The Core - Plot [2/2]

Isaac figured he'd enjoy this way more than he actually did. No buts about it, he could certainly be a petty person when wronged. If a time traveler had told him that he'd see Wizardmon groveling in despair, after all of his irresponsibility and literally getting Isaac cursed, Isaac would've probably grabbed some popcorn and demanded a front seat view. This wasn't gratifying at all, though. This wasn't a pompous prick getting his just desserts. This was a broken man staring into the face of the apocalypse, bolstered by both his own wrongdoings and factors far out of his control. Where Isaac expected the last laugh, he instead felt pity.

Maybe that was why, instead of brashly interrupting the Wizardmon to charge into battle, Isaac instead approached gently. His footsteps were almost masked by the loud cry of despair that rang out across the battlefield, until soon he had reached the Wizardmon's side. He looked up at Wizardmon, coughing a little to get his attention. "Hey," he warned, his voice containing the stoic quality of someone who had been burned several times before. "This isn't over yet. This might look bad. Really, really bad. But if we break down before things even get started, what are we doing to help? I dunno about you, but I'm sick and tired of running from this thing.

Besides," Isaac added, trailing off a little. "I already promised I'd never let this happen to anyone else. Now's no time to be going back on that promise."

He sighed, turning from Wizardmon to the battlefield stretching before them. The core was still a ways away, but far closer than it was at the Sea of Blood. In addition, the Optimizer hung right by its side. The Reaper was done sending out feelers and playing the long game. It was already time to get serious, and Isaac wasn't about to give it anything less than his 110%.

He clenched his last Demon Pill in his glove. Even if he hurled his soul out from the backlash, he knew he'd need it now more than ever.

In the Wizardmon's remorseful state, he figured that he'd be left off alone. Alone, to wallow in his guilt and failure until the D-Reaper thought it better that such a Digimon didn't stay so close to its field... but what did it matter? At this rate, this entire section of the Dark Area was doomed as it was - and who knew just how wide-reaching the effects of this nest could be?

Wizardmon expected that some others might come to try and help, of course...

What he didn't expect, however, was Isaac trying to console him. Hearing those words, the sorcerer turned his head, seeing that familiar Impmon look over at him. By his words, he hadn't given up. The spirit wielder intended to... to...

"... Damn it, no!" The Wizardmon protested, grasping his staff as he called to the Impmon. "This core has already stolen my best men! Digimon who had fought cores like the one you saw, multiple times, with increasing ease. Don't you get it - anyone who has even a scrap of that data in them will just be turned into one of this thing's servants!"

His words carried over the horizon, just as Timothy and Faluo would fall into earshot. His vigor returned to him, and with a deep breath, he gave a clear answer. "I don't have time to explain it clearly. See that white bubble in the distance?" His staff pointed out, far over that field of goop, leveling out to point at that barrier surrounded by an emerald-colored ring. "That's this field's core. Everything that makes this place up - all of its agents, its monsters, is coded into that. Destroy it, and this entire blight will vanish."

It sounded simple, but it hardly would seem that way. After all, the D-Reaper was hardly passive, and the roar of an approaching creature would soon take hold!

Horn Striker. Without hesitation, once this beast sighted the five of them, it gave its approach: kicking up the earth as it made its charge forward, its right arm gave a fierce glow, charging right for the tamer and the pair of birds! Should it get close, it would strike that arm out, and attempt to scoop Timothy right up in its fierce grip! Those around in its path would instead heave to deal with its immense frame, trying to run them through like a truck!

The puppet heads did their job. Horn Striker's hands were now quite literally full with auxiliary body parts. Isaac made sure to shrink back slightly as the Horn Striker made his grab, ensuring its corrupting grip would be focused on wood and ceramic rather than his actual body. It still hurt, but much less than an actual stranglehold would have. Nevertheless, the heads were rapidly starting to crack under the pressure. Isaac knew he'd have to capitalize on this advantage fast.

Fortunately, the cable was already starting to fray from Bibi and Faluo's attacks. Not willing to let their efforts go to waste, Isaac let another three heads lunge forward. At this point, his single-minded goal was to just tear the Mega-equivalent's life support to bits so that it couldn't further threaten the group. If this became a real fight, it could get ugly. The heads that had already been cracked down on, rather than slip away, instead doubled down. Isaac had them bite down at the Horn Striker's hands to keep them occupied, ideally just long enough for him to finish the job.

Of course, only having a few unoccupied heads meant that Orochimon was left a lot more exposed than usual. A divebomb from a Pendulum Feet quickly caught his attention, snapping Isaac's single minded focus and forcing him to lunge out of the way in a panic. He was just barely too slow; a deep gash spread down Orochimon's central head where the Pendulum Feet passed, the deep red ooze associated with D-Reaper attacks leaking down from the side. Having corrupted data that close to his head could not be good, even from a glancing blow.

Isaac was a little too busy wrangling the Horn Striker to focus on these interlopers, but he knew he could at least keep them busy. He turned to aim at all three of the Pendulum Feet, a sweet smelling brown haze spilling from his mouths and wafting towards them. If they lingered in Isaac's way, and if D-Reaper Agents could even get drunk, they would find their reflexes getting ever so slightly sloppier.

Isaac may have gotten an opening in on the Horn Striker's cord, but it didn't come without a cost. Puppets or not, Orochimon's extra set of heads provided quite the utility, and as soon as the agent managed to get them held under his arms like one would hold a beach chair, the monster would press his elbows down and snap the ceramic structures outright, making two of his six auxiliary heads useless!

That said, the other three were quite able to make their way to the main cable. Already weakened from Bibi and Faluo's efforts, the cable was rend in two quite easily: falling to its knees, the Horn Striker lumbered forth, pitifully reaching out in Isaac's direction as if to grapple him, before uselessly falling into the ground as a pile of red mass.

As for the vile breath? Well, whatever effect it would have had would have worked better on a system that held a proper respiratory system, but as half of these constructs - including the Pendulum Feet - didn't have a nose or mouth to begin with, it was nigh impossible for the vapor to enter their systems! Cutting right through the fog, the Pendulum Feet closest Isaac would move to grasp towards that last unoccupied puppet head - should it manage to get its hooks around, that third head would be crushed in the D-Reaper's grip as well!

Bibi's efforts would fair far better than Isaac's, in regards to the Pendulum Feet. As it turned out, fire was a great way to cut through their regenerative capabilities, and a sudden whirlwind of pure flame would be enough to swallow up the Pendulum Feet headed in her direction, leaving its burnt, charred remains to stain the ground.

Faluo, however, would find the more solid attack of 'Metal Star' to be ineffective to the Pendulum Feet in front of himself. Opening its coat, the projectiles flung in its direction would clash against the agent's own metal, leaving a useless heap of shrapnel on the ground. Finding it unwise to grapple, the agent instead moved to strike across with one hook, aiming to strike over Faluo's chest! The Pendulum Feet closer to Isaac, caught unaware, would feel its cable nicked, looking over its shoulder to assess the damage!

"Overall, though, this pace isn't going to suit us. We really can't afford to sit and take the small-fry like this," the Wizardmon sighed, adjusting his hat. "What we really need is to is make our way across the field. Don't mind its appearance: the entire 'bubble' is solid underfoot, though that doesn't mean we should try and just run across!"

That warning aside, yet another new agent awaited them over the horizon. The sound of a wolf-like cry roared over the edges of the field, originating from somewhere between the Pendulum Feet and the Optimizer off in the distance. It seemed it wouldn't be a simple run through!

Isaac sighed as the last of the agents fell, turning to Timothy and his birds. "Good," he said, his voice somewhat weaker sounding now. Two of his eight dummy heads had been destroyed, so now only six reverberations were backing his voice up. It didn't sound too different, frankly, but it was still quite the noticeable omission. "Burn them to cinders, or slash their connecting cables. Those are the easiest two ways to kill a Reaper's agent. Anything else, and you'll spend way too much time letting the swarm gather." Even in his single-minded focus on destroying the D-Reaper, Isaac could at least spare a few good bits of advice for the others. "Just a warning, though. Never drop your guard. Turn your back for a second, and then . . ."

The sharp, biting embrace of a Pendulum Feet.

The slow, cold realization that he was isolated from his friends.

False temptations whispering in one ear, and frights screaming in the other.

His entire body burning as corrupt data was injected into it.

Silence.

Needless to say, Isaac didn't finish that thought. He simply turned away, slithering off to where Wizardmon was pointing. Not that he wanted to follow Wizardmon's instructions, of course. The wizard had gotten him into this mess in the first place. He was just being the nice guy and not abandoning a grieving Digimon down on his luck.

~~~~

The journey was remarkably free of perils. Isaac's two shattered heads had reformed, the pale light of exposed data leaking through the cracks in the ceramic. No chance in hell they'd be as strong as they were before, but the downtime at least let him rebuild Orochimon's greatest assets. The Organizer still looked like a monolith in the distance, and if Isaac knew anything about the D-Reaper it would mark the finish line. Then again, would it this time? The Reaper seemed even more omnipresent here than it did in the vestiges of Ebemon's mind, as if he and Timothy were the only ones standing in the way of a full outbreak.

No time to panic, though. More were emerging, prompting Isaac to settle into the fighting stance that he had never quite dropped. There were three Bubbles, which frankly wasn't bad. A Horn Striker packed near-Mega levels of punch, as his bruised and battered necks were still feeling the pain from. Pendulum Feet were practically an Ultimate each. Bubbles were near the bottom of the pecking order. If Isaac took one, and each bird took on another . . .

A fourth vessel emerged, and from it was something completely different. It lacked the geometric look of most D-Reaper agents, instead looking like a Digimon wreathed in corrupted data. Metal blades and red goo seemed to clash, forming a discordant mess through which a single red cable could barely be seen. Something gave Isaac a very bad feeling about this, but he knew there was still so much time until he reached the core. He had to hold onto his form for just a bit longer . . .

Then the wolf flicked its tail out, launching a blade of blue flame right at Bibi. Yeah, screw that.

Unfortunately, there was a problem. With the constant stream of attacks from the Bubbles, Isaac had no free opportunity to Digivolve. Every time he tried to begin the process he found himself quickly shimmying away from the incoming streams of Bubbles. "Won't have a free moment to think if these things keep attacking us," he said, continuing to roll away from the bubble streams. "Sooner they go, sooner we can take out the head." Or maybe they would waste their time on an inconsequential foe while leaving themselves open for a bigger one. Fortunately, as someone with 8 spare heads, Isaac really didn't need to worry about that.

He continued to weave back and forth in unpredictable patterns as he moved towards the Bubbles attacking him, heads swaying every which way to try and throw off the Bubbles' aim. As he started approaching melee range he juked to the left, then the right, and then charged off to the left, hoping his display would prevent the Bubbles from easily following. At this point he'd be willing to take a few shots if it meant being able to coil around the Agent's cord.

This time, though, he wouldn't try ripping it in half. Instead, his coil lit up in dark energy, which he promptly aimed at the cord from as close to point blank of a range as possible. Orochimon really didn't have many good cutting moves, but he hoped that the pure weight of the barrage would singe through the cord after enough time and effort. Besides, leading with his tail helped him focus on the real prize; the new mutant that had taken to the field. All eyes were focused on the new Agent to make sure it didn't try and funny business, which Isaac knew would hurt more than anything a Bubbles was capable of.