Digimon: Codename BAN-TYO

[Hotshot]

DIGIMON
Codename BAN-TYO​

All was calm. The afternoon sky was clear, with only a couple of clouds rolling past by and by. The sun shone down, spreading its light over the sea of forest below. An endless ocean of trees stretched as far as the eye could see, obscuring the ground beneath from view almost entirely. Still, the sun's rays seemed to find every nook and cranny, lighting up the forest-floor with bright specks and thin beams of light.

Under the treetops, a soft, rhythmic padding could be heard. Dozens of soldiers came into view, marching in tune with each other. They proceeded through the dense forest quietly, not a word being uttered. The only possible alert to their presence was the soft sound their feet made as they walked and the large size of their company.

There were soldiers of all sorts: a squadron of Commandramon surrounding the group, nearly a dozen Sealsdramon mingled with their Commandramon-brethren, a handful of Mekanorimon (each piloted by a Commandramon), several Guardromon placed within the ranks, a couple of Tankmon, and a single Tankdramon made up their small faction. At their head marched an Andromon.

They were the D-Brigade, soldiers of the Machine Empire. And they were here on a mission. An enemy of the Empire, "Codename BAN-TYO", as he was called, was reported to be active in this general vicinity. They had orders to kill him and anyone with him.

Little did they know, however, that they were being watched.

============

A large BanchoLeomon slid down behind a massive boulder, landing nimbly beside his brother, a Leomon. Placing a huge hand on the smaller Leomon's shoulder, the BanchoLeomon murmured, "They're here, Frey. Time to put the plan into action."

Without waiting for a response, the BanchoLeomon continued, "It's a relatively small group. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm not taking any chances, though. You know the drill, right? I give the signal, Jimmy, Achilles, and Sunda will appear and set fire to our dear friends. Then come the long-ranged guys, Zell, Dias, and Gazpacho. They'll unleash everything they've got...and the rest of us will finish the job."

The BanchoLeomon closed his eyes and whispered, "Justice will be served."

And with that, Babel Leorius disappeared into the forest.

==========

As the D-Brigade came into a clearing, they found themselves surrounded by trees on every side. The Andromon called them to a halt and sent two Sealsdramon to scout out the area. They waited for several moments before a loud crash caught their attention. All eyes turned to the top of an enormous hill that loomed over the treetops and the clearing below. Atop this hill stood a silhouetted form against the afternoon sun. Every member of the D-Brigade recognized him instantly.

He held a Sealsdramon by the neck in each hand. With a swing of his arms, he flung them effortlessly into the forests below. Now looming ominously above his enemies, the BanchoLeomon fixed his gaze on the small army.

The Andromon who led them took a step back and whispered, "Codename BAN-TYO..."

Babel Leorius threw back his head and unleashed a savage roar that shook the foundations of the forest and sent chills up the spines of his enemies. The lion's thunderous roar resounded across the treetops and through the dense woods below. Before the D-Brigade, very much taken aback by their enemy's sudden appearance, could open fire, three forms erupted (quite literally) from among the trees.

They spread fire everywhere they went, imprisoning the D-Brigade in a torturous inferno.

"Sunda! Achilles!" shouted one of the three fire-spreaders, tearing through the soldiers with deadly flames. "Catch 'em in a ring! I'll take middle!"

In an explosion of fire, the FlameWizardmon leaped over the heads of several enemies, raining smoldering embers down on them as he went. He landed in the center of the now-chaotic army, a wicked grin plastered all over his face.

Jimmy Inferno raised his hands high, decorating each fingertip with a red-hot fireball.

"Fire Cloud!" he bellowed, unleashing all of his blazing might on the surrounding soldiers. They cried out in agony as tongues of fire mercilessly lashed out at them. Among the writhing D-Brigade stood Jimmy Inferno, the FlameWizardmon, laughing maniacally. "Kahahahahahahahahahaha! Fire Cloud! Fire Cloud! Fire Cloud!"

((OOC: Okay, guys, time to jump into the action! It doesn't matter if you're not one of the fire-spreaders or the long-ranged guys. Just jump out and start attacking.))

 

[Griff4815]

"YAHAHAHAH!" a raspy voice bellowed in exhuberance and delight. "Genocide Attack! Genocide Attack!"

The serpentine form of a Megadramon unleashed burst after burst from the two cannons on his arms. "HAHAH! This is just too much fun!" Zellion cackled as he shot another organic bomb into the ranks of the D-Brigade squad below.

"I'm thrilled you're havin' such a stinkin' good time!" one of Zell's organic bombs said from inside his right cannon. "You're not about be blowded up! ...Or maybe ya are. I can only hope."

"Put a lid on it and explode like a good munition!" Zell said with a sneer.

"Wha? You mean right now? Okay, if you say so-"

"Genocide Attack!" the Megadramon shouted, launching the bomb from his cannon. "Heehee... Bye bye!" he said, waving to the departing explosive with his left.

"Stuff it, ya overgrown snake thi--" the bomb retorted before blowing up on contact with a Sealsdramon, the resulting explosion catching two Commandramon around him in it.

"Heh heh... Commencing bombardment! Hahahah! Genocide Gear!" Zell howled, firing two bombs from his cannons similtaneously.

The blue form of a Coredramon was almost hit by these two bombs as he dove through the air towards the D-Brigade horde. "Yo, scale-butt! Watch it!" one of the two bombs called out to the cobalt dragon.

"What?" Erthint said, looking over his shoulder in his dive to see the dual bombs headed straight for him. "Gah!" he sputtered. He performed an expert barrel roll, allowing the bombs to pass by him, one on each side on his body.

As they exploded after hitting their Mekanorimon targets, Erthint halted his dive and spun around. "Watch where you're aiming, Zell!" he snapped. "You almost blew me up!"

"Heh heh... Sorry..." the Megadramon replied, sounding anything but. Zell then decided to dive closer to the battlefield so that he could pick his targets better.

Erthint sneered, raced into the horde and landed feet-first on top of a Commandramon.

"Blue Flare Breath!" he growled. Blazing azure flames rushed forth from his mouth and engulfed two Commandramon who were hastily raising their rifles to fire.

"Strike Bomber!" Upon noticing a digimon charging from behind, Erthint spun around and slammed his muscular tail into a Sealsdramon's torso, throwing him back into the now-chaotic rank-and-file.

The Coredramon glanced to the side and reeled back once he saw a knife-wielding Sealsdramon lunging at him in mid-air. Erthint raised his sharp claws and readied his breath attack to retaliate. Before he could meet the Sealsdramon's charge, the D-Brigade soldier exploded in a fiery blast that sent Erthint sliding across the charred grass.

"How's that for watching where I'm aiming? Hahahah!" a familiar raspy voice asked.

Erthint opened his red eyes and sneered. Through the black smoke emerged Zell's serpentine form, which passed over Erthint and grinned.

"Thanks, I guess..." the Coredramon muttered, hopping to his feet. He then drove his fist into the face of a Sealsdramon before following up with besetting his enemy in a cobalt inferno.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Sealsdramon ripped over the grass on his rollerblade-like boots (though they were much more efficiant and innovative, having the ability to roll in any direction that the Sealsdramon wished). He headed straight into the fray. He, however, wasn't a regular Sealsdramon; he wasn't with the D-Brigade. The cyborg digimon was named Cael Sengore.

He lunged into the air doing a somersault over the ring of flames surrounding the swarm and plowed the sole of his boot in the snout of an unlucky Commandramon. A few of the Commandramon surrounding Cael looked at him in confusion.

"Don't be fooled! He's one of the rebels!" a Sealsdramon shouted.

"Hey now! You say that like it's a bad thing..." Cael said, smirking. The five Commandramon around him all looked at him and raised their rifles at him in unison. "...That always gave me the creeps back in the Brigade," he muttered before disappearing just as they fired.

The squad of Commandramon ceased fire and looked around, trying to locate their Sealsdramon opponent. Then one of the Commandramon felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Cael standing behind him, tossing something up and down in his hand.

"Ahh, I missed throwing these DCD bombs," Cael said, eyeing the grenade in his hand that he swiped off of the Commandramon. "They always made such a satisfying sound when they exploded... Observe!"

The Sealsdramon then flicked the off the safety mechanism with his thumb and hurled it towards the center of the group. It promptly exploded, taking four of the five Commandramon with it. Cael looked down at the remaining one beside him and grinned. "...See?"

The Commandramon growled and raised his weapon to blast Cael, but the Sealsdramon grabbed the fore-end of the rifle, ripped it from the Commandramon's grasp and proceeded to whack the stock of the gun across the digimon's face, sending him flying.

The Sealsdramon squad leader promptly drew his combat knife. Cael did the same in near synchronized timing. At the exact same moment, in the exact same style, the two Sealsdramon threw their knives at each other. Cael, however, knew exactly where his foe would be aiming, for it was the same place that he had aimed. They had both assessed each other's weak points with their scouters.

The two blades passed each other through the air. In the moment that Cael let go of his knife, he darted his head to the side and dropped to his knees. The D-Brigade Sealsdramon through his knife first, so it was the first to make contact. The bladed projectile, hit Cael's helmet-protected cheek, slicing through the metal and into his flesh, wounding Cael, but only superficially.

Cael winced but refused to take his eyes off his own knife. He felt a sense of relief upon seeing his combat dagger stab into the Sealsdramon's neck. His foe staggered to the ground before disappearing a cloud of data. Cael pressed his hand against his bleeding cheek and rushed forwards to grab his knife.

"Okay, where now?" he muttered as he withdrew his knife from the grass.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Zell guffawed as he flew over the ranks of the D-Brigade squadron, strafing them with bombs as he went.

"Twin Beam," a voice droned. One linear beams struck Zell in the side, causing him to plummet out of the air and smack into the ground.

"Oooh, that's gotta huyt!" a bomb within the barrel of the Megadramon's right cannon observed light-heartedly.

Zell growled and propped himself up on his arms. He glanced down at his chest and saw two burns in his side. His eyes then made their way to the bestower of the attack. The Megadramon saw the large mechanical form of a Mekanorimon, piloted by a Commandramon, stalking towards him.

"Twin Beam," the robot buzzed again. A beam ripped across the ground towards Zell once again. The cyborg dragon had to act fast. He flapped his wings and darted quickly to the side, whipping his tail to increase his propulsion.

"You're on, my lizard-brained friend!" Zell shouted, readying his cannons and flying in an unpredictable fashion through the smoke-filled air. The Mekanorimon watched from the ground, following his every move and trying to lock-on to the dramon.

"I'm not easy to hit, am I?! Hahah! Genocide Attack!" Zell fired two rockets from his hands. They struck the earth just in front of the Mekanorimon, sending two plumes of obfuscating dirt in front of it.

The Commandramon inside the Mekanorimon's cockpit growled, frustrated that his vision was blocked. The dirt finally settled and the smoke began to clear, but he found that his Megadramon target was gone.

"Dang it, where is he?" the Commandramon growled, carefully looking through the glass, scanning the airspace ahead of him.

However, he soon heard the sound of something tapping on glass above him. The Commandramon looked up to see Zellion hovering directly above the cockpit, grinning down at him. He then noticed that the barrel of Zell's cannon-claw was pressed against the apex of the glass dome.

The Commandramon's eyes widened full. "No! Wait--"

"Genocide Attack!"

From Zell's palm shot a bomb, which shattered through the glass and detonated right inside the Mekanorimon's cockpit. The Commandramon pilot was eliminated instantaneously and the large robot blew apart from the inside out in a hail of sparks and flames.

"Hyahahah!" Zell chortled as he rode the explosions upwards into the air. "Talk about fireworks!"

"Nobody was talkin' about fireworks, genius," a bomb said, poking its head out of Zell's left cannon muzzle.

"Nobody asked you..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Cael was having his own Mekanorimon-related problems.

"Twin Beam!" it droned, firing a large, red laser towards him. Cael dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack that passed over his head.

The Mekanorimon lunged into the air and descended towards Cael, hoping to crush him under its great weight. The Sealsdramon quickly rolled to the side before the machine's large foot pounded into the ground with a tremor-inducing thud.

Cael leapt to his feet and raced across the grass behind the Mekanorimon as it was turning to try to face him. He skidded to a halt when he made it to the back of the robot.

"Heh," he chuckled, suddenly getting an idea.

Cael bounded into the air, and landed on top of the large digimon. He jimmied the cockpit hatch's lock with his knife and swung open the glass dome, exposing the Commandramon pilot. Cael grabbed the rookie by his neck and squeezed. The Commandramon suddenly grew limp as a result of Cael's taijitsu striking a nerve point. Cael then thew him out with an effortless toss and hopped into the Mekanorimon cockpit to quickly take the controls.

"Hahah!" he laughed, turning the mecha around. "I haven't piloted one of these things since Selection-D! I hope I'm not too rusty..."

Cael shifted a lever forwards and made the Mekanorimon begin walking. "Let's see... Is this the button that closes the cockpit door?" he asked himself aloud as he tapped one of the switches.

"4-Disk Break" the Mekanorimon droned, firing a quadrinity of disk bombs into the scrambling ranks of the D-Brigade. The resulting explosions sent a couple digimon flying.

"...Okay, wrong button."

 

[PeeGee]

"There we go," muttered Gazpacho, putting his bazooka on his shoulder. "That looks just about right. Junk Chunker!"

He felt the familiar rumble of his bazooka, before a large ball of compressed junk burst from it. The Garbagemon saw the ball slam into a Mekanorimon, smashing the cockpit.

"Yeah, that was definitely right," snickered Gazpacho. "Junk Chunker! Junk Chunker! Junk Chunker!"

More balls of junk flew through the air, hitting several more D-Brigade members.

"Hey watch where you are shooting those things!"

Looking down at the battlefield, Gazpacho saw his friend, right next to a ball of junk.

"Sorry!" called the Garbagemon.

=======================

Mendel shook his head at Gazpacho, his friend could be quite reckless sometimes.

"Grenade Destroyer!"

The Mercurymon turned around and saw a pair of missiles heading towards him.

"Silly machines," said Mendel, "Dark Reflection!"

Mendel held out the mirror on his right arm, and the missiles disappeared into it. He held out his left mirror, and to the Guardromon's surprise the missiles flew out of it and headed straight towards it.

"They never learn," muttered the Mercurymon as Guardromon blew up.

"Really?"

Mendel turned around and saw a Sealsdramon right behind him, wielding his knife.

"So we don't learn do we?" asked the enemy.

Mendel looked at the encroaching dramon, the fear evident in his eyes (well it would be if he had eyes), when he suddenly smirked.

"What's so funny?" demanded the Sealsdramon.

"This," came a reply from behind him, "Junk Chunker!"

A junk ball smashed through Sealsdramon's body, and he soon dissipated into data.

"Thanks Gaz," said Mendel.

"No problems," replied the Garbagemon. "Now lets go kick some D-Brigade butt!"

 

[storymasterb]

With a dark laugh, a burning Asuramon erupted from the trees alongside his comrades, all four fists raised and burning with hellish flames.

"Fire Fist of Shiva!" he roared, hurling his fists forwards and unleashing streams of liquid hellfire from them, consuming several D-Brigade soldiers in flame, which caught the plants around ablaze, eerie shades of red, orange and gold flickering across the panicked soldiers, as Sunda Jambha gave a deep, mocking laugh. "That's right, burn, you sons of bitches!" He frowned, regarding the Guardromon, Andromon and Mekanorimon with a somewhat puzzled look. "And you too, ya hunks of junk, you burn as well!"

They didn't take the poor insult very well, admittedly.

Two Guardromon turned, raising their arms as compartments opened on their bulky bracers. "Guardian Barrage!" they intoned in unison, literally whistling missiles lifting from the compartments and shooting towards Sunda, who gave a leering smirk, baring his teeth. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight.

"Seriously, guys," he jeered, shrugging with all four arms, "you think your little whistles are gonna put out this fire?" Still smirking, he shot his arms forwards, each hand grabbing a whistling missile, all four of which he crushed into scrap, which promptly detonated to no effect, before opening his fists and sending shards of scrap metal cascading to the ground as he began to burn again. "You wanna play with dangerous toys, kiddies? Well, they do say... play with fire..."

His eyes took on a dangerous glint as he suddenly burst forwards towards the bulky Guardromon and he finished the sentence in a roar, "AND YOU'LL GET BURNED! FIRE FIST OF SHIVA!" Flames burned from his fists as he pummeled them into the Guardromon, sending the bulky machines crashing to the ground with dents and scorch marks coating their armor.

Laughing, he delivered swift punches through each of the Champions, ripping through their cores and causing them to fracture into data and scrap metal. In his jeering laughter, he didn't notice the Tankdramon's guns angling towards him...

With a hideous wailing sound, the guns opened up, hurling hot lead towards the celebrating Asuramon, who was still unawares...

CLANG! CLANG! CLANGCLANGCLANG!

Sunda looked back, still smirking, and saw the massive armor-clad Knightmon standing behind him, the knight Digimon using his Crest of Hope-marked shield to weather the firestorm of bullets.

"'Bout time you got into the action," the Asuramon jeered. "I was startin' to get worried you'd miss all the fun machines!"

"Fun?" Lionel Steelheart repeated, straining against the force of bullets hammering against his shield like lead raindrops. "Fun? This is a battlefield, Sunda?"

"Exactly!" his four-armed comrade laughed. "Where else can us guys get so much fun?" Muttering under his breath, Lionel took a step forwards, still holding his shield defensively, feeling the firestorm begin to lighten, evidently the Tankdramon's weapons were near overheating and it needed time to cool them down.

"And besides, nothing beats pummeling these dull ******* tin cans!" Sunda laughed, oblivious to the gauntlet rapidly approaching his face...

WHAM!

"What was that for?!" the Asuramon exclaimed as Lionel's hand returned to his belt, the Knightmon drawing his sword.

"You cursed," Lionel replied, fighting the urge to roll his eyes, feeling the pressure on his shield finally cease. "Now!"

"Now what?!"

"ATTACK!" the knight roared heroically, tossing back his shield and slinging it onto his back before charging forwards, sword raised poised to decapitate the Tankdramon...

"Oh," Sunda said rather less dramatically, before charging in, using a burst of flame from his fists to catch up to Lionel and charge in beside his comrade-in-arms. Both Digimon reached the Tankdramon before it could fire again, sidestepping to avoid savage blows from the mechanized dragon's arms before striking, Lionel taking his blade in both hands, Sunda drawing back all four fists...

"Berserk Sword!"

"Fire Fist of Shiva!"

As Lionel's sword cleaved a gash into one side of the Tankdramon, Sunda's fists hammered a crater-like dent into the other side, the machine roaring in anger at them as they readied to attack again...

 

[Kamotz]

Achilles Cross the Flamedramon whipped himself into a blazing frenzy. With his clawed feet and gauntlets engulfed in flame, he tore into the ranks of the D-Brigade. Fire wasn't the most effective weapon to use against the more mechanical soldiers of the D-Brigade, but it could certainly slow them down. That's why Babel had Jimmy, Sunda, and Achilles continue with this tactic. It set their enemies in chaos and broke their ranks apart.

"Sunda! Achilles!" shouted one of the three fire-spreaders, tearing through the soldiers with deadly flames. "Catch 'em in a ring! I'll take middle!"

"Yeah right, like Sunda cares about the plan," Achilles muttered. He glanced over his shoulder; sure enough, the Asuramon was off in his own little world, roaring and breaking things with no care or concern for the group or their mission. If it weren't for the timely intervention of Lionel, he would very likely have been seriously wounded--or even killed--by the Tankdramon.

"Looks like I'm on my own then," the Flamedramon said. He lit with flame once again. "Fine with me." He leapt out of the fray and turned, racing around the D-Brigade in a wide circle, trailing fire in his wake with every step. He ensnared the machines in a ring of fire.

Achilles skidded to a stop and sprinted back towards the battle. He burst through his fiery wall and landed a vicious dropkick to an unsuspecting Sealsdramon. The mechanized dragon-man stumbled back but quickly recovered in time to defend himself from another flame-fisted strike. A knife suddenly appeared in his hand and he slashed at the fiery-armored dragon. Achilles managed to parry with his armor, but the following haymaker punch laid him out. The Sealsdramon loomed over him, raised his knife, and slashed for a killing blow.

But Achilles was faster. He managed to swing his leg up just in time and blocked the strike with his clawed and armored foot. His other foot found its way into the Sealsdramon's stomach.

"Flaming Fist!" he snarled. He buried his fist in his opponent's stomach and unleashed his fire. It exploded through Sealsdramon and blew him into a cloud of dispossessed data. "Take that, asshat."

Across the battlefield, a lone Grademon--Ryuhei Ulysses--cut a swath through the D-Brigade. The low-level Commandramon didn't stand much of a chance against the mighty warrior. Even their commanding Sealsdramon didn't give him more than a few moments pause. He was too fast, his weapons too sharp, and his skill too great to be bothered by them. It was the other Digimon--the Tankmon, Guardromon, and Mekanorimon--that were most difficult for him to contend with. They were more heavily armored, and he worked that much harder to cut through them with his swords. He could, but even then the damage each single strike inflicted was considerably less because of the Digimons' more resilient nature and greater size.

Ryuhei was beginning to tire.

A hail of gunfire sparked against his golden armor as a troop of Commandramon opened on him. Behimd them, a trio of Tankmon let loose with their cannons and heavy artillery. The blasts struck him and sent him tumbling over the ground. He stabbed one of his swords into the ground and used it to bring himself to a stop.

"Least resistance," he muttered. "The path of least resistance." He glanced to his enemies; there was certainly a lot of resistance in their direction. He could attempt to go around them, but they'd simply end up following him. He would therefore be creating even more resistance. A second volley burst from the Tankmon, and Ryuhei suddenly knew.

He allowed the shells to explode by his feet; they kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke. Then, as the D-Brigade looked for his burnt and charred corpse, he ripped forward. He trailed a flash of gold in his wake, and with a single stroke of his two swords, he had sliced his opponents in half.

Ryuhei looked across the battlefield, searching for signs of his friend Achilles. The Flamedramon was locked in a losing battle with the lone Andromon commander of the D-Brigade. The android was simply too powerful and too strong for the fiery dragon-man to deal with on his own. Given time, and a one-on-one situation, Achilles might have been able to snatch a victory, but the Andromon was a powerful opponent, and Achilles's thoughts were divided between him and the rest of the battle.

"Cross Blade," Ryuhei said calmly. He ripped forward, a golden meteor once again. His blades slashed against the Andromon's torso, but the heavy armor withstood the strike without much effort.

But the attack served its purpose. The Andromon turned and released the grip it held on Achilles's neck. The Flamedramon dropped to the ground and gasped for his returning breath. Ryuhei glanced quickly at his friend and then turned back to the cyborg; it had readied its Lightning Blade and charged clumsily towards him.

As Ryuhei and the Andromon dueled their battle of speed and skill against strength, Achilles managed to catch his breath. He glanced over to his friend; even Ryuhei, as good as he was couldn't last forever against a tireless opponent.

Achilles lit his fists with flame and sent two jets from them. He was propelled over the ground. He flipped to his feet and placed his hands against the earth, once again jetting himself into the air. Achilles spiraled into the sky.

"Watch it, Wings," he said as he brushed by Zellion. An idea suddenly formed, and he smirked sneakily as he eyed the Megadramon. "Oy, Wings! I gotta borrow that big forehead of yours."

Achilles landed on Zell's back and leaped through the air towards his metal-plated head. He coiled his feet beneath him and when he was close enough, he used them to spring from Zell's head and drop back down to earth.

"Fire Rocket!" he shouted. The fires engulfing his body propelled him even faster and he slammed into the Andromon. The cyborg was knocked from his feet and crashed heavily to the ground.

"You're welcome, Brother Ryu," Achilles smirked, standing proudly. "That chrome-plated pansy wasn't that tough."

"Gattling Attack!"

"Brother Achilles!" Ryuhei tackled Achilles to the ground as the Andromon's rockets whirled past them. "You were saying?"

"I was saying that he's pretty tough," Achilles said. "And that we shouldn't underestimate him."

 

[Hotshot]

The soldiers of the D-Brigade were in chaos. The attack had come so suddenly that they could not react in time. With the addition of scorching flames separating them, panic soon followed. They struggled to keep up with their enemies, but the rebels of Codename BAN-TYO hit hard and fast. They just couldn't keep up.

Half a dozen Commandramon managed to organize themselves under the leadership of a Sealsdramon. Just as they prepared to fire a volley upon their enemies, a form rose up from among them. The tall, willowy shadow loomed ominously before them. Turning around, they saw him.

The Undead. Mist.

The Mummymon wore a terrifying grin on his face, and his one visible eye gazed down menacingly at his prey. Before they could so much as blink, Mist's arm shot forward. He grabbed the skull of one of the Commandramon in his huge, clawed hand and crushed it effortlessly. Panic arose once more among the soldiers.

They fumbled for their weapons, but the Mummymon was too fast. He leaped over them, their Sealsdramon-commander included. With one quick motion, he unleashed his own terror upon them, striking them down with his massive machine gun. All but the Sealsdramon fell. But his end would soon come.

The Sealsdramon rushed at Mist, knife drawn. The Mummymon snickered to himself and allowed the blade to plunge deep into his midsection. Grinning evilly, he glared down at the astonished Sealsdramon and rasped, "Surprised?"

A moment later, the D-Brigade soldier was reduced to a cloud of dissipating data.

"Heheheheh," Mist wheezed, removing the knife from his stomach and letting it fall to the ground. He winced at the pain, but it would do him no further harm. After all, he was the undead.

Out of nowhere, two Sealsdramon rushed at the Mummymon, each wielding a knife. Mist scowled and propelled himself off the ground with his hands. He blocked both knife blades with the metal bracers on his legs, spun through the air, and disarmed both Sealsdramon in one swift motion.

Landing on both hands, Mist hurled himself back into the air and sent several whip-like bandages in the direction of his enemies. The bandages wrapped around their forearms, snagging them instantly. Mist front-flipped and flung the two Sealsdramon into the air.

He landed nimbly a moment later, chuckling wheezily to himself. "Heh. I wonder if the D-Brigade has any real soldiers."

"Twin Beam!"

Jimmy, caught in a Mekanorimon's laser, slammed into Mist from behind. The FlameWizardmon, quickly leaping to his feet despite the smoking wound in his stomach, exclaimed, "Not cool, Boo-boo!"

Mist, whirling around, rasped, "Jimmy, what the heck are you doing?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?!" Jimmy Inferno shouted in reply, his gloved hands ignited. "I'm kickin' this guy's butt!"

The Mummymon grinned. "It looks like he's kicking yours."

"Yeah, well, what do you know?" Jimmy growled, rushing back into the heat of battle again. "Fire Cloud!"

A wave of fire washed over his Mekanorimon opponent, but did little harm. The robotic Digimon struck back with a swing of its massive right arm. The FlameWizardmon leaped into the air, somersaulted, and landed on the Mekanorimon's chest. His right hand glowing with orange flame, Jimmy howled, "Magic Ignition!"

The FlameWizardmon plunged his blazing fist into the red sphere on the Mekanorimon's chest, pouring his white-hot fire into the mechanical Digimon's body. A second later, the Mekanorimon exploded in a blast of fire, taking the Commandramon-pilot with it.

Jimmy stood in its place, a ring of charred ground surrounding him. Dusting himself off, the FlameWizardmon glanced over his shoulder at Mist and said, "That's how you kick somebody's butt."

The Mummymon's eye narrowed. "I'm going to tell you what I told my wife...before I killed her."

"And what was that?" Jimmy inquired, smirking.

"'Shut up or I'll kill you,'" Mist said, wiping the smirk off Jimmy's face.

Suddenly, a large figure eclipsed the sun for a split-second. It leaped into the air and hurtled courageously into the fray. As the figure neared, Jimmy and Mist could make out who it was. It was their leader.

"These guys are so screwed," Jimmy muttered, smirking again.

"Flash Bantyo Punch!" Babel roared, slamming his glowing fist into the body of a Guardromon, destroying it completely upon impact. Rising to his feet, Babel Leorius swept the dissipating data away with a swing of his arm. He whirled around expertly and grabbed hold of a Tankmon's cannon. Planting his feet firmly, he spun himself around and hurled the Tankmon through the air.

Brushing his hands together, the BanchoLeomon said, "Alright, gang. We've thinned the ranks. Time to finish the job. For the sake of our own protection, leave no survivors."

Jimmy began to laugh maniacally. Mist just grinned.

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

A Commandramon looked around, narrowing his eyes and looking for enemies to lodge his bullets into or explode into bits and pieces with his grenade. He was definitely one of the best combatants in his patrol, but he lacked the proper equipment to make sure he wasn’t completely vulnerable…which was why he wasn’t able to do anything when one, two, and one final third arrow – large, half-javelin-sized ones – went through him.

Many meters away, a Sagittarimon galloped almost leisurely away from enemy lines, though he had to make sure to watch himself whenever he got near enemy range. His quick eyes scanned the area once more as he notched two arrows on his longbow at the same time, since three was still a bit difficult. The two arrows, although hitting, didn’t hit where he wanted it to. He’ll have to practice some other time. Right now, he needed to make sure he was being good support.

He let out a small smile when he spotted a mass of enemy Digimon get knocked away and into the air, often accompanied by a loud, feminine but strong warcry.

“Dea!” he called out as he started dashing towards her, aiming his arrows at the head of a distracted Sealsdramon. “Judgment Arrow.” He let loose the readied projectiles into the air, and he gave a silent cheer when it stopped the Sealsdramon in his tracks and onto the ground before he could throw his knife into a weapon-swinging and ass-kicking D’Arcmon’s back.

The mentioned angel warrior Digimon looked behind her as she swung her sword with a horizontal sweep, forcing away an approaching Guardromon. “Dias! What are you doing!?” she questioned with narrowed eyes. “Diasmund! You’re supposed to be in the rear lines acting as support!” she added as she glanced to her side and stabbed at the air threateningly at the wary Commandramon that tried to get close.

“But I wanted to- Dea! Look out!” Dias suddenly said, quickly accelerating his gallop and lengthening his strides, forcefully pushing and shoving away those that weren’t fast enough to get out of his path.

Deandrea, meanwhile, had reflexively rolled forwards, knowing that whenever the Sagittarimon’s eyes widened up like that, she had to move and move quickly. She did right, escaping having the Gaurdrmon’s Warning Laser from burning a hole through her back. She quickly placed her spear in its holder and narrowed her eyes, brandishing her second blade.

“La Pucelle!”

Her slender swords suddenly shined brightly for a few seconds, and only a few seconds was needed to force those around her to shield their eyes and/or temporarily go blind. The Guardromon, being more machine than flesh, however, wasn’t affected by the blinding light. But it wasn’t fast enough to escape the D’Arcmon’s suddenly stronger slashes that cut through its metal hide.

Deandrea ended up behind the Gaurdrmon just as it fell into pieces, her swords loosing their glow as they got sheathed behind her back.

“That was awesome, Dea!” Dias’ voice suddenly complimented as the large quadruped appeared behind her with a larger grin.

The D’Arcmon rolled her eyes but patted her long-time companion on the back. “If you must be in the thick of battle, then stay close,” she told him as she turned back to her foes.

“Don’t I always?” he asked sincerely, although he too turned to his enemies, three arrows notched in his bow. It was really hard to miss when his target was this close. And his long-proven-to-be-sturdy bow made for a good club when he didn’t have time to notch another one.

“And if things get too messy, you could always get on my back and go running through them like we always did back before-“

“Pay attention to the battle, Diasmund!”

-------------------------------------------------------------

“One look away, and already he disappears. For once, why can’t he think about the one that always has to worry whether he’ll still have two living brothers by the end of the next hour?” a worried voice muttered through the clangs of metal, explosions of bombardments and yells of battle. “Then again, if he did, then he wouldn’t be him. On the other hand, I doubt neither of us would be in this predicament in the first place if he weren’t,” the voice continued as its Leomon owner dashed under a D-Brigade Sealsdramon’s knife before the weapon could impale itself on a muscled neck. The uniformed army Digimon was subsequently cut down by a large blade and knocked back into its Commandramon allies, allowing the supposed target a moment’s reprieve.

“Family sure is complicated,” Frey muttered to himself. He sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head, before opening them again at the sound of clicking firearms. He tensed up at the sight in front of him. There were five assault rifles aimed at him that he could see, and probably a few more that he couldn’t. “And apparently, so is the situation I’ve got myself in,” he added.

‘Mental note: monologues in the heat of battle gets you into sticky situations,’ he half-berated and half-admonished himself.

“Fire!” the lead Commandramon ordered. In a span of few seconds, bullets started shooting towards Frey at alarming velocities, and he knew it was going to hurt if he got hit…which was why he dodged and rolled to his side just like his father had taught him and his brothers before him.

He thought to himself that he must have done something right, since the only injury he got out of the situation was a nick on the shoulder, and his action had positioned him right beside one of the Commandramon assailants that had surrounded him.

“Juouken!”

Frey gave the surprised Commandramon an golden energy-charged jab on his face, effectively malforming the cyborg dragon’s muzzle and pushing back into its allies, knocking them down like a row of dominoes. The Leomon then spun around, catching the DCD Bomb that the Commandramon at his back hurled at him and without even thinking about it, threw it right back to the suddenly screaming owner.

The Leomon braced himself against the explosion’s short shockwave and winced as his ears momentarily ringed from the reverberating boom. He shook his head and thanked that he was able to hear the bomber’s effortful grunt as he threw the bomb, or he might have lost a limb or two by then.

He then had to steady himself as the ground suddenly shook beneath him and a shadow fell upon him. He cursed, recognizing the Mekanorimon shadow, and jumped forwards at the sound of a 4-Disk Break being shouted and landing behind him. He spun in the air, then landed, spun and sprung on his hands to land a few feet away on his feet and facing the Commandramon-piloted vehicle Digimon.

“I do not have time for this,” he said a bit anxiously. “I need to find Babel before he gets in over his head!”

The Leomon dashed at his opponent, his sword drawn. He jumped into the air, dodging a grabbing mechanical claw, and landed on the machine head, right above the glass cockpit. Frey gave a roar as he drove his weapon down the cockpit, shattering the glass and piercing right through its occupant. Or at least, it almost did.

Frey muttered a short and sincere apology, recognizing the expression of intense fear that had reflexively caused him to redirect the aim of his thrust before it could strike, making it strike between the Commandramon’s legs, just a few inches away from his crotch. The idea of it, however, seemed to have caused the pilot to black out a few seconds after Frey said his apologies, and the Leomon shook his head once more before looking forwards.

“There he is!” he said as he spotted a familiar cloaked figure many meters away. “Gotta get there quick,” he muttered as he jumped off the Mekanorimon and charged at the approaching Commandramon that blocked his path towards his brother.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

With the initial surprise attack well under way, the D-Brigade... brigade, was naturally in disarray. A small group of Commandramon broke off from the group, most likely intent on fleeing. And now, it was the job of this little trio to make sure that they didn't get far.

"Alright, you ready Aakio?" Versa the Witchmon asked.

Aakio, a Quetzalmon nodded his reply. "Let's get 'em."

"You heard 'em Zen, let's do it." Versa said as she erupted from the bushes on her broom. She circled the Comandramon group from a moment before launching her attack.

"Baluluna Gale!"

Aakio joined in quickly. "Wind Seeker!"

Trapped between the two wind attacks, the Commandramon had no were to run to escape the powerful and cutting (literally) bursts of wind. Several of their number were cut down quickly, and the few remaining survivors raised their weapons to counter attack.

A shadowy blur erupted from the undergrowth, the figure flipping through the air on powerful wings as it cut down the remaining Comandramon with the violet energy blades that came from each of its wrists. With a flourish, the Stingmon finally slowed to a stop, the last Comandramon hitting the ground seconds later. He stood without a word and dissipated the energy blades as he looked at the faces of his friends.

Versa just stared for a moment. "Wow, nice moves Zen."

"You know, you don't have to show off so much." Aakio said.

Zen just shrugged his shoulders and indicated the now Comandramonless clearing with a wave of his hand, bowing afterwards.

"Humble or not, at least he gets the job done." Versa smirked.

Aakio tilted his head. "Can't argue with the results."

Zen smiled and folded his arms with a nod of his head. The not so distant sounds of battle soon interrupted however, and Zen pointed off towards the main battle.

"Zen's right, we should get back to the others." Aakio said.

"We were supposed to take care of the cowards you know, but I like Zen's plan better." Versa said with a wink directed at the silent Stingmon. "Lets hop to it."

Their brief battle hadn't gone unoticed however, as a Tankmon and a Mechanorimon plowed through the trees, to face their group. The Tankmon gave a roar as the Mechanorimon simply stood there menacingly.

Aakio turned to Versa, "You were saying?"

Versa waved her hand at the Quetzalmon. "Whatever, it just saves us the trouble of finding them. Now stop complaining and fight 'em already!"

"I'll take the suit." Aakio said as he took flight towards the Mechanorimon.

The Tankmon had already opened fire, but Versa and Zen hadn't taken any major hits yet, probably because they could both fly pretty fast.

"He always take the easy ones." Versa pouted. One of the Tankmon's bullets zipped right past her head however, punching a neat little hole through the brim of her hat. "That's it, I've had enough of this guy. Zen, Blender Combo!"

The Stingmon nodded as he dodged the Tankmon's barrage of fire. He didn't ignite his blades though, but merely jumped in closer, trying to draw the Tankmon's fire.

"Aquary Pressure!" With a wave of her hand, Versa called forth a burst of water from thin air. The jet of water hit the Tankmon like the blast from a pressure washer and threw his aim so far off he was nearly shooting Aakio and the Mechanorimon as he tried to get the water jet out of his face.

As silent as a ninja, Zen shot forward, igniting his violet energy blades as he spun into the Tankmon like a drill, The Tankmon gave a gurgled cry of pain as Zen shot from the other side of his body and skidded across the ground as he came to a landing, bits of the Tankmon's data flowing through the air behind him.

Aakio meanwhile had managed to wrap himself around the Mechanorimon.

"Freezing Wave!"

Waves of blueish light came from Aakio's body, sending sparks from the Mechanorimon, who promptly locked up and shrugged over, completely immobilized.

Aakio unwrapped himself just as the Comandramon pilot flipped open the dome at the top of the Mechanorimon. He raised his gun as Aakio raised his tail.

"Toltec Wind!" A gust of strange wind blew past the Commandramon, who nearly dropped his gun as his brain became muddled and mixed up.

"You guys want the honors?" Aakio said as he flew back, "Or should I?"

"I don't care, just-" Versa was cut off by the prompt explosion of the Mechanorimon, and with it its Comandramon pilot, as Zen tore through the machine's chest in much the same way as he had done to the Tankmon moments ago.

After taking a moment to put out a flame on one of his antennae, Zen shook his head and gave a nod.

"Again? That's what, five for you now?" Aakio said.

Versa laughed. "He's winning yet again. I've only got four, and you my friend have a mere two."

The Quetzalmon frowned, "Three if you count the Mechanorimon."

"I'm not, but then again who's counting?" the Witchmon laughed again, her hand on the side of her face.

Aakio was going to respond when Zen shook his head again and took off into the trees, towards the rest of the battle. "Hey, wait up Zen!" With a strong flap of his white wings, the Quetzalmon took off into the trees after the Stingmon, Versa in hot pursuit.

The battle wasn't over just yet.

 

[Griff4815]

"Alright, gang. We've thinned the ranks. Time to finish the job. For the sake of our own protection, leave no survivors."

"What?!" Erthint protested from nearby, having just finished removing his claws from a Sealsdramon. "Babel, you can't be serious! That's the sort of thing the D-Brigade would do!"

"Will you still be standing by that when they track us down with four times this many troops, Erry?" Cael asked, walking by in his newly-stolen Mekanorimon.

"It's not right!" the Coredramon insisted. "Lionel would back me up on this!"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them if you don't want to, Erry," Zell said with a dark chuckle. "Genocide Attack!" Four bombs burst from Zellion's cannons and exploded inside of a fleeing Tankmon's back. "See? It's easier when they're not staring at you. Try it!"

Erthint gave the Megadramon a disgusted glare before turning away, looking for D-Brigade members who were still fighting. "...I'll pass," he growled. The Coredramon then took flight and set down in front of a Sealsdramon. The Sealsdramon plunged his knife towards the dragon, but Erthint had other plans. He grabbed the Sealsdramon's arm and yanked it towards him, bringing the D-Brigade member's form closer.

"Blue Flare Breath!" The Sealsdramon's face was promptly greeted by a mouthful of cobalt flames. "This I don't mind," Erthint said, planting his clawed foot into his enemy's chest and throwing him back.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cael flew through the air in his mecha digimon. "Hahah! Flying's not so bad!" he yelled from the Mekanorimon's cockpit. He wasn't able to find the switch that closed the protective cockpit window, but he figured that was probably for the better, since it made it easier to escape should his ride be damaged enough to explode. "Come on, Trevor II, let's show these pansies what real Mekanorimon pilots can do!"

"Twin Beam," Trevor II (named by Cael) droned as it released a large beam from its optic, ripping a hole through the chest of an oncoming Mekanorimon. The enemy Mekanorimon dropped out of the air and pounded into the ground, though the pilot was relatively unharmed because he was wearing his seatbelt.

Loose circuits from the Mekanorimon crackled with electricity and the robot digimon was thoroughly disabled. The Commandramon scrambled out of the cockpit and hastily threw a DCD Bomb at Cael and Trevor II. Cael made the Mekanorimon raise its hand to block the grenade, making it explode harmlessly against its metal palm.

"Twin Beam." Trevor II unleashed a second laser, this one completely engulfing the Commandramon.

Cael grinned. "Well this shouldn't last too much longer... Hmm, I wonder where Aakio, Versa and Zen went. I didn't see them around." He then noticed a green blur fly quickly past nearby. "Well there's one of them... Aakio, right?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hyper Cannon!" A Tankmon desperately shouted while firing a blast from its nose cannon. His struggle was in vain, however, since two bomb closed in on him from both sides like a pincer. They both hit his tracks and blew him up in a cascade of fire and sparks.

"Kablooey! Hahahah!" Zell laughed while racing through the billowing smoke. He fired off five more bombs that carpet bombed a scattering group of the D-Brigade. "Mopping up is almost as fun as the main event! Heehee."

"You've got some serious problems, ya know that?" said a bomb of his that peered out of his cannon and rested with its arms on the vice-part of Zell's arm.

"Hey, I'm not the one about to detonate next to an unlucky D-Brigade member, now am I?" the Megadramon replied, holding his arm up in front of his face so that he could stare at the bomb.

"No, but you are the one talking to ammunition, aren't ya?"

"...Touche, I guess."

 

[storymasterb]

"Electric Slash!" Lionel called, stabbing his Berserk Sword into the Tankdramon and unleashing a surge of thunder from it, which tore across the cyborg dragon, conducting through its armor and causing it to writhe and scream in pain before the Knightmon withdrew his sword, falling back with his shield raised defensively, even as Sunda ripped forwards, roaring with flame, face set into a burning expression of wrath now, he had rotated to his wrathful visage.

"Asura Bakunenken!" he roared, unleashing swirling flares from his fists, which consumed the Tankdramon in a burning storm as he leapt up, drawing back all four clenched fists. "Fire Fist of Shiva!" He unleashed a flurry of burning punches into the dragon,

"Striver Cannon!" it howled out, aiming a cannon towards the Asuramon, who grabbed the weapon's barrel with all four fists and wrenched, bending it to the side and out of shape. So when the shell fired, it struck the twisted, distorted cannon barrel and detonated prematurely, sending shards of metal flying out, but also unleashing its explosive force right back into the Tankdramon, sending fractures screaming open across its armor as the machine-dragon howled angrily.

Meanwhile, Lionel took the shots of a group of five Commandramon on his shield, bullets ricocheting from the barrier as he advanced, readying his sword. Suddenly bursting forwards, a sweep of the sword dispatched one Commandramon, and still blocking the shots with his shield, he turned on his heel, he swung again and cut down a second dragon soldier. Striding forwards, the remaining three Commandramon were swiftly dispatched by his blade as well.

A streak of color struck, Lionel rapidly blocking the Sealsdramon from stabbing its knife into him with a quick raise of his shield even as the commando rocketed in, using its 'roller skates' to strike near-instantly. The Knightmon shoved out with the shield, forcing the dragon soldier back before swinging his charged Berserk Sword, hacking through the rubber armor the Sealsdramon wore and unleashing a powerful charge through its form the instant his blade cleaved into its flesh. The Digimon collapsed, writhing in pain before his blade ripped into its core, causing it to stiffen before dissolving apart into data.

"Your deaths shall not be in vain," the knight whispered softly. "We shall end this tyranny, and I offer my sorrows that your deaths were necessary."

"Alright, gang. We've thinned the ranks. Time to finish the job. For the sake of our own protection, leave no survivors."

As Erthint had predicted, Lionel turned, a sudden anger lighting in his eyes. He raised his shield, blocking the bullets of another Commandramon group, as he glared at Babel. Just because he had chosen to follow the BanchoLeomon didn't mean he entirely respected every word that left the leader's mouth, and this was an occasion where he definitely didn't.

"Are we to sink to their level?" he argued, still holding his shield firm against the bullets. "Are we to cut down all in our path, just because one Digimon might pose a threat? I will gladly fight to protect, Babel, but I do not murder needlessly. There is no need to purge these Digimon entirely."

The Commandramon still firing at him exchanged glances, before their weapons clicked. Empty.

"I refuse to kill those whose deaths are unnecessary," the Knightmon continued. "Erthint is right. That is entirely what the D-Brigade would do." He glanced at the Commandramon. "Leave."

One was apparently more patriotic than the rest, as they wavered, unsure of what to do, he charged, drawing a knife from his belt and preparing to stab Lionel...

Only to be crushed by a burning fist as a meteoric form roared into his face, Sunda landing with a burning laugh, crossing all four arms as he glanced at Lionel, then to the Commandramon.

"Any you punks wanna go?" he laughed, gesturing with all four hands towards himself. "C'mon..."

They all turned, threw down their rifles and ran, wailing in terror.

"Punks," Sunda muttered, punching down. Fire exploded from beneath him, hurling him into the sky, and he crashed down in front of the Commandramon, who skidded to a halt, stumbling over each other in their attempt to change direction and flee. "Heeerrree'sss Sunda!" the Asuramon laughed maniacally before erupting forwards. A blow from one of his burning fists met each of the Commandramon, crushing their skulls and shattering them into data as Sunda stopped, giving Babel a thumbs-up. "All clear here, boss."

"You disgust me," Lionel spat, turning away with a clear glare of disgust.

 

[Kamotz]

"Lightning Blade!" the Andromon shouted. An arc of electricity flew through the air and cracked between Ryu and Achilles. The two warrior-monks dove to the side and rushed to counterattack.

They swerved to either side and struck, but the Andromon raised his two massive forearms and blocked their blows with ease. He struck his swirling blade against Ryu's own weapons and the force sent the warrior flying through the air. Andromon then turned his full attention to Achilles. He swung his arms wildly, battering the earth with his metal fists, and while Achilles managed to avoid the blows, they struck ever closer to him, and it was only a matter of time before--

WHAM!

A massive haymaker cracked the fiery dragon across the face and threw him to the ground. Achilles struggled to pull himself back up as the Andromon loomed over him. It smashed him with earth-shaking blows and drove the dragon into the ground with each one.

"Flame Fist!" Achilles roared desperately. He spun around, swinging one arm to redirect the Andromon's punch while striking with the other. The blow glanced off the android's armor, but his super-heated claws left a long, thin gash on its chest-plate. The Andromon growled metallically and slammed Achilles with a vicious blow that sent him sailing through the air.

"Gatling Attack!" he shouted. Two missiles screamed from his chest and slammed into the still-soaring Achilles. The explosion ripped a scream from his throat and propelled him further.

A golden flash suddenly ripped through the smoke and streaked towards the Andromon. Ryuhei struck a sword across the cyborg's chest, slashing exactly through the gash Achilles had cut. He swerved around a wild blow and slashed again, once more cutting at the same gash. He continued his assault, nimbly dodging the Andromon's increasingly wild blows and scoring perfectly-aimed slashes on the damaged point of its armor.

"Cross Blade!" Ryu shouted, slashing both swords in a single, sweeping arc through the ever-deepening gash. This final blow cut through the Andromon's armor and struck the vulnerable circuitry beneath it, sending sparks jolting across the android's form.

"G-ga-a-gat-t-tling At-t-t-t--ACK," the last syllable of the Andromon's attack cry didn't belong to the attack, but was instead the result of Ryu driving both swords through the opening and stabbing them as deep as they would go. The Andromon's attack, however, didn't register the difference and went off, but because his chest-plate was pinned shut, the missiles exploded in his chest. The Andromon let out a cry of pain as the explosion sent him stumbling back, but he latched his robotic hands around Ryu and began to crush him with all his remaining robotic might.

Ryu strained against the android's metallic muscle, but he could break free. He felt his shoulders strain against their joints and he felt his ribs tighten around his heart and lungs.

"Flame Fist!" Achilles cried, leaping back into the fray. He latched his fiery claws onto the top of the Andromon's head. "Fire Rocket!" He tore into a wild, windmill-like spin. He twisted the Andormon's head completely around and ripped it off with a victorious roar.

With the Andromon dissipating into specks of data, Ryu was soon freed. He inhaled deeply, forcing his lungs to re-expand his chest.

"Babel's calling for us to take no survivors," Achilles said, glancing over the battle that had quickly turned in their favor. "What should we do?"

Ryu still struggled to pull in his breath. "We can...leave that to...the others," he said slowly. "Or you can...join them...whatever you think...is best."

Achilles frowned and looked to their little rebel group as they surged after the retreating soldiers. "They're already too far ahead," he muttered. "And that Andromon took a lot outta me."

Ryu nodded and stood straight, finally regaining his breath. "Good," he said. "While I understand Babel's orders, I have no desire to stab a foe in the back if I can help it. I won't denounce him though; as a leader he must make these difficult decisions."

"Can't be easy," Achilles muttered. "Some of the guys look pretty upset about it."

"They have every right to be," Ryuhei said. "But they fail to take into account Babel's burden of leadership. We should go over there. In the heat of battle there are bound to be fiery words. We should make sure nothing is done that would be regretted later."

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

Frey was already close enough to his brother to hear what the BantyoLeomon had said. He frowned at his brother’s choice of words. His brother was getting a bit wild again, and its effect on a few of the others looked like it wasn’t having a very good effect. They didn’t know Babel like he did. He was smart and intelligent, and he believed in his justice and enforced it like it to the very best of his ability (which was admittedly went very, very far). He shook his head and laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Don’t think of me against you, Babel; I think I can understand where you might be coming from,” the young Leomon asked, letting his eyes scan the battlefield full of their already weakened foes. “But is it truly necessary to completely decimate our already defeated enemies?” he asked, lowering his eyes a bit.

“Of course we do,” a voice told him resolutely.

Frey turned his head to see a D’Arcmon walking towards them with a heated gaze. Walking beside her and with a big smile on his face was a Sagittarimon, who had taken two arrows from his arrow case and notched them on his bow.

Deandrea continued, continuing her determined pace towards their opponents. “If we don’t, then they won’t learn a single thing,” she told him, brandishing her sword and her spear in each hand. “And then not only we’ll only have more problems to deal with, but we leave them to cause problems for others.”

With a cry, she dashed towards a group of Commandramon, the words ‘leave no prisoners[/i] clear in her mind.

“Don’t mind Dea too much,” Dias said, levelling the two arrows with his eyes as he raised his bow. “She has a few problems with any people that resemble raiders or attackers,” he told them before letting his arrows loose, lodging them into the back of the head of a Sealsdramon that wasn’t observing his surroundings well enough. “I guess even people from army is like that for her, though,” he mused to himself as he took one more arrow and shot it straight into the air in less than five seconds. He nodded to himself as it landed on a Commandramon that was about to throw a bomb at a blue Coredramon in front of him. He then turned back to Frey.

“And I kind of feel the same way,” he told him, giving Babel a small smile before turning back to Frey.

“I mean, I’m not all that smart, but back at home, I was one of the patrols, and even I knew that I shouldn’t let any of the raiders to run away, because that means they’d just get more people to come back, and they’ll be stronger too. Which means that that’d be a bigger chance that they’ll get us…and then the ones inside the village that we’re supposed to be protectin’,” he explained as he turned back to the battlefield. Those words weren’t really his, though, because it was what other patrollers had told him. He understood and believed it though, and that was enough.

He let loose a few more arrows, making sure that none of the Commandramons could any longer lay a hand or shoot a bullet on any of his allies.

Frey also turned to their enemies, finding reason in the usually happy-go-lucky quadrupedal Digimon. “Perhaps, but that does not make it any easier,” he replied.

 

[Hotshot]

The last of the D-Brigade's soldiers had fallen. Disintegrating bodies littered the battlefield and filled the air with the pungent aroma of death and data. Babel turned to those that had spoken against his command. Stalking towards Lionel, he met the Knightmon's glare with his own. Babel's form was calm, but his eyes were wild. "I do what I do to protect those that I care about. If we were to leave even a single soldier alive, this close to our hideout, he would find his way back to the Empire. And he would give them our location."

The BanchoLeomon took a step closer, glaring into the Knightmon's countenance. "That single surviving soldier would give away our position, and the commanders of the D-Brigade would send army after army after army to obliterate us."

Babel clenched his fists. "As we are now, we could never defend against the full brunt of the D-Brigade's power. They would overpower us, and we would all die."

With that, the BanchoLeomon used his arm to slowly push the Knightmon out of the way. He was not about to walk around one who did not follow his orders. With Lionel now moved, Babel walked determinedly back into the forest. His rebels stared after him.

When he had vanished, Mist followed. As the Mummymon passed Lionel, he stopped and rasped, "You don't understand him yet. You're too caught up in your own chivalry that you fail to comprehend his duty to each and every one of us. As our leader, he has to protect everyone under his care. Nothing he does is for his own safety. It's all for you, all for me, all for every one of us."

Mist glanced up at the Knightmon. "The sooner you learn that, the better."

The Mummymon passed him by, whispering, "When you can understand him, then you can question him. Until then, keep your mouth shut."

==========

Flashes of blue and green light shimmered from within the lab. A Commandramon on either side of him, a PrinceMamemon strode leisurely into the laboratory. There he found mechanical equipment lining the walls, and several large, glass capsules located in the center of the room. One of these capsules was filled with a bubbling green liquid, and an incomplete form floated inside.

The PrinceMamemon peered around in the dimly-lit room and found an Ebemon and several Datamon working around the capsule. He, for one, wasn't the type for high-tech equipment, but he appreciated that at least someone knew how to work it all. It helped tremendously on the battlefield.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed his Commandramon escorts and approached the Ebemon. The robotic Digimon looked up from its work and droned, "Lord Grin, the experiment is nearly complete."

"Excellent," Lord Grin said with a smile. "It's good to know that salvaged Tankdramon was good for something. It won't be long now."

The PrinceMamemon glanced down at the flashing computer screen and the billions of numbers and decimals. Laying a hand on the Ebemon's arm, he added, "Oh, and hike the power levels up another notch, just for grins."

"As you wish, Lord Grin."

 

[Griff4815]

Erthint looked out over the smoking battlefield grimly. He growled frostily and turned around, walking towards the forest. The blue Coredramon walked up to Lionel and gave him a short nod of gratitude for sticking up for him.

"The ends can't justify the means. For our own sakes or not, I'm not about to mass-murder our opponents everytime we're victorious. Whatever happened to taking prisoners?" Erthint asked, turning away from the knight and looking in the direction that Babel stormed.

"Real practical..." Cael said sardonically while walking by the two. "One thing's for sure, Big Cat sure is angry at you two."

Erthint gave a short grunt that caused blue flames to escape his nostrils. "What would you do then?"

"Hey, I'm with Babel on this. Hardliner approach, safety-first and all that," Cael replied, getting his Mekanorimon to shrug in his stead.

"But you used to be part of the D-Brigade!" Erthint pointed out.

"Hey, I'm not part of the Rebels to sell cookies, Erry." Cael flew his machine digimon towards the forest. "And after what they're doing..." he muttered bitterly to himself outside of everyone's earshot.

"Well I joined the Rebels to right the wrongs of this world," Erthint said lowly. "Not create more wrongs..."

The cobalt dragon turned to face Lionel. "Hopefully they'll see things our way next time... We shouldn't fall behind."

With that, Erthint flapped his strong wings and took into the air. He glided close to the ground and spotted Dias galloping not far off from Deandrea. Erthint flew up beside him and gave him a glance. "Dias," he said simply. "Thanks for the save earlier. I appreciate it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zellion flew through the woodland terrain, snaking around the various tree that got in his way during his flight. He had calmed down from the battle and his overly excited and intense state had disappated. Battles tended to bring out the worst in Zell, but he didn't seem to think so.

Below him he spotted Ryuhei and Achilles, so he decided to swoop down for a chat. "So, I see you two finally managed to defeat that Andromon," he began unceremoniously. "Not bad. Did he explode? Heh..."

"Anyways, I've been wondering this for awhile. Are you two actually brothers? Or is 'Brother' just some sorta weird term you Dragon Monks call each other? I wouldn't be that surprised if you two were related. One brother cool-headed," he glanced at Ryuhei. He then looked to Achilles. "One brother hot-headed. It'd be kinda poetic, actually. Me and my own brother are a lot like that, actually. 'Cept you're probably smarter than him, Ryu, since he's still in the D-Brigade," Zell said with a grin.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cael piloted his stolen Mekanorimon through the forest. He put the boosters on low both to keep speed with the others and for stealth purposes. As it was now, the robot was barely audible.

The Sealsdramon carefully shifted around the various trees, which was rather difficult in that terrain. It wasn't long, however, until he saw a familiar digimon ahead. An impish smirk formed on Cael's face as he saw Aakio flying a ways in front of him.

Cael pushed forward on the booster lever, silently increasing the thrust slightly in order to advance on him. "This is going to be great," Cael thought to himself as he and his machine, Trevor II, stealthily approached the unsuspecting Quetzalmon.

The Sealsdramon became satisfied with his proximity to his comrade and inhaled deeply...

"Holy crap! Aakio!" Cael suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs (quite convincingly, at that). "Look out! There's a huge Mekanorimon coming up right behind you!"

 

[Kamotz]

"The ends can't justify the means. For our own sakes or not, I'm not about to mass-murder our opponents everytime we're victorious. Whatever happened to taking prisoners?"

"Cael's right, Wings number 2" said Achilles. "Besides, what're you gonna do? Keep them tied up? Take them on bathroom breaks? Feed them? Care for them? We don't have the resources or manpower to handle something like that. Like it or not Babel's right. We don't have the luxury of takin' prisoners or letting them know where we are."

They were interrupted as Zell came swooping down to fly alongside them. He inquired as to the relationship between Ryuhei and Achilles as monks.

"What is it that makes brotherhood true?" Ryuhei asked Zell. "There are some things thicker than blood."

"Mud, for instance," Achilles smirked. "Also oil, rice pudding, and alfredo sauce."

Ryu fixed Achilles with a disapproving glance. "Brother Achilles's head is another of these thick things," he said. "And brotherhood is made of stronger things than mere blood. This is what we are taught, that we are all one family. When we believe this, truly believe this, then we are all one and the differences that divide us become the differences that unite us. If only more subscribed to this belief, we would not be where we are now."

 

[PeeGee]

The enemy digimon had been defeated, and Gazpacho and Mendel were glad that the fight was over.

"So how many did you get?" asked the Garbagemon, hopping over to the Mercurymon.

"I don't know. I wasn't counting," replied Mendel, "But one of them scratched one of my mirrors, and you know how long it takes me to get scratches out."

Gazpacho laughed and slapped his friend on the shoulder, "You should probably be worried about things other than your mirrors, like, you know, the whole battle thing that we have been doing."

"I am allowed to worry about my mirrors," said Mendel, "And if they are damaged then my attacks become useless. Now we should probably follow Babel."

 

[TheSequelReturns]

"Is that the last of them?" Aakio said as he looked over the aftermath of the battle. Aside from the unmistakable odor of war hanging around the place, there was also the various burnt patches of forest, faintly smoking craters, toppled trees, and occasional discarded item or piece of whatever laying around. The place was a mess alright, but hopefully the forest would grow back to conceal the damage.

Versa did a quick lookout routine from her broomstick as she hovered around the area. Of course, she made a big deal out of it, and probably wasn't even looking all that hard. "It sure seems like it. We sure showed those guys huh?"

The Quetzalmon looked around for a moment, noticing the absence of someone else. "Speaking of which, where's Zen?"

"You know, I haven't seen him since he chased off that Tankmon a few minutes ago. I wonder here he's at? I still need to give him his reward for getting the most kills yet again." Although Versa said this, she appeared to give no effort to look for the Stingmon. "Oh, well. I'm sure he'll show up eventually. You know how he is."

Aakio nodded. "Yeah, I kn-"

"Holy crap! Aakio!" A slightly familiar voice suddenly yelled. "Look out! There's a huge Mekanorimon coming up right behind you!"

Aakio attempted to spin around, and accidentally whacked the tip of his left wing against a large nearby tree branch. In the confusion of wondering what he had hit, or in fact what had hit him, he nearly spun back on himself and ended up tripping and falling flat on the ground.

Like a shadow, a figure appeared from the tree line and with a swift jump, flipped up onto the Mechanorimon's cockpit. Zen flipped the glass lid of the cockpit up, preparing to toss whoever was in there out, but upon seeing who it was in the cockpit, Zen pantomimed a sigh and jumped back down to ground level where he began to help Aakio back up.

Of course, Versa had been laughing this entire time, and when she saw Cael in the driver's seat of the Mechanorimon, she only began laughing ever harder, nearly falling off of her broomstick. "That was classic Cael, you even had Zen going there for a second."

The Witchmon gave a stylized bow, "I respect a good prank like that." Then, she turned her attention to her white winged friend. "And Aakio, haha, how in the world did you manage to trip? You don't even have legs!"

"I just hit my wing on something, that's all." the Quetzalmon replied.

"Right, you looked so scared when you went to turn around. Haha, if you had arms, I'd give you a nice big hug." Versa said between fits of laughter.

 

[storymasterb]

"It's not about chivalry," Lionel replied, answering Mist. "It's about mercy. Who are we to execute Digimon who would otherwise flee us and do us no harm? I will fight and kill those who attack me or the innocent, because that is a killing made in defense of one's self or those who need protecting. Chivalry demands that I do so, yes, but my own conscience will not allow the killing of those who need not die. That is why I question Babel's orders, burden or not that he bears."

He turned and strode away from the Mummymon, exasperated, they never understood. Sunda stepped up and took his place, the Asuramon's face changing to the face of mercy, which twisted into an amused smirk.

"Lionel's one sappy SOB," he commented, amused. "He's got that whole honor and mercy thing going for him, he's hopeless with this sorta thing. He's not like us, he can't go in and kill anythin' in his way. Someday, the sap's gonna get killed 'cause of it... well, if I weren't there, he would. I gotta watch out for the kid, after all." He smirked again, shrugging with all four arms.

Lionel strode away, until Erthint came to thank him and try to justify things to the others.

"They won't understand," the Knightmon sighed. "They don't realize that doing that would only degenerate us to the level of what we fight... and that's why I pity them. Because they don't understand that fact..."

 

[Griff4815]

As Aakio took flight once again, Cael managed to stifle his laughter. He was extremely pleased that his prank couldn't have possibly gone any better. Still grinning, he gave a thumbs up to Versa. "Heh, thanks. A round of applause to Aak for being a good sport, though! Not to mention a digimon who's extremely fun to prank."

"I'm just happy Zen recognized me though," he said, glancing to the Stingmon. "I still don't get why you never talk though... Shyness? Never learned how? Accidentally glued your mouth shut? C'mon, what?" Cael asked, smirking as he looked down at the three. "Oh right... You don't talk. You might have to come up here and draw it or something. 'nless Aak or Versa knows..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is it that makes brotherhood true?" Ryuhei asked Zell. "There are some things thicker than blood."

"Mud, for instance," Achilles smirked. "Also oil, rice pudding, and alfredo sauce."

Ryu fixed Achilles with a disapproving glance. "Brother Achilles's head is another of these thick things," he said. "And brotherhood is made of stronger things than mere blood. This is what we are taught, that we are all one family. When we believe this, truly believe this, then we are all one and the differences that divide us become the differences that unite us. If only more subscribed to this belief, we would not be where we are now."

"Heh heh," Zellion chuckled, observing Ryu. "'Thicker than blood'? I'll drink to that, all right!"

One of Zell's smart bombs poked its 'head' out of his cannon. "Y'see, scale skulls, Zell's got some issues with his bro back in the D-Brigade," it explained.

"Being a Rebel might have something to do with that," Zell replied dismissively, snapping his vice-like claws shut so that the bomb could no longer speak. "Your line of philosophy is easier said than done though, Ryu. Even in our little group, we've got a lot of polarizing views, don't we? Heh, back in the Brigade, they didn't really care for things that are different. Guess that's why me and Cael are here now... that and the fact that I levelled a couple of buildings. Heheheh..."

Zell continued flying between the two. "And for the record, rice pudding is extremely good! Olive oil, not so much..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They won't understand," the Knightmon sighed. "They don't realize that doing that would only degenerate us to the level of what we fight... and that's why I pity them. Because they don't understand that fact..."

Erthint sighed. "At least there's someone here I can see eye-to-eye with. I don't think we can change their minds though. They make valid points, but..." The Coredramon trailed off as he looked up to the sky. "One thing's for sure, I'm not about to kill anybody unless it's absolutely necessary. Killing everybody in the D-Brigade just isn't the reason why I'm rebelling against them."

 

[Hotshot]

The rebels made their way through the densely forested woods hastily, eager to return to the place they called "home." It didn't take them long, for soon they had come to a clearing, where the forest seemed to split suddenly. There, in the middle of the small clearing, was a formation of rocks jutting out over a cliff edge that loomed over the sea below. Waves crashed upon the rocky wall of the cliff, sending a spray of seawater into the air.

Babel approached the rock formation, rolled aside a large boulder, and entered into the revealed cavern within. He descended the dimly lit staircase and disappeared into the shadows. One by one, the others followed him into the darkness. The last to enter was Mist, who rolled the boulder back into place behind him.

Their descent brought them into an underground fortress of sorts. There were numerous floors and various stairways hewn into the rock. It had been an excavation site many, many years ago, when the Machine Empire had discovered an abundance of Digizoid hidden within the rock. But it had been long forgotten after the miners had been destroyed and buried alive by an angry Groundramon.

Babel strode into an inner room, Jimmy lighting the way at his side.

Meanwhile, Mist was slowly descending the staircase. Outside of battle, he tended to walk with a limp at a slow, lumbering pace. Finally making his way to the foot of the staircase, the Mummymon took a seat in a small wooden chair and propped his feet up on a circular table.

Folding his arms over his chest, Mist muttered, "Well, that takes care of that. All in a good day's work."

Several others began eating and drinking, but Mist simply sat there. He couldn't eat or drink, so he had little else to do at the moment. His machine gun was at his side. The Mummymon went silent, his ghostly eye staring absentmindedly into the darkness.

==========

Babel rose from his chair and looked Jimmy in the eye. "Jimmy, I'm going to visit Romulus Grey again."

The FlameWizardmon simply nodded. It wasn't unusual for his leader to make sudden decisions such as these. He stepped aside to allow the BanchoLeomon to pass by. When Babel had left, Jimmy shrugged his shoulders and followed him.

All eyes turned to Babel Leorius as he entered the large cavern. His form, tall and strong, commanded all attention. His voice calm and his eyes wild, the BanchoLeomon said resolutely, "I am going to pay the Lobomon, 'Light', a visit. Should any of you wish to accompany me, you are free to do so. We leave in ten minutes."