The children were tenacious, he would give them that. They had defeated every single champion level digimon that he had sent out against them, and they had that unexpected ability to have those digimon that had bonded with them digivolve on command. Mephistomon wasn't quite sure how that worked, based on what he observed, the children were connected to their digimon companions in someway. He narrowed his eyes in thought. He couldn't be certain where the power to digivolve originated, but he was certain based on his observations that if he removed either then they would lose the ability to.
He turned to leave the stone room, skirting beside the digital map of the area of the Digital World that they were in. He stopped and looked at it and deciding on how he would best fulfill his strategy, he left.
The large central room of the fortress that the slave digimon had constructed held most of the stronger champions left in his ranks. His best lieutenant, a Devidramon scurried up to him as soon as it realized that he had entered the room, and kneeled "My Lord, the children are continuing north along the river"
Mephistomon had ordered that the children be tracked at all times by his limited Airdramon forces. "Good, they will soon reach the old temple then"
"Yes, my lord" the Devidramon nodded his head quickly, before sparing a look up at him "Do you wish for us to attack them? I know the others are more than willing to do so"
Yes, Mephistomon knew that as well, many tired of the grinding, meticulous war that he had been intent on fighting in subduing this part of the Digital World, and many yearned for a straight up fight. But they would not be getting that from him, no he had something far easier in mind.
"No, you will make sure that they know to continue to keep their distance" Another thought occurred to him "How close are they to the Tokomon village?"
Devidramon blinked and thought for a moment before answering. Mephistomon was pleased to see it, Devidramon had been impulsive, and if he ever wanted to digivolve to ultimate and become a Mephistomon like him, he would need to learn that there was a time and place to act, and a time and place to think and to observe.
"I believe that at their current pace, they will be in the village by nightfall, my Lord"
Mephistomon didn't want to show his hand this early "Very well, wait until they have left, then have Ogremon and DarkTyrannomon pacify the village, if they resist" he held up a single thick finger as he finished.
"Leave no survivors" Devidramon finished with a large toothy grin.
Mephistomon allowed for Devidramon to leave after that, as he needed to relay his orders. He had other things that needed to attend to, such as the trap he was going to set up at the temple. When he felt a presence enter into his mind.
Fear and anger sprang up and spread through Mephistomon, but he quickly repressed them, he knew who was calling him now "Mephistomon, your presence is required here, leave what you are doing and come" The dark voice sprang through his head.
"Yes, my Lord" He sent back through the connection, and just as quickly as it had been made, it was broke and Mephistomon was left alone in his own mind. Mephistomon let out an uneasy breath and went and found Devidramon, left him in charge and quickly flew back towards his Master's lair. If something was the matter that his Master wanted Mephistomon back, then Mepshitomon would not hesitate to obey his Master, not after he had reformatted him from the disparate data that he had been so for so long.
Max couldn't remember the last time he was this tired. They had been traveling north for a week, and in that time had been attacked several times, first it was the Monochromon, which Diane had been able to get Fangmon digivolve to Fangmon, which rapidly defeated it. Then the next day they had been attacked by two digimon at the same time, which saw Sarah and Galen partner's Hackmon and Betamon digivolve to Huckmon and Seadramon. They had won both of those fights, leaving them where they were now, still walking up the river, to what they thought as north.
Like he had said, Max couldn't remember the last time he was this tired, he continued moving though, one because that was what everyone else was doing, and two because he felt like he stopped he would fall over asleep.
Impmon was walking a bit behind him, humming a song that he and the other digimon had been singing earlier. Max looked up at the sky, the sun looked like it was going to be going soon so he rose his voice "Maybe we should stop for the night? It's starting to get late"
The kids shuffled to a stop. At the front of the line Arthur and Miranda turned around "I suppose we could" Arthur said as he wiped sweat off of his forehead.
"What about everyone else" Max asked, wanting to try to include everyone in on the decision making. He was rather uncomfortable with only having a few of them be the ones to make decisions, so always tried to get the other's opinions.
"No arguments here" Sarah said as she plopped down next to Hackmon.
"Yeah, its probably for the best" Galen agreed, also sitting down.
Max looked around the group, listening to their responses, Evelyn tiredly nodded her head, while Will simply held up a thumbs up. Max thought it was weird that Will never really said anything, the most he did was when they were defending themselves.
The group went about the normal set of things they did before turning in, he, Sarah and Diane all went foraging, while Arthur, Will, and Evelyn worked on getting a fire ready, while the others stood guard. They had started rotating who did what, to get out of some of the monotony that had settled in after the third day.
As they came back, Impmon started sniffing the air, like he smelled something that was bothering him "What's wrong buddy?" Max asked, concern more evident than he might have wished.
Impmon took another few sniffs and replied, "I think I smell other digimon" he sniffed again "Tokomon maybe?"
Hackmon had also started sniffing at the mention of other digimon "Yeah, I think you're right Impmon" the fire dog digimon looked back to Sarah "It's definitely Tokomon"
"What are Tokomon?" Diane asked, and Max wrapped his own head for an answer, he was fairly certain that they hadn't run into any digimon called Tokomon in their journey so far, but he had learned so many new ones that they all had started to blend together.
"An in-training digimon, very friendly" Gazimon stated, looked down to where he was carrying the fruit and said, "Can we continue this when I'm not carrying all of the fruit?"
Gazimon wasn't carrying all of the fruit, he just liked to exaggerate things "Yeah point taken" Max agreed anyway, too tired to start a fight "Let's mention this to Arthur and the others"
"We haven't really run into any friendly digimon aside from our partners" Diane mused as they started their walk back "It would be nice to see a friendly face"
It would be nice, but Maxwell didn't count on it. Why would there be friendly digimon now, and not when they had first been sucked into this world? He sighed, thinking about their predicament naturally led him to thinking about his parents and his siblings, what were they thinking about? Did they know he was gone? And were they trying to find him? No of course they're not a traitorous part of his mind thought. He shook himself out of his dark thoughts when he realized that Impmon was asking him something.
"What was that Impmon?"
"I was asking if you're okay. You zoned out for a second there, and I felt like you were getting down" Impmon whispered back.
Max was surprised to learn that, could their connection be strong enough to feel each other's moods? But instead of getting of track again he smiled and answered his question "I was just thinking about everything that's happened to us in the last few days" It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't quite the truth either. He could tell from Impmon's gaze that the digimon didn't quite believe him, but he didn't push him on it either.
They passed the rest of the small trip in silence, with only the occasional sound being that of wood snapping underneath their feet. When they arrived they found Will kneeling down in the center of what was now their camp, trying to get the fire started. Arthur stood over his shoulder giving some pointers when he noticed them, straightened up and said, "Hey guys, good haul?"
In lieu of a response, Diane just held up an fruit, as Gazimon dumped the fruit he was carrying onto the ground. "Pretty good" Gazimon said as he picked one up and bit into it.
"Good" Evelyn said as she stood behind Will who finally leaned back with a satisfied look on his face, a small fire crackling on the wood "Good Job Will!" she said after she noticed the fire, and Max didn't miss the blush that formed on Will's cheeks.
Shaking his head at Will's obvious embarrassment, Max picked up one of the fruit things that they had all taken to just calling an apple, although it was far more filling than any typical apple, and bit into it. Galen and the others who had been on guard duty joined them soon enough and the campsite was filled with the sounds of eating.
He was taking another bite of the apple when he remembered Impmon had smelled other digimon "Impmon thought he smelled uh" he forgot the name of the damn digimon.
"Tokomon" Impmon said.
"Yeah that, thanks" he looked at Impmon who have him a toothy grin at the thanks "But anyway I thought we should let you know"
"The digimon said that they're just in-training level" Sarah reminded him. "They also said that they are friendly" she added.
"Then maybe we should look into them in the morning" Galen said "Best to at least check them out for ourselves, maybe they have some information on how to get out of here and for us to get back home"
The mention of home quickly turned the mood sour, with everyone filled of thoughts of their home. Arthur seemed to be the first to break of out his thoughts and said, "Well guys I guess we should head off to bed, who wants first watch?" Max waited for someone to volunteer and was about to raise his own hand when Will beat him to it.
"I'll do it tonight" in what Max thought was his first words tonight.
No-one argued with that, and everyone shuffled off to their places to sleep. Max laid down but despite how tired he was, sleep would not come to him. He tossed and turned on the hard ground for what felt like hours. He sighed and as he laid over on his back and looked up at the stars.
Someone poked him in his arm and looking over he saw that it was Impmon "You awake?" he asked quietly. Max nodded his head "Good, we should go for a walk, maybe it'll clear your head"
Impmon could usually tell when something was bothering him, so Max agreed and stood up. He walked over to Will, who was sitting in front of the now dying fire and said "I can't sleep. Impmon and I are going to go for a walk"
"Is that a good idea?" Will asked him.
To that Max shrugged his shoulders "I don't see why not, I mean besides I've got Impmon if we are attacked or anything" Impmon puffed out his chest at that.
Will looked him up and down and then said "Fine, just be careful"
"You know it" Max said before he turned away and headed off into the forest.
He wouldn't move too far from camp, he just wanted to get away and clear his head. "What's wrong Max?" Impmon asked.
What was wrong with him? "I don't know, I just don't feel like myself, its like I'm being pulled in all of these directions and I'm not sure how to handle it"
Impmon didn't get a chance to respond when the rumble of an explosion came over them. "What was that" Impmon moved in front of Max.
"It sounded like it came from over there" Max pointed towards the northeast "We should go and see what it was"
Will stared into the fire, waiting for his hour to get up so he could get some rest. Not that he would have a very good sleep, but something was better than nothing. He looked back up in the direction that Max and Impmon had gone still couldn't understand why they had thought it necessary to go off on a walk in the middle of the night. That didn't seem like the greatest idea, but who was he to say that. He looked at where the others were sleeping, everyone looked asleep, which was good. And then looked back at the fire, he reached down and put some sticks in it to keep it going.
"Hey Will?" he jerked up and saw Evelyn and Kotemon approaching him.
"Hey Evelyn, what's up?" he asked as causally as possible.
"Where are Max and Impmon?" she asked looking around for them.
"Oh, Max went on a walk, left a few minutes ago" he gestured back in the direction they had went. He found himself wondering why she was curious but didn't let himself dwell on that for too long. He watched her look in the direction "Didn't say when they would be back"
She shook her head and asked, "Why did you let them go?"
"I don't know, it didn't seem like my place to not let them go or not" he answered truthfully.
She seemed to accept that answer and sat down next to him. "You don't talk much, do ya?"
Of all the things that Will had expected to be asked about, his shyness wasn't one of them. He felt Agumon lean out to get a better look at him. "I guess" he said awkwardly "I've never been comfortable talking with other people"
"You don't seem that way with Arthur" she reminded him.
Why was she suddenly so interested in his shyness? He had half a mind to ask her that, but he didn't think that she was trying to be mean, or at least he hoped she wasn't "Well, Arthur's my friend, he's almost a brother" he answered. Arthur and he and known each other since kindergarten and had been attached to each other since.
"So, you're more comfortable with people you consider friends?" she asked him, trying to clarify something that Will couldn't seem to discern. He nodded his head in a silent answer, and then she smiled and said "Well, I hope you think of me as a friend."
He looked at her a second, did he really see any of the people he was with as friends aside from Arthur and Agumon? He would do anything to keep them safe, but were they friends or simply comrades in arms? He would want to be friends with them, he decided so he nodded his head "Yeah I do"
Her smile grew larger at that, and she looked like she was going to say something else when a explosion's sound rumbled over them. It was faint, and not loud, but just loud enough that Will knew exactly what it was. He quickly stood, with Agumon a half second behind him. It came from the direction that Max went!
His feet started walking without he even realized what he was doing. He felt like Agumon was following him. He started running, not hearing Evelyn telling him to stop. He didn't hear her sigh and her and Kotemon follow them. He ran though trees and up a hill before he came up on the end of the forest. In front of him he saw a small village, complete with a few wood buildings and what Will thought was a large tent in the middle of the village.
Another explosion rang out, lifting dirt and mud up into the air as Will realized what was going on. The village was under attack!
"Oh no" Evelyn breathed out
Will found himself agreeing. He looked down at Agumon "You feel anything Agumon?" Will asked as quiet as he could.
Agumon shook his head "This is Tokomon Village, I'm pretty sure"
Kotemon sniffed as well "I think you're right Agumon"
The same digimon that Impmon has smelled earlier, Will recalled. "Let's get a closer look"
"They're defenseless Will" Agumon stated, a quiet anger in his voice, that Will was surprised to find that he felt as well. Who would just attack some innocent digimon?
"Will, Evelyn" he heard someone call his name and thinking that he was about to get an earful from the others, he turned around, but was surprised to see Max and Impmon emerging from behind a tree. "So, that's where the explosions are coming from" Max said as he looked towards the village.
"Agumon says it's a village of Tokomon, and that they're defenseless" Will explained. Something hardened in Max's eyes.
"We should go see what it is" Max turned from the village and back at Will "and deal with whoever is attacking them"
"Yeah, we shouldn't let anybody defenseless get hurt!" Evelyn agreed.
Will nodded his head and they started to move forward, as quickly but quietly as they could. They got to the outskirts of the village in what felt like little time to Will. Much of the buildings on the other side of the village was on fire, and smoke filled the air as they made their way through the single road of the town.
It was eerie, sneaking through a town that was deserted, with seeming signs of usual life. It rubbed him the wrong way, who would attack defenseless Digimon? Or would attack anyone who couldn't defend themselves? Will wasn't usually an angry person, but this was going to far. He would find the digimon or person who did this and put them down.
"This is terrible" he heard Evelyn mutter to herself, and that only reinforced his previous thought. He looked at Max, and could tell that he was feeling the same things that he was.
"Fire Blast" Will just heard the attack, then was thrown back by the accompanying explosion. He was blown back into a wooden building and felt something in his back pop as he collided with it.
His backed flared in pain as he forced himself to get up, and as he did so he got a good look at what was attacking them, a large, dark colored dinosaur. "Pepper Breath!" he heard Agumon's familiar attack and then saw his fire blast hit the dinosaur in the side of the head. Impmon and Kotemon both followed up with their own attacks.
That reminded him of them the others! He looked around and scanned the road for the others. He wiped his cheek and felt something wet. He brought his hand down and saw blood. He shook his head; he couldn't focus on that now. He scanned the road again and saw Evelyn laying along a wall of a building. He stumbled over to her.
He heard the roar of battle continue, but it seemed deafened somehow, like he wasn't really hearing it. He fell to his knees in front of her and rolled her over. She seemed fine, and didn't seem to be outward signs of injuries. He checked her pulse and felt with relief as he felt one.
He let out a long breath and turned back to the fight. "Agumon, Evelyn's knocked out! We have to protect her!" he yelled out, hoping that wherever Agumon was, that he could hear him. He felt Agumon's acknowledgment through their bond.
"Will!" he looked and saw Max emerging out of a hole in the side of a house that Will hadn't noticed before. He had a long scrape on his forehead but looked fine aside from that. The gleam in his eye fell as he looked down at Evelyn "Is she…?" he didn't finish the sentence, but Will knew what he was asking.
"No, she's just been knocked out" He answered. The blood dripped into his eye which he wiped out again. He turned and watched as the dinosaur smashed another building with a missed attack. This wasn't any good, at this rate the whole village would be destroyed by the time the fighting was over. And if they got the battle out of the village, they could better keep Evelyn out of the line of fire "We have to get them away of the village!" he decided on.
He turned and looked at Max and watched in amazement as both Kotemon and Impmon had returned to their sides, and then realized in horror that Agumon was the only one still fighting. "Stay here with Evelyn!" he yelled and once again he was running towards the battle, where Agumon was locked in battle with a stronger digimon. Talk about déjà vu he thought as he did so.
Agumon was jumping from place to place, using his better maneuverability against the larger Digimon. "Agumon, we have to get him out of the village! The others are counting on us!" Agumon acknowledged him through their bond, and he started to try to lead him way from the others.
It seemed to be working, as the digimon they were fighting was either dumb or didn't have a mind for itself, and it blindly followed.
"Yeah, that's right! Follow me!" Agumon roared as they finally got out of the village. Will followed, them onto a grassy plain. The fighting continued as the two dinosaur digimon traded blow for blow. But with the power difference, it was obviously a battle that Agumon wasn't going to win.
That wouldn't do, Will couldn't let that happen, he had dragged Evelyn and Agumon out here and now she was hurt, and Agumon was in a losing battle. "Agumon we have to win!" he yelled as Agumon narrowly dodged another fire ball, and returned one of his own.
"I'm trying Will!" Agumon responded as he jumped up and attacked once again "Pepper Breath!" and then yelled "BlackTyrannomon justs too strong!"
BlackTyrannomon looked his way and fired off a fire ball towards him. Will threw himself to the right and even so, was thrown up into the air and then down onto the ground.
"WILL!" Agumon yelled in concern, before redoubling his efforts to get BlackTyrannomon's attention.
Will groaned in pain and in realization that he was still alive. He felt like he had just been though a scorcher of a day. He tried to figure if he was hurt anywhere else and looked down his body as he pulled himself up from what he now recognized as a small crater.
"How am I still alive?" he wiped his forehead again and looked at his forearm in alarm has he realized that he was bleeding from there as well. He looked back to the fight, and Agumon was fighting harder and faster than he could remember from the small dinosaur. Resolve filled through him, this wouldn't be the last of them, he couldn't allow it to, he wouldn't allow for whatever that was attacking them to beat them here.
A blinding light came from Agumon, who roared in power "Agumon digivolve to!" the light dissipated, and in its wake stood a tall red and green dinosaur, with spikes traveling down from the top of its head to its tail "Tyrannomon!"
The two Tyrannomon locked eyes, and then charged. Both threw fireballs at one another, and both hit. The BlackTyrannomon was thrown back, but Tyrannomon wasn't and continued his charge. Tyrannomon ran straight into the still knocked backed BlackTryannomon and forced it back to the ground, stabbing at it's body with it's razor sharp claws.
"Fire Breath!" a stream of fire emerged from Tryannomon's mouth and onto BlackTyrannomon. It roared out in pain as the searing heat burned away it's out layer of hide. Will thought for a moment that maybe he should call of Tyrannomon, but then thought better of it, what kind of monster deserved mercy after it had attacked a village of in-training digimon and hurt Evelyn and the others. No, he thought things like this doesn't deserve mercy.
"Pummel Whack!" an attack of energy slammed into Tyrannomon's back, sending him flying towards Will, who once again threw himself to the ground. Pain now seemed localized in his back, in the same general area that Tyrannomon had been hit. He stood up, only to see a green digimon, probably no taller than a semi-truck, approaching. "You did well, human" it was saying as it stopped just short of where BlackTyrannomon laid on the ground. He allowed BlackTyrannomon to stumbled onto its feet, where it glowered at Tyrannomon, who had also done the same. "But I'm afraid the time for games is over, give up, and I will ensure that your end is painless"
Bullshit he thought before answering "No, I wont ever give up to the likes of you, who attack innocent digimon for no reason!"
The digimon smile grew "Then you will die painfully, so the will your friends in the village, and then Devidramon will reward me, Ogremon for getting rid of you!"
"I won't allow that to happen!" Will roared, as he did so Tyrannomon let out his own roar, guttural and fierce. "We'll stop you!"
"We will see" and then he struck.
Evelyn's head hurt, and she wondered how many more times she would wake up with a bad headache. She must have groaned because she felt something tapping on her shoulder. "Evelyn, please tell me you're waking up"
She opened her eyes to see Maxwell hovering over her, with Kotemon on the other side also hovering. "Kotemon, Max" she realized that they were inside somewhere "Where are we"
She took in her surroundings, they were in a small, cramped building, how it was built she didn't know, and surrounding her and Maxwell were what looked like tiny white balls. "We are so happy she woke up!" she heard one of them say.
"Tokomon?" she asked, hoping that they weren't captured.
"Yeah, these Tokomon saw us fighting the digimon attacking them and had us bring you inside" Max answered.
"Thank you" she thanked what looked to be the leader of them, who only wobbled happily.
"We are just happy you didn't get to hurt on our account" it's face darkened "I'm not sure your other friend will fare much better"
Will must still be fighting! She thought with alarm. "Where's Will?" she asked, a sudden desperation in her voice that she hadn't meant to include.
Max's own face fell "He and Agumon are trying to draw the battle away from the village, he told us to stay with you"
That sounded like something Will would do, he seemed to have a death wish, constantly going into battle with just a rookie with him for backup. It had been part of the reason why she had tried talking with him earlier in the night, though she didn't know if she had gotten through to him that there were people in the group who cared about him.
She shook herself off from those thoughts. She didn't have time to think about Will's mental state, and now was concerned with his physical wellbeing "We have to go find him" she rose herself to a standing position.
A loud roar came over them, it was one of the loudest things that Evelyn could remember hearing, she wondered if that came from the battle, and wondered if it was a good or bad thing if it did.
"Yes, you do, especially with Ogremon being in the area, he might have joined in on the battle!" the Tokomon who had spoken earlier said.
"Wait there's another one?" Max asked, anger and shock in his voice.
"Yes, I would have mentioned it sooner, but I thought you knew" The Tokomon responded with clear regret in its voice.
"We have to get out there and help Agumon" Impmon said quickly heading for the door.
"Yes, Agumon won't last long without help" Kotemon was saying as he passed through the door.
Max and Evelyn emerged out of the wooden building and rushed off after their two digimon, who must have figured out where the battle was taking place. They ran out of the village and came upon what Evelyn thought was once a grassy plain but was now a burned and crater filled battlefield. Three digimon fought each other, sending attacks and countering one another.
She caught sight of a large red dinosaur digimon "Agumon went to champion" Kotemon noted dryly.
"Yeah, he's a Tyrannomon now!"
"Come one Kotemon, Will's counting on us" she cheered on in lieu of a battle cry "he and Tyrannomon had bought us some time and now it's time for us to step up!" she wouldn't let Will take on all of this on himself, she sensed that he did enough of that.
"Yeah, that's right, let's go get them Impmon! We can't let them fight on by themselves!" Max yelled.
Something was different though; a light had gathered around both Kotemon and Impmon.
"Kotemon digivolve to!"
"Impmon digivolve to!"
"Gladimon!" Kotemon finished, now an armored ball like digimon, wielding two swords, and armored in classical medieval knight armor.
"Wizardmon" Impmon hadn't grown, but had gained a new cloak, and large tan pants, and wielded a staff.
The two new champions rushed off and joined the battle. Evelyn watched as Gladimon forced the green digimon, the one she assumed to be Ogremon, away, while Wizardmon, and threw what looked like a bomb onto the BlackTyrannomon.
She looked away from the battle, and tried to find where Will was, and found him walking, or better said limping their way. "Will!" she yelled and ran over to him. He looked worse for wear, a large gash had obviously bled and had dried just above his right eye. "You're hurt" was all she found herself saying.
He shrugged, and the movement caused her to look down to his arm, which was covered in blood. "You're still bleeding!" she grabbed his arm to try to figure out where the cut was, and how much blood he had lost.
"Yeah, it's been an eventful night" Will stated dryly. While she continued looking for the wound, he said "I'm happy you're alright. I was worried"
"Yeah, I was just knocked out for a bit" she looked up at him "You didn't have to run off by yourself" she chided him gently.
"I see that Kotemon and Impmon digivolved" Will said, changing the subject. She noted that he hadn't responded to her and knew that she would have to press him on it later.
"Yeah, Gladimon and Wizardmon" Max answered "We found the Tokomon, they are very appreciative of our help"
"Good" Will said.
Evelyn finally found the cut, and seeing that it had started to clot properly, let go of his arm. He took a place at her side as they watched the final moments of the battle, Tyrannomon was holding Ogremon down on the ground with his giant feet, while Gladimon rushed up and lopped the head off.
"Well, that's over" Max said dryly, as Ogremon's body parts dissolved into data.
"I guess we missed BlackTyrannomon" Will summarized "Tyrannomon did a number on him before you guys got here anyway"
"We should go check on the-" a yell cut off Max and all of them turned to the tree line, where the rest of the group, led by Arthur and Galen were running at the front, with the others behind him.
Evelyn heard Will sigh and say as he limped forward to the front "Here we go"
"What the hell are you guys doing!?" Arthur was yelling and asking as they got to where they were all standing. "Why did we wake up and nearly half the fucking group was gone!?" he looked at the three of them "I need someone to start answering my questions!" he demanded in exasperation.
Will held up his hands, leading to some quiet gasps from everyone at the sight of his bloody arm "I heard an explosion while I was on watch, I went out to investigate what was going on"
Galen was the next to ask, "So you went by yourself, why didn't you wake anyone else up?"
Will just regarded him for a moment "Well I wasn't really thinking to be honest"
Evelyn could tell that he hadn't been, she had watched him get up, ignore her own protestations, and run off, she had followed because she didn't want him to get into anything by himself. "He didn't go by himself" she spoke out "I went with him ,and we ran into Max on the way here"
"So, you just left us to wake up by ourselves?" Miranda demanded, having moved to be inline with Galen and Arthur "Why didn't you wake us up?"
"We only woke up because of the roar" Arthur noted "We realized that half of the group was missing and went out looking for you guys" he turned back to Will, who seemed to be direction most of his anger towards "How could you do this? You were supposed to be on watch! Not going off and trying to pick a fight!"
"I heard the roar and thought maybe Max was in trouble, when I realized what was going on, there wasn't anytime to come back and wake you guys up!" Will answered, a strange steel in his voice that Evelyn was surprised to hear.
"What was happening here? Could one of you at least explain that?" Diane asked.
"Two digimon, a BlackTyrannomon and a Ogremon were attacking the Tokomon in the village behind us" Evelyn explained "When we realized what was going on, we had to move quickly to get it stopped"
Arthur looked at her and then back at Will "So, you decided to get involved did you?"
Will nodded his head yes "Yeah there wasn't even a question about what the right thing to do was." He answered.
Galen spoke up "You should have come back, then we could have all delt with it"
"Or you could've ignored it" Sarah said and suddenly all eyes were on her.
The comment must have made Will angry because he nearly yelled "I wasn't just going ignore it, that's not right!"
"What's not right is just abandoning us while you went and played hero" she accused.
"What's the point in having digimon partners, and being able to digivolve if we're just going to ignore it when something inconvenient to us is happening?" Will asked sarcastically.
Arthur rubbed his eyes and spoke up "Come on, this isn't getting us anywhere, we should head back to camp and discuss this in the morning"
Will shook his head "I'm going to go and make sure that the Tokomon are okay, then I'll head back"
Another voice spoke up, one which Evelyn and Max both recognized. "There is a second option" turning around revealed the Tokomon who had spoken to them before "There's a house on the other side of the far hill, that's been there for generations, we've kept looking after it, but you are more than welcome to stay there for as long as you would like, in thanks for saving our village"
They looked at each other, trying to come to some sort of agreement non-verbally, before Max stepped forward "We thank you, and accept your proposal, if you don't mind, we will head there now"
Tokomon smiled and added "I believe it to be stocked with enough food for several days, so you shouldn't have to worry about that either"
The trip to the house passed in silence. No-one was in the mood for talking, and Evelyn noticed that both Will and Arthur anger had not subsided, and if anything had only grown in their anger towards one another.
They crested the hill and found a good-sized house where the Tokomon said it was supposed to be. "It looks like a normal house" Miranda said. And it did, the house was a simple, two-story house.
"The lights work" Arthur said as he went around turning the lights on in the house.
The inside of the house was normal too, it turned out to have three bedrooms, a living room, a couple of bathrooms and a kitchen. "I want to sleep in an actual bed" Sarah and Diane had both said.
It was sentiment that everyone could agree on. While everyone else discussed sleeping arrangements, Evelyn found herself in the kitchen, which was fully stocked with, to her surprise, human food: eggs, bacon, meat of all kinds, and lots of vegetables. How did all of this get here?
Will entered the kitchen behind her, took a seat at the large table and held his head in his hands. Agumon took a seat next to him. He was looking a bit better, he must have washed himself, as all of the dried blood was gone, but the gash on his head and arm were still open.
"How do you feel?"
His hands left his head and looked at her with tired eyes "Fine" was his one worded reply. He looked away from her, and looked uncertain for a moment "I'm sorry I dragged you into that, I shouldn't have let you come"
She sat down and laid her hand on top of his free hand "You didn't let me do anything; I chose to come with you" she reminded him. She had felt justified in their actions in trying to protect the Tokomon.
"But it wasn't, you got hurt because I rushed ahead without thinking!"
"I was just knocked out for a bit, nothing permanent, and you got hurt more than I or Max did"
"But that's just me" he clarified "My decisions shouldn't effect either of you" She realized what he was saying, Will didn't really care what happened to himself, but he didn't want anybody else to get hurt. That's why he never asked for help.
She was about to respond when Max chose that moment to enter the kitchen, taking a seat across from Evelyn he looked at the both of them and asked, "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"
"No" Will quickly answered.
Max glanced at their hands and then said "Everyone else has gone to bed, Evelyn, you're with Diane and the twins in the upstairs bedroom" he looked at Will "You and I are in the living room"
"Okay" Will nodded his head as he said, "Are the others still angry?"
Max shrugged "I think most of them have calmed down, for the record, I think we did the right thing"
"Me too, I don't think I could have lived with myself if we didn't do something" Evelyn added.
"Yeah, neither could I" he leaned back "I think I'm going to get some sleep"
"We need to get bandages on your cuts, we don't want them to get infected"
Will acquiesced and allowed her to clean them and bandage them. Shortly after, she was heading up the stairs, heading to bed, hoping for a more peaceful day than the one they had just had.