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

[] Tell Sparks that he's wrong. Flamemon's views weren't wrong, regardless of what happened. You'll carry on that dream in his place.

===

"He let us both down. The justice and heroism he preached was naught but an illusion blown away by power. His beliefs and my own were those of a fool, heh."

What?!

A growl of primal anger rips its way out your throat, causing the crippled Wizardmon to step back in sudden surprise and fear.

"V-Verge?"

"Don't." *Cough* "Don't be scared Verge. I won't let things end. Not here. We'll."*Cough* "We'll be heroes. I'll keep my promise to you. No matter wha-"

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"That's. Just. Wrong!" You snarl, glaring daggers at the champion. Your front paws clenched tightly, digging metal through fur and into skin, but you ignore the pain.

Flamemon died protecting me, he...he died trying to keep his promise. I didn't- I can't just throw that away.

Your eyes begin to water, and your voice begins to shake but still you press on.

"Flamemons dream was-is right. I promised him that I'd follow it! Even though that... that Repulsa deleted him, what he believed it-it wasn't foolish. I'm…" You trail off into a sniffle and wipe away the tears. "I'm going to be a hero and-and fulfill that dream!"

Sparks stares at you, wide-eyed in a mixture of disbelief and horror. He tries to say something, his high collar shifting as if he's opening his mouth, but all that comes out is a strangled "Gerk". You continue glaring at the Wizardmon, expecting any second for him to shout back, or scream something about how you're wrong.

Except instead his mirror-like eyes focus again, they're not filled with wrath, no the only thing you can glean from them is far worse. Sparks is looking at you with pity.

Your friend slumps down, his grip on his staff loosening as he lowers his head. Uncomfortable seconds flow by and the powerful emotions wracking your frame being to drain away, leaving only a deluge of depressing emptiness.

"Heh, hehehehe, hehehahahaha" A tortured laugh squeaks out from the crippled champions throat. When he looks up at you again, his visage is blank. "My apologies for the words spoken. You shalt not hear such from me again"

"Sparks..." You trail off, before taking a deep breath.

"Mine mind understands now, I thank thee for the candid clarification." Despite his more fanciful words you can feel the sadness bleeding through.

Did-did what I say hurt him?

"You're right about something" you say after a moment. "Power does matter. Ideals like heroism they… they can't work if someone more powerful comes along who thinks differently." Sparks nods sullenly in agreement. "But… That just means I have to get enough power to back up his dream. I'm still with you Sparks we're going to get revenge, and rescue the others. together."

"Heh," Sparks lets out a slightly relieved chuckle, as he straightens up once more. "To realize naivety yet persist, and modify..." The Wizardmon gives you a nod. "I cannot agree but, tis good to know that thine mind is not wholly lost… heh."

Umm… Thank you?

You frown, not quite understanding then shake your head.

"So uh… Sparks I also like came here to ask something else."

"Oh? And what pray tell, is thine question?"

"Well, uh. *ahem* recently you've been acting like you're friends with Ardat and I wanted to know... well... Why?"

"Heh, I could ask the same of thee," Sparks replies, his light blue orbs glimmering with a hint of mischief. You wince, and are about to reply, when he continues on. "Mine intuition has informed me that she, like Pidmon, very well may be a powerful ally in our mission. Tis my due concern as you've stated to make the bonds genuine."

Ah, I-I see.

"Perhaps you've gotten closer to her for another reason? I've noticed thine eyes wandering in her presence. Perhaps you wish to make her your idol?"

Huh?! What? No! That's not-I wouldn't want-

You try to sputter out a reply, but are cut off as Sparks lets out another chuckle. For a moment there's pure confusion-then you get what the teasing mon was doing. Despite the seriousness of the previous conversation you can't help it, you break out into laughter as well.

===

Instead of making camp after training, Scratch orders the squad to continue marching. Which sees everyone reaching the nearby town just after nightfall. Once again your group is met by the vigilant Knightmon and the Pawnchessmon, then are let through without a fuss.

While you won't deny feeling a flush of anger upon seeing the large armored figure,this time your mind is lucid enough from the getgo to stop you from randomly attacking.

Upon passing through the automatized gates, Ardat tries to suggest eating again, but is swiftly overruled by Scratch. The Sergeant points out that they cannot afford to be late, and instead hurries everyone towards the Locomon station where one of the titular mon is just pulling in to load up cargo.

You have no idea how Scratch knew this mon would be coming in just after the group arrived, but try to explain it to yourself as the devolved Ultimate probably just somehow getting the information using his rank. The Gladimon goes up to one of the many robotic digimon responsible for running the train and after a couple minutes conversation returns saying that he's managed to gain access to a pair of half-full "cars". Which you find out a few moments later means those big metal containers behind the actual digimon pulling everything.

Since there isn't enough room in each individual container for the whole group, Scratch splits the squad in two. Sparks volunteers to go with Beat, and you volunteer to go with him, which leaves Scratch, Ardat and Pidmon in the second car. The two-winged angel hands you and Sparks a series of loaves along with training equipment to use over the journey.

A couple minutes later you find yourself being packed into a large metal box that has the right side filled entirely with large white sacks. With the door closed everything is pitch black, however your eyes still easily able to make out the details. Unlike Sparks who ends up tripping over an errant sack.

Beat is a bit more careful, instead slowly moving along the wall. If the Stingmon cares about having companions with him in the cramped space he doesn't show it. The stoic, somewhat grumpy champion just finds himself a corner, leans against it and goes to sleep.

Naturally both yourself and Sparks follow suite, with the Wizardmon using the object he'd tripped over as a pillow, while you just curl up in the center of the metal floor. Having thick fur pays off wonderfull once again, keeping you pleasantly warm and meaning you don't have to feel the cold metal at all!

At first it's a little difficult to drop off to sleep due to the Locomon's constant noise, and the intermittent jostling but eventually you get used to it and unconsciousness makes it way to your mind.

===

When you wake up some time later, Sparks is using your massive body as a sort of bed, having draped himself on top of you during the night. With the complete darkness of the container it's difficult to really tell what time of the day it is, but just from estimating how long you usually snooze for (i.e. 6-8 hours) it should be late morning. Beat is already awake and doing a series of weighted calisthenics to pass the time.

After quick breakfast of Travel Bread, you maneuver the still snoozing Sparks off your back and join the insect digimon in working out. Your friend wakes up twenty-seven minutes later, grumbles about not being able to see; then to your surprise, summons a small ball of fire above his staff to provide light for himself. At first you're more than a little surprised by this, mostly because his go-to magic so far had always just been blasting away at stuff with the first of Gramps spells.

You hadn't even known that he could summon fire, much less control it to the point of setting an Orb to float motionlessly in the air. Over the course of the day Sparks has to repeatedly use the spell, since the orb gradually fades away by itself, however in the intervals he joins you in your exercises.

Despite his much smaller frame, the champion is in fact stronger than you by a noticeable if not vast amount. Truthfully it's a little demoralizing, especially since your own growth in that field had shown down to a crawl. However you buckle down, grit your teeth and struggle through training anyway.

The only surprise during your ride is when Sparks tries to start a conversation with Beat.

"Prick, I would have words with thee"

The Stingmon narrows his eyes, and then slightly inclines his head.

"Ah, verily. Hrm, tell me, do you ever feel as if thine hast… interacted with Pidmon before? I remember in our last bout against the foe, his words resonated in mine mind. Twas not an occurrence I realized at the time, I merely went along with as if it had been an order I had followed many a time before."

Wait… what is Sparks is saying?!

"… I do" Beat admits after a seconds pause. "Your point?"

"Such an occurrence can not be a mere coincidence." The Wizardmon states warily. "I admit to having little knowledge of the matter of reincarnation, but tis folly to ignore the signs. Sir Scratch recruited yourself, Pidmon and I. Somehow, he must have known."

"But…" you hesitantly interrupt. "How would he ah, well, know?"

"Thine question is a good one, how he found out tis a mystery still." Your friend admits. "Mine logic is still sound, but there is much we know of naught. Be wary of Scratch, I fear there may be other forces at work."

That is… Who could have planned this? How would they have been able to...

"Hn" Beat nods seriously, clearly thinking the topic over.

You try hard not to shiver.

=

The rest of your time spent traveling is thankfully free of additional drama as all further conversation moves on towards lighter, more pleasant topics. Mostly Sparks discussing theory with you about Frame Reinforce which is quite helpful with your attempts to learn it. By your estimate it'll just be another day or so (at least if your current progress is anything to go by) until you're fully able to use it.

Annoyingly, the tingly feeling in your outer extremities continues to worsen. While still not painful, it's almost like small bits and pieces of your body are roiling in protest. Under your thick coat of purple and grey fur it's not really noticeable, but if it continues to increase at the current pace… the others might start noticing something is wrong. The fact that this only occurs when you're training is odd, but you're not letting it stop you from gaining power. There's simply too much you need to do.

The side of your container finally opens during the evening, allowing blessed sunlight to pour in and properly illuminate the space. As well as what lies beyond...

Once upon a time you'd believed that MasterTyranomon's little town's population where a couple dozen mon could be seen running errands at any one time had been overly large. Then you'd come to the next bastion of civilization over where over a hundred mon are been doing the same.

Hub city has more digimon in one station than the full population of both town's combined. Hundreds of champions and rookies of every form, flit about the area. They swarm around and over the cars of twelve docked Locomons, unloading or unloading cargo depending on the car in question.

Both Sparks and Beat join in with your gaping, starting with unabashed awe. Buildings stretch out in every direction for hundreds, no, thousands of meters with no real end in sight. What almost looks like one giant, smooth grey mountain looms in the distance, but further scrutiny reveals its true nature. It's a wall. A massive metal wall that must be dozens of meters high.

Just how anymon could build this, the resources that it would take to keep the place running much less feed everyone is mind-boggling and you get a headache just thinking about it.

The three of you are rescued from your gawking as Ardat, Pidmon and the Sergeant exit their car. The Gladimon has to shout in order to be heard over the cacophony of noises

Your commanding officer explains that he has to head off by himself to meet Centarumon, and that the squad should meet him back at this station (#5) at night. He orders everyone to stay in groups of at least two, and not to head off by themselves for any reason.

With that, the little champion vanishes into the throng of struggling bodies.

===Choice of what to do: (Choose One)

[] Ardat and Beat want to go find a good meal, you wouldn't mind getting some good food as well. According to some of the posters, there's a cafe boasting that it had one of the legendary Warriors as a server.

[] Pidmon wants to go see a concert, apparently SistermonNoir (The accursed Gloamings representative ) is performing this evening. Sparks has decided to come along, so you'll go too.

===


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Authors Note: The dialogue with Sparks took the longest to write. Other stuff came quicker. Beta'd by @TempestK