Chapter 44: His Name was John

Thomas Kasuto

Yew

 

“Goddess Bow!” BioAquarimon fired countless arrows at me, all of which I dodged with remarkable ease in a feat that surprised even myself.

“Irene, please…I promise, nobody will be mad at you! We’ll all do our best to help you if you’d just—”

“The only way for me to reunite with my mother is to do what they say, and right now, they want you dead! Aquarius Knight!” Water pouring from her urn jutted upward and took the shape of an armor-wearing sword-wielding knight. The apparition swung its watery blade as I swung mine; the two weapons collided, and the sword belonging to the Aquarius Knight shattered, turning into hundreds of droplets of water that rained down on the floor. I jumped up and swung my sword once more and vanquished the knight.

“It seems…you are determined to betray us all,” I said.

“Aquarius Beast!” BioAquarimon once again conjured up a watery apparition, this one taking the form of a beast — similar to a Garurumon in appearance — that immediately leapt toward me; I, however, held up my sword. The beast came forth, and though it attempted to pounce on me, my sword cut through its face. The beast continued to fly through the air until my sword had cleaved all the way through down the middle of the beast’s body. This attack shared the same fate as BioAquarimon’s previous one, becoming countless droplets of water that rained onto the floor below.

“Have you got any other attacks you’d like to show me?” I asked as BioAquarimon climbed on top of her urn. The flowing water began swirling around her.

“Aquarius Wyvern!” As more and more water formed around her, the liquid began to take the shape of an enormous dragon.

Abigail

 

“You really shouldn’t have betrayed us, Abigail,” BioReapmon said.

“Please; as if it’s my fault quintessence is incapable of brining someone back to life,” I said. BioReapmon lifted his arm and open-fired at me; one of his bullets nicked my leg as I charged forth and thrusted my arm, turned into a spear, at the arrogant Bio Hybrid, who swiftly and deftly dodged each strike. “I will say this; it was a huge mistake, getting someone like you to help us out!”

“…And why is that, Abigail? Is it because of the special trick I’ve got up my sleeve?” BioReapmon asked. “Or…have you perhaps forgotten…that I can Digivolve?” My heart sank.

“…No…!”

“BioReapmon Digivolve to, BioBeelzemon!”

“…How…how could I have forgotten…” My arm returned to its original form as I looked steadily down.

“What, are you calling it quits already?” BioBeelzemon asked. “Well, too bad; Double Impact!” One of his bullets grazed my arm; the other one found its way into my shoulder. The pain seemed to surge through my entire body, and I was suddenly enveloped in a bright light. BioLadyDevimon vanished, and I stood alone, facing the Mega Digimon.

“No…there’s no hope for me…there’s no way I could fight a Digimon as powerful as this one and win,” I said sadly. “…I know I can’t win…but I don’t want to die…” Thomas…Irene…please forgive me…

“Darkness Claw!”

“No; no, I don’t want to die!” I attempted to duck out of the way, but I was too slow; BioBeelzemon’s claws tore the lower half of my shirt off, leaving my stomach and the Marked symbol completely exposed. Three extremely thin claw marks across my belly bled freely onto the floor.

“Double Impact!” BioBeelzemon drew his two shotguns and fired at me once again. I tried to run as fast as I could, but one of his bullets found its way into my right knee. I fell to the floor, screaming and clutching my bloody leg in pain. BioBeelzemon knelt down over me and grinned viciously. “I’m going to enjoy hearing you scream as I — now, what was it you said you’d rather do than work with us? Oh, yes — as I tear out each of your organs, one at a time. Sit tight; this won’t take too long…”

“Fire Rocket!” What seemed to be a huge flaming missile burst through a nearby window and collided into BioBeelzemon, knocking him off of me just as he had placed an overly sharp claw on my lower lip.

“Got here just in time, it seems,” Flamedramon said, looking down at the unconscious body of BioBeelzemon just as the Bio Hybrid turned back into Michalis.

“…Flamedramon…I…I…”

“What’s that look for? I’m not going to eat you,” Flamedramon said. “I would never hurt anyone who was like me.”

“Like…me? You mean…” I looked up at the tall Digimon, seeing that he was looking intently at my midriff. Under normal circumstances, I’d have been quite flattered, but as he was staring at the Mark, I felt an immense sadness at the memory of the Mark and everything it had done to me. “…You’re one of the Marked?”   

“Yes. I was born as a Human thirty years ago in the village of Iris,” Flamedramon said. The Digimon had found a few bandages nearby and began wrapping them around my bloody knee. “When I was just ten years old, I was forced to leave the village. I momentarily took shelter in Cyclamen City, but I had to leave that city, too. Eventually, the people of my village found me, and I was killed.”

“…Twenty years ago, I met a boy named John. He told me he was hiding from someone,” I said. “We both had the Mark…I had soon grown to love the boy, and he was completely enamored with me, I could tell. It…it broke my heart when he said he had to leave, but I knew he did it to protect me…It was…completely unbearable when I heard the news that he had died…I joined up with the other Bio Hybrids when I heard that there was a chance that quintessence could bring him back, but now that I know that it can’t…I don’t know what to do with myself anymore…”

“What is your name?” Flamedramon asked.

“Abigail.”

“Abigail…back when I was a Human…before I was murdered…my name was John.”

Thomas Kasuto

 

“Aquarius Wyvern!” The aquatic dragon surrounding BioAquarimon spread its massive wings and took flight, unleashing a thick stream of water from its mouth as it did. “Just try and stand up to this; one of my most powerful attacks!”

“Well, it looks like I don’t have much of a choice,” I said. The immense dragon slowly dove down at me. Just a little closer…Now! As the dragon was now close enough to ram into me, I jumped up and shoved Irene out of her attack. The two of us landed on the ground in a soaked heap as the dragon rained itself down on us. “Are you finished?”

“…No. I still have one more attack!” Though the dragon had completely rained itself out onto the floor, the water kept getting higher and higher until it was up to my shoulders. “Deluge of the Heavens!” BioAquarimon’s urn erupted water like a geyser, nearly filling the entire room with water. I looked over at BioAquarimon, seeing that, from her waist down, she had the long, coiling body of a serpent. “This…is my most powerful attack! This is the form I take while underwater! Prepare yourself, Thomas!”

Lector

“What do you need to tell me?” I asked.

“Lector…I…am a Bio Hybrid,” Saias said.

“A…A Bio Hybrid? You, sir?!”

“If you remember, a few weeks ago, I was carried off after fighting something in the woods,” Saias said. “I thought I would be killed, but I was taken to a lab, where I had Digimon blood injected into my blood, thus giving me the ability to Bio Hybrid Digivolve.”

“A…Bio Hybrid…That’s…I…I don’t know…I don’t know what to say,” I stammered.

“Will you…continue working with me? Even though I am like this, will you still help me?”

“Oh…of course, sir! I promised I’d still follow you after you told me you were one of the Marked, remember? Why should this be any different?”

“…I’m glad to hear you say that, my friend. Now, there is something that needs to be taken care of…”

“Just tell me what it is, sir, and I’ll do it!”

“…The members of Lachesis. Put an arrest warrant out for all of them.”

“…What?! But, Saias…they’re our friends!”

“Are you disobeying a direct order, Lector?!”

“……No, sir. I’ll…put out the warrants…as you said, sir.”

“Very good. See that you do.”