EPISODE 26 - FRAILTY'S FRIEND
“
Waves of dusty powder swept through the air, coating the battleground in a haze of white and pale purple-pink even amongst the thrashing rain. Azure coughed and took a step back, planting their feet firmly in the mud below them. The Butterflymon that had made the attack snapped its head toward them, alerted by the sound, and spread its wings wide.
“
“Ko!” they shouted, as the Butterflymon blinked white eyes at them. “The sooner the better!”
“
In a blur, Ko whipped past them, releasing a blast of electricity at the Butterflymon. The lightning caught the raindrops, electrocuting small spots of the air around it as it shot forward. The Butterflymon tumbled backward, head over heels, and when it righted itself, it went straight for Ko, practically forgetting Azure was even there.
Azure clenched their fists and then retreated further back into the treeline, trying to catch any sight of the others, wherever they may be.
Presently, the group was in Browser Jungle, and had been for all of one day. It had been a few days since the Meicrackmon incident - they’d made good time - and everyone was still a little on edge. Even those who hadn’t been present for the fight or even just the aftermath were feeling anxious, and for good reason. The fire that the rampaging manic Digimon had caused had destroyed a fair chunk of grassland, and though it thankfully hadn’t reached the city, it had still been - for lack of a better term - a disaster.
Or maybe that was the right term.
They’d helped put the fire out, and had offered aid to the cityfolk, who were thankful for them but definitely a little suspicious. It was hard to fault them. Anyone would be suspicious in their position.
And that was saying nothing of the injuries Ryan and Harmony had sustained.
“
“To your left!” Castor barked, hurtling forward from seemingly out of nowhere and slamming into the Butterflymon - a different one, not the one from before - before it could attack. Azure, having been lost in their thoughts, hadn’t noticed it approaching them, and nodded tersely at Castor as he wrestled it to the ground and they returned to searching for the rest of the group.
“
Forgive Azure for being a little absentminded and a little separated from the others. Currently the group was a bit caught up in other matters, those other matters being a battle with a flight (flock? herd? kaleidoscope?) of manic Butterflymon. They’d been ambushed only a few minutes ago, and had had very little time to get their bearings before being thrown into the fight. It’d resulted in Ko (and Azure) pursuing one of the Butterflymon a bit too far away from the larger group, and the latter was now struggling to reconnect with the other humans while Ko did his best to hold off the Butterflymon as they went.
He - and Azure, too, for that matter - didn’t actually want to fight. Not really, at least. Sure, the Butterflymon had attacked first, and sure, they weren’t quite as reasonable (or as close to it as they could get) as most of the recent manic Digimon had been, but…
It was hard not to think of the Dobermon pack, and especially of Dollie.
It would help if the group could actually decide on a course of action and follow through with it, instead of constantly going back and forth on whether they were actually going to fight, or if they were just going to drive them off.
“
Pop swept down from the treetops, colliding with another Butterflymon that Azure hadn’t seen coming. It fell backward and hissed, spreading its wings and raising its hands.
“
A short ways behind Pop, Azure saw someone move between the trees, and then peek their head out from behind one of the trunks - Moxie. The two locked eyes, and, after checking to make sure the Butterflymon was distracted by Pop, Azure hurried over to her.
They didn’t say anything as they reconvened, simply turned to face Pop and the Butterflymon before backing away slowly. When they were far enough away, they faced forward as they broke into a run, following the sounds of another battle up ahead.
“What’s the move?” Azure finally said, ducking under a low-hanging branch, shivering as the coalesced raindrops dripped onto their back.
Moxie was silent for a moment before she responded. “Damien’s still set on bailing. Alex wants to stay and fight. The others are stuck somewhere in the middle, for the most part.”
“Damnit,” Azure swore under their breath as they broke into a clearing. In front of them several of the partner Digimon were holding off more of the Butterflymon. It was hard to tell at first who was winning, but after watching for a few moments it became clear that neither side was. They were simply at a standstill, with neither side willing to back down first, and the partner Digimon - without confirmation from the humans - didn’t know whether to fight harder or make a break for it.
Out of the corner of their eye, Azure saw something flash within the trees, and they turned toward it - but nothing made itself apparent. Frowning, Azure took a step closer, and then something else moved, closer to the clearing. Moments later, Alex, Harmony, and Miguel broke through the trees, altering their course once they caught sight of Azure and Moxie.
“
“
“We’re going to have to figure things out soon,” Azure said, resisting a wince as they heard (and saw, vaguely) Flip take the brunt of the Butterflymon’s attack. Miguel bit his lip, quickly looking out at his partner, and then nodded.
“I still think we should stay and fight,” Alex said, because of course he did. “The Butterflymon attacked us first. There’s few enough of them where we could take them on.”
“Not we,” Moxie said, gesturing at the Digimon nearby, the ones actually fighting, but Alex just shrugged.
“Same difference.” He crossed his arms, looking at Miguel and Harmony beside him and then at Azure. He didn’t say anything, simply waited for a response, for one of them to break the silence.
Azure kept their mouth shut. They knew that if they said anything, it would turn into an argument, and it would blow up, and they wouldn’t come to a conclusion, they’d all just get mad and maybe start yelling and then the Digimon would get distracted and the Butterflymon would -
“
Something whizzed past their heads and the humans ducked as it flew over them toward the battlefield. Azure straightened back up and saw another Butterflymon rushing into battle, sending its powder directly at Flip and Ember, who were currently tag-teaming another Butterflymon.
Ember recoiled when the attack hit (it missed Flip entirely) and turned to face the newcomer - but his eyes widened when he did, and he took a step back warily. Azure frowned, confused, but then -
“Leave them alone!” the new Butterflymon shouted (what the hell?), flaring its wings out and looking around at the partner Digimon. “If you want to hurt my friends you’re going to have to go through me!”
What on earth was it going on about? The other Butterflymon in the clearing seemingly didn’t even notice its arrival nor the words it was shouting. They continued their fight against the partner Digimon, taking advantage of their momentary distraction to push back harder against them. Azure bit their lip as they saw one of the Butterflymon knock Ren to the ground with its Sweet Pheromone, only moments before another one pushed Bunny up against a tree and hit her with a Nectar Wave.
“What are you talking about?” Harmony asked, and the new Butterflymon turned around, and… well. It quickly became obvious why it was acting so strangely - or, normally, Azure supposed.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” the Butterflymon said, narrowing her bright blue eyes down at Harmony. “I don’t know what you have to do with this but you’re not making them stand down so you’re my enemies too.
The attack came too quickly for the humans to prepare themselves, and the beam of energy practically knocked them to the ground, tumbling over themselves and rolling to a stop. Azure pushed themself to their knees and grit their teeth, looking back at Butterflymon as Ember leapt at her and tackled her to the ground.
“It’s not manic,” Alex said, clenching a fist around his digivice. He stared up at the Butterflymon and then looked over at Harmony. “Like -”
“I know,” Harmony said, sharper than Azure had expected. She furrowed her brow and took a shaky breath in, then shoved herself to her feet, taking a step toward Butterflymon. Azure and the others followed suit, hanging back far enough where Butterflymon and Ember’s attacks couldn’t hit them as they continued to fight.
“They attacked us first!” Ember shouted, presumably in the middle of a yelled conversation with Butterflymon. “We’re just defending ourselves!”
“Yeah right!” Butterflymon spat, throwing a punch at Ember and sending him skidding back a good few feet. “Like I’m going to believe strangers I’ve never met before over my friends! They wouldn’t attack you without reason!
“
Ember’s fiery paws slashed through the approaching spores, leaving an empty burning wake where the attacks collided, which was quickly doused by the rain. Butterflymon sneered, obvious even without a mouth, and whirled around to face the five humans behind her.
“Your friends are sick,” Azure called out, halting Butterflymon in her movements as she made to attack. She frowned, and clenched her claws, but did not speak, and Azure continued. “We were just passin’ through and they attacked us. We don’t want to hurt them, but we had to defend ourselves. We’ve met other Digimon who were sick like them and they’ve all attacked us.”
Lord, they had no idea why they were even trying this, but if Butterflymon wasn’t manic, maybe she could be convinced that they really weren’t in the wrong? But neither were the manic Butterflymon, or at least Azure didn’t think so - they weren’t acting like the other manic Digimon they’d fought recently who had specifically had it out for them, they were more like Kuwagamon and Cyclomon and the Dobermon.
…The Dobermon…
“There’s no other way,” Moxie cut in, holding her arms out in a pleading gesture. “I’m sorry, but they’re only going to keep fighting until they’re dead. If we leave, you’ll be in danger too.”
Presumably she’d had the same realization as Azure, that the Butterflymon were the more feral type of manic Digimon. The type that attacked indiscriminately, unable to tell friend from foe, minds full of the need to fight and rip and tear.
There was no other way.
Butterflymon shook her head viciously, pointing a claw down at the humans. “No I won’t. They’re my friends. They’re not going to attack me. You’re the ones who started this! They’d never do this!
The group had been expecting this, somewhat, and thankfully were able to get out of the way before the attack hit them. Butterflymon cried out in frustration and was summarily knocked to the ground by Pop dive-bombing her from the air.
“
“Damnit,” Alex growled, whipping his digivice out and pressing a few buttons. “We’re getting out of here,” he said into it, scanning the clearing in front of him, assumably looking for Castor. “Head north and we’ll reconvene once we’ve shaken these guys.”
“Cowards!” Butterflymon yelled, practically swelling up with rage and indignation. “Running away from the fight you started!
The remaining humans dove out of the way of the attack, the powder dissipating harmlessly in the air between them. Miguel and Harmony got to their feet and dashed past Butterflymon, heading for where they could see their partners in the clearing. Azure rolled onto their back and sat up, out of Butterflymon’s eyesight for the time being. Her shoulders tensed and she fluttered forward, giving chase to Miguel as he made for where Ember and a now-devolved Flip were calling for him.
Behind them, deep within the trees, a loud cracking noise erupted, muted by the ambient patter of the rainfall. Azure was immediately on their feet, hesitantly turning their back to the battle to face whatever was deeper in the forest. Nothing made itself apparent; Azure took a wary step forward, but again, no response.
They shook their head out and turned back to the fight. Alex was across the clearing now, closer to Castor but not close enough, and Harmony had met back up with Ren off to the side. Azure could only pray that the other humans and Digimon had already reunited and were on their way north.
They took a sharp breath in, releasing it only once Castor scooped Alex onto his back despite his protests and took off running. Alex obviously wasn’t happy about having to flee, but considering he’d gone along with it out of his own volition, maybe that was a good sign…?
“Azure!” they heard Ko shout, and whirled around to look at him, seeing him standing near where Ren was helping Harmony onto her back, holding off an onslaught of attacks from two of the manic Butterflymon. Ko beckoned for Azure, but they were already running before he’d made the gesture, hopping up onto Ren’s back behind Harmony only moments before she took off running.
“
Déjà vu, indeed.
“This feels a little familiar,” Harmony mumbled from in front of Azure, echoing their own thoughts. She sighed, rubbing her cheek gently and then letting her hand drop to pat Ren on the side. “You doing okay?”
“Better than I was last time,” she said, and she certainly sounded the part. She gave Harmony and Azure a pointed look out of the corner of her eye. “You two seem better too.”
“Well, we didn’t get our asses handed to us this time,” Azure said, and Harmony smiled faintly. “We’re running to spare them, not ourselves.”
“I don’t know how I feel about that wording,” Harmony mumbled, the smile instantly gone from her face. She looked like she was about to cut herself off, but she sighed and shrugged. “It sounds like… I don’t know, like if we hadn’t run, then we would’ve… you know…”
“We can talk about it later,” Azure said, in an attempt to reassure her, even though they really didn’t want to talk about it later. Harmony’s mouth twitched, and they both dropped it, even Ren and Ko looking a little uncomfortable.
They were, at the very least, fortunate that despite the Butterflymon’s small size and agility, they were not quick enough to catch up with the group as they ran. Sooner than Azure had expected, they heard the last few attacks fade away into the distance, the only indication that they’d even been in a fight being the speed at which they fled and the mud caked onto their feet.
It kind of felt a little bit like fleeing the scene of a crime. A lot of the times they’d run from fights had felt like that.
But they hadn’t done anything wrong.
Whatever. It didn’t matter right now. Azure dug their digivice out of their pocket and switched on the map, looking at where they were in relation to the others. Closest to them were Dare and Pop - no doubt up in the sky - and then, off to the west, Castor and Ember. They weren’t far apart; it shouldn’t take long for them to regroup, but at the same time, they couldn’t stop too soon. The Butterflymon might not be actively pursuing them, but they couldn’t take that risk, and with the non-manic Butterflymon in danger as well…
It was a lot.
Eventually the group managed to locate each other and reconvene, only stopping a while later. Castor was the first to halt, slowing his pace steadily at first but quickly coming to a full stop. Alex practically threw himself off of his partner’s back, narrowly avoiding falling face-first into a puddle, and Anna and Bunny behind him were quick to follow.
The rest of the group took it as good a sign as any to stop as well, but they all immediately wished they hadn’t.
“You’re being dense,” Castor spat, consumed by a red glow as he devolved. When it faded, he started to pace, his tail lashing and sweeping up wet leaves and rainwater as he went. “We were outnumbered from the start. We only would’ve stood a chance if the other one hadn’t shown up, but it did, and now here we are.”
“We held out against the Dobermon,” Alex argued back, throwing his arms out, and Azure groaned.
Around them, the rest of the still-evolved Digimon reverted to their rookie stages, the humans reuniting with their partners and checking each other over for any injuries, obviously trying to ignore Castor and Alex’s conversation. Only Anna seemed invested, holding Bunny tight to her chest as she listened with rapt attention to their back-and-forth.
Ko tilted his head up at Azure and tugged on their hand gently, and they leaned into him.
“The Dobermon retreated,” Castor said. “Because they were commanded to. There’s no one here like that for these Butterflymon. The lucid one doesn’t have any power over them. She doesn’t even seem to know what’s going on. We can’t fight manic Digimon and lucid Digimon who are on the same side together. That’s too much for us.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “And what happens when they come back later?”
“Then we kill them then,” Dare piped in, all eyes snapping to her, even those who hadn’t particularly been paying attention. “We’ll catch them by surprise.” Azure’s eyes narrowed, but they didn’t get a chance to speak.
“That’s not at all what I’m saying,” Castor said, staring her down, at the same time as Ryan groaned.
“We can’t just go around killing Digimon whenever we feel like it,” he said bitterly, poking her with a foot.
She glared up at him, scooting out of the way. “And we also can’t let them run rampant.”
Castor frowned. “Why not? If they’re not after us -”
Alex cut in, crossing his arms as he stared down at his partner. “Then they’ll go after someone else. Probably the lucid Butterflymon. I don’t think the manic ones are going to just leave her alone.”
“We could take her with us?” Harmony said. She was fidgeting with her hands, her digivice gripped in one fist like it could provide any help. Her brow furrowed and she looked down at Castor. “Just get her out of the jungle so she’s safe?”
Azure knew what she was thinking of, even without her having to say it and even if they hadn’t been looking at her face. It was too fresh of a wound; even having had - they realized as the thought occurred to them - two weeks to process it, it was still at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Castor shook his head, but he looked a bit preoccupied as well. “Does it really seem like she wants to come with us?”
Harmony clenched her fists. “We can’t leave her behind!”
“I’m not saying that -”
“Even if we do take her,” Alex said, “there’s hundreds, if not thousands, of other Digimon here. We can’t just ignore the manic Butterflymon. They’ll hurt someone else eventually. Like Cyclomon did, and Kuwagamon, and Meicrackmon, and the Dobermon -”
Damien laughed, loud and sharp, and lifted his sunglasses off his face to look at Alex. “We need to cut our losses, dude,” he said, finally throwing his nonexistent hat into the proverbial ring. “We can’t waste time with endless fighting. We still have to find the Catalyst. Or did you forget?”
Azure winced, unconsciously taking a step back as Damien spoke. Did he have to be so… combative? Did Alex have to be? Did any of them?
Why were they even getting into this? They could talk like normal people about it, like they usually did, but everyone was so on edge, even those who weren’t participating, and Azure couldn’t help but wonder if it was because they’d been in this situation before. That had to be it, right? But wouldn’t that be more of a reason for them to have a regular conversation, instead of -
“I don’t know why you think your opinion is the end all be all,” Alex said, his expression darkening as he stepped toward Damien. This always happened. Every time they - anyone in the group - couldn’t come to an agreement, this would happen. They’d get defensive and they’d lash out at each other and they wouldn’t reach a compromise.
“I didn’t say it was,” Damien shot back, arms crossed. “But you’re being unreasonable. We know what we need to do, and it’s not to win every fight. We’re wasting time.”
“We’re here to help people,” Alex said. “Not turn a blind eye on them. We are wasting time. Time we could be spending helping them.”
The rest of the group looked just about as uncomfortable as Azure was feeling. Even Castor and Dare and Harmony, who had been so vehemently agreeing with one of the sides, had taken themselves out of the conversation and were now watching in something akin to concern and regret. Miguel had sat down, his back to the semi-circle that had formed, with his hands over his ears; Ezra looked like he wanted to reach out and pull Alex back, but he kept restraining himself, holding his hand close to his chest every time it strayed too far forward.
At their side, Ko’s shoulders slumped, but he held his words and his position beside his partner.
Azure grit their teeth.
“I don’t think killing people counts as helping,” Damien muttered, as if Alex wasn’t supposed to hear.
He did. “They’re going to kill someone else eventually.”
Damien scoffed. “So are we. Save your fight for when it’s needed.”
“How is it not needed now?”
“Because we have the chance to walk away.” Damien took a few steps forward to poke Alex in the chest, and then held his arms out, palms up, and walked backward, almost as if he were making a show of it. “We won’t always get that chance. We should leave while we can.”
Alex’s fingers dug into his arms. “And just let them keep killing people?” he said.
“There’s other manic Digimon all over the world,” Damien growled, and Azure closed their eyes, almost not seeing the concerned look Ko gave them. “They’re killing people too.”
Alex wasn’t swayed. “And we’ll take care of them too!”
“That is impossible. They’re in places that we’ve been to and have left. They’re in places we won’t go to. We can’t keep running around and playing hero.”
“That’s the whole point of why we’re here!”
Damien was barely letting him get a word in edgewise. “We are here, right here, in Browser Jungle, to find the Catalyst. Nothing else. That is our sole goal right now.”
“Well maybe it shouldn’t be!”
Azure couldn’t take this anymore.
“Stop fuckin’ fighting,” they mumbled, refusing to look up, but they could see, from the top of their vision, Alex and Damien exchange glances.
“I don’t think it’s that serious,” Damien said, ignoring their words completely.
“I do,” Alex mumbled, shooting another glare at Damien. Azure clenched their teeth so tightly they thought they might crack.
“Stop.”
“Why?” Alex shifted from one foot to the other. “We’re just -”
“I said stop! I hate -”
They didn’t even realize they were yelling until the words were out of their mouth, and they immediately cut themself off, snapping their jaw shut and digging their fingers into their hair.
They didn’t need to look up to know what expression was on Ko’s face, but they did so anyways, if only to see how Alex and Damien were looking. Ko was still silent, offering them a hand rather than reassuring words, but they couldn’t bring themself to take it.
Alex and Damien regarded them for a few seconds, and then, slowly, both of their shoulders loosened, the building tension finally falling out of them.
“Alright, calm down,” Damien said, holding his hands up in a halting gesture, and, well, not the best choice of words, but whatever. “I’m just being a dick for the sake of being a dick.”
Alex huffed a laugh. “Yeah, we can tell.”
“You’re not innocent either.”
“Shut up,” Azure said, grabbing Damien’s arm. They could not deal with this right now.
Damien glanced down at where they held him, raising an eyebrow. “Sorry, I don’t really have biceps.”
“I am five seconds away from knockin’ you unconscious, and I am not joking.” They shook their head out and released Damien from their grip, but didn’t let him speak before they continued. “You are both bein’ insufferable. This is a pointless fight and I’m sick of listenin’ to you yell at each other and think you’re in the right. Shut up and learn to talk like normal people.”
“This is how normal people talk,” Alex said, and from behind him, within the throng of onlookers, Dare barked a laugh. Alex whipped around to glare at her. She shrugged, grinning, and Azure grabbed Alex’s shoulder to turn him back to face them before he could start yelling at her.
“Castor’s right, you’re being dense.” The dragon shrank in on himself when they said his name, as if embarrassed to be implicated in this confrontation. “You’re getting absolutely nowhere. This is stupid. Resortin’ to yellin’ and insults and pointless arguing.”
“Sorry?” Alex said, like he didn’t know why Azure was so upset. “I was just trying to -”
“I don’t care,” Azure said, pinching the bridge of their nose and trying to ignore the fact that Damien still hadn’t apologized or shown any sign of remorse. “You’re not going to get anywhere if you’re just gettin’ angry at each other.”
“Seems like you’re the only one who’s angry,” Damien said - casually, offhandedly, as if he were simply commenting on the weather. He shrugged a shoulder and pulled his phone out of his pocket, flicking through it and not looking up as he continued. “But, hey, whatever. Doesn’t make a difference to me.”
“You’re -” Azure felt themself heating up, felt the fight creeping into their chest and rising to their throat and shaping their words - their thoughts. They knew, if they did not do anything, it would overtake them, and then they’d be no better than the others for it. They’d turn into exactly what they hated. What they were so scared of.
So they didn’t. They swallowed their pride and their urge to get the last word in, and took a deep breath in. When they released it, they turned and walked deeper into the trees, waiting only to make sure Ko was following them.
“Azure!” Harmony called after them, and they faltered momentarily, but did not stop.
“We won’t go too far,” they said, not looking back over their shoulder. “We’ll be back soon.”
They didn’t stick around long enough to hear if anyone else said anything, the rain drowning out their voices quicker than Azure had expected it to, but that was for the better. They ran a hand through their hair, dripping wet, and they resisted a sigh as they realized how frizzy it would be for the foreseeable future.
But that was the least of their worries right now.
“You don’t think I’m takin’ things too seriously, do you,” Azure asked their partner, not looking over their shoulder at him. They heard his footsteps behind them, and the familiar click of his mandibles as he searched for what to say.
“No,” he said, and Azure resisted a sigh of relief. He took a few hurried steps forward to walk beside them, and he tapped his claws together thoughtfully. “I think you’re taking it as seriously as you should. I think their hearts are in the right place, but you’re right. They’re fighting for the sake of fighting.”
“It’s just so… strange to me,” Azure said, “that even after spendin’ so long together, with all of us, they’re still fighting like this. They know how to talk things out calmly and reasonably. I don’t think they’re doing it on purpose, but… yellin’ won’t get anywhere.”
“Sometimes it does,” Ko said quietly.
Azure’s shoulders slumped, and they breathed out slowly. “Sometimes,” they echoed.
They stepped around the trunk of a particularly large tree in their way, and then all of a sudden the rain stopped falling. Azure blinked, confused, and looked upward to see that high above them, the upper half of the tree they’d just walked around was bent over, as if someone had taken an axe to it but it hadn’t fallen over completely. The leaves and trunk were large enough that they blocked the rain from above, cascading off the edges in a thin curtain.
At the base of the tree was a flat stone, just high enough for someone to sit on and dangle their legs off of, and that is what Azure and Ko did. They helped him up and then sat down next to him, kicking the heels of their shoes against the rock.
“I don’t mean to disagree with you,” Ko continued. “But you yelled at them and it shut them up.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Azure said, ready to defend themself, but Ko just nodded.
“I know you didn’t. But I think it was okay that you did.”
“I don’t want to contribute to it,” they said, looking down at their hands. “Any of it. The arguing and yelling and everything that comes afterward. It’s…” They exhaled slowly, shifting slightly to turn their head away from Ko. “It’s been almost two months since we got here, and yet it doesn’t feel… long enough. It hasn’t been long enough since I’ve been at home and had to listen to Casey and Mitzi’s pointless fighting.”
“Your siblings, right?”
Azure nodded. “I try not to talk about them too much. I love them, but… they hate each other. For no reason. Or it seems, at least. It drives me mad.” They shrugged one shoulder, running their fingers along the edges of their sleeves. “Some people get arguing parents. I get arguing siblings. I don’t know if it’s better or worse, honestly.”
“I can’t imagine it would be easy either way.” Ko scooted closer to Azure, placing a clawed hand atop their leg and tilting his head.
Azure gave him a small smile. “I just… thought I’d be able to get away from it here, but then I see and hear Alex and Damien fighting like that, and…” They sighed, shaking their head. It sounded so stupid saying it out loud. They wished they hadn’t said anything at all in the first place. “And it doesn’t help that I don’t even know where I stand on the situation. I mean - they’re both right, aren’t they? Even if they’re being assholes about it, they're both right. I just wish there was some sort of middle ground we could take.”
“We don’t have that luxury.”
“I know.”
Ko was silent for a moment. “…Under normal circumstances, I’d keep fighting. Keep trying until I’d either fail or succeed. I don’t entirely agree with the way Alex phrased his argument, but I have to admit that I would lean more towards him.”
Azure frowned curiously. “What do you mean, ‘normal circumstances’?”
Ko nodded. “The situation we’re in is much different than it would be normally. We have important calculations we need to make. We can’t reliably evolve to ultimate yet, and though we’re better at staying in our champion forms, we can’t retain those forever. Fighting while evolved is different than simply being evolved. If the Butterflymon are too much for us, like they were earlier, we’re going to be at a standstill - and that’s saying nothing of the lucid one that showed up.” He tapped the side of his head pensively. “Is it better to cut our losses, like Damien said? Or do we have an obligation to help the Butterflymon?”
“The only way to help them is to kill them,” Azure said quietly, their stomach flipping over as they spoke. They didn’t want to think about it, now or ever, but it was true, wasn’t it?
The incident in the power plant back on the Mainframe had been weighing on their mind ever since it had happened. They’d shoved it to the back of their brain whenever they could, not wanting to think about it or acknowledge that it’d happened, but it had happened. They couldn’t change that. They couldn’t forget it.
“I know,” Ko said, fiddling with the end of his scarf - the very first time Azure had ever seen him fidget nervously, they realized. He didn’t look over at them, keeping his gaze down at the ground below them. “I don’t want to kill anyone again. Not after Kuwagamon. Not after Dollie.” He shook his head out, dropping his claws to his sides. “But what I want isn’t important. We have a world to save. We have to pick and choose our battles, yes, but… there will be times when we have to kill. There’s no getting around that.”
“I wish there was,” they mumbled.
“I do too.”
Azure squeezed their eyes shut and gripped one of their sleeves. “There should be. There should be some way around it. Some way to help them. Something we can do. It’s not -” They cut themself off, about to say something about how it wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. That was what everyone always told them. How things weren’t fair because life wasn’t fair. They’d never believed it, thinking it a stupid explanation for things. Not an explanation - an excuse.
But right now, it felt like it was true.
“But,” Ko said, “Digimon don’t ever truly die. Our data is just reformatted, and then we’re reborn again. Even though the Digimon that die won’t exist in that form anymore, they aren’t gone forever. They’ll become someone new. They’ll have whole new lives ahead of them - hopefully lives without being possessed.”
“Still usin’ that word, huh,” Azure said, unable to resist. Ko lifted his head slightly and Azure cracked their own weary smile. “And this is pretty much the same answer as you gave at the start. About keepin’ fighting.”
“Not exactly,” Ko said, shaking his head. “Under normal circumstances, I’d just fight. I wouldn’t bother to think about any of these intricacies. About the weight of our actions. But I am. Because there’s more to this than just fighting.” He paused, tapping two of his claws against each other. “I think that… stopping to think about the situation and then making an informed decision is a lot different than doing something just for the sake of doing it. You’ve taught me that.”
“Well,” Azure said, rubbing the back of their hand across their cheek as if they could wipe off the growing blush, “that’s just how I do things. I can’t jump in. I need time to think.”
“I know,” Ko said. “It’s helped me see things differently. Thank you.”
Azure didn’t know what to say, so they didn’t say anything, simply cleared their throat and slid down off of the rock. “I think we should head back now,” they said, turning to their partner. “Hopefully they haven’t gotten themselves into another argument.”
They meant it as a joke, to help lighten the mood, but… they couldn’t deny that it was possible, and they hated that. If they walked into another fight, right after the conversation they’d just had with Ko -
“I agree,” Ko said, nodding, and Azure pushed those thoughts away. They had to believe that everyone was doing okay. That Alex and Damien weren’t yelling at each other anymore. That they hadn’t started going for each others’ throats again as soon as Azure had stepped away.
They didn’t think they would have, but the worry still lingered in the corners of their mind.
The two of them headed back the way they’d come, hoping that the group hadn’t walked too far away from where they’d left them. Azure, hands in their pockets, kept their gaze trained on the ground in front of them the whole way.
Even with the rain pouring down on their heads once again, they couldn’t help but think that the rainforest was eerily quiet. Their footsteps were carefully placed, trying to avoid stepping in any forming puddles or on any uneven ground. Perhaps it was just that they were walking more calmly now, or that they were too focused on their own thoughts to hear much of what was going on around them - or maybe it really was just too quiet. They couldn’t tell.
Which is why, when they heard distant sounds coming from further ahead, they were instantly on high alert.
“Hey,” came an all-too-familiar voice only a few moments later, and Azure relaxed only slightly. Damien and Bumble pushed past some of the brush and leaves blocking their way and stopped in front of Azure, as Ko came up to stand beside them. He lifted an arm in greeting to Bumble, who hesitantly returned it, and then looked to Damien.
Azure blinked, retracting their hands from their pockets to cross their arms. “Hey,” they replied cautiously, unsure of Damien’s intentions.
“About earlier,” he said, and Azure resisted a sigh. He shrugged one shoulder and tilted his head. “Sorry for being a dick. You didn’t deserve that.” He didn’t say anything else. His eyes darted toward Azure’s and then away again, so obvious that it was clear he wasn’t even trying to play it cool, like some sort of reverse psychology.
Azure blinked again, and then frowned. They wanted to believe he was actually sincere, but… “What about Alex?”
It was Damien’s turn to look confused. “What about him?”
“I don’t think he deserved it either. Did -”
“We already talked it out,” he said, raising his hands to halt Azure’s words in their metaphorical tracks. “But you weren’t there, so I - we - came looking for you. To apologize to you. Because Alex already did.”
“His wasn’t very good,” Azure said. “And frankly, neither is yours.”
“I’m aware,” Damien said tersely. “I’m not good at this. But I’m trying.” He paused, and then his shoulders fell slightly. “I am sorry, even if it doesn’t seem like it. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but. I appreciated it when you said sorry to me after Hallowed Hall. So I figured I should return the gesture.”
Lord, they’d almost forgotten about that. They’d been way too pushy with him and hadn’t backed off when he’d made it obvious he wanted them to. The only thing that had gotten them to stop was Piximon’s arrival, and that had been… something, for sure. They’d said sorry to him later that night, when they were checking into the inn they were staying at. He’d accepted the apology, but Azure had still felt like shit for a solid week or two.
And the Corroded Woodlands situation hadn’t done either of them many favors, either.
“Thank you,” they said, and Damien’s expression lightened. “Apology accepted. It’s appreciated.” They felt like they were replying to a business email. “Just. Stop starting dumb arguments like that. Or getting into them,” they added, seeing Damien’s brows furrow at the implication that he was the one starting the arguments (which he often was, but they didn’t say this).
“No promises,” Damien said, tapping his fingers along his arms, “but I’ll try my best. Feel free to call me out if I’m ever being an asshole.”
Azure cracked a smile. “Like I don’t do that already.”
“You need to be meaner with him,” Bumble said, and Azure raised an eyebrow. “He won’t get it through his thick head if you’re too nice.”
“Hey now,” Damien said, trying to dodge as Bumble reached over to knock a claw against his temples, but he couldn’t move out of the way in time. He shoved Bumble to the side in retaliation and then placed his hands on his hips as he faced Azure again. “Honestly, I don’t think you have it in you to be mean.”
“Don’t even start,” Ko said, tugging on Azure’s arm before they could open their mouth. They rolled their eyes but relented, though not before tapping the end of his horn affectionately.
“I think -”
They forgot what they were going to say. As soon as the words were out of their mouth, from the corner of their eye they saw something moving in the trees, bright yellow and purple, headed right for them. They spun to face it, the other three following suit, and braced themself as a Butterflymon crashed out of the trees directly into their path.
Ko and Bumble were instantly in front of their partners; Ko lowered his head and flexed his claws and Bumble hovered lower to the ground, ready to drop and evolve if need be. The Butterflymon looked up at them, blinking tears out of her blue eyes, and then scowled, turning away from them with a sniff.
“Are you okay?” Azure asked, reaching a hand forward, but Butterflymon snarled, recoiling and clenching her fists.
“You don’t have any right to be nice to me!” she shouted, spreading her arms and wings. “Not after what you did earlier! They didn’t deserve that! You don’t actually care about me! You wouldn’t have attacked them if you did!”
“How many times do we have to tell you that that’s not what happened,” Damien muttered, teeth grit in annoyance. He pulled his sunglasses down over his face and shook his head. “They attacked us first. We don’t go out of our way to start fights. That’s not why we’re here.”
“We just want to make sure you’re okay,” Ko added, nodding. “You seem upset about something. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah right!” Butterflymon sneered. “You’re just trying to get my guard down so that you can attack me too. But I’m not stupid!
Azure and Damien barely had time to duck out of the way, but their partners evolved quicker than Butterflymon’s attack could impact them, taking the brunt of the hit themselves. Azure and Damien stepped away from the budding fight, taking shelter by a tree not too far away and keeping their eyes locked on their partners.
“
“
“
Her eyes brightened as she stared them down. “Your friends hurt mine. I think it’s time for -”
She was cut off by Bumble ramming into her shoulder-first, and the two of them tumbled to the ground, coated in a soup of mud and grass and leaves as they wrestled each other. Bumble rose up, holding her down with a hand as he aimed his stinger at her again.
“
Most of the bullets he shot hit Butterflymon, but she managed to roll out of the way of the latter half of the attack, pushing herself up and barrelling into Bumble’s chest, shoving him backward as she freed herself. She glowered, sweeping her gaze from him to Azure and Damien to Ko, on the other side of the clearing, finally focusing her attention on him.
“
The wave of energy swept forth, crashing over Ko and forcing him to the ground. He growled, bracing himself against the attack, and then shook himself out and curled up, preparing an attack of his own. “
The lightning struck true, and Butterflymon froze midair, paralyzed by the attack, before dropping to the ground. Ko instantly swept in, picking Butterflymon up and holding her firmly in his grasp. She struggled against his hold, but he simply tightened his claws around her, bringing her face closer to his.
“We don’t want to fight you,” he said, and Butterflymon rolled her eyes. “We don’t.”
“Then stop,” she said, looking as if she wanted to back up, but she couldn’t. She shook her head out. “Stop fighting me.”
“I did,” Ko said. Bumble hovered closer to him, looking down at Butterflymon with an unreadable expression. Ko removed one claw from her and raised it in a non-threatening gesture. Bumble copied the movement with both of his arms. “I’m not attacking you. If I wanted to, I would.”
Butterflymon’s glare swept between the two of them slowly as she writhed in Ko’s grasp, but her movements were simmering out. She huffed and shook her head again, looking off to the side.
“I don’t believe you,” she said, sounding as if she would have crossed her arms if she’d been able to.
Ko’s shoulders dropped slightly, but Bumble spoke next. “You’re being stubborn on purpose. We’ve proven to you that we don’t want to fight, but you’re too full of yourself to accept it.”
“That’s not -” Ko started, as Butterflymon narrowed her eyes at Bumble.
“I think you’d be a little skeptical too if you were in my position,” she growled, her wings flicking. “You attacked my friends and you expect me to just blindly trust you?”
“We didn’t,” Bumble said, sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else at the moment. Azure could relate. “We’ve been trying to tell you that all day. They attacked us first. Just like you did.”
This gave Butterflymon pause, and seemed to make her think - she frowned in contemplation rather than annoyance, one of her ear-antennae twitching. She didn’t say anything for a few moments, and when it became clear she wasn’t going to, Ko cleared his throat.
“If we really had attacked them first, we wouldn’t have run away when you showed up,” he said. “We ran because we didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“You ran because I called you out,” Butterflymon mumbled. “And because I could have taken you all down.” Her eyes were still narrowed, her voice still assertive, but… maybe less so now. She didn’t seem to be entirely sure of herself.
Beside Azure, Damien groaned quietly, placing a hand on his forehead, and they smiled before turning back to watch Ko.
“Haven’t you noticed their eyes?” he said. Butterflymon frowned, but he continued before she could speak or move. “Their eyes weren’t always white, were they? It would have only happened recently. It’s an indicator of the sickness.”
“That’s -” Butterflymon cut herself off, still protesting against his claims, but it was weaker now, as if she was losing the will. She shook her head. “…That’s not possible… they wouldn’t… they’ve never…”
“I’m sorry,” Ko said. “We didn’t want to hurt them. I wish there was another way.”
He loosened his hold on Butterflymon - gently, almost imperceptibly, just enough for her to relax slightly. Her gaze was cast downward, her wings barely beating as she held herself aloft. She didn’t move; she didn’t speak.
Azure blinked, and took a slow, hesitant step forward, and then from off within the trees, they heard a cracking sound - a very loud, very familiar cracking sound.
“What was that,” Butterflymon said, twisting her head to look in the direction it came from, and then she swelled up, yanking herself away from Ko, aided by his weakened grip. She hissed and her entire body tensed as the sound repeated and grew louder. “You called for backup. You really did want to attack me! I shouldn’t have trusted you!”
“We didn’t,” Azure said, more focused on what the hell could possibly be making that noise than reassuring Butterflymon. Next to them, Damien had turned around as well, and waved Bumble over to him as they stared in the direction of the sound.
It was louder now, sounding much closer - and whoever or whatever it was hadn’t made itself known yet. Azure frowned and stepped backward cautiously, and then spun around when they heard Butterflymon call out “
She hadn’t seemed to learn yet that that attack wasn’t quite as effective in the rain, but it didn’t really matter, because she fired it at such close range to Ko that it didn’t have time to dissolve. Ko hissed and stumbled backward away from her as she rounded on Bumble - who was still next to Azure and Damien.
“
The sound deeper within the trees had only gotten louder, but Butterflymon didn’t seem to care about it anymore, instead focusing on fighting Ko and Bumble. They shouted at her, but it was too hard to hear what they said over the rain and the sounds of battle and the cracking sound growing ever closer.
“I heard something like this earlier today,” Azure said to Damien as he brushed himself off. He furrowed his brow and they continued. “When we were fighting the Butterflymon. I didn’t see what it was, and it wasn’t very loud, but I know it’s the same.”
“That’s really reassuring,” Damien mumbled, clenching his jaw as Bumble took a hit from Butterflymon and spiraled to the ground. His mouth pulled back in a grimace and he dug into his pocket. “Fuck this. I’m calling for -”
He didn’t get to call for anyone, because at that moment, the thing that had been making the sound emerged from the trees.
It was enough to halt the three fighting Digimon behind them, fortunately, but for all the wrong reasons.
It was some sort of spider creature, with a bulbous abdomen and six legs, as well as an “upper” body sprouting from the abdomen which made it resemble something like a centaur. This upper body had two long, clawed arms, and was colored ghastly white, a stark contrast to the bright reds and purples of its main body. Its face was covered by a red mask with two long horns and from under which long silver hair flowed from. Its eyes were wide and focused directly on the group, as well as pure white, because of course they were.
But most disturbingly, even more so than the eyes, was the way its upper body seemed to loll around, as if it wasn’t quite supported by a bone structure - yet Azure realized, much to their dismay, that the cracking sound they had been hearing was the sound of the Digimon’s spine and neck snapping and twisting around as it moved.
The spider Digimon cracked a wide, sharp-fanged grin as it stared down at the group of five.
“I know you,” Butterflymon whispered - Azure didn’t dare take their gaze off of the spider to look at her, but her voice was full of fear. “You’re - why are you here?”
“Thank you for leading me here,” the Digimon said, ignoring Butterflymon’s question entirely. She laughed, a sharp giggle that rang through the clearing and almost seemed to bounce off of the falling raindrops, in the most unpleasant way possible. “I knew leaving one of you untouched would be worth it. It’s a shame about the others, really, but this is such a lovely turn of events.”
Damien stepped back to be level with Azure and raised his digivice to the Digimon. “Arukenimon,” it said, and the Arukenimon in question perked up upon hearing her own name, her grin widening. “Ultimate level demon beast Digimon. As the queen who presides over all arachnids, it is a highly intelligent and extremely cunning Digimon, and because of its extremely short temper and ferocious personality, many Digimon are afraid of it.”
“No shit,” Damien muttered, but he was cut off by Butterflymon.
“What do you mean about the others?” she said, voice quivering with terror and rage. She puffed her wings up and glowered at the spider Digimon. “What happened to them? What did you do?”
“What do you think, dearie?” Arukenimon purred. “You said you know me. I know you. Have you still not noticed what’s different about your little friends? It hasn’t been that long.”
Butterflymon inhaled sharply. “You - you’re the one who -?”
“My, my, not very quick, are we?” Arukenimon grinned and tilted her head, a grotesque motion that resulted in another small cracking sound. “I would’ve thought you’d have it figured out sooner. Weren’t these ones trying to tell you?” She motioned at the other four, one of her claws curling. “You ought to trust them more. They may be infuriating, but they’re rarely liars. …Still, rarely doesn’t mean never.”
She turned her attention to Azure and Damien here, and Azure instinctively took a step back away from her. Arukenimon laughed again, and then the smile slipped off her face entirely. “I’m not here for you,” she said, obviously still talking to Butterflymon even with her eyes trained on Azure. They thought their heart might as well beat right out of their chest. “I’m here for them.”
Azure knew what was coming, but they couldn’t move. It felt like they were stuck in place when faced with Arukenimon’s blank, soulless eyes, as if they had some sort of hypnotizing effect. They knew they could move, they knew, but they didn’t. They couldn’t. All they could do was wait for Arukenimon to make her move and hope that when she did, their fight or flight instincts would kick in and they’d finally be able to move.
But that is not what happened. Arukenimon looked like she was about to attack, but as she raised a claw, someone else’s voice rang out instead.
“
Butterflymon’s attack had almost zero effect on Arukenimon. She barely flinched; it was like she’d simply been bitten by a mosquito, or something equally as insignificant.
But it did get her attention, and while her focus was on Butterflymon, three things happened.
First, Azure finally broke out of their panic-induced daze, and managed to return to the present and get the hell away from Arukenimon before she looked back at them. They stumbled to a halt near where Damien had fled to, beside an almost-fallen tree, bent at an angle where they could keep an eye on the fight but stay mostly out of sight.
Second, Arukenimon released a strange, distorted hissing sound (which Azure didn’t think was entirely due to her being manic), and swiped out at Butterflymon. She was sent tumbling to the ground, not far enough away from Arukenimon, and pushed herself up with shaky arms and legs - but Arukenimon wasn’t done yet.
“
This would have been bad enough on its own, but it was made much worse by the third thing - which was that Ko practically flung himself toward Butterflymon, grabbing her where she crouched and rolling to the side. She collapsed in a heap and righted herself quickly, but Ko - still behind her - wasn’t quite as fast.
Arukenimon’s attack hit him, and where it did, the thread seemed to stretch and unravel even more until he was bound in a half-cocoon structure. He cried out in pain and Arukenimon hissed a laugh, yanking him toward her even as he struggled to escape his bindings.
“Now, now!” she chided, leaning down to tap one long claw against his mandibles. Ko snapped at her and she retracted her hand quickly, looking disgusted for a brief moment before the smile slipped back onto her face. “No need to be so aggressive! I haven’t really hurt you, have I? Then again, that could change!”
“Ko!” Azure shouted, taking a step forward, but they didn’t get far - something tugged at their arm, hard, and they turned to see Damien holding them back. His mouth was drawn shut in a thin line, his expression unreadable even without his sunglasses covering his eyes.
Azure grit their teeth and tried to wrest their arm away from him, turning to look back at Ko as Arukenimon wrapped him up tighter, but Damien didn’t let go.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he snapped, managing to pull them back to stand next to him. Azure grabbed their arm away from him but did not move. They knew he was right. Ko was defenseless, Butterflymon was still shaking on the ground, and Bumble -
…Where was Bumble? They could’ve sworn they’d seen him when Arukenimon had first shown up, but they’d been too focused on her and Ko and Butterflymon to really pay attention to him, and right now he was nowhere to be seen.
“Where the hell is your partner,” they said to Damien, but their question was answered in short order by said partner crashing out of the canopy above and landing on Arukenimon.
“
Bumble’s stinger was pointed directly at Arukenimon’s chest, barely three inches away from touching it, and the blast of energy that surged forth practically exploded in a burst of light. Arukenimon screamed and stumbled backward, flailing her arms about, and it seemed that that movement was enough for the thread from the gems to recoil and retract. Ko thumped to the ground, released from his prison, and rose up to attack Arukenimon just as she was finally coming back to her own senses.
Ko growled and clenched his fists as they began to spark. “
“Well, that’s not very nice!” she said, scrunching her face up at Ko. “But I should have expected it. I know you’re not usually the one for talking things out. That’s your little partner’s job!
As she called her attack, the six golden orbs situated at the front of her abdomen began to glow. She threw her hands out, just barely avoiding hitting Bumble, and the glow shot forth, many times, in rapid succession. The beads of energy(?) took the form of small spiders that fell to the ground and began crawling toward the three opposing Digimon, running up their legs to reach their faces, where they began to swarm, scratching and slashing at their eyes and mouths.
Azure frowned, and then yelped as some of the spiders skittered towards them. They raised a foot and brought it down on the closest one, and it disappeared in a small scattering of energy, looking almost like embers. Beside them, Damien was doing the same to the few spiders that had approached him.
On the battlefield, Ko roared and released a small blast of electricity, enough to shake off and disperse the spiders that had mobbed him. “
She opened her mouth as if to make another attack, but Butterflymon came in swinging first. “
Butterflymon grimaced and looked up at the spider. “Why are you doing this,” she coughed out, wiping an arm across where her mouth would be. “Was hurting my friends not enough? I thought you said you were going to let me go!”
“I did!” Arukenimon insisted, wagging a finger in disappointment. “I did let you go. I told you I’m not here for you, but you insisted on fighting me! Really not a surprise considering how your little friends acted when I so graciously helped them, but still!”
Butterflymon’s winds flared out. “You didn’t help them! You made them sick! You made them attack them!” She swept an arm out to gesture at the humans and other two Digimon here. Ko and Bumble, hovering just behind Butterflymon and intensely focused on Arukenimon, shared a glance but said nothing.
“I didn’t make them attack anyone,” Arukenimon said flatly. The smile and enjoyment were gone from her face and tone now. “I promised them power and they accepted. It’s not my fault they decided to lash out at those around them. And it’s not my fault that they never actually achieved that power.” She sighed melodramatically, looking down at her claws as if examining a manicure. “But there is a reason for that. They weren’t really of any use to us. Better I kill them than have them snap out of it and go blabbing their mouths about the whole thing. We’ve learned our lesson.”
Her eyes flicked toward Azure here. She still wasn’t smiling.
They knew who she was talking about, and it made them sick to their stomach, but they held their position. They knew it was a lure. They weren’t going to fall for it. They weren’t going to make that mistake.
Butterflymon did.
“You WHAT?” she shrieked. She sounded more furious than anything else, anything she could have been feeling instead - sadness, shock, confusion. For a moment, she seemed to practically double in size, her wings beating a frantic rhythm as she swelled up and zipped toward Arukenimon. “You’re lying to me! You’re just trying to scare me! You’re LYING!”
But Azure knew from the look on Arukenimon’s face that she was not. They knew from the way Butterflymon’s ears twitched and hands shook that she was not. They knew from the sharp inhale of breath that Damien took that she was not.
They knew from the uneasy roiling feeling in their own gut that they got when they looked at Arukenimon that she was not lying.
And Butterflymon knew it too. Azure knew she knew.
She curled her claws into fists and screamed. No words - just an empty scream of pure, unfettered rage and despair and anguish. It didn’t last long, and it wasn’t particularly loud, but the rawness it evoked nearly made Azure crumple to their knees.
They didn’t. They held on.
When Butterflymon cut herself off, breathing deeply, chest heaving, she turned her eyes upon Arukenimon. Her face, soaked with rain and possibly tears, was one that Azure had not seen from her yet.
In the distance, lightning flashed, lighting the clearing in impossibly bright white for but a single moment, and then it faded away, replaced by the quiet rumble of thunder. In the darkness that followed, oppressively blinding after the strike of lightning, it was impossible to see what was happening - but the thunder was not loud enough to drown out the sound.
“
And then there was another horrible cracking noise from Arukenimon, just as Azure’s eyes readjusted to the light. Arukenimon tipped her head back and let out a loud, keening cackle, a disturbing enough sound that it took all of Azure’s willpower not to clap their hands over their ears.
“
“Let go!” she shouted, reaching to claw at the threads, but her arms quickly became bound as well. Arukenimon laughed again and, with a flick of her wrist, severed the thread and flung Butterflymon into a nearby tree, where she hit with a crunch and fell to the ground.
“No!” Azure shouted, running toward Butterflymon - she wasn’t dead, one of her eyes was still open, but it was welling with tears and Azure could tell that she’d had the wind knocked out of her - and completely ignoring Arukenimon. A mistake, they realized as soon as they’d crossed over to Butterflymon, but they barely had time to turn around to make sure they weren’t being attacked before Ko let loose a roar.
In their pocket, Azure’s digivice beeped. “Ultimate evolution engaged.”
Just as the lightning had, the white light that emanated from Ko as he evolved lit the clearing up, and when it faded, he was already preparing an attack. “
He shot the blast of electricity from his horn directly at Arukenimon, who made to jump away from the attack but instead landed directly in front of Bumble. Her eyes widened and she scrambled to the side, but Bumble was quick on the draw, and she didn’t have time to escape.
“
“Brat!” she hissed, swiping out and downing him with a claw. “
Bumble saw the attack coming and darted to the side, coming up behind Arukenimon next to Ko. Arukenimon snarled in frustration and retracted her thread
“Go!” Damien shouted from the other side of the clearing, clutching his digivice in one hand, and Bumble nodded. Within seconds, he too had evolved, bathing the clearing in one final dosage of light and coming right out of it already swinging.
He readied his stinger and aimed directly for Arukenimon’s face, just as Ko clenched his fists and charged them with electricity.
“
“
The blue laser and lightning-packed punches were enough to topple Arukenimon, and she fell to the ground unceremoniously, sending mud and rainwater flying everywhere.
“Enough!” she screeched, scrambling on all six of her legs to pick herself back up. She looked a mess - hair soaked and mussed, legs caked with mud, arms and face charred from blasts of lightning - but she was still standing, and she was furious. She pointed a claw at Ko and then Bumble in turn, teeth grit and eyes wide. “I’ve had enough of you! You’re making this so difficult and for no reason! I’m SICK of it!
Neither Ko nor Bumble had been expecting her to attack, and she did so quickly enough that they didn’t have time to get out of the way. With one thread focused on each of them, they coiled around their legs, snaking up their spines and chests to constrict them. Arukenimon wasn’t having as much luck with them as she was with Butterflymon, as they were much larger and much more intent on not getting caught, but she was making a strong enough attempt where it was hard for them to really fight back, even though they were trying.
“
“
Speaking of Butterflymon.
While Arukenimon was focused on the other two Digimon, Damien had reached Azure’s side, and was helping them work on untangling the thread that surrounded Butterflymon. She’d looked a bit nervous when Azure had first started, but was mostly relaxed now, even if the scene behind them - which she was getting the best view of, as Azure and Damien were facing away from it - did little to put any of them at more of an ease.
“Why are you helping me,” she said, her words sounding rushed - presumably speaking quickly to minimize the time the two humans had to spend with their backs turned. She blinked up at Azure, and then Damien in turn. “I’ve been awful to you. I don’t -”
“Like hell you don’t deserve this,” Damien said. “You’re not our enemy. Arukenimon is. You’re helping us fight her. That’s good enough reason for us to help you.”
“And even if you weren’t,” Azure added, tugging harshly at a particularly stubborn section of thread, “we’d still help. That’s what we do. We’ve been through this before.”
Butterflymon said nothing, her eyes shining, but she nodded.
“
“Shit,” they muttered, teeth clenched. Butterflymon looked at them anxiously, but they didn’t meet her gaze, focused entirely on their partner as he fought off the swarm and the webs.
Arukenimon flicked her wrists to cut the threads again, then raised her arms. “
The new webs and old webs and crawling spiders were too much for either of them to handle, and they had no choice but to succumb, finally encased in ridiculously large cocoons. Sections of their bodies still poked out - half of one of Ko’s arms, the upper half of Bumble’s container - but nothing that would be able to free themselves.
Azure thought their jaw might break from how hard they bit down. It was hard to focus on freeing Butterflymon when they weren’t looking at her, but like hell they were going to take their eyes off of Ko.
Which might have actually been a mistake, it turns out.
Arukenimon caught their eye and grinned, and the remaining spiders flickered and disappeared. “I’ll admit I always get a bit of a thrill out of seeing my prey like this,” she hissed, her head tilting to the side with another small crack. “Defenseless and helpless. Entirely at my mercy. Much like you are right now!”
She was right. Azure was trapped. Their partners were out of the fight, and Butterflymon - even if she hadn’t been still caught in the cocoon - wasn’t any match for Arukenimon on her own. But they couldn’t leave; they couldn’t abandon Butterflymon, and certainly not Ko or Damien or Bumble. Even if they and Damien were to flee, Ko and Bumble would still be stuck where they were, unless they devolved to escape, but if they devolved it would just be one or two hits from Arukenimon and then -
Azure blinked quickly a few times, wiping away raindrops or tears or whatever was on their face. Arukenimon giggled, taking a step toward them.
“You’ll forgive me for savoring this moment,” she said. “It’s not often that I get to hunt humans. I’m not just doing it because he told me to, it’s -”
She didn’t get to finish, because Azure had picked up a large stone sitting by their feet and thrown it at her face.
It was heavier than they’d expected, and they didn’t really have time to take that into their calculations, so it hit her in the abdomen, right between the amber gems. Still, whether it had hit its intended mark or not didn’t really matter, so long as it hit a mark - which it did.
Arukenimon shrieked and stumbled on her feet, and it had the exact effect Azure had been hoping (praying to God) for. The threads from her hands - which she had not snapped off yet - were yanked just a bit too hard from her thrashing about, and they recoiled, retreating back into the gems from which they came.
This, of course, released Ko and Bumble from the majority of their bindings - and, well, with Arukenimon distracted, it took only a matter of seconds for them to slash and shake the underlying webs off. They turned on Arukenimon, ready to attack, but they were given pause.
Arukenimon didn’t even notice (or care?) they were freed, so focused was she on turning on Azure with a fury ablaze in her eyes. “
Which was exactly what was happening, actually.
Azure fell backward in an attempt to get away from the too-rapidly approaching thread, a misjudgement born out of too little time to figure out what the fuck to do. They should have dodged to the side, or ducked, or jumped, or done literally anything other than simply slightly prolong the time it would take for the attack to reach them, but they didn’t.
The webs fell just slightly short of their face (so maybe backing up hadn’t been the worst idea), but they caught onto their shirt, wrapping around their chest and legs and leaving behind a horrible searing pain where they met skin. Azure cried out and crashed to the ground, struggling against the webs as they lengthened and tightened.
“
Damien was at their side the instant Arukenimon was focused on Ko and Bumble. He offered them a hand, saying nothing, and they accepted it - shakily, hesitantly, but still accepted it. It didn’t feel like the webs were gone yet. They could still feel them, where they had dug into their flesh and left behind… nothing, really. There were no marks - small indentations, yes, but no cuts or burns or any sort of blood.
Call that a blessing, at the very least.
“Blue human!” they heard from behind them, and they turned as Butterflymon fluttered to their side, finally freed of her own bindings. She clasped her hands together, eyes darting anxiously back and forth between them and the other three Digimon still fighting. “Are you okay?”
“I’m… fine,” Azure said, a little unsure, and Butterflymon’s shoulders loosened. She looked back at Arukenimon and breathed in sharply.
“She’s struggling,” she said, pointing at the spider. Azure followed where she was gesturing but saw nothing apparent - Arukenimon seemed as fit and furious as she had when she’d first shown up.
“Is she?”
Butterflymon nodded. “She’s going to try to flee. I can go and cut her off and force her back towards your… partners. I don’t know how they evolved but they’re two ultimates against one. We need to stop her before she can run.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed, but not out of suspicion, Azure could tell. “How do you know that?”
Butterflymon didn’t answer immediately, and when she spoke, she sighed. “I don’t. But it’s what the other white eyed Digimon have done when they’re losing.” She looked at Azure. “My… friends did earlier. I tried talking to them but they left. And so have the other ones I’ve seen. There’s been a lot of them recently. …I’m sorry for not believing you.”
“Not the time,” Damien said, nodding at Arukenimon - and, sure enough, she was edging towards the tree line, subtly enough where Ko and Bumble couldn’t notice. He tilted his head at Butterflymon, brow furrowed. “You sure she won’t just go through you?”
Butterflymon grimaced, but nodded. “I’ll attack her. She’ll have no choice but to turn around. Back towards you.”
She didn’t say anything else before she took off, zipping into the trees and disappearing from sight. Azure watched her leave for a few seconds, then turned back to the fight, one of their feet tensing against the ground as Ko was swarmed by Predation Spiders.
And then - Arukenimon took a few steps back, watching as the two insects were fending off the energy spiders, then skittered deeper into the trees. Azure chanced a look at Damien and saw his eyes locked on her as well; they looked back at where Arukenimon had disappeared to.
Ko and Bumble, still fending off her last round of spiders, were not as quick to notice her disappearance, but the sound of Butterflymon’s attack - slightly muffled by distance, but loud enough for them to hear - got their attention quick. “
Arukenimon came stumbling back into the clearing (thank God she had not decided to plow through Butterflymon anyways), driven back by Butterflymon’s beam of energy. Ko and Bumble’s heads snapped toward her, and it seemed to dawn on them instantly what had been happening.
They didn’t waste a moment.
“
“
Shot in the back by two different attacks she hadn’t been expecting nor prepared for, Arukenimon dropped to the ground with a wail, barely able to turn around to face Ko and Bumble before the tips of her legs began to pixelate. She growled, scrambling to her feet, but she had no feet left to scramble to, and crumpled to the ground again.
Arukenimon stared down at her hands, where her claws were receiving the same treatment, and laughed.
“I see,” she said, sounding much too accepting of what was happening. She looked up at Ko, face split into a grin. The pixelation had crept up her arms and legs now; she didn’t have much time left, Azure could tell. “I see.” She shook her head and twisted around with a crack to look at Butterflymon. “Well, you’ve gotten your revenge now, sweetheart. I wish I could say I’m sorry about your friends, but I’m not.”
Butterflymon said nothing, simply glared down at Arukenimon. The spider woman smiled, then turned to Azure and Damien.
“You’re really something special, you know?” she purred. “I really thought I’d kill you both today. I thought I’d be the one to do it. But I guess not.” She sighed and shook her head out, looking down at her arms, now half-gone.
She didn’t say anything else, simply lifted her head to look at the other three Digimon - and then laughed. “One last parting gift.
“
“
“
The three attacks hit her before the spiders could reach them, and she exploded into pixels, taking the spiders with her. No sooner had she disappeared than Ko and Bumble were consumed with colored light, reverting to their base forms and dropping to the ground.
They didn’t know why, but Azure couldn’t help but still feel ill at ease. Arukenimon was gone, and they weren’t in danger anymore, but…
Too much had happened. It would take some time to process.
Butterflymon stared at where Arukenimon had stood while Ko and Bumble rushed to their partners. Bumble hovered eye-level with Damien, saying nothing, while Ko grabbed Azure’s hands and turned worried eyes upon them.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and they nodded. They had to be okay. They couldn’t really afford not to be. He didn’t look convinced, and Azure closed their eyes for a brief moment.
“I’ve had worse,” they said, which was true. They didn’t think it was enough for Ko, but he nodded anyway, though they knew they had a talk that was due.
A thump drew their attention back to Butterflymon, and they saw that she had collapsed to her knees, holding her face in her hands. Hesitantly they and Ko stepped forward, followed shortly by Damien and Bumble; they crouched down next to her and reached a hand out to place on her shoulder, surprised when she shrugged them off.
“Is everything alright?” Ko asked, tapping his claws together nervously, and that seemed to be all Butterflymon needed to break down into tears.
Ko drew his arm back, and he and Azure shared an anxious glance, but neither of them got to speak before Butterflymon did.
“They’re gone,” she said between sniffs and sobs. She reached a hand up to wipe her eyes, but more tears fell, mixing with the rain dripping down her face. “They’re all gone. They were my friends. My only family. And now they’re gone.”
Azure didn’t know what to say. They didn’t know what to do. Butterflymon, who had been so devoted to her friends that she had completely ignored everything the group had tried to tell her about what had really happened, only to find out that it was true and that they had died because of it…
The memory of Dollie, of seeing Harmony and Ren walk back into camp without her, of that fateful night, was still too fresh in their mind.
Butterflymon hadn’t even done anything. Her friends hadn’t done anything. She’d defended her friends, and she’d been hesitant to believe the group, and all because of that, her friends - her family - had been killed.
All because they weren’t “useful”.
Just like Dollie.
Azure couldn’t help but wonder why so many of the Digimon they came across who had nothing to do with what they were aiming to accomplish had gotten hurt or worse. They couldn’t help but wonder why it was becoming a pattern. Why simply interacting with them had led to them being caught in the middle of the crossfire.
They couldn’t help but wonder what they could have done differently - what they could have done to save them.
(They knew there was nothing they could have done.)