Interlude: Unnecessary Sacrifices
The digidestined finally had to give in to physical limitations and take a moment to rest. Their digimon had flown across the ocean and taken a beating across the board from me. As the older digidestined collected some food and water out of a convenience store on the very outskirts of Odaiba, Chris noticed how solemn they looked.
"Hey, Kristen." Chris whispered to the girl as she browsed the salty snacks.
"What?"
"Go get Joey and Kristen and meet me out behind the store, near the bushes." Kristen nodded and Chris quickly snuck out the front door of the store unnoticed. The other three followed soon after with Agumon and Tentomon in tow. Meanwhile, the others tried their best to save face for yet more fighting.
"What's this all about Chris?" Jennifer crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of the store, exhausted.
"You guys... see me as the leader right?" The others nodded, although Kristen showed obvious reluctance. "Well, I think that we need to get these other guys out of here as soon as possible." Jennifer quickly snapped awake and Kristen simply stared at him.
"Why Chris? We wouldn't have gotten this far without them." Agumon looked up at his partner and Chris couldn't help but finally show the guilt he had been hiding.
"They're dying Agumon. They aren't equipped for this fight. They just aren't strong enough anymore to help. This isn't like the fights they had; we're not against a single all powerful digimon. We're against an entire army of powerful digimon led by a digimon they only barely killed and a hybrid that has gone completely insane." Chris sat down and rubbed his eyes. "We can't let them throw their lives away trying to help us anymore. This isn't a fight they can win."
"So they should give up?" Agumon stared at Chris, his wide eyes in shock. "You want them to give up!?"
"No, they'll never give up voluntarily. I don't know how to get them to go..." Chris lowered his head into his hands, hiding himself from view. "Cody was right... it isn't being a coward, it's knowing when you can win and when you can't."
"Wow Chris." Kristen crossed her arms and smiled cockily. "I never thought I'd hear something like that out of you."
"Shut up Kristen, I'm being serious." Chris shot Kristen a dirty look.
"No, I'm serious." Kristen sat down beside him, leaning back a little. "I'm impressed! Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea making you leader after all." Chris smiled and Kristen smiled back, friendly this time.
"Thanks Miss Know-It-All."
"No problemo, Goggle Brain."
"Hey, there you guys are!" Tai rounded the corner after a few moments of silent deliberation over what to do. "Come on, everybody's ready to go!" Jennifer, Kristen, and Joey all looked to Chris for an answer, but he just let out a painful, tired sigh.
"Alright." He climbed to his feet and brushed himself off. "Let's go guys."