Chapter 2: Knight Checks
As van got to the lake, he placed Alyss down. Removing the bag he wore he placed it under her head. “Alright, now that she’s comfy…” He untied the bandana from her right sleeve, and moved to dip it into the water. The lake was nice and cool to the touch. Once the bandana as nice and cool, he moved back, placing it over Alyss’s forehead. “We’re not going to be able to move from here for a bit.” Van got comfortable leaning against a tree nearby, and pulled out his phone. Tapping on the small messenger bag in the bottom right, his screen opened up to a small grid, with several icons in it with numbers in the bottom right corner. The first icon looked like cartoon meat with a 20 on the bottom right corner. Next was what appeared to be a pill that had 10, bandages also with a 10. “Breep?” Van looked up from his phone, noticing a small white creature with fins, antennae, and 3 small spines along its back climbing from the lake. “Oh hey a Pichimon.” The Pichimon slowly left the lake, seeming to swim even above land. It got close to Alyss. Van began to stand up, not sure how to respond. “Oh… hey… a Pichimon…” Alyss said, sighing. She moved a hand to pet it softly. The Pichimon whirred with joy as Alyss pet it. Van smiled, sitting back down. The Pichimon didn’t stick around for too long, going back to the lake, and Alyss seemingly falling back asleep.
Not long after, maybe 10 minutes later, Van heard the sound of metal clanging together. He stood up, not too sure of what to expect. Stepping out from the trees, into the clearing was a small suit of armor, white with gold accents, holding a spear and a small bugle. “A Pawn Chessmon?” Van didn’t seem too alarmed, as the small suit of armor looked between Van and Alyss. “Humans? Without digimon?” The voice was hollow as it echoed from the armor. “That’s perfect!” The Pawn Chessmon said, raising the horn to its visor. The loud trumpeting caused even Alyss to sit up, though she quickly ended up laying back. “A… what… Whats he doing?” Van shrugged, moving himself between Pawn Chessmon and Alyss. “What was that-”
“Reinforcements-” The word came followed by the sound of metal footsteps rushing. “Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Van shook his head, readying himself. “Of course Agumon isn’t here yet either.” Alyss began to push herself up. “Wait… I’ll help-”
“You stay there. You’re in no condition to fight right now.” Alyss stayed sitting up, watching. “Yeah but-” Van just turned to her. “Alright… I leave it to you.” Van slammed one hand into his open palm smirking. “Good. Now then.” The Pawn Chessmon leveled its spear towards Van. “By order of my King, I am here to eradicate humans.” As the Pawn Chessmon began to stomp forward, Van reached past grabbing the pole of the spear, and pulling it to knock the Pawn Chessmon off balance. As the Pawn Chessmon stepped off Balance, Van grabbed the top of its helmet, and tossed it back into the forest with a loud clang. “C’mon! You can’t expect a single rookie to put up a fight with-”
“Van! He called-”
“Yeah I know, reinforcements. I’m ready… for…” Van’s sentence trailed off, as five more Pawn Chessmon stepped into the clearing. “I can… I can take on the five of-” The sound of hooves behind them became louder. “Van, you need to run!”
“No! I can win-” As Van took his fighting stance, a fireball came in through the trees, hitting a Pawn Chessmon. Agumon, Betamon, and the rest of the group ran into the clearing, with Agumon and Betamon jumping between Van and the Pawn Chessmon. “Van, together.” Agumon gave a thumbs up to Van, who just smirked. “I knew you’d be here on time. Betamon, go keep Alyss safe.” Betamon turned back and nodded. Van then turned to the other 3 tamers and their digimon. “I’ll be honest, I don’t remember your names. If somethin gets by me, its yours to deal with, got it?” Joseph just nodded, gesturing for the other 2 while he ran towards Alyss and set down his digi-egg. The Pawn Chessmon began to charge forward, their spears aimed. “I’ll take the left 3 and-”
“That only leaves me with 2!” Agumon complained, shooting off a pepper breath at a Pawn Chessmon. “You take the 2 on the left-”
“What? Why do I only get 2-” Van responded, shoving back a Pawn Chessmon. Alyss shook her head. As Van and Agumon continued their disagreement, they didn’t notice as Mushroomon snuck in and punched a Pawn Chessmon, knocking it back into the forest. “You idiots-” Mushroomon said turning to them. “Deal with the enemies and then fight, or I’ll do it for you.” The Pawn Chessmon stepped back in confusion. Van stepped up to the Mushroomon and knelt down. “Why are you getting in our fight?”
“Cause you’re-”
“You are meant to stay back and make sure nobody gets through-” As Van leaned in, the sound of thunderous hooves could be heard. He rushed up to his feet, seeing the heavily armored Centaur in white armor charging forward with their dart, charging towards Alyss. “Wait-” Van held his hand forward, but the Centaur continued charging. The centaur stampeded where Alyss stood, the dust cloud kicked up obscuring the area. “Alyss!” Van yelled out, his voice filled with rage. “She’s okay!” Joseph’s voice came from behind the dust cloud, followed by some coughing. The centaur began to rake the ground with its hoof, ready to charge again. “Of course these rookies weren’t able to deal with some weak humans.”
“Knight chessmon? What's he doing here?” Van glared while clenching his fists. “Per my king’s orders, I am here to rid us of the blight that is humans.” Van ran forward, punching the Knight Chessmon’s flank, pulling his fist back and shaking it in pain. “Damn he is tough.” As Knight Chessmon turned to Van, readying his dart, there was a joy in its voice. “Oh good, a human that wants to fight. Have at you-” Knight Chessmon stabbed his dart towards Van. Van began to think of his options for dodging, ‘back? No, he could follow through. Sides? Which would be better… Could I use his weight to-’
“Van!” Agumon shoved Van, the dart just passing over Agumon. “Van you need to get your head in the game. Otherwise we’re going to die!” Agumon stared at Van, a look of worry and anger in his eyes. Van nodded, holding out a fist for a fist bump. “Let’s do this partner.” Agumon balled his claws into a fist, and tapped it against Van’s. Van turned to Ben and the other man, whose name he didn’t know, seeing Joseph standing over Alyss, still holding his digi-egg. “Hey, I’m trusting you all to deal with the Pawn Chessmon. Joseph, keep Alyss safe.” Van stood up, his fist glowing orange. “Agumon-” Van said with confidence, glaring at the Knight Chessmon. Agumon nodded, and began to glow a bright orange as Van’s phone let out a light ping noise, the light blinding the area. As it cleared, where Agumon stood was a much larger dinosaur. Its skin was much more orange than yellow, with blue stripes. It had a brown helmet with red stripes covering its head, and stood about 12 feet tall. From each shoulder an orange spike with a blue tip jutted out. “Geogreymon-” he roared out, before leveling his glare at Knight Chessmon. “Let’s go Geogreymon, we can do this!” Geogreymon charged forward, crashing his helmet into the Knight Chessmon’s chestplate. The noise was loud, as the sound of metal and stone clashing rang through the clearing. Geogreymon and Knight Chessmon tried to push, struggling for either to gain ground.
As Ben and the other individual helped their digimon fight the Pawn Chessmon, Joseph turned to Alyss. “Any plans for the Knight Chessmon?” Alyss just shook her head, keeping her eyes on Van. “You okay?”
“Just… watching.” Betamon looked away, scuffing the ground. Joseph just looked confused. “What are you-”
“Just… hoping I’m wrong about a thing.” Joseph still watched in confusion, turning to watch Van.
Van charged forward, and drop kicked the leg of Knight Chessmon, giving Geogreymon the chance to push Knight Chessmon back, and onto the ground. Geogreymon lifted its head, flames licking the sides of its helmet. Knight Chessmon looked up, uncertainty in its eyes. Geogreymon turned its head down, unleashing the flames over Knight Chessmon. Knight Chessmon held up the dart, causing the flames to disperse a bit. “I won’t lose… not to humans…” Knight Chessmon said, standing up. The flames waned, as it charged forward. Geogreymon immediately dropped his head, catching Knight Chessmon by the chestplate. Van ran forward again, charging towards the Knight Chessmon. “Gotcha-” Knight Chessmon exclaimed, twisting to knock Geogreymon to the ground, getting in the way of Van, causing him to stop. “Geogreymon, are you-”
“I’m fine,” Geogreymon said, standing up. Knight Chessmon chuckled, lowering itself a bit. “Dodge this foolish digimon,” Knight Chessmon said, bounding high into the air, hidden by the glare of light peering in through the clearing. Van and Geogreymon tried looking up, the sun making it hard to see. “Dodge left-” Alyss yelled out before coughing, as Joseph held her up. Van and Geogreymon nodded to each other, jumping left. Knight Chessmon crashed into the ground, plunging the dart into the dirt. “Hm… I see… I must kill that human first, not that it’ll be hard-” Knight Chessmon said, interrupted by the flames dancing across his back, Geogreymon letting out flames and a roar. “Don’t you touch her. Your fight is with us, or are you a coward,” Van said mockingly, cracking his knuckles. “Hm… You think you can mock me human? You and your overgrown lizard will be punished by me personally. Then I’ll take out your friends here.” Geogreymon let out another roar, and raked his foot across the ground. “Enough talk you oversized chess piece-” Geogreymon said, readying to charge forward. Knight Chessmon mimicked him, tapping the dart to the dirt. They both charged forward, connecting helmet to chest plate. They continued pushing against each other. Van ran forward, and Knight Chessmon tried twisting to trip up Geogreymon. Geogreymon planted his foot, and pivoted, knocking Knight Chessmon to the ground. Geogreymon put a foot on the dart, looking down to Knight Chessmon. Flames began to peer from the sides of Geogreymon’s mouth. Van glared at Knight Chessmon. Knight Chessmon looked between Van and Geogreymon, before being bathed in the flames, looking up at Geogreymon. Knight Chessmon let out a yell, but as the flames disappeared, there was no sign of Knight Chessmon. Van and Geogreymon turned to the Pawn Chessmon. “Well? Who is next?” The Pawnchessmon stared between one another, as Geogreymon let out a roar. The all jumped, turning to run into the forest. Van watched them leave, turning back triumphantly. “There we-” the slapping noise rang through the clearing. Van stood unmoved, Alyss’s hand stinging against his cheek. “You better have a good reason Alyss.”
“Why’d you kill him?! He would’ve surrendered-” Van stared at Alyss unmoved. “No he wouldn’t have Alyss.” Alyss began coughing, dropping to a knee as Betamon ran forward, “Alyss you should be resting-”
“Alyss, listen up,” Van said, staring down at Alyss. “Not every digimon is going to be willing to surrender. Guardromon was proof of that. He was apologetic at the end, but he wouldn’t have stopped attacking.” Van rubbed the back of his head. “I would’ve stopped Geogreymon if I thought that Knight Chessmon would actually have surrendered. Plus, he threatened you. I’m not going to let someone threaten my close friend and get away with it.” Alyss looked up at Van, a tear in her eye. Geogreymon shrank back down, taking the form of Agumon again. Van looked around the clearing. “We should get moving. Those Pawn Chessmon might come back with help.”
“What about Alyss-” Joseph said, looking at Alyss, her breathing still shallow. “We don’t even know what’s wrong with her.” Van walked over, and knelt down facing away from Alyss. “Help her onto my back. I’ll carry her till either she can walk or until we find somewhere safe.” Joseph helped Alyss onto Van’s back, and he held her up. “Sorry Van…” Alyss said, trailing off. “You’re sick clearly. Nothing to apologize for.” Van turned and smiled at her. “We’re friends yeah?” As Van stood up, and Alyss clung to his shoulders. “How is your cheek?”
“Alyss, you need to work on your arm strength.” Alyss chuckled. As Van was steadying, the third tamer walked over. “So wait… I didn’t get a lot of info but… What’s going on?” Van looked him up and down. “Who are you?”
“I… I’m…” The tamer sighed. “My name is David. This Gaossmon over here is my friend.” The small blue dinosaur without arms smiled a big dopey smile. “Right… David… well we need to head North. There’s a place up north that humans tend to meet up at, so we’re going to head there for a bit.” David smiled and flexed his arms. “Bet? Works for me.” Alyss sighed, looking over David. “Oh boy he’s one of those types.”
“Those types?” Betamon asked hopping over. David just smirked, waiting for Alyss’s response. “Overly optimistic himbo… Van, can we-”
“Say no more,” Van said passing by David. “Hey wait a second-” David said, but Alyss just turned to look at him. “Thank you for helping us.”
“Yeah sure, no problem,” David said blushing lightly and smiling. “Hey David, do me a favor and grab my pack. Don’t wanna leave it here,” Van said gesturing with his head to the bag on the floor he had Alyss using as a pillow. David nodded, picking it up. With that, the group started walking.
Not long into the walk, Joseph walked up towards Van. “Hey wait… Why aren’t you like she was?” Van turned to Joseph confused. “No clue. Knowing Alyss this could be anything.”
“What do you mean could be anything?”
“I don’t know how much she wants me to share but… Well she is-”
“I’m build different,” Alyss jumped in. “I’m built incorrectly.” She forced out through a chuckle that was followed with a cough. “Doesn’t help we both spent about 30 hours awake when we finally got here.” The other 3 stopped stunned. “W…why were you up for that long?!”
“Charity stream-” Alyss said quietly. “Every June 1st we raise money for charity with a 24 hour stream.” Van nodded along. “We should find a camp soon-” David jumped in. Van shook his head. “I want to get far enough that the Chessmon might not find us easily.” David looked a bit dejected, but continued moving. “No, that’s a good idea… We don’t want to get into another fight yet.” Van sighed, looking forward, before saying “Sadly we don’t know exactly how far we should go. Dokunemon wasn’t too talkative.” Everyone nodded, carrying on.
