[003]
Chapter 3 - The Lone Wolf
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
"What just happened to me?" Takuya questioned, sitting down on his knees looking up at us with confusion.
"You just went all Sailor Moon on us, that's what!" I received many more weird stares. "I'm joking, honestly guys, don't take everything I say seriously."
"Well, I'll remember that for later..." Takuya shuddered at the thought of transforming into a girl in a sailor outfit.
"Whatever just happened, it had to be something I pressed!" Takuya began to smash buttons on his d-tector. "Come on, digivolution activate!" He was pretty close to throwing it on the ground or something. I took it away from him before he could.
"Don't do that Takuya, you'd be screwed if you broke it!" In doing so, I smashed my hand against something and data erupted from the device, sparkling and flowing over the gaps where the land once was. The ground that had been absorbed by the malicious Cerberumon was slowly returning, bathed in digital code.
"I knew it, that's the fractal code!" Bokomon exclaimed as Neemon tried to form a coherent sentence, but failed due to his shock.
"...For a second there, I thought I broke something! ...Well, crap." I was relieved, who knows what would have happened if that button didn't actually do something good. I am not a fan of pain, thanks.
"Thank you for your help, you awesome humans!" Neemon shouted while Bokomon took a book out from the cloth around his waist. Other than storing books, it was pretty much just a very... feminine fashion accessory.
Bokomon leafed through the pages of the book before pausing on a page that had colorful drawings on it. He blew off some dust and pointed toward the book as if it was the fountain of youth and he'd just discovered it.
"Behold! Before the evil Cherubimon came, the world was a beautiful place!" Bokomon began a long and boring speech.
"Flowers, trees, and butterflies!" Neemon chirped.
"Neemon, shut up! I'm in the middle of something here." Bokomon snapped threatening to pull on the bunny's pants, and Neemon meekly nodded.
"Anyway, his power made many digimon go wild, and our world started to die. The only way to bring back everything that was lost is the fractal code!"
Boooring.
I don't know why, but we were soon sprinting off into the sunset with the Poyomon and Pagumon. Or at least, until J.P pulled me and Tommy back.
"Hey, shorty," He was referring to Tommy, I assume. I am not short! "You too, strawberry face, I have an idea!"
"Oh lovely, a nickname." I groaned.
This wasn't going to end up nicely, that's for sure.
"This place sucks! You with me?" Tommy and J.P were walking side by side as I walked slightly ahead of them.
"Hey, the digital world isn't that bad. It's kind of scary, though." I commented, wondering how my family was reacting to my sudden disappearance.
"Um, yeah, well, I guess so... but..." Tommy trailed off.
"But what?" J.P prodded the little boy.
"When Takuya turned into a digimon, that was killer cool! Just like a super hero!" Tommy held his d-tector up, staring at it with fascination.
"Someone finally agrees with me that Takuya looked like a character from Sailor Moon!"
J.P snorted at my comment. "Don't tell me you're one of those girly-girls."
"I'm not!" I answered back hotly. "I only watched a little bit, but that was because my brother dared me to do it!"
"I've always wanted to be a hero!" Tommy had pretty high expectations, didn't he?
"Well take it from me, this hero stuff is way overrated. It's too much work and it's dangerous! Not to mention annoying and there's always some sap yelling, Oh save me, save me!" J.P mocked in a girly voice.
"Aren't you quite the pessimist, J.P?" I poked him in the arm. Tommy looked down sullenly.
"Now, let's find our way out of this dump!" Having no other choice due to losing sight of Takuya and Zoe, I had to follow.
"Dammit, J.P!"
We came across a Pagumon sitting on a little metal machine.
"Yo, Tommy, Karia, check this out!" J.P waltzed over to the Pagumon. "Hey, egg shaped dude with ears! What's shakin'? Listen, this world of yours isn't really our scene. We don't know how to leave. What do you say, can you help us out? I'll make it worth your while!" J.P pulled out one of his chocolate bars and held out a piece.
"How about some premium chocolate?" J.P taunted the creature by waving the piece around. The Pagumon leaped down and snatched it up with one bite. "Now answer me and you get the whole bar!"
"Give one to a trailmon at the station, he can take you back to where you came from," The Pagumon grunted in a masculine voice.
"What the hell, dude. You need to fix that throat of your-" The Pagumon looked at me with it's beady eyes, daring me to finish that sentence. "Why yes, your voice is quite lovely indeed."
The Pagumon growled and J.P handed over the chocolate bar with a grin.
With that new information tucked into our heads, we sprinted off towards the hella creepy train digimon.
"That was delicious, I bet there's a lot more of that stuff..." The Pagumon bared it's sharp teeth, licking its lips.
As we sprinted along, a flash of blue and yellow clothes caught my attention.
"There goes a train wreck just waiting to happen..." Bandana commented to himself.
...It speaks! It's alive! It's ALIVE!
"Well, at least I don't talk to myself. Unlike you." Well, I sure was the biggest hypocrite on the planet.
It was a bit careless of me to stop following Tommy and J.P. Those two were bound to get screwed over by the devilish Pagumon. I'd caught a glimpse of the Pagumon before we left, and it promised pain. Hell no I wasn't going to stay with them. Just as I thought that, a herd of them stampeded past.
"Oh, it's you." He grumbled, staring at his d-tector. There was an odd hologram on it. I couldn't figure out what it was though because Koji had instantly shifted his hand away from my view, making sure that I couldn't see what he was looking at. Talk about selfish.
"Hey, what's that?" I questioned.
"None of your business." He replied instantly.
Bandana, truly the master of small talk.
"Well, it's my business now because I'm going to tag along with you!" I flashed him a grin.
He looked at me, annoyance clearly visible on his face. He glared at me. "Why didn't you just stay with them?"
"...They're not the ones being chased by Pagumon." I'm stupid but not suicidal.
"Pagu-what? ...Nevermind. Fine you can come along, but only if you stay quiet." Bandana put his hand into his jacket.
"I'm Karia Banshou. What's your name, unless you want me to call you Bandana or Captain Anti-social for the entire time we're here."
"Koji, Koji Minamoto. Just call me Koji. Not Bandana or Anti social." His glare intensified.
"Okay, Captain Ant- I mean, Koji." I coughed awkwardly and waved my hand around in the air. "My, isn't it such a lovely day today?"
The sun quickly retreated behind some clouds and lightning struck in the distance, thunder crackling angrily. A wolf howled in the distance.
Thanks for agreeing with me, world. It sure feels good to know that life hates me.
I coughed awkwardly.
And with that, we set off at a steady pace to the forest where Takuya and Zoe had vanished along with Bokomon and Neemon. Maybe we'd encounter them and I could finally group up with them.
Hey, I just noticed... His hair color is pretty similar to mine. Neat.
Koji halted in the middle of the forest, the dot on his d-tector blinking repeatedly.
"This is getting old," He complained, looking somewhat shocked when the map vanished."It's probably safer to stay away from creepy holes in the wall." He growled. "But I didn't come all this way to play it safe!"
"...That's not a hole, that's a square." He looked at me with an odd expression and I just couldn't help but feel terrified.
"Hole it is!" I said hurriedly, not wanting to get more male PMS verbal beatdowns.
"This better not be someone's idea of a joke!" Koji took the lead, walking into the hole. I followed after, and nearly pissed myself.
It was incredibly dark with occasional lights coming from the walls and ceiling, cracked old steps leading downwards.
"Anyone here?" Koji shouted out, looking around.
The air was disgusting and musty. I coughed a few times because I accidentally inhaled some dust. I doubt that anyone had been in here for months... no, centuries! This place looked so old it made dinosaurs look young.
"You know, just some killers and whatnot. But don't worry, I'm sure they won't harm you!" I spoke, flippantly.
Koji may or may have heard what I said, or simply chose to ignore my comment. "I guess not."
"Holy christ, we're not going down there are we?" I stammered, shaking slightly. I'm normally not a scaredy-cat but right now I was freaking out.
Koji continued his descent below, and I mustered up my courage and trailed after him.
This was going to be a long, long trip.
"...What's this?" We were on a ledge, the path we took was coming to a dead end which was high above a platform with more tunnels. We were really high up, and I was afraid that I was going to fall. A fall from this height would really, really hurt!
My train of thought was cut off when two familiar figures dashed across the area below, screaming their heads off and running like headless chickens.
"Hey, Tommy, J.P!" I yelled from where I was, causing them to stop and stare. Mistake number one.
"Karia! Help us!" Tommy cried as Pagumon swarmed into the area, chewing on both of them and scratching their faces.
Koji did something unexpected- he jumped down, grabbing onto a bar as he slid down.
"Oh hell no, there's no way I'm doing thaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" I screamed as Koji pulled on the bar, easily breaking it apart and sending me tumbling as it hit me in the face and knocked me off the tiny ledge.
My face was once again reunited with the beloved ground. Right in front of Koji, J.P, and Tommy. Subtract twenty from my dignity, please. That leaves me with negative sixteen.
Koji began to pull off a series of advanced kendo moves, slapping the little purple devils with his bar and kicking them into the air where he did things that would have made any martial artist proud.
I took some self defense, so I might as well help!
I grabbed onto a bar and tugged, snapping it in half and running into the fray. I tried, honestly, but the Pagumon were so small and hard to hit and they constantly ducked out of the way.
"God damn this!" I yelled frustrated while J.P and Tommy looked on in awe, wondering who Koji was.
I smashed one on the head, and kicked two out of the way. A fourth tried to come at me from behind but I backhanded that bastard with a force that would impress even Chuck Norris. Koji on the other hand let them dogpile him. Smirking, he spun around like a helicopter with his bar, successfully knocking out most of them.
This boy was a wizard.
You're a wizard, Koji!
"Don't smile... humans... it's not over... yet!" The Pagumon gasped, data enveloping all of their bodies. Once the light evaporated, a large being made out of purple goo with jutting disgusting grey fangs roared at us, a foul odor emitting from it's body.
"What mess did you get yourself into now?! That's Raremon, a champion level digimon! It gives off a terrible stench! It might be dangerous to humans - try not to inhale too much of it!" Gatomon hollered from my d-tector.
J.P and Tommy squealed in terror like little girls as Raremon blasted a sea of acid towards them, J.P scrambling out of the way and Koji quickly coming to Tommy's rescue.
"Acid Sluuuuuudge!" It bellowed, shooting neon green glowing globs of poison at them while J.P cowered by one of the exits. Takuya, Zoey, Neemon and Bokomon watched, holding their noses.
"It stinks in here!" A feminine voice cried.
I think that's kind of obvious, Zoey.
I simply stood there awkwardly before it turned towards me and proceeded to crawl towards me, leaving a trail of goop as it went along.
"S-STAY AWAY!" I choked out and slammed my bar into it's eye causing it to howl in anger and blindly shoot acid at me.
"Excuse me, do you mind spirit evolving before your friends there get mauled by stinky?" Bokomon casually questioned Takuya, who was mashing the controls on his d-tector while mumbling words like 'spirit' and 'evolve nooow!' but needless to say, nothing worked.
Before I knew it, I was backed up towards the hole in the middle of the circle where Koji sat on the ground, clutching Tommy tightly.
"Goodbye!" Raremon chuckled. It's body jiggled and pulsed grotesquely. Tommy whimpered and Koji looked on gravely. While I just stood there mortified.
"Nice knowing you, Bandana, Tommy!" I closed my eyes in fright, but held up the bar protectively in front of them while shivering slightly in fear.
"ACID SLU-"
Takuya evolved into Agunimon and slammed into the mass of goo at breakneck speeds, sending them both crashing into a wall. The transformed kid leaped infront of us, attempting to be a shield.
"Now's your chance! Ruuun!" He growled.
Raremon launched sludge all over the walls as he attempted to get off his back, similar to a turtle. The slime burned into the unknown material, light pouring in. Looking down a hole nearby, I could surely say that if you fell in, you'd never be coming back. Ever. Splat.
I gulped.
Agunimon dedigivolved into Takuya, staring at himself in shock. "What happened?! I... I turned back into me!"
Raremon chose this awful time to croak, "Still here!" while launching his acid attack at us.
"Watch out!" Takuya cried, tackling Tommy to the side but unfortunately sending Koji flying into the hole in the center of the room.
...
...He grabbed the back of my jacket as he plummeted down below.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
My throat was beginning to get sore from yelling. Koji had a death grip on my jacket. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. Stupid Koji, let go of my jacket! Damnit! I like this jacket!
As if sensing my discomfort, Koji slowly moved his hands from my jacket and wrapped his arms around my stomach and rested his head on my shoulder.
What's wrong with you?! Do you know how embarassing this position is? I'm pretty sure I was blushing hard. Wow, he was really warm an- If we lived through this, I was going to kill him. Perhaps Raremon's odor has broken his mind. I was absolutely sure that pretty antisocial boy didn't enjoy human contact.
...I can't believe I was about to die... with Koji hugging me like a teddy bear. What a horrible death. This is number one on my How-To-Not-Die list.
Closing my eyes, I thought about any good memories of my life. It felt like I was falling forever. I hoped and wished that Takuya, Zoey, Tommy, and J.P could defeat that thing. Maybe they'll even get out of this world alive. It was nice to know them, even for just a little while.
...A bright light broke through the darkness and stung my eyelids, and I opened my eyes to see an absolutely beautiful wolf statue glinting at me and Koji. Sunlight illuminated the area and a beautiful and radiant glow was cast down on the both of us, and I felt at peace. Was this... truly what dying felt like?
"It is time."
...
...
"Spirit Evolution!"
...
...
"Lobomon!"
And then I was floating. I cautiously peeked one eye open to find myself staring up at an angel.
...Okay, so it wasn't an angel. But... he was pretty damn close.
I found myself staring up at a warrior... a wolf warrior. He was practically made out of light. His scarf billowed behind him with a gentle breeze, and I was carried bridal style in his arms.
...Is this Koji?
If I wasn't so shocked, I would have probably hissed at him to drop me. How embarrassing. Subtract fifty from my dignity. What score am I at now? It's probably not a good one.
"That's the legendary warrior of light! Lobomon!" Bokomon gasped.
"I've never seen anything... more beautiful... in my whole life!" Zoey praised Lobomon.
I agreed with her, but I would never voice that opinion out loud.
"Acid Sludge!" Raremon was absolutely livid. His stomach inflated and he exhaled more acid sludge towards my direction. Lobomon gently set me down and pulled out a... a jedi lightsaber.
Epic.
Screw Cerberumon, I want his scarf and lightsaber! Maybe I could force Koji to evolve back into Lobomon so I can use his lightsaber! And I'd wear his scarf, too. But Cerberumon was pretty cool... Maybe I could get Koji to go get me a Cerberumon and then use his lightsaber to rule the world!
"Lobo Kendo!"
Lobomon confronted the attack head on, swiping the poisonous bullets with ease. He then jumped up high and impaled his lightsaber down into Raremon's head, sending the lump of jello out of existence for good.
Koji dedigivolved and panted on the ground. Get it? Panted? Like a do- okay, I'll stop trying.
"Hey, are you okay? ...Lemme help you up!" Takuya offered, to which Koji angrily snapped at him. "Don't touch me! I don't need your help... or anyone else's!"
"...But I guess I should thank you for saving me. I always repay my debts." Koji faced away from Takuya. "My name's Koji Minamoto... and you are? I can't repay you if I don't know your name."
"I'm Takuya Kanbara."
"...Takuya huh? See ya." Koji waved at him, turning around and leaving. Takuya stood, open mouthed at the blue clothed boy before turning around and walking away with the others, muttering about ungrateful people.
"Oi, you, get back here!" I reluctantly left the group to go chase after Koji.
"What?" He raised an eyebrow after me when I caught up to him, slightly out of breath.
"Say anything and I'll kill you." I growled, my face slightly warming up.
"...Wha- Oh." I think I saw a tint of blush on his cheeks before he swiveled his head away from my view.
"Shouldn't you be catching up to them...?" He motioned his hand towards where they had just left.
...Oh no, not again.
"...I've been left behind!" I cried, fake sobbing into my hands. "Those bastards..." I was actually a little hurt that none of them even tried to ask where I was going, but... they don't know me anyway. They didn't have to worry about me; they weren't my friends or anything...
"You really need to make up your mind on who you want to stay with... Besides, why stay with band-"
I tossed my d-tector up into the air, catching it gripping it a lot harder than I should have, but I'm sure it was enough to silence the noisy digimon on the other end.
Koji eyed my d-tector, confusion sparkling in his eyes. "Why does that voice sound a lot different?"
Hmm... weird. I shrugged. His d-tector had sounded a lot like Takuya's when he had digivolved.
"Classified Information!"
"...Say..." Koji eyed me curiously.
"Yes?"
"...When do you think I'll get my spirit?" I frowned, looking down at my d-tector. What if I didn't get one at all? What if I couldn't find it?! What if we already passed it?!
"Uh... w-well, I can't say that I know the exact location... buuuut... Don't worry, you'll find it! I'm positive of that! You'll find it when you're ready."
"..."
When I found my spirit, I would protect all of these people and repay them in full, like Koji was going to do for Takuya. I had to get stronger if I wanted to be a guardian.
I eagerly await the day my spirit calls to me.
Dfghjkl; I don't know why I put that hugging moment in there but I thought it would be cute. I personally almost died of fluffy-diabetes trying to write that. It doesn't really make sense, because they don't know each other at all, but I mean if you were falling down a hole and the wind-chill was freezing you to death, wouldn't you kill the other person in a bear hug? No? Uhh... well, okay. Maybe it's just me. *huff*
Curse you raremon's odor! Cuuuuuurse yooooou!
Stop getting all of the characters high! I'll take legal action! Restraining orde- *taken away*
xCharmCat