2904/When Children Cry

When Children Cry
Date of Scene:	26 August 2015
Location:	The Great Mountains
Synopsis:	Lute and the Confederacy go for some Digimon Children in a makeshift village, however they learn that it wont be so easy...
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, 132, 188, Sarracenia, Sanary Rondel, Duke, Gaonoir, 782, 810

---

Duke has posed:
Deep within the canyons of the mountains, a small area has been claimed by a small group of Exile Digimon. The village has been built by several of the Adult Digimon for the young they have managed to rescue either has babies or as young children. Young babies and children that have not known anything else beyond these very canyon walls and this location, that don't know the dangers of war or what has been.

The village has been constructed of stone and wood. The houses are primitive, but they serve their purpose for the Digimon here. Many of the adults are out hunting, while the Children here are left with the Digimon who has made himself the 'Guardian' of this 'Village'. These children range from both small teal dragons with red horns and wings, to yellow small raptor-rex-like dinosaurs with blue stripes over their bodies; Dracomons and Agumon Xs.

The Guardian stands outside the makeshift wooden and vine wall that went around the village. His body was muscular and he stood tall at near nine feet. He was a type of predatory Dinosaur that stood upright with large clawed hands and hard brown skull head over his orange body. He had three horns and one of his gold eyes was missing color, blinded it would seem in one eye; A Geo Greymon.

His attention shifted from his duties as he heard a child cry inside, with a huff of his breath, he made his way back into the primary area; The gate unprotected as he saw to what the children were crying about this time.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Digimon are an interesting subject. The Confederacy does not have a huge amount of information on them. All they have are, quite simply, the basics. They are a field that the Confederate Scientists need to do far more research for.

     And this is where Lute has stepped in.

     He has been having his Unown search the Multiverse, flying around. Seeking out specific things. Though he has spent some time looking for a lost Confederate Elite, some of the time has also been spent searching for pockets of Digimon living on their own. He knows they are a sapient species. He knows they have multiple stages. He also knows that the earlier stages are much easier to manipulate, grow, and alter than the later stages.

     And, from his Unown, he knows that this small hidden mountain village has more of the younger stages of Digimon than any other spot he has heard of.

     Mr. Crabs walks down the canyon. This eighty meter tall behemoth blends in somewhat well. Despite his blue skin, and some fur upon him? He still looks fairly rocky upon most of his body. It's a slow approach, Unown scouts looking ahead to make sure no Digimon spot them coming. But, finally, Mr. Crabs approaches the village.

     And Lute stands atop him. His hair flows a bit in the wind, along with his white labcoat. A pair of tight black jeans are upon him, held on by a belt. His arms are crossed, on his chest, looking down at the village. He has invited multiple allies to come along with him, and all of them are welcomed to ride upon Mr. Crabs with Lute.

     At the village itself, upon arrival, Lute just smiles. Looking down. He shouts to the Digimon.

     "THIS CANYON IS PROPERTY OF THE CONFEDERATE MILITARY! Stand down. All Digimon within the Village are to come with us. Do not fight back. Do not retreat. Otherwise, we will use force!"

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     There's a pensive look on Sanary's face as they approach the village, digging her knuckles into each other to crack them lightly before crossing them over her chest. She had heard the call for assistance and joined up easily enough, but the potential ramifications didn't really hit her until the village itself was finally in sight. If she's lucky, maybe she wouldn't see Duke or anyone familiar around. Hell, maybe it could be some other Digimon village!

     She's never that lucky. The healer's dressed in her usual white not-quite battle coat, the long end of it flapping dramatically behind her while she stands atop Mr. Crabs. Her usual gunaxe and giant shield are also strapped to her waist and back respectively, and her sweatpants (she still needs to find better combat pants) are somewhat thicker around the ankles today with oddly shaped anklets barely hidden on the inside.

     "Her brow furrows slightly as Lute issues his ultimatum, scooting forward a bit to get a better look at the village from her raised vantage point. She didn't see anyone she recognized just yet, so that was a good sign. Maybe this whole operation would be simpler than expected.

Sarracenia has posed:
     The beautiful princess known as Sarracenia does not need to ride Mr. Crabs. She has an airship to ride. An airship that looks very much like one of the large, powerful sailing ships of the Spanish conquistadors. She rides at the bow of the ship, her huge hammer braced against it to give her a good place to stand. And, it has the added advantage of a large cargo area, an easy to use cargo door, and comes with pirahna plant soldiers.

     This is a raid, after all, and Sarracenia is never one to go halfway. Her airship floats down near Mr. Crabs, its massive mast-supported propellers spinning to keep it in the air. When they reach the village, the ship floats down until it hovers just a few feet above the ground, then the cargo doors open and a large gangplank is extended. "Will all of you cute and powerful Digimon please come right this way and load yourselves into the ship? I would be ever so greatful." the princess calls out in a very loud voice. There is a pause, then she yells out, "We have candy! Plenty of candy for all!" Then, soldiers come down the gangplank carrying bags of halloween candy.

Duke has posed:
After the Geo Gryemon gets the children to quiet down, he hears something before he smells it on the air. His body shifts around, to come to rest on the massive crab that overshadows the small village and his maw hangs open slightly. With nothing said in reply, he turns around to two Dracomon who peek out from behind a rock, "Children!" His--- No-- Her voice booming, "Get to the cave! Go!"

A screen of some kind flickers on the side as her one good eye glows gently, a distress call?

Her attention, though, goes back to fully to Lute and his group of Confederates as the children all try to run for a cave on the side of the village. Under normal circumstances, this was a good plan, but these were not normal circumstances, they would be sitting ducks by the possible end of this. "I heard of your Confederacy and we want you to leave! Now go away, all of---" Her eyes catch a few children that were not listened to her words and heading for the bags of candy. "No!" She snaps out and thunders her way over; This is probably not a good idea for her.

Meanwhile...

Something goes over the airwaves, its several beeps, like an s.o.s, but also along with it are coordinates. This signal is one that gets Duke's attention back at Alexis' ranch. His gold eyes snap open as they flicker with blue. "... What the?" He looks around and then pulls out his comm to listen.

With little hesitation, he is on the move and digivolving from his small Guimon X form to Medieval Dukemon. While this could be a trap, that part he is unsure of, but it's something he also just can't ignore either.

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     Welp, the first round of qualifiers for the WMAT has finally come to an end, which means for Beelzebumon that boredom has once more set it as he waits for the next round to begin, and a bored Demon Lord is never a good thing.

     Thankfully, Lute provides a handy distraction for Beelzebumon, and he is allll too eager to mess with the screwball Professor.

     As always, the approach of the Demon Lord is heralded by the sound of a motorcycle engine and a plume of dust, at the head of which is Beelz' hellish ride, Behemoth. And atop said ride is the Demon Lord, his face cocked in a half-smirk as he spies the distant Kaiju of Lute's.

Gaonoir has posed:
Duke isn't the only one that picked up the digital SOS.

Her expression was hidden behind the golden helmet save her eyes, but that was all that was needed to see how thoroughly Magnamon was scowling. On one hand, it was an Exile encampment. On the other hand, that they were risking being noticed by the likes of her with that distress call only emphasized how great of danger it could be.

It was, regardless of what side of the feud with Yggdrasil they may be on, Digimon in trouble. There was a part of her core that still felt it was the duty of the Royal Knights to protect their own kind.
The militarant part quickly rationalized it being a considerable threat to their Multiverse operations if one of the superpowers got control of Digimon at an easily manipulative stage. Yggdrassil would not like, enemies or not, that slipping past.

With a relenting sigh, she reached for one floating screen-panel. A few command touchs and the signal was rerouted and relayed to ping a certain comm frequency with just enough double-backing signals to not obviously be transferred by her.

Elsewhere, in the shadows of the Multiverse, the SOS pings a different receiver. A pair of glowing eyes flared open at it, an unearthly snarl between unseen teeth...

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden was also looking for pockets of Digimon, to convince them to keep moving, to avoid staying in one place too long to keep the hunters on their toes. He had tracked down the small village through rumors and stories from other Digimon Exiles. He's traveling along the top of the canyon, to get a better aerial view. He glances as the earth quakes beneath the feet of Lute's kaiju. "What the...?" He mutters, bounding over to the canyon edge in time to hear Lute's loud declaration. And then an airship comes in, distracting the MetalMamemon for a moment.
    He yells loudly, at Lute. "How about you leave before all the rocks fall on your head?!" It's not /hard/ to see where the defiant voice is coming from, despite his size, because Golden is a bright shining spot up on the canyon wall, reflecting the sunlight brilliantly.

Victory (810) has posed:
    Bounty hunter, monster slayer, WMAT participant, and over all mercenary, all things that Victory has considered herself over the years since the digital world she came from unified to the Multiverse. One thing she was not, however, was heartless. The S.O.S. reaching her radio from a village of Exile Digimon was all she needed to hear to rise, put her armor on, and head out once more into the breach.

    With a small amount of appreciation for the Syndicate warp gates, the warrior digimon arrives to Village Echo just as Lute's ultimatium is given. Without even a word, Victory pulls free the blade at her back, splits the blade, and equips it to one of her bracers. Why? The warning shot that goes past the Kaiju's head, and likely it's rider, should make it obvious enough. "I won't miss the next time!"

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute sighs, looking at the Geo Greymon. He really does /not/ want that Digimon getting in the way of them collecting the young Digimon. Instead, he is going to try something a /bit/ different. It's female. It's a dinosaur. This is going to be a /stretch/, because almost anyone worth their salt can shrug off this move. But, he is going to give it a try, anyways.

     "GO, TYRANTRUM! USE ATTRACT!"

     He releases his Tyrantrum, that T-rex shaped Pokemon. It's a boy Tyrantrum. And it poses. Trying to look attractive. Dynamic. There is a heart flying through the air, towards the GeoGreymon. Almost /certainly/ not working at making her fall in love with the Tyrantrum.

     And if if /doesn't/ work, Lute immediately releases his Tentacruel, who fires forth a burst of water, aimed to send GeoGreymon moving right into the mountain.

     "OKAY. So I /repeat/. Everyone, get onto the ship. Young Digimon first, and get into the furthest depths of it! ...Where there will be more Candy."

     He releases another Pokemon. His Arcanine. Lute just vaguely points in the direction of Golden, and the Arcanine shoots out a large ball of flames from his mouth, aimed straight at the Pokemon.

     And then /Victory/ arrives. Lute just lets out a loud groan, turning to Sanary. He doesn't want to involve Sarracenia in the battle. The longer she goes unfought, the better. Instead, he just smirks at Sanary. Having an idea.

     "...Hey. Mind providing healing support? Boost me up a bit, make me and all of my Pokemon stronger? So we can kick their asses and get out of here?"

Kirito has posed:
    With that much commotion happening on the broadband and a SOS signal, Kirigaya kazuto decided something out there's happening that's worth checking out. There's Digimon getting involved and Lute being suspicious. What other reason does he need?

    A desperate flight lead along by his Union GPS later and the Spriggan Swordsman of Alfheim, Kirito, is soaring through the heavens above the village, dark eyes sharply looking over the situation. The young fairy warrior's frowning. But he has a plan for an entrance!

    Both wings tuck down tightly and vibrate to MAX SPEED. DOWN he goes, plunging like a missile. Faster, faster, EVER FASTER!

    There's only a split second of warning. A blip of motion. Then the ground in between Sarracenia and a handful of Digimon tempted by her simply EXPLODES. Dirt and rock go flying everywhere. Dust fills the air, obscuring the humanoid figure that rises within.

    "Sorry."

    Then light glints off the black blade Kirito swings hard enough to cause the air to whistle. The dust cloud's cast away.

    "This area's closed off to the likes of you." This he aims at Lute, whilst twirling his blade up behind his shoulders and into a ready stance. Very threatening. A single twitch and he could be off into action!

    But he takes a moment to give Sarracenia a disbelieving look. "Kidnapping children? Haven't you got enough bad marks on your Princess license already? At this rate you should switch to Evil Duchess or something."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     At least the familiar faces weren't here /yet/. Maybe they'd be able to finish things up before things got too heated. Sarracenia's plan was working better than expected, and there was... Giant orange skull beast coming right at them. To make matters worse, it sounded like more Digimon would be coming, and even some Sanary personally knew! Hell, there was Golden up on that cliff already.

     Well, work was work, and she wasn't about to get on the Confederacy's bad side just because of some personal feelings. Still, if there was the chance this could be resolved to everyone's benefit... Why not?

     "Hey! What say we work something out?" She calls out from atop Mr. Crabs, bracing her hands on the massive crustacean's shell while keeping a bit of magical energy circulating around her feet. Just trying not to fall off is enough to keep her from actually spotting Kirito and Victory for the time being, although she can hear them easily enough.

     At least she didn't see the sword whizzing by. "On it. Been practicing this one, so let's see how it goes." Flashing her usual confident grin at Lute (although looking just a little apprehensive), the healer scuttles back to roughly the center of Mr. Crabs' head before starting to focus her energies more. Once she's ready, a faint green light starts to flow from her and into Lute and his Pokemon to provide them with a modest boost to their own healing and energy reserves.

     "Let's try and get this done quick, then, eh? Still, if we can work something out..."

Duke has posed:
The Geo Greymon tries to stop the children from getting close to the evil princess, even as others arrive, "Children!" She calls out, but something gets her attention. A Dinosaur Pokemon who is posing for her attention. Her good eye blinks a few times, "... Are you?" It was enough of a distraction and perhaps could work, it might have worked, but she shakes her head and snarls. "No! You are with them! I will not fall for that nonsense again!"

This is about the time she gets blasted by water from the Tentacruel without being aware it was coming for her. The massive Digimon's body slams into the mountainside and she then collapses to the ground. Her claw hand extending out, "...r...run..." before it collapses. A few of the Dracomon seem confused and one of the Agumon X run over to her, nudging her hand in confusion to what is going on.

When Kirito makes his dynamic entrance between the children, their candy, and the Princeses' shoulders, they stare in wonderment what was before them, all but one Dracomon who /really/ wants that Candy and jumps over a rock and tries to get past Kirito while going, "Food!"

A few others at this point have run into the caves, or are hiding in the small village homes...

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia leaves Lute and Sanary to their own things for now. She is on the ground when Kirito drops like a meteorite into the ground. She quickly plants her hammer in the ground to keep from being blown away, but her soldiers are not so lucky. Most of them are blown back and candy goes bouncing away with the wind.

     When Kirito looks toward Sarracenia and speaks to her, the princess scoffs indignantly. "We are not kidnapping them! They are obviously vulnerable out here! Can you not tell by the candy that we do not wish to harm them?" She raises her hammer, then twirls it seemingly effortlessly before pointing it at Kirito. "I was -going- to try and resolve this peacefully, but if you would stand in our way, it is my duty as a member of the Confederacy to face you. Stand aside, or face the wrath of Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom!"

     The soldiers are back on their feet, and are making their way into the village, continuing to entice the young digimon with candy and friendly faces. As they do, Princess Sarracenia suddenly yells, "And I am not evil!!"

Gaonoir has posed:
What could be mistaken for a peel of thunder rumbles at a distance. By the time it's realized it was actually a sonic boom from something hitting mach speed as soon as it cleared a warpgate, the cause of the sound is already streaking towards Village Echo.

It comes in at such an angle that a bolt of black, purple and red just nearly skims above the airship. Dropping into valley proper it levels off horizontal with the ground with precision that would be impossible to pull off with an actual aircraft. The bolt speeds underneath Mr. Crabs, only to pull up finally and come to a stop hovering above the village, pilot scarf flapping dramatically behind him as Gaonoir folds his arms over his bandoliered chest. "Okay, which one of you lowlifes thought it would be a good idea to threaten a settlement of childred? Even I ain't -that- much of a jackass."

A few digimon peeking out windows stare at the dark palette-swapped MachGaogamon in a mix of amazement and apprehension. Isn't that one of Yggdrassil's enforcers? Why was he here? Was he... actually trying to help?....

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     Hmmm, Lute is trying to kidnap young Digimon. That's... certainly a Lutish thing to do.

     Unlike most of the people here, Beelzebumon is certainly less... passionate about the defense of the children. Still, he dislikes Lute, and that means he isn't above messing with the deranged trainer some... and if the best way to do that is to prevent him from stealing kids. Then that's what Beelzebumon is going to do... and how might you ask?

     By being a /colossal asshole/.

     As he approaches the battlefield, the Demon Lord tenses up, and then /LEAPS/ into the air, before slamming down on the back of one of the goons offering candy for all the little Digimon.

     Then he slowly turns towards the approaching horde of children and twists his face into a savage, insane slasher smile as he rises up to full height before the kids, glowering down at them with a look of a Man Possessed.

     And then he bellows with all the fury he can muster, "I AM BEELZEBUMON, THE DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY! AND I HAVE COME TO /FEAST UPON YOU ALL!!/"

     And then he lets out a wicked cackle as he takes a menacing step towards the kids, aiming to terrify them into fleeing away from the airship and back to the protective clutches of their protectors.

Victory (810) has posed:
    To clarify, Victory was along a lofty ridge, one possibly higher than even the kaiju standing over Village Echo. From her vantage point, she notices that the warning shot had no affect, as expected, and heaves a sigh as a result. After reassembling her weapon, Victory takes a single step, leaps, and eventually lands rather close to where the Geo Greymon had fallen.

    After the impact of her drop, and the slow rise of both her form and her gaze, she goes to point her weapon at the kaiju, only to find herself gawking at Beelzebumon's arrival and decree. Blink. Blink again. Siiiiiiiigh. "Well that should work," she mutters before turning back to the kaiju and its riders. "I can't say I've fought a monster quite so massive! I will enjoy turning it's head in for a reward!"

Kirito has posed:
    "........" With Sarracenia getting all militant on him and a single Digimon kid going chasing after the candy, Kirito practically sweatdrops. But he's made his call, so he has to stand by it. The boy in black twirls his favored weapon, Vox Unitas...

    Then down comes Beelzebumon, utterly DESTROYING his combative mood. He gawks, flinches slightly.

    It's as if a Boss Monster just dropped in out of absolutely NOWHERE.

    So he's keeping one eye on Beelzebumon now. If he actually DOES that, then Kirito's going to have his hands full.

    But he can't afford toreally look away from Sarracenia.

    "Yeeeeeeaaaaah.... I believe that as much as I believe I'll win the lottery, if he's involved." Kirito tilts his head towards Lute. "As you can see, Princess, they're not so vulnerable. Check out how many people showed up to protect them... from being forced into soldiery."

    Once again he sets to twirling Vox Unitas around into a ready stance. But his other hand makes a few gestures at the air that only have meaning to him.

    Another sword materializes from a flicker of light and pixels along his back and Kirito draws that one too. The crystallite sword Divination, spiritual successor to Dark Repulsor.

    He only draws that one when it's REALLY serious.

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden is not expecting to be lit on fire. But his small roundish frame makes it much easier to...
    STOP.
        DROP.
            ROLL.
    Which he does, rolling about in the dirt and dust to put the flames out before picking himself up. And he leaps towards Lute and Mister Crabs, unleashing a barrage of Energy Bombs into the walls of the canyon to collapse them down and around Mister Crabs. Explosions ensue, plumes of dust and rocks erupting from the points of impact and weakening the cliff-faces. The sunburst crest on him is growing in brightness, cracks slowly radiating outward as he ricochets off several trees to continue his path towards the immediate source of trouble.
    "Is that all you got, kid?! I've fought angels, gods, and demons! I've been chewed up and spit out by world-eating monsters! And I'm still alive and kicking! You're going to have to do better than them!" Golden shouts, taunting Lute.

Lute (188) has posed:
     This has /quickly/ turned into a complete mess. Lute frowns, looking around. Beelzebumon. He, of all people, had to be here. The others are no slouches either. He's almost /certain/ he is more powerful than most of the others here. But all of these enemies, working together? It's certainly not going to make this easy.

     At least /one/ Dracomon does in fact want the candy bad enough.

     "WE WERE NOT ATTACKING KIDS. We were trying to take them to /Confederate Territory/ where they would have a /decent standard of living/. If the adults were not getting in the way, we would not have to resort to violence at /all/. Seriously! Look, I even have a court order."

     Lute reaches into his labcoat, pulling out a court order. Noting he is legally allowed to take these children into Confederate custody. It is, of course, signed by Confederate courts. So most likely, no one here would obey it, anyways. And, he was planning to use violence if they didn't comply /anyways/.

     Still, he's going to have to settle this forcibly. A frown. At the least, the healing and buffing from Sanary is taking effect. It's time to go full out.

     He lifts up a Pokeball, opening it up. Giratina appears, landing on Mr. Crab's back. The large Ghost Dragon Pokemon, the being from the Reverse World. It flaps its massive wings, and flies forward. There is a certain target who becomes Lute's first point of attention. And, Lute points Giratina towards him. The flying Dragon dashes in towards Beelzebumon, swooping to come in from behind. Its wings are aimed at the Demon Lord, massive spikes upon the tip sticking out. Trying to impale Beelzebumon.

     Gaonoir is the next target. Lute just frowns at the being. He doesn't really /know/ Gaonoir. He doesn't really care. At the moment, he just sees another target. Lute looks towards Gaonoir, frowning. Glaring. "I don't /care/ what you have to say. Really. I don't care what /any/ of you have to say. I am simply doing what I feel is right. And, should none of you agree wtih it? Fine. Arcanine, Fire Spin."

     Suddenly, Arcanine shoots out another burst of flames. The flames fly through the air, spinning at Gaonoir. The fire surrounds him, trying to make things quiet hot.

     And then, he deals with Golden. He looks towards Golden, pointing his Tentacruel towards him. As the energy bombs cause rocks to fall, Lute points his Tyrantrum towards him. The dinosaur Pokemon rushes towards the rocks, trying to launch its own stones from its mouth. Trying to shoot down each rock, shot for shot.

     "...Gods, angels, demons? You don't know who I even /am/, do you? I've /surprassed/ Gods and Demons. I have /captured/ what many consider the /Devil/ of my world! You are nothing, /NOTHING/, in comparison to me! TENTACRUEL! HYDRO PUMP!"

     Lute is not fucking around at all. His Tentacruel turns its lowerside towards Golden. A massive burst of water flies towards the Digimon, shooting straight at him.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia's soldiers are apparently only slightly more intelligent than children. Maybe. When Beelzebumon lands and makes his threat, the pirahna plant soldiers stop chasing children and stare in fear. Their huge mouths turn downward in frightened frowns, then they throw their candy bags and run for it, hiding in the same buildings that the young digimon are using and peeking out just as fearfully.

     Which causes Sarracenia to facepalm and groan heavily. "I suppose you are right." she says to Kirito as he draws another blade. She eyes both blades, then gives her hammer a twirl before holding it in front of her. "But, it is important to our superiors that these digimon be captured. If we are to ever end this pointless war, then one side must grow stronger than the other. And this may be the key to our victory. Not to mention that these children will be much better off with the food and education the Confederacy can offer."

     With that, Sarracenia waits no longer. But, rather than rush forward with her hammer, she reaches into her purse and pulls out...a bob-omb! She plants her hammer, then grins at Kirito. "Out of my way! I have children to save!" She throws the bob-omb at Kirito. When it lands, be it on him or near him, it explodes violently. While that is happening, Sarracenia is trying to run over and grab that innocent little Dracomon that was still headed toward her ship. She scoops the little one up, then runs toward her ship as fast as she can. She is no olympic runner, though. It really wouldn't be hard to catch her.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Great. Even more familiar faces. If Sanary wasn't so focused on supporting Lute and his Pokemon, she'd have half a mind to go after Beelzebumon and that black wolf.. Jetpack thing Digimon herself. Alas, there's the job to focus on, and keeping that magical energy flowing properly is taking quite a bit out of the eyepatch-wearing girl.

     Plus, having Beelzebumon and Gaonoir around could be useful if their presence was enough to scare the children. MAybe even into Confederate arms? She'd have to wait and see.

     "Lute's right for once! Ergh... You know how the Confederacy works!" Stepping over a bit to get a better vantage point and to get a better view of the impromptu battlefield, Sanary raised one hand while still keeping the magic flowing. "We can give you a safe space to live and grow up! It's better than hiding out here, ain't it?"

     Her eye falls on Victory, focusing intently on the Greymon while debating if it'd be a good idea to actually get off Mr. Crabs. "You there! Uh... You know what I'm trying to say, right? You look... Leader-y. Nobody wants to hurt these kids, so let's make a deal!"

Duke has posed:
Beelzebumon lands down and roars out, the Children stare in terror before they run away crying tears and calling out for help with the little children Digimon voices. Good Job, Beelzebumon-- you are going to give them nightmares now.

Though the one that was already after the bag of candy, yelps as Beelzebumon arrives and goes to run /up/ the gangplank, that is /not/ probably where the defenders want him to go!

Leaping between rock formation and rock formation, a cape can be seen fluttering in the wind, gold eyes narrowed sharply with a halberd lance in hand. The armor was chrome in color, with some gold and green amulet in the center. The knightly figure looked every bit human, but was tall in size; Standing around seven foot six to be exact. Duke was coming to assist in protecting the village and his eyes were already on the Kaiju, along with Lute. "LUTE!!!" His voice roared out as he went to slide along the rock face with the momentum he had, "I'm coming for you!" He snarled out, only for his eyes to catch Sanary in mid jump, but he doesn't have time to question why /she/ is here for all people.

Instead, he leaps off another rock and goes to slide across the ground as all hell breaks loose around him. It is here that he is reminded something Alexis told him once, about Lute, about how dangerous, he was, and it would seem she was correct. Very correct about him, he was dangerous, and this was the proof he honestly needed to cement those words in fully.

Even as the flames rushed by and the battles raged, the Knightly Digimon stares down with fire in hiseyes, blue light flickering around the edges, giving a strange, almost teal glow to them. "Don't force me to take a stance in this war, Lute. I, Duke, will take a stance and it will not be in your favor, none of the Confederates favor!"

His eyes cut over as the Arcanine blasts fire around Gaonoir, while he has no love for the mutt, he is the best shot they have outside of Beelzebumon. He twirls his halberd around and a magic circle dances around his feet with Digital Moji at each point as they start to spin up into glowing lights, then with a twirl of halberd he slams it down into the crest which blasts out flames upward, before several fireballs go rushing right for the Arcanine with exploding force. "They have seen enough war! They have seen enough suffering!" He at last addresses Sanary, "And Sanary! I thought you better than this! Is this really your true colors? Is it?!"

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     God, that was fun!

     As all the kids in off in fear at his menacing presence, Beelzebumon straightens up and dusts off his hands, "Heh, I could get used to the idea of being the Digital World's very own boogieman. 'Be a good little mon or the Demon Lord of Gluttony will come and gobble you up!'" As he speaks, he half turns towards the airship... just in time to see one of the last kids flee /into/ it.

     Cue facepalm, "Oh for the love of..."

     Just as Beelzebumon takes a step to give chase, Lute's Giratina dives down on him, and while it doesn't succeed in impaling him in those claws, it does succeed in stopping him, as he is forced to brake hard and catch the claws before they sink into him, "God... damnit..."

     As he grapples with the Pokemon, the Demon Lord turns to Gaonoir and barks out, "Hey mutt! You're good with kids, aren't you?" Then he motions with his head towards the open hatch of the airship, "Well go fetch!"

Victory (810) has posed:
    A long, cold, stare is given the kaiju, Lute, all the pokemon that were being tossed about, and then Sanary. "I would rather they not suffer further. If you think for a moment that I believe the Confederacy will treat them well, then I want to sell you a bridge," Victory calls, half snarling. In a moment, her blades are reaffixed to her bracers and then a torrent of blasts are sent upward in the general direction of the kaiju, Sanary, and company.

Kirito has posed:
    what Sarracenia hurls, Kirito definitely recognizes as some kind of bomb. So he vamooses. STRAIGHT UP AND BACK. Turns out he still has those wings! They appear in a flicker of light from his back and carry him swooping up skywards and into a big loop-de-loop. He soon lands back into Sarracennia's path, chanting with a hand extended. Answering his chant, rings of glowing words spin 'round and 'round, syllables locking into place.

    Once the spell finishes... a flicker of mana flows from Kirito's palm, then BRKRAAAAAAAAAAAASSH!!!!

    A cloud of thick, choking black smoke bursts free from it. It's much bigger than the debris kicked up by a bob-bomb and hangs heavily across the ground.

    That's going to make returning to the airship pretty hard.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     And now things were just going to get even worse. Turning her head slowly at hearing yet another familiar voice screaming by from behind her, Sanary stares right at Duke with an awkward half-smile on her face.

     "H... Hey, Duke! How's...? Uh. " She starts to speak, then sighs and drops that incredibly stilted attempt at small talk while giving him a more blunt stare. "Look, we don't want to-Ehm. I don't want to fight you guys if I don't have to. That's why I came along with Lute in the first place!"

     More like a lapse in thinking when she got the request for support, but she was the only one that really knew that. Might as well use that to her advantage. "I knew things would go like... Well, /this/ if I didn't come along." That didn't really help her point get across, now did it?

     Spotting Victory's blades snapping into place, she grimaces slightly as she pulls that shield off her back just in time to keep the blast from knocking her right off Mr. Crabs. She resists the urge to start firing back immediately, although her free hand does reach over to unhook the gunaxe from her waist. The flow of energy to Lute and his Pokemon is also weakening somewhat as a result of her focus being diverted.

     "Freaking hell.. Just hear me out here! Duke! Sword arms lizard.. Person.. Uh. You!" She's staring right at Victory on that last one. "Yeah, we don't have the best rep, but we can work something out! Better than risking this whole place and everyone in it, right?" Even as she's readying herself to fight, there is some genuineness in her voice.

Gaonoir has posed:
And as irony would have it, Lute gets out a large dog of his own. Which breaths fire. A whirlwind of flame, as it were. Something about this seems to make the jet-wolf smirk a bit though. He's already hovering mid-air, and just as the fire is about to hit he swings one of his gauntlet fits right into it. The attack wraps around him briefly as Duke finally gets his armored butt onto the scene and take a few shots, then blasts away as it breaks up into flaming sparks. Gaonoir didn't come out of it unscathed, as scorch marks on his bionic flight suit attest to, but the counter force did disperse it more quickly.

First he shakes off the fist he used to punch the fire attack... And then makes a mocking 'mouthy' gesture with that gauntlet. "Blah blah I'm so powerful blah blah above the gods blah blah bow before me or fall before me blah blah blah DAMN this guy could give Lucemon's ego a run for it's money. I swear, one guy gets a chunk of power and his head gets bigger than--"

And then Beelzebumon cuts him off. When gets an ear slicked growl out of him. "--Stuff it demon, there's a whole village here to save!" Grrrr, the nerve to try and give him orders!

And part of the other army is running to hide -with- the digimon they tried to lure away? What in the....

Finally Gaonoir just shakes his head a bit. "You know what, frag it. There's only one way to deal with this." His jet engines ignite fully again, but not just to speed back into the air. Ripples of shadowy energy start to flow around him as he lauchs above the battle and then uses his speed to spin around rapidly. The shadowy energy bleeds off of him, getting wrapped into the forming vortex.

"TENEBRAE TORRRRNADOOOOOO!"

Fire Spin? Hah! The combination of speed and shadow powers drops an almost full sized tornado of darkness into the middle of the fight, putting pretty much EVERYONE else at danger between the jet powered winds and anything else they may start sweeping up and throwing around.

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden is hit by the hydropump attack in mid-air, and having no flight capability, is sent tumbling and hurtling towards the ground. In those moments he realizes that nobody actually is getting the Digimon to safety and that's not something he really wants to happen. Somebody has to do it, and it looks like he's about to get that opportunity.
    The blindingly bright crest and the cracks that have spread from it suddenly envelop the Metalmamemon, dissolving him into a pixelated mass and reforming Golden as the much larger and very permanently mangled WarGreymon just as he hits the ground in the village, skidding along the ground on his back, somewhat protected by the Brave Shield there. The digivolution causes electronics in the area to glitch and act up, an extremely obvious sign that there's been a change in one of the Digimon combatants.
    He rolls himself to his feet, shielding the huts of digimon and Pirahna Plant Soldiers with the great shield on his back despite the pain from Gaonoir's shadowy vortex. Golden's voice calls out, with an air of confidence and authority. "Digimon, /follow me/!" And he means it, having been a Guardian just like the Geo Greymon. If the pirahna plants want to follow along, it's not going to bother Golden.

Victory (810) has posed:
    "No! Not in the least! Do you know how it feels to be taken from somewhere familiar to you only to be forced into a place that you have never seen?! To have someone you've known for ages put down right in front of you? DO YOU?!" Oh dear. It would seem this whole situation has struck a nerve within Victory, something Duke may take note of. "Those kids have known that digimon, there, probably for as long as they've been in the multiverse and you're uprooting them for your own selfish gain for NO REASON! You can take them out of this canyon over my DEAD DEREZZING BODY!" More firepower. Oh, so much more firepower. It is on, now.

Sarracenia has posed:
     The smoke from Kirito's attack certainly makes things difficult. Sarracenia is soon coughing and stumbling around, unable to see where she is going. Luckily, that little digimon was already fleeing into her ship. Then, suddenly, the smoke clears...only to reveal a massive shadow tornado. Sarracenia can only stare wide-eyed. Such phenomenon are virtually unknown to her. Her dress and her long hair flutter in the vicious winds. "My airship!" Sarracenia runs back toward it as it starts to rock from the force of the tornado. She runs inside the cargo hold, where the little Dracomon is no doubt cowering. "Close the cargo hold! Throw all anchors!" Sarracenia yells into the ship, and the raspy speech of more pirahna plants answers her before the gangplank pulls in and the doors start to close. Anchors the size of a tractor trailer are tossed from each side of the ship, cratering into the ground on either side in an attempt to secure the ship.

     Sarracenia then turns to the Dracomon and smiles warmly. "Do not fear, little one. You are safe here." She then hands him a full bag of candy before she leaps out of the door, just before the cargo door closes. With her dress and fiery red tresses flowing once again, she reaches into her purse and pulls out...a little doll like some sort of bear and raccoon hybrid. Then, she hugs it and giggles. The doll disappears in a burst of sparkles before flowing down over Sarracenia. She glows a few moments, then the glow disappears and she is in a full body raccoon suit. She grips her hammer, then starts running toward Kirito. He is the only person who has actually come after her so far, after all. After getting to a full spring, she leaps into the air...and starts flying! Her raccoon tail starts to wag rapidly and sends her flying right toward Kirito.

     "They will be safer with us!" the princess cries as she flies forward and brings her hammer around with all the force she can muster, aiming to smash Kirito out of the air and hopefully across the canyon and into a cliffside.

Sarracenia has posed:
     The pirahna plants who were hiding in the houses, already scared out of their wits, end up running around randomly when that WarGreymon appears. But, when he bellows to follow him, they quickly fall in line and follow after the big digimon and the other children.

Kirito has posed:
    Then there was a TORNADO! It blows Kirito's smokescreen away, leaving him uncertain what exactly just happened. But he's still flying low... then higher and higher, away from the Tornado.

    "Uweh... some warning for that one would've been nice!" But oh well.

    Then he turns... and Sarracenia gets a good look of him gaping. She might've seen that look before.

    That look of clear: 'W.T.F.'

    CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!! Both the Spriggan's blades come up in a cross-block at the last moment. But it's not as solid as it should be. The paired weapons absorb the impact beautifully but it's still a MASSIVE hammer and prodigious strength that exceeds his own! "what the--"

    WHAAAAAM!

    In the end he can't fully stop the blow, and goes flying towards the ground. End over end he tumbles... but moments before impact his wings revv up and right him. He hits the ground back-first, knocking the wind out of him, but springs back up into the air. That took some HP but now he's ready for action!

    "You guys would throw them into a war. You call that safe?!" Kirito retorts angrily. He swoops straight towards Sarracenia, mindful of her hammer this time.

    He's being cautious for a moment, gauging her aerial manueverability. His own is quite impressive. He's doing loop-de-loops like it was nothing around her! Several of them, in fact!

    A few moments later he begins dive-bombing and swooping around her, aiming to thwack Sarracenia again and again with the flats of his blades.

    The flats, not the edges...?!

Lute (188) has posed:
     There are times where it is, definitely, almost certainly the time to retreat. When there is no chance of victory. This is one of those times. One on one, Lute could easily beat everyone here. Everyone save, perhaps, Beelzebumon or Kirito. But this many, with so many focused on him, is simply too much.

     He recalls his Arcanine the moment Duke attacks it. He says nothing in response. He pulls out his other Pokeballs as well. His Tyrantrum, his Giratina? Recalled. He releases his Gardevoir. Preparing a Teleport. He shouts out to the group of his allies.

     "TIME TO RETREAT."

     Mr. Crabs turns around. Really, at this point, there is just no point in fighting.

Duke has posed:
The Shadow Tornado comes to life thanks to Gaonoir and pieces of the wall start to get yanked up. A few of the huts in the path are actually torn to splinters by the dark cyclone; Yggdrasil's vengeance as some of the children may see it later as, or at least the Digimon to far out from their hunt to do anything to get back in time.

Duke was about to respond back to Sanary when Gaonoir decided to do what he does best, turn it all upside down. Those gold eyes snap around, even as Golden digivolves to his War Greymon form to protect the children and the plant soldiers; while he-- he was limited to what he could do. His armored foot stomps down for stability as he can feel the wind howl past him. "Damnit Gaonoir! You are going to get us all killed!"

Maybe that is what Yggdrasil really sent him for, maybe it was the case that if no one could obtain this village, then the Royal Knights would destroy it. They did it in the past after all, this would be no different. He does pause in all this chaos to watch as the Confederate soldiers get in line with the children to follow Golden. He blinks his eyes a few more times.

Though it snaps back around as he uses his halberd to deflect away a flying wood piece from the wall. Even as Victory's nerve is struck, Duke tries to channel that away from Sanary, given he can talk to her about all this later, "Victory!" He calls out over her anger, "Forget her! We need to secure that cave before any of the children get hurt by the vortex!" His golden eyes turn to look at Golden, "Golden! Get them inside!" Maybe he can use the soldiers as a bargaining chip later to get the Dracomon back. Maybe. Unless they snap too before this all over.

This about the time he can feel the effect of the vortex starting to pull on his armored form as it moves in a bit closer and can see the Geo Greymon starting to slide a bit in her unconscious form. "... Was this really how we all were? Were we all really this destructive?" He asks himself with his voice low to the howling winds. It has to give up soon, doesn't it?

Lute gives the order to retreat and Duke sneers, he wants to give chase, but once the Geo Greymon's body starts to move too much toward the Vortex, he shifts gears to race over to her and use his own strength to keep her from flying off. The village was going to be a wreck and a small part of him wondered, just simply wondered-- if maybe it would have been better off if they never interfered in the first place.

Meanwhile...

One Dracomon sits in the airship eating candy like no other. Happily chirping away as it eats and lets out a burp, before a minor wing flutter of its cute little red wings.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Just whose side was Gaonoir even on? Between the... /Everything/ getting fired about, it was getting hard for Sanary to tell which ones she even needed to avoid. Between the massive swirling death vortex and Lute's call to retreat, it's enough for her to lose track of those blasts from Victory, crying out as one hits her head-on and knocks her right off the giant crab. In mid-fall, however, she realizes something: She's never tried the AANS in actual combat yet!

     Directing some energy to the anklets, Sanary puts just enough power in the devices around her ankles to... Start spinning wildly in midair. Somehow, she manages to steady herself before actually hitting the ground, albeit after rocketing right towards one of those caves with the Digimon hiding inside it. Of course, that does put her directly in front of a whole mess of frightened child Digimon barely fitting into the cave with a giant shield and axe in her hands. And just to make matters even worse: The tornado threatening to suck them all in!

     Well. Shit. "Uh. Hey, kids. Inside, now!" Strapping the axe to her waist hastily, Sanary practically crams them back into that cave with hand and shield before trying to get herself inside as well. Unfortunately, the tornado is a little too fast for her to get inside that cave herself, and the healer's sucked in! She's significantly lighter than the Geo Greymon, of course, and she's liable go sailing right past her and Duke!

     Definitely not what she intended for her first in-combat flight test.

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     The back and forth between Giratina and Beelzebumon continues as the two grapple with each other, and Beelzebumon is right on the verge of coming out on top... aaaaand then Gaonoir gets pissy and unleashes a freaking tornado that tears through the village.

     Buffeted by the winds and trying his best to not lose his footing, Beelzebumon loses his chance to overpower the legendary pokemon, and instead takes a wood plank to the side of the head and staggers to one side as he releases his grip, before being swept up in the vortex and thrown clear across the village and into the side of the cliff face.

     As the Demon Lord lays there on the ground after landing, he mutters and clutches his sore head, "I am /so/ going to neuter that damn mutt..."

Victory (810) has posed:
    Blast, blast, blast! Seems like Victory is a little lost in the assault she's making. The problem is that when Gaonoir decides to.... be Gaonoir, Victory snaps out of it only once Duke calls. Spotting the vortex she growls, "Oh you are kidding me.." she mutters before reassembling her blade. "GET THEM INSIDE!" she roars out before.. charging straight at the vortex?! Sure is. Looks like she's going to actually try to stab at the SOURCE of the ISSUE. "FREAKING IDIOT!"

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia is...less than maneuverable. She can hover pretty well, but she can't really fly fast or agile. Her grin as Kirito goes flying away is tempered quickly as he comes back in like a rocket and loops around her. She can at least turn, but all she can really do is block against the strikes. Then, one hits, and in a puff of smoke Sarracenia is back in her dress. And falling. She blinks, then quickly brings her hammer around and stands on the head of it while hanging on to the handle.

     The hammer craters the ground when she lands, somehow softening her own, then she quickly runs toward her ship. She is almost sucked in by that tornado. She only manages to stay grounded by using her hammer as an anchor, much like her ship is anchored.

     When she reaches it, she grabs the rope ladder. "GO!!" she yells as loudly as she can. The anchors of the ship start to rise, and as soon as they clear the ground the ship starts rocking as it rises into the air. The princess is left fluttering in the wind on the end of that rope ladder as the ship rises and starts to fly away at a pretty high rate of speed.

Gaonoir has posed:
It takes a bit but the vortex of darkness does start to loose it's bluster, but by the time it does the Confederates are already in retreat. Pity, Gaonoir was going to try and punch that airship at high speed next, but it's already on its way. The shadows fade as it spins down and the wind starts to die, making it all the easier for Victory to leap over Duke and his charge.

WHAM!

Whipping up a shadow storm that big takes a lot out of him and Gaonoir is a prime target in the wake of it. The leaping blow hits him hard enough to dislodge from the dying vortex and hit the ground, bouncing once before he manages to dig in with his feet and one gauntlet to bleed off the rest of his momentum with a skidding stop.

"Pfff, it got the job done, didn't it?" He pushes himself off the ground as his engines retract to their standby position, and dusts his hands off against each other. "Besides, you should be thanking me. Now you all can look nicey-nicey putting the place back together."

Something tugs at his expression for a moment, though the look in his eyes is hidden behind the aviator visor as he glances towards the cavern. Then the unconcious Geo Greymon. "Hmph. As long as there's children here, this place is safe from me."

He turns on a heel and walks out, scarf fluttering behind him in lieu of a cape. "But I can't say the same if any of the actual Royal Knights find out about it."

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden digs his toe claws into the dirt to keep himself steady in the wind. The heavy chrome digizoid armor is keeping him grounded in spite of the tugging at his limbs, but the young digimon are a different story. They are going to get blown away and though he suspects it is not the nigh invulnerable defense it once was, he whips the halves of his shield from behind him as he steps to put himself between the tenebrae tornado and the digimon & piranha plants, bringing them together. "Get behind!" he roars above the gale. Completed by the shutting of the shield halves, the giant Crest of Courage starts glowing orange as the Brave Shield activates, providing a much needed respite for the smaller ones, though the wind still whips dust and small rocks around. It is clear that Golden is bearing the brunt of the impact, green eyes squeezed shut as he does his best to keep the shield up.
    He gives Gaonoir a contemptuous look as the storm subsides. "Then you can tell them that there are still old Guardians to stand in their way."