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Session 13

Don't Fall Asleep

Night had now fallen upon the camp.

With it, bringing forth the usual darkened sky and endless fields of twinkling stars. It was a time of calmness and serenity, a chance to reflect upon events of the previous days.

But for Joey, it meant something else entirely. While everyone else was in their tents sleeping, the scientist was tending to the fire and jotting down his notes. Tsukaimon laid beside him, cradling a small teacup in his front 'hooves'.

"Let's see." he thought and stared down at his notes.

...The power of the shadows is equally proportionate to the powers of divine. As bright light is cast forth from the element shines, there will be some trace of shadow within. and when the gloomy darkness of the shadows are cast down somewhere or upon someone, some form of divine light can still be found. Neither divine or shadow are inherently good or evil. They are neutral elements, capable of existing alongside the other infusion elements in a fragile harmony...

While this kind of thing sort of made sense, it felt like a mix of wisdom and complete gibberish. Though, that notion could probably be extended to a lot of this multiverse. Not that Joey really cared about that at the moment, choosing instead to stare off towards the northwest. It was here where the never-ending sands of the desert met the dark and twisted woods of the forest. Those two places couldn't be nothing more unlike each other. Yet, something about them seemed to whisper otherwise.

"Ready for bed?" Tsukaimon whispered, only for Joey's gaze to fixate upon said divide. A mist-like figure stood there, seemingly staring towards them. "What's wrong? Someone out there who wants to take us down?"

"I'm not sure." the scientist answered and stood up, pulling his staff out in the process. "They don't seem hostile, but you can never know."

One could never be too sure in a place like this. In a way it reminded him of that duo of episodes related to Datamon and his capture of Sora. At the time, nobody had really expected that. What had followed was a chase through a maze, only for the heroes to find themselves attacked by an army of Sora clones. After a strategic retreat, the remaining chosen regrouped and freed Sora. Afterwards, they used the usual strategy. Act like they were all tanks, even when a better solution existed. Alas, they were all one intelligence point from figuring that out.

For Joey, it fell into the category of lesser-liked episodes. While there really wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, he just didn't really care for it. That was beyond the point. For now, he would have to keep his guard up and stand vigilant. Who know what could possibly sneak up and attempt to kill them in their sleep.

But who was he kidding? Aegiochusmon and/or Astamon were far better options as guards. Outside of his notes, there really was only one reason that he was still awake. What that reason was exactly, was a secret to everyone.

"What do we have here?"

The scientist turned around, just barely making out a blur of blackish grey energy not that far from the two of them. Every bit of warmth brought in by the fire seemed to instantly melt away with this unknown presence.

"Huh?" he whispered and pulled the instrument towards himself, mumbling an unknown and possibly eldritch phrase under his breath.

Shadow Pact.

As much as he wanted to shout it at the top of his lungs, that just seemed like a rude thing to do those attempting to slumber. He doubted any of the people currently slumbering would enjoy having to hear someone shout.

For a brief second, pain surged through his body. It was quickly replaced by strength borrowed from an unknown source, where exactly was unknown. There were probably much better things to be focusing on. Things such as Tsukaimon's lack of tea, his notes or even the mysterious voice. Yet, this what the author wanted to know for some reason. Even if he already knew the answer to said question.

"Show yourself, you coward!" Tsukaimon shouted as he flung his teacup onto the sand. Joey only gave him a cautious glance, which got followed up by a creepy laugh that seemed to chill the air even more.

"Fine then."

With that, a thin grey mist engulfed the area, leaving just enough visibility behind for one to just make out a generic cloud of something. It was probably something cliche like darkness or negative. Heck, it could be both for all intents and purposes.

"Please shut up."

Of course, that request fell upon deaf ears as Joey focused his gaze upon the cloud.

"I'm Joey Spence." the scientist greeted, feeling quite odd to say his last name. "And that's Tsukaimon."

The purple pig nodded in agreement, even if he was ready to growl at the thing.

"Despair, headmaster of the wonderful academy off in the forest." the other end of the conversation whispered and cracked the cloud equivalent of a 'smile'. "You have so much potential, a shame I can't ta- I mean enroll."

Joey gave the cloud a confused look, unsure of how to interpret this. While it was a nice compliment, something about this person seemed very off. Sort of like Datamon, in some respects.

"What are you even talking about?" the cloud drifted towards him, now intent on taking him in. Whether or not it would though, was up for debate.

Joey infusion digivolve too... ShadowAngemon.

Gone was the teenage boy, getting replaced with a grey ghost-like figure resembling that of the great angelic digimon.

Shadow Blaze.

The scientist swung his staff out in front of him, flinging a black fireball towards the target. Yet, they only stood there and just took the blow for some reason. Heck, it probably made them even bigger than before. It also made using his other attack upon them a foolish endeavor.

"For a group affiliated with one of my 'great comrades', you leave a lot to be desired." Despair announced, only take on a more humanoid shape as it approached. "Makes one wonder if he lost his touch."

The other side of the conversation gave it another confused glance, still not quite sure how to respond to this information. Not that it could blame the boy for acting in such a way. Yet, that still left a unique opportunity.

"Okay..." Joey whispered, only for his body to suddenly lock up. "What?"

Tsukaimon was a similar story, with the pig even further away from his goal of a cup of tea. Though, this somehow didn't stop either of them from intensely glaring at their foe.

"Sweet Dreams..."

With that, our two heroes quickly felt the tight yet bitter embrace of the dark...

Notes:

I feel this is much better than the original chapter. While not perfect, it fits far better with what's planned.

The title for this session is in reference to an old digimon adventure fic by the same name. If you have the time, its worth checking out.

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Next Time: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?