Ch16
It's over, this fight that is. The problem? It's just coming one after another.
Anger, pain, and sorrow. These emotions mixed up inside his head, taking turns controlling both his body and mind. Which action and path he took were influenced by one of these emotions, and even that might still lead to the same path. How long will each one take control? No one knows, the duration always changes and even he can't tell how long he's been driven by these, if he even realizes what's going on right now. Because right now all he can feel is pain, not from inside his head, but rather from his body.
For a moment, he can feel peace and warmth. It's very special, not because he never felt it in a long time, but rather because of who's the one who gave him that. The source of that warmth that's making it special to him, he missed it so much. Sadly, it was only for a moment. Just when he tried to ask for more, anger followed by pain took over him once again.
Everything is blurry and clear at the same time, it's hard to grasp what's going on right now. Since when did he stand here? Why is his right arm lifted like this? So much questions yet no one is there to answer them. Then, he hears something, someone, its voice feels so far yet also close.
"Hey.. Hey! Snap out of it!" It says, trying to get his attention.
That was a familiar voice, he knew it from a long time ago. "You.. wha-how did.. I.. what's going on?" He said it by mustering any strength that was left on his body, then an important question popped up. "Wait, why are you here again?"
Suddenly, he hears a chuckle. "You really are that stupid eh~? AaaAhh~ You know, maybe I was overthinking it that time. If only I knew you're this stupid, gullible, weakling. I would've given you worse deal than the one we've had." His eyes widen. Why did he get mocked all of a sudden? Both eyes look up and stare at what's in front of him, there are some familiar figures grinning at his state. "There we gooo~ There you are! Gehahahahahah! Coming back to your sense!? Hmm~?"
"No! Don't listen to-"
"SHUT UP!" He's huffing with his already short heavy breath, both fists clenched hard from anger. "Y-You.. You..."
Both fists are starting to get hot, his own power is starting to hurt him yet he doesn't care. The heat is starting to spread, usually he focuses it on his palm or the tip of his fingers to make fireball, now it's starting to spread on his arms. "Awww~ That's cute~ After all this time, you finally using your own power. PATHETIC. To think that all of those battles were fought using my master's power, you really are nothing eh?" That burns not only his spirit, but also his body. He wants to smack those annoying grins away, then incinerates them to bits. "Good good, I can't wait to see how you fail miserably once again. I saved you last time, this time.. ehh, I don't think so. Right, Imp~"
"-mon!"
It was so sudden and very brief, for a split second his vision changed into something else. He saw some familiar faces for a moment.
"What's the matter, Impmon? You finally back to your old self? A coward~"
That drives him mad again, now his body gets heated up even more each second passes, ready to charge forward.
"Impmon! It's us! Stop scaring us, it's me, A-"
He shakes his head, confused. Something's not right, so he takes one step back. That vision coming back, those faces.. he knew them, they are..
"See? Look at yourself! Even your body knows that you can't do shit! What's next? You surrender to me? That's it? After that bravado you tried to show? Well, I don't think so, Impmon. You come to me or I'll go first, I'm being considerate here, show me something fun, that's the least you can do with that pathetic life of yours~"
The right leg that took a step back moved forward again. His body is in pain, his arms feel numb and both fists are on fire. Those pains are almost unbearable, yet he doesn't care, if that's the price of taking him down then he'll pay for it. Even if the cost is his life, he'll finish this here. He leans forward, correcting his posture before charging in. If that deva gave him some advantage, he didn't bother to refuse, after all, he's asking for this.
"Listen to us Impmon! S-Stop glaring like that! Are you.. are you angry that we left for too long? J-Just stop this, Impmon.. please.. don't look at me like that, you remember me right? It's not that long, I'm Ma-"
Once again, he sees something different, and this time longer than before. What was that?
"Tik tok tik tok, time's up-"
"Impmonn!"
Anger burns his spirit and body, it serves as fuel to push him forward. The twins get scared when their beloved partner suddenly moves to attack them, fortunately their older friends grab their arms and pull them back. Impmon is still moving, so someone needs to stop him, and Renamon takes that charge head on. Strangely, it's not that hard to stop him. The problem is that her arms feel hot from touching his. She pushed his arms away then kicked him right on the belly, that clearly wasn't enough when he's still standing albeit pushed back a few meters away.
Renamon couldn't put up a proper guard yet she wasn't even budging from that attack, which confused her. No one would doubt that Impmon could never reach her physical prowess with his current form, that's if both were in top condition. She expected that him ramming his body towards her would hurt more, yet it doesn't. That assumption didn't come from nothing, there is a strange purple fire around him, it's translucent and emitting heat. Then she notices something weird about his body, some of his skin around his back is distorted and it's spreading along with the translucent fire, slowly engulfing him. It brings some relief that he doesn't seem to have the strength to wreck havoc again, yet there is another problem, she needs to quickly and carefully subdue him before he burns himself.
Some voices called from behind, they're worried about Renamon and Impmon's well being. From all of them, there are three voices that she's carefully paying attention to. One of them obviously is her partner, the next two are Impmon's. Their screams are hard to listen to, yet there is so little that she can do about it. Renamon waves her right arm, signaling both Devas and MachGaogamon to stay back. She then turned her head to the twins, smiling and giving a single nod. Surprisingly, that's enough to calm them down even if it's just a little bit, if not then she's sure that Juri or Ruki could do that.
Boom!
A small explosion hit Renamon's arm, she winced from the pain. Impmon smirking, he furiously throwing a flurry of fireballs, these fireballs are made out of dark flame. Only the first one hits, others are dodged very easily. He keeps throwing and hoping his enemy isn't getting too close. Impmon is too focused on throwing those fireballs and not realizing the state of his body, he suddenly coughs and falls on his knees. His vision worsens as he feels suffocated.
His partners are thrown into panic again. "Noo! Impmon!" Mako stopped by Takato before he could even run to his partner. "Let me go! He needs help!"
"Mako, it's not-arrrghh!" Takato shrieked when his hand was bitten by Mako, forcing him to let him go.
Meanwhile, Impmon is trying his best to endure the pain. "Is this it, Impmon~?" That voice made him look up, a figure coming in his direction. Impmon shoots another flame and the pain worsens, this time he can't even concentrate to throw another attack. Both of his arms were grabbed, forcing him to look up. "Stop, it's over."
That makes Impmon even more furious. "You think I'll surrender!?" Impmon screamed, tried to kick his enemy and failed miserably. "I don't care if you call me weak! You think I care!? Huh!? I'll beat you up even if I just a weakling!" His flame intensified, now more visible to naked eyes. "You tricked me, you piece of junk! I don't care if those stinky sovereigns have your back! You made me hurt them! I will-hmph! HMMPH!"
Renamon shut him up, then pinned his body to the ground. The heat is starting to hurt her as it's getting stronger each second, but she can't let him go. If she does that, he might hurt himself even more. With attacking his fragile body out of the question, Renamon holds and hugs him from behind, she keeps one claw on his mouth while the other restraining his arms. When Renamon seemed to get a hold of him, the twins immediately move closer.
"Wait! Mako, it's not safe!" Takato said, holding his wrist firmly again. "Mako.." The younger tamer keeps trying to free himself from Takato's grip, he's unable to reason with because he's too focused on his partner.
Beside them, Juri and Ai aren't much different. Juri hugged Ai to prevent her from running towards him, she wanted to get close as well but only let her go if it's really safe. "It's okay Ai, hey hey, look at me. Look." She gently pushed her chin so they looked at each other, hoping to calm her down by shifting her focus away from Impmon. "Hey, it's going to be fine, juust wait for a minute or-" Takato's scream startled her, he got bitten by Mako, again. "Taka-ahh!" It was only for a moment, Ai pushed her arms down and ran with her brother towards them. Jian and Kazu quickly follow them.
At the same time Impmon is struggling to free himself, his body deteriorating even faster to fuel his attempt to break free. Because he hugged from behind, his eyes are still able to see what's in front of him, and he sees two figures running towards him. Their faces are very familiar, they're his enemies, yet his anger washed away when they started screaming at him. "Stop it, Impmon! Why are you doing this? There is no one to fight, it's us Impmon!" Said one of them. He stunned, unable to understand why this deva saying this after all of that. Not only that, their faces are starting to change. This isn't any different from what he saw, this deva is changing itself again and trying to mock him. His body gets even hotter and Renamon is now barely able to hold him. "No! You.. you're not weak Impmon, we.. we.." Ai couldn't put up a good word while crying and now Impmon isn't buying it.
Impmon is drawing out more power by burning his data and destroying himself in exchange for a last ditch effort to break free, and it's working. The heat now too much to be handled by Renamon, she forced to free him. The twins and Impmon are just a few steps away, he dashing forward to attack them, only to be knocked up by Terriermon.
"Do it again! He can hear us!" Jian screamed after he threw Terriermon.
It's painful yet Terriermon is forcing himself to hold his legs. "Not on my watch!" He's holding him down with his ears. Renamon grabs him once again and this time she's not going to let him go by any means.
Impmon is pinned on the ground, he's still trying his best to break free. "Arrrghh! Let go you scum!" All he can focus on are those two figures getting closer, and closer, and closer. There is no words, nor screaming, just those two moving closer until they're right in front of him. Impmon is scared, he can't break free and now these two are about to touch him. "N-No! Noo! Don't touch me! Krrrghh.." His effort led to nothing, so he closed his eyes, and... nothing.
For a moment he thinks that he's a goner, but he feels warmth all over his body, he then starts to open his eyes again. No one is talking, only the twin's sob can be heard. After a very long wait, Impmon sees their faces again, they look a bit different but he knows that these two are them. He glances down to see Terriermon let go of his legs, then he feels the grip from behind loosen up as well.
"Heh, munchkins.." Impmon chuckles a bit. "Stop making me wet, alright.. I'm-agh!"
A sharp pain comes on his head, he then sees his vision changing again, especially their faces. Impmon senses something wrong so he pushes them away. He's trembling and fuming once again, his right hand slowly aiming at Mako. It stopped by his left hand, he screamed while fighting his own body. Despite his best effort, his hand gets hotter and a dark fireball ready to be shot at his partner. Realizing that he can't do this alone, Impmon screams for help despite he can't see any of his friends.
It released.
POP!
THUD!
"Hahhh.."
Another long sigh from Kazu, he's bored and could only sit. There is nothing that he can do right now, he can't even relax while there aren't any life threatening fights near them. It's not like he wanted to do anything, he's not in the mood to play cards or even talk too much. It's just that his pals are currently gone and out of three of them, he's the one who has to stay. With a blank stare at the sky, Kazu let out another sigh.
It's nothing serious, yet she can't help being annoyed. "I swear, if you sigh one more time.." Ruki lifted her right hand and made a fist, it was pushed down by Renamon before she could say another word.
There is not much reaction except a chuckle, followed by a long yawn. "Give me some break, queen." Said Kazu with a smile, taunting her even more. He's let out a chuckle when Renamon stops Ruki once again. "It's taking so loooong.. what are they doing? This isn't a school tour." Putting his arms behind his neck as cushion, he leans back on the rock behind him, and then his eyes turn to Ruki again. "Bet they just taking their sweet time, making snowman over there."
"This guy.. stop complaining for once, Hirokazu. You got the easy job right here." Replied Ruki.
Kazu stares at her with a weird look on his face. "Ahahahah! Very funny, very.. funny.." His right hand is pointing at his lap repeatedly, right where Guilmon's head is resting. "All I can see here is I, I mean 'me', alone, babysitting someone.." His head leans closer to her, whispering. "Someone who was about to grill us, alive. And what you expect me to do? Telling him that he's a good boy when he went insane again? Like that working when he did that."
It just annoys Ruki even more, but it invites a giggle from Juri. She moves closer and strokes Guilmon's tail, he's fast asleep and not giving any reaction whatsoever. "Hihi, so you rather go with Vajramon and Kenta?" She asked him, replied with a shrug. "Eh? Then why didn't you just ask?"
"Oh I wanted to ask, Juri. Believe me." His eyes glance at the other girl. "But.. well, I don't think that would change the outcome. Because-"
"I won't let you do that." Ruki cut him off to finish his sentence with an annoyed voice. "You, Kenta, with that deva? Yeah, a real dream team right there. Suurely nothing bad would happen~"
Kazu huffed while Juri giggled again, then they all fell silent. They're glancing at each other, looking around, or staring at the sky. The cold breeze and snowfall feel nice when there is no fight near them, especially for Ruki who was drained from biomerging with Renamon. After some minutes passed, Kazu couldn't handle the boredom and opened his mouth again.
"Hey, why it have to be Takato?" He tilts his head in Jian's direction. "Wasn't it 'oooh~! It's still dangerous out there~! We need someone who still can fight~', hmm!?"
Both Ruki and Juri cover their faces in disbelief. "Do I really-.. grrr..." Ruki groaned, then sighed before she gave Kazu a deadpan stare. Her fist clenched tight. "Okay, okay. Just, just be honest with me, okay? Or you could.. hahh.. stop it, stop it. Stop trying to pick a fight with me, I'm tired, really.. tired. I gladly beat you up if this isn't the case." She turned her head toward Yamaki. "Give me some hand here." The blonde man is resting beside the twins, his black suit was taken off and used as a blanket for them. He glanced at them, then shook his head.
With Ruki almost snapping and Yamaki not interested in joining the conversation, Juri steps in to hold them together. "Wasn't that a bit too much, Kazu? I know you're bored but stop teasing her for a moment. You're lucky Renamon is there to stop her, if not.." She giggled.
Their response confused him. "What's that even mean? I'm being real here."
That sent Ruki over the edge and Kazu is lucky that Renamon is there just like what Juri said, the vixen is keeping Ruki by her side and even covering her mouth. If she doesn't do that then the twins or even Guilmon will wake up from her outburst. Meanwhile, Juri is having a hard time closing her mouth, her jaw drops because she doesn't know if he was just joking or being honest about that.
"Too far, that's too far." Juri shook her head. "You realize Jian and Terriermon are the only ones who can protect us, right? If he went with Vajramon to check the route, what do you think would happen if Gigadramon coming back?"
There isn't much reaction from Kazu, just an 'Oh!' plastered on his face like the cogs inside his head finally working together, which pisses off Ruki even more. "I-I, of course I know! That's a dumb question Juri, ha ha. I just umm.. bored, hehe." Despite his best attempt to shrug it off, he can tell that they're not buying it, so he just talks about something else. "Okay, I'll drop to jokes for now." He said this while patting Guilmon's head. "Let's say Guilmon is fast asleep, but what about him? He did woke up after electrocuted by that chicken right? Even Jian said he can't stop him without.. you know."
"You scared of Impmon too?" Juri is looking at him, he's sleeping peacefully in between his tamers. Both of his tamers are sleeping as well, exhausted from crying too long. "That's.. kinda scary, but I don't think he's going to go wild again." Her voice showed doubts, especially after what happened about a half hour ago. "C'mon guys, stop thinking the worst outcome alright? Like, what's the point of it, to be more scared?"
"Not me, Juri. And don't blame Kazu, he's a scaredy cat. Give him some slack on this one~"
"H-Hey!" Kazu huffed in annoyance, he couldn't come up with a good response and forced to admit that. "Hahh.. it was weird, okay? He freaking got up after all of that, did you even see his fight with this guy?" He said it while still patting Guilmon's head. "Let's pray those soap bubbles enough to lull him for some time, or pray that Jian has the heart to put him down."
Both girls are now staring at Impmon, there is a good amount of consideration from Kazu and they're thinking about him again. It was Lekismon who put him down, she shot bubbles from her gloves and those bubbles caused him to sleep when popped. While they didn't doubt that Lekismon was helping them, they still worried that it might not be enough. There are some things that raise more questions yet they don't have much choice right now, all they can do is throw more theories or wait for the Digimon himself to wake up and tell his side of the story. Same goes for Guilmon, he might get up again and digivolve into Megidramon, the chance might be even higher because he's not hit by those bubbles although there isn't any sign of him waking up.
A flash of light caught their attention before one of them open their mouths again, it was from Jian and Terriermon. When they turned around to see, the Digimon was already digivolved into Gargomon. There are some rookie level Digimons near them and from the looks of it, there seemed to be some misunderstanding. Jian can be seen talking to them before turning around. Not all of those Digimons are coming with him, only a handful of them.
When they get closer, Kazu immediately wants to ask Jian or these Digimons. They are easily recognizable, most of them are Gomamons and Commandramons, which means they are the ones they fought before. Jian raised his hand a bit, stopping them from asking any questions. That alone is enough to tell them that nothing bad is about to happen, and it's further supported by these Commandramons who put their guns aside. Suddenly, they bowed their heads and one of them did the talking.
"We want to apologize for.. for our actions.." Hearing the trembling voice made Jian feel bad, he patted Commandramon's shoulder to tell him that it's fine. "It was the order from-.. I-I mean.." One of his friends bumped his side a bit, which made them more curious. "Ahem.. we aren't here to talk, we know what we did and this.. uhh.. we offer a deal. No, I mean-how to put it, uhh.." He got another bump from his friends. "It's a deal, I think that's the correct word."
They look at each other first. "We're listening." Jian replied.
Commandramon took a moment before continuing, showing how nervous he is. "We asking for our leaders, in return.. your way back will be safe."
"Sounds like a threat to me." Ruki pointed it out plainly.
"No no no, it's.. uhh.. it's not like that! We just want them to be safe, I meant.. I mean we'll help you to get back, scouting the way and other things!" Not even a single response from tamers, and it's getting into their heads. "W-We can protect you! You're tired right?"
"After we beat you guys? Along with those dramons?"
Kazu got a glare from Juri and Jian, he shrugged it off since he just pointed it out plainly like Ruki. They don't have any discussions, it's too weird and taking any chances might bite them in the back later. On the other hand, they don't pose any threats so taking a harsh route isn't on their minds either. Still, this isn't something they've expected and Jian is hoping to get more information from this.
"Don't be scared, we don't have any grudges." Jian stopped and glanced at Guilmon, but he should keep going for now. "We just didn't see anything from you guys, from the looks of it most of you lost your power, so.. the deal is off the table." That made them look down even though he's not done yet. "But scouting might be okay for us, and.. it's not like we're holding your leader as hostage."
It made them smile and showed them that they aren't much different from their leaders. "Just ask her yourself, she's over-" Juri stopped when she couldn't find Lekismon, she looked around one more time and still couldn't find her. "Wait, where is she!? Jian?"
Jian shook his head. "No, no one left this place. I.. I'm not, not watching anyone going up or down except them. Wasn't she with you guys?" All of them are starting to panic, both tamers and those Digimons. Then, Jian noticed one more thing. "It's not just her, Juri. This.. this might be a big trouble."
Inside this quite sized room, two Digimons stand a few meters apart, looking in the same direction. The smaller one is facing one of the walls with a blank stare. She sighs before turning around and staring at the other Digimon with a deadpan expression. If anyone comes in, they can feel the air heating up around them, both not showing much expression yet anybody could tell they aren't on good terms.
The bigger one is an ultimate-level Digimon, standing three times taller than the smaller ones. "So it's Lekismon now. Tch, now that I look at you again, you still have that annoying stare in you." MachGaogamon got nothing from her, he also wanted to start right away but couldn't shake off these weird feelings. "I'm waiting, Lekismon. Stop that act, you really think I'm that low aren't you? This just makes things worse for you.."
Low growl can be heard from him, yet it's nothing scary compared to what she just went through an hour ago. "This is a plain empty room, just you and me." Her glare locked in his eyes. "It's bright as day, you didn't need to say 'I need some help to look for Takato' or anything. When everyone surrounding Impmon and Guilmon, you just stood there, glaring at me. You think I wouldn't notice?" She asked him back.
MachGaogamon tensed up a bit. "And you still coming? This time it's different, I warn you."
"Don't bother, it's for her isn't it?" She lifted two fingers. "I'd do the same if I were you."
"SHUT UP!"
They both fall into silence, and to his surprise she isn't trying to talk, which only pisses him off even more. There aren't any signs of her trying to get out, not even a small or quick twitch from her body in case she wanted to throw a surprise attack. No matter how many times he glanced at the corners of this room or her body, he couldn't find any signs of hidden intention. She's strangely calm like when she led him into this place, too calm when she knew he had malicious intent. Both of her knives were placed right beside her instead of on her hands, maybe she was planning to charge head on without those knives? Maybe, or maybe the problem is that he doesn't know much about her to predict her moves.
It goes for about two minutes before MachGaogamon breaks the silence. "Why?" His tone sounds calm now, although his face is saying otherwise.
"Why?" Their eyes are still locking on each other's as the tension rises. "I don't know, maybe I didn't want to make more mess for them? Maybe." Her eyes darted away for a second before looking back at his. "They gave me a chance to fight him after all of that."
MachGaogamon's eyes show some sort of realization. "Oh.." He stopped to think for a moment. "Then what? You wanted to beg after we fight together? That's what you aimed from-"
CLANK!
Sound of steel clashing together rang for a few seconds. One of her knives clashed against his steel fist, it grazed his cracked fist, causing little to no damage. That wasn't enough to surprise him, because it wasn't a planned surprise attack but rather pure anger. Now that she's annoyed after his last comment, she picks up her other knives and leans forward a bit.
Lekismon let out a growl and lowered her body, shifting her balance and putting more weight into one of her legs, ready to charge in. "Did you really think I stoop that low after what happened? I would do that if that isn't the case or if his name isn't on the line. We already.. No. I already asked too much." Like her, MachGaogamon getting ready and raising both fists. "We begged them, and they let us do something we never deserve. I know what we did.. and I'm sorry, Gaomon. I really do." Her hands are trembling a bit. "And I know sorry do nothing. Maybe it's okay for them but not for you, I know that. But.."
Hearing her explanation, MachGaogamon soften a bit. "But?"
"I said I didn't want to cause them more trouble, no one wanted to see me and I get that, but at the same time I have things to do, for my friend." Lekismon is starting to get a hold of her emotions. "You aren't any different, you know that, right? Let's just do this here, between us."
At first, MachGaogamon agreed with her, but he recalls something. "So you think you can just make peace with them!? You still have-"
"He's safe. That deva bailed him out, I know what you're into." Suddenly, MachGaogamon stopped talking and nodded. "Good. Can we just.. do this?"
"Okay, between us."
Both lower and lean their bodies forward, still staring at each other while calming their minds. Then, both charge in at the same time. Lekismon has the better speed, if MachGaogamon's rocket is out of the game that is, but that isn't the case here. Despite of that, Lekismon still confident. The plan is to turn his own speed against him, she'll do that by letting him get close while she focuses on her attack, she only needs to graze him once then overpower him with her speed when he's reeling back. She jumps when she feels the timing is right, thinking that he'll come full speed to punch or tackle her. The plan went well until he suddenly stopped, her knives missed him by a hair and now she's left defenseless mid-air.
WHAM! Crack! MachGaogamon's punched her so hard that the floor cracked when she fell and even bounced back. "Howling Canon!" Lekismon blasted to the wall by his howl, then fall on the ground. "I told you it's different, Lekismon. I'm not that weak Digimon who ran away from your subordinates anymore." He's walking slowly towards her while she's still recovering from a concussion.
Out of nowhere, the door was blasted by gunshots, it crumbled very fast. MachGaogamon isn't paying attention to it, he only cares about what's in front of him. One more punch and it's over. Before his punch could even be thrown, Yamaki jumped in between him and Lekismon. His reaction is a bit too late, only reacting when his fist is about to hit them, fortunately he can still slightly redirect it to the side.
"What are you-!? Move!" MachGaogamon is furious, his arm moving forward and trying to hit Lekismon but Yamaki gets in his way, even going so far by putting his body as a shield for her. "Get away!"
Dozens of rookie-level Digimons are swarming in, they're putting their bodies in between those two and MachGaogamon. Both of them are surprised and confused when the rest of them walk in, it was Gargomon who shot that door down and now he's aiming his guns at MachGaogamon. MachGaogamon starts to get nervous when Juri walks closer with a sad face, he's too flustered to even say anything.
Meanwhile, Lekismon is finally recovering from that attack and she sees Yamaki right in front of her, checking on her. "W-Why are you here..? I.. Who are these.." At first she doesn't recognize these Digimons, only to realize that they're those who serve under her command. "You guys.. why?"
Some of them are turning to her, the ones that are on the back line. "We're worried about you, Lord. We-" Lekismon raised her hands and stopped them from talking further, she's shaking her head.
"Stop! I-I'm not your.. do you even know what happened?" Her expression makes them sad, they can feel that from her face alone. "I'm not your leader anymore, I never been your leader, it's.. all of it are lies. You guys just forced to obey me, from that 'cure' I gave."
One Digimon couldn't hold back their emotion. "But you still taking care of us!" It shook her up a bit. "You didn't know that as well, did you? Right?"
They knew the answer from her silence, once again she showed it without any words. Some smile when that is sort of confirmed by her, because right now it's the only hope or truth they can cling to in this disastrous day, even if it isn't that good. That doesn't sit right with her, but Lekismon isn't saying anything, there still something else she needs to do right now. Lekismon glanced at Yamaki and nodded, like telling him that she's fine before getting up. They make a way for her, letting her face MachGaogamon again, but the cyborg dog has something else to deal with.
"H-How did you know I-" MachGaogamon who's talking to Juri, stops when he sees Lekismon has already gotten up. "Between us!? Freaking lia-"
He got cut off by Lekismon instantly. "Don't you dare.. you knew I had my own reason for this to be between us!" She's about to step forward but Yamaki steps in to stop her, same goes for MachGaogamon and Juri.
Juri shows her D-Ark, which shows MachGaogamon's current vision, his eyes widen in shock. She then pushed a button and it changed, now showing some sort of compass that pointing in his direction. Both Digimons let out a weak 'Oh.' without any further response, Juri only sighed when they finally understood. It embarrassed MachGaogamon and caused him to stay silent for a moment, only to shift his focus back to Lekismon.
"I was about to delete the root of our problem, what's wrong with that!?" MachGaogamon started to get angry again, he wanted to push Juri away yet he couldn't do it. The girl firmly stands in front of him and it's enough to stop him, he could walk over her easily or sidestep her without any problem, but it's not happening. It's in his head, there is a mental barrier that he can't cross despite there is nothing to stop him. Not even Juri, not even those Digimons, nor Gargomon who's standing by and watching. "You see what she did! We fought her together Juri! Why won't you understand!?" He's still angry but there is a hint that his anger has softened.
The answer isn't coming from Juri, someone else beat her to answer him. "We promised, because she helped us bring them back." Said Yamaki. That answer protested by Lekismon herself. She tried to stop him but he grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. "No. You aren't in the right mind, just like him. I'll handle this one, stand back." He turns to MachGaogamon again. "He was right, dead on when judged you before. That wasn't all of it, was it?"
"What..? WHAT!?" MachGaogamon's growling, his fists clenched so hard that cracking sounds can be heard. "What does that even mean!? Enough of this nonsense! You wanted to protect her!? HER!? This.. this double-faced virus ki-"
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone goes silent, including those Digimons. Most of them are shocked, with only one of them still showing anger on his face. Their eyes meet after that short bickering with Yamaki, she then moves closer to hug his leg. This little gesture is surprisingly enough to soothe him a bit, though just enough to stop him from moving. Now his focus is taken completely by Juri, who's starting to do something else. Pat.. pat.. the hard steel doesn't stop her from patting his legs. Juri isn't talking right away, she even breaks her gaze on him to focus patting one of his legs. No one is complaining, not even him, so she continues until she feels that it's the right time to talk.
A little hum comes out before she finally talks. "It was painful, losing your beloved friend.. gone just like that, it hurt." Their eyes meet again. "I know that very well." His jaw dropped, he's unable to close it back. "But this isn't the good answer. Will you believe me? No? It's fine, I was questioning myself about it before. Did I choose the right thing? I don't know. At first, I just.. want it to stop."
It's her face, he can't stand it. She's so sad that he wants to give her a hug, but he can't accept her answer just like that. So he just kneeled down with one leg, trying to get a better view of her. That also brings his fist closer and she grabs one of them. "I.. I'm not wrong though, you can't tell me I was wrong on that." He argued back.
Juri nodded, running her hand on his cracked fist. "I never said you're wrong, I just want to point out that you're hurting yourself right now." His data started to break apart, especially around his fists. The accumulated damage is finally taking its toll, it's too late because he managed to keep himself together from the buried anger inside him. "There there.. you finally get it." She smiles at him. "I just want to stop you from hurting yourself even more, you did a lot today. Come on.."
At last, he reverts back to Gaomon, then limps to hug her. Juri embraced him without second thought, stroking his back to calm him down. The crowd behind them is scattering away, led by Yamaki. It doesn't take long before there are only two of them, and Gaomon falls asleep in her embrace, not even getting the time to cry out his pain. It also doesn't take a long time before they leave this room, soon all of them are out of this place as well. Leaving this harsh, cold place, seeking a new warmth and hope to heal their deep wounds.
Sometimes things work stranger than we ever think of, time is one of them and that's what he's currently thinking. Throughout his adult life he's always been a busy man, working around the clock and devoting most of his time to his job. Even when things relaxed by the standard of the place he's working, he still had to do extra work thanks to his position. It's one thing after another, barely time to rest in between tasks until his shift over. Then it's already past nine in the night and he suddenly feels everything goes very slow, way slower than it should be. Whether he's eating his dinner or just staring at ceiling before falling asleep.
Right now, Yamaki experiencing that weird perception of time again. It was so fast before, from infiltrating enemy base to the big fight they had to face, which ended with rescuing two of their friends. The journey back to their safe haven wasn't easy either, not to mention they had to bring lots of lower level Digimons along. At that time everyone was tired, he also needed to protect some Digimons since they'd been injured. Fortunately, all of that goes smoothly without any problems. Now he's just staring at the sky, inhaling the smoke in his hand without any care whatsoever, it already feels like a whole night yet the sky is still dark. At least this place isn't that bad, not too cold to be out at night. This canyon is a safe place, it might not be the safest since it's not where sovereigns reside, but it's not far from their plain.
Right now? Is it a good time yet? He kept asking those questions to himself, only to light up another smoke and continue to stare up. Suddenly, he feels a tremor coming from right behind him. When he turned around, he saw a huge burning bird staring down at him.
It goes silent for a few seconds and the huge Digimon doesn't want to wait anymore. "Hah! Not even a word? Already that comfortable around us?" Zhuqiaomon asked with an annoyed tone. He then sees cigarette butts laying around near his legs. "You humans really like that.. weird things. How did he even knew you liked this small things? Hmm? How about I put fire inside your throat? It's just the same, isn't it?"
Yamaki shrugged, it was one of the devas that brought him some packs of smoke. Now he knows that it was one of those sovereigns who provided him, possibly just like that coffee from before.
That shrug surprised Zhuqiaomon. "Say something, is it good? Like the real one?" His head leaned closer, the heat from him made Yamaki sweat. "Oh~ Are you scared to say your opinion? Don't worry, I won't-"
"It's shit." He simply replied.
That caught the sovereign off guard. "..!? Come again?"
"I said it's shit." He took another deep breath, then blew smoke to the side. "Still better than nothing, so thanks."
A long, loud laugh came out from Zhuqiaomon, he then blasted a fire to his right. To his surprise, Yamaki's eyes were still the same, giving him that deadpan stare. "That was a little fun, I give you that. I'm tired of dealing with those brats, this is fresh air for me. So now..." His head leans down, eyes glaring at Yamaki. "What are you doing in this place? You came to see her, didn't you?"
This sovereign knew from the start, so he just nodded. Trying to lie would just make things worse for him. "I'm planning to, after this one." He said while showing the smoke in his hand, it's half way done.
"Good. Dig everything, try anything. You get my permission."
Yamaki nodded immediately, only to get confused a moment later. "Your permission?" He asked Zhuqiaomon with a doubtful look on his face. "Not even coming to ask her yourself? I could free her, just so you know."
Zhuqiaomon let out an annoyed sigh. "As if. Just talk to her, this isn't my own decision." Now it made much more sense to Yamaki. "Also, I'm trying to keep myself from burning this place to ash, that's also why you still here. A deva is inside this cave, so don't be scared, Human~"
After the brief chat, Zhuqiaomon left without any more words. Now Yamaki had more reason to go immediately, he put out his smoke and headed down one of the many stairs in this place. This plain seemed like a plain brown canyon at first, but below the ground is a complex cave system built after this problem arose. It sounded like prison yet only one Digimon occupying this place, guarded by a deva.
It took him a few minutes to finally arrive in front of the cell where she's in. Not much lighting on this place, only two torch outside the cell so it's quite dark inside. Yamaki sees her eyes, those are still visible in that situation. Without any fear, he opens it and closes the door again.
"I don't get what you want, I just don't." She sighed. "Why are you here when they haven't even asked me anything yet? Is it an order? I don't understand why they aren't coming here themselves, that deva only guarding this place too."
Yamaki walks towards her and gives back her stuff. "You asking to get tortured or what? Zhuqiaomon asked me to get something from you, well.. I just wanted to talk." He sits beside her, they barely have any height difference. "I don't and can't tell what you feel right now, especially after that. But, I believe it's not easy to go through it alone."
"You.. hahhh.. you don't have to." She took a long breath then sighed very slowly. "What about them? You prefer to be here instead of with your friends? It's not about pitying me, you still have them. That wasn't an easy day for them either. You seemed to be their leader, at least someone who's experienced."
That made him chuckle. "Experienced? Funny, they are more experienced than me in this world, I'm not joking." He takes out and lights a smoke. "I don't think they see me as that kind of friend either, we're not the same."
"Not a close friend then, is it a duty that you're here? To protect them? Or.. you didn't have a choice to begin with?"
There is pause for a minute, Yamaki takes a long breath then exhales smoke from his mouth. "My own choice.. now that you ask that, I wonder what she's doing right now."
At the same time, in another world. A man rushed to a certain room with a stack of papers in his hands. It's the start of his shift and he's already doing a ton of things. Now he's about to bring the report from the research that his peers conducted a few hours ago. He opens the door and his boss is still glued to the screen, she's been like that for a few hours.
He put the stack of papers on her desk. "Ma'am, this is all we get. And uhh.. you may want to take more rest early tonight, we got this."
"I'm good, I'll check it in a minute. Thank you." She replied, waved her hand. It's a clear sign that she has lots of things to do even at this hour, he knows it's best not to disturb her. Before he could leave, she glanced at those papers and stopped him. "Is this all of it?"
"Something wrong? I already double-checked it, it should be there, all of it."
"This is 'all of it'!?"
Yep, pretty much it for this chapter. See you in the next one!