Chapter 148: Impmon's Vow to Leave the Past Behind
"Gatomon, Zubamon, are you awake?"
A muffled, familiar voice drifted through the heavy metal door. "It's me, BlackAgumon."
Inside the dim cabin, Mizuki and Belle exchanged a quick glance. Mizuki drew a breath, preparing to call back, but a sudden shift in the air caught him off guard. Before he could utter a single syllable, Belle leaned in. Soft lips pressed a quiet, fleeting kiss against his cheek.
Mizuki froze. He blinked, shooting her a look composed entirely of question marks.
Belle merely tilted her head, a mischievous glint in her eyes. 'Mimi-chan said that creating unexpected excitement is a vital part of keeping a relationship fresh, de-su~♪' her voice echoed cheerfully in his mind through their telepathic link.
Mizuki's eye twitched. '...Please, for the love of the Digital World, stop taking relationship advice from Mimi.''Ehhh~~?' Belle pouted, drawing out the syllable in feigned disappointment.
Before she could plot another ambush, a second round of knocking rattled the doorframe.
"Zubamon? Gatomon?"
"We're awake!" Mizuki called out, his tone perfectly steady despite the fact that he was currently using one arm to physically block Belle from launching a second sneak attack. "Is something the matter, Big Brother BlackAgumon?"
Ignoring Belle's sullen, thoroughly unimpressed glare, he stepped away and pulled the heavy door open.
The corridor lights spilled into the room. Mizuki expected to see only the dark-scaled dinosaur, but his gaze immediately dropped to the small, familiar figure standing right beside BlackAgumon.
A diminutive body, sharp claws, and a pair of tiny, bat-like wings twitching nervously on her back.
"Aieeeee! Gatomon!"
Before Mizuki could even offer a greeting, the little demon shrieked. She leaped straight up into the air, her limbs flailing wildly as if someone had stomped hard on her tail.
"Why is there a Gatomon here?!" she screeched, scrambling backward until her back hit the corridor wall.
It was Impmon. The exact same Impmon that BlackGatomon had dragged back from the brink of deletion earlier that day.
Mizuki studied her with mild amusement. Her recovery rate was genuinely commendable. Just that morning, she had looked like a stiff breeze would scatter her data to the winds. Now, as evening settled over the cruise ship, she appeared almost entirely healed, practically vibrating with frantic energy.
One had to wonder if she had built up a natural resistance to trauma from getting beaten up so frequently... He coughed softly, clearing the uncharitable thought from his mind.
"Calm down, Impmon," BlackAgumon urged. Seeing the little demon bare her fangs and drop into a hostile crouch, the dark dinosaur quickly stepped between them, using his sturdy arms to block her from launching herself into the room.
"BlackAgumon, what are you doing?!" Impmon snapped, struggling against his grip. "Gatomon is a traitor! Let me at her!"
"Look closely," BlackAgumon instructed, his voice low and steady. "This Gatomon isn't the one you knew. She's a newcomer."
"A newcomer?"
Impmon stopped thrashing. She blinked, her chest heaving as she peered around BlackAgumon's arm to properly size Belle up.
Digimon possessed an innate, instinctual method of reading data signatures. As Impmon narrowed her eyes, the aggressive tension slowly drained from her shoulders. She realized the truth quickly enough. Despite sharing the exact same white fur, striped gloves, and holy ring, the underlying data core was entirely different. This was not the Gatomon she despised.
Even so, the deep-seated bitterness tied to that species meant Impmon's glare remained sharp and entirely unfriendly. She crossed her arms, turning her head away with a sharp huff.
"Really now..." BlackAgumon sighed, watching Impmon retreat to sulk against the far wall. He turned back to Mizuki and Belle, offering an apologetic shrug. "Sorry about that. My friend here is a bit... sensitive toward the Gatomon species. Some bad history."
"I am not afraid of any Gatomon!" Impmon bristled instantly, her pride stung. She jabbed a clawed finger toward the open door. "BlackAgumon, you tell her to bring it on! I'll take her right now!"
BlackAgumon raised both hands in a placating gesture, slipping right back into his role as the exhausted peacekeeper. "Alright, alright, I know you aren't afraid of Gatomon. I never said you were afraid, did I?"
"Hmph!" Impmon kicked at the floor plating, her voice dripping with indignant resentment. "Whatever. I'll evolve to the Champion level sooner or later. And when that day comes, I am definitely going to track down that traitorous Gatomon and settle things once and for all!"
While Impmon didn't actually hate her current life, she had firmly pinned the blame for all her recent miseries on that original Gatomon's desertion. Deep down, she likely knew it was just displaced anger. Given Myotismon's cruel, tyrannical nature, she would have inevitably faced the same brutal treatment regardless of whether Gatomon had stayed or fled.
But the current Impmon desperately needed a focal point. She needed a tangible target to represent her own weakness, a milestone she could crush to finally say goodbye to her pathetic past.
And her old rival, Gatomon, fit that role perfectly.
BlackAgumon clearly understood this psychological crutch. He offered no further arguments, trusting that Impmon would eventually figure out where to draw the line.
Dismissing the little demon's grumbling, BlackAgumon returned his attention to the pair in the doorway.
Belle tilted her head, her large blue eyes wide with perfectly feigned innocence. "Excuse me, Big Brother BlackAgumon. Was there another Gatomon here before us?"
"Yes, there was," BlackAgumon replied, his tone softening as he looked down at Belle's cute, non-threatening disguise. "But she deserted her post not too long ago."
"She betrayed us?" Belle gasped softly.
"No. She betrayed Lord Myotismon." BlackAgumon paused, his brow furrowing slightly as he considered his next words. "Or rather... I don't think she ever truly served him to begin with. Lord Myotismon doesn't build his army on loyalty. He controls his subordinates entirely through fear."
A heavy, reflective silence settled over the dark dinosaur. It was a harsh truth of their existence. Everything in the Digital World was relative. When compared to the cold, calculating cruelty of Myotismon, even an arrogant, obnoxious tyrant like Etemon could probably be ranked among the top ten most conscientious bosses alive.
As for who the other nine were? BlackAgumon certainly didn't know.
While BlackAgumon lost himself in grim thoughts about their employer, Mizuki's mind raced along an entirely different track. The pieces of the puzzle clicked together effortlessly.
The Gatomon under Myotismon's command.
He knew exactly who that was. Her true identity was Kari's destined partner. Long ago, while she was still just a fragile Digi-Egg, the dark forces had launched a devastating attack. During the chaotic escape, Gennai—the loyal servant of Homeostasis—had accidentally dropped her egg. Separated from the rest of the Chosen Children's partners, she had been forced to survive alone, eventually falling into Myotismon's cruel grasp.
But that specific train of thought brought up a glaring, unresolved question: Where exactly was Gennai?
Mizuki had been keeping a sharp eye out for the elusive old man ever since their journey began. Gennai was supposed to be a crucial guide, yet Mizuki had found absolutely zero trace of him. It was as if the servant of Homeostasis had vanished into thin air—or perhaps, in this altered timeline, he had never existed at all.
This presented a significant tactical problem. In Mizuki's memory of the original events, the "keys" required to unlock the dimensional gate hidden deep within Myotismon's castle were a specific set of magical cards. Myotismon possessed one deck, and Gennai held the exact duplicate.
If Gennai was truly gone, acquiring that second set of cards to open the gateway to the Real World would be impossible.
Mizuki narrowed his eyes slightly. Of course, the gate isn't entirely dependent on the cards. Given Belle's unique abilities and his own understanding of digital architecture, they could potentially force the gate open by brute-forcing and deciphering its core data.
However, hacking a dimensional gateway would introduce a massive number of unpredictable variables. A single miscalculation could scatter their data across the void between worlds.
Deciding it was a problem for another day, Mizuki mentally shelved the issue, smoothing his expression back into a mask of polite curiosity.
BlackAgumon had shaken off his melancholy and finally arrived at the actual reason for his visit.
"Anyway, it's getting late," the dark dinosaur said, gesturing down the long, metallic corridor. "It's almost time for the evening meal. Since you two just arrived, you probably don't know where the cafeteria is on this ship, do you?"
"We don't," Mizuki admitted, stepping out into the hall with Belle trailing closely behind him.
"Let me take you there."
"We'll be troubling you then, Big Brother BlackAgumon," Mizuki replied, offering a respectful nod.
BlackAgumon waved a clawed hand dismissively, a rare, genuine smile touching his reptilian features. "No need to be polite. We're companions now."
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]