NOTE: Tina sings Christian songs in this chapter. Beyond that, there's not much Christian content.
Chapter 38: Losses
Ingrid opened her eyes, and found herself resting against something that felt warm and soft…and alive! Ideas flashed through her mind about how she'd seen other things that are alive attacking people like her, other human beings…she shrank back from this living thing. Then she noticed another one in her arms. It was smaller, but even warmer and softer than the first one. She dropped it and shrank further back, until her back was against the wall. She looked up at the larger living thing…it was looking at her with human eyes, but it was no one she recognized.
It slowly moved towards her, and so she pulled the blanket she was wrapped in over her head. She peeked out of a hole in the wrinkles of the blanket and looked at the larger living thing…it was picking up the smaller creature and holding it in its arms…and it was making strange, soft, low cooing noises to the creature in its arms…
"♪Are you weak and hea-vy laden, cumbered with a load of care…?
Doooo thy friends despise, forsaaake thee? Take it to the Lord in praaayer. ♫
♫Oooohh, what peace we often forfeit, Ooooh, what needless pain we bear!
Aaaall be-cause we do not caaa-rryyyy eeeeevery-thing to God in prayer…! ♫"
…This wasn't the type of behavior that something that was about to eat her would exhibit. And there was something about her… Ingrid let down her blanket and exposed her face, partly to get a better look at her, and partly to see what she would do. She only continued her singing, with the exact same song:
"♪Are you weak and heavy laaa-den, cuuum-ber'd with a load of care…?
Do thy friends des-pise, forsake thee? Taaaake it to the Lord in prayer. ♫
♪Oooohhh, what peace we often foooor-feit, Oooooh, what needless pain we beeaar!
♫All because we do not carry everything to God in praaaayer…!"
…She didn't seem hostile… Ingrid crept a little closer, and a little closer…
Huh! There was something she smelled that made her stomach hurt with hunger. It was vaguely familiar to her, and then she saw the source of it: chocolate! It was lying on the human being's lap, half-open in its wrapper. Ingrid crept closer, and closer to it…
She was so close now that her skin was tingling with jitters. But---if Ingrid could get this close without upsetting the human…she crept a little closer, until she was within grabbing distance of the chocolate…and she quickly snatched it off Tina's lap and shrank back to the wall. She gobbled down the chocolate, but she was still hungry…
The warm creature must've known she was still hungry, because there was another bit of food next to her: a piece of dried pork. But this time, the warm creature didn't leave the food on its lap for Ingrid to take, but she looked at Ingrid and slid the plate along the floor towards her. It stopped sliding about a meter and a half from her, then returned to her singing and stroking of the smaller, furry creature.
It was as though that person knew she was there, but deliberately was doing something good for her, so that she wouldn't be so hungry. Ingrid crept up and picked the meat up off the plate. She had a hard time chewing on it, but she managed to get it all into her stomach. And now she was thirsty…and Tina had a solution: there was a glass of milk in her hand, but this time, it was looking straight at her, with the glass extended towards her.
Ingrid was scared…this creature didn't act hostile, but she was getting too close for comfort. Ingrid didn't move a muscle.
Tina sighed. "She still doesn't trust me enough to take the cup."
"Maybe if you put it down in front of her."
Tina shrugged. "Worth a shot." She gently set down the cup. "…she's still not moving," Tina whispered.
Natasha whispered back, "Keep singing, and back away a little."
"♫What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
♪We should never be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer,
Can we find a friend so---♫"
Tina stopped singing as she saw Ingrid snatch the milk off the floor so quickly that it splashed all over the floor and all over herself. She gulped down what was left in the cup and dropped the cup on the ground. The cup slowly rolled towards Tina, and Tina picked it up.
Hesitantly, Tina thought loud, "…Well, that went well. …At least her jacket's milk-proof."
"No kidding."
"This is going to be an uphill battle…"
"At least Chickpea can take care of the mess," Natasha pointed out. The kitten Tina had been holding was licking up the milk off the floor.
******
"See ya later," Takato yelled at Rika as he left.
Rika didn't know whether to yell, "see ya" or not, so she held her tongue.
"How much later?" Terriermon wisecracked. "Nine seconds, five hours, or five days?"
"Oh, funny, Terriermon," Takato shot back. "So…another day, another group of refugees to take home…where do we look today?"
"We're doing more than just looking: it's a new idea that the Tai, Agumon, and T.K. had," Henry explained. "It's that we leave these at the doors of big buildings." Henry handed Takato a sheet of neon orange paper.
"Looks like a survey."
"I know. And we're supposed to remember what buildings we put them on."
"Guess we'd better start writing it down, so we can keep track…"
After a few uneventful hours of posting orange papers on buildings, they heard the telltale roar of a catamarine behind them. "Aw, great!" Takato moaned. "So…which one of us takes him?"
"I think it's a better move to run for it! Have Guilmon digivolve, and we'll ride him out of here!"
"Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!"
"Guilmon, digivolve to…Growlmon!"
They climbed on Growlmon's back and began running away from the catamarine. …Unfortunately, there was another catamarine blocking their way. "Whoa! These things move fast!" Growlmon shouted. He screeched to a halt and ran in another direction. But another catamarine was blocking his way.
"They're fencing us in!" Terriermon yelled. "Henry, lemme digivolve!"
"Even as Gargomon, you don't have a hope of taking them! Takato, we need to fly out of here!"
"Right! Digi-modify! Hyper wings, activate!"
Growlmon flew over the huge lions' heads before they got a chance to hit him with lava, but there were more machines to come: spiderstrikes filled the air above them. "Uh-oh!" Takato moaned. "Looks like this isn't going to be so easy…wait a minute! Hold on to your hat…Digi-modify! Hypersonic, activate!"
Growlmon sped past the spiderstrikes, and narrowly missed being shot out of the sky. "I really didn't like the looks of that," Growlmon thought aloud.
"No kidding," Henry agreed. "It's like they were purposely attacking us, or something. Usually, they aren't smart enough to do that!"
"But how would---oh-oh! Trouble!" Takato said, pointing to below them. There was a clutch of slagsters on the ground, going after them.
"Looks like they just won't take 'no' for an answer."
"No kidding. What do you think we should do?"
"Move it for the nuke plant. We're too high for them to get us right now, so, once we get inside 500 meters of the plant, they'll quit following us."
"Gotcha," Growlmon said. He sped towards the plant as fast as he could and landed, just within sight of it. He regressed back to Guilmon after Takato, Henry, and Terriermon got off.
"What do you think they were after us for?" Takato wondered.
"You," a voice behind them said. They spun around and saw a figure, covered in a dark brown cloak.
"Who're you?" Takato asked.
"Your worst nightmare, put simply." He brought his arm out from the folds of his cloak, and there was a metal gauntlet on it. He pressed a button on the gauntlet, and a pair of catamarines came thundering into view---inside the 500 meter radius!
"Hoo, boy!" Takato moaned.
Henry swiped a digivolution card through his digivice.
"Terriermon, digivolve to…Gargomon!"
"That won't help you much," the cloaked figure taunted. The catamarines began throwing gobs of lava at Henry, Takato, Guilmon, and Gargomon. They had trouble dodging the blasts of lava, but they all survived. But in dodging the attack, Guilmon and Takato had put too much distance between themselves and Henry and Gargomon, and an e-gull came rushing towards them and smacked them with electric shocks to knock them unconscious.
"Takato!" Henry yelled.
"Gargo Laser!" Gargomon shouted. He shot down the e-gull.
"You're too late! The ilto-tor-angei already did its job. Time for the next part." He pushed another button on his gauntlet, and an army of some new kind of menace machine drove into view. They reminded Henry of slagsters, but their arms and heads were way different from a slagster's.
GAZRIITOR:
Nickname: Throwback (Torōbāku)
Real Name: Onspei-tor-ariit'
Caste: Kohgazrii
Modes: One
Special Attacks:
Gazriiota
Grimn F'dontato
Comments:
The throwback is a design
offshoot of the slagster. While its speed is no match for the slagster's, it
contains many of the same components as the slagster. Its shovel can be used
both to attack and for construction work, and it commonly uses its shovel to
throw its opponent over its back, hence its name. Its cannon is equally
versatile; it can be used instead of explosives in construction, or it can
be used as a weapon.
Henry clenched his teeth. "There has to be some way to…!" He looked in his right hand, and there, in his fist, was a blue card! "Digi-modify! Matrix digivolution, activate!"
"Gargomon, digivolve to…Metalgargomon!"
Metalgargomon looked like a cyborg clad in green armor. He raised his left arm to attack. "Cluster Cannon!" A barrage of missiles flew out his arm, and a lot of throwbacks bit the dust…but not enough of them.
"Time for another change in plans!" the cloaked figure sneered. He pressed yet another button and the catamarines fired lava in arcs over Takato's head, so that the lava landed between Takato and Metalgargomon.
"They're trying to block us off from him!" Henry moaned.
"Boy, you catch on quick!" the figure jived.
"Grazrii Ota!" several throwbacks shouted. A rain of blue sparks shot out from behind the lava curtain at Metalgargomon and Henry.
"Digi-modify! Wargreymon grey-shield, activate!" An orange shield appeared in Metalgargomon's hands, and he used it to deflect the shots away from himself and Henry.
"What do we do?" Metalgargomon asked. "I can't get near them! And I can't shoot back, or the missiles will explode and splash lava on Takato and Guilmon!"
Henry sighed. "I don't know, Metalgargomon…I don't know! Wait a sec---the gauntlet! That's what he's using to control those menace machines!"
"I'll go after it! Grapple Claw!" Metalgargomon's right arm shot forward and grabbed onto the cloaked figure's wrist. The gauntlet came off, and Henry began looking it over.
"Now…how does this thing work?!"
"Got me," Metalgargomon admitted, still holding his shield in front of himself to block the laser shots.
"Let's see…he pushed something like…" he pressed one of the buttons, and the wall of lava cleared. There was only a huge puddle of magma in their path…but Takato and Guilmon weren't on the other side!
"Nice try, but you're too late!" the cloaked figure taunted. He jumped onto a passing throwback and rode away.
"Metalgargomon, we have to go after them!"
"After all that walking and those modifications, I don't know if I have that kind of energy…ugh!" Metalgargomon fell to one knee and regressed back to Terriermon.
"No!" Henry yelled: he'd lost Takato…