Chapter 39: Dawn is Coming
"Uh… Taichi, are you serious about this?"
"That's enough, Koushiro! Don't try to talk me out of it. My mind is made up!"
"..."
Koushiro watched Taichi, who was practically vibrating with motivation, and opened his mouth to protest. But the words died on his tongue. After a long, silent moment, he gave up. There was no reasoning with Taichi when he got like this.
Besides, their other companions were already getting into the spirit of it. Even the normally cool-headed Yamato Ishida was no exception.
Just then, Tentomon gently patted his partner's hand.
"Koushiro-han, I think all you can do right now is smile."
"Smile...?" Koushiro blinked, recalling the absurd scene he had just witnessed. Helpless, he could only accept reality.
"Gather your courage! Let your emotions boil over!" Taichi roared, his voice filled with passion.
"Digi-Soul!"
"Now is the time—!"
Before Koushiro's bewildered gaze, Taichi swung his fist toward a large, unsuspecting tree.
"Fist of the North… no, wait! The Yagami Hundred-Crack Fist!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA—!"
"Taichi's so cool! I'm joining in!" Agumon yelled, feeding off his partner's energy and unleashing a continuous barrage of his own special attack. "Baby Flame! Baby Flame! Baby Flame!"
"..."
Besides Koushiro, Gatomon and Kari were also watching the spectacle from the sidelines.
Gatomon admitted she didn't quite get it, but she was supportive still.
Putting everything else aside, the sheer momentum was impressive... As for Kari?
Her expression was the living embodiment of a meme: Everything my big brother does is perfect.
And just like that, a fever of chuunibyou-inspired battle cries swept through the DigiDestined.
The culprit who had started it all, however, had already set out on his own journey once more...
—
File Island, somewhere in a dense forest—
Even with LadyDevimon's ability to fly, night had already fallen by the time Mizuki and his partner reached their destination.
The forest, which would have been perilous even in daylight, was now shrouded in a deadly, unnatural silence. The usual chorus of nocturnal Digimon was absent, replaced by an oppressive stillness. Mizuki suspected it was because the native Digimon had already fallen victim to Devimon. The usual signs of life—tracks, calls, the rustle of movement—were completely gone.
"Mizu, are you really alright?" LadyDevimon's concerned voice came from behind him.
Mizuki turned, offering her a reassuring nod. "I'm fine. The Village of Beginnings is crowded with Digimon. Even if Devimon attacks while we're gone, they'll be safe as long as they stick together." He paused, adding, "Besides, even if Devimon absorbs a massive amount of data, he'll still need time to digest it."
"No, Mizu, you know that's not what I'm talking about!" LadyDevimon interrupted, her tone sharp with worry.
Seeing the raw anxiety etched in her scarlet eyes, Mizuki fell silent for a moment before taking her hand in his.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," he said softly. "Thanks to the power of my Digi-Soul, my physical stamina is far greater than it used to be. Right now, I'm still full of energy."
"..."
But his words did little to ease the tension in LadyDevimon's expression. The worry in her eyes remained, a deep and unyielding shadow.
Seeing this, Mizuki sighed, a hint of helplessness in the sound.
"LadyDevimon, thank you for caring about me so much."
"However, we're on a very tight schedule..." His voice grew serious. "Devimon has already absorbed Monzaemon and is well on his way to the peak of the Ultimate Level. We don't know how much time he needs to achieve that, but for us, it's a ticking time bomb. And since we can't find him, all we can do is react."
In the original story, Devimon's lair was atop Infinity Mountain. But ever since Mizuki's arrival, the butterfly effect had rippled through this world, and Devimon was no longer hiding in such an obvious place.
"Because we're on the back foot, we have to prepare that much harder to face what's coming."
"I understand, Mizu..." LadyDevimon murmured, her free hand clenching into a fist.
'I'm still too weak...'she thought, a familiar frustration rising within her.'Ultimate Level? That's not nearly enough! I have to reach the next level... Yes, I must become a Mega!'
Only as a Mega could she truly possess the power to protect Mizu...
Guided by the Holy Sword in his hand, Mizuki and LadyDevimon handled the dense forest, soon arriving at their destination: a set of ancient ruins hidden deep within File Island.
"The Holy Sword is pointing this way."
After glancing at the slightly trembling parasol in his hand, Mizuki exchanged a look with LadyDevimon. With her at his side, he stepped into the ruins.
Though the exterior was largely intact, the interior showed obvious signs of damage. The ruins bore the scars of a recent battle, and many of the ancient inscriptions on the walls were damaged beyond recognition. The absence of Centarumon, the ruin's traditional guardian, told its own grim story.
"Mizu..."
"Yes," Mizuki affirmed grimly. "Centarumon has likely fallen to Devimon as well."
He recalled how Centarumon had been controlled by a Black Gear in the original story. In that state, it would have been tragically easy for Devimon to absorb his data. Mizuki had once wondered if Centarumon, like Andromon, might be a hidden powerhouse, but that clearly wasn't the case.
If there was any good news to be found, it was that the Holy Sword, the transformed Duramon, was still pointing steadily toward the deepest part of the ruins.
"Devimon didn't take anything from here," Mizuki mused aloud. "Or rather, he didn't know what he was looking at."
Following the sword's guidance, they soon reached the heart of the ruins. In the center of a vast, empty hall stood a massive statue of a dragon's head. Or more accurately, it was a statue of a shield, one carefully carved to resemble the head of a dragon.
"Mizu, is this what we came for?" LadyDevimon asked, her eyes scanning the stone effigy. "But... I can't feel any power coming from it."
"The Holy Sword's guidance can't be wrong. The reason we can't sense any power is likely because this Digimon, which should have manifested as a shield, is currently just a 'dead object.'"
Mizuki murmured his thoughts, reaching out a hand to touch the statue.
The moment his fingers brushed against the cold stone, the world dissolved around him. A dizzying spin, and then... absolute darkness.
When Mizuki opened his eyes again, the scene before him had returned to an all-too-familiar state.
The beginning of everything... or rather, the unbearable past that came before his new beginning.
'An illusion...?'Staring up at the sterile white tiles of the hospital ceiling, a wave of visceral familiarity washed over Mizuki. Everything felt so real.'Or was it all just a dream?'
Those adventures... meeting Nyaromon... everything was so deeply etched into his memory. To be told now that all that beauty, all that life, was nothing more than a fleeting illusion... the cruelty of it was staggering.
"..."
In the crushing silence, Mizuki slowly closed his eyes. Just as he did, he vaguely sensed a presence standing over him.
He opened his eyes again.
Standing before him was a 'better' version of himself—healthy, vibrant, the person he was now.
"So, are you giving up?" the other Mizuki asked, his voice a cold echo of his own. "Ready to abandon that wonderful new life and accept reality? Ready to return to this broken shell of a body?"
The frail, disease-ridden Mizuki on the bed met his own gaze. After a long moment of silence, he gave a slow, deliberate shake of his head.
"Give up?" he whispered, his voice weak but firm. "No. I have never given up."
"Then why don't you stand up?" the healthy Mizuki pressed, taking a step forward. "Why are you lying on this ridiculous sickbed like a weakling who's already accepted his fate?"
He extended a hand. But the Mizuki in the bed simply focused on regulating his breathing, trying to ease the constant ache in his body, before speaking again in a gentle tone.
"I see. Is that how you see it? In your eyes... this is me accepting reality?"
"..."
Amid the other's silence, a soft chuckle escaped the sick Mizuki's lips. "I knew it. You're not me."
"I am you!" the healthy one insisted.
"You are not." Mizuki shook his head again. Even ravaged by illness, his face held no trace of resentment toward his fate. All that remained was the hope that had always yearned for the light, and a strength that had never once bowed.
"If you were really me, you would know... I was never afraid of this."
"Perhaps in your eyes, this past is a life too painful to look back on. But for me, this past... no matter how unbearable, no matter how insignificant it seemed, like a single blade of grass... it's still a part of who I am."
"I will not run from it. I will not abandon him," he said, gesturing to his own frail body. "It is precisely because of the hardships of the past that the me of today was forged. If I were to run from all of this just for a moment of comfort, wouldn't that be a shameful betrayal of the person I've become?"
As Mizuki's words echoed in the void, the hospital room dissolved like smoke. Now, only the two youths remained, standing opposite each other in the darkness.
One, wearing a hospital gown, was utterly weak, yet his eyes held an unquenchable light. The other, exquisitely dressed and the picture of health, was filled with conflict and fear.
Looking at the figure that was his reflection, Mizuki smiled faintly and began to walk toward him. Each step felt like moving through water, a slow, dreamlike journey from one moon to another.
The instant their forms merged, the world fractured. The illusion shattered like a pane of glass, exploding into a million glittering shards—
When Mizuki's consciousness snapped back to his body, the giant shield statue that had stood before him was gone.
"Mizu!"
LadyDevimon's frantic voice cut through the silence. Mizuki turned just in time to catch her as she rushed toward him, and he wrapped her in a firm embrace.
"Mizu, what just happened? You suddenly went completely still! You really, really scared me..."
"It's alright, LadyDevimon. It's alright now," he soothed, gently patting her back. He helped her to her feet, his expression calm. "I was just reminiscing a little."
"Reminiscing?" she asked, looking at him with curiosity. Her gaze then shifted to the spot where the statue had been.
The giant dragon-head shield was gone. In its place, lying on the stone floor beside Mizuki, was a small satchel.
"Mizu, what is that?"
"This?" Mizuki looked down at the satchel, a look of understanding dawning on his face. With a soft laugh, he bent down and picked it up as LadyDevimon watched.
"This," Mizuki said, a soft smile touching his lips, "is my past."
He paused, his grip tightening on the satchel.
"And... it's also my future."
Just as he had declared in the vision, he would move forward, carrying the weight of his past not as a burden, but as a shield. The pain he had endured would be reforged into the power to protect.
The long night was ending.
Dawn was breaking.
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