Act 1: Beating Heart
Segment 3: A Glorious Arms Race
Chapter 3-6: Das Herz in Flammen
Title derived from: Deutschland by Rammstein
Wir sind schon sehr lang zusammen; dein Atem kalt, das Herz in Flammen...
Aquilamon charged forward. The giant Plasmid squelched and evaporated, but the giant heart kept pumping them out about as fast as they could destroy them. This wasn't good. "Glide Horn!" Another one shrieked and dissolved. "Peckmon, how are you doing?"
It zoomed past and kicked a giant Plasmid in the chest, annihilating it. "Not too bad, I guess, but we can't keep being distracted by these."
A draconic roar thundered across the expanse, followed by a flash of plasma and the acrid smell of burning carbon and sulfur. "Piss off!" someone yelled. From this distance, it was hard to tell if that yell was Ryuta or Vanadramon. Peckmon imagined it could be either. "Yuuka, we need to figure out something. We're getting tired as it is, and we can't keep this up much longer."
"Oh no," she fretted. She looked around. Everyone seemed preoccupied. Asuka and her were being protected as well as they could by Peckmon and Aquilamon, but again, numbers were against them, and Vanadramon and Lomamon were on the other side of the heart. It was tough to coordinate a plan. She shook her head. "If only we could stop the heart from pumping out more Plasmids, I'm sure we could put an end to this."
"Vanadramon!" Asuka yelled. "Can you get a shot in?" The dragon roared and fired a blast of plasma at the heart, but a Plasmid jumped up to protect it. "I guess I should have expected these things to sacrifice themselves," she remarked. "Aquilamon?"
"Tried the same thing, got the same result, then got punched away. It still stings a bit."
"Right, I forgot." Asuka rubbed her temples. Peckmon was too involved on the ground as it was and Aquilamon was harassing the remaining Plasmids. The sound of battle raged around her. "I'm out of ideas, Yuuka."
"Gah, so am I. Ryuta! Any ideas?"
"Little busy," he yelled back. She squinted. Was he punching a Plasmid again? She needed a chat with him about that, but they never seemed to have the time for it. The Plasmid dissolved under his fist. "Ideas? Only idea I've got is to fuck some shit up, but I think we're all at that point!"
Yuuka sighed. Asuka elbowed her. "Classic Ryuta," they agreed. At least they had some time for humour while potentially dying at the hands of goopy alien monsters. "Good thing Satsuki isn't here to sass him," Asuka remarked.
"What, because it would be a never-ending cycle of sass?" Yuuka asked. She didn't really need to, though. They all knew.
"Mmhm. I can't believe you date this guy sometimes." Aquilamon's speed ruffled their hair as it sped by. "You're not trying to fix him, are you?"
"No, no. I want him to fix himself. At least he can do that, or he tries his best." She stared over to the other side. Takaharu was also on Vanadramon's back, because there wasn't much better place to be. Lomamon, for its part, was trying its hardest, but it wasn't really a match against the giant Plasmids. It had been beat up multiple times.
"Oh, good." Asuka looked up. At least there were no egg sacs here. "Boy, we really have gone insane, haven't we?"
"Please don't say that."
"Sorry."
"Gaaah – ow!" Lomamon had leapt up to try to take a swipe at a giant Plasmid, but as so many times before, it got slapped back down. Vanadramon swung its tail around and bashed it in the chest, promptly dissolving it.
Takaharu caught Lomamon as it got bounced back into his arms. "Lomamon, please, you have to stop, it's not good for you!"
It coughed. "I… I want to help," it sputtered.
"I do too, but…" he grimaced. Why did it have to be them that was unevolved? Why? What was missing? "I don't know what to do!"
"Hey, Takaharu," Ryuta said over his shoulder.
"What, dragon boy?"
"Didn't you say Lomamon was from an icy place?"
"What about?"
"Then I assume Lomamon knows something about slowing this goddamn-" Ryuta suddenly grabbed Takaharu and ducked both of them down as a club hand went swinging over them. "-heart to give us two seconds to breathe," he continued.
Vanadramon roared and batted the giant Plasmid away. "Get out of here!" It dissolved mid-air. "Lomamon, do you remember at all what your evolutions are?"
"N-no…" it mumbled. "I wish Garurumon were here, though."
"Well, it's not," it rumbled, "so we can't think about that." It pierced a Plasmid in the chest with its tail spike and flicked it away. It crashed into a few more Plasmids before dissolving.
"I don't know, Ryuta, I'm just…" Takaharu started.
"Just what? You feel stupid right now?" he grunted. "Lost? Yeah, me too. Doesn't stop me from – back the fuck off, mouth breather!" He kicked at a smaller Plasmid trying to grab his leg, making it flinch. Lomamon swiped at it, finishing it off. "Doesn't stop me from trying my best!" Takaharu blinked. "You lead a lot, I get it, but leadership isn't about dictating terms for everyone," Ryuta continued. "Trust me on that!"
"What are you getting at?"
"You don't know what to do, so you can't issue any orders, but Takaharu, sometimes you don't need to do that," Ryuta continued. "Leadership is about taking stock of a situation when nobody else has the time for it and being the clear-headed voice that says it's time to make a change, right? You don't even need to be the one who gives the orders, just be the one who sees things from a higher perspective and figures it's time for a change of plan. And I think we could use a change of plan, like, right now!"
Vanadramon leapt up to avoid getting whipped around the legs, shaking the three of them amount. "Sorry!"
Ryuta patted its neck. "No worries. So, Takaharu?"
"What?" Takaharu was incredulous. What was he supposed to do?
"Just breathe."
Takaharu stared at him. Breathe? His chest was tight. Takaharu looked around, taking deep breaths. The massive heart was beating furiously and pumping out Plasmid after Plasmid. The Digimon were right – this couldn't continue. They needed to target it, but it was always being protected by its Plasmid children.
Takaharu pointed to the side. "Vanadramon, take us around. Let's get a better look at what we're seeing."
"Okay!" Vanadramon skipped past some Plasmids in the way and crushed them underfoot. "See anything?"
Takaharu rubbed his nose, deep in thought, while Ryuta wailed on a Plasmid that dared snap at them. The heart was just… a heart. Nothing stood out about it. At least he was sitting next to this guy and not someone else. It was oddly comfortable being here behind Ryuta. He could see why Yuuka dated him. It felt safe, if a bit intense. The heart's arteries and veins were everywhere, and seemed to stretch up and down the ceiling and underneath the ground. Those were unreachable, but maybe, just maybe, the ones in the ceiling could be hit. Right? He looked up and down. If they had even average aim, they could probably hit them. Maybe that would do something.
"Lomamon, aim at that tube, right up there!" He pointed up. There was a thick black artery, squeezing something into the heart, far above them.
"Here I go! Stripe Fire!" Red quills darted upward. The artery leaked some kind of black fluid. The pressure of the pumping forced the artery to expand, then burst. "Did that do anything?"
Takaharu looked at the heart. The ripping artery had shredded partially. Maybe it would do something. Better than nothing. "There's more all over the ceiling, let's go for those too!"
"Leave it to me!" Peckmon yelled, spotting the damage. "Kunai Bane!" Little feather-shaped daggers flew upward and struck more of the arteries in the ceiling. Viscous liquid dripped down as they ruptured. "I think the heart is stopping!" it yelled. Indeed, it was still beating, but unable to produce Plasmids.
Takaharu fistpumped. "Great! Now's our chance, everyone! Loma-huh?"
A furry, human-sized beast, seemingly wearing a hockey jersey, was already taking off and running toward it. It held a paw out, materializing a red javelin in its hand, which it gripped. "Eat this! Aurora Spike!" it yelled, and drove the long weapon into the heart, cutting right into its chambers. Spikes of ice burst out from the heart one by one, cutting it up. The heart wrenched and fluttered. Vanadramon reared back. "Ionic Charge!"
The shot of plasma thudded and exploded what remained of the abnormal cardiac tissue. The charred and burning flesh-like material really did smell like burnt meat. Yuuka nearly retched while Ryuta cursed. The space around the four Tamers and Digimon shuddered and flickered. "It's derendering – guys, that's our escape call!" the furry Digimon yelled, running back toward Takaharu. It had the same grey-blue fur, but was possibly about as tall as he was, and looked far more mature now. It devolved back into Lomamon and hopped into his phone. "Get ready!"
Vanadramon disappeared underneath Ryuta and Takaharu. "Hup!" Aquilamon grunted and devolved to Hawkmon, and jumped back into Asuka's phone, along with Peckmon into Yuuka's. The space flashed, going from dark and foreboding to just a plain white tunnel for a brief moment.
And then they found themselves at the bottom of a stairwell, next to a storage locker, piled on top of one another.
Takaharu groaned and picked himself off Ryuta's chest. "Sorry about the awkward landing, eh," he apologized.
"Takaharu?"
"Wha?"
Ryuta nodded. "Nice work."
"Hey, thanks. You too." He held out a hand. Ryuta took it. Takaharu helped pull him up.
Yuuka got up to stand and promptly wobbled. Asuka caught her before she fell forward. "Whoa, girl! You okay? You seem worn out."
She yawned, exceedingly tired. She already hadn't slept well that night, and she figured she now knew why. She'd been thinking about the possibilities that things would get a lot worse, so she hadn't rested much. "I am," she admitted.
"Ryuta, it's your girl," Asuka remarked. "Unless you're going to let me steal her tonight. I just might," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Asuka," he grunted, letting Yuuka clutch his shoulders for support, "do you ever stop to realize just how much wild shit we've gotten ourselves into?"
"Nah," she shrugged. "If I did, I think I would actually go nutters. Better not to think too much about that. Keeps me sleeping well at night!"
"Lucky you," he sighed. Squirrels shouldn't have two mouths.
Takaharu started up the stairs. "Guys, do you want to go home or should we… do something else first?" He seemed like he had seen too much. He had seen too much. They all had. "I was going to go watch something with Izumi after this, but… I've seen enough horror for one day."
Ryuta shrugged. "Whatever gets our minds off that."
"Food," Yuuka mumbled. "Anything." Falcomon agreed from her phone.
"We're all hungry," Amedramon complained.
"Ah… and we can't use the bakery because it's still open," Takaharu sighed. "I still have to get home, too. I need to tell my mom about what we were doing yesterday. She was really concerned." He groaned. "And I need to make sure Tailmon is okay."
"Something happen again?" asked Asuka. The outside light was blinding, for whatever reason. They shielded their eyes. The world was completely oblivious to the ordeal they'd just gone through. A bird whistled. The normalcy was incredibly welcome.
"Yeah," he grunted, "she's having gallbladder trouble."
"How old is she?"
"Maybe nine, ten years? We don't really know, after all. But she is old." He grunted. "You know, we could just go to my place and figure out later. I'm mentally drained."
Yuuka was apparently just about ready to nap because she had her face buried in Ryuta's shoulder. Ryuta agreed. "That works, if your parents are fine with it."
"I'm sure they'll be. I'm sure mom will want to see that we're all safe, too." He glanced at his phone. Lomamon was just barely awake. "Hey, Lomamon?"
"Mmm… waffles… wha?"
"You evolved."
"Yeah… Malvemon…"
"Malvemon? Heh, heheh."
"Wha-so-funny?" it slurred.
"Nothing. I just got reminded about something, that's all." Takaharu grinned. It was a weird coincidence, but a welcome one. The walk back to Waseda station seemed to take forever. People gave them a few looks, but it was more that Ryuta was carrying Yuuka on his back now since she really had fallen asleep. He checked over his shoulder.
"Ryuta, should you wake her?" asked Takaharu.
He shook his head. "My hands are full, sorry. Can one of you go buy two tickets for us? I'll pay you back later."
"Sure!" Asuka bobbed over to the ticket machines.
"Thanks." They walked to the fare gates, cards and tickets in hand. The man behind the booth kept his humour in as he let them through the manual gate. He'd seen this before, but it never failed to amuse him.
Yuuka stirred on the train back to Sumida. "Ryuta?" she mumbled into his shoulder.
"How are you feeling?"
"I hate centipedes."
Takaharu shivered next to them. "Oh, god, that was bad."
Ryuta squinted. His face contorted. "Centipedes?"
"And spiders," she mumbled again. Her hands were clenched around his waist. "I hate them. I hate them so much."
"I can see why." He exhaled. She was going to have nightmares about this. They probably all would. Maybe even Asuka, though she certainly tried her best to seem undisturbed.
• • • • • • •
Sumida Tamers
Nagatomo Asuka
we're going in
13:59
Tokuda Satsuki
crush it! literally w
14:00
Shimizu Kazuhiko
Stay safe guys!
14:01
Hey, everyone alright? Been a while
14:15
Nagatomo Asuka
we're out
all eight of us
thank fuck
14:27
Shimizu Kazuhiko
That took a while…
You guys okay?
14:27
Tokuda Satsuki
Where you guys going?
Let's meet up
14:28
Segawa Takaharu
My place… around 15:00
14:30
• • • • • • •