I don't own digimon.

Session 16

Unplanned Variables

Aaron took a deep breath.

Even as he stared towards his opponent, there were no words to describe what he was feeling at the moment.

"Is been too long, Aegiochusmon." he whispered and watched the harem mage mutter something to Polly, who had been told to stand nicely to the side. "Or would you prefer Fate instead?"

"So what if has been?" Aegiochusmon answered and flipped him off. "Just call me Aegiochusmon, asshole."

Aaron took a deep breath and spitted towards the tree, Polly's gaze now focused on him. He just ignored her and chose instead to continue focusing on Aegiochusmon.

"Can one of you please explain why you're at each other throats?!" the monk shouted and both men took a deep breath. Only to start up a game of rock, paper, scissors for some reason, which Aegiochusmon managing to come out on top somehow.

"I guess I'll tell it then." Aaron whispered and took a deep breath. "Maybe then, we can mend what has been broken."

.

Our story begins within the first 'reset' (or cycle as it would later be called) upon the human world.

For teenage Aaron Larson, his world had just been rocked.

On the street below, what appeared to be a large green dinosaur taking on what looked like loch ness monster. It was quite a spectacular bout, the sort you only see once in a lifetime.

All around in the apartment buildings, people were taking it in. Aaron had counted at least two dozen, but who could really know. There were possibly tens, maybe hundreds

The spectacle only lasted a few brief moments, but it was enough. Most of whom, being young children and all, decided that was the greatest thing they ever saw. They would talk about it for hours on end, to the exact detail. That year, the psychology industry in the United States had a huge financial boost. But, that didn't matter to him and his friends. A couple of days had passed since the incident, so they decided to investigate the street where the incident occurred at.

"Are you sure this is the exact spot?" Aaron's friend, Vanessa Arcana asked and the young detective nodded. She was a beautiful rose among all the girls among the floor, with her long blackish purple hair, pale skin and dark blue eyes. Add in her magenta sundress and matching ballet flats, she was pretty much the one all the boys wanted to be with. If she didn't have a gang of marauding little thugs that always followed her around.

"We heard that!"

Aaron looked towards the gang of hoodlums and shook his head. While he wasn't quite sure why they were attracted to Vanessa, they did stay on their best behavior when she was around.

"Guys, it nothing to worry about." Vanessa's little sister, Valerie explained as she stared at her sister's friends. Unlike her sister, she was dressed in a quite expensive violet lolita dress and matching heels. Unlike her sister, her black hair hung down without a care. At the very least, she had Vanessa's blue eyes and pale. Strangely, she was always carrying a little black cat plush. Aaron wasn't quite sure how she

"Yes Vanessa, this was where I saw it." the wannabe detective whispered, only for his friend to ignore him. Their gazes were focused on a large plate of candy that was just sitting out in the open. "Hey!"

"We'll be back in a second!" one of Vanessa's thugs announced and ran towards the plate. The rest of the group followed right behind, leaving Aaron to his own devices. He watched as they gorged themselves on the sweets, only for his friends to disappear right before his very eyes.

If he had known the events that would quickly follow, he would have done things differently. Maybe he would have stopped them, possibly kicked the candy dish away.

"Where did they go?" Aaron whispered and examined the plate. The object appeared normal, except for the remaining candy having just disappeared with his firends for some reason.

"Scram kid."

He turned around, finding a silver-haired man standing before him. He wasn't anything interesting, just dressed in a gray jumpsuit that sort of went with his silver eyes.

"Hey." Aaron announced, only for the man to roll his eyes. "Where did you take my friends?!"

The man only laughed.

"If they matter so much to you, come and find me." The man answered as a cloud of smoke began to engulf him. "If you do, I might tell you why, little boy."

All that remained, was one of those black and white journals they hand out in schools. Aaron slowly approached the object and cautiously pulled the cover open. Inside, he found a blank page of lined paper. You know, the kind with the dark blue lines going left to right and a red line going straight down, marking out the margins. After he was finished examining it, Aaron pulled a pencil out and wrote down eight names. In a way, something clicked inside of him, as if someone had just handed him his purpose in life. In a way, this would be his mission, to find those that had been taken

The walk home was brisk and nice, but too quiet for his tastes. He liked the chatter of others, even if it didn't involve him. It was probably why he chose to hang out with Vanessa and her friends. While they weren't the nicest of people at times, he usually had a good time. His apartment building was coming into view and Aaron took a deep breath.

"There is no turning back." He thought, bolting into the lobby and heading right towards the stairs, all eight flights of them. After doing all that, he slowly walked down the hallway to his family's apartment.

Inside, it wasn't much, just four white walls and a blondish yellow colored carpet. There was the typical furniture, like a couch, a table with some chairs and three beds. Not that any of that stuff really mattered to him. His parents were the absentee kind, always working at their jobs as IT admins. At the very least, the two had taught him how to live on his own while they were gone, disappearing out of his life after that. He grabbed a yellow backpack out of the closet, finding a small pink rabbit under it.

"P-please don't kill me." The creature mumbled as Aaron just stood there, taking the sight in. While this particular creature wasn't as amazing as the large dino he had seen a couple nights ago, there still was a sense of wonder to it.

"Uh, what are you even talking about?" Aaron answered as the rabbit stumbled out of the closet and into the hallway.

"You've met them, haven't you?"

Aaron stared blankly at his newest acquaintance, only to head over to the kitchen. There, he pulled some carrots out and walked back over, giving them to the rabbit.

"T-thank you."

Aaron smiled and sat down on the floor.

"What's your name?" he inquired.

"C-cutemon of Rebirth Village." Cutemon mumbled and took a cautious step backwards, only to begin munching on the carrots provided.

"Want to join me?"

"W-where are you going?"

Aaron sat himself down, focusing his gaze on the rabbit.

"After a bad man, who kidnapped my friend."

Cutemon gave him a confused glance, doing a quick once-over of his potential partner.

"Y-you can't be serious."

"I am."

Aaron didn't realize what he had said until Cutemon perked up.

"S-sounds good, I guess."

Cutemon then took a deep breath, getting up onto his new friend's head. Aaron slipped his backpack on, making sure to grab some food, water and the notebook. The two made their way out of the apartment, heading forth into the great unknown.

.

Aaron took a deep breath and stared down towards his audience. The message had been sent and there was no undoing what could potentially happen.

"Do you understand now?" The detective explained, cracking a smile towards his captives in question, Aegiochusmon and Polly. "I held up my end, now it's time to hold up yours."

"Of course, fuckhead." Aegiochusmon whispered as Polly stared towards him. "Give me one good reason why I should tell you."

"I have a thousand reasons to kill you and yet, a thousand and one reasons to let you live." Aaron remarked, only for Aegiochusmon to break free from the ropes that bound him down. He then turned to his partner, giving her a glance. Polly reluctantly nodded and moved over to the sideline, continuing to observe.

Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!

A stream of molten rock and lava shot out of Aegiochusmon's hands, heading straight towards Aaron. Strangely, the detective only smiled and pulled out a vial of dark blue liquid. He then lobbed it at the incoming beam of lava, creating a long strip of obsidian that immediately fell to the ground.

"I was hoping that we could've done this in a peaceful, believe it or not." Aaron whispered and took a deep breath. "But, something tells me that things aren't going "

The detective then dropped the vial on the ground, only for a rocket-propelled shark to slam into Aegiochusmon and grab hold. The driver of the vehicle then sped off and took Aegiochusmon with him.

Polly turned her attention to Aaron, slowly walking over to him.

"How dare you." the monk announced, a thick purple outline appearing around her. "Who were those people?!"

She then slammed her fist into Aaron, watching him slam into a nearby tree. Nonetheless, the detective pulled himself up and took a deep breath.

"Those were the dark blades, what remains of my former friends." Aaron whispered as he stared towards the monk. "I was hoping to use them as leverage when talking with Aegiochusmon."

Before Polly could answer, Jestery fell out of the tree and onto Polly.

"Jestery used drop kick! Critical Hit!" Jestery announced and got off of the monk. She then clapped her hands together, teleporting Polly away. "Good luck, Aaron!"

Aaron just stood there and watched as the jester faded away in a cloud of smoke. Afterwards, he took a deep breath and stared down at the ground. He hadn't intended for this to be the outcome of this. Yet, he would have to live with it.

Notes:

At the very least, Aaron is a little less of an asshole this time around.

.

Next Time: I'm not saying, for I've given enough hints...