EPISODE 30 - DRAWING BLANKS
The morning dawned gray and rough. Thin beams of light stretched down in between the branches above, casting lighter speckles over the ground of the group’s makeshift camp. It barely counted as proper sunlight, but it was enough to wake those who were more used to rising with the sun.
Moxie was no more well-rested than she normally was, and not for lack of trying. Sleep had been hard to come by over the past few days - even with them being out of the desert, things weren’t any easier in any sense of the word.
And they were, indeed, out of the desert. It had been two days since the fight with Mephistomon - two days since any fight with any Digimon. It was unsettling, for sure, that they had previously been struggling to go even twelve hours without a fight, and then all of a sudden there weren’t any. They were grateful for it, of course, but that ominous feeling looming over them, of the possibility of it being a sign of something more to come, did not ease any of their worries.
They’d made it out of Server Desert just the previous night. They had decided, early in the morning, that they would keep walking until they were fully out of the desert, where they couldn’t see any sand or cacti or whatever else. They were close enough at that point that they’d reach it by the end of the day. Just a few hours into their travels, they’d reached the outskirts of the desert, and though they hadn’t been fully out of the desert, it was still a good sign. A couple hours more and they had made it to Native Forest, stopping for the night just inside the treeline, grateful for the cover from above and around them as well as the grass to sleep on rather than sand and rocks.
But even so - even though it had been the most comfortable sleep Moxie had had in two weeks - it hadn’t been particularly restful.
She sighed through her nose, sitting up slowly and rubbing her eyes. Everyone around her was still asleep, huddled up around the long-dead fire in their usual arrangements. More than half of the humans were using their partners as pillows, and even those that couldn’t (or didn’t want to) were still curled close to each other, as if afraid of letting go of them.
And yet Moxie’s own partner was nowhere to be seen.
She cast her gaze around the makeshift campsite, looking for any familiar pink feathers, and saw Pop perched on a rock not far away. Carefully, she stood herself up, then crept over to her, making sure to signal her arrival before she got close, not wanting to scare her.
“Hey,” she said, and Pop nodded over at her. She didn’t look any more awake than Moxie herself felt, which she supposed was fair, considering she was… well. “Standing guard on your own?”
“It was my shift,” she said, tilting her head to the side in a very owl-like gesture. “Someone has to do it.”
Moxie’s mouth quirked into an ironic smile. “Without me?”
“Yes,” Pop said, without hesitation. Moxie’s brow furrowed, and Pop exhaled slowly. “You looked… tired. You needed the sleep. And I was already awake when Ryan and Dare passed the shift off anyway.”
“Did you sleep at all?” Moxie asked. Pop didn’t reply, which was enough of an answer on its own.
Moxie shook her head and looked back over at the rest of the group. A few of them shifted, but they did not wake. She knew that they were struggling to find sleep just as much as she had.
The end of all things, Mephistomon had said. They’d had a great number of discussions about it over the past few days - what they had meant, why they had seemed so sure of themself, whether it was connected to the fact they hadn’t been attacked since then. They hadn’t seen any sort of Digimon since then, in fact.
Welcome to the end.
And the fact they were so close to File City certainly wasn’t helping things.
“Are you excited?” Moxie asked Pop. “To almost be… home?”
It felt weird to refer to File City as home, after they hadn’t been there for… god, almost eight months now. It’s going to be so different. Will we even recognize it?
I hope so.
“Of course,” Pop said, speaking with barely-contained energy. She smiled over at Moxie, her expression showing just as much as her voice how truly happy she was. “It’s been too long. I’m… really glad we’re getting the chance to go back. Even if it’s for an important reason.”
Moxie placed a hand on her partner’s head. “You’re allowed to look forward to it. I’ve told you that. You can be happy that we’re finally going back.”
“I know,” Pop said, sighing in a mix between relief and resignation. “It’s… strange, though. To be coming back under these circumstances.” She looked down at her wings, then curled her claws into fists. “I don’t know what to make of it.”
It was strange, for sure. Six months ago, Moxie wouldn’t have ever imagined she’d come back to File Island, much less File City specifically. They had run away from it. They’d run away from everything in their old lives.
And now here they were, just a few hours outside the city. It was surreal.
She couldn’t shake the fear in the back of her mind, though. The fear that their worst nightmare would, somehow, come true while they were in the city - that someone would come looking for them, to take them back home. To their old home. The home that wasn’t home anymore, because how could it be a home without -
“You okay?”
It was Moxie’s turn to avoid the question. She shrugged, not meeting her partner’s gaze, and she knew that that - just as much as Pop’s silence had been - was good enough of an answer.
She didn’t know what to say.
“We’ll be okay,” Pop said gently, and Moxie closed her eyes.
It was difficult to believe her when everything was pointing to the opposite being true.
They woke the rest of the group a short while later. As expected, none of them had slept well, and it was hard to discern whether that was because of everything hanging over them or if it was because of the excitement of being so close to their final destination. “Final” in quotes, of course, because - well, if the Catalyst wasn’t in File City…
Nobody had wanted to discuss the possibility any deeper than they had already, the day of the Mephistomon fight. Moxie had felt so horrible about Ezra’s reaction. He said it wasn’t my fault, but… it sort of was, wasn’t it? If I hadn’t brought it up, if I’d phrased it more gently, if I’d just realized that not everybody would take it well…
It was easy to put the blame on herself. That was something she’d always been good at.
They hadn’t talked about it any more. It was too sensitive a subject, too fresh a wound. They’d cross - or burn - that bridge when they got to it. Right now, all they could focus on was what was right in front of them - and for the moment, that was Native Forest.
After two weeks of snow and sand and temperatures so extreme they’d had to completely ruin their sleep schedules, the comfort of the forest was like no other. Despite their sleeplessness, their exhaustion was somewhat alleviated by the protection above and around them, the shelter from the sun, the solid ground to walk upon, and the abundance of forageable food and water. It was almost ironic, considering how much they had hated Browser Jungle, that they were this relieved to be in a forest again. Funny how things change.
And a lot had changed over the past few weeks. They were only just getting used to being active during normal waking hours, and that was only part of their difficulties in sleeping. More of the Digimon had evolved to their ultimate forms again, finally getting the hang of doing so, even if some were slower to adjust to it. The humans certainly had some fresh new injuries they were still dealing with - Moxie herself was only just beginning to recover from a bruise left by a Goatmon ramming her in the leg. It had made traveling a bit more difficult over the past few days, and slowed their progress somewhat, but they were still - somehow, miraculously - making good time. Proof enough was the fact that they were steadily approaching the city - they’d be there in time for lunch if they kept up with their current pace.
“I’m just excited to sleep in a real bed tonight,” Harmony sighed, walking alongside Moxie. Ren, on her other side, dipped her head in agreement, and Moxie smiled. “It’s been three weeks! Last night was better than rocks and sand and snow, but still.”
“And yet I don’t feel like I got any sleep at all,” Moxie said, shaking her head out.
“That’s how I always feel,” Harmony said, playfully putting her hands on her hips, but it didn’t sound like she was joking. “I mean, it makes sense, right? There’s so much going on all the time. And I know that we keep watch, but - it’s hard to sleep when there’s the possibility of being attacked.”
“We haven’t been attacked at all in the past two days,” Ren pointed out, which was… exactly the point, and Harmony nodded.
“I know! That’s what I’m saying!” She looked down at her hands, rubbing her thumb along her fingers. “Like - everything Mephistomon said, about how there’s nothing standing in front of us anymore - did they mean, like - there’s no more manic Digimon? That’s too good to be true, right?”
“‘Welcome to the end’,” Moxie echoed, more to herself than anything, but Harmony heard and nodded fervently.
“Yeah! That’s weird, right? They could have meant anything by that. But I don’t think they meant that we’re out of the woods.” She lifted her head to the branches above, and smiled wryly, humorlessly. “In any sense of the word.”
“We can’t do anything about it,” Pop said quietly, and Harmony sighed again. “We just have to wait and see.”
“…How are you feeling?” Harmony asked then, looking at Pop and then Moxie.
Moxie blinked. “Fine. Tired, but fine.”
Harmony tilted her head, then smiled slightly. “Oh - I meant about File City.”
“Oh!” Moxie shrugged her empty shoulder and gave Harmony her best smile. “I’m… excited? I don’t know, it’s weird. I haven’t been here in eight months. I know it probably won’t be that different from the last time I saw it - especially since the last time I saw it, it had apparently been… years since I was last there.” She went quiet, looking down at her feet, and she was very aware of Harmony and Pop’s eyes on her.
She still hadn’t told anyone the real reason why they had fled File City. The real reason they had put it off to the very end. None of them had said anything about it. How were they supposed to? Would anyone even understand? It’s not just something we can bring up out of the blue. And I know for a fact Damien doesn’t want anyone to know…
I can’t blame him, really, but…
“It’ll be good to be back,” Pop said, and Moxie closed her eyes.
That was all they could really say about it. Neither Moxie nor Pop wanted to delve into their true feelings on returning to File City, and they certainly didn’t want to lie, so they dropped the subject. The four of them rejoined with the rest of the group, and quickly the topic switched to what was closer at hand - namely, what would happen when (if) they found the Catalyst.
“I just hope they’ll have answers for us,” Damien said, his arms propped up behind his head. “They fuckin’ better, or all of this will have been for nothing. What was it Piximon said. They’d be some sort of guide to us?” He shook his head. “Here’s hoping he was right about that.”
“I’m sure they’ll know something,” Azure said, but they didn’t sound very convinced. “Why we’re here. What we need to do. Who we’re up against.”
“Who do you think we’re up against?” Anna asked, looking back over her shoulder at them. She was holding Bunny tightly in her arms, the way she always did, and her partner’s nose twitched as she, too, looked at Azure.
“I mean… we’ve been told that we’re supposed to save the world, right?” they said, and not for the first time, the weight of that statement sat heavy on Moxie’s mind. Saving the world. Both worlds. How on earth are we supposed to do that? “We have to save it from someone - the archangel. We know who we’re up against, we just don’t know what exactly he wants. And that’s the root of the problem.”
“What do you mean?” Flip asked.
Azure frowned, curling a finger around their mouth as they thought. “We know that he’s the threat we’re facing. But we don’t know why he’s a threat. We don’t know how he’s able to control Digimon, and we don’t know why he’s doing it.”
“I don’t see why that matters,” Ryan muttered, and Azure shook their head - but they weren’t the next one to speak.
“Because if we don’t know his reasons,” Castor said, “then we don’t know how far he’s willing to go to accomplish his goal. And we don’t know how much of a threat we’re up against.”
“Surely he’s just in it for the money,” Dare piped up - obviously joking, evident enough by the grin plastered on her face. “That’s what everyone is after these days. Money and fame. That’s what I’d want.”
“Good thing you’re not a villain then,” Ryan said, flicking the interface on her forehead. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“I mean, it is possible that he just wants power,” Ezra mumbled, rubbing his nose with a thumb. He shrugged. “Ruling the world for his own satisfaction, right? It happens in our world all the time.”
Ren - still walking beside Harmony - bowed her head. “I think it’s deeper than that,” she said, and all eyes were on her instantly. She wasted no time in continuing, looking down at her paws as she walked. “Whoever he is… there’s more going on than we realize. He’s never shown himself to us - he always sends manic Digimon to do his work for him instead. It could be attributed to cowardice, but I don’t think he’s a coward. I think he’s being smart.” She crossed her arms. “I think he’s biding his time until he’s ready to show himself so that we can’t wear him down in the meantime.”
…Well, that was encouraging.
“We probably wouldn’t be able to wear him down at all,” Pop said. “If he’s powerful enough to control hundreds of Digimon from afar.”
Also really encouraging. Moxie glanced at Pop out of the corner of her eye and resisted a sigh. The rest of the group looked just about as optimistic as Moxie felt.
They’d all known, in the back of their heads, that it was true. Whoever - or whatever - they were up against was something near incomprehensible. They’d never seen him. They didn’t even know who he was. But hearing it said out loud, having to face it as a fact rather than speculation… things weren’t looking good.
Things had never looked good, really, but still.
They switched the subject after that, not wanting to dwell on it for longer than they needed to. They drifted between breaking off into smaller groups to have more personal conversations and reintegrating into the larger group to discuss things as a collective, but the conversation stayed lighthearted, or at least as lighthearted as it could get. Despite the pressing matters at hand, everyone was in relatively good spirits as they walked. Moxie could only assume it was due to their proximity to File City.
And Native Forest itself was interesting enough on its own. As they walked, they came across signposts and streetlights of all kinds, powered by god knows what but working just fine even without any obvious power source. Alex said that the forest he and the first five humans had ended up in when they’d forest arrived in this world - Host Forest - had had similar attractions. It had been strange then, and it was strange now, but they were more used to it.
Currently, Moxie was walking with Damien and Bumble, a bit ahead of the rest of the group. Her brother had pulled her away from them but hadn’t elaborated why, seeming lost in his own mind, which was… unusual. And a bit worrying.
I know he’s as conflicted about returning as I am, but even so, he shouldn’t be like this. I know why he is. I know. It’s scaring me too. Facing the reality of what we left behind…
But we have to face it. We can’t keep running away. Not anymore. No matter how much I want to, and no matter how much every voice in my head is screaming at me to turn around and leave and never look back.
We can’t run anymore.
It’s going to hurt. I hope he’s prepared for it.
I hope I am.
“When we get to the city,” Damien said quietly, startling Moxie from her thoughts, “we have a planned course. A route through the city. So we can talk to as many people as possible and waste as little time as possible.” He didn’t meet Moxie’s gaze, even as she sidestepped so she was walking closer to him. She frowned.
Pop shifted her feet on Moxie’s shoulder. “I… I think we don’t have to be that efficient with it.” Bumble and Damien looked over at her, the latter with his brow furrowed. “I mean. Yes, we’re here to find the Catalyst. But… we can enjoy it.” She stared down at the ground. “We haven’t done that for anywhere else we’ve been. I know that you want to find the Catalyst. And… I know it’ll be difficult to be back. But it’s been so long.”
Bumble closed his eyes solemnly; Damien stared down at his feet, hands on his hips.
There were a number of things Pop could mean with that. It’s been so long that we might as well take in the sights. It’s been so long that it’s okay to have fun with it. It’s been so long that we might not even recognize it.
It’s been so long since we’ve been there that it’s unlikely anyone will come looking for us.
“It would still be smart to try to ask around,” Damien said quietly. “That’s what we’re here for in the first place.”
“I know,” Pop said. “We will. But that’s not my point. This is where Bumble and I were born. Even if we have something important to do…” She trailed off, but the rest of her sentence was obvious enough, even unspoken.
Moxie didn’t want to think about what would happen once they got to File City. She didn’t want to think about how different it would be, and how disconcerting it would be to be in a city they had once lived in and now didn’t. She didn’t want to think about who was living in their old house, or if any of their old neighbors were still around, or if anyone had missed them or would recognize them.
She didn’t want to think about what they’d do if the Catalyst really wasn’t in File City. She didn’t want to think about the Catalyst not being on File Island at all, or in the Digital World at all, or even alive. She didn’t want to think about any of it, but she had to.
What would they do then?
She didn’t know, and she hated that.
They were in the city before they even realized it.
It was a gradual transition from forest to town; the trees thinned out so slowly that they didn’t notice that there was less foliage around them and fewer branches above them. The sun shining down from above more brightly was what actually signaled to them that they were reaching the edge of the forest, and the group blinked as their eyes readjusted to the more direct sunlight.
It had only taken a few hours of silent walking for them to reach the edge of the city. Where there had once been trees and undergrowth around them were now small houses and gardens, starting small, the outskirts of the town living up to its name. These houses looked like they had been constructed with leftover materials from the rest of the town, and were significantly more… cottage-like than the buildings they could see much further ahead, deeper within the city.
There were Digimon tending to their gardens, walking up and down the worn cobblestone path, heading to and from their homes and the city. The group got a few curious looks as they passed through, but they were more intrigued than judging, and a few of the Digimon even smiled at them.
Moxie knew this road. She and Damien and their partners had traveled down it more times than she could count, when coming back into the city after a venture into the forest, or when delivering goods to some of the residents in this small neighborhood. She recognized these houses, and the gardens, and the small shops out front, consisting of nothing more than a few planks of wood and small cinder blocks. Young Digimon would sell lemonade or other easily made confections for no more than the equivalent of a dollar. She had always made a point to support them, stopping to ask how their business was going and if they’d made good profits and how their taxes were going to look for the coming year. The Digimon, having never heard of taxes, were always both delighted and appalled when she explained the concept of “paying the government money”, as well as the concept of a government in general.
As it was - as the group came to realize they had finally reached their destination, and as they slowed to take in their surroundings - Moxie crouched down in front of one of these small stands, smiling at the little puppet Digimon on the other side, while Pop hopped off her shoulder to get a closer look at its wares. It was selling a collection of handmade bracelets, brightly colored threads woven together so ornately that Moxie couldn’t tell where one string ended and the other began.
One in particular caught her eye, purple and white and yellow with a little dangling crescent moon charm. She picked it up gingerly, turning it over in her hands, and then tilted her head at the young shopkeeper.
“How much for this?” she asked, and the Digimon - a mouse tucked into a large shoe, or perhaps the shoe was part of its body - blinked its singular eye at her.
“One digidollar,” it said, its voice a high-pitched squeak.
Moxie’s eyes widened, playing up her surprise, and she shook her head. “Only one dollar? You deserve to be paid so much more for your hard work, these are very pretty!” She reached into her backpack to pull out her wallet, retrieving five digidollars, and placed them on the stand next to the bracelet.
The Digimon stared up at her, mouth agape, and then grinned, bouncing up and down on its shoe. “Thank you, thank you!”
“Of course,” Moxie said, smiling back, and picked up the bracelet. The size was adjustable by a small chain on the opposite side of the moon charm, and she unclipped it to make it a bit larger before turning to reunite with the group.
They’d spread out up and down the road, some of them talking with the few Digimon in their gardens and others simply observing their surroundings. Anna was standing, Bunny in her arms, in front of a green pterosaur-like Digimon with large feathered wings, and Moxie made her way over to them, calling Pop over to hop back onto her shoulder.
Anna blinked as Moxie approached, her nose wrinkling almost like a rabbit’s, and the two Digimon with her followed her gaze. Moxie lifted a hand in greeting, mirrored by Pop.
“I got something for you,” Moxie said, holding the bracelet out. “I don’t know, I saw the moon and thought you’d like it.” Anna took it gently, examining it carefully, and then looked back up at Moxie.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling ever so faintly, but Moxie was observant, and she smiled back. Anna slipped the bracelet around her wrist, holding her arm up to look at it, and the moon charm glinted so brightly in the sunlight from above that for a moment Moxie thought it looked like a little star.
The green Digimon who they were standing next to dipped his head. “I was telling her that I don’t venture into the city often,” he said, gesturing toward Anna, “so I don’t know anything about a human who lives here. You’ll have better luck heading deeper into the city and asking the residents there.”
“Oh - thank you,” Moxie said, nodding once. Pop tapped the claws on her wings together, sort of half-bowing at the Digimon in appreciation.
The rest of the group had moved further up the road, and the four stragglers hurried to catch up. Damien in particular was hanging near the back of the line, Bumble hovering at his side, trying his best to look casual about it but so obviously waiting for Moxie and Pop that it was almost funny. When they finally reached him, he nodded surreptitiously and started walking again, heading straight for the front of the group, with Bumble following close behind.
Moxie watched them go, feeling an amused sort of smile creep onto her face, and she followed after him, shaking her head lightly.
The road wasn’t a straight shot into the city; they had to take turns and head down side streets every so often, but Damien led them, almost effortlessly, deeper into the city. Moxie knew the way too. Her feet carried her down roads that she hadn’t walked in eight months, and yet were all too familiar to her. This had been her home. In a sense, it still was - she still felt that tug at her heart as they passed houses and signposts and landmarks that she knew like the back of her hand.
Nothing had changed. This was the same city that had turned into her and her brother’s home away from home, a safe haven to escape to when their world became too much to bear. Each stone lining their path, each streetlight stretching high above their heads, each corner store they passed as they made their way through the city were just as they had been the last time she had been here eight months ago.
Hard to believe it’s only been eight months. Even harder to believe that it hasn’t actually been that long.
And yet, for the first time in a very long time, Moxie finally felt as if she was right where she needed to be.
She and Pop pointed out places they remembered - restaurants they used to frequent, shops they’d been to, the public library that Moxie used to spend so much time in trying to learn Digicode, the pottery place where she and Damien, thirteen years old at the time, had painted gifts for their parents’ anniversary.
…She didn’t like thinking about that, now.
But even aside from resurfacing thoughts and feelings, everyone - including Moxie - was feeling much better than they had in the past few weeks. Even when they’d been in Midnight City, another settlement large enough to give them some sense of safety and comfort, they hadn’t felt optimistic about it. But they were now.
The Catalyst had to be here.
“Hey!”
Moxie blinked, startled from her reverie by an unfamiliar voice calling out. She turned toward the source of the sound, seeing a humanoid Digimon waving its hands and several frayed tentacles to get the group’s attention. No - it was specifically looking at her and Pop, evident enough even without eyes.
“Moxie!” the Digimon called out, heading towards her with a spring in her step. “And Pop! Where’s your brother and his friend? I didn’t think I’d ever see you back here again! You’ve got a lot of new friends!”
Moxie squinted, taking a closer look at the Digimon as she came to a stop in front of her - she thought she looked a little familiar, but -
“Jellymon?” Pop said, a cross of awe and confusion in her voice. Moxie’s eyes widened.
Jellymon had been one of their neighbors in the small neighborhood they’d lived in. She’d been one of the first Digimon that Moxie and Damien had befriended, aside from their partners, and she’d always been fascinated by stories of the human world. She’d helped them sell their house and move out of File City when the time for that had come, and Moxie had thought she’d never see her again. But she’d also thought she’d never be back in File City again, so she wasn’t exactly the best judge for that.
But - Jellymon looked different now. Much taller. She didn’t have eyes anymore, covered up by the bell of the jellyfish on her head, from which long and short tentacles sprouted, looking almost like hair - she’d had that before, too, but she’d had eyes then. Her body was more proportionate, with more defined arms and legs, and she wore athletic shorts and big black boots.
She grinned at Pop, revealing sharp shark-like teeth, and placed her hands on her hips. “Not quite! I’m TeslaJellymon now - if you want to be official. I go by Tess these days!”
“Tess,” Moxie echoed, and Tess’ grin widened.
“I named myself like you named your friends. Where’s Damien and Bumble?”
“I’m here,” Damien said, suddenly appearing from behind Tess. Pop jumped slightly, but Tess remained calm, spinning on her heel to face him and Bumble.
The rest of the group had carried on their way somewhat; Moxie turned to keep an eye on them and saw a few of them talking to a nearby street vendor, while the others were scattered up and down the street. They didn’t seem to be in a rush - they wouldn’t be able to, anyways, what with not knowing where to go in the city.
Why not have a chat?
And so they did. Moxie and Pop took the lead in the conversation, with Damien and Bumble being as untalkative as usual, though the former chimed in every now and then with a few sarcastic comments, nothing out of the ordinary. Tess was curious as to why four had turned to eighteen, and Moxie practically blue-screened trying to think of an explanation until Damien swooped in.
“We’re looking for someone here on File Island,” he said, which didn’t really explain much, but Tess nodded in satisfaction anyway. “You seen another human around here?”
“Another human?” Tess frowned, and she crossed her arms. “Can’t say that I have, sorry. You and your little party are the only humans I’ve ever seen.”
Moxie tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her chest. She hadn’t expected much to begin with, but… but after all this time, after everything they’d been through - and they still couldn’t find who they were looking for?
It shouldn’t be this hard to find another human in the Digital World. Any Digimon they came across would be sure to remember them; any human would have a lasting enough impression on them, much less a human traveling with a Digimon partner (assuming they did have a partner…).
Why wouldn’t they be here in the city? Or any other city? That’s the safest place for them to be - are they purposefully avoiding other Digimon? What if they’re looking for us? What if they’re on the other side of the continent?
What if they’re -
Moxie shook her head. It wouldn’t do them any good to speculate about that possibility. They had to assume - they had to hope - that the Catalyst, whoever they might be, was still around, in every sense of the word.
“Someone else around here might know of them,” Tess said, bringing Moxie back to the present. “It’s a big city. But you already know that.” Moxie got the impression that if she could wink, she would have - instead, she settled for placing her hands on her hips. “Good luck finding ‘em.”
“Thanks,” Pop said, her voice sounding distant. Moxie absentmindedly reached a hand up to stroke her head, and similarly, Pop barely seemed to notice it.
Moxie bit her lip and looked over at Damien and Bumble. Her brother’s facial expression was the same as ever, practically unreadable, but she knew him too well. She knew he was feeling just as disappointed as she was. Maybe even a little frustrated. Bumble was harder to figure out, but she recognized a glimmer of defeat in his eyes. It was one that she knew well - one that she herself was prone to holding.
Resisting a sigh, she smiled at Tess, trying not to let her hopelessness show. “It’s been nice to catch up,” she said, and Tess practically beamed. “It’s really good to see you.”
“Likewise,” Tess said, then inclined her head toward the rest of the group, still dispersed up and down the street. “Tell your friends I said hi.” She paused, and then something on her face shifted, her smile growing warmer, more… solemn. “Whatever it is you’re here for, I know you’ll accomplish it. You always have.”
Tess was no stranger to the feeling Moxie had always had, that she and Damien had met their partners for a reason. They’d had a couple of in-depth conversations about it, back when they’d still been neighbors - it seemed so long ago.
Moxie had told her that she felt she and Pop were supposed to meet each other. That there was more to their connection than pure chance. It was something she’d always known - Pop and Bumble had told them that they had always felt like they were waiting for someone, and that Moxie and Damien were those someones - but hadn’t been able to rationalize past those feelings. Even the digivices didn’t mean much when they didn’t even know what they were for. They barely even knew why they had them, or why they existed in the first place. Sure, they were connected to their partners, but - why?
And with everything the Aegiochusmon had said… god, that wasn’t that long ago, either, was it. In the grand scheme of things, it was practically yesterday. It surely felt like it.
We might not ever find out why we were chosen. Or if we even were chosen. I know it doesn’t really matter. I know that our partnerships and the digivices are good enough on their own. That’s all we really need.
But…
But Tess was right. They’d get whatever they needed to do done. No matter whether they were chosen or not, or if they were supposed to be part of this at all. Because they’d made that choice for themselves.
Something about choosing our own destiny. Something about “fuck you, I’m doing this anyway”. Because it’s what we need to do.
(For some reason, Moxie got the very distinct feeling that she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.)
“We will,” she said to Tess, feeling like she really meant it, and that was progress. Tess smiled.
The group continued through the city. With Tess’ lack of knowledge about any nearby humans, it seemed unlikely that any other Digimon would have seen or heard of them, either - Tess was, after all, very attuned to the goings-on of the city around them. This did not deter the group (mostly Damien, really) from asking any Digimon who was willing to talk to them if they were aware of the existence of another human nearby.
None of them were.
They got lunch to go from a nearby sandwich shop, one of Pop’s favorites. Moxie didn’t recognize any of the worker Digimon - probably had a change of staff since they were last there. Still, the food was as tasty as ever, which was some form of relief. Some normalcy, some familiarity, in this city that was the same as it had been the last time she was here, and yet was different in such quiet unsettling ways, was better than nothing. It helped a little bit.
They didn’t want to cram into the few booths and tables in the deli, so they took their food and set out again, eating as they went. There wasn’t any point in stopping entirely - there wasn’t anywhere nearby to sit, and, well…
Moxie knew where they were. Of course she did. She’d known as soon as she’d recognized the deli they’d stopped at. They were just a few blocks away from…
It explained the uneasy feeling she’d had in her gut since they’d reached this region of the city.
And yet, even despite that, they weren’t going to just turn around. They had to see it. Had to make sure that it was still there.
Really don’t like thinking about that, either.
As they walked, eating their sandwiches and speaking sparsely to each other, just trying to fill the space with casual talk, Moxie and Pop and Damien and Bumble led the way, heading down streets they’d walked a hundred times and could practically navigate in their sleep. It felt almost like coming home, really, even though Moxie knew it was anything but.
And so, when they finally turned down the last street and reached the house just on the opposite corner, it took all of Moxie’s strength not to walk up to the door and open it and head inside like she had so many times before.
All she could do was stand in front of it, arms folded around her chest, biting the inside of her mouth to keep from saying anything.
Eight months. It’s been eight months since we’ve been here and it still feels like yesterday.
This was it. This was their - well. Not their home. Not anymore. It had been once, a long time ago, but now it belonged to a stranger.
It was as small as ever. They’d never needed anything larger - two bedrooms, one bathroom, a minimal kitchen and living room. The stucco walls, once pale green (Damien’s decision), had been painted over with tannish brown, almost the same color as Moxie’s own skin. The lawn looked like it hadn’t been taken care of in months. Moxie clenched her fists.
It was everything and nothing like she remembered, and she hated looking at it, but she couldn’t take her eyes off it.
“Was this your house?”
Moxie didn’t look over at Harmony, simply nodded her head silently. On her shoulder, Pop’s claws tightened, just barely pricking Moxie’s skin through her shirt collar.
“We sold it when we moved,” Pop said. “I don’t know to who. We never met them.”
“Why did you move in the first place?” Flip asked.
None of them answered for a moment. Moxie knew that not answering was much more suspicious, much more of a dead giveaway - but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. She couldn’t form words in her mouth; her tongue felt like lead. She half expected Pop to pick up the reins again, say something simple like “it wasn’t the right home for us” or any of the other excuses she usually came up with.
But it was Damien who spoke next - and Moxie wasn’t sure whether that fact or his actual words were more of a surprise.
“We came to the Digital World for a reason,” he said, his voice quieter than usual but unwavering. “To escape the real world. Our world.” He paused, casting his gaze down to his feet. “We didn’t want someone entering the way we did and being able to find us, so we ran away.”
“That’s -” Moxie started, almost unaware she was speaking, but she snapped her mouth shut the moment she realized. Damien was still staring at the house, making no move. He didn’t speak again.
He’s never said anything like that out loud. Not even to me.
She knew, of course, why they had run away. She knew why they had fled the only home they had ever known in this world.
And I would never be able to admit it out loud. I thought he would be even less likely to…
Change of heart? But why would he…
“You didn’t even know where you’d end up, though,” Harmony said then. “Right?”
Moxie shook her head slowly. “No. But we had to do it.”
And it had all been for nothing.
They’d fled their home out of fear of something that couldn’t have even happened. Nobody could have come to the Digital World to find them because nobody had even realized they were missing yet. How long had it been by this point? Maybe three hours? That still wouldn’t have been enough time for anyone to realize they were missing. Nobody else was home. Nobody would be coming back home after what had happened, or not for a few more hours, at least. They’d already been told about it, and the officers had more important things to attend to anyway, like -
Everything was coming rushing back to her, in a tidal wave of half-buried memories. Eight months. It had been eight months and she’d already somehow blocked it all out, but now it was coming back, and right here of all places, in front of her old home, the home that wasn’t hers anymore and never would be again, in front of a group of people who didn’t even know why she’d really run away.
And it never even mattered.
“Hey,” she heard Damien say softly, and she closed her eyes, not even daring to look over at him. I don’t need to see his face right now. I don’t need him to see mine.
This is all too fucking much. I just want to go home. Back to our world. I want to go home and have it feel like home. I want to go home and see them there with me! But I can’t! Because they’re - and I’ll never - they’ll -
Damien’s hand closed around hers, and she took a slow, shaking breath in, her eyes still shut. She could sense and hear the others, around them, moving away, and then she felt Damien tug at her hand gently.
She opened her eyes and looked at him, and he stared back. He wasn’t smiling, but there was something… kinder than usual in his eyes. He inclined his head toward the group, starting down the street; at his side, Bumble’s antenna twitched, and Pop leaned her own head against Moxie’s for a moment.
“You ready?” Damien asked. He didn’t move while he waited for her answer, even despite the rest of the group getting farther and farther down the road. He just looked at Moxie, waiting for her answer - waiting for her to tell him it was okay. That she was okay.
She wasn’t, and she didn’t think she would be for a very long time. But she couldn’t worry about that right now. She had to keep going. Just a little bit further. She’d be able to rest soon, she knew. She had to hope.
With one more glance over her shoulder at her old home, she nodded, and she and her brother and their partners turned to follow their friends.
The next part of their journey through the city was significantly more solemn than before. Even those who didn’t have any connection to it, or the house they had stopped at, could sense a shift in energy. Moxie hadn’t wanted this - it was actually one of the last things she would have ever liked to happen - but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. The group was quieter, talking slightly less amongst themselves and to the townsfolk they passed; they could all tell that something was different now, even if not all of them knew exactly what it was.
Maybe it was the quite literal change in the weather.
Moxie hadn’t noticed it - she’d been too busy staring at a stranger’s house - but while they’d been stopped, gray clouds had rolled in, blotting out the bright blue of the sky. They were thick and heavy with rain, threatening a coming storm, and yet no drops fell. It was a small blessing, but likely one that wouldn’t last long.
Eventually they reached a more familiar section of downtown, and Bumble made a beeline (haha) straight for a very particular restaurant - one of his favorites, and one that the four of them had dined at more times than Moxie could keep track of. It was a small diner on the corner of one of the main streets, with just enough room inside to fit the entire group, pushing some of the tables next to each other so they could all sit down together.
The Shortmon chef that Bumble had befriended years ago was still working there, and came out to say hello and catch up a little bit. Moxie stayed silent throughout the ordeal, but she smiled and nodded when addressed. She was glad, at least, that not everything about File City had changed. Even one familiar face was enough to ease a few of her worries. Not all of them, but it was better than nothing.
“I think we need to have an important conversation,” Damien said after they had all ordered, and for a moment Moxie’s heart stilled completely in her chest. Surely he wasn’t going to -?
He wasn’t. He looked around at the group and then sighed, propping his chin up with a fist. “If the Catalyst isn’t here… we need a plan of action.”
Subconsciously, Moxie’s eyes drifted to Ezra, sitting between Anna and Ember. He was focused on Damien, his own hands folded in front of him on the table, and didn’t seem aware of the fact that several of those gathered had actually turned to look at him - or if he was, he was doing a remarkable job of pretending he didn’t notice.
Moxie furrowed her brow and turned back to Damien.
“We have a few options,” he said, looking down at the surface of the table as he spoke. He didn’t sound nearly as confident as he usually did. It seemed like he was speaking the words as they came to him - something quite rare for him indeed. Moxie’s frown deepened. “We can go around File Island again, like we’ve discussed previously. We’d check locations that we skipped on our way here. The southern coastline. Deeper into Below Zero. Infinity Highlands. Maybe even Infinity Mountain itself.” He shrugged, and Moxie could tell he was pausing because he was struggling to find and form words. “There is another human here on File Island. We know that much. And we know we need to find them. But… the other option is to stay here, in File City.”
“What do you mean?” Ember asked, his nose wrinkling as he tilted his head at Damien. “Why would we stay here?”
“It’s… what’s safest,” he said. “We’ll be safer here in File City. We won’t have to walk every day. No struggling to find food or shelter. If any manic Digimon come looking for us, we’ll have the protection of the city, if it comes down to it.”
“Never thought I’d hear you suggest staying put,” Ren muttered, crossing her arms. Her ears flicked back, pinned against her skull, and she narrowed her eyes at Damien - but he didn’t reply. Ren blinked, looking confused, as if she’d expected him to snap back, to tell her off, to do something more like himself. But he didn’t.
He just shrugged again. “It’s safest,” he echoed. “The Catalyst might come looking for us. File City’s the largest settlement on File Island. It would make sense for them to end up here eventually.”
“Not really,” Dare said. “They might go to Factorial Town or Midnight City. Maybe they are a raging partygoer.”
“Yeah, what if they don’t come here?” Ezra said, crossing his arms across the tabletop. “Like, ever? At all?”
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t,” Damien said, his tone growing defensive, and even despite the rough edges, Moxie was glad that he was acting slightly more like himself again. “I told you. File City’s the biggest and oldest settlement. It’s named after the continent. We assumed they’d be here because it’s a major city. They’ll probably assume the same about us.”
“They might not know we’re in the Digital World at all,” Azure pointed out.
“Would you rather spend another month and a half traversing this stupid fucking continent?” Damien snapped, then instantly closed his eyes and mouth. He inhaled sharply and shook his head out. “We don’t have to stay here. It’s just an option. I don’t think I’ll be breaking anybody’s hearts when I say that going around again won’t be fun. It’ll be the same as last time. Maybe even worse.” He looked down at the surface of the table, clenching his hands into fists. In the seat next to him, Bumble’s antenna twitched, and he leaned closer to him.
Moxie cast her gaze downward as well. It took a while for someone to break the silence, to figure out what to say and how to say it.
“Do we have any other options?” Harmony asked. Her voice wasn’t hopeful. It was more resigned than anything else. She clearly already knew the answer.
“Not really,” Damien said. “I mean, if anyone else has any ideas, I’d be glad to hear them, but it seems like these are our only options.”
Anna frowned. “Isn’t staying here just giving up?”
“…Depends on how you look at it,” Damien mumbled.
The conversation was halted by the arrival of their food. No one wanted to talk about it while they were being served, and even after the waiters left, no one wanted to be the one to pick it back up. They ate in relative silence, trying to make small talk here and there, but they were each lost in their own thoughts. It gave them time to go over the options - to figure out what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go from here, or if they’d go anywhere at all. They could, after all, just stay here.
Moxie had to admit that it was… tempting.
As keen as she’d been on the idea of going around the continent again just a few days ago, she couldn’t say she felt the same now. She’d been operating under the assumption that the Catalyst would be in File City and they wouldn’t actually have to go around again. It was a hypothetical - something that wouldn’t actually happen, because of course it wouldn’t. They’d get to File City, find the Catalyst, and then… and then what? They’d know what to do next? They’d have any sort of idea as to what they needed to do? They’d find the archangel and defeat him and save the world, just like that?
Even when (if) they found the Catalyst, it wasn’t guaranteed that they’d immediately know what they’d need to do next. Piximon hadn’t said anything about that. He’d just told them to find the Catalyst, that they’d be some sort of guide to them - but that could mean anything. Guide them where? How? Would it help them find the archangel? Would it tell them what to do and where to go? Would it tell them how they were supposed to save the world?
And even if they did know what to do next, where to go and how to save the world - who was to say that they would even be able to do it? Asuramon and Piximon, and Dollie and Cam - hell, even Tess, just earlier that day - they’d all been so confident that they’d be able to do it, but why? They were just kids. If they didn’t know what they needed to do, how could they be sure that they could even do it?
What if this was all for nothing?
Not just coming to File City. Everything. What if leaving their home on the mesa was for nothing? Traveling to the volcano and Central Forest and File Island? Going around the whole continent looking for a human who didn’t want to be found? Everything they’d been through, everything they had yet to go through… what if it was all for nothing?
If we never find the Catalyst, then what? What next?
“I don’t think we have to make a decision right now,” she said, startling herself not just with her words but also with the fact that she was speaking at all. She’d held her tongue while Damien had been talking, unsure of what to say or add that wouldn’t just make it worse.
But she pressed on anyway, as soon as she had the words to do so. “I mean… if we do set out again, we’ll need to prepare for it. So we don’t need to make that decision right now. Or even today. We can give it a few days. Figure out… what the best course of action would be.” She shrugged, staring down at her plate, refusing to meet anyone’s gazes. Pop placed a wing over her arm.
“…That sounds good,” Alex said, and Moxie breathed an inward sigh of relief. “Gives us some time to come up with a plan. Weigh all the pros and cons. You know?”
Yeah. They did know.
They didn’t say anything else about it for the rest of their meal. They found that conversation came a little bit easier, now that they’d agreed to put a hold on it. They’d deal with it later, when they were all in a better space - physically and mentally - to discuss and decide.
It didn’t mean they weren’t thinking about it, though. They all were.
When they finished eating, the others wordlessly let Damien and Moxie and their partners take the lead. She couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious about it, about the fact that they were all placing their trust in her, even despite everything that had happened, both earlier and more recently.
They didn’t bother talking to any of the Digimon they passed. They knew what the answer would be - “no, sorry, haven’t heard of a human or anyone called a Catalyst recently” - and they didn’t want to hear it out loud. Not any more than they already had.
Because then they could just deny it, right? They could pretend that the Catalyst actually was here in the city. Sure, nobody had said that they were, but they also hadn’t said they weren’t, so…?
…It was better than facing the truth.
But everyone still had too much on their minds. Even if they weren’t going to properly discuss it, even if they weren’t going to make a decision just yet, they had to talk about it. About it, and the Catalyst, and everything else weighing on their minds. They needed to sit and talk and take a real, proper break for the first time since they’d woken up that morning.
Hell of a day.
It didn’t take long to find a garden just off one of the side roads they turned down. A fountain sat in the center of a gravel circle, three paths breaking off and leading deeper into the garden. Planted flowers blooming in pink, purple, and white sprouted up beside the paths and in the corners of the fountain circle, some more peculiar and digitally-unique than others. Benches lined the paths and the circle, enough for the entire group to sit down.
But they didn’t sit down immediately. As they approached, they noticed a metal plaque, embossed with gold print, on the front of the fountain. It was too small to read from the distance they were at, so they crept closer, slowing their pace as they inspected the fountain.
Moxie had never been on this side of town - they’d traveled quite some ways from the restaurant. She’d never seen this fountain in her life. She didn’t think she’d ever heard anyone talk about it.
Probably for good reason.
The Digicode was hard to read, worn down through the years, moss and dirt eroding the text, but Moxie was able to make out a few key words. “In memory.” “September.” “Made this world her home.”
“Angela.”
…Well, if “September” hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, that pretty much confirmed it.
“A human?” Bunny asked from behind her, and Moxie frowned.
The plaque was burnished and weathered, nearly illegible - it couldn’t have been constructed recently. Even at just a glance, it was clear to see that it had been some time. Life did not decay in the Digital World, but it didn’t grow any faster than it did in the human world - for this much moss to be covering it, it must have been here for many years. Whoever Angela was, she had died a long time ago.
Somehow, that wasn’t much comfort.
A small shuffling sounded on the gravel pathway off to the side, and Moxie turned toward it.
It was a small brown rabbit, with two enormously long ears trailing behind it, each tipped in pink to match its paws and the marking around its neck. Three tiny horns emerged from its head, and it blinked up at Moxie with big, dark brown eyes.
“I didn’t think I’d see humans here,” it - she - said, her voice light and gentle, almost soothing.
Moxie knelt down to be eye level with the Digimon, and Pop hopped off her shoulder. Around them, the others spread out, some sitting down on the benches, some listening to the little Digimon, some continuing to observe the fountain.
Moxie didn’t want to look at it anymore, so she turned her attention to the Digimon - a Lopmon, she remembered.
“What is this place?” Pop asked, holding her claws close to her chest. Lopmon blinked at her, then looked up at the fountain beyond her.
“Unity Garden,” she said, her voice still quiet. “It’s a memorial for a human who lived here once.” She paused, looking around at the humans gathered around her. “Is that why you’re here?”
“Not really,” Moxie admitted after a moment. One of Lopmon’s ears twitched, but she didn’t react otherwise. “We’re here looking for another human. I don’t think they’re in the city, though.”
Lopmon shook her head, and Moxie tried to ignore the arrow of ice that pierced her heart. She knew it was true. She knew the Catalyst wasn’t in the city. And yet she still held onto hope, and even though Lopmon was saying they weren’t here, she still had to hope. For herself. For everyone.
“I take care of the garden,” Lopmon continued, gesturing at the flowers around the gravel pathway. A faint smile graced her lips for a split second. “I don’t know why. I just always have. No one else does it. It’s the least I can do.”
“Do you know who Angela was?” Anna asked, knelt on the ground next to Lopmon, Bunny held tightly in her arms.
Lopmon was silent for a few moments, looking down at her paws as if thinking. Her brow furrowed, and a frown tugged at her mouth. “No,” she said eventually. She didn’t sound entirely sure of herself. “She died many years ago. It was long before my time.”
That also wasn’t an answer to Anna’s question. She’d answered it as if Anna’s question had been “did you know Angela personally”. Moxie didn’t think it was intentional, but… If she doesn’t know Angela, why does she feel so compelled to take care of the garden?
Angela had to be one of the humans from the past. It was the only possible answer - the only one that didn’t complicate things even further. She must have been here in the Digital World years ago, with a partner, working to save the world from… something. Someone.
What was it Asuramon had said? They’d had to make sacrifices. Was Angela one of those sacrifices?
…What other explanation was there?
Moxie breathed deeply, trying to bring herself back to the present. It wouldn’t do her any good to spiral down with those thoughts. She looked at Lopmon, who was… looking at her curiously. She blinked, and Lopmon looked away, over at the rest of the group.
“Did you know this used to be the Holy Domain?” Lopmon said, and it took Moxie a moment to realize she was talking about File City. “A very long time ago. The Archangels presided over the land and the Digimon who lived here.”
Moxie’s brows drew together. This sounded… familiar, but in a distant sort of way, like she’d learned it in a dream rather than read it in a history book. She knew she’d heard this before, but she couldn’t place where.
Lopmon didn’t seem to notice her uncertainty. She carried on almost unbidden. It was like she’d forgotten they were even here. “There were humans here a long time ago. They served the Archangels. After the war, File City was built on the Holy Domain to provide refuge to those seeking safety and shelter.” She inclined her head toward the fountain, her eyes trailing over the words on the plaque for a brief moment before falling to her feet. “Unity Garden was built to honor one of the humans who didn’t return to their world.”
There were a number of things she could mean by that, and Moxie didn’t miss any of them.
But whatever it was - whatever the truth behind Angela was, whoever she’d been - she wasn’t around anymore. She wasn’t their Catalyst.
And whoever was was nowhere to be found.
“That’s all I know,” Lopmon said, her voice returning to its gentle comfort. Moxie hadn’t even noticed that her tone had become somewhat detached, as if she were reciting words that she’d memorized from something. She may have been.
“I hope you find who you’re looking for,” she said, smiling up at Moxie. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be much help.”
“It’s okay,” Moxie said, and she meant it. It was okay. Lopmon had… given her a lot to think about. “Thank you anyways.”
The rabbit nodded and turned away, heading back down the path she’d appeared from, deeper into the garden. Moxie sighed quietly and straightened back up, sitting down on one of the benches pressed up against the fountain. Pop hopped up into her lap and Moxie lifted a hand to absentmindedly stroke her head.
The Holy Domain… for some reason, Moxie couldn’t place where she’d heard that before. She knew she had, she knew she’d heard of it before - but try as she might, as hard as she tried to remember where, nothing came up. That was… unsettling. She didn’t usually have a bad memory when it came to things like that. She was sure that she would have remembered where she’d heard it, especially if it was regarding File City’s past.
“Had you heard any of that before?” she asked Pop quietly, and Pop hesitated before nodding slowly.
“I think so,” she said, speaking in the same hushed tone. “I don’t really… think about it often, though. It was so long ago.” She looked down at her claws, then clenched them. “I don’t think anybody living in File City was alive back then. I don’t know how that Lopmon knew.”
“She said ‘one of the humans who didn’t return’,” Moxie said. “Do you think there were others, then?”
Pop was silent for a moment, then sighed, her wings drooping. “…I don’t really want to think about that,” she admitted, and Moxie raised her gaze skyward.
The clouds had gotten darker and heavier, obscuring the setting sun and any light it may have cast entirely, and the air around them had grown colder, but no rain had fallen yet. It was strange, really - rainstorms weren’t uncommon in File City, and Moxie would have expected at least a drizzle by now, considering the state of the sky. It felt almost like the storm was biding its time.
It cast a peculiar parallel to Ren’s earlier words.
“Moxie?”
She looked down at Pop, fidgeting with her claws, and she tilted her head. “What is it?”
Pop hesitated before going on, as if searching for words - or for what she was even going to say. “…I don’t know if I can do it again.”
Moxie’s heart fell in her chest. “What do you mean?”
But she knew what she meant. She was talking about going around the continent again. To look for the Catalyst - a human who might not even know they existed.
And, even worse, Moxie knew where she was coming from.
“We’ve been here for over a month,” Pop said, her shoulders hunching. “We’re not… any closer to finding the Catalyst than we were before we came here. Or even knowing who they are. We’ve traveled the entire continent and found no trace of them. It’s like… it’s like they don’t even exist. We’ve been through all of this, and yet…” She shook her head, losing steam and trailing off. “…Sometimes I wonder if it’s even worth it to keep going.”
Mm.
Moxie didn’t answer. She couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t boil down to “you’re completely correct and I am also wondering that same exact thing”. That… wasn’t what Pop was looking for right now. But what was she looking for? Comfort? Reassurance? Motivation?
…She wasn’t sure.
“But I know it is,” Pop said, and Moxie blinked, looking down at her again. Pop turned to look up at the sky, facing the rolling clouds and closing her eyes. “Because… this is what we signed up for. We agreed to this. We said that no matter what it took, we’d go through with it.”
“I’m starting to wonder if we made the right choice,” Moxie said, smiling thinly and humorlessly. Pop returned it in kind, then shook her head again.
“Even if we did, we have to go through with this,” she said quietly. “Nobody else got a choice in the matter. We did. We agreed to do this, because… because it’s the right thing to do. And because…”
She looked out at the rest of the group, scattered across the garden; some with each other, some with only their partners. Those who were speaking spoke quietly, in hushed tones that Moxie couldn’t make out. The ones who weren’t simply sat in silence, some with their eyes closed and others looking at the fountain. At the plaque.
Her own eyes trailed toward it and she bit her lip.
“I can’t let them do this on their own,” Pop went on, and Moxie closed her eyes. “They have each other, yes, but… if we’re able to help them, to do this with them… I think we should.” She smiled in a dryly ironic sort of way, glancing up at Moxie. “And we’ve waited long enough to do something with the gift we’ve been given. Even if it takes another month, or two, or three, or however long… I’m going to stick to it, because that’s what I’ve always done, and it’s what you’ve always done. No backing down. No giving up.”
No giving up.
“Isn’t staying here just giving up?”
…They had to keep looking. They had to keep going. They’d come this far; they couldn’t give up now. Maybe they weren’t any closer to finding the Catalyst than they were a month ago, but… but it was also possible that they were. And that was enough for them to do this - because it was what they needed to do.
No matter what it took, they had to do it. After all we’ve been through, we need to see it through till the end.
“I think we should keep going,” Moxie said slowly, and Pop smiled, relief washing over her face. “You’re right. We can’t give up when we’ve come this far. Even if we don’t find the Catalyst…” She trailed off, folding her hands together and looking up at the sky. “We’ll find a way. Just like we always have.”
Pop nodded, but did not speak, and the two of them fell into silence. The clouds above had grown heavier, darker; if it was going to rain, it would have happened already. She’d never seen this sort of weather before. Some sort of digital anomaly, perhaps.
Eventually Pop straightened herself out, and Moxie subconsciously copied her, squaring her shoulders. Pop smiled up at her, her golden eyes practically glowing even in the darkness of the rapidly approaching night.
“There’s a reason we met, you know,” she said, and Moxie almost melted. “I don’t know what it is. I don’t know why fate led us together. But I’m glad it did, and I’m glad we’re getting to do something with it.”
And that was exactly it. That was exactly what was pulling at Moxie’s heart and mind and making her wonder if she had made the right decision all those weeks ago back in Hallowed Hall. She didn’t know then what she was getting herself into. She didn’t know what there was to come.
But she’d made her choice anyway, because it was the right thing to do - because it was what she needed to do.
It had been too long since they - all of them - had been able to sit together like this, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was almost comforting, really - through some twisted combination of fate and choice, they had all ended up here, together, in this moment in time and space. They were all here for the same reason. Whether they’d made the choice or not, they were all here.
And even those who hadn’t gotten a choice in the matter… they could have backed out at any time. Nothing would have been stopping them from backing out, from taking their partners and either finding a new home in the Digital World away from all the manic Digimon or trying to find a way back to their world. But they didn’t - they’d stuck with it and kept going, even when they didn’t want to, even when every rational thought in their heads was telling them to turn and run and never look back.
They’d all made their choices. They would see this through to the end.
In the distance, outside the city, a low rumbling noise began. It started quiet, seeming as if it was coming from much further away than it likely was, but it quickly grew in volume, practically shaking the ground below their feet. Around them, the air distorted, feeling almost constricting for a moment, forcing the air out of their lungs - like there had been a shift in the very fabric of reality.
Moxie choked out a breath and lifted her head to look out into the sky. Far beyond the edge of the city, a crack of light flashed against the backdrop of pitch black clouds. It was small (from their position), and not very bright, but if they were able to see it from where they were…
For some reason, Moxie didn’t think that it - the sound and the light - the disturbance - was thunder or lightning, and she knew the others didn’t either.
The group looked around at each other, worry and resignation etched onto all of their faces. Wordlessly, they each rose to their feet and started toward the edge of the city, having no idea what it was but knowing they needed to deal with it anyway.