It's kinda late over here right now so I have to make this real quick lol XD I'm really sorry about how long you guys had to wait for this chapter, but I kept getting stuck in certain parts due to both lack of inspiration and just getting stuck because I forgot where I was going with things and didn't always plan it out perfectly XD So sorry about that.

But, I still got it done (after I was hoping to, though D:) and I really hope that you guys like it, 'cause the plot is beginning to thicken! :D

Please read and review; I'd love to get some more feedback on this story, and I just really love getting to read what you guys think about it :) So please enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 4: Collide

"Mrs. Sasaki!" My voice came out stronger than what I expected it to, louder than what I'd hoped. Dracomon gave me a look that told me to be quieter, but I couldn't help it, not when the very air around me whispered 'Danger! Danger!' in a trembling tone. "…Mrs. Sasaki?" When she still didn't answer me, I started to move towards her into the webbed room, but my Digimon partner quickly grabbed my leg to stop me.

Looking down at him with a confused glance, Dracomon shook his head feverishly. "The webs aren't safe, Sumi-chan! If you touch it…they'll come out…" Though I had next to no idea what 'they' was supposed to mean, but knowing by the concerned haze in his eyes that it was something very bad, I stayed in my place. Albeit, quite reluctantly. It felt wrong to stand here doing nothing when she was so close. A quick dash in and out and she'd be safe; that was all it would take.

Not knowing what else to do, I was about to call for the old woman again, but this time I was interrupted by Ms. Inekura, who'd been standing beside her with an arm draped over her shoulders, grinning sickly at me. "Oh, dear…It seems like she can't hear you, can she?" With a demented giggle, the tall woman walked behind my current guardian and placed both hands on her frail shoulders. "She can't do much of anything right now. She's nothing more than my little puppet…" She ran her fingers under the woman's chin. "…a little porcelain doll—"

Anger shot through my veins like liquid fire, my heart raging at the audacity of this soulless woman. Mrs. Sasaki didn't deserve to be treated in such a way, to have her face contorted in such agony. "Don't touch her, you sick dog!" I thought that I heard Dracomon trying to warn me, felt him touch my leg to stop me, but I paid no mind to him. With an enraged snarl and a growl, I ran into the room, ignoring the webs, eyes set on Ms. Inekura, heart set on beating her into the floor for daring to hurt my friend.

But it was as if I was a kitten and she a wolf, the way that the silver-haired lady simply grinned at my fury. Waging her index finger of her right hand, she raised her left arm, Mrs. Sasaki's arm rising as Ms. Inekura's did. "Nuh, uh, uh, Dragon Soul—" …What…the hell…? "—if you want her safe…" Throwing her arm back, Mrs. Sasaki's arm did the very same and a loud snap echoed into the room. I froze in horror as her arm dropped and hung limply at her side, her body trembling as pain spread through her. "Then stay right where you are."

Standing with a hand outstretched a little ways towards Mrs. Sasaki, my breath coming in shuddering gasps, I stared at the damage that that demon-woman had done with just a swing of her arm. I wasn't sure if the snap had been a bone breaking or a joint being popped out of its socket, but I wasn't sure I cared either way. Mrs. Sasaki had been hurt. I wasn't sure if my mind could process much more beyond that.

The woman who'd cared enough about me to let me stay here had been hurt.

You…you rotten, sick, twisted filth! Using her as a shield! Coward! My hands curled into tight fists as every muscle in my body tensed and was filled with strength I'd never felt while practicing judo. It started deep within me; I could feel it burning like a volcano somewhere inside me, deeper than my heart, deeper than my soul. It fed off of my anger for what that creature had done to my friend, the hatred that was slowly bubbling up within me and driving me over the edge, past the point of no return.

I didn't know who this lady was. I didn't know how she'd been able to harm Mrs. Sasaki in the way that she had. I had no idea what a 'Dragon Soul' was or why it seemed like she was calling me that, and I didn't understand why I was surrounded by spider webs or why this woman wasn't freaking out about Dracomon at all. But I did know one thing. And I made sure she knew it, too.

"If you don't let her go right now, you're going to be in for a world of hurt…" I growled, voice low and threatening. Dracomon mimicked my snarl, his pupils shrinking to the size of pin-pricks as his scales made a sort of rustling sound beneath his quivering muscles. He seemed to feel the same things that I did at some times, like we were connecting by a bond much stronger than just friendship. But, I had to admit, I was glad to have such a convincingly vicious Digimon beside me right now. Really made my point clear.

However, the vile woman simply laughed at my words as if I'd told some kind of joke. Dracomon crept up to me while she was still chuckling, and our eyes locked when I glanced down at the scaly being. His scarlet eyes were bold with a fiery fury, the very same rage that pooled in every part of me like molten metal. I could almost read his thoughts, and I was sure that he could sense mine as well. We exchanged a slight nod as the woman began to speak again.

"I don't think you quite understand who you're dealing with, Dragon Soul. In fact…" She gestured for something to come out of the web-tunnels as she grinned sadistically at Dracomon and me; I heard rustling, but nothing moved out into the open yet. "Judging by your actions thus far, I doubt that you even know what I'm talking about…" The woman's face contorted into a sadistic grin. "That's simply wonderful. It makes this whole thing that much easier!" Her black lips parted to let another twisted giggle escape from her throat. My stomach did an uneasy flop at the sound.

Now, I'd been in a lot of bad situations before—this was obviously one of them, but there were many more. One such moment had happened about four months ago when I'd almost been caught by a couple guys walking from school to judo practice. There had been three, all of them a couple of years older than me, and it had been easy to see that they had some good muscles on their bones.

Most other girls probably would've screamed, or tried to run away, or maybe use pepper spray if they had it, but…not me. When I got into situations like that, there were only two things that I did. Number one, slip off whatever shoes I was wearing at the time (the look on my opponent's face was always awesome whenever I did that). And two, kick some loser butt like there's no tomorrow.

And, resting one hand on Dracomon's hard head to steady myself, I began to do the first of those two things. Since I was always barefoot when I practiced judo, I'd become accustomed to fighting without socks or shoes on. So, whenever I was in for a fight that a lot was resting on or that I really wanted to win…I had to take a second to take off my shoes. Because of that little quirk, I usually got a pretty good advantage over my opponent since they had to try to piece together why it made any sense for me to do such a thing.

Ms. Inekura didn't really seem to notice though, and I guess that it really didn't matter. She clearly had the upper hand here, using Mrs. Sasaki as a human shield and the room having been turned into something that was probably what she was used to fighting in. I wasn't sure if I wanted to charge her or not; she didn't seem like the kind of person to leave any kind of opening for me to come in and get a good strike in—one that I could deliver without having to worry about Mrs. Sasaki getting in the way and getting hurt, anyways.

So, I chose to bide my time. "I found the portal to the…um…" I glanced down at Dracomon for a reminder. He quickly mouthed the answer to forgetful ole' me. "…to the Digital World. And, just figuring from that, your get-up and—" I paused and felt the color drain from my face when the creatures that had rustled in the webs came forth into the moonlight. Spiders. Incredibly big, definitely deadly, furry, disgusting, tear-your-freaking-leg-off-with-a-blink-of-an-eye spiders.

Don't get me wrong, most of the time spiders were pretty cool little guys. They ate mosquitoes, and that made them all right in my book. Some could even be called cute if you really looked at them for a while. But not these suckers. These were the kind of spiders that would carry off a bear, devour it in one gulp, then come back for you and your entire family. And this family consisted of twelve people. And they were giants. Who just got done eating half a continent. Probably Asia.

"…And all your little pets…" I continued as the spiders that were even bigger than Agumon crawled over to surround Ms. Inekura, gesturing to them with a tentative wave of my hand. I couldn't help but shudder at the disturbing thud-thud-thud-thud sound that all those legs made as they moved across the floor. It was like being alone in a classroom and hearing something tapping aggressively on the chalkboard. "…that you're not from any place in the human world, are you?"

The pale-skinned demon woman smiled almost sweetly at me, one hand resting yet again on my guardian's shoulder. I felt that rage begin to eat at my stomach again, but I attempted to ignore it this time. Didn't go well. "I've always enjoyed toying with my prey, and you are quite the prize, so I suppose I could explain before I kill your friend and your little traitor Digimon," Looking away from me for a moment, she took Mrs. Sasaki's injured arm in one hand and, before I could do a single thing to stop her, snapped the bone in her forearm.

"…But I'll have no funny business, or this will happen to her spine, too," My lungs trembled in my chest, heart throbbing with pain as I nodded quickly. This is bad, this is bad, this is very, very bad! I needed an opening! Even the slightest movement in any direction might be all that I needed to be able to sneak in a quick kick to do the job. I had to get Mrs. Sasaki out of there somehow so I could kick that sow's butt for thinking she could come in here and use my friend as a kind of voodoo doll!

I fisted my hands and tried to take a breath. I had to stay calm, bide my time, and watch. She would show a weakness; everyone had weaknesses. "All right, then. How about we start with your real name?" Staring her down hard, I paid special attention to every breath, every little move that she made, and everything that all her little spider friends made. "And what are all of those things?" I pointed to a spider that had been having a staring contest with Dracomon for the past few minutes.

Dracomon was winning. I took that as a good sign.

"I am Arukenimon, and these are Dokugumon, my precious children," One of the smaller spider Digimon came over to the human-like creature's leg and rubbed adoringly up against her lower leg. I couldn't stop myself from staring; I'd seen some disturbing things, but…that really took the cake. "We've come for that—" She pointed at the Holy Ring, Dracomon growling taking a step in front of me as she did. "—and we don't be leaving without it.

"If you know what's good for you and your little friends, you'll hand it over without any fuss," I shook my head in disbelief and couldn't hold back a grin at how moronic this Digimon was being, thinking that I was going to make this nice and easy for her. She should've figured from the little squabble that I'd had with the DATS agents over the egg that this was going to be nothing if not a painful, hair-ripping-out experience—assuming that she'd been watching us all that time.

Chuckling darkly as I began to settle myself into a fighting stance, I taunted her with my gaze as I mocked the spider-surrounded Digimon, "You really don't get it, do you?" My grin disappeared as my rage rekindled within me, fueling my aggression to the point where it was even beginning to affect Dracomon. I heard him begin to growl beside me, the click of his claws as he readied himself to fight. "You think that you can come hurt my friend and threaten me, then demand I give you something precious to me, and actually get away with it?

"I don't think so, you rotten fake!" Anger and a need for revenge getting the best of me, I took a chance and, with Dracomon right at my side, charged Arukenimon and her miniature army. A wave of her pale hand sicked several of the Digimon on us, but it didn't worry me. As long as Dracomon was by my side, there wasn't a single thing that could stop the two of us. These Dokugumon could be the size of professional basketball players and I still wouldn't be afraid. Dracomon and I would always be stronger.

While the antler-like horns began to glow on top of the petite dragon's head and he prepared to shoot one of the Dokugumon with his G-Shurunen attack, another of the gigantic spiders made a move for me. A surge of adrenaline pumping hard through my veins, I leapt up and twisted my body around to gain a bit of momentum before coming full-circle and slamming my foot into the creature's squishy head with as much force as I could muster. With a surprised and pained squeal, the other-worldly arachnid was down.

Dracomon roared as he tackled another of the Dokugumon into the 'edifice' of web, tangling one another in it as they wrestled. I would've gone to give him a hand, but the second that I took a step towards him several of Arukenimon's spawn came at me from the burrows in the web, and two more from the four that acted as guards for the human-like Digimon. It was like every single Dokugumon that had ever existed had access to the room; they never stopped coming!

I heard the rapid thudding of their feet as they hurried to encircle me, just as any pack animal would its prey, their brightly colored fangs glistening in the dim light as they snarled at me. I, however, remained silent, retaking my fighting position, ready for whoever wished to strike first. My breath came fast and heavy, my heartbeat pounding hard in my chest. I wasn't used to fighting such creatures as this; there was no way to forget how insane this was!

Looking around at them, I saw that they could easily catch my arm or leg in their jaws and break it without a single problem. Their bodies, though fleshy and kinda pudgy, were obviously strong, holding within themselves a power that I could sense but not see. I'd already experienced how strong their webs were, like thick wire. If I got caught by even a single strand, I would be done for without a doubt.

These things…they were more than twice my size and more than twice as strong as I was—so what the hell did I think I was doing fighting them like this?! I mean, Dracomon was a Digimon like them so it was somewhat normal for him to do this kind of thing, but a human fighting these creatures?! Had I lost my freaking mind in the last couple of minutes or something? Looking back on things now, I should've used that phone I'd been given to call somebody from DATS instead of—

No. Way.

I fisted my hands for a second before letting them go slack, nice and loose, ready to go. Just breathIn…and out…It's not about power, but forcing theirs to work against them…Just take it easy… I tried to calm myself, focusing on the same words that my sensei usually told me. I knew I could handle these Digimon; they were just spiders on some pretty serious steroids, after all. Nothing all that scary, or powerful. I had no need to be panicky. I could totally do this, and on my own, too.

I didn't need those DATS people to come help me. I didn't need any protecting from anybody.

A scream like that of a girl being stabbed screeched out from the throat of one of the Dokugumon as it jumped towards me, all of the others following suit with a flourish. I heard Dracomon shout my name, but I simply let out a small sigh through my nose and let my body do as it thought best. Every muscle in me was burning and flaring with energy, my bones more than ready to feel that solid impact of flesh against flesh, the indescribable bond that was made in a brawl.

Turning with a determined gaze to the nearest attacker, I locked one arm tightly around the closest leg, my action surprising the dark creature. I grabbed a tight handful of the furry, black flesh that covered its abdomen, and used its momentum and my own strength to fling the Digimon right over my shoulder and into another on-coming Dokugumon before the first had even one second to figure out what the hell was going on.

The fine hairs that had fallen from the spider's body as I'd thrown it bothered my eyes and nose a great deal, beginning to burn slightly when I tried to blink and rub them away. I'd felt worse, but it was still a bother; I didn't think that it would distract me from fighting at my best, though. I did my best to ignore the discomfort since the other Dokugumon were still on the offensive, and Dracomon was still tangled in the webs with his opponent. My fight was still on: Two down, four left.

Dropping down onto the floor, another two of the overgrown arachnids collided with one another above my head, the force of the larger of the two enough that it drove them both into the wall. However, they bounced off of it with a loud thud as if they were made of some kind of thick plastic, and were right back in the battle as if nothing had happened. One shot some kind of web at me, but I dove into a somersault quick enough for it to miss me.

However, as I rose back up onto my feet, some of the web that coated the floor rose up with me, sticking to my back and arms and legs. I raised my arms up to the side and was surprised I could still move at all, though I looked like I had wings made out of lace. Of course, this lace was pretty life-threatening 'cause I was sure to get killed if I accidentally wrapped myself up in this crap.

I almost heard the click as an idea popped into my head.

Turning to look for Dracomon as two of the Dokugumon started toward me with a newly lit anger burning in their faces, I saw him just getting up from having tangled his opponent in a gigantic mess of web. The spider seemed incredibly pissed at how things had ended up, but Dracomon appeared to be quite proud at his success. I'm sure that I would be hearing the full story later on.

"Dracomon!" His head snapping in my direction at my call, the dragon's red eyes were focused intently on me, waiting for whatever command I had. Nodding my head in the direction of the on-coming Digimon, Dracomon cast me an understanding bob of his head before hurrying into the proper position that I would need him to be in if this simple plan was actually going to end up working at all.

The closest Dokugumon appeared a bit puzzled as to why I wasn't trying to come at him with a kick or something, but he didn't put too much thought into it. With what one could call a 'battle cry', he jumped at me, going solo now since his friend was currently being kept at bay by Dracomon. A flash of panic surged through me for a second, knowing that this plan might not work at all and that I might end up dead or close to it if this didn't go how I wanted it. But I pushed it away and kept as cool as possible.

I spun to the side to escape being mauled by the Dokugumon, swinging my arm out to the side as I did so that the web stretched out a bit. Acting as a kind of net, the web fell down over the confused spider Digimon, trapping it as it struggled to break free of the very thing that it had created. However, the more that it fought, the more tangled up it got, and the more stuck it became.

Stomping a foot to call Dracomon off, the dragon creature backed away from the Dokugumon. It charged me, ignoring any warning that his comrade may or may not have given him, and his carelessness was repaid with a tiny prison made out of silk. He and his friend struggled uselessly to escape, but after a moment or two of watching them, I knew that they wouldn't be getting out without outside help anytime soon.

And the final two spider Digimon were too busy getting ready for a final stand-down to be able to help them out. As they settled their plans with one another and began their quick advance, I made several speedy hand motions to Dracomon; he nodded and raced off to distract one of the Dokugumon. He spun his body at a rate that made him difficult to see with the naked eye, slamming his tail into the arachnid's face. Dracomon continued to keep the other Digimon at bay, giving me a chance to focus on the second.

I met my eight-legged opponent in the middle of the room, feeling its hot breath coast over my skin for a brief moment. I resisted the shudder that wanted to creep down my spine at the feeling; it was like a hundred itty bitty little spiders were crawling over my skin. Ignoring the thought and focusing on the fight, I did my best to calm myself. My next idea would have to be a fast one, or it would end quite badly for me since it had to be done at such a close range (of course, all judo was close-range, but…we usually didn't practice against giant spiders).

Feeling the Dokugumon wrap one of its legs around mine, aiming to knock me down and render me helpless, I set my feet sturdily into the web floor, ready. Spinning slightly to the side, I threw my hip into the creature, lifting slightly, but the momentum enough to lift the heavy creature. One hand hurrying to grasp onto the furry black flesh, I used both our momentums to throw him, feeling the strain in my muscles but ignoring it. My opponent, now defeated, landed on top of Dracomon's appropriately placed Dokugumon, both disheveled and wondering what happened.

Dracomon cast me a pleased grin, and I didn't have to wonder why. I returned it as I panted quietly from the effort of throwing such a weighty being, but only briefly. My gaze, heated thoroughly with anger, turned upon Arukenimon, standing behind two Dokugumon and Mrs. Sasaki. The red-dressed Digimon-woman appeared, not worried, but more…surprised than anything. And even that wasn't quite what it.

Nevertheless, her lack of concern both irritated me and made me nervous. But, of course, I still had enough foolish confidence left in me to run my mouth. "I hope you were watching that, lady, 'cause I plan to do ten times worse to you!" With a roar from me that was almost completely drowned out by Dracomon's own battle cry, the two of us ran at Arukenimon, sure that we would be able to get her as easily as those other Digimon.

But I'd never been more wrong.

With a swift movement of her fingers, Arukenimon grinned as Mrs. Sasaki's entire body contorted, her bones snapping as her arms were twisted behind her back. I froze in place as she dropped to her knees with a shriek of pain. A wave of horror passed over me as she was bent backwards until her head was nearly touching her feet. Her voice and body trembled as more and more snapping and popping sounds came from within her.

Arukenimon smiled sickly at me along with all her Dokugumon as a broken bone pierced through my guardian's flesh, making her cry out in agony. I heard a vertebrae pop next, then another soon after, and I knew that this couldn't go on for even a moment longer. Mrs. Sasaki would die if I didn't do something now. "Stop! Just sto—" I was cut off when another Dokugumon that had never come out of the tunnels shot me with webs, trapping my arms against my sides.

The force at which it had hit me knocked me off my feet and onto the ground. The spider tried to run over and attack me while I was incapacitated, but Dracomon slapped him away with his tail. "Baby Breath!" He took in a deep breath before blowing out a red-hot sigh of fire and steam at the black arachnid, sending it scurrying and screaming to the safety of Arukenimon's side.

Thinking that he wouldn't be seeing any more of that Digimon, Dracomon scurried to my side and was just beginning to cut me free with his claws when he was knocked to the ground. "Dracomon!" I rolled over to see what had happened and saw that the Dokugumon that he'd burned had gotten back at him by trapping him the same way he had me. "You okay there?"

He didn't answer right away, but I could tell that he wasn't hurt. Flopping over onto his stomach, the scaly being inch-wormed his way over to me, stopping only when his nose was pressed up against the web wrapped around my torso. He nudged me until I rolled over again, my back now to him. I felt the slightly vibration-like sensation as the reptile began to gnaw as best he was able on my spider-crafted ropes.

After figuring this would take a while, I decided that the best thing I could do at the moment was to buy him some more time by distracting Arukenimon, keeping her from noticing what was going on behind me. However, the spider woman, finally letting Mrs. Sasaki fall limply to the ground now that I was stuck, spoke before I could. "You don't seem to know what you are at all, and yet your power is obvious. How strange—"

"What are you even talking about?!" I knew that this conversation was only supposed to be a cover for Dracomon until he got me free, but I couldn't help myself. Everyone in this city seemed to know more about me than I did, and that was really starting to freak me out. If I could get some information out of this evil creature, then I was going to try my hand and see what I could get. "You keep calling me a…'dragon soul' or something…what the hell is that?" I thought I felt Dracomon pause for a moment in his work, as if he wanted to speak up, but then chose not to.

Arukenimon, on the other hand, seemed more than willing to talk. "Well, little Dragon Soul," She said the 'name' with a taunting voice, and I found out why quickly. "If you don't know by now, then you might never figure it out: You're not like all the other humans. Not at all. Your mother and step-father tried to show you—all your friends in elementary school…I bet their abandonment of you told you pretty clearly just what they thought of your differences.

"Such a sad, lonely creature you must be…" The silver-haired Digital woman chuckled at the shocked look on my face. How did she know about my past? I never talked to anybody about it, and Dracomon hadn't brought it up in ages, so…how…? "Losing your beloved father, the only person in the world who ever truly loved you—even you know that. Your mother fell away from you after he was gone, ran off into another man's arms the first chance she got. And there you were, left all alone—"

"Shut up!" I shouted with a snarl, feeling pain mixed with rage beginning to build within me. It was a thick feeling, not like being sluggish, but like my entire body had been filled with sand, like I was numb but could still feel everything. I heard a sort of snapping sound come from behind me, and immediately the webs around me went loose. Struggling out of it hurriedly, I jumped to my feet, not thinking to untie Dracomon yet.

"You don't know a thing about me, Arukenimon! I don't care if you think you know every single little detail, you've only been here for a few days, for crying out loud! You can't possibly have a clue about my life in such a short amount of time—you're just rephrasing something that you heard from Mrs. Sasaki, making up stupid 'facts' and stupid, sad stories to piss me off!" My breath shuddered for a moment; Dracomon said my name with a heavy dose of concern in his voice.

But I paid no mind to him. Fists clenched so tightly that they were shaking, I closed my eyes tightly and spat with a growl, "I don't care…about my family! So what if my dad's gone?! So what if my mother doesn't care about anything that has to do with me?! So what?! What does it matter to me? It's not like I need a single person on this Earth, so why do you think the past matters to me a bit?!

"Everybody in the world is the same: They act one way for a little while, but then they change and completely tear you apart. It's how life goes, and that's fine with me! I don't need to rely on anybody, so I don't have to worry about that kind of crap. And don't you dare go thinking that it hurt me before with my mom—I don't give a crap about what she does with her life as long as I don't ever have to see her again! And I could care less about Nemoto!

"Screw them, and screw you!" With a deafening shout, I rushed the Digimon, jumping up and over Mrs. Sasaki's crumpled but still living form. Rotating my body around at a quick rate, I swung my leg around as hard as possible, aiming the kick right for Arukenimon's face. But then she…she just wasn't there anymore. Stunned and caught off-guard by how fast she was, I dropped to the floor and looked around hurriedly, seeing Arukenimon on the other side of the room, standing in front of the web-tunnels.

She didn't seem worried at all about my being on the offensive now; in fact, she seemed downright pleased to have me playing this little game of cat and mouse with her. I snarled in response to her confident smirk. "I think you're lying. You do care. That's why you fight so hard to make me think otherwise—" To shut her up, I ran at her again, this time attempting to silence her with a punch. My stance had never been very good when it came to that sort of offense, though, and it was incredibly easy for her to dodge it, grabbing my wrist as she moved to the side.

"You don't remember a lot of things, do you?" A small, almost audible gasp squeezed past the security system in my throat, and I felt a small worm of fear and confusion begin to sneak into my mind. How did she know so much about me? How did everyone seem to know so much about me when I barely even knew who they were?! "You don't remember your father, or that Sampson man, or that Marcus boy you like so much—"

"I don't like him like that!" I snapped fiercely, doing everything in my power to get her cold hand off of me, but in vain. I didn't want to hear her voice anymore, I didn't want her presence here or her pets or their webs. I wanted her and everything that had to do with her to be gone. "Damon and I are always just going to be friends—if that much! And besides, what are my feelings and memories to you? Why do you think that it matters that I can't remember some little things? Why do you care?"

The pale female didn't respond right away, but instead lifted a hand and flicked my Holy Ring with the tips of her fingers, making it spin. "Your emotions and memories will affect how strong this is…" She spun it again, appearing to enjoy the way the gold shimmered in the moonlight. "You'll find out one day just what you can do. And, while I hope for the opposite, the rest of the world will have to pray that you'll know what you're doing on that day—" That's it. I want her gone!

Finally struggling free of her grasp, I stumbled back a few feet. Dracomon was trying to get me to come over and help him out of the webs so that he could help me, but I shook my head at him. My eyes locked on Arukenimon, I gave her my offer, knowing she wouldn't go without one, "You and I are gonna fight. If I win, you take all your Dokugumon and get out of here. If you win—"

"You leave your little Digimon where he is and come back with me to the Digital World," Arukenimon finished for me, flashing me a malevolent, black-lipped smile. She turned to face me, holding her hands out to the side, waiting for my reply. "Well? Do we have a deal or not, little Dragon Soul?" Her voice was encouraging, taunting, wanting for me to give in to her demands without thinking first.

Which is exactly what Dracomon was afraid that I was going to do. "Sumi-chan, don't! You don't know anything about her—she'll hurt you!" I glanced back at him; his eyes were pleading. Inching toward me like a caterpillar, he continued to try to make me see reason. "I can help you—we could digivolve and then she'd never be able to stop us—"

"You know you can't do that," Arukenimon's voice was almost…sorry, or…disappointed. She stepped forward and snatched my wrist before I could move away. Her pale skin was cold and made me shudder; her fingertips were on the Holy Ring, making it tremble. I realized after a second that it wasn't her. I was the one who was trembling. "As long as you wear that Ring…you'll never be able to do it. You're not strong enough with it…

"So…" She tightened her grip and dragged me a little closer to her. Dracomon shouted for me and tried to get closer, but a Dokugumon slammed a pointed foot down on his back to keep him still. I turned my face away and my stomach flopped around in my gut. Before, I recalled her perfume smelling like spring flowers, but now she stank like death. "Why don't you take off that silly piece of gold and we'll play then, yes?" Her white teeth seemed to glow menacingly behind the lips of a rotting corpse.

Her offer was…tempting, at best. Her words had caught my attention before, all that talk of me being stronger than any other human, being stronger than what I gave myself credit for. I had no idea what she was talking about, but who could refuse a test-run when that was what you got to try out? I could imagine how good it would feel, having the ability to crush her skull with a mere glance or a wave of my hand.

She deserved nothing more than that, after all, didn't she? I would be avenging Mrs. Sasaki's pain, getting revenge for all the harm and trouble that she'd brought Dracomon and I. Arukenimon deserved to hurt, and I wanted to be the one to make her hurt more than anything else in the world right now. I wanted to be the one to make her scream this time, instead of her doing so to my friend. I wanted to—

"Masumi!" Dracomon's call snapped me from my thoughts and I twisted my head around to stare at him. He was right beside me now, his head leaning against my lower leg. There was a look in his eyes that I didn't recognize, something beyond sadness, something…something deeper than that. Why does he look so…guilty? "You can't listen to her! She's a liar, and nothing more! If you take off that Ring, she'll kill Mrs. Sasaki and everyone else in the city!

"I know you're really mad, but you can't let it control your decisions, Sumi-chan. I know it's hard, but you have to think about what's best, not what you want," He moved a little closer and gestured to the webs that still encased him; I continued to listen as I bent down, shoved an indignant Arukenimon away, and helped him get un-stuck. "I'm mad, too, but it's more important to protect you and Mrs. Sasaki than it is to get back at Arukenimon. You know?"

His words were like him, and then again they weren't. I couldn't get over how he'd looked when he'd said them, how it was like he was saying it for himself as well, and I didn't understand that. But now Dracomon was standing beside me, ready to fight whether or not he could digivolve, and those confusing thoughts drifted away. I knew this creature, this person, and he would never lie to me, nor would he let me down.

So it was only right that I hold up my end of this friendship as well. "Sorry, but you heard the dragon," I said to Arukenimon in a rather spiteful tone, having cut her off just as she was about to insult my Digimon for the sentiment in his tone. A mocking grin slipped onto my face and I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly. "And you know, if you would've done your homework on me a bit better, you would've found that I don't take orders from thugs like you who need help from defenseless old ladies."

I don't think that I'd ever seen someone so pissed off from an insult that came out of my mouth. Or anyone's mouth, really. I thought I could feel the tension rise in the room, feel the heat of her anger as she seethed with bared teeth. Dracomon tried to push me behind him, but I was too transfixed by the dark glow that had begun to envelop the pale woman to be able to move. I suddenly was not so confident about this fight, and was not feeling so safe being only two meters away from the seething queen of arachnids.

"You…rotten, foolish, mindless spawn of Satan and science!" I flinched and took several steps back at the sheer volume of hate and malice that had bled into her voice. I rested an apologetic hand on Dracomon's head as we watched the scene unfold before us; I'd gone too far. "All your power, all your abilities…and you waste it all on a pathetic human existence! You waste it all trying to fit in with those other humans! Trying to be like them, trying to ignore the fact. That. You're. Not!

"Your Digimon knows it—he may not know it as well as I, but he can feel it just as everyone else can the moment that you walk into a room. You were never like the other children, and if it wasn't for your father you never would've been able to make any friends at all! You're not a regular teenager like all those kids in your class—those stupid DATS people are more normal than you! And you know that's saying something!

"I saw the dreams that exist in your mind—they're vivid and beautiful things, or at least they were when you were young. Nowadays, you don't have pretty dreams anymore, do you? They're all nightmares and good things gone awry in the most awful way. You re-live the moment that your father died over and over again, seeing the blood spray and hearing his dying scream as it burned its way into your head and forever into your memories—" Her words, fueled by obvious insanity, were brought to a sudden stop when Dracomon shot the woman in the face with his G-Shurunen attack.

She screamed in both pain and surprise as she fell over backwards, rolling over onto her side as she tried to blink the broken shards of her tinted glasses from her eyes. Rubbing at her burned skin and tugging at her singed and smoking hair, her body began to emit a dark black and purple aura, her skin beginning to prickle and ripple as if something was trying to burst out from within her. There was a deep, beast-like growl crawling out of her throat, as well as several curses spoken in a language that I didn't know.

My stomach was beginning to do nervous flops and I felt like I was going to vomit, but Dracomon didn't seem as bothered. Maybe because he knew what was going on while I had not the slightest clue. Tapping him on the head, I gestured to the lady and made a small '…what?' noise. Every word that I knew had high-tailed it a while ago, fearing for its life like I knew I should've been. And it didn't really help when Dracomon 'explained', "She's really mad. She's gonna change bodies so that it's easier to kill us."

…Oh, gee. That's great. I groaned quietly when Arukenimon's human-like body contorted and she laughed maniacally before being encased by light that sent a static-like sensation into the air around us. Dracomon hadn't said she was digivolving, so she probably wouldn't get any stronger, but the shock factor that her new…form had was…quite the advantage.

She looked like what the lovechild of a human and a spider would be: Creepy, ugly, and gross as hell. Her torso was human, but she had the legs and abdomen of a giant red spider. She was almost too tall for the room, only a few inches of space left between the top of her horned head and the ceiling. A grin was plastered on her face, and I wouldn't have cared all that much if her mouth wasn't filled with shark-like teeth ready to tear me to bits.

…Maybe I should've thought this through a bit more…

Seeing the fear on my face, the spider demon grinned devilishly. "You don't seem as eager to fight as before. Has the Dragon Soul decided to surrender already?" My fingers trembled slightly as I let my body go loose, taking a fighting stance. Was I afraid? Undoubtedly. But was I anywhere near surrender just yet? Not a chance. Fear by itself wasn't enough to stop me.

"I'm gonna make you stop calling me that…" I growled tenaciously, my voice quiet but steady and unwavering. Strong enough to hide my confusion and fear. "I'm not what you think that I am—I'm not what any of these people think I am, and I don't want to be what they think I am! How can they know who I am when I haven't got a clue?!" I started to take a step forward, aiming for a takedown move, but was caught off-guard by a single wave of Arukenimon's wide hand.

For a moment, I thought that she was going to hurt Mrs. Sasaki again, and I tried to prepare myself for the sickening snap and the horrid scream, but nothing came. Rapid steps pounded the floor, and by the time I realized what was going on it was too late for me to do anything. The Dokugumon has regrouped while I was distracted by my conversation with Arukenimon, and they were ready to go on the offensive again.

But not against me. "Sumi-chan!" Dracomon called out my name as the spider Digimon surrounded him, snapping at his tail with every twitch that it made, others attempting to catch him in their webs. The dragon was fast enough to evade their attempts, but he couldn't last very long when there were so many of them going after him at once. He gave me a pleading look, and I answered without a second thought.

I abandoned my little showdown with the scarlet arachnid in favor of helping my friend, but hadn't made it more than two steps before I found myself thrust up against the wall by the enemy I'd momentarily ignored. Arukenimon's huge hands (at least the length of my torso from the tips of her fingers to her wrist) crushed my body as they suspended me off the ground. I had to keep her disgusting grin and disturbing, unblinking stare away from me by holding her head back by the horns that protruded from both sides of her head.

Amber irises were lost in a sea of black as her pupils dilated, staring at me so hard that I thought her eyes might pop right out of her head. She let out a sigh while pressing a thick finger against my neck, using another to tug my hair back so she could see my face better, and I had to hold my breath to keep from vomiting at her smell. It was like rotten road-kill and old tennis shoes, but that smell had mixed together with that of an old perfume that must've been used to try to conceal the stench. But of course that only made it much worse.

Her shark-like teeth appeared even more deadly this close up, and I put more effort into pushing her head away once her smile revealed them. I tried to put my leg up to kick her backward, but the bottom of her cream-hued palm was pressed tightly against my hip, so I was unable to swing my leg in a way that would actually do anything if it did hit her. Arukenimon chuckled at my sad attempts to defend myself and I scowled darkly.

"I should kill you," A large, pointed finger bent and traced its way from my temple down my face to my jawline, tugging at my eyelid slightly when it got there. Her smile had faded slightly and there was a loathsome envy buried deep in her dark gold eyes. "You're cuter than me, maybe prettier, too. I can't stand by and let a girl like you live to make any use of it." A deep frown replaced her smile for a moment, as if she were close to changing her mind about not killing me.

Scoffing at her words, I tried to resituate myself under her hand. "Well that's not very hard to do when you look like you came crawling out of a horror movie—" Her frown turned deadly as she pressed her fingers hard against my neck and skull, wordlessly but easily silencing me. I couldn't breathe for a moment and all of the colors blended together in the most threatening way, but it lasted only a second or two. Arukenimon lessened the pressure and her voice turned black as a cavern at the bottom of the sea.

"You're the one who crawled out of a horror film, Dragon Soul…" I thought about making a comment but decided at the last second that it would probably be better that I didn't. "And that's why you're lucky enough to win a penny's worth of my mercy. I won't kill you yet, but until you fully submit to me…" A greenish mist began to seep from her mouth as her smile slowly returned; the gas burned quickly through my shirt sleeves and singed my arms, making it harder and harder to hold back Arukenimon's head. "I'll have to at least maim you."

Dracomon was shouting my name again, trying to get to me and slamming his tail as hard as he could into the Dokugumon in order to do so. But most of them were more prepared for his attacks this time and were quick to either evade him or get back up onto their feet. The moment that they realized how much easier it would be to go after him as a mob instead of one or two at a time, they all jumped on him at once and he was lost in a sea of dark flesh and fangs.

"Dracomon—" I grunted, flinching as my head was shoved roughly against the wall again by Arukenimon's palm. The great spider beast wasn't about to let me get away, and her horrifically wide mouth opened up enough to swallow my entire head, making each and every single one of her razor-like teeth completely bare before me. I swallowed hard and turned my face away with eyes closed tight, shielding them from both the sight and the burning sensation that the acid mist gave off even from the back of her throat.

I struggled against the force that crushed me, tried to kick her away, shove her horned head away from me, but I wasn't strong enough to move her more than a few inches. Every second that passed, the stinging pain grew with every breath, more and more until I thought that I could smell my flesh burning. This…could I really lose to this creature with such high stakes…?

My temple pressed tight to the wall to get as far from Arukenimon as possible, I cracked my eyes open a sliver. The sight that I was met with turned my insides cold, as if I'd been out in a blizzard for too long or had been frozen solid. Mrs. Sasaki was on the floor perhaps a bit more than a meter away, laying crumpled and broken in several places on the white-webbed floor. Blood was dripping down from her silvering hairline, bruises forming on her cheek and neck. I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

Mrs. Sasaki…and Dracomon…they both had been so good to me, good to everyone. Mrs. Sasaki had taken me in when I had nowhere else I could go to get away from my mother and Nemoto, nowhere I could go where Dracomon would be safe and I might not have to hide him anymore. Mom had told me to get rid of him four years ago, and I'd been able to hide him for a while, but…but I couldn't do that to him. And Mrs. Sasaki…from the first moment that she'd met him…

She accepted him. Accepted me.

She had her faults, her bad days, just as everyone did, but I couldn't ignore the goodness in her. That woman had been so afraid of Dracomon for the first few days, but she'd grown to love him in a mere month because she'd strived to get to know him. She actually tried—something that many people didn't do when they were faced with a relationship that didn't come easily to them. Something my mother had never done.

And Dracomon…my best friend, who had been my only friend during my elementary years…he always stood beside me. Not once had I ever heard him complain all those years that he'd needed to stay hidden, when he'd had to hide in the dark all day and I had to sneak about just to feed him and spend time with him. He was just happy to be with me, and I was unable to say the same about anyone else.

"And that's why…" I turned my head slowly back to face Arukenimon's menacing teeth and scorching, acid breath. "I'm going to make sure you pay for what you've done to them…" Without thinking hardly at all, I released one of the red spider's horns and grabbed her slimy tongue, startling her enough to get her to cease her attack and stare at me in bewilderment.

In her surprise, her grasp on me had lessened enough for me to shimmy down enough to the point where my hip was free to move. Using this to my advantage before she realized what was going on, I swung my leg up and drove my knee hard into her pale jawline, enjoying her cry of pain a bit too much. She dropped me like I'd scorched her hand and I thudded onto the ground with an unprepared grunt.

Panting and staring at the spider queen as she rubbed her swelling jaw, trying to figure out what had happened, I tried not to think about what I'd narrowly escaped from. "Sumi-chan! If you're not busy, I could use a hand!" Snapping back to reality at my friend's nervous voice, I jumped to my feet and ignored the shaking in my knees as I rushed to the dragon's aid. Leaping into the air with a small battle cry, I spun around mid-air and sent my bare foot crashing into one of the Dokugumon, knocking him off of my Digimon and into the wall.

I was just rearing back to attempt another punch at one that had snapped at me when my arm was caught with webs that sliced into my skin like scissors, stinging and drawing blood. Turning my head back slightly, my eyes widened in fear when I saw Arukenimon, but my sight was stolen from me for a moment when more webs were sent flying at me, cutting my face and body. The rapidness from the attack had caught me off-guard and I stumbled back, falling backward into the wall next to the open door.

I dropped to the ground biting back a cry of pain, feeling a burning sensation creeping up my leg from my ankle. When I raised the leg of my jeans to look, I saw that blood was beginning to seep down from a cut on my shin made by the webs, but nothing appeared wrong with my foot at the moment. I knew I'd twisted it or something, I'd done it before, but not during something like this. All of these wounds…they didn't feel normal to me. It was all…different somehow.

They hurt like hell, yeah, but…it was like I couldn't avoid them no matter what I did. Why was Arukenimon so much stronger than me? Why could she recover from my offensive tactics so much faster than what I could from hers? Why…why did it feel like I had no chance of winning against this scarlet demon?

The silver-haired spider chuckled darkly as she approached me, her voice laced with silk and malice. I put my good leg up and braced it against the fluffy red and black hair of her abdomen, keeping her at bay as well as I could. "You're not as strong as I thought you'd be; if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're not even the one that I'm supposed to find. But you must be with that Holy Ring—"

"So what if I've got it?" I shifted my foot a bit, my body and voice trembling at the effort of keeping her away, though I knew that she was barely pushing against me. "Maybe it's special in your world, but it's not here in mine. It's only important to me because it's all I've got to remember my dad; it's not something that means I've got 'powers' or whatever else you think is different about me. But I'm not different…not because of that…"

How I'm different…how am I different, then? What's wrong with me…? I lowered my gaze from her burning stare, looked instead at the webs that were swaying due to a draft. I'd had that feeling for such a long time…Dracomon thought that we'd worked it out of my system over these past few years, but…I couldn't let it go. No matter what I said to him, or Arukenimon, or even Mrs. Sasaki…

There was something that wasn't right about me, wasn't normal. And I loathed that.

"I…" The hand gripping my wounded arm began to tremble, and I could feel my soul baring itself before Arukenimon's evil. It was as if there was something about the darkness of another's soul that made me feel…safe enough to talk about this. "It's not like I did anything to make them hate me…I stay away from people because they don't want me around…I mean, I don't mind being alone sometimes, but…I don't…" I don't want to be this lonely anymore. I don't want to be afraid that I'll feel this way forever.

Everything seemed to freeze around us; the Dokugumon, Dracomon, as well as Arukenimon. I heard Dracomon mutter my name with concern and sadness, but I didn't look at him. A single thud was made when one of the spider-Digimon shoved him to the ground in his trance, his crimson eyes gripping onto me as if he had his scaly arms wrapped around me. I was sure that he would've if the dragon would've if he wasn't trapped in a spider-dog-pile.

My gaze snapped up from the floor when the red Digimon that had me cornered began to giggle quietly, the sound growing steadily until it filled the entire room. Her horrible eyes stared at me with dark intent as her saw-like smile stretched almost to her ears. "At least you're not living in complete denial, Dragon Soul, but I'm sure you'll come full-circle soon enough.

"But until then…" Her hand shot down and grabbed me around the upper torso before I could scream, some of her pale flesh covering my mouth and smothering whatever part of a shout I'd been able to manage. Reacting was out of the question when Arukenimon's speed was involved; before I had a second to do anything, I found myself being thrown across the room, crashing into the far wall. My head hit the ground hard, and I felt the solid thud it made more than I heard it. "You lose."

I groaned at the white-hot and ringing pain that pounded through my head as I tried to get up, needing to prove her wrong, needing to win this. I couldn't let Arukenimon win; she'd stay true to her word and take me away from this world so a place I didn't belong in, she'd take me from Dracomon and Mrs. Sasaki, take me from them so I couldn't help them. And if she'd ever needed my help, Mrs. Sasaki especially needed it now. And Dracomon…

But my arms gave out underneath me and I hit the ground again. Black began to crawl into my vision as Arukenimon's giggle bit through the darkness and clawed at my ears, joined by sounds of struggling between Dracomon and the Dokugumon. Colors were beginning to blend together so I wasn't sure what I was looking at anymore when I glanced slowly around the room, but I was pretty sure that Arukenimon was drawing closer, saying something in that condescending tone of hers.

I wasn't sure what she was saying, but I heard the word 'kill' a lot for sure, and she mentioned me, Dracomon, and Mrs. Sasaki, too. However, I didn't have to know what she was saying to know that it wasn't good. Come on... My thoughts spun viciously in my brain as I struggled to force my body to get back into the fight. I can't give up now! Bones, muscles, mind—come on! My will alone isn't enough, I need everything!

But I couldn't get my body to rise; I couldn't move except for the shuddering of my muscles as they tried to obey my throbbing brain. Everything was beginning to fade now, sounds, feelings, the scent of insect and burning and blood, everything was fading into the darkness. The last thing that I heard was Dracomon's voice, so deep and determined that even in my current state, I could never forget it, "Sumi-chan won't go back to that world until she wants to! Sumi-chan needs to understand before she goes back; I need to say I'm sorry before she goes back…so I won't let you take her!"


A pounding in my head began, like a drummer after having a few too many coffees, when several bangs and thuds sounded from all areas of the room. Footsteps were like atomic bombs going off right beside my head, but the voice that I heard saying my name was distant and fuzzy. There were two, actually; one of the speakers brushed a hair back from my face and my curiosity grew stronger than the pain. I had to know who was here with me.

I regretted it the moment that I tried to open my eyes, but I forced them open and was just in time to see several men in reflective yellow and white uniforms carrying Mrs. Sasaki out of the room on a stretcher. My gaze followed them for a moment before my attention was caught by someone much closer. He looked sort of familiar, and he was saying something to someone very close by my head.

As things began to become clearer and clearer to my un-fogging mind, I realized that I was laying on my back on the floor of Mrs. Sasaki's room, now barren of all spider Digimon and webs. My head was resting against Yoshi Fujieda's knees; her hands were on either side of my head, keeping it from leaning awkwardly to the side. I looked up at her and she smiled brightly. "She's awake!"

Thinking it strange for her to say something like that to herself, I searched for someone that she could be talking to. I felt my heart leap from surprise when my gaze was met by Marcus Damon's grinning face. "Finally!" I stared at the boy's enigmatic but light-filled face for a moment before quickly looking away. I gulped; why did I have to feel and act so stupidly around him? He was no different than any other boy, aside from the Digimon thing.

I inwardly groaned at my own incompetence, but neither Marcus nor Yoshi seemed to notice. Marcus glanced up at the magenta-haired girl as he said, "Yoshi, I'm gonna go make sure that nothing got left behind when Arukenimon ran off. Think you can get Masumi down to the paramedics, or do you want me to carry her?" My face flushed a bright red and all darkness and haziness fled from my mind and body. There was no way that boy was going to carry me out of here like an injured fawn.

"I'm…I'm fine!" I spat as I sat up, though it took a bit more effort than what I'd been anticipating. My back was aching and my ankle was burning; the cuts and bruises that were basically all over my body all were sore and red. It was at times like these when I wished I was a better actress—but lying would do. "I can get there myself; I'm not that hurt." To prove that to them, I rose to my feet—er, foot. I couldn't put any pressure on my swollen ankle without making the pain obvious and ruining my cover.

Aside from the chatter of the paramedics and police in the room with us, it was silent as I stared hard at Marcus. He seemed surprised as how vehemently I'd declined assistance, but before he could say anything about it, his phone made a small beeping noise. "It's Marcus…" The brunette answered, turning away from our heated staring contest for a moment. It was quiet for a moment, and then he ended the call with a soft 'click' noise.

"Thomas," He explained briefly when Yoshi asked about the call. "He's still getting Digimon signals all over the place, so he's going to go talk with the neighbors again to see if they saw anything else. Agumon and I are gonna take a look around and take care of anything Arukenimon left behind," Marcus cast me one last glance before turning to walk out of the room in front of some policeman. I caught a mischievous grin as it crossed his face. I scowled slightly, but I wasn't sure if it was because of him or me.

My heart was pounding as hard as my head was, the tempo high and uncontrolled. The thoughts that rushed around my head ranged from one extreme to another, each one more infuriating and irritating than the next. While my heart was ready to swoon over the brunette, what with his bright eyes and contagious smile, maybe hunt him down after all of this crap settled down more, my mind was lecturing me about how stupid and pathetic that would be, how humiliating it was to like somebody. How easy it was to be let down.

I scoffed at how quickly the thoughts of romance had quieted. Not so strong when faced with reality, are you, heart? With my soul now silenced, I decided that now was as good a time as any to go see how Mrs. Sasaki was doing. Forgetting for a moment about my own injuries, I took a step forward with my hurt foot and nearly came crashing down to the floor when the searing pain tore through my body. I would've fallen if Yoshi hadn't grabbed me and made me lean on her.

Her voice was smiling as she started to lead me out of the room, holding one of my arms over her shoulders with one of hers wrapped around my back. "You're even more bullheaded than I thought, refusing help that you clearly need. Is it pride with you, or what?" Ruefully, I leaned heavily on her shoulder as we started down the steps. I was keeping a tense lookout for Dracomon; he wouldn't let himself be seen, I knew, but I needed to know where the hell he was. Yoshi's question barely registered in my ears.

"No, that's not it," I murmured as we neared the bottom of the steps, passing by a pair of policemen that were checking for evidence. I wasn't sure what the DATS agents had told them to hide the fact that Digimon had been present, but it must've been good to completely pull the wool over their eyes. "I just don't want your help—" I don't want to foolishly depend on someone and give them the chance to tear me apart. "—and you can be sure that nothing like this will ever happen again where I'll need it."

The young adult didn't respond with anything more than rolling her eyes and wearing an almost amused smile, like she found my hostility to be entertaining in a way. I guessed that, being in this line of work, she often had to deal with people like me, so it didn't bother her as much as it might've others. Or maybe she'd found my vehement denial of Marcus's help humorous in a way, how I'd stared him down as I had, daring him to even make a move to pick me up and carry me.

"How are you with teamwork, then?"

Her question startled me a little, and I gave her a confused glance as we walked—I was kind of hobbling, but still—out the front door. Yoshi waved away a paramedic when he came running over to get me, dismissively saying how I wasn't that banged up and that she would take care of me. The man seemed conflicted for a moment, but didn't argue. He hurried back to his fellow medics as Yoshi led me over to the DATS squad car, having me sit in the front seat while she tended to my injuries, her question still in the air.

But I wasn't really sure what to tell her. There were plenty of opportunities during school for group projects and partner-work and what not, but I hardly ever took part in such things. It wasn't that I didn't want to be a part of a group, but…it was rare that someone wanted me in their group. It was like people were…intimidated by me, and maybe that was my own fault somehow. I wasn't exactly approachable most of the time, and it was far from the truth to say that I exerted a friendly aura.

But still…it was like something…beyond that.

"…I'm okay, I guess," I finally replied, shrugging my shoulders slightly as she came back from the trunk of the car with a first-aid kit. I felt my face flush and I looked away from the other girl. "I…I'm just not the kind of person who—" A hiss of pain cut my explanation short; Yoshi was working on taking off my socks and shoes so that she could get a better idea of what happened with my ankle. Her mind wasn't here with us at the moment, so she wasn't exactly being as gentle as she could be.

Struggling against the urge to shove her away, I muttered to her in a harsh but quiet voice, "I'd really prefer that my foot stays connected and useful to the rest of my body, if you don't mind…" The throb was intense after she'd bared my foot, but it began to dull slowly when she held an icepack against the swelled flesh. I sighed through my nose; it actually felt much better than what I'd thought it would.

Having ignored my previous comment, Yoshi went back to my answer to her question. "Well, when you are in a group, what do you do? Can you follow orders, or are you more the type to give them?" I gave her an inquisitive look, but she ignored it and waited for my response. I didn't understand why she was asking me all of this. Shouldn't she be asking stuff about what happened with Arukenimon or something?

Thinking both about how to answer and why she was asking, I turned my gaze away from her and looked around the yard. Thomas was close by with some policemen, probably close enough that if he listened hard enough he would be able to hear us. I heard one of the men say that there had been some kind of 'out-of-this-world' disturbance that had alarmed one of the neighbors to the point that he called the police. Before the man had even finished speaking, Thomas's pale eyes had turned curiously to me.

I quickly looked down, now understanding what was going on. Sampson wanted me in DATS, and would undoubtedly add me to their trio. Thomas and Yoshi wanted to know what kind of a person would be—more like wouldn't be—joining their team. A deep frown now set into my face at this new knowledge, I responded with a question of my own. "Will he…will Sampson force me to join DATS?"

Yoshi looked up at me with surprise at first, but then her eyes softened and she glanced down at my black and blue ankle. She thought for a moment, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to think of the best way to get her thoughts across. Finally, she told me, "No, he won't. He'll strongly encourage, and we will, too, but…you don't have to.

"Sampson knows better than anyone how much of a risk is involved with a job like this. We fight Digimon that come into this world to cause chaos, and sometimes we go to the Digital World to help the Digimon there. It's a dangerous job, but somebody's got to do it, you know? It's one of those things were if you had the choice, most people would take a glance at one of our missions and be out of there faster than a cat at the vet—"

"Or Yoshi at the optometrist," Yoshi's face turned red at the sound of what I assumed to be her partner's high-pitched but not irritating voice. The wine-eyed girl growled something at her Digimon friend in a tone as dark as the blush on her face. I smiled a little at the scene and Yoshi shot me a warning look that only made my grin bigger.

Yoshi stood from her kneeling position and took my arm, disinfecting the flesh before beginning to wrap it up in gauze. "Ignore Lalamon, please. If she thinks she's funny, which she's not—" She added that part more for the Digimon than for me. "—then she's just going to keep making bad and untrue jokes." There was a small grin playing on her face, like she really didn't mean what she said, and I didn't have to know her very well to know that was true. Good friends often poked fun at one another because of how good of friends they were; they both knew not to take it to heart.

Thinking of friends reminded me again of Dracomon and where he might be at the moment. No one had come running and screaming out of the house yet, so he obviously hadn't been found yet if he was hiding in there. The little creature probably wouldn't have gone that far to hide if he wasn't in the house, but I didn't see any other place that he could be hiding that was close by. There were some bushes in front of one of the neighboring houses, but they appeared completely undisturbed, so it was unlikely that he was there.

My heart stopped when a horrifying thought wandered into my brain. Was there any chance that Arukenimon had taken Dracomon back to the Digital World with her? Did she think that maybe if she took him, I'd come running after to try to get him back? If that was what she was thinking, not to mention what happened, then she was absolutely right. I had to go get him back! He was my best friend after all, wasn't he? Of course I'd go get him!

I knew better than to mention my thoughts to Yoshi, though. Instead, I asked her about something else that had been troubling my mind, "Hey, did you find out how Mrs. Sasaki's doing? I saw that they took her out of the room upstairs on a stretcher, but I didn't really see her or hear anything that they said about her…" Yoshi sighed a little as she started to pack up the medical supplies.

"It was a miracle that she was still alive when the paramedics got there. She has all kinds of cuts and bruises, her arm was savagely broken, and her spine was broken in two places, not to mention of the mental and emotional damage she must've taken from the experience. She was starting to slip into a coma when they got her in the ambulance to take her to the hospital. I don't know how she's doing now, though." Concern softened her fair face. "Are you okay?"

Knowing she meant other than my physical well-being, I averted my gaze as I lied, "Yeah, I'm fine," Yoshi kept her eyes on me, not sure if she wanted to believe me or not. I couldn't look back at her without betraying my true thoughts. "If you have other DATS-things to go and do, you can. Really, I'm okay." I returned my gaze to her and we locked eyes for a moment before she glanced back at Thomas. He looked back and they exchanged a few thoughts just through their expressions. Thomas nodded and started walking towards one of the neighboring houses.

Yoshi turned back to me with a hand on her hip, cleared her throat and said, "Well, if you're doing all right, then I should go with Thomas to talk with the neighbor who called for help in the first place…" She paused for a moment, then continued as she started to turn to hurry after Thomas. "Don't go anywhere, okay? I'm going to want to clear some stuff up with you after we finish up with the guy who called the police." Without another word, she dashed after the blonde, leaving me alone with my true feelings.

And I was most definitely not okay.

Mrs. Sasaki was so incredibly injured that she could be near death at the moment, or she might want to be once she was conscious enough to recall the horrors she'd gone through. She would have to spend countless hours in physical therapy, and that was assuming that she'd be able to move at all after those breaks in her spine. She'd be beyond lucky to recover from that. And her mind…

"This is all my fault…" I dropped my face into my hands, and the rough feeling of the gauze wrapped around my hand and wrist make me feel worse rather than better. Sure, I'd tried my best to fight Arukenimon and the Dokugumon, but my best had been nowhere near enough even with Dracomon with me. I wasn't strong enough as a human; where was all that power that Arukenimon had been talking about? I'd never felt any of it!

And Dracomon…now thanks to my weakness, he was gone. Arukenimon had to have taken him back to the Digital World after she'd beaten me, hoping that I'd come chasing after him.…Wait. I raised my head up from my hands, resting my fingers lightly against my mouth as I thought. That doesn't make any sense at all. If she beat me…she would've just taken me and probably killed Dracomon so that he wouldn't come after me…but then where the hell is—

My pondering was interrupted when the head of the very dragon that I'd been worried about peeked around the side of the car. "Sumi-chan!" He half-whispered as he ran to my side, jumping onto the floor of the car beside me so he could hide in the shadows and not be seen by the other people. Bright red eyes smiled at me and his little red wings flickered slightly as he contentedly grasped my unhurt arm. But his smile faded quickly. "…Why are you crying, Sumi-chan?"

Shocked at his question, my fingers flew to my cheek and I felt the tears streaming down from my eyes like little rivers. I brushed them away quickly, but more kept coming. "I…I was just so…" I laughed bitterly, though it sounded much more like sobbing, and flung my arms around the scaly teal creature. "I was so afraid…that you were gone…Where were you?" I let him go enough that I could look him in the eyes, but kept him close.

"Well, after you fell unconscious, I was fighting Arukenimon but she was too strong and threw me against a dresser and I passed out. When I woke up, I was afraid that I wasn't going to see you, but you were still laying on the ground and all the webs were gone. There were sirens outside and bright red and blue and white lights, and Yoshi was holding you and trying to wake you up, while Marcus was by me saying that I had to get up and hide before—Marcus!" I looked up at the Digimon's outburst and saw the brunette coming over to us; he smiled at Dracomon's excitement.

Remembering the tears on my face, I hurriedly brushed them away as he neared us. "Hey," He said almost casually while leaning against the side of the car by me. Hazel eyes looked me up and down, but not in a condescending way, more like he was seeing how banged up I was. Appearing somewhat relieved, Marcus's eyes met mine in a way that almost felt soft. I looked away quickly, face slowly turning pink. "You seem better. How do you feel?"

I sighed quietly. That question was much more to me than what Marcus was probably hoping for. For him, it was probably just an 'okay', 'good', or 'not so great' kind of question/answer. But to me, it wasn't only that. And honestly, I couldn't group how I felt into any of those three categories. What I was feeling right now was bigger than all of those things combined. I was guilty and upset and angry and sad all at once, and more than that: I'd let Mrs. Sasaki and Dracomon down.

"…I should've been able to stop her…" I muttered almost inaudibly, surprising myself by allowing my guilty thoughts to slip from my heart and into the air. I clenched my hands into fists at the thought of her face; I wished hard for a chance to kick in the face one more time. "I…because we can't digivolve like you guys, I…I fought her with the stuff I know from judo, mainly, but…it wasn't enough…I wasn't good enough…"

There was a heavy silence between us, and I felt my face flush an even darker shade of red. I knew that I should've have said anything, I knew that he would think that I was either a fool for doing what I had or not even believe me at all. I waited with a heart weighted down with soreness and hurt, waited for him to scold me for 'doing something so dangerous' or for 'thinking with my heart and not my head'.

"You…you fought a Digimon? A Champion-Level Digimon?" I started to open my mouth to tell him to shut up, go to hell, or something like that, but was shocked into silence when a huge grin lit up his face and he laughed. Looking up at him with confused eyes, I thought for a moment that he didn't believe me, but was quickly proven wrong. "You fought a Digimon like that all by yourself and only came out with a few cuts and a sprained ankle? Your first ever fight with a Digimon, and those kinds of results upset you? Ha! For not fighting Digimon at all, I think you did pretty great!"

I blushed at his praise and looked away, feeling sort of embarrassed, but better. I would've told most people to shut up by now, said that they were just saying that to say it and didn't really mean it at all, but Marcus…he really seemed to mean it. It was so genuine, like the way that he was smiling at me. He was truly being honest with me. "A lot of other people wouldn't have fought back like that, so you should be proud. Things could've gone a lot worse if you hadn't, you know."

I lowered my gaze even further at his words, now staring at my feet, but a smile was tugging at the corners of my mouth. Marcus was right, no matter how much I wanted to brush off his words and rubbish and say that he didn't really think that. I wanted to say that he was lying and that things couldn't have possibly gone worse, but…I knew just as well as he that they could've. And my actions had made a difference in the outcome.

"…Yeah…I didn't beat her, but I kept her from doing all the harm that she'd planned to," I smiled at the ground for a moment more before getting enough courage to turn to Marcus. The brunette's grin made my heart flutter, but I did my best to ignore it. "At least now she knows that not all humans are going to submit so easily."

Marcus chuckled. "That's for sure. I mean, you got her to go running off like you tried to set her on fire or something!" A blank look crossed his face. "Oh, that reminds me…" He tugged a light brown, floral-print blanket from over his shoulder; I recognized it as one that Mrs. Sasaki owned. I had been too nervous to look at him all that closely, so I hadn't even realized he had it with him. "I thought you might get cold sitting out here, so I brought this for you." He held it out to me in a fist, and I hesitantly took it from him.

Blushing, I tried desperately to ignore the butterflies building in my stomach as I wrapped it around my shoulders. It was rather cold out, but I hadn't thought much about it due to all the other things that had haunted my mind. "…Thanks, Damon…" I murmured quietly, trying to think of something else to say before an awkward silence set in but coming up empty. Dracomon was apparently appreciative of the blanket as well, since I felt him pull some of it down to cover him, too.

Thankfully, I was saved from a possible silence by Thomas and Yoshi returning. "Find out anything?" Marcus asked them as they came over and stopped in front of the two of us. There was a distant look on Thomas's face as he thought about what they must've been told, and Yoshi wasn't acting much different than he. She seemed just as confused as the blonde, but it didn't appear to bother her as much.

Yoshi was the one to answer. "We spoke with the man who'd first called the police for help, which he did a few minutes before we arrived on the scene. He told us that he was woken from his sleep by his car alarm going off, so he got up to go and turn it off, but when he did he saw a bright flash of blue light come from the upstairs window—the room where you and Mrs. Sasaki were, Masumi. He said that he heard something that…he said it was like a beast's roar, like a lion, but not quite.

"After the roar he heard, all kinds of electrical appliances in his house started to act strangely, like turning on and off on their own and some even short-circuited. The power then flashed on and off for a moment all over the neighborhood, he said, and all the other car alarms were going off now as well. Then…" She paused for a moment. "Then when the light went away, everything was quiet again…"

A startled silence muted everyone, and I lowered my head into my hands again. I wanted so badly to recall any part of that, but I couldn't and didn't. I didn't remember hearing anything roar aside from Dracomon, or even a car alarm, and I most certainly didn't recall any lights aside from the glow of the moon. Dracomon hadn't mentioned anything about it either; he said that we'd both blacked out. So…what was there with us? What saved us from Arukenimon?

"I'm not sure what exactly went on, but I have a theory," Thomas's calm voice broke the silence in a way that no one else would've been able to do. I listened carefully as he spoke, but his hypothesis didn't seem quite right to me. "Dracomon's want to protect Masumi and Mrs. Sasaki, even when he was unconscious, must've been so great that he was able to project some kind of energy force into reality, and that must've scared Arukenimon off.

"But if that's really the case, then Arukenimon's bound to get her guts about her and come back to reclaim her glory." The intelligent blonde's words made up my mind in a hurry, doing so with such speed that it barely even registered in my brain. All my wonderings and questions had been answered with those simple words. Part of me was unsure why, but the part that did was so convinced that the other side went along with it.

I pulled the ear phone that Sampson had given me out of my pocket and looked down at it as it rested lifelessly in my palm. But 'lifeless' wasn't quite right, was it? This represented my life at the moment, it represented that I had a choice to make right now. I couldn't choose tomorrow, I couldn't choose later tonight, and I most certainly couldn't choose a week or even a few days from now. I had to make my decision now.

My father had made his decision, even though I didn't remember why he had chosen like he had. But maybe I'd remember if I followed in his footsteps, maybe I'd remember then. And not only would I remember what I should never have forgotten, but I'd also learn how to better protect Mrs. Sasaki, how to fight better with Dracomon so that we'd never lose to someone like Arukenimon again, someone that we should've been able to beat. We'd be able to digivolve.

I sighed; I know what I have to do. I hit the call button on the phone and held it up to my ear, ignoring Dracomon and Thomas when they asked what I was doing. I knew that they'd figure it out soon enough. I heard the noise when the other line received me, and Sampson's deep voice sounded, but I didn't let him get much more than a syllable in before I was cutting him off.

"Sampson…I'm in."