I'm going to apologize now.
First, it took what three or so weeks to get this posted? I'm sorry about that but I ran into a wall of writer's block. This chapter isn't even very good either and it could probably be considered 'filler'. I did try to put something that is going to be important later though so if you decide to skip reading it for some reason you would be confused probably later on so, maybe not filler? I'm not sure.
Second, would it be to terribly hard if I asked everyone to understand that updates will be kinda irregular [at least for a while] since trying to force myself to stay on a schedule with something I originally started as a release is wearing me down pretty badly? I need some time to just, I don't know flip the switch off for a while and just work at a pace where I'm satifised with the end product instead of my mind going 'you have to post something' and post these chapters that aren't even that good in my mind because I feel guilty for not posting. So, I'm not saying updates will or won't be irregular but there is a possibility that they will be and I would like everyone to be aware of it at least. I also hope everyone understands.
Third, it's not as long as it usually is because I got stuck slightly but it seemed like a place where I could break the chapter so I did so I could post something because I felt guilty about not posting when saying I was going to try and update every other week.
... I don't know what else to say besides, hope you enjoy the chapter. Sorry if it sucks. I did try... not sure how good that 'try' was even though I spent a few sleepless nights and hours of headache inducing screen staring contests as I wrote and scrapped and rewrote and scapped again only to rewrite and scrap again.
Chapter Seventy-Two: Questions Arise
[Takuya's P.O.V]
I watched as they all stirred slightly. I hoped that defeating them and purifying their Spirits would be enough to free them from the control of the Demon Lords. I wasn't sure what I would do if we actually had to fight them as humans – I'm not sure if I would be able to push myself to fight like I had. Tommy sat up slowly and he looked around but once his eyes fell on me they locked onto me.
"Takuya!" Tommy shouted my name as he clumsily got up and ran to me.
I smiled with relief. I knew from how Tommy acted that they were back to normal. Tommy sounded half afraid but happy when he saw me. If he had still been under their control he wouldn't have portrayed any kind of fear or started to run to me.
"Oof." Had I not had my feet planted on the ground then he would've knocked me off of my feet with that hug.
"Whoa there Tommy, calm down." I laughed slightly and placed my hand on Tommy's head.
Tommy hugged me a little tighter and his shoulders shook as he started to cry. I shifted slightly and hugged him back. Tommy had stopped being a crybaby after everything we went through but even now he would cry at times. It might be rare but I couldn't blame him.
"Hey, you're safer now Tommy. I won't let them hurt you again." I felt horrible that he got sucked into this – Tommy was practically another little brother to me.
"What happened?" I looked over to J.P. and Zoe.
They had sat up and they looked confused whereas J.P. had voiced their confusion. They seemed uneasy but this was a very unfamiliar place and probably far from what they were used to.
"You guys got toyed with by the Demon Lords." Koji spoke and I was slightly surprised to see him offer both J.P. and Zoe a hand.
"We had to defeat you guys to free you guys." J.P. got up on his own as Koji spoke but Zoe took Koji's offered hand and he pulled her up.
"We attacked you guys?!" Tommy pulled back as he exclaimed the words, staring at me with wide teary eyes.
"Yeah, you guys kinda did but we know it wasn't you guys that technically did it. You guys wouldn't have attacked us had you guys be in control so, no hard feelings." I smiled at Tommy trying to reassure him.
"Maybe for you guys but not me; you guys fought and you guys made it through but my partner is gone. There's no guarantee that he'll even reform because the Demon Lords have screwed with certain worlds to capture data rather than allowing eggs to form." Nori's voice was hard.
All three of them looked like that they had just been punched in the face thanks to Nori's words. I looked at Nori and I didn't say anything once I saw her face. Her voice might have come out tough but tears gathered in her eyes – she was about to cry. I had never had a partner so I didn't know how it felt for her watching her partner disappear in front of her very own eyes. Yet I thought about how I would feel if I ever lost my Spirit; I'd probably feel like I just lost one of my best friends yet there is also the factor that Nori's partner was defeated because he defended her.
"Nori, they couldn't control themselves, it's not right to hold them accountable for something that they had no control of." Kari spoke up in defense of the others despite the fact that they hadn't been the kindest to her when they first met.
"Had no control of? Do you not realize that the Demon Lords don't just have blatant full mind control of humans' right? They only have perfect mind control of Digimon – you can't even say 'oh their Spirits' because their Spirits merely argument their own bodies by altering it. Even if the change is drastic they're still in control of themselves when they Spirit Evolve." I narrowed my eyes at her.
"How would you know that?" Nori hung her head and curled her hands into fist.
"First didn't you say that Zoe might've been trying to tell you guys something at some point? That proves she was able to fight and grab some amount of control. Plus there's Koichi, Storm told me about when Barbamon made him attack you guys. How he fought it and stayed in control for a while and was even able to talk to Storm." Nori's words bounced around in my head.
"It's hard, very hard, to fight that control." J.P. practically yelled at her.
"Who are you anyways? Why business do you even have doing here?" Zoe's voice gave away that she was slightly offended.
"Noriko Izumi, I'm a DigiDestined that is helping in this fight against the Demon Lords." I knew what was coming.
"DigiDestined of what?" I didn't know what she was the DigiDestined actually.
"Does it matter what I'm the DigiDestined of?" Nori sounded so defensive.
"Earlier she said DigiDestined of Illusions." Kari cut in and Nori shot her a look.
I got why she didn't want to really say that though. 'Illusions' doesn't sound like a proper title, as if it was covering up the true title of what her 'trait' was. Then again I guess it could be 'illusion' because 'Flame' doesn't really sound like a 'trait' unless you read into it yet if you read into 'illusion', you don't get a pretty picture. Reading into the word 'illusion' when it comes to traits it would imply a lair or someone who hides things and is not completely honest to those around. Then again there was also those Digital Cores that allow her to use fire so the question was, did she perhaps represent something completely different?
"It'd fit since she can use illusions." Gatomon chimed in as she thought.
"From what I saw though 'Illusions' is not a proper DigiDestined title." Wizardmon's words jerked everyone's attention to him.
"I was with Rin when she was in the Millennia Library, I was curious so I looked at the last battle against the Demon Lords once we learned there had been a battle against them last time. At the time I didn't understand when it stated that someone was being used to control an 'evil one' to make 'horrors happen' but now I know what it meant. You were used to control Daisuke; it stated what you were as well. You're the DigiDestined of-" My eyes snapped to Nori when a small condensed fire ball slammed into Wizardmon.
"Don't you dare ever utter that! I threw that tag away! I have never touched that thing and I refuse to ever be that!" She screamed and the red bangles that happed appeared around her wrists glowed brightly.
"I am not that kind of person!" Nori's voice shook along with her body.
"Why did you attack him if you claim to be an ally?" Zoe shot the question off and a ring of flames started to trace the ground.
"She can't help but lash out, she's the DigiDestined of-" Wizardmon didn't continue because a jet of flames shot up around him, it didn't hit him this time but it was enough to scare him probably.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I told you I'm not! I'm the DigiDestined of Illusions! Just accept that and be happy!" Nori sounded like she was pleading suddenly.
"Nori." I called her name softly as I stepped closer; she needed to calm down before she accidently hurt someone.
"I understand – you just lost your partner so you're emotional. You obviously don't like what he's trying to say so you're just having knee jerk reactions, right?" I knew I was making excuses for her but at the moment I felt like that was probably the truth even if they sounded like excuses.
"Takuya, you can't be serious. She could be the enemy for all we know! She's claiming to be the DigiDestined of Illusions which could practically translate into lair." J.P. chimed in and Nori who had seemed to be calming down looked from me to J.P. and there were a spark of fire in the air around her.
"Shut up J.P., you don't know her. I've fought alongside of her and know more than you do at this point so please, but out." I didn't like talking to J.P. like this but Nori was giving off a vibe of a trapped animal that was terrified.
"Takuya." Zoe might've said more but she stopped, Nori's wings of flame had flared nearly dangerously as she twitched slightly.
"Nori, we're friends right?" Her eyes snapped to me so quickly and she looked so surprised.
"We're friends?" Her words actually surprised me.
"Yeah, why wouldn't we be friends?" Even if we met recently we're friends, aren't we?
"No one beside him and Babydra ever claimed me as their friend; they said I was a black cat. Everyone who has called me their friend has been harmed in some way." Well then, that's not something I expected.
"Why don't we worry about this after we do what we came here for? You're our ally, our friend, and that's what matters. You're fighting with us and besides, no matter what you may actually be the DigiDestined of it doesn't define you. I mean, look at Koichi, he's the DigiDestined of Darkness but he's one of my best friends and he's working with us despite the image that 'darkness is always evil', right?" Nori nodded slowly and she slowly reverted out of whatever form she had been in.
"Takuya, you're playing with fire." I looked at Wizardmon when he said that.
"I'm always playing with fire; I'm the DigiDestined of Flames after all." My reply didn't seem to make Wizardmon happy and I noticed that everyone was eyeing Nori wearily but that might be because she attacked Wizardmon.
"Takuya's right, we need to go on." Koji cut off whatever Wizardmon was about to say.
"We don't know what is going on as we're standing here wasting time. Whoever that person was they said they had Takuya's father and Kari's mother." I know Koji sort of explained the situation for Zoe, J.P. and Tommy since they don't know what's going on.
I curled my hands into fists as Koji's words fully sunk in, his words also hammered in something that I had been trying to ignore. I didn't know what was going on with my father. I didn't know what they could be doing to him. I didn't even know what we would face as we moved forwards.
"Before we go any farther though we need to decide if your friends are coming with us or not." I glanced at the others – J.P. and Zoe were wearily watching Nori still with Tommy had pulled out his D Tector for some reason.
"Tommy, is everything ok?" Tommy looked to me when I asked the question.
"Yeah, I just, I thought I heard something from my D Tector." He looked back to his D Tector looking confused.
"Where's my Spirits Takuya?" I glanced at Koji; he was already pushing buttons on his D Tector.
"We had to purify your Spirits so you guys would stop attacking." Koji spoke and there was a flicker of light before fractal code appeared and the Spirit of Ice formed before shooting towards Tommy's D Tector.
"How come I still have my Spirits then?" J.P. asked the question I pulled up the thing to return Zoe's Spirits to her.
"I purified your Spirits, unlike them I didn't need to scan them." Nori speaking surprised me since I had a feeling she might try to avoid talking to them since they kept accusing her of things when they didn't even know her.
"Thank you?" J.P. was surprised.
"We're going with you Takuya." Tommy spoke so bravely that I grinned.
"The more the merrier." Hopefully the easier the battles as well because I doubt the battles after this will be as easy as the past two were.
I pressed a button on my D Tector once the Spirits of Winds were up and I released them. Zoe, who had raised her D Tector slightly, received them and she smiled softly as she looked at her D Tector. Ever since we fought Grumblemon and she lost her Spirit she feared losing her Spirit. The first month after we defeated Lucemon and we completed our 'mission' in the Digital World and we lost our D Tectors Zoe seemed off. We all were off actually since our Spirits actually meant quite a lot to us.
"Where exactly are we anyways?" I sighed at Zoe's question.
"Leave the questions for later. I'm starting to really worry about my mom so can we move on?" Kari's voice was filled with worry and I gripped my D Tector tightly.
I was worried about my father. I didn't know what was happening and I was worried what they may do. The Demon Lords weren't afraid to hurt people and the people connected to them weren't afraid to hurt others as seen by Rin's whole messed up life. I was bothered by how quickly the subject of what Nori was the DigiDestined of was dropped though. Something didn't seem right. Combine that with the fact that the battle seemed far too easy I was unnerved.
"You notice it right?" I glanced at Nori.
"What do you mean?" She had been quiet, everyone was starting to walk but she had grabbed my arm.
"Something's not right. First the enemies seemed far too underpowered and now a whole argument calmed within seconds even though it seemed like it should carry on." So it unnerved her as well.
"Don't worry about it and keep moving." The voice was a mere whisper and I looked around, Nori was also looking around.
"Digital World logic is in effect full force so let us move on." I started to walk, dragging Nori along since I long gave up questioning Digital World logic.
"Hurry!" My eyes widened because it felt like something shoved me yet that wasn't why my eyes widened.
Nori and I had been left behind in the room while the others had followed Koji down a hallway he had spotted. Suddenly as if we had been teleported we only seconds behind the others. I had stumbled forwards but seemed to flash quite a distance instead of taking just a simple step forwards.
"Whoa, how did you do that?" J.P. had looked behind maybe to call out to us, I'm not sure but he now stared at Nori and I wide eyed.
"You two just, like teleported." The others stopped to look at us and I gave a nervous laugh.
"I actually don't know the reason why but, Digital World Logic." That was the only explanation I had for what just happened.
"Well, we should probably hurry up. Digital Logic in the Real World is never good." Gatomon spoke and that made me think of the interesting paradox – Digital World Logic in the Real World, it shouldn't work.
"Last time that happened here actually was when Myotismon was killed and then came back as VenomMyotismon." Kari's words were tinged with a hint of sadness and she glanced at Wizardmon, who had gripped his staff tighter the moment Myotismon was mentioned.
"If that's right then let us get our move on before we potentially face something like that monster yet again." Wizardmon's words were tight and he just started to walk, leaving us behind slightly since no one was moving.
"Why does he seem so tense suddenly?" Tommy asked as he stared after Wizardmon.
"Myotismon killed Wizardmon and without whatever Rin did that revived him he never would've lived again. His code was stuck here in the Real World so he had no chance of reverting to a Digi Egg." Well, after Kari's words I couldn't fault him for that reaction.
Alright, I'll explain it now. The probably OOC moments for J.P., Zoe and possibly Tommy when they were questioning about if Nori could be trusted. I don't want comments about them being OOC so I'll explain instead of thinking that everyone will understand - people still think I bash T.K. which I don't. I like T.K. it's just I didn't like the way he was played in 02 and it shows more than I like it to at times. Anyways back to the topic of J.P., Zoe and Tommy. They were just released from being controlled by the Demon Lords and they don't know who Nori is and her comment rubbed them the wrong way and they're afraid (not sure if that's a good term to but I don't know what else to use) after how they got taken control of, they don't know her and she stood out to them. Before calling them OOC please take that into consideration and think about if you would just blindly trust someone who seems hostile to you when you don't where you are or what really happened besides knowing that you were controlled by the enemy and in your eyes someone is perhaps angry you got released from said control. Does that make sense? [Also, I'm not trying to sound harsh I'm just dealing with a messed up situation with one of my friends and it's wearing me down.]