There's No Rest for the Wicked
Disclaimer: Survey says, "I do not own Digimon!" (Gwen: I don't get it. That Family Feud reference isn't even in proper context.) Just bear with me here. You know how hard it is to think of creative disclaimers after making almost 20 original ones?
A/N: Sorry about the extreme tardiness, not to mention shortness, of this chapter, everyone. The past few weeks have not been fun for me. (Gwen: Hey, why aren't you working on your bio homework? After that C you got on the last exam, how do expect to pull your grade up without getting good marks on the problem sets?) *grumbles* See what I mean? Anyway, sorry if this chapter isn't up to par with the others; I haven't had much of a chance to work on it.
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Chapter 4 - Daemon vs. the Digidestined, Round One! Fight!
"Ice Phantom!"
An icy blue blast lit up the sky and exploded against Skull Greymon's chest, forcing him to lurch backwards.
"Static Force!"
"Justice Beam!"
Mephismon swatted Silphymon's attack away, but Shakkoumon's managed to get through and hit him in the torso.
Ghoulmon was preparing another Death Arrow when a voice from the nearby beach stopped him.
"Don't waste your energy on those weaklings, Ghoulmon. We have a bigger fish to fry right here!"
The controlled mega digimon seemed to nod in understanding and turned away from the battle…
…to confront Daemon.
The crimson-robed digimon's glowing eyes widened in shock at the sight of the virus digimon headed straight for him.
"Death Arrow!"
Daemon swiftly dodged the attack and took for the sky.
"Evil Inferno!"
A blaze of fire was sent down towards Ghoulmon, but all it accomplished was singing one of the controlled digimon's scarlet wings. Not about to let that one slide, Ghoulmon flew up after his opponent, a lust to kill evident in his single red eye.
And so a clash ensued in the heavens between the two demon lord digimon.
~~~
In the meantime, the four Digidestined silently watched the battles being carried out before them in the half-destroyed forest. It was clear that their digimon had the advantage over Daemon's two ultimates.
"It looks like we might win this thing, no sweat," Yolei chirped. Despite all that she had been through, she still tried to maintain her cheery disposition.
The Digimon Emperor, though, was another case. Even though the fight looked to be in his favor, he still shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.
"Is there something wrong?" Cody, always the perceptive one, coldly asked the indigo-haired teenager.
Unnoticed, a long, grey tentacle snaked noiselessly from the ocean behind them.
"Humph," the Emperor's eyes never left the battle as he answered, "there certainly is something wrong here. Even after all these years, Daemon hasn't changed, so I don't think he's liable to change his fighting tactics."
The tentacle crept closer and closer, its sights set on one particular human out of the five.
"So, what does that have to do with anything?" T. K. joined in their conversation.
"Fool! Don't you see? Before, he fought us with three ultimates, but I only see two here. Now where could the other one be hiding?"
"AAAHHHH!!!" came a shriek from beside them.
All three boys whirled around at the sound.
"Kari!" T. K. gasped as he saw the Digidestined of Light dangling by one leg in the clutches of a hideous digimon that had just arisen from the depths of the roaring ocean. A squid-like head perched atop a gray, bipedal body with crimson wings.
Daemon managed to blast his opponent away for a moment with an Evil Inferno to greet the newcomer. "Ah, Dragomon, so nice of you to finally join us." Then, turning to the Emperor, he said, "I should thank you, Ichijouji, for sending me to a place where I could find such powerful allies."
The Emperor clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists. How dare he mock him like that! "Ghoulmon, shut his trap!" he snapped.
"Explosion Eye!"
A dark, continuous blast shot out from the controlled digimon's giant eye and headed for Daemon's unprotected back. The Demon Lord turned around in time to catch the attack with both his clawed hands but struggled to prevent it from engulfing him.
Meanwhile, Dragomon had pulled a squirming Kari up to his fishy face to have a good look at her. "Ah, yes, it is you, Queen Kari. Daemon promised that I would be able to find you if I joined him. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Let go of me, you creep!" She yelled defiantly in his face from her upside down position.
"Now, now, is that anyway to greet your future husband? My Scubamon would be so disappointed if I didn't return with the bride they had chosen for me."
Kari gasped. "You're the master of the Dark Ocean?" she asked in disbelief.
Their conversation didn't go any further.
"Justice Beam!"
While Silphymon continued the fight with Mephismon and Blue Meramon battled Skull Greymon, Shakkoumon had flown back to the teenagers as soon as he'd heard T. K.'s cry.
Dragomon pulled his other appendage out of the ocean, revealing an arm that looked like a huge bundle of gnarled tentacles and which wielded a vicious-looking trident. He quickly drew the weapon in front of him and blocked Shakkoumon's attack.
"Don't worry, Kari! We'll save you," T. K. called, splashing up to them in the shallow waters.
"No, T. K., stay back!" Kari screamed, but it was too late.
"Thousand Waves!"
A huge tidal wave suddenly rose up and crashed upon the beach, knocking Shakkoumon down. Yolei, Cody, and the Digimon Emperor managed to get out of the way in time, but the Digidestined of Hope was swept up in the ebb of the tide.
"T. K., no!" the three remaining Digidestined yelled in unison.
Shakkoumon instantly got up and started flying after the blonde, but the aquatic digimon wasn't about to give him a chance.
"Forbidden Trident!"
Dragomon launched his deadly trident at the metallic digimon. Shakkoumon didn't have time to dodge the projectile, which hit him square in the chest and sent waves of electricity coursing through his body.
All the while, T. K. had been slipping from the Digidestineds' site.
"T. K.!" Kari struggled even harder to break free of Dragomon's grasp.
"Oh my gosh, he's drowning," cried a near hysterical Yolei, who could only see T. K.'s sputtering head and an arm bobbing on the waves. "Someone do something!"
Unfortunately, there wasn't anything anyone could do at the moment.
~~~
T. K. did his best to haul himself up to the surface of the water. Although he wasn't a champion swimmer, he at least knew how to tread water for a few minutes, even in choppy water, and how to free-style up to ten laps in the school's pool.
However, those skills wouldn't be good enough to save him now.
As T. K. struggled to stay afloat long enough for him to start swimming, he felt something heavy pulling him down. He couldn't figure it out what it was, though. It wasn't as if there were any other creatures in the water, besides the overgrown calamari a fifty meters away from him, and he knew that there weren't any undertows or long strands of seaweed this close to shore. He should have been able to stay on the surface easily, just like in gym class.
It was just then he realized what was tugging on him--the now-soaked coat his mom had given him, which he still wore and which was doing a good job of weighing him down. T. K. was about to tear it off and try to make a break for shore when a giant wave swept over him before he could do anything else.
This sent him tumbling over and over under the stormy water. After much effort, T. K. finally managed to orient himself in the dark depths, but time was running out. He hadn't taken much of a breath of water before he went down, and his air supply was about to be depleted.
Squirming out of the encumbering coat, T. K. quickly swam up and made a desperate grab for the surface of the water.
But he only managed to pull a single arm out of the ravenous sea before his watery surroundings faded into blackness.
~~~
"Humph, looks like Takaishi's a goner all right. And I thought he would have died more nobly than this," the Emperor casually remarked.
In the back of her mind, Yolei made a mental note to punch his lights out later, since now was definitely not the time.
"Shakkoumon, you've got to do something!" the brown-haired thirteen-year-old cried, running up beside the metallic digimon.
"I'm trying, Cody," said Shakkoumon, still trying to shake off that last attack.
Dragomon let out an evil cackle. "I don't think so. Nothing's going to stand in the way of me claiming my bride. Thousand Waves!"
Once again, Shakkoumon was downed by the attack.
"Mwahahaha! Say good-bye to one of your friends, my queen," Dragomon gloated, leering at his captive.
Kari squeezed her eyes shut, as if willing the monster away, but it was doing her no good. She felt Dragomon pulling her closer and closer to his hideous face, his cold, fishy breath sending involuntary shivers all over her body. Kari felt like breaking down into tears; she was so helpless in this state. Couldn't someone, anyone, save them?
"HEY, fish-bait! You get your slimy paws off my girl!" came a new voice from above.
"What?!" No sooner had the aquatic digimon looked up when a blue foot made contact with his face. Unconsciously, Dragomon let the girl in his grasp fall, sending Kari screaming down towards the black waves.
However, before the Digidestined of Light could hit the waves below, she was caught in the strong arms of a certain goggle-wearing boy.
"Davis!"
"The one and only," he stated, giving her a lopsided grin. The bearer of the Digieggs of Courage and Friendship rode on one the shoulder of ExVeemon while on the other clung a worried Wormmon.
Out of pure relief, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
His eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets, Davis could feel a hot blush forming on his face and wondered if steam were visibly coming out of his ears, yet at the same time he felt like the happiest guy alive.
"Why you little--!" Dragomon roared, but before he could retaliate, Shakkoumon launched an attack.
"Kachina Bomb!"
A blast of fire stunned Dragomon long enough for ExVeemon to fly out of the virus digimon's reach.
"Davis, wait." Kari pulled out of her hug much too soon for the ecstatic teenager, but he still reluctantly let her down to sit beside him on ExVeemon's shoulder. "We can't go yet; we've got to save T. K.!"
"What?" Confusion had replaced the boy's initial disappointment.
At that, she shakily pointed to the murky waters where a hand was slowly disappearing.
Davis' eyes widened in shock once he had made out what she was pointing at. "Holy…!" Sure he still saw T. K. as a rival for Kari's heart, but nevertheless, the guy was one of his best friends. "ExVeemon, pick me up in a few seconds," he quickly blurted out before yanking down his goggles and diving headlong into the choppy ocean.
There was nothing any of them could do to stop him.
"Davis, nooooo--!" was the last thing he heard from a distraught Kari before hitting the churning waters.
***
A/N: Dragomon = English name of Dagomon. Also, since I don't remember "His Master's Voice" too well, I'm basing this off a summary I found of the Japanese version in which the "Scubamon" wanted Kari to be Dragomon/Dagomon's bride. Don't worry, Nic, the information you provided me about the episode will be used for a much later part of the story.
BTW, does anyone know if Ken's children had official names? If not, any suggestions? This is for a couple of stories I have planned, and has nothing to do with this one. Thanks for the help in advance.
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