Snowfall
#6 of Breathless
A/N: Morning, or afternoon. Here's the sixth installment of Breathless, Snowfall. Although I really don't know if it's getting to the climax of the story (Only because I believe there will be more than three more chapters) I do think it's starting to wind into the middle part of the story. In this, there is a reference to two things. One is the anime Mai-HiME, though I don't really know if you can spot that, and the other is to a song called Boats and Birds. I don't own either of them, nor Digimon and Naruto. Hope this strikes your fancy, and well I can honestly say, things start to spiral in the next few chapters. Starfall and Rainfall will be the next two, so look for them when I post ^_^ -=twh=-
As morning came and went, the digidestined started to wake up at their own times, Henry and Tai being the first ones up, talking about what they had known about digimon. Takato snored loudly throughout the talk, giving both of them a good laugh of the situation. The digimon all stayed together, though Veemon separated himself from the group of three. He was in his own mind, trying to put together the pieces of everything.
Questions crossed his mind. Why did he still feel Naruto there, when they all said he had disappeared? How could he know that it wasn't just a lie; a dream that soon he'd wake up, knowing that none of this happened. He pushed that thought aside. None of that was something he wanted to really think about, because it would have hurt him to know that Naruto wasn't real.
Clutching the Digivice, Veemon stared up at the sky. "I know he's still here. I can feel him inside of me. So where is he?" The winds wouldn't answer him, he knew that. But it still felt good to ask something. Beckoning to the device that he had before him, Veemon closed his eyes. "Kyuu, you promised to never let anything happen to me. What happened to that?"
Just as he muttered those words, the Digivice started to shine, making the blue digimon almost drop it, but his hands only held it away from him. Henry and Tai were distracted from their conversation by the shining light as were their digimon. Everyone stared as an image showed before them, split and shaking. Veemon and the others knew it was some form of the blond that all had known from their own world, but how was it possible?
"Hey Vee." The image chuckled nervously, before getting a stern smile. "So is this what you guys call finding out more about what happened, Henry? Sitting and talking? You know, you should just stop trying if that was your approach."
"Naruto, what do you know of what we're dealing with? It's always best to find out more about the situation before rushing in."
"That's boring." Looking over them all, he sighed. "You really want to know what happened?"
Henry sighed. "Well, yes. We would."
Naruto shrugged slightly, image shaking even more. "Let's just say that I'm not one person no more. Figured that out when I saw my body disappear. I should thank you Vee, you broke me out of that form but unfortunately I don't really know much more than that, save that Takato was right in that rumor, save they are true. Those eight cards, they exist, and I've found out that four remain. Seems we need to get off our butts and do some adventuring."
"How do we know if they exist here? We don't even know how we got here entirely." A known statement between Takato and Henry.
"Didn't you wonder why my Digivice digitize you guys? I was trying to help you all out of there, and to the closest card that I could sense as I got separated from my body. Oh and Vee, I'll be with you soon. Just need to sort through the data that was encoded into this thing, though that'll take some time. Never was good at thinking, as Sasuke always bluntly put it, 'If I think too hard, my brain'll explode.' Well, go on. Figure out the rest for yourself, but I think you need to keep your digimon close. They would feel the same way as Vee if you were to disappear, so spend as close of a time with them as possible. Agumon and Tai, right? You two both understand that." With that, he winked at them, and disappeared, leaving Veemon with hope.
Both Agumon and Tai blushed. Had he known about their acts? How else could he say that they understood the closeness needed between trainer and digimon? But something else was president. Cards? Things were getting complex for both of the original digidestined. Why were they brought into whatever war these three waged against this unknown force?
"A card is near?" Henry stared at Takato. "We need to find it." He sighed to himself, before getting Terriermon onto his shoulder. "Let's go."
"Hey hey hey. Wait up." Tai wanted answers. "Was that this Naruto guy? And what are these cards?"
The blue digimon smiled up at Tai, hugging the Digivice. "Yeah that was Kyuu, and the cards? I dunno. I just want to find whatever they are and get my trainer back." Davis slipped into the back recesses of his mind, lost among the thoughts that he didn't need. Naruto was priority and that was that.
"Hey Tai, is there anything that you found weird around here? Because we might find-" Takato stopped immediately as his Digivice began to beep. "Huh?" Looking at it, he tilted his head. It began to point somewhere away from his own digimon.
Walking over to his friend's device, Henry got a good look at where it was pointing to. "Guess we'll soon find out where it goes, come on." Still confused Tai called Agumon over as Takato began to run in the direction of the red arrow, following quickly afterward. Henry didn't want to be left behind, grabbing the blue digimon on his way through the trees that both brunettes took towards.
Veemon really didn't like being carried by Henry, it just didn't feel right, but right now speed was what they needed, and him being separated when his own Digivice had a connection to the only person who truly understood what the hell was going on was important to the whole group, but even more so to him. Staring around at the trees going by, his eyes crossed Terriermon's, who smiled at him. "Hey Vee?"
"Hmm?"
"Momentai." The blue dragon was completely confused by the word, having nothing in his own language having that in there.
"What?"
"It means 'take it easy.' You look tense." Terriermon smiled, keeping his ears wrapped around Henry's neck so he wouldn't fall off of him, though his vision went back to the front of them. Veemon still was confused. Shrugging it off as if there was no reason to worry about being tense, he resumed looking at the trees passing by until they stopped. He stopped. Realizing that everyone was staring at a cave in front of them, Veemon wriggled out of his little carry-all position to walk over to Takato.
Even he was amazed at the look of the cave. A dragon's mouth agape, carved out eyes staring at the group in front of it. Colossal in size, it's mouth was taller than even Growlmon, making Takato take a step back. Still the beeping came from the device, pointing ever forward into the mouth before them. Looking at both Henry then Tai, Takato took a step forward, then another, continuing a slow pace till he was inside of the cave. Not only a bit scared, he was unsure of what they would find here.
Guilmon stayed right by his trainer, occasionally looking up at him, but always sniffing the air. Finding a smell that he didn't understand, the red dragon ran forward-Takato left alone from surprise as he tried to catch up to his digimon. "Hrmm... Takato." Sniffing at an alter in front of him, and at the marble that was situated upon it. "It smells funny."
Takato finally caught up to hear his own digimon speak; eyes settling upon the blue orb in front of him. "Whoa." The others had to make due with being behind the two, giving them room with whatever laid there. He looked at his Digivice, which pointed directly at the marble; this was it, the thing that seemed to draw his own device towards. The light shined off it brilliantly, giving a blue glow to even the stones it surrounded. Not wanting to just stand there, Takato's hand went to it, hesitating every now and then from not really knowing what would happen if he touched it.
Fingers wrapped around the orb, picking it slowly. Though, as it moved in the air, it shifted into a card in Takato's hand. "Is this what we needed to find?" Takato asked, spinning around to show them the blue card in his hand. It looked exactly like the card that had spawned his Guilmon, though had a few slight alterations. They all shrugged. Had they known what it was that created Naruto's digimon form along with Sasuke's, they would have been ready to find it.
Sighing to himself, Takato flipped it back towards him. "It looks like it goes in our Digivices, so want me to try?" Henry was about to speak up, but was cut off by Veemon.
"If Kyuu told us about them, then maybe you should. It was found by your Digivice." Takato bit his lip. Although Veemon had a lot of trust in the blond that had appeared with him, he didn't know if he could trust him himself. Swallowing heavily, he held the card to his Digivice, before sliding down.
As the card left, his vision faded to black, almost as if darkness swallowed him whole, but as he looked to his left hand, he watched as static surrounded it. It looked like the data that had been sucked in by Naruto and his own Digivice. Thinking back to that, he moved his digivice against it, scanning his hand. "Biomerge Digivolution." Words he didn't know echoed through the static; his body being held against what he could only think of as a green grid as he watched his digimon digivolve. It didn't seem like a normal digivolution to him, though, seeing as the dragon digimon didn't reform by himself, but around the brunette.
Scales and crimson flesh surround the lightly tanned body-giving it protection, but also newfound strength. Muscles and bits of armor hefted upon his body as the grid faded and eyes closed. The ground almost came to soon underneath him, left without a form of himself, but of both him and digimon. Emerald eyes opened from beneath the visor that had been created over his face; a vision of the world returning from blackness. Inside of his mind, a voice called out to him. Not of his digimon, but a familiar voice nonetheless. Beogrowlmon.
He knew of the name of him, but didn't. It all came so fast to him; the card, and the strength from it. Everything seemed perfect from it, except for the faces before him. The two tamers that had watched it unfold were afraid of what had happened. The new digimon that stood over them, spikes going down its back with armor surround both arms and head; crimson skin that glowed slightly, just like those emerald eyes beneath the visor.
"T-T-Takato?" Henry managed, "I-Is that you?" This was something new to all of them, something that also made them wary of what was going on. What if Takato was like Naruto, and attacked them. They would surely face defeat if that happened, because of the immense structure of the beast before them. Though, as they looked around, none of them saw Guilmon, or any trace of him left save for the form before them.
Beogrowlmon nodded to Henry. "Of course its me."
"L-Look at yourself." Wondering what the fuss was about, Beogrowlmon stared at his arms, then at the tail that swung back and forth behind him. The vision of his digimon digivolving around him was true. It had happened, and it made him a digimon.
"Takato, what's going on?" Guilmon's voice came from beneath the visor, emanating from the digimon.
Breathing out slowly, Henry rubbed his temples. "Maybe.... I don't know. Maybe you two became one. It seems that's what is going on."
"I don't care." Takato's voice came from the digimon as the tail whipped over the other's heads, making them have to duck to make sure it wouldn't hit them. "This is cool!"
"HEY WATCH IT!" Tai was a bit annoyed that Takato was being an idiot inside whatever was going on. "You could hurt us if you don't be careful."
Shrugging, Beogrowlmon stared at the metal claws that were on his hands. It was like a dream come true for Takato. Being a digimon, something that seemed an impossible feat, had happened. And now they were all ruining his fun. From the inside of the digimon, he still seemed to be held back by a grid, but as he moved the body of the digimon around, as well as hearing Guilmon's voice around him, he understood that he could move the body without moving himself. "You guys are spoil sports." Jumping over them, making sure to not hit any of them, Beogrowlmon left a deep impression in the ground, before he ran off. "I'm going to have some fun."
"Wait Takato!" It was no use for Henry to even scream that, since both him and his hybrid form had run away too fast, leaving them in the remnants of memories. All of them looked at each other, wondering what they should do. It wasn't everyday that this happened, like anything else that had happened since the blond had met Takato and Henry, and yet, it seemed like they were deeper in the hole than they ever had been, now that Takato had just left them, to go and have fun in his new digimon form-a normalcy for the brunette who wasn't exactly the perfect tamer in the world.
Sighing to himself, Henry looked at Terriermon and Veemon. "Seems we have another runaway." Face-palming a bit, he looked back at Tai. "I'm sorry about what you saw-sometimes he's a bit like that. Always running off, yet not thinking of what might happen when he does so."
"Well, I don't know if you should have a tamer like that, though I can see that he is a unique one. All of you are, since I've never seen any digimon like yours. Guess we better go find him right?"
Nodding to Tai, Henry looked down at Veemon, wondering if he wanted to be picked up and taken like that. Veemon had already disappeared though, making them wonder what the hell was up with the blue digimon. "And now, another one. Lovely."
Sometimes, in Veemon's mind, things needed to happen fast. It was mostly because of having a trainer like Davis. Something about it, seemed to have an intoxicating atmosphere to it. Himself running in the forest, not exactly looking for Takato but maybe some how to get back to Naruto, he didn't even think twice about leaving the party.
Rushing by trees as if they weren't anything, the blue digimon didn't want to stop. He felt if he did, things would crash even further down, leaving him all alone in a world he knew a little bit about-though with the knowledge he had, it wasn't enough to let him survive here, or at least keep his sanity. The mountains deeply covered by trees slowly crept towards Veemon, letting him see a place he recognized, a place that was special in itself, by both creatures.
Without turning back to see if anyone was following him, Veemon found himself at the foot of a large mountain-the first place both Kyuu and himself trained together. Panting a bit from his sprint, he looked around to make sure no enemy digimon were around. Veemon held his Digivice closely, knowing how to digivolve himself without his trainers. Behind him, out of sight, a digimon kept a watch on the blue dragon-even as he digivolved into Flamedramon.
The digimon was impressed, more at the fact that the digivolution had happened without a trainer present than anything else. Peeking further out, his horn stood apart from everything else-save for his fur. It had given him a more animal like look instead of digimon. "Who are you?" It asked Flamedramon, stubbornly walking out into the open hoping to show that he wasn't a threat to the new digimon.
Flamedramon spun around, blinking-immediately he felt like he had to hide his Digivice, just because he didn't want any questions about it to rise up. "Uh, Flamedramon." His eyes focused a bit more on the new digimon just to realize him to be an old friend of his. "Gabumon?"
The other digimon nodded, "Yeah. How did you digivolve without a trainer?"
"Uh... Well..."
"Hey Gabumon, where did you run off to?" Another familiar voice for Flamedramon, he backed up a few steps, watching as Matt surfaced from the brush. "Oh there you are..." His eyes crossed Flamedramon's, finding himself wanting to defend incase this digimon had black gears in him. Without Izzy around, he couldn't figure out who the digimon was, but it didn't matter, since Flamedramon was readily answering his question without him asking it.
"I'm Flamedramon. Guess you're searching for Tai right?" Calm only because it was a familiar face, the dragon digimon stared, still keeping his Digivice behind him. "Right Matt?" He tried to make the human respond, though it was a bit far out to see if the kid would attack him or not.
Eyeing the digimon warily, Matt nodded. "Yeah. Do you know where he is?"
"Well, I just saw him a ways back near a friend of mine, but I need to go somewhere." Not even waiting for an answer from the digidestined, Flamedramon jumped up and started to fly deeper into the jungled-mess of the mountain side, wanting a place alone.
Deeper and deeper he went, tress still soaring pass him, letting feel the sun in small spots of no cover-in front of him the clearing that he wanted, the clearing where he could stop and think. With feet hovering over the ground, Flamedramon settled down, looking from tree to tree, making sure there was no one else here. Not that much had changed since the last time he had come back here-even though this time was the fact that it was previous to them even going there to train. It didn't bother him though, it was just a place he found a peaceful atmosphere to it.
"You can sky rocket away from me, and never come back if you find another galaxy far from here with more room to fly. Just leave me your stardust to remember you by." The blue dragon sang low, looking at the device before him. He wasn't sad as much as a bit lonely. In his mind, all he cared about was the Digivice that he had in his hands. It was the star dust he whispered to the winds about. Gusting a bit by the time the words were done, the wind had seemed to make it become a lot more chillier than it had been before.
Shivering in the coldness, watching as the storm clouds above him starting to descend upon the side of the mountain, he was left with little to no warning of the blizzard that started to rain down on him. Snow blocked his vision, gusting within the winds, as it began to pile up beneath him. He tried to hover a bit, but it wasn't any help; the snow was already up to his ankles as well as rising quickly.
Flamedramon was left without much help, trying to trudge through the snow as it rained down. The fact that his armor was weighing him down didn't help matters. Alone, within a blizzard, the dragon whispered to his device, hoping Naruto would hear. "Kyuu, it's snowing..." Chittering his teeth, he whimpered. Naruto wasn't hearing him, and nothing was helping him in this mess. Running off alone started to settle down as a bad idea for him-especially since no one really knew where he was.
Resting against a tree, curling tightly into a ball, Flamedramon shot a Fire Rocket to the ground, melting some snow, but not a lot. At least it had given him a place on the ground to stay warm for as long as he could. He closed his eyes, still keeping an ear to the snow and wind about him as it piled up. Maybe this was a dream, and because of that, he wouldn't be hurt-save for the fact that Naruto wouldn't have been real.
Staring up at the mountain, Matt winced. The Flamedramon had gone right into a blizzard-one of the things that Matt had hoped he wouldn't see in the Digital World. They were worse than the ones in the Real World. Looking at Gabumon, he held his Digivice tightly. "Come on Gabumon, we need to save him."
Nodding to his trainer, Gabumon digivolved into Garurumon. Matt jumped on his digimon, letting Garurumon take him up the mountainside, hoping that the digimon they both saw go up there wasn't in any trouble. With his wolf digimon rushing, he saw the blizzard creep closer and closer, holding on tightly so that he wouldn't fall off. "We're almost there, Matt."
The blond knew that, and he was glad. Maybe they would just find the digimon safe and sound-impervious to the weather that seemed to surround him. That was the best hope he could hold onto, one that in the back of his mind, Matt knew was a slim chance. The trees began to collect snow around them, as the storm's center closed in. He looked in front of him, holding his arm up to shield the snow from his eyes, trying desperately to see if he could find the dragon digimon that he saw fly up here.
The whiteness continued for a while-always shifting in the winds-until he saw a blue figure, shivering slightly. Matt knew it had to be Flamedramon, and he needed help by the look of it. "Garurumon, get him and we'll find a cave to wait out the storm." There was really nothing else that they both could do-especially with a digimon of Flamedramon's size. Garurumon picked the dragon up by his teeth, before jumping away. Searching for a cave was a just as hard find as was getting to Flamedramon, but it yielded the same result; both parties had found themselves in the safety of a cave, with Matt trying to start a fire for the unconscious digimon that he had helped.
This was the perfect day; finding out that his friend was closer than he expected, and yet being drawn even further away because of the digimon he had talked to-who had told him of his friend being close-had gotten himself into a pickle that he knew was going to happen as the dragon had disappeared from his sight. Putting the fire together for the three of them, Matt continued to check up on Flamedramon, making sure that he wasn't dead or anything like that-not that he knew if digimon could die like that. He sighed to himself, looking back at his own digimon, who had de-digivolved back into Gabumon. "What are we going to do? I want to go and find Tai, but..."
"We do need to keep a watch on him." Gabumon finished for his trainer. He himself was a bit torn at it all, but here was a fellow digimon in need of help from them. "Anyways, we can't really go back out into that." Pointing to the mouth of the cave, Gabumon showed his trainer that the storm had grown even fiercer than before-and thus they both knew that they were stuck in this place with Flamedramon.
Matt nodded to his digimon, before resting on the ground. Gabumon had already created the spark they needed for the fire, but with the limited resources they had, both knew that the fire would last only so long. Neither cared, though, as they both figured they'd be out by the time the fire smouldered out.
Grunting a bit, Flamedramon began to stir from his slumber. Eyes winked open slowly, focusing on where he was first. He wondered how he had gotten into a cave, especially since he remembered being against a tree for the brunt of the storm.
"Hey. You're awake." Matt walked over to him, staring into his eyes for a few moments. "So, find the blizzard to your liking?"
"Matt, be nice!" Gabumon retorted to his trainer, not liking the way he was treating a digimon who had just been in a situation like Flamedramon was.
Rolling his eyes, the blond shrugged. "That wasn't smart rushing up the mountain without looking for the storms that come by. You could have gotten yourself killed you know."
Flamedramon looked down, saddened by it. Though the strength he would have needed to sigh was too much for him to even muster-as his body de-digivolved down to his rookie form. The cold had taken a lot out of him, and even so, he wished it wouldn't have ended. He had remembered the last snow storm both him and Naruto enjoyed-one that he wouldn't forget any time soon. "I don't care."
Both Matt and Gabumon sighed slightly. "Be happy we followed you. We could have easily went towards where you said Tai was."
Holding his knees to his chest, Veemon stared at the fire. "I don't care." His eyes seemed to be glossed over by something; it wasn't allowing him to even take in the seriousness of the situation he was in. But Veemon was deep in thought. Some how, he'd make sure that Naruto appeared again, and with that, he'd have his trainer and lover back.
Rolling his eyes, Matt went back to staring outside. "You should. It's a terrible storm out there." Going back to watching the fire, he poked it thoroughly. "Why did you go up there anyways."
Veemon shrugged. "Just needed some space, that's all." Thinking for a few moments towards why he was there, he remembered his Digivice. Almost freaking out, he looked around, knowing it wasn't within his hands. "Where is it?!"
Matt quirked an eyebrow, before holding up the device that he had seen in the digimon's hands when they put him down in the cave. "This?" He tossed it to Veemon, "Found it when we got here. Is that a Digivice?" Making an effort to catch the device, Veemon looked down.
"Yeah, it is."
Wanting to know why the lone digimon had a Digivice, Matt prodded further. "You got a trainer?" The blue digimon nodded. "Where are they."
"Lost."
"Lost?"
"Yeah, he got lost."
"How?"
"...." Veemon didn't answer, as he just kept staring at the device. He really didn't want to explain things to Matt, even though he had wanted someone to help him through it all. Matt wanted to go further, but the look Veemon had made him stop. He figured if the digimon wanted to explain, he would.
Even so, Matt didn't like the silence that settled over the three of them. A silence that only seemed too long until Matt's Digivice began to beep. A red dot from deeper in the cave was showing up on the small device. Looking at it, he didn't understand what it meant. His first thoughts were that maybe one of his friends were in the cave.
Barely aware of the beeping, Veemon looked over at Matt with inquisitive eyes. "What's up with your device?" A good subject change for him, since he really didn't like to explain how Naruto disappeared to the blond in front of him.
"I really don't know, but it's telling me someone is deeper in this cave."
"Maybe we should check." Gabumon was all up to checking, since he did want to reunite his friends. Veemon shrugged a bit, though he wouldn't mind going to check. Matt was his friend, as were all the others that were in this world. So it wasn't much of a toss up to try and find something inside of a cave, especially with the blizzard going on outside.
Getting to his feet, the blue digimon stared at the other two. "Well, we have nothing else to do, right Matt?" Nodding to him, Matt clenched his device. With two digimon, there wasn't that much to worry about in fighting. Giving a look to both of them, he began to run deeper in the cave, with the two digimon quickly following him.
The walls of the cave began to shine with water as the cave dipped lower into the mountain they were in-almost as if leading them into an underground spring-but none of the group really put much thought into it, as the red dot began to come closer to the three of them. With water dripping from the various stalagmites above them, Veemon stared around. This cave was something he never saw in his own travels to the Digital World, but then again, this was years before his ventures even began.
Those thoughts made him a bit worried, but then again, he was with Matt and Gabumon, so there was a safety net in case something happened. Drawing ever further towards the dot on his Digivice, Matt looked around for anyone that would be a familiar face to him, but it was to no avail even as the dot seemed to almost reach them.
His momentum had a consequence as he tried to stop before the water in front of him, hurtling him into the warm waters where the dot had led them. Surfacing, Matt took another look at his device, seeing that the dot was around him, but as he looked around he saw no one of his gang-in fact he saw nothing around him. Sighing to himself, he peered at Veemon and Gabumon, who were totally dry as they kept a decent pace to not lose balance. They held no answers to why there wasn't anything around, but why would they-they hadn't led him here, it was his Digivice.
Veemon felt a bit disheartened. Even though they had followed the signal, he saw none of his old friends. He sat down, sticking his feet in to the warm water only to rest a bit. It felt nice against his skin; with the blizzard outside, anything warm would have felt nice to him. His eyes stared down into the water, gazing at the shimmering blue that gave a light glow around them. Reflecting back was his own image, showing how sad he truly was. That only angered him, as it reminded him of losing Naruto-and though he had seen him come from his Digivice, it gave no solace to the fact it had happened.
Ready to throw a punch into the water, Veemon's eyes shifted towards something else, something that sparkled even within the water beneath them. Focusing a bit, the digimon realized what it was-another marble like the one Takato had. Maybe that was what brought them there. "MATT!"
"Huh?" He looked back at Veemon, wondering why the digimon screamed his name.
Pointing down at the marble, Veemon told Matt to swim down and get it, though he really didn't explain why it had to be gotten. Still confused about all this, Matt did as he was told, getting down deeper into the warm waters, grabbing the green stone that shimmered even beneath the bluish hue that surrounded the large cavern.
Matt reached the surface once more, staring back at the green glow that surrounded the stone in his hand. "Why'd you ask me to get this?"
Veemon called him over to climb out of the water; though Matt was a bit wary of the whole situation. Why would Veemon be interested in a stone that seemed to hold only a bit of value. Coming over to the blue digimon, Matt climbed out of the water to look at Veemon. "I asked you why you wanted this."
"Because, I think this is what brought us here." He managed to get out, as his eyes were captivated by the green hue. "Hold it to your Digivice, it might show you what I mean."
Reluctant still, Matt didn't know if he should trust the blue digimon or not, but what the hell, he had no other explanation as to why his Digivice brought him here. Holding his device with his other hand, Matt placed the marble on top of it. Green light shone from both as the device morphed into something like Veemon's Digivice-a card reader as the stone turned into a card.
"Slide it." Already knowing a bit of what would happen, Veemon wanted to see it once more-it would give a bit more insight into the Eight Card theory that Takato had told them about, so it was worth a try. Sliding the card into the device, not really understanding any of this, Matt felt a bit weird. As the card left it, it disappeared. Yet something else had given him the weird feeling as his Digivice gave a voice around him.
"Biomerge Digivolution!" Data from his right hand appeared, the device sliding across it. Immediately, Matt felt himself held against a wall, as his hands were held out away from his body. Around his vision, blackness kept itself known until he saw his own digimon in front of him. Slowly, Gabumon began to disintegrate before his eyes, wrapping around him like a cover.
The feeling of being pushed against the wall faded as his eyes closed-letting the digimon digivolve around him. His arms were carried in front of him, letting the fur cover his skin, with claws coming in quickly. His chest felt lifted as fur and armor wrapping around him, just as his feet felt the warmth of fur there. Even his face wasn't left without the bluish fur. But upon his chest, was a slight green pattern, a bit like the crest of friendship, but not totally.
Slings appeared around both of his shoulders as guns appeared behind him, just above his furry tail that flicked back and forth. A muzzle appeared, as his face was almost completely gone-fangs showing themselves immediately with the slight roar that escaped. Around his waist, underneath the small leather armor, were three holsters, each with their own specific gun.
Slowly once more, the blackness faded around the boy-revealing the new hybrid that was once him and his digimon. With another flick of the tail, the darkness totally receded away from the world around them, letting Veemon see who was before him. "Cerberusmon." His digivice spoke once more, letting him know what had happened.
Veemon was taken back by the sheer firepower that the single digimon had, as well as the new stature that seemed to become of him. Cerberusmon looked at each of the furry arms, and his own tail, before eyes went wide at the guns that seemed to be all over him. This was a new digivolution to him, especially since he had heard Gabumon speak inside of his own head. "Matt, what's going on?"
"I don't know."
"You two digivolved together." Veemon stated slowly, understanding the significance of the cards that were being found now. "You two are one." Still new to him, the blue digimon did understand a bit about it. They were meant to digivolve together, and if things were the same for when Naruto came back, maybe himself and his trainer would digivolve too. That was the hope in Veemon's thoughts-a hope he wanted to make a reality of.
"We... digivolved together?" Both said, a dual of voices leaving Cerberusmon's muzzle, entwined together just like their bodies were at this moment. Veemon only nodded to them, looking back at his own Digivice.
Fiddling a bit more with it, he walked over to the larger wolf hybrid. "That's the power of those cards. Guess you're part of the gang..." He shrugged a bit. "We should find our way back, maybe the blizzard is over." His monotone voice hid his true emotions at the moment-trying to keep him looking as strong as he could without breaking down.
Watching as Veemon walked back the way they came, Cerberusmon followed, keeping his eyesight always on the blue digimon. "I don't understand this."
About to speak up back at the digimon, Veemon halted. His own eyes crossed paths with emerald eyes. A sickening grin crept across the tanned face, making the blue digimon wince. "You're coming with me, you two." The voice was almost like Naruto's, but a bit distorted. Neither digimon moved, though, even though the voice commanded a lot more strength behind it.
Looking closer at the orange clothes that Naruto was wearing, Veemon spotted a dark ring around his neck, the same kind of dark ring that usually controlled digimon. How was it possible for a human to be controlled by the same device? Not really wanting to think about it, Veemon held his own Digivice close, letting himself digivolve back into Flamedramon. The strain on his body from before, showed itself, as Flamedramon tried to keep himself up.
Dark Naruto smirked still at them, holding his Digivice to his other hand, scanning it completely. "Spirit Evolution!" Voice cracking a bit, Dark Naruto began to transform back into Neokitsumon, though the armor around him had a darker hue. BlackNeoKitsumon stood on all fours once more, growling at the two of them, before he charged at the weakened Flamedramon, easily pinning him to the wall. "I said you're coming with me."
Nearly choking at the brute force, Flamedramon felt himself de-digivolve back into Veemon, strength still failing him at the moment. Still pinned, blackness started to surround Veemon's vision, keeping him out of commission.
"STOP THAT!" Cerberusmon shouted at Blackneokitsumon, wanting to try and end this all. But as the fox hybrid's eyes looked over at the wolf hybrid, a snarl escaped from the armored fur, with the tail lashing out at them.
"Rasengan Tail!" The tail stopping in front of Cerberusmon, began to spin around, forming a ball of energy. Not really understanding the new attack he saw, Cerberusmon felt the slamming force of the tail in his stomach, ground being lost to the brute force of it.
Wincing to the attack, Cerberusmon spun around one of his guns from his shoulder, holding it in front of him. "Hydra Shot!" From the three-barrel shotgun, a trio of energy bullets shot out, spinning around as they did so. Each had a direct hit on the fox hybrid, knocking him back just a bit-enough so that Veemon could collapse to the ground.
Snarling back at Cerberusmon, Blackneokitsumon charged at the wolf hybrid-with his large maw open. "Dark Bang!" Spinning his body around, Blackneokitsumon became a twisting body bullet, aiming for Cerberusmon's chest. Holding his fists in front of him-keeping his guns out of the way in doing so-Cerberusmon tried to keep his ground, using all of his force to try and level the playing field.
Though out of breath from being held against the wall, Veemon was still able to move. His eyes settled on the duo fighting, feeling a bit helpless in it all. Yet, as he looked closer, he saw one of Cerberusmon's guns on the ground. Thinking that the two pushing against each other would only cause harm to both of them, he bolted towards the gun, rolling into grabbing it, and pointing it towards the two. Veemon closed his eyes, biting his lip, just as he pulled the trigger, watching as a large energy bullet shot out from the gun, purple in color.
Both digimon heard the blast, but felt it first, as they found themselves crashing into the side of the cave with a loud bang. Veemon wasn't safe either, as the kickback managed to launch him into the wall, knocking him out. Wincing from the pain, Cerberusmon wavered in standing up. His eyes immediately went to Veemon, realizing that the blue dragon digimon was out for the count. With his defenses down, Blackneokitsumon rammed his head into Cerberusmon's chest, throwing him backwards.
Stumbling a bit, the wolf hybrid found himself panting from exertion. Things weren't going good for them, not in the least bit. "I told you, you're both coming with me." Blackneokitsumon stated matter-of-factly. Standing ground, his growls seemed to get louder and louder to Cerberusmon, until he heard a slightly high pitched note. More and more of the notes continued to echo through the cave, causing the fox hybrid to groan.
Black light shown from Blackneokitsumon as he de-digivolved back into Dark Naruto, who covered his ears. "This isn't over!" He shouted, disappearing quickly and leaving them alone for the time being. Cerberusmon found himself out of strength from everything, splitting back into Gabumon and Matt. Both digimon and trainer fell backwards against the wall, staring out towards the light from the cave. A figure seemed to walk closer to them, slowly at first, but it began to speed up towards them.
Their eyes closed before they even could get a good look at it-save for the small flute that came with them.
She sighed to herself, looking at the three that were laying on the ground. "They were lucky I came." Humming a tune to herself, she propped them all up against the cave wall, and let her lips touch her flute once more, playing a soft tune that rang in the air. The notes circled around her-a calm sensation in the chaos she knew was around her. Closing her eyes, she let time pass her by, with the tune keeping her company.
Squinting slightly as his eyes opened, Matt stared at the woman in front of him, watching as she played her instrument masterfully. It was almost like his own harmonica, the melody sweet to the ears. Groaning a bit, he shifted from his sitting position. "Who're you?"
She stopped immediately, before looking at him. "Mikoto Nagi." Matt looked all around Mikoto, trying to find a digimon partner, but noticed she was alone, save for her flute. Her eyes closed, as she just let the silence pass by. "If you're looking for Tailmon, she's... gone."
Matt looked at her sincerely, before blinking a few times. "Gone? Do you mean..."
"Yes." In her voice, was a heaviness that even hurt Matt.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be, she was just protecting me." Her black braids seemed to stay still-they had been bouncing back and forth with the music in the air-as solemn air drifted all around them.
Veemon was the next to awaken, then Gabumon. All three watched as Mikoto went back to playing her flute, each wondering why she was so calm about something that would have torn all of them apart-something that even ripped at Veemon heart because of Naruto. Standing up, blue digimon stared at the ground.
His Digivice began to glow, making him stare at it-along with everyone else, with Mikoto stopping with her flute-as Naruto's figure appeared before them. His image shook a bit, but it was more steady this time. "Hey Vee." His head tilted to the side with a smile. "Don't look so sad." Getting closer to the Digivice, Gabumon and Matt blinked a few times, wondering who he was. Naruto blinked back at them. "Oh, who are your friends?"
"I'm Matt, and this is Gabumon. And she's..."
"Mikoto." She stated simply, staring at the hologram of the blond boy.
As Matt got a better view of the boy, he immediately stood up defensively. "He's the guy who attacked us!"
Shaking his head, Veemon frowned. "No. He didn't attack us. He's been with me since I came here. That... that was his body."
"Body?"
"Yeah. He got absorbed by his own Digivice before we got here." Saddened more by this Veemon stared at Naruto with wondering eyes. Had he finally found a way to get out of there?
Rubbing a finger underneath his nose, Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, something like that happened. And well, since then, I've been trying to get out of here. But, Vee, don't worry. I'm almost done finding parts of me in here. You just need to find the third Chosen One."
Playing her flute again, Mikoto didn't want to hear about being a Chosen One or anything. She knew that without Tailmon, she wasn't even a Digidestined anymore, and so, she was stuck in a place with only herself.
"But Kyuu... I want you back now!"
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'll get to you as soon as I can, alright?" Another Digivice began to beep-Mikoto's-as Naruto finished speaking, making him smile. "Well, I guess I'll leave you guys to figure stuff out. Till I can see you Vee, I'll be near you always." The image disappeared, though Veemon's hand went out to it, trying to grab it tangibly.