Author's Notes

A bit of a short chapter, but it works. Sort of. The fighting scene really sucked. But new world next chapter. Part of the same arc though; won't end till Angel Sanctuary.

BTW, the last flash of blue is another transfer, but because it's Koichi's POV (omnipresent), it's not explicitly stated.

Another BTW. Remember the gun from last chapter. No shots fired.

Third BTW. 0.1 amps is enough to kill someone. 0.2 amps is (obviously) double that so twice the impact. It's current that's lethal, not voltage. Quick physics lesson.

And you know how I was updating once every day or few days at a most? That was because I had a backlog, which has run dry seeing as I was using the opportunity to update my other fics and write ideas that won't leave my head alone. So updates might slow down. I'll still try to update ASAP, otherwise I'll never finish.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think. Pwetty please *gives cobra eyes, which friend thinks is cute and I agree*…or maybe python eyes.


AutoCycle

It's set on automatic. It's set on random. They can't get it off, and it sends them to places they know little or nothing about. 20 cycles, then they're home free...if they're still alive.

Digimon & Anime x-overs


Chapter 29

Memories

The younger sprinted over, the elder puffing his way along behind. After all, he wasn't the one who sometimes spent hours on end chasing after the soccer ball with normally elder friends.

'Hey, Koichi.' He crouched down beside the other, before swinging his legs over the edge. Unlike the human-turned-doll, his legs didn't quite skim the water, so he just continued to swing them, one of his own nervous habits. The hand wringing they somewhat shared, much to Zoe's amusement…and the amusement of Yutaka who surprisingly got along well with both twins but more so the generally more patient and quiet Koichi. Of course, that meant that Yutaka and Takuya clashed personalities, but got along reasonably well in any case. That was after the elder brother paranoia kicked in though. 'Are you okay?'

The other didn't reply, still staring out in the water, melds of blue and black reflecting in his eyes…or perhaps the artistic view would take it to be the other way around.

'That was a stupid question,' Tommy muttered to himself, and catching that the eldest of the now-trio retreated just out of earshot. Truthfully the pair had not gotten the chance to talk about their experience at the facility together, and perhaps while the situation wasn't exactly ample for the latter (ie. Koichi), it was necessary and the timing was as good as it was going to get for the former (ie. Tommy). Perhaps it was the Digital World, or everything else that had distracted him, or the painkillers, or the fact that he'd escaped the worst of it…but then the other had, according to him, been blinded for most so it was possible that neither knew the full extent of what had happened. Heck, the entire situation made his blood boil; how DARE they treat one of his best friends like a lab animal!

But there was nothing he could do about that. Maybe they just blew the whole thing out of proportion. Or maybe it was the Doll issue that did that. Or maybe there were just too many maybes to deal with, and just like the Duskmon saga they should do what was best and leave things be after a nice little heart to heart talk…or confrontation like the temporary seated warrior of darkness staring down the gigantic corrupted Celestial Digimon. Seriously, if it were him, he would have probably wet his pants, despite being far too old to do so.

In any case, he didn't hear the rest of the conversation.


'I guess it isn't that much different and all,' Tommy continued, trying to kick at the water and ultimately failing. 'The way we deal with our problems. Maybe this is trying to tell us that, you know? Especially you, who always pretends nothing's bothering you and it just goes on stewing inside. I think I understand, somewhat, because…' Kick, kick, kick. 'I'm pretty much doing the same thing. I guess it felt easiest at the time, but I don't understand how you can stand having to do that again and again and again...' Another pause. 'To be honest, I don't think I can go on doing that anymore. I didn't even see much but I keep on having nightmares about it…but it's much better now. But you've got it worse, nightmares on top of nightmares, and one thing is just going to drag back something else and…'

He was well aware of the fact that he was babbling. But since Koji did the same thing with Takuya with ironically him doing the wandering around trying not to eavesdrop (like JP was doing at that particular moment), he figured he was well justified in doing so and no-one would question it. He also figured that the two were unrelated.

'It's not fair.'

'Life's not fair,' Koichi said unexpectedly after the other trailed off.

'No,' Tommy agreed. 'It's not, but Yutaka's always telling me that's a lesson adults learn the hard way. I wonder then, after all this, if we can still be child-'

He cut off with a sudden shout from JP and another from his own lips as a shadow loomed over them both and another over the boy who had saw it to warn them and therefore compromised his own position and was now tripped and sprawled. The result was that nothing productive on their side was accomplished, a wire line having tripped up JP and still intertwining with a brown haired girl holding the other end of the cord with a blonde beside her. Tommy had fallen backwards into the water upon the shadow and Kouichi had tilted his head back ever so slightly, more of a reaction than he had recently done, with a silver knife gleaming at his throat, the one holding him owning black hair and facial features dissimilar to the brunette girl. If it hadn't been for that, both JP and Tommy would have assumed the two to be the transfers Koji had alluded to.

JP just blinked at the wire, having failed to notice the situation behind him, before making to untangle himself.

'I wouldn't do that,' the blonde cautioned. 'Bai here can sent up to 0.2 amps down that wire and much else besides.'

'Let me guess,' JP frowned. 'You're February.'

'I prefer Amber if you don't mind,' she replied. Perhaps for good reason, seeing as her eyes could be reasonably labelled as amber. The ex-warrior of thunder realised two things at that point; the two accompanying him were the brother and sister Koji had met a few days ago and had suspected being undercover in a different Syndicate, and that being the warrior of thunder, there was an extremely slim chance that 0.2 amps going through his system would not kill him. Seeing as 0.1 amps could kill a person by fibrillation, that was clutching at too many straws to be comfortable. 'But how do you know that name? Unless…' She looked over to the doll, frozen in place with the blade on his neck. 'That was the Doll.'

Tommy decided that his blank look was a little less justified in that issue, but perhaps more experienced Contractors simply had to look at a Doll to know.

'What should we do?' Bai asked in a low voice. 'That Contractor is not here.'

'No.' Amber pursed her lips lightly. 'Nor is the other one. But they will come.'

She spoke with such certainty, and was proven half right when September suddenly appeared.

'February,' he acknowledged, to which the blonde inclined her head before he took in the rest of the scene. 'I hardly think this is the grounds of a chat.'

'It's not,' the woman agreed amiably. 'Keeping in mind I see the future and you the mind, there isn't really all that much for us to talk about.'

'Except your company.' But that which was lacking in his tone was quickly pointed out.

Amber just smiled and tilted her head slightly. 'You can see into my mind, can't you? You shouldn't need to ask.'

September stepped closer. 'That doesn't give an excuse to the first betrayal.'

The smile dimmed, and the blonde shook her head. 'Love is a fickle thing,' she whispered quietly, looking at him significantly before tilting her head. 'I know you understand, and in time, others will as well.' There was a pause, and then…'Just how much does he mean to you September?'

September frowned. Even with the ability to read minds, there were some people that were difficult to figure out.

She turned and gave a quick nod to the unidentified man with the blade, who tightened his grip and gave the young boy in the water a look that made him stay exactly where he was.

'Are you willing to let him die?'

Two agape mouths stared. Well, the mouths themselves did not "stare" per say, but February, or Amber as she preferred to be called, just smiled again. 'Perhaps I should put it in the more Contractor way; are you willing to let yourself die?'

As September pursed his lips in what could be a scowl, she continued. 'Why didn't you bring backup?'

'I wasn't exactly planning on handing you in at the current moment.'

'It was your only chance you know,' Amber replied calmly, looking over her shoulder, and ironically at the magnificent gate across the water that for some reason no-one had actually noticed except the newcomers. 'There's a war on the doorstep.'

JP and Tommy assumed she meant figuratively as they could see nothing.

'I wouldn't worry too much,' she said, having caught the gazes. 'You'll only skim the surface…mostly.'

'What do you know February?' September interjected.

'You know I see the future,' she replied, before sighing a little. 'Not everything. I see the end in this case, not the means.'

'Well, that's all fine and dandy,' JP unwisely interrupted. 'But what does that have to do with us?'

She looked towards them. 'Convenience,' was all she said, before whipping around and throwing a knife into the shadow. A slight squeal was all that said her target had hit. The one that no-one except the two females recognised jumped down and dragged the boy with her, and JP made to follow with a cry of alarm before electricity jumped down the length. A light whip suddenly appearing made to strike, only for another silver knife to catch it, locking the ex-warrior of light in with combat with the woman who had seemed to have shrunk slightly in age.

Zoe and Takuya ran up as well (apparently the pair had picked up the singular) and joined September, and to their credit no-one bothered bothering them…for the present. After all, it was far easier to let the fighting continue…even if there was only one real fight going on. Between Koji and Amber.


If Matt Warren was surprised when he found himself half stuck in an ice cube, he didn't comment, nor did he release his hold on his hostage who had somehow managed to go frost free. Actually, the only one who did show any form of surprise was Tommy himself, who then sprouted a "what the heck" expression, seeing no-one move, and lowered himself to blow bubbled in the water.

'Odd remuneration,' Matt commented. 'Rather childish.'

Tommy just stared. 'Remuneration?' Then it clicked. 'Oh.'

The other just stared suspiciously at him.

'Mind letting my friend go…unless you want the rest of you to be covered in ice.'

'That works,' he agreed, pushing the boy aside and letting his own eyes glow. A second later, the ice shrapnel went flying, before being knocked down by snowballs.

'Why are you fighting us?' Accidently, Tommy asked in Japanese, so once he noted the mistake, he was rather surprised when he received an answer. In Japanese.

'It's better than fighting someone else. This way no-one has to get hurt or die.'

The younger boy gaped at the adult as Koichi stood, staring at the Gate.

'That's not true,' he said quietly, and for a moment, both of them stopped. Then Matt muttered something about dysfunctional dolls which Koji would have whacked him for had he been in hearing range, but then the water started to be sucked out, like a vacuum.

'Um…what?'


Amber was doing a good job dodging Koji's attacks…maybe because it was non-lethal and maybe because he seemed more determined to go over to his friends. Or maybe because there was September as well, and a triangle fight with two bystanders wasn't an ideal situation. Or maybe it was because they all had been momentarily distracted when the electricity Bai had unleashed resulted in it being stopped half-way by another surge from JP, who looked as surprised as anyone…seeing as his eyes hadn't glowed, nor had he showed any of the other signs of being a Contractor.

But they all stopped at the sudden vacuum.

'Carmine,' Bai said slowly, switching the wire so it lashed out at the blind shadows. Everyone stopped their current fights and stared at her as she explained: 'Havoc.'

Koji quickly changed tactics, forming a counter shield much like the one in Pokémon. Bai and Amber had shot up their wires to the nearest building and jumped clear…and September had been lucky enough to wind up in the shield as well, seeing as he was essentially between JP and Zoe. As for the people in the water, the first hole didn't quite reach them, but the second one was a different matter, and everyone was a little tied up with the first hole.


Matt quickly reeled off as much as he could, seeing as he was unfortunately hopeless at stopping Carmine, or Havoc as she was more commonly called. Actually, only Hei's team, Bai's brother that is, called her Carmine, but that was really beside the point.

Actually, everything was beside the point except the large hole in the water…err, ice actually, but that wasn't working either.

Even the Doll's face was changing.

Spending five year as a Contractor had turned him into an emotionless killing weapon, but five months with Amber and the Evening Primrose had changed that…with a bit of help from an old school sweetheart. Of course, something could possibly change again as the support of both land and water (or ice) vanished beneath their feet.

So why hadn't he hadn't?

He opened his eyes (yes, he admitted he had squeezed them shut in fear for his life, but hey, he was human) to find they were all…floating above the vacuum?

Tommy stared at Koichi. 'Umm…Koichi?'

His ice had accidently touched some of the vectors that had suddenly shot up (so the horns weren't for show), so he knew what was keeping the three of them from falling into the abyss. He was surprised Koichi remembered the vectors; actually, it seemed more on instinct, because a hand was coming up to touch them, then another as wide blue eyes met the green ones. The last time they had met, properly…he remembered what had happened.

And it suddenly flashed before the other's eyes.

Both hands tugged at the horns at the same time, almost as though he was trying to rip them off. In his head, a VCR was playing, hot flashes, footage rolling over each other's tarting and ending with eyes staring at him, green, blue, some other colours and then more variations of blue, brown, red, then blue again…

…and screaming. A flash of blue again. And screaming…

…then nothing.