Griff4815
No. 1 Grovyle Fan
Nine hours later, UlforceVeedramon strode down one of the castle hallways, looking around intently. The sun had set since set, and torches guided the way through the headquarters. It was about the time that UlforceVeedramon and Magnamon needed to start getting ready to set out.
“Where is he…?” Ulforce muttered to himself, peering into almost every room and corridor that he passed.
He speed walked to the end of the passageway before turning around the corner, heading into the staircase that led down to the first floor. “Woah!” he exclaimed, staggering back suddenly.
Sleipmon instinctively reared back on his four hind legs and trotted backwards before bringing his front legs down. “Sorry, Ulforce. Nearly trampled you there,” he said, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed the nape of his neck.
“It’s okay,” Ulforce insisted, smiling a little. “Uhh… Have you seen Magnamon? We have to head out soon.”
“Sorry. I haven’t,” Sleipmon replied. “Do you want help looking for him?”
“Yeah, sure,” UlforceVeedramon replied.
Sleipmon turned around on the stairs and began to head back down, UlforceVeedramon following behind him. “I take it you checked his room?” Sleipmon asked, looking over his shoulder.
“I just came from there,” Ulforce replied, fiddling with the V-Bracelets on his wrists.
“Oh. Well, he wasn’t in the library. I was just in there,” Sleipmon explained.
“I checked nearly everywhere,” the cobalt knight said, frowning.
Sleipmon walked out of the bottom of the staircase and into the castle foyer. “Do you think he’s avoiding you?”
“Probably…” UlforceVeedramon admitted.
“Mind if I ask what happened?” the cavalier asked him.
“It’s a long story,” the dragon replied, walking past him and leaning against one of the pillars. “Just put it down to me having a big mouth.”
Sleipmon nodded. “Well… why don’t we ask one of the guards? It’s possible that he went outside.”
UlforceVeedramon nodded. “Good idea,” he said, walking from the foyer into the stone hall that led to the exit.
Sleipmon walked alongside him, sauntering down the stairs. They reached the end of the hall and Sleipmon pulled the doors open. The Knightmon flanking the door on each side perked up and stood at attention as the two walked out.
UlforceVeedramon looked at them. “Hey, guys?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir UlforceVeedramon, Sir Sleipmon?” one of them replied.
“Did you see Magnamon anywhere?” the blue Royal Knight queried.
“Yes,” the Knightmon guard replied.
UlforceVeedramon looked at Sleipmon with a grin before looking back at him. “Great. Where?”
The Knightmon pointed forwards, into the dark blue of the night. UlforceVeedramon followed his finger and saw that he was pointing to the front gate of the wall. “He left through there. About an hour ago,” the guard explained.
“When we asked, he said that he was going to do a mission with this really serious voice,” the other guard added.
UlforceVeedramon’s heart dropped.
“…Crap.”
-
Magnamon walked through the dead of night, backed only by the stars in the sky. He stealthily trekked through a grass field, making use of the few pieces of concealment that he could. He felt the cool, night wind quietly whistle as it blew across the field and swept across his scales. Ahead of him, he could see the moon beaming down on the landscape, making it slightly easier for him to see in the dark. He wasn’t especially partial to night missions, since his armour and attacks were anything but stealthy, but Magnamon was a Royal Knight, so he didn’t let it bother him. There was a job to do and Magnamon was determined to do it.
“I’ll show them…” he thought to himself, frowning as he walked. “I’ll complete this mission alone. I don’t need Ulforce’s or any of their help. I’ll remind them why I was made a Royal Knight…“
A few minutes passed and Magnamon stopped behind a large tree. He could make out something up ahead of him. About forty meters in front of him, he could make out a medium-sized formation of stone. It was a large piece of wall that had collapsed and eroded on each side at the front, making it look more like a precarious stack of stone bricks and mortar than a wall.
Behind it, Magnamon could see a more identifiable stone structure. The semi-circular ruins of a structure, flanked on each side by stairs that led up to a second level where the ramparts were. The ramparts didn’t go very far, as they were caved in after several meters in each direction too.
Magnamon smiled to himself. That had to be the ruined keep that Grani mentioned. He recognized the shape from the map. Now that he found it, he had to see if he could find Aquilamon, and possibly the supposed bandits as well.
The Royal Knight silently traipsed out from behind the tree, going forwards so that he was concealed by the shadow of the destroyed wall, which the moon cast in his direction. He slinked along the wall, making sure that his armour didn’t scrape against the rough rock. When he reached the end of the wall, he slowly peered out, looking through a gap that had been created whenever the stone had given way.
He looked at what was past the wall and saw grass and shrubs littering the ground between the wall he was at and the more dominant ruins of the keep. The darkness concealed most of what lay beneath the hollowed out guard post, but Magnamon thought that he could make out what looked like an extinguished campfire. He could definitely smell smoke and ashes on the wind.
Deciding it was safe to be a bit more adventurous, Magnamon looked around the wall further. It was then that he noticed something to the left, on the other side of the wall. He saw a large, bird-like foot, complete with sharp talons. He turned his head, following the foot. It was attached to a leg, which was attached to a large body of red feathers.
Magnamon’s eyes widened. It was the Aquilamon scout. He looked the bird over and saw that Aquilamon was lying on his side, his body tied up with rope so that he wouldn’t be able to fly away. Tufts of his feathers were ruffled up here and there, and there was more than one cut on his body.
“So, they were right,” Magnamon thought to himself, his eyebrows furrowing.
The Royal Knight immediately went on the defensive. He shrunk back behind the cover of the wall and looked around cautiously. He knew there were bandits around now, and he wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t ambush him. After looking all around him, he was satisfied that they weren’t nearby.
“Well, I found Aquilamon now…” Magnamon thought to himself. He shook his head and looked up with an air of determination about him. “No… I won’t go back. Not yet. This isn’t a recon mission anymore. Now it’s a rescue mission, and I’ll be the one who rescues him,” he told himself. “I’m the Knight of Miracles, after all.”
With that, Magnamon quickly stepped out from behind the wall and crept behind the bound Aquilamon, so that he was concealed between the ruined wall and the bird’s back. The Aquilamon, who had been unable to sleep given his predicament, glanced behind him when he noticed something moving. His face lit up with surprise and relief when he recognized the Royal Knight. “Wha?” he murmured lowly, “Magnamon, Sir?”
“Shh,” Magnamon hushed him in a whisper. “Don’t draw attention. I’ll get you out of here.”
Aquilamon gave him a look of agreement.
“First, where are the bandits?” Magnamon questioned, getting behind his head and attempting to see over it.
Aquilamon nodded with his head towards the shadowed semi circle of ruins and the ramparts, which stood about twenty meters away, opposite to them.
“How many are there?” Magnamon whispered.
“Six,” Aquilamon whispered in response. “A BanchoLeomon, a Megadramon, a BlackMachGaogamon, a JewelBeemon, a Chimairamon, and an Indaramon. The Chimairamon could be a Mega too; I can’t tell.” He looked at Magnamon out of the corner of his eagle eyes. “Are you alone?”
“I can handle them,” Magnamon assured him. “Don’t underestimate me.”
“I wasn’t, sir,” the avian digimon whispered.
Magnamon gazed towards the ruins. “…I’ll untie you afterwards. It’s important that I can ambush them before they see me. I can’t do that when they see you flying away.”
Aquilamon nodded. “Don’t worry about me,” he said in assurance.
Magnamon gave him a comforting pat on the back before walking out from behind the eagle digimon. He treaded through the grass carefully, looking around guardedly but giving special attention to the dark alcove created by the ruins.
He slowly walked to the left, trying to approach the rubble-lined recess in a way that made his approach more concealed. He didn’t know where the bandits were positioned, so he had to be careful. At the back of his mind he started to think that this would be easier if Ulforce were here, but he quickly discarded that notion. He was a Royal Knight; things were expected to be testing.
As he grew closer to the ruins, he could begin to hear hushed voices. He slowly took cover behind one of the two stone staircases which led up to the ramparts, the other of which being located symmetrically on the opposite side of the dark recess. It separated him from the alcove, where the voices were coming from.
“I’m getting tired of looking at that overgrown pigeon over there,” the JewelBeemon said, glancing over at the bound Aquilamon down by the wall.
“So, go to sleep,” Indaramon said, sitting up. He nodded to the Megadramon. “We’re not tired anyways. We’ll keep an eye on chicken legs.”
“Whatever,” the JewelBeemon said. “I don’t know why we’re even keeping him anyways.”
“Duh. As a hostage,” Megadramon responded. “You heard what he said when BanchoLeomon was roughing him up; he’s a scout for the Royal Knights.”
“So? Does he think the Royal Knights are gonna pay ransom for him? Doubt it. It’s more likely that they’re going to come after us,” JewelBeemon said, frowning.
“I doubt they’ll send the whole team after us,” Indaramon said. “I’m sure the boss knows what he’s doing.”
“I sure hope so,” JewelBeemon muttered. “Those other Royal Knights took out AtlurKabuterimon, Woodmon, and Antylamon. I’d rather not end up like them too…”
“Maybe he’s using the bird as bait,” Megadramon suggested. “They send a Royal Knight or something looking for him and then we all ambush that guy.”
“If that’s the plan, you’re all doing a terrible job,” a voice said.
The three bandits all jerked their heads towards the unfamiliar voice. It came from deep into the dark alcove, but as far as they knew, only the other sleeping bandits were in there. Megadramon then looked up and his eyes widened.
There was a figure standing on top of the ramparts. All they could see of him was a dark silhouette standing against the bright, full moon behind him. The silhouette stood in a heroic, yet intimidating pose, his arms folded and pivoted slightly sideways as he loomed over the bandits below.
“What the hell?!” Indaramon demanded.
Megadramon squinted and looked closer. “It’s Magnamon!”
“That’s right. And nobody captures a member of my Order and gets away with it,” Magnamon said, glaring. The turbines in his shoulder and hip guards began to rev up, sending out golden particles as they turned to their attack function. “Plasma Shoot!”
A flurry of missiles launched from the missile ports in Magnamon’s shoulder guards and hip guards. They were small in size, but the missiles soared through the air at high speeds, all eight of the missiles descending on the bandits aggregated within the alcove.
A series of eight explosions bloomed in bursts of fire, torn up grass and gold radiance. He had made sure to aim around the bandits. The blasts rocked the bandits below, knocking them around like ping pong balls before sending them skidding across the grass and dirt. Magnamon jumped backwards onto the rampart as the heat and fire rose and the last vestiges of the keep collapsed in a cloud of smoke and dust.
Magnamon looked down at smoke-filled alcove. He could hear the yells and growls of the bandits as they struggled to orient themselves. The Royal Knight was about to jump down to use the smoke and confusion to his advantage, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
A figure lunged through the smoke, all the way up to the top of the fifteen foot wall where Magnamon stood. BanchoLeomon emerged and slashed vertically downwards with his Dankon sword. “Shishi Raouzan!” he roared, swiping down the tanto strongly.
Magnamon dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding being cleaved. The sword slammed into the stone ramparts and sent large fractures all the way down the wall. The stones below began to burst outwards, the wall beginning to collapse.
Magnamon sneered and jumped backwards, into the air, as he angled his missile ports. “Plasma Shoot!” he shouted, unleashing a second salvo of missiles, straight into the wall where the BanchoLeomon was standing. Just as the missiles hit their mark, BanchoLeomon leapt away as well. The ordnance exploded, shattering what little left there was of the wall in bursts of stone. Shards and fragments of rock showered the ground and a second dust cloud emerged.
The Royal Knight landed amidst the fog of dust and sediment, on his guard now more than ever. He could hardly see around him due to the thick haze, but he knew that the bandits wouldn’t be able to see either.
He dashed through the smoke, his clawed fists raised.
“Boss!” Megadramon’s voice called out. “BlackMachGaogamon’s unconscious! I can’t find Magnamon or anyone else!”
“I’m over here!” Indaramon’s voice sounded out. The voice came from somewhere in front of Magnamon, so he began to head towards it.
“Use your wings to blow away the smoke, idiot!” BanchoLeomon told Megadramon.
Magnamon scowled a bit. He had been hoping to take advantage of the smoke cover, but it looked like he would have to improvise. He felt a heavy blast of wind as Megadramon beat his wings. The smoke and dust soon wafted away, revealing the land and its occupants once again.
When the smoke was blown off to the side, Magnamon could see Indaramon standing tall, several meters in front of him. The horse digimon turned around and spotted Magnamon with a look of surprise. “Over here!” he yelled to the others.
Magnamon made a point to attack before the bandits could come to Indaramon’s assistance.
“Plasma Shoot!”
Four missiles whistled as they launched from the ports in Magnamon’s armour. They sailed through the air towards Indaramon.
The horse bandit seemed fazed only for a second. As the missiles closed in on him, he quickly picked up his giant shell from the ground, pointing the mouth of it towards the oncoming projectiles.
Magnamon watched curiously as the missiles disappeared inside the shell, not even exploding once inside. Indaramon grinned and aimed the shell back at Magnamon. “Adhomukha!” Indaramon shouted.
Magnamon’s own missiles launched out of the conch shell back at him. The dragon dove out of the way, narrowly missing getting hit. The missiles exploded behind him and the blast sent him tumbling forwards.
“Try that again, Royal Numbskull,” Indaramon taunted.
Magnamon sneered in mild annoyance. He charged at the bandit in a full speed run. Indaramon responded by slipping one of his giant arms into the cloth straps around the Bao Bei shell, intending to use it as a melee weapon, if need be.
As Magnamon closed in on him, Indaramon raised the shell high above his head, preparing to bring it down with a mighty crash. Once Magnamon was in range, he drove the giant shell down.
Magnamon lunged into the air, right at the descending shell. While he was airborne, he put all of his momentum into a swinging kick. “Magnum Kick!” As the shell fell on him like a club, Magnamon kicked with every ounce of power that he had. His golden boot slammed into the shell before it could hit him and continued through it. Fractures formed throughout the shell, and, as Magnamon’s foot passed through it, the whole thing shattered.
“No!” Indaramon shouted with frustration and disbelief.
Magnamon then charged at Indaramon. “Magnum Punch!” he growled, driving his fist right into Indaramon’s snout.
The bandit stumbled backwards, nearly knocked off of his feet. Magnamon followed up with a vertical kick to the horse’s chin. Immediately after, he drove his fist into his jaw. He punched and kicked the Indaramon repeatedly, not giving him a chance to right himself or even take a breath.
“Magnum Punch!” Magnamon reared his arm back and slammed his clawed knuckles across Indaramon’s face a final time. Indaramon’s head jerked with the punch and the bandit slowly came crashing down on his back. He didn’t get back up.
“That’s two down,” Magnamon thought, landing back on the ground. “Four left…”
“Heat Viper!” a voice roared.
A greenish blast slammed into Magnamon’s back, sending him flying through the air and crashing into a pile of stone rubble. Magnamon growled in pain, feeling the strong burning sensation still clinging his to back. He slowly flipped over and sat up, looking to see who hit him.
The ground trembled when the huge Chimairamon landed, the chimera’s mouth steaming with power.
“That hurt…” Magnamon thought, wincing a bit. “He’s a Mega level Chimairamon. I can feel it. I’m up against two Mega level digimon.”
BanchoLeomon walked through a cloud of smoke, followed by JewelBeemon. He looked at Magnamon with a grin. “You’re all alone, are you?” he asked, grinning. “Just like I hoped.”
Magnamon stood to his feet and glared at him. “You’re the leader of this pack of bandits?” he asked. “What do you want?”
BanchoLeomon smirked. “What does any bandit want? Money! Digits!” he said with a chuckle. His face then grew serious. “A little bit of revenge for what your tin can friends did earlier would be nice too…”
“What?” Magnamon asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Never you mind, midget,” the BanchoLeomon taunted. “Just know that you may be a Royal Knight, but you’re outnumbered.”
Magnamon scoffed. “I’ve beaten a lot more than four digimon at once before.”
BanchoLeomon pointed his sword at Magnamon. “Maybe! But never underestimate three Megas.”
Magnamon frowned. “Three? Only two of you are Mega level digimon.”
The lion bandit leader grinned and turned to JewelBeemon. JewelBeemon walked forwards with a smirk, slowly becoming engulfed in the light of evolution. What stepped out of the light was large, four-legged insect digimon who was as black as the night around him. He had four wings sprouting out of his back and two clawed arms. The GranKuwagamon had two long pincers coming out of his jaws. The only things that made him stand out against the darkness were white stripes ornamenting his body and the orange hair coming from his head.
“A GranKuwagamon…” Magnamon thought to himself with growing concern. “Three Megas…” He clenched his fists tightly. “One by one, I would be able to defeat them no problem, but with all of them ganging up on me at once… it’s going to be harder…”
“Genocide Attack!” a voice suddenly screeched from behind him, taking advantage of the situation as he was absorbed in his doubts and what was in front of him.
Magnamon tensed up and started to swing around, but he was too late to do anything. The maximum salvo of Megadramon’s missiles slammed into him, hitting his armour and the ground around him. Magnamon let out a surprised shout as the explosions blasted him into the air.
“Now! Attack!” BanchoLeomon shouted, jumping into action.
Magnamon landed on the ground in a roll, making sure that he would land back on his feet. As soon as he was able to look up, he saw BanchoLeomon descending on him with his sword. Magnamon grunted and sprang to his feet, quickly crossing his arms to block the slash with his gold chrome digizoid arm bracers.
“Magnum Kick!” he responded as he kept holding against the sword. He drove his foot towards BanchoLeomon, but the lion man pounced in reverse before the kick could connect with his waist.
“Heat Viper!” Chimairamon roared suddenly.
The ball of power plummeted onto Magnamon, who couldn’t recover in time to defend himself. The green blast detonated around him, consuming the Royal Knight in the burning energy. Magnamon growled in pain as he was thrown into the air, still swathed in flames.
Chimairamon wasted no time in following him. The giant chimera digimon swooped over him and raised his Kuwagamon arm. He then slammed the hard, exoskeleton-encased arm down on Magnamon’s body, hammering him painfully to the ground.
Magnamon let out a gasp of pain as the wind left his lungs. Wincing as he tried to get to his hands and knees in a bid to try and defend himself, he soon felt another blast of Chimairamon’s Heat Viper attack crush him further into the ground. A growl of pain was torn from this throat as the detonation surged against his back. When it faded, he spat the earthy taste of dirt from his mouth and slowly stood to his feet. He was in pain and panting from his exhaustion.
“Flash Bancho Punch!” BanchoLeomon’s voice resounded from behind him.
Magnamon turned around, raising his sore arms to defend himself, but his movements were too sluggish in the pained state that he was in. BanchoLeomon’s fist connected with Magnamon’s metal mask, energy exploding outwards from BanchoLeomon’s knuckles upon contact, and sent him skidding across the ground on his back. Luckily his helmet absorbed a lot of the hit, but Magnamon still felt concussed and exhausted from the blow.
Magnamon grimaced, slowly trying to prop himself up on their elbows. “They’re working so well as a team… They’re not letting me have even a second to breathe. The attacks are relentless,” he thought to himself. “If I could just… have a few seconds to counterattack…”
Before he could even begin to stand, he saw Chimairamon’s SkullGreymon arm swing down and bash him against the ground again. The skeletal arm then collected Magnamon in his grip, the bony fingers curling around his body. Magnamon growled, trying to fight against the hand, attempting to get one or both of his arms out of Chimairamon’s hold. However, Chimairamon gave Magnamon a tight, crushing squeeze, causing the dragon digimon to give a sharp groan of pain.
“Have to… use that attack…” Magnamon thought under a pained grimace. “If I could just--!”
Before he could finish that thought, Chimairamon let go, violently throwing Magnamon through the air. Magnamon felt his back collide with something hard and painful. Before he could turn to see what it was, he felt two long, hard, black things clamp tightly around his biceps. He looked down and saw that they were GranKuwagamon’s pincers binding him like a vice. GranKuwagamon then grabbed Magnamon’s wrists in his claws and pinned them to his sides as well.
Magnamon grimaced and struggled against the insect desperately. “Damn it…!”
BanchoLeomon grinned. “Get the rope, Chimairamon,” he told the bandit. “Now we have our real hostage.”
“What?!” Magnamon demanded, glaring at the lion furiously.
“Maybe the Royal Knights wouldn’t pay ransom for a scout, but what about for a fellow Royal Knight?” the BanchoLeomon suggested. “That would be a handsome sum of Digits for somebody like you.”
“You’re even stupider than you look,” Magnamon replied matter-of-factly. “They would never give in to those kinds of underhanded tactics.”
“No?” BanchoLeomon asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, too bad. We need something to show for the destruction of our hideout and the deletion of three of our comrades. Maybe we’ll just sell you to the highest bidder. You Royal Knights have made a lot of enemies over the years, haven’t you? Maybe somebody who really hates you will pay a nice amount of money for you.”
“I haven’t lost yet,” Magnamon retorted, fighting stubbornly against the GranKuwagamon’s hold. “It will take more than this to take down a Royal Knight!”
“Oh?” GranKuwagamon asked, crushing his arms tighter with his strong pincers. It took everything Magnamon had not to elicit any show of pain.
“We’ll see,” Chimairamon said, approaching him with rope stretched out in his hands.
Magnamon clenched his teeth, watching as the bandit grew closer. “Do I have enough energy for that attack?” Magnamon asked himself, feeling a tinge of nervousness in his heart. “If I don’t… that’s it. I’ll have made a complete fool of myself. Worse than that, actually. I’ll be a burden to my friends when they need to come and rescue me. And for what…? To spite UlforceVeedramon? What was I thinking…?”
The Royal Knight gave a soft sigh, watching as Chimairamon closed in and readied the rope. “I just have to time this right…” he thought, trying to stay as calm as possible.
Magnamon looked up and glared at the Chimairamon. The Chimairamon smirked, unaware that Magnamon was slowly activating the turbines in his armour.
Suddenly, there was a flash of cobalt blue behind Chimairamon. Chimairamon’s smirk disappeared and his expression turned into one of shock and pain. The rope dropped from his hands.
BanchoLeomon raised an eyebrow and looked at the stunned chimera digimon. “Chimairamon? What are you waiting for?” he asked him. “Tie him up already.”
The hybrid creature didn’t reply. It was then that BanchoLeomon noticed a deep gash running through Chimairamon’s back, leaking data into the air. “What?!” he demanded.
Within moments, Chimairamon burst into data particles.
Magnamon blinked in shock and confusion. That wasn’t his doing; he was still building up power for his attack, as evident by the gold particles slowly drifting out of his shoulder and hip armour.
“What the hell was that?!” GranKuwagamon demanded, looking around but not letting go of Magnamon.
“Oh,” a voice said calmly. “That was me. Sorry.”
Magnamon’s eyes widened. He knew that voice…
He turned to look to the left and saw a familiar azure form. UlforceVeedramon turned around, the Ulforce Sabres on his arms activated and glowing. He gave Magnamon a small grin.
“UlforceVeedramon…” Magnamon said, the surprise obvious in his voice.
“Another Royal Knight!?” BanchoLeomon roared.
“Rule Three of the Royal Knights’ Code!” UlforceVeedramon replied with a wry smile. “A Royal Knight never leaves another Royal Knight in his time of need!”
“Get him!” BanchoLeomon ordered Megadramon, lunging UlforceVeedramon as well. “Aim for his torso! He doesn’t have armour there!”
“Ultimate Slicer!” Megadramon snarled, diving down to meet UlforceVeedramon, clamping his jagged claws together to use them for cutting.
UlforceVeedramon grinned calmly and raised his Ulforce Sabres. “Oh, you noticed? All the girls stare at my midriff too.”
“Ulforce!” Magnamon called out to him. “Get him over here!”
UlforceVeedramon nodded. Due to his extreme swiftness, he was able to deftly avoid Megadramon’s slash. He darted past him and grabbed Megadramon’s long tail. With a sharp heave, Ulforce yanked him hard towards where Magnamon and GranKuwagamon were, sending him flying back in that direction. When Megadramon attempted to right himself, UlforceVeedramon deactivated one of his swords and slammed his fist into Megadramon’s chest, pushing him harder in that direction.
Megadramon winced and counterattacked on pure impulse. “Genocide Attack!” he roared, pumping a flurry of bombs from his cannons.
UlforceVeedramon grimaced and recoiled, quickly bringing up his left arm. “Tensegrity Shield!” he shouted, hastily activating the multidirectional barrier from his left V-Bracelet.
The hexagonal force field expanded all around the Royal Knight. The barrage of missiles slammed into the barrier and exploded, battering the sturdy barrier and ripping up grass and dirt everywhere outside of it.
BanchoLeomon lunged out of the way, nearly caught up in one of the explosions. “Watch where you’re shooting, you idiot!” he reprimanded him.
It was then that GranKuwagamon noticed that there was something going on with his captive. Magnamon was engulfed in a golden aura and it kept on getting thicker. “B-Boss!” GranKuwagamon said loudly, gaining the BanchoLeomon’s attention. “What’s he doing?!”
“I don’t know, but stop him!” BanchoLeomon commanded, looking between them and UlforceVeedramon.
GranKuwagamon snarled and started tightening his grip even more, now cutting off the circulation to Magnamon’s arms.
Although Magnamon grimaced in pain, he refused to cease the emission of the golden aura. The light lit up the darkness around them with a brilliant gold glow. He turned to look at UlforceVeedramon with determination in his eyes. “Ul… force. Now!” he yelled to him.
“Understood!” UlforceVeedramon replied with a nod. He turned to the Megadramon who was still reeling and trying hard to get his bearings. The V-shaped crest on his blue digizoid armour began gleaming brightly, adding another light to the dark. “The Ray of Victory!”
A v-shaped ray of intense light surged from the crest on his chest. It slammed into Megadramon, searing him and throwing him the rest of the way towards Magnamon. As soon as he was near, Magnamon snarled and focused, putting much of his energy into what he was about to do next.
“Extreme Jihad!”
Magnamon tilted his head back and wrenched his wrists free from GranKuwagamon. The golden aura around his body suddenly burst and swelled outwards in every direction. It swallowed both GranKuwagamon and Megadramon up in the light of Miracles and melted them away.
BanchoLeomon swung around, shielding his eyes with his arms as the light approached him. “WHAAAT?!” he roared as the golden radiance flooded towards him, lighting up the night with an eerily beautiful glow.
After a minute, the light began to subside. The conscious bandits were gone and there was nothing left around Magnamon but a crater in the ground. Magnamon hovered in the air for a few moments, before suddenly dropping. He fell towards the ground, completely exhausted from the attack.
He knew he was going to hit the ground, and it was probably going to hurt. However, to his surprise, he felt himself land softly. UlforceVeedramon had swooped down and caught Magnamon in his arms before he could hit the ground. Magnamon opened his eyes and looked up at him, smiling weakly. UlforceVeedramon gave him an honest smile and flew him back up to completely destroyed ruins.
He landed on the ground and gently put Magnamon down on the grass.
“Did we get them all…?” Magnamon asked weakly.
UlforceVeedramon looked around the area. “I think so…” he replied.
“Aquilamon’s okay?” Magnamon questioned, trying to get up.
UlforceVeedramon tried to push him back down. “He’s fine,” he replied, looking over his shoulder to where the bound eagle was trying to blink the spots out of his eyes after the bright attack that Magnamon performed.
Magnamon nodded silently. He soon found himself grimacing and looking away in shame. “If you want to laugh at me, you can. I deserve it,” he replied guiltily.
UlforceVeedramon sighed and sat down cross-legged across from him. “I don’t want to laugh at you, Magnamon…” he told him. “I just want to know what’s going on in that head of yours. You were like a different digimon today. I know I’m to blame, but…”
The Royal Knight looked up at UlforceVeedramon with embarrassment. “It’s more me than you, Ulforce…” he told him. He found himself forced to look away again as he said the words. “I’m… insecure,” he admitted in a sheepish voice.
“Insecure?” UlforceVeedramon asked.
Magnamon nodded. “About my height. About my supposed ‘cuteness’,” he explained, giving a bit of an ironic yet sad grin. “About my place as a Royal Knight… All the jokes made me start to question myself. If my friends can’t take me seriously, how will anybody else be able to? How am I worthy to be a Royal Knight if I’m a joke?”
“Nobody thinks that you’re a joke, Magnamon…” UlforceVeedramon told him honestly.
“Not even you?” Magnamon asked.
UlforceVeedramon sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “So that’s what all this was about? You running off to prove yourself?”
After a moment, Magnamon slowly nodded. “It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? I’m supposed to be level headed, yet I got myself into that situation,” he said, his embarrassment hidden behind his helmet. “It’s the truth though… I went off alone to prove that I could complete the mission without you.”
“I see…” the winged knight responded carefully, looking over at Magnamon.
Magnamon grimaced. “It was so childish and reckless. I don’t know, Ulforce. Maybe it’s today. I suppose the jokes really got under my scales and I somehow got it in my head that I needed to prove that I was worthy to be a Royal Knight or something like that,” he explained.
UlforceVeedramon gazed at him with a meaningful look in his eyes. “You don’t need to prove yourself to anybody, Magnamon,” he told him. “Everybody respects you.” UlforceVeedramon paused for a minute. “Especially me.”
“You do?” Magnamon asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah… I know I’m not very good at showing how I really feel,” UlforceVeedramon told him sheepishly. “But to be perfectly honest, you’re the digimon who I respect the most out of the Royal Knights.” When he saw Magnamon’s surprised expression, he smiled a bit. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Anyways, you remember when I first joined the Royal Knights, right? You were the one I had my first practice session with.”
“I remember…” Magnamon said, wondering where this was going.
UlforceVeedramon grinned a bit. “I remember when I first saw that you were my opponent. I remember how cocky I was. I thought you were just this short, lanky dragon in pretty armour while I was this big, fast, flying master,” he recalled.
“…Get to your point,” Magnamon told him with a flat, warning glance.
Ulforce chuckled. “And then you completely dominated me in that practice fight. I mean, you wiped the floor with me,” UlforceVeedramon said. “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know how someone of your stature could do that so easily. It was then that I realized that there was a lot more to you than meets the eye. You immediately gained my respect that day.”
“I… never knew that,” Magnamon replied, sounding genuinely surprised.
UlforceVeedramon nodded, still rubbing the back of his neck. “I owe you an apology, Magnamon. A series of them, it sounds like. I’m sorry if I offended you with any jokes I made. I really didn’t mean to be insulting or condescending,” he told him.
Magnamon grimaced. “Ulforce. You don’t have to do that…” he answered.
“Yeah, I do…” Ulforce said, frowning. “I don’t make jokes to make you feel bad about yourself. I tease you because… well, because you’re my friend. I guess it’s my weird way of showing you that I like you. It’s the same reason I tease the others too… I know it’s not the best way of showing my affection. I don’t mean any offence to anyone when I do it, but I guess that’s not always that obvious, is it? …I’ll try to hold back on it,” he offered with a smile.
“No…” Magnamon replied, smiling a bit. “You wouldn’t be Ulforce if you did that.”
Ulforce grinned. “Well… just tell me whenever you want me to shut up,” he told him.
Magnamon’s smile grew wider. “I will hold you to that,” he joked.
Ulforce gave a soft laugh before quieting down. “…By the way, I know that today is the anniversary of your induction into the Royal Knights,” he told him.
Blinking with surprise, Magnamon slowly sat up. “You do…?”
“Yeah…” Ulforce replied. “I suppose today is why you felt so much pressure, isn’t it?”
Magnamon nodded and sighed. “I’m sure that has something to do with it, yes,” he responded. He then frowned as he remembered their encounter in the morning. “Why did you pretend that you didn’t know today was my induction anniversary?”
“We were going to have a small celebration for you in the cafeteria this evening. But since you didn’t show up due to coming here early, well…” UlforceVeedramon awkwardly scratched his cheek, grinning a bit. “I guess in retrospect, I should have known today wasn’t a good day to poke fun and play games with you.”
Magnamon shook his head. “I should be apologizing to you, Ulforce. I’ve been horrible to you all day. I had no right to be,” he told him, looking down in shame. His eyes fell on UlforceVeedramon’s bandaged hand, making him remember accidentally scratching him earlier. He grimaced. “…I’m really sorry,” he said softly.
UlforceVeedramon grinned. “Hey… Let’s just say we both did stupid things, we both forgive each other, and leave it at that, okay? I’m sure neither of us wants a big, sappy moment, do we?” he said lightheartedly.
Magnamon chuckled a bit. “Okay, then. That sounds fine to me.” A grimace of pain then grew on his face. “Rrr… “
“Are you okay?” Ulforce asked with some concern.
“Yes. I’m fine,” Magnamon insisted. “It’s nothing serious. I’m just sore all over…”
“Then it looks like you could use some help when we head back to the headquarters,” UlforceVeedramon observed.
Magnamon opened his mouth to protest, but he thought better of it and nodded. “Very well.”
UlforceVeedramon stood up and offered his hand. Magnamon took it and was pulled up to his feet. Magnamon looked past UlforceVeedramon to where Aquilamon was still lying. “I guess we had better—“
“HEY!” a voice called out from behind them.
As they turned around, a tall figure swooped down from the sky and landed in front of them. The two Royal Knights immediately reacted. UlforceVeedramon activated the Ulforce Sabre on his right V-Bracelet, and Magnamon raised his fists.
They then stopped and looked in surprise when Ulforce’s beam sword illuminated the figure. It was OuRyuumon.
“Hey, hey, take it easy!” OuRyuumon said, raising his hands in front of him. “Is that any way to welcome us back?”
“Ou…Ryuumon?” UlforceVeedramon asked, turning off his sword.
“What are you doing here…?” Magnamon questioned, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you were with Alphamon and Omegamon.”
“I am!” OuRyuumon replied. He then took on a wide smirk. “They’re just tying up a loose end…”
“So you three are coming back?” UlforceVeedramon asked.
“Yeah,” OuRyuumon said. “We were heading back towards the headquarters when we saw this bright gold light in the distance, so we decided we better check it out. I guess that was you?” he asked, looking at Magnamon.
“Yeah…” Magnamon responded, glancing up at Ulforce.
It was then that OuRyuumon looked behind them, noticing something. “…Why is Aquilamon tied up?” he asked, tilting his head.
“It’s a long story,” Magnamon replied. “Can you go free him, Ulforce?”
UlforceVeedramon nodded and walked over to the scout, who had been patiently waiting. After cutting him loose, they rejoined Magnamon and OuRyuumon. The four turned towards the destroyed ruins and saw Alphamon and Omegamon walking towards them, dragging the unconscious figure of BanchoLeomon. They dropped him beside the knocked out BlackMachGaogamon and Indaramon before walking over to the gathered group.
“I didn’t expect we’d catch up with him again so soon,” Alphamon said with a small grin, turning to look at the captured bandit. He then smiled at the group. “Hello, UlforceVeedramon, Magnamon, Aquilamon,” he greeted. “It feels like it’s been awhile, hasn’t it?”
“Alphamon, Omegamon…” Magnamon greeted with a nod and a smile. “I thought I got him with my Extreme Jihad attack.”
“I thought that was you,” Omegamon said, looking at Magnamon.
Alphamon nodded. “That BanchoLeomon is a slippery one. He escaped from us the other day as well. He must have been fleeing when he ran right into us a few minutes ago.”
“Is that so…?” Magnamon said.
Alphamon frowned when he noticed the state that Magnamon was in. “You’re hurt. What exactly happened here?”
UlforceVeedramon spoke up. “Aquilamon got captured when he came across this bandit hideout. Magnamon and I went to rescue him. They were pretty tough though.”
Magnamon grimaced. “Actually… I went in ahead of Ulforce,” he admitted, not wanting Ulforce to lie for him.
“I see,” Alphamon responded. “Let’s talk about it on the way back to the castle. Omegamon, OuRyuumon, can you help carry those?” he said, looking at the unconscious bandits.
Omegamon nodded quietly, walking with OuRyuumon over to them. Before doing the same, Alphamon looked at Aquilamon. “Are you fit to carry Magnamon on your back?”
“I can manage that, yes,” Aquilamon said with an affirmative nod.
Alphamon nodded. “Good. Let’s start heading back then.”
-
About an hour later, the group of six arrived back at the Royal Knights’ headquarters. They handed the captured bandits over to the jailor for temporary holding at the headquarters until they could transfer them to the main prison in the territory. Despite the late hour, the Royal Knights back at the castle were still up, awaiting Magnamon’s return. They were pleasantly surprised when they saw Alphamon, Omegamon and OuRyuumon with them as well.
“Alphamon!” Dukemon greeted, walking over with a broad smile.
Alphamon grinned as he entered the grand hall and walked up to Dukemon, shaking his hand. “Nice to see you again, Dukemon. How have you been holding up?”
“Fairly good,” Dukemon replied. “With that said, I won’t be sad to hand the leader position back to you.”
Alphamon chuckled. “It’s harder than it looks, isn’t it?”
“It’s nice you see you all back,” Duftmon said, though the sentiment hardly showed in his voice. “However, what exactly were you three doing?”
“I’ll address that in the meeting tomorrow, Duftmon,” Alphamon told him.
“I hope you will,” Duftmon said, folding his arms.
Alphamon smiled. “I actually missed your impossibly high standards and your snide comments,” he remarked with a short laugh.
Duftmon looked away, although glancing at Alphamon for a brief moment. “…Hmph…”
“He’s so cute when he’s indignant,” Dukemon laughed. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as the mantle of leader was returned to Alphamon. He no longer had to be so professional all the time, and he could act more informal like he preferred. However, Dukemon felt respect for Alphamon for having to assume that role all the time. It was no small task.
“You should go see Duskmon about those injuries, Magnamon,” Examon advised, noticing the bruises on his arms and chest.
“Ah ah!” RhodoKnightmon said, stepping forwards. “Not so fast.”
“What?” Magnamon said, raising an eyebrow.
“You never showed up in the cafeteria for that celebration we were having for you,” Dynasmon said, folding his arms. “I’m sure all of us feel that our induction anniversaries are special days for us, so we’re not about to let you go without celebrating with us.”
“And I’m not about to waste all of that delicious food that I made!” RhodoKnightmon insisted.
Magnamon frowned, thinking it over a little. He didn’t want to be any more trouble today, but it sounded like they went to a lot of effort.
UlforceVeedramon placed his hand on Magnamon’s shoulder, smiling down at him. “Come on, Magnamon. I bet you’re hungry after all that.”
Magnamon smiled a bit, prompting Dukemon to take on a pleased expression. It looked like they had patched things up.
“Well…” Magnamon said, appearing to be tentatively compliant.
“I think you mean ‘why yes, I would love to!’” RhodoKnightmon insisted. “I won’t take no for an answer, so come along already, you!”
Magnamon let out a shout of surprise as RhodoKnightmon extended and wrapped one of his long, yellow ribbons around Magnamon’s arms and upper body, impatiently dragging him down the hall towards the cafeteria. Magnamon growled and struggled against him, not liking what was happening one bit.
“H-Hey! Stop this! I said stop! …RHODOKNIGHTMON!”
“Where is he…?” Ulforce muttered to himself, peering into almost every room and corridor that he passed.
He speed walked to the end of the passageway before turning around the corner, heading into the staircase that led down to the first floor. “Woah!” he exclaimed, staggering back suddenly.
Sleipmon instinctively reared back on his four hind legs and trotted backwards before bringing his front legs down. “Sorry, Ulforce. Nearly trampled you there,” he said, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed the nape of his neck.
“It’s okay,” Ulforce insisted, smiling a little. “Uhh… Have you seen Magnamon? We have to head out soon.”
“Sorry. I haven’t,” Sleipmon replied. “Do you want help looking for him?”
“Yeah, sure,” UlforceVeedramon replied.
Sleipmon turned around on the stairs and began to head back down, UlforceVeedramon following behind him. “I take it you checked his room?” Sleipmon asked, looking over his shoulder.
“I just came from there,” Ulforce replied, fiddling with the V-Bracelets on his wrists.
“Oh. Well, he wasn’t in the library. I was just in there,” Sleipmon explained.
“I checked nearly everywhere,” the cobalt knight said, frowning.
Sleipmon walked out of the bottom of the staircase and into the castle foyer. “Do you think he’s avoiding you?”
“Probably…” UlforceVeedramon admitted.
“Mind if I ask what happened?” the cavalier asked him.
“It’s a long story,” the dragon replied, walking past him and leaning against one of the pillars. “Just put it down to me having a big mouth.”
Sleipmon nodded. “Well… why don’t we ask one of the guards? It’s possible that he went outside.”
UlforceVeedramon nodded. “Good idea,” he said, walking from the foyer into the stone hall that led to the exit.
Sleipmon walked alongside him, sauntering down the stairs. They reached the end of the hall and Sleipmon pulled the doors open. The Knightmon flanking the door on each side perked up and stood at attention as the two walked out.
UlforceVeedramon looked at them. “Hey, guys?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir UlforceVeedramon, Sir Sleipmon?” one of them replied.
“Did you see Magnamon anywhere?” the blue Royal Knight queried.
“Yes,” the Knightmon guard replied.
UlforceVeedramon looked at Sleipmon with a grin before looking back at him. “Great. Where?”
The Knightmon pointed forwards, into the dark blue of the night. UlforceVeedramon followed his finger and saw that he was pointing to the front gate of the wall. “He left through there. About an hour ago,” the guard explained.
“When we asked, he said that he was going to do a mission with this really serious voice,” the other guard added.
UlforceVeedramon’s heart dropped.
“…Crap.”
-
Magnamon walked through the dead of night, backed only by the stars in the sky. He stealthily trekked through a grass field, making use of the few pieces of concealment that he could. He felt the cool, night wind quietly whistle as it blew across the field and swept across his scales. Ahead of him, he could see the moon beaming down on the landscape, making it slightly easier for him to see in the dark. He wasn’t especially partial to night missions, since his armour and attacks were anything but stealthy, but Magnamon was a Royal Knight, so he didn’t let it bother him. There was a job to do and Magnamon was determined to do it.
“I’ll show them…” he thought to himself, frowning as he walked. “I’ll complete this mission alone. I don’t need Ulforce’s or any of their help. I’ll remind them why I was made a Royal Knight…“
A few minutes passed and Magnamon stopped behind a large tree. He could make out something up ahead of him. About forty meters in front of him, he could make out a medium-sized formation of stone. It was a large piece of wall that had collapsed and eroded on each side at the front, making it look more like a precarious stack of stone bricks and mortar than a wall.
Behind it, Magnamon could see a more identifiable stone structure. The semi-circular ruins of a structure, flanked on each side by stairs that led up to a second level where the ramparts were. The ramparts didn’t go very far, as they were caved in after several meters in each direction too.
Magnamon smiled to himself. That had to be the ruined keep that Grani mentioned. He recognized the shape from the map. Now that he found it, he had to see if he could find Aquilamon, and possibly the supposed bandits as well.
The Royal Knight silently traipsed out from behind the tree, going forwards so that he was concealed by the shadow of the destroyed wall, which the moon cast in his direction. He slinked along the wall, making sure that his armour didn’t scrape against the rough rock. When he reached the end of the wall, he slowly peered out, looking through a gap that had been created whenever the stone had given way.
He looked at what was past the wall and saw grass and shrubs littering the ground between the wall he was at and the more dominant ruins of the keep. The darkness concealed most of what lay beneath the hollowed out guard post, but Magnamon thought that he could make out what looked like an extinguished campfire. He could definitely smell smoke and ashes on the wind.
Deciding it was safe to be a bit more adventurous, Magnamon looked around the wall further. It was then that he noticed something to the left, on the other side of the wall. He saw a large, bird-like foot, complete with sharp talons. He turned his head, following the foot. It was attached to a leg, which was attached to a large body of red feathers.
Magnamon’s eyes widened. It was the Aquilamon scout. He looked the bird over and saw that Aquilamon was lying on his side, his body tied up with rope so that he wouldn’t be able to fly away. Tufts of his feathers were ruffled up here and there, and there was more than one cut on his body.
“So, they were right,” Magnamon thought to himself, his eyebrows furrowing.
The Royal Knight immediately went on the defensive. He shrunk back behind the cover of the wall and looked around cautiously. He knew there were bandits around now, and he wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t ambush him. After looking all around him, he was satisfied that they weren’t nearby.
“Well, I found Aquilamon now…” Magnamon thought to himself. He shook his head and looked up with an air of determination about him. “No… I won’t go back. Not yet. This isn’t a recon mission anymore. Now it’s a rescue mission, and I’ll be the one who rescues him,” he told himself. “I’m the Knight of Miracles, after all.”
With that, Magnamon quickly stepped out from behind the wall and crept behind the bound Aquilamon, so that he was concealed between the ruined wall and the bird’s back. The Aquilamon, who had been unable to sleep given his predicament, glanced behind him when he noticed something moving. His face lit up with surprise and relief when he recognized the Royal Knight. “Wha?” he murmured lowly, “Magnamon, Sir?”
“Shh,” Magnamon hushed him in a whisper. “Don’t draw attention. I’ll get you out of here.”
Aquilamon gave him a look of agreement.
“First, where are the bandits?” Magnamon questioned, getting behind his head and attempting to see over it.
Aquilamon nodded with his head towards the shadowed semi circle of ruins and the ramparts, which stood about twenty meters away, opposite to them.
“How many are there?” Magnamon whispered.
“Six,” Aquilamon whispered in response. “A BanchoLeomon, a Megadramon, a BlackMachGaogamon, a JewelBeemon, a Chimairamon, and an Indaramon. The Chimairamon could be a Mega too; I can’t tell.” He looked at Magnamon out of the corner of his eagle eyes. “Are you alone?”
“I can handle them,” Magnamon assured him. “Don’t underestimate me.”
“I wasn’t, sir,” the avian digimon whispered.
Magnamon gazed towards the ruins. “…I’ll untie you afterwards. It’s important that I can ambush them before they see me. I can’t do that when they see you flying away.”
Aquilamon nodded. “Don’t worry about me,” he said in assurance.
Magnamon gave him a comforting pat on the back before walking out from behind the eagle digimon. He treaded through the grass carefully, looking around guardedly but giving special attention to the dark alcove created by the ruins.
He slowly walked to the left, trying to approach the rubble-lined recess in a way that made his approach more concealed. He didn’t know where the bandits were positioned, so he had to be careful. At the back of his mind he started to think that this would be easier if Ulforce were here, but he quickly discarded that notion. He was a Royal Knight; things were expected to be testing.
As he grew closer to the ruins, he could begin to hear hushed voices. He slowly took cover behind one of the two stone staircases which led up to the ramparts, the other of which being located symmetrically on the opposite side of the dark recess. It separated him from the alcove, where the voices were coming from.
“I’m getting tired of looking at that overgrown pigeon over there,” the JewelBeemon said, glancing over at the bound Aquilamon down by the wall.
“So, go to sleep,” Indaramon said, sitting up. He nodded to the Megadramon. “We’re not tired anyways. We’ll keep an eye on chicken legs.”
“Whatever,” the JewelBeemon said. “I don’t know why we’re even keeping him anyways.”
“Duh. As a hostage,” Megadramon responded. “You heard what he said when BanchoLeomon was roughing him up; he’s a scout for the Royal Knights.”
“So? Does he think the Royal Knights are gonna pay ransom for him? Doubt it. It’s more likely that they’re going to come after us,” JewelBeemon said, frowning.
“I doubt they’ll send the whole team after us,” Indaramon said. “I’m sure the boss knows what he’s doing.”
“I sure hope so,” JewelBeemon muttered. “Those other Royal Knights took out AtlurKabuterimon, Woodmon, and Antylamon. I’d rather not end up like them too…”
“Maybe he’s using the bird as bait,” Megadramon suggested. “They send a Royal Knight or something looking for him and then we all ambush that guy.”
“If that’s the plan, you’re all doing a terrible job,” a voice said.
The three bandits all jerked their heads towards the unfamiliar voice. It came from deep into the dark alcove, but as far as they knew, only the other sleeping bandits were in there. Megadramon then looked up and his eyes widened.
There was a figure standing on top of the ramparts. All they could see of him was a dark silhouette standing against the bright, full moon behind him. The silhouette stood in a heroic, yet intimidating pose, his arms folded and pivoted slightly sideways as he loomed over the bandits below.
“What the hell?!” Indaramon demanded.
Megadramon squinted and looked closer. “It’s Magnamon!”
“That’s right. And nobody captures a member of my Order and gets away with it,” Magnamon said, glaring. The turbines in his shoulder and hip guards began to rev up, sending out golden particles as they turned to their attack function. “Plasma Shoot!”
A flurry of missiles launched from the missile ports in Magnamon’s shoulder guards and hip guards. They were small in size, but the missiles soared through the air at high speeds, all eight of the missiles descending on the bandits aggregated within the alcove.
A series of eight explosions bloomed in bursts of fire, torn up grass and gold radiance. He had made sure to aim around the bandits. The blasts rocked the bandits below, knocking them around like ping pong balls before sending them skidding across the grass and dirt. Magnamon jumped backwards onto the rampart as the heat and fire rose and the last vestiges of the keep collapsed in a cloud of smoke and dust.
Magnamon looked down at smoke-filled alcove. He could hear the yells and growls of the bandits as they struggled to orient themselves. The Royal Knight was about to jump down to use the smoke and confusion to his advantage, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
A figure lunged through the smoke, all the way up to the top of the fifteen foot wall where Magnamon stood. BanchoLeomon emerged and slashed vertically downwards with his Dankon sword. “Shishi Raouzan!” he roared, swiping down the tanto strongly.
Magnamon dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding being cleaved. The sword slammed into the stone ramparts and sent large fractures all the way down the wall. The stones below began to burst outwards, the wall beginning to collapse.
Magnamon sneered and jumped backwards, into the air, as he angled his missile ports. “Plasma Shoot!” he shouted, unleashing a second salvo of missiles, straight into the wall where the BanchoLeomon was standing. Just as the missiles hit their mark, BanchoLeomon leapt away as well. The ordnance exploded, shattering what little left there was of the wall in bursts of stone. Shards and fragments of rock showered the ground and a second dust cloud emerged.
The Royal Knight landed amidst the fog of dust and sediment, on his guard now more than ever. He could hardly see around him due to the thick haze, but he knew that the bandits wouldn’t be able to see either.
He dashed through the smoke, his clawed fists raised.
“Boss!” Megadramon’s voice called out. “BlackMachGaogamon’s unconscious! I can’t find Magnamon or anyone else!”
“I’m over here!” Indaramon’s voice sounded out. The voice came from somewhere in front of Magnamon, so he began to head towards it.
“Use your wings to blow away the smoke, idiot!” BanchoLeomon told Megadramon.
Magnamon scowled a bit. He had been hoping to take advantage of the smoke cover, but it looked like he would have to improvise. He felt a heavy blast of wind as Megadramon beat his wings. The smoke and dust soon wafted away, revealing the land and its occupants once again.
When the smoke was blown off to the side, Magnamon could see Indaramon standing tall, several meters in front of him. The horse digimon turned around and spotted Magnamon with a look of surprise. “Over here!” he yelled to the others.
Magnamon made a point to attack before the bandits could come to Indaramon’s assistance.
“Plasma Shoot!”
Four missiles whistled as they launched from the ports in Magnamon’s armour. They sailed through the air towards Indaramon.
The horse bandit seemed fazed only for a second. As the missiles closed in on him, he quickly picked up his giant shell from the ground, pointing the mouth of it towards the oncoming projectiles.
Magnamon watched curiously as the missiles disappeared inside the shell, not even exploding once inside. Indaramon grinned and aimed the shell back at Magnamon. “Adhomukha!” Indaramon shouted.
Magnamon’s own missiles launched out of the conch shell back at him. The dragon dove out of the way, narrowly missing getting hit. The missiles exploded behind him and the blast sent him tumbling forwards.
“Try that again, Royal Numbskull,” Indaramon taunted.
Magnamon sneered in mild annoyance. He charged at the bandit in a full speed run. Indaramon responded by slipping one of his giant arms into the cloth straps around the Bao Bei shell, intending to use it as a melee weapon, if need be.
As Magnamon closed in on him, Indaramon raised the shell high above his head, preparing to bring it down with a mighty crash. Once Magnamon was in range, he drove the giant shell down.
Magnamon lunged into the air, right at the descending shell. While he was airborne, he put all of his momentum into a swinging kick. “Magnum Kick!” As the shell fell on him like a club, Magnamon kicked with every ounce of power that he had. His golden boot slammed into the shell before it could hit him and continued through it. Fractures formed throughout the shell, and, as Magnamon’s foot passed through it, the whole thing shattered.
“No!” Indaramon shouted with frustration and disbelief.
Magnamon then charged at Indaramon. “Magnum Punch!” he growled, driving his fist right into Indaramon’s snout.
The bandit stumbled backwards, nearly knocked off of his feet. Magnamon followed up with a vertical kick to the horse’s chin. Immediately after, he drove his fist into his jaw. He punched and kicked the Indaramon repeatedly, not giving him a chance to right himself or even take a breath.
“Magnum Punch!” Magnamon reared his arm back and slammed his clawed knuckles across Indaramon’s face a final time. Indaramon’s head jerked with the punch and the bandit slowly came crashing down on his back. He didn’t get back up.
“That’s two down,” Magnamon thought, landing back on the ground. “Four left…”
“Heat Viper!” a voice roared.
A greenish blast slammed into Magnamon’s back, sending him flying through the air and crashing into a pile of stone rubble. Magnamon growled in pain, feeling the strong burning sensation still clinging his to back. He slowly flipped over and sat up, looking to see who hit him.
The ground trembled when the huge Chimairamon landed, the chimera’s mouth steaming with power.
“That hurt…” Magnamon thought, wincing a bit. “He’s a Mega level Chimairamon. I can feel it. I’m up against two Mega level digimon.”
BanchoLeomon walked through a cloud of smoke, followed by JewelBeemon. He looked at Magnamon with a grin. “You’re all alone, are you?” he asked, grinning. “Just like I hoped.”
Magnamon stood to his feet and glared at him. “You’re the leader of this pack of bandits?” he asked. “What do you want?”
BanchoLeomon smirked. “What does any bandit want? Money! Digits!” he said with a chuckle. His face then grew serious. “A little bit of revenge for what your tin can friends did earlier would be nice too…”
“What?” Magnamon asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Never you mind, midget,” the BanchoLeomon taunted. “Just know that you may be a Royal Knight, but you’re outnumbered.”
Magnamon scoffed. “I’ve beaten a lot more than four digimon at once before.”
BanchoLeomon pointed his sword at Magnamon. “Maybe! But never underestimate three Megas.”
Magnamon frowned. “Three? Only two of you are Mega level digimon.”
The lion bandit leader grinned and turned to JewelBeemon. JewelBeemon walked forwards with a smirk, slowly becoming engulfed in the light of evolution. What stepped out of the light was large, four-legged insect digimon who was as black as the night around him. He had four wings sprouting out of his back and two clawed arms. The GranKuwagamon had two long pincers coming out of his jaws. The only things that made him stand out against the darkness were white stripes ornamenting his body and the orange hair coming from his head.
“A GranKuwagamon…” Magnamon thought to himself with growing concern. “Three Megas…” He clenched his fists tightly. “One by one, I would be able to defeat them no problem, but with all of them ganging up on me at once… it’s going to be harder…”
“Genocide Attack!” a voice suddenly screeched from behind him, taking advantage of the situation as he was absorbed in his doubts and what was in front of him.
Magnamon tensed up and started to swing around, but he was too late to do anything. The maximum salvo of Megadramon’s missiles slammed into him, hitting his armour and the ground around him. Magnamon let out a surprised shout as the explosions blasted him into the air.
“Now! Attack!” BanchoLeomon shouted, jumping into action.
Magnamon landed on the ground in a roll, making sure that he would land back on his feet. As soon as he was able to look up, he saw BanchoLeomon descending on him with his sword. Magnamon grunted and sprang to his feet, quickly crossing his arms to block the slash with his gold chrome digizoid arm bracers.
“Magnum Kick!” he responded as he kept holding against the sword. He drove his foot towards BanchoLeomon, but the lion man pounced in reverse before the kick could connect with his waist.
“Heat Viper!” Chimairamon roared suddenly.
The ball of power plummeted onto Magnamon, who couldn’t recover in time to defend himself. The green blast detonated around him, consuming the Royal Knight in the burning energy. Magnamon growled in pain as he was thrown into the air, still swathed in flames.
Chimairamon wasted no time in following him. The giant chimera digimon swooped over him and raised his Kuwagamon arm. He then slammed the hard, exoskeleton-encased arm down on Magnamon’s body, hammering him painfully to the ground.
Magnamon let out a gasp of pain as the wind left his lungs. Wincing as he tried to get to his hands and knees in a bid to try and defend himself, he soon felt another blast of Chimairamon’s Heat Viper attack crush him further into the ground. A growl of pain was torn from this throat as the detonation surged against his back. When it faded, he spat the earthy taste of dirt from his mouth and slowly stood to his feet. He was in pain and panting from his exhaustion.
“Flash Bancho Punch!” BanchoLeomon’s voice resounded from behind him.
Magnamon turned around, raising his sore arms to defend himself, but his movements were too sluggish in the pained state that he was in. BanchoLeomon’s fist connected with Magnamon’s metal mask, energy exploding outwards from BanchoLeomon’s knuckles upon contact, and sent him skidding across the ground on his back. Luckily his helmet absorbed a lot of the hit, but Magnamon still felt concussed and exhausted from the blow.
Magnamon grimaced, slowly trying to prop himself up on their elbows. “They’re working so well as a team… They’re not letting me have even a second to breathe. The attacks are relentless,” he thought to himself. “If I could just… have a few seconds to counterattack…”
Before he could even begin to stand, he saw Chimairamon’s SkullGreymon arm swing down and bash him against the ground again. The skeletal arm then collected Magnamon in his grip, the bony fingers curling around his body. Magnamon growled, trying to fight against the hand, attempting to get one or both of his arms out of Chimairamon’s hold. However, Chimairamon gave Magnamon a tight, crushing squeeze, causing the dragon digimon to give a sharp groan of pain.
“Have to… use that attack…” Magnamon thought under a pained grimace. “If I could just--!”
Before he could finish that thought, Chimairamon let go, violently throwing Magnamon through the air. Magnamon felt his back collide with something hard and painful. Before he could turn to see what it was, he felt two long, hard, black things clamp tightly around his biceps. He looked down and saw that they were GranKuwagamon’s pincers binding him like a vice. GranKuwagamon then grabbed Magnamon’s wrists in his claws and pinned them to his sides as well.
Magnamon grimaced and struggled against the insect desperately. “Damn it…!”
BanchoLeomon grinned. “Get the rope, Chimairamon,” he told the bandit. “Now we have our real hostage.”
“What?!” Magnamon demanded, glaring at the lion furiously.
“Maybe the Royal Knights wouldn’t pay ransom for a scout, but what about for a fellow Royal Knight?” the BanchoLeomon suggested. “That would be a handsome sum of Digits for somebody like you.”
“You’re even stupider than you look,” Magnamon replied matter-of-factly. “They would never give in to those kinds of underhanded tactics.”
“No?” BanchoLeomon asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, too bad. We need something to show for the destruction of our hideout and the deletion of three of our comrades. Maybe we’ll just sell you to the highest bidder. You Royal Knights have made a lot of enemies over the years, haven’t you? Maybe somebody who really hates you will pay a nice amount of money for you.”
“I haven’t lost yet,” Magnamon retorted, fighting stubbornly against the GranKuwagamon’s hold. “It will take more than this to take down a Royal Knight!”
“Oh?” GranKuwagamon asked, crushing his arms tighter with his strong pincers. It took everything Magnamon had not to elicit any show of pain.
“We’ll see,” Chimairamon said, approaching him with rope stretched out in his hands.
Magnamon clenched his teeth, watching as the bandit grew closer. “Do I have enough energy for that attack?” Magnamon asked himself, feeling a tinge of nervousness in his heart. “If I don’t… that’s it. I’ll have made a complete fool of myself. Worse than that, actually. I’ll be a burden to my friends when they need to come and rescue me. And for what…? To spite UlforceVeedramon? What was I thinking…?”
The Royal Knight gave a soft sigh, watching as Chimairamon closed in and readied the rope. “I just have to time this right…” he thought, trying to stay as calm as possible.
Magnamon looked up and glared at the Chimairamon. The Chimairamon smirked, unaware that Magnamon was slowly activating the turbines in his armour.
Suddenly, there was a flash of cobalt blue behind Chimairamon. Chimairamon’s smirk disappeared and his expression turned into one of shock and pain. The rope dropped from his hands.
BanchoLeomon raised an eyebrow and looked at the stunned chimera digimon. “Chimairamon? What are you waiting for?” he asked him. “Tie him up already.”
The hybrid creature didn’t reply. It was then that BanchoLeomon noticed a deep gash running through Chimairamon’s back, leaking data into the air. “What?!” he demanded.
Within moments, Chimairamon burst into data particles.
Magnamon blinked in shock and confusion. That wasn’t his doing; he was still building up power for his attack, as evident by the gold particles slowly drifting out of his shoulder and hip armour.
“What the hell was that?!” GranKuwagamon demanded, looking around but not letting go of Magnamon.
“Oh,” a voice said calmly. “That was me. Sorry.”
Magnamon’s eyes widened. He knew that voice…
He turned to look to the left and saw a familiar azure form. UlforceVeedramon turned around, the Ulforce Sabres on his arms activated and glowing. He gave Magnamon a small grin.
“UlforceVeedramon…” Magnamon said, the surprise obvious in his voice.
“Another Royal Knight!?” BanchoLeomon roared.
“Rule Three of the Royal Knights’ Code!” UlforceVeedramon replied with a wry smile. “A Royal Knight never leaves another Royal Knight in his time of need!”
“Get him!” BanchoLeomon ordered Megadramon, lunging UlforceVeedramon as well. “Aim for his torso! He doesn’t have armour there!”
“Ultimate Slicer!” Megadramon snarled, diving down to meet UlforceVeedramon, clamping his jagged claws together to use them for cutting.
UlforceVeedramon grinned calmly and raised his Ulforce Sabres. “Oh, you noticed? All the girls stare at my midriff too.”
“Ulforce!” Magnamon called out to him. “Get him over here!”
UlforceVeedramon nodded. Due to his extreme swiftness, he was able to deftly avoid Megadramon’s slash. He darted past him and grabbed Megadramon’s long tail. With a sharp heave, Ulforce yanked him hard towards where Magnamon and GranKuwagamon were, sending him flying back in that direction. When Megadramon attempted to right himself, UlforceVeedramon deactivated one of his swords and slammed his fist into Megadramon’s chest, pushing him harder in that direction.
Megadramon winced and counterattacked on pure impulse. “Genocide Attack!” he roared, pumping a flurry of bombs from his cannons.
UlforceVeedramon grimaced and recoiled, quickly bringing up his left arm. “Tensegrity Shield!” he shouted, hastily activating the multidirectional barrier from his left V-Bracelet.
The hexagonal force field expanded all around the Royal Knight. The barrage of missiles slammed into the barrier and exploded, battering the sturdy barrier and ripping up grass and dirt everywhere outside of it.
BanchoLeomon lunged out of the way, nearly caught up in one of the explosions. “Watch where you’re shooting, you idiot!” he reprimanded him.
It was then that GranKuwagamon noticed that there was something going on with his captive. Magnamon was engulfed in a golden aura and it kept on getting thicker. “B-Boss!” GranKuwagamon said loudly, gaining the BanchoLeomon’s attention. “What’s he doing?!”
“I don’t know, but stop him!” BanchoLeomon commanded, looking between them and UlforceVeedramon.
GranKuwagamon snarled and started tightening his grip even more, now cutting off the circulation to Magnamon’s arms.
Although Magnamon grimaced in pain, he refused to cease the emission of the golden aura. The light lit up the darkness around them with a brilliant gold glow. He turned to look at UlforceVeedramon with determination in his eyes. “Ul… force. Now!” he yelled to him.
“Understood!” UlforceVeedramon replied with a nod. He turned to the Megadramon who was still reeling and trying hard to get his bearings. The V-shaped crest on his blue digizoid armour began gleaming brightly, adding another light to the dark. “The Ray of Victory!”
A v-shaped ray of intense light surged from the crest on his chest. It slammed into Megadramon, searing him and throwing him the rest of the way towards Magnamon. As soon as he was near, Magnamon snarled and focused, putting much of his energy into what he was about to do next.
“Extreme Jihad!”
Magnamon tilted his head back and wrenched his wrists free from GranKuwagamon. The golden aura around his body suddenly burst and swelled outwards in every direction. It swallowed both GranKuwagamon and Megadramon up in the light of Miracles and melted them away.
BanchoLeomon swung around, shielding his eyes with his arms as the light approached him. “WHAAAT?!” he roared as the golden radiance flooded towards him, lighting up the night with an eerily beautiful glow.
After a minute, the light began to subside. The conscious bandits were gone and there was nothing left around Magnamon but a crater in the ground. Magnamon hovered in the air for a few moments, before suddenly dropping. He fell towards the ground, completely exhausted from the attack.
He knew he was going to hit the ground, and it was probably going to hurt. However, to his surprise, he felt himself land softly. UlforceVeedramon had swooped down and caught Magnamon in his arms before he could hit the ground. Magnamon opened his eyes and looked up at him, smiling weakly. UlforceVeedramon gave him an honest smile and flew him back up to completely destroyed ruins.
He landed on the ground and gently put Magnamon down on the grass.
“Did we get them all…?” Magnamon asked weakly.
UlforceVeedramon looked around the area. “I think so…” he replied.
“Aquilamon’s okay?” Magnamon questioned, trying to get up.
UlforceVeedramon tried to push him back down. “He’s fine,” he replied, looking over his shoulder to where the bound eagle was trying to blink the spots out of his eyes after the bright attack that Magnamon performed.
Magnamon nodded silently. He soon found himself grimacing and looking away in shame. “If you want to laugh at me, you can. I deserve it,” he replied guiltily.
UlforceVeedramon sighed and sat down cross-legged across from him. “I don’t want to laugh at you, Magnamon…” he told him. “I just want to know what’s going on in that head of yours. You were like a different digimon today. I know I’m to blame, but…”
The Royal Knight looked up at UlforceVeedramon with embarrassment. “It’s more me than you, Ulforce…” he told him. He found himself forced to look away again as he said the words. “I’m… insecure,” he admitted in a sheepish voice.
“Insecure?” UlforceVeedramon asked.
Magnamon nodded. “About my height. About my supposed ‘cuteness’,” he explained, giving a bit of an ironic yet sad grin. “About my place as a Royal Knight… All the jokes made me start to question myself. If my friends can’t take me seriously, how will anybody else be able to? How am I worthy to be a Royal Knight if I’m a joke?”
“Nobody thinks that you’re a joke, Magnamon…” UlforceVeedramon told him honestly.
“Not even you?” Magnamon asked.
UlforceVeedramon sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “So that’s what all this was about? You running off to prove yourself?”
After a moment, Magnamon slowly nodded. “It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? I’m supposed to be level headed, yet I got myself into that situation,” he said, his embarrassment hidden behind his helmet. “It’s the truth though… I went off alone to prove that I could complete the mission without you.”
“I see…” the winged knight responded carefully, looking over at Magnamon.
Magnamon grimaced. “It was so childish and reckless. I don’t know, Ulforce. Maybe it’s today. I suppose the jokes really got under my scales and I somehow got it in my head that I needed to prove that I was worthy to be a Royal Knight or something like that,” he explained.
UlforceVeedramon gazed at him with a meaningful look in his eyes. “You don’t need to prove yourself to anybody, Magnamon,” he told him. “Everybody respects you.” UlforceVeedramon paused for a minute. “Especially me.”
“You do?” Magnamon asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah… I know I’m not very good at showing how I really feel,” UlforceVeedramon told him sheepishly. “But to be perfectly honest, you’re the digimon who I respect the most out of the Royal Knights.” When he saw Magnamon’s surprised expression, he smiled a bit. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Anyways, you remember when I first joined the Royal Knights, right? You were the one I had my first practice session with.”
“I remember…” Magnamon said, wondering where this was going.
UlforceVeedramon grinned a bit. “I remember when I first saw that you were my opponent. I remember how cocky I was. I thought you were just this short, lanky dragon in pretty armour while I was this big, fast, flying master,” he recalled.
“…Get to your point,” Magnamon told him with a flat, warning glance.
Ulforce chuckled. “And then you completely dominated me in that practice fight. I mean, you wiped the floor with me,” UlforceVeedramon said. “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know how someone of your stature could do that so easily. It was then that I realized that there was a lot more to you than meets the eye. You immediately gained my respect that day.”
“I… never knew that,” Magnamon replied, sounding genuinely surprised.
UlforceVeedramon nodded, still rubbing the back of his neck. “I owe you an apology, Magnamon. A series of them, it sounds like. I’m sorry if I offended you with any jokes I made. I really didn’t mean to be insulting or condescending,” he told him.
Magnamon grimaced. “Ulforce. You don’t have to do that…” he answered.
“Yeah, I do…” Ulforce said, frowning. “I don’t make jokes to make you feel bad about yourself. I tease you because… well, because you’re my friend. I guess it’s my weird way of showing you that I like you. It’s the same reason I tease the others too… I know it’s not the best way of showing my affection. I don’t mean any offence to anyone when I do it, but I guess that’s not always that obvious, is it? …I’ll try to hold back on it,” he offered with a smile.
“No…” Magnamon replied, smiling a bit. “You wouldn’t be Ulforce if you did that.”
Ulforce grinned. “Well… just tell me whenever you want me to shut up,” he told him.
Magnamon’s smile grew wider. “I will hold you to that,” he joked.
Ulforce gave a soft laugh before quieting down. “…By the way, I know that today is the anniversary of your induction into the Royal Knights,” he told him.
Blinking with surprise, Magnamon slowly sat up. “You do…?”
“Yeah…” Ulforce replied. “I suppose today is why you felt so much pressure, isn’t it?”
Magnamon nodded and sighed. “I’m sure that has something to do with it, yes,” he responded. He then frowned as he remembered their encounter in the morning. “Why did you pretend that you didn’t know today was my induction anniversary?”
“We were going to have a small celebration for you in the cafeteria this evening. But since you didn’t show up due to coming here early, well…” UlforceVeedramon awkwardly scratched his cheek, grinning a bit. “I guess in retrospect, I should have known today wasn’t a good day to poke fun and play games with you.”
Magnamon shook his head. “I should be apologizing to you, Ulforce. I’ve been horrible to you all day. I had no right to be,” he told him, looking down in shame. His eyes fell on UlforceVeedramon’s bandaged hand, making him remember accidentally scratching him earlier. He grimaced. “…I’m really sorry,” he said softly.
UlforceVeedramon grinned. “Hey… Let’s just say we both did stupid things, we both forgive each other, and leave it at that, okay? I’m sure neither of us wants a big, sappy moment, do we?” he said lightheartedly.
Magnamon chuckled a bit. “Okay, then. That sounds fine to me.” A grimace of pain then grew on his face. “Rrr… “
“Are you okay?” Ulforce asked with some concern.
“Yes. I’m fine,” Magnamon insisted. “It’s nothing serious. I’m just sore all over…”
“Then it looks like you could use some help when we head back to the headquarters,” UlforceVeedramon observed.
Magnamon opened his mouth to protest, but he thought better of it and nodded. “Very well.”
UlforceVeedramon stood up and offered his hand. Magnamon took it and was pulled up to his feet. Magnamon looked past UlforceVeedramon to where Aquilamon was still lying. “I guess we had better—“
“HEY!” a voice called out from behind them.
As they turned around, a tall figure swooped down from the sky and landed in front of them. The two Royal Knights immediately reacted. UlforceVeedramon activated the Ulforce Sabre on his right V-Bracelet, and Magnamon raised his fists.
They then stopped and looked in surprise when Ulforce’s beam sword illuminated the figure. It was OuRyuumon.
“Hey, hey, take it easy!” OuRyuumon said, raising his hands in front of him. “Is that any way to welcome us back?”
“Ou…Ryuumon?” UlforceVeedramon asked, turning off his sword.
“What are you doing here…?” Magnamon questioned, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you were with Alphamon and Omegamon.”
“I am!” OuRyuumon replied. He then took on a wide smirk. “They’re just tying up a loose end…”
“So you three are coming back?” UlforceVeedramon asked.
“Yeah,” OuRyuumon said. “We were heading back towards the headquarters when we saw this bright gold light in the distance, so we decided we better check it out. I guess that was you?” he asked, looking at Magnamon.
“Yeah…” Magnamon responded, glancing up at Ulforce.
It was then that OuRyuumon looked behind them, noticing something. “…Why is Aquilamon tied up?” he asked, tilting his head.
“It’s a long story,” Magnamon replied. “Can you go free him, Ulforce?”
UlforceVeedramon nodded and walked over to the scout, who had been patiently waiting. After cutting him loose, they rejoined Magnamon and OuRyuumon. The four turned towards the destroyed ruins and saw Alphamon and Omegamon walking towards them, dragging the unconscious figure of BanchoLeomon. They dropped him beside the knocked out BlackMachGaogamon and Indaramon before walking over to the gathered group.
“I didn’t expect we’d catch up with him again so soon,” Alphamon said with a small grin, turning to look at the captured bandit. He then smiled at the group. “Hello, UlforceVeedramon, Magnamon, Aquilamon,” he greeted. “It feels like it’s been awhile, hasn’t it?”
“Alphamon, Omegamon…” Magnamon greeted with a nod and a smile. “I thought I got him with my Extreme Jihad attack.”
“I thought that was you,” Omegamon said, looking at Magnamon.
Alphamon nodded. “That BanchoLeomon is a slippery one. He escaped from us the other day as well. He must have been fleeing when he ran right into us a few minutes ago.”
“Is that so…?” Magnamon said.
Alphamon frowned when he noticed the state that Magnamon was in. “You’re hurt. What exactly happened here?”
UlforceVeedramon spoke up. “Aquilamon got captured when he came across this bandit hideout. Magnamon and I went to rescue him. They were pretty tough though.”
Magnamon grimaced. “Actually… I went in ahead of Ulforce,” he admitted, not wanting Ulforce to lie for him.
“I see,” Alphamon responded. “Let’s talk about it on the way back to the castle. Omegamon, OuRyuumon, can you help carry those?” he said, looking at the unconscious bandits.
Omegamon nodded quietly, walking with OuRyuumon over to them. Before doing the same, Alphamon looked at Aquilamon. “Are you fit to carry Magnamon on your back?”
“I can manage that, yes,” Aquilamon said with an affirmative nod.
Alphamon nodded. “Good. Let’s start heading back then.”
-
About an hour later, the group of six arrived back at the Royal Knights’ headquarters. They handed the captured bandits over to the jailor for temporary holding at the headquarters until they could transfer them to the main prison in the territory. Despite the late hour, the Royal Knights back at the castle were still up, awaiting Magnamon’s return. They were pleasantly surprised when they saw Alphamon, Omegamon and OuRyuumon with them as well.
“Alphamon!” Dukemon greeted, walking over with a broad smile.
Alphamon grinned as he entered the grand hall and walked up to Dukemon, shaking his hand. “Nice to see you again, Dukemon. How have you been holding up?”
“Fairly good,” Dukemon replied. “With that said, I won’t be sad to hand the leader position back to you.”
Alphamon chuckled. “It’s harder than it looks, isn’t it?”
“It’s nice you see you all back,” Duftmon said, though the sentiment hardly showed in his voice. “However, what exactly were you three doing?”
“I’ll address that in the meeting tomorrow, Duftmon,” Alphamon told him.
“I hope you will,” Duftmon said, folding his arms.
Alphamon smiled. “I actually missed your impossibly high standards and your snide comments,” he remarked with a short laugh.
Duftmon looked away, although glancing at Alphamon for a brief moment. “…Hmph…”
“He’s so cute when he’s indignant,” Dukemon laughed. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as the mantle of leader was returned to Alphamon. He no longer had to be so professional all the time, and he could act more informal like he preferred. However, Dukemon felt respect for Alphamon for having to assume that role all the time. It was no small task.
“You should go see Duskmon about those injuries, Magnamon,” Examon advised, noticing the bruises on his arms and chest.
“Ah ah!” RhodoKnightmon said, stepping forwards. “Not so fast.”
“What?” Magnamon said, raising an eyebrow.
“You never showed up in the cafeteria for that celebration we were having for you,” Dynasmon said, folding his arms. “I’m sure all of us feel that our induction anniversaries are special days for us, so we’re not about to let you go without celebrating with us.”
“And I’m not about to waste all of that delicious food that I made!” RhodoKnightmon insisted.
Magnamon frowned, thinking it over a little. He didn’t want to be any more trouble today, but it sounded like they went to a lot of effort.
UlforceVeedramon placed his hand on Magnamon’s shoulder, smiling down at him. “Come on, Magnamon. I bet you’re hungry after all that.”
Magnamon smiled a bit, prompting Dukemon to take on a pleased expression. It looked like they had patched things up.
“Well…” Magnamon said, appearing to be tentatively compliant.
“I think you mean ‘why yes, I would love to!’” RhodoKnightmon insisted. “I won’t take no for an answer, so come along already, you!”
Magnamon let out a shout of surprise as RhodoKnightmon extended and wrapped one of his long, yellow ribbons around Magnamon’s arms and upper body, impatiently dragging him down the hall towards the cafeteria. Magnamon growled and struggled against him, not liking what was happening one bit.
“H-Hey! Stop this! I said stop! …RHODOKNIGHTMON!”
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