MPC 56X (54B): Kicking Butt 101 [Solo] [Colin/Owen]

Since settling down in Rosewood, Owen had almost cast aside his origins as a soldier. After all, that messy business as a harbinger of war and death, well, that didn't really suit him in his new life. But, yet, his experiences in this new life still indicated to him that there was a lot of challenges still to be completed.

The first of which, was the fact that most of the digimon of Rosewood wanted to be educated in the ways of combat. Yes, Owen was probably one of the best educators in this field, but, at the same time, he felt reluctant in this regard. Owen didn't like fighting anymore, even in self-defense, mainly because of the way he was trained in combat - display utmost effort in full at once, give no chance for mercy. Owen knew that was no way for a proper soldier to fight though, so he declined every time when asked to teach young digimon the ways of war.

But, Owen's task was perhaps alleviated a little one day when familiar faces entered the village. The young black-haired human, his Impmon and Elecmon partners, and a Gazimon that he sensed was related to them. Owen immediately ran out to greet them.

"G'day there!" he said, waving. Moments later, his son Bezil was at his side too, peering out at what was there. "Nice to see you again, Colin! You too, Luke and Bells!"

The group converged with smiles, prepared to introduce their new additions. Owen was pleasantly surprised to see that Bellamy had produced a child like he had - the Impmon presenting his daughter Gaz. In return, Owen introduced them to his son Bezil. Naturally, the two young digimon shook paws and attempted to make friends.

"So, been on much adventures so far?" Gaz asked Bezil, expecting an answer similar to her life thus far.

"Well... few digimon tried to kill me, one nearly succeeded in the bayou, almost drowned until dad evolved to mega and pulled me out of the bog and killed the other guy" Bezil answered, nonchalantly. This made Gaz stare.

"Whoa... that's hardcore" she remarked. "Well, sorry to hear you've been through the wringer, Bez, but, nice to meet you either way".

From there, Gaz and Bezil had a much more pleasant socializing session. Both Gazimon and Gumdramon respected each other more from their stories, and things seemed to be going on rather well thus far.

Owen had to be honest, he didn't like having to teach this class. Seeing other digimon try and hurt each other, he really hated it. But, alas, it was a fact of life. He wanted the digimon of Rosewood to grow up being able to defend themselves from those that meant them harm. So therefore he was grateful that an experienced digimon like Bellamy would volunteer to help out with a demonstration sparring match.

Of course, Owen trusted him, as well as Colin and Luke. The Gaomon would of course supervise and point out their strategies to the class, but, there was always the chance of an accident. That Bellamy might send a flame into the audience, or that Bezil might smash a building down with his hammer tail. To prevent his own feelings bursting forth, he would take an impartial kind of stance in this whole thing.

"Alright then, Bellamy, Bezil, stand on the lines in the ground there and there please" the Gaomon said, calmly. They did so. "Now then. You're both strong fighters, you acknowledge each other as equals, so, it's customary for you to bow to each other before we begin".

"Fair enough" Bellamy said, and the Impmon lowered his head to the Gumdramon, who did the same. While Bellamy did think he was stronger than Bezil, there was no way he'd underestimate a son of Owen and Hikaru.

"Awesome stuff" Owen said, as both combatants assumed battle positions. "Now then... begin!"

Combat was a little slow to start with, but Owen was sure to explain it to the audience. "The first strike is always the hardest. Both fighters are coiled springs, you need to make your opening count".

To no surprise of Owen, Bezil was the first to strike. The Gumdramon launched forward, flipped around once in the air, then slammed his flaming tail into the ground, sending a wave of fire at Bellamy. Too fast to commentate about, Bellamy deftly jumped over Bezil's Pyro Wave attack, then countered by conjuring a fireball on his paw, then launched it straight at Bezil. To his surprise, the Gumdramon merely crossed his arms in front of his face, the attack barely phasing him.

"...the hell?!" Bellamy asked, confused, and he was punished for this by Bezil seizing the initiative, launching himself at him, swinging his hammer straight at his face. Bellamy only avoided it in the nick of time by ducking, but, Bezil was getting in close now, reading his claws for an onslaught. Bellamy would have none of this, so before Bezil could strike, the Impmon made an acrobatic manoeuvre, jumping right over him, the two of them quickly turning to face each other.

"See what happened there?" Owen asked the class. "Bezil struck first, Bellamy dodged then countered, but, he forgot to remember that Bezil is a dragon digimon, and has a natural resistance to fire attacks, so was able to take what he threw at him".

"Oh crap! Of course!" Bellamy thought to himself with alarm.

"However, Bellamy saw the threat launched at him and used his agility to dodge, which is also important" Owen explained further. "If you can avoid a hit, do so, that's always important in battle".

Bellamy turned back to Bezil, looking at the kid with a lot more concentration. That he was resistant to his fire attacks, man, that changed a lot here.

Bezil had learned a lesson here - that was to never underestimate a mage-class digimon like Bellamy. Yeah, he was a scrawny thing physically, but, those icicles damn well hurt. And the fact that Bellamy could seemingly launch them from several dozen meters away, only getting more accurate the closer he moved, those factors combined made him a very dangerous opponent indeed.

But Bezil hadn't been raised to surrender so easily. Seeing Bellamy's cocky green eyes stare back at him, the Gumdramon wanted to beat this Impmon. And so, currently, everything his father had taught him was flying around his mind, thinking about what he could do to close the distance and land the blow he intended. Bezil glanced at Owen for help, but his father only gave an apologetic look in return. The Gaomon could favour neither one of them here, his job was only to educate those as to what was going on. Bezil had to think of what to do himself.

So, Bellamy's two attacks so far were either to throw a fireball or launch a volley of icicles. So far so good. But what to make of them...?

Then the answer came to Bezil all at once. His hammer tail wasn't simply two feet long. It could launch and extend however far he wanted it to, within reason. And this was when a plan formed in his mind. He grinned, then lunged at Bellamy.

"Wanna chill out more? Fine!" Bellamy snapped, then launched another Freeze Lancer at him. But Bezil halted, rested back on his elastic tail, then bounced high into the air, avoiding it. Bellamy's green eyes widened.

"N-no way!" he snapped, then, to Bezil's surprise, he raised his paw, cried "Semper Fire!" then clicked his fingers, causing a wave of fire to rush at him. Man, it stung! But, Bezil's fiery heart kept him in the fight here. The flames hurt, but didn't stop him. And the Gumdramon still continued down toward his target, aiming his hammer.

"Aw crap!" Bellamy yelped, trying to block by crossing his arms in front of his face, but Bezil's tail struck him hard, knocking him clean off his feet. Bellamy snarled as he landed on the ground, groaning in pain. For a moment, Bezil thought he had gone too far and had hurt him too badly.

"Bezil, stop" Owen instructed him, then rushed to the Impmon, briefly checking him. "...you'll be okay, Bells, I'll heal you in the meantime".

The Gaomon briefly did the arrangements, evolving as needed, healing the damage done to both Bellamy and Bezil. In the end, he faced the students with a triumphant expression.

"See how quickly a battle can be won or lost?" he asked them. "See how close it was until the very end? Both fighters did their best, but, circumstances rendered one the winner. I hope you reflect on this, remember, never reveal your ultimate moves until you feel it's necessary. For now, the lesson's over".

After the digimon left, Colin, Owen and company remained on the training ground. Bezil was somewhat shaken, surprised he had beaten down Bellamy so easily. And he wasn't intent of rubbing this in at all. He only wanted to apologize to the Impmon for hurting him.

Eventually, after Owen's comprehensive healing, Bellamy returned to his senses. He turned to look up, then saw Bezil.

"Bellamy... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you like that... are you gonna be okay?" the sweet little Gumdramon asked, horrified as though as he had cut off Bellamy's arm or something.

"Eh... don't sweat on it, kid" Bellamy answered, standing back up after sitting down on the dirt. "We sparred, ya beat me, that's all there is to it. Of course I wanna spar you again and aim to beat you in return, but, at the same time, I feel like I learned somethin' important from ya in combat, so, eh, no hard feelings" he offered his clenched fist forward.

"Heh, no hard feelings then" Bezil answered, knocking his own fist against Bellamy's. Colin, Luke, Owen and Gaz looked on with smiles.

"Thanks so much, guys. I'll repay you by buying you all some dinner at the inn" Owen promised them. And so the rest of the evening was spent in Rosewood Inn, over much high spirits and good food.

[End thread]