Sympathy for the Devil

[ilinkzeldi]

A path stretches across the digital world. So long it is said that those who walk upon it are drifters who have lost their way. The path is bordered on both sides by dense forest. An eerie music plays, loud enough to be noticed by the tamers, but soft enough that those travelers are unable to pick out the melody.

 

[The Sadistic Toan]

Toan had begun to walked down the dark path with his Astamon right behind him. He was twirling his cane around before smashing it into a tree breaking it in two.
"You seem to be in a good mood"
The Astamon remark. Toan turn and stared at his digimon with clearly shown frustration and anger
"Shut up."  

[ilinkzeldi]

Riku was strides ahead of his tamer. Joyfully skipping while Rebecca dredged behind him. "Lost once more on the trail of life, is this truly my fate?" Rebecca felt as if her legs were on fire, but something kept her walking on the trail. In theory the world was made completely of data this path could extend forever. "Oh well I can think of worse fates," she muttered underneath her breath. There was something broken about this place, the music looping in the backrgound, the continual forests. It was as if they were stuck in a glitched video game. That thought brought back more of the real world, and Rebecca's mood sank further. The digimon did not seem to be bothered though, perhaps they enjoyed data like this. Riku stopped her, staring ahead of the trail. He pointed valiantly to an astamon and a boy pimpslapping the trees with his cane. "How strange, that person and his digimon look oh so familiar," Rebecca commented, before her gaze wandered back to staring at her feet.

 

[The Sadistic Toan]

Toan continued walking for a few more minutes, listening to the sound of the music coming from all around him. The more he listen the more anger he felt. His gripped on the cane tighten as the seconds pass. Someone turn off the damn music! With a roar of fustration he jump on top of a tree branch and begin to scan around. He notice Rebecca near by and yelled
"So your the one who's playing the music! Shut the damn thing off or I'll shut it off for you!"
Without waiting for her to reply he spun the cane around till it extended and became a full size staff. He jump off the tree and swung the staff directly at her head.  

[ilinkzeldi]

Rebecca sunk deeper and deeper into somber melancholy. "How strange, I barely remember how we came upon this trail. And yet, I cannot imagine any way to escape this place," words she would have normally proclaimed in grand fashion were muttered so lowly not even Riku could make out them in their entirety. The digimon seemed unaffected by his tamer's mood, still walking ahead. Too far ahead, he did not even notice the familiar one approaching. Perhaps he could not hear it, the music that rambled within the back of her mind. Though unable to distinguish what kind of sound she heard, it still had a significant effect on her state of mind. "Somebody turn off that damn music," she mouthed, dropping her normally poetic way of speaking for commoner talk. A rustle disturbed the note's progression within her mind. It was enough to make her glance upward's and glance the familiar face now lunging towards her. Rebecca's body moved instinctively, reacting with swiftness uncharacteristic of her mood. She drew from her belt, not a weapon but a Yo-yo. Leaning far enough to the right for Toan's blow to miss, she let the Yo-yo swing outward until it ran out of string. At that moment a switch clicked, releasing a cloud of purple smoke. The distraction was enough to obscure Toan's field of vision while Rebecca regrouped with her digimon. "I do not know why you attack with such malice, but do not think for a second I will just sit here and let it occur," she said, with a bit more spirit in her speech than before. If anything this conflict distracted her from the music. Riku had just realized what had unfolded, and rushed to his partner's side. It was just in time for Rebecca to draw her digivice and activate warp digivolution. The agumon before her quickly digivolved into a wargreymon X, ready to defend his partner and friend. "Now tell me, when faced with unknowable evil how should one who defends justice react?"  

[The Sadistic Toan]

Toan begin to spin the staff at high speed clearing the smoke away. His Astamon had begun to appear by his side. He grab hold of one end of the staff and said
"Toan calm down! Clear your mind!"
Toan shook his head as he twisted the staff out of the Astamon hand and begun to charge at Rebecca once more, this time aiming at both her legs.  

[ilinkzeldi]

"Charge ahead without bothering to answer my question, how rude of you," Rebecca commented drily. The Yo-yo recoiled into her palm as she watched the boy charge at her blindly once more. She threw the Yo-yo once more, the string wrapping itself around a high tree branch. Just as Toan swung Rebecca jumped into the air, causing the Yo-yo to pull the branch down upon the unsuspecting toan. Rebecca herself had already stepped behind Wargreymon X, and was now observing the digimon which had accompanied toan. "Something seems peculiar about this, oh whatever," Had Rebecca not been in such a desolate mood she might have noticed that neither of their digimon seemed to be emulating the moods of their tamers.  

[The Sadistic Toan]

Before Toan could charge again, the Astamon had grab Toan from behind and twisted Toan arm behind him causing him to drop the staff. He push Toan onto the ground and put his knee on his back.
"Toan, it is Rebecca your attacking! Control yourself!"
Toan try to fight it but couldn't break loose of his bond. He tried for a few more minute without any effort. He begin to breath deeply, taking in as much air as he could. a few more minute begin to passed before he spoke again.
"Rebecca? Wargreymon? The hell are you guys doing here? And why the hell is my Astamon binding me to the ground?!"  

[ilinkzeldi]

"Drive City, that was when we last met right? As for how we ended up at this particular place I am not sure, something has tainted my memory," Looking back she could not recollect why she had taken this particular trail. Following the directions the barkeep had given her? No there was something else. The further she pushed the memory, the harder it became to recollect. It was better to figure out the situation now, let the answer come later. No sooner had she made that decision then the music began to play once more, stronger. This time Rebecca could definitely make out the finer details. It was a harmonica, playing. . . music . . . sad music. Her eyes grew heavy and apathy welled within her. She was tempted to lay down and never move again. That was easier then dealing with the dark thoughts which pricked her mind. Yet being with Wargreymon gave her a bit of resolve, enough to at least continue talking to toan. "The melodies, roaring in the back of our heads. It seems to be provoking our greatest flaw, my apathy and your anger. That's the only thing I can make out from your shouts of shutting off music," Rebecca explained to the best of her ability, but a lack of enthusiasm was apparent in her voice. Recognizing Toan only seemed to worsen her mood, it reminded her of that miserable time in Drive City.  

[The Sadistic Toan]

"Hmmm Seems like the music is starting again...Astamon try to determine how long this trail extend, where the music is coming from, and why the hell did we even enter this forest in the first place. But before that, GET THE HELL OFF ME!"
The Astamon chuckle and got off of his tamer. He begin to walk off a bit into the forest and was envelope in the shroud of darkness. Toan sat up and rubbed his wrist, trying to get blood rushing through it again. He stretch out his arm and retrieve his staff, shrinking it back to a cane.
"So what now?"  

[ilinkzeldi]

"The only example I can draw from past experiences was once being caught up in a video game glitch," The memory brought frustration to her mind as she recollected having to restart the entire game to bypass the glitch. However one could not reset the digital world, as far as Rebecca knew. They needed another plan. Despite her efforts to remain calm and think out a plan, the music continued to crash her every train of thought. The frustration was beginning to show on her brow, a strange occurence for the girl who hid her true face behind a mask of arrogance."My suggestion is this, whatever is toying with us must have created this forest to entrap us Yes? So if we cause enough destruction it might be enough to determine the source of the music. . ." Her last words petered off as she began to dramatically stare off at the sun.
"Careful Rebecca, you'll probably hurt your eyes,"  

[The Sadistic Toan]

Toan raised an eyebrow curiously
"Is that all? leave it to me then."
He got up and begin to search through his backpack. He came back a few moment later carrying a white bottle, a branch, and some matches. He grab the matches to set the tip of the branch on fire. He then bit the bottle top off and took a long drink. He hold the flaming stick in front of him and spit out what he drunk into the fire causing a large flame to erupt into the forest. soon the fire begin to spread in front of them and move on down the forest floor. Astamon came out of the fire a few minute later with a peeved expression.
"Was that necessary?""  

[ilinkzeldi]

Rebecca watched as the landscape was burned around her. It would almost be heartbreaking if she wasn't aware the trees were For a moment they were surrounded by wasteland, until the trees simply began to regrow. "Might need to rethink this plan," Rebecca muttered, shielding her eyes from the sun's light. "Or continue wrecking s**t, I no longer care."
Wargreymon observed Astamon and toan's similiar predicament. Whatever was causing the tamers to act in such ways, it seemed to be having no affect on the digimon. Riku would need to figure a way out of this situation on his own. A thought occured to him. Despite the fact he could fly the two had been walking this trail the entire time. Was it her fear of heights? No, that never stopped her before. No harm in simply trying. Wargreymon launched himself off the ground and began hurtling upwards. As Riku gained altitude the world spread out around him. From his eagle's eye view, Wargreymon simply affirmed what they had thought earlier. They were walking down a pathway surrounded by forest. It was a discouraging sight, enough to make Riku want to stop flying and join his tamer in dramatically staring. At least, that's what he thought until smacking straight into some invisible ceiling. The force of his impact was enough to damage whatever it was that had been keeping them contained in the same area. A large crack was now apparent in the sky. Worse yet the music which had been quiet until this point intensified into a roar. Loud enough that Rebecca began to cringe and cover her own ears. Riku still unable to hear this music signalled to Astamon, hoping the digimon would have an idea what to do about the crack.

 

[The Sadistic Toan]

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Toan grabbed hold on his head as the screeching of the music intensify. With his intense hearing, it was ten time worst for him.
"Someone shut that damn music off!!"
He begin to fall to his knee and wince in pain. He slowly begin to raise to his feet after a few minute of suffering. He pulled out his digivice and hold it out to his Astamon.
"Crush the infidel who is screwing with me!"
The Astamon begin to glow black with energy
"Woah Toan! this is too much power!"
Toan shook his head as he wince again as the music got even louder
"Obey me!!"
The Astamon stared at him for a long moment before nodding. He begin to jump into the air as his wings begin to grow even more and more. Normally he would've digivolve into Anubismon, but not this time.
"Astamon digivolve to....Belphemon"
The Belphemon roar with rage as he sweep his hand all aross the forest shattering everything in it's path.
"Lampranthus!"
He open his mouth and fire a large beam of black and purple energy at the sky, creating a crack in the barrier. The crack begin to widen and spread all around the sky till every inch was cracked and eventually the entire barrier was shattered to pieces. The Belphemon begin to glow purple and then shrunk back to Astamon as he gracefully landed next to Toan, looking daze.  

[ilinkzeldi]

Immediately after the destruction of the barrier the music shut off. Rebecca froze, helpless but to watch as the sky fell around them. Of course this was merely an illusion, it still unnerved her greatly. Both digimon and tamers found themselves unable to move. Behind the barrier there was only darkness. The darkess which had been leaking from the cracks in the sky now flooded, covering everything. In the darkness only one thing could be heard, a soft clapping of hands. "TOAN!" Rebecca shouted, her words muffled by the surrounding blackness. The apathy drained away from her, only to be replaced by panic. It felt as if she was going to be swallowed by such gripping blackness. Am I really going to die like this, without ever seeing him again? a last regret, the first time she had even thought of missing the human world. The digital world had been more of a home to her than her world ever was, yet there was some sadness at the thought of never being able to see it again. "How regrettable," She mouthed. Suddenly from above three lights shown, revealing Toan, Rebecca and a pale boy standing in the darkness. Instead of looking for Wargreymon Rebecca was only staring incredulously at the boy, who was holding a harmonica in his hands.