A/N: You all thought I was dead, didn’t you? Hah, I sure showed you! I’m so sorry for my long hiatus, I had a temporary loss of will for writing. You can’t imagine how much it pained me each end of day when I realized I could have written this chapter. I only have one chapter for now. I wanted to do two, but I decided to do a reminder that I’m still living. Please enjoy this latest chapter, I’ve tried to make it as exciting as possible with my limited skills of describing! ;)
Digimon: Dark Cunning
by MikeFS
Chapter 10: Dead Kids Walking
Moonhouse’s job as presidential advisor was possibly the most difficult in the country. Ever since that Clinton 30 years ago, the presidents had always been self-indulged clowns who believed that Europe was run by a Communist regime. It was due to this reason that presidential meetings were a nightmare for the man. He couldn’t openly tell the president what to say, he could only instruct the man beforehand and give subtle hints during the meeting.
That was why he felt doomed when his mobile phone began ringing. He excused himself for a minute from the president and the ambassador of South Argentina (the nation had split in two twelve years ago after increase in political tension) and went outside to answer his phone. He was ready to scathingly berate the caller when he saw it was his agents in the Digiworld. Any call from them was usually important, they wouldn’t go through all the trouble to travel back to the real world and make a call for nothing.
“It’s Moonhouse. Wazzup?” Moonhouse said. He loved that commercial, even if it was four decades old.
“Sir, we’ve ran into hostiles,” the agent responded.
“Digimon?”
“Sort of. They’re kids with Digimon allies. The grunts had their butts handed to them.”
“Kids? What’s that about?”
“I can’t say, sir. They seemed to be going somewhere when they ran into us. Worse, their Digimon seem to be able to change form at will.”
“Change form at will? Our scientists have gone through countless trial-and-error experiments to create stable new forms of Digimon. How’s this possible?”
“I don’t know. But we do know that even though there’s only six of the kids, there’s still lots of other Digimon out there. It’s too dangerous with our current forces. The Lieutenant wants to turn this into a full-scale operation.”
“I’m sure the Major General would agree. It’ll take a day or two, but I can get Decker to send more troops and equipment down there. That surreal world has way too much potential to leave untapped. If it takes killing each and every Digimon to take control of the land, we’ll do it.”
“Sir, don’t you think the Digimon should be left alone while we do our work?”
“What are you, some kind of Greenpeace whale-hippie?! Just get back there and await reinforcements! And I want those kids of yours taken out!”
The other agent whistled as his colleague closed the phone. “The Major General’s gonna go full-on on this one, huh? Those kids are in trouble now.”
“Trouble?” the other asked. “They’re dead kids walking.”
-----
Leonard wrote down some notes on his pamphlet and turned his eyes back to the monitor. Being on field duty, he could only have a laptop with him, but the thing was powerful enough to record all changes in the specimen. The rest of the tent, however, was nothing like an outdoor tent. A pair of supercomputers lined the edge, snuggled in between them a large glass tube filled with murky liquid. The supercomputers were plugged into the huge beaker, along with Leonard’s laptop.
“Leonard, I need your help,” Manners said stepping in. Leonard would have berated him for not knocking, but being a tent there was nothing to knock.
“Of course, sir,” Leonard nodded, scratching down another line of digits that appeared.
“We’ve sent a Black Hawk to take out those Digimon, but I think it won’t be enough of a match for them,” he explained. Of course, all the grunts knew that there were humans along with the Digimon, but Manners knew people like Leonard. The fool would at worst terminate the whole project if he knew children’s lives were in danger. All Leonard had been told was that it had been just some unusually tough Digimon that the Marines had fought in the restaurant.
“You came at a good time, the specimen is almost done,” Leonard pointed to the glass tubing. Manners shuddered as he saw it, imagining there was a living thing in it.
“What have you been working on, Doc?”
“I’m trying to perfect the data of my current project. If all goes well, it should have increased agility and slightly more compact size. After this, I can get to work on creating an Ultimate level Digimon.”
“I thought you had already made an Ultimate Digimon,” Manners said, barely grasping the concept of Digimon power levels.
“Yes, I made the Data Morphers, because the surrounding data is easy to shape with. But it contains little of any data pertaining to intelligence, any Digimon created with the Morpher will be as dumb as a brick. Unless we need guards, the Morpher’s not much more than a novelty trinket.”
“But this,” Leonard turned to the glass device, pressing a button on the side. “This might not be as powerful, but this is near perfection in all ways!” The liquid began to drain into an under-compartment of the device, slowly revealing a lithe humanoid Digimon standing in stasis. It’s skin was rusty red and was complimented by a set of red fiery armor. “You want the Digimon dead, do you? Where are they?”
“On the... the train. Just follow the tracks,” Manners mumbled as he stared in awe at this being. The glass began to slide downwards with a hiss. The Digimon’s eyes opened and the rebreather clattered to the ground as it took a step down from its pedestal.
“You hear that, Flamedramon? After the train! Show your prowess and deal with them!” Leonard ordered. The Digimon broke into a run and disappeared out of the tent.
-----
Carpmon stared out of the glass of the train at the mountains in the horizon. The forest was turning darker now and the trees began showing signs of withering. And the mountains, oh, they loomed tall in the background, growing a little each time Carpmon peered out again. Black clouds, not of rain but soot, floated above them. That was where they had to go.
“Scary, isn’t it?” Nymfimon said sitting next to the fish. Carpmon was surprised.
“Oh, good morning. I thought everyone was still sleeping. What did you say?”
“Where we’re going to. Isn’t it a scary place?”
“Oh yeah, of course. We’ve both lived near water through our lives. Now we’re going to a place made up of volcanoes. Not exactly the vacation spot of my dreams,” Carpmon looked again at the mountain range.
“But hey, we’re Digidestined,” Nymfimon said cheerfully. “I mean, we’re going to save the world. It shouldn’t be a problem for us to tackle the mountains.”
Carpmon looked down and sighed. “Good point, but I don’t know whether our group can finish our job. None of them have been taking this too seriously. We’re going to have to take on a very powerful Digimon who has lots of cronies under him. We beat Snimon by luck, and if his big lackey wasn’t tangling with Greymon, we wouldn’t have been able to do even that. Do you really think we’d be able to handle whoever is pulling the strings?”
Nymfimon seemed to think for a moment. “No... but we’ll find a way, won’t we?”
“I certainly hope so. I just hope we find it before the bad guys find us.”
The rest of the kids and Digimon began to stir soon. The sun shined through the train’s windows brightly. The black clouds were still too far away to block the light. But a problem appeared soon after they woke.
“If you think we’re supposed to make it through the day on the few scraps of food we nipped from the restaurant, you’re out of your mind!” DemiDevimon put it in a good way.
“We’ve got ten half-eaten breads and a big slab of beef that we didn’t even order,” Gary said emptying his backpack.
“Hey, I didn’t want it to go to waste!” Jack spread his arms out.
“Someone else was eating it,” Mia commented dryly.
“Not after we caused a fracas,” Jack muttered.
“Alright, let’s do it this way,” Lan said. “We can share the beef and the Digimon can have the sandwiches.”
“Lousy loaf of bread,” DemiDevimon muttered as they settled down. “I sure hope the train runs into a fruit tree or something.”
“Well, it’s not so bad,” Zlatmon said to the bat sitting next to him. “I mean, we can manage a day or two without food. We can forage something when we get to the train stop.”
“Besides,” Tanemon, their unofficial guide for the trip, said, “I could go a whole week with what you’re eating.” Her piece of bread was largely cut down in size.
“You’re five times smaller than me!” DemiDevimon barked. “You don’t eat as much!”
Though meager, the breakfast was managed, and the rest of the time was spent admiring the trip. There really wasn’t anything to do as they approached the growing mountain range in the horizon.
“So,” Gary asked as he sat next to Calvin, “do you miss home?”
“Yeah,” Calvin said as he looked out, “we’ve been gone an awful long time.”
“Do you think your mom and dad are worried where you are?”
Calvin was silent for an awful long time. “My brother is probably going insane wondering where I am.”
“Your brother? What about your-“ Gary quieted as he took the hint. “I’m sorry about your parents.”
“It’s alright, it was long ago. So, are you missed at home?”
“My parents are probably going nuts as well. My brother isn’t concerned, I bet. He thinks I’m a lazy git who should get a hobby. So, uh, have you ever been away from your pa... I mean your brother this far away?”
“Of course I have!” Calvin looked up. “I do the shopping, you know. I have to go across Manhattan to get to the store.”
“Oh, uh, sure, me too,” Gary decided to leave it there, as he hadn’t ever gone farther than his school alone.
-----
“Why are we out here?” Nymfimon asked Veronica as the two came to the back car of the train. They had walked through at least a dozen cars before they reached the end and now stood outside on the terrace of the car.
“To get some peace and quiet,” Veronica said. “The kids are all good people, I like their company. But you’ve gotta be able to rest by yourself once in a while, you know?”
“If you say so,” Nymfimon shrugged and looked around. The trees were much smaller than since they had entered this forest, and many were drooping and gnarled. The sulfur from the mountains must have been affecting the groundwater.
Veronica began to fiddle with a little packet and Nymfimon couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing. She seemed to pull out a little stick that she put in her mouth and lit with a match. “What’s that?” Nymfimon asked.
“A cigarette,” Veronica said and breathed out a puff of smoke.
“It doesn’t look too good,” Nymfimon said as she stared at the smoke cloud.
“It’s not healthy to smoke these,” Veronica explained. “Don’t tell the others I have these, okay? I don’t want them getting ideas.”
“...If it’s not healthy, why do you smoke them?”
“I’m not proud of it, alright?” Veronica glared down. “I don’t want to do this, but I can’t help it. It’s like when you eat something really good a lot and get fat, except worse.”
“I don’t really understand...” Nymfimon said sadly. The rest of the time they spent in quiet, each other minding their own business.
“Wow, a bird,” Nymfimon said, trying to strike a conversation. “Pretty, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Veronica said looking at the bird flying towards them. “There were some cute sparrows back in... wait, that can’t be a bird... it isn’t, it’s..! Nymfimon!” she was suddenly scared and dropped the cigarette. “We have to get to the others, now!”
-----
The reticule turned into a blinking red, signifying lock-on. The pilot pressed the red button on the controller, letting loose one of the four Hellfire missiles. The object sped through the air and struck with the train car, blowing it upwards. The car jerked up and snapped off the rest of the train, spinning wildly as it toppled into the forest.
“D’you think you got the kid?” one of the Marines in the cabin of the Black Hawk multi-mission helicopter asked the pilot.
“Nah, he or she saw us a long time before I got in lock-on range. The bugger’s probably gotten to the others by now.”
“Listen up!” the pilot called behind him to the four Marines in the chopper. “I’m gonna fly forwards so one of you can do a strafing attack. Then I’m gonna dump you two with the C4 to derail the train. I’ll stick around over the train until you call me to pick you up. Get on top of the roof of one of the cars, and I’ll get you.”
“Gotcha!” the two Marines said as they strapped their absailing cords onto their suits. The other two readied themselves by the window-mounted .50 caliber machine guns as the pilot began to take the Hawk closer to the train.
-----
The kids were taken by surprise by the explosion. The whole train heavily shook and groaned but seemed to calm down. The Digimon had gotten alert and ready, while the kids gathered closer together in fear.
“What was that?” Lan asked the others, though it wasn’t likely that they knew.
“Something down the train blew up,” Gary said.
“Yeah, but what caused it?” Mia asked.
“Something attacked, maybe?” Jack suggested.
“Let’s not think of the worst possible scenario. Maybe it was a malfunction?” Gary tried suggesting.
“Guys!” Veronica screamed, crashing through the compartment door. “It’s the army guys! They’ve got a helicopter after us!”
“A helicopter?” Lan raised an eyebrow. “You’re kidding, right?”
“What’s a helicopter?” Candlemon asked.
“It’s a flying thing,” Calvin said wide-eyed. Even he knew how dangerous a military chopper could be. “It’s got guns and missiles and other stuff.”
A loud roar entered the compartment as something passed over them. As it dissipated, they could clearly hear the fluttering of a propeller.
“You’re right,” Bristlemon said, peering out of the window. “It’s pretty big. DemiDevimon, you can fly...”
“You want me to go up against that thing?!” DemiDevimon yelled.
“Calm down,” Jack said, “we’ll think of something...”
“Do you hear glass shattering?” DemiMeramon interrupted. Now that they quieted, they could clearly hear a nearing tinkering sound.
“Oh no,” Veronica said, looking out the window. “Get down guys!”
The kids and Digimon leaped onto the floor as seconds later the Black Hawk passed right by, the machine gun pumping lead into the cars. All the windows broke and glass fell everywhere as the helicopter passed the train. The kids screamed as shards fell on them, but no one was badly cut. Then they heard the Hawk pass over them again, towards the front of the train.
“Is it planning another fly-by?” Mia asked, still crouching on the floor.
“No,” Carpmon said, daring to peek, “it’s stopped over the train car. Wait, there’s two guys coming down on ropes!”
“Darn, we have to go stop whatever those two soldiers are doing, but that helicopter’s too dangerous. Aren’t there other Digimon on this train?” Jack asked.
“I ran through almost all the train,” Veronica said. “We’re the only passengers.”
“Not very many Digimon travel where you’re going,” Tanemon explained. “I’m heading further north from where you stop. It’s not uncommon for the train to be empty.”
“Quetzlmon can fly and is big enough to take the copter on,” Calvin said. “Zlatmon, you have to fight that helicopter, and the rest of us can go stop the army men.”
“Alright,” Zlatmon said nervously as he peered out .The absailing grunts had already touched down, and the Black Hawk was beginning to turn around. “Wish me luck,” he said as he leaped out the broken window. “Zlatmon Digivolves to... Quetzlmon!”
“Okay guys,” Lan said. “Let’s head up train and meet the Marines. I mean, there’s two of them and we have five Rookie Digimon. I like those odds.”
“The way you put it, let’s do it!” DemiDevimon said, pulling a Demi Dart out.
-----
Flamedramon ran down the train tracks, his copper skin, normally blue on Flamedramon, hardly sweating. He didn’t even feel tired, but he would have gone on for weeks only due to the sense of duty and the want to kill whoever were his creator’s nemeses. He had followed the train tracks for hours now, and finally his pursuit was drawing to an end. He saw the damaged end of the train.
With swift grace, Flamedramon pounced in the air towards the train. His whole body burst in flames and the lithe Digimon began gaining new speed as he rocketed through the train doors. Car after car passed around him as he sped, crashing through sets of doors. Soon he came to the car where his adversaries stood. He slowed down and fell with a crash onto the train floor. A spark of rage burned in his eyes as he slowly rose to stand.
-----
Lan hardly had a chance to ask “What in the world..?” before the backdoor was violently torn apart in a shower of sparks and bits. In the debris now was crouched a Digimon. It slowly rose to stand above the kids with a burning look cast down. Near it’s feet was a whimpering Tanemon that looked back in shock. The monster took a slow step forwards at Tanemon.
-----
Flamedramon
Level: Champion
Type: Virus
Attack: Fire Rocket, Flame Fist
-----
“Back, you!” Bristlemon barked, leaping in front of Tanemon. “I don’t know who this Flamedramon thinks he is, but I’ll hold him back. You guys just get to those men!”
“Alright Bristlemon,” Jack said. “Don’t get hurt.”
“Not a chance,” Bristlemon winked and turned to Flamedramon. “Aright buddy, let’s dance. Bristlemon Digivolves to... Grakamon!” the hedgehog shoved a pair of seats out of the windows as he expanded to fill the car. Flamedramon adjusted his stare up to the taller Grakamon, but he didn’t show surprise or fear, just that enraged glare. And so the grounds were set for another battle.
Quetzlmon roared outside as he barreled at the Black Hawk. The pilot was caught off guard and barely got the Hawk turned around to dodge Quetzlmon’s bite. The black snake managed to chip the side of the copter. “I got contact, fellas!” the pilot called to his radio to the soldiers in the train. “Just get the plastique planted, I’ll deal with this!” Back in the cabin, the two Marines with the machine guns began to take aim on Quetzlmon.
The Hawk veered sideways so the gun could take a better aim and let loose a hail of machine gun fire. The oncoming Quetzlmon diverted his charge and passed under the Hawk, which turned to chase after the snake. Quetzlmon flew upwards and came back down as the Hawk passed under, nearly chomping it’s tail off. The pilot cursed as he couldn’t get a lock-on on the fast Digimon.
Grakamon shared a flurry of punches that Flamedramon blocked with his gauntlets, though he took a step backwards from a mean one. Grakamon in turn leaped over a round kick and had to block a big punch with the side of his arm. Flamedramon began trading shots that Grakamon blocked and returned, then the hedgehog caught the Digimon’s fist and gave a kick to the stomach. Flamedramon reeled to the side and growled. As he returned his fist for a punch, it lit aflame into a ball of fire that struck so hard that Grakamon bounced backwards even after blocking it with both arms. In desperation, he did a half-cartwheel forwards to avoid a stomach shot and helicopter kicked the other. Flamedramon ducked this and kneed Grakamon in the face. The hedgehog fell to the floor, but quickly rolled back up and dodged another Flame Fist that punched a hole in the car.
“There’s the army guys,” Calvin said as they entered the last train car before the engine room. The Marines were in the intersection between the two cars, setting something up.
“The C4’s placed, get us off this wreck,” one of the Marines said, not noticing the kids yet. The other was still making adjustments to the package.
“No can do,” the pilot called back, again barely dodging Quetzlmon’s tail that would have broken the windshield had he not pulled back. “I got a damn anaconda flying up here trying to eat me alive!”
“Demi Dart!” DemiDevimon yelled, throwing the needle. It struck the wall inches from the talking Marine’s face, whose eyes widened at a steady pace.
“Looks like we’ve got our hands full too, it’s those brats!” the other Marine said, slinging his MP5 into his hands and taking aim.
“Behind the seats, guys!” Veronica yelled, and they ducked back as a hail of bullets came their way.
“Take this! Lava Loogie!” Candlemon peered over the seat to throw fire at the soldiers. What followed was a huge fire fight between the Digimon and soldiers where bullets, darts and flames traded sides.
“What are we doing here?” Carpmon asked Nymfimon. “Our attacks don’t have a long enough range.”
“Why don’t you try and get closer to those fellas? Wait for them to duck down and sneak to the next set of seats,” Gary advised them. The two Digimon didn’t really like this plan.
Flamedramon threw another Flame Fist at Grakamon, who side-stepped and caught Flamedramon by the elbow, then slammed him with his shoulder. Flamedramon grunted as he fell on his knees, but leaped up and drop kicked Grakamon backwards. Grakamon leaped up and did the splits between the broken windows as his adversary tried a baseball kick. Flamedramon looked surprised for a moment at his larger opponents grace, but was thrown onto the floor by a double-handed swing. The Digimon roared and leaped forwards, alighting into a Fire Rocket that took Grakamon off guard. The smaller Digimon tackled the hedgehog off the window sills and dragged him down to the floor. He lifted Grakamon to his feet and executed a haymaker Flame Fist that knocked the other off the floor and through the train roof. Flamedramon lit himself on fire and followed through the roof, landing on top of the train with a resonating slam.
Up above, the machine gun rattled as the gunner shot at Quetzlmon. The snake had been taking shots throughout the fight, but he hadn’t taken any grievous wounds yet. He dived below the Hawk and came up behind it, but instead of another charge, he lie in wait when the Hawk turned to face him.
Quetzlmon’s plumed wings spread out brightly, displaying all the colored feathers he had. “Rainbow Wing!” the bright multicolored light shot out at the pilot, who screamed in horror and clasped his eyes not to go blind. He looked down on the control panel and tried to focus his vision again, but there he saw his opening.
“Gotcha, you overgrown garden hose!” he hissed triumphantly as he saw that the computer, not affected by the Rainbow Wing, had locked onto the prone Quetzlmon. He immediately hammered the fire button, sending a pair of the Hellfire missiles.
“What?” Quetzlmon asked in surprise, but realized his error too late. The Hellfire missiles, designed for anti-armor use, impacted with the flying snake with devastating results. Quetzlmon plummeted out of the sky and fell on the train car, laying prone a few cars away from the sparring Grakamon and Flamedramon. The pilot and gunners cheered and congratulated each other.
“Contact’s been taken care of, we’re ready for evac,” the pilot called to the radio of the Marines below.
“Okay, we’ll try and get outta here,” the Marine answered and fired another burst at the Digidestined.
“Eat this, big guy!” DemiDevimon called, tossing another Dart at them. Both Marines ducked down as the needle struck the wall behind them, a wall that now looked like a dart board.
“Now’s our chance!” Carpmon said to Nymfimon, who were almost next to the Marines. The two charged out before the Marines could react.
“Ocean’s Breath!” Nymfimon attacked, knocking the grunt backwards. He fell through the gap between the two train cars and stumbled onto the ground, groaning as he halted.
“Water Whip!” Carpmon whisked at the other Marine. This one dodged the shot of water.
“That’s it?” the man looked with a raised eyebrow. “That’s the best you can do? A little squirt of water from your whisker?”
“Well,” Carpmon thought for a moment, “I can do this too.” Then he headbutted the man in the gut, who fell out like his partner earlier.
“Alright, we took them out, now what’s this thing they were fiddling with?” Mia asked as the kids rushed up to the front of the compartment.
“I don’t know, a tracking device, maybe? I mean, it’s beeping,” Jack pointed at it.
“Oh my god!” Gary screamed as he caught up with them. “That’s a C4 remote control plastic explosive! They were gonna blow the train up!”
“EEK!” Candlemon screamed and hopped backwards. “Get it off, get it off!”
“We need a pocket knife to cut it off the surface, it’s like glue,” Gary explained.
“I got a nail file,” Veronica said. “Will that do?”
“Yeah, someone cut it off!” Gary said.
“How do you know all this?” Lan asked as he began to carefully remove the explosive.
“You know how many games these days have the option of luring your opponent onto a packet of remote explosives and watch them go boom?” Gary countered.
“It’s off now,” Lan said, picking the clump up.
“Get rid of it, stupid!” Mia screamed.
“No, I know what to do with it,” DemiDevimon suddenly said with an evil gleam in the corner of his eye.
“...I repeat, do you copy?” the pilot asked above the kids into the radio. “What the heck’s going on, what happened to you? I can’t see you on the train.”
“Howdy, this yours?” DemiDevimon appeared in front of the Black Hawk, holding the C4 in his claws.
“Huh?” the pilot asked as DemiDevimon slapped the bomb on the prow of the chopper.
“Ugh...” one of the Marines groaned as he grabbed the radio. “I got knocked off the train. But the plastique’s set and I got the detonator. Time to blow those chumps to the Stone Age.”
“What?!” the pilot asked in growing concern as he understood what was going to happen. “No, don’t blow it up! Don’t! ABANDON SHIP!!!” he screamed to the gunners and hammered the eject button. His seat shot off into the sky and the gunners leaped into the treetops moments before the Black Hawk detonated. The front was completely blown off in a spectacular combustion and the rest of the wreck began plummeting down at the train.
Flamedramon and Grakamon had evenly fought each other so far, each an equal of the other. Now both looked up as they saw the Black Hawk turn into a massive ball of fire that began to fall at them. Both retreated away, ignoring each other. The only important thing was not to be under that copter when it came falling. It struck at the opposite end of the car that the two were on, causing it to snap off the ones behind it and rise to a near vertical position. Both Digimon were thrown off, with Grakamon barely latching onto the edge of the roof.
Grakamon sighed heavily as the train straightened again and he was able to hang on, but screamed when he felt a weight on his legs. Flamedramon was still hanging onto his legs, and pulling himself upwards. Grakamon countered with a swinging motion that sent the smaller Digimon through the battered doors into the compartment.
Moments later, Flamedramon crashed through the roof aflame with a roar and landed on the roof, with apparent intentions to stomp on Grakamon’s fingers. To his surprise, no one was hanging onto the locomotive.
“Ahem,” a voice said behind Flamedramon as Grakamon climbed out of the same hole that the other punched a second ago. Before the smaller Digimon could do anything, Grakamon tackled Flamedramon, knocking him off the train and onto the tracks.
Enraged, Flamedramon rose and shot at Grakamon with a Fire Rocket. Now Grakamon saw his chance to finish this combat, but it required perfect timing. He waited as Flamedramon approached, roaring battle cries.
“Twin Needler!” Grakamon threw diagonally to the side at Flamedramon, knocking his path off course. The surprised Digimon was thrown into the forest canopy. To add insult, he struck a tree branch that bent awfully much backwards. For a second he stared at Grakamon almost pitifully, before the tree branch slingshot him away from the train at such a speed that Grakamon wouldn’t be surprised if he broke the sound barrier.
Flamedramon came to a halt far, far away from the train, where he rolled a few inches and stopped on the tracks. He tried climbing up, but he noticed in horror as steam began to rise out of his body. The pieces of armor clattered to the ground as Flamedramon, prone to instability due to laboratory creation, turned gleaming white and began to shrink.
When DemiVeemon woke up again, he had no idea where he was. All he remembered was that the nice man had promised him sweets if he helped him in an experiment that he was doing. He remembered stepping into a glass container and then all went blank.
-----
“Well, what just happened?” Calvin asked after they all gathered together. Zlatmon was sulking in a corner, having barely survived the blast of the missiles. Bristlemon wasn’t that well either.
“The army attacked us again,” Gary said. “It’s obvious they’re not in the Digiworld by chance like we are. They were able to coordinate a helicopter attack on us, and had C4 in their supply kit. None of us had our outdoor gear with them when we came here. These guys were obviously prepared to derail a train.”
“What about that Flamedramon that came charging after us?” Mia asked.
“Maybe the army’s got help from Digimon,” Lan said. “Or then he was just some random evil Digimon that ran into us.”
“I have never, ever seen a Virus Flamedramon before,” Tanemon said. “Flamedramon started becoming common after the earlier Digidestined events, but all Flamedramon I’ve ever met have been Vaccine type.”
“Well that’s really odd,” Veronica said. “I don’t think we can solve this puzzle right now.”
“Agreed,” Lan said. “But now we gotta be double careful about the military as much as about the evil Digimon. They’ve got the manpower and resources to wage war, and we’re... well, we’re...”
“...just kids,” Calvin filled in.
-----
Another Black Hawk patrolled over the battle site. Finally, it spotted a pair of bodies and landed on the train tracks to pick them up. The soldiers were carried into the cabin and the chopper rose back to the air.
“Five men defeated in battle. Three with broken legs and a fourth with a shattered elbow. No confirmed casualties. A 600-million dollar piece of military aviation blown to pieces! Gentlemen, what kind of clowning around were you practicing back there?” Lieutenant Manners stopped his pacing to cast an angry glance at the grunts.
“Pardon me, sir, but my training did not cover warfare against flying snakes,” the pilot said spitefully. He was the only one who had made it with little bruises.
“I know that, soldier,” Manners sighed. “But we are the Marine Corps, the most powerful military organization on Earth! It won’t look good that we’ve lost in a fight against six kids and their ragtag bunch of mutants. Get yourselves back to Earth for medical treatment. I want a new chopper for you, soldier. You did well with that snake-thing.”
“Sir,” a soldier said, entering the medical tent. “Reinforcements from Earth.”
Manners walked out of the tent to stare at the gateway to reality, which was spitting out companies of Marines by the second. Row after row of tanks came out, with other armored fighting vehicles dotted amongst them. By these, ranks of soldiers came marching out. A second portal nearby was being used to transport large trucks, hauling at least three different types of helicopters in the back.
“Majors Zimmer and Gregson-Williams,” the soldier reported when a pair of Marines daubed with medals entered the Digiworld. Manners raised his hand in salute.
“At ease,” Major Zimmer ordered. “Lieutenant Manners?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Manners answered.
“We have 60 able-bodied men, three dozen main battle tanks, an equal amount of fighting vehicles and fifteen helicopters, all complete with crew and pilots. More will be entering the Digital World next week,” Gregson-Williams described. “Since you have the most experience here, you will teach our troops of the environment and expected resistance. We expect Operation Overlord to commence in two days. We want our troops prepared by then.”
“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Manners said. “I will prepare a lecture along with the head scientist, Dr. Leonard Watts, for 0800 hours tomorrow.” He looked back as the last Abrams tank rolled through the portal. Now he was sure he’d win this war.
* * * * * *
A/N: Fun military fact time! YAY! Although the Black Hawk is qualified for use of the Hellfire anti-armor missile, the missile doesn’t lock on, it uses laser guidance. Also, I realized a bit late that the Marine Corps use Super Cobras as attack helicopters, not Black Hawks. Though it’s not irrational for the Corps to utilize Hawks, it was still a boo-boo I made! Sowwy! =) Not that none of you really mind, I doubt very many of you are warfare nutters like me (I’m sure it shows from this chapter!).
Anyway, quick thanks to a few people who’ve given feedback on my story (I’m too lazy to check who said neat stuff), I always like that! Let’s hope I can finish the next chapter/s in a reasonable time, aye? Bye!
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