Chapter 43: Rico's Death

Rico senses something. Enzyme? He turns to it. Enzyme lies still on the ground. His face half gone, & blood spill out.
Specter grins to himself.
"It's not over yet, Rico," thought Specter.
Ajax & the other could that something is wrong.
"What's got Rico so spooked?" said Garudamon, "He kill him."
"I don't know," said Stingmon.
The, Rico could have sworn that he saw Enzyme move. Ajax & the others start to show concern.
And then…Enzyme reaches out to Rico with his half mouth, & grabs Rico's left arm with his teeth, & chews it right off!!! Rico screams in pain as his arm is ripped off! Enzyme then spits out the ripped arm & throws it to the side. Ajax & the gang are now in shocked with fear!
"NO!!" cried Tai.
"RICO!!" cried Krone.
"THAT THING IS STILL ALIVE!!" cried Mayuka.
Rico's K.I. goes down as he falls to his knees in pain, covering his bloody arm. Blood spills everywhere. He weeps in pain. Enzyme gets up.
Specter & Sector continue to watch, grinning.
"Amazing," said Sector, "We design him very well. Even with half it's face blown apart, its still able to fight."
"Exactly," said Specter.
Ajax & the others are overwhelmed with shock & fear as they watch.
"NO!!" cried Zak, banging on the shield, "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"RICO!!" screamed Washu.
"MASTER!!" cried VT-10.
Enzyme walks toward Rico.
"And now Himi's death will be avenged, you son-of-a-bitch!" growled Enzyme.
He then slashes his tail at Rico. Rico regain enough strength in time to dodge the tail. But then, Enzyme comes in with his tail again & then…He successfully hits Rico in the chest hard, penetrating all the way through his chest & out his back. Rico's upper half explodes with blood as the tail goes right through!! Rico screams in pain loudly! Mimi screams in sight of this, while the others are in complete shock!
"RICO!!!" cried Ayeka.
"He's got em!" said Nagi.
Rico tries to pull the big tail out of his chest. After a moment, Rico finally pulls the tail out of him, making a ton of his own blood spill everywhere! It is the most horrible sight the gang has seen! Kari screams at the sight!
"NO!!!!!!" screamed Maya.
"OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!" scream Tai, shocked.
"RICO!!!!!!!" cried Lilymon.
"NO!!!!!" screamed WarGreymon.
Rico falls on his knees, covering the big bloody hole is his body, coughing out blood through his helmet! They could almost hear him drowning in his blood.
"And now it ends, Rico!" said Enzyme.
"Enzyme," called Specter, telepathically, "Remove his control-medal & bring it to me."
Enzyme obeys his wishes. He walks toward Rico. Rico weeps in pain, shaking a little due to all the pain. He has lost. He's going to die.
When Enzyme reaches him, he grabs Rico in one hand, & grabs his control medal with two fingers from the other, & begins to pull! Rico cries out in pain from the pulling.
"NO!!!!" cried VT-08.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!" cried Sasami.
"YOU'RE KILLING HIM!!!" screamed T.K. "LET HIM GO!!!!!!"
Enzyme continues to pull on Rico's medal, as Rico screams with so much pain, it as if he was suffering something beyond pain!
"It's over," said Specter, to himself.
And finally…Enzyme successfully pulls Rico's control-medal right out of its socket in his forehead!!! Blood splashes out, & Rico let's out one final loud scream. Enzyme releases Rico, dropping him to the ground. He laughs evilly to himself, holding his tiny medal in his claws.
Rico lands on his back, covered in blood! Ajax & the others are now beyond shock & fear!!
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Kari.
"RICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Sasami.
"BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!" cried Ajax.
Rico drowns in his blood. They can hear him gargle.
And then finally to their defeat, Rico's body starts to melt into goo & blood! Rico drowns in his blood & in pain as his helmet & body melts. Blood & goo melts. His faceplate melts away, along with his own face! Blood & guts melt through his body. His face has now completely melted away, showing his bloody skull! The rest of his body disintegrates more & more, until he's nothing but a corpse.
And then, all that is left of Rico is a bloody corpse in the remains of the armor, badly melted, looking like a nightmare. And Rico finally stops drowning, for he is no more.
Rico is dead.

Ajax falls to his knees in shock. He has lost his brother.
"NO!!!!!!" yells Ajax, "RICO!!!!!!!!!"
Zak falls to the ground, crying.
"UNCLE!" cried Zak.
The DigiDestined & the others also show signs of defeat.
"Rico," cried Tai.
"He's…gone," cried Krone, "…Rico…my love."
"….No," cried Joe, "…This…can't be…happening…"
Then, Zak begins to power up, enraged!
"NOOOO!!!!" yells Zak, as he powers up, "UNCLE!!!!!!!!"
Everyone turns to him, surprised. Zak turns to Enzyme, with anger.
"YOU BASTARD!!!!! YOU KILLED MY UNCLEEEE!!!!!!!"
Zak then blasts off at Enzyme, breaking through the shield with his K.I., & prepares to attack!! But before he could make a move, Enzyme hits Zak with a huge blast of energy, sending him flying back out the dome, & at the walls near Sector! Zak hits the walls hard, making a explosion. He is knocked out cold! Ajax & the others are stunned.
"SON!!!!" cried Ajax.
"And now it's your turn, DigiDestined!" growled Enzyme.
The others turn to him. Enzyme prepares to attack. But then…
The dead corpse of Rico stands up & holds on to Enzyme, struggling to hold him there using the last of his K.I.!! Everyone is now in shock, even Specter & Sector.
"WHAT?!" said Specter.
"It can't be!!" said Zudomon.
"He's still alive!!" said Mangamon.
"Oh my god!" said Yolei.
"That's impossible!!" said Izzy.
"Brother!!" said Ajax.
"Master?!!" said VT-10.
Rico tries to hold Enzyme in place. He looks up at Ajax, Tai, Tenchi, & the others. His corpse-like skull shows a smile & a wink. Then, the orb at the waist of his melted corpse body begins to glow in yellow, with an inner glow of red. No one but Ajax & the Rangers know what he's doing. Ajax shows shock.
"NO, RICO!!" cried Ajax, "DON'T DO IT!!"
"What is he doing?!" said Digmon.
"HE'S GOING TO SELF-DESTRUCT!!!" said Brock.
The whole gang now shows shock at this!
"NO, RICO!!" cried Kari, "DON'T!! PLEASE!!!"
"RICO!!!" cried Krone, "PLEASE!!! I LOVE YOU!!!"
Rico looks up to them. The gang looks back. Rico then tries to say something. They can't make it out at first. But then they hear him. And his words are…
"…Farewell..Ajax…DigiDestined…Jurain Knights….Good..bye…"
And finally, he starts to glow in blight light, & then….BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!
A huge explosion of light occurs as Rico explodes, taking Enzyme with him!!!
The gang ducts for cover. The blast destroys the whole dome, blasting everything in sight!
After the explosion, the smoke clears away. The gang recovers from the ground. They all head over to the edge of the catwalk, & look over the rail. And all they see are chunks & bits of blood & guts everywhere.
Rico & Enzyme are gone.
"Rico.." said Ajax, in tears.
"He's gone," said Azaka.
"No fucking way," said Terok.
"Can't…be…" said Odo.
"He sacrificed himself to save us," said Brock, "What…honor."
"But where's his control-medal?" said VT-05, "It should have survived to explosion."
Then, Ajax senses Rico's medal. Behind them. He turns back. The others do too, & up on the balcony, they see Sector, with Rico's medal, & holding Zak, grinning.
"Well," said Sector, "At least I was able to use my speed to catch the control-medal when it went flying in the air from that explosion. And it seem like I got myself something else! Ha, ha, ha!"
"LET MY SON GO!!!" demanded Ajax, with anger.
"Let him go!!!" demanded Ryoko.
"I don't think so," said Specter.
He then snaps his fingers. And then, hundreds of FB-99s, FZ-109s, & ZTs appear. Some are powered up, & others with staff weapons in hand, ready to fire.
"YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!!!" yelled Davis, powering up & preparing to attack.
But before he could, Specter points his left hand at Zak, & speaks.
"I won't try it if I were you. If you attack, I'll give you all another death on you hands!"
His hand glows in flames, ready to fire.
The gang can tell that's he's not kidding. Davis halts powering up.
"You don't want your own son to be lost like your brother, huh Ajax?" grinned Sector.
"Surrender!" demanded Specter, "Or your son will be next!"
The gang looks at each other with concern. They all turn back to Specter, with defeat showing in their eyes.
"…Very well," said Ajax, in defeat, "…You win."
The gang powers down. The Star Force Rangers & Dark Knights deactivate their powers, Tenchi & his gang morph out of their suits, Azaka & Kamidake morph back into their Guardian forms, & the digimon digivolve back to rookie. They all surrender. Specter is pleased.
"Good," said Specter.
Sector throws Zak at them. VT-02 catches him. Zak's armor deactivates, powering down. Zak is unconscious. Maya runs over, & holds Zak in her arms.
"Take them all away!" order Specter.
"Proceed, or be destroyed!" ordered one of the ZTs. The gang has no choice. They do what he says, & the dark Valkyries escort Ajax & his team, the DigiDestined, & the Jurai Knights out of the dome, & to the brig. Specter & Sector follow.
Kari looks back in tears.
"Rico…" weeps Kari, "……..RICO!!!!!!!"
Her voice echoes throughout the dome. The Black Fang, with Specter & Sector, continue their way down the corridor, escorting the gang away.
They've lost.
Their mission a failure.
Rico, the Red Star Force Ranger, is now dead.

 

Unknown to anyone, an unknown figure hides in the darkness behind some structures. Neither Specter, Ajax, nor anyone else knew he was there. Whoever he is, he followed Ajax & the team up the mountains, into the base, & watched the battle. He turns & heads to a air duct nearby.

Copyright © Christopher R. Gay.