Half a Soul

[Kiara Lycro]

Kyofutorimon was about to launch herself back into the sky when the attacks flew for her but instead watched them burst as Lillithmon appeared, taking out the too Rookchessmon as well. The distorted gryphon hissed in outrage, those were hers! If not for the virus the beast spirit possessed human would have tried to tear into Lillithmon so when the Demon lord left Tori's eyes were entirely red, warping everything and instead of fearing her surroundings she was 5 levels beyond angry so she did the only thing the virus would let her, attack the bishopchessmon.

In less then 5 seconds the more agile bird digimon was on bishopchessmon her claws glowing as she struck the ultimate digging in where ever she could, completely disregarding any attack he might have been able to throw at her. For now Kyofutorimon's body thrummed and all she could hear was her own blood pounding and the shrill screams coming from her beak as she used that to dig into her prey as well. Through all of this the beast spirit rebelled against the virus and Lillithmon's face continued to flash in front of her blood red eyes before switching to her own human face and back again.

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Tsukimon glared at Koda and muttered back, "My job is to protect my human, I can't digivolve, and she's scared out of her mind. You and your human maybe willing to face the fire but I'm not." The little bat digimon was angry, she had just turned her back on everything for her human, how dare this stupid fox lecture her on what was deserved and what wasn't.

However, through this whole argument Nicole watched and, like most kids, got caught up in Akiro's words. "Retrace, I know Tsukimon will protect me if you want to go back. We'll be ok, promise."

[Mephiles]

Retrace groaned as she listened to Akiro berate her as being nothing more than a coward, for Retrace and her partners it was quite apparent that neither this Tamer nor his partner truly understood what it was that Retrace and her partners was doing. Before Retrace or Lucemon could head back to speak, Kotemon stepped forward, he walked back over towards Akiro and Koda, once he was within several inches of both the Tamer and and his partner, he began speaking.
"You have no right to make a judgment like that, especially considering the fact that you do not know my partner or my brother, nor do you understand the circumstances that lead to capture of Tori, and Retrace being in the custody of Nicole and her partner Tsukimon. With that in the mind I will shed some minor light on that, before Tori was captured, she asked us personally to take Nicole and her partner out of the castle and get her to safety. Retrace made a promising stating that she would, while escaping Tori personally sacrificed herself ensuring that they would get to safety. Retrace is a person of her word, she always keeps her promise no matter how foolish they appear, and there is nothing cowardly about keeping a promise. You may see it that way, which is fine you are entitled to your own opinion and I respect your opinion. However I am in agreement with my Tamer and Nicole's partner, if we were to go back inside that castle it would be nothing more than a suicide mission. I don't say this purely because Retrace is my Tamer, it is because the experience I have from living the first six years of my life within the Dino Ruins, says so. I know that we may not get another shot at it, however we are wiling to take that chance, Retrace isn't a Tamer that gives up easily, I know her, she will be back here after she gets Nicole back to the Human World. She isn't going to give up on her friend that easily, isn't that right Retrace?"

Retrace smiled at her partner Kotemon, the way he expressed what was all on their mind was perfect. She replied: "Indeed I do intend to come back, I am not giving up on Tori, never, until either she is back in the world of light, or I am dead again. I am heading to Neo Arcadia, you can either follow me or take your path, the choice is yours" With that Retrace turned to Nicole and said: "Nah, I won't subject you to the horrors of the Graveyard Castle again, I made a promise and I intend to keep it. You and your partner are going home" With that Retrace turned around and started walking again, heading in the direction where her new home Neo Arcadia resided.

[Riki Wolf]

BishopChessmon still could not believe what had happened to his fallen comrades. The villagers had almost all evacuated to the tunnels which led out of the village now. BishopChessmon felt the full fury of Kyofutorimon. It began to tear at his data until there was nothing left and BishopChessmon literally fell to pieces under the overwhelming might of Kyofutorimon. For being a beast spirit digimon she had all the power and might of a cunning hunter.

Lillithmon's broad smile lit up her whole face as she witnessed the wrecked village. Her creation had done its job very well and now she could boast of her power. "Kyofutorimon, it is time we returned to tell Deamon of your power. You will make an excellent servant of darkness in the months to come" she said as she laughed so hard you could have mistaken her for an escaped criminal. It was clear that Lillithmon intended to have Kyofutorimon, Tori forever as she would never willingly give up her greatest personal soldier.

"Kyofutorimon return to the castle at once" she said as her hand send out a purple aura of energy and in a blink they were outside the castle.

[Kiara Lycro]

Just as Kyofutorimon was about to take another bite out of the Bishopchessmon she heard Lillithmon's call and was transported back to the castle. She looked towards Lillithmon and skreeched coming down from her battle high before the virus could completely reign in the spirit's fury. While still outraged the bird's attention shifted rapidly towards everything around her, the guards, the dark tamers, Lillithmon, the strange tamer's at the edge of the graveyard.

Seeing them she skreeched again, "Tri-horn Blast!" and shot the poisoned energy in the others direction without orders from Lillithmon. It destroyed a few of the guards on the way and the remaining ones quickly took cover for fear of another attack. After that Tori started to come to herself again, as much as she could, and shook her head, clearing her eyes. She then looked to Lillithmon, with dead glassy eyes, waiting for her next order.

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Tsukimon looked very relieved at Retrace's assurance and Nicole nodded, trying to hide her happiness and guilt at the same time. "Thank you Retrace." At that moment the pair heard a high pitched skreech and covered their ears. The next second Tsukimon pushed Nicole down as a beam of dark energy flew overhead, "What was that?" Nicole asked. Tsukimon shook her head and looked at the others, "Perhaps it is time to leave, now."

[Mephiles]

Retrace didn't reply to the expression of the "thanks" that she received from Nicole and Tsukimon, this stemmed from the fact that they were not quite out of the Graveyard Castle territory, for as long as they were in the territory, they were not safe. With that she along with her partners kept moving, the longer they kept moving, the faster they could get to the boarder of the area.

All of a sudden the three of them heard a high pitch shriek, the sound was so loud that both Lucemon and Kotemon had to cover their ears (Retrace being an AI didn't have this problem), Retrace turned in the direction of where the shriek came from, and saw a dark beam of energy, flying towards them:

"Get down!" she cried.

Lucemon and Kotemon along with herself dropped to the ground, once the energy was out of range, Retrace got up. Her irritation had hit maximum, she turned and looked at the others, thankfully they were alright.

"Perhaps it is time to leave, now."

Retrace nodded at the statement and said "Yeah, we are getting out here. I know you are not going to like me for this, but we are going to moving at double pace, the faster we move, the faster we hit the boarder and get out of the hellish area"

With that Retrace motioned for all of them to move, then she proceeded to turn around and walk at a quick clip.