Digital Prey Chapter 2
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| Digital Prey |
| A Digimon Tamers Fanfic |
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| Chris Teet |
| 12/22/2010 | | | Renamon leapt from branch to branch, moving rapidly through the forest canopy, the amber fox Digimon moving with uncanny swiftness and precision. After a few minutes she finally stopped, landing on a large branch high up in a massive pine. She knelt on the branch, breathing hard for several moments before yelling out in rage and striking the trunk of the tree with her fist, leaving a sizeable gouge in the hard wood. "Damn him, damn that bastard!" growled Renamon under her breath. The one she spoke of with such contempt was none other than Stalkermon; a powerful hunter Digimon who had taken her tamer Ruki as a hostage to force her to agree to be hunted by him under the threat of taking Ruki's life if she refused to comply. When Renamon learned of his intentions she had attempted to strike him down, but was knocked to the ground as if she had been a bothersome fly he'd swatted away. Now Renamon was on the run, with Stalkermon somewhere behind her pursuing her. Renamon felt a deep shame; her tamer, the person she had sworn her life to protect, was in danger and she had been forced to flee. Never had she felt so powerless, not even when she had been nearly killed by Dokugumon when the spider Digimon had attacked the two or when IceDevimon had abducted Ruki and tried to force her to become his tamer. Even in those dire circumstances, Renamon had never been forced to leave the fight. As if the situation wasn't bad enough, she was alone on an unfamiliar island with no one she could rely on to aid her. The other tamers and their Digimon were back in Shinjuku on the mainland, much too far away to be able to back her up even if they had been aware of the situation. Even if Stalkermon hadn't dictated that she was forbidden to seek aid from others, there was no one on the entire island of Hokkaid? who could be of any help to her other than the hostage being used as leverage against her. "This could not have happened at a worse time. Not only am I at a grave disadvantage, but I can sense that he is powerful; definitely adult-level if not perfect-level. Attacking him head-on would be suicide; I must try to outwit him and hope that I can find some sort of advantage I can use against him." Renamon sighed, truly fearful that she might actually fail. She had faced hardships and adversity before in the digital world, but now that she had a human partner depending on her it was completely different and the thought of any harm befalling Ruki because she wasn't strong enough to prevent it almost made Renamon physically ill. Despite this, Renamon knew there was nothing she could have done differently that would not have endangered Ruki. Stalkermon held the advantage at the moment, and Renamon knew she had no other choice but to go along with his sadistic game. She also knew that sitting around doing nothing would bring her nothing except death, so she stood up, resolving to do everything in her power to defeat this latest threat. Mere seconds later, an explosion shattered the point of the branch she stood on where it joined to the trunk of the tree, sending splinters flying like shrapnel from a grenade. Renamon reflexively brought her arms up to shield her face, shimmering out of sight as she teleported to an intact branch nearby, which in turn suffered the same fate. Renamon was ready this time, teleporting several more times with each place she alighted being blasted in turn. She then leapt up into the air with her arms crossed in front of her, a cloud of crystalline shards appearing before her as she shouted, "Koyousetsu!" With that she swung her arms apart, sending the shards raining down en-masse on a section of undergrowth on the ground below which exploded on impact from the barrage. When the dust cleared, Stalkermon was revealed standing mostly unharmed despite having taken the full brunt of Renamon's most powerful attack. He rested his gun on his shoulder, smirking up at the vixen standing on another tree branch above him. "I must say I am impressed; very few Digimon have managed to evade my Sniper Shot attack, much less several times in a row. You may well prove to be worthy prey yet." "Shut up! I do not care about your damned hunt; I am only doing this for the sake of my tamer. So far as I am concerned, you are nothing but a disgusting coward. However, there is one thing I must know; are you one of the Devas?" Stalkermon shook his head as he replied, "No, I am not a Deva, but I have heard of them. They tried to recruit me; claiming that they were on a mission to eliminate the control of humans over the digital world, but I do not care about humans one way or another. I simply wish to test my hunting prowess against the strongest Digimon I can find." Renamon listened as he spoke, thankful that she was not alone against a Deva. She then narrowed her eyes as she saw him remove his gun from the shoulder he'd been resting on, taking it in both hands and placing the stock up against his right shoulder. "We have bantered long enough. It is time for the hunt to continue. Hunter Barrage!" Just as he said that, a spray of shots erupted from the muzzle of his gun. The lithe Digimon leapt to avoid the volley, flipping 360 degrees in mid air before landing on the ground in front of him. Stalkermon drew his machete and made a horizontal slash at her which she barely managed to duck under. She then grabbed a handful of dirt off the ground and flung it up at her opponent's face, eliciting a loud shout as it got in his eyes and blinded him. Renamon took the opportunity to break contact and headed away from him into the forest, hearing Stalkermon's infuriated yelling growing fainter behind her. She normally would not resort to such tactics, but as the humans would say, desperate times called for desperate measures, and it didn't get much more desperate than this. Ruki Makino shifted within the confines of the net that served as her prison, the young human girl trying to ward off the pins and needles sensation of being in an unnatural position for a prolonged period of time. It had been maybe half an hour or so since this whole ordeal began, but it felt like she had been here forever. She grimaced, feeling part of the net pressing her digivice into her hip. She scoffed to herself, "Some tamer I am. Renamon's out there fighting for her life and I'm trapped in this stupid net! Even if I could get out of here, there's no telling where Renamon is. I don't even know where I am, for that matter!" Ruki sighed, remembering the times she had been separated from Renamon in the past, including the time when the two had parted ways following the incident with IceDevimon. True the two resolved the issue and had never been stronger, but it had nearly come at too high a price as Renamon was almost killed when she attempted to face Harpymon alone. Ruki arrived on the scene but was without her digivice, having to resort to attacking the Digimon herself; stabbing the half bird, half humanoid Digimon in the back as she attempted to crush Renamon under her talons. It was this selfless act on Ruki's part, placing herself in danger to save her partner, that acted as the catalyst which finally allowed the two to see each other as indispensible equals and their bond had never been stronger since. This time however, things were far different. Ruki was a hostage, being used to force her partner to take part in a hunt for the amusement of her captor. If Renamon felt powerless, Ruki felt utterly useless; at least Renamon was free and could do something about the situation, whereas Ruki could barely even move. She then remembered the last time she had seen her partner, recalling the promise she had made to her before disappearing into the forest. She knew Renamon would do everything in her power to keep her word, but they had no idea what they were dealing with; Ruki hadn't been able to use her digivice so she couldn't scan Stalkermon to gain any information that could prove useful. She only knew his name because he happened to mention it as he was preparing to leave. Ruki shifted her weight again, grumbling angrily under her breath. All she could do was put her trust in Renamon and pray that she would be able to survive long enough to rescue her. Elsewhere, Renamon had her hands full dealing with her and Ruki's antagonist. Stalkermon had deployed his Searcher bots to reacquire Renamon after she had managed to elude him earlier, the robotic flying probes whizzing through the forest canopy in pursuit of their quarry. Even the agile and fleet-footed Renamon was finding it difficult to keep ahead of the airborne robots, not wanting to engage them unless she had no other option since she didn't know what kind of combat abilities they might possess. That option was taken from her seconds later however when the Searcher bots overtook her, the vulpine Digimon stopping short as the flattened spheres surrounded her on all sides. Renamon panted heavily as she watched the spheres, standing in a combat pose as she watched the hovering orbs. After a few seconds of apparent stalemate, she jumped up to try to escape from the cordon; her eyes going wide as she saw one of the Searcher bots launch itself straight at her. Reacting instinctively, she kicked off the trunk of a tree behind her to change her direction, performing a somersault in mid-air and bringing her clasped fists down on the top of the robot as it passed beneath her. The impact sent the probe crashing to Earth with no chance to recover, slamming into the ground and exploding on impact behind Renamon who landed in a crouch before dashing off into a fast sprint. She looked back behind herself as the other Searcher bots gave chase again, "If they have to attack me directly, they may not be armed, so I might have an advantage. I should be careful of those spinning blades though; Stalkermon may have had them sharpened." Now that Renamon had a plan of action, she wasted no time putting it into motion. She began to lead the Searcher bots on a more complex, winding course through the forest, throwing up as many obstacles in their path as possible. Despite their impressive maneuverability, the Searcher bots weren't infallible; one of them clipping the trunk of a tree and careening out of control, smashing into a second Searcher bot with both of them exploding on impact with the other. With half the Searcher bots now destroyed, Renamon abruptly skidded to a stop and leapt straight up, the remaining probes overshooting her and flying straight into her line of fire. "Koyousetsu!" shouted Renamon, unleashing another barrage of crystalline shards at her opponents, two of them being caught and decimated in the attack as the last one pulled up sharply and barely evaded the same fate. Renamon then landed on the ground, squaring up against the remaining robotic assailant. She narrowed her eyes as she watched the remaining probe, waiting to see what it would do. It then suddenly darted away from her, leaving her confused. Her eyes then went wide as she realized why the probe would go away from her, and leapt straight up into the air, a boulder the size of a small car that had been in front of her shattering into countless pieces with a thunderous boom as Stalkermon's Sniper Shot attack slammed into it instead of her. The instant Renamon's feet touched the ground she was in motion; trying to put as much cover and distance between her and the source of the attack as possible, hearing more explosions behind her as the hunter continued to fire on his fleeing prey. Renamon looked forward and gasped in surprise, skidding to a stop only a few feet from the edge of a cliff. "What will you do now, Renamon? You have nowhere left to run. You have proven yourself to be a formidable challenge, but I am afraid the chase has come to an end." Renamon spun around to face Stalkermon as he spoke, a fierce scowl on her face. "You should know that a cornered animal is the most dangerous." Replied Renamon, her fangs bared as she watched her adversary, her mind racing as she tried to think of a way out of this situation. Stalkermon nodded to her words, keeping the butt of his gun to his shoulder although with the muzzle at a downward angle as he replied, "That is true, but in light of the challenge you gave me during the hunt, I will allow you to make a final statement before I delete you." Renamon narrowed her gaze as she heard his response, "I would never beg for my life, if that is what you are expecting. However, I do ask that you honor your word and spare Ruki-Sama's life." Stalkermon nodded to her words, "You gave me a challenging hunt and abided by the rules, so you have my word that the human girl will be released unharmed," he then tightened his grip on his gun and raised it, looking through the scope at the amber vixen before him, "Now, let us finish this." End chapter 2 A/N: How's that for an ending? Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I must say that this story is going by relatively quickly for me. I tried to add an adequate amount of introspection, exposition, and action in this chapter, and hope that it addresses some of the issues raised by the readers of chapter one. Please read and review, and happy holidays!