Episode Thirteen: Last Laugh

"You're not trying to help me, you're just being a parasite. What am I doing talking to a tooth, anyway?"
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A"Uh, what? And where are Euryale & Roatha?"

L<Ahn thair paahnaahz.>

*Aroma withdraws her fist from Lalamon's mouth & shakes it, grimacing at the weird plant fluids clinging to her hand.*
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E"You're a fine one to talk. How long do you think you can last before we find each other? Before we find you."

*WarGrowlmon shrugs & punches the wall.*

He hurts his hand as that's what punching walls do.

Piedmon?: "How can you hope to find me when you can't even find yourself, your supposed friends, or their remains?'

Piedmon: "Especially when I'm right in front of you."

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???: "I can answer that. Or I can wait for you to figure that out. You can finally live up to your designated trait while your partner sustains himself on your remains while you figure that out."

*Lunamon looks at Aroma*

<You really don't wanna know. Got any bandages?>

*Once MagnaAngemon's done, Kylie gives Cameron a big hug*

Cameron:<I'm...I'm so sorry for failing you...all those times...>

Kylie:<You...it wasn't...your fault. Really.>

*Eve looks away from the scene and into the darkness*

Eve:<I hope something...like that didn't happen to Roatha.>

*Expecting to waste time being baited into a stupid trap, WarGrowlmon tries to take the picture off of the wall to make sure it's the real deal.*
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*Roatha sticks his tongue out at it.*

Piedmon: "Now you see me."

Piedmon reaches out of the frame and pokes him the eyes, the Piedmon in the other two frames and the three Piedmon-looking creatures all have a good chuckle.

Piedmon: "Now you don't."

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???: "Well, if you want to die alone and insane, be my guest."

The room begins spinning either because it is actually spinning or Roatha's getting lightheaded, is anyone's guess. The hallways distort and shift, turning into enormous mouths filled with teeth like the one he's talking to, all laughing at him.

Having not been bitten by some god forsaken creature, Dorugamon just sees his partner looking like crap.

*Roatha looks around.*

R"Do you see this?!"

D<See what?>

*So he grimaces.*

R"Of course it's fake...is that all you've got, Pissmon?"
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*Punches the painting.*

*Cameron looks like he's about to say something, but Kylie interrupts him*

Kylie:<Just because you're my big brother doesn't mean it's your fault every time something happens to me. Really!>

*Cameron wipes his eyes. Lunamon jumps up and down, waving at Aroma*

Lunamon:<Hello?>

Being a portrait when it suits Piedmon, his fist passes through the canvas. From one of the portraits, a Piedmon-looking thing steps out.

Piedmon?: "Is aggression all you're capable of? Do you not feel where that's getting you? Your lungs empty, your veins pumping battery acid, your throat dry as gravel."

Piedmon: "Of course you don't. Always gotta put on a show for everyone, but mostly yourself."

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???: "That's all on you. You got yourself bit and now you gotta live with that. However long that'll last."

Mouths open in the wall all saying in his voice "You brought this on yourself."

E"You're not even making sense, now you're just plain babbling!"

*He slashes at Piedmon with an energy blade thing.*
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R"Whatever. Whatever happens, we'll still find a way to tell the others about your weird powers."

Lunamon:<Aroma?!>

Kylie:<...Let's sit down.>

*So they sit up against a wall or something*

Piedmon: "Yes, babbling. Of course you can't see it, your kind has never truly seen themselves."

With little effort the Piedmon-looking thing sidesteps the attack.

Piedmon?: "Look at your partner and see what exhaustion looks like. He can barely stand."

A Piedmon in a frame brings a dagger from under its sleeve and hurls it at WarGrowlmon's leg, hobbling him.

Piedmon: "And now he can't! Surely you feel what your partner is experiencing. That can't be a trait that's unique to the deceased Child of Love."

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???: "My powers? I'm nothing but the side effects of your actions taking hold. Your partner can vouch for me. Or maybe he can't."

*I don't know if she can or not, but it was always their plan to get a weapon from him, so he pulls out the dagger & passes it to Euryale, who brandishes it against him. Also, WarGrowlmon can fly. So he flies.*

G<I guess...we should...destroy...the paintings....>

E"Right."

*And so they hop to that, slashing them with bladed arms & the dagger, respectively, sticking to the sides of the frames so he'll have to come out if he wants to attack them.*
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*Aroma shakes herself out of her complete failure to notice anything going on around her.*

"I'm sorry, did you need something?"

Lunamon:<Do you have any bandages? Kylie's arm still needs some.>

Piedmon?: "Oh my, whatever will we do? Oh, I know!"

It climbs back into the frame and disappears, the image turning into a cannon.

Piedmon: "Fire in the hole!"

A hole rips through the portrait of the cannon as rather than a cannon ball, a dozen swords fly out at WarGrowlmon, a Piedmon in a portrait moving its arms about imitating a conductor, the swords pursuing WarGrowlmon.

The portrait Euryale cuts at shrinks, taking the form of a slender rectangle.

Piedmon: "Congratulations, you figured it out. Don't expect it to be a cake walk though."

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From the right path, emerges a version of Roatha, decaying amd painted up like a mime. Amidst all the craziness Roatha sees, he sees this as well. As does Dorugamon, who may be going crazy as well. Or maybe it's actually happening.

It looks on with disgust and turns away, going down the hall.

D<Did you see that?>

R"I just assumed it was more random hallucinations."

D<Should we follow it?>

R"Seeing as that's probably what Piedmon wants, I say we go the opposite way."

*So Doruwhatevermon picks him up, setting him on his back, & takes off down the hall in the direction the mime didn't go.*
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A"Oh, I see! Yes, of course!"

*She digs around for her first aid kit.*

A"Please step forward, so I may inspect the wound."
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*Euryale leaps aside so WarGrowlmon can blast the not-painting while dodging swords.*

*Kylie gets up and shows Aroma the bite on her arm*

<MagnaAngemon purified it, but...yeah...>

It looks pretty grisly. It's a good thing they know what bit her because the mark it left won't be of any help."

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The painting shrinks down like it looked in a fun house mirror to avoid the blast, the swords still on WarGrowlmon's tail.

Piedmon?: "We need some more danger, some more excitement!"

A portrait of the Piedmon-looking thing turns into a cannon, firing a dozen swords at Euryale, the portrait being destroyed in the process leaving three portraits left.

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Mouths continue to emerge from the walls, laughing at Roatha. Dorugamon sees no mouths, but instead ivy creeping along the walls and floors as if pursuing them.

The next room features two paths, one going left and another continuing forward.

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Somewhere in the manor, Piedmon sits at a desk, staring into a computer monitor with a number of files within a file labelled VR Data - Royal Knights.

Piedmon: "It was so nice of Machinedramon to hold on to these, but there's too many to choose from. Do I want to use all of them or...? If only that Dorumon had it in them to die."

Piedmon spins the chair around to face a dart board, a photo of each Royal Knight sans Alphamon and UlForceVeedramon scattered around it.

Spinning the chair around and around, Piedmon throws a dagger at the board, striking an image at random.

Piedmon: "I suppose that one will have to do. Or what if I made them run a gauntlet of all of them?"

It spins the chair back around to the desk, another Piedmon standing on the opposite end.

Piedmon?: "Surely you jest. The second act has been going on for some time. We really should get a hurry on the conclusion."

Piedmon: "Oh, I suppose you're right. Perhaps I should have did that in the first place. Or maybe I should have did them both."

*Euryale combat rolls out of the way as WarGrowlmon suddenly whirls around, Atomic Blasting both the swords after him & the remaining portraits.*
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*They keep moving forward.*
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A"This may sting a bit. Sorry."

*She disinfects it & then follows up with neosporin & bandages & all that jazz.*

*Kylie bites her lip as it stings. Cameron stands up and walks over as well*

Cameron:<Thanks, Aroma. Where would we be without you?>

The swords pursue Euryale as they did, WarGrowlmon making dodging them difficult and trying to shoot them without Euryale being caught in the crossfire also difficult.

The portrait going out of its way to avoid being destroyed continues to do so until Piedmon steps out of it, drawing a pair of swords from its back, hurling them at WarGrowlmon, the swords separating into two, sending four swords in total at him.

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On the back wall in the next room is a series or portraits of Roatha, each showing him progressively more and more decomposed. To Roatha aside from what Dorugamon sees, the portraits show him becoming progressively more and more unhinged in his decomposition.

In the center of the room is the figure they saw previously, the paths to the left and right are rapidly sealed off as ivy grows over them.

Mime!Roatha: "The depths of a man's soul can not be measured in a manor of meters and fathoms; but rather, it is in my opinion, only quantified by his proximity to heaven and hell."

The ivy spreads from the doors and begins to overtake the walls and floors.

Mime!Roatha: "What do you think your proximity to heaven and hell is?"

"You're dumb."

*Doruwhatevermon fires his big ball at it.*
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*I was referring to the swords chasing HIM, which I assume have now been vaporized. So he aims the next Atomic Blaster at Piedmon & the attack coming towards him. Meanwhile, Euryale swerves around the blades, trying to get them stuck in the wall.*
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*Aroma blushes.*

"Oh, it's no trouble at all."

*Cameron puts an arm around Kylie, and they go back to where they were sitting before*

Piedmon cartwheels around and around behind WarGrowlmon.

Piedmon: "Too slow!"

The swords turn and contort as if they were made of rubber, continuing their pursuit.

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Mime!Roatha holds up a hand, catching the cannonball.

Mime!Roatha: "Yield."

The cannonball fires from its hand faster than Dorugamon shot it, striking him in the face.

Mime!Roatha: "Present me with what's left of your partner before what's left of his psyche withers and rots away."

*Doruwhatevermon roars & leaps upon it, ripping it apart with his claws.*
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*WarGrowlmon blasts Piedmon in his stupid face with his thruster exhaust as he speeds towards Euryale to smash the swords.*
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"Shouldn't we be doing something?"

Terriermon:<Nah, I think we gotta wait for Euryale and Roatha to wander out. Might as well try and rest up.>