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Another blitz of scrolls. And another. And another.

“This pattern won’t sustain you, fox!” MetalPhantomon taunted. “I may not be able to harvest the silver one, but Master says both your and the human’s heads are free game, and I damn sure intend to reap the rewards.” I tried to ignore the downright hideous pun, given how Taomon was literally fighting for her life here. All she’d received so far was nicks and scratches, but all of us knew that wouldn’t hold out, and I wasn’t too quick with ideas at the moment. I’d thrown out the obvious card first, a Hyperspeed. Somehow, MetalPhantomon managed to make that a way for her to trip over her own feet, but faster. So, that was out. She wasn’t landing any hits, or even trying for any, so offensive boosting was also out. Logically, a defensive boost was an excellent idea, but given how many seals he had practically broken, I was nowhere near confident enough to let Taomon take a hit, no matter how armored she might be. So, what did that leave? Jack fucking shit.

I just sat, stroking Raia’s now unconscious form, knowing if this kept up, she’d be taken from me. She’d passed out completely shortly after I’d gone back to check on her. While she was dreaming, I was watching the scariest death waltz I probably ever would. He’s just so damn fast. I don’t know how you could keep up.

Yeah, well somehow I’m managing. I’d long since ignored my mental link, because Taomon was more than a bit stressed and I wasn’t getting anything useful out of her. The crucial question was all I could think about anyways: when will this end, and how? More than once, I thought it was upon me. Taomon would miss a bit, and MetalPhantomon would abuse the relief of suppression. The scythe would fly out and whiff, often slicing the fabric of Taomon’s robes, undoubtedly slicing short a few hairs. Eventually, I decided I could take no more.

I can’t believe I’m even thinking this, but at this point, you might as well just charge him and hope to God. I thought to her. A feeling of fear and stress was the response. Die a Spartan, go home carrying your shield or carried on it. I have no idea if she really was even cognizant of my words to her beneath the stress, but her actions from there lead me to believe so. She went for another evasion, but this time, turned her foot to an odd angle, something so minute that few would notice. In this instance, she redirected the entirety of her momentum at MetalPhantomon and prepared another barrage of scrolls. What resulted was her target hitting her, but not nearly as hard as he could have, slicing into her, and him taking the full brunt of the scroll blitz, which probably hurt a hell of a lot more. What had kept him from killing her in that moment, I can only guess at. I suppose, in my mind at least, that you wouldn’t put full force into strikes you’re sure won’t hit. Of course, neither Taomon nor I had any inkling of knowledge as to whether or not that that was the case here. Luck, sheer, incredibly stupid luck, was what primarily won that blow for us.

With her opponent knocked on his heels, I began to feed instruction to Taomon, hoping to God she’d heed it. As he toppled from the scroll impact, she turned and drew her brush once again, moving swift as she could. I took the time to swipe another Hyperspeed card, hoping she wasn’t so exhausted that it wouldn’t take. It seemed to, as she drew a special seal over MetalPhantomon, a Seal of Binding. Thanks to the Hyperspeed, she was able to add extra elements to boost the power. The result was a sort of dark binding which strapped over the fallen reaper, pinning him to the cold earth. The extra power seemed to be just enough to hold him, at least until Taomon could deliver the killing blow. The reaper’s eyes went wide as he saw the brush rise high, preparing to drop upon his very life like an all-too-literal guillotine.

Reacting quickly, I thrust as much of my consciousness at our mental link as I could, bringing Taomon’s muscles to a screeching halt. You wait. We’re finding out what the hell’s going on first, then you can off the bastard. Taomon sighed, nodded, and fell back a step, directing her energy towards maintaining the seal. I checked Raia once more, detecting no change, and walked to the reaper. I looked to my unwillingly wakeful partner and saw the sheer exhaustion in her eyes. This would have to be quick.

I planted my foot on what I assumed was MetalPhantomon’s neck, mostly for effect. I guess no one can say I don’t have a tendency for the dramatic. “Who is your master.” I said, rather than asked. “I’m in no mood for bullshit, just tell me before I figure out a way to corrupt data.”

The digimon stared up at me indignantly. “Idle threats. Soon your bitch will weaken and I’ll be freed.” I stared back at him for a moment, and walked away from him, towards Raia. What the hell are you doing? Taomon pressed.

“Shut up.” I replied flatly to both of them at once, swiping a card through the digivice as I spoke. Ophanimon’s Holy Spear appeared in Raia’s paws and I took it, returning to MetalPhantomon and leveling the point to his neck. “Call her a bitch again and I’ll fight you myself, clear? Now, answer my fucking question.”

“A bluff?” He chuckled arrogantly. “I’m not afraid of you, hu-” He was cut off by my forcing the spear into his skull. I rotated it, digging around inside him.

“Maybe I’ll find the cluster of cells you have the balls to call a brain and yank them out on this spear?” My face was stone-set as I shifted the instrument, noticing him straining less. Taomon sighed over our link, and I could tell the relief was helpful. “Talk, bitch.”

“The Dark Lord will crush you!” He cried. I sighed, shaking my head with disappointment.

“Fuck it.” I forced the spear deeper and signaled Taomon to come close. My voice was flat and plain like a fresh slate. “Kill him. We’re done with this stupidity.” She nodded and, much to the reaper’s horrified screams, drove the spear fully through him, breaking him to bits. I sighed, as did Taomon, obviously exhausted with the whole course of events, pulled out my digivice, and canceled the spear effect as she devolved to her rookie form. She stumbled a bit, but I was there to shoulder her fall, helping her along. We shuffled over to Raia, and I threw her over my shoulder, walking back to our makeshift camp.

In our fatigue, and realizing that Raia would likely still be pissed upon waking, we devised an excessively half-baked plan. Renamon sluggishly hauled Raia up a tree, I found some vine-like vegetation that was somehow not rotted, and we tied her to a heavy branch. Yes, it would piss her off more, but at least we’d know where she was. With that, Renamon and I curled up at the base of the tree, me enjoying her warmth, and her simply having the pleasure of my contact. Sleep was elusive though, despite our obvious exhaustion. Raia would be out for quite some time, so we decided to take a bit to relax before trying to sleep again. We drug up a small pile of dry wood and Renamon lit a ghost fire, returning the world to the faint, colorless light I’d grown used to.

“Seems like ages since we were just able to talk, just you and me, ya know?” I said, idly poking at the fire. “When Raia stormed off, I was reminded of that. You’re quiet, but when you do speak at length, I really enjoy it.” Renamon brought a bashful paw to her face and I smiled. She was very cute at times, despite her thick hide. To think, I thought only to myself, that I’m the only one who knows this side of her.

Renamon smiled and idly toyed with her tail, opposite me with the fire between us. The light, though pale, couldn’t diminish the vibrance of her coat, rather accenting the textures and curves, such as her ruff, underlit and shadowing her neck. I leaned back into the tree I’d sat near, returning her smile warmly. “It’s so dark here.” Renamon noted.

“Yeah, pretty much perfect for someone like you who enjoys being hidden.”

“I…” She stopped, hesitated, then pressed on. “I don’t mind being seen, not with you around.” I smiled. Looking back, Rika’d really put her back a step socially. Of course, one can’t expect much to work with from a race of born fighters, but still, not much was done with what was there.

“You’re very guarded, even around me. Although you do open up some when we’re alone.”

Her eyes darted around, finally landing in my gaze. She was feeling scared, vulnerable, open, things she wasn’t at all acclimated to. I rose partially and shuffled over, sitting down next to her, our hips touching.

“And I don’t mind that. You don’t have to be tough around me, you know that. We’ve been through enough that I trust you with my life, in and out of battle. You’ve not had anyone you could really trust prior to our meeting, so I don’t expect quite the same from you. I’ve proven myself in the fray, but out of it I can’t really say.” I kissed her cheek, feeling the heat of her blush well up through her fur. “Was there ever someone like me for you where you came from?”

She shook her head. “No, none. All our time was used to grow in strength and we were meant to be our own support, with mating only occurring for purposes of keeping the numbers up. I never really thought of love until I came to the human world, where survival wasn’t a constant worry, which is likely what catalyzed the development of those feelings. I learned from watching, as I did with everything else.”

“Watching Rika?” She laughed and I realized the question I’d really just asked.

“No, Rika wasn’t a good source for learning about humans. Hard and cynical, only interested in power, despite your insistence she would change, not to mention how she was rarely around any others by choice. Instead, I went out at night, hiding and watching people in the streets. I saw love and hate, anger and sadness, happiness and laughter, a slice of every part of life. Still, until I went with you I never experienced any of the good and only some of the bad other than vicariously. You’ve taught me much more though.” She smiled and I wrapped an arm around her.

“Glad I could, and can continue to.” I was quiet after that, content to lie against Renamon and the tree, slowly drifting to sleep. After a while, Renamon kicked dirt into the fire with a deft shift of the foot. Darkness surrounding us again, leaving us truly alone, both of us fell smooth asleep.

=====

I woke to yelling, as expected, and shrugged, barely able to open my eyes. One really shitty thing about endless, abject darkness is that it seriously screws with your perception of time, which was already a fleeting and hard to grasp concept in the digital world. Like many other digital systems, it likely operates off of ticks, rather than seconds, being much shorter and more useful in determining the length of system processes, like-

“- getting me the fuck down from here!” Raia screamed, breaking my train of thought. “You hear me? You better start waking up and getting me-”

“Shut the hell up!” I yelled, still half dazed and trying to wake up. I finally cracked my eyes open, seeing Renamon already at work with the vines. I walked below the two, waiting.

“These vines won’t cut and I can’t find the knot.” Renamon complained, with Raia preparing to launch another tirade. I sighed, stopping her before that fire could light.

“Just kick the branch.” I said, waiting patiently. Renamon did so and I soon found my arms full of rotted stick and pissed off silver Renamon. I set Raia down and stomped on the branch, careful not to hit her, and felt it shatter, loosening the vines. Raia slipped from them and stood, her mouth already open to start in on me again. I gave her no quarter, however, and kissed her openmouthed. She blushed hot through her fur and I pulled back from her. “I’m sorry, Raia. For all this shit.”

Raia sighed as Renamon walked over, giving me the opportunity to pull them into a hug, both of them returning the gesture at their own pace. “We can’t let this madness get between us, else I’ll end up getting killed by one of you.” I half-joked, noting the fury I’d seen in Raia’s eyes whilst bound up. “I’m sorry I acted like I did Raia, I was tired and wasn’t taking the situation’s full weight, while you still were.” She clung a bit tighter to me, and a kiss on the cheek hopefully assured her that there was no need for any more words on the subject.

We separated and Renamon took the initiative of speech. “Now that you two have settled that, we should be moving. Raia?” The silver Renamon nodded and light up another of her pale fireballs, leading us further into the darkness.

Soon after we’d started again, a fog set down, thin at first, but thickening up. I tried to dismiss it, but I started seeing “shadows on the road”, so to speak, like figments of the mind when driving late at night. Logically, you know they aren’t there, but they startle you nevertheless, although I couldn’t be quite so sure in this case…

A slight growl formed from Raia’s throat as she brightened her makeshift torch yet again, trying in vain to combat the dense miasma. “This is becoming ridiculous.” She looked to Renamon. “Something is toying with us.” The statement also seemed to be a question, with Renamon nodding and actively increasing her awareness to overcome the obvious impairment.

“Another sign we must be going the right way.” I said with a note of despair, mixed with anticipation. “We’ll run across something eventually.” Both Renamon nodded as we continued to blindly plod along. Blindly indeed, as we soon found ourselves travelling in large slow circles. As we walked, I grew more frustrated, and when I caught a glimpse of one of the shadows that was more clear than usual, I lashed at it. I groaned angrily as I swung through thick, open air.

“You’re seeing them as well?” Renamon queried, to which I nodded. “They aren’t shadows of your mind. Something has been casting illusions; Raia’s been noticing them too.”

I sighed, collecting myself. “So how do we find this ‘something’ so you can have the pleasure of kicking it into the dirt?” Renamon shook her head.

“It’s like your Labyrinth myth, we won’t find the center or the way out, not without a guide.” She cast her gaze out into the fog. “It will come to us when it believes us to be weak enough to take on. A coward, yes, but a smart one.”

“So we either run ourselves dead or sit and wait for something that will never come?” I asked, growing frustrated again. “Roundabout tactics like this really get under my skin.”

Raia chimed in, her free paw resting on my back. “I have another idea. Just calm yourself and trust me.” She stroked my back slowly, relaxing me a bit. Her face was still cheerful, reminiscent of her normal self, just as Renamon’s currently tense nature was. “The madness, remember? Don’t let it get to you.” Although it was directed to me, I looked past Raia to see Renamon silently sigh and relax her shoulders. I walked past Raia, touching Renamon’s arm, causing her to look at me. Our eyes met, a bit of fear hiding in the icy blue of hers.

“We trust you, Rai, just lead on and we’ll follow.”

=====

Shadows danced playfully at my peripheries, taunting me like imps, urging me to waste the time to look, to make a fool of myself and lash at them. It felt like insanity, and not a sort I was used to. Perhaps it was the way I had to keep reminding myself the visions weren’t real, despite their lucidity, like a paranoid schizophrenic. The darkness, the ambience enveloping the whole of the densely fogged forest we were lost in didn’t help at all. I sighed audibly. It’s as if we’re walking through the personification of depression. Raia and Renamon’s ears perked up as I thought this, so I decided to explain aloud, in a vain attempt to break the glass-like silence.

“Depression is not unlike this. It’s like being trapped in a wasteland like this, essentially shit in every direction. The only way out is to keep walking, but some get lost, and others discouraged by the lack of any noticeable progress. It’s like a black hole, devoid of any light because it captures any that passes by. One has to have the determination to keep moving through the dark, like we are, to get out.” I kicked the occasional rock as we walked, both of them listening in full silence as I spoke. “But while the fear of never escaping is present in both, on the tangible plane, it never fades to a sad contentment. We have our lives on the line, whereas the depressed simply don’t know what to do with theirs. I suppose it’s like a twisted motivator.” As the last syllable fell from my lips, Raia went to her knees. I stopped next to her, kneeling and seeing her eyes well with tears.

“I can’t do this.” She said, near silent. Her eyes threatened to loose a flood, but she held back. “We won’t get out of here; I have no idea what I’m doing.”

I pulled her to my chest, onto my lap as I sat down, gesturing for Renamon to do the same. “Raia, we haven’t been in here that long.” I looked over her shoulder and mouthed to Renamon, “Have we?” Her confused look frightened me, making me aware of just how hard it was to track time here.

“I can’t, Luke, it’s too much. I’m lost, I can’t get out!” Raia curled up, her legs drawing into her chest as she began to shut down. I sighed, knowing we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere if she was in the midst of a breakdown. The vulnerability of our situation took little time to dawn on me, and less so of Renamon.

Sure enough, as I slid Raia from my lap, I heard a cackle echo through the fog, which began to dissipate, but only for a small area.

“Fucking hell, an arena, really?” I questioned to the fog. “And dirty tactics like this? Ah, well, what can I expect from the hell spawn that hides in the dark?” I was ready taunt further, wanting to draw out our enemy as quick as I could. There was no need, however, as a branch shot through the fog behind us.

“Ironic that the one who warned against the madness was the first to embrace it, hmmm?” A large tree digimon said as it pierced the fog. “Perhaps I can simply take that useless fluff ball from your hands and send you on your way?” As it cleared the fog, I determined it to be a Cherrymon, probably the most living piece of wood in the whole forest.

A flare was flung at him, originating from Renamon, who was unnaturally angry. “Say that again and you’ll be tinder, clear?” A snarl sounded from her curled muzzle, a large show of emotion from my usually stoic partner. “She’s my damn partner, and I won’t have some necrophilic driftwood insulting her!”

The Cherrymon seemed confused, looking to me and following my gaze to the dead forest around him. He scowled quickly and whipped vines at Renamon, slashing at her calves as she rushed at him, palms alight with flames. They clashed as I pulled my digivice out, with Renamon lobbing the fireballs at his face, blacking spots on his bark. Renamon kicked off of him, simultaneously disengaging and attacking, putting a few feet between them. I saw a silver shine past the both of them, realizing a second late that Raia had snuck up on him. She pounced on him from behind and Renamon grinned, tackling him from the front, toppling the behemoth tree.

After a few moments of the foxes swarming across his wide form, both of them laying into him with fireballs as I ran closer to the fight, I saw Raia get thrown off of him, off into the fog. He clutched Renamon as he crawled to his feet, tossing her at me and turning to run, the fog he’d made thickening to cover his escape. My vision was quickly obscured, but I saw the fog envelop the last of him before getting hit, and I already knew he was gone, likely without a trace to follow.

“Quite the ruse, I’ll have to remember it!” Renamon collided with me, knocking me on my ass. I groaned and picked myself up, helping her to her feet and leading her to where Cherrymon had been. The fog soon dissipated entirely, clearing the air around us. We found Raia and collected her, setting to collecting our bearings and me nursing any wounds they might have procured. Irritation flooded my senses as we’d found another lead and lost it, still absolutely clueless as to what was going on, beyond the fact that whoever-the-hell was after Raia, alive it seemed. I sighed, returning my full attention to Renamon’s lashed legs, running my hands along them to check for swells or cuts. Renamon and Raia giggled a little, and I realized I was smiling. I sighed again, relishing the moment. The little things, you know?

=====

The large cherry tree stumbled into the large hall deep in the Dark Zone, his bark deeply cut with blackened grooves, as if he were clawed at by fire.

“They’re quite the trio.” He forced the words out, clearly in pain. “She won’t come without quite a fight.”

Still rattling his fingers against the arm of his chair like he seemed to always have been, The Dark Lord groaned irately. “Yes, I suspected that after Phantomon failed.” He sighed, obviously irate, but trying hard not to show it. Cherrymon shook slightly, waiting for a blow to come.

After a moment of cringe, he looked up to find his Lord directing LadyDevimon towards him. “Take him to rest and meet with his partner.” He eyed the battle-scarred digimon before him. “Count yourself lucky, tree. I need you for later, when you’ll undoubtedly prove more use. Your partner is all the luckier, as he’ll not have to face them as you have. Can’t risk his arrogance getting ahead of him, hmmm? Now, go, rest.”

As Cherrymon was led away, sighing of relief, the Renamon and their tamer were doing the same, recovering from another rough encounter. Their tamer slept, having traveled far with little complaint after the last fight, but while he wasn’t the one fighting, he was only human and had limits to abide by. The Renamon quietly sat around yet another makeshift camp, enjoying simply sitting with each other, both reflection on Renamon’s comment, Renamon being slightly embarrassed and Raia being deeply honored, feeling an acceptance she’d not truly felt from her fellow Renamon since they’d met. Perhaps a bit of thanks was in order…