Behind the Champion Hunter's shadow

Everyone, Duelist, Digimon, Digidestined, Tamers, Legendary Warriors, DATS employees, Leaf Village ninja, the ones within the Kurosaki house and the residents within the Ketchum residence watched as all the heroes the Champion Hunter had gotten a hold of were all taken to a massive arena, which had four large monitors on the north, east, south and west walls of the arena, which then all turned on, revealing the shadowed form of the Champion Hunter, who then yelled out in aggression. "No, no, no, no, NO! This was not supposed to happen, you were all meant to die!"

"What's going on?" UlforceVeedramon questioned, before he stated. "Yeah, you said you would let us go."

"Don't believe anything the Champion Hunter said." Superman told the group as he flew towards them. "What he promised was a lie."

"You bastard!" Ichigo yelled at the Champion Hunter.

"I expected some of you to survive, but I never imagined you all would." The Champion Hunter then said, before he held out a remote control. "Every evil may have failed me. So I'll do the job myself!"

It was then the Champion Hunter activated the remote, as he expected to see all the heroes fry to death as he had maximized the power of his Discipline Collars, however, the only one who was shocked was him, as everyone stood in their place, which caused him to question. "What's going on? Why won't it work!?"

"Simple. I deactivated them." Yusei replied, which caused the Champion Hunter to question Yusei. "You what? When? How?"

"Last night, after you told us to prepare ourselves for our match ups against the 'new competition' you had in store for us." Yusei told the Champion Hunter, as a small sly smile appeared on his face, before the 'King of Turbo Duels' took off his Discipline Collar and let it fall to the floor, followed by the others, in which some threw their Discipline Collar away, while VictoryGreymon, UlforceVeedramon, Marcus, ShineGreymon and Ichigo crushed theirs' to pieces.

-Flashback after Superman and Green Lantern left-

After the Champion Hunter's monitor turned off, Yusei then got everyone's attention when he said. "Listen, everyone. I know most of us don't know each other, but we must work together in order to make sure those we care about back in our worlds are unharmed. I have a feeling that the Champion Hunter won't stay true to his promise and will try something with the Discipline Collars, even if we do succeed, but if you trust me I think I can remove them."

Everyone stood still as silence filled the room, until Jaden smiled and stated. "I trust ya, Yusei. We're the good guys and the good guys can always be trusted."

Hearing Jaden's statement made everyone smile, before they all nodded their heads, as they agreed to assist Yusei.

"Thanks Jaden." Yusei said happily, which made Jaden smile, before he asked 'The Second King of Games'. "Jaden can I take a look at your Deck for a second?"

"Go nuts." Jaden happily replied, as he removed his Deck from his Duel Disc, before handing it to Yusei, who in turn removed one Card from it and gave the Deck back, before Yusei then asked. "Does anyone have a small blade I could use?

"No problem." Naruto then replied, as he reached into his holster, pulled out a Kunai and placed it before Yusei, in which the Jinchuuriki grinned widely as he was happy to help.

"Now I just need something that can deliver a small electrical current." Yusei told the heroes, in which Ash and Pikachu stepped forward, before Ash pointed at Pikachu and told Yusei. "You're looking at one. Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu enthusiastically called out, which made Yusei smile to see the bonds of trust that had been formed, before he then activated his Duel Disc and exclaimed, as he placed the Card he borrowed from Jaden into the first Spell/Trap Card slot of his Duel Disc. "I activate the Spell Card: Clay Wrap!"

Everyone then watched in awe as a light brown substance began to pour onto the Kunai, before Yusei picked up the clay covered Kunai and carefully slid it across the top of his Discipline Collar and smiled as he was able to open up the front of the Discipline Collar, and thanks to Clay Wrap, it absorbed all the electrical currents, so Yusei was unharmed.

It was then Yusei carefully slid the Kunai behind a collection of wires, which he figured out if cut would render the Discipline Collar useless, in which he then called out. "Pikachu, I need you to shock the wires."

"Pika Pi." Pikachu replied as he nodded his head, before Pikachu's cheeks charged up with electricity, in which the yellow mouse let out a loud 'Pikachuuu!' before he unleashed a bolt of electricity from his cheeks directly onto the wires, in which Yusei then pulled the Kunai away from his neck and sliced through the wires, as the electricity Pikachu had fired caused a temporary short-circuit, allowing Yusei just enough time to deactivate the Discipline Collar and free himself from its electrical hold.

-End Flashback-

"...And it was thanks to our trust that we were able to rid ourselves of your annoying Discipline Collars. And while I removed everyone else's, we started to learn about the most likely forms of evil you would use against us." Yusei told the Champion Hunter, before Alexis then said. "And while we talking, we all knew we couldn't trust you and decided to keep our Discipline Collars on, so you'd think we were still your little play things and wouldn't try anything."

"We've played your twisted game and won, so I think it's about time we got to see your face." Sakuyamon stated.

"A game? A game!? This is no game, this is Death Zone, the greatest show every universe, every world, everyone has ever seen!" The Champion Hunter exclaimed proudly, before he told Sakuyamon in dark tone. "But if you want to see the true me, so be it."

It was then the Champion Hunter stepped out of the shadows, revealing he was dressed in a black cloak and hood, while a white mask with single eye hole and the word 'Hero' that traveled down the eyehole covered his face, as a glaring red eye stared at them through the eyehole.

However, everyone in the arena and watched was shock, confused and repulsed as the Champion Hunter threw off the cloak and mask, revealing his true form.

His entire body was made of metal, as exposed muscles, burnt flesh, veins and wires compromised the being of his structure, as a visible heart, which had wires sticking into it, was pumping a black ooze throughout his disgusting body.

But while his body was sickening to look at, what was more horrifying was his face, if he had one, instead occupying where a head would normally be was a jar filled up with a clear liquid, as a brain, which had a metal jaw welded to the bottom of it, floated within.

A metallic spinal cord trailed down the back and was attached to the Champion Hunter's body, and his eye, connected by the optic nerve, floated within, as it menacingly stared at his enemies.

"What are you?" JetSilphymon then questioned in a somewhat worried tone, in which he exclaimed. "I'm a mind of pure genius. I'm the creator Death Zone. I'm the Champion Hunter!"

"But I wasn't always like this. Believe it or not I was once human." The Champion Hunter then stated, which was a major shock to everyone, in which ShineGreymon questioned in bewilderment. "You were a human?"

"That's right. It was a time long ago where my heart pumped blood instead of oil and my jaw was made of bone, I was a human who lived in a world where tales of heroes beyond the stars reached me and made me want to become a hero too. I spent hours making gadgets, tools, weapons and prototypes of the Death Zone units to prepare for myself for the day my world needed me, however, I spent years waiting, years of creating and advancing my technology and then one day it happened. A force of evil did eventually try to take over my world and I went to stop it, however, no matter what I tried, my new nemesis seemed impossible to destroy, until I made the ultimate sacrifice. I was able to lure the evil that wanted to dominate my world into the a nuclear power station where I destroyed the reactor, causing a meltdown and a tremendous explosion, which destroyed everything in its path, including my evil enemy and most of my body. I was left nothing but a pile of burning flesh slowly about to die, but just as I had given life to my robots, they restored mine and used the technology I used to give me this body you see before you. And after I was brought back from near death was I seen as a hero? Was I rewarded and given the respect I rightfully deserved? No! Everyone saw me as nothing but a monster, which is when I realized I had wasted my time trying to be a hero and left my world in a ship I had constructed out of the finest metal and parts I could get my hands on and left, but not before leaving behind something to rid myself of those who despised my heroics." The Champion Hunter told the heroes, before the screen changed from his hideous form to an image of what looked like a mechanical spider with a giant drill where its head was supposed to be and four exhaust pipes on its back, in which the Champion Hunter then went on. "This was a 'little gift' I had left on my world I had named the 'Drillrachnid'. As I left my world, I had programmed the Drillrachnid to dig into the ground and not to stop until it had reached the core, and thanks to the metal I had used, it was impervious to intense levels of heat where it unleashed a highly concentrated dosage of LN2, better known as Liquid nitrogen, which froze the core and caused every volcano to erupt Liquid nitrogen and freeze the entire planet, though I wasn't finished yet. Watching from my ship, I activated a powerful explosive within the Drillrachnid that shattered my world to pieces and destroyed everything, my past along with it."

'And you wonder why nobody thinks of you as a hero.' Akiza thought to herself in a disgusted tone.

"It was sometime later that I came to a revelation, if I couldn't be a hero then nobody would, which is then I started using my advanced technology to capture heroes from various worlds before I would watch as my Discipline Collars would electrocute every brain cell they had or use my Death Zone units to eliminate them, but that got old fast, which is then I came up with the idea of pitting heroes against each other, and that was the birth of Death Zone." The Champion Hunter said, before he continued his story. "With Death Zone I was able to expand my technology, the amount of heroes I could capture and even travel through different dimensions, all thanks to every single view who paid to watch as heroes fought each other for their chance for freedom. Everything was going good and just when I thought things couldn't get better I was proven wrong when a newcomer not only eliminated every hero they faced, but wished to stay and continue to fight for money and fame, which I gladly agreed to, but the audience is a fickle mistress. Soon they grew bored of watching my champion fight the same fights and kill using the same techniques, which is why I had to 'retire' my Champion, and that's when we met. But now I'm going to do what I should've done the moment you all refused my commands and eliminate you all."

"You plan to eliminate us?" EmperorGreymon questioned, before he stated. "No offense but that body of yours' doesn't look like it could fight its way out of a paper bag. What makes you think you have any chance against us?"

It was then the Champion Hunter began to laugh wickedly, before he stated. "One thing I learnt about facing against you hero types is to know your strengths and weaknesses and thanks to all the background information, as well as watching you fight, I've got all I need to win this final fight with my secret weapon."

However, before any of the heroes could ask what the Champion Hunter was talking about, the floor in the center opened up, in which they all watched as the Champion Hunter, who was attached to the front of a robotic behemoth arose from the ground, before he exclaimed and laughed manically. "Behold my EXElimination-Suit, the tool which will end your lives once and for all!"

"We'll see about that." Superman countered.