Chapter 27: Dead Mall
Days passed since that horrible incident, but things hadn't really gone back to normal. There was a new unease that everyone had around Gammamon, as if they were just waiting for him to turn back into that monster once again. I had quashed those feelings after that sunrise a few mornings ago, but the others weren't going to be persuaded so easily. I also thought hard about what Renamon had told me. What did she mean when she said that she was supposed to be my partner, and what connection did she have with my mother?
I decided not to bring it up to the others until I had more information. I wanted to talk to them about it, but I wasn't sure how true Renamon's words were. She may have been lying for all I knew. She claimed to be on our side, but she was still assisting the enemy and had been determined to kill Gammamon.
It was another average Thursday afternoon and school was over for the day. I had just gotten done serving my detention for too many tardies, which was sort of a common thing for me. I couldn't help that I got distracted between classes and would rather visit my friends than run straight into the next boring lecture.
As I walked outside and passed by the track field, baseball diamond, and other outdoor courts, I noticed that in the middle of the soccer field was the archery club. The students were all lined up, and sitting across from them several feet away was a row of targets. I looked around and spotted Sophie in the middle of the line. She knocked an arrow, pulled back on the bowstring, took aim, and released. The arrow went flying through the air and pierced the bullseye. I was stunned that she hit the target dead on, and I decided to hang back and watch. I had never actually seen her archery skills up close before, and I was fascinated. I slid my backpack off my shoulders and took a seat on the grass, laying the bag beside me.
She knocked another arrow and let it fly. That one also hit the target dead center. Same for the one after that, and the one after that. My mouth hung open as I watched her land a bullseye every time.
Not long after that, practice was wrapping up and the archers began to disperse. I watched a group of four girls carrying different colored bows and quivers of arrows walk by me and stare at me with confusion. One of them gave me a flat-out glare. I knew this group. They didn't like me at all. The things they said to me made Riley's "gender confused mess" remark look like a compliment. I had been so mesmerized by Sophie's skills that I hadn't even noticed that they were part of the archery team as well.
"What are you doing here?" One of the girls, named Kailey, said with disdain dripping from her tone. Kailey was something of the ringleader among the group and by far the most malicious one. She was also the only one in the group I bothered to learn the name of.
"What? Is it against the law to watch my friend's practice?" I snapped back. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with them. I had to put up with their horrible personalities nearly every day thanks to us being in a few of the same classes. They were usually not so bad separately - since they didn't have one another to lean on in case anyone confronted them - but once they were together, they were much bolder and far meaner.
The group of girls started laughing at my question. "What friend?" Kailey asked with cruel mirth. "Who would hang out with a freak like you?"
"Piper!" Sophie said happily as she approached me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Kailey and her friends saw Sophie make her way over to me, waving to me excitedly. Kailey rolled her eyes and motioned for the others to follow her. Sophie was the captain of the archery club and they knew better than to test the waters with her. Sophie had a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, so her teammates tended to watch what they said around their captain.
"What a surprise to find you here," Sophie said. "It's unusual to see you hang around the school after it let out for the day."
"Just got done with detention. I saw you practicing and wanted to watch. You're really good."
Her toothy smile was practically ear-to-ear and she beamed with pride. "Thank you, Piper. That's sweet of you to say. Now that I'm through with practice, would you want to hang out for a while?"
It had been a long time since I hung out with just Sophie, as she was usually busy with archery practice or homework. I learned recently that she was an honors student and typically had more classwork than I did, which made hanging out with her kind of difficult. "That sounds great. What do you want to go do, Soph?"
"Want to hit the mall? I was going there anyway to get a new bow. Oh, and you aren't going to believe it, but I have a car now! Dad got me one."
I was surprised. A car is not a cheap gift. "What kind?"
"It's a convertible. It's about five years old and is a used car, but it looks brand new. I can't wait to show it to you."
I had nearly forgotten that Sophie's dad had real doctor money, so I shouldn't have been too surprised that her first car was rather nice. At least Tobias wouldn't have to be the only one to drive our team around town.
Sophie and I walked around the front of the school and to the parking lot. I got to look at her car up close, and it looked better than I was imagining. I assumed it would be a little banged up because it was a used car, but it looked sparkling and brand new. It had a bright red paint job and had one minor scratch on its front bumper, but that was the only blemish I could find. I hopped inside and found that the seats were far more comfortable than the ones in Tobias's older jeep.
Sophie slid into the driver's seat and the second she turned the car on, the radio boomed to life, playing one of Sophie's death metal bands. She turned it down when I yelped and covered my ears. It was insanely loud.
"Sorry, I needed some motivation early this morning," she said once the volume was down to a more acceptable level.
"It's cool," I replied a little shakily. The loud music had really caught me off guard, but then again, I should have expected it since this was Sophie we were talking about. I never understood how she was into such intense music, especially since she didn't really look or dress the part of a metalhead.
We chatted on the drive over to the mall, talking mainly about school. "I saw you talking to Kailey and her little group. I didn't know you were friends with them."
I burst out into laughter. "No, we aren't friends. Those guys love to torment me."
"What? Since when?"
"Since I came out as nonbinary. I guess she and her friends didn't like that, and they've been treating me like crap ever since."
"I had no idea… I'm so sorry. Kailey's always so nice to me and everyone else in the archery club. I never would have guessed she had such an ugly side to her. I'm going to have a talk with her about it. I'll set things straight."
"That's probably going to make things worse."
"I'm the captain of the archery team. If they don't want to be kicked out of the club, then they better start treating my friends with respect. I don't want jerks like that on my team."
I said a soft "thank you" and dropped the conversation about Kailey after that. I didn't really want to think about school or the people in it anymore. I just wanted to focus on having fun with Sophie.
We arrived at the mall and Sophie parked the car in the closest parking space - which happened to be the front row. The parking lot was fairly deserted that day, which was a common sight.
As we walked inside, I couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh. The mall was in a pretty sad state of affairs. It had gone bankrupt just a month prior and everyone in Twin Rivers knew that it was only a matter of time before it would close down forever. Over half of the shops were gone, one of the shops was just a flea market, and there was hardly anybody walking about the place. The once beautiful fountain in the middle of the mall was turned off and bone dry, having been emptied years ago. Coins still littered the bottom of it, and I was surprised that no one had tried to steal from it yet. Guess no one wants the extra pennies. The calm music that played softly over the intercom just sort of added this somber ambiance to the mostly dead mall. Despite all that, the mall still stood. It was mostly empty but it remained nonetheless.
"So, we're going to the sporting goods store?" I asked. It was one of the only larger shops that still existed in the building.
"It's this way," Sophie said, taking the lead. We headed for the Skyhigh Sports Center and I was surprised that the shop was more bustling than most of the mall. Sophie took me over to one section of the store where they had bows, targets, and bundles of arrows on display. She fiddled around with a couple of different bows until she found one she liked. It was a light green color that matched Palmon perfectly. I assumed that's why she picked that particular bow.
"This one's perfect," she said, taking a shooting stance with it. "I should probably buy some arrows, too. Mine are getting old."
I messed around with a basketball while she picked out her items. Once she was done, she bought the new bow and arrows and we left the store. "Where else do you want to go?" I asked as we walked through the mall.
She shrugged. "There are some clothing stores here, but you don't strike me as the type to do much clothes shopping."
"Not really." I sort of just wore the same things over and over. Graphic tees, cargo shorts, and a black jacket were more my style, if you could even call it that.
We passed by a few stores with "going out of business" posters plastered on their windows, and a few more that had been vacant for years. We slowly made our way to the end of the mall when something caught my eye; an old abandoned department store that went under about eight years ago called "Solace." It used to be one of the biggest chains in the country, but thanks to online shopping, the stores became obsolete and began closing down one by one. Now it was just another vacant store. The doors were usually shut with a large lock placed on the handles, but this time, the lock was gone.
"Want to do a little urban exploring?" I said to Sophie. I could feel mischief welling within me, like an itch I couldn't scratch.
"I'm sorry?" she asked, confused by what I meant. I grabbed her wrist and tugged her along toward the abandoned store. She got the idea and immediately yanked her hand free. "We are not breaking in there."
"It's not breaking in if the door's unlocked." I looked around to make sure that no one could see me. There weren't any other patrons walking around that area and the two stores on either side of Solace were out of business as well. Out of anywhere in the mall, that side of the building was the most dead.
"Piper, don't you dare," she said. "We are not doing this."
"You don't have to. I just want a quick peek." I leaned on one of the double doors and they creaked open. Excitedly, I snuck past the door and entered what used to be Solace. Sophie followed behind me and tried grabbing my arm to pull me back, but I avoided her grasp.
"I can't believe you. You're being so irresponsible," she hissed as she stealthily followed after me. She glanced back to make sure no one was looking, then she slipped past the double doors and closed them gently behind her. "We're going to get into so much trouble."
"We're just taking a little look around. No one will ever know that we were here."
The first thing we were met with was the smell of mold and mildew. Water was leaking from the ceiling and there were buckets scattered all over the floor, trying to catch the dripping water. There were still glass display cases over by what used to be the checkout counters - Most of which looked to be in decent shape, but one of them had a large crack in the glass running along its side. Chairs were stacked up in the corners, and some of the stands and tables the merchandise once occupied were still scattered all over the area, creating a disorganized and maze-like pathway for us to walk through. It looked like this abandoned store was being used more for storage than anything else.
"This place is disgusting," Sophie said with a groan. "Let's get out of here, Piper."
"Hold on. Let's keep going. I want to see what else is here."
"I really don't like this."
We ventured further into the store. There was no merchandise, save for two stuffed animals that remained in the toy department. I got up close to them and looked them over. One was a huge creepy teddy bear that looked to be in rough shape. It was all black, with a little red bandana, and it stood a little taller than both of us. Next to it was a tiny, maroon-colored tyrannosaurus plush doll. I picked up the little t-rex and looked it over.
"You think anyone would notice if I swiped this?" I asked.
"Don't take anything from here. Besides, that thing is probably full of mold, judging by the way it smells in here."
I snickered. "I was just joking around. The first rule of urban exploring; take nothing and leave only footprints."
"Sophie, there's something here," Palmon said frantically as she suddenly appeared from the digivice in a flash of light.
"What is it?" I asked.
"A Digimon," Gammamon growled, popping out of the digivice too. His eyes were dilated and his back bristled as he sniffed the air. "There's a Digimon here and it's giving me bad vibes."
We looked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Are you guys sure?" I asked.
"I wouldn't lie about something like this," Palmon said indignantly. "It's here somewhere and it's close by."
"Well, we can't leave a Digimon here." I sat the doll down and scanned the area. Sophie suggested that we start back at the entrance and work our way through the empty store, so we backtracked and walked the store again. We searched and searched, but still no Digimon.
"You know, this is kind of nostalgic," I said as we walked to the back of the store. "In a creepy sort of way. Did your parents ever bring you here? Me and Aunt Ruby used to come here all the time when I was younger."
"Yes, Dad and Mom used to take Deckard and me here all the time. Back when we were still a happy family." She sounded very bitter when she uttered that last sentence.
"Anything you want to talk about?" I asked her.
"Can I vent to you, Piper?"
"Sure. Anytime."
"I know why my parents split but Deckard has no idea, so you can't tell him anything that I'm about to tell you."
"Oh? What happened?"
"You have to promise me that you won't tell him anything. I know how buddy-buddy you and Deckard are."
"I promise, now spill it. The suspense is killing me."
"Mom cheated on Dad. I caught her in the act. She begged me not to say anything to him, but Dad didn't deserve to be left in the dark about something as terrible as that. If you can't tell, I don't care for my mom all that much anymore."
I remembered something that Deckard had said to Sophie back when I had first met her. He said something along the lines of her never stopping by to visit him or their mom after the divorce. "Is that why you don't go to your mom's place?"
"Yes, and I know it bugs Deckard, but I can't let him know the truth."
"Why? Why can't he know, too?"
"He and Mom are very close. He may not act like it, but he's something of a momma's boy. He would be devastated if he knew the truth."
I cleared my throat and said, "That's some pretty heavy stuff, Soph."
"Do you think I did the right thing? In a way… in a way, it's my fault that our family split up."
"Do you think that you did the right thing?"
She fidgeted with her hands for a moment before finally saying, "Yes, I do. I couldn't live with the guilt of keeping something like that a secret."
We were left in a stiff silence after that. The only sounds that could be heard were the pitter-patter of water droplets landing in mostly full buckets. I wasn't really all that sure how to comfort her. I could say "sorry" but that didn't feel very appropriate. I just had to face facts; I wasn't the best when it came to helping people feel better. When I was upset, I would just go sit on the roof and stare up at the sky, either watching clouds or stars depending on the time of day.
I had a sudden epiphany that made me forget momentarily about what Sophie had just told me. The digivice should have information on the Digimon that was nearby. I checked my watch and Sophie did the same.
"Why didn't either of us think to do this?" she groaned.
To my surprise, something did pop up, it just wasn't what I had been expecting. "There's no way…"
Sophie gasped. "It's those two teddy bears back there. The creepy one and the little t-rex. They're somehow Digimon."
We ran back towards the toy area, but I felt my stomach turn when we arrived. The toys were gone.
"Looking for someone?" we heard a voice say from behind us. We spun around and found the two stuffed animals standing just mere feet from us. The creepy black teddy bear was now standing over us imposingly while the t-rex looked like he was ready to nip at our ankles.
Palmon stood between the two plush dolls and us humans. "Palmon digivolve to… Sunflowmon!" she cried out as she changed into her champion form. She unleashed a ray of sunlight and aimed it at the giant teddy bear. The bear raised its arm to defend its face from the beam. When the beam ran out of power, we saw that it didn't do anything against him.
"That thing's called WaruMonzaemon," I said, reading the information from my digivice. "That other one's name is ExTyrannomon."
There was something else that caught our attention, something we had never seen before. On both their stats, it listed their levels, and Sophie turned to me and asked, "What do you think an ultimate level is?"
Sunflowmon bristled. "Oh no, that means they're very powerful."
"Yeah, well so are we," I replied.
Sunflowmon shook her head. "You don't understand. That's the level after champion. They're way too strong for just me and Gammamon to handle."
Sophie leaned closer to me and whispered, "We need to get out of here. We'll regroup with the others and figure out what to do then."
I hated to admit it, but she was right. I remembered how Gammamon had tried to fight champion level digimon in the past and he couldn't even scratch them. If they were a level above either of our partners, then there was nothing we could do to stop them on our own. We'd definitely need the others' help. "Fine. Retreat!"
We ran for the entrance but the two deranged toys followed closely behind us. As we made our escape, I accidentally stepped into one of the buckets of water, completely drenching my foot. I stumbled and kicked the bucket off of me, but the toys were now advancing toward me.
"Heart Break Attack!" WaruMonzaemon called out as purple heart-shaped bubbles flew out of its chest and floated fast in our direction. Just before any of them could hit either Sophie or me, our Digimon jumped in the way and shielded us from the attack. The bubbles popped when they made contact and both our digimon sank to the ground. Gammamon slumped over and Sunflowmon de-digivolved back into Palmon. They both started crying, loudly and uncontrollably.
"What's wrong with you guys?" I asked over their loud sobbing.
"It was that attack," Palmon stuttered through her weeping. "It's awful! I just want to go home!"
We scooped up our Digimon and fled. I felt ridiculous for having to run from two stuffed toys, but we really had no other choice. I just hoped we could actually escape them.
We ducked behind one of the glass displays and laid down flat on the ground where no one could immediately see us. Our two Digimon were holding their breaths to try to keep themselves from sobbing anymore. We heard the two stuffed animals walk by the display cases. They looked to the left and then the right, and without a second thought, they passed by where we were hiding.
"You four. This way," a voice said once the toys were far on the other side of the store. We turned and saw a little paw motion for us from behind a door that was right next to the bathrooms. Without a second thought, we crept over to the room and snuck inside. There were a few tables with chairs scattered about the room. An empty vending machine and refrigerator were in the back, and a dusty tv hung from one corner. This appeared to be an old employee's break room.
"Are you all right?" the voice said. I looked down and saw a little stuffed animal that looked like a panda bear. I nearly screamed, fearful that this bear was with the other two demented toys.
"Fear not," the panda said. "I'm a friend. My name is Pandamon. I went through the same portal from cyberspace as those two, but I stayed close by to keep an eye on them."
"What's going on?" Palmon hiccupped, still crying softly. "Why do those two want us dead but not you?"
"You don't understand. ExTyrannomon and Monzaemon - I mean, WaruMonzaemon, are not evil. We used to be citizens of Toy Town, but one day we were pulled from our world and into cyberspace. Shortly after that, Monzaemon was infected with a virus by Devimon and became the twisted form you see now. ExTyrannomon is kind of like a sidekick to him and simply follows WaruMonzaemon's orders without question."
"So, what do we do to stop them?" I asked.
"You must rid the virus from WaruMonzaemon."
"How do we do that?"
"Perhaps if you bested him in battle-"
"No way, man. They completely incapacitated our Digimon, and our little guys haven't reached the ultimate level yet."
"I'll call the others," Sophie said as she fished her cell phone out of her purse and made the first a call, but paled when it reached their voice mail. "Deckard," she said quietly into the phone. "Call me back as soon as you can."
She dialed the next number. Riley's phone went straight to voicemail, and Tobias didn't answer his phone either. "Wait, I think Tobias said that he was having band practice today," I said.
"You're right," Sophie replied somberly. "And I remember now that Riley had told me that he usually has art club after school."
"What's Deckard's excuse?"
"I don't know but I'm going to kill him for this."
Gammamon sniffled, but he was starting to calm down from his crying fit. "What happened to you guys back there?" I asked.
He wiped his tears away but his eyes were still misty. He looked like he was ready to start crying again at any moment. "I-I don't know. After those bubbles hit us I just felt really, really sad."
"That was his Heart Break Attack," Pandamon explained. "It steals your will to fight by filling you with an overwhelming depression."
"We don't stand a chance against those two," I said. "What are we going to do now?"
Pandamon headed for the door but stopped before opening it. "I can help you four escape. Stay close to me and I'll get you out of here."
We followed Pandamon, and made sure our footsteps were light and didn't make any sound. Our Digimon were no longer crying, which made carrying them much easier. Pandamon looked to the left and then to the right, and then motioned for us to follow. We did so, and we could easily see the exit at the front of the store.
"Careful. This way," Pandamon said, staying close to the wall. We were almost there. Just a few more steps.
Suddenly, Sophie's phone started blaring some loud metal song. The music echoed through the empty store and we knew that the two toy Digimon definitely heard it.
"Sophie!" I groaned.
"I thought it was on silent mode," she shot back, pressing a button on the side of her phone, silencing it. Just as the music came to an abrupt stop, WaruMonzaemon and ExTyrannomon came bounding around the corner and unleashed more of their heart attacks at us.
Palmon digivolved again into Sunflowmon and fired her Sunshine Beam at the hearts, causing them to pop and evaporate. "If we run out there then those two might try to follow us," Sophie said. "We can't let them get outside. We're going to have to fight."
"I will assist you," Pandamon said, jumping into the battle as well. "Animal Nail!" claws appeared from his hand and he began slashing at ExTyrannomon, who jumped back to avoid him. He unleashed a spray of hearts at Pandamon, but the little bear leaped out of the way.
Sophie's phone vibrated and she answered it. "Deckard!" she said. "Get to the mall as fast as you can. We have a Digimon crisis here."
I couldn't hear what Deckard was saying from the phone over the sounds of combat, but judging by Sophie's reaction, it wasn't great. "Just hurry!" she shouted before ending the call and shoving her phone into her pocket.
"We might be on our own for a while," she said. "Mom's at work and he doesn't have a way to get here other than his skateboard."
The mall was a twenty-minute drive from the school, so I knew that the chance of Deckard showing up was rather slim. "We're going to have to fight on our own, now."
WaruMonzaemon swung his clawed paw at Sunflowmon, knocking her back and causing both her and Sophie to cry out.
Gammamon flew over and bit WaruMonzaemon's ear. The giant teddy bear reached up, grabbed Gammamon, pulled him off, and threw him. I jumped and caught Gammamon before he could crash into the wall.
"Okay, buddy. No more playing around. Digivolve into WezenGammamon," I said.
Gammamon looked back at me and shook his head. "No."
"What do you mean 'no?' You've got to get in there and help."
"But what if I turn into GulusGammamon again? I don't want to do bad things."
"Gammamon, please!"
"Heart Break Attack!" WaruMonzaemon shouted as he launched more bubble hearts at us.
"Cactus Tail!" Sunflowmon whipped her tail and needles flew out of it. The needles popped each of the bubbles before they could reach her and Sophie, but WaruMonzaemon changed his target to Gammamon and me. WaruMonzaemon fired more bubbles at us. I scooped up Gammamon and ran away from them, narrowly avoiding being hit. The bubbles collided with the wall and popped.
"Buddy, we have to do something or those things are going to kill us," I said. He gave me a sad little look and I knew that he wasn't going to budge on his no-evolution stance. We were severely screwed.
"Alright, we'll have to find a way to beat them without digivo-" I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence as I saw a bubble making its way over to us. I shielded Gammamon from the heart and was hit by it instead. It didn't hurt, and as a matter of fact, I barely felt it pop against me, but my energy immediately drained and all I could feel was intense sadness and hopelessness.
What's the point of fighting? Gammamon won't digivolve so we're just going to lose anyway… I thought to myself as I slid down to the ground and leaned against the wall. Gammamon tried talking to me, but I couldn't hear him over my own thoughts. I just felt so helpless and worthless. Then I started crying. I knew for sure that we were going to die there, in some abandoned store in the mall. Would anyone even learn about our humiliating demise? This was all my fault. If I hadn't been so pushy to see this abandoned store, then we wouldn't be in this mess.
Gammamon tried comforting me but it did no good. I was too far gone in my depression. I watched as WaruMonzaemon focused his attention back on Sunflowmon and I felt even worse. My friends were getting beat up and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Even Pandamon was starting to have trouble with ExTyrannomon.
"Black Matter!" the little t-rex doll cried out as the zipper on his stomach opened up and a ball of black energy shot out. Pandamon was blasted back, and the little bear skidded across the ground, but quickly pushed himself back up. The two plush dolls charged for one another, getting up close and throwing punches. It would have been an oddly adorable sight if they didn't have the power to kill us.
Sophie ran over to me, knelt down, and tried shaking me. "You have to fight this, Piper," she said.
I couldn't fight it off and there was no point in trying. We were goners anyway…
WaruMonzaemon slammed his claws down on Sunflowmon and she recoiled, then he unleashed more of those horrible heart bubbles at us humans. Sophie didn't notice it fast enough and one of the bubbles popped against her back. She immediately sank to the ground beside me. Her newly purchased bow and the bundle of arrows dropped to the ground beside her.
"Piper… We can't beat them, can we?" Tears were welling in her eyes as she choked back a sob. "Is this really how it's going to end for us?"
"I'm so sorry, Sophie…" I murmured.
Sunflowmon fired a Sunshine Beam as close to WaruMonzaemon as she could. The bear took the beam to the face but didn't even flinch. He raised his claws up to slash at Sunflowmon again, but she caught his hand with both of hers and held it up. Her arms trembled as she fought to keep him from attacking again.
"Sophie!" Sunflowmon cried out. "I know it's hard, but we can't stop now. We have to keep fighting."
"How?" Sophie asked softly. "They're a level above us… How can we possibly beat them?"
WaruMonzaemon punched Sunflowmon with his free hand and she was knocked back just a little. He swung his claws at her again, but she jumped up high and became airborne, hovering close to the ceiling. He growled and tried swinging at her, but she stayed just out of reach.
"We have to keep getting back up again," Sunflowmon said simply. "I'm not giving up, so neither should you."
WaruMonzaemon used another Heart Break Attack, but Sunflowmon used her cactus tail to pop all the bubbles before they could reach her. She turned back to her partner and said, "Please, Sophie, I need you!"
Sophie watched Sunflowmon continue to battle in this clearly one-sided match. Sophie looked down at her hands and seemed to really contemplate Sunflowmon's words. WaruMonzaemon jumped up and slashed at Sunflowmon, and this time, she couldn't dodge him. She was slammed into the wall, but she refused to stay down. She got right back up and fired another Sunshine Beam at him.
"Sophie!" Sunflowmon cried out as the beam fizzled out. "I believe in you! You're stronger than this. Remember everything we've been through. We can take this guy down!"
All of a sudden, I saw an arrow zip through the air and strike the giant teddy bear in the shoulder, embedding itself into him. I turned to Sophie and saw that she was standing now and readied another arrow.
"If Sunflowmon isn't going to give up, then neither will I," Sophie shouted. Despite her tears, she put on a brave face as she took aim at WaruMonzaemon. "Sunflowmon, I'm so sorry. I almost lost myself there for a second, but I'm going to push past this."
"It's hopeless," I whined. "We should just quit now. Maybe they'll have mercy on us…"
"Piper! This isn't like either of us. I'm a hot head and you're a reckless fool. We're better than this."
"We are?"
"You bet we are!" she said, smiling at me. "I'm not giving up, and I know for a fact that you're too stubborn to quit. Now, stand up."
Sophie's digivice began to glow brightly, and the light bathed us in a comforting warmth. I could feel the depression and helplessness slowly disappear and I started feeling more like myself again. Sophie reached out her hand for me. I took it and she helped me stand back up. Gammamon fluttered over and clung to my shoulder.
"Sunflowmon! I'm here," Sophie cried out, running towards her partner, now with an invigorated spirit. She readied another arrow, pointing it at WaruMonzaemon. "I won't let that bear's tricks get to me. Let's keep fighting together!"
The light from her digivice began to shine brighter, and soon, Sunflowmon was glowing, too. Brighter and brighter she shined until she was glowing with so much luster that it hurt the eyes to look at her. She began to change shape and she cried out, "Sunflowmon digivolve to… Ajatarmon!"
When the light faded, we saw that Sunflowmon had digivolved into some kind of plant-like warrior that had vines for her appendages. She carried a hatchet in one hand and had a long blade sticking out from her other arm. Long needles were poking out of the back of her head like hair, and two long and thick thorny vines sprouted from her shoulder blades. She also wore a mask that covered her whole face with the exception of her eyes. With the transformation complete, she turned to us and said, "Sophie! You've given me the power to digivolve even further. Now I'm Ajatarmon!"
Sophie lowered her bow and sat it down against the wall. She stared at Ajatarmon and smiled brightly. "I can't believe it! You can digivolve into the ultimate level." She then raised her hand and digivice high into the air and shouted to her partner, "Now, let's put these toys away and get out of here."
"Digivolve all you like, it won't matter," WaruMonzaemon growled. "Heart Break Attack!"
"Assault Hatchet!" Ajatarmon cried out, and her vine arms swung about in a frenzy, slashing and popping all the bubbles that came within reach. When the bubbles cleared away, Ajatarmon bellowed, "Shotgun Moss!" and the needles that were sticking out of her head shot out and imbedded themselves into WaruMonzaemon. The creepy teddy bear stepped back and grunted in pain. He then flashed us a malicious smile.
"Nasty Step!" WaruMonzaemon said as he did a strange little dance, catching us off guard. Suddenly, an odd and eerie light shot out of the open zipper on his stomach, but Ajatarmon easily leaped over the ray of light and WaruMonzemon, landing safely him.
"WaruMonzaemon, Pandamon told us that you used to be a good Digimon. I think I may know a way to end your suffering," Ajatarmon said. "Entangling Ivy!"
The two long and thick vines sticking out of her back shot out and extended, wrapping themselves around WaruMonzaemon and tying his arms to his sides. The bear fought against the vines, struggling to free himself.
"Try using your digivice, Sophie," Ajatarmon said. "Maybe that can put a stop to the virus's control."
Sophie and I looked at each other with uncertainty. I shrugged and said, "It's worth a shot."
Holding out the hand and digivice, Sophie slowly and cautiously approached WaruMonzaemon. The screen on her watch began to flash and a burst of light erupted from the device and hit WaruMonzemon. He groaned as the light washed over him, but he soon stopped struggling against Ajatarmon's hold and she loosened her vines. His body slacked and he wore a look of bewilderment as he glanced around the store.
"Wh-what?" WaruMonzaemon stuttered, taking a dizzy step back. "What am I doing here? What is this place?"
"Dontcha remember, Boss?" ExTyrannomon asked. His battle with Pandamon had come to an abrupt stop after Sunflowmon had evolved. Instead, the two watched as Ajatarmon and Sophie brought WaruMonzaemon back to his senses.
"No. I don't," WaruMonzaemon replied. "Pandamon, you're here, too?"
Pandamon nodded. "We had fallen through a dimensional rift and ended up in a place called cyberspace. There, we ran into Devimon, who infected you with a virus."
"Devimon?"
"Yes. He was destroyed by the DigiDestined, but his virus continued to keep you violent and cruel. Then, you were ordered to enter the real world by Vulturemon. I managed to convince you that the DigiDestined would definitely come here and you agreed to hide in this store. I had hoped that since this place appeared abandoned, no humans would find us."
WaruMonzaemon scratched his head and then looked at his paws with confusion. "When did I get claws?"
"You changed from Monzaemon to WaruMonzaemon when you became infected. I'm assuming that the transformation is permanent since you haven't changed back."
"Huh, so much happened and I remember none of it. By the way, who are these guys?" He pointed to Sophie, me, and our Digimon.
"The ones who saved you," Ajatarmon said. "I'm glad your back to normal, WaruMonzaemon, or at least, as normal as you can be."
The bear bowed his head apologetically. "Well, I thank you for bringing me back to my senses. I'm truly sorry for causing you so much trouble."
"But now what do we do, boss?" ExTyrannomon asked. "I sure don't want to go back with those evil Digimon guys. They were mean and the food was terrible!"
Sophie smiled and said, "Why don't you guys stay with me? We'll try to help you find a way back to your world, and this way you have a home away from home."
"That's very kind of you. I think we'll take you up on your offer," WaruMonzaemon said.
Sophie ended up pulling WaruMonzaemon into the digivice along with Ajatarmon and I recalled Gammamon to my digivice. We both carried Pandamon and ExTyrannomon and snuck out of the abandoned store. To our relief, no one noticed us sneak into Solace in the first place.
"Anywhere else you want to go in the mall, Soph?" I asked her, jokingly.
Sophie laughed but there was a clear tiredness in her tone. "No, I think I've had enough excitement for one day. Let's get home. Explaining to dad where I got these stuffed animals is going to be interesting."
Sophie's phone rang again and she answered it. "Hey, Deckard. We're fine now. Guess what? Sunflowmon can digivolve! Her name's Ajatarmon and she's so cool… Yeah, sorry to worry you…"
"So, can your Digimon not digivolve?" ExTyrannomon said from my arms.
"No, he can. We're just, um, taking a break for a little bit," I answered.
"Huh. A break, eh?"
It was the only thing that I could think to say. I couldn't believe that Gammamon just refused to evolve, even though our lives were on the line. Was he really that afraid of becoming GulusGammamon again? Then again, how afraid was I of him digivolving into that horrible beast? In a way, I had been sort of relieved that he had refused to evolve because that fear had been in the back of my mind all along. Was I a bad partner for doubting him?
I pushed my worries away and instead watched Sophie finish up her conversation with her brother. After she hung up, we left the mall and headed home. I had to agree with Sophie, that was more than enough excitement for one day.
