04 - Desert Adventure

After the events of the Togemons and the bandit queen Lily of the Desert, they moved on uneventfully. Soon, they reached the night and decided to camp in the desert.

“YOSYA!”

“Let’s put this out people.”

“Let me help out!”

They took out the tent that they bought – which they dubbed it “Portable Tent-House” because of what it looks like on the inside and from the outside – and proceed to lay it down the sand. It was a very interesting “tent”, when it holds onto any kind of terrain with its “Digicode Alternation” technology. It works as the same way as their “Ultimate Terrain Footholder”, which again are dubbed by them, that they used during the sand fight against the bandits. They can’t really explain it in a scientific term, but basically they changed the attribute of any terrain’s Digicode that they’re touching, into the Digicodes that’s of a smoother and steadier surface which they usually are used to step on – like the stone roads or woods. Though, as of this moment, they only researched how to turn from sand into steady stone roads.

Another thing that’s very interesting was the “Portable Tent-House”. On the outside, it seemed like some sort of tent… some random, small tent. But inside, it’s like a small apartment that’s filled with kitchens, beds, and bathrooms. Not to mention, it was sand-resistant, as it has a slight barrier against any sands so that the people who rest in there will not get buried by the sands… though, there’s a possibility that if it’s an enemy’s attack or a sandstorm, they would probably be buried deep in the sand… with only the inside of the tent being sand-less. It was a very expensive product, but they managed to buy it, since it’s quite worth it.

Minoru started to cook up some foods for the people, while Akira helped him out. Sora went and bath, while Enjin stayed outside for a watchout. Kuro and Shiro were arguing in the bedroom, about who’s going to sleep with Minoru and protect him today.

“You guys, don’t destroy anything, ok?” The redhead couldn’t stand the noise and went outside from the kitchen, knocking those two’s head with a ladle – as they started to grow from an argument into a fight. “Don’t forget that while this is very useful facility for travelling, it’s pretty fragile, ok?”

“R-Right…”

“Sorry…”

“Hahaha, thank you Akira-nee-san,” Minoru chirped as he carried out the dishes, putting them down on the table. “Here, the food is ready.”

“Great, just… give me a second…” The blonde adult, who just came out from the bathroom, called out towards the two other humans as he went and clean the waters off.

“Enjin, you want a mushroom?” Akira walked up towards the BushiAgumon with a plate of mushrooms. The armored dinosaur seemed to be enjoying himself with the night view of the desert, but he seemed to have a bit of hard time adjusting to the heat. He probably was the only one who’s not using the “Average Temperature” gel that lasts for a whole day. The reason for this is pretty simple: He wanted to train himself in the heat. Even though everyone is worried about him getting sick in the heat, he seemed to be very sure that no such thing will happen to him. After all, he’s the one that grew with the nature, and die by the nature. Anything related to the nature – no matter the extreme heat or the extreme coldness – he will conquer and be one with them.

And for such unnatural beings such as “humans”, who are alien to his home world, he dislikes it.

“Hmph, very kind… human,” Enjin doesn’t even take a look at Akira, and just gestured her to put it down at his side. His voice was stern and filled with viciousness – it really doesn’t sound very welcoming. “But that will not make me acknowledge your presence… all of you humans.”

Even though it’s not like Akira doesn’t understand where he’s coming from – if some sort of alien like Alien VS. Predator were to descend into her home world, she wasn’t sure if she would forgive them for taking their land for granted and killing people… albeit the humans were the manipulators rather than the fighters… Still, she hoped that Enjin could see through the stereotypes and accept the humans for at least a little. Or maybe he already did, as he’s working with humans and living with humans… with an objective in mind. Then the human teenager would hope for more understanding from Enjin, but that would be a little greedy… right?

She didn’t say much towards the traditional warrior in front of her, and just put down the plate of mushrooms. Still, she hoped to learn something from him… at least to defend herself. “You know… I think you might be the strongest fighter out of everyone in this group… you know that?”

“Hmph, of course! I’m a hundred percent PURE Digimon, unlike the other two human-raised and that Spirit snatcher A K A Pseudo-Digimon…” If the other three of them heard this, they would probably glare at him with a killing-intent, or argue with him again. “But praising me won’t do you good… unless you have other reason to tell me that, hmm?”

“W-Well…” Despite how this samurai seemed to be, he’s a pretty analytical towards different situation… which allowed him to be alive until now even though the battles that they have faced were quite overwhelming. He knew when to give up his hostility towards the humans and help them out, and when to irritate them again with his words (or action). Perhaps he would be their biggest enemy soon, but if she could get this person on their side… though, it will be mostly impossible. He is truly, the master of fight and tactics, if there’s no Sora around here. “I… kind of want to know how to fight… against a Digimon… or something.”

“PFFFFT--- WHAT?!” Enjin was just drinking the tea that he bought alongside with him, but spat most of them out as he heard the most absurd thing in the world. “Human girl… a-are you kidding me?” His eyes widened at Akira, and… though he wanted to laugh, the serious look on her face made that feeling all gone away. In return, he gave her his own serious face. “Look, girl. You have no Digimons – you’re just a normal human. Hell, you’re not even a Spirit User like the old human!”

“But I am!” Disregarding how Enjin corrected addressed what Sora was even though he’s not technically an “old” human… Akira just blurted what’s hidden in her mind for a long time. It earned a raise of eyebrow from the armored dinosaur, doubting her… then started to frown and analyze if she actually mean it and what if it is. “I-I mean… I’m technically not one right now… But… You know…”

“Hmmm…” Enjin didn’t speak to her immediately as he was still figuring out the possibility behind it. “If what you said was true… then it makes sense when you don’t seemed to be super surprised at us – Digimons – where most of the humans would scream and shout in fear and run away from us,” True that. She was like that in the first place… but after seeing so many, there’s nothing much surprising anymore. “Then, it seems that you already knew that you would turn into a giant dragon in the first place… Though Vitramon is partially a dragon, it’s not a gigantic one. Also, you seemed to know what your dragon could do… hence why you refused to go back to your own world to solve this problem and leave it to us…” The armored dinosaur continued, while watching Akira’s expressions… who seemed to be guilty against all of the things he said. “In addition, you did not mention of us being the ones that could defeat your dragon, which we actually might be able to do so against an Ultimate but not a Mega… which means you KNEW your own strength as well and thought that it’s impossible for us to defeat your dragon.”

“Y-Yes…” Thank god no one else was listening to their conversation, otherwise it would be quite awkward for Akira.

“Hmm…” The samurai went back to his thoughts again. “Well, maybe you have the experience… but you say you’re technically not one right now, hmm? So far I haven’t seen you really fight before, though you’re very adaptable to the situation and how the Digimon’s attacks are. It’s not an amateur’s reaction.”

“Well…” Akira looked down. “I… don’t have my D-Tector with me.”

“Hmm?”

“While it was the one that dragged me into the Digital World, it wasn’t here with me.”

“Hmm…”

“But I have a feeling that it’s somewhere! I mean, it’s not really ‘dead’ or broken… but just, not with me…” The redhead sighed. “I know this really sounded stupid, but I-”

“Fine.”

“What?” The teenage girl blinked.

“I will train you – BUT,” The BushiAgumon hold up a finger. “You shall only do these when you think you can, and you shall use it for the better good.”

“O-Of course!” Akira was shocked by the sudden agreement from the samurai, and nodded vigorously in response to his talk.

“Good,” Enjin let out a rare smile. “Go and rest, human girl. There’s a lot to do tomorrow.”

“Yes! Master!”

“Pffft, don’t flatter me. It won’t get you anywhere, human.”

Despite what Enjin said, he surely seemed to be a little bit happy – which made Akira quite happy as well and she walked back into the tent, and joined them.

= = =

When the sun comes up and everyone got enough sleep, they started to move again… along with the seemingly forgotten cart – which actually exist just that no one (the bandits) realized that it’s there.

Why?

Because it has a special function that causes the whole cart (along with the cloth that covers the items) to blend into the terrain – like camouflaging. This caused even the misfit band themselves to use some time to search for their cart only to realized that it has ALWAYS been there behind them, waiting for them to pick it up after the fight.

And so, they continued to move on, and Enjin was the one in front along with Kuro this time, while Shiro and Sora were pulling the cart. Another special thing about this cart was that it’s easy to cross through the desert – due to the wheels are made a little bit different from the other wheels in the non-desert. If they allowed, even Minoru and Akira could pull the carts on their own.

But since Minoru’s pretty fragile and Akira’s the object of being hunted down, they do not want to risk them along with the cart, and so they decided to put them in the center and look around while the others work harder.

Even though the journey seemed pretty uneventful, they did not loosen up because of the attack yesterday. They knew that people are after Akira, or just the ruby in the palm. Though, Minoru eventually gave up on being silent, and started to talk to Akira.

“Nee, Akira-nee-san,” Minoru started, which it got Akira’s attention and turned towards him. “How did you got into Digital World in the first place anyway?”

“Uhhh…” It was weird that no one asks her this question from the beginning – well, shouldn’t this be the first question to ask, actually? This was the first time that someone actually asked – though he’s not the first one who knew it. Akira has told Enjin everything already yesterday. “Well…” She wasn’t sure if she should tell him the truth, or should she simply just mumble out something… some sort of unbelievable story, maybe?

“Did you got into some train? No, seeing where you landed it’s actually impossible. Maybe some computer sucked you in or something?” Minoru continue to question, throwing his own assumption in the fray. He got the idea of the train from his own experience, while the computer part was from some other tamers that he met during his stay in the Digital World.

“Uhh, yeah… Literally,” Akira laughed at how true it was, and she doesn’t even need to lie! How nice. “I can’t believe it… how can a human being sucked in by a computer anyway? Hahaha!”

“Yeah, actually, I can’t believe at in the beginning as well haha,” The young boy chuckled as he saw how lively his cousin replied… though he seemed to find something off place, but decided not to pry. “Well, after coming to the Digital World, I guess nothing’s pretty weird anymore.”

“Yeah…” The redhead nodded towards the brown haired boy, continue on forward. She wondered if she should ask him something too, but she was afraid that it might lead to something else, so she decided to keep her silence.

“Uh… Did I offend you or anything?” Seeing that the normally vigorous girl saying nothing afterwards, Minoru started to worry. “I-I am so sorry-”

“Nonono, it’s fine, really,” Akira laughed again, and slowed down as she noticed that she’s a few steps further than Minoru. “I guess I have nothing else to say… I mean, I don’t know what to say hahaha.”

“Oh! Really! Thank god…” Minoru smiled at his cousin, and walked a bit faster to follow her pace. “I thought you dislike me or anything… I mean…”

“Nonono, I don’t Minoru-kun,” The older one pat on the younger one’s head – which is odd ‘cause Akira’s actually shorter than Minoru. “I like you, actually. But at this point, I’m… a bit overwhelmed and tensed up… haha.”

“Oh! I-I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it,” The redhead gave him a grin. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay…”

The journey has once again become uneventful, and it’s night time soon. They set up the tent-house and cleansed themselves. This time, Kuro and Shiro sat outside and watch, while the rest of the groups have some rest in the tent.

“Oi Kuro, stay focused!”

“What do you mean by stay focused? Relax~ It’s night time… every Digimon sleeps at night.”

“What are you saying?!” Sometimes the white skinned dinosaur cannot believe his own brother – how brainless could he be?! “The night is the golden time for enemies to attack! You can’t be so relaxed about this?!”

“Your twin is very right, black one,” Enjin could not listen to the ruckus anymore, and decided to walk out from the tent and glare at the BlackAgumon. “You should always focus, and not as relaxed as bringing foods out, sitting there laid back, while counting how many stars there are in the sky!”

“H-Hey! I did not do the… counting part…” If Kuro’s a female, he’s definitely pout already… but he’s not. So right now he only tried to be angry to defend himself, while finding himself guilty and slump back. “Besides! There’s Shiro over here. If there’s anything, he’ll notice it and I’ll be back in shape in no time!!!”

“Don’t rely on the others for scouting matters dammit!” The samurai continued his lecture. “There is a reason why we decided that you TWO shall be here, instead of just Shiro alone!”

“You guys… what’s going on…?” Akira couldn’t stand the noise – she can’t relax/sleep at this case.

“Well, Kuro is slacking off.”

“I did not! I just rest a little!”

“Which is what I am against on right now!”

“…just… make sure nothing’s wrong… ok?” The redhead sighed and went back to the tent. Man, she came out here for such things? God…

“Hmph. Human-raised, you really did not get the necessary training in your core yet. I shall now train you!”

“Uhh, I do not need that… right?”

“Of course you need that, twin!” Enjin pulled over the white dinosaur that attempted to escape his claw. “Your body is very weak! How can you fight a Minotaurmon like this?!”

“…Kuro is the vanguard…”

“Excuses! If there’s more than one Minotaurmon, how do you think you can protect your human like this?!”

“Ugh…”

While they were having a “good time” training, they did not noticed that in a far away sand, there was something moving around.

“So that’s my target… Seems like a lively bunch. Kekekekeke…”

= = =

The next day, they woke up as usual and started to walk again. Even though it seemed like there’s nothing, Enjin was pretty tensed up. If he’s the enemy, usually the night time was the best time to attack… but nothing happened yesterday. Could it be that they’re watching them in the darkness?

“Enjin-san, what are you thinking?” Seeing how tensed up the samurai dinosaur seemed, Akira couldn’t help but ask for a bit.

“Hmph, nothing much… human girl,” Though they seemed to discard some hostility, Enjin still refuse to call them by their names. “Though… it’s been a little bit too quiet…”

“I agree, Enjin,” Sora spoke from the behind. “I think they’re watching us or something… like our fight with the Vitramon.”

“You heard that, Kuro?” Shiro poked his twin brother. “Don’t be too relaxed, ok?”

“Fine…” The black skinned dinosaur growled before he continued to walk.

“ATTENTION!”

“?!”

Suddenly, there’s a loud booming yell from the front. They noticed that there’s a mass of beasts standing in front, waiting for them.

“WE DO NOT WANT HARM. GIVE US THE RUBY OR THE HUMAN GIRL. WE SHALL NOT ATTACK.”

Getting a closer look, it seemed that they were red dogs with huge, long jaws on fours and there’s an Ultimate controlling them – it seemed like four-legged creature with military armors and machine guns on both of the arms.

“Hmm… Fangmons and Assaultmon… This is not good,” Sora immediately frowned as he noticed the appearance of the Digimons. With his D-Tector in hand, he was ready to turn into Searchmon.

“Hmph, same tactics then?”

“Perhaps. But be aware that they might have already seen our strategies and knew how to cancel them out.”

“Gotcha.”

“Roger.”

“I HAVE GIVEN YOU WARNING. LAST CHANCE TO COMPLY.”

“Be on your guard, and change tactics when need to,” Sora signaled them, seeing that the Assaultmon is out of patience and ready to attack. “Ready?”

“YOU HAVE YOUR WARNING. FANGMONS – ATTACK!”

“Lightning Insect Beast Spirit – execute!”

“BushiAgumon digivolve to…!”

“WhiteAgumon digivolve to…!”

“BlackAgumon digivolve to…!”

“TEAM A: HOWL!”

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~~~~~”

“They’re… so fast…!” Akira was terrified as the Fangmons already reached their attack range as soon as they finished digivolve. She could only watch the champion Digimons – Yasyamon (Enjin), BlackGeoGreymon (Kuro), and LightSagittarimon (Shiro) clutching their head as they were assaulted by the terrifying howls of the Fangmons. Even though they did not do any physical damage, the noise hurt their ears and brain more than they could have handled. Plus, it wasn’t the power of one Fangmon – it was the power of more than 10 Fangmons! Akira and Minoru were both on the ground as well, clutching their head as they couldn’t bear the pressure of the howl as well.

“Guys! Dammit…!” Due to the fact that the Searchmon is an Ultimate insect Digimon and have a different listening system compare to the other five creatures, he was the only one still standing firm and holding the same electromagnetic field up as before, to shield them from any possible attacks… but it will not last soon.

“TEAM B: ATTACK!”

“BLAST COFFIN!!!”

The red dogs opened up their big mouths large, and gathered dark energies in their mouth. Seeing what’s going to happen, Sora enhanced his electromagnetic field and changed its attributes. “Deflect: MAX!” The energies that were shot against the field were deflected back to their own direction – all of them that belonged to the Champion Digimons. As the field’s size was large, the howls hit the field as well, and were deflected back to themselves. However, this could only last for a while, and the Searchmon hoped that with the howls stopped, his band’s attackers could recover themselves and attack them back.

“SITUATION: NEGATIVE. CALCULATION: FAILED.”

The Assaultmon mumbled to himself as he noticed that most of his Fangmons are out of order because of their own howls and attacks. Soon, the battlers stood up, and ready to trample against those that were already weakened.

“YAAAAAARGH!!!” Kuro rammed against a weakened Fangmon, and slammed his powerful tail to another one. He mowed down another batch with his angry horns and set many ablaze with his dark flames. He was mad. Very mad. How could they hurt Minoru!? How could they attack such a fragile child?! He went berserk at these red beasts, by being a larger and tougher monster than they are, conquering them with his strength against their quantity.

“Meteor Gallop,” Shiro was pretty agitated by the Fangmons as well, and decided to go all out before they could recover. He surrounded himself with lightning and started to shear down the mass of Fangmons in front of him with his unstoppable high speed gallop. He stampeded across the Fangmons, and shocking those that were in range of his electrified body. His hands were not resting either, as he was raining arrows down at the running Fangmons, piercing through their helpless and weak body.

Against the ones that were still fine, Enjin hold his line pretty well as he fend off the Fangmons that were trying to swipe away his weapons with their claws. No, that will not happen against a skilled fighter, moreover a prideful and willful samurai as he is. He clutched tightly against his own weapons against these lowly creatures, and sliced them off with sheer force of his pride and will. He will not stand down against those than belittled his skills as a fighter. He will not stand down… against those that wants to hurt the weaker ones behind him!

“With my life at stake, with my pride on the line… with my will! I – Enjin the Burning Samurai – shall cut you down!” The Yasyamon announced his determination, and prepared his attack against these little swipers. “Enjin-ryuu Yasya Ougi…” He started to spin his body, and a mini-tornado is formed. “Mogi: Bakuryuuha…!” He released the incomplete tornado against the ones that leaped against him, and it tornado cut them with pure wind pressures, sending them away from the samurai himself, and the two fragile humans behind him. “Towards you guys, this is enough…” He hmph’ed as he turn his attention back to the other Fangmons, who decided not to go against him, but decided to observe him from a distance.

“FANGMONS: GATHER.”

Noticing that the Fangmons started to became disoriented, the commander of this batch decided to assume control once again before they were all defeated. The remaining Fangmons that are still operational were down to a small pack of 6 to 7. The others were either out of commission or unable to battle. Nevertheless, the commander wasn’t giving up yet.

“OPERATION: BIG BAD.”

“BIG BAD!!!”

The Fangmons seemed to be quite happy and boastful as that order came in. It was a rare order since the commander dislike them using this technique so much, commenting that it is a very out-of-control and limited technique that can only be used during dire situations. However, for the Fangmons, they love being in their Big Bad form, as they always wanted to assume this form and mow down their enemies…

With their three times larger size and strength.

“ATTACK.”

“WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

On the signal, the larger Fangmons charged towards the misfit band. Now, the Fangmons assumed a bipedal stance and they were all as tall as a Greymon. Even though their speeds are diminished, their strengths overcome the usual Greymon’s and two of the Fangmons managed to push the black skinned GeoGreymon down despite its anger and strength. One of the Fangmon managed to block the LightSagittarimon and hold it down despite its momentum of the high speed from the Meteor Gallop, while the other Fangmon supported his comrade and bring it down to the ground. Two of the Fangmons are banging on the electromagnetic barrier that was just brought up again after Sora’s rest, which nearly created a hole as they started to rip it apart. One of the Fangmon – the remaining Fangmon – decided to attack head on against the Yasyamon, who’s clearly not going to let the Fangmon to assist the rest in bringing down the barrier.

“GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” The Fangmon swung down the large claw of his down at the Yasyamon, who was more agile and managed to dodge that obvious attack immediately. The red beast did not stop and attempted to bite the dodging Yasyamon, who was nearly caught by an inch. The Yasyamon runs down a wolf-shaped wind pressure against the Fangmon, who single-handedly swap it away and tried to leap pass the samurai, who was blocked by the samurai himself.

“Ugh…!” Enjin blocked the Fangmon’s attack with his twin bokens, but it was going to crack under the sheer power of the enhanced Fangmon – who was disgustingly dripping salivas onto the prideful samurai. “You… foul… beast…! You shall not pass!” The samurai pushed the beast forward, which it succeeded! But, his bokens were broken during the attempt. Still, it did not stop the Fangmon from getting up and pushing him back again. The samurai attempted to stop the Fangmon with his barehands, but found that he was the one that was pushed towards the electromagnetic field. He does not have the weapon to fight this beast any longer, and he could not gather even strength to push him forward. Looking to the right, Kuro was getting pummeled by the vicious Fangmons. Looking past the Fangmon, Shiro was screaming in pain as the Fangmon tried to “tame” him. Now looking to the left, Searchmon was having a bad time concentrating on the electromagnetic field that’s protecting the two humans that were already became unconscious due to the loud howl earlier.

Everyone was in danger, and everyone was hurting by the Fangmons. He was only up against ONE Fangmon, and he couldn’t even tame this beast? No. “NO!!!” Enjin’s eyes burned with passion and determination. He shall not be belittled by this beast! He shall push him back, destroy this beast, and then rescue the rest of the band! Even if he’s going to push his body to the limit, he shall do this! “Even if I’m going to die… I’m bringing all of you down with me!!!

“I AM ENJIN, THE BURNING SAMURAI!!!”

He could feel his muscles started to crack by the overly forced strength within his body, and his frame started to strain as he keep on pushing the larger and stronger beast forward. The red beast was surprised in the sudden burst of strength from the little man (compare to his own size) and seemed to be terrified that his strength could not match with a champion’s strength!

“URYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” In the end, the much smaller Yasyamon managed to carry the red wolf that was thrice of his size, and – with his cracked body – he threw the beast away towards those that were trying to rip off the barrier. He sped through the desert with an unknown strength and pummeled the Fangmons away from the GeoGreymon, then grabbed the other one and threw him through the air, crashing into the other Fangmon that were bullying the LightSagittarimon. The Yasyamon’s frame has finally cracked and slowly falling out, but he kept on moving and he leaped through the air – punching the remaining Fangmon that’s playing with Shiro and ripped his fangs off with his absolute strength.

“E-Enjin…!”

“He’s going off his limits!”

“That Yasyamon is crazy!”

“He’s going to die!”

“Let’s get him!!!”

All the Fangmons decided to gang up on the one Yasyamon that’s already cracking and seemingly broken, but still going on with his sheer will. He fought the Fangmon, and headbutted one of them. But it did not stop the Fangmons from piling up against him and attacking him from all sides.

“ENJIN!!!”

“I gotta help him…!”

“No… wait a minute…! He might not be losing! Enjin is…!”

“W-What is that…?!”

His framed cracked even more as he used more power, and his mask started to crack as well. However, through the cracks, he seemed to be glowing, and still burning! This samurai clearly has no single sign of going down – on the contrary, he’s growing larger, stronger, and much stronger!!!

“I… can… feel… power!!!” His eyes gave out a last beaming glow as he seemed to realize what’s going on with his body. “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!” With a loud yell, he unleashed a great shockwave, blowing away every single Fangmon from him. The golden aura surrounded him as he stood firm on two, feeling that his body changed and refreshed after blowing the Fangmons up. Enjin examined his body, and was quite surprised that he was now clad in golden armor that’s filled with so much power. He raised his hand and gripped it tightly, feeling the immense power growing from within. He smiled, under the golden helmet that he’s wearing, as he noticed he gained two new swords upon this transformation.

He has Digivolved.

“Ha… Hahahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Enjin – the newly evolved Grademon – couldn’t wait but to try out these new pair of swords and his new body. First… he’ll test on these pesky little beasts… “You looked so small beneath me…” His eyes were smiling with pride, as he watched the mad dogs coming towards him with their still large body. “Hmph. You have no idea who you’re going up against…!” With his hands crossed, gripping on the swords on standby, he unsheathed them in lightspeed and three of the Fangmons perished in front of him. He immediately, turned back to face the other few that were coming from behind, stabbing them with his new swords that were shining in power. Some of the Fangmons decided to go range attack against this Digimon, but he just simply pulled his royal blue mantle in front of him, dispersing the dark elemental energies. After that, he leaped, and slashed. The Fangmons continued to perish under his swords, and soon, they were all wiped out. The rest of the band looked at the newly digivolved Digimon with such great power, feeling both safeness and anxiety against this Digimon.

What if he decided to turn against them, right now?

After all, in the first place, he has no reason to follow through their plans – he could have shook off the responsibility and canceled his job, or snatching Akira away during their sleep, cutting her hand off somewhere and finish his delivery job. But Enjin was a prideful samurai who followed the code. He has his honor, and he followed it through. Doing such things will destroy his reputation, and he will not do it unless he was ordered to by his one and only master – Atlas. His master was not around, which means nobody else could order him around, even the boss of this job. Enjin shall protect these weaklings, and finish the job along with fulfilling his code of samurai!

“You, the commander, come down and face me.”

He pointed his shining sword against the Assaultmon, who have already decided to come down and face the enemy after his battalion of Fangmons was lost. The Assaultmon galloped down, as he watched the two weakened and dedigivolved Agumons going under the Searchmon, holding their arms out to protect their dear ones. The Searchmon once again tried to get some rest, before setting up the electromagnetic field once again. It seemed that he had made the right choice to have a duel against the only offensive Ultimate of the party. If he won against him, he would have a chance to mow down the other two rookies with ease, while wearing down the barrier with his unlimited bullets. After that, capturing the target will be an easy job.

The enemy commander reached the center of the battlefield, looking at the golden armored Digimon in front of him with the same eye-level. They walked in a circle, saying no words, while observing each other. The two humans who just gained their conscious stood up and watched the tension rises as they walked… and in the next blink, they fought.

The Assaultmon started with his machinegun, gaining his upper advantages of the field and preventing the Grademon to get into his area of advantage and his own area disadvantage. Enjin tried to run around – one, to evade the bullet rains and two, to get closer towards the Assaultmon from another side. The shooter noticed what he was trying to do, and started to throw off bombs which exploded right in front of Enjin – who covered himself with the royal blue mantle and reduced the elemental damage while standing firm against the burst of energy that’s trying to push him backwards. He stormed through the explosion and came out from the smokes, unsheathing his shining swords in high speed against the Assaultmon and attempt to cut him down. However, the Assaultmon was not out of tricks yet – he managed to shoot a close-ranged attack from the shotguns on his back, pushing the samurai in golden western armor backwards who managed to brace himself with his arms in last minute.

The fight was a close call, and none seemed to be giving their all just yet. They tested each other’s power and techniques before coming up with a better strategy to topple their opponent. The rest of the group who watched the fight were feeling nervous, as there is no telling who’s going to win this fight as of this moment. The showdown between two pure Ultimates of different style was very mesmerizing, which made each of them started to take note of the fight and worked their own brains in how to fight if they were facing such opponent in the future – no matter which of them. This includes Akira, who was secretly a fighter herself. If she were to fight such an opponent such as the Assaultmon in the future, as the fighter, she should learn how Enjin were to counter off the other Ultimate with his own tactics.

Finally, Enjin decided to give out more of his techniques rather than relying on plain swordplay or basic attacks. He sheathed the two swords back, and leaped into the sky as the Assaultmon was preparing for another attack. “Strum,” He announced, as he delivered hundreds of air-blades made from pure air pressures from his unsheathed posture, revealing his true speed and mastery of Battoujutsu – art of sword drawing – in its finest form. The Assaultmon could not defend against the rain of air-blades with his sheer bullets, and have to move out from his location with the help of his bomb – helping him to propel his body forward to a safe place in haste. However, Enjin was waiting for this and sky-stepped from the air – “Himmel,” – pushing himself forward from the air in a burst of speed, while his hands were still in position of Battoujutsu. Noticing the Grademon was coming at him, the Assaultmon immediately threw another two grenades forward, hoping the explosion would stop the Grademon from moving forward. Still, Enjin do not need to get closer to him to send an attack forward. “Brüllen,” He announced again before he unsheathed the accumulated power within his sheath, drawing out the blades as the mass around of air pressure shot out in the form of a wave, blasting against the explosion – pushing it backwards – and shooting directly at the Assaultmon.

“UGH.”

The four-legged soldier was hit hard right on and being pushed away by the wave, but he’s still standing firm on the sandy field. Seeing that the opponent was not stopping, it seemed that the soldier needs to go all out as well. “JUSTICE MASSACRE,” The soldier announced his attack as he readied all the operational arsenals in his body – two shotguns, two machineguns, 2 flame throwers, and several launch pads of the rockets hidden on his legs. Without wasting time, he first shot out the rockets and also firing off the machineguns on his two arms, he galloped forward towards the Grademon to chase him down with his firearms. With the flame throwers on his torso, machinegun aiming at the sides, and the shotguns standing over the shoulders, it made the Grademon nearly impossible to go near to the Assaultmon. The only choice he had was to wait for a mistake from the Assaultmon… and he will be creating chances of that with his own special techniques.

Slipping the blades back to the sheath once again, he started to sky-step his way out from the bullet storms and raging flames. He side-stepped left and right, while facing the Assaultmon from time to time. It was a wonder why he does that, but soon, the Assaultmon will realize. Right now, he was busy firing the machinegun, which the only thing he felt was the recoils. The shotguns too were busy firing, and so were the flame throwers. He was also galloping, which made his body filled with numbs as he did such extreme works. He did not feel the attack that the Grademon was secretly doing – which was done when he was facing the Assaultmon from time to time – but he was suspicious of his techniques. However, this could also be a trickery by the enemy, which the Assaultmon decided to not fall for it and continue his assault. Soon, he felt that the machinegun was not firing anymore, and so was the shotgun.

What… happened?!

“Brilliant,” Sora voiced out in his Searchmon state. He was the only one that could comprehend what was going at the fight, as his radars and eyes were designed completely to capture and record every single detail of any sorts of fight. The Searchmon was the ultimate information capturer. The rest of them were curious to know the answer, which prompted the Searchmon to talk further. “While he was side-stepping from left to right, Enjin drew his sword so fast and sends air pressure to the side of the machinegun every time he turned around and faced him. It managed to cut through one of the lines of bullets and it caused a malfunction on the machineguns. It was rather more remarkable as he managed to cut through the thin line that was holding the shotgun behind the Assaultmon, and managed to get those shotguns off from his back,” Everyone seemed to be awed by the Searchmon’s explanation, and continued to look at the fight.

“Enjin… he’s truly a master,” Shiro had to give a nice comment on that after listening to the explanation from the Searchmon. Without extensive knowledge on how each weapon functions, Enjin would not been able to done all of that. Not to mention his patience and observance against his enemy, seeing through the working of the techniques while finding a way to stop it. Akira had to agree with Shiro, as she thought of the same way.

“YOU GO MASTER SAMURAI!” Kuro couldn’t hide his excitement against such amazing swordsman, and genuinely wanted him to win the fight… even though he could not comprehend the “why” and the “how” but Enjin did it! And he was happy at that.

“Hmph, this is nothing,” Underneath the golden helmet, the samurai hid a prideful but genuine smile against the praises. However, he couldn’t relax just yet. The fight has not ended, and the Assaultmon will solve the problems soon if he does not act soon.

“Assaultmon, what is your name.”

“…CODENAME: NOT FOUND. I.D.: 4554ULT. INQUIRE: YOUR NAME.”

“My name is Enjin, and you shall forever remember this, into your grave,” The golden warrior unsheathed both swords, and prepared an intimidating stance. This is… his final move. “You are a great soldier, I must admit, and you should be honored that I am using this against you.”

The Assaultmon understood that his chance to win was gone, however, he is willing to take the final technique that Enjin has reserved for him rather than surrendering the fight. Was it because he was willing to sacrifice for the high ups to get this information, or was it because he – for the first time in his life – felt nothing more than satisfying than dying in the hands of an honorable and strong opponent, even though they were of the same stage. Nevertheless, he stood firm, and is willing to accept this attack… but he is not going to go down easily!

“TO THE END, I SHALL FIGHT.”

It was a miracle even towards himself that he managed to utter something more humane, but nevertheless a little bit late. He charged towards the golden armored warrior with an undying spirit, with his willingness to perish against such warrior. His flamethrowers were still burning wildly, while he prepared his machinegun to bash the Grademon.

“Enjinryuu – Gureido Ougi…” The Grademon solidified his stance as he waited for the Assaultmon with a smile. It was happy to him that a fellow Digimon was able to regain some sort of honor and humanity even though he has been remodeled into a senseless robot which obeyed nothing but orders before. It was a great gift to him as a warrior to deliver his death. “Drachen.”

In an instance, the Grademon delivered 9 light-speed strikes onto the 9 vital points of the Assaultmon, rendering him immobile and slowly, started to shatter into sheer datas. The Grademon stood up high in front of the Assaultmon with the ID of 4554ULT, and absorbed his data into his body.

“Your power, I shall receive, and I shall bring your undying spirit to a greater glory…!”

He gave a silent prayer and salute towards the dying Assaultmon, who seemed to be happy that his datas were being absorbed by such warrior…

= = =

The night has come once again, and the misfit group set up the tent, like how they did for the past two days.

Keheheheh… If I attack them by surprise right now, the only fighting Ultimate Digimon in the group will not be a match to me… Keheheheheh…

The looming darkness in the desert started to make his move. Observing the battle since the earlier of the day, he has noticed the fatigue of the rest of the groups and further confirmed that the Searchmon could not do anything but support, and most of his abilities are useless against Ultimate and above. He could make his move easily against the Searchmon.

“Hmph, I’m able to sense your killing intent from miles away,” Suddenly, on top of the attacker, was the golden warrior.

“Heh, looks like I was right that he’s going to make a move tonight,” Sora – in his MetallifeKuwagamon form – smirked as he stepped on top of the attacker as well.

“G-Geh…?!” The attacker was shocked that it couldn’t rise up from the sands, as there were pressures on its head. “I-I can’t move…!”

“Die.”

*BOOM!!!*

= = =

On the next day, they faced off a bunch of Peckmons. There were no Ultimates leading them, but it seemed that they have a boss behind their actions. Thanks to the new Ultimate in the group, they managed to push them back easily, and nothing happened for the rest of the day.

Now, on the sixth day…

“We’re there soon,” Sora announced with a smile as he reads from the device in his hand. “After today, there will be grasses and woods in front of us.”

“HURRAY! Finally I can get rid of these sandy shits off me!!!” Kuro, even though he enjoyed the heat, does not enjoy the sands on his body. It certainly made him itchy after a few days drenching in them.

“I agree. I need a clean bath to get rid of the sands…” Shiro nodded, rarely, at Kuro’s beaming.

“Hmph, you vuys meed more fraining and fatience! Sands like fis… Means mothing!”

“YOU HAVE TOO MANY SANDS IN YOUR HELMET ENJIN!”

“GET RID OF THEM!!!”

“Hahahahaha,” Akira and Minoru enjoyed the little humors once in a while. Seeing how Enjin’s persistence in something really menial makes her day sometimes, especially right now that he was stuck in a Grademon’s form, he couldn’t seem to give himself up to dedigivolve into a more convenient form like the BushiAgumon or the Yasyamon, and intent to carry the armors and helmets all day long despite it seemed to be uncomfortable when the sands started to stuck inside the little holes and entered some really weird and forbidden places.

But nothing’s weirder than what they’re currently witnessing right now.

“Wasn’t that…”

“The Peckmons that attacked us yesterday?”

“And that’s… a so many-headed snake.”

“It’s an Orochimon, human.”

“And it’s chasing after the Peckmons?”

“In a circle.”

“We can see that, human-raised.”

“And the Scorpiomon? From the other day?”

“Yeah. Sitting at the back of the snake.”

“Right. And yelling something in fear?”

“But why?”

As if the day has not gotten any weirder, the snake was saying something like “FREE OSTRICH MEAT! FRESH AND NICE! I’LL CATCH ‘EM FOR YA!!!” This made everyone started to blink, and decided to take a detour to get out from this mess. However, the snake started to throw the Peckmons at them, stopping their tracks.

“WHAT?! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME?!?!?!?”

“Erm, boss, I think they’re---”

“SHUT UP LOSER! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR A SINGLE SHIT FROM A SHITTY LOSER LIKE YOU!!!”

“Y-Yes boss…”

“KYAAAAAAA!!! HELP US!!! HE’S GONNA EAT US!!!” The Peckmons flooded towards the misfit band, which seemed to be pretty wary of them… but soon realized that they’re all in the real verge of dead and are filled with fears in their eyes. Still, they were not really pity on them – after all, they have attacked them at first.

“Erm, sure… I guess?” Minoru blinked as one of the Peckmon decided to hide UNDER him… with its head into the sandy ground, and the whole body shaking like a real frightened ostrich. Even more of them are doing the same thing. It was a wonder what have they witnessed.

Could it be that the Orochimon really ate them?

“YOU COWARDS! GET BACK HERE AND BE PART OF ME! GODDAMMIT!!!”

The Orochimon did not waste his time and charged straight at the misfit group. Enjin immediately stood up front and blocked his advances, carrying him up above him, and threw him across the desert.

“Hmph, having a big body does not faze me.”

“YOU…!!!”

The Orochimon seemed to be getting much angrier than before, and one of his cyborg snake-head went behind the Scorpiomon and ate him up as well.

“B-Boss…! No--- UGHHH!!!”

Minoru shut his eyes as Akira hugged him. Oh god, what kind of cruel Digimon was this…!

“…Kuro.”

“I’ll kill him.”

“I agree.”

“Without mercy.”

Well, let’s not describe how bloody the fight was…

“Well, to sum it up, Enjin and Sora cut off the Orochimon’s heads and Kuro ripped off one head while Shiro rained down arrows all over his body.”

That was told by Akira to Minoru about how it was, as Minoru did not witness the whole fight… or rather, he couldn’t – Akira was covering his eyes. He only heard screams and shouts and evil laughters (from Kuro) as the sounds of ripping and slashing gets louder and louder. The rest of them were just retold by Akira.

Of course, she left out a lot of other gory details on how Kuro ripped the head off, how Enjin and Sora tortured the Orochimon, and how Shiro was playing with the poor little escaping snake.

= = =

Finally, the journey through the desert was finally over. To be honest, none of them thought that they will get so much experience and awards from a single desert journey. They have fought different kinds of Digimons, experienced different kinds of situations, and learned a lot on how to deal with similar situations like this in the future. However, they did not expect that the future’s journey will be more bloody…

…and some people will die.

Nevertheless, they kept on going towards the Terminal City, wondering what was waiting in front of them…