Old Ones Return (VI)

*Kotemon digivolves to Knightmon and attempts to cut the nearest Sanglougmon in half with Berserk Sword*
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*Biyomon dips his head*

<We defeated them quite recently.>
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*Kylie and Lunamon follow*

*The Sangloupmon dissolves into data, a state which it finds most disagreeable. Its partner loads the data to become Matadormon, which spins towards Knightmon, slashing with its various blades. Monodramon, unsurprisingly, is unable to do shit.*

Beelzemon<We need to get your friends cured!>

*He turns to aim one of his guns, but is surprised by a 2nd Matadormon that leaps out of a tree & slices his wing, causing them to all fall down.*

Beelzemon<Raaah!>

*He shoots wildly at the Matadormon that attacked him, which blocks, but at the expense of most of its blades. Behemoth also speeds out of the brush at this point.*

Dropbearmon<What'd I tell ya, ya stinkin' bogans?>
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Neptunemon<Then you know what manner of beasts live in the Digital Oceans.>

*The tunnel, which is lit by bio-luminescent algae, leads to a circular chamber with various tunnels branching off. Rising out of the floor is a coral reef, which forms into a pair of wide thrones with kelp for cushions. Upon the throne to their left "sits" Ancient Mermaimon, her tail curled up to support her upper body, with her trident resting along her "lap." The throne room is lit in hues of blue & green by floating jellyfish & literal flying fish, but the glowing creatures change to red & purple hues as they enter. Ancient Mermaimon frowns.*

AM<You're back already, My Lord? I would have preferred if you would have sent some word in advance. Oh, but it seems you've brought us the Digidestined. It is an honor to finally meet you.>

Neptunemon<What nonsense. Do I ask you to explain YOUR every decision, M'Lady? Besides, I wasn't aware you looked upon them with such high esteem.>

AM<But of course. We must do what it takes to keep them on our side, by any means necessary.>

Neptunemon<Eh. Where is Captain Mermaimon? Her crew has been charged with treason, & I insist she be questioned at once!>

*He slams his trident down for emphasis.*

AM<Husband, she would not sell her crew out to you for the same reason that they are no traitors: I have drilled far too much loyalty into them.>
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*They are led to another room that is just as golden, but much easier on the eyes, due to having the tapestries drawn over the windows. Other than that, the only features are an enormous white table lined with various carvings & several cushions surrounding it.*

Armadillomon<Aside from Lord Jupitermon, Lady Junomon, myself, & a handful of other Digimon who will be serving you, you will have the dining halls all to yourself, Honored Guests. What shall I get for you to start with?>

E"I'm not really hungry."

*Her stomach growls. Loudly. So she sighs.*

E"Okay, can I just have the quickest & easiest thing to fill up on? Please."

Armadillomon<You seem to be in poor spirits, Miss. I'll bring you plenty of wine.>

Lopmon<I do not wish to be a bother. I will simply eat when the main dishes have been brought out.>

Azuma: "We have a video showing your crew beating one of our own. If you want to keep us on your side, you have your work cut out for you."

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Hitomi: "Wine will not help her."

*Knightmon charges to meet Matadormon, using Berserk Sword again*
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*Biyomon bows*

<There may have been a simple misunderstanding.>
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*Kylie puts her hand on Euryale's arm*

<They'll rescue her.>

*They clash & Matadormon is rammed by Behemoth. When Beelzemon lands, he dashes out of the way of the Matadormon attacking him & holds out one of his claws, which morphs into a BFG.*

Beelzemon<CORONA BLASTER!>

*Needless to say, there is 1 less Matadormon in the world, but then the trees start falling over as something enormous approaches. Whatever it is, it sucks up the data like a high powered vacuum.*
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AM<There was no misunderstanding. I ordered your friend to be taken, in the hopes that she could be used to induce digivolution.>

Ts"Wow. Didn't expect you to come right out & tell us that...."

AM<We can't hide her at this point. The Mermaimon would sacrifice themselves to cover for me, but that is not how I do things.>

Neptunemon<If they can help us Digivolve, why don't we just take them all?>
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*She smiles weakly at Kylie.*

E"I hope so."

Armadillomon<Wine always helps! Are the rest of you sure you don't want any drinks or appetizers?>

Azuma: "Because we can't help you Digivolve."

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Hitomi shakes her head.

Lunamon:<I'll take some food please!>
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*Lyra points at the thing*

<Let's go already!>
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Cameron:<We can only help our partners evolve.>

Armadillomon<Yes, but what KIND of food, if you don't mind my asking?>

*Junomon & Jupitermon enter, taking seats on cushions at the opposite end of the table, which deform to nearly being flat because they're mostly made of metal. Scurrying on their heels is Hawkmon, using his feather to furiously write notes on his scroll.*

Jupitermon<I'm surprised, I thought you would have started eating by now.>

Junomon<I hope you weren't waiting on our account.>
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*That Matadormon that was hit by Behemoth isn't dead, so it just slashes the Behemoth's tires so it gets stuck in the ground & throws more knives at Knightmon & Beelzemon Blast Mode. Beelzemon blocks, but the enormous head of DexDorugreymon shoots out of the forest, impaling him on its horn. It roars & shakes him around like a rag doll synthesizing metal in its mouth. Beelzemon loses his grip on Phascomon, who lands in a tree somewhere, but he keeps hanging on to the ones he rescued, gritting his teeth.*
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Neptunemon<Nonsense. There must be some mechanism by which you make those Digimon Digivolve, something that can be harnessed.>

AM<My husband is correct. As we speak, Vademon is studying the relationship between your friend's device & her Digimon. However, I do not wish to provoke a war.>

Neptunemon<Maybe that's what we need? This alliance clearly isn't working, Jupitermon, the Lord of the Dark Area, even one of the Sovereign wishes to secede. If we are not being given the territory that is rightfully ours, then perhaps it is time to take it by force!>

*He slams his trident for emphasis. Seeing Regulumon withdraw his sword, he points the trident at him. Regulumon roars & bristles his mane, & Neptunemon similarly flares his fins.*

Azuma: "You can't force a bond between human and Digimon. We do not share a bond with you and nothing can change that."

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Hitomi: "They are undecided."

Kylie:<Um, whatever you recommend will be fine.>
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Biyomon:<Azuma's correct. You could not force a bond.>

Cameron:<Plus aren't you both Mega level anyway?>
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*Knightmon blocks with his sword then moves in to take out Matadormon once and for all*

Neptunemon<Fools, you've seen for yourself that this is possible!>

AM<Let them believe as they wish. And cease this foolish squabbling.>

Neptunemon<You would presume to order me?>

AM<YOU would presume to embroil this kingdom in a war that I have not consented to?>

Neptunemon<...Fair enough.>

*And so Neptunemon backs down.*

Reg<...Whip-ASH!>

*Neptunemon & Regulumon resume growling at each other, much more passive-aggressively. Meanwhile, a Mermaimon enters.*

Captain<I do not wish to be presumptive, Lady Ancient Mermaimon, but does this mean that I am to retrieve the human girl from the dungeon & send to Vademon's lab for her partner?>

AM<Of course.>
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Armadillomon<I'll just do my best, then.>

*So he waddles off.*
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*It swings its foot out, blocking with its foot-knife, & aims a stab at his side.*

Beelzemon<Don't you--have some kind of card for this situation?!>

*He's thrown clear. As he skids across the ground, he drops the people he was trying to protect. Meanwhile, DexDorugreymon's meteor gets bigger & bigger.*

I suppose they wait for them to be released.

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Hideki is lucky to even have the two cards he started with let alone any others, so presumably being the only non-paralyzed individual to be dropped, he tries to make Monodramon Digivolve.

Lyra:<Knightmon!>

*Knightmon kicks Matadormon away then charges towards Lyra, reverting to Kotemon in the process. The pair then biomerge, and Crusadermon uses Scarlet Tempest on the big ass dragon*
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*Waiting*
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*Awkward silence*

*Taiyo's cell opens.*

Captain<Lady Ancient Mermaimon has ordered you to be released into the custody of your friends. So come with me.>
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Neptunemon<Are you sure we can ensure our territory without using them?>

AM<The Tamers are going to help us of their own free will. That is, if they don't want me to support your decision to secede, & order our armies to take them dead or alive.>
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OOC: Dang, I wanted to do more with this thing.

*Beelzemon limps over to the paralyzed group, using Corona Destroyer to eliminate the Matadormon coming after him, causing him to regress to Impmon. Meanwhile, a giant ghostly hand descends from the sky & enters DexDorugreymon, who grows into DexDorugoramon, knocking down most of the trees around it. It releases a spray from its mouth that begins coating Crusadermon in metal.*
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*Armadillomon eventually returns, balancing a platter on its back. The platter holds a bottle of wine along with sushi rolls, meatball things, grilled fish slabs, grilled octopus tentacles, stuffed peppers, some kind of pastry things covered in sesame seeds, & chicken skewers. Accompanying Armadillomon are a bunch of Veemon, who begin setting the table. They also help Veemon put the platter on the table & start pouring wine for everyone.*

Armadillomon<Dig in, everyone!>
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*Once again, Whamon has taken to the surface with his mouth hanging wide open. Being unable to sleep, Ryota Rakshashi flags down the Hypnos boat, which lets down a latter for an agent to come aboard.*

Agent<You want an update on your children, is that right?>

Ryota<Yes. Well?>

Agent<We THINK they got our message. Some of them are heading towards the location that we sent them, but strangely your daughter is now several miles in the opposite direction & some of them have disappeared from our scans entirely. They seem to have split up into 3 groups. We haven't been able to get another one through since then.>

Ryota<How do they "disappear"?>

Agent<They went into a cave & we haven't been able to detect where or if they've surfaced. It is also possible that the cave leads to another plane of the Digital World. You see, the Digital World is actually made of 6 different layers, with subdivisions within those layers that can often only be navigated by some kind of data transfer. It can't be navigated like the normal world.>

*Crusadermon flies out of the way then uses Spiral masquerade
on DexDorugamon*
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Kylie:<Thanks for the food!>

*Both she and Lunamon fill their plates with food and begin eating*
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Cameron:<We still aren't sure how we can help you.>
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Mrs Sorenson:<Who disappeared?>

The two awkwardly pick at the food, Salamon sniffing the wine and trying not to make a big scene about it smelling like ass. Hitomi does not partake in it.

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Hideki begins pleading with Monodramon to Digivolve.

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Finally hearing something good and the possibility of Euryale being there, Taiyo falls off the bed and kind of struggles to get to her feet to vacate the cell.

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Loren: "Did the find Taiyo?"

*The Captain slithers over, reaching for Taiyo with one hand & raising her anchor over her head with the other.*

Captain<Hold on a second.>
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*The agent raises his hands.*

Agent<Please, I can only answer 1 question at a time. According to our records, Hideki, Lyra, Thiera, & their partners all vanished along with a biker Digimon positively identified as a Beelzemon.>

Ryota<What the Hell is a Beelzemon?>

Agent<Uh, it's a type of demon Digimon. But we assume this one is good. In fact, there was once a Beelzemon who helped to fight the D-Reaper.>
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*Impmon starts trying to gather all of the paralyzed into a single pile. Thiera groans intelligibly.*

Impmon<He's paralyzed, dummy, he can't do it! Ya gotta wait for the poison to run out, or find a way to cure him first!>

*Meanwhile, Crusadermon is a bit slowed from the metal clogging up his joints. DexDorugoramon counters with its claws & wing blades & swings its tail at him.*
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AM<For now, I suppose by fighting for our side.>

Neptunemon<And conceding our territory should soon follow, of course!>
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Jupitermon<Of course.>

Junomon<You may have all of the appetizers that you wish. We shall await the main course.>

*Euryale takes a sip of wine. Agumon picks the entrees nearest to him & stuffs them into his mouth, chewing a few times & swallowing.*

Agu<You should really try to eat SOMETHING, Euryale.>

Azuma: "I don't think we have the authority to say who gets what."

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Hitomi: "You'll need your strength for when they find Taiyo."

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Hideki fumbles around with his D-Power for the healing thing.

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Taiyo: "Huh?"

She holds still, although quite uneasy and scared as the Mermaimon will likely hit her.

Cameron:<Yeah, we're just teenagers.>
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Lunamon:<Yeah! Free food is the best food!>
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*The Kornels huddle together*

Mrs Kornels:<A good demon?>
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*Crusadermon uses Fist of Fear to dodge all the shit then hit him directly in the chest*

*DexDorugoramon counters with its own blast of force & the combined shockwave bends the trees & blows the bystanders away.*
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Agent<Something like that. There must be a reason they went with it. It's unlikely that they were hypnotized, because one of the Digimon Sovereign was there.>

*Mr. Rakshashi throws his hands up in frustration.*

Ryota<What language are you speaking right now?>

Agent<They're the, uh, rulers of the Digital World.>
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*What she actually does is kill her. Taiyo is now dead. Forever. cut away the bindings on Taiyo's arms & pull her somewhat roughly to her feet.*

Captain<Let's go.>

*She begins to head out, holding loosely onto Taiyo's arm.*
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Neptunemon<The Sovereign sent you to negotiate, did they not?>

BanchoLeomon<Of course not. We wouldn't send Regulumon as anything but a glorified body guard.>

Reg<Nice to see you, too, Old Man.>

*BanchoLeomon clicks the stick in his mouth & looks over at Azuma.*

BL<Good to see you again, Boy. Have you been making good use of my old coat? I hope you've been taking care of it. It wasn't easy to find another.>

Bastemon<We apologize for being tardy.>

Neptunemon<What makes you think that YOUR kind is welcome here?>

Bastemon<You can't banish us from our home like you're keeping us from sleeping on the furniture. Sleeping does sound nice, though. I've been up & about for nearly FOUR HOURS.>

*She yawns & licks her chops, the yawn quickly spreading to the Leomon, then to Gomamon & Tsune. After a second or 2, Ancient Mermaimon yawns & Neptunemon glares at his wife like she's a traitor.*
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OOC: Can't have sex on an empty stomach.

E"I know I HAVE to, but it's not that easy. Have you ever tried eating when everything in your body hurt from a bad flu? Sore throat, knotted stomach, headache, the works? It's like that."

*She nevertheless nibbles a bite off of one of the pastries & chews it for an excessively long time, considering that it is clearly filled with some kind of cream.*

Junomon<You should have told us that you were sick before. No need to be shy.>

Jupitermon<Armadillomon, send for the finest MagnaAngemon priest in the city!>

Agu<No, wait, it's not that kind of sickness. Her girlfriend has been kidnapped.>

Jupitermon<What is a girlfriend?>

Agu<It's--I guess it's like a wife, but--they're not married yet?>

Junomon<So she is engaged to another female human?>

Agu<Maybe?>

*He scratches his head & looks to the humans in confusion. Hawkmon keeps scribbling down notes throughout all of this.*

Armadillomon<Just tell me what I can do to help.>

Azuma: "Yeah, its come in handy a couple times."

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Taiyo follows as she doesn't have a choice.

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Hitomi: "Heartache and fear."

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Hideki scrambles to get back to Monodramon to try again.

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Kentaro: "So they're being led by a ragtag group of gods, demons, and lions?"

*Crusadermon flies up then uses Spiral Masquerade again*
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*Biyomon grins at the new arrivals*

<Thank the Sovereigns you're here!>
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Kylie:<It's like the stage before engagement.>
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Mr Sorenson:<At least the gods are protecting them, right?>

*IceLeomon, leaning against a molar sitting cross-legged-&-armed, opens 1 eye.*

IL<I could have told you that.>

Agent<Well, technically, no. It seems to be working the other way around just as often.>
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*The castle shakes & they hear a rumbling, crashing noise behind them.*

Captain<That isn't good. We've no time to waste!>

*So she darts up the canal leading to the upper floors, doing a number on Taiyo's shoulder. No sooner do they get up to the main halls than Tactimon approaches them. The Captain pushes Taiyo out of the way just in time to spare her from the Bio-Hybrid's draw slash, but she herself is not so lucky. The last thing she does before both halves of her dissolve into data is yell at Taiyo to run. Tactimon flips his gun over his shoulder as he absorbs the data.*
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BanchoLeomon<Good to hear.>

*Having felt the castle shake, the various Digimon look around warily. The roof then caves in after a large explosion & Megidramon snakes down, biting BanchoLeomon. Bastemon shrieks & runs on all fours, but is quickly slammed into the wall by Megidramon's tail.*

Neptunemon<How did you get in here?!>

Megidramon<I'm an elite mercenary. I specialize in stealth. That's why we didn't give this job to Netzach, but don't worry, he'll be here shortly.>

Reg<They must've come from inland!>

Megidramon<Correct. Fish out of water, pretty glaring weakness.>

*Mermaimon & Neptunemon point their tridents at Megidramon, blasting her with ice crystals & a pillar of water, respectively, but it doesn't penetrate the heat that Megidramon is putting out. Regulumon & Bancho Leomon attack with swords powered by their energy fists.*
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Junomon<Courtship, you mean?>

E"Yeah, that's about right.>

Junomon<I am truly sorry for your loss, but we may be able to dispatch a contingent of soldiers to rescue her, if you wish.>

Jupitermon<I think that is a splendid idea!>
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*Wounded, but not destroyed, the Digimon attacks with a swipe & a blast of force from its claw. Meanwhile, Monodramon does regain some motion in his limbs. Thiera's progress is a lot slower, with her still making barely audible grunting noises with only the occasional twitch of a finger. DemiDevimon is just stuck awkwardly in a bush. Phascomon tries to pull her in, but Impmon hits the dropbear with a "Badda-BOOM!"*

Patamon Digivolves to MagnaAngemon and blasts Megidramon with energy blasts.

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Taiyo runs like Hell until her lungs burn and her veins pump battery acid. Then she keeps running.

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Hitomi: "Others are there to resuce her."

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Hideko tries to make Monodramon Digivolve.

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Kentaro: "You seemed to have been giving us the cold shoulder."

*Crusadermon flies around DexDorugamon and attacks with Fist of Fear again*
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Kylie:<Yeah, we'll need your soldiers in other places.>
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*Cameron and Biyomon biomerge, and Ornismon fires his mouth laser at Megadramon*
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Mrs Sorenson:<That's reassuring at least.>