I don't own digimon or any franchises that may or may not be referenced in this chapter. And yes, this is necessary.

Session 80

One last job

In retrospect, he knew the moment he had taken this job that things were not in his favor.

For one, it was a solo mission without any contact with Gabe or Verena. Secondly, the mission in question came from Julie herself.

"It'll be alright, Prickle." he told himself, taking a deep breath. Yet, it wasn't. If it actually were, the cactus doubted that he would even be here on this stupid floating base thing. "Now, let's see…"

He gingerly leafed through the folder that he had been given on the target, making sure that the information was correct.

"Flower, wait up!" a voice announced as a large blue seal creature entered the room. "You can't just run off like that!"

Prickle only took a deep breath, puffing up his 'chest' as the seal approached.

He pitied them to some extent, this girl and her seal 'housewife'. They were free from the chains of destiny, the sort that seemed to bind him not only to Drogaciji Academy but to the order itself. They could go wherever they wanted to at the pace they chose for themselves, while he had to follow orders or risk the punishment of dying a horrible and painful death.

"Welcome, Aqua Luli." he announced as he watched the seal's owner enter the room. By the standards of digitalverse characters and the weird outfits they wear, she had chosen to go with a purple tank with a blue floral skirt and slightly raised blue sandals. Sandy blonde reached towards her neck, which was overshadowed by the pair of blue glasses and yellow eyes with a coat of blue lipstick to boot. Finishing off the look was one of those trilby hats with a purple band. And before you ask, why yes, this was what she chose her outfit to be. "I wish there was some other way for you or your master to not be caught within the crossfire of this war."

The girl mumbled something under her breath and tossed some sort of object into the air, only for a large butterfly to appear.

Prickle closed his eyes and opened them back up, making sure that he wasn't in some weird hallucination-induced dream sequence. He had more than his fair share between Shade, Julie and Verena. It wasn't that hard to mix the chemicals to make an effective smokescreen. Yet these three seemed to fail to grasp this particular concept with almost facepalm levels of stupidity. You would think that a nobel prize winning scientist, a psychologist known for making groundbreaking discoveries related to the mind and an explorer of alternate worlds would have more than enough experience and knowledge between them to mix the chemicals involved. But that was far from the case in this madhouse of a group, with the trio usually giving the mist for him to test. And of course, the cactus would manage to trip out one way or another. Though, he was fairly certain that there was ever a legitimate reason to make the stuff most of the time. They had the 'children' under their control and few forces could even dare to face them in combat. Yet, all it took was a single day for everything to change.

No more were they on top of the world, having been flung off by their very own test subjects. So they scattered themselves with the wind, choosing to hide in their labs/bases until the chance to strike would come. For Prickle, that meant joining Gabe and Verena in their 'cluster of universes'. For some time, things quieted down and the trio found themselves focusing on other things. For Prickle it was actually getting a proper education. Or at least something resembling a proper education. But wouldn't you know, Gabe and Verena had something in different in mind. And it came in the form of a little bundle of joy… that only got to see the world for a few brief moments.

It's funny how something being with you for such a short period of time can change dramatically. The cactus could only helpless watch his partners in crime spiral into depression and obsession. No more were they just traveling the alternate worlds for the fun of it. It was always, 'to find some piece of her' or 'get some usable bit of DNA'.

As time went on, the cluster seemed to grow with new additions coming each day. Yet with it, came a hollow feeling of emptiness. Iteration after iteration of their daughter would pass through as they waited to be 'deployed'. Just thinking that phrase made him with want to puke up water. Some point along that line, he made a choice. It was a dumb stupid one that should have gotten him killed back then. Yet, he managed to slip away and get commit a 'flawless' act against the order. But now, his crime had caught up to him. And this was the fate that had awaited him.

"Let us begin." the cactus whispered as his attention focused on Aqua Luli. During his flashback, she had pulled out what appeared to be a kitchen knife. While not the most scariest thing he had found himself staring down in his time, it would make for an interesting match-up.

His opponent started off with a charge, motioning for her 'partners' to follow right behind. Prickle responded by hopping towards them, pulling his left 'arm' back in anticipation of the coming knife stab. But it was the seal who went for first blood, shooting a pink beam of light from its mouth and into his chest. Somehow, this was the butterfly's cue, since it decided to follow the seal's attack up with a ball of dark purple energy and some swipes with its wings. Which was then finished with Aqua slamming her knife into the already weakened chest. Prickle responded in the best way he could, attempting to give the girl a very painful hug. She answered it by smashing both of them into the floor. But all that seemed to do was knock a couple of needles off and fling both Aqua and her seal thing towards the entrance of the room.

"Are you ready to die?"

The cactus turned around, finding nothing there.

"Who said that?" Prickle called out, only to get a mix of snickering and somehow managing to miss the gaze of the speaker. "We're the only ones here, right?"

Aqua Luli stayed silent, having decided that now was the best time to be pulling needles out of her seal. Which on closer inspection was wearing a dress for some unknown reason.

"Okay…"

It was the sort of thing that could only found in this multiverse, the one and only part of this job the cactus actually enjoyed. He had missed this sort of thing, having grown dull from the time spent cooped up in the 'lab'. And showed to some extent, judging by the fact he was getting his butt handed to him by someone not only lacking in combat training, but had come with a lack of sense as well.

"So you're able to understand the seal housewive thing and I. Good to know." the voice remarked as a sinister chuckle filled the air.

Prickle did a double take, giving the seal a confused glance. While he was no expert on gender, he was fairly certain that particular seal was male.

"Do I really want to know?"

More laughter, as if this was all some big joke in this person's head.

"Are you sure you want to be doing this? You do know who her master is?" the voice announced and possibly cracked a smile. "Strike us down? He'll strike you a thousand times harder. Kidnap us? Be ready to face not only fire and brimstone, the wrath of many highly deadly creatures who are more than capable leaving you and your friends far worse for the wear. Kill us? I really hope that you've made your amends and are content with what you done. From the stories that I've heard, there ain't a snowball's chance in hell that you or anyone affiliated with you will be nothing but tombstones."

"Show yourself!" Prickle announced, only for the butterfly to jump on his face. "You little…"

"Your first mistake was choosing to listen to little old me." the butterfly whispered as he managed to close Prickle's mouth. "The greatest skill of an assassin is to hide in plain sight and wait for the right moment to strike. I really do wish there was some other way in this mess."

He then gave Aqua a nod, who charged towards the cactus and slammed her knife into him.

"Thank you…" Prickle whispered and closed his eyes. Following that, a bell rang five times.

"Well, I got nothing." the timekeeper announced, only for Aqua to sit down and pull out a small notebook. "Congrats. You're almost half of the way there."

"Perfect." she whispered and closed her note as they headed on, with her leaving the cactus to his own devices. Even on her return trip no less than a couple minutes later, she gave him no attention. Though, he didn't blame her for making that choice.

"Oh my." a voice announced, forcing the cactus to gaze up.

Currently, an angel stood before him. But unlike the one styled after the ange line of digimon, this one looked like blue haired woman in a light blue dress. A pair of blue orbs stared towards, complimented by the pale white lips.

"You're not one of Shade's, are you?" Prickle mumbled and got a confused glance.

"I do not recognize that name." the angel whispered and slammed her hands together, pulling forth what appeared to be spear with a blue ribbon coiled around it. "But for your actions and instigating a war between the Dear Internet Mailing Company and the order, you shall be punished."
Prickle froze, unsure of whether there truly was a right answer.

"At least, tell me your name."

"Lazuli." the angel whispered and closed her eyes. "Servant of the conjurer."

Lazuli then swung her spear into the cactus, rendering the once living organism into a crystal cluster as she walked away.

"Please forgive me, master…"

.

"You're awake."

Chacha's eyes slowly open.

Gone was the interior of the jalopy, having been replaced with that of a large living room. Four white paper walls surround her, adding quite well to the tatsumi mat floor.

"Master, is that you?" Chacha calls out and places a hand out.

"It's me." a woman answers and grabs hold...

Notes:

This is pretty much an 'intermission' sort of chapter. Though the funny thing is, you should have a quite clear picture of what's coming for Delta.

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Next time: Sometimes, the future you fought for is not the one that you get to experience...