Warning for graphic violence, cursing, horror, blood, indications of slight gore, memory loss, abuse allusions, harm to minors, and mind control. Seriously guys.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Like a Bat Out of Hell

In Sunshine, it was nearly dead quiet. There were almost no humans in sight. All the ones whose names I didn't know had been at attention in front of the gap between here and Darkmoon. But that wasn't all of them. Litton wasn't here. Did she have any fucking clue what was going on? I hope not. I hope she was safe with her boyfriend or whomever and avoiding this derailing trainwreck. Luna let out a sudden hiss from inside my Digivice and I scanned the room.

Ah, there it was. Wheat-blond hair, slouched against what was probably the marketplace. This place was the reverse of Darkmoon in layout. I couldn't say in sense because our own guys had gotten punked by this YMIR (headthrob) thing too.

I swallowed, looking over at the way the Light Fang uniform drooped with dirt and wear, with a little bit of blood too.

"Pulsa," I said, voice quiet, eyes on him.

His head jerked, like it was ready to rip from his shoulders. It didn't though, for whatever reason. Whatever had been done to me had likely been done to him. He was the closest thing to humanoid non-human aside from Litton that I knew of. So it wouldn't take just any old involuntary, robotic movements to stop him or kill him. I really only wanted to do the former, but-

"I thought you said we would never end up like this again," I said to him. He blinked at me, teal eyes uncomprehending. "We'd never be under somebody's thumb, never used to carry out someone's dirty work if we didn't wanna do it. Was that a lie, Pulsa?"

"Intruder," he said after a moment. I didn't step back even when he stepped forward. "Identify yourself."

"You really don't want me to do that," I told him as I raised Koh's Digivice just to be safe. "You know who I am."

"Identity confirmed," he said, eyes fastening onto the device. Then they flicked to my face. "No… facial identification… error found, eliminating." His Digivice flashed once with the light of a Realizing Digimon-

And I punched him into the wall.

At the sound of what happened to his neck, you'd think I'd just added a murder charge to my list of crimes (which included existing if you hadn't figured that out yet) but noooppe. His head snapped back into place smooth as a scarf wound over a neck. He looked at me with washed-out hands and Digivice aloft. For the second time in a few months, he lunged for me.

This time I was ready. I snapped my knee up, smashing into his ducked chin. One hand grabbed his arm, even as his other smashed into my nose. I swung back and Gao leaped into the maw of a dinosaur, evolving in an explosion of light.

My limbs burned, but it didn't hurt. Not exactly. It felt… right. Better. Good.

I, for a moment, felt the world fall into place, somehow. Then, I broke that moment and slammed my thigh into his side. I met rough flesh and something mocking bones, but I didn't stop. Not until he flew and Gao moved with me. Our fists moved and hit and I felt my lungs loosen up. As I stepped back, I felt Gao move with me, smoothly and I almost wasn't surprised to see the giant dark blue foot very close to me. I looked up.

"Really?" I asked him, more exasperated than surprised at this point.

If metallic wolf-monsters could blush, Gao as a MirageGaogamon would have done it. "I, well, I figured it was a good time..."

I shook my head and laughed. "Let's get going, all right?" I made sure Pulsa wasn't getting up any time soon before I kept searching.

Sure enough, the way to Union Room was blocked. Saw that one coming. Pulsa didn't have anything useful (he wouldn't because I vaguely remembering everyone else having to grab his stuff whenever it fell out of his pockets.) I figured I should just keep looking. I bet money some Light Fang that wasn't Koh had something. If not I could just backtrack and pickpocket all the ones standing there stupidly and staring.

It was almost too bad. They were prepared for an invasion that wasn't going to start yet. It never would if I had anything to say about it.

I hurried on, Gao flying above my head. As I walked, I wrinkled my nose and felt my stomach crawl. The joke was that the ground of Sunshine was made of dust from the wings of Angel Digimon and it was sewn into the uniform of every Light Fang. It made them strong against corruption. As I looked at the twisted red and white statues, my chest panged again with longing.

"Sorry Draven, but despite her affinity, the constant exposure to all of this might-"

"Might hurt her, yes." My father's voice was as always so calm and solemn. "Don't worry, Ada, I understand. Until we can figure out what's in the framework, it's best that she doesn't stay in the Sunshine Area for very long."

I had almost been a Light Fang. Almost. Before the gang wars had settled, before the training school, I had been sent here for a day, to play with the rich children, the intelligent children who tended to go here. Within two hours I had been begging for home, struggling to breathe, just like most Night Claw did. Rather like those who went through-

Damn it, I didn't have time to remember. But there was something in the creation of this place, something that concentrated itself in particular in Sunshine. Or maybe we could just notice it better. I don't know. I didn't care all that much to be honest. I couldn't care. I had shit to do.

"Sir!"

That was my only warning before Tonpei and Cheetah went rushing me. Unfortunately for them, I panicked and swung my arm too hard, too fast. Blood splattered over the fabric of my clothes and onto the floor. They rolled and the blood rolled with them, along with the flopping of… things. I didn't know ice could dig that deep into someone's body.

"Shit," I managed to say, rushing over to Tonpei. "Shit, shit guys you should not have- fuck!" My swear word was muffled by Tonpei's knee slamming me in the neck. I coughed and rolled away from Cheetah. He looked at me and spoke, like there wasn't an open wound from ice gouged out of his chest. In Cheetah, it started to close. Tonpei was slightly slower.

"You would go against the prime objective?" he asked, and his voice almost seemed sad. "Now? Now, when we are so close? Sayo, why?"

Fuck me.

I shoved him, covering my hands and shoving him into Tonpei. Sasha bolted from my Digivice and whacked them out cold. Which was… well, I think she did anyway.

"Because it's not a good objective, whatever it is," I said to myself. I love to fight, or rather, fighting is all I know how to do. But that doesn't mean the entire world thinks of it the same way."

I trudged on, walking past a Yukidarumon who would have normally smiled kindly at me on any other day. She just let her eyes slide over me.

"You're making a mistake," she called. "This isn't what you want."

I laughed. I hadn't even bothered to wipe off the blood.

"I want my sister," I said to the Digimon watching me. "I want my sister and I don't want war."

"But there won't be any war," chirped a Muchomon from a foot away. "There will be no more war. Just agreements. Just painless understanding. It's what you all are for, after all."

"Once we all are connected, everyone will bear the same understanding. The only enemy will be below." A V-mon giggled in a way that sounded like floppy disks crunching in the wrong slot. "They have always been the enmy, Sayo." I froze and another laugh popped out, this one almost normal. A Magnamon, perched by a gate, smiling at me through his armor. "Ye-es, I know who you are. Your sister loves you very much. That chief, that boy, some people here, they know you better than you know yourself."

A human voice laughed. "But then, that isn't that hard." I didn't have to turn to look at Kenpa, blue hair in disarray from a lack of brushing, blue eyes blank and yet almost gray,, washed out and hungry. "You're all broken up huh? You can't even remember who you are. You didn't even know you own name."

I saw Gao out of the corner of my eye. He couldn't drop. He'd crush everything if he tried.

"If you stop, I'll help you remember," Kenpa offered, stepping closer. "if you stop, this will all be over and you'll be with your sister again. And your dad. And I'll get your mom too. Everyone will be together. She won't hurt you ever ag-"

I slugged Kenpa right in the throat . Then I leaped on her, even as her Silphymon dragged off and threw me into the floor.

"Ooh," It crooned. "We touched a nerve."

"Damn fucking straight." Sasha swung her sword and it hit home, Olympia making their back crack. I rolled to the side. "That's bullshit," I spat, racing after Kenpa. She lunged for me in return and I caught her swinging fists. "Doesn't matter worth a shit if she's under your mind control crap. She won't love me anymore no fucking way. But you wouldn't know that, would you?" I crashed my head into Kenpa's nose and she put her hands to my throat and we rolled. Anyone who says girls fight is weak has never fought a Tamer. I kicked up and she coughed red and spit into my face. I swung her hard left and she crashed into the ground, like Pulsa, hard enough to crack it. Along with her skull.

Fuck me.

I made myself get up, to go to her. Gao had pinned Silphymon with one giant claw and Sasha was poised to cover me.

Kenpa's eyes flicked open and she spat blood again. "S-S-Sayyoooo?"

I paused. "Kenpa? That you this time?"

She coughed again and gasped for air, a too rough gasp in the small crater I had dented just for her. One arm rolled to press gingerly against her ribcage. I didn't puke, but I wanted to. I was crippling all of Union's forces. Even if, even if they recovered and we won, this was on tape. I would be seen beating my comrades nearly to death. I would pay for this. I wonder if whoever this freakshow was, I wonder if that would make him happy.

"Yeah..." Kenpa coughed again and I knelt beside her. "It's me… it's… I don't have long, it just keeps crawling in my head." She shuddered. "I don't know how you can stand it."

"What?"

She shifted. "No… no, don't worry about it." She struggled to move her other arm into the pocket of her skirt before she handed me a slim card. "This… get to the Union Room… hurry...please."

I took it and nodded. "Stay there. Keep the blood from spraying out."

She choked laughter. "Don't worry. It'll heal me, just… just please. Hurry up and beat Chief Glare… please! Stop them! Stop this thing! It's wrong! It hurts and it's angry and it's scared. Make it stoP! MAKE I-" Her voice cut off as she started screaming, rolling and writhing and almost making the artificial sky tremble.

In a second she was still and an endless line of zeroes and ones left her mouth. Before she or anyone else could chase after me again, I got up and made to move away.

"So be it," I heard her voice say from behind me. "It just always has to be your way, Sayo. Even now." She giggled. "You just always have to take the hard choices on yourself. Never do the easy thing."

"That's never been my life," I said aloud and I kept walking.

"You shouldn't try to save the earth," the thing said through its puppet. "It doesn't deserve to be healed."

"I don't care about that world," I said, because I had to have the last shot. "You want to burn that world? Go ahead, do it yourself. But I care about mine and you're wrecking it."

"No more than it's done to itself." Then there was complete silence.

I wiped the blood off my face. I needed to be able to see for this fight. I needed to pretend my guilt wasn't all over my skin.