Yamacus and a few of his leading officers were standing on top of the flying platform, a vehicle constructed by Andromon. They were waiting impatiently for a reply of the government.
Yamacus looked at his watch. "I will give them another 30 minutes. If by then, I don't see any sort of reaction, I think I'll let Belphemon graze the tower's top."
"Did you really have to choose Tokyo Tower?" Tally asked in worry. "Think of the people living around here..."
Yamacus waved it off. "I gave them more than enough time to evacuate. Besides, this is supposed to be an act of intimidation. How am I supposed to intimidate them if they know that I am unwilling to sacrifice any lives? This is war, Tally! Sacrifices are unavoidable!"
"Although I really do hope they won't call in the Digimon Special Defense Unit," Roachmon grumbled. "They have some pretty powerful Ultimates in there, and with Tankdramon's defeat, we couldn't keep our hold on many of our own Ultimates."
"Stop being such a worrywart, insect!" Andromon grimaced. "They wouldn't dare attacking us when Belphemon is floating above their heads."
Roachmon just shrugged. "I'm just saying..."
"Quiet, both of you!" Yamacus snapped. "Damn, what's taking them so long?" He looked at the leader of his Champion and Rookie units. "Roachmon, ask your men if they can see anything."
The cockroach-like Digimon nodded and activated his headset. "Flymon, come in!" he barked. "Any visual signs of an approaching group of delegates?"
"No, sir!" a Flymon's shrill voice came through the headphones. "But I think we... wait, what's that?"
And then, a booming voice could be heard, through the headphones, but also coming from the direction Roachmon knew his men to be.
"EVIL INFERNO!"
A horrible screech of agony followed, accompanied by a panicking voice that shouted: "PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" And then there was silence.
"Flymon unit, come in!" Roachmon barked into his headset. "What's the matter with you? What happened?"
"I think I can answer that question..." a calm voice coming from above stated.
Everyone looked up in surprise, where they could see the imposing figure of a floating Digimon, a Digimon which looked like an elderly man with a very long beard and an elaborate robe.
"That power..." Tally whispered. "It's overwhelming..."
"Who is that?" Yamacus snapped. "Is that a member of the Digimon Force?"
When he got no reply, he noticed that most of his Digimon officers were shaking with fear. Roachmon was even dropping down on his knees.
"What the...? What's your problem, you spineless wimps? Even if he's a Mega Digimon, we still have Belphemon on our side!"
"But my lord," Andromon whimpered. "That's... that's one of the Great Demon Lords, Barbamon!"
Yamacus gasped and looked up at the floating form of the Master of Greed. "Impossible!" he hissed.
"I am afraid your little subordinates are right," Barbamon stated. "We are the Demon Lords, and we have come to claim the one who is our brother by birthright!"
In a burst of flame, a robed figure appeared to their right. "I am Daemon, Lord of Wrath! Tremble before my power!"
Deep below them, a complete warehouse exploded outwards when suddenly, a humongous creature came bursting out of it, tearing the remaining rubble down with its massive jaws.
"Don't forget about me," the red-scaled, crocodile-like Mega Digimon grumbled in a guttural voice. "I am Leviamon, Master of Envy!"
"The true Demon Lords of legend..." Andromon whispered. "We are done for..."
"I always knew we should have left sleeping Digimon lie..." Roachmon whimpered.
"Get a hold of yourselves, you fools!" Yamacus shouted. "Even if they are the real Demon Lords, which I doubt, we are still the all-powerful Digimon Army! We are superior in numbers, we have powerful Ultimates on our side, we are the allies of the three first Hybrids that existed, and we have Belphemon under our control! We still can win!"
"You really believe that, do you?" Barbamon snickered. "You chose the power of sloth for yourself so you can declare yourself an all-powerful Digimon Lord, and you still fail to realize that you have no chance against THREE of us? I pity you, human..."
"Y-yamacus, maybe we should leave..." Tally stuttered.
"No! Not now!" Yamacus shouted. "Not in my moment of triumph! I will show him the real power of my army!"
"Now before you do anything foolish... shouldn't we do this elsewhere?" Barbamon asked. "We wouldn't want any innocent humans to die because of our little feud?"
"You wanna tell me a Digimon Demon Lord is worried about the health of humans?" Yamacus spat. "That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard in my life!"
The Master of Greed shrugged. "If there are no humans left, there would be no one to witness our superiority. I don't see any need to explain my motives to you. I say we take this out in the mountains, where your armies are awaiting orders... that way, you don't have to bring them here. Agreed?"
"Fine!" Yamacus spat. "I don't care where I destroy you!"
The three Digimon Lords laughed at that. Especially Daemon. "Little human thinks he can harm us," the robed devil snickered. "Little human will be sorry when we are finished with him. When I'm done with you, Yamacus, you will be nothing but a burnt crisp!"
"Well, leave the violence for when we actually fight, Daemon," Barbamon smirked. "We will be waiting for you... and don't forget to bring our brother with you." He looked at the floating form of Belphemon, who still looked as if he was sleeping.
Then he and Daemon floated away, while Leviamon vanished underground.
Yamacus and his officers were left to themselves. Tally noticed that Yamacus' hands were shaking.
"Sir!" a voice suddenly came out of Roachmon's headset, giving the insect a serious scare.
"GAH!" he shouted. "Don't do that to me!"
"Um, sorry sir, but... you may be interested to hear that a delegation of humans are approaching us from the southwest. They are accompanied by a few Digimon."
Yamacus took his binoculars and looked into the direction Roachmon's observers had indicated. Indeed, he could see a number of humans that somehow looked official... and wasn't that the mayor of Tokyo among them? He also clearly recognized a few members of the Digimon Defense Squad.
"So close..." he muttered, then shook his head. "We will deal with them later. For now, I have to teach those fake Demon Lords a lesson!"
"Yamacus, don't!" Tally pleaded. "I know they aren't fake! You have no chance against them!" Desperately, she clung to her master's arm.
"Let go of me, woman!" Yamacus snapped. "I know what I am doing! Do you really believe the Demon Lords would show up like that? Belphemon has been under a seal for centuries. You would think the Sovereigns had put a similar seal on the others as well, right?" He snarled. "Those three... they are just impostors, nothing else!"
He turned around to face Andromon and Roachmon. "Get up from the ground, you wimps! We have a battle to fight!"
"A battle we will lose..." Andromon muttered. "We are going to go down if you keep this up, sir!"
"You dare answer back to me like that?" Yamacus yelled in outrage.
"Sir, I have been a close follower of your case for years," Andromon explained in a very serious voice. "And you have my support in everything... but as your loyal servant, please believe me when I tell you, we can't possibly hope to defeat the Demon Lords!"
Yamacus stared at him with furious eyes. He then looked at Roachmon. "Tell your troops to prepare themselves for battle!"
"A-are you crazy, sir?" the shaky Champion yelped. "They will wipe the floor with us poor Champions... not to mention the Rookies!"
"Traitors..." Yamacus grumbled. "You are all traitors..."
Just then, a nervous Tsukaimon came flying up to them. His tiny body was shaking as he said: "Um, s-sir... the mayor is here to negotiate with you."
"Tell him I will come back when I dealt with the problem at hand!" Yamacus barked. "And now, Andromon: Move that goddamn craft and take us back to headquarters!"
"Yes... sir!" Andromon said, a deep frown on the human parts of his skull.
He turned around the flying platform and started the engines, while the small Tsukaimon came fluttering down to greet the mayor and his companions.
He saluted nervously while looking over to the more powerful Champions and Ultimates that were accompanying the mayor. "Um, sir, I'm s-sorry to say it, but Lord Yamacus wishes to talk to you some other time... he has important matters he has to take care of."
"What?" the mayor asked in surprise. "Who does he think he is? First he threatens us with that cursed being of destruction, and now he just takes off like that? Why, the nerve..."
"Um, excuse me, sir..." Tsukaimon boldly spoke up. "But I wouldn't say that to anyone who has a Digimon under control that could easily wipe out all of Tokyo within a day."
The four-legged Digimon to the mayor's left side growled and took a step forward. "Get out of here, you jerk, or I'll take a big bite of you, diplomatic immunity or not!"
Tsukaimon surely would have pissed his pants, had he worn some. With a scared "Eep!" he quickly turned tail and flew.
"Was that really necessary?" the robed Digimon to the mayor's right scowled. "He was just a child, after all."
Reppamon sighed. "Sorry, old pal... this whole situation is just so irritating. And now even the other Demon Lords have appeared..."
"Only three of them," the mayor pointed out. "And are they really that bad? I mean, we had Digimon heroes before that took care of our problems..."
"D-reaper was a completely different story, sir!" Taomon said firmly. "We can't always count on children to do the jobs our Defense Force is supposed to do."
"Well, what do you suggest?" Reppamon asked.
Taomon sighed. "I am not the commander, you should ask him..."
"But you know the commander will ask for your opinion, you are one of the most experienced veterans among our troop."
"Well, I know that we have no chance if we interfere in the battle between Yamacus and the Demon Lords. We'll have to wait and see who will be the winner."
"My bets are on the Demon Lords..." Reppamon said with a frown.
"Still, can't you at least contact the Sovereigns and ask for their advice?" the mayor asked. "I understand that they can't intervene directly, but a gesture like that would really be appreciated... I think the emperor would feel this way as well."
"It's still a possibility," Taomon admitted, although he was worried when he imagined the reaction of Zhuqiaomon. "We should send a group of delegates that are familiar with them and the conflicts between humans and Digimon..."
Reppamon grinned. "I know who you are talking about."
Taomon winced. "Well, I think I have no choice... I will contact the old warriors... Compsomon, Sheperdmon and Leomon!"
"Mie must have missed you," Reppamon said with a wink.
Taomon growled. "Shut up! You know very well we weren't made for each other. She now has a family as well, and she will most likely understand the situation I'm in. I mean, her sons were with my daughters when they fought D-reaper without my cognition."
"Whoa, calm down there! I was just joking around! Man, are you feeling fine? You are more tense than you usually are."
Taomon sighed as he looked up to the place where Barbamon had floated just a short while ago. "I'm fine..."
'Father... why are you doing this?'
----
Rika strapped her D-power to her belt and nodded at her sister with determination. "Let's go, Renamon!"
Rumiko looked at her daughters. "Are you sure you two want to do this? You heard what your father said... when he sees you, he will have you removed by security."
"I wanna see him try!" Rika grimaced. "Once we've biomerged into Sakuyamon, there's no way he can make us leave!"
"Mother, Takato, Jeri and the others are counting on us," Renamon tried to explain. "We are a team, we can't let each other down. Only if we work together can we defeat the Demon Lords and save Yamaki from corruption."
Rumiko sighed. "I know, it's just that I... I hate to see you two leave for battle again. I'm always scared you won't come back..."
Her mother soothingly put a hand on Rumiko's shoulder. "I have faith in them, dear! They will come back, they are strong! And remember, they are their father's daughters as well, so I doubt anything you say can make them change their mind."
That made Rumiko laugh for an instance. "Yes, he was as stubborn as they are now... Alright then, girls, I won't stop you. Go ahead and do whatever you must do. Good luck and..." Her eyes grew teary again. "Please don't do anything too rash."
Rika smiled and hugged her mother. "Don't worry, Mom! We'll be fine!"
After a bit of hesitation, Renamon hugged her mother and sister as well.
'This is my family now,' she thought to herself. 'And I will do anything possible to protect them from harm...'
----
A bright light appeared around the cell's lock, and a few seconds later, it opened with a sharp click.
The cell door opened and a shining figure stepped out.
Riley burst into the room. "What's going on here?" she asked. She gasped when she saw the twelve-winged child in front of her. "You... you're..."
Ai tilted her head. "Please get out of my way. I'd like to go home now."
Riley frantically pondered what she should do. If the rumors were true, Lucemon was a match to every other Demon Lord already at her Rookie level. "But Ai, we... we still have so many fun games we wanna show you. Don't you at least want to stay for a little while?"
Ai shook her head. "I can come back, but for now, I want to go home. Please, let me go!"
"Um, no!"
Riley wished she would feel as confident as she wanted to make the angel girl believe.
Ai sighed and raised her right hand, the palm outwards. A shining ray of light came forth from her hand, engulfing the LadyDevimon with its glow.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Riley screeched. "Hiisssssss! Too bright!"
She stumbled back into a dark corner of the room where she was shielded from the light and covered her face with her arms. As a creature of darkness, she couldn't stand that glow.
"And that girl is supposed to be a Demon Lord?" she grumbled to herself.
Before Ai left, she turned around to Magnadramon, who was still lying in her cell. "Are you sure you don't want to come along?"
Magnadramon shook her head. "No, Ai! I would have taken the chance a few weeks ago. But now..." She looked at the cringing form of her daughter and sighed. "My place is here, child! If fate is kind to us, I will be set free some time later. But I feel that I am needed here..."
Ai nodded. "I think I understand. Don't worry, I'll try to visit you." She looked down at the LadyDevimon. "Goodbye, Riley! Try to be a bit nicer to your Mommy, okay? And thanks for playing all of these games with me... I knew you really hated them."
She took a step, turned around one last time and gave Riley a smile. "Oh, by the way, I really like your kitty form! It's cute!"
And then, she left.
Riley pounded the floor with her fist. "No fair, no fair!" she whined. "I'm supposed to be an all-powerful Demon Lord now! Why can't I even stop a small child?"
Magnadramon shook her head as she looked at her daughter with pity. "Riley, I hate to bring this up, but you still have a lot to learn..."
"Shut up, Mom!"
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(Posted Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:53)
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