Season 4: Wisemon’s Alternate Ending Series
Part 18: Ode To A Superhero
By Wisemon
Digimon is the property of Toei Animation. This story contains lyrics by The Offspring and Metallica, and modified quoted lyrics by Metallica. For the second time, I borrowed some stuff from Ghostbusters. Last time, Junpei had a long and off-some dream. Meanwhile, Tomoki convinced HellDiaboromon to hold off on the execution until Junpei woke up. In this story, Junpei wakes up, and it seems likely that someone won’t make it to the end of this story. This one has a load of violence, some culturally offensive stuff, and some bad language. If you’re under 18, stop reading now. When we start to rock, we never want to stop again. Hit the lights! Hit the lights! Hit the lights!
Tomoki noticed that Junpei was twitching on the ground, and he immediately ran to him. “Junpei, I’m sorry; he was too strong for me. I thought I did everything right. I had the fear, and I froze the place, but it wasn’t enough.”
“I told Kouji that a loss of fear was an asset,” Junpei reminded his “son” groggily. “Still, you did exactly what you were supposed to do. You were never meant to beat him. You can’t send a kid to do an older kid’s job. Izumi, I’m going to need to stand up, so you’re going to have to wake up and release me from your legs.” With his arms still wrapped around Izumi’s body, Junpei gently petted her back in an effort to wake her up.
“Please, allow me.” Ophanimon flew downward until she was hovering just a few inches off of the ground, right behind Izumi’s head. She drew her leg back and kicked the point of her foot into the back of Izumi’s neck.
“Huh, what the fuck was that?” Izumi woke up. She had forgotten exactly how she’d fallen asleep, and she was pleasantly surprised to be waking up next to Junpei. “Junpei, is it over? Did Tomoki win?”
HellDiaboromon cut off Junpei’s response. “Oh, it’s over, but your boy didn’t win. The Hornman is drawing nearer. I’ve come to take your lives. Tomoki, you can run to Junpei all you want. It won’t matter; running, hiding, you will still be dying a thousand deaths. Well, it’ll actually be one long and painful death, but it’ll seem like a thousand. Say your prayers, little one.”
“Izumi, I’d rather have you lay beside me, but right now, I have to take care of some business. It’s in our best interests if you let me go,” Junpei cajoled. The leg noose was untied, and Junpei stood up. “Hey, you overgrown hot sauce mascot, your fight is with me!”
“I can’t hear you. Are you talking to me?” HellDiaboromon checked.
“Do you see any other redskins? I think your name would be ‘Chief Fucks with Kids’. That’s going to stop, because you cannot kill the family.”
“You’d sound a lot more threatening if your cock wasn’t hanging out, and if the lower half of your suit wasn’t covered in you and your girlfriend’s bodily fluids,” HellDiaboromon pointed out with amusement.
Junpei quickly put his dick back in his briefs and zipped up his jumpsuit. “Izumi’s rain, my own stains, need some Gain, but the threat of me remains. You’d be wise to remember that. Now I know who wrote that prophecy. So let it be written, so let it be done. I’m sent here as the chosen one. I’m the Christian and the Muslim; I’m your creeping death.”
“Junpei, what the fuck are you talking about?” Izumi inquired.
Junpei decided to use a roundabout explanation. “In the beginning, it was just you, me, and Tomoki on a train. Then Takuya got aboard. Then Kouji joined our team. Then Kouichi switched to our side. Then the process reversed itself. Kouichi double-crossed us and paid with his life. Kouji killed himself. Takuya got burned alive. Now we’re back where we started, just the three of us.”
“Ahem, aren’t you forgetting someone?” Bokomon was being excluded again.
“The
three of us plus Bokomon,” Junpei
corrected. “The point is, anywhere we roam,
we always stick together. If it’s going to end, it has to go through me
first. Forget about the two outs, because
baseball sucks anyway. It’s boring; the
“Very well, I’ll kill you first, but only if you lay off the speeches.” HellDiaboromon had to compromise his sadism for the sake of his corniness tolerance levels. “I don’t know why you’re so eager to face me. You know you don’t stand a chance of surviving.”
“I just had a dream that told me otherwise,” Junpei retorted. “If there’s one thing I learned from that dream, above everything else, the more the odds, the more I defy them.”
“You know how this works. I’ll find your desire and your fear, and you’ll have to choose.” HellDiaboromon began his mental probe.
“My desire was Izumi, but I already have her,” Junpei considered to himself. “I’ll have to come up with a new one. I’ll try to think of the most harmless thing, something I loved from my childhood, something that could never ever possibly destroy me.”
“You want me to turn into a marshmallow man?” HellDiaboromon questioned. “Nice try, but I’m not going to fall for that one. If I turn into a marshmallow man, you’re going to eat me, you fat bastard.”
“I’m on a diet, and marshmallows are a fat free food,” Junpei explained.
“Yeah, fat free, but they still have calories,” Izumi told Junpei. “I think you should try to develop a taste for vegetables. Besides, our toothbrushes are starting to get pretty worn out, and sweet stuff leads to cavities.”
“Uh, you guys have toothbrushes? Where did you get toothbrushes?” Tomoki asked.
“I always carry two toothbrushes in my jumpsuit, just in case I end up stranded somewhere.” Junpei looked towards his fulfilled desire and gave her a grin. “The first day we got here, I gave one of my toothbrushes to Izumi.”
“Oh, isn’t that touching? I think I’m going to barf.” HellDiaboromon stuck a finger in his throat to emphasize his point. “You had the chance to choose your fate and die. Now, by default, you’re getting your fear. The choice is made for you, my friend.” HellDiaboromon began his telepathic search for Junpei’s fear.
“What is my greatest fear?” Junpei asked himself. “There was Izumi’s vagina, but I got over that one. Hey, maybe there’s a way to beat the system…”
“It’s something that you have in common with Takuya,” HellDiaboromon remarked. “Your greatest fear is yourself, your old self. Yes, your old self was selfish and alone. Your old self couldn’t decide who it wanted to be. Your old self kept getting fatter.” HellDiaboromon morphed into a Junpei clone. His version maintained the dual colored jumpsuit, but the dual colors were shades of gray.
“You think that by becoming my fear, I won’t have what it takes to beat you.” Junpei flashed a smile of superiority. “You can take any form; you’re a master of puppets, but I’m pulling your strings. You didn’t become what I fear facing. In fact, you became something that I’ve already faced and beaten back in Sakkakumon. Yeah, you became what I fear; you became what I fear being. I had to get away from me, and I did. I was me, but now he’s gone, and he won’t come back.”
“You fool, it doesn’t matter what form I take; your death is inevitable. Nothing can save you. Junpei is lost, Junpei is raped, Junpei is gone,” the shadow Junpei predicted. “Anger, misery, you’ll suffer unto me. Is your sorrow ready to be harvested?”
“Not quite yet, I have to say my goodbyes.” Of course, Junpei had no intention of losing, but he remembered that HellDiaboromon had given Takuya the opportunity to deliver some final words to his friends.
“Very well, but make them quick. I gave Takuya ample time because he wasn’t fighting, but you’re this thorn in my side that’s bleeding me.” HellDiaboromon didn’t exactly find Junpei’s fear, but he accidentally revealed his own.
“Junpei, while you have the time, isn’t there something that you’re forgetting?” Tomoki asked.
Junpei turned to Tomoki, and that was when he noticed the slight wardrobe change. “Hey, what happened to the shirt that Takuya gave you?”
Tomoki looked down, and he noticed it for the first time since his loss to HellDiaboromon. “Whoa, my shirt turned white!”
“I guess the evolution into JediFrigimon left a side effect, a digital bleaching,” Junpei hypothesized. “Now, what am I forgetting?”
“You didn’t take my energy. I saw you take everybody else’s, and now it’s my turn.” Tomoki knew that it was something that Junpei had tried to be stealthy with, but as usual, Tomoki had spied on him.
“Yeah, you got me; I used the energy draining technique that Polkamon taught us.” Junpei wasn’t about to start a childish denial in a desperate situation. He pulled out his D-Tector. “I promise to use it wisely, Execute: Energy Drain!” A beam of limelight went from Tomoki’s body into Junpei’s D-Tector. Junpei put away his “guerrilla radio” and looked down towards Izumi, who had recently sat up. “I know it must’ve looked bad when you woke up, but I swear I didn’t tear you open and pour me out. I still want to wait until we’re married. It’s nothing religious; I just want something to look forward to.” Junpei pointed to his evil clone. “So, let’s wait until it sleeps.”
“Trust I seek and I find in you, so if you say you didn’t, I believe you. At this point though, I really wouldn’t give a damn if you did,” Izumi admitted. “After all, I’m the one who waits for you. Life is ours; we live it our way. I just want to keep living, and nothing else matters.”
“Then let’s make it official, if it wasn’t before.” Junpei got down on one knee and stared into Izumi’s eyes. “Will you marry me when I’m done? Will you live in this world here?”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll marry you.” Izumi’s reply was nonchalant, but her grin let Junpei know that she was just playing cool.
Anything in the affirmative was good enough for Junpei. “Alright, just as soon as I am done…” Junpei turned back to the shadow Junpei. “…Now it’s time I kick some rear.”
Junpei took out his D-Tector. “My fight song is more appropriate than ever.” Junpei started up “Gotta Get Away” and re-pocketed his D-Tector. Then he put his right foot forward, pointed his left foot outward, and squatted into his charging stance.
“Come on, now take the chance. That’s right, let’s dance.” The shadow Junpei dropped into a charging stance similar to Junpei’s.
They waited a few seconds for the other to make the first move, and then they charged at the same time. They both tried to get the lowest position for the tackle. They met at the same height, and they knocked each other backwards several feet.
“We whacked shoulders,” the shadow Junpei noted.
“At least we didn’t bump heads,” Junpei commented. “Now let’s try this again.”
The Junpeis recharged.
[Getting edgy all the time. There’s someone around me just a step behind.]
“HellDiaboromon must’ve copied Junpei’s fighting style too,” Bokomon hypothesized.
[It’s kinda scary, the shape I’m in. The walls are shakin’ and they’re closing in.]
This time, as the shadow Junpei was lowering his head, Junpei turned to his side and delivered a shuffle side kick. Junpei’s right foot connected with the top of the shadow Junpei’s head.
[Too fast or a bit too slow. I’m paranoid of people and it’s starting to show.]
Despite leaning forward, the kick was enough to send the shadow Junpei onto his back. A human would’ve been knocked unconscious from the blow, but the shadow Junpei was still a digimon beneath his human exterior. As he got up, he decided to give Junpei a reminder of his true nature. “Yes, you might be the more skilled fighter, but I’m more powerful, Habanero Breath!”
[One guy that I can’t shake. Over my shoulder is a big mistake.]
Junpei took a little of the heat (it couldn’t burn him), but he dodged most of the attack. “Hey, that’s cheating; you can’t do that as me!”
[Sitting on the bed or lying wide awake.]
“The bad guys get to cheat,” the shadow Junpei retorted. “I needed a little fire to begin this whipping dance of the dead. Blackened is your end, just like Takuya’s.”
[There’s demons in my head and it’s more than I can take.]
“Takuya…I should use the advice that he gave me in my dream,” Junpei considered to himself. “He said it’s all in the suit that I wear. Izumi assured me that I always have a trick up my sleeve. Well, there’s nothing up my sleeve, but there’s lots of tricks in my jumpsuit. Takuya gave me a special one when he forced me to be the keeper of the flame. Now I’ll fight fire with fire.” Junpei unzipped his jumpsuit halfway and pulled out Takuya’s bag of pot, just as the shadow Junpei was preparing to launch another warm assault.
[I think I’m on a roll, but I think it’s kinda weak.]
“Blood will follow blood; dying time is here, Habanero Breath!” The shadow Junpei blasted his fire stream, and to his surprise, Junpei didn’t try to dodge it.
[Saying all I know is I gotta get away from me.]
Junpei’s mind blocked out the heat, and he flung Takuya’s bag of pot Frisbee-style towards the shadow Junpei’s face. The plastic bag hit the shadow Junpei between his open jaws, like a beanbag in a carnival cardboard clown’s mouth. Junpei enjoyed a ceasefire as he watched the shadow Junpei gag on the bag. “You used a jet engine’s motor breath, so I had to take your breath away. You think my dying time is here? For you, the time is .”
[I tell you something just ain’t right. My head is on loose but my shoes are tight.]
Although it wasn’t enough to burn the watery Junpei, the heat was enough to ignite the dry contents of the bag. The shadow Junpei’s eyes got redder and more squinted as more of the green leaf bits were consumed. When the bag was empty, it dropped from his mouth. “Does anybody have any Oreos?”
[Avoiding my friends, they all bug. Life is like a riddle and I’m really stumped.]
“You want something to snack on? Yeah, everyone seems to need the cure.” Junpei got into his charging stance. “You brought this on yourself. This thorn in your side is from the tree you planted. I take the lead; I’m beating me.”
[If you reason, don’t you know, your own preoccupation is where you’ll go.]
The shadow Junpei was barely able to stand. He certainly wasn’t capable of avoiding Junpei’s left arm and shoulder as they were buried into his ample midsection. With a groan, and Junpei forcing him down, his back hit the rocky ground.
[I’m being followed, look around. It’s only my shadow creepin’ on the ground.]
In
one swift pushup motion, Junpei went from partially
laying over the shadow Junpei, to standing by the
shadow Junpei’s feet.
He grabbed the shadow Junpei’s left leg under
his right arm, and he grabbed the shadow Junpei’s
right leg under his left arm. Then he
turned the shadow Junpei onto his stomach, into a
standing
[Sitting on the bed or lying wide awake.]
A gruesome snapping noise was heard throughout the first level of the digimon hell. Ophanimon immediately noticed that the shadow Junpei’s body was bent in a way that even digimon bodies weren’t supposed to bend. “Holy shit…he actually did it. He actually won.”
[There’s demons in my head and it’s more than I can take.]
Junpei stood up and walked towards the spectators. “Of course I did it. Now let’s get out of here. I deserve an easy chair.”
[I think I’m on a roll, but I think it’s kinda weak.]
Miraculously, the shadow Junpei’s ridiculously deformed body managed to stand. “The rocking stopped by wheels of despair. You thought you’d found the hero of the day, but he will fall by my ways.” The shadow Junpei morphed back into HellDiaboromon. “Did you really think that the most evil creature in this world could be beaten so easily?”
[Saying all I know is I gotta get away from me.]
Junpei let out an exasperated sigh. “No, nothing is ever easy for me. It looks like I might have to put in a little overtime on this one. Still they try and break me.”
[Gotta get away from me.]
Though it was familiar, Tomoki was puzzled by Junpei’s life comment. “Uh, who are ‘they’?”
[Gotta get away from me.]
“Call them fates, or whoever gave me my starting luck. Sometimes it feels like it only rains on me. Just when all seems fine and all’s pain free, they jab another pin in me.” Junpei looked up at HellDiaboromon. “Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel was just a freight train coming your way.” Junpei turned to Izumi. “Hey, my luck is bound to change, because low man is due. However, before I can get that four leaf clover…” Junpei turned back to HellDiaboromon. “…I’ll have to deal with this no leaf clover.”
Junpei took out his D-Tector and stopped “Gotta Get Away”. “I always knew it would come to this. There’s nothing more I can do as a human. I’ll have to continue this fight as Beetlemon.”
“You can’t fight him as Beetlemon!” Tomoki exclaimed.
“I don’t have a choice. MetalKabuterimon is too slow,” Junpei explained.
“You didn’t fight him yet, but I did. I couldn’t beat him with a unified evolution, so you can’t possibly win with a simple spirit evolution,” Tomoki reasoned.
“Tomoki is right,” Bokomon seconded. “I watched his battle. My scouting report can’t tell you much, but I do know that I have seen shit that’ll turn you white. I mean, that’s what happened to the shirt that Takuya gave Tomoki.”
Another desperate situation forced Tomoki to turn to Ophanimon. “Ophanimon, can you give him the ability to do a unified evolution? The other Ophanimon was able to give two of us that ability, so you should be able to as well.”
“I could, but I won’t,” Ophanimon replied.
“Why the hell not?” Izumi asked angrily. “Keep in mind, your ass is on the line here too.”
“Another unified evolution would take too much out of me. I wouldn’t be able to hold my own data together,” Ophanimon explained calmly.
“You’d
still be reborn at the
“The
“That sounds pretty stupid to me,” Izumi commented. “Either you trust him, or you don’t. Either you want to live, or you don’t.”
While Izumi, Tomoki, and Bokomon argued on Junpei’s behalf, Junpei was considering the matter to himself. “I need to use some more of that dream advice. Wisemon said that I still need to find my balance, the yellow and the blue. What about the human spirit and the beast spirit? Yeah, what I need is a balance between Beetlemon’s agility and MetalKabuterimon’s power.” The obvious solution struck Junpei like one of Wisemon’s green bolts. “Ophanimon, can you give me the power to do a fusion evolution?”
Ophanimon pondered Junpei’s request. “I suppose I could. That would still leave me with enough energy to maintain my form. I’m glad to see that one of you is capable of realistic negotiations.”
“Junpei, you shouldn’t compromise on this,” Izumi advised. “Ophanimon just needs a little more convincing.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers. Take the fusion evolution,” Tomoki advised.
“Izumi, normally I’d be inclined to try to agree with you, but I think this compromise really is the best offer. I’ll still win; HellDiaboromon’s first three encounters took a lot out of him. Besides, I’ve got some more tricks.” Junpei nodded to Izumi to emphasize a feeling of security in his ability.
“Fine, but you’d better not die,” Izumi threatened. “I can’t face the thing that should not be.”
Junpei looked up at Ophanimon
expectantly. A beam of light was cast
onto his D-Tector.
Junpei assumed that his D-Tector
would change color. It would’ve been
fitting for it to blend into a solid green instead of yellow and blue, but his
D-Tector remained the same. “Oh yeah, it only changes for unified
evolutions,” Junpei remembered. “I guess I don’t have that balance yet. I’ll keep on searching; this search goes on. I could end up having to wait my whole
lifetime. Then again, a little mental
instability could come in handy in the next few minutes. For now, I’ll stay in my self-sanitarium, but
I’ll charge up the battery.” Junpei started “
“Whoa, that’s pretty cool,” Tomoki commented with awe.
“I do good work,” Ophanimon self-credited.
“I-I’m not impressed,” HellDiaboromon stuttered out. He wasn’t too comfortable with the fact that he’d be facing an adversary who was slightly larger than himself.
“Then I’ll make an impression on you,” RhinoKabuterimon promised in a voice thrice as thunderous as MetalKabuterimon’s. “Specifically, my horns will make an impression on your liver. MagnaGarurumon had his guns, JediFrigimon had his Lime Saber, but my whole body is a weapon. Bow to weapon messiah.”
RhinoKabuterimon’s eyes began to glow green (it went unnoticed; as a Kabuterimon type, his eyes were concealed under thick brows). He stared longingly at HellDiaboromon’s chest. “Court is in session; now I slam my gavel down, Thunder Laser!” A green energy beam burst from RhinoKabuterimon’s eyes.
HellDiaboromon didn’t have time to react. The beam nailed him in the gut, and he doubled over. “That was a cheap shot!”
“Where have I heard that before?” RhinoKabuterimon asked himself rhetorically. He saw that HellDiaboromon was starting to recover, so he made his move. He charged at HellDiaboromon, hoping for shish kabob.
[Lashing out the action, returning the reaction.]
HellDiaboromon leapfrogged the charge, and he landed on RhinoKabuterimon’s back. He found himself riding the beast (facing backwards), so he used the opportunity to try to dig his claws into RhinoKabuterimon’s skin. He couldn’t quite pierce the armored flesh, and he was immediately bucked off. He landed on his feet, as usual, but he was quickly knocked off them by a blindside blitz.
[Weak are ripped and torn away.]
“Man, you suck at this,” RhinoKabuterimon chided. Green sparks started to swirl around his front horn as he prepared for another special attack. “The same thing we’ve always heard from you; you’re superior to us. Obviously, that’s bullshit, and this is my Condenser Storm!” A barrage of lightning bolts launched from RhinoKabuterimon’s front horn.
[Hypnotizing power, crushing all that cower.]
HellDiaboromon knew that he couldn’t dodge all of the bolts, so he decided to use his defense technique. “The only thing that’s obvious is how pointless your attack is, Literal Firewall!” HellDiaboromon was expecting to see a wall of flames erupting in front of him, but to his horror, nothing happened. “Come on, Literal Firewall!” Still, it didn’t work, and HellDiaboromon got electrocuted. He fell to his knees, crispy, but not quite done.
[
“Why didn’t his technique work?” RhinoKabuterimon wondered aloud. “Wait, the fire comes from the ground, the ground that Tomoki froze. Now I understand the prophecy. Before HellDiaboromon could be defeated, his defenses had to be taken away. Actually, I think Takuya did a better job of that than Tomoki, but mental defenses probably don’t count.”
[Smashing through the boundaries.]
HellDiaboromon stood back up. “Ha, shoot me again; I’m not dead yet.” HellDiaboromon realized the potential consequences of his taunt. “No, don’t shoot yet, Ixnay Fork!” His trademark red trident materialized in his right hand. “Okay, now take your best shot.”
[Lunacy has found me.]
“Be careful what you wish; you may regret it.” RhinoKabuterimon sparked his horn again. “Be careful what you wish; you just might get it, Condenser Storm!”
[Cannot stop the battery.]
Another cluster of green bolts headed towards HellDiaboromon. “Ha, that won’t work anymore.” HellDiaboromon tossed his trident into the air and snapped his fingers. Not only did the trident defy gravity and remain suspended in midair, but it also drew away and absorbed RhinoKabuterimon’s attack. HellDiaboromon could see that RhinoKabuterimon was in awe of the trick, so he used the distraction as his chance to prove the doubted superiority. “You got some hell to pay, so I’m stealing your thunder. My Ixnay Fork is made of a superconductive iron, the same as the entrance door…Habanero Breath!”
[Pounding out aggression.]
If RhinoKabuterimon had seen the attack coming his way, he still wouldn’t have been fast enough to dodge it. “Having four legs and a massive frame has some disadvantages,” RhinoKabuterimon realized as he tried to trot against the burning force. “I have to fight back. I have to charge through it, throw all of my body in the fire, and run like hell.” RhinoKabuterimon blocked out the pain (his armored skin helped). He pretended that he was just running against a powerful hose’s spray. “It’s only water from a fire hose; fire being the key word.” All he could see were white flashes, and the occasional blue spark. When it finally disappeared, he realized that he hadn’t connected with HellDiaboromon’s body.
[Turns into obsession.]
“Still alive through the raging glow, but you’ve got blinded eyes to see.” HellDiaboromon’s hunch was correct. Viewing the bright flames for too long had left RhinoKabuterimon disoriented, and his eyes weren’t nearly dilated enough for the cave. “Even if I can’t pierce your skin, I can still bash your brains.” HellDiaboromon put his claws together and clocked RhinoKabuterimon over the back of the head (behind the back horn) with a double ax handle. “Now that felt really good. No, it doesn’t feel good until he’s hurt. I think I’ll pound out some more aggression.” HellDiaboromon kept hitting double ax handles over RhinoKabuterimon’s head, until RhinoKabuterimon’s knees buckled, indicating a loss of coordination.
[Cannot kill the battery.]
“Man, I’m screwed,” RhinoKabuterimon told himself. “I was actually winning for a little while, but the odds caught up with me. I mean, look at what I had to work with, a giant lumbering body without any free limbs. With the electric attacks voided, this body is useless. I would’ve been better off with Beetlemon, but noooo, they told me I couldn’t win as Beetlemon. Yeah, you can do it your own way, if it’s done just how they say; I know the drill. Hey, it’s not my fault if it’s not my call. I’m supposed to be the leader; I earned it. I am the leader, so there’s no need to hear things that they say. Life’s for my own to live my own way, and I want to keep living. I should use some more dream advice. Izumi told me that my anger is a gift.” RhinoKabuterimon felt HellDiaboromon’s large feet beginning to stomp on his body. “Don’t tread on me! He’s certainly pissing me off. Violent abuse brings violent plans. I’m getting better; can’t he tell?”
[Cannot kill the family.]
HellDiaboromon was practically river dancing on his opponent. “Are you dead yet? You will die when I say, ‘You must die’.” HellDiaboromon paused his stomping. He noticed that RhinoKabuterimon was starting to glow green. “I appreciate the lighted target, but it’s not necessary.”
[
“Yeah, it’s a gift. Now I’m madly in anger with you. I want my anger to be healthy. I want my anger to be me. I need to set my anger free. I need to set my anger free. I need to set my anger free. Set it free!” RhinoKabuterimon screamed to himself. The glow became a force that knocked HellDiaboromon twenty feet backwards and flat on his ass. RhinoKabuterimon got back to his feet, but he wasn’t on all four feet for very long. “RhinoKabuterimon mode change to…”
[
Bokomon made sure that he had his book opened to the page on Beetlemon’s evolutions, and then he began to rapidly take notes. “Unless my ears deceive me, he just said ‘mode change’. The only digimon known to have alternate modes are Imperialdramon, Gallantmon, and Beelzemon. That could change in the next few seconds.”
[
RhinoKabuterimon stood on his hind legs, and his limbs grew to human proportions. His front hooves became Beetlemon’s fists. MetalKabuterimon’s cannons appeared mounted on his back as a jetpack. His cervical vertebrae curved internally so he could see forward. His horns shrank to a manageable, yet still obscenely deadly size. Size-wise, he had approximately a five foot height advantage over HellDiaboromon, an advantage proportional to the one that he had over Kouji and Kouichi. “…RhinoKabuterimon Fighter Mode!”
Izumi was impressed with the new warrior’s appearance, but not with his name. “Now you’re RhinoKabuterimon Fighter Mode? I don’t like it; it’s too long. You look more like Beetlemon with rhinoceros features. Why don’t you call yourself ‘RhinoBeetlemon’?”
[Crushing all deceivers, mashing non-believers.]
“Sure, anything for you,” RhinoBeetlemon replied. He looked downward at the sitting form of HellDiaboromon. “I was striving to be better than you, and now I am. I owe it all to my anger. Sweet anger, how sweet are you? How sweet does it get? I won’t waste my hate; I’ll just waste you.”
[Never ending potency.]
HellDiaboromon stood up. “The crap rolls out your mouth again. You’re the same digimon in a different body type. If you insist on using it, then come on, jump in the fire, Habanero Breath!”
[Hungry violence seeker, feeding off the weaker.]
RhinoBeetlemon shuffled to avoid the fire stream and made a skewed dash for HellDiaboromon. He surprised himself with how fast he was in his new form. Before he knew it, he was knocking down HellDiaboromon with a hard clothesline. He turned around, saw HellDiaboromon getting back to his feet, and leveled the evil digimon with a far more brutal clothesline. This time, he sent HellDiaboromon end over end and onto his stomach. RhinoBeetlemon finished his combo attack with a double knee drop onto HellDiaboromon’s spine. “Yeah, adrenaline starts to flow, and I’m thrashing all around. It’s not technically sound, but nothing satisfies my violence fetish like dropping my knees into somebody else’s torso.”
[Breeding on insanity.]
“I think you need some professional help for your frayed ends of sanity,” HellDiaboromon commented. “In fact, you might be sicker than me. I’m ready to admit that I underestimated you. Why don’t you get off my back so we can negotiate this like civilized sociopaths?”
[Smashing through the boundaries.]
“You think I’m some kind of monster? Hey, aren’t we all?” RhinoBeetlemon rolled to HellDiaboromon’s legs and grabbed HellDiaboromon’s right leg under his left arm. Then he wrapped his legs around HellDiaboromon’s right thigh. He leaned back and pulled with everything he had, springing the “Junpei Trap”. He choked up on the shin, positioning his arm right below the knee, hoping to snap it as quickly as possible.
[Lunacy has found me.]
“Damn, that hurts you contemptible cow! It’s also pointless; you can’t do any permanent damage with that move, not to me.” HellDiaboromon morphed into a slightly smaller version of himself and slithered out of the hold. Then he morphed back to his normal size. He got to his feet a little later than RhinoBeetlemon, but he was determined to take back control of the fight. He swung at RhinoBeetlemon with his right claw.
[Cannot stop the battery.]
RhinoBeetlemon ducked the swipe by squatting. He reached up and grabbed HellDiaboromon’s extended right wrist with his left hand, and reached behind HellDiaboromon’s right thigh with his right arm. He extended his legs, and lifted HellDiaboromon into a standing fireman carry. “I’ve never done this move as a digimon before. I’ll use that factor to make it extra special. Like I said in my dream, all things are possible with a fireman carry.” RhinoBeetlemon’s jetpack started up. He flew up to the cave’s ceiling with HellDiaboromon’s right limbs draped over his shoulders. “The higher you are, the farther you fall.” He pushed up on the front of HellDiaboromon’s right leg while pulling down on HellDiaboromon’s right wrist, the “Shibayama Slam”. He tugged the wrist extra hard, wanting to really whip HellDiaboromon to the ground, but he saw his plan backfiring in midair.
[Pounding out aggression.]
HellDiaboromon continued the flip another 90° and landed on his feet. Then he looked up for the inevitable diving attack from RhinoBeetlemon, but he didn’t see his opponent. “I know you’re up there somewhere. Dare to come down to me.” HellDiaboromon felt RhinoBeetlemon’s hand grip his shoulder. “Damn, he’s behind me.” HellDiaboromon turned suddenly, hoping in vain that RhinoBeetlemon wouldn’t be prepared.
[Turns into obsession.]
RhinoBeetlemon grabbed HellDiaboromon’s left wrist, and pulled him in for a knee to the gut. He grabbed HellDiaboromon’s head under his left arm, and he dropped quickly to his left side, the “Shibayama DDT”. “His horns might’ve blocked the impact,” RhinoBeetlemon considered to himself as he got up. Then he saw the effects of his maneuver, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that HellDiaboromon’s body was stuck at a 40° angle with the ground. It was stuck in that position because HellDiaboromon’s horns were planted almost entirely into the terrain.
[Cannot kill the battery.]
“He’s completely at your mercy,” Izumi noted. “End of passion playtime, finish him now.”
[Cannot kill the family.]
“Wait, wait, wait, I’ve always wanted to do this, ever since Kouji did it to me.” RhinoBeetlemon restarted his jetpack, flew behind HellDiaboromon (angling himself to match HellDiaboromon’s angle), and pulled back his right leg. “I know I can crush all within my hands, but first, I want to have a little fun. Hey Hornman, the sound of hooves knock at your backdoor.” RhinoBeetlemon jetted towards HellDiaboromon’s rear at full speed. Then he buried his right hoof through the black material that covered HellDiaboromon’s dumper.
[
“Muhammad Christ!” HellDiaboromon cursed. He was starting to feel doubtful about the outcome, but a thought crossed his mind, a reassuring thought. “Ha, ha, ha, ha, it doesn’t matter how many times you hit me. You still can’t finish me. With your electrical attacks drawn away by my Ixnay Fork, you don’t have what it takes to defeat me. All of your efforts are useless. Throughout your life, the same, right? You’ve battled constantly; this fight you cannot win.”
[
“Yeah, they’ve been mostly internal battles, the struggle within…hold on, I don’t have to tell you about my shit! That’s what the psychiatrists were for, and they couldn’t help me. Logically, you can’t help me, but I’ll help you. I will help you die.” RhinoBeetlemon flew to HellDiaboromon’s trident and snatched it from its hovering spot. Then he landed and walked over to cruelty incarnate and incapacitated. “You and your big mouth gave me a great idea.” RhinoBeetlemon put HellDiaboromon’s body between himself and the trident (held out horizontally). Then he used his proportional beetle strength (and rhinoceros strength) to bend the trident around HellDiaboromon’s body, wrapping the villain in his own weapon. “I struggle on and on, and I insist that the weight of the world should be on my shoulders. My friend of misery, I’m going to put you out of yours.”
[
RhinoBeetlemon’s eyes glowed green, a harbinger of an attack that he carried over from his original mode. “I changed my mind. You haven’t suffered enough for what you did to Takuya, and what you’ve been threatening us with, so we’re going to play a little game. You can read minds, right? I’m going to think of a Ben & Jerry’s flavor, and you have to guess what it is.”
“That’s really not how my powers work, but I’ll give it a shot.” HellDiaboromon figured that there was no harm in playing RhinoBeetlemon’s inane game. “Is it ‘Peanut Butter Cup’?”
“No, I was thinking of ‘Chubby Hubby’.” RhinoBeetlemon nodded towards Izumi. “I know; I won’t stay that way.” He turned back to HellDiaboromon. Specifically, he gazed between his enemy’s legs, “Thunder Laser!” A shocking beam pelted HellDiaboromon’s lower crotch.
“Ahhhh!” HellDiaboromon screamed briefly. “Just get it over with, if you think you can.”
RhinoBeetlemon ignored the request. “Now what flavor am I thinking about?”
“I have no way of…” HellDiaboromon figured that a guess was better than no answer. “Is it ‘Phish Food’?”
“It’ll never be ‘Phish Food’; ‘Phish Food’ sucks.” RhinoBeetlemon hated the band, so the flavor always left a bad taste in his mouth. “The correct answer was ‘Rage Against The Macadamia’.”
“Damn you, that’s not a real flavor,” HellDiaboromon argued.
“Yeah,
but it should be. I mailed my idea to
“I feel guilty just hearing about it. Self-invented or not, HellDiaboromon still got the answer wrong,” Tomoki reminded RhinoBeetlemon.
“Come on, that’s not fair,” HellDiaboromon complained.
“Pay the price, pay, for nothing’s fair, Thunder Laser!” RhinoBeetlemon zapped HellDiaboromon once again, in the same spot.
“Ahhhh!” HellDiaboromon would only scream while at the point of agony, and no longer. “What are you trying to prove here anyway?”
“I’m studying the effect of negative reinforcement on E.S.P. ability,” RhinoBeetlemon answered.
“I’ll tell you what the effect is; it’s pissing me off!” HellDiaboromon regained his composure. “Your little electroshock torture quiz was annoying, but I allowed it. I could’ve used my shape changing abilities to escape from this predicament at any point, but I didn’t. Instead, I lured you into my trap.”
RhinoBeetlemon realized that he was too close to HellDiaboromon, and he figured out what the “trap” would be. There was nothing he could do to stop it. “If you’re planning what I think you’re planning, then I congratulate you on temporarily out-maneuvering me. However, you might want to think twice before you make that move. Putting all of your eggs in one basket could be risky.”
“I don’t tell you how to do your job; don’t tell me how to do mine,” HellDiaboromon proposed authoritatively. “Time is like a fuse, short and burning fast. Your life burns faster…Hellacious Ignition!” HellDiaboromon was subsequently surrounded by an aura of inferno.
RhinoBeetlemon was well within the thirty foot radius of the attack. He felt an incredible heat, like a Chicken McNugget in a fryer basket. His armor kept him from catching fire completely, but that armor was left severely charred. In some spots, it was actually burned through, revealing the insectoid-rhinoceros flesh underneath.
Worst of all, Junpei could feel RhinoBeetlemon’s form beginning to slip away. “Nothing is real but pain now. I cannot stand this hell I feel. The burning in my brain, I can feel the flame.”
RhinoBeetlemon dropped to his knees and concentrated on keeping his data together. “No one but me can save myself. I have to keep that in mind.”
HellDiaboromon’s attack had loosened the ground around him, freeing his horns and allowing him to get right side up again. “Ha, you’re resorting to giving yourself pep talks. You wanted power, right? You almost had it, but then it all crashes down, and you break your crown. You just wanted to play the king, but your castle’s crumbled. Where’s your crown, King Nothing? You’ve got simply nothing more to give, so why don’t you just give up?”
“Why
don’t I give up?” RhinoBeetlemon repeated his enemy’s
question. “First of all, my castle is
perfectly fine, except for some bloodstains and snow. It’s just a microcosm; I’ve got too much
riding on this, and I’ve got too much pride.
There’s my personal pride, which ranges from cocky to obsequious, but
there’s also my national pride. Kouji loved our country.
He believed that
HellDiaboromon persisted in his request. “If you surrender now, I will morph into Izumi and fuck you before I kill you. I won’t make this deal again; take it now or regret it.”
[Circle of destruction, hammer comes crushing.]
“Yeah, everybody hates me at first, but they fall in love with me once they get to know me,” RhinoBeetlemon joked. He noticed that HellDiaboromon still had the Ixnay Fork wrapped around his body. “Why didn’t he just shrink again to get it off?” RhinoBeetlemon asked himself. “I’ll bet he couldn’t. Of course, that’s why he wants me to surrender. He’s bluffing, so I’ll just call his bluff.” RhinoBeetlemon got back to his feet. “If you turn into Izumi, I won’t have the heart to destroy you. That’s a brilliant move, so go ahead. Turn into Izumi, and I will surrender.”
[Powerhouse of energy.]
HellDiaboromon had no intention of keeping his end of the offer, and he wasn’t sure if he could if he wanted to. Out of his many powers, his shape changing ability was the most unreliable. “It’s not a standard attack, so it takes a lot of skill and energy to be able to use it,” HellDiaboromon reminded himself. “I couldn’t morph free from my Ixnay Fork when I tried, but maybe that was just a fluke. I probably shouldn’t risk it. Maybe I can fool him.” HellDiaboromon made a vain attempt at outsmarting the trickiest legendary warrior. “I’m not going to fall for your pathetic trap. You change back into Junpei first, and then I’ll become Izumi.”
[Whipping up a fury, dominating flurry.]
“No, that thing I tried with your right leg was my trap. I was being honest; you’re safer in Izumi’s body. Unlike me, you’ve got nothing to lose by going first, so it’s your move now.” RhinoBeetlemon smirked when he saw the frustration on HellDiaboromon’s face. The smirk got larger as HellDiaboromon’s frustration became greater, expressing his shape changing constipation. “You can’t do it, can you? I’ll bet you can’t use that self-explosion thing again, or even your fire breath. Hey, why don’t you try it? This time, I’m giving you the free shot.”
[We create the battery.]
“Ha, just because I can’t change my form, doesn’t mean that I no longer have my incendiary techniques. You’ve made a grave error, Habanero Breath!” HellDiaboromon’s mouth opened, but all that came out was a burp. “No, it can’t be, Habanero Breath!” He didn’t even burp. “How is this possible? My power is unlimited. I’m fueled by the ambient hellfire of this environment.” HellDiaboromon desperately dug his claws into the ground. “Damn it, give me fuel, give me fire; give me that which I desire.” He realized his problem, but he knew that RhinoBeetlemon would explain it to him anyway.
[Smashing through the boundaries.]
“Do you take what I take? ‘Endurance’ is the word. I warned you about the consequences, and now you’re burned out. You say your firepower comes from this hell, this same hell that recently got frozen, extinguishing the underlying flames?” RhinoBeetlemon questioned rhetorically.
[Lunacy has found me.]
“Yes, I figured it out already,” HellDiaboromon responded with annoyance. “I just want to know how you knew it would happen.”
[Cannot stop the battery.]
“When you lost your defense technique, I had a hunch that it was the beginning of the end. Also, the fight you put up was pretty lame compared to the trouble that you gave MagnaGarurumon and JediFrigimon.” RhinoBeetlemon recalled the fatigue factors. “Time has taken its toll on you. Those battles, your romp with Takuya, smoking the whole bag of leafy shit while paying no mind to the distant thunder, it’s all added up to this. Death is in the air, deliverance for you, for sure. Now there’s nothing you can do. You’re the one with nothing more to give. I, on the other hand, have conserved a majority of my attack power.”
[Pounding out aggression.]
HellDiaboromon lost it. All of the calmness that came with knowing that he had the power to win against any opponent vanished. “It’s rushing out, the unnamed feeling; is it fear?” HellDiaboromon asked himself. “I’m seeking no truth; winning is all. I’ll tear him apart with my bare claws.” HellDiaboromon rushed RhinoBeetlemon wildly, swiping randomly with his claws.”
[Turns into obsession.]
“Now I’ll show you some of that power I’ve been saving. My friends contributed to my energy reserves, somewhat unknowingly, but that’s beside the point. Our combined power allowed me to change into this alternate mode, and it’s about to energize a brand new attack.” RhinoBeetlemon started up his jetpack, and propelled himself upward to avoid HellDiaboromon’s flailing rush. Then he jetted forward and turned around to avoid HellDiaboromon’s backside leaping swipe. “Playing all those video games instead of having human interaction is finally paying off.” RhinoBeetlemon’s entire body began to glow green. “I’m shining with brightness, emblem of vigilance, Conduction Spire of One!” Seemingly coming from thin air, dozens of green lightning bolts struck RhinoBeetlemon, creating a crackling electrical aura around him.
[Cannot kill the battery.]
No longer fighting with any logic, HellDiaboromon jumped for another midair clawing attempt. His claws were dodged, his body was grabbed, and his continuous electrocution began. “Ahhhh!”
[Cannot kill the family.]
RhinoBeetlemon flew around the cave for a minute, punishing HellDiaboromon by maintaining his shocking hug. Then he saw the hole that led to the seventh level, the hole that was filled nearly to the top with melted ice (water). “You sure can take a lot of electrical damage, but I just had a brainstorm that you won’t survive.”
[
Despite the torment that he was feeling, HellDiaboromon was able to cut off his screaming in order to point out the flaw in RhinoBeetlemon’s plan. “You’re trying to damn me down to hell again. Dragging us down isn’t sound, because you’ll get fried too. Those holes that I burned in your armor leave you just as vulnerable as me. If you go through with this, you truly are crazy.”
[
Izumi watched as RhinoBeetlemon and HellDiaboromon’s sparking bodies dove towards the pool. “No, don’t do it! Seriously, you could die, and you promised me that you wouldn’t.”
[
“I’m well aware of that, and I don’t want to die,” RhinoBeetlemon replied as he approached the water. “However, it would be even worse if you died, so fuck it all and no regrets. I’ll take this drastic step. Flash before my eyes, my life was just starting to get good. In case I don’t return, now I will just say, ‘goodbye’…goodbye.”
[
Izumi understood the motive, and she realized that it was in her best interests, but she still didn’t like it. “Goodbye, I love you.”
[
The bodies hit the water and made an explosive splash with a blinding flash that rippled outward across the pool’s surface. “Holy shit, that was wicked nice,” Ophanimon commented.
“What do you mean by ‘nice’?” Izumi questioned. “Don’t you realize that Junpei might’ve died in that?”
“I don’t care if he did,” Ophanimon retorted. “Kill ‘em all, that’s my philosophy.”
Izumi was about to assault Ophanimon, but her attention was drawn away by some minor disturbances in the water’s normally flat surface. “I think he’s coming up. I think he’s okay.” Izumi was so relieved that she completely forgot about Ophanimon’s callous remark. “I hope he’s not too badly injured.”
Tomoki watched the water intently. “Hmm, I think he’s about to break the surface. Unless he reverted back, we should see RhinoBeetlemon’s horns coming up first, and then the rest of him.” A pair of horns emerged from the water, but they weren’t RhinoBeetlemon’s.
“No, it can’t be.” An overwhelming feeling of dread hit Izumi.
“HellDiaboromon’s head popped out of the water. “Oh, it be, and as soon as I swim my way out of here, take a guess at who’s next.”
“So Junpei is dead? I won’t believe it,” Izumi stated. “He wouldn’t do that; he promised me.”
“Broken is the promise, betrayal; follow the would-be god that failed,” HellDiaboromon snickered.
“We need a plan, and we need it fast,” Tomoki realized. “Junpei has gone bye-bye, so he can’t save us this time. Izumi, what have you got?”
“Sorry Tomoki, I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought. I can’t give us a plan, not when it’s this hopeless.” Izumi’s eyes were so focused on HellDiaboromon’s awkward swimming, that she didn’t see Ophanimon’s approach. The backhand slap across her face really caught her by surprise.
For the second time, Ophanimon was more than willing to wake Izumi. “If it’ll get you to care, I’ll tell you that I honestly believe that there’s a chance that Junpei is alive. For now, he’s gone, and you’re the smartest one here, so give us a fucking plan!”
“Thanks, I needed that,” Izumi admitted. Despite the slap’s positive effects, Izumi still elbowed Ophanimon in her unarmored gut. It was hard enough to knock the wind out of the Mega level digimon. As Ophanimon breathlessly dropped to the ground, Izumi came up with a plan. “I think I’ve still got enough energy left for a spirit evolution. Tomoki, do you think you can evolve into Chakmon?”
“I gave Junpei just about everything I had left, but I’ll give it a shot.” Tomoki took out his altered D-Tector. “Execute: Spirit Evolution!” He became the cub with the arctic arsenal, “Chakmon!”
“Execute: Spirit Evolution!” Izumi became the butterfly from Junpei’s metaphors, “Kazemon!” She saw HellDiaboromon grasping for the shore. “Alright, when he gets out, we’ll freeze him over. It probably won’t hold him for too long, but we’ll make our escape while he’s detained.”
“What about Junpei? If he is still alive, we’ll be abandoning him,” Bokomon pointed out.
“If Junpei sacrificed himself, it was so we could survive, so that’s our priority,” Chakmon told Bokomon. “I’m more concerned about how we’re going to do it. I don’t think I can freeze him fast enough.”
“Remember the strategy we used against Sakkakumon? We’ll cross the streams,” Kazemon proposed.
Chakmon wasn’t too sure that it would work, but he decided to be enthusiastic, because he didn’t have a choice. “I love this plan. I’m excited to be a part of it. Let’s do it!”
HellDiaboromon climbed out of the pool and gingerly stood up, trying to regain his land legs. “I see that you’re going to resist. Gather round, young warriors. You think you’re safe inside armor, blood, guts, and sweat? Ha, think again. There are no heroes here, not anymore; your hero disappeared.”
“I’ll see you on the other side, Kazemon…Presto Freeze!” Chakmon began blowing frost at HellDiaboromon’s feet.
“It’s been nice working with you, Chakmon…Hurricane Wave!” Kazemon used her wind attack to give Chakmon’s freezing technique significantly greater width.
Together, they had HellDiaboromon’s feet frozen to the ground in five seconds. They worked their way upward, freezing the rest of HellDiaboromon’s body. The whole process took them about a minute, but the tension made it feel like they were firing for hours.
“Way to go, now let’s get out of here.” Bokomon ran to the ominous iron entrance door. Just as he was about to make his exit, the door suddenly closed. “I think we’re screwed.”
Kazemon flew towards the door and nailed it butt first, but it didn’t budge. “It’s not locked, and from this side we’re supposed to push it, so what the fuck is the problem?”
“I’m trapped under ice thanks to you, but I’ll still satisfy your curiosity,” HellDiaboromon told Kazemon. “Although I’ve lost all of my special powers, my very existence comes with a special rule. You can’t leave this place until I’m destroyed. Perhaps you can freeze me again once I break free, but you certainly don’t have the power to destroy me.”
“Remember how Junpei was talking about his luck?” Chakmon asked the group. “I think it’s contagious.”
“Am I dead?” RhinoBeetlemon asked himself. “Darkness imprisoning me; all that I see is darkness. Now the world is gone; I’m just one. No, I can’t believe it; I won’t believe it. Are you ever going to surrender? Hell no! If I’m thinking, I must be alive, and I intend to stay that way.”
“So where am I?” RhinoBeetlemon wondered. “The last thing I remember was diving with HellDiaboromon. I must be underwater, in the pit that leads to the seventh level. It’s so reassuring to know that I’m not dead; I’m only in hell, and hell is worth all that.”
“I’ll bet I’ve been under for a few minutes, so how am I still breathing? The head of my armor must be separate from the punctured body,” RhinoBeetlemon reasoned. “The air reserves probably won’t last much longer, so I’d better find my way out. The only problem is that every direction looks the same. If I start heading the wrong way, I could put myself even deeper in the hole. Man, why did this body have to have the exact same density as water? I should be floating to the top, but I’m not. If I were denser, I’d be walking right now, and I’d certainly know which way was up. This isn’t what I had in mind when I was searching for balance. Maybe I can use some more dream advice. Kouji’s advice is the only piece I haven’t used, but it wasn’t very useful. ‘You know you’re right,’ that doesn’t help me. Not so fast, what if he was saying, ‘You know your right’? I guess it’s as good as anything else I could try.”
RhinoBeetlemon turned his body until he was swimming parallel with the direction that was formerly to his right. “On through the never, I must go, but this isn’t fast enough.” Out of scientific curiosity, RhinoBeetlemon fired up his jetpack. “Hey, it actually works underwater. Fuel is pumping engines, and I’m getting pumped for my surprise comeback. Back to the front, now, let my people go home.”
“You cowards, you servants, you blind fools, it’s almost over.” Although he wasn’t moving, the constipated expression on HellDiaboromon’s face signified that he was straining inside his icy jail.
When cracks began to appear in the ice, Bokomon began to panic. “He’s breaking out; freeze the cracks! Freeze the cracks!”
“Why should I?” Chakmon asked. “Sure, I could delay our deaths a little longer, but that wouldn’t change the outcome. Hmm, it’s sad but true. If I’m going to die, then I’m going to take it like a man, just like Takuya, except without the sex.”
“Take your death like a man, if that’s what you choose,” Kazemon told Chakmon. “I’m won’t take it like a man, because I’m not a man. My lifestyle determines my death style. I’m going out fighting, just like Junpei. At this point, I’m mentally bypassing the concussion. No one cares, but I’m so much stronger than I used to be; I’ll fight until the end.”
The cracks in the ice grew exponentially until the top half of the ice mold finally shattered as HellDiaboromon swung out his arms. The ice that remained held together his legs and held his feet to the ground.
“While he’s still immobile, I should get in a few shots, Tempest Twist!” Kazemon began her handstand spin kick, but as soon as she got in range of HellDiaboromon’s body, she was swatted away by a massive claw. She landed hard, but she got up immediately. “Huh, is that all you got? You’re approximately two evolution levels above me. I should be dead by…” Kazemon cut herself short when she saw the surface of the pool breaking. “That crazy son of a bitch, he had me scared shitless,” Kazemon whispered sweetly.
Propelled by his jetpack, RhinoBeetlemon emerged from the water. Since HellDiaboromon had also come from the pool, his back was to RhinoBeetlemon. RhinoBeetlemon planned to use it to his advantage. He put his index finger over his mouth, signaling to the others not to inform HellDiaboromon of his return. He flew across the water and landed on the ground several paces behind HellDiaboromon, but he kept his jetpack firing.
By this point, Chakmon obviously saw RhinoBeetlemon too, but he also understood the signal, so he kept his mouth shut.
HellDiaboromon bent down (with his abdominals) and punched the ice that held his legs. He punched the shell repeatedly, adding more cracks each time. “You should be thanking me. Soon, you’ll be freed from this frightening dream.”
Meanwhile, RhinoBeetlemon was getting into his charging stance. He put his right leg forward, pointed his left foot outward, and squatted down. In anticipation, he began to rapidly clutch and re-clutch his hands.
HellDiaboromon finally made enough cracks to shatter the ice with a kick. “Yes, I’m free! No damn snowflakes can hold me to the ground.”
Kazemon smiled at the red hot sucker. “Yeah, you’ve arrived, but now it’s time to kiss your ass goodbye.”
“And now it’s time to kiss your ass goodbye,” Chakmon alternately echoed.
“And now it’s time to kiss it,” RhinoBeetlemon alternately echoed.
For the first time ever, there were no uncertainties. HellDiaboromon was experiencing genuine fear. “It can’t be; I was imagining it,” he told himself. He knew that he had to check. The fear was coming close to paralyzing him, so he made his turn very slowly. As he turned, he heard thunder, but it wasn’t thunder. It was the sound of footsteps, very fast and heavy footsteps. By the time he could see the charge, it was too late. “Oh shit…”
RhinoBeetlemon buried his left arm and shoulder in HellDiaboromon’s midsection, completely crushing any chance HellDiaboromon had left, along with some digital ribs. Then he immediately changed direction, using his jetpack to shoot towards the ceiling with his enemy draped over his shoulder. He rammed HellDiaboromon into the cave’s ceiling, literally. When RhinoBeetlemon pulled back, he left HellDiaboromon planted in the rocks.
“Whoa, nice shootin’,
“Would you please stop calling me that?” RhinoBeetlemon requested. “I think Kouji made it pretty clear. I’m the cow, not the cowboy. At the moment, I’m more of a bull than a cow, more of a rhinoceros than a bull. You know where I’m going? Bulls and rhinos have something in common, a lethal attack.” Green sparks started to circle around RhinoBeetlemon’s horns. He jetted away from HellDiaboromon a little farther as his horns began to glow. “I will run through you. Now I rule you too, Smash Flash Gore!” RhinoBeetlemon’s jetpack fired at full speed as he charged headfirst towards HellDiaboromon. His electrified horns pieced HellDiaboromon’s chest like a spear through ground beef, and went all the way through.
Ophanimon had completely regained her breath just in time to see the finisher. “I never doubted him for a second.”
“How do you fly when you’re so full of shit?” Kazemon asked rhetorically.
This time, when RhinoBeetlemon pulled back, he took HellDiaboromon’s carcass with him, hung on his horns.
“I didn’t break my crown; my crown broke through you.” RhinoBeetlemon snapped his head back to shake off his skewered meat. He missed out on the thud of HellDiaboromon’s landing, because the devil digimon reverted back to code before he hit the ground. At least, that was the assumption, but there was a problem. “Where did his fractal code go?” RhinoBeetlemon asked. “That digimon must’ve had a fractal code larger than most villages, so where did it all go?”
“Never mind the code, destroy the egg!” Ophanimon advised authoritatively.
RhinoBeetlemon saw Lucemon’s egg flying towards the recently re-opened entrance door. “Hey, don’t even think about it!” RhinoBeetlemon flew in front of the egg, caught it in his hands, and crushed it to tiny bits. He let Kerpymon’s egg pass through, assuming it would be reborn to evolve into the good version, Cherubimon.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise coming from the cave’s entire ceiling. It sounded like thunder, and in a way, it was thunder. Fractal code started to pour from the ceiling in giant chunks of 1’s and 0’s. RhinoBeetlemon, Kazemon, and Bokomon got completely drenched in the raining fractal code. Ophanimon remained untouched until the largest chunk dropped down to completely cover her in code. The only one who managed to avoid most of the fractal rain was Chakmon, and even he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to stay relatively clean.
“Man, this sucks, but I know a quick way to get it off.” RhinoBeetlemon reverted back to Junpei, and the fractal code that covered him disappeared along with his armor.
Kazemon and Chakmon followed the example, switching back to their human forms.
“That doesn’t help me much,” Bokomon commented.
“I can’t use that tactic either,” Ophanimon said. “Hey, wait, I think I can. Ophanimon started to undo the clasps that held her sea foam green armor to her body.”
“Don’t even think about it!” Izumi warned.
“If it weren’t for my help, you’d all be dead,” Ophanimon simply stated.
“Fine, do whatever you want,” Izumi told her. “After all, you’re being nice enough to give us the castle.”
“You can’t hold me to that.” There was very little confidence behind Ophanimon’s words.
“It was never yours. It started as Angemon’s. Kouji won it from him, and I won it from Kouji. It’s legally binding,” Junpei concluded.
“Where am I supposed to live?” Ophanimon asked.
“We don’t give a shit,” Izumi answered. “It’s not our bitch.”
Ophanimon was about to protest, but some retrospection changed her mind. “I saw the fight in the castle. Just like Takuya, I became slightly afraid of Junpei after that,” Ophanimon remembered. “I probably should’ve had more faith in the psycho. Whatever, I’m getting out of here. Ophanimon floated towards the open door. On her way out, she passed Kouji’s head. She picked it up, and rubbed Kouji’s nose into her bosom. Then she dropped the head and made her exit.
With quite a bit of satisfaction, Izumi observed Ophanimon’s departure. “It’s going to take a while for VerticalTrailmon to take her up and come back down. Does anybody have any time killing ideas?”
“Yeah, I’ve got one. I was just thinking about the prophecy, and it reminded me of something that you told Takuya. You said you’d take a bath with me when hell froze over,” Junpei reminded Izumi.
“Seriously, do you boys gossip about everything? That is so girly. You weren’t supposed to know that Takuya and I even had that conversation. Let me guess; you forced it out of him, right? Fine then, we’ve got the water, and we just fought a sweaty battle, so let’s take a bath.” Izumi stripped off the few pieces of clothing that lingered on her.
“We already had the flying pig, so you had to pick this one.” Junpei took off his shoes and socks, put his collection of D-Tectors in his shoes, unzipped and took off his jumpsuit, took off his t-shirt and briefs, and jumped into the pool.
Izumi jumped in after Junpei; actually, she landed on him. They both sank a few feet, but Junpei grabbed Izumi and treaded them back up.
“Haven’t you had enough danger for today?” Junpei asked playfully. “Hey, we just washed our mouths. You know what we can do now?” Junpei and Izumi began a kiss, a long one.
Tomoki assessed the battlefield. He saw Kouji’s decapitated corpse. He saw Takuya’s prune-headed corpse. Then he saw Junpei and Izumi kissing nude in a pool. “What the fuck is wrong with you people?”
The uncommon expletive from Tomoki caught Junpei and Izumi’s attention, and was just enough to break their kiss. “What’s wrong with you?” Junpei countered. “You just broke up a beautiful moment.”
“You call this a beautiful moment? We won the war, but we still lost a few battles. Our friends died here, and let’s not forget about the ones who died along the way. How can you just float around in that pool like you won without casualties?” Tomoki asked with disgust.
“We’re just sick of the bad stuff,” Izumi responded. “We’ve seen so much death; now we want to fall in love with life again. We want to enjoy being alive, because there was a chance that we wouldn’t be. We can mourn tomorrow, but we just can’t be sad at the moment.”
Tomoki didn’t comprehend it fully, but he accepted it and moved on to his next question. “Why couldn’t Ophanimon have the castle? I know we can’t go back home immediately, but our job is done, so we’ll probably be going back pretty soon.”
“Yeah, you’ll be going back pretty soon,” Junpei told Tomoki. “However, Izumi and I will be taking a lot more than the satisfaction of knowing that we did our ‘job’. With the worst danger gone, this world will become a paradise, and we’d be ungrateful morons to leave it.”
“You’re kidding, right? Life would probably be a lot easier if you stayed here, but you can’t leave it all behind. You’ve got obligations. You have to graduate from school. You have to get a job. You have to do all of the stuff that makes you a part of civilization.” Tomoki was essentially giving orders to Junpei and Izumi.
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go along with Junpei’s life plan,” Izumi admitted. “Tomoki, after hearing your argument, you’ve convinced me to go with Junpei.”
Junpei added a further explanation. “We work hard when we have to, but we’re lazy by nature.”
“You really aren’t a cowboy.” Under the circumstances, it was the best comeback that Tomoki could deliver.
“Rounding up cattle is hard work, and I don’t like hard work. I’m more of a Greek hero; I have flaws. Some people might consider them sins.” Junpei named the sins that applied to him. “I’ve got sloth, gluttony, envy, pride, and wrath.”
Izumi came up with her list. “I’ve got lust, greed, and wrath. Between the two of us, all seven are covered.”
Tomoki figured out their motive. “You made staying here sound awfully tempting. So that I don’t have second thoughts about choosing to go home, you’re trying to make me feel holier than thou.”
“Little man, for an eight year old, you’re really hard to trick. Invisible kid, in a word, he’s ‘grown’. Alright, I think that’s enough ‘bathing’; let’s head topside.” Junpei climbed out of the pool. Then he reached down and yanked out Izumi by her arms.
“I was capable of pulling myself out,” Izumi told Junpei with slight annoyance. She found her scattered clothing and redressed herself.
“Yeah, I know, but I needed a lifting warm-up.” Junpei got dressed and re-pocketed his D-Tectors. Then he walked to Takuya’s corpse, and took it into a fireman carry. “Somebody has to carry him out of here.”
Bokomon had been waiting by the door. He didn’t want to wait any longer, and he didn’t really care for Kouji, but he had to ask the obvious question. “Who’s carrying Kouji’s body?”
“We’re leaving Kouji here.” Junpei used his most authoritative tone, in a subtle attempt to remind Tomoki who the actual leader was. “He believed that his only purpose was fighting, so he would’ve wanted his body to remain on the battlefield where he was killed…never mind who pulled the trigger.”
Junpei, Izumi, Tomoki, Bokomon,
and the body of Takuya exited the digital hell, entered VerticalTrailmon,
and stepped off at the Cloud Terminal.
They immediately noticed that the day had ended. “Exit light, enter night, we were down there
longer than I thought,” Junpei remarked. “At the same time, now I see the sun. The brightest side to coming here will reveal
itself soon.” Junpei
dropped Takuya’s body on the cloud floor.
Then he held out his hand for Izumi, and Izumi took it. Together, they headed towards
“I’m too tired to go back down to the meadow,” Tomoki said. “So whether or not Junpei and Izumi like it, I’m sleeping in their castle tonight. Bokomon, are you coming?”
“Go ahead; I’ll catch up to you.” As soon as Tomoki was out of his field of vision, Bokomon got on his hands and knees and kissed the cloud floor. Then he stood up and raised his arms. “I love this world!”
I think I just made the most awesome final battle to ever come to a work of fictional literature. That might be an exaggeration, but of the dozens of battles I’ve seen accounted in various fictional books, none of them come close to the level of this one. With its twists and turns, the battle played out like an old Metallica ballad. Yes, in more ways than one, Metallica heavily influenced this story. I’m a Metallica fan, but at the same time, I don’t like a lot of what they stand for, because they don’t stand for anything. A lot of people have said recently that Metallica sold out, but you can’t sell out when you don’t have any beliefs to begin with. With the exceptions of the gruesome anti-war songs, their lyrics have never really had a meaningful message. Their first album, “Kill ‘Em All”, was especially bad lyrically. It was nothing but pure aggression and “we like to rock” crap. The instrumentals for that album were all pretty similar, just basic metal. The exception was “The Four Horsemen”. It was brilliant in how its rhythm was “the sound of hooves” (“Enter Sandman” was similarly clever in how it can keep somebody awake better than any other piece of music ever written; government organizations use it for sleep deprivation techniques in order to get cult leaders to surrender their clubhouses). Also, it introduced the members of Metallica in biblical style. Anyway, twenty years after the generic metal debut, “St. Anger” had the exact same problem. It was nothing but aggression, and the instrumentals all sounded the same, except much worse due to the fucked up drums and repetitive guitar riffs. I’m trying to say that they’re not completely at fault, because they were just catering to the fans who missed the “old” style. They’ve changed with the times, and every change they’ve made has been an attempt to appeal to more people in order to make more money. True metal fans rightfully believe that they “sold out” with “The Black Album”, not after it. I believe that they “sold out” traditional metal with their second album, because it included the innovative “Fade To Black”. In case you were wondering, my favorite album is “Load”, because that’s when they reached the peak of versatility. What metal purists fail to realize, is that pure metal, much like pure punk or pure grunge, isn’t that good. Metallica represents a band that started with pure metal, but improved by combining it with other styles. Similarly, The Offspring started with pure punk and made drastic improvements, and Soundgarden started with pure grunge and improved on it. That’s why these are my favorite bands from their respective genres, and I take it back, Metallica does stand for something. They stand for progress, or at least, they used to.
Onto the story, I found it quite entertaining. It was the perfect mix of heroism, suspense, and comedic food chat. I really made a conscious effort to maintain a little lightheartedness in what would never be considered a lighthearted event. I had Junpei/RhinoBeetlemon use every move that he’d used previously, and a few new ones. I think that gave this battle even more of a sense of being the ultimate battle, the one that required every trick up Junpei’s sleeve. There’s one specific quote from the fight that I’d like to address. “It’s also pointless; you can’t do any permanent damage with that move.” HellDiaboromon was referring to the “Junpei Trap”, and he was right. The way I’ve described the move to you, it doesn’t actually break bones. It hurts, but it won’t break someone’s knee. However, there is a slight variation on the move that will break someone’s knee in around twenty seconds. I used this version briefly on my little brother once (when he chipped my tooth with his knee), and I swore I’d never use it again. I could tell you what the slight variation entails, but that would be very irresponsible of me. Basically, it’s the same setup, but you don’t pull straight back; you do something else.
Three stories later, I revisited my clover metaphor. “No Leaf Clover” is definitely one of my favorite Metallica songs, if only because the title is so clever. I also inserted that last modified lyric by The Offspring, as promised. Why is “Defy You” so special? It’s The Offspring’s only non-album single (unless you count the acoustic rendition on the Japanese version of “Splinter”). It “defies” the rest of the non-album tracks, most of which are covers and remixes. All of the advice that Junpei was given in his dream was put into practice. If you look carefully, you’ll see some extra quotes from Takuya and Kouji’s advice songs. For now, I finished Tomoki’s cowboy search (with a “nope”). Most importantly, I answered the foreshadowing from the first story about when Izumi would bathe with Junpei. Did you notice how Junpei and Izumi both had wrath on their sin list? It’s my favorite sin.
My favorite thing about this story was the renewed Ghostbusters parodying. I worked in everything from “crossing the streams” to “negative reinforcement on E.S.P. ability”. I probably don’t have to point this out, but the raining fractal code at the end was analogous to the gooey marshmallow (shaving cream) that came down at the end of the movie. I already mentioned in “Addicted To Spuds” that for the most part, Junpei played Ray, Izumi played Egon, and Tomoki played Peter. This story introduced Bokomon as Winston, and Ophanimon as Janine or Walter Peck (take your pick).
Many of the lines in this story had double meanings. HellDiaboromon claimed he would win while simultaneously foreshadowing his own demise. For a cool double meaning example, I’ll use a reference to Chakmon; “he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to stay relatively clean.” I used a lot of repeated speech and narration in this one (yes, that was intentional). In the last story, Junpei noticed that his personality was rubbing off on Izumi. In this story, Izumi emulated Junpei’s unique brand of heroism. Believe it or not, this doesn’t stray too far from the characters on the show. In the final minutes of the last episode, Junpei tells Izumi, “Hey, quit copying me.”
Initially, I was going to finish the series with the last five stories all at once, but that has since proven unfeasible. Instead, I’m making this one the stopping point, the end of the fourth act. How will the dénouement to this series go? Here’s the stuff from this story to consider:
Izumi officially accepts Junpei’s proposal. How will the wedding go?
Junpei and Izumi have toothbrushes, but they could use some new ones.
Junpei promises to lose the weight, but how will he do it?
Junpei and Izumi plan to stay. Tomoki plans to go home.
Junpei and Izumi tell Ophanimon that she can’t live in their castle. Where will Ophanimon live?
They bring back Takuya’s body. What will they do with it?
Junpei is called a cow. He’s not about to blow it now.
As
a special treat to anyone who bothered to read through these author’s notes,
I’d like to give you a sneak preview of a point of view poem. These point of view poems will be compiled
into a single piece later on, but for now, you can see this particular one as a
B-side to this story. These point of
view poems are meant to be read like song lyrics, and with the way I wrote
them, imagining a melody shouldn’t be too hard.
This one is for Junpei, and it’s a rhapsody
type poem. The first part is inspired by
Chris Cornell (in all of his forms, except
ReCharge
I’m not what you want; I have too much lard.
You’re just looking for a boy whose body is hard.
I’m feeling outshined, but I won’t let you go.
This was meant to be; it’s something I know.
I could wait for you here; I could wait like a stone.
But I’ll follow you down into the superunknown.
I know why you’ve been taken; no, it won’t come to pass.
Just sit back and watch while I kick his ass.
Through oblivion I charge.
So follow my way, I’ll soon be leading everyone.
The burden in my hand caused by your black hole sun.
It reminds me just what you are.
A shade of blue for our blue star.
It’s the hope that keeps me charged.
We can be together; we have so much the same.
Let me tell you who I am and from where I came.
I beat up my taunters, broke my rusty cage.
But nobody liked me with all the rage.
I tried to be nice with chocolate and tricks.
I went too far; I knew I needed a mix.
I’ll find my balance someday soon.
But what I want now is just to spoon.
Through oblivion I charge.
So follow my way, I’ll soon be leading everyone.
The burden in my hand caused by your black hole sun.
It reminds me just what you are.
A shade of blue for our blue star.
It’s the hope that keeps me charged.
I’ve given everything I need.
I’d give you everything I own.
I’d give in if it could at least be ours alone.
I’d give up my sweet joy for the sweeter one.
So that distant blue star becomes our own sun.
I choose my tunes, ones that reflect who I am.
Have to take on Tankmon, smash them up with a battering ram.
Izumi’s cure for the ache, she wants only me.
I want her too, so I’m going down between her knees.
I’ll relate this little bit.
I was scared out of my shit.
Got the job done.
Man, it was fun.
Charge down the walls.
Keep my head up through it all.
Bust out on it, come out and play.
She’s got issues but that’s okay.
Meaning of life, shattered dreams come true.
Shattered dreams for them, and a playground for me and you.
Turned out our leader had an obsession with ignition.
We had a long talk, and I helped him make the right decision.
Went to the castle where Kouji was residing.
Everyone could see that we soon would be colliding.
Got knocked out, body and soul.
Get away and I’m on a roll.
Couldn’t understand.
Takuya’s plan.
Charge down the walls.
Keep my head up through it all.
Bust out on it, come out and play.
All I want seemed a million miles away.
Meaning of life, a nightmare come true.
A nightmare for them, and a playground for me and you.
Whoa-oh-oh.
Whoa-oh-oh.
Whoa-oh-oh.
Whoa-oh-oh.
Charge down the walls.
Keep my head up through it all.
Bust out on it, come out and play.
We’re still here and they’ve gone away.
Meaning of life, end of the line come true.
End of the line for them, and a playground for me and you.
On a mission.
Started by our own decision.
Just as soon as we belong.
Everything is going wrong.
Damn it all down to the bottom floor.
He makes Kouji fade to black; then he wants more.
Takuya chickens out and gets roasted to the bone.
Tomoki does his best, but now I’m all alone.
Exit fire, exit light.
Enter thunder, time to fight.
Charged with dipole energy.
So fuck it all and no regrets.
This battle isn’t over yet.
I feel my name.
It’s what he just became.
The old Junpei is done.
Still, this battle isn’t won.
I’ll fusion evolve to the rhino of lightning.
I’ll go to Fighter Mode when my anger is heightening.
Damn it all down again; I think I almost died.
Reload for the flash; now he’s taking the ride.
Exit fire, exit light.
Enter thunder, time to fight.
Charged with dipole energy.
So fuck it all and no regrets.
We fight ourselves, without the pets.
What I’ve felt, what I’ve known.
For so long, I’ve been alone.
Now all of my black days are through.
What I’ve felt, what I’ve known.
Hey, we both are anger prone.
But I’ll never give my violent side to you.
Because we both are streaking blue.
In the final scene.
I’ll become a teen.
You’ll become a queen.
And the blue star will nova green.
I know I already mentioned this, but the way this story ended up really exceeded my expectations, and my expectations for the final battle were pretty high. If you didn’t like this one, if you thought the fight was boring, then let me know. If you thought it kicked ass, then let me know.
My university email address expires in May 2006, so I’ll also give you an alternate email address (I check it about twice per month):
©2004 By Benjamin Wiseman