I don't own digimon.

Story 69

Just my luck

Leomon honestly couldn't believe that he wasn't dead yet. Somehow, the digital world was unable to kick the complete shit out of him and revert him back to a digi-egg. Part of him wanted to be proud of that, but the lion digimon had a sneaking suspicion that wasn't really something to be proud of. Most digimon didn't have to worry about the possibility of their lives being cut short by way of something that was well beyond their control. No, their focus was bound to be on other things. Things like what to eat and how their partners were doing. Personally, Leomon was surprised his partner was still alive. With his age, he was honestly expecting to get some kind of card inviting him to the funeral. Honestly, he would have one of his friends do the same, only to go anyway. If he could find it in the first place. Shaking that thought away, Leomon took a moment to appreciate where he ended up. Standing outside of a graveyard, tombstones and burial markers stretched on for quite a distance. Oddly comforting for the lion digimon, this was likely not to be where his partner was located. Instead, whoever was sending down digimon decided that they had a sense of humor right now and wanted to capitalize on it for some reason. Though, it could have just as easily sent him to his death. That was always an option on the table.

"It is your time." a voice announced, Anubismon of all digimon approaching. There it was. Of course the literal death god digimon had to show up the moment he appeared in the Human World and hunt him down. Or perhaps he was just in the area and wanted to cross off another

"Just my luck." Leomon thought and forced his gaze ahead. Running at full speed, perhaps he could outrun Anubismon or lose his pursuer somewhere. He wasn't particularly picky when it came to running. Of course, all he had to work with was wide open spaces. Filled with grass and pretty flowers, they were likely to not last that long once Anubismon began raining demonic beasts and pyramids in the vain hope of snuffing out his life.

Fist of the Beast King!

Holding his fist behind him, a lionhead-shaped projectile shot out. Missing Anubismon entirely, it slammed right into the gate leading into the graveyard. Hopefully no one noticed the impact mark and called someone in to act as backup to break up this chase. That was all Anubismon needed to close the distance and reap his soul. It would be back to the digital world and he would need to do the whole process once more. Probably have to wait a couple years to boot. In that time, Charles would've likely passed on. Then he wouldn't get to meet one last time. Quite an awful thing to do as a digimon partner. Never ever, abandon your partner. Even if it takes the might of the Digital World's machination to pull you back, then that's what it took. He didn't break promises.

Pulling his fist back to his side, Leomon scanned the area for anything that could serve as an obstacle for Anubismon. Sadly, none chose to make themselves known. Picking up his pace, he let his thoughts turn to Charles. Their living arrangements at the time had been right in the middle of a transition process. Charles's words, not his. They had just gotten a new residence and were moving boxes over. He had hoped to stay for the entire process, but the Digital World had different ideas. Couldn't just let things be the way they are and actually savor the moment. No, you had to head onto the next adventure without anything in the way of knowing whether or not you might get the chance to see your partner again. If anything, this kind of back and forth was not helping anyone here. What purpose could the Digital World or the person deciding when digimon could go down have for this practice? Shoving that thought to the backburner, Leomon looked behind him. Anubismon was still chasing after him, but hadn't made any attempts at actually catching him. This wide open area was perfect for all kinds of special attacks to be thrown his way. Why could he ho-

The answer, as it would turn out, came in the form of a large motorcycle running parallel to the field. A woman sat at the only seat, quite frustrated at the moment. Humming a tune to herself, a doll with long pink hair sat in the cupholder. Dressed in a hot pink top with a black spaghetti strap dress over it, a set of red heels hung to her feet quite comfortably. A single red eye was visible from here, but Leomon suspected they had the full set.

"Wonderful. The last thing I need is the demon lord's pride and joy to come and wreck this. Do you think you could stay there and then we can resume our chase?" Anubismon announced and shot off in the direction of the motorcycle. Leomon raised an eyebrow, not completely certain what to make of this. Part of his mind was telling him to just leave. This was the perfect opportunity to just book and hope that Anubismon would be distracted long enough that he could get back to his partner. At the same time, the road was bound to be the best way to reach Charles and his home. Which meant having to follow Anubismon and hope that the death god digimon didn't decide to finish the job right then and there. Taking just a moment to think those options over, Leomon followed right behind. Just far enough behind Anubismon so that his pursuer might not get any ideas. Yeah. Definitely for the best. Didn't stop the lion digimon from looking around for anything in the way of a marker or landmark he could use to figure out where he was. Perhaps something tall too. Those were always the best to climb up… if he was a heck of a lot smaller than he was now. Charles probably wouldn't mind. He was another set of hands around the house that weren't suffering from 'ahtritis' or any other conditions. But which way to go? Probably in the direction that didn't have the biker lady and the literal death god. That would be nice, but he would likely not get that option. No, that was asking far too much here. The direction Charles would be was likely to be in the direction of the road that the biker was heading.

"BelleStarmon, what brings you this way?" Anubismon announced and BelleStarmon rolled her eyes. Leave it to the literal god of death to show up to drag her back down.

"Great. But I'll be better once you go off and get away from my ass." BelleStarmon countered, Leomon trying his best to sneak past. Tempted as he was to listen in on the conversation, it was not his place to really add anything to this conversation. Let alone butt his way in. Instead, he would just have to sneak his way pa-

"I told you to stay still. Is that really that hard for you to understand?" Anubismon announced and Leomon came to a stop. Of course he was caught the moment he attempted to sneak past. Not even looking at Anubismon, Leomon bolted ahead. Anubismon following him or not, he had to give this a shot. That was what Charles would've done if he was likely in his shoes. Though, he was likely to not get very far. Old age and health problems did that to a person. While they could be mitigated, there were still bound to be a bunch of issues that needed to be overcome to stay in that condition. Shoving that thought away for now, Leomon looked around for anything that might put him even further away from Anubismon. If he was incredibly unlucky, it would serve to decrease the distance that his pursuer had to go. Considering that Anubismon could just fly over most obstacles, that was likely to be the case.

"I can't be thinking about those kinds of things." Leomon thought as his gaze found its way over to a forest. Bingo. That was his ticket to getting away from Anubismon. Speeding up to the best of his abilities, Leomon charged for his destination. Tempting as it was to look behind himself to see if Anubismon was following behind, the lion digimon decided against it. That was just tempting fate in ways that were best left to other Leomon. Especially with the ever present threat of death hanging over his head. Shoving that thought back to the others to simmer for just a moment, Leomon entered the forest. Met with a mix of thick trees and less than pleasant paths, this was by no means ideal in the slightest. Though, a lightly wooded grove wouldn't have done any good either. That would have left him wide open for attacks or Anubismon could just swoop down and grab him. Letting out a sigh, Leomon did his best to squeeze his way through the woods. While clearly not designed for a digimon of his size, he made due to the best of his abilities. Even if there were a couple times that he wanted to let out some… less than courageous words to the trees and their branches. Not that the plants deserved any of that. They were just inanimate objects, after all. Even if they could somehow talk back, no one would believe them or him for that matter. "I have to be getting close to the other side."

In the distance, what looked to be rays of light broke through the thick woods. He had somehow done it. But it would also be good to remain on guard. Outside was the perfect opportunity for Anubismon to show up out of nowhere to ruin his day. Knowing him, that was exactly the death god digimon would do. Shaking that thought out, Leomon charged through what remained of the forest. Taking care to not wreck any of the tree, he let out a deep breath upon his exit. Taking just a moment to catch his breath, Leomon scanned the area head. In the distance, a small airport awaited. By no means used to ferry people between various destinations, this instead looked to be a place for regular planes and hobbyists.

"Charles, please tell me you didn't decide to become a pilot while I was away." Leomon announced, his words falling on deaf ears. While he wasn't expecting a response back, it would have been nice to get a response back in return. Nonetheless, the lion digimon headed for the airport. While he was putting himself at risk of getting hit by a car and/or a stray plane who's pilot was having a very bad day, he liked those odds. The odds of actually dying by way of a plane were honestly far higher than dying by lightning or getting hit by a car. Considering that was factoring in humans rather than digimon, the odds were even better than he initially thought. That didn't mean he could be foolish though. Instead, he needed to take this in a cautious yet speedy fashion. Anubismon was no doubt hunting him still, so some amount of care was required here. "Here goes nothing."

Heading forth, Leomon looked around for any signs of planes. While he was in no way close to the actual runway, there was still a chance that a plane might go over and knock him back. If it did, he would need to brace in place and weather the blast of wind. The heat too, but that was less of an issue than the wind. At least, the lion digimon hoped it wouldn't. For all he knew, that was something that he needed to be just as worried about and he was not putting enough thought into it. His fur was very much flammable. Direct flame and he would be a walking Meramon. Would stop, drop and roll even work here? Probably not. Heck, it might even cause a far larger inferno to occur if he wasn't careful. Shoving that thought out of his mind for his own sake, continued to the airport. Reaching the road running parallel to the place, he took care to look for any cars heading in either direction. No sign of the biker chick or Anubismon for that matter. The former was easily understandable. She was likely going in the opposite direction of the way he was going. But Anubismon had to be still following him, right? No way something as simple as a conversation was able to keep him from going after him. Had to be one heck of a conversation to do that.

Heading across the road, the sound of airplanes flooded the lion digimon's ears. By no means the loudest thing he had been a witness too (that honor went to a couple of baby digimon), it was very high up on the list. Tuning out as much of it that he felt comfortable doing so, Leomon trudged onward. Charles had to be around here or was up in the air and he would need to wait a bit for his partner to get down. Hopefully the former over the latter. Just thinking that jinxed his luck and made things worse. Wouldn't surprise Leomon in the slightest. Just the nature of the world at work here. But where to wait exactly?

Looking around, Leomon's gaze eventually came upon a set of chairs set up in a line. That would work perfectly. If he fit and no one shooed him off for one reason or another. The odds of that happening were quite slim. Nor was he at risk of dying from a horrible accident. Just another plus to add to the list. Perhaps things were beginning to look for him. The lion digimon doubted it. Wherever he got comfortable/complacent, a near death experience would occur. He didn't understand the why or really how that happened. It just did and Leomon had to react in time to not die. But that was in the digital world. Perhaps the Human World would be far kind-

Leomon didn't get to finish that thought, mostly because an airplane tire decided that this was a good time to roll off from the person using it and hit him in the stomach. Rolling on to parts unknown, Leomon searched for whoever that tire might have come from. Try as he might, the airplane mechanic responsible for managing such a part was nowhere to be found. Odd. He wasn't really planning anything drastic. At least beyond asking him why the heck he just let a tire roll into his chest without running after the part. But no, he was all alone here with the other airplanes. Perhaps one of them was the transforming kind and had taken the opportunity to listen in on what he was doing. It was obviously the bright yellow one. Done up to look like an old-style plane, that had to be something that could just turn into a super fighting robot.

"Hello?" Leomon called out, waiting a moment for a response back. At first, none seemed to come. Perhaps he was just letting his anxiety get to him after everything occured. That could entirely be the case. Between Anubismon, the forest and this, he was just glad to not be dead from a heart attack. If he had an actual heart, of course.

"There you are!" a voice called out and Leomon spun around. An older man was heading his way. Dressed in a blue woolen shirt with long sleeves and a pair of black pants clearly designed to be easily taken off, he had no doubts here. This was definitely Charles. Would be a strange and unfortunate coincidence. Getting up from his seat, the lion digimon headed over and picked his partner up for a hug. Taking care to not break any bones, the results more than made up for it. "How have you been, Leomon?"

Leomon looked away, taking a moment to compose his thoughts.

I've been better." he announced and stared down at Charles. He could tell him all that happened once they got to the car.

.

Back with Anubismon, things were going as well as they could in the face of the massive distraction that BelleStarmon was. While not really a fan to begin with, she at least was nice to talk too.

"So, who's next on your list?" BelleStarmon asked and the death god digimon looked away. As much as he would prefer people not attempting to look at his 'supposed' list of digimon who were at the end of their digital coil, the demon biker digimon seemed like the sort to keep it a secret. Or at least, would keep quiet on that front longer than most.

"Maki Himekawa." Anubismon announced and let his gaze shift to the forest. While the temptation to continue chasing Leomon was there, he let that thought fade. Two in a row was bad for his record, he had a feeling the third was going to be more fruitful…