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Rumble in the Jungle

Coyote finished his tale of woe by drinking down a glass of water. Yima looked down in sorrow. "A village of our wayward kin lost," she breathed out. "I...I am deeply sorry. My mate held Firefist in high regard. He won't take his passing lightly. When the refugees come, we'll do our best to house them," she said to Coyote. Coyote nodded his thanks .

"Thank you Ma'am," he replied. "But the ones responsible for this are still out there. Right Tom?" Coyote looked over at the young Spartan.

Tom had been thumbing over an engraved .408 round for his rifle under the table when Coyote spoke. Tom absent-mindedly nodded. "Yes sir," he said. "There's Zack for starters, then the Unami, and then whoever else you guys managed to piss off," Tom added, recalling Ronin's little history of the Dimensional Rift Recon. As a general rule, Drifters managed to piss off a lot of people. Sometimes even the buttheads in Congress.

Coyote bowed his head. "How many?" he asked.

Ronin cracked his neck. "When we checked, we were looking at at least two infantry battalions, all of mixed units. A good majority were those shadow freaks, about a third of them were Lupine Moxelus, and the rest were auxiliary troops made with chronoinsurgents and Toshigan Slaughtermasters and at least one SIN," he said to his commander. Coyote smiled grimly.

"So, all in all, we're in a pretty normal day in the field, right?" Coyote asked with a smirk. Ronin nodded. Coyote sighed. "Alright. First things first though, Tom needs to win tomorrow. Once he wins, we can worry about Zack."

"Sir, when the time comes," Tom said coldly. "Zack is mine."

Coyote shrugged. "Sure, just let us disable him for you. We can at least help you that much." Before anyone could register Tom's look of surprise, Coyote suddenly smiled. "But hey, this night is getting too depressing. I say we do something to lighten up the mood!"

Ronin rolled his eyes. "Poker sir?" he asked. Coyote shook his head.

"Nope!" Coyote said back cheerfully. Taking his TACPAD, Coyote fiddled around with it until he smiled even more. Turning it around so that all could see, the D.Rifter commander said happily, "Movie night!" Reactions were mixed. Tom looked at Coyote in disbelief, Rena and her mother looked Coyote in curiosity, Ronin huffed in mock annoyance, Rahne simply leaned into her mate, Varak shouted, and a trio of adorable fluffballs ran into the dining room, excited to know what a 'movie night' was. Coyote hopped off his seat, startling Varak, and ran into the common room. Taking the camera apparatus from Ronin's vest, Coyote Macgyvered a movie projector.

The other's soon came in, and Tom asked Ronin, "Um Fox, is this normal for him?"

Ronin shrugged. "You get used to it," he said simply as he sat down on the floor, wondering just what the hell the movie was going to be this time. Tom and Rena sat together, unsure of what was going to happen. Varak had the position of being used a couch by the three kits, and after Coyote selected the film, he went back and sat down with Rahne. In seconds, the ever quaint "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." popped up the wall, and then the grand crescendo of the opening theme of "Star Wars" filled the air. It was a good thing that Coyote picked "The Empire Strikes Back," otherwise, the total conversion of Tom to nerd-dom would be very damn difficult.

A couple of hours later, the small group of soldiers and civilians went back to Darka's home to rest, and to prepare for whatever tomorrow might bring. Coyote and Rahne grabbed a sleeping roll, laid it out in the back of the Hog, and fell asleep in each other's arms, smiling. Varak was out in the garden, meditating, for once back in his natural form of a somewhat large silver dragon, his scales shining brightly in the moonlight.

Tom and Rena were in the room, getting ready for tomorrow. Tom was fighting his shadow, trying to see flaws in his fighting technique, and Rena was watching him, glad that she had at least told Tom how she felt for him. But yet, the vixen couldn't help but be worried about her...mate. If Gravis-teme does end up killing him, then what? What can I possibly do? she thought. When Tom finished about fifteen minutes later, he was greeted by a pair of gauntlet covered arms embracing him.

Tom was a bit hesitant. Not once before had he willingly had someone share a bed with him, but he had to admit, it did have its perks. Feeling a soft, tender kiss touch his cheek, he heard Rena whisper, "I love you." Tom smiled and stroked her cheekfur.

"I know," he answered simply. With a melodious giggle, the two of them soon fell into sleep's embrace.

Meanwhile, Ronin was sitting outside, basking in the moonlight, thinking. The sniper was glad that Tom had finally taken a step to move on from his past, but said past was certainly not moving on like it was supposed to. With that in mind, Ronin had to figure out a way to not only take out that army on his figurative doorstep, but also prevent more from coming. Ronin sighed as he looked over to the part of the house where Tom and Rena lay. If what Darka said about him was true, about Ronin being a warrior, then the general was mistaken. Ronin was no warrior. A fighter, yes, but not a warrior. Ronin had no doubt in his mind that he would receive no ballads, no real recognition for his duty. And for that, he was in a way glad. After all, he was a sniper, and snipers were the shadows in the night that watched over you.

Ronin took off his stealth drive, opened up the access panel, and started tinkering with it. About ten minutes later, the Voxin screwed the access panel back on, satisfied with his work on it. Getting up, the sniper almost ran right into Darka, who was himself surprised that Ronin was even awake at this hour.

"Ronin, is something the matter?" Darka asked.

Ronin couldn't bring himself to look Darka in the eye. "I'm...going to prepare for tomorrow sir," Ronin answered. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

Darka looked at Ronin with the eyes of a father. "Ronin, what is it that you're planning?"

"Something that requires only my life on the line sir," was the answer Darka got. Darka stood there, blocking Ronin's path, waiting for a much better answer. Ronin sighed. "Sir, I...I need to save more people before they die. And Tom deserves better. I wish him luck tomorrow." With that, Ronin pushed his way past the retired general and walked away.

Darka sighed. Young one, I hope you know what you are doing, Darka thought to himself.

Ronin quietly reached the door to Rena and Tom's room. Opening the room slightly, he checked and smiled slightly at the sight of the two wrapped in each other's arms. Ronin proceeded onward, and slowly walked over to where Tom's armor was laying. Crouching down, the Voxin waved his hand over it, letting his TACPAD scan every nook and cranny of the relatively advanced Orbital Drop Shock Trooper armor. The faint blue light flickered out, signifying that it was done with its job. Ronin tapped his TACPAD, and soon his form blurred out. Satisfied with the result, the sniper left the room, deactivating his stealth drive as he went.

[][][]

As the digital sun rose in the sky, its warm rays were slowly creeping into Tom and Rena's room. As the sun basked the room in its soft golden glow, Tom slowly woke up. Not once had he felt this comfortable, or even well rested in his life. Tom turned his head to look at the source of his present happiness. Rena, that sweet, adorable vixen that stole his heart, was herself slowly waking up, her emerald eyes cracking open to gaze into his own blue gems. "Morning beautiful," he whispered, smiling a bit, not sure, or even caring why he had added beautiful to that statement. But it sure sounded right, coming from his mouth and talking about Rena.

Rena smiled back and pulled Tom closer to her, putting her muzzle next to her neck. "Morning my love," she replied sleepily. "Sleep well?"

Tom chuckled. "Best I've ever had actually." And at that moment, all of their troubles, all of their pains just seemed to disappear. In that moment, the only thing that existed was the two of them. All the while, Tom's heart was pounding in his chest, threatening to burst out of his chest and just make out with Rena.

Pulling her head away from Tom's shoulder, Rena looked at Tom in worry. "Tom, I don't want you to fight today," she said. "It's too dangerous!"

Tom looked at her reassuringly. "And let that creep take you away from me? Hell no," he whispered to her. "Not without a fight."

Rena was about to speak when Tom beat her to the punch. "Look, I know you want to run away from this guy, but then what? We live on the run, maybe settle with the D.Rifters, always looking over our backs for Gravis? No, I love you Rena, and I'll do anything to protect you."

Rena sniffled. "But Tom, what if...what if I lose you?" she asked him quietly. She rested her head on his shoulder, and Tom felt a few tears stain his shirt. Tom was fairly surprised. In all the time that he knew Rena, he had never seen or heard Rena cry, at all.

Tom hugged the vixen tightly. "Hey, look at me," he told her, cupping her face in his hands. Their eyes met.

"But Tom, we...I...we just expressed our love and now-"

"Rena," Tom said, putting a finger over her mouth. "I gotta do this. I'm not fighting for me, I am fighting for you. I need you to be strong for me, and besides, how many times have we sparred together? You know that I'm no pushover! I'll be fine. And now, I have something to fight for," he said softly.

Rena shook her head. "My father and Gravis will cheat, you know that, right?"

Tom chuckled. "Rena," he said to her, "I expect it. I won't let that bastard have you, I promise." Kissing her on her forehead, Tom got up from the bed and stretched. Rena did the same, and the two of them went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. They went in and saw Rahne, Sora, Varak, and Darka's family eating a light meal of fruit and other grain based culinary food items. Grabbing a roll, Tom sat there listening to the other people's conversations about dreams, worries, and just some idle chit chat. For about two hours, Tom learned some things about not only Rahne, but also the strange pointy eared Drifter named Varak.

For starters, he was a dragon, and a silver-scaled one at that. From where Varak came from, it meant that he was what people considered a good dragon, and was dedicated to bashing evil upside the head with a broken hammer to the end of days. Varak used to be a cleric, but then had a mid-life faith crisis; however, due to the fact that Varak was close to a thousand years old already, that crisis might not end any time soon.

Rahne, Tom noted, was a rather unique member of Rena's species. Rahne was, for starters, a natural virus type Digimon, whatever that meant, and was only slightly stronger than a baseline Renamon. Rahne was also a fairly patient vixen, considering that she remained true to Coyote even after the two of them had parted ways in the Real World. That, and she apparently took out several Mega level Digimon on her own, while in Champion Form, quite a feat back in the day.

Excusing himself, Tom went outside for a quick breath of fresh air. Stepping outside, Tom was surprised to see Ronin right there on the porch, dressed in full armor, helmet clipped to his belt. Tom coughed into his arm, letting the other sniper know that he was there. Turning around, Ronin smiled and nodded to Tom. "Good morning," he said. "Sleep well?"

Tom smiled back at Ronin. "Very well actually. Have you eaten yet Sarge?"

Ronin nodded. "Had an energy bar," he said cordially. Looking at the Hog with the Gauss Cannon, Ronin watched as Coyote fiddled around with the damned gun a bit, and the Voxin's smile fell.

Tom noted the fox's expression. "Hey Fox, you alright?" Tom asked him.

Ronin shook his head. Facing Tom, Ronin pulled out his revolver and the bag with the ammunition for it and handed it to Tom. "Make it count Sergeant. I have some things to do real quick," Ronin said. Turning back, Ronin walked off to the Gauss Hog.

Tom looked down at the revolver now in his hands. He had never really noticed before, but the pistol was rather heavy. Tom saw that there was an engraving on both sides of the barrel, depicting a rose bush. But on the right hand side, Tom saw that there was an etching of a young Voxin, carved with uncanny detail. Tom could already feel the history behind this gun that he was holding, and it stunned him. Because for a moment, he could have sworn it had briefly connected with him.

Tom looked back up to see that the fox had already closed most of the distance between the porch and the Hog. What's wrong with Ronin? He's a bit more emotional than usual, and that's saying a lot considering last night, Tom thought. So, why did he hand me his pistol? I can't use it in the fight, same thing with my rifles and sidearm, and my armor. So what the hell is Ronin thinking?

[::]

Coyote had just finished the modifications to the Gauss Cannon, making the magnetic coils about five percent more powerful when Ronin came up to him. Coyote turned to his friend, and rushed to the driver's seat as Ronin got into the Hog. "Ronin, what the hell are you doing?" he yelled, slamming into the side of the vehicle.

Ronin turned to look at his superior officer. "I'm saving lives sir. And I'm repaying a debt." Ronin took Coyote's hand into his and dropped something into it. Ronin teared up for a moment. "It...it has been a great honor, serving with you G-Gabriel." Coyote's eyes widened in shock as Ronin pushed him away, making the human fall onto the ground. The Voxin started the Hog and drove off just as Coyote got up. Looking into his hand as Tom reached him, Coyote shook in surprise and fear. In his hand were Ronin's dog-tags. The same tags first issued to him back in 2017, right after San Madrid. Coyote jerked his head up and yelled out Ronin's name.

"RONIN!" Coyote started to rush off, but was soon stopped by Tom, who then turned Coyote around to face him.

"Sir, what the hell just happened?" Tom asked. "What the hell is Ronin thinking, going rogue like that, there's just no sense in that!"

Coyote's TACPAD beeped, and after Coyote looked down at it, he shook his head wildly. "Nonononono," he said hurriedly. "We have to stop him! Ronin's taken the regulator out of his TMD, and if we don't get to him now, or everything within two miles of him is gone!"

Tom's jaw practically dropped. "Wait, so Ronin's a time bomb now? What the hell is he trying to do, kill Gravis for me?"

Coyote shook his head. "No, he's going after that army you two saw yesterday, maybe disable the Rift Pad that they took over! I mean, normally the E-365 in our TMDs is pretty stable, but only with that regulator. If he just took it out, then we have about a few hours to get it back in!" Coyote explained.

Tom grabbed his head in shock. "That's nuts! He's trying to save lives with an unstable quantum event, and he's not trying to think about the Digimon in the area? Shit, knowing Zack, he'd park his camp near a village! He shouldn't be doing this, I know that the only one who needs to die is Zack, and maybe that tall guy who almost killed you!"

Just then, a pair of Renamon walked out of the woods toward them, a male and female. The female had black fur, with a shockingly bright red mane around her neck. Her gauntlets were red as well, and were adorned with a symbol that looked like a curved scythe with a dot on top. The male was practically her polar opposite, with off-white fur and a golden mane, and on his gauntlets was the same crest that Rena had, only without the additional symbol on the top.

The female looked at Tom haughtily. "Not thinking of leaving are you?" she asked arrogantly. "Because if you do, then you forfeit the match, and your pathetic title of Tamer or whatever the hell it is is null." The male stayed silent, simply watching with an emotionless expression. Well, not quite emotionless; he seemed pretty ticked at his companion's vocal arrogance and general attitude.

Tom looked at the female in anger. "Look," he told her, "We need to handle something, we'll be right back for the fight!"

The female laughed haughtily. "You leave, you automatically forfeit! And then that Moon-fighter girl belongs to my brother!"

Coyote jerked his head towards her, his brow furrowed in anger as Tom continued. "Listen to me! One of our friends just rode off with a device that will take out everything in a two mile radius, and you're worried about a fight?!"

The female rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. "Your friend isn't my problem. Making sure you get to the arena to be killed by my brother is." Tom was about to charge her when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Tom, don't. She isn't worth it. Besides, Ronin knows what he's doing."

Tom looked back at Coyote in bewilderment. "Wha? Are you insane? You're actually going to let Ronin kill himself for something that might not even work?! There has to be another way, there has to!"

The female scoffed. "Well then, leave, save your friend. Just know that when you do, that Luna is Gravis's, and there is nothing you can do about it," she warned, a wicked smile on her face. She saw Tom lay a hand on his newly acquired revolver from Ronin. "Try it, I dare you," she challenged, smirking. "See where it gets you, human."

Tom aimed his pistol at her, only to have Coyote point it down. "Tom, I'm ordering you to go to that arena and kick ass," Coyote said coldly, looking at the female. "It's what Ronin would want."

Before the fur, blood, and bullets flew, the male stepped in, finally speaking. "Vixinamon, go back to Lord Doamon and report to him that they are coming." The female, now known as Vixinamon, was about to retort when he continued. "Now, before you lose any and all sense of honor."

Vixinamon snorted before she walked off angrily. "You better make sure that he gets there Ralismon," she warned. "My brother wants a fight today, and rest assured he'll get it!"

The three males watched as the arrogant vixen walked off. When she disappeared from view, Coyote asked the white furred Digimon near him, "So, how big is the pole up her ass?"

Ralismon growled as he rolled his eyes. "About the same size as my father's, if not most of them," he answered. Looking over Tom, Ralismon said, "So you're the human who decided to fight for my sister. You seem a bit...young, but I have a feeling that you're a great fighter. For a human. But you're either very brave and noble, or very damn stupid for wanting to fight Gravismon."

Tom shrugged. "I won't let that creep anywhere near Rena," he told Ralismon. "I don't care what happens to me, I just want her to be safe. And," Tom continued hotly, "How can you, her brother, let this happen to her?!"

Ralismon put his hands in the air. "Look, I don't like my father's decision any more than Rena or my mother, but you're still just a Renamon, and your father is a Taomon, well, you can't exactly fight him head on," he explained. "Not to mention he's the clan leader, so what he says, goes. I wish you luck Thomas. You'll need it." Ralismon then turned away and walked off.

Tom slammed a fist into a nearby tree. "This is fucking great! Ronin's off on a suicide run, and we can't save him!"

Coyote sighed. "Tom, Ronin...Ronin knows what he's doing. He's simply trying to save you, Rena, and everyone else in this 'verse," he said to Tom. Tom sighed and looked to where Ronin drove off to.

It doesn't have to be this way, Tom thought. The two of them then went and walked off to where the two Renamon had gone. It took them a while, but they managed to reach the fairly large arena. Rena was there, waiting at the entrance of the fighter's ready room. Once Tom was in range, she leapt over to him and hugged him. Two Renamon from Gravis's clan went over to the two lovers.

"Remove all of your projectile weapons and armor, human," one of them ordered snottily. Tom glared coldly at the two before complying. Taking off his two pistol holsters, and the ammo pouches for them, he handed them over to Rena for safe keeping. The Renamon then looked to Rena and Coyote. "You two are to report to the royal box," the other said, sneering. "Doamon's orders for you outsiders."

Rena scowled, and then kissed Tom for good luck, much to the disgust of the other two Renamon. "I love you Tom," she whispered as she separated herself from Tom. Soon, they all were leaving when Tom stopped Coyote. "Sir, can you wait for just a second?"

Coyote turned to look at Tom. "Yeah, what is it?" Coyote asked back.

Tom looked at Coyote. "No matter what happens in this fight," he said seriously, "If I lose, you have to make sure that Rena gets as far away from that creep as possible. She...she's all I have left sir. I need you to promise me that he'll never touch her."

Coyote nodded. "I promise. But chances are I won't have to," he said to the Spartan. Looking to the door, Coyote sighed. "Kill with a heart like arctic ice out there, okay? Give that guy a reason to scream like a little girl!" Coyote said with a slight grin, punching the Spartan lightly on the shoulder.

Tom grunted in exasperation. "Sir, I'm serious," he blurted. "This guy doesn't play fair! All I have is enhanced strength, they have powers! Please, I just want to hear you say that you'll take care of her!"

"Tom, you also took a railgun round to the chest," Coyote pointed out. "And besides, the moment you signed that PADD, Rena became family. I won't let Rena come to harm from that shitbag, not while I'm still alive and kicking." With that Coyote walked out of the room, the last thing he said was, "Good luck Spartan."

Tom nodded. "Thank you," he said to Coyote's retreating form. Tom himself turned to the entrance to the arena. Taking a deep breath, he walked through it.