Consequences
Part four of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma
None Of Your Business ~ I don't think the inclusion of infection can be considered creative liberties, really. After all, Yoshino gets sick later in the series after visiting the Digital World from picking something up there, and ends up giving it to Ikuto as well, so it isn't impossible. Additionally, although I'm no medical expert, my research on gut injuries before I started writing this suggested that an intestinal injury would actually release toxins stored safely in the body itself if hit in the wrong place. Either case means infection is a possibility if they're unfortunate.
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.
Tohma cursed as his digimon ground to a halt next to Sunflowmon. Devidramon leered at them and lashed out with its blood-red claws—the same claws that had started this whole damned mess—and the partnered Adult digimon leapt and flew out of the way quickly. Tohma briefly hoped the creature would follow after them and give them an opening to escape, but the Devidramon again proved too clever. It remained blocking the Gateway, glaring wickedly at them.
Tohma could feel his teeth grinding from the frustration of it all, but ordered sharply, "Dodge around it! Get to that Digital Gate!"
"Yes, Master!" Gaogamon rumbled, and Sunflowmon's low acknowledgement joined his. The two digimon tried to dart around the Devidramon, but as before the creature proved their equal. With the same vicious cackle as before, the beast hurled itself in the way and slashed out with its claws, jabbing them straight for Masaru's limp form. Sunflowmon dodged back hastily, and cried out in pain when the claws dug into one leafy arm as she turned to protect her burden. But Adult digimon were much better equipped to handle attacks from other digimon of their own level than humans. Sunflowmon was injured, but she wasn't helpless yet, and fluttered away from the Devidramon hastily.
Gaogamon had made no progress either. The Devidramon had lashed out with its thick tail, spiked at one end, in the same moment it had clawed at Sunflowmon. The blue doglike digimon was agile enough to dodge the strike, but it was also effective at halting his progress. The Digital Gateway cut a hole in the air just a little out of reach, on the other side of the viciously cunning opponent.
Tohma grit his teeth again. This was bad. This was very bad. The Devidramon was too damned smart for its own good, and it was out for blood. Already it was eyeing Sunflowmon and the unconscious human in her leafy arms hungrily, and Tohma knew instinctively it wasn't going to stop until Masaru was dead—and the rest of them, as well. Not that the first of them would be alive much longer. Sunflowmon had kept Masaru from taking any more damage, but her constant dodging was going to put too much strain on his already heavily strained body, and if that stomach injury hadn't broken open already or the ribs hadn't cracked further...damn. Masaru had to get out of the battle. Now.
His mind worked lightning-quick, examining dozens of possibilities in seconds, desperate for a solution but disciplined enough to not panic in finding it. Every fact, every scenario, led him to only one possible strategy that would hopefully get them all out of here alive, and he acted on it immediately.
"Everyone off!" he ordered, and gripped Yoshino's wrist behind him even as he swung free of his digimon. Yoshino yelped but stumbled to the ground relatively intact, and Agumon fell off more than dismounted, but in seconds Gaogamon was unburdened. Tohma took advantage of it immediately. "Start engaging immediately! Hold its attention, do not let it escape or follow further. If it wants to block our path, then fine. Two can play at that game."
"Yes, Master!" Gaogamon acknowledged, and he threw himself forward immediately into his task, spitting a vicious Spiral Blow straight into the Devidramon's chest to catch its attention. The dark digimon shrieked in anger at the blatant attack, and hurled itself at Gaogamon with a vicious lashing of claws. But Gaogamon, no longer burdened with riders to protect, leapt back with much more agility than before and snarled, taunting the creature after it.
This was the moment Tohma was waiting for, and under the cover of the loud growls and vicious shrieks he said to Yoshino and Agumon, "You two, hurry. Get to Sunflowmon, take Masaru, and get through the Digital Gate while we distract Devidramon."
Yoshino looked stunned. "No way! We can't leave you behind with that thing, you'll end up just like Masaru!"
"Give me some credit," he said, with a forced smile. "I'm not about to attack it myself. No, listen," he added, when she opened her mouth to protest again. "It's playing a waiting game with us, keeping us from getting to that Gate. That would be fine if all of us were in good shape, and we could out-wait it. But we can't do that. Masaru doesn't have any more time left, understand? He needs to get to a hospital now, and if we can't get him past that thing, he's going to die.
"I'm not going to do anything foolish," he promised, at her skeptical look. "We'll hold it off long enough for you to get through that Gateway, and then we'll fight defensively from there. The Gateway will close when you go through it due to safety protocols, so we'll play it safe until you can get headquarters to make us a new one."
Yoshino bit her lip, but she could see Sunflowmon a short distance away, and the all too limp form of their fellow DATS agent in her arms. She could obviously see the logic—her digimon couldn't help, and if they had an injured friend on the field it could just cause liabilities in the fight when they had to protect him. "Fine," she finally agreed, "But you'd better not die."
"I'll stay and help you!" Agumon said, flexing his claws.
"No, you won't," Tohma said curtly. "There's nothing you can do against Devidramon in your current state. Go with your partner—you should be there for him now anyway." Agumon bared his teeth in frustration, but it was obvious he didn't really want to leave his 'boss' in such a state, and he finally nodded.
The two of them dashed over to meet Sunflowmon, and the plant-dinosaur bent her head low to listen to the plan. She looked anxious, but nodded in agreement, and the three waited for their opportunity.
Tohma knew he had to give it to them fast. "Gaogamon! Press your attack! Arrangement D!"
"Yes, Master!" his digimon acknowledged, and flew into a series of rapid-fire aggressive attacks—Spiral Blow, Dash Double Claw, Gaoga Hound—one after another, viciously, relentlessly. It was a dangerously wild expenditure of energy, which was why Tohma detested such a strategy; if the opposing monster wasn't defeated at the end of the series, it left Gaogamon weakened and severely exposed. But they didn't have a choice now, and had to provide as much of a distraction as they possibly could.
It worked at first—the Devidramon was too busy defending against the rapid attacks, and Yoshino and the others seized the opportunity to make a dash for the Digital Gate in the creature's blind spot. But then the Devidramon caught sight of its prey escaping, and screamed in rage, whirling to chase after them.
"Do not let it pursue!" Tohma ordered—they just needed a few more seconds. Sunflowmon was almost at the Digital Gate and the others were just a little ways behind her. Gaogamon snarled and leapt forward so fast he didn't even have a chance for his ritualistic acknowledgement, and sank his fangs deep into the Devidramon's spiny tail. The creature thrashed angrily, and the diamond-shaped spike cut more than a few slashes in Gaogamon's muzzle, narrowly missing his eyes. But Gaogamon dug in his claws and pulled back with all his strength, and the creature came to an abrupt halt in the air, flapping its wings uselessly as it tried to give chase.
Then the Devidramon screamed again angrily, at the same moment that Tohma felt his heart lighten in relief. Because Sunflowmon was at the Gateway now, carefully lowering the unconscious Masaru down to Yoshino to pull through the circular hole in the air before she entered it herself. She would be forced to de-digivolve to fit in the portal, and if Masaru wasn't transferred then she'd certainly drop him. Yoshino took her first steps into the Gate, hauling Masaru awkwardly with her arms under his shoulders; it would be murder on his injuries, but if he got through to the real world, that was the important thing. Sunflowmon shrank as she ducked after her human, and seconds later as Lalamon she tried to help with maneuvering Masaru as she, too, slipped into the Gateway.
Devidramon's thrashing grew stronger still as it watched its prey escape, and Gaogamon finally lost his hold with a growl of pain as the diamond spike struck a glancing blow to his left eye. It hurled itself at the Gateway, claws outstretched as though it intended to reach through after them, to haul them back—
Tohma was already dashing forward in frustration, and to his own shock found himself cursing the Devidramon out loud, as well. "Don't you dare! I won't let you follow them—if you kill any of them I'll destroy you myself—"
What the hell was he even saying? If Masaru's crazy fighting attitude had transferred over to Tohma in all this mess...that idiot was going to get such a talking to when he was conscious again—
The Devidramon, apparently, considered this just as much of a challenge as it had yesterday when Masaru threatened it, and it turned abruptly in the air, eyeing Tohma wickedly. Tohma was very acutely aware that he did not actually want to fight that thing on his own, especially after seeing what it had done to Masaru, who had much more experience punching out enormous digimon than he did. But something in him refused to back down, to run for it. He wasn't foolish enough to hurl himself headlong at the bloodthirsty beast, but after spending hours tending to a wounded friend, and knowing that this creature had been the cause of so much fear and worry...he didn't like this thing. He hated it for what it had done. And he wasn't going to feed it further by running in terror.
So he glared back at the creature balefully, while it watched him with glowing red eyes, and all the while all he could think in his head was, This is all Masaru's damned fault. A month ago I wouldn't have been this idiotic.
Then it dived for him.
Gaogamon hurled himself at the Devidramon with an angry snarl, and slammed the creature out of the air before it could get too close to his master. Tohma breathed an inward sigh of relief; he had no interest in being skewered by such a large creature. The two digimon wrestled for a moment, a blur of black and blue and red and white, their shrieks and growls reverberating through the ground as they fought. But Gaogamon was exhausted after everything that had happened, and after a few minutes there was a pained yell as the large dog staggered backwards and crashed onto his side, with several deep slashes along his ribs from the creature's claws.
"Gaogamon!" Tohma cried, and darted for his digimon.
Devidramon shrieked in victory, and once more hurled itself at the now helpless and unprotected human at its mercy, vicious claws outstretched. Tohma knew he was as good as dead now—Gaogamon was struggling to rise, but the blow from his opponent had stunned him, and there was no way he'd make it in time. No rescue was coming either, with the others through the Gateway. And Tohma was all too aware of how easily those claws would gut him, slice him open and expose his insides to the world, knew exactly how painful it would be and how long it would take him to die—
"Baby Burner!" came an unexpected cry, and moments later a torrent of flame smashed into the Devidramon's wrist seconds before those claws hit. Tohma was stunned, and it was instinct alone that made him duck. The claws razored over his head by mere inches, thrown off target by the flame attack, and smashed into the ground.
Tohma wasted no time getting out of there, and skidded to a halt on the grass a safe distance from the Devidramon, panting heavily. Only then did he scan the field, and spot the familiar orange dinosaur digimon standing not too far from where the Digital Gate had been a few minutes ago.
"Agumon!" he yelled. "What are you doing here? I told you to go with Masaru!"
"Boss'd be angry if I let you guys take all the credit for this fight!" the little dinosaur said, claws clenched in determination. "A follower always looks after his boss's interests. So I'm gonna help, since he can't be here, and this is his fight. And don't say I'm useless, 'cause I totally just saved your life!"
Tohma couldn't deny that—he'd definitely been a hair's breadth from being sliced into pieces. Nor could he deny that Agumon's timely distraction had given Gaogamon enough time to gain his feet again. His own digimon looked tired, and his injury looked painful, but he was determined all the same. "Fine," Tohma called back, "But be careful! I don't want Masaru to wake up in the hospital only for me to explain why his digimon is now an egg, got it?"
"You got it!" Agumon said, and immediately bolted to his left when the Devidramon—angry at an inferior Child digimon's interference—hurled itself at him. When the Devidramon whipped its head around to follow, trying to snap Agumon up in its jaws, Gaogamon hit it from behind with a Spiral Blow and then leapt on its back, tearing angrily at its torn wings with his strong jaws.
Agumon ducked nimbly away from the wrestling digimon, and helpfully spat a few Baby Flames at the Devidramon's head. Most dispersed off of its thick bony armor, but one lucky shot hit one of the beast's glowing red eyes, and it screamed in pain and thrashed all the harder. It succeeded in finally dislodging Gaogamon, who fell off of its back and rolled away quickly to its feet.
"Get ready," Tohma warned both his own digimon and Agumon, as the Devidramon scratched at its burned eye and looked back and forth warily between its two opponents. "Whoever he goes after, get out of the way, and the other should attack while you have an opportunity."
"Yes, Master," Gaogamon acknowledge, crouching at the ready.
"Sure," Agumon agreed, baring his teeth.
The Devidramon did not appear to like this plan. It was clever enough to know it was outnumbered, and it seemed to have far more wary respect for Agumon, even as a Child level digimon, now that the dinosaur had seriously injured it. Its response was the same as it had been in all their other encounters—with the odds against it, it tried to run.
Only this time it didn't get far. Gaogamon's last attack had seriously damaged its two largest wings, and now the creature was incapable of supporting itself in the air. It leapt and floundered almost immediately back to the ground, damaged appendages flapping uselessly.
"Now!" Tohma ordered. The digimon didn't need to be told twice, and hurled themselves at the weakened Devidramon with angry battle cries.
The final stage of the battle was brutal. Devidramon was a bloodthirsty, cunning brute when healthy, and when cornered with its own life at stake it became positively wild and vicious, lashing out madly at its opponents with all four clawed limbs, sharp jaws, and spiked tail; it even beat at them with its broken wings, hoping to stun them. Poor Agumon was soundly buffeted more than once, and his right arm had a deep gash in it where the creature's tail had gotten an unlucky strike. Gaogamon was even worse off by the end. His thick white mane was streaked with red, he took several more glancing slashes along his back and sides, and one of his forepaws was badly damaged, so that he limped when he walked or attacked.
But for all that, for all their exhaustion and injury and weakness, they were slowly but surely winning. Tohma shouted orders whenever he spotted the Devidramon open itself up for a critical attack, and Gaogamon and even Agumon responded with determination. The creature was strong, but they whittled it down piece by piece, until it grew more sluggish in its attacks, less clever and vicious.
Until at last, with a triumphant "Spiral Blow!" the Devidramon finally screamed and vanished into thousands of digital particles. Most of them dispersed into the air, but a few hundred slowly swirled together and formed a dark spotted egg, which sank down to the grass gently. The digimon almost immediately collapsed to the ground as well, Gaogamon sprawled out on his belly while Agumon flopped into an exhausted sit, both panting hard. Tohma didn't blame them; he hadn't even been fighting and his own breathing was as harsh as if he'd fought the Devidramon himself.
But the battle was over. And that was ultimately what mattered.
He let them rest for a while, and allowed Gaogamon to shift back to his Child form. Gaomon possessed most of the same injuries his Adult form had, but they were easier to treat in his smaller stage, and Tohma still had the supplies bag and the first aid kit slung across his back. He treated the digimon silently, and while they were hurt they would be fine in the long run. Digimon were much hardier than humans when it came to fighting other digimon, after all. They looked a sight wrapped in bandages, but other than the occasional wince or whine or (in Agumon's case) complaint about hunger, one would never know they had taken such a brutal beating a few minutes earlier.
When they were cared for as best they could be, Tohma gave the field another quick glance around. Still no Digital Gate—having detected lifeforms passing through it, the last one had closed just as Tohma had programmed it to, to prevent other escaping digimon. But on the bright side, there were no more attacks either, and in the center of the field they would have ample warning if anything did come after them. The three of them left the Devidramon egg where it lay and walked over to the part of the field where the Digital Gate had formed for them, and settled down once again to the boring and anxious task of waiting for a ride home.
But waiting was easier said than done, especially with their present company—which included Agumon.
"What's taking them so long?" the little dinosaur asked, claws crossed awkwardly in frustration. "Don't they know how worried I am about Boss?"
"Be patient," Gaomon said tiredly, from where he was sitting at Tohma's feet. "They must have their reasons."
Tohma nodded in agreement with his digimon, and added, "Yoshino wouldn't leave us here. She'll make sure they send us another Gateway. But they're probably busy dealing with other, more important things at the moment, especially with the condition Masaru was in. We're in no danger here, so just be patient."
Agumon huffed and sat down in the grass, but when he spoke his voice was full of worry. "I hope Boss is okay," he said softly. "I hope nothing went wrong. I wonder what's going on..."
Truth be told, Tohma was thinking exactly the same things that Agumon voiced out loud—though it would do no good for him to voice his own worries, and so he didn't. But the concerns were still there. Had they gotten Masaru through the Gateway in time, or had it been too late? Had Yoshino been able to explain the situation? Had the captain gotten Masaru to a hospital in time, and come up with acceptable excuses as to why a teenager had been gashed open and left so long without treatment? Would the doctors be able to treat him in that state? And most importantly of all to Tohma, had he done enough for his fellow DATS agent, considering everything they'd gone through? If Masaru didn't make it, Tohma didn't doubt for a second that he'd blame himself. He was effectively the doctor on call in their missions—if Masaru died, it would certainly be at least partly his fault for failing at the critical moment.
"Master?" Gaomon asked quietly, gazing up at his human with concern. The dog digimon knew his master's moods well, and Tohma couldn't get anything past him.
"It's nothing," Tohma said shortly, and tried to think of more pleasant things.
Gaomon cocked his head, glanced over at Agumon, and then said quietly enough for only his partner to hear, "He'll live because of you, Master. Not the other way around."
Tohma felt the faintest traces of a smile at the corners of his lips. No, he definitely couldn't hide anything from Gaomon. The verbal assurance wasn't much, but Tohma felt better for it all the same. The wait after that was still agonizingly slow, and the tension of not knowing how their friend fared was thick enough to practically feel in the air, but at least it was less cutting and painful than before.
At last, nearly an hour after Yoshino and Sunflowmon had escaped back to the human world with Masaru, a hole bored itself in the air and slowly began to swirl open, until it was large enough to step into. Tohma eyed the Digital Gate gratefully and shouldered the supplies bag, and together he and the two digimon stepped through into the Real World once more.