Five Minutes Ago
As it was, Dorugamon had been the first to see Zei in the building; the moment MirageGaogamon realized the girl was nearby, he’d already had a small, struggling Champion-level Digimon shoved into his arms and was struck dumb by the sight of Millenniummon.
“Well, shit.”
“What are you standing here for?! We have to get going!” While being shoved from one Digimon to another was never a pleasant experience, at least she was still in the hands of someone who knew what they’re doing, or supposed to. Still, seeing Millenniummon up close and personal was enough to send her into a state of panic.
Ranamon hardly needed to tell MirageGaogamon twice; less than a second after she protested his inaction, the Knight shot through the air away from Millenniummon and the collapsing building, ending up several hundred meters away in a few seconds.
Clinging onto him for dear life, she was fortunate that he had the sense of keeping her close lest her tiny frame was thrown into the wind like a leaf. Through the gaps in his hand, she peeked out once he had stopped moving, only to watch in shock as, out of nowhere, Parasimon suddenly came down like a lightning bolt to the Human World, materializing right in front of Millenniummon.
“Well, he keeps his word, at least-” MirageGaogamon muttered, as Parasimon launched his attack on Millenniummon. The first of the two remaining Knights had offered assistance in the human world the previous day, and that assistance seemed well-timed now. Bought them some time, at least; and for MirageGaogamon, he’d have to use that time to find MonoGigimon, his Tamer and Guilmon, and find somewhere safe to drop Ranamon.
“Hold on tight,” He instructed Ranamon, giving her a few seconds warning before he shot off in a streak of light again-
And reappeared nearby Siggy, MonoGigimon and Guilmon, around the back of the building they’d been on top of a few minutes ago.
“Fucking hell,” Siggy grunted, almost falling over as the canine knight suddenly appeared out of nowhere. MirageGaogamon shrugged and just let the clearly frightened Ranamon down onto the ground below whereupon a concerned Guilmon quickly moved to tend to her as best as he could.
“I’ll assume there’s a reason you haven’t biomerged already?” MirageGaogamon was quick to the point on this one, and he got a very on-point answer from an unexpected source.
Yeah, that beauty over there is screwing around with his Digivice. Everyone’s Digivice, really. The Hazard still didn’t sound perturbed by that. That said, I’d give it about a minute tops before that wears off.
“And not a moment too soon,” MonoGigimon muttered to himself, as the tiny In-Training heard the roar of carnage and destruction from Millenniummon a distance away. Every moment Siggy and himself couldn’t Biomerge was a moment that Millenniummon would exploit to the fullest to level everything around him; and besides, if he was going to be shown up by anyone, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Parasimon of all people.
“”Lord MirageGaogamon! Where are Lady Zei and Lady Dorugamon?!” By this point, Guilmon’s own composure was already at the brink of snapping. This situation wasn’t unique to him as Ranamon, now panicking from the Dark Area and back, looked at the unfolding destruction. “Someone please say we can at least get that… thing away from here!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make damn sure we will even if it kills me.” Siggy was the first to reply to Ranamon in an uncharacteristically dark tone, one so dark it made both Rookies shudder for a moment. Not that anyone would get the chance to dwell on it- the moment after, MirageGaogamon cut back in over him.
“I lost track of them after that thing emerged- I can’t feel them right now, but they can’t be far.” He wasn’t getting any help from the Hazard at the moment; the second the eldritch bastard had chipped in, he’d promptly left off somewhere. With Millenniummon filling the air with a violent fug, he couldn’t rely on his senses, Hazard-enhanced or otherwise, to find them.
“Why were they there to begin with? I thought we have agreed that they would sit out of this,” Guilmon asked, then turned to Ranamon, a sharp look in his eyes. “You… I believe you are Lady Dorumon’s former partner-in-crime. Why are you all here? For that matter, why was Lady Zei here?”
“Okay, first off. One, I’m Ranamon, not just “Dorumon’s former partner-in-crime”. Two, we’re here because Zei knew the head of this organization… At least, she said she did.” The blue Rookie paused for a moment, recalling their conversation the night before, then added, “... To be fair, I don’t think either her or Dorumon were in any state of mind to stay back anyway.”
Siggy’s already dark expression only darkened- but a loud electronic whine suddenly distracted him from his thoughts.
“And not a moment too soon.” MirageGaogamon said, relief clear in his usually flat tone as he saw the young man’s digivice resume regular function- the moment of Biomerge was upon them. MonoGigimon’s body began to glow with a potent light, and MirageGaogamon chose that moment to take a step back.
“I’m not in the best state to fight that thing- but I can cover the ground and do what I can from there.” He saw MonoGigimon’s form morph into that of NeonGuilmon, and he paused. “Give that abomination all the hell you can bring, I’ll worry about everything else.”
“Let’s do it.” NeonGuilmon and Siggy spoke in unison as their bodies became fully emerged by light; and a moment later a massive mass of black data emerged, congealing and coalescing into a physical form.
MirageGaogamon hardly needed encouragement; as the data forms of his master and his tamer began to contort and twist, he snatched up Ranamon and Guilmon and once again blasted away at high speed.
“Hold on tight, you’re in for one hell of a ride!” MirageGaogamon roared to the two Rookies hanging on for dear life to his body, ignoring whatever protests they put forwards as, behind him, the vast form of Examon Mordred emerged and took into the air.
Nobody noticed the golden sheen that emanated from the Biomerged Mega as it formed, and as he lunged down at Millenniummon it faded as quickly as it appeared.
_____
PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME
A few minutes had passed since MagnaGarurumon had slide-evolved; the streets were clean of people for hundreds of meters around, and he could hear sirens in the distance as the city’s authorities responded the best they could to the scene of horror that was unfurling.
Ranamon and Guilmon had quietened down after a while; the grim scene of destruction around them helped in that regard, as did the occasional corpse of those that hadn’t made it. It served to keep MagnaGarurumon resolved and quiet, too. He had a job to do, a moment’s hesitation could cost him even more lives.
A few more minutes passed, and he weaved out further and further from the battle. A powerful blow to the front of a building freed a small group who had been trapped when the shockwaves collapsed the entrance, and he watched as they fled-
And froze as he saw what entered his field of vision.
Beelzemon cackled as he aimed at a group of fleeing civilians, firing the Berejena as BanchoLeomon leapt in between them to take the hit, roaring in pain. The lion hit the ground hard, struggling to rise to his feet before Beelzemon fired again, this time hitting his mark. Half a dozen people were blown apart by the sheer force of the shotgun shell, and the Demon Lord laughed in glee as he turned his gun to the head of the man he was clutching.
“Had me worried there for a second, you know!” He snickered as he jammed the barrel of his shotgun into the head of the whimpering salaryman. “Too bad you can’t seem to hit me now, can you? The way I see it, all I need are a few more random idiots still hanging around before I finish you o-”
The Demon Lord was suddenly and brutally silenced as something struck his face with a loud and vicious explosion of speed.
Beelzemon hadn’t been wrong about BanchoLeomon being unable to hit him- in the state the Lion found himself, recovery time stood between him and his mark, recovery time the Demon Lord would be all too happy to deprive him of.
But in the moment he had chosen to gloat, he had neglected to comprehend the other figure present.
“You piece of shit.” MagnaGarurumon’s voice was a low, inhuman growl of fury as his supersonic slug to the face shattered Beelzemon’s jaw and launched him clean across the street, and after snatching him up with all the speed he could muster, he lowered the terrified salaryman to the ground.
“How severe are your wounds?” This time, he addressed BanchoLeomon; addled with fury and still unable to focus with Millenniummon in the background, the Knight couldn’t make a decent approximation of the lion’s state.
A bestial snarl answered him as the space around BanchoLeomon exploded into a swirl of black flame, tearing off in the direction Beelzemon was launched in. In no time at all, BanchoLeomon Ruin Mode caught up to Beelzemon, slamming a fist into his face with one arm before hurling him to the ground with the other, planting a foot on his chest.
“...The sad thing is, I can’t call you wrong.” BanchoLeomon hissed, his fury directed at both the being before him and himself. “Sixteen people. I let sixteen people die. That number could’ve been taken down to one. Time to make up for my mistake.” The lion raised a claw, plunging it down towards Beelzemon’s chest. But Beelzemon had been prepared. With a herculean grunt of effort, he exploded in a blaze of sickly yellow aura, giving him the strength to yank himself to the side. BanchoLeomon’s black claw punched through Beelzemon’s left arm instead of his chest, separating his forearm from the rest of his limb at the elbow. Screaming in pain, Beelzemon rolled away, gasping for breath as the aura around his body faded.
BanchoLeomon narrowed his eyes, picking up the limb that he had severed from Beelzemon. He glanced at the still glowing Crest on the hand and smiled sadistically. “Well, well. Was that the source of your power?” The black lion tightened his grip, crushing the arm in his hand and loading its data into his body, including the Crest.
“NO!” Beelzemon roared, clutching the stump of his left arm with his right. “No! Damn it!” The black-clad Mega sunk to his knees. “Bastard…” He snarled as a black circle began to envelop the ground around him. “I hope you take that power and choke on it.” And without another word, he dropped through the circle, disappearing entirely as it closed above him.
BanchoLeomon stopped in his tracks, scowling as Beelzemon managed to flee from him. He moved to punch the ground in fury, but paused as he felt a new stream of power running through him. Good. At least something positive had come from this entire mess. It didn’t matter to him where his source of power came from. If he could use it, he would. More power never hurt. As these thoughts flowed through his head, Beelzemon’s former Crest appeared on his torso, and the power BanchoLeomon felt from it grew. He could use this power. Use it to kill that abomination in the sky. He would make that thing pay for hurting his friends. Nothing threatened those he cared about and lived. Nothing.
But as these thoughts went through BanchoLeomon’s head, the well of power that had been rushing through him suddenly faded away, and the Crest on his chest did so as well. Confused, BanchoLeomon slumped to the ground as he let Ruin Mode fade.
There were footsteps from behind him. A voice spoke up before he turned.
“I’ll save questions about this later.” MagnaGarurumon sighed, audibly strained from what had just happened. The last time he had seen Beelzemon, he had been headed into the Tokugawa building; he had been far from fond of the Demon Lord, but there was a definite disparity in behaviour between what he had seen then and the practical inhuman monster he had seen slaughter the humans he had tried to save. He shook his head, cleared himself of those thoughts. “Don’t worry yourself with this; Examon and the others need all the help they can get with that monstrosity right now, let me take care of things on the ground for now.”
His tone wasn’t particularly authoritative; but it wasn’t intended to be. Rather, the Knight just seemed tired, and it seemed he was trying to address BanchoLeomon like he would any other comrade. Any other friend.
BanchoLeomon glanced up, nodding at MagnaGarurumon. Then he glanced up at the scene in the sky above them, and slowly turned back to the wolf.
“...You realize I can’t fly, right?”
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