EPISODE 36 - WHERE IS YOUR MIND
“We need to talk.”
It was almost noon. The sun was high in the sky, bathing the poolyard in warm rays that most of the group was currently trying to escape by hiding underneath umbrellas. Azure placed both of their hands on one of the tables and leaned forward, staring intently at Quinn.
She raised an eyebrow. “…About?”
“Everything,” they said, beginning to count off on their fingers. “What we know, and what we don’t, and how to find out what we don’t. We can’t just keep running around the city like vigilantes without a clue as to what we’re waiting for or when it’ll arrive.”
It had been bothering them for the past couple days, ever since they’d arrived in this world, ever since Quinn had told them not to use their phones. They understood it, really. They knew why she had been so adamant about it; they would have even if they hadn’t seen the look on her face or heard the strange inflection in her tone. But it was bothering them to no end, because their phone held their document, the one filled with notes and observations about everything they had seen and heard and been through. Their memory was sharp, yes, but not perfect, and they’d been relying so heavily on it over the past few weeks that now they felt almost vulnerable.
Right now, everyone was at the motel - a rare occurrence, really. Usually someone would be out on the town, investigating any damages and seeing if there was any word on the streets of the monsters that had been showing up to fight and then disappear entirely. Today, though, they’d all stuck around, and Azure was taking the chance to hold an impromptu meeting of sorts.
Slowly the scattered group came to sit around the tables that they’d deemed to be theirs, simply because it seemed like there wasn’t anyone else staying at this motel, or if there was, they never came out to the pool area. It was a blessing. Ko looked up at Azure from his perch on their shoulder, tilting his head slightly, and they patted him lightly before turning back to Quinn.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” they said. “But we need to figure it out soon. What do you know about the past humans?”
Quinn sucked a breath in, looking suddenly like she’d rather be anywhere else. “Not much. Macy - Reagan’s mom - one of the kids from back then - doesn’t like to talk about what happened. She used to tell Reagan stories about the Digital World when she was younger, but Reagan always thought they were made up, until…” She trailed off, looking down at Alpha, hiding under the table.
Azure frowned. “Until what?”
Quinn bit her lip, then sighed, crossing her arms. She hesitated a few seconds before responding, as if searching for the right words or considering whether to say anything at all. “…Reagan has a Digimon partner.”
A stunned silence fell over the group. Azure was not exempt from it. Quinn cringed under the weight of eighteen pairs of eyes, but did not speak. Nobody else did, either. Nobody really knew what to say.
“What?” Alex finally said, his voice cracking slightly. “We have another?”
“No,” Quinn said immediately, shaking her head. “Reagan’s always stayed out of… these things. I think part of it is worry from her mother. Macy’s been through a lot, and she doesn’t want Reagan to go through it. And I don’t think Reagan wants to, either. So it’s always been just Alpha and I.” She sighed again, resting her eyes on her partner once more. “All that I’ve managed to learn from Macy is that her group was summoned to the Digital World about twenty years ago. They were supposed to fight against a group of Digimon trying to control the Digital World. They won, but… four of their partners died. As did two of the humans. Which I’m sure you all know already.” She smiled humorlessly, sadly. “I don’t know any of the other surviving humans. I don’t know which of the remaining Digimon could have turned into Plutomon. I’m afraid I’m as in the dark as the rest of you.”
“That’s alright,” Moxie said softly. “I… might have something, though. When we were in File City, there was a Digimon in the garden with Angela’s memorial. She told me that a long time ago, the city used to be ruled by the Archangels, and that a group of humans served them. And considering that we called Plutomon an archangel before we met him…” She sighed, tapping her nails against the surface of the table. “I don’t know. I guess I was just wondering if you or Macy knew about the Archangels.”
Azure frowned. They hadn’t heard anything about this - they must have been elsewhere in the garden at the time. They supposed it made sense that Moxie hadn’t told anyone else, considering that not even ten minutes after arriving in the garden, Plutomon had shown up, and then everything else following that had happened - but this was vital information, they felt. Well, at least they knew now…? They bit back a sigh as they looked to Quinn to see what her answer would be.
“Macy hasn’t said anything about any archangels,” Quinn said, and Azure and Moxie both deflated somewhat. “It’s possible that she didn’t think it was important enough to tell me, but it’s equally possible that she just doesn’t remember. Like I said, she’s blocked a lot of it out, and even what she does remember, she doesn’t like talking about.”
“It’s been a really long time since the Archangels were around,” Dare suddenly piped up, sitting on the ground next to Ryan’s chair, and Azure peeked over at her. “Like, decades at this point. I don’t think anyone alive these days even cares about them anymore. They just disappeared one day and were never seen again.”
“You said they were ‘horrible and awful’,” Ryan said, arching an eyebrow down at her, and she nodded vigorously.
“And I stand by that. The only good thing they ever did was disappear.”
“This was decades ago, right?” Castor asked, squinting at her slightly. “You didn’t see this firsthand, did you?”
She shook her head. “No, but I’ve heard and read about it, and I’ve decided I hate them anyways.”
“But you weren’t even alive back then.”
“Do you need to have been alive in a time period to hate the people from that time?”
Castor opened and closed his mouth a few times, then frowned. “…I guess not.”
“We’re getting off track,” Azure said, looking pointedly at Dare. “How long have you known this?”
Dare frowned, tapping her paws together while she thought. “Pretty much my whole life, I think? I was told a lot of stories when I was growing up, in the Primary Village I lived in.”
Azure stared at her. “You knew this all along?”
“…Yeah?”
“And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“I didn’t think it was relevant!”
Azure groaned and threw their hands in the air. “Dare, we’ve been callin’ him an archangel for two months!”
“You didn’t start calling him an archangel because of any of this!” Dare shot back. “We didn’t even know until literally just now that the Archangels had anything to do with the past humans!”
“You’re getting off track again,” Alpha said, from still underneath the table. He’d been listening along, but hadn’t said anything until now; Azure cast a glance down at him and then sighed through their nose, crossing their arms.
Dare continued in the silence that ensued. “Also, most of the texts relating to them have either been lost or destroyed, and these days they’re nowhere near as important as they were when they were around, so I didn’t think it would matter. Now that I do know that Plutomon has some connection to them, I figured it was important enough to mention.”
“But that’s just it, isn’t it?” Harmony spoke up, and all eyes were on her. “Plutomon hated it when we called him an archangel. So if what Lopmon said is true, and if Dare is right that they were awful… then Plutomon would’ve served under them, right? With his partner? And that would explain why he hates them, if they really were that bad.”
“That seems the most likely,” Azure said with a nod. “Quinn, do you think you could try to talk to Macy and see if she knows anything about the Archangels? If she and her group really did work with them, she’d probably remember something about them, yeah?”
“I’ll try,” Quinn said, but she didn’t seem very convinced, evidenced even further when she spoke again. “I… don’t really like having to talk to her about this stuff. It’s kinda weird to ask someone to relay their trauma to you.”
“I think this is important enough where she can deal with it,” Damien said, leaning back in his seat with his arms folded. Azure looked over at him, frowning. His sunglasses were pulled down over his face, so they couldn’t read his eyes, but he looked as flippant as he’d sounded.
“Regardless,” Quinn continued, visibly uncomfortable, “I’m not really expecting anything. I’ll try my best, but…” She trailed off, looking down at her feet, then straightened up and smiled. “Well. At the very least we have a little bit more information than we did before, right?”
“Yeah, but,” Ezra said, crossing his arms as well. “Even with this new info, that the Archangels were the ones to lead the past humans, we still don’t know what Plutomon’s deal is. We don’t even know what the Archangels were leading them for or why he hates hearing about them so much.”
“It could be that he hates the Archangels for being ‘horrible and awful’, as Dare so masterfully put it,” Ko said, shuffling around on Azure’s shoulder. “Still, his reaction to being called an Archangel… it’s definitely a big hole in our knowledge base.” He sighed. “But we’re not going to get anywhere by continuing to theorize about something we don’t have enough information to determine.”
Azure nodded. The Archangel issue had to be put on the back burner for now. Right now, they had other things to compare notes about, to discuss, to focus on. A more pertinently focused air settled over the group as they began to go over what they knew and what they didn’t, and as Azure laid out the timeline thus far.
Twenty years ago, another group of humans had arrived in the Digital World and partnered with Digimon, one of whom was (had been?) Plutomon. The Archangels, whoever they were, had led them; they were, perhaps, not very good leaders. Whatever it was they had been trying to accomplish, they succeeded, but at a great cost - half of their group had died. (Azure thought back to Asuramon’s comment, about how they’d had to make “sacrifices”.) At some unknown points afterward, the Archangels had disappeared and Plutomon had been “corrupted”, so to speak, and risen to power.
Then, the current group had arrived in the Digital World, discovered what was going on, and figured out they needed to stop it. They had learned that Plutomon was able to control Digimon from afar through the use of something (presumably whatever that glowing orb he had held to Bunny’s chest had been). Plutomon and his followers had been trying to kill the group, insisting that they didn’t really know what partnership was, and that they were all going to die eventually. Now, they were in the real world, waiting for Plutomon to appear again - or for something else of that caliber to happen.
But it was not this last point that Azure was focused on. No, it was the second to last point - that Plutomon had continually insisted that they were all going to die. The way he and the manic Digimon had been saying it hadn’t sounded, to Azure at least, like they were simply being overconfident in their abilities to kill the group. Yes, at times the manic Digimon were overconfident, but Plutomon hadn’t been. Now that they thought about it, he had been… very down-to-earth, all things considered. He’d spoken simply and without decoration, stating that - what was it he had said? That they were going to die, and that he wasn’t a liar. Quinn, too, had said he wasn’t a liar.
But… how did he know that? Of course they were all going to die one day - they were mortal. But Plutomon had said it as if he knew how they were going to die. He’d said, also, that he knew how he himself was going to die.
That was the last time they’d spoken to him. The last time they’d seen him. He hadn’t appeared since; either he was in hiding here in the real world, or he had gone back to the Digital World. It wasn’t outlandish to assume the latter was possible - if he could open a portal here to the real world, he could surely open one back to the Digital World. Quinn had said she was afraid he’d lured them there, but… he had been here, at some point. They had seen him walk through the portal and undo the time dilation.
He was going to be back, Azure knew. They didn’t know how they knew - they just did.
For now, all they could do was wait. Wait for him to appear, and wait to figure out just what, exactly, he wanted - with them, and with the world.
They wrapped up their discussion after another half hour or so of going over what they knew thus far. Azure had asked Quinn if they could turn their phone on - with cellular and location off, of course - to go over their document, and she’d considered it, but had ultimately said no. She told them that when they talked next, after she’d spoken to Macy, she’d allow it, but they should hold off for now so they could get everything done in one go (and then send her the document so they had easier access to it).
It was weighing on their mind a little, though, that they’d been back for three days now, and yet their parents still had no idea where they were or what had happened to them.
“They’re not the type who’ll freak out or anything,” they said to Ko as they walked. They’d left the motel to get some time to themselves and talk about things that the others didn’t need to overhear - things like this, for example. “But they’ll definitely be worried. I’ve never been gone for longer than three hours without having told them in advance where I’ll be.”
“Are they controlling?” he asked, keeping his voice low; there wasn’t anyone nearby, but you could never be too certain. He wriggled in their arms, and they bit back a sigh.
“With me? No. With Casey and Mitzi? A little bit. But they sorta have a right to be when it comes to them.” They shifted Ko’s weight to one arm and lifted the hand of the other to run through their hair. “I’ve told you about them. I don’t think it needs repeating. It’s just… I’m sure my sudden disappearance isn’t making things any less complicated than they usually are. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get into a physical fight about it.” They weren’t able to resist their sigh this time, and they shook their head. “I know why Quinn’s worried about it. I know that if my parents found out what I was doing and where I’ve been, they’d want me to have no part of it. If they saw you in your usual form they’d probably try to hit you with a fly zapper or somethin’. But… I dunno. I wish there was some way to let them know that I’m okay.”
“It won’t be long until you can,” he said, but Azure couldn’t help but feel he was being overly optimistic. Regardless, they gave him a smile, which seemed to satisfy him, and they slipped into silence as they continued.
Eventually their route led them deeper into the city, and Ko was forced to settle down and stop moving so much to not attract attention. They were, if they remembered correctly, on the exact opposite side of town as the previous night’s Raguelmon fight, so they weren’t heading toward that or anything. Ryan and Dare’s return, an hour past curfew, and the story they had told of Raguelmon’s appearance, defeat, and Dare’s evolution had given them… a lot to think about, honestly.
Dare had admitted that what she’d said to Raguelmon about Plutomon not trusting her had been pulled right out of her ass, just an attempt to stall her or try to trip her up. But Azure wasn’t so sure. The way Dare had described Raguelmon’s pause, her moment of maybe-doubt - that was significant. It reminded them of the way Plutomon himself had paused when Quinn told him that he was going to die one day, too.
A moment of… realization, or acknowledgment, or something similar. Maybe Dare hadn’t meant it truthfully, but Azure felt that there was something to it. They couldn’t make any firm guesses yet, not with so little information to go off of, but it had been ringing in their head all night and all day.
As they walked, Azure did their best to listen in to any conversations that passerby were having, trying to see if they were talking about the Digimon. Very few of them were, and those that were weren’t saying anything of substance, just the same repeated “yeah I heard it’s some publicity stunt” or “damn, the film industry is getting really desperate if they’re resorting to staged property damage to promote their new movies”. At the very least, nobody was talking about any Digimon that the group didn’t already know about, which meant that there weren’t any emergents flying entirely under their radar - metaphorically and literally. That was a blessing of some kind, right?
Azure sighed as they came to a stop at an intersection, waiting for the crosswalk light to change, and pulled out their digivice. They switched to the map, zooming out and looking at where everyone else was. There was a cluster of colored marks back near the motel still, but they noticed the yellow and pink dots a bit further east, and the red, orange, and white ones a bit off to the south.
…Wasn’t that weird, though? There was another white marker up north.
Ignoring the feeling of their heart dropping in their chest, Azure thumbed over it, and their suspicions were only confirmed when it brought up the ever-familiar, ever-frustrating information box of “???”.
Damnit.
Azure had never been a fan of running. This was, in part, due to their asthma - okay, it was mostly due to their asthma. The past three months of constant running for their life had done nothing to cure it, since asthma couldn’t exactly be cured, and as such, currently they felt as if their chest was going to cave in, because they were running as fast as they could to get to the emergent Digimon.
The Digimon hadn't pinged their digivice, as it had with Grademon, and as Ryan’s had yesterday when he’d fought Raidramon. This meant that it was far enough out of range for the digivice to assume they weren’t close enough to deal with it. However, Azure was the closest one to it, and even if they had called Quinn or someone else to let them know that there was an emergent Digimon, by the time they’d be able to reach it, it probably would have caused a fair amount of property damage already.
Hence why Azure was running as fast as possible toward it.
Though their adventure in the Digital World hadn’t cured their asthma, it had gotten them a bit more into shape, which wasn’t really saying anything since Azure had never been in shape to begin with. The only noticeable difference was that their legs weren’t hurting as much as they usually did when they had to run the mile at school (which felt ages away, now).
Their lungs, however, were.
If they didn’t have to worry about giving civilians a heart attack, they would absolutely make Ko evolve up to champion to carry them there. It would be faster and they wouldn’t feel like they were about to pass out. But giving civilians a heart attack was not something they wanted to do, especially heart attacks due to seeing a thirteen-foot-tall beetle flying through the air carrying a human in his arms.
Needless to say, by the time they reached the scene, Azure felt about ready to keel over and die.
Ko didn’t need any direction to jump down from their arms and into battle, which was just as well, since Azure had quite literally collapsed into a pile on the sidewalk. As he rushed toward the Digimon - a red and blue quadrupedal dinosaur-ish thing, and of course manic - he was consumed by a teal glow, and was replaced a moment later with his rookie form.
“
Azure held their digivice up with still-shaking arms and aimed it at the Digimon. “Sethmon,” it said, just as Sethmon charged toward Ko. “Champion level demon beast Digimon. Because the power of love within it was too great, it was unable to control it, and so it was converted into the power of hatred.”
“
He attacked again before the light had even faded away. “
“
While the two were locked in battle, Azure finally worked some sense back into themself, and pushed themself up into a half-kneeling position. They looked around, trying to get an idea of where they were and if anyone had seen that the giant blue beetle had transformed from the tiny pink blob held in their arms.
They’d ended up in the cul-de-sac of a large neighborhood - one that looked like it had suffered some fire damage recently, but thankfully not from a Digimon. There weren’t very many people around, at first glance, but then Azure heard shouts coming from the other way down the street, and turned to see a couple of residents leaving their houses to watch the fight.
Well, at least they wouldn’t have seen that Azure was directly involved…?
That relief was short-lived, though, because - during a lull in the fighting, when Ko and Sethmon were both picking themselves up after clashing - one of the bystanders came running over to them, her phone clutched tight in her hand.
“You should get to safety,” the woman said, reaching down to help Azure up, but they shook their head and pushed themself to their feet. “It’s dangerous to be this close. I’ve called the police, they’ll be here soon.”
Oh. Well, that was the opposite of helpful, but Azure couldn’t very well tell her that. They couldn’t really say anything without incriminating themself, so they just shook their head again and looked back over at the two fighting Digimon.
“
“
He threw the ball at Sethmon, and it cried out in pain, tossing its head as it tried to regain its balance. It stumbled on a bad leg and fell to the ground, its tusks digging deep grooves in the asphalt.
The distant sound of sirens was getting ever closer, and Sethmon - despite being clearly injured - wasn’t in any mood to give up or be defeated. Azure bit their lip and resisted the urge to run over to Ko’s side as he landed on the ground, wings fluttering. The woman at their side still had not moved, and was holding her phone up to her ear, talking to someone - the police, maybe? - and paying little attention to them anymore.
They had to wrap this up quick, before the police got here or, God forbid, someone got hurt and things went from bad to worse. With one final glance at the woman to make sure she wasn’t focused on them anymore, Azure began to inch away, closer to where Ko and Sethmon were still duking it out in the middle of the road.
“
Sethmon gnashed its teeth, raising its head and opening its mouth. “
“
The blast of electricity hit it at point-blank range, and it gave one final roar of pain and anger before it began to pixelate. Ko stepped back, consumed in a teal glow just as Sethmon burst apart into motes of light, and a moment later he shrank down to his rookie form.
And that was when the first police cars arrived on the scene! Azure couldn’t help but wonder why on God’s green earth they’d decided today to actually get here on time (…somewhat). Azure didn’t even have time to head over to Ko before the cops got out of their vehicles, guns drawn, as they looked around for wherever the monsters were - and their eyes settled on Ko.
Yes, he was one of the monsters, but -
Ko drew his claws closer to chest as he noticed the officers, then, almost imperceptibly, glanced over at Azure - and then took off running. The officers were too baffled by his fleeing to do anything, and when Azure raced after him, they - thankfully - did not try to shoot through them to get to Ko. First time for everything, huh?
Still. The officers did shout after them, but Azure wasn’t really paying attention to them, focused as they were on following Ko and getting the fuck out of there. They had enough of a head start that even if the cops had been following them, they wouldn’t have been able to catch up, and they were able to get away easily.
Azure had never expected that they would ever run from cops, much less because they were following a four-foot talking beetle, but life is just full of surprises.
They stopped once they were out of the neighborhood, where the road opened up onto a highway and they could hide in the copse of trees next to the sidewalk. Azure and Ko both sat down, the latter making sure to stick to the shadows so that any passerby couldn’t see him.
“You know,” Azure said, as soon as they had caught their breath and could talk again, “I’m gonna miss carrying you around as a little pink blob. Your… what was it, Motimon form?”
Ko nodded, then stretched himself out, his wings fluttering gently. “Have to say I’m going to miss it too. If only because it’s going to be much more difficult for me to get around now.” He tilted his head at Azure. “I’m going to have to ask Bumble for some advice on how to get around the city. Humans hate bugs. They also hate giant monsters. Presumably, they’re going to hate a giant monster bug even more.”
“You’re not even that giant,” Azure countered. “Yeah, bugs aren’t supposed to be three feet tall or talk, but compared to your ultimate form you’re tiny.”
“Thank you, that makes me feel so much better,” he said, crossing his arms, and Azure laughed. “Really, though. This does complicate things. Too bad I’m not that great at flying.” He reached a claw around to tap his elytra and the spikes adorning it. “But I’m sure we’ll manage. Even if we have to wait here till it gets dark.”
Azure groaned and laid down onto their back, folding their hands across their stomach. “I don’t know if we should stay out here that long. We should probably call Quinn and let her know about Sethmon, at least. Maybe she’ll have an idea.”
Ko remained silent as Azure, still laying down, reached into their pocket to pull out their digivice - but before they could turn it on, he sighed, and they lifted their head to look at him.
They blinked, then furrowed their brow. “Something wrong?”
“Not wrong, exactly,” he said, drumming his claws against the ground. “…It’s probably nothing, but I can’t resist feeling worried about Quinn.”
Azure frowned and sat up to face him properly. “How come?”
“I don’t really know how to explain it,” he said. “She seemed sort of anxious earlier today. I suppose it makes sense, considering everything that’s been going on, but…”
“So you’re saying you don’t want to upset her further?” Azure asked, and Ko shook his head instantly.
“Not at all. I think you should tell her about Sethmon. That’s what she told us to do, if we come across a Digimon when we’re out. I guess it’s more about… I feel bad that we didn’t call her earlier, when we first saw it.” He paused, looking down at his feet. “I know that by the time she would have gotten there, I probably would have already dealt with it. I did. But she’s going to be concerned that we didn’t tell her in advance. And that’s kind of worrying to me.”
“You haven’t told me why, yet,” Azure pointed out.
See, they felt that they knew where he was going with this - something about how if Quinn, of all people, was concerned about them dealing with even just champion levels on their own, that must mean it was really bad, right? But he’d said it himself - it made sense she was worried. There were Digimon showing up in the real world and wreaking havoc. Anyone in their right mind would be worried about that, even if they knew what, exactly, the Digimon actually were.
And they were correct in that assumption. Ko shrugged, giving them his best “I don’t know” face before he sighed again. “It’s just… concerning to me that Quinn is so worked up about this. Even more so considering she’s trying to pretend like she isn’t worked up about it. I think she’s trying too hard to keep everything under control.”
“Isn’t she supposed to?”
Ko shook his head again. “She’s not ‘supposed to’ do anything except fight Plutomon. I mean, we kind of thrust that leadership position onto her - and Alpha - without asking if they even wanted to take it.”
Azure frowned and bit their lip. “They’re the Catalyst, though. Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“And Piximon said that they - the Catalyst - would be a guide to us. Isn’t that what Quinn and Alpha are doing?”
Ko fell silent, not answering immediately. Azure looked over at him, then sat up properly, stretching their arms out in front of themself. They glanced down at their digivice, taking a peek at the clock - it was coming on 4 PM.
Finally, Ko spoke. “I think,” he said, choosing his words carefully and not looking Azure in the eye, “that a guide and a leader are two very different things.”
Azure’s brows knit together, but they didn’t even get a chance to ask him what he meant before he continued.
“In a sense, they have guided us. When we first met them, after fighting Plutomon, they told us everything they knew about him. About the past humans. We know much more about the past than we did before meeting them. They guided us through what we didn’t know, and they guided us home. But I don’t think that necessarily delegates them as our leaders.” He curled his claws into fists, then looked down at the ground next to him. “Even if they’ve said that they’ll lead us… I think that they only said so because we expected them to. And that’s a big expectation to put on them.”
“And this circles back,” Azure said, “to Quinn trying too hard to stay in control of things, right?”
Ko nodded. “We’ve placed such a heavy responsibility on both of their shoulders, but Quinn is taking the brunt of it. She feels like she has to. Because you all - the humans - are the ones most out of your element. We may be back in your world, but you’re having to deal with monsters from our world showing up and wrecking everything in sight. And that’s a lot to deal with. Even more so when you’re trying to lead a group of nine other humans and monsters.” His mandibles clicked together; if he’d had a mouth, Azure was sure he would have smiled wryly. “She’s trying to keep herself together for your sake. For all of our sakes. Because if the person who’s been dealing with this for five years straight is worried about it…”
“Then that would mean it was way worse than we think,” Azure finished, and Ko nodded again. They fell silent, then exhaled slowly, leaning back on their hands and staring up at the trees above. “…Well, now I’m the one worried about it.”
Ko chirruped in his imitation of a laugh. “Sorry. Just felt that it needed to be said.”
Azure waved it off with a hand. “No, it’s fine. You’re right. It did.” They looked down at their digivice again, the few faint speckles of light that managed to worm their way through the leaves above reflecting off its screen. “I do need to call her, though.”
But, before they could turn their digivice on, they were interrupted for the second time that day - this time, by a call coming directly from it. They blinked, lifting it up to inspect it, only to see that… it was coming from Damien.
Definitely not who they would have expected to call them, for literally any reason, but they’d take it.
They clicked accept and Ko inched closer to them, peering over at the screen despite the fact it wouldn’t show anything important. For a second, there was just the sound of faint rustling on the other end, and then, finally, someone spoke.
“Hey,” Damien said, voice slightly muffled. “Saw you took care of that emergent. Anything bad?”
They were slightly taken aback by this - they hadn’t expected that anyone would have noticed it, or that they had been near it. “Nothing too bad,” they said, shaking their head, even though they knew he couldn’t see. “Champion level. Something called Sethmon. It was some sort of dinosaur, I think.”
“You think,” Ko scoffed, and Azure reached over to flick his horn. “It was a dinosaur. But they’re right. It wasn’t too bad.”
“Good to hear,” Damien said, and Azure could practically hear the smirk on his face. “I’m glad you got to it. Moxie wanted to go check it out, but we were too far away and then I saw you were heading toward it anyway. And then its name popped up when I pressed its marker. I’m assuming you scanned it?”
Azure quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah, I did. Its name actually showed up?”
“Yep,” Damien confirmed, and Azure blinked in pleasant surprise. “Guess the reason they don’t show up normally is because we’ve never analyzed its species.”
“Curious,” Ko said, too quietly for Damien to hear. Azure nodded their agreement to him, then returned their attention to Damien.
“Anyway,” he said, “just thought I’d check in. And let you know that there’s something else sorta near you. Figured you’d like to know that.”
“What?” Azure said, feeling a strange sort of dread overtake them. They minimized the communication menu and pulled up the map, and - sure enough - there was yet another question mark marker just a little further north from where their own teal dot currently sat. They hissed, running a hand through their hair and standing up somewhat inelegantly. “What the hell is your problem? Why didn’t you start with that?”
Once again, Azure could have sworn they heard him smile. “I told you, I just wanted to check in. Plus it literally just showed up. You should be able to get there in time if you leave now.”
“Thanks for nothing,” they muttered, and he laughed. They couldn’t resist rolling their eyes, even as they motioned for Ko to follow them as they started to head out - but he didn’t. They stopped in their tracks, turning to face him, palpable confusion on their face. “What is it?”
He held his hands out, looking between them and the road behind them. “…I’m a three foot tall bug,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Granted, it was, but -
“I think the public can deal with seeing a giant bug for a couple minutes out of their day,” came Damien’s voice from the digivice, startling Azure slightly (they had forgotten that they hadn’t hung up). “Bit more important to make sure that whatever that Digimon is, it’s not hurting anyone.”
“I have to agree,” Azure said, and Ko sighed, his shoulders falling. He straightened himself back up quickly, though, and nodded at Azure, clenching a fist in determination. They returned the gesture and then looked down at their digivice. “I’m gonna hang up now. Thanks for the tip, but just for the record, you’re the worst.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said, and Azure - despite themself - smiled. “Good luck. Call me if you need anything.”
“Will do,” they said, then ended the call.
They wasted no time in orienting themself properly and heading off toward the Digimon, and Ko followed suit, sticking to the shadows of the trees the best he could.
“You know,” he said, speaking quieter than usual, “I think you’re the only person he’s ever offered that to.”
Azure hummed. “What, good luck?” It was true that Damien wasn’t exactly the type to wish others well, but they didn’t think it was that strange, especially considering his adventure with Ryan yesterday.
Ko shook his head. “No. I meant his offer to help you if you need anything. He strikes me as the sort of guy who’d look at a problem that doesn’t involve him and decide he doesn’t need to get involved. That’s sort of been his mode of operation over the time I’ve known him, at least. And now all of a sudden he’s telling you that you can call him if you need anything.”
“What’s your point here,” Azure said, feeling something… not unpleasant, but surprising and unexpected, well up within their chest.
“I’m just saying,” Ko replied, a teasing lilt in his voice. “I think he’s finally come to see you as a legitimate friend. Took a while, but he got there eventually.”
Azure had to fight back the urge to shove him over.
Damien was right in that the Digimon was “sorta near them” - Azure and Ko reached the scene in record time. It really didn’t take long for them to figure out where the Digimon was, half due to the sounds of chaos occurring just a few blocks over, and soon enough Azure didn’t even need to look down at their digivice to know where they needed to go. The trail of destruction and fleeing civilians was as good a map as any.
Damien was wrong in that the public could deal with seeing a giant bug for a couple minutes out of their day.
They didn’t have any time to reassure the people crying out in surprise and fear as they noticed Ko, following Azure as they ran, because they were busy trying to find another monster who was, in all likelihood, much more terrifying than he was. They just had to hope that they’d notice that Ko was trying to fight the more terrifying monster, rather than attack the onlookers, but they didn’t have much faith - and that was saying nothing of their fear of being caught on camera next to either of the monsters.
Their parents were going to pass out if they saw them on the news like that.
Anyways. When Azure and Ko finally, finally, turned down the street that the Digimon was on, and saw it standing in the middle of the road, causing no small amount of panic and public property damage, it became immediately, painfully obvious that they were in way over their heads, and that maybe Azure should have called Quinn and asked for backup.
It was a tall, very humanoid Digimon, draped in a heavy multicolored cloak, thick pants, and a collar of gaudy gold jewelry, each segment decorated with a circular red gem. Six bright red bat-like (or was it demon-like?) wings sprouted from its back, seemingly unimpeded by its outfit, and they fluttered in a nonexistent wind much like its trailing silver beard and long mess of hair.
Its face was the most interesting - its mouth and the lower half of its nose were visible, as were its pointy ears, but it wore a golden mask over the upper part of its face, looking almost like the beak of a bird. Two eyes peered out from holes in the mask, a striking red that matched the gems on its collar and staff-like wand. It gripped this wand in one bony-fingered, clawed hand, and as it waved it about, Azure noticed that the gem on its tip was held in the jaws of a skull, decorated with gold fangs for good measure.
“
“Great,” Azure muttered as Ko ran forward, already glowing with the light of evolution.
“
The Digimon didn’t seem to care who it hurt to get what it wanted, whatever that may be, and it flung Ko into the side of a building with a flick of its wand before he could even reach it. He and a few bricks fell to the ground, landing in a heap, and the few people who were still nearby scattered with varied levels of fear and surprise in their screams.
Azure clenched their fist and raised the digivice toward the Digimon while Ko got to his feet.
“Barbamon,” it read out, sort of hard to hear over the sounds of panic around them. “Mega level Demon Lord Digimon. It is obsessed with all of the treasure which exists within the Network, so out of avarice, and regardless of the means, it would kill Digimon just for a piece of treasure.”
Azure grimaced as the Digimon - Barbamon - threw Ko aside again, and almost pocketed their digivice, but then they realized, hmm, if it’s a mega level, they should probably call for backup. They took a few steps backward onto the sidewalk, trying to look inconspicuous, and then dialed Quinn.
As expected, she picked up on the first ring. “What’s up?”
“There’s an emergent,” they said, and they definitely noticed the sharp intake of breath coming from the other end. “Mega level. It’s a Demon Lord - wasn’t that what Lilithmon was?”
They remembered, only as they said it, that - the day following Castor’s evolution and fight against Lilithmon - Quinn had said she was a Demon Lord Digimon. She hadn’t explained what exactly that meant, but the way she’d said it had indicated it was something important, dangerous, or both. And if Barbamon was also a Demon Lord, then, even setting aside the fact it was a mega -
“I’ll be there in five,” Quinn said, and before Azure could ask how the hell she was going to manage that if they were a forty-minute walk away, she hung up.
They didn’t even have time to ponder it to themself, because Barbamon - having tossed Ko even further down the street - turned to them, tapping its staff against its opposite palm.
It tilted its head slightly, and then its mouth split into a grin, revealing crooked fangs. “Well, if it isn’t my old foil,” it said, its voice haughty and refined, “come to stand against me once more. I thought I recognized your partner.”
“
Ko’s ball of lightning hit Barbamon square in the back, but seemed to do absolutely nothing, if its total lack of reaction was any indication. It kept its gaze on Azure, paying no mind to Ko, even as he stood up properly and prepared to attack again.
“Now, it seems I will finally get to uphold my end of the bargain,” it said. “You talked, and now you die.”
As Ko leapt forward to hit Barbamon, a realization similarly hit Azure: this was Matadormon.
Or, at least, they had been, in the past. Clearly, they had evolved into what they now stood as - a Demon Lord. Hadn’t Alex said that Lilithmon had been the LadyDevimon he’d fought in Factorial Town…?
And there was also the very notable difference of them no longer being manic, just like Lilithmon - but there wasn’t time to think about that, because when Ko struck out at Barbamon, fist crackling with electricity, they retaliated.
“
Barbamon just laughed again. “Are you impressed? Surely you didn’t think you were rid of me forever. He had plans for me! And now I have plans for you.
The flames surrounding Ko died down, but were instantly replaced by the black fire that shot forth from the orb on Barbamon’s wand. They swept it around wildly, following seemingly no pattern, a stark contrast to their previous attack’s laser-focused precision. In fact, it seemed almost as if they were intentionally trying to attack Ko and the area (and people…) around them.
The only saving grace was that they had not yet aimed an attack at Azure - but who knew how long that would last?
With a flash of white light, Ko was quickly replaced by his ultimate form, and he lunged for Barbamon, aiming his horn at them. “
He struck them dead in the chest, his horn bouncing off of their gold collar, but the lightning coursed through it instantly, and Barbamon hissed as they seized up. The flames scattered up and down the street flickered gently, then faded away, as if they had only been burning due to Barbamon’s willpower.
Well, that was good to know.
“
For a moment, it seemed as if it had had no effect - and then Ko roared, his claws beginning to spark. “
The result was instantaneous. The asphalt did not conduct the electricity, thank God, but the impact of all four of his fists was enough to buckle and crack the pavement and send out a shockwave powerful enough to topple Azure. They fell on their ass and hissed in surprise and pain and confusion, because what the fuck was their partner doing?
As soon as the attack subsided, Ko shook his head out, staggering backward, and he looked down at his claws. “What…?” he muttered, his voice low and rumbling, and Barbamon laughed again.
“It seems,” they said, twirling their staff in their hand, “that your partner’s little digivice couldn’t tell them the most important thing to know about who I am. This wand that I so masterfully wield contains more power than you do in your entire body. Allow me to demonstrate once more!
They aimed the wand at Ko again, and though he tried to dodge, his bulk made it difficult to navigate such a crowded street, and the smoke seeped into him once more. With another roar that shook the air, his horn was consumed in electricity, and with less care than he’d exercised previously, he turned around - to face Azure.
He lowered his head and aimed his horn directly at them. “
Without thinking, and hoping that they could get out of the way in time before the lightning hit them, Azure leapt to the side. They fell to the ground from the force of their jump and the subsequent shaking induced by the attack hitting the building behind where they had just been standing, and they hissed, pushing themself up on their elbows.
Again, Ko shook his head as soon as the attack was over. He rounded on Barbamon almost instantly, fury edging every movement he made. “Don’t you dare use me to hurt my partner,” he growled, and he lunged for them again.
Barbamon jumped out of the way, and Ko just barely avoided crashing into another building. Azure shoved themself to their feet and stood, shaking slightly, against Barbamon.
“Stand down!” they shouted, cupping a hand around their mouth to help it carry. “You’re gonna hurt innocent people if you keep goin’ like this! Fight us directly!”
Barbamon just laughed again, a grin spreading across their face, and they held their arms out wide. “Oh, but where’s the fun in that? It’s so much more entertaining to watch the two of you try fruitlessly to save this world! It’s all going to crumble to ash eventually; I say why bother protecting it?”
Azure frowned - what on earth were they talking about? If they just meant that their attacks were going to burn the buildings, then, yeah, fucking obviously, but - it didn’t seem like that was what they meant.
They didn’t even bother asking for clarification, because Barbamon was just going to ignore them or call them an idiot for not knowing, and they weren’t really in the mood to be condescended to - as well as the fact that Barbamon attacked again.
“
Well, obviously it would, since Barbamon was a mega level, but -
“
They cackled, twisting their wand in their hand and causing the remaining flames to flicker out. “It’s been so long since we last met that I almost feared you would go easy on me. I’m pleased to see you’re not!
The flames that shot forth licked over the pavement, crawling toward the surrounding buildings and Azure - and, they realized with a controlled amount of panic, there were some bystanders stupidly inching closer. Ignoring every bone in their body telling them to stay out of the line of (literal) fire and keep themself safe, they raced toward these onlookers, making sure not to draw too much attention to themself.
They stopped a few dozen yards away from the scattered group and waved their arms in the air. “You need to get out of here!” they yelled, flinching as they clearly heard Barbamon smack Ko away somewhere behind them. “It’s too dangerous! Get to safety!”
“So do you!” one of them replied, pointing at the Digimon behind them. “I saw the big one attack you! Let the police handle this when they get here, you’re not going to be able to do anything!”
Azure grit their teeth, biting back retorts about how they and their partner were going to be far more efficient at dealing with this than any cops possibly could - they couldn’t reveal that much, and it wasn’t like any of them would believe them anyway -
“I’ll leave when you’re all safe!” they shouted back instead, gesturing for them to go. “I have to watch out for my friend! Just - get out of here!”
They turned on their heel and ran back toward the Digimon before anyone else could reply or call them an idiot or ask what the hell they meant. They were really, really hoping that they’d take their advice and just get the fuck out of there before any of them got hurt. So far, out of the few Digimon encounters they’d had, no civilians had been hurt - hell, very few of the group themself had, and that was really saying something. They didn’t want today to be the day that streak ended, but if the people here were going to continue to stand around and be idiots, it very well may be.
“
As Ko grunted and struggled to get to his feet, Barbamon rushed in, moving surprisingly fast considering how stagnant they had been until now. They stepped toward Ko, planting a foot on one of his arms to pin it down - a difficult task, considering Barbamon was only about the size of his head. Ko reared his head back, looking as if he was about to make to stand up, but he was stilled by Barbamon planting the end of their staff into his chest.
In the early evening light, it was nearly impossible to see, but Azure was perceptive, and focused very intently on whatever the hell Barbamon was about to do to their partner. They almost missed it entirely - and, as they saw Barbamon reach a hand out in front of themself, palm up, they almost wished they had.
In the air just above their palm, a small, glowing violet orb appeared, hovering there for a couple seconds. Barbamon grinned and leaned down, reached forward, and pressed the orb into Ko’s chest.
Azure went still.
This was what Plutomon had done to Bunny. To turn her manic. It felt like years ago, and yet also like it had happened just yesterday - the fear that had coursed through the clearing when Bunny’s eyes had gone white was still tangible in the air. Maybe it was because it was happening again. How the hell was Barbamon able to do this? Wasn’t it an ability innate to Plutomon? Had any of the other Digimon they’d fought in the past been able to do this? Was this how Matadormon had controlled the Dobermon pack?
All of these questions circled Azure’s head like vultures eyeing their prey, but they couldn’t focus on any of them, because Barbamon was trying to turn Ko manic.
“Ko!” they blurted, running forward without even thinking, without even caring that they were putting themself in the direct line of danger - but they halted in their tracks when Barbamon pulled their hand and the violet orb back, their lips curled in contempt.
Ko shook himself out and pushed himself to his feet, clenching his claws into fists. “Your tricks won’t work on me, demon.”
Barbamon stepped back away from him. “Looks like things now are still the same as they used to be,” they muttered, raising their wand. “Oh well. I’ll just have to dispatch of you the old fashioned way -”
“
A beam of green energy shot over Azure’s head, striking Barbamon in the side of the face, and they hissed, whirling to face the newcomer just as Azure did.
Alpha stood, in his mega form, in the dead center of the street. Around him, panicked civilians were shouting and fleeing, even as he lowered the arm he held extended toward Barbamon and knelt down to let Quinn slide off his shoulder onto the ground below.
Well, Azure supposed that explained how Quinn had been able to get here so quickly.
“Once more, you rely on your allies to save you,” Barbamon said, glancing between Azure and Alpha. “Because you’re not strong enough on your own.”
“Hardly,” Alpha said, lifting his hand back into the air and summoning his blade. “They know when to ask for help from their friends. That is the pinnacle of strength.
He lunged forward, sweeping his sword out at Barbamon, leaving a trail of light behind it as it moved. Barbamon jumped back, just barely out of range of the attack, and then raised their wand and aimed it at him. “
The smoke shot forth toward Alpha, but he disappeared into thin air before it could reach him. Barbamon sneered as they took a step back, visibly confused, and Alpha reappeared behind them a second later. “
The bright green beam struck Barbamon dead in the back, and they lurched forward, almost dropping their wand as they attempted to right themself. “Wretch!” they spat, whirling around and striking out at Alpha directly. “
“
Ko’s bolt of lightning interrupted Barbamon in the middle of their attack, and they shrieked in rage, waving their wand about haphazardly to try to release as many flames as possible before the attack was ended. Alpha was quick to retaliate, summoning his blade once more and swiping it through the air without even calling an attack.
While the Digimon were preoccupied with fighting, Quinn rushed over to Azure, grabbing their arm and pulling them up onto the sidewalk, further out of the line of fire. “Fill me in,” she said, her gaze flitting between Alpha and Barbamon and Ko. “What’s happening?”
“We know Barbamon,” Azure said, and Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “We fought them a couple months ago when they were a Matadormon. Now they’re back, and they’re not manic, and they used one of those orb things to try to turn Ko manic, but he resisted it somehow -”
“Goddamnit,” Quinn muttered, looking down at her digivice - held tightly in her hand - and then back up at the fight. Alpha shot another energy beam at Barbamon, knocking them backwards into a building, the impact shattering several of the windows. Her jaw tightened. “I talked to Macy earlier. She didn’t say much, and she couldn’t remember everything, but… she told me about the Demon Lords.”
Azure blinked, resisting the impulse to flinch as Barbamon flung Ko down the street. “That’s what Lilithmon was, too, right? What even are they?”
“I don’t know,” Quinn said, and she looked as if she was going to continue, but their conversation was cut short by Barbamon sending Alpha flying toward them. They scattered, running opposite directions as he crashed into the building behind them and fell to the ground in a heap.
He groaned, pushing himself up on his elbows, but Barbamon was quick to follow up. Ko was still struggling to his own feet further down the road, and Barbamon was entirely unimpeded as they aimed their wand down at Alpha. “
They drew the staff in a circle, and a ring of black flames burst up around him, reducing the rubble piled around him to ashes almost instantly. Alpha hissed as the ring began to constrict and the fire crawled over him, but he shook his head out and withstood the attack. “
Quinn came running back to Azure just as Alpha struck Barbamon down with his attack, and the flames died down instantly. She pulled them away from the fight again, stopping next to a mostly-intact building just as Ko rushed past them with his fists sparking.
“The Demon Lords,” she started, speaking quickly, “are the group that Macy and her group fought in the past. The one the Archangels lead them against. Some sort of war in what she called the Holy Domain - she didn’t give me any details, just the overall gist.”
“Wait,” Azure said, holding a fist to their chest. “They fought the Demon Lords? I thought they won against whatever they fought?”
Quinn nodded. “They did. They won the war - all of the Demon Lords were defeated. I don’t know what the hell’s going on either. I don’t know how they’re here or what happened or any of it. All I know is that -”
Once again, their discussion was interrupted by Barbamon - but this time, it was not a Digimon flung their way, but rather an attack. With Alpha and Ko preparing attacks of their own, Barbamon aimed their wand down at the humans and grinned. “
Azure didn’t even have time to blink before the black flames shot forth, aimed directly for them - but they didn’t need to, because Alpha teleported directly in between Barbamon and the two of them milliseconds before the fire would have reached them. He braced himself against the flames, holding his arms up in front of his face to further protect himself, and the attack ended quickly enough.
He chanced a look over his shoulder down at the humans, concern shining in his eyes. Next to Azure, Quinn gave him a thumbs up, and he nodded, then resumed his attention on Barbamon.
But while the three of them were distracted with this, with making sure they were each safe and unharmed, Barbamon had changed tactics. They whirled around to face Ko, shooting a blast of flames at him without calling an attack, but it seemed they didn’t need to; he fell to the ground instantly, obviously exhausted, and Barbamon stepped toward him, placing the end of their wand against his chest.
Azure didn’t even have to think about it - they ran forward instantly, ignoring Quinn’s hands reaching out to drag them back and Alpha’s warning telling them to stay back, heading straight toward Barbamon and not stopping until they stood between them and Ko.
They squared their shoulders and stared up at them, their hands trembling even as they clenched them into fists, one gripping their digivice so tightly they feared they might break it. Barbamon tilted their head down at them, their eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
“Once more,” they said coolly, “for one last time, you stand before your own death, with nothing in between us to save you.”
Azure took a deep, shaky breath in. In the distance, they could hear sirens, and they knew they didn’t have long.
They had a million things they wanted to say to Barbamon. Whether it was to prolong the time until they attacked and killed them, or to give Ko more time to get up and protect them, or to prove to Barbamon that they were stronger than they thought, or just because they didn’t have anyone else they were ever going to get to say it to - they didn’t know. All they knew was that their mind was racing with words and thoughts that they longed to say out loud, that they needed to speak into existence, so that they could believe them even more. So that they could believe in themself.
Instead, they looked up at Barbamon, the tremors fading out of their hands and legs and lungs even as their digivice began to burn against their palm, and spoke.
“I’m only doin’ this,” they said, and “this” could mean so many different things, but right now it meant “standing up against someone who could so easily kill me”, “because I believe in myself and my partner.”
That was it. That was all they said. They knew it wasn’t much - it didn’t encompass even a fraction of everything else they wanted to say - but, they felt, it was enough.
It had to be.
They didn’t have to look back over their shoulder at Ko. They knew how he was feeling - they knew that he agreed. Somehow, without words, without even exchanging glances, they could feel exactly how he felt - and how he felt was mirrored entirely in Azure’s own beating heart, in their own clenched fists, in their own hardened gaze.
Barbamon didn’t reply. They raised their staff and aimed it down at them, their lips curling back in preparation to call an attack.
In Azure’s hand, their digivice began to shine, a brilliant white glow that lit up the street even though it was still light out. They tightened their fingers around it and grinned as it spoke, asking them the question they had so desperately wanted to hear.
“Final evolution pending. Do you want to proceed?”
“Yes,” they said, without a hint of hesitance in their voice.
With a snap, the light died down, enough for Azure to see the look on Barbamon’s face as they recoiled - confusion and rage and disgust and fear.
“Final evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
“How dare you!” Barbamon shrieked, raising their staff once again, but it was lost in the light of their digivice as it began to glow again, and Azure closed their eyes.
Have faith.
Azure knew what to expect when they opened their eyes.
They had heard Ryan’s description of it when he and Dare had returned last night, telling the tale of their reunion with and final battle against Meicoomon. How, after saying yes to the digivice, he had found himself in an empty white plane, devoid of anything except for faint light particles and his own partner.
This was what Azure saw when their eyes snapped open - a white space, a faint afterglow, motes of light dancing in the air like embers, and their partner, small and bubbly and the only thing they cared about here.
They knelt down in front of him, placing their hands flat against the surface upon which they sat, and laughed.
“This is it, huh?” they said when their chuckles had subsided and he had inched closer, trailing little green bubbles that floated into the air as he moved. “We did it. We finally did it. We made it all this way together, and… we’re finally here.”
“Of course we are,” Ko said, speaking around the pacifier held in his mouth. “I never once doubted that we’d make it to this point.”
Azure fell silent, staring down into the whiteness below them. They cast no shadow upon it, even when they leaned back slightly, and it was warm to the touch, like they were holding their hand against a dim lightbulb.
“I did,” they said quietly, not looking back up at Ko, but they sensed - felt, almost - his face fall. “Not often, and I never fully believed we wouldn’t, but… the thought was there, sometimes.” They bit back a sigh. “That we were going to fail. That I was going to fail. That I wouldn’t be good enough, or I’d make a mistake I couldn’t come back from, or something. …I had my moments.”
“That’s alright,” Ko said, and Azure finally looked at him. His black eyes reflected a nonexistent light above them, shining so brightly they almost looked like tiny stars. “Doubt is natural. Whether you overcome it is what matters, what makes you who you are. And you’ve always overcome your doubt.”
Azure smiled. It was weak, and they couldn’t bring themself to fix it, but they didn’t think they needed to. “I’ve always believed in you,” they said. “From the moment I met you. Even before I knew we were partners, I knew that… you were going to do great things in your life. And now look at us.”
“Look at us,” he echoed. “I knew that you were going to save the world. All of us are. It’s been a long time, but I think that, finally, we’re right where we need to be. Especially you.”
Somehow, Ko’s words were enough to brighten Azure’s smile. They felt something prick at the corners of their eyes, and they blinked rapidly to wipe it away, then reached down and picked him up. They held him against their chest for a minute, the two of them just sitting there, content in each others’ presence.
Though he’d never done so before, and though he still couldn’t right now, and though they couldn’t see his face from where they held him, Azure knew that he was smiling.
“I’m happy to have you in my life,” they said when they lowered him finally. “I’m sorry we never found your store’s suppliers.”
Ko’s pacifier bobbed in his mouth slightly. “It’s alright. They’re doing just fine.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. I have faith in them. And in us.”
Azure smiled again, and, as a bright teal glow began to creep towards them from out of the corners of their vision, they closed their eyes, ready for whatever was coming their way next.
Everything would be okay. They had faith.
“
Azure opened their eyes slowly, patiently. They were in no rush; they knew instinctually that their partner was still behind them, and that his evolution had shocked Barbamon into inaction. When they did finally take in the scene around them, light and sound and sensation rushing back into their vision and hearing and body, they saw Barbamon, having taken a few steps back away from the swirling teal glow surrounding Ko, and they saw Ko himself, standing just a bit ahead of them, facing Barbamon down.
“HerculesKabuterimon,” their digivice said, and they glanced down at it for just a second. “Mega level insect Digimon. Its body shines gold, and it has regained and strengthened its flying ability, so it rushes about at supersonic speed.”
He was, indeed, shining gold, reflecting the setting sun so brightly it was almost blinding. He’d grown much larger, about forty feet tall, and now took up almost the entire width of the street; when he took a step toward Barbamon, the ground beneath his feet shook with the impact. The elytra on his back had opened up, and now, two large wings emerged from beneath, pale blue and translucent enough to refract the sunlight from above.
His face, as usual, was eyeless, with an open maw lined with fangs and a massive horn sprouting forth from his forehead - but the addition of two giant pincers was immediately noticeable. These pincers clicked together with enough force to crumple a car, and he clenched his claws, the exposed muscle on his arms rippling with the movement.
Barbamon took one look at him and sneered.
“Of course,” they said, quietly enough that it seemed they didn’t mean it to be overheard. “As if resisting the Code Key wasn’t enough…” They shook their head, then raised their staff. “No matter! My power still surpasses yours!
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Ko rumbled, even as the flames rushed toward and engulfed him. He stood resolute against them, but as they crawled over his feet and up his legs and arms, Azure felt a… strange numbing sensation come over their own body, in the exact places that the flames were covering Ko.
Alex and Ryan had both divulged this - that, when their partners had evolved to mega, they had felt all of the pain they endured - so it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Just… surprising.
It left no wounds, and the pain faded as soon as the attack did, but it was curious nonetheless.
Ko didn’t pay any mind to it. “
They screamed in response, but it seemed to be more out of indignation than anything else, considering they were quick to follow up. “
It still wasn’t fast enough, though.
Ko jumped into the air, dodging the smoke effortlessly as his wings began to beat to keep him airborne. He tilted his head down at Barbamon, then dove towards them, the pincers on his face snapping as he approached. “
When he reached them, he clamped his pincers around their body and flung them into the air. They cried out, their wings flaring wide as if they could help them stay afloat, but they crashed to the ground in short order, seemingly flightless.
Before they had even pushed themself back up, Alpha was on the scene. “
“You’re still no match for me,” they rasped, but it was clear they were weakened. Even if they were correct in saying they were stronger than the partner Digimon, they were still fighting two different Digimon, evenly matched in level - that would be enough to wear anyone down.
(Except for Plutomon, of course, but… that was different.)
“
Before Azure could even tell where Barbamon was aiming their attack, Quinn came barrelling toward them, grabbing their arm once more and pulling them along as she kept running. She stopped only once she turned into an alley a bit further down the street, peeking out to keep an eye on the fight and then releasing Azure from her grasp.
“I don’t know if you heard,” she said, “over the evolution and the fight and you trying not to get hit, but the police are finally here.”
“Oh, great,” Azure drawled, just as Barbamon came skidding toward them. Sure enough, if they strained their ears, they could definitely hear the wailing of sirens coming from… right down the street. They weren’t possibly far enough away to be a comfort; things were going to get real bad real quick (as if they hadn’t already been bad…).
What the hell did the police even think they were going to be able to do? At best, they were just going to be an annoyance, and at worst (or maybe best?) they were going to get themselves killed. They had, at the very least, gotten Barbamon’s attention, giving Alpha and Ko enough time to pick themselves up after recovering from launching attacks.
Barbamon raised their wand and aimed it at the officers, crouching just behind their vehicles, and Ko reacted instantly.
“
Barbamon was knocked to the ground, and Ko pulled his fists up, preparing to attack again - but he (and everyone else on the street) was interrupted by the addition of gunfire.
Just what they needed!
As the bullets struck and subsequently bounced off of Ko, they didn’t seem to do any real damage, if the faint pinpricks over Azure’s body were any indication. They seemed to be distracting more than anything, and he turned to look back at the officers - but a distraction was just what Barbamon needed to jump back up and attack again.
“
While Ko was busy dealing with Barbamon, Alpha - the one closest to the police - shot a glance over at Quinn and inclined his head subtly. Next to Azure, she sighed through her nose, then nodded at him. Alpha returned the gesture and then stepped toward the officers, raising his hands as he approached.
As of right now, he did appear the least threatening out of the three Digimon, looking more like an otherworldly knight than a giant beetle or a literal demon, so they supposed it made sense that he should be the one to try to explain things, but when the hell had the police ever been willing to hear anyone out, much less a giant mechanical monster?
“I have to go with him,” Quinn said, and Azure raised their eyebrows at her. “He’s going to need backup if he has any chance of getting them to stand down and comprehend the fact that we’re trying to help.” They couldn’t help but notice the tinge of venom lacing her tone as she spoke, but they understood it. She looked over at them with something apologetic in her gaze. “I’m gonna have to trust you and Ko to deal with Barbamon. Can you do that?”
Azure hesitated for just a second - and then they nodded, clenching their fists. “Of course. We’ll take care of it.”
Quinn nodded back and gave them a thumbs up, then, without another word, took off out of the alleyway, heading toward Alpha and the officers with her hands raised. Thankfully their gunfire had halted when Alpha had approached; Azure didn’t want to think about what would have happened if she had run out there in the middle of a rain of bullets.
They turned their attention back to the fight, and steeled themself before running toward their partner. Barbamon was in the middle of shaking themself out after receiving another blast from Ko’s horn, so they didn’t notice Azure immediately, and it gave them enough time to reach Ko’s side.
“
Barbamon jumped back up and struck out with their wand, forcing Ko backward, but he lunged at them again, grasping Barbamon in his claws and lifting them into the air. He began to walk forward, carrying them as he went, and Azure realized he was aiming for the end of the road, where it split into a T intersection, to pin them against one of the half-destroyed buildings. They tightened their fists and followed their partner as he moved and as Barbamon squirmed in his hold.
When they reached the end of the road, Ko practically slammed them into the building, cracking the brick and sending shards of glass flying everywhere. Barbamon hissed, trying to lift their wand, but Ko tightened his claws around their abdomen and they hacked out a cough.
“I concede!” they cried out, opening their hand and letting their wand drop to the ground. It rolled away from them, coming to a stop only once it bumped against Azure’s shoes, twice their size but deceptively light. Barbamon maneuvered their arms around Ko’s claws and placed their hands together in a pleading, praying gesture, staring up at him with fear-stricken eyes. “Please! Spare my life and I’ll tell you anything you want! I beg of you!”
Azure’s eyes narrowed.
They didn’t trust this one bit. With how they’d acted prior to this, and how they hadn’t cared about any of the attacks that Alpha and Ko had been sending their way, even as they had clearly injured them - not to mention what they’d been like as Matadormon… it just didn’t make sense. Something was at play here.
But they didn’t have to let Barbamon know that. They could continue to play dumb, hear them out, and when the other shoe dropped, they would be prepared for it.
Subtly, Azure motioned at Ko, and he seemed to get the message. He relinquished his grasp on Barbamon slightly, enough to free up their arms and legs, but not enough for them to run away.
“Alright,” Azure said, folding their arms. “We’ll let you go if you answer my question. What’s the Code Key you mentioned?”
They’d heard it when they had mumbled to themself after Ko had evolved, about him “resisting” it - presumably, it was whatever that glowing orb was that they had used to try to turn Ko manic.
But that didn’t explain what it was. None of the other Digimon they’d fought - not even Plutomon - had ever mentioned a Code Key of any kind. If Barbamon was willing to play along for just a bit longer… this might be their chance to gain a sliver of new knowledge.
Barbamon clasped their hands together, looking down at Azure. For a moment, they were silent, simply staring at them - and then they started to laugh. It started out as a round of small giggles, but quickly escalated to a full-on cackle, their entire body shaking with the effort.
When their laughter subsided, they grinned down at Azure.
“Of course,” they said, shaking their head. “I didn’t think any of you would hear that. Or care about it. Oh well. It seems as if I have become my own undoing.”
“Just answer the question,” Azure said.
Barbamon laughed again. “Foolish as ever,” they chided, instantly confirming Azure’s suspicions. “You truly believed I would tell you anything? I thought surely you would have learned by now.” They clicked their tongue and smiled. “Oh well. Perhaps one day.”
They lifted their chin ever so slightly, and with a snap of their fingers, their wand flew to their open hand. They grinned and aimed it at Azure. “
“
Ko attacked before Barbamon could even draw their wand in a circle, slamming his fists first into Barbamon’s chest and then the ground to send the lightning and tremors toward them. They were launched backward by the impact, smashing into the building behind them yet again and landing on the sidewalk below one last time.
They smiled up at Ko, even as their wings and claws began to pixelate. “How do you expect to save the world,” they said, choking on another laugh, “if you keep falling for the same old tricks?”
They didn’t say anything else before they exploded into pixels of light, scattering upon the ground. In the air, right above where they had been laying, a small violet orb hovered for a split second, before blinking out of existence just as they had.
That was, Azure presumed, the Code Key.
As Ko was consumed in a flurry of teal light and shrunk to his (much more reasonably sized) rookie form, hurried footsteps sounded from behind them. Azure and Ko both whirled around to see Quinn and Alpha - also devolved - running toward them, expressions of deep regret gracing their faces.
“We need to get back to the motel,” Quinn said, pulling Azure along with her as she reached them. Azure obliged, beckoning Ko to follow as the four of them rushed off, ignoring the sirens and shouts and now relatively quiet and less chaotic street behind them.
“Is something wrong?” Azure said, despite knowing they really shouldn’t be trying to talk while running.
“Don’t worry,” Quinn huffed in turn, “everything’s fine, mostly, except for the police officers who absolutely did not believe that Alpha was actually trying to save people and prevent property damage so we’re running because they shot at him and he’s already worn down from the fight and maybe we should go now.”
“Agreed,” Ko said from the other side of Azure, and even though their chest burned, they grinned.
“But,” Quinn said after a pause, in which she tried to catch her breath, “I think I have something. I can’t say for sure yet. I need to ask Macy about something else. But if I’m right… if my theory is correct…” She trailed off, taking another deep breath, before she looked back up at Azure.
“If I’m right,” she said, her gaze piercing straight through them, “I think I know what’s going on."