Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Being a Tamer ❯ Gazimon's Choice ( Chapter 4 )

Author's Note: Before I begin, I recently received some information that the director of Tamers placed Lee Jaarin's age at 15. To me, she looked awfully young for 15, more like closer to ten or eleven, which is where I got the idea that she and Jenrya could be twins. So, you can just go ahead and think of this as sort of a Tamers AU.

A week had passed since the battle with the Hyougamon battle in the Yodobashi schoolyard. After witnessing Gazimon actually saving his sister's life, Jenrya found his opinion of the former monkey Deva changing. He hadn't quite forgiven him for kidnapping Culumon and trying to kidnap Shiuchon, but he had begun acting civil towards Gazimon around the house. Jaarin knew it was more than she could ask for from him at this point, and did her best not to try and push her twin too hard about the situation. As for Gazimon himself, he seemed to have fully adjusted to being a Tamer's Digimon instead of the Deva he once had been. He accompanied Jaarin to school every day, sometimes sitting with her in class and occassionally hanging out outside with Guardromon, Guilmon and Impmon. Even Culumon appeared to be a little less afraid around him now.

Presently, the Digimon Tamers and their partners were once more gathered in the Hypnos building, and once more Impmon was lying on the table beneath the data extractor, sensor wires sticking all over his body. Yamaki was even there, like he was an official representative of the Hypnos corporation. Fortunately the Wild Bunch had learned from their past two attempts, and had connected Juri's D-Arc to Rai's computer to narrow down the search parameters. Additionally, Dr. McCoy had made an adjustment to the D-Box. Now if the Digimon that was recomplied was not recognizable to the computers as Leomon, it would kill the digital field before the Digimon could fully reconfigure, thus leaving the digimon's data in limbo.

"Is everyone ready?" Janyuu asked. Rai and Lilian nodded from their computer stations. "Impmon?"

"Yeah, lets do dis," the goblin 'mon said. "'Eck, I've been past ready t' get dis over wit."

Takato nodded. "Yeah. It's about time all of us had our Digimon partners back." He smiled at Juri, who blushed and returned it.

Janyuu nodded at Rai, who began the data scanner. But just as the process was beginning, the Hypnos building rocked with the force of an explosion. "What the hell was that?" Jenrya asked, his Tai Chi training the only thing keeping him from totally losing his footing.

"Jenrya!" Janyuu exclaimed, shocked by his son's language.

Ai had been sitting in a chair positioned underneath a window when the interruption had occured. Now she was standing on it in order to look out the window. "There's a big Digimon down there," she reported. When asked what it looked like she said, "He's a big doggie. A big white and purple doggie."

Gazimon and Lopmon's eyes widened. "Chatsuramon," they chorused.

Heads whirled in their direction. "What?" exclaimed Takato. "But I thought I killed that guy in the Digital World!"

"Yeah, and then Beelzebumon absorbed his data," Ruki added with a glance in Impmon's direction.

"Yes, but I fear we may have recomplied him several days ago, when we tried ressurecting Leomon again," Shibumi admitted somewhat sheepishly.

The Tamers stared at the Wild Bunch in shock, slack-jawed, for several minutes before finally saying as one, "You WHAT?!?"

"Dad, why didn't you tell us?" Jenrya demanded.

"We weren't sure who it was," Janyuu explained hastily. "Before we could identify the Digimon that was reformatted, it disappeared from the D-Box."

"Zhiuqaomon," Gazimon growled, for once foregoing the honorific for his former master's name. "He pulled Chatsuramon back to the Digital World before anyone could destroy him. Now he's obviously sent him back here on some mission or another." Another explosion punctuated this statement, sending several people in the room sprawling.

"Someone had better do something, before he manages to shake this whole place down!" Yamaki snapped, getting up from his semi-prone postiion on the floor. His only answer was the slam of the door to the room they were in, coupled by Jenrya and Janyuu calling out the name of the eldest Lee daughter.

Jaarin fairly flew down the back stairways of the Hypnos building, not even bothering to take the elevator. She wasn't even sure what had possessed her to take off like that, other than the fact that Chatsuramon had to be stopped before the entire building collapsed. The building shook a few more times as they made their way down, forcing Jaarin to anchor herself to the railing, and Gazimon to anchor himself to Jaarin.

Finally they reached the bottom of the stairwell where there were two doors: one that led outside and was marked "Emergency Exit," and another that led into the building proper. Figuring that this situation did fit under the classification of "emergency," Jaarin ripped the door open and she and Gazimon dashed out just as alarms filled the building.

"Shuvobushana!" Just as Ai had said, there was Chatsuramon sending attacks at the base of the Hypnos building in an obvious attempt to weaken the foundation, or just send the walls caving in. However, he stopped once he caught sight of Jaarin and her partner. He grinned toothily as he laid eyes on Gazimon. "Well, well. Nice to see you again...Makuramon."

Gazimon scowled. "You need your eyes examined, Chatsuramon. I'm not exactly a monkey anymore. Now what do you want?"

Chatusramon chuckled, a low, throaty sound. As he watched the remaining Tamers run out of the building he answered, "Why nothing, Gazimon. Nothing except to bring you a message from Zhuiqaomon-sama."

Any retort Gazimon was planning died on his tongue. "Zhuiqaomon-sama?" he repeated.

"Yes," answered Chatsuramon. "He's discovered what Qinglongmon did to you, and finds it utterly disgraceful and disrespectful of your status as a Deva. Therefore he's sent me to fetch you, and bring you back to the Digital World where he'll restore you to your true power." The other Tamers gasped at hearing this offer.

But what was worse was that Gazimon actually seemed taken in by it.

"You're serious?" Gazimon asked. "He'd really do that?"

Chatsuramon nodded. "Of course. You were his most trusted Deva, after all." Mentally Chatsuramon was disgusted with himself, doing all this sucking up just so he could lure Gazimon into Zhuiqaomon-sama's trap. But Chatsuramon was a Deva, and the Devas were supposed to follow Zhuiqaomon's orders. "Think of it," Chatsuramon continued. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to be in the Digital World again, seeing the beauty of the Land of the Four Holy Beasts every day?"

"Gazimon, please," Jaarin pleaded "don't do it! You gave all that up, remember?"

The canine Deva chuckled. "Don't listen to her. Once a Deva, always a Deva, remember? There's no denying it."

They watched as the scruffy rabbit 'mon slowly shuffled towards Chatsuramon, head drooping towards the ground as if all the starch had gone out of his neck and he couldn't support the weight of his ears, and tail dragging limply on the ground. "Come, Gazimon, hurry," the canine Deva prompted. "We don't want to keep Zhuiqaomon-sama waiting, do we?" He chuckled low in his throat as the mangy-looking Child came closer. "Just a few more steps, and you'll be back to your old self and we'll have our revenge against the humans. We'll start with that little ingrate who dares call herself your Tamer."

Gazimon halted. "What did you call her?" asked a quiet voice hardly recognizable as his.

"She's an ingrateful, disgusting human, just like the rest of their kind," Chatsuramon repeated. "They should be wiped out of existance; you know that."

Gazimon's head suddenly jerked up, as if a puppet master had suddenly pulled up on the strings that controlled his head. His eyes blazed with anger, and he leaped at Chatsuramon scratching at the dog Deva's face with his claws before landing. "What?" Chatsuramon gasped. "But- that's impossible! I thought you..."

"Get one thing straight, Chatsuramon: no one threatens to wipe out my Tamer!" Gazimon yelled at him. "You almost had me with your talk about Zhuiqaomon and the Digital World, but nothing and no Digimon is going to rival or destroy my loyalty to Jaarin!"

"So, you have turned traitor as well it seems," Chatsuramon surmised. "It looks like I'll get to kill you after all. Shuvobushana!"

There was a flurry of activity all over the area, from the Tamers dodging the attack to Guilmon, Terriermon and Renamon swiftly evolving to their Perfection forms.

The battle had been joined.

"Atomic Blaster!" Megalo Growmon was the first to attack Chatsuramon, attacking the canine Deva from the one side. Rapidmon attacked from the other with his Rapid Fire attack while Taomon used a Fox Seal Paper to freeze him in place. Chatsuramon managed to break through all three attacks, then using his own Treasure Mallet attack took a swing at all three Perfection Digimon.

"Man, it's times like this I wish that Guardromon could evolve to Perfection," Hirokazu said as he, Kenta and their partners hovered on the fringes of the battle. "Andromon could probably sure be a big help right about now." They flinched as Cyber Dramon hovered above Chatsuramon and fired a Cyber Nail attack at him, only for Chatsuramon to almost completely ignore the attack. Ryo's partner let out a feral growl, angered that his opponent would defy him like this. "Kenta?"

"Hm?" Kenta responded.

"Remind me never to get Cyber Dramon pissed off at me."

Kenta nodded. "Noted."

"How come Marine Angemon doesn't fight?" Jaarin asked her brother as they stood watching the battle between the four Perfection Digimon and Chatsuramon.

"Because Marine Angemon isn't a fighter; he's a healing Digimon," Ruki responded. "We've never seen him even inflict injury on another Digimon. Heal it, yes. Cause it, no."

Takato looked at her and Jenrya. "Maybe we should Matrix evolve to Ultimate," he suggested. "It would make the battle go a lot quicker."

Jenrya shook his head. "I'd rather it not come to that," the bluenette said. "Chatsuramon might take advantage and go back to destroying Hypnos while we're evolving."

"Besides, they're really taking a beating," Ruki pointed out. "They might be too weak to Matrix evolve."

Takato sighed. "So what do we do? Just stand here and watch him maul our partners before causing the Hypnos building to collapse?" He received no answer.

Meanwhile Shiuchon and Lopmon were watching from a fair distance away, having been sent there by Jenrya after they refused to stay put inside. Lopmon looked up at her Tamer. "Shiuchon, it's time we joined the battle." The pig-tailed girl looked down at her partner, and nodded.

"Shuvoboshana!" Chatsuramon's attack caused the four Perfection Digimon attacking him to scatter to avoid being hit. Guardromon tried his missile attack, but the dog Deva swatted it away and back at the tank-like Digimon. Kenta and Hirokazu panicked, but some quick thinking and a large heart-shaped bubble blown by Marine Angemon saved them from being blown up.

Suddenly a cry of "Treasure Axe!" rent the air, followed by an ax-like limb crashing down onto the pavement beside Chatsuramon. Everyone looked up to see Antiramon, still airborne from the force of her jump.

The canine Deva growled. "So, the other traitor has decided to show her face!"

"Chatsuramon, stop this at once!" Antiramon commanded. "The feud between Zhuiqaomon-sama and the humans ended months ago. You are fighting a finished war!"

"Liar!" Chatsuramon roared, following up with an attack directed at Antiramon. It hit her a glancing blow as she landed, forcing her to stagger back. Antiramon shook out her arms, forcing them to revert from axes to hands once again. "Both you and Makuramon shall perish for your betrayal, and your precious humans with you! Treasure Mallet!" This time his attack was aimed straight at Antiramon, and she came under fire of numerous blows.

"Okay, it's official: this guy has completely gone off his nut!" Hirokazu shouted.

"Antiramon!" Shiuchon, Jaarin and Gazimon exclaimed as one. Gazimon gritted his teeth in anger. When he had been a Deva, he and Antiramon had been one of the best pairs of the entire group. They were nearly unbeatable; hardly any enemy they fought could touch them. I've got to help them, he thought to himself. I've got to help her. But how can I when I'm just a Child stage Digimon? Chatsuramon would slaughter me! But...I just can't abandon my teammates. What do I do? Suddenly a strange feeling filled his body, like he'd just been infused with power.

"Gazimon, evolve! Makuramon!"

"Treasure Ball!" A fast-moving blur dashed between Jenrya and Takato, zooming up into the air and hurling a fast-moving silver object down on Chatsuramon. It exploded as soon as it made contact with his snout, causing him to cry out in pain and frustration. Gazes shifted from the dog Deva to the sky to see who had managed to land the first decent blow on their enemy, and the sight elicited many gasps from the onlookers.

It was Makuramon, and he looked madder than hell.

Antiramon watched in surprise as Makuramon landed on her shoulder. "Let's show that mangy canine what happens when he messes with two 'traitors,' shall we...partner?"

The rabbit Deva smiled. "Yes, let's. Good to have you back, Makuramon."

"Good to be back, Antiramon," Makuramon agreed. "Two-on-one attack?"

"You got it." Makuramon leapt down from his perch on Antiramon's shoulder, doing a couple somersaults in the air just to be fancy. Once he landed solidly on his feet on the pavement, he turned to face Chatsuramon. Beside him Antiramon prepared to attack, as did he. "Raurava!"

"Ashipatoravana!" Antiramon chimed in. Both attacks struck Chatsuramon head-on. When the smoke cleared Chatsuramon looked a little worse for the wear, but now he was even angrier. He launched a powerful Shuvobushana at them, knocking down just about everyone who was still standing.

Rapidmon had managed to escape that fate, being able to fly and all. "Boy, what's it going to take to beat this guy?"

Antiramon looked up at him as she pulled herself up off the ground. "A miracle could work right now," she said half-sarcastically.

"Yeah, but where are we going to get a miracle at this time of day?" Makuramon joked.

"Fist of the Beast King!"

The surprise attack came out of nowhere, crashing into the left side of Chatsuramon's face. At first Takato thought that it was Beelzebumon, as he remembered that the Ultimate had used that attack to try to break Juri out of the D-Reaper's Kernal Sphere during that battle. But then another attack hit Chatsuramon from behind (literally in the behind too), recognizeable as Beelzebumon Blast Mode's Chaos Flare attack. "But if Beelzebumon is over there," Takato said slowly "then who..?"

"Lion King Sword!" A large sword sliced through the air near Chatsuramon, who edged away at the closeness of it. And it was being wielded by a familiar-looking, humanoid lion. Leomon. And standing a safe enough distance behind him, D-Arc in one hand, was Juri.

Chatsuramon growled at the new warrior that had entered the fray. "Another interloper. You shall die along with your human-loving friends and their pathetic humans!"

"You're gonna have to get through us first!" the voices of nine Digimon chorused. As one, all of the Digimon but Marine Angemon fired their strongest attacks on Chatsuramon. The sudden rush of destructive energy was too much for the dog Deva to handle, weakening him severely. Leomon raised his sword to finish him off, but Guardromon blocked his way.

"Not so fast, old friend," Guardromon said. "I believe yon victory goes to our simian compatriot." Leomon looked at him questioningly, then followed the mechanical Digimon's pointing arm.

Makuramon leaped into the air, anger at Chatsuramon and Zhuiqaomon giving him the extra energy he needed to get some good height on the jump. When he was high enough he pulled his throwing arm back. Sunlight glinted on the silver orb that he held in his hand before the ball began to glow with a fierce orange light. It was the attack he had tried to use on Antiramon in the Land of the Four Holy Beasts, and the one he had tried to use on the Tamers before Qinglongmon had done him what was perhaps the biggest favor anyone had ever done him.

Only this time, Makuramon was making damn sure he didn't miss.

"Treasure...Ball!" The attack cry was punctuated with a grunt as Makuramon threw the glowing orb down. Chatsuramon, already weakened by the multiple attacks from the other Digimon, could only watch in fear as it bore down on him.

"Wait...no...please!" he shouted just as the Treasure Ball struck. He only had time for a short cry of pain before breaking into a cloud of data. As with the Hyougamon before, no one made a move to absorb Chatsuramon's data. It hung in the air a few moments before dissipating completely.

With the battle finally over, the Tamers and their Digimon mobbed Leomon as-one. Cheerful greetings and welcome back wishes mixed into incoherant babble that the humanoid lion 'mon smiled through. At least until he glanced up and saw Jaarin hovering at the edge of the circle...Makuramon standing beside her. Rage began to burn through him as he recalled how the simian Deva had ruthlessly snatched Culumon out of Juri's arms and made off with him to the Digital World. Growling, he drew his sword causing the children to move aside in surprise. Then with a roar he rushed the monkey Digimon.

"Makuramon, prepare to meet the same fate as your comrade!" he roared, sword held-high. To his surprise Juri, as well as the brown-haired girl that had been standing beside Makuramon, ran in front of him as if to shield the Deva from harm. Even more surprising was that Makuramon was doing nothing to defend himself or to flee; he just stood in place like he was waiting for Leomon to strike him down. "Juri?"

"Don't hurt him, Leomon, please," Juri begged. "He's not what he used to be. He's changed. He even has a Tamer now."

"A Tamer?" Leomon echoed.

The other Tamers nodded, and Jaarin stepped up to him. "Uh, I'm Lee Jaarin, Makuramon's Tamer. Nice to meet you, Leomon."

Leomon accepted the hand she offered him, covering it completely with his large one. "Likewise." Looking back at the other Tamers he asked, "How did Makuramon get a Tamer?"

"Qinglongmon-sama," answered Rapidmon. "He stripped him of his Deva powers, devolving him to his Child stage of Gazimon, and then he became Jaarin's partner. He's actually a pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

"Ah, I see my little experiment worked out well after all," a voice boomed from above. Gazes redirected themselves upwards to see a rift in the sky, not unlike the one that had appeared when Zhuiqaomon had provided Makuramon with an escape portal after he had kidnapped Culumon. Only instead of glowing maroon from Zhuiqaomon's fire, it cast a cool blue light, and Qinglongmon's body was visible.

"Experiment?" Makuramon echoed, confused.

The dragon god nodded, or at least it seemed so. "The reason I left you in the real world at Child stage was to teach you some humility, as well as respect for humans. It was the Digi-Gnomes' idea, however, to make you partner to a Tamer. And they couldn't have chosen a better Tamer, either," he added, glancing at Jaarin. The Tamer in question blushed, suddenly embarrassed to have the attention of a god, even if it was a digital one, turned on her. "Not only have you filled my expectations, Makuramon, you have surpassed them. So therefore, I am offering you a choice."

"What kind of a choice?" questioned Taomon.

"I am giving him two options," Qinglongmon replied. "Makuramon, if you so choose you can come back to the Digital World, and you may keep your powers and status as a Deva, revoking your status as the partner to a Digimon Tamer. Or you may stay here, with Jaarin, remaining in your Child stage unless you need to evolve to fight in battle. It's your decision."

For Makuramon, there was no decision. "Thank you for the offer, Qinglongmon-sama. It's very generous of you, really. But my home isn't in the Digital World anymore. It's here, with Jaarin and the other Tamers and their Digimon."

Qinglongmon nodded again. "Very well, if that is your decision. I wish you luck, Makuramon, and I congratulate all of you on your victory over Chatsuramon."

The Tamers and their partners chorused a thank you, after which Hirokazu added, "If you don't mind, Qinglongmon-sama, could you tell Zhiuqaomon to lay off now? I mean, I thought we got this settled the last time we were there." The other Tamers groaned, but Qinglongmon chuckled.

"I'll talk to him," he promised. "Farewell, Tamers. And good luck, Makuramon." With that the rift in the sky disappeared, sealing the Digital World off from the real world once again.

Gazimon grinned and hummed to himself as he fluffed the pillow on his bed, running over the events of the past few hours in his head. After the battle with Chatsuramon had finished and the evolved Digimon had reverted to their Child stages, the Tamers and their Digimon trooped back into the Hypnos building. After declaring that both Leomon and Impmon were perfectly safe after the data extraction and reformatting, the group got down to some serious business.

Namely, a party celebrating Leomon's return and the victory over Chatusramon.

It had been a wonderful party. Gazimon had been introduced to the other workers at Hypnos, especially Yamaki's fiancee Reika, as well as Dr. McCoy's granddaughter Alice. He found himself feeling a little sorry for her after finding out her connection to Dobermon. Juri had at least been able to get Leomon back after months of trying, but it was unlikely that Alice would see Dobermon again. Gazimon prayed that maybe someday something would happen to make that possible for her.

The party was also where Jaarin and Gazimon seemed to be fully accepted as members of the Tamers team. The event that stood out most in both their minds was Ruki giving Jaarin a deck of Digimon cards, a brand-new deck at that. She had offered to teach the game to Jaarin, since she would at least need to know what each card did in order to slash them. In fact, an impromptu game began right there at the party, with the final players turning out to be Ruki and Ryo. They were still playing by the time the party had come to a close, and had to settle for a tie.

When they got home for the party, Jaarin surprised her partner with something she'd been working on all week. She had fixed up a futon, blanket and pillow that were big enough just for him, and placed it near her bed so that he had a proper place to sleep. Before then he had slept at the end of her bed, curled up like a cat or a small dog, and before that he had slept on the floor. Truthfully, the futon was the first thing Gazimon could really call his own that he could remember. He liked that.

He looked up as Jaarin entered the room, just coming from the bathroom after having brushed her teeth. "You liked that?" she asked him, grinning. He nodded as she climbed into her own bed, drawing the covers over herself. The only light in the room came from the lamp on Jaarin's bedside table. "Gazimon? You...really meant what you said to Qinglongmon earlier, didn't you? About wanting to stay here?"

"Of course I meant it, Jaarin," Gazimon replied. "We've been through a lot this past week or so. I wouldn't trade any of that for anything in the Digital World, not even a return to the Land of the Four Holy Beasts and a promotion to Digi-God."

Jaarin grinned slyly. "Not even your first day at Taiyou Academy?"

Gazimon pretended to think about it for a little bit. "Well, maybe that. In an extreme, extreme circumstance." The pair giggled before falling quiet. "Jaarin, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I'm very glad that you're my Tamer. I don't know what I would have done if someone else turned out to be my Tamer instead of you."

"We fit together, compliment each other," Jaarin commented. "Like Jenrya and Terriermon, and Shiuchon and Lopmon." She yawned, and reached out to turn off the lamp. The bedroom fell into shadows as the girl rolled over into a more comfortable position. "'Night, Gazimon. See you in the morning."

"Good night, Jaarin," Gazimon replied softly as he laid his head down on his own pillow. Looking up at the ceiling, his last thought before drifting off was, Guess those Digi-Gnomes knew what they were doing after all.

Three hours later, while it was still dark out, Gazimon jolted out of a sound sleep. He took a quick visual surveillance of the bedroom then, satisfied that whatever had woken him up wasn't in the room, flung back his blanket and scrambled over to the window. The small commotion caused Jaarin to stir. "Gazimon?" she asked sleepily. "What's going on?"

"There's a digital field forming somewhere out in the city," he said. "I can sense it. It's not close, but it's not extremely far away either."

Jaarin sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Do you think anyone else sensed it?"

"Possibly, but whoever it is might need help depending on what comes out of it," Gazimon responded. Tamer and Digimon looked at each other, then at the D-Arc and deck of cards that lay on top of the nightstand.

Five minutes later Jaarin, fully-dressed, and Gazimon were racing down the street. Tamer and partner, off to do battle with whatever the Digital World thought best to throw at them.

Because that's what part of being a Tamer was about.

More Review Responses

Before I respond to this latest batch of reviews, I'd just like to thank everyone who's reviewed me thus far one more time, as well as the people who will review this chapter. At the moment I am not planning a sequel for this story, and I won't put up an addition to this to show my responses to the reviews I receive for this chapter. If I decide to respond to those reviews, I'll work something out.

Ryan Griffin: Thanks. I've never been able to write battle scenes very well, so I was hoping that I did all right by the one in the last chapter and the one in this chapter. As for Bokomon being Vikararamon's Child form, I went by the thread I found in the cards - Bokomon > Boarmon > Vikararamon. It was the same for the Child forms of the rest of the Devas, except for Vajiramon because I didn't want to use Wormmon twice. And I also think it's kind of scary that we chose the same Child evolutions for the same Devas in two different series :) I wish you luck with that, btw.

Akino Ame: Thanks; you know, you just may be my first repeat reviewer :) And that was exactly what I was thinking when I wrote that part (although credit should really go to Cynthia for giving me the idea in the first place ^_^) Hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you :)

Krocket: Thanks for your comments :)