JD watched his cousin and friends' merging with their partners with heavy heart. All these times he had taken Agumon for granted; the dino was always there when he was itching for battle. Now he was on his own, and JD hated how useless he seemed to be now. He could only look as Aldiyamon Juara Mode, Xianamon and Samudramon emerging from the bursts of evolution light, before sailing towards the incoming villains.
As if their movements had already been coordinated, Samudramon went towards the Duskmon while Xianamon took to the skies where the Velgemon hovered over. Aldiyamon, being the only Mega, charged towards the dark knight, whom by now JD had identified as a viral Mega Digimon called ChaosGallantmon. Samudramon seemed to be having a relatively easy time drowning the Duskmon with his water blast – JD snorted, wondering why the generals had bothered sending the Duskmon when Samudramon was around, when those brutes' weakness was being drowned by water. Xianamon in the meantime was at first overwhelmed by the half dozen Velgemon, but soon rectified that by creating her duplicate, which in return, trashed the whole bunch of Velgemon.
It was the battle between Aldiyamon Juara Mode and ChaosGallantmon that had his utmost attention.
Damnit, he thought angrily, as the two Megas clashed swords. What the hell am I gonna do staying at the sidelines?
---
Their weapons clashed. It was now a battle of strength between the two Megas.
Aldiyamon didn't like this one bit. Physical match was one thing; he and ChaosGallantmon seemed to be at equal grounds. In fact, in terms of physical resemblance, if ChaosGallantmon would lose the cape and had white wings as well as white armor, they had an almost the same bodily semblances already. Heights and sizes, they were not much different.
Mental match however, was not something Aldiyamon had expected. As Adam, he was able to perceive emotions by physical contact, and at times when he was close enough he could sense intense emotions from others.
Now as Aldiyamon, he discovered that this ability had increased; which, he thought, was a distraction he did not need in this battle: ChaosGallantmon was practically blasting him with chaotic emotions, and Aldiyamon was taking it full on, no defenses raised. Just by looking into ChaosGallantmon's gleaming crimson eyes alone he was able to perceive various conflicting emotions, and they currently had their weapons pressed against each others'. Aldiyamon – or Adam and Patamon – had never suffered a headache such as this one.
It didn't help that ChaosGallantmon was not making this any easier. He needed to break the contact to catch his breaths, to sort out the raging emotions – failing to do so and the emotions would consume him. The dark knight was growling as he pushed his jousting lance down Aldiyamon's Heavenstar Gladius.
He teleported away, and the sudden loss of contact made ChaosGallantmon stumbled on his knees. He reappeared a distance away, but before he could sort out the emotions ChaosGallantmon had seen him. The dark knight got up and spun around, ready to charge towards him again. The way ChaosGallantmon was snarling, it was as if the Digimon had a personal vendetta against him. Aldiyamon prepared to defend himself – he couldn't be teleporting away forever.
But thick vines suddenly sprouted from the grounds and bound the dark knight, wrapped tightly around his body. A safe distance away, Aldiyamon saw Rosemon kneeling, her thorny vines planted into the crevices JD had created the previous night. Samudramon and Xianamon were currently engaged in the battle with the brutes; it didn't look like they were able to assist him anytime soon.
The emotions he was reading from ChaosGallantmon slowly became clearer.
Anger, thought Aldiyamon. No…Hate?
"What are you doing?!" demanded Rosemon. "I can't hold him off much longer!"
ChaosGallantmon snarled, and tore the vines as he got up, almost effortlessly. He turned to face Rosemon and pointed his shield towards her.
Fearing the worst, Aldiyamon teleported before them. Rosemon was protecting JD, Dina and Jackie; she couldn't possibly resist ChaosGallantmon's assault.
"Judecca Prison!" growled ChaosGallantmon. The shield responded by glowing with midnight-hued auras.
The attack looked strong. Thus, Aldiyamon released his Transcendent Purification just as a massive energy beam was shot from the shield. The two attacks met halfway and begun pushing away Aldiyamon slightly. Rosemon stepped forward, unleashing her Forbidden Temptation. The pink flowery energy blast streaked side by side with the pristine white beam, before slowly merging with it to form a pinkish-white combination attack that was strong enough to gradually push back ChaosGallantmon's shot. With a loud grunt, the two Megas exerted more power and their combined attack slammed onto ChaosGallantmon before both attacks dissolved into data.
"He's strong," panted Aldiyamon, as ChaosGallantmon fell on his back.
"No kidding," said Rosemon. "You better take care of him quickly – he's a dangerous opponent if he can hold his own against you."
"Right."
Aldiyamon took out his sword and floated towards the fallen ChaosGallantmon. He extended his sword hand towards the side, raising it up slightly as it sparked with white electricity.
"Heavenstar Slasher!"
He swung the sword horizontally, intending to create a trail of white energy blade, but to his surprise the sword seemed to freeze upon its own accord midway. The trail remained, but the sword became rigid. Or rather, it was his arm that had become rigid. Aldiyamon gasped; it was as if an invisible force had frozen his arm and his sword.
His headache intensified. The sword proceeded by jolting a thin streak of white energy towards his temple, and Aldiyamon gasped again. It wasn't painful, but had surprised him. He gazed down towards ChaosGallantmon, for a moment thinking that the dark knight could be behind this, but aside from having gotten up the knight did nothing else. He looked at his sword, and it glowed at him once before powering down. The strange rigidity had been lifted; he could now lower his arm to his side. Then he grunted; the sides of his head throbbed, but not of pain, though they were as intense.
The emotions that raged within him, and within ChaosGallantmon, were true to his namesake. They were chaotic, like the tidal waves during an ocean thunderstorm. But Aldiyamon now realized that hate and anger were only feelings that were superficial, in his enemy's case. Something else threatened to emerge from underneath those emotions, and with the jolt from his sword Aldiyamon was able to delve deeper – involuntarily. It seemed that his sword had detected something wrong with ChaosGallantmon and was determined that its master must be made known about it. Now, having passed the superficial feelings, Aldiyamon gasped as a horrible realization set in his mind.
ChaosGallantmon was feeling sorrow, anguished. And that was because he was in pain.
Underneath ChaosGallantmon's armors, there was something that screamed wrong about him. Closing his eyes, letting his heart and mind guide his action instead of common sense, Aldiyamon pictured ChaosGallantmon in his mind. Slowly the image of the dark knight distorted, replaced with a smaller, warmer, familiar presence. He opened his eyes again, his mouth half-opened in a mixture of horrified and amazement as ChaosGallantmon snarled, pointing his lance towards Aldiyamon.
Aldiyamon didn't have the heart to resist. He only held his sword up for defensive measure, pleading, "Agumon! No!"
xxx
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WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 62 – Duke of Hazard
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"What?"
JD froze upon hearing Aldiyamon's yell. He swore when ChaosGallantmon slammed his lance upon Aldiyamon, who was barely defending himself with his sword. The angelic knight was thrown onto the ground, and ChaosGallantmon charged towards him. Agumon? It can't be…
"Agumon! Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" shouted Aldiyamon.
"I know what I'm doing!" ChaosGallantmon shouted back.
It was the first time the Mega had spoken, JD noted, as the Mega pointed his lance on Aldiyamon's supine form. He thought that the Digimon sounded enraged, but there was something else underlying the rage. It sounded as if ChaosGallantmon was in pain.
"And that is to destroy you!" ChaosGallantmon continued, snarling like a vicious animal.
"Agumon, please. We're your friends!"
Aldiyamon managed to raise his body up, but couldn't move further as the tip of ChaosGallantmon's lance was held dangerously close to his chest. He inched away – one move forward and the lance would stab his heart.
"I don't have friends!" ChaosGallantmon's lance sparked with black thunder.
Why is he saying that this freak show is Agumon? JD wondered, and approached the two Megas. JD didn't know whether to believe Aldiyamon or not, but there was no reason for Aldiyamon to lie.
"That's not true," said Aldiyamon. "We're your friends…don't you remember? What of Josh? What of him, Agumon? Surely you must remember him?"
ChaosGallantmon screamed. "LIES! All lies! Demon's Disaster!"
Aldiyamon teleported away as the black stream of lightning blasted the ground. The ensuing explosion created a small crater with smokes erupting from within it. JD was forced to cover his eyes, but saw a stream of light slamming upon ChaosGallantmon, pushing him away. The dark knight's roar was heard.
"Agumon, please listen," Aldiyamon continued to plead. "I don't want to hurt you." He stopped firing.
ChaosGallantmon took a moment to gather back his bearing. Then with a snarl he released a stream of Judecca Prison blast upon Aldiyamon, intercepted in the nick of time by Aldiyamon's Transcendent Purification. ChaosGallantmon's eyes flashed and the intensity of his attack grew. Aldiyamon was forced to kneel as the power pushed him down, hands now over his head. But then swirls of light spiraled around the dark blast and condensed the blast into a pearly white sphere, only to be unleashed as a burst of harsh daylight towards ChaosGallantmon. The dark knight was sent crashing onto the ground, and Aldiyamon breathlessly stood back up.
"Aldiyamon!" JD approached the angelic knight, looking at him strangely. "Is it true?" he demanded. "Is that," he pointed towards the fallen ChaosGallantmon, "Agumon?"
Aldiyamon nodded. "It's him. I'm sure."
JD frowned. "How do you know that it's him?"
"I…I sensed Agumon, inside ChaosGallantmon. Josh, he's in pain." Aldiyamon's look darkened, which was saying something since he was a being of light. "Josh, I think, he's dark digivolved! Like Patamon did, back at the Shadow Realm, into Black Knightmon. And like how I did once, when battling VenomDevimon. It's the same thing."
"Damn…" JD cast a look towards ChaosGallantmon, believing Aldiyamon instantly. He would know, JD thought. I bet that bitch's behind this.
"I'm trying to talk some sense into him, but he's not making it easy," said Aldiyamon.
"No," said JD resolutely. "If he's Agumon, then I'll talk to him. He'll listen to me."
"Are you nuts? He will kill you!"
"No, he won't. Agumon won't harm me. I know it."
"But…"
"Besides," JD cut in. "Whatever you've tried to do, doesn't seem to work. I'm his partner, let me talk to him. He'll come 'round."
Aldiyamon sighed. "Fine. But I'll bring you to him."
"Fine by me."
An explosion overhead, followed by the sound of defeated squawks, told them that Xianamon had successfully taken cared of the Velgemon. Then, a distance away, JD saw Samudramon blasting two Duskmon – two remaining Duskmon, from the looks of it – with a combination of water and thunder powers. The Duskmon didn't stand a chance. The two Wira Digital then made their way towards him as he settled on Aldiyamon's forearm.
"Listen," said Aldiyamon, "ChaosGallantmon is Agumon, and we're going to try to talk some senses to him. We need you to back us up."
Xianamon and Samudramon were clearly perplexed.
Expectably, Xianamon asked, "How do you know that ChaosGallantmon is Agumon?"
"I…sensed it. It's really him. My sword refused to be used against ChaosGallantmon."
"Didn't it also attack you back?" asked JD, remembering how the Heavenstar Gladius jolted Aldiyamon with a small white thunderbolt. He inclined his head up slightly while adjusting himself on Aldiyamon's armored arm, which wasn't exactly the most comfortable spot he had ever sat on.Who in the world sat on people's arms, anyway? He thought, before finally settling on a horseback-ride kind of position on Aldiyamon's forearm. Aldiyamon wasn't exactly a giant, but at almost three meters tall, his arm was big enough for JD to sit on.
"That, too," said Aldiyamon grimly. "Actually, that's how I managed…to sense Agumon." He cast a look towards the fallen ChaosGallantmon, who was barely moving.
"What do you mean, you sensed Agumon?" asked Samudramon.
"I don't know. It's just…all of a sudden I was feeling what he's felt."
"We're wasting time," grumbled JD. "If that's my partner out there, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to bring him back."
The Wira Digital approached ChaosGallantmon, who was still lying in supine position. His armors had faint smokes rising, and they were heavily damaged. His lance was several feet away, but his shield remained with him. Black spaces were seen where the eyes were supposed to be; the Mega must be closing his eyes at the moment.
JD hopped down, and went to ChaosGallantmon's side. "Agumon?"
No response. He tried shaking ChaosGallantmon's shoulder, but the armors were too heavy that he could barely move it.
Then, a groan was heard. ChaosGallantmon's eyes opened, and for a moment JD saw the familiar green eyes of Agumon, confirming Aldiyamon's claim, before they flashed with blood red hues. The groan turned into a snarl, and the snarl became a furious growl. With one flex of the arm in an attempt to get up, ChaosGallantmon threw him off his feet. JD stumbled to get up, but his eyes widened when ChaosGallantmon had pointed his glowing shield towards him.
"NO!" Aldiyamon's panicked yell teleported JD away.
Xianamon and Samudramon both unleashed their most potent techniques, but they were no match to ChaosGallantmon. The dark knight's attack easily tore through their attacks and sent them crashing onto the ground.
Aldiyamon was about to attack, but was halted when JD ran past him. "Josh, no!"
He had seen the proof he needed. ChaosGallantmon was indeed Agumon – right when he saw those green eyes when ChaosGallantmon woke up, he knew. Anger flared within him, thinking of what Persiamon had done to his partner, and the anger manifested into a crimson flare in his fist. He leaped high up, straight towards ChaosGallantmon's free arm as the dark knight attempted to attack Aldiyamon, and delivered a rock-hard punch. The contact sent a stunning electricity blast upon ChaosGallantmon, causing the dark knight's arm to spasm. He pulled back, landing back on the ground, crouching to steady himself, as his fist dimmed.
"Agumon…" His heart ached, but not because of the curse. He was saddened to see his partner in this state. What can I do?
ChaosGallantmon snarled, his attention fixed towards JD. JD saw this and stood his ground, once more energizing one fist with his psionic power, and the other with his flames. If talking wouldn't stir his partner, he thought, then perhaps some tough love would.
But when ChaosGallantmon raised his shield to attack, he was blasted away by Aldiyamon's light wave. It deterred him, but was not strong enough to push him away. Snarling, he used his shield to block the attack.
JD took the opportunity to deliver another well-aimed punch towards ChaosGallantmon's shoulder. "Agumon! Snap out of this!" He pulled away, and sent a torrent of flames towards ChaosGallantmon, catching his cape and set it ablaze. It was enough to distract ChaosGallantmon. "Agumon…"
"You'll pay for that!" ChaosGallantmon snarled, and pointed his shield towards JD.
JD proceeded by charging towards the shield and gave his all by punching it with his energized fist. It had taken ChaosGallantmon by surprise, and as the result both of them were sent tumbling down. JD quickly climbed up the knight's body, and glared into ChaosGallantmon's eyes as he secured both hands on the knight's pauldrons.
"Now you're gonna listen to me, and you're gonna listen good!" he panted. "You're Agumon! You're my partner!" JD shook ChaosGallantmon with all his might. "Come on, shake it off, Agumon!" His chest heaved as sweat trickled down his forehead and cheeks. "You told me that you cared for me! I say bullshit! You're attacking me, and you're attacking your friends! If you really do care for us, then PROVE IT!!"
He punched ChaosGallantmon's helmed face, eliciting a groan from the dark knight. "Prove it, Agumon. I've told you, I care for you too."
The red flare from ChaosGallantmon's eyes dimmed into a familiar green tone. They appeared confused at first, before ChaosGallantmon grunted painfully and the red flare resumed their dominance.
"You…you're lying to me!" ChaosGallantmon spat. "I know the truth!"
"What truth? What truth, Agumon?!"
"You're just using me," accused ChaosGallantmon. "You're just using me…to get rid of the curse! You wanted me to take the curse, so that I'll die in your place!" He let out an animalistic growl. "I cared for you, and in the end you just wanted me to die!"
"That's bullshit, Agumon!" JD punched ChaosGallantmon on the helm once more. This time, his eyes burned too. He realized now what was causing Agumon's dark digivolution. It seemed to be so much like a hate spell, like the one he had been inflicted by Karatenmon, and it pained him greatly. A hate spell would need something for it to draw upon. His heart raced. His temple throbbed. He blinked back tears and shook ChaosGallantmon again.
"I never wanted you to die in my place! Never! You knew that!"
His breath caught up to him, and he cast a look across his shoulder. Aldiyamon stared at them, looking horrified.
"You think I'm expendable," said ChaosGallantmon, as he followed JD's gaze. "Not like your little cousin over there. Him, you're so afraid that he's going to take the curse in your place that you're doing what you can to stop him from knowing!" ChaosGallantmon chuckled darkly. "Well, guess what? Now he knows. What are you going to do?"
JD let out a snarl and punched ChaosGallantmon once more.
"Agumon, what's gotten into you?!" he demanded. "I never wanted ANYONE to die in my place. Not you, not Adam, not anyone!"
"Liar!" ChaosGallantmon raised his body up and slammed his fist onto JD's chest, sending him flying.
JD found himself teleported into Aldiyamon's arm, cradled close to his body. He saw the angel drawing out his sword. He choked out blood; an unimaginable pain shot up from his chest. It wasn't the curse; JD knew that his ribs were probably fractured due to ChaosGallantmon's punch. He didn't know for sure, but the pain made it seemed very likely.
"Adam," he choked out, calling Aldiyamon by his human half's name. "Save him, but don't kill him."
"I won't," said Aldiyamon, his expression grim. JD noted that the angel's voice quivered, and knew that Aldiyamon had overheard the entire thing about the curse. "I'll try everything I can, and I won't kill him. Don't worry. You just hang on. I won't kill him."
"How about if I," said ChaosGallantmon, in a very eerily calm voice as he picked up his lance. He then pointed it towards Aldiyamon and JD. "Kill you?"
ChaosGallantmon's whole body radiated with dark aura, and even the sky darkened as black lightning crackled around his lance. He appeared to be channeling all his power into his lance to deliver one fatal shot towards the ones he'd deemed his enemies. "Goodbye, partner," he said, and the lightning focused towards the lance's tip."Demon's Disaster!"
Aldiyamon crouched down, protecting JD as he held his glowing sword forward. The blast from ChaosGallantmon's lance slammed upon the sword, which glimmered with silvery white light even brighter than before, before the beam was deflected back towards ChaosGallantmon, right towards the center of his chest. A sickening tearing sound was heard, like broken metal and ripped flesh.
Everything seemed to happen in a slow motion afterwards. ChaosGallantmon let out a shocked yelp before he fell to his knees, lance and shield discarded onto the ground before both weapons dissolved into data. His armors were next, and the tattered remains of his cape followed. A glaring hole had formed in the middle of his body, and data and digital blood poured out from it as ChaosGallantmon fell facedown. And the red eyes, they had turned back into green – the shade of Agumon's eyes.
"Agumon!" howled JD, as Aldiyamon flew towards the fallen dark knight.
The dying ChaosGallantmon inclined his head towards JD, and the green eyes watered. "Josh…I'm sorry."
Before anybody could say anything, ChaosGallantmon – Agumon – exploded into data particles. JD's anguished howl echoed all over the Green Meadow.
"AGUMON!!"
---
This can't be, thought Aldiyamon, feeling rage and sorrow flowing into him. He now understood why; ChaosGallantmon had spat out that JD was dying. He couldn't believe it, and now he knew why he was getting these emotions from JD. Hearing JD's howl further enforced his own sadness.
Agumon…He thought sadly, thinking of what ChaosGallantmon had accused JD – the Digimon seemed to believe that JD wanted to make Agumon take the curse. That's not possible. Josh won't make him do that, he thought. He looked up at the soaring data particles, and silently prayed for anything that he could do to help JD.
Adam…Patamon…Aldiyamon!
Agumon? Aldiyamon gasped. Someone was calling him, and it sounded like Agumon. He closed his eyes, and a mental image of Agumon appeared in his mind. The image was blurry, very transparent, but he could make out the dino's features: the orange scales, the sharp claws, and the vivid green eyes. From Agumon, he felt a rush of emotion – determination, a strong determination – flooding him.
Save Agumon, the dying TobuCatmon had implored.
That goes without saying, Patamon had replied.
Save Agumon, but don't kill him, JD had requested.
Help me, now pleaded the Agumon-image. I don't want to leave Josh…not like this. Please!How? Aldiyamon raised his hand, without knowing exactly what he was doing. Light orbs erupted from his hand, going after ChaosGallantmon's data particles which had spread all around the meadow. He didn't open his eyes despite the gasps he heard from the others. Gradually he felt drained, as if the power was leaving him. He could feel his chest constricting, as well as something warm trickling out from his nose. A rusty smell – blood?
Yet, the mental image of Agumon was slowly becoming clearer, more opaque. He saw Agumon smiling.
Thank you…
"Adam! Adam!"
He weakly opened his eyes, and saw that he had dedigivolved. He was laying facedown, his cousin beside him, unable to get up. Patamon was somewhere on his back; he could feel soft, even breaths from his partner.
And from the corner of his eyes, by his right hand, Adam saw a sphere of white light which dissipated, revealing a DigiEgg.
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"How?" Persiamon blinked in disbelief. "How did he do that?"
She and Lucemon had been watching the entire battle from a distance, hovering within the clouds. They had just seen Aldiyamon reconfiguring the deleted ChaosGallantmon back into his DigiEgg form. Persiamon had wanted to absorb the dark knight's data into the sphere, similar to what she'd done to Medieval Gallantmon, but the light orbs from Aldiyamon had retrieved every one bit of them.
Just a few hours ago, they had managed to successfully fuse in the data of Medieval Gallantmon into Agumon. With his psychic power Lucemon had manipulated the anxiety Agumon was experiencing, twisting it to his whim. They had made Agumon feel that his partner wanted him to die in his place, while suppressing all the good memories Agumon had about JD using a series of psychic barriers. Using Medieval Gallantmon's data, Agumon was able to dark warp-digivolve into ChaosGallantmon, further enhancing his twisted persona.
It shouldn't be possible for the Wira Digital to recover Agumon. ChaosGallantmon was sent to destroy the Wira Digital, and if he was killed in the process than his scattered data would be used by Lucemon and Persiamon to add to their own. They had not expected Aldiyamon to be able to weave the data back into a DigiEgg form; such ability was extremely rare for Digimon.
"This is interesting," said Lucemon. "I've never seen such an amazing development of power in such short time!"
"Amazing?" snorted Persiamon.
"Yes, indeed," said Lucemon. "I suspect…this is because of his new psychic power – the power of empathy."
"The power to feel emotions?" Persiamon snorted again. "How does by feeling other people's emotions make him able to reconfigure deleted Digimon?"
"That, my dear feline friend, is attributed to his other power: teleportation," explained Lucemon. "Teleportation or empathy alone cannot achieve such feat that Aldiyamon has just demonstrated. But together, by using both powers together…" Lucemon's face darkened. "He can do wonders."
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JD leaned back against the wooden chair, gazing upon his sleeping cousin silently. A dull pain crept on his chest; Dr. Abu had mentioned that two ribs had gotten fractured, but the Saintly Siblings had quickly intercepted him, casting their healing power on him. The ribs had mended, proven by the X-Ray examination that Dr. Abu had insisted on him taking the previous day. As a result, that day alone, Dr. Abu, his cousin Alisha, their partners, as well as Adam and Patamon, and also Dina who had been there, had been made known about the curse on him.
He had been here since morning. Without anyone from his house knowing, that morning he had gone to his cousins' apartment instead of school. Alisha had been apprehensive at first, but knowing that he was recovering from ribs fracture and that he was cursed, she soon relented and allowed him to be there. He hadn't returned to his house yet, spending most of his time in Adam's room. He had a feeling that once Adam had woken up, the boy would want some explanation of what ChaosGallantmon – Agumon – had mentioned the previous day.
His eyes went towards the clock. It read 4.00 P.M.
Adam stirred. Tokomon, who was sleeping beside him, murmured something incomprehensible.
Then, Adam's eyes fluttered open. He stared at the spinning fan, before groaning softly.
"Hey, sleepyhead," said JD, smiling slightly. His cousin didn't seem to have noticed him.
Rubbing sleep off his eyes, Adam slowly turned to look at him. JD noticed how pale Adam was; already fair, Adam now looked almost bone white. The boy frowned at him.
"Someone's unhappy to see me," teased JD.
"No, it's not that," said Adam quickly, alarmed. "It's just that…I expected us to be at the Green Meadow."
"That was yesterday." JD waited, and saw a shocked expression dawning on his cousin's face. He went on to sit by the edge of Adam's bed.
"Yesterday?" The way he asked it, it was as if Adam was trying to determine whether JD was pulling his leg or not.
"Yeah, you got knocked out for a day. Kak Lisha almost flipped when we brought you back, unconscious."
"You…" Adam seemed to be trying to remember the details of the battle. "You were injured. I remember. Are you ok?"
"Don't worry about me. Salamon and Gatomon fixed me up in no time. My ribs got fractured, but they've now mended, thanks to those two."
"And Agumon?"
He smiled grimly. "He's reconfigured into a DigiEgg, which according to Jackie, is the best outcome we could hope for from his corrupted digivolution, and the fact that he got blasted with his own fatal attack." He tapped his Juara Digivice, which was clipped on his Bermuda shorts. "He's inside. I don't know when he's gonna hatch. Soon, hopefully."
"Thank God," murmured Adam, his gaze fell on Tokomon. "When Patamon and the Saintly Siblings were reconfigured, it took them a day to hatch. And that was with Ophanimon's power boost…"
"Don't worry about that now," said JD, clasping his cousin's shoulder. "Agumon is safe thanks to you. So…thanks, cuz. I know it must have strained you and Patamon a lot. I seldom see our partners dedigivolving to In-Trainings nowadays."
"It's okay," said Adam. "Anyway it's worth it. I'm just glad that Agumon will be alright."
JD scratched his chin. "I never knew Aldiyamon could reconfigure deleted Digimon."
"I didn't know, too," said Adam. "I thought I heard Agumon then, but I don't know…it's all seemed so surreal."
JD smirked. He decided to tell Adam what he had managed to discover just this morning. Jackie had dropped by that morning, concerned that both JD and Adam didn't turn up at school. It was lucky that their mentor had decided to come by the apartment first instead of his house. JD had taken the opportunity to ask Jackie several questions, most of them regarding Adam. Jackie was able to provide him some answers.
"Jackie told me that you might have a new power of your own. You've been saying a lot about sensing trouble lately, I thought I'd ask Jackie about it."
"What did he tell you?" asked Adam.
"He said that you might have telepathy, or empathy. It could be either one. Or both."
Adam frowned. "What is empathy?"
"Emotions sensing," said JD, gazing at his cousin. "Personally, I think that's what you're having. I've thought about it, and I've been watching you closely since the night TobuCatmon…" His gaze fell on his hand, which he had purposely placed on Adam's shoulder. Jackie had his theory, and now JD was trying to prove it. "Anyway, if I'm right, you should be feeling what I'm feeling right now?"
Adam nodded slowly. "I've been getting these emotions from you lately," he admitted. "Anger, mostly. Sad too…dread…" He blinked, and looked back at him with a searching gaze. "Josh, ChaosGallantmon said something yesterday…"
JD sighed. "No point keeping this from you anymore." He took his shirt off, and Adam recoiled upon the sight of what was imprinted on his chest.
"Josh…what…what's that?"
"The Blight of Bastet," said JD darkly. "Persiamon gave me this when you were hospitalized, about a month ago."
"You've got this for a month now?" Adam now looked alarmed. "How come…how come I didn't notice? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't notice because I didn't want anybody to know about this," said JD, as Adam peered to look at the tattoo closer. "Ever seen me take off my shirt in front of anyone after you got back from the hospital?"
Adam looked thoughtful for a moment, before shaking his head. "I never really thought about that…"
"I learned about the tattoo's effect when I went to see TobuCatmon and the three ladies," said JD. "Rosemon said that the tattoo is something like a poison. Ophanimon couldn't purge it with her powers…she was even blasted away when she tried to do so." He decided to keep out about D'Arcmon's premonition about the tattoo. "TobuCatmon's healing potions couldn't take it off either."
"This tattoo is the one that's been giving you those pains," noted Adam slowly.
"When I exert myself too much, yeah," JD nodded. "But that's not all it's been giving. I'd be happy with only pains."
Adam didn't say anything, but it was clear that he was tensed.
He gazed straight into his cousin's dark gray eyes. "Adam, the tattoo is a death curse. I knew about it when you, Liu Ying and Gayathri went back to the past. Persiamon told me, at that time…" He saw Adam trembled; the boy was in tune with his emotions now, JD suspected, with them being so close. "This curse would kill me."
Adam gasped loudly. "Kill…you?"
"Hang Tuah helped by making me not feel the pain with some kind of psychic healing power, but he couldn't purge it completely," continued JD. "For a while, the pain's gone. Unfortunately, Persiamon seemed to know about it and sent that Magnadramon, who managed to cancel out Tuah's magic on it. The pain returned."
"Isn't there a way…any way…?"
"To get rid of it?" JD asked, nodding. "There is one way. Manny found out about it when he went to that alternate dimension. The Persiamon there told him about it." He stopped. This was where it got tricky. He had relented to Manny and Liu Ying's wishes for him to inform the other DigiWira about the tattoo, but he wouldn't risk anybody's life by telling them how exactly it could be cured. As long as he left out the details about the conditions for the curse to be healed, Adam and everyone else would be safe.
"Josh?"
"Another person could take the tattoo," said JD grimly. "But that person would die in my place. I won't let anybody do that." He gazed at his cousin, waiting for his reaction. The boy was staring towards the blanket; it was hard to determine what Adam was feeling. When he looked up, JD saw his eyes shining.
But before he could do anything, Adam pointed his hand towards the tattoo, and bellowed, "Tattoo!"
"Adam, no!" But it was too late. The light orbs swirled around his chest, apparently trying to gauge out the tattoo. However, the eyes on the black cat suddenly lit up and it blinked out a blinding crimson light which turned the light orbs into data bytes. Adam's extended hand was slapped away by an invisible force. And worse, it gave him the pains. He clutched his chest and let out a pained growl.
"Oh, no…Josh! Are you…"
"Fine." JD took a deep breath, closing his eyes, letting the pain subside. He was sweating profusely due to his attempt to resist the pain. "Any attempt on the tattoo would either backfire, or as I learned today…give me the pains. So don't try that again," he said with a low hiss.
"I'm so sorry," whispered Adam, his tone fearful.
"Don't be. It's not your fault." The pain was gone. "I'm ok now."
"But…how long…how much time do you have left?" Adam's voice croaked as he asked this.
JD sighed. This was the hardest part. He couldn't bear to say how little time he had left. But Adam deserved to know about this one fact.
"A week after this Sunday. Next Sunday, when the next full moon wanes," he said softly. He pulled his shirt back on, and then gazed back at his cousin, who looked extremely miserable. Adam looked at him, and made a slight move towards him before stopping himself short. JD opened one arm, and pulled his cousin into a half-embrace. His heart ached when he saw Adam struggling not to shed any tear, and at the same time failing. The boy's mouth was knitted thin, yet it twitched so often.
"That's why you made me promise, isn't it?" asked Adam, pulling away, wiping a tear carelessly with his hand. "Back when I was moving out your room."
JD nodded once, still not tearing his gaze away from his cousin's eyes.
"And yesterday, ChaosGallantmon mentioned that you're scared that I'd know about this."
He nodded again. "I was only trying to protect you."
"How does by not knowing this will protect me, Josh?"
"Adam…I just wanted you to not worry about me."
"But I'm already worried, even before I knew about this," said Adam, sounding frustrated now as a tear fell from his face. "You have been acting really strange. You were back being dark and brooding. And worse, you hid it from me, but everyone other than me saw you brooding while at school. My classmates mentioned about this a few times, and every time, I feel bad not knowing why."
"I had no idea you felt bad about that," murmured JD, guiltily. "I thought I was doing a good job hiding it from you."
"Well, you didn't! In fact, you sucked real badly about it." A choked sob now escaped Adam. "I thought we're like brothers? Aren't brothers supposed to share any burden, any trouble… any secrets…"
"Adam…" He sighed, not knowing what else to say. He would've smiled upon hearing his terminology being used by his cousin, and how fitting it was, if not given the situation.
"I understand why you kept this from me," murmured Adam, now clasping his hand. "But I'd rather know about this. I'd never forgive myself if you die and I didn't know about the reason."
He patted the boy's hand. "I know, Adam. I know. And I'm sorry, okay?"
Silence. Adam's tears had dried, but he was fixing a gaze towards the wall. JD wondered what he was thinking. He saw the boy's eyebrows knitted together, and frowned. How he wished that his new psychic-based power would allow him to delve into Adam's mind instead of giving him the psycho-blast ability.
"Adam, now that you know…" He waited until Adam looked back at him. "Remember your promise. Don't do anything foolish."
Adam didn't reply. The fact that Adam's eyes had become cold didn't go amiss by him. Adam's face was calm, but JD knew his cousin better than that. The usually mirthful eyes had turned stormy once more. He had seen it before – it was during the day when he was still evil. That was the look Adam gave him after he revealed his betrayal to the boy, that he was the evil ShadoWira. Although this look was not directed towards him now, JD had a sinking feeling that Adam didn't take the news well.
"Adam. Promise me again. Don't do anything foolish."
Adam blinked. The dark look on his face evaporated. "I won't, Josh. Don't worry."
Somehow, JD didn't believe him.