DarkFoxKit: Once again, I would like to say if anyone is trying to commission themselves here, reviewing just to tell us about how they do art or whatever, we are ignoring them. We will only answer back to people who actually read and review the story.
ZAFT: Agreed. And with so many people reporting these accounts, maybe the admins will do something. Anyway, Halloween is coming up. Get ready for the spooky stuff!
DarkFoxKit: Halloween, what a spooky time of year. Spooky for me because it means having to answer the door for trick-or-treaters, and I'm not a very social person in real life. '
ZAFT: Same with me. My sister does door duty, unless she gets sick, then it's all on me… XP I would rather stay indoors in my room than answer the door. '
DarkFoxKit: Well, for now, we'll let you guys get on with the chapter.
Chapter 15: Questions
BlackGatomon wasn't sure when or how it happened exactly, but she and Duskmon had been traveling the Digital World ever since they visited that Fortune Teller town. Cherubimon had told them they should see more of the world and see if they could collect more fractal code for Cherubimon, because he needed more. BlackGatomon sighed, she would rather not help ruin the world further, but she needed to keep up her appearance if she didn't want to get kicked out, or worse, taken out. She had a mission and she was going to see it through.
Though not a lot had happened. BlackGatomon and Duskmon had been traversing for a while, though they had been to a few towns or villages, they never really 'had a reason' to just take anyone's fractal code. The Digimon were too afraid of Duskmon to oppose him in any way, and BlackGatomon told Duskmon they shouldn't take the fractal code from Digimon or their land if they weren't opposing Cherubimon. Though BlackGatomon was getting worried what Cherubimon would do if they didn't bring any fractal code back soon, he may just decide that she was distracting Duskmon and separate them.
But things went from bad to worse when BlackGatomon and Duskmon set up camp for the night to sleep. It didn't take long for Duskmon to fall asleep. Since they were out in the wilderness, they had to sleep in shifts to make sure no hostile Digimon, or one of those strange beings, tried to attack them. BlackGatomon decided to take the first watch. She was munching on some dried meat they had with them, when a small cloud suddenly came down in front of her.
BlackGatomon looked up and narrowed her golden eyes at the being before her. "Tapirmon. To what I owe for this lovely visit tonight?"
"Oh, I just wanted to stop by for a 'little' chat." Tapirmon said as he floated down in front of BlackGatomon. "You see, it would seem your friends decided to try and break the rules. They thought they could easily bypass the restrictions put into place, but alas, it would seem their efforts were for naught."
BlackGatomon frowned as she felt her heart sinking. "What did you do to them?"
"I didn't do anything to them." Tapirmon reassured BlackGatomon. "They may have had a bit of a fright, but rest assured, they are fine otherwise. But I will say this, do not overstep the boundaries placed on you. Your friends learned that the hard way. This is the only warning you will get."
"Hmph, have I broken any rules so far?" BlackGatomon asked.
"No, not yet, but that could've changed for all we know." Tapirmon replied. "I came here to warn you to not push it like your friends tried to do. But be warned, if you try to do what they did, you will suffer the same fate as they will suffer if they try again."
"Great, so you came here just to tell me that? Why? To scare me?" BlackGatomon hissed.
"I figured you deserved a warning, because I gave your friends another chance, but I won't extend that to you if you break the rules yourself," Tapirmon answered.
"Well thanks, you can leave now," BlackGatomon grumbled. "It's not like anything I say will help Duskmon remember much anyway, Cherubimon's got him brainwashed good."
Tapirmon chuckled. "So I can see. But you never know, so I wanted to cover my and the master's bases. I don't want to have to do a repeat of what I did earlier."
"Hmph, whatever," BlackGatomon grumbled.
Tapirmon gave a small smirk. "You act like you don't care, but I know you're worried. But I wish you the best of luck. Just remember, you and your friends brought this on yourselves."
BlackGatomon frowned, but she didn't say anything else as Tapirmon flew up into the sky and disappeared into a cloud.
BlackGatomon couldn't help but wonder to herself. I wonder who has the harder job? My friends who have to travel with the 5 other Legendary Warriors, or me being behind enemy lines with one Legendary Warrior who's been brainwashed quite thoroughly by Cherubimon?
BlackGatomon was kicking a small pebble when she heard the voices of some Digimon that were passing by. She looked up and stayed quiet, hoping she and Duskmon blended in the darkness enough to not be noticed. They didn't set up a campfire to stay hidden in the shadows.
From what BlackGatomon could see, the two Digimon passing by looked like a Gotsumon and a Palmon, but considering it was dark, and the variants of Digimon look-alike, it was also possible the Gotsumon could've been a Meteormon, and the Palmon could've been an Aruraumon. Though it didn't really matter to BlackGatomon.
"-ow… that's pretty scary. Aren't you worried? I mean I know you didn't come from there, but they're your people, aren't they?" The maybe Palmon shivered.
"Yeah, but who knows what could be going on." The possible Gotsumon shivered. "To think a disease could be afflicting the Digimon in the village… It's rare we Digimon get sick, so for so many to fall ill in a short amount of time…"
"I hope someone finds a cure to that weird disease soon, it would be bad if it started spreading further from that Gotsumon Village," The maybe Palmon replied.
Gotsumon Village? BlackGatomon blinked. A disease? That's odd… I don't remember that village having any sick Digimon. Did something happen?
BlackGatomon frowned. I'm not sure how far in the… timeline we're in, in regards to the other children. But it'd be bad if they got there during this pandemic. I'm not sure if there's anything Duskmon and I could do, but it might be good to check it out at least. When something unusual happens, it's usually interference from… the outside. And that makes it my problem.
BlackGatomon tapped Duskmon a few times, waking him up.
"What's going on?" Duskmon asked with a yawn as he sat up from where he had been sleeping. "Are you having trouble sleeping? Or are you ready to sleep now?"
"I need to tell you something," BlackGatomon replied, she couldn't stop worrying about her friends, and what was going to happen. "I just heard two Digimon who seemed to be traveling together talking. Apparently there's some kind of disease going on at the Gotsumon Village."
Duskmon's eyes narrowed. "That's odd, but why would it concern us? We're supposed to be looking for fractal codes to take."
"Of course. But this disease could spread and cause a lot of taint in fractal codes," BlackGatomon spoke up, another reason why she had trouble sleeping was to think of excuses to convince Duskmon to go to the village. "And I've heard there's a lost, hidden treasure near the village. It might provide some valuable fractal code for Master Cherubimon. So we might as well go check out what's causing this disease. And if the Gotsumon are grateful enough, they may even give us quite the reward."
Duskmon looked down in thought. While going after a treasure sounded like child's play, if the treasure in question really was fractal code, then the whole thing may be worth it in the end. Looking back up, Duskmon gave a nod. "Then let's go see what this 'disease' is about. We may yet get fractal code for Master Cherubimon."
"Of course." BlackGatomon smiled. I hope we're able to find out what's going on at the village. "Do you know the closest route to Gotsumon Village?"
Duskmon gave a chuckle. "Yes, I do. In fact, we're quite close by. If we get moving now, we should be able to get there in about an hour."
"Okay," BlackGatomon said. "Let's get going."
"Are you sure you don't want to get some rest?" Duskmon asked. "It's not good to push yourself too much."
"It's fine," BlackGatomon replied. "I can take all the cat naps I want later. I fear Master Cheruimon might be getting impatient with us."
In truth, BlackGatomon wanted to get to the bottom of this disease as soon as possible, she knew they were on a time limit. If Koji were to go there now, that would be catastrophic.
Duskmon sighed. "If you're sure about this, then let's go. Besides, I'm kinda curious about what kind of disease could strike down Digimon anyway."
BlackGatomon frowned, Duskmon might be fine, but she may get struck by the disease too if she wasn't careful. "The air might be poisonous, so we better be careful. I might have to wear a mask or I risk getting sick myself, especially considering the disease has apparently been spreading."
Duskmon actually found himself in agreement with BlackGatomon. "Normally I wouldn't be concerned about anyone else but myself, but in this case, I think that would be a wise idea."
"Yeah, besides, having me getting sick would be a hindrance to you," BlackGatomon said. "Because that would mean you'd have to carry me around and take care of me. We can't be having that."
Duskmon gave a nod to BlackGatomon, she made a good point, but he felt like it was more than just because of mere inconvenience.
So BlackGatomon ended up using a big leaf to cover her mouth. Duskmon used some strings from the fur of her tail to tie up the leaf so it wouldn't fall off.
The two of them made their way to Gotsumon Village. BlackGatomon wondered how much time they had before Koji was going to be here. Considering that Tapirmon had told her that he gave her friends a scare… it was possible they were already in TV Forest, the forest that was near Gotsumon Village. Which meant… she may have until dawn before Koji comes to find his Beast Spirit.
Crap, I have less time than I thought. BlackGatomon frowned.
The village itself looked to be in the middle of a forest clearing. BlackGatomon and Duskmon could see houses that were made of stone, though there were a few stone pillars that had doorways, indicating that those could be used for housing as well.
BlackGatomon would be impressed by the architecture if it weren't for the fact that she was seeing these little stone Digimon lying on the ground, looking very weak. Their rocky hides looked a pale-ish green, which BlackGatomon was pretty sure was unnatural on these Digimon. There were some purple small Digimon that looked like round heads with no body. They had long floppy ears, and red curly eyes. BlackGatomon recognized them as Pagumon. For a moment, she was confused as to why Pagumon were in Gotsumon Village, until she realized that these Pagumon may just be the In-Training form of Gotsumon. They didn't look so good either.
Duskmon looked around, and strangely enough, had a look of concern in his red eyes as he glanced around himself at the Digimon scattered around. He found he was worried for these Digimon, which he normally wouldn't be. "W-What's going on here? This… isn't normal for these Digimon, is it?"
"I don't think so," BlackGatomon said as she looked around.
BlackGatomon saw some Gotsumon were still able to move around, though they weren't looking that much better.
"Hey, can someone tell us what's happening?" BlackGatomon requested.
One of the Gotsumon was coughing as he approached. "Please… you must leave… before this disease gets you too."
"Is there anyone who can tell us what's causing this disease?" BlackGatomon asked. "Do you have a doctor or someone?"
"Normally yes, but…" The Gotsumon coughed again. "They fell to this disease… Now we have no one… to help us…" Gotsumon's coughing got worse, forcing Duskmon to step in front of BlackGatomon to keep her safe, but he didn't even think to draw out his swords.
"Do you know when this disease was first seen?" Duskmon asked, with worry clearly present in his tone of voice.
"From… what we know… the disease started when the air started to smell bad," The Gotsumon answered, coughing more.
"I notice the bad smell," BlackGatomon said, glad she had a mask on. "But do you know where it's coming from?"
"Sadly… No…" The Gotsumon replied sadly before more coughing hit.
That's not very helpful. BlackGatomon frowned.
"But… it's possible that it's coming from the ruins," The Gotsumon guessed, before coughing again. "Nobody dares to travel there… because they feared… the Beast consuming them… but just a few days ago… a strange being was seen heading in that direction."
"The Beast?" Duskmon asked. "And… What kind of being was seen?"
"It was… a strange glowing being… it looked like they were floating…" Gotsumon answered weakly. "The Beast… the Beast is said to be lost in the ruins…"
"A strange being that glows and floats…" Duskmon mused. "That's not very helpful, but it's the only lead we have right now. But this Beast… I don't like the sound of how it is described…"
"It wasn't really described," BlackGatomon said. "Just that it's believed to be in the ruins somewhere. But we might as well check it out. If we can find out the source, we might be able to get rid of it."
"Brave travelers… you're seriously… going to get rid… of the disease?" The Gotsumon asked, hope in his tone.
"Yes, but not for free," BlackGatomon replied. "We expect compensation for this. We are risking our lives after all."
"Anything… to repay you…" The Gotsumon replied eagerly. "You get rid of this disease for us… we will give you whatever you… want…"
"Okay," BlackGatomon said before turning to Duskmon. "Then that's our cue. Let's go check out the ruins."
The two of them walked out of the village and began making their way towards the stone pillars that made up the ruins.
"There's a good chance that whatever's causing the Gotsumon to get sick may affect me too," BlackGatomon warned Duskmon. "This mask can only do so much to stop it. Since you're a strong Digimon, if anything happens to me, I'm counting on you to finish the job and head straight back to the hideout afterwards." After all, it'd be bad if he stuck around and met up with Koji too early. I'm not sure how much would change if they met now, but I don't think it would be good, especially before the others found their Beast Spirits.
Duskmon glanced at BlackGatomon in concern. "I don't like the fact you're talking like it will affect you, but if it will make you feel better, I will do what I can." He said, but the uncertainty in his voice was clear.
How strange. I thought Duskmon only cared about completing missions for Cherubimon or being on standby. Has he really gotten attached to me already? It's not like we're close friends or anything. BlackGatomon silently thought to herself. Admittedly, it would be bad if I'm unable to continue because of a stupid sickness. I know I'm needed here, but this is also important. The others are already on thin ice, according to Tapirmon… The ideal situation is if we both make it out of this intact, but I shouldn't kid myself. I have to also prepare for the worst. Lopmon may be able to figure things out from here if I leave a note or something for him in case the worst happens…
"Let's see if we can get this figured out before you get the chance to get sick." Duskmon suggested. "The sooner we get this done, the better."
As Duskmon and BlackGatomon made their way towards the ruins, there were old buildings that were crumbling to the side, with a few large altars that looked like they were for a place of offerings or some kind of sacrifice. To the other side were three large rocks on a cliff, with lots of trees, bushes, and shrubs all around the area.
Duskmon could see the ruins looked pretty run down, which made him curious. "Hmmm… I wonder why this unknown entity chose the ruins for their activities."
"Well, the Gotsumon did say nobody comes here anymore because of a great monster," BlackGatomon said. I wonder if that monster might be the Beast Spirit that's sleeping here… "So it would be the ideal place for secrecy if someone was behind this."
BlackGatomon frowned as she sensed the stinging sensation of something familiar, and acidic. It had a sour and metallic smell to it that made her want to choke. Oh… this is ectoplasm alright. There seems to be a heavy condensed amount here. "W-we should… look around… find the source of this… strange illness."
Duskmon nodded. "Agreed. Let's get started right away." A grimace crossed Duskmon's concealed face. "This stench is… awful..."
"I can… see why… the Gotsumon… were getting sick…" BlackGatomon responded, realizing the air was getting harder to breathe. "It… might be best… if I saved… my breath here… let's minimize… talking as… much as… possible…"
Duskmon furrowed his main eyes in concern, but nodded. He was clearly getting concerned about BlackGatomon, but the mission was first and foremost.
The two of them looked around the ruins, trying to look through every bush, cracks in the rocks, and whatever else they could find. The stench of the ectoplasm was near, but they had trouble pinpointing its main location. BlackGatomon was starting to feel a little weak from the exposure.
Duskmon frowned. They were getting nowhere like this. But he had more than just two sets of eyes. It was time he made better use of the eyes on his armor. They can see through just about anything.
The eyes on Duskmon's armor began to glow slightly as he tapped into their power. Almost immediately, Duskmon was now seeing in different directions, kind of like a kaleidoscope. While Duskmon was used to the odd sense of sight he now had, it never failed to give him a slight headache.
Movement from the corner of the eyes on his right shoulder armor caught Duskmon's attention and he turned around, seeing something on top of a pillar nearby. It was hard to make out, but his vision could clearly see something was perched up there. Duskmon now understood why he and BlackGatomon couldn't see the figure before. The figure was cloaking themselves with some kind of power, making them invisible to the natural eyes. But, of course, not even the power of invisibility could escape from Duskmon's eyes.
BlackGatomon took notice of Duskmon's glowing eyes. It looked like he locked onto something since all the eyes that had been moving in random directions suddenly all faced one spot simultaneously. BlackGatomon followed the line of sight. She couldn't see anything, but she had confidence that Duskmon likely saw something up there. Taking advantage of this, and using her cat-like reflexes, BlackGatomon jumped high onto the stone pillars, jumping to the next until she reached the peak of the pillar that Duskmon had been looking at.
Lightning Paw! BlackGatomon punched something in the air, and knocked them into the ground.
Duskmon smirked beneath his facemask. "Nice hit!" He exclaimed as he made his way over to the impact mark. His eyes on his armor remained fixated on the invisible spot.
BlackGatomon landed on all fours as she jumped down.
The invisible thing released its invisibility, revealing itself to be a tentacled form. A green humanoid figure stood before the two Digimon, but this being was far from human. Its hide was green and purple, it glowed an unnatural light. Its eyes were black and soulless looking. It had a pair of purple and green tentacles for arms. Its legs were long, and it ended with a pointy triangle without any feet. Its face was round, with 3 sharp prongs at the tip of its head. There was a bright, glowing purple gem-like thing in its chest.
Duskmon felt his body tense up as he saw this unusual form. "What the heck?!" He hissed as he got out his twin blood red blades from his arms. "Who are you and what are you?!"
"Heh… you know, I'm actually surprised you saw through my invisibility," The strange being replied. "Then again, I guess you do have a lot of eyes. It's pretty hard to hide from all of those. You can call me Dairy. As for what I am… I don't think that matters, just know that I'm not exactly a Digimon."
BlackGatomon frowned as she looked at Dairy. He looked similar to, and had a similar name, to Gouda. Is he one of them? The sabotagers? But what is he doing here?
"What are you doing here?" Duskmon questioned.
"Oh, nothing much. I was just doing some experimenting. I was using some of my essence to see how it would affect this world, and the inhabitants," Dairy answered. "I couldn't help but notice interesting results when my essence gets mixed in with a Digimon's data. Though they tend to get big and violent, they get totally out of control. A mindless beast isn't all that helpful. So instead of trying to use a strong, condensed version, I've decided to release small bits of it into the air and see what happens from there."
"So you're the one responsible for the disease spreading in Gotsumon Village!" BlackGatomon hissed, knowing she couldn't just keep quiet about it. "Your ectoplasm is killing them!"
"Oh? How curious that a random Digimon knows what ectoplasm is," Dairy remarked as he looked at BlackGatomon with intrigued and suspicious eyes. "I wonder… maybe that means you're…"
"You should realize your place right now," BlackGatomon warned before Dairy could finish his sentence. "You have a Legendary Warrior and a Champion level Digimon that could easily finish you off right now. In fact… didn't one of your own say you're not allowed to be spotted by a Legendary Warrior? So what happens to you now?"
Dairy laughed. "It's true that we're not supposed to be seen by a Legendary Warrior, but considering his special case, does he really count? If anything, he's more of a puppet than Legendary Warrior."
Duskmon felt something in his very being twinge and a low growl seemed to work its way out of his throat. "What did you call me?!" He hissed angrily. "You think I'm some puppet for Master Cherubimon?!"
"Well, am I wrong?" Dairy replied cooly back. "But it doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is we weren't allowed to interfere with the children. But in this case, as long as he works for Cherubimon, it's free game for us."
"Duskmon, calm down," BlackGatomon spoke up. "He wants to rile you up. You can't think clearly if you get angry."
Duskmon, hearing BlackGatomon's voice, seemed to snap out of his angry mindset before he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "You're right… Anger will only cloud my mindset." He agreed, mostly saying it to remind himself verbally as well.
Opening his eyes, Duskmon glared at Dairy. "You are a threat, and I will make sure you learn how difficult an opponent I am."
"Oh come on, it's not like I came here to fight." Dairy rolled his eyes. "I was only here to see what would happen if the Digimon were exposed to ectoplasm for a certain amount of time. I rather not create another giant mindless monster."
"Well stop that," BlackGatomon hissed. "You're putting all the Digimon in danger, and tainting the fractal code with your disgusting ectoplasm! If you don't stop, we will have to remove you."
Duskmon held up one of his arms, the red blade glinting dangerously in the light of the three moons above. "And I will make sure you don't get a chance to be reborn!"
"Hey, hey, now, let's not get violent," Dairy said before he flew up suddenly at one of the stone pillars. "But if you want to fight, then I have a playmate or two who can play with you."
Duskmon watched as Dairy flicked one of his tentacles and out came a few Digimon that looked like they were infected with this ectoplasm that Dairy kept mentioning. Duskmon could see they looked greenish due to the infection, and one or two of them were also glowing. These Digimon had a despondent, half-feral look in their eyes, like they were not all there as well. Most of them were also at the Champion level too.
"Sending your victims out at us?" Duskmon scoffed. "Not very sporting of you."
"This isn't about sport, this is about my mission and survival," Dairy replied. "Let's see how you can handle these little experiments of mine."
BlackGatomon frowned, but she had a bad feeling about this. The fur on her back stood up as the infected Digimon started to charge at them.
Duskmon was quick to react, his red sword blades flashing as he moved, attacking the infected Digimon using his superior speed and greater strength to his advantage.
He managed to slice up the infected Digimon with ease, however instead of dispersing into data or forming back into an egg, the Digimon quickly pulled themselves back together. They kept going like they didn't get sliced just now.
What is this? BlackGatomon frowned in shock.
Duskmon also took note of the infected Digimon just reforming themselves. This may make things a bit more difficult than I first thought… In truth, the way these Digimon just reformed so easily was unnerving him, and very little unnerved him.
BlackGatomon tried to fight as well, using her claws to rip the Digimon apart, or punch them hard with her Lightning Paw. But it felt like no matter what they did, the Digimon would keep reforming themselves back together.
It's almost like they're undead. No matter how many times we take them down, they just keep coming back together! BlackGatomon noted. These Digimon… are they actually Digimon or are they just ectoplasm made to look like Digimon? Is this what… would happen to the Gotsumon if this experiment kept going?
"It seems we've met our match…" Duskmon noted as he stepped back a few steps. "I've never seen a Digimon with such a disturbing power before…"
The Digimon began shooting out some kind of green energy beam at them. Duskmon and BlackGatomon jumped away, avoiding it. However, they noticed when the beam hit the ground, it caused a bit of data to glitch out.
Ghost energy… BlackGatomon noted. How do we defeat zombie Digimon filled with ectoplasm?
BlackGatomon turned her eyes over at the laughing ghost who was watching all of this go down. These are nothing more than zombies… they wouldn't be able to do anything if the brain was taken down… Which means we should be focusing our attacks on Dairy!
BlackGatomon jumped onto the stone pillars and jumped towards Dairy. Dairy, noticing the black cat coming at him, shot out an ecto ray at her. BlackGatomon let out a scream of pain as the beam hit her in the chest. The mask around her face fell off as she was forced back and fell to the ground.
Duskmon whirled around when he heard BlackGatomon screaming in pain. Seeing her falling to the ground, Duskmon ran at Dairy as quickly as he could.
"How dare you hurt her!" Duskmon shouted as he drew back one of his swords to slice Dairy to pieces.
Dairy was taken by surprise by Duskmon's reaction. Dairy let out a yelp as he managed to turn intangible just in time to avoid getting sliced, but even so, the dark energy from the swords drained a lot of his power. Dairy flew back quickly as he was forced to return to a solid form.
"I'm surprised… you reacted a lot more violently to the little cat getting hurt more than when I supposedly insulted you," Dairy noted. "Could you have bonded with her? That's ludicrous, especially as you are now, surely."
Duskmon's eyes flashed in anger. "She's my partner! I won't let anything happen to her!" He snapped back.
"Your partner? I thought you didn't believe in partners, and that you should just work alone," Dairy sneered.
The infected Digimon got between Dairy and Duskmon. The Digimon ran at Duskmon, but Duskmon didn't care. The infected Digimon jumped on his armor, trying to bite, claw, and tear through. But nothing they did got through Duskmon's armor. The eyes on the armor blasted out some kind of dark beam that shredded through the infected Digimon that tried to tear through his armor. Duskmon ignored them and kept walking towards Dairy.
"I warned you I would be a difficult opponent." Duskmon growled out. "And now you're going to see why." He held up one of his red sword blades to emphasize his point and threat.
"N-now let's be reasonable, big guy!" Dairy spoke up, actually getting quite scared. "Tell you what, I'll stop my experiments here, and I'll even give you a big amount of the fractal code I gathered for the experiments. What do you say?"
"I'd rather kill you," Duskmon growled.
Duskmon unleashed his swords, about to charge at Dairy, when suddenly a familiar purple gloved claws grabbed his arm.
"W-wait…!"
Duskmon looked down, seeing BlackGatomon had grabbed his arm. "BlackGatomon?"
BlackGatomon was looking rather ill, she had green-like wounds on her chest. She coughed a little. "T-take… his deal… there is no need… for a needless… death…" If he kills him… what's to stop him from killing the others later on? I can't let him get used to murdering someone else.
Duskmon scowled but concern was the first emotion he was experiencing, and he didn't want to be focused on revenge if he could save BlackGatomon. He looked back at Dairy and lowered his swords. "You should consider yourself lucky that my concern for my partner is more prominent right now."
Dairy frowned as he looked at the two. He definitely hadn't expected BlackGatomon to stop Duskmon from ending him, but that was fine by him. Whatever reason she had, it worked in his favor. "Very well. I'll stop the experiments and allow the Digimon to recover. They should be better by morning. And as for the fractal code…"
Dairy snapped his fingers, and a bunch of fractal code came out of the bodies of the zombie Digimon. The fractal code kept coming out until there was nothing left of the zombie Digimon. Dairy held onto a big ball of fractal code.
"Here, as we agreed," Dairy said. "My experiments were… inconclusive anyways. It seems it's impossible to achieve a true balance with Digimon's fractal code and ectoplasm."
Duskmon held out a hand and the fractal code drifted from Dairy's hand to the Legendary Warrior's own. "I had better not see you again, or our next meeting won't end on such a lucky note for you." Duskmon warned as he took a couple of steps back to BlackGatomon's side.
"Heh, I'll keep that in mind," Dairy replied before he flew up into the sky. "Good luck with that partner of yours. She's not all that she seems, so I suggest you be careful about trusting her too much. One day, she'll leave you on her own accord."
With those words spoken, Dairy flew away.
Duskmon watched as Dairy left before turning his attention back to BlackGatomon. His gaze held clear concern for her. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked her in a concerned voice.
BlackGatomon coughed a bit, some thick green liquid came out of her mouth.
Duskmon was alarmed when he saw that. BlackGatomon needed treatment and fast. Unlike with the Gotsumon, who were slowly exposed to the ectoplasm, BlackGatomon got shot directly in the chest, near where her Digi-Core should be, by a ghostly energy.
"Just… hang on." Duskmon said as he put the fractal code ball into his own code. He didn't need to hold it physically, as it would slow him down. He needed both hands free to hold BlackGatomon anyway. "We'll see if we can get you treatment quickly."
Duskmon gently picked up BlackGatomon.
Is this how my mission ends? 'Death' by a stupid ghost and carelessness? BlackGatomon groaned as Dusk carried her away. No, I can't leave this place just yet. My mission is far from over.
The morning sun began to rise up in the sky as Duskmon and BlackGatomon disappeared from the area. BlackGatomon could only hope the Gotsumon would recover in time for the chain of events to continue as they should.
A yawn escaped Koji as he felt the last vestiges of sleep fading from his brain. He normally was a bit of an early riser, but he usually never woke up as the sun was slowly peeking over the horizon. The events of last night ran through his mind, making Koji furrowed his eyebrows in thought. As far as he knew, the group had been asleep when a fight had gone down, but that didn't explain why the other Rookie Digimon had been so battered and beaten up.
But before Koji could dwell on the thought any further, he heard a beeping as his D-Tector vibrated while in his pocket.
"You still have much to learn, Koji," The woman's voice from the D-Tector stated.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Koji asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
"Your Beast Spirit is near," The D-Tector stated, not really answering Koji's question.
"What?" Koji blinked. "My Beast Spirit?"
Koji stood up. Now he was on alert, and if his Beast Spirit was near, then he had to find it. "I guess I need to get moving if I'm to find my Beast Spirit…"
Koji looked at the others. They were still sound asleep. He pondered for a moment if he should wake them up. But whatever happened last night still bothered him. Out of all of them, Labramon seemed to be the one who had the least wounds on her. Maybe something caused them to stay asleep while their partners had to take care of the threat, but that didn't explain why none of them explained what happened.
It might be best to let them rest. These people could just slow him down. Though he didn't want to leave Labramon behind.
Koji walked over and nudged Labramon gently, speaking in a low tone of voice so as to not wake the others. "Hey. Labramon? Wake up."
Labramon slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at Koji. "Hmm? What is it, Koji?"
"We should probably get moving." Koji suggested. "I just got a message that my Beast Spirit was nearby, and I would like to get to it before those other, evil Legendary Warriors can."
"Your… Beast Spirit, huh?" Labramon replied, and Koji noticed a melancholic tone to it. "... I… take it you wanted to leave without waking the others?"
"Yeah… I hate to do it, but if we can get it first, then we can provide more strength when we meet back up with the others." Koji replied. "But I wasn't just going to head off without leaving a note. Just so the others know where we went."
Labramon looked down for a moment.
Koji raised an eyebrow. "Is… something wrong, Labramon? It looks like something's bothering you."
Labramon stayed silent for a moment before she shook her head and looked up at Koji. "It's nothing… let's go find your Beast Spirit."
Koji nodded. "Let me just write that note and then we can get moving."
With that said, Koji fished around in his pocket for a piece of paper and found a pen as well. He quickly wrote out the note before putting it down and a small rock on top of it to hold it down. Pocketing the pen again, Koji stood up. "Okay, that should do it." He then looked at Labramon. "Let's go."
"Yeah," Labramon replied before she followed Koji.
As the sun began to rise higher into the sky, JP was the first one to wake up. He yawned and stretched out. "Looks like it's morning…"
JP looked at Kokuwamon and flicked his forehead. "Hey, metalhead, time to wake up."
Kokuwamon groaned as he rubbed forehead. "How early is it…?" He asked with a yawn.
"Looks like the sun is just starting to rise, so… I guess around 7ish right now?" JP replied.
Zoe sat up and yawned. "I feel like I hardly got any sleep last night…"
Biyomon opened her eyes. "You're telling me?" Though this is better than waking up to my parents…
"Sorry… I just still feel tired for some reason…" Zoe yawned again.
"Ugh… I need more sleep…" Takuya grumbled from his leaf bed. "Not to mention my body feels like a bruise for some reason…"
"Yeah… it felt like we were doing some kind of activity in our sleep or something," Tommy yawned.
"Didn't the forest look like it was scorched and frozen last night, or was that just a dream?" JP questioned.
Patamon and Lopmon looked up before looking at where Koji and Labramon had been sleeping. Just as they had expected, the spot was empty. With nothing but a small rock holding down a piece of paper.
"It's almost time for the countdown, huh?" Patamon said quietly.
"Looks like it…" Lopmon sighed. "Labramon knows what this means too…"
"The trees do look like they've seen better days," Zoe noted. "A lot of the trees look like they've been cut down or something."
"Whatever happened last night must have been one heck of a fight." JP mused as he eyed a tree. "Those marks on it look intense. It almost looked like lightning took down some of these trees."
"Heh… yeah…" Kokuwamon sheepishly chuckled.
"What… did happen last night?" Takuya asked before he looked at Patamon. "I can see you're kind of banged up a little even after sleeping."
"We were attacked by some hostile Digimon," Patamon answered. "But we were able to fend them off."
"Why didn't you wake us?" Takuya questioned.
"We did…" Lopmon muttered.
Tommy looked at Lopmon in confusion, having heard the muttering. "Did you say something?"
"It looks like Koji and Labramon are gone," Lopmon spoke up, shifting the subject.
"Huh?" Takuya looked over. "What do you mean, they're gone?"
"Exactly as I said, they are not here," Lopmon pointed out. "See?"
Everyone looked at the spot Lopmon pointed at. Sure enough, there was no sign of Koji or Labramon.
"But… where could they have gone?" Zoe asked in concern. "We can't just split up with those evil Warriors out there."
"I thought we were finally working together, where'd he go?" Takuya frowned.
"Hey, look," Biyomon pointed out. "I think I see a piece of paper under that rock. Maybe Koji left a note?"
Zoe walked over and picked up the rock, revealing a note. "Hey, you're right, Biyomon, it is a note from Koji."
Takuya grumbled. "At least he was nice enough to leave us a note."
"Hey, don't be rude." Zoe scolded Takuya.
"What does it say?" Tommy asked.
"I'm going alone so I can actually get stuff done," Takuya read out loud. "I'm only taking Labramon with me."
"Yep, that sounds like Koji alright." JP muttered.
"Wow, it sounds like Koji doesn't have much faith in us." Tommy pouted.
"It's Koji. He's hard to win over." Patamon chuckled. "But he's a good kid. You just need to give him some time to open up to you more."
"He didn't have to be rude though," Zoe huffed.
"Yeah, some note this is!" JP grumbled as he grabbed onto the piece of paper and ripped it apart. "I mean what was all that stuff about teamwork earlier before? Did all of that mean nothing to him?"
"JP, calm down," Kokuwamon sighed. "Acting too much on anger could get us in trouble."
JP sighed. "I know, but I just can't stand Koji sometimes. He's so rude and hard to work with."
Patamon listened to this comment from JP and frowned to himself. It seems like… what Tapirmon did reversed some of the progress these kids made… Well, I guess that makes sense… if Koji learned his lesson with teamwork too early, he wouldn't follow the path the mastermind set up for him.
Lopmon looked like he was thinking the same thing. But where does that leave us now?
Takuya huffed before he kicked at a bush.
"Are you alright, Takuya?" Zoe asked.
"Not really…" Takuya admitted. "I mean, I know Koji can handle himself, but… what about Labramon? Can she handle being with Koji, and will he actually protect her?"
"Well, she managed to get this far with Koji," Biyomon reminded him.
Patamon rolled his eyes. "Just say that you want to look for him. You care about him, you big lughead."
Takuya sighed. "Yeah…" He then looked back at the group with a determined look in his eyes. "We're gonna go and look for Koji and Labramon."
"Yeah, I'm with you." Zoe smiled. "Let's pack up our things, and eat whatever we have leftover. Our Digimon friends could use some healing."
"We're fine, we just have a little bit of scratches," Lopmon reassured.
"Though… breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Kokuwamon added.
"Alright, everyone gather up the meat apples we didn't eat last night, then we'll look for Koji and Labramon," Patamon stated.
Tommy looked over at Lopmon for a moment. Something was bothering Lopmon, Tommy could see it. It wasn't just that either… Like with Koji, Tommy wasn't ignorant to the fact something happened last night. The fact that they slept through it, except for the Digimon, and the fact the Digimon refused to go into details about what exactly happened, have Tommy worried.
Lopmon noticed Tommy's eyes were on him. "Is… there something you want to say?"
"... Not at the moment," Tommy replied. "Let's help gather up the meat apples first."
A lone Gotsumon, having recovered from the mysterious illness, was looking around at the ruins that was said to have the sleeping beast. The strange two dark Digimon that arrived last night never returned, but the disease that plagued them seemed to have lifted.
"Where is that stupid inscription?" The Gotsumon muttered grumpily as a symbol on the ruin before him was being observed with a magnifying glass. Then, he caught sight of the inscription in question. "Ah ha! 'When the third eye opens, the Spirit will awaken'."
Looking up, Gotsumon was able to tell immediately what he had to do. "Ah, now I see. I have to find the third jewel." Sure enough, two of the ruins had a red jewel in the center as an 'eye', but the third ruin statue was missing its 'eye'.
"I knew it wasn't just a monster, it's definitely a Spirit," Gotsumon noted. "Now I just have to prove it to everyone else."
Then Gotsumon grumbled. "But you'd think that whoever made the inscription would have at least left a map to the third jewel to make this easier. Where the heck am I going to find the jewel?"
Koji and Labramon had been walking for a while. They eventually stopped near a small spring. Koji was trying to drink some water while Labramon sat down.
"How do you know this is the right way?" Labramon asked. "Your D-Tector isn't even showing you the way to this Beast Spirit of yours."
"I don't know… I just have a feeling this is the way I need to go." Koji admitted. "I can't figure out how to get that map to activate to track the Beast Spirit anyway. I've tried at least twice to get it to come up while we were walking earlier, but nothing came up."
"I guess the Beast Spirit wants to make it harder for you to find it," Labramon noted before she gave a small sigh.
Koji looked at Labramon. "Are you sure nothing's bothering you? You haven't been yourself since last night."
"I'm… just tired is all," Labramon said.
"Is that really all?" Koji questioned.
Labramon looked down at the spring, seeing her reflection staring back at her. "Do you think… even the worst kinds of people can change and become better people?"
"Huh? Where did that question come from?" Koji asked.
"Nevermind…" Labramon sighed. "Well… you said you had a feeling you had to come this way… where is this feeling leading you now?"
Koji looked up and looked to his right. "We keep going straight. With any luck, we should get close to my Beast Spirit soon."
Labramon looked at Koji as they began walking forward, heading into some tall grass that was tall enough to cover their bodies.
"Um… Koji, what… Do you remember… about what we talked about while we were eating meat apples together last night?" Labramon asked.
Koji looked back at Labramon in confusion. "Of course I do. We talked about getting us kids getting our Beast Spirits, and how it was the best way to fight back against Grumblemon. Why do you ask?"
Hearing Koji's answer, it confirmed for Labramon that Tapirmon hadn't been bluffing when he said he erased their memories about why they were there in the first place with these kids, and how getting their Beast Spirits would make it impossible for them to stay with them.
"I see…" Labramon said softly before she gave Koji a small smile. "Oh, it's nothing serious. I just wanted a refresher on what we talked about last night. It was a pretty rough night for me."
Koji sighed. "I could tell. The clearing was a complete mess, even clearer when the sun rose. That must have been one tough fight last night."
"Yeah… it was," Labramon sighed as well.
"... Maybe you could tell me what exactly happened?" Koji asked.
"There's not much to say," Labramon said. "You guys weren't waking up, so the rest of us worked together to drive off the intruder."
"This intruder must have done something to put us out of commission then and that left you guys to handle them." Koji mused.
"You could say that," Labramon replied. "But it doesn't matter now. What matters is we find your Beast Spirit, and… not have to worry about Grumblemon."
Koji and Labramon had been so absorbed with their conversation that they didn't see they stepped over a cliff. Both of them yelped as they fell down the slippery hill.
"Aw man! This is turning out to really suck!" Koji cried as he felt himself sliding down a hill.
The sound of something approaching made Gotsumon look over, only to see what looked like a small dust cloud getting closer and closer from the tall grasses that stood all around the area. "Huh?"
Suddenly, from the tall grasses came a human boy with a Labramon beside him. They slid off of a rock and landed right in front of Gotsumon in a pile of human and Digimon.
Koji and the Gotsumon stared at each other for a moment, both of their minds taking a minute before clicking they were looking at someone. They jumped back with a surprised yelp. Labramon looked up from the ground, seeing the Gotsumon as well.
"What the heck?" Koji asked.
"Oh… that's a Gotsumon. They're basically living rock Digimon, though they are Rookie level, so they tend to be more child-like," Labramon explained.
"So… this Digimon is… similar in behavior to a human child?" Koji asked warily.
"What does that mean?" Gotsumon snapped back, folding his arms like a little child in a pout.
Koji sweatdropped at the reaction from Gotsumon. Geez… This Gotsumon really does act like a child…
"What.. Do you want?" Koji asked Gotsumon uneasily.
"Nothing." Gotsumon replied, also just as wary. "What do you guys want? After all, you landed on me."
"Why do you care?" Koji huffed back.
"We're not getting anywhere like this," Labramon grumbled. "He seems to be a local around here, so maybe he might know. Hey, Gotsumon, have you seen something like a mysterious Spirit around here?"
Gotsumon looked at the duo mischievously. "I could tell you, but I'm not gonna!" He laughed as he ran off.
Koji gaped before running after Gotsumon. "Hey! Get back here!"
Labramon ran after Koji.
Gotsumon ran for a little while, and he turned back. He saw that human child and the Labramon were still on his trail, so he looked around for a moment and saw a large rock up ahead. That gave Gotsumon an idea. He climbed onto the rock and had his body camouflage itself to look like part of the rock.
Koji and Labramon arrived at the large rock and each looked around.
"Where did that Gotsumon go?" Koji wondered.
Labramon sniffed around. She could distinguish the smell between a Digimon and a regular boulder. Her sniffer led her to the exact spot the Gotsumon was hiding on the boulder. "I know you're there. You can't hide from my nose."
Gotsumon groaned as he emerged from hiding. "Aw man! I completely forgot that a Labramon's nose is very sensitive."
"Well, we found you, so now-" Koji began when Gotsumon interrupted him.
"I'm not telling you squat," Gotsumon huffed. "I don't owe you anything, and you two landed on me earlier."
"It was an accident!" Koji protested. "How was I supposed to know you were in the way?"
"Whatever," Gotsumon replied.
Labramon couldn't help but chuckle. "He kind of reminds me of you, Koji."
Koji huffed. "How can this brat be similar to me?"
Before Labramon could answer, Gotsumon looked like he just sensed something was off. Worried, Gotsumon quickly climbed to the top of the boulder he was clinging to, and saw one of the mountains up ahead suddenly took a large chunk of damage from a mysterious force. The damage was enough to reveal the mountain's fractal code. The fractal code soon disappeared, and the rest of the mountain began to crumble down.
Koji looked back, as did Labramon.
"Is something wrong?" Koji asked Gotsumon, having seen the mountain crumble with the fractal code being taken.
"My… my home! It's being ruined by that monster!" Gotsumon shouted.
Labramon jumped onto Koji's shoulder so she could see over the grass. Koji frowned as he pushed himself up a little on the boulder to get a better look. He could feel the ground shaking. In the dusk, he could see Grumblemon walking out as other Gotsumon were running away in terror.
"Where is Spirit!?" Grumblemon shouted. "Duskmon reported there must be a Spirit around here somewhere!"
"Duskmon?" Koji blinked.
"Must be an ally of his," Labramon replied.
Koji scowled. "Then we'll have to do something about Grumblemon!"
"He'll pay for tearing up my home!" Gotsumon hissed. "First the plague, and now this…"
"Don't get reckless! You don't stand a chance against this guy!" Koji warned. "I'll handle him!"
"How? You're just a human, aren't you?" Gotsumon questioned. "Your little Labramon friend isn't going to do much either."
Koji gave a smirk. "Well, I'm not just a human." He said as he held up his D-Tector.
Koji held up his D-Tector and the white digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the energy of the Spirit entered his body. His eyes became red as his hair shortened and turned almost platinum in color. A white helmet covered his head as white and blue armor covered his body. He grasped the familiar beam sabers and swung them a few times before clasping them around his waist and firing off his arm laser. "Lobomon!"
Now evolved, the Warrior of Light jumped past Gotsumon, landing and making a beeline directly for where the attack was happening.
"Hey! Wait up!" Labramon called, chasing after Lobomon.
"Whoa… that human turned into a Digimon!?" Gotsumon blinked in shock, and he noticed the symbol on Lobomon's shoulder. "And not just any Digimon, but a Legendary Warrior! … I've gotta see this!"
Gotsumon began running after Lobomon and Labramon.
Meanwhile, Grumblemon just finished absorbing more stoney mountains' fractal code.
Lobomon reached Grumblemon's location. "I should have known it was you, you annoying gnome." Lobomon hissed as he came to a stop.
Grumblemon grinned as he turned to Lobomon. "So you here after all. Good, me looking for you since me got reported by some allies about this place. Me hope you would come."
"What? Why were you hoping I would come?" Lobomon asked in a growl, but he took a couple of steps back. He didn't doubt Grumblemon had some kind of trap waiting; first-hand experience was a hard thing to learn from after all.
"Because you hold a Spirit. If me beat you and bring your Spirit back to Lord Cherubimon, he would be most pleased with me!" Grumblemon answered before he surrounded himself with fractal code. "Slide Evolution! Gigasmon!"
As soon as Gigasmon finished, he jumped up high, raising his fists into the air. "Tectonic Slam!"
Seeing the attack incoming, Lobomon drew out both his light swords and ignited the blades, as well as connecting the hilts together to create a dual bladed staff. He spun this staff around, hoping it would at least diminish the impact from Gigasmon's attack.
Gigasmon's fists slammed into Lobomon's beam staff, a bright light erupting from the impact and throwing up the very ground itself, breaking it apart into large slabs and towers.
Labramon was still a little far away from Lobomon, he had run so fast into battle that Labramon couldn't keep up with him. But even she could feel the strong waves Gigasmon and Lobomon's attacks made when they collided. She had trouble trying to stay on her paws without getting blown away. Gotsumon, however, was running forward, towards the fighting.
"W-what are you doing!? You'll get crushed out there!" Labramon shouted, but the Gotsumon ignored her and kept running forward. Seriously… he's as bad as… well, every teenager I know!
Jumping from one rock slab/tower to another, Gotsumon was looking around to see if he could find Lobomon. Then, a glint caught his eyes and he glanced down. There, on another, lower rock tower, was Lobomon, and he was motionless. It looked like he had been knocked unconscious or was at least stunned.
"I can't just leave him…" Gotsumon muttered to himself before jumping down to help as best he could.
Gotsumon reached Lobomon's side and began to gently shake his shoulder. "Hey, wake up! C'mon… don't just lay there…"
Labramon managed to run up to the rock slab/tower herself, but she was at a loss on what to do. She wasn't quite as athletic as the other two were, at least when it came to rough, moving terrain set up by a Legendary Warrior of Earth. "Lobomon!"
Gotsumon then noticed something red and sparkly falling past him. He looked back, seeing that the red, sparkly thing was a jewel. It didn't take long for Gotsumon to realize that had to be the jewel that was the key to waking up the Spirit that was asleep in the ruins. But it was falling, and would be out of sight soon.
"The jewel! If I can get it, I can release what is inside these ruins!" Gotsumon realized. However, before he could make a move to go after the jewel, Gotsumon froze when he saw Gigasmon turn in his direction.
"Aha! There you be!" Gigasmon exclaimed as he caught sight of the motionless Warrior of Light.
Hearing Gigasmon's claim, Labramon looked up, realizing Lobomon was in danger. She took a deep breath, remembering how loud noises could disrupt one's focus. She unleashed a loud Retriever Bark at Gigasmon, distracting him. The echo bounced off of the rock towers, making the sound come from everywhere at once, making it difficult for Gigasmon to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.
I can't fight as I am now. But at least I can do something to keep you safe… for now. Labramon thought to herself.
Seeing how Gotsumon was given the chance to hide Lobomon while Gigasmon was distracted, he had a choice to make. To go after the jewel or to hide Lobomon until Gigasmon left. Labramon finally had to stop, causing the area to go quiet. Gotsumon had to hurry before Gigasmon found them again. Gotsumon shut his eyes and gave a silent groan, but he laid his body on top of the unconscious Lobomon and camouflaged both of them into the rocky surface.
Gigasmon reached a rock tower just above where Lobomon had been seen previously, only to see no sign of the Legendary Warrior. "Hmmm? Where you hide? No escape from me!"
Gigasmon jumped away, unsure of where Lobomon could have gotten to. He was sure the other Legendary Warrior was still in the area. He just had to find him.
Hearing Gigasmon moving away, Gotsumon opened his eyes cautiously. "Phew…"
When Gotsumon was sure Gigasmon was further away, he undid the camouflaging and pushed himself off of Lobomon.
Labramon managed to climb up to where they were, having sniffed them out. "There you are. Is Lobomon alright?"
"He's fine enough," Gotsumon said. "Come on, help me get him out of here before the big guy comes back."
"Wait, he's unconscious? Then shouldn't he be turning back to-" Labramon began to ask when fractal code surrounded Lobomon, turning him human. "Okay, let's hurry!"
That light would likely catch Gigasmon's attention, so they had to act fast. Gotsumon picked up Koji's arms while Labramon pushed Koji's legs on top of her back. "Where are we taking him?"
"To the underground shelter." Gotsumon replied. "It will provide protection for us and him while he recovers from this fight."
"Right… you lead the way then," Labramon said.
Gotsumon, with Labramon's help, managed to get Koji underground where the other Gotsumon managed to escape into. Labramon noticed some Gotsumon looked injured, which was understandable, but others looked to be sick.
"What's wrong with some of them? Was there a disease in the village?" Labramon asked.
"There was." Gotsumon replied. "But thankfully, it seems to have lifted for the most part. A few of us are still recovering, but they should be fine."
Labramon frowned. A disease in the Gotsumon Village? I don't remember seeing that before… did something happen here? Was it one of those sabotagers?
"Apparently a couple of weird, dark Digimon came by and said they would take care of it last night," Gotsumon explained. "I wasn't sick, but I was worried about it. It looks like they succeeded, but they never came back."
"Two dark Digimon, huh?" Labramon noted. I wonder if that was… BlackGatomon?
"Ugh…" Koji groaned, stirring.
"Koji!" Labramon looked over at Koji in concern. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah… I think so… But my body feels like one big bruise…" Koji replied. "I can move at least…"
Koji gingerly sat up, feeling his body aching. "Ow… Note to self, never use beam swords to block an impact attack like that again…"
"Here, this should make you feel better," Gotsumon said, tossing Koji a bag of what appeared to be herbs of some kind. "For someone who uses the Spirit of a Legendary Warrior, you sure didn't put up much of a fight."
"Gigasmon is strong, much stronger than what I'm used to fighting." Koji admitted, which made him blush slightly. "I underestimated him and what I could do against him."
"Well, whatever," Gotsumon grumbled. "I can't just sit here and wait for Gigasmon to destroy our home."
"You're not going to do much better, you know," Koji pointed out.
"Yes, I will! I just need to find that jewel!" Gotsumon said as he started to open one of the walls.
"You can't go out there, you'll just make Grumblemon angry!" One of the other Gotsumon hissed, pulling the Gotsumon with the magnifying glass around his neck back.
"We're just recovering from that mysterious illness, and just lost our home. And you want to go out there to get yourself turned into an egg!?" Another Gotsumon scolded.
"I'm not letting Grumblemon get away with this!" The Gotsumon with the magnifying glass replied angrily. "And I won't back down! This is our home, I will do what I can to defend it!"
Gotsumon shoved the other Gotsumon off of him.
"What can you hope to do?" Koji asked. "You're no match for Gigasmon."
"Yeah, maybe I'm not," Gotsumon replied as he looked at Koji in the eyes. "But I can't do any worse than you, I know that for a fact. Some Legendary Warrior you are. And the rest of you weaklings are no better, needing to involve outsiders to help us in our time of need, we don't even know what they were planning to do in our village."
With those words said, Gotsumon with the magnifying glass ran out, leaving the others behind.
"I can understand that… wanting to be strong yourself, and not having to rely on others," Labramon noted before she looked back at Koji. "But… everyone needs help some time, even the strongest of people."
"You sound like you're speaking from experience." Koji noted with curiosity.
"Yeah… I wasn't always such a nice pup," Labramon admitted. "Even worse, I always hurt others to show my dominance. I… I want to change that… some of my… friends showed me that there are ways to be strong without trying to prove yourself all the time to other people. In fact… it's probably stronger to not worry about what others think… and stronger still to ask for help when you need it."
Koji felt his lips give a twitch into a smirk. "Heh… You make a good point." He then looked up at the cave ceiling. "We barely held our own against Gigasmon before, and that was as a team… Going off on my own and fighting him by myself? I got my butt handed to me."
Koji then felt his smirk turn into a small frown. "Maybe… I shouldn't have just left the others. With them around, maybe… No, we could have stood a chance against Gigasmon and we'd have stopped him from attacking this place."
"Maybe, but…" Labramon paused for a moment. "Do you remember why we were here in the first place?"
"Yeah, my Beast Spirit." Koji confirmed. He then looked back up, his eyes holding a determined look. "That little guy is going to need our help."
"Yeah, and we need to get to your Beast Spirit before Gigasmon finds out about it," Labramon added. "For the sake of the Gotsumon here too."
Koji then looked at Labramon with a smile. "Yeah. You ready to help Gotsumon out?"
Labramon gave Koji a smile as well. "Of course. Let's do it. We should head to the ruins we passed by, I think that's the most suspicious place."
Koji nodded. "Good idea. The feeling I have been following was strongest there, so I agree with you."
Titanic X: ZAFT: Keep reading to find out~ XD
DarkFoxKit: Yeah, glad to know the chapters are getting more intriguing
Pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: It's okay. Real life happens and stuff. Glad you could review again. XD
DarkFoxKit: They are pretty much being forced to follow the script as much as possible, or they'll be 'kicked out'. But what will they do when the children all find their Beast Spirits? Guess we'll find out.