The Seal Man, and Other Tales, with Barry and Cisco

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Jyou's located a short walk away -- a little way south-east, over a bridge to another one of the islands that make up Odaiba, past a construction site repairing some light damage from a Digimon battle, and to the southernmost tip of one of the islands.

But he's there, sat on a bench with a textbook in hand and a white, orange-mohawked sea lion slumped around his shoulders like a scarf.

"Hope we didn't keep you waiting," Yamato says, as Jyou looks up at them and flicks down his glasses.

Comments

[makes_the_toys]

"Jury is still kind of out on that," Cisco replies. "He lost his powers once and we were able to jump start them with another simulated bolt, but he also got bug zapped by a dude with electricity powers and that didn't end terribly well."

Cisco is mulling the idea now though.

"We could test it out sometime. I mean, in the interest of science, of course."

[run_barry]

"Right," Barry replies. "How's that going? This whole 'debate thing' almost under control yet?"

Glancing at MadLeomon, Barry looks around trying to decide which route he's going to take to build up momentum.

"If you need me somewhere else after this dude, just let me know," he says to Yamato.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"So it depends on the flavour of lightning," Jyou says thoughtfully. "Not that I'm much of a scientist. That's Koushiro's field, and sometimes Yamato's."


"We've finished evacuation and stemmed the influx from the Gate. We just need to deal with the troops already on the ground," Yamato says. He gives a quick nod at the addition, adding: "Roger that. Stay safe."

Then the hologram vanishes, just as MadLeomon finishes crushing the last of the fire hydrant into the dirt.

[makes_the_toys]

"Might still be good to have you on hand, if he ends up too toasty," Cisco says, patting Jyou's shoulder.

[run_barry]

"You too," Barry says in return to Yamato as he disappears.

Turning back to MadLeomon, Barry pulls in a deep breath and lets it out in a huff.

"Okay dude, what do you want to do? We don't have to keep fighting, you know."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"So long as he doesn't struggle as much as some of my patients," Jyou remarks, pushing his glasses up his nose.


MadLeomon huffs, misting the air in front of him with purple gas, and glowers at Barry, slowly extending a finger to point.

"I'm going to chew on your bones," he rumbles, "which is a thing I know humans have."

[makes_the_toys]

"Just know that with his metabolism, you're not going to be able to knock him out with anything," Cisco jokes.

[run_barry]

"If that's how you feel," Barry says with a sigh.

With what Yamato said in mind about MadLeomon not being as tough as Girder, Barry doesn't go straight to the big hit and instead waits for MadLeomon to start his attack again, then zips in to deliver swift punches to MadLeomon's sides, front and back; speeding in and out and all around to try and avoid MadLeomon.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Well, that sucks," Jyou says. "Taichi and Yamato might be problem patients, but at least if you stick a sedative in their neck, they'll fall asleep."

He sounds as if he's done this before, because he absolutely has.


MadLeomon swings slowly, then gives a growl of frustration when Barry starts zipping around him, trying and failing to catch him with a swing of his claw. He's not exactly attacking slowly, but he's not as fast as a speedster, by any metric.

He bends around a few of those punches, his form buzzing with static at some of the harsher blows, before he finally slams a claw down onto the ground.

"Necrotoxic Claw," he rasps, as veins of black ichor spread outwards from his claw.

[makes_the_toys]

"I can see you are not a medical professional to be trifled with," Cisco says, a little in awe, and a little afraid, of Jyou.

[run_barry]

Barry is building up momentum, looking for an opening so that he can hopefully land a fight ending blow. He continues to speed in and out and around MadLeomon, avoiding each swing of the Digimon's fearsome claw.

Feeling emboldened, Barry rushes in when MadLeomon slams his claw down, looking to use MadLeomon's own motion to deliver an uppercut.

Barry miscalculates though, the black web of MadLeomon's power spreads out sooner and faster than Barry anticipates and a vein of it lances across Barry's shin.

Crying out in pain, Barry manages to break away and put a little distance between them, but he's stumbling as he does so and when he comes to a stop his leg is burning, seared as if by acid.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"All my patients are terrible in different ways," Jyou says sourly. "They don't leave me much choice."


MadLeomon's gaze follows Barry as he breaks away, and as he comes to a stop, the Digimon lifts a claw and curls it into a fist, purple fire igniting around it.

"Fist ..." he begins, hauling back, "... of the Fallen Beast King."

As he punches forward, a lion's head of snarling purple flame comes rushing out, moving towards Barry.

[makes_the_toys]

"I'm sure Barry and Yamato and them are out there doing their very best not to get hurt and stuff," Cisco says to Jyou, not very sure of that at all.

[run_barry]

Barry looks down at his leg, grimacing and hissing in pain. His attention whips back to MadLeomon when the Digimon calls out his attack, and Barry moves trying to avoid the purple blast headed his way.

He doesn't get very far out of the way and ends up diving for cover at the last moment, landing on the pavement on his belly as the flames blast close by over head.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Jyou snorts. "Maybe Barry is. A few of my team too, probably. Yamato and Taichi have never cared about not getting hurt in their lives, though. They've probably left enough of their blood splattered across the worlds that someone could build several life-size models of them out of it."


The blast lands against a bus stop, and the glass and plastic rot away in moments, the entire structure curving in on itself before collapsing.

MadLeomon frowns, then lifts a foot and slams it down, sending streams of black liquid snaking across the ground towards Barry.

[makes_the_toys]

"Ew, bloody clone army. That's both gross and kind of cool," Cisco replies, considering the possibilities and very weird mental imaging that thought produces.

[run_barry]

Barry scrapes his palms and shreds the denim of his jeans on one knee against the pavement when he lands.

Knowing he's in danger, Barry scrambles to get back to his feet. Panicked, he uses a burst of speed that shoots him forward and across the street where he collides with a parked car and tumbles over the hood.

Out of sorts and reeling, Barry tries to shake out the cobwebs as he gets back to his feet to face MadLeomon again.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Nobody wants a Yamato blood clone running around. Think how messy the fistfights would be," Jyou says sourly.

As the Mantaraymon come around for another pass, Zudomon lifts his hammer, summoning a bolt of lightning down onto it. The bolt splits the moment it touches the metal, arcing around them in a dome, sending the Mantaraymon skittering backwards.


MadLeomon seems momentarily confused by Barry's sudden burst of speed, looking left, then right, then behind him, before he finally locates Barry.

He gives a grunt of frustration, hauling back and throwing another blast of purple flame towards him and the car.

[makes_the_toys]

"Yeah, the worst part is, they'd probably start fighting each other, he's that feisty."

Cisco ducks when the lightning rains down, then reaches a hand up and smooths it over the top of his head.

"Okay dude, two very important questions; one, how long can he keep this up? And two, is all this electricity making my hair frizzy?"

[run_barry]

That blast of purple flame comes roaring at him and Barry slows it down by speeding himself up. He falls out of sync with the rest of the world, standing in place with gold lightning crackling around him as he takes a moment to recover and to finally assess.

While MadLeomon's attack creeps towards him, Barry looks around at the destruction he and the Digimon have caused; the wrecked cars and ruined asphalt, the still spurting fire main, and the melted bus stop.

Looking past the purple wave of fire to MadLeomon, Barry's frown is both disappointed and determined. Taking a deep breath and heaving his shoulders, Barry makes a decision and takes off, running away from the fight.

Time snaps back into place and MadLeomon's attack continues on course, but when it reaches the spot that Barry should be, he's gone.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"He is much too feisty," Jyou says, shaking his head.

Zudomon turns his head, angling it up so that one huge blue eye is staring at Cisco. "Only a little frizzy. Barely at all, really!"

"He's drawing energy from me to fuel his attacks, so he can keep it up as long as I can," Jyou says. "Which is a long time. I might not be Taichi or Yamato, but I'm still a Crestbearer, I've got energy to spare."



MadLeomon pauses when he sees his attack hit nothing. Looks left. Looks right. Looks left again. Behind him?

He gives a slow rumble in the back of his throat, then jabs his thumb at his chest. "Victory."

Because that's got to be what Barry vanishing means, right? Right? He's sure it's something like that.

[makes_the_toys]

"Kind of hard not to love him for it," Cisco notes, then adds, "Of course, I'm not the guy who has to patch him up when that feistiness gets out of hand."

Cisco fusses with his hair a bit more, nodding as he listens.

Raising his voice to shout at their attackers, Cisco yells, "You hear that, losers? We can do this all day!"

[run_barry]

Oh, it's something all right.

This is going to be tricky. Odaiba is more cramped than Central City and Barry isn't exactly familiar with its streets. Not to mention all the throngs of people currently running around trying to evacuate. This means Barry is going to have to improvise.

Streaking down the road, he runs it as far as he can, and when the straightaway street ends in a building, Barry runs straight up the building's side; coming to a stop at the top.

Looking out across the city, Barry can see the broadcast building but he's too far away and there's too much in the way now for him to be able to see MadLeomon on the ground. Barry takes a moment to check out his leg, which still hurts, but the acid burns are starting to heal. It's slowing him up, but Barry knows he's just going to have to make this work.

Steeling himself, Barry takes a few deep breaths and then he runs.

A racing streak of lightning, Barry races down the side of the building and takes off like a shot when he hits the ground. Windows burst and cars on the street rock in his wake as Barry pushes the boundary between sub and supersonic. It finally bursts with a boom just as Barry arrives back at the square around the broadcast building.

MadLeomon is still standing in the street as Barry runs up on him and swings at the side of the Digimon's face, throwing a right hook backed by every ounce of momentum Barry has just built up.

Barry sure hopes this works, and that he's not about to break his hand again.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"... I'll allow that it's cute when he gets all fight-ed out and goes to sleep after a battle," Jyou allows. "Usually on the battlefield."

There's a rather insistent beeping from his digivice, and he opens up a holographic map, squinting at a trail of energy signatures moving through the streets of Odaiba. Across the Bay, up in the sky, there's a twinkle of red light as another digivice starts reacting.

"-- I'm going to guess that's the Fastman," Jyou says. "Because that's a lot of kinetic energy."


MadLeomon barely even realises Barry's coming. His eyes start to widen, a split-second before that punch lands, as if he's suddenly clocked the lightning and the blur and the way the air's being disturbed, but that realisation doesn't help.

His head snaps to one side, and a moment later he goes flying backwards, his entire body flickering like a computer glitch, before it vanishes and a glass sphere, blue with a tiny spark of blue light buzzing about it, drops to the ground. It stays there for a moment, humming, before MadLeomon's body rematerialises around it, breathing but unconscious.

A few seconds pass. He doesn't seem to be waking up any time soon.

There's a brief pause, before a hologram starts to appear next to Barry. Not Yamato this time, but Koushiro. "I'm picking up some -- ..." He doesn't get to say anything more, as the hologram turns staticky and vanishes.

But there is someone applauding now. A slow, almost sardonic clap, as they approach, stepping over MadLeomon.

"Well, that's something to see." It's Yamato's voice, but not Yamato's inflections, and by the looks of the speaker, it's Yamato's face and body -- albeit lacking any of the bruises or blood he had when he called Barry earlier -- but with a sunny smile that's distinctly unlike him.

The not-Yamato speaker makes a show of holding up his hands in mock-surrender, slowing to a stop. "Don't worry, aniki, I'm not here to fight. My interests are purely scientific."

[makes_the_toys]

"You absolutely have to get me a picture of that sometime," Cisco says with glee, "For the 'Gram."

Looking at the map and following the trail, Cisco nods.

"That's him alright. Looks like he's delivering the supersonic punch smackdown on somebody." Which is awesome, but also worrisome.

Cisco's brows knit and he looks towards the city.

"I wonder who he's tangling with."