Chapter Eight

The walk to the Digital City had taken the rest of the day and the pair had arrived in the city around dusk. The city was quite unremarkable if you ignored the denizens. Claire had spent very little time in the Digital World so one could only imagine her shock at the wide variety of Digimon. They came in every shape, size, and color. Some had feathers, others had fur and still others had scales.

The Mark II had a nice little feature that allowed her to turn the Digimon Analyzer on automatic; since their arrival in the bustling city it had been going crazy and thanks to Karel's explanation, Claire could take all in strides. She was quickly filing away the names of the various species. Everytime her Mark II beeped, she would look down at it to see a new Digimon up.

She was enjoying herself for the most part. The crowd, somehow, felt less stifling than the one back home, though the residents seemed more nosey. Claire in particular had noticed a rather interesting, slinky white Digimon tailing them, golden eyes watch them pass with curiosity. The Mark II kept up its excellent job of informing her and provided information on the weasely Digimon.

Species: Kudamon

Level: Child

Type: Holy Beast

Attribute: Vaccine

Field: Virus Busters

Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.

Claire said nothing about her discovery just yet but as they entered a particular noisy street, she spoke.

"There's a Kudamon following us,"she said under her breath, confident that Karel would hear her. He did but made no comment, blue eyes glancing back to catch a glimpse of silky white fur disappearing behind a stall. His black lined lips twitched.

"Worry not about her,"Karel said. "She is just checking to make sure I got you to the city okay… which, we should be find a place to stay tonight. It is getting dark."

Claire glanced at him. "Which way do we go then?"she asked, casting a searching eye around the massive buildings. There were an innumerable places for them to go but the question was, which one of these was actually a hotel or apartments?

This seemed to give Karel food for thought, as he paused and eyed the surroundings carefully. He'd come into the actual Digital City very little, having spent most of his time on the Digital World's moon. He supposed this left him at a disadvantage because he had absolutely no idea where they were.

Halted in his pace, he finally examined their surroundings and realized that the majority of Digimon surrounding them were virus types. Seedy looking vendors watched them from shop windows and from an alley, a small group of child level and adult level Digimon watched them with gleaming red eyes and smirks. Oh yessss… they were in deep…

"Er… Claire, hold on… we might need to turn around."

He glanced behind them and muttered a curse under his breath. His comrade was already gone, dashing off probably to report back to the moon that they'd arrived. She assumed that he knew where he was going and what he was doing. Karel could only feel bitter for once that she let handle things for once…

"What makes you think we'll let you turn around now, Kitty?"

On its hind legs a confidently smirking beast strutted forth, red eyes glittering. It was mostly periwinkle with a pair of long rabbit like ears, tattered at the end with thick fur. A long, whip like tail twined in the air, bristly strands at the end, separated by the rest of the fur by a black leather belt. It had a short, rounded snout, much like a cats, with serrated sharp teeth that Claire could see in its wide grin. The beastly mongrel had an off white belly and long dagger-like claws adorned every paw.

The beast looked impressive but the Mark II weakened his intimidation by about three fourths.

Species: Gazimon

Level: Child

Type: Mammal

Attribute: Virus

Field: Nature Spirits, Nightmare Soldiers

Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.

Karel's ears flicked back and he wrinkles his nose, not appreciating the kitty comment. "I hardly think it matters to you, Gazimon,"he bit out, his mistrust for the species bubbling up with hate. The fur along the back of his neck bristled raising and his tail lashed from side to side, his claws scraping against the ground in an irate manner.

Instead of the Gazimon cowering, it laughed, loud and low and hearty, head thrown back and ears flicked back. Karel snarled, tail fluffed and the small tuft of fur upon his head bristling. All his pearly whites were visible but still the bastard had the gall, the audacity to laugh in his face.

"Oh-haha-you're a funny one, Kitty,"he said, a clawed paw covering his face. He leaned forward, psychotic grin still on place, half concealed by one of his massive paw. "You sure you wanna pick a fight with me, Sergal? Are you sure? My boys might have a problem with that."

"Yeah, we might…"From the alley a large, metallic beetle lumbered forward, blue and gleaming in the Digital world's setting sun. Red horns blazed on its hard shell and it swung a powerful set of arms, each equipped at the end with a massively large fists with three white pincers. Its feet made a loud, metallic thud on the cobblestone. A top its tiny head, between its green compound eyes, was a massive horn and just below it was a round white mouth.

Species: KoKabuterimon

Level: Child

Type: Insect

Attribute: Virus

Field: Nature Spirits

Moving silently right behind the large blue bug, a red raptor like Digimon appeared. It was sleekly built with a square head that moved gracefully into a tapering square muzzle. Large, jagged bat wing-like wings flexed on its head. Hard golden eyes glared at them, the dinosaur having to turn its head to the side to stare them down. Emblazoned across its red scales were strips of black and on its chest and stomach it was white. It lashed a long tail, and curled its up lip.

Species: Guilmon X

Level: Child

Type: Demon Dragon

Attribute: Virus

Field: Dragon's Roar, Nature Spirits

Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.

"This is Bulk-"

Sergal inclined his head toward the massive KoKabuterimon.

"-and Dagger."

He nodded toward the vicious looking Guilmon X. "And I believe we out number you quite a bit."

Karel took a step back, his jaw going slack. Now they were in one helluva pickle. Claire stood, looking one with narrowed eyes and a hard brow. She had some karate lessons growing up, both paid for and from her mother but even she didn't have much confidence in taking down one Child level Digimon with just her fists and feet, let alone three. And there was no way Karel could handle all three of them on his own.

"Shit,"she said under her breath. This drew another laugh out of Sergal. His partners didn't share in it though Dagger's lips twitched slightly, as though in a smirk. It was hard to tell with Bulk though; his facial features were immobile, frozen. Cold.

"Your girlie there has the right idea… You know, we always wanted a tamer of our very own,"he said. "We could take her off your paws, Kitty-""I think not."A flurry of brown suddenly came into Claire's line of vision, hanging in the air proudly. It was some kind of bird in a brown poncho. It was hawk-like with red wings. Black claws glistened on the tips of them. Its head, meanwhile, was primarily white with red markings under its eyes and on its forehead. Attached to a black belt, a single orange feather with a yellow tip fluttered at the back of its head. Hard blue eyes bore into the group of riff raff with years of experience.

Species: Hawkmon

Level: Child

Type: Bird

Attribute: Data

Field: Wind Guardians

"And what will you do, Birdbrain?"

"Stop you."Suddenly the bird was engulfed in a blazing light. His form began to change beneath the light. He grew taller, and his limbs became spindly coils that were tightly wound. The rest of it looked to be human in shape with a large star-shaped item on its back. As the light exploded, it was revealed to be some kind of creature that looked prepared for the desert, complete with a large brown leaf on each shoulder and a head garb around its face. The star shaped item on its back was a massive shuriken. Each of its hand were also three tipped throwing stars attached at its telephone coil limbs.

Species: Shurimon

Level: Adult or Armor; Adult

Type: Mutant

Attribute: Data

Field: Jungle Troopers, Wind Guardians

The trio of child level took a step back, intimidated now by a more powerful Digimon. They glanced around, realizing that the streets had become suddenly empty. Many had heard of the bird; he'd been around for ages, patrolling the area constantly, keeping things at peace. No one would help them now.

Sergal snarled, lip curling. "We can still take you on,"he hissed. "Dagger, Bulk, take on the Shurimon… I'll handle the Kitty."

Battle stats rolled to life on Claire's screen.

GAZIMON

Attack: | | |

Defense: | | |

Speed: | | |

KOKABUTERIMON

Attack: | | | |

Defense: | | | | |

Speed: |

GUILMON X

Attack: | | | | |

Defense: | |

Speed: | | | |

SHURIMON

Attack: | | | |

Defense: | | |

Speed: | | | | |

LIOLLMON

Attack: | | | | |

Defense: | | |

Speed: | |

The glowing eyes between the gap of the cloth narrowed as the two larger children advanced on him, the Dagger's teeth bared and Bulk's compound green eyes blazing. He bounded out of the way, his legs acting like springs. He sent one of his hands whizzing through the air. "Move!"he called out.

Claire didn't need to be told twice and dashed out of the way, taking refuge in an alley. Meanwhile, Karel had already moved and was now circling the suddenly quadruped Gazimon, maw curled in a snarl. He didn't flinch as the large throwing star landed into the stones, barely missing the massive Bulk and the smaller though equally dangerous Dagger.

Instead, he took this as his chance to attack, dashing toward Sergal. He snarled and back stepped, narrowly avoiding Karel's Leo Claw. He sucked in a deep breath before belching out a noxious yellow cloud. It hit the stunned Karel directly in the face, cause him to hiss and spit loudly in pain. The cloud burned and made his face tingle and it was with mild annoyance that he realized that the Gazimon's Paralyze Breath was taking affect. He wheezed and coughed, fighting the affects.

Taking advantage of his foe's weakness, Sergal pounced, tackling the other quadruped onto his side. The pair scuffled, claws and fangs lashing out, fighting to be on top. Above them, the Shurimon had started his descent, his clothing whipping as he went. His elastic arm reaching into his hood. He dragged out a single solitary card and flicked it toward Claire. He then sent his arm springing toward his missing throwing star, grabbing it up once more.

"Use that!"he called out as he landed. Instantly the other two Digimon advanced on him and he was momentarily caught off guard as Bulk's large horn slid under him and sent him hurtling into the air. His center of gravity was off so he flailed in the air to catch it once more. Too slow.

A fire ball whizzed through the air and slammed into his chest, knocking him out of the sky and onto the ground painfully. He gasped, the wind knocked out of him; this only added to the burning that was already happening on his chest. As he heard the KoKabuterimon's approaching steps, however, he rolled to his feet, barely missing being stepped on by the great blue beetle.

He stepped back and sent his right arm whizzing toward the but Digimon, the limb stretching out on its coil to strike Bulk with the throwing star. The left returned the favor to Dagger, slicing through the air at break neck speeds.

Bulk was hit, the blade cause a long scrap in his arm along his belly. He'd been too slow to block the arm off from the thinner metal on his chest and stomach. Dagger, however, managed to side step it, and charge the Shurimon, mitt burning with fire. The Shurimon bounded into the air and narrowly missed the attack.

In the alley way, Claire caught the card between her two hands, and brought toward her, looking confused. What good would it do her here? You couldn't play games in battle, not at all. Not only that but she couldn't even read it in the darkness. The sun had dropped fairly low on the horizon now and the main light was the moon and a few blinking stars. She cursed their luck and looked back to the on going battle.

She could make out Karel's orange fur in the last dregs of sunlight. He was underneath the Gazimon's paws, one paw holding him down at the shoulder and the other pressing on his neck. His hind paws kicked and scraped uselessly at the Gazimon's side and he wheezed softly, catching no air between his paralyzing face and the pressure on his wind pipe.

She gritted her teeth and decided to take the initiative.

When her fist hit Sergal in a vicious upper cut, he was sent flying off the Liollmon with a cry of pain. He landed hard on the ground further away from the Digimon and partner and laid there, trying to gather his bearings once more. His cheek ached with pain and his world seemed to spin. He stumbled to his feet and curled his lip at Claire, who was just coming out of the punch.

"You bitch,"he snarled. "This wasn't your fight!"

"I made it mine."

She swiped the card in the d-ban instinctually. It felt like she'd been doing it all her life, even, and despite how worn she could tell it felt, the card breezed through her Mark II like a knife through butter. The screen lit up and instantly it uploaded the card into her database.

Then with a quick tap, she activated it. A medical box instantly appeared by Karel, who had rolled over onto his belly, and began to bandage and tend to the wounded and panting cub. It worked quickly and efficiently, even if its bindings came off about five seconds after they were laid. It was excusable considering they came off and left the wound healed for the most part.

As it finished its duty, all the supplies lurched back into the box and it disappeared in a flutter of data, leaving in its wake a healed Liollmon. Sergal skittered back, not having the same luxury of a tamer before turning and retreating.

"Bulk! Dagger! Let's get out of here,"he called out, disappearing into the shadows. The KoKabuterimon and Guilmon X followed quickly, leaving the Adult level Digimon behind. As they left, the Shurimon was engulfed in light and then reverted back to Hawkmon.

The bird approached them on foot, coming before them and bowing to each of them. "Hello,"he said. "I'm Ren."


Ren had been fairly polite to them and Karel had appreciated his assistance. He had ended up guiding them to the apartments, leading them back the way they came and more toward the center of the Digital City. There, they found three massive buildings that were now full of Digimon but at one time, according to Ren, had been filled with nothing but humans.

"Here is where I must depart from you,"he said as they arrived in the lobby. "There should be a room in this building free on floor five." Claire nodded and watched the bird flutter away, leaving them to their own devices. At her side, Karel was unusually quiet.

They set off up the steps, taking them one at a time. By the time they'd reached the third floor landing, the excitement of the day had caught up to Claire and she felt exhaustion dragging at her bones; it had been such an extremely long day…

She trudged off down the hall toward the back bedroom and passed out without any urging from her partner.


It was late at night and Karel lay curled on the couch in the living room. He'd already explored the apartment to the fullest, picking over each room carefully. So far he'd found that it had all the basic necessities, such as a bathroom and kitchen. There were also bedrooms.

The nice thing about Digital World apartments was this; no matter how many rooms it had, it always seemed the same size as all the other apartments… from the outside. Extra rooms, such as bathrooms and bedrooms, were added in where needed by some sort of expanding program. Karel knew said program by heart but he'd never seen it at work. It was quite a work of art.

Since their arrival, it had gone from a one bedroom apartment into a two, one for him and one for Claire. It made him smile and feel a little bit better about the days events. The bad days events.

He lowered his head onto his paws and sighed. Today's battle had only been proof that he was not cut out for this sort of thing. Yet they still put him here…

There was the jingle of a bell outside of the door and instantly, Karel knew who it was. He slid from the cozy couch onto the carpet and moved, silent as the night, toward the door. His long tail wrapped securely around the door handle and gave it a pull, opening the door to reveal the Kudamon from earlier.

She entered without being invited, scurrying across the carpet with a quickness not thought possible by one with such short legs. She came the to the middle of the living room and sat up on her hind legs, looking about with misty, nostalgia filled gold eyes.

"The place looks exactly like the day we all left it,"she said softly. There was a scar of some kind on her shoulder, barely visible under the white fur. Despite her small sized, her air commanded respect, almost like she'd seen more in her life time than her body said.

"That's because the apartment reset about five minutes before you left it… it went back to its default form."

He could tell her words were ignored and it didn't bother him. Karel moved back to his spot on the couch as the Kudamon continued to stare, tiny paws curled tight and her shoulders tense. After a moment, she sucked in a shuddering breath and looked toward the Liollmon.

"Zwitter has returned… She gave that boy the message… She didn't get to see C-Cyrus." She sucked in another breath, trying to steady her voice and managing to at least keep the crack from it. "He should arrive soon… His partner is taking longer to prepare than expected…"

Karel smiled at that. "Yeah, I can imagine… Enid will take time, and not necessarily on prepping; just on talking."

His words caused her to snort and a little smile coming to her features. She suddenly turned and faced him, getting right to business. "Right, anyway,"she said with a nod. "How is the girl?"

"Asleep. She was exhausted after a battle in the outer rim of the city… I got turned around."

The Kudamon nodded slowly. Karel asked the next question.

"Where is Athanas? I thought he would have been here by now…"

The Kudamon sighed and brought a little paw up to rub her face. "Seph, I'm afraid, didn't even get close to the Digital City… they ended up in the southern mountains. It took them a while to pick their way out of them and even onto more solid ground. You know how treacherous the mountains can be, particularly with a human…""Aye… the last remnants of hard core Insomnia supporters and believers are centered around in that area… Where are they abouts now?"

"Ermolai's village; they just left it today after a run in with a group of Extremum's lackeys… Athanas was injured moderately but could continue."

Karel nodded slowly. "So we were the first ones here.""Yes… keep a watch out though… we have reason to believe that a fourth child has been tossed into the mix and he or she will not be on our side…"

Karel's black lips thinned. "I see…"He turned his head away and stared at the wall, eyes distant. "Do you ever see him? Rufus I mean?"The Kudamon blinked, seeming to come out of a daze herself. "Hm? Oh… yeah, I do… He's doing well… still has nightmares and misses C-Cyrus…"

Her eyes softened. "We all have nightmares but he was the one that found Cyrus… the one most affected by… by Cyrus's choice… And then he always had problems with his evolution…"

Karel nodded slowly. "What was Cyrus thinking anyway? Joining her like that,"the Liollmon said, voice growing accusatory and hard. He frowned.

"Don't you dare criticize him,"growled the Kudamon. "Don't you damn well dare, you brat. He was never a bad kid. Never. She sweet talked him, tricked him into believing she could fix everything that happened instantly. You didn't ever meet her. You don't know what the hell she was like."

Her white fur stood on end and her eyes blazed. The little face was curled into a scowling snarl of trepidation. Her words hung, full of rage and hatred for anyone that dare attack her tamer's integrity. Karel just stared at the wall. And then…

"Is that why you wouldn't take this spot instead of me, Hang?"

The question broke up the angry words and the gap created turned into a heavy silence. Hang's posture smoothed, though her eyes stayed hard. Finally, after a long spans, she said,"Yes… I could never be anyone else's partner but Cyrus's… he was my tamer and no one else could ever measure up."

Hang left not long after that, leaving Karel pensive. He was much younger than the Kudamon and had been born on the tail end of restoration after Insomnia's reign. By then, all the humans had been sent home, never to be seen again, leaving many partner Digimon in a state of utter depression. He glanced down the hallway.

Would he ever be that close to Claire? So close that the day she left, he, too, would become a bitter old Digimon telling stories and protecting her from other people's criticism?

He frowned. He just couldn't see it…

He slid from the couch, feeling exhaustion wear on him, and moved down the hall to the newly grown bedroom across from Claire's. Clambering into the large kitty cube against the wall, he matted down the grass for three turns before laying down and quickly delving into slumber.


So another chapter down. This one was kinda… ew. But the chapters will get better and things will pick up. I think I'm about half way through chapter ten but its becoming insanely long.

Karel, Claire, Hang © Me

Ren © Fangren