wrecking_yard

( Just a matter of time - it's another lie )
The side passage goes into one of the bigger reservoirs; Sangloupmon jumps down from a walkway to the larger concrete platforms where almost everyone else is, jaws snapping shut on one of the smaller aquatic types as he lands.  

There’s not many of the smaller ones; they’re wising up.  There are a couple more of the seaserpents, and one bigger one with jagged red scales and partial gleaming armor.  I can see Arukenimon up in a darker corner of the walls, with her Dokugumon scattered around the walls in numbers, coming up over the edges of the platforms here and there.  

Greymon’s bigger, with the start of blue wings and metal armor, metal blades for claws; Takuma’s doggedly staying a couple steps behind, just barely keeping enough distance to not get accidentally hit by something but in range for Greymon to react if something grabs at him.   Veggiemon’s covering a defensible spot with Aoi, Miu, and Saki, Shuuji’s sitting on the ground by an edge looking dazed with Ryo standing over him and some taller green insectoid with a spear darting about fending off reinforcements, Haru and Miyuki are sticking to darker corners, Shellmon is helping Greymon push toward the big one.  It takes a second to pick out Lopmon, but there’s a distinctly rabbit-eared figure helping out on the bigger platform.  There’s four black wings crossing the area moving fast and I think Minoru’s with Yatagarasumon.  

I slide off Sangloupmon’s back.  “Go get’em, I’m gonna play distraction and stay back.”  The wolf nods, then leaps forward, changing mid-jump to the new form; there’s movement up in the corner, as Arukenimon is clearly tracking his arrival and not looking happy about it.  

One of the few little guys tries to grab onto my ankle as I’m crossing the walkways and platforms, but he’s easy to punt off the edge, little frustrated burbles echoing up from the water after the splash.  

I get to the corner Veggiemon’s defending, ducking under her vines; Miu actually takes a step forward looking relieved before she catches herself, and there’s three almost overlapping calls of “Kaito!”, and a jumble of “You’re okay!”, “You’re alive!”, and “You’re a mess!”.

The last one is punctuated by Aoi grabbing my arm to drag me over, trying to look me over for any blood.  

“I’m fine, just got a bit banged up before Dracmon found me.”  

She frowns at me; I have no idea if there’s any visible bruises.  

“Is everyone alright?  Miu, are you okay?”  

Miu rolls her eyes a little.  

“We’re okay - everybody’s a little shaken but we’re okay.”  Aoi sound like she’s trying to convince herself of that.  She grabs my wrist as I turn to leave the alcove with a frustrated noise.  “You need to stop trying to fight like that!”  

“I’m not charging in with the big guys, I’m just gonna check on everyone else!”  

She hangs onto my wrist, glaring at me.  “You had better not get injured again.”  

I make a couple frustrated gestures at the chaos, and she lets go, folding her arms and glaring at me as I head out.  

Haru hisses at me when I get close, and glares when I point out the alcove Veggiemon’s secured; Miyuki looks fine, so I move on and leave them be.  Takuma’s fine, if harried, doing callouts for our partners.  

Somehow, Ryo looks the least shaken of anyone there besides Takuma - a little jumpy but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t.  Shuuji doesn’t even seem to notice when I get close, although Kunemon’s new form moves to cover me in case anything tries.  

“You all started without me!”  

Ryo half-laughs.  “We tried, man, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.”  

“What’s with our Lord and Master here?”  I motion at Shuuji, who still hasn’t looked up.

Ryo sighs, the brief bravado vanishing into tired.  “Whatever was up with that fog messed with him harder than any of us - Takuma we think he might’ve been the main target with this one.  Seems like everybody got visions of their partners being jerks on top of the other shit.”  

“Yeah.  Caught the one after me slipping up, then I tried to jump the thing in the water; that’s when Dracmon found me.”  

Ryo nods soberly.  “I had it easier.  Couldn’t understand the fakes at all.  The other crap was pretty bad, but I wasn’t gonna fall for it twice.”  

So he was the best off of anyone; that’s good at least.  

“So they were trying to get us turning on them?”  

“My guess, yeah, and we all know who the easy mark was.  I had to clock him good before I had a shot at snapping my him out of it.”  

“I really missed out.”  

He snerks; I don’t think Shuuji’s even noticed I’m here.

“Anyway he kinda fell apart apologizing to Lopmon and begging them to help, Lopmon finally got their new form, and he’s been like this since; Arukenimon pitched a fit, so we’re keeping an eye on him until we can get out of here.”  

“You know the girls dug in pretty good - think we can get him there?”  I gesture back the way I came.

“Really?  Shit.  I figured they were fine since their partners aren’t freaking out.”  He’s craning around trying to see; looking back, it’s not even visible from here besides an occasional flash of vines.  

“Where Veggiemon is?”  The voice is inhuman, but it’s recognizably related to Kunemon’s normal screeching and chirping, and I need a second to catch up that they can talk in that form.  

“Uh - yeah.”

The big insectoid nods and scoops Shuuji up; he squawks and squirms, then seems to at least recognize that they’re not a threat and balls up against them.  They move out to lead, and even carrying Shuuji, they sweep a couple Dokugumon out of our way easily.  

I peel off before they reach the alcove, letting Ryo know I’m going to back Takuma up.  By the time I get there, the main fight’s moved to a higher platform; Takuma’s hanging back on the stairs, getting covered by Minoru and Yatagarasumon.