Digimon Analyzer: Irismon
Type: Angel
Attribute: Vaccine
Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)
Special Attacks: Zephyr Knuckle, Spectrum Staff
==========
Ken glared angrily at the shadowy digimon standing before him. The female Stingmon silhouette exuded a tangible aura of malevolence as it stared straight back at Ken.
“You...” Ken growled, “You’re the one that’s behind all of this.”
“But of course,” Vespimon teased. “Who else but me could possibly build all these lovely control spires? Aside from you, I mean.”
“I’m nothing like you,” said Ken.
“You’re right about that,” Vespimon retorted. “It’d be utterly insulting to even compare myself to you. You could have had this entire world to yourself, and yet you gave it all up as soon as you faced even the slightest obstacle. You were weak.” Ken gritted his teeth as Vespimon taunted him, his fists clenched firmly by his sides.
“You have no idea who it is you’re dealing with here, Vespimon!” said Ken. “I’ve made a promise to myself to protect this world, and that’s a promise that I intend to keep! So surrender now or we’ll have no choice but to destroy you!”
Vespimon broke out into a sharp, wicked cackle that grated against the others’ ears. “You think you can challenge me? Priceless! You really haven’t changed one bit since you stopped being the Digimon Emperor! So arrogant, so full of overconfidence! Your delusions of grandeur never left you!”
“Why you—” Ken lunged forward towards Vespimon, only to be stopped when Yolei forcefully grabbed him by the arm.
“Ken, calm down!” cried Yolei. “Don’t you see that she’s only trying to get a rise out of you? Don’t let her provoke you like that!”
Ken’s body relaxed, and he let out a heavy sigh. “You’re right. Getting mad won’t solve anything now.” He turned towards Vespimon, glaring at the shadow intensely. “Vespimon, your actions have shown a blatant disregard for the safety of the Digital World and its inhabitants. You have but one chance to surrender or we’ll have no choice but to take action against you.”
“Oh, so you’re going to fight me?” Vespimon teased. “This ought to be a fun distraction. Go ahead and do your worst! Let’s see how far your bond with your digimon will carry you!”
“So this is all just just a game to you?” said Ken. “I guess that leaves us with no choice but to prove to you otherwise. Get ready, everyone!”
Ken looked back towards the others and nodded, receiving another nod in return from the others. He and Yolei both reached into their respective pockets and brought out their digivices, holding them out in front of their partners. Bathed in the light of the digivices, Hawkmon and Wormmon both grew larger as their bodies transformed.
“Hawkmon, Digivolve To: Aquilamon!”
“Wormmon, Digivolve to: Stingmon!”
Vespimon eyed the two new Digimon warily as they stepped forward to confront her. She extended her left claw and pointed at Stingmon. Stingmon took a defensive stance, and Aquilamon lowered his head spread his wings, prepared to charge at any moment.
“Stingmon, was it?” said Vespimon, “I can certainly admire your form. You remind me of myself, and not just because of your appearance. Just looking at you, I can feel your strength, your confidence.” Vespimon lowered her arm, her arms tensing at her sides as she hissed angrily. “So why is it that you insist on following a pathetic weakling such as Ken? Surely you can see that he is not worth your loyalty!”
“Ken is my partner,” replied Stingmon. “I respect him for who he is, and for being unafraid to show the kindness of his heart. That is true strength.”
“Silence!” Vespimon shrieked, “I’ll show you true strength! Spiking Venom!”
With a thrust of her gauntleted hand, the spike on Vespimon’s left wrist extended outwards to great length, intent on impaling Stingmon. Startled by the sudden movement, Stingmon swiftly flew into the air, narrowly dodging the attack. Aquilamon followed afterwards, taking to the air in a separate direction.
“She’s got longer reach!?” Stingmon exclaimed.
Following up on her attack, Vespimon flew straight upwards, into the airspace between Aquilamon and Stingmon. The two other digimon looked straight at Vespimon and loosed their assault.
“Spiking Strike!”
“Grand Horn!”
Charging forward, Stingmon’s wrist spike glowed as he rushed towards Vespimon. Aquilamon meanwhile charged downward from above in the opposite direction from behind, horns glowing red with energy.
Vespimon reacted swiftly, twisting herself body around to face Aquilamon. Leaning forward slightly, Vespimon grappled Aquilamon by the horns, and with a sharp twist of her body, effortlessly swung Aquilamon’s body at Stingmon. She let go of Aquilamon as he and Stingmon collided, and the two champion-level digimon were sent hurtling towards the ground. They both crashed into the soil at full speed, creating a cloud of dust from the impact. As the dust cleared, the two champion-level digimon shrank down, reverting to their rookie forms. Both Hawkmon and Wormmon were out cold.
“Oh no! She’s too strong!” Yolei gasped.
“This is my fault,” Ken lamented. “We shouldn’t have split up like this. If Davis was here we could’ve taken care of her easily.”
“Don’t say that, Ken!” Yolei exclaimed, “You know that’s not true!”
Vespimon gently lowered herself to the ground, casually approaching Stingmon and Aquilamon on foot.
“Is that all you’ve got? Pathetic. I was hoping the partners to the legendary Digi-Destined would put up more of a fight.”
The shadow looked down at the two unconscious digimon, disdain apparent in her voice. She raised her left gauntlet, pointing the spike threateningly at Hawkmon and Wormmon.
“I suppose all that’s left to do is to dispose of this worthless data!”
“No!” Ken cried out, “You stay away from them!”
“Ken, wait!”
Yolei’s exclamation fell on deaf ears as Ken sprinted outwards at top speed, placing himself between Vespimon and the other digimon. He spread his arms out, making himself into an ineffective barrier separating Vespimon from the other two digimon.
“Out of the way, human!” Vespimon demanded. “This doesn’t concern you!”
“No! I won’t let you do this! I won’t let you hurt them!”
“I said out of the way!” Vespimon screamed. “I may not stoop so low as to have any real blood shed in my name, but if you don’t do what I say I’ll have no choice but to remove you!”
“Hold on a second,” said Ken, “what do you mean real blood?”
“Never you mind that!” Vespimon replied, pointing the spike on her gauntlet at Ken. “Now move out of the way!”
Ken steeled his nerves as the living shadow’s spike was aimed straight at his chest. Stunned into silence, Yolei watched in terror as Ken simply stared back at Vespimon, refusing to move. Time slowed to a crawl as Ken simply stared at the shadow, still as a statue. After what had seemed to all like ages, Vespimon lowered her gauntlet.
“Stubborn child,” Vespimon snarled, “I suppose I’ll let you go for now, but if you stand in my way again—”
Vespimon’s swarming voice suddenly cut off, and her antennae suddenly swiveled to the side, in the direction of something yet unseen. Ken and Yolei followed her gaze to the sky in the distance, and they caught glimpse of a brightly-colored rainbow trail approaching their position at a truly staggering speed.
“What the!?” Vespimon exclaimed.
Within mere seconds, the object creating the rainbow trail had approached the forest clearing, heading straight downwards towards the center. There was a deafening crash as the object landed some distance away from the others, kicking up a massive cloud of dust that covered the entirety of the clearing. Ken and Yolei lapsed into fits of coughing as the dry, choking dust enveloped them. When it finally settled, both humans were left gasping for breath.
Following Vespimon’s gaze towards the source of the impact, Ken and Yolei saw Rainbow Dash lying in the center of a miniature crater, her body caked with dirt and covered with bruises. Her legs wobbled as she stood up weakly barely managing to keep herself upright.
“Don’t worry guys,” she groaned weakly, “I got your back.”
“YOU!?” Vespimon exclaimed. “What are you doing here!? How did you even—” Vespimon interrupted herself as she seemed to reach an epiphany. “So Gennai was right, then! You and your friends did come after me!”
“Gennai? What’s he got to do with this?” said Ken. “What have you done with him?”
“Forget that! How do you know about me?” Rainbow demanded. “Are you the one responsible for Fluttershy being taken to the Digital World?”
“Yes,” said Vespimon, “as a matter of fact, I am. But what you don’t realiz—”
“So it was you!” Rainbow interrupted, her voice trembling in anger. “You’re the one who took Fluttershy! If you think you can just take our friend from us like that, you’re in for a world of pain!”
“Will you shut up!?” Vespimon screamed. “You’re not even listening to me! How can you possibly consider yourself a friend to anyone if you refuse to hear what I have to say? Do you have any idea as to what’s going on here?”
“I know enough,” Rainbow replied. “I know that you’re hurting these digimon with your control spires and dark rings. I know that Ken and Yolei are my friends, and that they’re in trouble because of you. And I know that, no matter what, I can’t just turn my back on them.”
“No, Rainbow!” exclaimed Yolei. “You’re in no condition to fight her! Even if you were, she’s still too strong! You’ll be killed!”
“This is my decision, Yolei,” Rainbow replied. She took a small step forward, struggling desperately just to move her leg in front of the other, but the determination in her eyes was as strong as ever. She stared straight up and met Vespimon with her fierce gaze. “Whoever you are, I won’t let you hurt my friends!”
“Your friends?” Vespimon spat. “Do you even know who it is that you’re trying to protect? Your so-called friend is none other than the so-called Digimon Emperor who tried to conquer this world himself! The only thing I’ve done so far is succeed where he had failed!”
“What?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “That’s ridiculous! Ken would never do anything like that!”
“Then why don’t you ask him yourself?” Vespimon retorted, “I’m sure your friend wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Fine, I will! Ken, did hear what she saying about you? It’s totally ridiculous!”
Ken shrank backwards in shame as Rainbow Dash addressed, averting his eyes from making contact with the pegasus.
“Huh? Ken? Is... Is something wrong?” Rainbow’s voice wavered as she questioned Ken, her previous air of confidence deflating.
“She’s right,” Ken finally admitted. “I was the Digimon Emperor once. I tried to conquer the Digital World and enslave its inhabitants.”
“Wh-what?” Rainbow gasped.
“My friends helped me see the error of my ways. Since then I’ve dedicated my life to fixing my mistakes and protecting the Digital World.” Ken paused briefly, turning to Rainbow Dash with pleading eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to make sure we could trust each other. I hope you understand.”
“I... I don’t believe it!” Rainbow cried out angrily, “You lied to me! How could you?!”
Looking out at Ken dejectedly, Rainbow’s legs trembled as she struggled to support her own weight. Finally, her fatigue caught up with her, and she collapsed to the ground.
Vespimon calmly walked over to Rainbow Dash and stood over her. Rainbow stared up at the shadow weakly, eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.
“I suppose this just goes to show that you can’t trust anyone, especially not your friends,” Vespimon sneered. “What do you say to that, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow’s expression hardened as she looked up at the shadow’s faceless visage.
“You’re wrong.”
“What?” Vespimon replied, taken aback.
Slowly, Rainbow Dash struggled to her feet, barely managing to stand up despite the numerous glaring injuries on her body.
“It doesn’t matter what Ken did. Right now, both he and his friends are in trouble because of you. And even if he was the Digimon Emperor, you’re obviously the real bad guy here!”
“What? That’s completely ridiculous!” Vespimon exclaimed.
“I don’t care what you have to say anymore!” Rainbow angrily declared, “You kidnapped Fluttershy, enslaved innocent Digimon, and now you’re threatening the lives of the first living things in this world that weren’t out to kill me! And you know what? I’m not going to turn my back on them.”
Suddenly, the device on Rainbow’s ankle began to glow with a bright light, causing Vespimon to wince at the intensity. She then floated into the air, dropping her saddlebags as her entire body became engulfed in a radiant glow.
“Execute! Harmonic Evolution!”
Ken and Yolei stared in disbelief as a swirling vortex of golden feathers appeared out of thin air, surrounding Rainbow Dash’s body in a swirl of plumage. The vortex briefly grew larger and more intense, before suddenly exploding outward, revealing a completely different figure beneath.
Standing at roughly ten feet tall, she was a humanoid figure with tanned skin, wearing bronze armor covering her body, as well as long bronze boots and gauntlets. Over her head was a bronze centurion's helmet with a cyan, which came down over the top of her head, covering her eyes. Long rainbow-colored hair flowed out the back of the helmet, and sprouting out her back were four large, golden wings. In her right hand was a bronze staff with a pair of small golden wings sprouting from the top.
“Irismon! The Angel of Loyalty!”
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Digimon Analyzer: Irismon
Type: Angel
Attribute: Vaccine
Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)
Special Attacks: Zephyr Knuckle, Spectrum Staff
==========
Ken and Yolei both stared in shock at the angelic digimon’s sudden appearance before them.
“No way...” Ken gaped.
Floating gently down to the ground, the digimon looked down and gave her new body a cursory examination, first stretching out her arms and legs, then cautiously flexing her wings. She held the staff in her hand in front of her, slowly shifting her fingers around the shaft.
“Wow, this is awesome! I’m decked out like Commander Hurricane!”
“Rainbow Dash!?” Yolei exclaimed. “What happened?”
“Uh, actually, my name is Irismon now... I think.” Rainbow replied. “This is so weird. How can I even see through this helmet?”
“Enough of this!” Vespimon interjected. “No more distractions. Do you really wish to fight me, Irismon? I can guarantee it won’t end well for you.”
Irismon responded by gripping her staff with both hands, pointing it at the shadow threateningly.
“Yes. I’m ready to fight for my friends!”
“Very well then,” replied Vespimon, “Spiking Venom!”
With a thrust of her hand, a shadowy spike extended from Vespimon’s wrist towards Irismon.
Reacting quickly, Irismon reached out with her staff and parried the blow, deflecting it to the side. Vespimon was caught off balance and was briefly sent tumbling backwards. She righted herself just as quickly, and with a buzz of her shadowy insect wings, flew straight up into the air at rapid speed.
“Zephyr Knuckle!”
Taking advantage of the opening, Irismon quickly flew up into the air to meet Vespimon. Holding her staff in her right hand, Irismon threw a powerful uppercut with her left, striking the shadow square in the abdomen. A swirling vortex of wind erupted from her armored fist, pushing Vespimon upwards high into the air.
As the wind dispersed, Vespimon quickly righted herself in the air. Despite the shadow lacking any visible features, her face seemed to be seething with rage.
“How dare you!?” Vespimon shrieked, “I’ll make you suffer for this! Toxic Glare!”
As she shouted her attack, a pair sickly-green energy beams erupted from the Vespimon’s head, at the location where her eyes would be. Irismon just barely reacted in time to dodge to the side as the beams struck the ground beneath her before dissipating.
Several more blasts of energy followed, and Irismon frantically dodged the beams, each one getting more difficult to anticipate. Finally, one of the blasts struck Irismon directly in her torso. Yolei let out a gasp as sharp, painful spasms briefly surged across Irismon’s body, and she unceremoniously fell to the ground.
As the dust settled, Vespimon landed in front of Irismon, looking down on her. Irismon grunted sharply in pain as she struggled to climb to her knees, but the spasms surging across her body hindered her efforts, and she slumped onto the ground, moaning in pain.
“You should never have crossed me, Irismon,” hissed Vespimon, pointing the spike on her gauntlet at Irismon. Irismon looked up at Vespimon apprehensively, and for several tense moments the two simply stared at each other, unmoving.
“What’s the hold-up?” Irismon moaned. “You’ve got me, haven’t you?”
“I... I...” Vespimon stuttered. A look of uncertainty seemed to cross her despite having no visible face.
“Well if you’re not going to do something...” Irismon hesitantly rose to her knees, and then, using her staff as a support, lifted herself to her feet, “then I will! Spectrum Staff!”
With the last of her strength, Irismon lunged forward, gripping her staff with both hands and thrusting it outward. The weapon glowed with an iridescent light as she stabbed it straight forward, and in a single motion pierced Vespimon’s body straight through the chest. The shadow went tense as the staff pierced her heart, only to go limp and collapse to the ground as Irismon forcefully pulled the staff out.
With the last of her energy spent, Irismon collapsed to her knees, and her body shrank down, reverting to her pegasus form. The injuries that had been spread across on her body before her evolution were now gone, but she remained just as exhausted as ever.
Panting heavily from exertion, Rainbow Dash stepped forward towards Vespimon’s prone body, staring down at her furiously.
“You... You really think you’ve won?” Vespimon choked out despite the hole in her chest. “This body... This is but a projection of my will! You’ve only experienced a shadow of my true power!”
“I don’t care about that,” Rainbow interjected, “Where is Fluttershy!?”
“Why... should I tell? You... you don’t care...” Vespimon’s final words were just barely uttered as her body began to disintegrate from the feet up.
“What do you mean I don’t care?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Hey! Don’t disappear yet! Answer me!”
Rainbow was too late, however, as Vespimon’s body shortly afterward faded away completely. With Vespimon gone, the darkness that had loomed over the forest clearing suddenly disappeared, and the evening sun shone clearly over the edges of the trees.
Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh, and fell onto her haunches, her ears folded flat against her head.
“Ken, why don’t you go check on our partners?” said Yolei. “I’ll go check up with Rainbow Dash to make sure she’s okay.”
“Good idea,” replied Ken with a nod.
As Ken went off to the side to check on the unconscious digimon, Yolei approached Rainbow Dash and sat down next to her, looking at her sympathetically.
“Are you okay, Rainbow?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rainbow replied dejectedly. “I just wish I’d been able to figure out what happened to Fluttershy. What if we never find her? What if she’s—”
“Don’t say that, Rainbow!” Yolei interrupted, “We’ll find your friend, I know it!” Yolei reached out and placed her hand on Rainbow’s head, gently scratching her behind the ears as she reassured the pegasus. “We’ll find your friend, I’m sure of it.”
Rainbow Dash smiled softly as Yolei’s fingers gently scratched her ears. She tried to play it cool and avoid appearing too interested, but it was plainly visible how much she was enjoying having Yolei scratch her ears.
The two were suddenly interrupted when a beeping noise broke the silence.
“Hold on Rainbow, I’m getting a message from one of my friends,” said Yolei, breaking away from the ear-scratching to pull her D-Terminal out of her pocket. Despite her best efforts, Rainbow couldn’t entirely hide her disappointment.
“Uh-huh... Uh-huh... Another message? Wow, a whole bunch of them!” Yolei spoke her thoughts aloud as she typed out a series of responses to the messages she’d received. After replying to each of the messages, Yolei turned to Rainbow Dash with a beaming expression.
“Good news, Rainbow! The others have found the rest of your friends!”
“What?” Rainbow excitedly replied. “Even Fluttershy? That’s great!”
“Um, well, not Fluttershy, but the rest of them are safe. The other Digi-Destined have found your friends Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie.”
“Oh,” said Rainbow, sounding slightly disappointed. “Still, that’s great! Once we’re back together we’ll rescue Fluttershy in not time!”
“Perfecto!” said Yolei. “Let’s go check on the others before we leave, alright.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
With that, Yolei got up and walked over to meet Ken, while Rainbow grabbed her nearby saddlebags and following closely behind in the air. Ken was inspecting Hawkmon and Wormmon for injuries, both of whom has since recovered from unconsciousness.
“Is everything okay over there?” asked Yolei, “Hawkmon, are you feeling alright?”
“No need to worry about me, Yolei,” replied Hawkmon, “It would take a lot more than that to bring me down. I still have more than enough energy left to digivolve again and bring us back home if need be.”
“Good to hear, Hawkmon!” said Yolei. “I’m glad you’re okay. What about you, Wormmon?”
“I think I’ll be okay,” said Wormmon.
“Yeah, glad to hear you’re both okay,” said Rainbow Dash, “but if you’re done with that I have a few things I’d like to say to Ken.” The anger in Rainbow’s voice was as apparent as her expression as she stared daggers straight at Ken.
Ken sighed. “It’s about me being the Digimon Emperor, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash angrily replied, “of course it is! How could you have done such horrible things? I trusted you, Ken!”
“Hey! Leave him alone!” Yolei interjected, “He’s not like that anymore!”
“You don’t need to defend me, Yolei.” Ken responded calmly. “There’s no denying that I’ve done awful things. As for you, Rainbow, I admit that there’s nothing I can do to force anyone to trust me. The most I can do is promise you that I’ve seen my mistake, and will do everything I can to atone for it.”
“So... You’ve reformed? Is that what you’re saying?” Rainbow questioned.
“You could say that.”
“Well, I suppose I could buy that,” replied Rainbow, “I’ve seen it happen before. But don’t think I won’t be keeping my eye on you!”
“I hate to interrupt, but it’s getting late,” said Wormmon. “We should probably get going before it gets dark. I mean, if that’s alright with all of you.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” said Ken, “we have others waiting for us back home. We don’t want to worry them. Yolei, have you gotten any word from the other Digi-Destined?”
“I sure have! They said they found some more of Rainbow’s friends. We’ll meet up with them at the digiport.”
“Did you tell them about our encounter with Vespimon?” Ken asked.
“Oh, um... Oops?” Yolei said nervously, “I guess it slipped my mind!”
“It’s no problem,” said Ken, “we’ll tell them when we meet back with them. Let’s make sure we’re all ready to go before we leave. Hawkmon, are you sure you have enough energy left to carry all of us?”
“As I said, I have more than enough to bring us back the way we came,” replied Hawkmon. “I’ve been working on training my stamina, you know.”
“Alright, then,” said Yolei, “if that’s the case, let’s head out!”
Reaching into her pocket, Yolei held out her digivice, which glowed as she pointed it at Hawkmon. The others stepped back to give him room to complete his transformation.
“Hawkmon, Digivolve to: Aquilamon!”
With his digivolution completed, Aquilamon lowered himself, allowing Yolei to climb onto his back. Ken soon followed, after lifting Wormmon onto Aquilamon’s back.
“Are you going to fly alongside us Rainbow?” asked Yolei.
“Actually, I’m pretty tired,” Rainbow replied. “Do you mind if I ride along with you instead?”
“Fine by me,” said Yolei, “hop on!”
“Everybody hold on tight!” said Aquilamon. With that, the group took to the air and headed back in the direction they came from, looking to meet with the rest of their friends again.