Skip Navigation
Wrong Side of Heaven [Cloak/Mikemon]
|
Post by Cross on Nov 2, 2018 3:01:28 GMT
Without the blood red of his cape one might say the Tactimon looked small, bereft even, but that was not the case. The loss of the mantle merely showing off the dark ridges of the mega's armored form. The soft sound of his Tamer's breath where she lay wrapped in the missing garment tucked upon the couch hidden in the back room the only thing to ease the roiling violence that seemed to bubble just beneath Cloak's skin. The Sorcermon had been moved to rest in one of the storage rooms from now, separate from his partner, but out of sight.
Shred had returned, the bartender taking up his post behind the bar after he'd quietly deposited a few rather strong drinks at Mikemon and Cloak's quiet corner table. He'd always been the discreet type leaving Dagger to have departed after a few brusque hushed words between the twins. Leaving the old associates alone in each others company once more for the first time in five hundred years.
"Did she ever tell you how she found us?" Cloak questioned softly as the Tactimon took a slow sip of his drink.
"Dagger doesn't remember it as well as I do, but Luminas sent him to kill me. Two mons with one blade and he almost succeeded. Then the world went sidewise and we slipped between the cracks and...nothing." The Tactimon muttered with a wave of his hand as if all those years had just been wiped away.
"Next thing I knew I didn't know who I was even less where. It was cold and everything hurt and my twin and I were huddled in this rusted out metal construction and these creatures were hurting us. Trying to poke us with sharp sticks and smoke us out. I thought I was in hell..." Cloak murmured pausing as he considered that statement for a long moment.
"Looking back on it hell was probably the least I deserved." The Knight grumbled in self derision.
"But then suddenly she was just...there. Teeth bared and fighting and I'd never wanted anything more in my entire existence then for her to be mine." Cloak spoke voice soft in reverence.
"Sometimes I wonder if all the terrible things that have happened to her are because of my greed. If her pain is some sort of sick punishment for my sins. The sovereigns way of repaying me for every precious person I ripped from this world by giving me the one thing I've ever wanted and making me watch her suffer." The Dark Knight growled out with a broken sigh as he downed his drink. Shred was quick to refill it.
"It figures after years of biding my time I finally catch you vulnerable Greed...five hundred years too late and too much to lose to dare harm a hair on your head."
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 2, 2018 3:27:29 GMT
The setting hadn't changed, but since the incident with the Sorcermon, some time had passed. Cassandra and Sorcermon were made as comfortable as they could. Mikemon, meanwhile, had managed to level out, not a hint of that demon lord's aura seeping from his frame. It took him a while to warm up to the drinks in front of him, but now a shot of vodka in, the former Greed's ear twitched at Cloak's question.
"Mhm. Granted, I only know the story from her angle. I lost track of you - and everyone else - way back then." The cat would save the rest of his words as he listened, hearing the fate of the twins. Two brothers brought to blows with each-other, felled by some unforeseen fate and brought back centuries later. Though the doctor didn't make eye contact, he couldn't help but give a smile as Cloak described his reverent attachment to his tamer.
Of course, that was immediately followed by his next point - ironically speaking of the vice of Greed, the cat gritting his teeth in slight frustration. "The acts of the cohorts at your service are primarily the crime of the Lord that ordered them. That was Luminas' letter of the law back then. Judging by how much you raised my bounty, well... if karma exists, it wouldn't be kind."
He took another stiff drink, the cat shaking his head as the alcohol burned the top of his throat. "Heh. Just call it square for fixing the Baalmon egg, if you want." Cloak, back then, was very close to sharing Cassandra's condition...
... He wouldn't dwell on the topic. "Honestly, I did not keep my title long after your incident. That same order from Luminas brought a rather skilled fighter to try and take me down - a GoldenRapidmon, one who didn't even give me his name. If you were to check my side, you'd see a deep scar still under my fur." Mikemon gave a sigh. The next part? It could sting a bit.
"By that point, it was clear Luminas was on my tail. I feared for my own end... so I dissipated my wealth among my army, took to my form as a Mikemon, and fled. Fled, knowing that I had to find a way to hide my aura as a Demon Lord, or that I would be spending the rest of my life as a fearful nomad. As it turns out..."
He gave a dry chuckle. "The only way to do that was to master - and push the boundaries - of this world's medicine."
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 2, 2018 3:43:32 GMT
"I find it humorous that after I'd outlived so many Demon Lords it's the vice that felled me that ended out living me in the end." The Tactimon murmured with a low derisive chuckle.
"I believe you were the fifteenth...maybe sixteenth Lord I'd served under though the first Greed who's army I joined. Your mantle were always canny ones and I was wary of you, but by that point I'd downed pride, lust, and the rest of the mantles at least once. You were a challenge." Cloak admitted softly old enough now, wise enough now, to see his folly. To see the weakness in fighting and striving for nothing, but power. It was an empty sort of victory. A pretty bauble soon discarded with no one to share it with and marvel at his achievements.
"Ironically while I'd used Luminas in the past to down certain troublemakers they weren't what I'd had planned for you. I'd been intending to pit you and Gluttony against one another. In the end though twins can't hide from one another. Apparently Luminas had hoped to put a hole in your ranks to slip one of their forces through by ending me. From the sound of things they succeeded." The ex-Dark General rumbled out.
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 2, 2018 4:25:15 GMT
"You make it sound like such a fond memory." Mikemon shared in that chuckle, perhaps a bit taken in by the alcohol, as he gave another listen to his tale.
Mikemon was the first Greed that he'd served under - and more to the point, in that era, the cat was considered something of a challenge to the dark knight. The doctor couldn't help but give a small choke on his drink, forcing it down with a heavy swallow. "I always did figure there was something under that visage of yours... though your results often made me look the other way. But maybe you luring in Luminas did do me in with the end..."
Wait. His ear twitched a bit at that last part... "What, the Beelzemon?" He hadn't even remembered such tension - but that wasn't the point, not at all. He tilted his head, as if considering this knight before him in a new light.
"Data, fame, honor, glory, righteousness... those are all reasons to hunt the Lords, yes. But what was yours?" The doctor seemed curious, at this point. "After all, that seems somewhat a... grand way to go about it."
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 2, 2018 4:58:17 GMT
"Fondness hmm..." The Tactimon trailed off considering the word for a moment. "I suppose there are some parts of it of which I am fond though I know I shouldn't be." Cloak murmured sipping his drink as he watched the Doctor grow flush with the alcohol.
"Yes the Beelzemon. I helped you capture an old ruined fortress some of your foes were holed up in. It belonged to the past Gluttony and the current one at the time had sworn to reclaim it to prove he held not the weakness of the last mantle barer. I took it for you first and was going to suggest you trade it to Gluttony for greater riches both giving him what he wanted and making a fool of him at the same time. I'd been carefully seeding him with rumors that the other Lords believe him weak for...oh months by then and had plans for a few other future clashes until his temper inevitably boiled over." Cloak spoke, "Only I ran out of time." He added clicking his tongue in disappointment as he shrugged before turning the weight of his gilded gaze upon Mikemon.
"I was born in the Dark area. For my entire existence it was all I knew. I think in the beginning I had a reason for slaying them. Something about survival and justice. The first one was an accident of course. I was young and scared and desperate, but somewhere after the third one and countless eons under the boot heel of one Lord after the next something in me...broke. Then it became more of a hobby." The Tactimon murmured with a low chuckle.
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 2, 2018 5:29:01 GMT
Sheesh, the plan was that thorough? Mikemon gave a blink at that description. "... Something tells me I must have been spreading my army a bit too wide, if you had the free time to think of something like that."
His remark, though perhaps with a bit of wit, was remarkably dry. Mikemon could tell that the plan was made by a rather cruel spirit, one who had the audacity to treat Demon Lords as little more than ants under a magnifying glass. That little 'tsk' of disappointment caused the feline's ears to slide back, settling flat for a moment or two. "Tch..."
That was his excuse? One 'hit' in self-defense, and he was hooked? What kind of boundless luck was that? Polishing off the rest of his shot, the cat was at a crossroads. He could try and flip the topic around back to his own story, and let this lie under the rug, but was that correct to do in the long run?
He gave a 'tsk'. "You know I didn't run a tight ship - more a boisterous group of bandits than a strict order of rule. Even so, your effectiveness was enough for me to assign quite the number, under you. Not only that, but working for any of those Lords..."
The cat gave a pause.
"Did you ever feel any sense of loyalty? Dedication? Heck, even the feeling of knowing you were secure?"
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 2, 2018 6:01:51 GMT
"Oh I've always been an excellent multi-tasker Doctor so please don't blame yourself. You kept me quite busy. In fact I hadn't been so thoroughly entertained in...oh who knows how long." Cloak quipped with a low chuckle his gold eyes glittering darkly with something almost akin to hunger as he seemed to drink in Mikemon's discomfort like a fine wine. The Tactimon sensing the sudden change in Greed's demeanor found himself almost delighted to be regarded with the same cautious wariness he'd nearly drowned in for all those years dealing with the Demon Lords and their ilk. Back when he'd been young and foolish enough to dream of escaping to the light and still cared whether he lived or died rather then marking the worth of his day by how much pain he could wreak on his enemies.
Mikemon's question however, gave Cloak pause though he found with or without consideration his answer remained the same "No." The Tactimon murmured flat and simply not an ounce of hesitation.
"That was the first lesson I learned in the Dark Area. You are never safe. There is no one who will not betray you." Cloak explains his eyes unfocused as he thinks of the distant glimpse of his brothers face on that boat as his figure grew smaller and smaller and days wasted waiting on the shore for a ship that never came.
"Loyalty can be bought and paid. The only bond worth it's weight is one proven in blood." The Dark armored Digimon murmurs their eyes trailing towards the back room and their sleeping partner. "You were better Doctor then my first Lord. Wrath left his marks on many of his generals, but you would not bleed for me."
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 2, 2018 23:26:59 GMT
Cloak's demeanor was not bringing much comfort to this conversation. He spoke of being entertained, of playing around with the Demon Lords for fun, about never having a feeling of safety or security. Individually, perhaps he could understand these traits - and he could have definitely understood them, as a personality of his army...
... But not as a friend, as Cassandra's Digimon. Pouring himself another drink, the doctor carefully considered how to respond to him. The cat knew that the Dark Area wasn't fair, that it could have a toll on both the mind and the body, but for him to still harbor such feelings? Then again, those '500 years ago' was less than a half-year to him, the actual span of time stretching long before the cat's eyes.
Mikemon had the benefit of time. Cloak did not.
"The 'mantle' of Greed, as it is, has long left me." After a few moments of silence, the cat moved to simply change the topic. "We are born as eggs in the Dark Area, and understand our birthright from the outset - but that also means that each iteration occurs randomly, and each of us has drastically different views. Personalities. Mindsets. A beloved general could be replaced by a tyrant, and so forth. Those with their salt keep their heads above the water the longest."
And that was his point: "No matter how many you cut down, its like a hydra. The heads will keep growing back. Even back then, you were simply playing with a lit bomb."
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 3, 2018 21:22:55 GMT
"I know. That's why I did it." Cloak admitted finishing his drink as Shred poured the pair of old adversaries another round. It wasn't like the Doc wasn't good for the tab.
"I planned to either kill you all and hold the glory of having done so or end up killed trying, but if I learned nothing from Wrath the only way to grow in power is to seek out stronger and stronger opponents. Yet it was all so..." The Tactimon trailed off gold eyes distant and dark with emotion. "Pointless." Cloak summarized.
"It was all so pointless. Take a Keep here, hold a position there, end this threat, ally with this once enemy. Power for powers sake. A goal to help me hold onto what was left of my sanity and the taste of hard won victory to ease the fact I was a lone twin crippled without the other half of my core." The ex-General murmured eyes solemn as he reflected on his past through a dull drunken haze.
"I don't regret it though. The ones I hurt needlessly perhaps, but I don't regret killing as many mantle holders as I could get my hands on. I would not hurt you Doctor, but knowing what I know of some of the past Demon Lords...I wish I had made a few suffer more." The Tactimon murmured taking a deep drink from his cup the burn of alcohol heavy on his tongue.
"Envy had a project. Project Trojan...he was fascinated and jealous of the power bonded digimon could gain, but you can't force a digital bond. Oh he tried though, but his experiments..." Cloak trailed off looking visibly disturbed and thankful for the liquor easing the sting of the old memories.
"He would kidnap bonded humans. He learned he needed ones that already had digivices, and he would convince them their partners had betrayed them, weren't coming for them, and then have us kill their partners where the humans couldn't see. He had a ritual that let him make the digivice his. We didn't know why the ritual kept failing back then, but I suspect it had something to do with Cas's research in how digivices actually filter energy and data when exchanged between partners in evolution. The device wasn't his so the filter was incomplete and it...the kids never survived it. Younger humans were too fragile, but back then adult tamers were almost unheard of and adult humans harder to manipulate. I killed him before he could perfect it and find the right candidate for the process." The Tactimon admittedly softly laying out the sins of the past.
"I didn't care back then. He was just another challenge. Humans held no meaning to me at the time, but now I wish I'd made his death slower. His end was quicker then he deserved." Cloak muttered taking another heavy swig to ease the fear that shook is core that had times been different had he failed in ending Envy Cas could have been another body on the Demon Lords killing room floor.
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 3, 2018 22:34:14 GMT
"Power without anger or purpose."
Mikemon summarized Cloak's frustrations in three confident words, sipping down half of another shot as he did so. "I don't blame you for it, either. The Dark Area is not a place where one easily discovers purpose. When the basics of life are scarce and inconsistent, the short term became all the more important. Even a trivial goal could help to keep one sane..."
But it seemed Cloak still held a bit of 'want' for that goal. Mikemon's gaze remained cautious, as he spoke of the grand dragon, Leviamon's plans. It wasn't hard for him to swing his weight around, and those experiments? Oh, Mikemon was aware: "Remnants of his experimentation still persist in the Dark Area today. One of my patients was forcibly bonded directly with the data of one of their spirit totems - stabilizing her was the best I could do, given her condition." He gave a sigh, shaking his head.
"In leaving the Dark Area and pursuing my own goal, I earned a vast amount of knowledge in regards to the Digivice. I can take them apart, put them back together, and diagnose a number of 'connection' issues between Digimon and their tamers. Heck, I even researched 'false partner' syndrome." He quickly moved to explain what that was: "For example, imagine if a tamer had a twin or a close relative - but instead of the intended tamer finding the Digivice, the twin does instead. And it works - mostly - up until the point of biomerge."
"It might work just fine and never go undetected. Or, after the biomerge, the tamer or the Digimon might lose all of their memories - or their connection might be irreversibly broken. Terrible thing to have happen - very difficult to diagnose." He was a bit off-track, of course. "All I know is, the Dark Area's in a much better state as it is now. A Lord hasn't been spotted in over eighty cycles."
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 3, 2018 22:58:13 GMT
"That is good. The itch is still there. Old habits being hard to kill, but..." And the Tactimon trails off glancing towards the back room. "However, I have more of a purpose now and it makes things easier." Cloak explained though at Mikemon's explanation of false partner syndrome he goes very very still the glass in his hand cracking slightly as the Tactimon swears softly under his breath.
"Does it...does it go both ways? Like with twin Digimon and one tamer?" He asks softly something akin to fear flickering briefly in those golden eyes. Cas loved Dagger. He knew she loved Dagger, but she also loved Char, and Zaku, and Jegan. Dagger and her were close, but never as close their bond not humming like it did between him and the Doctor. However, Dagger and he shared a core. They were twins and he had wanted this so bad, but Dagger had been drifting away of late and what would happen if gods forbid they biomerged? He knew it was a possibility. He didn't fear it, but what if something went wrong. Digimon were reborn, but humans...
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 3, 2018 23:26:48 GMT
Indeed, having a purpose was definitely helping Cloak's case... but boy, could Mikemon fly off the handle with his words when he was drunk. Why on earth did he even think that was a good topic to start on? Cloak's reaction was immediate, the Knight's almost paranoid demeanor immediately cuing to the cat that that was a bad idea.
Even so, he gave a nod. "Of course - the Digivice pairs with a core, not a Digimon. The dissonance can happen with twins... but, Cloak?" He tilted his head. "I've scanned both your data and Cassandra's multiple times - her 'red state' and all. Though it often avoids diagnosis, the amount of crap I have on both of your cores is something I could write a textbook on. You are definitely her partner."
It didn't sound like he was saying it as a means to just cheer him up, either, the cat soon after pinching his sinus between two fingers. "Ugh... top me off, will ya?" Yeah, that might have earned a bit of a glare from the barkeep.
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 4, 2018 0:53:56 GMT
"No it's not...it's not me I'm worried about." Cloak murmured stumbling over his words as Shred rolled his eyes at Mikemon's demand, but topped the cat off all the same. "I know she's my partner." The Tactimon spoke conviction wrought into every word. He knew Cas was his partner. Could feel it in the weight of his bones and the spin of his core. Could feel it with every breath he took and every time they waltzed that thin line between life and death.
"It's...I know she's mine, but twin's share a core. Dagger doesn't...I know he cares for her, but..." Cloak trailed off kneading the bridge of his nose as he took another swig. If the stars had been aligned differently, if he hadn't been a twin he wasn't certain Dagger would have stayed. His twin cared for her yes, would take care of her if something happened to him, but...he hadn't signed up for this. Wasn't prepared to do whatever it took if it meant keeping their Tamer alive. He was loyal, but loyalty only went so far when death lurked around every corner.
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Mikemon on Nov 4, 2018 1:06:28 GMT
Was Cloak sure that it wasn't himself he was worried about? The tone he gave, the defensive one, sounded like he was trying he was trying to convince himself. Taking another deep, stiff drink, Mikemon shook his head.
"You said it yourself, twins share a core, right?" He shook his head, uncharacteristically dismissive of Cloak's claim. "Same egg, same core, same 'dying in each-other's arms' as in your last life. Besides, the Digivice recognizes both of you, right?" He gave a small hiccup, pausing for a moment to try and correct his tone. Indeed, Mikemon was one who was direct with diagnosis to begin with.
Turning off his filter was not making him feel any better, right now terrible at reading Cloak's expression. "Besides, she's in it for the long haul with both of you. If the golden guy hasn't run off by now, 's not like he's going to... he's not gonna run out now, 'swhat I'm saying." Yup, it was starting to hit him like a sack of bricks.
Half a bottle of vodka would do that, at his champion-level body weight. "Hoo, boy..."
|
|
|
Post by Cross on Nov 4, 2018 1:20:42 GMT
"I don't know I've never checked her Digivice. It just...it worked so what did it matter?" Cloak mutters the fact he was too afraid to check hanging unspoken in the air. Though Mikemon's words slowly eased some of the tension from the ex-Generals shoulders. The Tactimon through two large bottles of liquor and feeling it almost as much as Mikemon.
"You're right though. You're right. he's only left us the...the once. I think he felt bad about it to. He wouldn't..I'm sure it'll be fine." The Tactimon slurred trying to stand only to go sideways having to catch himself with one arm against the wall.
"I'll set up some cots for you two in the backroom." Shred muttered eyeing the very drunk swordsman and the just as thoroughly pissed cat. "And some bottles of water for when this bites you in the morning." The Devimon added glancing over their flushed faces as he shook his head ruefully and moved to do just that.
"Need to...need to check on Hime. She hasn't...I don't know what alls wrong with her Doc. I know she's not been eating. She didn't eat much before, but now...." Cloak trailed off with a shake of his head before he paused regretting such an action as the world spun the Mega going solemn.
"I've never seen her so thin before. When she's hurt. Like hurt hurt she always just powers through it. She's too stubborn to die from injuries, but this...She's just wasting away a little at a time and it scares me Doc." The Mega rumbled out swaying on his feet.
|
|
|