Casualties of war... [Ciel]

[tylomon]

The bloody day was finally coming to an end, as the sun slowly went down, hiding behind the horizon, allowing the area to be engulfed in blissful darkness. However, that darkness did not bring so very much desired peace to the encampments. Oh no, quite the contrary actually, it only stirred the worries.

Pursuit parties were supposed to return before nightfall, and yet ... so far none returned. Not a single one. Muffled sounds of stiff fighting were heard from deeper into the jungle, but nothing more. No signal flares, no nothing. This was worrying, everybody, from a soldier to commander, wondered what happened. Some were even volunteering to find out what happened, but so far none dared to...

The sealsdramon wandered impatiently from one corner of the tent to the another, his arms crossed behind him. He was worried to - he found out his son was not among the rest of his regiment, disappeared, gone, vanished. And the old father had a very good hunch as to where exactly, but still hoped it was not the case...

- It is nightfall already, and still none returned. Not even your tylosaurus companion... - the doctor said to the angel, who was still there on the bunk, recuperating. The doctor's wariness and restlessness were pretty obvious, as he dug in a rather old closet that stood in the far corner of the room, a bit afar from the rest where medical supplies were hidden.

- And my son gone missing too. I wonder where could he be... - he asked himself, although the answer to the question was pretty much obvious...

[Ciel]

"I agree, they are taking too long to return. Just exactly what kind of troops your leader sent after the remnants of the enemy army? No competent search party would spend so much time outside knowing that night is the worst time to enter in a territory where the enemy could be hiding in the shadows"

She talked not about the sealsdramon's son because it was painfully obvious he went along her tylomon student. Sometimes to remain in silence was better for the morale of the troops, and the sealsdramon himself was sharp enough to know what was going on, so opening the mouth would be the same as stating the obvious.

"Tylo must still be in hot pursuit of the enemy, for the little time I knew him I learned that he is a very persistent digimon who never knew when to give up, all I hope is that he didn't make any mistake that could cost him dearly"

She moved her head towards the entrance to the hospital field and she too wondered about what was the ultimate fate of Tylo. Even if the enemy set up an ambush, he was tough enough to not die even if ten of their soldiers attacked him. She hoped he wasn't stupid enough to charge alone against a foe that cornered would fight till the bitter end and simply continued looking at the entrance.

[tylomon]

The sealsdramon only nodded as he listened to the angel's words. He did not know what kind of troops were sent - he was kept in his tent fixing up the wounded, and was not told anything. If the leader was sensible, of which the former general had a huge doubt, he would have sent experienced trackers. If not ... well, it would be a catastrophe. And that sealsdramon feared the worst...

He finally managed to dig out from the closet the things he was looking for. One might have thought he was looking for some medical supplies or something like that, but he would be horribly mistaking. In his hands were ... knives. Two big, jagged, combat-issue knifes. To smaller digimon they would have seemed huge, but they were just perfect for sealsdramon's big frame - he was a dino, after all. And those were his knifes.

The digimon put both weapons into his scabbards, which remained empty only for so long, the blades hummed quietly as they were returned to their rightful place. They missed the owner too, in a way. The sealsdramon then approached the doorway, looking into the darkness, and pressing the button on his head, activating night-vision. His visors stared burning bright red, like two beacons in the night.

- I fear the worst... And I don't think they're going to gather a search party yet. I'll go find them. - he said, taking a few steps forward, before turning around again and looking at Ciel again. A beam of light went from his lesser "eye" scanning through the angel's body for weakpoints. The arm was still damaged, but other things managed to heal quite nicely - it seemed he was a bit wrong about the angel's regeneration rate.

- Are you well enough to travel?

[Ciel]

The sealsdramon was no fool, both he and Ciel knew what was the most likely scenario and the veteran dinosaur digimon was getting ready for battle, Ciel saw him retrieving his weapons from between surgical equipment and by now it was obvious his uneasiness for the unknown fate of his son peaked and he was going to wait no more.

"We are both soldiers who know what bad leadership can lead to. Waste no time and go for your son"

As she spoke she stand up and with her good arm placed one of his swords on the sheaths hanging on her belt. By the time the sealsdramon lokked back to know if the darcmon was going with him, she was ready to go to hell itself to help him and Tylomon.

"I am feeling well enough to travel and I still have some fight left on me. I know what feels to lose somebody you love dearly, so I shall join you in this mad search for your son and my disciple"

Said that, she followed the sealsdramon letting him go in front of her, he was an expert in infiltration in harsh terrain given his tools like night vision sight, so he was the most fitting to lead the two digimon search party.

[tylomon]

- It is NOT a mad search. A small party is less noticeable than a big one, and I know this forest better than anyone. If we don't do anything stupid - we will find them. Dead, or alive... - the sealsdramon grumbled as they went on towards the outer perimeter of the camp. Whatever calmness the parent had shown before disappeared quite completely - it was obvious he was putting much effort into controlling himself before. And now he was on edge. An elite commando being nervous ... heads are gonna roll...

- Halt! Seal, how many times I have to tell you you can't go anywhere from the camp? - the guard, an XVmon, shouted out as he saw the two coming towards the exit from the camp and into the jungle. His polearm blocked the way, but not for long - the sealsdramon suddenly launched a nasty punch directly into the solar plexus - where his X mark was, making the tall digimon bend in two, and the next blow went at the nape, rendering him unconsciousness.

- Sorry buddy, nothing personal. - the sealsdramon said to the unconscious body, and, after making a hand sign for the angel to follow, went outside the gate. They had to hurry, his instinct of a parent told him something really bad happened...

-----

... Sealsdramon's assumptions would prove to be so very correct, when they'll get there... The battlefield was ... horrible. There were bodies everywhere ... the dead were slowly disintegrating into data, as well as those who were critically wounded. The field that once was green was now scorched and scarred. The eerie quietness was not disrupted by anything, not even wind. It was quiet ... like a graveyard. Only occasionally a moan of pain would be heard, as one more will give his life away and go to meet the Maker. And above all that carnage, only one figure towered. Hovered.

The shark did not say anything, anything at all - tears flowing from his eyes were saying all he felt better than words. His body was scarred and scorned as much as the battlefield itself - the forehead was charred and black, blood strolling over his left eye. Clawmarks on his sides, damaged fins - he looked horrible. And still, there was fight left in him. That was why he was the only one standing on the battlefield.

He wasn't just looming over it - he was doing something. Using his tail to poke the bodies, he identified living from dead, and, if hearing a moan, used this "improvised arm" to put the body onto his back, acting as a carrier of sorts. It wasn't hard - most digimon were small, children. Already around 4 or 5 wounded were on his back. He'd take them all back to camp - where they'd have at least a chance of surviving...

[Ciel]

The sealsdramon was more nervous than expected, almost to the level of total desperation. Ciel was sure that deep down, he knew that his son was dead, but he still had to try or else he would never feel at peace.

Not much happened between the moment they left the camp and the moment they arrived to the jungle, there were some of paildramon's men guarding the exits and entrances and some even outside to bring back anyone who left the camp. The fools were completely faithful to their leader and would never listen to the desperate pleas of a father in distress, so Sealsdramon used his unique talents to put all of them to sleep and oh boy, there were many of those guys in the road towards their destination, paildramon couldn't afford to send a proper tracking team to look for enemy survivors, but he sure spent quite a lot in making sure no one ever left his territory without him knowing about that. Most likely sealsdramon and Ciel would receive a bitter welcome once they were back.

Once all of paildramon's guards in the way were either avoided or knocked out, they finally arrived to the jungle in which the enemy was said to have take refuge. The situation was worse than expected: many digimon were already dead and in state of decomposition and the quality of team sent to capture the enemy remnants was laughable - you simply don't send large greymons and tortomons in the middle of a freaking jungle, they were easy targets for any target and between those giant digimon there were many kids who most likely have never fought in their entire lives nor had any training of any sort. Just what the hell was paildramon thinking when he sent this "squad" if it can be called like that?

"This is ... stupid. Paildramon didn't sent a capture and extermination team, he sent a bunch of random digimon to commit suicide"

Both friend and foe alike lied dead around them, and sadly most of the dead were dinos from the valley. Whoever was the leader of the enemy remnants capitalized on the weakness and flaws of this excuse of capture team and completely destroyed it losing hardly a few of its own troops. It wasn't hard to imagine the enemy setting up ambush after ambush and easily killing those poor dinos whose only mistake was to obey the orders of a horrible leader.

Suddenly they heard a noise nearby, it could be a foe .. but most likely it was from a survivor, after this massacre the enemy was probably long gone while some dinos who managed to survive whines and dragged their bodies on the ground, struggling to live. Ciel's surprise was great when she found that the noise was originated by her companion tylomon, who managed to save some kid dino digimon. His state was ... deplorable at best, he was only a mere shadow of his former self, but what was more soul crushing was his emotional state and pride, he looked miserable and probably was suffering of survivor's guilt syndrome as he cared only about finding more survivor rather than treating his own wounds. Who once was an hyperactive and strong digimon now was only a ... thing that only caused pity for those who saw him.

"Tylo, it's all over. Let sealsdramon and me continue looking for survivors, you only focus in resting along those children a little until we are done"

That's all she could say. Some warriors preferred to remain silent and alone while others needed consolation words. She didn't know what kind of warrior the tylomon was, so at least she could offer a few words and let him lie along the wounded he rescued. They still had to find sealsdramon's child and Ciel knew in her heart that if tylomon ended that badly despite he was a strong digimon, a little child like that naive and playful commandramon had no chance to survive in the hell known as war.

[tylomon]

Tylomon did not notice anything around him - he simply was concentrating on the work he had to do, reaching near automatism - approach, poke, see if it moves, then either pick it up or leave it be. Nothing else. Simple. He was no medic, and even if he were, he would not have been able to administer any first aid, having no hands whatsoever. So the only thing he could do would be gathering all wounded and bringing them to the medic. But, it seems that medic came to him first... Along with someone else.

- Sorry Teach, we did not do too well did we? - he recognized the voice, though the image was rather blurry - the long battle and damage made even such a powerful digimon weary. He tried to sound cheerful, but failed miserably, and instead came out bitter sarcasm. He did not even notice the sealsdramon that came along with the angel digimon, until he spoke, and his words were ... morbid:

- I did not want to believe it, yet deep in my heart I knew it must be true... What ... what happened to my son? - he pleaded, grabbing upon hope as if it was the last straw. The shark did not want to say anything to him - if only he had told the commandramon to stay home ... if only he had told him... Tylo felt miserable about what happened. He wanted to protect everyone, and in the end, protected no one.

- There... Over the ridge... - he said and swung his fin to show the way. Next moment the sealsdramon went there, silently. He did not get any answer on status, but guess he'd have to see everything for himself. Tylo wanted to go back to the camp with the wounded, to bring them to the doctor, but since doctor was here already, there was no point in going back - so he hovered down and landed unto the ground, his ... "passengers" letting out quiet moans because of the sudden bump.

- It was ... an ambush... We expected it, but not in the way it came... They came from above... The column leader was killed off first... - Tylo started telling what exactly happened here. He remembered it to the greatest detail, memories literally burned into his mind and skin.

- ... Then they attacked from the right. There were few of them ... very few, but strong... We turned to face them, and then ... then ... they attacked from the left, where we were vulnerable. They knew what we were going to do before we did it... - he sighed out with pain. Never before it hurt so much to know they were outsmarted, and never before being outsmarted led to such grim losses.

- I ordered the others to fall back, and hold the enemy by myself. I could have done it too, but then ... they brought a monster of their own... I never seen something like that before. The clawmarks ... are his doing. I fought him while the rest of their pack pursued the fleeing guys. And then they fell into ambush ... again. - he finished his tale of the catastrophic defeat the pursuit column suffered. It happened in war often - the hunter became the hunted. And it sucked being the hunter here...

- Then a signal came ... and they stopped killing us and retreated ... even the black monster. And I was left alone on the battlefield...

[Ciel]

"Sealsdramon, take your time"

All that was left for the tired warrior was to remain quiet and mourn for the loved one he lost, so Ciel left him alone as he went towards where tylo pointed. No matter how much one prepared itself, it wasn't easy to deal with the death of those who departed to meet the maker and even a tough and proud warrior like would would weep tears for the son he no longer would see again.

Ciel moved next to the weak and wounded tylomon and listened to what he had to say. For what he told her, the situation was worse than she thought and the enemy didn't give them any change to fight back, the capture team was instantly crushed and tylo and the others survived only due the enemy retreated, most likely thinking the dino leader would send reinforcements, which it wasn't the case for the paildramon couldn't care less about the fate of those he sent to the slaughterhouse to die. He couldn't be called a leader, he was nothing but a clown who toyed with the lives of his people.

"You did all you could do, if there's one to be blamed is the incompetent leader of this region. Had I know THIS was the squad sent to deal with the fleeing enemy, I would've never let you go. In fact, I wouldn't have let anyone leave the city even if paildramon menaced me"

She made a rule for herself about never getting involved with the affairs of other worlds, but the complete lack of interest the local paildramon showed for the lives of the warriors and civilians living in that settlement was so shameless and indignant that the darcmon started to felt hatred for something that wasn't parallelmon.

"Those guys here ... they weren't even warriors in training. What kind of leader sends untrained non combatants to die in the battlefield? And the few warriors between them ... they were completely unable to do anything about this and died an unclean death"

She looked at the tylomon right into his eyes and saw ... nothing she could understand. The tylomon's eyes showed nothing but confusion, an storm of emotions that made impossible to read what exactly was going on in the shark dinosaur's soul. Maybe fear, maybe desperation? maybe both of them and more? The angel digimon knew not how was her companion was feeling, but if he felt at least a little like she felt when parallelmon destroyed her happiness, she had some words to share with him.

"Never blame yourself for what happened here and don't even dare to think you could've done more for the rest of the team because nothing you could do would have changed the outcome. There might be times in which you would think being stronger would've been enough, but in war no matter how strong you are, you cannot save everybody, sometimes you can't even save your closest allies and can only care about surviving yourself. I used to think that I could've done more for my lords which I failed to protect had I been stronger, but some things simply cannot be changed."

She paused a little and wondered if it was a good idea or not to pass on her disciple her strong desire for revenge. It was her original plan to nurture the emotion of hatred and revenge on whoever become her student, but after meeting Tylo she learned to care about his wellbeing and he deserved more than a life dedicated to relentlessly pursue those who wronged him.

"No matter how much hatred you might feel for those who caused you so much pain and sorrow, do not give in to revenge and attempt to pursue them. Learn from me, I am here only for hatred and revenge, and for hatred and revenge I shall never find peace until I kill that parallelmon bastard with my own hands. I try to be happy, yet happiness is long gone for those like me who betrayed all their beliefs and ideals only to live for revenge"

He didn't have to end like her, he deserved to LIVE rather than being dead in life like her. IT was already too late for her to try to start a new life, but it wasn't late for him. He was going to get better, cope with the situation and eventually leave this place as a stronger and wiser digimon who could still enjoy life, that's what she hoped because once revenge become the only thing that kept you alive, you simply couldn't go back to what you once were

[tylomon]

Tylomon kept silent as he simply let the things Ciel talked sink in. He wasn't thinking at that moment at all. Revenge? What revenge? Against whom? The enemy commander, who took almost sadistic delight in predicting the group's every move, and annihilating all of them, all accept one? Or their own, who sent them out here to die? If he belonged to the army, he'd like some. The soldiers were betrayed by their own, there was no better word for what happened. But he volunteered to come along, so it could be assumed he knew the risks, right? Maybe, maybe not. Tylo would think on revenge later, but not here. Not now...

- I remember I overheard some talk between enemy troops as they retreated... They mentioned other columns ... suffered the same fate. They also mentioned a name... That some sharmamon, or whatever, took command... - the shark stopped for a second, as his dazed glare finally gained focus. And what can be seen in them now was ... anger. Lots of it. Tylo cared not for damage done to him, but for the others that died with him. Hnh, guess angel's story would have a doppelganger after all...

- I think I should find that sharmamon... Give him a medal... "For meritorious slaughter." - upon saying the last word, he spitted out a missile, which caught flight and directed itself against a nearby tree. The poor tree exploded, it's trunk torn to pieces by sheer power of the attack. Where did the shark get strength to launch such attacks after such a fight?

- Come to think of it... Our commander deserves one too... - he added, spitting another missile against another unlucky tree. The sounds of the explosions silenced soon, and the field once again was engulfed in grim quietness of a cemetery...

In that silence, soon steps were heard. Metallic ones. Clank... Clank... Clank... Closer and closer. No need to be alarmed though, those were not belonging to enemies - but to a friend. Sealsdramon returned from his trip to the ridge. He was not alone ... sort of. In his hands he held the lifeless body of commandramon - his only son. The poor guy was mutilated - his face was smashed in by some ... giant talon or something. A hole made by similar one was in the chest. He died quickly ... probably. There were no chances of survival.

Sealsdramon did not cry - he was a cyborg digimon, but he wanted to. He wanted to scream, but could not. He wanted to turn time back, and stop this from happening, but he could not do that either. It was too late, too late to do anything, now all that left was to accept and let go... Or maybe not. The commandramon's body finally broke into data and disappeared, sealsdramon's hands still in position as if he were holding him. That kept for a few moments, as the digimo just stared at the place where his son's body once were with a blank stare.

- I don't think I am going back to the camp... - he sounded lost, abandoned of all hope. If one would have given him a gun right now, he probably would have shot himself. - ... I was once a very strict general... I hated incompetent underlings ... and for mistakes that lead to catastrophe I condemned them to death... For this ... punishment would be worse than death... - he sighed out finally. That was it. The only chain that kept sealsdramon tame and under control was now gone. Who knew what could happen next...

- I was thinking... The enemy commander seemed to predict our every move... What ... what if he predicted you'd come here for us?

[Ciel]

"I hate situations like this. I should be the angriest of all, yet I'm am the calmest, this wicked graveyard can indeed twist our very roles ..."

The horror ... the deaths ... the filthy smell of blood mixed with mud, excrement and the insides of those who were disemboweled and mutilated .... thinking back she really had reasons to get angrier than the rest, this is pretty much exactly what happened back in her own world. Her enemy rejoiced on the bloodbath as she lied, completely defeated and covered by the insides of those who once were her companions. The parallelmon even forced her and her at time still alive companions to eat the eyes and tongues of their own people, and to make things worse, he kept them in company of the decapitated heads of their lords seraphimon and ophanimon, whose helmets were removed and their mutilated faces showed an expression of horror no saintly creature like them should have. With guys like him near, nothing was sacred and reminding what caused her to become an angel of revenge made her wish for the paildramon's damnation as well.

"Once you begin you cannot stop until the enemy is dead. If you want revenge, get stronger, strong enough to kill your loathed enemy. You cannot change the past, but you can ensure your enemy will not have any future, just like he denied his victims their own futures"

The sealsdramon arrived and on his hands was the corpse of his child. The commandramon's death most likely was fast, but only because it was fast it didn't mean it was painless, such injury had to cause him a soul crushing pain so unbearable that the fraction of second he still remained alive must've felt like an eternity during which he begged to die faster to stop the pain. That kind of agony Ciel wished to no one ... well almost no one because parallelmon deserved to suffer as much if not more than that.

"Even if we wanted we can't go back to the camp, not after knocking down so many of paildramon's guards. An incompetent and selfish leader like him would never let us enter again alive there, so all its left is to keep a low profile here or move to another area"

Indeed, the sealsdramon really put the hurt of the ultimate digimon's loyal guards and if he was as selfish, ignorant, arrogant and power hungry as the sealsdramon said, he would never forgive those who defied his arbitrary laws and acted without his consent, that kind of digimon would let them enter again in the city only inside a coffin.

The tylomon made a good question, but it was a question it had an obvious answer.

"I doubt he predicted our arrival. If he really is the brilliant strategist we think he is, he must've realized the fool who sent those ill prepared troops after him wouldn't care about the fate of his men and abandoned them to die without sending even a small rescue party."