Hooray for quick chapters! Took me a little while to get this all properly down to under 800, but at least I was able to fit everything in.

Data Fragment 41: Capsize

What should I do? thought Willis, clutching Terriermon to his chest.

Terriermon stopped growling at Muchomon, giving Willis a concerned look. "Willis..."

Willis didn't want to stay here forever...but the alternative...

"What should we do?" asked Kenta, just as worried and perplexed as Willis. "If we've only got one ring, then..."

Rika frowned, folding her arms. Renamon mimicked her.

"...Well..." Kazu began, before smiling a little. "W-Well, you can rule me out, right? Y'know...because either way I'll..."

The silence was crushing. Kazu's weak smile faded. Hagurumon floated closer to his partner.

"Kazu..." Kenta began, eyebrows creased. "...You could stay here while..." He smiled. "Y-Yeah, that's it! Me and Kazu can stay here while Rika gets help! Get that Joe guy to-"

Willis sighed. "You shouldn't trust-"

Kenta's uncertain smile suddenly turned to a snarl. "I don't care what you think!"

Willis froze. Everyone else stared at Kenta too.

"This isn't about you!" Kenta snapped. "This is about Kazu! And I will save Kazu!"

"D-Dude..." Kazu sputtered.

"And Kazu's only like this because of you! " Kenta yelled. "Why did Yamaki have to hire you? You've only made everything worse!"

"...I know," Willis muttered, curling in on himself. Another upset client. Another failure. Another time where, despite all precautions, he was just not good enough.

"Hey, that's not fair!" barked Muchomon. "I'm sure Willis tried his best, because he's always the best!"

...Why are you defending me? thought Willis. I've always avoided you, Diaboromon, no matter what form you took, no matter what you said...

"Yeah, and we've been doing this a lot longer than you Tamers have!" Terriermon added. "If Willis can't do it, then no one can!"

"Oh, you're making it a Digidestined thing now?" Kenta growled. "That doesn't change the fact that Kazu got hurt! That doesn't change the fact that you might be wrong!"

"...Wrong?" asked Cherubimon with a frown.

"Wrong about Henry and the others!" said Kenta. "They don't attack us unless we attack them! Well, here was that half-wolf guy, but he seemed more confused than anything. I trust them more than you!"

Henry was quiet at first. "..Oh. T-Thank you?" He seemed distracted.

Rika and Renamon watched Henry warily.

Ryo clapped. "You tell 'em, Kenta!"

Kenta gave Ryo an uncertain look. "...I dunno if I can trust you, though."

"Nah, that's fair," said Ryo, still smiling.

Willis stayed silent. What could he say to make them listen? How could save this sinking ship? He was so tired of patching up other people's problems...

Muchomon waddled over and hugged Willis. Willis barely noticed.

"Willis..." Cherubimon, far too big to give a safe hug, scooped up Willis's group into his massive hands. He looked to the others, still frowning. "You truly believe that we're worse than viruses?"

"You're a virus-type too," said Ryo.

"Only because Willis needs me to be," said Cherubimon. "Only so I can create this space, and do with it whatever is necessary. Such as this."

The world suddenly flipped upside down, like a canoe capsized by rapids. Everyone in Cherubimon's hands stayed there. Everyone else got dumped into the discolored sky, their screams cut off when a portal swallowed them.

Willis stared in disbelief at the now-empty field. It all happened in a few seconds.

"They won't hurt you anymore," said Cherubimon, the world rolling back into proper position .

"...Cherubimon, if you sent them back to regular time, that's..." Willis began. "...That's worse than a death sentence...They'll..."

"If they love viruses so much, then they can be viruses!" Terriermon spat.

"But...they're still..." Willis murmured.

"What's important is you," said Cherubimon. Now that we're back to the beginning, you can heal."

"Heal?" asked Willis. "Heal from what? Viruses?"

"Everything."

"...You didn't even care about Kazu, did you? You just wanted to bring me here to...heal." A darker thought came to mind. "Don't tell me you..."

"You're way more important than anyone else," said Muchomon. "And here we can all be happy and safe forever!"

"...When did you all get this obsessive?" asked Willis.

"We only love you like you love us," said Cherubimon.

"..So it's my fault then."

"I don't consider this trait a fault," said Cherubimon. "None of us do."

Both Terriermon and Muchomon hugged Willis, and this time he thought he might cry. "B-But I shouldn't be here, just..."

"Let them reap what they sow. Now, why don't we play, like we used to?"

"Cherubimon..."

"Call me Kokomon."

Willis was quiet.

"You have to give it time to heal," said Cherubimon.

Willis recognized the words he himself used so long ago to Cherubimon, back when he was just a Kokomon. Tears welled up. "...Kokomon..."


Yep, a whole bunch of stuff happened this time. And the craziness...well, this entire story had been crazy from the beginning, but let's see how much crazier it'll get.

I had fun with this prompt lol. I'm going to have even more fun with the next one.