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*A.S.D.A(All Standard Disclaimers Apply).

Perfect Flaws

by Nefertanya Dragongurl Ahhotep

Part 8

Chapter 29- Discovery
this turns into Palmon's pov

"Ow! Damn! I got a thorn in my sock!" Tai growled as he shuffled backwards out of the rosebed. He wondered how on Earth he'd managed to get roped into this mess. Rescuing crazy girls wasn't exactly his idea of a god time. A quick glance at Matt revealed the blonde carrying the other end was thinking roughly along the same lines. Carefully they laid her down, and immediately Mimi was by her side, stroking her hand.

"Palmon? Palmon, *please* wake up! I'll never forgive myself if you didn't!"

She's crazy! That-Palmon tried to kill Izzy! Do we really want her to wake up?" TK whispered discreetly to Kari.

"TK! It wasn't totally her fault, you know that! She was most likely still under the power of that evil digimon." Her big brown eyes were filled with worry as she leaned on the young blonde. "I just hope we can fix her back."

"Yeah, for Mimi's sake." he solemnly agreed.

Long minutes passed again as Joe carefully checked her over for serious injury. Amazingly enough, all the sleeping beauty seemed to endure from her ordeal was a few minor scratches on her hands and feet, and a large stain on her back from her slide into the dirt.

"Oooohhh...." she stirred and sat up, rubbing her sore neck.

"Palmon?" Mimi whispered cautiously as the others tensed for another outburst.

"M-Mimi?" the former digimon blinked open bleary eyes and smiled perfectly as they cleared up. "Mimi! How did you-"

"?!?"

I had been reaching up to hug her, and caught a glimpse of my hand. My *human* hand. Panic and confusion courses through me as I looked down and saw curves and bumps that shouldn't have been there.

"What's happened to me?!" I wailed.

"You mean you don't remember?"

Gabumon! I look at him horrified before covering my face in shame. I feel so...naked. And coming from someone who never wore clothes regularly, that's saying a lot! All I can think of doing is curling up into a ball and sobbing, so I do. I wanted to be pretty like Mimi, but I didn't want this!

"There, there, lass. Ye'll be all right." I look up to the young pale girl. No, wait. Not a girl. A digimon. A *virus* digimon. No fair! my mind screams. You're a humanoid digimon, ands I'm just a human! It's *not* all right!

"We'll find a way ta turn ye back, don't fret 'bout that. But for now, " she turned urgently to Izzy. "We have t' leave!"

"Leave? Why the hurry?"

Shouldn't we try to figure out a way to help Palmon first?" scolded Sora.

"Aye! But MarquisDemon will be arrivin' home soon an-"

"Correction, my dear Serenamon. I have already arrived."

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Chapter 30- Welcome Home
>>remember this? It means we are in Pal's pov

"Wow. He's so...so...."

"Beautiful!" Kari finished for Sora, attracting a few stares of disbelief from Tai and TK.

"Beautiful or not, pretty boy here has a lot of explaining to do!" Tai snarled.

"You...YOU! You did this to me! You brainwashed me! Used me! How could you?" Palmon leapt up and began to run and attack him, but as she was a bit...top heavy in her human form and, unable to keep her balance, fell flat on her face.

"My dear Palla. Why do you blame me?"

Fury and humiliation clouded the digi-human's mind, and she quite forgot her friends, her lack of powers, and even about the soul-stealing abilities of MarquisDemon himself.

"How could I blame you?! Look at me!"

My dear Palla. Is your heart still loyal to those who betray you?" he asked smoothly, taking a calm step towards the hysterical beauty.

"Betrayed? What's he talking about?" Matt fumed to no one in particular. "And here I thought we were busting our humps looking for her."

A coy smile just visible, MarquisDemon was still sauntering over to 'Palla'. "Don't you remember, my love? How they drew near the fire and laughed while you were cold and alone? How they ignored your emotions, kept you from reaching your full potential."

"I-I..no...I-" She stuttered. Her mind seemed to be growing duller with every pounding heartbeat. Images began to form in her mind's eye, then they began to overlap, to swirl and separate till she could no longer distinguish one sequence to another.

"Palmon! Don't listen to him!"

"M-m-Mimi?" *Focus on the voice!* cried her sanity. *Focus on Mimi!* But the Bishonen had far too much invested in 'Palla' to let her slip away from him so easily.

"Yes, It's Mimi. You care so much for her, don't you? But why do you care? After all, aren't you just a 'walking weed with a crooked grin'?"

Mimi flinched visibly as she heard the cruel words she had let thoughtlessly fall from her lips. Words of anger and frustration. Words that had haunted her every night since she'd birthed them. Words that were now quite possibly costing her friendship.

"Palmon, I was so wrong.' She choked hoarsely, "I'm so sorry."

>> Walking Weed....she had called me that...but I'd called her selfish....A war was going on in my head, creating a pounding headache that seemed to dull my thoughts even more. He was getting closer to me, but I couldn't move. And even worse, the closer he got, the more I could *feel* him. Like icy cold fingers gripping invisibly around my heart. *Help Me!* I cried mutely. *Somebody please help me!*

MarquisDemon was but a few inches from me. The chill was growing worse. I forced open my eyes and saw him smirking triumphantly at me. "Don't worry, " he told me softly, "You will understand in time, love. Till then...'

'Love..." >>

"Hee-yah!"

The charm was cut short as the tall, pale blonde gentleman was knocked over by a blur of white, green, and black.

"Serenamon!" Tento shrieked with horror and disbelief. Had all the females gone crazy??

"Ye demon!!" she cried shrilly, accent a bit thicker than usual, as she began to pummel the castle lord. "How dare ye try n' steal th' innocence o' young girls! Ye ought to be ashamed o' yourself! Who gave *you* th' right, anyhow?!"

The response came in the form of a blast of powerful energy, knocking the two digimon apart. Serenamon brushed off TK and Patamon's attempt to help her back up, and staggered back up on her own power. Never once did she release the look of pure loathing and contempt from him.

"What gives ye th' right?"

"Ah, Ladymon. How kind of you to join us." MarquisDemon acknowledged the cold-eyed woman, gingerly rubbing his sore jaw. "May I inquire again of your assistance?"

She nodded curtly. "Of course, my lord." She raised her left arm in front of her face, where it began to glow. The ball of energy shaped itself into an ornate fan spread open across the lower side of her face, revealing only those cold eyes. Again, the fan began to glow, this time a deep shade of purple

"Deadly Nightshade!" she cried out. As she did, she slapped the fan shut, flinging its power at the Chosen Children like one would a Frisbee.

Matt, like the others, reflexively covered his face with his arm. But surprisingly, no impact came. Cautiously, he lowered his arm and looked around.

"What the hell?!"

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Chapter 31- Property Rights

The beautiful gardens where they'd found Palmon had disappeared. In it's place, a nightmarish palette lay before them. Everything seemed to waver, as if it was all a illusion. Or was this the reality, and the gardens its shadow? * We can never battle under normal conditions, can we?* Palmon griped to herself as she tried to familiarize herself. She barely stifled her scream when she turned around and realized that she was nearly on the edge of a sharp cliff. Below, a river raged, as if it desperately wanted to feed upon her warm flesh.

Suddenly, lightning flashed and lit the sky, jagged purple threads that cast shadows that gave the landscape an even eerier design. In the center of it all stood MarquisDemon, cool, calm, detached, as if the sudden change in environment never happened at all.

"You wish to know what right I have? Foolish little children. You could not possibly fathom the depths of my sorrows. For in them lies my birthright."

Palmon came around again at the sound of the deep, masculine voice. "Sorrows?!?! Buddy, you've got a *lot* to learn about us! We've seen darkness that could eclipse your heart. We've lost more friends than we care to count because of it, people hurt and killed to slake its hunger. Suffered broken hearts...." her voice cracked, and she could no longer continue her tirade as clear memories of Leomon and Pixiemon and Wizardmon and all the others who tried to ensure their victory, all her fights with Mimi, watching Biyomon hugging her Gabumon all bubbled up inside her.

"You defy me, Palla." he said disapprovingly to her.

"Damn right I do! And my name is PALMON!!" A peal of thunder accented her claim of identity. Suddenly she felt a sense of release, as if whatever force that had bound her to him had suddenly been lifted.

MarquisDemon apparently felt it too, but was not as thrilled about it as Palmon for some reason or other. "How sad." he snarled. "There was so much potential in you that you and I could have reached together. But now you reject your fate? Very well. So be it."

"LIGHTNING BANNER!"

At his command, three bolts of lightning converged upon him and, now highly concentrated, burst from between his conjoined palms (a/n: like in DBZ). Palmon avoided the attack, but now she was much, much too close to the cliff edge than she liked.

"Palmon!" Mimi screamed as she took off at a dead run to help the tri-color haired girl get to safety. "Hang on! We're coming!"

"I'm afraid that will be most improbable, child." Ladymon's cold, cruel voice blew over them like an Arctic blast. "Deadly Nightshade!"

Again she used her fan to distort the landscape, isolating Palmon's cliff from the surrounding area by a deep ravine, the river now deeper and hungrier. The only connection to others was a small land bridge guarded by MarquisDemon

"No!" Mimi wailed in despair. "You witch! What did Palmon ever do to you?!"

Ladymon's calculated smirk turned into a scowl briefly. "She is wrongly coveted by my lord."

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Chapter 32-

While Mimi digested this tidbit, the others were working on a two-prong 'plan' of action. Basically, Matt, Joe, Gabumon and Gomamon were all tearing towards MarquisDemon while the rest all tried top think of a fast distraction. Izzy was tapping his keyboard so fast the keys never seemed to return from their depressed state, trying to calculate the odds for all the suggestions argued by the others.

"Izzy?" Tentomon goaded impatiently above his head. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of just sitting there like brightly painted targets.

"Just a few more nanos!" the genius growled in frustration. " I almost have it! What? No! Damn!!" he cursed as his poor overworked computer froze up. "C'mon, c'mon!!"

"Deadly Nightshade!"

Izzy screamed as the ground below his seat suddenly stopped existing. He closed his eyes, not wishing to see what type of death Fate held for him.

"Izzy!! Hold on!" Loyal and true, the insect digimon struggled mightily to keep his beloved human from falling any further.

"Tentomon!" *Thank God, thank God!* he thought as waves of gratitude coursed through his body for being supplied with such a genuine friend.

But Izzy was much heavier now than when they'd been in Vademon's dimension, and Tentomon's wings were rapidly growing fatigued. Strong as his will was, his body could not keep up and he found his grip sliding...

"Don't let go, Tentomon!"

"I'm trying!......I...can't...hold...on....!"

"Koushiro!"

Sere namon caught Izzy's arm in a vice grip, but the black-eyed boy was so relieved he didn't complain. Together the two digimon pulled him to safety before collapsing on him in a smothering hug.

"Hmph. I grow weary of all these petty distractions." the castle lord said in a bored tone. Tai snarled in fury, barely in control of his emotions-Ladymon's last attack had put his group closer to Mimi, but Palla was even more inaccessible now, and Matt and Joe had vanished to another part of wackoland.

MarquisDemon smirked at the wild haired boy, then returned his attentions back to his creation. "My dear, I ask once again that you repent and return to my side. All shall be forgiven, my love, and we shall remain together, forever content."

Tears of frustration and fury slipped down 'Palla's' face as she clutched desperately at the soil. "But I don't *want* to be with you! I don't love you, and I want to be with my friends. And don't try to tell me I'll learn to love you, 'cuz that's *never* gonna happen, I swear!"

The tall male stiffened, revealing the power of her words. He stood silent, evidently at a loss for words at this 'new' development.

"My good Lord." Ladymon purred, materializing behind him. "This whelp of a girl is obviously in need of some...punishment? See how she uses her words to wound your heart? Clearly then, she is not in possession of what you seek."

"You...are right, my dear lady." he replied slowly, a rather sad look of longing on his half-masked face. "You reject your fate with me, Palla. You reject *me*, Palla." His features went sharp and rigid. "Therefore, I've no other choice..."

"LIGHTNING BANNER!"

Go On!

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