Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Emperor ❯ Outmanned and Outgunned ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 2: Outmanned and outgunned

For perhaps the first time in recorded history, the entire group of twelve digidestined were gathered together in one group, and yet none of them had anything to say. This inspite of the fact that they had gathered together specifically for the purpose of talking. Some of them hadn't even been there. They had only heard of the destruction. Just hearing about what had happened was enough for them to be instantly drained of all brilliant ideas.

So you can imagine that those who had actually seen it were even more mentally depressed. An entire village and hundreds of digimon, gone in a flash. They had never seen anything like it, and even though it had been twelve hours since the occurance, nobody had been snapped back into their senses yet. Even now, gathered in Izzy's room, possibly the fate of the world at stake, they had nothing.

"Anything?" Izzy finally said, sitting on the chair backwards, his chest leaning against the back. "Look, I know we're all...devastated by last night, but it's not gonna get better if we all just sit around doing nothing."

"Hey, I gave my suggestion, don't look at me." Davis said from the floor, lying prone.

"Well excuse us if 'go to the digital world and beat that kid down' doesn't flow with us." Yolei responded, sitting on the bed.

"It beats out anything anyone else suggested." Davis responded.

"By default." Matt added, leaning against the closet door.

"Okay, okay. What do we know?" Izzy said quickly, turning to the computer. "This...individual...let's call him emperor for the lack of a better-"

"No." Ken cut him off.

The room turned to Ken, who turned red from the corner he was sitting in. He glanced around at everyone.

"Sorry, what?" Kari asked, next to Yolei on the bed.

"Um-nothing. Nothing." He looked down at the ground. He waved his hand to Izzy. "Go on, go on." He said quietly.

"No Ken. We're a team, if you've got a problem, make it known." Cody added from the floor close to the door.

"Alright, when...when I have a problem I'll be sure to make it known, but I don't have one now, so go ahead." Ken reinterated.

Izzy took back up the burden of discussion after a short pause. "Alright, this...emperor...is a digidestined like us." He began to type rapidly, almost as fast as one could normally talk. "Or so it seems. He's got a colorless digivice. He's around...thirteen, fourteen, seems well-spoken, and idolizes what Ken once was. He used a...strange crystal that emitted great power to destroy the ex-ghost town, protecting it with...something that made it impossible for us to touch it."

"C'mon Izzy. You were there. Destroyed isn't the right word and you know it." Tai interjected, standing next to him by the computer desk.

"Alright, alright...vaporized? Liquidated? Obliterated? Why does it matter?"

"Destroyed is one thing. And that wasn't destroyed. I'm just tryin' to be accurate."

Izzy thought for a second. "Let's go with...obliterated then."

"Did anyone else notice what happened after?" Ken asked.

He was met with a chorus of shaken heads. "Little distracted." Kari said.

"Yeah, well...it was odd. You know how, when a digimon dies, it's data gets...reconfigured back to primary village?"

"Sure." Tai said. "Of course."

"Well...I'm not sure, but I think...this 'emperor'...disrupted that."

The group collectively looked at Ken intently. "Go on." Mimi encouraged.

"I saw the cloud of...I guess it would be data...heading into the skies or something. But the...emperor...absorbed it into his body. I-I think he converted it into more of those crystal things."

Someone gasped. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Yes, it'd make sense. I think there were three."

A long pause followed as everyone considered the grave implications of this.

"Okay...so, he took the data of the digimon he murdered...and converted it into two-"

"Three." Ken correctly solemnly.

"...three crystals." Izzy swallowed hard.

"Great!" Davis groaned. "I wish we knew last night, he could have destroyed three other places while we were asleep!"

"Trying to sleep." Sora corrected. "For me anyway."

"And then, he disappeared when Davis tried to hit him. He said...something about leaving without physically being there." Izzy finished. "That's about it." He sighed. "I got nothing."

"Well, it's not gonna get any easier." Davis commented. "I mean, the longer we let him do what we wants, the more of those crystals he's gonna get."

"Things could get nasty fast. Whatever he kills he absorbs, which he in turn uses to kill more." Tai said.

"Seems that way." Izzy agreed. "Wish we knew a bit more..."

"Well, we don't!" Davis interjected, jumping up from his sitting position. "And we're not gonna find out any more by sitting around here! We don't have any choice but to go and figure things out first hand!"

Matt gave a slightly slanted smile. "Just like old times then?"

"Unfortunately, yes." TK concurred. He couldn't resist a slight smile himself regardless. "Settled, then?"

"Alright. We go in and look around, see what he's packing and how we match up. If things get hairy, we come right back, we just want to get a feel for what we need to do." Izzy said slowly. "Let's do this!"

Everyone got up and gathered around the computer, pulling out their digivices or D3s. "Just like old times." Tai repeatedly quietly.

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They came out just outside a large forest. Almost as one, they pressed a button on their digivices, alerting their partners to their presence and location. Everyone was constantly throwing their heads about, keeping an eye out for just about anything out of the ordinary.

"Looks like he was asleep too." Davis commented.

"This world is a big place. He could have been razing File Island or the Gekomon Castle for all we know." Sora commented.

"Well jeeze, sorry for trying to be a little optimistic!" Davis shot back.

"C'mon guys. We can't afford to bicker." Mimi interrupted.

"Here comes the calvary." Joe said, pointing off to the right. Sure enough, the partners were jumping through the foilage, eager to meet their masters.

"Alright!" Tai enthused. The digimon joined their respective buddies, excited to be back on the job. "No problems, I hope?"

"Well..." Agumon began.

"Kinda a long story, we've got alot to tell you guys." Palmon finished.

"Let's hear it." Izzy said, pulling out his laptop. "I'll take notes."

"Alright, well, this kid started appearing about six weeks ago, I suppose." Gatomon began.

"And we're just finding out now? You have my email address, don't you?" Davis interrupted.

"It's not that simple. He had started appearing, but we didn't know it was him. Random places in the digital world kept reporting disapperances of digimon. We didn't think much of it because they seemed unrelated. Thought they went and got into an accident maybe, just the circle of life. Anyway, three days ago, the tenth unexplained disapperance occured, and this time we managed to get a witness. Said he saw this kid confront him, and then...well, just sort of data-tize him and absorb him." Gatomon finished.

"So...ten incidents..." Izzy repeated. "Anything else?"

"They were all rookie level. Kid probably couldn't pick on anybody his own size." Gatomon said bitterly. "Wish he tried to absorb me, would've given him the ole lightning claw!" She slashed at the air.

"Okay, so...ten rookies...I guess we can assume that made the one crystal." Izzy continued to type quickly. "He uses the one crystal to blow the village, and used the data from that to create three more crystals..." Izzy put his finger to his chin and looked up at the sky. "Near as we could tell-wait, something isn't right."

"What?" Cody asked.

"Well, think about it. If we assume he used ten rookies to make one of those crystals, we'd also assume that one champion makes one crystal, or one ultimate makes ten." He looked over at Davis, who was glancing about, keeping an eye out for the Emperor. "Remember when you tripped over that digimon when we were running through the town?"

"Yeah, and thanks for reminding me! I had nearly forgotten all about it, and man do I love pain!" Davis hissed.

"Sorry, but this is serious. Who'd you trip over?" Izzy asked.

"A Mamemon." Davis said.

"Exactly. An ultimate. Mamemon alone should have made ten crystals. Something's wrong."

"Don't look at me, I'm failing math." Matt said.

"I'm serious. Something doesn't add up with our assumptions. What is it?"

"He wasn't showing all his cards." Ken said suddenly.

"Huh?" Yolei and Sora said.

"To catch a criminal, think like a criminal." Ken responded simply. "I used to be the emperor, remember? I would have done the same thing. Let my enemies get a sense of my power, but keep most of it hidden, so when they move to strike they underestimate what you've got."

"Makes sense." Tai agreed. "Izzy, what's the ballpark?"

"I can't say unless I know how many digimon lived in the village. But based off what we saw..." He looked back up at the sky, in thought. After about a minute, he spoke again. "I'd guess anywhere from eighteen to twenty. Assuming Mamemon was the only ultimate in the village. I didn't see any others, but..." he trailed off.

Somebody whimpered.

"Great! So he's probably got enough explosives to vaporize France!" Davis yelled, kicking up dirt. "Now what?"

"We track him down and put an end to it now." TK said simply. "It sounds like he doesn't even have a partner, and explosives won't help him much in a straight fight. We act now while he's still weak."

"Weak?" Sora questioned. "Maybe you didn't hear right, he's probably-"

"I heard fine. He couldn't take us with a million crystals. They're bombs, nothing more."

"Oh, the ignorance of youth." Came a voice from inside the jungle. As one, the dozen digidestined turned to face it abruptly. Sure enough, the mysterious Emperor stood there, on top of a log just inside the forest.

"You!" Tai shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"And you're not any older than me, so shut it." TK added.

"Very well. You're still ignorant.” The boy said.

“Enough! What do you think you’re doing?!” Ken yelled.

“Well, the amount of idiocity flying around in this area was so high, I just couldn’t stop myself from paying a visit.” He looked down at Izzy. “Smart little boy, aren’t you?” He then put his hands up to his coat lapels and slowly pulled it open, exposing the interior of it.

Inside the jacket, on both sides, there were five rows of two crystals, kept in place by straps. “So yes, you are indeed correct. Or very close to it. For all the good it does you.”

“Twenty!” Cody said quietly.

“Twenty-one, actually, I’ve already spent one.” He said casually.

The group gasped, almost as one. “On what?!” Davis growled, his fingers clenching, clearly desiring to place them around this child’s neck.

The Emperor, however, ignored Davis, instead looking at TK. “You and your talking on subjects on which you are oh so ignorant, however, manages to negate the deductive powers of Ken and Izzy, I’m afraid.”

“What’re you talking about?” TK growled.

“Just bombs? My genius is insulted. Oh, how must want to think they’re ‘just bombs.’ I hope you’re happy, your ignorance has managed to draw me out. I feel...compelled...to correct you, you see.”

“Enough!” Davis yelled. “You need to be put in your place, so let’s just find out how good a digidestined without a partner is!”

The Emperor merely pointed off into the distance, behind the group. Quickly, they turned around. The forest segued into the desert, so there was alot of sand. In the distance, they could make out what appeared to be a dozen small digimon.

“You want to know what I did with the crystal? See for yourself.” He commented. When the group turned back, he was gone. Davis immediately sped into the forest, looking around.

“God-”

“Davis, get out of there! We’ve got business!” Tai yelled. He pulled out his mini-telescope and peered off into the distance.

“What is it?” Yolei asked.

“It’s...it’s a dozen Agumon, but...”

“C’mon Tai, we can’t afford dramatic pauses!” Izzy yelled.

“I think...holy-”

And then, bedlam struck. A series of explosions went off, all around the digidestined. Everyone screamed and threw their hands over their faces, then threw themselves into the forest.

“What was that?!” Davis screamed as even more explosions rocked the area.

“Those Agumon!” Tai yelled. “They didn’t have...noses!”

“What?!” Matt yelled back as an explosion knocked a tree over, just missing Mimi as it fell over. “Can you explain that?!”

“They didn’t have noses! They had...cannons! Like a Tankmon! I don’t think they had arms either! It had guns! It’s like someone crossbreeded an Agumon with a Tankmon!”

“Great, so our Emperor thinks himself a Doctor Frankenstein!” Joe screamed as even more trees fell.

“That’s about it!” Izzy said. “He’s given rookies the power of champions, so we’ll need champions of our own!”

Everyone nodded, and pulled out their digivices.

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The dozen champions ran off towards the source of the explosions. As Tai had said, they appeared to have a Tankmon’s cannon where their noses should have been, and Tankmon machine guns where their arms should have been.

The explosions stopped as the Agumon focused their assualt on the digimon, so the group peered out at the scene.

"Incredible." Izzy said. "The Emperor's managed to combine the small stature of a rookie with the firepower of a champion."

"Well, he can have his half-champions, cuz we've got full-on champions! We've got the advantage!" Davis insisted.

"Hold it." Tai suddenly spoke up, his eye in his mini-telescope. "There's more..."

Greymon unleashed an attack at the group of modified Agumon. It was difficult to make much out from this distance, but they saw the attack land squarely on one of the Agumon.

When the blast faded away, however, the Agumon was standing there, seemingly unfazed by the attack that should have put it out of commission.

"What the-" Ken started, but Tai cut him off.

"They've got shields. On their forearms, they've got metal shields. And I'm betting on them being made from Tankmon armor."

More attacks were exchanged, and the Agumon were able to continually defend themselves from any serious damage.

"Great! They're rookies with all the capabilities of champions!" Ken groaned. "This could take awhile."

"Well, we've still got the advantage." Davis said. "It's twelve on twelve, champions on champions, and we've got the benefit of a ton of fighting experience! The Emperor can play Frankenstein all he wants, we've still got him beat!"

"Here's hoping." Kari said quietly.

Tank shells and Machine Gun bullets were traded for fireballs, electric orbs, and lasers, among others, for some time. However, as the battle waged on in the distance, it became obvious that there was no advantage. The two groups were going blow for blow, neither side showing signs of taking the upper hand.

"What's going on? This should be over by now." Davis moaned.

"Nothing's what it seems with this Emperor." TK said. "We gotta do something to get some leverage, before-"

Suddenly, a fierce explosion rocked the area. One much fiercer than any before it. Out of nowhere, a massive gun emplacement had appeared next to the Agumon, and they had manned it and were now firing it at the chosen digimon.

"What now?!" Cody yelled.

Tai zoomed in on it, even as another volley blew from it's cannon towards Angemon. It blew him right out of the sky, well off into the distance. TK gasped.

"That's a Giga Cannon!" Tai finally said. "Right off Machinedramon's back!"

"Well, that does it!" Joe yelled. "We've gotta get out of here now!"

"No..." Davis groaned. "It's not like it's a Machinedramon, it's just a cannon! We take out the cannon, then maybe we can get our digimon to focus our attacks on each Agumon one at a time! We can do this!"

"Davis, come on! That cannon has the power to blow through Wargreymon's shield! Do you really think your skin will fair any better?!" TK yelled.

"...damn." Davis resigned.

Izzy turned his computer screen out towards the group.

"Wait!" Davis yelled. "We can't leave them here!" He pointed out at the digimon. "This world isn't safe, and we'll need them if we want to beat this Emperor!"

"He's got a point." Matt said.

Davis grabbed his digivice. He began hitting buttons on the top, clearly unsure of how to go about calling a retreat. "C'mon, c'mon, full scale retreat!"

"It doesn't work like that." TK said as he got up. "HEY! RETREAT!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Luckily, the digimon were already falling back due to the overwhelming power of the cannon, and heard TK and were more than happy to comply. Greymon was holding an injured Patamon in his hands.

"This place isn't safe anymore, you're coming with us!" Davis said when they got into the forest. "Get ready!"

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"Wow." Was all Davis had to say when everyone had settled down in Izzy's room. "That was sad." Unable to sit, he pushed up from Izzy's bed and started walking around. "C'mon, guys! That's not the way the digidestined are supposed to roll!"

"Well, I'm sorry if we happen to be overmatched by a dozen champions and a Giga Cannons." Tai said through gritted teeth, standing by the door.

"No. That was a dozen rookies with decorations and a Machinedramon's backpack." Davis growled.

"Easy for you to say." Veemon said from the bed. "Gimme a break, I'm out of work. Nothing's happened for two months."

"He's right." Izzy said. "They're out of shape, that's why the Agumon were able to go toe to toe with them for so long. So the first order of business is to knock the rust off."

"All the warmup stretches in the world won't help soon." Sora said dimly. "He had a jacketfull of those crystals, and it only took a couple at most to beat us. He's only gonna get more, and it's not gonna take long."

"Stop being such a-"

"Realist?" Matt finished sarcastically. "She's right, we're gonna need something. Champions aren't gonna cut it. We could probably use some numbers too. You can talk all you like Davis, but what happens when we're starring down a hundred MetalGreymon with triple-barrel Giga Cannons on either shoulder and skin made of pure Digi-Chromozoid?"

Everybody looked at Matt, again leaning against the closet door, oddly. "Just something I came up with on the spot." He shrugged.

"Okay, guys, I know we're all a little embarrassed, but I think we should make our next move now, before the Emperor can build up...something to the tune of what Matt said."

"He's a genius." Came a voice from the corner. Ken was curled up into a fetal position, his knees to his chin, talking to himself. "Pure, raw, genius. I used to dream about pulling something like that off, and he's gone and done it like it's nothing."

"Ken...you alright?" Sora asked.

His eyeballs snapped up to Sora. "I'm scared...he's so much like me...those enhanced Agumon and the detacted Giga Cannon...that took him about half a day to create. In a week who knows what he'll have? A month? Six months? Whatever it is, Matt's little vision of the future won't even be close." He started to shake. "I don't like it."

"Oh, come on Ken, I thought we were past this." Davis began, but Yolei stepped on his foot and shot him a nasty look before he could continue.

"What he's trying to say is...you're not the Emperor anymore. And you know this. What he's doing has nothing to do with what you used to do, and even if it did, that doesn't matter." Yolei finished.

"It's not that. It has nothing to do with that. You were never...like that, you wouldn't understand. I have a vision of the future of the digital world if this Emperor is allowed to continue. I would know, it's the vision that used to be my fantasy. And it's not pretty." He began to rock back and forth slightly, eyes still wide open.

"Enough, Ken. That's exactly why we've got to put an end to it. Time to call in an old friend." Izzy said as he began typing away.

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