Beyond The Adventure

 

Ep 6: Eternal Punishment

 

By: Hazan_Z

 

 

 

“Man, will it ever stop snowing? Jeez…” complained Hasan, waiting at the Digimon Town’s gate for his friends to show up early in the next morning. The cold snowy weather surrounding the Digimon Town was freezing him to the bone. Gomamon was with him, and the cold atmosphere didn’t seem to bother him much. 

 

“What’s not to like about snow? It’s much better than being hot and humid like in your place,” Gomamon stated with a shrug. Hasan just grimaced at him and that was an enough hint for Gomamon to zip it.

 

“Heeey!” The two of them then heard a voice calling them from afar. They turned their sight to the side and saw that it belonged to Chris, jogging towards their direction. “Good, you’re here! Guess who I bumped into on my way here.” Chris panted slightly and surely wasn’t alone.

 

“Ben! Terriermon!” Gomamon exclaimed as he glimpsed his old friends accompanying Chris.

 

“Hey, Gomamon, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal!” Terriermon jumped down from his partner’s shoulder and hugged his Digimon companion in joy. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

 

“Huh? Why? And where the heck were you two during those couple of days ago? You like vanished without a trace. And what happened to that book?” Hasan started to ask rapidly.

 

“Easy, Hasan. They have a good excuse for disappearing on us all of the sudden,” Chris cut in.

 

“Uh, yeah, sorry ‘bout that,” Ben apologized and began to explain, “The Internet connection at my place totally screwed up, so that’s why we couldn’t come over to the Digital World or contact any of you guys. It was really bad, it didn’t get fixed till today.”

 

“…I see. And using your PC was the only way for you to cross the warp gate?” Hasan inquired.

 

“Exactly. But that’s only the bad news, the good news is that I managed to crack the book’s code!” Ben announced excitedly and brought out the old book they borrowed from Jijimon.

 

“Really? Finally!”

 

“Yup! We’ve pulled a full nighter translating that book. Sure was a tiring ordeal…” Terriermon said, pretending.

 

“Sh’yeah, right! You were sleeping the whole time. I had to do all the work by myself,” Ben snorted as he revealed Terriermon’s act, as the bunny Digimon let out his tongue bashfully.

 

“Oh-kay… about the book?” Chris reminded them.

 

“Oh, right, right! I’ve written it all in this little note.” Ben looked through his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper, ripped from a notebook. He gave it to Chris and the later began to read its contents. “Wha...What is this?!”

 

“What? What?!” Gomamon eagerly wondered.

 

“Here, see for yourself,” Chris replied as he handed the note to Hasan and he began to read out loud.

 

“Let’s see here… Vermillionmon, Type: Vaccine, Level: Ultimate…? Damn, I didn’t know he was an Ultimate. He must be much stronger than I’ve expected,” Hasan said, surprised by the wolf Digimon high level.  

 

“Keep reading,” Ben told him.

 

Hasan nodded and continued, “Vermilionmon is a CDH, a Corrupted Digimon Hunter; hunters that only goal is to track down and delete virus type or any corrupted Digimon. They say that in every Digital World there’s at least one CDH that roams around it to hunt. They’re created from those Anti-viruses programs that humans upload into the Internet and PCs. This cloaked, silver wolf travels alone from place to place in search of any corrupted Digimon to delete, but his real amusement is when hunts for strong virus-type Digimon. He takes his time and leisure in tracking them down, sometimes even enjoying seeing them suffer before he finishes them off!?” Hasan’s eyes widened as he read that.

 

“What the…?! What kind of Digimon is he?!” Gomamon quavered by the shocking info.

 

 “Wait, there’s more… When he finds a new target, he doesn’t rest until he deletes it and will do anything to get his way, even if it means sacrificing some innocents. He believes that Virus-types are nothing but a menace and are the scums of the Digital World, and whoever or whatever they are, they have to be erased… no matter what...” Hasan finished with a disturbed tone, quite stunned as the others were.

 

“A Digimon that hunts Viruses? I never thought that such a thing could exist...” Chris trailed off.

 

“If that’s true, then maybe he was after someone, someone strong to challenge,” Hasan said.

 

“Someone like Black!” Terriermon added.

 

“Holy shit, he’s right! He’s after Black!”

 

“Hold on a second! Didn’t Vermon just leave yesterday?” Gomamon then brought up to their attention.

 

“Oh, yeah… now that’s weird, that doesn’t add up to all of this, does it?” Hasan rubbed his cheek confusingly.

 

“He what?” Ben wondered.

 

“Um, we forgot to tell you that Vermon already left the town, without leaving any clues whatsoever,” Chris explained.

 

“Huh!? B-But why? What’s all this crap about him being a virus hunter then?” Terriermon muttered.

 

“No idea.” Chris shook his head with a sigh. After going through all this trouble of finding out the mystery of Vermillionmon, it turned out that it was for nothing, since the culprit wasn’t even present, as far as they knew.

 

“Maybe… we’re wrong,” Hasan started to say.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Maybe he’s not that bad of a Digimon. He did save Fairymon from that WereGarurumon, right? Renamon seems to really befriend him too. When he fought Dobermon, I noticed how he didn’t want to harm him and just had him downed with a tranquilizer. Maybe he saw how friendly Black and the rest of the Viruses around here are, so he decided not to kill them and left them in peace. Maybe… maybe we were wrong about him all along.” The rest of them kept quiet for a while, trying to comprehend and study all of those events.

 

“I hate to admit it, but maybe you’re right,” Chris admitted disappointedly.

 

“I’m still not very sure about this, but I’m afraid that we did jump to conclusions. So, what to do now?” Ben followed.

 

“The only thing left for us to do, forget about it. He’s gone now, nothing to worry about, so let’s just forget about the whole thing.” Hasan suggested with a shrug.

 

“I second that! Now, let’s get back, I missed home! And did we miss anthin’ cool or somethin’ while we were away?” Terriermon asked impatiently.

 

“Oh, more than you would bargain for pal. Come on, I’ll tell all about it in once we get back home. Race you there!” Gomamon teased him and dashed into town.

 

“Hey! Wait, you cheater!” And Terriermon chased after him.

 

“Should we follow ‘em?” Ben smiled and pointed with his thumb to the two running Digimon.

 

“You know it,” Chris answered back as the friends entered the Digimon Town, hoping that what they had concluded would be true. Unfortunately for them, they were wrong, very wrong.

 

 

########################################

 

 

Meanwhile, at the other side of the Digimon Town, on top of the surrounding town’s high walls…

 

“Ahhhh… what a lovely morning… a perfect start for the day I get to finish off a new Virus.” The coat wearing Digimon sighed pleasantly, stretching his arms to drive away the sluggishness. The day he was waiting for had finally came, when he would finally delete the strongest Virus Digimon around and add him to his list of accomplishments. To Vermon, that was just another job for him, nothing actually personal. He always believed that Viruses were nothing but a threat to the Digital World, or at least that what he wanted to believe. Though, spending time in this clam town was beginning to make him have doubts about it; BlackWarGreymon couldn’t be that bad of a Digimon, as his status here proved it. Yet, he decided not to think more about it; thinking always made him lose his concentration and he couldn’t afford for that to happen today.

 

“Bad or good, he must be deleted. That’s just the way it is. Diving deeper into the matter will only make me lose. I won’t take that risk. I’ve never lost to a Virus, and hell, I’m not about to this time. Just you wait, Black. I’m gonna make this real good.” Vermon grinned to himself and was thinking a good plan to lure BlackWarGreymon out of the town for him to battle. He didn’t want others to interfere, which would surely happen if it he were going to fight him in the middle of the town. A one-on-one fight away from here would be the best approach. “Hmm, but how? Kidnapping isn’t my style, that’s too clichéd. Leaving him a note would be too much of a risk of others reading it. Come on, Vermon, think, think…” he was thinking to himself, till he glimpsed a house in front of him as his eyes were scanning the town from atop of the walls, a house he quickly recognized. 

 

“Fairymon… I wonder how’s she doing? Well, a quick visit to my fair lady won’t ruin my schedule.” Chuckling, he leaped from the town’s walls onto the top of a house, nimbly hopping to another one till he reached the place he desired. Despite his heavy clothing, Vermon was truly agile and was able to jump to high and vast places with ease. He wanted to pay Fairymon a surprising visit the only way he knew how, by sneaking into her house through the back. Even if he did already say goodbye to her, he kind of missed her and saw no harm in spending a little more time with her, maybe have breakfast together too. After making sure that the coast was clear, Vermon made his way to the back window that lead directly to her bedroom and opened it silently. Without even looking through it, he climbed through the window and got into her house stealthily like before, expecting to find Fairymon sleeping by herself on her bed, but after he turned around to see, he was shocked to see that he was completely wrong. His eyes grew wide in utter astonishment, the sight of Fairymon sleeping soundly with her arms cuddling Gazimon, was something that floored him beyond believe. He just gawked speechlessly, the evident scene clearly showing what kind of event that had happened last night.    

 

“… How?” he silently choked out in despise. He couldn’t believe it, to discover that Fairymon actually forgot about him that easily after just one day, and that she actually slept with someone else, someone else much lesser than him in every measure. And worse of all, with a loathly Virus? Nothing could’ve been more outrageous for Vermon. The looks on their sleeping faces were also obviously telling him how good it really was, along with the clear stench of their sexual experience pushing up through his nostrils, was too much for him to bear anymore. That was more than a crime for him; it was a complete insult, an insult that someone would surely pay for.

 

Filled with pure rage and anger, Vermon pulled his handgun and pointed it at the sleeping, defenseless Gazimon’s head. He was so enraged; he didn’t care if he’d kill right there and then. He was just a couple of seconds from pulling the trigger, when he sensed that Fairymon was stirring and was about to wake up.

 

“Mmm… who…?” Fairymon mumbled sluggishly as she opened her eyes and sat up, feeling another presence in the room. She took a gander, but didn’t see anyone else in there beside the slightly snoring Gazimon. “Hee hee, he’s still asleep…” she giggled softly as she ruffled the fur on Gazimon’s head playfully. “Hm? Now that’s weird…” Fairymon then noticed that the window was wide open and that puzzled her because she was sure that it was closed since last night. She didn’t give it much thought though and simply closed shut herself. Unbeknownst to her, was that Vermon was standing on top of the roof, panting and breathing deeply while bending over so that he couldn’t be seen. In all his life, Vermon hadn’t been this angered and despaired. Fairymon really made an impact on him, and to think that she had simply forsaken him for that virus…

 

“…How? How could this have happened? …No! I won’t have it! I’ll make that puny virus shit suffer even if it’s the last thing I do!” Vermon snarled madly, his eyes bearing the deep color of blood.

 

 

################################## 

 

 

At that time, our friends were at BlackWarGreymon’s mansion after they could find neither leomon nor Renamon, figuring that they’d be there.

 

“You missed ‘em by a hair,” BlackWarGreymon answered them when they asked him about the vixen and the lion whereabouts.

 

“Missed them? Where’d they go?” Chris asked.

 

“Leomon took her for another training lesson after they had breakfast with us here,” Angewomon, who apparently spent the night at BlackWarGreymon’s, replied.

 

“Yup,” BlackWarGreymon added as he lifted both of his hands and faced them with each other, moving them around like he was holding a couple of hand puppets and started to imitate the furry couple. “She was like: Oh, Leomon-sama! Give me another training lesson! And he was like: Err, I dunno… grumble, grumble… Then she went like: Aww, come on, hun! I promise I won’t be a nag! Oh, Please!? Smooch, smooch! Then Leomon went all red and was like: Uh…okay… and she was finally like: Yay! Thank you, Leomon-sama! Smooch, smooch!” BlackWarGreymon kept mocking them while doing their voices like he was a professional puppeteer, the others hardly able to hold themselves from laughing and giggling.

 

“Hehe, as realistic as the real thing.” Hasan chuckled.

 

“Yeah, that them alright. You’d do great at a carnival, Black,” remarked Chris.

 

“Damn, I missed this dude!” Ben keenly laughed.

 

“Oh, but I think they were so cute and sweet.” smiled Angewomon.

 

“Yeah, so sweet I’ll get cavities,” BlackWarGreymon sneered.

 

“Come on, you’re just jealous of them.”

 

“M-Me? Why would I be jealous of them?”

 

“Because they’re spending less time with you than they used to.”

 

“Pft! As if I need them!“ BlackWarGreymon scoffed sternly as he crossed his arms.

 

“Well, anyhow, where did they head to?” Hasan then interrupted.

 

“Hm? Oh, they said something about going to the woods, that’s all,” BlackWarGreymon causally answered.

 

“Ah, they must’ve gone somewhere near that river, we can’t miss ‘em. Come on, we can catch up with them there,” Chris stated as he remembered the last time Leomon and Renamon went to training. They said farewell to BlackWarGreymon and Angewomon and left off soon after.

 

“Jealous of them?! Puh-leeze!” BlackWarGreymon snorted at Angewomon’s comment after their human friends had gone as she seemed to have nailed him, and Angewomon just giggled quietly to herself by this.

 

As the group was walking through town to head for the woods, they accidentally ran into Gazimon on their way.

 

“Well what do you know? It’s the Gazi-man, just back from the night of his life,” Gomamon cheekily called out and got Gazimon attention.

 

“Hey guys! Oh, Terriermon, my long-eared companion, been a while,” Gazimon cheerfully greeted them and saluted his bunny friend.

 

“Hiya, buddy!” Terriermon greeted him back with a wink, “Heard a lot of hot things going around, eh?”

 

“Yeah, how did it go with Fairymon?” Chris curiously asked.

 

“Well…” Gazimon trailed of to tease them.

 

“Oh, please, quit the smugly act and tell us already,” Hasan snapped.

 

“Oh, it was beyond greatness! You know how it is when you expect something to be good, but then it turns out to be so much more better?” Gazimon enthusiastically revealed with a wide beam.

 

“Whoa, man! You mean, you spent the night with her?!” Ben inquired in astonish and Gazimon nodded agreeably.

 

“Hey, that’s great! Looks like our efforts didn’t go to waste after all,” Chris commendably said.

 

“Tell us how did it go from start to finish!” Gomamon eagerly demanded.

 

“Wait, how about you tell us while on the way?” Hasan then suggested.

 

“Where?” Gazimon wondered.

 

“We’re going to the woods to meet up with Leomon and Renamon. Wanna come?” Terriermon replied.    

 

“Sure, it’s always fun seeing those two going at it.”

 

“Cool, let’s go then,” Chris said and they all went off outside of town to the woods, while Gazimon was revealing to his friends what had happened in his wonderful date along the way.

 

 

#############################

 

 

During that time, Renamon was trying to succeed the tough test that Leomon had given her. She was climbing up a high flat, rocky mountain at the edge of the forest, and it wasn’t as easy as he had expected. Normally, she could just hop her way up the top with her lightning speed, but with her wearing those very heavy bands around her wrists and feet, that wasn’t so feasible of a feat. She felt that they were even much heavier than before and that hindered her climbing much more, slowly making her way up bit by bit. Leomon was waiting for her down bellow, his arms crossed as always and keeping a sharp eye on her progress. Renamon was just about a quarter of the way up, and already she was staring to get tired, her limbs steadily getting numb. But, she didn’t let that hold her back from trying even harder and continued to climb up the snowy mountain with determination.

 

“Aaahh!” As Renamon placed her right paw on a ledge, it crumbled all of the sudden and made her lose her grip, slipping off of the mountain and falling off with a shriek. She fell down fast and closed her eyes, waiting for that agonizing feeling of her body hitting the hard ground. However, that feeling never arrived. Instead, she found herself landing on a pair of strong arms, as Leomon grabbed her and got hold of her just in time.

 

“It’s okay, I got you,” Leomon softly said after he saved her. Renamon opened her eyes hesitantly and saw that she was all right indeed.

 

“Thank you,” she said in gratitude and he nodded back.

 

“Give it another try after you rest for a bit.” He then advised her.

 

“No, no need for that. I can do it,” she insisted and Leomon approved that, lowering her down to her feet as she prepared to climb the mountain again from scratch. Just as she placed one foot on the mountain wall, she immediately slipped and dropped on her bottom with a grunt.

 

“Ouch! Darn it! Oww…” Renamon griped and then started to groan in noticeable pain, holding her right waist with a paw. Leomon quickly became aware of that and approached her worriedly.

 

“Are you hurt?”

 

“Uh… no, I’m fine… ugh!” she lied as she stood up, but she moaned again against her will. Leomon figured that she was untruthful and neared her, touching the right side of her waist with his own hand and forcing her to cry out. 

 

“Where did you get this?” he demandingly asked as he was checking her injury. Having no way to keep away it from him after she was found out, Renamon began to confess.

 

“Um, well… I think from when I fought that vicious WereGarurumon…” she admitted. Leomon instantly remembered what battle she meant and also remembered how she was in such a bad shape after he had rescued her; she must’ve gotten wounded from that.

 

   “Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded, scolding her.

 

“I, I just thought that it wasn’t serious. I didn’t want to worry anyone and I knew that you wouldn’t accept to train me if you knew about it…”

 

“You’re a very stupid and stubborn girl, you know that? You might have damaged a rib or something and it must’ve gotten worse after you’ve started training.”

 

“I know… I’m… ow! …sorry,” Renamon yelped slightly as her mentor was still checking her wounded waist. He let go of her at last and turned his back to her, kneeling down a little.

 

“Hop on, I’ll carry you home. No more training for you until you get better,” he strictly told her as he motioned for her to climb on his back.

 

“Oh, alright…” Renamon sighed in disappointment and hanged on over his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Putting his hands under her buttocks for better support, Leomon started to march on and head back home. During the way, they were pretty much silent. Renamon didn’t want to say anything because she thought that Leomon was upset about her not revealing her injury to him. She just kept quiet while hanging on his back and tried not to be a bother. She then happened to see the big scar on the back of his left shoulder and placed a paw on it, tracing it gently.

 

“…Leomon?” she called out for him.

 

“Hm?” Leomon simply replied without stopping or looking back at her.

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“How did you get this?” Renamon asked out of the blue and Leomon had to stop to understand her question.

 

“What?” he looked back at her with a questionable look.

 

“Um, those scars of yours, how did you get them?” she repeated more clearly. Raising an eyebrow at the unexpected inquiry, Leomon paused for a second before he let out a little chuckle and continued on his way.

 

“What?!”

 

“Oh no, it’s nothing. It’s just that I don’t have the answer for that,” Leomon merely answered her and Renamon was puzzled by that.

 

“Huh? How come?”

 

“Well, I just don’t. I don’t know where did I get them, it’s as if I was born with them. Like, do you know where did you get those protective gloves?” he asked as he referred to her purple-colored long gloves.

 

“No, not really…”

 

“See? If you want to know about these kinds of things, then you’re asking the wrong Digimon. But, I wouldn’t care much if I were you. All that I know is that those scars are a part of me and they remind me of whom I am. Like how your pair of gloves is a part of you too, they look pretty on you,” he flattered her and she smiled brightly by this.

 

“Those scars look great on you too, they give you a certain flair!”

 

“…Heh, thanks.” Leomon smiled back.

 

“Um, is it the same case with our levels?” Renamon then asked another question.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, why am I a Rookie? How come you get to be a Champion leveled Digimon and Black gets to be a powerful Mega?”

 

“You’re in a real enquiring mood today, eh?” Leomon remarked with a smirk. “Hmm, that’s a tough one. I’m afraid I don’t have the straight answer to that either, but I think it got something to do with the type of data that created us. You’re created with an amount set of data that determines what kind of Digimon you are and at what level, and you’re stuck with it for good.”

 

“But isn’t that unfair?”

 

“Life isn’t fair all the time. Though, I heard that you could somehow bypass it, through something called evolution and other complicated maneuvers. But that’s too farfetched of a fantasy for it to happen.”

 

“I see…”

 

“But hey, don’t let that get to you. Digimon levels aren’t what it’s all about. It’s about trying your best and doing what you can to achieve your top performance. That’s why we’re training together, right?”

 

“Right! I’ll get much stronger and I won’t let anyone push me around!”

 

“That’s the spirit. But doing something dumb like hiding an injury will always make things worse for you.”

 

“You’re right. I’m sorry… I always end up being a burden… if another evil Digimon attacked us, then… ”

 

“Stop being silly, just worry about getting better and leave the rest to me. I won’t let anything bad happen to you ever again, I promise.” Leomon turned his face to stare at her over his shoulder and comforted her. Feeling much more at ease, Renamon squeezed her arms around Leomon’s neck some more and hugged him from behind, resting her left cheek at his warm back.

 

“…Thank you, Leomon-sama,” she whispered softly, as Leomon pressed on through the woods to head back home to the town.

 

 

###############################

 

 

As Renamon and Leomon were on their way back to town through one way, their partners and their friends were searching for them through another road, losing them in the process and finding themselves at another part of the forest.

 

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Ben asked doubtfully when they couldn’t find any trace of the fox and the lion.

 

“Hmm, maybe they took another way around the woods?” Hasan questionably wondered.

 

“Or maybe they just went back home,” Gomamon added.

 

“Either way, we won’t find them wandering around like this. Let’s just head back,” Chris suggested at last and the rest agreed and decided to go back to the way they came from. As they were heading back, Terriermon noticed something unusual.

 

“Hey guys, how come that tree is burned down to crisp around this winter snow?” the long eared Digimon pointed out at a burned tree amidst the bunch of other trees.

 

“Huh? Hey, you’re right. It’s totally fried to ashes. Strange. Who could’ve done this?” Gazimon said as they neared the burned tree to investigate. It could’ve been the remains of a battle, but they doubted that was the case. If it was so, it was quite odd how this tree was the only one that had been affected. But then, Gomamon glimpsed another unusual thing.

 

“Eh, something’s buried here…” some kind of an object was poking out of the snow and Gomamon started to dig it out. The object then happened to be a black case. “Hello, what do we have here?”

 

“O-kay, this is getting creepy,” Hasan spoke tensely.

 

“Should we open it?” Ben curiously asked.

 

“Of course! It might be treasure or something! We found the thing, we might as well keep it!” Terriermon retorted.

 

“I’m not sure about any treasures, but I’m curious about what’s inside. Let’s just do it,” Chris determinedly said. And so they did, easily opening the black case and getting wholly surprised by its contents.

 

“What the hell are these things!?” Gazimon exclaimed.

 

“Some kind of weapons, accesories for them, plus ammo. But what is this case doing here and whom does it belong to?” Ben replied.

 

“It belongs to me.” The sudden, chilling voice of Vermon, coming from afar, almost made them jump off of their skins, gasping and turning around to face the cloaked wolf, far behind them for God knew how long.

 

“It’s V-V-V-V-VERMON!” Terriermon tripped over his tongue from the fright and hid behind Ben’s back.

 

Vermon leered a devious grin and took a step towards them, “Don’t you know it’s rude to mess around with others’ belongings? I thought you humans were more civilized than that.” He kept walking to their direction while they were taking a step back cautiously.

 

“Er, hi there… sorry about, um, snooping around your stuff. We didn’t know,” Hasan spoke in a timid tone.

 

“Hey! What are you doing here anyway? We thought that you’ve already gone! What are you planning to pull here!?” Gazimon demanded boldly. Vermon eyes became sharp as he glared at the gray Digimon and stood still on his place.

 

“This.” All of the sudden, without any of them could even react; Vermon drew out his deadly handgun and shot two fast bullets right at Gazimon, damaging him in his right shoulder and left arm. With a choked grunt, Gazimon dropped a couple of feet to the back from the sheer force of the shots and landed on the snowy ground. The others were frozen solid. They were so shocked; it took them several moments to even realize what had just happened.

 

“My god! GAZIMON!!” Chris yelled out and hurried over to the injured Gazimon.

 

“Vermon! What the hell are you doing!?” Hasan shouted heatedly at the virus hunter, who was still aiming his gun at the downed Digimon, with a satisfied grin on his face.

 

“What I should’ve done from the beginning, ever since I laid my eyes on that worthless virus,” Vermon simply answered.

 

“S-So it’s true! You really are a Virus Hunter! You were after them all along!” Ben said.

 

“Oh, I see that you have an idea of who I really are. I really underestimated you humans; I should’ve taken you for granted. Bravo.” Vermon sneered.

 

“But why!? Why are you doing this?! Why are you trying to kill Gazimon!?” Hasan then questioned him persistently.

 

“Heh, that piece of crap was like a fishbone stuck in my throat that I just had to get rid off. But don’t worry; I’ve avoided hitting any vital spot. I didn’t want to kill him, not just yet. I still have a bigger fish to fry after I’m finished here,” Vermon revealed with a smirk.

 

“A bigger fish? Black?!”

 

“Bingo! As for why I’m doing this, I have my own reasons and you don’t need to know. So I suggest that you stay out of this and hand me the virus quietly.”

 

“No way are we going to do that! Gazimon is our friend and we’ll never give him to you!” Gomamon bravely stood up to him.

 

“Hell yeah! The only way you’re gonna snatch him from us is by taking us all on! And believe you me, you wouldn’t want that to happen!” Terriermon added as he stood by Gomamon’s side.

 

“…Fair enough.” Vermon shrugged and pointed his gun at them again.

 

“Whoa, Whoa!! Hold on! You can’t do that! You only hunt viruses, remember? I ain’t no virus!” the bunny Digimon trembled as he stopped him.

 

“That’s quite true. However, if anyone tries to stand on my way, regardless of who or what he or she is, I’d have no choice but to dispose of it. I hate to have to resort to this, but if you still wish to resist me then I’ll have no choice.” 

 

“Dammit! Chris, how’s he doing?” Hasan turned to his friend and asked about Gazimon’s condition.

 

“Not very good. He’s bleeding, badly…” Chris jadedly replied with a headshake as he held Gazimon in his arms, trying to stop the bleeding by putting some snow on the wounds.

 

“…I’m, ugh… okay… just not that, eugh, okay…” Gazimon hardly spoke despite his wounds.

 

“Don’t speak buddy, we have to get you outta here fast. Just do your best to hang on,” Ben said, comforting him as Gazimon nodded wearily.

 

“Spare me the soap opera. Just hand him over,” Vermon persisted.

 

“Shut up! We won’t stand for it!” Hasan confronted him daringly. “Do it, Gomamon!”

 

“Right! Marching Fishes!” Gomamon read his partner’s mind and send his colorful floating fishes at Vermon to distract him and buy them some time to escape.

 

“Heh, pathetic.” Vermon chuckled softly and waited for the Marching Fishing attack to get close enough before he pulled his shotgun from under his coat with his other hand and in an instant, blasted every single one them to nothingness with just one shot. He then returned his attention back to his adversaries and found them attempting to flee by using a portal that would get them back to a safe place.

 

“You go first and take Gazimon with you, Chris. We’ll be right behind you,” Ben told Chris and rushed him to enter the portal with Gazimon.

 

“Alright… Agh!” Chris nodded and just as he was about to go through the portal, another gun bullet shot at them and barely missed Chris’ arm, scratching it and slightly injuring him, resulting for him to lose his concentration ob the portal and getting it closed.

 

“Don’t think you can get away from me. You won’t be so lucky with the next shot,” Vermon grimly warned them as he readied his next shot.

 

“Do something, Terriermon!” Ben cried out to his Digimon.

 

“Okay! Bunny Blast!” Terriermon shot his green energy ball at Vermon, but the wolf effortlessly reflected it by using his bare hand just by swing it at the weak attack. “Darn it! Terrier Tornado!” Terriermon then called out and used his spinning attack against him, hoping that it would be of a better use.

 

“Foolish runt!” Vermon growled at the feeble attack and violently struck Terriermon with the shaft of his shotgun, nullifying Terriermon’s attack and thumping him to the ground as Terriermon groaned painfully from the hard smack. “You should know your limit, Rookie.” Vermon didn’t stop at that and ruthlessly stomped on Terriermon’s head with his foot, burying him deeper into the snow.

 

“Stop it!” Ben refused to stand still and hastily rushed to Vermon to rescue his Digimon, but Vermon clutched him from his neck and stopped on his track.

 

“Let ‘em go you creep!” Gomamon snarled and bounced at Vermon, but again for no use as the Ultimate wolf battered him with his shotgun and sent him smashing into a tree.

 

“Gomamon! Damn you, Vermon! Are you trying to kill them!?” Hasan angrily yelled at the heartless Digimon, who didn’t seem to care if he’d harm any innocents to have his ways.

 

“I’ve already warned you, but did you listen? Save yourselves the trouble and just give it up, I’m having my fill of your futile struggles,” Vermon said firmly, still holding up both of Ben and Terriermon under his mercy.

 

“Oh yeah!? Fill on this!” Ben swung his right leg, trying to kick Vermon where he knew was the best place to kick him, that being the male genital. Vermon's eyes bulged as the kick landed directly, and very hard, right on his balls, forcing him to release Ben from his grasp and tumbling on his knees in severe agony, giving Ben the chance to get up on his feet, pick up Terriermon and make a run for it.

 

“Urgh…! You miserable...!” Vermon grunted heavily as he struggled to resist the pain that kick caused in his crotch. That gave our friends enough time to open another portal to escape without being interrupted.

 

“Now’s our chance! Come on, get going!” Hasan hurried the others to enter the portal as Ben and Terriermon jumped into it as soon as they could. “Your turn Chris.”

 

“Hey, what about you?”

 

“I still have to get Gomamon, but Gazimon needs to be far away from here. We’ll catch up with you.”

 

“Hey wait! I’m not gonna leave you behind!”

 

“We don’t have time for this! Just GO!” Hasan pushed Chris into the portal to end this discussion and get Gazimon to safety. He then dashed over to Gomamon, who was knocked down by Vermon earlier, and carried him up.

 

“You okay, Goma?”

 

“…Yeah, just feeling a bit bumpy…” Gomamon answered faintly as he regained his consciousness.

 

“Great, let’s just get outta here.” Hasan tried to run as fast as could back to the portal before it could close. But alas, before he could even reach it, he was stopped by a gunshot hitting the ground in front of him, puffing the snow into the air.

 

“Ah-ah… one more step, and you’ll have the honor of being my first ever human victim,” Vermon remarked, already standing on his feet and aiming his gun at Hasan’s head. Not taking the risk of finding out if he was serious or not, Hasan stood on his place and surrendered, hopelessly watching his only mean of escape vanishing from front of his eyes as the portal eventually faded away.

 

“Damn… so close!” Hasan cursed from under his breath in despair.

 

 

####################################

 

 

At that time, BlackWarGreymon was at his house, relaxing on his big couch and reading a book, a horror novel apparently. It didn’t capacitated him though, as he was exceedingly bored with everyone out somewhere and got nothing better to do other than to have a good read.

 

“…Man, so mind-numbing… I wish something exciting would just pop up out of the air…” the mega dragon yawned sluggishly as he stretched his arms. Then, the booming sound of the portal opening above BlackWarGreymon’s head caught his attention as he lifted up his face to see.

 

“Uh-oh!” he quickly recognized what it was and before he could get out of the way, his human and Digimon friends plunged down on him like an anvil.

 

“Ow… I knew this would happen! This thing never works with us!” Terriermon complained.

 

“Be grateful we actually made it at all,” Ben said.

 

“We can’t just sit here! We have to treat Gazimon and go back for Hasan and Gomamon! Let’s get… whoa!” Chris was reminding them before he noticed that they were setting on top of a non-amused BlackWarGreymon the whole time.

 

“How long are you planning to stay there?” inquired BlackWarGreymon, staring at them with an irritated look. They immediately got off of him and he stood up to face them. “Thanks. Now what’s this about Hasan? And what the hell happened to you!?” BlackWarGreymon began to question them when he saw their rugged state, especially the still bleeding Gazimon between Chris arms and the bruised Terriermon. Blood was also trickling from Chris’ injury in his right arm, caused by Vermon’s shot.

 

“Black! You gotta do something! They’re in danger!” Terriermon cried for help.

 

“Wha-? What are you talking about? Who’s in danger?”

 

“I-It’s Vermon! He was trying to kill Gazimon! And he’s planning to kill you too! And then-!”

 

“Slow down, I swear I can’t understand a thing! Will someone please tell me from the start?”

 

“What Terriermon is trying to say is that Vermon is actually a Virus Hunter. He came here to hunt you down, Black. We met him at the woods and when we found out about it, he shot Gazimon down and threatened to kill us. We were able to escape, but Hasan stayed behind to help Gomamon and couldn’t make it…” BlackWarGreymon was very stunned as his expression slowly turned from confusion to pure rage when Chris explained to him what exactly happened.

 

“What the…?! But how?! How dare he!? I’ll make him pay for doing this to you! No-one messes with my friends and lives to tell about it!” BlackWarGreymon uttered in anger, as the others took a step back cautiously, because they knew that nothing enrages BlackWarGreymon more than seeing or even knowing his friends have been hurt while he’s around. BlackWarGreymon then quickly headed straight outside to meet up with Vermon.

 

“Black! Hold on! Shouldn’t we wait for the others?!” Ben called out to the impatient Mega.

 

“No! I can handle this by myself! If he wants a piece of me, then I’ll give him so much more than that!” BlackWarGreymon replied crossly. “Don’t worry, I’ll get them back.” He smiled in confident and then took off to the skies shortly after. It was impossible to try to stop him.

 

“What should we do now?” Terriermon asked coyly.

 

“We’ll follow him of course. But not before we take care of Gazimon,” Chris answered.

 

“You too, Chris. You hurt your arm. Go get a first aid kit from the kitchen, Terr,” Ben asked from his Digimon. Terriermon nodded and went over to get the first aid kit without any delays. “But, Gazimon is in need of something more than a normal treatment… like Angewomon’s healing.”

 

“Somebody called,” Angewomon said, as she appeared all of the sudden from the front door for a quick visit to BlackWarGreymon.

 

“Angie! Thank goodness you’re here! Quick, help Gazimon!” Chris said in relief when he saw the angle Digimon.

 

“Oh my! What happened to Gazimon?!”

 

“It’s a long story. We’ll fill you in later, but can you use your healing powers on him please?”

 

“Um, yeah sure. Give him to me,” Angewomon said and Chris handed the injured Gazimon to her carefully. She held him properly and placed one hand on one of his wounds, as a dim light emitted from it. “It’s deep, but not critical. It’ll a few minutes to fully heal it.”

 

“Please, do whatever you can, Angie,” Chris pleaded her and Angewomon nodded to him confidently.

 

“Here’s the kit!” Terriermon finally came back with the first aid kit and gave it to his partner.

 

“Thanks Terr.” Ben thanked him and walked over to Chris to fix up his little injury.

 

“You’re hurt too, Chris? What in heaven’s sake happened? And I don’t see Black around. Where is he?” Angewomon asked inquiringly.

 

“Actually, the thing is…” Chris started; telling her what exactly occurred and got them into this mess from the beginning.

 

 

###################################

 

 

Back to the woods, where Vermon was waiting for his prey to come. He kept Hasan and Gomamon at bay as they silently sat under a tree, patiently waiting to be rescued. Vermon was sitting a few feet head of them, leaning his back against a tree and directly in front of them, keeping an eye on them. The silver furred wolf was adjusting his weapons again and again, as a way to pass the time while waiting, as Hasan was watching him doing it expertly.

 

“…Um, can I ask you something?” Hasan finally spoke.

 

“Shoot,” Vermon replied without even looking back, busy with his guns.

 

Hasan took a few seconds before continuing, “Why are you doing this?”

 

“Doing what exactly?” Vermon asked back, still not looking at him.

 

“All of this. Hurting innocent Digimon and killing viruses. I thought you were a good Digimon. You’ve been overly nice with Renamon, and you’ve saved Fairymon before, right? So why?”

 

“And what good would it make if you knew? You’ll never understand…”

 

“Try me, I can be really open-minded. Well, most of the time at least,” Hasan said with a timid smile. Vermon looked back at him at last and let out a chuckle.

 

“Heh, fine. If you wanna know that bad, then I’ll tell you…” Vermon began to say, “It’s not like I have anything personal against viruses. It’s more like, my job. Killing virus types was the only thing I was good at, not that I’ve tried anything else for that matter. But I’ve grown to accept it, even like it. After all, Viruses are the scum of the Digital World. They deserve to be deleted, so that we can live peacefully without fearing their evil and miserable existence.”

 

“Bu-But, that’s not true! I mean, not entirely. Not all virus types are bad or evil. Look at BlackWarGreymon. He’s one of the most beloved Digimon anyone could know, and he’s a virus. I understand that some of the viruses are vile, but you can’t just go and kill every single one of them for that reason alone!” Hasan objected, trying to put some sense into Vermon.

 

“Yeah! Like what you did to Gazimon! That was cruel! He’s one of my best friends!” Gomamon added heatedly.

 

“SILENCE!!” Vermon growled furiously and shut the both of them up. “That dirt bag is exactly why I hate viruses! A lowly, despicable Rookie Virus that needs to be wiped out!” Hasan could feel the hatred in Vermon’s words. He really had it bad about Viruses, and it certainly wasn’t going to be an easy task trying to convince him otherwise.

 

“Listen Vermon, maybe you could…”

 

“Enough! I don’t want to hear anymore of it! What do you, humans, know about virus types anyway?!” 

 

“…Us?”

 

“How can you be friends with a virus? Protect them even? How very naïve of you. To be so unaware of their true nature. Evil runs through their blood, no matter how hard some would try to hide it. You never know when one of them could stab you in the back, trusting them so much like that. Even you’re beloved Black. What makes you so sure that he wouldn’t suddenly run his claws through you, or any of your friends, when you’d least expect?” Vermon revealed, as Hasan was stunned because he actually saw some sense in what Vermon just said. But somehow, in that moment, he kind of felt sorry for Vermon.

 

“…Even if what you say is true, even for a bit, that doesn’t give you the right! Black wouldn’t ever try to backstab any of us because we trust him. But, regardless of all that, you still have the choice, Vermon! You could stop this if you gave them the chance!” Hasan didn’t give up and kept trying to convince him to abandon his foolish beliefs, hoping that he’d listen.

 

“Give it a rest, kid. No use trying to fill my head with impractical ideas. I happen to enjoy my way of living. I already set my heart on this, and I’m gonna carry on it till the end.” Vermon was, unfortunately, too perceptive to even give it any reconsideration. “Just save your breath and wait for your so-called friends to come back.”

 

“He won’t have to wait for long,” BlackWarGreymon spoke suddenly as he landed before their eyes, finding them at last.

 

“Hurray! We’re saved! Good timing Black!” Gomamon cheered happily.

 

“And not a moment too soon,” Vermon smirked, standing up to face his long-awaited opponent.

 

"Are you two alright?" BlackWarGreymon asked, immediately rushing to his two friends to check on them.

 

“Yeah… we’re fine,” Hasan answered him hesitantly. He didn’t want them to fight, but he knew that there was no way out of it.

 

“That’s good. At least he’s smart enough not to hurt his hostages. Now get out of here while I deal with this gun-slinging psycho,” BlackWarGreymon said.

 

“But Black!” Hasan tried to stop BlackWarGreymon, but Vermon motioned for him to be quiet.

 

“I trust that you’ll keep our little conversation to yourselves, hm?” Vermon said with a wink. He then returned his attention to BlackWarGreymon and had a wide smile on his face. “I’ve been waiting for this for long time. To finally face someone who is worthy. I hope that you won’t disappoint me, Black.”

 

“Watch it, punk. You’re no friend of mine, so don’t address me by my nickname. Got it?” BlackWarGreymon sternly retorted.

 

“Oh? What do you want me to call you then, Mr. Mega Virus?” Vermon taunted.

 

“The name’s BlackWarGreymon, the Digimon that’s gonna kick your sorry ass.” BlackWarGreymon sneered back at him, crackling his knuckles.

 

Vermon simply laughed by that remark, “Oh, you’re a real riot! I almost feel bad about having to delete you, we could’ve been good friends.”

 

“Pardon? The last thing I’d want to do is befriend a hypocrite, dirty bastard like you! Now are you here to trade insults or to fight?!”

 

“Ah, yes, of course. Ready when you are, BlackWarGreymon,” Vermon said as he prepared himself for battle, gripping on his handgun.

 

“Stand back you two, I don’t want you to get hurt. This could get ugly,” BlackWarGreymon warned his friends as he did the same and readied himself to fight the Virus Hunter, while Hasan and his Digimon watched helplessly from a fair distance.

 

 

################################ 

 

 

Meanwhile, Chris, Ben and Terriermon were ready to head back to the woods to join BlackWarGreymon after receiving the necessary treatment they needed. Angewomon had fully healed Gazimon, but they sought for him to stay and let her take care of him.

 

“Thanks for your help, Angie. You’re a life saver,” Ben said in gratitude as they were standing outside BlackWarGreymon’s mansion.

 

“Yeah. Take care of Gazimon, would you?” Chris requested from her.

 

“Certainly. You be careful and don't do anything dangerous,” Angewomon advised them.

 

“Hey… I’m coming too…” Gazimon weakly uttered, being carried between Angewomon’s arms.

 

“No can do, buddy! You had enough action for one day, so leave the rest to us. Though, I doubt Black will leave any!” Terriermon assuredly stated.

 

“Still, we have to go back. You never know what kind of tricks that Vermon may pull from under his sleeves. Come on!” Chris said. They promised Angewomon and Gazimon that they’d get back soon with good news and soon left for the town gate to open a portal from there. However, just as they were planning to, Leomon, with Renamon hung on his back, came back at that precise moment and were surprised to see them all in a hurry.

 

“You two!? Where the hell have you been!?” Chris demanded sternly.

 

“…We were training at the mountains range,” Leomon merely answered with an awkward expression as Renamon got off of his back and quickly panicked.

 

“Why? Is something wrong? What happened?! And Where’s Hasan and Gomamon!?”

 

Terriermon slapped his face with a groan, “Argh! Do we have to tell the same story over and over again?!”

 

“Listen, I’ll make this short. While we were looking for you two, Vermon showed up, went nuts, started shooting at us and seriously injured Gazimon, even shooting at us! Look, he nearly got Chris too!” Ben made a long story short as both of the lion and fox were shocked wholly.

 

“Vermon?! This can’t be true!” Renamon said in disbelief.

 

“Are you okay?!” Leomon worriedly checked on his partner, holding him with his big hands and examining for any serious injury, lifting him up and shaking him a bit in the process.

 

“Y-Yeah, yeah, I’m all right! He just scraped my right arm,” Chris mumbled as Leomon lifted up the sleeve of his jacket and saw the bandages he got on. “Ow! Easy! It’s nothing serious, really!

 

“But we still have to go back for Hasan and Gomamon!” Terriermon then added.

 

“Oh my god! What happened to them!?” Renamon cried in fear.

 

“Nothing, yet. Black has already beaten us there,” Ben said.

 

“But…I still can’t believe this… why would Vermon do such a thing?” Renamon despairingly muttered.

 

“Actually, Renamon… we kinda knew about Vermon, but…” Chris was beginning to confess before Leomon interrupted him.

 

“No time for idle chats. Let’s go,” the lionman said in a dead serious tone, already set to teach that wolf a lesson for harming his fiends, his partner in particular, as he immediately ran off back to the woods. They could always tell when Leomon is extremely mad just by looking at those murderous eyes, and he looked as mad as ever right now.

 

“Leomon! Wait! Ohhh, I hate it when he does that! Come on, You guys!” Renamon yelled out and dashed after him, the others following their lead.

 

 

############################

 

 

A blitzing energy sphere shot directly at Vermon, as the cloaked wolf dodged it by jumping backward, the blistering ball bursting into the empty ground upon its impact. BlackWarGreymon followed it with a swift dashing attack, flying at Vermon with top speed and swooshing his right fist at the wolf. With a sudden duck, Vermon avoided the powerful punch and was ready to answer it with a bullet pointed right at BlackWarGreymon’s chest. BlackWarGreymon saw it coming and sidestepped to the left just in time, as Vermon’s shot missed him by a second.

 

 “Shit! Almost had him!” cursed Vermon after he bounced to the back again for a recovery.

 

“That was close, too close…” BlackWarGreymon whispered to himself, making a mental note to be extra careful. Hasan and Gomamon were watching the fight from a distance without doing anything to stop it or even interfere.

 

“He’s still holding back like before… but why?” Hasan said. He noticed how Vermon was mainly defensive throughout the battle, always waiting for BlackWarGreymon to make the first move. Last time he saw Vermon fight was with Dobermon, and he did the same thing, not taking any sort of offense and kept defending. But that was because he didn’t want to harm Dobermon, as far as Hasan knew. This fight was ultimately different, as Vermon’s aim was to finish off BlackWarGreymon, so he was quite puzzled by the hunter’s actions. It all then became clear when he glimpsed Vermon taking out something from under his coat and slickly inserting it into his gun’s revolver.

 

“You’ve done well so far, Black. I can tell that you’re much more stronger than I’ve expected…” Vermon beamed, as he finished loading his gun.

 

“I’m only going easy on you. I haven’t used even half of my strength, I don’t want to hurt you too much,” replied BlackWarGreymon.

 

“Oh, so very considerate of you. I somehow suspected that you might be too much of a challenge for me. That’s why I’ve prepared something special for occasions like this, just for you Blacky,” Vermon grinned, teasing.

 

“I’m not your pal, so don’t you ever call me Blacky!”

 

“Getting touchy, aren’t we? Maybe this will cool you down.” Taking BlackWarGreymon by surprise, Vermon short his gun at the black mega and got him on his right arm.

 

“Oh no! He got him!” Gomamon gasped. BlackWarGreymon was too careless to even try to avoid it, as he didn’t expect Vermon could draw his handgun at this flashing speed in the middle of their dialogue. Oddly though, BlackWarGreymon didn’t feel much pain from that shot as he’d anticipated. He tilted his head to the right and his eyes widened as he saw that his arm had some kind of a special dart pierced through it. As soon as he pulled it with his hand, an abrupt sensation of weariness flowed through BlackWarGreymon, as he slumped down on one knee with a grunt.

 

“Wh…!? What’s wrong Black!?” Hasan called out when he noticed BlackWarGreymon’s sudden collapse.

 

“…What’s going… on? I feel… weak…” BlackWarGreymon breathed, feeling like an enormous amount of his energy was being sapped out of every inch of his body rapidly.

 

“What have you done to him, you jerk!?” Gomamon barked snappily at Vermon, who was smirking in satisfaction the whole time.

 

“Oh, just a little something I like to call, ‘An Anti-Virus Bullet’. Quite a remarkable item. Drains the energy of any Virus type and weaken it to half its power,” Vermon plainly explained. “In other words, your powerful black Mega is now almost as strong as a mere Champion.”

 

“Huh!? But that’s not fair! You’re playing dirty!”

 

Vermon laughed, “Who said anything about being fair? I have my own rules, and my main one is that anything goes. Even… What!?” But Vermon was in for a surprise, as BlackWarGreymon was able to dash towards the now vulnerable wolf and deliver a powerful punch to his guts, causing Vermon to groan from both pain and shock. The strong punch plunged him some feet to the back, crashing into one of the trees.

 

“Let this be a lesson to you: Never, ever, take me lightly. You’ll only get yourself killed,” BlackWarGreymon said, standing tall and proud.

 

“Ugh… how could he have…? Gugh…” Vermon muttered, coughing out some blood from that fierce blow, totally stunned that BlackWarGreymon still had that much power in him even after being shot with that anti-virus bullet.

 

“You better keep in mind who you’re dealing with here. I’m not a mere Virus. Even if you reduced my power to a quarter, I can still take you on without breaking a sweat,” answered BlackWarGreymon in full confident. “And since the main rule is that anything goes here, might as well take full advantage of it.” He then smirked and equipped himself with his Dramon Buster claws that were strapped on his hips.

 

“I’m impressed… no one else was even able to stand up on their feet after they’ve been shot with that bullet before,” Vermon said, getting back to his feet. “That’s good though. At the very least, it won’t be a boring fight!” With him saying that, he fired a fast bullet at BlackWarGreymon. BlackWarGreymon responded immediately and jumped up to the air to avoid it, which he successfully did, but then his body failed him and flopped back down to the ground.

 

“What the hell?! Oh, damn!” another bullet shot at the fallen mega, but he swiftly rolled over to the side and it missed him by a hair. With a back flip, BlackWarGreymon planned to get up on his feet again and take off to the air, where he could fight better, but as soon as he bounced up to fly, he lost his footing and dropped down to earth again.

 

“Hey, what’s wrong with Black?” Gomamon wondered in confusion after BlackWarGreymon’s flying attempts failed twice.

 

“I think… he lost his ability to fly,” Hasan answered jadedly.

 

“No way!”

 

“What’s the matter, Blacky? Did you break a wing?” Vermon mockingly inquired and with no delay, fired another bullet from his handgun. Unfortunately for BlackWarGreymon, he was too stunned to react in time and the bullet hit him accurately in the edge of the right side of his waist.

 

“Aaagh! …Dammit!” BlackWarGreymon growled, cursing his bad luck. But he didn’t let a little bullet bring him down just yet and returned to his feet. Raising his arms over his head, BlackWarGreymon sought to gather up whatever energy he got left for a Terra Destroyer. “Wh-What…?” Sadly, nothing came out from between his arms, as it seemed that he had lost his ability to unleash his inner force as well.

 

“See? Your powers are useless now. No matter how hard you try, it’ll only be futile. The outcome of this battle has already been determined, so why not give up?” Vermon suggested with a cheeky grin.

 

“Why don’t you shove your big muzzle up your ass AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” BlackWarGreymon growled and dashed towards Vermon to attack him physically. He charged on with his right claw and aimed it at Vermon’s torso; the wolf oddly didn’t even make the slightest effort to defend it, as the huge claw went through Vermon’s chest and came out seamlessly from his back.

 

“All right! He got him!” Gomamon hollered in joy.

 

“Wait! Something is not right!” Hasan then gasped. There wasn’t any trace of blood coming out from Vermon, any signs of pain or even any wounds.

 

“…Impossible!” BlackWarGreymon said in shock. His right arm was already piercing his foe’s chest; yet, it was as if he was stabbing into nothing, like he was intangible, as the cloaked wolf looked back at him with devious smile, face to face with him.

 

“How did you like my Silhouette Mirage, hmm? You’ll like this even better then,” Vermon spoke sarcastically and as BlackWarGreymon’s arm was still stuck inside his body, the wolf brought out his shotgun from under his coat and pointed it right at BlackWarGreymon’s stomach. “Check mate, Blacky!” Vermon smirked, and without any hesitation, pulled the trigger and blasted a deadly shell at BlackWarGreymon’s torso, at pointblank range. Hasan and Gomamon gawked in shock, as they witnessed BlackWarGreymon getting blown away from the absolute force of the blasting shotgun, his chest plate armor shattering to pieces and beads of his blood spraying out into the air.

 

“No… BLAAACK!” Hasan screamed at the top of his voice as BlackWarGreymon flew some feet through the air and crashed into the snow-white ground, groaning brokenly and choking, hardly able to breath from the immense pain.

 

“You… YOU MONSTER! You’ll pay for this!” Gomamon snarled madly and too a few steps ahead to try and attack Vermon, but a gunshot, swooshing over his head and barley missing it, stopped him at his track.

 

“Stay where you are if you don’t want to be deleted! This fight is already over…” Vermon threatened and then walked over to where BlackWarGreymon was lying. He stopped right by his side and placed his right foot over BlackWarGreymon’s now bare and severely bleeding chest.

 

“So… how does it feel like to be finally beaten? I bet it sucks, huh?” the wolf scoffed at him, pressing his own foot down hard on the big wound on BlackWarGreymon’s torso and causing him to groan out loudly.

 

“Eugh…! Not yet…” BlackWarGreymon spit out in spite of his state and even threw a feeble hook with his left arm at Vermon, as the virus hunter grabbed the claw with his hand effortlessly. “Still have some energy left in you, eh? You gotta know when to quit, Blacky!” He pointed his gun at BlackWarGreymo’s arm and shot it, injuring him on his elbow as BlackWarGreymon screamed out in agony.

 

“Please! Stop it!” cried out Hasan desperately, pleading him to stop his viciousness.

 

“Why stop? It’s half the fun torturing victims before finishing them off. Like this,” Vermon said with an evil grin and then fired another bullet and BlackWarGreymon’s right thigh.

 

“Eyaaaagh!” BlackWarGreymon scrammed in agony again. Vermon was slowly immobilizing him and Hasan simply couldn’t stand any more than this.

 

“That’s enough! I’ve had it with you madness!” Hasan madly shouted and ran towards Vermon to stop him with any means, not caring about the wolf’s warnings. But as soon as Hasan reached him, Vermon swung his arm at Hasan and forcefully pushed him away, dropping him on his back.

 

“Hasan! That’s it you damn jerk! Now it’s personal!” Gomamon barked when he saw Vermon hitting his partner and jumped at his arm, gnawing it with his fangs. But his teeth weren’t harming him at all, as Gomamon let go of it and scamper over to his partner. 

 

“Why you little…!?” Vermon growled and aimed his gun at Gomamon.

 

“No! DON’T!” Hasan screamed out, fearing that he’d kill his dear Digimon. But just before he could pull the trigger, a thundering roar echoed from afar.

 

“Fist of the Beast King!” the fiery projectile pass over Hasan’s head and lunged at its target, striking Vermon in the face and knocking him back and off of BlackWarGreymon, as Hasan rushed over to him and picked up Gomamon, promptly scolding him. 

 

“Have you gone nuts!? Why did you do a stupid thing like that?! He could’ve killed you!”

 

“Hey! I couldn’t just watch him hurt you and do nothing! I just did what you did!” Gomamon retorted and Hasan couldn’t argue with that.

 

“Well, thanks anyway. Looks like we’re safe now…” Hasan smiled as he and Gomamon waited for the others’ arrival, Renamon being the first.

 

“Oh my god, are you two all right!? I was so worried!” Renamon said in an anxious manner, checking on her dearest partners and very relieved to see that they were unharmed.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine. But…” Hasan was hesitantly trying to say, as the others discovered what happened to BlackWarGreymon.

 

“Black! What happened to him!?” Chris gasped, seeing their black friend downed, covered in his own blood.

 

“You mean, Vermon did this?” Ben questioned them.

 

“N-No way! Black can’t be beaten by the likes of him! That’s impossible! You’re kidding, right?” Terriermon uttered in pure disbelief. But the troubled look on the faces of Hasan and Gomamon was enough answer for them to realize that it was the truth.

 

“Are you okay?” Leomon crouched down to the fallen BlackWarGreymon and softly asked.

 

“…Never felt better, ugh, in my life… just give me a sec…” replied BlackWarGreymon wearily, ignoring his pain and irrationally tried to get up, but failed.

 

“Don’t move! We’ll get you help soon, just rest,” Renamon prevented him and helped him lie back down again.

 

“Ow… that actually hurt, you know?” Vermon complained as he was getting up on his feet, rubbing his aching face that had been hit by Leomon’s attack, before he faced them and glared at Leomon sharply, “Don’t you know any better than to always get in my, big cat?”

 

“Vermon… how could you?” Renamon breathed sadly, as Vermon’s eyes widened when he saw that she was present as well. “Why? Why are you doing this!?”

 

“…Renamon, I…” Vermon began to stammer, not knowing what to say. He actually didn’t want Renamon to find out about his true identity, even though he knew that she would eventually if he ever wanted to kill BlackWarGreymon. “I’m sorry that you had to see this, but this what I’m really am. I’m a virus hunter. I hunt any virus type Digimon, whoever or whatever they are, and delete them. This is what I do.”

 

“What?! But this can’t be! I thought you were a good Digimon, I though that you were my friend… BlackWarGreymon isn’t just any virus! He’s one of us! How could you try to kill him!? And hurt Gazimon, my partner and my friends?!” Renamon confronted him.

 

“…I didn’t mean to hurt your human friends. They just got in the way and…”

 

“And you just had to get rid of them?! I can’t believe you could be this cruel… I don’t understand any of this…”

 

“You don’t need to understand. This is what I got to do,” Vermon merely said in a cold tone.

 

“But Vermon…!” Renamon words was then interrupted when she felt Leomon’s hand resting on one of her shoulders, as she looked back at him and he shook his head to her once, signaling for her that it was no use trying to reasoning with Vermon.

 

“Leomon’s right, Renamon. Nothing will go through his thick skull,” Hasan told his female partner.

 

“Just leave it to me,” Leomon then said, preparing to fight the cloaked wolf, but then Renamon stood in his way.

 

“No! I won’t let you fight him! He might…” Renamon refused, fearing that she would lose him after seeing how Vermon was able to outdo even BlackWarGreymon.

 

“It’s going to be okay,” Leomon softly said with a small smile, resting his big hands on her shoulders.

 

“Trust in him, Renamon. Leomon can handle it,” Chris reassured to her as he stood by their side. Renamon was still anxious, but eventually complied and nodded to him.

 

“You just take care of Black,” Leomon added and moved her to the side slightly so that he could pass by her.

 

“Good luck, Leomon. Show him how it’s really done,” Chris encouraged his partner with a thumbs-up.

 

“Yeah! Kick his ass good! Teach him a lesson for messing with us!” Terriermon cheered excitedly. Leomon nodded back to them and continued to walk towards Vermon till they were a few feet apart of each other. 

 

“Look, we really don’t need to do this. There’s no reason for us to fight,” Vermon stated peacefully.

 

“No reason? After what you did to my friends, killing you won’t even satisfy me. I don’t give a damn about your ridiculous beliefs, I’ll rip you to shreds with this sword without a second thought.” Leomon pulled his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at the virus hunter, glaring at him with eyes full of anger. 

 

“Oh? Well, since you put it that way, I won’t mind. In any case, I have a score to settle with you as well.” Vermon shrugged, not intimated by Leomon’s threats. He still had a grudge against the lionman for several reasons; most important of them was how he failed to get Renamon because she was clinging too tight on Leomon, and that alone was irritating him to no ends. “I’ll go first!” Immediately, Vermon aimed his at the sword-bearing lionman and fired a one of his energy bullets. Leomon saw it a mile away and was able to dodge it, leaping to the side. He was then surprised by another bullet being shot directly at him as soon as he faced his opponent, but Leomon reacted fast and guarded himself with his sword, the bullet thankfully getting reflected by the mighty steel. Charging up his left fist, Leomon roared and launched his special attack, the flaming, lion-head shaped projectile soaring directly at the sliver-furred wolf. Expecting such a counter, Vermon brought out his shotgun and fired it back at Leomon’s Fist of the Beast King, the two attacks colliding together and going off like in a bang, pushing off both of Leomon and Vermon’s away.

 

Leomon kept his footing and looked around for Vermon, who wasn’t clear amidst the cloud of smoke, but a clicking sound was heard not so far away and Leomon’s eyes sharpened, knowing what it is, yet he wasn’t quick enough to respond as a bullet blasted through the smokes and hit him on his left arm.

 

“…Dammit!” Leomon he yelled after screaming out loud from the pain.

 

“Heh, let’s see you do your attack again with that arm.” Chuckled Vermon, becoming visible after the smokes faded away, with his gun pointed at Leomon.

 

“That creep! He injured Leomon’s arm in purpose so that he can’t perform his Fist of the Beast King or use his sword with it!” Ben exclaimed.

 

“That’s exactly how he does it. He weakens his foes, eliminating them from their powers before he could finish them off. That’s what he did to Black…” Hasan stated.

 

“Huh? But why? Can’t he just kill them from the get-go?” Terriermon wondered.

 

“It’s more fun that way, that’s what he said before,” replied Gomamon.

 

“This can’t be…” Renamon breathed wretchedly, still not comprehending how Vermon could be this vicious and brutal.

   

“More fun?! Screw him! We’ll show him! Don’t give up, Leomon!” Chris crossly said and cheered on to his partner.

 

“Just give it up, Leomon. You’re no match for me, and I hate compelling to kill you. I’ll let you all in peace if you’d just let me finish my job,” Vermon offered sympathetically.

 

“You just don’t get it, do you?” Leomon replied.

 

“…What do you mean?”

 

“You’re such an ignorant fool. Do you even think that we’d actually give him up that easily? You still don’t want to understand what everybody is trying to tell you. Black is our friend. He’s not what you think. Not all viruses are what you want to think. All that rubbish you’re trying to convince yourself with is nothing but bullshit. Just a poor excuse for you to kill, because you enjoy killing. Therefore, the only real evil bastard here is no one but yourself!” Leomon bluntly spoke his mind out, hitting Vermon in the right nerve.

 

The stunned wolf was so staggered by Leomon’s words he couldn’t even retort with anything, as if though what Leomon said was nothing but the truth. Could that be it? Was he actually just fooling himself because he enjoyed killing? Leomon didn’t wait for him to find the answer for that and dashed to Vermon’s direction, slashing his sword at him, as Vermon snapped out of his stunned state and couldn’t defend himself with anything except with his shotgun, as the two weapons clashed together. Having the initiative, Leomon was able to push him off and made him lose his deadly weapon as it slipped from his hand. Another swift kick from Leomon to his other hand and Vermon lost his other main weapon, dropping the handgun from his hand and rendering him defenseless and without any means of offense. Leomon then followed it by clutching Vermon from his neck with his left hand - the wound on his arm not deep enough to immobilize it - and raising him high, slamming forcedly to the ground shortly after, as the cloaked wolf grunted deeply from the powerful throw, the lionman not letting go of his throat and continued to choke him.

 

“All right! Finish him off now, Leomon!” Chris hollered excitedly. Leomon didn’t object and lifted his sword up with his right hand, ready to stab Vermon to death.

 

“This is the end for you,” Leomon coldly said and swung his sword down in a powerful thrust.

 

“STOP!!!” but then, the crying voice of Fairymon halted Leomon, holding off his sword just before he could stab him, the tip of his sword barely touching Vermon’s neck. Everyone turned around and saw her, Fairymon, descending from the sky and arriving at last. It seemed that she found out about what happened from Angewomon and came as fast as she could, as she was panting.

 

“Please Leomon, don’t kill him!” Fairymon pleaded dearly.

 

“But Fairymon, don’t you know what he’s done!? He tried to kill Black and attacked us! He even shot down Gazimon!” Terriermon exclaimed.

 

“I… I know… I know, but he can’t be truly evil! That’s just can’t be true! Not the Vermon that I know…you agree, right Renamon?” Fairymon said as she turned Renamon, who was at lost of what to think at the moment.

 

“He was just deceiving us!” Chris protested.

 

“No, wait… Fairymon’s right,” Renamon uttered.

 

“Renamon!? What’re you saying!?”

 

“I’m not sure, but… killing him won’t solve it! Maybe we can… work something out… I don’t know… but, please, don’t kill him Leomon,” the vixen said and begged for Leomon to spare him, knowing that Vermon in reality meant something for Fairymon. Leomon hated to comply, but he didn’t want to disappoint the girls and slowly let go of Vermon for their sake, sheathing back his sword and getting off of him, figuring that Vermon is now weaponless and wouldn’t be of any threat.

 

“Your idealistic nature will kill you, you know?” Leomon heard Vermon say and turned around, only to see the wolf standing on his feet and then, without the least of expectation, pulled a small pistol from under his left sleeve and shot it at the unwary lion. 

 

“LEOMON!!!” both of Renamon and Chris gasped in one breath as the bullet struck Leomon in right side of his chest, falling backward and dropping flat on the ground with a heavy grunt. The others were as flabbergasted, as Vermon walked over to where his weapons were tossed and picked them up again.   

 

“You should’ve followed your wild instinct and killed me when you had the chance, but I guess you’re too naïve and stupid…” Vermon said after picking up his handgun and pointed it at Leomon, who was struggling to get up but the pain was too much to bear. “I’ve never despised any virus as much as I’ve despised you, Leomon. You and your heroic clichés… just the sight of you disgusts me. Your existence makes me sick. I never understood what Renamon saw in you. Heh, I guess I’ll never know either…” Vermon uttered hatefully as he neared Leomon and aimed his gun at his forehead. “So long, big cat.” Smirked the wolf and was only a second away from pulling the trigger.

 

“The hell I’ll let you do that!” Chris came dashing into Vermon and tackled him down with his body, pushing him away from his partner. Vermon got extremely annoyed by the human interference and chucked him off himself, dropping him on top of Leomon, much to the poor lion’s painful chest.

 

“Fool! If you want to die with him, so be it!” Vermon growled fiercely and pointed his shotgun at both the fallen Chris and Leomon, when Renamon phased in front of him all of the sudden and delivered a strong punch right to his face, bringing the stunned wolf to the ground.

 

“You… You damn bastard!! How dare you? How DARE you judge him!? You know nothing about Leomon! NOTHING! How could you know!? You don’t even give anyone the CHANCE! Even after Fairymon believed in you… even after I believed in you… you didn’t give a DAMN ABOUT IT! You just used us for your own schemes! Doing whatever the hell you want just to kill for your foolish reasons and your own pleasure! You hurt our dear Black, you hurt innocent Gazimon, you hurt Leomon, his partner and even my partner even though you knew how much they mean to me… How could you!? It’s not your right to decide if they deserve to live or not! You think you’re some kind of a God!? You’re not even a Digimon! You’re nothing but a brutal, ruthless, bloodthirsty, murdering MONSTER!!!” Renamon shouted her heart out feverishly, as she totally went tantrum and had her fill of all the bloodshed. Even her friends were entirely astonished; they had never seen her get this angry and mad ever before.

 

Vermon was simply and completely speechless, gazing up at Renamon with a thunderstruck expression while he was still lying on the snowy ground, holding his swollen cheek with a hand even though it didn’t hurt him as much as he was stunned. Was he mistaken all along? All this time, when he was killing all those viruses, in the name of them being evil? Was he just fooling himself? Just using that as an excuse to kill, just because he actually loved killing? As if it was the only thing he was good at, and if he’d stop, his life would become meaningless? Was he too blinded by that idea, that he’d become a ruthless killer, even hurting innocents in the process? All those thoughts swirled inside Vermon’s head and almost drove him insane, becoming so very confused and lost that he hadn’t any idea of what to do.

 

As for Renamon, she was so burned up; she almost didn’t notice Leomon’s hand grabbing one of her arms. “Re… Renamon… stay away from him…” Leomon choked out, standing up with difficulty with the help of both his partner and Hasan and trying to pull her away in fear that Vermon might hurt her.

 

“Oh my, Leomon! Are you okay?! Your wound!” Renamon hurried over to him and helped him up as well, covering the injury in his chest with a paw to stop it from bleeding.

 

“Don’t worry about it… it’s nothing…” Leomon comforted her.

 

“Yeah, he’s been through worse,” Chris added and Renamon smiled warmly in relief.

 

“…Shut up…” Vermon then muttered silently and got their attention. “Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! I don’t care what you all say! You’re all wrong! Nothing in what you say make any sense! All my life, I’ve been doing the right thing, and now you’re telling me that it was all for nothing!? That it was just meaningless slaughtering!? Hah! Don’t make me laugh! Viruses are evil! That’s the one and only truth! They kill, destroy and eliminate anything that’s in their way! The only way to stop them was by deleting them!” the wolf madly growled, going berserk from all the confusion. His eyes were filled with the dark color of blood; so reddish it was glowing.

 

“Oh man, he’s still rambling about it! And we’re out of Digimon strong enough to fight him!” Hasan said hopelessly.

 

“Give it a go Terriermon, maybe you can beat him!” Ben ordered his bunny Digimon.

 

“Are you out of your mind!? No chance in hell am I gonna face him! He looks more pissed off than ever!” Terriermon quivered frightfully.

 

“I’ll stop him,” Renamon boldly stepped in and was prepared to confront Vermon.

 

“Don’t be ridiculous Renamon! He’ll kill you!” her partner objected, refusing to risk Renamon. “I won’t let you do it and that’s final!”

 

“But, it’s partly my fault… if I could just try and…”

 

“Listen to what your partner is saying, Renamon. I don’t ever want to hurt you,” Vermon said, staring at her with a serious look.

 

“If you want to kill me, then go ahead and do it! That’ll prove how wrong you really are!” Renamon daringly replied as she glared at him sharply. Vermon’s eyes sharpened in anger and aimed his handgun at her. 

 

“If that what you want…” he uttered in a cold tone and was actually placing his finger on the trigger.

 

“Renamon! No!” Leomon yelled out and tried to stop her, but his wound prevented him. Renamon didn’t budge her grounds and kept staring at Vermon, who was so hesitating in pulling the trigger and couldn’t possibly do it, his mind going extremely turmoil. He was then surprised by Gomamon scurrying over to Renamon’s side and standing in front of her, raising up his flippers as if he was trying to protect her, though he was too short to even cover her knees.

 

“I won’t let you hurt Renamon! If you want to shoot someone, shoot me!” the small seal Digimon bravely said, putting his life in peril for Renamon’s and his friends’ sake.

 

“Gomamon... you…” Renamon uttered in amazement, yet she was happy by Gomamon’s courageous gesture. 

 

“Hey! Don’t count me out! I care about you all too!” Terriermon rushed over to stand in front of Gomamon and did the same. “You can’t have all the glory now, can ya?”

 

“This isn’t a game, Terriermon!” Ben sternly yelled out to his partner.

 

“Looks like everybody have lost their marbles here,” remarked Hasan as he witnessed this unexpected event from his Digimon friends.

 

“Heh, you think that I’ll be moved by such pathetic acts? I have no problem in blowing off each one of your puny heads,” Vermon grinned as he switched his target over to Terriermon, the bunny Digimon gulping loudly.

 

“Err… I was just kidding back then, you see? No need to make anything personal…!” trembled Terriermon in his place. Vermon didn’t buy that of course and was about to shoot, but Fairymon got in his way just when he pulled the trigger. However, Vermon reacted a spilt second before the bullet went off and changed his aim upward, as the bullet blasted off and was only able to harm a part of one Fairymon’s butterfly-like wings.

 

“Oh my god! Fairymon!” Renamon shrieked and quickly hurried over to get a hold of Fairymon before she hit the ground, carrying her between her arms. “Fairymon! Are you all right?!” Renamon kept calling for her and Fairymon opened her eyes, squinting them a bit from the agony in her wing.

 

“…Yes, I’m fine,” whispered Fairymon as she smiled at Renamon, the vixen sighing deeply in comfort.

 

“…Fairymon… what were you doing? I almost shot you…I could’ve killed you…” Vermon muttered in shock, tumbling to his knees. “Why? Why would you risk you own life for the likes of them? Why would you go that far to protect a virus?”

 

“Godammit! Why can’t you get it yet!?” Chris snapped at the wolf.

 

“Can’t you see that she would do anything to prove that what’re you is wrong?” Hasan added.

 

“Vermon, please, stop this. I know that somewhere deep inside of you, resides a kind heart. You just have to give it a chance to open,” Renamon followed, still glimpsing a ray of hope in Vermon after all the horrible things he had done.

 

“Renamon is right, Vermon… I can feel it too… you’re not so evil, Vermon… think with your heart rather than your mind… feel your heart, and you’ll find your answers…” Fairymon breathed out softly to Vermon, ignoring her pains.

 

“…My heart?” hearing their words, Vermon finally started to understand what they were trying to tell him from the beginning. He was always closing his heart, never giving any kind of sympathy to his victims, after his mind was shrouded by the beliefs that all viruses had to be deleted, and nothing else. Even when he tried to think with his heart before, it only led him to confusion, hindering his skills and raising the chance of him actually failing in his hunts, thus he decided to shut his heart away long ago, so not to be troubled by those doubts. But what he didn’t realize was that, by doing so, he became so heartless, so cruel and so brutal, he didn’t notice that he himself had turned into an evil soul. However, after seeing how all those Digimon and human sticking together despite the odds and risking their lives for each others’ sake, just to protect the fate of one Virus whom they apparently cared for so much, opened his eyes to the bitter truth, and ultimately his heart as well. 

 

“Now’s your chance, Terriermon!” Ben called out for his partner to attack while Vermon was now openly vulnerable.

 

“Wait!” Hasan yelled out and halted Terriermon.

 

“Huh?!”

 

“Look, there’s something different about him…” mentioned Hasan and pointed out for them to examine the wolf.

 

“His eyes… they look so… calm?” Chris uttered after he took a good look at Vermon and noticed the tranquility surrounding him at the moment. Unlike his previous wild state, he seemed so serene and composed; the redness in his eyes was dimmed to a gentler color.

 

“Vermon?” Renamon called out to him, as he returned to his feet and lifted up his sight to them.

 

“…Now I truly understand, that I was wrong all along. I’m sorry…” Vermon started to say.

 

“Vermon, you…” Fairymon was trying to speak but he then cut her off.

 

“However, there’s only one way for me to find out the real truth,” Vermon continued and tossed his handgun away, pulled out his shotgun and then took off his long coat, throwing it away to the side as it flipped to the ground. “…By finishing my battle against BlackWarGreymon. Only then the answer that I seek would be revealed.” He finished his line and pointed his shotgun onward, much to the surprise of everyone.

 

“What!? Vermon, you can’t be serious! After all that, you still want to…” Renamon protested, but the gruff voice of BlackWarGreymon interrupted her.

 

“And I couldn’t have agreed more…” BlackWarGreymon said, amazingly standing on his two feet, albeit with obvious difficulty, considering all his injuries.

 

“Black! No way! You can barely even walk straight!” Chris exclaimed, objecting.

 

“Aw, come on, you’re underestimating me so easily? I feel all better already,” BlackWarGreymon replied with a sure smirk, walking slowly though his friends and towards Vermon with a slight limp leg, with one arm covering the wound on his torso. “You’re all stealing my spotlight here. This is supposed to be my fight, remember?”

 

“But Black…!” Renamon tried to convince him out of it, but Leomon called out to her, stopping her.

 

“Let them be, Renamon. This is the only way for this to end,” Leomon told her in a firm tone. Renamon stared back at him with a concerned look and switched her sight to Fairymon, as she was still holding her between her arms, the fairy Digimon holding one of her paws.

 

“Trust in Black, I’m sure that he’ll fix it,” Fairymon assured to the female fox.

 

“You… You’re right. He will.” Renamon smiled back and gripped gently on Fairymon’s hand.

 

“How’re you feeling?” Ben asked BlackWarGreymon as the black Mega passed by him.

 

“I’ve seen better days, but not to worry. Just hold on these for me, will ya? They’re holding me down…” BlackWarGreymon replied as he handed him both of his Dramon Buster claws to carry, Ben immediately slumping to the ground from their heavy weight. BlackWarGreymon then stood a few feet before Vermon and started to take off his cracked chest plate, deeming it useless now as it was doing nothing but being a bother to him, and tossing it aside along with the attachable shoulder-guards, all falling to the ground with a clear and loud thud, proving how much heavy they really were. Being nearly armor-less now, BlackWarGreymon was taking the risk of being more vulnerable to Vermon’s attacks, but he began to feel that the Anti-Virus venom was starting to gradually wear off of him, regaining some of his lost strength, and that was all what BlackWarGreymon really needed, despite how little it was. 

 

“Ready when you are, punk,” BlackWarGreymon called out and took his battle stance, doing his best to focus all his remaining energy into one final blow. Vermon didn’t take that into consideration and only wanted to finish this as quickly as possible, so he could finally discover the truth of his wronging.

 

“…With this last shot, I’ll end this… LET’S ROCK, BLACK!” growling out loud, Vermon pointed his shotgun directly at BlackWarGreymon and blast a powerful shell as BlackWarGreymon rushed in for an head-on attack, diving out of the blast range to dodge it, but it barely missed him and damaged him slightly in his side.

 

Yet, that didn’t hinder BlackWarGreymon offense as he continued towards Vermon and threw a fast punch to the wolf’s face, but he blocked it in time with his arm and tried to counter with a knee kick aimed into BlackWarGreymon’s stomach. BlackWarGreymon successfully guarded himself with his elbow and pushed Vermon’s assault off expertly, following it instantly with another punch to his muzzle and forcing him to take a step back. Snarling, Vermon returned that blow with a fist of his own to BlackWarGreymon’s torso and hurting him in his wound, BlackWarGreymon’s deep grunt showing how much agonizing it was, but he endure it as much as he could, keeping on his strong attacks and starting trading some fast fists and kicks with the wolf, both of them getting equal smacks and hits in the process.

 

Waiting for the perfect moment for an opening, Vermon got cocky and rushed in at BlackWarGreymon’s direction, ready to blast him to smithereens with his deadly shotgun. The rest of the group were all holding their breath from the excitement, awaiting for the victor to immerge from this final round, as the two brawlers met up face to face at last. With his shotgun pointed dead on at BlackWarGreymon’s face, Vermon smirked victoriously, figuring that he had won the battle, his finger a second away from pulling the trigger.

 

“Not this time, pal!” BlackWarGreymon said, and almost simultaneously, delivered a blistering, flashing fist to Vermon’s chest, the unbelievably powerful punch exploding into the wolf’s guts and causing him to groan deeply, literally putting him out of action. But that wasn’t the end of it, as BlackWarGreymon’s fist began to glow brightly while still buried into Vermon’s guts.

 

“This is it! Terra Destroyer!!!” BlackWarGreymon growled and with all what he got of might, preformed an uprising uppercut punch and blew Vermon sky high with a mini-version of his red energy sphere, the wolf screaming out from the sever agony before going off in a bang in middle of the air. The others were mesmerized of what had happened, staring in complete amazement as the explosion sent Vermon flying away and crashing hard into the ground, roughly bouncing a couple of times and finally coming to a halt after sliding some feet along the snow, smoke arising from his almost motionless body. And with that, the battle had come to an end.

 

BlackWarGreymon was already slumping on his knees, panting heavily and non-stop after consuming ever bit of his power into that blow. He then noticed Chris and Leomon nearing him and sat up in one knee, too exhausted to even sit up.

 

“You all right, buddy? Just hang in there,” he heard Chris say in a worried tone.

 

“...Relax, I’m fine.” BlackWarGreymon comforted him with a weak smile. “But… what about Vermon?” he then inquired about the condition of his opponent. Chris and Leomon simply turned their sight to the back as a reply and BlackWarGreymon tilted his head to where they were pointing, seeing the rest of the group surrounding the defeated wolf.

 

  “Vermon… Vermon, can you hear me?” Fairymon kneeled down next to Vermon and called out to him softly, but he didn’t response.

 

“…Ugh… damn… my whole body hurts like hell… never saw that one coming… owww…” Vermon moaned as he opened his eyes, cringing slightly while bearing a faint smirk, much to their surprise for him surviving such an attack.

 

“Vermon! Oh, thank goodness, you’re alive…” Renamon breathed in great relief.

 

“…Heh… unfortunately…” Vermon chuckled as he in spite of his defeat. “So much for the undefeated virus hunter… to be beaten by a good virus type… damn, this day was just bad…oh well…”

 

“Man, I’m just glad you finally understood that before any fatal consequences,” Hasan stated gladly.

 

“Hello?! This is the bad mon here! Why are you all going sappy about him!? He tried to kill us just a minute ago and- Muff!” Terriermon was complaining before Ben hushed him up by muffling him with a palm.

 

“Zip it, Terr!” Ben scolded him.

 

“No, the bunny’s got a point. I don’t need your sympathy. It’s bad enough I got shamefully trounced already, so don’t make it worse by pitying me. I prefer to die…” Vermon uttered rigidly.

 

“Don’t say that. The worse has past now. We can all learn to forget and forgive, and that includes you, Vermon,” Renamon gently said and held Vermon’s hand, as Fairymon joined in and placed her hand on top of theirs as well, smiling gently as Vermon. Vermon just started back at them silently without saying a word, not sure what to reply with and feeling kind of bad about it.

 

“Hmph, starting to get softy with the girls? Suck it up and let’s get this over with. I’ve never been this anxious to get back to Angie in my life,” BlackWarGreymon scoffed, getting a helping hand from both of Leomon and Chris to walk.

 

“Are we taking him with us?” Ben asked, regarding the badly injured Vermon.

 

“If no one has any objections, I don’t see why not,” replied Hasan. Renamon took a quick glance at Leomon, as if she was asking him for his opinion, in which the lionman returned with a small smile and a single nod. He could just hear thanking him with her bright smile, glad to see how understanding Leomon were, although deeply inside, he wasn’t so thrilled by the idea of that wolf companying them home, but he shrugged it off his shoulders, for the moment at least. After everyone agreed, they packed things up and headed back to town, working corporately with each other to assist the ones that had been injured along their way.

 

 

#####################################

 

 

“Ow, ow, ow, OW! Hey! What kind of treatment is this, Angie!? You’re trying to kill me here!?” BlackWarGreymon cried out in pain on his bed, whining as Angewomon was wrapping a long bandage around his torso to mend up the wound he got.

 

“Oh, be quiet. You sure whine like a baby for someone who always acts as a big-shot,” Angewomon replied sternly as she fixed him up. They were both at BlackWarGreymon’s room and Hasan was with them as well. “Now settle down, I have to wrap you up real good for the wound to heal up. My healing power wasn’t enough, you know?”

 

“But he’s so much better now, thanks to you. He was really in a bad shape,” Hasan admirably said to Angewomon.

 

“Aw, it wasn’t that bad. I was just careless, that’s all,” BlackWarGreymon feebly explained.

 

“Oh, I bet you were. This is exactly why you got this badly beaten up. I hope that you’ve learned your lesson and will stop overestimating yourself. You’re not invincible,” Angewomon started to lecture him.

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Sheesh, I save everyone’s butt as always, and that’s all what I get from you? I was actually fancying a little angelic-loving…”

 

“Ah, is that so? Well, dear Blacky, that’s what you’ll get. Though, I better not heal you up fully, so that I could pay you a visit tonight and take care of my sweet black hero all night. How does that sound?” Angewomon seductively said, tracing a finger on BlackWarGreymon’s chest.

 

“Oh, I’d soooo like that…” BlackWarGreymon sheepishly smirked.

 

“Err, oh-kay, I guess I’ll be going off now…” Hasan excused himself, not wishing to be a bother to the couple, and was about to take his leave when he remembered something. “Oh yeah… Um, Angie? Can you excuse us for tiny moment? There’s something I want to tell Black, in private please.”

 

“Oh, some guys stuff huh? Sure, I don’t mind. Don’t you run away, y’hear?” Angewomon replied as she bantered with BlackWarGreymon one last time.

 

“I wouldn’t even if I could,” BlackWarGreymon joked back as Angewomon left the room, leaving the two of them alone. “What’s up? Make it quick.”

 

“Heh, I’ll try,” Hasan chuckled. “Well, the thing is… there’s something that’s been bothering me. Something that Vermon said before you arrived. Something about you. Um, not you exactly, but Viruses in general. But he was mostly referring to you…” Hasan started to say warily.

 

“I got the idea. What did he say?”

 

“Um, something about how Viruses will always be evil, that it runs in their blood, no matter how hard some of them to is trying to hide it. He warned me about how you might stab us in the back someday, you know, betray us and even hurt us, stuff like that,” Hasan bluntly continued and BlackWarGreymon listened to him in interest.

 

“And what do you think? Did you believe him?” BlackWarGreymon asked.

 

“No. Of course I didn’t. I believe in you, Black. I’d go as far as trust you with my own life. I know that you won’t ever betray any of us, even if you’re a virus,” Hasan answered in pure confidence, smiling. “But, I must admit, despite all, I touched some sense in what Vermon’s said. Even after all the terrible things he’s done, I still can’t fully blame him. He was just… blinded by his own beliefs. Heh, you must think I’m crazy for supporting him. I’m sorry, I must’ve confused with all that nonsense,” Hasan then coyly apologized, a little embarrassed by what he just confessed, but BlackWarGreymon didn’t mind it and placed his uninjured hand over Hasan’s shoulder, patting it.

 

“Come on, Hasan, you don’t have to apologize. I understand that you might be concerned and confused after what happened today. I must confess that I could’ve done some bad things in the past, things that no one knows about or need to know for that matter. But, rest assured, your trust is in its right place, because I won’t turn against any of you and will always be by your side. You and your friends are like family to me, something that I really wanted for a long time, and I won’t risk losing my family,” BlackWarGreymon spilled his guts, much to Hasan’s surprise.

 

“Wow, really? That’s so nice. I never knew you could be this touching,” Hasan teased.

 

“Err, yeah, I’m not so proud of it either. So don’t tell anyone about it, got it? I don’t wanna give the impression that I’m a softy or anything!” BlackWarGreymon timidly said, blushing a little in embarrassment. “Now get outta here before I change my mind about ya! And bring back Angie while you’re at!” he then added in a serious tone, trying to act harsh and hide his soft side.

 

Hasan merely laughed lightly by this, figuring his act and thinking when hadn’t he been a softy before, “Heh, yeah sure, whatever you say, sir,” he saluted him and before he went through the door, he gave him a goodbye wave. “Get well soon, Blacky!”

 

“Damn kids… No idea why I love ‘em,” BlackWarGreymon grumbled to himself, fighting back a smile.

 

 

################################

 

 

As for the others, they were all at Renamon’s house after getting the necessary treatments from their helpful angelic friend, specifically Leomon and Fairymon, as their wounds weren’t that serious, luckily, and they were able to recover fast thanks to Angewomon’s unsurpassed healing capability. Vermon, in the other hand, absolutely refused to get any kind of help from Angewomon, saying that he didn’t deserve it and that he preferred to suffer and keep hurting some more for a while. Unbeknownst to most of them though, is that deep down, it’s also because Vermon fancied to spend some more time with Renamon and that way he could be near her. But what the wolf didn’t count for was that Leomon was onto him and remained by Renamon’s side like a shadow, much to his inconvenience.

 

“Open your mouth now,” Renamon said, setting by the side of the bed of the guest room that Vermon was laying on, who were being wrapped up by Chris like a mummy with bandages.

 

“Why? You’re gonna give me a kiss?” Vermon sleazily replied, getting one of Leomon’s sharp glares that could kill.

 

“No, silly. You must have some of these.” The vixen showed him a little bottle that had some Digimon symbols, which read ‘Medical Herb Potion’ on it. “Since you still refuse to get Angewomon’s help, you have to have this potion so that you could recover fast. I made them myself and they work like magic. But it’s just a little on the bitter side.”

 

“Say no more. Anything that my beautiful vixen makes should taste as sweet as honey. Let me have it,” Vermon foolishly took the bottle and drank it all up in one swig. Sure enough, it wasn’t as sweet as he had anticipated, as his face soured up and he started to gross out. “Blegh! For the sake of all that’s sacred, that’s the nastiest and most vile thing that ever entered my mouth! Are you sure it’s not poison!?” he cringed in disgust from the medicine’s bitterness. 

 

“If only,” Leomon uttered in response, getting a suppressed chuckle from Chris.

 

“Oh, so much for trying anything I make,” Renamon said while holding back a giggle as well.

 

"Well, the remedy isn't any good, but the nurse sure is," Vermon replied in his usual sleazy way, taking Renamon's paw in his own and giving it a kiss, making Leomon twitch in anger. Chris got irritated by the wolf’s much flirting too, as he gave an extra tight yank to the bandage he was currently wrapping over one of the wounds in Vermon's arm.

 

“Ow! Watch it, you dumb human!” Vermon then yelped loudly at Chris, the tight yank quite painful, while Leomon let out a chuckle behind them.

 

“Oh, shut up, I still have to cook for you, so stop complaining, you whiner," Chris replied, as Vermon grumbled and settled back down, doing so only because Chris made him a very good meal earlier, on Renamon's request and supervision to make sure it tasted good.

 

“Heh, you better be grateful that I missed you with that shot, and that’s because my foot slipped. I rarely do miss my targets,” Vermon sneered, aiming to irritate both of Chris and Leomon.

 

“Why you filthy…!?” Leomon snarled and was ready to give Vermon some beating if it hadn’t for Renamon to hold him back.

 

“Now Leomon, calm down! He was just kidding. Weren’t you, Vermon?” Renamon said as she switched to Vermon, the wolf only shrugging to her uncaringly and increasing Leomon’s temper. “Oh, that’s enough. We’re not going through this again. We’re just gonna leave you to rest for now. Come on, honey. You too, Chris.” Renamon managed to calm the lionman down and the dragged him out of the room while Chris followed them, leaving Vermon to get his rest. The others were waiting at the living room and were also joined by Gazimon, all better and fully recovered, with only some bandages around both of his arms.

 

“How is he doing?” Fairymon inquired as soon as they met up with each other.

 

“He’ll be okay, he just needs to stay in bed for a few days,” Renamon answered.

 

“You mean you’re gonna have him in your home!?” Terriermon staggeringly exclaimed.

 

“Well, I guess so. You all got to understand that he’s not as bad as before, so you can stop worrying about him killing anyone now,” Renamon reassured to them.

 

“I agree. I’m not trying to justify him, but Vermon was just confused. Please, don’t judge him so harshly,” Fairymon dearly requested.

 

“If that’s what you say, then we have no choice but to give him another chance. Even though it’ll be much harder to some of us,” Ben pointed out.

 

“I understand, and I’ll take for responsibility for his actions and take care of him. Um… if Hasan and Leomon don’t mind that is…” Renamon hesitantly suggested.

 

“Aw, I’m sure Hasan won’t mind, he’s big-hearted!” Gomamon cheerfully said emplace of his absent partner.

 

“That leaves you Leomon, what’s your stand?” Chris asked his Digimon and the lionman paused for a few moments, giving this a little thought. He sure didn’t find the idea of that wolf staying in the same roof as him for a few days endearing, let alone having Renamon take care of him, which would surely delight Vermon. But, ultimately, he couldn’t say no, not wanting to disappoint Renamon. At the very least, he’d be able to vent on Vermon if he ever had the chance.

 

“…I don’t mind. But I don’t want you to be in the same place with him alone for a second. And if he ever tries anything funny, I’ll give him the boot myself,” Leomon finally accepted with a firm tone.

 

“Oh, I knew you’d understand! Thank you, Leomon-sama!” Renamon chirped in joy and hugged her dear lion, giving him a nice kiss on the snout.

 

“Heh, if it’s okay with Leomon, then it’s okay with me. I'll stay here for a few days and help out too. I can give my parents any excuse, I'll just tell them I'll stay over at a friend's house for a few days,” Chris said. Actually, the only two reasons he was going to do so was because he still didn't trust Vermon one bit and was not willing to let Leomon deal with him alone, and because Renamon had asked him so kindly to please help her in taking care of Vermon, as he knew about how handling injured or sick people thanks to learning from his mother, who was a nurse.

 

“That’s so sweet of you, Chris! You can cook him some of your nice real world meals, he really seemed to enjoy the soup you made for him a while ago,” Renamon commented and was happy to have Chris to help her, because he was also the best among them at cooking, and Renamon knew Black would be caught dead before he cooked meals for Vermon while the wolf was sick.

 

“Sure thing, I don’t mind. As long as he keeps his big muzzle shut and not boss me around.”

 

“I’ll make sure he won’t,” Leomon said as he gave his partner a friendly nudge with a wink.

 

“Oh well, I guess that’s that. Sure was an eventful day, huh?” Ben stated and patted his Digimon’s head.

 

“It sure was! And most of the thanks go for us for cracking that book at first! Who knows what would’ve happened if we were a tiny bit late!” Terriermon optimistically said.

 

“Hmm? What book?” Renamon curiously wondered and they instantly panicked, Terriermon cursing his big mouth.

 

“Uhh… hehe, it’s nothing important, really. Terriermon was just bluffing like always,” Ben explained with a nervous chuckle and was thinking of a way to change the subject and get out of the jam his babbling partner got them into. “Well, it’s getting late, gotta go home! See ya all later!”

 

“Yeah, yeah! G’night! And good luck dealing with that wolfy dude, guys!” Terriermon bid them a quick farewell and climbed on top of Ben’s head as they left for the real world in a hurry.

 

“Weirdos… hey, Gazimon, why the silent treatment? You didn’t say a peep since we came back. Are you still hurting?” Gomamon then asked his gray friend after noticing his oddly quiet behavior.

 

“Huh? Oh… no, I’m okay. Nothing’s wrong with me,” Gazimon answered with a fake beam, lying of course. In reality, Gazimon was actually worried, concerned that after Vermon was now back into the picture, Fairymon would start liking him more again and would soon forget about Gazimon. He was especially anxious after knowing the last details of the battle, and how Fairymon was the one who was mostly defending Vermon despite all, as if he still meant a lot to her. However, he didn’t want to bring out what was really eating him out at the moment, so not to increase the tension between the group after they finally agreed in care-taking Vermon.

 

“Ah, that’s cool then. Hmm, I wonder what keeping Hasan?” Gomamon mentioned up his partner’s name and sure enough, was granted his wish as Hasan came back from BlackWarGreymon’s mansion.

 

“Oh, you’re finally back. How’s Black?” Chris asked him.

 

“He’s as good as ever, thanks to Angie no less. Boy, she ought to open a healing clinic with all the treating she’s been doing lately…” Hasan joked as he joined his friends. 

 

“She sure is great,” Fairymon smiled. “But I’m afraid I have to get going too. Thanks for everything you guys, you were all totally awesome today!” Fairymon then cheerfully exclaimed, returning to her upbeat attitude. “Would you walk me home, Gazimon?”

 

“Um, yeah, sure.” Gazimon nodded agreeably as he accompanied Fairymon outside.

 

“Okay, I’m glad that everything is cleared up now. I’ll go check on Vermon to see if he needs anything. Come on, Chris,” Renamon said pleasantly and ordered Chris to help her.

 

“Oh brother… and the slave-driving starts again,” Chris sighed in distress and followed the vixen’s lead.

 

“Eh? What did he mean by that?” Hasan asked in wonder.

 

“Renamon is gonna take care of Vermon and will keep him in her house for a few days till he get better, and Chris volunteered to help out,” Gomamon promptly filled his partner in what he had missed.

 

“Ah… well, that’s Renamon for you, always the corny type. Heh, Kinda like me. I bet that it seriously bites you, eh Leomon?”

 

“True…” Leomon sighed with a headshake, sadly agreeing with Renamon’s partner, before he looked back at him and smiled, “Oh, by the way, I’m looking forward to the party you’re throwing. Renamon told me all about it.”

 

“Hm? What party…?” Hasan wondered and was trying to figure out what Leomon meant, while Gomamon was sweating nervously and backing away slowly, taking cover behind the lionman’s legs.

 

“OH, SHOOT!!!” Hasan suddenly gasped as it came back to him hard like a shock, “Gomamon!! You little blathering twerp! I’m gonna kill you for this!” Hasan snapped at his little Digimon and started to ran after the fleeing Gomamon, chasing him around the room, while Leomon stood awkwardly still and only watched them silently, a clear sweatdrop hanging by the back of his head.

 

 

########################################

 

 

Meanwhile, just as Gazimon was walking Fairymon to her place, she surprised him by picking him up and lifting him up to her face, looking him straight in the eye.

 

“H-hey, What gives?!” Gazimon inquired from the surprise.

 

“Don’t play dumb! I know that something is really bugging you about me, so out with it!” Fairymon directly confronted him with a strict stare. Gazimon was stunned for a bit, before he calmed down and had no choice but to talk.

 

“Um, I’m just worried that… well… since Vermon is back… um… that you… uh, I mean…” Vermon was stammering so much, awkwardly trying to find the right words to say it.

 

“You’re worried that after Vermon is back, I’d go back to him and dump you like yesterday’s garbage. Isn’t that what you’re trying to say?” Fairymon frankly figured out what Gazimon was trying to confess and stunned him yet again.

 

“…uh-huh, sorta...“ Gazimon coyly replied, his ears dangling in a gloomy fashion. Fairymon couldn’t help but starting to giggle, as Gazimon looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What’s so funny?”

 

“You are! Come on, do you really think I would do something like that to you? If so, then that mean I love the stupidest Digimon ever!”

 

“Huh? You mean…”

 

“Well, duh! Of course I chose you! I thought what happened last night was enough proof for you. But… I understand if you felt a bit over threatened with Vermon’s return. I might’ve had some feeling for him in the past, but I believe it wouldn’t work out in the long run. We’re just not… meant to be. You, in the other hand, are something different! All my feelings for Vermon vanished when you shared your love with me, my sweet little rabbit!” Fairymon hugged him and kissed him lovingly, as all of Gazimon anxiousness evaporated and he had never felt this content.

 

“Hell, YES! Big score for the Gazimon!” Gazimon cheered joyfully to himself and returned the kiss, even if the rabbit comment was still bugging him, but they could always work on that later.

 

 

####################################

 

 

Four days had passed and Vermon was recovering gradually. He was really getting used to the nice hospitality Renamon was providing, resting as long as he wanted and eating good food, courtesy of Chris, even going as far as loving it. He never ate such good food before and was surprised to find out how delicious Real World dishes were. The only downgrade point about his stay were the watchful eyes of Leomon, who never gave him the slightest of chance to have it his way to the fullest, mostly when it came to his usual approaches to Renamon. Even though they still disliked each other, Leomon was doing a fine job so far in restraining his temper and resisting the urge of beating the crap of the wolf, even helping Renamon out in giving Vermon his needs of exercises so that he could regain his stamina faster.

 

“Come on now, don’t slack off! Five more laps,” Renamon called out as she forced Vermon to walk around the front yard several times as a morning exercise.

 

“Oh man… enough… already… I’ve been… going in… circles… for the last… three hours… can’t we… take…a break…?” Vermon panted heavily as he was marching around in front of the house and out in the snow.

 

“Not until you finish your usual daily exercise! Otherwise, if you keep eating so much food, you’ll grow a big belly,” Renamon strictly instructed him, as Leomon was standing next to her and keeping his eyes on Vermon as usual.

 

“Bu… But this is… too much… can’t you go easy on me? I’m still in a poor shape from the injury…” whined Vermon as he stopped to catch his breath.

 

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. And did I tell you to stop? Quit your whining and move your butt!” Renamon barked at Vermon and her unexpected gruffness startled him.

 

“Ok, ok! No need to get rough! Jeez, you can be such a…” Vermon complained again and was silenced by one of Renamon’s sharp glares, as he gulped and carried on hurdling. Enjoying seeing Vermon getting bossed around like a dog, Leomon could hardly keep himself from laughing and continued to watch him lap around and around the snow covered yard, Vermon leaving a mass of footsteps behind him on the snow. Leomon wanted to get another kick out of the situation and buried his right foot under the snow, where Vermon’s was leaving a trail, waiting for just the right moment, as Vermon passed by them and Leomon sneakily took his foot out of the snow, causing Vermon to trip and stumble a few times before finally bashing into a wall, snout first.

 

“Oh dear!” Renamon gasped and couched down to Vermon.

 

“Ouch! Ow, my nose! I broke my nose!” Vermon cried out in agony, holding his aching muzzle. Renamon examined his snout and saw that it was fine, only a little bumped.

 

“Oh, it’s not broken. You don’t have to cry that hard,” Renamon said as she was rubbing his snout and he sighed by her gentle touch.

 

“Mmm, you can give it a kiss and it’ll be all much better,” Vermon sheepishly said with a toothy grin.

 

“How about a fist to the face instead?” Leomon grumbled and was actually going to punch Vermon, but Renamon stood in his way like always and held him back.

 

“That’s enough, Leomon! I know that you’re the one who made him trip, so you better apologize to him,” Renamon boldly told Leomon as he looked back at her sternly, totally refusing.

 

“I’m waaaiting…” Vermon teasingly smirked and Leomon let out a few grumbling words and made his way back into the house without a care. Renamon breathed out troublingly and then helped Vermon to his room, as Chris arrived there as well with a breakfast plate in his hands.

 

“Oh Chris, you’re here. Take care of Vermon for a minute, would you?” Renamon then asked of Chris as she took his leave as well, following Leomon apparently.

 

“Uh, yeah… sure,” Chris replied, but for no use as she had already gone. He then shrugged and moved closer to Vermon, the wolf making himself comfortable on the bed and waiting for the meal with great anticipation.

 

“Oh goody! What’re we gonna have today, chef?”

 

“Toast, bacon, sausages and orange juice. And don’t call me chef, the name’s Chris,” Chris replied grouchily. 

 

“Close enough,” Vermon shrugged and snatched the plate from Chris’ hands, as he started to eat hungrily and greedily.

 

“Man, so much for the well-mannered wolf,” Chris commented as he observed Vermon, as he was almost pigging out.

 

 

####################################

 

 

“Ah, there you are.” Renamon glimpsed Leomon standing outside at the backyard throughout the window after looking over for him around the house, finding him plowing away the snow as a way to let out some steam and vent off, as he obviously seemed upset by what happened a while ago with Vermon, turning his back at her.

 

“Aww, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you by making you apologize, but you’re the one who made him fall in the first place,” Renamon tried to reason with him. “You don’t have to be jealous of him, so don’t be angry.”

 

“I’m not angry due to jealousy, because I’m not jealous of him,” Leomon finally spoke frankly. “I’m angry because he never hesitates in flirting you, even when I’m present. And what’s worse is that you don’t seem to mind that at all.”

 

“Oh, is that so? Then you’re wrong, because his attempts mean nothing to me. I already drew the line between us and we’re nothing but friends. That’s just his way to communicate, so I don’t give them any concern at all. I understand that he can be irritating, but I don’t want you two to hate each other because of this. Seriously, how can I think about another guy when I have my very own Leomon-sama?” Renamon chirped proudly. Leomon calmed down and bought what she had said, as a small smile escaped him and he walked over to the window as Renamon leaned him down from his beard.

 

“Are you still mad at me?” Renamon asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Good! Now get back inside, I’ve got a nice treat waiting for you in the bedroom,” she sensually cooed with a foxy grin and landed a soft kiss on his upper muzzle. Leomon grinned back and couldn’t turn her offer down, starting to love the little surprises she had in store for him.

 

 

######################## 

 

 

Later that night, as Renamon went over to Vermon’s room to check on him, she was very surprised to find it empty.

 

“Vermon?!” she called out for him, but there wasn’t any sign of Vermon, or any of his belongings either. All that she found was an open window, and after further inspection, a little note placed on top of the bed. She picked it up and began to read it:

 

“I’m sorry about leaving without a proper farewell, but I never was the good-bye type. So much has happened since we met and I can say that I’ve changed for the better, even if for a little right now, but that’s as good for a start as anything. I’ve got to thank you for this, Renamon. I wish you all the happiness in the world. You have a special place in my heart and I’ll always remember you.

              

Farewell and hope to see you again soon, my beautiful vixen…

 

                                                                                       With love;

                  

                    Vermillionmon.

 

P.S. I’ll really miss that kid’s cooking too. Make sure to gave him my regards and tell him so.”

 

“I’ll never forget you either, Vermon…” Renamon softly said as she finished the note and folded it nicely in her paws, a gentle smile appearing on her sad face. 

 

 

############################ 

 

 

At that moment, at the town’s gate, while the sky was snowing endlessly…

 

“It’s very rude to leave without saying goodbye, you know?” Vermon’s ears picked up the voice of Leomon speaking behind him, as he was about to sneak through the gate outside town, but Leomon caught him in the act before he could.

 

“Heh, you have some sense of surrounding, I give you that,” Vermon admirably stated with a chuckle. “Came to see me off and bid me farewell?”

 

“More like making sure you’re really gone for good. May I ask you where are you going, by the way?”

 

“No idea. I’ll just go where my feet take me. Any suggestions?”

 

“There’s a port town to the south of here where you can take a boat. It’s only a few hours away. Worry about your options once you get there.” 

 

“Really? That’s quite helpful of you. I guess you’re okay after all, we could’ve been good friends if it wasn’t for you-know-who, don’t you agree?” Vermon said with a devious smile.

 

“I try not to and save me the dilemma,” Leomon replied and made Vermon laugh.

 

“Oh, quite humorous too. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet up again someday, eh?”

 

“Let’s just hope not.”

 

“Heh, too true,” Vermon smiled. “That Renamon is one special girl. You better be good to her, because if you don’t, I won’t hesitate for a second to make her mine the next time I see her.”

 

“You don’t have to worry about that ever happening,” Leomon reassured to him with a sure smile.

 

“Too bad... Ah well, I’ll be off then. See you around,” with him saying that, Vermon turned his back to Leomon and began to walk away without looking back, as Leomon stood in his place and watched him slowly disappear within the darkness of the woods, eventually returning back home.

 

 

###############################

 

 

It was another busy day at the port town, the harbor bustling with Digimon and ships that were going and arriving. Among the mass of Digimon was a distinguished one, wearing a long dark coat. He was strolling around the docks, gathering info about any interesting lands he didn’t venture into yet. He stopped by the port office and met up with the manager.

 

“Here’s the ships that’ll be leaving for today. Pick the one you fancy the most. Careful, it ain’t cheap,” the manager, who was a humble Gekidomon, handed the ship flyers to the wolf, bearing information about their destination.

 

“Hmm, quite a tough choice… Tell you what, I’ll take these with me and think about it at the pub,” Vermon took a glance at the flyers and decided.

 

“Suit yourself,” The Gekidomon said and quickly switched his attention to another client. Vermon left the port office, still examining the flyers and trying to decide which trip to take. Just then, he noticed a Gatomon running in front of him, with a Kumamon and a Pumpkinmon not so far behind.

 

“Come on your two! The tickets to the middle continent are gonna be sold out if we don’t hurry!” Gatomon nagged on her two companions, both of them panting in exhaustion from carrying so much luggage.

 

“Can’t you… slow down… a little bit?” Pumpkinmon complained.

 

“Aw, buck up, Pumpkinmon! Think of all the new treasures we’re gonna find there! Let’s go!” Kumamon excitedly said and raced Pumpkinmon.

 

“Hey! Wait up!”

 

Vermon watched the threesome scurrying off into the port office and after overhearing what they had just said; he flipped between the flyers and found the one advertising the ship that was heading to the vast Middle Continent, his face bearing an intrigued look.

 

“Ah, what the hell? Like I always say: When in doubt, flip a coin,” The sliver furred wolf smirked to himself and as he said, he tossed a golden coin in the air.

 

 

 

 

The End?

 

 

Well folks, that’s the end of my little side story about the Virus Hunter, Vermon. Hope you find it enjoyable while it lasted. If any of you peeps wondering about what’s gonna happen next, then stay tuned, because I’m far from done with my Digimon characters! ^_^

 

Very special thanks for my good friend, El Intruder, for cooperating in creating this series. And also, thanks to ThunderEchoes, for trying to proofread them.

 

That’s all, thank you for reading and hope you’ve enjoyed. ^_^ I’ll still be writing some other stuff other than this series, so wish me luck. If any of you have any kind of comments, you already know where to send them.

Goodnight, Digi-Believers! ^_~

 

hazanz@hotmail.com