A simple Key [Carlos/Closed]

As much as he hated to admit it, Carlos had somehow found himself to be completely and utterly lost. Again.
While he had taken the precaution of asking the general direction of his destination (the city of Whitewater) he was now regretting doing the trek on foot to save himself some money. Not so much because he was completely and utterly lost and without a clue how to make it out of the wilderness…but because he had to deal with his partner’s bad mood without any sort of distraction.
“This is the last time I’m letting you lead the way, dumbass!”

“Have some faith in me, will ya? I just gotta find someone to ask for directions.” The man replied, looking for a convincing excuse to shut his companion up for at least a minute. As much as he had grown to be fond of the small digimon, it was still a struggle for him to stand his continuous belittling comments.

“Ask for directions? And to whom would you ask that? The trees? That branch over there?” Dio asked, sarcastically, knowing their chances of finding someone that would know the way were slim at best, nonexistent at worst.
Almost as if on cue however, the answer to that question presented itself on a clearing not too far from them: A canine looking digimon was seemingly resting relatively close, and was still oblivious to their presence. Not only that, but by the looks of it she was also meditating…while levitating around a foot or two above a stump.

On its own and without any context, this scene was enough to send a lot of signals to the young man. Most blatant of them being the obvious fact that she was clearly very powerful and perfectly capable of tearing both of them apart with her pinkies if she so chose. Granted, that last part could easily be said about most of the digimon they had come across so far.

While approaching a levitating fox…wolf…whatever lady while she was clearly focused meditating was not exactly something he wanted to do or that seemed like a good idea, but it was worth a try if it meant finding civilization again. After approaching her slightly to be within hearing distance (while still standing a safe distance away from her, of course) the young man cleared his throat a bit, working up a bit of courage before speaking up.

“Er, excuse me, lady?” He asked, somewhat hesitant. There was no response from the digimon. “Ma'am, could you help us out? We’re kinda lost and we could use some directions towards Whitewater…” He insisted yet again, speaking a bit louder this time, but still no response.
Predictably, the first one to lose his patience was Dio, who was quick to chime in seeing his tamer was not making any meaningful progress.

“Tch, stand aside human.” The small megalomaniac huffed, pushing the man aside as he approached the meditating digimon. After intensely glaring at her, almost as if that would somehow help him being noticed, he spoke up again. “Attention, Shutmon. The Dark Lord Dio demands that you pay attention to him and inform him of the quickest path to Whitewater!” His pompous voice ordered; both his tone and folded arms practically oozing arrogance as he did so.

So of course, yet again there was no response. This was more than enough to push his short fused temper over the edge. If there was something he really couldn’t stand it was being ignored. Carlos sighed as soon as he noticed an all too familiar glow on Dio’s eyes: his pride was being put to the test yet again, and he wasn’t going to stay put while this random Shutmon made him look foolish! Before the man could even attempt to calm him down, the creature jumped forward.

“Fine then!” Dio practically yelled, outraged. “You have five seconds to comply before I burn off that nice fur of yours, so you better start cooperating!” He demanded, his voice filled with anger as his fist was enveloped by flames.

“Dude, come on, this is dumb even for you!” Carlos said, trying to dissuade him from doing something that was, frankly, beyond stupid. He wasn’t completely sure, but he suspected this so called Shutmon was probably a step or two ahead his partner’s current power. And if she was well…it was probably not a good idea to start a fight with her.
“Four seconds!” The imp yelled again, either not hearing the human or simply ignoring it, too focused on the task at hand.

“Three! Two!”   Still no response.

"Well you asked for it!" He declared, as his flaming fist started his collition course against the (seemingly unaware) Shutmon.

Carlos wished he had intervened sooner, that he had stopped his partner from doing something idiotic yet again. But before he was able to do anything, the Impmon was already launching himself forward, ready to attack the meditating digimon. It was too late to stop him now.
Yet, both Carlos’ and Dio’s eyes would soon widen in surprise however, as something rather unexpected occurred.

The imp’s hit was stopped dead on its tracks, blocked by the Shutmon’s open palm. Granted, even having the prior knowledge that she was on the Ultimate level Dio didn’t really know what reaction to expect from her. He was sure she would have either dodged the attack, or perhaps simply block it. He was not expecting her to completely stop the attack without even opening her eyes.

Even on such small, simple movement he could see it, feel it. The sheer absurd amount of strength and power flowing through her, accompanying her every action. He couldn’t help but gulp a bit. And as she stared both digimon and tamer down, for once the two of them managed to share a sentiment. If it wasn’t fear, it was something very similar to it.
Even Dio with his overly bloated ego was painfully aware that getting into a fight with her, whether a serious one or not, would end very poorly for him. If she so pleased she could easily sent him flying a good two miles away with a flick of her hand…and that was the best possible outcome.

Yet surprisingly enough, she didn’t seem to be particularly angry, nor did she react too badly against the attempted attack, sounding almost unnaturally calm. Her words were enough to take Dio out of his stupor, and he was finally able to feel just the amount of damage his ego had taken. Needless to say, it was a pretty painful blow.
“Hmph, like I’d waste my true strength on a warning shot.” He said, backing down as he folded his arms, all while still maintaining his usual arrogant tone as he did so. Most likely as a façade to save face and seem like he was the one holding back.

“I’m terribly sorry, lady. Please forgive him, he’s not the most well adjusted individual.“ Carlos sheepishly apologized, hoping her calm demeanor wasn’t just a front while she planned the most painful way to get rid of them.
Dio huffed annoyed as he looked back at the human. Before he could talk back to Carlos (probably with something rather foul) what Shutmon said next however grabbed the small megalomaniac’s attention.

“Wait, you mean you can teach me to actually digivolve?” He asked while his eyes lit up with anticipation. Finally, he would be able to get the power he so desperately wanted. Without a second thought he followed her instructions and sat on a small stump in front of her.

Carlos meanwhile didn’t seemed so much thrilled as actually still visibly nervous, but after seeing the Shutmon beckoning him to get closer he wasn’t dumb enough to try and refuse. Plus they had managed to break her out of her meditative state and now had her full attention, the least he could do was go along with it. And who knows? Maybe she would actually be able to send them on the right way while she was at it. Taking some slightly hesitant steps forward the man sat on the ground next to his partner.

“Why I tried to harm you? Duh, you were ignoring us. I had to get your attention somehow.” Dio shrugged, clearly believing that trying to attack someone just to get their attention was a good course of action.

While getting survival advice from an unknown wolf warrior wasn’t exactly how he expected his day was going to go, he was pretty numb to the weirdness of it all by this point, and figured it was easier to just let things lay out. Besides, he had always been a sucker for the classic martial arts movie cliché of a mature, wiser master teaching the “young grasshopper” the ways of the world, and for that to actually be happening to him now was almost a childhood dream come true.

“Heh, yeah, funny you should say that: you’re not the first one to think that way about our…partnership? That’s the word I’m looking for?” He commented with an awkward chuckle as she mentioned them not being in synch. Frankly, seeing every other pair of partners they had met so far, that much was painfully obvious for him.
As it was clear for Dio’s ensuing response to the Shutmon’s comment. “Pfeh, it better spark differently, cause I’m not about to risk my hide for this clumsy idiot! If he gets into mortal danger that’s his own fault.” He said, pointing disdainfully to Carlos.

Dio’s expression turned grim as however, as the cloaked Renamon spoke again, referencing the “prejudice against virus types”. He looked down at his feet while folding his arms, his hands clenching into fists so tightly it almost hurt. Yes, he was indeed very well aware of it. It was in fact the very first thing he learned firsthand upon leaving the Dark Area way back when. His “kind” (as many other digimon had refered to him before) was not particularly well received in the eyes of many Digimon, particularly prejudiced Vaccine types giving him dirty looks at best, attacking on sight at worst.

Carlos on the other hand was not all that aware of it, but after hearing her mention it and seeing his partner’s harsh reaction, it wasn’t hard to put one and one together. He couldn’t help but feel…well, sad for him. If he had suffered through that, was it any wonder he had turned out like he did?
Yet, her kind, soft words stood out to the imp, making him look back up to her. Surprisingly though, the first one to speak up after that was Carlos.

“Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned in my very short human life it’s that you can’t judge a book by its cover. And sometimes not even its actions, if you don’t know the full picture.” He said, looking at the fox then at his partner, giving him a reassuring smile.

“…hmph, that’s the…least stupid thing you’ve said all day.” Dio said with a faint blush, trying to hide as best he could the effect the two of them were having on him. Having two different persons being this nice and reassuring to him was…odd, to say the least, though he it felt undeniably nice…not that he would ever admit it out loud, of course.

“And I didn’t stop to think about whether you were evil or not. Whatever path you take is none of my concern, as long as you don’t get in my way.” He then said back to her with a shrug, not thinking much of it. The tiny Dark Lord inmediatelly perked up at the Renamon’s following question however. So, she was not only offering him a fight, but he got to choose what to fight? It was almost too good to be true.

That said every time she mentioned another one of her forms Carlos could feel his confidence in his partner shake a bit more, while Impmon felt his envy and desire to fight her grow more and more as she casually mentioned her many other forms like Ultimate, Mega, Sup-
The imp’s eyes widened like plates when he heard the last one.

Did…did she just say Jesmon? The Royal Knight Jesmon? Was this mysterious sage in the middle of nowhere actually be somehow related to the famous Royal Knights?

Admittedly, the thought made him a little anxious for plenty of reasons. The main one being that usually the Royal Knights and everyone surrounding them had a…rather poor opinion on Virus types, more so if they were Dark Area dwellers like himself. He had heard pretty bad stories of the Knights erasing armies of Viruses with little effort or remorse. And here he was, sitting and calmly talking with someone that apparently could transform into a Jesmon.

Some deep, primal instinct told him that she was dangerous, that he shouldn’t even think of messing with her…while his self centered, louder side told him that he should definitely fight her. Not only would that be a great test for his strength, but if he actually managed to fight evenly it would certainly prove it to everyone else that the Dark Lord was not one to be trifled with.

Whatever the case, her questions really hit home to both of them, no in small thanks to her showing the rather nasty scar on her and her grim tone. Knowing that digimon’s healing capabilities vastly outshined that of any mortal being from his world made Carlos wonder the story behind hers, but knew this was probably not a question he should be asking. If anything he pondered what he felt the right answer to his question, as his partner seemingly did the same. While they didn’t seem to have a clear answer on the first question, they did however were quick to answer the second one.

“I’d try to save him, somehow.” Why he felt that way? He honestly couldn’t explain. It wasn’t just general empathy towards others, he knew it was somehow deeper. Like some sort of symbiotic bond keeping them together that he felt the need to protect at all costs. “Even if I don’t know how, I’d still try.”

“Tch…” The imp huffed, fidgeting on his seat for a moment, as if wishing something would come to stop him from answering. “…I guess I wouldn’t let him to die…” As much as it annoyed him to admit it, he was almost growing…fond of him? Or maybe it was simply he wanted to protect something he considered belonged to him. It was hard to say.

“All this talk of keys is making me dizzy. Are you going to face me or not?” Dio said as he got up, growing restless of waiting around. This whole conversation, while enlightening, was starting to make him anxious, and he could really use some sort of outlet for it. Possibly a violent one.

Carlos expression turned into an awed one as she drew out what could only be described as a lightsaber sword of pure energy. Dio, not wanting to be one upped again, opened both of his palms, fire emerging from the right one while ice began to form on his left one.

“Make haste, fox, herald of the Royal Knights, whatever you are! You wish to partake in fighting with the Dark Lord Dio, and I’m more than pleased to oblige.” He declared, a smug expression of superiority on his face.

The man couldn’t help but sigh a bit, not so much in disappointment as in resignation. She was right, he and Dio weren’t exactly the best of friends at the moment. If anything, acquaintances would be a better way to describe their relation, or maybe even coworkers. The real kicker? They had actually shared a better relation not too long ago. In fact it had been about a week prior.

While his younger form Pagumon had been pretty standoffish too, after a while of being together (as well as tasting a bit of Carlos’ cooking skills) the two were seemingly starting to get along. It was when they arrived to the Digital World and he advanced to his Impmon form that the problems started: the small imp, seeing himself growing stronger over night made him ecstatic, but also fueled his lust for power and egocentrism even more. Which of course meant he focused more on trying to digivolve once again, barely worrying (or even noticing) his partner’s need for guidance on a new, completely alien world.

Was it any surprise their already odd relation had taken two steps backward?

As they continued answering her questions as truthfully as they could, she was quick to talk back and give her own take on their answers. Simply put, she didn’t seem too impressed with them.

Carlos was slightly taken aback by her answer, but she did raise a good point: in a life or death situation, there wouldn’t be time to stop and think. Either he acted or he didn’t, whatever the case he’d have to deal with the consequences. He gave her a determined nod in response. He only hoped that if the day came when his partner’s life would be in such danger, that the man would be able to remember her advice.

Dio on the other hand, didn’t seem too thrilled over her reply. “Tch, I already know that.” He said with a growl, looking at his feet once again, as if breaking visual contact would help him minimize the humiliation and anger her tone generated within him. The worst part about her harsh words? He knew she was absolutely right about everything she said, and knew that if he didn’t find a way to solve those problems quickly, he could potentially be stuck as a rookie forever.

Not that he would admit he was wrong out loud of course, his blimp sized ego wouldn’t let him.

As both digital monsters stood up from their stumps, ready to begin the fighting, Carlos almost thought of trying to dissuade them from fighting. He then remembered Digimon’s codes and society were vastly different from human’s, so it was better to not get involved with something they both had agreed with. Plus Impmon looked pretty tense, so if this helped him unwind then all the more reason to go ahead.
So he settled for staying put, find a more comfortable position to sit in and enjoy the ensuing show.

“Good luck Dio.” He said, giving him a thumbs up.

“Pff, I don’t need luck.”

Oddly enough the Renamon seemed almost as eager to fight as Dio was, even if she clearly had more reasons than personal gain. She even decided to give a small introduction of his own, which finally revealed to the duo the name of this mysterious teacher: K.

Even as she got ready to attack, the Impmon did not falter in the slightest and stood his ground waiting for her. He knew she had to be way more experienced than him, so to attack her blindly would be a pretty unwise move. It was better to wait for her to do the first move, then react accordingly.
“Less talk, more act-“He had to stop himself right there, as soon the Renamon was in motion. Her fist attack was quick and precise, almost deadly. Which only made Dio happier; it was nice to see she wasn’t planning on holding back. Might as well, neither did he.

The imp quickly if recklessly threw himself towards the fox, barely managing to avoid the attack by rolling underneath it. He stopped his evasive maneuver just inches below her, and looking up he flashed a wicked grin at the Renamon before attempting to hit her with a fiery rising uppercut, his fist wrapped in flames as it closed the distance between it and its target.
“Night of fire!”

While Carlos was expecting K to disagree with Dio’s rather narrow minded approach, what neither of the partners was expecting was her sudden 180 she had. Whatever trace of her cal, sensible demeanor was suddenly replaced with nothing but anger, irritation and who knew what else, lambasting the imp’s point of view as she stepped forward with such an intensity the human was expecting her to disintegrate them from the face of the earth with her glare alone.
What was almost as unsettling was how quickly she was to calm herself down, her soft and calm tone returning just as quickly as it had banished. Which only made her following words feel all the more poignant and heavy.

"If you keep this train of acting and thinking I have no doubt that the both of you will die."

The two partners looked at each other briefly, before returning their gaze to the Renamon. Dio opened his mouth for a moment, but quickly closed it again, unable to think of anything good to respond back. A witty comment, a furious counter argument, anything at all would have sufficed for him, but he couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say. K had actually managed to do the impossible: shut the Dark Lord up.

As the fight broke out, Carlos watched from a safe distance, wishing he had brought his cell phone along with him, so he could record all of this for posterity. Then again, his partner would have probably complained about him filming them without any consent, so it was probably better this way.

Much to the duo’s surprise however, Dio’s fist not only failed to cause any meaningful damage against K, but failed to hit anything at all. The Renamon had literally banished, leaving behind nothing but empty air in her place.

Dio’s expression turned from one of smugness into a shocked, surprised one. He was sure he had her! He soon heard K’s voice ring out again behind him, so he quickly turned around to find the white fox standing completely unharmed and unfazed a good 10 feet away from him.

Either she could teleport or was quick enough to make her movements look like teleportation. Whatever the case, this made things significantly harder for him. And possibly more fun.

What wasn’t nearly as fun was to listen to her going on and on about how “predictable his attacks were” and how he “needed to be the one in control of the battle”. All a bunch of crap in his eyes, punctuated further by her flourishes with her blade and the impacted tree falling in perfect timing with her scolding. It felt not so much she was teaching him a lesson, but also showing off just how outclassed Dio was.
She was taunting him.

“Want subtle? I’ll give you subtle!” He spat out in anger, his eyes flaring up with fury. No wonder she was a Royal Knight Apostle, she was just as smug as them. Besides who needed strategy if you were more powerful? Or more agile? Yeah, so she was a bit more experienced than him, that was it; of course she’d be able to dodge one or two punches and make it look like nothing. But not even she could dodge forever.

Breaking into a sprint he made a beeline towards K, his left fist glowing a bright blue, leaving a small trail of cold mist behind it as a block of solid ice began to form around his hand. When he was about two feet away from reaching her target the megalomaniacal imp jumped forward, and as he rapidly descended in her direction he extended his left arm forward.

“Night of Blizzards!” He cried out as a ball of ice shoot out from his fist, aimed right at the fox’s smug face.

While the self proclaimed monarch was slightly miffed over K not even making an attempt to move out of the way (or at all) while he made his approach, he didn’t think twice about it. A free hit was a free hit, after all, that’s what he kept thinking as he jumped forward and began his assault.

There was but a short moment of doubt, of an almost panicked realization as he descended upon her. What if she didn’t move because she was (as she said a moment before) the one in control? The answer to that came quickly, as she slashed the projectile aside with an elegant swing, and in one quick yet graceful motion reached forward in his direction with her hand open.
Unfortunately for him, it was too late to change course.

“Well crap…”

A chocked gasp would escape his mouth as her hand easily wrapped around his comparatively small neck, stopping his fall mid air, shortly followed by a pained grunt as he was slammed against the ground. Was it any wonder he wanted to digivolve as soon as possible? Being small and agile was fine and good until someone taller came along and threw you around like a ragdoll.

He closed his eyes for all of a millisecond due to the pain of his body being battered and pinned down by her strength, and as soon as he opened them again he was met with the startling sight of K aiming her blade to his head. The imp could feel his own breathing growing frantic as he futilely tried to kick her off, but even if he had the strength to do that there wasn’t more than a second to react before she quickly plunged her blade…a few inches away from his head.

As if to drive a point further, she continued to slowly sink her saberk further and further into the ground, her face also growing closer to Dio’s all the while she kept him pinned down, unable to move. His breathing slowly calmed down as it was clear he wasn’t in real danger, but he still tried somewhat pitifully to shove the fox away, as if that would somehow change anything.

And yet her words hurt him deeper than any attack could.

He looked into her icy eyes for a moment then sighed, head turning away from her both in defeat and shame, his hands letting go of her arm and falling to the ground, his fingers digging into the soil underneath in anger. Was she right? Was he really this weak he couldn’t even land a hit on her even if she was seemingly holding back? Was he destined to die again just for following his path?

For a short moment, he considered the possibility of caving in, of surrendering…of accepting defeat. Maybe if she was right about everything else…she could actually help him out somehow…

No. He couldn’t just surrender like that. There was no way he’d let her have her way!

In one last, desperate attempt he threw the sand gripped on one of his hands at K’s face, hoping it would blind her and possibly make her loosen her grip just long enough for him to retaliate properly. But truth be told, he wasn’t going to wait for her to react, he was already in motion so might as well go all out. Raising his other hand as much as he could he tightly clenched it into a fist which soon would start shaking almost uncontrollably, raw anger and power gathering within it before catching into a wild, barely contained flame that threatened to spread through his arm.

“Right back at you.”

Barely a second or two passed while all that happened, and it took even less time for him to smash said flaming fist against the ground with all his might. A short moment later, not longer than a blink, the whole earth beneath them suddenly rose in temperature, and with no more warning than that, a large column of fire would soon rise from the ground, enveloping both of the digimon in its fiery wake.

“Pillar of Fire!”

Carlos eyes widened in fear and worry as he stood up from the ground. Things had been entertaining so far, almost amusing just to see his smug partner get some comeupings for once. But this…this was starting to get out of hand. How much would these two go and escalate their conflict before one got seriously hurt?

For a short, sweet moment, Dio was convinced he had won. Or at least, manage to get the upper hand for a second. As K’s grip around his neck relented for a moment, the impmon was sure she would either jump away to escape his attack, or stay and be burned. Either of those would have been good for him.


Yet, when the smoke cleared and he felt a familiar grip around his neck again, his eyes widened in shock once again as he looked up. Now this…this was too much. He saw the Apostle still towering over him, still unscathed, still impervious, her cloak untouched by the flames waving about and giving her a rather fearsome look.


“B-but…how…” Was the best the disheartened Impmon could mutter out as the fox lifted him up by the neck, the smaller digimon once again resuming his feeble attempts to break loose. His look was one of disbelief, his mind unable to understand just how she had managed to come out completely unscathed from his second strongest attack.


As his green eyes locked with hers yet again, he could for less of a second see something other than the sheer dispassion he had grown accustomed to see come from her glow in her eyes.

It was disappointment.

He expected her K to slam him repeatedly against the ground for this, but surprisingly she simply threw him aside, Dio his landing harshly on his back with a thud, a mere 6 feet away from K. All the while the white fox once again spoke to him, her words just as painful for him to hear as they were insightful. The imp was silent for a while, taking in everything she had to say.


He slowly but surely got back on his feet, shaking and wincing a bit as he did so, both in pain, anger and just…sheer frustration. It frustrated him to no end to be so weak, so powerless. He had been thoroughly beaten in every way, and he knew it. And honestly, it made him feel…small. Insignificant. Power and experience difference aside, how was he going to get anywhere if he couldn’t even land a hit on K? How was he supposed to protect himself or Carlos for that matter?


“Then tell me, what’s the point in having a goal if I don’t have the means to achieve it?” He asked, a hint of sadness in his voice, slowly getting approaching K as he did so. There was no longer any ill intent behind his limping movement; he now knew it was futile to even try to keep the fight going.


“How I’m supposed to build a house without the right tools? How can I think of cooking if I don’t have food? How am I supposed to think of a goal if I don’t have the power to even attain it?”


Her following questions however, did not sit well with him, and by the time she was done he could do nothing but glare at her, both angry and somewhat surprised at the words coming out of here.


“If you think I’d use my power on such things then you’re the one that needs to reconsider." His voice, while calm, barely hiding the anger her questions stirred within him. “I thought you better than the rest.” He said, folding his arms as he locked eyes once again with the white renamon.


“Didn’t you say that I could be “anyone, without forcing myself to adhere to other’s silly perceptions of what’s what"? And yet you’d still believe just because I’m the Dark Lord automatically means I’ll do all of that? That I would take advantage of my power to bully everyone into submission and servitude? That I would damage this world out of spite? I might come from the Dark Area, but I’m not like that.”


Granted, he’d be lying if he said the thought never crossed his mind before. It’d would be so easy for him to do that too, take revenge against everything as soon as the tables flipped and he became powerful enough. But…he couldn’t, doing that would make him the same as them, all of those wretched idiots down in the Dark Area, indulging themselves in their dominance over everything too weak to stand against them. Dio loathed being compared to those lowlifes down there all the time.



“Oh, wait, maybe if I were a “Bright Lord” you’d be ok with it? That would be so much better, right? Like all those paragons of justice up there on the Empirean Skyes. I’m sure they all love us virus types, don't they K?“ He asked sarcastically, the bile and disgust in his voice almost palpable. If there was anything he hated more than the Dark Area, it was anything having to do with that goody two shoes holy haven, filled to the brim with all those snooty angels.


Why everyone thought better of them while automatically dismissing everyone from the Dark Area as murderous monsters was beyond him.