Act 1: Beating Heart
Segment 2: New Year, New Life
Chapter 2-10: Tooth and Nail
"Shouldn't we wait for backup?" asked Kazuhiko. "We could be walking into something massive." Kazuhiko, Satsuki, Monodramon, and Gabumon were standing in a quiet alleyway. They had texted the other Tamers, but nobody was within a twenty-to-thirty-minute walk, and public transit wasn't going to be much faster.
"I know, but…" Satsuki fretted, "who knows what's developing inside there right now? We should probably clear it as fast as possible." Kazuhiko groaned. "Are you scared of these?"
"A-a bit, y-yeah." It seemed like more than that to Satsuki.
She was amused. "And you were the one who hoped to meet a Digimon the most, even when Monodramon punched you in the leg."
"Well, that's because Monodramon is… I know what Monodramon is!"
"Kazuhiko, come on, it's not that bad," Monodramon tried to reassure him. "Hey, we dealt with the previous one easily!"
He sighed. He was probably outnumbered. "Gabumon?"
Gabumon shook its head. "We might as well stop it from growing any more than it might already be."
He swallowed nervously. "Okay, then. Monodramon, lead the way."
"Of course!" The purple Digimon stepped into the shimmering brick wall. Kazuhiko breathed deeply and walked in, followed by Satsuki and Gabumon.
Monodramon was looking around. This was not what it had expected to see. "This is… weird." Unlike the previous abnormal Junctions they'd been in, this was not blank. The Junction was a long hall mimicking the inside of an apartment building, except the doors' number plates made no sense. It tried one. Nothing happened.
Kazuhiko shivered. "Monodramon, this is making my skin crawl. We should leave."
"We just talked about this!" Monodramon disagreed. "There has to be a heart here somewhere behind one of these doors." It tried another. It also did not budge.
"Monodramon, he's right. We didn't pick up anything off before, but this is very weird," replied Gabumon. It looked around. It was also getting the creeps. "Let's give at least Lomamon and Hawkmon a chance to get here."
"They have their own patrol too, you know."
"Okay, then maybe we should ask for Amedramon. Its senses are sharper than ours, maybe it can sense something we're missing."
Monodramon grumbled. "Amedramon this, Amedramon that. Can't we go do something ourselves for once?"
"Look, I get it, but this is about danger. We can't be taking unnecessary risks," chided Gabumon.
"You want to just leave it around? If it's already gotten this bad, we can't wait another twenty minutes!"
"Gabumon," Satsuki said, her voice trembling a bit, "I know you want to make sure we have all the support we can get, but I think Monodramon is right."
"Satsuki…"
"I'm right here. We'll be fine." She settled herself. "I don't know what's happening in here, but we should eliminate this abnormal Junction as soon as we can."
"Fine, I guess. Monodramon, can you at least not go touching all the doors?" Gabumon pleaded. "These all look the same, anyway. I bet the one we're looking for is going to be unlike the others."
"How do you know that?" demanded Monodramon, but Satsuki and Gabumon were already heading down the hall. "Agh, Kazuhiko, we can't hang around. Let's go!"
"R-right! Lead t-t-the way!" he stammered.
Monodramon eyed him with a squint. "Sometimes," it replied, "I wish I got partnered with someone with more courage."
"Ah… I wish I ha-had more, to be honest, heh," Kazuhiko laughed.
Monodramon sighed. "I'll have to show you the way, I guess."
Gabumon looked at door after door. "Nothing stands out, guys." It and Satsuki came to an intersection. "Oh, great. Just what we needed." All three directions seemed to go on endlessly, too. "Satsuki, we're going to get lost in here."
She sighed. Maybe they should have waited for Amedramon. It probably would have been able to pick up on the signatures being emitted by those amoeboid creatures by now. No matter. "Well… maybe there's a smarter way of going about this."
"What do you mean?"
Satsuki stood there at the intersection, partly to think, partly to let Kazuhiko and Monodramon catch up. She looked around. "Do you hear anything?"
The four of them stood around. Gabumon suddenly pointed to the right. "There! The faint sound of something walking around!" It started in that direction, followed by Satsuki, Monodramon, and Kazuhiko. There was indeed a sound: the sound of something wet and viscous moving around. It was the same thing as when they had first encountered the alien life forms, except this time…
"Shit, Satsuki, it sounds like there's tens of them."
"And if we waited any longer," she said, "there would be hundreds." She turned to him. "Are you in?"
"In what?"
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
Kazuhiko squeezed his eyes shut and looked up. His heart was racing. They were fine against two, but twenty? Forty? More? Who knew. "I don't have a choice now, do I? There's no going back."
Satsuki shook her head. "You think I'm not scared? Of course I am. But if we don't clean this up now, we're letting this fester, and if it leaks out into the street, then who knows then."
"Okay." Kazuhiko breathed in and out deeply to settle himself. "Okay. Let's do this."
Gabumon pointed at a door. "Look, the label on this one isn't like the others." It put a paw on the handle. "Monodramon, get ready."
"Mm!"
"Here we go!" Gabumon pulled the handle and pushed the door open. All of the amoebic beings inside turned to them. "Oh, that's more than I expected. Crap! Uh, uh, Petit Fire!" It launched a fireball out at the nearest one, which wailed and evaporated. But there were still tens more to take its place.
"Yaaa! Baby Flame!" Monodramon unleashed a fireball of its own. The amoebic being smacked the fireball away. "What?!"
"Monodramon, get back!" Kazuhiko implored. "These are more dangerous than the ones from before!"
"You can slap my fireball away but not this!" Monodramon was completely ignoring Kazuhiko at this point. "Beat Knuckle!" The amoebic life form squelched underneath Monodramon's fist and collapsed onto the tiled floor. It melted into a puddle of goo, then dissolved. Another two lunged forward at Monodramon and raised their club hands at it. "Aah!" Monodramon dodged one, but not the other, and got punched backward.
"Monodramon, you idiot," Kazuhiko exclaimed and ran forward to get Monodramon back onto its feet. "Guys, we have to fall back, there's too many!" Satsuki and Gabumon looked around. They were getting surrounded now that they had been lured into the doorway.
"Fuck, they're around us!" Satsuki exclaimed. "Gabumon!"
"Petit Fire!" It took down another one, but it jumped back as one of the amoeboid life forms fired something back at it. "Naa, that's bad!" It jumped and danced backward as globs of goo were pelted at it from a distance. "Monodramon, stay close!"
Monodramon wasn't listening. "I'll take you all on!" it yelled and rushed forward again, leading with its head. "Zutsuki Kougeki!" It rammed its armoured head right into a black and green amoeboid being. It wailed and lashed about, narrowly missing Monodramon's face, and dissolved. "Ha, another one!" Monodramon exclaimed proudly.
"How many – shit – how many are there?!" Kazuhiko wondered in a panic. He was completely exposed now, and one of them was going after him with its club arms. "Monodramon, some help please!"
"Ah, sorry, coming! Beat Knuckle!" It seemed to be enjoying itself. The alien being squelched and melted, then dissolved, but there were another three to replace it. "Okay, so maybe this is getting a little out of hand," Monodramon admitted.
Satsuki yelped. She'd been struck in the back when she wasn't looking, and she collapsed to the floor. "Satsuki!" Gabumon exclaimed. Its fists clenched. "You – aaaargh!" It, too, rammed the offending amoeboid alien, piercing its chest with its horn.
"Satsuki!" Kazuhiko ran over. "Are you okay?"
"It stings, ow," she whined, clutching her lower back. "Nothing's broken, I think, but it hurts a lot." She got to her knees and looked around. The amoebic life forms kept coming from somewhere.
Gabumon shook angrily. "You'll all pay for that!" It lashed out at another, and then another. "We won't go down here!" it yelled. "Petit Fire!"
Satsuki's eyes widened. Its body seemed to be fading and exposing the wireframe underneath. "Gabumon, what-" She shielded her eyes as it turned to a flash of light. She heard a wolf-like howl. The floor shook. She opened her eyes to a new sight. "Garurumon?" she gasped.
The massive blue wolf bodyslammed a few alien creatures, sending them flying. They dissolved midair. "I'll take you all on myself! Come at me! Fox Fire!" It spewed blue flames around, burning as many of the alien blobs as it could. Their numbers thinned. "I see it! Satsuki, hold on a moment – I've got this!" It ran in the direction of the beating heart. "Freeze Fang!" It jumped up and landed on the heart, gripping it in its jaws, and wrenched it apart. The heart ripped. The abnormal Junction shuddered, darkened, and in a flash, the four of them were sent back to the Human World.
Garurumon turned to her. "Satsuki, are you okay?"
"I'll be fine. Garurumon, that was incredible." She got up and nuzzled Garurumon's nose.
"I'm glad," it murmured. "Ah, I should revert, shouldn't I? It's a little cramped in here." A shadow passed overhead. It was far too large to be a regular bird. "Hm? Oh, Amedramon!"
"Garurumon? Wow, you evolved!" Amedramon turned mid-air and glided down. Compared to Garurumon, Amedramon finally looked small. Garurumon was about the length of a cube truck, after all, and about as tall as a minivan. "I'm jealous, hee."
Garurumon shifted back to its Rookie form. "Hey, where's Ryuta?"
Amedramon sniffed. "I dunno."
"You came here on your own?!"
"What's wrong with that?"
Monodramon and Gabumon looked at each other with concern. "Did something happen?" Monodramon asked.
"Yeah, Ryuta is too slow! He wanted me to stay in the apartment when you guys texted him, and I disagreed, so I came by myself!"
"We're supposed to stay together, you know," Gabumon replied.
"Who said that?!"
Truthfully, nobody had. "Uh – well – I-I did!"
Amedramon blew a raspberry. "So you're just making it up on the spot then."
"Amedramon!" Ryuta yelled, chest heaving.
"Ryuta, you finally caught up!" Amedramon seemed completely oblivious to how angry Ryuta was.
"You-"
"What are you gonna do about it, hmm?" Amedramon taunted. "Nothing!" Its glittering violet eyes stared back at him.
Satsuki and Kazuhiko stared as Ryuta paced forward. There it was again, that look. Kazuhiko had been on the receiving end of it once before, when he had literally walked into him while he was leaving school, and it was unnerving. "Amedramon," Ryuta commanded, his voice flat, "get in my phone."
Amedramon, though, proudly looked upward at him, sat on its haunches. "By the way, Gabumon evolved."
"I don't care."
"Ryuta, are you angry with me?"
"What do you think?!" he bellowed.
"Heehee. You kinda look like Vanadramon when you're angry."
He squinted. "What?"
"My next evolution!" Amedramon exclaimed. "You know how we evolve, right? We gotta fight for it! We should be next!"
Gabumon facepalmed. Amedramon was incredibly immature.
Ryuta stopped right in front of Amedramon and kneeled down to be at eye level with it. He clutched the back of its head, jaw rolling around. "Alright then. The next time we find one of these abnormal Junctions, you and I will take it on, alone. Either we'll get you to evolve, or we'll die trying."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Amedramon slipped into Ryuta's phone.
"I was being sarcastic!" he yelled.
"Ah, were you, though?" Amedramon accused. Ryuta's breath stopped. He actually hadn't been.
"You know what? If you're going to be like this, then we'll actually go and do it. We'll find the worst fucking Junction we can get and throw ourselves in the blender, and hope we don't die!" he yelled at his phone.
Kazuhiko put a hand on Ryuta's shoulder. "Ryuta, please, calm down."
Ryuta shrugged him off. His chest was still heaving, either from yelling or from sprinting. He took a few moments to gather himself. "Are you hurt at all? Any of you?"
Satsuki was still clutching her back. "Bruised, maybe."
"Fuck." Ryuta bashed his phone against his forehead. "I… I should have come without hesitation." He grimaced.
"Ryuta, you would have maybe saved a minute – it wouldn't have been enough time."
"It could have been!" he exclaimed, palms open.
Gabumon retorted, "And if you did come with Amedramon, I wouldn't have evolved." It looked up at Satsuki. "I'm not happy that you needed to get hurt, but… I don't know. It unlocked it for me. I guess I felt like I could only protect you if I did."
"You've never evolved before?"
"No… many of us Digimon never get past Rookie level."
Satsuki flicked her hair back and smiled. "I guess if you want to evolve to Ultimate, I have to break a bone, then."
"Satsuki!"
"I'm kidding, obviously. Hopefully the next time doesn't require me getting beat up. But I'm glad you managed to break through the ceiling."
"Hey, Kazuhiko," Monodramon said, "I should try my hardest to evolve, too!"
"Yeah, of course! Uh, just don't stress yourself out too much about it. Y-you too, Ryuta!" He looked around. "Where did he go?"
"You know him," Satsuki muttered, "he disappears when he feels like it." She stretched out her back. This was going to be sore for a few days, at least. Hopefully her parents didn't see this or else she might not be allowed outside again. "Let's take a break, guys. I need one."
"What you need is ice on that bruise," Kazuhiko said.
"Also that." She winced as she started walking. "We should tell the others what we found. Is your place closer or mine?"
"Should be mine, I think. I'll let them know what happened."
• • • • • • •
Yuuka
You didn't come back to Rei's apartment
I hope you're doing okay
13:57
• • • • • • •
Ryuta didn't have the will to respond to Yuuka's message. He felt at fault for Satsuki getting injured. Sure, Gabumon had evolved because of it, but there had to be a better way.
He had been taking a walk around a park to clear his head and calm down, like he usually did in times like this. Tokyo Skytree rose above the land in the distance, practically brushing up against the remaining clouds. A bunch of seniors were walking about as well. It was a work day, after all. The drizzle had stopped, but the clouds remained.
He kept walking, putting the tower further and further behind him. A few people were walking their dogs in the park. A retriever took interest in his pocket, which had his phone in it. He wondered briefly if the dog could tell something was not normal about it. Its owner hurriedly apologized for the interruption and tugged it away.
He hadn't told Amedramon about Kanae's reaction yesterday, as much as it had pestered him about it. He didn't feel like talking about Kouji anymore. That was in the past.
It was time to move on, and time for him to get a move on. Yuuka was waiting, after all. He pulled out his phone to text Yuuka that he was on his way back, but he went to check on Amedramon first. It was snoozing, as it usually did, in his phone. What a carefree Digimon, he thought to himself. He opened up the messaging app and started typing a reply to Yuuka. He would be another ten minutes.
No. Not carefree. Of course it wasn't carefree. If it was, it wouldn't have run off to find Gabumon and Monodramon, he realized. It was just … reckless? Was it reckless, or was he just controlling? Perhaps all that was relative to another's opinions.
He stopped typing and stared sullenly at his phone. He was controlling, wasn't he? Just like his mother. He always needed to know where Haru was and what she was up to. He couldn't let Amedramon out of his sight. He forced everyone to do as he wanted. People looked up to him because he seemed to exude confidence and professionalism. He was none of these things. He just tried to pretend to be these things because he was supposed to be these things for his sister.
What a pretentious person he was.
He resumed typing.
• • • • • • •
Yuuka
No trouble at all
Give me ten minutes
14:04
• • • • • • •