You And Me And Mr Skullface Makes 3 (Kouhei+Maia, H Sp Hunt]

"That a threat? 'Cause it sounds like a threat to me," the pugnacious Digimon accused.

"Will you stop?" Elliot snapped, cutting off the Citrusmon before it went off on another ramble. "There's really a big, scary Digimon down there that's just gonna try to hurt you.

We're not trying to trick you, I promise. We just want to find what we're looking for and go home. Then we can all take the elevator and leave together, right?"

Weighing Maia's warnings and Elliot's plea, the irritable fruit finally relented. "Okay, okay, jeez. Pushiest kids I've ever seen pop up in this world." He grumbled as he followed the trio through into the furnace room, stretching his arms as he walked. If they were gonna be demanding heavy lifting done before he could earn his freedom, the least he could do was make sure it was done right. Otherwise these brats would never give him his peace of mind! He watched uneasily as they passed by the Troopmon, shivering. He could've sworn their blank, gas masked gazes were fixated on him as he walked.

Compared to what kind of sludge had to be pumped into their bodies to turn perfectly good Digimon into those messes? He was starting to wonder if just becoming an orange was a stroke of luck.

The trip to and from the furnace room was fairly uneventful. Elliot grabbed the left side of the furnace, wincing as the flames belched dangerously close to his face, while Citrusmon grabbed the right. The contraption made horrible scraping noises as it was dragged across the floor, and the heat from the fire was making slimy water drip from the sides of the containment cells. The Troopmon were starting to stir, slowly but surely, yet it seemed like they were still entrapped in their prisons. Maybe if Elliot and Maia were quick about this, they'd be able to get the spirit and run without much incident. Their good luck continued up until the Spirit room, where concentrated application of flame to the great, iced-over wall slowly began to erode away at it. The ice soon melted into a great, sloshing puddle, and the spirit was ripe for the taking.

"Well, good for you. Time to make like this peel and split!" the Citramon shouted, greedily making a run for the exit. However, his triumphant chuckling was soon cut off by a sharp scream. So close to the prize, Elliot did a double take, trying to figure out what the sound was.

Only familiar heavy breathing answered.

~~~~

For a second, Isaac tried to evaluate each option. The closer door also looked more obviously dangerous. The further door looked almost too pristine. Also, reaching it would force him to dodge past the boulder again, something he really wasn't in the mood for. Waiting for it to roll to a halt wasn't an option, either. Knowing this place, it'd turn out to be be some timer. Maybe it would lock all the doors and flood them with neurotoxin or something. Isaac wasn't sure. All he knew was that, while his brother and best friend were still in peril, waiting simply couldn't be on the table. He turned to fling open the bullet-battered door, a sharp beeping noise meeting him.

It turned out there were sentry turrets! Isaac flung the door shut as he noticed the barrels of a machine gun focused on him, waiting for the sound of bullets ricocheting to come to a halt. Interestingly enough, none of them even seemed to penetrate the door. As bad as the sentry gun was, there was definitely something else lurking there armed with a way higher caliber of firepower. He turned to Kouhei with this new pearl of knowledge, asking "You got any way of sneaking around besides teleporting? Because that sentry sure is not happy to see us."

He gently slid the door open, not enough for the gun to detect movement, and took a peak. From his position of absolute stillness, he could see several such guns arranged in a triangular pattern. Each corner of the room, besides the one he entered from, had three guns evenly spaced in height. A maze of neck-high walls, perhaps serving as cover or perhaps as impediments, was splayed across the floor. The concrete was chipped and shattered by the firepower, but the walls were standing tall nonetheless. The center of the room seemed taken up by a large weapon rack, the contents of which Isaac couldn't quite make out.

The main point of interest was currently suspended from the ceiling. It resembled an Andromon, but with only a half-finished head. Instead of limbs it had long, tentacle-like wires, which dangled to the floor in a limp pile. The group's Gizumon companion seemed almost shocked by the site, and promptly fled to hide behind Kouhei. Isaac, however, wasn't paying attention to the skeletal machine itself. Instead, he was paying attention to a small, statue-like object that sat within its ribcage, seemingly suspended within and crackling with purple lightning.

Even if his Digivice hadn't started to go haywire, Isaac would've recognized a spirit when he saw one.

The Porcupamon shifted position to match Elliot's grab, the two entering a classic test of strength. They jockeyed for position, shoving back and forth as each tried to make the other come to a heel. As they pushed, Elliot turned to Maia and Kuu. More than anything, he wanted to tell them to run. More than anything, he wanted to make sure they were safe. They meant a lot to Isaac, and darnit, they meant a lot to him too. He wasn't going to sit here and have them torn apart by this facility's freakish experiments just because they refused to move. It didn't help that he doubted his own strength when it came to the Porcupamon. He found himself starting to take a knee as the freakish stuffed doll began pushing at him. Whatever was fueling it, it wouldn't tire. It wouldn't wear out. It would only keep pushing itself until it unraveled, and right now Elliot was in its way.

Then Kuu helped open an opportunity by smashing the Porcupamon right in the face. One of its stitched-up eyes seemed to tremor in, if not pain, at least irritation. Enough of an opening was brought for Elliot to headbutt the beast in the face, making it stumble back. He let out a triumphant grin through his new, sharklike head, rushing forward to keep the momentum of the grapple going. He now had the advantage on the off-balance creature, keeping its arms spread back, but already it was beginning to power its way out of the restraint once more. Nervously, Elliot turned to Maia and Kuu, trying to plan what he wanted to say.

"I really don't want you to get hurt. If things get really bad, please, just go," he said, voice somewhat feeble. "But I believe in you guys. I know you can be a good hero, Kuu. You've got a better heart for it than I do, that's for sure. I don't think you can fight this guy like this, but I know you can fight him. You just gotta dig deep inside yourself and find what it takes." The Porcupamon leaned forward, slowly started to push Elliot back again. The Strikedramon was forced to take a few shuddering steps just to avoid being flung off balance. "A-and Maia! You really helped bring the best out in me and Isaac after a really cruddy day. He told me that when we were going home, and I know he meant it. You can bring out the best in Kuu too. We're both sure of it." He was starting to slip. Thankfully, the steel visor over his eyes hid how wide with worry they were, as every muscle in his body straining proved to fail at curbing the monster's unstoppable advance.

Green, watery gel started to drip onto the floor as the furnace burned brightly. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

~~~~

He wasn't the only one helpless in this situation. Isaac was forced to watch Kouhei dissolve into a puff of smoke, unable to do anything. His head sullenly looked upwards, tracking the unmistakable trail of Digicode as it rose to the sky. Was he really gone? No, no, he couldn't be. The wily boy had pulled off more tricks with his forms than Isaac even thought the knight as capable of. There had to be something else, right?

The feeling of his left hand lightening, followed by a painful bullet to the shoulder, convinced him otherwise and forcing him to duck behind his cover. Kouhei's shield was gone, and with it so was Kouhei. First priority for Isaac was now to stay on the run. Being still meant being tagged by bullets. Staying in this tight, bullet-sheltered corner meant that damned machine would be able to vaporize him with that rocket launcher. It would do so just as easily as it vaporized Kouhei, surely. At the same time, what would pointless running do? He'd just end up tiring himself out, opening himself for the coup de grace. No, running wouldn't be his magic bullet either. The last thing he could think of was by far the most appealing. This thing's death traps had separated him from two of the most important people he knew. Its arsenal blew a caring stranger to smithereens, before Isaac could even apologize for being so cold to him. Now it wasn't even going to have the courtesy to go for a quick kill, instead blankly watching as Isaac ran himself ragged for its amusement.

Isaac didn't just wanted to fight this android. He wanted to break it, to hurt it.

He didn't consider the turrets. He didn't consider the danger. Instead he waited for the Andromon to target his current shelter. It didn't express triumph at spotting him or annoyance at his persistence, instead only cold disinterest on its face as it reloaded the rocket launcher.

One rocket. Isaac clenched his fists in apprehension.

Two rockets. Isaac focused all of his energies on the area just behind and above the android.

Three rockets. Isaac prepared to listen for the tell-tale whistling noise.

As the rocket launcher fired, Isaac vanished in a cloud of explosions and smoke. The impact of the rockets completely obscured his cry of "Explosive Warp!" and as the android scanned the area beneath it detected no more digital life forms. Content, it re-entered its sleep mode, the turrets folding into the wall as well. It didn't even notice Isaac plummeting from the sky and reaching for its spine. Upon grabbing onto the android he fumbled for the spirit within it, head spinning from dizziness as he frantically groped. Perhaps a more reliable teleporting move would have allowed him to get the spirit before the android even awoke. Instead, he was startled to see its head snap around 180 degrees, glaring Isaac dead in the eye just as he wrapped his hand around the base of the spirit. A frantic red light beeped on its chest as the spirit began to fade, the distinct hum of a backup battery echoing through the room.

A cocoon of pure light enveloped Isaac, the boy smirking as he stared the android down. It shot out more of its cables, attempting to tie Isaac up, only to find two blade-bearing arms shooting out of the light. They swung down with enough force to snap the cables in half, surprisingly sturdy for mere wooden tools. Impmon was gone. In its place was the second Spirit of Chaos, the capricious forest spirit, Yasyamon. Isaac landed gracefully on his feet, looking up at the Andromon patiently. The mask hid the menacing grin currently spreading ear-to-ear across Isaac's face. If this spirit was the android's power source, it would only get weaker as the fight drew on. The fight would only get easier from here, giving Isaac more time to hurt the android as much as it hurt Kouhei.

He was going to enjoy this.

Elliot let out a triumphant laugh as Kuu burst out of the blue, his new bladed tail slicing the Porcupamon severely across the shoulder. It stumbled back, clutching its arm and leaving the side of its head open for a spinning kick from Elliot. For the first time since they had encountered the implacable beast it had been knocked down, and judging how suddenly slack it went the beast clearly had no clue how to react. Elliot took the chance to turn to Maia and Kuu, beaming proudly. "You look so cool, Kuu!" he exclaimed, still laughing a little in disbelief. His motivation technique actually ended up working? How? "See? See? I knew you guys could do it! Ooh, I can't wait to tell Isaac about this!"

The Porcupamon lurched back onto its feet as if yanked up on puppet strings. It gingerly touched its arm, feeling the stuffing leaking out, and then tilted its head curiously toward the group. They seemed so similar, yet so different. How weird! It took a few steps back to get some breathing room, and then charged directly at Elliot while letting out a ghoulish wail. Once more Elliot hunkered down to try and catch it, skidding back as his outstretched arms met the heavy shoulder charge of the Porcupamon. This time it didn't let itself get grabbed, however, knocking Elliot's hands away with one heavy paw and bashing him viciously with a hammerfist blow from the other. Elliot had to grit his teeth tightly to avoid biting down on his tongue from the force of the impact, taking a knee from how powerful of a hit it was.

He quickly forced himself back into the fight, springing forward off of his powerful legs and tail to spear the Porcupamon directly in the midsection. It let out a wheeze like a dying sack of potatoes, giving Elliot time to slip around its back and grab it in a full nelson with a shout of "Commando's Lock!". This was new! The plush puppet from purgatory let out frantic gasping noises, flailing its arms and kicking its legs as it tried to escape out of Elliot's grip. A buzzsaw-tipped claw slashed against the side of Elliot's jaw, cutting his face, but the determined dragon refused to let go. "I dunno how long I can hold him for. Kuu, hit him with everything you've got!"

The Troopmon were beginning to thaw from their prison. The tallest of the group had breached its head above the gel, letting out more heavy breathing noises. All of this panting and wheezing was starting to get really uncomfortable, really fast. However, all noise quickly fell silent as a tremendous roar erupted through the facility. The noise was gone as suddenly as it emerged, but the resulting silence still hung over the fight like an ominous fog.

Strange.

~~~~

The ProtoAndromon immediately snapped into action. Its eye strained as Digital code flowed across it, motioning for two of the wall turrets to unfold from their inactivity. They began firing at Isaac, who threw up the two wooden shields on his arms to try and block. Surprisingly enough, the bullets ricocheted off of them. Whatever kind of wood Yasyamon's bucklers were carved from certainly wasn't cheap stuff. The eye only glowed brighter as more turrets unfolded, pumping more firepower into the shields with each new sentry gun. What started as an easy defense soon turned into a fight for survival, as Isaac was forced to stumble back and keep an eye out for cracks in his shields. If they broke, he was a goner.

Then the turrets folded back into the wall. For the first time, emotion seemed to cross the android's face. Its head spun at a frantic 360 degrees, scanning to see who dared hack into its systems. Eventually it found none other than the little Gizumon, scaling atop the ceiling and prodding at the security programs with its spindly legs. Upon noticing the Andromon prototype it began merrily taunting it with a variety of chirps and clicks. "Gizu~! Gizu~! Gizu~! Gizu~!" it chimed, skittering circles around the top of the facility.

It wasn't laughing so much when the android hefted its rocket launcher toward it, of course. Immediately the gizmo let out a frantic metallic screech, diving out of the way of the triple-barreled projectile. This distraction gave Isaac more than enough time to line up his shot, aiming one of his blades at the wires adhering the android to the ceiling as if he was a baseball player planning a home run. His shot properly aimed, he swung both blades in an X-shape with a shout of "Cross Slash!" The resulting energy crescent sliced clean through the wires, sending the android clattering to the floor. Isaac couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight. That thing looked way less threatening when it was lying on the floor instead of hovering in the air like an all-seeing eye. He twirled one of his blades as he walked over, prepared to ensure this robot would never get up again.

He didn't expect its neck to suddenly snap up, a cold grin of triumph plastered on its face. Isaac had failed to take into account the android's wiry limbs, which rose up to form a writhing cage around the duo. Instead of getting to score a clean kill, Isaac was forced to spring around the sparking wires as they rhythmically whipped toward him. Block, parry, duck, dodge. Block, parry, duck, dodge. As Isaac was lulled into the attack's easy rhythm, one of the wires attacked out of turn and stabbed right into his previously-injured shoulder. He let out a gasp as the wire stuck into the limb, which quickly turned into a shout of agony as the android turned up the voltage on his move.