EPISODE 06 - KING AND LIONHEART
The morning passed easily enough for everyone else, but for Ezra, it was hell.
They were finally out of the woods, or at least they were literally. Circuit County had been left behind as they traveled south toward Twister Mountain, through what Dare and Castor called the Hinterlands.
It was… an alright setting, he supposed. Better than Plugin. It was just so dry, and so hot, and so boring, and the mountains were so far away, and he was really only trudging along for Alex’s sake.
They’d woken up earlier than usual to try to get a head start on the day; if it was going to be anything like the past few days had, they needed all the time they could get, and it just so happened that the best course of action would then be to wake up at the crack of dawn.
Ezra didn’t have a problem with mornings - typically. He was a night owl, and slept in whenever he could, but he had an easy enough time getting ready for school without feeling like he would pass out again. It was different here in the Digital World, though; they still didn’t have an accurate way to tell time, but he had to guess he was getting at least eight hours of sleep a night. And yet, every morning here, he awoke feeling like he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep at all.
He was just exhausted all the time, and there was no way to fix it, as far as he knew.
Everyone else seemed to be doing just dandy, he thought to himself, a little bitterly. They weren’t exhausted half to death or completely and utterly fed up with the stupid boring landscape like he was.
He snuck a glance at Alex, in the front of the group, laughing with Castor, and Alex must have been able to read his mind or something, because he turned around and caught his eye, flashing him a smile and a wink. Ezra blinked, taken aback, before smiling in return, ducking his head and shoving his hands in his pockets awkwardly. He hadn’t been expecting Alex to actually look back at him. He’d really messed that one up! Good going!
His shoulders slumped, and he reached a hand up to run it through his hair, making sure it was parted and flipped to the correct side. He tried not to think of what Alex must have thought of it, or if anyone else saw him.
The Hinterlands was just dirt, rocks, and dust for as far as anyone could see; there were the mountains in the distance, and if he turned around he could see a faint green line indicating Circuit County, but everything else was just completely barren, save for a few dried out shrubs and trees here and there. And it was hot! The jungle they’d nearly gotten murdered in hadn’t even been half as bad, and jungles were famous for being hot, weren’t they? Maybe he was getting them confused with rainforests. Were they the same thing?
So absorbed in his thoughts was he that he didn’t even notice Alex had slowed down to wait for him to catch up, so when he was greeted with a gentle punch in the face, he nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise.
“Don’t do that,” he said amidst the giggles that came from Alex’s mouth. “Nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Think of it as a little bit of payback for the first night,” Alex teased, earning him a scowl. His voice took on a more solemn tone. “What’s up?”
“…Nothing?” Ezra replied, more in question as to why Alex had asked him that rather than if the answer he’d given was true. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason,” Alex said, waving a hand, “not like I wanted to check up on my friend or anything.”
“Okay, no need to be sarcastic,” Ezra said. “I’m fine. How are you?”
“Do not turn this back on me,” Alex said, staring at him blankly, and Ezra laughed. Alex wasn’t finished, though, going on as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Be honest with me. You doing good?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Alex stared at him intensely. “Are you lying?”
“Y - hey, hey,” Ezra complained as Alex smiled. “You knew I’d say that.”
“Yep.” He reached up and put his hands on the back of his head, knocking Ezra’s own head with an elbow. “Cause it’s true. Tell me what’s up.”
Ezra resisted a sigh. “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong. I don’t know why you think there is, but I promise you, I’m okay.”
Alex dropped it at that, which Ezra was grateful for, although he couldn’t help but think he had been a little too harsh on him, especially when, a few minutes later, Alex sped up so he was at the very front of the group again.
His shoulders dropped, and he went back to thinking about everything and nothing as they walked.
Was something wrong? Was there something up with him? Why else would Alex have been so persistent? Did Alex know something he didn’t?
…Was he really that obvious about it?
No way. Alex would have said something.
Ezra let out a breath and rubbed his face. It would be okay. Just a bump in the road. Alex would probably forget about it within the day.
For now, he just had to walk and focus on the destination at hand.
Lunch was fine. It was the same old stuff they’d been eating every day. Ezra was kind of getting tired of having mushrooms and apples for every meal. He wasn’t going to say it out loud, of course, but he certainly thought it.
In fact, it was Ryan who brought up the topic of just how much he missed food from back home.
“I would do anything for a cheeseburger right now,” he grumbled as he bit into another cheerful apple.
“Would you jump off a cliff?” Dare asked.
“Yes,” Ryan said with a completely straight face, causing everyone to laugh. “I don’t care if it kills me, as long as I get to eat one last cheeseburger.”
“I miss my mom’s cooking,” Miguel said quietly. Flip placed an arm around him in comfort.
Azure nodded, giving the rest of their digitake to Ko, who accepted it readily. “I miss my dad’s steaks. And fried potatoes.”
“I miss instant ramen,” Harmony sighed, running a hand over Ren’s snout.
Alex snorted. “I miss people,” he said. “Like, people other than you guys.”
“Feeling is mutual, asshole,” Ryan chirped back sarcastically.
“I miss not having to eat the same thing every day,” Alex continued, propping his chin up with a fist as he leaned on Castor. “And I miss not having to constantly worry about if I’m gonna get attacked by giant monsters.”
“I miss that too,” Miguel agreed, and Azure nodded. Ezra saw them reach a hand around to their back and gently run a finger over their scar from Snimon.
Dare and Castor, who had been sitting next to each other, shared a look that made their ears droop. Flip and Ko, across the circle, seemed to pick up on it, and even Ren looked a bit concerned as well.
Ezra hadn’t shared anything that he missed from back home; he couldn’t think of what he would say. Food? Anna? His cat? Being safe and not stranded in a world full of aggressive monsters out to kill him?
He looked over at Alex, with his eyes closed and his eyebrows pinched together in worry. Castor was allowing him to rest across his back, and had adjusted his cape to cover his shoulders.
…Ezra missed his friend.
They didn’t talk much after that; the humans were all stuck in their heads as they thought of their homes, and the Digimon had no idea what to do to comfort them. Dare seemed to shift closer to Ryan, and Ren’s eyes seemed softer when she looked at Harmony.
They packed up their lunch in silence and continued walking, and Ezra noticed that some of the Digimon seemed to be whispering amongst themselves - he tried not to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help overhearing snippets of the conversation.
“You think he’d like that?” Dare asked, ducking her head toward Castor and Flip as she walked by Ryan’s side, making sure he couldn’t hear her.
Castor nodded. “If it’s coming from you, I’m sure he would. How to get it is another question.”
“Harmony would just be happy with anything coming from you, Ren,” Ko snickered. Ren batted his horn away and frowned.
“Dare, you come from here in the Hinterlands, right?” Flip turned to her, and she nodded. “Do you know where we could get any?”
“Well…” She considered this, sticking her tongue out. “Yeah, I think so, but we’d need to go on our own, so that they don’t know.”
“That seems fine.” Castor shook himself out, his cape trailing behind him and fluttering gently in the slight breeze.
The other four nodded and dispersed, each returning to their respective partners. Ezra stretched his arms out above his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to show that he had been listening in.
“You want to do what?”
That was Alex.
“It’s fine with me,” Harmony said after a beat, “but for the rest of you - well, obviously it’s up to the others.”
Ezra cracked an eye open and saw Ryan, with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, looking down at Dare as she gave him her best puppy-dog beggar eyes. “Fine,” he said gruffly. “Don’t get lost.”
Azure and Miguel both nodded as well, and Alex gave a sigh, rubbing his temples in defeat. “Whatever. Don’t leave us to die out here.”
The Digimon cheered - excluding Ren, of course - and gave each other giant smiles before running off into the distance. “We’ll be back!” Ko called over his shoulder as he brought up the rear.
Within seconds, they were mere specks on the horizon. Alex groaned and smacked his face with a palm. “They’re gonna die.”
“Most definitely,” Ryan snorted, and then the two of them gave each other strange looks, as if they couldn’t believe they had just agreed with each other.
“What was that all about?” Ezra asked, sidling up to Alex. Alex let loose a sigh and shrugged his shoulders in resignation.
“Fuck if I know. Something about going off to look for something.”
Ezra kept his mouth shut, but wondered just what it was they were going to get; something for their partners, most definitely, from what he’d heard of their conversation.
The kids kept trudging along, an even heavier silence hanging over them now that their Digimon were absent.
The Digimon were gone for quite a while, and Ezra started to notice the others getting restless. Harmony had her tongue in her cheek and her eyebrows knitted together, and Miguel seemed to be closing up in on himself, much like he had done before he’d met Flip.
Were they really that attached to their partners?
It made sense, he supposed. If he had his own partner, he was sure he’d be feeling a bit odd if they were gone, especially if he was used to them constantly being at his side.
“You think they’re okay?” Azure said quietly after a while, breaking the silence and almost startling Ezra.
Alex hesitated, then nodded and lifted his chin confidently. “This is their world. They live here. I’m sure they’re fine.”
Their return was quiet, and Ezra had to do a double take when he realized that they’d come back; they hadn’t said a word, just slid into step beside their partners, smiling up at them and sticking close to their sides.
“You’re back,” Miguel said. Flip nodded and looked to Castor, next to Alex at the front.
Castor cleared his throat and gently tugged on Alex’s leg to get him to stop, then turned around to face the others. They stopped as well, and the humans looked at each other in confusion. Ezra blinked as the five Digimon lined up in front of their humans, and he noticed that each of them were holding something.
“You really miss your home, don’t you?” Dare asked, peering up at Ryan first, then the others in turn. When she received nods from each of them she looked to Ko to continue.
“That’s why you’re so sad.” He said it bluntly, but with empathy present in his voice. “So we wanted to do something to cheer you up.”
Ren’s eyes were closed, so she didn’t see Ko’s cue at first, but she certainly felt him jab her in the side. She scowled at him before folding her arms across her chest and looking down. “It was Castor’s idea,” she muttered, and Ko prodded her again. Rolling her eyes, she went on. “But I figured I may as well go along with it. It wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Flip picked up without needing to be asked, his mouth curling up in a smile. “We thought about it and we decided to get you something to show our appreciation for you.”
“And to show that even when you’re down, you can always rely on us,” Castor finished, dipping his head gently, and then the five Digimon all looked up in unison at each of their partners.
“For you, Alex,” Castor continued, taking a step forward and stretching a paw forward to reveal a large red flower cupped in his claws. “A digipoppy. These are actually very rare to come across, and I thought it seemed fitting, since a friend like you is just as hard to find.”
Ezra leaned forward to look over at Alex, on the far side of the line from him, and saw him take his flower in trembling hands just in time. Alex looked down at it, his mouth slightly open, before he smiled and pulled Castor in closely for a hug. The dragon nuzzled up next to him before retreating to let Dare go next.
“Verbena for you,” she said, holding out a stem with a cluster of small purple flowers at the tip. “It symbolizes healing and happiness. Also you like purple, so.”
Ryan sighed and knelt down to receive it, bringing her in for a hug too. She grinned and fluttered her tiny wings in joy.
Ko stepped up next, giving a blue flower to Azure. “An iris. Blue irises represent faith and hope.” Azure laughed and patted Ko’s head gently before taking the iris and standing back up.
“For Harmony,” Ren mumbled, obviously a little embarrassed by the whole procedure, but she was going with it anyway. “Hydrangea. I’m not big on ‘deeper meanings’ or anything like that, but I guess it can mean heartfelt emotions.”
“And gratitude,” Harmony said softly, taking it and immediately tucking it behind her ear. “Gratitude for being understood.” She jumped forward and gave Ren a hug, burrowing her face into her chest fur, and although Ren looked a little taken aback, she reluctantly wrapped her own arms around her partner as well, trying to hide a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.
“Data daisies have always been my favorite flower,” Flip said after Ren and Harmony had let go of each other. He waddled forward, holding the white flower in his mouth and placing it in Miguel’s palm when the boy extended his hand. “I think it means innocence and purity?” Miguel blinked, his eyes wide open, and he ran a hand through Flip’s mane while turning his flower over in his fingers.
Ezra felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as the presentation came to an end. He didn’t have a partner.
He’d kept trying to tell himself he would be fine without one, that he’d be able to deal with it if it turned out he wouldn’t get one - but now, after that display of love and care between partners, he felt… very, very lonely.
He looked up at the sky, trying to swallow the lump in his throat and focus on anything else - but then he felt a presence at his side and looked down to see Castor peering up at him.
“And finally,” he said, holding out a paw, “may I present to you a fireblossom. Or at least, that’s what Dare said it was. Who knows if she was telling the truth.”
Ezra stood still for a second, then bent down till he was eye-level with the little dragon and could easily take a look at the orange blossom he held. Its center was bright yellow and faded into a deep orange at the tips of its six petals, speckled here and there with darker red spots. He hesitated before plucking it from Castor’s claws with two gentle fingers, carefully so as not to damage the delicate bloom.
“We didn’t want you to feel left out,” Dare said as Ezra twirled it around and around. “Fireblossoms represent ambition and devotion. I think that makes sense for you, right? I mean, you’re all out here in who knows where, and even though you don’t…” She trailed off, her voice growing distant, before she snapped back to the present. “You’re out here doing the best you can with what you have and I think that’s really cool of you. So. Yeah. Go Ezra!”
“Why don’t you ever cheer me on like that?” Ryan muttered, and she snickered.
Ezra managed a small smile at both Dare and Castor before he slipped his own flower into his hair. “Thanks. This means a lot. I think I speak for all of us when I say that.”
A resounding chorus of nods and “yeah”s went around the group, and the Digimon each smiled in turn at a job well done on their part.
“Mission accomplished, boys,” Dare said, patting Castor and Ko on the back.
Even after that, as they kept walking on and on, passing shrub after shrub in that barren land, feeling like it would go on forever, Ezra couldn’t help but still feel a little strange. He was incredibly grateful and happy that the Digimon had included him in their little gift-giving, but… for the past five days, he’d been telling himself over and over that he was fine on his own, he didn’t need a partner, he didn’t have to rely on a Digimon to protect him or make him feel whole.
But when he looked at Harmony and saw her smiling at Ren, or saw Alex laughing with Castor, or Azure talking with Ko or Ryan rolling his eyes at Dare’s antics or Miguel calling after Flip and warning him not to get too far ahead… it was strange, and he didn’t like it one bit.
It was weird in this world.
Ezra kept to himself after that, smiling up at Alex and waving whenever he turned around to check on him, but he was too lost in his thoughts to be present in any conversation that might arise between anyone; fortunately they seemed to be doing pretty well at not wanting to kill each other for the time being, but who knew how long that would last.
They were getting closer to Twister Mountain with each passing moment, and he could start to see the other peaks in the mountain range in the distance. Did they have names as well? Twister was the tallest of them, or at least he thought so, based on the assumption that the one with the spiraling patterns going up its side was Twister Mountain. Castor confirmed this suspicion when he asked him.
“I’m about to lose it,” Ezra announced after they passed the millionth shriveled up tree. “I’m sick and tired of this. Just rock after tree after dead bush, over and over and over.”
“Yeah, imagine having to live here,” Dare said, before she rolled her eyes. “Oh wait, I don’t have to imagine it. I did used to live here.”
“How did you survive?” Ko asked her, scratching his cheek with a claw.
Her face took on a somber expression as she raised her head to gaze out into the distance. “I didn’t.”
“To be fair,” Azure said as Ko stared at Dare in horror, “this is basically what Texas is like. Just, y’know, not as blazin’ hot.”
“Not like that would even affect you,” Harmony pointed out. “Don’t you pride yourself on having a high heat tolerance?”
“That’s a desirable trait in humans?” Flip exclaimed, appalled, before Azure could even answer the question. “Gosh, I’d never be able to live in your world if it’s that hot.”
“No, I -” Azure gave up trying to explain and slumped forward, their arms dangling as they groaned.
“Miguel, you told me I could come home with you!” Flip continued, completely ignoring Azure. “You didn’t say it would be that bad!”
“It’s not!” Miguel said. “At least not in the spring!” He stopped in his tracks, raising a finger to his chin. “Wait, I take that back.” (He was right; the particular area in California where they all lived had almost constantly-changing weather, especially in the spring. You could put on five different layers in the morning because it was just that cold, and by lunchtime it would be scorching enough to make you want to rip your skin off.)
Everyone laughed, and Flip looked at his partner worriedly, obviously concerned about just how he was able to live in the human world.
The scenery stayed the same even as they got closer to the base of the mountain range, and not once did they even catch a glimpse of a Digimon in the distance - until they crested a particularly large hill, bigger even than the others they’d been crossing.
“What is that?”
Ryan looked down at his partner, who was the first one to break the silence as they took in what lay ahead of them. “Weren’t you just saying you used to live here? Wouldn’t you know what it is?”
Ezra pushed past Ryan and ignored Dare’s response (“I didn’t live in this exact area, idiot”), trying to get a look at whatever it was. “Is that a city?”
“A village,” Ko corrected, stepping forward to stand in between him and Azure. “Cities are larger.”
“Whatever,” Ezra mumbled, cupping his hand over his eyes to block the sun as he squinted to try to see it better.
“A village?” Azure looked down at Ko, who was stretched forward as well.
“Yeah,” Flip said from their other side. “Lower-level Digimon tend to live in villages together with others of their species. For better protection and socialization, you know?”
“That’s actually pretty smart,” Azure mused. “Living together for a better chance at defending themselves. And I bet the social aspect helps as well.”
“Correct!” Ko said. “In fact, I used to live in a Motimon village. Everyone there was really nice.”
“Yeah, I lived with other Dorimon before I came here,” Dare added.
Flip nodded in agreement, but when Ren didn’t say anything, Harmony looked to her. “What about you, Ren?” she asked, startling her slightly.
“Hm?” Ren hummed, thinking to herself for a moment. “Oh… No, I never lived in a village. I, ah - after leaving Primary Village, I went off on my own. Never came across another Viximon village, and even if I had - well, I'm not entirely certain I would’ve joined them.”
“Your loss,” Ko said under his breath, shrugging, quiet enough so only Azure and Ezra could hear him.
“Well, if it’s a village,” Ezra said, mostly to himself, although Ryan and Alex both turned to him, “why don’t we check it out?”
“You think they’ll be welcoming?” Alex tilted his head, biting his lip.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely an in-training village,” Dare confirmed, nodding. “They’d probably be more than willing to let us in, especially with me here!”
Ryan raised his eyebrows at her. “What, are you some sort of celebrity?”
“No, but younger Digimon are always happy to see older ones. Sort of like a, ‘when I grow up, I’m gonna be just like you!’ thing. You know?”
“What if they’re all weird like the Gizamon?” Miguel piped up. “And the others we’ve seen?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Ezra saw Castor’s expression darken as he looked down at his feet. “Then we’ll deal with it.”
Everyone went quiet, no one wanting to ask what exactly he meant, but knowing that it was the only choice they had, other than having to completely alter their route in order to avoid it, which would add even more time to their already lengthy journey. And they were all getting pretty tired of walking.
Alex stepped forward, the first one to break the silence. “Let’s go.”
Turns out Dare was right; the residents of the small town were eager to welcome them in, and even more excited to see the Digimon with them.
Ezra was greeted by one of them not even a second after setting foot inside. It was a small orange cat head, with a tail and some sort of frill running around its head like a lion mane, and it jumped right up into his arms, purring all the while after shouting “Visitors! Yippee!”
Ezra stumbled back and right into Ryan at the sudden added weight, causing both him and the other boy to grunt and flail around as they tried to regain their balance.
“Um, hello,” Ezra said. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Frimon!” said the Digimon with a giggle. “And so is everyone else here!”
“Must be easy to remember,” Ryan grumbled as he brushed past the two of them to follow Dare, who was running in and out of the various buildings while a gaggle of five or six other Frimon bounced after her.
“You guys are humans, right?” the Frimon in Ezra’s arms asked him, staring up into his eyes with its own bright orange ones. “We haven’t seen humans before!”
“Yeah, we are,” Ezra replied, walking further into the village so he wasn’t blocking the entrance for the others. Alex came up to him and stroked the Frimon’s head while Castor watched on with slitted eyes and an air of jealousy.
“How’d you even get here?” another Frimon from down at his feet questioned. “Are you just here for a vacation?”
Ezra laughed and jabbed a thumb into Alex’s chest, which issued forth an “oomph” from the victim in question. “Ask this guy. It’s his fault.”
“I thought we were over that,” Alex groaned, but he straightened up anyway. “I got some sort of… spam email on my computer at school, and I clicked on it to spite Azure over there, who was telling me not to. Next thing we knew we were falling through the sky and landing here in this world.”
“That sounds fun!” the Frimon on the ground said, and the one in Ezra’s arms nodded its head (body?) in agreement.
“Yeah, ending up in a world we know nothing about and nearly getting killed every day since we’ve come here sure has been fun,” Ryan chimed in as he passed them, still following Dare, who had amassed an even bigger following of Frimon.
Ezra and Alex shared a look, but fortunately the Frimon either didn’t register what he’d said or had just elected to ignore it, and it didn’t come up again. Alex mouthed “he’s right” to Ezra, who managed to wriggle one arm out from under Frimon in time to raise a finger to his lips in a shushing motion.
“Thanks for letting us in,” he said to the Frimon in his arms, who closed his eyes and smiled back.
“Of course! It’s our pleasure!”
“Hey, uh,” came Harmony’s voice from around a corner, and the two boys turned to look at her as she and Ren walked into view. “Do you guys have, like, some sort of village leader here?”
“Nope!” said a Frimon who had followed them. “But we used to, didn’t we, Frimon?”
Another Frimon hopped out from behind a building. “I think so, Frimon.”
Castor stood up and stretched his legs out in front of him, looking very much like more of a dog than a dragon in that exact moment. “What happened to them? Your leader?”
“Cyclomon got them, right, Frimon?” said one of the ones on the ground.
“Indeed he did, Frimon,” replied the other one sadly.
“I’m losing my mind,” Ezra mumbled. His Frimon (was it really his? no, he was just saying so for simplicity’s sake) giggled in his arms.
“Wait, Cyclomon?” Ren took a step forward, kneeling down to look into the Frimon’s eyes.
Frimon nodded, or bounced up and down - either worked. “A big mean Digimon who attacks us at night and destroys our village. We’re too weak to fight him off, so we have to hide in our houses and hope for the best.”
“Oh, so that’s why this place is all fucked up,” Dare said, joining the others with her chain of Frimon still following her.
Ryan smacked her on the head. “Be nice.”
She whapped him back with her tail. “Funny of you to tell me to be nice. Isn’t that called irony? Hypocrisy?”
She was right, though; Ezra hadn’t noticed it at first, because he’d been too distracted with the Frimon flying at his face, but every single building had at least some visible damage done to it. Only a few of them seemed to have been repaired at one point, and it was hard to figure out where the construction had been interrupted before crumbling down to the same state of erosion as the others.
Looking closer, the buildings - most of which reached only to his chest and were perhaps the size of a dinner table - seemed to be made out of some sort of clay, with the roofs, or what remained of them, patched together with various grasses, almost like a thatched-roof cottage. Each building was square and had at least two windows, although a few of them were larger and had an extra window or room here or there.
The Frimon in Ezra’s arms hopped back onto the ground, and Ezra tried to resist leaning down after him. “Cyclomon comes here at night sometimes and ruins our village. We used to try to fix it back up afterwards, but his attacks became too frequent for us to be able to get any progress done in between.”
“That’s horrible,” Harmony murmured, Ren nodding beside her.
Ezra’s Frimon shrugged the best it could without shoulders. “We got used to it.”
“He doesn’t hurt us,” one of the other Frimon added. “He just seems to enjoy terrorizing us.”
“That’s still awful.” Harmony stood up straight, rolling her shoulders back and holding her hands out in front of her to crack her knuckles. “Hey! Guys! Come here!” she called over her shoulder, looking back deeper into the village.
Soon enough, the entire group was gathered in the village center, all of them either sitting or kneeling so that they weren’t looming over the Frimon, who were only the size of footballs. (Ren and Azure, the tallest of the group, looked especially out of place; they were almost twice as tall as the buildings. Ezra snickered to himself as he tried to imagine them fitting in one of them.)
The two Frimon that had told them about the Cyclomon, as well as Ezra’s Frimon (and he hated that he was always calling him “his Frimon”, because he didn’t own him or anything, but it’s what his brain defaulted to), were sitting on one side of the clearing, with the humans and their partners across from them. What looked to be some sort of crude fountain which had been absolutely demolished, no doubt by Cyclomon, separated the two groups from each other, and the rest of the Frimon were gathered in a larger ring surrounding the ones in the center.
They’d been offered some sort of rice dish for an early dinner, or at least to Ezra it seemed most similar to rice - who knew what it really was. Each of them were eating it with varied interest and fervor; while Ren was picking at it and occasionally making disgusted noises, Miguel and Dare were consuming it at a rather frightening speed. Ezra, on his part, found it edible but not his absolute favorite meal in the world. It was better than more digitakes and apples, at least.
“Tell us about Cyclomon,” Alex said, wiping his mouth and resting an arm on his knee.
The three Frimon in the center looked at each other. “Well, there’s not much else to say,” the biggest one said, flicking its tail. “He’s big and he likes to make our lives miserable.”
“Yeah, but,” Ezra started, then cut himself off. His Frimon turned toward him, blinking. “Like, do you know anything about him? Why he does it? If he has a bigger goal or if he just likes to do this for the sake of doing it?”
“We can’t talk to him,” his Frimon said, his frill drooping a little. “Don’t you think we would’ve tried?”
“No, I get that, it’s just - why can’t you talk to him?”
“Well we can,” said the third Frimon, “but he doesn’t understand us.”
The biggest Frimon nodded, shaking itself out. “I don’t know if he even knows we’re talking to him.”
“So he does it without thinking?” Castor piped up, pushing his empty bowl out in front of him with a claw. “Like he has no rational thought?”
Alex and Ezra snuck glances at each other. Ever since they’d first met him, Castor hadn’t dropped the constant questions about the Digimon they’d fought to see if they were infected, and yet he still refused to tell any of the others about it. Alex went along with it because he was worried what the others would think, but for Ezra… well, Castor wasn’t his partner, so he didn’t feel as if he had a say in it.
But… if the Cyclomon was infected, then that would explain why it was doing this, right? Mindless rampages, closed off to reason, only existing to destroy - that practically ticked off all the symptom boxes for infected Digimon.
If they could get a look at its eyes…
But Ezra didn’t know what a Cyclomon was. He didn’t know if it would even have eyes. Snimon hadn’t. Ninjamon had, and apparently the Gizamon too, but they weren’t leveling entire villages every night, were they? They were just… inconvenient, whereas Cyclomon was doing actual damage; it was hurting actual Digimon and making their lives into hell. The Gizamon had been mean to the Otamamon, but their little village had looked untouched, albeit a little shoddy, but Ezra assumed that was due to poor crafting skills rather than any attacks in the night.
Regardless of whether the Cyclomon was infected, obviously something was up with it, and if they were here already - well, they might as well try to put a stop to it.
Except Ezra couldn’t. He would be forced to sit back and watch as the others did all the hard work, just like he had the first night, in the forest, with the Ogremon, watching Castor and Alex driving the monster away while he sat there completely useless.
His head was starting to hurt, and his eyes were starting to sting, so he took a shaky breath in and slumped backward, slightly leaning against Alex’s side as the other boy was no doubt lost in his own thoughts about the virus and infected Digimon and this strange scary world they had been dumped in.
“He doesn’t seem to, no,” the Frimon was saying, curling its tail around itself. “We tried. We tried every time until we realized it was just a waste of time, and since then, we just hide until he’s done for the night.”
“That’s a horrible way to live,” Azure declared, nearly slamming their bowl onto the ground to accentuate their point. Ko jumped, but grabbed it out from under their fingers when he noticed there was still some food left in it.
“I have to agree,” Ren mumbled, startling literally everyone present even more than Azure had. She scowled at all of them before going on. “I mean, I think that we should at least do something to stop it. Not because we’re ‘noble heroes’ who love doing the right thing -” and she stuck her tongue out at this “- but because it’s the least we can do for the hospitality you’ve shown us.” When she was done, she flicked her tail and leaned into Harmony, obviously regretting every decision she’d made in her life leading up to that point.
“I’m with foxy,” Dare agreed, and although Ryan rolled his eyes, he nodded.
Alex stuck his hand forward. “All in favor of helping the Frimon say aye.”
Slowly, everyone present began to place their hands, paws and flippers on top of Alex’s hand, until Ezra finished it off and they all smiled. With a count of three - the Digimon, with no concept of human traditions, were very confused at this part - they all (minus Ren and Ryan) threw their hands up in the air and cheered.
Suddenly a loud noise was heard from the center of the circle, and Ezra was scared for a second that they had somehow offended the Frimon - but instead he saw his Frimon, with his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth wide open, wailing and crying.
Instantly he was crawling forward on his hands and knees, scooping the little cat up in his arms and holding him close to his chest. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he soothed, rocking him back and forth until he sniffled and managed to stop sobbing.
“You guys are so sweet,” he hiccupped, his tone hitching up as he tried to calm himself down. “I can’t believe you’re so willing to throw yourself into danger for us!”
Quickly Ezra cast a horrified look over his shoulder at the others; their expressions were somewhat the same, although Ryan mostly looked bored and Ren looked like, well, Ren.
None of them knew how tough Cyclomon would be.
At the same time, each and every one of them realized they’d made a terrible mistake. But that was kind of their brand at this point, right? Might as well keep the trend going.
“Yeah,” Ezra said, dragging his attention away from Alex’s widened eyes and pale face (if he got hurt he would kill himself) to focus on Frimon again. “Yeah,” he repeated, swallowing the lump in his throat and smiling down at him. “Of course. Like she said. It’s the least we can do for you guys.”
“But I mean,” Harmony said quietly, but everyone heard her, and she spoke up when she continued, “is Cyclomon even going to come tonight? What if it doesn’t?”
“Then that’s good,” Flip said.
Harmony bit her lip, staying quiet, but fortunately Ren picked up on what she was trying to say.
“What she means is, if Cyclomon doesn’t come tonight, should we wait until it does, or do we keep going in the morning?”
…That was a tough decision.
It was one that was made with lots of fighting, yelling, and angry silence, obviously mostly coming from Ryan and Alex and aimed at each other. Actually, it wasn’t even “made”, because even after almost an hour of bickering amongst themselves and nearly killing each other on multiple occasions, they hadn’t managed to come to any sort of agreement.
Option one was, yes, they would stay and wait until Cyclomon did show up, and then they would beat him into a pulp and continue on their merry way. Pros: the Frimon would be happy and at least some of the group would be proud of themselves for doing a good deed. Cons: they had no idea how long it would take for Cyclomon to show up again. They could be stuck in the village for days.
Option two was that if Cyclomon didn’t show up that night, they would apologize to the Frimon but leave in the morning for Twister Mountain. Pros: they would be able to continue with their regularly scheduled march to the mountain and would not risk losing any time or energy fighting a giant monster who may or may not kill them all anyways.
Cons: they would feel very bad about it.
“Speak for yourself,” Ryan snapped when Azure brought up that con. “Personally, all I care about is getting back home as soon as possible. The Frimon seem to be doing just fine, all things considered.”
“They’re living their lives constantly worrying about if they’re going to be killed within a moment’s notice,” Harmony shot back, crossing her arms. “I don’t think that counts as ‘fine’.”
Ezra felt very out of place in this conversation, partly because he didn’t have a fully formed opinion and partly because his Frimon was currently curled up on his lap listening to every word being tossed back and forth by the members of the group. Gently he prodded one of his ears, and the tiny cat looked up into his eyes.
“Are you sure you want to be here?” he asked in a whisper, and Frimon blinked before nodding. He’d asked to stay with him while the other Frimon had left them to their decision making, and Ezra had been unsure of it at first, but now that Ryan had basically just said that he didn’t care if they lived or died, he was worried that it might be a bit too much for the young Digimon.
“It’s fine,” Frimon said, twitching his mouth. “They have a point.”
“No he does not,” Ko cut in, frowning at the two of them. “Don’t we have some sort of obligation to protect you the best we can?”
“Do we?” Ren mused, snapping the group’s attention to her. “As far as I’m aware, you all just want to find a way home, hmm? Do any of you really care that much about playing the hero game?”
“Me,” Harmony and Miguel said in sync, and Castor nodded along with them.
Ren stared at Harmony before slowly closing her eyes and letting loose a breath. “Why did I know you’d say that.”
Ezra turned his face to the sky, where the sun was setting over the mountains and the first stars of the night were starting to sparkle into view. He wasn’t sure which side he was on; on the one hand, they really needed to find Aldamon and get home as soon as possible, but on the other, shouldn’t they at least try to do something?
“Why don’t we split up,” Alex sighed, “or something like that, so we have both options.”
“Bad idea,” Ryan said. “When I went off on my own I nearly died, when Harmony went off on her own she nearly died, literally every single time one of us has left the group for any reason, we’ve ended up nearly dead.”
“Since when do you care about people’s lives, huh?” Alex muttered. “If I remember correctly, you were the one who said that you wouldn’t care if I had died.”
“Oh, so we’re bringing THAT back, huh?” Ryan snapped, furrowing his brows. Dare headbutted his chest gently, telling him to take it back a notch, and he reluctantly shut up, exhaling and rubbing his nose.
“Every single time one of us has left the group we’ve come back with a partner Digimon,” Ezra mumbled, blinking slowly. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but - too late now.
Alex’s demeanor changed completely when he heard it; his shoulders fell and his eyes softened, tipping his head to the side to look at him.
“Ezra, what are you saying?” Harmony asked.
Ezra sucked a breath in before going on. “Nothing really,” he admitted. “Just pointing it out. I mean, sure, when it happens, you do almost die, but you also find some sort of Digimon to… protect you.”
Frimon, in his lap, flicked his tail back and forth, and Ezra saw that his eyes were narrowed, presumably deep in thought. He rubbed his head gently to comfort him, and the cat purred with delight.
“Are you saying you want to fuck off into the wilderness as well?” Alex said after a beat. Ezra pointedly avoided his gaze and shook his head, although something deep within him told him yes.
He didn’t want to go out and almost die, but… it was just something he’d noticed over the past few days; someone could be left alone for a minimum of ten minutes, and the next thing you know, they’d have a deep and intimate connection with a very friendly monster.
And he couldn’t help but have a tiny part of him want that just like everyone else.
“Good,” Alex said. “Cause I wouldn’t let you. I don’t want you dying.” Ezra felt his cheeks heat up and he tried to cough to cover it up. Frimon jumped slightly, but settled back relatively quickly.
“Going back to your point, Alex,” Castor grumbled, “we absolutely cannot split up. We stay together, and we either stay here until we fight Cyclomon or we go to Aldamon in the morning no matter what.”
“Well maybe I don’t want to stay here,” Ryan countered, pulling Dare in closer to his side, who struggled against his grasp but gave up when she realized she couldn’t get out. “Who are you to stop me from leaving first thing tomorrow?”
“Oh, it’s not me who’ll stop you,” Castor said, his voice clipped. “But the fact that you don’t know where Aldamon is will.”
Ryan’s face grew red and he crossed his arms, still holding Dare. “I’m sure I could find him eventually.”
“And he’d be so willing to let a stranger and his dirty bat-dog in,” Castor said in a low voice. “Trust me, he’d love that.”
“Okay then!” Ryan shouted, throwing his hands up and releasing his partner. “Fine! I’ll stay with the group and your pretentious ass! Since you want me here so much!”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“I thought we weren’t going to yell anymore,” Harmony muttered, leaning forward and holding her head in her hands. Beside her, Ren swished her tail and closed her eyes.
“We aren’t getting anywhere,” the fox said slowly. “You seem to come up with one idea, then another of you shoots it down, and then you start screaming at each other, and then the cycle repeats. We have our two options, why don’t we put it to a vote?”
“Are you implying that this is a democracy,” Alex said.
“I have no idea what that means.”
“Alex, for fuck’s sake,” Azure groaned. “This is a democracy.”
“Okay, okay!” Castor exclaimed, rising to his feet and standing in the center of the circle. “We vote. Majority wins. Simple as that. We don’t have any other options.” Lowering his head, he pulled his hood over his face and sat down. “All in favor of staying until Cyclomon comes, raise a hand.”
As those around him raised their hands (or didn’t, in Ryan’s case), Ezra struggled to come to a decision. “Pass,” he said quietly, eliciting a confused glance from Alex. Frimon shifted a little in his lap, possibly surprised as well, but he said nothing.
“Pass,” Ren said a moment later. “I’m indifferent.”
“Pass as well.” Castor looked around the circle, and blinked when he saw just how many of them had raised their hands. “Wow. Color me surprised. It’s unanimous.”
“I’m right here,” said Ryan.
“I’m so glad we were all able to come to a single decision.”
Biting back laughter, Ezra stroked Frimon’s head, deep in thought and shocked how easily the decision had been made.
Should he have raised his hand? Did he want to stick around until they had to fight a giant monster who may or may not kill them all?
But did he really want to have to leave the village behind knowing that they could have done something, but didn’t?
He didn’t want to think about that.
He let a sigh escape his lips as he leaned back, flat on his back so that Frimon rolled onto his chest and he could easily look up at the ever-darkening sky. The sun was gone now, and with each passing second the shadows crept in closer.
He heard shuffling by his side, and he peeked over without lifting his head to see Alex kneeling next to him, offering him a hand. Sitting up straight and securing Frimon, he took it and was pulled up. Alex gave him a look and beckoned him to follow, so he passed Frimon off to Harmony, who was more than happy to take him.
Alex led Ezra out of the village bounds and in the opposite direction that the group had come in from, until they reached a large rock scattered with grass around the base and a few small yellow flowers here and there. Alex hoisted himself up onto the surface, then reached a hand down to help Ezra up, where the two of them settled down, sitting side by side with their arms pressed up next to each other as if they were on the roof just outside Ezra’s window at three in the morning on a school night like they had so many times before.
They sat in silence, letting their breathing slow down and fall into sync with each other as they watched more stars start to litter the sky.
It was Alex who finally spoke first. “How are you feeling?”
Ezra closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m okay. Tired.”
Alex didn’t reply at first, and Ezra didn’t look over at him; he let him think of what to say next, and didn’t press him.
“I meant… about not having a partner.”
Ezra nodded slowly, feeling his throat clench up.
“I know with everyone else having theirs, you’re… bound to feel left out. I just wanted to see if you’re doing okay.”
Ezra reached a hand down and scooped up a few small stones resting in a cavity. Rolling them between his fingers, he let them drop one by one onto the ground below his feet. “I’m fine, actually.”
Alex snorted and adjusted himself so Ezra was leaning on his chest. Ezra tensed up, his breath hitching and his eyes widening, as Alex slowly ran a hand through his own hair. “That’s bullshit.”
Ezra barked a laugh and managed to work some feeling back into his face. “You know it.”
Alex’s hand dropped to his side, and Ezra had to stop himself from grabbing it and placing it on his own cheek. “You’ll find one,” Alex said quietly.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shrugged a shoulder the best he could without disturbing Alex, but the other boy moved aside anyway and Ezra cursed himself for ruining it. “Doesn’t matter. Once we get back home, I’ll be the one who won’t have to try to explain everything to my mom.”
Alex chuckled. “My mom would be more accepting anyway.”
He hadn’t meant it in the way Ezra was thinking of, but it felt like a punch to the gut. Sitting up straight, he drew a shaky breath in and scratched the back of his neck.
“Hey,” Alex said, concern in his tone. “You okay?”
“Never,” Ezra snapped back, surprised to hear his own voice trembling. “We’re stuck god knows where with no way to get home and we almost die every day and I miss not having to worry about shit like this.” He pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around, burying his face in his knees.
Alex said nothing, but scooted closer to him anyway, although he refrained from physically touching him, as he always did.
Ezra closed his eyes. “Maybe if I had a Digimon I wouldn’t be scared.”
“You think I’m not scared?” Ezra sensed Alex’s eyes on the back of his neck, and he squeezed his hands around his calves tighter. “I don’t know what this Cyclomon will be like. I don’t know when we’ll get home. I’m scared, Ez.” Alex paused. “I love Castor. I feel… complete, when I’m with him. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is just as new for me.”
“But you don’t feel like dead weight.”
Alex didn’t - couldn’t - respond. What could he say?
Nothing. There was nothing.
They walked back in silence, beside each other, but with enough of a distance between them to make Ezra’s heart hurt.
“We disappear for ten minutes and you lose your minds?”
It was shocking.
While they were gone, Ezra’s Frimon had gotten to chatting, particularly with Harmony, and apparently the topic of humans had come up again. Curious, Harmony had pried deeper, and, well…
“There have been HUMANS here IN THE DIGITAL WORLD BEFORE,” Ryan was shouting as they rejoined with the rest of the group. “And they don’t even have the COMMON SENSE to give us a heads up?”
“Maybe they didn’t know we were coming,” Harmony suggested, trying very desperately to calm him down, but it was not working.
“I’m going to kill myself,” he announced, sitting down with his legs spread wide and his arms propped up behind him. “None of you are invited to my funeral.”
“Bold of you to assume you’re even going to have one,” Alex said. Ryan looked up at him with a disgusted look on his face, seemingly unaware that the two of them had returned.
“I don’t know all the details,” Frimon was frantically explaining to Ezra, who had demanded the full story when he’d been told the basics by Harmony. He was bouncing in circles as he was talking, giving the illusion of pacing. “All I’ve heard is that there were humans here a long time ago who were here for some sort of reason. Something like destiny? Greater good?”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” he said, bending down to sit. Frimon instantly hopped into his lap, his expression worrisome and his tail flicking sporadically.
“Really good to know,” Alex agreed sarcastically, sitting down next to Ezra and leaning against his back. “Wonder if that’s why we’re here?”
“No, NO,” Ryan exploded, sitting up straight and pointing an accusatory finger at Alex. “I refuse to accept that we are here for any reason other than you’re a dumbass who clicked on a fucking virus link in a spam email for funsies.”
“It’s a possibility,” Azure said under their breath, absentmindedly petting Ko’s head while the bug chirruped in elation. “Is that why we have our partners?”
“La la la, I can’t hear you,” Ryan sang, dramatically clapping his hands over his ears. Dare leaned forward toward him, tilting her head in confusion.
Ezra ran his fingers down Frimon’s spine, partly to comfort himself and partly to calm the poor little Digimon down, who was not handling Ryan’s outburst very well. “Is there any way to tell for certain?”
No response.
“Wonderful,” Ezra said again, sighing and pushing up against Alex, still leaning against him.
“I’m going to keep pretending that tonight never happened,” Ryan said, holding his hands up and smiling. “I’m going to wake up and I’ll be right back outside the village and I’m going to run far away from it.”
“Will you bring me?” Dare asked, sitting back on her haunches.
Ryan nodded. “If you can keep up with me.”
“Ignoring the problem isn’t going to solve anything,” Azure told him, scratching their cheek.
“It’ll make me feel better.”
“Oh,” Ezra said, looking down at Frimon. “Frimon, we are allowed to stay here tonight, right?”
“Of course,” he said. “If you’re going to fight Cyclomon for us it’s the least we can do.”
“Funny how the least they can do is offer us a bed but the least we can do is fight a giant monster,” Ryan scoffed.
Ezra ignored him, instead paying attention to the rise and fall of Alex’s back against his and Frimon’s eyes twinkling in the starlight. Everything would be fine, he told himself, although he didn’t believe it at all.
Nighttime had finally set, and the moon had risen above the mountain peaks, illuminating the buildings around them. Dare set up a fire in the center of their clearing, and the Frimon came forward to offer them straw mats, which were comfortable enough but rather small. They found they could line three or four of them up to make a normal-sized bed, although it was a bit irritating when they shifted around at the slightest movement.
Ezra’s Frimon had elected to sleep with them, and Ezra smiled as he watched the tiny cat head’s body rise and fall as he breathed, the firelight reflecting off his fur and causing him to practically glow orange.
Like the previous night, they set up their beds in a circle with their heads pointed in toward the fire so they could talk together and warm themselves. Ezra was positioned in between Flip and Alex, who were both next to their respective partners - and of course Frimon was slightly in front of Ezra, closest to the fire as he could get without burning up.
They let the crackling of the flames fill the silence for a bit, until they’d decided they’d had enough of sitting together awkwardly and not saying anything.
Harmony cleared her throat. “You think Cyclomon will come tonight?”
Ryan groaned and rolled over onto his back, his fingers bundled up in Dare’s fur. “I hope so.”
“I can’t believe we’ve reached a point where we’re actively hoping for Digimon to attack us,” Miguel complained. Flip laughed and flopped over the boy’s back, earning an “oof” at the sudden pressure.
“I don’t think it’ll be that bad,” Ren said. “I handled Ninjamon fine. You all seem to be able to hold your own well enough, too.”
“See, the thing is, foxy,” Dare said, splaying her paws out, “we don’t know what Cyclomon will be like. I don’t know if he’ll be worse than Vegiemon.”
“He’s big and he’s yellow,” Frimon purred sleepily; Ezra had no idea he was still awake.
“Buddy, go to sleep,” he said quietly, gently poking his cheek with a finger. He yawned, showing off an array of sharp teeth, and closed his eyes again.
“Okay, so that’s a start,” Harmony pointed out, always the optimist. “Now we know what to look for.”
“I’m sure we’d be able to recognize him even without that information,” Azure said. “They didn’t mention any other Digimon in the area. If it’s not a Frimon, it’s a Cyclomon.”
Dare gasped. “I’m a Cyclomon?” She stood up on her hind legs, throwing an arm across her forehead. “Kill me now. I can never atone for my sins -” She was cut off by Ryan grabbing her by the ankle and forcefully yanking her foot out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground in an undignified manner. Standing up quickly, she shook herself out and frowned at her partner, who was currently trying to act innocent.
The conversation died down, and some of them soon drifted off to sleep, but Ezra, Ren, and Ryan were still wide awake, alert for any sign of danger.
None came for quite a while, and Ezra almost started to wonder if he should try getting some rest - not like it would help, but it would be better than laying awake listening for monsters.
And then they heard something, far off into the distance in the south, and immediately every single one of them was up and ready to go.
“Is that even it, though?” Ko yawned, rubbing his eyes with a hand.
Azure shrugged a shoulder. “Better safe than sorry.”
Ezra debated whether to take Frimon with him, but the tiny little Digimon looked terrified enough as is - he tried not to think about how he’d been able to live with this happening every night - and so he knelt down next to him, trying to give him a comforting smile.
“You should stay here,” he said, running a hand over his fur, and although his frill drooped, he nodded and sat down, curling his tail around himself. “We’ll be back before you know it, and then you won’t have to deal with him anymore.” Frimon’s eyes closed and he grinned.
With his heart pounding in his chest, Ezra followed Alex and the rest of the group as they set off towards the village outskirts, where they would wait for it to come closer before attacking. He felt a little odd, walking with the others without a partner of his own to fight, but he pushed through it. He was there for moral support.
And he wouldn’t miss this fight for anything.
They lined up, their Digimon poised defensively and the humans ready to get out of there in a moment’s notice - they didn’t need a repeat of Azure’s Snimon episode. And so they waited, with bated breath, for whatever was in the distance to get closer.
Ezra wasn’t prepared for what it was.
Cyclomon itself wasn’t any stranger than the Ninjamon. Ezra almost preferred this to Ninjamon, in fact, as it was way less humanoid and round, and much more like what a stereotypical monster should look like.
It was big and yellow; Frimon hadn’t lied about that. What he had failed to mention, however, and what Ezra thought was definitely more worth mentioning, was its gigantic right arm. Just its right arm, though - the left one was proportionate to the rest of its body. Nearly as large as its body was, it ended in three red claws and had some sort of metal shoulder pad adorned with two silver spikes.
Its jaws were reminiscent of Ogremon’s, and it wore a helmet with one horn on the forehead and only one eye hole, on the left side. Its lizard-like tail was tipped in layered metal, possibly to counterbalance its absolutely yolked right arm, possibly to make it more lethal.
And its one visible eye? Pure white.
As it drew closer, Ezra realized just how fucked they were. This thing was huge, way bigger than Ogremon or Ninjamon and possibly even Snimon, if his interpretation of Azure’s description was correct. It loomed over the group, its jaws dripping with spittle as it swung its head around to get a good look at each of them with its eye.
And then it laughed.
It wasn’t a human laugh. It was more like what a lizard would sound like if it tried to laugh the way a human did, which was basically exactly what was going on in that moment, except Ezra didn’t understand just what was so funny.
“That’s what my dad did when I told him I loved him,” Ryan deadpanned.
“We’re fucked,” Alex sighed.
Cyclomon roared, and the Digimon leapt into battle.
Ezra had to take a step back. He’d been present for a total of one Digimon battle before, and it had been one on one. This time, though? Five on one? It was a little much to handle.
Ren kicked it off by slamming a Power Paw straight into its face; it shook her off easily, but was too distracted by her to notice Ko rushing in with a Beetle Lariat. It batted him aside, but the bug got up as soon as he hit the ground, charging back in as soon as he was on his feet again.
“
“Have any of you guys seen a Cyclomon before?” Dare yelled in between shooting cannonballs at its leg. “Because I haven’t, and I did not think it would go like this.”
“I’d never seen a human before, and look where I ended up,” Ren barked at her, smashing another glowing blue fist into Cyclomon’s stomach. Flip shot at its face with a Water Shot, while Ko pummeled it in the abdomen with punch after punch.
“We’re FUCKED, man,” Alex was still yelling. “We’re absolutely FUCKED.”
Cyclomon laughed again and swept its right arm out, managing to catch Castor, Ko, and Flip across the chest and throw them across the dirt. Ren took the chance to hit it again, but it flicked her off and sent her tumbling the other way.
“
“I can’t take this,” Harmony whimpered, sucking in a breath as Ren was knocked aside again. “I wish we could do something to help.”
“We can shout encouraging words at them,” Ezra suggested.
Castor, passing by at that moment as he looked for an opening to attack, quickly turned to Ezra. “If you shout a single syllable at me, I’m going to start attacking you.”
Ezra considered this. “Harsh, but fair. I’ll stay quiet for now.”
He turned his focus back to the battle, and almost wished he hadn’t. Cringing, he edged in closer to Alex, who let him lean against his shoulder as the six of them stared on with wide eyes and pounding heartbeats.
Cyclomon was absolutely wrecking every single one of them, and it had only used a special attack once. For every hit one of the Digimon managed to land on it, it hit back two times more, but every time, they got back up and jumped back into the fight.
“Gotta say,” Ezra mumbled, “you do have to admire their dedication to the job.”
“Yeah,” Alex snorted. “I mean, they may be getting creamed out there, but at least they’re trying.”
“Thank you for your service,” Ryan shouted to them, disregarding Castor’s warning entirely. “Go essential workers.”
“This is the absolute worst day of my life,” Miguel groaned, cringing when Flip was knocked back by Cyclomon. “And I almost drowned twice yesterday.”
“
Ren leapt at its face, blue flames licking up her arm. Cyclomon dodged at the last minute, then turned around to grab her and throw her into the dirt. She didn’t get up.
“Eat shit!” Flip yelled, spewing water into its eye, and this seemed to have some effect - until Cyclomon wiped its face and managed to find Flip through the water in its vision to throw him across the clearing next to Ko.
This left Castor, who was still circling around the beast, maybe looking for an opening, maybe trying to stall to give the others time to get up - but they didn’t. They lay there, on the ground, battered and bruised, defeated.
“
Cyclomon shrieked.
Ezra’s blood ran cold in that moment, and he half expected Cyclomon to start dispersing into pixels, from how wounded its cry was. He crossed his fingers. He prayed to all the gods he could think of.
His wish did not come true.
Cyclomon, grunting and panting, pulled its left talon away from its eye, and Ezra saw it shot through with bright red veins.
It was pissed, and it was going to get its revenge.
Castor cowered away from it, too exhausted to move. His chest was heaving as he struggled to catch his breath, but he couldn’t do it quick enough.
He took its next attack head-on.
“
Cyclomon swung its giant arm directly at Castor and knocked him back farther than it had knocked any of them that night. The tiny white dragon rolled to a stop on the dirt maybe ten feet away from the humans, his cape nearly falling off from around his neck.
He didn’t get up either.
Ezra fumbled suddenly, and realized Alex had dashed out from under him, running to get to Castor’s side. He wasn’t saying anything, just trying to get to his partner as quickly as possible.
Everyone else followed suit, rushing to their own partners, and Ezra was left to face Cyclomon alone.
They hadn’t meant to. They couldn’t have possibly expected Cyclomon to turn to the one remaining target in front of it.
But couldn't they have at least tried?
Cyclomon opened its jaws, the back of its throat glowing blue, and Ezra took a deep breath to prepare for the worst.
“
“EZRA!”
He felt a rush of hot air blow over his head as he was forcefully shoved to the ground by something small and bouncy. He landed on the dirt, hard, and felt the breath knocked out of him.
Gasping, he turned his head around to see Frimon standing in between him and the Cyclomon.
“Frimon, what are you doing,” Ezra wheezed, sitting back up and struggling to reach for the tiny Digimon. “You’re gonna get hurt. Go back.”
“I need to protect you,” Frimon cried, turning to look at him, and Ezra saw, his stomach dropping into his feet, that he was crying. “I can’t let you die like this.”
“No, Frimon,” Ezra said, falling forward as he tried to grab him. Frimon was too fast, and jumped out of the way just in time. “No. Please, go back!”
Frimon didn’t listen. He hopped forward an inch, glaring at the Cyclomon with an amount of hatred Ezra had never seen in such a tiny creature before.
Frimon screamed and jumped forward, puffing out his tail midair. “
He spun around as he neared Cyclomon, smacking him across the face with his tail over and over again. Cyclomon sneezed and batted him away as easily as a cat could flick aside a fly.
Time seemed to slow down around Ezra as he watched the tiny Digimon soar through the air near Alex and Castor. Without thinking, he got to his feet and ran like he had never run before.
“Frimon!” he shouted, diving forward and stretching his arms out as far as they would go, hoping to catch him in his hands.
Frimon landed right in his palms, and Ezra curled up in on himself as he rolled across the ground, the only thought in his mind being to protect Frimon.
The two of them stayed there for minutes, or perhaps it was just a second, until Frimon coughed and Ezra let a sob go, never having been so happy in his life to have someone cough on him.
“Did I get him?” the cat head murmured, and Ezra cried harder.
“Yeah. Yeah, you got him.”
A roar from behind him snapped him back to reality with a mild heart attack. Placing Frimon gently on the ground (and giving him a pat for good measure), Ezra turned around, still down on one knee, to face the Cyclomon.
He reached into his back pocket, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Pulling his hand back out, he stared at the knife lying in his palm, and then he stood up to his full height, gripped it tightly, and charged.
He didn’t have a plan. Turns out he didn’t need one, because stabbing a giant Digimon with a steak knife takes them by enough surprise for you to realize what a horrible fucking idea that was, and gives you enough time to get the hell out of there while you can.
Cyclomon screeched again, but Ezra was already halfway back to Frimon and Alex, and it couldn’t tell what had attacked it; its attention had been elsewhere.
“You have a knife?” Alex called out to him as he skidded to a stop in between him and Frimon, cupping his hands around his mouth to be heard. “Where did you get that?”
“Back at the mansion,” Ezra replied, turning his focus down to Frimon. “The one we were sharpening Castor’s horn with.”
“So THAT’S where it went, you mother—”
Did he draw blood? No; he vaguely remembered Ko explaining that Digimon didn’t bleed. Did he do any damage? Based off its resounding cry, he would assume so.
Had he killed it? Unfortunately not.
Cyclomon had seemed to realize that none of the other kids, still handling their partners and thus too busy to attack, had been the one who had so rudely stabbed it, and it was now deciding between Alex and Ezra.
It saw that Alex was dealing with Castor, and settled on Ezra.
“FUCK OFF!” Ezra screamed, brandishing the knife threateningly. “I HAVE A KNIFE!”
Cyclomon actually seemed to take pause at this, though whether it was because it actually feared the knife or if it was just plain confused why Ezra was flailing his arm around and screaming was anyone’s guess. Regardless, it shook its head and continued on its way toward him, seeming to drag its stroll towards him out as long as it could, as if it was taunting him.
When it got within striking range, it gave another hideous laugh and pulled its arm back, preparing to attack.
And then Ezra realized Frimon wasn’t beside him anymore.
The tiny Digimon had leapt in front of him as Cyclomon had reached back its arm, in a desperate attempt to protect him. Puffing his frill out, he lashed his tail menacingly and growled.
“Frimon, no,” Ezra choked out, reaching forward to grab him. Frimon shook him off and hopped toward Cyclomon.
Cyclomon tilted its head, its arm suspended in midair as it inspected the tiny Digimon it had so easily crushed only moments before.
Frimon stood up as tall as a ten inch bouncing cat head could, his eyes narrowed and his pupils mere slits set in his irises. Ezra felt something burst into life deep within him, and he realized that Frimon was beginning to glow.
“I’m not going to let you hurt Ezra!”
His phone beeped, and Frimon roared like a lion, and then his vision was shot through with bright orange light.
Suddenly everything went dead silent as the light overtook the clearing; Cyclomon had ceased roaring, the wind had stopped howling, and Ezra had stopped breathing.
The silence was split by two robotic words. “Evolution engaged.”
Then everything exploded into noise again, Ezra having to clutch his ears in pain. Squinting through the light, he noticed that Frimon, still glowing, was… changing. Right in front of his very eyes.
He grew taller, developing four limbs, two of which he stood on like legs and the other two of which acted as arms. His tail elongated as it lashed back and forth, and the tip burst into what looked like a flame. Scruffy fur around his cheeks developed out of his frill, and he now had two prominent ears, in between which was another flame from a sort of mantle he wore on his forehead.
The light disappeared in an instant, and an entirely new Digimon stood before him, arms outstretched, facing Cyclomon with the same determination that Frimon had.
“
He wasn’t sure whether it was not-Frimon or some sort of cosmic entity which announced it, but he heard it, loud and clear, as if it was spoken directly into his ears.
Cyclomon took a step back, and not-Frimon - Coronamon, now - smirked and cracked his knuckles.
“
This was the signal for the other Digimon to jump back up and into the fight.
“
Cyclomon roared and swept its arm around, but this time, they knew better; this time, they dodged; this time, they landed on their feet. This time, they came together, facing off against their biggest enemy yet.
Coronamon grinned as his paws erupted into flames, spreading up his arms, embers dancing away into the night.
This time, they attacked as one.
“
“
“
“
“
“
The attacks shot forward from each of them, directly headed for Cyclomon.
This time, they hit.
This time, they won.
Nobody said a word or moved a muscle as Cyclomon keened out a final cry and crumpled to the ground, defeated, before dissolving into pixels with its single white eye snapping back into blue.
Nobody said anything even afterward, where they all stared at where it had collapsed; no one sighed, no one took a step forward or back, until several minutes had passed and they had finally gotten over the shock of what had just happened.
Ezra made the first move.
“You absolute madlad!” he shouted, tears streaming down his face. He rushed forward, his knees buckling as he reached Coronamon’s side. Without a second thought, he reached his arms around the tiny lion cub and embraced him tightly, the Digimon’s ears tickling his chin.
Coronamon seemed to pause, and then he slowly but surely wrapped his own arms around Ezra’s back, burrowing his face into the boy’s chest. Ezra’s heart pounded in his ribcage and he thought it may as well burst out onto the ground right then and there.
Ezra let go of Coronamon, but kept his hands on his shoulders as he pushed him back a little and looked into his eyes. Coronamon wiped his face with a paw and swallowed hard, cracking a weak smile up at Ezra.
“Told ya I could do it.”
“Oh, Coronamon,” Ezra sobbed, his voice hitching on the last syllable, before he pulled the tiny Digimon in for another hug. Coronamon laughed this time, his claws clinging to the back of Ezra’s shirt and undoubtedly ripping tiny holes in the fabric.
Ezra didn’t care.
“I was so scared,” he whispered into Coronamon’s forehead, sniffing. Coronamon’s shoulders slumped as he retracted himself from the embrace.
He looked down at his feet as he rubbed his upper arm with his paw. “I had to protect you,” he said quietly, grinning shyly. “I was scared too. Of losing you.”
“You shouldn’t have run in like that,” Ezra breathed, trying to still his trembling body.
Coronamon laughed, flicking his tail. “Neither should you.”
Ezra felt a sudden presence at his side, and looked up into Alex’s eyes, full of concern and worry and relief. He grabbed his hand and pulled himself up off the dirt before offering Coronamon his own hand to do the same.
He fell into Alex’s arms, too weak to keep standing any longer, and Alex chuckled as he positioned Ezra so he was leaning against his shoulder. “You’re pretty brave,” he said to Coronamon, who ducked his head in embarrassment.
“Course he is,” Ezra mumbled, yawning slowly. “He’s my partner.” He managed to tilt his head down at the tiny Digimon, who was now standing on his own and receiving a head-to-toe evaluation from Castor. Coronamon blinked at the dragon, then up at Alex, and then finally at Ezra, placing a fist on his chest in determination.
Ezra’s mouth twitched into a smile. “What do you think of the name Ember?”
He didn’t check his phone until much later.
The Frimon were overjoyed when they learned that Cyclomon had finally been defeated, although they were also incredibly empathetic towards the group for the bravery they’d shown and the strength they’d exhibited and the sacrifices they’d made.
“I’m gonna miss that knife,” Ezra mused aloud, his head in Alex’s lap as he stroked Ember’s ears, the little lion cub laying across his own chest.
He’d made the decision to leave it where Cyclomon had been defeated, partly as a sort of tribute and partly because Alex had been way angrier than he’d thought he’d be when he found out Ezra had had it all along.
Mostly the latter.
“I’m never gonna fucking get over that goddamned knife, bro,” Alex laughed, brushing Ezra’s hair out of his eyes gently, his fingers accidentally trailing down his jawline. Ezra felt shivers run up and down his spine, and he ignored them.
“I’m never gonna get over you,” he said quietly, then had a mini panic attack and scrambled to say the word “Ember” as a sort of add-on. “I mean,” he stammered, his head jerking back as he flailed a hand about while he searched for words. “I’m not gonna get over the fact that we’re partners. What were the odds?”
Ember had taken kindly to his name and was elated to find out just what a partner Digimon was, especially that it meant he got to be with Ezra more. The Frimon, starry-eyed and jaws dropping, had been perhaps even more excited than him when they heard the story of his sudden evolution.
It was a new thing for the humans, too; none of them knew that Digimon could just up and change forms, although their partners insisted that they’d tried to tell them before. Having it happen so suddenly, though, right as Ezra was in danger? Well, that wasn’t something any of them had considered before.
“Are you even sure you are?” That was Castor, resting his chin on Alex’s other knee, the one not currently occupied. Ezra frowned at Castor in confusion, and the dragon went on. “Have you checked for the app?”
“My phone beeped, buddy,” Ezra mumbled, though he reached down to fish around for his phone as he said so. “Right as he evolved, or whatever. Pretty sure we’re partners.”
He pulled it out anyway, and nearly dropped it onto his own face.
“The fuck is that?” he exclaimed, leaping upright and jumping away from it. “What the fuck is that?”
“That is not a phone,” Alex agreed. He’d gotten to his feet as well and was just as confused, but seemed more curious than scared.
Instead of his phone, on the ground was a small white device with orange trim and buttons. A small screen was visible at the top, currently displaying characters of a language Ezra didn’t know.
Ember harrumphed and poked it with his foot. Nothing.
Alex did the same. Nothing.
Ezra bent down to pick it up, and in his hands it transformed back into his phone. He nearly dropped it again.
“Hoooooooly shit,” he breathed, half of him not wanting to touch it and the other half of him wanting to know what the hell was going on.
At this point, Ryan had wandered up to the four of them; he’d been with the others not too far away, giving Ezra space to breathe after what had just transpired, but obviously he wanted to know what was going on over here. “What happened?”
“My phone fucking - got fucked,” Ezra said, his brain deciding not to work at that moment.
Ryan leaned over his shoulder, hands in his pockets as he inspected the phone. “Do you have the app?”
Ezra scrolled to the last page on his home screen, and sure enough, there it was.
His had finished downloading, though.
“Oh man,” he whispered, closing his eyes. When he opened them, Ryan was reaching a finger down to launch the app.
“Do NOT,” he yelled, but it was too late - his phone sprung to life again, transforming back into the strange device it had been before, tickling his fingers as the tiny parts rippled over them.
“Azure?” Ryan called over his shoulder, ignoring Ezra’s repeated punches to his arm. “You’re smart, right?”
“What did you do this time?” they groaned, but they got up and walked over anyway, Ko and Dare coming with them.
“What the fuck is this,” Ezra said, holding it up to them.
Raising their eyebrows, they placed their hands on their hips. “You think I know?”
“This is what happens to your phone when you launch the stupid Digimon app,” Ezra hissed, looking down at it and trying to decipher what each of the buttons did - his home button and charging port were gone, covered with whatever technology had turned it into this mess, and the ringer flicked between the Digimoji and some other weird language he’d never seen before.
Azure blinked. “Your app finished downloading?” Looking back to the others, they called them over to join, and once they were all together again, they decided to sit down.
“You just got yours,” Ryan grumbled once Ezra had explained what had happened. “Why did yours finish first?”
“Ezra, you said your phone beeped when Ember evolved, right?” Castor asked.
Ezra nodded. “The same beep as when all of your apps downloaded,” he said, gesturing around at everyone present.
“Hang on,” Ember said, placing a hand on Ezra’s as the boy flicked his ringer on and off again to see if it would do anything different the tenth time around. “Switch it again?”
Currently the menu was displaying Digimoji, or at least what Ezra assumed was Digimoji, based on what he’d seen of the app’s title; shrugging, he flicked the ringer, and the other strange language popped up.
“Digicode!” Ember exclaimed, plucking the phone out of his partner’s hands and showing it around to the other Digimon wildly. “It’s Digicode!”
“Oh,” Dare cried, snatching it from him and ogling at it before passing around to Ren and Ko, who in turn gave it to Flip, until finally it ended up in Castor’s paws as the white dragon’s eyes snapped open as wide as they could go.
“No way,” he mumbled, still in shock as he handed it back to Ember.
“So what exactly is Digicode?” Ezra demanded, taking it back from Ember and poking around at it more. “Why’s it a big deal?”
“Well, you know how Digimoji is our old language?” Ko explained, waiting for the humans to nod before going on. “Digicode is the one we use nowadays.”
“Oh, sick,” Alex muttered. “Well, what’s it say?”
Ember leaned into Ezra’s lap as the boy scrolled through the menu. “That one’s ‘map’, or it could be ‘location’… that says ‘analyzer’… ooh, that one says ‘communication’! Oh, and that last one’s ‘evolution’.”
“Evolution,” Ezra repeated, still looking through the menu, although those four options were the only ones he could find. “Like what happened to you.”
Ember nodded enthusiastically.
Other than the power, volume, and ringer buttons, there was a pad of more buttons that had been formed on the base of the device, looking almost like the D-pad on a game controller: four arrow keys with a circular button in the center.
“Aldamon,” Castor said to himself, narrowing his eyes and staring at the ground. “I’m sure he’d know what’s up.”
“Would he know why we’re here?” Miguel asked quietly. All eyes turned to him, and he shuffled before continuing. “I mean. If we’re here for a reason, like the other humans were.”
“I thought we agreed to never speak of that again,” Ryan cut in.
“No one agreed to anything, idiot,” Dare said, curling up in his lap and flicking her tail over his mouth so he couldn’t say anything else. “Go on, Miguel.”
“I don’t know,” he said, looking down at his lap, “I just think we should at least try to find someone who could tell us about them, right?”
“He has a point,” Ren said after a beat. “If you really are here because of fate or something like that. But we can’t know for certain unless we find someone who knew the other humans.”
“Asuramon,” Ember blurted out, clapping a hand over his muzzle as he did.
Ezra tipped his head to the side. “Who?”
Before Ember could respond, Ezra’s phone-device began to shift in his hands again, and he bit back a sigh as he waited for what anomaly it would turn into next - but all it did was revert back into his phone, its screen flickering orange before turning black.
“Ignore the phone,” he said, stuffing it back in his pocket before Ember could get interested in it again, although he had to admit he was just as curious about the new app and what it meant for them as he was. “Who’s Asuramon?”
“He lives at the Remote Volcano,” Ember said, not missing a beat. “It’s a ways away, but I think we could get there in about a week if we don’t waste any time.”
“Aldamon is our number one priority right now,” Castor pointed out.
Ember nodded, raising a paw to his chin. “I know, but, like, after that. I think it’s worth a chance.”
“You still haven’t told us who Asuramon is,” Ezra said, poking Ember’s cheek lightly.
The cub waved him off, but sat back down next to him. “He’s very wise. Very old. I think he’s our best shot. If anyone would have been around when the other humans were, it would have been him.”
“Personally I am a bit curious as to if we’ve been pulled here for a reason,” Azure said, Harmony nodding vigorously along with them. “If there’s even a fraction of a chance that we could figure out the truth, don’t you think we should at least try?”
“You guys are insufferable,” Ryan groaned, holding his head in his hands as everyone around him expressed their agreement with Azure. “I can’t believe I’m stuck here with all of you.”
Dare bumped his chest gently, fluttering her wings. “At least you have me.”
“No, I’m counting you with them. You wanted to stay here too. You’re just as bad as they are.”
“So what’s our plan,” Ezra said, looking around at the others. “Do we go to Asuramon or not?”
“After Aldamon,” Castor mumbled.
“After Aldamon,” Ezra confirmed. “After Aldamon, after we find out what these apps are - after all that, are we going to the volcano?”
“I swear if you put it to another vote I’m gonna make Dare bite you,” Ryan snapped, but he raised his hand along with the others, maybe out of peer pressure, maybe because even he was just as curious as any of them were as to why exactly they were here in this world.
Ezra looked around the humans and Digimon gathered around him. Five days ago, he’d only known Alex. Five days ago, his life had been - for the most part, at least - completely normal.
Five days ago, he was home.
Five days ago, he had no idea what was to come.
As he looked at each of the group in turn, staring into each of their eyes, meeting some with a smile and some with a nod, he felt more of that raging fire in his stomach; he felt himself sit up straighter, pull his partner closer, as he smiled and stared up at the night sky, dotted with stars forming constellations he’d never seen before, in this world he knew nothing about.
Five days ago, Ezra’s life was normal; and then five days ago, sitting next to his best friend in class, he was pulled into the adventure of a lifetime in the blink of an eye, falling through the sky and traveling across mountains and through jungles and over wide rolling plains.
Ember let loose a sigh, snuggling closer to Ezra’s chest as each of them in turn settled down into their beds, exhausted after a day of walking and talking and fighting for the greater good.
As he drifted off to sleep, hugging his partner close to his heart, he couldn’t help but smile at everything they’d been through.
Five days ago, Ezra was alone.
And now he wasn’t.