The Hunt, Part 5 (Final)

Character Application: [link]
Evolution Line: [link]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (Viewing)

Skullsplashmon is defeated (but fortunately not killed) and Thomas and Demidevimon manage to reconcile...and get a fang after all.

Phew! That's my entry done...now just need to get the Mega form in on his evolution chart and I'll have just barely made it on time


STORY SNIPPIT:

<sub>For a while, things were quiet, other than the crunching of the snow underfoot and the rustling of the wind through the pine trees. Thomas didn’t hear any noises of battle behind him either, but he didn’t care anymore. He’d had enough of this whole damned tournament. He hadn’t come here to create power-hungry demons—he’d come, he’d thought, to work with his partner to get stronger, so they could defend people from those things. He was sick of powerful people shoving the weaker ones around, at school, at work, wherever. He’d wanted to stop that. He should have known this wasn’t the way; all he’d done was help create a new problem.

He kicked at the snow in frustration and continued on. He would go straight back to the staging area, and hunt down Centarumon. He’d explain that he forfeited, that he no longer had a partner. That would make him a loser in the tournament, but all the losers had supposedly been warped back to the real world, so he ought to be fine. He could find a different way to get stronger on his own from there.

Although he’d have to deal with this injury first, and that would be tough to explain at the hospital...but hell, if he was lucky the tournament officials might arrange a way for him to be healed before he was sent back. It wasn’t even hurting all that much right now. His right arm still felt sluggish and unresponsive, and his shoulder throbbed, but it hurt less now, and he thought it had probably stopped bleeding. It probably felt worse than it was. He’d be fine...he hoped.

He trudged on by himself for a good half hour before he heard the all-too-familiar sound of fluttering behind him. He grit his teeth and ignored it, but his former partner was not swayed by the silence in the slightest, and after a moment he fluttered into view. He had de-digivolved to Demidevimon again, and flapped after Thomas cautiously. In his talons he carried Thomas’ digivice, and a single fat golden fang, heavy enough that it dragged the bat digimon down slightly as he tried to fly.

“I didn’t delete him,” Demidevimon said meekly, after several moments of silence. “I promise. I just grabbed a fang so we can complete this round. He’s probably better already, or close to it. He heals fast.”

Thomas ignored him.

Demidevimon was still not deterred, and flapped laboriously alongside Thomas for a while, dragging the fang and digivice along with him. He was frowning, and seemed to be thinking very hard before he spoke, which was a rarity for him.

When he did speak, it was very carefully, but also surprisingly sincerely for Demidevimon. “Tommy,” he said slowly, “I’m...I’m sorry. I just...I just wanted to be really strong for so long, you know? It was just such a rush to finally be so powerful. I could suddenly really understand why my old masters liked kicking all their minions around so much.”

Thomas said nothing.

“But you’re right,” Demidevimon said, wincing. “If I act like that, then I’m no better than they were, and I hated them. And I don’t want you to be mad at me, Tommy. So I’m sorry for losing it like that when I evolved. I won’t do anything ever again as Devimon unless it’s to help you, or if you tell me to do it, I promise.” His expression shifted, and he looked rather suddenly helpless, afraid. “Just stop giving me the cold shoulder, okay? Pretty please? And take your digivice back, and this fang—I promise I didn’t kill him, just like I said, I left him alone, I swear—c’mooon, Tommy, just talk to me and be my friend again!”

Thomas sighed, but after a moment held out his hands. Demidevimon’s anxious face shifted to a grin, and he carefully handed the items over—digivice first, then the fang they needed to finish the next part of the tournament. The digivice still felt warm, even though he’d thrown it into the snow, and the fang was surprisingly heavy. It was a wonder Demidevimon had been able to fly for so long holding it. He really must have meant what he said, and been very determined.

“Alright,” he said, after a moment’s consideration, as he stared down at the fang in his hands. “I accept you back as a partner—as long as you work on that power-trip issue. I’ll help you with it, but we can’t be the next generation of bullies and masters. It’s wrong.”

“I promise!” Demidevimon said, sounding exhilarated. “I won’t lose it like that again, I know what it feels like now and I know I can control it. I wanna use that strength to protect you, not make you mad at me. That’s how I digivolved in the first place. I just got really confused afterwards.”

“Okay,” Thomas said. “Then let’s turn in this fang and move on.” And he allowed himself a ghost of a smile, adding, “If we make it past this round, we’ll definitely have plenty more to work on to prove how strong we are, I guess.”

“You bet!” Demidevimon agreed, fluttering tiredly alongside his human.

Thomas rolled his eyes, pointed at his head, and said, “Oh, get on already. You’re obviously wiped out after evolving like that, and carrying this heavy thing.” He gestured with the golden fang.

Demidevimon grinned. “You mean it? You’re not mad at me anymore?”

“Of course not. And of course I mean it. What are friends for?”

Demidevimon’s devilish little grin was almost blinding as he fluttered over and settled comfortably in place on his human’s head. Thomas rolled his eyes again, but had to admit, it was sort of nice to have his digimon back.

And it was nice, too, to know even the weak people they had once been were stronger, now. If nothing else, that had been worth learning today—that demons and outcasts could also protect, if they really wanted to.

End</sub>


Demidevimon & Devimon © Bandai
Thomas Hadryn © ~VelkynKarma
Skullsplashmon © ~Rhydon

~VelkynKarma