Consequences

Part three of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma

Disclaimer: I do not own, or pretend to own, Digimon Savers or any of its subsequent characters, plots or other ideas. That right belongs solely to Bandai and Toei Animation. The only thing that belongs to me here is the concept for the story.

Not long after Tohma had finished with Masaru's treatments, Agumon poked his head into the cave. Seeing that his partner had been moved, and that Tohma was cleaning up, he asked anxiously, "Is Boss all better now? How come you're not doing anything anymore, Tohma? He's not...Boss isn't..."

"He's alive," Tohma assured quietly, "But there's nothing else I can do for him now. At this point it's up to him, and luck."

Agumon did not look happy at this announcement, and stepped fully into the cave, trotting towards his human. "But Boss is strong right? He's stronger than normal humans. He won't die. Bosses don't die on their followers."

Tohma felt like snarling that it was only in stories things worked out like that, and whatever 'spirit' or 'duty' Agumon and Masaru believed in together had no say in real life. But that wouldn't help matters any. With Masaru in such a dangerous predicament, it was absolutely vital that Tohma remain calm and in control for the duration of their stay in the Digital World, until a Gateway could be opened for them. Already, his composure was the major component in holding the group together; otherwise they were an exhausted, frightened, anxious group, tired from the things they had endured and sick with worry over the dangerously injured state of their friend. They needed somebody to look towards to keep themselves as calm as they were able, or panic would set in. If that happened Masaru would be lost for sure, and absolutely none of them would ever forgive themselves.

So he held his tongue, bit back the frustrated words born from his own anxiety, his own concern that maybe he hadn't done enough, and that if Masaru got significantly worse or died, that it would be his fault. Instead he said, "I don't know, Agumon. He might have a better chance than most, but it's impossible to say in these conditions."

Agumon seemed to wilt at the answer. Tohma felt sorry for the poor digimon, but knew better than to sugar-coat his words. He'd learned very early on, when he'd first started working towards his medical license, that it was vital not to lie to his patients or their families. It might give them hope for a short period of time, but that hope could inevitably be dashed when things went sour, and having that hope violently torn free was more painful than simply getting the bad news from the start. Seeing Agumon anxious for his partner wasn't a pretty sight, but it would be worse to give him false hope, and then force him to watch his partner die in front of him. At least now he knew the truth.

Yoshino gave Tohma a cool look, and then said more sympathetically to Agumon, "Don't worry. Masaru's a fighter, remember? He won't go down that easily, especially with a follower to look after."

Agumon brightened slightly at this. Tohma took the opportunity to add, "You should return to guarding. It's vital that we keep this place defended until the time the Digital Gate will be sent back for us. Masaru won't last long in an attack, especially from that Devidramon."

Agumon flashed his teeth in determination and stomped back to his post outside the cave mouth, opposite Gaomon. He seemed very dedicated to his goal of protecting his partner, at least at first. But five minutes later Tohma picked up on Gaomon's quiet voice admonishing the other digimon when Agumon tried to check on his partner again, and five minutes after that he was poking his head back into the cave once more, asking how 'Boss' was doing now.

"Nothing has changed, Agumon," Tohma said, trying to be patient. But Agumon continued persisted, poking his head in or abandoning his post completely every few minutes, inquiring into his partner's health. He seemed irrationally afraid that Masaru was just going to up and vanish if he wasn't there to watch him every second, and it made him sloppy and unfocused at everything else he tried to do.

Tohma tried to be sympathetic, but after the seventh inquiry he'd had enough. He felt like yelling at the digimon to stop asking the same question over and over, but once again, that would help little with keeping the morale of the rest of the group up. So as Agumon wandered back into the cave yet again, Tohma excused himself briefly to step outside for some fresh air, and a chance to pace around under the digital stars for a few minutes as he tried to gain control of himself once again.

"Doesn't he see that this isn't helping matters any?" he asked out loud in frustration. "We need discipline if we're going to get through this, especially with Masaru as he is."

Gaomon, the only one left guarding the cave like he was supposed to be, said simply, "He is worried about his Master." And Tohma blinked at that, because although Gaomon's statement was voiced as respectfully and quietly as always, Tohma knew his digimon well enough by now to catch the edge of real sympathy in his voice. Gaomon, who excelled at discipline and had once detested Agumon's wild antics almost as much as Tohma had once detested Masaru's, did not blame the dinosaur digimon in the least for abandoning his post. In fact, he was sorry for his fellow digimon, and Tohma realized that had their positions been reversed and he was the one laying in there with his stomach torn open, Gaomon would be just as frantic with worry as Agumon was now.

Tohma bit his lip, and said nothing in response, but Gaomon didn't seem to expect an answer; just watched his master pace back and forth quietly, accepting, uncomplaining. Tohma took a few minutes more to calm himself, and when he stepped back into the cave he said with much more patience than before, "Agumon, you may sit with Masaru if you like. But don't touch him unless you ask me first. I don't want you to make him worse by accident."

"I can? You're not so bad at all, Tohma!" Agumon said gratefully, and immediately dashed over to sit by his partner's head. "I'm here, Boss!" he said loudly to Masaru, waving one claw in front of his human's face. "Your follower is supporting you every step of the way now, promise! We can fight together, just like always!"

Masaru was barely conscious, and likely didn't even understand most of the words his digimon had said. But all the same, his glazed eyes seemed to flicker at the voice, and Tohma could swear he almost saw a twitch at the corner of the teen's lips, as if he was trying to smirk in agreement.

And so they all settled down to the oddly exhausting practice of simply waiting, as the final three hours before the Digital Gate was due to spawn began to ever so slowly tick by. The time passed mostly in silence, other than Masaru's uneven breathing and Agumon's quiet chatter to his human. Nobody dozed either; nobody could bring themselves to rest, with the tension and worry in the cave as thick and smothering as it was. Gaomon kept guard, sometimes switching off with Lalamon when he needed a break. Yoshino curled up against one of the cave walls and tried the communicator every once and a while, although less and less often when it became obvious that no matter what she tried, she would have no success. Tohma sat near his patient, occasionally checking for any indications that Masaru was getting worse, while Agumon remained faithfully at his side, talking to him almost constantly.

In the end, it seemed it was a good thing after all that Tohma had allowed Agumon to stop guarding and stay by his human. As time passed, Masaru was clearly having more and more trouble remaining conscious. By now he drifted in and out of lucidity, to judge by his occasional muttering about places or people that weren't actually there. And although they could catch his attention if they worked hard, he had an incredibly difficult time remaining focused on them, or answering even the simplest of questions. It was a bad sign, and Tohma wanted to keep him alert for as long as possible, worried about what would happen when he finally drifted into unconsciousness. Agumon had the most luck keeping his human awake and catching his attention, which was a blessing—Masaru responded to Agumon's voice the most often, if rarely to his direct questions or statements or stories. He seemed to know his digimon was nearby, and made a valiant effort to respond to that. That was good. It meant Masaru hadn't given up yet, not that Tohma ever really expected him to.

And for the first hour, things were relatively positive, at least as far as Tohma could see. Their situation was terrible, but Masaru was hanging on tenaciously, Tohma's treatments were working for the time being, and it seemed that they really would make it to the Digital Gate's generation.

But then Masaru's health started to get worse.

It wasn't obvious at first, that his situation was slowly spiraling downwards. The first indicator to Tohma was that Masaru's breathing became more labored, growing shallow and rapid. Tohma could have kicked himself when he caught on. It had been difficult to tell that it was a symptom of the blood loss, since Masaru's breathing was already a mess due to the cracked ribs. But he was a damn genius, he should have noticed sooner. Once they'd all noticed it, it was impossible to ignore the pained, too-fast panting, and Agumon asked worriedly if there was anything he could do for his 'boss.' But there wasn't, unfortunately, not here in this cave.

So the dinosaur digimon just talked to his human instead, working harder to keep him aware for as long as possible. And that was when Agumon coaxed another symptom out of Masaru, when the teen complained foully in his lucid moments about it being too dark, even with the fire burning brightly not even a foot and a half from his face. Tohma had immediately followed up on the complaint by waving his hand in front of Masaru's face, but the wounded teen had barely been able to track his fingers, and twenty minutes later hadn't been able to follow them along at all. It meant his systems were straining to provide oxygen where it was necessary, now, and his vision was blacking out.

Agumon had briefly panicked over this, and even Yoshino seemed worried about Masaru's sudden case of blindness. Tohma assured them that once Masaru was in the hospital and well cared for his vision should return, and they calmed significantly with his confident tone. He didn't bother to tell them that he wasn't sure if Masaru would make it to the hospital—that would only make things worse all over again.

But by far the last hour was the most frightening. Tohma had set his palmtop to count down the time until the Gateway, and no sooner had the little computer beeped that the last hour was upon them, Masaru had sluggishly laid his head to one side with a sigh. Even in the warm firelight his lips looked discolored, and Tohma realized with a shock of dread that they were faintly blue. Coupled with the glassy, unfocused, half-lidded stare and the dark lines under his eyes, it made Masaru look more dead than alive. Frowning, Tohma carefully lifted one of the wounded teen's hands, and noticed grimly that his fingertips, too, were turning faintly blue. The blood loss and oxygen deprivation were getting severe, now.

"Come on, you idiot," he hissed down at Masaru. "Hold it together. Not even an hour left. You're not going to give up a fight that close, are you?"

Masaru seemed to stir a little at that, and his sightless eyes flickered slightly; but he said nothing, his body too sluggish and still, and his mind too far gone, to react as he should have. Tohma ground his teeth in frustration, and kept an increasingly desperate eye on his palmtop's timer.

With half an hour to go, Masaru's eyes finally slipped tiredly closed and they lost him to unconsciousness. Agumon tried frantically to wake him again, like he already had half a dozen times when Masaru had seemed like he was falling asleep. But the teen didn't open his eyes this time, no matter how many times Agumon called for his boss to wake up. Thankfully he still had a pulse—too weak, too unstable, but there—and there were trace responses to the pain of his injuries, so they hadn't lost him completely yet.

But Tohma was becoming desperately afraid that Masaru was really and truly going to die on them in this very cave, in the Digital World, and increasingly sure all he would be able to do was watch. And that was not a comforting feeling, not when it was a friend's life on the line. And certainly not when they had as fiery a spirit as Masaru's and had to die so...pathetically.

But at last the palmtop beeped its ten minute warning, and immediately Tohma ordered, "Pack up and get ready to go. We want to be standing there when that Gateway appears, and we don't have any time to waste." He only hoped they had enough time at all, and forced his expression to remain calm and distant when he glanced down at Masaru's unconscious form.

Five minutes later the fire was stomped out, their few supplies were repacked, and their digimon were evolved to their Adult forms once more. Gaogamon and Sunflowmon were still tired, since neither one had slept. But they had been given a chance to rest, and Yoshino had offered them all of the ration bars and snacks in the hopes of renewing their energy. It wouldn't be perfect, but they could manage the trek at least, and they were ready for it. Sunflowmon carefully—but with much more confidence than before—accepted Masaru's limp form from Tohma and Yoshino when they carried him out to her, and cradled him close to her thick body to keep him extra safe. Gaogamon crouched without orders for his passengers, and everyone, even Agumon, climbed on with as much haste as they could muster.

Then they were off, dashing back towards the point they had arrived at only last night—had it really only been last night? Tohma felt like days had gone by, not less than twelve hours. The gently rising digital sun, casting warm pink, red, and yellow light on the world, made their surroundings feel so much different than they had last night, in their panicked, desperate rush to save their friend. It didn't feel the same, but Tohma was at least glad that it was almost over. And they were close to the Gate as well; about a mile and a half away, some distance for humans but practically nothing at all to the large Adult forms of their digimon. They'd make it in minutes. Masaru should live, assuming he survived the journey there.

Tohma had never been so relieved about anything in his life.

As they had last time, they travelled mostly in silence. Tohma took this as a good sign. Sunflowmon was under orders to report to him should anything go wrong, but she hadn't made an attempt to glide up beside Gaogamon yet, which meant Masaru was still clinging to life as well as he could. Just a little bit farther—

"Master," Gaogamon growled suddenly beneath him, "Just ahead—the field—"

He was right. Tohma could see the rocky plain they had been traveling over melding seamlessly into the grassy field they had touched down upon last night. He consulted his palmtop and said, "Good, we made it on time. The portal should appear in approximately one minute—"

Gaogamon growled suddenly, a noise Tohma felt reverberating up beneath him almost as much as he heard, and the large akita whipped his head back and forth suddenly. Tohma felt ice grip his heart—this was how Gaogamon always acted when there was a digimon nearby. He opened his mouth to ask where the signal came from, but before he could get out so much as a word, Agumon shrieked suddenly, "Sunflowmon, look out!"

There was a horrible cackling from above, and Tohma whipped his head around just in time to see a black blur with terrible red claws outstretched before it dive down out of the sky, straight at Yoshino's digimon. Sunflowmon squealed in surprise, but threw herself through the air to the side just in time, clutching Masaru protectively close as she shielded him. The attacking digimon missed her by inches.

"That's Devidramon!" Yoshino realized in horror. "Our Devidramon, the target!"

"That's the one that hurt Boss!" Agumon wailed, in a mixture of horror and anger.

"It seems it's back to finish the job," Tohma observed grimly, as he watched the Devidramon circle back into the air and hover above, watching Sunflowmon hungrily. He wasn't surprised—Devidramon was a bloodthirsty killer, and Masaru was weakened prey that couldn't fight back. It was probably too much of a thrill to pass up.

Agumon snarled angrily and twisted on Gaogamon's back, as if he intended to jump off. "I'm gonna—"

"No!" Tohma yelled at him. "Stay up! Gaogamon, Sunflowmon, move for the Gateway! The Gateway!" It was due to appear any minute now, and if they could get through it, they would be safe. If the Devidramon followed them it would be walking straight into DATS territory, with four extra digimon to back them up. More importantly, there was no way they could fight here—The Devidramon had proved too dangerous to fight without all three Adults available, and in their present state only Gaogamon could battle. Sunflowmon was burdened with Masaru, and Agumon couldn't evolve without his partner at all.

Besides—although Masaru himself would argue relentlessly about running from the fight, if they didn't get him out of it now, he wouldn't be alive much longer at all.

The Adults seemed to understand, and Yoshino hooked an arm around one of Agumon's to hold him in place, just to be safe. Sunflowmon flew with all the speed she could muster for the place the Digital Gate would appear, and Gaogamon thundered after her, straining for still more speed.

But the Devidramon was clever, and what was more, it had understood their strategy. And it was much faster than Sunflowmon when it came to flight. Quick as a flash it blazed past her and hurled itself directly into their path, just as the first edges of the Digital Gateway began to shimmer open—several feet behind the creature.

Devidramon leered at them cruelly, and waited.