Chapter Six

Duftmon watches his (former?) colleague with a critical eye. He doesn't quite believe the human girl's ramblings quite yet. Some of them seemed unhinged, even for humans. But even here, he can see LordKnightmon's stance is… a little too gleeful.

She hovers there in front of three defenseless, helpless human children, much in the way that Adults would loom over defenseless Babies. The two behind juri look a mix of terrified and nauseous. The human girl only looks defiant, weapon - D-Arc, his core says, even as his mind defies it, with its cracked flickering screen- in hand and baring her teeth.

Like the monster she said she had become without her protector.

"You opened the gate,"LordKnightmon says, clear as day. "You came here, with your filthy polluted data and brought the monsters to our land. It has never been sated since, and has even gone to other worlds. And now it's here, where it belongs and we're going to make sure it stays."

And it was true. Duftmon knew it to be the truth, he'd seen the crack, it had brought him here, years earlier with no plan, little hope. And yet his stomach churned.

Her ribbons floated, poised to pierce. "You humans have rotted enough. At the very least, we will end you."

Juri looks just to the left of where he's hiding. Her bright eyes burn, imploring him. Is this justice? Is this righteousness, she asks?

For the humans who brought forth the calamity, was it truly good to put them down, to let them fall into despair and collapse?

What a strange thought. The duty of a knight was to Yggdrasil, and their god was fighting with all their will to go against the monsters that were threatening to devour the world without thought or ambition. They did not know such things and were a threat to all of them.

The least they could do was let out vengeance on their god's behalf.

Was that justice? Was that righteousness? it was certainly power.

Duftmon doubts. And that makes him a terrible knight.

But as LordKnightmon's ribbons rear back like snakes, a high reedy voice yells, "STOP!"

A Guilmon and a Tsumemon step in front of the three children. Their eyes, the feral of viruses, glare at their own with defiance, burning and daring her to strike. How strange, how small.

But his people nevertheless.

LordKnightmon chuckles, dry and bitter like rotted sap. "Oh little ones, why are you getting in the way?"

The Guilmon growls louder, pupils shrunken in and the hazard mark on its chest threatening to glow. "These don't belong to you!" Tsumemon declares. "These humans belong to us! So you can't kill them. We need them!"

LordKnightmon laughs. Of course she does. "They are criminals, little ones. They must be punished."

"They are ours," snarls the Guilmon, raising his claws. "There will be no punishing."

For a moment, Duftmon hopes that his comrade will pause, will at least hesitate. But then she shrugs her shoulders. She is a Knight through and through.

"Then you must join them as well."

Duftmon doesn't hesitate this time. A good knight never does. He dives in the way, slashing the ribbons back. They are of equal level, like this, it was down to raw power and strategy. Duftmon had always been the better strategist.

This time, LordKnightmon doesn't laugh. "Comrade," she says slowly. "What are you doing?"

Duftmon casts his green eyes on Juri. She meets them, without hesitation nor fear and raises that tiny device. Hundreds of memories and thousands of years of distance pull into his core and Duftmon knows.

He raises his weapon. "The right thing."

Juri slides something into her hands. "Kamishiro-kun, Sanada-kun? Take those digimon and run. We will be fine."

The taller boy just gapes but the smaller nods. "Kato-san, be careful." His dark eyes have lost the guilt, and maybe that's wrong, but determination burns through them all the same.

He's seen those eyes before.

"Don't worry about me!" She grins and twirls the card. "I was taught by the pros. Card Slash!"

And power roars through him, new and bright and beautiful. Duftmon snarls, his form shifts, and he lunges forward.

LordKnightmon meets him, whips and roses at her beck and call.

But he's beaten her before. He can do it again. For Juri.

Arata's shell shock is not helping.

Yuugo doesn't blame him. But he is smaller and weaker than Arata, and cannot carry him.

The big red dragon brushes its snout against Yuugo, making him trip. "Let me," it says, golden eyes strangely soft.

"Why?" Yuugo blurts out. He looks around. No one is coming after them for now. Good and bad, he knows. "We, if I remember right, we brought those monsters."

And he remembers now, Yuuko pushing him back with her little face scrunched up in fear. Pushing him, Arata and three others (those twins, oh god, those poor twins, he was so sorry, where was Nokia, he hasn't seen her in so long?) back to the exit, to safety, only for her legs to give out at just the wrong moment as it descended upon them.

"We… brought those monsters to you," Yuugo finished. Arata flashes him a look of alarm, face sickly pale. "Don't we deserve this?"

"Yuugo-!" He hisses. The claw monster stops hopping by Arata's side, peering at him with one orange eye. Then its antennae flick in what seems to be a shrug.

"It's true!" Yuugo says, nearly a whisper-shout.

"Dunno." The creature says. "Just cause you remember stuff and she says it's true doesn't mean anything. The Knights say all viruses are evil and she's one, and the missing Holy One's a virus, so I dunno. She can't be completely right."

"So what if she is," growls the dragon, bumping into Arata's legs. "You didn't want us to die."

"We wanted to play," Yuugo says. He remembers now, seeing a crack and not thinking, never thinking, and just being so excited with his friends. He looks at Arata, who would throw up if you could in cyberspace.

"Then you didn't want anyone to get hurt," Tsumemon says, reasonably. "And it was all messed up, but you didn't want to hurt people. So we'll help you make it right, because you helped us and played with us. that's how friends do things."

"This is insane," Arata croaks. But then his eyes widen and he starts to back away.

The air pulses, cracks, warps.

"Run!" Yuugo shouts, pointing in the one direction that doesn't have death right in front of them. They do, just as a strange slimy lance pokes out of the strange portal. The world glitches in Yuugo's ears.

"Hi," chirps a voice deep in his heart., in the place Yuuko had been screaming from. "I'm Takato! I'm home now. It'll all be OKAY! It'll all be OKay I prOmiSE!"

Yuugo doesn't listen, because his sister is gone. Did he eat her? Did he eat her and take over? What was he?

What happened to Yuuko?

He'd save her. He had to save her. He had to make this right.

Or he'd die trying.