Hi Everyone!
Sorry this part took so long, but I hope it will be worth it! Yes, a lot of this chapter is based on Sora and Gatomon and that's it. I'll do more of everyone else in later chapters.
Enjoy!
Part 7
Mimi held her digivice in her hand as she searched the room for an exit. There was no response from it. She was becoming more and more worried. If the digivice was not working then the rest of the group would not be able to find them. She looked over her shoulder to Gatomon still shaking in Kari's arms and Sora holding herself in a tight hug, cringing against the pain. She had to do something. She could no longer watch them hurt so much.
Sora closed her eyes and tried to pretend the vivid images of the past weren't real.
"You're so bossy!" Tai screamed at Sora.
"If I'm so bossy, then you can finish this science project on your own!" Sora snapped back at him. She grabbed her backpack and stopped out of Tai's apartment. "I never want to see you again!"
Tai watched her leave and didn't remove his eyes from her until she had slammed the door. "Like I care," he lied to himself as he folded his arms over his chest stubbornly and averted his eyes to the half-finished science project that he and Sora had been working on. His eyes softened at the same time as his demeanor. "I didn't mean to…"
Sora felt the rush of emotions flood through her body again. This was unlike anything she had ever felt. This was a nightmare.
Gatomon had been strong so far. She had held in her screams of pain. It only furthered the festering dark feelings that filled her to the brim at the moment, with her nightmares just as terrible, if not worse than Sora's.
"I've told you before, Wizardmon, stay out of my business!" Gatomon hissed as she swung her freshly sharpened claws at him.
Wizardmon floated away from her effortless attack and continued to look at her with his loving eyes. "I'm not in your business. I'm merely trying to help you find your path."
Gatomon looked away from him. "Myotismon has already done that. My life has purpose." She didn't even believe the words, but she had said them to keep Wizardmon from bothering her further.
Wizardmon came closer to her. "You don't ever feel like something is missing? Like you could be serving a greater cause?"
Gatomon looked to Wizardmon with a frosty gaze. "Demidevimon sent you to fool me, didn't he?" she growled. She wouldn't stand for his betrayal. After she had saved his life, he had no right to try to destroy her good standing with Myotismon.
Wizardmon stood in front of her, unmoving. "No. Demidevimon is a scoundrel, and I want nothing to do with him," he said with such a clear sincerity that Gatomon actually believed him.
Gatomon looked at him through the corner of her giant cat-like eyes. "Then Myotismon sent you to test me!" she said as she stood to face him with an attack if he were to try to lie to her. She barred her teeth at him to show what a force she would be to recon with.
Wizardmon shook his head seriously. "No. My loyalty is only to one digimon. She saved my life," he said with a cool and understanding tone, "and I will save hers in return."
Gatomon looked at him with disbelief. He wasn't lying as far as she could tell, but she wouldn't be so easily fooled. She had lived such a horrible life already, that she refused to allow anyone to come close to her. This digimon may believe that he was trying to help her for now, but he would soon betray her just they way so many other had. He would abuse her and be cruel to her just as Myotismon was. She could believe in no one but herself. "Not everyone needs to be saved," she told him as she turned around to escape from her awkward situation with Wizardmon. "Stick your pointy-hatted head into my business again, and I'll use you as a scratching post," she warned him. With that, she flawlessly fled into the night's darkness.
Wizardmon stood on the tree branch that Gatomon had been sitting on and stared after her into the black of the night. "I will save you, Gatomon. Whether you believe you need it or not."
Gatomon shuttered against the horrible pain in her chest. Wizardmon had loved her. He had loved her more than she ever could have imagined to have been loved. Everything he had done, he had done it for her. His soul objective had always been to take care of her. He knew Myotismon was ruining her life, he knew she was unhappy and callus, and he knew that he couldn't give up on her, no matter what happened. She felt warm tears soaking into her white, soft fur, and she knew her hard act wasn't going to hold.
Cupimon came into the room and grinned cruelly at the girls. "Enjoying yourselves?"
Mimi stood to face her. "Just who do you think you are anyway?"
Cupimon raised her eyebrows at Mimi. "Me? I'm Cupimon; the protector of love."
Mimi placed her hands on her hips and imposed her now soured face on Cupimon's personal space. "The protector of love? More like the destroyer! Everyone has to learn how to love and be loved. That's all that there is to it. Gatomon needed to learn how to be loved, and Sora needed to learn how to love. Neither of them was trying to destroy love or hurt anyone. If you ask me, you're the one that needs to be feeling that Heartache attack of yours," she spat at the digimon. Her attitude was as strong as ever in the bleak condition she was in.
Cupimon batted her eyelashes at Mimi in amazement, and turned her back to her. "Well, then I suppose the two of them being heartbreakers is justified, so what's your excuse? You've been loved your entire life, and watched your father who completely adored your mother. How is it you managed to become the little tease that you are?"
Mimi lowered her eyes. Her confidence that was once present while she defended her friends was disappearing. She hadn't meant to be a tease. She had just been so used to having undivided attention that it didn't seem strange for boys to give it to her so naturally. She said nothing as she tried to imagine how much it would have hurt to find someone that was just like her and have your feelings completely ignored.
Cupimon turned her head around and looked back to Kari. "And you, what's your excuse? Your parents treated you like gold being their little girl and your brother still loves you more than any normal brother would. Yet you tease and string boys along at every chance you get," she seethed coldly, "even your closest friends and teammates."
Kari felt tears coming into her eyes again. She knew what Cupimon meant. TK and Davis were only in the rivalry that they were in because they were fighting over her. She had known it all along, but she had never been strong enough to tell the both of them that she wasn't interested in anything more than friendship with either one of them. Years ago, when she was being translated between the real world and the dark world, with the evil digimon haunting her dreams, TK had admitted to having feelings for her. She felt disgusted with herself thinking back on how he must have felt when her reaction was to look up at him as though he were just any random stranger asking her how she felt. She buried her face into Gatomon's fur, hoping it would hide her from herself.
Cupimon grinned at her triumph. "I suppose I should let you think on that before you receive your punishment." She walked away victoriously.
"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon called as she fired her blast of fire at the pile of rocks.
"This is going to take forever!" Palmon said, watching in worry as the rocks merely burned and didn't break.
"Need some help?" Digmon said, suddenly on the scene with Kabuterimon, Izzy, and Cody. "Gold Rush!" he called as he fired his drills at the rocks.
"Yeah!" Palmon called out with joy.
Piximon floated over to Izzy and Cody. "I guess we had the same idea?"
Izzy nodded. "My computer has detected that Sora is being held right here."
Piximon nodded and lifted toward the sky. "I'll go get the others, so we'll have reinforcements if this goes bad."
Cody nodded to him. "That's a good idea."
Piximon flew away as Digmon continued to dig out the rocks.
Cupimon reentered the room and looked down on the girls as though she had already won the battle and was coming to rub it in their faces. "So, who's next?"
Mimi stood to face her again, but before she could say anything, the room began to shake.
Cupimon looked around as the walls began cracking and sprinkling dust around her. "What's happening?" she cried.
Mimi smiled and ran to grab Sora. "I think the cavalry's here!" She held Sora's arm and helped her to her feet.
Digmon came bursting through the underground, nearly landing on Cupimon. "Hello, ladies! Mind if I dig on you?"
Mimi smiled widely as she walked Sora, who was half leaning on her, and Kari, who was carrying Gatomon, toward the newly created exit. "I'm not usually this forward, but can we get a ride?"
"Absolutely!" Kabuterimon answered, suddenly emerging from the tunnel.
Kari handed Gatomon to Cody, who was riding on Kabuterimon's back, before climbing on herself.
Izzy helped to pull Sora on before Mimi expertly climbed onto Kabuterimon's back.
"Thank goodness, I took those equestrian classes back home," she said as she mounted Kabuterimon's back.
"Just don't kick me, and we'll still be friends after all this is over," Kabuterimon told her as he turned to fly back out of the tunnel.
Cupimon looked to Digmon cruelly. "Your friends aren't so bright. Do you think you can take me alone?"
Digmon tilted his head to the side cockily. "Ma'am, I don't fight ladies."
Cupimon smiled at him with a twisted grin. "Well, that's too bad!" She raised her arms as though she were preparing for an attack.
Digmon pointed his drills at the ceiling of the underground room. "Gold Rush!" His drills flew from his hands and destroyed the ceiling above Cupimon, falling on top of her. Digmon moved back into his escape tunnel. "I got no problems burying bitter memories, though," he quipped. He quickly moved up through the tunnel, closing the walls in behind him. The further he buried her, the better.
"Good work, Digmon," Cody told him when he emerged from the tunnel.
Digmon dedigivolved into Armadillomon, and smiled at his human partner. "'T weren't nothing," he told him modestly.
Birdramon looked down at her best friend, struggling in pain. "What happened?"
Mimi held Sora up. "Birdramon, we need to get away from here fast! As soon as we get away from Cupimon, the affects of her attack will wear off," she explained quickly as she pulled her hurting friend onto Birdramon's leg.
Palmon wrapped her ivy around Mimi and Sora to hold them onto Birdramon's leg, as she began to take off.
"Follow us, Izzy!" Mimi called as they entered the skyline.
Izzy nodded.
Kabuterimon lifted off into the sky with Izzy, Kari and Gatomon on his back. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Cody and Armadillomon watched as they flew away. "I guess we get to walk," he said calmly.
"I don't mind a long walk with good company," Armadillomon told him.
Cody smiled to his friend. "I'll be good company then." He reached into his pocket and found his D-3 and began messaging the other digidestined that they had found the girls and that they should tell Piximon and the others that they had everything under control now.
Sora and Gatomon slowly came out of their trances the further away from the buried Cupimon.
The other digimon that didn't belong to digidestined's continued to patrol the digital world in the event that she escaped. Many of them were happy simply to have something to do again.
Gatomon lay, rolled into a ball, on the foot of Kari's bed. She wondered if Sora was still feeling as filthy as she did. All the horrible memories and feelings were still ever present within her, though they were no longer tearing her apart from the inside out as they had been before. She closed her eyes to avoid dropping tears out again. The feelings Wizardmon had for her had been thrown back in his face because of her stubbornness. What made things worse was that she knew he was still haunting the real world, watching over her. She squeezed her eyes shut against the heartache that was only natural to her after all she had been through. It hadn't been only Wizardmon, either. She had hurt others, and there was going to be no way to make any single person happy.
"I don't remember any of that, Davis," Veemon said as they stood together attempting to find a new way to make him digivolve, "but that could have been because I was too busy watching Gatomon."
Gatomon scrunched herself further into a ball to stop the heartache that she felt now.
Patamon played with the baby digimon, acting like a baby himself.
Gatomon rolled her eyes at him, and turned away. He could be such a child sometimes.
Patamon looked up at her and smiled kindly. He and Gatomon had a special bond as the angel digimon, and he knew that was enough to keep them together. He would never say anything to threaten their friendship though.
Gatomon let out a small groan and allowed tears to stream down her face. She wished she hadn't been so convincing in her act, and Kari might not have gone out with her friends that afternoon. Now she was forced to suffer alone.
Sora held a large pillow against her chest as she mindlessly watched TV with Biyomon. Her eyes were open and staring at the screen, but her mind was in a completely different place. It still hurt. That deep burning pain from deep within was still ever present. It burned relentlessly at the back of her heart and mind.
"Maybe… you're not so bad… for a girl," Tai told her as he stood before her in his soccer uniform. It was the first year he and Sora had played on the same soccer team.
Biyomon looked up to Sora. "Sora, is something wrong?"
Sora looked down to her friend in surprise, but smiled at her reassuringly. "I was just thinking about something."
Biyomon looked at her knowingly, but then turned back to the television. She knew that Sora wouldn't be hiding anything serious from her, and she would be prepared to talk to her first thing when she did have something serious happening.
"And to flip the pancake without a spatula, you just…" Matt wrapped his arms around Sora's and used her hands to maneuver the makeshift skillet, flipping the pancake into the air and then catching it again, "use a little body language," he said, using all of the charm he had left.
Sora smiled, excited that she had flipped the pancake, but also a little from his touch. Was she really the kind of girl to get all flustered because some cute guy was giving her attention? She hoped she wasn't blushing.
Matt smiled at her, and looked at her with his cool blue eyes. "I can teach you some more, if we ever get back to the real world. How far do you live from-"
"Hey, Sora," Tai called, interrupting Matt's conversation. "Can you come help me carry this stuff? Let Matt do the cooking."
Sora smiled at Matt apologetically, and then trotted over to help Tai carry more firewood and brush over to the campsite.
Matt watched as she ran quickly to Tai's side. He admitted to himself that they looked natural together, more natural than he and Sora looked together. He looked back to the food and hoped that his disappointment wasn't showing on his face. If they ever did manage to make it back to the real world, Tai would have already developed an even stronger bond with Sora than he already had. He wouldn't even have a chance with her. He looked at Tai and Sora arguing over her cooking skills as they worked together to pull the brush and wood toward the campsite. He should have taken his chance that day that he had first seen her at camp. Why had he played it cool?
Sora bit her lower lip and closed her eyes against the tears that were now streaming down her face. "He did love me once…" she thought to herself silently as another memory began playing in her mind.
Tai stood motionless, behind an unaware TK as he stare into the studio where Matt and Jun were trapped in a tight embrace. He felt rage fueling throughout his entire being as Matt lifted his arms to gently touch Jun's that were excitedly wrapped around the back of his neck. Tai turned and quickly stormed out of the studio and the building. He grabbed his phone and found Sora's number on speed dial, his thumb hovered over the button as he debated how badly this news would hurt her if it came from him or if she would even believe it. His feelings transformed into turmoil, and he struggled to discover what to do before a text from Mimi came and interrupted his train of thought.
"Sora, what's wrong?" Biyomon said worriedly as she pulled herself onto the couch and wrapped a pink wing around her best friend.
Sora could no longer pretend to be strong. It hurt too much. She turned to her best friend in the entire real or digital world and buried her face into her soft pink feathers. She hugged her tightly and let the tears flow from her eyes as though the floodgates had been opened. "Oh, Biyo!" she cried as the surge of emotion hit her hard and fast.
Biyomon wrapped her wings around her friend as though it would shield her from the pain. "Oh, Sora, it's going to be okay," she said soothingly as she felt her feathers become wet with her best friend's tears. "Cupimon had better never show her face again, or she'll have me to deal with," she thought to herself.
