Chapter Forty-Four:
Father and Son Destiny!
I woke up next to Marcus. As I woke up, so did he.
We both struggled up and looked around.
"We're home…" I whispered.
Marcus didn't reply.
"Where's Kidd?" I wondered after sighting everyone else besides him. Marcus's head snapped up to look around for my partner as well.
"Where could he have gotten off to now?" Lalamon sighed. "Yosuya and CrystalGatomon are gone too!"
"They're always gone." Yoshi muttered, pushing herself up.
Suddenly, large hooves slammed down on the ground beside us, and we looked up to see…a gigantic red-armored centaur.
He seemed familiar, but the familiarity was blocked out my Marcus's emotions, which, for some odd reason, I was feeling.
What's wrong with me, AA? Why do I feel as Marcus does? I asked weakly.
Because that's what I do. AA sighed, it's difficult to explain, so I'm just going to simplify it. You're feeling what Marcus is feeling because I'm feeling what Marcus is feeling.
And how does that simplify anything?
Basically, you can feel other's emotions. Manipulating them, however…you may want to leave that to me. AA said again in a frank tone.
He's so…angry and confused…
You'd feel the same way if your father just decided to wage war upon humanity.
But you said yourself that that wasn't Spencer.
I know. It's Spencer's body. That's why Marcus is thinking the way he does.
Then what's inside of him?
Umm…I'm not sure how to explain that, either.
"That's the digimon that saved us." Marcus said.
"I-I am Sleipmon, one of the Royal Knights." The centaur panted.
"Crap, is he going to beat up on us too?" Thomas wondered.
"No. No he's not." An achingly familiar voice said. We looked to find Commander Sampson walking towards us.
"Commander?" we wondered. Out behind him came Kidd, Yosuya, and CrystalGatomon.
"Yeah, Sampson is alive." Kidd grumbled as he came to stand beside me. He bent do to help Agumon up. "And now, so are the tendons I had no clue I even had."
"Yosyua kick your ass?" I guessed.
"Like you wouldn't believe." He replied grimly.
Sleipmon degenerated into Kudamon. What a surprise. But, since Sleipmon was hurt, so was Kudamon.
Sampson picked up his partner.
"We have to get back to base." Yosyua said as CrystalGatomon looked at Kudamon with concern.
"Yeah." We all agreed.
We began walking back to base. I looked back at Marcus, as did Agumon.
"Boss, c'mon." Agumon pleaded.
I heard a small noise come from him.
"Marcus…" I looked at Agumon, who returned the look. I patted the orange dinosaur's head reassuringly. "It's going to be alright…" I murmured.
NNNNN
"Kudamon came to us to observe and try to figure out whether the humans were beneficial to the Digital World for King Drasil." Sampson explained.
"So, he was a spy!?" Megumi freaked.
"Calm down." Miki sighed.
Kudamon stood up weakly, supported by CrystalGatomon. "It's true that I was a spy for King Drasil at one point in time, but in my heart, I was beginning to feel something towards these humans…" he said.
"Now that King Drasil has ordered the destruction of this world for the safety of his own, we cannot stop to think whether he is Spencer, or King Drasil." Yosyua stated.
"But…but why!? Why is my dad ordering the Knights around?" Marcus stood up sharply from next to me. "Why is he posing as their King!?"
Sampson sighed. "The man you once knew as your father, Marcus, is no longer so."
Kidd continued. "He's become Yggdrasil." He barked.
"No…" Marcus murmured.
Something crashed to the ground nearby.
"No! No! It can't be true! It's a lie!!" Kristy shrieked hysterically.
"I wish it was, Kristy…" Marcus murmured. "I really do."
NNNNN
For some reason, I felt so weird that I didn't eat anything. I huddled myself in a corner on top of some crates while Agumon sat beneath me with a plate of fried eggs beside him.
Kidd was sitting with Yoshi and Keenan, picking his teeth with an oversized toothpick that came from outside, which meant it was some sort of debris from something.
Lalamon came by and looked at the fried eggs hungrily. "Wow…they look gooood…"
"HEY! THOSE ARE FOR THE BOSS!" Agumon yelled angrily, scaring the wits out of her.
"B-But…it's not like I wanted them…" Lalamon said in fear.
I flinched and yelled, "Shut the hell up, alright!! I don't need this right now!"
The two shuddered at my cold look and shut up.
I huddled closer to myself.
AA, Marcus went away…why am I still feeling like this!! I yelled to him.
…Um…you can feel from far away as well. The more you know the person, the farther away you can feel their emotions. Your own feelings also come into play. The friendlier you are with a person, the farther away you can feel them. But, well, if they feel the same way as you do for them…
What, what then, AA?
You can feel them even if they're on the other side of the planet. You've got my abilities now, Loaño. You've got to figure your own way to control them, or you'll end up miserable as can be! You'll end up answering their feelings instead of their questions and basically, people will think you're weirder than you already are. You want to control them so you can retain yourself as well, not to become an emotionless husk of a person.
Oh, that's nice.
It's a risk, but it didn't happen to me, so there's a low chance that'll happen to you. Just…well…I had more help than you do now when I discovered this ability of mine. I had the entire of the Royal Knights at my back. You just have to remember the happier times…
As he ended on that note, I had no clue of what 'happier times' to necessarily think of at this time.
A beeping alerted us. Miki shouted to us all, "There's a digimon signal near the harbor! And it's huge!"
Crap.
NNNNN
We arrived to find Gallantmon. Big whoop, who honestly was surprised here?
No one seemed to notice another person there, either. He had brown spiky hair and ski-goggles on. Around his neck was a golden object, while strapped to his belt was a small deck of cards.
I looked between them. Kidd noticed him and shrugged. I walked over to him and asked, "Why the hell are you here? Get out, before you're killed."
He turned to me with a big, bright smile. "I'm here to watch my old friend fight. But, well, it seems he's not acting himself today."
"What? Gallantmon has a friend?" I gasped.
"Of course, Goggle-head." I snorted at the nickname, be he pulled out a small picture from his pocket and gave it to me. "Here, give this to Gallantmon when he's acting himself again. Tell him it's from 'Takatomon'." He said with a smile before turning and walking away. He turned back suddenly and said, "Oh, yeah, my name's Takato Matsuki!" then, he walked away.
I opened up the picture to find a hand-drawn picture of a Guilmon on lined notebook paper. Somewhat confused, I folded the picture up and put it in my pocket and returned to the fight.
The others had already digivolved their digimon, save for Yosuya and Sampson for some reason, so I just had to jump right in.
"Digi-Soul, Overdrive!" I yelled.
"KiddGarurumon warp digivolve to………Anubismon! Let's do it!!"
They charged, they hit, they got what they gave doubled back at them.
Seriously, is anyone really that surprised at the turnout here? There Royal Knights, for God's sake. The freaking Gary-Stu's of the Digital World.
Anubismon got punched back and skidded nearby to me.
"You alright?" I yelled to him. He got up and winced.
"Just fine, Goggle-head!" he teased. Then, he fell back, exhausted.
"Hey, you heard my conversation with that guy?" I wondered as I ran over.
"Yep. I guess he's right. All Goggle-heads' are as determined as you." Anubismon chuckled. He coughed up a little trickle of blood and said, "Gallantmon's left hook. Watch out for it." He joked.
"That's not funny, Furball." I said sternly.
"Hey, we faced up to Alphamon, we can face up to this little Knight." Anubismon coughed.
"You almost died when we faced off against Alphamon." I said flatly.
Anubismon sputtered. "Caught me on an off day, that's all."
"You're so…." I began.
Anubismon smirked. "Handsome?"
I patted his muzzle, scratching gently around the cut parts. "You're so vain."
"That's me…" Anubismon sighed. "Get comfy, Gallantmon's gonna go into one of his gloating streaks."
I felt something tingle at the back of my mind. "Not just yet…it's Marcus and ShineGreymon!" I said happily.
"Damn, if he starts gettin' all the action, there's gonna be nothin' left for us." Anubismon grunted.
"Shut up, and accept being spared for once, Anubismon." I said.
"Geo Grey Sword!" Marcus shouted, and ShineGreymon pulled out his flaming sword. ShineGreymon then charged at Gallantmon, striking his lance.
"You're lucky," Gallantmon grunted as they broke away. "You get to die quickly!" Gallantmon charged at him, lance out, shield ready.
The two caught each other again, this time; Gallantmon tossed the Geo Grey Sword aside and pushed ShineGreymon back.
ShineGreymon then dashed, grabbing Gallantmon's lance and pushing it up out of range. He began to glow profusely. "Glorious Burst!" he yelled, and a bright flash of flames appeared, knocking ShineGreymon and Gallantmon back.
Gallantmon stalked out of the smoke and laughed. "That kind of feeble attempt will bring you only more pain!" he chuckled.
"Shut your fat head up for one second, Gallantmon!" Marcus yelled. "I don't care who or what you are, I'm gonna kick your ass, and then I'm gonna go give my Dad his! I'll knock so much sense into my Dad that he'll remember the day he was born!"
"That's it, Sampson, I have to digivolve." Kudamon grunted.
"No, you're too weak and--" Sampson began.
"Worry about my condition once more, Sampson, and you'll end up worrying about your own." Kudamon threatened darkly.
"Fine. Digi-Soul, Overdrive!" Sampson yelled.
"Kudamon warp digivolve to………Sleipmon!"
"Shield of the Just!" Gallantmon cried, his shield glowing and letting gout a dark red beam. Sleipmon stood in the way, however, and blocked it using a shield on his arm.
"Sleipmon, you dare defy your King?" Gallantmon accused.
"I do not defy him. He asked me to be his eyes and ears here in this world. And I have. I have found that these humans, though some are evil, are, by nature, good. As we digivolve, they also change. I care for them as any of these other digimon would have!" Sleipmon yelled, charging at Gallantmon.
The two crashed into a building and were dangerously close to the harbor.
"Odin's Breath!" Sleipmon cried, and from his shield came a large wind tunnel that surrounded the two of them. Ice was beginning to form around them both.
"Sleipmon!" CrystalGatomon cried hysterically as Yosuya gasped.
"Sleipmon, no!" Sampson yelled.
Anubismon stood up weakly. "Why's that idiot freezing himself?" he wondered.
I stood up with him. "To save us all." I said solemnly as the ice block became complete, and they sank.
NNNNN
"Marcus, if you go, I'm gonna slug you so hard, you'll also remember the day you were born." I growled.
He looked a bit frightened for a second. "B-But…I've got to tell my Dad…he's my Dad!" he put his hands over his face. "Don't hurt me!"
I laughed. "I'm not going to hurt you, douf. Just…be careful out there, alright?" I said quietly, scuffling my shoe. "If I had a right mind, Kidd and I would be going too."
That's where you're problem is, Loaño Ishida. You're mind isn't right. AA joked.
I'll hurt you, too. I warned.
Just remember what I told you earlier…you'll know if he's alright or not…even if he's in another world.
"AA says be careful too." I told him.
I did not! He snapped hotly.
"You just take care of your father, Marcus. I'll personally ensure that nothing bad happens to you're family." Thomas said. "Or, anyone else, for that matter. You'll have a home to come back to."
"If I know anything, you'll be alright!" Yoshi said happily.
"Or you'll hurt yourself." Keenan added.
I scuffled my shoes again and I hugged Marcus, hard. I kissed him on the cheek, so that no one would see, and whispered into his ear, "If you die, I swear I'll dig you back up and kill you again, alright?"
"So, you're not just returning the favor from the cemetery?" Marcus whispered in my ear.
"No, and I didn't even realize that that was a favor of any sort. But, I'm serious. Die, and your going to be worse off than before." I threatened once more before kissing his cheek again and letting go. "Remember that."
"I will, Loaño, I will." He smiled as he got onto ShineGreymon's hand. The two blasted off and Yoshi came up to me with a sinister smile.
"What?" I asked innocently before turning redder then ever before.
"Oh, nothing, nothing…just that I was right." Yoshi said playfully before tuning around.
Oh, how could I NOT put Takato in there? Either way, if I mentioned that I would at some point and then didn't, I'd have some pissed-off Tamer's fans, now wouldn't I?
