With new, even stronger force the, horn is ripped free through your side exposing your digicore to the elements. Your limbs are forced aside as the grappled digimon grows. The evolution ejects your claw, free ending your final hold on him and letting you drop to the scuffed dirt.
"Verge!/Verge!"
In a flash of white the rookie is gone. And in his place...
On the one hand, Verge is finally really cool. He did better than I expected, even if it required him to almost get killed twice to do it. Then again, it's mainly because he has the perfect weapons to use against a shelled insect.
Unfortunately, it seems this guy was ready to pop and has been for a while, so a life threatening situation was enough to make him digivolve.
We pretty badly mangled Kokabuterimon before he Digivolved. Like, a ton more than what happened to Flamemon. So it's possible the energy that had to go into healing that damage during the evolution left him drained. Also, there's two, possibly three fairly powerful Champions here. If it were one-on-one, then I'd be worried, but Beat also proved that even a minor interference can change the tide of battle. It ain't over till it's over, as a wise man once said. And folks, it sure as hell ain't over yet.
It doesn't quite work like that. Digivolving seems to immediately heal your body and top up your energy. Verge is out of the fight; he's wounded enough that even if he uses his last heal he'll still be fucked up, and at this point Blitzmon could kill him with one hit even if he was fully healed and fresh. Considering Beat's performance before, he'll likely be similarly useless.
And speaking of "useless", it seems Ardat's used up her 1-2 castings for the day, which is why she was just watching the fight. So really, it's going to be two-on-one.
I do think we could still pull off a win though. Scratch is ridiculously badass, and Pidmon might enter that Burst Mode or whatever it was that he used against that Devidramon.
It doesn't quite work like that. Digivolving seems to immediately heal your body and top up your energy. Verge is out of the fight; he's wounded enough that even if he uses his last heal he'll still be fucked up, and at this point Blitzmon could kill him with one hit even if he was fully healed and fresh. Considering Beat's performance before, he'll likely be similarly useless.
Naw, not energy top ups. They give you an energy spike, but we've also seen that new digivolutions tend to have very terrible stamina because they tend to burn through the spike of energy and then they keel over if they don't win immediately.
Naw, not energy top ups. They give you an energy spike, but we've also seen that new digivolutions tend to have very terrible stamina because they tend to burn through the spike of energy and then they keel over if they don't win immediately.
I dunno, Flamemon immediately had a brief tussle with Count, a longer fight with Repulsa, and then after all that it took a long time for Count to drain his energy once he caught him.
I dunno, Flamemon immediately had a brief tussle with Count, a longer fight with Repulsa, and then after all that it took a long time for Count to drain his energy once he caught him.
The guy was crushing us even when we were on the same level. Yeah, in the end, we got an edge on him, but let's not forget, he was overpowering Verge. Mister "My Strength caps at 300" who's very close to 200, which is--from my rudimentary understanding of the system, very close to the ordinary Rookie hard cap?
He was beating our drillmole in our best attributes, and it's only because Verge learned the power of wrestling that we got an opening that let us do some damage anyway.
And now he has a ridiculous pile of multipliers on that already gross baseline, and is fully recovered. Hybrids are capable of throwing down with Ultimates as a peer after all.
Like, we're going to need some serious miracles at this point to pull out of this, and a clutch Evolution or two wouldn't be enough, not against a Legendary Warrior. Unless Sarge decides to be the one who Gets Bigger. That would make it a fair fight I think, especially given his ludicrous level of skill.
The guy was crushing us even when we were on the same level. Yeah, in the end, we got an edge on him, but let's not forget, he was overpowering Verge. Mister "My Strength caps at 300" who's very close to 200, which is--from my rudimentary understanding of the system, very close to the ordinary Rookie hard cap?
He was beating our drillmole in our best attributes, and it's only because Verge learned the power of wrestling that we got an opening that let us do some damage anyway.
And now he has a ridiculous pile of multipliers on that already gross baseline, and is fully recovered. Hybrids are capable of throwing down with Ultimates as a peer after all.
Like, we're going to need some serious miracles at this point to pull out of this, and a clutch Evolution or two wouldn't be enough, not against a Legendary Warrior. Unless Sarge decides to be the one who Gets Bigger. That would make it a fair fight I think, especially given his ludicrous level of skill.
Basically, rookie stats usually don't go past 150 unless they have a lot of talent in that area. I'm pretty confused about the soft vs hard cap thing, but that's the gist of it. Verge's stats can all exceed that as a rookie to varying degrees, with his Strength theoretically having a limit of 300 that's quite difficult to reach.
Legendary Warrior rookies, on the other hand, can reach 300 in all stats. Or at least Flamemon could; with this guy I wouldn't be surprised if he had a lower Agility cap and a higher Fortitude cap.
Of course, given Verge's hyper-adaptive body, he's likely to mutate even more later in life, so who knows what'll happen there.
But yeah, even if Verge wasn't critically injured he'd be fucked against this guy. If he gets out of here alive, it'll be because of someone else's actions, not his own. I do think Scratch can at least do pretty well against him even without digivolving; in every fight against Champions we've seen him have he hasn't taken a single wound, and Blitzmon only just digivolved. Pidmon also has that special mode, though who knows if it'll activate here?
Edit:
Also, I'm 100% sure Verge isn't going to be killed, since this whole event isn't a result of our decisions. Well, I suppose fighting KoKabuterimon at all was our choice, but still. I don't think we have to worry about that.
You know, I wouldn't be too surprised if the next update has Scratch evolve to Ultimate. He seems to wipe the floor with typical Champions, so he's probably close to evolution.
We don't actually know if the group Straibmon was working with is officially with the Gloaming as a full-time thing. They might have just been mercenaries.
Ninja'd. Also, that reminds me; he seemed to scorn and reject ideology entirely, so that's another point in favor of him likely just being a neutral party who just wants money.
If Drexal hadn't already stated that Verge wasn't gonna digivolve for awhile, now would be a fantastic opportunity to see it happen
In other news this Kokabuteri-fucker needs a good helping of crippling and/or imprisonment, I'll be surprised if at least one member of his crew doesn't get caught and dragged back to town.
If Drexal hadn't already stated that Verge wasn't gonna digivolve for awhile, now would be a fantastic opportunity to see it happen
In other news this Kokabuteri-fucker needs a good helping of crippling and/or imprisonment, I'll be surprised if at least one member of his crew doesn't get caught and dragged back to town.
That actually reminds me: what was Scratch doing with that Minotaurmon? The update said he was clearly prolonging the fight when he could have ended it much sooner. At first I thought he was trying to incapacitate him for interrogation later, but then he just killed him. Perhaps he set a time limit for himself for when to go help Pidmon, and killed his opponent after failing to beat him non-lethally within that timeframe?
That is what TS, the most asshole GM of the universe is probably planning to use. On this quest we haven't see a single DM apart of Daemon, who probably is death, so there isn't a true smolescreen.
That is what TS, the most asshole GM of the universe is probably planning to use. On this quest we haven't see a single DM apart of Daemon, who probably is death, so there isn't a true smolescreen.
Can we not? No drama. No bringing stuff from other quests into this one
Susanoomon is easy to work as a villain because his lore is outright 'erase the current world to make way for the new one' and while at certain places that can be a 'good' thing its also insanely easy to vilify it
You know when Verge digivolves it better be some cathartic as fuck shit
Can we not? No drama. No bringing stuff from other quests into this one
Susanoomon is easy to work as a villain because his lore is outright 'erase the current world to make way for the new one' and while at certain places that can be a 'good' thing its also insanely easy to vilify it
Agreed on not bringing the quest that shall not be named into this. I also honestly doubt that Susanoomon is going to be the BBEG for this quest. While the LW are powerful, they all seem to be doing their own thing so far as we've seen. Strabimon was likely working as a merc due to that lines, ahem, lone wolf tendencies. Kokabuterimon... Well in this life he's apparently a betraying asshole. We think that Drop might be the LW of Water due to her apparently stupidly high stats, but there hasn't been any confirmation as of yet. And Flamemon... well honestly that line's sense of justice and heroism seems to be coded directly into their digicore. Which leaves the other six warriors unaccounted for, but I'd still be willing to bet that they're not all massive jackwagons. And Drex has confirmed that natural line LW don't produce Spirits when they die or anything. So the only way for Susanoomon to show up would be for them to raid all ten of the temples where the Spirits are kept, and somehow manage to fuse themselves into Susanoomon.
I don't see it happening, those Spirits are powerful artifacts, and probably guarded by fairly powerful Ultimates and even some mid-tier Megas. Not mon that a lone psychopath would be able to take on by themselves.
Agreed on not bringing the quest that shall not be named into this. I also honestly doubt that Susanoomon is going to be the BBEG for this quest. While the LW are powerful, they all seem to be doing their own thing so far as we've seen. Strabimon was likely working as a merc due to that lines, ahem, lone wolf tendencies. Kokabuterimon... Well in this life he's apparently a betraying asshole. We think that Drop might be the LW of Water due to her apparently stupidly high stats, but there hasn't been any confirmation as of yet. And Flamemon... well honestly that line's sense of justice and heroism seems to be coded directly into their digicore. Which leaves the other six warriors unaccounted for, but I'd still be willing to bet that they're not all massive jackwagons. And Drex has confirmed that natural line LW don't produce Spirits when they die or anything. So the only way for Susanoomon to show up would be for them to raid all ten of the temples where the Spirits are kept, and somehow manage to fuse themselves into Susanoomon.
I don't see it happening, those Spirits are powerful artifacts, and probably guarded by fairly powerful Ultimates and even some mid-tier Megas. Not mon that a lone psychopath would be able to take on by themselves.
And there's also the fact that if Susanoomon was out and about and wanted to blow the world to fuck and reboot it(interestingly, the exact same thing Lucemon, the mon he fought against in Frontier, wants), he wouldn't need to bother scheming, because he could just... do it. He's on the same level as Lucemon, who is a planet buster himself, so he could just physically smash the entire digital world with large-scale attacks.
And there's also the fact that if Susanoomon was out and about and wanted to blow the world to fuck and reboot it(interestingly, the exact same thing Lucemon, the mon he fought against in Frontier, wants), he wouldn't need to bother scheming, because he could just... do it. He's on the same level as Lucemon, who is a planet buster himself, so he could just physically smash the entire digital world with large-scale attacks.
Wait, I thought Frontier Lucemon used the data of the entire Digital World to make the Human World digital. It's been years since I've seen Frotiner, but I distinctly remember a scene where everything in the human world turned into barcodes for a moment.
Blitzmon, the Legendary Warrior of Thunder, slowly straightens up, lightning dancing across the surface of his thick, muscular frame and carelessly arcing out around him. The air itself begins to fill with the thick scent of burnt ozone, and a hot, burning sensation slams into your gut, throwing you back and burning a hole through your stomach. It hurts it hurts a lot, and what's more you're going to be deleted if you can't fix this wound.
Heal. Have to… heal!
The newly evolved elemental champion pauses, looking down at his metallic arms with curious, wide eyes filled with shock. It lasts for less than one tenth of a second before being replaced by a tide of pure, unadulterated glee. Blitzmon's fists snap shut, arms bending to ninety-degrees before he flexes. His arms, his chest even his legs ripple in sudden power, pushing, straining against the outer metal shell even as the swirling electricity redoubles in intensity, carving blackened furrows through the earth.
A clawed hand wraps around your scruff, and pulls you back just in time to avoid a second, far more deadly limb.
"Ko.Ko.Ko.Ko." The former KoKabuterimon's much, much deeper voice rumbles, with all the intensity and strength of a Locomon's engine.
Metallic grey eyes snap towards your badly wounded form, and Blitzmon raises one crackling fist. Then slowly lowers it again. Ardat steps forward, holding holding her broom up as a sort of makeshift shield, but the newly evolved champion ignores her in favour of ever so slightly bowing his head to you, and speaking with mocking mirth.
"Finally, my evolution, my calling to power is here! Thanks oh so much for helping me along." Blitzmon turns towards the trembling Wormmon and shakes his head. "Such a disappointment my old friend, but you were too weak and gutless to help." The newly evolved champion raises his left hand, examining the minus symbol on the back. "It's so sad that your little promise will never be fulfilled." He turns away, revealing a small portion of the armor on his left side where the mark of a clearly patched-over hole is visible.
"Raaaagh!" Beat mindlessly, sprints forward, eyes gleaming red with wrath in what could only be a suicidal charge. In response, the much bigger mon doesn't even move - an errant burst of crackling energy lashes out from Blitzmon and smashes into his head, throwing him dozens of feet back and out of sight.
Soothing energy washes over your side, covering the massive hole showing your digicore, but with it comes the familiar, bone-chilling fatigue as your source of energy fizzles. It still hurts, everything still hurts, but you've stabilized the damage, and stopped yourself from being deleted.
For now at least.
"I've never loaded a Witchmon before~" Blitzmon coos, casually sauntering towards Ardat with one hand on his hip.
"You're a fool to believe that this new form of yours can even hold a candle to the power possessed by the master of Wind Sorcery!" Ardat shouts, and while you can't see it, you're pretty sure she's smirking.
"KoKoKoko!" The cyborg laughs again, slightly smoother this time. His throws his arms out in a *welcome* gesture and arrogantly throws back his head "Come then little witch! Give me your beeeest shot. Just look! I'm too scared to even move!"
"AHaHaHaHa!" Ardat cackles, powerful gusts of of wind directly lifting her into the air. High Programming in almost a physical wave erupts from her lips, surrounding the Witchmon with a sudden, shrieking squall.
One waxy hand reaches around your shoulder and Sparks yanks with all his might, helping you back onto all fours once again. Together you stumble from the brewing storm and towards Scratch's location. The Gladimon's eyes look dispassionately at the display, almost like he's just slightly annoyed with everything that's happening.
"Thanks. Sparks." you mumble between coughs.
"Verge are-are you okay?" Sparks desperately questions, panic tickling in his voice as he clutches at your fur.
No.
"I'm. *Cough* F-fine." the wobbly lie comes out weakly. Through the exhaustion and injuries all you want to do is close your eyes and simply let go. It all changes into fury as a shadow bearing two wings comes into sigh in front of you.
"Mega Heal!" Pain, anger exhaustion. Everything fades away into a soothing sense of artificial calmness as your newly made friend heals your injuries. Beat drops onto your dark grey fur, from the angel's arms and then rolls off to lay on the ground, unconscious but still alive. "Ho, comrades!" The angels cheery voice rings out. "I defeated that foul fowl of the accursed Gloaming, and now, I come to offer what aid I can to the rest of you!" With that he looks around the clearing, then slumps upon realizing that Blitzmon is the only opponent left, and he's just standing there waiting for Ardat to finish her spell.
"Hehehe..." You tiredly laugh. "Thanks."
"It was the least I could do my friend!"
"Sergeant-uh. Sergeant Scratch!" Sparks pipes up, causing the round armored champion to look at him. "I-I freed the rookies, they're heading back-back to their village."
You did? Sparks, Flamemon would… He'd be proud.
The Gladimon in question nods with his whole body, sends another dispassionate glance towards the legendary warrior, then speaks four words.
"It's starting. Get back." You all follow his order without a single question, retreating past the edge of the clearing and seeking refuge behind the thick trees. The only one who stays put is Scratch, as he calmly crosses his arms, utterly unphased.
Howling gusts of wind sweep across the already brutalized clearing, ripping debris free from the ground and into the semisolid tendrils of focused, swirling air. The newly created storm erupts from all sides, buffeting your party and carrying Beat towards the rapidly growing tornado around Blitzmon. Scratch snatches the small rookie from the air and holds him tight, watching silently as the spell reaches its final form, shrinking in on the stock-still Blitzmon and blocking him from sight.
A horrible, ear-slaughtering shriek slices through the air as the fully formed tornado condenses further, shrinking to form just around the cyborg. The constant stream of lightning surrounding him finds itself gobbled up by the windstorm; only serving to further empower Ardat's spell and lending the wind a vaguely golden hue.
Then a pair of faint sounds pound through the roaring wind, distorted, but very much amused.
"KoKoKoKoKo!"
"AHahahahaha!"
Up above, the high pitched cackling figure raises her claw above her head, and then closes the hand into a crushing fist.
The whirling storm of wind explodes, thrusting a veritable wave of dust and the remains of pulverized stumps out in an omnidirectional wave of destruction. You close your eyes, hold Sparks tightly between your arms and hide behind the tree, whimpering as the insane forces tears at the tree you're hiding behind. Your claws tear small furrows in the dirt as you're pushed back several inches, but you resist. It finally ends three seconds later, and the two of you, along with Pidmon, tentatively peak out to just in time to see Ardat fall from her sky-bound perch and plummet towards the ground head first.
Scratch calmly moves forward and catches the larger champion in his arms, before calmly laying her down.
"Oho! That little breeze actually scraaa-atched my exterior, bravooooo, Witchmon." Blitzmon laughs, leaping up from the crater formed by Ardat's spell. His armor is covered in light scuffs, "This might take a few entire hours to repair itself." He continues striding forward, lightning bursting to life around his form yet again. You hear the sound of grinding teeth as the limp form of Ardat tries to glare at him. Only, she can't move, so the effect is lost as she stares murder at his feet. "Now IIIII have so many new moves to test out. I'm sure you, the Pidmon and that round one would be able to help me out. Riiiight!?" Blitzmon raises his fist once again, forcing a massive burst of energy free to arc straight up into the sky.
Then...That's it. We've… lost.
Your sergeant steps forward to meet the looming mon nearly twice his height and draw his remaining saber.
"Kokoko? Now you want to fight me alone?" Blitzmon snorts, glaring down at the rotund champion. "I wonder what sound you'll make?" He question to himself raising his right hand up to cradle his chin. "Will you pop?" Scratch calmly lifts his blade and throws it up, straight towards the Legendary Warrior's eye. The foes arm doesn't blur; one second it cupping his metal chin, and the next it's wrapped around the weapon's blade. "Or will you squish?" With that Blitzmon clenches his fist, shattering the blade into dozens of tiny fragments.
Beside you Sparks lets out a small whimper of fear.
"Fledgling Verge," The Gladimon says calmly, not seeming to care about posturing warrior of thunder. "Carry Witchmon."
What? Now?!
You swallow, but tentatively begin to move forward.
"Just to be clear" Blitzmon interrupts, moving a hand to point the prone feminine digimon. "None of you are getting away."
Ardat slurs something out from the ground under heath breath, before breaking out into an amused chuckle, prompting the cyborg to look at her.
"What was that? Do speak up please, your last words should be something special."
"She said" Scratch replies, letting a small hint of genuine anger leak into his tone. "That you've already lost."
"KoKoKo? Really? And just who is going to defeat me?"
The Gladimon's only response is to start glowing a vibrant shade of white.
There's no shouting, no waste heat, no burst of wild energy you'd come to expect from an evolution. Instead your leader's form silently warps, then grows, expanding to stand of height with the Legendary Warrior of Thunder. New armor, far more ornate, appears around him and snaps into place as his body lengthens, changing into more humanoid proportions. The blade fragments on the ground fly back towards the glowing digimon, joined by those from Scratch's first blade. They conjoin, in his now gloved right hand, forming a much broader, ornate weapon wreathed in burning flame, under which you can barely glimpse sigils of High Programming. A milky-white orb just appears in his other hand, a soft glow pulsing within. Lastly, a freaking cape bursts out of his pauldrons to drop down from his shoulders and over his back.
The new digimon rolls his armor-covered shoulders, ignoring the gawking stares most of the squad is giving him, and then gives an answer cold enough to turn water to ice.
"I, Mistymon will do so"
Mistymon? That's… Scratch is an Ultimate!?
Blitzmon steps back in sudden surprise, his eyes clouding with a new emotion. Fear. You eye the freshly digivolved champion - er, ultimate? Ultimate that went back to champion? Truthfully, you're unsure of just what to call this - and can't help but wince in a hint of sympathy. He'd been expecting to fight a bunch of champions, not face an ultimate in open battle. Still, the cyborg sets his feet, raises his fists and prepares for combat. You step back with Ardat flung across your shoulder and move to cover Sparks. Beetlemon's electric aura retracts everywhere on his person save his horn, which erupts in a sudden surge of snapping energy. Scratch lets go of his orb and raises his flaming sword up into the air in anticipation.
"Lightning Bomber!"
You blink, and the two digimon vanish from sight for half a moment-
Sergeant Scratch… Please win.
-and reappear just in time for the Mistymon's flaming blade to carve a sparking swathe through Blitzmon's left shoulder, down to his right hip. The Cyborg stumbles back, hand rising up to desperately defend himself from another sword-strike. Which is why the sergeant's left cross catches him completely off guard, rocking him back further across the clearing where he stumbles into the metal cage. It bends around Blitzmon's weight and momentum, bars loudly popping free as the legendary warriors tries to use the construct to steady himself.
"I-"
"Core Dart."
The orb hovering beside Scratch unleashes a torrent of flame, effortlessly melting the cage and turning Blitzmon's words into a pained scream. Your sergeant moves and is suddenly on the other side of the cage, waiting as Blitzmon stumbles out, armor half melted and clutching his wounded torso. Blitzmon doesn't see the magic digimon line up his jeweled forehead with the area just right of his opponent's horn.
*Crack*
Or the lightning fast headbutt which cracks his armored skull.
The Legendary Warrior falls; burned and beaten, loudly thumping to the earth.
I. I. I-He...
"Wow. Was-is that Scratch!?"
"That was amazing, Sergeant!" Pidmon shouts, snapping a salute.
"Yep! Aaaaaah. Good old. Scratch~." Ardat yawns, before snuggling her face into your chest fur. Normally you'd find this extremely uncomfortable but right now you're a bit busy staring in confusion.
But...How?
Unfortunately, you're interrupted from your thinking as a new voice calmly says:
"Black Statue!" Prompting a wave of purple energy to sink down from above and wash over the unconscious Legendary Warrior. When it fades away a moment later, all that's left is a statue made of dark stone.
"Ooooh. I'm so happy for this find! Now that's a rare piece."
Scratch turns towards the sky, his normally passive face now set into a determined grimace. You don't even want to know what could make look like that, but you have a feeling you're going to found out soon anyways.
...It's just like, one thing after another isn't it?!
===
Authors Note: I didn't want to stop at another cliffhanger but it would have meant like a 5K word update. I'll try to get the third and final part out with the vote tonight. Beta'd by @TempestK and @no.
