Chapter Ten – They Are Children, At a Glance

For the first time, Tagiru got to see, and really feel, what evolution was like.

Simply put, it hurt like nothing he had ever felt before, The closest thing he could relate it to was the first time he had fallen into a bed of rocks and flayed his entire right arm with blood and bruises and broken skin. This time, however, it was his whole body and it didn't know how to stop.

Also it was too bright. Something in him was hissing at the sheer amount of light coming off of his partner.

"Who let the sun in," he managed to say as he fell backwards on his butt.

"You, genius," grunted the creature inside the light as it began to die away. The agony purpling his arms was slowly fading to a red, hot feeling and with it, Tagiru found himself able to see again. He glanced himself over first and foremost and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey I'm not on fire." He shrugged his shoulders to loosen them up and looked back at what had been Kokabuterimon. Then he proceeded to look up and up and up until his neck hurt. Plated in golden armor and now marked with strange purple curving lines all over his body. His face was at least a face now, but it seemed carved from stone, narrowed like blades.

"Not bad, big guy," Tagiru said, grinning wide. "Now, go punch that guy twice for me!"

The bug made a face and seemed to actually roll his eyes.

Then he spun on one foot, kicking the dinosaur square in the gun. MetalTyrannomon let out a strangled noise, his roar having been cut off by the impact. Then he flew backwards, slamming into the remaining jungle gym and the tunnels.

Airu winced. "Good thing Yuu wasn't here to see that," she muttered grabbing Tagiru by the armpits and making to haul him away from the ensuing chaos. "Oi, noodle!" she shouted. "Help me with him! Effort's not cute or fun, you know!"

She got a look of utter confusion for that but honestly, Airu didn't care. At least he came over and did what he was told to do.

"I've got legs," tagiru grumbled.

"Do you think you can move them?" Hideaki deadpanned.

Tagiru tried and groaned, legs twitching every time he tried to press them solidly to the concrete. "Okay never mind, carry me, it hurts."

"Powering an evolution for more than a minute hurts for the first time." Airu informed him. "Unless you're a General apparently. They don't feel anything."

Hideaki and Tagiru managed to look at her askance, the dog digimon hopping around and circling them through shock wave after shock wave of power as the two monsters kept trying to find an opening on each other. It only succeeded in minor dents on either side.

"Mostly because we had bigger pains to worry about." Yuu was sitting on a still standing piece of fence. His head was still bandaged, but his gaze remained sharp and firm on the tussle going on. His Xros Loader shone a brilliant gold.

"You're supposed to be resting, Yuu-kun." Airu said these words with a grunt, finally letting Tagiru drop behind some safety. Tagiru huffed his thanks.

Yuu let out a snort. "You're supposed to have caught this guy by now. You're slipping, Airu." His eyes flickered and for some reason, Airu blushed.

"Screw off," she mumbled. "He's got a wider radius than I gave him credit for."

Yuu laughed. Then he looked at Tagiru. "Think you guys can get him?"

Tagiru tried to stand, then gripped the nearest plaster. "Long as I don't gotta move," he mumbled, slumping back down.

Yuu regarded him like a specimen under a microscope and then he looked away. His eyes were rimmed a faint pink. "Then you'd best get to it," he said in that stern voice. "We've got people to meet you and some work to do."

Tagiru wanted to snap at Yuu that he wasn't someone's lackey, but something held his tongue. "Rightyo, boss."

Yuu laughed and it softened his face. "Call me Yuu-sama, ever and I will find a way to kick your head off."

"With sneakers?" Tagiru asked, succeeding in standing up the second time. He'd had to grip the bricks though as MetalTyrannomon headbutt his partner to the ground. The crash from that made him wobble.

"With socks," Yuu countered in a somber voice.

Tagiru took a moment to shudder at how disgusting that sounded before raising his voice and shaking a fist in the air. "Come on, Kokabuterimon, clock him into next week already will ya?!"

"I'm not a Kokabuterimon right now you moron!" The beetle still listened, raising one hand and shooting a laser from each finger. One went right into the giant dinosaur's mouth. It roared loud enough for Yuu to wince in pain.

"Whatever you are!" Tagiru insisted. "Just haul your butt, this hurts!"

The digimon choked out a shrill laugh. "That hurts?"

Still, he listened. He fired more lasers and followed with a punch to the face. MetalTyrannomon raised his arm. A ball of light cannoned out. It snapped the Digimon's head back. MetallifeKuwagamon snarled in pain. He swung, kicking to the side. He was thrown to the ground for his trouble. The insect leaped onto MetalTyrannomon. He rolled, throwing him over to the side as he did.

"He needs to calm down." Yuu was still holding his Xros Loader, screen up. "Otherwise he's going to get squashed."

Tagiru glowered at him and looked back at the fight. "Keep on him, you old bug! Show him who's boss?"

Yuu sighed, sounding like a deflated balloon. "Gumdramon, you ready?"

"When am I not ready to punch something? Send me in!"

Yuu went to press the center button. Tagiru tried to lunge for him. "Stay outta it!" Tagiru snapped. "This is my fight."

"And it's sure going great." Yuu elbowed him in the stomach as the light shined brighter. "Chill you ball of stupidity. I won't take your kill."

Tagiru could almost lunge for his face. "Who's a ball of stupidity? If you actually told me things I wouldn't be like this."

"No instead you would be at home, safe." Yuu elbowed him again and Tagiru coughed. "But you're not. You're involved because you want to be and because you ended up here. A sane person would have ignored me. A smart person would have written me off. But you? No, you're an idiot."

"Then you shouldn't have talked to me, you weirdo!"

Yuu snorted. "It's because I'm a weirdo that I talked to you." And this time, he pressed the button. Gumdramon hopped out, flying at high speed. "Now, look, whatever happened in your past is none of my business. But Hunting is a team effort. It has to be, or people will get hurt or die. That was why we were all around. So you were willing to work with dead dog over there-"

"hey!" Hideaki shouted, eyebrow quirked. "Leave Dobermon out of this… lover's spat or whatever." Tagiru felt his ears flame red and Yuu snorted. "Besides, no offense but your tough guy ain't doing so hot."

"There's no strategy to it, is why." Yuu watched thoughtfully as Gumdramon began flying around MetalTyrannomon's head. "Also, these two hate each other so there's that."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," Tagiru grumbled. He pushed himself up. "Come on whatever your name is, you don't need them! Don't quit! We've got this!"

All encouragement failed him as the MetaTyrannomon's arm gouged into his partner's chest, glowing with light. Gumdramon squawked and flew away. MetallifeKuwagamon did not and could not, as the ball of light exploded in his chest.

Tagiru passed out.

Yuu was already racing down to check Tagiru's pulse. MetallifeKuwagamon fell with a shriek. But instead of not moving, he swung his foot. An energy blade burst into existence and cut right into MetalTyranno'mon's exposed snout. Gumdramon landed on his head, going ignored as MetallifeKuwagamon simply got up and continued to swing.

Slam.

Gumdramon flew off of his head and without notice. Which was probably good, because the second MetallifeKuwagamon was on his feet, he was punching any bit of the dinosaur he could reach. His expressionless face was now only accentuated by the red, unholy gleam in his eyes.

Gumdramon had not been around many of these big golden bugs, but he did know that they were not supposed to have red eyes.

They were also supposed to be calm, cool, tacticians. They had the golden armor that made people really strong.

This seemed less like a beetle and more like a wasp.

He flew about as fists met claws met lasers met-

"Gumdramon, get back," Yuu ordered. "Airu's ready." He paused. "Be ready to rush."

"Got it."

The weird thing about having a human partner was that his voice was clear as day, so long as you were right in sync. Their feelings were unfettered and clear to them, even if it wasn't a clear feeling at all. Yuu didn't have to hesitate for Gumdramon to get where he's going with his thought process. It was nice and weird and did not belong in a Digimon, an individual organism. It didn't belong to any humans either.

And yet there it was.

Gumdramon flew as far up as he could. Multicolored balloons floated down where he had been and with a strange gonging sound, proceeded to pop. By pop, he meant explode.

It was disgusting and red went everywhere. Gumdramon covered his face with his forepaws and arms to keep from getting blood in his eyes. He remembered the first time that he had seen blood like that, all over the place.

"Told you you were a lucky guy in a lucky time, kiddo."

He'd rather not deal with it again any time soon.

Same with the shrieks of pain and rage that were falling quiet after a few minutes.

"Was that many balloons that close necessary, Airu?" Yuu asked, voice wary and slightly hoarse.

Gumdramon risked a peek to look at Airu as she circled that weedy boy in green, her partner sitting on his like a weight. "To keep Lassie and her boy here, it was."

Both human and digimon grumbled something and Airu scowled. "I saw you trying to run, Reaper boy! We know who you are."

"Then you should know to stay the hell away from me!" Hideaki spat, struggling against the tight balloon strings. "What is this even made of?"

"Piano wire," Airu said with a smug smirk. "It took a bit of work on our parts but Oppossummon could do it. Now… you two are coming with me!"

Yuu made a face and Gumdramon rolled his eyes. He had no idea what she was talking about and he didn't think Yuu did either. Airu had been the one to go out here after all. Who knew what she was thinking about? He returned his focus to the two fallen monsters. They were groans of pain and whining incoherent snarls. Well, they were all tuckered out. Lucky them. He was still itching to break something.

Then an energy blast flew at him. He swung to the right. "Yuu!" He felt the heat on that one. "Little help!" The beetle was starting to get up.

"Sixteen seconds." Yuu soundeddistracted, fumbling with the second, crimson Xros Loader. "Getting the MetalTyrannomon."

Ugh. Gumdramon dodged in zipping bursts of flight as the blue lasers fanned out. He made a face as one nearly reached his tail. He smacked it away from his body. Then a hand lunged to grab him. He dodged again before a rush of warmth filled over his bones and skin and let his body grow back into the now familiar form of Arresterdramon.

Good thing too, because he was able to catch MetalllifeKuwagamon's next oncoming kick and slam him into the concrete.

On the ground, Tagiru's body spasmed and Yuu looked over. "Careful, Arresterdramon," he warned. "They're being parasites. The kid can feel it. We can't have him dying on us for no reason."

"That's his problem." Reluctantly, however, Arresterdramon did not skewer the bug and be done with it. Instead, he drew back and swung his tail, smacking the Digimon over and over until his arms fell back and he stopped twitching to get up. "That good?"

Yuu was below him at this point, the crimson Xros Loader in hand. It flickered green. Yuu nodded. "It better be. Don't need them both dying because they're both stupid." He raised it and the beetle-man let out a hiss.

"That's..." he croaked. "That's not yours."

Yuu smiled and once again, Arresterdramon noted how much he hated seeing that look. It was like one of the King's less popular councilmen. Not evil, but ruthless, but unforgiving.

"War changes people, Gumdramon."

Human children weren't supposed to look like that. Digimon children weren't supposed to be all banged up and scarred like the King was.

He almost missed what Yuu said next.

"I'm a good thief." Then Yuu whistled, a single, sharp note.

Arresterdramon dove without hesitation and finished the job.

This was his partner, ruthless, efficient. Amano Yuu, to see Kudo Taiki again, to make something right and find paradise, would stop at nothing.

It was a good thing that deep down, Gumdramon had discovered that he was the same way.

He remembered meeting Amano Yuu.

Gumdramon remembered seeing a smallish human rummaging through shelves at a store while he himself hid in the kid's toys until closing time. He remembered escaping the Abyss.

Well. He had called it that. It was an endless grasp of nothing after all and every time he'd tried to move too close to where edges might be. If edges existed. On the upside, he hadn't needed to eat or drink, just sit there and think about his idiocy.

If he hadn't trusted the wrong person. If he hadn't run off on his own…

If Betsumon hadn't abandoned him…

Gumdramon remembered crying because he was alone. He remembered feeling nauseous at the thought of doing it again. He remembered Shoutmon's face, solemn and knowing.

But knowing what?

He remembered that voice… whispering, in his head.

What does he know that he can't tell you? Is it about the other world? Is it about that power that you want so much?

Gumdramon had sincerely doubted that. Shoutmon didn't care if people were strong or weak. But if they had decided to become strong, then he would give them everything they needed and if they didn't, it was the same.

What if he's holding back?

And what if he was? He was allowed to have secrets?

The voice hadn't liked that. It had tried harder. But Gumdramon knew better than to listen to voices in his head that weren't his. He shouldn't have entertained this one in the first place.

Foolish.

Anyone who used foolish as an insult needed a dictionary thrown at him.

Whatever. The voice had seemed to have some kind of power because he had ended up in the human world at some point, over the sound of cackling laughter and thinly-veiled annoyance.

And within seventy-two hours, Amano Yuu had picked him up and carried him out of the story with no one seeming to care.

He had smiled the exact same way then when they were out of sight of the lamppost and the buildings and all these weird human things that no one really needed.

Well, okay it was dark out and humans had crappy vision so maybe they did need it.

"I'm going to guess you don't want to be here," Yuu had said pleasantly while chopping food with a knife. It was like it was easy for him. Like he was too at home with a knife in his hands.

"I have no idea how I got here." It was hard to be entirely acidic when food was placed in front of you an d you remembered that you had an appetite. "I was in Abyss Jail until three days ago." He did sound kinda… childish? Wisemon had a word for it, petulant, he thought it was.

"Abyss Jail?" The human had suddenly sounded baffled. Then it faded away. "For what?"

Gumdramon's cheeks had colored blue with embarrassment. "For… I… I went after criminals without a license. The King doesn't think vigilantes are a good idea."

"Ah. Well. He's right, there. It got him killed a couple of times, from what I heard."

Gumdramon remembered realizing how wrong everything was. "Who are you?" He remembered raising histail high, preparing to escape.

That was when Yuu had pulled his golden Xros Loader out from seemingly nowhere. "I think we're going to have a lot to talk about."

Yuu called out to Arresterdramon again but went ignored. The dragon was staring at where MetallifeKuwagamon had been. Then he waved his Xros Loader and the now Gumdramon dropped like a stone.

"Hey," he shouted, floating back up. "Thanks for the warning."

Yuu laughed. "Your fault for not listening the first four times I called for you. Now, come on, help me with this dead weight."

Gumdramon's expression turned mulish once again. Yuu once again wondered why. His Digimon -not his digimon, his comrade, his ally, not like Damemon at all- seemed to despise Akashi Tagiru more than any of the other people that Yuu had contacted. He took to Ren of all people like a duck out of water. And even Ryouma considered Ren a safety hazard.

Yuu's eyes narrowed. He'd been a bad judge of character once before and it had killed Damemon, seemingly forever. He wasn't going to do it again.

Gumdramon picked up Tagiru. "You just wanted me to carry him."

Yuu chortled. "Well, you're good at it. Why put you into things you can't do?"

"You gonna repeat that?"

"You gonna eat tonight?" Yuu shot back. He was grinning despite it all. There was something about Gumdramon that caused that in him.

Gumdramon, after a moment, grinned back. "I'd better, boss. Or else."

"Threatening."