EPISODE 39 - THE SUN STILL SHINES
The downtown was bustling, busy as ever even on a weekday afternoon. People came and went, heading to or from work, going shopping, meeting up with old friends and new. Cars zipped past on the street, stopping only rarely for traffic lights and going by so fast that the only indication they’d ever been there at all was the rush of air they left in their wake. They honked and beeped as they went, their drivers yelling and shaking their fists at each other and the pedestrians on the sidewalk and the bikers in their bike lanes and the giant neon dinosaur being pursued by a giant flaming lion.
You know, just a normal Tuesday.
Quinn had sent Ezra, Anna, and their partners downtown to investigate one of the emergents she’d spotted on her radar earlier in the day. Ironically, “downtown” was further north than any of the group had been so far. They’d spent some time wandering around, checking their digivices periodically to try to find the emergent and even asking some nearby business owners if they’d seen anything suspicious, but had come up empty-handed even after around two hours. Feeling defeated, they’d stuck around for a bit longer to see if it would miraculously show up again, just in case its disappearance was a fluke.
The Digimon they were hunting did not show up. Another one, however, did, close enough nearby that the four of them could hurry to the scene to engage with it before it could wreak too much havoc. It was manic, something called a Bulkmon, Ezra’s digivice had told him, and currently locked in battle with a champion-level Ember, running through the streets, while Ezra, Anna, and Bunny did damage control the best they could.
“Damage control”, in this case, being “yelling at people and telling them to get the hell out of the way”.
“
Ember roared and slashed out at the Bulkmon, raking his claws across its side. It growled, pulling its own fist back as it began to spark violently.
“
Ezra watched all this with bated breath, his fist clenched so tightly that his nails broke the skin of his palm. Anna and Bunny were a dozen or so yards away, helping a small family get out of their wrecked car (Bulkmon had used it as a springboard just a couple minutes ago, shattering the windshield and crushing the hood like a soda can). Bunny hadn’t been able to evolve even to rookie to fight, and Ezra had made the very logical decision to keep her out of the fight, delegating her and Anna to a more supportive role. Anna had, as expected, been incredibly unhappy about it, but Bunny had calmed her down enough to get her to go along with it, and she’d begrudgingly agreed without too much arguing.
Bulkmon was only a champion level; Ember was evenly matched with it, perhaps even overpowering it. It almost seemed like it didn’t have a proper grasp on its own power, as if it had never fought anything or, hell, even seen another Digimon before.
Surely that wasn’t anything to worry about.
“
Bulkmon unleashed a blast of lightning from the horn on its snout, aiming directly at Ember’s own face. The lion blinked, still trying to untangle himself from the bushes Bulkmon had thrown him into, and took the attack head-on. The electricity fizzled away as Ember shook himself out, but it did its damage, stunning him long enough for Bulkmon to gallop toward him and slam a sparking fist into his side.
Ezra bit his lip so hard he tasted blood.
Yes, Ember was doing fine. No, he hadn’t been seriously hurt by the attack, or any of its previous attacks. Yes, he was going to be able to defeat Bulkmon, eventually.
No, that didn’t mean Ezra wasn’t going to worry about him.
He cupped a hand around his mouth, calling out to him. “Keep it moving!” he shouted, gesturing down the road, where a couple cars had practically veered onto the sidewalk to get away from the fighting monsters. “It won’t be able to charge its attacks if it can’t stop!”
Bulkmon’s seeming unawareness of what it was doing wasn’t anything strange. All of the manic Digimon that the group had been encountering recently had been like this - oblivious to their surroundings, caring only about fighting anything that stood in their way, whether that be a human, a building, or another Digimon.
But it didn’t make it any easier. Sure, it was nice to not have to hear any more patronizing speeches about them not knowing what they were doing or who they were up against or how stupid and dumb they were, but honestly, at this point, Ezra would take any one of those types of Digimon over these ones, who only wanted to destroy everything in their path. Those Digimon were easier to distract, easier to keep from wrecking too much of the surrounding area or hurting too many bystanders. He hated to say it, but he almost wished that something like Mephistomon would show up to spout some bullshit about the “beginning of the end” and get too distracted to notice Ember powering up an attack.
These Digimon noticed it when he did.
“
Footsteps sounded from behind Ezra, and he turned to see Anna running toward him, holding Bunny in her arms. She skidded to a stop, gasping for breath for a couple seconds, and Bunny took the reins.
“The family called the police,” she said, one of her ear-tendrils flicking back to gesture at the car they’d just been at. “Apparently they already know and they’re on their way. I can hear the sirens already, I have better hearing than most of you, so…” She trailed off, her nose twitching slightly.
“So we need to hurry this up,” Ezra finished, raising a fist to his mouth, restraining himself from biting at the knuckle. “I know. Ugh, I didn’t want him to have to go this far, but if he can’t beat Bulkmon quickly enough in his champion form…”
He shook his head off, looking over at where Ember and Bulkmon were still fighting, the former looming over the latter with outstretched wings. “Ember!” he shouted, drawing both of the Digimon’s attention. “Finish it up! Evolve if you have to!”
Ember nodded, his paws and the tips of his wings beginning to glow white. Underneath him, Bulkmon looked up, its lip curling in the beginnings of a snarl.
Before Ezra’s digivice could even give its typical warning, Bulkmon threw Ember off, slamming him into the ground. The evolution light instantly died down, and as Ember tried to push himself up and try again, Bulkmon bolted, running down the street without another word.
Ezra’s jaw fell as he watched it run, feeling frozen in place. What the hell? That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Did Bulkmon understand him when he’d told Ember to…?
“Follow it!” Ember yelled, kicking into the air to chase after it by wing. Ezra nodded and grabbed Anna’s hand, pulling her and Bunny along as he followed his partner and the fleeing Bulkmon.
It was probably for the best that Ember was able to fly, because Bulkmon cared very little for preserving public property. It trampled cars and bushes alike as it ran, and people thankfully got out of the way fast when they saw it (and Ember) coming toward them. Ezra and Anna were slightly less fortunate in that they were left to try to weave around the wake of destruction Bulkmon left behind, and they ended up lagging behind after having to dodge a stream of wrecked cars.
Every so often, Ezra could see Ember swoop down to try to attack Bulkmon, but he wasn’t able to get any particularly good ones in. He had to be careful not to hit any passerby or their property, and he didn’t have any ranged attacks he could lob at it, so he had to resort to speeding up to swipe out with a flaming limb at it - and that was only the times he actually did hit it.
Bulkmon careened around a corner, and Ember slammed into the pavement, startled by its sudden change in direction. A cloud of smoke and ash welled up, and Ezra and Anna skidded to a stop next to him. Ezra waved his arms around to dispel the debris and reached out for his partner, who was pushing himself to his feet and shaking himself out.
“It’s playing dirty,” he complained, pawing at the ground in frustration. He frowned and raised his face to the sky to sniff the air. “Ugh. I’m gonna go try to spot it from above. Follow me on foot?”
Ezra nodded, patting his side. “Send a flare signal if you spot it. I’m not expecting much from this thing.” He lifted his digivice up, rolling his eyes as he opened the map. “It never seems to work when we need it to. Only when we don’t need it. Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck,” Ember said plainly, then lifted into the air with a beat of his wings, zooming forward faster than Ezra could hope to catch up with. He watched his partner leave, becoming a small flaming speck in the sky, and then sighed, looking back down at his digivice.
He zoomed out on the map, poking around to see if he could find where Bulkmon had gone. He spotted some of the colored dots signifying the others’ digivices, scattered around the city, whether they be out on Quinn’s request or simply exploring for the hell of it, but the only white marker he saw was the one for Anna’s digivice, right next to his own orange one. Frowning, he panned around a bit more, hoping that maybe it had just gotten out of range - but even scrolling over the entire town didn’t reveal anything.
“It’s straight up just gone,” he said, unable to keep the frustration out of his voice. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He had to keep it together - even if all he wanted to do was scream in anger and throw his digivice on the ground, he couldn’t. It was a waste of time and energy that he could be spending in far more efficient ways.
That is, by shoving his digivice back into his pocket with far more force than necessary and exhaling sharply. Anna looked up at him curiously, but he ignored her, turning his attention to the sky to try to catch sight of Ember.
“He’s not going to have any luck finding it,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “Best thing he could do would be to send us a signal so we can find him, but I don’t know if he will.”
“We can go look for him,” Anna said, hugging Bunny close to her chest. “It’s alright. He’ll be around here somewhere.”
Ezra shook his head, more out of disappointment than disagreement. “I know. It’s just… ugh. I shouldn’t have shouted like that and I wouldn’t have spooked it.”
“It’s okay,” Bunny said softly, her nose twitching as she looked up at him. “It’s not your fault. At least it didn’t hurt anyone.”
“I know,” he repeated. “It’s just frustrating.”
He didn’t say anything else, just looked upward and sighed through his nose. He set off in the direction that Ember had gone in, and Anna was quick to follow, still carrying Bunny.
What was fortunate was that it seemed that, with Bulkmon’s disappearance, the wake of destruction it left had also ended. Almost all of the damage was behind them at this point; the only things that remained were a few scorch marks left from Ember’s attacks, no doubt from trying to slow it down as it fled, and a couple cracks in the pavement (but those could have been there already, it was hard to tell).
It left an easy path for them to follow as they searched for Ember, with Ezra leading the way and Anna and Bunny focused on the sky in case he approached them from above. With every step, Ezra worried that Bulkmon would charge at them from out of nowhere, bringing destruction and electricity alike with its rampage. Even with everything pointing to the contrary - that it had disappeared for good, and likely wouldn’t be reappearing - he couldn’t entirely shake the fear.
They didn’t have to go far, thankfully. After only about five minutes, they felt a rush of air from above, and then Ember landed in front of them, shaking himself out as he went up in orange light. As soon as he had devolved, Ezra scooped him into his arms, ignoring his protests and demands to be set down.
“You were a giant lion just a few seconds ago,” Ezra said, flicking his forehead. “I need to pretend that I don’t know what the hell happened just now, and that you’re just a toy I’m carrying for Anna.”
“Why not for yourself?” Anna asked, tilting her head. “I already have Bunny. If Ember was for me, I’d be carrying him.”
“I’m not anybody’s toy!” Ember insisted, banging his fists against Ezra’s arm. He pouted and looked off to the side, his brows furrowed. “…And I lost Bulkmon. It turned around another corner and I couldn’t follow it quick enough and when I did I couldn’t find it. I tried looking around for a bit, but I didn’t see anything. You should check your digivice.”
“I already did,” Ezra said, holding back a sigh. “It’s gone. Completely. I looked around the whole area and didn’t see anything.”
“Boo,” Ember said. “That’s lame. It really is playing dirty. Ugh, this sucks! What are we going to tell Quinn?”
Anna shrugged. “We don’t have to tell her anything. Not yet. Bulkmon might show up again and then you can really beat it.”
“It’s weird, though, right?” Bunny chimed in, and all eyes were on her. She frowned, scrunching her nose up and staring down at the ground as she thought. “All the other manic Digimon recently haven’t paid any attention to anything we say. But Bulkmon ran away when it heard Ezra tell Ember to finish it off.”
“It was just spooked by my voice,” Ezra said, shaking his head. “Probably also by Ember starting to evolve. Digimon know what evolution is. Even if it was entirely unaware of what was happening, it must have had some survival instincts, right?”
“I guess,” Bunny mumbled, her ears drooping. Anna patted her head, then looked up at Ezra.
“We can’t leave. We still have to stick around to find the first Digimon we were looking for. And now we have to wait and see if Bulkmon will come back too.”
Ezra tilted his head at her. “I know that. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that we shouldn’t give up just yet. If all we can do right now is wait, then we should do something while we wait, right?”
“Sure. And what should we do?”
“Eat!” Ember exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. Ezra squashed his head down with a hand, trying to get him to quiet down, but Ember just shook him off and grinned, holding his hand back with a paw. “Come on, I’m hungry! It’s getting close to dinner anyway, right? And I was just fighting, I need to get my energy back up!”
“That’s what I was going to say too,” Anna said. In her arms, Bunny perked up so obviously it was almost funny, her eyes practically twinkling in the, indeed, evening light.
Ezra bit back yet another sigh and pulled his digivice back out of his pocket to check the time - 4:53 PM. Considering they had to find a place to eat, be seated, look at the menu, order, and then wait for their food to arrive… it couldn’t hurt to get a slightly early dinner.
Besides. As much as he knew Ember was exaggerating, he did have a point. If Bulkmon (or the other mystery Digimon) were going to reappear, it would be best to have the energy to deal with that - and they hadn’t even had lunch, so busy had they been with, you guessed it, chasing after Bulkmon. The last meal they’d had had been breakfast back at the motel, almost seven hours ago at this point.
…Okay, and maybe part of it was that Ezra was hungry, too, but still.
“Alright,” he conceded, leading to Ember cheering again, still resistant to Ezra’s attempts to shut him up. “Let’s go. I don’t know what’s around here, but I’m sure we’ll find something.”
“Burgers!” Ember shouted, throwing his hands up. “We should get burgers! I want the really tiny ones that slide around! And pota fries!”
“They’re called sliders,” Ezra said, regretting his decision instantly. He gestured forward with an arm, waiting for Anna and Bunny to go before him. “And I don’t know what a pota fry is. French fries?”
“They’re really tiny potatoes that get covered in oil and stuff and then fried,” Ember said. “And you can put cheese on them to make cheesy fries, and you can put garlic to make garlic fries, and a bunch of other stuff! There used to be a Potamon that would travel by our village every so often and she’d give us pota fries whenever she had a new recipe she was trying out. She stopped coming once Cyclomon started wrecking the place, though.” He frowned, looking down at the ground. “I hope one of the Frimon went out to find her and tell her that Cyclomon is gone. And I hope they told her I’m the one who beat it! And evolved! And got a human partner! And then evolved again! Twice! And went to the human world!”
“They wouldn’t know all of that,” Bunny said, but she was smiling anyways. “When everything’s over you should go back and tell them. If you want to.”
Ember grinned. “Of course I’m going to! They need to know who saved the world!”
As the two Digimon continued their conversation, Ezra snuck a glance at Anna. She was quiet - characteristic of her, yes, but there was something strange about it this time, like something entirely different was going on in her head, instead of what was happening right in front of her. She’d always had moments like that, but this was different.
“You doing okay?” he asked her, speaking quietly so that their partners wouldn’t hear it over their own conversation, but loud enough to be heard over said conversation. She blinked and looked up at him, her eyes almost seeming to be entirely out of focus for a second before she readjusted her vision.
“Yeah,” she said, the same way she always did whenever she was lying. “Why?”
“You just seem kind of preoccupied,” he said. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Just hungry.” She didn’t say anything else or even look at him, focusing entirely on the ground below her feet as they walked.
Ezra watched her for a couple more seconds, then shook his own head, resigned. If she really had something on her mind, she’d only share it with him out of her own wishes. Poking and prodding at her wouldn’t do anything.
He knew that all too well.
It took a while to find a restaurant that fit Anna’s standards, but they were seated at a patio before long. Fortunately, they were still able to pass their partners off as stuffed animals, seeing as Ember was small even as a rookie and Bunny hadn’t evolved yet. They weren’t happy about it (Ember still insisted that he wasn’t a toy and shouldn’t be paraded around as such), but it would have to do, unless they wanted to starve.
They looked over the menu and ordered; Ezra got sliders for him and Ember, while Anna opted for mac and cheese, with a salad on the side for Bunny. Ezra checked his digivice a couple times in case Bulkmon had reappeared, but no dice.
Anna was still being quiet, only speaking to the waiter when he arrived to take their order. She refused to meet Ezra’s gaze, even when the waiter had left and all they could do was wait for their food to arrive. He frowned, growing more concerned by the minute. She was clearly deep in thought, barely observant of her surroundings, evidenced by it taking a few times of Ezra calling her name for her to snap back to reality and look up at him.
“What?” she said, sounding slightly miffed.
“I know something’s wrong,” he said, cutting straight to the point. Anna furrowed her brow up at him, then looked down at Bunny in her lap. Ezra propped his chin up with a hand, placing it in front of his mouth. “You can’t keep it from me forever.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, her frown deepening. “I told you. I’m just hungry.”
Ezra raised a brow. “You just seem to have something on your mind. Is it about Bulkmon?”
“No. I don’t have anything on my mind.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Anna wrinkled her nose at him, shooting daggers with her glare. “I don’t care if you don’t believe me. I told you I’m fine.”
Ezra folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. “Is it really something so bad that you can’t tell me? If you really want me to be able to trust you to take care of yourself, you have to be honest with me when something’s wrong.”
He knew he was going against his previous resignation to letting her wallow in her own thoughts, and he knew that this angle of trying to pry her open was just peer pressure without the peer (because he was older than her), but she was just being so… moody. Unnecessarily moody. If she really was upset about Bulkmon…
“You’re -” she started, practically swelling up with anger, but Bunny lifted a stubby paw to place on her arm. Anna took a deep breath and closed her eyes, falling silent for a few seconds. “This is why I didn’t want to say anything. Because you don’t actually care about what’s going on. You just can’t stand the thought of not knowing whatever I’m thinking at any given moment.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Ezra shot back, feeling his anger bubbling over. He just wanted to know what the hell was going on with her, and here she was, completely -
“I don’t believe you,” Anna shot back.
Ezra grit his teeth. Two could play at that game. “I don’t care if you don’t believe me. Just tell me what’s going on. Clearly there’s something on your mind, and if you talk about it, maybe we can figure it out. I just want to know what the problem is.”
“My problem is you!” she cried out, practically exploding. Ezra recoiled, a pang of regret striking his heart, but she wasn’t done yet. “This is exactly what’s wrong! You’re not treating us fairly. Me or Bunny! You’re still being too protective over us even though I’ve told you hundreds of times that I’m fine, and it - I feel trapped!”
She was rambling at this point, her patience clearly having reached its limit as she gestured around wildly with her hands, her eyes wide and full of hurt. She swallowed and paused for a moment, looking up at Ezra, her gaze boring into his own - and then she carried on, curling her fingers into claws.
“I’m not able to do anything when I need to because you’re always holding me back! I know I can get hurt, I know, but if you’re not even giving me the chance to do something, that’s going to do more harm than good. We’ve talked about this so much, I know you remember everything, and you always say you get where I’m coming from and you understand and you’re going to do better, but you don’t actually try.” She squared her shoulders and glowered up at him, her lip almost curling like an angry dog’s. “You don’t listen to me. You don’t do anything. You just tell me that I’m going to get hurt and I need to stay safe but you don’t actually care about that. You just care about controlling me.”
“Anna,” Ember said gently, his ears drooping. Anna huffed and looked away, squeezing Bunny closer to her chest and refusing to meet his or Ezra’s gazes.
“I’m not trying to control you,” Ezra said, choosing his words very carefully. He was trying not to focus too much on everything else she’d said, because if he did, he was going to implode and explode at the same time. He clenched his fists and softened his tone. “I’m not. That’s not what I want to do. I’m sorry if it seems like I am. I just want to protect you.”
“Yeah, well, your way of ‘protecting’ me looks an awful lot like controlling me,” she retorted, mincing no words. She groaned and held a hand to her face, shaking her head out.
“Ezra,” Bunny said, taking over for her partner, and Ezra looked at her. “I’m the one who’s supposed to protect Anna. I’m her partner. That’s my job. But if you’re not going to let me do that, none of us will be able to keep her safe.”
She was obviously talking about how Ezra had kept her out of the Bulkmon fight earlier, and he felt another stab of guilt, even though he knew (…he hoped) he’d made the right decision to do so. “You couldn’t evolve,” he said, trying desperately to defend himself, even though he knew he was just digging himself into a deeper hole. “Bulkmon would have crushed you. I was trying to keep you safe, too.”
“Maybe I couldn’t evolve because you kept me back,” she said, frowning. “If you’d let me try -”
“I don’t want to argue about this,” Anna said quietly, and Bunny and Ezra both sat back at the same time. She looked up at Ezra, clearly still upset, but she was doing an admirable job of holding herself back, Ezra could tell.
If only the same could be said for him.
She shook her head again, staring down at the surface of the table. “I don’t care if you want to protect me. There’s… going to be a time when you can’t, and if Bunny and I don’t figure out how to take care of ourselves now, we won’t be ready for it when we need to.”
Ember had been silent the entire time, but now, he looked up at Ezra, patting his arm gently. “We talked about this,” he murmured, and Ezra bit his lip.
“I know,” he said back, keeping his voice low as well. “I’m just worried.”
“You’re allowed to feel that way,” Ember said. “But Anna’s right. You need to give her the freedom she deserves.”
Ezra opened his mouth to reply, to tell Ember that he was trying, that he had to keep Anna safe, even if she didn’t want him to - but at that moment, their waiter approached the table, carrying their food with him. Reluctantly, he shut his mouth, nodding at the waiter as he set their food down and told them to enjoy their meal. It would have to wait for now.
They ate in total silence, saying nothing to one another, not even partner to partner. Ezra snuck fries and pieces of his sliders down to Ember when he could, an action Anna was mirroring with Bunny’s salad, but that was the only interaction they had with each other, aside from the occasional passing of salt or ketchup or parmesan cheese.
It didn’t mean Ezra wasn’t thinking. He wished it did.
Now that he was able to reflect on the conversation, he felt like shit. He shouldn’t have pressed her - he’d literally said to himself earlier that it wouldn’t end well, and that she’d only share what was bothering her if she wanted to. She hadn’t wanted to, and he hadn’t been able to accept that, and he’d poked at her until she’d burst open. They’d made a scene, the very last thing that should have happened while they were here, especially with their Digimon in their laps and Bulkmon’s appearance so recent. Nobody had said anything to them about it, but they’d obviously heard. They’d heard everything. Just like Ezra had.
And… he knew that Anna had a point. He knew that he and Ember had talked about this, the very first day that they’d seen Anna in the Digital World, when he’d pressed her like he had today and she’d exploded and ran off. He knew that she and Bunny and Ember were all right. He knew he wouldn’t be able to protect her forever.
And that was what scared him.
With everything that had happened to Anna in her life - even if he still didn’t know what exactly it was - and with everything that had happened over the course of their journey, and with everything that would happen in the weeks to come… he didn’t want her to be hurt ever again. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. It was just…
If something happened to her, it would be his fault. He was supposed to keep her safe. If he couldn’t do that, what good was he?
Ezra sighed, taking a bite of his slider morosely. He just had to let Anna cool down. They could talk about it later. Hopefully she’d be more receptive to it once she’d had the chance to think it over, just like he did.
And hopefully, he wouldn’t say anything else that he’d end up regretting.
Their meal continued mostly without interruption. After about ten or fifteen tense minutes of eating in silence, Ezra cautiously broke the ice, asking Anna how her macaroni was tasting. She’d hesitated at first, probably debating whether to entertain him or not, but she’d eventually given in, admitting that it was quite good. Bunny and Ember piped up too, saying that their own food was also delicious, and Ezra concurred.
But “mostly” without interruption doesn’t mean “entirely”. Just as they were finishing eating and getting ready to wrap things up, shouts from further down the street got their attention. Ezra leaned back in his chair to try to catch sight of whoever was yelling and what they were yelling at, even though he had a sinking feeling that he already knew. Sure enough, a group of people were crouched on the sidewalk, cowering away from the giant neon dinosaur running down the road, caring very little about what it had to step over or on to get by.
“Fuck,” Ezra said flatly, standing up so quickly he almost knocked his chair over. Right now, of all times? It had to reappear right now? Why the hell hadn’t his digivice gone off? He fished it out and switched it on, struggling with only being able to use one hand (since he was still holding Ember), but he got to the map eventually. Passing by so quickly it was sure to overtake them within seconds was a white marker that, when pressed, revealed the name “Bulkmon”.
So it was showing up on the map, it just hadn’t given an alert. That was strange.
Strange, and also the very least of his concerns. He put his digivice away and reached into his opposite pocket to pull out the fifty dollar bill Quinn had given him a couple days ago that he hadn’t used until now, and pressed it onto the table, tucking it under his plate. He couldn’t remember exactly how much their dinner had cost, but that had to be enough for it, the tax, and the tip, right? …He hoped. He didn’t really have any other options.
“Let’s go,” he said, glancing over at Anna and Bunny, who had already gotten to their own feet (well, Anna had) and were ready to go. They nodded at him, and he led the way, resisting the instinct telling him to grab Anna’s arm to make sure she was close by to him.
In a flash of bright yellow and green, Bulkmon shot past, barreling by without sparing a single thought to the four of them. They took off after it, their feet hitting the pavement so hard that they almost couldn’t feel it.
Bulkmon didn’t even notice it was being pursued - or if it did, it didn’t care. Ezra wasn’t sure which one would be better. It was fast, faster than it had been earlier. That was weird, right? Where the hell was it going? Did it have a destination in mind, or was it simply running for the thrill of it?
Whatever the answer was, they didn’t stand a chance of catching it like this. Bulkmon disappeared into the distance before the four of them even got down the block, and they came to a halt at the edge of the sidewalk. Ezra cursed under his breath and pulled his digivice out to see where it had gone. It was continuing on a straight line, heading deeper into the downtown, and when he looked up in the direction it had gone again, he couldn’t see it.
But then the white dot on the digivice took a sharp left and seemed to slow down. Ezra panned around to see the street lines better, and felt a well of satisfaction when he saw they could possibly cut it off if they ran parallel to it.
“I need you to evolve,” he said, looking down at Ember, who perked up. “We can’t run fast enough to catch up with it like this. Think you could give us a lift?”
“Of course!” his partner said, clenching his fists and grinning as he went up in orange light and Ezra’s digivice gave its spiel. In moments, he was replaced by his champion form, and he knelt down to let Ezra and Anna on. “Let’s go!”
Ezra had been assuming that he’d be running to catch up with Bulkmon, but as it turned out, he was sorely mistaken. Ember lifted into the air with a one-two flap of his wings, and took off, soaring high over the streets below. Ezra yelped, clutching onto his mane tightly, resisting the urge to look down and see just how high up they were. He’d ridden on Ember while he flew a couple times in the past, but it was only for very short distances, and he wasn’t flying nearly as high as he was now. In a stark contrast to his own surge of fear, Anna let out a whoop from behind him, holding one arm out and spreading her fingers to let the wind rush through them.
They could get a better look at the streets from this high up, and it was easy enough to spot Bulkmon down below, a bright yellow splatter amidst the muddy grays and browns of the city. Though it had slowed down, it was still deceptively fast, and Ember had to pump his wings twice as hard to match its speed and not let it get away.
“So what’s the plan?” he called out, looking back over his shoulder to catch Ezra’s eye. “We should probably try to head it off somewhere that it can’t run away. See any dead ends up ahead?”
“Not yet,” Ezra said, raising his voice to be heard over the wind blowing by. “Keep going for a bit?” God, he really shouldn’t be looking down, but he had to see where Bulkmon was and if there was anywhere they could pin it…
As if in response to his anxiety, Bulkmon took another turn, this time heading down a wide but empty alleyway. The setting sun cast long and dark shadows across the city, and the only reason Ezra could even still see Bulkmon was due to its practically fluorescent skin, and the fact it stopped just a few yards deep into the alley. Ezra pointed down at it, and Ember nodded, then tucked his wings in to dive down, the wind barreling past them.
“No don’t do that stop stop stop!” Ezra shrieked, slapping his hands over his eyes and curling into himself as much as he could. Anna’s arm tightened around his stomach, squeezing him almost reassuringly, and a fraction of tension slipped out of his body, but not nearly enough. Even when Ember (supposedly) flared his wings out to slow his descent and touch down, his paws tapping the asphalt so gently he may as well have been feather-light, the rolling in Ezra’s stomach remained, as if trying to make up for the sudden loss of momentum. Anna tapped his shoulder gently, and he hesitantly lowered his hands, cracking an eye open to make sure they were actually on the ground.
They were. The dread in Ezra’s body subsided, and shakily he dismounted from Ember, landing on wobbly legs. He helped Anna and Bunny down, then looked over at the alley. Ember had landed further down the street, out of view of the entrance to the alley. There wasn’t anybody else on the street, only a few parked cars and some birds in the trees planted along the sidewalk; he’d be alright to stay evolved for a little while.
Silently, Ezra motioned for the other three to follow him, and they crept forward toward the alley. He peeked around the side of the building to catch sight of Bulkmon, still visible in the darkness with its bright scales. Ember stayed out of the alleyway while Ezra and Anna inched forward, hiding behind a dumpster just big enough to obscure them. Bunny peered out from between Anna’s arms, and Ezra tilted his head to see past the dumpster and keep an eye on Bulkmon, waiting for the right moment to strike.
It looked around, lifting its snout to sniff at the air; either it didn’t have a good sense of smell, or they were downwind, or maybe it wasn’t smelling for them. Whatever the case, it lowered its head and looked deeper into the alley, scraping its claws against the stone below it.
And then something far too big to be a human stepped closer, still obscured enough by the shadows for Ezra to get a good look at it. He furrowed his brow, quieting his breath as he watched.
Bulkmon didn’t say anything, just stared up at the shadowy figure with empty eyes. It curled its lips back in a snarl, but it didn’t seem to be angry at the figure - more like… reverent, almost, evidenced further by the way it dropped its front legs into something like a bow. The figure tilted what Ezra assumed was its head, and snorted, steam billowing out from its nostrils, faintly visible in the darkness.
“Running away, just as a coward would,” it rumbled. Bulkmon pressed itself closer to the ground, squeezing its eyes shut tight. The figure paused, then huffed a laugh. “And yet, it allowed you to live. Perhaps cowardice is useful.”
Bulkmon looked up at the figure, something like hope shining in its blank eyes. It didn’t move from its bowed position, but its tail twitched slightly.
The figure continued. “But you cannot win as you are now. You lack strength. You must awaken your rage.”
It lifted its hand, holding it out toward Bulkmon. Bulkmon finally stood up, getting to its feet slowly and carefully, gazing up at the figure’s hand, waiting for something. Just above the figure’s palm, a small indigo orb appeared, hovering in the air and bobbing up and down.
A Code Key.
The figure pressed it into Bulkmon’s chest, a faint indigo glow spreading out from the point of impact. It retracted its hand, pulling the Code Key back out and clenching its fingers around it, but the glow remained. It spread over Bulkmon’s body, coating it deep blue for just a few seconds before it disappeared, overtaken by a dark red, almost black aura.
And then it got way too loud in the alley.
The high-pitched ringing sound that emanated from Bulkmon’s dark, staticky body was faintly familiar to Ezra - hadn’t he heard something like this before? It wasn’t the sound that their digivices made when their partners evolved, but it was similar, as if it had been pitched up and distorted - and then he remembered where he’d heard it. Up on Twister Mountain, when Castor and Aldamon had been fighting the manic Greymon, and then it had begun to glow deep red, and this very same screeching sound had started up, and then it had -
Oh, fuck.
“What is that?” Anna asked, her breath hitching in her chest as she looked up at Ezra with wide eyes. Her hands were clamped over her ears, her elbows pressed together to try to hold Bunny, who was attempting to cover her own ear tendrils with stubby little paws. Anna looked over at Bulkmon, fear flashing across her face. “What’s happening to it? Why is it so loud?”
“It’s evolving,” Bunny whispered, barely audible over the sound still ringing throughout the air. “That Digimon used a Code Key to make it evolve.” She trailed off, looking down at her paws. “…Would that have happened to me if…?”
Anna hadn’t kept her voice down while she’d asked what was going on, and it had gotten the two Digimon’s attention (because the other figure was very clearly a Digimon). As Bulkmon grew to take on its new form, the taller Digimon turned to look at them, its eyes reflecting off the faint glow of Bulkmon’s evolution - deep, solid red, as if something had gone wrong while it had been turned manic, even though Ezra knew that it wasn’t, and not just because of the fact it had been speaking only moments ago.
The light and noise died down from not-Bulkmon, revealing a tall, humanoid Digimon, with black and red skin and wearing bright yellow pants. Two long white ribbons flowed down from its shock of neon yellow hair, each crackling with electricity at the ends, flaring up when it turned to face Ezra, Anna, and Bunny.
The taller Digimon tilted its head, then looked down at not-Bulkmon. “Kill them.”
Ezra and Anna didn’t have any time to react before not-Bulkmon darted forward, its fists already beginning to spark. “
Instead of punching them, like Ezra expected from the way it was looking at them and clenching its fists, it opened them wide, and from the palms shot out giant balls of energy, glowing bright yellow and heading straight for the two humans. Ezra grabbed onto Anna and pulled her out of the way just in time, and the two crashed onto the stone brickwork, the energy balls dissipating in a flash of light just behind them.
Ember instantly came barreling into the alleyway, his entire front half alight with fire. “
In the back, the taller Digimon began to slink away, taking heavy thudding footsteps as it continued deeper down the alley toward the other exit. Ezra shoved a hand into his hair, resisting the urge to yank it out as he watched Ember and not-Bulkmon continue their fruitless fight. The bigger Digimon was clearly a Demon Lord, and he knew well just how powerful they were - they couldn’t leave it unchecked, but not-Bulkmon wasn’t letting up, and Ezra couldn’t just leave and let Ember figure it out himself.
“We need to follow it,” Anna said, pointing to the Demon Lord, and Ezra opened his mouth, about to say he’d had the same thought - but when he looked at Anna, it was clear she wasn’t talking to him, but rather Bunny, in her arms. Bunny nodded, and Anna took off toward it, sparing no words for Ezra as he tried to pull her back. His fingers closed around empty air, and his jaw dropped, watching Anna and Bunny get smaller and smaller as they ran away.
“What the hell!” he blurted, digging both his hands into his hair this time. “What are they doing! They’re going to -” Put themselves in danger? Get themselves killed? Just up and forget that Ezra was even there?
All valid answers, but Ezra didn’t vocalize any of them, because at that moment, not-Bulkmon threw Ember toward him with an electric kick and cry of “
Okay. He just had to deal with things one at a time. The most important was catching up with Anna and making sure she wasn’t going to get squished under the foot of that giant Digimon, but that couldn’t be the first thing he addressed, no matter how much he wanted it to be. He pulled his digivice out of his pocket and turned it on with record speed, lifting it to analyze not-Bulkmon.
“Boutmon. Ultimate level beast man Digimon. It is a courteous sportsman who has learned the rules of every type of martial arts, and values fighting in the game format its opponent wants.”
Step one: finished. Step two: figure out how the fuck to get rid of Boutmon so that he and Ember could go get Anna.
Ember seemingly knew what was on his mind, as he looked back over his shoulder at Ezra even as his claws erupted into flame. “Go after them!” he shouted, tossing his head in the direction Anna and Bunny and the Demon Lord had headed in. “I can take care of this guy!”
“I’m not going to leave you!” Ezra protested, gritting his teeth as Ember called his attack and slashed out at Boutmon, the flames dispersing harmlessly against its chest.
He knew that the Demon Lord was probably the Digimon Quinn had seen on her map that morning. If she’d deemed it a big enough threat to send all four of them after it, it probably wasn’t a good idea to let Anna deal with it on her own (if she even could), but - but what other option was there? Ember was outmatched against Boutmon, and even if he evolved to ultimate to get a leg up, there was no guarantee he’d be able to beat it fast enough for them to get to Anna before she got hurt or worse.
He felt the panic rising in his chest, the buzzing fear overtaking his body, feeling much like it had back in Server Desert. He hadn’t wanted to feel this way ever again if he could help it, but here he was, driving himself nearly to an anxiety attack because he didn’t know what to do, and even if he did he wouldn’t be able to do it, and if Anna got hurt it would be his fault, no matter how much she’d told him that it wouldn’t be -
Ember dashed toward him, breaking Ezra out of his reverie, and without a word, he scooped him onto his back, adjusting his position with his wings. Ezra blinked, too startled to really protest, and instinctively buried his fingers in Ember’s mane.
“Let’s go,” his partner said, and took off down the alley toward wherever Anna and Bunny had gone. “Boutmon’s supposed to kill us, right? So it’s going to follow us if we leave.”
Boutmon shouted in anger and dashed after them, its feet hitting the pavement hard enough that Ezra could hear it from far behind them - and it seemed to be getting closer. He didn’t look back at it, even as Ember reached the corner up ahead and turned down the street.
It was immediately obvious where the Demon Lord and Anna and Bunny had gone, and not for any good reasons. Much like Bulkmon earlier in the day, this Digimon had left a trail of destruction in its wake, except it was twenty times as bad because the Digimon was twenty times as large. Huge craterous footprints were left in the road, giant paws tipped with deadly claws that were strong enough to crush cars, streetlamps, and trash cans alike. Rubble was scattered across the street, and the few people who had stuck around even after seeing the Digimon were cowering on the sidewalk, holding phones to their ears and speaking frantically, presumably to the police.
Ember darted past too quickly for Ezra to get a good look at any of them, but most of them cried out in further fear when they saw him and Boutmon pass by. It made sense, but Ezra still felt a sinking guilt in his stomach.
“
From behind them, Boutmon shot its energy spheres forward. Most of them hit the ground around Ember as he ran, but a few smacked him in the back, and he hissed, stumbling slightly but not faltering in his gait.
It was a blessing that Boutmon’s power was more controlled in this form, and that it was solely focused on Ember and Ezra, rather than whatever was around it, as they raced down the street. It didn’t care for property damage anymore - the command it had been given seemed to have gotten through its mindlessness somehow.
They were getting closer to the Demon Lord, and furthermore, Anna and Bunny. It was coming into view further up ahead, a hulking mass of deep brown fur and leathery purple wings, covered in chains and pitch black flames. Smoke rose into the sky around it, congealing above its head and blotting out the pale reds and purples of the sunset. It wasn’t running, it was walking, for some reason; almost leisurely, in fact, as if it was just taking an evening stroll.
Ezra pulled his digivice out, ducking down closer to Ember’s back as Boutmon launched another round of energy balls and opening the map. He thumbed over the white dot up ahead, next to Anna’s own white marker - “Belphemon”, Ezra was pretty sure it said, indicating that she’d scanned it already, but told him nothing else.
Wasn’t the analyzation menu supposed to be able to…?
He pulled it open, swiping through the dozens, if not hundreds, of scanned Digimon profiles that his digivice had stored, until he came to the very end and tapped on the small pixel icon of what he could only assume (and hope) was the very same Digimon. Sure enough, the name that popped up was Belphemon - probably. It was in Digicode, and Ezra still wasn’t fluent, but he’d like to think he knew enough to be able to read a Digimon’s name - and he knew what the letter E looked like, and it was in the right spots…
Mega level Demon Lord Digimon, said its description, probably. When it awakens from its eternal slumber once every thousand years, it changes into an incarnation of rage, and anything that enters its field of vision becomes a target for destruction.
Well, now Ezra was hoping that he’d read that wrong, even though he knew he hadn’t.
The profile listed some of its attacks, its field and attribute, a few Digimon it was known to evolve from, and the etymology of its name (for some reason). None of that was important, though (well, maybe the attacks were), because Ezra was about to get a full view of it.
Indeed, Ember skidded to a halt, and Ezra finally looked up from his digivice, staring at the back of the Demon Lord - Belphemon. Anna and Bunny were still following it, having to jog to keep up with it; even though it was walking, its size made it impossible to keep up with normally.
It was a massive… bear? Sloth? Ezra couldn’t tell. Point is, it was a massive furry brown animal, standing on two legs but hunched over enough that its front paws dragged along the ground as it walked, digging deep grooves in the asphalt. Its front paws were covered with golden gauntlets, only its claws poking through them. Three pairs of violet wings stretched out from its back, draped in chains much like its limbs were. Giant ram-like horns stretched down from its head, framing the paw-like pauldrons (pawldrons?) on its shoulders and the red bat marking on its chest.
Ezra got off of Ember’s back so quickly he almost fell to the ground when he landed on his feet. Ember nodded once, then rushed toward Boutmon to meet it head-on as it dashed toward him, going up in a bright white glow as he evolved once more.
Belphemon paused in its tracks, looking back over its shoulder at Ezra and Anna, its red eyes glinting in the fading sunlight.
Almost without thinking, Ezra darted forward to grab Anna and pull her away, leading her up onto the half-ruined sidewalk, out of Belphemon’s line of sight. She wrenched herself out of his grasp as soon as they stopped, holding Bunny away from him and glaring.
“I’m fine,” she said huffily. “You don’t need to drag me around everywhere.”
“That’s a mega level,” he said, pointing up at Belphemon, who had resumed its ignorance of them. “It’s a Demon Lord. What the hell were you thinking going after it?”
“We couldn’t let it just get away!” she exclaimed, stomping her foot. “It wasn’t even paying attention to us! We were just making sure it didn’t hurt anyone!”
“And what would have happened once it did start paying attention to you?” Ezra shot back. He ran his hand backwards through his hair, looking up ahead at Belphemon and listening to the sounds of the fight with Boutmon behind him. “You don’t stand a chance against it if Bunny can’t evolve. You should have stayed somewhere safe until I got here.”
“We were doing fine!” Anna said, throwing an arm out. “We literally just talked about this! Bunny was fine!”
Ezra folded his arms, feeling his patience slip away. “She hasn’t even evolved yet! Did you just expect her to jump into battle with a Demon Lord while she’s still an in-training level? Do you know how stupid that is?”
“She was perfectly willing to do it!”
“She would have gotten herself killed!”
“At least let her try!” Anna cried. She squeezed Bunny tighter, who for her part was doing her best to burrow down deeper into Anna’s arms. “Maybe she’ll evolve if one of us is in danger! That’s what’s always happened!”
Ezra shook his head. “I’m not going to risk your life for something that isn’t even guaranteed to work!”
“Then what else do we do?”
“Let Ember handle things while we get to safety!” He gestured back at where Ember was still fighting Boutmon, doing a valiant job of keeping it away from the three of them. He bit his lip, resisting the urge to flinch when Boutmon struck out at Ember with an electrified leg.
Bunny peered up at him from within Anna’s arms, defeat flooding her face. “I don’t need to be safe, I need to fight, that’s my job -”
Ezra huffed a laugh, ignoring the blood pounding in his ears and boiling in his veins. Ahead, Belphemon had gotten further down the street, but he couldn’t devote any attention to that right now. He looked down at Bunny, tightening his fingers around his arms. “You can’t do your job right now.”
“Shut up!” Anna shouted, balling her hands into fists. “You don’t know that!” She was furious, Ezra could tell. Her eyes were alight with fury, much like they had been earlier in the day, and for a second Ezra paused.
“I do,” he said eventually. “She hasn’t been able to evolve at all in the whole week we’ve been here, not even when it matters -”
Anna cut him off. “You’re being a jerk! She’s doing her best! Can you say the same?”
Ezra faltered again, startled by her words, but he recovered quickly. “I - I always do my best for you! I need to keep you safe!”
Anna laughed dryly, her jaw clenched as she glowered up at him. “By shoving us into a box and never letting us do anything for ourself?”
“That’s not what I -”
“You always put yourself first!” Anna ignored him completely, starting to ramble again, clenching and unclenching her fists as she spoke. “You always think you know what’s best for us but you don’t even know us! You have never kept us safe! If you had, then I - she - we wouldn’t -”
She broke off, stumbling to the side slightly. Ezra reached out to hold her up, but she didn’t react when he steadied her like he’d expected her to. He furrowed his brow, about to ask if something was wrong, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring at the ground.
“Anna!” Bunny cried, shimmying further out of her hold to look up at her worriedly.
Anna held a hand to her forehead, her eyes shut tight and teeth grit as she wobbled on her feet. She let out a small groan, then lowered her hand, looking down at it - and then she looked up at Ezra.
There was something almost… hopeful in her gaze.
“…Ezra…” she murmured, her voice sounding so monumentally different now, even though it was the exact same as always. “…I’m sorry, I don’t -”
For a second time, Anna broke off with an almost audible snap. She blinked hard and opened her eyes wide, and again, they were brimming with anger, but they didn’t seem to be quite as focused this time. She let out an anguished yell, clutching her head again and glaring down at the ground. “Ugh!” she screamed, voice sharp and piercing. “Go away!”
For some reason - some strange, inexplicable reason that he couldn’t put a name to - Ezra got the very distinct feeling that she wasn’t talking to him.
It had been such a sudden shift in demeanor - bubbling over with rage one moment, then distant and apologetic, almost wishful, the next, before snapping right back to seething anger.
Anna had always had moments like that, but this was… different.
He didn’t say anything for a few long seconds. None of them did. Anna refused to meet his eyes, staring instead down at her feet; Ezra took a couple slow breaths, trying to calm the emotions racing through his body.
…Belphemon had been continuing its rampage this entire time, trudging through the street and crushing whatever was in its way. Ezra didn’t know where it was going or what it wanted. All he knew was that it was a Demon Lord, and that it was a mega level, and that as they were, they were no match for it - not even Ember was.
But he also knew that they needed to stop it. Whatever it took, they had to stop it, to save whoever was in its path, and to get one step closer to defeating all of the Demon Lords.
And Ezra knew that Ember couldn’t do that alone.
He took another deep breath in, staring down at Anna, his baby sister, the one person he had to keep safe and protect and save. That was his only job in life: keep his sister safe from any more harm. Nothing else mattered.
And then… he looked at Bunny, his sister’s partner, so small in her arms. That was her job, too. He knew it, of course he knew it. It had just never been something he’d wanted to acknowledge. It was supposed to be his job. He was the one who Anna had begged for help, all those years ago, when she’d been barely half her current height.
But Bunny had done a far better job of protecting her in the past few months than Ezra ever had in the past six years. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, it was true.
There was something indescribable in both of their gazes.
…He couldn’t hold them back forever.
“Do your best,” he said to both of them. Anna didn’t react visibly, save for an ever so slight softening of her expression, before she turned on her heel and took off toward Bephemon, running down the street as fast as she could.
“
“
Ezra looked back at where Ember and Boutmon were still battling - and getting way too close to him for comfort. Boutmon landed a kick on Ember, striking him in the ribs, and Ember grit his teeth as he held his palms out and unleashed his energy wave. Boutmon leapt out of the way, landing behind Ember and in front of Ezra.
It looked down at him, its eyes hollow, and lifted its hands.
“
Ezra didn’t have time to get out of the way. He barely had time to react. He felt trapped in its gaze, like he wouldn’t be able to move even if he had the time to, even if he wanted to. All he could do was throw his hands up in front of his face to try to protect it, an instinctive motion, one he almost didn’t even realize he was doing. It was all he could think to do.
The energy balls shot forth and exploded against his face, sending him falling to the ground, his fingers digging into each other even as he landed on his back. Pain ricocheted through his hands, his face, his body. For a few long seconds, he couldn’t move, stunned and wounded by the lightning that coursed through his body, and he knew he had to get up, because Boutmon was stepping toward him and raising one of its legs to strike out with an electrified kick, and if he stayed down he was going to -
“
Ember threw himself at Boutmon, tackling it to the ground next to Ezra and unleashing his flurry of flaming kicks and punches. Boutmon cried out in anger, attempting to push Ember off, but it only succeeded in making the fire around Ember’s arms flare up even more.
Ezra came to his senses with a gasp, lowering his hands and staring down at them with fear. Tiny red lines were drawn across his fingers and the back of his hands, looking almost fern-like. They seemed to be buzzing beneath his skin, even though when he held one hand up to his cheek, he felt nothing except for a vague discomfort at the injury being touched.
…It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but…
He looked down the street, where Belphemon was continuing its trek and Anna and Bunny were following it. He couldn’t see them through the chaos that followed Belphemon, but he knew they were there - and he knew that he and Ember had to catch up to them, fast.
Fortunately, Boutmon was finally wearing down. Ember shoved it back with another kick, then pulled his hands in close to his chest, gathering energy in his palms. “
It hit Boutmon straight on, and it staggered backward, raising one leg to try to keep its balance. It failed, and toppled over, landing on its back much like how Ezra had just a minute or two ago.
Boutmon didn’t even have time to get up before Ember was looming over it, clenching his fists as he glared down at it. He didn’t say anything, just drew his hands in once more to release one final attack.
“
The attack exploded around Boutmon at point-blank range; when the flames and smoke died down, it was already shifting and pixelating, its eyes closed as it accepted its fate. Ember didn’t move from where he stood, breathing heavily, until it had burst apart into data.
He snapped his head up to look at Ezra, concern shining in his fiery eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked, heading to his side immediately. He knelt down to be more eye-level with him, and reached one massive paw out toward him. “I’m sorry, I tried to stop it, I should have -”
“I’m fine,” Ezra said, though he winced as he stood up properly, leaning on Ember’s outstretched forearm for support. “It’s alright. It’s gone now, yeah?” He forced a smile, and though Ember looked unconvinced for a moment, eventually he relented, nodding slowly.
He turned his head to look down the road at Belphemon, his eyes narrowing as the fire on his mantles flickered. “Alright,” he said, looking back down at Ezra. “Let’s go take care of that thing, now.”
He scooped Ezra into his hands gently, his palms just big enough to fit him comfortably. Despite knowing his partner wouldn’t let him fall or get hurt, Ezra instinctually grabbed onto one of his claws, peeking over them as Ember took off toward Belphemon. It wasn’t nearly as terrifying a mode of transport as riding on Firamon had been, but Ezra couldn’t say he was entirely satisfied with it.
Regardless, though, it got them to their destination easily and quickly enough. They reached Anna and Bunny with ease, the two of them following Belphemon as it tramped through the streets. Bunny still hadn’t evolved, but she and Anna clearly weren’t giving up, evidenced enough by the fact they were still chasing Belphemon.
Ember set Ezra down next to Anna and Bunny, and the two of them paused for a moment to acknowledge him. Ember took advantage of the lull to launch himself toward Belphemon; he was confined to the ground, unable to reach high enough to attack it head-on, but he did have a -
“
…At first. After a brief moment, it paused, stopping in its tracks to look over its shoulder at the four, for the second time that day. It snorted, releasing more steam from its nostrils.
“Do you really think you stand a chance against me,” it rumbled, scraping its claws against the asphalt beneath it. “You are no match for the power of a Demon Lord. You weren’t even a match the first time we met, long before I achieved this form.”
Ezra blinked, curling his hands into fists. The first time they’d met? Was it talking about earlier in the day, when they’d seen it in the alley? Or… was this a Digimon they’d encountered before?
“Last time,” it continued, ignoring Ember while he launched another Crimson Wave, “you had miraculous evolutions that granted you extra power, and yet it still wasn’t enough. Right now, you don’t, and I am stronger than both of you combined.”
Ember snarled and readied his fists. “Bold words from someone who isn’t fighting back!
“That’s Astamon?” Anna said almost instantly, her eyes going wide as Ember leapt toward Belphemon. She paused, her breath hitching in her throat, then shook her head out. “…Didn’t he say something to you about how he didn't want to fight? And Ember’s right, he’s not fighting back right now - and Bunny and Ember both evolved when they fought Astamon…”
“Oh shit,” Ezra mumbled, glancing at Ember, still trying desperately to attack Belphemon, to draw its - his - attention, to do anything to him. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them, he focused on Ember fully, sweeping an arm out and raising his voice. “Ember! It’s Astamon! Give him all you’ve got!”
“Already on it!” Ember replied with a grin. He pulled himself up taller, staring up at Belphemon as the fire across his body roared to life. “
The blast he unleashed this time was nearly twice as large as usual; it hit Belphemon square in the shoulderblades, and he growled as the flames dispersed. With a thudding stomp, he turned to face the group properly, lowering himself to the ground in a quadrupedal stance.
“
Ember darted backward to scoop up the humans and Bunny, running away from the fire as it spread toward them. He didn’t stop running until the sound of crackling flames and the smell of heavy smoke died down, when he had almost reached the spot where he’d fought Boutmon; when the coast was clear, he set his passengers down carefully and turned to glare at Belphemon.
Bunny jumped out of Anna’s arms without a word, dashing toward Belphemon. Anna reached out for her, her mouth falling open in shock and worry, but Ember shook his head at her.
“Stay back,” he said, looking between her and Ezra. “We’ve got this.”
Bunny had already bounded forward, closing the distance to Belphemon about halfway. Her ear-tendrils flicked backward, and then she jumped into the air, opening her jaws wide to reveal rows of teeth.
“
They got about seven feet ahead of her before they burst apart and disappeared, and she landed back on the ground with a soft pattering of her tiny feet. She frowned, wrinkling her nose, and picked up the pace again, racing toward Belphemon as fast as her little legs would take her.
Ember nodded and took off after her, following close behind. She was tiny, but she was fast, able to skirt around torn-up chunks of the road more deftly than him, and they were evenly matched in speed. Ember brought his hands together as they got closer to Belphemon, flames building up in his palms.
“
“
“
“
Bunny’s bubbles faded away before they reached Belphemon, but Ember’s attack once more hit its target, though as always, it had no effect. Belphemon snorted, flexing his claws as he set one giant paw on the ground, practically leaving an impact crater in the asphalt.
Next to Ezra, Anna grabbed onto his arm, her fingers digging into the fabric of his sleeve.
Belphemon lowered his head, his horns beginning to crackle with green electricity. “
A blast of pure electric energy shot forth, aimed for the two still-approaching Digimon. One of Ember’s blades flicked up to extend its shield, protecting his face, and Bunny jumped to hide underneath a nearby chunk of concrete that had been uprooted. The lightning smashed into the ground, sending sparks and more asphalt flying everywhere, some of it reached Ember and bouncing off his shield.
He and Bunny did not falter, though. When the attack faded and the lightning around Belphemon’s horns died down, they started forward again. Ember increased his pace to catch up to Bunny, running beside her.
She blinked up at him, never faltering in her stride. Ember tilted his head and then held a hand out, palm-up, toward her. Bunny looked between it and his face, something dawning on her own.
She hesitated for all of one second before she hopped up into his palm.
Ember grinned, clenching the opposite fist and then putting on another burst of speed. They were mere yards away from Belphemon, and the fire across Ember’s body was roaring more fiercely than ever before.
Ezra looked down at Anna, still clutching his arm, and took a deep breath.
He didn’t need to say anything to her. She looked up at him, finally meeting his gaze, even despite everything that had happened so far. She nodded once, and they both looked out toward their partners, then ran forward to rejoin them.
Belphemon noticed this. He noticed Ember and Bunny getting closer, and he noticed Ezra and Anna heading toward him. His eyes narrowed and he growled low in his throat, the smoke around his chains swelling up as he prepared to attack.
He didn’t get the chance.
When they reached him, Bunny leapt from Ember’s palm toward Belphemon’s face, her eyes shining so brightly even in the dying sun that Ezra had to resist the urge to look away.
“
The bubbles that shot forth from her mouth did not burst before they reached their target. They drifted forward, closer and closer to Belphemon’s face, granted the extra height and smaller distance by Ember holding her up and her own jump into the air. They almost looked like tiny moons, hovering in the sky, orbiting a planet that did not exist.
One of the bubbles bounced against Belphemon’s cheek and popped.
Belphemon blinked slowly and watched Bunny as she landed on the ground, still glaring fiercely and her mouth pulled back into a snarl.
He roared.
Hot breath and spittle rushed over Ezra and Anna, and they ducked, covering their faces with their arms. The sound was low and hollow, almost witless in its ferality. The emptiness in Belphemon’s crimson eyes only made it all the more terrifying.
Ezra lowered his arms and looked up at Belphemon just in time to see the smoke around his chains beginning to swirl again.
“
The fire rushed outwards once more. Ezra took Anna’s hand and just ran with her, trying so hard to get away from the attack that would surely kill them if they stayed put and only might not kill them if they didn’t. He couldn’t feel his feet hitting the ground. He didn’t even know if he was still holding Anna’s hand. All he could see and hear and feel and smell was the pouring smoke and the raging black flames and the ringing in his ears and the pounding blood in his veins, rushing up and down his legs and arms and chest and throat.
He tripped over a chunk of concrete in the way, falling forward and almost landing on his face. Anna yanked him back at the last moment, pulling with all her might, and she just managed to keep him upright. Ezra took a deep, shaky breath in, turning to look down at her with what he knew were fearful eyes.
She met his gaze evenly, and then from behind her, closer to Belphemon, a faint white light shone.
The smoke and dust settled down just as Ember launched another Crimson Wave up at Belphemon - but he wasn’t alone. Standing next to him on the ground, half the size of his foot, was Bunny, in her rookie form.
Her antenna began to glow. “
The sphere of light went straight for Belphemon’s chest, flashing and dissipating in the center of all the red markings. Belphemon growled and pulled himself back, raising one paw in the air. “
“
She lifted her head to glare up at Belphemon and flexed the protrusions on her back. “
Belphemon shook his head out and rumbled low in his throat, his eyes narrowing down at Bunny and Ember. His horns began to crackle with lightning again, and he lowered himself back down to the ground, digging his claws into the concrete. Bunny readied her fists, preparing to attack if need be; Ember pulled his hands closer to his chest, flames beginning to build within them.
Belphemon struck first.
“
“
The fire and electricity struck each other mid-air, clashing in an explosion of sparks and embers. It practically exploded outward, a shining ball of green lightning and orange flames, scorching the road and nearby buildings. Signposts and power lines were cracked and felled; bushes and trees were burnt to ash in an instant. Ezra once more raised an arm to protect his face, more from the sight of it and the shockwave of air that ensued than the attack itself. Next to him, Anna took a step forward and clenched her fists, staring at Bunny so intently it looked like she was trying to communicate telepathically.
Another brilliant flash of white light followed, cleaving through the green and orange with its sheer intensity. When it and the smoke and fire and lightning died down, Bunny stood in her ultimate form, holding her axe out toward Belphemon.
She raised one leg, poised to move. “
He stared down his nose at her, then shifted his gaze toward where Ezra and Anna were crouched further down the street.
He didn’t even call an attack. When Ember rushed forward, his limbs ablaze, and when Bunny lifted her axe and shield to transform into her crossbow, he knocked them each aside with a one-two swipe of his paws. They went scattering, rolling along the ground like bowling balls, aiming for the nearby buildings that acted as pins. Ezra’s shoulders tensed as Belphemon took a step forward, his weight sending tremors through the ground toward where he and Anna still stood.
He was looking right at them. Ezra was trapped in his gaze.
“
“
As soon as Ember and Bunny had picked themselves up, they were firing more attacks, each one hitting Belphemon in the side. He simply shook them off, continuing on his path toward Ezra and Anna, smoke billowing from his nostrils much like it did his chains.
His lip curled back in a snarl.
“
“
More black flames ensued, coating the area in darkness just as his previous attack had. Anna grasped Ezra’s hand and ran, taking the lead for the first time that day, and Ezra followed her almost without thinking. They had to go, had to keep moving - they couldn’t make themselves an easy target. What could they do? Their partners still weren’t enough to match Belphemon, and even though Ezra thought it looked like Belphemon was slowing down, he knew he really wasn’t. Did they stick around to try to see things through? Or should they bail out? Maybe call the police - but what had the police ever been able to do all throughout the past week?
“
“
Even as Bunny distracted Belphemon enough for Ember to move in close enough to attack and for her to get in an attack of her own, it still wasn’t enough. Belphemon shrugged them off, pushing them out of his way far more gently than Ezra would have expected him to, even if “gently” meant “picking them up and tossing them to the side”. They struggled to get to their feet; Ember was having difficulty standing upright. Bunny dashed to his side, only a third his size but somehow able to prop him up long enough for him to get his balance.
Belphemon was still focused on the humans.
“
This time, he didn’t aim for them, even as they started to run out of his line of fire. Instead, he launched his attack at a nearby building, one that was already half-destroyed, and one that was right in their path. It crumbled instantly, brick and glass breaking and shattering and falling down in front of them, blocking their exit. They slowed to a halt, looking around for where to go next - back toward Belphemon, or further away? In the opposite direction? Somewhere far away from here, where Belphemon couldn’t get them?
“
“We can’t!” Anna shouted back. She shook her head and balled her fists, looking desperately from her partner to Belphemon and then back again. “We can’t leave you!”
Bunny hopped backward, away from another swipe of Belphemon’s claws. “You must! Ember and I will be fine! We cannot protect you like this!”
“We’re not going to leave!” Ezra yelled, feeling fear and panic and something else, something deeper, more primal, flare up within him. “You’re our partners! We have to do this together!”
“Ezra, it’s too dangerous!” Ember cried, not risking looking over his shoulder at him. He focused on Belphemon, his fists already lit with flames as his feet began to ignite as well. “Take Anna and get out of here! I’m not going to let you get hurt!”
The fire in Ezra’s chest swelled, so hot and bright it was almost choking him. He gasped for breath, clutching the collar of his shirt in one shaking hand. “I know you’re not going to,” he said, barely able to raise his voice over the fear and panic and red-hot pain. “That’s why we’re going to stay. Because we can’t give up.”
Ember and Bunny exchanged glances so briefly Ezra wasn’t sure if they even did at all. They nodded once, and then rushed back, coming to stand beside their partners. Ember brought his shields forth and Bunny gripped her scythe, raising it to hold horizontally at Belphemon.
Ezra’s mind was a blur.
He knew, he knew, that they didn’t stand a chance against Belphemon. He knew that all it would take was one well-timed, well-aimed attack, and he and Anna would be done for. Their partners would be done for. That was all it would take. He knew it. Anna and their partners knew it. Belphemon knew it.
But… they couldn’t just give up.
This was what they were supposed to do. Fight against Plutomon to save the world. Even if Belphemon wasn’t Plutomon, and even if Santa Belina wasn’t the entire world… this was still their duty here, right? The whole reason they’d come back to this world in the first place?
They didn’t have any other choice. They could give up and lose for certain, or… they could keep standing, keep fighting, and maybe, just maybe, they’d win, and live to see another day.
Belphemon was still drawing closer. He had slowed down, as if relishing in the last few moments before he let loose another attack and ended them all, as if he knew that this was the end. That he would win. That they would lose.
They didn’t stand any more of a chance now than they had back when they’d first faced him, all that time ago, but they still had to do it.
He looked up at Ember, still standing next to him, so ready to do whatever it would take to defeat Belphemon. Even if it meant giving up everything he had within him, every last drop of strength and willpower, he would do it. Just like Bunny would. Just like Anna would. Just like Ezra would.
He reached down and took Anna’s hand in his, and she squeezed it tightly.
The fire in his chest burned brighter.
Everything had led to this.
Belphemon raised one paw into the air, smoke spilling out of his jaws, and - still in his jacket pocket, burning so intensely that it almost melded with the flames roaring in his stomach - Ezra’s digivice beeped and spoke.
“Final evolution pending. Do you want to proceed?”
He pulled it out, ignoring the pain against his palm as he held it in his hand. It was shining as bright as a star in an empty night sky.
…A star…
Ezra looked up at Ember, still facing Belphemon, still ready for whatever was coming next. He didn’t even seem to be aware of anything else except for the Demon Lord slowly approaching him.
“Yeah,” Ezra said, eyes never leaving his partner. The light died down, and the heat faded away.
“Final evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
In his hand, that star shone bright again, reducing everything else in the world to silence and emptiness. Ezra closed his eyes.
Follow your ambitions.
Ember was there with him, in the empty white void he found himself within. He’d never seen him in this form, so small and pitch black with only two golden eyes blinking up at him, but it was him. He knew. He just knew.
And because it was Ember, and he was so small, and they were here, together, in an infinite plane of nothingness, after all this time, and it was just the two of them, Ezra fell to his knees and cried.
Ember hopped forward cautiously, his little ear-nubs drooping as far as they could. “Ezra?” he mewled, even though he wasn’t really a cat. “Are you okay? Why are you sad?”
Ezra sniffed and wiped his nose, smiling weakly down at his partner. “I’m not sad,” he said, his voice wavering. “I’m happy. I’m… really happy. I feel like I can…” He looked down at his hands, glowing faintly in the pure whiteness that surrounded the two of them. “…Breathe again.”
Ember blinked, and then butted his head against Ezra’s knee. Ezra laughed, startled by the action, and accidentally let loose a few more tears, but he covered them up by reaching down to scoop Ember into his hands. Ember peered up at him. “Were you worried I wouldn’t be able to evolve?”
Ezra didn’t answer immediately. He kept Ember’s gaze throughout his silence, only breaking it when he nodded hesitantly. “…Yeah. I was worried. Worried that… I wouldn’t be enough.”
“You’ve always been enough,” Ember said, the immediacy of his affirmation almost enough to make Ezra cry again. He dipped down, nuzzling Ezra’s palms gently. “Ever since we met, all those nights ago, when I was only a little bigger than I am right now. You’ve been enough ever since then. When you charged forward to fight a Digimon that you knew you couldn’t beat. But you did it to protect us. To protect the others.” He blinked again, then averted his gaze shyly. “To protect me.”
“I had to,” Ezra said, curling his fingers inward slightly. “You’d done the same thing for me. I had to repay the favor.”
Ember’s fur puffed up slightly. “Only because you and everyone else already had. You were there to save the world. And then I got to come with you.”
Ezra huffed and shook his head. “I still don’t know why you did. You left behind the only family you’d ever known, all for a group of humans you hadn’t even known for half a day. For me.”
“I had to,” Ember echoed. “I was supposed to save the world, right? So… I was going to do it, no matter what it took. I had to do it. I couldn’t let you or anyone else down. Even if I wasn’t ready for it…” He fell silent for a moment. “Even if I wasn’t ready, and even if I didn’t actually have to do it, I still would have.”
He looked up at Ezra, his eyes shining in the endless white light. “Because I’d be with you.”
Ezra didn’t know what to say. “I…” he started, then shook his head, cutting himself off before he could say anything he didn’t want to. “I’m glad that… I found you. That you’re…”
He trailed off again. He didn’t know how to finish it. How could he tell Ember that, since the moment he’d first laid eyes on him, he’d known that he was his partner? That he was simply his? He’d never said anything about it, either to Ember or any of the others. Ember had always just been his.
But Ember looked up at him, and even though he didn’t have a mouth, he was so clearly smiling that Ezra couldn’t resist matching it. “I know,” he said, his ears twitching. “You are, too.”
You are mine. It went unsaid, but it didn’t have to be said aloud for them to both know it. That was how it had always been between them. They’d always been each others’, and they always would be.
Orange light spilled in from the corners of Ezra’s vision. He blinked, trying desperately to hold back the tears that he knew would surely come if they spent any longer here, and he smiled down at his partner. His partner.
They didn’t exchange any more words before the light overtook them, just a hug.
“
With the rush of air and noise and light to Ezra’s senses came also a voice, standing out above everything else that surrounded him. He opened his eyes slowly, looking up and out at his partner, standing tall in his mega form - his final form.
“Apollomon,” his digivice, still in his hand, said. “Mega level god man Digimon. It conceals solar-class flame energy which has the terrifying power to smelt all substances, and its almost heartless fervor and pride are barely restrained.”
He was still humanoid, still lion-like, but he seemed to be almost mechanical now. His body was decorated with red and black and white armor, and several familiar gauntlets spewing bright-hot flames. A long mane of hair ran down his back, seeming to flow like fire in the wind that surrounded him.
He lifted his chin up at Belphemon, clenching his gauntleted fists. The giant metal wings that sprouted from his back flexed, then stretched outward, extending energy screens much like the shields his ultimate form boasted. A small, flaming orb hovered between his wings, looking exactly like the ones on his gauntlets and mantle. When he opened his mouth to roar, shaking the very air around him, there was a bright light shining in the back of his throat, ready to breathe flames whenever need be.
He stared Belphemon down with an unwavering, newfound fervor, one that Ezra understood entirely. He knew exactly how he felt, because he felt it too. That unending fire burning within his chest, reminding him that things weren’t over. Not yet.
This was what it had come down to. They were going to win. They had to.
Next to him, still holding his hand, Anna tightened her grip around his fingers.