WoS Ch15 Part 2: Consequences

The story so far: Kouji (Lobomon, Warrior of Light) and JP/Junpei (Beetlemon, Warrior of Thunder) split from the main group to chase after the Gotsumon who found the Beast Spirit of Light. This allowed Gotsumon to transform into an even more powerful digimon form called Garmmon which SHOULD belong to Kouji.

Irreparable differences in opinion caused JP and Kouji to go their separate ways. While JP manages to find Gotsumon and even has a somewhat friendly conversation with him, Kouji continues to do things on his own.

Chapter 15 Part 2 - Consequences

-Kouji-

Kouji had unsuccessfully checked on the village again, whacking a few more heads in the process. That had marked the end of his trusted stick. Of course, he hadn’t found Gotsumon anywhere. His D-Tector remained silent, even when he demanded more information from the guardian deity that occasionally spoke to them.

Nonetheless, he could cover so much ground now that he didn’t have the dead weight of other children dragging him down. When he heard a Trailmon rattling through the forest, he followed it by sound. He found a well-travelled train track that led through the forest.

The yellow Trailmon Kettle stopped at a tiny train station where a few dozen mice-like digimon disembarked. Kouji didn’t know if Buffalo, Franken or Kettle were actual names or just the designations of their train models, but either way, he didn’t care. Kettle was nice enough to inform him about the other Trailmon that routinely stopped here. Tomorrow afternoon, a Trailmon Worm would come by and drive to the last train station before the Forest Terminal.

When he finished the talk, daylight was waning already, so Kouji decided to set up camp close to the river. He found himself some food and began building a safe place to sleep. Here, his varied after-school activities came through for him once again. As he wrestled a few huge leaves up a tree, he gave himself one short moment to bemoan the loss of the group. Without them, there was no night shift rotation and he had to be wary about sleep. That was why he built his arrangement of sticks and leaves up in a tree that would protect him from ground-hunting predators. Anyone trying to climb his tree would wake him up in time to deal with the problem.

That whole endeavour took him an hour and he’d been tired to begin with. Kouji settled in his leaf mattress three meters away from the ground and leaned back. Through the branches, he saw the distinct tint of red at the western horizon.

He put an arm over his eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come easy. The day’s events were replaying in his mind: from accidentally stealing Kei’s Spirit to getting the message about his Beast Spirit to the fight with Gigasmon—and he judged his own performance critically—and then running after the stubborn Gotsumon who was less than willing to hand over the Beast Spirit. Kouji wasn’t good at talking and convincing people, so he honestly didn’t know how to tackle this problem. Digimon were the most unreasonable creatures that he’d ever met—except for maybe his classmates back in primary school.

Then there was the fact that Keisaki, Izumi and Tomoki were completely unprotected in the Gotsumon village. Considering Keisaki’s aggressive ‘better together’ policy, they weren’t that likely to leave the place. Kouji preferred not to think too hard about them. Besides, Junpei should have already rejoined them, so they should be fine. They’d be heading towards the Forest Terminal tomorrow. Something he would do too. He had until tomorrow afternoon to find Gotsumon, but he wouldn’t allot it more time. Reaching the Forest Terminal seemed more important.

With all these heavy thoughts in his head, it wasn’t so much sleep than a light slumber that overcame him. One second, he was watching the sky turn dark blue. The next, the sky was black, the moons were up, and an ominous wooden robot was standing on a branch opposite of him. Kouji didn’t know how long it had been there, but his whole body was tingling with alarm. He didn’t even have time to make sense out of it. The robot detached its right hand, still connected to the rest of his body by a series of strong cables, and hurled it towards him.

Kouji still hadn’t fully transitioned into high alertness and evaded the projectile by flinging himself down the tree. The reality of falling caught up with him and he reached out for a passing branch to break his fall.

He barely got his D-Tector out before the robot sent its foot after him. It only barely missed him. He hurried to summon the data cocoon.

Execute Spirit Digivolve to... Lobomon!

Heading out of the transformation, he knew that another attack was coming. He drew his swords and spun them to deflect the detached limbs. In a smooth move, he flipped around and shot a light ball at the robot.

It jumped down the tree to avoid it and said, “Ding dong! If you light a fire, make sure to put it out before leaving the room!”

“Who are you?” Lobomon demanded, not willing to put up with absurdity.

“My name is Arbormon, Warrior of Wood!” the digimon said, surprisingly polite. It continued in the same voice, “And I am here to claim your Spirit.”

Well, that was not going to happen. Instead of deigning Arbormon with a reaction, he simply shot another light ball at it. “Lichtkugel!”

For the first time, his Lichtkugel failed him. Arbormon opened its mouth—or rather, retracted its absurdly long teeth—and shouted, “Blockage Seed!”

A stream of little round balls rushed out and not only overwhelmed the Lichtkugel but also went past it and lodged onto Lobomon. At first, they didn’t hurt. But while he was trying to scrape them off, they sprouted roots and stringy ivy bound his arms and legs together. He struggled in his bonds and managed to get the disgusting plants a little loose just when Arbormon’s foot slammed into him. Air was forcefully rushing out of his lungs and Lobomon staggered backwards with the motion. Another kick that he couldn’t evade had him unbalanced and he toppled over.

“A true dancer smiles through his mistakes!” Arbormon said in its overly pleasant automaton voice. It continued to rain kicks and punches onto him, and said mournfully, “Why don’t you get up and continue the performance?”

Lobomon endured the onslaught and used the first lull in attacks to roll out of the way and onto his feet, finally snapping the Blockage Seeds. He wasted no time to shoot a Lichtkugel before jumping out of the way of another volley of the annoying ivy bombs.

More of them were coming towards him, followed by a detached foot, so he gathered energy in his eyes and shot two light beams at the approaching seeds, “Lichtstrahl!” then brought his swords around to cut through the cable connecting the foot to the rest of the body.

The cords were surprisingly resistant and Arbormon had more control over its loosened limbs than Lobomon expected. He had to hastily step back to avoid the flailing fist. There was no time to get his bearings as Arbormon had already sent out another arm to batter at him. Lobomon didn’t get another chance to attack with flying appendages assaulting him from every direction.

While Lobomon deflected and avoided, Arbormon barely moved, following a rigid pattern in its attacks. Good. Lobomon just had to wait for an opportunity.

Two fists were closing in while he was busy slicing at a foot. That was it. Arbormon had only one leg left to stand on. He somersaulted over the approaching hands and landed on their cords, bringing Arbormon off balance. Before the same could happen to him, Lobomon was already moving and closed the distance to his enemy in a single bound. Arbormon couldn’t retract its appendages fast enough.

Two crossed light blades flared down on the wooden cyborg. “Zwei Sieger!”

He smirked as Arbormon stumbled backwards, almost getting tangled in the mess of cords that was coming out of its limbs.

The Wood Warrior might’ve been a bit slow on the uptake and slow in general, but it could take a hit. While the Warrior of Light jumped back in anticipation of a counterattack, Arbormon just stared dully at him. It retracted the cords and became whole once again.

Lobomon narrowed his eyes. This unexpected silence made him uncomfortable. Arbormon still didn’t say anything, so he rushed forwards for the final blow.

Fractal code erupted from his enemy, making it unable for him to proceed with the attack.

Arbormon Slide Digivolve to... Petaldramon!

Of course. Lobomon didn’t even know why the appearance of the Beast Spirit surprised him. It confirmed his worst-case scenario: not only were the five other elements under Cherubimon’s control, they were all equipped with Beast Spirits.

Petaldramon was huge. Its walnut-shaped head alone easily cleared the space of a garage gate. With an enormous enemy like that, Lobomon didn’t even know where to start with the attack. The lizard creature had no such hesitations.

The leaves around its head were spinning, “Leaf Cyclone!” and a storm blasted from its nostrils.

Alright, while the attack flew in fast, Lobomon was faster, and he jumped out of the way with seconds to spare. Petaldramon’s size would be its downfall as it allowed him to land on its overgrown back. A double row of branches awaited him, jutting out of its back like spikes. While Lobomon made to rush Petaldramon’s head, he learned that they weren’t decorative.

The second he was in the range of the thick branches, they lashed out at him like whips and he rolled forwards to avoid a hit only to be greeted by the next one. He slashed at the offending branch, and it retracted like a wounded animal, so he rushed past it and finally reached Petaldramon’s neck.

Lobomon brought his swords down, but the green moss covering Petaldramon’s massive body absorbed the hit. It quickly regrew over the cut.

The beast reared back on its hind legs, shouting something inane and irrelevant. The surface below Lobomon became rapidly steeper—he really didn’t want to fall into the aggressive branches down the back of the creature. It forced him to abandon his position, and he jumped away. He came to a stand a few meters away from the rearing titan and was quickly on the move again.

Petaldramon had to face a harsh truth: if it couldn’t catch Lobomon as the far more agile Arbormon, its oversized Beast form was an even worse choice to face the Warrior of Light.

So it did something more drastic than kicking up a storm. It sunk its front paws into the earth, and a shockwave spread through the ground. In a wide circle around them, the trees stiffened up, their branches freezing in place and their leaves turning brown. In a matter of seconds, the leaves became dust scattering in an ominous breeze while what was left of the trees withered and died.

Lobomon didn’t know what to make of it and raised his swords in a defensive stance. What was happening?

Petaldramon’s yellow, pupil-less eyes swivelled around their black sclera and finally focused on him. The beast opened its mouth, showing a row of flat teeth and said, “Thousand Spikes!”

The recently freed space came alive as hundreds of whip-like roots rose out of the loose earth and wiggled in the cool night air. Lobomon reeled back. They had him thoroughly surrounded. It was like he was standing in a forest of animated sticks. He was already backing away when the first row lashed out at him. Lobomon sliced through the roots but more took their place. There were just too many! He jumped over an array of sticks, shooting down a Lichtkugel, but that only gave him a short break before another batch appeared. He had a moment to check his position. If he could make it across the clearing, he could reach a safer part of the forest. Then he had to move again.

No matter where he went, Petaldramon’s attention was already there. The darkness didn’t seem to hinder it at all. It always knew where to strike with its lance-like roots with uncanny accuracy and Lobomon had trouble tracking all of them and more than once almost skewered himself. Only in the back of his mind was he aware that the huge beast kept up a constant commentary. There was no time to concentrate on what it was saying when the forest itself had become his enemy.

This was such a wide area! How could he either get to safety or closer for another hit? And how could Petaldramon control so many of these roots? Especially in this darkness? Oh! There was one advantage Lobomon had over the Beast of Wood.

Before he could act on his idea, a tangle of much smaller, unobtrusive roots snuck up on him in the shadow of their larger brethren. He only felt them when they snaked around his foot and pulled him down on one knee. He tried to cut the binds, but the interlocked, stringy roots were a lot sturdier than the Thousand Spikes and kept him in place. He had the other sword ready to deal with incoming lances, but Petaldramon turned its rotating leaves at him. “Leaf Cyclone!”

Lobomon was stuck! He couldn’t move out of the way and the nostril storm blew him off his feet. The vines stubbornly held onto his leg and took too long to tear. There was a sharp pain and then the storm was free to blow him away. It was nothing like Kazemon’s Hurricane Wave. This storm was ten times more potent and something in it was tearing at his very being.

It came almost as a relief when he finally slammed into a tree. Lobomon groaned, his vision blurry. Petaldramon was unwilling to give him time to recover and took a deep breath for another attack.

Now or never. With difficulty, Lobomon raised his sword, pouring energy into the blade and released it in a burst. It drenched the entire area in blinding light.

“Gah!” Petaldramon reeled back, shutting its eyes too late. The storm that had already been brewing in its windpipe got stuck in its throat and it started to choke. It looked like it was drowning on dry land, frantically flailing around. Its tail lashed out and brought an entire row of trees down and Lobomon had to jump to get out of its way. That’s when he realized his ankle had taken the attack even worse than the rest of his body, and he winced when his foot almost gave way under him. The sharp pain intensified. It wasn’t ideal, but his Spirit was rectifying the damage. He just needed a moment.

A moment he might not have. Petaldramon’s flailing obliterated another batch of trees. The moss dragon trembled in rage. In lieu of a better option, Lobomon aimed his wrist at the creature. “Lichtkugel!” The light ball aligned perfectly and collided with Petaldramon’s face. He moved again when Petaldramon angrily slammed its tail into the ground and brought forth its thousand wood vines again.

A tingling flashed in his head, like weak electricity. Before Lobomon could concentrate on it, a vine whip popped into his vision, and he wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way. It slammed into him and dragged him a couple of meters through the dirt until he cut through it and jumped to his feet again. Petaldramon looked down on him with a serene expression, completely unfitting on its walnut face, and continued the onslaught.

How could it be so powerful?

Lobomon slashed through a dozen thorny vines and evaded countless more, but his injured foot was slowing him down. Then he had a lapse in his vigilance, and one hardened vine wrapped itself around his arm. There was a snap, and he dropped the sword in that hand.

Pain caught up with him and he screamed. The pain rolled up in waves, unrelenting, always present and he couldn’t focus on anything else. Sweat was flowing freely down his face. His arm was bent at an unnatural angle. He knew the Spirit was frantically shifting attention from his foot to fix this catastrophe, but Petaldramon was nothing if not relentless.

While he was still fighting to concentrate on something, anything, else, Petaldramon was happy to provide and he heard from far away, “Leaf Cyclone!”

Lobomon grabbed onto the sound and even if his sight was still hazy, he managed to roll to the side. Another scream almost drowned out the rush of the attack passing him by. He needed to get a grip. Fast. He couldn’t lose here!

Roots were lashing out again and it was so difficult to destroy them with just one hand. There were too many things diverting his attention, and the energy needed to power the transformation was instead used to keep him functional. Lobomon knew that he was in deep trouble and that if he didn’t do something soon, he’d be Kouji again. He frantically looked for a way to escape. Even with an injured arm, he should be able to outrun Petaldramon!

Somewhere in the distance, there was a howl.

He took that as his cue to surge forwards, but Petaldramon was onto him. A living blockade of wooden sticks rose in front of him and forced him to turn on his injured foot. He cringed... and heard the dreadful sound of leaves spinning. His leg was still too weak to bear his full weight and couldn’t propel him fast enough away. Once more, he was caught up in the terrible Leaf Cyclone. And this time, he couldn’t hold. He couldn’t hold on!

The weirdest feeling of rigidity took over and for a few moments, the pain was gone. With great effort, as if his eyelids suddenly weighed a hundred tons, he managed to open his eyes and saw Petaldramon looming over him. Its gaze was firmly directed at the fractal code surrounding him where his Spirit was shining.

“Spirits always look so beautiful,” Petaldramon mused whimsically. His tongue lashed out and wrapped itself around his Spirit and pulled.

Kouji couldn’t describe the sensation of Lobomon being torn from him. It didn’t hurt, but it felt like it should. Somehow, he managed to hang onto consciousness while the Beast of Wood gobbled up a part of himself.

Even after the forced rigidity wore off, Kouji couldn’t move. Everything hurt.

Petaldramon was still there, staring down on him. It tilted its massive head. “I wonder... Do humans also turn into DigiEggs?”

It took so much effort to swallow the dread knotting in Kouji’s throat. When Petaldramon leaned in, Kouji couldn’t even motivate his body to move through the ever-present haze of pain. This was it.

“No! Stop it! Lightning Bomb!”

That familiar voice penetrated the crushing despair, and Kouji managed to lift his head. A streak of electricity crashed into Petaldramon. Seconds later, a glowing Garmmon threw itself against the Beast of Wood, tearing away at its overgrown hide.

“Kouji!” While the two monsters engaged each other, the blue form of Beetlemon landed next to Kouji and unveiled concern shone in his green eyes. “Kouji! What happened?! You look terrible!”

Kouji really didn’t need a reminder of that. It took all his focus not to whimper in pain. The absence of Lobomon was overwhelming. There was no position that wouldn’t make his broken arm scream with protest, and he knew he wouldn’t be fine over the night. He balled his intact hand into a fist. He shouldn’t have lost his Spirit.

“What happened to your arm?!” Beetlemon was still fretting, very untypical for Junpei. “I’m so sorry! I was too late! If I had known...”

What was he even talking about? Kouji hadn’t expected him to show up at all, and he’d just saved his life. There was no way he could’ve saved his Spirit.

One of Garmmon’s disintegrating laser beams passed them, just a few meters away.

Kouji gathered his strength and pressed out, “Need to ... get away.”

 “Right. Right,” Beetlemon said, trying to calm his escalating hysteria. He took an awkward step closer and bent down. Then he hesitated. “How...?”

How to move him without making things worse.

A part of the weariness had left, so Kouji drew his legs back, trying very hard not to make a sound when his twisted ankle screamed in protest. He didn’t need to say anything. Beetlemon reached out to grab his undamaged hand and pulled him to his feet. It still elicited a sharp scream.

“Sorry!” Beetlemon said frantically and was starting to get on Kouji’s nerves.

He was hurt, but he hated being pitied and he was ready to suffer through more pain if it meant Beetlemon would fly them out. He braced himself when the Warrior of Thunder slung an arm around his hip and beat his wings.

It was worse than he expected. The irregular movement in the air kept jostling his arm and a thin layer of sweat made his hair stick to his face.

-Meanwhile-

Beetlemon couldn’t just leave. Unlike Kouji, he knew Gotsumon now and while his injured friend barely thought about him, Beetlemon was very worried. Last time, Garmmon hadn’t been that great against Petaldramon and this didn’t look any better. All damage the Light Beast dealt was instantly healed away while Petaldramon was free to dish out his leaf storm or lash out with his tripwire vines that tangled in Garmmon’s wheels. Kouji looked worse and worse, and no matter what Beetlemon would decide to do, he would feel so awful about it later. Abandon Gotsumon and feed Petaldramon a Beast Spirit on top of a Human Spirit? Or drop Kouji who didn’t look like he could move without pain behind some tree to somehow fight Petaldramon off? He also had only a Human Spirit. Damn, if he only had access to his own Beast Spirit...! Even with raging control issues, he would’ve felt less useless!