Ominous Flame

Chapter 60

Author Notes: Holy crap we reached 60...Im not even going to question how long it's taken me to write up to this point. All i know is we're long due for an upload so let's hit it. I do not own Digimon.

3rd P.O.V

"I'm starting to see a pattern here..." Koichi chuckled as he took a spot next to Takuya, who in turn was messing with the fire. "It seems our friends are trying to be nice." A snort escaped the pyro who tossed his stick into the flames.

The lights and shadows danced on Takuya's face as he turned towards the sky. "Not the best set of wingwarriors, but it'll do considering the circumstance. Though if they really wanted to be nice, they could offer to do night watch while we have some fun in the forest." His cheeky grin earned him a slight elbow to the gut.

Not that it even hurt. "My brother has already expressed his complaints over you kissing me so much. JP too now that I think about it." Koichi's partner stretched with a yawn, unconcerned. "He should've known this was how it was going to be. Especially since he was the one to push for it."

All Koichi could do was nod, before switching gears. "Patamon thinks Cherubimon's going to be on the move soon." A hum left his lover's lips, showing he was listening as he shifted his gaze towards the clouds.

"So he can feel him too...guess it makes sense, since he's the pre-evolved form of Seraphimon." At that, the warrior of darkness blinked, surprised. "You can?" He watched, baffled and concerned as Takuya pulled out his d-tector.

The two huddled close together, while tanned fingers pressed on the buttons. Koichi's brows furrowed in confusion, then shot up as he took in a familiar face. "Shagumon and Saldomon?" And Agunimon, three spirits.

With two of them being Cherubimon's creations. "Yeah, all three have been talking to me in my head, warning me that trouble was brewing, and to ready myself. I was going to bring it up to everyone tonight...but I lost my nerve. I didn't want them to worry on the off chance we were wrong."

It was interesting to him how Takuya was able to communicate with his spirits. Not once had Koichi or anyone (at least as far as he knew), brought up being able to. "What's it like? Especially with Shagumon?" Silence trickled, only up till the red and black d-tector was placed back into its little pocket.

"It's weird. It's like I'm on the phone with three other people, all of them arguing with both me, and each other. But something tells me you're more interested in if Shagumon and I shared memories in the time he took over." His response was a sheepish smile, confirming the fire elemental's suspicion.

Not a single show or saying of denial. "In my defense, everyone has been curious about it. After everything that happened...we just want to make sure you're ok." Takuya could only sigh. He was both grateful and ashamed knowing he had such caring people watching his back.

Though he wasn't sure why Koichi was so interested. "But why are you? If you're worried about him taking over, don't. He doesn't like Cherubimon and would rather work with me than against me." That wasn't it, however, it was good to know that Shagumon was on their side.

"No, it's just, Shagumon had asked a lot of questions of his-your past. Tommy and I did most of the explaining to him, but there were some conversations he and I had, that I was wondering if you knew?" It was then Takuya felt guilt and nervous, though he had no reason to.

He quickly realized that those emotions weren't his own...but Shagumon's. "I don't have his memories from the time he took over, no. He told me everything that happened, and the talks you had with him. So if you need any clarification on something, I can answer."

Not that the corrupted spirit really had to feel that way. It was strange, forgiving a piece of himself that wasn't really himself but a separate entity. Honestly, his head hurt just thinking about it.

And that was even when his spirits weren't acting like teenagers. "He mentioned that you were gone for good, and that even if you were alive, you wouldn't want to be, let alone forgiven." Ah...now Takuya was starting to see where this conversation was going. Frankly, it was a fair point.

"So...not that I remember what happened after Cherubimon...made Shagumon but according to Agunimon, it was like the celestial stuffed me into a sealed bottle. He was slowly but surely trying to destroy my spirit as I remained sealed. Wasn't supposed to break free, but Cherubimon really underestimated you and Ophanimon."

Koichi frowned at his companion. "So you did expect me and Koji to break through his control. You knew you were affected by our opposing powers!" Immediately Takuya lifted up his hands in mercy. "I wasn't sure. It was a hunch." He was starting to see why his brother was always so annoyed with him.

"You seem to be pretty accurate with these hunches. Bokomon mentioned before how you can also sense the changes in weather." Despite all the time he's spent with the warrior of flames, he still felt like he did back in the beginning. Trying to pin down how the teen in front of him ticked.

And failing miserably. "I know it sounds cliched as hell, but it's complicated. Ophanimon had given me a lot of her powers, and I'm more...connected to this world with my senses. I can't really explain it, but from the moment I turned back into a human, I knew I would never be the same."

That was something the both of them could agree on. But before Koichi could open his mouth, Takuya rushed in, a determined look in his crimson orbs. "I know what you're going to say...and no. I don't plan on going suicidal on you again. And...I want to do better. Be better-gah, I don't know how to say this!"

Koichi huffed out a laugh, breaking the tension (for what little there was of it) completely. Making Takuya blush as he held his head in shame. However despite the uplifted atmosphere, he gave another soft, yet firm squeeze.

"I trust you Takuya. I just...don't want you to feel like you have to take this on alone or make rash decisions. Everyone assumed you had Ranamon lie to us when she got us out of our cages." That would explain why all of them were keeping a close eye on him.

He had assumed they were worried about him getting taken over again, but he was wrong. "You know I didn't intend for that to be a lie." Immediately Koichi grabbed his hand, giving it a soft squeeze, reassuring him.

"I know that, and I told them that. Your record doesn't help your case. We want you to come home with us. I need you to stay alive." Unable to speak, the flame wielding brunette could only nod.

That insecure question on whether or not he even was alive nagged at him from all corners of his head. "I'll bring up my concerns with everyone in the morning, after breakfast." But he said nothing, knowing Koichi was thinking the same thing.

XxXxXXXxXxxXxXXxXxXxXxXx

There was an intense searing sensation deep within himself. Takuya noticed how his spirits were unusually quiet today. Between those two signs and the density in the air, he was glad he told his friends his previous concerns.

Even though he knew there was no getting around the gloomy atmosphere, there was still this sense of regret as he took in all of his friends. Koji was kicking dirt into the fire, his shoulders tense, but that was nothing new. The others however were devoid of excitement or joy.

Today...they were going to see just what was going on in the clouds above. Too much time had gone by since Cherubimon disappeared so leaving him to his own devices left an uneasy feeling in Takuya's guts. Though he himself wasn't actually involved, he owed it to the many digimon that fell by the celestial beasts's hands.

That included Ranamon who took a gamble on their victory. The problem however was actually reaching the sky. Essentially there was only one way for most of them to travel without worry into the battlefield... "Takuya are you sure you want to do this?"

He had gone over it again and again in his head. Mentally arguing with Shagumon and Agunimon about this. In the end, Saldomon and his human soul had the final say. "Yeah. I'm ready to rock, Tommy!" Only him and Zoe would digivolve, making their travel load much lighter.

Only when they arrived and saw the situation would they transform properly. "Come back safe-all of you!" Bokomon was crying, anxiety that had been building up this whole time breaking free as he specifically stared the pyro elemental down.

"We'll see you soon ok?" Neemon thankfully was as lighthearted as ever while he waved. "Wait wait!" Patamon flew to the goggle wearing male's head. The two gently clocked heads, with Patamon humming gently. Takuya's digivice beeped as a flicker of warmth came from his chest.

The warrior of flames blinked, confused as he tilted his head. "Mamapa said if we believe really hard you guys would feel it and get stronger. So a hum hope for good luck!" The baby digimon proceeded to go to each member of the group, doing the same thing.

Yet it was odd how only Takuya was the one who got some sort of beep from his d-tector. What occured didn't feel normal. Still, when Patamon backed away, both him and Zoe nodded. "Execute-beast spirit evolution!" Their specified attributres surrounded them.

"Zephyrmon." The bird maiden picked up Tommy by the waist. "Saldomon!" A tense moment of silence emerged from the group as they waited. However Koichi glanced into the corrupted fire chimera only to smile.

Saldomon's eyes were blue, just like Shagumon and Agunimon. "Get on." Takuya went down on his knees, tilting one side of his wings for the rest of his friends to climb on. He winced at the strong grips onto his body and wings, but ultimately had no trouble getting back up. "H-hey, take it easy, Takky!"

Both to test his strength...and to mess with JP, he bounced a bit. "Cut it out, moron!" Saldomon smiled, glancing over his shoulder to look at Koji. "If you think this is bad, Koji, then you're going to hate flying. I'm just making sure I can properly carry you, so chill." In general he wasn't used to carrying.

So no matter what he was going to be careful, still he was ready. "Time to go after Cherubimon." They took to the skies, soaring into the rift that hid the entity responsible for all this. They were going to win. They had to.

to be continued

Author Notes: I can promise this is the final fight of the series. Whoooo boy. Final countdown folks. Been typing and editing to hell and back so I am ready to see this story reach its end. Sadly that's not today.

But it's fine, because im getting there chapter by chapter. Speaking of that's it for now. Friends thank you all so much for reading. If you like the series please feel free to follow/fav/review as it means so much to me and I'll see you next time. Tchao for now