EPISODE 24 - DOOMSDAY
The trek through the Innovation Lands over the next two days was nowhere near as easy as the group would have liked.
After the chaos of the Corroded Woodlands and then Anna and Bunny’s Excellent Adventure, they had been hoping (begging and pleading, more like) that their journey to their next major destination - Factorial Town - would be a refreshing change of pace. No terrain too difficult to traverse, no battles with manic Digimon, no one showing up and trying to lead them astray in an evil forest.
Well, they avoided the latter, at the very least, but only because there were no forests in sight.
The Innovation Lands were a large stretch of mostly grassland, broken up here and there by hills and ravines and outcroppings of rock following no pattern whatsoever. Every few miles or so, they would come across a factory or group thereof, most of which seemed to be long-abandoned. Pop and Bumble explained that with the expansion of Factorial Town, most of the scattered factories had become obsolete, deemed unworthy of traveling all the way from the city just to clock in for an eight hour shift. Occasionally they would encounter operational factories that were preceded or followed by small settlements of Digimon who had stuck around, but they were largely outnumbered by the abandoned ones.
Alex had tried asking what the purpose of these factories even was, but Pop had waved him off with a simple answer of “energy”, whatever she meant by that.
Most of the aforementioned settlements were welcoming to the group, if a little hesitant, and they were usually welcome to stay in an empty house or two, though not always. A few times they came across villages that wanted nothing to do with the group, sending them off just as quickly as they’d arrived, not unlike how the workers in the power plant back on Mainframe Mesa had (or at least had tried to) sent them away.
Whether they were accepted or shunned, none of the residents in any of the villages had ever heard of the Catalyst they were searching for.
It was fine. They’d just keep going.
Even if all of the Digimon they came across didn’t want them to do that.
Bunny had finally started getting the hang of evolving to her champion form more regularly, fitting in alongside the group and holding her own in battles. She was always hesitant to fight, but she was making an effort. None of the Digimon had managed to evolve to ultimate again, but their sheer numbers were enough to drive off the ultimate levels they’d been facing. Usually.
In the grand scheme of things, they hadn’t had too many battles in their short time on File Island. They were averaging about one per day (not counting the one outlier day that they had dubbed Doomsday Georg and discounted due to the five separate fights there’d been), and though it could have been better, it could have been a lot worse.
It seemed like ever since the Jokermon fight, the manic Digimon had been going for the humans more and more often, paying less attention to the partner Digimon even when they tried to intercept their attacks. A lot of the humans were sporting new injuries and had had old ones reopened. They’d been taking care of themselves the best they could - there wasn’t anything else they could do, after all - but they didn’t know how much more they could take.
Once they were in the city, hopefully things would be a bit easier.
“Surely someone in a city of this size has heard of a Catalyst,” Castor said while they were on their way. In the distance, they could just barely see the first few buildings coming into view; they’d hopefully reach it within the next hour or so. “The smaller villages probably just haven't seen it. News travels fast in cities.”
He didn’t sound very convinced, even as he smiled up at Alex.
“Even if the Catalyst isn’t there,” Alex said, “it’ll be nice to get a break from being attacked.”
“I, for one, am just happy to be able to sleep on a real bed for once,” Ezra said, stretching his arms up behind his head. “Eat some real food. See some real buildings.”
“We’ve been staying in villages for the past two nights,” Moxie pointed out, and on her shoulder, Pop nodded. “They’ve had beds and food and buildings.”
“Yeah, I said real,” Ezra said, his eyes half-lidded as he glanced over at her. “Not hay bales and suspicious stews and clay huts.”
“Those are all real,” Moxie said.
Ezra waved a hand around dismissively, and Alex rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
He had a point. As grateful as they were for the villages they stopped in, it wasn’t feasible in the long run. They were going to run out of supplies sooner or later, and if they could stock up in a city with different shops, that was even better.
And also sleeping on an actual bed was going to be really nice.
As they approached the city and it came fully into view, they stopped in their tracks for a short while, taking in the sight. Skyscrapers shot into the sky, Digimon flying about around them. Down on the ground, smaller buildings nestled up against the taller ones, with more Digimon coming and going in and out, walking along the pavement and roads and going about their days. Further in the distance, they could see smoke rising, coming from smokestacks rather than fires; if they strained, they could almost make out the shape of those factories, obscured by the distance and haze.
Save for the fact that the industrial part of the city was intermingling with the residential and commercial sections, it looked exactly like a city from the human world.
“I want to climb to the very top of that,” Dare said, pointing at the tallest skyscraper they could see.
“You can fly,” Ryan said, sounding exhausted. “You don’t need to climb.”
Dare grinned up at him. “Climbing is more fun.”
Damien moved to the front of the group, looking down at his digivice. “There should be a hotel we can stay in pretty close by. We’ll check in and then we can hit the streets and ask about that Catalyst.”
“I think we’ve got just enough to pay for our stay,” Moxie said, scratching her cheek. “We can probably only do one night, but that should be enough.”
“Aren’t you going to run out of money eventually?” Harmony asked. “You’ve been paying for practically everything we’ve needed ever since we met you.”
“Yes, actually,” Damien said, looking up at her for a second. “That’s why after we check in, Bumble and Moxie and Pop and I are going to go get some more. So that we’re not stranded in any future cities with nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat.”
“How are you going to just… get money?” Alex said. “You got some sort of degree in counterfeiting?”
Damien smiled, pocketing his digivice. “Not exactly. Can’t share our secrets -” Moxie and Pop rolled their eyes “- but we’ve got our ways. Just let us work our magic.”
Well, that’s certainly suspicious, Alex thought, but he didn’t press any further. Damien gestured forward, and the group got moving again, bolstered by the knowledge that they were heading into a safe, populated city, rather than an evil forest.
Alex had still not gotten over that.
They reached the edge of the city quickly enough, observing the roads winding between the buildings and the Digimon walking and flying along them. Moxie pointed them down a specific street, and they got to walking - but no sooner had they started again than they were stopped by a Digimon along the sidewalk.
“Travelers?” it asked, tilting its gold-helmeted head at them. It was silver and quadrupedal, its face obscured by that aforementioned golden knights’ helmet, a ruff of blue hair sprouting from underneath. Two golden wings emerged from its back, and it lifted one gold-clawed paw to gesture at the city around it as it spoke again. “Welcome to Factorial Town. You’re welcome to stay here, but we ask that you keep your visit peaceful.”
“What do you mean?” Ren asked.
The Digimon regarded her for a moment. “No fighting allowed within city limits. You won’t come across any reason to fight, but we must inform you of the laws anyways.”
Alex frowned. “What happens if someone attacks us?”
“That won’t be a problem,” the Digimon said, shaking their head. “Everyone in the city upholds the law. There won’t be anyone who attacks you.”
“So killing people is illegal,” Ryan said, and Alex heard Pop groan behind him.
The Digimon stared at Ryan quizzically, then - presumably deciding not to ask what he meant - turned to the rest of the group. “If you have any questions about the city, I’ll be here. Just ask for Maildramon. We hope you enjoy your stay.”
“Thanks,” Azure said, and the group went on their way.
As they walked, they got a few odd looks from nearby Digimon; nothing too uncomfortable, but they knew - as they always knew, wherever they went - that they were a strange group, and they were going to be talked about.
It was difficult not to feel almost like a zoo animal, really.
When they were far enough from Maildramon to not be overheard, Alex spoke up. “So I’m going to guess,” he said quietly, but loud enough to be heard by the group, “that manic Digimon aren’t exactly an issue here.”
“We don’t know that for certain,” Castor said. “They very easily could be waiting until we arrive to attack, to not draw unnecessary attention to themselves.”
Alex stared down at him. “Thanks, you’re so encouraging.”
“I think we should still keep an eye out,” Harmony said, and at her side, Ren nodded. “Hopefully we won’t come across anything? But it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Phrase of the week, it seems,” Ko said, but nobody disagreed with her, so they resigned themselves to their fate.
They headed deeper into the city, aiming for the hotel that Damien had told them about. Along the way, a few of the group - notably Harmony and Ko and Miguel - stopped to ask passing Digimon if they’d heard of a Catalyst. None of them had. But they weren’t the only Digimon in Factorial Town. Surely someone else would know of it.
“Hey, look!” Ezra said, tapping Alex’s arm and shaking him out of his thoughts. Ezra pointed off to the side, at a building on the opposite side of the street - it looked like a theater. “I think that’s a movie theater.”
Really brilliant observation, but Alex couldn’t resist smiling. “And what makes you think that?”
Ezra paused for a moment, placing his mouth in his hand, and then lit up. “Because it looks like one. It’s got the display out front with the movie titles. Even if ETENSAF DIIR is a weird name for a movie.”
“That’s literally not at all what that says,” Castor said, furrowing his brow at Ezra. “I thought you’d been studying Digicode after the SALOY/FALON incident of recent.”
Ezra puffed his chest up, putting his hands on his hips. “For the record, I only thought that that sign -” he pointed at the large sign above the movie titles “- said ‘THEATEN’ at first. That’s very close to theater. It could have been a lot worse. Etensaf Diir is a lot harder to read. Lots of letters.”
“Yes, reading has never been your strong suit,” Alex said, flicking Ezra’s shoulder.
“And you’re so much better than me at it,” Ezra shot back, shoving him to the side.
“For the record,” Castor said, before Alex could get Ezra back, “it says ‘Eternal Doom’. You got the very first syllable correct. Good improvement.”
“Doom, huh,” Alex mused, crossing his arms. “That word’s been cropping up a lot recently.”
Anna - who had been walking alongside Ezra, with Bunny in her arms as always, and who had been quiet up until now - frowned slightly. “Surely that doesn’t mean anything bad.”
“Just a coinkydink,” Ember said, peering up at her. “Or however you say it.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Anna said. She lifted her chin up, then seemed to almost deflate, and returned to her previous position. “It’s probably nothing. Weird, though.”
Weird indeed. Alex chanced a curious look over at her.
Anna had been fitting in… surprisingly well with the group. It almost felt normal to have her there with them. Not that she was weird, or not normal, or whatever. But this was his best friend’s baby sister who he’d known for practically her whole life, walking alongside the group as they searched for something they didn’t even know about while trying not to get killed in an effort to save the world.
I didn’t think I’d ever see Ezra or myself in this sort of situation, he thought, and certainly not Anna.
This was something else entirely.
Well. He was just glad that Ezra seemed to be getting over his fear of Anna being here. He understood his worry, really he did, but… it was difficult to watch him be so anxious all the time.
“What,” Anna said, and Alex blinked, realizing he’d been staring at her.
“Nothing,” he said, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible (a difficult task for him). “Just spaced out.”
Anna didn’t say anything else, simply nodded and looked back ahead of her as they walked. Down at his feet, Castor looked up at Alex, and he dismissed him with a hand wave.
Just a lot to think about.
Honestly, it was a very refreshing change of pace to be in an actual town again. Sure, they’d been in Southern Pier not that long ago, but the past week had felt like a month with how much had happened.
It had been a lot, to say the least. Alex felt like he was only just now getting over it, and considering it had been four days…
But being in the city helped a lot. Though they did have the destination of the hotel in mind, they couldn’t help but wander as they walked, checking out the stores and businesses around them. They found bakeries, bookstores, art galleries, even something that appeared to be a mechanical repair shop for machine-type Digimon. They couldn’t buy anything, what with Damien and Moxie only having enough to pay for the hotel, but they window-shopped as they went, and asked any Digimon willing to listen if they’d heard of the Catalyst.
Just as before, none of them had.
As the sun reached its zenith and began its slow descent down to the earth once more, the group collectively agreed to check into the hotel before getting even more sidetracked. It was a short walk there, passing by a few more interesting restaurants and shops that several of the group wanted to come back to later. Damien insisted that they were here to look for the Catalyst, not on a school field trip, which Ren and Castor affirmed, but Pop said it couldn’t hurt to take a break for once and try to live like normal people for a while. Damien didn’t have any argument against that, which Alex was secretly grateful for.
With each passing day, it was getting harder and harder to be like “normal people”. Alex wondered if he’d ever feel normal again.
“You know, that’s actually been making me think,” Azure said, leaning up against a pillar in the lobby of the hotel.
They’d finally made it there; it hadn’t taken as long as they had been dreading it would, fortunately, and now Damien and Moxie were checking the group into their rooms, as well as speaking to the nearby concierge about the city. The rest of the group was milling about the lobby, some of them speaking to nearby Digimon and others taking some time to themselves to rest. Alex and Castor stood off to the side with Azure and Ko, and Alex raised an eyebrow over at Azure as they spoke.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
They shrugged, looking around at the rest of the group around them. “It’s just weird, y’know? Like, a month and a half ago - or, I guess barely a minute ago -” they couldn’t resist a wry smile “- we were just normal kids, sitting in the computer lab at school. If someone didn’t know that we’d all received weird texts from an unknown number, there’d be nothing strange about any of us. And yet we were the ones chosen for this.”
Alex hadn’t ever really given it much thought. He’d just accepted it as an immutable fact that they were chosen for this and there wasn’t any specific reason behind it.
Aside from those text messages.
“Do you think the texts are what sent us here?” he mumbled.
Azure hummed to themself. “I mean, it seems pretty obvious that they have somethin’ to do with it. I can’t tell for certain, but it seems very likely. I’ve got a… working theory.”
Alex and Castor both perked up, and Alex tilted his head. “Tell me about it.”
Azure smiled over at him, then folded their hands under their chin. “Okay, how do I put this. You remember my original theory, right? About how it was interacting with the email that pulled us here?”
Alex, Castor, and Ko all nodded, and they continued. “I think I had the right idea, I just went in the wrong direction with it. Back then I wasn’t sure if everyone in the group had received the text that I did, or at least something similar to it. But then Harmony and Ezra told me about their texts, and then that was three of us who’d received them. Three’s a law, remember?” Alex rolled his eyes and Ko chirped a laugh; Azure looked very self-satisfied. “And then when our Digimon evolved to ultimate, it was always because we remembered our texts and believed that the answer we’d given them wasn’t a lie.” They paused, then appended. “Or at least, for me it was, and I think Miguel and Ezra too, from what I heard.”
Alex nodded. “It was for me too.”
“See?” Azure grinned. “We all got those texts. Even Anna did, apparently. I’d make a safe bet that Moxie and Damien did as well, five years ago. When we first met them, they did say that they got weird messages that brought them here. It could have been an email like us, but I don’t think it was.”
“Speaking of the email,” Castor said, and Alex and Azure looked down at him. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but you said your theory had changed, and you don’t believe that it was the email that brought us here.”
“Not entirely,” they admitted, scratching their neck. “I think it has a lot to do with this, but not in the way I originally thought. Now that I know about the texts, I’ve got a different idea.”
“Let’s hear it,” Alex said, and Castor nodded.
Azure was quiet for a few seconds while they thought to themself. “I think the texts are what… ‘chose’ us. For lack of a better way of putting it.” They gestured vaguely with a hand. “We all received them. We all responded to them. And then just a few short days later we’re pulled through a school computer to this world. By an email from an unknown sender.”
“Just like the texts,” Alex said.
“Exactly.” Azure’s eyes narrowed. “I do think that the email was what pulled us here in the first place. It asked us if we were ready to begin - presumably begin our adventure, to be precise - you said yes, it pulled through everyone who had responded to their text. I believe that if anyone hadn’t responded to their texts, it wouldn’t have brought them with us. And if anyone else had responded to their text… they would’ve come with us.”
Alex frowned, confused and not quite following - but Castor seemingly caught on faster than he did, speaking slowly as if the thought was occurring to him as he spoke. “You think there were other students in your class who received texts.”
Alex’s eyes widened, and Azure smirked. “Bingo. I mean, the likelihood of it just being the six of us is incredibly low. Considering we wouldn’t have even ended up here if we hadn’t replied to our texts - or so I believe - that practically spells a recipe for disaster. Whatever actually chose us for this likely wouldn’t have relied on just the six of us. I think it would’ve sent out its ‘recruitment’, so to speak, to a lot of students in our class, or at least our grade.”
“So me lying to that message is what got me in this situation in the first place,” Alex said, glancing briefly down at where the wound across his chest would be visible if he didn’t have a shirt on, and then at his arm, where his other notable injury was in plain view. It was healing well, especially considering he hadn’t really been actively trying to let it rest, but even so, he knew it’d leave a scar eventually.
That was going to be fun to explain to his parents. A lot of this was going to be fun to explain.
“I don’t think it would have known you were lying,” Ko piped up. Alex leaned around Azure to get a better look at the bug, and he tapped his claws together. “How would it have? You responded with a single word. It couldn’t possibly extrapolate any further meaning from that. I’d assume it was your response being ‘yes’ that got you into this situation.”
“I’d say so, yeah,” Azure said, nodding.
Alex squeezed his eyes shut. “What was that I said earlier about being encouraging?”
“What about that wasn’t encouraging?” Ko said, and Azure laughed.
Alex shook his head and opened his eyes, then turned to Azure. “Good talk. Honestly, knowing why we ended up here - aside from ‘oh yeah I’m the one who got us all in this mess in the first place’ - actually makes me feel a little better about all this.”
“No problem, captain,” they said, fake saluting.
“You should tell the others this,” Castor said.
“I will.” They reached into their pocket and lifted their digivice up, wiggling it around in their hand. “I’ve got it all written down in here already. It’ll be like recitin’ a poem.”
“We’re good to go,” Moxie called out from the front counter. “Floor six. We should unpack and then check out the rest of the town.”
Slowly the group assembled together and headed up to their rooms in the largest elevator Alex had ever seen in his life. It was almost difficult to reach up to hit the buttons for the floors, but there was some sort of built-in stool with adjustable height that Damien used to press the button to bring them up to the correct floor.
They reached the sixth floor, and split up into small groups - two humans and Digimon each to a room, save for Harmony, Azure, Miguel, and their partners, who were sharing a three-bed room - to head to their rooms and unpack.
Alex and Castor were with Ryan and Dare. None of them said anything to each other as Alex unlocked the door and stepped inside. It looked like a normal hotel room; everything was a bit bigger than it would be in the human world, and the balcony was fully accessible despite their height from the ground, but aside from that, it seemed as if they’d just walked into a hotel back in their world.
And then Dare hopped up onto the bed closest to the balcony, turned in a circle, and curled up, completely ruining that illusion. Ryan brushed past Alex to lay his backpack down on that bed, claiming it as his own. That was just fine with Alex.
“I’m going to head back down to the lobby,” Castor said, and Alex blinked over at him. Castor tilted his head. “I’d like to talk to some of the visitors here. See if they’ve heard of anything strange going on.”
“Makes sense,” Alex said. “Have fun. Don’t get lost or killed.”
“I’ll try my best,” Castor said sarcastically as he turned to leave.
Alex set his own backpack down on his bed, unzipping it to look through everything in there. His clothes, his snacks, and the extra jars of water he carried he left inside, but he pulled out his own personal water jar and his digivice and placed them on the bedside table.
Like most of the others, he’d been leaving his phone in its digivice state most of the time recently. It was too much hassle to have to always launch the app whenever he needed it, and it wasn’t like there was anything he could do on his phone anyways, other than scrolling through his photos and trying to text people and playing the ungodly amount of mobile games he had downloaded. Alex was a simple man with simple pleasures, and it just so happened that crushing candy and blasting toons were some of those simple pleasures.
He hoisted himself up onto the edge of his bed and looked over at his digivice. …Honestly, some of those games were calling to him, especially the tomb mask game he’d downloaded just a few days before they’d ended up in this world… he hadn’t gotten very far in it, and he was sort of itching to play a few more levels just to give his brain a bit of a break…
“Play me,” it was saying. “Just turn your phone on and play one level. Just one.”
But it won’t be one level, he thought. It’ll be one, and then two, and then three and four and before I know it I’ll be on my twentieth level and it’ll be midnight and I won’t have eaten dinner or drank water or talked to another human being in eight hours -
“Hey,” came a voice from the doorway, and Alex nearly launched himself off the bed and onto the floor in fright. He managed to keep himself still - thank god, because it was Ezra who poked his head into the room, Ember down at his feet.
“What’s up?” Alex said, patting the sheets beside him, and Ezra and Ember came into the room proper, Ezra sitting down next to Alex and pulling Ember up with him.
“What, I’m not allowed to see how my friend is doing?” Ezra said, smiling over at him. Alex rolled his eyes, and Ezra continued. “I do just want to check in. See how you’re feeling. I bet you’re real excited to actually sleep on a bed tonight. I know I am.”
“God, don’t even get me started.” Alex leaned back onto the bed, placing his hands on his stomach, and Ezra followed the motion, Ember settling down on his chest just like a housecat. “I’m almost ready to fall asleep right now.”
“Did you know we haven’t had a single nap since we’ve been here,” Ezra said, and Alex groaned. “Maybe we should take the day off tomorrow and just sleep all day.”
“But then Damien would get mad at us for wasting time,” Alex pointed out.
Ezra rolled over onto his stomach, taking care to move Ember out of his way as he did. The lion cub settled down on his partner’s back, earning an oof and a head pat from him. Ezra glanced over at Alex. “I bet a nap would fix him.”
“He’s not all that bad,” Alex said, shrugging the best he could while lying down. “Remember that without him Anna and Bunny would’ve been all on their own in the forest.”
“He let them fight a deranged killer clown.”
“You know damn well Anna would’ve found a way to fight him even with you there.” Alex sat up. “Also, he was a jester, not a clown.”
Ezra sighed. “Still. She could have gotten hurt. She did get hurt. I should have been there.”
“Dude, it wasn’t your fault,” Alex said. “She’s fine. I thought you said you were going to try to lighten up on her.” Ember nodded emphatically.
“Why is everyone getting on my ass today,” Ezra grumbled, and Alex smiled.
He reached over to pull Ezra’s hood over his head. “She’ll be okay. We’ll all be okay. Go get some rest.”
“But I’m hungry,” he whined, pulling his hood back down and giving Alex sad, pathetic eyes.
“Then go eat.”
“I don’t want the food I have in my bag.”
“Then go rob a restaurant?” Alex said. “I don’t know what else you want.”
“Robbing a restaurant sounds fun,” Ember said, pumping his fists. “Let’s do it! We can make it a contest! Whoever gets caught first loses!”
Ezra looked like he was about to have a stroke. He sat up straight, pulling Ember into his lap, and then rolled his head to the side at Alex. “I’ll go eat something. And then I’m going to fall asleep immediately. You won’t see me until tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, what a shame,” Alex said, and Ezra scowled at him. “I’ll miss you so very much. Goodnight, sweet prince.”
“Real funny,” Ezra mumbled, then stood up to leave, carrying Ember with him. He looked back over his shoulder as he opened the door to the hallway. “If I’m the prince, you’re the princess.”
“Castor’s the dragon keeping me locked up in his tower,” Alex said, nodding. “And Ember is your trusty steed.”
“I’m no steed,” Ember said, sticking his tongue out at Alex, and Ezra patted his head.
“You’re close enough.”
“I’m not a steed!” Ember exclaimed, and then the door closed behind him and Ezra, and all Alex could hear were muffled sounds of contempt coming from Ember.
He smiled to himself, then laid back down on his bed.
What he’d said to Azure earlier - about feeling better now that he knew why they were chosen - was true. It was making him feel better. This whole time he thought he’d condemned these people - his friends - to everything they’d been through. He’d thought it had been his fault.
His fault that they were stuck here, with no way out, and no way to get back home until they saved the world. That was a huge fucking task. An insane thing to ask of anyone, much less a group of sixteen year olds and their baby sister.
And I was the one who’d doomed them all to it.
Or so he’d thought.
Knowing that it wasn’t actually his fault, that they had all independently - even if inadvertently - made the decision that had brought themselves here… that helped.
But still. Why them? Why were they all sent those messages? Even if there really were others that had received them other than them… why them? They were teenagers. Way too young to be doing any of this. Even with what Asuramon had told them, about children being the best fit to be partnered with Digimon… it didn’t make sense.
He shook his head. There was so much they didn’t know, and he knew they never would. It would forever be a mystery, no matter how hard they tried to find out.
And did it really matter?
What did matter was that they were here, and they were going through with this, and they were giving it their all. Even if they’d never know why they were chosen for this, or why they truly replied to those messages… it all came out in the wash, didn’t it?
Just another mystery of this world.
Alex craned his neck over his shoulder, still laying down, to look over at Ryan’s bed, where Dare was still curled up. Past her, the curtains to the balcony had been pushed aside, and the sliding door was wide open. Ryan stood, looking out over the city, leaning against the railing, his back to the hotel room.
Alex observed him for a few moments, then pushed himself upright and off his bed to go over and stand next to him.
Ryan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye as he approached, but did not otherwise move or say anything. Alex folded his arms and propped them up against the railing, likewise not speaking.
They stood together in silence for a few minutes, staring down at the streets below them and watching as Digimon went about their days. A large train-like dog Digimon (or was it a dog-like train Digimon?) scuttled down the road, a gaggle of smaller Digimon - all looking to be rookies - following and cheering after it. The dog-train Digimon looked over its shoulder and barked, grinning and wagging its tail, and then continued on its path, its followers continuing to pursue it.
Alex smiled faintly, then looked over at Ryan, still standing resolute.
“How are you,” Alex said, unable to take the expanding silence any longer.
Ryan blinked at Alex in surprise, obviously not expecting the question. His mouth twitched slightly, and he opened and closed it as if wanting to say something but unsure of how to. Eventually he spoke, looking away from Alex as he did. “Fine. As fine as I can be.” He exhaled through his nose, rubbing the back of his head. “Just… a lot to think about.”
Ain’t that the truth. Alex nodded. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said, though he was saying it to reassure himself more than anything. “Someone’s going to know about the Catalyst. We’ll find it eventually.”
“Not what I meant,” Ryan mumbled. “I’ve had other things on my mind.”
Alex regarded him quietly. He was about to say something else, something to get Ryan to tell him more, but then Ryan sighed and shook his head.
“My family.” He spoke quietly, looking down at the ground below as he did. “I’ve been thinking about them. Was. Was thinking about them. Before we found out they don’t even know we’re gone yet.” He closed his eyes. “I was worried about my brother. How he was managing without me. He’s only seven.”
Alex nodded again, looking down at his own hands. “…I’ve been thinking about my siblings too. Two younger twin brothers. They’re seven too. And my older sister Nadia.” He closed his eyes and breathed out, then opened them again. “You know… this whole time, I’d thought all this time passing was a good thing. Giving my family a break from having to deal with me. And then, what do you know, it’s all been just… less than a minute for them. Hasn’t even been enough time for the school to realize we’re missing. Guess they didn’t get that break after all.”
God, was this really the first time he’d told anyone here about his family?
Ryan was quiet for a moment, but eventually spoke. “…Honestly, I’m kind of glad we haven’t been here for that long.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at him. “Hm?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Means my father hasn’t gotten angry that I’ve just up and disappeared. Means that he hasn’t taken it out on Devon.” He clenched his fists. “He does that a lot. I don’t know why. Whenever he can’t get angry at me, he uses Devon.”
Yikes. Alex didn’t know what to say. “Your dad sucks”? “Sorry to hear that”? “That’s rough”?
“Does your dad get mad a lot?” he settled on instead, almost regretting it when he heard the words come out of his mouth - but Ryan just smiled. Sardonically, for sure, but still a smile.
“Yeah. About pretty much anything. Mostly me, but sometimes Devon, and sometimes my mom. Sometimes if he doesn’t get a promotion at work. Sometimes when his favorite team loses a game. Sometimes nothing.” He paused. “Whatever it is, he always takes it out on those around him.”
Now Alex really didn’t know what to say. He murmured sympathetically, unsure of what else there was he could do.
He didn’t know how to comfort people. He’d never needed to, other than Ezra, and it was all just so easy with Ezra. This was something else entirely. He wasn’t good at this. He didn’t know what to do.
“If time was flowing normally,” Ryan said then, breaking Alex’s stupor, “my dad would have already gotten angry at Devon. And I wouldn’t be around to take it for him like I usually am. So.” He looked over at Alex. “Sorry your family didn’t get that break from you, but I’m glad my brother is okay.”
“It’s okay,” Alex said, holding his hands out. “It’s not a big deal for me. I’m… glad your brother is okay too.”
Ryan nodded, looking back away from Alex.
Alex frowned and then sighed. His eyes wandered out to the city beyond the balcony, drifting over the building tops until they settled on the setting sun off in the distance.
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find the right words to say. He didn’t want to slip up, but… he had to say something. This talk had been making him think a lot.
A lot on his mind, for sure.
Eventually he breathed out slowly. “…We’re not so different, you and I.”
Ryan huffed, and out of the corner of his eye Alex saw him look towards him. Alex shifted his arms on the railing and turned to face him properly.
“I mean, look at us,” he continued. “Burdens on our families. Burdens on the ones we love. Well -” He broke off, gesturing ineffectually towards Ryan, who raised a brow but did not speak. “With valid exceptions for certain members, obviously.”
Ryan remained silent, and Alex plowed on. “And we would do anything to keep them safe. Happy. Whether it be by staying away from them -” he motioned to himself “- or being near them, even if it’s detrimental to yourself.” He nodded to Ryan here, and then cracked a smile. “Which is funny, ‘cause that’s the exact opposite of what we’ve been doing here. Me throwing myself into the thick of every battle, while you stay back and keep your distance.”
Alex’s eyes fell to his feet and his hands slipped off the banister, one reaching up to run through his hair. He closed his eyes, massaging his temples for a minute.
“…I’m sorry.”
When he looked over at Ryan again, he looked genuinely shocked - or about as shocked as he could ever be.
“For what?” he said, finally saying something, and Alex felt a wave of relief that his words hadn’t been totally useless.
Alex waved his hands around. “For - all of those things I said to you during our first week here. In the mansion that first night. The next day. On Twister Mountain.” He bit his lip, averting his gaze. “…And I’m sorry for punching you. Sort of.”
Ryan leaned back. “Sort of?”
Alex smiled. “You kinda deserved it,” he said, and Ryan rolled his eyes.
“I did not.”
“Well,” Alex cut in, holding his hands up. “I really am sorry for everything. I’m trying to be better. I hope you’ll give me a chance to see it through.” He smirked slightly. “You can hit me back if you want to.”
Ryan tilted his head, breathing out slowly, and for a moment Alex really thought he was going to. He braced himself, preparing for the impact, even despite knowing it wouldn’t make it hurt any less.
He’d learned that enough over the past month. More than he should have.
“That’s not what I do,” Ryan said at last, and Alex closed his eyes, relieved. “I’m better than that.”
“Ooh, ouch,” Alex said, rubbing the back of his neck. “That kinda stings.”
“You deserved it,” Ryan said, with no hesitation, and Alex laughed.
They were quiet for a few more seconds, before Ryan mumbled something under his breath and then spoke. “I guess now it’s my turn to ask. How are you doing.”
Alex quirked an eyebrow. “Me?”
“Who else would I be talking to,” Ryan said flatly.
Alex rubbed his fingers together, trying to formulate his thoughts. “I mean… I guess I’m doing okay. Same as you.” He exhaled through his nose and closed his eyes. “I’m just worried about Ezra. And everyone else,” he added quickly, doing his best to keep his voice steady as he averted his gaze.
Ryan regarded him for a moment and then rolled his eyes. “You are so gone for him.”
“What - I am not!” Alex protested, clenching his fists. Well, so much for staying calm. He could feel the heat on his cheeks, and he knew it wasn’t helping his case even a little bit.
Goddamnit.
“He’s my best friend,” Alex said as Ryan gave him an unamused look. “It’s normal for me to be worried about him.”
“I could believe that if you weren’t worried about him literally all the time,” Ryan argued, starting to count off on his fingers. “And always trying to be near him. And constantly checking up on him. And pretty much only ever talking about him. And -”
“Stop,” Alex said, grabbing Ryan’s now splayed-out palm and forcing it back down. “He’s been the one constant in my life since I was like five years old. He was the only person here with us at first that I already knew and considered a friend. Of course I’d be worried about him.”
Ryan did not falter. “I called you his boyfriend once and he almost died on the spot.”
This gave Alex pause - real, true pause, enough for him to forget literally everything he was about to say to Ryan to try to defend himself. He was arguing against it for his own sake - he knew there was no swaying Ryan, it was really just to try to convince himself - but this development was entirely unexpected.
And also endlessly frustrating and flustering.
“You fucking what?” Alex said.
“You heard me,” Ryan said, crossing his arms. “I called you his boyfriend as a joke and he almost had a heart attack because of it. Leaving me to believe he didn’t see it as a joke. And maybe you don’t either.”
“The context was disparagingly negative, by the way,” came a voice from down near the floor, and then Dare leapt up onto Ryan’s shoulders, wrapping her tail around his neck. He groaned, trying to shove her off, but she held fast, and he quickly gave up.
“The fuck do you mean ‘disparagingly’,” he said instead. “You don’t even know what that word means. It doesn’t even make sense in that sentence.”
Dare snickered and winked at Alex, and he had to restrain himself from grabbing her and throwing her off the balcony.
“We were walking with Ezra, and Ryan was making fun of you for not knowing how to take care of your wounds,” she said, swishing her tail over her partner’s face. “And he turned to Ezra and was like ‘I know how to take care of myself, unlike your stupid boyfriend!’ So then Ezra got all blushy, like, ‘oh, that’s not it! We’re not dating or anything! He’s just my very good friend!’ But Ryan and I knew. We both knew.”
“He didn’t actually say anything,” Ryan said, either oblivious to or purposefully ignoring the mortified expression on Alex’s face (which he was so desperately trying to wipe off, but he couldn’t move his facial muscles at all). “He was mostly just spluttering and flailing around like I’d just told some big secret or something. Also,” he added, reaching a hand up to smack Dare’s head, “you did not find it funny at the time. You were acting like I’d just killed a man.”
“Well you pretty much did!” she exclaimed, holding her paws out to emphasize her point. She lost her grip on Ryan’s shoulders with the motion, and was sent tumbling to the ground, where she immediately shook herself out and looked back up at Ryan with the same incredulous look on her face as if nothing had happened. “Ezra surely would have keeled over dead if I’d let you continue! I think if you were to ever insinuate that either of them have feelings for each other again, one, or BOTH of them, if we’re lucky, would just die right then and there!” She had the audacity to then wink at Ryan, nudging his leg with her elbow, while pointing with her other paw up at Alex.
…Who was not having a good time right now.
“Let’s test that,” Ryan said, looking back up at Alex. “You absolutely have a crush on Ezra.”
“I’m going to fucking kill both of you,” Alex said, surprisingly calm considering the thousands or perhaps millions of different emotions currently swimming around his head.
“That’s the exact opposite effect we were thinking of,” Dare said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Interesting.”
Alex groaned and draped himself - well, threw his front half, really - over the railing.
Goddamnit was right.
Dare clapped her paws. “Oh, nevermind, there we go. He’s dead now. Hypothesis proven! I win!”
If there was anything else Alex was going to say - anything to shut Ryan and Dare up, to convince them that they were just friends and there was nothing else going on between them at all - he didn’t get a chance. Behind them, deeper into the room, they heard their door click open, and all three of them turned to look. Castor stood in the doorway, looking slightly confused at the scene in front of him, but he didn’t say anything about it, simply strode towards them and stopped next to Alex.
“Sorry to interrupt… whatever this is,” he said, glancing up at Ryan and then over at Dare. The latter grinned wide, opening her mouth as if to say something, but Ryan swiftly kicked her in the ribs and she yelped, snapping her jaw shut and glaring up at him.
Castor tilted his head at her but did not ask any questions (probably for the better). He looked up at Alex. “Anna and Bunny want to talk to us. Well, just Anna, really. They’re waiting downstairs.”
Wonder how Ezra feels about them being unsupervised downstairs on their own, Alex thought, then immediately ignored that thought upon realizing he was literally proving Ryan’s points. He nodded down at Castor. “Alright. Let’s go.” He looked over at Ryan and Dare; Dare had climbed back up onto Ryan’s shoulders and was leaning forward with her chin in her paws, grinning wickedly at him. He frowned at her, and she stuck her tongue out.
“Have fun,” she sang, Ryan lifting a hand to wave goodbye. Alex mirrored the action and then turned to follow Castor out of the room, grabbing his digivice off of his nightstand as he passed it.
In the elevator, Castor looked up at Alex. “What was that?”
“Nothing,” Alex said, crossing his arms. “They were just bullying me. You know what Anna wants?”
Castor shook his head. “She didn’t say much. Just that she has something to tell us. And not to tell Ezra she was down there.”
“Yeah, makes sense,” Alex said. The door dinged as they arrived on the ground floor, and they stepped out into the lobby, spotting Anna and Bunny instantly. They were seated on one of the couches off to the side, and Alex waved at them as they approached.
Anna looked up at him and scooped Bunny up into her arms as she stood up. “Hi,” she said, and Bunny wrinkled her nose in greeting. “Can we go for a walk?”
“Sure?” Alex said. Anna didn’t wait for any further comment before heading toward the door, pushing it open and holding it for Alex and Castor as they followed.
They got to walking down the sidewalk; Anna led the way, with Alex and Castor just a few paces behind her. Alex knew that she didn’t know where she was going. She was just walking for the sake of walking. He couldn’t blame her - that was his favorite way to walk.
“What’s up?” he said after a minute or so. “Castor said you have something you wanted to tell us.”
Anna slowed in her gait so that she was in between him and Castor. She walked very quickly, her short legs having to work overtime to keep up with him, but she had been walking faster than him before this (which was honestly quite a feat, considering how fast Alex normally walked), and it didn’t seem to strain her too much. She sighed and looked over at him.
“When we fought Jokermon,” she started, and immediately Alex lost all sense of where he thought this would be going. He hadn’t expected that. “He was like Astamon. He spoke to us even though he was manic.”
“A lot of Digimon have been like that recently,” Castor cut in, and Anna’s attention swiveled to him. “Astamon wasn’t the first. MarineDevimon, Matadormon, the Aegiochusmon, supposedly Phelesmon and Baalmon… too many others to list. It’s become the norm, it seems.”
“I guess,” Anna mumbled, raising a hand to her mouth. “The Ginryumon and Halsemon we fought two days ago talked to us… but not like Jokermon did.”
They turned a corner down a side street. “What do you mean ‘like Jokermon’?” Alex asked.
Anna shrugged. “Like I said. He was like Astamon. He acted like he knew us. Like he knew about us. About partnerships.”
“Yeah, the manic Digimon working for the evil archangel know that we’re partners,” Alex said. “We don’t exactly keep it hidden.”
“No,” Anna said, shaking her head, “I mean he sounded like he knew. His voice changed and it didn’t sound like his voice. And he said that he knew about partnerships.”
“He said that we didn’t actually know what the word ‘partner’ meant,” Bunny said softly. “That the archangel he serves does. It didn’t seem like personal experience. Just that he… knew, somehow.”
“He also said not to call the archangel an archangel,” Anna added, “but we’re rebels, so we’re doing it anyway.” She fist-bumped Bunny and they smiled at each other, even if it was a little weak.
“He knows of partnerships,” Castor murmured, and Alex looked down at him. Castor frowned. “That does seem to match up with when Astamon tried to destroy Ezra’s digivice to break his and Ember’s bond. How else would he have known to do that?”
“Jokermon said that if he could break our digivice, it would kill us,” Anna said.
All eyes turned to her. Something heavy settled in the bottom of Alex’s stomach. If Astamon had managed to break Ezra’s digivice, Ezra and Ember would have died. They would have died.
Their digivices seemed to be able to withstand damage and attempts to destroy them, which was at least a small blessing, but it still didn’t make Alex feel any better.
“But he can’t break it,” Castor said, riffing off of Anna’s (or rather, Jokermon’s) implication. “So then how would he know that it would kill us?”
Boy, Alex really didn’t like Castor’s use of the word “us”. But… he had a point…
“Remember those past humans?” he said. “They would have had digivices, right? Surely someone would have wondered what would happen if you’d break it. Astamon didn’t stop to think that maybe ours were more durable.”
“But Astamon doesn’t seem that old,” Anna said.
“The archangel is the one telling him what to do,” Castor said, shaking his head. “Considering Jokermon also knew about the digivices, it seems likely the archangel told them about it.”
The four of them fell silent, the only sound coming from them being their feet hitting the pavement. The side street they’d turned down opened back up onto another main road; they stopped at the corner and looked down both ways, before Anna pointed to their right.
There’s got to be some sort of connection here, right? Alex thought. If the archangel knows about partnerships in a way more than just seeing us with our partners, he must have experience with humans and partner Digimon. And if he knows about digivices too…
“…Do you think the archangel is the villain those past humans fought against?” Anna mumbled.
The feeling in Alex’s stomach flared up again. He didn’t know what to think about that. The idea that the Digimon they were up against had already fought humans and their partners before, that he would know how they’d work, that he’d know how scared they all were… he didn’t want to think about it.
But -
“Asuramon told us that they succeeded, though,” Alex said. So that can’t be the case.
“Maybe they only thought they did,” Castor said, and Alex squeezed his eyes shut. Not very helpful. Not very optimistic.
“I think,” Bunny started, then trailed off, her eyes narrowing slightly. “I think we don’t know enough to come to a conclusion like that yet.”
“Of course,” Castor said, dipping his head. “I just thought it was worth considering.”
“And at the very least,” Alex added, “we should let the others -”
“No,” Anna said sharply, clutching Bunny closer to her chest. Alex and Castor turned curiously concerned gazes upon her, but Bunny looked entirely unfazed, even if she pushed back against Anna’s grasp a bit.
Anna glared up at Alex and then down at Castor. “You can’t tell anyone about this. It has to stay between us.”
“Why?” Alex said, putting his hands on his hips. “This is pretty important information. I think the others should know about it.”
“They can’t,” Anna insisted, fixing her gaze ahead of her. “They can’t know.”
Alex opened his mouth, but they reached another corner, and he closed it begrudgingly. Castor nodded down the road to their right, heading back in the direction of the hotel, and they got to walking again.
It was Castor who spoke next. “Why not?”
Good question. Anna didn’t look over at him as she responded. “Jokermon tried to turn me and Bunny against each other. He told Bunny that I was going to get bored of her when I went back home. That she was just a pawn in a game I was playing. That I’d kill her.” She breathed out shakily, staring down at her feet. “I know he was lying, but. It scared me.”
She looked up at Alex again finally. “So we can’t tell the others. I don’t want any of them to be scared. I don’t want the Digimon to be scared.”
“But we know it’s not going to happen,” Alex said. “Nobody secretly hates their partner. Nobody’s going to -”
“You don’t know,” she said - forcefully, shakily, eyes piercing his own - “what it was like to watch him hold a blade against Bunny’s throat and tell her that I was going to kill her.”
Silence. Alex shrunk back, and Anna looked downward, her shoulders slumping.
She was right. He didn’t know.
If someone told me that I was going to kill Castor, they’d be wrong. I know they would.
But knowing they’re wrong wouldn’t outweigh the fear. My fear that I might do that. Castor’s fear that I might do that. The fear of us turning against the other.
Because there’s a possibility. And if there’s a possibility, then it might actually happen.
“Okay,” Alex said quietly, and Anna closed her eyes, relieved. “We’ll keep this between us. Our secret.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling softly. “You’re the only ones I’ve told.”
“Why us?” Castor said, and Anna blinked down at him. “Why did you tell us? Why not… Azure, or Ezra, or Ren, or -”
“Because you’re the leaders,” Anna said, in the way someone would say “because humans need air to breathe”, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You should be the ones to know.”
“We’re - are we?” Alex shook his head out, staring at Anna and Bunny quizzically. Even the little rabbit was looking at him as if it couldn’t be any clearer as to why he and Castor were the ones to know. “We’re not the leaders. We haven’t been in a long time. Damien -”
Anna snorted and rolled her eyes. “Damien’s the geographical leader. You’re the team leaders.”
“We don’t really have a leader,” Castor said under his breath, but his comment went ignored as Anna carried on.
“You’re the ones always pushing us forward. Directing us. Motivating us. Telling us what to do, and how to do it, and that everything’s going to be okay in the end. Even if you’re not always super optimistic about it.” She glanced down at Castor.
“But that - we’re not the leaders,” Alex repeated. “Everyone’s pushing themselves forward. Everyone’s motivating themselves. We’re not any different for that.”
“But you lead us.”
“Everyone leads us.”
Anna stopped in her tracks, causing Alex and Castor to both jolt to a stop. She let Bunny hop out of her arms and then turned on her heel to face Alex properly. Standing up on her tiptoes to gain as much extra height as she could, she reached her hands up towards his face, cupping his cheeks in her palms.
She stared deep into his eyes, her own blue ones shockingly bright against the ever-dimming atmosphere around them. She tilted her head, regarding him; his hands came up to gently rest on her forearms, but she did not move hers.
“I’ll follow if you’ll lead us,” she said, voice hushed. “Will you?”
Alex didn’t get a chance to respond before she dropped her hands and her heels, returning to her natural height and position. She stared at him for a moment longer, then turned around to pick Bunny up once more, while Castor looked between her and Alex.
She took a single step forward, and then backtracked so hard she almost tripped over Castor and smashed directly into Alex’s chest behind her, and it was immediately apparent why.
Being that a very tall Digimon jumped down from one of the roofs above them into their path, and it did not look friendly, especially when it closed the distance between itself and Anna as she backed up.
It was, again, very tall, and humanoid in form, though its arms and legs were entirely too long for its size. It had almost pure white skin, and was clad in what looked to be a black leather bodysuit. The leather was tearing apart in places, leaving its left arm and leg exposed, though its left forearm and hand were covered in the leather, with long gold claws on all five fingers. From the torn leather on its left shoulder, peeling away from its body, was a small demon-like piece of leather, complete with two eyes, a stitched-together smile, and a singular claw. Two more long pieces of leather draped down its back, looking almost like demon wings, framing its flowing silvery hair.
The Digimon smiled down at the four of them, its white eyes unsettling against the black leather mask covering the top half of its face.
“Behold!” it cried, spreading its arms out. “I, the prophet of doom, bringer of your demise, harbinger of death, have finally appeared before you!”
Alex frowned, moving to stand in between Anna and the Digimon. “What do you want,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady.
The Digimon giggled, her arms falling to her sides. “Oh, I thought it would be obvious,” she said. “I’m here to kill you!” She pointed one long claw down at Alex. “And I’m going to start with you.”
There wasn’t any time to move. There was barely even time to think. In a flash of red, Castor evolved and leapt at the Digimon, pinning her down and holding one paw above her face while she laughed.
“Castor!” Anna shouted, starting forward. He didn’t look over his shoulder at her - didn’t want to take his attention away from the manic Digimon - but one of his ears flicked back towards her. “You can’t fight! Remember the city rule?”
“She’s going to kill us,” he growled, but he hesitated, and didn’t move to attack.
The Digimon laughed again. “Funny how you’re adhering to a law that will be your downfall,” she said, and pushed herself up from underneath Castor. With a swipe of her arm, she sent him skidding into the street, tumbling over himself as he rolled to a stop.
She turned upon the three remaining on the sidewalk. “If you run, that’ll just make it more fun for me.”
“Running sounds great, actually,” Alex said, and he grabbed Anna’s arm to pull her and Bunny along with him as he ran to Castor’s side.
He'd managed to right himself, but barely had any time to truly recover before Alex practically threw Anna up onto his back and then climbed on behind them. “Get out of the city,” he said to Castor; his partner didn’t need any further instruction, and took off at a tear down the street, in a direction Alex could only hope was the correct one.
Behind them, they heard the Digimon laughing as she pursued. As they ran, Digimon around them on the streets looked curiously at them before their expressions shifted to ones of horror as they noticed the Digimon following them. A few of them shouted at them, but they couldn’t make out any words over the sound of Castor’s feet on the pavement, the wind whipping past their ears, and the Digimon’s cackles growing ever-closer.
Quicker than Alex would have expected, they turned a corner and saw the road ahead of them fade away as they reached the edge of the city - the very road that they’d entered via earlier, which Alex realized only when they blew past Maildramon, still standing at the end of the road. They reared back as Castor ran by, and Alex chanced a look over his shoulder to see them rear back even further as the manic Digimon went past as well.
But they were outside the city now, so Maildramon didn’t matter. Castor skidded to a halt, legs splayed out to slow his stop, and bowed down to roll his passengers off his back. He whipped around to face the manic Digimon, fire already beginning to build in his throat before she’d even gotten close enough for him to attack.
“
“I told you running would only make it more fun for me,” she said, with unsettling glee in her voice. “Gives me a greater sense of satisfaction when I finally hunt you down.
Black energy coalesced around her left arm, transforming it into a spear-like appendage, and she stabbed down into Castor’s chest. He cried out, kicking against her chest with his hind legs and successfully dislodging her, but he was breathing heavily as he backed away, tail lashing behind him.
Alex dug into his pocket for his digivice - thank fucking god he’d brought it with him - and switched the analyzer option on, trying to focus on the Digimon as she and Castor wrestled.
“LadyDevimon,” his digivice read aloud. “Ultimate level fallen angel Digimon. Because of its strength, due to the incomparable purity of its dark power, it is said that the limits of its might are nonexistent.”
Alex gritted his teeth and stuffed his digivice back into his pocket. Next to him, Anna took a step forward - she’d set Bunny down, and her partner was a few paces ahead of her. Alex looked at Anna, and then down at Bunny. “You want to fight?”
The moon rabbit nodded. “I do.”
“Go get ‘em,” Alex said, and Bunny dashed forward to join the fray.
“
His claws glowed red as he leapt at LadyDevimon. “
“
“Bunny!” Anna shouted as her partner crashed to the ground after the attack. She made to move towards her, but stopped herself as LadyDevimon turned her attention towards her.
“Who are you?” LadyDevimon said, tilting her head. “As in, who do you think you are? You don’t belong here.”
“I’m part of the group,” Anna said, balling her hands into fists. Alex placed a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off as she stepped toward LadyDevimon. “Bunny and I are their missing piece. We’re just as much part of this as they all are.”
LadyDevimon curled her lip, and smacked Castor away as he tried to jump at her. “You? You’re part of their group? Hah!” She covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed. “That’s hilarious. You can’t fool me like that. I know what the other one looks like, and they are not you.”
Alex frowned. Across the clearing, he caught Castor’s eye. He looked just as confused as him, but… something seemed to dawn on him. He shook his head and pushed himself up, flames licking at his mouth. “
LadyDevimon stumbled forward as the attack hit her from behind, and she whipped around to face Castor. “
She picked herself up, clenched her fists, and nodded back. With a burst of white light, Lekismon was left in her place, and before LadyDevimon could even turn around to see what had happened, water was already swirling around her hands.
“
LadyDevimon managed to sidestep to avoid one of the attacks, but the other one hit her square in the chest as she turned around. She hissed and lunged forward, pinning Bunny to the ground and lifting her claws as they transformed into the spear again. “
“
Castor smashed into her before she could attack Bunny, sending her skidding into the dirt. She shook herself out and stood up on wobbly legs, but regained her balance quicker than Alex would have liked her to.
She pointed a claw at Castor. “You’re fighting so hard for humans who don’t even care about you. Your partner -”
“Shut the fuck up, I already got the talk,” he growled, hunching his shoulders as his claws glowed red again. “You’re wrong, and I’m going to prove it.
He barrelled into her chest, slashing out as he impacted her and forcing her down to the ground again. She threw him off of her and rose to her feet again, eyes narrowed and teeth bared.
“You’re still no match for me,” she spat. Alex rolled his eyes.
“Stop talking and fight me,” Castor said.
LadyDevimon spread her arms. “My pleasure.
“
The ball of fire shot through the bats, incinerating most of them and scattering others to the sides - but several of them still hit Castor, and he struggled against the onslaught.
“Castor!” Alex shouted, raising his fists. He took a step toward his partner, even though he knew he shouldn’t. He couldn’t help himself.
Castor looked over his shoulder at him and smiled, and then began to glow white, just as Alex’s digivice spoke from his pocket.
“Ultimate evolution engaged.”
After all this time - all this waiting, all this wondering - it was finally happening again, and just in time. Castor emerged, in his ultimate form, from the white light a moment later, and immediately turned to LadyDevimon, who scowled at his evolution.
“I’d say this is a fairer fight now,” he rumbled, and stretched one of his bladed arms out. “
He slashed his legs across LadyDevimon’s chest, sending her stumbling backward, and then followed up with a swipe from his tail. She fell to the ground, hissing as she did.
“
“
From behind Castor came sharp icicles from Bunny, each one smacking against LadyDevimon’s spear arm. At the point where they hit, small amounts of ice began to spread outwards, before they covered her arm almost completely and then cracked apart, shattering the spear. Her arm returned to normal, and she shrieked in rage, slashing out with her un-speared arm to knock Castor back.
“
He towered over her, his arm and tail blades beginning to glow red. “I don’t know what you expected to achieve here,” he said, kicking her back and pinning her down with a bladed leg. “You always lose. Things never change.”
“You know we’re just trying to stall you,” she giggled. “You’ll never find the last one. It’ll make it easier for him to kill you once you find him.
“
Shadowy spear met three glowing red blades, and the blades won out. Castor forced LadyDevimon’s spear away from him and then followed up with a flurry of slashes. She screamed and, with some last reserves of strength, pushed herself up from under Castor, taking wary steps backward.
“You don’t know what’s coming for you,” she forced out, her voice and breathing haggard and labored. She wiped a hand across her face and sneered. “You will come to rue this day. When your doomsday comes, you will regret this.”
She didn’t even bother to attack them again before she turned and fled, sprinting out into the savannah. Castor growled and raced after her, Bunny following close behind, but she was the only one of the two with ranged attacks.
“
But she’d gotten enough of a head start on them that when she rose to her feet again, she was still out of range of Castor’s attacks. “
Castor halted in his pursuit and knelt down to check on her, and by the time Alex could even get a good look at LadyDevimon once the dust settled, she was too far away to even consider chasing her down. He ground his teeth and ran towards Castor and Bunny, Anna not far behind.
Castor, too, was enveloped in light as he devolved. Anna scooped Bunny up into her arms. She seemed worse for wear, but not too hurt. Alex placed a hand on her head before kneeling down next to his own partner.
Castor sighed and shook his head. “Another one gone,” he mumbled, looking out to where LadyDevimon had run off to. “I can’t help but wonder why all these Digimon keep trying to flee.”
“Trying and succeeding,” Alex amended, pulling Castor closer. Which is a lot worse. “It’s alright. Let’s call this a win for you, yeah? And, hey.” He gestured at himself. “I didn’t even get injured this time.”
Castor snorted and cracked a small smile. “A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.” He looked up at Anna, and Alex followed his gaze. “You both alright?”
“I’m okay,” Bunny said, rolling over in Anna’s arms to blink down at them. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t really do anything,” Castor said, but Bunny shook her head.
“If you hadn’t evolved, she would’ve beaten us. She almost made me devolve when she had me pinned down. I could feel it. But you saved me.” She smiled. “Our heroic leader indeed.”
If Castor could blush, he certainly would have, and Alex smirked. Castor coughed, trying to hide his bashfulness. “Right. Well, it’s what anyone would do.” He stood up, shaking himself out. “We should probably head back now.”
“Let’s not tell Ezra I let you get that close to a manic Digimon,” Alex said, standing up as well and raising an eyebrow at Anna. “We can say I made you stay inside the city while Castor fought.”
“Okay,” Anna said, hugging Bunny tighter. She smiled. “Thank you.”
Alex nodded. “Of course. I know how he gets.”
She laughed lightly. “I know you do.”
He tried not to think about what she meant by that.
Later that night, after they’d returned to the hotel, after they’d eaten dinner, after everyone had gone over what they’d done during the day and where they’d gone and what they’d found out, Alex and Castor stood on the balcony of their hotel room.
The glass door behind them was closed. Ryan and Dare were fast asleep, but Alex knew they were light sleepers, and he didn’t want to risk waking them up.
Alex sighed and propped his cheek up with a fist, leaning on the railing of the balcony. “I wasn’t really expecting you to evolve to ultimate again,” he said.
Castor huffed. “What little faith you have in me.” He said it jokingly, but even so.
“Not little faith in you,” Alex said, peeling his face away from his hand to look down at Castor. “Little faith in me. I didn’t think that I’d… I dunno. I kinda expected me to need to have some sort of epiphany again to make you evolve. Like last time. But nothing was coming to me. I guess I could’ve run in and punched LadyDevimon, but you would’ve gotten mad at me. And it would’ve been a bad example for Anna.”
“She has enough bad examples in her life anyways,” Castor said, and Alex smiled. “I understand. I guess that it’s like evolving to champion, but… more energy?” He looked down at his claws. “It was easier than I expected it to be. A lot easier. It did take a lot out of me, though, but not as much as I thought it would.”
“Well, that’s good,” Alex said. “It’s been long enough. Three whole weeks.”
Castor stared out at the city, really a thousand-yard stare. “Has it really been that long?”
Alex smiled. “Yeah. Hard to imagine for me too. I’m just glad this is happening finally. I mean, after we saw Pop and Bumble evolve to ultimate again, I knew it would probably happen for us soon, too, but it wasn’t happening soon enough.”
Castor made a noise of agreement. “And now it is. You got your wish. Just had to be patient.”
“Excuse you, I can be very patient,” Alex said, and Castor laughed. He placed his hands on his hips, frowning in mock indignation. “I can. Trust me. One time I managed to wait for my food at a restaurant for a whole twenty minutes before I asked a waiter where it was.”
“What an honorable feat,” Castor said, and Alex groaned and rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, I believe you. Who knows? Maybe I’ll evolve again soon.”
“Hopefully,” Alex said, turning to lean on the banister again. “All these ultimate Digimon who’ve been coming to wreck our shit have been really annoying to deal with. Hopefully the others will be able to evolve again soon.”
They fell silent once more, watching the city below them slowly turn its lights out and go to sleep.
There was a lot to think about. A lot had happened today. A lot more was going to happen over the next few days, and for the entire foreseeable future.
He wasn’t looking forward to it, but they couldn’t do anything about it. This one night in Factorial Town was enough for now. They’d gotten dinner at a nice restaurant - Moxie and Damien had, indeed, managed to acquire more money, and a lot at that. They’d stocked up on supplies. They’d asked around about the Catalyst. Nobody had heard of it. That was fine; they’d head out tomorrow morning and continue on their way. They couldn’t afford to waste any time, especially with everything LadyDevimon had said.
Alex had relayed the overall gist of it to the others. That she knew about “another one”. That she was just trying to stall them. That he - the archangel - would find it much easier to kill them with each passing day.
He’d left out several key details, of course, but he’d told them most of it.
Down at his feet, Castor shuffled slightly, and then looked up at him.
“Do you feel bad about lying?” he asked.
Alex took a moment to go over his response. “Nah,” he settled on eventually. “I think it’s going to avoid a lot of unnecessary thinking and anxiety. It’s better this way.”
It wasn’t about him not telling Ezra about letting Bunny fight and Anna get close enough to LadyDevimon to have a conversation with her. He didn’t feel bad about that, of course - even though it sort of hurt him a little bit to have to lie to Ezra’s face, he knew it was for the best. Ezra didn’t need to worry about her any more than he already was.
It was that he hadn’t told the group about what he and Anna had talked about. About Jokermon and LadyDevimon telling their partners that they hated them.
Sure, maybe lying by omission wasn’t actually lying, but it still had the word “lying” in there, didn’t it?
“For the record,” he continued, looking down at Castor, “I don’t believe it for one second. I love you more than anything. More than I can put into words. I don’t know what the hell Jokermon meant, but he didn’t know what he was talking about. It’s never gonna happen in a million years.”
“I know,” Castor said, and he sounded like he truly meant it. “I love you too. I don’t believe it either.” He sighed. “I just think it’s weird.”
Alex folded his arms. “What, that they’re just now trying this weird manipulation tactic?”
“In a sense. That, and that they seem so… convinced about it.”
“But they’re wrong.”
“I know. But they don’t seem to believe that.”
Alex took his arms off the railing and turned around, sitting down with his back against the thin metal pillars. It wasn’t entirely comfortable, but it allowed him to sit closer to Castor, and actually look him in the eye.
“If we’re right,” Castor went on, “and if the archangel is the one who actually thinks that we’re going to kill each other, there must be a reason for it. He’s wrong about us, but… maybe he’s not wrong about someone else.”
“What do you mean,” Alex said.
Castor shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure. It’s still unclear. Up in the air. We don’t know enough to come to a conclusion.”
“God, Azure would never let it go if they knew I was about to say this,” Alex mumbled as Castor glanced at him curiously, “but. You can’t make a conclusion if you don’t have a hypothesis. Scientific method.”
“I don’t know what that is,” Castor said, and Alex huffed a laugh.
“You don’t know enough to make a conclusion, but you can still make a theory.”
Castor hummed to himself, raising a paw to his chin. “A theory, huh.” He thought to himself for a while; Alex watched him think, and did not say anything. Eventually Castor sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know enough to think of anything. The most I can think of is… maybe one of the past humans accidentally killed their partner by their digivice breaking, but… there’s still missing components. I feel like we almost have something, but not quite.”
“That’s alright,” Alex said, patting Castor’s head. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.”
And then something hit him, sharp as a bolt of lightning.
What LadyDevimon had said to them earlier - about Anna not being part of their group (which was, of course, a bold-faced lie, because they knew Anna was part of their group, no matter what anyone tried to tell them), and about how she knew what the other one looked like -
“Do you remember what LadyDevimon said,” he asked Castor, who blinked at him.
“Well, there’s a topic change,” he said, but he nodded. “About knowing ‘another one’.”
“You looked like you realized something.”
Castor’s face lit up. “Oh, right,” he murmured. “Well, now I have a theory about something.”
“I’m strapped in,” Alex said, and Castor smiled at him sarcastically.
He cleared his throat. “Do you remember Meicoomon?” Alex nodded, and he continued. “She said we were still missing someone. When we found Moxie, Damien, and their partners, we assumed they were the ones she was talking about - but then Nohemon implied that we were still missing someone.” Castor was pacing now, speaking the words seemingly as they came to him. “We found Piximon and he told us there was a missing piece - another partnership. We found Anna and Bunny - our missing piece. But Astamon didn’t know them. Just like Nohemon didn’t know Moxie and Pop and Damien and Bumble. But they know that we’re missing someone.”
He came to a halt in front of Alex, looking directly at him and saying nothing more. Alex frowned.
“Is there another missing piece Piximon didn’t tell us about?” he asked.
“No,” Castor said, shaking his head. He lifted his chin and smiled. “There’s another missing piece that he did tell us about.”
Another missing piece that he told us about…
What did he tell us? To find our missing piece. To seek answers in the north.
He told us to go to File Island. To find -
“The Catalyst.”
Castor grinned. “Bingo. They're human. They have a partner. LadyDevimon said she knows what they look like. Maybe Impmon wasn’t lying when he said he’d seen a human recently.”
“Wait, but then -” Alex held his hands up. “How did they get here? Do we know them? I know Anna got the text message like we did, and Moxie and Damien have known about the Digital World for years, but - how did the Catalyst get here?”
“Well, clearly I don’t know that,” Castor said. “We won’t know until we find them. Which we will.” He dipped his head and breathed out quietly. “This doesn’t change much. We still need to find them. But at least now we know what - or rather, who - we’re looking for.”
Alex nodded slowly.
They finally knew, at long last, who they were looking for. It didn’t make it any easier. It didn’t mean they would find them as soon as they woke up the next morning.
But they were one step closer.
And now Alex was thinking about something else.
“Piximon said the Catalyst would be a leader to us,” he said. “Does that mean we’re not the leaders anymore?”
Castor smiled and flicked his tail. “I think it’ll be a long way off until we find them. For now, we’re still pretty good leaders. Anna was right. If you lead us, we’ll follow you.”
Will you lead us?
Well… he’d been leading them from the very beginning, hadn’t he? And quite literally, too.
The memory of leading the other five kids with him into a forest in a world he’d never dreamt of before was so distant now. It had been so long since they’d arrived here. They’d come so far. They still had so much further to go.
But they’d do it. They’d get there eventually.
“I will,” he said to Castor. “I’ll lead us. As far as I can, for as long as I can.”
“There we go,” Castor said, bumping his head against Alex’s knee. “That’s the Alex I know and love. Welcome back.”
Alex laughed and pulled him into a hug. “Thanks,” he said.
“Thank you.” Castor paused, and then pulled back to look into Alex’s eyes. “We’re going to save the world, you know.”
Alex smiled. “I know.”
And he did.
No matter what it took, or how hard it was, or what they had to do, they were going to save the world. He’d made sure of it. He knew Castor would make sure of it.
All of them - the entire group, them and the Catalyst and anyone else they came across who wanted to help them, whoever they may be - were going to save the world.
You know, today didn’t feel like such a doomsday after all.