Chapter 5: Hunters and Prey
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Commandramon looked over the city from his partner's balcony. For whatever reason, the event from earlier that day affected him. He didn't expect to feel this… guilt.
"You're the weakest of the squad, unfit for promotion," he heard his commanding officer say in his mind. "You're too compassionate. Such compassion is unfit for the Darkdramon line."
He didn't want to listen. At the same time he felt that if he brought back Coronamon or at least deleted him, he'd be accepted back into his team, but he knew, underneath it all, that that wasn't going to happen. As it was, he was now a tamed digimon, something the Dragon Lord wouldn't approve of.
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"So, this is my place," Yuji told the reptile as he appeared suddenly in the boy's room. "If you want, you can crash here until you find this Coronamon guy."
"That would be acceptable," Commandramon said. "This seems awful sparse for a military bunker."
The brown haired boy laughed out loud. "That's because it's not."
"It's not… So you're a civilian?" the reptile asked in surprise.
"Yeah, man, Japan doesn't even have much of a military. Not since the Americans beat us about fifty years ago in World War II," Yuji explained, shaking his head and smiling at the same time.
"World War II… You have wars in this world as well?" Commandramon asked, realizing that the human world wasn't nearly as idyllic as he thought it would be.
"Yeah, but not here. Thankfully, the only neighbor that this country has that's remotely hostile is North Korea, and that country's basically a joke." Yuji went over and lay down on his bed, putting his arms behind his head.
"But, what about battle? Don't you humans fight each other on a regular basis?" Commandramon inquired, continuing his look into the human world's nature.
"Nah, not really. Maybe once-in-a-while someone around here will pick a fight with someone else. We actually look down on it unless, for some reason, it's on TV. There ain't no survival of the fittest among humans in the real world. Well, except for corporate executives."
Commandramon looked down in shock. "Doesn't life get boring if you aren't constantly fighting each other, though?" the reptile asked.
"Not really. Okay, some afternoons can get boring, but that's what we have things like friends and family for." Yuji cracked a smile. "We sometimes go out and do stuff, or sometimes just hang out."
"Hang out?" the reptile inquired. "So, you dangle yourselves from buildings?"
Yuji's eyes went wide at that. "Oh, heck no!" he exclaimed, before breaking out in a laugh. "I take it you didn't get much of a childhood, huh, lizard guy?"
Commandramon hadn't thought of that. "No, not really. I've been raised to be a talented fighter from the very beginning!" he exclaimed, thinking of the glory of his empire. "And to serve the Dragon Lord in every which way I can!"
Yuji sat up. "Dragon Lord? What's that?" he asked in confusion.
"The Dragon Lord is the greatest of all Digimon and the ruler of the Dominion," Commandramon explained, amazed that the boy he was staying with had never heard of such a glorious leader.
"Yeah? And what kind of digimon is he?" Yuji asked, scratching his chin. "Greatest of all dragons… Is he Azulongmon?"
"No, he is Dorbickmon, a far greater dragon than that so-called sovereign!" the reptile exclaimed, slightly offended.
"Hey, hey, chill out! I thought the sovereigns were the good guys. If I remember right, they helped defeat the D-Reaper." Yuji tried to cool down the digimon he was with.
"Supposedly. How would you know?" Commandramon asked, spitefully.
"I happen to be friends with some Tamers that fought the D-Reaper here in the real world. They said that the Sovereigns showed up really quickly at the end of their battle," Yuji explained, hoping to get the monster in front of him to cool down. "At least that's what Henry, Rika and Ryo said. Then again, three witnesses can't be wrong, can they?"
Commandramon nodded. He was starting to like this boy, though he decided to try to change the subject. "What are these games you were talking about?"
"Oh, you want to play on my old PlayStation? I'll try to find a good racing or fighting game," Yuji replied, getting up to go to his closet. "Nothing in here. I'll have to check my big bro's room."
"Your what?" the lizard asked in confusion.
"My brother. You know, an older sibling… We have the same parents… Then again, you probably don't have anything like that in the digital world do you." Commandramon shook his head brusquely. "That's what I thought. Man, it must have sucked being raised to be a killer after emerging from that digi-egg."
"I don't really know any better," the reptile replied.
Yuji nodded sympathetically. "Sorry about that, buddy. I'll go check my bro's games. Just wait here for a minute, okay?"
"I shall, master!"
Hearing Commandramon call him that got on his nerves. "Uh, don't call me master, man. We're, like, the same, okay?"
The reptile looked at him in shock before nodding and then watching the boy walk away.
###
That was the day they became partners. Commandramon didn't expect such a bond to form so fast. Still, he had numerous questions about the human world. Then there was Yuji's family situation. In all his time there, he had never once seen the boy's brother. He wondered if he had done that thing that Yuji called 'moving out'.
Then there were his parents. His father seemed to always be talking about the sales he makes at work. And his mother seemed to constantly complain about not having enough money despite constantly coming home with new clothes. The reptile had to roll his eyes at that one.
Commandramon's reverie was broken when his partner came onto the balcony, panicking. "Commandramon, quick! We've got to get out of here!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" the reptile inquired, not wanting to ruin a serene afternoon. Even he had to admit that it was kind of nice not having to fight, even though it was his duty.
"There are digivice signals headed towards the apartment," Yuji stated. Commandramon nodded. He knew what had probably happened. Taizou had most likely ratted him and his Tamer out for what had happened the day before and now a number of Tamers were after them.
"Okay, let's get moving!" the dinosaur exclaimed, getting up and following his partner.
###
The two of them ran out the door and to the right, away from the elevator that the other Tamers were going to be coming up. He counted three on his digivice's radar and he knew that he would have to get out of there and to the other elevator in his apartment building as soon as possible. There was no way he was going to jail. He knew that the others frowned on what he did, but he didn't think they'd care enough to go after him for it.
Running around the corner with Commandramon, Yuji pulled out a mirror from his hastily-stuffed backpack and watched as Taizou, Tadashi and Ayaka came out with a couple of cops.
The heck? Why are the cops with them? And what the heck? When did Tadashi become a Tamer? Yuji thought, looking at Solarmon, Salamon and Coronamon. Coronamon… That was the digimon that Commandramon was after.
"What is it, Yuji?" his partner asked.
"There's just a group of Tamers and their digimon. We need to get out of here, now!" Yuji exclaimed, dragging his partner with him.
"I could probably fight 'em!" Commandramon complained as he was dragged along through the dark, red-walled corridors of the apartment building by his partner.
"Heck no! You'd get killed in the first five minutes. Two of those Tamers can reach Champion! One of them is Taizou from yesterday. The other is a girl from school." Since Yuji knew that the dinosaur would try to go after Coronamon if he told him, the long-haired boy decided not to tell him about him.
The duo reached the elevator in record timing and Yuji frantically hit the down button, looking around in fear as he did so. "Yuji, why are you so scared?" Commandramon asked him.
"'Cause I don't want to lose you because of something I did, okay, buddy?" He was sweating at that moment.
That didn't seem to faze the bluish-grey reptile. "Yuji, soldiers die in battle all the time."
"So? It don't have to happen. Heck, it shouldn't happen. I don't want you to die, man. You're my partner, and I don't want anything to happen to you!" The elevator door finally opened and the duo jumped in. Yuji regained his composure long enough to press the button with the number one on it and then pressed the 'close' button so that they'd get down as quickly as possible.
The next few hours would be harrowing.
###
Officer Hida rolled his eyes at the situation. Why did he have to get all the weird cases? This had to be the weirdest of them all, even topping that streaker he had to deal with who was protesting laws against citizens of Korean decent not being allowed to vote. Still, he never had to work alongside kids with monsters from another world.
"No answer. They're probably out," one of the kids, Taizou, said after knocking twice.
The officer pulled out the master key that he had procured from the landlord and unlocked the door. "Wait, you had a key on you the whole time?" the other boy, Tadashi, asked, surprised and wondering why he didn't do that sooner.
The officer grumbled, hating his job. "Yes. I was only going to use this as a last resort. What did you think I'd do? Knock the door down?" Still, he looked on the bright side. At least this didn't involve an evil clown in the middle of the park. Yes, he got the weird ones alright.
The group entered into the cluttered apartment and looked around. Taizou and Tadashi in particular went straight for Yuji's room. The duo found the long-haired boy's computer and Taizou reached down and turned it on.
"You really think that there's a list of people on Yuji's computer?" the chubby blond asked as his brown-haired friend booted up the computer.
"Uh, yeah." As soon as Windows booted up, Taizou noticed a file on the desktop that said 'List of Clients'. This is too easy… he thought, grimacing.
Just as he opened it, Ayaka and the two police officers walked in. "I can't find that guy anywhere," the blonde girl commented.
Tadashi just looked at his digivice's radar, annoyed. "He was here just a few minutes ago. He had to have seen us coming. Come on, guys, he couldn't have gone far."
"But what about the guy's clients?" Taizou asked, not wanting to get carried away.
"We'll just have the cops deal with them. Let's go!" Tadashi said, practically storming out of the place. Ayaka ran after him, not liking this at all. Before heading after his friend, though, Taizou spoke to the cops.
"Can you guys deal with this?" he asked, unsure of it.
"Sure, just call us when you catch the kid you're after," Hida replied, just before the brown-haired boy left. Then he turned away and grumbled under his breath.
"So, you want to print out this list and then grab something to eat?" the other officer asked.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Hida responded.
###
Yuji ran through the park with Commandramon close behind. He was lucky. It seemed that the others had spent quite a bit of time at his apartment, just long enough for him to escape with his partner. And he was almost there.
Looking up at the top of a hill, he saw his destination, the familiar old shed that Guilmon used to live in. He hurried up the steps toward where he knew the portal to the digital world was.
He walked inside and noticed something very wrong. "What? Oh, man, who the heck did this?" he angrily asked no one in particular.
"Yuji, what are you worried about?" Commandramon inquired, not knowing a thing about what Yuji intended.
"The… the stupid government decided to repair the wall in this thing!" the long-haired boy exclaimed angrily, gesturing at the back of the shed where Guilmon had dug a hole before it got filled with concrete. That was also where he would have found the portal.
Yuji was angry and attempted to punch a nearby wall. "Ow! Stupid Hypnos…" he grumbled, rubbing his knuckle.
"So, you were going to bring me to the digital world?" Commandramon asked, wishing that this plan had succeeded and feeling bummed out because it didn't.
"Dude, it's the only way we were going to even escape the stupid government."
The reptile thought for a second. "Is there a chance there's another portal around?"
Yuji glanced at his partner. "Uh, yeah, but it'll take weeks to find, weeks that we don't have!" The long-haired boy paced worriedly. "You know, we might as well leave the country in that time."
"And how would we do that?" Commandramon asked, not knowing anything about the human world's political system.
"We… I don't know. Hitch a ride on a plane headed for the US or something. Nah, the US would be too obvious. How about Europe or something? Maybe even South America. They can't find us down there." Yuji smiled. "Yeah, and then we'll find a way to the digital world! Heck yeah! Yuji for the win!"
Commandramon rolled his eyes. "What about your brother?"
Yuji shrugged. "I don't know, man. I haven't heard from him in a few months. Plus, he lives here in Japan, so that wouldn't work." The boy glanced at the radar on his digivice. "Oh, crap, they're almost here!"
"Then we should leave!" Commandramon said in a gruff tone as the two ran out of the shed and down the hill. Unfortunately, they were a bit late when Ayaka and Salamon showed up.
"Yuji, stay right there!" the girl exclaimed, nervous but trying her best not to show it.
"Ayaka, you don't have to do this. We can't have the government controlling our lives!" the long-haired boy exclaimed. "We need to stick it up to the man!"
The girl rolled her eyes. "The government is there for a reason. By selling digimon to other people, you risk them getting in the wrong hands, okay?" she asked, irritated, hoping to have gotten through to him.
"Yeah, right, that's what they all say. Don't listen to their propaganda, Ayaka!" he shouted before turning around. Commandramon was willing to fight but at the same time he had his loyalties to his partner to consider.
Then the digimon spotted his nemesis along with a somewhat portly blond boy and stopped. "Commandramon, what are you doing?" Yuji exclaimed before seeing Tadashi. "Oh, crap. Oh, crap."
"Coronamon, you are guilty of subverting the authority of the Dragon Lord! And for this, you must be deleted!" the reptile shouted.
"Yeah? Well, Dorbickmon's a crappy leader. Come on, building an army and defying the sovereigns? That's pretty low!" the lion shouted.
"Yuji, stop! You don't have to be a criminal!" Tadashi yelled out.
"I already am," the long-haired boy responded. He saw his partner's bloodlust. He didn't want to fight, but chances were that his partner wasn't willing to run away, either, so he pulled out a card, just in case. He wasn't sure if this was going to work, since he hadn't done it before, but he was going to try.
"M16 Assassin!" Commandramon tossed a grenade at Coronamon. The time to settle this was now. Coronamon kicked the grenade back and it exploded in mid-air.
Then Yuji slid the card. "Digi-modify, digivolution activate!" he yelled.
DIGIVOLUTION_
"Commandramon digivolve to…" the digimon that emerged was one that Coronamon didn't want to see again in his life, but here he was, the tall assassin known as "…Sealsdramon!"
The cyborg rushed forward with a knife in hand, ready to take out Coronamon. Tadashi couldn't bear the sight. He didn't want his partner to die at the hand of his best friend's partner.
There was no way he was going to let his partner die. He had hoped that this would be his moment to shine.
The moment Sealsdramon was about to stab his partner was when his digivice exploded with light.
DIGIVOLUTION_
"Coronamon digivolve to…" Sealsdramon couldn't attack now, especially since the glow of the lion's digivolution caused his optical sensors to go haywire. When the glow dissipated, a new, far larger digimon, a quadruped lion with a pair of wings on his back and a burning jewel on his forehead was in Coronamon's place. "…Firamon!"
Ayaka was glad that she didn't have her partner digivolve, since doing so would have meant that Tadashi wouldn't have done it. She knew that he had to stand up on his own. Still, she hoped that this battle would be short. She found it strange that there wasn't a crowd gathering or anything.
Taizou looked in amazement. His partner probably wouldn't have been able to digivolve again so soon after finally reverting from Blimpmon, so this meant that he didn't have to do anything. He smiled at his friend, though. This truly was his moment to rise to the occasion.
Yuji was shocked. He hadn't expected Tadashi's partner to digivolve at almost the same time his did. He was also a bit envious since Firamon could fly and Sealsdramon obviously couldn't. He wasn't even sure if the assassin could even carry him.
Tadashi was glad to see his partner digivolved. Still, he had this nagging feeling that his parents wouldn't be happy to see him doing this. He brushed it aside, making it a point not to tell them when it was all over. After all, Takato's parents didn't know about his dangerous trips out of the house.
"Show him who's boss, Firamon!" the blond boy exclaimed.
"With pleasure!" the digimon shouted in a slightly deeper voice than he had as Coronamon. The fiery jewel on the lion's forehead glowed for a second before unleashing a fireball straight at Sealsdramon. "Fira Bomb!" The assassin dodged before realizing that the lion was unleashing more bombs at him.
"Oh please, is that the best you've got?" Sealsdramon taunted before using one of his techniques. "Scouter Monoeye!" Using his bionic eye, he scanned the winged lion for any weak points he might have before taking the pair of knives off his back, ready to strike. He moved forward, evading any fireballs that happened before aiming at Firamon's head with his knives.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what the winged lion expected him to do. "Fira Claw!" the lion yelled, flapping his wings and aiming at the smaller assassin with his claws. The assassin escaped his enemy's attack, but he missed his opportunity to pull off a Death Behind on Firamon's main jewel. Now Firamon was in mid-air, ready to strike with his next attack.
"Digi-modify! Hyper-wing activate!" Yuji yelled, slashing a card and hoping to give his partner more of an advantage. Unfortunately, despite now having wings, Sealsdramon didn't know how to use them and after flying into the air, the assassin accidently fell to the ground, making him an easy target for one of Firamon's stronger attacks.
"Flame Dive!" the winged lion digimon yelled, dive-bombing the assassin before he could get out of the way, covered in extremely hot flames. The attack enveloped Sealsdramon and as soon as the smoked cleared, the Tamers that were watching the battle saw what had happened.
The finishing blow caused Sealsdramon's form to flicker before he devolved back into Commandramon. Yuji just looked on in shock. He balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. "We lost. I can't believe it!"
"Yuji, just give up! There are three of us here with partner digimon," Ayaka told him, shaking underneath and taking a deep breath.
"You call yourselves friends? You're not my friends!" he yelled at them. "A true friend would stick up for another friend no matter what."
"No, that's the exact opposite of what a true friend would do," Taizou explained, his eyes narrowed at Yuji. "A true friend would get his friend help when they needed it and that includes when a friend is doing something stupid."
"No!"
"Hey, look! It's the kids," the group looked past Yuji to see the two police officers from earlier along with a pair of suited men. Apparently Hypnos decided to keep tabs on them.
"There's no way you're going to arrest me, man! And you're definitely not taking Commandramon either!" Yuji exclaimed, ready to fight them off.
"No, you're coming with us," the second officer said.
"Just go with them," Tadashi told him.
Yuji just gave the blond boy of half-European decent an icy glair before the officers cuffed him and took him away. The suited agents grabbed Commandramon as well. He wasn't sure what they were going to do to the dinosaur.
His pride had definitely been damaged that day.
###
Thirty days later, Yuji was released from juvenile hall. The judge had gone easy on him for some reason and now he was exiting the building. He didn't like it one bit.
His anger at Tadashi had cooled, especially once he had heard from Yamaki about who some of his contacts were. For instance, there was that once scientist from Yokohama, who had a name that sounded similar to Tadashi's brother's, who apparently conducted experiments on digimon in his basement. Well, they both started with K's, anyway.
So, what would you think about this, bro? he pondered, thinking of his older brother. He spotted his parents waiting for him at the front desk, both happy to see him. They immediately ran over and embraced him, tears coming from his mother's eyes.
"Hey, so, I'm back, I guess," was what the long-haired boy told his parents.
"Yes, you are," his dad said before his tone went serious. "However, do you remember what I told you about Digimon?"
Yuji wasn't going to like it. "I'm not supposed to fight with mine. Got it!" Not that he would listen…
###
"So, anything new happen while I was in jail?" Yuji asked Tadashi the next day at school. The blond was startled as the brown-haired boy sat down next to him. He hadn't expected to see him so quickly. Yuji watched him for a few seconds, waiting for an answer.
"Uh, well, we got our digivices upgraded," the blond responded, grinning uneasily and shaking slightly.
The brown-haired boy slouched in his seat. "And I supposed I don't get to have the upgrade, do I?"
Tadashi felt sweat on his forehead. "You'd have to ask Yamaki or Mizuno about that one."
The long-haired boy shrugged. "I don't know even who those guys are," he replied. "Anything else go on?" The guy's voice was somewhat critical.
"Miki got a partner," the blond added, trying to think of a quick way out of his seat and out of the room.
"She's kind of hot. So, what did you do after the whole incident, huh?" he said, opening his eyes and grinning madly. "Tell me the whole story."
Tadashi looked at the clock. They had a few minutes. He would get a break when it was all over. Actually, he was surprised that nobody else from his group of Tamers had arrived.
"Okay, it all started when we got back to Hypnos after dealing with you…" the blond began, hoping the beginning of the class period would come as soon as possible.
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A/N: Hopefully updates will be a bit faster from here on out. I'm planning on spending a bit more time on this throughout the month of March. A little challenge I'm giving myself, especially with some of the interesting things I've got in mind. Basically, it's based off a challenge I remember hearing about making a 40,000 word novel in a month. Let's see how that works out…