Klaxons blared. Lights flared red. The base was at full alert. Boots pounded the metal deck as a half-dozen creatures that looked equally of prehistoric dinosaurs and modern-day commandos formed up. Taking advantage of what little cover the corridor provided, the Commandramon leveled their weapons at the sealed door of the hatchway before them. Clicks were heard as safeties were taken off and rounds chambered, nervous glances to their superiors from the rookies, and hardened stares and steady fingers from the veterans.
Thump
THUMP
The door bowed inward from a massive dent. A split second later, a horrendous screech and the door was torn clear of its hinges, creased in half and sent clattering to the deck. Nearly a foot of solid steel, bashed in like naught but cardboard. "Fire!" barked the lead Commandramon, distinguished by the golden triangle upon his shoulder.
The bullets pinged and sparked harmlessly off their target, the colossal Digimon so tall he nearly had to duck to be accommodated in the hallway. Ogre's yellow eyes swept over the base's interior, noting for barely an instant that there were six Digimon shooting at him.
The mighty warrior dragon's skin was pitch black, as was the armor on his torso, forearms, shoulders, and back. Silver trim decorated his chestplate and greaves, and stood as the main color on the fearsome three-horned helmet he wore. His yellow eyes seemed almost dim, for he was a warrior faced with Digimon whom had been firing at him for eight seconds non-stop without causing him to feel more than flickers of pain as the odd bullet struck exposed skin.
The commandos seemed to realize their futility, as several lobbed grenades toward the intruder. Smoke and fire blossomed in the corridor and their fire stopped, but when the smoke cleared, the warrior had transfered his shield to his arms and blocked the attack.
"Fools," the Black War Greymon growled. There was no sadistic malice in his voice, for he took no pleasure in this. "Dramon Killer!" Claws glinting, the warrior blurred into motion.
The squad had been halved before they even realized the dragon had moved. But as he turned to finish off the rest of the squad, a more powerful barrage of explosives rocked Ogre, forcing him to step backward.
"Destruction Grenade!" chorused the pair of Guardromon striding side-by-side up the corridor, firing another missile salvo from their wrist-mounted launchers. Ogre blocked the shots with his shield again, then swung it to the side and glared through the veil of smoke. He glanced down to see one of the Commandramon lax with fear, mouth muttering incoherently as he stared wide-eyed at the beast looming over him.
Ogre snapped his leg up, deleting him as well with a clawed kick. Surely there was more challenge than this to be had?
"Destruction Grenade!" This time, he leapt forward, sliding between the missiles and then rolling nimbly to his feet. In one smooth motion, he transferred to an attack. "Black Tornado!" His body a blur, the dragon warrior decimated the four remaining enemies in his area, two Commandramon and two Guardromon.
Coming to a rest, he glared at the tiny sentinel upon the wall, the security camera currently recording his every move. But he did not bother to destroy it, for the strength he'd seen so far, the entire base could attack him at once, and he would still triumph.
----
"Sir!" barked a Sealsdramon, the powerful cybnertic commando bounding up a ladder to the upper level of the command center. Monitors lined nearly every inch of the walls on both decks, monitored by Digimon going about their duties with varying degrees of urgency.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" answered the Assaultmon, a creature encased in armor like Sealsdramon, but based around a more powerful frame with a centaur-like body and several powerful firearms. He turned where he stood overlooking the crew pit below, eyes piercing the lower officer as he awaited the cyborg's report.
"The target has breached our outer defense perimeter, sir."
"Can you confirm its identity?" the question was asked, the answer dreaded.
"It's Ogre, sir," the Sealsdramon confirmed gravely.
The Assaultmon turned away, stepping over to a freestanding pedestal. His fingers danced across it, inputing the command. A sketchy hologram flickered to life in mid-air, floating above the heads of those below. As the illusion resolved, it formed into a nexus of green lines, a map of the base and the surrounding area.
A red dot flashed near the edge of the map. "Ogre is here," explained Assaultmon "At outpost four. Once he's clear of the tunnels through the mountains, we'll be able to field our full firepower against as he moves into the valley."
"Is it wise to let him get that far?" Sealsdramon's arms folded across his chest.
"Even Ryker doesn't really stand a chance against Ogre in a confined space like the tunnels," Assaultmon said heavily, his shoulders sagging slightly in a world-weary kind of way. "Prep first through fourth squads, and have them set up an ambush for Ogre as he comes into the valley."
----
The green serenity of the jungle, the peaceful twittering of the birds. It belied the grim preparations in the valley the Iron Griffons called home. Bits of the trees and rocks and bushes seemed to be alive, for a number of Commandramon lurked amid the underbrush, hidden by their active camoflouge. They were spread in a quarter circle around the bunker door through which attack was expected at any moment. Along with them, Tankmon, their green armor providing modest natural camoflauge. Their safeties were off, their weapons primed, prepared for imminent attack. Some were ready and raring for battle. Others reflected on one fact: what chance did they have against the mightiest warrior in the known digital world?
"Movement!" barked one of the soldiers. The steely-gray blast door they'd all been watching suddenly bowed under a tremendous blow, the force of it resonating through the jungle.
"Fire!" The squads opened up, showering the bunker door with cannon shells and thousands of machinegun rounds from both the tanks and infantry. For nearly twenty seconds they held their barrage, until the entire area was shrouded with smoke so thick even their advanced optics were having a hard time cutting through. Where the bunker had once stood, a house-sized hole had been carved out of the rocky mountainside.
"We got 'em!"
"No, wait!"
Amid all the destruction from the gunfire, a hole had been carved into the floor of the bunker.
"Aaaaghhh!" Ogre burst forth from the jungle floor, a spinning tempest of black, rising straight up through one of the Tankmon and deleting him almost instantly. Surprised by the enemy's suddenly appearing in the midst of their line, the cyborgs scrambled to reposition and respond.
Without waiting, Ogre sprinted into motion, cleaving through a Commandramon with a casual swipe of his claws as he ran before lunging at one of the surviving Tankmon. The tank spun to face him, leveling its machine guns and pumping the high-caliber rounds right at the dragon warrior's face. But he reached around, transferring the shield off his back onto his arms. Sparks flared as bullets were deflected off of it, and then the Black War Greymon swung a vicious kick that knocked the Tankmon into the air. Such was his strength that even several tons of armor never meant to leave the ground were sent flying into the jungle canopy, and Ogre jumped right up after it. With a vicious backhand the tank was sent flying back toward the ground, crushing several Commandramon before exploding itself.
Landing, Ogre's eyes picked out the muzzle flashes of several Commandramon still shooting at him. One of them lobbed grenades, causing the dragon warrior to swing around behind a towering tree. At the same instant, several of the Commandramon were slain. As the dust of the explosives settled, Ogre stepped back out from behind the tree and snatched his shield back, allowing himself an unseen smile as he imagined the blood of the shield's victims staining it after its boomerang-like attack.
A powerful explosion rocked Ogre's back, causing him to stumble and grunt in pain as a Tankmon's cannon shell struck him dead-on. As he turned to face his attacker, he caught movement in the corner of his eye. Throwing himself into a sideways roll, the shell of a second Tankmon passed through his wake, detonating the first in a fiery flash.
A slightly bigger grin. No, they didn't have a chance of defeating him. But at least the fight was proving a little fun. Leaping upward, he launched a vicious spin kick into a tree, uprooting the centuries-old giant and sending it crashing down upon the remaining Tankmon.
Motion flashed behind him, death swift and silent as a ghost. The Sealsdramon zeroed in on Ogre's neck, his knife driving toward that weakpoint. But the dragon warrior spun in place, seizing the assailant's arm. With his other hand he reached up and crushed the commando's head, claws closing on nothing as the data decomposed.
The telltale whistle of more grenades inbound sounded in his ears, but the powerful warrior simply leapt clear over the detonating explosives and set his sights upon the Commandramon who launched them. He clawed feet landed with such force the child-level cyborg was thrown to the ground, then was impaled as he struggled to rise.
A Sealsdramon, a sergeant, and his squad crouched amid a nest of boulders, their camoflauge, active and otherwise, hiding them for the moment as Ogre shredded those fighting against him. "Put in a call to ATC!" the Sealsdramon barked to one of his subordinates "Need air support ASAP!"
The Commandramon nodded, tapping his radio. "This is Echo Squad, requesting immediate Airstrike."
"Affirmative, Echo, Pteranomon scrambling. ETA, two minutes. Designate targets."
Ogre came to a rest, standing over a badly wounded Sealsdramon as he surveyed the surrounding jungle. The screech of subsonic aircraft overhead drew his attention upward, but the Black War Greymon looked shrewdly up at the approaching forms. Their sleek, pointed heads, slender bodies, and wide wings with weapons suspended them, rounded out by a purple paintjob highlighted them as Pteranomon. But they couldn't possibly lock on to him effectively, not with mere snatches of his black through the thick green canopy.
Just by chance, Ogre looked down. With a puzzled grunt, he noticed a speck on his silvery torso plate. He moved to brush it off, only to find the dot had transferred onto his gauntlet.
"Side Winder!" screeched the airborne dinosaurs in unison, releasing their missiles in a fiery barrage. Fire rolled across the jungle as trees and branches were shredded by the assault, with more plumes of orange and gray erupting around their intended target, Ogre.
The dragon man jumped backwards, flipped once, and rose to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wounded Sealsdramon had been finished by friendly fire. Ogre watched warily as the fighters banked around for another barrage, ready this time. "Side Winder!" the second salvo was launched, missiles screaming toward their target. Ogre sidestepped, expecting the missiles to miss. But their trajectories arced, leaving him only a split second to draw his shield. As the explosives pummeled his shield and armor, the warrior growled lowly. That dot. They were painting him as a target.
Bolting into motion, Ogre sprinted away from the attacking planes, toward the remaining pocket of troops. Launching off on his powerful legs, he slammed into one of the boulders the squad hid behind, dislodging it, tipping it, crushing several of them. The instant his feet touched the ground, Ogre leapt skyward claws a whirling dervish. As he landed a short distance away, the commandos were pummeled by automobile-sized pieces of falling trees. Data drifted away on the breeze, the only remaining threat now was the Pteranomon, but they seemed to have pulled back for now.
The Black War Greymon stalked onward, his splayed feet leaving deep tracks in the soft mud of the jungle. He'd come of his own discretion, come seeking a power seldom seen. The X-antibody. One of the warriors serving these Iron Griffons supposedly possessed that power. If Ogre could take it for himself... he might well rival the power he'd held before Insomnia split it. Though he did not wish for an instant the dark lady had not grown to what she was today, it would bring him joy to have his old strength returned to him.
Though the jungle was silent as a ghost town, devoid even of the errant sounds of wildlife, Ogre's instincts suddenly bristled. That indefinable sense that something was wrong, the feeling that usually accompanied someone right behind you, seconds from slamming a heavy object down on your head. Close enough.
A wavering whistle split the air, and a second later a chunk of the meandering stream to Ogre's right evaporated in a blinding flash. The shockwave pummeled the dragon warrior, forcing him to shuffle his feet and regain his balance. A second later, the same unsteady whistle was heard. Ogre reached for his shield, but was too slow. The round impacted his torso, exploding and sending the warrior tumbling backwards.
As up and down settled once again nearly twenty yards away, and Ogre rose with a snarl. Bits of his armor flaked off, but he wasn't nearly done yet. An airstrike before, and now an artillery bombardment. Clever Stowing his shield, the Black War Greymon shot skyward, hacking his way through branches and foliage until he broke free of the canopy. He grunted. From the density of the leaves, he could have sworn he was looking at solid ground, not tree tops.
A third wavering whistle. There, a flash in the corner of his eye. The artillery shell, blasting another swathe of destruction in the jungle. And in the distance, a column of rising smoke. Found you. Sweeping his claws in front of him, Ogre hurtled toward what he knew had to be smoke coming from the cannon of whatever artillery was blasting him.
His eyes were soon treated to a wide, obviously artificial clearing. In it was the enormous quadruped Cannondramon, the cybernetically-augmented saurian's cannons raised into position for long-range bombardment. It was completely oblivious to the warrior gliding over the treetops toward it, still shooting at what it thought was a distant target. "Dino..." A pale light emanated from the barrel, and Ogre gave a smile of cold cunning. He whipped the hexagonal plate off his back, hurling it toward the glowing cannon. "Cannon!" Thunder shook the jungle as the Cannondramon fired, meeting Ogre's shield a split second after leaving the barrel.
The explosion ripped outward, destroying the cannon barrel outright and sending the Cannondramon crashing to the ground, its loud groans of agony echoing across the jungle. As the beast slammed to the ground, Ogre gave the quiet words "Brave shield," and as he spoke, his shield came hurtling back out of the jungle.
"Hmph," he growled, scrutinizing the shield. It was bent and battered, unlikely to be of any aid. The shield was released, tumbling to the jungle floor. "Black Tornado!" his body a spiraling blur, the Black War Greymon carved straight into Cannondramon, the beast's thick skin holding at first but swiftly giving way under the merciless assault. Penetrating the creature, he was swiftly met by the return of the jungle as the cyborg was deleted.
"A pity I cannot grow stronger on such data," Ogre remarked, once again on his slow, steady march toward the base. "For clearly, there is data aplenty to liberate from this place. It seems though that I overestimated the resistance. I thought for sure I would have run into more opponents by now."
----
"It's no good, sir," the Sealsdramon reported grimly in the command center. The Assaultmon was silent, watching the red dot that grew inexorably closer. They'd lost a good portion of their forces without even slowing down the rampant attacker.
The Iron Griffon militia weren't pushovers, not by a longshot. They functioned out of their military base deep in the jungle, mining the rich digizoid deposits in the vicinity. More than once groups had tried to chase the Militia off its cache, but they'd been repulsed by powerful weaponry and tactics each time. But they'd met their most powerful adversary yet, and to say they were struggling was putting it mildly.
The perfect-level cyborg's grip tightened on the handrail unconsciously, mangling and twisting it in anxiety. "Armor, air strikes... artillery. None of it has slowed him down," he growled to himself, still staring at the holo-map as though if he watched it long enough, the answer would appear written on it.
"Captain!" yelled one of the Hagurumon amid the technicians below.
"What!?" The Assaultmon stared at the tactical map in disbelief as he spotted the blue dot rapidly moving away from the base to engage Ogre.
Assaultmon shot an armor-piercing glare at one of the technicians, then jerked his head up at the screen. The tech nodded, quickly opening a channel.
"Ryker!" barked Assaultmon "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Doing?" asked a confident voice scattered with static. "I'm going to fight him, that's what!"
"No! You don't have a chance on your own."
"Then I guess you'd better send back-up." The channel went dead.
----
Ryker's powerful form left a blazing trail of exhaust in its wake, a powerful bipedal saurian with bright red scales and a body that had undergone obvious cybernetic augmentation. His arms, torso, and head were encased in armor, the jets upon his back propelling him rapidly above the jungle canopy. This Megalo Growmon was even more fearsome than usual, for he bore the rare X-antibody, giving him power all his own.
----
Ogre's slow strides continued as he entered another clearing. I'm nearly to the base. If he doesn't come out soon, I'll just torch this whole valley and be done with it. There's other ways to obtain that power.
"Looking for me? Double Edge Sigma!" Arcs of searing red cleaved across Ogre's field of vision. At the last instant he threw his arms up, ablating the blows with the gauntlets on his forearms. Transferring into a backflip, Ogre steadied himself and set his eyes on his foe.
"Well, well, my x-antibody-equipped friend. I've been looking for you."
The Mega Growmon snarled. "And I've been looking forward to kicking your ass after you killed so many of my comrades!"
"So," Ogre said, carefully sizing up the Mega Growmon X, noting that he was nearly twice Ogre's own size and bristling with firepower. "Killing all them drew you out? Not such a waste after all, then."
The taunt worked as expected. "Double Edge Sigma!" the enormous blades cleaved through the air again, but this time, Ogre was ready. He caught the blades in his claws, even as the energy around them licked at his fingers, snorting at the shock that registered on Ryker's face as his attack was blocked.
"Black Tornado!" Still gripping his foe's arm blades, the Black War Greymon spun rapidly in place, sending the Megalo Growmon flying like a shot-put. A shot put capable of traveling a hundred yards and reducing a dozen trees to splinters in the process. But before he'd even slid to a full stop Ryker was surging back to his feet, red flaring around his arms and his torso this time as well as he charged his energy weapons. "Atomic Megalo Blaster!" he bellowed, pounding Ogre with a flurry of energy bullets as he charged forward.
Ogre took off at a full run, tracing a circle relative to Ryker. The Megalo Growmon kept firing as his target moved, uncaring as the jungle was torn to shreds by the gunfire. "Dramon killer!" hissed Ogre, his claws flashing as they cut through the base of a tree. Seizing it in his claws as it fell, the dragon man swung it like a colossal club at his enemy.
Ryker ceased firing, swinging his bladed left arm forward and planting it in the ground, the razor's edge perfectly vertical. The tree crashed into the blade, shorn in half.
Ogre cursed as he overbalanced from the weight of the tree suddenly dropping, but regained his balance as he released the club and leapt toward the Megalo Growmon X. Charging and catching the powerful cyborg in the jaw, he sent him sprawling to the ground. But the instant the fallen Digimon's eyes found the cold yellow ones of Ogre, the fires of vengeance flared and once again he rose.
Catching Ogre with a furious kick as he rose, Ryker set his thrusters to full power and hurtled up at the Black War Greymon. Before Ogre could respond, the plasma-charged edge of the Megalo Growmon X's arm slammed into him, charring the armor already weakened by numerous minor hits.
"I'll not fall to the likes of you!" Ogre pushed aside the blade with one hand, and drew back the other to attack. "Dramon Killer!" he yelled, aiming to jab his claws straight into Ryker's torso plate. "Atomic Megalo Blaster!" At point-blank range, Ogre had barely a moment to register his whole world go red before excruciating pain slammed him backwards.
Smoking and battered, more bits of Ogre's armor flaked off as he rose from the stream he'd come to rest in. Something is wrong. He should not fight me this well, I've defeated much more powerful foes before. Then, a possible connection sparked. But until now... I've always fought in close proximity to Lady Insomnia. Am I dependent on her for my strength...? All the more reason to digitize this fool and take his x-antibody for my own.
----
"Well?" Sealsdramon grumbled, watching as the two dots clashed furiously on the holo-map.
Assaultmon shook his head imperiously from where he stood at the railing. "Sending our soldiers in there now, they'd only get in Ryker's way." he said boldly. For someone who'd cursed the Megalo Growmon going in alone, his confidence seemed to have shot up to the point of stupidity, in the Sealsdramon's eyes, at least.
----
Ryker roared as he turned to face Ogre, weapons flickering as he charged another laser barrage. But the dragon man wasn't about to give him the chance. "Black Tornado!" He leapt forward in a spiraling twister, not bearing directly toward the Megalo Growmon, but tunneling along the ground just under the surface, kicking up dirt and debris to hide his exact location as he charged toward his enemy.
But Ryker just adjusted his aim, delivering a blistering wave of energy into the ground before him. Ogre sensed the attack, stopped, flipped, and shot into the air. Planting his feet on a tree, he coiled like a spring before shooting down at the Megalo Growmon again. "Dramon Killer!" he roared, swinging his claws forward. They gouged into the cyborg's unarmored neck, causing him to bellow in pain. Before a counterattack could come, Ogre leapt away again, landing on the riverbank as his massive adversary struggled to regain his balance.
Only by digging his arms into the ground did Ryker remain upright, but even then he slid some distance backwards before the momentum from Ogre's hit was dissipated. "Atomic Mega Blaster!" his blasters whined as they charged up, then dumped another torrent of energy bullets toward Ogre. But the barrage streaked clear of the wary dragon warrior, who found himself close to laughing at the bad aim.
But as rocks from the cliffside Ryker had just blasted came raining down on him, the Black War Greymon realized his folly. Using the falling rocks as a distraction, the cyborg ignited his back-mounted thrusters and hurtled forward to attack. "Double Edge Sigma!" he roared, blades glinting red as he thrashed them back and forth.
Ogre's gauntlet claws sparked as they parried and deflected Ryker's blades in a maddening display of skill, their blurring movements nearly impossible to track as strike, parry, and counterstrike melted into one.
The Megalo Growmon's cannons suddenly flared red. Ogre leaped backward, not about to take another point-blank shot from those powerful batteries. But that was exactly the opening Ryker was looking for. He slammed the Black War Greymon to the ground as he attempted to retreat, then seized him and lifted him from the ground.
With a flurry of movement the armored dragon was slammed through a tree, into a rock, another rock, a second tree, and then thrown into the river. Ryker's cannons lit up again, this time firing in earnest. "Atomic Megalo Blaster!" lasers pulsed across the battlefield, pounding Ogre mercilessly.
"Heh heh heh," Ryker chuckled boldly to himself, smirking as he surveyed the damage. Thick clouds of smoke and steam shrouded the terrain deformed by his powerful barrage. "No way he survived that." Then, motion amid the veil. "What?" gasped the Megalo Growmon, staring in disbelief.
Ogre strode forth, his movements smooth and proud despite the damage inflicted. His armor was flaking off in places and cracked in many more, but even with burned and battered skin he betrayed not a hint of a limp.
"You have fought well, warrior," the Black War Greymon proclaimed as he strode toward the thunderstruck Ryker. "But now it's all over." He bolted into motion, charging toward the cybernetic saurian. Either the charge came too fast for Ryker to react, or more likely, his energy was too badly depleted for another over-the-top Atomic Megalo Blaster. "Dramon Killer!" Ogre's powerful blow caught Ryker in the midsection, knocking the powerful cyborg airborn.
Steadying his feet against the ground, the dragon warrior drew his palms together, clenched together to the right of his abdomen. "Until now, I've only fought you with my claws, fists, and feet. But now, it's time to show you what a warrior like me can really do. Gaia," he enunciated slowly, heat haze rippling from his forearms. "FORCE!" Red, orange, and yellow coalesced in his hands in a fiery display, for all intents and purposes he seemed to be holding a miniature sun. He hurled the projectile at the still-airborne Megalo Growmon, the sphere expanding as it left its creator's hands until it was nearly as large as its target.
Ryker's cry of agony ripped across the jungle as the energy sphere impacted him, unleashing upon the cyborg the searing heat and power of Ogre's most powerful technique. After the wave of energy washed over him, it transferred into the jungle, reducing plants, trees, and foliage to ash instantaneously.
The Megalo Growmon crashed limply to the ground, energy nearly expended and body badly damaged. He braced his arms against the ground and tried to find the strength to rise, but could not. All he saw was the feet and greaves of the Black War Greymon striding toward him. As they neared him, the feet stopped. "Farewell," Ogre intoned in his gravelly voice, speaking with the finality of fate itself.
His claws perforated Ryker's neck, the massive cyborg bursting into a cloud of data. And Ogre was ready for it. Most of the data went 'in one end and out the other' as it were, for as he stood and focused, the Black War Greymon was after something very specific from the gigabytes and gigabytes of data that made up the Megalo Growmon X's data. Nothing, nothing, and then...
There!
A tingling surge settled in Ogre's chest as he felt the data from the x-antibody merging with him. It wasn't easy to extract it like this, but he couldn't argue with the end result. As the x-antibody settled in his body, he felt himself... changing. The claws on his gauntlets elongated while the shield-like portions of them shrank, his feet now encased in silvery, pointed boots, with a pair of 'wings' protruding him his back, equipped with high-powered thrusters.
Exhilaration coursed through him. He hadn't felt this strong since... had he ever felt this much power? The fatigue and injuries of fighting the Iron Griffons faded, and all he could think of now was testing his newfound power.
Riding the powerful jets on his back, the newly-ordained Black War Greymon X soared above the jungle canopy, spotting a clearing up ahead. He'd come close indeed to the base, an expansive field of concrete ringed by fences and barbed wire and dotted mostly with low, blocky, concrete buildings. Even from this distance he could see Digimon milling about, more of the same cybernetic soldiers he'd been trashing all afternoon. "Hadessss... FORCE!"
The troops milled about below, the eager topic of discussion on all their tongues, the ensuing battle between Ryker, their mightiest soldier, and the corrupted Ogre. But before long, they all noticed what seemed like a second sun had appeared in the sky, only this one was much closer and getting nearer still. A few turned, giving signs of shock or awe, others trying, futilely, to run. But death was swift and fair, delivering them all to the same fate as the enormous energy sphere descended on the base. As the blinding light faded, a depression had been left in the landscape as thought someone had taken a great scoop of the ground away and left a crater a quarter mile wide and fifty feet deep, filled with nothing but ash and sorrow. So much destruction. So effortless. It almost brought a smile to his face.
----
Assaultmon groaned as he struggled to his four feet. The few monitors still functioning showed nothing but static, the lights sputtering weakly and intermittently showering sparks down into the command center. Pipes, conduits, and support beams dangled from varying locations in the ceiling, and an ominous groan rumbled through the compound as though to underline the fact that the structure had been badly damaged by the attack from above.
"You alright, sir?" said Sealsdramon, hovering to his Captain's side.
"Fine," grunted Assaultmon, squinting up at the many screens before realizing they were useless. "What's our status?"
"Ryker failed," the Sealsdramon said, a deadpan tone masking a murderous rage within. "So much for holding back our forces so they wouldn't get in his way." he finished critically.
Assaultmon straightened himself, brushing off the insult at his command. "Gather all our remaining forces. We'll take him down or die trying." His voice rang with pride, he was either very confident, or his sanity had been shattered along with his army and base.
Sealsdramon bristled at the order he'd been given. Remaining forces? We've got a dozen men that survived, even this far down in the bunker. All our heavy armor and our air support? Gone. Though he wanted to spit those words in the face of his hard-headed commander, he knew it wouldn't do any good. He'd always prattled on about honor, 'Fight to the death!' he'd always say. There wasn't any point in that now. They were beaten, defeated. "Live and fight another day," the adult-level cyborg murmured under his breath.
"What was that?" snapped Assaultmon, turning away from the hatchway Sealsdramon had pried open earlier. Grimacing behind his mask, Sealsdramon realized his words were tantamount to sacrilege in the eyes of the Captain. "Long live the Iron Griffons," the lankier of the two cyborgs said coldly, fixing his superior with a goggled stare before pushing past him out of the room. And since you won't save them, I will.
----
"Damn," Ogre growled, landing heavily. His form had reverted to that of his basic state, the x-antibody's influence fading. Though the residual energy repaired the earlier damage to his body, he felt weak once again. The antibody must need more time to assimilate into my body before it's stable... Unfortunate. He cast his gaze through the trunks and underbrush, searching over the blasted crater his Hades Force had reduced the base to. He snorted, then turned to leave.
A cannonshell shrieked through the air, missing Ogre by millimeters. The shell exploded in a gout of heat and smoke, obliterating a cluster of trees. Black War Greymon spun in place, raising his claws into a ready stance as he moved. But as the veteran warrior steeled himself for an entire company of Digimon facing him, he was soon disappointed.
Stalking toward him was a quadrupedal cybernetic chassis, with a humanoid torso fused onto it, complete with nimble arms and plenty of firearms. The cyborg's yellow eyes burned beneath his red helmet, hands balling into fists.
"Ogre!" he roared. "You will be made to pay for what you've done!" the cyborg stopped, leveling his rather impressive arsenal of various machinegun and cannons at the dragon warrior.
The taunt, so ridiculous, how could it prompt anything but a laugh? The gravelly chuckle subsiding, Ogre fixed the gutsy foe with a piercing gaze. "Make me pay? You? Alone?"
"I'm not alone!" the Captain's tone rang with bravado, and he tapped a control on his chest. With a subtle click, his radio activated. "Hit him!" he barked into the microphone. A tense second passed, but there was nothing. No cloaked commandos pouring out of the bushes, no tanks, no airstrikes, no artillery, nothing.
"You just don't get it, do you?" The familiar voice of his surviving Lieutenant crackled from Assaultmon's radio. "It's over. It's not time for the Iron Griffons to live on in memory alone. If you won't save them, I will."
The piercing whine of jet engines filled the air, as the handful of men that had survived were not alongside their commander on the battlefield below, but riding atop a Digimon that reminded vaguely of the fallen Ryker: a cybernetically enhanced dinosaur. But this one's scales were orange, the left arm, torso, head, and back all encased in prosthetics. Of particular note were the wings housing the thrusters and the outsized cannon grafted into the left arm. Barely visible on the ascending saurian were the surviving handful of the Iron Griffons, retreating under the Lieutenant's orders.
"Seems your men have abandoned you," Ogre said snidely, watching as the Rise Greymon rose higher and higher, heading for the craggy mountains ringing the valley. "But I got what I came for, so get out of my way and I'll let you live."
One would have thought that a sculpted face of metal and eyes nearly artificial photoreceptors would never have been able to convey such an expression of pure and undying hatred that was on the Captain's face. "JUSTICE!" he roared, leveling his entire impressive arsenal at Ogre, another word away from giving the dragon warrior a facefull of high-caliber bullets.
"Massacre!" the word escaped him as a weak, ragged gasp, for he suddenly found a clawed gauntlet poking through him where his abdomen had been. But the blow Ogre thought would be fatal wasn't, and he suddenly found himself in a very bad position to dodge. The guns roared to life, muzzles flaring brightly, thousands of rounds slamming the dragon warrior at point blank range.
Bullets sparked across his armor and tore at his thick hide, forcing Ogre to hastily yank his gauntlet free. Either due to the injury or the ferocity of the Justice Massacre, or both, Assaultmon suddenly ceased fire and stumbled backwards, his four feet faltering. But his yellow eyes found Ogre one last time. Reaching down, he withdrew a powerful grenade and popped the pin with his thumb. Mustering his strength, the Captain charged. "FOR THE IRON GRIFFONS!" he roared, intending for the detonation to take them both out.
Ogre quickly shook off the disorientation from the punishing bullet barrage, stepping to the side. His kick swept Assaultmon's forelegs out from under him, and the follow-up blow to his back sent the cyborg flying.
And landing in a heap atop his own grenade. The powerful explosion ripped outward, but the detonation was contained by the owner being turned into an involuntary shield.
Forcing aside the ailing weakness, a cold, satisfied smirk found its way onto Ogre's face. "Weak I may be, at least I had enough strength for that." He turned his helmeted head, tracking the speck on the horizon that was Rise Greymon. But it wasn't worth fighting them.
Turning on his heel, he strode slowly back the way he'd come, the valley as still and silent as death itself in his wake.