The past never rests [Armor hunt]

Walking through the bayou, Chie took in the inspiring scenery albeit being wet. The rain was one thing, but Do stopping every now and then to shake his fur dry was not exactly pleasant. Chie removed her blouse as it served little purpose soaked through, and the weather was humid anyways, however the uncharacteristic silence of Do was the only thing troubling to her. Stopping for a moment, she spoke to Do, hoping she wouldn't get clarity that she didn't want to hear. "Do, hold on a second, are you okay?"

However the DORUmon did not stop moving, he kept going forward as if he couldn't hear, Chie started to believe that he was stuck in some sort of trance. Sprinting up she tapped Do on the head. In response, Do jumped in shock as he finally snapped out of his memories. "What? Where are we? I don't remember getting here?!"

While Do reacted, Chie stepped back as the fox like digimon acted like a chicken. Waiting for him to be done as she folded her arms, she wondered what could be distracting the digimon. "I should be asking you that, for a while it seems you've been leading us in a trance."

Do frantically looked around as he tried to get his bearings, but somehow, deep down, he knew exactly where he was. Memories burried deep were just coming to the surface, it was like he was looking at a stage with closed curtains, he can see something's going on, but he can't tell what. "Sorry about that Chie, it's just, this place is stirring up some old memories." Chie grew greatly concerned at that, she remembered Do's story all too well after piecing it together, she couldn't let him try and recover those memories. Shrugging it off for now, she figured it would be best that they continued onwards, and not actively discouraging him until she had to. "Well, you've been around the block, shouldn't almost anything be familiar to you?"

Do laughed at that a bit, however what worried him was that block in his memories from the day before he awoke in the village of beginnings again. He was worried this had something to do with that day, and if he was right, he shuddered to think of what it was that he left behind unfinished all this time.

Moving forward, Do saw something familiar in the distance, but he couldn't recall what it was. He dashed forward leaving Chie in the dust, as he approached an oddly shaped rock. The rock was an oval mound with what appeared to be a whole through the center. Do's memories were rushing, he could only recall a small bit with clarity as he closes his eyes.

Do's memories drifted back to a day a long time ago, to a point where he did not adorn a digivice on his neck. He was standing atop an Oval rock with a hole through the center, looking around cautious of threat. He was waiting for something, his temper was flaring but he knew he had to keep it in line. However the voice of a familiar teenage male behind him called out. "This is the place. Remember the drill. This case seems a bit different from what we've done before." Do turned around to look at the familiar face of him as he was reading off a note.

While Do was on a trip down memory lane, Chie ran to catch up to him, having issues breathing as her chest felt tighter. She was potentially about to do something twisted and cruel to someone who's been treating her rather well all things considered in her life right now. She didn't want to die, or to watch Do through himself away again while not knowing he was risking his life for a dead man. Finally catching up, she called out to him."Do! What's going on!"

Do's claws started to tremble as the case he and his former partner were working on, it was a simple abduction cause. However the word was was echoing in his mind, he wondered what he wasn't telling himself. "I, remember. Hole of the rock faces the morning sun, the way shall be left clear. That was the clue we got to track down the guy as no one wanted to directly come out." As memories slowly pieced together, his last accessible memory was that he and his former partner entered some sort of concealed dwelling. His eyes opened wide as he started to believe something. "Ah crap. He's still there!"

Chie's eyes too opened wide, as Do started to get too close to the truth for him to handle. Do started to run left towards something in the distance. He knew what he was going after deep down, but he couldn't picture the face clearly. Chie chased after him, shouting. "Do! Stop! You can't do this, you need to trust me on this, you won't find peace yet if you do this now!" She was desperate, she knew what would happen, between trauma and his sense of duty, Do would have a dangerous meltdown. However Do chose not to react to what Chie was trying to say, he had better things to do. Do had no time to think on anything other than what  was left at the site all those years ago. 

Do ran all the way to what appeared to be a large, dead tree. Do started to remember something as he saw seams in a large shape while there was a hole near the bottom. Do's memories resurfaced as he wasn't looking at a dead end. While Chie was catching up, she stopped for a second as she thought she saw something in the distance. She saw a white and black blur around some sort of mist, it looked like a person was walking by, but she couldn't take any time to care. She had to stop Do from doing something crazy. As she saw the old tree, she thought she had reached a point of relief as she hoped it was a dead end. Catching her breath, she thought it was finally over before things got dangerous. "Sorry Do, looks like it's a dead end."

However Do shook his head as he reached the hole in the tree. Starting to remember. "Wrong. This is a new door, it's the gimmick of this guy. We smashed the original door, so this one came from a new tree, but same deal." He stuck his claws in the hole as he lifted the wooden cover off the door and sidled to the left, leaning it against the tree. Chie should've guessed it wouldn't be easy to dissuade Do, but remembering a hidden door was beyond what she expected his memory. He didn't wait to go down the tunnel, he did't care if he was running into a trap, he needed to save him. Chie followed him, thinking she had to drag up whatever was down there.

Chie followed Do down the cave, hoping that whoever resided here has abandoned it. Do on the other hand saw the tracks, he knew someone still resided here, and might be home. He couldn't remember what he fought, but all he remembered was he'd be dangerous. At the end of the tunnel was a large cave opening, enclosed from what could be seen, there was no clear exit accept for the way in and was lit by candle light. However as Chie entered, she instantly covered her mouth with her hands to stop herself from verbally reacting as her eyes went wide at what she saw at the opposite end of the cave. It appeared to be some sort of shrine or trophy case littered with weapons, and bits of armor, but what got to Chie was that above this was a skeleton, a human skeleton, pined to a wall. Nails between the ribs to keep it hanging as bits and pieces appeared to be coming off. However Chie noticed that the skeleton, was missing it's right hand, and a portion of it's wrist that would correlate to the one she found that fateful day. Do looked at the trophy table and skeleton before the thought really hit him, he finally found his lost partner. He started to panic, trying to find any way out of the ugly truth he could, but sadly nothing worked. Walking forward with his hands in his claws, he let his emotions run loose. "No, no, no, NO! This can't be him! It can't be."

"Oh ho ho, but it is. Finally, the other half of my long since started meal has arrived, and look at that, he brought another entree. How considerate of him."

Jumping down from the ceiling and blocking the exit was a dark dragon creature with four ferocious red eyes. As Do looked back to see the familiar Digimon, Chie slowly backed up, trying to get herself out of the way. Do's eyes turned to fury as he remembered who he was looking at clear as day. "You son of a Numemon, I remember you! The DeviDramon who's got a knack for eating Digimon!" The Devidramon laughed as the attention fueled his ego, he licked his lips in excitement for what's to come. "Oh, you remember me? I'm flattered, I thought after eating your friend up there that I wouldn't have a chance to taste you!"

Chie couldn't stomach this any further, she turned her head before bending over and vomiting. The poor guy was eaten by bugs and rodents in one world, and a sick twisted freak in another. Chie wondered where the line of disrespecting the dead would be drawn. The Devidramon didn't exactly like or dislike the prospect of eating her at the moment. "Well my dear DORUmon, you didn't bring one as strong willed as the last one, but I'm sure since this time you brought a woman, easy prey and maybe a different taste after I'm finished with you!"

Do gripped his claws, as he finally wiped the sorrow from his eyes as he channeled it into his rage. Odds against him, check, no plan, check, chance of dying, check. Do couldn't back down from this, not after letting him go on for so long. Clenching his claws, he yelled from the bottom of his very soul. "Devidramon! listen up cause I'm only gonna say this once! Three reasons I'm coming after you right now, first off is for the poor victims of what you've done. Second, I'm not letting you go on any further then you already have, again.Third, no one but me can say such chauvinistic things to Chie and get away with it!"

Slowly getting back up, Chie respectfully disagreed with the last point. "We'll talk about that later, now Do, get read-" Chie was about to press a button on her digivice, releasing the Digimental of Honor to give Do the power he needed to fight, but in a reflexive back slap to the elbow, knocking her back and sending her flying into the wall, her digivice took the brunt of the impact as the holster broke through while only just cracking the surface of her digivice.
"None of  that now deary." Crashing onto the ground, her groans could be heard as she struggled to move. Do's jaw dropped as feelings inside him started dwelling,his cries could be heard as he let out a roar. Focusing all his rage on Devidramon, he channeled everything he had as he could feel a dark pulse throughout his body. Devidramon took great pleasure in his sorrow until he saw a darkness out of the corner of his eye. Chie's Digivice was emitting a growing darkness from the screen as Do's emotions raised.

"Wh- What did you do to my Chie!" A dark pulse blasted from Chie's digivice straight to Do, Devidramon was for once scared. His tactics usually involve preventing digivolution, but this was scary. Do's body began to be engulfed in a black fire as his form became coated in a black light, and turning his eyes red.Cracks can be heard as his body brutally shifted, his wings sprouted larger and grew screws out of them, his mouth and limbs got coated or replaced with metal as more bits spiked over his body. In a small blast, what was Do was gone and it's place as a monster, a Death-X-DORUgamon. He wasted no time has he launched a serious of iron balls as he roared "Cannon Ball!" Devidramon jumped to dodge them, but still got hit in the process. Do wasted no time as he charged for the Devidramon.

In preparation of a counter, Devidramon readied a counterstrike with his red claws but even though Do could see it plain as day, he didn't care. His mesh of wires for a tail divided as they attacked to his limbs while he went for Devidramon, both strikes met each other but Do was not slowing down. He used his other claw to strike Devidramon's before flapping his wings backwards to help him flip while jumping, uppercutting Devidramon in the chin. Devidramon stepped back, he couldn't believe that this was the same runt who couldn't beat him last time. But then again, he never lets a tamer digivolve a digimon, Devidramon struck tamers first, but this DORUmon was different, he suffered the loss of a tamer already. Enjoying the sound of sorrow has finally caught up to Devidramon. Devidramon opened his mouth as an purple energy ball formed and enlarged quickly. "Shadow Burst!" He launched his attack to the metal beast, he was knocked back but he kept his feet down. He was in pain but he couldn't feel a thing. Immediately, he responded by leaping forward and bolting as he turned himself around mid air, extending his wires as they hit in areas along the left side of his neck all the way to his forearm.However he did take the opportunity to grab Do by the tail and whip him to the other side. Do barely got up, for a normal form, his injuries would not be serious enough for devolving, but given the fact that this was Dark digivolution, Do was inherently unstable right now.

However he was not alone, the areas where the Devidramon was hit, bits of data and code were leaking out. His arm fluxed in and out of code as he could feel his very being unwind. In a flash of dark light Do's cries were heard and painful as his form devolved back down to DORUmon. His breathing was heavy as that form took a lot of out him, meanwhile Devidramon was no better off, all his cannibalism has finally caught up with him. He swallowed far too many digimon that his data is slowly fragmenting as he exerts his energy. Not to mention that was the first time in years he fought someone on equal ground. Meanwhile during the whole ordeal, Chie was not exactly stuck in one place as while the Digimon fought, Chie herself managed to barely get herself up, leaning against the wall. As she did, her wrist mount fell apart but Chie managed to catch her Digivice, but the D3 had cracks in the screen, and the entire things was almost broken into thirds. Chie believed she would barely get one more use out of it. However what shocked her was that a translucent figure stood before the table, appearing as though to be a shrine maiden with a purple fox mask. Making her way to the end of the cave, keeping to the wall, she approached the figure. "Wh- Who are you?"

The figure didn't move, just spoke a single piece. "Help us rest and I shall give you my power. Take my Shakujou. It should act like the digimental you bear." The ghost disappeared as the Shakujou glowed. Chie picked it up as she called to Do after he turned back to DORUmon. "Do! Catch!" Chie through the Shakujou at Do, it bounced off his head and landed in his landed in his right hand. Devidramon laughed "What are you gonna do with that?" However the laughing was short lived as Chie's digivice and the Shakujou lit up. Do's form became emerged in a purple light. His form started to grow and extend, but his tail shrunk back into his body, and his face appeared to float off his body. His body shifted to something taller, humanoid, and feminine? Chie raised her eyebrow as she thought Do was turning into a woman, and soon enough the figure flashed back into light and in Do's place was a Shinto maiden wearing a purple fox mask. However after the Digivolution finished, Chie's digivice shattered into pieces onto the floor.

Chie's eyes widened as her draw dropped, she was struggling with many feelings right now. First off, she thought Do all this time was a man, second, she wondered what the hell kind of logic turns a male dinosaur fox into a shrine maiden, and lastly, she was feeling self conscious and jealous of her sheer beauty. Chie couldn't believe she thought Do was more beautiful than her. However Devidramon was just laughing hysterically. "Ah, I thought I was in danger for a second, but it's just a Miku. What harm can you do?"

Do stayed absolutely still, uncharacteristically calm, Chie was almost having difficulty sensing her presence. However Do looked down on Devidramon. She saw the code coming out of him, and started to see what was going on. However Do raised her right arm to her left shoulder, and slashed down her Shakujou, an intense mist came came from the air of the motion, which expanded into a fog, covering the cave. Before it coated Chie, Do turned to her for a brief moment, whispering. "Duck down, in that corner, do not make a sound."

Chie was not willing to argue, confused and mesmerized by the awe inspiring beauty she saw. Following orders, she hid in a corner away from the trophy table. With the fog fully incasing the cavern, Do took it as a time to act as she started walking slowly, still without sound. Devidramon was panicking, he couldn't hear anything at first, but then there was a buzzing in his ear. He felt his coding try to rip itself apart from the inside out. However the buzzing was growing larger, and he realized the source, it was no buzzing, it was a tempest of voices jammed together. He had consumed countless beings throughout the years, and now it was time for them to take revenge. Devidramon grabbed his head as his sanity slipped away. "Enough! You're all gone, get out, get out of my head!"

Do's suspicions confirmed, she finally realized that the souls of his victims have not yet been restored to the cycle of digital life, but have been stuck inside him. "You're not surviving this, your victims never left here in a single sense, they have been spiraling up inside you. You thought they were gone. But you can't just expect your past to avoid you. For they are now stronger than you, abusing your strength is now a luxury you cannot afford."

Devidramon was losing his patience, the scales have fallen out of his favor. His temper and panic started flaring as he started to charge up more energy balls and fired them in the distance. He couldn't see what he was aiming at. Do stood in front of Chie, not letting her get hit in this crossfire as she intended to bring down Devidramon's sins. Devidramon kept shooting, until the fog dissipated, thinking he very well won, only to be shocked to see what he was aiming. His trophies, were all shattered and annihilated, there was nothing left except craters from where they once stood. However Do saw what she was waiting for, she code see data streams slowly leaking out of Devidramon as his body was twitching and shivering. "You, you bitch! My possesions, How dare you!"

Do raised her Shakujou towards the Devidramon as two curved lines of line emerged, forming the bow. Do slowly reached to the tip as she pulled back an arrow of fog. Her voice was devoid of any remorse, mercy, or rage, but they still stung deep. "Those 'possessions' were not yours, now time to pay. Time to repent for what you did to the poor digimon, and to Takashi!" Aiming carefully, Do aimed her shot between Devidramon's eyes and her aim kept true as the arrow turned to metal. Devidramon's body froze as the arrow pierced his head. Do could tell the codes within Devidramon were fighting, she turned around to grab Chie and then her digivice, only to see it broken into pieces and the Digimental of honor was laying about. Do knew this was bad, she lifted Chie over her shoulder and carried the Digimental in her other arm as she made a bolt for the exit. Fearing she didn't have another time, she seemingly disappeared as she jumped back, as if she fell through an invisible portal. Now at the exit, she bolted up to the surface and barely made it as Devidramon exploded.

Do put Chie down against a tree after getting a distance from the site and slid the digimental in Chie's purse, knowing full well the Digivice was beyond recovery as it had to have been destroyed completely when the cave most likely collapsed in the explosion of the Devidramon. Chie saw a lot, but things got intense. Do leaned against a tree as she herself had a lot on her mind. Chie was the first to break this silence after gathering her strength. "Do, How do you feel?"

Do finally devolved back, leaving the Shakujou as it flew back to Chie's possession, landing on her lap. However, Do couldn't tell if he was feeling great or not, but he knew there was something off about the whole situation. "I don't know, but there's something that's been bothering me 'You won't find peace if you do this now.' How did you know I was recalling this. No one would speak something like that if .you knew there was a great danger-"

The last while has been catching up with him, how Chie avoided the subject of Takashi, trying to get in the way earlier, and that conversation with Adrian after he told her what he remembered. His eyes opened wide and his claws clenched before he let Chie have a chance to speak. "You... You fragging knew didn't you! You knew he was dead all this time you cheap whore!"

Chie let the insult slide, she knew Do was not at his best right now. However at this point the truth is the only thing that could help her out. "Look, I did, but I only-" Hearing the confession that she did was the only thing he wanted to hear as Do didn't care for anything else right now. "No, no more excuses! You are cruel, keeping my own memories a secret, letting me believe he has been alive when you knew otherwise! How long did I think he was alive, years? You could've saved me from that, but you decided to be selfish, and keep me all to yourself as your little toy. Well I'm done!"

Do turned around to start running away, Chie tried to chase after him but when she started running she tripped and fell into the mud. The rain was strong enough to block out her tears from being visible. With what strength she had left, she didn't care how pathetic her cries sounded, so long as Do heard her. "Do! come back, please!" She tried to force her boy back up, but the shock of the recent encounter left her too shocked to move properly.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the caved in cavern, a pile of rocks was trembling in the light barely coming in from the outside. The pile exploded as something bellow emerged, it's figure was too disfigured to tell, and it's voice was the only thing left of what it once was. "Chie... Do... I'm coming for you two."