Chapter 6: Jyou's remembrance
"Jyou, we need to talk." His father told him as they entered the man's study room. The eight years old child sat on a chair across the adult and looked up to meet his eyes.
"Is there anything wrong?" The boy asked, anxious.
"You know that Shuu wants to study Anthropology, right?"
"Yes, Shuu-niisan told me that." Jyou confirmed. Shuu announced that he did not wish to be a doctor during a family dinner. For an entire week, the father and the teenager did not talk to each other.
"Yesterday, Shuu and I talked. I still don't like that he's not going to follow our family's tradition but I won't force him to do anything he doesn't want to."
"I see."
"Tell me, Jyou, do you really want to be a doctor?" The father asked as he rubbed his hands. The man seemed to be concerned. "If you're doing this just because you feel obliged to, stop. Shin is already going to be a doctor, so don't worry."
The kid felt like something had pierced him in the gut.
"Answer me. Do you want to be a doctor?"
"Yes!" Jyou replied.
"Listen, son." The adult seemed to be pondering his words. "I know that you're not like your brothers…"
"I study harder than them!" the child stated. It was bad enough when his mother started that conversation, Jyou could not bear to hear his father implying that he was not as intelligent as his brothers. "I put everything into my studies so I can be on the same league as them. I know that I'm not gifted but if I keep on putting effort-"
"I know. I respect your hard work." The man said, smiling with what Jyou believed to be pride, which made the boy feel warm inside. "When you choose this path, you can never slow down."
"I won't slow down! You'll see, Father. I'm going to enter a good medical school and become a great doctor."
"Being a doctor is not just about effort and knowledge…" Mr. Kido sounded melancholic. "It requires maturity and mental strength. You won't be able to save everybody. There will be times when you'll have to make difficult choices… when you'll have to make sacrifices. Medicine is a field that forces you to grow up."
"Then I'll grow up as fast as I can." Jyou promised. "I'll be an adult so I can become a doctor."
In the present, Jyou was trying to climb Infinity Mountain. The soaring wind almost buried him in heavy snow. He had already slipped five times and fallen before advancing even twenty centimeters. And every time he fell, Jyou stood up and began to climb again.
"Jyou, get down from there! You're just going to get hurt!" Gomamon told him. The seal digimon could not understand what the human was trying to do. Was it not obvious that he would never manage to climb the mountain?
It was the same during the incident in the factory. Gomamon understood why Jyou wanted to prevent the others from fighting Andromon. It would result in certain death and it was unlikely that Koushiro could be saved. When the others had left the two of them alone and Jyou emerged from his shock and desperation saying "I know how to save them all," Gomamon had believed the human had come up with an intelligent plan. Every problem had a solution as long as you stayed calm and thought about it. Nevertheless, Jyou did not have a smart plan. He let himself sink in desperation and recklessly offered his life to save the others.
Why could he not see that, by taking Koushiro's place, the situation would have stayed the same from before? Andromon would still try to kill one of the children and the others would still try to save him. It would have been a pointless sacrifice. Not different from what he was doing at the moment.
"Jyou!" The digimon shouted as his partner insisted on climbing.
A few meters from there, Mimi and Palmon had fallen on a fluffy amount of snow. The dark sky was above them. The wind howled furiously over their heads as the snow hit the two friends like small knives.
"Why is it suddenly snowing? It wasn't snowing on the plateau!" Mimi complained, getting up and bracing herself in a futile attempt of fighting the cold.
"It's always snowing at the bottom of the mountain, nobody actually knows why or how." Palmon explained, standing up as well. "There's a story about this place being cursed."
"Jyou!" Gomamon's voice was heard coming from some meters on their right. Mimi and Palmon followed it and found the mammal digimon close to the rocky wall of Infinity Mountain, looking anxiously at Jyou, who was clumsily trying to climb the mountain. The boy covered in snow could not advance much and seemed to be about to fall.
"We have to go back up there!" Jyou's voice was almost breaking but it still expressed determination. "Takeru-kun was kidnapped! The others might be hurt or worse! I have to go to help them!"
"Jyou, it's impossible for you to climb the mountain! We need to find another way!" Gomamon scolded the boy. "Listen to what I'm saying, Jyou!"
"Jyou-san!" Mimi called the sixth grader. When Jyou turned his head in her direction, he misplaced one of his feet and fell on the snow. Luckily, he had only climbed thirty centimeters.
"Mimi-kun!" Jyou exclaimed in a mix of joy and relief, forcing himself up and running in her direction. "You're alright! Are the others okay too?"
"Takeru-kun and Patamon were taken by that strange monster. There was an earthquake, a stream of black gears broke out of the ground and I think Koushiro-kun and Tentomon fell on the side of the mountain where Sora-san and Piyomon had fallen." Mimi informed in a concerned voice.
"Sora and Koushiro are probably alright, they most likely fell on fluffy snow too." Gomamon theorized.
"Yeah, and Devimon said something about us meeting him in the Village of the Beginnings." Palmon commented. "He's probably keeping Takeru and Patamon as hostages, waiting for us to show up. He's not going to kill them yet."
"Yet?!" Mimi had a desolated tone. "Then that evil digimon is going to kill them anyway? He's going to kill all of us?"
"No need for desperation, we're going to figure something out and ensure everybody's safety, right, Jyou?" Gomamon turned to his partner for validation. Jyou frowned and looked down.
"Hey, Jyou! Say something to calm Mimi down!" Gomamon insisted.
Jyou was lost of words. There was nobody up in the mountain anymore. Takeru was taken somewhere else, Sora and Koushiro had fallen at the opposite side of the mountain, and everybody's survival was up to wishful thinking. Mimi could very well be the only other kid to still be alive, but for how long? It was cold and dark, they could die of hypothermia before the morning. The sixth grader felt defeated.
"What do I do?" Jyou asked himself, anxiously. "What can I do now?"
"You won't be able to save everybody."A statement his father made years before rose in his mind.
"What can I do?" Jyou questioned in an anguished voice, as if unaware that he was voicing his concerns.
"It's not your fault that all your effort and energy are not enough. There are people in the world who are just destined to be failures."The nightmare he tried so hard to forget had also returned to haunt him.
"What can I do?" Jyou kept wondering aloud, more and more desperate. He faced the ground and felt his eyes burning.
A gentle touch landed on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Mimi giving him an encouraging smile.
"Let's focus on finding shelter for now. Then we think about what we should do next. The problems won't feel so overwhelming if we pick one at a time to solve," she said.
Jyou could feel Mimi's hand shaking and wondered if that was caused by the cold or if Mimi was forcing herself to be positive for his sake. It was a big change coming from the girl who used to let out her frustration so easily. The thought that he was so incompetent at keeping the morale up that a fourth grader girl had to do it in his stead made him even more depressed.
"… Kill…" A husky voice came from the woods. A large white and purple mammal digimon with a horn that resembled a drill in the place of its nose crawled in their direction. At least five black gears were visible stuck in his back.
"Drimogemon!" Palmon shouted.
"Those gears again…" Jyou said, alarmed. The Drimogemon seemed to be suffering from the same infection of the Meramon and the Kuwagamon they had met earlier. Can we help that digimon in our current state? Palmon is too weak to evolve and Gomamon… I don't even know what he would evolve to.
"What are we going to do?" Mimi asked, afraid. She suddenly remembered that Gomamon had not gotten as hurt as the other digimon during the fight against Andromon. "Gomamon! Jyou-san, make Gomamon evolve!"
"Eh?!" Jyou was perplexed. "What do you mean? I don't know how to do that!"
Drimogemon advanced in their direction. His horn started to spin.
"GOMAMON, DO SOMETHING!" The sixth grader panicked.
"Evolution isn't something I can do by myself, I need you to power me up!" Gomamon protested.
"Don't you have any attack you can use as you are now? Like shooting fire or electricity?" Mimi asked.
"Ah, I can control fish!" Gomamon said excitedly.
"Fish?" Jyou had a very unimpressed tone.
"Yes! I can give them orders and they do what I want!"
"THERE ARE NOT ANY FISH AROUND! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE?" Jyou shouted.
As Drimogemon advanced more, he was hit by a golden attack coming from above and was thrown back to the woods. A lion-man figure landed in front of the children.
"Leomon!" Palmon had joy in her voice. She turned to Mimi and explained who the digimon was: "He's a noble and heroic adult level digimon. He's definitely going to help us."
"You." Leomon said with admiration as he glanced at Jyou and Mimi. "You must be the chosen children!"
"Chosen children?" Jyou asked in confusion.
"I'll explain everything once we get to my hideout. Follow me!" Leomon led the way to a small cave in the mountain twenty meters ahead. Once they were all inside, the feline digimon pushed a huge rock to cover the entrance. Then, he arranged some branches and lit a bonfire with his attack. He lifted a big leather bag that was lying nearby, opened it and handed some fruit to the children and their digimon. He also picked up a packet and opened it, revealing a big piece of meat. The adult level digimon grilled the meat and shared it with the others.
"Thank you so much!" Mimi said, stuffing her mouth.
"I have something for the digimon too." Leomon said, picking up a glass bottle in his bag. He went toward Gomamon and Palmon and sprayed the liquid on them.
"My wounds… they healed!" Palmon exclaimed in admiration, moving around freely.
"It's a rare liquid that heals everything. I was given this bottle when I was assigned to this mission." Leomon explained.
"A liquid that heals everything?" Jyou's eyes shone as he pronounced those words. "That's like a dream! You can help so many-"
"It's a finite resource, I have to use it wisely." Leomon cut Jyou off.
"Oh… yeah, of course." The sixth grader sighed. "That makes sense… it's what an adult should do…"
"So, Leomon, you were talking about a mission and called us chosen children." Mimi brought the subject back on track.
"It's said that the chosen children come to our aid whenever this world is in danger. Only you have the power to save the digimon." Leomon told them.
Mimi gulped and stared at the lion digimon with wide eyes.
"Save the digimon? You mean… all the digimon? The entire world?" She was having difficulty in taking the information in. "But we're just children. How can we even do something like that?"
"Were we picked up at random?" Jyou was in disbelief that a supernatural force had chosen him, from all people, to save an entire world. That could not be right. "This must've been a mistake. I-I can't possibly… there's no way I can…"
"You must accept your mission!" Leomon roared, startling the others. "You have the power to make your digimon evolve to levels the rest of us can only dream about! Your duty is to defeat the darkness and save the Digital World!"
Mimi trembled. What is going on here? Why is this guy putting so much pressure on us? It feels like that if we say 'no' he's going to call us villains. Is that right? I don't want to fight anyone, why am I being coerced into doing it?
"Duty…" Jyou murmured to himself. A duty to take care of others…
"About the mission…" Leomon continued, ignoring the heavy atmosphere, "I've been recruited by a group that protects the Digital World. They gave me this rare liquid and the mission to save File Island from Devimon's darkness."
"It's this Devimon who's behind the black gears." Jyou felt cold sweat cover him when he realized that fact. "Why would someone create something so horrible? To purposely hurt other digimon…"
"We have only heard stories about Devimon back in the Village of the Beginnings." Palmon said. "He was once a kind digimon with a heart full of love. But one day his heart was filled with anger and sadness and he swore to make all digimon suffer as much as him."
"Village of the Beginnings? You've been there before, Palmon?" Mimi was surprised.
"Every digimon was born there. And we never forget how to return." Gomamon explained. "If we leave when the sun rises, we'll be there before night."
"You knew all along how to get to that Village and didn't tell me?!" Jyou inquired incredulously. "Why are you giving us this information just now?"
"Mimi is here now, so it's safe." Gomamon replied, annoyed.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Jyou demanded, standing up and clenching his fists.
"If I had told you before that I knew where the Village of the Beginnings was you would have started walking there right away and wouldn't stop until the cold paralyzed you!" Gomamon told him. "The only thing stopping you from taking pointless risks is the thought that you might put the others in danger. So now that Mimi is here, I know that you're not going to do anything crazy!"
"What are you…?" Jyou was astonished to hear that. "Are you seriously calling me irresponsible?"
"I'm calling you reckless in regards to your own well being!" Gomamon corrected him.
"I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do! I was put in charge, therefore I have to do everything to take care of the others!" Jyou defended himself.
"Then you should reconsider being in charge because you're terrible at it!" Gomamon accused.
Jyou was left speechless. He just kept staring at Gomamon as the small creature continued his explanation.
"Do you think you fooled me at any point?" Gomamon asked seriously. Jyou was finally listening to what he was saying, so the digimon would make sure to tell him what the boy needed to hear. "I saw you shaking and the tears appearing in your eyes, I heard your voice breaking when you wanted to act tough. You don't hide your feelings as well as you think, so please just drop the act already!"
"You think I can't handle this." Jyou murmured as his lips trembled. "You're calling me incompetent!"
"I'm simply pointing out the fact that you're not good at leading others!" Gomamon wanted to make his partner understand. "You burden yourself with that responsibility and you continue to make stupid mistakes!"
"I'm sorry for disappointing you." Jyou whispered, heartbroken.
"Wait, Jyou-san, that's not-" Mimi hurried to say when she saw how upset the older boy had become.
"I hope you don't intend to speak on my behalf." Gomamon told her.
"Enough with this ridiculous discussion!" Leomon interrupted them, gazing at Gomamon and Jyou with severity. "The two of you are partners! You must cooperate and make each other stronger! How can evolution happen when the two of you refuse to cooperate?"
"Let's be real." Jyou spoke with bitterness. "I knew from the beginning that I couldn't possibly make Gomamon evolve."
Those words hurt the small digimon deeply but he was too prideful to let the other know that.
"I couldn't have said it better!" Gomamon roared, crawling to the back of the cave. Palmon followed him.
Jyou lay down on the floor and faced the rocky wall, murmuring that they should get some sleep. Leomon agreed and lay down too. Mimi stayed seated and did not move until she was sure that the adult digimon had fallen asleep. Then, she moved to Jyou's side and whispered:
"Gomamon was just worried about you. I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad."
"He looks down on me." Jyou murmured. "Just like everybody, all the time… but I don't need his help or his concern. The day I accept help will be the day I'll accept that they're right."
"Nobody looks down on you!" Mimi reprehended the sixth grader. "I admire some of your traits, like your concern for others, your sense of responsibility-"
"I know that you're trying to be kind but I don't need your pity, Mimi-kun." Jyou interrupted her. Insulted, the girl grabbed Jyou by the collar and forced him to sit and look at her. She was visibly angry.
"I don't pity anyone!" She stated. "And I don't come up with cute little lies to make another person happy! If I'm telling you that you have admirable traits, you can be sure that I'm telling the truth!"
Jyou looked away. The sight of those fierce eyes made him feel ashamed of himself.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I act like this." Jyou apologized. "It's so frustrating that no matter how hard I work, everything keeps blowing up on my face. I keep making stupid mistakes and saying insensitive things… I don't actually know what I'm doing most of the time. No, I think I know... I've always known but the truth scared me so much... I just couldn't accept it."
"What are you talking about?" Mimi asked, concerned.
"I keep acting like everybody who doesn't put as much effort as me in things is slacking off. And I force myself to meet what I want to believe are my family's expectations for me. But do you know what is really pathetic? Deep down, I know that nobody really expects anything from me." Jyou's voice broke. "Even Father, who keeps telling me to study and to be responsible… maybe it's not even disappointment that he feels when I don't manage to get an excellent grade… maybe he just feels pity. Most of the time, people see me as a walking joke… as the at best average kid who can't even calculate big numbers in his head but insists on becoming a doctor."
"You never actually asked your family or anybody else about how they feel about you, right?" Mimi asked.
"I don't need to-" Jyou began.
"Of course you do!" Mimi almost screamed, which made Jyou look to her. It was when he noticed that the girl was crying. In spite of the tears, she still had ferocious eyes.
"Mimi-kun…"
"Nobody is psychic! Nobody is going to accurately guess someone else's feelings! Don't you dare act as if you're a type of super human who doesn't even need to confront people to know what goes inside their heads!"
"What are you so angry about?!"
"I can't stand it when people are too hard on themselves and start assuming that everybody must have a bad opinion on them!" Mimi cried. "Everybody has virtues, everybody is liked and admired by someone else, you're not an exception! I look up to your courage, to how you give your all to do what you think is right! What's this conversation about being average at best? There's no such a thing as average! Everybody is fantastic and unique in their own way! And even if nobody believed in you… even in the impossible situation that not a single person in the entire universe believed in you, not even me or Gomamon, it shouldn't matter! It's you who needs to have faith in yourself. It's you who has to think 'I'm amazing and I can do whatever the hell I want!'"
When Jyou's eyes filled with big tears and he let them run down his cheeks, he did not feel any anguish or shame. What the boy's heart was full of was gratitude. He had never had a person in his life to sincerely encourage him like that, probably because he never allowed that to happen. Jyou hid behind his seriousness and fear of failure and shoved people away with his attitude. Had he opened his heart sooner, would that warm feeling have enveloped him earlier? Was that what having a friend felt like?
"Thank you, Mimi-kun." The sixth grader said with an honest smile.
"Say, Jyou-san, why do you want to be a doctor?" Mimi was curious.
Jyou blinked. The girl seemed to be actually interested in his reason. He did not sense any malevolence or hidden intents behind the question. He did not feel pressured or thought that she saw him as incapable. It was alien for him to feel so at ease.
"I decided that I wanted to be a doctor when I was four or five years old, I guess. I was walking with Father on the street and a young woman approached us and thanked him. I remember that she said that she had a brain tumor that all doctors said was inoperable. Yet, Father did the operation and saved her life. The woman was so glad and Father was so happy…" Jyou narrated, smiling brightly. "Sometimes he doesn't manage to save a patient and that upsets him so much that he locks himself in his study room. But when he saves someone, he's so happy that he can't even hide it. I remember looking up to Father and wishing to be like him since that day… a splendid adult who gets joy from helping other people."
"That's beautiful." Mimi commented.
"What do you want to be, Mimi-kun?" Now it was Jyou who was interested.
Mimi beamed with confidence and replied:
"I want to produce and star my own TV show."
"Work hard, then." Jyou cheered her on.
At the back of the cave, Palmon had found Gomamon staring angrily at the wall.
"You're really upset, aren't you?" She asked.
"I'm fine. I don't care about what that fool thinks." Gomamon said, pouting.
"It's hard to deal with someone who puts so much effort into trying to act cool that he loses sight of his limitations." Palmon commented.
"I know!" Gomamon agreed. "Jyou is impossible! Who is he trying to impress by sacrificing himself?"
"I was talking about you." Palmon corrected the other digimon, who looked at her in disbelief.
"I'm not… I-I don't try to act cool!" Gomamon denied, blushing, which made Palmon laugh.
"You've been showing off confidence ever since we were babies." Palmon remembered. "You were always the loudest and most obnoxious and kept boasting about how cool and strong your partner was going to be. But I don't think you were disappointed when you met Jyou."
Gomamon looked down. He did remember how happy he was when he had finally met Jyou, even though the boy was not even close to what he had imagined. The truth was that the digimon was partially relieved. Look at how lame this guy is, he remembered thinking that, I don't even need to work hard to make him think that I'm cool.
However, the human soon revealed that he was not simply a funny and insecure person who just needed a little push to gain confidence. Gomamon's affectionate teasing did not seem to have any effect on his partner. In fact, nothing that the seal digimon said or did seemed to impress the sixth grader. And when it mattered the most, he could not protect Jyou. He could not stop the boy from getting hurt, even when Jyou himself was the cause. The relief Gomamon once felt when he thought that Jyou was simple and would be so easily shaped by the monster's advices was destroyed, one piece at a time. The more he observed Jyou and heard him talking, the more complicated the human became. And now Gomamon was clueless, with no idea how to deal with him.
"Before I evolved for the first time, Mimi was really scared and did not believe she could do anything. But after we had an honest conversation, I could feel her heart beating. I could feel her power entering me." Palmon told him.
"Why are you telling me that?" The seal digimon asked.
"Because Mimi was at a very low point and she needed my help. It was thanks to me reaching out to her that she found her strength and courage." Palmon explained. "If you really put effort into getting to understand Jyou, I'm sure you'll be able to help him. And I'm sure he's going to make you evolve."
"He doesn't even believe in that possibility."
"Then make him believe."
"I don't know how to help Jyou!" Gomamon stated. "I tried everything but I keep failing… he's too hard, too difficult!"
"That's why you have to persevere." Palmon advised. "Don't give up on Jyou. I believe that the two of you can really complement each other."
"What am I supposed to do?" Gomamon had a pleading tone. "Please, tell me what I have to do?"
"I think you found the right path to find the answer for that already." Palmon said, walking away. "You stopped acting like you don't care."
Gomamon was left there alone. He fell asleep after a few hours.
Everyone's slumber was interrupted when the stone covering the entrance shattered. One of the falling rock pieces injured Leomon's right hand. Drimogemon had broken in and was ready to attack. Leomon immediately unleashed an attack from his left fist which launched his opponent outside. Jyou and Mimi followed him as he pursued his foe into the blinding sunlit snow.
"The Drimogemon seems to be in even greater pain than before." Jyou lamented, glancing at the beast's black gears and enraged expression.
Leomon managed to push the injured Drimogemon down a steep snowbank, trapping it momentarily. He turned to Jyou. "I need my medicine bottle," he said.
"I see!" The boy thought he had understood Leomon's intentions and hurried back to the cave. Jyou searched for the magical liquid inside the digimon's bag.
"What's happening?" Palmon asked. She was on her way to the outside. Gomamon was coming from the back of the cave.
"The Drimogemon returned and Leomon will use the liquid to cure him." Jyou replied.
"We can help in the fight now. Let's go, Gomamon!" Palmon called him as she ran in Mimi's direction. Gomamon stayed in the same place and observed his partner.
"Here it is!" Jyou yelled excitedly, picking the bottle up. He ran to Leomon and showed him the object.
"Good! Spray it on my hand!" Leomon told the boy, extending his right hand. "I need to be in my best form to kill that thing!"
The sixth grader froze at his tracks when he heard that. He looked at Leomon's injured hand and noticed only a small cut.
"What did you say?" Jyou hoped that he had misheard.
"I told you to spray it on my hand so I can kill the Drimogemon before it comes back here!" Leomon gestured in the direction of his foe, who was slowly but surely making its way back to the group.
"You said the liquid was a finite resource." Jyou had a shaking voice. "You said you had to use it wisely! Why are you going to waste it on a small cut on your hand when there's a sick digimon who needs help?!"
Gomamon heard his partner's outburst and rushed to Jyou. He was so amazed at the sixth grader's determined expression that he stopped moving a few steps away.
Drimogemon emerged at the top, ready to fight again. This time, Mimi and Palmon were ready to help. Palmon evolved into Togemon and engaged the enraged monster in combat. Her first priority was to protect Mimi and the others, but she wanted to avoid hurting her foe. With that in mind, she pushed Drimogemon down again and struggled to keep it pinned beneath the snow.
"Do you think the Drimogemon is sick?" Leomon asked, sarcastically. "He's a weak digimon who allowed the darkness to take over his body! He's an accomplice of Devimon now and has to be destroyed!"
"It's not the Drimogemon's fault!" Jyou stated, fiercely. "We've seen a Meramon being cured from the infection by having the black gear in his body removed. I don't know whether Togemon's attacks will have an effect on all the black gears but this liquid surely-"
"You will not waste that precious medicine on a disgraced digimon!" Leomon had a threatening tone and advanced in Jyou's direction. Gomamon ran to the boy's side.
"Jyou, what are you doing?" Gomamon asked. "We might be able to take the gears out by fighting! There's no need to antagonize Leomon!"
"We don't need to hurt the Drimogemon even more! Not when we can spray this liquid on him!" Jyou retorted.
"Jyou-san is right! We shouldn't fight unless it's extremely necessary!" Mimi supported the boy.
"Think about this carefully, chosen children." Leomon adopted a calmer tone. "I'm a strong and experienced adult level digimon. It won't be easy to defeat me. Plus, you'd have to fight the Drimogemon at the same time as me. Do the right thing and give me my bottle back."
"Have you ever used this liquid to help any injured digimon besides Gomamon and Palmon?" Jyou inquired.
"No. It's a rare medicine! I only used it in your partners because you're the heroes of this world." Leomon replied.
"So you're telling me that you've run into digimon who were suffering, while in the possession of a liquid that could heal everything, and you haven't helped anyone?! All you've done was take the lives of sick digimon and use a miraculous medicine to heal your silly, ridiculous wounds?!" Jyou was disgusted.
"This is my last warning!" Leomon pulled the sword he kept in his belt. "You can't afford to be immature now and turn your back to an ally like me!"
Jyou thought about the implications of the choice he would make. The logical option was to do as Leomon said. However, just by considering that, Jyou felt like he was betraying everything he believed in. Difficult choices… sacrifices… maturity…
The boy glanced at Mimi, a few steps at his right, who gave him a supportive look.
I'm the older one. I'm in charge. I need to put the safety of the younger children in the first place, but…
The memory of that woman from his childhood reappeared, more detailed than ever.
"Thank you for taking that risk, Doctor Kido." She had said as she cried and smiled. "I can never thank you enough for the years you granted me."
"I'm the one who's grateful." Jyou's father was so happy. "Look at you, all grown up. I'm so glad I could help you."
"I want to save everybody." Jyou cried, startling Gomamon. "Is it really so wrong to wish for that? Even if it's impossible, if it's childish… why can't I try to save everybody?"
Gomamon felt his heart sink as he saw his partner like that. Jyou simply wanted to help people. It was not because he wanted to be respected. It was not because he wanted everybody else to look up to him and find him cool. A wave of shame enveloped Gomamon, making it hard for him to breathe. He had misunderstood Jyou completely. How much more could the human defy the monster's expectations? Jyou's commitment to helping others was so strong that he put his life aside without hesitation. But even after realizing that, Gomamon could not accept it.
"Why is that so important to you?" Gomamon asked in a serious tone. "Why is your selflessness so extreme that you don't care about putting yourself in danger?"
"I don't like to put myself in danger!" Jyou retorted. "I don't go around being reckless in my everyday life! I only do it when there's something more precious than my life in risk!"
"What is so precious? Other people's lives?" Gomamon inquired, feeling tears in his eyes. "Do you think that your life is not as important as theirs? Is that why you're willing to throw it out like it's nothing?!"
"I don't want to throw my life away, damn it!" Jyou was getting angry.
"Then what is the reason behind your actions?!" Gomamon was trying to understand. "Just tell me, Jyou! Please… why do you rush into danger without listening to what I have to say? Why don't you consider how your actions affect me?"
Drimogemon was beginning to struggle free from Togemon but Jyou did not pay attention to that. His eyes were locked on Gomamon's. The small digimon was not in his usual behavior. You look so scared… so anxious… did I do that to you, Gomamon?
"Do you worry about me?" Jyou asked in low voice.
"Of course I do, you idiot!" Gomamon confirmed. "I might not be great at demonstrating that… I'm not exactly the touchy-feely type… but I want you to rely on me! You can trust me to protect you, Jyou."
Jyou had always fought alone. He had always put himself in a "me vs. the world" situation where he was determined to prove that his hard work would lead him to become a fine adult, trying to ignore that he himself was his worst enemy. Jyou was lonely by his own choice and believed that he should not accept anyone's help because that would stain his efforts. But was fighting alone the right way to do things? Was that what an adult should do?
"Do you think I can help others?" Jyou asked his partner. His heart skipped a beat in anticipation.
"I have a lot to learn about you before I can make any affirmation." Gomamon replied. Jyou looked down, sad, but then he heard the digimon adding: "But I want to give my all to help you. So, if you want to save that Drimogemon and whoever else, count on me to have your back."
"Don't be foolish." Leomon said.
Jyou took a deep breath, holding the bottle against his body. Feeling more relaxed, the boy chuckled, looking at Leomon.
"But that's exactly what I should aim to be." He said.
Leomon looked ready to attack, but Gomamon advanced against him and headbutted him in the other's stomach. Then, he proceeded to bite the feline's left arm. Jyou observed his partner fighting for his sake and felt great happiness.
I'm sorry, Father. I misunderstood what you told me that time. I'm sorry, Gomamon, Koushiro-kun, Mimi-kun, Takeru-kun, Sora-kun. I had forgotten the most fundamental lesson I have been taught.
Drimogemon threw Togemon off with such force that she couldn't take it. Mimi cried out as her partner fell and devolved.
"A Drimogemon shouldn't be this strong." Palmon was confused. "Are the gears doing this?"
There will be times when I'll fail.Jyou thought. There are things I'm terrible at. If I keep on denying help, my chances of success will only decrease. If I'm too focused on the fact that I won't be able to save everybody, I will truly help no one. It's time for me to start assuming that I'm going to win.
"I can do anything I want!" Jyou stated as his device glowed.
Gomamon was enveloped in light.
"Gomamon evolves to… IKKAKUMON!"
Ikkakumon was large and covered in thick white fur. He had a horn on the middle of his forehead. Ikkakumon took a few steps back and fired a missile from inside his horn in Leomon's direction. The missile gave Jyou an idea.
"IKKAKUMON, SHOOT THE BOTTLE!" Jyou screamed, throwing the glass bottle over Drimogemon. Ikkakumon did as his partner said and shot a missile. The glass bottle shattered and the healing liquid washed Drimogemon's back. The white and purple digimon screamed as the black gears dissolved and evaporated. Then, he lay down on the snow, exhausted.
"Thank you." Drimogemon whispered, showing them a faint smile.
"It worked." Leomon could not believe his eyes. "But the liquid should only heal physical wounds, wickedness-"
"Drimogemon was sick, he was not wicked or anything like that." Mimi corrected Leomon. "He was just a victim of Devimon."
"I was assigned to take innocent lives?" Leomon asked in horror. "I need an explanation for this. He will give me the answers I want!"
Leomon ran into the woods, getting out of the others' sights quickly.
Ikkakumon devolved back to Gomamon. Jyou lifted his now small partner into the air and hugged him tightly.
"YOU WERE INCREDIBLE, GOMAMON!" The human boy was radiant. Gomamon blushed furiously.
"I…" The small digimon thought about what he should say. "About time you recognized how incredible I am."
"Hahaha, yeah. I guess you're right." Jyou laughed for the first time at one of Gomamon's jokes. The small digimon stared at the other, incredulous.
Mimi and Palmon observed the two.
"It's good to see them getting along." Mimi expressed her joy.
"Yes." Palmon agreed. "But we should get going. The sun is up and the Village of the Beginnings is waiting."
"Let's go, then." Jyou said, putting Gomamon down.
"We're going to walk a long distance." Mimi sighed. "We'd better come up with interesting conversation topics."
"If you're interested, I could tell you the History of Medicine." Jyou suggested. "The first doctor was Hippocrates. He-"
"What's a doctor, Jyou?" Gomamon asked.
"For you to understand that, I need to tell a different story." Jyou replied, gazing at his little friend. "I was four or five years old and was walking a street with Father. And then a young woman approached us."
I take this opportunity to thankQwertysHumanfor being my beta and editing my story from the beginning. This chapter, in special, had many wonderful contributions by her and I am truly glad for her hard work and patience. I love everything she does to help me and I can never thank her enough.