Chapter 45: CHERRYMON
One month passed.
During that time, the three of them explored almost the entire area surrounding the beach. They fought and eliminated multiple Adult-level Digimon, steadily gathering more data along the way. Heck, they had even encountered a Devimon.
Takuya had to admit that the first time he saw it, he felt somewhat intimidated. But in the end, it was just another Adult-level Digimon. Perhaps his experience with Adventure had inflated his expectations too much, because there was nothing particularly difficult about killing it. The only annoying part had been its constant sarcasm and the fact that it had pretended to surrender. Yet, knowing its nature—or perhaps simply being biased because of what Takuya thought he knew about Devimon—he couldn’t bring himself to trust it. Even after the Digimon begged for forgiveness, Takuya decided it had to die.
So he killed it.
The Raremon BlackTailmon had mentioned were just as easy to deal with. With Pumpkinmon and BlackTailmon fighting alongside him, the trio had little trouble eliminating all nine of them. After an entire month spent fighting almost exclusively Adult-level Digimon, however, it was finally time to face their next Perfect.
So far, LoaderLeomon and MetalGreymon hadn’t come looking for them. That led Takuya to assume they were still trying to convince the other Perfect-level Digimon on the island to join their defensive force.
Since they hadn’t come, the trio decided to move south. Not toward MarineDevimon. Instead, they chose to investigate the forest.
After discussing their options for a while, Takuya and BlackTailmon agreed that the forest was probably the better choice. With Takuya’s flames, burning through a forest would be considerably easier than fighting an aquatic Digimon like MarineDevimon. Ideally, they would leave the strongest opponents for later, once either Takuya or BlackTailmon had reached their next Evolution.
Currently, the three of them stood at the southern edge of the island, just outside the forest they had come to investigate.
They entered slowly, moving deeper toward the center.BlackTailmon had been right. There wasn’t another Digimon anywhere inside.
Not a single one.
It was strange. Everywhere else on the island was full of life, even if much of that life wanted to kill them. Yet here, there was nothing. No sounds of movement. No distant roars. No footsteps.
Only plants, trees. And silence.
The deeper they went, the more unsettling the forest became. Then, after the trio passed over a thick root, it suddenly moved.
Far away, near the center of the forest, a massive tree opened its eyes. It grumbled.
"Someone dared to enter my territory..." The enormous tree’s branches shifted slightly.
"It’s been a while. They’re brave, I’ll give them that. Ten kilometers away... They should be here in a couple of hours." This was Jyureimon or Cherrymon, a literal tree Digimon.
Its enormous body resembled an ancient tree, complete with a mustache and bright cherries growing among its leaves. A Perfect-level Digimon, and certainly not a friendly one.
A slow smile spread across its face. Then, almost without warning, fog began to form around it. It spread between the trees, slowly creeping through the entire forest.
Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the forest, the trio continued moving. The deeper they went, the thicker the fog became. At first, it was only a faint mist. Then the trees in the distance became blurry.
Their surroundings gradually disappeared behind a wall of white. Takuya narrowed his eyes. He could barely see more than a few meters ahead. Then, out of nowhere, he heard a voice.
"Help... Takuya, help..."
Takuya immediately stopped.
His eyes widened, he recognized that voice.
Jin-Ah.
How was that possible? Her voice shouldn’t be here. This was the Digital World, a place where Takuya should have been the only human. And even that wasn’t entirely true anymore. He was already halfway between human and Digimon.
There shouldn’t have been another human here. So how? Takuya looked around. Then he noticed a silhouette through the fog.
The shape of a woman.
His heart immediately tightened. He looked around again. Pumpkinmon wasn’t there. Neither was BlackTailmon. Neither of them.
"HALLOWEEEEN!"
"BLACKTAILMON!"
Takuya shouted their names, turning in every direction. If they weren’t together anymore, their entire plan could have already fallen apart. But now he needed to understand what was happening.
How was Jin-Ah here? A second later, another voice came from the same direction.
"Takuya..." Jinwoo. And right after that... His uncle.
Takuya’s expression changed.
Instinctively, he followed the voices. His mind felt strangely foggy. He couldn’t think clearly.A thousand thoughts rushed through his head at once. He moved toward the voices.
He had to protect them. This place was dangerous, and neither of them had the strength to survive here. Takuya moved almost entirely on instinct. He needed to reach them. He needed to save them. His friends. His family. If his uncle died, there would be no family left for him. If his only two friends died... he could be alone.
He was alone.
The only people who mattered to him weren’t here. They shouldn’t be here. But somehow... all of them were here.
His thoughts ran wild, yet none of it made sense. There was no way this could be real. His mind kept jumping between possibilities, none of them making any sense, until he finally rushed toward the voices even faster than before.
Flames ignited around his body.
Takuya used Flame Dash to propel himself forward, but then he suddenly stopped.
The flames spread around him and the fog recoiled, and then, his mind cleared. Takuya stood there for a moment, breathing heavily before looking around.
"Why am I running?" He frowned.
"This is obvious." As the flames continued burning around him, the fog was pushed farther away, and his thoughts became clearer with every passing second.
"It was a mental attack..." Takuya looked around again.
BlackTailmon and Pumpkinmon were still nowhere to be seen.
"Fuck." They had obviously fallen under the effects of the fog, which meant they were probably hearing things too.
"I only broke free because of the fire..." Takuya glanced uneasily through the trees. If he hadn’t used his flames, he didn’t even want to think about what could have happened. The worst part was that he had no idea JCherrymon was capable of this kind of attack.
Takuya immediately began moving toward the center of the forest, using his flames to propel himself forward. He had a feeling he had already left Halloween and BlackTailmon behind.
"Now I understand why there are no Digimon around here." He glanced around the silent forest.
"There’s no one stupid enough to try entering a place like this." If there was no sign of Pumpkinmon or BlackTailmon, there was only one thing he could do.
Find Cherrymon. There was no way he was going to leave the two of them trapped inside this forest. "I just hope that tree didn’t notice I’m out of its control."
Takuya narrowed his eyes. Because now he had an idea.
A simple one.
Fake it until you make it.
He rushed toward the center of the forest again, following the direction the fog seemed to be guiding him. There was no reason to go anywhere else. He ran at full speed for what felt like ten minutes before finally stopping.
There it was.
A gigantic tree.
It had something resembling a staff—or perhaps a cane—in one hand. Its legs were enormous roots buried deep into the ground, making it impossible to tell exactly what its lower body looked like.
Takuya slowed down, but he didn’t focus his eyes directly on the Digimon. Instead, he looked around as though he were lost.
The plan was simple.
Make Jyureimon believe he was still under the fog’s control. Why did he believe that would work?
For one simple reason. There was no way this Digimon could actually read his mind from this distance. At least, that was what Takuya was betting on.
He assumed the fog worked more like a digital hallucination, something capable of altering the brain’s perception rather than directly controlling someone’s thoughts. And considering Jyureimon was a plant Digimon... it wasn’t completely unreasonable to assume it could produce some kind of hallucinogenic effect.
Judging by what happened next, it seemed to work. From the corner of his eye, Takuya saw Cherrymon smile. The tree Digimon even played with his mustache.
The smile was wicked. It sent a chill down Takuya’s spine.
It reminded him of the smile of an old pervert standing outside a girls’ bathroom. Slowly, roots began emerging from the ground around Takuya.
They moved toward him.
That’s when he noticed just how sharp they were. Their tips were pointed like spears, and if one of them pierced him, that could be a serious problem.
Takuya kept pretending to be clueless and continued walking toward Cherrymon as though he were searching for something. The tree Digimon clicked its tongue, yet it still didn’t seem to realize Takuya was no longer under its control.
Takuya moved faster, carefully avoiding the roots reaching for him. But as he got closer to Cherrymon, even more roots emerged from the ground. These were thicker, larger, and considerably more dangerous.
When Takuya was less than four meters away, he finally made his move.
In a fraction of a second, the flames of Agnimon ignited around his body at full intensity.
"Burning Salamander!"
A blazing projectile shot straight toward Jyureimon and struck the tree Digimon directly in the face.
Flames spread across its wooden body instantly. Every root surrounding Takuya erupted from the ground at once as Jyureimon screamed in pain.
"Motherfucker!" Before he could counterattack, another Burning Salamander slammed into him.
Cherrymon raised several roots to shield himself. It worked, partially. His body was made of powerful wood, but it was still wood, and the flames continued burning whatever they touched.
Jyureimon slammed his roots into the ground, digging them deep into the soil and using the earth to extinguish the fire. Only then did he finally manage to counterattack.
"I don’t know how you escaped the fog’s control, but don’t think a little fire is enough to defeat me!" His face was still burning.
Roots suddenly erupted from the ground around him. One massive root came from Takuya’s side and slammed into him.
Takuya blocked it with a flaming kick. The impact produced a shockwave of fire. Both Takuya and the enormous root were thrown backward, although the root was left burning where his flames had touched it.
Takuya immediately retaliated.
"Salamander Breaker!" Flames erupted around him as he unleashed a barrage of attacks against the roots coming from every direction. He was surrounded. Roots struck from all sides, one hitting him, then another, and another.
But Takuya kept fighting.
Every time a root struck him, he answered with another flaming attack, burning through the wooden appendages as quickly as they reached him. The battle became a constant exchange of attacks, Jyureimon trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers while Takuya burned through every root that came within reach.
Then, suddenly... The relentless barrage stopped.
A gigantic pumpkin came crashing down on Cherrymon.
"Now!"
Takuya immediately took advantage of the opening. He launched another Burning Salamander directly at the giant pumpkin, the flames spreading across it and burning into the roots holding it down.
Cherrymon reacted instantly. Roots slashed through the air in every direction.
And then, from above Takuya’s head, BlackTailmon dropped down.
"Neko Punch!" She struck. Again. And again.
BlackTailmon joined Takuya in close combat, her small body moving rapidly between the roots as her blows struck wherever she found an opening.
Takuya immediately understood what had happened.
His initial attack had forced Cherrymon to focus entirely on him. That meant the fog had weakened, and the moment it dispersed, both Pumpkinmon and BlackTailmon—who had already been moving toward the center of the forest—had regained their senses.
They had realized Takuya was already fighting. So they came to help.
Now the three of them stood together once again.
Takuya, Pumpkinmon, and BlackTailmon.
All three looked toward the enormous tree Digimon.
They were battered.
But they were together and they were ready to burn down the entire forest if that was what it took to bring Cherrymon down.