We fall back...

[hashim]

Defeat... Even the word itself tasted bitter when pronounced. In war, defeat was always a bitter pill to swallow. Next to it in bitterness was only victory - since war was hell, always, and even victory meant many lives were lost in order to achieve it. But that made defeat all the worse, it signified lives were sacrificed in vain. But soldiers rarely think on that, if they do at all, their job is to survive to fight another day, their commanders ought to do the thinking for them...

And they sure dis... Now that Hakim was in charge, that is. Ever since Paildramon's demise, he overtook command of the remains of the black omnimon's expeditionary corp, and oversaw it's retreat from the settlement, once he figured out the battle was lost. Good call that was too, otherwise, they all would have been lying dead on the field. And Shamanmon always believed that there is no point in dying in a lost battle.

He was standing alone on a top of a small hill, and oversaw the beaten, defeated mass retreating down the jungle road. He knew the enemies would go in pursuit, not going to let them escape easily. This was their land, they knew it better, so the invading horde would never stand much of a chance. Yet he had to figure a way to thwart the victors on their blaze of glory run ... somehow.

- That idiot... if only he had listened to me... None of this would have happened. Well, it won;t happen again. Idiots wind up dead eventually. Natural selection, he-he... - the shamanmon said to himself, looking upon the map he had in his hands - he made it himself during the army's march here, in case they'd have to retreat. His foresight didn't fail him this time. On the parchment there were several arrows drawn - route of his retreat, and estimated routes of the pursuit...

[Dexdorugamon]

"Humph! Bunch of weaklings! Your meat isn't even worth being chewed by my teeth! Well... At least you'll keep my stomach satisfied... For a while...", Dex said as he finished a small group of enemies that had separated from the main unit. The behemoth stood tall, his head rising up to smell the air, the scent of carnage and death filling his nostril much to his delight, though what was really making him rather aggravated was the fact that Dex's side was loosing the battle and he sure was one hell of a bad loser. The undead digimon growled slightly as the rage seemed to be boiling up inside of him, wishing he could just finish off that entire army by himself, though he obviously lacked the power to do so and despite being hungry for carnage, he knew better then to charge head on into battle.
The sound of shouts came from out at front, following it came the sound of heavy footsteps, probably coming from enemy forces. Dex growled as he smelled various enemies coming at him, though their ambush would have to wait for another day, because he sure as hell wouldn't fall for such pitiful attempts to trap him. The Digimon let out a menacing growl that almost made the earth shake, only to flap his wings with all of his strength, launching himself upwards. He continued to flap as he made his way up into the sky, his yellow snake-like eyes looking for any signs of his allies. He huffed, displeased that he couldn't catch a single glimpse of any of his allies, "Where the hell is Hashim?! Hope he hasn't died yet... But knowing him he's probably watching all of this...", the behemoth said as he spanned slowly, trying to find the slightest of glimpses of his ally.

Dex then saw a green spot standing on top of a small hill. A smirk erupted out of his jaws before he said in his usual animalistic tone, "There you are... Thought as much.",the beast then charged at Hashim's location, soaring through out the dark blue skies like a cannonball. A minute or so later, he could already see Hashim standing there, holding a parchment.
The beast passed above Hashim's head, only to make a "U" turn after he passed a few feet so he could lessen the momentum and land safely beside his ally. Dex landed exactly beside Hashim, towering over him, he looked at the fleeing army and said with a distasteful tone, "We are loosing Hashim. They are coming from every direction and I can't do anything alone. What are we going to do besides fleeing like cowards?...", he then looked at Hashim with those menacing eyes of his, waiting for a reply. Ever since Dex could remember, Hashim had a knack for strategy and if there was a way to win this, he would know exactly what to do.

[hashim]

The shamanmon saw the dexdorugamon coming from afar - after all, that big hunk of unholy rage running around was hard not to notice. The obstinate beast was among the last to retreat, after fighting off some trackers that had the misfortune of going too far and ended up the undead beast's dinner. The U-shaped dash did not make Hashim as much as bat an eyelash - the creature enjoyed making dynamic entries, so he got used to those already. And, of course, giving the raging and uncontrollable temper of the beast, his frustration was also expected.

- We cannot be "losing", for we have already lost. And fleeing like cowards is punishment for charging like idiots in the first place... - Hashim's voice sounded calm and resolute, in contrast to Dex's feral and rageful roar. They differed as much as their natures did - the dino was a shock trooper and a berserk, while the goblin was a commander, and a strategist.

- And fleeing is now the only option we have. We lost the battle when we at our strongest, we certainly can't hope to win now, when we are at our weakest. And if we will keep up at the speed we're currently going with ... they are going to catch us. - the last sentence sounded like a sure statement. The shamanmon frowned as he looked upon his map again. He got all numbers calculated already. At these speed they were going to gain upon the fleeing army in less than 3 hours.

Then Hashim heard the sound of wings flapping. It did not startle the shamanmon as well - he knew who it was, in fact, he expected this digimon arrive any moment now. He turned around to face the harpymon that descended from the skies in front of him. The champion digimon did not seem to be in the best state - a nasty scourged mark was on the left side of her chest armor - the harpy obviously took a hit before. The digimon stood straight and at attention, making a smirk appeariing on Hashim's face. The champion stood at attention for HIM, a mere rookie - this was what power was all about. They considered him commander now, they followed his orders, listened to him, looked to him for guidance. And he would guide them alright...

- Report in, Harley. How many flyers we got left?

- The news will not bring you joy, sire, there are only ten of us left, and 4 out of those are too injured to take flight... - the harpy apologized, as if it were her fault that so many of them perished. - Former master paildramon ordered us to harass the enemy fortifications from air. We were met with heavy ground-to-air fire, and lost ... 30 of our sisters, maybe more... It was a slaughter... - the poor thing started whimpering, it must have been hard to lose so much of her clan in a single attack.

- Pull yourself together, we'll need all our available flyers soon. What about dinos?

- Not many of them left. Most perished covering the bulk's retreat... About 20 of them left... - the harpy replied sorrowfully. Hashim frowned. These were all that remained of the backbone of his forces. Goblimon weren't half as reliable, so that meant he had to do with that he had at the moment. A single squad had more in numbers, but there was no choice for that matter. Hakim looked at the map, than at the harpy, then at Dex, then at the map again, and said:

- Tell all of them to gather below, I'm going to have a word with them. And you, you come with me. In what I have planned, you will participate directly. - the shamanmon said the last line to Dex, and went down the hill to where the troops were. He had a plan on how to save as many of those sorry asses as possible, and to make the enemy pay a bit more for their victory...