Chapter 12: Rescue Mission
The air in Drimogemon's room had cooled down a bit; it now felt like staying under the shade of large trees when the sun was at its peak.
Goburimon ran into the room. "Drimogemon, the underground pond isn't boiling anymore!"
"This means DeathMeramon is gone for good!" Drimogemon clapped its hands. "Great!"
Tasuku let out a sigh of relief and smiled broadly. "I can't believe it! Arisugawa did it!"
Guy also smiled, but only a bit; he still hadn't gotten used to feeling sheer happiness and making big smiles. "We only need to wait for his return."
However, Hisoka remained quiet and somber. Noticing this, Guy approached him with a raised eyebrow. "Mikage, are you not happy about this?"
Hisoka didn't answer. He didn't even look at Guy.
"Arisugawa won, didn't he?" Guy asked.
After a moment of silence, Hisoka muttered, "Guy, Arisu came from a high social class and never fought, unlike us. If he bleeds a lot, he'll be terrified."
"Well, this is Digital World," Tasuku said. "Those shiny golden particles are the closest to blood. Your body will reabsorb them if they're still around you, so you don't have to worry about them clogging up your throat or something."
"But still… If he gets badly hurt..."
Hisoka had ever looked sad, but rarely this sad. Guy only saw Hisoka on the verge of tears like this whenever he talked about August, his fallen comrade. From what Guy had gathered, August would always go along with Hisoka's selfish demands.
To Hisoka, losing Homare would certainly feel like losing August again.
Smiling, Guy patted Hisoka's back. "I understand, Mikage. I will go to Lava Cave."
Hisoka's eye widened. "You will?"
"Oh, right. I didn't suggest bringing Guy along for no good reason," Tasuku said. "Guy, do you know your pose? Yours is very simple."
"It's like this?" Guy reached out a hand, as if holding a D-Scanner gadget and showing it to everybody. Then he swiped his hand against the non-existent D-Scanner. "Spirit Evolution!"
Guy's body glowed, and everything went numb. Electric currents crackled across his growing, transforming body. Images of a big, heavily-armored beetle man launching fists full of lightning flashed across his mind.
When he regained his senses, he found out that he was now the beetle man in the flashes, with a massive horn jutting out of his forehead. The light and electricity around him faded.
"Blitzmon!" Guy shouted as he slammed his fists against each other. Then he looked at his armored hands. "I evolved."
"With DeathMeramon gone and the air cooled off a bit, that form should be enough," Tasuku said. "You just need extra heat resistance."
Guy nodded. "Then I'm going."
Hisoka wrapped his arms around Guy's armored leg and gave him a pleading look. "Please bring Arisu back."
"I will. Leave it to me."
Hisoka released Guy and smiled tearfully. "Thanks."
"We're counting on you," Tasuku said.
Guy nodded and ran, leaving dents on the ground with every step he took. What a heavy armor, he thought, but it didn't feel heavier the Medieval armor Homare once told him to wear at his mansion.
The Goburimon along the way stared at the damaged floor and shouted at Guy, which prompted him to jump and open his forewings. The rapid flapping of his hindwings sent him buzzing past the underground pond area.
Mild burning pain crept around Guy's body the further he went, and his ears registered distant rumbling and bubbling noises. Judging from the increasingly intense odor of sulphur, he was sure that he'd reach Lava Cave soon.
His vision blurred and reddened, and he soon emerged in a cavern, before a river of lava. The searing pain worsened, the stench pushed acid up his throat, but he kept going. Everyone needed him.
Spotting the silhouette of a winged figure in the distance, Guy carefully dropped to the ground and walked slowly ahead. His heart pounded; DeathMeramon was gone, wasn't it? Or…
The silhouette jumped into the air and flapped its wings. Guy stopped in his tracks.
Something slammed into Guy. Burning pain exploded across his body as the impact sent him rocketing a few feet back. He winced.
The stream of molten rock drew closer to him. Regaining his composure, he flapped his hindwings and propelled himself back to the land. His eyes widened at the sight.
A dragon man clad in a crimson armor stood there, its eye glowing red, its face marred by cuts, its leg a mess of molten metal and charred flesh. Golden particles escaped from the wounds and its other eye.
Guy recognized that crimson armor, and realization dawned on him.
"Arisugawa!" he called out. "Let's leave-"
A bestial roar cut him short, and the dragon man - Homare - pointed the guns on his forearms at him. Just as the muzzles glowed, Guy leaped and glided over Homare's head. The barrage of fiery projectiles ripped through the empty air.
How could he bring Homare back to his senses? Talking? How could Guy succeed, when he didn't really understand what his comrade felt?
Did he really have to force Homare to revert? Guy rarely felt dread, but the idea of Homare reverting with a missing eye and a mangled face and leg made him shudder. Fortunately blood didn't exist in Digital World.
Homare turned, unleashing a gush of fire with a swing of his tail. Guy jumped out of harm's way, but the tremendous heat clawed at his feet. He screamed as he crashed into the ground.
Homare roared again and launched himself into the air. As his body went aflame, Guy got up and balled his hands into fists. They shook, and would've turned white if Guy were a human instead of a Digimon.
He wished he could calm Homare down safely, but what did he have in his arsenal? Combat skills, not people skills. And he hated himself for it.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. Time to evolve.
When Homare swooped in, Guy lunged and shouted, "Slide Evolution!" His horn became a gigantic cannon. His arms transformed into three-barreled guns, and another pair of small arms grew out of his sides. His legs turned into tank tracks.
His body rammed into Homare and drove the dragon man into the wall. Cracks forked across Homare's armor as golden particles sprayed out of his mouth.
Guy's gun arm moved by itself to punch Homare, and the blow shattered the dragon man's chestplate. Guy's eyes widened, but then he closed them.
Breathe in, breathe out. In and out. Everything should be fine.
Guy opened his eyes. His limbs no longer moved by themselves, much to his delight. Now he only needed to tell Homare this trick of his.
The red glow in Homare's eye vanished, and he shouted, "Guy, stay away!"
Guy smiled, behind the helmet that concealed his face. "Breathe, Arisugawa! Breathe-"
Homare's eye glowed red again, and he roared. A fiery explosion blasted Guy away, sending a surge of burning pain across his whole body.
Guy landed on his back, but immediately pushed himself back up. Homare had stood up as well, albeit a little stooped.
The red glow in his eye flickered. "Guy… Run..."
"Don't panic! Take a deep breath!"
"I… Cannot… Control…" Homare roared again, launching myriads of fireballs from his body. They merely grazed Guy's armor.
With the glow fading, Homare staggered backwards. "Please…" His eye glowed again, and he charged at Guy. A swing of Guy's gun arm swatted him away to the wall.
Homare slowly rose to his feet. "Leave… Me… Alone..."
It seemed like Guy had no other choice.
Tears welling in his eyes, he took aim with his horn cannon. "Please forgive me, Arisugawa." In his heart, he prayed that Homare was still strong enough to survive this.
Yellow light radiated around the muzzle, and a stream of electrical energy burst out of the cannon. The recoil pushed Guy back.
An agonized roar echoed, causing the ground to tremble and rocks and debris to rain down upon them. Shock waves and bolts of lightning rippled in all directions as Homare smashed through the wall.
And it became chillingly silent. Guy's ears only registered the rumbling and bubbling of the lava stream.
"Arisugawa?" Guy moved ahead, into a deep, dark tunnel, and gasped upon finding Homare's sprawled body amid the rubble. He'd finally reverted, although golden particles were leaving his wounds at an alarming rate. His body was also flickering in and out of existence.
"Arisugawa!" Guy lunged, slide-evolved back to Blitzmon, and knelt beside Homare. "Hang in there!" He leaned forward to hear the man's breathing and placed his fingers on the man's neck to find a pulse.
There was nothing.
Guy remained still, staring vacantly at Homare's body. Winter Troupe would lose their beloved moodmaker, Azuma would recall the tragic end of his family and break down, and Hisoka… Poor, poor Hisoka...
A wave of emotion crashed down upon him.
Tears streamed down Guy's cheeks as he dragged Homare's body deeper into the tunnel. He recalled his training back at Zafra; his superiors had always sent him to various trauma life support courses, just in case something came up in the royal palace. CPR was one of them.
Hopefully, the cause of the cardiac arrest was the electric shock; from what Guy knew, the CPR in these cases had a higher chance of success. Not that CPR had a good chance of success anyway, but Guy wanted to believe that it did.
Putting down Homare's body and getting down on his knees, Guy reverted to a human. Sweat dribbled down his body as he gasped for breath almost collapsed, but his resolve to save his troupe mate kept him up.
With Homare's shirt torn and the man being rather thin, Guy found the sternum and the compression site easily. After interlocking his fingers, he placed his hands on Homare's chest and pressed down. The first compression brought a sickening crunch into Guy's ears, but he kept going, his teeth gritted, his face hardened with determination. Broken ribs were nothing compared to the life saved.
Thirty compressions later, Guy placed one hand on Homare's forehead and another on his jaw, to tilt his head and lift his chin. Squeezing Homare's nose, Guy then pressed his mouth against Homare's to give the man two breaths; for each rescue breath Guy caught a mouthful of foul-tasting golden particles and spat them out. Then he interlocked his fingers and pressed his hands against Homare's chest again.
After repeating the process four more times, Guy leaned forward and placed his fingers on Homare's neck again.
The breathing and the pulse had returned, although barely audible and palpable, much to Guy's relief. Homare's body still flickered, and golden particles were still flying away from it, but more slowly now. Guy almost succumbed to the exhaustion, only to remember that he still had to get Homare out of here and become fully alert again.
Guy placed one of Homare's arms at the side and brought another across his chest, with the hand against the cheek. After folding one of Homare's legs, Guy rolled the body towards him.
"Just a little more, Arisugawa." Smiling gently and tearfully at the unconscious Homare, Guy stood up. "Once we're out of here, you'll get a proper treatment. You'll live, I promise."
After evolving into Blitzmon, Guy carried Homare's body and buzzed out of the tunnel and Lava Cave. For some reason, the heat and the stench of lava didn't bother him even a bit. Perhaps it was adrenaline. Or perhaps he was so focused on bringing Homare to safety that he forgot about everything.
However, he was sure that he'd pass out once he reverted. Not that he cared.
He came to a stop at the underground pond area, where Hisoka and Tasuku stood. They immediately rushed to him, with Hisoka screaming, "Arisu!" Then Hisoka sobbed into Homare's body.
A pang of guilt shot up from Guy's chest as he gave Hisoka a wistful gaze, wishing that he could save Homare without gravely injuring him. He felt like telling Hisoka about the CPR story now, to ease his guilt, but how would the little man react to that story? People who had received a successful CPR usually sustained permanent brain damage.
"What happened to him?" Tasuku asked. "He's dying!"
"We must give him first aid and rush him to the clinic." Guy turned and flew away from Tasuku and Hisoka, who ran after him. "I found him in his Beast Form and out of control. I too, transformed into my Beast Form, but I immediately learned how to control it. I told him what I did, but..." Guy's voice wavered. "It didn't work."
There was a moment of silence before Tasuku replied, "I understand. You didn't have a choice."
Hisoka said nothing. When Guy glanced over his shoulder, he found the little man looking down at the ground, anger and sorrow written on all over his face.
Guy and Hisoka had to talk, once Homare had received the proper care he needed.