Dokugumon was, in all honesty, hitting just about every single one of my 'KILLITWITHFIRE!' buttons. Seeing her skitter around in her webs, high up in the trees, made me want to set the entire park ablaze.

Not the least because she was a giant spider, and I really disliked spiders. I wasn't afraid of them, but I certainly didn't like them.

However, that wasn't the main reason why I wanted to incinerate Dokugumon.

The main reason- or, at the very least, a very significant part of the main reason, was the fact that Dokugumon was going to attempt to kill Rika.

And, knowing that; it made it very, very hard to not just waltz in and destroy her, to not just obliterate her data with my dark flames.

In any other situation, I might have done it.

But tonight... tonight was the night when Rika and Renamon make the breakthrough. The night when Renamon Digivolves, and Rika truly takes a turn for the better.

No matter how much I wanted to protect her from the possibility of getting hurt, it was better for her if I didn't.

And so, I lingered back in the trees. Silent, invisible.

Waiting.

Unless Rika's or Renamon's life was in danger, I wouldn't intervene.

I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Because if it did... My fingers clenched, effortlessly gouging four little lines in the branch below me.

I wasn't entirely certain if I'd be able to hold back.

I hung my head. That girl, really.

I am, perhaps, just a little too protective of her.

I watched as Renamon and Rika came into the forest, stopping only for a moment at the scenery.

I wasn't the only one who saw them, however. Dokugumon saw them too, and wasted absolutely no time in trying to snare them in webs, an attempt which failed utterly when Renamon grabbed Rika and jumped out of the way.

"Perfect!" Dokugumon's voice sounded almost sickly. "I was just thinking of what to have for dinner."

"Eat dirt."

"Ooh, food's spicy too~"

"Dokugumon," Rika began. "Champion level, attacks are Venom Blast and Poison Thread."

No scathing comments?

Rika reached behind her, pulling out a few cards from her pocket. She didn't even look at them before swiping the first, which kind of made me wonder how she knew which one it was.

"Digimodify-"

"Venom Blast!" Dokugumon, displaying more intelligence than every Digimon before her, happily interrupted, sending a blast of purple smoke at Rika and Renamon.

Sadly for Dokugumon, the only thing that it achieved was getting Renamon to take Rika and dodge, getting far out of the way of the attack.

Renamon let Rika go after she was safe, jumping in the air.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon called, the glowing shards appearing and promptly shooting towards Dokugumon.

"Poison Thread!" Dokugumon hissed, shooting a web, catching the glowing shards before they could hit, making them harmlessly disperse.

Strange.

They're normally more exposive than that.

"Poison Thread!" the spider cackled, shooting another web at Renamon, who was in the air and thus unable to dodge.

The web covered her in an instant, causing Dokugumon to laugh, before turning around and making her way towards Renamon.

"Renamon!" Rika called. "Damn it, Digimodify!" She quickly swiped a card, Dokugumon not trying to stop her this time.

"Dinner time." Dokugumon chittered. "Don't worry girly, I'll have you for dessert!"

"Twin Sickles!" Renamon growled, her paws temporarily changing into two giant blades, quickly cutting out of the web that restrained her, dropping to the ground. She turned in mid air, swiping her blades at Dokugumon, sending off a pair of energy scythes.

Dokugumon dodged the first, and met the second head on, deflecting -how the fuck do you deflect an energy scythe, really- it to the side, before leaping off the web, landing in front of Renamon.

"Power Paw!" Renamon's hands lit up in blue fire, and she quickly struck at Dokugumon.

"Venom Blast!" Dokugumon hissed again, spewing another cloud of purple gas at Renamon.

Renamon's blazing paw came into contact with the cloud, and, quite unexpectedly, the cloud promptly and violently exploded.

I quickly sank my clawinto the trunk of the tree I was in, only just able to prevent myself from being thrown out, such was the sheer force.

Dokugumon hit a tree near me with a sickening crunch, falling to the ground a moment later.

"Renamon!" Rika screamed.

I looked over, spotting Renamon in an instant. She was in an even worse state than Dokugumon, much of the fur on her hands burned away, on her knees at the base of a tree, which had a Renamon-shaped dent in it. She was hurt -badly- but she wasn't dead.

Rika ran over to her, catching her before she could fully fall over, holding her upright.

"Renamon..." Rika spoke, concern and fear in her voice.

"Ri... Rika..." Renamon breathed, her voice tinged with no small amount of pain. "Are... Are you alright?"

The girl stared at her partner with incomprehension. "Me? Me? I'm fine!What about you?! You're the one that's hurt!"

"Ah... Good." Renamon coughed, her eyes closing, her body slumping. She still wasn't dead, not yet, but she barely even had the energy to talk at this point, let alone stand.

"Renamon? Renamon!" Rika cried.

Renamon didn't move move, her breathing shallow.

"Renamon..." Rika sniffled. "I'm... I'm sorry."

Dokugumon groaned, beginning to get back up. My eyes shot to her. For a moment, I stared down at her, silent black flames bursting into existence in my hand.

Rika didn't seem to notice the slowly rising spider.

"I... I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

Connection

Rika's Digivice gave out a shrill whistle, beginning to beep, glowing brightly.

Fucking finally.

Renamon's body began to glow, lighting up the park.

I looked to the side, spotting Calumon nearby, the Zero Unit on his forehead glowing a bright red.

"Digivolution." A voice- Rika's D-Power, I realised, stated.

Renamon's body was consumed in light, temporarily obscuring her body from sight. But I didn't need to see her to know what was happening.

There was a sound similar to shattering glass, and the light faded, revealing Ren-Kyubimon to the world.

"You did it?" Rika asked, unbelieving. "How?"

"It was you, Rika." Kyubimon spoke, her head coming down to Rika's level.

Rika hugged her, wrapping her arms around Kyubimon's neck. "I... I don-"

"Venom Blast!" Dokugumon screamed, spitefully trying, one last time, to kill her two enemies.

Kyubimon moved in an instant, sweeping Rika onto her back and getting out of the path of the Venom Blast, before rushing over to Dokugumon, Rika still on her back.

I let the flames in my hands die out, watching, with no insignificant amount of satisfaction, as Kyubimon slammed her paw down on Dokugumon's head. There was a sickening crack as the spider's head proved unable to withstand it, finally deleting the champion level Digimon.

Kyubimon gave a satisfied grunt, data beginning to stream into her body, before tipping to the side, letting Rika slide off her back.

She looked up, directly in my direction. "Are you going to come down now?"

"You saw me, huh." I spoke, dropping down to the ground.

"You were quite subtle." Kyubimon admitted. "But yes, I did spot you."

"Wait." Rika said. "How long have you been there?"

"I have been here for the entire duration of this battle."

"You..." Rika's eyes narrowed. "You what?"