EPISODE 13 - HALLOWED GROUND
“…Holy shit…”
It was a perfectly acceptable reaction, all things considered, despite it being quite blunt.
Alex had been the one to speak; he pushed himself to his knees, his hands visibly shaking even from all the way across the clearing. Ezra, a few feet away, managed to get to his feet as well, stumbling and reaching out to steady himself on… Firamon? Was that what Ember’s champion form was called?
(In the heat of the moment, fifteen or so feet away from him, it had been hard to really hear anything.)
There was a flash of red light, and when it dissipated, Castor had reverted back down to his rookie stage. A moment later, Ember followed suit, and Ezra immediately reached down to scoop him up in his arms.
From much closer by, Ryan breathed out heavily, shaking his head and muttering something to Dare. She closed her eyes, looking a bit pained, before clambering up around his shoulders.
Flip was halfway across the clearing, but Miguel closed the distance as soon as everything had settled. The little sea lion grinned as he was clutched tight to his partner’s chest - Miguel’s eyes were squeezed shut, and he looked more relieved than he ever had.
Azure and Damien were crouched right next to each other, their partners on either side of them. Azure crawled towards Ko, running their hands over him and frowning, while Damien leaned back, tilting his face towards Bumble.
Ren had - save for Castor and Ember - quite possibly been the most injured, and she was clearly in pain, judging by her face alone and saying nothing of how stiffly she moved. She lifted a paw up, trying to halt Harmony in her tracks, but the shorter girl fell towards her anyway, immediately throwing her arms around her shoulders.
Bibi and Yoki… well, they’d been roughed up quite a bit, too, and were currently conversing with each other quietly, occasionally casting glances over to where Lynxmon had…
…Where Ember and Lynxmon had fought.
Though a bit shocked, though pretty sore, and though very exhausted, everyone seemed to be in decent shape, all things considered.
This, of course, left behind one set of partners, namely -
At her side, Moxie felt Pop nudge her arm, looking up into her brown eyes with her own golden ones.
Moxie sighed deeply, reaching a hand over to stroke her partner’s head, and Pop practically melted into her touch. She hadn’t taken on very many attacks, but from just looking at her, Moxie could tell she was worn out.
…It had taken a toll on everyone, to be honest.
“Is everyone -”
Harmony broke the heavy silence, she and Ren rising to their feet together, the latter slightly leaning on the former even as Harmony stumbled slightly under her own injured leg. Harmony bit her lip, glancing around the clearing, her eyes coming to a rest on Moxie.
Moxie gave her a weak smile, and Harmony returned it in kind before looking over pointedly to Castor and Ember.
“We’re…” Alex looked down at the ground, where Castor was sitting with his shoulders hunched. He’d pulled his hood up over his head, his expression underneath it unreadable, but Alex sighed. “That was…”
“What… happened to him?” That was Bibi, taking a few steps forward so she could properly survey the entire group. Yoki followed not long after, his wings drooping to his side.
Pop curled her claws into fists, standing up properly. Moxie did the same, reaching an arm down so her partner could hop up onto it.
This seemed to be as good a sign as any, and the others in the group also stood to their full heights again. Moxie looked over at her brother, where his partner was hovering next to him - every so often he would falter a little, but Damien always helped steady him again. He glanced over at Moxie, his expression darkening, and bowed his head.
Moxie reached a hand up to her face. What had happened? Lynxmon had been fine, and then all of a sudden not.
…Well… there had been the glitching, but other than that…
And his eyes had gone white. Like… infected Digimon, right?
Moxie racked her brain, trying to think back to when Miguel had first told her about the whole ordeal, just earlier that evening - virus going around, driving Digimon mad, yada yada - their eyes would go white when they were infected.
We don’t know why, he’d said. But it’s the one thing that connects them all.
And yet whatever had happened to Lynxmon was not the workings of a virus, that was for sure.
“That,” she said, looking over at the two little birds, “was… the virus. We think.”
Bibi’s expression fell as she nodded, but Yoki looked confused. “The what?”
“Something’s wrong in the Digital World,” Castor started, rising to his feet and picking his way over to the rest of the group. Alex, Ember, and Ezra followed suit, Ember still being carried in Ezra’s arms.
Yoki frowned. “How so?”
“We’re not sure,” Castor said, coming to a stop and sitting down. “We - I used to think it was some sort of virus, but we’ve… learned some new things over the past couple of days, and now everything’s kind of all up in the air. Regardless -” He broke off here, closing his eyes for a moment. “There’s something going on, and our only lead is that it has something to do with us.”
“Hang on,” Bibi said, her gaze snapping up toward Castor. “It… has to do with you all? In what way?”
“They target us,” Alex said, sighing and taking a seat on the ground next to his partner. “As if it’s their main goal. One-track mind and all that. Plus the few of them that have mentioned wanting to kill us, specifically.”
“Yes, so you’ve said,” Bibi agreed, nodding, “but that doesn’t mean this is your fault.”
“…No one said it was,” Ren mumbled, grimacing as she tried to put weight on her foot.
Bibi frowned. “You’re right, I didn’t say it was. It’s like you were saying earlier, though - just because there’s bound to be Digimon out there that are upset about humans being here doesn’t mean that all this is happening because you’re here.”
“You just contradicted yourself,” Ryan argued, raising one eyebrow at Bibi. “If they don’t like that there’s humans here then obviously they would target us.”
“What she’s saying,” Moxie said, unable to remain quiet any longer, “is that all of this would still happen even if you - we weren’t here.”
Bibi nodded vigorously. “But because you are here, whatever’s really happening is seeing you as a threat. Hence why it’s going after you.”
“Great, so we’re acting as bait to protect the world,” Ryan laughed, shaking his head. “Just as I always wanted.”
“That’s not what she meant,” Castor said in a low voice, glaring over at Ryan. “Stop turning everything into an argument.”
Ryan opened his mouth to say something more, but snapped it shut as Dare whispered something in his ear. He closed his eyes, sighing heavily.
“We’re not… acting as bait,” Miguel said quietly, furrowing his brow in contemplation. Everyone turned to him, and he wasted no time continuing. “Sure, we’re diverting its attention away from others, but - we’re also actively trying to stop it, right?”
“Right,” Pop said, placing her chin in her claws. “It’s better than lying down and letting it walk all over us, at the very least. Even if what we can do right now is small, at least it’s progress.”
Moxie nodded. “But then the question is, why does it see us as a threat?”
“Wow, I wonder,” Ryan said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know, maybe because we might be destined to stop it?”
“Look,” Moxie said, ignoring Ryan’s argumentative tone and instead turning to the two birds, “all we know is that there’s something going on, and we may or may not have to put an end to it. Now, we’ll only find out if we do have something to do with it if we get a move on.” She swept an arm out in front of her, gesturing to the tunnel directly ahead of the clearing. “I assume that that’s Asuramon’s place.” Bibi and Yoki nodded and Moxie returned it, looking around at the group. “Do we want some answers or what?”
One by one, those seated pushed themselves to their feet, and those standing turned to face the tunnel. Bibi and Yoki, having been mostly silent during their short conversation - probably not wanting to intrude or misspeak - took the lead, gesturing with their wings for the group to follow them.
No one said another word as they continued onward, which might have been for the best - everyone was wrapped up in their own thoughts about what had happened and what was going to happen in the foreseeable future. The tunnel, longer than Moxie had thought it would be, wound up inside the volcano, with more lava falls on either side of the pathway dripping down into rivers that flowed back out.
After a few short minutes, the tunnel opened up into a cavern - not as large as the one they’d fought FlameWizardmon in, but larger than the one where they’d first met Yoki. Puddles of lava ringed the room, coalescing together and bubbling loudly.
Dead ahead, a small hut with a thatch roof sat, its door guarded by two humanoid Digimon.
The Digimon, each draped in a tattered purple cloak and wearing red samurai armor, stood with their arms folded behind their back. As Bibi and Yoki, having gone ahead of the group, approached the two of them, neither of them moved a muscle, not even shifting their gazes towards them.
The group caught up with them, but halted as Yoki held one wing out. He and Bibi bowed, and an almost imperceptible gesture from the latter prompted the humans and their Digimon to follow their lead. Still the two guards did not budge.
“We seek counsel with Asuramon,” Yoki said after he stood back up. “These humans and Digimon have traveled from far away to speak to him, and they have passed every test with grace and precision.”
“We also need to speak to Baromon,” Bibi added. “On the topic of… Lynxmon. There’s been an incident.”
Well, incident was certainly one way to put it. Moxie frowned, tilting her head.
The Digimon on the right suddenly drew a sword from behind its back, startling everyone save for Bibi and Yoki. It did not look down at them, but pointed its sword at the two birds. “You two. Go to Baromon. I will escort these ones inside.”
The two of them nodded. “Thank you, Musyamon,” Bibi said.
Musyamon sheathed its sword and resumed its statue-like stance. Bibi and Yoki both turned to face the group.
“This is goodbye,” Yoki said, smiling sadly. “Thank you for… helping.” With Lynxmon, presumably; he looked a bit uncomfortable bringing it up.
Bibi dipped her head, her expression darkening. “You’ve done well. We wish you the best of luck on your journey.”
“If you’re ever in the area again,” Yoki added softly, “please stop by.”
A wave of goodbyes went around, similar to how they had before they’d come across Lynxmon; when everyone was done, Bibi and Yoki both bowed deeply towards the group before heading back out the way they’d came, Yoki looking back over his shoulder to wave at them before they disappeared into the darkness.
Silence washed over the cavern. Damien coughed, shifting from one foot to the other.
Moxie felt a strange sort of sadness wash over her. The two of them had barely been with them for less than a day, and yet they’d helped them through so much - and now, just like that, they were gone.
…Sure, maybe they’d see them again. There was still a chance of that happening.
Not like with -
The two Musyamon at the door both pulled their swords out again, causing Harmony, the one closest to them, to flinch slightly.
“This way,” said the Musyamon on the right, finally looking down at them. It and its companion turned around, the other using its sword to push open the wooden door.
The Musyamon stepped back, their heads bowed, moving the group along by gesturing with their swords.
Moxie ended up at the front of the group, and Pop hopped up onto her shoulder. As the group approached the hut - pitch-dark within, the only light coming from a few candles at the far side of the room - they grew aware of a presence deep within.
Moxie hesitated at the threshold, turning back around to look at the others. Damien and Bumble, right behind her and Pop, gave her pointed looks, and she reluctantly turned back around.
Moxie took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Behind her, the others entered as well. Damien and Bumble were next to step inside, and they came to a stop just next to her. Slowly, everyone filled in, each one pressed as close to the wall behind them as they could.
Moxie turned around again just in time to catch one of the Musyamon’s eyes - a moment later, it reached a hand forward to grab the door, pulling it shut behind them.
Immediately a few noises of surprise went around, some glancing around wildly as the room was flooded with darkness. Moxie frowned, peering ahead at the candles - seven of them, each flame no larger than a fingernail.
There were a few more seconds of silence, before someone breathed out heavily (maybe Alex?). “So?”
(Yeah, definitely Alex.)
A quiet, rumbling laugh started up from the other side of the room. Moxie looked up from the flickering candles at where she assumed whoever it was would be seated.
“Welcome,” the speaker said, their voice low and warm. Pop shifted on Moxie’s shoulder, and the two of them turned to each other to exchange looks. “I’ve been expecting you.”
The candles suddenly flared brightly, growing to the size of a fist and properly illuminating the room. It was small, perhaps the size of their kitchen (Moxie felt a sharp pang in her chest and shoved it down) with a few rugs strewn upon the floor, but it was room enough for the sixteen of them to fit.
Or, scratch that - seventeen, because, indeed, Asuramon sat at the far end of the room, the seven candles laid out in a row in front of him.
Moxie first noticed that he had four arms - each one had a golden band wrapped around the forearm, and the knuckles were alight in flames. His legs and feet mirrored this, and he had a white rope tied around his waist, from which tassels and a red loincloth hung. His skin was a dark brown, almost black, and a mane of fiery hair sprouted from his scalp, matching the flames that erupted from his back.
He also had three faces, each one with a mask covering the upper half of the face and each one displaying a different color and expression. The middlemost one was red and seemed angry; the one on his right was yellow and happy, and the left was blue and sorrowful.
All three mouths moved when he spoke, and though the prominent face was that of anger, Asuramon’s voice was kind.
“I’ve been awaiting your arrival,” he said, smiling as he cast his gaze over the gathered Digimon and humans. “Please, have a seat.”
Despite his friendliness, Moxie found herself a little uneasy at his three faces, particularly because it looked like he was constantly glaring at all of them. Regardless, she took a seat on one of the rugs, and Pop hopped off of her shoulder, curling up in her lap. The others followed suit, Damien practically pressing up against her, though when she turned to look at him he was focused on his phone.
Asuramon spread his hands out, and as he did the candle flames burned brighter again, lighting up his face. He folded the hands of his upper arms together, while the other two rested on his knees as he knelt. “So,” he continued. “You’ve finally made it.”
“No thanks to you,” Moxie heard Damien mutter under his breath, and she jolted toward him. He caught her looking and quirked an eyebrow, shrugging offhandedly. “What?”
“Don’t be rude,” she hissed, her cheeks heating up.
“He has a point, though,” Ryan agreed, jerking a thumb towards Asuramon. “I mean, if homeboy knew we were coming, surely he could’ve given us a heads up about the whole deal.”
Moxie caught sight of Harmony frowning at Ryan, opening her mouth to say something, but she was summarily cut off by Asuramon laughing yet again. Stunned, Moxie turned back to him to see him smiling down at Damien and Ryan in particular.
“Compelling cases,” he said quietly, tapping the nose of his red mask with a finger, “but no. You had to find your own way here.”
“What, to prove ourselves?” Flip asked, looking a bit skeptical but with no sarcasm in his voice.
Asuramon nodded sagely. “Correct. And you did, for which I am glad.”
“Hang on, then,” Dare said, raising a paw. “If you knew we were coming, then you know why we’re here, right?”
“Indeed,” Asuramon said, nodding. “You desire answers.”
He leaned forward, hunched over the candles; as if by instinct, the gathered group followed suit, scooting forward to get closer to Asuramon. With a wave of his hand, the candlelight diminished, till the flames were as small as they had been when they’d walked in. Subsequently, the room was plunged into near-darkness again, Asuramon’s faces being the only things illuminated enough to see.
Pop shifted in Moxie’s lap, and she placed a hand on her head before looking back up at Asuramon. This was what they’d been waiting for, for - well, for Moxie, Pop, Damien, and Bumble, it had only been… three days, at most? Maybe two?
But for everyone else, they’d had a hell of a past week. It… was a week for them, at this point, right? A whole week, all leading up to this point, the point where they would finally get all the answers they needed.
Moxie felt her stomach turn as she realized that this really was where they’d find out their reason for being here. For her and Damien, the Digital World had always been a second home to them.
And, in the past few years, our only home.
If she and Pop were really destined to save it… well, she sure as hell would try, because that was what she did. No matter what, she would try her hardest to fulfill whatever destiny she might have to.
But if she couldn’t do a good enough job -? If she wasn’t cut out for it -?
If I have to go back to -
She shook her head out, trying to dislodge the thoughts from her head - and just in time, because Asuramon was beginning to speak.
“I must warn you,” he started, steepling his fingers in front of his face. “I know nothing of your futures, or what this world has in store for you. The past is my area of expertise; the present is known to me only through the nature of it happening as we speak. The future has never been my strong suit. Your destinies lie in your own hands.”
Well, that was certainly a heavy way to start this whole thing. From a few feet to her right, Moxie heard Azure hum quietly, followed by a clicking noise that she could only assume was Ko tapping his claws on the ground.
“So then…” Castor mumbled. “We do have a destiny…?”
“That you do,” Asuramon confirmed, nodding. Off to the left, Ryan groaned, but he went ignored as Asuramon continued. “Everyone has a destiny; but you all, Digimon and children alike, have a very important one, each one interwoven with the others’.”
“Cryptic, baffling, doesn’t explain anything,” Damien commented, crossing his arms - he’d at least gotten off his phone, and was obviously paying attention, but - Moxie couldn’t help but cringe a little at his abrasiveness.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly to Asuramon.
Damien closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. “Don’t apologize for me.”
“There is no need,” Asuramon said suddenly, and Moxie blinked. “Clarity is something else which has never been my strong suit, and it’s understandable that you would grow frustrated with that. This is my own fault, and yet it is up to you all to find meaning in what I say.”
“Thanks for your honesty,” Damien said with a bit of snark, placing his hands behind him and leaning back. On the other side of him, Bumble poked his head up, his antennae twitching.
Asuramon went on unperturbed. “Your destiny, children… do you know of the humans of the past?”
Moxie blinked, confused - humans of the past? - and then she remembered the first day upon meeting the others. Seated in their house (again came the pain in her chest), Castor had said something about humans partnered with Digimon a long time ago, presumably to fulfill a destiny of their own.
“Vaguely,” Ren said. “Only that they existed.”
“Are they important?” Castor asked.
Asuramon did not answer his question; even though masks covered the upper half of his faces, it was obvious that his expression was somber. He sighed.
“They were so young,” he said quietly, dipping his head. “Much younger than you all. It was so long ago…” He looked back up at the group, smiling sadly. “I’m sorry. I lose myself in them sometimes. They are important… Without any knowledge of the past, we cannot move forward. Which is why…”
He trailed off, sighing again. “I aim to learn from and teach others of the past, so that we can move past it and correct our mistakes. If we fall victim to it, any number of horrible things can happen.”
“Cool story,” Dare chimed in. “I’m getting the impression that these ‘humans of the past’ fucked up big-time or something.”
Asuramon hesitated, looking confused for a split second, and then he nodded. “More or less, though it was not them, per se, but rather the ones supposed to guide them. It was no one’s fault; no one could have possibly known what they would go through, or what would happen to them. They were up against insurmountable power, with those they trusted crossing them at every turn. It wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did… in the end, they succeeded, but with no small amount of sacrifices.”
“Damn,” Ezra breathed. “Are… we going to have to make any… sacrifices?”
Moxie swallowed the lump in her throat, her shoulders slumping. That was something else she’d failed to consider until now. She already knew, from personal experience, that getting hit by a Digimon attack sucked and could leave a human incapacitated for weeks - to say nothing of how a Digimon would fare from an attack from a higher level.
If she had to - if it came down to it - could she give Pop up for the sake of the world? A world which she did not belong to?
And yet is the only one I can turn to?
She looked down at her partner, still seated in her lap and staring up at Asuramon, and breathed out a shaky sigh.
“Hopefully not,” Asuramon said, Moxie almost having forgotten that Ezra had asked a question. “There were mistakes made back then which will not be made this time. I have made sure of it; it is why I teach the past to those who will listen.”
“And this has to do with us how?” Pop said softly. “I mean - I get what you’re saying, but we still don’t know what we’re here to do.”
“Yes,” Bumble said, speaking up for the first time. “Thanks for the history lesson, but we came here to get answers about our destiny, not other people’s pasts.”
Azuramon cleared his throat. “I understand,” he said calmly. “You want to know what you can do about it.” He lifted his head up, tilting his face down towards where Moxie assumed Castor was sitting, in the dark.
“Hackmon,” he said, and Moxie realized that they hadn’t even introduced themselves to him. “You are a friend of Aldamon’s?”
Castor was quiet for a moment, before murmuring a noise of assent.
Asuramon was silent for a moment. “I see. My condolences.” (Weird.) He tipped his mourning face toward him, and paused. “I’m sure all of you are aware that something is wrong with the Digital World.”
What a fun way to put it. Wasn’t that exactly what Castor always said?
“Yeah, about that,” Ember said, before a soft padding sound was heard from his direction - had he stood up? “We thought it was some sort of virus, but then we heard some things and saw some things and now we have no idea what’s going on. Is it a virus, or…?”
Asuramon laughed gently, folding his fingers together and placing them under his chin. “Perhaps. Does it matter?”
There was a stunned silence before one brave soul spoke up.
“Yes, it matters!” Alex exclaimed, jerking forward. “We don’t have any idea what it is! If you want us to save the world then we’ve gotta know what we’re fighting!”
“I hate to say it,” Ryan said immediately once Alex was done, “but he’s right. We deserve to know what we’re up against.”
“If we’re supposed to save the world,” Flip added, “we need to know what we’re saving it from.”
“You misunderstand,” Asuramon said, grinning, and Damien’s eye roll from beside Moxie was practically tangible. “That is not what I meant. Of course you need to know what’s happening in the world. But does it matter whether or not it’s a virus? If it is, or if it is not… your fate is still the same, regardless of the details.”
“…Details would be nice,” Ren said quietly, shifting in her seat. “The more we know, the better.”
“Of course,” Asuramon said with a nod. “That is where I was heading before I was interrupted.” He cleared his throat again, folding both sets of arms behind his back. “The truth is, no one can hope to know what is truly going on. It is certain that there is something happening, something far beyond our control and something which you all are destined to put an end to. Whatever it is, it is up to you to discover the truth about it; I would be no help.”
“So he’s just as in the dark as we are,” Damien said under his breath, barely loud enough for Moxie to hear. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words died in her throat as she realized that he had a point.
…Hmm.
“Do you know - anything about it?” she said instead, turning back to Asuramon. “Anything at all? Anything that can help us better understand what’s going on?”
Slowly, he shook his head, two of his hands falling to his lap while the other two propped his chin up. “All I know,” he said, a twinge of regret in his voice, “is that you will find your answers in the north. How far north, I know not.”
He snapped his head up just as everyone began to deflate in disappointment. “But,” he said forcefully, lifting one hand to tell them to wait. “Someone does. He will have more answers for you; he, too, has been awaiting your arrival.”
“…Who?” Miguel asked in a hushed tone.
Asuramon grinned widely, pausing for dramatic effect. “Piximon in Central Forest.”
Moxie’s jaw dropped. What?
She turned to Pop, the two of them staring at each other for a split second before Moxie turned to Damien. He met her gaze after looking away from Bumble - presumably he’d had the same thought.
The others… not so much.
“You’re sending us on another wild goose chase?” Ryan snapped. “After we just spent a week of constant near-death experiences just so we could get here and have you spout bullshit at us? You think we want to do that again?”
“I think it’ll be fine,” Harmony said cautiously. “I mean, if he would know more…”
“We don’t exactly have anywhere else to go,” Moxie pointed out, biting the inside of her cheek. Even in the dark, she felt all eyes turn to her, and she lifted her chin a bit. “Our options right now are go to Central Forest or go north to ‘find answers’ - and we don’t even know where in the north, but if Piximon does, I think the answer is obvious.”
A few quiet seconds passed, and then Alex sighed. “She’s right. It’s the only lead we have.”
“Besides,” Damien said, holding a hand out in an offhand gesture, “it’s not that far. Maybe, like, four days, if we don’t waste any time along the way.”
There was another silence; Moxie sensed several people looking confused.
Pop was the one to explain. “We know the way,” she said, and Moxie caught sight of Asuramon practically lighting up at the news. “It really isn’t that far from here.”
“Oh,” Castor said. “That’s good, at least.”
“Piximon is someone very close to me,” Asuramon continued. “He will know about your future. He knows more about the relationships between humans and Digimon, as well, so if you have any questions about that, hold on to them tightly. He can answer them.”
He swept one arm out in a wide arc over the candles, and they burned brighter again, lighting the room up once more. “Do you have any more questions? I cannot guarantee I can answer them, but I will at least try.”
Moxie breathed out, shaking her head.
Azure, however, raised a hand. “Do you… know why we, specifically, were chosen? Us humans, an’ the Digimon - surely it couldn’t have been at random.” They paused, their gaze trailing to Ko. “And… why call upon a bunch of teenagers to save the world?”
Asuramon chuckled, leaning back and stroking his chin with his fingers. “Ah, I see. A wise question… and one which I cannot answer.”
“Can’t, or won’t?” Azure broke in, frowning.
Asuramon looked to them, but did not respond. “Why you were chosen… well, that is something else you will have to discover for yourselves.”
From next to her, Moxie felt Damien bristle, and she quickly glanced over to see him hunched forward, his eyes on the floor. She reached a hand out to place on his back, and he sighed, closing his eyes.
“As for why call upon children,” Asuramon continued, “well, the answer to that is simple. Your imaginations - your hopes, wishes, and dreams - your emotional capacity, and your growing minds… this is the age at which you are growing and maturing; learning from the world around you, and starting to question what you have been raised to believe.” Ryan laughed out loud here (though not out of malice, it seemed), and Asuramon smiled at him before going on. “If you think about it… doesn’t it make perfect sense that children be the ones to form bonds with monsters from another world?”
He leaned forward, looking over the entire group. “Listen to me now. Trust in each other. Believe in each other. Do not doubt yourselves; do not falter. Have faith in what you are doing and who you are with. You need each other more than you think. You cannot do this alone.” He settled back, the candles flaring up one more time so that it was as if the room was illuminated by daylight finally.
Alex broke the silence, exhaling loudly. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know where we’d go next if it weren’t for you.”
Moxie nodded slowly as the others expressed their own thanks. She looked down at Pop, who blinked slowly and yawned. Moxie smiled, but then felt herself yawn, and realized just how tired she was. They’d been awake for nearly twenty hours straight, without any rest in between.
Asuramon noticed her. “You must be tired,” he said, clasping his hands together. With a whoosh, the candles dimmed again, till they were barely pinpricks in the dark. “Please, feel free to sleep for as long as you need. When you are ready to resume your journey, the Musyamon will escort you down the mountain.”
“Thanks,” Moxie said, relieved.
Asuramon left the room as they all began to settle down - when Castor asked him if they should be the ones to leave, he shook his head and said that he needed to go speak to Baromon anyway. About Lynxmon, Moxie supposed - by now, Bibi and Yoki would have told them everything.
She found herself, with Pop leaning up against her back, lying next to Harmony; the shorter girl rolled over to face her, Ren on her other side.
“Hey,” she said.
Moxie blinked. “Hey. What’s up?”
Harmony closed her eyes, curling her fingers inward. “Have you been to Central Forest before?”
Moxie breathed out, shaking her head the best she could while laying on her side. “Sort of. We’ve been near it. Walked around it. Never actually been there, though.”
Harmony’s eyes twinkled as she smiled. “Are you sure you know the way, then?”
Moxie laughed, rolling her eyes. “Just as well as Ember knew the way here.”
Harmony paused for a second, then shrugged the shoulder not smushed into the ground. “Fair.”
“Why, are you worried we’ll get lost?”
“No,” Harmony said. “Just teasing you.”
“Fair,” Moxie echoed, and Harmony smiled. “We should try to sleep.”
“It’s been a while since we did,” Harmony agreed.
Moxie nodded, and Pop shifted against her back. Harmony rolled back over to face Ren. Moxie sighed again, closing her eyes.
Tomorrow (or later that day, actually), they would begin the next leg of their journey. Now would be her last chance to back out of this - as far as she could tell, she was just tagging along with the group. With everything Nohemon had said about them missing someone, and Ryan’s observation that maybe the four of them weren’t whoever they were missing… maybe they weren’t a part of this.
We can still turn back before it’s too late. We don’t have to go through with this. After we lead them to Central Forest… we could turn right back around and go home and live our lives again.
But she wouldn’t. Couldn’t. They were in too deep now - she and her brother and their partners.
They had a chance to help save the world. Of course she would take it. She thought back to the morning she’d decided to go with them - barely two days ago.
She’d been on this journey for two days and already she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Moxie had always felt like she’d met Pop for a reason. Surely there was more to it than just random chance. With everything the four of them had been through… it couldn’t be for nothing.
They would save the world. She would make sure of it.
In total, it took them four days to get to Central Forest.
Fortunately for them, those four days were relatively uneventful, with almost nothing to oppose them save for the sky spanning above their heads and the grass bowing beneath their feet. In the in-between moments, when they were just walking, with nothing to say or do, Moxie often found herself wishing for something exciting to happen.
She got her wish three times.
On the second day, they were attacked by two particularly foul-tempered wolves - Garurumon and Gururumon (note the difference). Fortunately for the group, they had not been infected (or whatever they were going to call it now), but they weren’t willing to back down without a fight - so a fight they were given.
Harmony and Ryan, closest to the two aggressive Digimon at the time they’d begun their attack, were caught up in between them. Their partners were not exactly happy with leaving them to get hurt, and so, like a sort of miracle, they’d evolved.
Moxie had seen Ren’s champion form before, but not Dare’s, and for everyone else, this was their first time seeing Kyubimon. It was, all in all, pretty memorable, especially for the two attacking Digimon, who were so stunned at the sudden evolutions that they fled almost immediately after being met with any sort of resistance. Dare and Ren devolved, everyone checked themselves for any injuries (the worst was a bruise on Harmony's shin from being pushed around), and they continued on their way.
The day immediately afterwards - the third day - they were awoken by a Centarumon, appearing out of nowhere and quickly making its intentions known by firing a blast from its gun-arm at the group. Azure and Ko, who had seemed to already be awake, were the first to react while everyone else was still caught up in the confusion of what was happening. Drawing the Centarumon’s attention while the others scrambled to get out of the way, Ko managed to evolve, and put up enough of a fight that the Centarumon eventually gave up and ran away.
Later that same day, while continuing on their trek to the forest and still recovering from the events of the morning, they were given one last surprise by a very unwelcome visitor. A yellow-and-gray monkey by the name of Apemon had, much like their opponent from earlier in the day, come swinging its bone club straight through the group. Unlike Centarumon, however, its eyes were pure white - not a great sign, and something that sparked quite a bit of discomfort in everyone. Flip, in particular, seemed to be very upset by it, and evolved just in time to put an end to it and defeat Apemon for good.
That fight had been their first encounter with an infected Digimon since Lynxmon.
It had been three days since their experience back at the volcano; three days since they’d even spoken a word of it to each other. No one had wanted to bring the subject up. They hadn’t seen any more infected Digimon since then, so what would be the point of talking about it other than to spread varying feelings of unease and confusion amongst themselves?
…They hadn’t talked about it much this time around, either.
Flip was the only one who’d really said anything. Once the scattering pixels had fully dissolved and he had reverted to his rookie form, his face was one of visible regret.
“I…” he’d said. He’d blinked twice, pinning his ears back as he looked around at the onlookers. The little sea lion ducked his head. “It was infected. I couldn’t just… chase it off.”
Miguel began to nod, stepping towards his partner and scooping him up. Flip closed his eyes, his arms draped over Miguel’s.
“It’s alright,” Miguel said, sighing. “You did… you did…”
“You did what you had to do,” Ren said.
They didn’t mention it after that.
Moxie had been in the Digital World for a fair amount of time. She’d seen her fair share of battles - had been in her fair share of battles. Defeating Digimon like that - that wasn’t anything new to her. Most of the Digimon they encountered were confused or scared, and could usually be talked down from their aggressiveness, but the ones that did have bad intentions…
The Digimon would always come back; they’d be reformatted and reborn, and she and Pop and Damien and Bumble would have one less weight taken off their shoulders once they’d dealt with their enemy. She’d never really thought twice about it - it was always over sooner than she could.
But now that it was clear there was something going on, something that was making Digimon act not like themselves, something that was driving them to attack their group - they didn’t know anything about these Digimon. If they hadn’t been infected, chances are they wouldn’t have given a second thought to the group.
That day was the first day that the weight of the situation truly sunk in for Moxie.
They had a long talk that night, seated around a fire that Ember had started. It was starting to get colder in the evening; no doubt the further north they’d go, the worse it would get. Hopefully they’d be able to find a town soon to buy some blankets.
The topic of conversation was not, fortunately, about the virus or the Digimon they’d been fighting, but rather how their partners had been able to evolve again - “even though they already had in the past”. Moxie squinted at Alex, who had brought it up.
“What?” he said. “It’s a valid question.”
“You know that evolutions aren’t a one-time thing, right?”
Alex almost visibly blanked, his gaze shifting just a few inches to the left so he was staring into the far distance. He said nothing, but reached a hand over to where Castor was seated next to him.
“You all knew that, right?” Pop said, turning to look around at the others. Azure, for their part, nodded emphatically, and a couple others shrugged, but the general answer was no.
For the humans, at least. The Digimon each seemed as confused as Moxie and Pop (and, by extension, Damien and Bumble) as to why their partners didn’t know.
“When Digimon evolve so suddenly like that,” Pop began, “especially ones with as little experience as we do, it’s only temporary. Their bodies can’t handle being able to retain those higher forms yet, and so when all their energy is exhausted, they revert to a lower form. But that - it doesn’t mean we aren’t ever able to evolve again.”
“Well that makes sense now,” Ezra said. “But for us, who literally got here like two weeks ago and still don’t even know half the shit these stupid phones do, it’s not exactly the first thing that would come to mind.”
“Yeah, can we talk about that?” Azure cut in, spreading their hands out. “What the hell is the deal with this app? You two -” they pointed to Moxie and Damien “- use it all the damn time and I still don’t know how to find the clock on it.”
Moxie opened her mouth to say something, but was distracted by Damien leaning forward, closer to the fire. On his right, Bumble lay pressed up against his knee, his eyes closed and antennae twitching ever so slightly as if he were dreaming.
Damien cast his gaze over the group. “None of you messed around with it? Seriously?”
“To be fair,” Harmony said, a bit indignant, “a lot of us only got it recently. We haven’t exactly had a lot of time to mess around with it.”
“And it’s not like our first thought would be to just press random buttons,” Miguel added. “I don’t… really want to mess up my phone.”
“It won’t mess it up,” Damien said, though it came off more as disdainful than reassuring. Miguel, in response, frowned.
Damien sighed, shaking his head. “Come on. I’ll show you guys.” He quickly launched his digivice, gesturing for everyone to come closer, which they did.
He held his digivice out for all to see, the yellow accents practically glowing in the firelight. “This is a digivice. I assume you all know that.” He poked down at the device. “This is the screen. It’s actually just a portion of the phone’s screen which is still visible.” He ran his fingers over the screen, which was blank, before trailing down to the interface of the device. “These are the buttons. You use these to navigate through the different menus of the digivice.”
“We figured that out on our own, thanks,” Ryan said, his eyes narrowing.
Damien smiled, pressing the center button of the D-pad. The screen lit up, displaying four words written in Digicode. “There’s four main menus in all. Communication, location, analyzation, evolution.” With each word, he pressed the down arrow button to swipe through the menus. “The four 'tions, if you will.”
“Analyzation isn’t a word,” Azure said. “It’s analysis.”
“That’s how you’d say it how it’s written,” Castor said, poking a claw down at the Digicode visible on screen. “Take it or leave it.”
“And it says analyzation when you switch the language to English,” Pop added.
Moxie may have somewhat expected the confusion about the evolution - up until the past few days, their Digimon had only ever evolved once - but the silence this time was deafening.
“Please,” she groaned, holding her face in her hands, “please tell me you know there’s an English option.”
“There isn’t!” Ezra snapped, jerking backwards like Moxie had personally offended him. “I fucked around with it the night I got it and it just switched between Digicode and Digimoji! There is no English option!”
“Hang on,” Damien said, as Moxie processed what Ezra had just said. “Did you say Digimoji?”
“Yes!” Ezra shouted. “The stupid app name is in Digimoji and the stupid app itself is also in Digimoji!”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Moxie said. “It should be Digicode and English. Why would yours have Digimoji but not your own native language?”
“For the record, all of ours have Digimoji and not English,” Ko said. “If that matters.”
“Well, it certainly makes more sense than just Ezra’s being weird,” Pop said, tapping her beak with a claw. “That is strange. Our - the app icons on their phones are in Digicode, too.”
“So you’re basically saying we got an older model,” Alex said slowly.
Moxie puffed one cheek out, deep in thought. “Not that I can tell. When I saw Miguel’s, it looked like - here,” she said, reaching a hand out to Harmony. “Could I see yours?”
Harmony blinked, then nodded and pulled her phone out, unlocking it and activating her app. Her hands fumbled as the device changed in them, as if she wasn’t quite yet comfortable with the sensation.
Moxie leaned forward, holding her digivice next to Harmony’s. Other than the accent colors, everything seemed… completely the same.
“Could you switch your ringer?” Moxie asked. “On and off? But - slowly.”
Harmony obliged, switching from the Digicode visible on screen to - sure enough, Digimoji. Moxie frowned deeper, exhaling through her nose.
“That is very strange,” Pop mumbled. “I hope there’s a way for the Digimoji to get switched to English.”
“We can… figure that out later,” Moxie said, waving a hand in the air. “For now, your Digimon can just translate the Digicode if you need them to.”
“Yeah, let’s move on, please,” Damien said. Moxie put her phone back in her pocket, turning back to Damien as everyone else did the same.
He swiped back to the communication menu, showing his digivice around for all to see. “Communication enables it to act like a phone. Since, you know, you can’t use your real phone while the digivice is active, and even if it isn’t active, you can’t text or call anyone either.”
Harmony’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Damien shook his head. “No cell towers in the Digital World, man.” He paused. “Or, no working ones, at least. Anyways.”
Damien selected the communication menu, leading to another page with three options. “You can call one, multiple, or all other digivices, so long as they’re linked to your own.”
“Huh?” Miguel said. “What do you mean, linked?”
Damien paused for a split second as if he wasn’t expecting the question - Pop swooped in. “You can connect your digivice to others’. It lets you communicate with them, check their location on the map, and - should we take care of that now?” She turned to Moxie, who nodded her assent and subsequently pulled her own phone out.
The process of linking digivices is simple - place them next to each other, make sure they have some sort of physical contact, and wait for the prompt menu to pop up on both screens. It wasn’t long before everyone’s digivice was successfully linked with each others’.
“Now if you get lost, you can call someone and ask them to come pick you up,” Moxie said. “Or check the map and see if they’re nearby.”
“Which brings us to the next feature,” Pop said, “location!”
“Location lets you view a map of your surroundings.” Damien switched to the location menu, showing his digivice to those gathered around him. “You can see yourself at the center, and then other linked digivices will show up.”
“Show up in their respective colors, too,” Pop said, smiling. “Pretty neat.”
“And it’ll show other nearby Digimon,” Moxie added.
Ryan frowned. “That would’ve been nice to know earlier.”
“Yeah, well,” Moxie said, “we don’t check it all the time.”
“That’s very reassuring.”
Next up was analyzation.
“Analysis,” Azure hissed under their breath. “Analyzation is not a real word.”
“You may have noticed that your phone camera is still visible while your digivice is active,” Damien said, ignoring them. “That’s what the analyzer uses. Aim it at a Digimon, press the analyze button, and it’ll present you with information on its species. Once it’s analyzed, it’ll be registered to the digivice’s database, and its information will be shared with every other linked digivice.”
Moxie nodded. “It’ll announce the info out loud, though, so maybe don’t do it if you’re trying to be sneaky.”
Damien laughed quietly. “No, you can mute the digivice.”
Moxie blinked. “What?”
“Yeah. Volume buttons. Thought you knew.”
“I didn’t.”
“It doesn’t mute the information from when your partner evolves, though,” Damien continued. “But that only happens the first time.”
“Oh, so that’s why it didn’t do it today,” Miguel mused.
“Yeah, but the whole,” Dare said, waving her paws about for effect, “‘evolution engaged blah blah’ stuff always happens. Right? I mean, it’s happened these past few times.”
“It’s part of the digivice’s warning system,” Moxie said. “It’s like in video games when they tell you not to turn the console off when it’s auto-saving.”
“Aaaaand that’s a nice lead-in to this next part,” Damien said. “Evolution.” He paused, looking over at Moxie and smiling ever so slightly. “Man, we are killing it with these transitions tonight.”
Moxie cleared her throat. “Evolution, or temporary evolution at least, happens when a Digimon is granted a small amount of power from their partner - like Pop said earlier. We… still don’t know all about it, but from what we’ve seen, usually it happens when a Digimon is in danger or experiencing certain emotions.”
“Like faith in their partner,” Damien elaborated, “or determination, fear, courage, etcetera.”
“Have you -” Flip looked at Pop and Bumble. “Have you evolved?”
“Infrequently,” Bumble said (Moxie was surprised he wasn’t asleep), while Pop nodded. “Once or twice.”
“That’ll be fun to see,” Dare said, grinning at Pop. “I bet you turn into some sort of giant crazy fire bird.”
Pop creased her brow, opening her beak and closing it a few times. “…Maybe.”
“Going back to the digivice…” Damien muttered. “In the evolution menu, you can see all the discovered stages of your partner, their species information, and their attacks. Useful for if you forget your partner’s name.”
“So if I open mine -” Azure started, pausing to open the evolution menu. “…rookie, champion - baby?”
“It cycles around,” Bumble said in a low voice. “Though it would be interesting to see a champion evolve into a baby.”
“Oh, so that’s what it is, then, huh?” Dare said, turning back to Pop. “You turn into a giant crazy BABY bird?”
Pop raised her claws to her face, closing her eyes and taking a couple deep breaths in.
There was an awkward silence for a couple more moments before Damien coughed. “That’s it. You guys can - I don’t know, look around it on your own time. You know the basic menus, functions, all that stuff now. Everything else you kinda just have to get used to on your own.”
“This was insanely helpful,” Azure said, peering down at their own digivice. “Sure, our Digimon could’ve translated the Digicode, but even then - even then we wouldn’t know how halfa this stuff works.”
“Glad we could be of some use,” Bumble said quietly.
“If you have more questions,” Damien added, “ask Moxie or Pop. I have exhausted all of my knowledge for the next few weeks.”
“It really does mean a lot,” Harmony said, looking toward Moxie. Ren had been silent the entire time, but shot a quick glance over at Moxie and nodded slightly. Moxie smiled back at the both of them.
“Great,” Damien said, clapping his hands together quietly. “Bedtime for everyone. Hopefully we should get there tomorrow, but we should be prepared for another long day of walking.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, shifting back from the center of the circle to their respective makeshift beds. Moxie made to do the same, but was cut off by Alex.
“Wait -” he started, making as if to rise to his feet, but he simply scooched closer to her. “If the digivices have a map, then surely Central - surely we can just see it there, right? No more hoping we’re heading in the right direction?” He paused, looking up for a few seconds. “I know you know the way there, I’m not doubting you, but - you know.”
“Ah,” Moxie said, feeling her cheeks heat slightly. “That’s right. Uh - no. Sorry.”
Alex deflated, looking at Moxie as if she’d just told him she’d shot his dog. “What?”
“In order for something to show up on the map,” Pop explained, “you need to be there first. As you walk, the area’s data will be registered to the digivice.”
“What about you two?” Castor piped up, resting against Alex’s leg. “If you know the way, surely you’ve been there before?”
“We’ve been nearby,” Moxie said. “We came in from another direction, though, so with where we are right now, the map won’t help.”
“That’s a shame,” Castor said, but his voice carried no ill intent. He shrugged, standing up and poking Alex in the side. “Good to know anyways. Thanks.”
Alex smiled at her quickly, then turned to follow Castor back to their spot. Slowly but surely, the sounds of rustling from the others quieted down.
Moxie sighed, settling down where she was. Pop curled up near her head, using one of her own arms as a pillow. Moxie smiled fondly, adjusting her partner’s headband so it was less crooked.
Tomorrow would - if everything went well, and if they had no more surprise attacks - be their last day walking. They should be able to get to the forest by late afternoon, maybe early evening. From where they had set up camp, if Moxie looked super closely, she could see the beginning of the forest out to the west.
She sighed again, closing her eyes. The past couple of days had been weird - eventful, occasionally, but mostly just full of hoping they would get there soon.
She didn’t… particularly want to see any more action, per se. If they never had to see another “infected” Digimon again, that was all fine by her.
It was just…
She wasn’t used to this. Sure, when she and Damien had first come to this world, they and their partners had spent their due time walking around aimlessly, but in the past few months, their house out on the Mainframe had been all they needed. Heading to the city every so often for the weekend was really the longest they spent away from their home. They would take walks; they would patrol the area; they would lend their help to anyone in the city or anyone who came by their home who needed it.
And that was it.
It wasn’t that she was starting to feel cooped up. Their routine was fine and worked well for them, and as long as they were safe and staying alive, anything would be.
But she always had felt as if there had to be something bigger going on in their lives. There was a reason she and Damien had met Pop and Bumble. It wasn’t coincidence - it wasn’t them messing around with their computer and stumbling upon the two of them.
…She wasn’t sure if it was fate, destiny, or something else, but it was definitely something. And she was going to do whatever she had to do in this world - whatever she and Pop had to do.
The fourth day was, indeed - quite thankfully - their last day.
They got up practically the moment the sun got up - Damien’s doing, of course. Over the past few days, he’d been the one waking them up in the morning, often being met with groans and requests for just a couple more minutes. Of course, he never listened, simply continuing to go about his morning duties as loudly as possible, so that everyone would be forced to hear him yet unable to blame him. He was just doing what he needed to do, after all. Maybe he could’ve been quieter, but they all needed to get up anyway, so what did it matter?
Moxie had never minded waking up early, and often thrived on less than six hours of sleep. She didn’t join Damien, but she did sit back and watch everyone struggle to keep their eyes open. It was kind of funny.
They got an early start that morning; Damien and Bumble were both quite confident that they would be able to make it by the afternoon - maybe in time for lunch if they picked up the pace. Nevertheless, they all wanted as much time as possible to get there, so that they wouldn’t have to camp out in the open again.
Moxie was getting a little tired of that.
Regardless…
Skip forward a few hours, to just a couple hours before midday. They’d stopped for a snack, of course - there wasn’t a lot of variety (maybe they should have rationed the food from their house), but it was food, and it tasted fine.
The previous three days had been spent trekking across flat rolling plains, and yet this final day had them climbing hills and circling around rock formations. When Moxie had been to Central Forest before - or near it, at least - she had come in from almost the exact opposite side, which was a somewhat mountainous region.
While this wasn’t exactly like that - there were no steep cliffs or rushing waterfalls - she did get a strange feeling of déjà vu as they reached the top of a hill and clearly saw the forest on the other side.
This was closer than she’d ever been to Central Forest, and it was…
Intense, to say the least.
“What’s that?” she heard Harmony say; she turned to follow where she was pointing, over at the forest.
The forest itself was completely ordinary - trees, maybe some bushes, and of course wherever Piximon was (which wasn’t visible from where they were, but still). It was just like any other forest, as far as she could tell - just another typical forest, nothing special about it.
The thing that was special, however, was the one giant tree that stuck out like a sore thumb from the center of it.
It made the other trees look like blades of grass; its branches reached high into the sky, the bright green leaves barely visible from where they stood on the ground. Around two-thirds of the way up, clouds swirled around the trunk, obscuring anything that may have been above.
She’d seen it before - this wasn’t her first time. And yet that feeling of awe, creeping into her and seizing her lungs to take her breath away, came back just as strong this time, like it was some sort of psychological reaction that just the sight of it caused.
“That’s it,” she heard Ren murmur from the other side of Harmony. The fox’s ears were pricked, her unwavering gaze fixed on the tree. “That’s…”
“The world tree.”
“The mainframe…”
“Server Tree?”
Whispers traveled around the group, each of the Digimon in shock as if they had felt the same thing Moxie had. Pop landed on her shoulder, her claws almost digging into her flesh as she, too, stared transfixed at the giant looming ahead of them.
One word fell from Moxie’s lips.
“…Yggdrasil…”
Azure glanced over at her. “What was that last one?”
“Hm?” Moxie turned to Azure, not thinking anyone had heard her. “Oh. Yggdrasil. That’s its… true name.”
Azure tilted their head, blinking, but Harmony was who spoke next.
“That’s the name of the tree in Norse mythology,” she said, frowning slightly. “Did this one come first, or did it take its name from the myth?”
“…Norse mythology is from thousands of years ago,” Ryan pointed out. “There’s no way this one came first.”
“Maybe,” Moxie said quietly, this time making sure she was the only one who could hear.
No one made any move to continue, so they stood staring out at the tree for a long time. They were pretty much here, now - it was a clear shot straight to the forest.
And yet nobody moved. Moxie, herself, didn’t want to move - she knew that she could, she just needed to put one foot in front of the other and repeat until they got to Piximon.
But she didn’t.
“Uh -” Miguel started after a few minutes. “What, exactly… is that thing?”
“Hm? The tree?” Damien, on Moxie’s left, glanced over at him. “That’s Yggdrasil, or more commonly, Server Tree. Center of life here on the continent of Server. If you believe in it, that is.”
“So it’s like a god?” Azure asked.
“Well,” Castor said, taking the wheel after Damien simply shrugged in response to Azure. “Depends on how you look at it. Some think Yggdrasil is the host server that holds the whole world together - hence, Server Tree or World Tree.”
“Like the Norse Yggdrasil,” Harmony cut in, her eyes widening. “With the different worlds existing around it.”
Castor hesitated, then nodded. “Alternatively, some think Yggdrasil is a Digimon - or some sort of digital lifeform - that created the whole world, and now resides dormant as a tree. Either that, or it was the first Digimon in the world.”
“And then there’s others who think it’s just a tree,” Ren said, with a sort of tone that alluded to her being one of them.
There was a moment of silence in which Moxie felt Pop, still on her shoulder, stiffen and tighten her claws again. She reached a hand up to pat down her feathers, and the bird sighed.
“…That too,” Castor said quietly, visibly uncomfortable now. “But - whatever you think it is, it’s still… a very important part of the world. Yggdrasil here on Server, Infinity Mountain on File Island, the Citadel of the Gods on Directory… they’re all centerpoints of our world, with deep history, and even if you don’t particularly believe in them or what they represent, you can’t deny that.”
“Never said I did,” Ren said, crossing her arms.
Castor lifted his chin to look her in the eye. “Neither did I.”
There was another minute during which no one spoke. Moxie looked over at Damien and Bumble, the latter of whom was looking up at the former. Damien himself had his gaze locked on Yggdrasil, his eyes narrowed and hands in his pockets.
He was the first to speak, breaking the silence that had settled around them like fog. “We should get going,” he said, looking around at everyone in the line. “I think we’ve done enough staring for now.”
He started descending down the hill, Bumble following immediately behind him. Slowly, the others came to, stepping forward to follow the two of them. Moxie waited until most of them had left before she, too, started forward.
It wasn’t long before they were under the shade of the trees, and Moxie felt a chill run up her spine as they left the sunny open plains behind.
She’d never been in Central Forest before; all she’d ever needed were her brother and their partners, and each of them were completely content in their temporary turned permanent home. Sure, she’d seen Yggdrasil from a distance, and had silently always wanted to see it up close for herself, but why would she have ever had a reason to, other than for a fun vacation?
It’s been a while since we’ve had a vacation.
She shook her head and kept walking forwards, looking up and around her at the tall trees. They seemed to be a cross of pine and oak, although she knew that they were neither. Their branches didn’t sprout from the trunk until about seven or eight feet off the ground, so it felt much less constricting than the other forests she’d been in.
The others seemed to have the same thought, too.
“This isn’t at all like Plugin Forest,” Harmony murmured. She’d slowed down to walk beside Moxie and Pop, with Ren just a few feet ahead of her.
“Plugin Forest?” Moxie asked. “The jungle?”
Harmony nodded, scrunching her nose up. “Yeah. It sucked. I mean, it’s where I met Ren, but it was like - all the trees and flowers were trying to kill us.”
“I’ve heard about that,” Pop said, clasping her claws together. “It does seem… very difficult. But it seems you survived, so that’s a plus.”
Harmony laughed, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head out. A strand of hair fell in her eye, and she reached a hand up to brush it out of her face. “The only good thing about it was meeting Ren. Azure was severely injured, I got super lost, there was a Ninjamon trying to kill me, we almost missed the train, and then of course the forest itself.”
“Sounds like a fun trip,” Moxie said.
Harmony smiled, turning to look over at Ren. “It was,” she said softly.
“Question,” Moxie suddenly heard Alex say. He was standing still a few feet in front of them, having turned around to face them entirely. As Moxie got closer to him, he turned to keep walking, Castor following at his feet.
“Yes?” Moxie said.
“Do we know where we’re going?”
Moxie paused, coming to a halt just as Alex had, though she kept walking immediately afterward. Pop tilted her head, looking ahead of them at the rest of the group.
“Not entirely,” Moxie admitted, raising a hand to Pop’s head to stroke her. “I would assume that Piximon is near Yggdrasil. I’ve heard it’s a sort of… gathering place for holy Digimon?”
“Oh,” Alex said. “Are we going to be unwelcome, then?”
“No,” Castor said firmly. “I’ve heard they’re quite open to visitors, just as long as we aren’t disrespectful.” Moxie saw him sneak a glance over at Ren; the fox didn’t notice, her eyes straight ahead as she walked.
“Great,” Harmony sighed. “No more fighting would be wonderful.”
Alex nodded his agreement, and, seemingly satisfied with Moxie and Castor’s answers, picked up his pace to rejoin the larger group, with Castor hurrying after him.
The four of them - Moxie, Pop, Harmony, and Ren - walked in silence after that, tuning out the group ahead of them, content to stay in silence. Moxie could have sworn that at one point Harmony was singing - quietly, under her breath, as if she were unaware that anyone was around to hear.
But Moxie heard.
Harmony’s hair had fallen into her face again, and again she brushed it away, but her face was turned down, her eyes on the dirt and grass beneath her feet, so it continued to escape her grasp. She tried to tuck it behind her ear, but it slipped out easily, and she heaved a sigh as she once more attempted to clear her face.
Moxie watched all this silently for a few moments before slipping one of the straps of her backpack off her shoulder, Pop shifting slightly over on her opposite side. She swung the bag around in front of her, unzipping it and rustling around for a couple seconds. Harmony lifted her head, looking over at her, her mouth open as if still in the middle of a lyric.
Moxie found what she wanted and pulled it out, looking at it in the light and putting her bag back. She turned to Harmony, smiling and holding it out to her.
Harmony blinked, unsure of what to do, but Moxie shifted her hand further towards her. “Take it,” she said quietly.
Harmony did as instructed, still looking just as puzzled. “A hair clip?”
“Your hair keeps falling in your face,” Moxie explained as Harmony inspected it. “I have tons of extras. Thought you could use it.”
“Oh,” she said, blushing slightly, but she reached up to pin it in place. She shook her head out to test it; no strands fell forward. She grinned, touching it lightly before looking over at Moxie. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Moxie replied, blushing as well. “If you need another - or a hair tie, or something - feel free to ask.”
“Will do,” she said.
They went back to silence after that, though Moxie noticed that Harmony wasn’t quite so quiet when singing anymore.
Another half hour or so passed, with nothing of note happening during it. Moxie was starting to consider going ahead to walk with Damien just as he called out from the front of the group.
“I think we’re here.”
Pop perked up; she’d been keeping to herself for most of the time they’d been in the forest, sometimes looking half-asleep, but the news that they had arrived was enough to get her going. Moxie blinked, looking ahead to where the group had come to a stop as she approached.
In front of them was a flat open area, with no trees in sight - but there was a tree, a very large one, perhaps fifty yards ahead of them, blocking the sunlight from filtering down into the clearing and leaving it just as dark as the forest itself.
Moxie looked up, and up, and up, until she couldn’t see anymore - she wasn’t sure if it was because of the cloud cover or because of just how large it was.
It was even more breathtaking up close.
She felt herself seize up again, unable to move or blink or breathe. Tearing her sight away from Yggdrasil, she chanced a look over at Damien. He, too, was unmoving, and Bumble - hovering in the air beside him - seemed just as transfixed.
Pop suddenly hopped off her shoulder, flaring her wings out to slow her descent towards the ground. She took a couple steps forward before turning around to look back up at Moxie.
Moxie smiled down, and her partner returned it in kind, though she looked a bit anxious as she wrung her claws out and dipped her head.
“So that’s it,” Azure said from further down the line. “That’s Yggdrasil?”
Moxie nodded slowly, still unable to resist the pull of the tree. “That’s it,” she echoed, more quietly than she’d intended.
“Is that where Piximon is?” Ember asked, pointing towards the bottom of the tree.
Something Moxie had completely overlooked while transfixed by Yggdrasil was a large building - white marble, with elaborate pillars and statues decorating the exterior - right at the base of the tree. It wasn’t… no, it couldn’t be built into the tree. No way would anyone in their right mind think to destroy any part of Yggdrasil, even if they did have a death wish.
It sat there, nestled between two roots that had broken up through the earth from beneath the ground, each one twice the size of any normal tree and yet only half the size of the building itself.
It was the most logical conclusion that that was, indeed, where Piximon was.
Another thing Moxie had failed to notice: the two Digimon standing at the front of the building, on either side of the door - one dark, the other pale, both humanoid, both staring directly at the group. It was… discomforting, almost, the way those two Digimon simply looked at them from across the clearing, completely unmoving.
If she hadn’t been aware that she was being watched beforehand, she sure as hell was now.
Weird.
No one said anything; eventually they all came back to their senses and slowly started walking again, towards the tree and the building and the two Digimon.
Moxie had never seen these two Digimon before. As she got closer, she noticed that, despite their difference in color, they bore a striking resemblance to each other. Both had long hair covering their eyes, with three horns sprouting from their heads, as well as the legs of a goat. The darker one had feathery blue wings sprouting from its back, whereas the paler one wore a white cape with a starry underside. The left side of their faces were each covered by a mask, the dark one’s sporting a fake smile. While the lighter Digimon had large golden gears strapped to its armbands, the darker Digimon had scythes on its own, with a third peeking out over its back.
They didn’t move as the group approached.
Something was off about them, Moxie realized as she looked at them closer. The others must have felt the same, as they all came to a halt several feet away from them, some a bit further behind and others closer to the front.
Moxie took a step forward towards Pop, a couple feet in front of her, and immediately the guards turned their attention to her. They extended their arms in front of the door to the building, the dark one’s scythe flexing slightly as an added measure.
Moxie blinked, frowning at the two Digimon. Their expressions were still obscured by their hair, but they were directly facing her, and it was obvious that they weren’t pleased.
“Excuse me?” she said, feeling her heartbeat quicken. “We’re looking for Piximon. Is he in here?”
The dark Digimon lowered its head, its arm staying static where it was blocking the door. “Yes.” Its voice was rough and low-pitched, sounding almost strained.
“Okay,” Moxie said, though she didn’t feel okay. “May we… see him?”
This time, the paler Digimon spoke, its voice softer than the other, though it did nothing to ease her. “No.”
Moxie blanked, not having expected that. Pop slowly inched backward until she was level with Moxie, staring up at her confusedly. Moxie shrugged down at her and turned back to the Digimon.
She wasn’t the only one frustrated by this. To her right, on the other side of Harmony and Ren, Alex stepped forward, his eyes narrowed and fists clenched at his side. “Why not?”
“Don’t take another step forward,” the pale Digimon said forcefully, extending its hand not currently blocking the door down towards Alex.
Moxie breathed out slowly, her hands starting to shake. Something was definitely going on here, and she didn’t like where it was heading.
“Alex,” she said quietly, looking over at him. He didn’t seem to hear her, but Castor perked his ears up and met her eyes.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Alex continued, crossing his arms. “Why can’t we see him?”
“I said don’t move.” The paler Digimon drew itself up taller, its arm still blocking the door while the other one fell to its side.
Alex blinked. “And what if I do?”
“Alex,” Castor said, “don’t.”
Don’t move, don’t talk, don’t challenge them - all wonderful suggestions, and yet Alex took none of them. Lifting his chin, he stepped forward.
As soon as he did, the darker Digimon - the one further away from him - reached one of its scythes out and slashed it across Alex’s chest.
Alex stumbled backward a few steps before collapsing onto the ground.
Moxie felt her heart skid to a halt as she turned to look at the attacking Digimon. “Hey, wh-!”
What the hell just happened?
Ezra and Castor were quicker to react.
“ALEX!”
The cry tore out of both of their throats in near-unison, though their actions afterwards were vastly different. Ezra was immediately at Alex’s side, holding him and staring at him in horror; Castor, on the other hand, decided to take a more direct approach.
Namely, by leaping directly at the two guards.
“
The guards, during those three seconds in which most of the gathered had only been able to look on while frozen in their places, had remained perfectly still, exactly as they had been before all of what had just happened. They had looked down at the group, their faces obscured by their long hair and the darkness of the forest, and neither moved nor spoke.
When Castor lunged at them, his claws glowing bright red and his eyes ablaze with fury, they still did not move - not until he was inches away from them, at least, and even then the darker Digimon simply raised a hand to bat him away.
Castor flew through the air and landed on the ground a few feet away from Alex.
For a few brief more seconds nobody did anything - nobody. Not the humans, not the partner Digimon, not the two guards. The trees, too, almost seemed to fall silent, the rustling of their leaves stilling to a halt, as if they were also waiting for whatever would happen next.
Moxie breathed out once, her head spinning, and then the other Digimon came to their senses.
Not a moment too soon, either - sure, the two guards weren’t making any more moves, but they could never be too certain, especially after how quick they’d been to react to Alex.
“
Their attacks all hit, but seemed to have little effect; it barely moved as the attacks collided, as though it hadn’t even felt them. Pop faltered in midair as her feather returned to her claws, and she hesitated for a moment before throwing it back again.
Dare and Flip, in the meantime, had turned to the other. “
It shifted slightly, just enough to dodge the attacks - but also just enough for Moxie to finally, finally get a good look at its face.
Her heart skipped a beat for not the first time that day as she saw that its eyes were pure white.
“
“
Moxie jerked her head over to see Castor pushing himself to his feet and jumping straight for the dark Digimon again. This time, he managed to hit it while it was distracted by Ren and Ko, and was not hit backwards.
The dark Digimon growled, brushing its hair out of its face to reveal eyes that were just as white as the other’s.
Great.
“They -” Moxie started, flinching as Pop turned to look at her and was subsequently knocked back by the dark Digimon. “Their eyes,” she continued, turned to the other humans. “They’re -”
“Woohoo,” Azure said, their eyes narrowed as their gaze remained locked on Ko. “Well, at least it explains why they’re acting this way.”
“Not really,” Harmony countered. “None of the others have ever attacked us like this.”
“I thought we’d established that they want to kill us?” Azure said, their eyes darting to her for a second.
“I said not like this,” she insisted, shaking her head as her shoulders drooped. “At least Nohemon tried to drug us first… but this…” She sighed, placing her hands on her face.
“Am I interrupting something here?” Damien called out, sounding like he didn’t care if he was interrupting them. “Is anyone else going to scan them or is that up to me again?”
Moxie waved her hand at him, telling him to go on as she resumed her attention on the battle.
It was not going well for the partner Digimon.
Ren was struggling to stand, one hand pressed against the trunk of a nearby tree as she ducked her head to glare at the enemy Digimon. Ko was facing off against the lighter one, Ember right behind him, looking as if he’d taken a beating (and he probably had). Dare and Flip were ducking in and out of the range of the Digimon’s attacks, getting some shots in whenever they could, but ultimately they didn’t seem to be doing much. Castor, seemingly having been knocked to the dirt yet again, was crouching next to where Alex and Ezra were still laying on the ground twenty feet away.
Pop was still hovering in the air, occasionally flapping down to get in one of the Digimon’s faces to distract them while the others regathered themselves. She and Bumble were the closest to the guards, and really the only two who seemed to be in at least relatively good shape.
The sound of Damien’s digivice startled Moxie back to where she stood, and she turned to him, where he stood with his digivice in his hand, raised in the air and pointing at the darker Digimon.
“Aegiochusmon Dark. Ultimate level god man Digimon. This form is composed of data taken from dark Digimon, so the data sleeping within it has infected its whole body, and it is especially vicious as a result.”
Moxie frowned, feeling her stomach drop into her feet for more reasons than one. “Something tells me that has nothing to do with its eyes.”
Damien inhaled sharply, turning his digivice to the other one. “Aegiochusmon Holy. Ultimate level god man Digimon. This form is composed of data taken from holy Digimon, so the data sleeping within it covers its body entirely, and its heart is as serene as a still lake.”
“Doesn’t seem all that serene right now,” Damien muttered, lowering his arm to pocket his digivice.
“Hang on,” Harmony called out, pausing to hiss between her teeth as Ren, who had managed to get closer to the guards, was immediately knocked backward. “They’re both Aegiochusmon? They look completely different.”
“They’re subspecies,” Damien said. “Variants of the same kind of Digimon. It’s pretty common.”
“Okay, cool,” Ryan said, looking as if he wanted to jump right in and fight alongside the Digimon. “More immediately important question: what the hell is an ultimate level?”
“Oh, that,” Damien said, in a tone of voice that was much too casual for such a heavy question.
“That’s the level above champion,” Azure called out to him. “Remember SkullGreymon?”
“Oh,” Ryan said, scrunching his face up. “Well, this is going to go about as well as it did last time.”
“Hang on, you’ve fought an ultimate level before?” Moxie asked.
“Yeah.”
“Did you win?”
Ryan laughed. “What the fuck do you think?”
“Please try to focus on what is at hand right now,” Damien snapped, lowering his head slightly.
“I feel like any information about what we’re up against would be good to share!” Azure shouted, their face darkening.
“Well maybe it would be better to focus on making sure you’re not going to die!” Damien yelled back, his fists clenched. Moxie winced, reaching a hand out to place on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Moxie sighed, resolving to leave Damien alone for the moment. She looked up at Pop, still chipping away at the dark Aegiochusmon. If they were ultimate level, and their partners were only rookies -
How long would it take for them to win?
She frowned, her stomach growing cold.
If they win.
A cry of “
Pop’s feather came right back to her, having had no effect on the Aegiochusmon. She caught it in her claws and made as if to throw it again, but -
She was too slow.
The dark Aegiochusmon lifted its hands, dark red energy beginning to crackle between them and glowing brighter by the second.
“
The next thing Moxie knew, she was dashing forward with her hands outstretched, face lifted towards her partner. Pop landed in her arms with a soft thud, and Moxie skidded to a stop, falling onto her knees and clutching the little pink bird to her chest.
“Are you okay?” she asked, face pressed into Pop’s shoulder.
Pop shifted slightly, but did not respond.
A noise from behind her made Moxie turn around, still holding Pop. The dark Aegiochusmon had taken a step towards them, its arms at its sides.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” it hissed, its head tilting to the side. “It was just supposed to be them.” It gestured around the clearing at the other humans and Digimon.
The other Digimon, spread throughout the clearing, were unable to move. Most of them were either busy distracting the holy Aegiochusmon, or were too wiped out to even lift their heads from where they lay on the ground, some with their partners crouched over them and others shooing them away.
The holy Aegiochusmon smacked Ember away with one of the large gears on its arm; the little lion cub tumbled across the clearing and did not move afterward.
“You’re not part of this,” the dark Aegiochusmon continued. It crouched down, leaning in towards Moxie. She pushed herself backwards, tightening her arms around Pop. It didn’t seem to notice or care.
“You’re not important.”
“Shut up,” Pop murmured.
Moxie blinked, looking down at her partner, who had pushed herself away and was now standing - albeit a bit wobbly - on her own two feet, in between Moxie and the Aegiochusmon.
The Aegiochusmon paused for a moment, not saying a single word. It rose to its feet, before it glared at the two of them, its wings flaring out behind it. Pop stood still where she was, looking up into its eyes.
With a snarl, it pulled its three scythes back as the same red lightning began to dance across them.
“
“Moxie, MOVE!”
Something slammed into her, knocking her onto her side several feet away from where Aegiochusmon had just driven its scythes into the ground. She blinked, raising a hand to her head, glancing around wildly - Pop?
Damien put his hands on her shoulders, turning her to look up into his eyes. “You almost died,” he snarled, his brow furrowed. “Next time you want to have a moment like that, get out of the fuckin’ way first.”
“Pop,” she mumbled, completely not hearing anything he’d said.
He let go of her with a sigh, looking back over his own shoulder, at where Pop and Bumble, standing side by side and facing off against the Aegiochusmon, were -
…
Moxie blinked again, scrunching her face up. That…
Well, this was unexpected.
Her digivice, in her pocket, began to speak. “Evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
This had happened before; it wasn’t anything new to Moxie (or Damien). It wasn’t the first time. She had seen this happen before.
She just hadn’t thought it would happen again, and certainly not now.
Both Pop and Bumble were glowing with the light of evolution, though it was fading by the moment, the two having already transformed while Moxie was locked in her stupor.
Pop’s arms had converted into full-fledged wings, with huge talons to match. The headband around her head had disappeared, though its signature feather ornament remained, now an organic part of her body sprouting from her head. Two large horns curled down beside her face, almost touching the ruff of feathers around her neck.
She stretched her wings out, almost hitting Bumble - hovering next to her - in the process. He had changed, too, from a small bee to a… larger one, though he looked vastly different.
The most prominent part of his new form was the large spherical stinger that comprised most of his body. A thin, wiry waist connected his abdomen to his neck and shoulders, the latter of which were now sporting huge shoulder pads. His legs and wings had disappeared; his only limbs were two arms, each ending in huge black claws, and it seemed as if the two protrusions from his back were meant to act as wings. His face, too, looked nothing like his previous form, as he now had completely compound eyes, proper mandibles, and feelers on the ends of his antennae.
“They evolved,” Ezra said from across the clearing, just loud enough for Moxie to hear - he and Castor were still beside Alex, still not having moved.
He was right. They’d evolved, which Moxie hadn’t ever expected to happen again, but the Digital World was just full of surprises, wasn’t it?
She shook her head out. Something to ponder over later. As for right now -
“Aquilamon,” Moxie whispered, staring up at Pop. “And…”
“Waspmon,” Damien finished - he was still sitting beside her, and supposedly he had been just as transfixed by the whole spectacle as she had.
The whole group was, actually. Both the humans and partner Digimon had gone still, stopping to watch the two’s evolution, no one moving a muscle or saying a word. The Aegiochusmon were no exception - they were just as silent as the rest of them, though they both looked pissed.
“Well,” the dark Aegiochusmon said suddenly, its voice slow. “We weren’t expecting this.”
The holy Aegiochusmon, not currently focused on any of the other partners (as they’d all been knocked aside), stepped next to its counterpart, looking down at Pop and Bumble with the same exact venom.
“You and us both, buddy,” Damien said through gritted teeth, pushing himself up off the ground. Moxie followed suit, steadying herself on him as she did so.
The Aegiochusmon glowered at him for a second before turning to the two champions. “We’re not going to go easy on you just because of your neat little show.”
“We don’t want you to,” Pop said, lifting her chin and raising her wings above her head.
Bumble curled his stinger towards the Aegiochusmon, flexing his claws. “Go harder on us.”
There was a moment in which the four Digimon stared at each other. It could have been half a second or ten years; both seemed equally viable, as it seemed to pass by too quickly and yet too slowly.
The moment passed, and they jumped right back into fighting.
The holy Aegiochusmon was the one to kick it off, with a yell of “
“
Aegiochusmon Dark, on the other hand, was choosing to focus on Bumble, already gathering red lightning in its hands for its Plasmadness attack. Bumble noticed this, however, and managed to duck out of the way just as it went flying toward his face - and he retaliated with an attack of his own.
“
Pop flapped over to Bumble’s side, ducking her head towards him, and then jumped up higher in the air, out of reach of the Aegiochusmon.
Bumble nodded, and Pop opened her beak.
“
They both took a step back, ducking to avoid Pop’s attack - but it was enough to give Bumble the opening he needed.
“
Rapid-fire bullets shot from his stinger, and the Aegiochusmon - too busy focusing on Pop - didn’t have time to dodge. The holy Aegiochusmon hissed, raising its gauntlets in a defensive gesture.
“
It didn’t seem to stop either of their attacks, though, as evidenced by their next calls of “
Pop went down like a sock puppet, and Bumble - trying to hold on as well as he could - followed soon after.
The barrier went down. Moxie felt her throat go dry as Aegiochusmon Dark stepped towards the two of them.
It leaned down to inspect Pop, and she immediately jumped onto her feet, lunging towards it and knocking it back.
“You can’t get rid of us that easily,” she growled, taking to the air once again with Bumble following. “
“
The holy Aegiochusmon put its shield up again, as Aegiochusmon Dark lunged for Bumble with its Death Dinner attack. Pop crashed into the dark Aegiochusmon before it made contact with him; it stumbled backward, brushing itself off and turning to its attacker, allowing Bumble to focus on the holy Aegiochusmon
They were doing pretty well, all things considered.
But…
They were still ultimates. Two champions against two ultimates? They didn’t stand a chance.
What can we do? We can’t fight them. Even if we could evolve further…
We can’t do anything.
It’ll be just like -
She inhaled sharply, feeling her eyes stinging, and she squeezed them shut, her head ducked.
Just like last time.
“This isn’t -” she started, wiping her eyes and grabbing Damien’s shoulder to turn him towards her. He lifted an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly.
“We still can’t beat them,” she said quietly, feeling her voice waver. “They’re ultimates. We - Pop and Bumble are only champions. We can try our best, but -”
This is going to end up exactly like it did last time, and we can’t do anything to stop it -
“That’s all we need,” Damien said, putting his own hand on top of Moxie’s, still on his shoulder. She frowned, her shoulders falling.
“We just need to try our best,” he continued, looking her right in the eyes. “Whatever happens afterward, at least we know we gave it our all.”
Last time…
“We’re not going to win this,” she whispered.
Damien closed his eyes, not letting go of her hand. “Not if we don’t try.”
Just like last time.
It hit her like a truck, and she stumbled backward, barely keeping herself upright. Damien grabbed her just in time, helping her back up.
Last time, we didn't give up.
That was what he was getting at.
Moxie turned to look over at Pop, still giving her all against the Aegiochusmon.
Not once, as long as Moxie had known her, had she ever given up in a battle. No matter how high the odds were stacked against her, how tough her enemy was - not once had she given up.
If we didn’t give up last time, why should this time be any different?
Pop caught Moxie’s eye, a brief moment of calm in the battle, and despite how tired she looked, she smiled at Moxie.
Moxie smiled right back.
“Come on,” Damien said, startling her back to where she stood.
“You…” Moxie sighed, shaking her head out. “Really taking the optimist route today, aren’t we?”
“Don’t get used to it,” he said, his eye twitching as if he wanted to wink.
Moxie closed her eyes for a second. Maybe in the future…
Maybe then.
“Now.” Damien breathed out, pulling his sunglasses down over his eyes and crossing his arms. “Let’s kick their asses.”
Moxie grinned over at her brother, and though he rarely smiled these days, the corners of his lips were pulled up as well.
In her pocket, Moxie’s digivice suddenly began to vibrate, followed by a beeping noise that she hadn’t heard before. It wasn’t the same vibrating or beeping that had happened when Pop evolved to champion for the first time.
This was different.
This had never happened before.
She dug her digivice out of her pocket; beside her, Damien had done the same, presumably experiencing the same thing as she was. They exchanged glances, both looking as confused as the other.
Moxie finally looked down at her digivice, with its vibrations buzzing through her hand and its beeping stinging her ears and its screen glowing pure white.
She chanced a look up at Pop - maybe she’d know what was going on?
She, too, was glowing.
“Ultimate evolution engaged.”
