United, We Flourish [Closed/Bone]

The lead Assaultmon's communication line flared up a little, the burst of static almost like a gasp of shock at Kuu's missiles. "MUTANT," the Assaultmon accused, jabbing one of its miniguns in Kuu's direction. Sakuyamon weren't capable of attacks like that! Slowly the minigun started to shift in shape, the barrel retracting back and spreading apart. A small taser unfolded out from the gun, sparks maliciously shooting out from the tip. "DIRECTIVE ORANGE. DIRECTIVE ORANGE."

If Citramon was any indication, Directive Orange didn't exactly seem like an enjoyable time.

Seizing the mutant would have to wait until later, though. For now the Assaultmon would have to get the better of Kuu, and that didn't seem like it was happening. The four Assaultmon braced for impact as their missiles approached the pair of Gargo Missiles. One ran over to the door on the room's east side, tearing it off of its hinges and motioning for the others to use it as cover. All but the leader, who still needed to guide the missiles, followed suit.

It was just barely enough. The entire room went up in smoke as the four missiles careened with each other, the explosion practically filling the small space that everyone was confined to fighting in. The Assaultmon were almost pinned down by the steel door that they were using as cover, splintered metal and tongues of flame rushing past them. The leader had hopped back from the giant explosion, the force of the impact nearly slamming him against a wall in the process. Nevertheless, he wasn't very harmed for now, allowing him to focus on the smoke cloud that rose from the site of impact. His stance was stalwart and unmoving as he waited for the smoke to clear, his target surely lying within.

Something was in the smoke, alright, but it wasn't the target. While one of the Gargo Missiles had detonated in the kerfluffle, the other held fast. It slammed directly into the Assaultmon leader, this time launching him right through the room's eastern wall. The room let out a groan of protest, shaking somewhat on its supports, but despite Maia's worries seemed to hold fast. Less stable was the Assaultmon leader, who could faintly be seen rising through the new smoke cloud that the second Gargo Missile kicked up. He didn't look so good. One of his gas mask's lenses was cracked, a large chunk had been taken out of his chest armor, and most notably of all one of his arms had been blown clean off. Nevertheless, he jabbed his taser into his open wound, barking at the others to "COVER, COVER!"

The Assaultmon squad, pinned down in their cover, now started snapping into action. They moved the door to block the hole that Kuu had created, parking themselves in front of it to the best of their ability. Two of the Assaultmon reared on their hind legs in mechanical synchronization, spilling bullets from their miniguns to cover the left and right sides of the room. With escape routes cut off, the third Assaultmon also reconfigured its minigun into a taser. The taser let out a high-pitched whine as the Assaultmon fired it directly at Kuu, hoping to ensnare him.

Not all the gunfire was coming from upstairs, however. Some gunfire also seemed to be coming from around the elevator platform. Rather than aim at Maia or Kuu, it instead seemed to be focused entirely elsewhere. The gunfire only grew more frantic as time passed, only for the sound of metal ripping against metal to cut it off. Worse than the ripping noise was a thunderous crunch, following by the sound of high-pitched feedback shrieking. It was as if a microphone had just been put in a blender, and even when both sounds died down they continued echoing through Cold Storage.

The elevator started to move again.

The covering fire of the Assaultmon slowly winded down as they realized that their opportunistic strike had paid off. The mutant had been seized. The net-bearing Assaultmon raised a hand to halt its compatriots, motioning for them to follow as they approached. With how cautiously they strode forward, it was clear that this wasn't their first containment procedure. As far as they knew, it was an open-and-shut procedure now. The human was helpless, for all Kuu boasted of its abilities. The Digimon was easily nabbed. They were down an ally, but the loss was justified. Another breach had been sealed.

The lead Assaultmon moved to join his troop. Still twitching somewhat from the grievous wound in its side, it chattered among the group as it tried to decide what to do with Kuu. One spun its gun up again, aiming it towards Kuu, but the leader whacked it upside the head. "PANICKING," it hissed through its gas mask, for the first time showing the slightest bit of disunity between these automatons. It shuddered towards Kuu, its one functioning arm shaking as it shifted into an insulated hook. The other Assaultmon followed, each snaring the net to try and bring Kuu away from this place.

They were just in time, too. The last Assaultmon had come to join them. Its head popped up from the slowly rising elevator, tilted awkwardly and making a persistent, warbling echo of static. The other Assaultmon backed up a little in surprise, the leader asking the rising Assaultmon "SLACKER?"

The golden spear of bone jutting through the Assaultmon's chest, the very next thing to make itself apparent, was a sign that this wasn't just slacking. Sparks jutted out from the site of impact as the elevator continued to rise, revealing that the spear was actually more of a trunk. Specifically, it was the trunk of a massive, humanoid elephant that was currently dragging the Assaultmon around like a trophy. The end of the trunk almost seemed impaled into the Assaultmon, the cyborg seeming to shrink with each second it spent impaled. Its head was entirely made of gold, barring the twisted horns that rose from its skull. Both of its arms were like dense clubs of bone, with spurs rising from the elbows and vicious claws on the left hand. A blood-red core sat inside of its ribcage, pulsating and squirming in an almost hungry fashion. After it had risen to the top of the elevator it paused, using its massive forearm to tear the Assaultmon off of its trunk and carelessly fling it across the room.

Standing there, heavy breathing coming from its trunk, it cast a disgustingly familiar silhouette.

It didn't have much time to stand alone. A grenade tossed by the Assaultmon leader smashed against its side, the injured cyborg roaring "SUBJECT THREE" in what almost sounded like disbelief. It was a heroic effort, but unfortunately didn't accomplish anything but catching the SkullMammothmon X's ire. It charged forward at a speed way too fast for its stumpy legs, eye sockets glowing slightly as it backhanded the Assaultmon leader clear across the room. Its three squadmates opened fire, each trying to draw the SkullMammothmon X's attention, but it didn't even pay them notice. Instead it stormed over to the fallen leader, lifting it up by the chest and roughly pressing it into the wall. Both the Assaultmon's already-injured armor and the wall itself started to cave in from the sheer force of the SkullMammothmon X's grip, even as the mammoth itself didn't even seem to move.

With everyone's attention drawn, now Kuu and his net were left forgotten by the side. Between the gunfire blasting through the air and the way the room quaked with each of SkullMammothmon X's footsteps, however, that didn't seem quite the same as safe.

Perhaps Maia's attempt at getting Kuu's attention would have alerted her captors to the fact that their charges were unattended. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for Maia and Kuu, even Maia's pained shriek was lost over the din of battle. Bullets ricocheted off of the SkullMammothmon X's bones as it stood, completely unmoving. Instead it was the Assaultmon leader that seemed to move, a few spurts of sparks and data shooting out as its body seemed to collapse inwards like an empty soda can. The Ultimate had picked a losing fight, and was now at the receiving end of a tag-team beatdown at the hands of SkullMammothmon X and the wall. On the Digimon's head lolled over to the side, SkullMammothmon X let out a raspy breath and hurled it away. Unlike the other Assaultmon it landed in halves, body rapidly dissolving into data.

This may not have been the best thing for the morale of the other Assaultmon, but they were certainly trying their best. SkullMammothmon X rushed at the trio, the point man of which frantically lifted the door that they were using as portable cover. For the time being this stopped SkullMammothmon X, his shoulder spikes embedded in the door, but after wrenching out of his predicament he started assaulting the door with several bashes from his heavy hands. His claws rent through its frigid metallic surface like a can opener, but at least something besides the Assaultmon were forced to deal with the damage. As it focused on the door-wielding Assaultmon the other two fanned out behind it, each switching their main cannons to net gun configurations. As the SkullMammothmon X reared up for one last strike, prepared to obliterate both the door and the Digimon wielding it, the Assaultmon panic fired.

Electrified nets wrapped around both of the SkullMammothmon X's arms, causing its deep, droning breaths to intensify to a higher pitched shriek of pain and surprise. The two Assaultmon leaped up, their other arms shifting to hooks so they could try and bring the beast down. If one net was causing Kuu enough trouble as is, two were clearly a lot to deal with for this new foe. It took a knee as the Assaultmon dug their claws into the floor, pulling with all their might to try and hold its limbs down.

A shame all their might wasn't even enough. By slicing through his net with the Burning Blue ring, Kuu had proven he could brute force through the nets with a sufficiently powerful attack. The net went inert as it fell, leaving only pale yellow strands at Kuu's feet. SkullMammothmon X took a rather similar approach, although its brute forcing was somewhat more direct. With a hideous bellow it pulled its arms inwards, throwing the Assaultmon off of their footing and forcing them to faceplant. Then it started windmilling its arms, sending the Assaultmon spinning for momentum before finally flinging them clear across the room. They landed in a dazed heap, nets tearing clear off of SkullMammothmon X's arms in the process. For the time being they were disabled, not killed, but SkullMammothmon X clearly planned to change that. Its hand glowed slightly as its claws curled inwards, now grasping onto a projectile.

As it flung the projectile towards the fallen pile, Maia and Kuu would clearly see what it was: an orange.

Kuu's intervention was a damn good thing. The Assaultmon were so dazed that they couldn't even brace themselves for the grenade currently hurtling towards them. Fortunately, due to Kuu's timely aid, they weren't even in the blast radius by the time it exploded. Pulp, flame, and smoke flared out mere inches in front of the Assaultmon's faces, leaving them splattered in orange goop but otherwise unharmed. A wisp of blue smoke rising from the explosion was the only sign that Kuu had made this difference.

Unfortunately, what he lacked in wordiness SkullMammothmon X made up for in attentiveness. His head snapped nearly 180 degrees as he turned to face the source of his failure. His eye sockets narrowed hatefully as he gazed at the duo. The one in gold was clearly a threat, with far more power and delicious, delicious data than the entire menagerie of Assaultmon provided. However, it was the one in purple that truly caught his attention. His eyes narrowed further in clear recognition, and the core clutched in his chest started to pulsate at three times the speed it had prior.

The Assaultmon twitched within their pile, wondering just what to do about this situation. Let the aberrants fight it out with one another? Try to wear down the more threatening of the two so that they could at least ensure the allegiance of the victor? Take advantage of their second chance and just escape before they were all deleted? The three chattered among each other loudly, trying to plan a course of action, only to fall silent as a thunderous crack echoed through the air.

A heavy foot stomped against the ground, kicking up dust, scrap metal, and shards of ice as it pawed back. SkullMammothmon X did this again and again, the room shaking more with each stomp, before lowering itself onto all four of its limbs. Then, with a bellow that sounded downright hateful, it lowered its head and charged towards the duo at blinding speeds. However, his head was twisted towards the right, horns pointed to aim at one target in particular.

It wasn't Kuu that SkullMammothmon X sought its vengeance against. It was Maia.

Maybe the pile of Assaultmon were hoping that they could get away unnoticed. Kuu turning towards them and happily chirping dispelled any possibility of that, however. They immediately resumed their discussion amongst one another as they untangled their mass of cybernetic limbs, wondering how they would possibly fulfill their obligations without being thrashed by a merry fox priestess. When did their job description get so complicated, anyway?

Maia's job description of hero got a lot more complicated, too, now that she had to perform it with the horns of a thrashing creature mere inches away. Thankfully Kuu was able to put a stop to the matter. The Amethyst Mandala barrier pushed back against the creature's charge, forcing SkullMammothmon X to stop. The barrier's normal repulsion abilities would be put to a major test, however. Whereas normally it pushed enemies away, a heavy and strong target like SkullMammothmon X was able to dig his claws into the ground and continue forcing himself against the barrier. When simply pushing wouldn't work he would start to simply smash his head directly into the Mandala, letting out a horrid groan with each attempted attack. For the time being Maia would be safe, but how much pressure could the Mandala be put under before snapping?

The Assaultmon sure seemed to be taking advantage of this scenario. They shifted their weapons back to miniguns, standing along SkullMammothmon X's flank and back as if they were a firing squad. After a quick 3 count they opened fire, the room lighting up from the flashes of their muzzles. Bullets rained down on SkullMammothmon X's back, but in his single-minded rage he seemed focused entirely on bashing down Kuu's shield. That said, each bullet that landed its mark was another small dent in its bone and steel carapace. It may not have been doing much, but damage was still damage.

Hopefully that damage would come soon, though, because the SkullMammothmon X reared up to hover over the Mandala. The horns on his head started to rotate, and with a vicious bellow he smashed his head into the shield with all of his might. If he couldn't smash through the shield normally, then he would just have to bore through it!

A face full of flame wasn't what SkullMammothmon X expected from the cracking of the Amethyst Mandala. Thanks to Maia's quick timing it was exactly what he got. The colossus staggered back, putting his hands to his skull-like face as a bird made of flames started swooping around his face. It did its job perfectly, stealing the mammoth's attention just through its close proximity. The mammoth dropped its focus on Maia to start taking wild swings at the hawk, which naturally had no impact on its intangible, flame-like nature.

Each wild strike left it a little bit more off-balance than the first, spurring the Assaultmon into action. One tackled the SkullMammothmon X in the side, sending it stumbling forward from its already imbalanced gait. That spurred another Assaultmon to leap in front of it, headbutting it right under the chin. Now the SkullMammothmon X was dangerously unstable, windmilling its arms desperately as it tried to keep its balance on the icy floor. A third Assaultmon reared around to kick it in the chest, sending it toppling over head-over-heels. It hit the ground with an earth-shattering thud, the entire room swaying from the force of the impact.

Perhaps if the Assaultmon didn't keep pressing their luck, this would have gone fine. However, one of the Assaultmon started to get a little bit cheeky. After landing from his kick he pawed the ground, leaping into the air to try and stamp down on the SkullMammothmon X's vulnerable core. Its sharpened talons, an oddity on its almost equine looking stance, pointed right towards the glowing red mass of data. By all accounts, it should have been a flawless KO.

Unfortunately, SkullMammothmon X wasn't quite dead yet. The Assaultmon's eyes widened in shock as a metallic claw slammed shut around its side. The SkullMammothmon X's eyes were glowing a vicious red as its grip tightened, sparks flying from the Assaultmon's now crushed midsection. With a ponderous slam the SkullMammothmon X rose to its feet, turning lazily to consider the barely-conscious Digimon currently sitting in its hand.

It turned towards Maia and Kuu, the red glow now spilling over to its bones. The SkullMammothmon X's Digicore had spiked out of control, and pulses of red lightning were now arcing between it, SkullMammothmon X's claws, and the poor Assaultmon stuck in its grip. These pulses intensified until soon a small ball of plasma had surrounded SkullMammothmon X's hand. It aimed the ball (and in the process, the poor Assaultmon) at Kuu, then with a single flex of its claw launched both right at him.