The last light [Nol]

Mikemon and K's involvement in that fight against Daemon was over, and what followed was a measure of organized chaos. The doctor, though hurt, was not so far gone that he couldn't tend to K's injuries, and after using a flash heal on his chest, he set to work on the Renamon.

There was no diagnosis to be made here. K was battle-injured, worn down and beaten, and with Syre dismissed from the room, the cat spared no thought in fixing the surface damage. He re-set the bone, he corrected the parts of her data that were in phase, and managed to 'put her back together' over the next hour or so. Though, honestly, the Renamon likely wouldn't remember much of it, simply weakly slipping in and out of consciousness, her body trying to catch up with itself.

When he was done, the cat almost fell onto the table himself, before simply collapsing on a chair at the side of the room. At last, this seemed to be behind them...

---

"K? Hello?"

Several hours later - late next morning, in fact - the doctor found himself next to K's bed, very gently nudging her 'better' shoulder, a smile on his face. The fox would still be sore, of course, but no longer feeling the worst of it. A stiff bandage kept her damaged arm still, and though everything wasn't exactly 'right', well, it was probably within reason.

"Take it slow. Don't sit up too fast - you've been out for a while. Last thing we need is for you to hurt yourself with a fall..."

"Guess you have a point there... um, nine, ten hours?"

Watching K get herself up, assisting where he could, the doctor gave a small nod as the fox regained her balance. Her expression was within expectations: put through the ringer and then having gone through such a rigorous healing process, no-one was going to feel quite alright. Still, the cat's eyes did catch onto a few issues. Labored breathing, dizziness, fatigue... but she was at least aware of her surroundings, of her conditions.

How bad was it?

"Slightly worse than when you were being put back together after the fight with Wisemon, but not as bad as when you were being put back together after the D-Reaper incident." Right, like any of those were fair points of comparison. But, then again, the cat wasn't done covering his bases: "Sorry to put this on you right now, but I should probably get to the follow-up. Scan your data, iron out the noise, make sure that nothing's cracking underneath the surface."

It was routine to him at this point. As he reached for his crystal, the cat asked: "Anything feel strange to you, at all?" At this point, all he was doing was just asking the normal questions.

"Yes, well, 'normally' doesn't usually involve your dragon form getting blasted apart. Now, take it easy, there..."

Mikemon's tone flickered between his brutally honest professionalism and a tenderness towards a dear patient, the cat smiling a bit to soften the bite that he had in his tone. K looked like shit, yes, but who wouldn't after all that? Drawing that crystal into his hand, he'd return a chuckle to that amused look. "Oh, c'mon, this is just field medic work. I don't even have to break into a prison for this."

Ah, good ol' times! The cat's ear flicked as K mentioned the misfires as well as her frame feeling heavy. The cat gave a nod: "I see a lot of that with the Digital Hazard card. The body pushes itself beyond what its supposed to do - which strains your muscles past their intended limit. The result is a lot of dead weight in your limbs, which makes the user sometimes feel 'heavier' afterwards. As for the misfiring - well, its the same deal, except with your data structure. Couple that with damage already impacting your wireframe and things aren't going to feel perfect."

He could explain it all. But: "Of course, this is why we do the data scan - to make sure its just that. Just relax for a minute, alright?"

The cat gave a nod, his attention turning to that red crystal - deeply focusing into it, as he once more deeply peered into the Renamon's data structure.

"Heh... eager to get right back on it, aren't ya."

The cat smirked, giving an exaggerated sigh as K lied back, as if to say 'what am I supposed to do with you' in a friendly manner. Mikemon wasn't worried, he was simply going through the steps, his expression fading as it always had when he peered deep into the Renamon's data.

---

Though, what he saw inside made him question a heck of a lot more.

He wasn't interested in the surface level. Of course she was damaged, of course the wire-frame was frayed and misfiring - he'd seen thousands of data structures and knew what was normal for a Digimon in K's position. His gaze immediately peered deeper, into the ancient data structure that made up this Renamon, fractured only once from the D-Reaper incident.

... That was, this data had only been fractured once, right? Then what was going on here?

The core was the wrong color, more akin to a virus type than the Data that Mikemon knew her to be. There was a semblance of energy ebbing around, a wispy air of blue holding it around... and that particular figure, pacing around the core. Familiar but unfamiliar, her own stature shaking her head, trying to communicate the problem.

The doctor looked deeper still.

Something was wrong, an itch beginning to form at the back of the cat's head as the pieces fit: the state of this core was not recent, not at least as recent as today. There was nothing about the fight against Daemon that would have made her core turn black or threaten her attribute. If that was the case, then when? When did it...

... It clicked.

---

For at least ten minutes longer, Mikemon peered deep into the fox's data. This was definitely a fair bit longer than the doctor typically spent on a scan - at least a half hour in total - and by the time he was done, his claw reached up to bridge his nose, the doctor refocusing his eyes to the world in front of him.

But what Mikemon did next would likely catch K's attention even more. Without a word, he stood up, moved right to the door, and closed it - a lock clicking shortly afterwards.

A moment of silence.

"... K. Before I say anything... I just want you to hear this. I love you, more than anything." His tone was somber, calm, and focused. "Whatever I say next, its coming from my sheer, honest self as a doctor." K, of course, would know what the cat was talking about - Mikemon never lied to a patient, never wasted words to make them feel better or give false hope.

... But the very fact that he was even bringing this up was a harrowing thought.

'Tell me'.

The moment those words hit Mikemon's ears, the cat felt a short chill go through his spine, the feline gritting his teeth as he pulled his thoughts together. At the very least, right now, he had to keep it together. He had to stay calm, clear, and make sure that he didn't miss a thing in his observation.

"... The issue isn't with the last fight with Daemon. That damage could be sorted out with two weeks to a month's recovery, even without my level of healing. No..." he bit his lip. "The issue is something deeper within your data. Specifically, the Wisemon."

"I saw your core. It was cracked, pitch black, and radiated an absolutely sinister viral code. Your 'inner self' is doing everything it can, but the Wisemon's data, what should be a smaller core orbiting the central one, is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps it was something the data did over time, or perhaps he took his chance when you were damaged in the fight - but its forced its way to become an integral part of your data."

He let that sink in. That was problematic by itself, of course, but where did that leave his diagnosis? "Based on the pattern, he's attempting to rend your core from the inside-out, and use your data as a means to create a new form for himself. At its pace..."

Silence filled the room.

"Two weeks. You... have two weeks to live, K."

Good... good, you're focused.

Mikemon could tell that K wasn't taking this perfectly. But after those few seconds of silence, his wife calmly analyzed the situation. He nodded at her analysis, as well as her request. There was an answer, but it was hardly an easy one.

"Well. We can remove the data."

Wait, was it really that simple? Was the grave tone here for nothing? By his tone, that clearly wasn't the case.

"While you're still stable, we should be able to crack through and remove the Wisemon's data directly from your system. If we do that, we can affix his data to a totem or otherwise try and bind it - perhaps I can talk to Oathgard about organizing a small crystal prison for it. Doing that, you'll be free of his grip."

The catch, though?

"... Once we do that, your core won't be able to sustain itself. We can do it any time in the next six days - but once we do, you'll only have about ten or so hours left."

In short? It would cost her eight days.

"K..."

No hesitation. She understood the weight of the decision and went along with what she felt was the only option - and right now, as the calm, serious doctor, all the cat could really do was nod in agreement with her. Five days. Of the fifteen months that Mikemon had been blessed to know K, Just five days just seemed like an insultingly short amount of time.

... Who was he kidding. Fifteen months was way too short.

"We'll have Oathgard set up what's needed with Luminas. As much as possible, I would suggest that Garlond handle organizing the Knights in the near-term future, though at least some of your team will have to know that this is going to happen. As for the kids, for Holly and Syre..."

He understood K's point of view. But he shook his head at K's request.

"They don't need to be here for the last day, but they deserve to know. At the very least, they need to know your choice and what's going to happen. Otherwise, you're just going to leave them wondering why you did all this without telling them. Besides, the way Holly sneaks around, she'll figure it out anyway." He gave a small smile at that, shaking his head.

"You have nothing to regret. The world gave you both a blessing and a tremendous responsibility, and you took it all without complaint. And... honestly..."

He paused, darting his eyes away for a moment.

"... You helped me become who I am today, K. It's... it's not an exaggeration to say that you saved me from who I was, and..." He stammered, tripping over his own words, pinching the bridge of his nose. He just broke down, falling to his knees, gritting his teeth as tears rolled from his eyes.

"Sovereign... fucking... damn it..."