Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Toei Animation does.
A/N: first part of chapter is sort of a series of flashbacks from Agumon's perspective. Warning for slight, graphic, disturbing imagery.
Ch. 23 A Tale of Two WarGreymon
Agumon didn't like being angry.
Didn't like being caught up and swept away in a gale storm of twisted, malicious feelings strong enough they almost brought him joy.
Sometimes in the night, Agumon thought he could still hear the Virus whispering its poisoned words through his head.
"Stupid human. Selfish human. Look at him, he cares only for himself. He doesn't care for you. He doesn't need you."
The nausea would follow soon after these thoughts. A sick, cramping sensation in his stomach and the taste of bile in the back of his throat and he would feel disgust and shame at ever thinking these thoughts.
And the anger would come back ten-fold. Waves of smoldering rage that he struggled to keep contained, because he would hurt the one he loved most if he released them.
The poison always returned, seeping into the lining of his brain, into every pore of his body, coating him in its intoxicating chokehold.
"Why, why should you be the one who suffers when it is his fault? He's made you weak. He's made you fall, made you useless. GET RID OF HIM."
It was like watching a horror movie—like the one he and Tai had watched five years ago—he could see himself, only he was not really himself, and his teeth were bared inches away from his sleeping partner's neck and for a split second he looses himself in his already chaotic mental state and wonders what it would be like to take that pale, slender flesh between his jaws and crunch down—feel the bones snap, taste the blood he could smell…
"So fragile. So weak. You humans are pathetic."
The fear, the horror, the utter revulsion at the course of action that had just passed inside his head was so overwhelming, he staggered under the weight of crushing guilt for a few, precious seconds.
It was enough time for the Virus to rise up dark and hungry, threatening to swallow him whole and allow the poison that had been brewing inside to leak out.
"She won't take you away from me. I won't let her. I promise."
Unholy glee. All possessive and jealous—MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE!—and for the first time, Agumon wondered if what the Virus was truly angry about and feared the most was being alone, abandoned….
The Virus was gone. The poison had been drained from his body and it was Tai who had offered him the cup with the antidote. He had drunk up the words as if he had been dying of thirst in a desert.
"Agumon, listen to me! I don't know where humans go when they die! I don't know when I'm going to die, alright? But I do know you'll be with me until the end. Because you're my partner! Because you're my friend! Because I love you! Because I'll always love you no matter what happens to either of us!"
Sometimes in the day, Agumon thought he could hear the faintest whispering in the deep recesses of his mind, feel the slightest stirring of the poison returning underneath his skin.
He thought it best to distance himself from everyone when this occurred. Better isolation than to snap and do something he regretted.
Like his fight with Tai at the skating rink.
"If I had been able to digivolve, I could have defeated her easily! Whose fault is that? Not mine! I tried, I tried, but you blocked me!"
Even now, the image of his partner's hurt, shocked face burned in his memory like an infected wound.
He had been so angry at that moment. Angry at LadyDevimon making him look like a fool. Angry at himself for not being able to go head to head with her at full strength. Angry at Tai who hadn't been able to help him. Angry because Tai had been afraid of him.
Afraid of him, and he had every right to be. They hadn't spoken much on the subject of that fateful morning the Virus had reared its ugly head out of the cocoon it had burrowed for itself within Agumon's mind, but the small dinosaur knew. He knew Tai remembered the incident quite vividly, knew that a major reason why Tai was so hesitant on allowing him to digivolve any further past Champion level, was that he was frightened of the possibility of what his partner was capable of becoming.
"You not only don't believe in yourself… you've given up believing in me."
He had spoken those words half out of frustration and half out of regret, so engulfed in his own misery that he had not once stopped to think about what Tai must have been feeling right then, nor the outcome his words might have pushed into motion.
Not until later that evening after he had only come inside from the balcony after everyone had left and it was quiet. Gabumon had tried to talk him, tried to find out what had him so agitated, but he had pushed him away even going so far as threatening to fire his Pepper Breath at him if he didn't leave him alone. Gabumon, looking both startled and hurt, complied with his wishes. Agumon had remained outside silently brooding under the swiftly fading light of the afternoon sky. By the time stars had begun to dot the horizon, and he felt as if his head had cooled off enough that he wouldn't lash out thoughtlessly at anyone anymore, he slipped back inside.
It was the feeling of wrong-ness that washed over him immediately. The apartment was quiet, the lighting dim—it would have seemed restful if the atmosphere hadn't felt so heavy, so strained, so despairing all at once.
"Tai?" Agumon called out albeit tentatively, wondering if his partner had decided to go home without him due to their argument earlier. But no… he was still here close by. He could smell his scent.
He followed his nose to a room that smelled strongly of Izzy, pushed it open and peered inside. "Tai?" he called again softly.
The lights were off in here too and he could barely make out the outline of his partner lying on the bed from the fading sunlight. He approached cautiously, shuffling his fore-claws together in a nervous fashion. Tai still hadn't said anything yet, hadn't even come out to the balcony to look for him. Had he forgotten about him? Was he angry at him? Had he simply fallen asleep?
But as he drew closer, Agumon realized it was more serious than that. Tai's eyes were closed, his face was flushed red and his breathing came in short, shallow intakes. Sweat aligned the boy's forehead and his eyebrows were knitted together as if he were under stress or having a nightmare. This was how humans looked when they were sick, right?
Agumon leaned in closer worriedly. Tai's eyelids fluttered and slid open half an inch. A moan escaped his lips as he saw the dark shape hovering over him and he shrunk backwards into the pillows as his head lolled side to side fretfully.
Agumon realized to his horror that he had been in this position before. His jaws inches away from his partner's throat just like now and, and… and…
And sometimes in the night, Agumon thought he could still hear the Virus whispering its poisoned words through his head.
He bolted from the room.
"Hey!" Tentomon cried out as he barreled past him in a numb kind of terror. "Where do you think you're going?"
Agumon didn't answer. He just ran: out the door, out of the apartment complex, and into the street.
Not safe. Not safe, not safe, not safe. Not to be trusted, Tai knew this. That was why he was afraid of him. That was why he didn't allow him to digivolve. He was dangerous. Even LadyDevimon had recognized the monster within him. He had to go away, far away from the people he cared about so he would no longer be a threat.
He looked up not knowing what he was searching for, some sort of sign, an idea of what he should do.
His eyes landed on the enormous mountain in the distance silhouetted against the blues and purples of the twilight sky.
He started off towards it.
oOo
He lost sight of the mountain once the last bit of sunlight had finally vanished and spent the night sleeping behind a dumpster in an alleyway. He set off at the first morning light, stumbling his way through Tokyo's sprawling maze of streets, wondering if he would ever manage to find his way of city, the bottoms of his feet aching with every step and the mountain didn't seem any closer.
Help came in a surprising source.
A white van slowed down in the traffic lane that ran next to the sidewalk, and a man with long, stringy hair poked his head out of the driver's window. "Walking on the streets in broad daylight—that's brave, man."
"E-excuse me?" Agumon said startled.
"You better be glad we found you first instead of the cops or dogcatcher—get in quick," the guy issued as the side door of the van slid open to reveal two women and another man waving at him from inside to show that they meant no harm.
"I… I'm not allowed to take rides from strangers," Agumon said meekly. It had been one of the first rules established by the Digidestined to their partners ever since the Digimon had come to the real world five years ago. Actually, they weren't supposed to talk to strangers either, but it was too late for that now.
"Hey, I hear you, man. It's a sick, evil world that we're living in now that needs to be restructured. That's why you alien-dudes have started invading right?" the man asked enthusiastically.
"Ummm," Agumon stumbled at a loss of what to say. This human seemed to think he was an alien, however, unlike the humans that day at the skating rink, he actually appeared to be excited and happy about his wrong assumption.
"It's cool with us, you know," the man continued to chatter amiably. "You aliens invading. All these years of people labeling us as 'sci-fi geeks' and crazy—and we were right all along about life existing on other planets! Anyway, this world's government is in some severe need for reorganization. You guys came because you've been watching us from afar for a couple of millennia, seen how far we have evolved, the amount of potential we have for advancing technology and all that, but these crazy wars all over our planet pose a threat to Earth taking its rightful place in the universe alongside the rest of the intelligent races, so you decided to step in and stop us before we all blow ourselves up, right?"
"Ummmmm…"
"It's okay, you don't have to say anything. You've probably been sworn to secrecy: Code of the Dino-Brotherhood, right?" the man laughed. "Still, I'd love to know why you're all alone in the big city, little dino dude. Did you crash your space-pod here something? You need a lift back to the mother-ship? Cause we totally would be jived to see that!"
Agumon put one foot back intending to run away. These humans were weird. He didn't know what made him glance upwards, but he did.
And saw the forms of Biyomon and Hawkmon fly overhead.
He knew instinctively they were looking for him. Why else would they be flying so brazenly in broad daylight, taking the chance that someone might spot them even in their smaller forms that could pass as mere birds? If they found him, they would try and take him back. And he couldn't go back, couldn't face Tai, because it wasn't safe. He wasn't safe, he was dangerous.
If he was so dangerous then surely if these humans offering him a ride tried anything, he could take them, couldn't he?
He hurried into the van before either Biyomon or Hawkmon took notice of him. "I want to go to that mountain," he said firmly pointing towards it in the distance.
"Whooooa, Mt. Fuji?" the man drawled out, his jaw dropping in astonishment. "No way!"
One of the women clapped her hands and giggled excitedly. "Didn't I tell you guys? I knew the alien's base-camp was at Mt. Fuji!"
"Mt. Fuji or bust!" whooped the other man in the backseat as he pulled the van's door shut.
"Alright, little dino dude, never fear! We'll get you back to your buddies real quick! In return, we get a tour of the spaceship," the man who was driver bargained as he started the van forward.
"We all willingly volunteer for any experiments or research you guys want to do to our anatomies," the other woman voiced. "Just don't impregnate us with any alien spawn, okay?"
Agumon wondered if all humans were as crazy as them.
oOo
Deep in the forests on the slopes of Mt. Fuji, a silver and onyx Digimon kneeled hunched over, one armored claw resting on a tree trunk for support. Lethargy coiled itself around BlackWarGreymon's body in a suffocating chokehold like a boa constrictor threatening to strangle its victim to death. BlackWarGreymon resisted the urge to fell prey and succumb to the utter exhaustion that course throughout his limbs and made them weak, useless, and completely defenseless if any adversary came across him at this moment.
BlackWarGreymon scoffed silently as soon as the thought passed his mind. What adversary? He had none because he was not real. His existence served no purpose. At least not in the Digital World. Isn't that the reason he had ripped a gateway open to the real world? The reason for this paralyzing sluggishness that was worming its way all over his body because of all the energy he had spent crossing dimensions?
Now he was here, here in the real world, and he did not know what he had expected to find. There wasn't much difference that he could see from the Digital World. This world thrived in monochrome shades also. The sky was grey; the trees were bare and dead. There were no signs of life anywhere. The only thing out of the ordinary that he could see was the ground. It was white under his feet. It was hard, cold, and crunchy all at once and it seemed to melt into water if he stood in one place in it for too long. Golden eyes narrowed in contempt. Was this all the real world had to offer?
"Are you sure it's this way? I don't see any spaceship."
"For the last time, there is no spaceship! Now, I really would appreciate it if you would leave me alone."
BlackWarGreymon lifted his head at the voices. There in the clearing, a few feet away, a small group of four humans emerged from between the trees.
"Come on, little dino dude, I promise we won't tell the guys in black suits where you parked it. We're on your side, remember? Just stop giving us the run-around. We're freezing our nibs out here," one of the humans said holding his arms close to his body for heat and shivering.
"I told you before, I'm not from outer space even though I am from another world! I just don't have a spaceship!" a small orange dinosaur explained as stepped into view.
BlackWarGreymon felt a jolt shoot through him as he recognized the Digimon. Him! What was he doing here?
"Hey, maybe he's like an inter-dimensional extraterrestrial," one of the females spoke up. "Those don't necessarily come from other solar systems, but from alternate universes, parallel worlds."
"I guess… that's sort of right," the Agumon said rubbing his head.
"But I wanted to see the spaceship!" sobbed the male nearest to his right. "You're telling me we hiked all the way up here for nothing?"
"I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen!"
"Calm down," the other male comforted his friend. "The little dino dude must have come here somehow. I bet there's an inter-galatical portal hidden nearby—augh, w-w-what is that?"
BlackWarGreymon had finally been spotted. The Mega pushed himself upright, his legs shaking from the strenuous effort. His crossing of dimensions had taken a heavy toll out of his body and he was still feeling very much drained. But he refused to be seen as weak in front of humans.
"It's you!" the Agumon cried surprised at his abrupt appearance. If BlackWarGreymon didn't know any better, he would think the small dinosaur was happy to see him.
The humans were having some kind of seizure: babbling incoherently, tugging on each other's limbs as they pointed at him, shrieking and jumping up and down in place. At last one of them managed some composure and stepped forward.
"Omigosh, all hail the Dino King!" he exclaimed in awe bending down on one knee. "We humble humans salute you, O Mighty Warrior Rex-o-saur! We bring offerings of the finest food on Earth: pizza and lemon pie!" he snapped his fingers and one of the females scurried up next to him with a small squeal carrying a large covered basket. "We found your subordinate wandering around lost and have returned him to you. All we request in return is for you to share your infinite knowledge of the cosmos with us!"
Annoying humans. If he could summon enough energy, he would have fired his Terra Destroyer at them. So, instead, BlackWarGreymon cleaved the tree trunk he had been leaning against in half with one smooth swipe in response.
Splinters of wood shattered under his claws and sprayed into the air as the tree heaved a final groan and toppled to one side with a humongous crash.
"Leave now before you're next!" BlackWarGreymon threatened sinisterly.
The basket dropped at the feet of the female who was carrying it as she unleashed a terrified scream and fled down the trail they had come. Her departure seemed to set off a chain reaction in the humans who fled after her like a flock of frightened quail that had been freshly flushed into the unprotected open.
"But-the-cosmos… I have to knooooow!" one of the males howled as his friend towed him away by the arm.
"Let him eat the food first! Dino King will be in a better mood! We'll camp out in the van and come back later!"
Then after the loud pounding of their footsteps had faded away, a peaceful quiet set in. BlackWarGreymon directed his gaze upon the small orange dinosaur that had remained behind.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded raising one armored claw aggressively even as he struggled to keep standing with the fatigue that was overpowering him. But he couldn't let anyone see how vulnerable he was, how little strength he had left.
"Well, what are you doing here?" Agumon echoed his question cheerfully, not appearing to be on the outlook for any weaknesses in his defense. "You were in the Digital World last time I saw you, right?"
BlackWarGreymon kept up his guard though. One never knew if the enemy was luring him into a false sense of security before rushing in for the finishing blow, no matter how small and harmless they looked. "I came through the gateway," he revealed stiffly.
"There's a gateway up here?" Agumon asked surprised. "I thought they could only be opened through a computer? Is there someplace with a comp—hey, are you alright?" he cried rushing over as BlackWarGreymon's legs finally gave out and he buckled to the hard, white ground.
"Stay… back," BlackWarGreymon warned, but the small orange dinosaur ignored him, slipping under his right arm and helping him sit upright again.
"Wow, you don't look so good. You must be sick too!" Agumon cried worriedly. "Just stay there. I'll make us a fire!"
BlackWarGreymon was too exhausted to argue. He sat there and watched the small orange dinosaur scramble about gathering medium-sized rocks and placing them in a circular ring, then dumping a pile of fallen branches and foliage in the middle before igniting it ablaze with his Pepper Breath. Red and orange flames burned brightly as they crackled, the cold, white ground beneath him as well as the thin sheet of ice that had crusted over his armor thawing rapidly at the heat the fire emitted.
"Let's see what we have in here," Agumon said as he carried the fallen basket over to the campsite, staggering blindly under its weight.
"Why?" BlackWarGreymon asked.
"Why what?" Agumon said as he lifted a square, cardboard box out of the basket, opened the lid and took out a triangular slice of something yellow dotted with red polka dots.
"Why are you helping me?" BlackWarGreymon demanded.
"You're my friend. Friends help each other," Agumon replied as he held the triangular slice in both claws near the flames. "It's better if the cheese melts," he stated.
"So, if I wasn't your friend… you would not be doing this?" BlackWarGreymon pressed, trying to figure out how this small Digimon's mind worked. Perhaps he shouldn't attack him once his strength returned then. He could prove to be a valuable ally with his knowledge of the real world ready at hand.
"Well, I don't think I'd just leave you to freeze to death in the snow if you weren't either," Agumon frowned as he mulled it over.
"You'd show mercy and compassion to your enemies, why?" BlackWarGreymon scoffed. "You're a bigger fool than I thought."
"You don't always need a reason to help someone!" Agumon shouted leaping to his feet.
BlackWarGreymon tensed and flexed his claws as the small, orange dinosaur walked over to him, but all he was doing was offering him a slice of this pizza.
"Sometimes you simply help someone because it's the right thing to do," Agumon beamed at him.
"As usual, your logic makes no sense," BlackWarGreymon said eyeing the pizza slice that Agumon had placed in his upturned claw. "What do I do with this?"
"You eat it," Agumon laughed as he picked up a slice for himself. He blinked at the perplexed expression on the other's face. "You… you have never eaten before?"
"No," BlackWarGreymon's eyes narrowed. "I was created from Control Spires. I am not a real Digimon. I do not believe eating was considered a necessity for me."
"Try it," Agumon urged. "You might like it."
Well, it was melting all over his armor very messily. That would not do. He had to get rid of it somehow. But by the time he realized he could have just thrown it away, his mouth had already closed about it.
"How's it taste?" Agumon grinned through a mouthful of the cheesy concoction himself.
"It is… strange," BlackWarGreymon chewed slowly. It had flavor certainly—but the words to properly describe it did not exist in his vocabulary. At the moment though, what it was most was foreign.
"Strange? No, yummy!" Agumon corrected, his cheeks bulging as he stuffed another slice in his mouth. "So, will you tell me why you are so exhausted?"
"I was not…" BlackWarGreymon reluctantly admitted. "Not until I passed through the gateway."
"Hmmm," Agumon thought out loud. "That's not how it usually works. It might be because it's not a true gateway. Tai and I got sucked through a worm-hole once. I de-digivolved to Koromon when we arrived here, and well, I guess Tai was tired after that too."
It was not lost on BlackWarGreymon how the small, orange dinosaur seemed to curl into himself at the mention of the human boy's name. Oh, yes, he had met him before too, hadn't he? Not too long ago in the Digital World.
"Where is your partner?" BlackWarGreymon asked sharply, recalling with some disdain how the Digidestined's Digimon liked to refer the children they bonded to. "Why isn't he with you? I thought you Digimon and your human pets were supposed to be inseparable. You still haven't told me what you are doing here."
"I had to leave," Agumon whispered softly, his green eyes sad.
"Did he send you away?"
"No!" Now the small dinosaur's eyes looked panicked… guilty. "It… it wasn't safe. I wasn't safe. I had to leave… because… because when you care for someone, you have to protect them—protect what's important to you no matter what! Even if… if it's from yourself."
There was an opportunity to ask what he meant by that, but BlackWarGreymon didn't. It was none of his business, none of his concern. It did not matter what melodrama Agumon and the human boy were going through. If anything, whatever cause of the rift that had come between them only proved that it was foolish to believe any good would come out of a human and Digimon bonding. Partners, ha!
"I'm glad you're here with me right now," Agumon said almost bashfully, the flames from the fire casting a glow on his face. "It would be terribly lonely otherwise. We… we used to camp out like this all the time in the Digital World."
"Is that what we're doing?" BlackWarGreymon asked.
"Yes, but we didn't usually have pizza," Agumon chuckled. "And the children would teach us songs from their world. There was one about a buffalo on a range, but I can't remember all the lines."
Suddenly BlackWarGreymon was disturbed by the idea that the small dinosaur would try to initiate a sing-along with him. That would not do. "You miss them," he stated, changing the subject.
"Sort of. It's not like they're gone. They've just grown up and… and they're not the same kids we met five years ago. I guess that's what happens to humans," Agumon squirmed uncomfortably, before switching the conversation's gears himself. "Hey, watch this!"
BlackWarGreymon watched as the small dinosaur's chest swelled tightly then shrink as he opened his jaws and released a grey smoke ring into the air.
"Whenever we found ourselves in a cold climate like this, we used to have contests of who could make the best ones. I always won," Agumon said fondly. "The others accused me of cheating. They thought I was using the heat from my Pepper Breath to manipulate the shape, but Tai just said I was a natural!"
"How do you make them?" BlackWarGreymon inquired curiously.
"You just breathe deep then exhale."
"Breathe…" BlackWarGreymon repeated as if realizing something.
Agumon's eyes widened. "You… you don't…"
BlackWarGreymon copied what he had seen the small dinosaur do. Grey puffs appeared before his face, their heat exposed by the brisk, cool temperature. Exhales of air. What it meant to breathe. But he could not tell if he had always been able to do this action before or if he had only begun once Agumon had brought it to his attention.
"Sorry," he heard the small dinosaur mumble. He looked over at him expecting an embarrassed expression, but it appeared what Agumon was apologizing for had nothing to do with smoke rings and breathing. "I wanted to talk to you about Plato, but I'm too tired now," Agumon yawned widely.
BlackWarGreymon glanced up. They grey sky had darkened to the black of night. "Who is this Plato?" he asked, feeling as if he had done nothing but ask questions all day.
"Plato was a human who lived a long time ago here," Agumon shared. "He was very wise. He says that everyone with a body that can question and think has a soul, a heart. Then it gets complicated because he starts arguing over the goodness of one's soul and if it can survive outside of the body when… when the body dies…" a shudder racked the small dinosaur's frame as he stopped talking. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and smiling brightly at him. "But you don't have to worry! I believe you have a heart whether you do yourself or not!"
"Even if you are not deluded, I still do not know why I was created or the purpose of my existence," BlackWarGreymon said staring broodingly into the fire.
"That's alright. It turns out most humans don't know either, that's why there's so much fighting in this world," Agumon explained helpfully even as his head bobbed up and down in exhaustion. "They're trying to find themselves, their destinies—like you—and sometimes they clash with each other."
"Don't compare me with humans," BlackWarGreymon growled in displeasure.
Agumon cracked a broad, toothy grin as he turned and lay down on his side in front of the fire. "Can you… do you sleep?" he asked shyly.
"I do not believe I ever have."
"Mmm, too bad," he murmured, his eyelids drooping. "Because when you fall asleep sometimes you dream."
"Dream?" BlackWarGreymon wasn't sure he knew what that meant.
"Dreams are wonderful things. Anything can happen in them. You can be anything you want, go wherever you want. Sometimes I dream of Tai... and he's the same age as when I first met him. Only he doesn't leave the Digital World. He stays with me and we're together… forever… and ever…" Agumon's voice faded away as he drifted into slumber.
That night BlackWarGreymon did not fall asleep.
He did not dream.
He tried to ignore the presence of a small, orange dinosaur who tossed and turned restlessly until somehow he managed to curl up against his side so familiarly.
He told himself he did not like it.
But he did not move away either and remained in the same spot thinking on many things and exhaling smoke rings.
oOo
It might have been the bright splash of sunlight hitting him square in the eyes the next day that awoke Agumon, or the cold that had crept into his skin from the fire dying out. All he knew upon sitting up was that BlackWarGreymon was gone. He sighed staring at the empty space that the Mega had sat last night. He had guessed he would leave sooner or later, but he thought he would have at least stuck around until after breakfast.
Oh, that was right. It wasn't necessary for BlackWarGreymon to eat, Agumon remembered as he rummaged in the basket to see what was leftover from yesterday. He still hadn't tried this "lemon pie" yet.
He had just picked it up between his claws and was examining it, wondering what the fluffy, white topping consisted of… then the ground began to shake tremendously beneath his feet. Agumon jumped up in alarm. An earthquake? No, wait, the humans who had driven him here had explained that Mt. Fuji was a volcano… a mountain that exploded boiling lava—burning, hot fire. (They had been concerned about his spaceship melting). Could Mt. Fuji be erupting?
This theory was thoroughly squashed as a herd of Mammothmon thundered out of the trees straight towards him. Agumon yelped and leapt out of the way. The Mammothmon stampeded past, over the remains of the campfire, smashing the food basket into pieces and crashed headlong through the trees on the other side of the clearing. Agumon lifted his face up from where it had fallen headfirst into the lemon pie and gaped in the direction they had disappeared. Several large shadows drifted over him. Craning his head up, he watched Gigadramon and various other Digimon, too numerous to count fly by in a flurry of wings.
Digimon, here, and appearing in masses… how was that even possible? The gateway! He realized with a jolt. The gateway BlackWarGreymon had come through. Of course, other Digimon could have been fallen through it too—stupid of him to think otherwise.
This isn't good! Agumon thought, his tongue flicking out nervously across his dry lips. I have to—hey, this lemon pie is delicious!
Agumon shook his trying to clear his mind. Springing up he sprinted as fast as he could down the destructive path the Mammothmon had cleared. He wasn't sure exactly what we was going to do or how he could help, but he was temporarily halted in his mission when he all but stumbled out of the undergrowth onto a small patch of level land that housed a small cabin with a van parked in front of it. It was not the same van from yesterday—that one had been white, this one was black. It didn't take him too long to find out who the owners were. They were all outside:
A dark-haired, sallow-faced man shielded by Arukeniemon and Mummymon both of whom it appeared were about to go head to head with BlackWarGreymon who was charging towards them with deadly intent.
"Wait, wait, WAIT!" he yelled rushing forward, feeling relieved when BlackWarGreymon did halt abruptly at the sound of his voice.
"You… stay out of what you do not understand!" BlackWarGreymon warned him, cold fury coursing through every word.
"Come on, you can't just attack people just because you're angry! Let's talk about this!" Agumon pleaded, trying to play peacemaker.
"There is nothing to talk about!" BlackWarGreymon shouted turning back towards the trio in front of him, raising his claws in preparation to strike.
It was the ground trembling tumultuously again that gave warning.
"Look out!" Agumon said diving to one side just as another swarm of Digimon surged through the trees.
They were not Mammothmon—that was everyone's saving grace. Both the cabin and van were left unscathed as the pack of Monochromon and Triceramon bowled past them over the slope of the hill and down the other side. BlackWarGreymon soared up high to avoid them—he had to dodge Kawagumon and Snimon as they shot by hissing obscenities at him. When the Mega landed again, Arukeniemon, Mummymon, and the human—the human who had named himself as his creator—were gone, the only sign that they were still alive were the van's tire marks on the frozen ground.
"I think the gateway you fell through has grown more unstable," Agumon said coming up to stand next to him. "All these Digimon keep appearing—"
"I did not fall through the gateway," BlackWarGreymon corrected him harshly, furious that his quarry had evaded him. "Perhaps I did not make myself clear yesterday. I ripped open a gateway and came here because I will not be held captive in a dying world that holds no answers nor any reason for my existence!"
"What?" Agumon was shocked. "You—"
"And now that I have at last found the true origin of my creation, you ruin my chances to purge the source!"
"I don't understand what you're talking about!" Agumon cried frustrated.
"Of course, you don't understand! You who were hatched from a Digi-Egg, created by the Digital Sovereigns to be partner to one of the Chosen Children—how could you possibly understand?" BlackWarGreymon roared.
Agumon didn't flinch at the terrible rage in his tone—didn't appear frightened in the slightest. Perhaps that was the only thing that kept BlackWarGreymon from thrusting his claws in the smaller dinosaur and tearing him apart.
"Alright, so I don't understand why you insist on thinking that fighting solves everything, but here's something I do understand," Agumon said in calm, level tone he often had heard Tai use when talking to Kari—a tone reserved specially between two siblings. "We have to stop those Digimon before things get out of hand. They could seriously hurt somebody!"
BlackWarGreymon stared at him incredulously before throwing his head back and laughing darkly. "Are you ordering me to clean up my act?"
"Whenever we mess up, we have to take responsibility for our actions!" Agumon chided him. "You tore open a gateway—you have to put them all back. I'll help you. We'll do it together!"
"You are amusing—that's why I'll spare your life," BlackWarGreymon said, locking wild, golden eyes on him. "If you're so worried about the damage they will do, I shall tell you that it will only last until the pain from crossing dimensions wears off. Then the fatigue will set in and they will be quite docile—well, the non-Virus ones that is."
"Pain? You didn't say anything about being in pain yesterday," Agumon said worriedly.
"You caught me in the second stages of the crossing. The pain had worn off by then, but it is excruciating enough it almost makes you go mad," BlackWarGreymon said sweeping his arm widely to the damage the Digimon had done in their wake.
"That's why we have to stop them! They're going to destroy things—"
"So what?" BlackWarGreymon countered. "I don't see any civilization out here."
"There's a city right at the foot of this mountain!" Agumon protested.
"Then if your precious humans whom you admire and cherish so much are as smart as you give them credit for, they will leave before it's too late," BlackWarGreymon scoffed narrowing his eyes. "At the very least, the only thing that will be destroyed are inanimate objects—things that can be replaced. Yes, they can make new ones, create better ones… ones that aren't difficult or flawed. Ones that will serve their intended purpose more adequately."
"BlackWarGr—" Agumon started to say, noticing the scorn in the Mega's tone. Somehow, he felt as if he was talking about something else entirely.
"If you're still so concerned, save the wretched creatures yourselves," BlackWarGreymon gave his final statement as he took to the air. He wasn't sure whether he was talking about the humans or the Digimon. At this point they were both the same to him: less intelligent, lower forms of life. His thoughts drifted to Oikawa and his two underlings. They shouldn't have gone far on this huge, winding mountain. He could still catch them. "My own destiny awaits me."
"You speak of destiny so much!" Agumon burst out angrily. "You act like it should just be handed to you or it will pop out from under a rock! You have to seek it out yourself if you ever want to find it!"
"And just what do you think I am doing right now?" BlackWarGreymon demanded hovering in place.
"You're going off by yourself like always!" Agumon exclaimed. "You want a purpose, you want a heart? You have to make decisions in order to reach those! You have to choose sides! You can't keep running away! Don't you see? There's no reason for anyone's existence if they're all alone!"
The rage was threatening to overflow from within him. BlackWarGreymon had to hold himself in check before he did something he might regret. "Do not dare to give speeches to me as if I am your friend or that human partner of yours! The choices I make are none of your concern! I suggest we do not cross paths again," he warned him solemnly. "Next time, I might not find your naivety nearly so amusing."
"Hey!" Agumon shouted as BlackWarGreymon flew off with those parting words—just a black blur among the treetops. "Hey, come back! Come back and we'll discuss this over some lemon pie! It's really good!"
But BlackWarGreymon did not return and Agumon couldn't afford to hang around and wait for him. He had to stop all those Digimon somehow.
"Angsty, brooding Megas," he muttered to himself under his breath as he followed a trail that led out of the woods to a highway that ran along the length of Mt. Fuji. "MetalGarurumon was just like him… I hope I never was."
He stopped at the foot of the pavement and looked both ways as he had been instructed to do when crossing the street. The road wasn't busy, but then it was awful secluded up here. It was going to take him hours to get to the bottom of the mountain on foot.
A white van appeared around a curve and rolled to a stop in front of him.
"Little dino dude!" the driver cried exhilarated to see him. "Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes!"
The side door slid back to reveal the rest of the humans inside.
"Omigosh, did we like, upset Dino King or something?" the other man asked worriedly. "We didn't mean for him to unleash his alien army on humanity, man!"
A grin broke across Agumon's face. "Take me to the city below and I'll make a call that will bring the Calvary in."
oOo
The Digimon were trashing the human city. Good riddance, BlackWarGreymon thought as he kept a sharp lookout from his bird's-eye view in the sky for any sign of Oikawa. He had seen Arukeniemon and Mummymon being chased across the rooftops earlier by some of the Digidestined's partners, but he was not interested in them. He scoured the ruined streets below searching for anyplace that the man could have hidden… and instead stumbled across a scene that was quite unexpected.
It was that boy, Agumon's partner. Even this far up in the air, he was able to recognize that head of hair. What was he doing in this city when Agumon had come here to distance himself from him for his own protection? BlackWarGreymon watched as the boy and the female that was with him were cornered with their backs against a building, watched as the Tankmon fired and the walls of the building came crashing down, watched as the boy held the female close and tried to shield her from falling slabs with his own body.
It was déjà vu. Hadn't he done that before also? A flashback rose up in the front of his mind of him throwing himself protectively over one small, purple flower that had been directly in the warpath of some raging Mammothmon. Of course, he had seen sense and crushed the flower himself after he had destroyed the Mammothmon. The act was not done in cruelty or evil. He had simply done it to prove to himself he was superior, a higher form of life. That was why he was not going to help stop these Digimon from wrecking the city, why he wasn't going to move these humans out of harm's way. Such acts were beneath him. There was no reason for him to help them.
"You don't always need a reason to help someone!" the small, orange dinosaur's words echoed in his memory. "Sometimes you simply help someone because it's the right thing to do."
If he did not save the human, Agumon would be sad. He would follow him around crying and there would be more campfires and pizzas. He would be coerced into trying lemon pies and singing songs about buffalos. He would never be rid of him.
That would not do.
BlackWarGreymon dove down through the skies.
oOo
The white van lay upturned on it side in the middle of the war-torn street by a ramming attack from Cyclonemon. The humans had all climbed out and were now huddled behind it as the group of Digimon slowly encircled them.
"Tell them we mean no harm and we come in peace!" one of the women cried frantically.
"Yeah, help us, little dino dude!" one of the men chimed in. "You're our only hope!"
Agumon swiveled his head and took in the sight of Tankmon, Tuskmon, Monochromon, and Triceramon all working together for once in an astounding group-effort to surround and subdue their prey. Subdue, meaning the worst possible scenario imaginable. He could see the sharp edges of pain shining in their eyes. "It is excruciating enough it almost makes you go mad," he recalled BlackWarGreymon's words. Talking would do no good here and neither would shooting his Pepper Breath at them. It would only cause them to attack sooner. What could he do though? These humans were counting on him to keep them safe.
Tai… Agumon thought as Tankmon took aim. Help me.
It blossomed in his chest, then spread like wildfire to the rest of his body until he was engulfed in it. Warm, orange, valiant and bright—everything that made up Tai—and Agumon gave himself up to it willingly.
To Be Continued…
A/N: It's not too hard to guess what happened last, right? XP So, it's been what two months since I last updated? Pfft, I have a legit excuse this time: YOUNG JUSTICE ROCKS! Ahem, okay, so it's not so legit. But boy, am I having a blast in that fandom! I've even started to read comics now. Comics! Of Batman and Robin! XD Anyhoo, yeah, this chapter would have been out sooner except that I got sidetracked for like a month watching YJ, reading fanfics, writing fanfics, lurking on tumblrs, DA, and LJs. Then YJ S2 just aired and while the entire fandom is still in shock and my mind reeling over that first episode, I decided to take a quick break and sit down and finish this chapter during the week gap before the next ep! Don't worry, I won't abandon this fic. I love it too much! I still intend to work on chapters.
As for the events that transpired here, I wanted you all to see why Agumon left Tai for so long, see him interact with BlackWarGreymon, and try to show you the inner workings of the Mega's mind. Do you think I wrote the big guy well? I did love exploring his thoughts—it was quite interesting to get his opinion on things. I also had fun looking up the Japanese subbed ep 46 to see if Agumon really does mention lemon pie. He doesn't, lol, but I left it in there because I'm nostalgic for the English dubbed. And the whole theories of side-effects from rogue gateways, that's my own artistic license also.
Fun Facts: while writing this chapter, I listened to Phil Collins' songs from the Tarzan soundtrack. "I'm Still Here" by Johnny Reznik. "I Stand Alone" by Bryan White and "Some Nights" by Fun. They all make me think of how BlackWarGreymon feels.
Next chapter: Tai's POV, more Junichi and things heat up! (Not that way, you dirty-minded—okay, maybe a little bit that way^^)
I hope you have enjoyed reading this! Please review and share your thoughts and favorite scenes. I love hearing what you liked best and it's the only reward a fanfic author gets. I like knowing what my readers think and feel. Thank you!^^
