I do not own anything.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Devilish Life Pt.1
As crazy as it sounded Joe almost missed the abundant amount of pink usually found in any room Mimi occupied. That wasn't strange considering her family didn't use their Shinjuku house that often. He could count the number of times he'd personally been in Mimi's house using both his fingers. Each time a little voice in his head always screamed at him to get out, to leave before some unexplainable incident happened. Within the past two years that voice had gotten seemingly louder; given the current situation Joe couldn't blame his subconscious for reacting that way.
In a rare display of bravery and willpower she'd refuted all argument against sheltering Joe's family at her Shinjuku home. Not even her parents had been able to change her mind. Joe could still remember the knowing looks that went around the hospital hall when that agreement was made. Tai could see it, Matt could see it, Yolei could see it, and Sora could most definitely see it a mile away. He'd been too stressed out to remember the faces of the parents but he was sure a handful of them were nodding to themselves.
"I'm a lucky guy." Some far off voice had told him as his family quietly moved into the Tachikawa family loft. Mimi kept shooting him aside glances he knew were aimed directly at him. Even through the arguing their fathers got into she kept giving him that special look that constantly asked the question, are you alright? Gomamon had taken almost every chance he could to poke fun at what he saw; Joe didn't stop him on the fact he needed something to take his mind off the current crisis. Joe would be lying if he didn't say he devoted a sizable amount of his mind to what he began to believe was a blooming relationship. "The world's coming apart at the seams and you're thinking of starting a relationship with one of your oldest, most trusted friends? Awesome way to stay focused Joe, remember that when something slips by you and it costs someone their life." He'd chided himself too many times.
Now as he sat on Mimi's bed, her head leaning on his Joe couldn't stop the pounding of his heart nor drown out the voice berating him in his head. In the corner Gomamon and Palmon were sharing a hastily constructed bed that was originally meant to be used by Palmon only. It was an odd yet slightly touching sight. Joe was very much in the position to do the same to Mimi, it was an added bonus she probably wouldn't mind it anyway. He had science on his side: it was cold thus snuggling would help conserve body heat, in case an attack came he would be by her side to protect her (Gomamon would have busted a digital gut laughing at that one), and lastly…well the last one wasn't scientific in the least bit. She willingly gave him permission to share her bed. The again, that wouldn't be a nice thing to say when morning came and they were seen in bed together. He'd managed to dodge that bullet by taking a spare futon obviously past its prime.
"If the world wasn't under imminent threat and I wasn't well...me, would I say yes to it?" The blue-haired teenager wondered peering at the sleeping beauty by his side. "I-I mean the stress is enough to stop me but…"
A jolt ran over his body when he felt Mimi take his hands in her. Immediately he could tell something was wrong with her, it was just an instinctual guess. "I'm sorry about putting you through this."
"W-What?"
Her eyes, her gorgeous brown eyes had the makings of tears in them. Without a word he reached over and wiped the first tears to fall. "The world's ending, we're trying to stop it, and here I am on the verge of confessing my feelings for you. Giving you something else to worry about." Before he could say anything Mimi had placed a hand on his cheek. "Just…let me talk first." "God didn't I swear my life wouldn't be a constant soap opera?" "Joe…I know you trust me and everything but…please don't think I'm a total airhead." His mouth opened and closed several times as he inwardly debated rather to make some kind of counter statement or not. He slumped back giving her the floor once again. "I've…liked you for a while. Ever since you came after me after we all split up during the fight against the Dark Masters I've known I could always trust you. After a while I realized it wasn't just that I trusted you but I really liked spending time with you no matter how short it was. It probably sounds stupid but…out of everyone I like being around you the most." In spite of the darkness Mimi could see the future doctor's face flush red and his mouth hang open. "Since this whole thing started I know you've been putting a lot of effort into keeping things running, including acting as a counsel to the other DigiDestined. Those are some of the things that I like about you." There was a short pause followed by a tightening of her shoulders. Something important was coming and she couldn't hold it back any longer. With what little courage she'd saved up Mimi leaned in close and pressed her lips against Joe's. Though the kiss lasted for barely more than a minute both of them pulled away feeling like a jolt of lightning had just struck them both. "I like you Joe, as in the romantic way and I…just want you to know that. I can understand if you don't-"
With a force Joe didn't know he had he pulled Mimi into a deep embrace that allowed him full access to every inch of her flowing brown hair. Something was burning in his chest just as it had been in Mimi's. She was right, they couldn't continue this little song and dance any further without it affecting their jobs as DigiDestined. "I'm sorry for that. For locking you out. That was stupid of me and I…need to focus on. Expect I've been focusing on the wrong thing." Pulling away he saw her troubled face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw their respective partners were still quietly snoozing leaving them free to express their feelings. "Mimi, you're right I have bene distracting myself thinking about you but it wasn't out of what you thought it was. It was because I didn't know if you…felt the same way I do, which you apparently do." He wanted to laugh but couldn't find the breath to. "I'm not gonna lie to you, I've been having a lot of things on my mind from the damage to Odaiba to whatever it is Daemon and Dagomon's next move is going to be, honestly I don't think I can go another day without exploding, but thanks to you I can."
At last the smile came to his face allowing Mimi the feeling of smiling as well.
"I've been worried about everyone's safety, but…yours has been pretty high on the list." Joe admitted scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't know if I can protect everyone but I do at least one thing; I want to protect you as much as possible." Joe desperately wished he'd had time to go over what he was supposed to say. There, both their feelings were out in the open, didn't change the facts they were still in the crosshairs of two megalomaniacs.
Judging by the look in Joe's eyes Mimi could tell he was over analyzing things again. She was going to have to see if she could do something about that one day, even though she found it insufferably cute. "Joe," the bearer of the Crest of Sincerity began. "I was worried I was being selfish again."
"I know but maybe that's what we all need right now." The glass wearing teenager mused resting his hands on her back. "Maybe…we're overexerting ourselves trying to save everything at once."
Wrapping both hands around his shoulders Mimi leaned in feeling the world around her fade away. Even if it was just for a moment she wanted to have this one instance of peace and love with Joe; who knows when she would need to draw upon the memory again. "There's at least two hundred other kids out there thinking the same thing we are."
"Exactly." Joe smiled. "So, if that's the case it we all try to save the little things around us,"
"We can end up saving everything else." Mimi finished smiling a little herself. She could see what Joe was getting at in her mind. A single ripple spreading over a body of water soon being joined by more ripples. "Have you made friends with any of the other DigiDestined?"
"A few who are like me, it helps I know some of them from the last time we all had to come together to save the world." He admitted.
"Any of them take a liking to you?"
Oh no, Joe instantly knew where Mimi was trying to steer the conversation and he was not going to let that happen. "None of them made the same kind of impact." He hissed hoping that would be enough.
His new girlfriend sadly didn't feel like letting that be the case. "And just what kind of impact did I have on you?" She questioned leaning in with a cat-likes smile.
"How about we just go to bed so we'll have some strength for tomorrow huh?" he offered feeling the heat rushing to his cheeks become too much to bare.
Joe hadn't realized the full meaning behind what he had just said until he heard Mimi's soft breath against his chest as the two of them lay side by side together. It wasn't too late to move away, yet Joe couldn't find the heart to tear himself away from the brunette. The truth came to him just as he felt his eyelids getting heavy. Outside of this barely decorated room was a harsh world with monsters lurking about. His ability to protect the beauty in his arms was limited but he'd do anything in his power to keep her as safe as possible.
"That's all I need," he thought burying his head in Mimi's curtain of hair. "Just give me the strength to protect this one little thing."
The new couple had about ten solid minutes' worth of sleep before both their partners were bolting upwards. Gomamon, despite his aquatic physiology moved with remarkable speed down the hallway towards one of the bathrooms. The sound of Marching Fishes attack shook nearly every sleeping person awake. Following the sound of the toilet breaking came a sharp hissing followed by the sound of explosions. Palmon had gone off in a different direction though similar results followed. Her partly terrified screams were what got the two teenagers out of bed and on their feet.
Shouting Gomamon's name they came to a sliding stop at the nearest bathroom. What they found was the Deep Saver locked in battle with a dark green serpent crawling its way through the toilet. A wrenching sound came from the shower, in a minute another serpent had appeared, immediately its deadly eyes fell on the pair. With a hiss it flew at them while Gomamon was preoccupied with its partner.
Throwing an arm out in front of Mimi Joe held up his Digivice. Blue and silver light exploded from the device halting the serpent in its tracks. It shrieked back with parts of its skin seemingly burning off. "Mimi! Go after Palmon! Do the exact same thing as I'm doing!" he shouted keeping the light focused on the snake.
Without missing a beat the girl ran off clinching her own Digivice tightly in hand. The more Joe pressed down on the snakes the more pain the light seemed to cause them. Gomamon seemed to have gained the upper hand on one of the snakes. In a move straight out of a nature documentary he tore the head off of the one he'd been fighting and moved to the other one. Behind them they heard a similar commotion going on. "Damn things are coming through the damn toilets and pummeling!" Joe realized focusing more of his mental power into his Digivice. A quick chill fell over the entire hallway that was followed by an intense burst of light from his Digivice. The snakes were gone, all of them, and some parts of the hallway as well as the remains of the bathroom were covered in bits of frost. Following a moment of awe he caught the fragrant scent of flowers rolling through the air. He immediately knew who was the cause of it, "Mimi!" he called moving around the corner. "They're coming up through the water ways!"
She told everyone to stay in their rooms while they handled things. It shocked both of them how quickly and how strong her voice had sounded. She didn't back away when she found a small pile of the damn snakes attempting to pile through the kitchen sink. In a dazzling display of greenish pink light they were gone. Mimi noticed something as she continued vaporizing the beasts, when they died she saw parts of data rising from their bodies before fading away into nothing. One way or the other these were digital creatures, no doubt sent by Dagomon.
All together it took them less than ten minutes to vanish all of the invading reptiles, the problem was they both knew what they'd just experienced was only a prelude. As Mimi tried to catch her breath Joe was trying and failing to contact the others. He pulled something up on his Digivice then cursed.
"Joe?" Mimi started growing worried.
"I can't reach the others so that means Dagomon's gone after them the same way he's gone after us." He deduced heading for the closet. "I'm going out to go find whatever is giving off this negativity, in the meantime you stay here and protect everyone."
Mimi was so stunned by how commanding Joe had sounded she almost forgot to stop him from going out the door. With a little bit of anger she caught his arm just before he could leave. "Joe! Are you insane! It's raining, God knows who's walking the streets, and you're planning on going after whatever's come after us by yourself!"
"At least let us go with you!" Palmon added staring intently at Gomamon. Unsurprisingly the marine Digimon refused to meet her eye. "Do you want to get deleted!"
Placing both hands on her shoulders Joe brought her in close. "I know it's stupid but someone needs to be here to make sure we both have families to come back to. I'm sorry but I've got to warn the others before it's too late."
Damn him, damn him and his newfound sense of bravery. Unable to hold it in Mimi threw herself into his arms. "You better come back okay?"
In a mirror of their partners the marine mammal and talking plant did the same. None of the four paid any mind to the staring eyes behind them.
Taking a deep breath Joe and Gomamon set out through the door hoping they would be able to make to their friends in time.
Matt had never wondered what it would be like to see Gabumon's Blue Blaster so close up. The experience was definitely going to stick with him well into his later years. The azure colored flames were hotter than anything he'd ever felt, and that was just a glancing blow. The entire side of the wall blew apart on impact while the snake doing its best to strangle him was howling in pain. It fell to the floor squirming before the flames completely overtook it. Watching the serpent burn Matt thought for a minute he was safe until he heard his Digivice beeping. He was dreading the monitor before his eyes even saw the four blinking red dots. Gabumon didn't need his partner to order him out for his animalistic senses already pointed him in the right direction. Matt knew his partner could handle himself, what he was worried about was his little brother.
Kicking the door open Matt was greeted to a horrifying sight. Patamon was on the ground doing his best to hold out against the green and black scaled viper doing its best to squeeze him until he piped like a balloon while T.K. desperately tried to free himself from a snake that could have passed for a boa constrictor. The creature's bright red eyes homed in on Matt temporarily freezing him in his place. It gave a brief hiss before hurling T.K. directly at him. Matt was thrown off his feet and into the wall catching his brother. He had less than a minute to reorient himself before the giant snake came at them again. Holding his wheezing brother in his arms he rolled over to the side just as the monster's jaws clapped down on the floor. Through the darkness he saw something black moving towards him; the next thing Matt knew his back felt like it had just been hit by a steel pipe. Something slithery wrapped around his waist before hurling him down the hallway leaving him tasting blood in his mouth.
There was another hiss followed by T.K.'s pained screaming. The constrictor hissed at Matt then fled the building via T.K.'s window's. Screaming in defiance Matt jumped to his feet and ran for the window only to be thrown back again by half a dozen tiny masses slamming into his body. The sharp pain piercing his body all over meant only one thing, their home had been invaded by snakes.
"T.K.!" Patamon cried still struggling to breathe. "Hang on Matt! I'm coming!"
Matt hated the feeling of his every move being restricted, more than that he probably hated how a few of the snakes seemed to be laughing. One of the damn serpents slithered across his chest to look him in the eye. Sick amusement danced in those red eyes; if he could have Matt would have strangled the serpent right there. Roaring in fury he struggled to move his body but it was no good. The snake reared its head back with its jaws poised to strike at his neck.
"NO!"
From Patamon's body came an explosion of light that resonated with T.K.'s Digivice which lay motionless on the floor by the bed. The viper that had been attempting to squeeze the life out of Patamon shrieked then it was nothing but a fading mass of data. At last free Patamon turned to face the mass of snakes restricting the older Ishida's movements.
"Sparklingly Air Shot!" He shouted firing a soccer ball sized sphere of shining light.
Matt braced himself for the hammer like blow he knew was coming. He felt the shimmering heat the light produced yet the hammer like impact never came. What Matt did feel was the air pushing against his wounded back. The snakes immobilizing him never got the chance to scream in pain, they were simply vaporized on the spot. Huffing Matt fell to the floor face first trying to regain control of his body.
"Matt? Matt? Please tell me you're alright." Patamon cried softly nudging.
"I'm…fine Patamon." He wheezed biting his cheek to keep the pain down. "G-Go after T.K., m-me and G-Gabumon will be right behind you."
The winged Rookie regarded him for a minute before grabbing his little brother's Digivice and flying out the shattered window.
"S-Shit! This sucks ass so much! I've got to warn the others but I can't even move my fingers!" No matter how hard he told his body to move nothing worked, his body was in lock-down, it didn't matter if it was from the snake's venom or not. Though his body was locked his senses were still functioning, he could hear the chaos erupting in the apartment beyond the tattered room. "Maybe I can get my voice will work." At least no one would be around to see him in such a compromising position. "Gabumon! Gabumon!"
He'd probably jinxed something because as soon as he took a minute to catch his breath he smelled smoke rising through the hallway. Heavy footsteps pounded against the floor and grew louder by the second.
"Matthew!" he heard his mother cry from behind him.
Immediately his father turned him over and began examining his wounds. "Took…T.K." he grounded out through his clenched teeth. "Just…let me…go…get him!"
Having grown used to his iron-willed determination neither parent said anything, they simply carried him into the kitchen with Gabumon informing him the building was safe. While his mother broke out all the medicine they had on hand Matt's father gave Gabumon the order to help Patamon find T.K. Digimon and human shared a knowing look between each other before the reptile-type Digimon was out the door.
At least his parents didn't tell him to stop cursing because Matt couldn't keep every curse word he knew from flowing out of his mouth. Half-way through he was pretty sure he'd woken up whoever wasn't awake with all his screaming.
According to his parents he passed out at least once for almost a twenty minutes. When he woke up he could at least move his arms again even though it hurt to do so. His eyes wondered all over the kitchen in an attempt to pass the time until he could get moving. What caught his eye was the increasingly distraught look on his father's face.
"The Kamiyas," he heard him explain to him. "-Kari. Tai's….down…now."
Matt's heart nearly exploded in his chest at the mention of Kari being taken. T.K. and Kari, hope and light, their trumpet cards against both the Daemon Corps and Dagomon's army.
"Why can't we ever catch a break?"
Tai couldn't recall the last time he'd felt this kind of terror seize him, if he did then he would have loved to have known how to deal with it. The fact he hadn't had a nervous breakdown already was something of a miracle itself. If his family's lives didn't depend on his ability to hold himself together he probably would be a sobbing mess.
Never in all his life did Tai think he'd be riding MetalGreymon to the Shinjuku Mitsui Building while entertaining the possibility of blowing it to pieces. He didn't stop to consider the fact the horde of snakes that broke into his home had carted his parents and sister off to one of the most well-known buildings in Shinjuku. He didn't care about the fact he was having his half-cyborg partner fly over Shinjuku in the middle of the night incurring a mass panic below. He didn't care that it was a very really possibility they'd be running into the JSDF within next the next minute. All that mattered to him was the fact his family had been taken from him and he was ready to do anything to get them back.
"Tell me you know where they are." Gatomon growled keeping her ferocious eyes trained on the approaching structure. "Give me a floor number, a name, something, anything." She said the last bit with a snarl.
Out of the three MetalGreymon was probably the calmest, which was funny considering his nature as a cyborg dinosaur. "They're on the fortieth floor." He responded still running a scan of the building. "I'm picking up large amounts of negative energy along with spatial tears that are still growing. You both know what that means right?" The mournful silence was all the answer the Ultimate needed. "This isn't the kind of thing we're suited for." The digital dinosaur growled. "It'll take Gatomon and Tai took long to get to Kari and their parents plus if Gatomon leaves Tai he'll be a sitting duck. On top of that," He regarded his metallic claw with a look of partial annoyance and dread. "I too damn bulky and tank-oriented for something delicate like this. What we need is WereGarurumon or even Lilymon." The computerized portion of his brain had already done the math; this wasn't going to end well. "Contact!"
What came at them was something MetalGreymon would have been able to avoid if he hadn't been so lost in thought. In the darkness of the night Gatomon might have been able to see it if her mind wasn't clouded by the fog of rage. Tai didn't see a thing expect for the bright flash that changed from purple to green in the blink of an eye. He didn't even have time to scream or order MetalGreymon to evade it. What he could do was grab hold of Gatomon and tell her to brace for impact.
"PRIMORDIAL SERPENT!"
The reptilian voice cut through the night air with the force of thunder. From behind the black glass of the Mitsui Building came the beast, a titanic ethereal snake screaming through the air. Countless windows shattered like the hinges of a door being kicked off.
There was no dramatic flash of lightning or rack of thunder when the beast slammed into MetalGreymon. When people looked up instead of lightning flashing in the sky they saw the outline of MetalGreymon's body come to a sudden stop followed by the ear-shattering sound of the Ultimate-level Digimon crying out in pain.
MetalGreymon fell like a meteor through the sky, smashing everything in his way to the ground. The brown-haired leader of the DigiDestined kept the Champion-level feline tucked in his arms to protect her as they fell from the dinosaur's back. Tai saw the ground getting closer and closer; this wasn't his first crash landing though he hoped it wouldn't be his last. Shutting his eyes shut he waited for the pain that was to come.
He was pretty sure he heard a bone crack when he hit the ground.
Gabumon froze in his place as he was in pursuit of the viper that had taken T.K. Both he and Patamon were running like madmen naked in the street disregarding the wide eyes they were getting from onlookers. Above him Patamon had stopped as well; his face held the same frozen terror his did. They looked at the ground sensing the rising vibrations that would soon rock the entire street.
They could hear the sound of rushing water.
By instinct Gabumon turned around in the direction he knew his partner was coming from. "MATT!" he roared into the cold spring night.
Moments later every sewer lid in sight was blasted hundreds of feet into the door being trailed by literal geysers. Hundreds of people shrieked back as the water continued gushing out with no end in sight. Then they felt the earth beneath their feet groan and crack like it was in pain. In seconds towering masses of coral and jagged black rock pierced the surface everywhere. Each came up with the force of a bullet tearing through whatever happened to be above ground. Around them came more spurts of water that quickly grew in size.
What happened next was hard for in lookers to describe; in the months following this catastrophe witness would describe hearing a solemn ringing in their ears, almost bell like in tone and volume. Around the street time seemed to slow to a near crawl.
Either from overhead or done below mist descended on Shinjuku. One minute mayhem was all the masses could see…and the next nothing.
Gabumon felt like he'd been rear-ended, his breath was caught in his throat leaving him hugging the ground. His prized fur which usually protected him against the harshest cold felt like it had been torn off of him. Digging into the concrete as the frostbite took hold of him prayed Matt was alright just as Patamon was praying T.K. was still alive. This paralysis of frostbite and pained silence was torture to Gabumon.
"Let it end! Please let it end! Let it END!"
It seemed like a lifetime had passed before he could move his arms. The bone-chilling cold still nipped at his body but now he could move through it. Gabumon tried sniffing the air before opening his eyes. To his despair he couldn't smell anything expect seawater which almost gleefully rushed into his nostrils. Snorting Gabumon pulled himself up with a howl.
Gabumon could only see ten feet in front of him and most of that wasn't much good. Every move he made sent out a ripple in the water surrounding him, it reached his stomach. A mixture of awe and horror danced in his eyes. "Azulongmon's lightning! Not more water!" "Patamon! Patamon! T.K.! Patamon! Matt! Matt! MATT!"
"GABUMON! GABUMON!"
Moving through the water was like trying to move through sludge, irritating and tiring. The two kept calling each other's names frantically until they saw the other's outline. Once they became visibly through the mist they quickly embraced.
"Please tell me you saw what the hell happened." Matt questioned tried to get a signal on his Digivice.
"Before the mist I saw every sewer lid get popped like a soda cap." Gabumon explained shaking his fur. "I'm not sure how but I think Dagomon used the subways and sewage tunnels."
"How could he do that?" Matt sneered not liking the idea.
"Do you think enough time's passed for them to close up all the tunnels leading to Odaiba? I get the feeling Dagomon's going to use every water way imaginable to get at us."
"QQQQQuuuuuitttte astute mutt." The reptilian voice cut through the mist like a knife through butter. "BBBBBBeee thhhhhhaaaat as iiiiiis may, yyyyyoooourr lives aaare still going to end here."
Gabumon got into a position to attack while Matt's body tensed. He didn't need enhanced hearing to know something was swimming around in the water. Something he suspected of being part man part reptile.
"What the hell are you?" he called into the waiting shadows.
"WWWWhhhhaaat am I?" the voice playfully replied splashing some water aside. "IIIIIffff you must know Matthew IIIII am many things." Before them a shadow appeared in the fog only to grow clearer as it moved towards them. The figure was somewhere between eight and twelve feet tall forcing Matt and Gabumon to crane their heads upward to see the owner of the malicious red eyes eyeing them like prey.
It seemed like a cobra like hood covered the top portion of the Digimon's body. Its humanoid upper body seemed fused with the hood while its lower half was an exactly like bottom of a snake's. It uncurled its arms giving them a view of the rotten DigiCode inscribed gold and shiny coral bands decorating the arms. The scaly humanoid body rose and fell with every breath the monstrosity took. Not just the arm bands and bracelets but even its body had red DigiCode either painted or covered into its constantly shifting flesh. Small spikes poked out of its body at critical points, specifically around areas that would be used for a body slam or such. The creature had no mouth, just a clawed mouth-guard were the mouth would have been that ominously complimented the reptilian red eyes the two were looking at. Above the head the equally predatory red eyes of the cobra hood glare venomously at them.
Never in either of their lives had Matt and Gabumon seen a Digimon so horrifying nor perplexing as this one.
"IIIIIIII aaaaammmmm Yigmon," the Digimon said with a bow. "AAAAnnnnddd I wwwwiiiilll be thhhhee one to deliver yyyou to death's sweet embrace."
Name: Yigmon
Level: Mega
Attribute: Virus
Description: Of all of Dagomon's servants there are very few as devoted or as cruel as Yigmon. It is said every serpentine beast that crawls through the net is his child. He is the Serpent King, the Lord of Snakes. If there is something that the Lord of the Dark Ocean must know it will be delivered from Yigmon's slithery lips. If there is a life that must be taken he will do so without mercy. If you want to know just how ruthless try surviving his Earth Rend Scale and Venom Strike attacks. Go ahead, go ask the others, oh wait, they aren't any that have survived an encounter with him.
The description of the beast wasn't what scared Matt, what scared him was looking into those predatory eyes. Gabumon felt the exact same way. They were mice, mice that had just ran into the snake that would be their executioner. The cold wind that seemed to have slacked off suddenly came back in full force.
"IIIII ccccaaan't say thhhhiiiiss isssnn't personal, yyyyou've committed a grievous affront against mmmmmeeee and mmmy master." Yigmon held up his hand and at his call a serpent slithered out of the water. It was wrapped around an unconscious T.K. and Patamon. Dumping the two in his hand Yigmon regarded the younger boy coldly. "YYYYYoooouuu ssshelteeer this…demon-this false profit! Such a sin is unforgivable! MMMMyyyy masttter hasss given mme the honor oooofff cleansing of the Earth offff this stain. YYY-"
The minute Yigmon had showed Matt and Gabumon T.K. and Patamon they'd broke the trace he'd put on them. Brotherly instinct, it was a force Yigmon couldn't understand. He couldn't understand how it gave the dirty blond the strength to look him in the eye with such a determined gaze. He couldn't understand why the water around Gabumon was suddenly freezing nor the look in the normally calm Digimon's eyes so feral.
Gabumon took one step forward, his posture was tense, ready to attack at the blink of an eye.
Matt's eyes heatedly locked with Yigmon's four red slits. "Over my dead body."
Yigmon gave the order, a dozen venomous snakes sprung from the water around Matt and Gabumon. Bright blue light erupted from his Digivice; it engulfed him and Gabumon in seconds. Yigmon saw a ferocious pair of eyes manifest through the light. A set of knife-like jaws were at the ready before the light faded.
SSSSNNNNNAAAAPPPP!
The Serpent King watched in slight shock as the half-frozen half shredded corpses of his children limply fell into the water. "IIIIII kkkknnnewww youuuu'ddd be a fighter. TTTTThhhhheeee ccccccaaaannninnesss always are."
From his place beside the snarling Garurumon Matt glared daggers at the Mega. "Give….me….back Patamon and my brother you disgusting freak."
She couldn't do anything, not even scream in pain or cry in despair. It only took one strike, one sting.
God how she wished she'd been faster.
Jun felt like she was a prisoner in her own body. Inside her mind she saw herself, lying helplessly on the ground while Onimon fiercely fought off Tosamon. He was holding his own despite the fact he'd been stung several times. "It may be able to kill humans but Onimon isn't human. He's too far beyond human and too damn stubborn to let something like poison stop him." How she wished that indomitable will and physical strength was with her now. All Jun could do was bang against the mental window ordering her body to move. What scared her most was how vividly she could picture her fear frozen face. She looked like a living corpse, a fresh one at that.
Maybe she should have been thankfully for the fact her mind was still operating while her body has shut down. Or did that make things worse? Would she fell the darkness of death slowly drag her away? Were all these thoughts just the last things her mind was able to focus on before her mental death followed her physical death?
No matter what she knew one thing, she didn't want to die like this.
Onimon knew he was going to end up getting deleted if he didn't do something fast. His body was barely holding off the tetrodotoxin, unless he found some quiet place to inject the anti-toxin then he was going to have a very painful retirement. "Four minutes." He realized parrying four lunges with lightning fast speed. The second factor was Jun; she had even less time than he did.
SWOOOSH!
CLISH!
He didn't care if it cost him an arm.
SWOOSH!
He'd give his body if it meant keeping the maroon haired girl alive.
CLISH!
He was going to save her!
CLISH!
He was not going to lose another friend!
"Worried about the girl?" Tosamon mocked letting her tentacles do most of the fighting for her. When she used her own two hands the jabs were much stronger, packed with more penetrating power. It excited her how even with her tetrodotoxin racing in his digital veins Onimon still found the strength to fight her off. "I cut back on the usual dosage so she should be able to hold on for at least another two minutes," the demonic creature giggled. "She's so interesting that I can't just outright kill her. Do you know how rare it is find people like her around her?" It amazed Tosamon how her statement failed to draw a reaction from her opponent. Surely he'd caught the underlying of her words.
Onimon saw both of her hands tense then flatten themselves. It was coming.
The tentacles fell back in a daze that hid the double handed thrust aimed at his stomach. The move would have been the end of him if he had been a second to slow.
He wasn't.
In a might bellow, his Oni's Roar, Tosamon was pushed back. He had thirty seconds, twirling Tetsuhono in a rapid circle he created a wheel of searing hellfire. Ten seconds to launch the attack, creating a field of burning flames. Six seconds to get to Jun. And the last fourteen to grab her and escape.
"Ah leaving so soon hunter?"
Reaching into one of his pockets he found what he needed. Onimon threw out a set of flash bombs. If any Nightmare Soldier looked directly into the flash they would have felt like their eyes were being burned out of their sockets, if a Virus looked into them they would have felt like they'd been poked in the eye with a poker.
The logically choice would have been to slow down, to stop and treat his own injuries, but Onimon wasn't thinking logically. No matter how hard it was he had to put some distance between them and Tosamon. If he could do that then they'd stand a chance of losing her. If they got lucky.
Ten meters out he heard her tearing through the forest, laughing that insane melody that would have given Devimon nightmares. Immediately Onimon realized her laugher was similar to his Oni's Bellow, a technique used to immobilize or push away an adversary. The iron-willed concentration that was being used to stave off the toxin in his body was now used to keep his legs moving.
"Don't think about it." Onimon chatted repeatedly. "Don't think about how your body is a hair's breath away from shutting down on you. Don't think about how if you slip up for one second you'll be in a hell that'll make you wish for deletion. Don't think about the fact your vision is starting to get darker than normal. Don't think about how your body is sounding every alarm for you stop."
THUMP!
His grip on his partner tightened. "Seventy-two seconds." He reached into another one of his pockets. This time he withdraw a bottle of dark liquid with pieces of broken data floating inside it. Wasting no time uncorking the bottle he let it go, spraying the liquid everywhere.
Almost instantaneously the corrupt data did the trick.
Onimon could almost feel the touch of Tosamon's tentacles wrapping around him when the first explosions came.
He didn't look back. The enraged screaming of the Virus type was almost enough to make him laugh.
The cave of branches and rock he found was far from ideal but it would work for now. Dropping Jun on the ground Onimon felt a lump form in his throat looking at her. Her skin was deathly pale with sickening veins running underneath it all over her body. It didn't take a genius observation to tell the girl was only just barely breathing.
Just as he was reaching into another one of his pouches Onimon's hands froze. "Damn it no! Not now! Not when we're so close!" With the adrenaline gone the neurotoxin was doing its best to overwhelm his body. "It's not over yet! MOVE!"
Every move was sheer agony to his already broken body. Transferring the anti-toxin into the syringe for injection, just moving his fingers was a chore. If he wasn't in such sheering agony Onimon might have pressed the needle into Jun with a little less force; instead he all but slammed it into her upper left chest, nearly breaking the syringe in the process. He had to wait a minute before his partner's body jerked. Onimon fake-breathed a sigh of relief.
Now all he had to do was cure himself.
Onimon didn't bother with an injection or anything technical; he gulfed down the entire vial hoping like hell his data was intact.
Ten seconds later he took the violent seizures as a yes.
Both human and Digimon lay in the cave, jerking from side to side as their bodies digested the anti-toxin doing battle inside of them. Given his physiology and fortitude Onimon had an easier time, Jun not so much. Through the coughing, muscle spasms, and thundering of his own heart he could still hear the horror that was Jun's body trying to accept the anti-toxin. Even worse, Onimon didn't need to see it or hear it, he could feel it.
There wasn't much left in his stomach to vomit but whatever was in there Onimon released it. His vision was blurry at best and his body felt like all the wiring had been rearranged; trying to move his left arm caused his right foot to twitch. There wasn't any more willpower left to force his body to work the way he wanted it to. Luckily there wasn't much a need for it.
CRICK!
"Just had to go and open my big mouth." He groaned reaching for his kanabo. "Six, no eight." The exhausted counted while getting on his feet. "Wonderful, my trap worked too damn well."
Outside the cave eight Infernmon waiting for him.
One of them made a step towards the cave Jun was still recovering in. It was going to take at least a day's worth of rest for her to recover from Tosamon's Violet Regret. Speaking bluntly Onimon knew he himself was going to be needing a few hours of rest in order for his body to recover.
But there was no time for that.
One of the Infernmon took a step forward only to retreat when Onimon snarled at it.
"I know what you guys are taking," he started lumbering into the light of the jungle. "We're weak, we're winded, we're sitting ducks. But you're wrong there." To get his point across he slammed his kanabo into the ground sending a wave of dust, water, and leaves everywhere. "We're not dead yet. If us you're going to have to drag us back to your master kicking and screaming."
The Infernmon that had retreated regarded Onimon with a cold glare. "That," it started in its unholy mechanical voice. "Is very fortunate."
"This is going to be a long ass day."
Special thanks to Keeper of Worlds for giving me the idea for Yigmon and LithoRosemon! The three-way battle on two worlds has begun and nothing can stop it! Mind screwing! City destroying! Loss! Heartache! Action! All to be included in the coming chapters : )
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