WoS Ch9 - Losing Tommy

The story so far: Over the course of the past few chapters, five humans have reached the Digital World and each found a Spirit of the Legendary Warriors. These ancient artifacts allow them to turn into digimon, commanding one of the ten elements. Last time, a flash flood forced the group up an icy mountain – where they encountered an unusually strong guardian construct. In the ensuing fight, the youngest team member was separated from the group and only the intervention of the treasure hunter Gwappamon saved him from an untimely death. But the guardian construct Scorpiomon is still after them.

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Chapter 9 - Losing Tommy

-Zoe-

There was no denying it: Kei was having a nervous breakdown. To be honest, I wasn’t that far behind. It began with Lobomon having to fish her out of the water before she caught hypothermia. Neither of them had been able to find Kumamon or Tommy. I had transformed back after flying up and down the river to see if Tommy had been washed ashore somewhere. So I was able to hand them the blankets again. Well, JP and Kouji’s, while still intact, was almost useless to us now with all the snow clinging to it. I gave it to Keisaki for carrying. She had the uncanny ability to dry any fabric just by holding onto it. Plus, she didn’t seem to truly notice.

Despite all those practical thoughts running through my head, I wasn’t the least bit more collected about the situation. It wasn’t just the fact that Tommy fell into the river. He’d completely vanished. The water was clear, but with the ice covering it at so many places, we couldn’t see much from the outside. For that matter, the scorpion had also vanished which was an even more impressive feat. How could we lose track of either of them?

I’d never seen Kouji so frustrated and at a loss for what to do—he’d been the one doing the most about it after all. And JP looked positively resigned to the fact that we had lost Tommy forever. But it had hit Kei the hardest.

We were walking downstream in hopes of finding our missing party member... or something. I wasn’t exactly sure... None of us were exactly sure what we were doing. Kei was grabbing the blanket so tight, it looked like it was her only support. She didn’t even notice, staring ahead in a daze. We were slowly approaching a curve in the river, rife with packed ice. From my scouting ahead, I knew that there was a huge mountain lake coming up and the chances of finding Tommy there, if he made it that far, were so slim it physically hurt.

Nonetheless, seeing Kei like that made me feel like I needed to talk to her. I hesitated for a moment and then laid a hand on her shoulder. She was radiating heat in waves, and I absently noticed that her hair and clothes were already dry again; the blanket was merely moist now.

She cringed under my touch and looked at me with haunted eyes. “Zoe, this is all my fault...”

I bit my lip. I could’ve stopped Kumamon from falling into the river if I’d only kept closer watch on him. If only I hadn’t been on the other side of the monster...

So I could only offer cold comfort. “Don’t say that... There was nothing you could’ve done. We were all...” I paused, struggling to find the right words while I was slowly losing myself in guilt as well. “We- We’re all at fault here.”

For some reason, that seemed to revitalize her. In an instant, she snapped from being borderline apathetic to highly agitated. “Actually, you’re right! Can’t you see? This is exactly why I wanted Tommy to go home! He isn’t cut out for this stuff! And look what happened!”

I pulled away and cast my eyes to the ground. Snow crunched under my feet and the absence of Tommy was like a physical thing.

It felt hard to argue with Keisaki, and so I said nothing. Meanwhile, her anger evaporated as quickly as it had appeared and she was looking around restlessly, muttering, “How could I let this happen?”

I was aware that I could’ve said a great many things to help her. If I’d been thinking clearly, I could’ve prevented what was going to happen, right then and there. But I wasn’t thinking clearly. I didn’t even know how to put my own feelings into words. Just that it was unfair of her to make this all about her when we were all suffering from the uncertainty. When we all felt like we were responsible and were quietly or not so quietly dealing with the consequences. And honestly, at first, it didn’t even look so bad. Because we were just passing by a hole in the mountain wall to our left. The lake was only a couple of meters in front of us...

-Tommy-

If not for Gwappamon, Tommy would’ve been completely at the mercy of Scorpiomon after it broke into the tunnel. The inrush of water swept him off his feet, but the kappa digimon could move in liquid like nothing. He pulled Tommy along so fast, there wasn’t even time to panic over being underwater. They shot up the flooded tunnel until it was level with the surface. On dry land, Gwappamon was struggling. Now, Tommy was helping him along and they stumbled forward. Up ahead, a bright white oval showed the way outside. Icicles clung to the ceiling.

Behind them, the water seethed and foamed as the Scorpiomon construct came after them. It was faster than them too. Its feet slithered over the frozen ground, its shell scraping along the walls as the tunnel got narrower.

With it on their tail, reaching the end of the tunnel didn’t feel like a victory. Packed snow waited there and the open river. There was nowhere to hide! Tommy turned his head to check where Scorpiomon was and —

And he promptly ran into someone, tackling them to the ground. Or rather her, as he noticed after he’d rubbed his throbbing head.

“Tommy!” Keisaki shouted, looking stunned for about half a second; then she was up from the ground and grabbed his shoulders. “Tommy, you’re alive!”

He’d never been happier to see her, and in that moment, it wasn’t so bad that she was holding him too tight. Tommy was just so happy about finding the others again. On an impulse, he wrapped his arms around her, and it didn’t really matter that they hadn’t figured out how they stood with each other. He wasn’t alone anymore!

While Zoe came along to hug him too, Kouji was staring at Gwappamon with suspicion. “And who are you?”

The music kappa raised his hands to appear nonthreatening. “Don’t worry, just brought the little guy back to you. Which I didn’t expect to happen so easily.” He cringed at the awkward choice of words and then said, “Y’know, touching reunion and all, but...”

But they had bigger things to worry about. The clinking noise of a dozen bladed insect feet came from the tunnel they had just left.

Tommy turned around. “Oh no, that’s Scorpiomon! It’s still after us!”

“The scorpion is called Scorpiomon, really?” JP scoffed.

It seemed like Zoe took that as his way of trying to lighten the mood, since she added, “Remember the Mushroomon?”

“If he’s coming back for round two, we’re ready for it. He’s going down,” Keisaki said, anger burning in her eyes. She pushed Tommy behind her while grabbing her D-Tector. “Tommy, you’re still hurt, so you’re sitting this one out.”

Execute Spirit Digivolve to...

...Anumon!

...Lobomon!

...Kazemon!

...Beetlemon!

Tommy stepped back from the data cocoon and swallowed hard. Kei... Anumon was pushing him around again! And she was right! He was too exhausted to follow his friends into battle… oh how he hated that.

“You never told me that you’re friends with the Legendary Warriors!” Gwappamon said, for the first time sounding absolutely stunned. He pulled Tommy out of the immediate line of fire. Not a second later the telltale stinger of Scorpiomon lashed out through the tunnel entrance. Kazemon elegantly flipped around the glistening blade.

Tommy pulled out his D-Tector and said, “Actually, I’m also one of them.” He raised his left hand and tried to summon the energy to transform. A wisp of data flickered around his fingers. Nothing else. Nearly drowning and then running nonstop through a tunnel didn’t work towards his recovery. At least the cut in his arm had healed.

“Oh no, what’s he doing?!” Gwappamon shouted in distress.

Tommy followed his gaze. Lobomon had engaged the two pincer-like appendages Scorpiomon had growing out of its head. It was a move to distract the enemy, so that Beetlemon could use his electricity unhindered. But Gwappamon knew the full spectrum of Scorpiomon’s powers.

“Get away from his mouth!” the music digimon shouted, webbed hands working restlessly.

While Lobomon was fast, even he didn’t expect Scorpiomon to rear the head part of its body to show a giant mouth surrounded by tiny mandibles. For a second, Tommy thought it would try to eat the Light Warrior, and Lobomon clearly thought the same thing because he jumped backwards. But instead, Scorpiomon spit out a stream of powder snow that hit Lobomon full force.

For a moment, the Warrior of Light just stood there. Then, his eyes closed, and he fell over.

“What happened?!” Tommy shouted, horrified. There was no glee or happiness in Scorpiomon as it raised its two pincers for a finishing blow.

“It put him to sleep!” Gwappamon answered. Shouting, he added: “Lobomon, wake up!” He balled his webbed hands to fists and ran forwards.

At the same time, Kazemon swooped in from above and grabbed Lobomon by the shoulders. She had enough strength to get them both out of the way as two blades came down on them and by then, Gwappamon made it to their position.

He raised his hands to his head, “DJ Shooter!” and sent a few spinning disks at the enemy.

Scorpiomon clicked its mandibles, but Anumon was suddenly in front of it, a glowing arrow on her bowstring. “Critical Shot!”

It writhed in agony, trying to get rid of the arrow stuck in its mouth. Only seconds later, Beetlemon evaded a wild swing of the tail to bring his Thunder Fist down again.

Tommy gulped. Scorpiomon was still going strong, much to Anumon’s frustration (after all, she could only use Critical Shot once), but he clearly got the impression that they were going to win this. The others were going to win against the guardian construct that had given a hero like Gwappamon so much trouble. And they were going to do it without him. Tommy thought that he would stop being useless when he found Kumamon, but as it turned out, the others still didn’t need him.

Before his thoughts spiralled out of control, Gwappamon gave a strangled scream. Outside of the water, he couldn’t move as well as the other fighters. He wasn’t fast enough to avoid Scorpiomon’s shock wave attack. The energy wave slammed him into the mountain wall, which promptly collapsed on him.

“Gwappamon!” Tommy shouted and left the others to deal with the construct while he made to dig out his newest friend. It took a while to shift through the icy rubble before he found the light blue shade of Gwappamon’s rubber skin. “Gwappamon! Are you okay?”

“Ow...” the kappa said, struggling to get up. “I’ve felt better. Kinda strained the good old carapace. Not to self: just let the Legendary Warriors handle this.”

He sounded like he would be alright, so Tommy leaned back in relief. That’s how he noticed that the collapsed wall had uncovered a hidden room in the mountain. In the centre floated a brightly glowing orb of light.

“W-What is that?” Tommy asked in awe, feeling indeed quite strange. His heart was suddenly beating so loud in his chest, and the sounds of the battle going on behind him were slowly fading. What...?

“Could it... Could it be...?” Gwappamon said slowly, equally hypnotized by the light.

If Tommy squinted, it looked a bit like... like...

...!

A Spirit!

That was a Spirit!

“Yes! Yes, it is!” Gwappamon shouted and at first, Tommy thought he’d come to the same conclusion. His next words proved him wrong. “That’s the treasure! I finally found it!”

He jumped straight to his feet and struggled over the last of the rubble to get inside the room. “Hoo boy! And I thought I’d need to deactivate Scorpiomon first!”

All this time, Gwappamon had been looking for a Spirit? That was the treasure? While Tommy watched his new friend approach the white orb, he couldn’t help but feel a sting at that. He remained outside and just stared at the Spirit.

The Spirit was staring back at him.

Time slowed down, and all he could hear was his own deep breathing.

Tommy understood, just like when Kumamon’s Spirit had come to him. He understood that this was his Spirit and that it had been waiting for him to come here. He didn’t feel particularly sorry when he pointed his D-Tector. “Come to me, Beast Spirit!”

“What?” was all Gwappamon got out when the Spirit evaded his outstretched hand to heed the call of its true wielder.

Tommy didn’t know what was going to happen to him. His mind was blank with the unwavering calmness and clarity of ice. He was finally meeting his Beast Spirit.

It didn’t seem different from the feeling of all-encompassing understanding that had filled him when he first merged with Kumamon.

All that changed when the Beast Spirit arrived in front of him and sent out fractal code that looked... different. Wilder, more distorted. It surrounded him, finding a direct way to his true self. With a sinking feeling, Tommy realized that this was very, very different.

In a matter of moments, he was completely overwhelmed by the beast.

He wasn’t prepared for it.

Execute Beast Spirit Digivolve to...  

PAIN! Pain! So much pain! He was screaming, and it felt like power was ripping apart his very being. Why? Why? Why did it hurt so much?

Then, suddenly, it didn’t hurt anymore.  

...BLIZZARMON!

The data cocoon burst open.

There stood the giant that was Blizzarmon, a white-furred beast reminiscent of tales of the yeti. Its muscular form barely fit into the room. In its clawed hands were its trusted tomahawks, Éji and Ōji, and on the back of its head curled its long braids of hair, ready to restrict and strangle all that opposed its might.

Blizzarmon took in a deep breath through its nostrils, and it smelled the battle close by. It would soon go there and please the God of the Ice. But there was something else in this room. Something that smelled of fear. It slowly turned its head and saw a cowering figure.

It remembered.

This was Gwappamon.

He had tried to take what did not belong to him. Tried to separate it from its true calling.

This was unforgivable.

Blizzarmon lashed out with Éji, but the traitor had expected an attack and managed to dodge. There was only one way out of here, over the cluster of ice and rock. Blizzarmon wouldn’t let him escape. Gwappamon was shouting something that abruptly cut off. In a perfectly balanced throw, the beast had sent Ōji after him, and the throwing axe almost cleaved him in half.

-Kei-

To think they’d been doing so well.

Anumon had successfully slapped Lobomon awake so that they could watch a joint attack from Beetlemon and Kazemon. It pushed the scorpion to the edge of the lake. Only in the back of her mind had she been aware of Gwappamon’s contribution to and subsequent swift removal from the battle.

So Gwappamon’s sudden shout caught her completely off guard. “Legendary Warriors, watch out! Blizzarmon is—”

He would never finish that sentence.

The water digimon was standing on a pile of rubble and waved at them frantically, then went very still. In a grotesque movement, he fell forwards, revealing an axe sticking out of his head. His form darkened into a silhouette, and a ring of data appeared around him. A second later, the yeti stepped through the hole in the wall. And never had something looked more terrifying than this thing when it scanned Gwappamon’s fractal code without remorse.

Anumon hadn’t known the guy for long, but something in the way he was killed with so little regard filled her with terror. As his DigiEgg disappeared into the sky, the terrible beast turned to look around. Its gaze wandered over her, and Anumon froze. She was a hunter, but suddenly she felt like prey.

“What... What is that?” she managed through a dry throat.

Even Scorpiomon had stopped in its tracks to stare at the new opponent.

Kazemon had both her hands over her mouth in horror, but it was Beetlemon that answered, “Anumon, look at the arm protectors! That’s Kumamon’s sign! It must be the Beast of Ice!”

Indeed, there were green leather bands wrapped around the muscular arms of the white monster and they bore the sign of Ice. It folded its arms and clasped its hands together as if in prayer. It even closed its eyes.

“That’s Tommy?” Anumon shouted, and she sounded a tad hysterical, even to herself. That couldn’t be! “Tommy wouldn’t- He wouldn’t-” ... kill a friend...

Lobomon next to her tightened his grip on his light swords and said through gritted teeth, “We know that. Something must be happening to him.”

Right. She needed to stay focused.

The Beast digimon, Blizzarmon, finished its prayer or whatever it was doing and stood up straight. Anumon wouldn’t have pegged it as built for speed, but its form blurred when it leapt out of the hole. In a flash, it was on top of Scorpiomon, bringing both of its axes down. The digimon that had caused them so much trouble went down in a single hit.

Oh shit.

“We need to move!” Anumon shouted, getting into the air while Blizzarmon silently scanned another digimon. There was no DigiEgg left behind. If she didn’t think of something one of them could be next!

“What can we do?” Kazemon asked, horrified and scared.

That was a good question that needed an answer immediately. Blizzarmon was staring vacantly at where Scorpiomon had been.

What to do, what to do? They needed to snap Tommy out of it. But they also needed to not get killed by him!

Again, they had an advantage over a superior enemy simply by virtue of being able to fly. She cringed internally. She was calling Tommy; spoiled, stubborn, kind Tommy their enemy. Damn it.

There was only one thing to do right now.

“Beetlemon, help me!” She was already close to Lobomon and together with the Thunder Warrior she was able to lift him into the air.

“What are you doing?” Lobomon demanded, not struggling against their hold yet, especially now that they were veering off towards the lake. But even he must have realized that Tommy wasn’t himself right now and the monster that took his place cared little for old friendships.

Blizzarmon was distinctly feral, but it did recognize when prey tried to flee. So when it saw them escape towards the relative safe haven over the lake, it grunted in displeasure and threw one of its axes after them. A part of Anumon had still been hoping she was overreacting, but the spinning blade brought reality crashing down on her once more. Neither she nor Beetlemon had effective means to deflect the weapon. So, Lobomon raised his light swords, dropping all complaints about being carried without consent.

“Hurricane Wave!” Kazemon sent a stream of pink wind at the axe and blasted it out of the way. It clinked against the rock walls surrounding the shore and dropped into the snow.

Blizzarmon ran after it with a roar. Damn it, it was so fast!

“Tommy!” Kazemon shouted, her voice cracking. “Tommy, stop! It’s us!” She was hovering slightly above the Beast of Ice. She probably thought that she was fast enough to avoid the swinging axes in the very real case that her plea didn’t reach Tommy.

But she didn’t expect Blizzarmon to have another trick up its sleeve. The thick braids on the back of its head came to life. They weren’t just long strings of shaggy white hair wrapped together; they actually ended in metal arrowheads and lashed out en masse! Not even the Warrior of Wind could avoid them. Anumon almost dropped Lobomon into the lake when the rope-like braids wrapped around her friend.

What could she do? Fiery Rain, she could call that down without letting go of Lobomon and she was going through the correct motions before she forcibly stopped herself. What the hell was she doing?! She was about to attack Tommy! A transformed Tommy who had no control over his actions! She closed her eyes in a feeling of helplessness and had to force them open a second later when Beetlemon shouted, “No!”

Not content with having a bound captive, Blizzarmon started to squeeze and in an effort to become a smaller target, Zoe dropped the transformation. She gasped harshly and strained to get a full sentence out. “Tommy, you’re hurting me!”

“Let me go!” Lobomon demanded, seeing that there was no way to salvage the situation. That they needed to fight and prevent more tragedy from happening.

But Blizzarmon hesitated when its feral, brown eyes fell onto the blonde girl caught in its bonds. There was a flicker of recognition. Then, the thud of Lobomon landing on the shore startled it and the moment passed. It howled at the approaching enemy.

“Let Izumi go!” Lobomon shouted, laser sword raised.

Beetlemon was flying in from the other side in hopes of snatching Zoe out of Blizzarmon’s grasp and up in the air, Anumon was thinking how they were all doing the wrong things, making everything worse. But she didn’t know what to do! They couldn’t fight Tommy! They couldn’t abandon Zoe! Was there even a way to handle this?

Blizzarmon now fidgeted in distress, its head swivelling from one enemy to the other. Was it… intimidated? By them? Anumon had to admit Lobomon’s searing swords and Beetlemon’s muscular frame did look frightening, and so Blizzarmon looked back at Zoe who was about as nonthreatening as they came.

“Tommy...” she said softly.

A pained expression drifted over Blizzarmon’s animalistic face. It rallied and, in one movement, threw her away. Beetlemon was now close enough to catch her out of the air before she could collide with the wall. She had no eyes for him though, and called out again, “Tommy!”

Blizzarmon howled, and it sounded so terrifying... but now Anumon was catching a note of uncertainty, hysteria even. Lobomon was running towards it, and she didn’t know what he planned on doing. Was he really going to attack their friend?

When the beast was turning towards the approaching danger, Anumon made a decision and landed between it and Lobomon.

She raised a hand back at the Warrior of Light. “No, wait!”

She gulped and took a calming breath that did little to calm her, and then faced the behemoth that had just forced Zoe to return to her human form.

“Tommy! That’s not you!” She didn’t know if she was going to have any effect, but pressed on, hoping to prevent them from fighting each other. “Calm down! We’re your friends, remember?”

She was watching Blizzarmon closely, especially its eyes with the dilated pupils. That was different from before when they’d been showing something between anticipation of battle and glee of winning. Something had changed, and Blizzarmon was a lot more reserved now.

But she knew how much damage these axes could cause and couldn’t help but glance at the weapons in its hand. “Are you going to hurt us?”

It followed her eyes and its eyes widened even further. It stared at the axes as if it saw them for the very first time. A moment passed in utter silence. Then it said its first word, and it was Tommy’s voice, full of anguish and horror: “No!”

The whole, hulking digimon froze as consciousness and realization dawned on the boy trapped inside of it.

“Tommy?” Zoe tried again. She stood unsupported next to Beetlemon and had this hopeful look on her face...

Blizzarmon was stepping back, the axes slipping out of its grasps and its breathing came out strained and laboured. “Don’t...!”

In a swift movement, it turned around and ran away.

Anumon truly wanted to follow. It should have been her duty, her job to calm Tommy down, to finally do something right with a child. Instead, her legs grew too weak to support her. The danger had finally passed, and she couldn’t carry on anymore. It was just too much. She collapsed on the ground and spiralling fractal code surrounded her.

It fell to Beetlemon and Lobomon to go after their frightened and miserable team member.

Neither she nor Zoe really felt like talking.

-Kouji-

They caught up with Blizzarmon on the other side of the lake, and it looked like he was frantically trying to burn up excess energy. They clearly didn’t need to fight him anymore. So Lobomon stopped a few meters away from him, letting him howl at the sky.

He gritted his teeth at the feeling of helplessness that the recent events had instilled upon him. He’d tried to remain unaffected and pushed the thought of attacking Tomoki out of his head in order to focus on what needed to be done. But standing in front of the desperate beast now, he felt as cold inside as the entirety of Frozen Mountain. What Tomoki had done, even if he’d had no control, was horrifying. Tomoki had found his Beast Spirit, but the beast in it was a lot more literal than they had imagined. And honestly, Lobomon didn’t know what to do now.

He’d followed him here because he knew the kid wasn’t supposed to be alone after what happened to him. But when—after a harrowing minute of wrestling with the Beast Spirit—Blizzarmon could finally summon the fractal code to transform back into Tomoki, Lobomon still didn’t know how to behave. So he released his Spirit, shifting uncomfortably.

But Kouji wasn’t alone.

Junpei was also here, and he ran towards the kneeling Tomoki. The older boy clearly didn’t know what to do either, but he tried his best by putting a tentative hand on his shoulder. “Hey...”

That was what broke the dam, and suddenly Tomoki threw himself at Junpei and buried his face in his jumpsuit, fingers clawing at the blue fabric. His shoulders were shaking uncontrollably, and a weak sound escaped from his lips. For his part, Junpei wrapped his arms around the small boy, utterly at a loss for what to do. “Hey, it’s – it’s alright. It’s going to be alright.”

Tomoki made an awful noise when he couldn’t suck in enough air.

Kouji looked away. Nothing was alright.

It was getting colder. The day was coming to an end, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Junpei hadn’t dared to move from his spot even when Tomoki’s crying had subsided into small, sporadic sobs. While he’d continued his stream of reassuring platitudes, the kid hadn’t said a word.

Kouji hated how unprepared they were for dealing with this. With this world, with these challenges. But over the course of these painful minutes, he’d had to realize that it would only get worse from here. It wasn’t fair that Tomoki had to go through this, but they had to continue. Kouji refused to fall apart now.

So he steeled himself and said, “We need to get back to the others.”

Junpei shot him a helpless look. With Tomoki immune to the cold, sitting on the freezing ground for so long had to have been awkward for the other boy. The motion of getting up from that position looked difficult.

Kouji hesitated. Why was it a lot easier to stare down enemy monsters than to approach a distressed teammate? Still, he stepped forwards and reached out for Tomoki’s hand. “Let’s go.”

The little boy didn’t react, and Kouji almost faltered. This was even harder than he thought. He knew he couldn’t get frustrated. But he also needed to stay realistic. They had to move, now! So he pulled Tomoki to his feet by grabbing his arms. There was no resistance, and Tomoki didn’t even so much as sway when he was finally upright. He just stood there with his eyes downcast. Junpei struggled to get to his feet as well.

“You know this wasn’t your fault,” Kouji said.

At least what Blizzarmon had done was so antithetical to Tomoki that there was no other explanation. Kouji’s comment fell on deaf ears and wisps of frustration started to seep into his thoughts.

It was a good thing that approaching footsteps gave him something else to focus on because he wasn’t sure how long he would’ve been able to cope with this stubborn silence. He turned towards the sound and saw an apprehensive Keisaki coming closer.

She looked at Tomoki, cringed and said, “We found a cave where we can— we can spend the night.” She trailed off, not sure how to continue, and her eyes were glued to the still form of Tomoki. “Is he— Are you...?”

“That’s great. Then lead the way,” Junpei interrupted her, deciding that questioning Tomoki’s state of mind wasn’t productive after he’d finally calmed him down.

The way back around the lake passed in awkward silence. Kouji wasn’t too keen on talking, and the others seemed afraid to upset the tentative status quo. In all honesty, he’d been looking forward to earning his Beast Spirit. Training and learning to better control their Human Spirits had been a worthwhile investment, but they still struggled to overcome stronger opponents. And the ease with which Gigasmon had handled himself clearly spoke of untapped power and potential.

But seeing someone as meek as Tomoki transforming into a raging behemoth put the whole idea into perspective. Maybe Tomoki had been overwhelmed because he wasn’t mentally strong enough to resist the urge of the Beast Spirit.

Kouji frowned. It wouldn’t do to just assume Tomoki was the only one who would run into control issues. What if they, as humans, were unable to control Beast Spirits in general? It would put them at a severe disadvantage in future fights. Especially since he harboured suspicions about the fact that there were ten Legendary Warriors in total, but the group consisted of only five humans. Grumblemon was a definite underling of Cherubimon. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to expect that the remaining four elements also worked for Cherubimon. And if they all had command over Beast Spirits, there was no way Kouji and the others stood a chance without also stepping up their game. From what he’d seen, Blizzarmon would easily hold his own against Gigasmon. Looking back at Tomoki now, that wasn’t happening.

The kid was listlessly setting one foot in front of the other, still staring at the ground, and remained utterly silent. There was a sense of emptiness to his stare. Kouji quickly looked away.

Their destination at least was nowhere near where Tommy found Blizzarmon. The cave was nestled into the rocky walls several minutes away from the lake and river. The girls had blocked the entrance with their two blankets to keep the warmth in against the cold wind blowing through the canyons. There even was a fire burning inside, and Kouji neither knew nor cared how they managed to start it up.

Izumi was feeding more dry wood into the flames when they entered their place for the night. She took one good look at Tomoki and rushed around the fire to throw her arms around the boy. “Tommy, are you okay?”

Kouji wasn’t the only one surprised by her positive reaction. Tomoki actually looked up to stare at her face. His eyes were rimmed with red and wide as saucer plates. It was as if he couldn’t understand why she would want to approach him after what Blizzarmon had done to her.

Izumi just hugged him tighter. “What happened to you?”

A new batch of tears was forming in Tomoki’s eyes, and he choked back a sob. His lips quivered when he struggled to get words out, and then he squeezed his eyes shut. “I... I’m sorry!” His voice was hoarse and cracked at the end.

A look of pure distress washed over Izumi’s face, but she was alone in her effort to comfort him. Everyone else already more or less tried with varying degrees of success. Seeing that this was up to her, she gently led the crying boy to the fire and sat him down on the ground.

She and Keisaki had successfully prepared the cave for the night, so a few of their food items lay in a neat stack next to the fire. She handed him a piece of bread with beef jerky. “There you go.” She set her face in a firm line. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. This wasn’t your fault.”

Tomoki clasped his fingers around the food, but only stared at it without direction. At least, he was processing the words.

Kouji settled on the other side of the fire, also reaching for their food. There was little else to do than replenish their energy with nutrients and sleep. He wasn’t particularly good at cheerful thoughts.

“I felt—” Tomoki started uncertainly, now staring into the fire with a faraway look. He hesitated and then tried a different approach. “I... saw everything happening... And I... and I...” There was the threat of tears again, and Izumi squeezed his free hand in support. “I... didn’t want that to happen! Zoe... Gwappamon is...”

And that was the elephant in the room. If there had been any opportunities to start some meaningless chatter to make Tomoki feel less put on the spot, they died then. Everyone was trading worried looks.

Kouji was suddenly well aware that they could very much lose Tomoki right then and there. Out of nowhere, his own experiences with death took over his thoughts. He’d been too little to witness it, but his mother’s death had thrown its shadow over his entire life.

If Tomoki couldn’t cope right now, he would not only be out of the game, but unable to ever have a healthy life again.

Izumi leaned into Tomoki’s field of vision and said firmly, “Gwappamon has become a DigiEgg, and he’ll return to the Village of New Beginnings.” She paused to see if he was hearing her words and continued, “What happened to him was terrible, but he’s not gone forever. Tommy. Every digimon that dies, given enough time, will be reborn. Okay?”

That threw Tomoki for a loop, and he was blinking stray tears away. A new, hopeful look entered his eyes. “Really?”

“Yes!” Izumi said with added emphasis. She pointed at Keisaki’s rucksack, sitting lonely in a corner. “I can show you pictures of the place. It’s really nice, and reborn digimon are taken good care of, so you don’t have to worry.”

If nothing else, Keisaki was good at taking the hint. She jumped to her feet to bring forth the book. When she handed the Italian tome over, she said, “Also, you did save us from Scorpiomon, and we had so much trouble trying to defeat that thing...” She cringed, afraid it would throw Tomoki back into a more sombre mood, but he just looked thoughtful. It was probably a good thing she phrased it like that, since in reality they’d pretty much had Scorpiomon in the bag even without Blizzarmon’s contribution.

Kouji wasn’t entirely convinced they were out of the woods yet. Tomoki was staring at the book, the pages showing a beautiful tree with a rainbow in the background. Kouji could only see the upside-down picture, but it did look nice and peaceful. So he didn’t understand why Tomoki burst into tears once more and leaned into Izumi. Maybe some pretty pictures and reassurances weren’t enough to magically make everything go away. Izumi just looked at him with sad eyes.

In the ensuing silence, Tomoki’s voice was soft when he said, “I want to go home...”