EPISODE 40 - DARKEST HOUR
“Look. ‘Nother gray car.”
“What? That’s absolutely silver.”
“Nope. It’s not as shiny.”
“It’s not dark enough to be gray!”
“Well, it’s gone now, so you can’t argue anymore.”
“You’re cheating.”
Damien glanced over, raising one eyebrow and one corner of his mouth. “You gonna give up?”
Moxie lifted her chin at him defiantly. “Absolutely not.” She huffed and put her empty hand on her hip, raising the other to take a bite out of her sandwich. “But you’ll pay for this. I’m gonna start claiming every silver car is actually red now. See how you like it.”
“Silver isn’t close enough to red for you to actually get away with that,” Damien said. He leaned back as far as he could, balancing precariously on the edge of the banister. “Maybe you should’ve picked something easier than red.”
“I always pick red,” Moxie said, reaching over to flick his arm. He held it out of her way, biting off another piece of his own sandwich. “And you always use it against me. Who even picks gray? Nobody owns a gray car.”
“Well, clearly they do,” Damien said, “because I’ve gotten thirteen points and you only have five.”
“Twelve,” Moxie shot back. “That last one was silver.”
“I said you couldn’t argue anymore.”
“When have I ever listened to you?”
They were sitting on the edge of a freeway overpass, finishing their dinner (takeout sandwiches from a nearby deli) and watching the cars go by below. Occasionally there’d be one that would pass behind them across the overpass, its speed leaving heavy wind in its wake, and one or both of them would struggle to keep themselves from falling off the banister they definitely shouldn’t be sitting on because it was incredibly dangerous and one wrong move would spell certain death.
But they didn’t care, because this location provided the best view of the cars below them, and if they couldn’t get a good look at them, what would they have to bully each other over?
“There’s another red one!” Moxie said, pointing down as a deep red minivan sped toward them, then disappeared under the overpass. She nudged Damien’s shoulder with her own, almost knocking him backward off the barrier. “Six points now. I’m halfway there.”
“Six isn’t half of thirteen.”
“I need you to shut up.”
They’d been sent out here by Quinn, earlier in the day, to investigate an emergent Digimon and, hopefully, take it down. It had been filmed and posted online, some sort of half-demon, half-angel thing, but it had seemingly disappeared entirely, and they hadn’t been able to locate it in the six hours they’d been looking. They’d checked their digivices, and had Quinn check online again, but it hadn’t been seen since its first appearance. Pop and Bumble were off surveying the area, trying to see if they could spot anything that the digivices (or any normal person nearby) might not pick up, but had yet to report back. Regardless, they’d stuck around - they had a duty, after all, and it wasn’t like they had anything better to do.
At least, that was Moxie’s opinion on the matter.
Damien was entirely convinced it had been a fluke, and that it wouldn’t reappear at all. Digimon weren’t supposed to just disappear like that. None of the others they’d encountered over the past week had, even the Demon Lords that the rest of the group had fought. Why would this one be any different?
Speaking of the Demon Lords. They’d been on Moxie’s mind a lot as of late, and not just because they seemed to be showing up more consistently. They still didn’t know why they were coming through at all, or how they’d gotten the Code Keys, or any of the other hundreds of mysteries they hadn’t yet solved.
If the Digimon that we came out here to find is a Demon Lord…
She sighed and shook her head out, finishing off her sandwich and tucking the paper wrap into her back pocket. Damien glanced over at her, then mirrored her action, leaning back slightly so that his legs were bracing him against the banister. “You good?”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding hesitantly. “It’s just… it’s a Demon Lord, isn’t it?”
“What is,” he said, tipping his head down toward the road below. “The cars?”
“No, idiot,” she said, bumping his shoulder again. “The Digimon we’re chasing. The one Quinn sent us out here to find. It has to be. And…” She looked down at her hands and sighed again. “And if it is, then it means the other two that the others are looking for are also Demon Lords, and that makes six we’ve encountered in total, which means… there’s one that’s still hiding.”
Damien shrugged. “It’ll show up eventually. Can’t hide away forever. Not if it also has some sort of otherworldly duty that Plutomon has given it.”
“That’s what worries me, though.”
“Worries?”
Moxie bit her lip and averted her gaze, staring down at her lap. “…Yeah. I mean. I know that they probably won’t hide forever, but… what if this one doesn’t show up again?”
“What do you mean ‘what if’?” Damien asked, squinting at her. “It’s not going to. It’s been eight hours since it was last seen. It would’ve come back by now if it was ever going to.”
“We can’t just give up like that,” Moxie shot back. “We’re out here for a reason. Quinn sent us here to deal with the emergent. We can’t just go back to her and be like ‘hey sorry but it disappeared so we gave up’.”
“There’s better shit we could be doing right now,” Damien countered, his voice monotone as ever, but Moxie recognized the impatience.
“I know there is, but -” she started, ready to refute his argument again, but then he pulled his digivice out of his pocket and switched it back, the white and yellow plating retracting to reveal his phone. She frowned, feeling something uncomfortable build up in her stomach. “Don’t do that.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why not?”
“Quinn said to -”
Once again, she was cut off by Damien, this time intentionally. “It’s not like anyone’s around to call us.”
She hesitated, the discomfort within her growing with every word he said. I know there isn’t. I know he’s right. I just…
I wish I could pretend that there was someone. Someone who would worry about us being gone. And if he’s not, then…
“Someone will,” she said quietly, staring down at her hands. “The police, maybe. Or uncle Tyler.”
“Would he be such a bad option?” Damien said, his own voice softening slightly. She didn’t meet his gaze, but she could feel his eyes on her face.
Moxie lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “No. It’s just…”
…We can’t go back there. Not right now. But if someone finds us…
They didn’t have the chance to continue the discussion - probably for the best, honestly. A flapping of wings from above caught their attention, and they looked up to see Pop and Bumble descending, hovering in the air in front of them.
“We didn’t find anything,” Pop said, her voice mournful. She frowned and looked down at the ground below, then shook her head and returned her attention to the two humans. “I think we found the place that it was seen earlier, but there wasn’t any damage done. It doesn’t look like it attacked anyone or anything. We couldn’t get too close to investigate, but…”
“It’s alright,” Damien said, reaching out to pat Bumble’s head. “You did your best. We all did.” He stretched his arms over his head, then turned around to slide down off the railing and pocket his phone. “Let’s just head back. Maybe it’ll show up tomorrow.”
Moxie stared at him. “Are you serious?”
“About what,” he said flatly.
“Leaving?” Moxie said, spreading her hands as she stood up too. “I told you we can’t just give up like that. It’s going to show up again.”
Damien shook his head. “There’s no way to know that for certain.” He brushed himself off, then gestured for Bumble to come closer, hovering at his side. “We’re just wasting our time out here. We could be helping the others with whatever they’re doing, or going back to the motel to see if Quinn needs anything, or, hell -” He held his arms out wide, turning in a small, slow circle, gesturing at the entire world around him. “Doing literally anything else other than sitting around waiting for a Digimon that won’t reappear.”
“I mean,” Pop said quietly, coming to land on the banister next to Moxie, “when we called Quinn last, she said that some of the others had also been finding Digimon that kept disappearing, remember? Harmony and Ren were fighting a Baluchimon that had disappeared, but then reappeared later. This one will probably show up again, too.”
“Key word being probably,” Damien said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “We’ve been out here for hours. It’s almost 6 PM. Beating Moxie in car counting is fun and all, but I don’t want to be doing it for another three or four or ten hours until this angel fucker reappears.”
“We can’t give up,” Moxie repeated. “Unless we can confirm for sure that it isn’t coming back, we can’t leave.”
“I think the fact it’s been missing for eight hours is proof enough,” he said.
I feel like I’m going crazy. Why is he being so weird? He really can’t stand the thought of staying out here for a little while longer just in case it comes back? Moxie shook her head and placed a hand on her temples. “And what if it does come back and we’re not here to deal with it? What then? It’ll do too much damage by the time it takes us to come back. We’re almost an hour away from the motel.”
“It’s not going to, though,” Damien said. “That’s the point I’m trying to make. It’s gone and it’s not going to come back. Maybe it’ll show up again tomorrow, but it’s been eight hours since anyone last saw it.” He tilted his head and looked sidelong at Bumble, still flitting at his side. “Probably slipped back to the Digital World or something. Maybe Plutomon doesn’t want it to show its face this soon. Whatever the answer, it’s not going to come back, and I don’t want to stand around naively hoping it will.”
Moxie’s shoulders tensed involuntarily, her breathing quickening ever so slightly. “I’m not being naive,” she said through gritted teeth. “There is no proof that it’s gone for good. I’m not going to leave just because it’s not appearing quickly enough for me.”
Damien shrugged. “And that’s fine. You’re free to stay behind if you want. I, however, do not.” He nodded at Bumble, then turned on his heel and took off down the side of the freeway, speaking over his shoulder as he went. “Call me if something actually happens. See you.”
“You -” Moxie started, clenching her fists, but Pop reached a wing out to place on her shoulder. She took a deep breath, glancing at her partner for a brief moment before turning to look back at her departing brother. Bumble met her gaze for a few seconds, then dipped his head and turned to follow his own partner, who was staring down at his phone (definitely still a phone and not a digivice).
I really am going crazy. Maybe both of us are. What the hell is his problem? Leaving just because he’s bored? This is important! Quinn sent us here for a reason! He’s being such a pain in the ass.
“I’m going to throw myself off this overpass,” Moxie muttered, not even realizing she’d said it aloud until Pop inhaled sharply and looked at her worriedly. “Not actually. Just… ugh!” She dug her hands into her hair and groaned, long and loud. “What is wrong with him? He’s being stubborn for no reason!”
“…I mean,” Pop said, raising one eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re not the one being stubborn?”
Moxie chewed her lip and then sighed, lowering herself down to sit with her back against the barrier. “It’s not the same,” she mumbled, twirling a lock of hair with her finger. “Quinn… she and Alpha sent us out here for a reason. She wanted us to be here in case anything happened. To take care of the Demon Lord. To make sure that it couldn’t hurt anyone. If we leave just because it’s taking too long…” She dropped her hand to the ground, brushing aside a few pebbles that her palm landed on. “What happens if it reappears and we’re not here to help?”
Pop nodded gently. “I know. I’m on your side here. But… you know how he is. He’s never been one to wait around like this, no matter what it’s for. And it didn’t seem like he was leaving entirely because of the long wait. He said that… he wanted to actually do something helpful, right?”
She trailed off, looking at Moxie pointedly. Moxie stared back, and then sighed and nodded. Not a rhetorical question, huh?
“Sitting around doing nothing isn’t helpful in itself,” Pop continued. “I know that when the Digimon reappears, stopping it will be the most important thing to do. Damien knows that, too. But there’s no guessing when that’ll happen. And for right now, if there’s something else that he feels is more important, then… I think we should let him. It’s better than trying to force him to do something he doesn’t want to.” She placed a wing on her chest and tilted her head toward Moxie. “And it’s not like you and I are leaving. We’ll be here, waiting for the Digimon to show up.”
Moxie didn’t say anything for a few moments. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, staring down at the ground. I know she’s right. I’m not happy about having to wait here. I wish that it could just show itself and let us deal with it now instead of just drawing this out for longer and longer. Just like Damien does.
But…
“That’s not really what I’m worried about.”
Pop’s brows creased in concern. “Then what are you worried about?”
Moxie’s eyes shifted to the side, not wanting to meet her gaze. “I don’t know,” she said, lying through her teeth.
Because she did know. She knew exactly what was eating at her, and what she was allowing to fester in her heart, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. Not to Pop.
Quinn sent us here together. Maybe it was because the four of us usually go together. Maybe it was because Pop and Bumble are the only ones who could really survey the area. But… I don’t think that’s it. She had to have guessed that the emergent was a Demon Lord. She sent all of us here to deal with it. Together.
If we split up… how can we handle it?
(And, a fainter, smaller voice in the back of her head said, I’ve always had Damien and Bumble with me when we’ve had to face off against something of this threat level - how can Pop and I possibly expect to be able to handle it all on our own -)
Maybe she would have vocalized some of this to Pop. Maybe she wouldn’t. She never got the chance either way, because her digivice beeped with an alert for an emergent.
Dread gripped her heart, but she stood up anyway, opening the map to see where it was. Pop hopped up onto her shoulder, leaning down to get a good look at the screen.
“This is why,” Moxie muttered to herself, letting her sentence go unfinished, but Pop sighed anyway. Clearly, she knew what she was going to say.
The Digimon wasn’t too far away from them, all things considered. It was back in the direction that she and Damien had come from - had he run into it? No, he would’ve called me if he had. Unless he’s not able to…?
Well, there wasn’t any way to find out other than heading to the scene, which they needed to do anyway. That was why they were here in the first place, after all.
“Do you want me to evolve and carry you?” Pop asked.
“It’s not that far,” Moxie said, looking out in the direction of the emergent. “We can probably make it on foot. It shouldn’t take too long.”
“It’s also probably a mega level,” Pop said dryly, lowering her eyelids. “Wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.”
“…Alright,” Moxie relented, trying not to think about how terrifying it was that they were going to have to face a mega level on their own. I know the others have, but…
Pop jumped down and went up in pink light, shaking herself out as she grew to reveal her champion form. She lowered one wing and Moxie climbed on, digging her fingers into the ruff of feathers around her neck. Pop nodded once, then took off, her wings beating almost silently against the late evening air.
The city was surprisingly quiet and empty, considering the hour. Moxie clutched tighter to Pop’s feathers, trying not to let it bother her. It was a good sign if there weren’t very many people out, right? It meant that there was less of a chance of anyone getting hurt. Anyone other than herself and Pop, of course, but they were always at risk.
Pop dipped one wing to catch a draft, stilling her wings and soaring for a few long moments. Moxie directed her toward the emergent, taking care to steer her away from any streets that seemed more populated than the others, lest someone on the ground below look up and see a giant pink eagle flying overhead.
Her mind was a blur the entire flight there. She was terrified. She hated admitting that, even just to herself, even with keeping it inside where no one else could know. She’d been scared of a lot of things in her life, most of them having to do with Digimon (though of course not all), but this was… so much different. She’d never had to deal with something like this before. Fighting a mega level without any backup or preparation. Facing off against a Demon Lord.
Being separated from Damien.
Would it be any better if he were here with her? She’d have his support, yes, but he’d be put in the line of danger just as much as she would, and that was the last thing she wanted. She’d take a hundred bullets in his place in an instant - the possibility that he could get hurt just made her sick to her stomach. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him with her, because she knew she’d feel better if he was, but… maybe it was for the best that he wasn’t?
Ugh, why am I even worried about him? He left. He’s probably halfway to the motel already. Stubborn asshole.
She felt her face falling, her features twisting into sadness, and she forced it back into its neutral expression, even though Pop couldn’t see it. She didn’t want to be thinking about that. She didn’t want to be doing any of this. She knew she needed to - Quinn was relying on her, trusting her, to take care of this Demon Lord, to protect whoever needed it, and she wasn’t going to let her down. She was going to do this because it was her job. But she didn’t want to be doing it.
What she really wanted was something she couldn’t get.
Pop’s voice snapped her back to the present. “I think I see something down there. It doesn’t look like the Demon Lord, though. It’s a lot smaller. Is it what’s on the radar?”
Moxie glanced down at her digivice, trying to match the dot on the map to the figure down on the street that Pop had indicated. It did indeed seem to be the same Digimon that Pop had spotted - so it wasn’t the Demon Lord, then? (I got all worked up for nothing?)
“We should still check it out,” Moxie said. She didn’t know if it was for the better or worse that it (probably) wasn’t the Demon Lord. On the one hand, she and Pop could handle whatever it was on their own, provided it was an ultimate level - but on the other, where was the Demon Lord?
Pop nodded and began to descend. “Of course. Hang tight.” Moxie heeded her request, and Pop tucked her wings in to dive down, keeping it slow so as not to fling Moxie off her back. The street that the Digimon was on was mostly empty, which was good. Less of a chance of someone getting hurt. Or us being seen.
Pop landed with a click of her talons further down the road from the Digimon, and Moxie slid off her back to come around and stand next to her, placing one hand on her neck. They both turned to face the pale ghost-like Digimon, hovering a few inches off the ground not far from them. It didn’t move, or even seem to notice them, until they took a few hesitant steps toward it, at which point it twisted its head around to focus on them.
Now that they were closer, Moxie noticed it wasn’t exactly a ghost, but rather some sort of ethereal humanoid wearing a torn yet flowing straitjacket. Belts were lashed around its waist and arms (it had no legs, hence the hovering), and a long black string attached to the back of its hood floated up and away into the air. Its face was obscured by the hood it wore, even as it tilted its entire upper body to the side to get a better look at the two of them.
“Bombermon,” Moxie’s digivice said when she lifted it to analyze the Digimon. “Ultimate level mutation Digimon. Its sole governing principle is about how beautifully the bombs it creates will detonate, and has no feelings regarding the damage caused by their explosions.”
Moxie blinked once, twice, and then just stared at Bombermon, completely bewildered.
It’s a… bomb Digimon? What the hell? I thought it would be some sort of ghost, but it’s just a straight up terrorist? I know there’s weirder Digimon out there, but… what?
Next to her, Pop lowered her head, fixing her eyes on Bombermon. The tips of her talons and wings began to glow white with the light of evolution - she couldn’t face an ultimate in this form.
To both Moxie and Pop’s surprise, Bombermon lifted its hands as soon as it saw this, waving them around in what Moxie could only guess was some sort of weird reassurance.
“Ah, wait,” it, or rather she, said, dropping one hand and letting the sleeve of her straitjacket hang back over it. “I’m not looking for a fight. Promise.”
Pop halted, the glow dying down as she furrowed her brow at Bombermon. Moxie, similarly, was confused, even more than she had been just a second ago about Bombermon’s bomber nature. An emergent that doesn’t want to fight…? This is the first one any of us have seen. Is she telling the truth, or…?
“What are you doing here?” Pop asked, voice laced with suspicion. “Please state your business in this world.” She cocked her head as she stared Bombermon down, and Moxie followed her gaze, trying and failing to catch sight of Bombermon’s expression. It was too dark, and her hood covered too much of her face - she couldn’t get a good look.
Bombermon lowered her other hand, though she held this one to her chest, letting it drape down somewhat. “I’m not entirely sure,” she said, looking up ever so slightly at the sky above. “I showed up here just a little while ago… and I’ve just been waiting here ever since.”
“Waiting for what?” Pop said. She tucked her wings in close to her body, still staring Bombermon down.
“I’m not sure,” Bombermon said again, shrugging. “I guess just a chance to get back home. Think y’could help me?”
Moxie and Pop exchanged glances again. Pop’s eyes were full of distrust and wariness, and Moxie couldn’t deny she felt a similar sense of unease. How likely is it that an ultimate level Digimon just randomly showed up here in this world and doesn’t want anything to do with it? Why isn’t she more concerned with how she got here or how to go back? Or at least even curious about this world she’s found herself in?
But… they had to assume she was telling the truth. They couldn’t just attack any suspicious Digimon they came across - if she really did need their help, they needed to help her. If I could just get a look at her eyes…
“There’s no way back to the Digital World,” Pop said, looking back at Bombermon. “I’m sorry. We can’t open digital gates anymore.”
Bombermon went silent for a second - in fact, the whole street did. Nobody spoke, or moved, or even breathed too loudly. They just stood, waiting for the other party to make the first move.
And then there was a faint hissing and a sound like the skittering of tiny bugs. Moxie’s eyes narrowed as she looked up at Bombermon, and then widened when she saw where the hissing was coming from. The string that was attached to the back of her hood wasn’t a string at all - it was a fuse. A fuse that was lit at the end, and currently burning its way down.
That was one noise pinpointed. So where was the -
Bombermon giggled, and her head lolled back, just far enough for the hood to slip further off her face and for Moxie to finally lock eyes with her.
They were pure white.
“I know,” Bombermon said, her voice lilting, almost singsong. “I know that. I just needed to buy a little more time.”
Her eyes drifted down to the ground between Moxie and Pop’s feet, and against her better judgment, Moxie looked down. It was a good thing she did, actually, because she finally realized what the skittering sound had been - a bomb the size of a softball, with eight little spider legs and cartoonishly simple eyes and a fuse that was also lit and almost burned down entirely.
Shit.
Bombermon grinned and snapped her fingers. “
I need to run, Moxie realized in the milliseconds between Bombermon calling the attack and the bomb detonating. I need to run to get out of the way.
I won’t survive this. I can’t.
I need to run.
I need to.
I need -
Too late.
Pop dove to cover her, to hold her in her wings and take the hit for her. Moxie felt feathers wrap around her body, and a pair of horns tuck themselves against her shoulders, but it didn’t last long.
Pop wasn’t able to move. Moxie wasn’t able to run.
Bombermon laughed, long and loud and almost maniacal.
The bomb went off.
Everything went white.
Her vision was what came back first.
Not like she really noticed at first. All that she could see was… nothing. Things were still blurry at the edges and in the center and everywhere, really. Even when her eyes refocused, she couldn’t make out any shapes. Was she blind?
No, she could still see. She just didn’t know what she was seeing. Everything was gray and staticky, almost like an old TV, except with the brightness turned way down. She groaned and closed her eyes. She’d rather look at the back of her eyelids than whatever she was facing.
Then, her hearing came back. She didn’t notice it at first, because it was hard to notice a constant, endless ringing that seemed to come from within her ears and permeate her brain. Maybe even saying that her hearing came “back” is too much, because she couldn’t really hear anything except that ringing sound. It was driving her a little crazy, honestly, but she couldn’t do much about it.
Next was the ability to feel. Her fingers twitched, scraping against asphalt and pebbles. Good, she could still move her hands - sort of. With the ability to deliberately feel the ground beneath her came also the ability to unintentionally feel everything that was happening all over, such as the waves of pain that wracked her body and left her gasping for air. She sucked in a few of the pebbles accidentally and immediately spat them out, coughing a few times for good measure.
With another groan, she pushed herself up onto her elbows, not even caring when she scraped them against the ground below. She couldn’t afford to.
She placed a hand on her head, trying aimlessly to stop the pounding of blood and adrenaline throughout her body. It was hard to think like this. She couldn’t focus on much at the moment other than soothing her racing heart and trying to come back to her senses. Too much had happened too fast. She needed to take a couple seconds (or minutes) to readjust, to calm down, to figure out what to do next.
Her awareness of the situation she was in, and what had just happened, and what might happen next, was the last thing to return to her.
Moxie gasped again, and everything rushed back - sound, sight, smell, sensation, pain, consciousness. She blinked hard a few times, practically forcing her eyes open and shut, and pulled herself up into a sitting position. Her hands were shaking. Her entire body was.
But she was alive. Even if she was dazed and disoriented and in more pain than she’d ever been in before, she was alive.
She looked around warily, trying to figure out where exactly she was. The bomb seemed to have launched her onto the sidewalk, if she had to take a guess, based off of the welt she could feel forming on the side of her head and the scorch marks on the opposite side of her body, painting her clothes half-black. Small holes had been burned and torn open in her shirt and pants, and even the parts of her skin that weren’t exposed to air felt like they had been ripped apart and hastily stitched back together.
She was alive. At least she was alive.
Moxie shook her head and instantly regretted it when another rush of agony swarmed her skull. Carefully, slowly, gingerly, she stood up, holding her arms out and clutching onto a nearby lamppost for balance.
I’m alive. That’s all that matters right now. I just need to… figure out where Pop is. And then…
…And then what?
She bit her lip, an exchange for the inability to shake her head out. Blinking slowly, she glanced around, trying to find her partner. She didn’t care about where Bombermon was. She couldn’t. Right now, she had to make sure that Pop was okay.
“
Ah. Well, that was a good sign.
Pop’s voice had come from further down the street, and Moxie turned to find her plunging down toward Bombermon from the sky, one foot outstretched. She must have evolved while Moxie was unconscious.
Bombermon took the attack head-on - literally. Pop’s foot struck true, and Bombermon crumpled from the hit, as if she was entirely formless underneath her straitjacket save for her head and hands. She was quick to spring back, though, drifting away from Pop and holding her hands out as a couple of the spider bombs, tinier than before, rushed forward to crawl over and cover her. “
The bombs went off instantly, and Pop hissed, clutching her side. Moxie took a few steps forward, still disoriented but wanting to make sure her partner was okay, and immediately Pop’s head snapped around to face her. She didn’t say anything, just grit her teeth and nodded as she turned back toward Bombermon. “
She fired the yellow energy in her palms as a beam, throwing Bombermon even further away, tumbling backwards down the street. Bombermon giggled as she pulled herself up, her eyes shining as the energy dissipated. “You’re silly!” she said, ascending higher into the air to hover above Pop. “You can’t hurt me, you know! No matter what you do!”
“I’m not trying to hurt you,” Pop said with a growl, the feathers on her arms puffing outward. “I’m trying to stop you from hurting my partner.
This time, she threw the ball of energy she formed up toward Bombermon, where it impacted and exploded in a dazzling flash of light. Bombermon fell from the sky, but righted herself before she hit the ground, holding her hands out and curling them like claws before pointing toward Pop.
Several spider bombs rushed forth, one of them noticeably larger than the rest. The smaller ones once again crawled up onto Pop, clinging onto her fur and feathers and refusing to be shaken off no matter how hard Pop tried. “
She tightened her jaw and pushed herself up, then dipped back down into a kneel. With a cry, she launched herself into the air, extending one leg down toward Bombermon as she descended. “
The larger spider bomb, which had been sitting at her feet up until she jumped, beeped quietly and scurried back over to Bombermon’s side. Just before Pop would have hit her, Bombermon grabbed the bomb and flung it upwards, where it latched onto her chest. The force was enough to knock Pop off course, and she crashed into the ground just a few feet away from Bombermon, her foot cracking the asphalt apart.
She grabbed the bomb on her chest and tried to pull it off, but it was stuck tight - and the fuse on its head was almost burnt out. With a snap of her fingers, Bombermon laughed, and called out “
It had the same effect as before. Pop was sent flying backward, crashing into a nearby building and sliding down to land in a heap on the sidewalk. Moxie - who had watched all this from afar, trying not to draw Bombermon’s attention - was instantly at her side, helping her up and letting her lean on her shoulder for support. It was a little awkward, given their nearly four foot difference in height, but they made it work.
“That attack,” Pop ground out through clenched teeth. “It takes time to set off. I think…” She trailed off, raising her elbow to her mouth as she hacked out a cough. “I think that, if I play my cards right, I can use that against her.” She looked down at Moxie, the triangular light on her visor blinking once. “Are you doing okay?”
“I’m fine,” Moxie said, patting her arm, even though she winced as she moved. Pop’s ears flattened against her skull, but she didn’t say anything, merely looked back out at Bombermon, who was watching them with mild amusement visible in her blank eyes.
“Try to stay out of the way the best you can,” Pop said, stepping forward. “She tried to attack you while you were out. I’ll try my best to protect you, but…” She lifted a hand to stare down at her claws, then curled it into a fist. “It’s taking a lot out of me to stay in this form. I’ll have to finish this soon.”
Moxie nodded, and Pop, without even having to look at her, nodded back. She darted forward, bringing her hands back as an energy ball began to swirl within them. “
The beam shot straight for Bombermon, and she crumpled in half, drifting to the ground. She righted herself within seconds, and threw her arms out, summoning more spider bombs that rushed toward Pop. “
Dozens of tiny explosions went off all around Pop, and she raised one foot to avoid the bombs by her feet. Instead of placing it down once they’d all detonated, she crouched down on her other leg and then leapt into the air, hovering for a second and then diving toward Bombermon with one leg outstretched. “
“
“You put up a good fight,” she said, drawing one arm across where her mouth would be as if to mimic wiping away blood. “I’ve been having a lot of fun! Have you?”
Pop didn’t answer as she got to her feet, her claws digging into the pavement beneath her. She shook her head out and clenched her fists, lifting her chin toward Bombermon.
Moxie glanced at her, then looked back at Bombermon.
In the darkness, it would have been almost impossible to see, but Moxie was farther away from Bombermon, and had a wider range of vision. One of the larger bombs was skittering toward Pop, heading in at an angle so Pop wouldn’t be able to see it easily. Bombermon’s eyes were fixed firmly on Pop’s face, but her fingers twitched as the bomb got closer.
It’s going to hit her -
“Pop!” Moxie cried out, not knowing whether saying anything was the right move or if it was just going to startle Bombermon further, but she had to do something, right?
It was the right move. Pop seemed to know exactly what she was shouting about, and quick as a flash, she darted backward, away from the bomb. It kept crawling toward her, but it had to pick up the pace in order to reach her quickly enough.
Bombermon’s eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch.
Pop didn’t move even as the bomb got closer. Moxie frowned - wasn’t she going to try to get out of the way? She’d jumped away from it, as if trying to dodge, but now she was just staring it down, as if waiting for it to get closer. Why?
“If I play my cards right…”
Oh, that was why.
As Bombermon lifted her arm and placed her finger and thumb together, about to snap her fingers, Pop lunged forward.
She picked the bomb up off the ground, holding its legs away from her so it couldn’t latch on. The fuse had been lit, and was burning down to the end - it was almost ready to go off.
“
That wasn’t what happened.
Just as the fuse reached its end, Pop flung the bomb directly at Bombermon, where it latched onto her chest, its legs scrambling to find purchase, and detonated in a flash of fire and smoke, spilling outward.
Moxie coughed, waving away the few wisps that had gotten near her. Pop took a few steps backward, coming to stand just a couple feet in front of her, focused firmly on Bombermon’s figure, faintly visible through the smoke. She tilted her head, one ear twitching.
When the smoke cleared, Bombermon was laying on the ground, one hand placed on her chest.
She laid there silently for a few seconds, and then broke the stillness with a hacking, wheezing cough, then a quiet giggle. “How clever,” she said, rolling her head to the side to look at Pop, as her hand and the fuse trailing from her head began to pixelate. “You are fun. Be sure to give them a good time, too.”
With a flash, she disappeared, bursting apart into motes of light.
Pop instantly knelt down, curling her claws against the concrete as she took a few shaky breaths in. Moxie sat down next to her, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the pain that throbbed throughout her body whenever she moved.
“Are you okay?” Pop said instantly, turning to look at her. She raised one hand, hesitating with it hovering in the air for a moment, as if unsure what to do, but then she placed it on Moxie’s cheek, and she tilted her head into it. “I tried to protect you - I should have been quicker, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have trusted her -”
“It’s alright,” Moxie said, lifting her own hand to place on Pop’s. “I believed her too. Better than… instantly attacking someone who would’ve been innocent, right?” She tried to smile, to distill some of the anxiety and tension building between them, but she knew it fell flat. She sighed and looked down at the ground, her eyes tracing the scorch marks that Bombermon’s attacks had left behind, and she closed her eyes again.
What’s important is that… we’re both okay. We’re alive. We’re still standing. In a metaphorical sense, at least.
…This would have been so much easier if Damien and Bumble had been here…
“We should get back to the motel,” Pop said, lifting her head to look around. Moxie frowned and opened her mouth, about to protest - we can’t leave yet, we haven’t found the Demon Lord - but Pop was expecting this, and she managed a dry smirk as she looked Moxie up and down. “You’re in no shape to be dealing with anything bigger than a rookie at this point. And -” She hissed, holding a talon to her chest and taking a deep breath. “Honestly, neither am I. Quinn will understand, I promise.”
That’s not what I’m worried about, Moxie wanted to say, but she swallowed her words and nodded. Slowly, the two stood up, leaning on each other for support and trying not to jostle around too much. Moxie’s body still felt like it was on fire, and whenever she moved her head too quickly, a wave of dizziness washed over her.
“Are you going to devolve?” she asked, looking up at her partner. “I know you said you were having trouble staying evolved… we can walk back if that would be easier.”
Pop tipped her head to the side, considering for a moment, and then she bit her lip. “…I should,” she admitted finally, looking down at herself. “I know there’s really no use staying evolved, but I’d like to be prepared in case something -”
“
“
“…Happens,” Pop finished dryly, as Damien and Bumble came careening around a corner down the street, the former running for his life from the giant Digimon behind him and his partner, and the latter flying backwards to fire an attack at said giant Digimon. Pop sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, dipping her head, and then shook herself out and readied her fists. “Well. Here goes.
Pop’s attack crashed into the pursuing Digimon just as Damien practically crashed into Moxie and almost knocked her over. She extended her arms to hold him up, helping him get his balance back and catch his breath, frowning at him with concern. He inhaled deeply, glancing back quickly to look at Bumble, and then turned back to her.
He opened his mouth, probably to explain what the hell was going on, but his eyes quickly drifted to Moxie’s ribs and legs, where… her clothes were still torn and pockmarked from Bombermon’s explosion, dried blood and ash caked onto her shirt and jeans. “What the fuck happened to you?”
“Manic bomber Digimon,” she said simply. “In both the literal and metaphorical sense. What the fuck happened to you?”
“Manic samurai Digimon,” he replied, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at where the Digimon - indeed, a centauric samurai, with four arms each wielding a massive sword and a giant fanged mouth on its quadrupedal torso - was attempting to chomp down on Pop with that very same giant fanged mouth. “Also in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Ambushed us on our way back to the motel. Name’s Zanmetsumon. Not the Demon Lord you’re so pressed about.”
“I’m not pressed about it,” Moxie snapped, annoyance pushing its way to the surface in her voice despite her best efforts to keep it restrained. “This is not the time for that. You’re getting attacked by a rampaging samurai centaur and your first instinct is to argue with me?”
“Who said I was arguing?” he said, putting a hand on his hip, but his brow furrowed, giving away his own irritation even through the casual air he was putting on. “And it’s not attacking me right now, so maybe it is the time for it.”
Moxie closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “Can we focus on dealing with this thing you dragged in here before we do this?”
“‘Dragged in here’,” Damien repeated, arching one brow. Behind him, Zanmetsumon rammed itself into Bumble, nearly knocking him out of the air, while Pop tried to land a Static Force on it from above. “It feels like you’re pinning the blame for this on me.”
“I’m not blaming you for anything, but you did bring it here,” she retorted, folding her arms. “Did it not occur to you that leading a violent manic Digimon through what could have been populated city streets would be a bad idea? Or at the very least a dumb one?”
Damien’s lip curled back a fraction of an inch. “I was trying to find you. So that you and your dumbass bird -”
“Don’t call her a dumbass.”
Damien ignored her, instead sweeping a hand out to help accentuate his point. “- could help us deal with it. Because we couldn’t take it alone. And it looks like it worked. Or at least, half of it did, since you’re not exactly being very helpful here.”
“What the fuck do you expect me to do?!” Moxie shouted, splaying her arms out and gesturing wildly at herself, at him, at the air, at the battle still continuing just past them. “I just got blown up by a terrorist ghost wearing a straitjacket! I was unconscious for like three minutes! I probably have a concussion, and my clothes are blown to bits, and my entire body aches whenever I move! I sure as hell can’t fight that fucking thing! What the fuck am I supposed to do in this situation?!”
She knew that she was raising her voice too loud, that she was losing her temper, but he’d pushed her too fucking far. She couldn’t handle this. Her mind was pulsing too painfully and racing too quickly for her to pinpoint any distinct thoughts, but they all echoed with the same sensation of frustration and anger and panic, and those were the only things that bled into her words, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. What the fuck was she supposed to do? What can I do? What does he expect me to do?
“I don’t know, maybe try not to bite my head off when I admit that I need your help!” Damien shot back, his eyes wide with fury, lifting his hand to pinch his finger and thumb together. “Because that thing came this fucking close to actually doing that! And I’m sick and tired of it! I thought that you’d be willing to help me -”
“What do you think Pop is doing right now?” she yelled, sweeping one of her still outstretched arms further outward to gesture at her partner. “She’s helping your dumbass bee deal with your problem even though she also got blown up! She literally told me she can’t hold that form for much longer, but she’s putting herself in danger anyways to deal with YOUR fucking issues!”
Damien laughed and dipped his head, but kept his gaze trained on hers. “They’re your issues too! We’re all implicated in this Digimon shit! If it wasn’t Pop helping, it’d be someone else! Just so happens that you were closest, and that I wanted you to help me!”
Moxie groaned and dug a hand into her hair. “Again, what do you expect me to do? I can’t fight! I don’t know what the hell you think I can do!”
“I don’t know, anything other than this?” he said, staring at her like she was an idiot. “Provide some sort of support? Just be there for me?”
“I’m standing right here!” she insisted, gesturing at herself, but Damien was quick to respond.
“Well, it doesn’t feel like you are!”
Moxie took a step back, putting a fist on her chest, her eyes going wide. Damien opened and closed his mouth a couple times, looking from her face back down to the ground, then shut his eyes. In the distance, Zanmetsumon roared, slashing out with the swords in its hands and on the end of its tail, knocking both Pop and Bumble away from it. Its eyes were similarly wide to Moxie’s, but filled with an empty ferality, one that had become more familiar to her than she would ever have liked.
She didn’t want to be doing this. Any of this. Arguing with Damien, watching Pop struggle against a Digimon nearly three times her size and twice as strong, standing here on this dark empty street. Being in this world. Doing any of what she was in this world for.
She just wanted to go home.
But I can’t.
She swallowed hard and turned back to Damien, forcing back the tears that were blooming in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t want to do this right now,” she said, putting a hand on her temples as her head began to throb again. “Or ever. But you gave up earlier. You left me behind. And now we’re both facing the consequences for that.”
“If I hadn’t left,” Damien said, his voice low and quiet, almost dangerously so, “Zanmetsumon would have just run even more rampant. Maybe we would’ve been able to deal with the bomb Digimon, but no one would have been around to take care of Zanmetsumon.”
“That’s not the point!” Moxie blurted out, clenching her hands into fists. The fight was rising back into her throat, nearly choking out the panic and fear that had been there beforehand, filling her chest with a fire that she couldn’t put out. “The point is that you left me behind! We would’ve been able to deal with Bombermon and then Zanmetsumon if we’d been together! But we weren’t! Because you gave up and left me!”
“That wasn’t my intention,” he hissed, gripping the back of his head, and now it was Moxie’s turn to interrupt.
“It doesn’t matter what your intention was! You still left! We were supposed to stay together!” She cut herself off with a groan, turning away from him and putting her hand on her head again. It was pulsing too harshly. She couldn’t think straight. She knew she was just exacerbating the problem, that she was just digging herself into a deeper hole, but - but -
“
“
Her attention was stolen by Pop and Bumble, both calling out attacks at the same time, and she looked toward them to see Bumble’s blast of air carry Pop’s energy ball forward, the wind whipping it back and forth and causing it to grow in size. When the two attacks collided with Zanmetsumon, it let out a pained roar and dropped down onto its front legs, and then - with a shimmer of distortion - it burst apart into pixels, floating down to land upon the asphalt and then fade away.
The street was quiet for a few solid moments, tension hanging heavy in the air between each of them. Neither Pop nor Bumble devolved, instead turning to face their partners and, if a little hesitantly, head to their sides.
Pop stumbled forward as she approached, and Moxie rushed to help her, keeping her upright by letting her lean on her. Bumble dipped down lower in the air to be somewhat closer to Damien, even though he couldn’t really get to be eye level with him due to his size; it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, though, as Damien simply closed his eyes and placed a hand on his side.
Moxie didn’t look over at them as they spoke to each other quietly, instead looking up at Pop as she got back onto her own feet and stretched herself out. “Are you okay?” she asked, keeping her own voice down.
“As okay as I can be,” Pop murmured, rubbing her upper arm. “Fortunately it wasn’t as difficult as Bombermon was. Although…” She sighed, looking sidelong at Bumble, and then shook her head. “I’m… more worried about you and Damien than myself. …We could hear parts of what you were saying.”
“Yeah,” Moxie said, because she didn’t know what else to say. Her heart sank in her chest. I didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand - I didn’t want either of them to hear - but -
“At least it’s over with,” Damien said, drawing her attention. He pulled his shades back down over his eyes, like a complete asshole, because who the hell wears sunglasses at night? He tilted his head at Moxie, his expression unreadable. “Think you could stop blaming me for everything now?”
That was what finally broke her.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she shouted, holding her arms out. “I wasn’t blaming jack shit on you! I was pointing out that this was your problem, because for some reason you couldn’t take accountability for it! You ran away and ended up having to deal with an emergent on your own, which, by the way, so did I not that long ago, and I got literally blown up because of it, but you don’t see me complaining about it!”
“I wasn’t complaining about it either!” he shot back, his tone ice-cold. He hissed something under his breath, running his hand backward through his hair, and then looked back up at her. “If we hadn’t been nearby, it -”
“If you’d stayed with me like I’d asked you to,” Moxie cut in, “none of this would have happened! We’d both have been with each other for both of the emergents and I wouldn’t have gotten hit by a fucking BOMB and you wouldn’t have -”
Damien laughed, sharp and loud, and she broke off. “You are blaming this on me,” he said, smiling, even though his voice was devoid of even plain amusement, let alone humor. “You’re blaming your injury on me. Sorry that I couldn’t be around to take the hit for you. Since it seems like that’s what you wanted.”
Moxie grit her teeth. “That’s not what I -”
“No, you’re right.” Damien waved a hand around, the grin sliding off his face immediately. “Next time I’ll be sure to do whatever you tell me to, so that you can use me as a shield, or at least a scapegoat for all your mistakes.”
“I’m not blaming my mistakes on you!” The words burst out of Moxie’s throat, almost burning her mouth. She clenched her hands into fists, her nails digging deep into her palms, but she ignored the pain, from both her hands and her pounding head. “I know that I’ve been an idiot tonight! I’m not trying to say I haven’t! But so have you! What I’m trying to say is that if we’d stuck together then I wouldn’t have gotten blown up and you wouldn’t have nearly gotten your head cut off! Because we’re -” She groaned and moved her hands to dig her nails into her scalp rather than her palms, glaring down at the ground with a tightly clenched jaw. “We’re supposed to stick together! You’re all I have left! You and Pop and Bumble are all I have left! And tonight I could’ve died, or you could’ve died, and then we wouldn’t - I’d - ugh, fuck!”
Slowly, but far from carefully, Moxie took her hands off her head, staring down at them instead, at the small marks where her nails had nearly broken the skin of her palms. Next to her, Pop shifted slightly; across from her, Bumble hovered silently, and Damien…
She didn’t look up at him. She couldn’t face him.
I don’t want to argue. I don’t want to be doing this right now, or ever. But he’s completely misunderstanding everything I’m trying to say and I’m not going to be able to get anything through his thick fucking skull if I don’t match his energy.
“We can’t always be together,” he said, and Moxie squeezed her eyes shut.
“That’s not the point of this. That is not the point of any of what I’m trying to say.”
“Then what are you -”
“You’re a fucking moron!” she shouted, finally meeting her brother’s gaze. She still couldn’t see his eyes through his sunglasses, but there was definitely something different on his face now, even if she couldn’t figure out exactly what. “You’ve been such an asshole tonight! From when you left just because you were bored and then when you said that I’m a naive idiot for wanting to wait for it and then when you came back with a manic Digimon and laughed at me for still being hung up on it! Of course I’m fucking hung up on it, it’s a DEMON LORD!” She swept her arms out, her fingers curling into claws all of their own volition. “You’ve been a fucking asshole! And I know that you’re always an asshole but you’ve been really stupid and really annoying tonight and I - it’s worrying me! It’s like you don’t care about any of this!”
“Of course I care about it,” he said. “That’s why I’m out here. Sorry that I didn’t feel like sitting around for another five hours waiting for a Digimon that may or may not even -”
“This is exactly my point!” she yelled, pointing one accusatory finger at him. “Your whole ‘oh it’s not going to show up again so why bother waiting for it?’ Look at what happened tonight! TWO emergent Digimon right next to each other! Either one of them could have been the Demon Lord, and if one of them had been, then what? You or I would’ve been all on our own without each other for support! We’re out here together for a reason!”
“Why do you think I would need -” Damien started, but he broke off with an audible click of his teeth. He looked down at the ground and bit his lip, then sighed. “Fine. Fine. Assuming that the Demon Lord will actually show up eventually -” Moxie chose to ignore his wording here, lest they start another argument “- what the hell is us being together supposed to do?”
“Well, for one, it’ll save me a lot of trouble.”
Moxie spun on her heel to face the direction the new voice had come from, instantly on high alert. If her heart hadn’t been hammering against her ribs before, it certainly was now - and it wasn’t helping matters that Pop and Bumble instantly moved to stand in front of her and Damien, taking on defensive postures. Instinctively, she took a few steps toward Damien, completely forgetting everything they’d been yelling about just ten seconds ago, and to her surprise (but not displeasure), he also moved closer to her. They exchanged one short, silent glance, and then turned to face the newcomer as it stepped out of the shadows.
It was the Demon Lord.
It looked exactly as it had on Quinn’s phone, in the shaky phone recordings that had been posted online that she’d shown Moxie and Damien before they’d set out. One half was angelic, the other demonic, but its appearance was far from reassuring. It stood tall, probably around sixteen feet high; Bumble only seemed to be larger than it because he hovered a few feet in the air, whereas its feet were firmly planted upon the ground.
It spread its wings out, five pure white feathered ones and five pitch black leathery ones, and glared down at the four of them, freezing them in place with its icy blue eyes.
“Lucemon Falldown,” Damien’s digivice said, held in his hand and aimed up at it. “Mega level Demon Lord Digimon. It has a contradictory existence, in that one side of it loves all things, as God does, while the other is trying to destroy the whole world, as the Devil does.”
Pop took a step forward, holding her hands together, and Lucemon’s eyes instantly flickered toward her. “Don’t take another step forward.”
There was something almost familiar in its frigid voice, but Moxie couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. Its timbre? Inflection? Maybe the way it’s speaking so absolutely?
Or… its words?
Lucemon inclined its head toward Moxie, its eyes shining. “I know you recognize me. I can tell. You of all people should, after you ruined everything for me.”
Moxie frowned, swallowing to try to work some feeling back into her mouth. …What? I know that we’ve probably met it before, if it’s like the other Demon Lords, but… who is Lucemon? Why would I know it?
…Ruined everything?
“It doesn’t matter,” Lucemon said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’ve come for a little bit of payback. I have a job to do, of course, but it seems I can achieve both. Lucky me.” It tilted its head, looking between Pop and Bumble carefully, neither of whom had moved. “It would be easier for all of us if you stood down.”
Pop laughed, clenching her fists and bouncing on her feet. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
“
The two energy blasts hit Lucemon on either side, Pop’s sphere hitting its angelic wings and Bumble’s laser striking it in the ribs on its demonic side.
Lucemon simply narrowed its eyes and took a step forward, seemingly unimpeded by the attacks. “I told you not to move.”
“To be fair, we haven’t,” Pop said, tapping her foot against the asphalt to prove her point. “And honestly, I’m not really interested in talking to you.”
“Well that’s too bad,” Lucemon growled, its pupils constricting, “because I want to talk to you.
It snapped its fingers, and beneath Pop and Bumble, glowing lines began to form a circle on the ground around them. Pop grit her teeth and made to jump out of the way, but the circles burst to life just as she did, forming a dome of light around them, and she bounced back off the walls as she tried to move. Lucemon observed her coldly, then looked down at Moxie and Damien, who may as well have also been trapped within its attack for their inability to move when faced with its gaze.
The wings on Lucemon’s head twitched. “You cost me everything. I - we -” it spread its arms out, its fingers curling into claws “- were the first to come across your little group. The first to finally confront you. You hadn’t found that other human yet. You didn’t know where you were going. You didn’t even know what you were doing.”
With a crack, the barriers that constrained Pop and Bumble burst apart, and they cried out in pain as the light beneath them disappeared too. Pop fell to her knees, holding one shaking hand to her chest, while the lights along Bumble’s body flickered off and on slightly. Neither of them were in any position to move, and Lucemon seemed to know this, if the arching of its brow was any indication.
It turned back toward Moxie and Damien. “But you,” it said. “You and your wretched partners were unexpected. You ruined everything for us. It was supposed to be easy.” It looked down at one of its hands passively. Above its palm, a small red orb appeared, glowing faintly in the darkness. Lucemon stared at it for a few seconds, then clenched its fist, and it disappeared. “We would kill the humans then and there, and it would be over. None of them stood any chance against us.”
Lucemon looked back up. It took a step forward, its wings folding inward for a moment, before they flared out again with a whipping of wind.
It raised its head and stared downward at Moxie and Damien, then at Pop and Bumble, its expression unchanging. “But then you four came along, and you ruined everything.”
Moxie couldn’t move.
She knew she needed to. She knew that, if she didn’t do anything, and if Damien didn’t do anything, and if Pop and Bumble didn’t do anything, Lucemon would kill them. It so easily could. It was a Demon Lord - so much stronger than any Digimon any of them had faced. This was what she’d been afraid of the entire night. It was why she’d wanted Damien with her in case they had to face it.
But now that they were facing it, she couldn’t do anything.
Lucemon’s eyes flicked up to meet Moxie’s, regarding her carefully. It felt like it was looking straight through her. Like it could see everything within her. Everything she wanted to keep to herself. Had to keep to herself.
Its eyes narrowed. “I told you that you weren’t a part of this.”
Oh.
Moxie did recognize Lucemon.
It’s the Aegiochusmon.
Not just one of them - it’s both of them. Somehow.
How did…?
“
In the time that Lucemon and Moxie had been staring each other down, Pop had gotten to her feet silently, trying not to draw attention to herself - and she’d succeeded. She launched herself into the air and then dove toward Lucemon, one leg extended outward, the feathers on her arms bristling as she fell.
Lucemon’s head snapped upward upon hearing her voice, and it drifted backward, looking almost weightless in its movements. “
In its hands, two swirling orbs of energy formed, one white and the other black, matching the wings on its back. It threw them both up at Pop, and as they traveled, they grew in size until they almost dwarfed her.
They collided with each other at the same time as they collided with her, and the result was instantaneous. The moment they touched each other, they exploded with an energy more intense than Moxie had ever seen, sending massive shockwaves in every direction. Moxie held her arms up in front of her face and dug her heels into the ground the best she could, trying not to be thrown backward by the sheer force of the attack, but she fell onto the ground anyway. Next to her, Damien faced the same fate, and he scrambled to get to her side the moment he could move.
Pop fared a lot worse.
When the orbs hit her, she screamed, knocked entirely off course by the power of their collision and the subsequent shockwave. She fell to the ground like a cannonball, nearly cracking the pavement with the force of her descent, laying in a heap upon the ground. Bumble zipped to her side, trying to help her get up the best he could without proper arms or legs, but Pop was in no state to move.
Lucemon watched all this in silence and with an eerie stillness, barely moving even when the shockwave had hit it, as if it was impervious to the result of its own attacks. It looked down at Pop with something like disgust, and then moved its gaze to Bumble. “Do I need to repeat myself?”
Pop grunted as she got to her feet, stabilizing herself on Bumble. She wiped a hand across her mouth as she looked up at Lucemon, her ears flattened. “If you think we’re going to just let you kill our partners,” she grit out, “you’re insane.”
Lucemon glared down at her, then scoffed and rolled its eyes. “It’s not like you have a choice in the matter. You can either step aside and let me finish this, or you can die with them. But they will die.”
“There’s a third option,” Bumble said, cocking his head slightly. “We defeat you.”
Lucemon raised one brow. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Gladly,” Pop said, grinning dryly. “
“
“You don’t get it, do you,” it said, its voice tinged with fury. It clicked its tongue and looked sidelong at Moxie and Damien as its wings stretched out to their fullest length. “Well then. Allow me to make myself clearer.
It lunged forward, one arm outstretched and reaching for Moxie - or maybe Damien, or maybe both of them, it was hard to tell. It happened too fast for her to be able to tell what was really going on, and even when something rammed into her side and shoved her to the ground out of its grasp, she still couldn’t figure out what was happening, or what had happened, or what was going to happen. She gasped, the breath knocked out of her upon landing on the concrete, and pulled herself up into a sitting position so fast she almost threw up. Her head was aching even more than before, and the entire left side of her body matched it, pain ricocheting throughout her entire being. She shook her head out and put a hand on her temples, looking up just in time to see that it had been Pop, leaping at Lucemon and altering its course by only a few inches, who had pushed her out of harm’s way. Next to her, Damien had similarly been knocked down, and he reached out to help her get back up without a word.
Lucemon rounded on Pop with a new blazing anger in its eyes. “I told you to stay out of my WAY!” it shouted, holding both of its hands up. “
It threw both blistering orbs directly at Pop, and they hit each other before they hit her. The shockwave rang out all around the point of impact, and Moxie only barely managed to stay upright by hanging onto Damien, the two clutching each other like their lives depended on it - to an extent, they did. Pop was thrown backwards into a nearby building by the force of the collision, and Bumble wasted no time in getting to her side, acting as a barrier between her and Lucemon.
Her claws and the tips of her ears began to glow pink, threatening to consume her entirely and leave her shrunken down to a weaker form, one less likely to survive any of Lucemon’s attacks - but, whether through brute force or something else, it died down after a few seconds, though Pop did not get up from where she laid.
Moxie had to resist every urge in her body, every screaming thought in her brain, telling her to run towards Pop and help her up and just be next to her. I can’t leave her like this. She needs me. I need her. I have to go help her. I can’t let her die. I need her. The words echoed on repeat in her mind, over and over, but she was numb to their meaning, helpless and forced to watch the scene in front of her unfold like a bad stage play.
Lucemon turned its gaze to Bumble, its blue eyes piercing in their intensity. “Get out of the way,” it said, surprisingly calmly, though the almost unnoticeable clenching of its fists gave away its true anger.
Bumble simply lifted his head, his wings fluttering quietly. “No.”
“Then you’ll die TOO!” Lucemon shouted, all of its prior composure shattered in an instant. It lifted into the air, its wings beating to keep it aloft, and pointed one finger down at the two Digimon. “This is your END! THIS is the end of the line for you! Stand down and accept defeat gracefully instead of dragging your useless selves around and naively hoping that you can win!”
…Naively hoping?
“But we can,” Bumble said. Lucemon drew itself back, its pupils pinprick-thin, but Bumble continued before it could say anything. He glanced over at Damien briefly, then dipped his head and turned to look at Lucemon again. “We’ve beaten you before. In these very forms. You had to evolve to even get this far. We haven’t. Not since that very day we first met you.”
“This is a gift,” Lucemon hissed. “A power granted to me by the savior of both worlds. I will wield it as my sacred duty.”
“You’re missing the point,” Bumble said. “We can defeat you. It’ll be difficult. You’re very strong. But we can do it.”
Behind him, Pop grunted, struggling to get to her feet. Bumble didn’t look back at her, but one of his antennae twitched slightly, and she stilled in her efforts, holding a fist to her chest and breathing deeply. He looked back up at Lucemon, waiting for its response.
It didn’t have one.
Or that’s what it seemed like at first. It went silent, staring down at Bumble and Pop with a more restrained rage in its gaze, but it still simmered beneath the layer of ice that its eyes acted as. It tilted its head slightly, then looked down at one of its hands, a faint red glow starting up for a second before it clenched its fist around it.
“Is that so,” it murmured, voice deathly quiet. Moxie frowned, about to open her mouth and say something, but Lucemon suddenly snapped its head up and flared its wings out, stretching them as far as they would go. “Very well then. I’ll just have to end things sooner than I had hoped to.
The spell circles and shining barriers went up around Pop and Bumble before either of them could move. Bumble rushed forward from within, slamming against the wall, and was sent spiraling backward as his own force backfired on him. Pop still hadn’t gotten to her feet, even as her own cage had surrounded her, but she looked hopelessly over at Bumble, reaching one hand out toward him as if she could bring down the walls between them with willpower alone.
Lucemon lowered itself to the ground and took a few sharp steps toward them. With a snap of its fingers, the barriers went down, and Pop and Bumble both cried out in pain once more, their anguish echoing down the empty street. Lucemon cocked its head, staring down at them with a vague distaste clear on its face.
It didn’t say anything else, even when it looked briefly back over its shoulder at Moxie and Damien, still holding onto each other, still helpless. “
This time, Moxie and Damien didn’t have the energy to keep themselves upright. They fell to their knees as the blast hit them, but they got off far better than Pop and Bumble. Still struggling to pick themselves back up after the previous attack, they weren’t able to dodge the attack, let alone prepare themselves for it to hit.
When the dust and light cleared, they were both glowing with the light of devolution.
Or - maybe something else -?
Lucemon raised its hand, preparing to attack once more.
“Stop!” Moxie shouted, almost unaware she’d said anything until she felt the lump in her throat and her shaking feet underneath her as she stood up. “Please, don’t!”
Lucemon glanced at Moxie, considering her carefully for all of a second, before it scoffed and looked back down at the Digimon. “This doesn’t concern you,” it said, clearly speaking to her. “Your death will come in due time.”
“Please -” Moxie started, reaching out towards it, desperately trying to do something, anything, that could save Pop. I can’t let her die. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Not at the hands of an enemy. “Please, don’t hurt them. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“There’s nothing you have that I want,” Lucemon said, still not meeting her gaze. “I’m here to fulfill my purpose.”
It needs to fulfill its purpose - that’s why it’s here.
But its purpose is to -
“You - you don’t need to kill them, though, do you?” Moxie’s voice was weak, hardly as decisive or commanding as she wanted it to be, but she couldn’t feel her mouth. She couldn’t feel much of anything at the moment, really, just her shaking hands and beating heart, pounding against her ribcage like it was trying to break free. “Just us, right? Please, I’ll do anything, just - don’t hurt her.”
Lucemon immediately halted.
“…You are awfully attached,” it said, its eyes finally sliding back to lock onto hers. It still faced the Digimon, its hand still raised and prepared to attack, but there was something different in its expression and its voice now.
“Please,” Moxie said, the only word she could get out, the only thing she could think to say. She was begging - pleading.
She felt Damien’s eyes on her for a second, and then he, too, stepped forward, looking up at Lucemon with so much less confidence than he usually carried himself with. “Both of us,” he said, clenching his fists. “We’ll do anything. Just… leave our partners alone.”
“Don’t do this,” Pop said, trying and failing to stand up. The glow surrounding her had once again disappeared, but she was clearly injured and weakened, barely able to hold onto her current form. She stared up at Lucemon fearfully, her teeth grit and ears flattened, then down at the humans. “Please. We can still fight -”
“Silence,” Lucemon said, snapping its fingers, and Pop instantly quieted. Lucemon tilted its head, its gaze flicking between Moxie and Damien for a few moments, and then traveling downwards slightly. “…Alright then. Give me your digivices.”
Moxie blinked, her mind blanking. The digivices? “What? Why?”
“Do you want to save your partners or not?” Lucemon hissed, eyes narrowing. “Hand them over. That is the price you must pay.”
Moxie bit her lip, trying to ignore all the alarm bells ringing in her head. Every Digimon who had ever had an interest in their digivices had wanted to destroy them - was Lucemon going to do the same? What would happen if it did?
Why does it even want to?
But they didn’t have any other choice. Moxie inhaled sharply, refusing to look at Pop or Damien or Bumble or anyone else. She kept her gaze firmly on Lucemon as she dug into her pocket and pulled her digivice out, trying to steady her hands as she took a step forward and held it out. Damien mirrored the action, holding his own digivice up to Lucemon, his face hard as steel.
Lucemon took the digivices far more gently than Moxie would have expected. It lifted them up to get a better look at them, turning them over in its hand, able to hold both of them in just one palm. Moxie instinctively stepped backward, away from Lucemon, away from Damien, away from their partners.
…I’ve just made a horrible mistake, haven’t I?
For a moment, Lucemon said nothing, simply stared down at the tiny devices in its hand. Pop and Bumble stayed where they were, holding onto each other for support and holding onto their forms as much as they could. Moxie didn’t have to look at them to know that. She could feel it, in much the same way she could feel Damien’s eyes boring into the back of her neck, nearly red-hot in their intensity, a sharp contrast to Lucemon’s own icy glare.
“…You know,” it said, eyes still fixed on the digivices. It blinked, staring impassively down at them, and then looked up to fix Moxie and Damien in its gaze. “I have a new idea.”
Moxie swallowed the rising lump in her throat. “What?” she asked, voice hoarse. Is it not going to do anything to them? Why did it ask for them? Why is it taking so long to do anything - why is it looking at us like that - what does it want from us?
Lucemon smiled, the first time that night that it had done so and had it reach its eyes, had it feel genuine. “I kill you anyway.”
What?
“What,” Moxie said, barely audible over the ringing that flooded her ears. She swallowed again, holding a hand to her chest, trying to feel her heart through her skin. She couldn’t. It was like it wasn’t there, but that couldn’t be true, it was there, it had to be or else she would be - “No, you can’t - that wasn’t the deal -”
“I’m making it the deal,” Lucemon said, its voice frigid in its ferocity. “You want to save your partners? Fine. Let’s do it this way. You’ve given me your digivices. Let’s see what happens to them now when their human dies.”
“No!” Pop shouted, finally getting to her feet. She lurched forward, one arm outstretched toward Lucemon, even as Bumble attempted to pull her back. “Don’t you dare! Take me instead!”
“I don’t understand why you’re trying so hard,” Lucemon sighed, looking back at Pop with a bored expression. It waved her off with a flick of its hand and a roll of its eyes, then looked back down at Moxie, still frozen in place. “You’re so desperate to save each other that you can’t even figure out who should sacrifice themselves. But you made the offer first -” it fixed Moxie and Damien in a hard stare “- so I’m going to take yours.”
Don’t, Moxie wanted to say, wanted to beg. Please. I know I said I would gladly let you kill me if it meant saving Pop, but please don’t. I still mean it. Don’t hurt her. But please don’t kill me.
But she didn’t say any of it. She just stared up at Lucemon, taking quick shallow breaths in as it raised an arm to the sky, preparing to attack - to kill her. This was it. This was it. This was what her life had led up to? Everything she’d been through, every decision she’d made that had ended up with her right here, right now? This?
This was how she was going to die.
And there wasn’t even anything she could do about it.
Next to her, Damien grabbed her hand.
“
“
“Hold on!”
The three cries from the three Digimon melded together, almost indistinguishable from each other. The only way Moxie was able to figure out what was happening was by simply watching the scene unfold before her eyes, all within the span of about four seconds.
First off, Lucemon called its attack. It threw its black and white spheres down at Moxie and Damien, but they didn’t collide with each other before they reached their targets, traveling on two separate paths as they rushed forward. They were still heading directly for them, but because they hadn’t hit each other yet, the annihilation reaction that the attack usually caused did not happen - yet.
“Yet” was the key word here.
Secondly, Bumble opened fire on Lucemon, the blast of air from his containers shooting forth and nearly toppling it over. The digivices clattered to the ground as it dropped them in shock, but it didn’t even notice in the chaos. It stumbled, flaring its wings out for balance, and ended up catching the wind and lifting into the air for a few seconds. This distracted it enough for the third, and most important, thing to happen.
Pop leapt forward, aiming straight for Moxie and Damien, but she came in at an angle, heading on a different - and quicker - course than Lucemon’s attack. As soon as she reached the two humans, she wrapped them up in her arms and carried on her trajectory, landing on the ground just a few feet away from where the two orbs finally hit the ground and exploded. She curled up around the two of them as the shockwave washed over them, refusing to let go until it was over.
Lucemon lunged for her before she could even stand up properly, forgoing attacking Bumble in favor of getting her. “
Lucemon instantly followed up by taking off after her, rising into the sky to meet her midair. It caught her by the neck, its wings flapping to keep the both of them aloft, and then dove downward, still holding her. It held her beneath it as they fell, keeping her in place so that when they landed, she hit the ground before it did, and its fall was cushioned by her body as well as the shockwave that emanated outward from the point of impact.
Moxie and Damien, who had only just gotten to their feet, trying to reach their digivices to grab them back, were knocked back down to the ground. They didn’t waste any time in standing back up, even as they shook and wobbled on their feet, having to cling to each other to keep their balance. Bumble zipped to their side instantly, placing himself between them and Lucemon as he kept his eyes fixed firmly on Pop.
Lucemon stood to its full height again, dusting itself off as it turned its gaze on Moxie and Damien. Beneath it, Pop coughed, one hand braced against the ground and the other clutching her chest.
For a second, her body began to distort, shifting and glitching in space. Her ears and legs were glowing bright pink; her claws could barely keep their form.
Moxie’s blood froze in her veins.
It didn’t last long. Almost as quickly as it had come, the glitching ended, and the glow faded away. Slowly, Pop looked over at Moxie and Damien, then up at Bumble, and she nodded almost imperceptibly. Bumble didn’t react, simply stared Lucemon down, hovering in place, unmoving.
And then, quick as a flash, Pop darted forward, her arms outstretched for Moxie and Damien and their digivices. She didn’t wait for them or Lucemon or Bumble to do anything before she bundled them into her arms and took off, trying to adjust her hold on them as she ran. Behind them, Bumble called an attack, and a burst of blue lit up the street. “
“We have to get out of here,” Pop panted, her grip on the humans tightening, squeezing them against her chest as she passed their digivices back to them. Moxie and Damien combined were almost too big for her to hold properly, but she clearly didn’t have any other options. “We just have to bail. We’ll call Quinn and Alpha, or someone, and we’ll -”
“
“Shit,” Pop spat, putting on a burst of speed. “Bumble! We need to go!”
“I’m right here,” came the bee’s voice, from just off to the side. Moxie squirmed in Pop’s hold to catch sight of him, flying next to Pop, his head tilted to keep an eye on Lucemon behind them. “We’re good for right now. It’s not aiming at us.”
Moxie opened her mouth to speak, to ask a question, something like “then what is it aiming at?”, but she never got the chance. To their right, something flashed, so bright and sudden that Pop faltered in her stride - and then the shockwave hit.
They were thrown to the ground, Moxie and Damien spilling from Pop’s hold and tumbling onto the street, the concrete scraping against their arms and faces. With a groan, Moxie pushed herself up, knowing she didn’t have the luxury of waiting.
They’d been at a T-shaped intersection when the attack had hit, a road from the left coming up to meet the one they laid on. The building on the right side of the street that had been hit was crumbling, ash and smoke rising from the piles of bricks and wood spilling onto the road.
Heavy footsteps echoed up and down the street as Lucemon approached them. Moxie didn’t have to turn around to know that.
“I didn’t think you were cowardly enough to flee,” it said, its voice disconcertingly calm. Moxie screwed her eyes shut, trying to get back up onto her feet. “It seems like you still haven’t learned your lesson. What a pity. Looks like all of you will have to die now.”
“
“
As Bumble shot his laser at Lucemon, it called its own attack. Once again, instead of aiming at him, it raised the spell circles off to the side, further down the intersection. They exploded in a flash of white and red light, the attack dissipating without forming the barriers, but the damage it did to the street more than made up for it. Lucemon meanwhile drifted away out of range of Bumble’s attack, keeping its gaze fixed solidly on the group.
It raised one hand, holding it out above all their heads. “You’re making this exceptionally difficult. Accepting your fate would be the easiest route to take. It’s what I would advise.”
Slowly, carefully, holding onto her brother as she did, Moxie rose to her feet.
They had nowhere to go. Even a cursory glance around the street revealed the extent of the damage Lucemon had done to it - the damage it had purposefully caused in an attempt to corner them, to keep them from running away. They’d tried their best. They’d failed.
They couldn’t run away anymore.
But you know what? Moxie was done with running away. She’d done enough of that already.
They hadn’t run away the first time they’d faced Lucemon. Why should they now? Even if it was stronger than it had been back then…
So were they, weren’t they?
Nearly five years ago, Moxie and Damien and their partners had faced an enemy the likes of which they could never have imagined. Orochimon’s roars still echoed in her nightmares, resonating throughout her bones, waking her in the depths of the night. She could feel its breath on her face and her own nails digging into her palms, her arms, her hair, Damien’s hand.
It had been their first fight against an ultimate Digimon. Pop and Bumble had still been struggling to evolve just to champion. They’d had to flee the scene. They hadn’t stood a chance against it, even with giving it their all, even with initially promising to stick through to the end, no matter what “the end” meant for them.
That fight was what had convinced her that they would never be that strong.
But she was wrong. Pop and Bumble, standing against Lucemon, in their ultimate forms, barely holding on but still trying, were proof enough of that.
And, in a sense, so were she and Damien.
They’d prevailed then. Even if they hadn’t won the fight, even if they’d had to run, they’d still escaped alive. They’d lived to see another day.
This, she felt, was that day.
This is what everything has led up to, she realized, staring up at Lucemon, her own gaze unwavering. This is what I’ve been waiting for. A chance. Just a chance. To prove myself. To show to the world that I do have what it takes.
(Because that was what it had asked her, all those years ago, in preparation for her meeting with Pop. She’d known all along that that was what that text message had been. She’d just been too scared to believe it.)
Against all odds, and despite how terrified she was, she took a step forward.
“It would be the easiest route,” she said, her voice quiet but carrying as far as it could down the empty, half-ruined street. “But - that doesn’t mean we’re going to take it. We didn’t last time. We’re not going to start now.”
Lucemon lifted its chin. “Then you’ll die.”
“Maybe,” Moxie said. Her chest felt like it had been hollowed out, like everything within it had been scraped away, leaving nothing but a burning sun, shining against her ribs and her still-beating heart. “But at least we won’t have given up.”
She didn’t even realize she was holding her digivice until she felt it burning against her skin, boring a hole in the center of her palm. She lifted it up to look at it, held tightly in her hand.
Next to her, Damien reached down to grab her other hand, his fingers almost as warm as her digivice.
“This is stupid as hell,” he muttered, quietly enough for only Moxie to hear it, but he smiled faintly anyways, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. “We’re going to get our asses kicked.”
“Maybe,” she said again, returning the smile.
“That’s alright, though.” He looked back up at Lucemon, and she followed his gaze, the two of them facing off against their enemy, their hands clasped tightly together. Lucemon sneered, its wings flaring outward as its eyes flicked between the humans and the Digimon. “It’s not a bad way to go out.”
Moxie closed her eyes.
“Final evolution pending. Do you want to proceed?”
The voice came from two sources - two digivices, speaking and burning and glowing in tandem, intertwined with each other, as if they didn’t know how to be alone, as if they’d never been separate. Moxie didn’t look down at them. She didn’t have to. Just like she didn’t have to look at her brother to know what he was seeing or feeling.
“Yes,” the two of them said together, hands tightening their holds on their digivices and each other. The glow permeating Moxie’s eyelids died down, and the heat from her digivice subsided, leaving her hand oddly cold.
“
“
“
“Final evolution engaged. Please do not turn off the digivice while evolution is in progress.”
As the attacks collided, and Damien’s hand tightened around Moxie’s, and their digivices ignited in brilliant light once more, the world around them fell into silence and darkness.
Devote yourself.
In the white void that Moxie found herself in, there was nothing and no one else except for Pop.
She was tiny, just a chubby slime shaped like a baby bird, and she blinked big black eyes up at Moxie as she sat down, her legs splaying to either side of her, too tired to stay upright anymore. Her pain seemed to be dulled in this place, wherever and whatever it was, but the exhaustion was still prevalent, both physical and mental.
Pop instantly squirmed forward, dragging herself forward with her stubby little wings, and Moxie stifled a giggle as she reached down to scoop her up. She held her up to her face, tilting her head into her to rest her cheek upon her body; she was warm and soft, just like Moxie had expected her to be. It was Pop, after all.
“If I’m being honest…” Pop said after a few moments, and Moxie lowered her hands to look at her properly. Pop shuffled slightly in her hands, casting her gaze to the side. “…I didn’t really think I’d get this far.”
Moxie frowned, something cold gripping her heart. “What do you mean?”
Pop was quiet for a couple more seconds, and then closed her eyes pensively. “Whenever I’ve evolved to a new stage… I’ve been surprised. Even when I was first in this form and I evolved into Poromon, and then into Hawkmon… I’ve never really taken it as a given. It’s not that I don’t think I’ll ever evolve, it’s just…” She shook her head out, her vestigial wings tapping lightly against Moxie’s palms. “…Still a surprise whenever I do make it that far.”
Moxie didn’t respond immediately. She didn’t know how to, at first. I’ve felt the same way, but… but more about… my own abilities. My own dedication and strength.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything,” Pop said quietly, but Moxie shook her head.
“No, it’s alright,” she mumbled, and then it was her turn to avert her gaze. “I mean… I’ve… felt the same, at times. It started with Orochimon. I didn’t think you or Bumble would ever be able to evolve to ultimate. We just… weren’t strong enough for it. I’ve tried so hard to ignore that feeling ever since, but… The fight with Fangmon, and then with the Aegiochusmon… and even tonight…” She bit back a sigh, blinking away the first pinpricks of tears forming in her eyes. “But… you’ve proven me wrong every single time. Especially tonight.”
She smiled down at Pop, something warm, something… something right flowering deep within her chest. “I’ve had my doubts. Of course I have. But you’ve always pulled through. You’ve always shown me that you’re so much stronger than I can imagine.”
Pop blinked up at her, her beak opening just slightly. Her eyes sparkled in the light of their void, shining brighter than Moxie had ever seen before.
And then she smiled, nestling deeper into Moxie’s hands, and Moxie giggled. “I’m really glad we did this,” Pop whispered, barely audible, but Moxie didn’t need to hear her to know what she was saying. “That we went on this journey with the others. That we’ve seen the things we’ve seen and met the people we’ve met and done the things we’ve done. So much good has come of it. Enough to outweigh the bad parts. And…” She blinked at Moxie again, a faint blush overcoming her cheeks. “You seem a lot happier than you have in a long time. I know this is difficult for you. I know that things are far from over. But… I’m glad you’re still here with me.”
“…I’m glad we did this too,” Moxie said softly, a gentle smile gracing her lips, because she didn’t know how to respond to anything else Pop had said. “It’s all been worth it. All of it.”
Maybe there wasn’t some magical reason that she’d met Pop. Maybe it really had been a coincidence, and the Digital World just chose to work with what it had been given. Maybe Lucemon was right that she and Damien and Pop and Bumble weren’t part of the group’s destiny. Maybe Piximon was just trying to make them feel better.
But even so, Moxie had a feeling that she would have met Pop in any universe.
And they would have done this no matter what. Because that was who they were, and that was what they did.
When that gentle pink glow crept forward to cover her and Pop in its embrace, Moxie closed her eyes and held Pop close to her chest.
We’re going to save the world.