Fiona, finally snapping back to reality as Isthian knocked her over and landed against a tree. She stood up, fuming, and brushed herself off. As she was marching over to Isthian, she began to scream, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!" Fiona picked up a walnut-type-thing off the ground and threw it at him.
Thian picked up the shining gold tag that was lying on his chest, and stared in astonishment at it and its bright, lime green insert. It showed a pattern of three shooting stars, aiming down towards the left corner... he wondered what it meant, but he liked the color.
His thoughts were interrupted by Fi throwing a walnut at him... or, more accurately, by the walnut hitting him. "What was I thinking?!" he shouted, leaping to his feet. He stepped forward and grabbed her shirt collar, still holding onto the crest. "I just saved your life, you know that?! You twit!" He let go of her and gave her a shove.
Fiona's eyes grew wide and she let out a little scream. "Save MY life? Call ME a twit? Shove ME? Why you..." Her hands darted toward his throat.
Isthian made a few adorable gagging noises, and started trying to rip Fiona's fingers off his neck.
Fiona tightened her grip, and while she was at it, began kicking Isthian in the shins. "TAKE IT BACK!" she yelled. "TAKE IT BACK!"
Christo became aware of the fact that she currently had her face buried in Shiisamon's fur, and straightened up. "I think I have digimon hair in my eyes." She muttered, rubbing them.
She noticed Fiona and Isthian fighting. "Stop it you two!" she yelled, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but there is a mucho evillo digimon standing there, and it has crossed my mind that maybe we should, um, I don't know, run?"
And she and Shiisamon did. Run, I mean.
Puppetmon gave an evil cackle as the kids and their digimon either fought, ran, or were stuck for ideas. Fun fun fun! Well, it was time to get his toys back. Might as well get the scrawny one first. So, he dove at Isthian.
"AAH! FIONA!" Isthian grabbed the girl by the wrists, and tried to knock her aside, but she couldn't see Puppetmon and was braced against his attacks. Fi stood her ground, and they were both stuck in the path of Puppetmon.
And then suddenly, from inside Thian's hand, and pressed against Fiona's arm, the green crest began to shine.
"THI!" Sprintmon leapt towards his partner, and in mid-air began to glow. "SPRINTMON DIGIVOLVE TO... KIZARIMON!!!" A lizard, bigger than any human, took his place. He stood on his muscular hind legs, his arms hanging by his sides, his clawed hands clenched in fists. His skin was motley green, and his chest, forearms, and calves were covered in thick, brown, leathery armor. His pointed head, too, was covered with a helmet, the crest that had played such a prominent part of Sprintmon's appearance looking almost like a dark green plume. A wide belt was wrapped around his waist and hung down low on his left hip. A sword in a fairly plain scabbard -- green stripes criss-crossing over the brown -- hung from the belt, stopping at about the knee.
Kizarimon sprang forward, and knocked Puppetmon aside with his shoulder. He then jumped back a pace, and stood protectively in front of the two Digidestined. "You will not harm them!" His voice, though softly feminine, was deep and stern.
Christo and Shiisamon stopped running, hearing something going on behind them. They turned, and could just see Sprintmon digivolving. They ran back again. "Whoah..." was all Christo could say.
Puppetmon growled. Ultimates were no fun. Even one Ultimate. Not cool. "How dare you! I WANT MY TOYS!! PUPPET PUMMEL!" He attacked Kizarimon, figuring that if he beat up the Ultimate he'd be able to snatch his toys back.
Ioree, watching from Puppetmon's mansion, frowned. Then, a slow, wide smile crept up his beak. If Puppetmon was destroyed, then he'd be free! The Kiwimon ran off towards the battle, and watched from the foliage. All he had to do was wait until the kids beat his Master to a pulp...
Sayu gaped. Well. Forgetting she had yet to get her digivice back, she walked over to Maildramon. "C'n ya do dat?" She asked, pointing at Kizarimon. Maildramon shrugged. Sayu rolled her eyes in annoyance. Then, deciding that she didn't have to hang around anymore, and that she was very very very hungry, she climbed onto Maildramon's back. "Let's git outta here. I'm hungri." Maildramon was hungry, too, so he flapped his wings and flew off and out of sight. And Sayu still hadn't gotten her digivice back from Chris (making it very difficult for Maildramon to dedigivolve).
The shock of Sprintmon digivolving, coupled with her arm going green and Isthian actually putting up a fight was too much for Fiona. She panicked, and began to scream and wail and sob. "WHY DO ALL THE MONSTERS HAVE TO ATTACK US?"
"HEY! Lizard-thingy isn't attacking us! He's protecting us! YOU'RE the one attacking us! AND THE WOOD DEMON!!" Isthian wasn't exactly making too much sense either, but I suppose that's to be expected...
Kizarimon did a neat backflip, avoiding Puppetmon's attack. Fortunately, it had been aimed low enough that it didn't quite reach the kids behind him. "If you'll attack me, you'll have to pay! Speed Missile!" Kizarimon reached out his right hand, and suddenly half a dozen darts shot out of the edge of the armor on his forearm, aiming for Puppetmon.
"I DON'T CARE!" yelled Fiona, right in Isthian's ear. "THE POINT IS, SOMETHING IS ATTACKING US! AND I DON'T LIKE IT!"
"Crap." Chris watched Sayu get on Maildramon and fly away. And he had been just about to give her the digivice, too. He hoped she would be okay when she reached the digivice's limits and the digivolve gave out- she and Gizamon would probably have a nasty fall within the next 25 yards or so. He blinked for a second. How had he known that? He must have learned it when he linked with the digivice a couple of days ago... He then turned to watch the battle. "Whoa... who is THAT?"
Tekumon spoke up again. "Kizarimon, Lizard-Man digimon, Ultimate level. He's fast as the dickens, and his sword/missile combo can't even be seen before it deletes the enemy!"
"...Ultimate level? Now maybe we might have a chance... wonder what all those levels mean. Ultimate sounds better than Champion, though... but it's not Mega, is it?"
"I DON'T LIKE BEING ATTACKED, EITHER, AND I DON'T LIKE YOU YELLING AT ME!! DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO?!" Isthian was shouting just as loudly as Fiona.
Fiona screamed right back at Isthian. "NO! I DON'T!"
"What?! You aren't going to help us at all?!? My partner is out there risking his life, and you're just going to STAND there?! You bitch!" Isthian was thoroughly caught up in the heat of the moment, adrenaline pounding through his veins.
Yep, that was Sayu and Gizamon plummeting out of the sky... let's hope that doesn't kill them. Nope, they landed in water! YAY! Hey, look, Sayu's coming up for air!
"DAMMIT ALL!!!!"
Oh. Uh-oh. Someone's not very happy in water...
"ICK ICK ICK!! GETTIT OFFA ME!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!"
Now we know why she smells.
"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
"Ha ha!" Well, at least Gizamon's comfortable in water.
"..."
"EEK! NO!! I DIDN'T MEAN IT -- GLRGLP!!!!" Oooooooh, Gizamon just got his butt whooped to the other side of the lake. And, yep, there they go, Gizamon running and Sayu chasing, out of the forest and out of the plotline.
Puppetmon hissed angrily as the attack hit, shuddering a moment before jumping into battle again. "HOW DARE YOU!!" He hissed, running around Kizarimon. "Puppet Strings!" And he took control of Isthian. Cackling as he jumped into the trees to be a puppeteer of sorts, he made Isthi dive at Kizarimon, punching wildly.
"YAAAAAGGGHH!!" Isthian felt himself dragged forwards, away from his fight with Fiona... and towards his Digimon. He started struggling even more vigorously when he saw -- and felt -- his fists begin to beat against his own Digimon.
Kizarimon jumped in surprise when Thian hit him from behind. He half turned around -- and immediately had to duck away. "What are you DOING?" he asked, even as he hopped another step backward to avoid another blow.
Kamika clinged onto Bitmon, hoping that it would help ease her fear. "What are. . . We going to do?" She muttered softly.
Bitmon stared at Puppetmon, noticing that something was wrong. Why was Isthian attacking his own digimon? "Ear Lancer!" He attacked Puppetmon, hoping that it would help.
"Bitmon??" Kamika whispered.
Now, throughout all of this, Kyrainia was sitting off to the side, not really giving enough of a damn to make an effort to do anything. Of course, Mushroomon was very very anxious to help. "Kyyyyyy..." the little digimon whined, watching the digimon digivolve and fight and everything. Kyrainia just glared at him, for the use of the nickname. She blatantly refused to respond to that name.
Mushroomon sighed, "Kyrainiaaa! I've gotta go and HELP them...."
Kyrainia frowned and watched the scene in front of her. "Oh, I don't know. Watching them get their asses kicked is quite amusing..."
"Kyrainia!" Mushroomon whined again.
Suddenly there was a blast not that far away from where she was. A bit too close for comfort. "...fine. Go fight. Knock yourself out. I don't bloody care," she responded.
"Yay!!" Mushroomon rushed out going to attack whoever the current evil digimon is. "POISON SMASH!!!"
Kyrainia just watched.
Isthian wasn't sure what was happened, but suddenly he was released from Puppetmon's control. He lurched sideways, caught off-guard by the sudden freedom. Kizarimon hastily stepped forward and caught him, holding the boy close for a moment until he regained his feet. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice softly lilting.
"Yeah, I'm fine... thanks... and sorry..." Thi glanced around, saw Mushroomon and Bitmon attacking Puppetmon, and knew what had happened. 'In for a yen, in for it all,' he thought philosophically, before shouting, "and thank you, too!"
Kizarimon looked at his Digidestined with pride for a moment, then leapt to rejoin the fight against Puppetmon. "SPEED MISSILE!!"
Thian, for lack of anything better to do, took the opportunity to finally hang his new crest around his neck.
Puppetmon, caught off guard, hissed. Glaring at Kizarimon, he leapt for the Ultimate, mallet out, ready to call out his attack --
-- when something tackled him out of the way?!
Damn damn damn, that was so stupid of me, Ioree groaned inwardly. He quickly ran to hide behind Isthian. "Just keep shooting him repeatedly!" The Kiwimon hissed at Kizarimon. "He'll be destroyed sooner or later!"
Kizarimon wasn't about to pass up excellent advice, so freely given. He took aim again -- "Speed Missile!!"
Isthian turned around and looked at the Kiwimon with a combination of surprise and horror. "What are you doing back here? Oh, and..." he sighed as he realized how much he was repeating himself, but continued regardless, "I WON'T LET YOU HURT TAIRA!!" He hung his head and sweatdropped. "I'm not really liking today all that much..."
Ioree yelped, and cowered. "Sorry sorry sorry!" The Kiwimon whimpered. "I be helpful to you now, yes? We be friends?" He held out a 'wing' tentatively.
Puppetmon, caught between disgust at Ioree's betrayal and pain at Kizarimon's attack, used the last of his energy to send an attack at Taira. Then, the Mega collapsed, unconscious and dissolving.
Chris stood up tentatively and sighed in relief. Puppetmon seemed to be defeated. He looked pretty bad off, lying there broken in the undergrowth. Leaning on various trees for support, he made his way over to the rest of the group, Tekumon flapping alongside. Just then, he noticed that Taira had an attack heading for her. "HOLY...!"
Taira watched the Kiwimon speak to Thian... But the funniest thing was happening... she heard them speak before their mouths talked. Kinda like a bad first season of digimon dub. Yes, currently she admits she watched it before this and is still in shock. Continuing to look around she saw the same kind of things. Only in faster motion until they focused on a single person or digimon. She could predict the moves before they made them. She saw Ky sitting back from the fight and some how knew she would be involved soon because of her digimon. At first Taira had thought she had completely lost it. More then she originally was. Her mind was focusing on things more clearly. She moved the goggles from around her neck to the top of her eye brows and prepared for battle.
To the others around it seemed Taira wasn't moving at all. She looked to her side and felt an attack or danger heading towards her. She blinked and everything was back to normal. Things were happening in the order she had previously saw. Then she remembered the attack and looked to Puppetmon. Once again things were moving slower then before. She moved out of the way of the on coming energy attack and watched it slowly move past her. It hit a tree and the tree burst open.
Taira looked to Puppetmon and gave him a smile. "Sorry you had to drain that last bit on me." The girl took down her goggles and put them around her neck. She sighed and seemed to be back to normal. Moving closer to the tree she found a small stone that had what looked like a paw print only with three claws instead of five or four. She grabbed it and held it in her hand. Then she slowly turned and looked to the dissolving Puppetmon. "Till we meet again..." A bright gray aura seemed to illuminate around her and her digivice screamed......
Ioree panicked. He thought he could've escaped Puppetmon's enslavement guiltlessly, but... Puppetmon was his MASTER!!! So, with a tormented, guilty yowl, he sacrificed his own life for Puppetmon's sake.
BOOM.
"...." Puppetmon sat up, rubbing his head. Finding himself alive, he made a mental note to obsess and go to Primary Village later on to say thank you to Ioree. IF, that is, he lived through this. Glaring at Kizarimon, he sent a "Puppet Pummel" in the Ultimate's direction before whirling on the children. "NOW. YOU. DIE." Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Bitmon spun to see Puppetmon's attack headed towards Kizarimon. "No. . . He can't destroy our only aid. . ." She mumbled.
Kamika blinked as she leaned onto Bitmon. "Bitmon?"
Without replying, Bitmon rushed past. Kamika clinged onto Bitmon in fear of falling off by the speed they were going. Bitmon pushed Kizarimon and herself out of the way, luckily enough. Puppetmon's attack skimmed right past them.
Kamika fell to the ground, having released herself from Bitmon. The champion digimon glowed a while and reverted back to her usual form, Puttimon. "Kamika. . . I'm sorry. . I couldn't protect you any longer."
Kamika smiled back at her. "It's okay." She picked up the digimon in her arms. "You did your best. You saved Kizarimon at least. ." Kamika smiled weakly and looked up. "I hope that helps."
Isthian gaped as Ioree offered him his friendship... then abruptly sacrificed himself to save his old master. "That was... fast..." murmured the boy, more than a little confused by all the information he was rapidly being assaulted with. He hoped he wouldn't be assaulted with anything more dangerous any time soon, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it.
"NO!" Kizarimon cried out in shock and sadness as Bitmon took the attack intended for himself. The lithe warrior growled, and ran swiftly to face Puppetmon. "I will not let you hurt my friends any more!" There was a rasping hiss as Kizarimon drew his sword, and his tail lashed. "I will not let you attack the weak and helpless! Stand and fight me if you have honor! Wildfire Katana!" The blade suddenly flashed white, then burnt red with bright flames licking up its entire length. Kizarimon lunged forward and slashed at the Mega Digimon... aiming for his wooden mallet.
Puppetmon hissed in anger as the attack hit - and destroyed - his mallet. Hey, no fair, he was fighting for a noble cause now! HE WANTED IOREE BACK!! And nothing this silly Ultimate did was going to stop him! GRRRRRRRRR! Knowing that using Puppet Strings on Kizarimon might not work, and neither would it work on anyone else with everyone AGAINST him now, he pulled a long long long rope out of no where.
"I got it! Let's play tug-of-war to determine the winner! Me against you, Kizarimon!"
"Oookay..." Christo and Shiisamon sweatdropped.
Kamika and Puttimon both just face faulted. "You must be kidding me. . ." Puttimon said weakly as she sat on the ground. "I just got through a horrible battle like this. . . And the solution is a TUG OF WAR GAME?!"
Kamika sweatdropped and patted the digimon on her head. "Er. . At least now, nobody will have to battle. . ."
Puttimon pouted. "This just isn't fair. . ."
Chris and Tekumon both sweatdropped, also. "T...tug of war?" Chris sighed. "Why couldn't someone have suggested that BEFORE we got into all this messy battling?" He mused for a second. "Wonder if we should help out Kizarimon... Puppetmon's still one level over him, after all."
Mushroomon ran back over to Kyrainia. "A tug of war, Kyrainia! They're gunna do a tug of war!!"
She just chose to look at it in disbelief. "A bloody tug of war?! Oy, I'm stuck in a bloody elementary school..." She shook her head.
Kizarimon straightened slowly, looking incredulous. He stared at Puppetmon in shock.
"Tug-of-war?"
He realized he was standing there with his mouth hanging open, so he closed it and slid his sword back into its sheath.
Isthian, on the other hand, was a little grateful for the seeming time-out. He walked over to Chris and tapped him on the shoulder. "Did I just go insane, or did the wood-demon-thingy just challenge lizard-thingy to a game of tug-o-war?" he asked apologetically.
Kizarimon looked down at the rope in Puppetmon's hands, and then back up at his face. "So if I win, then you'll leave me and my friends alone, and stop trying to hurt innocent creatures?" The lizard-warrior glanced around at the group for support, then looked back at Puppetmon with a shrug. "Alright," he said. "I'll bite."
Puppetmon smirked, and nodded. He took a bandanna out of no where and tied it around the center of the rope, the tossed one end to Kizarimon. He made two marks on the ground, so that there was a mark halfway between the center and either Digimon.
"Alright. On three, we start. One.... Two.... THREE!"
Kizarimon grabbed the rope and started pulling at Puppetmon's signal. And was nearly dragged forward regardless. He dug his feet into the ground as much as he could. 'Damn, he's strong...' He stumbled forward another step.
The warrior groaned with the effort of even just keeping his ground. His tail lashed from side to side in pain... and brushed against something on the ground. In a flash of understanding, he realized what it was -- they were fighting near the edge of a forest filled with old trees. By some lucky chance, he'd found one that had been uncovered partially by wind and rain some seasons past. He wrapped the end of his tail around it, redoubled his efforts, and pulled.
Puppetmon hissed, and dug his heels into the ground, pulling with all of his might. He would win this. These stupid kids weren't going to beat him! He was PUPPETMON! His feet were pulled forward, inch by inch, and he gripped the rope tighter, jerking it backwards all of a sudden and stepping back with all his strength.
Chris looked down slightly at Isthian, wincing at the strain this put on his still-bruised neck. "No, I don't think you're crazy... they ARE playing tug-of-war. And seeming pretty evenly matched, too." He blinked. "Interesting that our fate depends on a simple game that preschoolers play."
"I'm going to help Kizarimon." Christo declared, stepping forward.
Shiisamon held her back, "But that would be cheating!"
"I don't CARE!" Christo stamped her foot, "WE ARE GOING TO DEFEAT PUPPETMON. EVEN IF I HAVE TO MARCH OVER THERE, TAKE OUT A MATCH AND SET FIRE TO HIM!" And with that, Christo stepped forward, grabbed hold of the rope and started helping Kizarimon, regardless of any rules. Shiisamon gave what was something like a shrug, and began to help as well.
Puppetmon snarled. "Hey, no fair! If they help at all, I win automatically! SO NYAH!!!!!!"
Kizarimon had nearly been pulled forward onto his face, but the timely assistance by Christo and Shiisamon saved him. He groaned anyway. "You shouldn't have come!" he cried.
Several feet away, Thian was still talking to Chris. "Oh, yeah, real interesting. Perhaps that match idea isn't so bad after all..."
Puppetmon smirked triumphantly. Because the cheaters had cheated, he was the victor! WHOOPEE!! And, because of his short-term memory for anything that he did NOT consider fun, he had completely forgotten about Ioree.
Now, as victor, he wanted a little something as a prize, and it just so happened that the first thing his eyes fell on was the "spare" digivice in Chris's hand. Oooo... Mwaha. Skipping over to Chris, he took the digivice, waved good-bye to the Digidestined, and skipped off... coincidentally, in the direction Sayu and Gizamon had gone earlier.
Gizamon cocked his head. Sayu glanced at him. "Wha's th' hold up?" She growled. Gizamon cowered. "I... I just hear someone coming towards us..." He whimpered. Sayu scowled. "If it's dat cha'tic d'mon boi..." The sentence trailed off threateningly as she whirled... and came face to face with the weird wood-thing they'd been fighting earlier. And he was holding her device-thing. Hm... maybe he had killed Chris? That would've been cool. But she had no time to ask him, as she acted off of reflexes and immediately smacked him multiple times upside the head.
Puppetmon yelped in surprise, though the human wasn't really hurting him. In fact, he barely even noticed the hits, let alone felt them. But this was the human, he remembered, who had been so fun to watch as she beat up on her comrades. Yeah, it might be a good idea to run... So, he turned towards his mansion and ran... dropping the digivice in the process.
Smirking, Sayu picked up her digivice, and continued across the desert. Gizamon, panting, followed behind her. While he was more comfortable in cooler climates, or better yet, water, Sayu was right at home in this desert (she was, after all, an Egyptian). Isthian started to curse. A lot. In highly idiomatic Japanese, so that not much of it was translatable, even with the valiant efforts of the (remaining) digivices. "I'm sorry, you guys..." Christo said, lowering her eyes. A small tear fell down her cheek. She turned, and walked into the forest. "Christo! WAIT!" Shiisamon called, running after her. Fiona, who had been rather quiet and inactive in a little corner during the battle, finally moved towards the others. She put her hand on Isthian's shoulder and murmured some (at least, what she hoped was) comforting words, but it didn't seem to be working. Sighing, she turned towards Penguinmon. "So... erm... what happens now?" He shrugged. "We wait... I guess." Chris sighed and sat down, putting his head in his hands. "Why does this kind of thing always happen to us...?" He looked up, and saw Christo walking off. "Hey, Christo, wait!" He ran after her, and grabbed her by her hand. "Don't go off all alone. It really wasn't that big of a deal. Sure, he got away, and took that digivice with him, so when Sayu shows up, she'll probably beat me about 7 ways, but... eh. No big deal- I'm used to it by now." He smiled. "To tell the truth, I was thinking of doing the same thing- you were just faster than me. Come on, let's go on back and figure out what to do, okay?" He lifted her to his shoulders (she's pretty light, after all) and walked back to the others. "OK." Christo said, letting Chris carry her. Shiisamon, tired, de-digivolved back into Labramon. "Hey, wait!" Labramon called, running after them. Kamika sweatdropped madly. They play tug of war. . . they LOSE. How interesting. Puttimon couldn't find the words to say, except for, "Right. . . Next order of business?" Kamika sweatdropped again, then sighed. "That was quite awkward." She muttered. "Awkward?" Puttimon said, her eyebrow raised. "I'd say that was PAST awkward and THEN some!" Kamika stifled a laugh. "I'd have said that except it just sounded kinda mean." Puttimon just shrugged. Kamika shook her head and made her way towards Chris and Christo. Grinning, she turned to Christo. "By the way, it's okay that you did that! I don't think anyone will blame you for anything anyway." After a little while, Isthian calmed down and stopped cursing. He turned and looked after Fiona, a bit miffed at himself that he hadn't said anything to her. 'Oh, well,' he thought with a sigh, 'there's always another chance...' Kizarimon, meanwhile, had de-digivolved all the way down to his Fresh form -- Hayamon. He made his way slowly over to his partner. "I'm sorry, Thi... I tried my best... but he was so strong..." "It's okay." Thian smiled down at Hayamon, recognizing him even in his new form. The shared power and emotions of an ultimate digivolution had brought them closer together. "I'm proud of you." Then Isthian's eyes started slipping in and out of focus, and he collapsed on the ground without even knowing it. Kyrainia laughed to herself from her little corner. So her pathetic little companions actually played a game of Tug of War and actually lost. She found this quite amusing. Fiona's attention was turned back to Isthian when she heard a loud "THUMP!" on the ground. All the emotions of the last three days or so (she had lost count) came rushing back all at once, and she screamed Isthian's name and ran over to him. She looked over to Hayamon. "Is he going to be alright? What happened? Please tell me he's going to be alright..." Chris looked around. "Well, it's getting dark, and Thian's in no condition to go anywhere right now. It might be a good idea to make camp for the night. What do you think?" he asked everyone, including the girl still perched on his shoulders. He looked up at her. "You want down or what? Or are you comfy up there?" "Down, I guess." Christo shrugged, registering just how tall Chris actually was. She gulped, hoping he wouldn't just drop her.
