Mechanical Efficiency [Plot; 1/1]

'Merely passing through' - right, like someone that was just walking through would take the time to lift up every errant piece of ice and stone in the valley. Still, the Machinedramon's focus was largely at ground level, giving the three a rare opportunity to slip in and get a good scan of the area.

The Machinedramon's own sensors were on full blaze as well: his eyesight was not impeded by the weather in the slightest, and judging by his smooth movement, it wasn't slowing him down much either. Slowly, those two dots would start to grow closer together on Zaku's device, and peeling back the boulder, the visage of that small Icemon would finally appear. He blinked, trying to peel himself away from the machine.

With a click, the Machinedramon's left claw opened, a pointed missile mere feet from the icy digimon. "Don't make this complicated - hand it over."

"Tch!" Backing up an inch from the ruthless Digimon, he clutched that rock in his left hand - and, from the corner of his eye, he spotted the glint of a metallic Digimon above. Rather than take his chances, he gave the rock a fling like a frisbee, careening towards the DarkKnightmon. "Take that and run!"

Well, talk about passing the buck! The Machinedramon's gaze looked on as that rock whizzed by, the mechanical monster giving a growl - before tearing off in that new direction!

In retrospect, maybe it would have been a good idea to hold that stone nearer the front of the fight. The Machinedramon's tone had suggested he was interested in taking it - and he even leveled a threat in front of the Icemon, rather than blasting him outright. Had Cloak kept the relic in hand, perhaps he could have held it on as a bit of insurance.

As it was, though? The Machinedramon didn't take a single moment to acknowledge Dagger's sentence - much less their existence as a whole! Already tearing through at full speed, seeing that bright stone passed over to the human, the mechanical monster doubled his efforts: he held his left claw forward, in front of his chest, and simply tried to run past the twins. Worse yet, he raised that free claw, the missile still primed in the palm, and let forth the projectile: this was aimed not at Cassandra, but at the very path she was running for. His intent was simple: destroy the pass, leave that hapless tamer cornered, and snap up that stone!

Of course, if Cassandra couldn't stop fast enough on that icy cliff, that could spell further trouble...

Oh - wasn't that curious? The machine's missile had clearly struck home, but the target that fell from the stony cliff wasn't the tamer - no, it was one of the two Digimon that tried to stand in its way! As Cloak started to tumble downward, the machine pulled its 'brakes' as best it could, slamming its melee-oriented left claw into the ground, while pivoting around on the spot. He dragged a few feet in the stone and ice to turn and see...

... Aha! The human was right there, at the Dark Knightmon's prior position! The machine let out its own growl, eyes briefly locked with that target - only to feel a searing burn on its side. His head turned on a pivot, eyes locked with the other metallic Digimon, tearing straight in Dagger's direction. The Raremon's slime sizzled lightly on his back, as the still-sturdy machine locked eyes with the Duramon. Inside that armored head, a heavy whirr quickly picked up.

When the beast opened its fangs, the source was confirmed: a heavy Gatling gun had spun up, a myriad of powerful bullets primed and ready to try and tear through the ultimate. Soon, the deafening sound of its gunfire filled the valley!

In all honesty, it wasn't the Icemon's intent to have any of them locked in this battle. Ideally, in fact, the Machinedramon would have just tore into him, while the other four took that rock to safety and hid - but it seemed the Machinedramon was far calmer than one would first think. Regardless, Dagger's words quickly snapped the Icemon out of his stupor, gritting his stony teeth as he tore himself out of cover.

"Tch... I'll do what I can!" Forcing his hands against the ground, the evolved Gotsumon started something. But for the moment, the Duramon was left with his barrier, that shield holding against that barrage of bullets for a grand total of one second. Following that, though, the barrage started to tear through, holes leaving that illustrious barrier like a thin sheet of swiss cheese, slower bullets careening forth to ricochet off of Dagger's metallic frame.

Thankfully, the twin wasn't alone: Cloak's frame and spear had gained a white aura, that 'Night Lance' tearing straight toward the Machinedramon. The left claw was already primed to deflect it away from the side - but a sudden rock collapsing on its head halted that, exploding out into an icy cloud, one that chilled the robot underneath!

The Icemon, several yards away, caught his breath, as that spear landed right into his side. Unlike Dagger's earlier attack, this was enough to make the machine stagger to the left: catching himself, this armored titan leveled his gaze on Cloak.

So long as he had that light, he was, by far, the most dangerous opponent. The cannons on his back clicked into place, starting to build up a fierce, crimson energy... one that would propel itself towards Cloak a moment later!

"Giga Cannon."

Of course, it wasn't impossible (or even difficult) to dodge the blast of 'Giga Cannon': the machine's main mode of arsenal had an obvious charge-up time, as well as two obvious long-barrelled cannons telegraphing its direction. As the energy roared outward, Cloak's flank would put him right out of range, leaving that empowered blast to carry on... and land right against the face of the cliff.

BOOM.

Scratch that - through the face of the cliff. Trash data erupted from the point of impact, as the blast continued to bury further and further into the rock, etching a new path a good hundred yards into the mountain itself. Once the blast dissipated, rock and snow quickly came tumbling down, a roar picking up from above as a drift of snow raced for the base. Was this machine mad, or had it just overclocked its attack? Nevertheless, its attention turned once more towards Cloak and Dagger - or, well, it would if it could. With how fast it was made off of Lightning Implant, there was little the machine could do but maintain.

Unable to locate its target, a wire-frame rapidly surrounded the Machinedramon, the beast assuming a defensive stance. The 'Dimension Slice' swung from above would leave a small 'scar' atop the cannon, but definitely much less than Cloak might have preferred.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" The Icemon, meanwhile, had its attention drawn to the makeshift avalanche - rushing over to Cassandra's position, the rocky monster stamped a foot against the ground, raising up a reinforced wall of ice! "I can dig myself out later, just beat it!"

With the extra time bought by the Icemon, and with Cassandra's clever use of the grappling hook, the snow would simply come crashing down underneath, the Icemon quickly buried underneath that heavy flow of ice. Even feeling the weight start to settle on top of him, he couldn't help but give a dark chuckle. Just a few minutes ago, he was just trying to pass the buck - and now he was sticking his neck out this far?

Well, my job's not done yet...

---

As for the Machinedramon? Well, the 'Defense Matrix' served an additional purpose, other than blocking a single attack. Before, the mechanized monster simply lost track of Cloak's movement, due to the enhanced rate of speed. Able to feel the attack, his eyes once more locked on Cloak's position, his sensors clicking as he started to adapt to this enhanced movement.

Thus, when those meteors were both spawned and launched, the Machinedramon was looking right towards the pair of Cloak and Dagger. He obviously lacked the agility to spur himself away - and his defensive skill was down - but that didn't make the mega helpless! Defiant to Cloak's demand, the Machinedramon tensed its legs and swung up with his left claw, a blazing blue aura surrounding the arm. Two of the glorified boulders were struck by the nails and incinerated into rubble, while the third struck the back of his claw. The force of the meteor was enough to blow the arm back, a singed red spot left directly on the metal.

At this point, though, the Machinedramon's focus changed entirely: he couldn't match this Ultimate's speed.

So he had to force its location: his eyes locked over on the blonde human's new position, and the monster tore once more for the cliff. His sprint may had been in Cassandra's direction, but his sensors would do their best to not lose track of the knightly combo...