Chapter Text
Even muffled, Kyle’s gate alarm was loud enough to pull the attention of the whole room away from the digimon. Kyle’s hands shook as he reached for it. It had been so easy to hope that maybe they were safe for a while longer, maybe others would take care of Digimon attacks, but of course there was one gate that the Defenders knew about very well, that they’d been through multiple times before.
He stared at the screen. The dot was faint, and right at the gate. In the corner there was a countdown, presumably to when the digimon would arrive through the slowed gate. Distantly he wondered if that display was new, his digivice somehow reprogrammed along with the gates, or if digimon had just come through quickly enough before that he’d never noticed it.
Bryan, June, and the three digimon were crowding close, trying to see the screen. “What is it?” asked Bryan.
“I don’t know,” said Kyle hollowly. “But… five minutes? That means a champion, right?”
Bakumon nodded. “Not so bad.”
“Dude, is that your digivice?” That was Chris. “Is that what went off a couple weeks ago too? I just thought you had a terrible phone!”
“Y-yeah…” Kyle said, looking to the others. “I guess we… gotta go?” He had no idea what he’d do when he got there. He didn’t want to fight, but it was his gate. His responsibility.
Hielomon and Bryan were already at the door. “Yeah, come on!”
Coyomon nudged at his leg. “We can help, Partner-Kyle!”
“I… don’t know…” But Kyle kept going, out the door along with his friends. As soon as they were in the open air, the digimon grew to their own Champion forms, and Aullidomon nosed Kyle’s side. “Get on! Gotta go fast!”
Kyle pulled himself up onto Aullidomon’s back. “Okay but… let’s stay with everyone else, okay?” The last thing he wanted was to get there first, to be once again facing a digimon alone, deciding its fate. He thought of Chris’ words just before his alarm went off. Was that what it meant to be a hero? Being all alone, making ruthless choices?
“Okay, Partner-Kyle.” Aullidomon kept pace with the others. “You… gonna call Boyfriend-Josh?”
Kyle shook himself from an anxious haze. “Oh! Y-yeah, that’s a good idea.” He tapped out a message to Josh, hoping he wasn’t too far away. Back at June’s house? Or maybe out buying school supplies?
He’d just finished sending the message when his digivice let out its alarm again. “What?” He stared. Another blip almost covered the first, another timer started counting down. “Um… We got another one! Same size!”
Bryan nodded from his place clinging to Ventiscamon’s neck. “Still three-on-two! No problem?”
June was looking back behind herself. “We have more company than that, though…”
“Huh?” Kyle looked back where her head was pointed. They had just turned off the street onto the arroyo, but back along the sidewalk was a small throng of students, running along the sidewalk far behind them. He recognized several folks from the gaming club, but there were also others he didn’t know as well. They were nowhere near as fast as the digimon, but they were doing their best to keep up, and there was no way to lose them in the short time they had left before arriving at the gate.
“Oh no…” Would the attacking digimon go after bystanders? “Aullidomon, let’s try to keep them safe, okay?” Being on defense felt safer; it felt like something he could actually do.
“Okay Partner-Kyle!”
The gate was glowing when they arrived, with less than thirty seconds left on the timer. And then Kyle’s stomach dropped as another alarm sounded, and a third timer started.
“That’s still even odds,” said Ventiscamon confidently.
Kyle squeezed Aullidomon’s scruff. Should he tell them? His mouth worked wordlessly for a moment, then he spoke. “Um… I-I don’t know if I can fight!” he called. “I don’t want to… Like before…”
Four other heads turned to him. Baluchimon nodded, as if this wasn’t news to her. Ventiscamon looked concerned, but understanding. Bryan looked surprised, but June was resolved. “Just do whatever you can, Kyle. We’ll do our best too.”
Kyle nodded, and a moment later there was a harsh shriek as a digimon burst from the gate. It had a short hooked beak, and a long neck. Fluffy cream-colored wings flapped from a dark blue body as it emerged. His digivice provided the name “Peckmon.” Once out of the gate, the bird-digimon’s head made staccato jerks as it looked at the six of them, then it launched into the sky with another cry.
“Ha! Too much for you, huh?” called Bryan. “Big chicken!”
But June shook her head. “Bryan, no! It could find the other gates! Or attack our families!”
Baluchimon nodded and tossed her head in the direction of the fleeing digimon. Chains of mental energy unfurled, and wrapped around the Peckmon, holding it still in the sky. “Got you!”
“Nice one!” That voice came from several yards back across the field, where Chris led the pack of students all hurrying to watch.
“Stay back!” called Kyle. “More of them are coming through!”
Chris slowed to a walk, but kept coming. “Wow, is that the gate thing? It’s glowing, how did no one notice that before.”
Kyle whirled. “That means something’s—“
With a roar, a pair of wings engulfed in black fire erupted from the gate. Chris stumbled backward, his eyes wide. “Is that some kind of evil Birdram—“
“Saberdramon!” Kyle said, as Aullidomon tried to move between the new attacker and the rapid-growing group of onlookers.
The new digimon surveyed the scene, just as Peckmon did, but made a different choice. Seeing its ally bound by Baluchimon, the Saberdramon turned its fury on June and her partner. “Night Roar!” it cried, sending feathers wreathed in purple flame toward the pair.
“Nope!” Bryan and Ventiscamon’s voices were as one as the dragon-digimon swooped in to intercept the attack, wreathed in ice armor. Shards splintered off as the feathers struck, but Ventiscamon seemed mostly unharmed. The Saberdramon roared again, and turned to face the icy digimon directly.
“No, you fool!” The Peckmon’s voice was high-pitched and harsh as it struggled against its psychic bonds. “Fly! Find their homes! Find their gates! We know there are more here.”
“But you… But humans here…” The Saberdramon dodged out of the way of a rush from Ventiscamon.
“We’ve got more help coming, and this hold can’t last forever GO!” The Peckmon was thrashing, and Baluchimon seemed to be struggling more and more to hold it still.
After a moment’s pause, the Saberdramon’s flaming head nodded, and it broke off, starting to pull away from Ventiscamon as it rose.
“Partner-Kyle…” said Aullidomon. “We can help!”
Kyle wasn’t sure what his partner had in mind, but anything felt scary right now. “I… don’t…”
While he was still stammering, Ventiscamon surged forward on a blast of frigid wind and body-slammed the Saberdramon. “You’re not going anywhere!”
“We’ll see…” snarled the black-burning avian. It turned toward Ventiscamon and started to grapple with razor-sharp claws. “I rule the skies!” Ventiscamon shuddered, and started to lose altitude.
“Partner-Kyle, trust me! We can help, and not hurt, I know it!”
Kyle still wasn’t sure, but he felt Aullidomon’s urgency inside him. Trust. Hadn’t he trusted his partner before? Wasn’t Aullidomon good at handling things when he couldn’t? “O-Okay.” He clung to his partner’s back. It was as if Aullidomon was waiting for him to find an opening. Ventiscamon was tumbling, Saberdramon was rising, they just about had a clear shot…
“Thunder Howl.” Kyle almost whispered the words, and Aullidomon let fly with a concussive blast that knocked the Saberdramon to one side, snuffing the flames over half its body. Now Saberdramon was flailing, and Ventiscamon had recovered. He managed to pounce on the diminished Saberdramon, and wrapped around with claws and wings, keeping it from lashing back.
There was a cheer from the crowd. “You did it!” said Chris and a few others, all overtop of each other.
Kyle felt a surge of pride in his partner and himself, then a surge of worry following it. What would happen now? How could they keep them down? Would Bryan and June have to make the same choice he did? Could he let them? June and Bryan, Baluchimon and Ventiscamon, were all straining, knowing that if either opponent escaped, it would all be over.
And then the last digimon came through the gate.
Razor-sharp blades materialized first, followed by acid-green insectile limbs, and an eyeless face full of vicious teeth. “Snimon,” Kyle said, mostly to himself, shuddering as he saw the massive insect fully emerge. It didn’t seem to be as strong a flyer as the other two, but it didn’t have to be. One attack on either Baluchimon or Ventiscamon, and one of the others would be free.
Kyle watched the Snimon analyze the battlefield, antennae twitching.
“Thunder Howl!” The blast hit the Snimon full-on, but the other digimon barely staggered, solid on four jointed legs.
“Aullidomon, can you Static Shield them?” Kyle watched his struggling friends, then watched the enemies about to break through. “Or like… trap them?”
Snimon turned, and started running toward Ventiscamon, blades out. Kyle and Aullidomon ran after, but Kyle wasn’t sure what they could do. All he could feel was things spinning out of control, again. All he could imagine was himself doing something terrible, again.
“Partner-Kyle. Help me be a hero!” Kyle felt a confidence surge from his partner. In a flash, Kyle felt every other time his partner had aided him, bolstered him, protected him. Aullidomon knew what to do when Kyle didn’t.
“Anytime, bud,” said Kyle, wrapping his arms around his partner’s middle and doing his best to give back all that trust, and confidence, and hope.
Time seemed to slow down as light bloomed around them. Aullidomon’s form was wreathed in glittering pixels, white and gold and electric-blue. Kyle felt his partner rear up beneath him, body reconfiguring as it grew. The pixels gathered close to the digimon’s body, forming into new structures. The surface that Kyle was holding onto changed, going from soft and fluffy to hard and smooth. For a moment he was afraid he’d lose his balance, but then he felt firm, warm pressure around him, and found himself seated securely, back on that comforting fur, but with secure metal handholds nearby.
The pixels started to clear, and Kyle saw a massive canine head to one side of him, wearing an eager grin, and with eyes glowing electric blue. Lines of the same color ran along sleek silver armor on a bipedal body, gathering at a massive cannon that covered the right arm. Kyle knew this form. He’d seen it in his head, done his best to capture it on paper, as he tried to imagine the ultimate form of a protector and partner. “AmpAullidomon!” he cried, and AmpAullidomon let out a half-synthesized howl of joy along with him.
The world came back around them and for a moment Kyle was worried that had taken too long, that somehow everything was over. But they were still chasing after Snimon, except now Kyle was looking down on the vicious digimon as they closed the gap. He was dimly aware of cries of surprise from the people below him, and he saw that arm-cannon start to glow with energy.
For just a moment, Kyle was worried that AmpAullidomon was about to disintegrate the other digimon, that nothing had changed. But then he remembered how he’d imagined his partner, in all his forms, from the first day he dreamed of him. More importantly, he thought of how he’d lived and learned with his partner from the moment he hatched. He trusted Coyomon. He trusted Aullidomon. Why would he not trust AmpAullidomon. They were in perfect sync.
“Voltaic Whirlwind!” AmpAullidomon howled the name of the attack as arcs of electricity surged from the cannon. They arced in intricate patterns, curling around not just Snimon, but Saberdramon and Peckmon instead. They were pulled together, chained by electricity, as more bolts swirled around them, ensuring they were well-contained.
Baluchimon and Ventiscamon staggered before regaining their footing, and their partners ran to their sides, giving comfort and support even as everyone stared at Kyle and AmpAullidomon.
AmpAullidomon’s eye turned to Kyle. “Protect you. Protect everyone. Always.”
The three Defender Digimon were struggling in their bonds, but to no avail. “You did good bud,” he said softly. “But what now?”
“Kyyyyyle!” The familiar voice came from far behind them, but fast approaching. He looked back to see the sinuous shape of Seadramon, swimming through the air, with Josh riding atop. “Kyle, we came as fast as we—Holy crap!”
“Josh!” Kyle realized he was breathing hard. “They kept coming. They’re trying to scout, and we… what do we do now?” His heart pounded. He knew what Josh had had to do to captured digimon in the past. “I don’t want to hurt them!”
Josh nodded. “I know. Me neither. And I think it might be good for the rest of them to know about this anyway.” He gave the captive digimon a long look as Seadramon slithered in a circle around them. “But I don’t think they’re properly intimidated right now. Do you, B?”
Seadramon grinned, and in a voice that wasn’t as sharp as Betamon’s, but still seemed a bit high-pitched for his size, said “Not yet…” And then he reared up, shimmering with transformative energy as he grew even more massive. By the time he was done, Josh’s whole body was almost hidden by his partner’s armored mask, and MegaSeadramon completely encircled them, as AmpAullidomon loomed outside. Now the three flying digimon were definitely cowering.
“THat’s better,” said Josh. “Kyle, you wanna tell them how this is going to go?”
Kyle nodded, and stared down their former attackers. For once, eye contact was easy. He could hear Peckmon begging over the sound of the crackling electricity. “Please, spare us! We won’t tell anyone!”
Kyle shook his head. “You know we live here. They know we live here. But did they know what we can do? Just seeing you here was enough to make me and my partner stronger.” He nodded back toward his friends. “Wait until you see what they can do, too.” He looked back at the three chained digimon. The words were flowing eagerly now. “So go back, and tell the Defenders that Earth is defended too!”
“Yeah!” cheered his partner, his boyfriend, his friends, four other digimon, and all the students watching.
“Send ‘em back, AmpAullidomon.”
“No problem, Partner-Kyle!” The whirlwind of electricity spun faster, dragging Peckmon, Saberdramon, and Snimon back toward the gate. Then, with a growl and another pulse of energy from his arm-cannon, AmpAullidomon pushed them back through, and they disappeared.
There was another cheer as the gate flared and dimmed, but with the threat over, Kyle suddenly felt exhausted.
“We did good, Partner-Kyle,” said AmpAullidomon. Loud as his voice was, he sounded very tired too.
“Yeah bud, We did. Knew you could do it.” He leaned against his partner’s head, and he saw a hazy glow start to form around them. For a moment, Kyle felt like he was floating, and then he found himself laying, much less comfortably, on the cracked dirt floor of the arroyo.
He sat up, head spinning. “Huh? Coyomon?” Then he saw a small yellow ball of fur with a big fluffy tail, right next to him. “Oh… Yotimon…” He giggled wearily. “Yeah. We did a lot.”
“You sure did.” Josh was standing over him now, with Betamon alongside.
“That happens sometimes after we get really big, especially at first!” said Betamon.
Yotimon bobbed his head in a slow nod. “Partner-Kyle… so sleepy…”
Josh knelt, and wrapped his arms around both of them in a firm, comforting hug. “You both should get some rest. You’ve definitely earned it.