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Chapter XXI

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

Ryan:

Whoever that guy Aaron was, he was definitely someone I hoped to never have to fight.

I explained what had happened to Piper, who seemed very skeptical about the whole thing. After a bit of convincing, she decided to believe me. Even I couldn't blame her for not believing me. Stopping time? That was impossible. Then again, what I did when I healed her months back seemed impossible as well, but I still did it, somehow. She and I had already seen some crazy things in this war, so I knew she would understand what I was trying to explain.

Still, she seemed unsure.

Perhaps she had her own reasons for disbelieving me. Maybe it was just too much to take in just after once of the largest fights of her life. Okay, even I had some trouble believing some of the stuff that went on around me but I still believed it because, well, I had the scars and bruises to explain them. Possibly, I didn't want to believe that I summoned some sort of barrier or something to block Rodrigo's attack from three months ago, and I certainly didn't want to believe that Jason had revived me by using some sort of weird magic that seemed completely science fictional. Thinking science could solve my problems, I thought that if I thought about it logically that it couldn't have happened even though it did.

Yet, I still believed it.

Piper must just be having a hard time comprehending everything that's been going on lately. Manchester had been attacked, she had been worried sick that I had almost died, and now she was going to have to deal with the attack on London as well. If Nick was in serious condition, I'm sure she would be past her worrying limits, and I knew she wasn't born for this kind of stuff. Ever since I had stepped into the picture, things haven't exactly been the same around here.

Both Manchester and London had been attacked with devastating results and there was no telling if it had been my fault or not. Had they? I was being flown to Manchester without any knowledge of an impending attack, and I was out cold when London was the choice to be destroyed.

Still, had I played some sort of role in this?

Piper didn't seem to think so at least, at least, I hoped she didn't. She was my friend and I didn't want to lose her trust because of events that were starting to get more and more dangerous with each time. We both knew things were only going to either get worse or better, depending on whether or not if I had any more luck to give. (Yeah, me, lucky. Who would've thought?)

We continued to make our way back to the base, already aware of the devastation of the city. The main priorities were to get the water system operational, have the electricity on in the next few days, then get back to rebuilding the city and our base. The water was easy, but the electricity was going to be tricky since most of the wires in the city had been torn in large chunks while some others were just completely fried. Most of us weren't going to be able to shower for a few days (yuck) but stinking was better than literally being powerless.

The sun began to set off in the distance, changing the sky into very warm colors. The clouds turned into a very beautiful violet with grey mixed in while the sky had a mixture of red, orange, and yellow all streaked across the large, open sky like it was an unpainted canvas. The heat also began to die down, most of it turning into a cool, refreshing breeze that cooled the air to a perfect temperature.

With the sun setting, most of the soldiers decided to turn in for the night. Patrols still guarded the perimeter though. Once within the base's walls, the only thing left to do was to find out where our partners and Squad were staying and turn in for the night with them. They were all probably about to go to sleep anyway.

Boy, I wasn't going to look forward to the amount of work we were going to have to go through in the morning.

Tents had been set up in the courtyard and inside the base. Oil-filled lanterns and candles had been brought to see through the growing darkness as well. Half a dozen guards were posted at the front gates and had the holes within the base's walls; no doubt to be switched out once their shift was over. I could only guess that the wounded soldiers and civilians were already stable and were just asleep as well since many of them were now housed inside the base. This was place was the safest place to be right now since there was no telling if there were still any straggling Shadows within the city, and I could only hope that they got the picture to wait another day for fighting.

No matter what, both sides were exhausted.

We were given our own lantern and told where to go. Many tents had been set up in rows while others were in just clustered groups while others, however, were just placed in a circle. Families, soldiers, even Shadows who had been captured were all just in one place, doing nothing but letting time go by.

Weird, I would've thought a Shadow soldier would've tried to escape. The men and women captured though did nothing, keeping their mouths shut while looking at the ground in shame. Our own soldiers didn't even pay them any mind, just looking out of the corner of their eyes then turning back face their own companions.

Sure surprised me to find that the fighting was over, for now.

It was only about ten minutes later when we found our squad-mates. Michael and Leo were doing what they do best, playing poker, while Tony and Joshua were looking through a magazine titled World News! Breaking Stories! Jun and Viktor were polishing their guns with Mia and Mina while Felix and Travis were looking over the blueprints for the base with Emily and Victoria. Nick was sitting close to a fire with Jason, who actually looked pretty happy (odd), while eating their dinner.

It was mostly quiet, aside from Michael and Leo's poker game and Jun, Viktor, Mia, and Mina's small chatting going on. The others mainly looked pretty tried despite still being up and doing the things that they did in their spare time. Most of them just looked beat, like most of the fight had been knocked out of them.

I should've thought better than that. By morning, I bet everything I owned that they would be well energized, ready to start restoring London to a reasonable state. Did I know for a fact that they were going to be rested? No, but I was confident that they were. We really didn't have much of a choice anyway, but it was the right thing to do.

Before I took a step into the camp, a hand rested itself on my shoulder. A tingle of fear ran up my spine. Instinctively, I placed my hand on my blade before turning my head around to meet the eyes Anders.

"Ryan, I need to speak with you for a moment, if you do not mind," he asked, taking his hand off of my shoulder. "It's very urgent." I looked at Piper, who only nodded. She said she would go ahead and go to sleep. I waved goodbye to her before replying. "Alright, let's talk. I guess you want to make it private as well, too, huh?"

He nodded then turned, beckoning me to follow. I sighed, looking forward to a good night's sleep for once, even though I had been knocked out for a while. He led me back outside the base to an area where no guards were patrolling.

Now, see, I trusted Anders more than I trusted the Admiral. He didn't give me creepy looks that made me feel uneasy or just have that overall presence that felt just...I dunno, odd. He was actually the victim of some abuse, getting beaten by his human partner without me knowing of it. I had sympathy for the guy and, just stretching it, felt almost as though he was a very good friend.

Once we were secluded, he went on. "My...partner," he struggled to get that word out. "wanted me to inform you of someone who might be very valuable. This 'friend', so to speak, has had a change of heart, per se, and he wants to make up for his crimes by working with you instead of against you."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Wait, so you want me to work with a criminal?"

He shook his head. "Not quite, but he is currently trying to become a better person after some very...traumatic events very recently." Anders said, placing his arms behind his back while walking and talking.

I raised my eyebrow. "Why exactly does he want to work with me though?" I asked, rummaging through my mind to figure out who Anders could be referring to.

He sighed. "He said and quote: 'This human has given me the opportunity to make amends for what I have done. After everything that has happened, I know I cannot make it up to everyone but I wish to only seek vengeance on the person who betrayed me. Working with this human can give me the opportunity to do better and win a war I have been so blinded by."

Instantly, my mind figured out who he was talking about. I gasped then looked directly at Anders, shaking my head in disbelief.

"You don't mean..." I was cut off by a new, familiar voice.

"Me," Rodrigo finished, stepping out of the shadows.

Instinctively, I drew my blade.

Him? He was sorry for all the things that he had done during the war? There was just no way he had just made a change of heart just because we saved him. Just over three months ago, he was about to kill Piper then chop me into pieces, not mention if he had then we would all have lost that battle and England in the process.

And possibly the whole war.

Now here he was, wanting to join our side after fighting for our enemy and killing thousands of humans and Digimon long before I even joined the war? Believing that is like trying to believe someone found a unicorn, inside a convenience store, on the moon that was ten thousand years old. I sure didn't believe that, but what amazed me was the fact that Anders--a guy I knew I could entrust with my life--believed him to be a good person now, but still shackled him in semi-unbreakable chains. True, he hadn't caused us any trouble when we were trying to escape Yukon, but he was still pretty unpredictable as an individual. How could I know he really did have a change of heart? This could still be some sort of plot to stab me in the back, literally, then go ahead and proceed to sneak in and kill the Admiral and leave us disoriented.

Either way, I needed to know.

"You can't be serious," I said, looking from Anders to Rodrigo, then back to Anders. The regular Flamedramon just shuffled in place and nodded my way. "You do realize that he tried to kill Piper and me, not to mention the fact that he's pretty much slaughtered thousands of people." I stated, watching as Rodrigo looked away in shame.

Anders nodded yet sighed. "I understand that, but you need to trust me on this, Ryan. He really has made a change of heart and wants to do good now."

I looked from Anders to Rodrigo. He didn't make complete eye contact with me but he did glance my way, showing that he really was ashamed of what he had done. Without even thinking about it, my golden eyes pierced into his soul, allowing me to look deep down inside him and tell if he truly was lying or telling the truth. I continued to stare intently at him for a few minutes, deciphering if whether or not he was bluffing or not. My eyes then flashed, making both Rodrigo and I gasp as my being shot forward then went inside his mind. Without even thinking about it, I searched even harder, I found many things that he had to deal with--pain, hurt, regret, sadness, anger, rage, depression, honor, frustration, and compassion. Life events flash before my eyes, making me grunt out in pain, falling to my knees.

I nearly gasped from shock. He had to fight his parents for his entire life and try to live up to their expectations or else suffer brutal consequences. Many fights flashed inside my mind, fights on the battlefield and internal fights that he seemed to have on a regular basis. Dozens of those fights brought him much grief, regret, and pure anger and hatred towards his entire family. Resentment, that was more appropriate. As I looked deeper inside I found more personal flashbacks that showed him even younger, maybe the age of one of the younger aged kids at the orphanage, just fighting people twice his size over and over again, unable to stop them from mopping the floor with him with each hit that he took. His parents were there, watching him get more and more injured, calling him a weakling and disgrace of a son.

A blow from a Digimon sent him flying, skidding on his back a far distance before stopping. He was covered in dry dirt, fresh blood, and very fresher tears. He sobbed, grabbing the ground had hard as he could, just holding on to what was left of his will to go on for dear life.

Then, it happened. In the flash of an eye, he screamed out at the top of his lungs, letting the built up rage and anger burst out of him in a flurry of energy that exploded everywhere, completely destroying everything that was around him. Once the vision cleared, all I could see was him sitting in the middle of a crater the size of a family-sized swimming pool. Smoke and fire rose into the air around the dozen dead corpses littered around the field. Tears ran down young Rodrigo's face as he stepped out of the pool-sized crate, looking over the amount of damage and destruction he had caused in just a short amount of time. He gasped then fell back onto his knees, letting even more tears run down his dirt and blood covered face, dripping onto the even dryer dirt on the ground around him.

_ "Excellent,"I heard a deep, bass-level voice that sounded chilling and evil say. _"You finally killed, and now you will do it for the rest of your life. Understood?" The voice spoke very slyly, almost with the intent to sound devilish and tempting.

Young Rodrigo just looked over the bodies then slowly nodded, letting the tears flow from his eyes without even sobbing anymore. I could see all the emotion in his eyes drain, as if those emotions had been stolen from him in a sense. He just sat there, on his knees, and scanned over the field over and over...and over again, completely unsure of what he had done.

Then the vision ended, bringing me back into reality.

At some point, I had fallen to my own knees, looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world now. The bright light my eyes made began to fade away, but not without giving me a hint to look at my hand, which showed my mark glowing dimly for some reason. Maybe it had done this and I didn't know about it.

However, I wasn't the only one who was affected. Rodrigo had also crumpled to his knees, Anders by his side while trying to figure out what had happened to the both of us. He looked at me then at Rodrigo with a puzzled expression, as if trying to tell me he had no idea what had happened in the span of five seconds. He tried to help a groaning Rodrigo back onto his feet, the Shadow Flamedramon clutching the back of his head as if someone had just sucker punched him there. The look of pain in his eyes made me snap out of my trance and fully return to reality.

He hissed, using one eye to look at me. "You can...Thought Provoke? Ugh, you could've at least warned me before doing that, now I have a pounding headache because of it."

Both Anders and I raised our eyebrows, but Anders said "'Thought Provoking'? I've never heard of such a thing." He stated, keeping Rodrigo on his feet.

Rodrigo groaned but nodded. "It's not very common, and people on this planet wouldn't understand it. Basically, it's an ability to see into one's mind and peer into their thoughts, giving the seer the ability to use that knowledge against his or her victim in the future."

"So its like reading their mind?" I asked, taking a few steps forward.

"Well, yes and no," he replied. "You can't exactly see what they're planning but you can see their emotions and past memories, not the memories that they are receiving at that moment. You can't read their mind, but you can look into their past memories." He replied, shaking his head to clear his vision.

Anders looked at me. "How did you do that?" he asked.

I shook my head, feeling a minor headache heading my way. "If I knew that, I wouldn't have just nearly fainted. Just...when I looked into his eyes I was able to see into his mind, but I haven't the slightest idea as to how I did it." I folded my arms across my chest and tapped my chin while trying to figure out how I did that.

The regular Flamedramon just scratched the back of his neck. "Oh well. That's beside the point, I suppose." He said, knowing that that was the least of his and my worries. "Let's get back onto the topic of discussing Rodrigo."

At that moment, Rodrigo and I locked our eyes on one another. Neither of us looked away or broke our staring contest. He was locked on me and I was locked on him and for a good few minutes we just stood there, in silence, internally debating on whether or not I should believe what I saw or go against it. He had a rough childhood and his parents weren't exact the "best" at raising him, which could contribute to his terrible attitude and his murderous rampage. But he also had the free will whether or not to kill me or not that day we fought. He could've surrendered but he didn't and really tried to slice me into sushi rolls. Then again, he didn't resist when we were rescuing him and he actually shot Yukon for Jason, saving his life in the process! He could've shot Jason, the Admiral, or me, but he shot Yukon instead.

He could've also tried to escape right now or then, but he didn't. The guards weren't paying attention to him and neither were we and that could've made for the perfect escape. There were tons of opportunities he could've taken to flee or kill us all then join up with the rest of the Shadow forces and lead them in the place of Yukon, who tried to kill him.

But he didn't.

Was it honor or pride that made him stay? Did he feel as though there was a debt he needed to repay to Jason or me? Did he want a rematch after the beating I gave him or something? Was he scared of being found by Yukon, who did escape? Was he scared of his family, who was possibly going to send their own personal bounty hunters to track him down and slaughter him?

So many things factored in, but none of them led to any answers. They could all be true for all we know, but they could all be false as well. There was just no way of telling except for asking him himself.

After thinking this over for five minutes, I finally broke our starring contest and said "Why do you want to join our side now, after all you have done? You've literally killed thousands of people and Digimon who are non-Shadows, just to destroy both of our species then use our world for your own game."

"I know this," he replied, letting his own black, tentacle-like ears (you know what? I'm just going to call them ears now) fall flat on his head in shame. "I've realize that...I've been fighting for all the wrong reasons. Once a time, I thought that humans and Digimon of Light were weak, foolish, and needed to be eradicated of the face of the universe, but then I saw what you were capable of. The way you fought me and bested me was something that had not happened in a very, very long time. You put forth passion in your fighting, a will that doesn't let you quit until you've put everything you care most about on the line then die for it, knowing it has happened and you achieved it."

"We do that because we have to," Anders cut in. "If we didn't, we would've lost the war years ago. This planet is all we have and we care for it, and we're willing to die for it. Our conviction to fight is stronger than our will to just stop and surrender to those who want to destroy everything near and dear to our hears, like our families...our children...and the plants and animals" He stopped and shed a small tear, letting it run down his face before letting it fall to the ground. Anders loved what he did which was fight for our world and our salvation, and I loved him because it was passionate about it and didn't care what anyone thought of him.

He almost reminded me of Nicholas in a way, but Nicholas isn't a fight by no means and wouldn't exactly be able to pick up a gun or punch someone in the face. The dude was like a flower, but I still loved him regardless.

Rodrigo nodded and sighed, leaning against the base's wall. "I understand that now. I didn't back then, but now I do. I had humans and Digimon of Light all wrong, and now that my family wants me dead, I literally have nowhere else to be besides here, your prisoner. If I try to run away, my family will find me and kill me and that will be it, and I don't want it to end there." He stood back up and looked at the both of us. "I want to join you and make up for my mistakes but fighting against the Shadows and against my family."

I looked at Rodrigo puzzlingly then at Anders, who just folded his arms across his chest and nodded, looking at me as well. There was that moment where I thought he was lying but then I realized that he really did have nowhere to go even if he did escape from us. His family would track him down and kill him, just like they did before only a few hours ago but using his sister as the killer. He was better off either being our prisoner or being a valuable soldier on the battlefield that could give us tips on anything the Shadows might be planning.

Piper wouldn't agree to this, that was a fact. He did try and kill her and Nick so I can only imagine that both of them wouldn't exactly be on the same page. Jason sure wouldn't be, and that was probably why Anders decided to choose me.

"What about Piper and Nick?" I asked. "I have a strange feeling they won't be on board with this plan of yours."

Anders sighed. "Yeah, it'll take a bit of convincing but I think I can get them on board with it. However, it's not my choice to decide." He said walking towards me, placing a black key in my palm then closed it, looking into my eyes. "It's yours."

He made me raise an eyebrow. "Why is it my choice? You can free him yourself, can't you?" I asked, looking at Rodrigo.

"Well," he said, taking a few steps back. "It's not that easy. Though we are not the same species per se--Shadow and Light--we are both still Flamedramon, and we follow an honorable code." He then turned to a nodding Rodrigo and nodded his way. "If someone is beaten in combat and is taken prisoner, the honorable way to be freed is by the same person you met in combat."

"But he was chained by soldiers," I shot back.

"Yet you were the last one to cross blades with him," he pressed on.

I stayed silent, looking at the key in my hands. Internally, I was fighting. One part of me wanted to free Rodrigo despite all the things he had done and just give him a second chance, making him an asset for us. The other part just wanted to throw the key somewhere far away and keep him bound because of the things he had done, like murder countless people, pillage cities, and control prisoners without a will to fight back. Piper would hate me if she found this out and there would most like be no future with me an her holding hands down a sidewalk if this war was won by us. He had a pretty rough life, to say the least, and with the set of parents and brothers and sister he had to grow up with probably didn't do any better on him as well.

I sighed then walked over to him, making my decision.

He almost looked frightened to be close to me once more, scared that I might slice his head off in a split second. Well, I guess I couldn't blame him since I was pretty scary with a sword sheathed by my side. Taking the key in-between my fingers, I took his wrists and unlocked the cuffs, letting the restraints fall to the ground with a medium sounding thud.

The Shadow Flamedramon just rubbed his wrists and looked at me as I took a few steps back. "You...you freed me?"

I nodded. "Yes, but on one condition." I walked over to him so he could see all the seriousness in my eyes. "You fight for_us, not _against us. You agree to go through group therapy so you can get your priorities in check so I don't have to do that for you, understand?"

He looked directly into my golden pupils, completely aware that I was dead-on serious about this. Rodrigo then nodded. "Yes, I understand. Whatever I must do, I shall in the name of your people and your world." He then looked me sharply in the eyes. "But, I need you to understand something as well, okay?"

"What might that be then?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.

He sighed then looked away from me, ball his fists. "My sister, Yukon, is mine. The one who tried to kill me and your friend. She is mine. If my mother and father think that I'm going to let her slide then they are dead wrong. Understand?"

I raised a brow at him before looking to Anders. The regular Flamedramon just shrugged, unsure of what to do about his words. Though I wasn't sure to believe him or not, letting him have revenge on the same person who tried to kill him seemed a fitting thing to do. It might bring him some closure, or sanity, or whatever it is that he needed to get his act straight. Getting his full support was going to be a trial on its own, so I guess I should just let him take care of his sister so he can have confirmation.

Sighing, I held out my hand. "Deal, but you help us out first. We'll make sure to get you the best spies and reports to track her down when she gets back above the radar, but you're going to have to do what we say, understood?"

"Crystal," he responded, grabbing my hand and shaking it.

"Good, now can I please get some sleep? I've had a pretty long day." I asked, already walking away.