Lovesick

Renee sat in her room, staring at the bottle in her hand. She found it hard to believe that Witchmon had actually agreed to make such an item, but there it was, real as can be.

"I don't think she'd play a trick on me... Not after I paid her," Renee thought. She shook her head, "Nah, this is genuine. It'll work. It has to. Or I'm getting a refund."

"All you have to do is dump it on him. He doesn't have to drink it or anything," Witchmon had said, "That's the lovely thing about magic."

"This should be easy," Renee grinned.

"Say Katsu," Lupimon said, "I wonder how those Tamers are doing."

Katsu thought for a moment and said, "I did kind of ask Eri if I could talk to her..."

"Wanna pay them a visit?"

"Sounds good to me. It sure beats walking aimlessly," he said, stopping to check his Digivice for directions. He had mapped Datamon's lab, so he quickly found his bearing, "You're gonna be bored, though."

"I'll snoop around," Lupimon said, grinning.

"You sure you won't get captured and 'tortured' again," Katsu asked, trying to hide his laughter.

Oukamon turned red, "Yes I'm sure, now stop it!"

Sora nearly tripped as he ran with Gatomon, Eri and Wizardmon back to the lab, "I can't believe she'd actually go this far!"

"She's only a kid," Eri said between breaths, "She doesn't know much better! Besides, desperation can do a lot to someone!"

"But a freaking love potion?! That's what angsty teens who think they're witches do when their crush blows them off!"

"Well you're kind of right on that case," Gatomon snickered.

"This is serious!"

"Seriously funny."

"Oh, forget it, just hold on!"

They had nearly reached the lab when Eri spotted someone at the door, "Hey, that's..."

Katsu noticed them running toward him and looked a bit nervous, "Whoa, hey... I didn't do anything yet."

They stopped and tried to catch their breath. Eri finally did so and said, "Katsu... Why are you here..?"

"I... came to talk to you, actually. We said we would, remember?"

"Oh... That's right, we did."

Sora cleared his throat, "Not to interrupt, but we've got a problem. Remember?"

"Ah, right! Sorry, Katsu, just hold on a few minutes," Eri said, running inside.

Sora followed her, "We'll be with you in a second!"

Katsu scratched the back of his head, "Did I... miss something?"

Wizardmon, who had stayed to entertain him until they got back, sighed, "Renee is being... unreasonable."

"Oh, right. The brat. How's she doing anyway?"

"Desperate."

Katsu raised an eyebrow, "About?"

"Vincent."

"You're kidding..."

"Unfortunately, no. She's had a friend of ours brew up a love potion, and plans to use it on him."

Katsu was flabbergasted, "Of all the..."

"I know. Ridiculous."

Eri banged on Renee's bedroom door, "Renee? Renee! I know what you plan to do, and it's crazy! Not only that, but it's immoral to change someone like that!"

Sora came up from behind her, "You want me to break it down?"

"Let me try and reason with her first. If I can't, then by all means. We'll fix it."

"Alright, but don't take too long."

Renee had heard her, but she had no intentions of listening, "Gotta get out of here..."

She opened her window and slipped as she went to climb out, landing in the arms of a surprised Lupimon. Renee was unsure as to what had happened at first, "Wha?"

Lupimon blinked a few times, "Hey kid... where ya goin'?"

"Um... Nowhere?"

"Hey, I remember you," Lupimon said, grinning evilly, "You're the kid who pissed me off..."

"Oops..."

"Oops is right," Lupimon said, but her expression went from vengeful to quizzical as she felt something drip onto her skin, "What the..."

"What?"

Lupimon's eyes seemed to dull for a moment. After a few seconds they returned to normal, and she looked down at Renee with a sly smile on her face, "Well now... This is interesting..."

Renee blinked a few times, "Wha..?"

Lupimon brought Renee closer to her face, "Renee... Have I ever told you how absolutely adorable you are?"

Renee's face turned red, "Um... Not that I can remember..."

"Want me to show you?"

Renee kicked her way free and started to run, "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Lupimon immediately gave chase, "Oh, hard to get. I like."

Renee ran as fast as she could, melodramatic tears streaming down her face, "Lupimon, if this is some sick way of getting me back, please just stop it and beat me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lupimon said, jumping in front of her.

Renee screeched to a halt and started to run the other way, "Dammit, no!"

Lupimon smiled and continued the chase, "You do realize that I'm just letting you stay ahead of me, right? I can catch you at any time."

The very idea terrified Renee, "Leave me aloooooone! I didn't do anything to deserve this!"

"Too bad for you," Lupimon said in a sing-song voice.

"Somebody help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Eri sighed when she saw the empty room, "She got away..."

Sora shook his head, "At least she's away from Vincent."

"Who's away from me," Vincent asked. He had been standing behind them the whole time, "Who's after me?"

Eri turned, startled, "How long were you here?"

"Pretty much the whole time you were talking to Renee's door."

"I wasn't talking to the door," Eri said, her eye twitching, "As a matter of fact, I was saving your ass, or at least trying to."

"Me? How?"

They explained the situation to him as quickly as they could. Not that much could be said about it. Vincent took it much better than they had thought he would.

"I'm gonna kill her," he simply put, "I'm gonna cut her open like a UPS box and dump her innards on the floor."

"Imagine what Renamon's gonna say," Sora joked, though he kind of meant it.

"Do you even want to tell her? She'll probably kill whoevertells her first!"

Renamon stepped into the hallway, arms crossed and eyes narrowed, "Who didwhat? Tell me. Now."

Sora and Eri moved to the side, leaving Vincent the horrifying responsibility. He sighed, "Thanks a lot, guys..."

Renamon walked over to Vincent, knelt down to his level, and smiled, "Vincent, do you really think I'd hurt you?"

"No, of course no--"

Her expression darkened, "Unless, of course, the person who has committed the crime is you."

"No, it wasn't me!"

"Then tell me who it was, dearest," she said, sweetening up again.

Vincent would have commented on how adorable that smile was, but he had to tell her before she got impatient. Besides, if he had made an off-subject comment, she would probably assume he was dodging the question. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Renee."

"And what did she do?"

Vincent tried to find the best words for the situation, "Apparently she paid Witch--"

A gust of wind blew, and a piece of paper flew in through an open window, landing in front of Renamon. She picked it up and read:

Renamon! Sorry if this comes too late (damn storm, coming in at a time like this D ), but this is urgent! Renee is going to try and use a love potion on Vincent! I know it was wrong of me to make it, but I didn't know until I had already agreed (story policy, sorry). I'm SO SORRY about this! Whatever it takes, don't let her near Vincent! I'm in the process of brewing an anti-potion that will negate the effects completely (free of charge, of course), to make up for all this. I'll deliver it personally when it's finished. I hate to say, but it might take all of tonight and some of tomorrow, so try and find a place to hide Vincent.

With many apologies,

Witchmon

P.S.: If you can, knock the damn thing out of her hand. I'll refund her, don't worry.

Renamon's eyes seemed to ignite. She snarled and crushed the letter in her hand, "That little bitch! I'll rip out her sphincter! Then she can pull all the bull shit she wants-- out of her own ass!"

Vincent tried to calm her down, "Renamon, wait! Don't do anything rash!"

Renamon swooped Vincent into her arms and said, "Don't you worry, Vincent... I won't let anything happen to you."

"Wow, talk about role-reversal," Eri said, snickering.

"Oh, shut up," Vincent shouted, "Renamon, wait! Where are we going?"

Renamon leapt out the window and stood there for a second, "You are going to hide. I am going to kill Renee!"

"You shouldn't joke about things like that..."

"Who's joking?!"

Vincent cringed, "Please don't kill her... I know you just want to protect me, and I know she's trying to do something bad... But please, just beat her up."

Renamon realized that she was being too aggressive and sighed, "You're right... I don't want to kill her. I want to stop her."

"Good."

They heard what sounded like a little girl screaming, and soon they saw Renee running toward them. Renamon immediately took a defensive stance, "Bitch! Stay away!"

"Tell that to her," Renee shouted, running past them.

Renamon and Vincent exchanged confused glances, and then Lupimon ran by, shouting, "Come back, my little pretty! I'll make a woman out of you, yet!"

Vincent coughed, "Say what?!"

It took a moment, but Renamon quickly realized what had happened. She started to laugh hysterically, "Oh my god, this is perfect!"

"What?"

"Renee must have accidentally put the potion on Lupimon!"

Katsu had heard them and tried not to snicker, "Wait a second..."

"Hey," Vincent said, "When'd you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I'm waiting for Eri."

As if on cue, Eri came outside, "Sorry, Katsu. Didn't mean to make you wait-- Huh? What's she laughing at?"

"Apparently," Katsu said, now noticeably laughing, "Renee put the love potion on Lupimon by accident."

Eri did not try to hide her laughter, "Well it sure showed her!"

"Well as funny as it is, we'll need to stop Lupimon. She and I kind of need to travel together."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, Witchmon's making an antidote. It should be ready tomorrow."

"I wonder if Renee will last that long," Vincent thought.

Renee ran through the woods, weaving through trees and bushes and whatever else barred her path. She could not understand why Lupimon would not leave her alone, but she was not about to stop and ask her. She took cover behind a boulder to catch her breath, "G-God dammit... Why couldn't she just break my arm or something? That would be much better than this."

A deep feminine voice came from behind her, "Oh, but my dear... Why would I do that?"

Renee's face went pale, "Oh god..."

Lupimon grinned and went to grab her, "We're gonna have some fun!"

"No we're not," Renee screamed, pushing away from her and running away again. It was obviously going to be a long day for her.

Eri and Katsu sat in the living room, making small talk as they had intended. They seemed to click quite well with one another, and Eri was beginning to wonder why he was such a villain in the first place. Although they were getting along well, one question still plagued her mind. She decided that now would be the best time to ask him, "Katsu... What did you do with the data you gathered from the Administrators?"

Katsu was silent. He did not have any easy way of shrugging her off, so he decided to do the next best thing. He stood and said, "Come with me. I can't say this around a lot of people."

He led her to a wooded area with a clearing in the middle. There were huge claw marks in the ground and boulders that stood in the clearing. It was clear that there had been an intense battle there.

Katsu sat on one of the boulders and pointed to the claw marks, "WarGreymon. The original. Tai's WarGreymon made those marks..."

Eri nodded, "I see... but why--"

"He also made... these injuries," Katsu said, lifting his shirt. Deep gashes went across his chest; injuries that looked like they should have killed him. Eri also saw bullet holes, but she could not understand where they came from.

Eri gasped, "What... How are you still alive?"

"That's the thing... The one who keeps me alive is my employer. He is the one who seeks to enslave the Digital World. He is a Digimon named Beelzemon. I've worked for him ever since I left the Administrators. The thing is... he's kept me alive so that I would collect the Administrator data, and protect him until he could use it," Katsu said, closing his hands into fists, "I'm sick of being used. I'll either find a way to heal my injuries, or die when Beelzemon's influence over them fades. Either way, I plan to destroy him."

Eri was confused, "Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Because you'd all just get in the way. I have a plan to stop him. I'll kill him behind his back, so you guys don't have to get involved. As long as he doesn't have the final Administrator data, he won't proceed with his attack."

"Then... why tell me?"

"Because," Katsu said, now looking directly at her, "I figured someone should know... so you can tell them once I'm dead. You'll all probably have to kill me."

"Why?"

"Because he'll make me fight you."

Eri shouted, "You don't have to fight us! Let us help you, Katsu! We'll heal your wounds and help you get rid of Beelzemon! You don't have to do this alone... That's what being a Tamer is all about."

Katsu was silent for a moment. He turned away and said, "It'd be better if I didn't exist. I've committed too many sins to be forgiven now."

"Sins are always forgiven if you wish for it. Come on, Katsu," Eri said, grabbing his arm, "Please... don't fight me on this. You know I'm right."

"I..."

"I promise we'll do our best to help you. Please, join us. You're a great fighter, and such a good person at heart... You don't deserve to be in the palm of such a monster's hand! You deserve so much better! Don't you want to be your own person again? To live your own life, the way you want to? It's not too late to break free..."

Katsu thought for a moment. His own life. His own person. These things sounded so alien to him. He had been taking orders for so long, he had forgotten about such things until then.

Eri interrupted his thoughts, "I've sinned, too. I've been cursed, just like you. But we have to empower ourselves to get over those curses, and to put those sins behind us. You have the strength. I know you do. You just need to find it again."

Katsu was silent. Eri's words sank in deep, as if they had belonged there in his heart all along. He did not want to endanger the others, but he knew that this was the right thing to do. He nodded, "How can you heal my wounds?"

"Reneeeeeeeeeeee! Come out, come out wherever you are! Puppy wants to plaaaaaaaaay," Lupimon called, searching the woods for the terrified girl.

Renee was high up in a tree, holding onto the strong branches to support herself. She snarled as Lupimon's taunting voice reached her ears, "Dammit, why does every lesbo that I know come out to me! Not just come out to me, they come on to me! This is the worst day ever..."

Suddenly the tree shook violently, and Renee began to fall, screaming the entire way down. She was caught in the tender embrace of Lupimon, who still had the same sly smile on her face.

The wolf girl held Renee tightly and said, "Looks like I found you..."

Renee struggled, but she could not break free, "Please, if this is all just revenge then just beat the shit out of me and stop this!"

"Revenge? For what?"

"You mean it's not..? That's even worse!"

"I don't know what it is," Lupimon said, leaning in closer, "But you're just suddenly so much more lovable..."

"Oh, god help me..."

"What? You're acting like I'm gonna do something horrible to you."

"Well, what are you gonna do?"

Lupimon leaned in even closer, "Well now, close your eyes and I'll show you..."

Renee quickly turned away as her face was covered in kisses, "WHAAAAAA! Let go of me, you dyke! I swear I'll kill you if you don't stop!"

"Aww, you wouldn't really do that, now would you," Lupimon asked, making direct eye contact with her.

Renee started to blank out for a moment, but she quickly shook her head and turned away, "Ah, no, no, no, no, no! No tricks, no kisses, no snuggles, no raping, no fucking wolf girl dyke wanting me! I'm out of here!"

She placed her hand on Lupimon's leg, absorbing the data from it. Lupimon, however, took it differently, "Oh, so you want to take it that far already?"

"Fuck off," Renee said, kicking free with her new leg strength and running away as fast as she could. She had to find a place where Lupimon could not find her. She decided to run to the nearest Focus Tower, where Administrator Charles used to reside. She figured that the multiple scents of the area would keep Lupimon confused. Then she got an idea: Clog up Lupimon's scent, and it would be harder for her to track her. She knew just what data she needed for the job...

"Well, sun's going down," Vincent said, stretching, "Renee's got a little more time of running before we have to end it."

"Personally, I wish it wouldn't end," Renamon said, "Insensitive little whelp."

"Yeah, I know... I'm not too happy with it either, but still... She's definitely learned her lesson by now."

Renamon snickered inwardly, "Oh, I'm sure she has."

There was a short silence. Vincent sighed, "You're still gonna hit her, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Renamon..."

"Aren't you?"

Vincent smiled sheepishly, "Not hard."

Renamon grabbed him in a headlock and began to noogie him, "See? I'm not the only one!"

Vincent struggled to escape, "Ah, hey! The hair!"

"Oh, am I messing it up? What ever will you do to fix it?"

"I'll comb it, that's what!"

Renamon pinned him to the couch, "Really? If you can't move then what will you do?"

Vincent's face went red, "R-Renamon--"

She put her finger to his lips, "Shh. Don't talk. Just relax."

Vincent tried to speak, but he was paralyzed with shock. Renamon leaned in closer and closed her eyes--

Suddenly the door opened, and Eri's voice was heard, "Hey guys, we're back!"

Renamon jumped and stood, "Hey!"

Eri raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing! You startled me, that's all."

"You're not usually this jumpy," Eri said, leaning to the side to see behind Renamon, "What gives?"

"Nothing," Renamon said, leaning in sync with her, "I was half asleep."

From behind her, Katsu's voice said, "Hey, Vincent. How's it going?"

Renamon cringed. How had he snuck by her? She smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her head, "I was, uh..."

Vincent was still red-faced, "Hey, Katsu... What are you doing here?"

"Eri said you guys can help me with a little problem," Katsu said, "And there's some information I think you guys might like, in return."

"Really? About what?"

Eri grabbed Renamon's paw and pulled her into the other room, "That can wait until tomorrow. Talk to Vincent about your wounds. I have to ask Renny-poo here something real quick."

Renamon went along, though somewhat unwillingly, "Wha-- Wait!"

Vincent snickered, "Renny-poo..."

"Shut up! If you ever call me that I swear I'll tickle you to death!"

As they disappeared into the doorway, Katsu asked, "Was that supposed to be a threat?"

"In her own kind of way," Vincent said, smiling, "Now, what about injuries?"

"Well... It's kind of a long story," Katsu said, sitting across from him, "The whole thing started back when I was working for the Administrators..."