK nodded frantically as he punched quick jabs in the air. "That's right! Angemon is great! He's strong and fast! And he goes boom, boom with his fists and-"
Suddenly TK's burst of joy died down slightly as he looked down at the ground. "But BlackGarurumon...he-"
"We'll finish this clown off, save BlackGarurumon and then we can get some sleep" I replied with false calm as I ignored in snort from Mimi and Izzy, I was tempted to talk to Sora, but I honestly didn't want to interrupt the small conversation I was having with Matt.
I turned my gaze back to Etemon, who was looking at us with a predatory grin and his arms crossed. For a moment I wondered why he hadn't decided to attack us, but surely he wanted his fans, if he had any, to see how he single-handedly defeated us all.
And honestly, I didn't think his confident attitude was misplaced.
It would take a miracle to win this.
***
Garurumon, Angemon, Togemon and Filmon quickly faced the orange monkey as they took up their attack positions with Garurumon and Togemon in the vanguard and Angemon and Filmon in the rear.
Along with Birdramon and Kabuterimon in the skies ready to bombard Etemon when necessary and protect the children from any danger.
"Give up Etemon, you are outnumbered you have no chance of winning" Garurumon growled with murderous intent.
Letting out a laugh Etemon pointed to BlackGarurumon, which had fallen unconscious at some point. "He had the same idea and look at him, so weak and broken... it's a shame, but no one can reach me! I am pure perfection!"
"I am-" Opening his arms wide, Etemon let his murderous intent flood the entire battlefield. "The cursed King of this World!"
As if those words were a trigger, Etemon vanished from the scene leaving a residual image of himself before delivering a strong backhand to Garurumon that sent him flying in our direction before being stopped abruptly by Angemon.
"And I'll teach them to respect me as such!"
Togemon and Filmon quickly flanked Etemon on his side moving in circles before Togemon suddenly lunged towards the monkey in what looked to me like a perfect imitation of a boxer.
"Mach Jab!" Togemon's glove flashed red as he launched his punch directly at Etemon's face with absurd speed almost as fast as sound.
So it came as an absolute surprise when Etemon managed to causally stop Togemon's attack in its tracks. Mimi's Digimon looked like it couldn't believe it if the dumbfounded expression on its face was anything to go by.
"How come- AAAGH!"
Before the cactus could react, Etemon moved underneath the cactus to hit it with a powerful uppercut hard enough to lift Togemon a couple of feet off the ground from the sheer force of the blow and drop him crashing shatteringly to the ground.
However, this brutal attack on Togemon created an opening in the hand's defense.
An opening that Filmon was not about to let go.
"Crimson Slash!" Appearing right next to the monkey and aiming his sharp reddish claws, Filmon launched a wide slash in the direction of its neck.
Cursing internally, Etemon tried to move sideways in mid-air and barely managed to avoid most of Filmon's slash, which only left a small cut of a couple of inches on his neck.
"Shit!" cursed Filmon under his breath as he rolled on the ground and quickly jumped back to his feet firing electrified spikes at the monkey.
Etemon dropped to the ground on his back to dodge the barrage of spikes before rising with an exaggerated leap and landing with a cocky pose that highlighted his muscles.
Looking at Filmon's scowl, Etemon let out a long laugh. "HA! HA! HA! Bob! You're going to need to do better than that if you want to beat me-"
"That won't be necessary" muttered an angelic voice in Etemon's ear, taking the monkey by complete surprise. Before Etemon knew it, Angemon had positioned himself right behind him. "Holy Rod!"
Charging his staff with holy energy, Angemon connected a powerful lash against Etemon's back managing to drive him away from the group of Digimon. Having connected a blow and created a safe distance between the Digimons, Angemon took to the skies to rest a bit and look for some other opportunity to land another blow against Etemon.
Matt and Izzy watched the entire fight unfold with a grimace on their faces, it was clear that Etemon outnumbered them all by a wide margin. It was at this moment that they remembered Piximon's warning not to engage him in direct combat, they both felt their throats being pulled out as a cold sweat poured down their backs.
Noah for his part was completely silent as he watched the fight with analytical eyes. 'This doesn't look good'
Somersaulting through the air, the Digimon King landed on his feet as he popped his neck and smiled broadly. "Not bad! Not bad! Let's see if they can handle this!"
Waving his hand behind his back, Etemon pulled his microphone from somewhere before bringing it right in front of his mouth and beginning to test the sound.
For a brief moment both Noah looked at him in confusion before a terrible memory came into my head, a lump forming in his throat as he shouted, "Don't let him sing! Whatever it takes!"
Sensing the urgency in Noah's voice, each and every child sprang into action.
Birdramon and Kabuterimon fired a veritable storm of fire and lightning at the monkey. Filmon, although he could not see the exact direction of the monkey in all the mess caused by the two flying Digimon, still fired a great blast of spikes coated with Crimson Slash's energy. Garurumon, which had finally recovered from Etemon's blow, launched a flare of blue fire at the monkey.
All of these attacks mixed together to form a natural disaster.
After a full minute, all the attacks gradually stopped until they finally disappeared leaving a cloud stretching up to the skies. The duo of flying Digimons and the duo of ground Digimons were panting with exhaustion as they looked uneasily at the crater that had been created because of the elemental storm.
All the Chosen Children watched the site with clenched fists and crossing their fingers.
Once all the steam, smoke and sand in the place dissipated, they all cursed aloud as they saw the figure of Etemon kneeling on both knees in the middle of the crater. His surroundings seemed to have melted into magma and small arcs of green and red energy covered his body, as well as several cuts caused by Filmon's spikes.
The Digital World Super Star gasped with difficulty before Saru sprang into action and slowly healed all of the monkey's wounds. As if they had never been there in the first place.
"Can't they nerf that thing?!" Noah exclaimed in exasperation as he complained about balance and other strange things.
Each boy could feel the weariness of their Digimons in their veins and lines of code alike. They knew they could no longer fight Etemon, the had spent too much time and the Digivolution would possibly run out in a few minutes.
Despite each child's determination, they all came to the same conclusion with the same level of frustration.
'We can't beat Etemon'
"This is getting boring" Etemon dusted off his shoulders as he casually walked out of the crater, even though the Chosen Children were doing their best to defeat him. For the monkey it was just another Tuesday, a slightly crazy Tuesday, but Tuesday nonetheless.
"My viewers want to see something more...dramatic" Etemon smiled.
And that smile did not bode well.
***
Before he could ask what he was referring to, Etemon once again left a residual image of himself as he suddenly appeared over the unconscious BlackGarurumon. He raised his hand with a smile as a dark green sphere generated in his palm.
My eyes widened like saucers.
Filmon and Angemon launched themselves as fast as they could at the monkey in a desperate dash.
""STOP!""
"DARK SPIRIT!"
BOOOOOMM!
...
..
.
However, before Etemon could deliver the coup de grâce to BlackGarurumon, an explosion sent all the Digimon in the place, including us.
Even with Togemon, Garurumon, Birdramon and Kabuterimon covering us from any possible attack from Etemon, the shockwave sent each and every one of us flying and crashing to the ground.
I felt my mind shut down for a brief moment before reigniting with a sharp pain coursing through my entire body.
I repressed all the pain into a small groan as my battered body told me to just sit up; a strange metallic taste ran down my throat as I rose up onto my knee. My mind was all over the place as my eyes wandered around the place without focusing on anything specific.
I watched as, TK and the others stood up with clear difficulty. They all seemed to have taken some of the shockwave if their wounds and torn clothing was any indication.
"Ugh..." I turned my gaze in the direction of the blast only to find a mushroom cloud rising up into the sky. "W-what?"
A ringing penetrated my ears as my mind tried to catch up with what had happened; I was pretty sure Etemon wasn't the cause of the explosion considering he was already picking himself up off the ground with what was clearly an angry shout.
The self-proclaimed King of the Digimon's shouted something to the sky before pausing with his gaze in the direction of the huge mushroom cloud that was slowly dissipating.
Barely managing to stand up on my two legs, I looked in the same direction Etemon was looking with a raised eyebrow before terror washed over me.
I felt my face lose all its blood and the pounding of my heart replaced the ringing in my ears. My mind went completely blank despite the terror coursing through every part of my bones and veins.
What was once Etemon's huge pyramid and base of operations had been reduced to nothing more than mere rubble, ruins and ashes. Data from Etemon's minions glittered like tiny shards of crystals around the ruins of the pyramid.
And towering over said ruins....
"...W-What the hell is that thing?!"
... a gigantic skeleton looked down at us with smiling eyes.
And in its head, a familiar children with googles looked at us with panic and nervousness.
...
A/N: I AM STILL ALIVE!
SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! University just kept me too busy for me to write anything, I've been sleeping 3-5 hours a day for 2 weeks!
But finally I finish another semester and finally I have successfully reached the halfway point of the course! Only... about 3 years to go until I graduate... ugh....
__________________________________________
Thank you very much for reading! If you liked the chapter you can leave a Power Stone or a Review! You can also join my Patreon to support me!
https://www.patreon.com/rTem