Tear Jerker / Digimon World: Infamy

RIP Meramon, Kunemon, Ursula, Gob-Gob. You will be remembered.

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Part One

• Kunemon's death. The most devastating scene of the story so far.
• Takeru Takaishi's, aka TK, condition. He has been in a coma for a long time, presumably for years.
• Coal's pride shattering after he tried to run away from Grumblemon and Kazemon. This would eventually lead to an entire in-quest month of self-exile and training at the expense of his relationship with Rain.
• Rain almost breaking down after her fan-club deserts her after seeing her transform into the more monstrous-looking Calmaramon. Thankfully Coal was able to console her.
• Rika flinching and sequentially snapping at Reycom when he ends up touching her MP 3 player, the only keepsake she has of her estranged father.
• The death of Meramon. Duskmon ruthlessly dealt him a mortal blow, and his last moments were spent regretting not following Coals order to not die.
• Strings: We get an omake from his perspective: He's very desperate for friends, and is afraid of the possibility that they won't like him anymore.
• The death of Ursula, another victim of the deadly grudge between Greymon and Coal.
• The death of Arbormon at the hands of his own ally, Duskmon. Having already taken a beating at the hands of Metal Kabuterimon and Burning Greymon, there wasn't a single opportunity for Arbormon to fight back.
  So, your aloof ally decided to step in...with his help you all could no doubt turn the tables, a thought not unique to you as Arbormon seems to think the same thing. Metal Greymon separates himself to watch and observe Duskmon, unsure of how to react now that his former ally was now standing here and was approaching Arbormon and Agunimon. You stand by as well, both from exhaustion and your wounds but also because you wanted to watch Duskmon do what Rain's arrogance kept him from doing the last time he fought Cherubimon's Hybrids, that being to wipe them out.

  Arbormon greets the new arrival with relief and joy both, standing up to turn around and look at him, "Duskmon! The calvary has arrived! Man am I glad you're here!"

  Agunimon has taken a step back, now outnumbered, while Arbormon is reaching a hand out towards Duskmon, "Mind helping me out? A friend in need is a friend in need, right?"

  Your eyes widen and you go from watching out of the corner of your eye to twisting your body around as you hear Duskmon's response and the tone it held.

  "Wrong."

  You try to catch enough of your breath to yell out to Arbormon as he looks at Duskmon with confusion and some sadness, not at all questioning why Duskmon just brought out one of his blood red blades.

  "Huh? What do you mean?"

  A diagonal slash tears into his body, and Arbormon's data is ripped free from him as Duskmon takes it all for himself, Arbormon's Spirit transferring to Duskmon. Seeing Arbormon be murdered by Duskmon brings you to complete pause, in utter shock that your friend had been so callously murdered by someone they had been treating as an ally and friend even when no-one else would.

  Duskmon grunts as he takes Arbormon's data, his disdain for the Spirit of Wood evident in his voice, "You could not even keep the Beast Spirit you held. Such weakness and failure is not to be permitted."
• Due to the limited knowledge of the Digimon from Nature Spirits village, Coal has been asked to leave and not return until things quiet down. The worst thing is, they're not exactly wrong for doing so.
• The brief glance we're given at the life of Violet, one of Lilithmon's Lady Devimon Colonels. Despite being one of the strongest Ultimates seen before, her ambition to be the very best Lady Devimon at Lilithmon's disposal has very clearly not worked out very well for her, despite her power. She doesn't seem to have any bonds to speak of, outright dismissing Ice Devimon at best and treating him like her personal training dummy at worst. It's a far cry from the friendship they had as Rookie-level Digimon, her as a Salamon and him a Demi Devimon.
• During their visit to Factorial Town, Rain and Coal end up conversing with Andromon and are told about his origins: He was initially a Drimogemon who ended up traveling to Factorial Town and becoming its leader after Machinedramon killed his lover, a fellow Drimogemon. The fact that he would later go on to lose his only daughter, Hagurumon, only makes Andromon's story all the sadder.
• Whenever the thought of one of his kids coming to harm pops up, such as when Smoke was fighting against the combined forces of Marcus and Agumon or when he, Char and Lloyd were blown off the edge of Freeze Ravine, Coal immediately feels emotionally numb. It's clear to see that, while he absolutely loves his children, the thought of losing one of them is easily enough to shake Coal to his foundations.
• The death of Hail. Despite the fact that he approached the humans currently aligned with Cherubimon with only peaceful intentions in mind, it didn't stop the meeting from quickly getting out of control and ended up with Jeri's partner dying right in front of her just like in Digimon Tamers, leaving both her and Gabumon emotionally devastated with the latter quickly growing a grudge with the Cherubimon-aligned humans for killing his leader and caretaker.
• When we're given a look through the world from Einstein's point of view and his personal thoughts, it's shown that Einstein can be rather critical of himself when it comes to his own shortcomings, either real or perceived. The death of his mentor, Hail, and the fact that said mentor was really the only person who ever treated him nicely before Smoke came along also hasn't left a positive effect on his psyche. Despite the fact that Einstein can be rather hard on himself at times and has recently lost a loved one, his thoughts and overall mood seem to improve around Smoke and he even seems rather determined to improve himself and one day fight alongside Smoke, along with eventually living up to the sheer faith and trust Smoke seems to have in him.
• When Smoke finally manages to digivolve into a Champion, Sakura displays a brief but poignant moment of sadness at being left behind by both her friend and twin, outright asking her father if there's any reason she hasn't digivolved yet. Despite quickly receiving an answer and cheering up, it was rather disheartening to see the usually up-beat Biyomon so down in the dumps as she was.
• When Coal and his dearest friends and family are celebrating the fact that Smoke digivolved, he ends up running into Naomi and Strings, having digivolved into a Pumpkinmon by this point, who had received the invitation and decided to come. What makes the entire meeting rather hard to read without tearing up is the fact that, when Naomi nudges the abnormally-quiet Strings to greet Coal, he ends up taking only a single look at the Knightmon before bursting out into tears and wrapping himself around one of Coal's legs in a hug. It's later learned through Naomi that Strings is still very clearly feeling the effects of his brother's death and is even having trouble sleeping at night. Coupling that with the fact that Strings' only friend is Coal, something the Knightmon fully realizes, and the Pumpkinmon can't relax himself through his usual methods and it's not hard to see why Strings is in such a bad, emotionally-fragile state.
• The entire moment when Rika is singing. Even the fact that it's the same song from Digimon Tamers doesn't stop it from being a real tug on the heartstrings, hearing them lament in song form about her father, who she very clearly loved, suddenly disappearing on her. Even when Curran and Ursula try to alleviate Rika of their somber mood, it still leaves off with Curran and Ursula all cuddling together with them in the hopes of calming them down.
• While Daemon is visiting Arbormon's Fortress, he unintentionally reveals to Coal that Rex is the Agumon from DigimonAdventure, meaning that someone had killed Agunimon after Coal had spared him. The Digital World being what it is, it's rather disheartening to learn that a Nice Guy like Agunimon was also one of its many casualties.
• Ursula having to watch first-hand as the Gazimon Coal tried to save after they were used as a Human Shield by Etemon passed away from their wounds, traumatizing the sensitive Ursula who needed the constant attention and affection of her family to even be able to function afterwards.
• When it turns out that Bakemon is supposedly Wizardmon, he all but begs Coal and his friends to help him find enough of his data to be properly reborn and even appeared completely unaware of how Lilithmon would react after so long. Outright blaming himself for his own weakness that led to his death by Myotismon's hands, he ends up desperately bowing to Coal, beseeching the Knightmon to help him fully restore himself. Unfortunately it all turns out to be a lie, the one possessing Bakemon was not Wizardmon, but Myotismon and was only manipulating Coal into reviving him.
• Surprisingly, the death of Bakemon by Malo Myotismon's hands manages to be a rather hard moment to swallow, seeing as the ghost Digimon was subjected to years and years of mental torment via being possessed by Myotismon and his last moments are spent desperately clinging to Coal's leg, not even appearing to notice the fact that the Digimon that had been possessing him for so long was finally free until it was too late.
• The deaths of Arukenimon and Mummymon by Malo Myotismon's hands. If it weren't sad and horrifying enough that their deaths are so cruel, and not at all quick in the case of the former, the fact that this all happens right in front of their children, whether unofficial (Coal), biological (Wivel) or adopted (Rex) just makes it all that much harder to swallow.
• After his fight with Malo Myotismon, Coal ends up falling unconscious and entering a coma for around an entire week and the first thing he wakes up to is a crying and distraught Rain hovering over him. Apparently the Knightmon was supposed to wake up in a day or two but, as the days went on without him doing so, his friends and family started to worry that he never would.
  • Almost immediately after being woken up, Wivel and Rex are allowed into the room and almost immediately begin crying into Coal's chest as they grieve for their parent's deaths. Coal himself notes that they've likely become traumatized from the harsh events and he can't think of anything to do aside from hold them and let the two of them cry themselves to sleep.
• After waking up from his fight with Malo Myotismon, Coal is granted some leave time from Sovrano to completely recover and get his head back in the game, something the Knightmon obviously needs, seeing as watching Arukenimon and Mummymon die right in front of him is finally starting to really hit him hard and sink in. Outright admitting that he's depressed and worrying about if he'll ever manage to compare to the likes of his rival, Duskmon or Lucemon, it's a rather vulnerable and emotionally-unstable situation for Coal that's rather sad to take in.
  • Added on to that is the moment where Coal stumbled across the similarly-grieving Gol who, while not possessing a soul due to his unique birth, seems to be feeling the aftereffects of his creator's deaths just as much as Coal is. The only comfort Coal can give the Golemon is to quietly sit by his side until Gol falls asleep, thankfully not by crying himself there.
• During Coal's mission to Hold the Line and keep everyone out of the Chrome Mine, Duskmon makes an appearance and, as soon as they do, Coal is overrun with memories of the late Arbormon and the bond they shared. It's a bit of a punch to the gut, especially since Arbormon's killer is standing directly in front of Coal as the memories make themselves known.
  "Now I remember! Youse guys gave me all that Giant Meat in Tropical Jungle! It's me, Mushroomon! You remember me, right?"

  "Nah, I mean Ranamon! Espanol for frog-monster, Spirit of Water! Oh you've gotta see her sometime! Prettiest gal I've ever gotten ta see, and she even has been helpin' me out around here! She makes a mean hamburger, you know? I didn't even know what those were before and now I can't stop eating them!"

  "I came back because a friend in need is a friend in need, right?"

  "I don't care who you are or what element you've got, I'm not gonna let you hurt my brother, my sister, or any of my other friends."

  " Duskmon! The calvary has arrived! Man am I glad you're here!"

  "Mind helping me out? A friend in need is a friend in need, right?"
  • It gets worse when its revealed, through his choice of words and similar electric attack, that Duskmon is Wizardmon.
• After an intense battle for the Chrome Mine and the Digital Hazard inside, it ends with one, soul-crushing casualty: the death of Coal Caerleon. Despite being battered, weakened and devolved back to DarkTyrannomon, Coal has succeed in obtaining the Digital Hazard before anyone else, which on anyone else without his stubborn pride would have destroyed them. He fights Machinedramon with this power, but in a scene similar to Digimon World DS in the same area, he is too weak to stop him. He saves Sovrano's life with his own, whose healing magic only slows down the deletion process. Coal thinks back to his loved ones, alive and gone, apologizing that he wasn't strong enough after all. In Coal's last moments, he gives Sovrano the bracelet Kunemon made for him (he made one for each of them), and laments how meeting him all those months ago as Rookies had led him to a meaningful life he wouldn't have found otherwise. His last conscious thought was: "I'm sorry."

Part Two

• There's something really heart-wrenching about listening to the sound of a captured Betamon crying as they're dragged off, especially when it's later learned that she's rather malnourished and why she fell for Coal's trap so easily. Thankfully, her new home in Digital City's jail doesn't seem to bother her, seeing as she's constantly kept safe and fed.
• During their brief break at the Digimon Fan Club building in Digital City, Coal learns through Zudokorn the backstory/origins of both Cecilia and Crimson; namely that both of them were orphans who grew up on the streets.
  You decide to first speak with Zudokorn while you are at the Human facility which was meant for them and their Digimon, and you decide to speak with him about Cecilia since you just ran into her. You explain about how you got the fresh bread from her, and Zudokorn grins as he says she happens to be quite the cook. He says not to tell anyone, but Cecilia and her brother, called Crimson by the Humans, used to be poor and live a human equivalent of how most Digimon grew up in the wild. He says they grew up as "orphans" on "the streets", so it's helped form who they each have become: Cecilia as responsible and mature beyond her years, and Crimson as reckless and ambitious, the combination of which allowed them to survive despite being poor and without a home.
• For all of Blizzard's bravado on his power and affiliation towards the Blood Knights, he's actually very insecure of himself and is seen as one of the weaker Blood Knights. He wants to make friends (and even be intimate with a human) but is unsure of how to do that. After crying and confining this information to Coal, the Frigimon tries bribing him just to hang out skiing later.
• The Death of Blizzard in part 2 is extremely heartbreaking. Lobomon mercilessly carved up the already defeated mon in front of the crowd just to prove a point, with his light powers even acting to nullify Blizzards ability to cheat death. After crying out to his mother (not present at the time) that he didn't want to die, Blizzards final words were an apology to Coal (who was trying to push his way to the scene) for not being strong enough.
• Lobomon as it turned out was actually Ion from part 1, something which the players only find out around the time Coal kills him. This also managed to trigger a rush of memories from Coal regarding his interactions with him during his first life. Lobomon also had several momentos on his desk including a picture of the gang from part 1 with himself, Coal and Sovrano all standing together.
• In retaliation for Ion's death Sovrano arrives for revenge, he beats Coal down for a while only for Inari to interrupt and reveal Coal's true identity. It takes some more convincing as Coal is still regaining his memories but from there on Sovrano and Coal both lament over the tragedy that was Ion's death.
• Coal's reunion with Rain is this after the fact, Rain had been physically and mentally abused by Lucemon and then Leviamon for months on end but the moment she realizes Coal is real and he's saved her she goes right back to just wanting to be with him.
• Relemon's death was this to such an extent that even Arukenimon was affected. She was an innocent, happy newborn who died in 10 minutes because of flaws in the data fusion program.
• Despite the fact that she was still a Rookie, and didn't even mention that she wanted the Code Key of Greed in the first place, Inari and Sovrano' daughter Curran was forced out of her home to take a potentially deadly trial to prove her worthy of the Code Key of Greed because she happened to be born with the potential to one day become the Demon Lord of Greed.
• Despite the fact that he was manipulating Strings, Cherrymon's death was still sad for Strings as it forced him to confront the fact that while Cherrymon had Arbormon's memories, Cherrymon and Arbormon were definitely two different people.
• Kenshin's death is most definitely this, as Coal and Kenshin had becomes friends. Really, being blamed for causing Kenshin's death in the first place was just adding insult to injury.