Chapter 45 - Sacrifice
The group continued to run and soon they reached a forest. Several DigiDestined were already moaning and their sides and lungs were hurting with effort. Dorumon remained silent all the time, quietly mourning the loss of Gallantmon and Sleipmon since he knew they wouldn't had stood a chance against Deemon. Although some of the living Royal Knights had tried to cheer him up, he was getting worse and worse.
/If only I had been stronger... then they would still be alive.../, he thought to himself: /It is all my fault. If I hadn't given Deemon the data of Apocalymon, he wouldn't have been able to free himself from the sea of darkness. Turn. Yggdrasil was controlled by Deemon, which led him to order me to give him the data... Can I believe it was all Deemon's fault? He had also, after all, controlled the Dark Masters. Piedmon had planted the sphere in me, which then made me lose control of myself a few years later... However, I could have resisted Piedmon's sphere for a long time... Then the matter with Meicoomon would not have happened either. Then she would probably still be alive... I... Do I still have a right to live after all that I had done? Am I useless?/
The purple dragon didn't notice how he stopped. Meiko, who noticed this, also stopped and leaned heavily breathing her hand against a tree. Hackmon, whose legs failed, stumbled over a small fallen tree and rolled a few feet until he slammed against a tree. The other DigiDestined as well as Shin and Sera also stopped.
"We have to move on." Matt urged: "Otherwise Deemon catches up with us."
"We can't move anymore, Matt." Gabumon said.
"We've been running for over ten minutes... Slowly, the energy is starting from all of us." Tai said: "We have to take a break."
"Tai!" the blond-haired man raved and approached him: "If Deemon catches us, we are dead! We have to move on!"
"But we can't go on!" his friend shouted: "Look around."
The brown-haired man pointed to the others, who either leaned against a tree or gasped for air.
"But we have to keep going. If we get caught by Deemon, we are dead! Why don't you understand?!" Matt said angrily grabbing Tai by the collar.
"Calm down, you two!" Akira stepped in and grabbed the wrists of T.K.'s brother: "We're all tense... But there is no point in arguing."
Matt let go of his friend and cursed quietly. Then he turned around and settled on a tree.
"Fine!" he said: "But don't be surprised if Deemon attacks us!"
The blonde-haired man crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes. He signaled to the others that he no longer wanted to be addressed.
Gabumon sighed and looked depressed at Agumon, who shrugged his shoulders. They, too, needed a rest. They were exhausted and parched, not only by the many races but also by the fight against King Drasil. Although the deity had only been dead for a few hours, it felt like an eternity.
The others also made themselves comfortable. Akira climbed on a tree with Wanyamon on her head and made herself comfortable on two branches before her partner jumped into her lap. She heard a few of her friends talking quietly.
"Akira." said the in-training digimon suddenly: "Do you know why Matt is so tense? Is it because Gallantmon and Sleipmon are probably dead?"
"I... I don't know, Wanyamon." she replied: "But I don't think he wants to see it."
"What does he not want to see?"
"That there is a new danger... First Kato, then Alphamon. Then Dexmon and King Drasil... And now Deemon. I think he wants to, no... that he wants everything to finally come to an end."
"Do you think he is afraid that after Deemon is defeated, other enemies will appear?"
"I don't know, Wanyamon." she sighed, looking down at her mother and his boyfriend.
Wanyamon tacitly followed her gaze before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"I'm kind of glad Sera is my mother." she began.
"Huh?" he looked at her in disbelief.
"I always didn't get rid of the feeling that something completely different connected me to Sera... But I didn't know what. Sometimes I wondered if we were siblings at all... But I never thought she was my mother. For years I believed that my grandparents were my biological parents and that they had died in a car accident. And then I hear that my biological father had done something bad with Sera resulting to become pregnant. She could have had me aborted. But she didn't. It may sound weird... but because she had not aborted me, she showed me her love."
"I don't really understand what you're saying... aborted? What do you mean by that?" her partner asked her.
"That's not important... It's important to know that Sera loves me above all else... Almost like a mother should love her child. And I feel this love deep within me. Sure... I'm still having trouble calling my mom, well, mom." Akira took a deep breath and smiled: "It must sound pretty complicated to you, right? But that doesn't matter. It's good to tell you."
"I can't understand what you're talking about, Akira... But if you like to tell me..."
"You should perhaps tell me what is so distressing to you."
"Hm..." he thought briefly: "I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn't become your partner. Would I then follow King Drasil without hesitation? Would I have attacked my comrades? Would I have died then? These questions weigh heavily on me. How blind I was... Blind of loyalty to King Drasil and Alphamon. I had sworn to serve and protect King Drasil... To carry out his orders without questioning him, I swore to myself... But it is ironic that I was the one who killed King Drasil in the end."
"We killed him. And King Drasil thanked us for finally getting rid of Deemon's control."
"I know..." he sighed: "Was it wrong to kill King Drasil?"
"No. I'm sure the Homeostasis will do a better job of managing the digital world." she closed an eye and smiled at him jokingly: "In addition, King Drasil thanked us for killing him."
"I know... Only I somehow regret this decision."
"Do you regret that you killed Crusadermon?"
Akira could feel her partner's body tensing. But then he relaxed again and answered:
"No. I have no regrets. If I hadn't killed Crusadermon, she would have murdered you. And I could never have forgiven myself for allowing that. If we hadn't killed King Drasil either, he would have killed us."
"Right." she agreed, taking a short break before saying: "You know? I'm really glad to have met you. You mean a lot to me."
His eyes widened with astonishment. Sure, she already knew that Wanyamon cared for her... But she never expected him to tell her.
"Wanyamon..." she said with emotion.
"Don't get emotional about it." the in-training digimon admonished her.
"I won't be! I was just surprised."
"Badly lied."
"I know." she giggled: "You know what you mean to me."
"Guaranteed a lot of bad things, right?" he had to laugh a little.
"You are an irreplaceable friend to me, Wanyamon. A friend I can rely on."
"I want to hope so!" he shouted.
She laughed happily and brushed his fur. Akira closed her eyes and enjoyed the wind in her hair and on her skin. Eventually, despite the rather uncomfortable position on the branch fork, she fell asleep.
Dorumon opened his left eye and sighed. On the one hand, he was very happy that Wanyamon got along very well with Akira. On the other hand, he also envied the in-training digimon. He was a close friend of someone. Ever since Gallantmon and Sleipmon sacrificed themselves, the purple dragon has been increasingly in doubt. He made accusations because he thought he was to blame for the current situation. Dorumon straightened up and distanced himself from the group. When he was sure that no one was following him, he digivolved to DoruGremon and flew out into the night. He glided through the air on his four wings and briefly closed his eyes. Then he landed on a rocky outcrop and lay down. He sighed heavily and just wanted to be alone.
"And why did you fly away now, DoruGremon?" asked a voice he was familiar with.
The red dragon raised his neck and looked over his shoulder. He saw SaviorHackmon, who wasn't exactly happy that DoruGremon had been running away.
"SaviorHackmon..." said Dorumon's perfect-level tonelessly.
He wanted to be alone.
"I know you, DoruGremon." said the dragon man: "You're just making self-reproaches because Gallantmon and Sleipmon sacrificed themselves for us."
"Am I so obvious?"
'It's not. But I also blame myself." he said, breathing audibly and digivolving back to Hackmon.
Then he joined DoruGremon's side and tacitly modeled him.
"Why did you follow me, Hackmon?" was his question.
"I'm just worried about you." the four-footed dragon replied.
"Worry?" he repeated, somewhat incredulously: "Why?"
"You would never go out on your own." he said.
"Right. I never left without anyone. But now it's different. I... don't know what to do. On the one hand, it is my fault. It is my fault that King Drasil was restarted. It is my fault that one of the demon lords is now running around freely. It is my fault that the said demon king has a part of Apocalymon's data. It's my fault-"
"DoruGremon!" Hackmon told him: "Stop. It's really your fault. But just worrying about it doesn't help. I also blamed myself many times for not being able to protect Meiko. What would have happened if I had killed Meicoomon earlier? I... I was also jealous of Meicoomon. I should become Meiko's partner... but it wasn't because of her. When I saw how happy Meiko was, I put my jealousy aside and made it my mission to make Meiko happy."
"Hackmon... You are a very warm-hearted digimon, nothing has changed. Since I knew you, you've always tried to make your friends happy." DoruGremon said with a sad smile.
He straightened up and shook briefly. With his red eyes, he looked into the distance. Because it was night, the red dragon could hardly see anything, but in the distance, he saw large, square blocks. DoruGremon stretched his long neck and tried to identify these blocks.
"This is Primary Village" Hackmon said.
"I see..." the red dragon closed his eyelids and took a deep breath.
Then he flapped with his front pair of wings.
"W-what are you doing?!" the four-footed dragon asked in a panic.
"I'm going to fly to the village and see if we can rest there for the time being."
"It won't work... The guardian of the village would chase us out."
"It would be worth a try." DoruGremon said, flapping his wings vigorously before flying off.
"Wait! I'm coming with you!" shouted Hackmon, digivolving back to his perfect-level.
Both wanted to land on an open surface after just over a minute, but a light blue laser prevented it.
Both Digimon looked into the sky looking for a way. Suddenly, a Digimon raced toward SaviorHackmon with a lance. He tried to dodge, but the attacker stopped.
"Y-you are..." the assailant stammered as his eyes widened.
"Examon?" the dragon man's eyes also widened: "I haven't seen you in a long time. How are you?"
"Very good. Thank you for the question. And to you, Jesmon?"
"I'm fine, too. A lot has happened since our last meeting."
"Really? Who is the Digimon next to you?" he asked DoruGremon.
"Really, Examon?" the red dragon asked: "I'm Alphamon."
"Oh so... What?" Examon looked to Alphamon's perfect-level.
"Y-yes. A lot has happened." DoruGremon said.
"Tell me. I really want to know what happened." the great dragon said.
So the two began to tell the Dragon Emperor what had happened.
Each time, Examon's eyes widened more and more. He would never have believed that so much had happened while guarding Primary Village from the air. When he heard that Gallantmon and Sleipmon had been killed by Deemon, the Dragon Emperor became very sad. He had always got along particularly well with the two.
"That's it, basically." DoruGremon said tonelessly: "It's all my fault."
"Alphamon." Examon said: "It's not your fault. Don't be so harsh on you. Where is your self-confidence, which impressed me a lot."
"Gone a long time ago. I'm, to be honest, slowly tired of it. 10,000 years to live... I can't take it anymore."
"D-DoruGremon!" exasperated SaviorHackmon: "Don't talk like that!"
"You were tired of your life, too." he said. The best thing that could happen to you was that I killed you, so you were reborn. This allowed you to become Meiko's partner."
"T-that..." he broke off, but had to tacitly agree to the red dragon.
He had been tired of his life. He no longer saw any sense behind it. And again and again, since he had his memories from his previous life, he had been happy that Meiko was his partner.
"Maybe you should also look for a partner." suggested the dragon man.
"No. I have no right to do so. I wasn't even able to stop King Drasil." DoruGremon sighed heavily.
"A human partner... If I didn't protect Primary Village together with Elecmon, I would also like to have one." said the Dragon Emperor: "But some wishes cannot be fulfilled... But it's bad that this Deemon is back. You have to stop him, no matter what it costs."
"And why don't you want to help us, Examon?" SaviorHackmon asked: "With your strength-"
"As he had already said." DoruGremon interrupted him: "He is the guardian of Primary Village. He cannot and must not leave the village."
"Exactly. I am sorry. But I can't leave Elecmon and Dorbickmon alone." Examon said depressedly: "Elecmon in particular relies on me."
"I-I see." the dragon man sounded disappointed.
The red dragon looked at SaviorHackmon, then at the Dragon Emperor.
"Could we take refuge from Deemon in Primary Village?" asked Alphamon's perfect-level.
"Hm... I have to talk to Elecmon. But I wouldn't mind." the dragon emperor put on his wings and flew toward the ground.
Shortly before he reached it, however, he digivolved to a blue dragon. This was Examon's adult-level, Coredramon. Basically, there were two types of these Digimon that differed only by their color. One was blue-skinned, the other had a green color.
DoruGremon and SaviorHackmon watched the blue dragon as he entered Primary Village and was immediately greeted by Elecmon. They both chatted for a while. From what the red dragon heard, they discussed whether or not to let DigiDestined nto the village. Duftmon's rookie-level was far from enthusiastic about the idea. He was very concerned about the safety of the baby-level digimon, who could not defend themselves.
"Do you think Elecmon is letting us into town?" was DoruGremon's sudden question.
"I don't think so." the dragon man replied: "Because of Deemon."
"Yes." SaviorHackmon confirmed, before seeing Coredramon fly back up to them.
"You can enter the village." the blue dragon said, before returning to Examon.
"Really?" one heard the joy of the dragon man.
"Sure." the Dragon Emperor nodded to them: "I'm going to let Dorbickmon know so he doesn't attack you."
"So he's still alive." DoruGremon said.
"Yes. He helps me defend the village." Examon said, before shouting over his shoulder as he flew away; "I'll see you again!"
"This is good. That's excellent." said the red dragon, relieved, smiling softly.
"I know! With this we can rest first- ", the dragon man was interrupted by a loud bang: "W-what was that?!"
Alphamon's perfect-level looked at the spot from which the loud noise came. His previously relieved face became serious and alarmed. Because this is exactly where the DigiDestined and their partner Digimon were located. DoruGremon cursed quietly and rushed to his friends with quick wing strokes.
"Wait!" shouted SaviorHackmon, rushing after him.
His eyes narrowed as an ever-worsening feeling spread in him. He hoped Meiko would be okay. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her. On that point, he and Wanyamon were very similar.
DoruGremon landed in front of his friends and growled furiously. He didn't think Deemon would catch up with them so quickly. The long tail of the red dragon hit the ground incessantly while menacingly flailing his teeth. SaviorHackmon joined his side and pulled his blades out of his armguards.
However, he took a quick look at his friends. Agumon and Gabumon lay exhausted and with their eyes closed on the floor, as were the other Digimon. They had already lifted their human partners. Sera stood protectively in front of her daughter, ready to protect her with her own life in an emergency. Shin himself lay unconscious on the ground.
"Do you really think you can defeat me?" the demon said.
"DoruGremon digivolve to... Alphamon!" the black knight pulled out his OwRyuken blade and placed it in front of his body: "No. We can't defeat you yet. However, it does not prevent me from protecting those who are important to me. You killed Sleipmon and Gallantmon and attacked my friends. I'll never forgive you for that."
"Forgive me?" Deemon repeated with a laugh: "Complain to Imperialdramon Paladin Mode."
"What does the founder of the Royal Knights have to do with this?" asked SaviorHackmon, who had digivolved to Jesmon.
"You don't need to be interested in this." the demon sent a wave of darkness to Alphamon.
The dragon man stood protectively in front of the leader of the Royal Knights, but could no longer summon Por, Atho and René in time. Jesmon was caught by the wave and crashed with his back into a meter-high tree before he evolved back to Hackmon. The four-footed dragon rose and shook. Meiko rushed to him and knelt down to him.
"Is... is everything okay, Hackmon?" she asked anxiously.
"Yes..." he replied, looking at Alphamon's back.
The black knight looked over his shoulder at his friends. None of the Digimon could fight any more. His eyes rested on Hackmon before they narrowed a little. Then he looked at Deemon, who was already preparing the next wave of darkness. Alphamon breathed out audibly and ran to the demon, who sent the attack and brought the black knight to his knees. The leader of the Royal Knights rose up, but was again attacked by a wave. Alphamon crashed his back to the ground and lay motionless for a few seconds.
"Alphamon!" shouted Hackmon and tried to rush to him, but Meiko held him.
"Don't! " she said.
The four-footed dragon fiercely resisted the grip and tried everything possible to free himself, while the black knight rose again.
/I won't survive the next attack.../, Alphamon thought to himself: "Hackmon."
This caused Hackmon to stop fighting back.
"Y-yes?" he asked, unsettled.
"I'm sorry." said the black knight, as the eyes of the four-footed dragon widened.
Hackmon fought back more fiercely than ever against the grip. Meanwhile, Alphamon created a distortion behind the group. All DigiDestined as well as Shin and Sera looked at the distortion, then again to the leader of the Royal Knights.
"Alphamon!" protested the four-footed dragon and was able to break free only to be captured again a short time later.
"The short time with you was beautiful. I'm glad you helped me. I am glad to have met you all. Hackmon, Thank you for everything. Don't think that the time between the disintegration of the Royal Knights to the point where you became Meiko's partner was marked only by loneliness. I enjoyed every moment with you. You were and are an irreplaceable friend to me." Alphamon said sadly: "Now go! I don't want you to see my death!"
The first DigiDestined rushed into the distortion and disappeared. Hackmon, however, did not want and could not leave Alphamon alone. He freed himself from Meiko's grip and rushed to him.
"Hackmon!" the black knight admonished him: "Don't do anything ill-considered. You can't help me anymore."
"But-" he began.
"Do you want to leave Meiko behind?" Alphamon asked him.
"No... But I can't leave you behind!"
"I've been living too long, Hackmon. I want a new start. I want to forget all these years. They caused me great suffering."
"Do you want to sacrifice yourself like Gallantmon and Sleipmon?! Their sacrifices were pointless! I'm not going to let you down, Alphamon! Not again! You are my friend! You helped me after the disintegration of the Royal Knights!"
"You're no longer alone, Hackmon,"" the black knight quietly interrupted him: "Look around."
Hackmon looked around and recognized his partner, who had run to him. Eventually, she lifted him up.
"You are no longer alone. Meiko is with you, as are Omnimon, Magnamon and Dynasmon." Alphamon continued.
"That doesn't matter if you're not there!" the four-footed dragon screamed as his eyes closed and burst out tears.
"That's not true, and you know that." the black knight's eyes widened as a wave of darkness swelled toward the rest of the DigiDestined and their partner.
He blocked the attack with his OwRyuken blade, but had problems with standing up to it in the first place.
"Alphamon!" shouted Hackmon.
"Watch over him, Meiko." Alphamon asked her: "He'll need you."
"O-okay." she nodded and ran into the distortion.
The four-footed dragon now realized that there was no point defending himself. Shortly after they entered the distortion, however, he broke away from his partner and jumped to the entrance. He saw how Alphamon could no longer withstand the attack and the wave of darkness enveloped him. After the attack was over, the black knight with a trembling body faced the distortion. One last time he looked at the four-footed dragon and nodded cheerfully to him. Then he knelt down.
"Live... Hackmon." Alphamon said, before his shape breaks into a thousand data particles.
"ALPHAMON!" Hackmon screamed.
The distortion closed and the four-footed dragon found himself in a park in the real world. It was still night, so no one was in the park. Meiko bent down to Hackmon. She heard her partner whimpering quietly before screaming long and tormented. His scream echoed into the night and faded. The black-haired woman knelt down to him and gently hugged him. Her partner began to sob violently. He didn't allow himself to cry, he just allowed himself to sob. Still, Alphamon's loss was unbearable for him.
