Shinsuke scratches absently at his jaw, staring at the group of Digidestined before him. Forces a smile and holds his digivice out, indicating a particular red dot that seems larger than the others, flashing more desperately. "Here," he says, although there are still so many cries for help that it feels like throwing a needle into a haystack and hoping that it can be recovered later on.
The small group around him seems to exhale as one. "Alright," Aiden says slowly. "What do we do when we get there?"
Shinsuke doesn't know. The reports keep getting shorter and shorter, more panicked and less detailed. Even Luke can't decipher half of them. "We'll find out when we get there," he says simply before opening the digiport.
It's not comforting, he can tell this without looking back at the others, but it's all they have, so he's relieved when they give in, call out as one, "Digiport open!" and follow him along to who knows what waiting for them on the other side.
The world they reform into is hot, even the small lake rippling nearby looking almost as if it's steaming in the bright sun overhead. "Good god," Tamina grunts, fanning herself off as they walk on.
Mike especially looks annoyed, tugging at the neckline of his turtleneck. "Dammit, I did not dress right for this," he grumbles.
John looks as cool and as comfortable as can be in his barely buttoned up shirt and jeans, and the others shoot glares at him as he moves as easily as ever. "Jerk," Tamina mumbles with a roll of her eyes as they trudge on after him.
He looks back at her with a smug sort of grin, adjusting the sunglasses on his face. "Oh come on, guys, it's not that bad."
"Don't start," Mike tells his best friend, rolling his eyes. He nudges him with his shoulder and continues walking as John laughs quietly behind him. They've walked for awhile, heading towards the pulsating dot on the map, when something stops Mike in his tracks. He shakes his head and looks left to right with a frown. "Guys, do you hear that?" he asks quietly, trying not to drown out the faint noise that he can just grasp.
"Hear what?" John wonders, glancing back at him. "I don't hear anything but nature."
Mike blinks at him and glances around. "It... sounds like singing. Almost. I'm not sure, it's really soft, like it's far away still." When John still looks confused, Mike shrugs. "Maybe I'm just hallucinating sounds now. Let's just blame the heat, ok?" But the further the walk, the clearer he hears it, the more he can only focus on that. "Seriously," he exclaims, looking around at the others. "None of you hear that?"
"Hear what? Singing?" Tamina asks, frowning at him. "No, I don't hear anything like that."
Mike grunts, absolutely confused by this, and continues walking on. Eventually the singing gets so loud that he can't even hear the others nearby. "Come on, Monodramon, let's figure this out," he finally says, breaking off from the group and stomping forward, trying to follow the singing to figure out its origins. He's only made it a couple of steps before John grips him, his mouth moving. Mike can't hear what he's saying, however, only the singing audible to him. "Let me go," he says, shaking his arm to try to break free, but John doesn't listen. "John, I swear-"
John only grips him tighter, trying to pull him back to the others, and Mike growls, needing to know what's behind that song playing relentlessly. "Let me go," he snaps, swinging out and catching John roughly in the jaw. It's more shock than anything, he thinks, as John hits the ground and gapes up at him, touching his mouth gingerly. Mike doesn't have a second to really think that muted sequence of events through, though, before he's turning and racing through the heat to find that voice.
Monodramon is by his side, his words also lost to this song, and Mike breathes heavily, sweat pouring down his skin as he moves faster, faster, legs starting to ache with the intensity of his run, but then- he sees it. A glowing creature hovering in midair. Singing just for him. He approaches, stares up at the bright bird type digimon, in awe of its light, the musical notes that seem to be surrounding the air around it. "Who are you?"
She hovers closer, smiles down at him and Monodramon. "I'm known as Sirenmon," she says, and her voice is as beautiful speaking as it is singing.
Mike feels himself swaying towards her with each spoken word. "Why are you singing like that?" he wonders.
She smiles. "Because it's beautiful, and it brings impressive people like yourself to come see me. I get so lonely out here, you know." She comes closer and Mike exhales, watching her. "It's so hot, and so barren around here, no one bothers to visit. No matter how hard I beg and conjole. Thank you so much for coming to see me."
"It's my pleasure," Mike tells her, unable to look away. He thinks Monodramon is trying to say something, maybe even tugging at him, but he has eyes for no one but her. "What can I do to help you?"
She seems to ponder this as she flies closer to him, now almost nose to nose with him. "You can defeat those nasty humans who were summoned here to defeat me," she suggests softly, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
"Humans? Why would anyone want to intrude upon your home like this?" he asks, suddenly feeling angry and tense. "It's so peaceful and calm here, for you to sing without hinderance."
"I know, this is why I need your help," she says. "Please, can you-" Then she flies up, a little higher, something ugly crossing her face.
Mike turns sharply and sees his friends- the digidestined- standing behind him, all looking a little winded. "What are you doing here?" he grits out. "You're not welcome here!"
They all look hesitant, a little wary. John steps forward but Shinsuke grabs him, pulling him back with a terse shake of his head. Whatever lies they may be trying to say, Mike can't focus on, still only able to hear that beautiful singing from earlier.
He frowns, looking over at Sirenmon- who is definitely not still singing- but he lets it go. "Sirenmon only wants to be left at peace! Why can't you honor that? Monodramon! You know what to do!" he declares, digivice held out.
Shinsuke says something, Apollomon standing ready behind him, but Monodramon hesitates. Almost looks close to tears as he clings to Mike, claws digging into his pants.
"What are you waiting for? Digivolve already!" Mike yells, watching with some satisfaction as his partner finally grows into his Justimon form. "Now." He points at John, and Shinsuke, and the rest. "Attack!"
He still can't hear anything, feeling like he's watching one of those old fashioned silent movies as Apollomon meets Justimon head on. Aiden, Tamina, Ziggler, and- and... Hey, where's John at? he wonders, suddenly noticing the missing form of his best friend. He looks around for him, before something happens to the left of him and he turns in time to see John get swatted away by Swanmon, a vicious squeech digging into Mike's ears and causing his knees to buckle. He gasps and watches as Swanmon approaches him, this strange dark energy thrumming through her.
John struggles, trying to grab at his digivice, desperate for some way to defend himself, but she slaps at the device, sending it skittering out of his trembling grip and watching with some satisfaction as he attempts crawling towards it, barely able to move. "What is happening?" Mike breathes to himself, a strange, guilty feeling pounding through him as he looks closer at his best friend. There's a bruise on his jaw, and- he can't move- and he has no digimon partner and-
I promised to always keep him safe until we found his digimon. Suddenly Sirenmon's voice fades away and Mike can hear the battle ongoing between Apollomon and Justimon, he can hear Shinsuke encouraging his partner on in a strange mix of English and Japanese, he can hear Morrison's ragged breaths as Sirenmon approaches him. "It's too bad," Sirenmon says, and now her voice is not the beautiful melody it had been. "You could've been fun to play with too. Too bad you're weak and pathetic."
She opens her mouth, preparing to attack, when Mike finds his feet, lunges forward and tackles John, covering him with his body. He hears one, long drawn out note before pain whites out everything for him. The impact of the attack against his spine feels like an explosion, the pain is immeasurable, and his lips part in a silent scream as John gapes up at him. "MIKE!"
Apollomon and Justimon stop fighting at this, turning as one, and Justimon quickly leaves the battle, heading straight for Sirenmon. John is trembling, gripping Mike's back, staring into his dazed face. "Hey, hey, can you hear me? It's- it's going to be ok." He brushes his fingers down Mike's face, watching in a daze as Justimon overwhelms Sirenmon with bright blue light, enraged so thoroughly that his attack seems stronger than John's ever seen it.
"I- I'm sorry," Mike gasps. "I don't... I don't know what happened..."
John soothes him. "Don't worry about it. Her name is Sirenmon after all. It wasn't you, you... you weren't in control of yourself."
Apollomon remains nearby, but Justimon's rage leaves Sirenmon's attacks useless, and before too long, she's covered in scorch marks and barely able to fly, much less fight, and all she can do is struggle to catch a breath enough to get one last note out before he aims his arms at her one last time. "Goodbye," he says coldly, and blasts her point blank with blinding blue lights of energy, tearing her midsection open and causing her to delete immediately.
Justimon immediately twists around and dives for Mike, kneeling by him as John gingerly shifts him, helps to sit him up. "Mike? Can you hear me?"
"Justimon," he whispers. "I'm... I'm really sorry."
"It's fine," Justimon breathes. "I'm just glad you're back."
John nods. "Me too. Mike... we need to get you back to Luke's." It sucks, it's clear it hurts him a lot just to move, but they manage, John all but carrying him the last few feet. They've barely made it through the digiport when the last of Mike's energy leaves him and John moves quickly as he collapses, scooping him up and holding him close as he walks the rest of the way to Luke's cave.
"Lay him down," Luke commands, and John does so, fretting as he steps back to give Luke room to work.
It takes time, bandaging the wounds and rehydrating him. John hadn't realized they were in the heat for that long, time having no meaning while Mike was under Sirenmon's control. "You're all probably a little dehydrated," Luke says. "But there's plenty of drinking water here, and none of you seem in danger of passing out, so I'm not too concerned."
John nods, but he stays by Mike's side, anyway, tense and watchful, until he starts to stir.
"Ow," he mumbles, eyes barely opened but already regretting everything.
John laughs faintly. "It's ok," he says, leaning over his best friend. "Everything's going to be ok."
Mike looks up at him and exhales shakily. "I don't really remember a lot," he admits shakily. "Just Sirenmon, and.. everything else is kind of hazy. Is everyone else...?"
"Yeah, everyone's ok," John says softly. "Don't worry about it." He mulls it over and shakes his head. "You fought off her control to save me. That was pretty impressive."
Mike smirks, hissing out a breath as he moves wrong and awakens the sharp pains up his back. "Yeah, I guess it kind of was." He looks over as Monodramon joins them and rests a hand on his forehead. "You alright?"
"Now that you're awake," his partner says, nuzzling into his touch.
"Sorry for everything, Monodramon. I... I remember forcing you to fight. You know that I'd never do that when in my right mind, right?"
"Of course," Monodramon says. "I knew it was Sirenmon. I just went along with it so she wouldn't do something to you to force the issue or something."
Mike smiles. "Smart guy." He settles back with a sigh and looks over at John. "Think Luke'll let us go home soon?"
"Oh probably," John says lazily. "He said something about getting us all rehydrated, but I assume he won't keep us here for too long."
Mike nods. "I want the good painkillers as soon as we get there."
John chuckles. "Noted."
