He ran.

A razor-sharp ribbon sliced at the earth inches from his feet. He stumbled briefly, thankful that his ankle had not been - no, now wasn't the time for that! Only one thing mattered - losing the Knight that chased him. The sudden blow between him shoulder blades told him it was not going to be an easy task. His fall to the ground confirmed that conclusion. The Royal Knight approached, and he did the only thing he could think of: he pulled out his gun.

"[b]sleight of hand![/b]" 

"[b]Scarlet Tempest![/b]" The Royal Knight drove away the rapidly-appearing smoke, but in vain. It was cleared only to find himself alone. "Where did you go! You won't find me so easily destroyed, you realize!" And of course he did; that was why he was now hiding, far up in a full-leafed tree. He couldn't see Lordknightmon below. With any luck, that meant Lordknightmon couldn't see him either. He could still hear the Knight breathing - probably waiting for the moment he moved, to lash out with those ribbons once more at the sound. He moved to activate his gun once more - perhaps he could manage another Sleight of Hand, truly get some distance between them. Afterwards, he could figure out a new place to lay low. Westward would probably be a worse option - all the Knights and Olympians, as opposed to this one - but maybe they wouldn't suspect to find him there. Could buy him a month or so, pore over a few maps of the Eastern half of the Digital World to pick the best route to safety and anonymity. 

It was only then he became aware of a stinging sensation that covered him head to toe. Hesitantly, trying not to disturb any leaves, he looked over himself. No bee digimon, no.

Those light tendrils, though, now that was worrying.

"[b]line of fire![/b]" The liquid metal, searing hot, flew through the tendrils to no effect. He yanked at them, trying to pull them away - now they bound his wrists. Unhappy memories of what happened at Bacchusmon's last party resurfaced as he made one more desperate to pull away, bracing his feet against the branch he had been laying upon. Even if it hadn't been futile, one of Lordknightmon's ribbons slicing through the base of the branch made escape impossible. He fell - no, was now being PULLED - to earth. He caught a glimpse of Lordknightmon's stunned expression before the tendrils yanked him through the ground, into darkness, and letting him fall at last.

And that was how Arcutomon departed the Digital World.

--

It took a while for his senses to return. The first was smell - rotted. Stale. Smoky. Like visiting a burnt village. Next was touch - rough, damp, very much solid. Stone? No, not quite...concrete, probably. Wet concrete. A factory city? Sound returned - motors, possible Trailmon? Yeah, a city. 

He raised his head and blinked. A city for certain, but no city he had ever seen before. The buildings were too tall, too narrow. He turned - at the far end of the alleyway were - well, at this distance, they looked like toy cars, but he saw no windup keys and surely, closer, they'd be much too large.

"What the actual fuck."

Ah, a voice. Arcutomon turned to ask the digimon where he was and froze. While not the smartest digimon, he did consider himself fairly well-traveled and able to recognize most species of digimon. At first, he briefly considered the idea of an unarmored Angemon, but the hair was too short and the wrong color, and where were its wings then? A human? But then where was its partner? Unless...

He paled. Well, those few humans muttered about over campfires had to have come from somewhere, right? This human seemed unfazed, raising its - his, maybe, had sounded male but one never knew until they asked - hands and curling them into fists.

"What the hell are you?"

"lost." The joke seemed to have no effect. "where am i?"

"Hanyo territory." Well, that didn't help. Human seemed rather calm considering he had at least a meter on him. Hell, his gun was bigger than this guy. Speaking of... He reached at his back and pulled out the rifle. Still intact. Good.

He was then aware of a sudden blow in his gut. Shook him up a little but not harmful. The human, on the other hand, was cursing quite loudly. He wanted a fight? Arcutomon elbowed him, knocking him to the ground, and pressed the opening of the rifle against the human's chest to keep him down. Not that it kept the boy from glaring. Arcutomon leaned forward, hand sliding down the gun's barrel to hold it in place, until he was kneeling (with the knee pressed against one of the boy's legs to keep him still), staring down at him.

"let's get something clear. i'm not human. to be entirely blunt, it would take no effort on my part to end your life this instant." And the boy spat at him, missing but still irritating Arcutomon. Not that it was helping his growing dizziness. "i can't tell if you're brave, stupid, or suicidal." Utterly deadpan, and the boy seemed uninterested in telling him which it was. Arcutomon sighed. He at least expected a blustering retort on how he was wrong for insinuating he was dumb. He just pitied the boy now. Or was nauseated by him. Or the nausea was something else entirely. Whatever. He stood back up, removing the gun from the human's chest. "don't attack me again, got it?"

"Got it." The human huffed before getting up. Still sounded annoyed, but now he was crossing his arms. "So, what are you, if you're not human?" How such a simple question could sound so rude baffled Arcutomon, but fine. 

"lost. and a-Ah!" He clenched his teeth, falling to one knee. His legs were shaking, the nausea was almost blinding by now - kid was shouting, he couldn't wholly make it out. He curled his arms around his stomach - and suddenly it wasn't there. Nothing was. Not even the nausea. He opened his eyes, and found himself looking up to the human.

"...are you- what the hell just happened?" He blinked and looked around. Yes, he was lower... and yes. He had a tail again. An orb of light floated over his head. Oh....this was embarrassing.

"i dedigivolved," Kapurimon said.

"What?"

"dedig-"

"Yeah, what does that even mean?"

"don't mind it. it's still me. i can still kick your ass." The boy scoffed. "[b]howling hertz![/b]" A brief attack, but it felt good seeing the human fall down.

"You little bastard!"

"so i've heard." So he just needed to find a way back home. And get back up a few stages. This wasn't going to be easy.

It was then the light started moving. Kapurimon watched as the light approached the human, who took more than a few large steps away. Not far enough - the light sank into the back of the human's hand. Lines began spiraling outwards from the spot, forming zigzagging lines that extended past his wrist and into his sleeve. What was going on? And then another bit of confusion, tinged with terror, joined his own. And Kapurimon knew and the terror eased and soon the lines faded into invisibility.

"...what was-?"

"you're my tamer?" Kapurimon looked him back over. "really?"

"Tamer? What for?" And he could feel a loose sense of curiosity. Well, why not.

"well, it means you help me fight other digimon."

"And if I don't?"

"well...the world could be endangered. or i could die."

"So it's important, huh." Kapurimon's stomach sunk - he knew that smug feeling oh too well. The same feeling whenever he got the upper hand. "I'll help you, on one condition."

"i don't think it works that way."

"Oh? You can fight without me?" Kapurimon was tempted to issue yet another attack to wipe that smirk off the human's face. "Alright. See ya." Wait, the bond was two-way, wasn't it? Damn it all.

"what do you want?"

"My request is simple." Despite the level tone, Kapurimon had not missed that sudden flare of loathing. "When we're done, you kill Uncle Daiki for me."

"what! i can't-"

"Do you need me?"

"well, probably-"

"Then do we have a deal?" Kapurimon sighed. Maybe he could make it in this world. Maybe not. Probably not if he had to partner with a human without his choice.

"sure. deal." He kept his gaze to the ground as his new tamer picked him up.

"You're smart, Kapurimon." An awkward silence. "Is that-"

"supposedly part of the digivice."

"Oh. As I was saying, I suppose if I'm to be your tamer, you ought to know my name." And Kapurimon successfully squelched the instinctive reaction to roll his eyes at that sudden burst of ego. "It's Natsuki Araki. Remember it."

"yeah, sure." It was then they both heard the footsteps behind them, and Natsuki turned to see another human.

"Shit, Natty, you're still here?"

"Yeah, I heard something."

"Police?"

"No. Some dumb kid dropped a toy." He held up Kapurimon by his tail. "Though figure I'll go drop it off. Don't need people poking around here."

"Yeah." The guy laughed. "See ya in a month." Natsuki nodded curtly and began walking to the far end of the alleyway, towards the giant toy cars. Then-

"natty?"

"Don't you fucking dare."

"not part of the conditions, natty." Kapurimon stuck out his tongue. If he was stuck with this guy, he was going to make the most of it.