Digimon Inheritance: A Heroic Lion's Turbulent Times (Finished)

Winning Vote

[] On the back of something warm moving fast, you almost end up falling off.

===

Waking up is an unpleasant experience, the very moment consciousness reasserts itself you're assaulted by an overwhelming influx pain. A low moan escapes your lips as the object you're resting on jostles bringing even worse sensations to light. The wind whips at your singed body scalding the furless sections.

Your thoughts are slow, it's almost as if something is actively surpressing your thoughts.

Wh-where am I?

Soon it becomes clear that you're resting atop something running very fast, further inspection let's you see that the surface you're resting on is covered in some sort of black fur. Little bit by little bit your weight shifts away from the center and you feel a sudden panic as gravity takes hold and you feel yourself begin to slip. Letting out a small help of surprise, you reach out and desperately grab at the fur in an attempt to keep yourself from falling.

Your claws sink lightly into something tough and a pained somewhat familiar yelp rings through the air. Gnaw let's loose a low warning growl and bucks his shoulders tossing you up into the air. The screams erupting from your throat stops when you land heavily between his shoulders with a barely audible "Oof"

With the scary noise being emitted by the champion you're too scared to do anything more than sit tightly and wait for things to stop.

"Idiot" The running BlackGarurumon says "Don't move! You'll hurt yourself!" Gnaw's pace slows down a she begins moving more carefully through the trees.

"S-sorry" you mumble weakly "I Didn't mean to..."

"Hmph, Don't talk" The larger mon mutters. "We'll be there soon"

There? Wh-where are we... going?

You want to ask him why, but through the pain of fatigue it proves difficult. So instead you settle for simply nodding before slumping down against his fur. The two of you carry on in silence for a few minutes, then Gnaw gives a soft angry sigh.

"Heard about Auger. It..."Gnaw pauses briefly before grunting. "Hmph. Wasn't my fault. I was tearing apart threats. That stupid Goblimon is responsible!" The BlackGarurumon angrily explains. A part of you vaguely wants to point out the fact that maybe if he hadn't run off Auger could have been healed sooner, but the words simply refuse to leave your mouth.

Shortly thereafter your friend runs in through the open village gate and makes a beeline straight for Sorcerymon. The humanoid champion is far from oblivious to your companions sudden intrusion and takes up a stance in front of the Cauldron his wand glistening with shining white light. He shows no fear of the much larger digimon, far from it. Rather the merchants loose stance and casual twirling of his weapon denotes a strange sense of confidence.

Of course you find that completely insane considering just how much bigger Gnaw is than said Sorcerymon. Just from the looks of things your friend could simply snap him up in a single bite! Before Gnaw can speak, the villages temporary guardian lets out a low threatening whistle.

"Now this here village is under my prestigious pro-tec-she-own. Ah, do believe that you should scurry on out of here"

He still talks weird...

"Bwahahaha! Make me!" Gnaw cackles, barring his teeth with a vicious grin. "If you can"

"Oh on that you will find that Ah most certainly agree. Ah most certainly can and will make you leave." Sorcerymon let's out a chuckle of his own. "Do be most assured varmit, it most certainly won't be something you'll enjoy"

"Urgh, Wait!" Gnaw shouts, abandoning his bravado in face of the threat. "It's Gnaw! I just digivolved!"

"Is that right?.. Ah see it now" He says with a slightly chagrined tone.

The light glistening from Sorcerymon's staff dims at the explanation, though the older Digimon patently doesn't lower his guard. Your friend turns ninety degrees and then lowers himself to the ground. For a moment you wonder why he's doing this... Then he leans left and let's you fall off his back.

Hitting the ground while covered in bruises and burns is a very painful experience.

"Ah do declare! That's one unlucky little feller. He always seems ta get the worst of things" Sorcerymon murmurs before raising a faintly hand. Over the next few moments every shred of the agonizing pain you'd been feeling fades away, first to a doll throb, then it simply vanishes taking most of the strange fatigue along with it. A quick check confirms that even your fur is back in pristine condition."Ya'll don't pay me enough for this" The merchant mumbles before letting out a tired yawn, he waves a hand in dismissal then turns to head back towards his tent.

"Th-Thanks for healing me!" Sorcerymon doesn't verbally respond to your words, though you think his shrug might be an answer of some sort. After a small period of awkward silence, Gnaw gives a small cough prompting you to turn back the large wolf digimon. "Oh-ah Gnaw... Thanks for carrying me here"

"Didn't do it for you" The BlackGarurumon replies much to your confusion. "Just felt like running back here and Gramps threw you on my back" his words send a small surge of pain through your chest, prompting water to form in your eyes.

What? Oh then... But I-I thought we were friends.

Gnaw coughs and turns his head away, not wanting to meet your sad gaze.

"Uh-huh. I.."The champion stumbles around verbally, trying to say something. Eventually he perks up and turns back to you. "You did good today"

"I-I did?"

"Yes, Fu told me how you shredded those Goblimon!" Gnaw gives a low satisfied laugh, "You should get angry more often. I like seeing that side of you"

I-Oh. Spirits Above, I-those. What happened when-

While in the end you don't actually hurl, it's a very close thing. Gnaw takes this opportunity to get away from your wretching form, hastily padding over towards the open gate and then laying down to watch over it. In the end you're left sad and alone... Well for a few moments anyway.

"Big Brother!" You hear Lunamon shout a mere moment before she crashes into your side. "Are-are you okay now? You were hurt and..." The small rookies eyes begin to tear up.

"It's-I'm. I'm okay" You reply struggling to think of something comforting to say to her.

What would Flamemon say?...

"D-." *Ahem* You stand up straight "Do not worry Lunamon! I made promise a-and will follow through" You say in your deepest most *heroic* voice. The words have almost the exact response you hoped for as the digimon stops tearing up and gives a happy smile.

"Yay!"

The hug that follows is still uncomfortable, but at least this time you manage not to flinch. The deeply ingrained fear and nervousness from such an action are not nearly so bad as before. Still you can't help but think back on that blurry image you saw earlier.

Tha-that voice. I-it was like... Speaking in my head.

Thankfully you don't end up thinking on it for long as Lunamon wrangles you into a game of tag. It's not a match that you're able to win.

===

Gramps and the rest of the party get back hours later and it's very easy to spot them incoming considering the Verge large mechanical digimon Sparks is piloting. The *Mechanorimon* as Sorcerymon dubs it is just a couple feet taller than the wall surrounding your village. It's parked just outside the gate and mere moments after it stops, Flamemon comes rushing in through the open doors.

"Verge!" You freeze mid-step behind the laughing Lunamon and end up falling face first into the ground. By the time you've pulled your nose free from the dirt he's by your side. "It is good to see that you are alright! We won a great victory today against those dastardly villains and we shall fell their last bastion of darkness tomorrow!"

"O-okay!" You reply trying to match his enthusiastic tone. Flamemon pumps a fist into the air then excitedly turns away from you and sets his gaze upon Sorcerymon. As he leaves you manage to spot Gramps rounding the villages central tree, carrying an enormous stack of foodstuffs. Lunamon runs over to try and help and you begin to step after her, when a strange rookie hops in front of you.

"Hey" Sparks grimaces. "Big sis Fu told me about the stuff that happened and... I'm sorry. Next time we'll do better right?!" The rookie raises his left hand in a thumbs up, copying Flamemons most common gesture.

"Y-yeah of course we will!" In truth you're happy to have another cheerful personality along, it helps keep the ever-present fear at the thought of fighting tomorrow at bay.

The afternoon passes by rather quickly with more games of tag between yourself Lunamon and Sparks while Gramps makes an inordinate amount of lunch. The reason why turns out to be Gnaw as he eats more than everyone else combined and then some. Something you learn is that champions need a much greater quantity of food than rookies like Lunamon, which explains why the village doesn't have any champions. There is no way the small farm Fu tends could keep up with multiple mon of that size.

After the evening supper Gramps calls another small assembly and re-states what Flamemon told you earlier. Namely that you'll be assaulting the last place tomorrow morning. The old Elecmon notifies everyone that Fu will not be joining said attack and then shuts down her protests by pointing out that Auger won't be around to protect her anymore. According to him, she's simply too fragile to bring to something this dangerous, especially since there might be more champions there. He's unwilling to risk her deletion in the case that he's too busy fighting to save her. Surprisingly he does allow Sparks to come, though you're pretty sure it's because he can pilot that Mechanorimon. Lastly, he ends things off by saying that everyone should get plenty of rest.

From there after the rest disperse he comes up and brings you by the gate for a more personal talk.

"Hrm, Verge. By The Ten this will be very dangerous" The old digimon lets out a sigh. "You almost got deleted today so-"

I did? Oh crud I did! I almost got deleted! I almost got-

*Zap*

Gramps knocks you out of the horrified train of thought with a tiny bolt of electricity before continuing.

"So, you can stay here"

I-I can what?

"You can stay here" The scarred rookie says again, almost as if somehow reading your mind. "Leaving it to you"

A large, no a very, very large part of your psyche is grateful for the option to stay behind but, something deep within finds the idea completely and utterly repulsive. Letting Flamemon and the others finish this by themselves while you wait here in safety would be. Your best friend will carry through that much you know for certain, but you made an oath to help him become a hero and just waiting in the village while his takes another step on said path doesn't sit right with you. On the other paw, you know that you're not very strong so even if you do go, then perhaps at worst you'll just be a hindrance and get yourself deleted. The thought sends a shiver down your spine.

=== In The End You Decide To:

[] Inform Gramps that you'll come along. Flamemon will succeed here and you don't want to miss it.
[] Say that you'll come along. Ending this threat will allow you to finally live in peace and dig without worry once again.
[] Respond to Gramps that you'll come along, you're a bit concerned that Gnaw might not come back to the village after this considering his previous words and current attitude. .
[] Tell Gramps that you'll stay behind at the village, in the end this might be the best decision if you're not going to drag everyone else down.

=== Stat Changes:

• Strength: 70.75
• Fortitude: 75.00
• Endurance: 64.75->66.5
• Agility: 53.0->56

===

Authors Note: Welp, not exactly "Late Tonight" like I said earlier. Sorry about that. Anyway we're getting towards the end of this second week and Goblimon arc, after this we just have a few posts left with the final assault, or one post if Verge chooses to stay behind.