EPISODE 11 - EVERYONE FALLS DOWN
“I’m going with them whether you like it or not.”
Miguel hadn’t known Moxie for long; he’d only met her yesterday. She and her partner had fought Fangmon. She’d helped get Harmony fixed up after her unfortunate run-in with the business end of Fangmon’s teeth. She had a house, a brother, and a “digivice”, as she called it; she had a Digimon partner who, theoretically, could evolve as well (though no one had seen that happen yet).
She was tall, quite pretty (if Miguel said so himself), and, above all, determined - as well as currently standing in between the group of twelve and the door leading outside the house, hands on her hips and brows furrowed.
Her brother Damien, on the other hand - while strikingly similar in appearance to her - was also determined, but in another sort of way, that way being him having the exact opposite opinion as her and trying to convince her to stand down.
It was the next morning. Moxie had been drawn into herself throughout breakfast (which she and Damien had kindly provided for everyone), occasionally frowning and mumbling something to herself under her breath. Miguel had thought nothing of it - perhaps she wasn’t a morning person. Perhaps she was still thinking about the fight from the night before.
Her reason for being so silent had revealed itself as the group had begun to pack their things up, getting ready to depart for the volcano and, more importantly, Asuramon. She’d blinked twice, maybe caught off guard from how sudden it was happening, and had promptly planted herself in front of the door as she eyed each and every member of the group.
Miguel shied away when her eyes landed on him, and she raised an eyebrow, but her expression did not change. Flip, down at his feet, nudged his hand.
She was the one who had spoken; she was the one who had declared that she was, apparently, going to be joining them on their trip to the volcano.
Pop, perched on her shoulder, looked less convinced than her partner. Miguel saw her cast a glance over their heads back at Damien, standing behind the group with his arms folded.
He did not agree with Moxie’s decision.
Truth be told, it was hard to tell whether she was addressing them or her brother - as far as Miguel knew, no one in their group had an aversion to her and her brother and their partners joining them. (Maybe Ryan. Maybe Ren. But that was typical of both of them, so did it really hold any weight?)
Damien, however?
Turns out he really didn’t want to go with them.
“Can we talk,” he said, in a low voice, staring pointedly at Moxie. She narrowed her eyes, tapping a foot on the floor impatiently.
“Speak up,” she said tauntingly. “I can’t hear you.”
Miguel sighed, dropping his gaze to his feet. He really didn’t want to be caught in the middle of a sibling rivalry - not now, not ever - but he was not prone to getting what he wanted.
“I think it’s worth checking out,” Pop said quietly, fidgeting with her headband. “Asuramon, I mean. We haven’t been on a trip in a while, anyways.” She raised her head, looking down at Bumble, on the opposite side of the room from her.
The six humans and six Digimon in between the bickering twins were all displaying varying degrees of discomfort. Harmony, leaning against Ren and occasionally running a hand along her wound, looked like she’d rather throw herself into a pit than be here (which Miguel could relate to), whereas Azure, on the opposite end of the spectrum, simply looked like they were bored.
“If you want to stay here all alone, be my guest,” Moxie said, gesturing with a hand at Damien. “But like I said, I’m going with them no matter what. Feel free to join, but you can’t stop me.”
Damien paused, standing stock-still for a moment; his eyes dropped to Bumble, and then he nodded almost imperceptibly. He muttered something under his breath that Miguel didn’t quite catch, but turning back to Moxie revealed that she had. Assumably, it was a good thing, as she was smiling in a sort of half-smug half-relieved way.
“Knew it,” she said, still grinning. “Gotcha.” Damien wrinkled his nose but said nothing, simply tightened the sweater tied around his waist.
“Okay,” Castor said, fidgeting with his cape collar. “Settled, then.”
“Off we go!” Dare agreed from her position around Ryan’s neck.
Getting all sixteen of them out the door took a few minutes, but eventually enough, there they were, spread out in front of the house - Moxie and Pop at the front, with Damien and Bumble bringing up the rear, Damien still looking back at his home.
Miguel, not too far away from Damien, wrung his hands together and steeled his nerves. “You -” He broke off when Damien turned to look at him, head tilted, but he plowed on anyway, unable to back down. “Are you sure you’re okay? Leaving it behind?” It being the house, of course - Miguel hoped Damien would pick up on it, and almost opened his mouth to clarify, but Damien nodded before he could.
“J’st a place,” he said, pocketing his phone. “With Fangmon gone, there’s not gonna be anyone else checking it out.” Miguel frowned a bit - surely there were other Digimon around? - but Bumble cut him off.
“And even if there are,” the bee said, shrugging, “nothing valuable’s in there anyway.” Damien sucked a breath in, hesitating, but ultimately nodded in agreement.
“We’re leaving!” Moxie called out from the front of the group, startling Miguel. Flip snickered at his partner’s jumpiness and Miguel rolled his eyes. “We’ll leave you behind!”
“The volcano’s that way,” Castor said, loud enough for those near the back to hear and pointing vaguely out in the direction that Miguel assumed was west. He stepped away from the house, looking out to the horizon with a hand shading his eyes for better vision - and, sure enough, he could just barely make out the silhouette of a large mountain. Presumably the volcano, though no smoke was visibly rising from it, and he couldn’t see any lava flows.
Maybe they were just too far away. Or maybe it was dormant. Or, even better, extinct! Because dormant volcanoes can still erupt, right? And if we’re there and it erupts…
He shuddered the thought away, pocketing it for a future worry session. No sense in fretting about the future, even though that was literally his only skill.
“Oh,” Flip said suddenly, bumping his head against Miguel’s leg. “They really weren’t kidding when they said they’d leave us behind.” Miguel blinked, turning back to the group, only to realize they had indeed begun to walk. Harmony, and thus Ren, however, had lagged to the back, the former of the two peeking back over her shoulder to keep an eye on the two stragglers. Miguel tightened his backpack straps and began to jog after them, Flip scampering along at his side.
Moxie and Pop, though he hadn’t realized at first, were walking alongside Harmony - maybe a few steps ahead, but near enough where they were obviously walking together, as a smaller group inside the much larger (and eternally expanding) group. Miguel and Flip slowed to a stop, both of them trying their hardest to not seem too winded by their burst of speed.
Moxie, Pop, and Harmony seemed to be in the midst of a conversation, with Ren being her usual reserved self, but they smiled at the two boys as they approached, welcoming them in.
“Sorry if we’re intruding,” Miguel mumbled, scuffing a foot in the dirt and subsequently tripping over a rock hidden in the grass. Harmony reached out and caught him just in time, trying her best to hide her giggles, and he felt his face heat up.
“Not at all,” Moxie said, waving a hand in the air. “Just talking about last night.”
Miguel nodded, turning to look at Harmony. “How’s - how’s your leg? Feeling better?”
She shrugged and winced, placing a hand over the injury. “Not… not better, no, but also not worse? So that’s good, right?” Ren sniffed but provided no commentary.
“She can walk just fine,” Moxie said, voicing Miguel’s concerns before he could even think them. “Or as well as one with a giant dog bite can walk, anyway.”
“Giant dog bite on the leg,” Flip added. “I’d say someone with a dog bite on, say, the arm could walk just fine.”
Pop laughed and Harmony rolled her eyes, but a smile formed upon her lips, despite the occasional hisses of pain from putting too much stress on the aforementioned dog-bite-leg, each one causing Miguel to wince in sympathy.
“Physically, yes,” Pop said, tapping her beak with a claw, “they could walk. But emotionally?”
“Why would their emotions affect their ability to walk?” Moxie asked, staring at her partner quizzically.
“I meant as in morale,” the bird said, spreading her hands (“hands”) out wide. “Having a major injury usually puts a damper on one’s spirits.”
“You could say,” Flip started, drawing everyone’s attention to him; his eyes were twinkling as he grinned slyly and glanced at Moxie out of the corner of his eye, “it would really affect your… moxie.”
“Bad joke,” she said immediately, miming a motion of her moving to stomp on him with her foot. He ducked out of the way, practically rolling over himself with laughter, and even Harmony and Pop couldn’t resist a snicker.
Miguel flushed bright red, turning away from them. This was a serious thing! And they were cracking jokes! And - did Moxie really think it was a bad joke or was she joking along with him because if she really thought it was bad then -
“Miguel?” Harmony said, peering at him curiously. He startled, casting her an apologetic glance. She pursed her lips. “What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing really,” he mumbled, rubbing his arm. “Just worried.” About everything. All the time.
Harmony sighed, but Moxie spoke next. “There’s a lot to be worried about.” Miguel blinked, and she continued. “What with your guys’ whole… destiny thing. I’d be worried too.”
“About what?”
Moxie shrugged, scratching under Pop’s chin. “Not being fit for the job? Messing up? Letting both worlds down?”
Oh, Miguel thought. Those were things he hadn’t even considered, but now that she’d brought them up - well, now he had a whole bunch of other things to worry about!
Good going! the voice in his head screamed. This world’s powers sure did do a good job when they chose the most anxiety-ridden teenager in the city to save the world!
And she was right. That was the worst thing! He wasn’t fit for the job, as evidenced by his constant worrying and stressing. He was most certainly going to mess up, one way or another. And of course all those things piled up meant he would, indeed, let both worlds down!
If we’re even here for that reason.
That thought gave him… a bit more confidence. Not a whole lot, but it was enough, and it was a start.
Yeah. Maybe they had ended up here accidentally! Maybe they could go home and everything would be fine!
…He’d have to leave Flip behind, though, wouldn’t he, if that were the case?
Do I really want to do that?
He cast a look down at his partner, who was gazing out into the distance with a confusing look on his face. He’d known him for only a week, and yet -
And yet I couldn’t bear to leave him behind.
Even if we are here for a reason… even if I do have to save the world… at least I’ll have him with me.
Flip caught him staring and looked up with a goofy smile plastered across his face. Miguel smiled back before tightening his grip on his backpack straps.
This, however, was not enough for the sea lion; he tugged on his partner’s pant leg until Miguel dropped his gaze down toward him again. Flip gave him a pointed look, jerking his head backwards and falling behind the four girls. Miguel, hesitant, looked toward them - none of the four were paying much attention to him, so he bit his lip and followed Flip’s demands.
“What’s up?” Flip asked once they were safely behind their previous companions, and thus out of earshot. One of his ears twitched and he reached a flipper up to smooth it back out.
Miguel sighed. “Everything. All the time. About what Moxie said, specifically.” He hadn’t meant to spill everything, but once those first words were out, he couldn’t stop himself. “What if she’s right? What if I’m not fit for the job? What if I do mess everything up and let everyone down? I can’t even drive yet, and I almost failed my chemistry class last semester, and I’ve never even had a real job before.”
“What do any of those things have to do with saving the world?”
“I don’t know!” Miguel cried, throwing his hands in the air. “Just that I’m completely useless and incompetent and I don’t know if you guys have a god or a king or whatever but whoever runs this place did a really bad job when they chose me!”
Flip was silent for some time, and Miguel instantly felt the regret sinking in. I shouldn’t have blown up at him like that.
“I’m sorry,” Miguel said quietly after a few more moments. “It’s not your fault.”
“Doesn’t sound like it’s yours, either,” Flip said.
Miguel blinked. “What?”
“I mean, I’m no therapist,” Flip continued, “but it really sounds like you have some deeper-rooted personal issues there, buddy.”
The sheer bluntness of that comment, combined with Flip’s completely serious and almost concerned tone, was just too much for Miguel to take. He laughed. A single, loud “ha”, followed by an empty smile, and leaving him with a feeling of disbelief inside his stomach.
“I’m serious,” Flip said, for once his face devoid of any joy. Seeing his partner look this way was enough for Miguel to realize that his partner was, indeed, being serious, and so he scratched his head as he waited for an explanation.
None came.
“That’s it?”
“Well, I don’t know much about your personal life,” Flip said. “You haven’t opened up much to me.”
Ah. That’s right. All that Miguel had told him was, what… the name of his sister? Now that he thought about it, it really didn’t give the little seal much to go off of.
But then -
“So… how do you know about those issues?”
“Personal experience, man,” Flip said, so nonchalantly that Miguel thought he must have been joking at first, but when he didn’t laugh, he realized that he was being serious.
“…Go on.”
“I’m glad you asked!” Flip’s face was finally that of someone who was glad they were asked, and Miguel felt relief swell up inside of him upon seeing his partner return to his usual self. “I’m sure everyone gets bullied at some point in their lives. I was no exception. Except, like, it was really bad, because Elecmon was so busy with the other babies that he didn’t have much time for paying attention to how we treated each other.”
Miguel frowned. “That’s harsh.”
“It was!” Flip agreed, nodding furiously. “Eventually I got used to it, which is a really shitty thing to have to get used to -” Miguel laughed at his partner’s use of language, and Flip grinned back “- until one day I realized that I didn’t have to care about what they said. I mean, if they’re using their free time to make fun of me, I think they’re the ones who don’t have a life.”
And so how does this tie back into me feeling like a complete and utter failure? Miguel almost said out loud, but fortunately he thought his words through before speaking, and double fortunately, Flip had picked up on what he was going to ask, having already begun to speak.
“So then I thought, ‘why not just carry this mindset on over to other areas of my life?’ And you know what? I did! And now I just don’t care what others think, while also knowing that as long as I do my best, that’s good enough.”
“So you’re saying,” Miguel mumbled, raising a hand to his chin, “that as long as I do my best at this whole saving the world thing, that’s enough?” Flip nodded enthusiastically, and Miguel sighed. “I wish it was really like that.”
Flip stared up at him dejectedly, his mouth hanging open and his eyebrows quirking upwards in a worried manner. Miguel smiled sympathetically down at him, nudging him with a foot. “Sorry. I do appreciate your talk. My mind doesn’t work like that, though.” He closed his eyes, thinking his next words through carefully. “I feel like… I mean, I’m going to try anyways, but I feel like if I don’t do the best job possible then somehow I failed. Or at least didn’t do as good as I could.”
“If you try hard enough, then no matter the outcome, that’s still you doing your best,” Flip argued, scratching his cheek.
“But I know what I’m capable of,” Miguel explained. “And I feel like if I don’t exceed or even just meet that level of work, then -” He faltered, glancing down at his feet. “I don’t know. I wish I could just do what you do. I appreciate you trying to help.”
“Miguel,” Flip said, his tone once again deadly serious, “whatever happens, whether we need to save the world or not, I know you’ll do your best, because you always have and always will. And that’s what’s great about you.”
“You’ve known me for a week,” Miguel muttered, but he felt his cheeks heating up despite himself.
“I think that’s long enough for me to know you’re a great guy.”
“Okay, seriously,” he said, looking down at his partner. “Stop. You’re gonna make me cry.”
“That would be fun to see,” Flip said, grinning wildly, but he left it at that.
Even he has limits sometimes, it seems.
Since they’d left so early (and, ugh, was Miguel beginning to feel the effects of that), there was no need to stop at all for lunch between their departure and their arrival at the volcano. Or, rather, the beginning of the volcanic region; the volcano itself was still quite a far ways away, and none of them were even certain that they would reach it before nightfall, what with the way things were going.
They had made good time; Miguel and Flip had caught up with the rest of the group after their little conversation, the two of them sliding into place alongside Ko and Azure, both of whom had been in a heated debate about whether being in close proximity to lava would kill them. Miguel had dropped out of that conversation (read: slowed to a dead halt and waited until they were safely out of earshot before picking up the pace again) shortly after. The tipping point had been Ko pointing out that, while lava likely wouldn’t kill you if you simply stood near it, it could still give you a nasty burn and perhaps turn your clothes to ash.
Miguel just… really, really was not in the mood to be worrying about dying before even finding out why he was in this world.
Surprisingly to everyone, the mountains around the volcano were positively loaded with hot springs, and although the temperature had risen significantly, it wasn’t quite to the point where it was unbearable. For those of the group who hailed from California, it wasn’t even as hot as it sometimes got in the summer back home, and was only a smidge warmer than it would be if they were, say, gathered around a campfire.
The hot springs, out of everything, were what had really grabbed their attention; none of them, save perhaps for the twins and their partners, even knew that there were hot springs and geysers here. And geysers they were - several of the water-filled craters would periodically shoot towers of steam and floating data particles into the air, another thing that none of them (this time the twins included) had expected.
Flip, being the only aquan Digimon, was the most excited about all of this, waving away Miguel’s worries that the hot water would be too much for a little seal accustomed to colder temperatures, and he’d jumped straight into one of the non-eruptive craters. Upon declaring it a safe temperature, the others - with varying degrees of hesitance - began to dip their toes in, some more so than others.
Take, for example, Miguel, who (having already become more than familiar with water in the Digital World) had jumped straight into the same crater as his partner. He hadn’t bothered to take off his clothes, or even at least his shirt, because the last time that he’d taken a dive, he’d only been wet for a couple hours. Surely this would be no different.
Although technically correct about the dampness aspect, he really, really had not been expecting to wake up a giant fire salamander.
“
Miguel had quite quickly jumped back onto dry land, putting as much distance as possible between it and him. The other humans were reacting similarly, though their Digimon partners were not.
“
“
“That’s Salamandermon,” Damien called out over the noise of the battle. Miguel peeked over at him and saw his phone in its digivice mode, the small portion of its screen displaying a pixelated image that resembled the fiery Digimon. “Champion level.”
“Are we going to be able to beat it?” Harmony asked, raising her hand to her mouth. “Without evolving?”
Despite the more pressing matter at hand, Miguel couldn’t help but cast a glance a few feet away at Castor, the dragon staring very intently at the Digimon, particularly its eyes. Which, thankfully, were a nice healthy shade of black, rather than milky white.
The white dragon shook his head. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with it. It doesn’t seem to be…”
Salamandermon cut him off by releasing another Heat Breath, barely avoiding the nearby humans but coming into direct contact with Castor. He hissed, jumping out of the way and rushing at it with a cry of “
“Miguel,” Flip panted, closing the distance between the two of them. “It’s not -”
“I know,” Miguel said, turning away from Damien - this probably isn’t the time for something like that. “Then what do you think is up with it?”
“Honestly?” Flip’s eyes gleamed and he smiled slightly. “I think it just wasn’t too pleased about being jumped on while it was sleeping.”
Miguel blushed, but nodded regardless. “Probably. …Do you think we could try to talk to it?”
Flip shrugged before turning back to the Salamandermon, who was currently battling away aerial attacks from Pop while also trying to deter Ren and Ko. “Worth a shot. Hey, big guy!”
He called out the last bit, cupping a clawed flipper around his mouth to help his voice carry. It seemed to work, as everyone - including his own allies - stopped fighting to focus their attention on him (though Ember did try landing another punch on Salamandermon’s snout before being stopped by Castor).
“What do you want,” the red Digimon rumbled, lashing its tail back and forth.
“Cool, he can talk,” Flip muttered to himself; Salamandermon’s eyes narrowed an inch before Flip continued. “We’re sorry to disturb you like this. We didn’t see you at first. If we’d known beforehand, we would’ve avoided all this, honestly.”
“Speak for yourself,” Dare called, but she grinned and dipped her head toward the amphibious Digimon.
It blinked (do salamanders blink? Was it some sort of weird digital logic?) and slowly removed one of its hands from on top of Bumble, where it had pinned the bee down while talking. Bumble zipped out from underneath, quick as a flash, reappearing at Damien’s side while his partner pocketed his phone.
“Thank you,” the amphibian said, then. “I’m sorry for reacting as I did. Things have been odd recently. Feel free to use these hot springs, but please, I ask that you not disturb me any more.”
With that, it turned on its tail and slithered back into the crater it had crawled out of, disappearing with a flurry of bubbles and a small splash of water upon the surrounding rocks.
There was a beat of silence before the scattered Digimon warily returned to their partners, Flip the first to do so.
“That was good,” Miguel said when the small sea lion had fully bounded back over to him.
Flip grinned. “Sure is nice to meet a Digimon who isn’t actively trying to tear us apart.”
“Beetlemon was alright,” Azure offered, checking Ko over for any injuries he might have sustained.
“Didn’t he try to call security on us, though?” Flip said, looking toward Ko. The bug visibly scowled despite having no eyelids nor eyebrows, and Flip snickered.
They decided to accept Salamandermon’s invitation, though whether it was actually an “invitation” was anyone’s guess. Regardless, they got on with enjoying their break at the hot springs, although Miguel was a bit more hesitant to get in the water this time around.
It was perhaps one of the most relaxing breaks they had had in a long time; although sleeping at the twins’ house had been nice, being out in the fresh air and relaxing in the warm waters boosted everyone’s mood considerably. Moxie and Damien, both having backpacks of their own that they had filled with food from the house, passed around sandwiches and various fruits for everyone to eat.
“It’s crazy,” Alex said, after perhaps fifteen minutes of relative silence, “how close we are to figuring everything out. I mean, only a week ago, we had no idea where the hell we were or why we even came here. And now…we’re so close.”
Ezra nodded enthusiastically. “Just another day and we’ll finally have all our answers. It’s insane, man.”
“Are we sure it’s just one more day?” Miguel asked, frowning.
Ezra shrugged and looked down at Ember. The lion cub stared back in a way as if he was saying “don’t look at me”.
“Well -” Moxie started, tapping her fingers together. “I mean, look out there.” She swept her arm out to gesture out west, where, past a row of mountains, the volcano was just barely visible. “It doesn’t seem like it’d take more than a day.”
“If we hurry, that is,” Bumble added. “And if we don’t waste our time dawdling around.”
“Oh, so we’re dawdling now,” Ryan said, deliberately glaring at the bee. Bumble scowled and rolled his eyes.
“I think -” Miguel said, scratching his cheek. “I think maybe Bumble’s right. It would be nice to get there sooner than later. But,” he hastily added, aware of Ryan and Dare’s eyes turning onto him, “also, of course, we’re not really in a hurry, so you know. Not really up to me.”
“Personally, I think everything’s going just according to plan,” Flip called out from his spot in the hot spring right next to Miguel. He was floating belly-up, his eyes closed and arms folded over his stomach, but he had been listening to the conversation the whole time. “We’re not in any rush. Let’s kick back for a bit! We’ve been walking nonstop since I met you guys. Learn to relax a little.”
“You’d be able to relax all you want if you were able to go home,” Damien pointed out - not out of malice, but rather to state a fact. Regardless, Miguel winced and Flip cracked an eye open, his expression souring.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alex said slowly.
“Well, the sooner you get to Asuramon,” Damien answered, putting extra emphasis on Asuramon’s name - Miguel assumed that despite his agreement to travel with them, he still didn’t like the guy - “the sooner you find out if and how you can get home. Once you’re home, relax all you want.”
“Yeah, sounds like a real solid plan,” Flip snorted, shaking himself out as he hopped out of the water. “Except for, you know, there’s the whole possibility that they can’t go home yet.”
“He’s saying,” Moxie started (Miguel was able to recognize panic creeping into her voice), “that if you don’t waste any time relaxing here, then you can relax even more if you can get home.”
“Did you not hear what I just said?” Flip stared at Moxie curiously, flicking his tail back and forth slightly.
“That -” Moxie threw her hands over her face, tugging on her cheeks and groaning. “Look, I -”
“It’s fine,” Harmony said quickly, waving her hands to assuage her. “We get it. You’re good. Don’t worry about it.” Moxie smiled gratefully at her, and Miguel tried not to feel too guilty for his partner’s attitude.
After that little encounter, no one was really in the mood to talk much, least of all Miguel or Flip, the latter of whom quickly excused himself from the water to curl up next to Miguel. Miguel kept cursing himself over and over for letting Flip cause that commotion - surely he could’ve stopped him, or at least softened the damage he’d done somehow. He loved him, of course, but sometimes he could just be so callous. He never stopped to think about what he said, or how it might affect anyone - he just said whatever was on his mind with no fear of how others would react.
Himself, on the other hand - well, all of that was all Miguel ever did. Everything he thought about was in one way or another directly tied to others’ feelings and how they might perceive him. If he said something wrong then surely they’d make fun of him; if he said something rude they wouldn’t like him; if he said something spontaneously then he would be seen as someone who did whatever he wanted. All of those were bad outcomes, and so he always liked to really, really think about whatever it was he wanted to say.
“Miguel?” Flip said, startling him out of his thoughts. His partner frowned slightly, his whiskers twitching. “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” Miguel said, smiling and reaching a hand out to pat his head. Flip didn’t look fully convinced, but he didn’t say anything else.
They packed up shortly after, the silence hanging in the air still tense with unsaid words and harsh feelings towards one another. Miguel hung to the back of the group, as per usual, but this led to him falling into step alongside Damien and Bumble. The two of them didn’t seem to notice Miguel and Flip at first, but Bumble blinked in surprise when he caught sight of them.
Miguel really did not want to have to be near either of them, but he figured that he might as well say something to ease the silence. With what he knew of Damien, he didn’t seem to take things all too seriously, and hopefully he would’ve moved past their little debate earlier.
Bumble, on the other hand, did not particularly seem interested in anyone other than his own partner; even when they’d first met him, Pop had really been the one doing all the talking and introducing and whatnot. He’d met everyone’s eyes with a cold stare and a very expressionless face, even for a bug. And yet, around Damien, Miguel saw that he tended to soften up a little, oftentimes flitting up to his partner’s eye level to exchange smiles and kind glances or to ask for a pat on the head and a scratch under the chin.
“What,” Damien suddenly said, raising an eyebrow and stuffing his phone in his back pocket.
Miguel flinched and quickly turned away, despite it being obvious that he’d been staring. “Nothing.”
“You’re looking at me funny,” Damien muttered. “Obviously it’s something.”
“I just -” Miguel broke off, biting the inside of his cheek as he fiddled with the zipper of his vest. “…Why are you coming with us?”
Damien exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “Moxie made me.”
“She didn’t make you do anything,” Flip countered. At Damien’s side, Bumble frowned, but stayed silent.
“I can’t leave her,” Damien said. “She’s my sister. She and Bumble and Pop are all I’ve got.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Flip said. Damien blinked, opening his mouth to speak, before snapping it shut and staring down at the seal, who was all too eager to carry on. “I mean, surely there’s more to it than just ‘my sister went so I came with her’.”
Miguel tensed up, sensing the beginning of another fight between the two of them - yikes, they really did not go well together. Good thing they’re not partners. His eyes widened when Damien chuckled; even Bumble looked surprised at his partner’s reaction to Flip’s brashness.
“You got me,” the taller boy said, spreading his hands out in a defeated gesture. He sighed, shaking his head and shoving his hands in his pockets. “Look, turns out that even though I still think Asuramon’s a fraud, I’m a little bit interested in what he has to say about you guys.”
“Oh,” Miguel said, his heart falling. “So you’re just coming for fun.”
“I didn’t say that,” Damien said, turning his face to the sky. “I mean, sure, that’s one reason. But, truth be told, I always thought that maybe there was a reason I came here.”
“Here?”
Damien smiled, letting his eyes close slightly. “The Digital World. Regardless of if this whole… destiny thing in and of itself is a load of shit or not, I know for a fact that Bumble and I were always meant to meet. Even if he’d had to come through into our world… no matter what, it would’ve happened, one way or another.”
“That’s how I felt too,” Flip mumbled quietly. Miguel blinked down at him, his mouth hanging open slightly. Flip ducked his head, obviously a little embarrassed. “When I met you, Miguel. I mean, it wasn’t obvious to me at first, but when we fought the Gizamon… I just knew.”
“That’s right,” Bumble said. “When I met Damien, it was as if everything suddenly clicked into place.”
“Like your whole life had been leading up to that moment,” Flip offered.
“Exactly.”
A thought suddenly struck Miguel. “Damien,” he said, “what would you do if it turned out you’re a part of all of this with us?”
Here Damien frowned; he rubbed his nose with his thumb and closed his eyes again, thinking hard. Miguel remained silent, allowing him time to think, but after a minute of silence, he began to chew on his lip anxiously.
“Sorry,” he said, kicking his foot against the ground as he walked. “That was a big question.”
Damien waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “It’s fine.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Man, I don’t know. I mean… will I have a choice?”
“Of course,” Bumble said immediately. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
“But I would feel obligated to,” Damien mumbled. “To at least try. I mean, if whatever supernatural forces there are in this world decided that I’m their best shot, I feel like I ought to do my best.”
“Wouldn’t you be worried about not being good enough?” Miguel asked.
Damien laughed quietly. “Hell, if they decided that I of all people need to save the world, then surely no matter how badly I do, it’ll be enough.”
Damien dropped the subject after that, allowing Miguel time to ponder over his response. No matter how terribly he did, or how well he did… it would be enough.
It made sense, Miguel guessed, that this world had enough confidence in a bunch of teenagers that it chose them to save it. Surely, if it had any doubts about them, it would’ve chosen someone much more suitable.
And no matter what the outcome would be, the only thing that would matter was if they did their best, right? Sometimes trying was all one needed to do.
Sometimes, it was all one could do.
As the group trekked deeper into the hot springs, growing ever-closer to the volcano, it began to grow uncomfortably warm. It caught everyone off guard, leaving them practically gasping for air.
Why hadn’t they expected a volcano to be hot?
Their discomfort was only worsened by the fact that what had once been open terrain slowly turned into a jumble of rocky walls and stone formations that left only a select few routes leading through the mess. The group was forced into single-file at times, and even when they weren’t, they still had to follow the few paths provided by the beauty of nature and its penchant for making their lives as difficult as possible.
The heat was still the worst problem of all, of course, but even so.
(Not to mention that them being literally walled in made it so that they couldn’t even feel slight breezes.)
“I was not expecting this,” Flip groaned, flopping onto his back on the ground. They’d decided to take yet another short break to adjust to the higher temperature, though some were dealing with it worse than others - such as Flip and Miguel.
“This is awful,” Miguel agreed, sighing loudly. “Is the volcano going to be like this?”
“Probably worse,” Pop said, nodding vigorously. “Since it’ll be all dry there, instead of humid like here.”
“Humid hotness is not better than dry hotness,” Miguel groaned. “I think I would prefer a desert to this.”
“Humidity is better because at least you can breathe,” Pop argued, puffing her feathers up indignantly. “Meanwhile out in a desert you’re gasping for water. Let’s see how well you do when you’re overheating and dehydrated.”
“You guys are pathetic,” Azure called out from the other side of the group. They seemed to be taking this in stride, with Ko, at their side, looking only a bit more worse off. “Grow some thicker skin.”
Of course they wouldn’t be bothered by this, Miguel thought, a little jealously.
“Thicker skin would make me hotter,” Ezra complained, rolling onto his back to lay spread-eagle.
Alex frowned and recoiled. “You wouldn’t look hotter, you’d look uglier.” Ezra raised his head to glare at him, but seemingly did not have the energy to respond, as he flopped back down soon after.
They got moving again after that, not wanting to fully succumb to the heat, and through lighthearted conversation they were all able to kind of forget about the slowly-rising temperatures. Even Ember seemed to be struggling with the heat - or maybe it was because he was on fire? Did the flame on his tail worsen things for him?
Flip seemed to agree with Pop that humidity was better than dryness; the tiny sea lion was dragging himself along as best he could, but whenever they came across another tiny body of water, he would fling himself in and take a few moments to freshen up before hopping back out and rejoining them.
Soon enough, their path began to wind up among the mountains. Their path was still mostly flat and steady, but every so often they’d have to climb up for a short bit before coming to another flat stretch. This absolutely lowered everyone’s mood, but Pop and Castor’s encouragement kept them going, despite the occasional gripe about how awful all of this was.
Fortunately, not too long after they began to realize that they would probably all die before they got to the volcano, they were saved.
“Hidey-ho!” a voice called out. Miguel whipped his head around to look down the path, trying to catch sight of the newcomer, but he didn’t see anyone.
“Up here!”
He blinked, then looked up among the rocks. Standing on top of a particularly pointy spire was a small scarecrow.
It hopped down from its perch, dusting itself off as it landed at the back of the group. By this point, everyone had stopped, alerted to the sound of a newcomer and wanting to get a better view.
It was, indeed, a scarecrow, and a rather stereotypical one at that; white canvas material face, straw hat, patchwork robe and big brown gloves. Sitting around its waist was a belt, which held a quiver of arrows and a bow. On its right shoulder sat a small blue crow with stitches running down its face and body and two unblinking eyes.
It grinned around at them, folding its hands behind its back. “Hello, children. I’m Nohemon, here at your service!”
No one said anything at first. What was it that they’d said earlier about how rare it was to be greeted by friendly Digimon? And now here one was, outright introducing itself and… wanting to help them.
“Hi,” Alex said after a few moments of hesitation. He paused. “…Uh. What’s up?”
“I like your face,” Azure said suddenly, before Alex could continue. “Hiragana. That’s cool.” Nohemon blinked, then smiled, raising its eyebrow at them, somehow able to emote with its drawn-on facial features.
Miguel peered closer at its face. What he had previously assumed to just be simple-shaped eyes and a funny looking nose were, indeed, reminiscent of Japanese characters. Odd, but a bit funny, and cool, like Azure had said.
“Mo for the nose, no for the eyes, and… he for the mouth.” Azure paused, then lit up. “No he. Nohe. Oh, that’s clever.”
“Appreciate the eye for detail,” Nohemon said, bowing. “It’s a henohenomoheji. Just, you know, without the ji.” He fiddled with the gold locket around his neck before straightening up and clearing his throat.
And then - the crow on his hand began to speak. “You’re headed to the volcano, yes?” Whereas Nohemon’s voice was smooth and giggly, the crow’s was… raspy. Jilted. Wrong.
It gave everyone a bit of a start, and Flip ducked behind Miguel’s legs nervously, barely peeking his nose out around to look back at Nohemon.
Pop was the first to speak. “Erm… does the crow… usually talk?”
Nohemon - himself, this time - laughed. “Sometimes.”
“We trade off,” the crow answered. Its voice grew deadly serious. “Are you heading to the volcano?”
Well, where else would we be going? was Miguel’s first thought, and then his second was why is he so invested in us?, followed closely by what does he want?
“Are you?” Ryan retorted, putting his hands on his hips.
“I asked you first,” Nohemon said, his eyes narrowing (which is to say, the nos on his face squashed down a bit).
“What do you want,” Flip said, sounding much harsher than usual. Miguel glanced down at him, just a bit worried about his tone of voice; Flip stood completely still, not quite frowning at Nohemon, but he certainly didn’t look pleased.
Nohemon blinked again, and then his crow spoke. “I told you,” it said, peering down at Flip. “I’m here at your service. Here to help.”
“You must be having some trouble with the weather here,” Nohemon himself continued as the bird shook itself out. With a flourish, Nohemon dug around in a pocket on his cloak before producing several vials, each filled with a bright orange liquid. “I offer these to travelers looking to visit the volcano. They’ll help you withstand the heat.”
No use pretending that that’s not where we’re headed, Miguel thought as Alex stepped forward. Nohemon’s crow reached down to pluck one of the vials out of the opposite palm, extending its beak out towards Alex, where it then dropped the vial into his hands.
“Take it,” Nohemon said, passing the remaining vials around to the rest of the group. Some were more apprehensive than others; Azure lifted it up to the sky, looking at it under the direct sunlight, while Dare swallowed hers all in one gulp.
Miguel fumbled with his own when it was handed to him, and hesitantly turned it around in his fingers. “This will… let us survive the heat?”
“That’s right,” Nohemon’s crow said, bobbing its head up and down. “Have fun trying to get to the volcano without it.” It turned towards Ren at the last part, and the fox scowled at him; she had not taken hers yet, and was instead tapping the glass with one of her claws, deeply inspecting the liquid within.
Nohemon clasped his hands together, but sighed when he saw that more than half of the group had not taken theirs yet. “Here. Watch me.” He reached forward and plucked Ren’s vial out of her claws, deftly flicking off the lid and downing it instantly. He spread his hands out, the vial flying off to the side, and grinned widely. “See? Nothing to it! I feel better already!”
“You sure this won’t kill us?” Alex asked, still examining his vial.
Nohemon jerked backwards, placing a hand over his chest. “Of course not! On my life.” He paused, sucking a breath in. “Though I must warn you… there are some side effects. These include light headaches,” and he started counting off on his fingers here, “faint dizziness, uncontrollable shivering, and a generally foul mood, though that last one isn’t going to be quite so obviously just a side effect on some of you.” He clasped his hands together, smiling widely. “And if you’re still unsatisfied, there’s a one hundred percent money-back guarantee.”
“…We didn’t pay for this, though,” Harmony mumbled as Nohemon dug back into his pocket to hand Ren another vial.
Nohemon chuckled. “I was just joking!” the crow said, waving one of its wings about. No one laughed.
“Thanks for this,” Dare said, before the silence became too awkward.
“Course!” Nohemon said cheerfully. He then sighed, looking down at his wrist as if he were wearing a watch. “I’d best be leaving now. Got other folks to help out!” He looked back up at the kids. “If you want to get to the volcano fastest, when you get to the fork in the road up ahead, take the left path. It should be a straight shot from there.” He smiled, tipping the brim of his hat.
“Have a safe trip,” his crow said, and then, quick as a flash and with a twirl of his cloak, he turned around and was almost instantly out of sight.
Several seconds of silence passed.
“So that guy was a fucking loon,” Ryan announced.
“He’s nice, though,” Ember said, twirling his empty vial around. “I feel a lot better.”
“Me too!” Dare exclaimed, practically jumping into the air. “The air feels, like, normal now. This is great.”
It took a few minutes for everyone to come around to the prospect of taking a random drink that a stranger had offered them; still, in no time they were completely rejuvenated and ready to get a move on again. Alex and Castor, as per usual, led the way, and Miguel and Flip hung to the back, also as per usual.
“I must have jinxed us earlier,” Flip mumbled, squinting at his vial of liquid - he still had not drunk it. He noticed Miguel staring at him curiously, and scratched behind his neck sheepishly. “When I said how rare it was to meet a friendly Digimon.”
Miguel blinked. “You don’t… think Nohemon’s friendly?”
Flip shook his head, scrunching his nose up, and he reached a paw up to hand his vial to Miguel. “Not one bit. I’m getting very bad vibes from him. Hold this for me.”
“You’re not taking it,” Miguel realized, sighing. Nonetheless, he took Flip’s vial and stuck it in one of the inside pockets of his vest.
“Probably drugged,” Flip said, nudging him to motion for them to get moving. “I’d rather overheat than accept drinks from strangers.”
“I think you should take it,” Miguel argued, growing frustrated. “I’m sure it won’t hurt you.”
“And it won’t help, either,” Flip retorted, scowling fiercely. “Say what you want, but this Nohemon guy… I don’t trust him.”
“What if you get hurt?” Miguel said.
Flip snorted. “I’ve been fine up until now. Surely a little bit more won’t do much.”
Miguel must not have looked very convinced, because Flip sighed, his ears drooping. “The heat isn’t going to kill me. It’s just really uncomfortable. I’m sure I can survive. Feel free to take yours, but I’m still getting weird vibes, man.”
“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Miguel said, rubbing his cheek.
Flip flicked his leg with a paw. “I’m not going to die of heatstroke,” he said. “And if I do, hey, find me at the nearest Primary Village.”
This did little to ease Miguel - in fact, it made him worry more, because what if they really did have to take a detour to go collect a newborn Flip? - but Flip’s nonchalance was at least a sign that he wasn’t too worried about himself.
…Although, him being genuinely concerned about something was a pretty big red flag. Flip wasn’t usually the worrisome type.
Which, again, struck the question within Miguel: why on earth are the two of us partners? This, however, was quickly consumed by a much more worrying, much more present issue: is Flip right?
“Do you think I made the wrong choice?” he asked aloud, barely even aware that he’d said it. “By drinking it?”
Flip heard him, and took it upon himself to answer. “I think you’ll be fine,” he said, though his voice had a sort of hesitancy to it. “I just didn’t want to take any chances, you know?”
Not helpful, Miguel thought, but he did not say so. Instead he shrugged and turned his gaze back to the volcano in the distance. They had made some good distance so far, he thought. No doubt they would be there within a day.
As for now, though - as for now, they just had to keep moving forward and climbing upward. With Nohemon’s elixir, they were completely revitalized and ready to take on whatever the next leg of their journey had in store for them.
Their reprieve did not last long.
It didn’t have anything to do with the elixir. It was working fine - more than fine, actually. Nohemon had almost downplayed its effects. He’d said that it would help them resist the heat, not that it would make them feel as if they were strolling through an open meadow in the middle of the most pleasant weather imaginable. Miguel almost forgot, for a few brief moments, that they were heading directly towards a volcano.
Everyone was in relatively good spirits again; nobody complained too loudly about having to walk so much, they were managing themselves just fine without having to stop for breaks, and there was just a generally good mood in the air as they went on. Why, they even picked up lighthearted conversation with each other.
This is, of course, only to say anything of the elixir and its effects on the group.
They had followed Nohemon’s advice to take the left path at the first split they came across, and for a short while everything had been going just fine. It was just as he had said: a straight shot from there on out.
Until it wasn’t.
Nohemon hadn’t said anything about there being more forks in the road up ahead. They’d been confused when they’d come across the first one, discussing for a while which path to take, and eventually they’d just had to go with their best guess. Pop and Bumble had flown up to see which route was better, but even so, it still led them down a winding path that had them questioning whether they’d chosen the correct one.
Miguel had never had a particularly great sense of direction, but as they walked, weaving between the spires and walls of stone and rock, he couldn’t help but feel like they were… going in circles. A rock that he could’ve sworn they’d seen five minutes ago here, a divot in the ground they had to walk around that looked suspiciously like the same one they’d passed ten minutes ago… He could, of course, just be imagining things, his brain making up similarities between natural formations that actually looked nothing alike, but after a few other members of the group commented on it as well, he was forced to face the truth.
They were going in circles.
“I swear we’ve been here before,” Alex mumbled as they came to a stop at the fork that Nohemon had warned them of.
“…Well,” Moxie said, folding her arms and tapping her chin lightly. “Maybe it just looks familiar?…” She sighed. “What am I even saying. We’ve been here before.”
“It shouldn’t be this difficult to get to the volcano,” Ember said, flopping onto the ground. “Look, we can see it! It’s right there!” He raised a paw to point up at where they could, in fact, see the volcano.
…Did it seem to be farther away than it was when they were here last?
Miguel shook his head out. “How about we take the other direction?” he said, gesturing to the rightmost path, the one they hadn’t gone down yet (he thought?).
Castor shook his head. “Just look at it. That one veers way off course from the volcano. It’ll probably just lead us right back here.”
“It’s worth a shot, though, isn’t it?” Harmony said. “If the left one led us back here, then going that way won’t do any good. Maybe it veers off course for a bit but then gets back on track?”
“And if it doesn’t?” Castor said.
Harmony frowned. “Then we can turn around and come back here and go the other way.”
“And if we get lost while we try to turn around?”
“We’re lost right now!”
The group had been bickering almost every single time they ended up at a place they’d been before. They couldn’t agree on what course of action to take; should they go down the path they’d been down before, or take a new one? Should they turn around? Try to find another route?
What could they do at this point that they hadn’t tried before?
Eventually Castor won the group over, and they begrudgingly started down the left path once again. There were more forks up ahead, as they knew very well, so maybe they could take a different path at one of those?
At this point, even Pop and Bumble’s help wasn’t doing anything. No matter what they did or which way they went, they always ended back up at the same exact spot.
When they reached that same fork in the road once more, they were forced to admit defeat.
“We can’t keep going like this,” Azure said, leaning up against the thin sliver of rock separating the two paths. “We’re going to drop dead before we find our way out of here.”
“Do you think this is a labyrinth?” Miguel said. “Like we have to find our way through to the volcano as a sort of test of strength?”
“That’s incredibly stupid but not impossible,” Damien said, barely looking up from his phone. Miguel winced, but Damien didn’t seem to notice. “How the hell would anyone have ever gotten to the volcano if they had to trek through this shithole?”
Dare shrugged. “Maybe we’re just bad at mazes.” She looked up at Ryan, nudging his leg. “How about you give me a boost up onto the wall and I can lead the way there?”
“You can fly,” he grumbled. “You don’t need a boost.”
“That’s what Bumble and I have been trying to do this whole time,” Pop sighed. “It just… doesn’t work. Even when we see the right path to take, it always leads us back here.”
“Like there’s some sort of magic spell over the place!” Ember said excitedly, pumping his fists. “Maybe we need to break the curse and we can get out of the maze!”
“I can’t think of a single Digimon that would be able to do that,” Castor said. He let out a long, loud sigh, sitting down with a thump and curling his tail around his feet. He looked around at the group, gaze dark. “I don’t think there’s any way out of this place on foot. We might have to send Pop or Bumble ahead to the volcano to ask for someone to come help us.”
“We don’t need help,” Ryan insisted, folding his arms. “We’re doing fine. We just need to keep going.”
“We’ve been doing that and it’s led us nowhere.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t be following you anymore.”
They were arguing again. Nobody could agree on what to do, and it wasn’t like Miguel himself was ever any help in these fights.
Didn’t anyone know what to do?
Miguel swallowed a lump in his throat and looked down at Flip. He’d been almost entirely silent ever since Nohemon had left, speaking only when spoken to and even then only giving short answers. Miguel had been a bit (a lot) worried about him, but hadn’t known what to say. Was he mad that everyone had taken the elixir? Was he mad that Miguel had taken it? That Miguel had tried to make him take it? Was he -
“Haven’t you noticed,” Flip said quietly, nearly giving Miguel a heart attack, “that ever since taking the potion, everyone has been a complete jerk?”
“A jerk?” Miguel said, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. Did Flip really think he was…
“Not entirely,” Flip appended, looking up at him for a moment. “I just mean that the arguing is, like, way out of hand. I know we’re not all best buddies or anything, but there’s no reason for everyone to be so upset like this. It’s like they’re purposefully starting fights.”
Purposefully? Nobody was purposefully getting themselves into arguments. They just… had conflicting opinions, right? It wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t agree on a course of action. Castor and Harmony and Ryan all had their reasons for their opinions, and so did everyone else.
But… that didn’t explain the rudeness and the yelling, and the complete reluctance to even try to see things from another perspective…
“So what are you saying?” Miguel asked.
“My, my, are we lost?”
Miguel whipped his head up, staring at Nohemon, perched on top of the wall Azure had been leaning against just moments prior. Flip pinned his ears black, glaring warily up at the scarecrow.
Nobody said a word. Whether it was because they were growing suspicious of Nohemon or just didn’t want to swallow their pride and admit they were lost was anyone’s guess. For Miguel it was definitely the former, and he had the feeling it was the same for most of the others.
Nohemon shook his head slowly, jumping down and taking a few steps towards the line that the group had formed across from him. A few of them stepped back, and Nohemon tilted his head.
Maybe it was a trick of the light, but for some reason, it looked like the crow’s eyes were white.
Miguel looked down at Flip, trying to alert him, but Flip had seemingly already noticed.
“This was you,” he said, a rare harshness in his tone. “You’re infected.”
Nohemon tilted his head, tapping one finger against his cheek and looking genuinely confused. “Infected? What ever could you mean?”
Flip laughed humorlessly. “Don’t play dumb! Your potion ruined everyone’s moods and they can’t stop arguing and we’ve been lost for hours because of it!”
“Let’s slow down a little,” Alex said, though there was a hint of hesitance in his tone. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“It’s not,” Nohemon said, crossing his arms. His crow flapped up onto his hat, glaring down at Flip. “I have been nothing but helpful to you and this is how you respond? The nerve of some people.” He shrugged, turning to face the left path. “You did go down this way, correct? I told you this was the way to go.”
“We did,” Castor said, nodding. “It keeps leading us back here.”
Here Nohemon’s eyes widened, and he placed a hand on his chest. “Is that so? Strange… this is the path to the volcano. I can’t imagine why it would lead you in circles.”
Flip growled, taking a step forward. “It’s because you’re lying to us! You drugged the elixir and led us on this wild goose chase to wear us down so you could -”
“That’s enough,” Nohemon said sharply. “I have done no such thing. What baseless accusations.”
“Baseless?” Flip glowered at Nohemon, his brows knitted together. “The proof is right here! I didn’t take your stupid potion and I’m fine! They did and they’re not! We’ve been fighting for hours and nobody is even trying to talk things out rationally!”
This shocked Nohemon, or at least had a similar sort of effect. The scarecrow said nothing, his eyes narrowing as he stared Flip down.
Flip, however, was not finished. “Listen, buddy, I never trusted you from the start! This is all seeming pretty fishy if you ask me!”
“I’ve been nothing but helpful to you,” Nohemon said again, tugging on the collar of his cloak. “You have no reason to pin me as the reason your friends are going at each other’s throats.”
“I’m not backing down,” Flip said quietly. He took one step forward, his claws curling gently against the rock beneath him. He lifted his chin up, looking at Nohemon down his nose. Nohemon returned the stare.
For a while there was only dead silence between the two, neither of them wanting to look away first. Miguel watched with bated breath. Was Flip right? Or was he jumping to conclusions?
Nohemon was the one to break it.
“You know? I’m tired of you.” He spread his hands out, his crow hopping to his shoulder as he did so. A wicked grin spread across his face. “Fine, it was my fault. Sue me.”
Miguel didn’t have time to react before Nohemon spun around, jumped back up onto the rock wall, and dashed away. The group was left behind, stunned, unable to do anything but watch as he fled the scene.
Nohemon peeked back over his shoulder at the group and grinned.
He’s taunting us.
Flip didn’t seem to get the memo.
“Get back here!” he called out, rushing down the left path to follow Nohemon. “
“Flip!” Miguel shouted, running to follow his partner as the blast of water nearly toppled Nohemon off the wall. He shook himself out, reaching down for his bow and sending an arrow flying down at Flip.
“
The arrow split apart into several midair; one landed mere inches in front of Miguel, and he stumbled to the side to avoid it.
He could hear some of the others behind him, but didn’t dare to look. Flip was several yards ahead of him, and with all the twists and turns he knew this path had in store, he couldn’t risk losing sight of him.
Speaking of.
“Get down from there!” Flip shouted, sending another blast of water up at Nohemon. He dodged it this time, jumping over it just as it sailed beneath his feet, and grinned down at Flip.
“
“You were unexpected,” Nohemon’s crow cawed out, still perched on his hat, clinging for dear life as he ran. “I thought maybe the Renamon would sniff me out. Maybe the boy with the sunglasses. Not you.”
“Well, I’m who you got!” Flip cried, wasting no time in heading down the path nearest to Nohemon as they came across another split in the road. “
Nohemon jumped over the water again, casting his gaze forward for a moment, as if scouting out the area ahead. He nodded quickly, then leapt over Flip and Miguel’s heads, landing on the opposite wall and immediately taking off again. Flip flicked his tail in irritation but quickly followed, and Miguel did as well.
Nohemon led them down the path, moving so quickly and with such confidence that after a while Miguel didn’t have the time to wonder whether they’d been down this path before or if he was leading them in circles or what. He and Flip exchanged attacks every now and then, Flip hurling shots of water and Nohemon nocking arrow after arrow.
Eventually Nohemon slammed to a halt, jumping down from the wall and landing on the ground ahead of Flip. He tipped his hat down at them, the crow giggling, then turned around and disappeared around the corner just ahead of them. Flip hissed, rushing after him, and Miguel put on an extra burst of speed to round the corner just behind him.
The two of them slowed to a stop when, just around the corner, the path opened into a large flat area - still walled in, but big enough to be more of a clearing than just a temporary opening.
Miguel suddenly had a very bad feeling.
“You want to fight?” Nohemon’s crow said, snagging Miguel’s attention again. Nohemon was standing in the dead center of the clearing, arms folded, staring directly down at Flip. The crow grinned. “Then let’s fight.”
Flip stepped forward to meet Nohemon, holding an arm out to keep Miguel in place. He frowned, watching Flip approach the scarecrow, but held his ground.
“Let’s,” Flip said, ears flat against his skull. “
This time, he aimed straight for the bird, downing it in one shot. It let loose a cry of surprise as it and Nohemon fell, but wasted no time in righting itself after it had landed on the ground.
“Playing dirty,” it spat, shaking its waterlogged wings out. “Let’s see how well you take this.
The crow opened its beak, lunging straight for Flip. He ducked out of the way, but it was a feint; the bird hadn’t really been aiming for him, or not like that, at least. Quickly it turned around, its beak still open, and a wave of dark black energy flowed from within, smothering Flip against the ground. Flip struggled against it, gritting his teeth and squinting against the pain.
Miguel took the chance to look behind him, craning his neck to try to see around the corner. Surely one of the other Digimon had managed to follow him this far? Had Nohemon purposefully led them through the maze to shake them off his trail?
Speaking of - where was Nohemon? Miguel scanned the area around where Flip and the crow were still duking it out, only to find Nohemon… crumpled on the ground, exactly where he had been standing before he’d -
“Flip!” Miguel called out. The crow’s attack had let up, and Flip was now preparing another Water Shot; he let it loose before turning to look at Miguel, who pointed at the discarded scarecrow body. “Focus on the crow!”
See, what Miguel had noticed was that, right after Flip’s attack had knocked the crow off of Nohemon’s hand, the crow had been the only one speaking. Because of its taunts and subsequent attack, neither Flip nor Miguel had been paying attention to Nohemon himself, and so they hadn’t noticed that he hadn’t gotten back up when the crow had. If Nohemon had been operating fine while the crow was on his hand or shoulder or hat, but became a ragdoll when the two were separated…
Why, then - Nohemon must really be the crow.
It didn’t entirely make sense that an eight-inch stuffed crow was able to control a five-foot stuffed scarecrow, but they had seen weirder things throughout their week-long journey. And, you know, it was a Digimon. If Miguel had to say so himself, Ninjamon was weirder than this guy.
Flip got the memo, and focused his all into fighting back against the crow. “
“You’ve figured me out,” Nohemon said, flapping higher up into the air to dodge Flip’s attack. “Not many do. Congratulations! I really mean it.” It swooped down to Flip’s level, scratching across his face with its claws. “I’m not going to give up, though. If anything, I think you should. You stand no chance against me.”
Flip sneezed and batted the crow away, baring his teeth. “I’ve fought bigger guys than you! You’ll be no big deal!”
Nohemon laughed a rattling laugh, tapping Flip’s nose once more before flying back over to its ragdoll body. “You seem to have forgotten I can do this!
In one fluid motion, Nohemon perched on what Miguel assumed to be the scarecrow’s hand; as the scarecrow rose to its full height again, gaining a proper body, it pulled its bow out from its belt and fired off three arrows in rapid succession. As with last time, each of the arrows split apart into more in midair.
This time, though, one of the first three had been aimed right at Miguel.
It was hard to tell what happened first, whether Miguel tried to jump for Flip, or Flip dashed towards Miguel as quickly as his legs could take him. It was hard to tell if Flip had taken an arrow to the side, or if Miguel had, or maybe both of them.
It was hard to tell, really, just which of those things really happened and led towards what happened next.
Miguel felt an awful pain in his side; he hissed and brought his free hand (the other was wrapped around Flip) down to his ribs. He touched the spot lightly, and when he brought it away, it was stained with blood.
Flip, in his arms, shifted slightly, pushing away from his grasp and squirming out. He collapsed onto the dirt, breathing heavily, one flipper pressed against his stomach. No injury was visible, but from the way he drew his breath in and released the pressure from it, it was obvious he was wounded.
And yet, still, he pushed himself to his feet, his mane scruffed up and body covered in dirt, and glared across the clearing at Nohemon, who stood still, his bow still drawn.
“I really thought that would have killed you,” Nohemon (the crow) said, both of his heads tilting to the side. “Shame. Would’ve been fun if I could’ve gotten a strike.” His eyes lit up, still shining white. “We’ll go for a spare, though.
Time seemed to slow as Nohemon opened his beak wide, preparing to release another blast of dark energy. Flip was just out of Miguel’s reach, but he still reached for his partner, stretching his arms out to try to pull him closer and save him.
“Flip,” he managed to say. Flip chanced a look over his shoulder, and despite it all, he was smiling - as he ever was.
“I got this,” he said, and he winked.
In that moment, Miguel felt himself gain a sort of gratitude for his partner he’d never had before - Flip had his back. He would be there for him the whole time, through anything, and he would never, ever doubt him or the things he could do.
Miguel blinked, and smiled back.
Green light flooded his vision, and Miguel’s breathing - and the world around him - stilled to a halt. The only sound he could hear through the ringing in his ears was the sound of his own heartbeat in sync with Flip’s.
(He didn’t know how he knew; he could just tell.)
His phone - tucked away into his vest pocket - beeped, vibrated, and began to speak.
“Evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in process.”
…So this was happening. Alright.
Even through his fear and worry and pain, Miguel felt himself smile even wider.
The sounds around him rushed back into his ears, and though it wasn’t particularly loud, being surrounded by dead silence and then having to readjust to hearing again was really not good for the body. It took him a few seconds, also, to realize that something - or someone - was roaring.
Miguel blinked, looking around for Flip, and his eyes fell upon his partner just in time.
He grew larger first; much larger, perhaps three times the size of the scarecrow. His tail shortened into a fluffy little stump, similar to a sheep’s tail, and his fur grew longer and shaggier. His orange markings and bright pink mane disappeared, replaced by pure white fur, stopping just above his ankles. He had proper paws now, tipped with reddish claws, now much stubbier and much more suited for swimming than walking. A sort of mask of dark gray skin surrounded his still-yellow eyes, and long tusks grew from his toothy mouth.
The thing Miguel noticed most of all, though, was the large black horn protruding from his forehead.
“
Flip roared again, showing off all his perfectly-terrifying teeth as he rounded on Nohemon. The sheer volume of his cry almost drowned out the first few words of yet another announcement from Miguel’s phone.
“Ikkakumon. Champion level sea beast Digimon. Its thick fur and stout body are structured so that it can endure even freezing lands, and when in battle, it will intimidate the opponent with an impressive roar similar to a lion's.”
So that was what that had been.
Cool.
That was… really the only thought Miguel could manage through his awe and confusion. It was also perhaps the only word that could describe how he felt at the moment.
“That’s unfortunate,” Nohemon hissed, still perched on the scarecrow’s hand. “This would’ve been so much easier if you’d just stayed the way you were.”
“That’s what they all say,” Flip said, his voice now much deeper and more rumbling.
Nohemon glowered down his beak at Flip, and responded by jumping into the air, leaving its body to crumple upon the ground once again. “I’m still a champion level, you know. No matter my size. We’re evenly matched.”
“Great,” Flip said. “That’s what I like to hear.
The horn on his forehead suddenly rocketed into the air, a hissing noise following it as it did. It overshot Nohemon but swung back around, its casing splitting in half and revealing a torpedo-like projectile. Nohemon’s eyes widened as it slammed into his back at full impact, causing him to collapse to the ground with a weak caw.
Nohemon pushed himself back up onto his feet, quickly hopping back into the air and swooping around Flip’s head. Flip narrowed his eyes and bared his fangs as Nohemon landed on his forehead for a brief moment, leaping away just in time to avoid a swipe of his claws.
“
Flip was prepared this time, though, and called out in retaliation. “
“No fair,” the crow spat, hovering where he was for a few moments. “You can’t let me get a good shot in?
The beam of darkness hit Flip square in the side. He grunted and curled his lip, but held his position as Nohemon continued his torrent of dark energy, until he’d had enough.
“
Surprisingly, despite his size, Nohemon managed to wriggle his way out from underneath the much larger Digimon, though he did not take to the sky again. The crow hopped back a few feet, looking much worse for wear and gritting his beak with every movement he made. He cast a quick glance over to Miguel, glaring at him with his beady white eyes, before whipping back around to face Flip.
Nohemon suddenly chuckled, holding one wing out pointedly. “Nice job. I’m impressed. Tell you what, if I lead you to the volcano, you let me go, huh? Promise I won’t come back.”
Flip looked down his nose at him, saying nothing.
Nohemon sighed, retracting his wing and shaking his head. “Yeah, I get it, I’m not the most trustworthy Digimon. But I do mean it this time. You’ve proven yourself to me.” He smiled at Flip, blinking slowly. “I’d rather keep living knowing I failed than die trying to take you down.”
Flip’s eyes narrowed. “You’re infected. I’m not just going to let you go.”
Nohemon blinked again, the smile slipping off his beak as he peered closer. “…Infected? With what?”
“A virus,” Flip replied gruffly, still looking suspicious. “Your eyes, the way you’re acting, you wanting to kill us… or I guess, rather, you just being generally violent.”
Nohemon laughed, taking another step back. “You think I have a virus? Is that really what you think this is? You’re going to chalk this up to me being ‘infected’, rather than something else?”
A pause. Miguel and Flip looked to one another; Flip looked confused, but something had seemed to click for him, if the expression on his face was any indication of anything.
Nohemon shook his head again, making a tsking noise as he did. “Honestly, I’m disappointed. Really, I am. Seems like I’ll have to take back my proposal.”
One more step backward, and he was settled on the hand of his scarecrow body, his wings ruffling slightly as it rose upwards again.
“I had high hopes for you,” the scarecrow and bird said in unison. “I might have even helped you, if I’d been able to. You’ve more than proven yourself.” Both of them sighed together, the scarecrow’s face twisting to look almost pitiful. “And it’s a shame that I couldn’t find all of you. Ah, well.”
The scarecrow clasped its hands together. “At least I’ll get you. He won’t be too upset if I manage that, at least.
“
Miguel had almost started to wonder just why Flip wasn’t ending things right then and there - if Nohemon was distracted, it would’ve been a perfect opportunity to catch him by surprise - and, sure, what he was saying was confusing as hell, no doubt it would’ve shocked Flip into inaction, but come on, this was his chance - but his partner took him by surprise not for the first time that evening, wasting no time in firing back with an attack of his own after Nohemon had announced his.
The barrage of arrows met with the torpedo in midair, causing both to explode on impact. Nohemon was not prepared for this; Flip was.
“
Despite him still clutching the hand of his larger body, the scarecrow puppet fell to the ground unceremoniously, Nohemon himself reeling from the impact and falling with it only a few seconds later. He lay on his back, wings spread out, his eyes wide open and staring up into the darkening sky.
“Pity,” he said softly, the tips of his wings and talons beginning to pixelate; the scarecrow’s gloves and boots followed only a split-second after. “I really thought…” He sighed, closing his eyes as the pixelation slowly crept up his body - he was obviously holding on as hard as he could.
A smile graced his beak. “But you’re still not all here. Good luck with that. I think you’ll need it.”
Miguel blinked once, and then again, and when he opened his eyes the second time, all that was left was a faint scattering of rapidly-dissolving pixels upon the ground.
It took a while for Miguel and Flip to manage to find the others again; the rest of the group had gotten split up as they’d chased after the two of them, some going down the wrong paths and yet others ending up in dead ends. Nevertheless, they were determined, and Flip (who had devolved shortly after Nohemon’s defeat) had graciously led the way for them while the others were still recovering from the weird side effects of the elixir. Soon enough, they’d fully regrouped, and Flip once again took the lead as they got back on their feet, once again headed for the volcano.
It wasn’t quite so late that any stars were visible, but it was dark enough where Miguel would have to strain to read anything that was, say, not illuminated like a phone screen.
Speaking of:
“That’s neat,” Damien said from over Miguel’s shoulder. Miguel had, at Moxie’s insistence once he’d finished recounting the tale of Flip’s evolution, launched his newly-downloaded digivice-app-thing, mostly just to see if it really had downloaded and also partially to see what color it was. (The latter was, of course, Moxie’s request.) It was a lovely shade of green, a big surprise to Moxie but not so much to Miguel himself, who had seen that exact shade of green when Flip had evolved.
“So they are connected to our partners, then?” Miguel asked, fiddling with the strange device. There were so many buttons and menu options and little bumps to run his thumbs over. These things were still new to the majority of the group, none of them really knowing what they were used for or how they’d been downloaded in the first place.
“Helps with evolution,” Moxie said, nodding. “And other stuff.”
“Stuff for another time,” Pop added, seeing Flip starting to bubble over with questions. “I promise we’ll tell you all about them once you all have them.”
“But we do,” Miguel said, tilting his head at the bird.
She blinked, and exchanged a glance with her partner. “Really? What about Ezra?”
“Got his when Ember evolved,” Flip said.
“To… champion?”
Flip laughed. “No, to rookie.”
Moxie raised her eyebrows at Miguel, and he giggled too. “It’s a long story. I think you should ask him.”
“There is so much about you all that we don’t know,” Pop sighed, scratching her cheek. She suddenly fluffed her feathers up, looking out toward the volcano. “And tonight you better tell us that stuff!”
“Storytime in the dark,” Damien muttered. “Sounds like a great idea.”
“Oh, you’re just a whiny baby,” Moxie said, flicking his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and shoved her away.
Miguel had told the four of them about the virus thing as soon as he’d managed to get them away from the rest of the group. He didn’t want them to be left out of the loop (like we were when Castor didn’t tell us), and, you know, they’d obviously heard everything Flip had said to Nohemon about being infected. Sooner or later they would have pieced it together themselves, and once they did, they’d confront them about it, and if they did that - well, surely it couldn’t go as horribly as the talk with Castor had, but it wouldn’t be pretty, and Miguel did not want to be present when it happened.
So he’d told them everything - Aldamon’s theory about the virus being tied to them being there, the infected Digimon they’d fought, their confrontation with Castor that fateful night - the likes.
They’d handled it pretty well, Damien himself having said that he’d had a feeling that something was wrong in the world but hadn’t quite put his finger on it. It was fine. No major outbursts.
Nothing like the reaction to Castor had been, but maybe that was because they had been literally lied to for days -
…Anyways.
They reached the volcano in record time, not willing to give up on their journey quite so easily, and with the guidance of Flip’s sound mind, they found their journey much easier than it had been previously. It was massive, and as they rounded the last corner of the trail, another gust of hot air washed over them, causing them all to choke a little, but even that was quickly forgotten as they stared up at the mountain, black smoke billowing out from the top and glowing-orange lava coursing down the sides.
In front of them spanned a ginormous lava lake, rickety-looking stone pathways criss crossing over it. The road directly ahead of them split into three separate directions, the middlemost pathway being the largest and actually sporting handrails. Ahead, that same pathway twisted and turned this way and that, sometimes connecting with other pathways and sometimes branching off into completely new ones, but it seemed consistent in that most of the walkways led to a larger clearing far off in the distance. From where they stood, Miguel couldn’t make out exact details, but it looked as if that clearing branched off into a cave and another walkway leading up the side of the volcano itself.
Miguel was not looking forward to climbing up just to talk to a Digimon who may or may not know why they were here, but, hey, at least he could go home and say that he climbed a freaking volcano.
…As if anyone would ever believe him about all this.
“We’re here,” Alex said. “We made it. We’re so close.”
Miguel’s throat felt tight and he opened his mouth to say something, but he was quickly caught off guard by something moving out of the corner of his eye. He twisted around, trying to catch sight of it, and his eyes fell on a small pink bird, staring at the group silently.
It caught Miguel’s eye and jumped, rushing behind a rock before he could say anything, peeking up over the top to look at him. Flip had noticed it too, his mane bristling slightly, but he made no move.
“You getting any weird feelings about this one?” Miguel asked quietly, half as a joke, but Flip shook his head, his face dead serious.
“No,” he said softly, lifting a paw and hesitating before taking a step closer. The bird ducked down again, but reappeared with its beak barely poking over the top - this cycle repeated a few times as Flip continued to make his way over to it.
Before he could reach it, however, it hopped out from behind its hiding spot and flapped its way to the front of the group, startling nearly everyone present.
“Excuse me,” the little bird said, wringing its wing-hands out anxiously. It - she - looked over at Miguel in particular, a fittingly owlish look on her face. “I don’t mean to intrude, but… Are you here looking for someone?”
Miguel and Flip exchanged looks. “That’s right,” Miguel said.
The bird lit up, the ruff of feathers around her neck puffing up in satisfaction. “Great,” she said, instantly smoothing her feathers back down. She turned on her heel and began to walk up the path, only pausing to look around when she realized no one was following.
“Oh,” she said. “That’s right.” She cleared her throat, taking a deep bow before hesitantly looking back up.
“I’m Biyomon,” she chirped. She blinked, smiling around at the gathered kids and Digimon. “Follow me. I can take you to Asuramon.”