The fire dissipates as Sonne roars, revealing a blue-eyed orange lion on four legs. He has a pair of wings and a long yellow mane. On his head, some sort of black crown is tied to accessories to the side of his face, all three emanating fire, just like his legs' accessories and tail. He is now almost as tall as Komet. Sonne looks at Dokugumon with a stern expression and growls at him. Komet runs towards Lua and picks her up, holding her tight, and quickly runs next to Sonne. Dokugumon, which is upside-down, flips himself around and looks at now-evolved Sonne, impressed and terrified at the same time.
"Impressive, the fiend made you evolve just like that. So the power is real!" says Dokugumon in a shaky voice. "But if you don't plan to grant it to me, then I am taking your lives by all means! Stinger Poration!"
The spider shoots a poisonous blast from its mouth, but because of the distance between them, Sonne has enough time to quickly pick Komet up by her hoodie and jump out of the way. Being picked up like a kitten startles her, but she doesn't react, since it's Sonne. Upon landing, they look at Dokugumon's direction, just to realize he is nowhere to be seen.
Komet grits her teeth. "He is doing that again! If only we could finish off his near infinite little spider battalions…". She looks at Lua. The Lunamon is still moaning in pain, and her injured ear is a mix of bleeding and a bit of static noise. She frowns in worry. "Please, hold on tight, we are going to save you…". She nuzzles the bunny with a sad look on her face. Then she looks at Sonne's wings. "Can you actually fly?"
"Yes. But the density of this forest is too great to allow me to take flight. So dense that even the light emanating from my flames cannot spread very far through the treetops. As soon as I try, Dokugumon will-"
At that moment, the big spider falls from the treetop with the stinger pointed at them. Sonne again grabs Komet like a kitten and jumps out of the way. With the help of extra strings, Dokugumon quickly retreats back to the top.
"Can you stop with the hide-and-seek game already?" yells Komet, extremely annoyed. "We need to finish this as soon as possible, or Lua…" she swallows hard
"Mount on me" says Sonne, while bending his body down. Komet does it without a second thought, and they quickly dodge another of the big spider's attacks. This time, Sonne tries to attack with his claws, but the spider quickly disappears into the bushes. The same thing happens again. Sonne clads his claws with fire and slashes through the foliage where Dokugumon hid. But the spider is faster, disappearing into the mix of leaves and branches again. They look in opposite directions to prevent them from being attacked by surprise again. They try to hear Dokugumon moving through the trees to attack from below, but they hear multiple movements through the trees, probably caused by Kodokugumons to confuse them. Tired of the hide-and-seek game, they try to leave the area, but for every attempt, Dokugumon attacks them and makes them go back to where they were.
"Something is not right. He hasn't sent his minions to attack us yet!" says the lass
"He is stalemating us. I believe his focus is to use them to enhance his mobility, while causing us to waste time, preventing us to save Lua"
Komet looks at Lua again. Her eyes are closed shut, and she is sweating a lot. She hasn't stopped moaning. Komet clenches her fists. "I didn't want to resort to that, but we have no other choice. We have to burn down these trees"
Sonne nods and closes his eyes, starting to concentrate fire on his forehead.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you" says Dokugumon from somewhere
"You are only saying that because you are afraid" Komet fires back
Dokugumon slowly climbs down from the tree. "Why don't you take a look at your surroundings and see what I mean?"
Komet looks around, and she notices the area surrounded with lots of layers of spider web mixed with dry leaves and wooden material. "What the…? Sonne, don't do anything yet!"
"That's right," says the spider. "Try setting this place on fire, and you will make a bonfire big enough to either roast you or send the Angel Army flying here in a second. Any tiny bit of flame is enough to do that. Try running away, and my minions will tell me where you are going, and I will report to the Angels. Try flying away, and you will be an easy target for them. Try playing safe, and your minion's time will run out. Important to note that the webs are very sticky, so one wrong step and I will have the upper hand. Or, you know, you can empower me, and I will let you go with no hard feelings" he flashes a creepy smile
Komet huffs. "So you are more hungry for a power up than wishing to kill us…"
Sonne looks around with attention. "Have your Kodokugumons been working on this while you kept us distracted and locked in place? That is truly impressive. But I do not see their presence here. Did you exhaust them?"
Dokugumon bursts with laughter. "What kind of assumption is that? I have my spider network spread across the forest, so that you can't escape my eyes''
"By that you mean you do not have enough spiders to spare to assist you further, am I correct?"
"That's none of your business!" he huffs
Komet closes her eyes for a moment, processing their current situation. Then she opens it back, looking right into Dokugumon's multiple eyes. "Hey Dokugumon, if your minions could talk, do you think they would say how much they hate you?"
The big spider looks more annoyed and starts walking towards them. "Impossible. They always obey me. They are my eyes, my ears, my legs-"
She smirks. "But not your mouth, right? They can't voice for you, and they don't have a will of their own. Everything they sense gets sent directly to you. Which means…". She looks serious again and points at the spider. "Kill it with fire, Sonne!"
"Are you really so eager to sign your death certificate? The Angels will search this forest up and down looking for the perpetrator, assuming you won't get roasted first!"
Sonne covers his front legs in fire and pounces on Dokugumon. "Fira Claw!". Dokugumon tries to dodge it, but without the help of the little spiders, he's much slower, so the lion slashes his body and falls on him. The big spider screams in pain. Because of the fiery limbs, the area quickly catches fire, making it a bonfire so huge that the area instantly looks like hell.
Komet flinches for a moment because of the sudden burst of fire, but makes sure to keep holding tight on Sonne while focusing on Dokugumon. "You power hungry fool. Getting the angels out of Cerranis is exactly what we need at this moment. Thanks for helping us out. Goodbye, you son of a bitch!"
The fire on Sonne's limbs and tail gets fainter, while the concentrated fire on the forehead shines brighter. "Fira Bomb!". He shoots a massive fire bomb point blank and jumps back because of the kickback, instantly disintegrating Dokugumon.
With the big threat gone, Komet's attention shifts back to the blazing woods. She squeezes her eyes shut. "Please, get us out of this place". She looks extremely uncomfortable, close to panic. The area gets so hot that she starts sweating immediately.
Sonne nods. Taking advantage of his high heat tolerance, he folds his wings in a way to cover Komet as much as possible and launches himself into the fire, since it's the only way to leave the now infernal area. As soon as he crosses the flaming trees, he puts his wings back to normal position. He looks at her to check if she is fine. She still has her eyes closed, and upon feeling fresher air, she opens her eyes back. "You mentioned that having the Angels away from the city was the ideal. What exactly are you planning?" he asks.
Komet looks a bit more relieved, but still worried because of Lua's health, as it seems to be quickly worsening. She takes a breath, and opens the map from her smartwatch. "We are going back to Cerranis. It's our only chance to get Lua cured. I'm sure I saw a hospital there during the 'tour'. If we are lucky, the angels will go to the burning place in a straight line to first inspect the area"
"And what if luck is not at our side?"
"Then we are screwed" she says while shaking her head
"Not on my watch". Sonne starts running through the forest, taking a longer but not predictable path back to Cerranis, going specifically towards the place they left when confronted by Pidmon.
Komet sighs. "I can't believe we had to kill non-Infected Digimons…"
"Actually-"
"Don't worry, I know it was for our survival. If we hadn't done that, then that place would be our graves. But still, it feels… Weird and wrong". She shakes her head, still feeling a bit guilty.
"If it helps, one of your favorite sports is to get rid of spiders in your apartment"
Komet chokes and giggles. "Sonne? This is some Lua level of argument! Well, you are not wrong… But still…". She shakes her head and gives two weak slaps on her face in an attempt to change subject, and pats Sonne's mane. "So… Are you Firamon now…?"
"Yes. The very form I reached during my stay in your world. I can take advantage of my new appearance to reenter Cerranis and seek the hospital you mentioned. However, I suggest that you don't accompany me. Instead, you should stay hidden in a safe place, and call me at the first sight of danger. I have my doubts regarding this place being left completely unguarded"
"I agree with this, but Lua is still recognizable by the angels"
"We could take advantage of her size to cover her on my body while I go on my way to the hospital. We need to hope that the hospital will not deny help, or worse, report us on sight"
She shakes her head and looks down. "This is a very bad, dangerous and unreliable plan, but I can't think of anything better… Not that I have time to do so…"
They finally arrive at the back 'entrance' of Cerranis. Komet dismounts Sonne while holding Lua. "We don't have many minutes left". She accesses the inventory and summons the woven mat. She places Lua on top of Sonne, and ties the mat tight around his body, hiding Lua under it. "I will go near the river under the bridge. The place is dark enough, and since I need to call Anpu, the noise of the stream will hopefully help keep my voice unheard. As soon as you are done, we will meet here"
"Be very careful. Do not hesitate to call me at the first sign of danger" Sonne says
Komet nods. "The same for you. Call me if you get in danger. Don't leave me in the dark, okay?" She covers her head with her hoodie, and walks towards the bridge from the outer area.
"But you are- walking… towards the dark…" Sonne tilts his head as Komet leaves. "That must be another of those idioms…"
Komet mutters while walking down to the river. "I really dislike that plan… We had no time to perfect it… But no way in hell I would waste more time when Lua's life is on the line. I guess this effing world is going to be testing my limits, huh…". She shakes her head, trying to make herself stop mulling over things. "I guess a good bad plan is better than a bad good plan… Wait, can a good bad plan be even reliable? Does it even make sense? Am I losing my sanity already? Aaaah… Whatever… I should just do my thing right now before I start overthinking again. But I am already overthinking, aren't I? Ugh… I don't need more scolding for the same reason… Ouch! My body is still sore…!" . She rubs her sides and sighs in worry. "Lua, please, survive…"
Sonne gets into the town through the displaced plank they used to escape earlier. Fortunately his flames weren't a big problem, since he exhausted it not long ago, only emanating a little ember from his crown and tail. He doesn't know where Komet saw a hospital, so to find it, he backtracks the paths they had taken before confronting the Angels. The town is abnormally silent, and no one can be seen around. He reaches an area where lamps illuminate the main streets and pathways. His plan was to stay low profile, but as the town seems empty, this becomes nearly impossible. "I wonder what happened. I'm certain this isn't the norm" . Then he quickly turns around, as he senses someone approaching him.
"Woah! Don't startle me like that!" says the Digimon that approached Sonne from behind, almost falling on its back. The creature is basically a white candle with arms on a golden candlestick, with a smiling flame on its top. It's half of Sonne's size.
"My act was of self defense, as I could not tell if you had ill intention towards me by approaching in silence" says Sonne
"Ah, sorry about that! I'm just in a duty to inform everyone I find around that they shouldn't be outside, since there's a curfew in effect. It wouldn't be nice if the Angels caught you outside. They were doing it themselves for every traveler that approaches the town, but most of them rushed to the forest not long ago, so I was, erm, kinda assigned to do the job for now. Since you are already inside, this could get very ugly for you". The creature scratches its back.
"Can you inform me of the location of the hospital? It's urgent"
The candle gives a close look at Sonne's face, and sees a mix of seriousness and worry. "Yeah, of course! Follow me, quickly!"
Sonne follows the candle, who bounces very close to the buildings, moving as if it's trying its best to be sneaky. "Care if I ask you the reason for the curfew?" asks the lion.
"They didn't tell much about it. They just decided to start doing it today. It seems this has something to do with a sapient creature that can spread the Corrosion Virus at will, I think? Apparently this is a thing, and it's honestly scary"
"I fail to understand how a curfew can be much of help if such creature is already hidden among us, but I am not the one to judge the actions of the Angel Army"
"Oh, I'm so happy to hear someone that thinks the same! Whatever the reason, all we can do is hope they find them and destroy it". The candle stops bouncing, and points at the entrance of a building. The building has a big sign, saying "HOSPITAL" in Digimoji - the Digimon script - with a red cross on the top. "Here's the hospital! When you are done, please, only leave the hospital accompanied by me or Luxmon from the Angel Army, or stay in the hospital until the next morning, if they allow it. Good luck, and best recovery to you or whoever needs it!"
"I am grateful for your help. I wish you luck too"
The candle waves at him, and Sonne rushes inside. The receptionist - a fairy wearing some kind of full pink suit with white flower-shaped hands and feet, pink flower hat, green belly, green hair and and a big pink flower on the back - greets Sonne, looking worried but composed, as she is used to this kind of reaction already. He approaches the fairy.
"A friend was stung by Dokugumon about 30 minutes ago. Said friend is currently on my back, under the mat" he says
"Follow me, sir! This is more than urgent" says the plant fairy. She quickly leaves the counter and flies towards a corridor. Sonne follows her closely. After some turns, the fairy opens a door. "Here, please!" she says. Sonne enters the room, and sees a white mushroom with purple hat with yellow circles, and pink gloves and shoes. The mushroom, which is even smaller than the candle, wears a lab coat which is a bit bigger than him, so the bottom of it drags on the floor. He wears something that looks like a stethoscope on top of his head, since he doesn't have a neck.
"I am doctor Mushmon. If you had to be rushed here, I believe you were stung by some blasted Dokugumon. But it seems you are resisting the poison pretty well" he says, while looking for something in his boxes.
"Pardon, but the victim is attached to my back. The incident occurred around 30 minutes ago or more, thus in need immediate checkup"
Mushmon gasps and quickly turns around, while holding a bottle. "What are you waiting for? Lie down already, I need to save the patient!"
Sonne lies down. Mushmon quickly approaches the lion and unties the woven mat. When he removes it, he sees Lua, with her face getting mostly purple and starting to glitch.
"MY LORD! This is beyond urgency! Why did you take so long to bring them?". He grabs Lua, runs to a different room and places her on a stretcher, while grabbing something that looks like a syringe. He puts the liquid from the bottle in the syringe and injects it in the injured ear.
Sonne walks to the room they are currently in. "Detour" he dryly answers.
"Good thing we usually have everything ready here. Dokugumon attacks are quite common in that part of the forest, and so are victims looking for the antidote. It pisses me off that those creatures crawl so close to our dear town. I can only wish someone finishes them off" says the mushroom, accompanied with a sigh.
"Huh"
"Someone has even pleaded the Angels to get rid of them, but you know the answer: 'we cannot interfere in the natural order of the things'"
"Anyhow. How long until we are allowed to leave?"
"Depends on how fast their body will recover. But at least a few hours. I will come back later and check if they are getting better". Mushmon spends some time cleaning, stitching and bandaging Lua's injured ear. After minutes, he turns around and starts walking towards the door. "This will do"
"May I stay in this room by her side?"
"Sure, as long as you don't burn this place down. I've had enough with fire Digimons that can't just watch their flames. Aside from that, 'enjoy'! It's just not the most comfortable place in case you decide to sleep"
"Do not worry"
Mushmon closes the door as he leaves. Sonne stands next to Lua, observing her current state. She is still sweating a bit, but her face is not as purple anymore, and it stopped glitching. Her breathing is also calmer now, but she still shows no signs of waking up. He lies down and waits patiently, while on high alert in case of any signs of the Angel Army or a call from Komet. "Time finally gave me the chance to wonder how I resisted Pidmon's attack with ease... Or how Luxmon has resisted my attacks… Actually… It is only my flame moves, or at least one of them, that happened to be the same one that I also saw Pidmon performing to eradicate the infected data. The attack I resisted was also fire based, although imbued with holy powers. Perhaps I should try to communicate with Anpu to get my questions answered, but I believe he is in a meeting with Komet right now…" Sonne sighs.
Komet stealthily arrives under the bridge, while mentally exhausting herself with complaints over complaints about her plans and herself, even though she tried not to. The lady was also extremely worried about Lua, but all she can do is to hope that Sonne arrived at the hospital in time for Lua to get proper treatment - if they had it, that is. "You gotta step up your game if you don't want your friends to keep getting hurt for you. You sure don't want… That…. Again…" . She clenches her fists and her eyes furrow. She starts shaking and filling her heart with guilt, but she quickly shakes her head, trying to get rid of these thoughts. "No, I'm better than that now. Everything will be okay" . She returns her focus on finding a safe place.
She carefully looks around to check if there's anyone nearby. She sees and hears no one around, although it's too dark to see much anyway. But at least she could be sure that if a Luxmon is approaching, they will let her know, since they don't exactly seem to be unobtrusive. She sits down, lying on the bridge's cold stone pillar, and sighs relieved for at least making it there in safety.
Up close, she realizes that the sound of the stream is louder than she expected, which would be good to make calls without being noticed, but that also means she can have trouble hearing the others. She looks around and notices that she is not the first person that had the idea to shelter under the bridge: she sees a bonfire that seems to be abandoned for who knows how long and some random objects scattered around, which she assumes that were forgotten there. One of the items catches her attention: it's a notepad, with some kind of pencil stuck on it. She opens the notepad and sees that only a few pages had been used. "That's very convenient" she thinks. She looks around one more time, and upon confirming no one is around, she lifts her sleeve and uses her smartwatch to initiate a call with Anpu. She waits for several seconds, a few minutes even, until Anpu finally answers the call. A hologram of Anpu's bust is projected from her device.
"Good night, Komet" says the Anubismon. "It sounds like you are enjoying a moment at a river"
"Hi! Thanks for answering, and sorry if I am bothering you. I wouldn't say 'enjoying', but at least we can hear each other. It's more like… We are in a sticky situation"
"Go on"
"The Angel Army… It seems they know about humans, and immediately identified me as one, so now they are hunting me down! They didn't even give me a chance to explain myself"
Anpu sighs. "That was bound to happen at some point, but I didn't expect you would meet them so soon"
Komet looks shocked. "Wait, you knew that already? Why didn't you tell me anything?"
Anpu stays silent
"Aren't you going to say anything? You tasked me with a dangerous mission, so you shouldn't withhold this information from me!"
"I had no obligation to help you, and yet, I've answered all your questions and given you resources to help you return to your world, even with the objection of a friend. You should be grateful for having a head start"
"I am grateful, of course, but you even talked positively about the Angel Army being guardians and such, so I assumed they wouldn't be a danger to me. That also means I could have been killed in the Village of Beginning if an angel actually appeared and protected it from the Infected!"
Anpu sighs. "Everyone has their reasons to keep secrets, and I am no exception. Say, if I start asking about your life, for example, your biggest mistake, your biggest regret, would you answer it?"
Komet flinches. "Of all things he could ask, why specifically about that?" . She lowers her head and shakes it. "No, I wouldn't…"
"And yet, I trusted you with tools I shouldn't have shared to begin with"
Komet lifts her head again. "But that's not a fair comparison, your example is about a personal matter, while mine is regarding a group, my safety. But if you are going to hide information anyway, may I ask you at least for more detail about the Angel Army? How they act as a group, their way of doing missions and hunting people down, stuff like that. I need to plan my way to survive, I had a fair share of dangerous moments already"
"Depends. Would you trust an alien and give every single piece of information about your world's defense system?"
Komet looks down again, accepting defeat. "Okay, I get it... Sorry for being pushy"
Anpu nods. "The Angel Army is the highest authority of our world. They are the ones that found out about the Corrosion Virus."
Komet looks surprised. "The highest authority? That makes more sense now. Let's just hope they don't print my face and place them around the world then"
Anpu laughs. "'An angelic matter is an angelic matter only', as they say and follow tight. Even so, one can't and won't be everywhere in the world"
"Uuh… I hope so…? Whatever that means… Even so, one can never be too careful. But I guess I can get proud of my team for surviving an angel attack"
He looks around and lowers his voice. "Avoid them whenever you can. But if battle is inevitable, you have a double edged sword at your side"
"A double edged sword…? What would that be?"
"Aren't you a good observer, strategist and such? Count on your friends and learn more from the Digimon, and you will get the answers you are looking for. You might even get answers you didn't know you needed"
Komet tilts her head. "What is he trying to imply…? And why is he hinting about the angels in the end anyway? I don't know exactly what you mean, but I'll try"
"So, based on your location, I assume you are in Cerranis, right? Was there an Infected attack there?"
"Oh, you can see where I am, cool. Yes, it's the town of Cerranis. I saw live a Digimon called Insekimon starting to show the virus' symptoms, but the Angels were already around, since that town is their HQ, so they were quick to subdue it. Unfortunately I couldn't collect the infected data, since Pidmon instantly destroyed it"
Anpu gives a surprised look. "Their headquarters, you say… It's good to know. About the infected data, don't worry about that. You will get plenty of opportunities"
"I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but thanks"
"Do you have any other questions?"
"No, that's all. I will hang up now. Thanks, Anpu!"
Anpu waves and the call is finished. Komet stares at her smartwatch. "Not the outcome I was hoping for. All I can do is wonder why Anpu is hiding something from me. Or maybe it's better to not think about that at all, since it's thanks to him that I'm alive in the first place… Besides, I feel like he's saying important things between the lines again, but I have to try to decipher it… What a situation…" . She sighs. "Hopefully I'll live long enough to tell people that I was being guided by an Egyptian god monster…"
She grabs the notepad she found earlier and looks at the first pages. She uses her device to light it. It contains notes in the same script she sees around the Digital World. She flips the page and goes to an empty one, and starts to write and draw on it. Using her lack of artistic skills, she draws something that remotely resembles Pidmon. She draws and writes about his moves, and adds the part where one of them is resisted by Sonne. She also takes notes about Luxmon. In the bottom of the page, she writes about the supposedly double edged sword as a reminder that she has something yet to learn about. From the little information, she starts making multiple plans in case they end up facing the angels again.
More than one hour passes. Sonne is still lying down in full alert. He hears a familiar groaning and immediately stands up to check on Lua. He sees her slowly opening her eyes and looking around confused.
"Where am I…?" she asks in a weak voice. She looks around, and she sees the Firamon at her right. "Oh my gosh, is that you, Sonne…? You evolved again already…!"
Sonne lowers his head and smiles. "I am glad to see you recovering well. I couldn't bring myself to forgiveness have you perished"
Lua slowly sits down and smiles back. "Awwn, don't be so dramatic! We can't be killed that easily, we are too good for that". She looks around. "Where are we? And where is Komet?"
"We are in the hospital of Cerranis. Komet is somewhere outside, awaiting our return"
"'Somewhere outside'? Did you really leave her alone just like that? Are you insane?" she yells
"Please, keep your voice down. Our location is not the safest yet"
Lua quickly puts her hands in her mouth in a shocked expression. "Oops! Sorry!"
"I understand your worries, and I do fear for her safety, too. But that was our best plan. Besides, I believe I don't need to remind you that she's a late teen"
She looks at Sonne angry again, but lowers her voice. "A teenager that needed our help to take care of herself, yes. But this is not even the point! It's dangerous outside, especially with those horrible demonic angels flying around. She can barely defend herself! Are you checking her vitals often to at least make sure she is okay?"
"You should already be aware that her heartbeat is not an indication of her safeness. A simple reason such as being surprised by a cockroach could be enough to make the heart race increase. Besides, I am already using my focus in keeping us safe. One cannot multitask things that require a greater amount of focus". Sonne looks around, and after making sure no one is coming, he looks at Lua again. "Our decision was that it was safer for her to stay outside, considering that residents of this village might be on high alert regarding our presence. She informed me of the place she will be hiding, and we will be called as soon as she gets in danger. This can be deemed the best plan, considering that the Angels are now holding a curfew in this town"
"A curfew? I wonder if they expect more 'fiends' to appear, or they are expecting that we would return here 'to infect more Digimons'. I'm surprised that you managed to get in in the first place!"
"We used the battle against Dokugumon to create means to distract the Angel Army and take the opportunity to take you to get proper treatment. Fortunately, Komet had spotted a hospital here. The fact that my appearance changed also plays a role"
"So you killed that stupid spider? Good". Lua quickly pets Sonne's mane "Look at this big lion! Hihihi!"
Sonne sighs. "Not this again…"
"This again! Anyway, I'm awake, can I leave now?" she says while starts floating
Sonne pushes her back to the litter with his snout and sits down. "Patience, Lua. The doctor will do an hourly checkup on you and decide if you've recovered enough to leave. I'm aware of the danger of an angel being summoned to the hospital, but we should guarantee your well being first. As soon as we get in danger, we take an escape route, something that I've been planning for a while. Although this thought was not alone in my head. Something else has been tormenting me"
"What is it? Hopefully it's not me"
"I cannot recall your awareness of your surroundings, but at a certain point, when I was still a Coronamon, Pidmon's Feather Fire didn't take me down. In the same way, my Corona Knuckle barely dealt damage to Luxmon. At first I thought my power was not enough against the likes of them, but when I resorted to physical damage, I was able to take it down. Both Pidmon and Luxmon demonstrated surprise about that fact. 'You shouldn't have resist it, unless', he'd exclaimed afterwards''
Lua scratches the back of her head. "Maaaaaybe I saw it, but, you know, the heat of the moment and stuff makes you blind to some things. But I have something to say about them too: according to them, I am officially 'one evil creature that crawls in the shadows'!"
Sonne raises one of his 'eyebrows' and stares at her.
"Aren't you going to feel bad for me or anything? Fine, whatever! What happened is that it seems my Luna Claw is especially strong against their 'oh! holy moly mighty glory' based attacks. Or at least against their shield, since unlike Tear Shoot, it sliced through it like a scalpel cutting skin. I felt like I was playing Fruit Ninja at that moment"
"Interesting. But I fail to understand the the relation of that with the 'evil crawling creature'"
"This is what that stupid big angel called me. He also said something like 'we are opposites, so you are weak to my attacks' or something." Lua grabs Sonne's mane and shakes it dramatically. "He called me a demon! A demon! Can you believe it?"
Sonne just takes the shake with a neutral face. "You are not the only one whose such name was bestown. Regardless, as beings of light, it's completely understandable that this specific power offers grand danger to them"
"While you resisted them. We are kinda opposites, aren't we? Sun, Moon, day, night… If I have one dark power, then by that logic, your Corona Knuckle has light powers or something? I don't know, just a guess. Pidmon's Fire Feather is not normal fire, after all. Maybe test your other fire based attacks to see if they are fire-fire or some kind of holy fire. I do have one dark power and the rest is water-based, so maybe the inverse is true for you!"
"This makes sense, although still doesn't explain Pidmon's final interjection. 'Unless' I am something, I should not have resistance to their attacks"
"Anpu created us, so you could ask him that. We can still contact him by ourselves, right? He probably has the answer"
"I would need to know if Komet is still in contact with him. Perhaps this is something I should do after we reunite"
"In that case…" Lua stands up again. Her brows furrow and she looks around. "Can you fetch the doctor? I feel like we should leave this place as soon as possible"
"Hmm…" Sonne stands up and slowly opens the door. He looks around and sees no one. Complete silence, but bright. He then walks down the corridor, heading towards Mushmon's room, but he stops as soon as he hears a familiar deep voice coming from the entrance. He looks around again, and slowly heads towards the entrance. The lion slowly sticks his head around the corner just to have the displeasure to confirm his suspicions: it is Pidmon.
At the reception desk, Pidmon is talking to the fairy flower receptionist. They talk about 'the suspicious bunny-looking Digimon that Mushmon is treating at the moment'. The receptionist informs that per hospital rules, Pidmon can't just go inside and take them, since guaranteeing full treatment to those who seeked treatment - even for bad guys, as long as they don't cause trouble inside - is their duty and code of honor. Since Pidmon is already aware of that, he just nods and waits at the entrance with five Luxmons. Sonne mentally growls, but before stepping back, he hears something from behind.
"Hey!" waves Mushmon. "Did you get lost? My room is right here. Do you need something?"
Sonne notices nervousness in Mushmon's voice, even though the mushroom is trying his best to hide it. He turns and looks at the doctor, who gets tense by it. "I was in search of a toilet"
"Oh, haha!" the doctor laughs nervously. "That's on the other side, buddy! You go down the corridor, turn left, and you find the toilets at the end of it! Now, before you go, may I ask you who the patient is?"
Sonne just walks past Mushmon, pretending he didn't hear the question, heading towards Lua's room. Mushmon walks after him, smiling more nervously.
"I don't think you heard my question, did you?". The mushroom puts his hand behind his back, while still looking at the lion. "It's okay if you are desperate to take a dump, but this is an important question! We always need to register our patients"
Sonne stops and looks at him. "If that was the truth, I believe you would be holding a clipboard right now, not readying an attack"
Mushmon gasps and immediately raises the hand he was hiding. He holds a lot of tiny mushrooms. "I'll put you to sleep. Sweet dreams! Poison S-mush!". The doctor throws the tiny fungi at the floor, which explodes into a giant cloud of gas that quickly starts spreading through the corridor. Sonne reacts quickly though. As soon as he saw the raised arm, he jumped backwards and ran towards Lua's room. Because of the hurry, Sonne opens the door so fast that it slams into the wall, scaring Lua, who was just carefully rolling the woven mat.
"Lua! We are taking our leave NOW!"
Sonne's tone is so serious that Lua doesn't think twice before jumping on his back. She holds tight on his mane while holding the mat. Sonne immediately runs out of the room and rushes down the corridor, at the opposite side of where the knockout gas was launched. A window can be seen at the end of it. Lua looks in the direction of the gas and sees five Luxmons making a giant barrier around Pidmon and crossing the hazard area, flying in their direction.
"They are coming!" screams Lua
Sonne keeps running fast. At the moment he reaches the window, he rams it open, shattering the glass and jumping out of the hospital. He spreads his wings wide and flies towards the forest.
"My head hurts… Trying to making plans to literally survive attacks from raging angels wasn't in my life bingo card…"
Komet stares at the notepad. A lot of texts are scratched, while some still survive the chance of being scratched out. She shakes her head, disappointed. "I don't have enough resources… Maybe I should call Sonne to get to know more about his attacks and see if he knows Lua's too… Maybe they even have an idea of what the double edged sword could-"
Her thoughts are interrupted as soon as her eyes spot flashing light going around the outer border of the town. "Oh, boy, they are already back. Great.". She looks at the direction of the light, and concludes that the creature is moving faster than she can run. As per habit, she already made plans A, B, C and D for herself. She stores the notepad in her device and quickly walks towards the river, leaning against the inner part of the long pillar. She enters the river, and as soon as she gives a few more steps further, she loses her step, as she didn't expect that spot to be very slippery. That caused her to lose her balance, but she quickly held on to the pillar's stones, preventing her from being swept away by the strong stream. She closes her eyes shut as soon as her whole body gets wet by the very cold river. She repositions herself in a way the stream will keep pushing herself against the pillar. Because of the other large pillar in front of her, she can't see or be seen by whoever is approaching until it's under the bridge, so she has to rely on the intensity of the light to know how close the creature is.
When the light gets intense enough, Komet holds her breath and uses the pillar to push herself underwater. She looks up and sees the strong light, but not the creature that's making it, but she just assumes it's a Luxmon anyway. Three seconds passes, and the light doesn't seem to be moving. Four seconds. Five. Ten. Twenty. Komet starts panicking, since her body is starting to ask for oxygen. But the light refuses to move away. Finally, the light disappears. She quickly resurfaces and wheezes, taking as much oxygen as she can. As soon as she recovers her breath, she looks at the river bank, but before she even moves back towards it, a light flashes at her face.
"There you are! You really thought I wouldn't find your footprints, huh?" says Luxmon. It makes sure that the shield is up and emitting as much light as possible. The little angel grabs its whistle and blows it.
"Dammit!" . She looks away from the light and quickly starts a call with her partners, hoping they will answer fast.
Fortunately, Sonne picks up the call immediately. "Komet! We just had to break out of the hospital. We should take our leave immediately! Where are you?"
Komet tries to look ahead, using her hand to cover her face from the intense light. She sees more flashing shields approaching, then she grits her teeth.
"Who are you talking to? Shut your mouth, now!" says Luxmon
"Here goes nothing…" Komet takes a breath. "I am under the main bridge, but I will start going down stream now. Find me in the river". She pushes herself away from the pillar, and the river immediately sweeps her away from the bridge, leaving Luxmon shocked.
"Are you serious? Komet! Komet?". Sonne grits his teeth as he gets no answer, and immediately flies towards the river.
"What's up?" asks Lua
"Komet is in the river. As the one with better vision in the night, look for her"
"Wait, what? This is not supposed to be time to take a bath!". Lua climbs Sonne's head to have a better view of the bottom, since in her previous position the flapping wings were getting in her way. "There! There!". Lua puts her arm in front of Sonne's face to make sure he sees where she is pointing at. "Crap, that's a Luxmon following her! And there's more approaching her!"
The lion looks in the direction, and thanks to Luxmon's flashing shield, he sees the silver-haired lass flailing in the water. "Hold tight" he announces, as he dives in the direction of the girl. Lua grips his mane tightly and looks behind, just to see Pidmon's group still behind them. Lua notices that the adult angel's wings are starting to glow.
"Sonne, careful, Pidmon is readying an attack!" Lua says. "Lop-ear Ripple!". She twirls her ears and launches a vortex of bubbles to cover a bit of the Angel Army's vision.
Sonne focuses on the skydive. When he is about to dive into Komet, he spreads his front legs open and grabs Komet like a hug, and immediately flies back up. He hears Komet choking as soon as she is taken out. "Lua! I need your assistance to put her on my back. This current position hinders my flight capabilities" shouts Sonne.
"What do you want me to do? I am just a little rabbit riding a big lion, while trying to escape from angry angels!"
"I'll perform loop"
"ARE YOU SER- Fine! Do it fast!"
Before Sonne flies up, she launches a few water balls from her antenna at Pidmon. The lion flies up, releases Komet and does the loop quickly enough to catch the lass on his back with Lua's help.
"Yeehaw!" yells Lua
Komet, very confused, feeling cold, shocked and scared, just grabs Sonne very tight with her arms and legs.
"My apologies" says Sonne
Lua looks behind again, just to see Fire Feathers being launched at them. "Sonne, we are under attack!" she yells. "DO A BARREL ROLL!"
Sonne trusts her and does as she says without a second thought. As he does that, he sees the flaming projectiles passing them and dying out after some distance. Lua launches another vortex of bubbles at them, but they keep approaching quickly.
"They are closing in! What do we do? Maybe we should go through the forest again!" she says
"T-this is not gonna work this time…" says a shaky voice, which sounds to be Komet's
Lua turns her head and sees that Komet has almost recovered from the shock, except that she is still shaking, either because she is cold or because she is riding a flying roller coaster without safety items. Or both.
"...b-because Sonne is too big now, he would have trouble n-navigating through the forest" Komet continues. "B-but the problem is… As much as I tried very hard, n-not a single plan will work properly… I-I'm sorry…"
"What have you planned? Tell us!" said Lua
Komet breathes in and out to calm herself down. "Uuuhh… The notepad is stored in my smartwatch right now. If I retrieve it, it will probably fly away from my hand, since, y-you know, we are flying at a high speed and stuff". She still looks tense and scared. "But the best I got was Sonne making use of his resistance to bait Pidmon's Fire Feather, while something deals a massive blow from behind. Or at least stop him from flying. But I don't have the 'how'"
Sonne's eyes widen, then he looks serious again. "I might have a solution. But for that, you need to trust us, Komet"
"What? What do you mean?"
Behind them, Pidmon and the Luxmons are starting to get close enough from Team Twilight. The adult angel positions his rod and sets it in golden fire.
"Lua, hopefully you remember our conversation about our strengths at the hospital, correct? I would assume you are also familiar with the law of physics"
"Hopefully you are not calling me dumb!" protested the bunny
"What are you two talking about?" asked the lass, almost freaking out.
Sonne quickly looks behind him and sees the angels closing in. "Optimal. Blind them, Lua!"
Lua smirks. "Lop-ear Ripple!"
A vortex of bubbles is launched at the angels. Pidmon just swings his rod and easily gets rid of the bubbles. Lua uses the attack again, but the bubbles are still easy to pop.
"I guess I have no choice but to trust the plan" says Komet, feeling like screaming in panic. She gets the woven mat and swings at one of Sonne's flaming accessories, setting it on fire. She releases it towards Pidmon. The angel blocks it with his rod, but since it's something solid, it gets stuck on it for a bit
"Target the wings. I'll catch you in a loop" said the lion.
Upon hearing the word 'loop', Komet tightens her grips even more, and closes her eyes shut. Pidmon burns the rest of the mat with his flaming rod, but everything that happens after that is too fast for him to react. Lua smirks and jumps up out of Sonne, doing an elegant backflip, while covering her claws with dark power. The air resistance slows her down while the angel keeps his momentum, quickly setting her behind Pidmon. Lua properly times her attack, swinging her darkness-cloaked arms towards Pidmon's wings. "Luna Claw!". Pidmon shrieks in pain as both of his wings are heavily damaged, and quickly starts falling, spiraling towards the ground. Upon seeing that, all the Luxmons quickly fly towards the angel to save their master. Sonne finishes the loop and catches Lua back.
Komet opens her eyes back after feeling that the loop was done. She looks down and gets very surprised after seeing all the little angels with their bright shields flying down. "It really worked! B-but… I don't approve that you had to put yourself at high risk for that!"
"Apologies for ignoring your commands. I'm aware I deserve to be severe punished for that, but have I never done that, the punishment would never occur, because I would lose the person I swore to protect" says the lion
"We know very well that you hate when a plan is not 100%-". Before Lua could finish, she feels Komet hugging her very tight and sobbing.
"I-I was so afraid of losing you…" Komet says
Lua pitifully looks at Komet and hugs her back, and pats her on the back. "Don't worry, we are insane, but we are also amazing. That makes us survive lots of adversities! This is what makes us Team Twilight, right?"
Komet still feels down, but she gives a little smile. "I guess you are right"
Sonne smiles too. After getting far enough, he slows down his flight speed and flies to a lower altitude, towards the shining moon that beautifies the skies. "All's well that ends well"
That's it! As you can see, Sonne doesn't revert back to Coronamon after battle, he keeps his form. That means Komet doesn't need to walk for hours anymore, yay for her