DarkFoxKit: Got another chapter out. Thanksgiving is coming up. Then the Holidays will be here before you know it. Where did the time go?
ZAFT: Yeah, we're almost over for the year… Soon it will be 2025…
DarkFoxKit: Though there's a lot to look forward to in 2025. But let's enjoy the last month and a half that is 2024.
ZAFT: Yep, and let's get you readers to the chapter!
Chapter 18: A Fiery Rampage
The draconic Digimon then let out a roar, but this time in Takuya's voice. It sounded like he was screaming in pain as flames were coming out of his body.
"T-Takuya! Is he alright?" Tommy asked in concern.
"I think we should be more concerned for ourselves right now." Kokuwamon frowned.
"What about Shamamon?" Labramon asked.
The draconic Digimon turned around, looking at them. His red eyes seemed to be fixed on them.
"I don't think Shamamon is on his mind at the moment!" Lopmon squeaked.
The draconic Digimon growled, as if trying to determine if they were prey, friends, or foes.
"Takuya… it's me." Beetlemon said, hoping to appeal to Takuya's now dormant human intelligence. "It's JP, remember?"
The draconic Digimon instead charged at Beetlemon, slamming into him and knocking him down.
"Get away, quickly!" Patamon shouted to the others.
"Come on, Tommy!" Lopmon grabbed onto Tommy's hand and pulled him.
Tommy knew it was dangerous to stick around since he didn't have his Spirit, so he had to run with the other Digimon. Kazemon flew to help Beetlemon.
"Hold on!" Kazemon shouted.
The draconic Digimon that was once Takuya swiped his claws at Kazemon. Kazemon managed to dodge, but then his tail slammed her from behind. Kazemon let out a yelp as she hit the ground.
"Takuya! Stop this!" Koji shouted, getting the draconic Digimon's attention.
The draconic Digimon turned those red eyes to Koji and roared before charging at the boy. Seeing that the Digimon was charging at him, Koji quickly jumped to the side. He got his D-Tector out, but the draconic Digimon wasn't giving him enough time to Spirit Evolve. Koji had to keep moving or he was dead.
Seeing this, Labramon stopped running away and ran over to where Koji and the draconic Digimon were.
I can't keep running away when others need me. Labramon frowned. I need to buy Koji time!
"Labramon! What are you doing!? Crazy dog!" Kokuwamon shouted.
Labramon was standing behind the draconic Digimon and she took a deep breath. "Retriever Bark!"
With a loud shout, Labramon screamed and howled at the draconic Digimon, distracting him from his current prey.
The draconic Digimon turned around, angry, and fired heat lasers at Labramon. Labramon's eyes went wide in terror as the attack was going straight at her.
"NO! LABRAMON!" Koji cried out.
The heat laser seemed to have hit their target, as well as the area around her, causing smoke to cover the place. Koji knew he had to act now before any more victims could come from this.
The white outline of his Beast Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-teector as Koji held up his left hand. A ball of fractal code surrounded his hand as his D-Tector began to glow. Koji slammed the scanner against the ball of fractal code, scanning it as he did so. "Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!" Koji cried as the fractal code surrounded his body. The boy cried out in pain as he felt his body changing to become more lupine and quadruped in nature. The white armor appeared on his body at the same time. Landing, the newly evolved Digimon cried out his name, "KendoGarurumon!"
The fractal code dissipated, revealing Koji was now in his Beast Spirit form. Acting quickly, KendoGarurumon activated the wheels on the backs of his paws and folded down his wings. He sped at the draconic Digimon, slamming the draconic beast away before speeding over to where the cloud of smoke was. "Labramon!"
Much to KendoGarurumon's surprise, he saw Patamon was covering Labramon. Both of them seemed to be alright, neither appeared to be hurt or near death like he expected them to after being hit directly by this draconic Digimon's attack.
"I think she's alright," Patamon said.
"Y-yeah," Labramon agreed. "I… I think we got lucky that he missed."
"Labramon…" KendoGarurumon sighed in relief. "It's good to see you unharmed."
However, the danger wasn't done. The draconic Digimon now saw another beast, like him, staring him down.
"We better get off the battlefield if we don't want to end up dead," Patamon warned.
"R-right! Good luck!" Labramon quickly said to KendoGarurumon.
Patamon and Labramon quickly ran to get away before the draconic Digimon decided to attack again. Beetlemon and Kazemon stood to the side, seeing that they may have to try to help KendoGarurumon knock the draconic beast out to save Takuya.
"This is crazy!" Beetlemon frowned.
"We have to do what we can to help Takuya though." Kazemon frowned as well.
Tommy, Lopmon, Kokuwamon, and Biyomon were further away as they saw this unfolding.
"Why is this happening?" Tommy asked.
"Takuya isn't able to control the Beast Spirit," Lopmon answered. "So it's taken him over. The same thing happened to Koji when he found his Beast Spirit."
"Yeah, but Koji wasn't this bad…" Tommy frowned.
"It must be because the Beast Spirit is representative of fire." Kokuwamon mused. "Fire is often a destructive force when it goes wild."
"What… what should we do? We have to help him, somehow, shouldn't we?" Tommy questioned, sounding unsure.
Lopmon looked at Tommy before frowning. "For now, we should probably get away from the battle."
"B-But… What about Takuya? We can't just let that Beast Spirit control him and have him run wild…" Tommy protested. "Others could get hurt if not worse if we don't do something."
"If you want to fight someone, then fight me!" KendoGarurumon growled, crouching down in an attack position. "Don't you dare hurt Labramon!"
Beetlemon and Kazemon flew into the air behind KendoGarurumon.
"We'll try to help however we can," Kazemon said.
"Kazemon, this might be too much for you," Beetlemon warned. "You need to help get Shamamon and the others to safety. They're going to get caught up in all of this."
Kazemon furrowed her eyes at that suggestion. "Yeah, but…" She trailed off as she thought about the difference in strength between her and the other Legendary Warriors. It was true she was strong as a Legendary Warrior, but her skills seemed to be more suited for something else besides fighting a direct confrontation.
Finally, Kazemon nodded. She didn't like it, but she had to leave this to Beetlemon and KendoGarurumon. "Okay. Just be careful, you two."
"We'll try," Beetlemon said.
Kazemon quickly flew down to grab onto Shamamon as the draconic Digimon was charging at KendoGarurumon.
Using his wheels and folded down blade-wings, KendoGarurumon sped at the incoming draconic Digimon. "Howling Star!"
The Beast Warrior of Light made impact with the draconic Digimon, causing the two to enter into a stalemate. KendoGarurumon's strength was matched by the other Beast Spirit Digimon.
Beetlemon charged in, tackling the draconic Digimon to the ground. When he did, he and KendoGarurumon tried to run further away from the town, heading into the woods.
"Hurry, before he hurts someone else!" Beetlemon called out.
"Tommy!" Kazemon called out, carrying Shamamon. "Biyomon! Everyone!"
"K-Kazemon?" Tommy asked.
"We have to get to safety!" Kazemon spoke up. "It isn't safe for you guys here!"
"B-but what about Takuya?" Tommy frowned.
"We need to get everyone to safety first." Kazemon replied. "Once that is done, then we can focus on Takuya."
"It'll be alright, Tommy, let's go," Lopmon said.
"... O-okay," Tommy finally relented.
Everyone quickly followed Kazemon.
"Pyro Barrage!" They heard Takuya's voice shouting out.
That was when the draconic Digimon fired out the heat lasers from his arms. The lasers that hit the trees set it on fire.
"He's setting the forest on fire!" Beetlemon shouted. "That's just great, we bring him out of civilization just to have him put another place in danger!"
"We need to stop him." KendoGarurumon agreed. "Keep his attention on us, so to speak."
"What? Aw, c'mon!" Beetlemon whined.
"It's either that or the forest." KendoGarurumon retorted.
"When you put it that way…" Beetlemon gulped.
KendoGarurumon faced the draconic Digimon. "Hey! You wanna fight someone? Fight me!" He barked.
The draconic Digimon stormed through the burning forest, growling. KendoGarurumon charged at him, pushing back the draconic Digimon. The draconic Digimon growled as he pushed back. Beetlemon moved forward, trying to see what he could do.
Meanwhile, Kazemon, still holding Shamamon, Tommy, Lopmon, Biyomon, Kokuwamon, Labramon, and Patamon were looking at the burning forest.
"This isn't good… I could try to blow the flames away, but I also risk making them stronger." Kazemon frowned.
If only I could Spirit Evolve into Kumamon… Tommy frowned as he gritted his teeth. I could freeze the flames, maybe even cool down Takuya enough to slow down his fire… but I can't.
"Come on! We can't stay here!" Kazemon spoke up.
Tommy and the Digimon hurried after Kazemon.
"Patamon? Are you alright?" Lopmon asked as they were running.
"I'm fine," Patamon said.
"Are you?" Lopmon frowned.
"... You know… this is one of those… real moments where we could lose someone if we're not careful," Patamon sighed. "We… don't know if… we let Tommy talk to him, he'll snap out of it this time."
"I know what you mean… too many things can go wrong," Lopmon agreed. "And yet… you still supported Takuya when you knew doing so meant he would absorb the Beast Spirit."
"Yes, but that was because I wasn't going to just let him rush in recklessly." Patamon pointed out. "You know how he is… and it was going to happen either way. You'll have a choice to make soon too, regarding Tommy."
Lopmon frowned as well. "I… I know…"
"But will you be able to let him go?" Patamon asked.
"It's not like I have a choice… if I don't, we're all as good as dead, and all of this would've been for nothing," Lopmon replied.
"We will find a way to save them, don't worry." Patamon reassured Lopmon. "We just need to stick with the original plan."
Lopmon looked over at Patamon. "You're his partner… maybe you could help him gain some semblance of control."
"I doubt it," Patamon huffed.
"At least try? Out of all of us here… you're the only one who could face up to Takuya when he's like… that, and survive," Lopmon pointed out. "It might help… when it's time for Tommy to be brave."
Patamon furrowed his eyebrows before nodding. "I will at least try, but I can't make any guarantees." He admitted.
"That's all I ask," Lopmon replied.
Patamon stretched out his wings before he flew over to the battlefield. He saw the draconic Digimon clawing KendoGarurumon away, then he brutally kneed Beetlemon in the stomach. Beetlemon fell to the ground, and the draconic Digimon put his foot on Beetlemon, ready to crush him.
"Takuya! Takuya it's me!" Beetlemon shouted, struggling to get out of the draconic Digimon's foot.
Patamon, seeing the situation, quickly flew up to the draconic's face. "Takuya! You have to stop! Please, remember who you are! These guys are your friends!"
The draconic Digimon looked at Patamon for a moment, and his eyes started to glow blue as his humanity started to come through for a moment.
Wait… Why do I feel like I know this Digimon? The draconic Digimon wondered. For a moment, things seemed to be fine in his vision. Looking at the two Digimon in front of him, the draconic Digimon then saw the two morph into more menacing forms. The blue humanoid one had teeth and a mouth from its horn and had three sets of arms. The white one had six legs and was dripping drool from its extra wide mouth.
Glancing at the small winged hamster Digimon, the draconic Digimon sensed the little guy was in danger and reached out, grabbing the smaller Digimon in an attempt to protect the smaller Digimon. There was no way these enemies were going to hurt such an innocent Digimon!
The small Digimon let out a squeal of shock. The draconic Digimon needed to keep fighting, but he needed to keep the small Digimon safe. He wrapped his tail around the small Digimon to make sure it was secured while he used his claws to fight.
"W-what are you doing, Takuya!?" Patamon yelled when he was wrapped up in the tail. "L-let go of me!"
The draconic Digimon roared as he stood his ground in front of KendoGarurumon and Beetlemon. They wouldn't hurt any other innocent Digimon! Taking aim, the draconic Digimon opened fire with his cannons at the two other Legendary Warriors.
KendoGarurumon and Beetlemon had to jump out of the way.
"Great, now he's got Patamon captive!" Beetlemon groaned.
"But why?" KendoGarurumon questioned. "Why take a hostage? He's supposed to be thinking like a beast."
"I don't know! You're the only other person here who can turn into a beast, you might have a better idea about it than I would!" Beetlemon replied as they dodged another attack.
I remember… when Labramon was talking to me when I didn't have full control of this form yet. KendoGarurumon realized. I felt like I needed to keep Labramon safe rather than attacking her… Is that what Takuya's feeling with Patamon? Too bad he's too hot headed to listen.
The draconic Digimon flared his wings and puffed them up in an attempt to intimidate his enemies. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would have looked kinda funny to see such a sight. Then the draconic Digimon let out an inhumane roar to make himself sound scarier.
Tommy, Kazemon, and the others covered their ears from the loud roaring.
"What a horrible noise! He doesn't even sound human at all!" Kazemon groaned.
"Of course not, that's why it's called a Beast Spirit," Kokuwamon pointed out.
"Still, I can get her concern. It really sounds like Takuya is truly lost to the beast." Biyomon frowned.
"Yeah… it's like he's not even in there. Can't we do something to help him?" Kazemon asked.
"Unfortunately there really isn't much we can do," Labramon sighed. "Koji was the same when he got his Beast Spirit. He'll have to learn to control it."
"But…" Tommy frowned. "He was trying to help Shamamon, right? Couldn't we get the Beast Spirit out of him like he did for Shamamon?"
"I wouldn't advise it, then you'd just end up like Takuya," Lopmon pointed out. "Besides, I think the reason why the Beast Spirit is so much stronger than when it was using Shamamon is because it's Takuya's true Beast Spirit. I mean he's using fire, and Agunimon is the Warrior of Fire, so… it wouldn't really work even if you tried."
"Then… We just let him run out of control until he gains control of it himself?" Tommy retorted. "That doesn't sound like much of a plan to help him if you ask me."
"Well, Patamon tried talking to him like Labramon did for KendoGarurumon, and that didn't end up going so well." Lopmon frowned. "What? Do you think you can do better?"
Tommy frowned at hearing that.
Lopmon gave a sigh. "It's not a matter of not wanting to help, it's a matter of… can we help? Can we? Can you?"
"Come on, guys, we can't stay here and bicker," Kazemon spoke up, seeing how things were getting a little heated, and not because of Takuya. "Let's get to safety and we can figure out what to do from there."
"Besides, surely Takuya's gotta learn to control his Beast Spirit sooner or later, right?" Labramon optimistically pointed out.
"It's the later part I'm worried about…" Biyomon grumbled.
"I'm sure everything will be-" Kokuwamon began to say when suddenly there was a loud crashing sound.
The draconic Digimon himself crushed some boulders as he stood in front of the group, staring down at them.
"You were saying!?" Biyomon hissed at Kokuwamon.
"Why's he here!?" Kazemon yelped before she put Shamamon down. "Run, guys!"
Kazemon jumped at the draconic Digimon, tackling him away with enough force to send him back.
Kokuwamon picked up Shamamon as they quickly began running back down.
"I can't believe we're running back to the burning forest!" Kokuwamon groaned.
"Don't waste your breath!" Labramon shouted.
Tommy hesitated however, and he turned back. I can't keep running away, Takuya needs me!
The draconic Digimon grabbed onto Kazemon, squeezing her head as she struggled to get him to let go.
"Takuya! Let her go!" Patamon shouted from the draconic Digimon's tail.
The draconic Digimon didn't heed Patamon's words though, instead throwing Kazemon away from him and into Beetlemon, who was coming to try to help Kazemon. And this caused Beetlemon to land on KendoGarurumon's head.
"Ow…" Kazemon groaned.
"You're telling me…" Beetlemon groaned as well.
"This… is getting us nowhere…" KendoGarurumon hissed.
Normally, KendoGarurumon would be equal to the draconic Digimon in terms of levels. However, whatever Takuya was, seemed to have much higher raw strength and power. KendoGarurumon seemed to excel more in speed. But it also didn't help that Takuya wasn't exactly holding back, while KendoGarurumon didn't want to hurt Takuya or Patamon. Beetlemon and Kazemon didn't stand a chance against this guy. It looked like the situation was pretty hopeless.
While Kokuwamon, who was carrying Shamamon, Biyomon, and Labramon were trying to find a place to hide, Lopmon had noticed Tommy had stopped running. He saw the youngest boy looking at the battle that was going on. Lopmon walked over to Tommy's side, looking up at him. He could tell Tommy was deep in thought about something.
"Tommy…" Lopmon spoke up.
Tommy blinked and looked down at Lopmon, he could see Lopmon was worried about him.
"... Lopmon… when I was in school one day, I saw these… bullies who were older than me. They pushed down a kid into the sandbox, making him drop his books," Tommy informed. "I was on a swing set, by myself. I saw what was happening, but I was too scared to do anything. When the bullies saw me, I ran away. I couldn't even try to stand up to them…"
"There's nothing wrong with being scared. There wouldn't have been much you could've done," Lopmon replied. "But… why are you thinking about this now?"
"I… I was the crybaby back then. I had no friends." Tommy replied. "But… Now… Now I… I want to help… to help Takuya… He's helped me so many times… I can't just sit back and rely on him to help me all the time."
Tommy looked determined, but he looked down at Lopmon. "You… understand how I feel, don't you?"
Lopmon looked at Tommy. He could tell Tommy to not do it, he could try to convince the child that he would only get himself killed, and get in everyone's way. He didn't have Kumamon right now, and there was no way he could help Takuya as he was now. He could stop Tommy from running up to the angry Beast Spirit… he could stop Tommy from helping Takuya. But… that wasn't what Lopmon wanted.
With determination filling his own eyes, Lopmon made his decision. "Yes, I do. And I also want to help Takuya. We may not be strong, but… there's still something only we can do. Let's go get Takuya back."
Tommy blinked before he smiled and nodded. "Yeah! We'll do it together!"
Tommy and Lopmon started running toward the draconic Digimon. Biyomon took notice as she turned around.
"What? Lopmon! What are you doing!? You shouldn't get involved!" Biyomon shouted.
Lopmon wasn't sure why he was doing this either. If anything, he should've just left it to Tommy. Him being there could make things worse, he wasn't supposed to be a variable for this. And yet… despite knowing this risk, Lopmon couldn't just leave it up to just Tommy. He needed to talk to Takuya too.
Tommy ran towards the draconic Digimon. He wasn't going to let Takuya hurt anyone due to acting like an animal. Lopmon was on Tommy's heels, following the boy.
"Takuya!" Tommy called out, getting the attention of the draconic Digimon.
The draconic Digimon had been pulling KendoGarurumon by the tail, and when he heard someone calling out to him, he let go. KendoGarurumon quickly jumped away from the draconic Digimon.
"Please! You've gotta stop this!" Tommy called out.
"Come on, Takuya, you don't want to hurt anyone!" Lopmon called out as well.
The draconic Digimon narrowed his red eyes, as if trying to determine who was talking to him. The two looked familiar, but he wasn't sure why.
Patamon was looking from the draconic Digimon's tail. "Tommy? L-Lopmon!"
"Don't you recognize us?" Tommy asked.
Tommy and Lopmon took a step forward, and the draconic Digimon took a step back, roaring.
"Takuya! Listen to them!" KendoGarurumon shouted from the side.
"Yeah! Come on, it's us!" Beetlemon spoke up as well.
The draconic Digimon just roared again, feeling surrounded and threatened. Not only that, but the innocent Digimon with him was also in danger. The draconic Digimon puffed up his wings again to seem even scarier to drive them off.
But the two small beings didn't run away. They kept saying something to him and took another step forward. Suddenly, the two beings morphed into scary looking monsters. One of them had sharp teeth, and four large eyes. The other looked like a brown gremlin of sorts, with sharp claws. This caused the draconic Digimon to react, he needed to stop them from getting any closer.
Rushing forwards, the draconic Digimon reached out and grabbed the gremlin in his three-clawed hand, intent on destroying it. The one with the four eyes was also grabbed in his other clawed hand.
"Tommy! Lopmon!" The others cried out.
"Takuya! Wait!" Tommy shouted, somehow keeping his calm despite being grabbed.
"It's not too late," Lopmon said. "You don't have to do this."
Lopmon looked at Tommy. "I think he's scared, that's why he's reacting this way. A corner animal lashes out at others."
Tommy frowned. "Takuya… I know how you feel. I know what it's like to be scared and alone. But lashing out at others… lashing out at bullies… it doesn't make you any better than them."
"You probably don't remember this, but you've done something like this before," Lopmon said.
"Please, listen to them, Takuya!" Patamon spoke up.
Tommy looked at Lopmon, wondering what he meant.
"Come on, Takuya, you're stronger than this. You can't let the beast control you, you're supposed to control it. Or rather work with it," Lopmon said.
Tommy then remembered something Shamamon had said to them, about how this test involved mostly him and Takuya. How the test could destroy them all if they weren't careful. This must be it. But… Tommy wasn't going to let that fear stop him. Something about this… scenario felt familiar though… like he had done this before.
Something in Tommy's mind reminded him of something that had happened that felt like it happened a long time ago.
"I was… like you before," Tommy said softly. "I was scared… I was alone, everyone… I thought everyone hated me. I lashed out and attacked… but… you… you wanted to help me. Do you… remember that, Takuya?"
Glaring at the boy, the draconic Digimon hesitated, his grip slowly loosening from around Tommy and Lopmon. Wait… Why… does this feel familiar? There was a niggling feeling in the back of his mind, like he knew these two, but they were attacking him, every one of these enemies had been attacking him and the Digimon he was trying to protect… Right?
Lopmon looked at Tommy when he mentioned that. Now that he thought about it, circumstances were different than they were supposed to be back at the TV Forest. So Tommy wouldn't have been able to bring that incident up this time. Maybe it was a good thing Lopmon came with him after all. But… Not good, he's remembering again. Tapirmon might come back at this rate.
But Lopmon didn't have the luxury to worry about that right now. They were still in the draconic Digimon's claws.
"Come on, Takuya, don't tell me we have to do the same song and dance again. I thought you got over this by now," Lopmon sighed.
Since Tommy was remembering, there was a good chance Takuya may as well. Lopmon might as well use that to try to help Takuya regain control, because he and Tommy were cooked either way if he didn't.
The draconic Digimon had a sudden image of someone familiar… a family member? … A cousin… one of his cousins, flashing a mischievous smile, saying those exact words to him.
Wait… this does feel familiar… Those words… I've heard them before… The draconic Digimon thought as he slowly brought the two in his claws down to eye level, looking at them more in curiosity than anger or fear.
The draconic Digimon also remembered something… something about a white bear attacking them in a forest. The white bear wasn't himself, however, the draconic Digimon seemed to know that. There had been a lot of pain, sadness, loneliness, and anxiety in the white bear's eyes, and the draconic Digimon wanted to help him.
"Takuya, you're stronger than this. You're not just this beast. I know you're a hot head, but this is way too much," Patamon spoke up.
The draconic Digimon remembered hearing this voice… another family member… perhaps… another cousin.
Why… Why do these voices sound familiar…? It's like I know them from somewhere… But I haven't seen my cousins since I moved away… Yet these sound like things they would say to me… The draconic Digimon thought as his eyes slowly started to shift from an angry glowing red to a more natural blue color
"Takuya… please remember… you're my friend," Tommy said. "Don't… don't keep fighting. We can work something out like we always do."
As the draconic Digimon looked at the two beings he was holding, he began to see things clearly now. The two he was holding… they weren't monsters. One of them was a familiar human child, and the other was a Lopmon… who was also a friend of his.
Wait… Tommy? Lopmon? The draconic Digimon thought as his eyes finally stopped glowing.
The draconic Digimon began to realize he was holding Tommy and Lopmon in his claws, with not-so-good intentions.
What was I going to do? What did I do?! The draconic Digimon thought before he set Tommy and Lopmon down gently. Feeling movement from his tail, the draconic Digimon looked back and saw Patamon wrapped up in his tail. Patamon? What was I going to do to him?!
Slowly, the draconic Digimon released Patamon from his tail.
"Takuya?" Patamon asked.
"Hey, I knew you wouldn't hurt us!" Tommy smiled.
"Looks like we got you back." Lopmon smiled as well.
While Takuya was now indeed in control, he was completely distraught at what had just happened. Yes, it felt familiar, what he had just gone through, but that somehow made it feel worse for him.
The draconic Digimon turned and ran before he came to a stop, having gotten some distance between himself and the other three. He let out a loud cry in anguish before reverting back to his human form.
Now as Takuya, it was clear he was upset, sobs escaping him.
The other Digimon came over, seeing how Takuya wasn't a danger anymore.
"We should… go somewhere more private…" Patamon suggested to the others.
"Agreed," Beetlemon said.
The group were now deeper into the forest. After the chaos back at the Fortuneteller Town, it was best they left when they did. The Digimon needed to fix up the temple. The group were resting by a lake, which Takuya used to wash his face with his reflection, and looked back at his reflection, thinking back to what happened.
I could have hurt everyone… Some Legendary Warrior I am… Takuya thought grumpily as he stared at his reflection.
"Are you okay, Takuya?" Patamon asked, who was standing beside him.
"Yeah, you've been pretty down on yourself…" Tommy added timidly.
Takuya looked at Patamon before turning to Tommy. "I should be asking you guys that. Who knows what I would've done if you guys hadn't done what you did."
"It was nothing," Tommy said as he blushed.
"It wasn't nothing." Takuya insisted. "It was pretty much the bravest thing you could have done."
"Let's just be glad it worked," Kokuwamon said.
"Yeah, you guys should take note when you get your Beast Spirits," Labramon chuckled.
"The trials of friendships, huh?" Biyomon remarked. "That's just so anime."
"I'm pretty sure we're living in an anime…" Kokuwamon sighed.
"I can't help but agree with that statement," JP grumbled. "By the way, how was Shamamon when you took him to the hospital?"
"He had some injuries, mostly from the rubble, but he should be fine," Labramon answered.
"At least no one was hurt worse or… well… no one got fatally hurt." Patamon agreed. "But this goes to show how hard it is to control a Beast Spirit."
"That is pretty concerning… you think we'll be that bad when we get our's?" JP asked.
"Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and have better control since we know what we're getting ourselves into," Zoe said.
Takuya was looking at his D-Tector. It was weird, he felt like that whole ordeal he just went through was… very familiar. He wasn't sure why though. It should've been his first time experiencing the Beast Spirit, and yet… it felt like it wasn't his first time. It felt like… while he had lost control, he was able to regain it quicker than… expected? That was a strange thought.
Now that Takuya thought about it, that whole thing with Tommy also felt familiar… like he remembered holding Tommy up like that with his Beast Spirit before. Only this time he had Lopmon with him, and he had Patamon wrapped up in his tail. The feeling of familiarity was what bothered Takuya the most.
Why does this feel so familiar? As far as I know, this is the first time this has happened to me. Takuya thought to himself. And yet… I can't help but feel like I have done this before, more than once to be exact. But why? I don't understand…
Takuya wasn't the only one having these thoughts. Tommy had been thinking as well. The strange memory of attacking Takuya and the others in a forest… when Tommy was sure that had never happened was almost too clear in his mind. And then there were those words Lopmon had said. It sounded like nonsense to Tommy at first, but Takuya had reacted to those words as that draconic Digimon. The way Lopmon was talking, it was as if he was saying Takuya was going on a rampage again, like it had happened before, and that he was able to control it, or should've been able to.
Tommy was sure now, the Digimon… the way they look at them with worry or dread, or the way they always talk to each other about something just before something big happens… these Digimon definitely knew something they didn't. But they were hiding it from them.
"We need to focus on getting Tommy's Spirit back from Grumblemon first though." Koji pointed out. "Once we do that, then we can worry about the other Beast Spirits."
"But how are we going to find Grumblemon?" JP asked.
"That's a good question…" Zoe frowned.
"I wouldn't worry about trying to find him," Lopmon said.
"What do you mean?" Labramon asked.
"I get what Lopmon means," Patamon sighed. "It seems harder to avoid Grumblemon than to find him. He's bound to come after us sooner or later, especially if he wants the other Spirits."
"So we just have to wait for him to find us then?" JP grumbled. "Talk about annoying… That gnome seems to come out of nowhere when we least expect it."
Zoe let out a sigh as well. "I mean you're not wrong, but complaining isn't going to help us much. So what's the plan then? We keep going?"
"We might as well," Takuya said. "Trying to look for Grumblemon would probably just waste our time. He can go in and out of the earth whenever he wants."
"It's alright," Tommy said. "I've been fine so far without Kumamon. It's like Lopmon said, there are some things only we can do."
Lopmon gave Tommy a smile. "Yeah, that's right. Power doesn't always make you the hero. It's the choices you make."
Takuya looked down at his D-Tector as he heard Lopmon's words. The choices we make huh? I wonder if avoiding using my Beast Spirit would be a better idea. Considering what happened earlier… I'm inclined to think that's a better option.
Takuya then looked at Patamon, noticing from the corner of his eye. Despite the dangers, Patamon still stuck by Takuya's side. Despite not being able to digivolve into a stronger form, or to help in any tough battles, Patamon still found a way to help him and the others, just like the other Digimon. Lopmon was with Tommy when the boy ran up to Takuya while he was out of control. Takuya couldn't help but wonder why these Digimon were… so loyal to them.
"It's okay to be afraid…" Patamon said to Takuya suddenly, almost as if reading the boy's mind.
"Yeah… I… I get that, but… I don't know if even using my Beast Spirit would be a good idea. I mean… I don't want to lose control again." Takuya admitted.
"I get that," Patamon replied. "I… understand that feeling. Of being afraid of your own power, worried that it would be used against those you care about… It hurts knowing that you hurt or could've hurt those closest to you because you weren't in control. I won't make you use the Beast Spirit, Takuya… but… I want you to at least think about something. The power is scary, but it's yours now, and that's not changing. You'll have to decide what you want to do with that power when the time comes."
Takuya furrowed his eyebrows at Patamon's words. Something about them felt familiar in a way, but he couldn't understand why. Wow… I'm getting deja vu from almost everything today…
Takuya and the others were now walking through the forest. After what happened with the Beast Spirit, they were all glad for the peaceful stroll.
"There's a lot of tree roots here," Biyomon noted. "Be careful not to trip on them."
"Thanks for the warning." Koji grumbled, having tripped over a root already.
"Heh, big bad Koji being the first one to trip, how 'cool'," Takuya snickered.
"Shut up!" Koji snapped.
"With how big these trees are, I feel like we shrunk or something," Zoe noted.
"Yeah, look how tall they are!" JP agreed. "I've never seen such tall trees before, even in our world!"
"If possible, maybe we could jump from one tree to the next." Takuya agreed, grinning like a child. "Just like in the ninja anime!"
"And we go back to the anime talk." Kokuwamon sighed.
"I mean to be fair, they could do that, but they'd have to Spirit Evolve first," Lopmon chuckled.
"Don't give them ideas," Patamon grumbled. "Besides, this isn't anime. They could miss a branch, or one of the branches could snap under their weight."
"Come on, bro, why do you have to be such a killjoy? You used to be up for silly things like that. Or maybe that's not you exactly that's saying these things?" Lopmon grinned. "Come on, you gotta let loose once in a while. Being serious all the time is going to make you stress out."
"Yeah, well, you've become a lot more relaxed and silly lately yourself," Patamon pointed back, grumbling.
"What the heck are you guys talking about?" JP questioned.
"Oh, just brotherly stuff." Lopmon grinned. "Nothing to worry about."
"More like trying to prevent Lopmon from giving out stupid ideas." Patamon grumbled.
"Takuya made the comment in the first place," Labramon pointed out.
"H-hey! Don't pin the blame on me! I was joking!" Takuya hiffed.
"Technically we all were," Lopmon remarked.
"But… it would be cool to jump from tree to tree like ninjas…" Tommy smiled.
"See? Even Tommy gets it~" Lopmon grinned at Patamon.
"Great, now you've made them want to try it." Patamon groaned. "If they do that and mess up, it's on you, Lopmon."
"Don't pin it on me." Lopmon grumbled.
"Hey, look over there," Kokuwamon pointed out. "Those branches look a little weird."
The group looked down a small hill, seeing the tree branches lined up, having vertical branches at the bottom, and several horizontal branches connecting to each other. At the bottom, there were 5 roots. 4 of the roots were 'X', while 1 root at the far right was an 'O'.
"Yeah, it's like a maze." Biyomon agreed. "That's definitely weird."
"Not really a maze, but maybe we could make it one." Tommy suggested. "Kinda like a game!"
"Why would we do that?" Koji grumbled.
"Come on, Koji, it'll be fun." Labramon smiled. "Don't we all need a chance to relax for a bit?"
Koji gave a sigh. "Alright, fine."
"Everyone, pick a starting point!" Biyomon called out.
Everyone picked a vine. Takuya and Patamon were on the far left, Zoe and Biyomon on his right. To their right were JP and Kokuwamon. To JP's left were Tommy and Lopmon. Koji and Labramon got the far right.
"Okay. Everyone, go!" Takuya exclaimed.
The group began running down the vine trails, trying to avoid each other. It was definitely like a maze for sure. Everyone was having fun as they were laughing and giggling until they all reached the bottom.
Takuya and Patamon reached the O, while everyone else ended up on an X.
"Hey, we won!" Patamon smiled.
Everyone else grumbled as they looked at the X.
"Yeah? So what?" JP huffed.
Suddenly, the ground under the X turned into quicksand. Kokuwamon and Biyomon had been standing, so they weren't able to fly up before they got caught up in the quicksand.
"What the heck?!" JP exclaimed as he felt himself sinking into the muck.
"It would seem our little game turned out to be deadly…" Lopmon chuckled sheepishly.
"You think!?" Zoe snapped.
"Stop struggling! You'll only make it worse!" Takuya exclaimed to the others.
"Hurry and throw us a vine or something!" Koji called out.
Takuya looked around.
"I got one!" Patamon quickly said as he flew over to Takuya with a vine.
"Here!" Takuya exclaimed as he threw the vine to the others in the quicksand.
Everyone quickly grabbed onto the vine while Takuya and Patamon tried to pull them up.
"You may have to Spirit Evolve, we don't have enough strength to pull them all up!" Patamon suggested.
Before Takuya could respond, the ground suddenly erupted. An all too familiar gnome had come up from the earth, and at a horrible time.
"Aw, great…" Takuya grumbled. "It's Grumblemon! Talk about a bad time to run into him."
"Or more like a bad time for him to pop up to us…" Patamon frowned.
"Me see most of you trap now!" Grumblemon smirked. "You won't be stopping me anymore!"
"We'll see about that!" Takuya exclaimed as he got out his D-Tector.
"Really? You sure?" Grumblemon teased. "Me seem to remember otherwise~"
"Y-yeah! I have my Beast Spirit now and it's really powerful! Heck, you were slammed into a cliff side by it when it was using Shamamon's body earlier!" Takuya pointed out, trying to bluff his way into getting Grumblemon to leave.
"Now why me not scared of that?" Grumblemon sneered. "It only powerful if you can control it, and me betting you not know how to control. Your face tell me all I need know."
Takuya had to admit, he wasn't exactly using his bravest face right now. What happened before still left him shaken.
"Grumblemon, just a question," Patamon spoke up, surprising Takuya and Grumblemon.
"Hmm? What is it?" Grumblemon asked.
"Why are you taking the Spirits?" Patamon asked. "What do you hope to gain? More Legendary Warriors allies? You know they won't work with you. To give them to Cherubimon? What good would that do you? Oh, I get it, you just want Cherubimon to think you're a competent Digimon, is that it?"
Grumblemon hesitated at Patamon's question before answering back. "That not it! Me get Spirits for…" Grumblemon trailed off, finding he was actually unable to answer the question without falling into a figurative trap.
"You haven't given Kumamon's Spirit to Cherubimon yet, have you?" Patamon asked.
"Of course me have!" Grumblemon exclaimed, but an eye twitch was visible from Grumblemon.
"Then why do I still sense that Spirit's presence in you?" Patamon questioned.
"Quiet now! Me do not have to answer to you!" Grumblemon snapped before he dragged his sledgehammer out from the ground.
Takuya gasped and yelled out a warning. "Patamon! Get away from there!"
Patamon saw the attack incoming and flew upwards, barely avoiding being hit by the sledgehammer.
With the rest of the group out of commission due to the quicksand, Takuya and Patamon were left on their own to face Grumblemon.
"There's gotta be something we can do!" Tommy frowned. "They need our help!"
"We're stuck in mud, we're not helping anyone like this," Lopmon grumbled.
Takuya gripped his D-Tector. "Hey, you wanna fight someone? Fight me!" He exclaimed.
Standing up, Takuya held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector 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 power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Now evolved, Agunimon was quick to jump into action.
As Agunimon was charging at Grumblemon, Grumblemon let out a grin. "Execute! Slide Evolution!"
Agunimon had to shut his eyes for a moment as Grumblemon was covered with fractal code, transforming him. "Gigasmon!"
Now in his Beast Form, Gigasmon slammed Agunimon back several feet with one of his big fists. "You weak, especially on your own!"
Agunimon hissed as he managed to get back on his feet. He started to prepare his Pyro Tornado, his strongest attack as Agunimon.
"W-wait! Don't use your fire attack! You'll burn the forest, and us along with it!" Biyomon shouted.
Agunimon realized Biyomon was right and cut his attack. "Right… I guess this will be just physical techniques then." He muttered to himself. But that puts me at a disadvantage…
However, Agunimon wasn't about to hesitate. He lunged at Gigasmon again, intending on slamming the Beast Warrior of Earth to the ground.
Unfortunately for Agunimon, a direct frontal assault wasn't going to do much good against a strong Beast Digimon, who had more raw strength than Agunimon had. Gigasmon grabbed onto Agunimon when he got close, and slammed his head into the ground.
With Agunimon on the ground, Gigasmon spun around. "Quagmire Twister!"
Agunimon let out a yell as he was quickly sucked up into the twister, and thrown into the air.
"Agunimon!" Patamon called out from the tree.
Patamon was about to fly to Agunimon to see if he could help, but then a large hand grabbed onto Patamon.
Agunimon landed on his side with a grunt, rolling to get back on his feet. He glanced up, only to gasp as he saw Patamon in Gigasmon's hold. "Patamon! Gigasmon, let him go! Your fight is with me!"
"You want him? Then come get him!" Gigasmon grinned, enjoying toying with Agunimon as he climbed further up the tree.
"No! Come back!" Agunimon shouted before he turned to the others.
"Don't worry about us, we don't seem to be sinking anymore," Koji assured.
"I guess this is less of a quicksand and more of just a deep hole filled with hard to move in mud," Kokuwamon remarked.
"You go on ahead, Agunimon, we'll be fine!" Tommy encouraged.
Agunimon nodded, albeit hesitantly. "Okay… Just be careful." He said before jumping up into the trees to catch Gigasmon.
Agunimon looked at the top of the trees, trying to find Gigasmon. Gigasmon lifted up his own head to let Agunimon see him, grinning at him.
Agunimon growled as caught sight of Gigasmon, who pulled back into the trees. Agunimon jumped after him, sliding down a thick tree trunk to land on another branch.
Gigasmon slid down from a branch not too far away from Agunimon. Agunimon jumped after him, and Gigasmon climbed up. Agunimon slammed into the trunk, and was trying to recover from it when Gigasmon kicked Agunimon in the face, making Agunimon slide down a little.
"Agunimon!" Patamon called out. "Don't let this guy kick you!"
Gigasmon laughed as he grabbed onto a vine and swung across the trees, still holding onto Patamon.
"Hang on, Patamon!" Agunimon exclaimed as he jumped from branch to branch, trying to catch the Beast Warrior of Earth.
Unfortunately, Gigasmon was too quick while swinging on the vine, so Agunimon decided to follow suit. He grabbed a vine he saw and used his momentum to swing after Gigasmon.
"Not bad, but not good either!" Gigasmon laughed.
Patamon frowned. He knew of a way to get out of Gigasmon's grasp, but… he had to be patient. If he tried to do that now, that may be more harmful than helpful.
Wait until I get my hands on you… Agunimon thought as he clenched the vine even tighter. He had to catch Gigasmon! He just had to! He wasn't going to lose Patamon if he could help it!
However, Agunimon was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't see Gigasmon was on a branch ahead of him, and got a rude awakening when he was slammed hard by Gigasmon's fist.
Agunimon ended up falling quite a long way. He hit another thick branch, though he hit it with enough force to break through it and kept falling. Gigasmon laughed as Agunimon was falling.
Patamon frowned, he hated watching Agunimon getting beaten up like this.
"THIS IS GONNA HURT!" Agunimon shouted as he saw the ground coming up fast.
Not a moment later, Agunimon slammed into the ground. He was very glad he was wearing armor, and had a heck of a lot more endurance as a Digimon.
"I was right…" Agunimon groaned out. "That really hurt…"
"Oh… wow that looked painful…" Zoe winced.
Fractal code surrounded Agunimon, he was unable to hold his form, so he reverted back to being Takuya.
"Ugh…" Takuya groaned out.
"Are you okay?" JP asked in concern.
"Can you still fight?" Lopmon asked in concern as well.
"Don't push yourself too hard…" Tommy frowned worriedly.
"Yeah… But Gigasmon still has Patamon, and I couldn't do anything…" Takuya admitted as he pushed himself up from the ground to his feet.
"Yeah, a Human Spirit can't compete with a Beast Spirit." Labramon frowned. "It's like trying to have a thin nerd trying to fight against a bulky jock. It's just not going to work."
"Well, at least in terms of pure, raw power, you're right," Lopmon sighed.
"There is still one thing you can do," Koji said. "You can use your Beast Spirit."
"But… what if I lose control again?" Takuya asked worriedly. "I mean… there's no guarantee that I will be able to control it… Is there?"
"You don't have to be afraid," Tommy spoke up. "Just… remember what we said."
"Huh?" Takuya looked at Tommy and Lopmon.
"Do you remember?"Tommy asked.
"Yeah… I do." Takuya confirmed. "I just need to remember who my friends are…"
"Besides… it looked like you were able to control yourself after we snapped you out of it," Lopmon added. "I don't think you have to be afraid of losing control anymore."
"You no want to help friend anymore?" Gigasmon's voice called out, getting Takuya's attention.
Patamon was being dangled from one of the trees, tied up in a vine.
"You hand over Spirit, and I may let this one go," Gigasmon bargained. "But better hurry, accidents can happen."
Takuya frowned as he looked down at his D-Tector.
"Takuya! I know you're not planning on trading your Spirits for me!" Patamon spoke up. "I'll be alright, you focus on taking down this annoying overgrown, long nose gnome!"
Gigasmon growled at Patamon's words. "You shut up or I not be so nice!"
Takuya gripped his D-Tector. "You want to go at it? I'll make you regret taking Patamon, you overgrown garden gnome!" He growled out at Gigasmon. "We'll settle this, beast to beast!"
Gigasmon hissed as he pulled Patamon back up and began swinging away through the trees again.
If Patamon can still show courage against this menace, then so can I! Takuya decided. I won't hesitate anymore!
The red outline of his Beast Spirit appeared on the D-Tector's screen as Takuya held up his left hand. A ball of fractal code appeared around his left hand as the scanner on his D-Tector lit up. Takuya slammed the scanner against the ball of code, scanning it as he did so. "Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!" Takuya cried as the code surrounded him. Inside the cocoon, Takuya cried out as he felt the primal power of the Beast Spirit flood his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. "BurningGreymon!"
Now evolved, Takuya knew what he had to do. He was no longer the scared boy, but the powerful Beast Warrior of Flame, BurningGreymon.
"BurningGreymon?" Zoe asked.
"That must be the name of the Beast Spirit of Flame," Koji replied.
BurningGreymon ran at the tree where Gigasmon was situated. He slammed into the tree, using his greater size to knock the tree as hard as he could.
Gigasmon wasn't that thrown off by the shaking of the tree though, instead just jumping to another branch. BurningGreymon saw that though and slammed his tail against the tree, making Gigasmon fall off and grab onto the branch with his free hand. This also caused Gigasmon to let go of Patamon.
Patamon began falling. Because his wings were tied up by the vines, he couldn't fly. BurningGreymon quickly ran to try to catch Patamon.
With a last ditch jump, BurningGreymon thrust his hands forward and managed to catch Patamon in his claws without even harming the little guy. He skidded on his side, holding Patamon to his chest before coming to a stop.
BurningGreymon looked down at Patamon. "Are you okay?"
BurningGreymon noticed his voice sounded a lot rougher and deeper in this form.
Patamon looked up at BurningGreymon. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to you."
Patamon reached up to pull the vines off of his wings before he smiled. "Hey, check you out, you're able to control your Beast Spirit!"
"Yeah, thanks to you, Tommy, and Lopmon." BurningGreymon replied. "Think you can get back to the others on your own? I will handle that lawn gnome myself."
"Yeah, I'm a lot stronger than I look." Patamon smiled. "Good luck!"
BurningGreymon nodded before he turned back to face Gigasmon. "Alright, big guy, let's dance!" He exclaimed as he spread his bright orange wings and flew at Gigasmon quickly.
With great speed and strength, BurningGreymon was able to grab onto Gigasmon, flew him up into the air, and threw him down in the trees with ease. BurningGreymon and Gigasmon may both be beasts, but BurningGreymon appeared to be stronger in terms of strength.
Flying down low, BurningGreymon dove down after Gigasmon. As Gigasmon was falling, BurningGreymon punched Gigasmon in the face. Gigasmon continued his fall, only to land on his butt and get back to his feet.
Gigasmon, not one to give up so easily, began spinning around. "Quagmire Twister!"
Gigasmon created another twister as he launched himself at BurningGreymon. BurningGreymon had much faster reflexes, so he easily dodged by jumping into the air, over the incoming twister. The Quagmire Twister ended up destroying a few trees after missing its target.
BurningGreymon prepared an attack. "Pyro-!"
BurningGryemon stopped as he remembered that using fire attacks in a forest was a bad idea.
Wait… If I use my fire attacks, I'll burn this whole forest! He realized before he got out of his attack stance. Okay, looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way!
BurningGreymon saw Gigasmon charging at him in a reckless manner. Gigasmon was getting sloppy. BurningGreymon ran at Gigasmon himself, then he spun himself around, slamming his tail into Gigasmon. Gigasmon was pushed into the roots of a tree. BurningGreymon, realizing he would need to lead Gigasmon out of the forest to use his best attacks, decided to try something.
Fractal Code surrounded BurningGreymon's body.
"Slide Evolution!" In the code cocoon, BurningGreymon changed back into his Human Spirit of Agunimon, almost like slipping into another skin or set of clothes.
The fractal code dissipated, revealing Agunimon in BurningGreymon's place. For a moment, Agunimon looked himself over, surprised that it had worked, before he returned to the task at hand.
Thinking quickly, Agunimon jumped into the trees before grabbing onto another vine and swinging away on it. I have to lead him away from the others!
As Agunimon swung past Gigamon, he grinned at him. "Catch me if you can, slowpoke!"
Angry, Gigasmon broke out of the roots and started chasing after Agunimon.
While this was going on, Patamon was pulling the others out of the mud.
"Wow, you're a strong little guy, aren't you?" JP said, impressed as he was one of the first ones to be pulled out of the mud, and he started helping Patamon pull the others out.
"Yeah… I'm a lot stronger than I look." Patamon smiled.
"How do you think Takuya's doing against Gigasmon?" Zoe worriedly asked as she, Kokuwamon, and Biyomon were pulled out next.
"I don't know, but we can go see after the others are pulled out of this mud." Kokuwamon replied.
"If we do that, we'll have to keep our distance." Biyomon warned.
Koji and Labramon were pulled out next, leaving just Tommy and Lopmon.
"Aw man! This mud is ruining my fur!" Labramon complained.
"I think Takuya will be alright, but we'll hurry there as soon as we get out," Lopmon assured.
"Yeah, and hopefully Gigasmon doesn't take his Spirit too," Tommy added.
Tommy and Lopmon were soon pulled out of the mud.
"I think that's everyone." Zoe said. "Let's go see how Takuya is doing against Gigasmon."
"Where do you think they went?" Kokuwamon asked.
They suddenly heard a loud sound, and the earth shook a bit.
"That won't be hard to figure out," Lopmon said.
"Hurry! Let's go!" Koji spoke up.
Everyone began running the direction they heard, and felt, the loud sound.
Meanwhile, Agunimon had managed to lead Gigasmon out into a wide open field, with nothing but dirt and rocks. The trees were far away.
"You gotta work out, buddy!" Agunimon taunted as he ran further away from the forest for good measure.
Gigasmon hissed as he stopped running. "Even if me tired, I make sure you get defeated good. This good spot for me. Or did you forget me Warrior of Earth!?"
Gigasmon jumped up high, raising his fists.
"I kinda did forget about that!" Agunimon exclaimed as he ran to get some distance between himself and Gigasmon.
"Tectonic Slam!" Gigasmon slammed his fists into the ground, creating a crater that Agunimon barely managed to avoid falling into.
Rocks and debris flew all over the place as Gigasmon was laughing at the destruction he just caused, hoping he just buried that annoying child wielding the Warrior of Flame.
All that was left was a huge crater and one solid ground in the middle of the crater where Gigasmon was standing. Agunimon, however, was standing on the edge of the crater, completely fine.
"What're you laughing about? You missed me, lawn gnome!" Agunimon snickered. "By the way, I think you forgot something too!"
Fractal code surrounded Agunimon again as he tapped into his Beast Spirit once again. "Slide Evolution!"
When the fractal code dissipated, BurningGreymon was in Agunimon's place.
BurningGreymon smirked. "Out here there's no forest to catch fire." He grinned. "So what does that mean for you?"
"Uh oh…" Gigasmon gulped.
BurningGreymon armed his cannons before opening fire. "Pyro Barrage!"
BurningGreymon shot out heat lasers at Gigasmon. Gigasmon had nowhere to go to dodge, seeing how he was surrounded by the very crater he made, and it would take too long for him to jump over it, or burrow under this unstable ground. Gigasmon was hit by the heat lasers. In an attempt to minimize the damage, Gigasmon tried to shield his face with his arms.
Seeing how he was finally getting the upper hand, BurningGreymon ceased using his cannons. Fire began to flicker from the openings in his armor before coating him completely. Now surrounded by fire, BurningGreymon swung his body around, using his tail to let loose a wave of fire at Gigasmon. "Wildfire Tsunami!"
Gigasmon gave a cry of pain as his body was burning from the fiery tornado. This was enough to weaken him to the point of his fractal code showing. The fractal code, however, showed 3 Spirits. Grumblemon, Gigasmon, and Tommy's Spirit, Kumamon.
The others managed to reach the battlefield, just in time to see Gigasmon's fractal code.
"Whoa, look at that!" Zoe pointed out.
"Looks like Gigasmon lost this battle," Patamon remarked.
"Is that my Spirit?" Tommy asked, surprised to see Kumamon's Spirit in the fractal code.
BurningGreymon flared his wings and took to the air, flying up to Gigasmon's form. He grabbed Tommy's Spirit first. He turned to Tommy. "Hey, got a present for ya, buddy!"
BurningGreymon then threw the Spirit of Kumamon in Tommy's direction.
Tommy didn't hesitate to bring out his D-Tector as Kumamon's Spirit was heading toward him. The Spirit immediately went into the D-Tector, and showed its symbol on the D-Tector's screen. The Spirit seemed to be just as eager and happy to return to Tommy as Tommy was to have the Spirit back.
Tommy smiled, feeling like the part of him that had been missing for a while was finally back and whole. "Yeah! This is way better than birthdays and Christmas presents combined!"
"Congratulations on getting your Spirit back!" Lopmon cheered, relieved to see the mistake he made before was rectifying itself.
BurningGreymon still had time to grab another. So he went for Gigasmon's Spirit next, having it be absorbed into his D-Tector. With the bigger threat out of the way, that just left Grumblemon himself.
However, Grumblemon managed to recover enough to bring his fractal code and Spirit back inside him.
BurningGreymon still made his approach to Grumblemon. He wasn't in a very happy mood after what had been done to Patamon. BurningGreymon looked quite intimidating as he slowly approached from the air. Grumblemon, seeing that he was outmatched, quickly burrowed underground, not caring about the unstable ground anymore.
BurningGreymon attempted to grab the gnome before he could get away, but Grumblemon was fast at moving underground, he was gone before BurningGreymon could reach him.
"There he goes…" Labramon frowned.
"He sure is quick to run away," Koji huffed in annoyance.
"But the important thing is that we got Tommy's Spirit back!" JP smiled.
"Yeah, and Grumblemon doesn't have any of our Spirits anymore." Zoe grinned.
"Not to mention Grumblemon lost his Beast Spirit!" Lopmon laughed.
BurningGreymon flew down close to the others. The air he gave off was one of pride and relief at his successful battle.
"Looks like someone's happy." JP chuckled as BurningGreymon landed next to the group.
"I don't blame him. He managed to find his Beast Spirit and learned how to control it," Kokuwamon chuckled.
"So that makes two…" Lopmon noted softly.
"Yeah, so you guys will be much more powerful against the enemy now." Biyomon smiled.
"I'm… glad you were able to work past your fear to save me, Takuya." Patamon smiled, though there was a little bit of a hesitance in his tone.
"No problem." BurningGreymon chuckled. "I'm glad you're okay."
Seeing that the battle was over, fractal code surrounded BurningGreymon, turning him back to Takuya. Takuya felt quite exhausted, he fell on his hands and knees. The group worriedly surrounded him.
"Are you okay?" Zoe asked in concern.
"He must be tired. I know I was when I first used my Beast Spirit," Koji said softly.
"We should find a place to take a break for now, we're all pretty tired," Labramon suggested. "It wouldn't be good to keep pushing ourselves like this."
Takuya nodded. "Yeah… That sounds like a good idea…" He agreed. "I don't think I have the energy to fight after that evolution…"
"But where could we go to rest?" JP asked.
"There should be a good spot to rest and find some food around here," Patamon said as he took the book out of his bellywarmer. "This forest should have plenty of food growing. An ideal spot to take a break and have a picnic."
"And to just unwind after everything," Lopmon added with a small chuckle. "You know, Patamon, we could've used that book earlier when we saw Takuya turn into BurningGreymon."
"Well, the book wasn't exactly on my mind while we were trying not to get roasted alive like Thanksgiving turkey, thank you very much!" Patamon huffed.
"Well, I'm just glad it didn't get burned into nothing but scrap paper." JP admitted.
"So, where should we go?" Koji asked. "This forest is huge with loads of spots to rest up."
"Just follow me," Patamon said.
Lopmon looked up at Tommy. "How do you feel? You managed to get your Spirit back."
"It's nice." Tommy smiled. "I didn't realize how much I missed Kumamon until I lost him. I was worried that I may have lost him forever. I'm just glad Grumblemon never took it to Cherubimon… Who knows what would've happened then."
"Yeah, let's be glad he didn't." Lopmon smiled as well.
Everything is… as it should be… Lopmon noted. Sort of… I guess making the decision to help Tommy when Gigasmon was attacking them did change one little thing. But still… everything is still heading down that path. Two of them found their Beast Spirit now… we're running out of time.
Grumblemon was back at the headquarters. He was in one of the caves and was grumbling to himself. "Can't believe they took my Beast Spirit! I worked hard to get that!"
"Oh my, you're so upset that you dropped your caveman speak for a moment there~" A familiar feminine voice spoke up.
"Is that you, Ranamon?" Grumblemon asked.
"How many warriors of water do you know?" The feminine voice asked as she emerged. "It serves you right though, Rockhead. You've been sneaking behind our backs trying to impress Lord Cherubimon."
"What I do is no business of yours," Grumblemon snapped.
"I get the feeling that little black cat may have been slightly responsible for that," Ranamon chuckled. "No way you'd be smart enough to have even gone after those children yourself if she hadn't nudged you in the right direction."
"Me don't care. Me lost Spirit as result." Grumblemon grumbled, living up to his name.
"Thou are mistaken." A sophisticated male voice said as Grumblemon looked back.
"Mercurymon, Warrior of Steel." Grumblemon noted.
"Thou's thoughtless actions reflect badly upon us." Mercurymon continued. "Thou should study thou's opponent, not just boorishly rush into battle."
"Got that right." Another male voice said as a wooden android Digimon came sliding into view.
"Arbormon, Warrior of Wood." Grumblemon muttered.
"So, want me to rough em up for yous?" Arbormon asked, using a godfather accent.
"Hey, what's everyone doing?" BlackGatomon asked as she and Duskmon entered the cave themselves. "We just got back from another stroll."
Duskmon looked at Grumblemon. "You've seen better days."
"Quiet! You don't need to mention that!" Grumblemon huffed.
"Surprised you joined us here tonight, Duskmon, you normally stay outside of HQ around this time," Ranamon noted. "Or is it because you wanted to follow your pet cat around more after nursing her back to health?"
Duskmon growled as his blades came out. "I don't want to be tested, Ranamon." He hissed out. "I'm at the edge of my patience as it is."
"Everyone, calm down." Arbormon said, trying to keep the peace.
"It would seem our circle is complete," Mercurymon noted.
"What, are we here to have a meeting with Lord Cherubimon?" BlackGatomon asked.
"We're here to discuss what we're going to do with those children," Mercurymon answered. "At first they were just nuisances, but lately they've been gaining more power with their Beast Spirits. It will be a problem if they all gain their Beast Spirits, and reach the Forest Terminal."
"Not to mention Grumblemon here lost his Beast Spirit to those kids," Ranamon added.
"Really?" Duskmon raised an eyebrow. "That's definitely a surprise and unexpected."
"Took me by surprise! But won't happen again!" Grumblemon huffed.
"So, what do you think is our best course of action then?" BlackGatomon asked.
"It would be wise to make our move as soon as possible," Mercurymon remarked. "I'd suggest Duskmon to go, as he is the strongest out of all of us. But last I checked, he has no heart for battle. Or has that changed?"
Duskmon furrowed his eyes. "I would rather not fight, but if I have to fight, I will. But I would rather find a way to do things without combat if we can."
BlackGatomon looked up at Duskmon before looking back at Mercurymon. "Lord Cherubimon put me in charge of keeping an eye on Duskmon. It wouldn't be wise to push him into a battle he has no heart for. Since he's the strongest Legendary Warrior here, it may be best to have him as our last line of defense if you guys somehow failed to stop those kids."
Grumblemon grumbled as Mercurymon nodded in agreement of BlackGatomon's assessment.
"Thou have a valid point." Mercurymon conceded. "It would be good to have Duskmon be our last line of defense. Those kids would not expect his strength if they did get the best of the others."
"Then the rest of us should try to get the jump on them, right?" Arbormon asked. "Though half of us don't have our Beast Spirits now, would we be able to do it?"
"We should focus on getting our Beast Spirits for the time being then." Mercurymon said. "It would be vital to us getting the upper hand on those kids."
"My Beast Spirit is with those kids though," Grumblemon pointed out.
"Let's be real, the only ones who don't have their Beast Spirits that wasn't taken away by those kids are Ranamon and Duskmon. And honestly? Duskmon doesn't need it with how strong he is," Arbormon remarked. "Ranamon on the other hand…"
"Hey! I'm working on it, alright!?" Ranamon snapped. "Unlike you guys, my Beast Spirit is hiding in the vast open oceans! Of course it's going to take me longer to find mine!"
"Let us figure out what to do to stop those kids though." Arbormon suggested. "They have beaten Grumblemon. We need to find a way to stop them."
BlackGatomon frowned. Two of them have their Beast Spirits now, huh? "Does anyone know where these children are right now?"
"Last I saw, they were at Rooted Forest…" Grumblemon answered.
"So they're getting close to the Forest Terminal," Mercurymon noted. "They'll be at Seraphimon's castle soon."
"Then we need to put the breaks on their journey!" Ranamon frowned.
"It'd be bad if they woke up Seraphimon after all," Arbormon agreed.
"Thou should not be so hasty," Mercurymon spoke up.
BlackGatomon looked at Mercurymon, sensing ill intentions coming from the Warrior of Steel.
Duskmon noted BlackGatomon looking at Mercurymon. He didn't want to ask why though, because he didn't want to make it look like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. But he was curious as to why BlackGatomon was concerned about something.
"Well, until you guys have something figured out, Duskmon and I will be sitting outside for some air," BlackGatomon said.
Duskmon was surprised, but he didn't show it. Instead, he nodded. "Yes, these meetings bore me anyway."
Mercurymon huffed. "Suit thyself. All you do is stare at the moons most of the time anyway."
"The moons are pretty soothing," BlackGatomon shrugged. "At least they don't make Duskmon go hungry like Arbormon."
Duskmon snickered as Arbormon scowled at BlackGatomon. "Hey! That's not true!"
"I think it is very true." Duskmon remarked with a smirk in his voice. "Now we've got to get some air. This meeting is stuffy enough as it is."
"Such sassy things you two are," Ranamon huffed. "Honestly, I don't know which one of you rubbed off the other more…"
BlackGatomon and Duskmon walked out of the cave, going outside.
"So… they're already close to the Forest Terminal…" BlackGatomon muttered.
"Is that bothering you?" Duskmon asked as he stopped beside BlackGatomon, looking down at her.
"Yeah, a little bit," BlackGatomon admitted.
"Do you think they'll succeed?" Duskmon asked.
"Hmm…" BlackGatomon hesitated before looking at Duskmon. "Not that I'm ungrateful for it, but… why did you stick with me and got me medicine until I was better after the incident at Gotsumon Village?"
Duskmon looked down, hesitant to answer. "I… don't really know…" He admitted at last. "But… something about you feels… familiar… to me, and I wanted to protect you."
"Familiar, huh?" BlackGatomon said before she sighed a little. "... I think… you've started to care about me. People wouldn't do something like take care of a sick person if they didn't care or were forced to do it. You didn't seem like you were forced to take care of me. Maybe I have influenced you more than I thought I did."
Duskmon chuckled. "Maybe you have." He conceded. He then sighed himself. "I just felt like I couldn't lose you. It's strange. I've never felt that way about someone before, not even the other Legendary Warriors on our side."
"The other Legendary Warriors hadn't even tried to talk to you," BlackGatomon said. "At least not until I came along. You must've been pretty lonely for a while. I guess that's why Lord Cherubimon sent me here. He figured you could use a friend." I couldn't say why someone like this Cherubimon would care though. Seems a little out of character… unless something else is going on that it shouldn't be.
Duskmon shrugged, not really thinking about it too hard. "At least it's given me a reason to be more active and in the field recently, so I'm not complaining about it."
"Yeah, it's been great being able to work with you and all," BlackGatomon agreed before she frowned, she had been worried about… when time was up. "... What would you do though if… one day, I… disappeared?"
Duskmon looked at BlackGatomon in surprise. "What do you mean 'if you disappeared'?" He asked, confused and concerned. "You're not going to disappear, are you?"
"Hmm… well, the future isn't written in stone," BlackGatomon vaguely answered. "But I would like to know, hypothetically, what would you do if I disappeared one day? Would you be alright?"
Duskmon looked down. "I would be lonely…" He admitted. "Although I am on the same side, I don't feel much camaraderie with the other Legendary Warriors under Lord Cherubimon's command. I feel like an outsider to them."
"Heh… I know that feeling," BlackGatomon chuckled. "Perhaps we're a kindred spirit then, maybe that's why we get along so well. Of course, I was assigned to you to be your guide. Once you no longer need a guide… when you're able to take care of yourself, my role here will come to an end."
"That's good to hear." Duskmon sighed in relief. "I just hope it doesn't come too soon."
Duskmon then looked back at BlackGatomon. "Why did you bring this up, anyway? It's kinda sudden and out of nowhere."
"Maybe to you it is," BlackGatomon chuckled before sighing. "It was something I've been thinking about lately. You have changed, at least a little, since we met. You're a little more open, you like going on these strolls instead of just staring at the sky at night, you've helped those Gotsumon even when it felt more like a bother to you, and you even made sure I was okay after I fell sick for a bit."
"So what?" Duskmon asked.
"Nothing much, I just think… I like that," BlackGatomon replied.
"You… think the changes are good?" Duskmon blinked. He looked down in thought. "Now that you mention it… I have felt a bit more at peace… I don't feel as confused as I was about myself before, I feel… like that's a good thing…"
"Hold on to that feeling," BlackGatomon said. "While feeling emotions might be seen as a weakness, it's what makes you alive, and life worth living. Being a soulless husk is no better than being dead."
Duskmon chuckled. "I suppose it is." He agreed. "Don't worry, I won't let go of these feelings. It's better to be more open than closed off."
"Good." BlackGatomon smiled. "Well, it seems things are going to be a lot more lively now that those children caught the attention of the other Legendary Warriors. Two of them already got their Beast Spirit."
Duskmon looked at BlackGatomon again. "Which ones got their Beast Spirits?"
"I don't know, they didn't say which ones got them, just that two of them did," BlackGatomon shrugged. "But even so, they seemed pretty confident you'd still be able to take them all even without your Beast Spirit."
"Well, I am the strongest of the group." Duskmon said with a bit of pride in his voice. He then looked down again. "But that means I am pretty much lonely at the top. Strength is good and all, but it can distance others from me."
"Seems you realized this on your own," BlackGatomon noted.
"And yet, you still took the time to talk to me," Duskmon noted. "You were assigned to keep me company and be my guide, but you've become… something more."
"Heh… yeah, I guess I had," BlackGatomon said. "Would you say a friend?"
Duskmon's lower face was not visible, but his smile was seen in his eyes. "I would say so, yes." He agreed in a warm tone.
BlackGatomon gave a small smile herself. "Well, we still have some time before the others try to form an attack plan. We might as well enjoy the night ourselves."
Duskmon laughed. "Anything to not get involved. I'd prefer walking around here to making plans any day." He then glanced down at his friend again. "Any suggestions on what we could do?"
"Let's just see where the road takes us this time," BlackGatomon replied.
Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: I'm glad you're looking forward to it, but is there anything else you want to say about the story?
ZAFT: We talked about this, Titanic… '
pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: Oh, you will see what happens next~ X3
DarkFoxKit: Or rather you saw what happened if you had read the chapter before coming down here. Hope we didn't disappoint.