Digiworld, December 25th (in the human world)

I look down the ridge and catch the tiny orange dot as it swiftly sneaks inside my lair. So small … it's a wonder that runt is still alive. I hurtle down the steep slope and enter the cave. The unwanted visitor is standing by the rekindled fire pit, looking dejected with his rounded back and hunched shoulders.

I drop my food on the ground. "What are you doing here?"

The Digimon spins around and starts running up to me. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here! This is bad! Taichi got—"

I push him down and trap him between my claws. So easy it's not even funny … "Last time I told you not to come here ever again." I press down a bit more. "But apparently I did not make myself clear enough, runt."

"I have a name, it's Agumon!"

"I don't care. Let me ask you, do you have a death wish? Because you should have told me sooner if you wanted so much to be eaten."

"I don't. And I know you won't eat me." I show him my fangs in response. "Because you would have already eaten me by now," he adds matter-of-factly.

Tsk. "Maybe I'm keeping you alive as an emergency snack." I release him. "Go back to your friends and stop coming here, or sooner than later you'll be killed for sure."

"I'm more resourceful than I look." As if to prove it, he swiftly jumps back on his feet. "But that's not important, please listen to me! Taichi is in danger!" His paw instinctively reaches for the metallic chocker around his neck as he mentions the human's name. "He got caught by a follower who has a bonded human and now he is being held captive in a dark basement!"

"And when will you listen to me? I'm not interested in any of you and your little rebel group's business."

"But, want it or not, you're one of us. We need you!"

"Well, that's too bad for you because I'm not interested in saving this world either." I walk away to a corner and lie down.

The runt stares at me, his eyes filled with incomprehension. "How can you not care that our world is doomed? Eventually you will die too, do you realize that?"

"Yes, and I couldn't care less."

"… You're feeling this way because of the Digidevice."

"Oh, and how would you know that?" I yawn. "Anyway, good luck destroying it … and saving your human." I close my eyes, time for a nice long nap before lunch.

"And what about Yamato?"

Tsk. "What about him?"

"Don't you care about him?"

"… I'll admit that watching him is a good way to pass the time." And now that we're bonded it'll be even more interesting.

"He'll be devastated if something happens to Taichi."

The one who will be devastated is you … I open one eye and watch him shifting on his feet and glancing outside, restless. "And what is a runt like you planning to do to save the human boy?"

The runt raises his fist. "Go to their base, find the one who's abducted Taichi and deal with him from this side."

I chuckle. What an idiotic plan … "Well, good luck with that." I turn away and curl up. "Just ask your rebel friends for their help, not me."

"But none of the strong ones can. Two are away and the other can't get too close to the Digidevice anymore."

Not my problem.

"That's why, hum, I thought you'd want to give me a hand …"

What did I ever do to make him believe that I'd help him?

"For Yamato …"

The guy will live.

"Because he'll feel responsible …"

That'll be interesting to watch.

"It will accelerate the bonding and its side-effects, you know what that means …"

It's too late for the bonding and as for the side effects … Yamato is who he is. There's nothing I can do to change that.

A pebble lands on my back. "Fine then! I'll go alone!" The runt starts stomping away, then stops. "If you change your mind … please come, okay?"

The runt finally leaves me to my nap. About time, all that playing around with my new toy exhausted me.

Hey … Hey! You're still there? Come on, stupid voice!

I'm dragged out of my slumber. So now that we're bonded he can call out to me like this … interesting. I get up and start stretching.

Oh, now you're talking to me. Do you know where Taichi is? Huh … What makes you think I do? Tsk. Right, what was I thinking? I need to calm down.

So he found out about the boy while I was sleeping, that's too bad. I watch him rush out of the hospital. Poor guy, he's so desperate …

That's it? No begging for my help? … What did I do, like I needed that now. Ignoring me again, yourself, but just so you know, you'll probably be too late.

I scratch the back of my neck. So itchy … The runt was right.

You know something, do you? Hum … Maybe? Don't mess with me! Fine, he's being held captive in some basement, probably close to where you live.

The runt didn't say where that basement was … Oh well, it doesn't really matter.

Yamato dashes down the street. Judging by how exhausted and upset he is, this might be danger— "Look out!" I stop him short before he crosses the street right in front of a car. That was a close one …

Be more careful, I'd rather not have you die. … I wasn't going to. If you say so, a thank you would still be appreciated.

Yamato crosses the street, more carefully this time, then starts running again. I blow some fire into the fire pit and go pick up my food.

Do you know who's taken him? No, just that the human bonded like you. Like me … you mean that they have a freaking voice in their head too? Hum, yes and no … I'll be honest with you, communicating with the human isn't exactly the highlight of the bond. That human is most likely unconscious and being manipulated like a mere puppet. Wait, so when I blacked out last night… Yes. And you can do that anytime? Yes. Shit …

I skewer the meat and plant it over the fire.

So, that means the one who took Taichi is actually the … What the fuck are you? How nice … Remember ten years ago? … Yes, those monsters. Wait, that … Tsk. Whatever, I couldn't care less right now. Why would one of these things want to take Taichi? Hum … who knows. They might just be doing it for fun, since most consider their human as merely a distraction. That's what I am to you too? Of course, but luckily for you, I'm more interested in watching you than using your body to play around. Tsk. Lucky my ass. That doesn't stop you from meddling whenever you want. Of course.

Yamato is already dead set on searching one by one every single houses, surely it will take him more than a day … How useless, the followers probably won't keep the boy alive much longer, especially if they figured out what he and the others are.

I glance outside. Agumon has no chance of succeeding either, and less than no chance of coming back from there alive. Even if he manages to sneak into their headquarters and find the puppy's abductor in time, he should know it's simply impossible for him to win a fight against a Digimon who has bonded.

Oh well, I guess it really is the end for the runt and Yamato's puppy.

It will accelerate the bonding and its side-effects, you know what that means.

The smell of the meat cooking is making me salivate already.

You know what that means.

… How annoying. I get up and put out the fire, then head outside.

The Digidevice's familiar glow breaks through the storm and rapidly grows stronger as I run through the barren land towards it.

Once I get there sneaking around should be easy enough, but the main problem will be to find the runt, ideally before he gets himself killed … I'll need to keep an ear out for his agonized cries for help.

The storm suddenly clears out as I reach the ring of towers surrounding the Digidevice. I hide in the shadow of the closest tower. It's been so long since I last came here, I forgot how excruciatingly bright that orb is up close. I scratch my neck … and strong. Oh well, I'd better start search—

Several guards are flying close by, circling the tower on my left. Eh, of course. I should have known finding him would be this easy.

Soon enough I spot a flash of orange making a run for it on the bridge to the next tower. How stupid. One of the guards immediately flies down and captures Agumon with one paw, then spins around high in the air and sends the runt flying away across the land. I dash after him. It will be tight, even for me …

I swarm up a rocky mound and jump, catch the runt in my mouth and land back on my feet.

I spit out a very shaken Agumon who immediately tries to get back up. "Ah … th-thanks. We need … hurry back n-now." He somehow manages to stand despite his shaky legs, then makes sure the chocker is still properly attached around his neck.

He almost died and he's ready to go back there. I have to admit, this reckless runt has more guts than I thought. I crouch beside him. "Hop on."

His eyes immediately light up. He climbs on me and I start running back.

"I'll guide you to where the Digimon is, but we need to hurry! I helped Taichi escape, but now he's chasing after him to kill him!"

"Is that so …" I might as well. "Can you tell me exactly where Taichi is?"

"… I suppose, yes, but why? We can't do any—"

"I can guide Yamato to him, in case we don't make it in time."

His grip on me tightens. "So you two bonded, huh … Okay, let's do this."

"Sure. By the way, I'm not helping you for nothing. Just letting you know."

"No problem," the runt says, obviously too preoccupied to bother.

"Up that street there should be a big rock blocking the way. He'll have to go left … Oh no the guy found him! hurry!" Agumon yells into my ear. Tsk. As if I couldn't hear his annoyingly high pitched voice well enough.

I put a Mekanorimon out of commission and climb another flight of stairs, then check up on Yamato.

"Careful!"

I plant my claws in the floor and veer at the last second, barely avoiding to crash into a wall … So annoying, I can't concentrate on both sides at the same time. But that means the other won't be able to either … probably.

"Are we getting there yet?" I ask the runt.

"He was in a room somewhere on the other side of this floor."

… Somewhere he says. "I told Yamato to turn left. He might reach them first."

"Good! Oh it's around here!"

I stop and Agumon jumps off my back. I check on Yamato, he's hearing the humans talking close by … Yes yes, the voice in your head wasn't just full of shit after all."Agumon, he found them."

I keep an eye on Yamato who's approaching the fence where the voices are coming from, but as he's about to reach it he just stops. Hey, why did you stop? … Yamato doesn't react. Tsk.

"Agumon, come get me as soon as you find him." Fine then, I'm taking control.

DeathMeramon freezes as I enter the room. "You … what are you doing here?" His eyes settles on the runt trying to hide behind my leg and he snickers. "So you ran away to get help, huh?" He glares back at me. "And not just anyone … So the rumors were true, you really sided with the traitors, BlackMetalGarurumon."

"I haven't, I'm not following anyone's orders anymore. You too, aren't you getting sick of being ordered around for the sake of—"

"NEVER!" The blue flames surrounding him spike up and start hissing. "I'm not a traitor like YOU!"

Those flames are useless on me, but so are mines. "Fine then, let's get it over with." Like it matters, he's obviously no match for me in close combat.

The wall shatters and we both fall off the tower. DeathMeramon's back hits the rocky ground under me and he cries out in pain. I pin down the defeated Digimon. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Your human is dead now so there's no point. Really, you should have taken better care of him."

He laughs bitterly. "Yeah … I'm useless now." His laugh morphs into a grown. "But … soon others will bond, including her. And now that we know those humans are important enough for you to go out of your way to save one, I can assure you she'll hunt them down."

"Is that so …" So they haven't found out who those humans are yet.

I start hearing flapping wings in the distance. Time to pick up the runt and leave.

The runt holds tight as I jump over a rift.

"Thanks again Gabumon."

"Don't call me that, that's not my name."

"But yours is so long …"

"Then don't call me at all."

I look back and make sure we weren't followed, then stop running and vigorously shake my back until Agumon falls off.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"This is your stop. Remember what I told you? I helped you save the puppy, so in exchange don't approach my lair ever again." I watch the runt nonchalantly get up from the ground and brush some dirt off his rear. Is he even listening? "I'm warning you, the next time I see you I swear I'll eat you."

Agumon giggles. "You keep saying that, but—" He stops talking and stares at the blood dripping from his arm.

I retract my claw. "Don't get the wrong idea. I helped you this time for one reason and one reason only. Yamato dying too soon would be boring. That's all. Now I'll say this one last time so listen carefully and make sure you tell your friends … I will not be part of your little rebel group, and I will not let Yamato be dragged into their absurd plans either. I don't care that he is one of the so-called digidestined, or that this world is doomed without them. I don't care about this world anymore. There's only one thing I want now and it's to be left alone. So if you ever disturb me again, I will kill you. Is that clear enough?"

Agumon opens his mouth, then slowly closes it back as his gaze becomes sterner. He understands, finally.

I turn away and start running, leaving behind the runt holding his bleeding arm.