Chapter 7 - Yellow Roses
"Speech"
'Matamon's Thought Voice'
'Telamon's Conscience' 'Everyone Else's Thoughts'
'Telamon's Thought Voice'
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Kouji woke to an explosion. Kouichi sprang up from next to him. They glanced at each other, then the window, then ran from the room. Kouji was ready before his brother and had already run out the door when he heard Kouichi yelling for him to wait up.
"Kouji wait-" he felt a presence behind him. "Uh..."
"Kouichi...why do you always run off whenever there's an explosion?" his mom asked in a worried voice. He sweat-dropped.
"I..." he took off. "I'll tell you later! I gotta go! Bye mom!"
-
Kouji was almost to the spot where the flames were mainly coming from. Again, more than one explosion had occurred. They had searched for Takuya that day and hadn't found him. Now, he was sure that Telamon would be there again, he seemed to be the main pyromaniac in the group. And he was going to get to the bottom of this if it were the last thing he did.
"Kouji!" Zoe called, running up next to him. Tommy and J.P. were a little behind him. "Where's Kouichi?"
He paused and looked behind him. Kouichi was just coming into view. He pointed, then turned and kept going, walking this time. Kouichi caught up to him moments later.
"So, Kouji...are we going to talk to Matamon or Telamon?" Kouichi asked so that only Kouji could hear him.
Kouji didn't answer and soon they were standing in front of the flames. For a few minutes, nothing moved except the flames. Zoe was about to asked whether or not the digimon were still here when something happened.
Laughter.
Laughter so evil, so vile, so...piercing it made your whole body tremble, and sent fear coursing through you. All the digi-destined shuddered. The form of Telamon, only...flamier...came out of the flames. He had an evil sadistic grin on his face and looked about to kill.
"Telamon!" Kouichi gasped at how hot the air around them got. Telamon's gaze flickered over to Kouichi.
"You know me?" he asked. Kouichi hardened his resolve and nodded. Telamon smirked.
"Where's your caretaker?" Kouji asked. J.P., Zoe, and Tommy looked at the twins in confusion. Telamon glared.
"I don't need a caretaker!" he shot fireballs at all of them.
'Telamon! No!'
'Who is this voice?'
'Run! Run digi-destined! Run!'
'Who ARE you?'
'I don't know...'
'Well, stay out of my head! I'm killing my enemies here!'
'No!'
Telamon pushed the voice to the back of his mind. He continued his fire ball assault on the five teens before him.
"Where's Matamon?" Kouji asked again. Telamon seemed to get even angrier at the name.
"I don't need him here! Don't say his name!" he launched himself at the 5, who jumped away. "Just die!" He flung his arm out with so much speed that there was a sort of shock wave afterwards that flung the digi-destined in different directions.
As Kouji was flying through the air, he spotted a metal bar.
'A weapon! If I could-No! He might be Takuya!' Kouji grunted as he hit the ground.
"I do not want to ssit back and watch thiss..." a voice said, near Kouji's ear. He jumped and flipped around.
"Baronmon!" Kouji gasped. The dark winged digimon glared at him as he stood up.
"Don't look at me...You filthy human!" he swung his arm, he clawed at Kouji's face.
'KOUJI!'
Kouji blinked as someone grabbed the back of his windbreaker and pulled him away from the attack, being missed by barely an inch. He saw flames go past him as Telamon rushed forward. Said digimon then howled in pain and clutched his face, having gotten hit instead.
"What? Why did you protect him Telamon?" Baronmon asked angrily. "He'ss our enemy!"
"He's my enemy!" Telamon screamed, still clutching his face. "Go blow up a building! This is my fight!"
"Psshh! You go blow up ssome sstupid building! I want to fight living targetss!" Baronmon yelled. Kouji was half laying, half sitting on the ground next to Telamon, eyes wide.
'He saved me?' he didn't seem to be on the same page as everyone else, only half taking in what was going on and not taking it as reality...just like some...freaky dream...but knowing it was real...is anybody following?
"Baronmon!" Telamon released his own face and flung his arms out to either side.
Kouji had the impression he was being shielded, unintentionally, but his attention was drawn to something else...
"His eye!" Tommy gasp/yelled, having been behind Baronmon when all this happened, along with J.P.
Telamon's left eye was closed and blackened. He suddenly clasped his left hand over it again, as if in pain, but was still glaring at Baronmon with his right eye. They all looked from Telamon to Baronmon and back again.
"What happened to it?" J.P. asked in surprise. Baronmon smirked and decided he wanted to hear himself talk.
"I have the ability to control the sshadowss!" he claimed loudly and proudly. "Fear me, for I can sshow up without warning if there are sshadowss!"
"Stop talking Baronmon..." Telamon said in a low, angry voice, still clutching his eye. "It makes you sound stupid..." Baronmon ignored him, and just scoffed slightly. (Yusuke Urameshi quote)
"I have the ability..." he reached out and grabbed Telamon's left wrist, prying his hand from his eye.
Telamon tried to wrench his hand free, but found Baronmon had a unusually tight grip...He winced as his eye hurt, but tried to not let it show. Baronmon's delight however, meant he had failed. He closed his right eye in a wince, then opened both eyes to glare at the taller digimon. Everyone besides Baronmon gasped, even Telamon himself!
Baronmon released Telamon's left wrist, and joyed in seeing the younger digimon's surprised face as he stared blankly at his left hand.
Not only the skin around Telamon's eye was black... the pupil had gone from gold to black and the white area was now a deep grey. Telamon stared at his hand.
"I have the ability...to blind people..." Baronmon laughed behind his mask. Telamon got over his shock and glared, with both eyes, at Baronmon, fisting his hands.
"Baronmon you jerk!" He punched at him, but was easily dodged. "Fix it!"
"Pipssqueak! What makess you think I want to fixx it?" the baron then caught Telamon's right fist and used it to throw him away, a good 20 feet actually. He landed with a loud 'thump' that all the kids could agree 'must've hurt.'
"I..." Telamon stood shakily, his depth perception screwed due to his missing an eye. "I'm not..." he stood up straight and yelled, quite loudly. "I'm not a pipsqueak!"
A flash of crimson later, Matamon stood between the two, facing Baronmon. He blinked in surprise.
"Baronmon? What're you doing here? Weren't you told to help the Gazimon downtown?" Matamon noticed how pleased Baronmon seemed. "What's happened?"
He looked around, but none of the kids seemed injured...Why was Baronmon so happy? A grunt and thud from behind him caused him to turn around and gasp.
"Telamon!" he went over to the fire-mon, only to be glared at and pushed away. "Telamon?"
"Get away!" Telamon screamed, disappearing in a brush of fire. Matamon frowned and stood up.
Baronmon laughed.
"You're charge hass desserted you!" he cackled. Matamon narrowed his eyes.
"He takes last night as a betrayal of some sort..." Matamon mumbled, catching Kouji, Kouichi, and Zoe's attention. "Dammit..."
"Hyah!" Tommy yelled, coming down behind Baronmon with the metal pole Kouji had seen earlier. Baronmon flipped around, cracked the pole in two, and grabbed Tommy by the neck. "Ah!"
"Baronmon!" Matamon called suddenly, after seemingly thinking.
"What!" he asked fiercely, angered that his fun was again being interrupted...by his own comrades!
"Heraldomon calls..." he pointed to a yellow rose, standing in a piece of charred earth. Baronmon glared at it.
"Dammit!" he yelled, throwing Tommy into Kouichi, who was walking over to Kouji, making them both yelp slightly and fall over.
Baronmon disappeared, leaving only Matamon there. The crimson clothed digimon bent down to the flower to pick it.
"Matamon!" Kouji called.
"Kouji! What are you doing?" J.P. yelled. "He's the enemy!" but Matamon didn't seem to mind, as he turned and smiled softly at the navy haired boy.
"Yes?" he asked, his voice creamy as usual.
"Where's Takuya? I know you have him!" he yelled angrily, getting up and falling down again.
"Kouji!" Zoe rushed over and helped him stand up. Matamon smiled softly.
"What makes you think we have him?"
"I-!..." he paused. "Because! In his heart...Telamon's actually T-"
At the name, Matamon frowned. He shot electricity at Kouji, shutting him up and making him fall almost unconscious. Zoe, who was touching him at the time, was unharmed...amazingly. They all rushed to see if Kouji was alright.
"Do not say such foolish things..." he seemed slightly sad...or maybe just remorseful...as he looked away, the yellow rose held gently in his hands. "Telamon has no heart...Not anymore..." he turned to looked at the teens. "Do not assume he would return to normal anyway...He isn't here...anymore..." and with that, Matamon disappeared too.
Kouji was fighting just to stay conscious. After Matamon disappeared, he looked confused...then passed out.
"Kouji!" Zoe called, feeling him go limp.
-
"Do not say such foolish things..."
A yellow rose...
"Telamon has no heart...Not anymore..."
It signifies friendship and purity...
"Do not assume he would return to normal anyway..."
The petals fall...
"He isn't here...anymore..."
Is the friendship gone? Are we then...impure?
"He has lost himself..."
Unspoken words...
"I can't...remember..."
Unheard pleas...
"Someone...please..."
Are they represented by the yellow rose...
"They don't recognize me anyway..."
Or the fallen petals...?
"They don't...don't recognize...recognize me..."
We are all connected...
"He's not here..."
By the broken heart...
"...anyway..." "...anymore..."
Of failed friendships...
"Someone...Please!"
-
Kouji sat up with a gasp. He heard a scream as he sat up and turned to look at who it was.
Zoe was now clutching J.P. like life itself, who had been sitting behind her. She had been next to the bed and had screamed with Kouji's sudden motion of life. Tommy was sitting on the other side, him and Kouichi clutching each other, having been right next to the sleeping bluenette when he jumped up.
"Sorry guys...What happened?" he asked softly, trying to calm them down.
"We...don't really know..." Zoe said, calmly down. J.P. seemed saddened when she stopped clutching him.
"You were hit by some weird form of electricity or something." Tommy said, also calming down.
"Ya, and you passed out as soon as Matamon left!" J.P. chimed in. Kouichi nodded, looking stern...ooh...stern...fear me....-ahem- I'm done...-gets back to story-
"So that was..." Kouji ran a hand through his loose hair. "A dream?"
"What was?" Tommy asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Kouji seemed to realize that he'd said that out loud in a room full of people, even if they were his friends.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Listen guys...I'm kinda tired..." he noted silently that he was in Kouichi's room, which had most likely been the closest friendly bed.
"Oh..." Zoe and Tommy said softly, standing up to leave.
"Are you sure you're alright?" J.P. asked as he too stood up. Kouji nodded with a slight smile and Kouichi gave them an assuring nod.
"I'll keep an eye on him. I'll call you guys if he spontaneously combusts or something." he joked as they left, laughing.
When the door shut and Kouichi heard the front door open, their friends' goodbyes, and then the door shut, he stopped smiling. He stood straight and looked at his brother, who seemed to be thinking again.
"Was it another dream about Takuya's situation?" Kouichi asked, sitting down next to his bed again...which had been pulled a bit away from the wall for the other chairs to fit on the other side. Kouji blinked, realized his brother was still in the room, and then nodded.
"Kinda...more like a really...really confusing riddle..." he got in a Kouji-thinking pose and Kouichi waited as Kouiji recalled the dream.
"I'll get some paper..." he stood up and got a notebook out of the drawer of his desk. 10 seconds after he sat down again, Kouji began to speak softly.
"A yellow rose...It signifies friendship and purity...The petals fall...Is the friendship gone...Are we then impure?...Unspoken words...Unheard pleas...Are they represented by the yellow rose...Or the fallen petals? We are all connected...By the broken heart...Of failed friendships..."
"It sounds confusing." Kouichi agreed as he finished writing it down. "Was there anything else besides that poem?" Kouji nodded.
"I heard...Matamon...and Takuya..." he whispered. Kouchi blinked.
"Really? What'd they say?"
"I think it was things they've already said...based on what I can remember..." he put his hand to his chin, trying to remember word for word.
"Take your time..." Kouichi said comfortingly, getting comfortable in his chair and ready to write.
"What are you? My psychiatrist?" Kouji asked in a joking way. Kouichi shrugged nonchalantly with a smile and Kouji went back to thinking.
Kouichi began to hum...and hum...and hum some more...
"That bit that Matamon told us...just before I passed out...About Telamon having no heart and not being here anymore." Kouji said, shutting Kouichi up immediately. "Then something I've never heard him say before...'He has lost himself...'..."
"Strange." Kouichi copied down what Matamon had told them and Kouji's words.
"I heard Takuya say 'I can't remember...'...like he did in my last dream. And he was asking for help too..."
"So...you're sure the digimon have him now, aren't you?" Kouichi asked, completely serious and dropped the psychiatrist act for a moment. Kouji nodded. "Go on." Psychiatrist...pssh...
"Right...anyway...I heard Takuya say 'They don't recognize me an-"
"Didn't Telamon say that?" Kouichi asked, a bit surprised.
"That's what I said." Kouji gave his brother a serious look. "Takuya."
"Oh...WHAT?" Kouichi dropped his paper and pencil in his surprise. "What d'you mean?"
"Exactly what I just said. I think Telamon is Takuya. Takuya disappeared and then this Telamon appeared. He's shorter than the other digimon, not that that matters. And he said 'They don't recognize me,' it got me thinking."
"But...Takuya wouldn't attack us, so why change his mind now?" Kouichi wondered aloud.
"Remember how we thought he might be being controlled by that blue light? Because he was new or rebellious?" Kouichi nodded, then 'ooooooh'ed.
"So, what you're thinking is that Takuya's being controlled by Matamon...And that's why he keeps pausing. Because he recognizes us and is trying to break free!" Kouji nodded. "Then why did he try to kill us this time?"
"Matamon told us...that he wasn't here anymore." Kouji said sternly. "What if he meant...that Takuya was gone?"
"That doesn't make any sense Kouji." Kouichi sighed.
"Yea it does. Not gone physically...gone mentally..." he paused for a moment. "I'm taking 'He has lost himself' as something Matamon said in his head, and somehow indirectly said to me telepathically when he hit me with that attack...I think...Takuya doesn't remember us..."
Kouichi's eyes widened in recognition.
"I can't remember!" he recited in awe. "Kouji, I think you're right!" he stood up, ignoring the pencil and paper. "It all fits, it makes almost perfect sense!" His large smile faded...and died. "But then...how do we fight him?"
"We don't." Kouji said, almost bluntly.
"What?" Kouichi asked, confused.
"We have to make him remember us." Kouji stated simply.
"How?"
"I'm not sure exactly. Even without the real Takuya in him, Telamon isn't the best warrior. He's still rebellious like...like a teenager..." he smirked at the analogy. "He for some reason fears Matamon, and hates Baronmon. Now more than ever, thanks to his eye injur...y..." Kouji stopped. Kouichi finished his thoughts.
"Even if we get him back...will his eye heal?" he said sadly. After a pause, Kouji brightened slightly.
"We'll fix that when we come to it. For now, we need to find Takuya and try my idea out." He laid down and closed his eyes.
"Operation : Bring Takuya Back...Now in operation?" Kouichi asked lightly. Kouji smirked.
"You're a dork."
"I know."
Kouichi laid down opposite his twin. After a minute, neither had gone to sleep.
"You really like Takuya...don't you?" Kouichi asked softly. There was a pause. Then Kouji shifted slightly on the bed.
"Yea..."
And they went to sleep.
-
"Ow..."
"What's wrong Kouichi?" Tommy asked as the 5 teens ate breakfast at a DENNY'S.
Zoe had called them all up real early and suggested the eat breakfast together, and they all knew where DENNY'S was. So yea, here they were. Eating bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes in a diner...when the world could explode at any time...I'm serious! It could! Haven't you ever heard of Nuclear bombs? Or meteors? Oooh! Nuclear Meteors! We'd all be dead!
-rock hits authoress in the head- -out cold- -story keep going-
"Nothing...I'm fine..." Kouichi assured the light brunette. He gave him another worried look and Kouji decided to answer for him.
"He rolled in his sleep again and fell off the bed." he said in a joking way.
"Isn't that why you said you make sure he sleeps on the inside?" J.P. asked.
"The bed wasn't against the wall last night." Kouji shrugged.
"Yea yea, you just enjoy the fact that you were right and I was wrong about my rolling in my sleep problem." Kouichi rubbed his head again and saw Kouji about to laugh almost. "Drop it." Kouji sobered up as the waitress came around with their bill.
"Time to go I guess." Kouji said as he stood up, paying for his part of the bill. The other's nodded and paid as well. Kouichi brightened up.
"Operation : Bring Takuya Back, now in operation!" he said cheerfully. He got confused looks from three of the gang and a whack on the head from the 4th. "Ow! My head already hurt, thank you very much."
"What?" the other three asked.
"Don't worry about it." Kouji waved it off as he walked out of the diner. Kouichi smiled nervously at their confused faces, then followed Kouji out. The others came soon after.
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End Chapter 7! Longest yet! -smile-