Wicked and weak (observer/open)

[Mistral]

"I apologize for dragging you here again, but I need to do a final favor to my former friend"

"No problem, all warrior of love and justice helps its friends!"

Once more the duo found themselves within the forest of the city. The lunamon had been meditating lately about what happened with the dorumon and determined that he had to stop him and her tamer before they caused harm to innocent digimon and humans. The dorumon was right in something, lunamon couldn't save everybody and he understood that the dorumon was beyond salvation as long he remained bewitched by his hatred filled tamer, so he had to delete the beast digimon before he could cause more harm to both digimon and human alike, that was the least he could do for somebody who once was a friend.

They wandered and wandered, but no traces of the dorumon or the human tamer was found, apparently they got into the wrong side of the forest and were anything but close to their target.

"This is futile, we have been looking for them, but our quest was for naught"

"My magical senses and tinkling! There's somebody over there!"

Actually her digivice caught the presence of a digimon in the area and no magic nor special senses were involved in that. The lunamon had his doubts about the digimon being dorumon, but Mistral was sure that even if that weren't him, they were bound to find something as interesting if not more than him over there, she had quite the strange ability to find oddities and strange situation wherever she went and showed to have great insight in her twisted way, so the lunamon decided to follow her instinct and let her guide him to the digimon whose presence she detected.

"There it is, a mystic beast!"

She pointed at what seemed to be a beast digimon partially out of sight. It was vaguely purple in appearance ... but she was obscured by the shadows and no extra details could be obtained from it. No sooner the human female tamer pointed her staff at somewhere saying there was a mystic beast, the lunamon arrived, looking for whatever Mistral detected, it was his duty to protect her from anything that were dangerous for her and he had to make sure she didn't provoke whoever was living in that part of the forest

[Observer]

Renee knew somebody entered her "territory" for quite some time now, and was following silently, and discretely, wishing to get a better look at the intruders. This was her part of the forest after all, she looked after it, protected it, as a sort of a spirit of the forest from early myths, and Renee kinda liked the alias. She found out who the visitors were soon enough, as she heard all-too familiar voices and non-consequential magic-related babbling. She smiled a bit - these people were always welcome here as far as she was concerned...

- Welcome to my part of the forest, Lun. I was hoping you will come around to visit me sooner or later... - the mysterious echoing voice was heard throughout the place, and the next moment Renee revealed herself from the shadows of the trees, which hid her so well from any prying eyes. Her form changed yes, but it would be fairly easy for a friend to recognize her, mainly because of the notorious injury on the side of her face.

She stepped into the light to reveal herself in full, there was no reason to hide from friends, or acting menacing whatsoever, even the echoing voice from before was just made for show, and for laughs. Renee was very happy at this ... reunion, and wasn't hiding it - she'd make a housecall herself, but with this new body traveling around the city would be too ... dangerous.

- It's been some time now... Hopefully my appearance did not throw you off or anything. Why didn't you come sooner? - Renee asked with a bit of childish demand in her voice, she mistakingly thought they came around for no other reason rather than this, not overhearing the conversation the two had before...

[Mistral]

"It is an unexpected surprise to find you here, I'm glad you are faring well in your lonesomeness"

Once the large beast left the shadows of the forest, it become more than obvious she was the silver renamon the lunamon had made his friend some time ago. Judging by her evolved state and her apparently good health, she had been living very well and hopefully had undergone no hardships since she left Hypnos and Larry.

"I apologize for not visiting early, but I did not know you were hiding in the forest. Last time we meet you told me about your intention of looking for a place safe from Hypnos, and it is a bit embarrassing for me not to have thought at all you could be in the forest"

As usual from the polite digimon, he bowed in front of his friend and walked closer to the bewitching beast along his partner Mistral to talk about some serious matters with her, as it was not his real goal to meet with the youkomon.

"Sadly, I'm afraid I came not to talk with you but for something else that has been in my mind for long time, it is about certain inhabitant of this forest who along his tamer has declared the entire mankind as their enemies. In the past he once was my friend but now he become the kind of digimon who is a menace for both digimon and human alike. As his former friend I am in the obligation of trying to reason with him again before he does something regrettable, and if speaking with him bears no fruit then ... delete him."

His voice had a sad tone has he spoke those last words. It was gatomon's wish to create a world where no longer digimon had to kill each other and mutual understanding were possible. Alas, as long digimon who wanted not peace but to further cause more mistrust and conflict between everybody still existed and refused to listen to the words of others, such world was impossible to create.

[Observer]

- I've been dealing well with loneliness. I became friends with a few digimon who spawned in this world, and ... well, look after them... Sort of... - Renee suddenly felt a bit awkward about telling him this. She was a former assassin, who not so long ago shared her commander's belief ALL spawns must be destroyed for hate's sake. To suddenly discover her heart had some room for compassion was ... a pleasant surprise, but she wasn't sure what others would say upon finding that out. That's why she did not tell Larry about her new friends... She was afraid.

Then an explanation came as to why the Lunamon came here in the first place. It was really disappointing for the fox to find out he did not come here to find her, but instead ... for a kill. This was ... unexpected a bit. Of all the people, she'd least expect Lun to go around with such a thing in his mind. While the goal was perfectly understandable by the youkomon, who herself was taking down anybody she perceived as a threat, she did not expect him to ... understand her? Still, she couldn't help but feel worried about his latest plan. The lunamon was just so small ... looked so defenseless...

- I did not encounter any humans and digimon living permanently in this part of the forest... Nor have I heard somebody actively attacked humans and their digimon here. If they were, Hypnos or police would have surely found out, and this place would have been crawling with humans. Are you sure you're not exaggerating things, child? - Renee said and bit her tongue. Well this came put awkward, but if you compare the two, it would be of no amazement, really.

[Mistral]

"Those are wonderful news, it is reassuring to know you have found happiness in what we expected it was going to be a lonely exile"

His happiness for his friend was genuine, she used to be rather anti-social, deceiving with a facade of friendliness those whom she targeted, but now she was finally discovering true friendship, and that would give her the strength needed to survive alone in the human world.

How the youkomon reacted after what he said was something he expected from the man-made digimon, she thought too highly about what Hypnos and the police could do regarding this, unaware of how skilled and cunning were the human and digimon team who loathed mankind.

"I am aware that Hypnos would be fast to react, but by the time something is done they might've already caused a death. And do not underestimate them, that dorumon has told me he sneaked into the city countless times to steal from humans and deliver those stolen goods to his tamer, that's how she can survive in this area, through the use of dorumon as a tool for thievery. He knows not about Hypnos, yet he freely moves undetected by them despite the lack of knowledge about their routes and radars. I sensed nothing but pure hatred and grudge against her own species from that human girl, and I'm afraid that someday she will decide to stop with the petty thievery and actively attempt against other human lives. Dorumon sympathized with her goals and he will support her until the very end, he was determined to do it and I found only deaf ears when I tried to tell him that there were other ways to help her."

That was the main reason why he was worried about what could the dorumon do: somehow he was stealthy enough to remain undetected despite the many times he went into the city to plunder and pillage and not a single time was detected by Hypnos, such talent to avoid witnesses would make of him the perfect silent assassin once his tamer decided to bring her war against mankind to the next level.

"I really hope I am overreacting, but it is because I know of what the dorumon is capable that I fear the worst. Like me, he is a survivor from the war we waged to protect out home town from an invading army back in the digital world, and he proved to be an efficient and deadly soldier even as a mere dorumon. If he managed to find the power to evolve thanks to his partner, he will become even more dangerous and cannot be underestimated."

Indeed, that dorumon was one of the toughest rookie digimon he had ever meet in the digital world, he was tough enough to be worth 3 normal dorumons and his ferocity in combat was equal to a fierce beast. As a rookie he was still manageable, but as champion or ultimate he could become a foe too dangerous to be left alone.

[Observer]

- The goods I brought to the shelter at that abandoned hotel were also obtained by stealing... As well as medicaments. And pretty much everything else... - Renee retorted with somewhat of an irony, she didn't see theft as a big crime, quite the contrary, actually. She simply found it that some people had a lot more in their possession than they could possibly need, or use. It felt very satisfying relieving them of their possessions when she was a Renamon.

But still, what did the Lunamon say was disturbing. His suspicions were probably founded, otherwise she doubted he'd go over to such extreme measures. He was too much a goody - goody - do - gooder to go over to something that radical if there was no reason for it. He did practice patience with her, after finding out what she was after all. Or maybe he just didn't try anything because I was able to tear him limb from limb... - she thought with a bot of irony.

- So... you are going to fight a ruthless and efficient soldier, with a tamer to match. - she sighed out and took a deep breath again. She was about to yell at him long and loud, but reconsidered, figuring calm words might have a bit more effect. If it was even possible to get sense into that thick skull. But this time, Renee was determined not to let him do anything stupid. Last time it cost him dearly.

- Lun ... You're an idiot. Who has no regard for personal safety... Or for hers. - the youkomon then nodded at the girl, who just stood there with a blank stare, and did not interfere with digimon's "difficult discussions". Her dissonant, if somewhat deranged serenity was unsettling. This girl would surely perish, should things go horribly wrong.

- Are you so certain you would win? What will happen to her, should you fail? - youkomon posed a question. Would former wizardmon be able to put someone else's life in mortal danger just for the sake of his highly ambiguous goal? Plus, knowing how maximalistic he was, Renee did not take all of his words for face value. First, she learned that more accurate judging could be made from ... listening to both sides' stories...

[Mistral]

"Had I know at that time that they were stolen goods, I wouldn't have accepted them even knowing that you stole it from your organization. Not even once the numemon bar inhabitants retorted to thievery."

Honor before reason, one could say that's pretty much how the lunamon lived, after all he only lived to honor the memory of his beloved gatomon, his best friend and special one whom he felt could devote his entire life. The youkomon could never understand until it happened to her, that a strong devotion and love could make somebody completely live only to satisfy that person and appreciate on even his own life all her ideals.

"He is indeed what one would expect from a seasoned veteran soldier, but I am one as well. Until now I never fought to kill, but only for this time I want to finish my opponent as fast and painless as possible."

Even against that brutal fangmon, he never fought to death and always tried to cause enough damage until the enemy surrendered. It was simply a coincidence that the fangmon met his end at hands of hypnos troopers, and who once was a wizardmon had to admit that he overestimated how much punishment his body could resist. However, in the case of dorumon, he would go for the kill from the very beginning were he to refuse to reason with him.

What the youkomon said next was just like her blind faith in hypnos' ability to capture digimon immediately, something he predicted she could say. Once you begin to know how your friends thinks, there can be understanding and empathy strong enough to know what could she say in a situation like that, such lesson was again something he learned from gatomon, she was the greatest digimon the lunamon ever met, she was like a goddess for him, a symbol of beauty and perfection who gave her life to let others live. He too wanted to die like her, saving people from impeding doom, and that was why he cared so little for his own safety.

"I was ready for this since the moment I decided something had to be done against him, I devised a plan designed to keep Mistral safe while I fought against those who refuses to listen to reason. The enemy would be unable to find her and if he tried to look for my tamer whom he would not find, I would take advantage of the situation and capture his tamer, he values her as much as I value my companion and I could finally negotiate with him in favorable conditions."

Even if he lost, he was sure that he could be able to take his opponent along him. It was only fair for him to pay with his life for scheming such coward and evil plan only villains would prepare to take the life of his former friend. Honor before reason, and giving his life as payment for taking his ex-friend's seemed like an equal exchange for him.

"I am well aware I could lose, but alone I would not depart. Death would be a fitting punishment for attempting against my friend's life and you know well that my body will never fade until I fulfill my mission. As for my companion, she would return to her normal life and the lack of a digimon companion would make hypnos lose interest in her, I have even prepared a message for her parents in the case I didn't return from my mission asking them some things that would improve her life. I don't know if it is due her condition or is more mature than she looks, but she was quite understanding when I told her I could not return if I failed to communicate with dorumon, I can only guess about what kind of life she had to be like this"

" ... Mir ..."

That was so wizardmon-like, he had everything prepared just in case he died in battle, which was quite likely having into account just how good was dorumon in battle. However, he was not a close minded digimon, and he was always open to alternatives that involved less sacrifices. Meanwhile, Mistral's often impossible to read facial expression changed to one of understanding, as if she had a small moment of clarity and sanity that let her understand what was happening. It was only for a moment, but she showed the image of a normal girl before once more her mind were clouded by what insanity caused her to believe she was in a world of fantasy.

"And that is what I planned to do. If you can think about another alternative please tell me. I cannot deny it, I am afraid of death and afraid of leaving Mistral alone, but sometimes we have to sacrifice our own life for what we believe is right. Yes, I am being an idiot as you would say, but that's something I have to do, that's what my beloved Gatomon would do. So please, if you know a better method, tell me what you would do in my place, another method that could avoid a needless sacrifice"

And there he said it, he once more mentioned the gatomon he respected so much in the middle of his speech about foolish sacrifice. Hopefully the youkomon would simply ignore his almost disturbing obsession with the digimon that no longer exist and pay attention only to those words he spoke from his heart.

[Observer]

- Ever read a tale of Robin Hood? Maybe that will change your perspective... - the youkomon chuckled a bit when she heard the lunamon's rahter stubborn and senseless creed on stealing. Ah, how little did he knew. She was pretty sure numemon was aware where she got such exceptional things from. I mean, c'mon, they had to come out of somewhere, there was no way she'd simply "find them lying around".

Then came a long and awfully boring and senseless rant about greater good and "clever plan", and willingness to sacrifice himself to take the enemy with him... Ugh, if Renee had arms, she'd pluck her ears - that was one major flaw about Lun, when he starts going BS, he just can't stop, and can't see how stupid his words are really are. That the enemy will probably not sit around for his clever plan to work, that they will probably go for him first and not the girl, and will make short work of her after he's long dead, and several other factors ...

- Veteran soldier are we? - she hissed and suddenly pushed the small digimon off his feet with her rather strong paw. Before he could get up again, she pressed him against the ground with that paw, not allowing him to move anywhere, and just listen what she had to say. And goddammit she had a lot - the small digimon managed to get her angry.

- You keep forgetting that you're not a wizardmon now Lun. You're now a little squishy rabbit with stubby arms and legs, weak firepower, and no speed or evasiveness whatsoever. In short, you are weak. Now I hold you immobilized, and can crush you if I wish, and there is nothing you can do about it. And yet you keep charging into mindless fights as if you had you former strength back. But if before it was only your life at stake, now you put another one in danger for YOUR GATOMON'S ideals. - she barely kept herself from yelling at the poor small digimon, and took away her paw, still pinning him down with her glare though.

Renee took a few moments to regain her normal composure. But the guy just managed to flip her off good. The arrogance and self-righteousness just managed to get even through her defense. She really felt sorry for the girl over there - the poor kid was dragged who knows where to fight for a cause she did not even sympathize with - the lunamon was just exploiting her mental instability. This was ... disgusting.

- Here is what are you going to do. You're going to take your tamer, walk away, get back home, and not come here looking for anybody again. I will seek the people you talk about, and determine what kind of threat they represent. They will not know I have a partner, so I will have a better chance of subtly swaying him to better ways. Key word being subtly. If you managed to piss your friend off in the same manner you just pissed me off, then of course he'd not even talk to you. And you'll gleefully gun him down for great justice. Or will get gunned down yourself, which is more likely... - Rene sighed out angrily, venting her anger. Slowly, her composure was returning, and she was back to being more of herself.

- Lun... Just leave it to me. You did not listen to me last time, and it cost you your body. Just ... go away, keep your tamer safe, and let me do this. Can you trust me on this one?

[Mistral]

"I have read it, and there is a big difference in the circumstances. Robin hood fought against a cruel king who oppressed those who had nothing but their lives while in this human world there's no reason to steal as except for some powerful companies, most of the victims are hard working people with not much money"

In this era and place, such act as thievery was something that could only be justified a little when it is performed by poor people who has no means to defend themselves. It is exactly that what made extremely unfair how Dorumon stole from average working humans to give those stolen good to a selfish, arrogant, full of herself brat who willingly decided to abandon society, yet depended of what she could steal to survive.

Youkomon was as expected really pissed off, she always rejected his ideals and he was ok with that, he accepted that people was able of having their own beliefs and he respected their decisions although he didn't approve some of them, but what followed next was how she stomped on him with his large paw in an unexpected movement not even the lunamon could've predicted. She had much to say, and they were only words insulting and underestimating what the lunamon could do in his current form, but what was worse was that SHE INSULTED that beloved memory of his eternal partner gatomon. He wanted to shout at her how she had no right to insult her friend gatomon, but gatomon would've never approved that he spoke to his friends with ill words filled with anger, that wasn't right, that wasn't what gatomon would do so he kept listening to what the fox said as he recovered his stance once she got that paw of hers out of him.

While the nine tailed beast spoke, the female human was starting to feel dizzy, something in her head wanted to be set free and what the fox digimon was saying started to make sense, her mind was getting clearer and the illusion of fantasy, while still present, was becoming more realistic as those heroes and dragons of her fantasy world become normal people and animals. It was happening, one of those brief moments of lucidness sometimes those who suffered of delusions had ....

The vixen finished speaking and the tension in the air could be felt everywhere around both digimons. She had some valid points, but her methods to make the lunamon listen were horrible, she was the kind of digimon who used raw strength to force others to obey her, and that something bad.

"I ..."

"Now you listen to me!"

Suddenly the human companion dispelled that feeling of uneasiness with an abrupt entrance as she hit the head the fox digimon with her magical wand. Her expression showed a degree of seriousness and concentration like she never showed before and had many things to say to the fox before that glimpse of lucidness vanished.

"You weren't there to see how nasty those two were. She denied her own humanity and talked too much about how she was a poor victim of a cruel, cruel society and felt completely justified to steal whatever she wanted when she wanted because she believed that stealing from those "evil humans" was a good thing to do, she even wanted me to stay alone in the forest to prove how hard was to live there alone despite she was not alone and that mean digimon did everything for her! And this doruguy was as bad as her, he totally believed that both of them only had enemies in this world despite THEY were the ones who deemed all the humans and digimon who joined them as evil enemies, he insulted and considered pointless all of Mir's efforts to save digimon who lived in a happy home and only cared about the ones in the digital world, he would even let innocent digimon die in front of him because he thinks only in his home and in that mean bad cat-girl! And he even said all the did was to help that nasty kid that has no friends because she hates everybody when all he did was to help her steal more and give her power to hurt those she doesn't like, and the worst part of all was that he said he had no choice in what was happening and wouldn't move a finger for anyone who's not the catgirl that I bet is totally a huge emo who cuts her wrists with razors. And I decided to fight along Mir, he is my only real friend and always taking care of me so I wanted to do something for him, I don't like to live with regrets because I have any and it feels bad to have them, and he was going to live with regrets if he didn't stop those bad guys, and also he very strong even now that he's a bit small, we were training and thinking battle strategies and he tested his new abilities when he could, and, and, and ....."

The feeling of dizziness combined with the stressful situation of remembering the horrible encounter with those monster finally took its toll on the psyche of the already mentally unstable girl and she finally fell unconscious on the soft body of the lunamon, who managed to use his body to catch her fall. It was true that she usually over the top crazy, but she in her own way understood what was going on and did a terrible effort to try to communicate those ideas repressed by her confused mind. The lunamon silently looked at her after that strange display of sanity and then looked at the youkomon.

"Mistral ... she really pushed herself to her limits to help me and I never realized it. Someday you will be normal again ...."

She truly understood everything, but in her usual state she couldn't process the information until now. The mysteries of the mind were many, and the lunamon wondered if that other human girl suffered or mental illnesses like the one his partner had. Alas, he was not a psychiatric and there was not much he could do to heal their twisted hims.

"That human girl with dorumon must be just like my partner, completely denies this reality she loathes so much and convinced herself that nothing in this world had any value and had to be destroyed ..... youkomon, please keep under vigilance those two, at least the girl seems to be mentally ill and my former friend thinks is doing her a favor by pleasing every one of her whims. Make sure things doesn't go out of control and stop them if they decide to do something more drastic than mere thievery."

He put Mistral on a better position and created an improvised pillow with random feathers around the area, then looked at the youkomon again.

"Now that I think about it you have never told me your name. I had never one because neither gatomon nor I believed it really mattered, but from now on you can call me Mir, that's how she decided to name me and for her I shall cherish that name, what is yours?"

It was odd, but none of them bothered to say their names. the Lunamon always called her "lady", "you" or "miss" while the youkomon called him wizardmon previous and now "lun" due his current situation. Nevermind, they had plenty of time to talk about their names or anything else, the lunamon wasn't going to leave until his partner regained the consciousness and hopefully awakened being a bit more mentally stable.

[Observer]

- Well now you noticed... - youkomon replied sorrowfully, as she looked upon the girl's unconscious body. Poor child, she managed to break from her insanity for a little while, and it took everything out of her. Unfortunately, she did not say anything different, her words were just mirroring what the lunamon said before. So, she was helping him willingly... But that did not change the fact she was being put in mortal danger because of it. In many tamer-digimon pairs, tamers lead the digimon to battle because of their ideals. In this case it was inverse - the digimon lead the tamer. And both ways were equally wrong.

- Your friend was providing things for a secluded and insane girl by stealing. I do not really see what is wrong with that. He is a digimon after all, he could not find a job or earn money or anything like that. And some things, like medicine for instance, cannot be found in a trash heap. Sometimes it is inevitable, whether you like it or not. And you wanted to kill off a friend because of it. Shame. - Renee said with a bit of irony in her voice. The girl was right, the fox was not there to see what happened, but she was told about what happened by palmon.

The reasons for such actions were pretty obvious to her - and those reasons were often higher than simple malice. The girl was driven to insanity by maltreat, and grew to hate people, so she ran away. Her digimon, upon hearing the tale, and being highly impressionable, grew to despise the same things his tamer did as well. None really were responsible for what happened. She'd get to the bottom of this... or at least she'd try.

- I will find them. And I will take them as far away from people as possible, so they would not be able to cause harm. Perhaps I will get them acquainted with the rest of my friends, there, sheltered from any contacts with humans or tamers, their hate should fade... I will try talking to them... - Renee promised. She was not really good at talking people out of dumb things, as it had shown with her continuous fiascos with Lunamon, but recently she discovered a talent she never knew she had before. And that would be being kind to people...

Then the question about names came around. The rabbit-ears was probably trying to change the subject, but the fox was not against it. Too much was said already. Ah, how easy it was simply not to give a damn about other people's problems, like in years of her past. But now ... that blissful ability was something she no longer possessed. She allowed herself to start thinking on the new subject...

- Renee. I chose that name long ago... Almost immediately about finding out about the Original's existence... The name is the only thing I have that she doesn't. - the fox explained. This issue ... it was probably just about as old as Renee herself. Back then her inferiority towards the original digimon was a very painful truth o acknowledge... As well as the fact that she was just a copy, and a faulty one at that. Back then Renee desperately tried to differ. And this name thing was the only she could come up with. But that was a long time ago, and she rarely thought on this as time passed... Still, one should leave old wounds alone...