EPISODE 09 - SEARCHING
“Is something bothering you?”
On the same night as Meicoomon’s attack and Dare’s evolution, Azure and Ko sat on the roof of the inn.
Don’t bother asking how they got there; Azure, themself, could hardly remember. Maybe they climbed out a window? Crawled up the wall? Who knows.
Look, it had been a very long day, and they - both of them, not just Azure - were only really awake because they weren’t asleep. Dozing, perhaps.
They knew they should sleep. As far as anyone in the group knew, they’d have a hell of a long while until they got a break, what with all this stuff with the virus and being the target of a hitman (hitmon?).
Speaking of…
“Just Meicoomon,” Azure mumbled, their chin resting on their fist. “And her stuff about her… job, or whatever. Tryin’ to kill us.” They sighed, reaching both arms behind them to prop themself up. “And she’s infected, but she could talk.”
“That is typical of Digimon, yes,” Ko said cautiously, but Azure shook their head.
“Nah, I mean, like…” They trailed off, gently gesturing with a hand. “All the other infected Digimon we’ve met have only been able t’ call out their attacks. You heard the Frimon; they tried talking to Cyclomon and it couldn’t say a word in response.”
Ko hummed in thought, tapping his claws against his shoulders slowly. “I suppose.”
“Meanwhile, Meicoomon was out there spoutin’ poetry about ‘doing her job’ and working for some mysterious ‘him’,” they continued, sucking in a deep breath. “I mean, maybe the others just didn’t wanna talk, but you’d think they’d say… I dunno, something.”
“Mm,” Ko said, yawning as best as a beetle could. “Maybe she was at an earlier stage of the infection than the others.”
Azure said nothing, simply staring out into the night sky speckled with unfamiliar constellations. The moon, barely a sliver of it visible, hung in the sky like a lamp.
“You should sleep,” Ko murmured, nudging their hand gently with his horn. Sighing, Azure nodded and wiped their eyes, standing up with a stretch before following their partner down from the roof and back into their room.
They were both out like lights the minute their heads hit the pillows.
The plan was as such: they would head west across the mesa - completely straightforward, no detours - until they reached the volcano region. From there, they’d figure out what to do next.
“Is anyone else a bit bothered by the fact that this is where our navigation gets all… up in the air?”
That was Harmony.
All twelve of them sat around the tables they had occupied the night before, trying to finish their food as fast as they could. The Gatomons had been kind enough to provide them free breakfast, which they were all extremely grateful for; after all, none of them had any money.
“How do you mean?” Azure mumbled around a mouthful of pancakes.
Harmony bit her lip and waved a hand around, her other hand currently occupied by her poking around at her own meal. “Well, Cas, you said that this is as far as you’ve ever gone before, right?” At the dragon’s nod, she continued. “So after this, we have no way to know if we’re going the right direction.”
“I know where the volcano is,” Ember piped up from the next table over, looking just a little offended. “I can get us there just fine.”
“No, I know that!” Harmony said, her fork clattering to her plate as she held her hands out to him in apology. “I just mean that other than the general direction we’re headed in, we don’t know anything about the terrain.”
“Makes it more fun,” Alex said, before anyone else could give their opinion. “We need a bit of uncertainty in our lives.”
“Your uncertainty is what got us into this mess in the first place,” Ryan snapped back. Dare sighed and tugged on his sleeve in an attempt to calm him down.
“I think it’ll be fine, Harmony,” Azure said, ignoring the boys’ heated argument as they turned to her. “Ember’s right. He may not know the area by heart, but he can get us there safely. That’s all that matters, right?”
Although… they had to admit they were a bit concerned as well. Not a lot! Not because of not knowing where they were going (although, admittedly, that was something else they were worried about). Just…
They were so close. Everything they’d been through so far had been leading up to this.
It seemed like they’d been saying that a lot, actually. First Aldamon, now Asuramon. Was this finally their last destination?
Azure had a feeling that it wasn’t.
They finished their food in relative silence, except for the occasional “pass the syrup, please” and “oh God, you put syrup on your toast?” and “it’s pretty good, just try it.” (Azure did not try it, and Ezra called them a coward for it.)
They thanked Gatomon as she took their dishes away; BlackGatomon was currently dealing with a patron at the counter. Ryan in particular expressed his gratitude, much to the surprise of everyone, and he moped about it when Harmony giggled at him.
“We good to go?” Alex asked as everyone adjusted their backpacks. After a resounding series of nods, he himself nodded and whirled around to face the entrance to the building. “Onwards!”
They certainly got a few strange looks as they trekked through the city; humans weren’t common, after all, especially not humans traveling with Digimon and wrecking the city square in fights with a murderous cat. It was no stranger than it had been when they’d arrived, though, and they made their way to the city exit easily enough, although they paused for a brief moment when Ryan ran into a small yellow cat head whom he wanted to speak to before they left.
“Friend of yours?” Azure teased once he had rejoined and they’d picked up the pace again. He huffed and crossed his arms in response.
“Morning, sirs,” Alex said once they’d descended the flight of stairs leading out of the town. He gave a little salute to Bearmon and Bakumon, who nodded in response.
Azure… vaguely remembered Ryan vaguely mentioning that the Gatomons had vaguely said something about how no one left town without anyone knowing? Something about watchmen who took note of everyone who entered and exited the place. But that seemed highly unlikely. Surely there were other ways out of the city.
Regardless, here they were, the same Digimon from the day before, guarding the east gate.
“Doing well?” Alex continued, placing a hand on his hip as the group grinded to a halt.
“As well as we can,” Bearmon grumbled, rolling his eyes, while Bakumon smiled. “You heading out?”
“Westward,” Dare chimed in. “We’ve got a hot date to get to.”
“Terrible pun,” Ezra groaned from behind her, but Ember laughed.
“We wish you well,” Bakumon said, dipping his head. “If you’re heading west, I do advise you steer clear of the power plants. Not exactly the friendliest mons around.”
Azure blinked, folding their arms across their chest. “Power plants?”
Bakumon nodded, and Bearmon groaned, but was the one who continued - “Out west. Provides electricity to the town. Run by some insect Digimon. They don’t exactly take kindly to visitors.”
Azure frowned. They couldn’t be… infected, could they?
Bakumon and Bearmon both seemed as if this was a normal thing, and not something that’d cropped up in the past few months (or however long the virus had been around). Hopefully it was normal, and not anything to worry about.
Hopefully they wouldn’t need to find out one way or another.
“Thanks for the heads up,” Ko said. “We’ll be sure to stay away.”
“Just our job,” Bearmon said. “Have a nice day.”
“You too!” Harmony called out over her shoulder as she passed; the group (or rather, Alex and Castor, in the lead) had picked up the pace before Bearmon was even done talking. Bakumon gave a small wave as they headed off, while Bearmon simply shrugged at Harmony’s farewell.
They circled around the edge of the mesa, craning their necks up to try and see the buildings on the cliff above them. It was weird how they’d just been all the way up there and were now fifty feet below.
“Off we go,” Azure said softly, only loud enough for Ko to hear - and he definitely picked up on their tone of voice as well. Furrowing his brow as best as a bug could, he fell into stride next to them, brushing one of his claws against their hand reassuringly.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said quietly, his eyes shining with the light of the still-rising sun. “We’ll be there before you know it.”
To recap the entirety of their trek heading out west would be pointless and tiresome.
Nothing particularly exciting happened, save for the few arguments that arose between Alex and Ryan, but those incidents were few and far between even today. At one point, they thought they saw a Digimon out on the horizon, but whether or not it saw them was anyone’s guess; it stood still for a few seconds before turning back around and heading off in the opposite direction.
After the fourth and most intense fight between Alex and Ryan - something about whether or not they even knew where they were going (you know, the usual) - they all decided it would be good for all of them to split up a little. They stayed within eyesight and earshot of each other, so that in case one of them got attacked the others could hear them, but for the most part they tried to stay as far away from each other as possible.
Azure had to admit it was nice being away from the others, just walking in silence with Ko at their side. Not having to supervise the others, being able to just relax and enjoy the scenery…
Not like there was a whole lot to look around at. Off to their right, they could see where the mesa started in the distance, and to their left was just miles of dry, cracked sediment, broken up here and there by hills and dips and the occasional straggling bush. Presumably, the dark shapes back in the direction of the mesa were Twister Mountain and friends, although it was hard to tell from this far away.
Harmony and Ren ended up walking alongside Azure and Ko, not wanting to be completely isolated from everyone; the four of them got to talking (Ren not so much, of course, but she made a valiant effort to socialize) and the two humans found out they had a lot in common. They both liked blue, they both liked some of the same video games, they both had similar enough taste in music. It was nice, getting to talk to someone more or less on the same wavelength. After Harmony and Azure had bonded a bit, Ren quietly confessed that out of all the Digimon, she found Ko the least annoying, and by extension Azure the least annoying of the humans. Neither of them were exactly sure how to respond to this, so they just laughed it off while Harmony sincerely apologized for Ren’s “straightforwardness”.
The conversation inevitably shifted to actual matters at hand. Or rather, matters that had been at hand in the past, but were still relevant enough to justify speaking about.
Namely, how they’d all ended up in this mess.
“Actually, I only went over because I saw you there,” Harmony said, putting her hands behind her head. “And, you know, four other people. So it had to be something important, I figured, and I guess I was right.”
Azure’s eyebrows shot up. “You saw me dealing with Alex’s computer - or rather, yelling at him - and you decided the best course of action would be to… get involved.”
Harmony nodded vigorously. “I thought it was something important! You don’t exactly yell at people very often.”
Azure barked a laugh, causing Ko to jump up a bit - he’d been zoning out, not entirely listening to the conversation. “You don’t have any science classes with me, do ya.”
“I think just comp lab,” Harmony agreed, shaking her head. “Why, do you yell at people in science?”
“Depends,” Azure said. “On the teacher, and the subject, and who I would be yelling at, and why I’d be yellin’. If, say, I saw Ryan messin’ around, maybe I’d raise my voice at him, but I’d only yell at him if I had a death wish.”
Harmony smiled, covering her mouth with a hand. “Coming from someone who actually has yelled at him, it’s not as scary if you’re confident enough in yourself.”
“Ah, see,” Azure said, shrugging, “that’s the issue.”
“I can show you how it’s done,” Ren said, finally adding her two cents to the matter. “Watch.” Before Harmony could stop her - or rather, while ignoring Harmony’s very desperate attempts to stop her - she was looking back over her shoulder at Ryan, perhaps fifteen feet behind the four of them. “Hey, Ryan!”
Ryan blinked, obviously surprised that Ren was addressing him, of all people. At his feet, Dare cocked her head in a very similar expression.
Ren was not finished; she came to a stop, planting her feet firmly on the ground as she turned to face him head-on. “You’re an insufferable prick,” she shouted, cupping a paw around her mouth to help her voice carry. Not that that was needed; her voice was naturally loud enough as is.
Ryan, too, halted in his tracks, furrowing his brow not in anger but in genuine confusion. “Huh?” he said, holding his hands out.
“You heard me,” Ren went on, still yelling. “You’re loud, inconsiderate, and irritating at best. I don’t know how anyone manages to hold a conversation with you.”
Ryan stood still for a moment longer. Further behind him, Miguel and Flip had also stopped, curious as to what was going on, and Azure heard footsteps behind them - a quick glance revealed that it was Alex, Ezra, and their partners walking over to investigate.
“What,” Ryan said flatly, still dumbstruck.
Ren opened her mouth again, but was quickly shot down by Harmony clamping both her hands around her muzzle. She struggled for a second before ripping out of her partner’s grasp. She did not continue her yelling, but did shoot Ryan a dirty look before snapping her jaws shut and crossing her arms.
“I hold my position,” she said quietly, out of the corner of her mouth. Ryan did not appear to hear it, as he was currently staring at Harmony in a sort of “what the fuck” kind of way.
“I am so sorry,” she was saying, flailing her hands about - she’d taken a few steps forward to get closer to him. “I don’t - I’m sorry, I don’t know why that happened, she -”
Behind Azure, Ezra and Ember were trying to hold back giggles, while Alex had given up altogether and was going all out on his laughter. Peeking over Ryan’s shoulder, they could see Flip losing it and rolling around on the ground while Miguel looked down at the sea lion in confusion.
“No, I’m not offended -” Ryan’s voice snapped Azure’s attention back to him. “I just - what the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?”
Dare, currently sitting with her tail wrapped around her paws and a shit-eating grin on her face, tugged on Ryan’s hand. He looked down at her with a huff before closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Azure wanted me to teach them how to yell at you,” Ren said simply, shrugging.
“That is NOT what happened,” Azure cried, at the same time Harmony smacked the fox and shouted the same thing. Ren ducked her head into her chest, and Azure could swear they saw her smirking. Did Ren… have a sense of humor? Perish the thought.
Fortunately for everyone present, Ryan calmed down easily and quickly enough, still confused about the whole matter but surprisingly willing to put it behind him. They all agreed it would be best to just act like it had never happened.
Harmony drifted off to walk alongside Ryan, while Ren kept her distance from him by keeping Harmony in between the two of them. Azure eventually fell to the back of the group, being passed by Miguel and Flip.
They didn’t mind being alone. It had been nice with Harmony, getting to talk to her for a bit, but there was also a strange sense of peace in just walking with their partner to their left and the wide empty plains to their right.
No more incredibly outrageous outbursts occurred after the yelling event, until Castor and Dare nearly gave everyone a heart attack by leaping into battle against some unseen opponent.
They each cried out their attacks, and the remaining four Digimon positioned themselves in front of their respective partners. Once the dust of the attacks had settled and the perpetrator was subdued, everyone crept closer to see who - or what - it was.
“I didn't mean to scare you!”
“Don’t go sneaking up on us like that, then!” Dare snapped, still in a fighting stance.
The Digimon sighed sadly and took its hands away from its face, looking around at each of them warily. It was… insectoid in shape, but appeared to be more of a robot than an organic bug. Between its two horns, shaped like a metal clamp, crackled yellow electricity - its forehands, too, were shaped like clamps, while the hands on its two smaller arms protruding from its sides ended in outlet plugs. Its eyes, pure red and unblinking, stared up at the humans cautiously as it splayed its hands out in a non-threatening gesture.
“Please,” it said, its voice robotic and seeming to vibrate through the very ground. “I need your help.”
Alex placed his hands on his hips, peering down at the Digimon. It shrunk away from him, the metal wings on its back clicking together nervously. “What kinda help?”
The Digimon’s shoulders slumped and it sighed again. “My friends… Beetlemon and Ballistamon. At the power plants. They’ve been acting weird the past few weeks and I’m worried about them but they -” Its voice cracked and it fell to the ground, wiping its eyes with a hand. “Please.”
“What’s your name?” Azure asked, leaning down to get on eye level with it; Ko followed suit, taking a knee and nodding reassuringly.
The Digimon gulped as it picked itself up again. “Kokuwamon.”
“Well, Kokuwamon,” Azure said gently. “What kind of help do you need?”
“I just need you to find out what’s going on,” Kokuwamon said, gesturing with its (his?) two right hands. “They didn’t used to act like this… they didn’t used to - lie to me.”
Azure took a deep breath, closing their eyes and reaching a hand out to grasp Ko’s arm. These friends - Beetlemon and Ballistamon - what was going on?
Were they -?
They didn’t even want to think about it, but as they opened their eyes and looked around at the other ten, it was obvious that it was on everyone’s minds.
“Can we talk about this,” Ko muttered, nudging Azure’s hand gently. They nodded, smiling down at Kokuwamon as they stood up. Kokuwamon cocked his head, but said nothing as Azure turned around to rejoin the others, who had huddled in a circle to discuss their options without the little bug hearing.
“We can’t stop for every single Digimon who wants our help,” Ren was saying, her arms crossed and tail lashing furiously. “Remember yesterday? With us almost getting killed?”
“We almost get killed every day,” Ezra shot back. “A few extra times here and there isn’t all that bad.”
“That’s a pretty bad argument,” Ryan grumbled, “especially when the topic is a matter of life and death.”
“Well, we haven’t died yet, have we?” Alex argued, spreading his hands out. “And, if these friends of his are infected, we need to put a stop to it so that they don’t spread the disease.”
“Virus,” Castor corrected quietly, before pausing. “But you’re right.”
“Are we gonna put this to a vote again,” Azure said. “Because no matter what, I’m gonna go with him and help.”
Silence. Eleven pairs of eyes turned to them, and they stood their ground.
“We don’t even know what this bug wants from us,” Ren pointed out.
Azure shrugged. “Help. He wants help, and I’m gonna give it to him.”
“Okay, but what does that entail?” Alex asked. “Because if it turns out we need to die in order to help him, I am not letting any of you do that.” He paused, looking up at the sky. “Maybe Ryan. But that’s it.” Ryan glared over at him, and Alex smiled back.
Azure took a step forward, trying to subtly separate the two of them in case they tried to start punching each other again. “You all can do whatever you want. I, for one, am gonna go help. ’S worth checking out, isn’t it?”
Ko nodded, slowly at first, picking up speed as he shrugged. “And so am I.”
“But didn’t we say we were going to avoid the power plants?” Miguel groaned, clapping a hand over his forehead. “Aren’t they mean?”
“Maybe they’re mean because they’re infected,” Flip said, gently bumping his head against his partner’s leg. “We have a chance to fix that!”
“By ‘fix’, you mean ‘kill everyone’,” Ryan said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “That’s a great system we have, isn’t it. Always works out just fine.”
“If there’s a chance we can fix them,” Castor said calmly, tugging on the neck of his hood, “then we fix them. But our number one priority is to stop them from causing too much damage. And if we need to take care of them in that way…” He trailed off, letting his final words go unsaid, but everyone picked up on it.
No one said anything for a few moments.
“Let’s -” Alex sighed, shaking his head. “Okay. Castor is right. We need to make sure everything’s okay, and if that means we have to go to the power plants, then we do it.”
“You sure changed your tune quick,” Ezra hummed.
“Well, regardless of anyone else, I’m goin’,” Azure said firmly, crossing their arms. “Feel free to join if you wish. If not, I’ll meet you out west when we’re through.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t split up?” Ryan mumbled, turning his hands up and looking at Azure. “Since every single time that happens, one of us gets hurt or lost?”
“Aw, you care about them,” Dare said, bumping up against his leg. Ryan shut his eyes, nudging her with his foot. She smiled up at him but said nothing more.
“Other than the time you all ditched me at Ko’s store,” Azure said, “any of us who have been split off have ended up bein’ fine. I mean, even Harmony -” the shorter girl snapped her gaze toward Azure upon hearing her name “- ended up being okay in the end. And she even got a partner outta it.”
Another silence settled over the group, being broken quite abruptly by Flip.
“Anyone who wants to go should go,” he said, looking around at the group. “And anyone who doesn’t can keep walking til they’re a bit past the power plants. So it’s not just one person and their partner going off away from everyone else.”
“So then who’s actually going to go?” Harmony said, frowning and looking deep in thought.
“Me,” Azure answered immediately. “Obviously.” Ko nodded again, taking a step closer to their side.
“I am,” Castor said, followed by Alex mumbling his assent.
Ezra reached his arms up in a stretch. “Okay, count me in. And Ember.” Ember stared up at him, looking offended at having a decision made for him, but he shook his head out and gave a thumbs-up.
“I’m sorry, Ren,” Harmony said, looking up at her partner apologetically, “but I’d like to try to help as well.”
Ren closed her eyes and said nothing, flicking one of her ears. This must have meant something to Harmony, as she brightened up and grabbed her hand excitedly.
“Oh,” Miguel murmured. “Well… I really don’t want to be stuck out here with Ryan, so I guess I’ll go. If that’s okay with you, Flip?” Flip nodded enthusiastically.
Ryan scowled at Miguel, looking as if he wanted to yell at him, but he simply sighed, his shoulders drooping. “…Fine. Whatever. If we get caught, I’m not waiting behind for any of you.”
Azure gazed around at the group - all of them had (for one reason or another) decided to join them, and there was a weird sort of satisfaction that came with that. They smirked just a little before nodding once and turning around to walk the few steps between the group circle and Kokuwamon, who had been staring at them curiously.
“Sorry for the wait,” they said, kneeling down to the bug’s eye level once again, “but yes, we’ll help you.”
Kokuwamon dipped his head, bowing a few times. “Thank you so much,” he cried. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“After you tell us what, exactly, you need,” Castor added, taking a seat and curling his tail around his paws.
Kokuwamon nodded furiously, placing a hand on his chest. “Of course, I’m so sorry. It’s really nothing big, or at least I hope it won’t be - but - I just need you to find out what Beetlemon and Ballistamon have been talking about.” He sighed, kicking a loose pebble off to the side. “They’ve been worried sick about something recently, talking to each other about it whenever they can - they’ve been losing sleep over it and showing up to work late and not performing as well as they used to. I’m scared that there’s something going on that’s a big deal, and I want to help them, but whenever I ask them about it they just brush me off.”
He stared up at Azure and Ko, his red eyes unblinking yet holding so much emotion. Azure let loose a breath and reached a hand out to place on his shoulder.
“Yes. We’ll find out what’s going on. I promise.”
“Seems simple enough,” Azure heard Ember say as they stood back up to their full height. “Just figure out what they’ve been talking about? That’s easy!”
“If we can get them to tell us, a group of strangers, what’s going on,” Ryan shot back, “rather than them telling someone who seems to be a friend of theirs. If they won’t tell Kokuwamon, what makes you think they’ll tell us?”
“We will figure it out,” Azure said, looking over their shoulder at him. Ryan’s mouth twisted into an expression of uncertainty, but he made no further comment.
Turning back to Kokuwamon, they gestured for him to lead the way, and he obliged. Azure and Ko fell into step behind him, and after a few moments of just the three of them making any sound as they trekked across the earth, they heard each of the other members begin to follow as well.
Kokuwamon stayed silent the whole trip there; every so often he would seem to have some of his own electricity course through his entire body, causing him to stop and freeze, but he shrugged it off when asked if he was okay. Fortunately he didn’t hit anyone around him; Azure didn’t really want to find out what it would feel like to be shocked by a Digimon, whether it was an actual attack or not.
They’d already been stabbed; they didn’t want to get electrocuted as well.
It seemed to be a short journey there - shorter than their walk to the city from Twister Mountain, at any rate, and Azure was grateful for that. That had been one of the worst trips they’d ever been on, and it wasn’t even because of the walking part.
…Ryan’s reaction to the whole ordeal still sat heavy in their mind, and they forcefully pushed it away. No use worrying over words from the past.
“If you’d told us this beforehand -”
Azure shook their head out, exhaling sharply. Ko, trudging along at their side, reached a hand up to hold theirs, and they curled their fingers around his claws.
It didn’t matter now.
When the group got to the power plants, they were shocked at just how enormous they were.
They first saw them when they were maybe a couple hundred yards away. It wasn’t hard to miss - it was dead ahead of them, and even if they hadn’t stopped to help Kokuwamon, they would have walked straight into them.
Tall smokestacks jutted up from the ground, spewing fumes that dissipated as their gases entered the atmosphere. The building itself was nestled in between the smokestacks, almost obscured behind the thick cloud of smoke hanging high above the ground. They could see large shapes, mostly insectoid in shape, milling about, flying from one place to another but rarely paying attention to their fellow workers.
“Here we are,” Kokuwamon said once they stepped onto the property. “Um - I have to warn you - they’re not very nice to strangers.”
“We’re well aware, thanks,” Ryan grumbled.
“How do we get in?” Azure asked, holding their chin in their hand. “We can’t exactly go up to the front gate, can we?”
“It’s guarded,” Kokuwamon said, shaking his head, “but there’s windows that we can get in through.” He hopped into the air, finally using his wings, and gestured for the others to follow him. He stopped every few moments to look around for anyone who would see them and only moved when he was certain they were hidden from any onlookers.
Sure enough, weaving in between the smokestacks, they eventually ended up at the side of the main building - and up high on the wall was a small window, perhaps only large enough to fit Miguel in comfortably.
Assuming they would be able to climb up there, that is.
Azure bit their lip, tapping their foot on the ground for a moment before shrugging and placing a hand on the wall. “Last one in’s a rotten egg, huh. Help me out here, Ko?”
“Rotten digi-egg,” Ko mused, before hopping after his partner.
Using Ko as a step-stool (it sounded bad when put that way), Azure managed to grasp the edge of the windowsill and hoist themself up. Once seated on the ledge, they waved down at the others and Ko, who was inviting them all to do the same as Azure had.
It was… a bit of a squeeze, to fit Azure’s entire six-foot-one body in through the tiny window. Several of the others, too, had a bit of difficulty - Ryan and Ren were almost as tall as Azure, and after everyone had gotten through, Ko himself hopped up, having to tuck his wings in close to his body in order to avoid the spikes adorning them from getting caught on the window frame. Once they were each past the climbing challenge, they had yet another problem to face: it was a seven foot drop to the ground down below. Azure took it with ease, but the others behind them - namely Flip and Miguel, the smallest of the group - were a bit more apprehensive. Only once Azure promised to catch both of them did they agree to let go of the windowsill and drop down into their arms.
Kokuwamon was the last one through the window, his wings buzzing with electricity as he alighted on the floor - and immediately he slammed into Azure, ushering them and the rest of the group around a corner. “Hide!” he hissed, whipping his head around to look over his shoulder. “There’s a security guard!”
There wasn’t exactly anywhere they could hide; six humans and six Digimon, each of varying sizes and hideability, were sure to stick out like sore thumbs in a factory of giant insects, so they did the next best thing.
That is to say, they panicked and ran.
For the record, they panicked quietly, so as not to alert the very guard they were running from, but it was a mad dash as each of them ran down the hallway and tried to find somewhere - anywhere - where they were safe from the eyes of the guard.
The hallways were long and bare, very few doors decorating the walls and even fewer posters or signs to tell them where they were headed to or from - but the multitude of footsteps behind them slowly faded away as they ducked through doors into various side rooms until only a couple pairs remained.
Azure didn’t dare to look behind them to see who was left, so focused were they on finding somewhere safe to hide - all they knew was that Ko was right behind them, his hand reaching out for them so as not to get separated from them.
Only once the two had come to a complete stop in one of the rooms did they realize that the entire group had gotten split up.
Kokuwamon was hot on their heels, closing the door quietly as he crept over to them, emitting curious noises from his mouth (or what appeared to be his mouth - he was a bug, remember).
Azure pressed their ear up against the door and heard heavy footsteps not belonging to any of their friends echoing down the hallway. The footsteps paused for a moment, sounding as if their owner was turning to one side or the other, and then they picked up, heading in the same direction before fading into silence.
The three of them let out a collective sigh of relief, Azure’s shoulders slumping and Ko rubbing his eyes. Azure tilted their head at him before looking down at Kokuwamon. “We got split up.”
Kokuwamon nodded, tapping his hands together. “I’m sorry. I freaked out. I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” He buried his head in his hands - all four of them - and sighed.
“I think they’ll be fine,” Ko said with a shrug. “Without Kokuwamon, they won’t know where to go, so hopefully they’ll stay put.”
Azure blinked. “You suggesting we leave them behind?”
Ko grimaced, spreading his hands out. “When you put it like that…”
Kokuwamon cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to him. “If we try to look for them, we could get caught. I didn’t see where they went, and they all went off into separate rooms.”
“We’d waste valuable time,” Ko agreed. “And if something really is going on here…” He cut himself off, not wanting to reveal everything to Kokuwamon, but Azure caught on.
“You’re right,” they said, rubbing their arm. “So our best bet is to - what, do this on our own and hope we can handle ourselves?”
“Seems like it,” Kokuwamon said. “I can take you to Beetlemon’s office. We can go right now, if you want. If you’re still okay with it.”
Azure closed their eyes, feeling Ko lean up against their side reassuringly. Gently, they reached a hand back around to trace over their wound through their clothing, and they sensed Ko tense up a little.
Last time they’d tried to help, they’d nearly died.
But that wasn’t going to stop them this time.
Azure nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”
They pushed themself up off the floor, dusting themself off before reaching a hand down for Ko and then Kokuwamon. Quietly, they cracked the door open, listening intently up and down the hallway before pushing it open wider. Kokuwamon took the lead, gesturing for them to follow him down the hallway in the direction that the security guard had gone.
The three of them crept through the corridor quietly - at least, Azure and Ko did. Kokuwamon didn’t seem to pay any mind to the idea that maybe, just maybe, he should be a bit less noisy, since he was literally sneaking strangers into a highly guarded facility. It didn’t seem to cross his mind, though; Azure wondered just how many times he’d done this before, and if he had, how many times it’d taken for him to relax so much. Maybe it was just how he was.
Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any trouble. The one time they feared they might have an unfortunate run-in with a security guard was shattered when, listening around a corner they’d hidden behind, they heard whoever it was turn around and walk back the way they’d come. Kokuwamon was a bit more cautious after that, but fortunately it didn’t have to pay off.
Here and there, up and down the hallways, were more doors labeled in Digicode; Ko translated them when Azure asked. Most of them read “storage” or “DANGER: KEEP OUT”, which wasn’t entirely helpful. As they went deeper into the facility, the doors and hallways got wider and taller, ranging from barely large enough to fit Azure to big enough to perhaps get a jet through.
“How big are the Digimon here?” Azure mumbled as they passed a gigantic door that, according to Ko, said “employees only”, despite the fact that no one except for employees were allowed in the building.
“It varies,” Kokuwamon said, still looking ahead. “Most of them are… I don’t know, champion sized?”
“So like Dare when she evolved,” Ko explained, seeing Azure’s confused expression.
“Didn’t know that’s how you guys measure height.”
“It’s not.”
“Here we go,” Kokuwamon said suddenly, stopping in his tracks and causing Ko to nearly trip over him. He looked up at a door perhaps three times Azure’s height - albeit not nearly as large as the other ones they’d passed - and jumped into the air. He flew about halfway up before reaching out for a big metal handle and pulling down on it, swinging the door open outwards before dropping back down to the ground and beckoning Azure and Ko to follow him.
The interior of the room was a sharp difference from the rest of the facility. Whereas the hallways had all been painted a dull brown color, with concrete flooring, Beetlemon’s office walls were pure white and the floors were covered in a dark gray carpet. Motivational posters and pictures hung from the walls, a few of the frames empty but most of them featuring lineups of several different insect Digimon, seeming to be group photographs of a company.
A window on the far side of the room looked out over the exterior of the power plant, where three smokestacks in the distance were lined up almost perfectly. Two desks larger than any that Azure had ever seen sat next to each other by the window; tall stacks of papers decorated the leftmost one, while the one on the right was completely cleared off.
Collections of bookshelves and filing cabinets took up the corner of the room directly to Azure’s right, along the same wall as the door. Some of the drawers were open, half of them empty and the other half full of more papers and folders.
At the end of the room, next to the desks, were two insect Digimon - both blue, both twice Azure’s size - speaking in hushed tones and glancing around as if afraid that someone might overhear them.
“That’s them,” Kokuwamon whispered, dragging Azure and Ko behind one of the nearby filing cabinets. “Beetlemon -” he pointed at the one on the left, then the one on the right “- and Ballistamon.”
Despite both of them being obviously insectoid, they only had four limbs - two legs and two arms. Beetlemon was taller and more humanoid, seemingly covered in a dark orange jumpsuit underneath his blue and yellow armor, while Ballistamon was stout and more like a machine. They both had large horns on their head, like a beetle, but the most shocking (yet reassuring) thing was their eyes.
Beetlemon’s were blue with a large black pupil, while Ballistamon’s were pure yellow.
So… whatever was going on had nothing to do with the infection.
That was good.
Azure was so wrapped up in the mystery of their eyes that they didn’t realize Ballistamon was headed their way. They curled up closer behind the cabinet, hoping to God that it wouldn’t see the three figures huddled in the corner of the room, but it passed by them without a second glance.
It paused in front of the door, looking down at its feet, before shaking its head and exiting without another word.
On the other side of the room, Beetlemon sighed, rubbing his face with a hand before turning around and making to sit down at the empty desk.
“I’ll go talk to him,” Kokuwamon whispered to Azure, ignoring their hand reaching out to stop him as he jumped out into the open.
Instantly, Beetlemon froze, halfway to his chair. He hesitated for a moment before turning to stare Kokuwamon down.
“Kokuwamon,” he said - his voice reverberated throughout the room, sounding a bit robotic. He took a step toward the smaller bug, placing a hand on his hip. “You’re back.”
“Beetlemon,” Kokuwamon started, spreading his hands out. “I -”
Azure held their hands out in exasperation, looking over at Ko. “What is the point of us being here if he’s just going to go ahead and do it himself?”
Their partner chuckled and leaned back, folding his arms and continuing to watch the two.
Beetlemon sighed, shaking his head out. “How many times do I have to tell you… I don’t want you wrapped up in all of this. I don’t want you to worry.”
“I’m worried anyways,” Kokuwamon said. “You and Ballistamon haven’t been yourselves recently. I’m worried for you.”
“You don’t need to be,” Beetlemon said gently, grabbing the back of his chair and pulling it out from the desk. He sat down, resting his elbow on his thigh and placing his chin in his hand. “This is up to me and Ballistamon.”
“What is?” Kokuwamon pleaded, stepping forward to place a hand on Beetlemon’s unoccupied knee. “Can’t you at least tell me that?”
Beetlemon closed his eyes. “I wish I could, trust me, but…”
By this point, Azure had had enough of sitting around doing nothing. Lightly nudging Ko, they stood up from behind the filing cabinet and headed toward the two bugs.
“Then why don’tcha?” they said gently, trying not to startle either of them.
Beetlemon cracked an eye open, looking Azure and Ko up and down for a moment before taking his head out of his hand. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“And you’re supposed to trust your friend,” Ko said, folding his claws together. “Kokuwamon is worried about you. He just wants to help.”
Beetlemon blinked, long and slowly. “I’ve told him this before. It’s nothing he needs to get caught up in.”
“And yet he already has been,” Ko continued, accentuated by Kokuwamon nodding along vigorously. “It would be less of a hassle to just tell him what’s going on rather than continue to hide things from him.”
“I already know there’s something going on,” Kokuwamon agreed. “I just want to know what it is so that I can support you and Ballistamon with it.”
Beetlemon was silent for a few moments, looking between Azure and Ko and Kokuwamon and the window. Finally he pushed himself up from his chair, reaching his arms out to crack his knuckles. “Fine.”
Azure paused. “…Fine?” They hadn’t expected that to be so easy.
Beetlemon nodded. “Fine. I’ll tell Kokuwamon, but only if you two -” he pointed at Azure and Ko - “agree to get out of here before I call security.”
“You can’t tell us too?” Azure said. “We went through all this trouble to get here and now we’re getting kicked out?”
“It’s not going to be relevant to you,” Beetlemon said flatly, “but if you insist on knowing, I figure there’s no harm in you hearing. But then you need to leave.”
“Thank you,” Azure said.
Ko cleared his throat. “We also have ten more friends here as well that we’ll have to find before we go. No idea where they are, but they’re somewhere.”
Beetlemon stared at them for a long time before squeezing his eyes shut and massaging his forehead. “Yeah, whatever. We’ll deal with that later. Now, if you really want to know…”
He looked down at Kokuwamon, who was staring up at him with wide eyes. Beetlemon took a deep breath, crossing his arms and looking out the window again.
“No more than a week ago, while Ballistamon and I were taking a walk through the facility, we thought we heard something strange coming from one of the rooms we passed. We figured we’d take a look inside - if it was machinery malfunctioning, we’d need to report it to the repair crew, and if it was something else…” He trailed off, looking down at his feet for a second before continuing. “We opened the door to find one of our coworkers, Kuwagamon, acting strange. And by strange, I do mean strange. I’d never seen any Digimon act that way, not even Bolgmon, and he’s the one who’s known for acting out like that.”
A creeping feeling began to settle in Azure’s gut, and they looked over at Ko to make sure they weren’t the only one.
Ko’s gaze was fixed on Beetlemon, but from the way he was clasping and unclasping his hands, it was very obvious he was thinking the same exact thing.
“Like how?” Kokuwamon asked for them.
Beetlemon lifted his head slightly, raising a hand to stroke his chin. “Like something was very, very wrong with her. There were a few more employees in the room with her, likely either her teammates or others like me and Ballistamon who’d stopped in to see what was happening. She was lashing out at all of them, not letting anyone get close to her and not even listening to any of them when they tried to talk her down.”
Azure was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all of this. From the information they’d been given, it certainly seemed like this was a case of an infected Digimon.
But if she was infected and had lashed out at the others… were they infected too? Were there more of them in the facility? If it was spreading, how fast?
Was Beetlemon infected, and just not showing symptoms yet?
There was one way to find out.
“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about all of this?”
Beetlemon and Kokuwamon both tilted their heads at them. “Do you know something about this?” Beetlemon asked, sounding his words out cautiously.
Azure shrugged apologetically. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like we might. We - our group - have had some experience with cases like this.”
“We might be able to help,” Ko added, at which Kokuwamon lit up.
“Oh, please!” he said. “Anything you can do to help would be wonderful!”
Beetlemon shrugged. “Fine by me. Ask away.”
“Thank you,” Ko said, gesturing toward Azure for them to start it off - which they did, gladly.
“What color were her eyes?”
Beetlemon gave them a strange look. “How is that relevant?”
“Please just answer me.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t. Kuwagamon don’t have eyes.”
Ah. Well, that sounded awfully familiar.
No way to tell for certain based on the eyes, but if they could get some more information…
Azure folded their arms. “Alright then. When you and Ballistamon walked into the room and found Kuwagamon, did either of you engage with her?”
Beetlemon shook his head. “We saw what was happening and immediately ran to alert management.”
Azure nodded. “Good thinking. Next question. Did she ever calm down, or did she continue acting the same way?”
Beetlemon breathed out. “She did calm down eventually. It was very strange… she said that she barely remembered what had happened, as if she was in a daze the whole time. Management said that they’d keep an eye on her for a couple days to make sure she didn’t act up again.”
“Did she?” Ko prompted as Beetlemon slowed down.
He nodded. “Yes, once or twice. That was what really worried Ballistamon and I. One moment she’d be acting her normal self, and the next she’d just start lashing out at us again, and then whenever she calmed down, she forgot what had happened.”
Strange indeed. That didn’t seem like anything they’d ever seen when encountering infected Digimon.
Although… according to Ryan, Meicoomon had been completely fine one moment, and then white eyes and bloodlust the next. That was still concerning them - if she was infected, she shouldn’t have been able to talk, and she shouldn’t have gone from fine to infected in such a short period of time.
Azure filed that thought away under their list of “ask Castor later”, which - as their interrogation with Beetlemon continued - was beginning to fill up at an increasing speed.
“You said management was keeping an eye on her to make sure it didn’t happen again, but it did. What have they done about that?”
“They can’t really do anything,” he said, shaking his head. “They need permission from the boss to fire anyone, and she hasn’t been around recently. They’ve tried asking Kuwagamon every question they can think of to figure out what’s going on, but neither she nor they have any idea. She’s still working, but she’s under constant watch to make sure she’s not going to seriously hurt anyone.”
Ko inhaled sharply. “Has she hurt anyone?”
“There was one instance,” Beetlemon said, letting loose a breath. “She got FlyBeemon pretty bad. He was the only one in the room with her and didn’t get out of the way in time. He lived, but he’s still out of commission while he heals. Other than that, she’s only ever destroyed machinery. Equipment can be replaced, Digimon…” He paused for a moment. “Well, Digimon can be reborn, but it’s not ideal.”
Ko picked up the wheel while Azure was lost in their thoughts, and they shot him a grateful smile for doing so. “Out of anyone who has engaged with her, have any of them been acting the same way that she has?”
Beetlemon hummed to himself for a moment, tapping his chin, before shaking his head again. “No. All of them seem perfectly fine, aside from being a bit shaken up from the whole experience.”
Azure frowned, looking over at Ko, who also looked puzzled. If Kuwagamon was infected, then why hadn’t anyone she’d fought also contracted the virus?
…If Meicoomon was infected, why hadn’t any of the partner Digimon who’d fought her contracted it? How long did it take to show symptoms?
Maybe the virus was non-contagious. Castor hadn’t mentioned anything about Digimon being able to contract it from just being around an infected Digimon. In fact, he hadn’t mentioned anything about how Digimon contracted it at all.
If it was contagious, though, and if their Digimon were infected…
Was there any cure other than completely eliminating the victim?
None of that was relevant right now, though (well, maybe a little - Azure chanced a look over at Ko and tried their best not to imagine what they’d do if he was infected).
Azure knew what they had to do.
They looked up at Beetlemon. “Do you know where Kuwagamon is right now?”
Beetlemon stared down at them, unblinking. “You can’t seriously be considering talking to her.”
“Not just talking,” Azure said quietly.
“With the information you’ve given us,” Ko added, easily understanding what Azure was getting at, “it sounds like… something we’ve dealt with before. We have to fight. That’s the only way to deal with the situation.”
Kokuwamon looked frantically between Ko and Beetlemon. “You can’t - please don’t say -”
“At some point, she’s gonna end up hurting someone,” Azure said, their fists clenched at their sides and their shoulders tense. “She already has. It’s only going to get worse.”
“We have firsthand experience with this,” Ko said. “It’s the only way to help.”
This was the only solution. They’d fight her, and hopefully she’d end up like Ogremon, where she went back to normal in the end. That’s what Castor said had happened, right? That he’d attacked Ogremon with an especially powerful move, and then it had seemingly… snapped out of the virus. Returned to its right state of mind.
If she’d already been able to switch back and forth, between being infected and being normal… that was a good sign, right? That, maybe, it could be cured entirely, even if the cure was to fight?
It didn’t really make sense to them, that a virus could supposedly be beaten out of its victim, but there were a great many things about the Digital World that didn’t make sense. At least this one worked in their favor.
But if she was in her right sense of mind when they found her - what would they do? Would it be like Cyclomon, where they’d have to wait for the virus to take hold again? What if she didn’t agree to them fighting her?
What if?
For the first time in their life, Azure desperately hoped that the Digimon they’d have to fight would be infected.
Was that a bad thing to hope for? What if all the other infected Digimon they’d fought had been through the same thing? What if Snimon had just been out for a walk, like they and Ko had, and then the virus took its mind over and made it attack Ko’s store and then it was -
“You’re really sure about this?”
Azure looked up from the floor into Beetlemon’s eyes. He looked… worried. Concerned.
Resigned.
Azure realized that they didn’t know anything about Beetlemon’s relationship to Kuwagamon. Were they friends? Family? Even if they were just coworkers, for Beetlemon to be this upset over what was happening, he must have some sort of compassion for her. And that was to say nothing of any other employees who were close to her too.
But if they didn’t stop her before she hurt anyone, knowing they could have put a stop to this…
That blood would be on their hands.
Castor’s words rang in their head. “Our number one priority is to stop them from causing too much damage.”
Right now, that was what they needed to do.
“Yes,” they said quietly. Ko reached a hand up to pat their own, and they relaxed into his touch. “This is the only way to deal with this. We won’t hurt her too much.”
Beetlemon was silent for a few moments, but eventually he nodded - a sign of acceptance. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“We do,” Ko said. “We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t.”
Kokuwamon, on the other hand, looked a bit more hesitant than Beetlemon to accept all of this. “Are you sure? What if you do hurt her? Or… what if she hurts you?”
“We’ll deal with that if it comes to it,” Azure said, trying not to let that fear overtake them. “I’ve already almost… died from something like this. It’ll be okay.”
They’d explained the situation the best they could. Ko was on board. Beetlemon was on board.
Kokuwamon?
Azure chanced a quick look down at him, and slowly, the little bug nodded just as Beetlemon had.
“Okay.”
Azure let out a breath and clapped their hands together. “Right. If we’re all in agreement -” they paused to survey the insects in front of them “- then Beetlemon, would you be able t’ show us the way to wherever Kuwagamon is?”
Beetlemon rubbed his chin. “Maybe,” he mused, shoving himself away from his desk. “I can lead you around a bit to try to find her, at the very least.”
“Thank you,” Ko said. “This means a lot.”
“Of course,” Beetlemon said with a nod. “Even if this isn’t what I thought I’d be doing today.” He paused, looking down at his feet for a moment.
Without another word, he stepped towards the door, gesturing for the other three to follow him. Azure and Ko did so immediately, and after a second or two of hesitation, Kokuwamon followed their lead.
Beetlemon scanned the hallway in front of them, crossing his arms in thought, before heading down the opposite way that Azure, Ko, and Kokuwamon had come from.
“If I remember correctly,” he was saying as Azure and Ko caught up to him, “Kuwagamon was on inspection duty, so she could be anywhere… but I know her route, and judging from the time of day, I think I have an idea of where she is right now.” He paused, looking over at the other side of the hallway, through a distorted office window. Azure squinted, trying to discern if any of the shapes inside were those of workers, but Beetlemon continued down the hallway without another word, which was as good a sign as any that it was all clear.
They walked in silence for a minute or two, no one daring to speak too loud lest they be overheard. Eventually, though, something began to eat at Azure, and when Beetlemon stopped them at a split in the hallway while he assessed their route, they decided it would be better to ask rather than leave it unanswered.
“Hey,” they said quietly, nudging Ko with their foot slightly.
Their partner looked up at them, his head tilted slightly to the side. “What’s up?”
Azure bit their lip, leaning their shoulders back slightly a bit. Beetlemon reappeared from around the corner, giving the three of them a thumbs-up, and they continued on their way.
“You’re going to be able to do this, yeah?” Azure asked.
At their side, they heard Ko sigh a bit. “We don’t have any other options.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Beetlemon suddenly halted, shooing Azure and Ko backwards before cracking open a door he’d stopped near. He poked his head in, and a few seconds later, he reemerged, nodding at the three behind him and continuing forward.
Azure started following him, waiting a bit before continuing. “I meant physically. In a fight, are you going to be able to fight her? Are you gonna be able to - beat her.” The last two words felt rough in their mouth, and they swallowed hard as if they could wash them out.
That’s what this was, though. No use in them trying to avoid saying it.
Ko clasped his claws together, raising them to his mouth. He didn’t say anything for a while, seemingly deep in thought, so Azure let him be, glancing back over their shoulder at Kokuwamon to check in on him. The mechanical bug waved at them, and Azure smiled lightly before turning to face ahead once more.
“Yes,” Ko finally answered, and Azure blinked in surprise. Ko looked up at them, one hand pressed to his chest and the other reaching up to grab theirs.
“I know I’m probably no match for a champion level,” he went on, his voice soft. “But with you at my side, I could probably do anything.”
“Well that’s just sappy,” Azure said, trying desperately to hide the blush spreading across their face.
Ko laughed. “It’s true. If you hadn’t been there for the Snimon fight, I don’t know if I’d have been able to beat them.”
“If I hadn’t been there for Snimon, you probably woulda had the sense of mind to run away.”
“Perhaps,” Ko said, tapping his cheek with a claw. “But regardless, I’m confident that we’ll be able to do this. Even if Kuwagamon mops the floor with me at first, you can just run in and punch her and then we’ll go from there.”
“Ah yes, and gain another life-threatening injury,” Azure said wryly, raising an eyebrow down at Ko, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Because that went so well last time.”
Ko looked as if he wanted to say something else, but he was quickly - and loudly - interrupted by Beetlemon, who had gotten much farther ahead of them than Azure had expected.
“Digmon!” he announced, sounding almost like he was shouting. “So good to see you! Here! In a hallway!”
Azure wrinkled their brow, about to call out to Beetlemon to ask him to quiet down, before they realized he was talking to someone and that it would be in everyone’s best interest to hide before they got caught.
Kokuwamon swiftly grabbed onto both Azure and Ko’s hands and shoved them through a door into a dark room slightly up the hallway, closer to Beetlemon but still far enough away where Digmon wouldn’t have noticed them.
“Um… hi,” Azure, one ear pressed up against the door, heard Digmon say, almost in an exasperated tone. “You don’t need to yell.”
“Sorry,” Beetlemon said with a cough. “I just didn’t expect to see you here. How is everything? Looking good?”
“Kuwagamon’s acting up again,” Digmon replied, sounding as if he was tapping one of his feet against the floor. “So no. Not looking good.”
“Oh, great,” Beetlemon sighed, at the exact same time Ko mouthed the same thing. “Were you heading to report to management?”
“This isn’t even your sector,” Digmon said, ignoring Beetlemon entirely. “What are you doing here?”
Azure winced, and beside them, Ko took a sharp breath in. Beetlemon was silent for a moment before he laughed nervously. “You know what, why don’t we both head to management. I can head back to where I’m supposed to be, and you - since you know the most about this situation - can report the incident?”
Digmon heaved a heavy sigh. “Whatever. Move along.”
Beetlemon did not answer, and the two of them began to walk down the hall, towards the door Azure and the other two bugs were hiding behind.
“Oh,” Beetlemon said, stopping in his tracks right as they passed the door. Azure drew back, trying to put as much distance between them and the two bugs as possible. “Just so I know to check in there later for any damages - where is Kuwagamon?”
“Right down the hall to the left,” Digmon said. “No one’s in there with her. I just left.”
Beetlemon breathed out. “Excellent. I will be sure to head there afterwards. To check up on what she destroyed.”
Digmon sighed, sounding very tired. A second later, Azure heard his footsteps as he continued down the hall.
Beetlemon cracked the door open slightly, and Azure and Ko scrambled away. He peeked his head in, looking very apologetic.
“Good luck,” he whisper-shouted, giving them all a thumbs-up before withdrawing and following Digmon.
The room was dead quiet for a moment, no one wanting to say a word until they were absolutely certain they couldn’t be heard. Kokuwamon broke the silence by hopping past Azure and Ko, opening the door and ushering them out into the hallway.
“That was exciting,” Ko mumbled, brushing himself off as he stepped into the light again.
“Great, so now we’re down our best fighter,” Azure groaned, leaning up against the wall as Kokuwamon and Ko both straightened themselves out.
“I thought I was our best fighter,” Ko said, half-teasingly.
“You’ll do just fine, Ko,” Kokuwamon said quietly, the first thing he’d said in quite a while. “Let’s go.”
Azure shot a look over at Ko, already following Kokuwamon, who’d begun to head down the way that Digmon had told them. They shook themself out before falling into line behind the two bugs.
As the three of them approached the door - the only one in the corridor they’d turned down, and presumably the door Kuwagamon was behind - Azure closed their eyes, breathing out slowly but shakily. Ko, at their side, reached a hand up to pat theirs, and they squeezed back.
Everything would be okay. This would be fine. Ko would do just fine. They would all do just fine.
Kokuwamon reached a hand up to the door handle, pulling down and letting the door swing outward.
Everything was immediately not fine.
The very moment that Kokuwamon opened the door, Azure’s ears were met with the worst screeching-slash-clicking that they’d ever heard, and then their body was met with a bright red set of pincers knocking them back against the opposite wall.
Azure let out a heavy gasp, the entirety of their breath having been knocked out of them. They blinked rapidly, trying to clear their vision and get an idea of what was going on around them.
They weren’t too terribly injured, or if they were, they at least couldn’t feel it yet. Holding a hand to their stomach, they lifted their head to look into the room across from them - the room where Kuwagamon was currently standing, examining the three newcomers intently.
She was bright red and very large, standing about two or three heads taller than Beetlemon and taking up twice as much space as him, though half of it was from her outstretched wings. Twisting black stripes, connecting in the center of her head to form two semicircles, replaced each of her eyes, looking much like Snimon. Unlike Snimon, however, she stood on two legs, with four arms each ending in giant claws emerging from her sides.
And, of course, there was also the wicked set of mandibles, complete with rows of teeth, more teeth than Azure would have ever wanted to see on a giant bug, no less a giant bug currently trying to kill them.
Azure barely had time to frown before Kuwagamon started her next attack.
Kokuwamon, standing right in front of her but looking back over his shoulder at Azure, didn’t even notice as she took one of her hands, claws gleaming in the light of the hallway, and raised it high above her head.
“
“No!”
Azure darted into the room, lunging forward to grab Kokuwamon and roll out of the way of Kuwagamon’s attack. She swung her claws down only a second too late, and she stumbled backward when she realized she’d missed. The two of them skidded to a stop a few yards away, and Azure was immediately back on their feet to face Kuwagamon, knowing better than to let their guard down.
“
Ko, not wanting to be left out, rushed out just in time to take Kuwagamon by surprise. The larger bug was slammed to the side by Ko’s attack, clicking her pincers as she picked herself up, and then she cocked her head at Ko.
“Azure,” Ko said quietly, one hand curled into a fist. “Are you alright?”
Azure hesitated for a moment. “Yeah,” they said, and they immediately felt the pain in their chest hit them again. Gritting their teeth, they gave Ko a nod, and he returned it before looking to Kuwagamon again.
“This is going to suck,” he said, “but let’s do it.”
Kuwagamon didn’t even hear him. Rearing her head up, she snapped her pincers together a few times, before crying out “
She slammed her head down, her pincers aimed straight for Ko, and they snapped shut around him, throwing him away with a simple flick. He went tumbling across the floor, and Kokuwamon, down at Azure’s side, squeaked slightly. Gently, they nudged him backwards with their foot and took a step forward, eyes fixed on Ko to see if he would get back up.
He did. Pushing himself to his feet and dusting himself off, he was right up against Kuwagamon again almost immediately, and the larger bug seemed almost offended by it.
With a screech, she swiped one of her claws at Ko without even calling out an attack name. Ko, still a bit worn out from the previous attack, took it head on and went crashing against the opposite wall yet again.
“Ko!” Azure yelled, instantly running forward to get to their partner’s side. Ko groaned, rubbing his head, as Azure picked him up and turned back to face Kuwagamon.
“I’m fine,” Ko said, shoving himself away from Azure. Rolling his shoulders back, he lunged forward with a shout of “
Kuwagamon, although taken by surprise by Ko’s attack, handled it well - she grabbed his horn in both her claws just as he was jumping forward, then turned around and slammed him into the ground. Azure hissed, tensing up and preparing to run to their partner’s side once more, but he got up on his own, turning back to Kuwagamon and glaring as best as he could without eyebrows.
This was not going well at all. This was not fine. Ko was not doing fine.
What the hell could they do? Anytime Ko made a move, Kuwagamon either took it head on or countered it, and she hit back hard. Ko seemed to be managing fine for now, but how long would it take before he began to wear out? How long before Azure had to step in again?
They snapped themselves out of their despairing daze just in time to see Ko hit Kuwagamon with a Beetle Lariat again. This time, he actually hit her, and this time it seemed to have some sort of effect, thank God.
Kuwagamon shrieked, flailing around wildly as Ko managed to disrupt her, but she wasn’t done yet. Flexing her claws and raising her hands, she fixated on Ko, standing down in front of her trying to catch his breath.
“So now you see why we had to fight,” Azure muttered to Kokuwamon, but the little bug gave no response. They looked down at their side, wondering if he was just in shock, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Frowning, Azure scanned the room, trying to locate him. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw him edging closer to Kuwagamon. He saw them looking and hushed them with a finger to his mouth, before he jumped forward onto Kuwagamon’s back.
“
Kuwagamon froze, suddenly seized with electricity. She gnashed her pincers together, her body still paralyzed but desperately trying to throw Kokuwamon off. After a few seconds, she regained movement and shook him off like a dog shakes off a flea.
Three things happened next, near simultaneously.
One: Ko lunged forward, reaching a fist out to punch Kuwagamon’s face upwards before spinning around and hitting her with a Beetle Lariat. Kuwagamon stumbled backward, hissing furiously.
Two: Azure jumped forward to catch Kokuwamon before he hit the floor. They slid across the ground like a baseball player hitting a home run, arms outstretched, and Kokuwamon fell into their grasp easily. They held him close before setting him down and turning back around, where -
The third thing happened.
Kuwagamon, presumably fed up with everything, reared her head back and snapped her pincers together. Ko, off to the side, pushed himself up, preparing to jump back into the fight.
Kuwagamon slammed her head forward, jutting her pincers out to try to catch Azure, Kokuwamon, anyone in range.
She caught Azure.
They thought they were dead at first, honestly. Not that they were in pain or anything; in fact, they felt oddly calm, not at all how one should feel after being thrown across the room by a giant insect.
But then from behind their eyelids began to glow a teal light, and they cracked one eye open to the realization that they were still living. Except…
It was oddly quiet in the room. Shouldn’t they be hearing Kuwagamon, or at the very least the machinery in the background? Their own breathing?
They could hear a heartbeat, but from their current position they weren’t really sure whether it was theirs or Ko’s.
Maybe it was both of them.
Their phone beeped, vibrated, and issued forth a calming voice, one which was slowly becoming more and more familiar to each member of the group.
“Evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
Azure blinked, confused, and then they hissed from the sudden explosion of noise around them.
They… pretty much knew what to expect now; after a third time of having this kind of weird thing happen, you start to know what’s going on. This didn’t ease the amazement they felt when their eyes fell upon their partner, who was growing and changing before their very eyes.
Where he once had bright yellow eyes were now no eyes; instead, a gray mask covered the entire upper half of his head, a large horn sprouting forth from the forehead. His mandibles changed into a wide-open jaw, sporting rows of sharp white teeth. Four wings unfurled from his back, revealing to be much more like that of a fly than a beetle. His four arms elongated and transformed into wickedly sharp claws, as did his feet.
“
“Nice,” was all Azure managed to get out before Ko roared.
Azure felt their phone buzz in their pocket and then speak again. “Kabuterimon. Champion level insect Digimon. Among newly discovered Digimon, it is a fairly unique insectoid Digimon, its head having been metalized and now boasting the defense of an iron wall.”
Kuwagamon, on her half, looked just as confused, or as confused as a bug without eyes could look. She took a step back, tossing her head around wildly.
“Perfect,” Ko said, his voice startling Azure. It was deeper, more… insectoid, however tongue-in-cheek that description seemed. “Now maybe I’ll stand a fighting chance.”
Leaping into the air, his wings began to flutter, beating out a steady rhythm; his flying skills had obviously improved in the evolution. Ko curled up in on himself as he gathered electricity in a ball at the center of his hands.
“
Suddenly throwing his arms back, he released the energy, sending it flying toward Kuwagamon and knocking her off her feet.
Kuwagamon grunted, struggling to get up off the floor, and she quickly returned Ko’s attack in kind. “
Ko took her pincers to his abdomen and growled as he pushed back against her, obviously pained but still fighting through it. He managed to throw her head away strongly enough to give him enough time to put some distance between the two of them, and it was quickly apparent why as his arms began to spark again.
“
They weren’t done yet - Ko spun around and released another Electro Shocker at the same time as Kuwagamon slashed out at him with a Scissor Claw. Azure jumped out of the way, still cradling Kokuwamon in their arms, and ducked behind another pipe to get out of the blast range.
“Ko!” Azure called out, setting Kokuwamon down. “Is this working? She doesn’t seem to be -” Stopping? Returning to normal? Going easy on him? They shook their head out, clenching their hands into tight fists. When they spoke again, it was quieter than they wanted it to be. “Is this even possible?”
Ko grit his teeth and flared his wings out, keeping Kuwagamon away from Azure and Kokuwamon. “I don’t know,” he said, and Azure bit their lip. “She might not be like Ogremon. Maybe… maybe she can’t be helped.”
“She has to be!” Kokuwamon cried, and the sudden noise drove Kuwagamon to screech again, clacking her pincers. Ko growled, lowering his head, ready to attack if need be.
Azure placed a hand on Kokuwamon’s shoulder. The little bug sniffled, tapping his claws together. “She has to be,” he said again, quieter this time, but his eyes were downcast even as he said it.
He knew, and Ko knew, and Azure knew, that she couldn’t.
“What’s the plan?” Ko asked. He didn’t look back over his shoulder, not wanting to take his eyes(?) off of Kuwagamon, but he was speaking clearly to Azure.
They wished he wasn’t.
They didn’t answer. They opened their mouth once, twice, trying to say something, but they couldn’t. No words came to their mind or tongue.
Azure closed their eyes and looked away.
That was their first mistake.
“
“Azure!”
Their eyes flew open just in time to see Kuwagamon lunging for them, claws outstretched and pincers snapping at the air. They scrambled backward as quickly as they could, not even having the time to grab Kokuwamon - they just had to hope Kuwagamon wouldn’t hit him -
“
The blast of energy knocked Kuwagamon entirely off track, and she was hit head-on and sent spiraling into the wall. With a crash and a grunt, she picked herself up off the floor and turned back to Ko.
Ko landed on the ground, his wings slowing to a halt as he stepped toward Kuwagamon. She was still for a moment, then once again cried out “
He quickly hopped out of the way, Kuwagamon stumbling forward when her pincers didn’t make contact.
“
Azure, from their position on the other side of the room, couldn’t quite see clearly, but if they squinted they could swear they saw the edges of Kuwagamon’s wings beginning to glow with the light of pixelation.
Their heart dropped to their feet.
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. None of this had gone as planned - they were supposed to fight Kuwagamon and bring her back to normal and fix her. Not kill her.
They never should have come here in the first place.
Neither Ko nor Kuwagamon moved for a few moments, save for Kuwagamon’s occasional pincer snap. Ko finally took a step forward; Kuwagamon screeched, and he winced.
“This wasn’t your fault,” he said softly. “I wish this could have gone another way. But I can’t let you hurt anyone anymore. Especially not my partner.”
Kuwagamon screeched again, lifting her head up and clicking her pincers.
Ko took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
He clasped his hands together as they began to crackle with energy once more. Raising them above his head, he stepped backwards, before crying out “
He swung his hands down hard onto Kuwagamon, the lightning flashing so bright that it almost completely obscured both of them.
Kokuwamon whimpered, and Azure looked down at him, one hand pressed to his mouth and the others curled into the best fists he could manage.
They looked over at Ko and Kuwagamon, but all that was left of the latter were a few fading pixels, floating away into the air as they dissipated.
Azure let out a breath they hadn’t known they’d been holding and sank to their knees.
They didn’t know how long they sat there, staring at where Kuwagamon had once stood. At some point, Ko came to their side, devolving back to rookie with a flash of teal light. He curled up next to them, taking their hands in his, and they closed their eyes as he leaned into them.
They’d done it. They’d done what they’d set out to do. This was what they wanted, yeah? To prevent any more damage or casualties?
And they had.
So then what was that sinking feeling in their stomach? Why did their throat feel so tight? Why couldn’t they say anything when they opened their mouth?
They sat there with Ko and Kokuwamon for some amount of time; it could have been ten minutes or an hour for all they knew.
But, eventually, they were brought back to reality.
“Oh.”
A voice from behind them snapped Azure’s head right around, panic beginning to rise in their chest - but it was just Beetlemon, one hand on the door frame as he looked in on them.
“Hey,” Azure said quietly.
Beetlemon blinked as he stepped inside fully, walking over to Ko and Azure and kneeling down next to them. “I… take it that it didn’t go well.”
Azure just nodded, not having the words to speak. Beetlemon shut his eyes, drawing in a breath.
It was Kokuwamon who broke the silence, and he did so by tackle-hugging Beetlemon.
“What -” Beetlemon barely had time to say before he toppled backward, Kokuwamon quickly jumping off of him and raising his hands to his mouth apologetically.
“I’m sorry!” Kokuwamon gasped, bowing deeply. “I’m just so glad that we were able to find out what was going on. I’m so glad you told us what happened.”
“It wasn’t - well, I guess it was a big deal,” Beetlemon mumbled, gently steadying himself on Azure as he pushed himself back upward.
“I was just worried about you,” Kokuwamon continued, clasping his hands. “You and Ballistamon. I was worried something was wrong.” He sighed. “I wanted to help you, to know what was going on, but…” He faltered, stumbling forward. “But… you refused to tell me, and I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. So I had to get help.”
“From a human?” Beetlemon asked, sounding a little skeptical. Kokuwamon nodded.
“It was all I could think of. I know it may not have been smart, after last time, but…”
Beetlemon furrowed his brow in thought. “Last -?” Suddenly he lit up, clapping a hand over his mouth in shock. “Oh no. Last time? You can’t mean -”
Kokuwamon nodded again, sighing. “Yeah.”
“They were here to help?”
“Also yeah.”
Beetlemon groaned, pressing his hands to his face. “And I attacked them.”
“Also yeah.”
“Hang on,” Azure managed to say, raising their hands. “Who? Who did you attack?”
“I didn’t attack them - not really,” Beetlemon started. “A few weeks ago, there were intruders - or, I thought they were intruders. I saw them and I sounded the alarm. We chased them out of here.” He chuckled quietly. “They put up quite a fight, I’ll give them that. Especially considering two of them couldn’t really do anything.”
Azure’s heart skipped a beat as their stomach dropped to their feet. “But who were they.” They had a feeling they knew, but - they had to know for certain.
Beetlemon looked down at them, cracking a sad sort of smile the best he could with his bug mouth. “Humans. Two of them, and two Digimon with them.”
Azure looked over at Ko, and he matched their gaze evenly.
They took a deep breath and turned to Beetlemon. “Which way did they go?”
It took quite a lot of searching to find the rest of the group; turns out they hadn’t stayed put like Kokuwamon had hoped, but had instead wandered around the facility trying to find each other. It was a bit of a surprise to open the final door in the hallway to find all ten of them sitting around moping about how they’d been left behind.
Neither Azure nor Ko were eager to go into detail about what had happened; they gave a quick recap, promising to tell the whole story later, but neither of them were really certain when “later” would be.
Beetlemon cleared his throat after the group had quieted down. “I’m glad you found your friends. And - hey.” He turned to Ko, reaching a hand out with a smile. “Thank you for the help. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Ko hopped up into the air, taking Beetlemon’s hand into his own and shaking it up and down. “The feeling is mutual.”
“Say,” Beetlemon mumbled, eyeing Ko. “You wanna stick around for a bit? Help us out? We could really use the extra hands.” He chuckled at the last bit, unable to restrain himself from laughing at his own joke.
Ko flashed a look down at Azure, wringing his hands together, and it was certainly something to see him look so nervous after having been so large just a while ago. Azure tilted their head, ever so slightly; Ko took a deep breath and turned back to Beetlemon.
“I’m afraid not,” he said. “My friends and I - we’ve got somewhere we need to be.”
Beetlemon nodded and shrugged. “Our doors are always open to you. After I talk to the boss, that is.” He laughed. “Maybe we need to lighten up on security. Turns out you guys aren’t half bad.” He grimaced, smiling ironically down at Azure. “Hey. If you see those kids, tell them I’m sorry.”
“Will do,” Azure said, saluting him. They caught Miguel looking at them in confusion, and mouthed “I’ll explain later” at him.
Beetlemon smiled once more before waving around at the others in the group. “Kokuwamon, you’re good with leading them out, right?”
“Yessir,” Kokuwamon said, snapping to attention. He turned to face the rest of the group, gesturing with his hand out at the door. “If you’ll follow me.”
Kokuwamon led them down hallways, past doors and other corridors, some of which were very familiar to Azure and Ko, until finally they reached a back exit. Azure was surprised to see that the sun was setting; turns out they’d been inside longer than they’d thought.
“Thank you for your help,” Kokuwamon said, bowing deeply after they’d all stepped outside. “Really. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
“It was nothing,” Azure said quietly, leaning down to shake Kokuwamon’s hand.
Kokuwamon sighed, reaching out to shake Ko’s hand as well. “Good luck out there,” he said, saluting the two of them. “Oh, and - please tell the other humans I’m sorry, too.”
And with that, he stepped back inside, waving goodbye to the group with his two left hands before shutting the door.
Castor cleared his throat, staring pointedly at Azure. “So what’s all this about other humans?”
Ren in particular did not take it well.
It was to be expected; she hadn’t taken too kindly to any newcomers, really, and wasn’t too keen on the whole idea that they might be here in this world for a reason - but now they knew that there were other humans here, in the Digital World, barely five miles west of the power plants.
Beetlemon had said that that’s where they’d gone, at least; maybe they were somewhere else altogether, but it was the only lead they had, and they had no choice but to take it.
“Actually, our other choice is to just keep going and ignore the idea,” Ren said coolly, crossing her arms across her chest. “We don’t have to find these humans.”
“What if they know how to get us home?” Harmony argued, reaching a hand out to place on her partner’s shoulder. “That’s what we’re after, isn’t it?”
“I thought we were going to try to find out whether or not we’re here for a destiny thing,” Ember said with a frown.
“I don’t have a preference on what you all decide,” Ren countered. “Ultimately, it’s not up to me. But if you’d like to know my thoughts on the matter, I think we’re just fine as is and shouldn’t waste our time looking for humans who may or may not be of any help.”
“Look,” Azure groaned, having known that this was coming but unable to stop it, “we’re going to find them. No matter what.”
“Who died and made you captain?” Alex snarked.
Azure raised their eyebrows at him. He lifted his chin, staring them down for a minute before succumbing.
“Fine,” he muttered. “We’ll go tomorrow. This is not up for debate.”
Despite more grumbling from Ren, she gave in easily enough. The group walked for maybe half an hour more, trying to put some distance between them and the power plant in case there were any night guards. Azure had, quite frankly, had enough fighting for the day, and was not looking forward to any more of it, if they could help it.
But - that reminded them.
“I have an announcement.” They clapped their hands together, tapping their foot on the ground.
The group slowed to a halt as they each turned to face them.
“Yes?” Harmony said.
“Ko’s evolution,” Azure started, spreading their hands out. “It settles it.”
They were met with blank stares. “It settles what,” Alex said.
Azure closed their eyes and rubbed their temples. “All of our Digimon can evolve to this - what was it? Champion level?”
“I thought we already knew that,” Harmony said, furrowing her brow.
“Nope!” Azure smiled widely. “When Castor evolved, it was a sort of ‘hey, okay, he can do this cool thing, but maybe it’s only him’. When Dare evolved, it was a ‘hey, okay, cool coincidence’. And now that Ko has evolved -” they looked down at their partner, and he gave them a thumbs-up “- well, that settles it.”
“Logic who?” Ryan muttered.
“Look, it’s - ‘two’s a coincidence, three’s a law.’ That sort of thing.” More silence, during which Azure let loose a loud sigh and took a seat on the ground. “Physics? Chemistry? Anyone?”
“I failed both of those classes, so no,” Alex said. Ezra nodded his agreement.
“I got a C in chemistry because I refused to wear the ugly goggles,” Ryan chimed in.
“I got a B because I was sick for a week and couldn’t take the final,” Harmony mumbled, rubbing her arm.
“Moving on,” Azure said, pointedly ignoring them, “if something happens twice, then it’s a coincidence, but if it happens more than twice - well, that’s not a coincidence anymore, is it?”
Miguel nodded. “I think I get your point.”
“Ohhh,” Flip said. “So now that it’s happened this many times, it’s more likely that the same applies to all of us?”
“Precisely,” Azure said, nodding at him. He smiled, obviously pleased with himself.
“I wonder who’s next,” Ezra said quietly, stroking his chin. “Hey, Ember -” He turned to his partner, who looked up at him in turn. “Any idea what you turn into?”
“Man, I didn’t even know I’d turn into a Coronamon,” he replied, crossing his arms and shrugging. “Most of the time it’s a mystery, even to us.”
“But there are standard evolution lines, yes?” Ren said. “Ones which are more common than the others?”
“Even then,” Castor said, frowning, “it’s a hit or miss as to which one we’ll end up having.”
“Yeah, not all of us are as knowledgeable as you when it comes to what we’ll evolve into,” Flip added, sticking his tongue out. Ren huffed and rolled her eyes, but did not engage further.
They continued walking after that, not wanting to stop just yet, but when Flip began to groan about how tired he was from all this “goddamned walking” (Azure had no idea where he had learned that language from, but they had one guess, and his name started with an A), they agreed to settle down for the night. The sun had fully set below the horizon and stars were starting to shine in the sky, a clear sign that it was time to try to get some sleep.
Castor and Ren went off to find as many sticks as they could, which wasn’t a lot, considering their surroundings, but it was enough for Ember to set up a decently sized fire. They all lay down in the same positions they had for the past few nights. Although getting to sleep in a bed the night prior had been nice, Azure had to admit that there was just something cozy about huddling around a campfire.
They were starting to run low on food, but they rationed what they had left so that everyone got a fair share and there would be enough for maybe a few more days, if they cut down to only eating breakfast and dinner. Azure made a mental note to ask Ko or one of the other Digimon about how to find a wider variety of food out in the wild so that they wouldn’t get stuck with digitakes.
Just as Azure was about to finally lay their head down, Ryan reached over Ko to shake them back into reality. They blinked, wiping their eyes, and he scooched closer to them so they could hear him better.
“You haven’t checked your phone, have you?”
Azure blinked again, cocking an eyebrow. “…No? Why?”
“Because,” he said, as if whatever it was was the most obvious thing in the world. “Mine’s being all weird.”
He lifted his hand up, revealing a strange device clasped in his palm. Azure took it gently, and realized it was the same thing that Ezra and Alex’s phones had turned into when their partners evolved.
“Has it been like this since yesterday?” they asked, turning it over in their hand.
Ryan shook his head. “I activated it manually just now. App finished downloading. You?”
Azure passed it back to him before reaching into their backpack. They rustled around a bit before their hand grasped the familiar shape of their phone. Pulling it out, they flicked it on immediately and scrolled to the last page.
Their app was ready to go.
“This is so weird,” they muttered, launching the app and tensing as their phone converted to the strange device. It had all the same functions as Ezra’s had, despite being a different kind of phone; in fact, although their phone was larger than Ryan’s, the device it turned into was the exact same size and shape. Everything was the same, save for the accent color lining the pure white interface - Ezra’s had been orange, Ryan’s was purple, and Azure’s was teal.
“You think the colors mean something?” Ryan asked, accepting Azure’s device when they handed it to him. They frowned, looking down at it, and then -
“They’re the colors as the beds back at Grey Manor,” they said, and Ryan’s eyes widened.
“Right,” he mumbled, looking down at his own. “Dare glowed purple when she evolved, too.”
“And Ko glowed teal,” Azure said, nodding. “They must have something to do with our partners. The apps showed up when we met them, then they clearly have some relation to when they evolve…” They sighed, shaking their head. “I wish we knew more about how they worked.”
It was all a bit strange. What part of this - this world, this adventure, these creatures they’d befriended - hadn’t been? Strange was just a part of their lives now.
Ryan seemed satisfied with Azure simply confirming that their app worked. He waved at them a bit, then settled back down, resting his head on Dare’s stomach as if she were a pillow.
The fire crackled, flames leaping up into the air and tiny embers scattering down upon the ground, a nice warm constant opposed to the cold night air at their back.
It suddenly hit Azure that they hadn’t asked Castor anything they had been meaning to about the virus. They chewed on the inside of their lip, staring into the fire but not really looking at it.
They could ask him tomorrow. No sense in waking him up now. There’d be plenty of opportunities in the future.
Azure sighed quietly, resting their chin on their arms, folded in front of them as they laid on their stomach. To their right, Ko shifted slightly, possibly still awake or at least not fully asleep.
They hesitated, then smiled, running a hand along their partner’s wings, curled up around him like a blanket. He shuddered, not in distaste but rather pleasure, and leaned in closer to them.
Closing their eyes, Azure drifted off to sleep - a fitful sleep, full of dreams, but not as bad as it would have been if their best friend hadn’t been at their side to comfort them.