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Jason:

Am I dead? Am I dead? Am I dead?

No, no, no. Those were my answers. I had closed my eyes for the final shot to take place, but I had felt nothing. Was this was death felt like? I opened my eyes to reveal that I wasn't dead, that I was still very much alive and ready to fight. I checked all over my body. Nothing. No-thing. I looked over my hands next only to find out that the only blood that was on them was dried blood from earlier, along with dirt and dust.

If I hadn't been shot then who...

Oh. It was Yukon. She was the one who was wounded, not me. I looked over my head just to find the copter flying just a dozen or so yards above me, and only to find Rodrigo holding a handgun with both hands, aimed right at Yukon. He dropped them gun then, letting it fall all the way to the ground far down and would've fallen out himself if Ryan had not been there to catch him just before he fell.

Ah, I also saw that Piper and Ryan and Nick were all safe, along with Anders, the Admiral, and his guards. The copter looked like it had been torn up (it amazed me the thing was still flying) but it was still in the air, slowly descending to come back down to the landing pad where I was. Ryan gave me a thumbs up while also shooting a bird at me (heh), telling me how crazy I was for doing that by myself. I could only muster up a weak smile, with a very soft chuckle that made me wince.

That was his way of saying: Good job.

Turning back to Yukon, I saw that she was staggering backwards. She was holding onto her right arm as if dripped out its crimson blood all over the ground. She grunted and hissed, stumbling until she reached the edge of the tall building. At first I thought she was only hissing, but it turned out she was muttering something that none of us could hear. Once her foot touched the edge of the building, she gasped then turned back to face me.

The helicopter landed shortly after, allowing everyone else to disperse and meet up with me. I for one was completely out of energy, letting out one last sigh of relief before falling forward. Luckily, Ryan and Nick were already there to catch me before I fell onto my face, keeping me on my feet while I both of my arms were slung over their shoulders. The Elite Guards quickly surrounded Yukon, aiming their guns right at her but didn't fire, waiting on the Admiral's order.

The Admiral himself stepped out of the aircraft, with Anders picking up the rear, and proceeded towards her. He placed his hands behind his back and walked all the way there in a regal fashion, keeping his head high with his eyes locked on the wounded Digimon dangerously close to the edge of his headquarters. Anders however kept his head low to the ground, fiddling with his hands over and over again, looking very nervous and unsure of himself. They both wore white pin-striped suits with black ties while the Admiral added a captain's hat to his outfit.

He stopped right where the ring of the Elite Guards was and just stood there for a few moments. Ryan and Nick helped drag me over to him with Piper walking right beside Ryan; her gun already cocked and loaded just in case Yukon tried anything. Ryan and Nick both had their own pistols out with their free hands just in case as well, making sure that they were prepared for some sort of wild card move she had.

Once we had arrived, the Admiral finally spoke. "General Yukon, you have slaughtered thousands of humans and Digimon on your quest to achieve your ultimate goal of total obliteration of both of our races. This is your chance to surrender and call of your troops and the attack on England or we will execute you where you stand and use you as a sign that this is what will happen when you mess with the people of Earth. What will you do now, Yukon?" he stated.

Yukon merely growled at the Admiral, holding onto her limp arm tighter now. She winced before looking at each and every one of us, especially Rodrigo and then me. I felt chills go up my spine again but I knew for a fact she couldn't do anything.

She turned back to the Admiral and smiled, snickering deviously. Her snickering soon turned into chuckling, and her chuckling turned into loud laughter that puzzled all of us. It was both creepy and disturbing, but all the more puzzling since she was in a situation where she was going to die either way if she didn't do anything.

"If you think I'm going to surrender and become your puppet, like my brother," she laughed, eying Rodrigo with anger, "then you're out of your damn mind."

"Then you will die," the Admiral said. "Guards, ready." He said forcing his Elite Guard's standing up tall. "Aim." He said forcing his guards to lower their guns until they were pointed right at Yukon, not one barrel wavering from their target.

Yukon merely smiled. "Not this time, fool," she hissed, jumping backwards.

Jumping right off of the building.

We all gasped and dashed forward for the edge of the base. Just as we arrived, we were greeted with a gust of wind that blew us back a few feet, blinding us with wind-cutting air that made us all grunt and push forward. I uncovered a little of my face just to make out a black jet that Yukon stood over. It rose higher and higher into the sky until it gave us all the room to see.

"See you another time, fools!" she shouted, jumping right into the cockpit.

"Fire! Fire, now!" the Admiral yelled, pointing his finger right at the jet. The Guard's exclaimed, firing many barrages of bullets at the aircraft Ryan, Nick and Piper fired their own shots. Yukon just laughed, waving to us before the jet shot forward, blowing us backwards with the force from the power of its push forward.

Ryan fired one last time before dropping his gun, cursing. "Damn it! She got away!" He grunted, throwing his gun onto the ground forcefully.

The Admiral sighed and shook his head. "You'll get your chance, do not worry, Ryan. One day, she will get what's coming to her." He said, sounding very sure of his words.

My partner on the other hand looked pissed off, but I knew he was containing all the anger inside of him. Piper looked pretty disappointed, maybe because she couldn't do anything to stop Yukon from escaping. Nick shook his head and sighed, telling me that he was bummed out about it as well but kept it more understood while not getting overly mad because of it. I had to say, I was pretty down about it too (considering I put so much energy into taking her down), but I followed Nick's lead and kept a level head while trying not to get pissed off like Ryan or disappointed like Piper.

That was also when I realized something.

That fight was for nothing! She had gotten away laughing at all of us like one of those super villains from comic books and movies! She mocked us!

Now, I was pissed off.

I had simmered down enough a couple hours after Yukon's escape, but I wasn't truly over it yet. With her gone though, the Shadow army that attacked London was crippled with no leader, so the G.M.A.F took advantage of this and continued to put major dents in their numbers while forcing them back. Many of them escaped on large transport planes that flew away from London and towards more of central Europe. The Admiral warned the leaders of the French, German, Polish and Ukrainian armies that they were about to get large sums of troops, readying their troops to get the Shadow army even weaker from our battle.

I'll admit, it helped me simmer down. They were getting what was coming to them, but I couldn't help but feel remorse for the human troops and our un-Shadowified Digimon troops. Knowing that they're under the control of someone else and can't help but fight back against us, it really pisses me off. Ryan and I talk about this all the time like not wanting to kill humans or regular Digimon, trying to spare their lives, or making their deaths quick and painless. We always knew we had to kill them though, we either kill them or we lose the war and let our races die off.

Still, it wasn't fair.

The gunfire had gone down to nothing as well and the air force took care of any unwanted troops hanging out in London. Anders also sent out his own Elite Guard to look for stragglers that the air force might miss, telling them to limit any civilian casualties and friendlies to a minimum of zero. While they scouted for the stragglers, Anders also sent out parties of soldiers to aid any surviving civilians or other soldiers, in the event that they were in need of assistance.

As that went on, we (that was the entire Squad and I) had to help out restoring the base and streets. But first we had to get treated for our wounds or even minor injuries that could possibly cause infections. Travis was finally awake, only to be diagnosed with a very minor concussion and Felix stood by him during the whole recovery. Mia and Mina were sitting on the edge of operating tables getting bandages wrapped around their hands and forearms while Tony and Joshua were getting treated for minor cuts along their faces and legs. Jun and Viktor were walking around with a few bandages but nothing major with Leo and Michael, even Emily and Victoria joined in with the walking.

I sat on my own table, getting bandages wrapped around my stomach area with Nick only a few feet away from me, getting treated for a bullet wound to his calve, but it was only minor thankfully. Ryan was helping Piper out getting her back on her feet since she seemed very out of energy without any more to rely on. We had all cleaned up a little, getting the dirt, dry blood, and sweat off of most of our bodies, but I still knew we all reeked badly from running around so much.

While we were being treated, I looked around to see how bad things were. Dozens of troops were being treated all at once with nurses, doctors, and any other medical personal running around as fast as they could to treat everyone. Many of the men were groaning in agony while others cried out in pure pain. I could see dozens missing a limb (or two) and were still losing blood fast.

Others...they were already gone.

I literally had to avert my eyes from the scene. I looked away but the sounds of their cries of pain still went into my ears, causing me to feel every bit of their hurt. The sounds made me shudder, almost too much to bear as they mixed together into just one, horrific note that made me cover my ears.

Stop...stop...stop...stop... I kept thinking to myself, hoping that they would hear me. It did no good sadly. The groans and cries only got worse and worse until they were just too much to bear for my ears.

I shook my head and opened my eyes, looking around. The nurse tending to my stomach quickly finished up the bandages then secured them in place before handing me a bottle of water and telling me that she needed to take care of the other soldiers. With that, she was gone and already attending to another soldier.

Nick let out a pained sigh once his nurse left. I looked his way just to watch while he rolled his shoulder, hearing a faint popping sound that made me shudder again. Apparently, the nurse missed something that he got.

"Ahh," he let out a long sigh of relief. "Much better." He said, popping his neck just after his arm. Once that was done, he finally looked my way. "Whoops, sorry about that. I didn't know you were looking at me." He blushed.

I felt myself blush just like him, looking away once he had finished. "Sorry about that, couldn't help it." I truthfully said, turning back to face him. "How're you feeling anyway? I never asked."

He shrugged then looked at his leg. "Luckily there was only minor muscle damage, so I should be able to walk in about three weeks. All I have left are some sore muscles, a slight headache, and a twisted foot. Other than that, I'm peachy." He chuckled.

I smiled. "Good, nice to hear some good news for once."

"How about you then?"

I directed a finger towards my side. "Took a bullet in the side, luckily it was treatable. If it had been half an inch farther inward, she told me I wouldn't be sitting here on this table. A miracle in my case. All I need is some food and water and I should recover in no time." This time, I chuckled a little.

"You lucky bastard, seems you got it better than I do," he joked, patting my shoulder. Instantly, I felt a spark shoot throughout my entire body just from his touch. It was that same relaxed feeling that happened to me when we held each other's hands.

I sighed. "I guess I do, huh?" I asked.

Once he stopped patting, he took his hand away. It may have been a delayed reaction, but once I realized he had placed his hand on mine I felt more and more, and more, sparks shoot up and down my spine. It felt so relaxing, so calming, and more so kinda good. I didn't want to take my hand away, and I don't think I could since he started to squeeze it until he held it in place.

Oh, god! I started to panic mentally. Oh, god! Oh, god! Oh, god! What if someone sees us? What if we're turned away? Oh, god! Crap! Crap! Crap!

"You okay, J?" he asked, tilting his head at me, almost squeezing his hand a little tighter. I could feel him securing his grasp on my hand and yet it didn't make me feel better for some reason.

Oh, great! He's got a nickname for me! I started to panic a little more, sweating rain all down my face in fear. Okay, I admit I did want to hold hands with him when it came the time and I didn't expect him to like me this quickly! Okay, Jason, stop overthinking this! Just think: you need to get the point across that you're not ready for something like a relationship. And now you need to tell him in the best way possible.

_ _ Thank you brain, now try not to screw me over.

I had failed to realize he was giving me the confused look, telling me he was really weirded out by my not talking. I had to make sure to make this up to him later; he deserved it after all he had been through today.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized to him, letting my tentacle-like ears fall down on my head in defeat. "Um, Nick..." I slowly slid my hands out of his grasp. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for a relationship just yet."

There, I said it! Great, just fucking great. I expected him to just rage quit on me and storm away like in the old movies. He was probably so mad at me that he doesn't even want to ever see me again, let alone work with me again after this. He probably thinks I'm the most selfish person on the planet for not accepting his relationship offer.

He probably just thinks--

"Okay, I understand," he replied. "If you're not ready for something like this, then I'm not going to pressure you into something we're kinda young for. I did actually think it would work out, but then again I had to take into account that we're still young and having a relationship now could damage our friendship in the future."

My. Jaw. Fucking. Dropped.

Did I just panic for no reason at all? Did he just really understand what I was trying to say and now freak out about it? I seriously expected him to just flip out and storm away in an angry fashion that would make me feel bad, but he didn't and he just stayed right next to me, smiling.

"You...understand?" I asked, trying to find the words.

He nodded then proceeded to pat my shoulder. "Of course I do, J. I understand that you're not ready yet, and I'm pretty sure I was going a bit too fast to ask you for something like this. I mean, I'm not the type of person who will just flip a table just because you said you weren't ready."

Oh, here comes the guilt.

"Don't worry though, okay? Maybe when we're older it can happen...you think?" he looked at me, his face re-blushing adorably.

I managed a weak smile and nodded back to him. "S-sure, I think that that might be a possibility in the future." I giggled a little.

He smiled. "Cool, I look forward to it hopefully."

I turned my attention forward, smiling as I closed my eyes then tilted my head towards the sky. The groans of pain and agony faded away in my mind and soon turned into a cool pool that washed all over my body like a wave of relief. There was hope for the future, and I knew that I could make it happen no matter what. So long as I had Ryan, Nick, Piper, and the Squad, I knew that we could accomplish anything and win this war for everyone else.

"Um, Jason?" Nick asked.

"Hmm?" I replied.

"You wanna let go of my hand?"

_ "My turn,"_ the father stated.

The Flamedramon sighed."Oh, fine.Try not to bore them with the details, please?" he asked the human father.

"It is my turn after all," the man chuckled, taking his seat.

Ryan:

Since Jason had already explained the situation back at the camp close by, I think it was best to get a better picture of London. So, Piper and I decided to stray away from the camp for a bit and take the city into account.

We looked around for half an hour, taking in the devastating sights. Dozens upon dozens of flats had been totally demolished while others had caved in or had fallen apart into the streets, and I could see people crying at the sight, just mourning at the sight of their own city and home completely trashed. The streets were littered with bodies ranging from our soldiers, to Shadow soldiers, and to civilian innocents who all looked like they were either attacking, defending, or just trying to run away or stay safe. The streets themselves were decimated with large craters all over the place, making any type of car unable to make it through the pathways no matter what.

Medical tents had been set up in groups with both civilians and soldiers being tended to even the most minor of wounds. I could see children (oh, god...) with their mothers and fathers just sitting on the sidewalk holding each other's hands while tearing up. One family had three children, with just a little baby nestling in the mothers arms, the second oldest hugging his father while the oldest was trying to comfort the weeping mother in her post-terror.

I couldn't blame them though. I t wasn't like this was a daily thing for them. I had to pull up my hood just so that they couldn't see me and blame me for this. I hope that they didn't blame Jason for this either. The children we walked by just looked up with tear-filled eyes, telling us that they were both happy the battle was over but devastated at the loss of their great city and loved ones. I wanted to tell them that things were okay now and was going to get better, but I didn't even know if it was getting better.

Something told me that people suspected who I was and just threw scowls my way, turning away from me once Piper and I walked by. The soldiers didn't look at me any different; it was the common people that just died down their conversations once I happened to look their way. My hood covered most of my face, but it wasn't enough to cover me up entirely.

We decided to stop a little ways off from the tents and small camps, taking our own relaxation time instead. We both just sat down against what was left of the wall against a flat, letting out sighs of relief once we were somewhat comfortable. It may not have been the Empire State Building or Big Ben, but it was just enough to let us unwind.

Piper shuffled until she produced two Monster energy drinks andthen said "Here."

I was sure my ears spun. There was no telling the last time I had tasted something as good as a Monster, especially a green one. I'm sure someone's going to argue that these things were bad for your health and there were always better choices for energy.

I say screw it! I love Monsters!

I took the drink generously and smiled. "I don't know what to say." I said, pulling the tab up before hearing that sizzle sound that made me shudder in a good way.

She smiled, ripping the tab off of her blue Monster can. "Don't sweat it. Took me a long time to get these and, just between you and me, I have four more back at the base for Nick and I."

"How come the others haven't found out?" I asked, gulping down some delicious Monster while she replied.

"For one, they hate Monsters," she explained, taking a long sip of her drink. "Two, I'm secretly a master thief that can steal and hide anything no matter what the size, shape, or weight it is." She giggled, coughing a little into her gulp of the drink.

I chuckled a little, smiling at her. "I won't tell, but thank you for this." I brought my drink to tap against hers. "I needed this. And, you're not the only one who has a fetish for Monsters."

"Looks like I'm going to have to keep mine safe then."

"Prepare to say goodbye to those drinks, ladro," I replied, chuckling a little as she tapped her drink against mine. (Thief.)

She giggled. "Go ahead and try joli garcon." (Pretty boy.)

We both waited for a moment, looking at each other intently. I could see the color of her beautiful eyes deeply, taking note of every single detail that I was allowed at that moment. She looked harder into mine; taking notice of anything she needed to know about my personality and looks. We both just sat there and looked at each other, doing nothing else besides staring into one another's eyes. Maybe we were trying to figure each other out like we were enemies of some sort, or maybe she thought I was trying to figure out where she stashed those extra Monster drinks.

Then we burst out laughing.

Why we laughed, I'll never figure out. Did that feel super weird and creepy? Yep, but it wasn't like stalker creepy like they do in some movies. It was more like a fun type of creepy when friends do it to one another, or even if they did it to one another. Maybe it was just us, or maybe it wasn't.

We continued to laugh for the next couple of minutes, unable to stop weirdly. Just for our own reasons, we didn't care. It was just us. No Jason. No Nick. No Jun. No Viktor. No Mina. No Squad. No nothing.

It was just us.

Even though we were surrounded by mountains of rubble and debris, bodies from fallen soldiers and civilians, and smoke from put out fires, we still found a chance to smile and make the best of a sad day. I still felt terrible about the battle on the inside, but I couldn't help but find a good part about today and just live it until I couldn't live it anymore. Piper still looked a bit down, so the battle wounds in our minds were still fresh and the war wasn't over, not by a long shot.

Once we had finished laughing, we just sat there in silence. I felt the rush of cold wind blow across my body, soon washing over hers before blowing dust and dirt into a mini tornado across the streets. My eyes followed the wind as it blew over the dead bodies of the fallen soldiers and people, the sight forever burned into my mind for as long as I lived.

Piper placed her hand on my shoulder and sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you want to save them all but sometimes you can't save everyone."

"I know," I sighed, closing my eyes, almost feeling tears form.

She patted my shoulder. "It'll end soon now that we have you and Jason, so try not to worry."

"I can't make any promises," I replied, standing up after a while. "We should get back to the base and see if the Admiral needs us. Hopefully we haven't worried him sick or something." I said, not fully excited about meeting the guy again. He just didn't set right in my mind and I couldn't figure out why.

As I took a few steps forward, I looked even close ahead. That was weird. The smoke from the fires had just suddenly stopped in the air. The clouds weren't moving, the people were...frozen like statues, and pieces of paper and other lightweight debris were just frozen in the air. I turned around to find the wind that was blowing the dirt just frozen like everything else. There was no sound that I could hear other than my breathing and my crunching of the pavement.

Things had just stopped.

"What the hell?" I gasped.

Just then, I heard the crunching of pavement from behind me. Quickly, I drew the sword from its sheathe and brought it up, turning around as fast as I could. Even with my hood up, I could still see everything in front of me so I immediately figured out who it was.

It was a Cyberdramon. He just stood there, still as a statue, without saying a word to me. Compared to everything else that seemed to be frozen, he definitely looked aware of the fact and was not frozen like me. A sniper rifle was attached to his back while a knife was strapped to his shoulder and another was strapped to his thigh.

Something about him seemed...familiar for some reason. There was this feeling about him inside of me that made goose-bumps appear on my arms. My legs didn't shake, my body didn't tremble, and I was perfectly normal (totally not scared of the fact that he was easily four feet taller than me with some powerful, mechanical muscles). He just seemed very familiar, and I couldn't figure out why for some reason which started to aggravate me by the second.

Even though I could see his eyes (if he had any), I had a feeling he was looking very intently at me. For whatever reason he had, I was somehow his target and I didn't have a clue why. He was actually pretty creepy but then again, he was the only one as far as I could see who wasn't frozen in time.

I wondered if he had anything to do with this.

"Who are you?" I asked him, trying to figure out what was going on.

He tilted his head to look at me better. Minutes later he replied. "I am Aaron Quickshot. All you should know about me is that I never miss a single target I shoot, ever."

His name didn't ring a bell to me but the fact that he's "never missed" really made me fear him. He looked like the kind of guy that was serious with his words, and I would be nothing short of a fool to not believe him and test his accuracy. He had to be trained by the best or something, that or he was a soldier, or maybe he was just naturally gifted like some other Digimon. The Cyberdramon species were known to be very serious and strong, often taking down their opponents with the brute force within their mechanical muscles or by guns. They're also very intelligent, thinking of new ways to smite their opponents constantly .This guy looked like he could crush me with just the swipe of his hand and, if I tried to run, I bet he would just pull that rifle out in the snap of a finger and gun me down in just seconds.

Okay, so running wasn't an option.

"Okay, Quickshot," I went on, keeping my sword up. "What's going on? Why are things just, I dunno, frozen in place?"

"Because, I have someone I need to see."

"Who?"

He stood there and looked over his left shoulder and then his right. Once he was done, he looked back at me. Okay, I didn't exactly know he was looking at me, but I just made a guess.

"Just...someone important to me," he replied "My reasons are not your concerns, child." He continued, walking forward.

I braced myself in case he tried to get the jump on me. If was going to attack me, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. Sure, I was as good as dead if he did go ahead and attack me but at least I was going down fighting.

He walked right past me, turning his head just to look into my eyes for a few moments. After he was a few feet away he stopped and stood there with his back facing me, not a word to even call to my direction. That familiar feeling stayed with me (which I still couldn't figure out) while he stood there.

He turned around and spoke again. "What is your name?"

Never talk to a stranger, my parents always told me, but I was in the army so I talked to people I knew before. Talking to strangers is what I did for fun.

"Ryan," I replied. "Ryan Masters."

He gasped, taking a step back. His jaw dropped a little but nothing like you would see in cartoons or something. He looked shocked to me and pointed his finger right at me like I had just committed a crime.

"R-Ryan...?" he choked out, stepping forward.

Just as I was about to ready myself, the wind started to pick up around the both of us. He looked to his left and then his right, muttering something before looking back at me. I could see him gritting his teeth, growling as he looked away from me. Before things sped up again, he jumped backwards and disappeared out of thin air. I was about to call after him but then everything resumed the way it was before. The wind picked up, the smoke rose, the debris started to move, and all of the people resumed to talk.

Piper had noticed I wasn't sitting next to her and looked up to see me. "How did you...?"

I shook my head, looking directly at her. She immediately got the picture. "Later. Let's just get back to the base. I'm sure Jason and Nick are wondering where we are."

She nodded, walking beside me on the way back to the base and, little did I know about the Digimon watching me from afar.