Disclaimer and Author's Notes: I don't own the Digimon or Marvel characters.

This part took quite a while to do, once again... sorry about that, I just keep getting wrapped up in other projects. ^_^

- - -

MARVEL COMICS vs. DIGIMON!

Chapter Five

"CLOWNS TO THE LEFT OF ME, NINJAS TO THE RIGHT...!"

By Chris McFeely

- - -

"I gotta tellsh ya… I lovesh you, man…"
"I… hic …lovesh you too…"
Nanimon took another long swig from the bottle of whiskey, and, finding that he'd emptied it, tossed it aside casually. The anti-hero known as Deadpool watched as it shattered on the floor, and emitted a drunken giggle.
"Your world ish great…" Nanimon hiccupped. "Lotsha new drinksh I've never tried before…"
Deadpool snatched a fresh bottle of brandy from behind the bar of the Hellhouse - the mercenary hangout he usually stayed around - and snapped the top off with one of his swords. "You're a weird buncha little thingies…" he belched, "but I likesha anyway."
Nanimon quietly retched on to the floor, and then began sucking on a bottle of bourbon.
"Hey…" Deadpool slurred, eyeing Nanimon, "…anyone ever tell you that you look like a great, big, hairy…"

"Test this icicle for me, would you?" Frigimon asked.
Iceman rapped his knuckles on the spike of ice that Frigimon had conjured up, and hummed contentedly. "That's a damn nice icicle," the X-Man replied.
"Okay, your turn!"
Iceman concentrated for a second, and flicked his wrists, summoning a huge pillar of ice, which stretched up into the sky. "How d'ya like that?"
"Well," Frigimon said, "it's nice, but it's not really an icicle…"
"Aw, kiss my…"

"Assume not to challenge my authority, creature! You trespass upon the kingdom of Namor, Prince of Atlantis!" the Sub-Mariner roared, pointing an accusing finger at the immense bulk that was Whamon.
"I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" Whamon asked, shifting around in the waters slightly, not having been paying attention. The waves that were sent through the water by his speech had Namor tumbling around uncontrollably.
"You mock me, aberration?!" Namor screamed. "Then feel my POWER! IMPERIOUS REX!"
Namor kicked his legs, and shot towards Whamon like a bullet, moving through the water with unbelievable grace. Whamon sighed, and clamped his mouth shut on the Prince of Atlantis.
"Ha!" Namor scoffed, his laugh echoing from inside the Digimon's mouth. "I, Namor, have braved the darkness of the deepest ocean trenches! This is nothing to… wait a moment, what's… ARGH! EW! IT'S ALL SLIMY! GET IT OFF!"
Whamon hummed to himself, and proceeded to squash Namor under his tongue.

- - -

"DOUBLE STARS!"
Daredevil gracefully arced his body as Shurimon's arm telescoped out, the razor-sharp star at its end whirling menacingly, missing him by inches.
"Go get him, Shurimon!" Yolei yelled at her Digimon partner from below, as the two combatants duelled above, leaping from tree to tree. "Teach him who's boss!"
Silently, Daredevil twisted around, and hurled his billy club directly at Shurimon's head, striking him directly between the eyes, knocking him off the branch on which he was standing. The billy club ricocheted back towards Daredevil's waiting hand, but he was not prepared for Shurimon's arm to come curling up over the branch as he fell, wrapping around his leg, and dragging him from his branch also.
Shurimon and Daredevil landed with a painful thump on the hard ground, the blind hero entangled in the Armour Digimon's coils. Shurimon's golden eyes flashed, and he began to contract his limbs, squeezing down tightly on Daredevil.
Daredevil grunted, and strained against the pressure, but Shurimon wasn't letting up.
"This one's in the bag!" Yolei cried. "Perfecto!"

- - -

"Fascinating," Izzy murmured, casting his eyes over the contents of Reed Richards's lab within Pier Four. Behind him, Iron Man, Giant Man, and Ken walked in, as Reed himself led them through the lab, itself located in one of the sections of the building that was below sea level.
"Naturally, it's not quite as extensive as my lab in Four Freedoms Plaza was, before it was destroyed by the Masters of Evil," Reed explained.
"Nice name," Ken said, absently, studying Reed's particle accelerator.
"What's your plan?" Iron Man inquired.
"My scanners are registered massive fluctuations in the ethereal matter of the space/time continuum each time a hero or Diggymon…"
"Digimon…" Ken and Izzy both corrected in unison, without looking up.
"…Digimon, yes, that's what I said… each time a hero or Digimon is taken," Reed began. "If we can lock on to the source of these fluctuations, then it might be possible to use them to our advantage."
"An excellent tactic," Izzy said.
"Where do we start?" Giant Man rubbed his hands together.

- - -

Oh, well, that's not a good sign!" the Impossible Man commented, a huge bead of sweat appearing at the side of his head.
"How ya figger?" DemiDevimon asked.
"Reed Richards is the biggest brain on the planet!" the Impossible Man said, popping into the form of a huge brain. "The smartest of the smart! The biggest of the big! The mackest of the daddies! If he wants to track us down, he's gonna do it!"
DemiDevimon scowled. "Well, then, I guess we'd better step up the pace!"

- - -

"LET BATTLE CONTINUE!" the voice roared, shaking the walls of Pier Four, four lightning bolts tearing through the ceiling and blinding everyone in the room. In seconds, eyes recovered - and the room was substantially emptier.
"Matt!" Sora exclaimed.
"And Gabumon!" Agumon pointed out.
"Wolverine and Ben are gone too…" Storm pointed out, gesturing at the empty spots where the feral X-Man and the Thing had stood smoking before.
"Geez, things are moving faster, huh, Cody?" Davis turned on the couch to look at Cody, who had been sitting alongside him. "Hey! Cody! Where'd ya go?"
Davis lifted up the couch cushion, and peered under it.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he chanted, leaning over the back of the couch and looking down there. "Olly-olly oxen-freeeeee!"
Davis's calls only lead to a thwap on the back of the head from Kari. "Get up here," she told him, grabbing his collar. "And look."
Davis blinked and rubbed the bump on his head, as a freshly materialised temporal window displayed Cody and Armadillomon standing on the edge of what seemed to be a quarry - empty but for a few clumps of rock. And on the other side…
"Ooh, the Thing is SO going to kick his butt!" Davis went starry-eyed, before winding up face down on the carpet as Kari dusted her hands off, grimacing.
Sora, Tai and T.K.'s eyes, on the other hand, were glued to the second new temporal window which had appeared, displaying a snowy wilderness; an evergreen forest, blanketed with powdery whiteness. A small plume of smoke curled up from it, and the window zoomed in, to show Wolverine dropping his cigar to the ground, and grinding it beneath his heel.
It then panned across the landscape quickly, displaying Matt and Gabumon standing in the open. Matt's fists clenched and his eyes narrowed as Wolverine emerged from a patch of trees some distance away. The X-Man eyed them up, spat, and cracked his knuckles.
"This ain't gonna take too long."

- - -

Benjamin J. Grimm blinked his baby blue eyes, and tried to get his bearings. Once he had realised that he wasn't where he'd been a second ago, it clicked in his brain, and he flicked the cigar out of his mouth. He put a rocky hand to his equally rocky brow, and scanned the area for the poor bum he was supposed to beat the crapola out of.
"Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me!" he exclaimed.
Cody was hardly an imposing sight, and nor was Armadillomon, but they both did their best, striking a pose and staring back at the Thing.
"Coulda been a big fire-breathing sucker or something…" Ben muttered, "…I'll bet Doc Doom woulda given me a big fire-breathing sucker…"
"DIGI-ARMOUR, ENERGISE!"
"Hell-oh!" Ben squeaked, as Armadillomon erupted with light, and began to merge with the energy that was spewing from Cody's D-3.
"Armadillomon, Armour Digivolve to…"
"C'mooon big fire-breathing sucker…"
"…Digmon! The Drill of Knowledge!"
"Dangit!"

- - -

"Okay, kid," Wolverine grunted, "let's make this as painless as possible. Show me what you got."
"You heard the man, Gabumon," Matt instructed.
"Right!" Gabumon responded, his breath forming a mist as it left his lips. Matt being out of phase with the battleground didn't feel the cold, and Gabumon was sheathed by his own fur coat. "Gabumon, Digivolve to…"
Wolverine tensed - he gathered from the other battles that he'd been watching that this "Digivolving" thing could result in a nasty surprise. A cat could become an angel… a bird could become a ninja… so what would this little dog-thing turn into?
"…GARURUMON!"
Wolverine lifted an eyebrow. A bigger dog-thing. That was… uninspired.
"Garurumon, Digivolve to…"
Wolverine scrutinized the glow canine.
"…WEREGARURUMON!"
Another dog-thing. In pants.
"Can't win 'em all…" he muttered.
"Now, go get him!" Matt yelled, pointing at the X-Man.
Wolverine stood his ground as WereGarurumon came thundering towards him, emitting a piercing wolf howl, and leaving massive tracks in the snow behind him. The mutant would allow him to strike the first blow to lull him into a false sense of security… he awaited a kick, a punch, a bite… something… but instead…
"WOLF CLAW!"
Wolverine snarled in pain as WereGarurumon's claws slashed forward, coated in flickering red energy that tore through his side. WereGarurumon sailed past him, through the air, to land about twenty feet away, as Wolverine dropped to one knee.
"Well, that was easy," the Digimon growled.
Wolverine turned his head to look at the Ultimate, his mouth set firmly in a grin. He stood up, his side already half-knitted back together, as his mutant healing factor power saw to his wounds with startling speed.
"'Wolf Claw,' huh?" Wolverine said, bringing up his fist. "Well, bub, let me tell you something..."
With their trademark "snikt" sound, three adamantium-laced claws burst from between Wolverine's knuckles, already streaked with his own blood, as his healing factor instantly closed over the holes they left behind. They glinted menacingly in the sun, as three more snapped out from his other hand at his side.
"…Wolverine's got some claws of his own."

- - -

"Give it up!" Shurimon barked, as Daredevil fought amidst the tangles of his coils.
"Not a chance," Daredevil replied, calmly. After a few seconds more, he ceased his struggles, and, on reflex, Shurimon's coils loosened just a tiny bit.
Just what Daredevil had been counting on.
Firmly planting his feet on the solid ground, Daredevil shifted his body forward, seizing one of Shurimon's wrists, and, using his own momentum, hurled the Digimon over his shoulder, forward, freeing himself of his spiralling limbs.
Shurimon sailed up, into the air, as Daredevil quickly assumed a battle stance. Shurimon twirled around to look back at the scarlet-clad superhuman, and cried:
"NINJA WIND!"
Daredevil focused his senses on Shurimon, trying to discern what he was about to do - but was considerably surprised a second later when the green ninja wasn't there anymore. Daredevil spun on his heel, searching for his opponent, expanding his radar sense as fast as he could.
But it wasn't fast enough.
The next thing Daredevil felt was a tearing pain across his back, as Shurimon's arms raked across his shoulder blades from behind. He was thrown to the ground as the Digimon leapt down from the trees and landed a powerful kick in the small of his back.
Daredevil groaned and tried to roll to the side, and get back on his feet, but was struck about the face by blows moving faster than he could follow. He clumsily vaulted away, unsteadily staggering to his feet.
"DOUBLE STARS!" Shurimon cried again, reaching around and hurling the massive shuriken on his back at Daredevil.
Clutching his skull, the hero looked up - too late.
The spinning star smashed into his gut, slamming him up against a tree, two of its prongs imbedding themselves deep into the trunk, holding Daredevil firmly between them, imprisoned. He groaned once more, and passed out.
"Way to go, Shurimon!" Yolei cried, raising one finger into the air, giving him her "Perfecto" sign.
"FIFTH VICTORY - SHURIMON!"

- - -

A space was cleared in the main room of Pier Four as the air shimmered, and Yolei, Hawkmon, and Daredevil reappeared. Spider-Man grabbed his friend as he slumped over, without a tree behind him for support any more.
"Yikes, buddy," he said, "you look about as bad as I feel."
Yolei and Kari high-fived each other, as Hawkmon, not particularly excited or desiring any praise, picked a few bits of dirt out of his feathers.
"Terribly sorry to have to do that to the old boy," he told Spider-Man. "But… well…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's okay," Spider-Man nodded, setting Daredevil on the couch. "Let's just hope the big brains can come up with a way out of this before many more of us get hurt…"

- - -

Elsewhere in the city, on the rooftop of the Latverian embassy, the armoured form of Doctor Victor Von Doom stood, arms folded behind his back, his dark green robes fluttering slightly in the wind. He surveyed the city in silence, as the screams of a fearful population and the grunts and growls of various monsters filled the air. In the distance, he could see some form of white squid-like creature thrashing about in the Hudson River, as the neophyte non-team called the Slingers buzzed about it, trying to subdue it, to little effect.
"Fools," Doom murmured. "They have no idea of the possibilities these creatures present…"
Doom turned his head, and looked up into the sky, at the sight of the bizarre stone fortress that slowly floated by overhead, in the path of the sun at that moment.
"Who could we have here?" Doom mused. "Not one of these simple beasts, surely. Perhaps this 'digital world' has more to offer than mere drooling monstrosities…"
The tyrant snapped his armoured fingers, and a panel slid back in the building's roof. With a hiss and a roar, two of his mechanical Doombot servants rocketed up out of the silo, towards the flying base.
"Charge weapons systems!" Doom barked into his comm-link. "Low power. We do not wish to cause undue casualties, now, do we?"
The Doombots raised their palms, and each fired a low-level plasma beam, which impacted with the side of the fortress. It shuddered a little, but did the walls did not break.
"Excellent, excellent," Doom nodded. "No harm done. Continue until a response is achieved."
Victor crossed his arms again, and watched as the Doombots went about their work.
"Little pig, little pig," Doom whispered, "let me in…"

- - -

The Thing smartly ducked and rolled to the side, as Digmon launched of his Gold Rush attack. The five drill points flew past the Thing, and impacted with the side of the quarry, creating a moderately sized explosion. The Thing held up a hand to shield himself from the spray of dirt and rock, as the drill points flew back and re-attached themselves to Digmon.
"You shore are a tricky one, pardner!" Digmon hollered. "ROCK CRACKIN'!"
Jerking his body forward, Digmon embedded his drills in the ground, and activated them, opening up a fissure beneath the Thing's feet.
"What inna name of my Great Aunt Petunia…?" he choked out, as the ground disappeared from under him. He dug his rocky fingers into the side of the crevice as he fell, making his own hand and footholds to clamber back up with.
Meanwhile, at ground level, Digmon cautiously edged over to the chasm's rim. "Ah think ah got him…"
There was no chance for Digmon to move away, as a large orange hand shot up from the chasm, and gripped him by the nose-drill. "You like yellin' about crackin' rocks and rushin' gold?" the Thing grunted, heaving himself out of the crevice. "Well, I got one more yell fer ya… IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!"
With a roar, Ben hurled Digmon fifty feet through the air, slamming him off the opposite side of the quarry. A huge cloud of dust billowed out as the Armour Digimon struck the rock, and the Thing waited for the enemy to show himself again.
And waited.
And waited.
"Musta knocked the guy out cold," he murmured, carefully edging forward. He swung his arms wide, and then swept them inwards, slapping his palms together, creating a wave of air that blew away all the dust, allowing him to see…
…a large, empty hole in the side of the quarry.

- - -

WereGarurumon screamed as Wolverine's claws raked his shoulder, shearing off his fur and taking a chunk of flesh with them. Blood streamed down his arm, mixing and matting with his pale blue fur, creating a deep purple stain. He clutched his shoulder, and bared his teeth at the small X-Man.
Wolverine growled back, and crossed the claws of each hand over one another, as WereGarurumon's blood ran down them. "C'mon, bub," he hissed. "Gimmie whatcha got."
"Be careful!" Matt called to his partner.
"No sweat," WereGarurumon unsteadily yelled back.
Wolverine emitted a bestial scream, and lunged for WereGarurumon again.
"GARURU KICK!"
The lupine Digimon's foot smashed square into Wolverine's jaw, knocking him aside and sending him hurtling into a tree. WereGarurumon grunted, and almost fell over as he brought his leg back down. He swiftly tore a piece of material from his pants, and tied it around his shoulder as a tourniquet, as Wolverine gripped the tree, and used it to pull himself back up.
The X-Man massaged his jaw, and could feel the marks left by WereGarurumon's claws disappearing under his fingertips as his healing factor went to work. "I think I like his guy," he grinned.
WereGarurumon howled and dived towards Wolverine, who spun around, and, in one fluid motion, sheathed his claws, and punched the Digimon straight between the eyes. WereGarurumon fell back, dazed, and surprised that he was still alive.
"Why… didn't you…?"
"I just gotta beat you, bub, I don't gotta kill ya," Wolverine said, popping his claws again. "'Course, if you don't gimmie another choice, I wont hesitate to snuff ya… just as long as we understand each other…"

- - -

"Digmon?!" Cody yelled down into the quarry, from his vantage point on the rim. His partner was nowhere to be seen.
"Where inna name of my sweet Aunt Petunia did that bum go?" the Thing wondered, slowly walking backwards, away from the hole in the side of the quarry, looking around cautiously. There was silence, aside from the sound of dust hissing as the wind blew past.
With a shockwave that hurled the Thing on to his back, Digimon erupted out of the ground straight underneath the hero, drills whirring. The tunnel he had dug for himself collapsed in on itself as he leapt into the air.
"Howdy, buckaroo!" he whooped. "GOLD RUSH!"
Digmon launched his attack once more, as the Thing threw his arms up to cover his face. The drills smashed into him, creating an explosion that hurled him backwards, skidding along the ground, digging up a ditch. He spluttered and got to his feet.
"Tarnation, hombre," Digmon chided, "Ah'd think you'd know when t'give up!"
With a grunt, the Thing dug his fingers into the side of the quarry, gripping the rock tightly… and began to pull.
"What's he doing?" Cody queried.
"Danged if I know!" Digmon replied.
The Thing emitted a sound that was half-groan, half-scream, as he felt the side of the quarry give way. He tore a chunk of stone roughly the size of a minivan out of the rock wall, and spun around, pitching it in Digmon's direction, as easily as if it were a baseball.
"YIKES!" Digmon yelped. With microseconds to spare, he jumped into the air, somersaulting over the top of the hurtling rock, and planted his feet on it, using it to push himself off, and get more thrust. He sailed over the Thing's head, and jumped backwards off the side of the quarry again.
"Get DOWN here, ya pointy-nosed idjit!" the Thing bellowed, shaking his fist.
"Whatever ya say, ya big galoot!" Digmon called back.
Digmon dropped like a stone, kicking out when he was a foot or two away from the Thing's shoulders, before the hero could grab him. The Thing staggered, still not properly back on balance after hurling the rock, and collapsed forward, onto his stomach. He coughed and spat as dust got into his mouth.
"Consarned, no-good…" he grumbled, moving to get up.
He was halted as a set of feet planted themselves heavily on his shoulder blades, forcing him back down again.
"Get OFFA me!" he yelled.
"No can do, pardner!" Digmon chuckled. "ROCK CRACKING!"
The Thing screamed long and loud as Digmon's drills bored into his back, penetrating his rocky hide, and, for the first time, in a very long time, drawing blood from within his body. Once his drills has reached a certain depth, Digmon ceased the pressure - after all, he didn't want to puncture the Thing's lungs, or stomach, or something - but he kept spinning them, grating them against the innards of the hero's rocky hide.
With a final cry, the Thing's eyes rolled back into his head, and he was embraced by unconsciousness. Digmon hopped off his back, shaking his head, sadly. He sighed, and De-Digivolved back into Armadillomon.
"Armadillomon!" Cody called, as he ran up to him. "Are you okay?"
"Jest dandy," Armadillomon replied. "But Ah reckon we'd better get this fella some help…"
"SIXTH VICTORY - DIGMON!"

- - -

Cody ran straight into Joe as he, along with Armadillomon and the Thing, were teleported straight back into Pier Four.
"Ben!" Sue exclaimed. She dropped down to her knees, to examine the wounds in the Thing's back.
"He's hurt bad…" the Human Torch said.
"Ah'm sorry!" Armadillomon pleaded. "Ah didn't wanna! But Ah had to!"
The Torch shot Armadillomon a nasty look, and the small Digimon recoiled, chewing on his lip.
"Hey, buddy, if you wanna pick on someone, try me!" Tai snapped, stepping forward and jabbing his finger into the Torch's chest.
"Just bring it," the Torch replied, holding up his index finger and igniting it. "I reckon that mess you call hair would burn pretty easy…" With a derisive snort and a laugh, he turned away.
Tai scowled, and balled his fist. "Hey, hot shot…"
"What now?" the Torch asked. He turned, but was floored as Tai punched him hard in the face. He lay on the ground, and blinked, blood trickling out of his nose.
The room erupted with yells, as everyone began to argue. Spider-Man helped the Human Torch up, and then turned to Tai. "You want to mess with me too?"
"PEPPER BREATH!" came the reply, as Agumon stepped out from behind Tai, and belched a ball of flame at the arachnid hero. He cried out and ducked, his Spider-Sense warning him just in time. The Pepper Breath scorched a hole in the ceiling.
"Stop it!" Sue exclaimed.
No one listened. Captain America was in the middle of trying to stop Thor from caving T.K.'s skull in with his hammer, while Wonder Man and Veemon resumed their argument.
"STOP IT!" she cried again.
Kari and Warbird were one step away from a full-blown catfight, with Sora and the Scarlet Witch holding them back. Triathlon and Davis were quietly making a bet on who would win.
"I SAID… STOP IT!" Sue screamed.
The air shimmered, and everyone in the room was hoisted into the air by a massive invisible force field bubble. After a few initial shouts, the room fell quiet, as Sue held them all aloft.
"There's ENOUGH fighting going on already!" she snapped. "We're never going to be able to stop it if we can't work together!"
Everyone coughed nervously, as a bead of sweat trickled down Sue's forehead, the exertion from maintaining the field beginning to show.
"Now!" he shouted. "If I let you down, who's going to help me with Ben?"
"Uh…" Joe raised his hand, "I… I might be able to… uhm… help… sir… ma'am… Miss Invisible Woman… uh…"
"Fine!" Sue barked. The force field winked off, and everyone fell to the floor, hard. There was a lot of groaning and rubbing of bruised parts, followed by mumbled apologies, as Joe crawled over to where the Thing lay.
"I think I can do something with these…" he said.
"Thank you," Sue offered. "Do what you can… I'll try to contact a doctor friend of ours…"
"There's no need for that, Susan," a voice came. "I'm already on my way."
Joe screamed and almost fainted as the shimmering, translucent blue astral form of Doctor Stephen Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, slowly floated up from beneath the floor.
"I've been watching," Doctor Strange explained. "My physical self is on it's way now."
"That's good to know," Sue said. "Heaven knows, we could use another voice of reason around here…"

- - -

"Did you hear something just now?" Izzy asked.
"Hmmn…?" Reed looked up from his work.
"Sounded like something was going on out there," Ken said, gesturing at the corridor back to the main room.
"Oh, it's probably nothing…" Reed said, absently.
"I think I'm making headway here…" Iron Man commented. "I definitely picked something up on my scanners a moment ago."
"One of the fights must be over," Giant Man said.
Iron Man gestured at the mass of metal and circuits in front of him, cobbled together out of segments of his armour and gadgets, gizmos and widgets from around Reed's lab. "Guess so," he said. "I can pick up the energy signatures now, anyway… tracing them is another matter…"
The five scientists quietly went back to work.

- - -

The Impossible Man held his gut tightly, fearing it would burst from laughter.
"PRICELESS!" he guffawed.
"Yeah, that was a good little show," DemiDevimon snickered. "But, c'mon, enough of that, who should we do next?"
"Let's throw them another fast ball, and do someone who's not in the room," the imp suggested.
"Sounds peachy keen," the bat replied, rubbing his chin with a wing. "But who?"
"Hmn, this'll take a bit of thinking…"

- - -

The snow around WereGarurumon was died red as he fell on his back again, blood from the wound on his shoulder seeping out through the makeshift dressing.
Wolverine landed on his feet, after delivering a flying kick to the Digimon's chest. He coughed, and wiped the trail of spit away with the back of his hand. To Wolverine, it seemed that this fight was going on longer than the others… both combatants were possessed of an animalistic nature… a will to keep fighting. They both refused to give up. It was beginning to look like Wolverine was going to have to get dirty.
"Get up!" Matt called to his partner. "Come on, you can do it!"
"You make it sound easy…" WereGarurumon groaned, staggering back to his feet, visibly unsteady.
Wolverine somersaulted through the air, delivering a roundhouse kick to WereGarurumon's temple, knocking him back down into the snow. "Throw in the towel, bub," he said, standing over the wolf.
"You first," WereGarurumon replied. With jerk, his leg shot up, nailing Wolverine right in the most sensitive of places.
"WOO-HOO!" Matt cried.
Wolverine's eyes widened, and he resentfully allowed a groan to escape from his lips. His knees gave way, and he dropped to the ground, his breathing coming hard and fast.
WereGarurumon slid away from him, turning over in the snow, and getting back to his feet.
"That…" Wolverine choked out, "…was a… DIRTY… trick…"
"Sometimes dirty wins," WereGarurumon shrugged, and winced at the pain it caused him.
"Well, in that case," Wolverine said, getting back up on his feet, his healing factor subduing the pain, "I guess I'll play dirty too."
Wolverine's vision was tinged red as he allowed his berserker rage to seep through. His claws snapped out, and he ran, screaming at WereGarurumon. The Digimon was startled at seeing the mutant like this, and was caught off guard, as Wolverine plunged his claws into his thigh, tearing the flesh clean off.
WereGarurumon could do nothing but scream. The pain was so intense, he instantly blacked out.
Wolverine dropped his arms to his side, and held his head back, howling into the sky like an animal over his victory, as WereGarurumon shimmered, and De-Digivolved back into Gabumon.
"GABUMON!" Matt cried, running to his partner's side. Thankfully, Gabumon was comparatively uninjured - the De-Digivolution regenerated him for the most part, but there were still traces of scars on his shoulder and thigh.
Wolverine breathed heavily, as he brought the berserker rage back under control. He sheathed his claws, and carefully picked Gabumon up in his arms. Matt looked up at him, and he looked back down. No words were spoken, but there was a quiet understanding between the two.
"Okay," Wolverine said. "Now let's get the hell out of here."
"SEVENTH VICTORY - WOLVERINE!"

- - -

"Jesus Flamin' Christ," Wolverine said, "What happened in HERE?"
The main room of Pier Four was a shambles after the large-scale scuffle, as Wolverine, Matt and Gabumon noted upon their reappearance.
"It was… nothing…" the Human Torch coughed.
"Congratulations would be in order," Professor X offered Wolverine his hand. Wolverine held up the palm of his own hand and shook his head.
"Nah," was all he said.
"Hey…" Davis piped up, pointing at the empty space where the temporal windows had been hovering. "No windows."
As if to contradict the boy, a new window popped into existence, displaying an empty, grey landscape, decorated only by the odd spire of rock which protruded from the ground here and there.
"No one has been taken!" Captain America called into the sky.
"INDEED," the voice came back.
The window shifted, and moved inwards, to focus on an object, moving around in the sky. The window seemed to have a hard time following it, but as it grew closer, a manic cackling filled the air, until the source was revealed.
A figure, dressed in a garish purple and green costume, decorated with scales, with a face that looked to be out of a child's nightmare, stood atop a small bat-shaped device, which left a trail of smoke in it's wake as it flew through the air, carrying it's rider to his destination.
"Oh boy," Spider-Man groaned. "The Green Goblin."
"And his opponent…?" Thor folded his arms, and the window moved again, towards the top of one of the rocky spires. No one had noticed it before, but upon the peak of one of the few spires, a figure sat, perched, waiting.
He was not difficult to spot, however - dressed in a bright red waistcoat, with gaudy green leggings and bright yellow boots. Gloved hands clutched at the rock, as the mouth, the only part of his semi-masked face that was visible, twisted into a grin as his enemy approached. A hand reached up, past his shock of straight, bright orange hair, to grip the handle of one of the four swords sheathed on his back.
"Piedmon!" Joe exclaimed.
"Five buc-" Davis started, but was quickly silenced by Kari.
"Now…" Piedmon's sharp, eloquent voice cut through the air, as the Green Goblin's cackling neared him, "…let the games begin!"

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"WHO DARES?!"
"Well, finally," Doom grunted. "Cease fire!"
The Doombots obeyed, and lowered their arms, deactivating their weapons systems. In front of them, the air buzzed with an electric hum, and a hologrammatic image appeared.
The image was of a face - that of a boy, not much older than eleven or twelve, with an unruly mass of spiked black-blue hair atop his head, and a pair of yellow framed, violet-tinted shades over his eyes. The hologram's mouth opened, and an electronically distorted voice could be heard.
"Who DARES assault the home base of the Digimon Emperor in this manner?!"
"I, Doctor Victor Von Doom, monarch of Latveria, dare!" Doom cried back, his tone unwavering. "I wish an audience with you!"
The Emperor's hologram laughed. "What makes you think I would agree to that?"
"I believe we have… much… to offer one another, Emperor!" Doom replied.
"Oh, is that right?" the Emperor asked. "The Digimon Emperor needs no one!"
Doom felt his ire grow. "Do not presume to court my wrath, Emperor!"
"And YOU shall not presume to treat me as a lesser being!" the boy snapped back.
"You are but a child!" Doom sneered. "And Doom is above all men!"
"Is he really?" the Emperor scowled. "We shall see."
The hologram vanished, and Doom cried out in rage, bringing his fist down on the roof ledge, shattering it. "Doombots!" he snapped. "Withdraw! This whelp is not worth the attention of Doom!"
"Affirmative," the Doombots acknowledged.
Before exploding in a hail of metal.
"WHAT--?!" Doom bellowed.
In the air, above the fortress, a small number of Mekanorimon floated, their Twin Beam cannons shimmering, as they powered up. The Emperor's voice was heard again.
"Let us test ourselves, monarch!" he said. "I regret to say that I have only a small number of troops in my fortress at the moment… but that can be remedied…"
There was a hiss, and a compartment in the front of the fortress shuddered open. From within it, dozens of Dark Rings and Dark Spirals flew out, spreading across Manhattan Island, homing in on as many wild Digimon there as they could locate.
More feral snarls rose up from the streets as Doom watched, stunned - the Emperor's tools were going to work. Fortunately for Doom, moments of surprise passed quickly. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched.
"So be it."
He gestured again, and more silos opened up in the rooftop, and in the road below, allowing access to the underground shelter in the embassy.
"Strike, my servants!" Doom roared, as a squadron of Doombots rocketed from the silos. "STRIKE in the name of DOOM!"
"ATTACK!" the Emperor cried. "This world shall be mine… or it shall be DESTROYED!"

- - -

TO BE CONTINUED!

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NEXT:

The conclusion to

PIEDMON vs. THE GREEN GOBLIN!

And I know you won't want to miss:

MYOTISMON vs. MORBIUS!

IRON MAN vs. MAGNAMON!

ANGEMON vs. ANGEL!

Make sure ya'll come back for Chapter Six:

"FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES!"

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PICTURES!

Just one picture this time - it's of Venom and Devimon, from last chapter, as I didn't have it ready when that went up. Check it out at:

www.angelfire.com/anime2/digipedia/ven_dev.html

This will also probably be my last piece of art for this fic series. At least for the moment, anyway.

- - -

But for now... well, you know what to do!

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