Ground Zero [MPC 87X+85B]

MPC Name: Wildcard + Outmatched
MPC Number: 87X + 85B
Reward Requested: 15 Posts
Word Count: 1437

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"What are you doing? Anten?!" Zoya reached out as she knelt down, taking the Monitamon's head in her hands and turning it towards herself to get the digimon's attention. The other few digimon from the expedition were already rushing past them back towards the cave's entrance in a full on panic. So why had the Monitamon stopped while the rumbling continued to echo around them?

"D-Did you s-see it?!" gasped the digimon in a voice trembling just as hard as his body was. The long antenna that was haphazardly connected to the digimon's head wagged in the air as it shook its boxy head. He stammered in a soft but harsh whisper as if he were afraid of being overheard. "I saw them.. The eyes!"

Zoya pursed her lips tightly as she felt the loss of warmth on her face as her already concerned expression paled. She chose not to answer the Monitamon's question.

"Anten, you listen to me. Are you recording?" The question seemed rhetorical in hindsight, but she wanted to keep the Monitamon's mind focused.

"Yes, yes, YES!" Anten brought his hands to the side of his head as he looked to the ground with a worried whimper. "But I-"

"Good," interrupted the woman as she gently moved Anten's head to face her again. The rumbling in the caves were starting to reach unbearable levels as the sounds bounced off the walls of the large tunnel. "Very good, Anten! Listen to me!"

"Zoya?" Kapitan's tone made the human's name come out as an impatient warning as the Kokabuterimon stepped next to her. The insect digimon swatted Zoya's hand away as she gestured for a moment. "Zoya!"

"This is bad! Very bad!" Continuing to talk to Anten Zoya tried to make her message brief. "The expedition was successful in finding the cave that had opened up from recent earthquakes. The rumors about plants growing out from within are true! But the source-"

"Battering Horn!" shouted Kap as he launched himself at a trio of Floramon that had managed to catch up to them.

"It is not safe!" blurted Zoya anxiously. "Get this message back to Fragment Village, Anten. Tell them! They must prepare in case things get worse. Now go!" The woman urged the Monitamon towards the cave entrance with an insistent hand. She tried her best to put on a reassuring smile, but even she wasn't sure how convincing she could be right now. "We will buy time. I will send a sign when we are running as well!"

As soon as Anten left Zoya turned back to the darkness where Kap was struggling with their numerous foes. As she activated her hardlight weapon from her wrist mounted digivice she rushed in to aid her comrade. Two of the Floramon were holding the Kokabuterimon as the third sprayed out pollen from its outstretched hands. Striking out with a kick she knocked away the digimon spreading its pollen. Normally she'd refrain from bullying smaller digimon, but this was a special case and time was short.

"You know I hate heroics!" grumbled Kap as he slammed his horn down onto one of the Floramon holding him. The surprise gave him enough play to yank his arm free before he socked the other Floramon with an oversized fist. "Heroes have a bad habit of getting egged!"

"It is good that I cannot be egged then, yes?" Using her hardlight weapon to keep the Floramon she had kicked at bay Zoya clenched her teeth. She could feel the vibrations from underground increase the longer they stayed here.

"That is something you are proud of in this moment?" argued Kap as he positioned himself beside his tamer. "We are leaving, now!"

"Too late," retorted a new voice as a large piece of metal spun in the air and flew between the tamer and her partner. The giant shuriken embedded itself into the ground with a heavy thud as its owner dropped down from the cave's darkened ceiling. The Shurimon held out its remaining weapons in its hands to block the pair from leaving.

The new arrival had proven to be enough of a distraction to allow the Floramon who had been fighting with Zoya to grab onto the woman's arm where her hardlight weapon was. The sudden force on her arm snapped Zoya back from her surprise.

"Now or never, Kap!" shouted the woman as she wrestled with the Floramon to free her arm. The digivice on her arm began to glow at her encouragement, as did her partner.

"I'm on it!" called back Kapitan as he slammed his fists together. His body began to grow after illuminating with power, and moments later his digivolution to Beetlemon finished. His vision cleared just in time to see one of Shurimon's weapons coming for his head. Although he sidestepped he was unable to properly dodge in time; the spinning blades raked against his chest and shoulder armor sparking and cutting into the metal before veering away. Undeterred Kap charged forward with an angry shout and a fist cocked back to strike.

As the two larger digimon sparred Zoya managed to free herself from the Floramon. She kept her hardlight weapon pointed at her foe as a warning while backing away. The vibrations and rumbling from deeper underground had stopped, but the woman was still on edge given the situation. She spared a quick glance up the tunnel to the mouth of the cave. The daylight outside was a welcomed sight even if they were in the Dark Area.

"Let's go!" Making a break for it the woman sprinted for the exit.

Still grappling with his opponent Kap slammed the Shurimon into the wall before following after Zoya. Easily catching up with his longer strides he scooped up the human in one arm and held her protectively in front of himself. A large shuriken buzzed passed the pair as two more Shurimon joined the pursuit, bounding after their quarry with their spring-like legs.

Kapitan grunted as another shuriken grazed his back and toppled him to the ground. He fell on his side as Zoya spilled from his grasp. The woman was quicker to recover but still was just as agitated as her partner was.

"Rise to your feet!" she encouraged as Kap punched the ground while slowly getting up on his hands and knees, "this situation is bad, but this is not our end, comrade!" She turned as she noticed something gaining on them unexpectedly fast. As she realized what it was she barely had enough time to dash between Kapitan and the oncoming threat before slapping a hand on her digivice.

A bright and transparent wall of light, looking very much like a large pane of glass, stretched out in front of Zoya. Almost immediately a shuriken collided with the battier and shattered it, causing Zoya to hold her arms up defensively with an alarmed shout. Although her defense had been destroyed the projectile had been successfully deflected.

"Enough heroics!" growled Kap as he picked up Zoya a second time. Spreading his wings the Beetlemon flew towards the cave's exit. The rumbling from underground started up again as the breached the mouth of the tunnel, far harsher now than it had ever been. It was as if the earthquake that had exposed this cave had returned.

As the pair continued to put distance between themselves and the tunnel Kap turned and flew backwards to see if anyone was still chasing after them. The Shurimon and Floramon had come outside, but they merely watched as the intruders left. Behind them the cave collapsed on itself as something gigantic broke through to sunlight. The two large glowing eyes of the Ancient Troiamon fixated on the tamer and her partner as the behemoth rose amid a cloud of dust.

Feeling an involuntary shudder work its way up her spine as she met the digimon's baleful stare Zoya frowned. Those were the eyes Anten had mentioned, and their size alone had been enough to unnerve Zoya in the dark caves. To witness the sentience and hate behind them, though? That was another thing entirely. Uncertainly she reached out one hand and pointed a fingergun at it. A large yellow orb of light appeared at the tip of her index finger. Instead of firing at the Ancient Troiamon however, she then aimed her hand straight up into the air before firing the harmless sphere. It traveled up into the air for a fair distance before exploding like a signal flare.

"Let us hope that was enough time for the others to get far away," whispered Zoya shakily.