Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ It seemed like a good idea at the time ❯ Mummymon Says "Ow" ( Chapter 1 )

Happy discalimers & warnings: This fic is fairly violent, nekkid, sadistic, and more than a little naughty. I've broken up the chapters by naughtiness level, though. This set of chapters contains very little naughtiness, lots of violence, and lots of cursing. I don't own nuthin'. I'm just borrowing the characters to be mean to them for a bit and then smoosh them together. On with the fun.

Chapter One: Mad Wendigo Hurtin'

The blast that destroyed the control spire had thrown Arukenimon a good twenty yards, through several trees and a rock. Mummymon had been too panicked to stop and see how badly she was damaged - he had simply scooped her up and run in a blind terror, his only concern putting distance between them and Blackwargreymon. His jeep lay, overturned and forgotten, far behind them.

He stumbled once, twice, and kept running, the strength his fear lent him almost exhausted. He slowed down and finally stopped, turning and listening hard. The forest was quiet - the frightened silence of animals - and there was no sign of Blackwargreymon. Mummymon shivered with relief and plopped down in the soft leaves, resting the unconcious Arukenimon in his lap. It looked like Blackwargreymon had never even bothered to chase them. He sat there vigilantly anyway, staring into the forest, until the animals calmed down and resumed their normal activities. Then he looked at Arukenimon.
His mouth opened in a small gasp of concerned surprise. She was considerably roughed up from being thrown, with a nasty cut running right across one cheek, and another on one shoulder, and her clothes were practically in tatters. One of her gloves was missing, as was her hat, and her... her dress was broken... Mummymon dithered, unsure of what to do, confronted with most of Arukenimon's milky white chest and long, slender legs. Thankfully her belt held and the dress didn't split awfully far up, or he might have passed out on the spot.
Then again, that might have been for the better.
At last he decided the best thing to do would be to try and fix it. He lifted his big hands and tried to pull the remains of the dress back into place. Arukenimon stirred slightly, moaning softly, and he froze. Was that a good moan or a bad moan? He let himself imagine for a moment that his clumsy ministrations had, however unintentionally, elicited some pleasure from Arukenimon. Deleriously, he stroked the undamaged side of her face. Presently she woke up the rest of the way.
She looked up at him with a soft, sleepy gaze that absolutely melted his heart. Then she seemed to realize where she was - and that Mummymon was touching her far too intimately - and roared, knocking his hands away and jumping to her feet, "WHAT do you think you're doing?"
"I'm sorry, my darling, I..."
His apology was drowned out by a shriek as Arukenimon noticed the state of her dress. She clamped her arms over her chest and spun around, turning her back on Mummymon, who looked like he might die of mortification. "Give me your coat," she commanded, in a quietly outraged voice.
The seam had split obscenely high in the back. Mummymon tried not to look at her. He concentrated on getting his coat off - WHY did he have so many buckles? - and kept his eye safely on the ground. At last, he shrugged off the coat and handed it, at arm's length, to Arukenimon.
"I'm sorry, my dear," he said after a moment, but the only reply was the continued fabric-rustle of Arukenimon trying to make herself decent. She moved into his line of sight, a smear of blue, and he looked up. His protective worry didn't leave him, but it was pushed aside for the moment by the utter adorability of Arukenimon swallowed up in his coat. It was absurdly huge on her, but because of its cut, it still only barely made her G-rated.
Arukenimon was used to Mummymon staring at her. Usually she could tolerate it, but this time she was distinctly offended. He was looking at her like she was a kitten that had just been kicked - a cute, pitiful creature that needed his help. And he was still blushing. She hoped he would try to touch her, so she would have an excuse to hit him with something. She could probably still justify a punch for the grope he'd been having when she woke up, but the moment had passed, and suddenly she was really feeling her injuries... Her enthusiasm for abusing her suitor dwindled as her own dull, rising pain set in. She sat down against a tree to rest, focusing her attention inwards, waiting to see whether her aches would get worse before they got better.
The next time she looked up, Mummymon was sitting attentively nearby, still gazing at her over his shoulder with his relentless infatuation. Caught staring, he looked away, resuming his forest vigilance. She cast her eyes away, disgusted.
But she was drawn slowly back, staring herself this time. Mummymon was shirtless beneath the coat. His wide, grey back was turned to her - and it was absolutely covered with long, straight, deeply carved scars. The damage had to have been inflicted on a few different occassions, she mused. He couldn't have been whipped that badly all at once, or he would have died. She chewed on her lower lip, consumed by curiosity, but reluctant to show concern by asking. He had to be showing off, wanting attention, and she didn't want to let him win so easily.
"Mummymon?" she hazarded. He turned. He had scars on his shoulders, too. Her eyes lingered on the smooth grey expanse of his chest. "What happened to you?"
He looked blank for a moment until one of the gears of his mind actually caught and he figured out what she meant. He had forgotten that Arukenimon had never seen his naked back. The very thought of her looking at him made him go all bashful again,and he smiled, his gaze dropping to the ground. "Don't feel sorry for me, my dear. It was a long time ago."
A long time ago..? she wondered. She couldn't remember anything having happened a long time ago. The last few years were clear enough, but before she'd met their employer, there was only a blank. Oikawa had promised to return her memories when her work for him was finished. Not that she particularly cared. She couldn't miss what she didn't know.
"That's not an answer," she retorted.
He sighed deeply, getting ready to dredge up bad memories. He didn't really want to talk about it, but now that Arukenimon was curious... Well, she would always be looking at him that way. He raised his eye to confirm that 'that way' was really so bad. It was. He looked away again. "You're lucky to be an antagonist by nature. You're just what he wanted. But on the first try... he got me."
Her jaw dropped, and she jumped to her feet again, shouting, "Are you saying-" and then she sat back down, hard, with blackness dancing at the edge of her vision. "Uhff," she commented.
For once, he didn't come to her rescue. He just nodded. "It wasn't his fault. He only wanted me to be better. He thought he could toughen me up that way, make me meaner. But it just made me confused." He pushed a pebble around on the ground with one huge fingertip. "I'm afraid I stayed that way."
"But why? Why did you let him?"
"I wasn't so powerful in those days," he said, grinning and throwing back his shoulders for a moment.
Arukenimon caught herself appreciating him, and frowned. Then she frowned harder - Mummymon had noticed her little war of emotions and was smiling stupidly at her.
It was true- he hadn't found his true Digimon form until after he and Arukenimon had spent some time in the Digital World. She had been there the very first time he had shed his gijinka form - the first time he could remember, at least. He often wondered why Oikawa had hidden their memories. Surely they would be more competent agents if they were intact? Perhaps it made them easier to control.
He often wondered if Oikawa had hidden their memories. The man had never shown anything but a cold, controlled face to Arukenimon, but Mummymon could never forget how... desperate and unhinged Oikawa had been when he himself had first materialized in the Human World. Maybe Oikawa had simply lost some part of them when he brought them over. Maybe he didn't really understand what he was doing at all.
"Anyway," Mummymon continued, "once he got tired of me, I gather he tried again and summoned you. I was 'let go,' if you know what I mean. But honestly, what could I do but stay by your side?"
"Did it hurt?" she asked, then scolded herself internally for saying something so stupid.
He just smiled at her, sadly. Dammit, he was STILL blushing! They both fell silent for several long minutes. Mummymon turned his attention back to the forest. Arukenimon stared at her shoes. Absently, she tested the cut on her face with the tips of her fingers. She wouldn't scar from such a small injury, would she? "...Mummymon?"
He turned around again, but suddenly she didn't want to ask him about scars anymore. Her mind cast about wildly for something else to say. "I'm hungry." And she was, too.
Mummymon leapt to his feet, as though in the midst of an epiphany. "Of course you are, my dear! I'll get something for you. Something good!" with that, he dashed off back the way they had come.
Then she was alone in the unfamiliar forest.

It took longer than he expected to find the jeep. He had covered an insane distance during his mad dash, and the explosion had picked up the small vehicle and thrown it just as it had thrown Arukenimon. When at last he spotted it, tangled in a crush of underbrush, he gave a grimace of sympathy pain and rushed to its side. He pulled it out of the mess with some difficulty, flipping it back onto its wheels in the process, and gave it a cursory examination. It seemed to be unhurt, though he wouldn't be able to use it to return to Arukenimon - the forest was too dense in that direction. Digging around in the back , he was pleased to find the case containing his stash of food unharmed.
A few minutes later, he had sucessfully whipped up a very attractive, if small, meal, which he wrapped up in a square of linen. With this present, a bottle of wine, and a satisfied grin, he headed back towards Arukenimon.

Arukenimon did not like the sounds that she heard every once in a while, mixed in with the foerst background. Something predatory was lurking nearby. Something nasty, anyway. She didn't like it when things nastier than her went around doing things of their own volition. Especailly when she was injured and vulnerable.
She wondered if there were any more control spires near here. Experimentally, she plucked out a long white hair, stroked it straight, and whispered, "Spirit Needle!" It floated in the air for a moment, then shot off into the forest. She couldn't tell where it had gone.
That sound! There it was again. Very close, this time. Where the hell was Mummymon? If anything happened to her, she would be sure to make him suffer for it.
Not that he wouldn't make himself suffer for it, but that was besides the point.
Ah! There it was again! She looked around and there was a grinning face inches from hers. She shrieked and it hung there, breathing and drooling, connected to a hulking yellow and grey body. It stood, still but for its heaving as it breathed, for several minutes, each waiting for the other to make a move. Then it spoke, in a gruff, crude voice.
"You hurt."
She flinched as if struck, but nothing else happened. By the time she realized it hadn't actually attacked, she had enough wits about her to scurry painfully away from the creature. Once she'd achieved a comfortable distance, she was offended. Not enough to provoke a large beast in her state, but offended nonethless. "So what if I am," she replied.
It took a few steps closer. "Here. I show you."
She shrank back, summoning what little energy she had left to try to perform a partial transformation. Her gloved hand lengthened and warped into a heavy, pawlike shape, which she threw out in front of herself. "Spider Thread!"
She gave an exultant little yell when the attack actually worked, twisting cords lancing out at the Wendigomon and entangling it. Then she grimaced, realizing that was all she had - her clawed hand was already shrinking back down, leaving her with a soft, brittle human body, completely defenseless.
The Wendogimon shook off the attack and took hold of her, one hand around her left arm and the other braced against her side, and started to pull. She felt her shoulder slowly being dislocated and gave vent to a full-throated scream.
The thing smiled in her face. "It hurt, don't it." Gradually, it relaxed, no longer pulling, but it did not let go. "Maybe I kill you." It shrugged. "The other one. Maybe I kill him too. He coming back." It grinned, broadly. "Maybe he never find you no more." Then it started to chuckle madly to itself.
Her Control Spire Digimon chose that fortunate moment to make its appearance, gliding swift and silent out of the forest and strafing the crazy Wendigomon with its outstretched talons. The little Salubrimon's claws slashed the Wendigomon's upper arm deeply as it sped past. The Wendigomon roared, letting go of Arukenimon, and whipped around to strike at it, but it was already far out of reach. Arukenimon took advantage of the distraction, slinking painfully out of sight and hiding herself amongst the trees.
The little winged creature was back for another pass, this time getting in under the Wendigomon's guard and smashing itself into the big creatures's side. It locked itself in place with its serrated teeth and claws, performing its attack, Sanguine Bite.
The Wendigomon howled and brought a huge fist down on the little artificial Digimon. The Salubrimon faltered under this attack, lost its hold and disintigrated into a puff of data. Arukenimon made a worried scowl, keeping perfectly still, hoping the stupid thing had lost track of her during the short battle. The Wendigomon stood there, heaving and panting (and drooling), for three or four minutes straight. Then its wits, such as they were, seemed to gather about it and it started looking around for its prey. Laboriously, it circled the area, swinging its massive head slowly from side to side, scanning.
After about twenty minutes of this, Arukenimon shook herself out of her tired 'on-hold' mode. The Wendigomon had spotted something. Not her, thankfully. She couldn't judge the direction - she'd gotten mixed up during the fight - but it was long past due for Mummymon to return. There was no way to warn him. As a healthy Ultimate, he shouldn't have any trouble anyway. As long as he had the chance to return to his full Digimon form, at least.

Mummymon sensed something was wrong long before he reached the spot where he'd left Arukenimon. The forest had gone silent again, tense. Nearing his destination, he laid his offerings aside at the base of a convenient tree and dropped his Gijinka form.. Just in case. Possibly Arukenimon herself had put the forest on edge with a tantrum or just some antagonism towards some resident. But possibly not.
He spotted the Wendigomon when he was still at a fair distance. It was lumbering around in some parody of a patrol. He did not spot Arukenimon. A bolt of fear shot through him and warped itself into self-recrimination. This thing had attacked Arukenimon, and he hadn't been there to protect her. He'd happily wandered off, knowing full well that she was in no condition to defend herself if the need arose... The emotion twisted one more time, into rage, and he raised his rifle and charged.
"Necrophobia!" he shouted, and that was as much warning as the Wendigomon got. It raised its broad arms in a defensive posture, just as the electric arc hit it dead-on, knocking it back into the trees. It picked itself up and roared, but by that time Mummymon was already on it, blazing away with the electric rifle point-blank. It howled in the electron stream, pulled one of its fists back, and threw a jaw-breaking punch at its tormentor. Mummymon, deep in the throes of his rage, never saw it coming. He soared backwards, losing the rifle, cracked to a halt on a massive tree trunk, and fell bonelessly to the ground.

Arukenimon winced from her hidden vantage point, and watched the Wendigomon walk slowly, dazedly, towards her fallen companion. Damaged and out of power, there was nothing she could do. She pressed her fist to her lips. Get up, she hissed in her mind, get up, get up! But Mummymon was still out cold when the Wendigomon reached him. It leaned down and picked him up off the ground, dusted him off, and patted him on the side of the face until he woke up, his one yellow eye blearily opening.
"Hello," said the big Wendigomon, making sure its grip was good and solid. "You hurt?" it asked, gruffly, but didn't wait for Mummymon to answer. "I hurt too," it said, and wrenched both of Mummymon's arms backwards, pulling one clear out of its socket. Mummymon screamed, bright terror mixed in with the pain, and kept on screaming. The Wendigomon nodded, taking careful hold of Mummymon's large, spiked shoulder, and snapping it back into place. Each adjustment brought a fresh bellow of pain.

Arukenimon was no longer watching. She was running - well, stumbling - away from the two battling Digimon. But she couldn't escape Mummymon's screams. She cursed him - how stupid did he have to be to let that moron Wendigomon get the upper hand? How stupid...
How stupid did she have to be, to let BlackWarGreymon get out of control? Why didn't she know how her creations worked? Why did she get close enough to let herself be injured? Why did she let Mummymon wander off and leave her alone? If she hadn't been too chickenshit to ask if he knew how her wound would heal, he wouldn't have gone off to find food.. They were going to die, both of them, to die, for SANDWICHES...

She was crying, but it didn't matter. Blurry vision or not, she would never find another Control Spire in time.

Chapter 2: Tsukaimon, Digivolve!

Mummymon must have lost conciousness; the next thing he knew he was waking up again, slumped on his side on the forest floor. His good shoulder ached terribly; his bad shoulder was burning with pain. He knew couldn't be too bad off though, since he hadn't dropped into his gijinka. He could hear the Wendigomon's slow breathing very closeby, behind him and to the left. Maybe he could lash out, surprise it with an attack-
"Hello," it rumbled, and he gave up on the idea of surprising it. "You hurt for her. She gone." It leaned over, laid one massive hand accross his back, and picked him up like a ragdoll. He tried not to wince at the spikes of pain that shot through his shoulder. It brought his face up next to its own and shut one eye, staring at him with the other, and still grinning. "Who you hurt for now? Huh? Maybe me. I hurt maybe for her? You like her, huh?" It put the back of its hand to its mouth and whispered conspiratorially, "I was gonna make her not hurt no more." It leaned back and grinned, and started to laugh.
Mummymon just stared back, amazed. Good lord, this thing was utterly out of its skull. That wouldn't help him at all in a fight - true berserkers were impossible to strategise against. Still, it had to be near defeat after all the punishment it had taken earlier. And where was Arukenimon? He hoped, desperately, that she had escaped. That this beast hadn't hurt her. From what it said, she had gotten away, but he wasn't exactly going to take its word for it. "Why don't you put me down," Mummymon suggested in a friendly tone. Not too friendly - he was sure the thing would react badly to being patronized.
It stopped chuckling and eyed him again. "No. Don't trust food until it's cooking." it nodded at the pile of firewood it was building.
Mummymon got the unconfortable idea that it wasn't joking. "You must go hungry a lot."
It wailed, its fist tightening around him until he felt his ribs creaking.
He wondered whether the Wendigomon would believe him if he explained data disintegration. Probably not. Maybe an alternative? "I have food back at my jeep. I could take you there, we-"
"Shhhh," it said. "I stay here. You stay where I stay. You better stay for dinner. Otherwise I KILL HER.... Right?"
It didn't calm his nerves any to know that it didn't actually have an Arukenimon to threaten. Once the Wendigomon was done giving him an intimidating glare, it put him down ungently and turned its attention back to the fire-building. Mummymon got cautiously back to his feet and scanned the surroundings, trying not to be obvious about it. There was no trace of Arukenimon - he couldn't really tell where he'd last seen her, either, so there was no way he could try to track which way she had gone. No trace of his rifle, either. No, wait - he caught a glint of gunmetal grey amongst the leaflitter, the familiar shape of his weapon, almost invisible in the waning afternoon light. But god - it was so far away.. Would he be able to get to it before the Wendigo struck? Would Snake Bandage be able to hold it long enough? Would it be tight enough to keep the Wendigo from drawing breath for its Destroyed Voice attack? In the end, it didn't matter. He couldn't think of anything better to try.
Nonchalantly, he strolled towars the place where he'd seen his gun. With any luck the Wendigomon wouldn't even notice.
No luck.
The Wendigo whipped around, scowling, and reared back for a physical attack. Mummymon feinted left, dodged out of its way and practically cocooned the thing with a very enthusiastic Snake Bandage, then sprinted flat-out for his rifle. The Wendigo was just beginning to work free when he reached it. Mummymon skidded to a halt in the loose leaves, snatching up the weapon and getting a bead on the crazy Wendigo. It was in full-on berserk mode now, tearing away the last of the Snake Bandage, slavering, snarling, and tearing across the small clearing towards him. Mummymon just smirked and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Mummymon's spirit crashed, and he stared down at the gun in his hands, feeling betrayed. He didn't even have time to wonder what was wrong with it. The Wendigo hit him, hard, across the head, and he crumpled to the ground.

Half a mile away, Arukenimon was lost, alone, and falling into dark depression and self-pity. Her stumbling run had worn her out fast, and now she was practically dragging her feet, exhausted and hopeless, but too stubborn to actually stop.
She fell again, her feet tangled in some protruding roots, got up, took a few faltering steps, then threw herself at a tree-trunk, slumping against it for support. She started to cry again. Then she got mad because she was crying, and then a wave of raw despair crashed over her and she broke down, sobbing. How could everything have gone so horribly wrong?
She tried to pull herself out of it. She would be fine, she just had to find another control spire or two, she just had to rest, she'd be back on top in no time, and there was no way Oikawa would be upset with her for losing Mummymon.
Mummymon... Her sadness returned in full force. Sure he was obnoxious and dependant, but he was also sweet, and he had been her only friend for as long as she could remember. It was obvious that she could carry on without him- she had told him to leave her alone any number of times- but the sudden reality of never seeing him again..
Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe he'd even won..
Maybe she was deluding herself, she thought petulantly, through the tears, and crushed her face into the soft blue material of his jacket.
Two bright eyes were watching her from the trees, brimming with curiosity. Was this a human? He had never seen one before. With owlish silence, he launched himself into the air and glided down to the sobbing figure.
Arukenimon flinched back in surprise, gasping at the small purple shape that had appeared almost from nowhere. The Tsukaimon looked back at her, its eyes wide and innocent with cheerful concern, maybe a little mischief...
"What's the matter? Why're you crying?"
His childlike voice reminded her of the Digidestined, and she snarled at him with misdirected rage, lashing out with a heartfelt but uncoordinated punch. The Tsukaimon dodged her careless attack without concern. If anything, he looked more curious now. She ignored him. She didn't want to deal with the stupid thing.
"Are you a Digimon or not? I can't tell," he continued, not particularly caring whether she wanted to talk to him or not. "I've never actually seen a human. Unless you're one. What're you doing way out here?" He gave her another short pause, just in case she decided to respond. "Nobody much comes out here, you know. I never get to see anyone new." He paused again, but she was still staring off into the distance, looking miserable. He decided to start over. "Why're you crying?"
She growled at him, annoyed. "WILL you shut up?"
He beamed, victory was his! "No!"
She rolled her eyes. Useless little beast. Useless.. little beast? She turned around and looked at him again. She ignored the little happy jig he danced when he got her attention. He looked just like that revolting creature that was fighitng with the Digidestined... Patamon. He was a little black Patamon. She imagined him as a Champion, a beautiful Dark Angemon with purple robes and raven-black wings. If he was so damned keen on being her friend, maybe he would fight for her. Her lips twisted in a cruel little smile. "Tell me, little brat," she purred, "do you want to make me happy?"
He didn't hesitate. "Sure!"
"Well, then.." she reached out to scratch him under the chin, "Digivolve for me. Can you do that?"
His face fell. "No.."
She dropped her hand, sighing with annoyance. Useless. "Don't know how, huh."
He glared at her, wounded. "Yes I do! But I haven't been able to, ever since those towers went up.."
She hid her gasp of hope. There *were* more Spires nearby? She got to her feet. "Show me," she said, and her voice was deadly serious.

Mummymon opened his eye for a blurry peek at the world. There was a fire- a flickering blob of light that danced in his vision. He barely registered that he had slipped back into his Gijinka form. He hurt too much to think.
The Wendigo noticed him and waved cheerily, but Mummymon was too close to the edge of conciousness to work out what the blurry shapes added up to. He closed his eye again and felt himself drift away into a dream where Arukenimon was waiting for him, waiting to hold him in her slender arms.

She had summoned the strength from somewhere to run, tearing through the forest, not noticing the slim branches that whipped at her as the undergrowth got thicker. The Tsukaimon was flying just ahead of her, checking back every few moments, enjoying this game immensely. "We're almost there," he called out.
True to his word, moments later they broke into a small clearing, and Arukenimon stumbled to a halt at the base of a huge black obelisk. She stared up along its height, her heart crashing. Halfway up, sillhouetted against the starry evening sky, it was sheared off, and a tracery of lines were cracked into its surface.
"It's broken," she said, angry. How dare this little creature give her false hope like that?
"THAT one is," the Tsukaimon answered, scampering back out of her reach in case she tried to hit him again, "but those aren't." He gestured towards the far edge of the clearing.
Five Control Spires stood just outside the clearing, shadowed and hidden amongst the tall trees. Arukenimon felt like singing. She ran a hand through her hair and produced five long white strands. "Spirit Needle," she called out, and they shot out and sank into the spires. The Tsukaimon was watching, not sure whether he should be worried or not, but Arukenimon didn't care. She didn't need him anymore.
The Spires blurred and ran together, took on a shape. A Cyberdramon stood before Arukenimon, tall and powerful, waiting for her command. She smiled at the thing she had created. The Tsukaimon fluttered up by her shoulder. "Wow," he said, genuinely awed. "Is he.. yours?"
She nodded, allowing herself a flash of pride. "Carry me," she told it, and it bent down to pick her up.
The Tsukaimon stared in wonder for a few more seconds. Then he shook himself, another thought coming to him. "Hey! I can Digivolve now! Watch me!"
Arukenimon turned. Well, why not, she mused. Two warriors are better than one.
The Tsukaimon's brow furrowed in concentration. "Tsukaimon Digivolve to.." he burst into light, his small shape blossoming out into a huge form. "Cyclomon!"
She stumbled back against her Cyberdramon's hand, her expectations of a dark angel thoroughly contradicted. Cyclomon was huge.. and ugly, a gargantuan dull yellow beast with four thick, muscular legs and jaws full of dangerous teeth. There was something familiar about him though - he was looking down at her with a single unmatched eye. She shivered.
Cyclomon shook his powerful frame with glee, full of funktionlust. "What do you think?" he thundered.
"I think you should knock down some trees," she responded, climbing up into her Cyberdramon's hand. "Seriously, though..." she hesitated. "Thanks for your help. Now," she turned to her Cyberdramon, getting a good hold on its arm. She pointed back into the forest. "That way. Run!"
It crouched, its jaw opening for a soulless growl, and then sprung into an earth-pounding sprint through the trees.
Cyclomon watched them go. Then he reared back and pushed a tree over, and the air rang with his deep laughter.

The Wendigomon was humming happily to itself. The fire was almost ready, burning cheerfully against the darkness of late evening, and its dinner was still sleeping. It broke into a wordless song while it cleaned up a branch to use as the crossbeam for a spit.
A strange sound reached its ears and it stopped singing, staring out into the dark forest for the source of the noise. Something was coming, something big, breaking branches and small trees in its path. The Wendigo stood up and raised its arms, brandishing the branch like a club, ready to fight.
The Cyberdramon burst out of the forest into the firelight and ran straight over the Wendigo, trampilng it to the ground. It circled around, let out a mighty growl, and threw itself at the Wendigo, claws outstretched. "Erase Claw," it intoned, and a burst of otherworldly light joined its physical attack. The Wendigo howled, then its howl faded into silence, leaving a hollow echo. It exploded into a puff of data, the branch it had held falling softly to the ground.
The Cyberdramon came to rest, its orders fulfilled. A few moments later, Arukenimon appeared from between the trees. Her eyes were riveted to Mummymon where he lay silent on the ground. He couldn't be... dead... he would have disintigrated... Wouldn't he? She took a few hesitant steps towards him, then rushed to his side.
She knelt down and laid a hand on his shoulder, looking into his face, and made a choked sigh of relief- he was alright. Tears rose to her eyes and streamed down her face. She rocked back on her heels, lost her balance, and sat down hard. He stirred, mumbling in his sleep just like he always did, and she smiled, her eyes glistening.
"Arukenimon..." he muttered softly, "don't go... please..."
She reached out and stroked him, feeling some sympathy for his injured shoulder, obvious now, with a deep bruise seeping into sight from within. As long as he was asleep, she could safely let her affection show.
He pouted in his sleep. "The sun isn't even up yet. Can't you stay?"
She stopped, frowned. What the hell kind of dream was he having? She nudged him a couple of times, then again, a little harder. "Hey sleepyhead," she said, not entirely without affection, "Wake up and see who's back to pull your sorry ass out of the fire." At the last moment, she realized she'd better clean the evidence of her emotions off her face, and scrubbed it with a clean bit of Mummymon's coat.
He came around slowly, and she noted with some alarm that his eye didn't focus on her. "Arukeni?" he started to prop himself up on one elbow and winced, falling back. "Ow," he commented, holding his bad shoulder with his good hand.
Arikenimon smiled, almost a smirk. "You just relax. I hired some help." She gestured at the Cyberdramon, still standing off to one side, though she wasn't sure Mummymon could see it. "He'll take us back to the car."
"...Jeep..."
"Uh huh. So you just rest."
"Thank you," he said, closing his eye and falling easily back into an utterly exhausted sleep, "for saving me... my love."
Her face softened a little, watching him drift off. Then she called the Cyberdramon over and helped it gently pick up her companion. She climbed up next to him, cradled in the Cyberdramon's arms. "That way," she commanded, pointing in the direction she hoped would take them back to the jeep, "and keep it smooth." The Cyberdramon obeyed, working up to a brisk walk that rocked them gently enough not to wake Mummymon.
After a maybe twenty minutes of this, her fatigue was back and hitting her hard, knocking her flat this time. There was no way she could stay awake any longer. "Hey," she adressed the Cyberdramon, "I'm going to sleep for a while. Try to find our car. If you find it, stop. If you reach a road or the edge of the forest, stop. If anything attacks us, defend. Understand?" It nodded its armoured head. "Good. See you in a bit."
She stretched out in her creation's arms, nestling up next to Mummymon. He made a happy, wordless little noise and draped an arm over her. Automatically, she started to push it off, but stopped. "Just this once," she whispered, and less than a minute later she was asleep.

Chapter 3: Cody's Lunch

Her dreams that night were not pleasant.
A wide field stretched out before her. At her side stood Mummymon. The sun was out in an almost cloudless sky, and the field was green and tan with life, but there was a tense feeling in the air, fear and anticipation, cool wind in her face. The ground rumbled onimously, then it heaved, splitting into dusty chasms and crushing up into little mountains, control spires bursting out in clumps and lonely needles. The upheaval stuttered to a halt, and then a sound of stressed stone began to fill the air.
The spires were shimmering, vibrating, the dust and dirt sliding from their surfaces like water. Then with a mighty whiplash crack one broke, and another, the heavy stone fragments not falling but ponderously floating in the air, then slowly rising into the sky. They were all snapping now, breaking off and sending showers of pebbles out into the air from the fracture. The huge points of the spires and the dust and scree rose together, enough to make the air heavy on Arukenimon's shoulders.
Suddenly the rubble was all speeding towards one central point. It was like watching an explosion happen backwards. It collected in a massive spherical crush of matter and kept squeezing, growing hot and then molten with pressure. A blaze of white light streamed out from it suddenly, making Arukenimon shade her eyes. Next to her, Mummmon was doing the same. When she could look again, a giant, shimmering figure was holding the tiny blazing sun in its hands. The figure was indisinct, an idea sketched into a humanoid shape, but when it turned to her she knew it was smiling evilly, laughing at her. It pulled the small sun closer to itself. A gulf opened up in the shape of its body, stretched around the miniature star, and closed over it. She could tell the being had drawn both power and pleasure from consuming it.
"How DARE you!?" she saw herself shouting. "Those spires were MINE!" At her side, Mummymon turned, appalled, and tried silently to tell her not to start anything.
It chuckled and thundered a reply. "And him.. Is he yours too?"
She looked over to see Mummymon lifted from the ground by some invisible force. He was frightened. She smirked. "No, he's not mine. You can do whatever you want with him."
"Please... Arukenimon!" he called out, devestation and desperation mixing in his voice as he rose higher in the air, drifting towards the giant of light. He looked like his heart had cracked right across. She shook her head.
"He looks delicious," the giant said, full of decadence.
"Does he? I don't know. He must be awfully stringy."
"Not his flesh, little fool. His soul..."
Mummymon's eye opened wide in a silent moment of some internal torment and then he let out a cry of pain, trying to twist out of a nonexistant grasp. He doubled over, digging at his chest with his fingers, and ripped his coat open, gasping for breath. Then he arched back, losing control entirely, and a sanity-killing scream tore out of his throat.
Something was pushing through his insides, right from the center of him, trying to reach the open air. His ribs splayed out around it, sliding loose of his flesh, and it breached the surface, a shining sphere, full of a bright light that spilled out across him. The sphere worked itself loose of him and his flesh closed behind it, leaving him looking as whole as if nothing had happened. The giant's hand reached out and caught the sphere between two delicate fingers.
"You see this?" the giant murmured, holding the brilliant object up where Mummymon could see it. He focused on it, but his slack and empty body could not show his emotions. "You know what it is..." suddenly the being really was smiling a cruel and evil smile- it had formed a face. "I don't think you'll be needing it any more."
With that, the giant brought Mummymon's Digi-core to its mouth, dragging the shining sphere across its lips sensually, then opened its mouth, showing off perfect, sharp white teeth, and bit down. The Digi-core burst, a bright fountain of light, and a moment later Mummymon's data scatttered on the wind.
Arukenimon wanted to look away, but herself in the dream was still watching nonchalantly. She glared at the laughing giant's face in anger, but she couldn't see its eyes, because they were concealed
behind a pair of dark round shades

Arukenimon woke up with a start, feeling her heart hammering in her chest. She was shaking so hard it was tiring her out. She willed herself to calm down, slowing and deepening her breaths, relaxing her muscles unitl they stopped trembling. Mummymon was a big warm shape at her back, comforting, though hell if she would ever tell him that. She was still very tired, and soon started to fall back asleep. The nightmare would haunt her in the morning for sure, but it was not enough to make her so wound up as to keep her up all night.

Murky sounds reached Mummymon through the haze of injured sleep. Words.. he wasn't awake enough to attatch meaning to.
"I don't see why not. When are we gonna get a better chance?"
"It doesn't seem right to attack them while they're sleeping.."
"They want to kill us- did you forget that?"
"That doesn't mean we have to fight dirty, TK."
"It's not like we're going to delete them-"
"Kill, Davis. The word is kill."
"We're not going to kill them! We just have to find out what their plan is..."
"You really think they have a plan?"
Youthful laughter, breaking the tension.
"Well, what's our plan? I don't like the way that Cyberdramon is watching us. I bet it's going to attack the minute we make a move, so we better hit it from a couple sides at once. See if we can't take it out before it can react too much."
"Shh, guys! we don't want to wake them up..."
The voices continued, but hushed now, distant.
The next thing he knew he was in the air, falling- or being thrown- his head ringing with the Cyberdramon's final roar even as its data particles flew past his field of vision. He hit the ground fast, too disoriented to roll with it properly, and skid-rolled to a painful halt, his bad shoulder positively screaming in protest. He lay there in a heap for a few moments, trying to get his bearings, and trying to get used to yet another set of aches. Arukenimon was already on her feet, he could hear her venting spleen on the little human kids from a few meters away. Then she yelled in surprise and roared in futile anger. That was enough to pull Mummymon into crisp awareness.
He managed to get up on one knee and scanned the situation. Four of the Digidestined kids were standing in a semicircle around Arukenimon, shouting questions at her, about the spires, about their mission, about Blackwargreymon... The boy with the Veemon, the boy with the Patamon, the youngest boy, Gatomon, and Kari- she was the only one whose name he had picked up. Pegasusmon stood behind them, ready to provide support.
And Exveemon was standing behind Arukenimon, holding her captive, his clawed hands pinning her arms to her sides. Mummymon shot to his feet. "Take your hands off of her," he growled, outraged and dangerous. The kids turned to face him, surprised.
A massive paw thudded into his back, knocking him over and pinning him down. Ankylomon beamed at the littlest boy and said, "Don't worry, I've got him." Arukenimon rolled her eyes and shook her head, slumping defeatedly in Exveemon's grasp.
"Wow," Ankylomon added after a moment, noticing the livid black bruise deepening on Mummymon's grey shoulder. "Look at his shoulder. I wonder what happened to these guys."
"Blackwargreymon happened," Arukenimon returned angrily, simplifying things a little.
Kari gave her a sour look. "Well isn't that poetic justice."
"Shut up, you little brat." Arukenimon twisted to look at Exveemon. "Listen, you big blue galoot, if you don't let me go, you're going to regret it..."
"Oh, yeah. I'm shaking. You can't even stomp on my toes with those soft soles."
Arukenimon growled.
"I mean really. What are you going to-"
Suddenly she kicked up and back, bringing the bone of her heel hard up between Exveemon's legs.
There was a moment of strained silence, during which everyone present sweatdropped.
"I, um.." Exveemon started, thrown a little off by the attack.
"...FUCK," Arukenimon said, vehemently, making Kari, Cody and Davis wince.
TK turned to Mummymon, who hadn't even tried to get more comfortable after the faceplant. "Hey. We're going to let you up. If you behave, we won't hurt Arukenimon. Okay?" He paused, but Mummymon didn't respond. TK looked at Ankylomon. "Alright. Let him up."
Ankylomon raised his paw off of Mummymon's back and set it back down on the ground. Mummymon didn't move. "Um.."
Davis looked worried. "You didn't crush him, did you?"
"No! I was careful! He was breathing fine the whole time!" Ankylomon was frantic. Stingmon might be ready to kill, but *I'm not!*
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Arukenimon thundered, straining against Exveemon's hold.
TK had jogged over to see what was wrong. He rolled Mummymon over onto his back and leaned over him to check if his eye was responding to light, like he had seen paramedics do on TV. Cody took an apprehensive step forward. "I don't think that's a good-"
Mummymon lunged, tackling TK and rolling to his feet with the boy held in front of him like a shield. The width of his forearm pressed across TK's neck forced the boy's head back more cruelly than he normally would have liked, and when he twisted the boy's arm back, it was astonishingly small in his hand. but at the moment his blood was up and Arukenimon was his only concern. "I'm not just 'the other one,' you know," he said, sounding much more badass than he had really expected. "Now let her go. And if you behave," he mocked in a dangerous and angry voice, "I won't hurt him."
Cody and Davis stared in disbelief, while Pegasusmon and Ankylomon stood by in tense readiness. Gatomon stepped forward in front of Kari. "Well, now your problem," said Gatomon, "is whether you care about Arukenimon more than you care about winning."
He blinked, incensed. "What?"
"We won't let her go. And if you hurt TK, we'll hurt her."
Exveemon looked very uncomfortable with this idea.
"If you let her go, I won't have to-"
"We WON'T let her go," Kari joined in, looking just as resolute Gatomon.
"DON'T LET HIM GO, YOU MORON!" Arukenimon yelled, twisting in Exveemon's grip. "They're BLUFFING!"
"We're not bluffing."
"They said they're not bluffing,"
"THEY'RE BLUFFING!"
"I hope we're bluffing," Exveemon whispered to Arukenimon.
"What's 'bluffing?'" asked Ankylomon.
"It's when you say you're going to do something that you won't really do," Cody hissed in a stage whisper, "to psych out your opponent."
"That's right," Arukenimon shouted, "but it doesn't work if they know you haven't got the guts to watch your friend suffer! You've already lost, you weaklings! Rrgh.. WILL YOU LET ME GO!!"
Gatomon gave Mummymon a dark stare, and pulled off one of her gloves, showing him the scars on the back of her paw. "We've got the guts," she said, coldly, her eyes shining. "And we've lost friends before." She noticed the same scars creeping around the edges of Mummymon's shoulders and nodded slowly. It was a common ground nothing could break.
Mummymon stood silent for a moment, considering. "I believe you," he said, and lowered TK to the ground and released him. The boy ran back to the others, and Kari stepped up to greet him with a hug of relief. Davis looked at them, crestfallen despite himself.
Off to the side, Arukenimon screamed in outrage and started cursing enough to put a sailor to shame.
Mummymon stood alone, listening to her abuse and sharing an intense stare with Gatomon. "Please let her go," he said, earnestly. "We're in no condition to put up a fight."
"Seemed like it to me," TK retorted, his voice raw.
"On my deathbed I'll be able to beat one ten year old boy," he answered.
"I'm eleven!"
Mummymon smiled, a little sadly. His eye still had not left Gatomon's. The cat Digimon seemed to reach a descision. "Exveemon," she said, "bring her over here before you let her go. I want them together. I'd rather be flanking them, just in case."
Exveemon obeyed without hesitation, but Davis was less accepting. "Since when are you the leader?" he asked, a little offended.
TK gave him a look that wasn't quite a glare. "Since when are you?"
It was easy to ignore TK, with the show Arukenimon and Mummymon were putting on. As soon as she was free, she had started attacking him, infuriated with him for throwing away their chances.
Davis called out to them. "HEY! What about some answers, huh? We're not just letting the two of you off the hook, you know."
Mummymon looked over at him, and the distraction made him fail to dodge one of Arukenimon's blows. She connected with the side of his head, fairly hard, and he sank to his knees and rolled over on the ground, clutching at it. Arukenimon looked smug for a fraction of a second, then suddenly cracked and fell to her knees, apologising. He propped himself back up and bawled, reaching out for a hug, and amazingly, she leaned into him, tearfully, and they cried and cried in this clench until they stopped, exhausted, possibly asleep, propped up against one another.
"That was... wierd," Cody commented at last. "Maybe we should just leave. I'm starting to think it's just not possible to get any information out of these two."
Kari frowned, but agreed. "You're right. We came to find Blackwargeymon, after all. These two aren't really part of our fight anymore."
As far as any of them knew, she was right.
While they were getting ready to head out, Ankylomon looked troubled. Cody asked him what the matter was. The digimon checked that the others weren't watching before confiding, "He was telling the truth about not being able to fight. They really are hurt pretty bad. They won't be able to recover out in the middle of nowhere like this."
Cody couldn't help but sympathise with the plain emotion on his digimon's face. "Yeah... their car's not anywhere around here, is it. They're stuck."
Ankylomon nodded.
Cody debated to himself. On the one hand, nobody deserved to be left to die, and Mummymon and Arukenimon hadn't seemed to be a real threat for a while now. On the other hand, they did try to feed him to a Dokugomon.
And that had led him to begin to breach the rift between himself and Ken.
Cody slung his backpack off his shoulders and set it on the ground, opened it and unloaded the lunch for four that he had packed that morning. Davis noticed him. "What are you doing?" he asked, curious rather than outraged.
"I'm leaving some food for them. They need it."
"We don't have to help them," TK scowled slightly.
Cody arranged the food in a neat little presentation. "If we really want them destroyed, we should do it ourselves, right now. We shouldn't just leave and hope they don't make it."
"Cody..." Kari started.
Davis stepped up. "No, he's right. Letting them get deleted is just as bad as doing it ourselves. And we don't fight that way, do we?"
Gatomon frowned. "Only if we have to." She looked over at Cody, pointedly. "If they come back and hurt one of us, won't you regret it?"
Cody's face was hard as steel. "Then kill them now."
Gatomon nodded. "I just want to know you've thought this through."
"I have." Cody, finished, straightened up and pulled his backpack on. "Let's go."