I don't own digimon.

Session 44

Life starts now

Family.

Of the many things Alice had given up that day, this was the easiest. After all, it took a simple 'snip' of the brake lines to rid her of that controlling parasite. And yet, here they so defiantly stood in front of her.

"Did you really think that would actually do us in?" Verena Tanaka taunted as her 'daughter' pulled her pistols back out. "While I do admire your efforts, you still have much to learn."

Suiko sighed and walked over to her parents. Yokozamon and Consligmon followed right behind, curious of who these people even were.

"How about, no?" Alice interrupted and fired both of her guns off, watching as the bullets headed right towards her mom's head. Verena only stood there, seemingly mocking the lucky gambler. And then, nothing.

No blood, no bullet wound, no casing. Not even a small bit of satisfaction upon that woman's face. The gambler had wanted to watch her mother bleed. Next would have been her father had she succeeded. All so she continue on her own path. But now, it would be her who would have to face it. And yet, she was fine with it. It was a fitting punishment for the crime she dared to commit upon them…

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Alice Tanaka opens her eyes.

Once more, she finds herself within in the ruined city. Unlike the handful of times she had been here though, Suiko and their digimon had came along for the ride.

"You guys alright?" Alice inquires and everyone nods. "Good."

She takes a deep breath and turns her attention to their current surroundings. Currently, the foursome found themselves standing within in the partial ruins of a two story home. They were currently standing within the ruined part, a twisted monstrosity of concrete and plaster. The other side, looked mostly untouched with a small hint of dust thrown in for good measure. A streak of crimson fills the sky high above, with the occasional dark gray cloud thrown in for good measure.

*This place feels familiar.* Suiko whispers and Alice turns to face her.

"What do you mean?" Consligmon responded as he shifts visible, watching as his second master walked towards the other side.

*I've been here before.* Suiko only stood there, waiting for her teammates to follow. *Don't you get the same feeling, Alice?*

Alice continue to stare towards Suiko and took a deep breath. For once in what seemed like an eternity, she would have to agree with her. While the lucky gambler wasn't entirely sure what it was, something seemed to be calling out to them within this place. What that could possibly be remained unanswered. But for now, they would just have to continue their exploration. They started with the dining room, just a scattered pile of broken chairs and a table with the ground-up floor sprinkled on for good measure. Maybe, a family ate their meals together. Now, it was the cockroaches and the termites who would be the only ones feasting.

"I could really go for a burger, Miss Alice." Yokozamon remarks, reflecting upon the potential meal at the end of this.

"Same here." Consligmon adds and rubs his tummy.

*Yeah.* Suiko continues and gives Alice a quick glance. "How about you, miss german slut?"

Alice growled, only for her expression to shift to a smile.

"You got me there." the gambler answers and laughs. "But we can't stay here forever."

Her teammates sigh but follow her nonetheless. The next room on their tour is the living room, which manages to look slightly more intact than the dining room. Well, if you considered this room having a legitimate floor to be an 'advantage'. Even then, it was just some dust-covered carpet that none of them could determine the color of. The once white walls now looked pink, even if that wasn't by the previous owner's design.

"It's just paint, right?" Consligmon inquires as Yokozamon places a hoof upon the brightly-colored wall, only to reel back towards Alice. "I'm guess it isn't then?"

Yokozamon only nods and rubs his hooves on his clothes. He didn't want know where this 'paint' came from or who had applied it. This sort of questions was probably better left unanswered for the time being. After all, the answer is always much worse than the lies one perceive to fit in place of it.

Other than that, there wasn't really anything of interest within the living room. So the group moved onto the next 'intact' portion of the house, the stairway. It was what one expected a stairway to be and do. Be motionless and allow random people to traverse up and down it. This one in particular had probably seen better times, judging by the patches of concretes strewn in among the tattered carpet covering the steps. The foursome quickly made their way up it, occasionally making a quick glance behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. Even if there was something following them, they doubted it would be able to take all four of them on. Next came the hallway, which appears to be in about the same condition as the stairs. Unlike the stairs though, there seemed to be a couple of doors that possibly led to other rooms. The first of which, was just mere steps from the stairs.

"I guess we can start there." Yokozamon whispers and makes his way to the first door and cautiously opens it, only to discover a nonexistent room on the other side. "Not this one."
Yokozamon then closes the door and the group heads a bit farther down the hall to door #2. This time, it was Consligmon that opened this one.

Unlike the previous door, an actual room existed on the other side. Heck, it even looked habitable for once. Well, if it weren't for the sheer amount of porcelain dolls staring right at them. Each one was dressed in the exact same outfit, a white blouse with a black suit top and skirt. A coat of white paint covered their faces, with a gray masquerade mask covering the upper half.

Alice stares towards the dolls, only to refocus on herself. In a lot of ways, it was almost a perfect match. She would move a hand up and the dolls would follow suit. It didn't matter what Alice did, the dolls would copy it.

Spiritflare…

The lucky gambler points both of her guns towards the dolls, ready to destroy each and every one of them. Of all the actions they can do, this was the one thing they couldn't do. All it would take was to just pull the trigger...

And yet, she couldn't bring herself to do it and holsters her pistols, closing the door behind her.

"The bonds of family are just that of a parasite."

"Only you alone is strong enough."

"After all, there is one puppetmaster and puppet. Which is it?"

Overkill!

Yokozamon suddenly aimed his minigun towards the door and proceeds to pulverize the piece of wood into a million pieces. The dolls were gone now, with two figures taking their place. The figure on the left appeared to be a teenage girl, dressed in the same outfit as the dolls from before. Her visible joints appeared wooden with string come off of each one. The other figure appeared to be a small schoolgirl, holding a x-shaped piece of wood with similar sort of string coming out from it.

"Good little doll." 'schoolgirl' whispers and waves her device towards the ground, watching as Yokozamon fell onto Consligmon. "Time for beddie-bye!"

Alice and Suiko only stand there, unsure of how to react to this. None of it seemed to make not a lick of sense. Yet, it was all crystal clear.

"Stay by me." Alice whispers and motions for her 'sister' to stay by her. "You still have ammo for your shotgun, right?"

Suiko nods and cradles the shotgun in her hands. She then dashes over to Alice, her gaze focused on the lucky gambler than their opponents.

*Are you sure about this?* Suiko whispers, only for Alice to wrap her left arm around her.

"Yes." Alice answers and pulls her right pistol back out. "After all, chance is our game."

Spiritflare!

Both girls fired their weapons off, watching as the bullets slammed into their targets. For once in what seemed like forever, the bullets actually seem to be working.

!eralftiripS

Almost on command, the figures fire back at them. Strangely, 'schoolgirl' was the one with the sole pistol while 'dolly' had the shotgun. A perfect match, each one complimenting their opposite perfectly. In a way, it was pointless to keep this up.

*I have an idea.* Suiko mumbles as she lowers her shotgun.

"What is it?" Alice answers and turns her gaze towards the schoolgirl. Suiko whispers something into Alice's ear and receives a nod in return. "That just might work, but we'll have to be careful."

The gambler holsters her pistol, watching as 'schoolgirl' did the same. She then turns to face Suiko and takes a deep breath. If this doesn't work, they would have to go back to using Spiritflare on the figures, which didn't seem that good of an idea.

*Ready?*

Alice only nods and gets down onto her knees, only for Suiko to casually place the end of shotgun towards her head.

"Ready."

A loud bang filled the air as crimson red liquid began to flow onto Alice's dress and Suiko's sailor fuku. Yet, the lucky gambler and her sister were standing unharmed. No, it was their opponents that lay defeated.

"We did it." Alice whispers and makes a quick glance down at herself. Gone is her white blouse and pencil skirt, having been replaced with a crimson dress. Her legs and arm were now bare, allowing for much better mobility and to show off her now matching high heels.

*Yeah.* Suiko adds as she now looks over her clothes. Gone was her sailor fuku, having been replaced with a much simpler orange t-shirt and blue skirt with a pair of black boots. *I guess it's better than my school outfit.*

The sisters then laugh and turn their attention towards their partners. As rude as it would be to head onto the next door, it just didn't seem like that good of an idea to pull.

"Fine." Alice whispers and gives Yokozamon a slight kick. "Wake up, sleepy face."

*You too, sleepy bird!* Suiko adds and pats Consligmon's head, only to follow it up by some light shaking. *Time to get up!*

Both digimon quickly stir back to consciousness, having probably had some pretty awesome dreams while their masters were fighting.

"Oh well." Yokozamon whispered and got himself up, with Consligmon doing the same with Suiko's help. "Let's go."

With that out of the way, the foursome headed towards the final door. This time though, it took the combined effort of the entire group to get it open. On the other side, they found themselves not in the classroom in St Velodias. Instead, they found themselves outside Drogacjiji Academy. Suiko was somehow still with them, even if they had expected her to return to Alice's body.

"So, now what?" Alice whispered as her gaze focuses on the entrance. Unlike their previous visit, the front door had been propped open. Which was quite odd, considering what happens when one goes through that particular entrance.

The lucky gambler took a deep breath and sighed. For times like this, she wouldn't mind having Elena around. While Elena wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, there was something about her that one could admire in a way. A sort of drive that never seemed to stop at times, capable of breaking through even the strongest of foes and keep on going.

*Alice!*

Alice turned around, finding Suiko and their digimon standing before her.

"What's the plan, boss?" Consligmon inquired and Alice sighs.

"We walk right in." Alice whispers and makes her way towards the open doors, reloading her weapon in the process. "Even if it is a trap set for us."

Suiko reloads her shotgun as the two digimon follow right behind, ready for the force was tempted enough to destroy them...

Notes:

Last chapter before I graduate from High School.

And yes, the title is in reference to the song of the same name by Three Days Grace.

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Next Time: Aaron asks a favor...