EPISODE 12 - ALONE AMONG THE WRECK
“It’s… dark out,” Alex said.
Indeed it was; by now, even if they could see the sky through the haze of smoke, the sun would surely have already set. Stars would be shining in the sky, and the moon would be visible. In other words, it was nighttime, which was typically when people slept, instead of climbing up giant volcanoes.
Biyomon shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Yes, I can see.”
Alex continued to stare down at her. “And… you want to take us now?”
She nodded. “Yes, now would be great.”
“…We’ve all had a long day, can this wait until morning?”
“If we go now, it’ll be easier,” she said, a bit forcefully. She was obviously growing impatient.
A pause.
She sighed. “Let’s go. Come on.” She turned on her heel once again and began to march up the pathway, stopping only a few seconds later. She did not turn around, but placed a hand on her hip, tapping her foot against the ground.
“Hang on just a second, please -”
That was Ezra. Biyomon finally turned back around, one eyebrow raised and a very unimpressed expression on her face.
“What,” she said.
Ezra swallowed and rubbed a hand along his forehead. “It just -” He broke off, catching sight of Ember, who was looking up at him expectantly. “Alex is right,” he continued, fumbling a gesture towards the other boy. “It’s been a long day for us, we’re exhausted - surely you can’t expect us to want to climb… that…” He trailed off once again, spreading his hands up at the volcano.
“Just because you don’t want to doesn’t mean you’re not going to,” Biyomon said, folding her arms. “If we wait till morning, the guards will be all over us, even more than they will be if we go now, so please, if you’d just follow me -”
“We don’t even know who you are!” Ryan shouted. Ezra flinched at the sudden noise but looked over to him to see his fists clenched at his sides and his mouth pulled back into a frown. “You can’t just introduce yourself and expect us to do whatever you say!”
“Ryan,” Azure hissed, reaching a hand out, but he shouldered them away to take another step forward. Dare, too, looked a little uncomfortable, but made no move to stop him.
“Just cause you know we’re here for Asuramon doesn’t mean you know us,” he said in a low voice. “It has been a long day. That crazy scarecrow tried to poison us, one of our group members -” he gestured wildly at Harmony here, and she recoiled at being called out “- is severely injured, and dealing with tiny know-it-all birds is not on our priority list. So, please, from the bottom of our hearts, shut up.”
“I’m not trying to be a know-it-all,” Biyomon replied, almost before he’d finished speaking. She held herself tall, puffing her chest out, but Ezra could see her beak quiver. “I’m just saying that if we go now, we’ll have less guards to fight, but if you’d rather get in so many battles that by the end of it you can’t tell up from down, be my guest.”
“Hang on, fight?” Ember asked, stepping forward. Biyomon turned cold blue eyes upon him and he shrunk back, clutching Ezra’s pant leg. “What do you mean, fight?”
“There’s guards all over the place,” she said, a little huffy, but her expression softened just a little. “We don’t let just anyone come through. Don’t expect to get to Asuramon without them putting up a fight.”
“So,” Ezra started, tapping his chin in thought, “we’re not allowed to be here? Is it illegal to be here at the volcano?” Alex snorted, obviously ridiculing him, and Ezra rolled his eyes.
“Not at all,” Biyomon said, waving a hand around. “But if you want to get to Asuramon, you need to fight the guards to prove yourself, and that you deserve to meet with him. Again, we don’t let just anyone in.”
“So if we fight them,” Pop mumbled from the other side of the group, barely audible, “they’ll let us pass?”
“Yes,” Biyomon confirmed, nodding at her. “And there’s less of them at night, which is why we should go now.”
There was another pause before Alex spoke up. “I say why wait?” he said, turning around to look at the others. “I mean, the less fights, the better, right?”
“Sounds good to me,” Ezra said, giving him a thumbs up, and Alex smiled over at him. Ezra ducked his head down immediately, hoping he wouldn’t notice how bright red his cheeks were.
“Did you not listen to a word I just said,” Ryan muttered flatly. “I mean, I’m not the only one who’s exhausted, right?”
“While I hate to say it,” Ren said before Alex could snap back, “I agree with Ryan.” Ryan looked a bit taken aback at this, though his surprise was quickly smothered. “But -” Ren turned to face Alex and Castor, nodding towards them “- they’re right. The less we have to fight, the quicker we’ll get to Asuramon. Once we’re there, we can take a break.”
Ryan looked absolutely ready to explode, and Ezra caught Dare lightly tapping on his leg before mouthing something up at him. Reluctantly, he folded his arms, still with a sour look on his face, and ultimately sighed. “Fine. Whatever. But the second we get there, I am collapsing on the floor, and none of you can stop me.”
“Sounds like a win-win,” Alex said quietly, barely audible even to Ezra.
No one else objected, which was as good a sign as any; Alex turned to Biyomon and nodded at her, gesturing for her to lead the way.
“Thank you,” Biyomon said, her wings drooping in relief before she picked herself back up. She turned and began to walk up the middlemost pathway, this time not stopping to wait for them. “The sooner we get there the better. Come on.”
It had all happened so suddenly; they’d reached the volcano and immediately found out they’d have to fight their way to the top just to get some answers out of somebody. Ezra, in his almost sleep-deprived state (the drowsiness of Nohemon’s elixir had lingered somewhat), was almost convinced he was hallucinating things, but before he knew it he and Ember were walking side by side up a pathway crossing over a ginormous lava lake, led by a tiny pink bird along with seven other humans and Digimon.
They walked mostly in silence; there wasn’t much to speak about, and because they were all so tired, no one really had the energy to try to initiate conversation. Moxie, Pop, Damien, and Bumble lingered to the back; Ezra assumed that they wanted some time alone. That was fine. They’d practically been scooped up into this without any knowledge of what they were getting themselves into, so them being a little overwhelmed was understandable.
“Can we talk about Nohemon?” Miguel asked, maybe five minutes into the walk.
“What is there to talk about?” Ryan laughed, shaking his head. “Guy was a fucking lunatic who drugged us and tried to kill us. Not much more to it.”
“He means what Nohemon was saying,” Flip said.
“He didn’t really say much,” Azure said. “Other than playing dumb when you called him out, there wasn’t a whole lot he said that was suspicious.”
“Uh,” Miguel said, meekly raising a hand, drawing everyone’s attention. “When Flip and I fought him, he… said something about how he wasn’t infected.”
“Yeah, he was lying,” Alex cut in, crossing his arms. “Like Azure said. Playing dumb.”
Flip shook his head. “That’s not it. I confronted him about the virus, and he said that’s not why he was acting the way he was. That it was… something else, and he laughed at me for thinking it was a virus.”
There was a heavy silence for a couple seconds.
“What?” Castor finally said.
Miguel shrank in on himself instantly, while Flip lifted his chin and stared Castor down defiantly. “I’m not lying. I didn’t take the elixir, I’m not saying this to start an argument.”
“No, I’m not questioning you,” Castor muttered. “What did Nohemon mean by it?”
“Obviously we don’t know that,” Flip said, and Castor frowned. “But he didn’t seem like he was lying when he said it. He seemed sort of upset that I thought it was a virus.”
“He said some other weird things, too,” Miguel added, rubbing his arm. “About not being able to find all of us. I don’t know what he meant, he found all of us just fine…” He trailed off, shrugging one shoulder and staring down at the ground. “And… he said that if he could defeat Flip and me, then… ‘he’ would be happy. Not himself. Someone else.”
Ezra bit his lip, lacing his fingers together and placing his hands in front of his mouth. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but snapped it shut immediately after.
What even was there to say?
“Don’t want to intrude,” Biyomon called from the front, looking back over her shoulder. “But what are you talking about?”
Ezra caught sight of Ryan glaring at her, probably about to say something like none of your beeswax, birdbrain, but Dare leapt up onto his shoulders just in time to make him stumble backwards under her sudden weight. He hissed a profanity under his breath as she grinned, but he raised a hand up to pet her head anyway.
Ezra turned back to Biyomon after sneaking another glance at Castor, still absorbed in his own thoughts, and he cleared his throat. “Castor’s friend Aldamon had a theory that there was some sort of… virus going around. Making Digimon violent, and wanting to kill us, for some reason.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Biyomon said, and Castor snapped his head up, gaping at her. She paid no mind to him, and resumed her attention on the road ahead. “I mean, far as I know, it’s been hundreds of years since we last had any sort of virus go around. You think Digimon don’t take measures against stuff like that?”
“We -” Castor started, cutting himself short as he glared down at the ground. “…It seemed plausible enough,” he muttered, tugging on the nape of his cloak.
“I mean, think about it,” Biyomon continued, rolling her eyes; Ezra got the feeling that at this point she was purposefully antagonizing Cas. “A virus that makes the victim just… go insane? What’s the point of that?”
“‘Point’?” Harmony asked. “There’s no rhyme or reason to viruses. They just happen. I mean, think about the Black Plague.”
“Unless you consider the fact that we’re talking about digital beings here,” Ko said, traipsing alongside her, Azure walking on his other side. “Digimon get digital viruses, alongside regular sickness.”
“And computer viruses usually exist for a reason, like to collect information or compromise hardware,” Azure added, nodding along. “Though now that you mention it, Biyomon, you’re right. Why would there be a virus that only exists to completely erase all rational thought from the victim?”
“Nohemon was completely rational,” Flip said. He paused, staring into the distance. “Or, as rational as a scarecrow who tries to drug a bunch of kids can be.”
“Meicoomon was relatively sane, too,” Dare said, leaning forward over Ryan’s shoulder and causing him to buckle under her weight. “Except for when she tried to kill Ryan. But everything she said sounded like anything an evil Digimon would say, nothing like she had lost her mind or anything.”
“Okay, so maybe there’s more to the virus than ‘makes them lose all sanity they have left’,” Castor said, a little sarcastically. Ezra frowned down at him sympathetically, and Castor caught him looking. The dragon rolled his eyes and shrugged, turning away.
“Or maybe,” Ember said, holding his chin in his hand, “there’s no virus after all, and there’s something else going on.”
“How do you -” Ezra was cut off by Biyomon suddenly jumping into the air, turning around to face them and waving her wings around frantically. Everyone’s eyes jumped to her immediately, and she placed one claw in front of her beak in a shushing gesture before whipping her head around to look at what lay directly ahead of them.
“That’s the first guard,” she whisper-yelled, dropping back down to land on the ground. “Meramon. He’s a bit of a brute but he’s probably the easiest out of all of them. I think we can handle this.”
Ezra craned his neck to look over at the small clearing that lay ahead of them, where their path met with four others. They’d reached the end of the lava lake - the clearing was connected directly to the volcano itself. One of the two paths that led away from the clearing was a tunnel dug into the side of the volcano, while the other led up the side of it before disappearing around the bend.
In the clearing, what looked to be like a tall man literally made out of fire was leaning up against a sort of signpost written in Digicode. The flames of his body flickered, but did not ignite the presumably-wood signpost. His eyes were closed, but every few seconds he would shift from one foot to the other.
To put it simply, he did not look friendly.
“If you work here, why don’t you just talk to him and explain things?” Ezra asked.
Biyomon huffed and crossed her arms. “It doesn’t sound like you listened to me very well,” she said in a low voice, peering over at Meramon. “They don’t just ‘let people through’. I told you, they expect a fight, and if you can’t give it to them, good luck getting to Asuramon.”
“What a rousing pep talk,” Ezra mumbled, but he looked over at the others anyway. “We got a plan going in?”
“I think nine rookies can take him down,” Alex said, rolling his shoulders back. “If he’s not infected, I think -”
“Are we going to continue with calling them that?” Ren said. When no one answered, she scowled before going on. “I mean, if it’s really not a virus, there’s no point in still calling them infected.”
“Fine!” Alex said, throwing his hands in the air. “If he’s not a weirdo, I think he’ll be easy to deal with.” He crossed his arms, raising one eyebrow at Ren. “Happy?”
“Is ‘weirdo’ capitalized?” Miguel asked nervously, clasping his hands together.
Alex stared at him for a few seconds before his shoulders drooped and he hung his head low. “Why do I even try…”
“It’s an important question to me!”
Ezra couldn’t resist laughter, but he quickly cut himself off when he caught sight of Meramon moving out of the corner of his eye.
He had opened his eyes; he had stepped away from the signpost. He was looking right at them.
His eyes were a bright blue, shockingly vibrant against his orange flames. Ezra could see, now that he was facing them, that his mouth was stitched shut, though it was seemingly able to move, like how it did when he began to speak to them.
“State your business,” he said, in an almost bored tone. At Ezra’s feet, Ember curled his paws into fists.
“They’re looking to pass,” Biyomon said, still at the front of the group. “I’m here to help.”
Meramon’s gaze shifted down to her, and his eyebrows(…?) raised a little. “Bibi. You wish to help them?”
Bibi? Ezra mouthed down at Ember, but his partner just shrugged, obviously just as confused as he was. Biyomon (Bibi?) quickly turned around to face them, holding her hands out as if to apologize.
“Ah - yes,” she said quickly, turning back to Meramon. “I think they’re… you know…”
“Are you allowed to do that?” Meramon said, pulling Ezra’s attention away from his partner and towards the fire Digimon. One of his hands was on his hip, and the other was propping his cheek up, the elbow supported by the signpost.
“Of course,” Biyomon said, sounding almost offended at the accusation. “There’s nothing that says a gatekeeper can’t assist their charges.”
“You realize you’ll have to fight me if you do this,” Meramon continued, pushing off from the signpost and crossing his arms across his chest. “Will you -?”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Biyomon snapped, recoiling slightly. “Now, I advise you to step away from the sign so we can get started already.”
Meramon held his hands up, doing as Biyomon said and taking a few steps backwards away from the signpost. “Alright, alright. Children.” He cast his gaze over the group, his eyes lingering on Ezra at the same time he furrowed his brow, mouthing something to himself. He shrugged it off and folded his arms behind his back, clearing his throat. “The rules are simple. Fight me until either I yield or I subdue all of you. Utilize your attacks, your teamwork, and your various offensive and defensive capabilities. You may evolve if you so wish -” he smiled here, particularly glancing over at Biyomon, who narrowed her eyes “- though I doubt that will happen. I will not go easy on you, nor do I expect you to go easy on me.”
With that, Meramon bowed, took another step backward, and snapped his fingers.
“Begin.”
There was a pause; no one wanted to make the first move. No one knew what to do, exactly - were the humans supposed to stand back and watch? Ezra couldn’t help but think back to their night in the Frimon village, when they could do nothing but cheer their partners on.
Was that their fate, as humans? Without claws or wings or special attacks, what could they do but cry out words of encouragement or act as bait so their Digimon could evolve?
So lost in his own thoughts was Ezra that he barely noticed Biyomon had made the first move.
She hopped into the air, her wings beating frantically to keep her aloft as she faced Meramon. The fire Digimon made no move, simply stared up at her, until she opened her beak.
“
The partner Digimon stood where they were. Ren and Bumble had taken a few steps forward to the front of the line, but none of them had really made any move to join Biyomon - which, understandably, seemed to upset her.
“Are you going to make me do it myself?” she said, hovering in midair as she frowned at them.
Meramon chuckled, placing a hand on his hip. “You could take me on your own if you’d just -”
“
Meramon jolted backward as Ren punched him right in the stomach, her fist ignited with its signature energy. Blue and orange flames clashed for a split second before Ren hopped backward, shaking out her paw and lashing her tail back and forth.
“Nice job,” he said, rubbing a hand over the point of impact. “But is that all you’ve got?”
“
“
Flip and Ko were the next to step up, Flip dousing Meramon in water while Ko jabbed his horn into his chest. Meramon clenched his teeth as Flip’s attack hit and caused him to steam a little, but managed to shrug Ko’s attack off well enough.
Ezra sensed Ember down at his side, and kneeled down to be eye-level with the little lion cub. “What?”
Ember fiddled with his gauntlets for a few seconds, his eyes anywhere but on Ezra’s. “Are you okay with this?”
Ezra blinked, speechless for a moment. “…This isn’t my fight,” he said, reaching a hand out to place on Ember’s forehead. “I mean, trust me, if I had cool fire powers like you, I’d be right up there socking him in the stomach. Right now, though, all I can do is offer encouragement.”
And there it was, that deep feeling of guilt and remorse and anger at how all he could do was sit back and watch while his friend risked his life for him. Ezra closed his eyes, letting his hand drop to his side as he sighed. “I mean, if you don’t want to fight, that’s cool too, but… I don't know. If this is what we need to do to get to Asuramon, we better give it our best shot, you know?”
Behind him, he could hear Castor and Dare calling out their own attacks, and Meramon lashing out in kind - something like Burning Fist, it sounded like. He would’ve turned around to see what the attack was, but Ember nodded, holding his fists up. “You’re right,” he said, smiling. “Besides, I kinda wanna knock the lights outta that guy. I don’t like the way he was talking to Biyomon.”
“Excellent,” Ezra said, standing back up to his full height and nudging Ember forward with his foot. “Go and show that guy who’s boss.”
“Roger!” Ember said cheerfully, prancing forward. “
“
“
“
Meramon laughed. “You’re not working together,” he rumbled, plucking Pop out of midair and knocking her aside at the same time Ren tried to get a shot in. The bird was sent flying into the fox, and they collapsed in a heap on the far side of the clearing. “You need to fight together, not separately. With one another, not against one another.”
“Can this guy shut up,” Ryan mumbled from next to Ezra. Ezra himself frowned, his eyes locked on Ember as the tiny lion tried to land a punch on Meramon, only to be shaken off all too easily.
Much as he hated to admit it, Meramon was right; the only reason they’d been able to defeat Cyclomon all those nights ago was because they’d been working together at the end (and, of course, Ember’s evolution). Despite having gained three extra members, they were barely making a dent on Meramon.
With this many Digimon, perhaps it would be tough to try to coordinate attacks, but there didn’t really seem to be any other way to take him down…
Ezra turned to look at Moxie, having seen her hold a hand up out of the corner of his eye. She was signaling to Pop, and the bird came fluttering over, landing on Moxie’s arm and dipping her head towards her.
“I think -” Moxie started, hesitating mid-sentence as she looked over at Damien. His sunglasses were down, so it was hard to read his expression, but he nodded at her, and that was apparently a good enough answer for her.
“You know what to do,” she said, looking at Pop, and her partner nodded. “Tell Bumble, and try to make it obvious to the others, too.”
Pop hopped off Moxie’s shoulder, flying over to Bumble to say something to him, but Ezra faced Moxie next. “What was that?”
“Hm?” Moxie hummed. She ran a hand through her hair, sticking the other down in her pocket before shrugging. “I think I’ve got a plan. We -” She sucked her cheeks in, looking thoughtful, before shaking her head. “Just watch.”
Moxie gestured toward the fighting Digimon, and Ezra followed, still a little skeptical but willing to entertain whatever she had going on. She was pointing towards Pop in particular; the bird seemed to be getting up in Meramon’s face as best she could without lighting herself on fire, darting away at the last minute to avoid any attacks.
“Then look,” Moxie continued, moving her hand to point towards Bumble. While Meramon was focused on chasing after Pop - either with a flaming fist or another burning rock - Bumble would dart in, firing off a Gear Stinger here and there. When Meramon turned to chase after Bumble, Pop would again taunt him and lure him away, allowing Bumble to get another attack in while he was distracted.
“It’s what we - they do,” Moxie explained, letting her hand drop to her side. “Bumble’s stronger physically, and Pop’s faster and more durable, so she acts as bait to allow him room to attack.”
“That is absolutely genius,” Ezra said, a smile tugging the corner of his lip up. “That’s - oh my god, that’s brilliant.”
Damien, from Moxie’s other side, breathed out heavily. “Look, can we try to start wrapping this up? Is your bird even doing what you told her to?”
“She’s doing all the hard stuff while your bug just does busy work,” Moxie retorted. “You need to have a certain kind of finesse to do what she’s doing, whereas all yours does is attack.”
“I meant did she try to signal to the others about the plan.”
A pause. “Oh.”
Ezra, not wanting to sit around any longer, took a slight step forward, cupping a hand around his mouth. “Ember!”
Both Castor and Ember turned to look at him, and Ezra shot a confused look at Castor, who wrinkled his snout right back. Whatever - no time to waste. Ezra pointed up to Pop, currently trying to distract Meramon from Bumble, and then down at Bumble himself, where he was aiming for the legs and doing a pretty good job at darting away whenever Meramon would swipe at him.
For Castor, the realization came easily, if the sudden raising of his eyebrows was enough indication. He quickly whispered something to Ember, who did not grasp Ezra’s point as easily, then dashed off to the Digimon closest to him, presumably to alert them as well.
Ember smiled at Ezra, showing off his sharp teeth, before giving him a thumbs up. Ezra grinned right back.
The plan developed quickly enough from there, or so it seemed - of course, since Ezra couldn’t exactly get up close to the Digimon without risking a third-degree burn at the hands of Meramon, he wasn’t sure exactly how it was formed, but there was certainly something that happened. Seemingly, Dare, Castor, and Biyomon all volunteered to aid Pop - Dare possibly because she was naturally annoying and attention-diverting, Castor because he was relatively fast compared to the others, and, of course, Biyomon because she could fly alongside Pop. The rest of them would follow Bumble’s lead, landing hits when Meramon was occupied and then jumping just out of the way when he broke away from the distractions to focus on them.
It was by no means a perfect plan; had they discussed it earlier, it could have been executed better, but it was a start, and it was better than attacks meeting with each other midair and fizzling out before they could reach their target. Sure, there were still some mess-ups here and there. Dare and Castor ran into each other at one point, and there was another time when Ren and Ko both tried to attack at the same time.
But in the end, it worked, which was a relief enough on its own.
Meramon, for his part, managed to catch on to the plot after a few loops of being distracted, then attacked, then distracted, then attacked. He did try to put an end to it (he never said he would allow them to continue working together), but it never lasted very long, because Pop or Biyomon or whoever would soon enough attack back, leading to him having to focus on them once again, and then from there the cycle would just continue again.
“So, this is workin’ great and all,” Azure said at one point, “but should we maybe think about ending things soon?”
“How do you mean?” Damien asked.
Azure nodded towards Meramon. “I reckon that if it just keeps going like this, it’ll take all night to bring him down. And we don’t have all night.”
“Should we do what we did with Cyclomon?” Miguel suggested, looking deep in thought. Moxie glanced over at him, looking a little confused, and he backtracked. “Oh. He’s the one we fought when Ember evolved.”
Moxie nodded, and Ezra blinked - he wasn’t aware that Moxie knew about Ember evolving. Whatever. Maybe Harmony had told her. Regardless -
“I think it’s time, yeah,” Alex chimed in, and Ezra shrugged his assent. “But - like, do we just yell at them ‘hey, do what you did with Cyclomon’?”
“Actually, I think that’s a great idea,” Azure said. “Meramon won’t know what it means, but they’ll all get the point.”
“Except for Pop, Bumble, and Biyomon,” Harmony pointed out. “How do we tell them?”
Moxie laughed. “Trust me, once Pop and Bumble see whatever it is that your guys are doing, they’ll jump in.”
“As long as whatever it is that they’re doing is reasonable,” Damien added, pulling his sunglasses off his face. “Mind filling us in, at least?”
“I don’t think they can use their ultra attacks anymore,” Ezra said slowly, ignoring Moxie and Damien’s bewildered expressions, “but basically, they all lined up and attacked together.”
“Doesn’t that seem a little obvious?” Damien said.
“It worked,” Ezra shot back.
“But, Ezra,” Harmony said, pausing as she watched Ren slam a flaming fist into Meramon’s chest and then wincing as she was subsequently thrown off, “that’s exactly it - they can’t use their superpowered attacks anymore. Who’s to say that their normal attacks will have any effect?”
“They seem to be having effect right now,” he said, jerking a thumb towards the battle, where Bumble and Ko were working together to tag-team Meramon. “Besides, I think nine rookies can stand a chance against an already-weakened champion, whether or not they have extra special attacks.”
“Okay, sooner or later one of you is going to have to explain what the fuck you mean by ‘mega uber special ultra magic attack’,” Damien interjected, “but if the plan worked back then, let’s give it a go.”
Ezra nodded, turning to face the still-battling Digimon. Once again, he raised a hand up to his mouth to cup around it. “Hey! Do what you did with Cyclomon!”
Ember, naturally, was the one whose attention was caught. He jumped back from Meramon, barely avoiding a Burning Fist attack, and twitched an ear as he stared back at his partner. “Wha?”
“Cyclomon!”
Ember frowned. “What about him?”
Ezra groaned, running a hand through his hair and letting it slide down his face in exasperation. “Do what you did to him to defeat him!”
Ember stared back quizzically, his hands splayed out. “Evolve?”
“No!” Ezra shouted, growing more and more fed up by the minute. At this point, Meramon was gathering another Magma Bomb in his hands, aiming specifically for Ember, and Ezra barely had time to warn Ember before it came crashing down around him. “The - forget it! Just give him all you’ve got!”
Ember understood that, and his eyes grew wider as it settled in. He picked himself up and gave Ezra a thumbs-up before turning to the other rookies, shouting the instructions to them. As expected, Biyomon, Pop, and Bumble all looked confused, but when they saw the other six lining up to aim at Meramon, it only took a few seconds for them to understand, and quickly they joined their ranks.
Ember, at the front of the line, stared Meramon down. Meramon stared back, unmoving, though his fists were lit with the flames of his Burning Fist attack, prepared to strike at any moment.
It was a tense three seconds, and as Ember pointed a paw forward, giving the instruction to attack, Ezra felt himself let loose a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
Shots of energy, bursts of water, a feather, and green flames all launched toward Meramon; Ko, Dare, Ren, Castor, and Ember lunged forth. Meramon reached both his hands forward, preparing to meet any of them with his own flames, but he was quickly doused by Flip’s attack.
Perhaps nine attacks from nine different Digimon at nine different angles was a bit too much for him to handle, because he staggered backward, his eyes wide, before crashing onto the ground.
Biyomon in particular was quick to hop over to him, placing one clawed foot on his chest; he looked over at her and chuckled, tapping the ground three times with his hand.
Barely perceptible to even Ezra - the only one who seemed to notice - he watched as a few ripples of glitchy-looking energy coursed over Meramon’s body, not unlike what happened to near-dead Digimon right before they burst into pixels.
Ezra blinked.
Had they really done that?
“Alright,” Meramon said, his voice sounding much tighter than it had beforehand - surely he’d at least felt that something was wrong, right? “You’ve done it. Good job.”
“Do you yield,” Biyomon said harshly, pressing down harder onto his chest, once again resulting in the glitchy effect. Perhaps this time, she, too, seemed to notice, as her expression quickly softened and she loosened the pressure from her foot.
Meramon nodded. “You’ve subdued me. I yield.”
Biyomon took her foot off his chest, brushing herself off, and Meramon pushed himself up to his feet. With a smile, he bowed at the gathered humans and Digimon, Biyomon in particular. “You’ve proven yourselves worthy of passing. Congratulations, and I wish you well.”
He hesitated slightly, holding one of his hands in the other, before kneeling down and whispering something to Biyomon that made her frown and nod. With that, he stood back up, his smile resumed, and he swept an arm out to gesture behind him.
“I bid you luck on your next leg of the journey,” he said, stepping aside. “Beyond here is the Flame Gateway. Stay vigilant, for another fight awaits you.”
“Great,” Ryan said flatly from his position on the ground next to Dare. “More of this bullshit. Yippee.”
“Bibi,” Meramon said, ignoring Ryan in favor of turning to Biyomon, who once again furrowed her brow at being referred to as such. “Take care. And watch for -”
“I know,” she said, waving a wing around in dismissal. Meramon took no offense to it, simply nodding down at her.
“Good luck,” he said, ushering them forward, and with Biyomon at the front of the group, they took off again.
No one was particularly injured; out of them all, Ember was perhaps the most weary, possibly because he’d taken an entire flaming rock to the face, but even he was acting his usual self as they got going again. Dare complained about some injuries, but Ezra suspected it was a plot to get Ryan to carry her, which he did.
The clearing they’d fought Meramon in was the one all the way across the lava lake; now, they were right up next to the volcano, and Biyomon directed them up the pathway that went up around it, rather than the cave-tunnel that seemed to burrow directly into it. The path was similar to the one on Twister Mountain, in which it spiraled up around the mountain; however, a few minutes in, it made a sharp left turn into a sort of ravine. On either side of the pathway, deep below, was a churning pit of lava; fortunately, there were still handrails to protect them. High above their heads, the night sky and its few stars were just barely visible.
Ezra was the first to speak. “Okay, so does anyone else think that that dragged on for way too long?”
“Right?” Dare said immediately, nodding rigorously. “Oh my god, I thought it was going to last forever, especially with how we were doing it!”
“Oh, do you have any better ideas?” Moxie said, tilting her head.
“Yes! I’m glad you asked.” Dare puffed her chest out, though it was a bit hard while wrapped around Ryan’s shoulders, but she managed. “I think next time, I should evolve to Dorugamon and you all should stand back and watch.”
“That’s assuming you even can evolve,” Ryan grumbled, reaching a hand up to move her around. “I mean, if you want me to risk my life just so you can be a show-off, just say the word and I’ll happily do it.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Hey, Ember,” Ezra said, looking down at his partner and ignoring Dare yelling at Ryan. Ember blinked up at him, waiting for him to continue. “Before we came across Meramon, you were saying something.”
Ember looked puzzled for a second before lighting up. “Oh! Yeah! Well, personally -” He cut himself off, looking over at Castor - only a few feet away, walking alongside Alex - and then lowered his voice. “I think Biyomon has a point, right?”
“…About?”
“The virus thing,” Ember mumbled, scratching his cheek and looking sheepish. “I just… it doesn’t feel like a virus!”
He practically blurted the last part out, immediately clapping his paws over his mouth as his eyes widened. Looking a little guilty, he glanced up at Ezra, slowly bringing his paws back down to his side. “Sorry.”
“No, I get it,” Ezra said, in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He looked up over at Alex, currently in a heated talk with Azure and Castor about something or other.
Castor was the only one who really knew anything about what was going on. He was their only source of information; without him, they would be totally blind to what was really going on.
And now it seemed as if everything was coming crashing down around them. With everything that had been going on the past couple of days… with Meicoomon and Nohemon, and now Biyomon basically calling them crazy…
Did Castor really know as much as he said he did?
It’s not like he would purposefully lie to them. Save for that whole debacle last week about him withholding information from the rest of the group, he was telling them the truth he knew.
But that was just it - it was only the truth he knew, not the exact, actual, one hundred percent truth.
“So I just,” Ember was saying, which jolted Ezra out of his thoughts, “with Nohemon’s whole crazy guy act, and Meicoomon talking as if there was someone she was serving… I, personally - to me, at least - obviously something else is going on here, right?”
“Obviously,” Ezra echoed, more as a reassurance to Ember than anything else.
“Good,” Ember said, grinning. “I’m glad I’ve got someone who’ll back me up.”
Ezra blinked. “What?”
“In case they all think I’m crazy.”
“Hang on, slow down,” Ezra said, holding his hands out. “What are you talking about?”
Ember frowned up at him. “I’m gonna bring it up to the rest of them. See what they think.”
“Uh, maybe a bad idea,” Ezra said quietly, looking over at Castor, but by the time he looked back down, Ember was gone, having rushed ahead to be more in the center of the group. With a sigh, Ezra picked up his pace to be closer to his partner.
“So I had a thought,” Ember said, his voice just loud enough for everyone around them to hear, even Biyomon in the front and Miguel and Flip in the back. “What with everything Nohemon and Meicoomon were saying, or at least with what I was able to understand from them, neither of them had any idea about being ‘infected’ or whatever. Right?” He looked over at Ryan and Dare in particular, and when they both nodded, he continued. “Right. And, well, you might say, ‘even if they did know, why would they tell us’?”
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Castor mumbled, sounding a bit sarcastic.
Ember nodded towards him, interpreting it as genuine, and continued. “Well, that is a fair point, but… Nohemon said that he was disappointed that we were blaming his weird behavior on a virus, rather than something else, right?”
“And didn’t -” Harmony started, trailing off when all eyes turned to her, but she wasted no time in picking back up. “Didn’t Meicoomon also refer to some mysterious ‘he’?”
“And they both said something about us missing someone,” Flip added. “Even though all of us were present for both of those fights.”
“When we first met you guys,” Ryan said quietly, gesturing to the twins and their respective partners, “I thought you were who Meicoomon was referring to.”
Ezra caught sight of Harmony - something seemed to dawn on her, as her eyebrows shot up and her mouth hung open. Ren, at her side, narrowed her eyes, but looked as if she was finally understanding something too.
He’d have to ask about that later.
“You think maybe there’s actually someone we’re missing?” Ko asked, tilting his head.
“Meicoomon said we ‘weren’t all here’,” Ryan shot back, “and that she’d ‘find them eventually’. When we found Moxie and Damien, I thought maybe she was talking about them. But Nohemon also said we were missing someone. So clearly it’s not, so, whatever.”
“Then the question remains,” Ko said, “who, exactly, we’re ‘missing’. Another human? Another Digimon?”
“I think a bigger question is whoever the ‘he’ they mentioned is,” Azure said. “From what I caught of Meicoomon talkin’, and from how Nohemon spoke of him… maybe they’re servants of someone?”
“Why would they be out to kill you - us - though?” Pop asked, perched on Moxie’s shoulder.
“Because there’s humans in the Digital World,” Ren said in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Most Digimon, as we’ve established before, think humans being in the Digital World is at least a bit odd. Surely there’d be some who want to get rid of them.”
“Very comforting,” Harmony said, elbowing her partner.
“I don’t know why they think killing us is the best option, though,” Ezra mused aloud, raising a hand to his mouth. “We want to go home as much as they want us to, right?”
“Except for if this whole destiny thing is true,” Dare said. “Because if that’s the case, and you guys are here to save the world…”
Ryan snorted. “From what, though?”
“Castor,” Ezra said, looking down at the dragon. “Didn’t Aldamon think that we were here to stop the virus from spreading?” Sure, it was becoming more and more likely that it wasn’t actually a virus, but - Ezra had an inkling of a thought, and he needed to clarify it before he continued.
“That… was his leading theory, yes,” Castor said, pinning his ears back and looking a little uncomfortable. “Stop the virus from spreading before it infects everyone and everyone runs amok and destroys the world, or something like that.”
“Good, just checking.” Ezra sucked a breath in, putting his hands up behind his head. “I… have a theory -”
“Here we are!”
Biyomon’s voice came as a major surprise to everyone - she hadn’t said a word since they’d departed from Meramon’s clearing, and Ezra wasn’t even entirely sure if she’d been listening to their conversation. He dropped his hands down, craning his neck to see to the front of the group.
Their path had been relatively straightforward - with handrails on either side and a boiling lava lake far below them, there really wasn’t much room to spread out, so they’d been mostly walking in a straight line. Ahead of them, now, was yet another clearing similar to Meramon’s, though this one was larger.
Were they… inside the volcano now? It almost seemed like it; whereas a few minutes ago Ezra could look upwards and see the sky, now they were in a sort of large room the size of a football field, rocky walls stretching beyond as far as the eye could see. The clearing they had arrived at was in the dead center of the “room”, and sported handrails as well, along with several stalagmites jutting up from the rocky surface. Above their heads, stalactites dangled from the ceiling, complementing the rocky terrain that lay ahead of them.
It felt a lot like a final boss stage, if Ezra was being completely honest.
“Ah!” came a new voice from the center of the clearing. “You’re here!”
Ezra blinked, taking a slight step forward to get a better look at whoever the newcomer was.
The Digimon was barely taller than Ezra himself; it was a sort of humanoid, though its gray skin and stitched-shut mouth gave it the illusion of a scarecrow (which, after Nohemon earlier in the day, unsettled Ezra). It wore a red wizard hat, wild ginger hair peeking out from underneath, with goggles around the brim and the tip alight in a flame. The shoulders of its similarly-styled cloak were also ablaze, and its pants were red with a flame pattern. Ginormous boots and gloves covered its hands and feet, and black belts criss-crossed over its waist.
Oh, and it was also carrying two giant matchsticks.
“Damnit,” Ezra heard Biyomon mumble. She seemed to not like whoever this Digimon was, as she had a sour expression on her face as she stepped forward properly into the clearing.
“Bibi!” the wizard-scarecrow cried, grinning widely and once again addressing the little bird with that nickname. As she had with Meramon, she frowned upon hearing it, but this time, she ground her beak as well.
Obviously, she did not care much for this Digimon.
“FlameWizardmon,” she replied evenly, giving a sort of half-bow that she hadn’t done for Meramon (perhaps it was sarcastic). “It’s good to see you.” Her voice belied her, as did her purely disgusted facial expression.
FlameWizardmon did not seem to recognize her sarcasm, as he smiled even wider as he turned to face the humans. “Ah! They’re here! Finally!”
“Do you… know us?” Ezra asked.
FlameWizardmon, still smiling, shook his head. “Not at all! Though, of course, I’ve heard of you. We’ve all been waiting very patiently for your arrival!” He cast his gaze over the group, the smile slipping off his face as it landed on Moxie, Damien, and their partners. “Oh. We weren’t expecting you.”
“That’s kind,” Pop said, frowning.
FlameWizardmon held his hands out in an apologetic gesture. “No, it’s not a bad thing! I just… don’t know you, how’s that?”
“Enough with the introductions,” Biyomon snapped, tapping her foot against the ground. “We intend to pass - they’re here for Asuramon.”
FlameWizardmon’s eyes lit up as the grin returned to his face. “Wonderful! It’s been a while since I’ve had a change of pace.” He looked back over at the gathered humans and Digimon again, winking. “I assume you’re familiar with the rules, hmm?”
“Hang on, please,” Miguel said, his brow creasing. “Are we just… jumping right back in?”
“You do want to get to Asuramon, yes?” FlameWizardmon said, arching a brow.
Miguel shifted slightly. “Well, yes, but… we just got here.”
“Then surely you don’t want to waste any more time!” FlameWizardmon announced, taking a step back. “Now, please. The sooner we can get this started, the sooner you can pass. I’m ready when you are! Just say the word.”
“Time-out,” Biyomon called, right as Ren was curling her fists up and preparing to strike. “We need to talk.”
“Go on, then,” FlameWizardmon said, smirking.
Biyomon stared him down. “Away from you.”
FlameWizardmon frowned, placing a hand on his sternum. “Aw, afraid I’ll ruin it? Fine, I’ll be over here.” With a heavy sigh, he turned on his heel and walked to the other end of the clearing, coming to a halt and folding his arms across his chest with his back still turned.
Biyomon waited for a few seconds after he was done to gather the group together. “I think this would work best if we had a solid plan going in, instead of trying to come up with one on the fly.”
“Bad joke,” Dare said, snickering.
Biyomon ignored her. “The previous plan worked fine for Meramon, but… let’s just say FlameWizardmon is a bit more of a wildcard.”
“How so?” Damien asked, his voice muffled by the hand over his mouth.
Biyomon paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing, before she let loose a sigh. “He likes messing with visitors. He gets a bit riled up in fights and likes to play dirty. And… well, he likes to cause problems on purpose, is one way to put it.”
“Sounds a lot like someone I know,” Alex said, looking over at Ryan, who glared at him and flipped him off.
“Regardless,” Biyomon cut in, “he’s too clever to fall for the same trick we used with Meramon. He specializes more in magic than physical attacks, so trying to avoid him will be impossible.”
“So, then,” Ko said, “do you have any ideas?”
Biyomon fell silent again, staring down at her slightly outstretched wing-hands. She opened her beak to speak, but snapped it shut almost instantly before clasping her claws together.
“I…” Looking over her shoulder over at FlameWizardmon (who at this point was playing with his matchsticks), she nodded solemnly. “There is something I can try. I… I wanted to avoid it, but with him here instead of someone like Boarmon…” She sighed, nodding again. “Alright. I’ll do it. But I expect you all to help too!” She turned to the others here, lifting her chin defiantly. “I won’t do it on my own! So what’s your guys’ plan?”
“I think,” Ren said quietly, one hand on her hip, “we should all just go with whatever your plan is. If you’re aiming to distract him, or take the brunt of his attacks, or something else, we’ll roll with it to the best of our ability.”
Castor cleared his throat. “I agree. Those of us who specialize in offense should try to get as many hits in as we can.”
“And for those who rely on speed and the element of surprise,” Flip chimed in, “will work with that.”
Pop wrung her wings out. “I’m not… the strongest,” she admitted, smiling bashfully. “So I’ll do my best at protecting you all the best I can.”
“That’s a solid plan,” Ezra said. “But - Biyomon, what are you going to do?”
Biyomon’s wings drooped to her side. “…You’ll see. I just… I think it would be better if you watched.”
Not waiting to answer any more questions, she lifted into the air, flapping over to the center of the clearing and gesturing for the other Digimon to follow her. Ezra bid good luck to Ember and watched them go, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets and leaning up against Alex.
“You got any idea what Biyo was talking about?” Ezra asked aloud, not really directed at anyone in particular.
Alex laughed. “Not a damn clue.”
“Wonderful!” said FlameWizardmon, and Ezra shifted his gaze over to see what was happening. The wizard had reached Biyomon and the others in the center, still twirling his matches and still with the giant smile on his face. “You’re ready to start, then?”
“Yessir!” Ember said, curling a paw into a fist.
“Same rules as last time?” Bumble asked, his antennae twitching.
“Hm, let’s see,” FlameWizardmon hummed, holding one hand out and counting on his fingers - “Fight till one of us gives up, use any attacks you wish, don’t push anyone into lava - yep, that about settles it.”
“And?” Biyomon demanded, her tone cold as ice.
FlameWizardmon squinted up at her. “…And?”
“I think you forgot one,” she said, the curlicue on her head bobbing up and down as she hovered.
FlameWizardmon blinked and then laughed once. “Ah! Yes! Forgive me.” He smirked up at Biyomon. “I didn’t think you would need that rule. Yes, you can evolve if you want, whatever.”
“Good,” Biyomon said, landing on the ground and rolling her shoulders back.
Ezra blinked. Why had Biyomon been so adamant about that rule? If none of the humans were going to be put in any immediate danger, then their partners wouldn’t need to evolve, so…
Unless…
Biyomon began to glow, and everything clicked into place.
Ezra had only experienced an evolution from an “outside perspective” once before - Dare’s - and it had been a… normal experience, or as normal as watching a tiny monster change into a bigger one could be. He vividly remembered the night of Ember’s evolution - how he’d felt the world slow down around him, how everything had gone dead silent, how bright the orange light flooding his vision had been.
For Dare’s evolution, he’d seen a flash of purple light, and then she was just… changed all of a sudden, the transformation happening so quickly it almost seemed instantaneous. Of course, having had his own partner evolve before, he knew that from her partner’s point of view, it would have seemed to happen much slower, and that he saw the changes occur right before his very eyes.
And that was to say nothing of how the Digimon themselves felt during the whole process. Ezra had actually asked Ember about this, the day after he’d evolved, and the little cub had said that it felt like he was on fire, but in a good way. Ezra, having first chalked this up to Ember actually being at least partly on fire, had asked Castor as well, and he’d answered much in the same way.
All this was to say that this was Ezra’s third time witnessing an evolution, and that this time it was a lot different than the other two times - and not just because he was, once again, viewing from an outside perspective.
The most notable difference was that the light that, inevitably, issued forth from Biyomon was not brightly colored, but rather a searing white. Secondly, there was no phone or Digivice or what have you that was assigned to her, and thus no voice that came forth announcing the evolution and telling everyone not to turn their phones off while the auto-save symbol was present in the upper right corner of the screen or whatever.
In any case, despite these glaring differences, what was obvious and important and also completely mind-fucking was that Biyomon was evolving.
It happened just like it had before: the light dissipated, and instantly a brand new monster was hovering where the previous monster had been standing. No name was called out, no information was presented; nothing, just done and finished in the blink of an eye.
It was almost staggering.
Where Biyomon had been small, pink, and overall friendly-looking, like a sort of creature you could look at and instantly be good friends with, whatever she had turned into was almost the exact opposite of that.
For starters, she was the size of a bus, and also literally on fire. She was, however, still very much a bird, if her talons and feathered (though flaming) wings were any indication. She still had a beak, though this beak was much different, as it had rows of teeth jutting out from it. Two long feathery tendrils flowed from her head, and her tail was almost as long as she was.
She keened a cry to the air, landing on the ground with a solid thump. FlameWizardmon, seemingly undeterred by the whole event, smiled up at her, one eyebrow raised.
“She evolved?” Miguel gasped, both hands over his mouth and his eyes wide with shock. Turns out everyone had been surprised by the ordeal, which was a bit of a relief to Ezra.
Well… most people were surprised. Out of the corner of his eye Ezra saw Damien reach into his pocket and pull out his phone; when he fully turned to face him, he saw that he had launched his digivice and was currently holding it up to the now-changed Biyomon.
“What are you doing?” Ezra whispered.
Damien barely glanced over at him, still completely focused on his digivice, his eyes scanning the screen. “Analyzing her.”
“What?”
Damien sighed, his hand faltering a little, but he steadied it quickly enough. “I’m using the digivice to scan and upload her data to the compendium so that it can check its internal database and then present me with detailed information on her species.”
“…None of those words make any sense together,” Ezra mumbled, hoping Damien would take a hint and explain it further, but the next voice to speak was not his.
“Birdramon,” said a very familiar voice, giving Ezra a bit of a start. “Champion level giant bird Digimon. Although its personality is in no way combative, it unleashes counterattacks against attacking enemies to a furious degree.”
Damien finally looked over at Ezra, smirking a little, before pocketing it once again. “Understand?”
Ezra stared at him blankly, trying not to show that he was at least a little impressed. When that failed, he breathed out through his nose, turning back to face the center of the clearing. “…You’re going to have to show us how those work someday.”
“Noted.”
The Digimon, too, were all in a state of shock. Each of them were gazing upon the newly-evolved Birdramon with something like a mix of awe, wonder, and confusion. It wasn’t every day, after all, that you come across a Digimon who’s able to evolve at will.
(Weren’t the partner Digimon the only ones who could do that?)
Birdramon shook herself out, still looking down her beak at FlameWizardmon. The wizard Digimon continued to stare up at her with a smile, until he seemingly could hold it in no longer and began to laugh.
“You actually did it!” he crowed, practically buckling over. “I didn’t think you would!” Wiping a tear away from his eye as his laughter died down, he stood back up straight, looking around Birdramon to the scattered rookie Digimon. “Well? Aren’t you going to join her?”
Several of the rookies shifted around. “We… can’t,” said Castor.
FlameWizardmon blinked, and then chuckled again. “Ah, of course not. Silly me!” He knocked his knuckles against his skull. “You need your humans to do that.”
Ember took a step forward around Birdramon, clenching his fists. “Don’t be mean,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “They’re our friends.”
FlameWizardmon opened his mouth to say something more, but Birdramon suddenly held a wing out to stop him. “We’ve wasted enough time,” she said, her voice much lower than it had been before. “Let’s try to get this over with as soon as possible.”
FlameWizardmon bowed deeply. “Of course.” He looked over the Digimon again before turning and winking at the humans. Taking another step back, he held his arms out wide, a matchstick clutched in each hand and a cheerful grin on his face. “Begin!”
Birdramon kicked things off by leaping into the air again, her wings beating forcefully as fiery feathers drifted down onto the ground. Circling high above FlameWizardmon’s head, she suddenly came to a stop, hovering midair.
She spread her wings out wide, lifting her head upward. “
From the underside of her wings came dozens of fireballs, headed straight downwards. The Digimon on the ground scrambled to get out of the way, but her attack came nowhere near them, instead aiming straight for FlameWizardmon.
…Who was standing perfectly still, making no move to dodge or even deflect the attack as it sailed closer to him, and the reason for this was quickly evident. As Birdramon’s fireballs came within a foot or two of hitting him, he suddenly vanished in a puff of flame, reappearing moments later behind the gathered rookies.
“
Due to her size and the sheer speed of the attack, she wasn’t entirely able to dodge. The fireball skimmed her wing, and Ezra saw her grit her beak against it.
Those on the ground were in no mood to leave this all to the two champions; they rushed right into the fray almost before FlameWizardmon had even begun to attack. While Birdramon faltered midair, Ren and Dare were quick to hit the wizard with attacks of their own, managing to mostly avoid crashing into each other.
Pop, Bumble, and Ko (read: those who could fly) joined Birdramon, circling the air above the others’ heads. Bumble fired off a Gear Stinger at the same time as Ko lunged down with a Beetle Lariat.
Both of those attacks missed. FlameWizardmon pulled another sneaky on them and once again disappeared, appearing a mere six feet away from where the two bugs quickly backpedaled to avoid hitting each other.
“He’s too fast,” Castor growled, though he rushed at him with glowing red claws anyway.
“Not my fault that I can do what I can do,” FlameWizardmon taunted him, actually standing still this time in order to finish his remark, though this meant he reeled back as Castor’s attack hit him in the chest. He swept a matchstick out in a wide arc, catching him across the chest and flinging him backward.
“
Just before it hit him, however, Ren swiped a flaming blue paw at him. He deflected her easily, but was too busy dealing with said fox to disappear before Birdramon’s attack hit.
Fireballs from champion-levels seemed to do significantly more damage than bursts of water or cannonballs from rookies; FlameWizardmon was actually genuinely stunned by the impact, teetering backward on one foot and his hands flailing about in midair.
Ember noticed this, and seized his chance. With his gauntlets bursting into flame mid-leap, he reached out for the wizard Digimon’s stable leg, gripping it tightly and yanking it with him as he shot past him. FlameWizardmon was sent crashing to the ground, his hat tipping over his face and obscuring his vision for a scant few moments.
“
This knocked him back a little bit more, but gave him enough of a rude awakening for him to push himself back on his feet. With a grimace, he crossed his matchsticks in front of him, momentarily using one to readjust his hat.
“
Pop had been on her way to swoop down closer to him, possibly to try to distract him or maybe attack or something - point is, she was quite forcibly thrown backward by the giant swell of flames. She landed in a heap quite a few feet away, and Bumble was instantly on his way down to help her back up.
The wizard grinned, winking at the two of them before turning his attention skyward - or at least upward, as there was no visible sky to speak of - to focus on Birdramon. The firebird was still swooping around, tilting her head this way and that as she surveyed her allies and opponent.
FlameWizardmon reached his matchsticks out again. “
“
Fireball hit fireballs as their attacks impacted and subsequently canceled each other out. FlameWizardmon laughed, vanishing yet again as Pop tried to throw her feather at him. He reappeared close enough and quickly enough to reach a matchstick out and knock her to the ground. With his gaze still aimed up at Birdramon, he held his arms out. “Is that all you’ve got? Come on, these guys have places to go, things to do, people to meet! Hurry up already!”
“
Castor slammed into FlameWizardmon from behind, tackling him to the ground and swiping out at him. The wizard pushed himself up off the ground, striking out at Castor with a matchstick and sending the tiny dragon head-over-heels backwards.
“We can’t finish this on our own,” Ko called out, particularly looking up at Birdramon. “He’s faster than we are, and we can’t evolve.”
Birdramon closed her eyes, her flaming tail lashing back and forth. FlameWizardmon smiled over at Ko, holding out one matchstick to stop Ren in her tracks as she leapt for him again. “He’s right, you know,” he said, his head tilted upward but his eyes on the fox. “You’re their only hope.”
Birdramon’s eyes snapped open. She lifted her head towards the ceiling, and she began to ascend higher.
“What is she doing?” Azure mumbled. Ezra squinted up at the rapidly-climbing Digimon, wishing he had an answer.
When she was just almost at the ceiling of the cavern, she paused, flapping her wings slowly. Shaking her head out, she released an earth-shaking cry, twisted her body around, and began to dive.
“
Ezra tried not to laugh at just how ironic the attack was, and around him, he could hear scoffs from others, presumably at the same. Those scoffs, however, turned to murmurs of awe and excitement as the air around Birdramon burst into flame.
It happened so suddenly that not even FlameWizardmon had time to poof into thin air - one moment, he was smirking up at her, and the next, she was barreling into him with the intensity of a dying star.
Another explosion - this one several times larger than the wizard Digimon’s - shook the cavern, and bits of rock fell from the ceiling, into the lava and onto the watching humans and Digimon below.
When the dust and flames settled, FlameWizardmon was laying flat on the ground, his matchsticks forgotten off to the side, and Birdramon was gone, replaced by Biyomon, looking much, much worse for wear.
FlameWizardmon was all too keen to let them continue on; he practically pushed them away from himself, sending them down the opposite pathway. It had taken him… a few minutes to recover, and while he’d been dealing with that, the humans had reunited with their partners, checking them over for injuries.
He wasn’t too talkative when saying goodbye. He’d of course congratulated them on a job well done (though he’d avoided Biyomon’s gaze, and she had avoided his), complete with a weak smile, but that was about it. Presumably Birdramon’s attack had taken a lot out of him.
No one said anything, but they’d all seen the same glitchy distortion wash over FlameWizardmon, as it had with Meramon.
“Can we get some clarification on what all that was?” Ezra asked, a few minutes after having departed the clearing.
The path they were following had turned into a tunnel, and although it would have been large enough for even Birdramon, it was hard to not feel a little claustrophobic. The lava lake was still visible, far below, on either side of the pathway (which, thankfully, still had its handrails) and every so often they’d have to duck down low to avoid another stalactite or weave around a rock formation in the middle of the path.
Biyomon was silent for a few seconds, still leading at the front of the group. When she spoke, her voice was more somber than Ezra would have expected.
“About the evolution…” She sighed. “There are Digimon who can easily switch between forms, you know. Not that it doesn’t take a lot of practice to retain those forms. I’m just one of the few who’s been around long enough to do so.”
“And that attack?” Pop prompted.
Biyomon sighed again. “That attack… I hate to use it, but it was really all I could do. It… drains me. It usually ends with me devolving and the opponent -” She winced. “…Well, you saw what happened to FlameWizardmon.”
Ezra breathed out heavily, shaking his head. “I hope you’re okay,” he mumbled, and Biyomon gave him a gentle smile before turning back to the path ahead of her.
It was maybe ten minutes later - ten minutes of pure, unfiltered silence, during which no one dared to even breathe too loudly - that they came across the next sort of checkpoint.
“
Biyomon, still at the front - and, by extension, Ezra and Ember only a short ways behind her - were only fifteen feet away from where the tunnel opened up into a larger, though still enclosed, tunnel. Ezra and Ember glanced at each other and broke into a run, following Biyomon, who had had the same idea only a moment prior.
They broke into the larger clearing and immediately screeched to a halt. In front of them were two new Digimon duking it out, the larger of the two currently trying to push the other into the flowing magma down below.
“Yoki?” Biyomon cried out.
The taller Digimon was a sort of bird, a straw hat perched on its head and red and yellow flame-patterned robes draped across its body. It turned its head toward Biyomon upon hearing her cry, its eyes widening.
“Bibi?” it asked.
The Digimon it was fighting with - a sort of flaming lizard with a metal mask - took the chance to push back the chicken-man. Yoki(?) stumbled backward, pointing one of its two swords at the fire lizard, but it was already planning its attack.
“
Yoki gritted his beak against the onslaught of flames, and Ezra noticed that Biyomon had flapped forward to help him. “
It didn’t have much of an effect, but it gave the lizard pause and enough time for Yoki to get back on track. “
His voice rang out across the room, echoing dully against the cavern walls, and he rushed forward, his swords outstretched and reaching for the lizard.
The lizard hissed, recoiling, and Ezra was able to catch a closer look at its face.
Pure white eyes. Hmm.
That would explain its foul temper.
“
Yoki suddenly leapt into the air, performing a marvelous backflip before landing right behind the lizard Digimon. Yoki crossed his swords across each other, releasing beams of bright orange light aimed straight for the lizard.
The lizard growled, holding its claws up to its face to block the attack, and Yoki reached forward with one sword. It struck true - right through its chest, coming clean out the other side.
The fire lizard’s eyes widened, and Yoki spun around to throw the infected Digimon into the boiling lava below.
There was no scream of pain, no howl for revenge; just gone, in an instant, left to succumb to the burning liquid.
“Oh, god,” he heard Harmony whisper next to him, one hand clutching at her mouth.
It was pretty brutal. Ezra suddenly wondered if everyone had had the opportunity to see its eyes. It was quite possible they hadn’t, instead thinking that they’d just witnessed a giant chicken stab and throw an innocent fiery lizard into lava.
Yoki sheathed his swords and dusted himself off; in a flash of bright white light, he was gone, a much tinier, swordless yellow chick in his place instead.
Well, scratch that. He still had one sword, strapped across his eggshell body - for, indeed, his entire body seemed to be encased in half of an egg. His orange hair(…?) was tied up in a sort of bun, complementing the orange feathers serving as eyebrows. Little feet poked out of the bottom of the shell, and he had two wings peeking out over the edge of it.
“Hello,” Yoki (or whatever) said, turning to the children. His black eyes shone in the dim light of the lava, but there was a tiredness to them that Ezra completely understood.
“Hi,” Alex said, taking a step forward. “Uh. That was…”
“Rough,” Yoki said, nodding. He sighed. “Came outta nowhere, straight out of the lava. Tried to drag me down with him, but I said ‘no, sir’ to that.” He chuckled, then saw the others’ discomforted expressions and quickly continued. “FlareRizamon can swim in lava! Don’t worry about that guy, he’ll be fine, just won’t be able to bother us anymore.”
“Gotcha,” Ezra said, chewing on his lip and deciding not to comment on how it had also been stabbed through the chest. He hesitated for a moment. “Sorry. You are?”
“Oh, no,” said Yoki immediately, taking a deep bow, “the apology’s all on me. I’m sorry you had to see that. The name’s Yoki, though I guess technically it’s Buraimon - or Hyokomon, whatever.”
Introductions went around from the group, Yoki seeming to struggle to commit each name to memory. “I see you know Bibi?” he said when they were done.
“Yeah - is that your name?” Ember asked, nodding to Biyomon. “They keep saying it, but you haven’t said anything, so…”
The pink bird sighed, covering her forehead with a clawed wing. “It’s a nickname,” she said. “But yes. You can call me Bibi. I don’t exactly introduce myself that way. Can we get going?” She turned to Yoki here, frowning. “They need to get to Asuramon.”
“Er - of course!” Yoki squawked, fumbling around. “Right! Sorry, was a bit caught up with all that. Right this way, please…!”
Yoki and Bibi led the group onward, the two of them conversing together quietly - no doubt about whatever that was that had just happened. Did Yoki know about the maybe-not-virus? Behind him, Ezra could hear some of the others engaged in a discussion, speaking in low tones, also no doubt about the same thing.
They walked for a while, no one talking loudly enough to be heard by anyone but those directly closest to them. The encounter had rattled them all, which was understandable.
Eventually the tunnel opened back up into fresh air, and as Ezra looked up at the sky, he had never felt more relieved to see the stars again. They had spent an unfair amount of time cooped up inside the volcano - because, yes, they had been inside the volcano that whole time, since they were now almost at the top.
Perhaps the slope had been so unnoticeable because the walk was so long, but they had gained altitude, and they were finally able to see the land surrounding the volcanic region. If he looked just hard enough, he thought he could see Mainframe City off to the east, and further past that, Twister Mountain.
How did he know it was east? Why, the sun was almost beginning to rise, that was why!
It wasn’t truly rising yet, but the glow was there. It would only be an hour, maybe less, before it really began to show. Over to the west, the moon was almost starting to dip below the horizon.
So they’d apparently pulled an all-nighter. Truly wonderful.
He wasn’t the only one to notice it; around him, he heard mumbles of surprise as the others came to realize that they’d walked all night till early-morning. Some of the weaker-willed members of the groups even began to yawn, as if just the sight of the peeking sun reminded them how long they’d all been awake for.
…It really had been a long day.
They came to a stop shortly after emerging into the open. Bibi and Yoki turned around to halt them, holding up their wings to tell them to stop, and they obliged.
They were at the base of a rather steep hill, though perhaps it only seemed steep compared to the gentle slopes they had grown used to. They were getting closer to the top of the volcano, Ezra could feel it. Just a bit longer and they would almost be there.
“This is the final guard,” Bibi said, glancing over her shoulder up the hill. “After this, you’re all set to get to Asuramon.”
Ezra breathed a sigh of relief, running a hand through his hair. “Fucking finally.” Bibi gave him an odd look, but turned to Yoki and made no comment.
Yoki cleared his throat. “Er - the rules are, we can’t help you in this one. I’m terribly sorry, and I hate to say goodbye to you so soon, but…”
“We’ll walk you up,” Bibi said, smiling gently. “You’ve really come a long way. You should be proud of yourselves and what you’ve accomplished.”
“Thank you,” Azure said, nodding towards them. “Really, we mean it. Without you, who knows how we’d deal with FlameWizardmon, or even Meramon?”
“Yes, thank you,” Ember said, placing a paw on his chest and looking specifically to Bibi. “You’re really cool as Birdramon.”
Bibi ducked her head into the ruff of feathers around her neck, and Yoki nudged her good-naturedly. “He’s right,” the chick said. “Though, I have to admit, I do think I’m just a smidge cooler as Buraimon. Not that that detracts from your coolness.” Bibi shoved him away and he laughed.
“Thank you, for real, though,” Ezra said, looking between the two of them. “Bibi, for helping us in those fights, which you didn’t have to, and Yoki, for… being there.” He didn’t want to say “thank you for taking care of that white-eyed Digimon, because by the way, there might be a virus going around turning Digimon crazy”.
“Thank you,” said Miguel from the back of the group, clasping his hands together.
“Thanks!” Dare called out, wrapped around Ryan’s neck.
The rest of them said their thank-yous, each one seeming to make Bibi more embarrassed and make Yoki puff his chest out more. When they were all done, Yoki stepped to the side, gesturing up the path, and Bibi took the lead.
It was a bit daunting, walking up to face off against the last opponent before Asuramon. All this way… they’d come all this way over the past week just to get some answers, and now they were finally here. They were so close.
Oh, how easy it could have been.
“That’s weird,” Bibi mumbled when she reached the top of the hill. “Lynxmon’s not on duty tonight.”
Ezra came to a stop next to her and followed her gaze.
The most prominent feature was that the entire clearing was flat, and much wider than the other two (or three) clearings had been. On the opposite side from them, three paths split off; the two on the edges snaked off to wind up around the side of the volcano some more, while the middlemost path was dead straight and completely flat, leading once more back into the interior of the volcano. Lava falls flowed down on either side of it into two rivers that followed the path inside the volcano. It was too dark to see anything inside the tunnel, so Ezra wasn’t sure what lay beyond.
Another pretty prominent feature was the giant flaming cat that sat, perfectly still, in front of that middlemost pathway.
(Seriously, what was with all these Digimon being literally on fire?)
It regarded them with cold green eyes, flicking one of its purple-striped ears passively as if swatting at a fly.
“Lynxmon?” Yoki mused as he walked up to stand beside Bibi. “Don’t you have the day off? Shouldn’t you be at home? And where’s Shadramon?”
Lynxmon said nothing, simply continuing to stare them down, unblinking and unmoving. Just as Ezra thought the silence was getting a bit awkward, its eyes twitched.
It was… horrible, to be completely honest, what Ezra saw next - what they all saw next. He wished he could close his eyes, turn away, just not look at it, but he felt compelled to watch, to stare at it until he felt he was going to puke.
It, of course, started with the eyes; they twitched first, as if by compulsion, but then that twitching grew fiercer, more frequent, until it seemed it had taken over its face, its neck, its body, its legs and feet and tail. It shook violently, like it had a bad case of the jitters, but it didn’t stop, just quickened its pace until it was almost vibrating.
Lynxmon seemed unperturbed by this at first; though of course it was having uncontrollable spasms, its expression did not change. This is, of course, only to say at first - perhaps five seconds into it, its face contorted into one of anguish, and it opened its mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out.
Across its body, it began to glitch out - stronger than the glitches of Meramon and FlameWizardmon and every other Digimon they’d ever defeated. This glitching was wild, vibrant and colorful, shot through with green and black and orange and bright pink. It rippled over its entire body as it continued to shake, until it passed over its eyes - and once it had, those eyes were then pure white.
Not good.
It stopped twitching almost immediately after the glitch had passed over its body - completely stock-still, in one fluid motion, as if nothing bad had ever occurred.
Lynxmon blinked twice, cocking its head oh-so-slightly, and then it smiled.
“What -”
Lynxmon rushed straight for the being closest to it, which just so happened to be Bibi, who had been the one to speak. It slashed out at her, barreling past Ezra and Yoki, as it pinned her to the ground under its flaming paws. It bared its teeth down at her in a sort of half-grin, lifting one paw up over her head.
“
Yoki, quick to act, drew his sword from his back and jumped high into the air, holding it above his head and bringing it down on Lynxmon’s back. It hissed, rolling its shoulders back and dislodging him, shifting around to try to readjust its hold on Bibi.
“What the fuck,” Ezra managed to get out, still in a state of shock from the whole experience and only just beginning to grasp the situation at hand. “Fuck.”
Fortunately, the Digimon around him were not so slow to act.
“
“
“
“
Reaching its claws out, it swept them back and forth, each time sending out blades of white energy aimed directly for him. He was sent tumbling towards the lava fall, managing to dig his claws in and stop himself before he got a nice hot shower.
“That’ll teach you,” Lynxmon hissed, flexing its claws against the rock beneath its feet.
“
Lynxmon turned back to Castor, who was still struggling to pull himself to his feet, and it pounced forward. Flip tried to get a Water Shot in, but it missed by a mile, and Lynxmon didn’t even seem to notice him as it continued toward the dragon.
“Castor!”
Ezra felt something brush past him - Alex, making a beeline straight for his partner. He reached him just in time, grabbing hold of him and rolling away from Lynxmon just as it swept its claws out. Lynxmon jerked backwards, looking around wildly before settling its gaze on the two of them.
Ezra felt his feet move on their own, and before he knew it, he was kneeling right next to Alex and Castor. Ember hurried after him, facing off against Lynxmon with his gauntlets blazing.
“Hey,” Ezra heard Alex say to Castor. “You good?”
Castor smiled weakly. “As always.”
“
“
Ember leapt forward at Lynxmon just as its entire body began to burn brighter. Ember faltered in his tracks, claws at the ready but not wanting to get any closer to the larger flaming cat, and it was quickly apparent why.
Waves of heat washed over the four of them as Lynxmon sent flames rushing forward. Ezra felt his throat tighten as the temperature increased, and he hacked out a cough before falling to his hands and knees. He looked down to see the edges of his jacket and the cuffs of his pants on fire. He quickly stamped them out with the palm of his hand, grimacing as he did so.
He’d been hit by a Digimon attack before, but not like this.
When the flames cleared, Lynxmon still stood defiant over them. Behind it, the other Digimon were in various states of disarray - some were being held by their partners; others were still on their feet, looking like they’d seen better days.
Lynxmon stared down at the four of them - Alex, Castor, Ember, and Ezra - and grinned, showing off needle-sharp teeth.
“
“NO!”
It was aiming for Alex; Ezra felt himself roughly pushed to the side, holding Ember tight to his chest. He fell on his back, staring up at Lynxmon as it slashed its claws through the air.
Bright red flashed in front of him; he heard some garbled, robotic words, and when the light cleared, BaoHackmon was standing over Alex.
What?
“
Castor’s claws, this time, did not just glow; instead, they exploded with red energy as he raked them across Lynxmon’s face. It howled, reaching a paw up as if it could stamp out the pain. It didn’t work.
With a low, rumbling growl, it hissed straight into Castor’s face. “You’ll pay for that!
Ezra, a few feet away, did not get hit by the blast of heat and flames this time, but Castor (and Alex, behind him) did. The two of them tried to brace themselves against it the best they could, but Castor eventually relented and dove to grab Alex and roll out of the way.
“
Lynxmon laughed, lashing its tail to flick Dare away, sending her crashing into Yoki. “This is pathetic,” it drawled, blinking slowly. “Really. I expected more from you all.”
“This isn’t all we’ve got!”
Ember had struggled free from Ezra’s grasp, and was now standing tall against Lynxmon. Castor, off to the side, turned his head toward him, pushing himself to his feet.
Lynxmon tilted its head toward Ember. “Really. Then show me what you’ve got.”
“
“
Ember lunged straight for Lynxmon’s face, swiping up across its nose with the gauntlets on his wrists flaring up. Castor, taking his opportunity, shot a bright red fireball at Lynxmon, which crashed into its back.
Lynxmon swatted Ember away easily, but tensed up as the fireball was basically absorbed into its own flames. It turned on Castor, its eyes ablaze with fury even despite their blankness. “
Getting hit by a very intense rush of fire three times does not do wonders for the body; Castor crumpled to the ground a good few feet away from Alex, unable to stand any longer. Alex wasted no time in crawling over to him - Ezra, likewise, scrambled to Ember’s side, worry flooding his mind.
Lynxmon had other plans for him, however. It reached a paw out to block his path, flipping him onto his back and baring its teeth down at him. It lifted one paw, placing it on his shoulder, while the other held down the opposite leg.
The cat dipped its head down, close enough to his own face where Ezra could feel the heat emanating from it. It flicked an ear, staring right into his brown eyes with its own stark-white.
“This is it,” it breathed. “Time of reckoning, Ezra. What will you do when your friends aren’t around to help you? Can you hold your own?”
Ezra squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to look at it any longer. Lynxmon hissed, digging its claws deep into his chest and raking them downward.
“Ezra,” came a voice, sounding from very far away. Cracking an eye open and looking to the side, Ezra saw Ember, still collapsed on the ground, reaching out a paw for him.
Ezra struggled against Lynxmon’s grasp, trying to maneuver his arm around to take his partner’s hand, but Lynxmon rumbled a laugh and moved its paw to stop him.
“What can you do,” Lynxmon murmured, “when you have no one to save you? What’s going to happen to poor little Ezra, when you’re standing all on your own?”
Ezra looked up at Lynxmon, still pinned to the ground, still trapped between flames and rock. He shifted his hand around - not enough for Lynxmon to notice, but just enough where he could feel the tips of Ember’s claws.
He closed his hand around Ember’s, and stared right into Lynxmon’s dead white eyes. “I don’t know what you’re getting at,” he mumbled. “My friends are right here with me.”
Lynxmon furrowed its brow, looking as if to say something, but it was cut off - and not a moment too soon.
Ezra felt Ember squeeze back, and then everything around him went bright orange and dead silent - save for, of course, the sound of Ezra and Ember’s hearts beating in sync.
His phone did not beep this time; it did not vibrate. It did, however, issue forth its calming, familiar voice, one which Ezra had never been happier to hear before in his life.
“Evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in process.”
And then, of course, the sounds of everything around him came rushing back into his ears. It wasn’t quite so bad, this time - maybe because the only sounds were coming from the onlookers.
Speaking of -
Lynxmon had sprung away at this point, though its gaze remained on the two of them. It curled its lip up, but made no move to look away, almost as if it was transfixed.
Ezra pushed himself up and turned to his right just in time to see Ember transform.
He dropped down onto all fours first, the ruff of fur around his neck growing longer and shaggier until it was more like a lion’s mane. Wings sprouted from his shoulders; metal cuffs snapped into place around his ankles and thighs to mirror those on his front paws. The mantlepiece on his head grew larger, with two extensions from either side dropping down to hold flowing locks of hair in place.
When it was over, he reared up and slammed his paws down into the rock below him, shaking Ezra to his very core.
“
He roared like a lion, a callback to the first night he had evolved, just one week ago.
Had it really only been a week?
From his back pocket, Ezra’s phone began to speak again.
“Firamon. Champion level beast Digimon. It protects the historical remains in the Digital World from those who would destroy it, and is a good leader.”
Lynxmon hissed from off to the side. Ember rounded on it almost immediately, baring his teeth at it.
“If you could all stop evolving,” Lynxmon rumbled, pinning its ears back, “you would be making my job much easier.”
“
Ember was in no mood to listen to any more of Lynxmon’s rants, and he rushed forward with surprising speed. The two of them were now matched in size (and power), and Ember’s burning claws slashed out at Lynxmon, sending him reeling backward.
“
“
The very air around Ember’s front half seemed to burst into flame as he sprinted forward, pushing past Lynxmon’s attack to slam straight into it. The two of them tumbled backward, Ember not letting go, until they came to a stop near the lava fall.
Lynxmon hissed, still pinned down. Ember smiled. “Not so fun when you’re on the receiving side, huh?”
Lynxmon’s eyes narrowed as it flexed its claws. “None of this matters,” it spat. “You’re all wasting your time. Go ahead, kill me. See if I care. It won’t be the end.”
This gave Ember pause, and he loosened his grip on Lynxmon, looking worried - which was just what it wanted.
“
“
The beams of energy met Ember’s claws and dissipated as he continued towards Lynxmon, slashing out a second time and catching it across the face. Lynxmon’s eyes narrowed as it began to distort, but it smiled anyway.
Ember continued to stare it down, not making a move but poised to attack if he had to.
“Are you done?” Lynxmon taunted, its chest heaving. When Ember didn’t reply, it grinned. “
“
Lynxmon’s attack did not differ this time - Ember’s did. He jumped high into the air, flaring his wings out to hover for a few moments before he once again caught on fire and dove towards Lynxmon.
Lynxmon didn’t have time to move before Ember crashed into it.
When the resulting explosion cleared, Ember stood over a flickering Lynxmon.
From Ezra’s position, he didn’t hear what Lynxmon said next; it lifted its head up slightly to whisper something in Ember’s ear that made him glare. A beat later, Lynxmon began to distort and shift again, more violently this time.
Right before it dispersed into pixels, scattering across the ground, Ezra swore he saw green irises blink into existence again.