Impmon's first blast catches me in the shoulder. Not full force — I can tell he's holding back — but it still spins me sideways and I hit the stone tier hard.
"You're going to get yourself killed!" he shouts, already closing the distance.
I roll to my feet and throw a punch. He ducks under it easily, way too fast, and his tail whips around to catch my ankle. I stumble but don't go down. The concrete under my hand cracks when I catch myself.
"Then stop making me fight you!" I shout back.
He fires another volley. I dodge the first two, but the third clips my ribs and I feel the burn through my suit. I charge forward and tackle him. We hit the ground together and I pin his arms.
"Listen to me," I say, breathing hard. "Whatever he's threatening you with —"
"He said he'd burn you alive, Jessica!" His eyes are wide, furious, scared. "Not hurt you. Not knock you out. Burn you. And he can do it. You felt his power in that alley. You know I'm not lying."
I hesitate. Just for a second. But that's enough.
He bucks hard and throws me off. I sail through the air and crash into a row of seats. The metal buckles behind me. I'm up again before the ringing in my ears stops.
"So you're doing this to protect me?" I yell.
"I'm doing this because I don't have a choice!"
He fires a concentrated stream of purple flame. I leap over it and the stone behind me blackens and melts. I land and sprint toward him, closing the distance before he can fire again. My fist connects with his jaw.
He skids backward, more from surprise than force. He touches his face, looks at me like he can't believe I actually hit him.
"Okay," he says quietly. "Okay, you want to play it like that?"
He vanishes. One second he's there, the next he's gone — just a shimmer in the air. I spin, searching.
A blast hits me from behind. Then another from the left. He's moving fast, faster than I can track, peppering me with fire from different angles. I block what I can but I'm taking hits. My suit is scorched. My arms are red where the flames grazed.
I drop low and sweep my leg. Nothing. He's airborne now, hovering above me, breathing hard.
"You can't win this," he says. "You're strong, yeah. But I'm faster and I can fly. Just go home."
"Stop telling me to go home!"
I grab a chunk of broken concrete and hurl it at him. He dodges, but I'm already jumping — higher than I should be able to, higher than I've ever jumped — and I catch his ankle on the way up. He yelps. I pull him down and we crash together into the amphitheater floor.
The impact knocks the wind out of both of us. For a second we're just lying there, gasping.
"Impmon," I say, my voice cracking. "Please. I know you. You're not this person."
He rolls away from me and stands. His expression is torn — anger and something softer fighting for control.
"You don't know anything about what I am," he says.
"Then tell me."
He opens his mouth. Closes it. His fists are shaking.
Behind him, Shaujinmon laughs softly. "How touching. Do finish this, little imp. I have harvesting to attend to."
Impmon flinches. When he looks at me again, the softness is gone.
"I'm sorry," he says.
He fires point-blank.
The blast hits me square in the chest and I'm flying backward before I can even think about dodging. I hit the amphitheater steps hard enough to crack the stone, and for a second I can't breathe. Can't see. Just white noise and pain.
I hear Impmon hit the ground somewhere to my left. Heard the impact — lighter than mine, but he's smaller. More fragile than he pretends to be.
I push myself up. My arms are shaking. The front of my suit is blackened and there's a taste in my mouth like copper and smoke. I blink until my vision clears.
Impmon is already on his feet. He's favoring his left side, one arm pressed against his ribs. His face is smudged with soot and there's a cut above his eye. But he's standing.
We look at each other across the broken ground between us.
Neither of us says anything. What is there to say?
Then Shaujinmon sighs. It's a long, theatrical sound, like a parent tired of watching children squabble.
"This has been entertaining," he says, stepping forward. His staff drips with that dark, oily energy. "But I didn't come to this world to watch a morality play."
He raises the staff and points it at me.
Impmon moves first. He's fast — faster than I've ever seen him move — and he's between me and Shaujinmon before I can even process what's happening. His hands ignite with purple fire and he hurls a concentrated blast directly at the robed Digimon's face.
"Leave her alone!" Impmon screams.
The blast connects. Shaujinmon's head snaps back. For a moment — just a moment — I think it worked.
Then Shaujinmon straightens. Slowly. His eyes narrow. The beads along his necklace pulse with a sickly light and the air around him drops ten degrees.
"You dare," he says quietly. Not shouting. Worse than shouting.
His hand shoots out and catches Impmon by the throat. Just grabs him out of the air like he weighs nothing. Impmon's feet dangle off the ground. His hands claw at Shaujinmon's wrist but the grip doesn't budge.
"I offered you purpose," Shaujinmon says, lifting Impmon higher. "I offered you power beyond your pathetic little flame tricks. And you throw it away for a human girl who will die in the blink of an eye?"
Impmon chokes. His face is turning red, then purple. His fire sputters and dies.
Something inside me breaks open.
I don't think. I just move.
I close the distance in two strides and hit Shaujinmon's arm with everything I have. The impact jars my entire body — his arm feels like hitting a steel beam — but his grip loosens. Just barely. Impmon drops, gasping.
Shaujinmon turns those dead eyes on me. "Brave," he says. "Stupid, but brave."
He swings the staff in a wide arc. I try to duck but it's too fast. The dark energy catches me across the side and I feel something crack — ribs, maybe two. The pain is enormous. White-hot and total. I go down on one knee.
He raises the staff again. This time for Impmon, who's still on the ground, coughing, trying to draw breath.
No.
I throw myself over Impmon's body. My arms wrap around him and I curl myself around him as tight as I can. He's so small. When did I start thinking of him as small?
The staff comes down.
The pain is — I don't have words for it. It's like being struck by lightning and hit by a car at the same time. My back arches. My vision goes white, then black, then white again. I feel something warm running down my face. Blood, probably.
But Impmon is under me. Impmon is breathing.
I don't know how I stand up. I just do. My legs shouldn't work. Nothing should work. But I'm on my feet and Impmon is in my arms and I'm running.
Behind me, Shaujinmon laughs. "Run, little hero. Run. It changes nothing."
I run anyway.
***
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