Greetings from Corpus Christi! Yeah, missed the window so I had to upload on the road.
Shout out to MadDogLucario96 for another review. I decided to take your advice we discussed in the PM. And as I said before, PicoDevimon is like Etemon to me in terms of villains you hate to love.
Anyways, on the next chapter...
Chapter 24: Oh Friend! WereGarurumon!
Server Continent, Digital World. A-Day+82. Afternoon.
P.O.V. – Yamato Ishida
Deep down, I felt bad that I left Takeru back at the amusement park but honestly, he really needed a break and all me and Gabumon were doing was just seeing what was on the other side of the lake. We landed on a small beach below some fairly large cliffs, though there was a pathway that led up to the top.
"Where are we?" I asked. "Did the wind blow us off course?"
"Huh? Look over there!" Gabumon pointed up the cliff to see that a Monzaemon, a Cockatrimon, and a Yukidarumon were walking along the path. It was doubtful they were the same Digimon we've met before as I don't think two of them never left File Island and Cockatrimon was surely destroyed when his ship exploded.
"What are they doing?" I questioned.
"Let's follow them and see!"
We followed close behind. They noticed us but then just went back on their way. Yep, they weren't the same Digimon. After a half a kilometer, they soon walked into a large round building that was on the path.
"What's that?" I asked though I'm sure Gabumon didn't have an answer. As we got close to the front door, we could hear voices inside.
"The usual! Italian ice!" "Me too!" "One bowl of pudding, please."
"Sure, your orders are all set." So this was a restaurant huh? "Thank you for your continued patronage! Hey, you! Look for more customers!" The door opened up to reveal a small yellow creature with a sort of Native American headdress looking thing on his head and long yellow vines for arms. In his arms, he threw out a very familiar Digimon that landed at our feet.
"Gomamon?" I questioned.
"Gomamon!" shouted Gabumon.
"Gabumon?" He was surprised to see us. "Yamato!"
"Then, does that mean Jou is in here?" I inquired. Gomamon nodded.
"Yeah, he's out back in the kitchen."
We walked around the building and sure enough Jou was in the kitchen.
"Yamato!" He exclaimed.
"Jou! So this is where you were!"
"Um, yeah." He started to rub the back of his head like he was embarrassed about something.
"Everyone else disappeared after what happened. I mean, when you left it was just me, Takeru and Mimi, but she went her own way the day after you. Takeru and I are the only ones left."
"Huh… Well, about that… Remember how we all divided up the work and I went looking for other people? Back then…"
Server Continent, Digital World. A-Day+77. Late Morning.
P.O.V. – Jou Kido
We were wandering through the desert when we got stopped by this bat Digimon named PicoDevimon. Now the second part of his name kinda rubbed me the wrong way but he didn't seem malicious or anything, far from it. He was actually trying to be helpful.
"You're a human, aren't you?" He questioned me. "I saw a lot of beings that looked like you not far from here." My eyes widened.
"Eh! So there are other humans besides us!"
"If you don't hurry, they'll disappear from our sights. Let's go. I'll take you there."
"Th-Thank you… But…"
"Hurry, hurry! Let's go!"
"O-Okay!" We followed him but somewhere along the way, we lost sight of him… Even when we tried to go back, we got so lost that we couldn't find any familiar landmarks. Just when our stomachs were grumbling, we found this restaurant.
"I'm stuffed!" I said as we had finished eating.
"Me too!" Gomamon added.
"Thanks for your patronage." The waiter and cashier we'd soon known as Vegimon gave his usual speech.
"Will this be enough?" I handed him almost fifty-thousand yen.
"Sir, don't joke around." What? What did he mean I soon found out as a Numemon hopped up onto the counter.
"Here's the bill." He placed a ten-dollar bill on the counter.
"Dollar bills?" I muttered.
"Of course!" Vegimon yelled.
"You… don't accept Japanese yen?"
"Huh? What's that?" I think I snapped mentally at that point. I was so screwed. "D… Don't tell me… Are you trying to leave without paying?!"
Server Continent, Digital World. A-Day+82. Afternoon.
P.O.V. – Yamato Ishida
"So now they're making you work to pay off your bills." I concluded. He nodded.
"I didn't think it would turn out like this…" Suddenly, the door flew open and Vegimon hopped into the kitchen.
"You're late! The customers are waiting! Hurry up and serve the food!"
"Y-Yes, sir!" Jou poured a bowl of soup and Vegimon picked it up before looking at me and Gabumon.
"Who are you?"
"I'm his friend." I explained.
"What are you doing back there then? You've got some business to take care of?" He pulled out a spoon and tasted the soup. "This is nasty!" He threw the bowl into the cabinets. "How can I feed this to the customers?! Make a new one!"
"No way…!" Jou was completely disappointed.
"I'm adding more to your expenses while I'm at it!"
"How long do you have to work to pay it off?" I asked.
"Well… At first, it was supposed to be for three days, but every time I screw up on something, it gets extended… Now it's about two weeks!"
"It's not my fault!" Vegimon argued. "I'm just taking back the losses I've made on this guy!"
The door opened again and in walked a large Digimon who was nothing more than an egg with an opening in the front where his eyes were and reptilian legs coming from the bottom of the egg.
"What's this, what's this? What's all the fuss about?"
"Digitamamon-sama!" Vegimon stood at attention; I guess this guy owns the restaurant, might as well check.
"Are you the owner of this place?" I questioned. "This guy is my friend. Can't you let him go?"
"What are you saying? Quite your jokes!" Guess that was a no from him. "It'll be a different story if you worked with him to pay off his debts, though."
"Well…" I agree, that would make it faster, but I can't leave Takeru behind. Maybe I should pick him up and then we both come back, that way, Takeru isn't left on his own and we can help Jou.
P.O.V. – Third Person
"If you can't do that, hurry up and leave. You're slowing down my business." Digitamamon said as he walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, I didn't even say…" Yamato tried to speak up as the egg Digimon went up the stairs to his office.
"I probably won't leave this place for the rest of my life." moaned Jou.
"Don't get depressed!"
"But still…!"
"Takeru is waiting for me. I'll bring him with me here, so wait for us until then."
"Then…"
"When I come back, I'll help you with your work. Okay?"
"Yamato! I'm in your debt!" Jou cried.
Back at the top of the building where his office was, Digitamamon opened the door to find an unexpected guest.
"Who's there? Oh? You're… PicoDevimon! What is it?" The bat just looked over to the table where a large stack of money was. "Th-This is… I see, Well, what do you want me to do?"
"Oh, it's a very simple matter." Back at the beach, Yamato and Gabumon were almost back at the swan boat before they were stopped by some yelling.
"Wait!" They turned around to see Digitamamon looking not too happy with them. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Where?" Yamato questioned.
"I want you to stay here and work with them!"
"Why bring this up all of a sudden?"
"Anyways, that's how things worked out!" The egg was getting kinda of boiled, in terms of his temper.
"I don't mind working here, but I need to leave for a bit right now. I'll be sure to come back later." The blonde haired boy explained.
"Should I take that to mean you don't care about what happens to your friend in the meantime?" The Perfect-Level Digimon said in a sinister tone.
"What do you mean?" Yamato was taken aback.
"Figure it out. While you're gone, I'll be free to do whatever I want to him."
"What?!"
"Yamato… What should we do?" Gabumon asked. The human sighed.
"Gabumon, I want you to take the boat and go get Takeru for me, okay?" It seemed he figured out a solution, unfortunately, Digitamamon wasn't one for work arounds.
"Oh, no! He stays too… or, you know…" The egg threatened. Yamato's eyes widened. He had been backed into a corner. He merely growled at the Digimon before he reluctantly began to walk back to the restaurant.
"I'm sorry, Takeru."
P.O.V. – Yamato Ishida
I began to get to work on the rice while Jou was working on washing the dishes. He seemed surprised that I came back so soon.
"Yamato? Didn't you say you were going back for Takeru?" My mood darkened as I didn't answer him. "Go. Don't worry about me. Okay? Go on! You can step by again when I'm almost finished."
"Figure it out. While you're gone, I'll be free to do whatever I want to him." I thought back to Digitamamon's threat. What was I supposed to do? Tell Jou the truth? That if I don't stay, Digitamamon will murder him and make it look like an accident. Sure he'll understand immediately, but he'd be so scared to do anything that in the long run wouldn't help either of us.
"No, that's okay." I lied to him.
"Yamato… What happened to you?"
"It's okay."
"You're worried about Takeru, aren't you? Go back to him."
"I said, it's okay!" I snapped.
"Did I say something wrong?" I came to a sudden realization when he said that. He said all of that in consideration of me… But I…
"I'm sorry." I apologized. I hated to leave Takeru behind without telling him why I'm now stuck here, but he should be fine for the next few days at that amusement park. I turned my thoughts back to Jou. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. Don't worry about it."
"Yamato…"
"Leave the cooking to me. If we work together, we'll get out of here quicker. So let's do our best together."
"You think so? I'm sorry, I'll never forget this favor."
"Everything will straighten out! Let's work hard, Jou." Gomamon encouraged.
"We're with you!" Gabumon assured.
"Yeah…" mumbled Jou. "Yeah, your right!" He regained confidence. I turned back to the food but my mood was still sour. Hang in there, Takeru. I'll be back as soon as possible.
Digitamamon's Restaurant, Server Continent, Digital World. A-Day+94. Evening.
Two weeks. Almost two damn weeks I've been stuck in this place! At first, we were doing fine but then Jou just kept making a mistake here and a mistake there that just started pilling on the days. I've lost track of how many more we have to work off. Oh, Takeru… I can't even begin to imagine what's going on with him. He's probably thinking I've just abandoned him or something.
"Yamato…" My blood has slowly been beginning to boil every time Jou opens his mouth for the past few days. "I'm sorry!" You're sorry? You're not the one who's left his little brother behind and has no way of letting him know what's happened to you. "I won't make any more mistakes from now on. I promise." I'll believe that when I see it. "Yamato…"
"I can't make any more mistakes…. If I do, I'll cause even more trouble for Yamato… I must never make any more mistakes…!" Jou thought to himself. I then heard more plates crash and I turned around see the smashed plates on the floor. Oh, gods above…
"Yamato… I'm sorry…" Jou looks like he's just about have it too.
"It's okay." I told him. "Don't worry about it." Ugh… How much longer do I have to stay here? I promised Takeru I'd come for him!
P.O.V. – Third Person
Outside the restaurant, PicoDevimon was keeping tabs on the situation. Okay, so things backfired for him when dealing with the youngest of the Chosen Children. How they figured out about the mushrooms, he couldn't figure it out. However, with this predicament, it was going pretty much according to plan.
"Things are looking good." The bat Digimon thought to himself. "Now all it needs is the finishing touch."
"Hey, have you finished peeling the potatoes yet?" He heard Yamato ask the bluenette.
"I'll get them, after I wash these."
"Hurry up!"
"O-Okay." PicoDevimon noticed that the potatoes were on a wooden board being held up by four legs of bricks stacked on each other. He slowly removed a brick and forced the board to begin to wobble.
"Now to watch, it's the perfect setup." He thought. Unbeknownst to him however, the person who had ruined his poisoning plans at the park had snuck behind and placed the brick back in its place. Sora then quietly snuck back into hiding.
"Sora?" Piyomon questioned.
"It's okay." She motioned the pink bird to keep quiet. PicoDevimon perched himself on a branch out of sight to watch the mess.
"Now then…" He said to himself. He was suddenly surprised when nothing happened as Jou cared the potatoes back in with no problem. "Wh-Why?! Damn it! Never mind, just watch! You're not getting off that easy!"
P.O.V. – Yamato Ishida
After the restaurant closed up for the night, I went back down to the beach where the swan boat still lied. I admit, the idea to sneak back across the lake and pick up Takeru during the night had crossed my mind, but I was worried that Digitamamon was just staying up and waiting for me to try that. I couldn't let Jou get hurt because of me. I know he's been causing mistakes but he doesn't mean it. Maybe I should've told him what Digitamamon said at the start. Maybe he'd cause fewer mistakes, or more, who knows. I pulled out my harmonica and began to play it.
"That's a beautiful melody." A voice said from behind. I turned around to see that my audience was a small bat Digimon.
"Who are you?" I questioned.
"Oh, I'm just a bat Digimon passing by. But it appears you're burdened with troubles heavier than mine."
"How…?"
"The melody from your instrument doesn't lie." I guess you could guess from it. "You're an honest and faithful person. You're sacrificing yourself for your friend."
"So you know."
"Yes. But your friend, on the other hand, doesn't feel the same."
"Jou? What about him?"
"I've heard he's making mistakes on purpose."
"What?!"
"It's because he's afraid of being left behind on his own."
"Jou would… He would never do that!" The bat sighed.
"You're a good guy. Goodbye." He took off flying away.
"Jou is doing it… On purpose?" Wait, why am I even remotely believing this rumor? I thought I was doing all this to keep him from being slaughtered by a bad egg. What would Jou gain being stuck here as practically a slave? I mean, we'd probably go our separate once I get Takeru back and we'd leave this place… wait? Could he really?
Come morning, we had quite the busy crowd, but that didn't matter. I had to get out of here.
"Please!" I begged to Digitamamon. "I'll make sure to come back! Just let me go pick up my brother! Come on!"
"No. Absolutely not."
"Why not?! I promise to come back work again!" He just turned away from me. I then heard Jou make a surprised sound and then the sound of that stack of plates smash on the floor. Jou… that's it… that bat was right… he really is doing this on purpose.
"Both of you are working one more week!"
"One more week?! I don't have that sort of time!"
"What do I care? You'll be working with him to reimburse everything!" I just fell to my knee.
"Damn it…!" I muttered. "Why…?" Jou seemed to figure out what I meant.
"No, that's not it! Someone bumped into my legs and knocked me over!" Jou tried to feign innocence. "It wasn't me! I'm telling the truth, believe me!"
"Don't make excuses!" I yelled.
"Yamato!" I had to get out of here. I walked out of the kitchen and as far from Jou as I would be allowed. "It's the truth…"
Server Continent, Digital World. A-Day+95. Morning.
P.O.V. – Taichi Yagami
Okay, so our search for the others got a bit sidetracked. The morning we left the amusement park we hit a snag that we thought we could easily solve. Without a boat or a large Digimon to be used as a boat like Ikkakumon to get us across the lake; we couldn't take the direct route. We could fly with MetalGreymon or MegaloGrowmon but we decided against it as we weren't in any rush and we may need to save their energy. So we thought that if Yamato was heading towards the other side of it, we'd just walk around the lake. As it turned out, the lake was either beginning or was a continuation of a titanic river. Ross said we may have found the Digital World's answer to the Rhine which I joked by saying we should find the Digital World's answer to Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. Ross laughed because that was military history joke he'd come up with while the rest of our group was completely lost on it.
We spent the entire day walking alongside the mighty river with absolutely no sign of a crossing or an area we could easily ford. Come the next morning after camping in the woods, we came to the utter shock that we found a town full of Digimon and more importantly, a bridge across the river. The bridge wasn't anything too spectacular but we couldn't care less, we could just head back to the lake on the other side now. After asking around the town if they had seen any other humans and them apologizing to us that they hadn't, we crossed the bridge and headed back to the lake. It was close to nightfall before we got within a few kilometers of the lake again.
This morning, we finally reached the lake, and suddenly as we got closer, a familiar beeping sound rang out.
"Something's beeping." Takeru noticed. I checked my Digivice to see that two red dots were straight ahead.
"Our friends must be nearby!" I said.
"That's right!" Agumon remembered. "When we met you, Takeru, it started beeping too."
"Shoot, I'm sorry. We should've flown if we knew they were right there." Ross apologized because he was the one who said we didn't need to fly.
"Not your fault, Ross." assured Guilmon.
"Will we be able to meet my brother?" The little kid asked.
"Maybe." I told him, the odds were in that favor, but for all we know, it could be Sora and Mimi, or something like that.
We walked towards the dots until we came across this round building. We walked up the stairs and opened the door to see that it was a restaurant and that two of the employees were very familiar Digimon.
"Gomamon!" Ross said.
"Gabumon!" excitedly cheered Takeru.
"It's Taichi and Ross!" Gomamon was surprised.
"And Takeru!" Gabumon was surprised too but in a more pleasant sense. Takeru ran up to the wolf pelt wearing Digimon.
"Gabumon! Where's my brother?"
"Is Jou here too?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's here! But…" Gomamon's mood darkened, and so did Gabumon's. Uh oh.
"But…?" They led us to the kitchen and we found Jou in there.
"Taichi! Ross! You're alive! I was worried about you!" He exclaimed.
"Sorry, a lot of stuff happened." I apologized.
"Yeah, it's quite the story we've got." Ross added.
"Hey, where's my brother? He's nearby, isn't he?" Takeru was a one-track mind at this point. Jou's mood also darkened when he was asked that question. His eyes looked out towards the back door and we looked at that direction. "He's outside, right?"
"Jou. What's wrong?" I asked.
P.O.V. – Yamato Ishida
I just laid down in the grass after I stormed out of the kitchen. Oh, what am I going to do?
"Onii-chan!" Takeru was standing right above me before he fell on his knees with a large smile on his face. How? How is he here? And why the hell is he smiling and not pissed off at me or something?
"Takeru!" I cried as he hugged me.
"I finally get to see you again!"
"How did you…?"
"I came with Taichi-san and Ross-san!"
"Taichi? Ross?" I turned and sure enough, they were standing there in the flesh not looking any worse for wear.
"Yo." "Hey." They said.
"You're alive!"
"I'm not kicking the bucket before you!" bragged the goggle wearing boy.
"And if he listens to me more often, he'll definitely live longer." Ross responded to that boast before Taichi shot him a look.
"Oh, sorry. Hey, thanks for taking care of Takeru, you two."
"Don't worry about it!" Taichi said.
"I'm sorry, Takeru. I couldn't keep my promise to come get you."
"That's okay. We were able to see each other again." Oh, Takeru. You're way too forgiving, but I guess in this case, I was thankful.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're safe."
"Putting that aside…" Taichi spoke up. "It doesn't look like anyone's around, so let's get out of here!"
"You want us to run?" Gabumon questioned.
"Yeah! Let's hurry up and look for the others together!"
"I don't want to." I told the group.
"Onii-chan?"
"I don't mind running away from here, but I won't go with Jou." That surprised him. "He'll only drag us down if he stays with us."
"What?!" Ross was taken aback by that comment.
"How can you say that? We're all friends!" Taichi argued.
"What do you mean, friends?!" I yelled. "You keep dragging everyone around at your own convenience! Thanks to that, I'm all worn out! Just do whatever you want on your own!"
"Wh-What?!" Now Taichi was the one taken aback.
"I'm going with Takeru and that's it!" I declared. "Leave us alone!"
"Onii-chan!" Takeru tugged on my arm. "What's wrong? We're all friends here."
"Shut up!" Takeru was shocked that I yelled at him. "You just have to stay quiet and follow me!" However, it seems like we may have stayed too long as Digitamamon showed up.
"Everyone~" He said, and then he got angry. "You wouldn't be thinking of fleeing from here, are you?"
"It'll give us trouble if you did that." We turned around to see on a tree branch was that same bat creature from last night.
"Huh?" Jou was confused.
"Th- That's…!" Takeru seemed to remember who this was.
"PicoDevimon!" Patamon informed us.
"What are you doing here, you short rat?" Ross questioned.
"I'm not short!" PicoDevimon yelled.
"PicoDevimon is an evil Digimon who tried to trick Takeru!" explained Agumon.
"He tried to poison us with memory loosing mushrooms!" Guilmon added.
"What!?" I was shocked. I thought that Takeru would be safe and it turns out, he nearly had been poisoned.
"Then, when you mentioned there were humans around…" Jou pieced things together. "It was all a lie!"
"Damn it! I won't forgive you!" Taichi shouted.
"Baby Flame!" "Fireball!" "Air Shot!" PicoDevimon dodged the three attacks.
"Hey, watch it!" He flew off and Taichi, Ross, their two Digimon and Patamon all pursued the small bat.
"Wait!" "Stop him!"
"You've got guts, trying to shirk your payments and escape from me." Digitamamon spoke up.
"What are you talking about?" I questioned. "Our debts should have already been more that paid for!"
"That's true. You were very good workers." He started to get bigger. "Let me give you back your change."
"What?" I quickly jumped out of the way as the exposed part of his shell closed and he tried to ram.
"The next one won't miss."
"Gabumon, evolve! GARURUMON!" Garurumon jumped in and tried to defend me. "Fox Fire!" The attack merely just bounced off the shell.
"Attacks won't work against Digitamamon once he's sealed himself within his shell!" Gomamon informed.
"That's how things work." The egg Digimon taunted. He charged straight forward and slammed Garurumon hard.
"Garurumon!" I cried out.
"Help me!" I turned around to see Vegimon hanging from the roof with one vine and he had Takeru hanging upside down with the other vine!
"Takeru!"
"If you keep putting up a struggle, I can't guarantee the boy will live." Digitamamon threatened. "That includes your Digimon too!" Garurumon was slowly getting back up before he was struck again, this time into a cliff wall.
"Garurumon!" I shouted once again.
"Onii-chan! Help me!" yelled Takeru. What do I do? If I do nothing, we can't win, and if I fight, I risk getting both Takeru and Garurumon killed!
"Damn it, that's unfair!" Jou responded to the dirty tricks. "I won't forgive this!"
"Gomamon, evolve! IKKAKUMON!" Ikkakumon tried to impale Vegimon with his horn but the Digimon dodged the attack.
"Whoa! What are you doing? If you do that, I'm not responsible for what happens to this little guy!" He started waving Takeru around much to his fright.
"Takeru!"
"You won't get away with this!" To my surprise, Jou used Ikkakumon as a distraction so he could sneak onto the roof and jump down on Vegimon from above. The three of them crashed to the ground. Thankfully, Takeru fell to the grass while Vegimon and Jou smashed through the potatoes. However, all we did was giving Vegimon a new hostage as his vines were slowly strangling Jou.
"J-Jou-san?"
"Why?" I questioned.
"Up until now…" He choked out. "I've put up with everything because you said we should do our best together, Yamato… So this time, I'll… Ikkakumon! Save everyone!" Ikkakumon tried to attack Digitamamon but the Digimon was fast and avoided it.
"I'll squeeze even harder if you do that!" Vegimon reminded.
"Jou!" I yelled.
"Don't mind me, hurry up and defeat Digitamamon! Forget about me!" I felt so terrible.
"I… I said those horrible things, but…" Jou was still risking his life even after everything. I blamed him for doing things that I could now see he did mean or did. Jou… "JOU!"
I won't abandon my friends!
I looked down to see that my Crest was glowing… I… I got it to work?
"I could wipe the floor with you two if I seriously wanted to." Digitamamon boasted to our Digimon. "You might not believe me, but it's true. Nightmare Syndrome!" The whole inside of his shell shot out and engulfed the both of them in a small ball before it exploded and sent them flying.
"He's too strong!" worried Takeru. "It's no use! We can't win!"
"No, that's not true!" I shouted. "It will work out somehow!" I won't forget it anymore! I can't forget it! My friends… "The feeling of believing in my friends! Friendship!" My Digivice turned blue and the buttons became silver as it shot a light towards my Crest and reflected back to Garurumon.
"Garurumon, super-evolve! WEREGARURUMON!" WereGarurumon was a whole another beast. He still looked like Garurumon but he had become bipedal and was wearing ripped denim jeans, he had a shoulder guard on his left shoulder as well as brass knuckles on his left hand.
"That's WereGarurumon!" I announced to Digitamamon.
"WereGarurumon?" He questioned. "Nightmare Syndrome!"
"Kaiser Nail!" WereGarurumon yelled as he stopped the attack dead in its tracks.
"Don't dare take a single step back! WereGarurumon!" I ordered. He groaned in his struggle before he succeeded in throwing back the attack to Digitamamon and sent him flying far away.
"Huh? Di-Digitamamon-sama?" Vegimon was shocked and so was PicoDevimon who rejoined the fray along with the others.
"N-No way! He beat Digitamamon!" The bat panicked and fled.
"He's getting away!" Taichi observed.
"Vegimon! Release Jou now!" I ordered.
"Or do you want to fight me too?" threatened WereGarurumon.
"N-No, thank you!" Vegimon knew fighting would be suicide and put down Jou before running off.
"Onii-chan!" Takeru ran up to me and hugged me. "Jou-san saved me!" Both Jou and I just looked at each other before Ross and Taichi walked up to him.
"Real nice going there." Ross patted him on the back.
"That was unusually heroic of you, Jou." Taichi added.
"Thanks, but you didn't have to add 'unusually' to that." The eldest member of our group got embarrassed.
"Buy you really were cool, Jou!" Gomamon chimed in.
"Really, really!" Tsunomon, who WereGarurumon devolved back into, cheered. Jou could only laugh.
"Jou…" I spoke up. It was time to come clean. "Thank you… For saving Takeru…"
"That's okay. After all, you're always saving me."
"Also…! I'm sorry…" That was really hard for me to say…
"Yamato…" He laughed once again before we all started to join it. It was a mess these last few weeks but now, we can move past that.
P.O.V. – Third Person
One person who could not move past that was PicoDevimon. He was now having to explain his latest failure to his mysterious master.
"A-And then… The light from the Crest of Friendship caused WereGarurumon to evolve!" The bat finished his story.
"What?" The silhouetted being questioned.
"U-Um…" He didn't get much more time to explain as a swarm of bats began attacking the small Digimon. "Sp-Spare me!"
"Learn your place."
"D-Damn it! It's entirely their fault! Just you wait, children!"
P.O.V. – Ross McGlathery
After we finally got away from that restaurant, we all were moving forward along the path. Taichi and I were filling in Jou and Yamato about what was going on.
"So what you're saying is… If we don't do something about this world, the effects will move over to our world." Yamato concluded.
"Right. Digimon are starting to cross worlds and are beginning to cause problems that if left unchecked will be catastrophic." I informed. We were interrupted when our Digivices began to beep.
"What's that?"
"Apparently if one of our friends is nearby, this starts beeping." explained Taichi.
"Then someone must be close by." Jou guessed.
"Which way is it?" Takeru asked.
"Mine's this way." Taichi pointed to the right fork of the path that followed the river.
"Mine's over here." Yamato motioned towards the left fork leading deep into the mountains.
"Then why don't we split into two groups and look for them?"
"Okay. I'll go with Takeru."
"Then, Ross, Jou, you come with me."
"But what'll happen if we don't see each other afterwards?" Jou worried.
"How's about we meet at the bottom of that mountain, then?" I suggested.
"Okay. Let's do that." agreed Yamato.
"Hey, will we really see each other again?" Takeru questioned.
"We will! Because we're friends!" Yamato assured him.
"Yeah! We'll definitely meet again!" Taichi reminded.
"There's nothing that's gonna keep us apart for long!" I said.
"You're right. After all, we're friends!" Jou concluded.
We parted for now, but we were sure that we would meet again further down the road…
And that was Chapter 24.
Nothing more to say except no deadline for the next one but when I get back, the deadline will come back in play.
Take care.
"Push the button, Frank."