Chapter 139: The Pointless Inner Struggle
Myotismon had shifted the entirety of his dark ambitions toward the Human World. Having finalized his grim arrangements, the vampire lord turned his back on his domain, stepping through the swirling dimensional gate hidden deep within the bowels of his castle.
The moment his towering silhouette vanished into the rift, the suffocating, blood-chilling pressure that constantly shrouded the fortress began to dissipate. The air grew lighter, the oppressive dread lifting from the cold stone corridors.
In the wake of his departure, the sinister figure of LadyDevimon began to shrink. Dark data fragmented and dissolved around her, condensing until she reverted to her smaller, far less imposing form as BlackGatomon.
She stood absolutely still in the cavernous chamber. Her feline eyes remained locked onto the rippling surface of the mysterious gate, her mind drifting far away. The hypnotic hum of the portal completely consumed her attention. She did not hear the soft, padded footsteps approaching over the stone floor.
It was only when a familiar voice broke the silence that she finally snapped out of her trance.
"BlackGatomon. You exposed your true strength back there." The voice was raspy but calm. "Is that really a wise move?"
BlackGatomon blinked, turning her head to see BlackAgumon standing beside her. His golden eyes watched her with quiet intensity. A brief silence stretched between them before she offered a slow, deliberate shake of her head.
"It is fine. Everything remains within my calculations." She turned her gaze back to the swirling portal. "The reason I concealed my power initially was twofold. I needed to gauge the absolute limits of Myotismon's strength, yes. But more, I needed to uncover his true underlying motives."
Her mind replayed the chillingly pragmatic orders the vampire lord had issued. Without holding anything back, she relayed the entirety of Myotismon's grand design to her companion.
"But I only realized my error a short while ago," she murmured, her tail twitching in mild frustration. "I was ridiculously wrong."
BlackAgumon tilted his head, listening intently.
"Myotismon does not care about loyalty. Not in the slightest." BlackGatomon let out a long, exhausted breath. "To him, subordinates are merely tools. He only cares whether the Digimon beneath him execute their assigned tasks. As long as the results meet his exacting standards, the concept of devotion is entirely meaningless to him."
BlackAgumon crossed his dark, clawed arms, a thoughtful expression crossing his reptilian face. "Well, I suppose that clarifies his management style. Honestly, this is even worse than Etemon. At the very least, that singing buffoon cared about his audience and his lackeys to some twisted degree."
A sharp thwack echoed through the chamber.
BlackAgumon stumbled forward, clutching the back of his head where a black paw had just connected with blinding speed.
"Do not mention that grating idiot to me!" BlackGatomon hissed, her fur bristling.
"...Can you still not face your own past?" BlackAgumon muttered, rubbing his sore scales. He offered her a deeply unimpressed eye-roll, completely unfazed by her outburst.
Despite his Rookie status, BlackAgumon possessed a grounded maturity that vastly outstripped the chaotic nature of his peers. He shook off the sting and steered the conversation back to the pressing issue at hand.
"So, what is our next move, BlackGatomon? Do we continue playing along with Myotismon's script? Are we actually going to funnel Digimon through to the Human World for his army?"
Having absorbed the full scope of the situation, BlackAgumon stepped closer to the dimensional rift, sizing up the swirling vortex of alien data with genuine curiosity.
BlackGatomon, however, seemed to lose her sharp edge. Her gaze drifted, her posture slumping into something uncharacteristically absent-minded.
"...We will just play along with his grand ideas," she replied, her voice lacking its usual bite. "After all, the Digital World will never suffer a shortage of violent fools who crave chaos and plunder. Instead of letting those rabid beasts tear our home apart, we might as well herd them all through that gate."
She let out a hollow, cynical chuckle. "If we drive the worst of them into the Human World, our own world might actually experience a fleeting moment of peace."
"BlackGatomon..."
BlackAgumon slowly lowered his claws. He turned away from the hypnotic pull of the portal, fixing his companion with a heavy, piercing stare.
"Are you being serious right now?" His tone dropped, carrying a warning weight. "Do you not realize that the Human World is the domain of His Excellency—"
"I know!" The scream tore from BlackGatomon's throat, sharp and jagged.
BlackAgumon flinched slightly at the raw volume. He watched her chest heave, her claws digging into the stone floor. A heavy silence settled over them, broken only by her ragged breathing.
When he finally spoke, his voice carried a deep, helpless sorrow.
"BlackGatomon. I understand the depth of your feelings." He took a slow, deliberate step toward her. "But I need you to be absolutely clear on one fundamental truth. Whatever His Excellency Mizuki chooses to do... that is his freedom."
In that moment, the small black reptile carried the presence of a weathered elder. His tone softened, attempting to anchor his spiraling companion. "We have already received an immeasurable amount of grace from him. We cannot afford to be entirely selfish. We cannot only think of our own desires."
"I am not just thinking of myself!" BlackGatomon snapped, her fangs bared in a desperate snarl. "What do you know about the depths of my mind? Do not lecture me from some moral high ground!"
She lashed out against his calm reasoning, her voice echoing off the cold walls. Yet, as she met BlackAgumon's gaze—steady, soft, and completely devoid of judgment—the fiery defense died in her throat. The aggressive tension drained from her small frame, leaving behind nothing but a crushing melancholy. Her ears drooped flat against her head.
"I know... BlackAgumon," she whispered, the fight completely gone from her. "I know."
She looked down at her own trembling paws. "But... just the mere thought of returning to those dark, sunless days. The endless, suffocating void of our past. I really..."
A violent shudder wracked her body. She pressed her paws tightly against her chest, digging her claws into her own fur in a desperate bid to anchor her spiraling emotions.
"BlackAgumon... you of all people should understand this terror, right?"
The unspoken truth hung heavy in the air between them. They could have easily endured the eternal darkness, had they never been shown the blinding warmth of the light.
BlackAgumon watched the agonizing conflict tearing at her soul. He let out a long, quiet sigh that seemed to carry the weight of their shared history. He closed the distance between them, his heavy footfalls echoing softly.
"Yes. I can indeed understand," he murmured. "His Excellency's existence in our lives feels exactly like a dream. It is so deeply beautiful that it borders on the unreal."
A desperate, fragile spark of hope ignited in BlackGatomon's tear-filled eyes. "In that case—" she began, her voice hitching with sudden expectation.
"But his existence is not a dream. And he does not belong exclusively to us."
BlackAgumon's sharp pivot cut her off instantly. Standing directly in front of her, he locked his golden eyes onto hers, delivering his verdict with absolute, unyielding conviction.
"BlackGatomon. I feel your terror. I share it. But my stance remains unchanged. We cannot chain him to our own selfish fears." He gestured toward the swirling vortex of the gate. "I will respect His Excellency Mizuki's ultimate choice. Whether he decides to remain here and forge a future in the Digital World, or whether he chooses to step through that rift and return to his original home. I will honor his will above my own."
The fragile spark of hope in BlackGatomon's eyes flickered, choked out by a sudden, chilling frost. The light died completely, replaced by a deep, swirling abyss of chaotic obsession.
Her breathing slowed. The temperature around her seemed to plummet.
'Talking so grandly about loyalty to His Excellency Mizuki...'A dark, dangerous whisper echoed through the corridors of her mind.'In the end, am I the only one who truly understands devotion? Am I the only one willing to do whatever it takes to keep him?'Her gaze locked onto BlackAgumon, her pupils narrowing into razor-thin slits.'A traitorous fool like this, who refuses to bind His Excellency to our side... he is not truly loyal.'
Dark data began to pool at the tips of her claws. She slipped into a deadly silence, her muscles coiling tight as a murderous intent began to bloom in her chest. She was just about to strike, to silence this weak-willed obstacle forever, when BlackAgumon suddenly tilted his head, completely oblivious to his impending doom.
"Honestly, BlackGatomon, are you getting stuck in your own head again?" he asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Even if His Excellency wants to leave, so what?"
He pointed a blunt claw directly at the massive, swirling portal.
"The gate is sitting right in front of us. We can literally just walk through it and follow him to the Human World. Why are you acting like him leaving means we have to stay behind?"
The dark, murderous aura pooling around BlackGatomon vanished instantly, popping like a soap bubble.
"...Meow?"
She stared blankly at the black reptile. Her jaw went slack, dropping open in sheer, unadulterated stupidity. Her brain stalled. She opened her mouth to argue, to defend her tragic, melodramatic despair, but absolutely no sound came out. The gears in her head ground to a screeching halt.
What BlackAgumon just said... it made perfect, obvious sense.
They could just follow him. The door was open. Nobody was stopping them.
If that was the case... what in the name of the Digital World was the point of her agonizing, tear-jerking inner conflict just a moment ago?!
The realization hit her like a runaway Trailmon. A violent, burning flush of crimson exploded across BlackGatomon's face, visible even through her dark fur. The sheer embarrassment was enough to make her want to dig a hole through the stone floor and bury herself alive.
"BlackAgumon..." she squeaked, her voice trembling for an entirely different reason now.
"Hmm? I am right here," he replied, blinking innocently.
"Can you... completely erase the last five minutes from your memory?"
"Erase it? What are you talking abou—"
In the split second that BlackAgumon stood dazed and confused, BlackGatomon launched herself through the air like a coiled spring, her claws extended in a desperate bid to silence the sole witness to her monumental stupidity.
Fortunately, BlackAgumon's survival instincts were honed to perfection. Before his conscious mind could even process the sudden assault, his body jerked backward. He barely managed to evade the flurry of razor-sharp swipes that tore through the empty air where his face had just been.
Stumbling back, BlackAgumon stared at the wildly flailing, utterly vicious feline. A rare flash of genuine panic broke through his usual calm demeanor.
"BlackGatomon, have you completely lost your mind?!" he yelled, scrambling backward to put distance between them. "Are you actually trying to murder me?!"
"Murder you?! I just might have to!" BlackGatomon shrieked, her face still burning with a toxic mixture of deep shame and absolute rage. "If you refuse to forget my embarrassing monologue, then your data must be deleted!"
Throwing all dignity to the wind, she kicked off the stone floor, pouncing at the retreating reptile with a flurry of frantic swipes.
"Just die and take my embarrassment to the grave, meow!!!"
"I do not understand women at all!!!" BlackAgumon wailed, turning tail and sprinting for his life down the dark corridor.
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