In a Corrupted Mind [Mission]

Kai and Shiro, Pt. 1

As long as Shiro was willing to take them, the Bubbles was more than willing to pump as many shots as he could manage into the white ultimate's chest, a thick red mass forming against his ribs. Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a talker and didn't feel like divulging the secrets to its rather insane regenerative power. But until this group managed to do just that, this was going to be a long, drawn out affair.

Though, the playful 'mon did have one advantage: the Bubbles couldn't fly. Rather, he simply kept his position, and continued firing on Shiro's path as he took off the ground... at least, until Shiro broke through the canopy. Sight lost, it turned its attention elsewhere, but to who? Kuro was nowhere to be seen, and he was running out of targets. Well, there wasn't anything to be done about it: there was still one unmarked. Its arms gorged, aimed right towards the OmegaShoutmon. But for how blatant they were being, it hardly looked like they were fighting for survival.

Elliot

Elliot, however, would have much better luck. The Bubbles after him wasn't in artillery mode, and as it turned the corner to face the bright light of Digivolution, it practically walked right into a thick stream of fire. For a moment, it simply appeared unperturbed, raising its cannons to attack. Cannons that slowly melted, body melting into red goop as it hit the floor in a burnt, twitching mess. Of course, this meant nothing if it could just regenerate the damage-

Wow. This Strikedramon was being thorough, wasn't he? Much more than just its arms fell away, as its main body fell to the flames. And through the center, the heat would pierce through, flames wrapping around, licking at the cord. A few seconds later, the cord would snap, and in the next instant, the Bubbles would let out a high-pitched shriek, before collapsing on its side. Unlike before, the creature didn't reform, instead corroding into burnt, black dust, quickly blowing away in the wind.

Elliot would now know these things' weakness.

BlackAgumon

Throughout the entire process of his Digivolution, there wasn't a lot stopping the Bubbles trailing him from layering a number of shots. Even as he erupted into his new form, he'd find a painful, caked red mass against his exposed side. The pot-shots would continue, but there wouldn't be anything too able to stop him: with a strong kick, the blinking orb would be thrown far away from anyone in the group. And deep in the woods? BOOM. The delayed bomb would go off: through the brush, it was hard to see just how expansive it was, but burning leaves and disintegrated bark was now flowing through the air. If it had gone off right next to Maia, well... it didn't.

Isaac, Pt 1

Indeed, the Pendulum Feet's cords weren't designed to burn, but rather to cut. And in this particular instance, contain. The twitching Digimon was quickly drawn up into its cords, the creature pinning its legs together and its arms against its side, the flats of its scythes pressed dangerously against its back, even digging a bit into the rough skin. It struggled, but the creature had several other problems to deal with right now. Instead of holding him at length, the creature instead would pull him closer, under the cloak, just giving him enough to see outside.

The next few moments were utter chaos, however. It started with the Impmon itself: to any onlooker, it would look like a puff of red flame underneath. The explosion caused the hood to kick upwards, and the cords loosened for the barest moment. Loosened, but didn't give: they would re-tighten a moment later, tighter than before, as if it were angered by its prey trying something like that. But that wasn't the main issue at hand here. Why?

OmegaShoutmon and Kuu

This was why. Granted, the Pendulum Feet had several seconds to observe, as did the Searchers watching above, seeing the elevated power level of the third ultimate level entering the fray. Still, it wasted no time as it prepared its attack, and in the same note, the cloaked D-Reaper wasted no time as well. Why should it? Quickly, it pulled back, as the attack was being prepared: Isaac would see it. Both him, and the approaching Reppamon with blade outstretched, approaching their position. The blade would just nick the cloak, but otherwise there was little a land-based Digimon could do to this flying enemy. And besides, this lack of coordination would only serve this fleeing creature's benefit.

Letting down its hood, it would turn, and retreat in the direction of its cord, straight through the canopy of the woods. Subsequently, this left the remaining group in an awkward position:

A Great Dragon Buster was behind, and headed right towards Kuu's current position! Thankfully, the Reppamon had already thought ahead of this, ready to skirt out of the way. But it would prevent him from easily pursuing, at least for the next few moments!

Kuro

Unfortunately, any bullet fired at the Pendulum Feet went the same was as OmegaShoutmon's burst. The three remaining Bubbles would take perhaps more damage than Kuro expected: two lost arm, and one lost a head, before their regeneration would take hold. It would appear that these 'Bubbles' were relatively 'Champion' level, at least at a glance, with no real defense or armor to speak of. Just big glass cannons. That said, unless she got serious, they would likely find where those black balls were shooting from, sooner or later...

Kai and Shiro, Pt. 2

As the Digimon and tamer pair would break through the canopy, two things would be clear: one, they were outside the fight, and two, they hadn't quite left the war. As they took to the skies, Scouts fluttering away as the trees shook around, it would be the first time that anyone in the group would get a good look at their surroundings.

And it was made plainly clear that their problems didn't just consist of four cannons and a weird cloaked monster. No: their surroundings were stark, large amounts of the forest replaced with a flat, barren wasteland. And trudging through were several powerful-looking constructs: the closer ones looking like green beetles, and those just a bit further out looking like massive abominations.

And it wasn't as if their was one of each, with at least three of each in immediate view. At least within a football field's range, at least one of the green, brutish types was trampling its way through one of the few remaining wooded areas. One a fairer distance away struck its fist against the ground, a Musyamon parrying before being blown back several feet - wait, there were other Digimon here?

Yes. This wasn't just a passive battlefield: it was a warzone. These things were already in combat: several layers fired from a pink monstrosity's head, grazing a Magnamon's side to send its tired, smoking body careening into the ground. But perhaps the battle in itself wouldn't be the first thing they would notice.

It was hard to miss the large red mass, a little over a mile out, covering an expansive area. Heat radiated from there, making this environment absolutely sweltering. And over its territory, a number of Pendulum Feet circled around. Over the mass itself stood one massive solitary creature, sitting under a white sphere:

Fortunately, this large purple... 'thing' didn't seem too interested in joining the battle. It instead circled around, protecting whatever this sphere was.

Hopefully, this pair wouldn't get too distracted. A fresh Pendulum Feet had spotted them from above, and darted from below. Unlike with Elliot, this one instead enshrouded itself entirely in its cloak: glowing red, it aimed to slam right against the dragon's side, like a bullet!


Isaac, Pt. 2

These sights weren't reserved just for Kai and Shiro, unfortunately. With the initial Pendulum Feet's exit, the creature made it a point to tear away as fast as possible. From what it knew about rookie Digimon, the creature made it a point to stay high enough above the ground, to both stay out of easy range of allies, and to dissuade the imp from wanting to struggle out. Soon enough, the ground below would turn from wasteland, to mysterious red goop. If their was one solace, the other creatures around seemed to be ignoring them. Or perhaps this wasn't a settling thought at all.

Either way, the bladed monster would waste no time, to try and bring this one back to the 'nest'... that white sphere growing closer and closer...

Elliot let out a fist pump of victory as he freed Kuu from his pursuer, only to hear what the Reppamon had to say in response. The Strikedramon's arm fell to his side, and his smile flattened into a complete lack of expression. Between the dragon's hidden eyes, static pose, and complete lack of enthusiasm, it looked like somebody had found Elliot's off switch and smacked it with all of their might. He repeatedly opened his mouth as if trying to say something, but he couldn't even bring himself to speak. It was like a fish gasping for air, desperately moving but accomplishing absolutely nothing. Finally he found at least some sound coming out, less spoken and more forcibly yanked from the back of his throat. "What?" Elliot asked, his voice more-or-less an inaudible squeak. "Kuu, that's really not funny."

He looked around, hoping that this was some sort of joke. Kuu was a good friend of his, but he had to admit the Digimon could be kind of thoughtless. Maia would grumble at him for his badly timed wisecracking, he'd tell the truth, Isaac would stumble out of the bushes, and they'd all be okay. It's how this kind of incident always went. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be the case. As Elliot's search refused to turn up anything, he found himself only able to ask one question. "Where is he?" His core burned brightly, and soon Elliot found himself completely surrounded by a purple energy shell. Strikedramon would no longer be with the group. Instead, Sandiramon came bursting from both ends of the shell, towering at his full snake-like height. "Where is he?" Elliot demanded once more, voice cracking from the force of his shout. His voice was a caustic mixture of anger and sadness and fear, all blending into a tone that could only be described as venomous. If one looked closely, they'd see the great snake starting to tear up.

That second roar proved perfectly timed for when Datamon emerged, too. Well, there's your status report!

~~~~

Isaac continued doing everything he could to try and struggle against the restraints of this strange foe. As they descended low he defiantly stuck his feet down, trying to dig his claws into the ashen earth, but he was unable to get a foothold. He tried to thrash as much as possible without touching the coat that burned like hellfire, but the wires continued to hold firm. He was almost considering putting all of his energy into launching one last attack, pushing through the pain to try and strike with all of his hatred.

Then he saw the ground below their feet give way to a field of endless red slime, the same kind that Isaac noticed on his wrists when the cables of the monster bound around him. The slime burned enough to the touch in just that minuscule amount. He knew being dumped into an entire field of it would be the death of him. Defiance gave way to self preservation, and Isaac found himself refusing to let go as he clung tightly to the monster's cables. He was forced to choose between the devil he didn't know and the devil he knew very little about. Either way he was putting his trust into an enigma. The only thing he knew was that if this thing thought it would be dropping him into the river of Kool-Aid, it would have one hell of a time forcing him to let go.

Now they were going up again, and towards a blinding white light. Isaac strained his eyes to avoid looking directly into it, before realizing that if he could see the outside world he could also see out of the cloak. Surely enough, the Pendulum Feet stopped trying to hide him as it reached ever closer to its end goal. Now Isaac was free to look around, finally noticing that someone had indeed come to his aid! It was Shiro and Kai, and they were being grappled onto by yet another one of these things. Oh no. Isaac was not about to let another friend get snatched by these things on his watch! Forgetting all thoughts of himself, he pointed directly at the other bladed monster, shouting "Imp-losion!" He could only hope that his fireball would be able to stretch across enough distance to knock the Pendulum Feet away and give Kai some breathing room.

"Get out of here, you guys! Please, you gotta keep safe," Isaac called, voice trembling. "You can't let them grab you too!"