Digimon Adventure ND Book One: Manipulamon Reigns - Chapter Thirteen

So clearly we have reached that point where the ascending order of evil prevents the less powered-up of the group from defeating the enemies. I want to show this, to show that the enemies are powerful enough that the main characters need to get more powerful. After all, fighting an avatar of Manipulamon made out of a pretty weak Adult Digimon with five Adult Digimon of their own was hard for the Digidestined. The real Manipulamon must be way tougher. It's also implied that the second human ally of Manipulamon is Perfect Level strong as well. If the heroes don't step up their game soon, they won't stand a chance, and fighting against the big enemy of this chapter, whose only really good attribute is his really extra tough exoskeleton proves that without going overboard.

Chapter Thirteen

An Encounter With The Taggers;

Versus Okuwamon!

It was a couple days later before we were on our way again. We were all tired after so many nights of fighting and little rest, and Snakemon had been drained after his Digivolution to Perfect Level to the point that he was only able to keep himself awake long enough to binge on some Digimushrooms. Sitting around and resting gave me a chance to dwell on what Dre had said to me during our last conversation: that the human with MetalPhantomon had had a fire Digimon as a partner, rather than a machine Digimon.

As we walked, I had the Digicomp out in scanner mode. I'd learned that the passive scanning mode could detect anything that came into range, but that it had trouble detecting more than one type of signal at a time if the numbers of one type greatly outnumbered any signals of other types. Still, it was better than scanning for Jeremy or Mechmon specifically, as doing so would prevent us from detecting any other potential assailants at all.

Jeremy, I thought, I went into that battle thinking that we were close to you, but I was wrong. When I heard about a human in Manipulamon's ranks, I thought that it could only be you, but now I know that there is another human in Manipulamon's ranks. A human that Dre seemed to think was working for him willingly.

At that point, I didn't know what to think anymore. I was sure that Jeremy wasn't working for Manipulamon willingly, that wasn't the problem. What worried me was that we'd never even seen this other human. If he was supposed to be Digidestined, wouldn't Manipulamon have sent him to meet up with and deceive us when he sent Jeremy? The fact that he hadn't made me think that this other kid wasn't Digidestined, and that made me wonder where he'd come from, and where he's gotten his Digimon partner from.

With a deep breath, however, I tried to put all of that out of mind. I had to be clear-headed in case we came under attack again. After what had happened against MetalPhantomon, I wouldn't allow myself to fight without thinking again. Every time I went into a fight with anything but that fight in my head, I risked getting myself and the others hurt, or killed.

I'd barely looked up from the scanner all morning, and during the entirety of our journey so far, it had remained clear. As we walked, Snakemon hung slung over my shoulder, looking down at the screen with me. He wasn't the fastest learner, but he'd begun to learn the scanning program as well. Everything looked as clear as it had been, and then suddenly the screen was filled with blinking blips. Dozens of Digimon signals had appeared just at the edge of the scanner’s range.

“Whoa,” said Snakemon.

“Yeah,” I said, “whoa.”

“What is it?” Jen asked, stepping up to my side, her hands on her hips, with Coltmon at her side.

“A large group of Digimon,” I told her, “just appeared on the scanner almost dead ahead at the edge of the scanner’s range. Maybe twenty minutes away.”

“How many?” Amanda asked, sounding worried.

“I can’t tell. They overlap. A lot?”

“Could it be a village?” Sarah asked.

“No,” I told her, “they seem to be moving too.”

“Maybe,” Jen suggested, “they're refugees from a village that was attacked.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “maybe. Or maybe it's an army.”


We were all still tired, and it was unclear whether or not Snakemon could Digivolve yet, or whether, if her did, he'd be able to Digivolve to Perfect level again. I didn't want to make a decision that could affect all of us, and maybe pit us against another Perfect Level, without talking with the others first. So I asked them what they wanted to do.

After discussing the situation, we decided that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to gain so many allies, if the Digimon were friendly. Even Amanda was eager for the chance to make new Digimon friends. Besides, at this point, if the Digimon weren't friendly, we would have difficulty avoiding them anyway. Even more signals had since come onto the screen, spread out enough that we could only be sure to keep away from them if we turned around and went back the way we'd come. At this point, even if their wasn't a Perfect Level in the group, if they were enemies we would have very little chance of beating them.

So, rather than lose progress, we took a chance and changed direction ever so slightly, meaning to cross paths with the huge group. It wasn’t long before we reached the sources of the signals. There was nothing on the ground, so the signals had to be overhead, coming from above the thick, tropical trees.

“Snakemon,” I asked, “are you up for a little recon?”

“Sure,” he answered. He coiled up and launched himself from my shoulder into the trees above. The leaves rustled as he climbed, there were a few moments of silence, and then Snakemon dropped suddenly from the branches only moments later. “Flymon!” he said. “It’s a Flymon swarm!”

Out of the treetops descended three Flymon chasing after him, firing their stingers at us. We scattered, avoiding the attacks. I cursed under my breath. We'd all been hoping to avoid a battle if we could, but now we'd been spotted, and we didn't have a choice.

“Looks like we’ve got a fight on our hands,” I said. “Initiate Digivolution!”

I crossed my fingers and waited, as my Digivice buzzed, and it's screen lit up. I still didn't know if Snakemon would be able to Digivolve.

“Snakemon,” he said, as I breathed a sigh of relief, “Digivolve to, Serpentmon!”

Serpentmon leaped onto a branch, launching himself upward, and fired a spread of fang-shaped needles, hitting one of the Flymon, racking it with dozens of explosions. I was a little surprised as the single attack reduced the enemy to digital dust.

Maybe when Serpentmon achieved a new level of Digivolution it also, like, leveled up his overall power. Either way, I'm not going to complain.

Meanwhile, Coltmon and Ponymon ran in a circle beneath the remaining Flymon and kicked up a Hoof Tornado. It caught both of the Flymon and tossed them to the ground violently, where Chickomon charged at them and stomped them with his big, powerful feet. They were both vaporized as well.

“Lets get out of here,” I said, “before we get the attention of any more of them.”

“Too late,” said Chickomon, “look.” As he spoke, more than half a dozen Flymon descended from the trees, buzzing around in the branches, using them for cover.

“Alright,” I said, “if we have to fight, then don’t pull any punches. Digivolve!”

As one, Sarah, Jen, Amanda, and I declared, “Initiate Digivolution!”

“Serpentmon, Digivolve to, Dragonterramon!”

“BlackColtmon, Digivolve to, BlackStaliamon!”

“Coltmon, Digivolve to, BattleStaliamon!”

“Ponymon, Digivolve to, Fillimon!”

“Chickomon, Digivolve to, BrauntoPhoenixmon!”

BrauntoPhoenixmon flew upward. He spun in a corkscrew, destroying several Flymon with a single hit. Unfortunately he also blew over most of the trees that made up the canopy above us, and we could see the rest of the swarm above. It was huge! Still, the Flymon seemed to hesitate. The rest of the Flymon who had dipped down to attack up abruptly rose up to join the others, and the entire swarm let out a high pitched buzzing before rising even further up, rising out of our reach.

“Are they running?” Jen asked, disbelievingly.

“That was easy,” said Sarah, her voice full of pride.

“Its not over yet,” said BlackStaliamon. “That was a distress signal. There are more on their way.”

I looked back down at the Digicomp. Another blip, much much larger than the others, had appeared at the back end of the group, and it was moving quickly toward us, accompanied by a grouping of signals which didn't look like the Flymon at all. I looked up in time to see two Kuwagamon, two large green mantises, and a much larger Kuwagamon with a gray exoskeleton and massive claws join the enemies hovering above us. I checked them with my handheld's Digimon analyzer.

“The green ones are Snimon,” I read, “able to launch energy waves from their sickle blades, and the gray one is Okuwamon, a Perfect level with an incredibly hard shell.”

“Okuwamon?” said Jen. “Wasn't that the Digimon who leads the Tagging force? The one that Dokugumon told us about?”

“Yeah,” I said grimly, “and that means he'll have experience chasing enemies.”

I took a split second to come up with a plan.

“Split them up,” I commanded. “Draw Okuwamon away from the others. We have to reduce the number of his forces if we're even going to have a chance.”

BrauntoPhoenixmon flew straight at Okuwamon, filling the equally-large insect's field of vision with his huge blue bulk before curving to the side, while the horses flew toward the lackeys. Okuwamon veered away after BrauntoPhoenixmon, who he had pegged as the greatest threat, leaving his battle group alone.

BattleStaliamon and Fillimon began to circle the Snimon and the Kuwagamon, keeping opposite each other. A ring of energy formed, following their path. Both horses called out, “Celestial Ring!” and veered away. The ring tightened, vaporizing the giant bugs on contact.

BattleStaliamon and Fillimon landed again nearby. “Wow,” said BattleStaliamon, “I didn’t think that would actually work.”

“Yeah,” said Fillimon, “me neither. Good thing Insectoids are stupid.”

“You’ll pay for that!” Okuwamon cried from above, turning from BrauntoPhoenixmon and veering toward the horses now that he'd realized that they were the most powerful among us.

“Apparently this one’s not,” said BrauntoPhoenixmon, spinning mid air and giving chase.

“Be careful. He’s a Perfect Level,” said Jen, “meaning that between his level, and his strong armor, he's stronger than all of us.”

“We’ll see about that!” cried BlackStaliamon. He jumped up into the trees and used the branches like a springboard, his hooves glowing with energy. He slammed Okuwamon in the back, but Okuwamon’s thick armor rendered the attack ineffective.

“You’re first!” said Okuwamon. He turned and called, “Double Scissor Claw!” He struck with both of his massive claws, throwing BlackStaliamon back to the ground where he de-Digivolved instantly.

“We can’t beat him one on one,” said Dragonterramon. “Our only chance is to attack him all at once from different sides and overwhelm him!”

BattleStaliamon, Fillimon, and BrauntoPhoenixmon shot off through the air. Dragonterramon was crouched down, preparing to leap, when I stopped him.

“Hold up pal,” I said. “I’m riding along.”

“No,” he protested. “Its too dangerous.”

“Yeah, its dangerous,” I said, “but I've learned something from our last few battles. If we are going to keep winning, I have to be fully committed to every fight. While you’re fighting, I might be able to spot some kind of weakness in his exoskeleton.”

Dragonterramon growled, a thoughtful look on his face. Then reluctantly he said, “Fine, get on!”

I jumped onto his back, standing on his tail, holding onto one of the spikes lining his back. He jumped up, avoiding a tree sent flying by an enemy attack. He bounced from one tree to another tree, and into the top branches of a third, springing himself into the air. “Terra Flame!” he called, launching a barrage of fireballs at the foe from a distance. Only two hit. Dragonterramon reached the apex of his jump and fell back toward the ground far below.

“Get closer this time,” I told Dragonterramon.

“Got it,” He growled. He charged forward and launched himself from another treetop, bringing himself close to Okuwamon’s back. I looked the giant insect over quickly. Bingo! I thought. There was a small opening in the armor in Okuwamon’s back. If I could get that gap open, the Digimons’ attacks could get through, and they could finish Okuwamon off!

Dragonterramon launched his attack and began his controlled drop, but before he could drop below Okuwamon, I jumped, landing on the enemy’s back, hanging onto the armor at the edge of the gap.

“John, no!” Dragonterramon cried. I pulled myself up and began pulling on the armor plate. If I could only get the gap open a little wider this fight would be as good as over.

“Get ready to attack this spot!” I yelled, but before I could get anywhere, Okuwamon spun in the air violently and shook me off. I was falling, just above Dragonterramon, just out of his reach. I knew that it was all over for me, unless I could do the impossible and get Dragonterramon to Digivolve to Perfect Level again. Luckily my plan, while stupid, had also been pretty brave, so it wasn't hard to dredge up that power again. I concentrated, and the Neo Crest of Courage began to glow. It slid free of the tag and changed shape, returning to disk form.

Everything seemed to slow down as strength and knowledge flowed through me, even as I fell. Just like before, I knew what to do, and did it automatically.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my Digivice and my Digiplayer. I connected them together, the disk still hanging in the air. I swung the Digiplayer, catching the disk in the slot, and pressed the activate button, “Initiate Digiplayer Digivolution!”

Dragonterramon began to glow. He hung in the air, and I fell past him, “Dragonterramon, Digivolve to!” he grew into his larger form and he roared as broad, orange, bat-like wings sprouted from his back in twin bursts of flame. His claws grew longer, and his talons became sharper and more curved as we tucked his wings and plunged into a dive, “WingedDragonterramon!”

WingedDragonterramon dropped down below me. He opened his wings, catching the air, caught me in his arms, and spilled air from his wings, gliding down to the ground. He set me down, and then launched himself back into the fray, just as BrauntoPhoenixmon, BattleStaliamon, and Fillimon were hit by a mighty attack. They fell to the ground and de-Digivolved, falling unconscious, defeated.

“Double Scissor Claw!” Okuwamon called. He swung his massive blade-like claws at the oncoming dragon, but WingedDragonterramon flapped once, rising mere inches above the width of the attack. He spilled air from his wings and shot forward, hitting the foe with a full bodied tackle.

Okuwamon fell backward, and before he could regain control, WingedDragonterramon rose up above him and called, “Wing Fireblaze!” His wings caught fire, and a fireball formed in front of each wing. He flapped hard, flinging the two fireballs, each nearly as large as his own torso, straight at Okuwamon. The fireballs hit at high speed and exploded. The fire from the explosion filled the sky. When the flames cleared, we saw a singed and battered Okuwamon turn tail and run away in retreat, the Flymon that were all that remained of his army close at his heels.

WingedDragonterramon landed next to me and the others and changed back into Snakemon, his energy spent by the Digiplayer Digivolution. He teetered for a second and then passed out. Two Perfect Level Digivolutions so close together was just too much for him. I walked over to my friend. “Thanks man,” I said, picking him up and hanging him over my shoulders where he could sleep, “We all owe you one.”

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