Chapter 145: If We Expose Ourselves, We've Lost
A gateway to the Human World.
That single, chilling revelation was the anchor holding BlackAgumon and the rest of the resistance back, forcing them to bide their time in the shadows.
It was a tactical nightmare. If they launched an assault and failed to obliterate Myotismon in the very first strike—or if they couldn't secure the gate beforehand—the vampire lord would simply step backward through the rift. He would vanish into the Human World, slipping through their fingers like cold mist.
That outcome was unacceptable. It would mean unleashing an apex predator into a defenseless dimension, creating an untraceable, ever-present threat. Sure, they might manage to barricade the gateway temporarily, but who could guarantee that Myotismon wouldn't simply tear open a second rift from the other side once he had recovered his strength?
As BlackAgumon's gravelly voice laid out the grim reality, a subtle, strange glint flickered across Belle's eyes. Her ears twitched slightly beneath her disguise. She remembered this. She remembered Mizuki casually dropping those exact words a while ago.
A gateway to the Human World... She hadn't expected his offhand comment to manifest into cold, hard reality.
Could this whole mess actually be tied to GranDracmon, just like Mizu predicted?
Feeling the weight of her stare, Mizuki shifted his gaze toward Belle. Catching the intense, questioning gleam in her eyes, he immediately knew what she was thinking. A faint, helpless smile tugged at his lips, and he offered a microscopic shrug.
Who can really say for sure? he projected through their silent bond, his tone light and unapologetic. I was just throwing ideas at the wall back then. Sure, there's a documented evolutionary link connecting Myotismon to GranDracmon, but jumping to conclusions based on a wild guess? That's a bit too hasty, even for me.
Belle let out a soft, internal hum, a mental ~♪ of amusement echoing in his mind. Through a mere exchange of glances, their deeply rooted bond allowed them to hold an entire conversation in the span of a heartbeat, entirely undetected.
Pacing ahead of them down the dimly lit corridor, BlackAgumon remained blissfully oblivious to their telepathic exchange. His expression was carved from stone as he continued his grim briefing.
"—So, to sum it all up, our only viable option right now is to wait. We hold our ground until the perfect moment presents itself."
"I understand the logic, but—" Mizuki let his sentence hang in the air for a second. As BlackAgumon paused and glanced back over his shoulder, Mizuki tilted his head, feigning the innocent curiosity of a fresh recruit. "Is it really a good idea to spill such critical intelligence to a couple of newcomers like us?"
"Under normal circumstances? Absolutely not." BlackAgumon stopped, his sharp, golden eyes slowly sizing up the two disguised Digimon standing before him. The heavy, serious aura surrounding him held for a long moment before melting into a surprisingly warm, rumbling chuckle. "But since BlackGatomon gave you two her seal of approval, there's no need for me to keep my guard up."
He crossed his dark, clawed arms over his chest, a fond smirk crossing his reptilian snout. "That BlackGatomon... sure, she usually acts like a reckless wild child. But when it comes to judging character, protecting her companions, and serving that Esteemed Figure? She's surprisingly reliable. She doesn't trust easily."
If you doubt someone, don't use them. If you use them, don't doubt them.
Mizuki mused silently, appreciating the straightforward, pragmatic leadership of the resistance. As those thoughts settled in his mind, BlackAgumon's heavy footsteps slowed, bringing them to a halt in front of a polished metal door.
"We still have a few spare guest cabins left on this cruise ship," BlackAgumon announced, gesturing to the door with a claw. "This room will be for you, Zubamon." He then turned his attention to Belle's disguised form. "As for you, Gatomon, come with me. Your quarters are—"
"No need! We want to stay together, desu!"
Before the dark dinosaur could even finish his sentence, Belle blurted out her refusal, her voice pitching up in a sudden spike of eager panic.
"Desu?"
BlackAgumon blinked, a scaly brow ridge rising in genuine surprise. The sudden, overly polite verbal tic was entirely out of place. Under his sharp, questioning stare, Belle froze. Realizing the massive slip of character she had just committed, she slapped both paws over her mouth and immediately darted behind Mizuki, using his golden armor as a shield.
Mizuki suppressed a sigh, forcing a helpless, apologetic smile onto his face as he looked at the bewildered resistance fighter. "Don't mind her. It's just a weird little verbal tic she developed. My companion gets easily flustered in new environments, and it just slips out when she's nervous."
BlackAgumon didn't respond immediately. He stared blankly at the space Belle had just occupied, seemingly lost in a sudden memory.
"BlackAgumon?" Mizuki prompted gently, keeping his tone light.
"...Ah. Sorry, I got distracted for a second there." Snapping back to reality, BlackAgumon rubbed the back of his head with a claw, his stern demeanor returning as he cleared his throat. "It's nothing serious."
A knowing glint returned to his eyes. "In fact, our BlackGatomon has a very similar habit when she gets nervous. Though, if you ever tell her I said that, she'll claw my eyes out."
Mizuki let out a soft laugh, waving a hand dismissively. "I understand completely. Your secret is safe with us."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries and watching BlackAgumon march off down the corridor, Mizuki and Belle finally slipped inside the assigned cabin. The heavy door hissed shut behind them, locking with a satisfying click.
The room wasn't particularly spacious, but it was pristine, outfitted with a plush bed, a small desk, and an en-suite bathroom.
"These kids are actually doing quite well for themselves," Mizuki murmured, running a hand along the polished wood of the desk.
"Um... Mizu."
Mizuki turned at the sound of her voice. The lively, energetic aura Belle had carried just moments ago had completely evaporated. She stood near the edge of the bed, her small paws fidgeting together, her expression clouded with genuine anxiety.
"Mizu... do you think BlackAgumon has already noticed something? Did I ruin it?"
"...Oh, you mean the hallway incident." Mizuki blinked, initially startled by her sudden drop in confidence, before a warm, reassuring smile spread across his face. He walked over and gently patted the top of her head, his touch grounding her. "Don't be so nervous. It was just a tiny verbal tic."
He dropped his hand, leaning back against the wall. "You know BlackAgumon's personality. He's straightforward and pragmatic. He wouldn't make wild, inexplicable leaps in logic just because you said a funny word."
"Not to mention," he continued, his eyes crinkling with amusement, "the Champion-level form you displayed earlier wasn't even Gatomon, but BlackGatomon. The disguise holds up."
He pushed off the wall, stretching his arms overhead with a lazy groan. "Besides," he added, his tone shifting into something far lighter and more carefree, "even if our cover gets blown, it's really no big deal, right? We're on the same side. If they figure it out, we can just drop the act and openly admit who we are."
He expected her to relax at that logic. Instead, the moment the words left his mouth, Belle's eyes widened, and she shook her head so vigorously her ears whipped through the air.
"No way!" she declared, her voice ringing with absolute defiance. "I absolutely refuse to fail like that, desu!"
Mizuki stared at her fiercely resistant expression, genuinely taken aback. Belle, who usually approached life with a breezy, chaotic whimsy, was suddenly dead serious. She raised a small, determined paw, pointing it directly at his chest.
"This is our very first secret infiltration mission together, Mizu! We have to execute it flawlessly, desu!" She planted her hands on her hips, her pride clearly wounded by the mere thought of failure. "Think about it! If they can successfully infiltrate right under Myotismon's terrifying nose, but I can't even manage to infiltrate their little group? Doesn't that make me look completely incompetent?!"
Mizuki just stared at her in silence.
...Seriously?
He truly hadn't expected his partner to develop such a bizarre, hyper-focused competitive streak over a fake espionage mission. After letting her impassioned, prideful speech echo in the quiet room, Mizuki slowly nodded, feigning deep, philosophical understanding.
"I hear you. But, Belle..." He crossed his arms, a mischievous, trollish glint entering his eyes as he prepared to dismantle her logic. "BlackAgumon and the resistance chose to infiltrate this place with a very specific goal: to assassinate Myotismon and save their world."
He leaned in closer, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Our purpose in infiltrating was literally just to poke around and see how they were doing. Do you understand what I mean?"
Belle blinked, her fierce posture faltering. "Are... are those two things even related?"
Under her utterly bewildered gaze, Mizuki cleared his throat. He adjusted his posture, looking down at her with the solemn gravity of a grandmaster delivering a harsh truth.
"Of course they are. Simply put: we currently lack any actual, measurable objective." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, his lips twitching upward. "If you are truly this fixated on the concept of 'winning'or'losing' an infiltration game, wouldn't you have already thoroughly lost by participating in a mission that has no win condition?"
The silence that followed was absolute.
Just as Mizuki finished delivering his devastatingly logical troll logic, Belle's impassioned, competitive little face completely froze, her brain visibly short-circuiting as she tried to process the absolute nonsense he had just fed her.
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