Digimon Seductive Shadows

[LORD_ARM]

I've forgotten, what age is takato supposed to be in this story?

That depends on if his is based on Japanese or US version.

Ja about 12

US about 14

 

[Ryuugi]

XxXXxX

LadyDevimon flew until they reached a part of the forest where the canopy hid the ground completely, before carefully lowering them both to the ground. Takato climbed down from her eyes and turned to her, question plain in his eyes.

“What’s wrong, LadyDevimon?”

His partner hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure how to respond, before slowly shaking her head.

“It’ll be easier to show you then to explain, I think—especially since even I don’t understand what’s happening.” She said, frustration in her tone. “LEVEL: 666. SYSTEM: ASMODEUS. CODE: LUST. My color is Green, my sin is Lust, the Heavenly Body that watches over me is the Moon, and my spirit is Phul, who rules the waters and the moon; I am Lilithmon of the Seven Great Demon Lords.”

Takato furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at her words before lifting them in surprise as the Crest of Lust began carving itself into existence beneath her. He stepped closer to his partner to get a better look and, after a moment of hesitation, knelt down to touch it. Besides somehow emitting light, it didn’t seem to have any particular presence, nor was it otherwise different from the rest of the ground.

He hummed, an interested sound in the back of his throat, before looking up as his partner who was shifting nervously, as if awaiting his judgment.

He shrugged at her.

“Kinda weird,” He admitted. “But to be honest, glowing symbols don’t even break the top fifty on my weird list.”

“But what’s it mean?” LadyDevimon asked, still nervous but having relaxed a bit with Takato’s easy acceptance. “The words came to me when I evolved, but I don’t understand what they mean.”

“Uh…Dunno. I know 666 is the Number of the Beast, but you are a Fallen Angel Digimon, so I wouldn’t worry about it. No idea who or what Asmodeus is, though. Lust is…” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Well, it’s desire, basically, but since we’re talking about Fallen Angels and Demons and stuff…I remember something about the Seven Sins from an anime and lust was one of them, I think. I only saw a few episodes of it, to be honest. You know what Green is and about the Moon—wait, you’ve never seen the moon, have you?”

“No, but I know what it is.” LadyDevimon said, gesturing for him to continue.

“Um…no idea who Phul is, but Lilithmon is definitely the name of a Digimon. I’ve heard the name Lilith a few times, but…well, it’s probably not referring to an anime or game character, so I can’t tell you much more than that. I don’t remember any Lilithmon from the card game, either. But you said you were Lilithmon?”

She nodded uncertainly.

“It’s true,” She admitted. “I don’t know what it means or even who Lilithmon is, but I know I’m Lilithmon.”

Takato frowned, thinking about that.

“Maybe Lilithmon was who you used to be?” He suggested hesitantly. “I…guess that it’s possible? If a Digimon was deleted and not loaded…Jen and I thought that it might someday reform. So that’s possible…maybe? Or…”

He paused, remembering Megidramon and what had happened in the fight with Beelzebumon. When Beelzebumon had tried to shoot him, somehow, even as Guilmon, Megidramon’s tail had whipped out and saved their lives. With the life-threatening danger and panic surrounding the event—and every event that had followed up until Guilmon had been forced to return to the Digital World—he hadn’t thought about it much at the time. But he’d thought about it in the months afterwards. No answers had been forthcoming and he’d had no way to actually find them, but…

“Or,” He repeated. “Maybe Lilithmon is who you…will be? You’re a Perfect level at the moment, which means you have one more stage of evolution left. So perhaps Lilithmon’s your Ultimate level? Or, hm…actually, it could even be both, I guess. Digimon life cycles are kinda weird—no offense.”

“You think I’ll evolve into Lilithmon?” LadyDevimon asked, shifting uncomfortably. “Are you sure?”

Takato hummed and shrugged again.

“Can’t say I am. I’m just speculating based off what you said about being Lilithmon. From what I know about the cards and the games—and, though I don’t want to brag, what I know is damn near everything—Lilithmon has never appeared in either. So it’s just a guess—it’s a good guess, though, because this is my area of expertise. And from what I can tell, you’re following a dark version of the Tailmon evolution path.”

LadyDevimon looked at him silently for a moment as he stood there looking proud.

“You realize I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?” She said flatly. Takato looked surprised for a moment, apparently not realizing that, but quickly recovered.

“Okay, see, Plotmon can evolve into Tailmon, a white version of BlackTailmon. Tailmon is a Holy Beast type Digimon and BlackTailmon is a Demon Beast type. Tailmon evolves in Angewomon, an Archangel type Digimon, and you evolved into LadyDevimon, a Fallen Angel type. Pretty obvious similarities there, right?”

LadyDevimon nodded slowly, committing that to memory.

“I see. And who does…Angewomon evolve into?” She asked.

“Two real possibilities: Holydramon, a Holy Dragon type, and Ophanimon, an Ophan Type—which is apparently some type of angel. And I’m willing to bet you won’t become a dark version of Holydramon, for a number of reasons. Beyond how much I prefer Ophanimon to Holydramon as Tailmon’s Ultimate, if you evolve, odds are we’ll…” Takato cleared his throat, still getting used to the idea. “Biomerge. And in every case of Biomerging I’ve seen—which, to be fair, is only four—that resulted in a humanoid Digimon. So, probably a dark version of Ophanimon and thus probably a demon type. See?”

“I guess so,” LadyDevimon muttered.

“Then what’s wrong, LadyDevimon? You seem oddly worried about this.”

LadyDevimon was silent for a moment, before sitting down with a deep sigh. With her clawed hand, she absently carved furrows into the ground.

“When I was fighting those Digimon back there…I wanted to destroy them, Takato. I hated them and I wanted them dead.”

Takato shifted so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder and waited for her to look at him. When she finally did, he gently laid his hand on hers, curling his fingers around it.

“And you thoughts I would hate you for that?” Takato asked, disappointedly. “LadyDevimon…it’s okay. Its okay that you hate them after all they’ve done. You hate them for all the innocent people they’ve hurt and for what they’ve done to you—and its okay. I know this is going to sound like a really weird moral lesson, but…it’s okay to hate, sometimes. I would never hold that against you, because we’re partners.”

“I never thought you’d hold it against me.” She said immediately. “Never. That’s not what worried me. But…when I fought them…it was more than hate. I wanted to make them suffer. I wanted to kill them slowly, torture them, and make them scream. I wanted them to feel the pain they’d caused so many and…and it scared me.”

It was an admission of weakness and making it must have cost her something. Takato squeezed her hand comfortingly and waited for her to continue.

“I stood above them all and thought…I could kill them. I could tear them apart and wipe them off the surface of the Digital World. It would be easy and it would be fun. I would have had so much fun making them die Takato; I can’t even—“

She cut herself off and looked away.

“But instead, you flew to me,” Takato stated. “Why?”

She peaked back at him.

“I…I don’t know. I really don’t. I…I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to be like them. I was…maybe it scared me so much I came running to you.” She turned to face him fully. “Tell me, Takato. What am I becoming?”

For a moment, he just looked at her—but then he smiled.

“You’re not becoming anything. You’re you and you will always be you. I don’t know what is causing this, but it doesn’t matter; you didn’t want to obey it, so you chose not to, and that’s that. And remember this, too; no matter what you evolve into, no matter what happens, you will always be my partner and I will always be here beside you.”

“But…what if, when I evolve…what if I can’t resist it anymore.”

Takato glanced down at their hands for a minute, before looking back up to her face.

“I never told you what Biomerging was, did I?” He asked. “I meant to, but…the gate thing got a little hectic, huh? Biomerging…I can’t begin to describe what it’s like to Biomerge, but I can tell you what it is. It’s a Tamer and a partner becoming one to fight together.”

He paused, frowning, unsatisfied with that explanation—but it truly wants something that could be explained full. You had to do it to understand.

“If Lilithmon is what you’ll become, then we’ll become it together. And if the burden is too much for one person to bear, it won’t matter, because we’ll bear it together. That’s what it means to be partners. So don’t be scared; as long as we’re together, it’ll be okay. I promise.”

She looked at him for a long, quiet moment, before turning her hand to hold it properly.

“Okay.” She said, smiling beautifully. “Okay.”

XxXXxX

 

[Ryuugi]

XxXXxX

Dukemon surveyed the destruction dispassionately. For one who had seen the worst the Digital World had to offer—for one who had seen the Hell it had become before Yggdrasil had intervened—this was nothing. Beside him, Sleipmon was equally inured to the wreckage, but seemed a great deal more interested. But then, Dukemon supposed, before he had been lifted to the ranks of the Royal Knights, Sleipmon had earned his fame defending the Urd Terminal from incursions and assaults by X Digimon. He’d fought along the border rather than here in the heart of Yggdrasil controlled territory, but these were still very much his people.

Just because you’d been exposed to so much violence that you couldn’t feel anything over it anymore doesn’t mean you can’t get angry if your friends get hurt.

Dukemon turned his attention to the leader of this facility as he approached. He was familiar with Andromon, having met him every time he passed through the Chronicle Layer System, and so gave him a nod of acknowledgment.

“Lord Dukemon,” He said before turning to his partner and giving him a tired smile. “Lord Sleipmon.”

“Andromon,” Sleipmon said. “What happened here?”

“We had an unauthorized activation of the Chronicle Layer System,” Andromon informed. “As procedure dictates, we attempted to contact the Verdandi Terminal to determine if there had been an emergency, but we failed to receive any reply from Knightmon and none of the Guardromon were present on the other side. We sent messages to the off duty Guardromon and requested them to examine the situation on the Verdandi Terminal while we went on high alert.”

“Guardromon contacted us after surveying the Verdandi CLS,” Sleipmon confirmed. “Knightmon was nowhere to be found and has not responded to any attempts to contact him. Until further notice, he is to be considered missing and action and likely killed in action. For the moment, Paildramon has volunteered to expand his duties to monitoring the Chronicle Layer System as well. A more permanent replacement shall be decided upon later. What else happened here? Did you identify the criminals?”

Andromon hesitated for a moment.

“Yes, sir,” He said. “In a way. As we were on high alert, we were standing by when they passed through the Chronicle Layer System. A LadyDevimon passed through carrying an unknown…human. I downloaded the image from my visual memory so that I could show you.”

Andromon lifted up a screen up and if Dukemon had possessed a heart, it would have skipped a beat. He could identify that human. Held in LadyDevimon’s arms was his partner.

Sleipmon was looking at him but he ignored him. When Omegamon had told him there had been a human spotted that looked like Takato, he’d been…he couldn’t even put how he felt into words. Hopeful, of course. Happy and excited, obviously. But also…scared. What if something happened to Takato? This was a turbulent time in the Digital World and without him there…what if something happened to his friend? What if it wasn’t Takato at all? Omegamon said he’d heard rumors that matched Takato’s description, but Omegamon had never seen Takato himself, nor had he seen the human wandering the Digital World. Omegamon only knew Takato from Dukemon’s descriptions and only knew this human from scattered rumors.

And, well…how distinctive was the description ‘a brown haired young boy’ to someone who’d never met a human before? Even as he’d been hopeful, he’d also be excepting to be let down.

But now that his hopes had been confirmed, he was scared for an entirely different reason.

He wasn’t so distracted that he missed Andromon continuing, however.

“Upon passing through, LadyDevimon created a distraction using her…” Andromon consulted one of his notes. “’Darkness Wave’ attack. Megadramon, Gigadramon, and MetalGreymon attempted to pursuit, aided by a number of Guardromon, but were disabled, with MetalGreymon and a number of Guardromon dying in the attempt. As a result, aerial pursuit was impossible and following her from the ground was deemed unfeasible, due to both her sheer speed and…well, our simple lack of where she went.”

Sleipmon glanced at his fellow Knight for a moment before inquiring.

“What can you tell us about this human?” He asked.

“Not much, sir. Upon arrival, he looked frightened and said the words ‘Hi guys. What’s up?’ at which point LadyDevimon escaped with him.”

Sleipmon nodded.

“How would you characterize his association with LadyDevimon from what little you saw?”

“Not enough information, sir. He seemed uninjured and was not resisting, but the fact remains that if he had attempted to resist as powerful a Digimon as LadyDevimon, he almost certainly would have failed. He seemed frightened upon arrival, but I cannot determine from the available information whether that was because of us or LadyDevimon and she left with him before any further information could be acquired. If anyone knew more, it would likely have been Knightmon, who…”

Sleipmon nodded.

“To have taken down three—possibly four—Perfect Level opponents, this LadyDevimon must have been quite powerful even for her species.” Sleipmon said, directing his words as much towards his partner as towards Andromon. “Given the situation, I think it would be best if the Royal Knights took care of this directly.”

Dukemon nodded, feeling grateful towards his friend.

“Yes,” He said aloud. “She is definitely a big enough problem to warrant direct intervention. Sleipmon and I will pursue this matter and deal with it—“

“Belay that,” A voice interrupted. “You’ll be doing no such thing.”

Dukemon turned to look at Duftmon. The Royal Knight’s foremost strategists leaned against the wall of the base, scanning the destruction with his usual analytic gaze. Most day, an order from him would be the end of their discussion because, if nothing else, his title was well earned.

Today was not most days.

“Oh, I won’t?” Dukemon asked, turning towards his fellow Knight. “And why would that be?”

Duftmon shifted his gaze towards him, looking utterly unsurprised by the fact that he was arguing.

“The Urd Terminal is not like the Verdandi Terminal, Dukemon,” He said. “And it’s nothing like the Skuld Terminal. The situation here is delicate and the last thing I need is two more Royal Knights stomping around. Examon and I have been able to keep things under control by being careful—but do keep in mind that the X Digimon hate us and most of them are here. There are at least twenty-seven Ultimate level Digimon on this Terminal that have only been kept from attacking by being subtly played against one another—and that has only been possible because we have kept up appearances that the Royal Knights rarely operate on this Terminal. If they should suddenly have cause to put aside their differences—say, two famous and visible Royal Knights tearing up the place—they could quickly shift from being a minor annoyance to a major problem. Which is why that will not happen until our preparations are complete. Speaking of which…”

Duftmon eyed Andromon, who saluted and stepped away, going back to his duties.

“Twenty-seven Ultimates,” Dukemon said. “What of it? The Royal Knights have faced worse odds and that was before our ranks were as mighty. If they are as big a problem as you think, let’s crush them here and now.”

“We can defeat them—that’s not the problem.” Duftmon said, waving dismissively. “Keep in mind that I was a Knight even before you were; I am well aware of our power. But what, exactly, do you propose we do with all the inhabitants of this Terminal while forty Ultimate level Digimon start clashing? Let them burn? They need to be moved to safe places—and since it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t give our enemies time to prepare, it will need to be done quickly when it happens, which will take time to organize. And until we have finished doing so, I don’t what you starting any wars.”

Dukemon looked away, understanding but not happy about it.

“Besides which,” Duftmon said the moment Andromon was out of earshot. “That’s only part of the reason I can’t let you go. Our fears have been confirmed.”

Dukemon’s head snapped back towards his ally.

“No,” He breathed.

“Yes. GrandDracumon made it through to the new Digital World.”

 

[Coelacanth]

How can a mon like him even manage to be that stealthy. Damn.

 

[KageX]

How can a mon like him even manage to be that stealthy. Damn.

He is essentially the "Dark Manipulator" Archetype for the Digital World going by what we know from his profile. So Stealth, Planning, and Manipulation From The Shadows are pretty much what he does.

 

[Ryuugi]

Dukemon stared at Duftmon in horror. That was…truly, apocalyptically bad news. GrandDracumon was a threat on an epic scale for an entire list of reasons—and while his tremendous personal power was definitely on said list, it was, sadly, not at the top. GrandDracumon held to the old saying about destroying one’s enemies by making them his friends and most anyone foolish enough to try and destroy him had ended up falling to darkness in the process. And therein laid the true threat of GrandDracumon’s presence—though it was rare, though not unheard of, for him to make an outright grab at power, his existence all but guaranteed that there would be still be an Evil to fight in the future.

Because, if needed, he’d make one. Those he could not corrupt with his powers, he would make fall with dreams and words and such subtle actions that in the end, they’d think they did it entirely by themselves. By the time they learned the truth, if they ever did, it wouldn’t matter.

“T-then,” Dukemon actually stuttered. He couldn’t help it. “That’s even more reason why I have to go!”

He showed Duftmon the screen he’d taken from Andromon.

“It’s Takato, Duftmon! My partner! I can’t leave him on the same Terminal as GrandDracumon! Can you imagine what he’d do to him if they met?”

“Perhaps,” Duftmon said drily. “But have you considered that this might be a trap intended for you instead, Dukemon?”

“What?” The Virus blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Your Tamer was in the custody of a LadyDevimon,” Duftmon said. “The Perfect form of Lilithmon—and it was just recently that we detected the Crest of Lust. It seems unlikely to be a coincidence.”

“You think she’s working with GrandDracumon?” Dukemon asked. It made sense, in a way. According to Yggdrasil’s records, GrandDracumon had corrupted a number of Angel Digimon—some said he’d even been responsible for the fall of Seraphimon, Ophanimon and Lucemon, though there was no safe way to confirm that. “If you’re trying to convince me not to go after my friend by telling me someone is taking him to GrandDracumon, it’s not working. LadyDevimon might well be taking him to GrandDracumon as we speak!”

“People don’t work with GrandDracumon,” Duftmon corrected. “They work for him or want him dead—there’s really no in-between. But think, Dukemon. Put your personal feelings aside and consider the situation; what use is a Tamer to GrandDracumon…without his Digimon?”

Dukemon fell silent at that.

“I know you care for him a great deal, but in the end, what strategic value does he hold, in and of himself? There is nothing that would make him important to GrandDracumon except his relation to you, his partner; the Tamers held great power, but not by themselves. Logically speaking, if GrandDracumon did want this boy, it would be as bait for you. He’d want to draw you to him and bring you to his side; the boy would just be the method. And if Lilithmon is instead working alone, you have to admit she has you emotionally compromised so long as she has your best friend as a hostage. If she threatened to kill him, what could you do, Dukemon? Could you think your way through the problem? Could you behave completely rationally while her claws were around his neck?” Duftmon asked logically. “No matter how you choose to look at this, you have to admit that you’re a bad choice to send on this mission.”

“Who do you suggest sending then, Duftmon?” Sleipmon asked before Dukemon could reply.

“Ideally, I would want to send Alphamon and Omegamon, but…well, Alphamon is around when you need him most, but not any other time and I can’t exactly call him up. I already contacted Omegamon and he’s making preparations for a larger assault later, once we have more information, as well as guarding Yggdrasil. However, we cannot simply wait and let GrandDracumon operate freely. Lacking Omegamon, Examon will have to run this mission alone, with me supporting from a distance.”

Dukemon and his partner stared at him like he’d gone insane.

“Pardon me, Duftmon, but are you suggesting Examon fight GrandDracumon alone?” Sleipmon asked. “Doesn’t that seem a little…risky?”

“If by risky, you mean it sounds like a suicide mission, then yes.” Duftmon said bluntly. “Sadly, until Omegamon manages to gather our forces, we don’t have any other choice. Examon’s the only one with the range to attack GrandDracumon without immediately falling prey to his powers—and while I hate the idea of my best friend having to fight against GrandDracumon by himself, I like it a lot better than the idea of him having to fight GrandDracumon and the three of us after he corrupts us. After I informed him of the matter, Examon volunteered knowing the risks and has already begun scanning the Terminal sector by sector.”

Duftmon didn’t sound very happy about that, which hammered home how bad the situation was. It was rare to hear his personal feelings leak into his words like that.

“Then…what about Takato?” Dukemon had to asked. “If he’s in Lilithmon’s clutches…”

Duftmon looked at him silently for a moment before taking a step towards him.

“Dukemon…Examon and I will do everything in our power to protect your friend, both because you’re one of us,” Duftmon said. In contrast to the words, his tone was flat, because to him this was nothing more than the statement of a fact. “If it came down to it, I would sacrifice my life to save yours—and since I know how much your friend means to you, I would do it to protect him, as well. So believe me when I say that if it is at all possible to save him, I will do so. So leave this matter to Examon and I.”

Dukemon bowed his head.

“Very well. I leave it to you, Duftmon.” He said. “What should we do, then?”

“Whether Lilithmon is working for GrandDracumon or operating alone, the fact remains that we’re going to have a great deal of trouble soon. If she’s not running a plan, GrandDracumon certainly is, meaning that we could really use two things: The help of somebody familiar with them both and a really big gun. I take it you know someone who possesses both of those things?”

It wasn’t hard to figure out who he was talking about. The Digimon in question had a way of leaving an impression.

“He contacts the others and I regularly,” Dukemon said. “You want Sleipmon and I to go find him?”

“To be honest? I want you to find everyone you think might be even remotely helpful in the coming days—but a Demon Lord is as good a place to start as any.”

XxXXxX

 

[rajvir]

Glad to see this updated.

 

[Ryuugi]

XxXXxX

LadyDevimon darted forward, a dark blur as she closed in on her prey. Her clawed hand pierced through digital steel as though it were no more than paper, before curling around something inside and ripping it out. Deprived of his Digital Core, the Guardromon stilled for a moment before shattering into a million pieces of spare data. With a thought, she stilled them from their natural dispersal, before moving onto her next target, grasping the remaining Digimon’s head, her oversized hand large enough to allow her to literally sink her claws into its neck before she tore off the Kotemon’s head.

With the last member of the patrol down, she lowered her claws.

“All clear,” She said, and Takato stepped out from behind a nearby tree—along with three other Digimon.

“It should be safe for now,” Takato said. “There shouldn’t be any other patrols through this area for a while—but we should get going before anyone realizes these guys are missing.”

“Thank you so much,” A relived Otamamon X said, his appearance a rather startling change from the Otamamon Takato had met on his first trip to the Digital World. “After Gottsumon died…I thought it was over for us.”

“It’s no problem,” Takato said, waving the thanks away. “We’re lucky we met each other when we did and I’m glad we managed to help. Since we hadn’t been able to protect Gottsumon…well, the least we could do was take care of you in his place. But let’s get going, for now.”

Palmon X stayed close to her larger friend, carrying Gomamon X in her arms. The pair were much shier around them then Otamamon was—or perhaps they were just nervous around him and LadyDevimon. In fairness, the first time they’d met, LadyDevimon had gone on a rampage and slaughtered seven Adult level Digimon in front of them. Of course, they were rather grateful for said rampaging, as said Digimon had been Yggdrasil’s servants and had just slaughtered their older brother figure and protector in front of their eyes, but it still must have been rather frightening to see LadyDevimon at work. She was rather merciless when it came to Yggdrasil and anyone who worked for him.

Even after they’d destroyed their attackers, however, that had left them as a trio of Child level Digimon in a world patrolled by Yggdrasil—and were the strongest amongst them had already fallen. They had heard several of Yggdrasil’s servants talking about a city of X Digimon, though, and believed they would be safe there.

Whether they actually would or not was questionable, especially since Yggdrasil apparently knew about it, but Takato and LadyDevimon had agreed it would be for the best if they escorted the trio there. It wasn’t like they knew where they should be going next anyway and a city of X Digimon was probably their best bet for figuring out what was going on.

The problem, however, was twofold. First of all, LadyDevimon couldn’t carry all four of them and go unnoticed—especially not Otamamon, who had bloated to enormous size thanks to the X-Antibody. Unfortunately, that meant going by foot, resulting in a significantly slower trip. It may have also been a safer one, if what the trio had told them was true.

Apparently, Gottsumon X had come up with the idea of travelling through Yggdrasil controlled territory to reach the city. As…insane as it sounded, his explanation had been fairly intelligent, as he’d figured—correctly—that there would be less guards in a place Yggdrasil already considered safe. In fact, the four Digimon had made their trip safely nearly the entire way to their destination in enemy controlled lands, encountering few of Yggdrasil’s Servants and managing to hide from what few they did.

Until they’d crossed a field. The entire trip they’d spent inside of forests, which covered most of the untamed lands of the Urd Terminal, but the moment they’d crossed a single field, they had Yggdrasil’s lackeys hot on their tale. It, along with Gottsumon’s death, had apparently filled the trio with fear and left them with the belief that Yggdrasil was watching them from above, waiting for them to show themselves.

It could have been paranoia. In fact, Takato thought, it probably was.

But being paranoid didn’t mean a Digital God wasn’t actively trying to kill you and having merged with a giant lizard into a Holy Knight in order to fight a giant blob and its freakish minion in order to keep them from destroying the world, Takato figured it was a bit late to start being a skeptic and gave them the benefit of the doubt. They did their best to stay under cover of some kind or another, which unfortunately ensured their trip would be even longer.

On the other hand, God had yet to directly intervene in an attempt to violently ruin their lives, and that was always nice.

Even so, Takato was getting more and more nervous as they got closer and closer to their destination. He cast a subtle glance towards his partner, who floated quietly, manually absorbing the data around her with her Crest.

He turned back to the Digimon they were guarding and smiled gently.

“You guys go on ahead; we’re going to make sure Yggdrasil doesn’t have any other servants in this area and see if we can’t make it look like we went another direction.” He said, which was a lie. If there were any other Digimon nearby, his Digivice would have told him and he wouldn’t have risked letting three Child levels wander off on their own, X-Antibody or not. The three Digimon nodded trustingly, though, and continued on the path through the mountains—from here, it wouldn’t be much more than a day’s travel to the where Yggdrasil’s followers thought the X Digimon had a hidden city.

He checked his Digivice once they were out of sight and nodded once they were far enough. LadyDevimon released a shaking breath, her more human hand rising to where a human would have had a heart. Takato went to her side, looking worried. His partner made a pained sound and the Crest of Lust flared to full brightness beneath her feet.

“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” He asked. As they’d begun getting closer and closer to their destination, LadyDevimon had started showing signs of…part of it had been pain and another part had been fear and which worried Takato more, he couldn’t say. “We can go somewhere else, if you want—the way this…whatever is doing this is effecting you, I’m not sure getting you any closer to it is a good idea.”

“No,” LadyDevimon said, nearly gasping. “Whatever is doing this…its effecting Lilithmon. She…I’m scared of it. Which is why I have to go, even if it’s dangerous. One way or another, I have to find out what is happening to me.”

She looked at him.

“And besides, if this…whatever…is as bad as it feels, then we can’t just leave it alone and hope for the best, right?”

She was smiling, even through the pain, so Takato smiled too, as proud as he was worried. Reaching out, he gently curled the fingers of one of his hands around one of her claws, nodding at her.

“Yeah,” He said. “That’s right.”

XxXXxX

 

[LORD_ARM]

What happen to the talk that LadyDevimon was going to have with Takato about the way he was acting when she first digivolve?

 

[Capito Celcior]

I'm imagining they met those other Digimon almost immediately after they escaped...and thus LadyDevimon couldn't have her chat. So as soon as they sepperate, I hope they get to have that talk.

I still recall Salamon dreaming of digivolving into the most beautifull female ever. Well, she's definitely up there.

 

[Solaris]

If it's the talk I'm thinking of where Ladydevimon talks about her killing impulse, I think they already talked about it. It's on the previous page.

 

[Capito Celcior]

No, it's not about how SHE acted or felt, it's about how HE reacted to her digivolution. To her figure and her power (a lot about her figure though) etc. etc.

 

[Ryuugi]

XxXXxX

Something was wrong. That was Takato’s first thought upon entering the city, but at first he couldn’t place why he felt that way.

He looked around as subtly as he could, spying the Digimon moving to and fro. There was a market just inside the entrance of the city, probably positioned there intentionally, so that it’d be the first thing hungry and wary travelers would see upon arriving. He wondered how they paid for the stuff. And how they got it in the first place, actually.

Probably best not to ask.

Still, the market seemed normal, with happy Digimon chatting about normal things. Occasionally, several Digimon seemed to recognize one another and stopped for a brief word, usually just a greeting or a short question about something mundane before moving on. If one ignored the strange foods and products that was pretty much to be expected in the Digital World, then the market seemed completely normal, but for a few oddities like the large medical center that must have been to treat those wounded in the effort of making it to the city.

Really, if he closed his eyes and forgot where he was, it would have been pretty easy to pretend that he was back home on Earth.

And then he understood what he’d found so unnerving. Was this a city of Digimon that were being hunted by Yggdrasil? Was this a city that would plunge into a war for survival at even the slightest misstep? It reminded him of home—but he wasn’t home. He was in the Digital World—a new Digital World, born after the previous one had been torn apart—and here things that were normal to him should have been bizarre.

Yggdrasil intended to hunt down every X Digimon in the Digital World. That wasn’t a secret—no, more than that, it was something that everyone in the entire world would know. A city full of X Digimon…more than anyone else, they should be preparing to fight for their lives at a moment’s notice. There should be fear, anger, and anxiety in every line of this city. It should have colored the actions and nature of this entire city like someone had flooded it with paint.

But it didn’t. This place was calmer than any gathering of X Digimon he’d seen since he’d returned to the Digital World—maybe even calmer than any gathering of Digimon he’d seen period. It was a place that shouldn’t have existed, but did anyway—so there had to be a reason for it.

And because his luck with surprises was just so amazing, Takato immediately went on guard.

“LadyDevimon,” He whispered, carefully suppressing the desire to look around for anything wrong. He didn’t need to look at his partner to know that she found this city off-putting—he at least knew of a place where this could have been normal. She never had.

Glancing down at his feet, he saw his shadow from its natural position, curving until it stood pointing unnaturally towards the light. Knowing she would stand out as a normal Digimon in a city full of ones with the X Antibody, she’d said she would hide, but this was still new to him and was rather odd in rather subtle way, like this city. He didn’t mind things that weren’t normal, but if so they should have the decency to be obviously abnormal, not ‘wait, that’s not quite right’ abnormal. Looking down at his shadow as it didn’t move in tune with his actions was surprisingly unsettling, even before accounting for LadyDevimon’s pure red eyes looking out at him from it. And not always where his eyes should be, either.

“I’m thinking we should be somewhere besides out in the open.” He said.

His shadow lifted its left hand and pointed to an alley that ran between two nearby stores. Nodding shallowly, Takato followed her directions, figuring she’d probably been eyeing ways out the moment she realized something was up. Walking normally—or as normally as he could after realizing that body snatching and mind control were both completely probable explanations for this oddness, considering the nature of the Digital World—he made his way into the dark alley and felt bizarrely safe there.

After making sure he was far enough from the streets to evade casual notice, he sighed.

“It doesn’t seem like we can catch a break.” He said. “Did you see what happened to the others when they left?”

LadyDevimon’s eyes looked up at him from the ground, but her voice whispered in his ear as if she were standing right behind him.

“They said they saw one of their old friends so I let them go,” LadyDevimon sounded worried, but also preoccupied, as if she half expected something to jump out of the shadows and attack them. Which, again, was completely possible.

Takato nodded once, understanding but trusting her to keep an eye out for the both of them as he considered their options. A part of him wanted to point out that discretion was the better part of valor—that this place was creepy, probably full of people who wanted to kill him, and anything he did would probably make a battalion of Yggdrasil’s angry soldiers fall on them and this town like rain.

Unfortunately, if he left, innocent Digimon would continue to wander into this city none the wiser, so escaping wasn’t an option. And also, one way or another, they had to find out what was affecting LadyDevimon—hell, it was probably the same thing messing with this town. He couldn’t leave the Digimon he’d brought into danger, either, even if it had been unknowingly.

He sighed again.

“Come on,” He told her. “If we circle around now, maybe we can find them before anything bad does. Then we’ll try and figure out what’s up with this place.”

His shadow nodded once and he turned back to the entrance of the alleyway—

There was someone there and all of a sudden, LadyDevimon was out of his shadow, claws bared and ready to attack. Takato didn’t even get a chance to get a good look at the figure before she identified him, though it wasn’t a name he recognized.

“Astamon…” She said, red eyes narrowing.

 

[rajvir]

Very glad to see this updated.
Also somewhat surprised to see I am the first one to comment.

 

[DeathGod666]

Astamon huh?

Now is that a generic Astamon or is that Belphemon?

 

[Ryuugi]

“Now, now. Is that any way to greet an old friend?” The new Digimon said.

LadyDevimon paused, seeming to consider the question as if it held tremendous weight.

“Are you a friend?” She asked.

Astamon gave a ghost of a smile, seeming to approve of the inquiry.

“Hm…I wonder?” He asked himself. “The situation we’re in is rather complex, but…let us say I might be you friend?”

“…Depending on…what, exactly?”

“The next hour or so, I imagine.” Astamon sighed, sounding truly exhausted. “Come with me.”

LadyDevimon stood her ground.

“Why?”

“Because GrandDracumon wishes it.” Astamon said, turning and walking away, as if expecting them to follow.

Takato looked at his partner, who looked as though those four words had drained all the life out of her. Her already pale face had turned sickly and her body shook as if she were about to be ill. Her widened eyes gazed at Astamon’s slowly retreating back, fear, panic and despair warring for control within them.

Surprisingly, Takato felt himself calm at the sight. No, he forced himself to calm down, even though seeing his partner like this was making his heart race like a rabbit’s. LadyDevimon was terrified of whoever this GrandDracumon was and if he could use as Digimon as strong as he was beginning to suspect Astamon was as a delivery boy…well, it didn’t bode well for their continued safety.

Which is why, more than anything else, one of them had to stay calm and think this through.

At times like this, though…he really wished he hadn’t come to the Digital World alone.

“Before we follow you, can I talk to you for a moment?” He spoke, stopping Astamon in his tracks. The Digimon looked over his shoulder at him; a simple, wordless acknowledgement. “Would I be correct in stating that GrandDracumon is the cause of the weirdness in this town?”

“Yes,” Astamon said bluntly, surprising Takato a bit with the honest answer.

“We brought several friends with us to this town—“

“Newcomers are taken quickly, generally speaking—before they can notice anything is wrong. The group with the Gottsumon has already been, let us say, adjusted to fit this town.” Astamon scowled.

“You don’t seem pleased with the prospect.” Takato noted, seeing a chance.

“As one who shares their fate, I empathize—but whether I am pleased by it or not no longer matters. Just as it will soon no longer matter to you.”

“Why? If neither of us approves of this, maybe we can work together to—“

“That’s not possible, Takato,” LadyDevimon whispered. “Not for him. Not anymore. GrandDracumon didn’t leave him that much.”

Takato put the pieces together. The weirdness in town, Astamon, newcomers being taken…

It seemed his guesses weren’t that far off after all.

“I…see.” He said, discarding most of the plans he actually considered good. “But you do have your own will, though, right? Could you sneak us in so we could attack him? Or turn the other way while we run?”

Astamon laughed a bit bitterly.

“Were I so lucky. He lets me retain my will only as a way to humiliate me and make me sufferer. I’m bound to obey both the letter and spirit of his commands, or else I’d have betrayed him already. He’s learnt from his past mistakes.” The Demon smiled at LadyDevimon—a real smile, as if he were reminiscing about old times.

Takato looked down at the ground, all but feeling the options slipping through his fingers. The only choice he had left were…

“Then…what if we fought you?” He asked.

A moment later, he blinked.

If his life was a movie, someone must have just skipped a scene. Where before, Astamon had been far down the alleyway, now the Demon stood behind him, one inhumanly strong arm around his neck. He couldn’t see the other, but from the way his hair was brushing against something smooth and cold, he was pretty sure Astamon was holding his gun to his head.

He felt like his heart was in his throat and the only reason he wasn’t shaking was that he was scared to move.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one who’d missed what had happened, though—LadyDevimon, who had been staring at where Astamon had been, swung around, eyes widened in fear again; fear for him.

“Takato!” She said, almost taking an instinctive step forward before seeming to think better of it and restraining herself.

“To answer your question, it would not end well for you.” Astamon said, sounding like he honestly regretted that.

Takato waited for his heart to return to its proper position, swallowing in a way he hoped wasn’t audible and tried to find both his spine and voice box.

“What was that?” He asked. “Teleportation? An illusion? Speed? Time control?”

All bad options, but in different ways and for different reasons. If he knew which one it was, maybe he could come up with something—

“The latter.”

“Shit,” He swore. If it had been teleportation, Astamon would probably have been limited to places he knew about, so they might have been able to hide. Unless the entire town was an illusion, they could have relied on what they’d known. Even huge speed might have been possible to deal with, unless Astamon could fly that fast with those small wings.

But he was struggling to come up with a response to being beat down before he could react.

He swallowed.

“Then what if LadyDevimon flew off while you were busy holding me?” He asked.

He couldn’t see Astamon’s eyes, but he was pretty sure they’d just been rolled.

“I assure you, I didn’t get this far by being unable to read people. We both know that she’d no more leave you behind then you would abandon her.”

Damn it. They did both know that. Worse, pretty much any plan he could think of would be useless so long as he was held hostage.

He tried to think of another option, but only one came to mind—and it really wasn’t a good one. In fact, it was literally suicidal.

Slowly, not wanting to set Astamon off—at least not yet—he lifted a hand to the barrel of the gun. When Astamon didn’t immediately shake him off—probably interested in seeing what he was doing—he ran his fingers down the length of the weapon, he found Astamon’s hand and, more importantly, the finger around the trigger. He placed two of his own fingers on it.

“Then what if I pull this trigger and kill myself. You’d have no hostage and LadyDevimon would have no reason to stay. If she flew away, could you catch her?”

There was a beat of stunned silence—and then Astamon began to laugh. Loudly and joyously, he laughed as if this was the best joke he’d ever heard.

“Takato,” LadyDevimon hissed, a terror that dwarfed even that of when she’d been heard GrandDracumon’s name mixing with a rage he’d never seen in her before. “Are you insane? Don’t you even think about it? I can’t believe you’d even consider—“

“It could work,” Astamon interrupted, mirth in his voice. “It could work. In this form, Sloth is very, very limited and I might lose a second or two untangling you headless corpse from my gun. LadyDevimon can fly far, far faster than I can—if she ran the instant I fired, I might not be able to catch her, even if I tried. And if I did, without any easy way to restrain her, I might kill her in the battle. I have orders to take you, but also to protect myself, you see. I can’t say I’d enjoy killing either of you, but considering the circumstances, I rather think it’d be a mercy.”

Takato licked his lips, scared—terrified, honestly—but considering it. He didn’t want to die; he wanted to find Guilmon, he wanted to go home to his friends and family, he wanted to have a future. But this wasn’t about what he wanted, it was what he didn’t want. He didn’t want LadyDevimon to be enslaved by some monster, left a puppet in some bastard’s hands.

But was there another way? There probably was, but he couldn’t see it—most of his ideas had been sealed the moment Astamon had put a gun to his head. They could both be enslaved here or he could die and LadyDevimon might escape. Wasn’t that worth it?

He looked at his partner, who’d waited hopelessly for so long.

Yes. It was worth it. She wasn’t alone—she still had that person she was trying to find. And she was strong; she wasn’t Plotmon anymore. She could take care of herself.

His breathing slowed as he silently counted down to his last breath. Three, two, one—

“Takato, no! Don’t you do this, not for me! I-I’ll—I’ll go with Astamon if you do!”

He paused.

“…You stupid bitch,” Astamon sighed, sounding exhausted again. “Do you even realize what is being given to you? How many would have killed for the chance you’re throwing away? You’re being given a chance to escape from GrandDracumon and you aren’t even grateful!”

“I don’t want to be saved if the cost would be this high. I’d rather die.” She said.

“Yes! Wonderful! Death is a good option, all things considered! That’s what we’re trying to give you—a chance at escape or, failing that, of death! Either way, a way out of here! I swear, she’s always been like this.” Astamon said, directing the last part at him. “Unbelievable, isn’t it?”

“You said that no matter what happened, we’d deal with it together, Takato!” LadyDevimon snarled, ignoring Astamon entirely as her fear was swallowed up by anger.

Takato exhaled slowly and dropped his hand.

“I did,” He admitted. “She means it. She really will turn herself in. And that was the last card I had to play.”

“Then I will take you to GrandDracumon and he will break you, tear away everything you are, and leave behind only a toy for his amusement.” Astamon stated flatly, making him wince.

“LadyDevimon, are you sure about this. I can get you out of here,” He promised.

“I don’t want to leave if it means doing without you.”

“Then let’s go,” Astamon said bitterly. “I’ll take you to him, you insufferable, ungrateful bitch from hell.”

 

[rajvir]

Well I really enjoyed this newest chapter.
i think what I like best about this was how Takato went about negotiating even if it failed in the end.