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A swirl of multi-colored light rose into the sky, lighting the area almost as brightly as the sun in the heavens. Coyote simply kneeled where he was for a brief second, too stunned at what had just happened to move. As the others began moving, well, that was when Coyote finally reacted.

He howled to the skies, his cries of pain stopping everyone. They could all hear the pain and anger in his voice as the human mourned the loss of not only a soldier, but what some knew to be a brother of sorts to him. Tom looked at the lightshow and shook his head. "Dammit Fox, why did you do that?" he asked himself quietly, holding Rena close to him. Rena was more or less thinking the same thing. Why Ronin, why did you do it? the vixen thought to herself. Then it hit her. What Ronin told her not even two days ago. 'When I look at Tom, I see myself.'

The other Renamon present were shocked still until Vixinomon started shouting. "That bastard cheated! He killed my brother! Kill him, kill him now!" They started heading towards Tom, but it was then that Rena Digivolved to her more...regal, and much more deadly form.

"You will not so much as touch him you bitch!" growled Rena defensively. "We just lost a friend thanks to your ass of a brother!"

"And I don't care what some useless creature meant to you and your pathetic human!" Vixinomon growled back, far too gone for reasoning. That is, until they heard a high-pitched whine coming from Coyote's direction. They looked at him and shuddered as they saw him standing, his right arm incased in a beam cannon, and aiming at Vixinomon.

"Say that, one more time," he said darkly. Vixinomon scoffed at him.

"Or what? You'll do something just as weak as your little pathetic friend? Guards, kill him for drawing a weapon," she ordered several of her clansmen. They took a step, and that was about as far as they got as Coyote fired Wave Beam shots into their limbs. The Digimon in the arena looked in shock, awe, and fear as the shots all but destroyed the limbs hit, leaving nothing but digitally corroded stumps. Vixinomon was about to enter the fray when she felt something hit her. Hard. She flew into the wall of the arena, and soon had a boot from a very angry human on her throat.

Doamon was about to shout for the rest of the guards to intervene, hell or highwater when he was stopped by Yima. Doamon was about to ask his mate why she stopped him when she gave him a single glare, that all but dared him to test her patience. Doamon gulped as he turned back to the disaster down on the arena floor.

Vixinomon looked at Coyote in fear as he gave the vixen a good look at the cannon that was now crackling with indigo waves of energy. Looking down at her, he said, with absolute seriousness in his voice, "Now, you will listen. You, and your brother, have indirectly killed not only a soldier, but also a friend of Luna's, and my BROTHER. And if you ever, ever, insult his memory, or the memory of the fallen members of the Sun-Burst Clan, who, oh by the way, are my decendants, I will end you. It is not a threat, do you understand?"

Vixinomon nodded hurriedly; already, she could feel the effects of the Wave Beam on her fur, her nerves fraying quicker by the second as the electrical surges corrupted the data in her fur. Coyote deactivated his beam cannon and put it away. But just as Vixinomon started to get up, Coyote swirled around and stabbed her in the chest with a pair of crystalline blades! Pinning her to the wall, Coyote leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "This, this is more than what you deserve, bitch." Twisting the blades to increase the pain, Coyote let go of the blades and started walking away.

Everyone looked and gave Coyote a wide birth as he walked out of the arena. Ralis turned to his father. "Father, by all rights, and by own laws, Tom won. Gravismon Digivolved, forfeiting the match. So, in short Father, you may as well say good-bye to my sister," he said. Turning away, he also walked out of the box, heading out of the arena.

Rena looked at Tom and saw that even though he was a Spartan, he was still a bit weak. So, she took his shirt collar into her mouth and flipped him onto her back. Sparing one look at her father, the vixen left the arena, following the D. Rifters out and back to her uncle's home.

Outside, Coyote had walked away from the arena for about fifty feet before falling to his knees again. Coming over to him, Rahne stopped to pick him up, but as she was about to do so, she was stopped by her mate. "Don't" he told her softly. "I...I need to do this." Nodding, she at least helped her mate up, but let go for him to walk back to the manor.

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They all reached the manor several hours ago, and right now, the surviving D. Rifters and several Renamon were out in Darkamon's garden looking down at a trio of freshly dug graves. None of them actually had a body, save for Gym's, but that didn't really matter. Coyote stood at the front, his face stone-cut and harsh. "Present, ARMS!" he barked. As one, Tom, Varak, Ralis, Ari, Darka, Rena, and Rahne raised their borrowed Toshigan rifles into the air. "Fire!" The seven of them fired a three round burst and lowered their weapons. Coyote repeated the order only two more times, each of them paused for seven seconds. After the last second after the last shot, Coyote saluted the graves. The others did the same, all of them looked at Coyote in sadness.

Coyote put down his arm, the signal for the others to do the same. "Dismissed, burial detail," he said quietly. The others left, all save for one. The two left both looked down at Ronin's grave, a simple cross with a photo of Coyote and Ronin enjoying a day at the beach. They stood there for several minutes, simply thinking about the sniper, and soon, rain started falling. Looking over at Coyote, Tom felt rather uncomfortable at the prospect of asking the question he had in mind. After all the wounds were still very fresh; Tom knew very much how that felt. But for now, Tom simply told him, "Zack's going to pay for this, I swear."

Coyote shook his head. "No, it was all my fault." Tom looked at Coyote oddly. "I never should have been so damn attached to him. I-I just couldn't help myself from saving him on San Madrid." Holding up Ronin's dripping wet dog-tags, Coyote continued. "I never should have been his master."

Tom shook his head. "Hey, he followed you willingly, didn't he?" he asked. Coyote nodded sadly.

"Yeah, but I always made sure to tell him that his future was his own. He chose to be with me, and look what happened!" Coyote retorted, pointing at the grave.

Tom took Coyote's hand and lowered it. "Hey, he followed you because he trusted you. It's not your fault he's gone."

"Yes it is!" Coyote shouted. "He was supposed to be leading Delta on a training mission, and I fucked it up by not leading a mission in months! I trusted him to do the right things, and...I'm going to miss him." Tears were now falling down Coyote's face, lost in the rain like the man they were for.

Tom stood silent for a second, and asked the question that he would have asked Ronin, but never had the courage to do so. "Hey, who was in that photo that Ronin always carried around? I never saw it, and well..."

Coyote sighed. "It was his sister, Kayleigh. She was six when it was taken, right before the Toshigan attacked San Madrid. I remember, that Ronin wanted to run after her when the remaining PDF forces took her away. He fought me so hard, but I told him that he'd have to live to free her. He calmed down, took his revolver and rifle, and became a Drifter," he explained.

"Is she still alive?" Tom asked.

Coyote shrugged. "We don't know. The N.A.W. shut itself tighter than a clam after the assault on San Madrid, so we don't know the status of any of the planets. Best case scenario, she's living a good life, with a good master. Worst case, well,...Ronin never dwelt on that for more than a second," he said.

Tom sighed. He had photographic memory, so if anything, all Tom had to do was look for a Voxin in the N.A.W., whatever that was, that looked like Ronin. I'll find her Fox, I promise, Tom thought.

"Let's go inside. God has shed his tears for Ronin," Coyote said sadly. Together, the two of them turned around and walked back into the manor.