Chapter Text

Southwestern United States, October 2006

The shrill sound of the final bell battered Kyle’s ears, making him flinch even as it heralded the welcome end of another tense school-day. Still, he sat, folded in on himself to let the other students stream by him. He stood out enough in this room, the only 7th-grader in Geometry class, and the last thing he needed was to trip over a desk and fall onto someone two grades above him. Again. So he stayed put, double-checking the homework notes in his planner, and once the room was nearly empty he slid it into his backpack along with his textbook and headed out the door.

He kept close to the walls on the way to his locker, hoping to keep from attracting any unwelcome attention, and finally made it to the sparsely-trafficked side-hall that led to the computer room. With his destination in sight, his head filled with the possibilities that after-school gaming-club time allowed. Maybe an Age of Legends match with Chris and Jose? Maybe he’d try again to get a handle on using a gamepad to shoot aliens in Nimbus 2? Ideally, he’d finally get to try out his new Digimon deck. He’d worked hard to put together a team of his favorite Beast types. He wasn’t honestly sure if it would play well, but he was pretty sure it’d be fun.

Kyle was jolted right out of his expectant daydreaming, however, when the doorknob to the classroom failed to turn in his hand. The room beyond was dark, and then he noticed the sign on the door. 

Apologies, I had to step out early today. See you all tomorrow!

- Mr. Neary

Kyle groaned, squinting in the window to see if someone else had perhaps stayed in, who could let him in too, but to no avail; the room was dark, just a few screen-savers flickering on monitors. There would be no game club today, and that meant he had two hours to wait until his mom was able to pick him up after work. 

He paced the halls, considering his options. There was no sign of his friends; most of them lived close enough to school to walk home, or take a city bus, so they must have headed out already. The school library was open for another hour, and he felt like he’d read all the books there twice anyway. The fallback option was obvious. 

He fished out his phone from the side pocket of his backpack, flipped it open, and keyed in a message to his mother.

no game club. going 2 city library. CU @ 5:30

As he put his phone away, Kyle heard an all-too-familiar voice call out from behind him. “Hey Kylie, what’s the matter? Boyfriend dump you?”

He winced, and started walking in the other direction. What had made him a target this time? Staring at his phone too long? Looking slightly frustrated? He tried to put it out of his mind, and focus on blank-faced ignoring. Maybe it’d actually work this time.

“Hey Rainbow Boy, didn’t you hear me? Did Bryan find someone less pathetic to go out with?” It never worked.

He whirled around. “Shut up, Rick. Leave my friends out of it, okay? Bryan’s not even gay. I was just texting my mom.” He turned back and picked up the pace. Maybe Rick wouldn’t be so comfortable bullying him if he got closer to the front office.

“You sure about that? I mean he hangs out with you. What’s that thing? Gay-dar? And June doesn’t seem very straight either!”

Kyle was at a loss of what to say to that, but fortunately the front door of the school was in sight, and Rick’s volume had dropped noticeably once he’d ended up in an area where teachers or coaches were more likely to overhear. “Hope you two work it out!” he called as Kyle pushed the doors open, voice tone dripping with scorn. 

Kyle broke into a run as he made it outside, the mid-October air stinging his eyes as he held back frustrated tears. His pace slowed as he reached the sidewalk along the busy road in front of the school. He looked around. Rick was nowhere to be seen, and no one else was taking much notice of him either, so he did his best to relax as he continued down the road toward his destination.

The sky was overcast, and he tugged his coat closer around him, hoping it wouldn’t start raining. It wasn’t a long walk, but his favorite path was through a big arroyo that crossed an empty field. It looked like a miniature canyon, with dirt walls almost as tall as he was, and lots of cool rocks on the ground, unearthed by the water that occasionally flowed through it. But he’d heard more than enough public service announcements about flash floods to know that he had to stay clear of it if there were any real signs of rain. 

Dark thoughts swirled in Kyle's mind as he crossed the road and headed into the shallow gully. He’d almost gotten a handle on how to deal with Rick’s torment after enduring it for over a month. The 8th-grader had a bizarrely shining reputation with the faculty, thanks to good grades and academic performance, and he was intent on keeping it, which meant his bullying was mostly covert or subtextual, easy to deny and hide from anyone in authority. But this was the first time he’d brought Kyle’s friends into it. He’d only managed to make a few friends since starting junior high. Would Bryan and June still want to hang out with him if it meant they’d be bullied too? 

He kicked at a rock as he walked, his arms wrapped tight around his torso to try to soothe himself. His father’s voice echoed in his mind, a warning from the epic Pride Backpack Patch Argument, the day before school started. “You know we support you, kiddo, but we’re worried about you too. A new school’s hard enough already. Maybe you should try flying under the radar just a bit?”

At the time, he’d shot back that he wasn’t going to hide who he was, and the metaphor didn’t make any sense anyway, and earned a night’s restriction away from TV and games. But he’d gone to school the next day anyway, rainbow backpack decor and all, and almost immediately faced every predictable slur, and zero other signs of non-straight kids in his classes. The GSA turned out to mainly be 11th- and 12th-graders, way too old for him to relate to, and the teachers were only supportive in principle; in practice they weren’t much help.

Maybe his parents had been right. Maybe it had been a huge mistake. “Why can’t I just have a place where I can be myself?” he groaned into the empty arroyo as he trudged toward the low dark library building.

Moments later, a strange light flashed in his vision, dazzling him. He whirled, scanning the sky, bracing himself for a crack of thunder and getting ready to dash out of the arroyo before he became the subject of the next “Ditches are Deadly” cautionary tale. But there was no thunder, and no more signs of rain than there had been a few minutes earlier. Then the flicker-flash came a second time, and it was clear it wasn’t lightning at all; it was coming from ground level, near the end of the arroyo, where a culvert pipe let water flow under the road to the library.

He squinted, stepping a bit closer to the source of the light. It was unpredictable, with erratic flares that were bright enough to leave spots in his vision, but each flash seemed to be a bit dimmer than the one before. At first he’d thought the light was stark white, but as it became less intense, it seemed more like a quickly shimmering rainbow of color. 

The opening of the culvert was a concrete pipe, a few feet in diameter, and by the time he made it there, the light no longer hurt to look at, and he could even make out its source. Sitting a foot or so inside the small tunnel was… a phone? It was phone-like, at least, a chunky object a bit bigger than his palm, with a screen that must have had a truly impressive backlight. It was far enough inside the shadowy pipe that if it hadn’t lit itself up, it’d be impossible to see.

“Who would leave their phone here?” Kyle said to himself, peering inside the tunnel to check for any dangerous inhabitants before reaching for the object. “And why is it putting on a light show?”

He pulled it out and gave it a closer look. The scintillating rainbow flash of the screen had dimmed to normal phone-brightness levels now and was still fading, making the rest of the thing easier to look at. It was sleek and smooth, almost twice as wide as it was long, and made of pearlescent plastic with only a few unlabelled buttons on its face. He tried to work out how to open it, hoping to get the screen to stop glitching, and finally worked out that, instead of flipping open, the screen rotated upward to reveal a keyboard.

“Oh cool, it’s one of those new…” His voice trailed off as he took a closer look at the keys. It wasn’t a number pad, or even a tiny QWERTY layout. Instead, it was a grid of squares with strange angular symbols. “What…?” He squinted at them, tracing with a finger. They looked vaguely familiar, until he reached one that looked like a W with some smaller lines above and below. That triggered a definite memory, and he frowned, shaking his head. “No way…”

He slipped his backpack off, and dove deep into it, his hand closing on the familiar shape of a card box. He hauled out his Digimon deck and thumbed through it. Only a few cards featured what he was looking for, but before long, he found them. DigiCode symbols. They were never very prominent on the cards, almost impossible to make out, but each time he found one, he was confident there was a match on the strange keyboard. 

He flipped the gadget open and closed again. The screen was dark now, stubbornly unresponsive, and there were no other identifying marks on it. The conclusion settling his mind was simultaneously obvious, and absurd, and he couldn’t help but ask it out loud.

“Is this a Digivice?”

Chapter Text

Kyle stared at the device in his hand, swiveling it open and closed a few more times, as if expecting the keyboard to become something more sensible each time he revealed it. 

“Maybe it’s a toy?” he murmured to himself, weighing it in his hand. It felt far heavier than any of the virtual pet toys he’d tried and failed to keep alive, even accounting for its much-larger size. It also simply seemed more expensive; there were all of those detailed buttons, what must have been a very bright colored screen, and that incredibly satisfying screen-swivel. 

One hand fidgeted with it a bit more as he finally made his way out of the arroyo and toward the library. Toy or not, it was hard to imagine someone leaving it in a place that was so likely to get filled with water. He kept an eye out for anyone obviously looking for something, but the parking lot and the field around it were empty. 

Walking into the library, Kyle considered talking to a librarian, seeing if anyone had reported it lost, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. They’d almost certainly ask him to leave it with them, and he couldn’t see how he’d get it back after that, and he was far too curious about it to give it up after just a few minutes. It wasn’t as if he was stealing it; he’d give it back if someone came looking for it, or called it, or posted a sign. 

That last thought gave him an idea. He headed for the library’s bank of computers and thankfully found an empty seat. He set the device down on the table, and took a picture with his phone. After going through the laborious process of emailing it to himself from the phone, waiting for it to upload, then downloading the picture from webmail on the computer, he loaded up the word processor app and put together a simple sign: 

FOUND: Phone?

Outside Lew Wallace Library, October 2

He added the image, hoping it was clear enough to make out, along with his own phone number. He printed off as many copies as he could without having to pay money, put one up on each library bulletin board, and slipped the few remaining sheets into his backpack. Maybe he’d put them up at school. 

With the gnawing guilt of maybe-stealing a maybe-phone assuaged, Kyle set about to the much more interesting task of identifying the thing.

First up was a message to Bryan, who he’d met by geeking out over Digimon in the first place. A second pair of knowledgeable eyes would surely help.

DigiKyleX: hey dude look what I found! whatcha think it is?

DigiKyleX: [image]

While he waited for a response, he started trying web searches.

digivice real

digimon history

digital monsters facts

This was not as helpful as he’d hoped. 

Of course there were the five-year-old news stories about the Shinjuku Emergence, muddled accounts of “children in robotic armor” fighting against “physical malware” in Japan. Those brought back a flood of memories. It was the first time he’d really paid attention to the news, watching as brightly-colored figures launched weapons at bizarre monsters against a sea of red distortion. His parents had seemed both confused and terrified that the world was going to end, even as he was desperate to learn more about these powerful protective creatures. Even after the threat was over, after the streets of Tokyo emerged from the red mass almost entirely unharmed, it had taken weeks of negotiation to convince his parents that the toys and TV shows had nothing at all to do with the averted catastrophe.

The results that weren’t old news items were even less helpful. A few reviews of the “real-grade” collector’s toys (none of which looked anything like what he’d found) and a distressing number of conspiracy sites, with titles like “Digi-HOAX - the REAL story behind 1/13/2002”. Apparently people were arguing that it was everything from a publicity stunt to a pretext to rebuild the world’s internet with mind control devices.

He was hate-reading a particular cringe-worthy rant about the Japanese government trying to summon elder gods when he finally got a reply from Bryan:

bryN8tor: looks like one of those new side-flip phones

bryN8tor: U shouldn't steal peoples phones dude ;)

DigiKyleX: It was sitting in a pipe and I put up signs about it

DigiKyleX: Also its not a phone. look at the keyboard

bryN8tor: Yup looks like a keyboard

DigiKyleX: The SYMBOLS tho

bryN8tor: I can't see any symbols. ur phone cam sucks

DigiKyleX: i knopw :P

DigiKyleX: Its digicode

DigiKyleX: What if this thing is some kinda digivice?

bryN8tor: LOL

bryN8tor: good one

bryN8tor: u wish

DigiKyleX: Dude I am not making this up

bryN8tor: pics

bryN8tor: or it didnt happen

bryN8tor: as they say ;)

DigiKyleX: I SENT YOU ONE

bryN8tor: yeah but it sucks

DigiKyleX: I know. I tried to get the keys but its all blurry when I get close up

bryN8tor: ur phone cam sucks

DigiKyleX: I KNOW :PPPP

DigiKyleX: Ill show you at schoo tomorrow

bryN8tor: ok. dont get arrested for phone-stealing first lol

DigiKyleX: I put up signs!

bryN8tor: the perfect crime ;)

bryN8tor: ok gtg, mom buggin me

bryN8tor: cu tomorrow!

bryN8tor: maybe ur digivice will help u play the card game better ;)

DigiKyleX: haha I did fine last week! And got new deck now too 

DigiKyleX: Cya!

He closed the IM window with a sigh. Bryan was always easier to talk to in person. He’d just have to wait a bit longer to get that second opinion.

Kyle was just beginning to poke at his homework when his phone made an alarming rattle on the hard table next to him. He grabbed for it with a guilty look, stifling the noise and checking the screen. It was already past 5:30, and his mom was no doubt out in the car waiting for him. He logged out of the library computer, and stuffed both his phone and the strange device deep in his backpack. The last thing he needed was to try to explain his new find to his mother.

“So how was school?” his mom asked as he climbed into the car. 

“Fine. Normal.” Was that a normal thing to say? Oops. “Sucked that there was no game club. Thanks for getting me at the library.”

“No problems with bullies?” Was she always that concerned, or could she tell he was holding something back?

“Problems with bullies is part of normal,” Kyle said with a sigh and a shrug. 

She nodded, with a vague sympathetic noise, and started to drive again.

The ride home, long on the best of days, seemed to take forever. They headed out of town and onto the highway that bridged the vast gulf between a semi-rural home and the city where things actually happened. Kyle kept glancing at his backpack, alert for the sound of a phone call from someone who’d seen the signs, or worse, a blinding light as the device did… whatever it did, again. When they finally pulled into the garage of the brown stucco split-level house, Kyle leapt from the car with a murmured “Gotta finish homework!” and dashed to his room to bury the thing deep in his sock drawer. 

He did try to work on homework as he waited for dinner, but his thoughts kept creeping back to the much more exciting subject of his new find. If it really was a Digivice, did that mean he’d get a Digimon? What kind would he get? He’d taken plenty of personality quizzes on the subject, but none had been conclusive. The time he’d gotten the Crest of Reliability had been particularly mortifying. Gomamon had a cool design and all but he wasn’t THAT much of an uptight stress-ball, right?

A vague memory came to him that one of the Shinjuku Three (Or was it four? Or six? Reports had varied) had said that he’d designed his own Digimon, and his Digivice had made it real. That had always seemed like a bit of a stretch, but it was also undeniably appealing. Kyle set aside a half-finished math worksheet, and started doodling. 

The basic concept came to mind almost immediately. He’d always liked beast types more than reptiles, and had wondered what a more canine-looking Rookie form could look like. If it was based on a coyote, it could have a speedy build, plus a sharp mind plus, if someone drew on local mythology, fire powers. Or lightning even! Plus, coyotes were infamous for their adaptability, so a Digimon based off of them could be confident no matter what situation they were in, a skill that he could really use himself. 

He only got a few vague sketches finished before being called down for dinner, but that just gave him plenty of time to think of details as he ate. Once he was done, he made a quick excuse of “more homework” and headed back to his room.

Coyomon took shape as a slightly-rounded creature who could go on two legs or four, with a golden body and silvery-blue claws (or at least, that’s what they’d be once he got his colored pencils). He had to erase and restart several times; sometimes it looked too blobby, sometimes too cute, sometimes too scary. The balance was important, and hard to get right. He gave careful attention to the eyes, the classic black-ringed circle and white reflection drawn out in much more detail than the rest of the body. And then from there, there were the evolutions to think about, and the attacks… The pile of sketches got steadily bigger as the night went on.

Kyle was startled almost out of his chair when he heard a knock on the door, and his dad’s voice through it. “I see that light, kiddo. Time to get ready for bed, isn’t it?”

He let out a surprised squeak and hurriedly gathered up the papers. “Right dad, sorry! Just a sec!” He shoved them in the same drawer as the device, and realized with vague dread that he hadn’t made much headway on homework. Hopefully he’d have time to finish it in the school library the next morning, after his Dad dropped him off on the way to work.

Getting ready for bed, he felt a bit silly devoting so much of his evening to drawing hypothetical original-character Digimon. Most likely, he’d wake up to a phone message about someone having lost their expensive toy, or prototype smart phone, or something. 

As he curled up to sleep, however, he heard the howl of coyotes outside, and his mind slid right back to that image of a digital canine friend and protector. It’d be a lot easier to be himself with someone like that around. 

Chapter Text

The next morning came all too soon, as it always did. This late in the year, the sun wasn’t even up when Kyle’s alarm went off, and he flailed in the pre-dawn light to turn it off. He felt like he’d barely rested at all, with faint memories of light and sound in the middle of the night; had there been a late storm? 

He groggily made his way through his morning routine, and gathered up his school papers, groaning as he remembered that he still had homework to finish. Then, his mind wandered to the reason why he was so distracted last night, and he perked up a bit. He reached into his drawer to grab what he couldn’t help thinking of as “his digivice,” along with his designs from the night before. 

The sketches seemed faintly embarrassing now; his attempts at art rarely looked as good on second viewing as they did when he was working on them. He was already thinking of ways to improve and embellish them when he noticed that the device’s screen was, finally, showing something again. 

On the display was the familiar image of a pixelated egg, bobbing up and down a bit as it incubated. Seeing it felt like vindication, and excitement brewed in Kyle’s stomach until he noticed an additional detail: The colors on the egg exactly matched the hues of the colored pencils he’d used on his Coyomon design. 

“No way…” he murmured, looking back and forth between his drawings and the image of the Digi-Egg. Not only did the colors match, he could swear the body of the device itself had changed color to match. Last night, he was pretty sure it had been various shades of pearlescent grey, but now the body was gold-tinged, and the buttons were more like gray-blue. Once again, the obvious and the absurd bounced around in his mind as he tried to make sense of it, and he was only jolted out of it by his Dad’s voice calling from downstairs. “Kyle! Better be out soon if you want some breakfast!”

“Sorry, Dad!” he called back. putting the papers in his backpack and starting to put the device in there too before pausing, and shaking his head. Now that it was doing something, he wanted to keep a better eye on it, even if that did mean it was more likely other folks would notice. He shoved it in his back jeans pocket, where its rounded form made a rather obvious lump, then frowned and put it in his jacket pocket instead. Then he finally headed downstairs for a hurried and distracted breakfast. 

For once, Kyle was thankful for the half-hour car ride to school; it gave him the chance to nap a bit more before he had to focus on his belated homework. His dad even agreed to turn off the talk radio to help him rest, though not before providing some unsolicited advice on getting better sleep. Kyle mumbled sleepy agreement to the suggestions, barely listening as he dozed off.

“Up and at ‘em, kiddo!”

Kyle startled awake again, finding himself in the school driveway, with his dad watching him expectantly.

“Nnnh. Right. Thanks, Dad!” He grabbed his bag and made his way out of the car.

“Have a good day, no more napping at school, it’ll just…”

“…make it harder to sleep tonight, I know Dad. You have a good day too.” 

He headed into school as the car pulled away, and pulled the device from his pocket to check it. He found it strangely warm to the touch, much more than he would’ve expected from it just sitting in his jacket pocket. That was the only real change, though; it was still showing the same blocky egg animation. 

“Hmm. Just… don’t fry yourself in my pocket before I can show Ryan, okay?” Kyle wasn’t exactly in the habit of talking to inanimate objects, even the virtual pets he’d played with before, but something about this one felt different. That warmth made it feel almost alive, which totally made sense if it really… No. This was no time to think about that. He had to put it out of his mind. If he thought about it too much, he’d keep checking it, and if he did that in class, someone would take it away, and then he’d never get to find out what happened when the egg hatched.

Kyle worked hard to play it cool through homework-time in the library, then homeroom, then two interminable class periods before lunch. Finally the lunch bell rang, and he was free. He was pretty sure he heard jeers from Rick or one of his associates as he made his way as fast as he could to the lunchroom, but he was too focussed to care. He found his usual seat at the corner table, and pulled out the device even before opening his lunch bag.

“Holy crap, yes!” The egg was gone, and in its place was a bouncing blob, the usual simplified shape of a newly-hatched Digimon. This one was light yellow, with a pair of pointy ears and a pair of blue pixels of eyes. It didn’t look like any he recognized, though he’d never seen much point in memorizing all the various nearly-identical baby forms. It did, however, still bear a clear family resemblance to the design he’d worked on the night before. “Okay, that’s… How did that…”

“Oh, is that the thing you were talking about last night?” Bryan sat down next to him at the table, brushing his light-brown hair out of his eyes to get a better look. “Okay, you’ve definitely got it looking more like a digivice now, I gotta admit. Very cool, did you make that graphic?”

“Huh? Yeah, I guess… I mean, no, not really… Look, okay, this is gonna sound weird. I drew some sketches and then it sorta… did that? It was an egg this morning, and now it’s this, and it looks like my drawings, see?” He rummaged in his backpack, and produced the slightly-crumpled papers. “It even changed color to match!”

“Coyomon… Man, I dunno what it is with you and coyotes, they’re kinda a pain in the butt. Pretty sure one ate our cat when I was little.”

“They’re cool and adaptable! And they don’t eat cats; they make them sick!”

“Lots of animals eat things that make them sick, dude.” Bryan shook his head and leafed through the papers. “This IS a cool design, though. But like, you didn’t draw that stage at all.” He pointed at the screen. “It’s just kinda a basic fresh Digimon. Ever heard of… what’s it called… confirmation bias?”

“I mean… I guess? But either way, I swear I didn’t make it do that, it did the egg and the baby there all on its own, so it’s definitely some kind of Digi… thing. I mean, check out the keyboard!”

“Oh, right!” Bryan picked it up and fumbled with it before working out how to swivel the screen open. Kyle watched closely, feeling an unexpected anxiety watching someone else touch the device, even his best friend. “Yeah, that does look like Digi-Code. Huh, the English AND Japanese versions. Geez, this thing would be impossible to type on.”

“Whoa, Bryan, did you get a new phone?” June’s bag hit the table with a thunk, and she sat down across from the two of them.

“It’s mine!” Kyle said, that feeling of defensiveness suddenly spiking.

“He found it yesterday,” Bryan agreed, setting the device down again. “It’s some kinda Digimon thing?” 

“Sure looks like it!” June leaned over to get a better look at the screen. “That looks like… Dodomon? But the color’s wrong… Deep cut though, I’ve only seen it in some untranslated promo stuff. It’s not in the card-game yet so I guess it’s no surprise you guys wouldn’t have heard of it.” She shot the boys a teasing grin.

“Also you’re the only one here who knows Japanese and can get import stuff from their family,” Kyle said, grinning back, hoping he didn’t sound too jealous. “That reminds me though, I should’ve asked you yesterday too. Have you seen anything like this before?”

Bryan and June both looked at him, eyebrows raised, both replying almost simultaneously

“You asked him and not me?”

“You asked me and not her?”

Kyle looked down at the table. “Look, you barely ever reply to your IMs anyway?” It wasn’t the best excuse; messaging her hadn’t even crossed his mind the previous day, and his mind recoiled a bit about what that might mean about his attitude toward his friends. He rubbed his neck. “But yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

June nodded decisively. “Good. Let’s see then.” She gave the object another look. “It does have that whole ‘extremely screen-accurate cosplay-prop’ vibe, but usually those are actually based on something from a show, and this is not. Unless it’s an unreleased one?”

Bryan nodded. “Yeah, that’d make sense. There’s supposed to be a new show starting soon, right?”

Kyle frowned, taking the device back and fidgeting with the screen again. “How would an unreleased toy for an unreleased show from Japan end up in an arroyo here?” With that, he finally started taking a bite of his sandwich.

June shrugged. “So your alternative explanation is…?”

Bryan grinned. “He thinks it’s real!”

Kyle barely kept from choking on his food. “Look!” he said, after swallowing. “It was flashing real bright and acting weird and it absorbed my designs—“

“Confirmation bias…” Bryan interjected.

“We’ll see when it grows up!” He returned to his food, scowling.

June looked between the two of them. “You guys have the weirdest arguments.” She eyed the device. “Hey, can I see it again real quick? I think I realized something.”

Kyle reluctantly nudged it over. June turned it over, tapping her finger thoughtfully. “Huh. Where do the batteries go? Or, the charging port?”

Kyle and Bryan both looked at her, then at the device as she held it up, displaying the perfectly smooth plastic shell. 

“Huh… That is… a good question,” Bryan said.

“I didn’t even think of that!” Kyle added as he reached to take it back. “That’s… whoa. Okay, what do you think now?”

“It’s definitely weird, at least” said Bryan, leaning in for a closer look.

“It really, really is,” June said. “If you find another one, um… dibs?” She grinned.

Kyle turned the device in his hands, marveling anew at the design, and the little creature apparently developing on its screen. “Oh, for sure. You got it. And if anything happens to this one—“

He was cut off as the device made a soft electronic warble, and the screen filled with white-and-blue light. The blob-with-ears flickered on the screen, alternating with a slightly different shape that quickly replaced it.

“It’s evolving!” Kyle exclaimed, in a louder voice than he’d meant to. Their area of the lunchroom fell quiet and several other students looked his way, but he barely noticed, staring at the new form on the screen. It wasn’t much different, but the direction of its development was clear; the little pixelated Digimon had grown stubby legs and a fluffy tail, looking all the more like the sort of critter that could grow up into the rookie he’d designed.

Chapter Text

Bryan and June both leaned in, peering at the newly-evolved figure on the screen. “I guess that does look a bit more like what you designed,” Bryan said.

“It also looks a bit more like how Dodomon evolves, though,” June added.

“I mean it’s definitely how I would’ve drawn those stages if I’d thought of it!”

Bryan nodded. “Yeah, sure, easy for you to say now…” He was, at least, grinning as he said it. “I gotta admit, either way this thing IS pretty cool.”

“It’ll be even cooler when I get a real Digimon out of it!” Kyle blurted, causing the other two to look at him for a long moment.

“Do… you really think that’ll happen?” Bryan asked.

“Do you want that to happen?” June looked at him thoughtfully. “I mean, last time it ended with fighting and rampaging and goo and people thinking the world was going to end, and then the entire internet was down for like a week?”

Kyle opened his mouth to reply, but Bryan picked up the thread first. “Wow, yeah, if the entire internet shut down for a week now, the world actually might end.”

They both stared at him expectantly. 

“Well… I mean…” Kyle was saved from answering by the harsh ring of the end-of-lunch bell. “Gottagotoenglishclassbye!” He grabbed his belongings and walked swiftly out of the cafeteria, trying to finish off his nearly-forgotten lunch as he went.

As he walked, and as he tried to pay attention in his next class, the question still nagged at him. The device was certainly unusual, and definitely seemed to act in ways that set it apart from a toy, but the prospect of it connecting him to a real physical (well, digital) creature felt like it had a lot more complexity and weight now, compared to his drifting-off-to-sleep fantasies of the night before. The possibility of being responsible for the fate of the world was hard to balance against the potential of having a fearsome friend to protect him at school. It’d probably be difficult to get a Digimon into school; they barely even tolerated virtual pets, much less three-foot-high electric-canine monsters.

Then, on his way to his next class, Kyle discovered that someone (he didn’t need many guesses who) had covered his locker in permanent-marker homophobic slurs (again), and his thoughts abruptly turned toward wondering if his monster designs were fearsome enough to make Rick wet himself when he saw the real thing. 

“No, no, come on, can’t think like that, that’s how you get dark evolutions,” he murmured to himself, pulling out cleaning wipes from his locker and trying to clear the worst of the scrawlings in the few minutes before his next period. 

The rest of the day went by as it usually did, though with more specific daydreaming than usual, and a few more surreptitious checks of the Digivice screen when teachers weren’t looking. He gave it a bit more attention when the final bell rang and he sat in class to wait for the halls to clear. The rounded four-legged critter was still bouncing around in its simple animation, and he still couldn’t figure out anything else to do to make it react; none of the buttons did anything except emit a variety of beeps.

Today, thankfully, the game club room was open again, and several friends and acquaintances were already there by the time Kyle got there himself. He tried out his new deck against Bryan, and won his first match so easily that the other boy gave him an unprompted compliment on how much he’d improved. 

They were deep into a second match when Kyle heard a strange warbling sound from his backpack. He’d stashed the device there when he’d started playing, so he wouldn’t get too distracted, and he couldn’t think of what else would be making that noise. He dropped his cards face-up in his haste to have a look at the sound, and almost everyone else in the room was looking at him by the time he pulled it out.

“Wait, what?” He peered at the screen in shock. The little pixelated Digimon was gone, replaced with a softly-pulsing arrow that pointed off in one direction. He rotated the device, and the arrow stayed put, as if it were pointing at something far outside the device, or the room itself.

Bryan was looking over his shoulder. “Whoa, it has some kinda compass mode? That’s actually pretty cool!” 

“Is that one of those new phones?” asked someone else in the room, the clearest voice in a general murmur, but Kyle was barely listening. 

“It’s not pointing North though,” he said. “Pretty sure the school is laid out going east-west and this is diagonal, so that’d be…” His voice trailed off as he tried to work it out. Vaguely northwest, he was pretty sure, right in the direction he’d found the device in the first place. “I gotta go!” He grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

The voices of the club became more confused as Kyle left the room. Bryan’s shout of “Hey, your cards!” was the thing that almost gave him pause, but the call of that guiding arrow was too enticing. He ran through the halls, barely thinking of bullies who might trip him up or teachers who might scold him, and soon he was out the door and running along the road. 

Kyle could see the direction changing slowly as he moved, lining up with the arroyo itself. He hopped up and down impatiently at the crosswalk, then dashed across the street, only slowing down a bit to make his way down the crumbly side slope of the dirt canyon. 

He checked the screen, confirming it was still pointing straight toward the other end, at the culvert where he’d found the device in the first place. The closer he got the more he was convinced he could see something there. “Please please please…” he gasped as he ran, rapidly running out of breath from his sprint. 

Finally he arrived at the pipe under the road, and hunkered down, peering into it. “Please be a real Digimon, please,” he said. Something was definitely moving in there, a rounded shape surrounded by strange glints of light. Then it shifted abruptly, and electric-blue eyes blazed from the shadows.

Kyle stumbled back, startled, instinct making him go tense. “Oh my god…” he murmured, the eyes getting larger as the creature approached. Light fell across a tapered muzzle, golden-tan fur, and pointed ears above those vibrant eyes. It was unmistakable; his drawing brought to life, the design still clear even as it manifested in something so detailed and alive. Then the creature looked directly at him, those eyes seeming curious, the ears perked warily.

“C-Coyomon…?” he murmured, as the Digimon crawled fully out of the pipe, walking on all fours. The shimmering light faded, and Coyomon just looked at him, then made a high-pitched noise that sounded distinctly questioning. 

“I’m… um… My name’s Kyle…?” he said, raising the Digivice that was still in his hand. “I think I’m your… partner? Trainer? If that’s… okay with you?”

The creature’s gaze turned toward the device, then back to him, and a smile formed on the muzzle. “Partner-Kyle!” The voice was high-pitched but slightly rough, sounding cheerful and playful even as it sounded distinctly non-human. “I’m Coyomon! You knew that?”

Kyle gaped for a moment, just staring at the Digimon. “This is… really happening…?”

“Is it?” came the reply, and Kyle couldn’t help but giggle nervously. 

“I… made you,” Kyle said. “I mean, that’s how I know… who you are? I think I made you?”

Coyomon’s head tilted. “Rrr? Dunno! Just got here.”

“Oh God, you don’t even believe me?” Kyle reached out a hand, palm down, as if he were approaching a completely normal dog. “I mean I guess it doesn’t matter…” Coyomon leaned closer and gave his hand a light nuzzle. “You’re still my partner, right…?”

“Partner-Kyle!” The digimon bobbed his head in a nod and licked Kyle’s hand. It left a strange electric tingle. “Partners is good!”

Kyle pressed closer, feeling at Coyomon’s fur, grinning ear to ear. “Yeah… it really is… I can’t believe you’re really--”

“Holy crap!” The voice came from behind Kyle, and he twitched in surprise. Coyomon jolted to attention and Kyle thought he felt a static charge build in the fur. 

“Bryan?” Kyle started to turn; the other boy was there, staring wide-eyed, with June right beside him.

“Not-partners…” Coyomon said, more of a throaty growl in his voice now.

“Whoa, no, settle down, not partners, but friends. Good people.” He felt that charge ease, as Coyomon relaxed, nodding, softly echoing “Friends.”

“Holy crap,” Bryan said again, his voice softer. “It’s real…?”

“Really real…” June said, reaching out for Coyomon with the same careful movements that Kyle himself had used moments before. 

“Partner-Kyle says he made me!” Coyomon was rearing up onto two legs now to look at the other two, wagging his tail, though he stayed close to Kyle.

“What do you think about confirmation bias now, Bryan?” Kyle couldn’t hold in a smirk, seeing Bryan gape.

“I think I’m mad June called dibs first.”

“It’s definitely not one I recognize,” June said. “Where did you come from?” she asked, looking directly at Coyomon.

“Right there!” Coyomon nodded toward the drainage pipe. 

Kyle picked up the thread of conversation. “No, like, before that. Did you come from the… Digital World? Do you know other Digimon?” Once they were out of his mouth, the questions felt silly, unreal, but he still found himself desperate for answers. 

“Rrr… Dunno! Light, sparkles, then that!” Coyomon nodded at the pipe again. 

“Huh.” Kyle looked at June, who shrugged, and Bryan, who was still mostly staring in shock.

Just then, Kyle’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen, noticing the time and the caller ID. “Oh, crap.” He’d completely lost track of how late it was getting.

Kyle took a few deep breaths, and then picked up. “Hi Mom. I know I’m late for pickup. I’ll… be right there.” He flipped it closed again, looking down at the three-foot-tall Digimon looking back up at him.

“More Partner-Kyle-friends to meet?”

“Oooooh crap.”

Chapter Text

“Oooooh crap.”

Kyle looked back and forth between his friends and his new Digimon. All of them were looking back at him expectantly, and finally Bryan let out a giggle. “You are screwed.”

“This is so not funny!” 

“No, sorry, I’m just trying to imagine you walking up to your mom’s car with a Digimon, all ‘Can we keep him?’”

June choked back a laugh as well. “Maybe you can hide him somehow?”

Kyle shook his head. “Yeah, right, in what, a big cardboard box?” He looked back at the drainage pipe, then down at Coyomon. “Hey, you came from in there, is there like… a place for you there?”

Coyomon looked at the pipe too. “I… should go back? Not with Partner-Kyle?” The Digimon’s ears drooped slightly, and Kyle felt his heart sink as well.

“Hey wait no, I don’t want to just leave you!”

Bryan was suddenly all sympathy as well. “Yeah you definitely can’t just leave him, look at the poor guy!”

June peered at Coyomon thoughtfully. “Maybe if he de-digivolved you could fit him in your backpack…?”

Kyle nodded. “Maybe… Or better yet, if that would let him fit in this,” he said, gesturing to the Digivice.

“Rrr? I could go in there?” Coyomon nosed at Kyle’s hand. The nose was surprisingly cold and wet, just like a real dog’s. 

Absent-mindedly, Kyle reached to pat Coyomon’s head, ruffling the soft fur. “I think you came from here… You don’t remember?”

Coyomon shook his head, making the pointy ears wobble. “Light… sparkles…” He nosed at the device again. “Looks comfy though!”

Kyle blinked. “Comfy?”

“Yeah! Rrrr, hmm…” Coyomon pressed his muzzle more firmly to the Digivice screen. Then, both the monster and the device started to glow. In a flurry of particles, Coyomon seemed to flow into it, appearing in pixelated form on the screen. “Comfy!” came the voice from the speakers, a bit distorted, but clearly cheerful.

“Whoa, cool,” Kyle said, with his friends making similar noises. 

“I always figured they should be able to do something like that,” June said.

Bryan nodded. “Problem solved then?”

“Looks like it! Seeya tomorrow!” Kyle started to run back toward the school.

“Oh no, you better start sending full updates as soon as you get home,” Bryan called after him.

“Yeah, and you extra-better not forget about me this time,” June added.

“Sure, fine, when I get home!” Kyle’s phone was ringing again, and he grabbed it on the run once he reached the sidewalk. “Hi mom sorry I was… at the library, I’ll be right there though, look see I’m up the street!”

“Why didn’t you send me one of those texts?” his mother replied. “And stop running on the sidewalk, you could fall into the road!”

“I’m not going to fall into the road, Mom!”

“Just wait right there, I’ll get you at the corner.” She hung up.

Kyle leaned on a light post, catching his breath. From the device in his hand came that digitized voice. “More Partner-Kyle-friends? I can come out now?”

“Oh crap, no. Just um… stay in there a bit longer, Coyomon. I’ll tell you when it’s okay to come out.” He could see his mom’s blue sedan, pulling out of the school lot.

“But I’m hungry…”

Kyle winced. “Okay if you stay put until I say it’s okay to come out, I’ll get you a lot of food. Okay?”

“Okaaaay.” The tinny voice sounded less than pleased. There was a momentary pause as the car headed toward him. “Partner-Kyle, what’s ‘crap’ mean?”

Kyle winced. “I’ll tell you later. With SO much food. Now sssssh!” He shoved the Digivice deep into his backpack and hopped into the car. “Hi mom, sorry!”

“No need to apologize for being at the library, I just wish you would’ve told me, saved us both the trouble. How was school?”

Kyle paused for a long moment, thoughts whirling way too fast to be able to come up with a response. 

“Kyle?” He must’ve been quiet longer than he’d realized.

“It was… fine.”

“Fine like yesterday, or worse?”

Extraordinarily better, and also much more terrifying, in a whole new different way.

“Better than yesterday, actually. Just… busy?”

“That sounds good then. If there’s problems, you know you can talk to me, right?”

Kyle gritted his teeth to keep in a nervous laugh. “I know, mom. Thank you. Just, y’know, lots of stuff to learn, right now.”

She nodded. “Good. See, the big school will work out fine, like we said.”

Those familiar words fanned the embers of a smoldering argument, and Kyle scowled, retorts burning through his mind. 

It’s not, though. I get teased every day. And you can’t just say “you can talk to me” and then “I told you so” ten seconds later.

However, he’d learned that saying that wouldn’t do any good, so he simply mumbled “sure, whatever,” and squeezed his backpack to himself as he slumped in his seat, counting on the pressure to sooth himself. As he did, he was sure he could hear a synthesized growl coming from deep within it. Had Coyomon heard his thoughts? Digimon were supposed to respond to emotions, he remembered. He had a sudden alarming image of Coyomon bursting out of the backpack, and maybe the car, responding to his feelings of injustice. He closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths, giving himself more calming pressure. 

We’ll deal with it later. And it’s not all bad. I found you.

Calming techniques carried Kyle the rest of the way home. As his mom headed inside, he lingered in the pantry, grabbing a variety of packaged snacks and shoving them in his backpack. Then he dashed to his room, daring to lock the door before finally dumping the backpack’s contents out onto his bed. “Okay, you can come out now! There’s food.”

“Finally! Food!” The air filled with pixels as Coyomon emerged from the Digivice. “Where?” 

“Oh, uh, in these packages. Here, try some of these granola bars, they have candy in them.” He unwrapped a bar, and Coyomon sniffed the air, then quickly turned toward him, eyes wide.

“Food!” The Digimon lunged forward, and Kyle hastily dropped it, wary of losing a finger.

“Wait um… is chocolate bad for dog-Digimon?” 

“Dunno! Tastes good though!” 

“Okay, uh, don’t fill up on that, though. And tell me if your tummy hurts. Here, maybe try this too? Beef jerky.” The lightly spicy smell filled the air as he opened a packet.

“Ooooh, meat!” Coyomon grabbed for the whole bag, and stuffed it in his mouth, giving it a few chews before dropping it “Rrrr. Smells better than it tastes.”

Kyle giggled. “That’s the package. You have to take it out.” He reached for the bag, and was momentarily surprised to find it slightly slobbery. The experience of Coyomon drool brought a new level of reality to the situation. He picked it up gingerly, and dumped out the contents, which the Digimon promptly devoured.

“Better! Spicy! I like spicy!”

“Ha! Me too! Gotta get you some green chile, if you like this!”

“Rrr? Chilly is cold!” 

“No, it’s a food, it goes on burgers, and burritos and, well, everything. I’ll… well, I can’t really bring you to a restaurant, but… leftovers maybe?”

“Restaurants are food places, right? I want to go there!”

“Oh… yeah. We need to talk about that.” Kyle took a breath. “Most people here… We can’t let them see you. Some folks might be fine with you, like Bryan and June, but other folks… aren’t so nice.”

Coyomon looked up from the remnants of the jerky, and tilted his head. “Everyone I’ve met is nice!”

“Heh, right, you’ve met three Digimon nerds, not the rest of the world that thinks Digimon are, like, wild monsters… or computer glitches that almost destroyed the world… or a government conspiracy…” He glanced in the direction of the kitchen, where he could hear his parents working on dinner. “Or just something overly weird that’ll keep me from doing good in school.”

“I’ll be good! Especially if you keep giving me food!” Coyomon eyed the remaining snacks meaningfully, and Kyle demonstrated how to open a few more packages.

“I know, I know. I know you’ll be good. But you also just have to be kinda… secret? For now. Just… stay around me, and when I ask, go back into the Digivice, okay? You said it’s cozy, right?”

“Cozy but boring.”

“Maybe we can figure out how to make it less boring? And I’ll make sure to spend plenty of time with you not in there. We live in the middle of nowhere, there’s plenty of places for us to explore.”

“Oooh, let’s go now!” 

“Well, I have dinner pretty soon—“ The perk of Coyomon’s ears showed that was a mistake. 

“MORE food?” The Digimon’s heavy tail thumped the bed, and Kyle had to laugh.

“Wow, the shows were definitely right about how much you guys eat. I’ll bring leftovers if I can, okay? If you stay in here, and be good. Maybe… explore the Digivice more? Maybe it can do stuff. Just stay in here, and we can find more fun stuff to do after dinner, okay?”

“Okaaaaay.”

Kyle eyed the Digimon, not entirely trusting that tone. “If you’re NOT good, then no more food.”

Coyomon’s eyes widened. “Okay, okay, stay in here, be good, get food.”

As if on cue, his mom called out from downstairs, letting him know dinner was ready. Kyle was almost sure he noticed Coyomon drooling more just from the announcement. 

“Those first. Be good. Then leftovers. Got it?”

“Got it!” The Digimon nodded, and Kyle backed out the door, breathing deep as he prepared to put on his best nothing-weird-is-going-on face at the dinner table.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 - Lost (and Found) in the Dark

Somehow, Kyle and his parents managed to have something that felt like normal dinner, with his parents making small-talk about their days as the three of them passed around taco ingredients. Taco construction gave him something to focus on, and cover for staying out of the tedious conversation for most of the meal. 

Unfortunately, it couldn’t last. As he worked through his third taco, thinking through strategies to regularly get food up to his room for Coyomon, he heard his dad call his name.

“How about you, Kyle?”

He swallowed a mouthful of taco and tried to catch up to the conversation. “Huh?”

“What have you been up to? Any school projects? Good books?”

Of course, it was the ‘show interest in your weird kid to try to make sure he’s okay’ sort of conversation. As usual, what not to say came quickly to mind.

I discovered a digital monster in a drain pipe and I’m trying to figure out how to take care of him and where he came from and what cool stuff we can do together.

Fully open answers rarely worked well, even when they weren’t quite so extraordinary. Most times when he shared one of his fixations, his parents responded with bland confusion at best, and concern at worst. He still remembered the epic battles regarding Digimon in particular. First they’d worried the show was ‘too occult’, then they’d feared the cards were ‘gambling’. And all of that had been before the days when Digimon had been revealed as real. 

“Oh, well…” He drew out the word, hoping he didn’t sound suspicious as he sought out a safe approach. “Yeah, I’m still reading that new Star Trek book? They’re doing a new series and it’s pretty good.” That was a reliably bland topic. His parents had introduced him to the various series in reruns, and it had become one of his earliest and most persistent special interests. “You might like them too?”

“Ah, I wish I had more time to read, kiddo. Glad you’re enjoying it, though!”

Kyle nodded, and took another bite of his last taco, wishing fervently for the conversation to move on. It did, and his mind drifted back to more pressing matters as he finished dinner.

While clearing his plate, he turned to his parents again. “Is it okay if I go out for a walk after dinner?” He’d promised Coyomon some activity and was at a loss for what else in his room would entertain the Digimon. 

“Now? It’s dark out, Kyle.” his mom replied. 

He was prepared for that. “I know, but it’s clear and there’s almost no moon, so it’ll be nice for stars. It’ll be too cold to go out at night pretty soon. You’ve let me do it before. I’ll bring a flashlight!”

She paused, and his mind whirled trying to think of what else he could say to convince her, but finally she nodded. “Well, okay. Take your phone too, and be back before nine, okay?”

“Thank you mom, I will!”

Kyle made a show of grabbing the good flashlight from the mudroom, then headed back to his room. Coyomon had eaten all the food and was now gnawing on the wrappers. “Leftovers?” the Digimon asked eagerly.

“There’s some taco meat in the fridge you can have later. But now, do you want to go outside? Have a look where we live? There’s enough space out in the greenbelt that it should be safe.”

“Rrr, I don’t know a lot of those words. I want to go somewhere with you though!”

Kyle smiled. “Good. Okay, let’s practice. What do you need to do before we go out of my room?”

Coyomon tilted his head and lifted a paw to his chin, as if thinking deeply. “Rrrmm… Oh, I remember! Gotta be good. Or no food.”

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh softly. “Riiight. But in this case in particular, what do you need to do to be good?”

Another pause for thought. “I… don’t know.”

Kyle tapped the Digivice, still laying on the bed. “Something involving this?” he prompted.

“Oh! Right!” Coyomon nosed the device, and disappeared inside. “Like this!” came the tinny voice.

“Right. Now be quiet, just real quick until I tell you to come out. It’ll be much faster this time. Okay?”

There was no response. 

“Coyomon…?”

“I’m being quiet!”

“Hee. Right. Good. Keep it up.”

Kyle put the device in his coat pocket, and headed out of the house, giving his parents a hopefully-casual-looking wave as he went. Soon he was out the door and breathing in the cool night air on the gravel driveway. “Okay, Coyomon, you can come out now.”

The flurry of pixels brightened the dark yard for a moment, but it faded quickly. Coyomon stood there, his eyes holding a softer glow. “Did I do good?”

“Yeah, you did great! Now let’s go for a walk. We’ll go around back so we don’t have to worry about cars.” 

Kyle turned on the flashlight and started walking carefully through the desert scrub. “Be careful of cactus. They hurt.” He pointed the flashlight beam at a tiny, spiky prickly pear.

“Rrrr, do I need to fight them? Protect you?”

“Hah, no, if you fought those, I’m pretty sure you’d lose.”

“Nooo, they’re small, I’d win! Watch!” Bright blue electricity started to gather around his mouth. “Spark—“

Kyle nudged him. “No, stop! Part of being good is no attacks, okay? Unless I say so, or something’s actually attacking me.”

The sparks faded, and the blue-glowing eyes blinked as the Digimon looked up at him. “Hmm… okay…” 

They walked on, the scrub and cactus thinning out until they were walking through the knee-high grasses of the dry greenbelt. The flashlight’s beam reflected on the strands, making a soft gold shimmer. 

“So… why are we here?” Coyomon asked.

“Sometimes I just have to get out of the house. It always feels a little bit like I’m being watched, there. Plus, I thought you might like to move around more. I know I’ve kept you kind shut in.”

“Yeah! Moving around is nice! Kyle-room and Kyle-Digivice are small. This is big! Feels like… something?”

“Oh, yeah, maybe the Digital World! Whenever they show it, it’s like, mostly wilderness?”

“Still dunno Digital World. What’s that?”

“I think it’s where you’re from! That’s where all Digimon are supposed to be from, I thought. But I guess if I, y’know… made you…” Kyle shook his head slightly. There was still a lot to work out.

“Have you been there?” Coyomon asked, a few steps later.

“Huh? Oh, the Digital World? No, I have no idea how to get there. I was sorta hoping you would, honestly.”

“Rrr, sorry… How do you know about it then?”

“Oh. Heh. Well, some people have talked about going there, but mostly there’s TV shows?”

“What’s TV shows?”

“Oh, they’re… stories. That you watch. Maybe we can watch them together.” Would that be a good idea? Coyomon might recognize something familiar in them, something that might help explain where he came from and what was going on, but he also might get more ideas about fighting, not to mention Digivolving, all of which would make it a lot harder to keep their secret.

“There’s other Digimon there? Can I meet them?”

“Oh, well, the shows are sorta made up. Um, I think so, at least. But there IS a real Digital World, and real Digimon there, there was a whole thing about it when I was little. Some people went there, some Digimon came here, and… it’s complicated. We can talk about that later.”

“Rrrrrr… were they bad? Like you said before?”

Kyle thought about this. “Yes? No? Sort of…? I don’t think anyone’s totally sure what happened, and that’s why everyone’s afraid. That’s why you gotta fly under the radar.”

“I don’t think I can fly though. And what’s radar?”

The question caught Kyle up short, his father’s use of that phrase a couple months ago suddenly ringing in his ears. His steps faltered, and he stopped walking. He looked down at Coyomon, easy to find in the dark with those glowing eyes, and reached out to pat his head.

“Are you lonely, Coyomon?”

“What’s lonely?”

“Are you… sad, because you don’t have anyone else like you here?”

“I’m not sad, I just got here! And there was food!” Kyle giggled, starting to relax, but Coyomon continued. “But I don’t like hiding. Even if it means being good.”

Kyle took a deep breath, and the cold night air stung slightly in his chest. “Me neither.” He started walking again, turning to head back to the house. “You shouldn’t have to. I shouldn’t have to.” 

For a moment he felt more resolved, thinking through how to make that happen. Show Coyomon to his parents. Bring him to school. Hold a press conference. Every scenario felt exciting, but as they played out in his head, each one ended in separation and sadness, like most of the other times he’d tried to be bold and honest. Eventually he just sighed. “But I have no idea how to make that happen.”

Coyomon pressed his soft-furred head to Kyle’s side, a surprisingly comforting gesture. “Would we have to hide in the Digital World?”

“Huh. I mean, you wouldn’t. And I guess I wouldn’t either, actually. It might be kinda dangerous, but—“

“Rrrrr, protect you!”

“I guess you would, yeah. I mean, I’m not… I don’t think I want to run away, but if we could go back and forth, that’d be… that’d help a lot.”

“Let’s go then!”

“Oh, well, I don’t really know how do that.”

“Let’s find out then!”

Kyle had to chuckle at that. “Actually… yeah. That’s… yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Let’s find out. There’s gotta be something, online, or maybe Bryan and June can help. I mean they already want to make Digimon friends too…”

“Hooray! Going to the Digital World with Partner-Kyle!” Coyomon had picked up on his excitement, at a volume that made Kyle wince, especially as they approached the house again. 

“Yeah!” He realized he was just as excited, so he worked to lower his voice as he made his way around the house. “Let’s go inside now though. Don’t want my mom out looking for us, and I’m getting kinda tired anyway. We can plan tomorrow.”

Coyomon nodded. “Still gotta go inside the thing?”

Kyle nodded back, pulling out the Digivice. “Yeah. For now. But… let’s not call it ‘being good’ anymore. Let’s just say it’s something not-fun we have to do until we figure out something better.”

“That’s long to say!” Coyomon pointed out, but he nosed his way into the device before Kyle could respond.

Kyle moved quickly through the house, making sure his parents saw he was home on schedule. He gave Coyomon the go-ahead to stretch out in his room. It wasn’t long until bedtime, but he still had some homework to do. The Digimon was a surprisingly cozy and quiet companion as he worked through assignments on his bed, only occasionally asking curious questions about the ‘funny squiggles’ of his math homework.

Finally it was time for bed. Coyomon hid under the covers when his parents came in to say good-night, blending in with the various lumps of stuffed animals that were already there. When the lights were out and the door was shut, though, the Digimon shifted, pressing soft fur closer to Kyle. It was a surprise at first, but a pleasant one. Had it been just last night that he was only imagining this? It was all so much more complicated than he’d expected, twenty four hours ago.

“Good night, Partner-Kyle!”

But at the same time, it was much more wonderful, too.

“Good night, Coyomon.”

Chapter Text

“Oh good, you’re still alive!”

Kyle almost twitched out of his chair as the familiar voice intruded on another before-school homework cram session. 

“Augh! Bryan? What?” He turned to face the shorter boy, who’d snuck up behind him in the library as he was concentrating. June was standing there with him, and both of them were staring at him expectantly.

“Well, after all night with no updates…” Bryan replied. 

“After you promised, to both of us…” June added.

“Oh. Right. It was a busy night.”

Bryan nodded, putting on an exaggerated serious voice. “Yes, I suppose new pets can be a lot to handle…” 

“What’s a pet?” That voice had come from his pocket.

Kyle stood up abruptly, and noticed the librarian giving them all a warning-glare. “Okay okay okay, let’s just… go over here?” He herded the other two into a quiet corner of the non-fiction section.

“You honestly didn’t check your IMs all night?” June asked, in a quieter voice now. “After giving me such a hard time about it less than 24 hours ago.”

Kyle took a breath. “He was really hungry when we got home, they really do eat a ridiculous amount. I think he likes spicy stuff best. And then after dinner I took him for a walk and he tried to fight a cactus. It takes a lot of attention keeping track of him and I honestly didn’t even think of looking at the computer. I’m sorry.”

“Me too…” came Coyomon’s voice from the device in his pocket. The other two stared. 

“That’s still very cool,” Bryan said, nodding.

“Probably really convenient too.”

“Honestly it’s kind of exhausting keeping him secret and I don’t really want to anymore.”

June’s eyes widened. “You gonna let him wander around?”

Bryan frowned. “I’m pretty sure the school has a no-pets policy.”

“Am I a pet?”

“You are definitely not a pet, Coyomon.” Kyle patted the digivice and glared at Bryan. “But no, I’m not gonna have him out and about here, at least not yet. It being only me…” He shook his head. “I have a plan, though. First thing, I want to work out how to get to the Digital World. You guys want to help?”

“Not a guy,” June replied, “but totally!”

“That would mean we’d get our own, yeah?” It wasn’t hard to tell that Bryan was excited too.

“That’s what I figured? All the kids in Tokyo came back from there with Digimon partners, right?”

June nodded. “Checks out. How do you want us to help?”

“Internet research. Find out everything you can about Digimon. Details about the Tokyo stuff, but also if anything has happened since then.”

“You think there’s more than just you?” Bryan asked.

“It’d be wild if it was just Japan and then here five years later, yeah?”

June chimed in. “Well, I think I can cover the Japanese sources pretty well.”

“Hah. Better than me, for sure,” said Bryan. “I should be able to help if anything’s in Spanish though.”

“I’m sure there’s plenty for all of us,” Kyle said, but his sentence was almost cut off by the school bell ringing. “Okay! See you at lunch in the computer lab, Digimon Research Team!”

“I’ll be there!” June said.

“Nerd,” Bryan added, but he was grinning big as he headed off to class.

Morning classes crawled by, with Kyle taking a few moments between each one to chat with Coyomon in the digivice. The first two times, he tried to hide in an out-of-the-way corner, holding it up to his ear and whispering furtively. This didn’t work well; nothing was out-of-the-way enough that no one would wander past. However, no one took any notice anyway, and eventually Kyle realized he could plausibly just be talking on a phone, so by the last break before lunch, the chat became a lot more casual.

“You still doing okay in there?”

“Rrrrr… Bored. People talk a LOT out there. About weird stuff.”

“Yeah, it’s not all that fun. Try and pay attention if you can though. Seems like you have a lot to learn about the world.”

“I’ll tryyyyy. When can I come out?”

“Just one more hour, bud. Then we can eat. And—“

“Finally!”

“…And study more about the Digital World.”

“Eat first though!”

“Yeah yeah, eat first.”

After the final morning class, Kyle arrived at the computer lab to find Bryan and June waiting outside the door.

“Did you mean right away?” Bryan asked. “Because Mr. Neary doesn’t usually like us having food in there.”

“Oh, right. And you-know-who is hungry anyway.”

June nodded. “Let’s go to the place? Behind the art portable?”

It was a familiar walk, to a dusty empty area that was far from usual student foot-traffic, which had been very helpful countless times when Kyle needed space away from people.

Kyle set out the double-plus-extra lunch that he’d packed for himself, and Coyomon eagerly emerged and started eating. Kyle grabbed what he could for himself, and watched the other two marvel at the Digimon, getting their first close look. 

“It’s almost weird that he has real fur,” Bryan said.

“Lots of Digimon have fur,” June replied.

“No, I mean… I see them on TV or cards, right? And it’s mostly just smooth. And like if he’s a computer program… Fur’s hard to do with computers, right?” He looked to Kyle. “Can I touch him?”

Kyle shrugged, mouth half-full with sandwich. “Ask him.”

“Oh, uh, right.” Bryan turned to Coyomon. “Hey, can I… pet you?”

“Partner-Kyle says I’m not a pet!”

“No I just mean, can I touch you.”

“Oh! Okay!”

Bryan reached out and put his hand between Coyomon’s ears. “Wow… Soft…” 

June addressed Coyomon directly. “Can I feel, too?”

“Sure! It feels nice!”

June rubbed his neck, with a big grin. “This is so cool.”

“I know… It’s still kinda hard to believe, even having him right here. Even having him eat most of my lunch. Hey, Coyomon, one of those cookies is for me, okay?”

“Okaaay.”

Lunch took a bit longer than normal to eat, with all the Digimon-inspection going on at the same time. By the time they were ready to head back inside, there was less than half of lunch period remaining. Coyomon returned to the digivice, and the three of them returned to the computer lab, finding three computers nearby to work on.

“So I looked around when I first found the thing on Monday and I didn’t really find anything that useful. Basic news articles, and then a bunch of conspiracy theories. But I was mostly trying to find out about the device? So maybe we could try looking for other stuff now. Maybe even theoretical stuff? There must have been research about this, it was a big deal.”

June nodded. “I might have better luck with that from home. My parents always leave the computer logged into science journal sites. For now, I’ll see if I can find the Japanese news reports.”

Bryan turned from his computer. “So, for me, I think I’ve read enough weird-news sites to know which ones are just making stuff up and which are more like, exaggerating? I can look there.”

“Okay then, I guess I’ll just keep searching random keywords.” 

Kyle had only just started when June called him over. “Got something, I think. You ever seen this?” The grainy video on her screen showed a red-haired man speaking Japanese. “He’s talking about the difference between Digimon and the… reaper things. Like, how they have totally different origins?”

Kyle shook his head. “That’s like, the opposite of what my parents said from watching the news here!”

“Yeah, my mom is always griping about how badly they handle foreign news here. But also! This guy, Professor McCoy? Looks like he’s from California. Maybe we could talk to him.”

“Did you say California?” Bryan peeked over the divider. “Weird, take a look at this.”

Hoax or Horror? read the title of the amateurish-looking page, red text on a black background. Below it was an out-of-focus photo of a suburban street at night, with a dark red shape looming out of a row of trees. Bryan read from the screen “In October 2003, several people saw a giant monster insect rampaging through suburban Sunnyvale, California. It was officially described as a Halloween stunt by a tech company but… blah blah blah… anyway, doesn’t it look like that big red beetle Digimon?”

Kyle squinted at the picture. “Kuwagamon? It’s kinda blurry, but yeah, definitely could be. And this was like, what, a year and half after the Shibuya thing?”

June had already brought up a map on her computer. “Sunnyvale is really close to Palo Alto University, where that McCoy guy is!”

“I bet we could just e-mail him!” Kyle said, nodding eagerly as he started to search for a faculty directory. “Send him pictures of the digivice and of Coyomon…” He dug out his phone, to look through his photo options. “Huh, I have a message. From last night.”

“Least it wasn’t just our messages you were ignoring,” said Bryan.

Kyle opened the message. It was from a local number, and it consisted of just a photo of his “found phone” flyer, with a single line of text below it. 

Can we talk?

“Uh oh.” He held it up for the others to see.

“What do you mean, ‘uh oh’?” Bryan asked. “Gotta be someone who knows what it is.”

“Yeah but… I really don’t want to give it back. Maybe I can just ignore it?”

“Or maybe,” June said, “It’s someone else who knows more about Digimon, which is the entire point of what we’re doing, and you were just about to e-mail someone else about it.”

“Right. right, okay. I’ll text back.”

who r u? do u know where it came from?

He let out a big breath as he hit send. “I guess we’ll just see where that goes. Should I still do the e-mail too?” A moment later, the bell rang, calling them back to class. “Guess I’ll do it after school. You g—you two ready to research more then?”

“I’m in!” said Bryan. “But you owe me a rematch for the game you interrupted yesterday too.”

“I can do it for a bit, but my parents are expecting me home before 4,” June said. “Plus, like I said, I can probably be more useful from there. But I will message you if I find anything, and you will check your messages this time, right?”

Kyle raised his hands as he backed out the door. “Yeah, yeah, I promise. Lesson learned!”

Chapter Text

The potential of strange messages coming in made it much easier for Kyle to remember to check his phone. His stomach fluttered anxiously when he saw a message waiting at the next class break, and it lurched as he read the contents.

I'm someone who knows what you found. Has it hatched yet?

He traded the phone in his hand for the digivice, and talked rapidly on his way through the halls.

“Someone else knows about it!”

“Rrr? About what?”

“The digivice! I got a message, and they asked if you hatched.”

“Oh! I did!”

“I know that! But that means someone else knows about you.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“I don’t know!” Kyle leaned on the wall outside his next classroom, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm himself.

“It would be nice to have more friends. Maybe they know about the Digital World?”

“Yeah… yeah, I guess so.” Coyomon’s forthrightness was soothing. “Okay. Thanks bud. I’ll let you know what they say.”

“Yay!”

He pocketed the digivice, and tapped out a phone response.

yes. what do u know about it?

This time, the response came before he even got to his seat in the room.

I'd like to meet, if we can. As soon as possible. Perhaps at the public library where you posted the signs?

A public place seemed safe enough.

ok. im in school til 3 so after that. & im bringing friends

With that sent, he stashed the phone in his backpack again, just in time to avoid his history teacher’s glare.

“Okay, new plan.” Kyle said to his friends when they gathered in the computer lab after school. He held out the phone so they could read the messages. One more had appeared on his way out of class.

I'm sitting near the computers. Look for a blonde woman with short hair and a laptop.

“Cool, this seems safe and not at all the sort of thing that stranger danger warnings are about,” Bryan said.

June elbowed him. “Presumably, that’s why we’re all going. And it’s the library.”

Kyle nodded. “Also, I already told my mom I’ll be there to get picked up at 5:30, so if I’m not there, she’ll probably call the police at 5:31.”

Bryan shrugged. “Okay then,” he said as the three headed out. “Can’t believe you’re getting me to go to the library two days in a row. And getting out of that rematch, again, too.”

June rolled her eyes. “Like you never go to the library on your own. You check out every new comic volume they get. And wouldn’t you rather have your own Digimon, instead of just playing with cards?”

Bryan grinned. “Depends on the Digimon. I don’t want to end up with a dud. There’s a lot of duds.”

“Then you should probably stop acting like a dud,” June replied with a smirk of her own. “Your partner’s supposed to match your personality, right?”

Those words caught Kyle by surprise, and he pondered them as they walked away from the school. Did Coyomon match his personality? The Digimon seemed fearless, which was both stressful and admirable. But Coyomon was also painfully naive. Was that just a result of being so newly-hatched, or did it say something about Kyle himself? In the shows, the bond between partners was empowered by some sort of grand virtue like Courage or Friendship. Was that part of Digimon themselves, or just a narrative device? He wasn’t at all sure what important life lessons he was supposed to learn from Coyomon.

“Partner-Kyle?” Coyomon’s voice startled him out of his thoughts. He’d been walking on autopilot, and they’d made it almost all the way to the library. “Can I come out now? Pleeease?”

June and Bryan were staring at him expectantly. “Oh, uh… you’ll probably have to, soon. But we need to meet whoever-this-is inside first. Hold on a couple more minutes. I’ve got a bag of jerky for you when you come out.”

“That just makes it harder to wait!”

“Sorry bud. Jerky soon, don’t worry.” Kyle lowered his voice as he pushed the doors of the library open. As he passed by the bulletin board, he noticed that his flyer had been taken down. He frowned to himself, but continued inside. “Okay, now we gotta be quiet in here, like it’s class.”

He rounded a corner, followed by Bryan and June, and stopped short as he saw the woman sitting at a table, focussed on her laptop. In his head, he’d somehow expected her to be dressed like a government agent, in a dark suit and maybe even glasses, but she was just wearing a simple blouse and pair of jeans.

Kyle stepped closer, waving once he was in her line of sight. At a loss for what to say, he just pulled out the digivice, and held it up until she noticed.

“Thank you for coming,” she said, closing her computer and standing up. She glanced briefly at Bryan and June, but soke directly to Kyle. “Shall we talk outside? I’d like to see where you found it.”

“I’d like to know who you are, first,” Kyle said, and he could see the other two nodding in his peripheral vision.

“Ah, of course. My name is Margaret Clarke. I’m a researcher at the Jemez Mountain Institute, and I have quite a bit of history with Digimon.”

“My parents work at JMI!” June said, slightly too loudly for the library. “I thought you looked familiar.”

The woman nodded, giving June a longer look. “Dr. Otsuka’s daughter?” she asked.

“And Dr. Reynolds’,” June added, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Right. So you can reassure your friends that I’m not a dangerous text-stalker?”

June shrugged. “She seems fine, yeah.”

“Well, okay. So I’m Kyle, this is Bryan, and I guess you sorta know June?”

Dr. Clarke nodded. “It’s nice to meet you all, but I think Kyle and I have some things to discuss in confidence.”

Kyle shook his head. “Oh no way. They want to know too. They’ve been helping me research what’s going on.”

“Yeah,” said Bryan. “We were sorta hoping we could get our own?”

June nodded eagerly. “We’ve seen what Kyle has, and what it can do,” she added.

“I see. Well then. I suppose you’re all already involved, and you should all hear what I have to say. Outside?” She focussed on Kyle again. “I presume that’s where you found it.”

He nodded, leading the way. “Yeah, just out here.” They crossed the small parking lot. “In the culvert, under the road.” He led the way down into the arroyo.

“Confined space, out of view, good…” Dr. Clarke seemed to be mostl talking to herself.

“Oh awesome, more stranger danger talk,” Bryan whispered, earning him another elbowing from June.

The woman apparently didn’t hear, or didn’t mind. She turned to Kyle. “And you said the egg has hatched?”

“Yesterday, around this time, yeah.” After a few moments of silence, he finally worked out that she was waiting for him to demonstrate. “Oh! Right.” He pulled out the Digivice. “Coyomon, come on out!”

“Finally! Jerky time?”

Dr. Clarke took a step back, eyes wide, but quickly steadied herself. “Sorry, I haven’t seen one in person in quite some time.” She looked Coyomon up and down thoughtfully. “I haven’t seen this species before at all, though. Did you design it?”

“Him,” Kyle said, opening a bag of spicy jerky and holding it out for Coyomon. “Thank you for being so patient,” he said to the Digimon, before turning back to Dr. Clarke. “And yeah, I did. I think about Digimon a ton.” His mind was so full of questions that it was hard to think which one to say first. “So, is he… do I… does this happen a lot?”

“More and more each month,” the researcher replied with a nod. “I believe the total count is around forty by now? I can check the full info. I’m sorry I’m not more prepared; I’m not the one who usually does this, but when one showed up so close to where I already was, we decided it was easier if I just came myself…”

“Wait,” June said. “Forty? Forty people with Digimon? I found out about like six! And who’s ‘we’, anyway? Is it JMI? Do my parents know about this?”

Dr. Clarke raised a hand. “No, not JMI. There’s some research into the subject going on there, it’s why I was hired, but they’re not the ones monitoring this. That would be… well, I don’t know if you all are old enough to remember the specifics of what happened in Tokyo, five years ago?”

“Not really, but we’ve had a pretty good reason to look into it recently,” Kyle replied dryly. “Would this be that… Hypnos thing?” He kept one eye on Coyomon, who was nearly done with his snack and would likely be acting up soon, but most of his focus was on the woman.

She nodded slightly. “The group that ran Hypnos is still focussed on monitoring the intersection of this world and the Digital. I consult with them, along with some of my colleagues. We created the Digimon, over twenty years ago now, and we try to help keep things… balanced. Safe.”

Bryan spoke up now. “Oh! You worked with Dr. McCoy?”

She smiled. “Dolphin, yes. You have been doing your research. They called me Daisy, if that name happened to come up. I preferred to be more in the background, though.”

Coyomon pulled his nose out of the now-empty jerky bag. “You made me? Or Partner-Kyle made me?”

Dr. Clarke paused, and for a moment Kyle was worried she wouldn’t talk directly to Coyomon. “I helped make your… ancestors, I suppose. And your world.”

Coyomon tilted his head, looking confused, but Kyle jumped on that. “Right! The Digital World! We were wondering if, well… can we go there? Is that a thing?”

“As a matter of fact, that’s why I wanted to meet you as soon as I could, and see where you found your device.” She gestured to the nearby drainage pipe. “The fact that you have that means a portal is already beginning to form here. And you… Kyle, yes? You’re responsible for it.”

Kyle stared at her for a long moment, then looked toward the pipe. Was there a faint shimmer in the air there now? He looked back at her. “Like… responsible like it’s my fault? Or like… I have… portal… chores?”

“Most likely, both,” replied Dr. Clarke, with a faint smile. “Let me back up. When we repelled the D-Reaper—the ‘physical malware’ I mean; I noticed the news here never really liked to use the real name of the thing—the process also sent the Digimon back to their world. We believed it would also prevent future cross-overs, but that turned out to be not entirely true.”

“The big bug in Sunnyvale?” Bryan suggested.

Dr. Clarke shuddered slightly. “Yes, that’s one example, but it wasn’t the first; the first was thanks to one of the original Tamer children in Japan. It’s hard to blame him, he lost a friend and wanted him back. But yes, he wasn’t the only one who could push through. As I said, it’s happened over three dozen times, often as a result of someone… for lack of a better word… wishing for it.”

Kyle thought back to that moment a few days ago, his intense desire to simply escape, somewhere, anywhere, moments before he saw that rainbow flash. “I just… wanted it hard enough?”

“We believe there’s more to it than that; some element of random chance, some speculation about other entities who are involved. We’d expect there to be far more portals otherwise. But that’s why we’ve done our best to keep the details of this quiet. I believe there’s also less focus on crossing over in the newer Digimon shows, as you may have noticed? And that brings me to your responsibilities.”

“Portal chores,” June said. “Guarding it?”

“The portal is forming, and strengthening day by day. Within a week or two, it will be open enough for physical cross-over, from either direction. Hence incidents like the big bug in Sunnyvale. Wild Digimon rarely do anything good when they cross over. So yes, these portals need guarding. That’s why you have the digivice. We… made arrangements so that a digivice would be generated with each new portal that forms.”

Kyle was nodding along, excitement growing inside him. “So then the person who made the portal can use the digivice and get a Digimon to protect it! Cool!” He paused then, frowning. “Um. One problem. I live, like, half an hour away from here. By car.”

Bryan suddenly lunged into the conversation again. “I live like a quarter-mile from here! Can I have the digivice? I can protect it!”

Kyle clutched the digivice to his chest, and Coyomon actually growled at the other boy.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work out,” June observed.

Dr. Clarke nodded. “Kyle, I’m not an expert in Digimon… ah… taming, but I’d recommend you and Coyomon work on ways to get around on your own, in that case. I believe Digimon can often develop skills that match their needs.”

Kyle nodded, relaxing slightly. “Oh yeah, I mean he’s already lightning-based, so that should work for moving fast!”

Then, she turned to Bryan. “I can understand why you’d want your own. And honestly, Kyle might need the help if he has trouble getting here. Fortunately, it’s quite likely you’ll end up with your own, sooner or later. Tamers do tend to cluster.”

“Right! Now that I know it’s possible, I just…” Bryan squeezed his eyes shut and held out a hand. “I wish I had a digivice!”

Everyone else stared at Bryan for several moments as nothing happened. Finally he opened his eyes again, and looked dejected.

“Nice try?” Kyle said, with a half-grin

June nodded. “I guess it’s not quite that easy.” She sounded disappointed too.

Dr. Clarke chuckled softly. “For a start, you might want to try somewhere else. It’s particularly hard for a new portal to form in the same place as an existing one. Oh, and keep in mind, you will have your own portal to guard, if and when your wish is granted.”

June and Bryan were both listening intently, nodding along. Apparently they weren’t bothered by the prospect of such responsibility themselves, or perhaps the reality of it just hadn’t hit them yet. 

Kyle, however, kept looking back at the shadows of the culvert, trying to catch sight of the faint shimmer he was sure he saw there now. Something he’d made, something he and Coyomon would have to take care of. The idea made him more anxious than anything else since he’d found the digivice. But at the same time, he now knew for sure that there was a Digital World there waiting for him to explore. Surely that was worth a few portal chores.

Chapter Text

Once she’d finished her introductory explanation, Dr. Clarke seemed more interested in inspecting the portal itself than on giving Kyle a lesson in Digimon taming. She lingered nearby the pipe with her laptop, occasionally changing positions as if to get different readings, even though she didn’t seem to have any special equipment.

Kyle watched her work for a few minutes, trying to decide if he should ask for more information, but Coyomon didn’t let him wait for long.

“Partner-Kyle, this is boring! Let’s go over there, they’re actually doing something!” He pointed his muzzle in the direction of June and Bryan, who were having a lively discussion a few yards down the arroyo.

June’s voice was clear first, as he approached. “An Agumon? Really? That’s it?” She was grinning at Bryan in a particular way that often seemed to go along with the phrase ‘you dork’.

“No, like an Agumon, but y’know, cooler. Dinosaurs are great and all, but maybe more dragon-y?”

“So you want the most obvious classic option, but it’s also not good enough for you?” June chuckled. “At least Kyle used some creativity.” She turned to Kyle as he approached. “Do you know how it worked when you designed Coyomon? Did you do all the evolutions?”

“Only up to… Ultimate? Uh, Perfect? Whatever you wanna call it.” He looked between the two of them, familiar with their disagreement on this point. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after that. I don’t like how most of them get all… mecha-knight for their final forms.”

“And then it sucked up your drawings and Coyomon looks just like them?” Bryan asked.

“It didn’t suck them up, I still have them.” Kyle grinned. “And I thought that was confirmation bias?”

Bryan rolled his eyes. “That was yesterday, I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong. I should really start drawing. I think dragon-mecha-knight would be an awesome evolution.”

“Partner-Kyle, what’s evolution?”

Kyle looked down at Coyomon. “Evolution… um, for Digimon at least… it’s like… Okay, I know you said you don’t remember much before showing up here, but when it was all sparkles and light in the digivice, do you remember being… different?”

Coyomon scrunched up his face in concentration. “Maaaaybe. I couldn’t move as good and I didn’t know how to get out. I like me better now!”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, I like you better now too! But that’s evolution. Sometimes, when you need to, you’ll get bigger, and more powerful. Like if we need to actually fight something.”

“Ooooh. But I like how I am now! I can fight now! The cactus were scared of me!”

Kyle giggled. “According to Dr. Clarke, we’ll have to be ready to fight more than just cactus, bud.” Anxiety fluttered in his stomach again as he said it. What would that actually be like? He didn’t even know how to stand up to bullies, much less invading Digimon. “We’ll just… see how it goes, okay?” Kyle rubbed Coyomon’s ears, a touch that seemed to calm both of them.

“So, do you know if you have to design your own?” June asked, after a moment of quiet. “What would’ve happened if you hadn’t? Would you have gotten one of the ones from the shows, or something totally new, or what?”

“I dunno, I didn’t really think about it. Coming up with my own seemed like the obvious thing to do. None of the ones I knew about seemed quite right, so I figured I’d try something new.” He glanced over at Dr. Clarke, who was still focussed on the portal. “Maybe she knows? Why, do you have something in mind?”

June nodded firmly. “Yeah. It’s a long story, but I have a pretty strong feeling about one. I guess it’d work fine to just draw an existing one, if the digivice needs something to scan?”

“Yeah, I mean I have a lot of questions about how it worked for me. Bryan was kinda right, my drawings weren’t that great. But also, Coyomon’s more like how I imagined him, like if I’d actually had awesome drawing skills, which I don’t.” He shook his head, and stepped back closer to the researcher. “Hey, Dr. Clarke, we have some more questions.”

She looked up from her laptop, which was showing a dizzying combination of graphs and scrolling code. “I’ll do my best to answer, but before I forget, I have something for you that probably has more explanations than I do.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out a generic-looking USB stick. “This has detailed information about digivice operations, some tips from other Tamers, and what to expect with your… portal chores.” She looked at June and Bryan. “I’m sorry, I only brought one, but Kyle should be able to copy that for you. Just don’t post it online.”

Kyle took the storage device, his eyes widening. “What, will my computer blow up or something?”

She shook her head. “No, the data will just be deleted. The folks who put that together have extensive experience with network monitoring. Same goes if you post details of your Digimon activities on your MySpaces or Friendsters or whatever, by the way.”

“Huh. Got it. Creepy,” Kyle murmured.

Bryan, meanwhile, looked affronted. “I do not have a Friendster.”

“In any case,” Dr. Clarke said, “what was your question?”

June spoke up. “How does someone end up with whatever Digimon? Do we have to draw one, or can we get an existing one? Are all the ones from other media around somewhere?”

“Good question! I don’t think that’s actually in the data I gave Kyle, since it’s generally no longer relevant by the time we make contact.”

Dr. Clarke set down her laptop on the ground, shifting back into lecture mode. “It’s actually more common for Tamers to bond with established species. However, you wouldn’t necessarily recognize all of those from shows or card games. There are many species that haven’t been, well, adapted. As far as which one you bond with, though… that’s not clear to us. The sample size is quite small, after all.”

“So if I wanted a particular one…?” June prompted.

“You might get that one, you might not. Both have happened, and quite a few Tamers weren’t even familiar with Digimon as a concept before receiving their digivices. As I said, it’s a very small sample size.”

Bryan’s hand shot up, as if he was in class, but he didn’t wait to be called on. “But if we draw them, then we get what we drew?”

“There are ten—eleven, now—cases of bonded Digimon that seem to have been designed by their Tamers. If there is something available to be interpreted, the digivice interprets it. Art is most common, but it’s been text a few times, including at least one poem, I believe. But, again, based on what we’ve seen from that tiny number of cases, there is a lot of interpretation involved. Existing species may be adapted; one of my colleagues believes that it’s essentially a case of directed evolution of existing Digimon. That also means that vague targets will produce unpredictable results.” She looked at Bryan, with a smile. “If you just wrote down ‘Agumon but cooler’, you might end up with a dinosaur that breathes ice instead of fire, or just one wearing sunglasses.”

“You heard that, huh?” Bryan grinned. “Ice powers sound pretty awesome actually.”

“In any case, I recommend you don’t overthink it. The processes involved are unpredictable, and I doubt frustration or obsession will do anything good.” She glanced down at her computer screen for a moment. “Unless there’s anything else, I should be heading out. I have data to analyze, and I expect you can’t stay here all day either.”

Kyle checked his watch. “Yeah, I really don’t want to leave my mom waiting two days in a row.”

“And I’m hungry!” added Coyomon, who was chewing lightly on the empty jerky bag.

Dr. Clarke shut her laptop. “Well then. You know how to reach me if you need to, but I recommend you give those files a thorough read first. There’s much more direct experience in there than I have.” She nodded to each of them in turn. “It was a pleasure to meet you all, and I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job with Coyomon… and whatever other Digimon you meet.”

“Oh, um, yeah, thank you,” said Kyle, with the other two murmuring similar uncertain appreciation. “See you around then…?” With a wave, they went their separate ways, Dr. Clarke back to the parking lot, and the trio-plus-Coyomon back toward the school.

They walked in silence for several paces, digesting the information.

“So does that mean Digimon Research Team is disbanded?” Bryan asked. “Sounds like we have all we need, with those files and an expert on call.”

“Are you kidding?” June replied. “She barely knew anything! I mean, more than we did, but it sounds like there’s a ton still to find out. Like for instance how we can be sure to get digivices, and the right Digimon…”

Kyle nodded. “Seems like there’s even more to do now. I have like a week to train before other Digimon might start coming through the portal!”

Coyomon perked up at that. “To fight?”

Kyle nodded, still wary of that, and reached out to rub Coyomon’s ears again. “If we have to, yeah.” He looked to the others. “But also! Plenty to find out about the Digital World too, because it sounds like we’ll be able to go there too!”

Bryan grinned. “Okay then, Digimon Research Team continues! Next topic: How to get our own digivices! I’m going to keep hoping for one and see how far I am from your portal when it works. That counts as an experiment, right?”

Kyle eyed him. “You might want to be a bit more careful than that, if you don’t want a bunch of awkward parent questions. Mine was really obvious when it appeared.”

“I have some thoughts about,” June said. “Let’s work out some good locations for portals first, and then focus on those. I don’t know about you, but I’m already getting sick of walking up and down this arroyo. Plus, what if it rains and gets flooded?”

“Huh, you think we’ll be able to choose where our portals are? Like specifically?” Bryan asked.

“I think it’s a good experiment!” June replied. “Tomorrow after school we can map them out, and then we’ll have all weekend to visit them and open portals. Sound good?”

Kyle shrugged. “Works for me. And I’ll get this data copied for you two by then too.” He waved as he started to climb back up the bank to street level. “Seeya tomorrow! C’mon, Coyomon, let’s head home.”

Chapter Text

As soon as he got home, Kyle plugged the USB stick into the family computer to see what Dr. Clarke and her colleagues had put together to help tamers. It was a bit of a disappointment. He’d been imagining a high-tech device that would take over the whole screen and turn it into some sort of Digi-Databank, What he got was a window with three folders: “Digivice”, “Digimon”, and “Procedures”.

The first folder did at least have plenty of helpful info on how to use of the digivice’s arcane-looking keyboard, but it apparently had only handful of pretty basic modes, like one to see Coyomon’s status, and one to see a record of portal activity. The coolest one would show whatever Coyomon was looking at on the device’s screen. He could already think of plenty of ways that could come in handy.

The Digimon database was very interesting, but it wasn’t exactly professionally edited. The photos varied widely in quality and the write-ups erred on the side of ‘insufficient data’, except in the “Notes from Tamers” sections, which had the opposite problem. He really doubted that Flarerizamon’s flames actually “burned at 5000000 degrees”. Coyomon seemed very curious about the Digimon photos, asking questions and even claiming that some looked ‘familiar’, though he couldn’t give any specifics.

The final folder was also the smallest, containing just one file: NodensRecommendations.doc. “Nodens” was apparently the new name for the group that monitored Digimon contact, and the file read like the most boring of the pamphlets in the school counselor’s office.

“Take Digimon incursions seriously, trust your partner, build connections with other tamers, yeah yeah yeah…” Coyomon was curled around his legs at this point, and Kyle was idly petting the Digimon, until he opened a new section and his hand froze in place. “Oh heck no, I am not doing that.”

Coyomon looked up at him. “Rrrr? Bad stuff?”

“Look here!” Kyle said, pointing at the computer screen.

“Squiggles?”

Kyle read it out loud. “Communication with authority figures, such as parents, can be a vital tool. If you believe they are trustworthy, you should consider telling them about your situation as soon as possible.” He shook his head. “Like it’s that simple.”

Coyomon blinked at him. “You said you didn’t want hiding…”

Kyle shook his head. “I don’t! But also they don’t understand anything about me! They’d probably want to take you away, they barely let me play the card game!”

“Rrr, yeah. They sound bad then. Not… trust…y?”

“Trustworthy? I mean… I dunno… They’re not bad, they’re just parents and every time I tell them something honest about myself, it seems like it stresses them out more and makes them feel like they have to do more stuff to protect me.” He shook his head again. His body was starting to feel tense.

Coyomon nodded, pressing his head into Kyle’s hand. “Protecting Partner-Kyle is important! So… not bad?”

Kyle rubbed his own face with his other hand, trying to work out how to explain. “I dunno! Half the time they do stuff that makes me feel worse.”

“Like yesterday? New… school… thing?”

“Yeah! That’s the perfect example.” All the words he couldn’t say to his parents started spilling out. “Like I need to go to a larger school to get a ‘better social environment.’ Like I can just ‘learn social skills’ if I try hard enough. But then also I’m supposed to be careful about ‘how I express myself’ when I get there.” His hands were shaky as he made finger-quotes.

Coyomon blinked at him. “I dunno a lot of those words, but it sounds hard and that’s sad.” He nosed at Kyle’s leg, and Kyle reached down to rub Coyomon’s head again.

“Yeah… It’s just… there’s a lot they… don’t want me to share…” He trailed off, his breathing shaky enough that it was hard to talk. “This sounds like last night all over again, doesn’t it?” It didn’t feel the same, though. For some reason, everything felt worse, now.

“So… we should just go to the Digital World, like you said then! In a week, right? That’s not long, is it?”

“Y-yeah… Next week, yeah…” He tried to focus on having that place to escape to, a thought that had seemed so hopeful just yesterday. Now he wondered how viable an option it was. He’d imagined being able to slip away whenever he had a spare moment, off to an open world of digital landscapes and (hopefully) friendly monsters. Now it seemed much harder. It was possible that they could open a nearer portal in the process of getting a partner for Bryan or June, but that still seemed like a toss-up, not to mention possibly weeks more of waiting. Dr. Clarke had suggested training with Coyomon to figure out how to get around faster, but that wasn’t a sure thing either, plus it didn’t seem like something he could be subtle about.

Kyle’s heart started to race. There were times when nothing in his life felt like it fit, like he was surrounded by walls of uncomfortable circumstance or incomprehensible rules. His parents’ expectations, the endless complications of school, and now even the details of being a Digimon Tamer. He just wanted to pound on those walls until they shattered, but it felt more likely that they’d crush him, first.

Coyomon jolted upright, hackles raised and sparking slightly with electricity. “What’s wrong?”

“I… they… Rrgh!” Kyle curled in on himself. “I dunno what to do,” he said. “I dunno what to do, I dunno what to do.” He repeated the phrase over and over, barely even aware of his words as the feeling of trapped confusion kept washing over him. The computer screen and overhead lights began flickering and Coyomon’s eyes and fur started to glow more. The fuzzy feeling of electric static spread over Kyle’s skin wherever he was making contact with the Digimon.

“Blast it apart?” Coyomon suggested, a growly edge to his voice.

“Y-“ A spark from Coyomon’s fur caught him by surprise, snapping him to clearer awareness of what was happening around him. “-No!” Kyle squeezed the Digimon, who pressed back against him. “I mean… not like that.” The charge in the room started to diminish as Kyle did his best to calm himself.

“How then?” Coyomon asked. “Want to help you…”

“Just… Stay here for a bit…?” Kyle slid out of his chair, and onto the floor. His muscles felt like jelly, as they always did when he got overwhelmed. Coyomon kept himself pressed close, a soothing weight. Kyle held tight to Coyomon and focussed on that sensation, and on breathing deeply. The Digimon watched over him, attentive and uncharacteristically patient. Kyle remembered hearing about emotional support animals, and suddenly understood the idea clearly.

…And then his calm was shaken by his dad’s voice at the door. “Did the lights flicker up here too?”

“Augh! Huh? Oh! Y-yeah, a little!” Please don’t ask if I know why. And PLEASE don’t open the door…

“Strange. Sky’s clear. Maybe something fell on a power pole.” His dad’s voice paused, and Kyle squeezed Coyomon close, his muscles starting to tense again.. “Seems okay now at least. Dinner’s in a few minutes, then remember it’s game night. Your pick!”

Enforced family time. Away from Coyomon. “Oh. Right, uh, okay! I’ll be… right down!”

He heard his dad’s footsteps down the hall, and took a few more deep breaths, still leaning on Coyomon. His calm was quickly returning, but the problems remained. “I’ve only been doing this two days and it already feels like it’s gonna kill me.”

“Rrrr? What this? What’s hurting you?” Coyomon’s ears lowered. “Me…?”

“What? No! Oh, crap, no, bud.” Kyle smiled slightly. “You’re great. I can’t remember ever calming down this fast after… something like that.” He slowly sat up, and Coyomon stayed close, sitting on his haunches. “I wish you could be around whenever that happened.” He frowned. “And I’m awful at keeping secrets. It’s like it hurts.”

Coyomon’s head tilted. “So… don’t?”

Kyle looked up at the computer screen, still showing its facile advice, then back to Coyomon. “Heh. You too, huh?”

“I don’t want you to hurt, Partner-Kyle. You think telling them would hurt more?”

“I… have no idea. When I told them about being gay, that was… kinda like this actually. I was really upset, and they knew something was wrong because they always know what’s wrong, and they started guessing and they hit the right thing and it all sorta exploded out of me.”

“Exploding is bad! …What’s gay?”

Kyle barked out a laugh. “Let’s talk about that later. But I mean… I don’t think it’s worse now. It’s different, but at least I feel like it’s something I can do something about.”

Coyomon was nodding along. “So…”

“So yeah. I have a chance to tell them about something in a less… exploding way.” He sat there for several more moments, thinking through all the things he could say. Finally, he stood up. “Okay, bud. One last time into the digivice. I’ll tell you when to come out.”

Coyomon shimmered into his hiding-place, and Kyle walked out the door, heading to dinner.

Dinner was chicken and dumplings, a nice simple comforting food that helped Kyle keep himself at ease as he kept thinking through what to say. However, he apparently seemed even more quiet and preoccupied than usual; it was only a few minutes into dinner that his mom addressed it directly. “You okay, kiddo? Looks like something’s on your mind.” How did other people always know that sort of thing just from facial expressions?

He looked up from his food, feeling his stomach flutter. This is how it had started last time. Time to try something different. “Actually… there’s something on my mind. Something happened at school the other day—“

“Was it those bullies again?” his dad asked, frowning.

“No—I mean, yeah, kinda always, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” He took a breath. He was ready. He hoped. “I… found something. Sort of… someone.”

The bafflement on his parents’ faces was easy even for Kyle to read, but he pressed on. “This is gonna seem like a lot, but it’s a good thing, I promise.” He pushed himself back from the table to make room. “Coyomon, come on out.”

Pixels flowed out from the digivice, and the canine form took shape at the end of the table. “Hi, Partner-Kyle-Parents! I’m Coyomon… Oh, he said that.”

Silverware clattered against plates, and chairs scraped against the floor as his parents gaped.

His dad was first to speak. “Is that… a… Po—“

“Digimon,” Kyle interrupted. “The ones that are real.” That was a bit too blunt, he realized, and he tried a smile to break the tension.

“Is it… tame?” his mother asked.

“Dr. Clarke said Partner-Kyle is my Tamer!”

Kyle nodded. “He’s a bit… excitable, but he does what I say.” He reached out to pat Coyomon’s head. “I’ve had him since… well, yesterday technically, and he’s been fine so far!”

Coyomon nodded rapidly. “Partner-Kyle is great!” Then his attention turned to all the food on the table. “Are you going to eat that?” he asked, muzzle pointing toward Kyle’s dad’s plate.

“Coyomon, no! We’ll get you your own food.” The Digimon nodded eagerly, ears perked and tongue lolling. Kyle looked to his parents. “Um, can I? He kind of… eats a lot, and looks like there’s enough for leftovers?”

Both his parents were silent for a long moment. Coyomon, to his credit, just sat and waited, though his eyes were locked on the food.

“All right…” his mom said, finally. “Use one of the plastic plates, though.”

Kyle nodded. “C’mon Coyomon, follow me!” He walked to the kitchen, the Digimon close on his heels.

His father spoke up now, sounding more concerned. “Does this mean… that thing is coming back? The red… quantum… internet… glitch? Or the other big monsters?”

Kyle was ready for that question, and he shook his head as he returned with one of the unbreakable plates. “Definitely no more world-ending red blobs,” he said, leaving the other part unanswered as he filled Coyomon’s plate with food.

His dad didn’t follow up, fortunately; his mom asked a question first. “How did this happen? Did it come from your cards?”

Kyle set down the plate, and shook his head. “No, mom. He came from… well, there’s a whole world of them out there, and sometimes…” …sometimes people want out of this one so badly that it breaks through… “…it breaks through.”

“But why you?” she continued. “You have enough to deal with already!”

Kyle winced at that, but it was obvious what to say. “Coyomon helps me with that, mom. He’s always there when I need him, even when other folks can’t be, and when he’s around, I feel… better. He helps calm me down if I’m freaking out, and makes me want to explore, and learn, and not be anxious all the time. I mean, mostly what I’ve been anxious about since Monday is what’ll happen if you found out, so…”

His mom and dad were quiet again, but he was pretty sure their expressions were more thoughtful this time, less tense.

“How will you deal with him at school?” his dad asked.

Coyomon looked up from his meal, muzzle smeared with stew. “I can go inside the digivice!” In a flash, he was gone, reappearing just a moment later.

Kyle nodded. “It worked out fine at school today!”

“Kyle, that’s one day!” His mother was shaking her head. “How can you be sure about anything after just one day?”

“Mom, I’m never sure about anything. Everything’s overwhelming and out of control and Coyomon helps things be… less that. I can’t explain how I know that already, but I do. It’s like he… fits me.”

Coyomon nodded eagerly. “Partner-Kyle made me, and I chose him! I won’t cause trouble.”

Chose me? That was new.

“Made you?” his dad asked.

“Yeah I kinda had some drawings of what Digimon I thought would be good for me. Y’know how I like coyotes. All adaptable and stuff.” Kyle smiled slightly, looking to his mother. “You did say I needed to learn to adapt to the new school.”

“This isn’t exactly what I meant.” she said.

“I don’t understand a lot about this,” his dad said, “but I’m glad you told us. Though I wish you’d done it before sneaking an animal around our home.”

Kyle managed to keep himself from correcting the label of ‘animal’, and instead just nodded contritely.

“It… he… mentioned a Dr. Clarke,” his dad continued. “Is that an adult who knows something about this?”

Kyle nodded. “We talked to her today. She works at JMI. She sort of helped invent Digimon or something? She gave us some info on how to take care of him and stuff.”

“I see.” His father paused, and looked at his mother. Some sort of parental telepathy must have passed between them before he spoke again. “We’d like to talk to her ourselves, and hear more about this—“

“Oh! Yeah! I have her number, that’s no problem.”

“…before we make any permanent decisions. But for now…” His father glanced at his mother again, who paused, then nodded slightly. “…For now, just… be careful.”

His mom nodded again. “Don’t let him distract you from school. Don’t tell anyone—“

“I already told June and Bryan. I mean they’re as much into Digimon as me, so they’ve been really helpful.”

“…Don’t tell anyone else, and just give us some time to think through all this.”

Kyle nodded. His parents certainly didn’t seem overjoyed, but it had gone much better than certain other discussions. “Okay. Yeah. Thank you both, really.” He smiled. “Can we still have game night?”

Coyomon looked up from his meal again. “Oooo? What’s game night? It sounds fun!”

Kyle chuckled nervously. “Lots of games are better with four players…?”

His dad snorted out a laugh. “Well, it’s your pick tonight. See what we have.”

Chapter Text

“So, I told my parents last night.” Kyle tried to drop it in conversationally as he offered up the copied USB sticks for his friends in the library before class.

“You… what? About Coyomon?” Bryan stared at him, wide-eyed.

“He did a good job!” came the voice from his pocket. “I even got to play games!”

“What…?” June was gaping now too.

Kyle giggled. “You did not. You watched us play games, and kept trying to eat my Carcassonne tiles!”

“They looked like crackers…”

Kyle shook his head with a sigh, still grinning. “But… yeah. You all remember I’m terrible with secrets right?”

“Did they freak out?” June asked.

“Less than I expected, honestly. But they’re going to talk to Dr. Clarke. So I bet that’s gonna be interesting for everyone involved.”

“My mom would totally freak out,” Bryan mused, apparently to himself. “My dad probably wouldn’t even notice though.”

June nodded in Bryan’s direction. “Yeah I guess I’m in the best position for this. I would not be surprised if Dr. Clarke tells my parents today. It’s a small institute.”

Kyle shrugged. “If they don’t freak out, it’s probably a good thing. I mean we’re supposed to train? And fight portal-crossers? That’d be hard to do without anyone noticing.”

“Yeah but like… what if they take the digivice away?” Bryan was definitely getting worked up.

“Rrrrr, like to see them try. I’ll come out and take it back!”

Kyle felt a spike of agreement at that; the idea of being separated from his digivice was truly alarming. “Well… mine aren’t talking about that at least.” He nodded to Bryan. “If you’re worried, maybe it’d be better to do it a bit farther away? I mean there’s an arroyo with a gate to guard right there close to your house, maybe we could get one closer to mine…”

Before Kyle could elaborate on his idea, the bell rang. “Crap. See y’all at lunch!”

“Sure!” said June, and “Digimon Research Team go!” said Bryan, as they all headed to class.

First period slid by, with Kyle half-listening to Mr. Stuart talk about the branches of government. He’d already read that part of the textbook, so he spent most of his attention writing out ideas for Digimon training in his planner, figuring that would at least help him look like he was being organized.

Second period was computer class with Mr. Neary, a high point of the day. He always enjoyed working out how to make what was in his head appear on the computer screen, and he also managed to sneak some extra time to do Digimon research.

Third period was the dreaded P.E. class, where he had to actually interact with other students, and try to act half as coordinated as everyone else in the gym or on the field. Today it at first seemed like they’d lucked out, since the sports teams needed both of those for “homecoming practice”, whatever that was. Sitting in the weight room and watching ancient films about fitness and diet was boring, but preferable to the alternative… until Kyle saw Rick walking through on the way to practice.

“Hey Kylie! You sure you’re on the right side of the gym?” It was a passing comment, one he’d heard before, and it still made him clench his teeth. He pressed his hand over his pocket, sure he could hear Coyomon starting to growl. Should he even bother to say anything back? ‘Just ignore them’, his parents always said. As if that did anything other than make him feel helpless. As if it actually worked. As if just his ‘ignoring’ reactions weren’t apparently hilarious themselves.

This time it was a moot point. Rick was out of the room already, and at least he got what seemed like a sympathetic look from Coach Larson (who he was pretty sure was gay herself). He did his best to focus on the cheesy, decades-old health film, as it was better than worrying about when Rick would pass through the room again. It was only when he was getting ready to leave for lunch that he realized there was another problem.

“Has anyone seen my backpack?” Kyle tried to control his breathing. He’d left it near the door, like everyone else’s. And his was easy to tell apart, with all the patches he’d added. And now it wasn’t there. His backpack, with his planner and notes and school books and more importantly his own books. His heart was starting to pound. The basketball team had been in and out more than once. Rick had been in and out more than once. A horrible idea started to form in his mind, and before he could think twice, he burst out onto the gym floor.

“Rick, what’d you do with my backpack?” he yelled.

The older boy paused in his drills. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Kyle,” he said. “I gotta practice. You probably left it in the locker room.” His words were calm; Coach Pribble was watching. But Kyle caught the head motion that went with them. Rick had made a definitive nod in the direction of the girls’ locker room.

Kyle was trembling as he ducked back out of the gym. Outside of the practice noise, he could hear the growling coming from his pocket, and feel that sense of static again. He ran right through the weight room and out toward the fields, curling up in a corner just outside. “Ugh, not again!”

“Need helping, Partner-Kyle?”

“Coyomon…” He worked on his breathing. “…Yeah… Come out real quick?” This seemed safe enough, out of view. Coyomon appeared quickly, and Kyle leaned into him. The Digimon pressed back, and Kyle felt himself starting to calm more.

“Someone bad?” Coyomon asked.

“Very. Rick is… He’s just always out to get me.”

“Rrrrrr. Zap him?”

“I wish. I dunno what would help. He’d probably turn that against me too.”

“Wanna help!”

“Yeah, I want you to help too, I just…” Kyle sighed. He realized at least that he was calming down quickly, just as he had last night. “You’re already helping just like this, really.” As his mind cleared, options started to become clearer as well. “I gotta go back in, you probably should too. It’s almost lunch though.”

“Okay! Lunch is good. And I can still zap him later if you want!” With a nuzzle, Coyomon disappeared back into the digivice.

A quick conversation with Coach Larson got him his backpack back, and also a promise that she’d talk to the boys’ coach about Rick’s behavior. Finally, it was time for lunch.

“I swear he’s getting worse,” Kyle said between bites of mediocre cafeteria pizza as they all sat in their usual spot behind the art building.

“Yeah, that sucked.” Bryan nodded. “I can guard your bag next time or something?”

“No one should have to guard my bag! No one else’s bag gets stolen. It sucks so bad, what if Coyomon had been in there?”

“Rrr, I would’ve shocked him!” Coyomon’s muzzle was covered in pizza sauce.

“Hah. Yeah, I guess you would.” The thought brought a slightly-guilty smile to Kyle’s face. “Huh… I wonder…”

June eyed him. “What, you want to let him steal your backpack with the digivice in there?”

“Oh no way. Not a chance.” Kyle shuddered. “But like… maybe we could do something.”

“Challenge him to a fight?” Bryan suggested. “Then reveal your secret ally?”

Kyle shook his head. “I think if folks saw me with an electric coyote, I’d be the one getting in trouble. Plus Rick’s not exactly the ‘beat you up’ kind of bully. Too risky to his sports-star-honor-student image.”

June nodded. “Yeah, but that’s something you could use against him.”

“I guess? I have no idea how to do that, though—Hey, Coyomon, that’s Bryan’s food. Here, have an apple.”

Coyomon sniffed the apple skeptically as June elaborated. “Well, let’s say he saw you with something impressive but inexplicable, and there wasn’t anyone else to back him up.”

“So like, he couldn’t tell anyone, but he still might think twice before hassling me more?”

Bryan grinned. “Oh yeah, totally! I bet he’s not half as brave as he acts!”

“But… how would we do that?” Kyle asked.

“He’s got more basketball practice after school, right?” June asked. “And you’ll be here late for game club anyway. And he can’t resist hassling you whenever he sees you. So just hang around and make sure you’re in sight when he’s heading out from practice.”

“Right, but where could I—Ooooh, I know. The bathroom! First thing I had to learn with Rick is to not go to the bathroom with him anywhere nearby. The stuff he says in there…” Kyle slumped, wrapping his arms around himself, and Coyomon gave him a reassuring nuzzle.

June and Bryan both nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, that sounds awesome!” Bryan added.

“So I get to blast him?” Coyomon said, just as excited.

“Err, not quite that extreme,” Kyle said. “Here’s what I have in mind…”

Kyle’s afternoon classes felt easy to get through after the ordeal of the morning. His favorite classes were all after lunch in any case, and it was surprising what a difference it made just knowing Coyomon was there with him. The excitement of actually having a plan to do something about Rick only added to his mood. Sure, there was anxiety in there too, those thoughts in the back of his mind saying “Will this work?” and “Is this even a good idea?” But they were easier than usual to ignore. Just having an idea for something to do gave him a wonderful rush.

Bryan had confirmed that Rick’s basketball practice lasted for over an hour past the last bell, which gave them plenty of time to relax in the game room first. They spent part of it discussing Digimon Research Team matters. Bryan was surprisingly open to Kyle’s idea of doing a sort of portal swap, trying to create his portal as close to Kyle’s house as Kyle’s was to his.

“You all are gonna have to cover mine when I’m at my Dad’s place though,” was Bryan’s only request. “No way is he going to drive me all the way back up from ‘Burque on his weekends.”

Finally, it was time to set the plan in motion. Kyle’s stomach was churning slightly as he leaned against a wall in the school’s front hall, eyeing both the gym doors and the bathroom near the main entrance. When the gym door opened and the players started to disperse, he made his way toward the bathroom, trying to act casual.

Following his hasty plan, he made his way into a stall, and whispered for Coyomon to come out. The Digimon peered around curiously, and seemed just about to ask a question when Kyle heard the door open again. He shushed Coyomon, and a familiar voice rang out as soon as the door closed. “Hey Kylie, meeting someone in here?”

“Why are you so interested in my bathroom usage, Rick?” Kyle asked, stepping back out of the stall and motioning for Coyomon to stay put. The question had been on his mind for weeks, and it felt great to finally get it out.

“You know why,” Rick said. His voice was filled with contempt now, in a way that he never dared in more public settings. Kyle’s chest surged with anger, and he felt a tingle next to him as Coyomon started to surge in a more literal way.

Kyle tried to keep his voice steady as he said the words he’d been practicing in his head all day. “Y’know, maybe you should mind your own business, Rick. You never know what’s going on in someone else’s life.” The harsh bathroom lights started to flicker as Coyomon built up more charge.

“I don’t want to know what’s going on in your life, you—“

The lights went out, except for the electric blue of the Digimon rearing up in the stall next to him. “Or what they might be able to do if you keep acting like an asshole.”

A growl filled the small room, and glowing eyes peeked over the stall wall. Bolts of electricity danced across the metal, illuminating spread claws and bared teeth. From Kyle’s vantage point, Coyomon looked pretty silly, balanced on the toilet and clinging awkwardly to the divider. But Rick’s reaction showed that he was seeing something much more impressive.

“What the hell?” The older boy’s eyes were wide. “Is that… What the hell? That cannot be real…” Nonetheless, he took a step backwards.

“Want to stick around and find out?” Coyomon’s sparks arced further and he growled louder. Kyle was impressed how intimidating the little Digimon could sound… and that he was keeping to the script and not getting distracted by food or curiosity.

“This is… I’ll get you! You can’t… have pets…”

“Rrrr… Not a pet.”

“Rick, I know you’re smart, use your brain. If I got him in here, do you think there’s ever a place I wouldn’t have him right nearby?” Kyle couldn’t help giving a big grin.

For once, Rick was speechless. He was still edging for the door, his hand groping for the handle. Once he found it, he backed out the door and slammed it shut behind.

Kyle let out a deep breath and slumped against a wall as Coyomon’s electric display faded. The lights flickered back on, and Coyomon hopped down off the toilet.

“I did good?”

“You did awesome.” Kyle leaned over to hug Coyomon. “C’mon, let’s find Bryan and June. I hope they got a picture of Rick’s face coming out of the bathroom.”

Chapter Text

June’s “small institute” theory was confirmed as soon as she got home and saw the new reading material on the coffee table.

On top of the recent issues of Spectrum, Nature, and Scientific American were two new piles. The stack on the left consisted of colorful books with library labels. The cover of the top one read “Animal Training: Theory and Practice.” On the right was a messy stack of printouts. The first page there bore a much longer title: “Spontaneous stabilization of algorit-mediated mass-transfer conduits between universes: A multivariate model.”

“Enthusiastic as always,” she murmured to herself with a faint grin. She was reaching for the stack of scientific papers, curious if there were any she’d be able to actually read, when she heard her mother’s voice, coming in from the hall.

“Okaeri, June! We brought home—Oh, you already saw.”

June set down the paper. “I guess Dr. Clarke told you about Kyle’s new friend.”

“She did indeed!” June’s dad said, following along behind. “We figured we’d pick up some resources that might be helpful. For Kyle, or… well…”

Her mother continued the thought. “Daisy—Dr. Clarke did say there could be more creatures to deal with in the future.”

They both sounded shockingly cheerful about the idea. “You’d be okay with that?” June asked. “Like, about me getting my own Digimon?”

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with your schoolwork or anything else, of course.” he replied. “It’d be fascinating to have something like that around the house.”

Her mother nodded. “We discussed it, after reading up on it this afternoon. Dr. Clarke supplied us with some of the key research that’s been kept back from wide publication.” She nodded toward the stack of papers. “The mechanisms involved in bio-emergence are quite fascinating, and could be quite relevant to some of your father’s work. As for myself, they’re a fascinating case-study in complex human-computer interaction and network effects.”

June frowned slightly. “I’m not going to get a Digimon just for it to be your guinea pig.”

“Oh, of course not,” her mother said, looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry, work-mind got a bit ahead of parent-mind there. We also think it’d be a good family activity.”

“We’d already been discussing getting a pet, remember?” her father said. “Things are a bit lonely with your brother away at college, after all, and it’d be a great way for you to learn some extra responsibility.”

“Digimon aren’t really pets, dad,” June said. “Did Dr. Clarke recommend those too?” she asked, eyeing the stack of books.

“No, those were my idea,” June’s mother said. “I know they’re more intelligent than animals, but we figured there might still be some concepts in common.”

“We’ve got plenty of parenting books if you think those would be more help,” her father added.

June was familiar with that sizable section of bookshelf. “Aren’t you afraid that would make me immune to your own strategies?” she asked with a grin.

He chuckled. “If knowing the strategy renders it useless, it’s not a good strategy to begin with.”

“Well, there’s a lot I have to do before these will be relevant anyway.” She stood up, and caught the look on her mother’s face. “…And homework first, of course. See you at dinner!”

In her room, June hurried through her homework. There were parts here and there that were probably too rushed, but nothing that wouldn’t average out over the rest of the semester. By the time the sounds and smells of dinner-prep became apparent, she was back down in the living room, leafing through the academic printouts.

She spotted Dr. Clarke’s name in several of them, and recognized the names of several of her colleagues as well. The details of the papers were uniformly impenetrable, but some of the abstracts were helpful. The scientific jargon was familiar from overheard conversations around the house, and at least provided more detail than the glossed-over news reports. After a few false starts, a few trips to the dictionary, and a few questions to her parents during dinner, she was confident she had a much better idea of what to do than Bryan’s naive (but adorable) “wishing makes it so” strategy.

After dinner, June grabbed her dedicated Digimon notebook, and finalized her plan. Last night she had already put together a full specification for her target Digimon partner, complete with English and Japanese names and descriptions pulled from several sources online. Now, she added specific notes based on what the research said about ideal partner-match criteria. She made a few adjustments to her planned portal location, based on the portals’ apparent tendency to open along certain land contours. Finally, she started outlining a series of visualizations that hit all the key themes associated with portal openings.

“I’m going to go out to do a Digimon portal experiment, okay?” she called to her parents. That seemed like the best approach. “I’ll have my phone and be back in an hour.”

Her mother looked up from her computer. “Where are you going?”

“Just over the crest of the hill. There’s a place in some rocks there that’s out of sight but it’s easy to see anyone going in or out. So no one does anything sketchy there, but the portal wouldn’t attract attention.”

Her father nodded. “Sounds ideal. I’ll come with you, then you can stay out longer than an hour. I’d love to get some observations in, if it works out, though.”

“Oh… right, okay.” June tried to keep her voice neutral. She really should’ve expected this.

“Don’t worry, I won’t get in the way. I won’t even look in your direction unless you say something is happening.” That didn’t sound too bad, at least, and at this point it’d be hard to slip away.

“Mmm, well, okay. Thanks, Dad.”

They made their way down the road and up the hill. True to his word, her dad settled in on the other side of the crest, and June took her position facing the small rock shelter. “Here we go,” she said, shining her flashlight over her step-by-step plan as she gathered her thoughts, then turned it off and began to focus.

The themes flowed easily through her mind. A new world to explore, who wouldn’t want that? Connection with someone on a level deeper than family, but simpler than friendship. The opportunity to grow on her own, without her parents’ overwhelming enthusiasm. Discovery of truths about herself, and her capabilities.

She ran through the thoughts again and again, staring intently at the rocks. A few times she was sure she saw a glimmer, or felt a change, but each time it turned out to a far off reflection of headlights. She tried to focus harder, the thoughts whirling into a tight knot of expectation, but still nothing happened.

Eventually, she had to admit she was getting tired. Thinking the same things over and over again was exhausting. She made an exhausted groan, and her father called over the ridge. “Everything okay over there, June?”

“Nothing’s happening!” She stood up, dusted herself off, and walked back to her father. “How long was I over there?”

“Only about 45 minutes. You want to try more?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I can get my brain to do that anymore tonight.”

He nodded, and they started to walk back toward the house. “Well, that was just one trial, right? Plenty of time to try again later.”

“I guess. It barely felt like I was doing anything though. I thought I’d be better at this!”

“You’re venturing into the very frontiers of science here, June. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

“But Kyle got it without even knowing what he was doing!”

“Well, yeah. So did several dozen other kids. Knowing what you’re doing doesn’t seem to be a necessary precondition.”

She winced. “Dad, do you think I’m screwing it up? Trying too hard?”

He shook his head. “I’m never going to try to talk you out of trying hard, June. But you’re definitely harder on yourself than anyone else is.”

She thought about this as they closed in on the house. She had plenty of reasons to expend extra effort. She stood out at school just thanks to her heritage, not to mention her interests. She felt questioned and underestimated at every turn. “Easy for you to say,” she murmured softly.

Her father nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is.” He dusted off his feet at the door. “I’m proud of you, though. No matter how things turn out. With this or anything else.”

June just nodded. “Thanks Dad,” she said, her thoughts already halfway diverted to other portal strategies. The big question was, could she figure out how to be proud of herself.

Before-school library meetings had already become a habit of the Digimon Research Team. Bryan and Kyle were already there when she arrived, discussing Kyle’s attempts at training Coyomon the previous night.

“He’s really good at electrocuting cactus at least,” Kyle said.
“Some moving targets might be nice but I don’t really want him attacking any animals.”

“Maybe you could throw things and have him hit those? I’ve got some old tennis balls I can bring over this—Oh, hey June!” Bryan smiled as he waved her over. “How was your evening?”

She paused. She definitely didn’t want to tell the whole story while she was still working things out, but there were still some things they ought to know. “Well, I was right about Dr. Clarke and my parents. Came home to a ton of scientific papers and animal-training books.”

“A la, your parents are so weird,” Bryan observed with a shake of his head. “Like in a good way though. Guess the books might be handy, though?” He glanced at Kyle.

“They’re not animals,” Kyle and June said, nearly in unison, but Kyle continued. “Coyomon picked up the bathroom plan yesterday really quickly, I think he’s a bit past clicker training.”

June nodded as well. “So, sounds like you’re both still okay with meeting up at Kyle’s place tomorrow?”

“Yeah, my mom’s good with it. Finally gonna get my portal!” Bryan said.

“Mine are all set too,” Kyle said. “You figured out what you’re going to do?” he asked June.

“Like I said yesterday, I got it covered. Place near my house. It’s fine.”

Kyle nodded, but Bryan gave her a thoughtful look. “All good?” he asked.

She gave a sharp nod back. “Fine, just lots to think about. Yours is more important to take care of now since you’ll be down with your dad next weekend.”

“Well okay then. Seeya at lunch then!” They headed off to class.

She spent most of the day fretting over last night’s failure. If just thinking about a portal was enough to create them, the school would have been filled with them by the time her classes were over. Finally, the last bell rang, and she had a whole weekend ahead of her to focus. She parted from her friends with a perfunctory “See you tomorrow,” and headed straight for the city bus that usually took her home.

She didn’t head back to the house, of course. She stayed on one more stop, and walked up the hill to the place she’d picked out the night before. She sat down and cleared her mind, but when she tried to turn her thoughts toward the script, she faltered. Why did this have to be so hard? Why did everything have to be so hard? Why did she have to be twice as careful, twice as thoughtful, twice as clever to even have a chance of being taken seriously? By classmates, by teachers, and apparently even by Digimon. Being smart was fun, but being perfect was exhausting. Why was it so hard to find people who could just let her be good enough?

A brilliant light flared up in front of her, lighting up the rocks. For a moment, she was startled and flinched away, but almost instantly she realized what it was. “No way”, she said, looking back to try to confirm her suspicions. The light was strange; it didn’t leave afterimages in her vision, and the shimmer seemed to be a fixed pattern even as she moved her head.

As she watched, the light faded and left behind the Digivice she’d expected to see. It was almost exactly like Kyle’s, but its plastic housing was dark gray and indigo. Not quite the colors she was expecting, but maybe Kyle’s had looked like this at first too. Touching it felt like completing a circuit, like it was part of her. “Now, let’s get you home so I can choose my—“

Almost as soon as her hand had closed around the digivice, the screen started to glow again, and glittering pixels spilled forth just like when Coyomon materialized. They soon formed into a distinct shape. It wasn’t what she expected. Fan-like ears, stumpy forelegs, a sleek face that tapered into a snout flanked by tiny tusks. It was still easily recognizable, not as a Digimon she’d been planning for, but as a figure out of the story her mother had told when she was little, every time she woke from a nightmare.

“A baku…?” She shook her head. It was a Digimon. She knew this. She’d seen the shows, and the toy guides. “Oh, I mean… Tapirmon?”

“Actually, I think I like Bakumon,” the creature replied, in a cheerful voice that sounded just barely feminine. “And you are…?” Blue eyes looked up at her from behind a dark metal mask. The Digimon looked so eager. There was no way she was going to say that she’d expected someone else.

“Uh, I’m June. I guess we’re partners?” She looked at the digivice. The color scheme was a clear match for Bakumon’s, and that name was displaying on its screen, in several character sets.

Bakumon giggled. “I hope so, otherwise I’m not sure how I’m going to get back to the Digital World. And I just got here and I’m really excited to meet you!”

“Wait, you know about the Digital World? Coyomon doesn’t! Did I just grab you out of your home or something? How’d you end up in that digivice?”

“So many questions! I love questions! I don’t know a Coyomon, but yes, I’m from there, and no, you didn’t kidnap me or anything. I’d love to tell you all about it, but it’s kinda complicated. And it was hard work. Can we have a snack first?”

“Heh. Right. Sure. Okay. My home’s just down this way. Let’s go.” June started walking, and the Digimon floated alongside her, leaving digital wisps of fog behind. Bakumon wasn’t what she’d planned for, or what she’d expected, but something about her felt right. There was the familiarity of a creature she’d heard about for most of her life, combined with the apparent willingness to keep up with June’s curiosity (once she was fed, at least). This might have been a successful experiment after all.

Chapter Text

As usual, Kyle was stuck at school long after most folks had left. June had run off early, and even Bryan apparently wasn’t available today. He’d considered walking to the public library, but the sky had looked ominous; another late-season storm was apparently on its way.

So, he found himself in the empty computer lab, actually trying to get his homework done early for once. He was outlining an essay for English class when he saw an instant message alert in the corner of his screen. He told himself he should ignore it and focus, but when he saw it was from June, who hardly ever initiated conversations, he couldn’t resist taking a look.

MidsummerSun: I got my Digimon! ^_^

DigiKyleX: whoa what?1 awesome! what kind?

MidsummerSun: Bakumon! AKA Tapirmon if you want to look it up

DigiKyleX: coooool!! pics?

MidsummerSun: Pretty sure Dr. Clark implied those would be deleted

MidsummerSun: You'll get to meet her tomorrow

DigiKyleX: okokok. Is she the one you were wanting?

MidsummerSun: Well no. But she feels right anyway? I guess that's what Dr. Clarke said happens

Kyle was typing a response when he heard a long rumble of thunder coming from outside, and then a curious noise from his pocket.

“Rrrooo? What was that?”

“Ssh, Coyomon, that’s just thunder,” he whispered. Would Coyomon be afraid of thunder? He wasn’t exactly a dog, but it was certainly a new experience for the Digimon. “It’s okay. It’s the sound lightning makes. Like your sparks, but bigger.”

“Ooooh that’s why it sounds so nice. I want to go see the big sparks!”

“Oh, heh, yeah I guess you would. It is pretty cool…” Kyle had spent many nights watching summer thunderstorms cross the desert from the big windows in his room. “Lightning and thunder mean it’s probably raining, though…”

“So? Partner-Kyle, this is borrring. I want to meet the lightning!”

Kyle looked around the room, realizing belatedly that he was having an open conversation with a strange voice in his pocket. Fortunately, there was still no one else there.

“I guess we can find a place to watch, just let me save this and say bye to June.”

Another peal of thunder rolled overhead. “Okaaaay. Hurry!”

DigiKyleX: soooo Coyomon wants to 'go meet the lightning' :O I'll talk to you l8r?

MidsummerSun: Okay! Don't get struck or anything ^_-

DigiKyleX: oh crap i didn't even think of that

DigiKyleX: wish me luck

MidsummerSun: I was kidding. It's pretty far away. You'll be fine. Seeya~

He saved his work, and made his way to the back door. The sky was dark, and fat raindrops were just starting to wet the dusty road behind the school. Lightning flickered in the middle distance, jumping from cloud to cloud.

“Can I come out now pleeeease…”

Kyle pushed the doors open, staying under the eaves of the school. There didn’t seem to be anyone else in sight. He pulled out the digivice. “Okay, c’mon out!”

Coyomon appeared nearby, his head already pointed in the direction of the lightning. “I could feel it in there, it’s exciting.” There was a light sparkle to the Digimon’s fur, not as much as when he’d been ready to attack, but still clearly present. “Let’s go catch it!” With that, Coyomon dashed off across the road.

“Wait, Coyomon, no!” Kyle had never seen the Digimon act like this before. Scolding him felt strange though, especially when he felt a strange tug in his gut, as if Coyomon’s excitement was urging him to follow. “…Hold up!” He ran off in pursuit, and Coyomon glanced back with a big grin.

Rain spattered against Kyle’s light windbreaker. He was definitely not dressed for this. But still, he chased Coyomon along the edge of the empty sports field, and by the time they’d reached the lot where the buses were parked, he’d caught up, and an exhilarated laugh rose in his throat.

“You made it! Fun, right?” Coyomon smiled up at him as he ran, tongue lolling out.

Kyle couldn’t remember the last time he’d run so far all at once. It was, indeed, surprisingly fun, but wasn’t sure he had the breath to say so, so he just nodded.

Suddenly, lightning split the sky in front of them and thunder followed only a second later. It looked like it must’ve hit just a few streets away, maybe on the other side of the shopping center behind the school.

“Almost caught it!” Coyomon said, leaping into the air.

“Coyomon… no… wait!” Kyle was still gasping for breath. “Not… safe…”

“Protect you!” was the Digimon’s reply.

“Also… people…” Kyle added, staring at the parking lot in front of them. Shoppers were rushing from stores to cars in the rain, cowering from the lightning. Fortunately that seemed to take their attention off of the teenager and the sparking canine creature running through the field nearby.

“Rrrr? Protect them too?”

“No… I mean…” Lightning wouldn’t hit them, right? It mostly hit power poles, or tall buildings. Buildings had lightning rods, right?

Kyle had barely finished the thought when the sky above him exploded with light and deafening sound, startling him badly enough to fall to the muddy ground. It was gone in a moment, but his ears rang, and his eyes swum with spots. “C-Coyomon…?” he gasped, trying to work out what had happened.

The first thing he saw was Coyomon, standing a couple yards in front of him, hackles raised, growling at something in the parking lot. Then, he saw the downed power line. A pole at the edge of the lot was all but destroyed, and the line had fallen on a car. The frayed end was sparking where it touched the wet ground, and that’s what Coyomon was focussed on.

“Coyomon, no! It’s not safe!” Kyle’s mind whirled as he worked through the science involved. “It’s probably electrifying the ground!” Even if Coyomon had his own electricity, Kyle wasn’t sure what the full force of a high voltage line would do to him.

His warning was overpowered, however, by a scream from further into the parking lot. “MADISON! Don’t move!” A woman was staring at the car, waving her arms. Looking closer at the car, Kyle could now tell there was someone inside. A girl, most likely, maybe seven years old. She was not following her mother’s directions. It was hard to make out details, but she looked panicked. Kyle couldn’t blame her, but he also knew how bad it could be if the girl tried to flee the car.

Coyomon was growling low, inching toward the bundle of cables. “Rrr… Bad lightning.” Just as Kyle had feared, there were little arcs of electricity going from the ground to Coyomon’s paws. The Digimon didn’t seem to be bothered, though. “Partner-Kyle, I can help!”

A small crowd was starting to gather, people had their phones out to call emergency numbers, but Kyle barely noticed. “Coyomon… Y-you’re sure?”

The Digimon nodded. “Not safe for you. Okay for me!”

Kyle took a deep breath, and nodded back. “Do it.”

Coyomon dashed forward, faster than Kyle had ever seen him move. Electricity arced along his legs, changing color to the Digimon’s characteristic blue as it ran up his body. He grabbed the sparking end in his jaws… and grimaced. It didn’t seem to be quite as safe as Coyomon had expected, but he kept his grip, trying to haul it off the car.

The deadly tangle of wires was sparking, and people were yelling. Kyle could almost feel Coyomon’s struggle. He thought he could even feel a faint pain in his own jawline. “Come on… you can do it…” he said. He wasn’t sure if his voice could carry past all the other noise, but as he said it, he saw Coyomon perk up, and move a bit more confidently.

“Yeah, bud, you almost got it. Just drag it to the left over there, where no one is.” Coyomon dragged the line just as Kyle directed, and Kyle himself backpedaled, trying to stay well clear. With a sparking splash, the line fell off the car, and more people jumped back. “Almost got it…” Soon it was all the way away from the parking lot, coiled along the empty field. It still hissed and sparked, but it was far from anyone else. Coyomon dropped the line, and trotted back to Kyle, the sparks dissipating from his body as he went.

“Did I do good…?” Coyomon’s fur looked a bit singed, and his tail and ears drooped with fatigue, but he was smiling up at Kyle hopefully.

“You did SO good, bud…”

“Madison!” He heard the mother call again, and then the door open. The girl peeked out, arms shaking. “Mommy… It was so loud…” Her mother reached in and pulled her from the car, clearly still wary, but then hugged her tight. “Thank God you’re safe,” she said. “Thank God someone…” Her voice trailed off in confusion as she looked in Kyle’s direction. Only now did it occur to him how many people had seen them. Sure, he was a dozen yards away, but the sparking dog-creature was hard to miss. The rest of the small crowd was looking at them now too, some even venturing warily around the sparking line to approach them.

“We… should probably go.” Kyle said. “I think that’s enough lightning-chasing for today.”

“Yeah…” Coyomon said, followed by a phrase Kyle had never heard before. “Think I need a rest.” Coyomon disappeared into the digivice, which definitely didn’t seem to diminish the onlookers’ confusion.

Kyle took off at a run back across the field. “Uh, nothing to see here! Someone just… make sure to call the power company!” he called back. He definitely didn’t want to be there when anyone official, or anyone with a decent camera, showed up.

Adrenaline carried him most of the way back to the school, and he collapsed in an alcove out of the rain, trying to catch his breath. Thunder still occasionally rumbled, but it was moving away, now.

“Partner-Kyle? You okay?” Coyomon’s voice came from the digivice.

“Yeah… I’m… fine. You too?”

“Rrh. Glad I didn’t catch the big lightning,” Coyomon admitted.

Kyle let out a shaky laugh. “Yeah, so am I. But I’m glad you were there to do what you did. It’s almost time to go home now.”

“I need a big dinner.”

“Me too, bud. Me too.”

Chapter Text

Bryan fidgeted with his sketchbook as his mother made her way down Kyle’s long driveway. They were almost there. Maybe there’d be no more interrogations.

“You have your toothbrush, right, mijo? And your medication?”

So much for that. “Yes mom. Your checklist was really helpful. I checked off everything, including ‘double check everything above’.”

She nodded. “Good. You’re just so far out here, is all.”

“Mom, it’s half an hour away. I’m like twice as far away whenever I stay with Dad.”

“I know, and don’t think I don’t worry every time! But at least there’s grocery stores nearby there.” She pulled to a stop in front of the garage.

“Mom, we drove past a grocery store on the way in!”

“Yes, but that was miles ago! And it was so small.”

Bryan bounced his leg impatiently, looking out the window. June was probably already here. “I got everything, Mom. I’ll be fine.”

She nodded. “All right, all right. Have a good time! I’ll see you tomorrow evening!”

“Bye Mom!” He hugged his sketchbook to his chest, grabbed his backpack, and lept out of the car.

“I’m here!” he yelled, as he ran toward the house. He wasn’t sure if they could hear him inside, but it had seemed like the right thing to do anyway.

It turned out to be the right choice; he heard Kyle’s voice from behind the house. “Bryan? Hi! We’re out back!” He changed course, gravel crunching under his shoes as he ran along the brown stucco side of the house.

Rounding the corner, he saw June and Kyle standing on the little hill at the edge of the yard, gazing out into the wide greenbelt. He looked to them, then out across the dry grass. “Uh, whatcha doing?”

“Training!” June said, and pointed out at something Bryan hadn’t noticed; two disturbances in the grass.

“So cool,” Bryan murmured to himself, catching little hints of golden fur and shiny metal as the creatures ran.

“Coyomon’s trying to chase down Bakumon.” Kyle said. “Turns out she can float pretty fast, but Coyomon’s fast too!” He glanced down at his digivice. “Just a little bit closer, bud!”

The two rustles in the grass became one, and a little cloud of dust went up, followed by a triumphant “Gotcha!”

“Good job, Bakumon!” June said. “Imagine how fast you’ll be when you actually have some practice of your own. Come on back now, you should meet Bryan!”

Soon both Digimon were back with their tamers, and Bryan got his first good look at June’s new companion. “Wow, it’s weird how her back legs are just kinda… smoke.” He waved his hand through Bakumon’s smoke-trail. It felt slightly thicker than air, but nothing like solid matter. “Can you feel that?”

“Yes I can,” the Digimon said. “It feels strange though, so please don’t do it too much.”

Bryan took his hand back. “Right. Sorry.”

Coyomon’s tongue lolled out. “She’s only so fast because she doesn’t have to deal with the grass and cactus and stuff!”

Kyle nudged his Digimon with a grin. “You still won, bud. Be nice!”

Bryan looked back and forth between each pair as they talked. It was hard to follow all the conversation… and that pang of jealousy he’d had ever since Coyomon had first appeared was even stronger now. His thoughts drifted to his own Digimon. Hielomon, he’d named it. He’d run wild with the idea of an ice dragon, and was really happy with how awesome it looked. Now, he just had to get his portal. Where would it go? Right in the middle of the greenbelt? What was the Digital World like? Would they end up in a desert there too? What if it was related to the type of Digimon? It’d be very cool to have a portal to a wintery landscape here when it was hot in the summer. Would he be able to ski in the Digital World?

“Bryan? Hey! Earth to Bryan!” June was waving to get his attention. Despite the volume of her voice, she was still cheerful, not annoyed in the way that so many people were when they were trying to get his attention. It was one of many things he liked about her.

“Oh, yeah, what’s up?”

Kyle spoke up now. “I was just wondering if you’d eaten yet. I haven’t, and my mom said there’s sandwich stuff in the fridge.”

“Oh yeah no I’m good.” Bryan chuckled. “Maria Baca does not let her kids out of the house unless we’re well-fed. You go ahead though! Then… portal stuff after?”

“Yeah!” Kyle said, as they headed inside. “I’m thinking we should try and do it in those trees in front of the house. Y’know, where we used to have that little fort?”

“Oh, yeah! Remember that time when the cactus there had a bunch of fruit and you tried to pick it? And all the spines?”

Kyle winced. “Yeah, don’t remind me.”

June laughed. “You didn’t know about all the little spines on the fruit?”

“I did. I was all using a stick to get it at first…”

Bryan broke in, grinning. “But then it fell off and he tried to catch it.”

They continued swapping stories as Kyle and June made sandwiches, handing down pieces of meat and cheese and bread to their hungry Digimon as they worked. Bryan’s thoughts wandered again as he looked out the kitchen window, across the rock garden, toward the little stand of juniper trees.

A portal, and a digivice. He could practically see them in his mind. Wasn’t that enough? He definitely wanted it, wanted to have the cool monster companions that Kyle and June had. Or… what had Dr. Clarke said? Something about escape? He wanted that too. How awesome would it be to go into the Digital World. It’d be like a video game in real life; all those levels to explore, things to discover, maybe even enemies to fight. He was pretty sure he’d never wanted anything more. And yet, no portal, even after June and Bakumon and Kyle and Coyomon were all done eating, even after they’d all relocated out to the planned portal site.

After several more minutes of imagining how cool it’d be to battle his way across the digital world with a powerful monster partner, with no new portal in sight, Bryan finally turned to his friends for help.

June offered her insight first. “Forcing it didn’t really work for me either. I think I was overthinking it at first. I had this whole script worked out, but it turned out that wasn’t really the important part. It was more about just… thinking about why I wanted it? Being honest with myself?”

Bakumon nodded. “June’s thoughts reached out to me, there are plenty of Digimon interested in discovering the human world, just as there are humans who want to make contact with us. We made a connection.”

“Rrrright… But what if I want one like Coyomon? One I sorta… made up?” He looked over to Kyle.

Kyle shrugged. “I mean I didn’t do it on purpose? I guess I’m usually thinking about Digimon a little, but right then it was more about just… really wanting to be anywhere else but there, dealing with anything else but what I’ve been dealing with. Didn’t have Coyomon worked out yet or anything.” He looked to his digimon. “Actually, you said something the other night about ‘choosing’ me, right? What was that all about?”

Coyomon bobbed his head. “Sorta was thinking, I allllmost remembered something. Like, I could feel Partner-Kyle, before anything else. Someone I wanted to meet even if I didn’t really know anything else? Dunno.”

“New Digimon are born from our world’s ambient data,” offered Bakumon. “Maybe there’s some awareness there before that data even forms into a digitama, I’d be really interested to hear more about what you remember, Coyomon.”

Bryan frowned, still thinking over what Kyle had said. “So, no overthinking it. Great. That’s like what I’m doing most of the time, until I’m distracted and end up overthinking something else.” He sighed, slumping against the scrawny trunk of one of the trees.

“Let’s take a break,” June said. “Getting some space from a problem can help you think about it in new ways.”

“Yeah, okay!” Bryan stood up. “You were doing training before, right? I haven’t really seen your Digimon do any attacks; I still wish I could’ve seen Coyomon in the bathroom. Can you have them do some battle training?”

Kyle looked uncertain. “Um, you’d probably need to ask them that?”

June nodded, looking down at Bakumon. “You up for trying some attacks again? I know they’ve been tricky to figure out.”

Bakumon swayed back and forth in the air, as if thinking. “I mean I can try, if you really want.”

Coyomon scratched his ear. “Don’t wanna attack cactus anymore. Boring. But don’t wanna attack anything here that could get hurt, either.”

Bryan stared at the Digimon for a long moment. Those weren’t the sort of answers he’d been expecting. A question floated up in his mind, one that he’d been wondering about whenever he saw Kyle and Coyomon interact, and it was out of his mouth before he could think of a more tactful way to say it. “They don’t just always do what you want?”

Four surprised faces turned his way.

“I mean, uh… That came out wrong.” Bryan took a step backward.

Everyone was quiet for a long moment. “Bryan…” Kyle said eventually, his hand rubbing at Coyomon’s head. “You do know that they’re, like, people, right?” He looked right into Bryan’s eyes for a moment, a rare occurrence. “I kinda noticed that you keep calling them pets, and asking us stuff, rather than them…”

“I…” Bryan looked to June, who was just nodding slightly, and then finally down to the two Digimon, whose big eyes were just staring back up at him curiously. “I have been doing that, huh.”

All four of the others nodded, and Bryan slumped back against the tree. “Wow. Yeah. I’m sorry. It’s just… this is a lot to take in, and I think Digimon are really cool but I’m used to thinking of them—“ He finally addressed the two smaller figures more directly “—of you as TV characters, or game characters, or… Yeah.” He sighed, and turned away from the trees. “Let’s just… go inside.”

He started walking, and was relieved when he heard the others following, but he wasn’t paying much attention. His thoughts whirled back over how he’d been interacting with Coyomon, how he’d been thinking about getting his own, as if it was something he could get as easily as buying a pack of cards at the mall. As if it was something he deserved as much as a hard-fought game victory. It had been much easier to think about it that way, rather than as connecting to a person, much less making one.

Bryan’s head was spinning as he sat down at the kitchen table. He leafed through his sketchbook, staring at his designs for Hielomon. Suddenly he couldn’t help but wonder what things would be like if the Digimon was real. How would an ice-creature handle the hot desert summer? How would they feel about being expected to be “the coolest Digimon ever?” Would they even want to be partners with a distractible kid who had a hard time taking anything seriously? His hand squeezed around his pencil, and his legs were shaking. The ground felt like it was crumbling away beneath him.

“Hey Bryan, um, are you okay?” He jolted to attention, looking over at Kyle.

“Oh. Sorry. Yeah… I mean, no?” He glanced at his sketchbook, then turned away with a sour expression. “Not really. You said it; I think I’d pretty much suck at being a Digimon tamer?”

Kyle winced. “That’s not what I said. I was just trying to explain—“

Bryan shook his head. “Nah, you were right. All I was thinking about was how cool it’d be to have a real Digimon, and now… I dunno what to do.”

June, who was standing near the door, spoke up. “Well, everyone’s gonna deal with it in a different way. You’re thinking about it more now, right? How’s it feel?”

Bryan slumped in his chair, staring at the ceiling as he tried to collect his thoughts. “It feels like… a lot. Like something I have to take seriously, which I’m kinda lousy at, if you hadn’t noticed.”

June shrugged. “Taking things seriously is more than just remembering your homework every day, no matter how much crap your mom gives you about that.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said. “You seem to be taking it pretty seriously now.”

Bryan shrugged. He looked around the room, and his gaze fell on Coyomon and Bakumon. Their opinions mattered too. It was time to start acting like it. “So…” he said, drawing the word out as he thought. They looked back at him, curious and alert. Another pang of guilt shot through him; how could he have not thought of them as people? “So, do you think a Digimon would want to be partners with me?”

“Rrrr? Yeah!” Coyomon said. “You’re good friends to Partner-Kyle and June, so you’d be good for a Digimon too. And I want more Digimon friends too!”

Bakumon nodded as well. “I can tell your heart is in the right place, even if your head sometimes wanders.” He could see her smile around the edges of that mask. “June cares for you, and I think you feel…”

Bryan’s eyes widened a bit and he nodded rapidly, waving his hands. “Yeah, yeah, I get the message, thank you!” Was June’s partner psychic or something? “Thank all of you, really.” He sighed. “I have some more thinking to do though, I guess.”

Bryan often found he did his best thinking while other things were going on. Fortunately, there were plenty of things to do at Kyle’s house other than fret about his Digimon. June had brought her GameCube, and there were karts to be raced and bros to be smashed. The Digimon occasionally tried to play, but neither had paws that were nimble enough for the games, so they ended up just cheering.

The more Bryan played with the other four, the more he was struck by how well the Digimon fit into the friend dynamic. Before, he’d been envious of his friends having a cool thing he didn’t, but the feeling he was having now was more like loneliness. Bakumon was supportive of June, who often needed more support than she admitted, and Coyomon sometimes seemed to know what Kyle was feeling before Kyle himself did. What would it mean to have a Digimon who really “got” him, that way?

As afternoon waned into evening, Bryan’s attention drifted from friends and games back to his sketchbook. The detailed drawings of ice-dragon Digimon (done in an evening of hyperfocus) still looked as cool as ever, but now he noticed something missing compared to Kyle’s rougher Coyomon drawings. There was no text, other than names of forms and attacks. He wasn’t as good with words as he was with pictures, but things started to come to mind now. Ice made order out of chaos, right? Bryan was pretty chaotic sometimes. He wondered if that’s why that element had appealed to him. And an ice dragon was a neat contradiction; reptiles didn’t usually like the snow, and dragons were usually all about fire. It’s like the Digimon would know how it felt to get caught between two worlds, like Bryan sometimes did with two wildly-different separated family halves. As he wrote out those details, it felt almost like he was discovering things he’d been thinking all along, without even realizing it. Now he was just actually, well… taking them seriously.

Bryan was deep enough into the work that he had to be called three times to dinner; he’d somehow failed to notice the smell of enough pizza to feed three kids and two hungry Digimon.

“Doing okay?” June asked, as he put away the sketchbook again and went to survey the food options.

“I think so. Just, y’know, thinking. Drawing. Digimon stuff.”

She giggled. “I think our lives are gonna be mostly ‘Digimon stuff’ now. You’re going to have to start being more specific.”

He laughed, and nodded. “Well, I think I get it better now. What it’d really be like.” He looked out the window towards those trees, now faint as the sky darkened. The thoughts of what he’d do in that portal were so different now. Exploring, maybe fighting, sure, but with a partner, and other friends alongside. It felt even more exciting than it had before.

And suddenly, finally, rainbow light started to shine from inside those trees.

It was a long night, and a long next day. There had been a flurry of joyous activity, running out to find the digivice, confirming there was no Digimon emerging from it yet, reverently placing it atop his meticulous designs… and then the waiting. That was both easier and harder than before, because now something was definitely going to happen, but it wasn’t going to happen quickly. Bryan fell asleep at the kitchen table, attempting to see what would happen when the digivice scanned his sketches, or whatever it was supposed to do. Of course he’d missed it; when he woke up, there was a snowflake-patterned egg incubating.

Bryan kept the digivice with him throughout the day. He did manage to find things to do other than stare at it. There were games, food, and more Digimon training practice to watch. The egg hatched just before lunch. A few hours later, the snowflake-hatchling became a snowball-baby. As the hours stretched on, he started to worry that his mom might come to pick him up before Hielomon appeared at the portal. Thankfully, just after she’d sent the text saying she was on her way, it happened. The digivice chirped, and pointed the way, and there was his sparkling new friend, emerging from the trees.

“Wow, what’s this place?” Pale blue eyes glittered, and settled on him, and tiny wings flapped. “Oh! You’re my partner, right?”

Bryan rushed forward. “Yesyesyes—“ He hadn’t looked where he was going, and caught his foot on a root. He almost went sprawling, but Hielomon was suddenly there, smooth cool arms catching him. The Digimon was bigger than he expected, nearly his own height.

“Whoa, careful there!” The Digimon helped him to his feet.

“Yeah! Thanks! I’m Bryan! I’m so glad to finally meet you! We got so much to talk about! Oh, my mom is coming soon, we’ll have to worry about that, and okay, there’s this thing about this portal and Kyle’s portal…” The thoughts poured from his mouth like a waterfall.

The ice dragon smiled. “I’m excited to meet you too, Bryan! Let’s take this one step at a time. What do we need to do about this ‘mom’ you’re talking about?” His voice was calm, cool, collected.

Bryan nodded. “Okay. Yeah. One step at a time.” The waterfall felt like it was crystallizing into sparkling ice. “Do you know how to get in and out of my digivice?”

Chapter Text

DigiKyleX: So how are things going with hielomon?

> DigiKyleX is no longer Away

bryN8tor: woooooooo day off schooool!!!!

DigiKyleX: Oh there u are. Dude I sent that hours ago

DigiKyleX: Was kinda worried your mom grouded you for life

bryN8tor: its columbus day or w/e and shes on night shift

bryN8tor: no way was i wakin up b4 noon

DigiKyleX: Nice. My moms all like dont ruin your sleep schedule

DigiKyleX: Sooo how's digimon tamer life?

bryN8tor: u know it rocks ;D

DigiKyleX: Got enough room and stuff?

bryN8tor: holdonholdon

bryN8tor: june msging me 2

bryN8tor: lets all chat 2getr

> MidsummerSun has entered the chat

DigiKyleX: Oh good idea. Hi june!

MidsummerSun: Hi hi!

bryN8tor: so yeah hielos doin p good

bryN8tor: kinda lotta time in digivice tho

MidsummerSun: Yeah I bet it's not easy with two little sisters?

MidsummerSun: AND the shared closet situation right? o_o;

DigiKyleX: You could tell them?

bryN8tor: nonononononononnnnnoooooo

bryN8tor: manitas are the biggest tattletales EVER

DigiKyleX: Gonna hafta tell your mom sometime

bryN8tor: yeh like when im 18 ;)

MidsummerSun: The longer you don't, the harder it'll be, you know.

bryN8tor: u sound like hielo

bryN8tor: oh yeah there he goes

bryN8tor: he says ur smart

MidsummerSun: I know. ^_-

DigiKyleX: Hey give him time. Not everyone has the chillest parents ever

MidsummerSun: Are yours still freaking too? They seemed fine over the weekend.

DigiKyleX: Theyre better since they talked to Dr Clarke

DigiKyleX: Apparently theres like parent resources too

MidsummerSun: Oh yeah, my parents were reading those too. Finally got them to lay off the pet training books.

MidsummerSun: (Seeing what Bakumon is like probably helped too. Should've seen my mom's face when she started talking to her in Japanese!)

bryN8tor: what do u think dr clark said?

bryN8tor: or the parent stuff?

DigiKyleX: IDK. They won't let me see it

DigiKyleX: But suddenly they started talking more about teh importance of partnership and open communication.

DigiKyleX: Like more than they already did :P

MidsummerSun: They think it'll help protect us.

bryN8tor: ???

DigiKyleX: Huh?

MidsummerSun: I looked at the printouts. Lots of stuff about digimon protecting us better when we have good bonds.

MidsummerSun: And like, how no tamer has gotten seriously hurt from a digimon battle? Which I guess is TECHNICALLY true.

bryN8tor: see my mom wud see that and just be all

bryN8tor: first time for everything

DigiKyleX: Do you ever wonder why they have all these resources?

DigiKyleX: But still tryinh to keep things kinda secret?

DigiKyleX: But not SO secret that we got sworn to secrecy or smth?

MidsummerSun: Maybe they figure controlling online communication will cover it? Most stuff is online now.

bryN8tor: maybe they know its gonna get out

bryN8tor: more kids getting em every day right?

MidsummerSun: Not THAT fast.

MidsummerSun: But maybe? Maybe we should ask Dr. Clarke.

DigiKyleX: Maybe YOU could. Got the feeling her visiting my fam was a 1-time thing

DigiKyleX: Got a diff phone number for emergencies now tho

bryN8tor: digimergencies

DigiKyleX: I mean same one as on the drive but still

DigiKyleX: digimergencies! NICE

MidsummerSun: Well, I guess it's not like being Digimon Teacher is her job. She did say she was doing it as a favor to whoever

DigiKyleX: The mysterious Nodens

bryN8tor: sounds like a brand of cough drops

MidsummerSun: Bakumon is saying it'll probably make more sense once we can get to the digital world.

MidsummerSun: That's where tamers meet up mostly, it sounds like?

DigiKyleX: Hopefully they're more helpful in person

DigiKyleX: They're NOT great at notes

bryN8tor: oh right yooooo

bryN8tor: ur portal chores start this week right?

MidsummerSun: You really need a better name for that.

bryN8tor: u think we can all go through?

DigiKyleX: I guess?

DigiKyleX: It's gonna be a weird school week isn't it

bryN8tor: what u mean?

DigiKyleX: All three of us all with digimon trying to play it cool at liunch?

MidsummerSun: Hm, yeah. Hielomon is pretty big especially.

bryN8tor: hey hes right here

bryN8tor: wait OK i have an idea

DigiKyleX: Uh oh ;)

bryN8tor: what if we tell mr neary?

DigiKyleX: What

MidsummerSun: What.

bryN8tor: what?

bryN8tor: He's so cool

bryN8tor: 4 a teacher

bryN8tor: He helpd us have a video game club

bryN8tor: which he also plays in

DigiKyleX: Hm. He's also really good with the safe space stuff

DigiKyleX: Unlike that useless school counselor

MidsummerSun: He does seem pretty supportive, but I'm still not sure how much we should spread this around.

DigiKyleX: It WOULD be nice to have someone knowing about it in case there's portal stuff during school

bryN8tor: yeah solves all the probs

bryN8tor: hielo helped think of it

MidsummerSun: We could raise the topic abstractly maybe. Just a sec.

MidsummerSun: Okay. Bakumon can help 'sense his intentions' if we do that too. I think I can keep her out of sight`

bryN8tor: ur digimon is psychic???

MidsummerSun: Just a little bit, she says. Kyle what do you think? You're closest to him, could you talk to him?

MidsummerSun: Kyle, you still there?

> DigiKyleX is now Away (automatic)

bryN8tor: yo dude wake uppppp

MidsummerSun: We can talk tomorrow I guess

> bryN8tor is now Away (automatic)

> MidsummerSun is now Away (automatic)

> DigiKyleX is no longer Away

DigiKyleX: Oh crap sorry

DigiKyleX: Mom wanted to talk about responsible digimon school blah blah half hour lecture blah

DigiKyleX: Good idea though June

DigiKyleX: Ugh did everyone leave

DigiKyleX: OK we'll talk tomorrow

Chapter Text

“Hey Mr. Neary, what do you think of Digimon?”

Kyle thought he heard June make a strange sound behind him, possibly some sort of groan. Still, he kept focussed on the computer teacher, who looked up from the RPG sourcebook he was reading.

“Hm? Oh, the game? Seems like it has some interesting rules, but I’m at my limit of collectible games I can afford on a teacher’s salary.” He smiled.

Kyle peered around the room quickly. Game club was sparsely attended today, and everyone was fully focussed on their screens or table tops. “No, I mean like, real Digimon. Like the stuff that happened a few years ago?”

“Ah, I see.” Mr. Neary set his book down. “I haven’t really thought about them much in a while. Which is a good thing I suppose. I don’t know what someone your age would remember, but it was a pretty tense time, especially for someone who’s involved with computers. Why do you ask?”

Kyle realized he hadn’t really thought through the nuances of the conversation. He glanced back at June, who gave a slight shrug, holding an over-full and slightly-lumpy backpack. As he was trying to interpret her gesture and decide how to continue, Bryan spoke up.

“So like, we were doing some research on the games and stuff the other day, and there was some other stuff there too? Like sightings that might be real Digimon again. And you’re like one of the smartest adults we know, especially about computer stuff, so we were wondering if you thought they were something we should be scared of or no?”

Kyle was simultaneously in awe and slightly unnerved, the way he often felt when Bryan casually spun one of his stories.

“I see,” Mr. Neary said again. “I guess first off I’d say that if they’re not wrecking cities or covering them in red distortion, there’s nothing serious to be scared of, yet.” He paused for a moment. “These sightings… Anything more you can tell me about them?” He looked directly at Bryan, then at Kyle.

Kyle flinched away, and tried to stall. “Well, um…”

Bryan cut in with a much more effective stalling tactic. “Like what? What would you want to know about them?”

“Mainly, I’d be wondering if they were alone, or with people. Back when everything was happening in Japan, I noticed something. The Digimon who caused trouble seemed to not care about humans much at all, but the ones who were close to people seemed to care about them and work hard to defend them.”

Relief flooded through Kyle’s body, and for a moment he seriously considered just asking Coyomon to come out right then. But he remembered their lunchtime planning session well enough to know there was more ground to cover.

“That makes sense, yeah! I’ve noticed that too. We were also wondering, if we needed some help to keep something kind of secret, would that be okay?”

This time, June’s groan was much clearer, and Bryan joined her. “Kyle, dude…”

Mr. Neary gave him a long, thoughtful look. “Let’s talk outside in 10 minutes, okay?” He stood up, and called out to the rest of the room. “Sorry everyone, I have to head out a little early again today. Start wrapping up please!”

There were scattered sounds of disappointment around the room, but the half-dozen other students still there started to log off and clean up.

June tugged him away to the emptier hall. “Very smooth,” she said with a sigh.

“I couldn’t think of anything better than a direct approach!” Kyle said.

Bryan chuckled. “As usual.”

Kyle shrugged. “I think that’s a good sign, if he’s gonna talk to us alone?” He glanced to June’s over-full backpack. “Bakumon, what do you think?”

The bag rustled, and Bakumon’s snout poked out. “I think he’s concerned for you but not overly alarmed. Overall, he seemed genuine and trustworthy.”

Bryan nodded. “See, Mr. Neary is awesome.”

“He also seems pretty confident that he’s figured something out based on what you said, and he’s excited to hear more,” Bakumon continued.

June nodded. “I’m pretty sure almost anyone would be able to draw a line between those two questions.”

Bryan grinned. “Yeah maybe next time June should do the talking and you should hold the psychic Digimon backpack.”

“Kyle was doing his best, and I think Mr. Neary appreciates his forthrightness,” Bakumon said.

June nodded. “Okay, sure, but let’s just try to hold off on any next-times for a while, okay?”

They spent several more minutes chatting idly in the hall before Mr. Neary finally stepped out of the classroom. “Apologies; Jose and Chris asked on finishing their Sorcery match, and I was curious to see how Chris’ new deck was working. Let’s step outside? Everyone else should be cleared out by now.”

They all gathered in the school’s dusty back lot, just outside the door.

“So,” Mr. Neary said. “You have some sort of secret? I do need to make it clear that if this involves the safety of students, or the school, or… anyone really, I can’t in good conscience do that. But if you’ve simply… made some new discoveries that are making your lives more complicated, you know I do my best to help my students. I’m not a cop and I’m not here to find reasons to get you in trouble.”

They’d all agreed that it would be best for June to talk first this time, so she stepped forward, shrugging off her backpack. “Mr. Neary, I’d like to introduce Bakumon. And vice versa.” With that, Bakumon floated out from the backpack and gave a nod. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, everyone here seems to think very highly of you.

Mr. Neary stared at Bakumon for only a moment, before responding with a nod and a smile of his own. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Bakumon!” He turned to Bryan then. “Seems like a bit more than online rumors, then,” he said with a grin.

“Ah, well, yeah, we weren’t sure how much we should say…”

“I told them you seemed trustworthy,” Bakumon added cheerfully.

The teacher nodded. “Well, thank you! I suppose, all things considered, it was a smart move to feel things out that way. Why did you want to tell me, though? Seems you’re already convinced Bakumon is friendly enough.”

“Well,” June said. “There’s a bit more to it than that. We think things are going to start getting a bit more complicated around here, and we thought it might be a good idea to have someone around the school we could talk to.”

“I’m not sure I entirely follow. Is the school in danger somehow?”

June shook her head. “No, no, I don’t think—“

A shrill noise erupted from Kyle’s pocket, making him jump several inches up and backward. He scrambled for his digivice. “Augh, what? What the hell?” The sound was almost overwhelming.

The others watched him as he pulled it out, his hands shaking as he tried to work through the sensory assault. Fortunately, the sound stopped when he poked a button, but it took a couple moments longer for his nerves to settle enough to read the screen.

“Portal incursion?” he said, eyes widening. The text was flashing red on the screen, along with the silhouette of something coming through the portal. Details were hard to make out, but at least it was small; no larger than Coyomon.

“I thought it was supposed to take a week?” Bryan asked.

“Well, it’s been six days,” June said.

Mr. Neary looked at each of them in turn. “I’m going to guess that there’s a lot more to this than one Digimon friend.”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, uh… do you think you can take a walk with us to the library? We can explain on the way.”

Three kids, three digimon, and one teacher stood at the rim of the arroyo, several yards away from the portal location.

Mr. Neary squinted at the culvert. “That’s it then? I think I see a shimmer there.”

“Yeah, that’s where I came from!” said Coyomon.

As cool as Mr. Neary had always seemed, Kyle was still a bit stunned to see how much the teacher was taking things in stride. It was a relief. One less thing to worry about. “Well, can anyone see anything else?” he asked. “It seemed pretty small, so it’s probably just another rookie, yeah?”

June shook her head. “Can’t really rely on that. Tailmon, Digitamamon, Meteormon… They’re all pretty small. Plus, look at Hielomon. Super big for his stage.”

Bryan nodded. “Yeah, because he’s awesome!”

His Digimon inclined his head. “Still, June’s right. We should be cautious. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

“I think I’m sensing something…” Bakumon said. “Nervousness? Though that might be just all of you.”

“Rrr, I’ll go first, I’m the fastest!” Coyomon said. He was already halfway down the slope by the time he was done speaking.

“Coyomon, hold on…” Kyle scrambled after him. “Everyone else keep a lookout, okay?”

Coyomon was nosing around the opening. “Smell something…” he said, then skulked down the rocky bottom of the arroyo toward a small stand of bushes.

As Coyomon approach, the bushes rustled, and a gray blur erupted toward him. “No! Stay away!” The voice was high-pitched, and it was hard to for Kyle to tell if it was panicked or angry.

Coyomon growled, rearing up on his hindlegs with hackles sparkling with static. The other Digimon took up a similar pose, allowing Kyle to see it clearly. It was a little smaller than Coyomon, with a short muzzle, long claws, and very long ears. He called back to June. “Gazimon, right?”

“Nailed it!” she called back. “So yeah, no big deal.”

“Rude!” snarled the new Digimon. “I’ll show you a big deal, I’m not going back, you can’t make me!”

Coyomon glared, sparks starting to form in his teeth. “Fight…?” he asked Kyle.

Kyle faltered. “I’m… not sure…” He looked back at his friends and teacher.

“Wild Gazimon are rarely trustworthy,” Bakumon said.

Kyle was surprised to hear the Gazimon talk before anyone else could respond. “Yeah, no kidding, they’re all jerks. I never get a moment’s peace, just because I’m the smallest. But it gave me plenty of practice fighting, so if you think I’m going back, think again!”

Coyomon was still growling. Kyle put a hand on his neck. “Whoa, ease off a bit, bud. Maybe we don’t have to fight…?”

“Right, yeah, no need for things to get messy,” the Gazimon said quickly. “Just let me burrow in here, away from all those big jerks. Live and let live.”

By now, the others had walked closer. They were standing in a rough arc around the Digimon faceoff, though Mr. Neary was holding back a few steps. Kyle looked back at them. “What do you all think? I don’t really want to, y’know… just because he’s… on the run…”

“Mmmm. What if the others come looking for him, though?” said Hielomon. “We can handle one Gazimon, but I’m not sure we’d do so well against a whole pack.”

“Nah, they’ll never find their way here, it’s just me, I promise!”

Kyle nodded. “Well, that’s good. I mean I know we’re supposed to guard the portal, but—“

June cut him off, eyeing the Gazimon. “How can you be so sure?”

“Oh, they lost my trail days ago.”

Bryan frowned. “Wait a sec…”

June pressed on. “Uh huh. So you’re not really on the run then, are you?”

“Well… there’s running and there’s running. I figure this world would be a lot safer, since there’s no other Digimon around to give me a hard time. Or so I thought.”

Kyle looked at the Gazimon, then down at Coyomon, uncertain. “Well, if it’s really that hard for you there…”

“Oh, yeah, it’s the worst. So that’s okay then, I can stay? I’ll dig a burrow right here, and… where do I get food? You got meat trees? Digi-Diners?”

“Partner-Kyle gets me food!”

“Coyomon, no! Yes, I get you food, but you’re my partner.” He turned back to Gazimon, a bit more wary now. “We don’t have any meat trees. And you’re gonna need money for restaurants. Plus I’m definitely not supposed to let you just… wander. With claws like those, maybe you could hunt your own food?”

“Oooh, like from the restaurants? Yeah… Yeah, I can do that.” The Gazimon grinned big, showing sharp teeth.

“Yeah no, I think this guy is not an exception to the ‘Gazimon are jerks’ rule,” Bryan said with a scowl. Hielomon nodded, and took a step closer, starting to surround the grey Digimon. A cold wind started to flow from that direction.

Coyomon started to get sparky again. “Fight now?”

Kyle glanced over at June. She and Bakumon were coming closer too, with a strange purple energy starting to gather around her tusks. “If we have to…” she said.

Kyle nodded, and spoke to the Gazimon. “Well, it’s up to you. We can’t let you bully people here, even if you were bullied where you came from. So, maybe you can find a nice place back on the other side of the portal?”

The Gazimon shifted from paw to paw, apparently unable to keep up that tough front when faced with three Digimon. “Yeah… okay… fine. I’ll just… go, then?” The Gazimon started to edge warily back toward the portal.

Everyone shifted positions, helping make a path without taking their eyes off the surly Digimon. Soon, the Gazimon passed back through the portal with a shimmer, and was gone.

Kyle let out a heavy sigh, and leaned against Coyomon, who nuzzled him supportively. He looked around at his friends, who seemed similarly relieved.

“That was quite well-handled, for what I guess was your first time,” said Mr. Neary after a moment.

Hielomon was the first to reply. “Yes, I think that went great, good job!” Everyone else murmured words of weary thanks.

“I hope they’re all that straightforward,” June said.

“Hmm. They probably won’t be,” said Bakumon.

“Yeah…” Kyle said softly. “So we’re gonna need all the help we can get.” He looked up. “Mr. Neary?”

The teacher chuckled. “Well, I’m the only one here without a monster partner, so I think all I can offer is cover stories and strategic obliviousness. Just do your best to keep yourselves safe, while you’re keeping the city safe too?”

Bryan nodded. “You got it. See, I’m always saying it; you are officially the coolest teacher ever!”

They started to walk back to the school, but Kyle couldn’t keep himself from glancing back at the portal, wondering how much help would actually feel like enough.

Chapter Text

Kyle was halfway home, already having given safely bland answers to his mom’s questions about his day, when it hit him.

The portal was open. He could go to the digital world.

He was shocked it had taken so long for him to realize it, and as soon as he did, he could think of nothing else. He managed to keep quiet about it until he was home by imagining what it would be like. Would the portal lead to a desert? A jungle? He guessed it wasn’t anyplace too populated, judging from what the Gazimon had said. He might need to pack supplies; how would he sneak those through a school day with a backpack that already tended to be overstuffed? Sure, he could wait until the portal in the front yard opened too, but that could be days away.

As soon as he got home, he sent a message to the Digimon Research team.

DigiKyleX: Soooo digital world exploration tomorrow right???

He didn’t wait for a response; there was someone else to talk to about it too.

“You ready to go to the Digital World, Coyomon?”

“Yeah! What’s it like there, Partner-Kyle?”

“Well, on TV and in games it’s mostly wilderness, sometimes with weird things in it, like random vending machines, or phones in glass booths? But the guide said that there’s lots of different places there too, not all of them are like that. It’s not really mapped, so we’re gonna have to be ready for anything!”

“Rrr, that sounds exciting! And there are other Digimon there, right? Not just ones who are jerks?”

“Right! It’s pretty much where Digimon come from and mostly they’re supposed to be just like people. Only some people are jerks.”

“If there are jerks, I’ll protect you!”

“I know you will, bud. I’m just really excited to go there. Won’t have to keep you secret, will get to meet all kinds of Digimon, and maybe other tamers too. It’s gotta be better than school, for sure.”

“Kyle-mom said it is supposed to not distract you from school!”

Kyle laughed, and batted Coyomon lightly with a pillow. “What, are you my mom now? And it won’t. It’s a place to go when school gets to be too much, I hope. Or just… the world in general.”

He put off homework until after dinner, instead collecting things around the house that he thought might be helpful and adding them to his backpack. A flashlight was a must, and he managed to find an old compass, even though he wasn’t sure if that would do anything. He even risked putting a pocket knife in his bag, being fairly sure no one would catch it during school hours.

Eventually, June and Bryan both replied to his message:

bryN8tor: huh yeah guess so. nice

MidsummerSun: Hm. We can start looking into it, at least.

He was surprised their excitement level didn’t match his own. The rest of the night crawled by, as he did his best to finish homework without Digital World distractions. He was worried he wouldn’t be able to sleep well, and the last thing he wanted was to be exploring a new world while he was tired. However, Coyomon fell asleep earlier than usual, tired out by the excitement of the day, and the Digimon’s presence was, as always, wonderfully calming. Kyle found himself drifting off easily, head filled with the possibilities of countless worlds to discover.

“I’m just not sure it’s a casual after-school kind of activity.”

Kyle let out a dramatic sigh. “June, come on, it literally is in season 2!”

It was lunchtime, and June was still being as wary as she had been last night and in the morning.

“Yes, but that’s a TV show. Very loosely based in reality, and still full of peril and trauma.”

Kyle looked to Bryan. “You want to see it, right?”

Bryan nodded. “Dude, of course! But maybe not all quick. Gotta do it right.”

“Since when are you such a planner?” Kyle asked.

“I can plan stuff! Me and Hielomon talked about it all last night, how to orient ourselves, and like once we get all three portals open, how we can find them all on both sides so we can move between them…”

The ice-blue Digimon nodded. “Though I think a quick peek through might fit well with that strategy, too.”

Kyle grinned. “Yessss, finally someone is talking sense.”

“Assuming you can even get through,” June said. “It’s still early and you’re bigger than a Gazimon.”

“Well if I can’t get through then there’s no harm in trying, right?”

“Right, Partner-Kyle!”

He chuckled. “See, two people are talking sense.”

“And if you can get through, and something attacks you?” June asked.

“Then I blast it!”

Kyle nudged Coyomon. “Orrr we run, since we’ll be close to the portal. Bakumon, you saw the other side, what’s it like? Is it dangerous.”

“Thank you for asking,” Bakumon said with a nod of her head. “It’s a pretty boring area. There are some settlements nearby with peaceful Digimon. That Gazimon was definitely from nowhere near there, likely not even from that realm.” She looked up at June. “I’m sure a short trip will be safe.”

June held up her hands. “All right, all right. You all have convinced me. I’m convinceable. We’ll keep watch from this side.”

They spent the rest of lunch, and any moment they could get in the afternoon, working out plans. Finally, just minutes after school let out, Kyle found himself standing at the portal, which definitely seemed a bit larger and brighter than it had yesterday.

“Clocks synchronized?” asked Hielomon. They’d decided to time every part of the trip, just in case things worked differently wherever he ended up. To Kyle it seemed unlikely—the guide hadn’t mentioned anything about that—but the focus on scientific rigor had helped June and Bakumon to be more enthusiastic.

“Ready!” Kyle said, holding up his phone, with his other hand holding tight to Coyomon’s collar.

Hielomon nodded, and raised a claw. “Annnd… go!”

Kyle stepped forward, into the strange shimmering light. It tingled slightly, not like Coyomon’s electricity, but more like he was taking a bath in carbonated water. “So weird…” he said, and looked down at his partner.

Coyomon looked back up at him. “Feels good!” the Digimon said. “Sorta like going in the digivice but… more!”

“Yeah, okay, we just… keep going, then?” Kyle couldn’t see anything aside from the rainbow sparkles that surrounded the two of them. He couldn’t even feel ground under his feet, but he still had a sense of movement, as if his intention was enough to keep going.

“Yeah! We’re going… somewhere!” Coyomon was more confident than he was, but after a moment longer, the sparkles started to clear, resolving to a panorama of different shades of green.

“Whoa…” Kyle said, leaning forward to try to get more detail. Suddenly, the sparkles dissipated around him, and he lost his balance, falling to hands and knees. The ground under him was dark brown, and jagged like stone, though it gave a bit where his hands pressed into it. “What is this?”

“Partner-Kyle! Time thing, right?”

“Oh, right!” He stood up again, and checked his phone. “Huh… that felt like longer than 11 seconds. But okay. Remember 11 seconds.”

“Like seconds of food? Lots of food!”

Kyle laughed. “Whatever works, buddy. Okay, and they said be back in five minutes. So where are we?”

He looked around slowly. They were on what looked like a path of that brown substance the width of a street, with smaller paths forking off at regular intervals. It was all surrounded by scrubby dark green stalks, which blended into the background; it seemed to be all the same colors, to each side. Then he looked up… and felt his legs turn to jelly as his brain put the pieces together.

A hundred feet above him was the underside of a gigantic tree branch, jutting from a trunk that was only a few feet behind him. The portal itself was set in the trunk and he was clearly standing on just another branch. There was no ground or sky in sight, just more branches, and more trunks off in the distance. The whole area was lit by glowing pinecones the size of cars, hanging from the bottoms of the branches.

Kyle sat down hard on what he could now clearly recognize as tree bark. His head was spinning. Even though the tops of the branches were flat, he couldn’t stop from imagining himself slipping over an edge, falling for who knows how long.

“Coyomon…?” The Digimon was already next to him, lending him that comforting pressure. “This is… Bakumon said it was boring!”

“Nothing’s attacking us!” Coyomon pointed out cheerfully. “I think? You okay, Partner-Kyle?” Those big blue eyes looked at him with obvious concern.

“Its… heights… and… just… new…” Kyle’s breathing was easing again. “I was expecting just like… maybe a normal jungle. With like, random street signs or something. Not…. Mega-Lothlorien!”

“Rrrr? Is that a Digimon? Is that who lives there?” Coyomon pointed with his muzzle to what looked like a cluster of small huts, suspended from ropes between the branches. They had been difficult to see at first, with roofs covered the tree’s immense needles, but once Coyomon pointed them out, they were impossible to miss. Rope bridges connected the huts to each other, and to other branches, including the one he was on.

“Okay, Bakumon did say settlements… Peaceful settlements. Wow…”

Coyomon nosed him. “Let’s go!”

Kyle shuddered as he surveyed the bridge’s attachment point. It was far down the tapering branch, at a point where it was barely wider than a bike path. He was sure he could feel the branch swaying under him even now. He didn’t want to imagine what it would be like walking out that far. “Uh… maybe later, bud.” He checked his phone. “I think we should probably just go back for now, it’s almost been five minutes.”

“Okaaay,” Coyomon said.

Kyle still didn’t feel up to standing, so he crawled to the portal with one hand on Coyomon’s collar. The sparkles still surrounded them, just as before. This time, it felt faster than the 11 seconds that his phone timed, until he was out.

The arroyo faded to view, with everyone staring at him with wide eyes. “Whoa, you okay?” Bryan asked, coming closer, and Hielomon held out a claw to help him up. Kyle realized he was still crawling, and likely still looked spooked.

“No, yeah, I’m fine,” he said as he stood up. “It was just… a lot. It was like giant trees, and… I guess I have a little more problem with high places than I thought?”

June grinned. “Easy to miss when you grow up in a town with no buildings over three stories, I guess.”

He shook his head. “It was just… way weirder than I thought.” He looked to Bakumon. “That was a boring one?”

The Digimon bobbed up and down in a shrug. “You should see some of the other realms! Like the one with the gears… No, if you don’t like heights, you should definitely not see that. I suppose a lot more things are scary if you have to use legs.”

“So they really are all that different?” June asked. “How do you get from one to another?”

“There are gates for those too, though they’re sometimes hard to find. I know a few in the trees though.”

Kyle nodded. “Okay. So it’s not all gigantic forests. Good to know.” He looked back toward the gate, his curiosity slowly rising again. “Can you show the way to some other ones?”

Hielomon coughed politely. “First let’s go over what you found there. You weren’t there for days or seconds, were you? We had just about five minutes here.”

Kyle shook his head. “Nope, all good. Time in the gate felt a bit weird, but five minutes for me too.”

Bryan grinned at Hielomon and June. “That enough for you worriers? Can we all go through?”

“I would feel a lot better if there were folks who could fly with us,” Kyle added.

“A quick trip could be informative, I guess!” June said, and they all headed through.

Kyle watched June and Bryan stare at the gate-sparkles, then braced himself for landing on the branch. It was a bit easier to deal with, when he knew what to expect, but he still felt better with his back to the massive tree trunk.

“A la verga, that is a tree,” said Bryan. He and June both looked comfortable standing on their own, and the Digimon were entirely at ease.

“So, Bakumon, where are these gates to other places that might be less… vertical?” Kyle asked.

“Well…” Bakumon floated back and forth. “The ones I know of are both on different trees, and, um, several branches up.”

“Okay. All right. Okay…” Kyle reached out for Coyomon with one hand, as the other fidgeted with his digivice. As he flipped the screen open and closed, he noticed it was showing something new. “Hey, check it out!” he said, holding it up and even venturing a few steps out to show the others. “It’s showing… it calls them interlinks?”

Bakumon squinted at the screen, which showed a few dots, on a sketchy wireframe of the tree trunks. “Hm. Those look like the ways in and out I’m familiar with, yes.”

Kyle nodded. “Okay but yeah, look, there’s another one, a lot less… up, see?”

Bryan and June were examining the displays on their own digivices too. “This is hard to read. Needs some better graphics,” Bryan grumbled.

Kyle turned slowly, holding his digivice up to try to match the scenery. “Almost… got it… Aha!” He lowered his arm. “…In the village.”

“Oh, that’s not so bad, right?” June said.

Bakumon looked in that direction. “Hmm, I wonder why I never noticed that one.”

“Yay, Partner-Kyle, let’s meet more Digimon!”

“…Sure, bud. I guess the bridge is better than… up. Slightly.”

Chapter Text

To Kyle’s relief, the branch remained sturdy under their feet as they walked out to the rope bridge. Seeing the path narrow to each side was harrowing, but with Coyomon walking next to him on one side, and June on the other, he at least felt less like he was going to immediately fall over.

“We really are out on a limb now, huh?” said Hielomon from behind him, and Kyle heard Bryan groan softly.

“Your Digimon makes dad jokes?” June asked.

Bryan sighed dramatically. “Apparently. He did it all weekend too.”

“I don’t think I’m anywhere near old enough for them to count as dad jokes,” Hielomon said in a cheerful tone. “I just thought it might help to lighten the mood.”

“What’s dad jokes?” Coyomon asked.

Kyle looked down at him. “Dad jokes are…” He stopped, and looked up. “Wait. Hielomon’s been around for less time than Coyomon. Howcome he knows enough to make jokes but Coyomon’s always… so…” He couldn’t think of a word to complete the sentence that wouldn’t make him feel bad. He didn’t actually mind Coyomon’s naivety, but it did make the canine Digimon stand out from the others.

Bakumon bounced in the air. “I know this! Different Digimon integrate different data when they form, so some start out with more language than others. Some can’t even talk at all, or end up with really strange speech patterns. It all just depends on the data.”

Bryan chuckled. “So Hielomon must’ve ended up with data from WorstDadJokes.com or something.”

Hielomon laughed too. “The groans mean I’m doing a good job, right?”

Kyle realized the banter had been a good distraction indeed; they were right up next to the bridge to the village. “Okay, so… this part’s gonna suck… Will it even hold our weight?”

“Let me try first,” said Hielomon. “I’m probably one of the heaviest, plus I have wings if it does break.” The ice dragon spread his wings and leapt over the group. He landed on the bridge with a solid thud, making it swing slightly. “Seems pretty solid, actually. Bryan, come on next, stay close to me.”

“Sure, okay.” Bryan maneuvered past the others on the narrow branch, and stepped onto the bridge. “See no, it’s plenty sturdy.” he said, nodding to Hielomon. “You don’t gotta protect me.”

The Digimon just nodded, and stepped out further. “Now Kyle and Coyomon. June and Bakumon at the back, to make sure there’s a flyer on each side.”

“I’m not sure I can carry anyone as well as you can,” Bakumon said as they all filed on.

Kyle felt the planks of the bridge wobble as he stepped onto it, and gripped the rope rails tightly. “This suuucks,” he murmured.

Coyomon pressed against his side reassuringly. “I can see the best boards,” the Digimon said. “Skip the next one.”

Kyle nodded, doing as instructed. Step by step, he got more used to the bridge. It was never fun, but at least by the time they were halfway across, he didn’t feel like he was about to lose his lunch anymore.

Finally they were at the other end, standing on a platform of broader pieces of wood that was lashed together by vines. Kyle let himself sink to the ground as soon as he was safely back from the edge. “Whew, made it.”

“Good job, Partner-Kyle!” Coyomon nuzzled him.

The others were exploring the area, looking around at the wooden structures nearby. “Is no one home?” asked June.

“Hm. I think this is a Floramon village,” Bakumon said. “They’re usually quite friendly.”

“The portal’s just a bit further this way,” said Bryan. “If no one’s gonna give us a hard time, that’s fine by me. Kyle, you coming or no?”

Kyle stood up. “Yeah, sorry, I’m ready!”

They walked along solid wood platforms, following the signal on their digivices, which seemed to lead to one of the larger structures. There was still no one in sight, until June pushed open the carved wooden door of the large circular building.

Suddenly, Kyle caught a strange scent that made his nose itch, and there was a sound like the rustling of thousands of leaves. Inside, dozens of pairs of green eyes turned their way. The building was filled with Floramon, standing in rings around a rippling light that looked vaguely similar to the gate that had brought them there. All of the Digimon remained silent, just staring at them with blank expressions. They did not look nearly as friendly as Bakumon had promised.

Kyle’s Digivice chirped. The gate-tracking graphic had been replaced by a familiar sight: There were lines of text accompanied by a spinning image of the Floramon. For a moment, he was distracted from the strangely intimidating sight before him. “Whoa, it’s doing the analyzer thing! Check it out, just like the show!”

June and Bryan squinted at their devices too, then back at the actual Floramon, who were now shifting in their direction, raising their arms. “Annnd this is the part when it turns out the analyzer is wrong about something being friendly,” Bryan said, taking a few steps back. “Just like the show.”

The Floramon spoke with almost one voice, hissing like grass in the wind. “Who disturbs the calm? Leave us…”

June spoke up. “We’re sorry to disturb you, we’d just like to use your portal, would that be okay?”

The hissing grew louder and more agitated. “No. It is the calm. The calm must not be disturbed.”

“Maybe we should try one of the other portals…?” June said.

“No, these Floramon are acting very strangely,” said Bakumon. “I think something must be wrong. We should probably find out what it is, given how close they are to our gate.”

Kyle nodded, and took a step forward. “Okay, so the calm must not be disturbed,” he said, eyeing the Floramon. “Can you tell me more about this… calm? I like calm, so…”

As soon as Kyle’s foot crossed into the hut, the hissing became a screech, and the Floramon all started to move. Coyomon growled as vines flailed from their flower-like arms, and he hopped back, but not before one of them lashed his leg, leaving an angry welt.

“Ow, hey!” His leg throbbed. “Poison vines, right. Okay, let’s just—”

“Protect Partner-Kyle!” Coyomon snarled

“Coyomon, wait! There’s too many of them!” Kyle yelled, even as he saw his partner leap into the room. He braced himself to see Coyomon get overwhelmed by vines, but the Digimon was strikingly nimble, leaping over one vine after another, slicing them off with electrified bites. “Coyomon, that is not calming them down!”

The Floramon remained speechless, moving with uncanny coordination. As more and more vines were trimmed, they changed tactics. Instead of more tendrils, clouds of greenish-yellow dust started to billow from their petal-arms. That itchy scent grew stronger, and Coyomon abruptly slowed down. “Rrrrrr… prote—“ The sound was cut off by a sneeze, followed by several others as Coyomon started to sag to the ground. “Grrrh… Can’t…”

“Their pollen!” June said, and covered her nose as the dust started to spread out the door. But it was no use. Everyone started to sneeze, and Kyle could feel his own strength draining away too under the allergic onslaught.

“Hielo—choo—mon! That one—choo!” Bryan barely managed to say.

“Of course!” his digimon replied. “Arc—augh—Arctic Wind!” With a flap of his wings, he sent a blast of icy air into the building full of Floramon. It blew the pollen away, at least enough for them to breathe, and ice crystals started to form on some of the nearest assailants.

“Yeah, time for an early frost,” Bryan said, with a broad grin “Again.”

Kyle shook his head, and darted in towards Coyomon. “No! That might really hurt them. I think they’re being controlled!”

The closer he got, the more sure he was. There was a strange buzzing in his head, and Coyomon seemed to be far more out of it than he would’ve expected from just some pollen. “Coyomon, are you okay?”

“Rrrh… the calm…” The Digimon shook his head, eyes squeezed shut. “Partner-Kyle, something’s weird…”

“Yeah, I feel something too.” Calm wasn’t the right word for it. It was a heavy urge to enforce calm, like he could only be calm if no one looked at the portal. The longer he stayed near it, the stronger it got. “Everyone stay back!” He waved off the others. “But more wind if the Floramon try anything else, okay?”

Then he turned to Coyomon. “Hey bud, do you think you can protect us?”

Coyomon gave a weak growl. “Attack the gate?”

“No… Protect-protect. Like shield…”

Coyomon seemed to focus, his whole body tensing up as he worked against the strange influence pressing down on them both. “Rrr, I think…” Then his voice strengthened. “Static Shield!”

Arcs of electric blue coursed over Coyomon’s pelt, then spread outward, tingling a bit as they passed over Kyle’s skin. They formed a dome around the two of them. The air inside felt entirely clear of pollen, and better yet, the oppressive buzzing in his head was gone.

Kyle slowly stood up, marveling at the shield of electricity surrounding him. “Whoa bud, that’s awesome!”

“Thank you Partner-Kyle! It IS, even if I don’t know how I did it!”

His other friends were just staring, wide-eyed. “Do you think you can let them in too? And then… we could go to the portal.”

“I can tryyyyy. Takes a lot of… thinking.”

“Concentration? Yeah, I bet. Okay, let’s just walk this way first…” He guided Coyomon to the entrance, faintly aware that the Floramon were again trying to lash at him with vines, only to be repelled by the shield.

Kyle walked over near his friends, well away from the frantic plant-Digimon. “Okay, try to open a hole where I am.”

The arcs parted, leaving just enough space for everyone to step inside. It was a close fit. Bryan started to reach out for one of the shielding bolts until Hielomon shook his head, and nudged the other boy’s hand away.

“We got them, Coyomon. Now let’s head for the gate!”

The Floramon parted around them as they made their way to the strange shimmer. The electric field crackled around it… and suddenly Kyle felt that buzzing in his mind again. It was clear from the pained noises his friends made that they felt it too.

“Ooof, right, definitely coming from the gate then,” Kyle said

June shuddered slightly. “What is it?”

Bryan grimaced. “Don’t care, make it stop!”

Bakumon floated a bit higher. “It’s definitely a psychic influence. If we go through, Coyomon should be able to shield us from whatever’s making it on that side… hopefully.”

Coyomon staggered slightly and the energy field started to flicker. Kyle frowned as he saw the Floramon start to gather close outside again. “Well, probably better there than here, let’s go!” They all leapt into the light, and the world shifted around them again.

The first thing Kyle noticed was the blissful lack of psychic pressure as the shield strengthened around them again. The second thing he noticed was that this new realm was almost the opposite of the other one. It was mountainous terrain, filled with bright sky, clear horizons… and it was tiny.

On a museum field trip, Kyle had once seen a flyover of the Himalayas, sped up to cover the hundreds of miles of mountains in just a few minutes. The angle, scale, and speed had made them look tiny, more like waves in the ocean than the tallest peaks in the world. The scene around him looked just like that. They were halfway down the slope of a seven-foot-tall peak, covered in powdery snow. More mountains rose around them, as far as the eye could see, and none of them reached above Kyle’s head.

“Uh…” Bryan had been looking in another direction, and he nudged Kyle.

“Cool, huh…?” Kyle said.

“No, uh… better look at this.”

Kyle turned, and through the electric net, he saw a ten-foot tall Digimon floating at the top of the next peak over. It had six spindly blue limbs with alarmingly bright green highlights. It turned toward them and let out a shriek. “Why can I not meditate in peace?”

Everyone backpedaled, and Kyle scrambled for his digivice as it chirped.

Exermon. Champion Level. An insectile Digimon that fights with mental powers, martial arts, and perfect balance.

“We can’t fight that thing!” Hielomon said.

“Nnnh… Partner-Kyle…” Coyomon was clearly struggling, and the shield was flickering as the Exermon’s antennae glowed brightly.

“Maybe we don’t have to?” June said. “It sounds like… Let me try something.” She stepped close to the edge of the weakening shield, and bowed to the floating Digimon. “Pardon me, Exermon? You just want to be left alone, right?”

“Yes.” The voice was much calmer now. “I thought I had found the perfect meditation spot, far away from anyone else. And yet, first those Floramon, and now your kind, whatever you are, again and again. Leave me, that is all I want. But I shall make you, if you do not do so on your own.”

June nodded. “I can understand why you’d want… calm, for that. But is it right to be using the Floramon to keep it?”

“I have used no one. The Floramon were here, I made them leave. I wish no harm.”

“But the Floramon attacked us, trying to keep us from your portal! And we felt it too. We would have attacked each other, to keep anyone from the portal.”

The Exermon’s antennae lowered. “What…? I merely wanted to keep space between myself and anyone else.”

Bakumon approached, and dipped downward in a bow. “Perhaps you don’t know your own strength, Exermon? If you really want to do no harm, perhaps meditate somewhere further away from the gate?”

“But this location is perfect.”

“How perfect can it be if you have to deal with folks like us all the time?” June asked. “And the Floramon aren’t just going to go away. They’re still going to be affected if you stay here. That’s still causing harm, isn’t it?”

The Exermon floated silently for a few moments. “Perhaps…” The Digimon started a slow rotation, surveying the mountains, and then finally turned to face them again. “Perhaps that peak over there would suit me just as well.”

“Perhaps so,” said June dryly.

Without another word, the Exermon began to move off and away from the gate, still perfectly balanced in the air.

“Okay, Coyomon, try lowering the shield…” Kyle said, bracing himself against whatever might be left of the Exermon’s influence. But as the shield fell, he felt nothing but cold mountain wind. “Good job, June!”

“I hope the Floramon are all right now too,” said Bakumon.

Kyle nodded. “I guess we’ll find out on our way back, we should probably start heading home…” He trailed off as he checked his watch. “…half an hour ago. Oh crap, my mom is going to kill me.”

Chapter Text

Kyle had known he was in trouble when he saw his mom’s car was the only one left in the school parking lot.

“So. Where have you been?”

They’d even made it back much faster than expected. The Floramon were all sleeping, apparently dazed by the loss of Exermon’s influence, and the bridge and branch were at least half as scary the second time back.

“Uh, well…”

Or at least, they’d been less scary than the thought of leaving his mom waiting.

“Kyle James Fairbank. It is 5:45.” His mom hadn’t even started the car yet, reserving all her attention for him as he sat there in the passenger seat. “Was this a Digimon thing?”

He sighed, and nodded. “Yeah.”

“A Digimon portal thing?”

“…Yeah. How—“

“How? Because I looked everywhere in this world for you!”

Kyle winced. “We were safe!” As safe as they could manage, at least. “Coyomon protected me!”

“Yeah!” came the voice from his digivice. “They were good! We fought scary Digimon and no one got hurt.”

Kyle cringed so hard, he hurt his face.

“Fought?” His mom’s eyes were wide, and he couldn’t tell how much was fear and how much was anger.

“Mom, it really wasn’t that bad! Mostly we talked it out, just like last time!”

Her expression shifted in another hard-to-read way, and he realized his mouth had gotten ahead of his brain again.

“When was last time?”

Oops. “…Yesterday? That was just one who came through the portal here though. We knew that was going to happen, I thought you were okay with this, you talked to Dr. Clarke—“

His mother put up a hand, and he stopped talking. She gave him a long look, then spoke, voice less loud, but still strained. “We were okay with you learning cooperation and responsibility. Going off on your own like this was not responsible. What if something had happened when you were literally in another world? We would’ve never known anything!”

Her voice got tighter and tighter the longer she talked, and Kyle really started to realize just how worried she had been, and how much more worried she was now that he’d said more. Knowing didn’t make it much easier to deal with, though. He could feel this starting as it usually did; her emotions went up, that triggered his to raise as well, and things just got worse and worse.

He squeezed his digivice, seeking comfort, and thought he felt a gentle pulse of something push back against his hand. Maybe he could try something different.

“I’m sorry, mom. You’re right. If I’m supposed to tell you when I’m at the library, I should definitely tell you when I’m in the Digital World.”

She nodded. “You got that right. We’ll talk about this more when we get home.” She turned forward, and started the engine, but an icy atmosphere remained in the car.

Kyle slumped back in his seat. That statement didn’t bode well, but it was better than an explosive argument. So that was something at least.

The promised talk was long and arduous. It took up all of dinner and almost an hour afterwards too. First Kyle had give full detail about what he’d been up to since the portal opened. His parents did seem relieved that nothing had progressed to a full-on fight, and it helped that he could talk around some of the more perilous details. Things seemed to be going pretty well, until they got around to the inevitable “consequences” discussion.

They were sitting on the couches in the living room by now, with Coyomon at Kyle’s feet. Thankfully, the Digimon had been mostly quiet throughout the discussion so far. (A steady supply of food had helped.)

“I understand you were excited to try out something new,” said Kyle’s dad. “But what you did was unsafe and irresponsible, and you have to know that’s not okay.”

He looked at Kyle, then at Coyomon, and Kyle’s blood froze. Kyle reached down for the Digimon, shaking his head. “You can’t—“

His father raised a hand. “We don’t want to separate you from any of your friends, including Coyomon. But we need to know that what you’re doing together isn’t going to put you all at risk. So. Until further notice, you will stay on this side of any gates.”

“But Dad, we’re supposed to guard—“

His mother spoke up. “Yes, you’re supposed to guard them. I don’t see how wandering around on the… other side is going to help with that.”

“But if we find other tamers, they can help—“

His father scowled. “Do you want to try for another restriction on top of that, son?”

Kyle honestly couldn’t think of anything else that would feel worse. Exploring the Digital World was all he’d been able to think of for the last two days. But he knew that tone well enough to understand that things could still get worse. “No sir.”

His mother nodded. “Good. So. Half-hourly check-in texts after school until I pick you up. If any gate things happen, I want to hear about them too. If that goes well for a full week, we’ll talk about what happens next. Got it?”

Kyle cringed, and Coyomon pressed against his leg. “Yes, mom.”

“And for tonight, go get started on your homework, since it sounds like you were otherwise occupied up until now.”

Kyle groaned softly, and headed to his room.

“That sucks, dude.” said Bryan at lunch the next day. Mr. Neary had agreed to let them have the computer lab to themselves for the hour, so the Digimon could be comfortably out and about.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Kyle was leaning heavily against one of the computer desks. He’d felt hopeless and drained all day.

“Half an hour might leave just enough time for quick peeks into the Digital World,” suggested Bakumon.

“I guess, but I wouldn’t have time to get anywhere! It’s not exactly quick to get to the village, and the next portals in the mountains seemed really far away.

“I can go fast!” said Coyomon. “Carry you?”

Kyle sighed. “I don’t think you’re quite big enough for that, bud.”

“I can get bigger, right?”

Bryan grinned. “Oh whoa yeah, what if he digivolved like Garurumon and you could ride on his back? So cool…”

June shook her head. “I’m pretty sure forcing a digivolution to get around your parents restrictions is a good way to get a bad result.”

Hielomon nodded. “I definitely agree.”

Kyle nodded as well. “I guess so, yeah…” Coyomon let out a soft huff, and Kyle rubbed his head. “Sorry, bud. I mean, we can still practice, but I definitely don’t want to force anything. I guess we have time now to try out that new stuff from yesterday. The shielding, the bigger attacks…”

Coyomon perked up. “Rrrr, yeah!”

Kyle turned back to Bryan and June. “And I mean I guess you two can still go.”

Bryan smirked. “Yeah, you couldn’t stop us, no offense.”

June gave Bryan a sharp look, before nodding to Kyle. “We’ll tell you if we find anything interesting, or meet any other tamers.”

Hielomon rested a smooth claw on Kyle’s shoulder. “It’ll be good to know that someone will still be actually watching the gate. And I’m sure your parents will trust you more in time.”

Kyle sighed again. “I hope so. I just… This was supposed to be the place where I could get away from…” He looked at the door, toward the school halls where he had to constantly be on guard from Rick and others like him. “Why do my parents think being in the Digital World is riskier than being here?”

Bryan shrugged. “Maybe because of the bottomless forests and poisonous vines and mind-controlling yoga bugs?”

“Yeah but at least I can fight back against those. At least there I might meet more folks who are actually like me.”

Bakumon floated closer to him. “You seem so sure that other tamers will be better friends for you than most people here. Why is that?”

“I mean, they’ll like Digimon too, that’s a good start. That’s how I met Bryan and June, and that worked out great, right? But like, it’s not just that. I found my digivice when I… really didn’t wanna be here anymore, right? When I wanted to escape?” Coyomon perked his ears, and nodded, pressing against Kyle’s leg. “And Dr. Clarke said that’s how it happens most of the time. So I keep thinking, like… I dunno if it’s going to be the same reason for everyone, but…” He rubbed his head. It was hard to put into words. “I guess I figure it’s a good place to start. That we all kinda don’t fit in one way or another. I mean… that kinda worked out well for us too, right?”

June nodded, but Bryan looked slightly offended. “Hey I’m not that much of a weirdo.” June elbowed him. “…Fine, okay. I get you.”

“I get you too,” said June. “We’ll make sure they know about you too. If we find anyone, I mean. It seems like such a huge place, and there’s not that many tamers in the world. Bakumon, did you ever meet any humans before us?”

The small Digimon shook her head. “Only rumors. You’re right, the Digital World isn’t just huge, it’s also complicated, considering all the different realms and portals. I didn’t even know that portal in the village was there, which bothers me, honestly.”

“You can’t know everything,” said Hielomon.

“I’d like to,” Bakumon replied. “But that’s not even it; it’s been a while, but I’m sure I’ve been to that village before, and I’m sure there was not a gate there then. Certainly I would have noticed the Floramon acting like that.”

June nodded. “It sounded like they weren’t like that for very long. Exermon talked about it like it was a pretty new development, right?”

“Exactly,” said Bakumon. “I know of other phenomena that can cause random movement between realms, and I know it’s possible to create portals, but I’ve never heard of new ones forming on their own like that.”

Kyle frowned. “Do you think it has something to do with the gates between there and here? Dr. Clarke said those were getting more common.”

“I suppose,” Bakumon replied. “But as I understand it, the portals between realms are fundamentally different from the gates between your world and ours. They’re easier to make, since they don’t have to cross the network boundary, but someone has to make them, as far as I know. If they’re starting to just happen on their own as well, that’d be a big change.”

“Or someone is making them?” Kyle suggested.

Bakumon nodded. “Then I’d just want to know why. As you saw, new portals can cause big problems. The Digital World is a complicated place.”

Bryan was fidgeting with his digivice as he listened. “Yeah well, either way we can just keep an eye out for that, yeah? No reason to get all worried now. Just another thing to find out when we explore. So are we going in after school today or no?”

Kyle sighed and slumped in his chair. Coyomon gave him a comforting nuzzle.

“Let’s not go too far today,” June said. “I’d like to talk to the Floramon and see if they know anything. Then we can get a better idea of where we can go from the mountains. I’m excited too, but I want to be methodical about this. And my parents are only going to put up with so many late nights home too.”

Bryan shrugged. “My mom’s got late shift at the hospital all week, so I can stay out as long as I want.”

Hielomon shook his head. “Let’s not go off alone just yet. There’s no reason to rush things.”

“Can I just ask one thing?” said Kyle. “Please come back out and tell me what’s up before my mom picks me up? I really really don’t want to be left out.”

June and Bryan both nodded. “Of course, dude,” said Bryan.

“You’re part of this,” June added. “We’re all in this together, even if we can’t all do the same stuff right now.”

Kyle smiled, for what felt like the first time since the night before. “Thank you, seriously. I’m still not entirely used to having friends like you all.”

“We’ll get you used to it.” Bryan said. “I mean you have like twice as many now as you did a week ago!”

Kyle looked at his friends, Digimon and human alike, and couldn’t help smiling more.

Chapter Text

Solo training wasn’t going well.

“Can I blast that?”

“Coyomon, no, that’s a pretty big tree. People would probably notice it’s gone, plus we might start a fire? Let’s not start any fires, okay?”

“Okaaay. But I have to learn how to protect you! Plus this is boring, can we please go in the gate?”

Kyle checked his phone. 10 minutes until the next mandatory parent check-in. One more until pickup time, and his other friends still weren’t back from the digital world.

“I mean…” He hesitated, staring at the gate. “Maybe? We wouldn’t even get far. Argh, this SUCKS.” Kyle kicked at a bush.

“Yeah, blast it! …Wait, what’s ‘sucks?’”

“It means I’m mad. You heard me before, I just… the digital world is really important to me. And I’m blocked off because my parents won’t even listen.”

Coyomon tilted his head. “I thought you were blocked off because you didn’t tell them a thing.”

Kyle rubbed his head. “Well… yeah but… It’s complicated.” He sat heavily, and stared down, eyes tracing the cracks in the dried dirt of the arroyo bed. His thoughts whirled, sliding toward chaos.

He felt Coyomon’s body press to his side, providing comfort. “Are you not telling me a thing?”

The presence and the question both focused his mind. “I feel like I never know when to tell anyone anything. Well, not anyone, it’s usually better with you and June and Bryan and all, but… first my parents say not to talk about myself at school. Like, don’t make a big deal out of being gay, find something more ‘general interest’ than Digimon, to make friends. But then they ask about every little detail of what’s going on in my life, but when I tellthem, half the time they freak out and the other half of the time they look all confused. Or, like last night, they just keep interrupting me whenever I try to say anything because they think I talk too long at once. They say I’m supposed to be myself and being autistic is just part of that but they treat me like I’m not acting ‘normal’ all the time. And when something goes wrong, they act like I just should’ve known. I don’t want to scare my mom, but having them freak out when I do say something is not going to make me feel good about communicating more!”

Kyle took a moment to catch his breath. He was surprised to find, after such a rant, that he wasn’t actually angrier than when he started. Coyomon was still there, a calming presence, looking at him thoughtfully. He seemed to have been listening intently the whole time, though Kyle wasn’t sure how much he’d understood. At least it had felt good to get that all out.

“Rrrr… That sounds bad, yeah…” Coyomon pressed his head against Kyle’s chest. “But it seems like it’s better when you talk?”

Kyle nodded. It really had felt better letting it all out. He smiled at Coyomon. “Well, you’re easy to talk to, bud.”

“Thank you Partner-Kyle! But… you felt better telling them about me too right?”

“I guess… yeah… I did. Oh geez, I cannot imagine telling them all that though.”

“Buuuut if you don’t…?”

Kyle thought back a week, to the time that the two of them had nearly caused a house-wide power surge last time he’d been conflicted about telling his parents something. “…Bad things, probably.” He sighed. “Well, crap.” He pulled Coyomon closer.

“Here for you, Partner-Kyle.”

“Thank you, Coyomon. So much.”

They just sat there together until Kyle’s phone alarm chirped, reminding him of his next check-in time.

4:30 and im still fine. can u pick me up @ library please?

He tucked it away again, and stared at the gate. “Come on, get back here,” he murmured. “I wanna know what you found before I go home…”

A moment later, the fuzzy pixelated area started to glow brighter, as if something was coming through. “Yes! Finally!” Kyle stood up. “What’d you find?” he called out as he walked toward the gate. He wasn’t sure if they could hear him, but he didn’t want to waste any time.

To his surprise, a response came that sounded nothing like any of his friends. “Krrrh… Human…” The blurry shapes in the gate resolved into a single figure. It was at least eight feet tall, even in its hunched over posture. Its head was covered in an elongated helmet, and a heavy tail dragged behind. It was covered in what Kyle at first thought was fur, but as it approached, he realized that it was dark red flames.

Coyomon was already growling at the large digimon as Kyle stumbled backward. His digivice chirped and he glanced at it long enough to see a name, Darklizardmon, and a stage, Champion.

“Coyomon, be careful! It looks really strong!” Kyle kept a hand on Coyomon’s collar, as much to reassure himself as to hold the digimon back.

The fiery newcomer took a few steps away from the portal, and looked around. Then came a gravelly voice that was hard to read as anything other than masculine. “Human world…” Those eyes focused on Kyle from behind the mask. “I thought that’s what I smelled. Now I know what your portals look like. Good.”

“What do you want?” Kyle asked, as Coyomon’s growl continued.

“I want you out of my world. All of you. I’ve seen what you’ve done to the midrealms, and I won’t let it happen anymore.”

“What? What happened? I haven’t done anything! I’ve hardly even— been—”

Darklizardmon shook his head. “Doesn’t matter what you’ve done. Your kind will destroy our world. All of you have to stay out. I’ll make sure of it.”

Kyle tried to make sense of what the digimon was saying. “Other tamers? Are they doing something? I don’t want your world to be—“

“I don’t know what a ‘tamer’ is, and I don’t care. Krrh. Now that I know what these human-portals look like, I know which ones to destroy.” He turned to face the gate, and the fire that covered his body flared.

“Destroy?” Kyle’s voice was a squeak. It barely seemed like the creature cared to listen to him, an uncomfortably familiar feeling.

“My flames burn through anything. I’d do it from the other side, but I don’t want to damage my world the way you have. Yours, on the other hand… Me being stranded here is a small price to pay. I’ll just find and burn the rest from this side.”

“No! My friends are in there, they’ll be stranded too! And we’re not hurting anything, I just want to—“

The Darklizardmon let out a roar, drowning out the rest of Kyle’s words. The digimon continued building power, and Kyle found himself shaking, looking down at Coyomon.

“Why can’t we get him to listen? We have to stop him! I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do…” His chest felt tight, and he felt Coyomon’s tension too, sparks running through his fur.

“Rrrr. Need to get his attention first, then you talk, okay?” said Coyomon.

“I don’t… I’m not sure…”

“I know you can do it, Partner-Kyle. Spark Spray!”

The ball of lightning shot from his mouth and hit the larger digimon square in the back. Flames shot in every direction from the hit, and Darklizardmon turned their way.

“Pathetic, to see a digimon—“

“Listen to me!” Coyomon’s electric arcs glowed brighter as Kyle shouted as loud as he could. The two of them were impossible to ignore, he hoped. “I don’t want to hurt the digital world! It’s awesome, and Digimon are awesome, and you’re probably awesome too when you’re not trying to wreck everything. If there’s other humans damaging your world, I’m not with them, and I want to know about them so I can help stop them!” The words flowed out of him. The only other time he’d felt so confident was when he’d finally faced Rick down last week. But there was something more this time, a completeness, and an awareness that he was fighting for more than survival.

However, the Darklizardmon still didn’t seem to be in a mood to listen. He let out an earsplitting roar, and started to charge toward them. “Human lies!”

Coyomon shifted to stand in front of Kyle now, and Kyle was faintly aware that the digivice at his hip was glowing almost as bright as it had the day he found it. Something seemed to flow between the two of them, and for a moment, time stood still. The little digimon lifted off the ground, and at first Kyle was worried that something horrible had happened, as Coyomon’s fur started to flow away, revealing glowing lines underneath. But then, those lines shifted, growing larger and more defined, forming a shape that Kyle remembered from his own designs. Soon, gold fur sparkled with energy once more as it covered the transformed figure.

“…Aullidomon…” Kyle gaped as he saw his imagination rendered out in front of him. The digimon hunched on four legs, and his head still reached above Kyle’s. Large triangular ears were folded back as he bared his teeth at the attacker. Straps of black rubber wrapped around the gold-furred body, making a harness, and bright blue claws poked out below spiky ruff of silver fur on the paws. A bushy tail, gold with silver lightning-bolt streaks, lashed behind him.

Darklizardmon was still charging, but Aullidomon showed no fear. “Listen to Partner-Kyle! Thunder Howl!” Sonic pressure blasted from Aullidomon, staggering the charging digimon and making his flames flicker wildly.

“Dark Flare!” Those flames gathered again, bursting toward Aullidomon, but he dodged to the side, leaving only his tail slightly singed.

“Aullidomon, can you… can we just get him to stop attacking?”

“Rrrrrr. Trying!” Aullidomon let out another Thunder Howl from closer range, even as Darklizardmon tried to swipe at him with his dagger-like claws. This time, the blast knocked the reptilian digimon off-balance, and sent him skidding into the side of the arroyo.

Darklizardmon struggled to stand up again, as grass and small bushes turned black around him from the heat. “Fire Bl—“

“Current Claws!” Aullidomon looked like lightning as he bolted forward, forepaws outstretched. He hit Darklizardmon’s faceplate, which cracked as the digimon’s head jerked to the side.

Aullidomon loomed over the dazed Darklizardmon, and that faceplate cracked further and finally fell away, exposing a face of fine pale scales. The fire that covered the rest of the digimon stayed clear of that area, making it look far more vulnerable than the rest of him.

“Krhhh… fine, human. You win. Finish me.”

“No. I was tying to tell you, that’s not what I want. Listen to me this time, please. I don’t want to hurt you or the digital world. The thing I want most in my life right now is to be there, exploring with my friends, meeting folks there. And if someone there is messing that up, making you this angry and desperate, I want to help stop that too. So I’m not going to do anything to you. I just want you to leave us alone, and leave the gates alone.” He took a deep breath, trying to think if there was anything else. “…And if there’s anything you can tell me so I can help, that would be nice too.”

Aullidomon watched Darklizardmon intently as he slowly sat up. One claw half-covered his face, help carefully to keep from burning himself. The other grabbed the broken faceplate. “I may have misjudged you. But we are not allies. I will go, and seek out those who threaten our world. If I find out you are one of them, no power in either world will be able to protect you.” He started to limp toward the gate.

Kyle glanced at Aullidomon, and they both followed close behind. “Oh, also, if you see two more pairs of humans and digimon headed this way when you go, don’t attack them either. They’re my friends, and they’re not hurting anything either.”

Darklizardmon paused, frowning, but Aullidomon grinned, showing sharp teeth. “I bet Partner-Kyle-Friends could beat you all on their own like that, no problem.”

Darklizardmon simply growled as he entered the gate and disappeared.

Kyle sat down in the dirt, leaning against Aullidomon’s leg. “Wow… You were… wow…”

Aullidomon looked down and nuzzled the top of Kyle’s head. “You were wow too, Partner-Kyle. We’re wow together.”

Kyle laughed. “I can’t wait for everyone else to hear what happened, and see you like this!”

Aullidomon smiled, and tilted his head. “Everyone? Even Partner-Kyle-Mom-and-Dad?”

Kyle shrugged. “I mean… they’ve gotta see it sometime. And I seem to be better at getting listened to with you like this.” He paused. “No blasting them though.”

Aullidomon nodded. “No blasting. Just good words.”

Chapter Text

Kyle paced back and forth in front of the gate, staring at the clock on his phone. Aullidomon was curled up nearby, watching him.

“Is that helping, Partner-Kyle?”

Kyle stopped, and sighed. “I guess not really?” He shook his head. “You’re still huge, and they’re not back, and what if Darklizardmon got them, and what if everyone sees you like this, and mom is going to be here in like fifteen minutes, and… augh!”

Aullidomon pressed his head against Kyle’s side, making him stumble slightly. Neither of them were used to the size difference. “Didn’t you say we need to stay calm, for me to get small again?”

“Yes, which feels impossible right now!”

“Partner-Kyle. Come here?” Aullidomon stretched out, blocking Kyle’s pacing path. “I can still help that like this, right?”

Kyle sighed again, and sat down, leaning into the big digimon’s side. The fur was as soft as ever, even when it was covering a flank the size of a couch. “Yeah, I… think so, yeah…” Images of Aullidomon’s lightning-fast attacks flashed through Kyle’s mind. “…Maybe a bit more intimidating though.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Nothing for you to be sorry for, bud. I’m glad we were able to do that. It’s awesome, but it’s also just a lot.”

“I feel like a lot. I kind of don’t want to be a lot anymore.”

“You don’t? I thought Digimon always wanted to evolve, and get more powerful, and fight?”

“Rrrr… Fighting is good, I like fighting, but also I like spending time with Partner-Kyle and everyone else. And right now it’s feeling more like I should be fighting even if I don’t have anyone to fight.”

Kyle thought about this for a moment. “I think I know how that feels? I mean I think I’m feeling that now too. Or whenever I have to do something urgent or important, I can go into like hyperfocus mode which feels great at the time but then it’s hard to get out of it, and kind of exhausting. I always thought of that like digivolving, kind of?”

Aullidomon nodded slowly. “That does sound kind of like it… Do you know how to calm down from that?”

“It just takes time…” He shook his head rapidly. “Which we don’t have that much of right now!”

Aullidomon pressed his head down on top of Kyle’s. “Rrrr. Even less time if you keep doing that.”

“I guess so, yeah…” Kyle let himself sink into the big digimon’s side. He was definitely better at providing deep pressure this way. Kyle felt himself getting calmer moment by moment… and then the gate flared again.

He sat up. “Please let that be them, please let them be okay,” he murmured, as the shapes resolved out of the digital mist.

“Hey Kyle, we found some—Holy crap!” Bryan was waving something in his hand, but he and the other three all skidded to a stop as they got a clear view of Aullidomon.

“I’m guessing you had an eventful few hours?” said Bakumon. “This is your mature form?” The small digimon floated around Aullidomon, examining him from all angles.

“So cool…” Bryan said.

Hielomon nodded, and nudged his partner. “Not as cool as I’ll be though, right?” Bryan rolled his eyes, but grinned.

June was the only one who looked concerned. “Everything okay? Did something come through? Were you attacked?”

“Rrrr, yeah, but I showed him good!” Aullidomon grinned big.

“Yeah, I’m guessing you didn’t see a flaming lizard monster heading the other way, on your way back?”

June shook her head. “No, though that explains the scorch marks we saw on some of the branches. Flarelizardmon?”

Kyle shook his head. “Darklizardmon. Had a major thing against humans. He thinks they were messing up the digital world?”

The others were silent for a moment. Bryan and June looked at each other.

“What? What’s that look mean?”

“We did find something,” said June.

Bryan nodded, and held up a scrap of red and yellow something. It looked like a candy bar wrapper, though not one Kyle recognized.

“What’s a Crunchie?”

“It’s from the UK, I think,” said June. “I was going to check. But it’s definitely from humans.”

“Probably someone’s partner’s favorite treat,” said Hielomon. “It definitely smells tasty.”

“Where did you get it?” asked Aullidomon. From the way he was sniffing the air, Kyle guessed the digimon was more interested in trying one for himself than tracking down the owner.

“One realm away from the mountains,” replied Bakumon.

“Creepy deserted ski village,” Bryan added. “Do you think that’s what Darklizardmon was angry about?”

Kyle frowned. “What, littering? I think he was talking more about places getting like… destroyed. The… midrealms, right? What’re those, anyway?”

“Oh, I know this!” Bakumon floated higher, drawing attention. “The digital world is arranged in layers. Midrealms are just what some digimon call the ones we’ve been to. They’re the small places that are all linked together by portals, and they’re called that because there’s the Physical Layer above them, and the Sovereign’s Domain below them. I guess a particularly angry Digimon might think human litter is destroying them, but it’s more likely he’s referring to the uncontrolled merges, though I thought those were only rumors.”

Everyone else was silent for a moment. Kyle was glad he wasn’t the only one struggling to take in all the new terminology.

June spoke up first. “And uncontrolled merges are…?”

Bakumon bobbed up and down. “They say that sometimes, a portal expands to the point that two realms start to essentially collapse into each other. Which is bad. It’s supposedly been happening only since the D-Reaper was destroyed, which is also when there have been more humans, so the timeline matches up at least.”

Kyle was trying to work out his own follow-up questions when his phone buzzed.

in library parking lot

He winced, and pressed himself against Aullidomon again. “Annnd there’s my mom, and my partner’s still way too big to fit in a car. Or a digivice. So now I gotta explain everything to her I guess?”

“I’ll go with you, Partner-Kyle!”

Kyle was about to agree, when Hielomon stepped a bit closer. “I think that might cause more stress for everyone, right now.”

June nodded. “We are still supposed to keep a low profile.”

Kyle sighed, and nodded, and hugged Aullidomon around the neck. “Yeah, okay. I’ll go talk to her, maybe try to get a few more minutes or… something. Really don’t want to have to leave you here.”

“Rrrr, me neither…”

“Okay, well, here goes nothing. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Kyle scrambled up the edge of the arroyo and sprinted toward the parking lot. As soon as he saw his mom’s car, he gave a wave, and when he got nearby, he motioned for her to roll down her window.

“I have a digimon thing to talk about,” he said, before she got a chance to say anything. He wasn’t taking any chances on seeming like he was hiding something. “It just happened since the last check-in.”

He desperately wished he could read the expression on his mother’s face as she said “Okay. Go ahead.”

Kyle took a deep breath. “Me and Coyomon were here watching the gate while everyone else was on the other side? They’re back now and they’re fine, everyone’s fine, but while we were waiting, we had to defend the gate. And, well…” He faltered. How would he explain Aullidomon? What did his mom even know about the mechanics of digimon evolution? What should he tell her? This definitely wasn’t coming as smoothly as when he stood up to Darklizardmon.

After a moment of silence, his mother nodded. “I’m glad you’re okay, and thank you for telling me. What else do you need to tell me, though?”

Kyle glanced back toward the arroyo, aching for his partner’s support. “Um. Can I just show you? It’s right down there. It’ll just take a couple minutes.”

It felt like a long shot, but to his relief, she nodded, and got out of the car. “Just a couple minutes.”

He led her back to the arroyo rim, still trying to think of how to approach the topic. “So you know how digimon can change shape?” he said. “Well…” His friends were just now coming into view. “Coyomon is Aullidomon now.” He pointed to the large canine form. Aullidomon looked up and wagged his tail.

For several terrible seconds, his mother was completely silent and still. When she spoke, her voice was slow and flat. “That is… large.”

“Hi Partner-Kyle-Mom! I’m still me! This happened because Kyle did good!”

She finally moved, taking several steps backwards. “He… what?”

Kyle slid back down to the bottom of the arroyo and stood next to Aullidomon. June and Bryan looked like they were stepping forward to speak up, but he shook his head. “Let me try.” Now the words were coming smoothly. “This is what happens when we get to know each other and work together. I learned how to say what I needed to, without getting worried about it coming out bad. And it helped us protect ourselves and probably other people too.”

“Rrrr, yeah, Darklizardmon was gonna burn a lot of stuff!”

His mother had come closer to the edge again. “But how… We can’t keep him like that. How will you even get him home?”

Kyle pressed close to Aullidomon. “He’ll go back, now that things are safe again. We just need to calm down, and it’s been hard to calm down while I’ve been waiting for… everything. For you, mostly. I was afraid you were going to freak out.” He knew he couldn’t stop there. “I’m afraid of that with a lot of things. It’s why I don’t tell you things I should, sometimes.” He was shocked how much calmer he felt, just having said that.

“Kyle, we’re not ‘freaking out’, we just want to keep you safe.”

“I know, Mom, but some of the things that make me feel safe or not are going to be different than with other people. I want to be able to talk about that more.”

She just stood there for another long moment, but this time Kyle wasn’t dreading what would happen next. He had his partner, and he’d said things the best way he knew how. He and Aullidomon both just watched, calm and connected.

“All right. I think this is a bigger talk than we can have now, though. And we still have to figure out how to get ho—“

Aullidomon’s body took on a bright glow, and seemed to collapse in on itself. Kyle staggered slightly as he shifted his footing to stand on his own.

“Coyomon! We did it!”

“Partner-Kyle, I am so hungry.”

Kyle giggled. “Yeah I bet.” He looked back up at his mom. “Problem solved? Could we maybe stop and get some more bags of jerky on the way home?”

“And candy bars?” Coyomon added.

“Well. Ah.” His mother worked to regain her composure. “As long as it comes out of your allowance. And you’re fast. We’re already late.”

Kyle grinned at his friends. “Uh, see you all tomorrow then? We got stuff to talk about too, yeah?”

“Yeah, no kidding!” Bryan said.

June, Bakumon, and Hielomon just nodded and waved as he and Coyomon climbed back to ground level, and hurried back to the car along with his mom.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“It’s just good to hear more from you, Kyle. Though I hope it’s not always in such… interesting circumstances.”

Kyle sighed, and looked at Coyomon as the digimon wriggled around in the back seat. “I think my life’s only gonna get more interesting as it goes along,” he said. “Coyomon, no, do not eat anything you find under the seats!”

His mother stifled a laugh before she responded in a more serious tone. “Then I suppose we have plenty to talk about.”

Kyle nodded. Any other time, hearing that phrase from his mother would have sent him into a spiral of dread. But now, it felt like something that he, along with his partner, might actually be able to deal with.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Mr. Neary? Could we use the computer lab during Junior High Lunch today? Y’know, for…” He patted the digivice in his pocket. “…Reasons?”

It felt bizarre, directly asking for something like that from a teacher, but the Digimon Research Team had a lot of catching up and planning to do. So Kyle had decided it was time to practice his ‘just say the thing’ skills a bit more.

“Oh, sure! That works fine, as long as you’re out before the second lunch period starts. What kind of pizza do you like?”

“I… what?” That had gone far easier than he had expected. And was Mr. Neary offering to buy them pizza?

The teacher grinned. “I’m throwing a pizza party for my 3rd Period Comp Sci class. Lucky Friday the 13th. It’s a thing I like to do. Give the day a good name. And I always end up with too much, so I figure you can help yourself to the leftovers.”

“That would be awesome! I like pizza with lots of stuff on it, I don’t know about everyone else.”

Mr. Neary looked toward the door behind him. “Well, this would be a good time to ask!”

“Hey, Kyle!” Bryan’s voice was loud behind him, making him start. “Everything go okay last night? You weren’t online.”

He turned toward the voice. June was entering the lab just behind Bryan.

“Oh, yeah. I just ended up talking with my parents more than I expected, and then I had homework, and then I was kinda exhausted so I went to bed. Parent stuff went not-too-bad though. I was gonna tell you all about it at—Oh! What sort of pizza do you like?”

“Uh…”

Mr. Neary stepped in. “Kyle has reserved the computer room for you… and your friends… during lunch, and I’m offering leftover pizza for you all.”

“Oh, awesome! Sausage and green chile for me,” said Bryan.

June thought for a moment. “Veggies would be good for us. I’ll eat whatever, but Bakumon doesn’t eat meat.”

“Oh, right!” Bryan took out his digivice. “Hey, Hielomon! Pizza order?” He paused, and made a face. “Uh… I’ll check.” He looked to Mr. Neary. “Anchovies…?” he asked hesitantly.

The teacher chuckled, and nodded. “A small one, sure. I actually like them myself.”

Kyle reached for his own digivice. “Hey Coyomon, what kind of pizza do you want?”

Coyomon’s voice sounded sleepy. “Hi Partner-Kyle. What’s a pizza?”

“Oh. Right. It’s… flat bread with cheese and other stuff on it.”

“Isn’t that burritos? Like last week?”

“Well, pizzas are bigger. And flat. And you can get all sorts of different stuff on them.”

“Rrrr? Wouldn’t all the stuff fall out, then?”

Kyle laughed. “No, bud, the cheese is melted and… I’m sure you’ll like it. Meat and spicy stuff, right?”

“Yeah! Those are the best!”

“Cool! We’ll have an awesome lunch in a few hours, okay bud? See you then!”

Kyle pocketed the digivice again. “Sounds like Bryan’s order is good for him too then!” He looked to Mr. Neary. “You do know how much they tend to eat though, right?”

“I’ve been reading up; I’ll get a few extra. My student-life budget was surprisingly generous this semester. Lucky Friday the 13th for me too!”

The promise of friend time and good pizza carried Kyle through his morning classes and even made P.E. easier to bear. Rick was back in the main class, since they were all doing basketball drills this week, but he still gave Kyle space. Kyle thought he noticed Rick staring at him more than once, but Bryan assured him that they seemed more like wary observation than anything immediately threatening.

At lunchtime, the smell of pizza guided Kyle and Bryan down the hall and he grinned seeing the sign hung on the door, carefully hung to block the view of the inside:

Pizza cleanup! Game club resumes after school. Happy Friday the 13th!

• Mr. Neary

As soon as Kyle was through the door, Coyomon burst from the digivice.

“It smells so good, Partner-Kyle!”

Kyle laughed, even as he scrambled to close the door to keep anyone from the hall getting a good look at his digimon. “I told you you’d like it!”

“Which are the spicy ones?”

Mr Neary waved to one on the end, still half uneaten, and Coyomon dashed over.

June and Bakumon were nearby, inspecting another mostly-uneaten pizza.

“It’s all vegetables,” said June. “What if I pick the olives off for you?”

Bakumon nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind. They… unnerve me.”

“There’s also a small margherita one over here, said Mr. Neary. “Just tomato and basil. Not a hit with the students. Their loss!”

Hielomon made his own appearance as Bryan neared the pizzas as well. “Looks like that’s mine next to it? Or, ours. I hear you have good taste.” The large digimon smiled, and took two piece covered with salty fish, one in each claw.

Coyomon was not nearly as careful as the other two digimon. By the time Kyle got his own slice, his partner’s muzzle was already covered in sauce, and he had three different half-eaten slices spread out in front of him, directly on the table.

“Coyomon, no, gross! We are going to have to have a talk about plates.”

“Rrrr? But it was just in a box before! Table looked as clean as box.”

Could digimon catch human viruses? Kyle wasn’t sure, and didn’t really want to find out.

“Still, bud. Plus, now we’re gonna have to clean the table.” He glanced apologetically at Mr. Neary, who nodded and gestured to a roll of paper towels.

“But I’m not done!”

“Well yeah, and if you make more mess, you’ll have more to clean up.”

“Okaaay.”

Kyle grabbed a piece of pepperoni pizza for himself, and grabbed a chair to sit in a rough circle with his friends.

“So…?” Bryan said, as soon as he sat down. “Parent talk?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, I’m still… gate-grounded, or whatever, but at least now they’re talking about like ‘how to stay safe’ rather than ‘do everything we say’. And Aullidomon definitely made an impression on my mom; I think she actually believes he can keep me safe.”

Coyomon nodded proudly, with a bit of cheese dangling from his mouth. “Protect you!”

Bakumon looked up from the pizza that she was carefully nibbling on. “A positive development, and an important one, given what we noticed last night.”

June nodded. “My gate is looking pretty bright. From what I could tell from the papers I read, it’ll probably be ready to cross through this weekend. Which means yours isn’t far behind.”

“Mine, you mean!” Bryan said with a grin.

Kyle snorted. “You were the one who wanted to swap, dude!”

“I just want you to remember who made it,” said Bryan.

Hielomon put a claw on his partner’s shoulders. “Better watch out. You’re making it sound like you want to guard both.”

“Hah, fine.” Bryan sighed. “Not that I can help at all, this weekend. It’s dad time.”

June winced. “Oh, that’s right. Well, hopefully my parents will be able to drive me to this one if someone acts up.”

“I can help!” Coyomon said. “I’m fast!”

Kyle frowned. “You know how long a drive it is from school to home, bud. Plus, I don’t want you going off on your own.

“When I’m big, I’m really fast! And I could carry you!”

Kyle considered this. Aullidomon’s attacks had seemed literally as fast as lightning at points, and he certainly was big enough to ride. “Huh. Yeah, that might be worth a try.”

June looked at Coyomon. “Can you just do that whenever you need to now, Evolve just to get somewhere faster?”

“I thiiiink so,” said Coyomon. “Partner-Kyle’s good at it!” Then he turned back to his fourth slice of pizza.

Kyle shrugged. “That seems like how it works, once we’re in sync. We did it again last night.”

June and Bakumon both turned toward him now. “In sync. What does that feel like?” asked the small digimon.

“It’s hard to describe? It’s like we know each other better, and if we need it, we can do it. Even if we just need to show my parents that it wasn’t a one-time thing.”

June nodded. “And when you did it the first time, do you think that had more to do with being in danger, or you learning how to speak for yourself better?”

Kyle suddenly felt tense. “I… don’t know? Both?”

“Whoa June, you really want to learn to digivolve, huh?” said Bryan, saving him from further interrogation.

“Well, yeah,” June said, and Bakumon nodded vigorously. “Don’t you?”

“I mean, sure. But I know we’ll get there when we need to, right Hielomon?” He grinned at his partner, and they high-fived.

“I’m just sure that if we know more about it, we can do it more confidently,” said Bakumon. “I’m sorry if we came on too strong, Kyle.”

Kyle shrugged. “I mean I wish I could help more, but you know I’m still not exactly great at explaining my emotions. If I think of anything, or work it out more, I’ll tell you.” He smiled over at Coyomon. “We’re planning to practice more, and I definitely want to try out the running thing now.”

Hielomon finished swallowing some pizza, and raised a claw. “Would running off like that cause problems with your parents?”

Kyle shook his head. “At this point they mostly care about being able to reach me on my phone. So as long as I don’t go out of service, I’m fine.”

Bryan grinned. “Sucks that our phones don’t work in the Digital World then, even though it’s literally made out of the internet or whatever.”

“Well, it’s not quite that,” Kyle pointed out. “It’s more like… an epiphenomenon?” He glanced at June. “I think that’s the right word.”

June nodded. “Honestly, what’s probably actually happening with phones there is they’re trying to get every signal at once, and they’re all coming in… sideways, or something. My mom could probably explain it better.”

“Hmm. That does suggest something worth trying,” said Mr. Neary. Kyle was startled; he didn’t expect the teacher to be so interested, much less following the conversation. “Your digivices basically interpret Digital World data, right? Maybe there could be some way to get them to talk to your phones, and connect that way?”

Bakumon floated closer to the teacher. “A fascinating idea! I’m not sure that the data types would be compatible, by default, but I guess that’d just be an implementation detail. I wonder if anyone else has thought of that. Perhaps you should get in touch with Dr. Clarke?”

“Well, I’d hope she would’ve shared that with you all, if she had it, but I guess it’s worth a try. Might be something to ask other tamers too, when you find them. I can’t imagine anyone is very comfortable wandering around in there, cut off from the world they came from.”

“Yeah, speaking of that,” Kyle said, “Anything else you all figured out, about other tamers?”

“One candy bar wrapper isn’t much to go on,” said June. “But it is definitely from the UK, which makes sense if there are tamers from all over the world, and if the gates don’t really match physical space here that much.”

“Which they don’t,” Bakumon added.

“But that’s good news,” June continued, “since we’re about to have two more entry points, so that will widen the search all by itself.”

“Yeah, two more that I can’t go in,” said Kyle.

“One is going to be in your front yard,” Bryan pointed out. “I bet you can talk your parents into at least letting you peek in.”

“Well, I guess it’s worth a try?” Kyle said. For a moment he was uncertain, but then he nodded. “Actually, yeah. That’s a totally reasonable thing to ask. I’ll do it. We’ll do it. Right, Coyomon?”

“Yeah!” his partner replied, wagging his tail. “More exploring with Partner-Kyle!” Then he looked down at the table where he’d dragged a few more pieces of pizza. “Oh, do I have to eat these parts of the pizza? They’re bad.” All that was left was several lightly-gnawed crusts.

Kyle laughed and shook his head. “No. Those are the pizza bones, and no one should ever have to eat them. But if you’re full, that does mean it’s time to clean up.” He grabbed the paper towels. He knew that he’d be doing most of it himself, but he was among friends, and helping out his partner. A little extra pizza cleanup was a small price to pay for the best school lunch he’d had all year.

Chapter Text

Bryan’s dad hadn’t even left town before the interrogation started.

“So, niños, how’s school? Learning lots?

Bryan’s little sister Elena spoke up first, to his immense relief.

“We’re learning about multiplication! All of the nine times add up to nine! I’m the fastest in class at timesing!”

“Good, good! How about you, Bryan? Finishing all your assignments? Keeping those grades up?”

Bryan felt his stomach clench, and put a hand on his digivice, trying to answer confidently. “It’s all good, dad. Got caught up in math since last time, and the new computer teacher is really cool, I told you about him, right?”

“Mm, yeah, that’s the one who does the games club too, right? Don’t let that distract you too much from the classroom. Computer skills are very important these days. Take that from someone who sells them.”

“I know, dad. It’s not.”

“How about English? I know that’s a lot of reading.”

Elena spoke up again first. “We got some new books about dragons! They look really cool!”

Bryan knew that question was really for him, of course. “I’m keeping up with it. I like the book we’re reading now, it’s set here and it has cool magic and ghosts and an old woman who reminds me of Nana.” In reality, he was a couple chapters behind, but he was sure he’d finish this weekend. It was just getting good. Lounging on his bed reading with Hielomon sounded like just the thing to catch up. It wasn’t like there was much else to do in his dad’s too-big house.

His father worked his way through every subject, but finally he fell quiet, giving Bryan some blessed time to just let his mind relax. He stared out the car window, watching the setting sun color the clouds. One hand fidgeted with his digivice as thoughts of other things he and his partner could do, even in the suburban sprawl where his dad lived.

He only got a few minutes to himself before his dad’s voice sliced through his train of thought. “So I was thinking, tomorrow there are a few folks I want you to visit, Bryan. Tutors, skill coaches. Even if you only go every two weeks, it could make a real difference for you. Help you build up some good strategies.”

“Dad, I already have a therapist, and I don’t need tutors.”

“You have someone who helps you with meds and talks to you when you’re upset. I’m thinking more about people who could set you up for success. We talked before about you learning to take things seriously, verdad?”

Bryan groaned. He could think of nothing less pleasant than being carted from one drab office to another, hearing people talk about what might fix his ‘attention problems.’

“Dad, I’m already learning a lot about taking things seriously lately.” His hand closed around his digivice. “I’m handling a lot of responsibility, you don’t even know.” He felt a supportive pulse of warmth from the device in his hand.

“I suppose your mom does leave you two alone quite a bit, with all those night shifts.” His dad’s tone sounded far from approving.

“Bryan takes care of me good!” Elena said, nodding.

“Thanks, sis,” he said, smiling at her. “See Dad?”

“Glad to hear it. Still, this is a thing I think you should try. We don’t want a repeat of last year, report-card-wise.”

“We won’t. Dad, I promise.”

“Good. I’m just trying to make sure of that. It’s just some visits. First one’s at 9:00 tomorrow morning, so make sure you don’t stay up late. Homework right when you get home, si?”

“Fine…”

“And then pizza for dinner.”

“Yay!” said Elena.

Bryan wasn’t going to say no to pizza twice in one day. That was at least a small upside.

Finally they exited the highway and approached his dad’s neighborhood, navigating through the curves of streets lined with almost-new, almost-identical houses, broken up by the occasional golf course or fancy park. By the time they pulled into the driveway, Bryan was practically vibrating out of his seat.

“Homeworktimeseeyouatdinnerbye!” he said, going through the double doors, up the wide staircase, and into the barely-decorated room where he slept on dad weekends.

He closed the door and sprawled out on the bed. “Please come out, I am dying for some real conversation,” he said to his digivice in a half-whisper.

Hielomon materialized on the bed next to him. “Yeah, that did not sound like much fun.”

Bryan nodded. “He sucks so bad. It’s all ‘respect’ this and ‘responsibility’ that and it’s exhausting, like what’s he trying to set me up to do, sit in a chair and try to sell computer crap to people all day like him? Chingada!”

“Language…” Hielomon murmured, elbowing him lightly, but there was a clear half-smile on his draconic muzzle. “I’m sure he just wants you to do well. I know you’re not happy when your brain doesn’t work how you want, too.”

“Well, he could do it in a way that makes me feel less like hopeless garbage maybe.” Bryan said.

Hielomon nodded. “Yeah, you’re right there. Maybe we can just find other ways to show you’re doing well, to help him lay off?”

“Maybe. Dunno if anything would be good enough for him.”

“Well, for starters, might want to start that reading.” Hielomon nodded toward Bryan’s backpack.

“Yeah, I guess. I am so not in the mood though,” Brayn said, pulling out his book.

He tried. He really did. He really wanted to read more about the troubles of a boy pulled between the conflicting expectations of two sides of his family. It was relatable. And yet, for an hour, his eyes slid over the words without absorbing anything. He even flipped pages occasionally, but his mind was nowhere near the book. He wondered what it would be like to have to go to a tutor. He imagined exploring new areas of the digital world with his friends. A few words that stood out from the book sent him along a tangent thinking about how cool owls were, and wondering why he’d never heard of any owl digimon. Did they not have owls in Japan? No, he was pretty sure he’d seen them in other shows…

“Bryan, Elena! Pizza’s here!”

He startled, and closed his book, shocked at how much time had passed. He set it down and nodded to Hielomon, who had started to read one of the other books in his bag. Had his partner noticed how much he’d spaced out? “Uh, I’ll try to bring you back some,” he said, and was out of the room before Hielomon could respond.

The pizza his dad had ordered was far fancier than what he’d had at lunch. It was the crispy-crust wood-fired kind, each one a bit larger than a meal but not big enough to share. Still, the sausage and peppers smelled delicious.

“How did homework go?” his dad asked, just as Bryan took a bite of pizza.

“Oh, uh…” His chewing slowed a bit as he tried to think of how to respond. Hielomon would probably say he should answer honestly, but every time he admitted that he didn’t get something done as expected, his dad would ask the dreaded question, “why not?” It was a strange question, given that he never really seemed to care about the answer. Bryan could reply “because I ended up thinking about owls” or “because I didn’t feel well,” or even “because a giant digimon attacked” and his dad would still just launch into the same old lecture about time management and the importance of focus, with the same suggestions that never helped.

He swallowed his pizza. “Um, it went fine. Reading’s all caught up. Four chapters! Got a little math still to do, I can do that after dinner.” By the time he was done saying it, it felt almost true.

“Bryan.”

Crap. Had he over-explained again? “What?”

“Bryan, how far did you get?” His dad’s voice took on a razor sharp edge.

“Ombers…” His sister watched the exchange with wide eyes, pizza dangling from her hand.

“I got kinda distracted at the end but I’ve got plenty of time…”

“Bryan Esteban Baca. Did you do any homework at all?”

“I’ll do it after dinner, okay dad?”

His dad’s gaze skewered him. “Damn right you will. With the door open. In fact, you can consider me on watch all weekend, until we work this out.”

Bryan sagged in his chair. His pizza tasted like ash. Forget finding moments to relax with Hielomon. How was he supposed to do anything, homework or otherwise, under that sort of agonizing scrutiny?

“Fine,” he said, barely holding his emotions together. Breaking down crying in front of his dad would just lead to a whole different lecture. “Guess I better get started.” He pushed back from the table.

“An excellent idea.”

He plodded up to his room, and quickly motioned for Hielomon to hide in the digivice before opening the door fully. “I’m reading now!” he said, and flopped onto his bed.

The only thing his mind kept wandering to this time was what he could do to be able to talk to Hielomon. He dragged himself through a few pages of the book, blinking back tears every few lines. Finally something came to him.

“Dad, can I go to the bathroom?” he called. “Is that allowed?”

“Straight in, and straight out.”

He hurried in, digivice in hand. Hielomon fit comfortably in the shower as he sat on the toilet. With the fan on, he was pretty sure they could whisper safely.

“See? This is the worst! I’m bad at concentrating even when I’m not super stressed out. And I’m never going to get to talk to you! He’s going to send me to tutors!”

Hielomon nodded, frowning. “He definitely doesn’t seem to care much about how you feel.”

“What am I supposed to do? If I tell him the truth, he gets mad at me, if I lie to him and he finds out, he gets mad at me too. I can’t change how I think!”

Hielomon sighed. “Tonight, I guess you’ll just have to do homework. I know it’s hard, but I know you can do it too.” The digimon paused, tapping his chin with a claw as he thought. “You’ve been pretty good doing it at home. You don’t even mind when I check up on it for you. What’s different here?”

“Well, you don’t treat me like some sort of homework criminal. And when I miss something you help me catch up. He acts like a missed deadline is the end of the world, so if I know that’s what’s going to happen, it’s like why bother?”

Hielomon nodded. “If I had reminded you about your reading, would that have helped?”

“Yeah, probably. But that’s not gonna do much good now. It’s not like… whoa, wait.”

Hielomon grinned, raising his ear-fins. “You have an idea?”

“Yeah. Maybe. I mean, it won’t help tonight, but—“

“Bryan!” his dad called from downstairs. “Are you getting distracted in there?”

“No dad, almost done!” He turned back to whisper to Hielomon. “First, can you see my homework planner from inside the digivice?”

The plan took two more bathroom breaks to fully flesh out, and in the meantime Bryan made slow progress on his homework, to the point that his dad seemed almost satisfied by bedtime. “As long as you commit to doing the rest tomorrow evening,” he’d added sternly. “We have a busy day before that.”

The tutor visits the next day were as bad as he’d feared. A parade of too-cheerful people in too-bright rooms, talking about how to “build skills to tackle special challenges.” Mercifully, there was also quite a bit of time when his dad was discussing options with the other adults privately, giving him time to chat with Hielomon via digivice.

Finally they were back home. Elena was still watching cartoons when they arrived, and Bryan lingered there with her, letting his mind unwind before his dad’s inevitable demands.

“Bryan. Homework time again, verdad?”

He took a breath. Here went nothing. “Uh huh. Actually um, there’s something I wanted to try. I saw a flyer about it at one of the tutor places?” He’d just come up with that part during the day. “Y’know how I got this new phone?” He held up his digivice.

“Mmm. Did your mom buy you that? After you lost the old one?”

He slid past the question. “It’s already been really helpful for me to get my stuff together. And there’s a program I found that does reminders that are supposed to help folks with attention problems, see?”

He tapped a side button, and just on cue, Hielomon spoke from the digivice, doing his best robotic-speech impression. “Homework for today is math, chapter 4, 1 through 7, and science, chapter 5 review. Reminders are set for every half hour starting at 7:00.” Bryan was glad they’d practiced earlier, or he would still be laughing every time he heard that stilted voice. Now though, it was just strangely soothing.

His dad leaned closer. “Huh. It’s a little dragon homework reminder? You think that’s enough?”

Bryan nodded. “I set my own reminders and he—it keeps going until I do them. And I get points for finishing them, and he grows bigger when I do a good job!” He’d actually spent a good portion of the day hyperfocusing on what sort of feedback would help him, to the point that he wished that what he was describing was real.

“Well, we’ll see how it works the rest of the weekend,” his dad said, with a slow nod. “But no more excuses, got it?”

Bryan winced. Just that ultimatum was almost enough to make the whole thing feel hopeless. But Hielomon gave him an encouraging smile from the digivice screen, and he felt a bit better. He wasn’t alone, and at least someone understood what he actually needed.

Chapter Text

June narrowed her eyes, and tried pushing her hand into the pixelated glow again.

“I think I feel… something…?”

Bakumon floated nearby, surveying the gate from a different angle. “Something like what? I still see your hand, I don’t think it went anywhere.”

June groaned, and pulled her hand back. “I thought it felt tingly.” She shook it. “Probably I’ve just been holding it out too long.”

“Well, it’s good to know it hasn’t opened yet, and that’s another data point for how long it takes.”

June nodded. “Right! It still looks like it’s developing faster than Dr. Clarke’s data suggested though, just like Kyle’s. I just really want to be here when it happens.”

“Of course! It’s exciting. And good to make sure no one else sneaks through. I’m still very curious if it’s going to open up where I was when you called me, or somewhere else. It seems like no one knows much about how the gates match up on both sides.”

“Which is why it’s so frustrating that it’s not working yet.” June poked at the glow again, but nothing felt different. “Come on.”

“You don’t have to be here the minute it opens. Maybe we can take a break? You don’t look very comfortable, sitting on those rocks.”

“But the data will be better that way. I know exactly when you got here, so this way I could know how long it takes for gates to be passable and that would definitely be useful.”

Bakumon gave June a long look, her blue eyes glittering. “Are you sure that’s why?”

June frowned. “What do you mean? Are you reading my mind again?”

Bakumon shook her head. “I don’t have to; you’re pretty much glowing with that whole ‘I’m the only one who can do this’ feeling again.” She nudged June gently with her trunk. “It’s almost two o’clock and you haven’t even eaten today.”

June looked downward. “But I am the only one who can do this. No one else took precise measurements.”

“Right, so how much difference is it going to make if you check every fifteen minutes instead of every fifteen seconds?”

“I guess that’s true. But…” June thought a moment longer. Something in her still yearned to check the gate again. “Okay, well, I know you want to go through as soon as you can too, right?”

“June. What I want is to spend some time with my partner while she’s not driving herself crazy getting everything perfect. Also, some breakfast would be nice. I will not be upset if I miss the gate opening by a few minutes, and no one else will be either.”

June stood up. “No one except me, you mean.” She looked away from the portal, down toward the road. She was hungry. “Maybe…”

“Wait. Someone’s coming.”

June whirled back to look at the rocky enclosure. “Through the gate?”

Bakumon shook her head. “Up the road. Feels like Kyle and Coyomon.”

Turning back, June saw Kyle come around the corner, holding his digivice in one hand, and a stack of food containers in the other.

“Kyle!” she called down. “When did you get here? I didn’t know you were coming over today!”

“Oh, there you are! Cool, is that where your gate is?” Kyle started walking faster, still talking as he came up the hill. “Your mom said you were up here, and said I should bring food.”

Bakumon darted down toward the boy. “Do you have my onigiri?”

“Unless these are actually donuts, then yes!” Kyle said with a grin, opening the top container. “And some sandwiches too.” set the containers down on a rock as Coyomon emerged from his digivice. As soon as he was solid, the digimoin started pawing at the lids.

June laughed, and helped open the containers, suddenly even more aware of her hunger. “Wow, this is a lot. Looks like Bakumon wasn’t the only one worried about me.”

“Yeah, your mom said she was about to come up here on her own and drag you back.” Kyle grinned, and took a bite of a cheese sandwich. “How early did you get up?”

Bakumon had already finished one rice ball and started on a second. “Way too early,” she said, and looked up at June. “See, like I said…”

June shook her head, and focussed on Kyle. “I’m just watching the gate. I didn’t realize you’d want to hang out today.”

Kyle shrugged. “Well, there wasn’t much going on at home, so me and Aullidomon decided to go for a run.”

“A run?” June looked at Coyomon. “Wait, did you come here by yourself?”

Coyomon looked up, mouth full of ham sandwich. “Yeah! I’m fast!”

Kyle grinned. “He totally is. Especially when we don’t have to use roads! It’s only like four miles into town through the ranch land, instead of all those stupid twisty Cibola roads. Took like ten minutes to get here, tops.” Both of them were radiating pride.

“I can’t believe your parents were okay with that.”

Kyle shrugged, and didn’t say anything.

June’s eyes widened above her half-eaten sandwich. “You didn’t tell them?”

“I said we were going for a walk. I didn’t say how far. Plus I still have to check in every half hour, and I’m doing that.” He checked his watch. “Five more minutes. Haven’t even had to do the first one yet.”

“Did anyone see you?” asked Bakumon.

“Nah, like I said, we took the back way. So maybe some cows? Good thing you live on the edge of town, that made it a lot easier.”

“Impressive,” June said. “So you can just go anywhere now?”

“We can?” said Coyomon, eyes wide.

Kyle shook his head. “Well, we can get to the other gates easy enough. We can’t go anywhere interesting unless Aullidomon gets a lot faster or a lot more subtle.”

“I want to learn faster! And whatever subtle is, I can do that too!” Coyomon said, prancing around a rock.

“Right,” said June and Bakumon both, glancing at each other and barely keeping from laughing.

“We’ll see, bud,” said Kyle, grinning as well. He turned to June. “Anyways, what have you been doing out here since apparently way too early? Just waiting on the gate?”

“I… wanted to get exact measurements,” said June. Saying it again, with a fuller stomach, she started to really feel how strained the explanation was, like a pressure building inside her.

“She’s worried about having to deal with the gate and wants to be the very best at everything,” said her partner.

“Bakumon!” June sighed and shook her head, changing the subject. “I’m definitely glad someone else is here, it was getting pretty monotonous.”

“Well, we’ll wait with you as long as I can get away with,” said Kyle.

They ate and chatted sporadically for the next few minutes, until Kyle had to do his check-in, at which point June turned back toward the gate. She reached her fingers in, and this time felt much more than a tingle. “Bakumon!”

“Coming!” Bakumon floated to the other side of the portal. “I think you’re through!”

“Yes!” June checked the time. “Okay, it’s 2:02. So sometime between 1:45 and now. That makes it… eight days and two hours, give or take fifteen minutes.”

Kyle looked up. “Wow, you do keep good records. Kinda wish I’d known when the arroyo one opened, like if that Gazimon came through right away, or what…” He looked at the gate, and at June’s disappearing arm. “So, you gonna check it out?”

“Definitely! Ready, Bakumon?” She looked back at Kyle. “We’ll be right back, just a peek for now.”

Kyle looked at her, then back at Coyomon. “Y’know… if it’s just a peek… and I just checked in…”

“You think that will be okay?” June asked.

“Partner-Kyle…” Coyomon nosed his tamer’s leg. He looked far less certain than Kyle did.

Kyle nodded. “Just in and out like the first time at the last gate.” He looked down to Coyomon. “What would Aullidomon say about this?”

Coyomon looked thoughtful. “Do everything, go go go? But be smart too?”

“Right. And we’re doing all that. Just a peek.”

“Well, either way, let’s just go through!” said Bakumon.

June grinned. “Now who’s impatient?” she said, and stepped through the gate.

Pixels swirled around her, and resolved into a riot of color. The sky was brilliant orange and red, with a gold sun on the horizon making a sparkling trail over blue water. June’s feet touched down on sand that looked white at first, but sparkled with color as she moved.

“Ah, I know this place!” said Bakumon. “This is where I was before I ended up with you! I love coming here to relax, it’s always so beautiful and serene, at least on the beach.”

“Wooow…” Kyle’s and Coyomon’s voices were practically one as they stared around the place.

“I’ve never been to a real beach before,” said Kyle. “This is awesome!”

“Me neither!” said Coyomon. “It is!”

June nodded. “It’s very impressive. Is it always sunset, or did we just luck out, scenery-wise?” She opened her digivice, and started to scan for portals.

“Sunset, or sunrise,” said Bakumon, nodding. “Or neither, since it’s just sorta… there.” She peeked over June’s shoulder. “Ah, yes, that’s the one downside to the place.

Immediately June saw what Bakumon meant. All of the portals were offshore, and below the surface. “You must be a good swimmer,” she said.

Bakumon bobbed up and down. “Ah, that’s not as much of a problem as… the neighbors.” She pointed her trunk toward an arching back cresting through the water, far off in the waves. June realized with a start that whatever made it must be huge, for it to be that visible from this distance.

“Wow. Whamon?” she guessed.

“If you’re lucky. All sorts of Seadramon too.”

Kyle nodded. “Probably don’t want to mess with any of those if we don’t have to, huh? Definitely don’t want them following us back, either.”

“Well, pretty as it is, I don’t want to be stuck here,” said June.

“There are a few portals in shallower water, see?” said Bakumon. “It’s not very risky to use those ones.”

June was barely listening. “Why are all of these so difficult? This is even worse than the trees.” She sat down heavily, feeling that urgent pressure churning in her stomach again.

“I’m kinda happy to be on solid ground myself,” Kyle said, and Coyomon nodded emphatically.

“But… the ocean, and… swimming out… Argh!” June flopped back onto the sand.

Bakumon floated closer. “June…” She nudged June’s shoulder, then looked up at Kyle and Coyomon. “Could you give us some time?”

“Oh, uh… sure.” Kyle said. “I was just supposed to peek anyway.” He waved. “Um, talk to you later June? We’ll keep watch outside.” The portal sparkled, and June and Bakumon were alone.

Unobserved by anyone but her partner, June felt a dam burst inside her, and all that frustration started to spill out. “He just has to deal with a bridge and some Floramon who are now nice and helpful, and I end up with ocean diving and leviathans? There’s no way I can do this!”

“June…” Bakumon pressed up against her side. “Try to breathe?”

“Why? I have to figure out where we can go from here, but what if those monsters notice the portal and come through and we have to fight a MetalSeadramon or something, and Bryan’s gone so I don’t even have helpand…” The thoughts were coming so far now that June could no longer find words, so there was nothing to do other than lay there, trying to breathe. Bakumon hovered near her as ragged breaths slowly smoothed.

“Still with me?” Bakumon asked.

“I guess.” June’s voice was flat now. Overwhelm had given way to blankness.

“June, you don’t have to figure this out all at once.”

“Well, I guess I’m not going to figure it out at all, so yeah.”

Bakumon nudged her again. “I know that’s not how you really feel. Can we try something, one step at a time?” The digimon tugged her arm, trying to guide her to her feet.

June stood slowly, trying to keep her frustration at bay. "What does 'one step at a time' even mean in a situation like this?" she said sourly.

"Well, first, close your eyes.”

“What? Why?” June said.

“So you can stop looking at everything you think you can't do, and just focus on where we are."

“Fine.” June closed her eyes, still confused. "I don't see how meditating is going to help, though.”

Bakumon tugged lightly on her arm. “Just follow me.” The digimon guided her forward, one step after another across the sand. After several steps, June did feel calmer, but she also felt disoriented. Shouldn’t she be in the ocean by now?

Bakumon sounded like she was suppressing a laugh as she spoke again. “All right, now open your eyes.”

June did, and saw water all around her. She was up to her knees, and she hadn’t noticed. She felt dry… for just a moment, until the water soaked right through her shoes. At least it wasn’t cold.

“Aah! What happened?” June sprinted back to the shore.

Bakumon was smiling now. “I think you know. You’ve read a lot about the digital world, right?”

Now, finally, June had a puzzle she could focus on. “I didn’t get wet until I noticed I was in the water, because…” She frowned. “There was something about… oh! Environmental data, right?”

Bakumon bobbed up and down. “Probably. I haven’t read a lot about the digital world. What’s that mean?”

“It was in one of the papers I read. Some things about this world aren’t actually fundamental parts of it, they’re more like special effects. So you can just ignore them, right?”

“Huh, I never thought about it that way, I thought of it more like adapting my data to that part of the environment. But I guess that makes sense for humans?”

June was suddenly excited again. “Yeah, it’s really common for water to be that way, which means, if I expect to stay dry…” She pushed her hand into the surf as it broke across the beach, focusing as much as she could on seeing it as just data. It felt like wind as it rushed over her hand and flowed away, but her hand emerged dry. “I did it!”

“Excellent!” Bakumon bounced with excitement as well. “I knew you could do it, and it’s much easier when you’re not just throwing yourself at a problem.”

“Yeah…” June said, stepping into the water again. She realized she had to focus a bit differently now; her shoes were already wet, and she had to keep them from feeling more wet. “My mom keeps telling me not to try to drink the ocean.”

“Well, yes, it’s salty, and you’d probably be trying to breathe it too, and then you’d have a really hard time.”

June shook her head and laughed as she waded in further. “No, well yes, but what she meant was, don’t try to tackle something huge all at once.”

“Oh! Yes, that is also good advice!”

June was up to her waist now, and still staying as dry as she was when she started. She figured that it would get trickier soon; she’d have to remember to breathe, and would she be able to work out how to swim? But those too were steps she could take one at a time.

“It is, and it’s helping. So come on, let’s go check out that portal!”

Chapter Text

Holding contradictory possibilities in mind at the same time wasn’t exactly new to June, but rarely had it been so immediate as “Dive but remember to breathe.” It had been easy enough to walk along the ocean bottom, ignoring the water entirely, but when the portal turned out to be several feet above her head, she knew she had to try something else.

At first, she’d tried to just float through it from underneath, thinking of herself as lighter than the water. Unfortunately, that had resulted in an uncontrolled ascent, especially when it meant she’d paid enough attention to the water to be unable to breathe. In the end, she’d found herself bobbing on the surface, sputtering and reassuring Bakumon that yes, she was fine honestly.

It took three tries, with a break between each one to relax, collect her thoughts, and remember (with Bakumon’s help) that she wasn’t incompetent, this was an unprecedented situation that anyone would struggle with. Finally, she was swimming downward, the ocean causing drag on her hands but her lungs staying clear. Parts of her felt damp, which was frustrating, but she was happy to have succeeded.

She swam through the portal, feeling moderately proud of herself, and then tumbled out the other side into a scene of chaos.

It took her a few moments to work out what she was seeing. Was it a cave, or was it a village? A moon bridge connected two sides of a vast chasm filled with glowing crystals. Wood-panel houses stuck halfway out of flowstone all. In the center was a vast ornate stalagmite, like a drippy castle, but out of the sides of it came the curved roofs of an actual Japanese-style castle. All of this wouldn’t seem entirely out of the realm of possibility for the digital world, if not for one alarming feature. Everywhere the disparate pieces met, there was a jagged line of light that looked almost like the portal she’d just left itself, as if the place was welded together by glowing pixels.

“What happened here?” Bakumon wailed. June had been about to ask the same question, but her partner’s reaction drew all of her attention. She’d never heard Bakumon so upset. “I was just here! Now everything is… everyone is…” She wobbled in the air, and actually looked like she was about to fall.

June reached out for her. “Bakumon, I’m here! What’s wrong?”

“Everything!” Bakumon said, pressing against June.

“Okay… okay…” June tried to sound soothing. “Step-by-step?”

Bakumon took a few deep breaths before responding. “I was in this village. A few days before I met you I think. There was no cave. I used to go here all the time, and now everyone’s gone!”

June nodded. “That sounds awful. I can see why they would have wanted to leave if—“

“No, they’re gone! There’s… there’s… stray data…” Bakumon curled up in June’s arms, shuddering.

“Oh…” June petted Bakumon’s ears gently. “Oh, Bakumon…”

Bakumon stayed quiet for minutes, and June did her best to soothe her partner, holding her close, sending calm thoughts, until finally Bakumon stirred again. “Something terrible happened here.”

“Is this one of those… uncontrolled merges?”

Bakumon looked around, and June could feel her shudder as she surveyed the scene. “I can’t think of anything else that would cause this. Look, it’s… getting worse.” She pointed her trunk at one of the pixelated seams. It had widened even since they’d arrived, reducing the mismatched terrain around it to more unpatterned data.

June took a few steps closer to that break in the world. “Does that mean this just happened?”

“Maybe not minutes ago, but it also couldn’t have been more than a day, if I can still sense their data.” Bakumon trembled slightly, and closed her eyes. “Please say the portals are still here… I’d like to leave.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you.” June turned back toward the portal. “Uh oh.” She remembered falling out of it as water turned to air, but she was pretty sure that it had still been only a few feet off the ground. But now, the portal was well over her head, and inching higher up by the moment. “Bakumon, we’re sinking!” She looked around. They were on a patch of grassy meadow, dusted with cherry blossoms, but on the other side of that seam was a limestone slope, and the mismatched pieces of land were slowly but steadily sliding apart. “It’s like this whole world is falling apart,” she said, shuddering herself now too.

“There are other portals here!” said Bakumon. “I remember them, but Sovereigns know where they are now. What does your digivice say?”

June pulled it out and surveyed her surroundings. “I see three… Nearest one… that way!” She pointed up the slope. “Let’s go!”

She headed across the grass toward the cave stone, but when she leapt across the seam, it started to bend under her, reaching for her feet. “Watch out!” Bakumon said, leaping from her arms and tugging her to one side. They narrowly landed and June scrambled for footing. “I don’t want to know what’ll happen if that touched us.”

“Did it react to us?” June asked.

“Good question for later!” Bakumon said, tugging her gently in the direction of the portal she’d spotted. “Not here!”

June followed her lead, but kept staring at the glowing seams in the world. Then, one stared back. The color swirled, and darkened, forming a glassy eye that slid alongside them for several seconds. “Bakumon, look!”

The eye sunk back into the pixelated swirl, but not before her partner saw it. “That’s no digimon I’m familiar with,” Bakumon said.

“Me neither—Oh God, is that a mouth?” She pointed at a larger rift in a cave ceiling, which now showed a shape that looked more like a whirlpool filled with teeth.

“It’s like the more distortion there is, the more it’s… waking up! We have to get out!”

June checked her digivice again. “Almost there—Oh no.” She could see the portal now, safely on unchanged ground.. but the only path between them and it was dominated by another deteriorating hybrid structure; half stalactite and half huge stone lantern, hanging upside down a few feet off the ground. Joining the two parts was at least a meter of writhing pixelated tendrils.

“I’ve had enough,” Bakumon said. “Nightmare Syndrome!” A wave of dark energy ripped from her trunk, and splashed against the whatever-it-was, but it dampened it for only a moment before it came back, now flailing primarily in their direction. “No!”

“I don’t think it’s there enough to be affected by your attacks,” June said, as they edged backwards. She looked around for other ways out, but the place seemed almost as much rift as world now, more and more disconnected.

“Well it thinks it can affect us!” Bakumon said, and tried again, with the same lack of result.

June looked at the aggressive distortion, in front of them and all around, and narrowed her eyes. “Wait, Bakumon, I have an idea. Don’t attack it, attack above it. Right where it’s still rock, see?”

“What? Then it’ll fall, and it might break and get closer to us…”

“No. Look around. It’s always between two other things. It’s never on the edges of something. So if we make it so there’s nothing on the other side…”

“Maybe it won’t be able to be there! Excellent thinking, June!” The little digimon focussed intently on the stalactite, taking careful aim. “Nightmare… Syndrome!”

The wave of black force hit the rock, shattering fragments to each side, and causing the carved stone lantern to fall to the ground with a crunch. What was once an ugly seam between two pieces was now several broken edges, and almost immediately, the pixels flickered and disappeared.

“Let’s GO!” June said, and they both dashed for the portal. Within moments, its friendlier distortion surrounded them, and took them away from that horrible broken realm.

To June’s immense relief, she found herself not only in a place that was intact, but also one that was familiar. “Oh… hello creepy deserted ski village.” she said, remembering Bryan’s description of the place. “You don’t look nearly as creepy by comparison anymore.”

Bakumon let out a nervous giggle, but she was still clearly shaky. June drew her close to comfort her again, and they sat at the base of one of the quaint painted cottages. “We’re safe, you’re okay.”

“But they’re not. June, what could do that? Do you think it was really humans?”

“I don’t know, Bakumon. We don’t have nearly enough information now. But we’ll find out. We can’t let that keep happening.”

Bakumon just nodded quietly.

Then, from around a corner, came an unfamiliar voice, high-pitch and high-volume. “Hello? New voices! Who’s there?”

June and Bakumon both yelped in surprise.

There was another voice. “Betamon, ssh! What's the procedure when we hear someone we don't know?"

"Oh right! Look, then talk! On it!" The other voice was a bit softer now. A small blue-and-green digimon with a toothy grin and an orange fin scuttled around the corner on four claws. "Oooh it's a new tamer! Hi new tamer, hi new Bakumon!"

The digimon was quickly followed by a light-skinned boy about June's age, with blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. He waved, with a sheepish grin. "Heh, hi there. Sorry about Betamon. He's very excitable."

June nodded, still a bit shaky. "It's all right. I know the type. Sorry, we just had quite an experience." She pointed to the nearby gate. "I wouldn't go in there, if I were you."

"Did you get attacked? You must be new around here, I guess you haven't had much experience fighting?"

June shook her head. "No. Well, yes, we're new here, and no we haven't been in many fights." Bakumon looked slightly annoyed. "But that's not what it was. It was worse. I think Bakumon called it an uncontrolled merge?"

The boy winced. "A collapse? This close to town? That's not good." He pulled out his blue-and-orange digivice. "I'll have to tell everyone else."

June stared. "Hold on. Town?"

Bakumon did the same. "Tell who?"

June nodded. "Yeah, who are you!"

"Oh! I'm sorry. My name's Josh—‘

"And I'm Betamon!"

"Yes, and this is my partner. We're on patrol for File Town. We heard there were signs of new tamers around, I guess you're one of them?"

June wasn't done with questions. "File Town?"

Josh shrugged. "I didn't name it. It's a place where tamers gather together here. It's way better and easier than meeting up in the real world. It's just next door to this realm, actually."

"Ah, hence the litter," said Bakumon.

"Oh geez, did Priya drop a wrapper again?" Josh sighed. "I'll have to talk to her. We're keeping a low profile."

June nodded. "I was about to ask why you didn't put up a sign. But that makes sense. One of my friends ran into a digimon who was hunting humans."

Kyle nodded. "Like I said, low profile." He shot his partner a look. "Betamon."

"Sorry Josh. Low profile. Right."

June's adrenaline rush was wearing off enough now for the excitement to sink in. Here was another tamer, who apparently knew several others, and they all apparently had a place to gather in the digital world, that was pretty close to where their gates entered. Except that she was pretty sure she didn't want to ever again set foot in what was left of the realm they'd just escaped. She looked to Bakumon, whose wide eyes seemed to reflect her feelings; anxiety, curiosity, and anticipation in equal measure.

"I know some other folks," June said. "Would it be okay to show them too? Actually… we've been gone for a while, and I know they'd want to see this too. Can you just show me to the right portal, and we can visit later?"

"Um, sure, that'll work. I'll just need to know a bit about all three of you to let everyone know who's coming. Names, partners, that kind of thing. We can talk while we walk, the portal is over this way."

June followed along, providing Josh with basic info about her and her friends. The portal wasn't far, hidden in an alley between two particularly-garish alpine cottages. She checked the portal map on her digivice. "And here's the one we'll probably come through," she said, pointing to the portal back to the miniature mountain range. She was thankful there was another route back.

"Got it! See you all soon, hopefully!" Josh waved, and Betamon reared up to wave enthusiastically with both foreclaws.

June and Bakumon made their way back through the realms toward the arroyo gate. She felt almost as full of energy as Josh's partner, but Bakumon still seemed somber, so she kept quiet. Just before they crossed back to her world, she risked a few words. "We'll find out who's doing this, Bakumon. We have more allies now."

"I know." Bakumon floated closer to her, then settled on her shoulder. "Thank you, June."

"Thank you too, Bakumon," she said as they stepped through the gate.

As soon as they materialized on the other side, June pulled out her phone and dialed home. "Hey mom? Can you pick me up at the library? And can you bring Kyle if he's still there? We have a lot to talk about."

Chapter Text

On many school days it was hard for Kyle to keep his thoughts on classwork and off of his own preferred topics. Today, it was completely impossible. English class was never his favorite, and now how was he supposed to join in a discussion about literary symbolism when so much had happened over the weekend? He’d learned how to ride Aullidomon, snuck back into the digital world with June, and then left her there, before going with her mom to pick her up from the other gate, because apparently she’d seen a realm collapse and then met another tamer.

When June shared the details of her adventure, Kyle’s head had filled with questions so quickly that it felt like it was going to explode. He wasn’t sure if he was glad or frustrated that she hadn’t gone back to explore more on Sunday, but he was definitely jealous hearing her and Bryan’s lunchtime discussion about visiting File Town after school. Two more days. Two days until he could hopefully convince his parents to let him go back into the digital world. At that point there’d probably be a gate right in his front yard. That would help them feel more okay about it, right?

Kyle’s attention was yanked out of its spiral by a repetitive electronic shriek, the sound he now recognized as a digivice gate alarm. He fumbled at his pockets, realizing moments later that it wasn’t coming from him.

“Bryan.” Ms. Tapia’s gaze fell on the other boy just as he worked out how to mute the sound. “What is the rule about phones in class?”

“I-I… It’s important,” Bryan stammered. He was looking at the digivice with wide eyes. “It’s a… f-family thing? And…” He was actually getting out of his desk, which only caused the teacher to glare harder. “Sorry, Ms. Tapia, I have to. Class is almost over. Please?”

“You already earned yourself one day of detention. You want to go for two?”

“Yes ma’am that’s fine,” Bryan said in a rush, ignoring the laughter of the rest of the class as he hurried out the door.

Kyle stared, watching Bryan go and just wondering what he’d seen that had made him react that way. And then, with a jolt, he remembered which gate Bryan’s digivice was tied to. What was happening at his house?

“Kyle! I assure you that detention with your friend will not be a fun time.” Ms. Tapia’s attention was on him now, and he flinched, and nodded apologetically. “Can we all please get back to the discussion?” she asked.

Kyle did his best to fake it as the last few minutes of class ticked down. It did not help that he kept catching sight of Bryan through the classroom window, gesticulating with his digivice.

Five thousand years later, Kyle finally joined Bryan in the hall. “Dude, what’s going on?”

Bryan held out his digivice, showing the silhouette standing next to the portal. “It’s big,” he said.

Kyle felt ice pouring through his veins. It was big, a sinuous form that could be one of several bad-news digimon. And it was apparently right in front of his house, several miles away.

“I have to go!” Kyle said. “Aullidomon can get me there.”

“Hope he can carry both of us, because I’m going with you!”

“Dude, you’re already in trouble!”

“Yeah but I just have Spanish class and Mrs. Garcia likes me, at least she will believe it’s family stuff. And look at the size of that thing, you should not go alone. Besides, it’s technically my gate.”

“Bryan…” Hielomon’s voice came from the digivice, sounding concerned.

Bryan shook his head. “Don’t start! We knew this would happen eventually, and this is the responsible thing to do!”

“All right, fine, let’s go.” Kyle was too focussed to argue. Most of his brain was already working out next steps. He’d been thinking all week about how he’d handle a gate problem while at school. “June can cover for me in Life Sciences, and Mr. Neary should be able to help us get off of school grounds without getting in more trouble. Follow me.” He started running toward the computer room. Every second counted.

Spindly cactus and bushy juniper flew by as Aullidomon dashed across the desert, but to Kyle it all still felt too slow. All of his focus was on guiding and encouraging Aullidomon. He wasn’t sure if thinking ‘we can go faster’ actually did anything, but it was better than fretting.

Bryan was having an entirely different sort of difficulties. Kyle could just barely hear him over the roar of wind. “Oh God. How can you do this? So bumpy…”

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there! Hold on tight, left turn now!” Kyle called, and Bryan groaned as they swerved to parallel the road running toward Kyle’s house. Any moment now they’d be able to see… whatever was there. Would it be a towering digimon? The smoking ruin of Kyle’s house? Something worse? His stomach churned.

To Kyle’s immense relief, he caught sight of his house, which seemed to be entirely intact and unharmed. Even the tree surrounding the gate were untouched. Aullidomon slid to a stop in the driveway, and Kyle and Bryan slid off his back. “Where is it?” Kyle murmurmed, head whipping back and forth.

Aullidomon did the same. “Rrrr… I smell something. Be careful.”

Bryan was leaning against Hielomon and catching his breath. “Let’s… never do that again.”

Hielomon nosed his partner. “You’re okay now. We need to stay focussed, though. What does your digivice say now?”

Bryan peered at it. “Um… ‘Gate incursion. Tracking two signals’”

Kyle winced. “Two?” He whirled. “Where are they? Shouldn’t we be able to see them? What if they’re off wrecking somewhere else?”

Bryan shook his head. “It looks like they’re… smaller now? And they’re still around… somewhere… This thing is hard to read.”

“Partner-Kyle, I hear something!” Aullidomon’s ears perked toward the side of the house. A moment later, Kyle heard it too. Footsteps crunched through the dry grass, then there was a flash of color as a small colorful creature peeked into view.

“A Betamon?” Kyle frowned. “That’s not what I saw on the scanner.“

The aquatic digimon scurried closer. “Okay Josh, I looked first! It’s tamers!” Moments later, a human followed behind.

Bryan took a step forward. “What the… Who are you? Why’re you at Kyle’s house?”

Kyle just stared. The boy was about his age or slightly older, dressed in a loose hoodie and ripped jeans. He was wearing a nervous grin as he brushed sandy hair out of his face, then raised his hands. “Whoa, it’s okay, I’m just looking around.” He looked at each of the four of them in turn. “Wait, are you Kyle? Oh yeah, I guess that would make sense.” The boy’s smile broadened, and for some reason Kyle had a hard time talking.

“Wha… uh… um… Are you… Josh?”

“Josh?” Bryan still seemed wary.

Hielomon nudged him. “The tamer June told us about this morning. She met him over the weekend.”

Josh nodded, still smiling. “Yep, that’s me!”

Bryan scowled. “So what’re you doing here? You made my digivice go crazy! It looked like something huge!”

“Oh, that was me!” said Josh’s Betamon. “Well, Seadramon-me.”

Josh nodded. “Yeah, we had a report of a new gate opening, and it was in the lake, so it was the easiest way to get through. Also, we weren’t sure where it led, so we wanted to be ready for anything.”

An image flashed through Kyle’s mind, of this new boy heroically riding a giant sea serpent. “Whoa… cool…” he murmured.

“So then, you’re Bryan, right?” Josh asked. “And Hielomon and… Coyomon?”

“Aullidomon now,” said Kyle’s partner. “I can be Coyomon if you want, though!”

“Oh okay, Aullidomon, sorry! June didn’t give me all the details. Just be however you want. Sorry again for startling you. We were just trying to figure out where we were.”

He was so thoughtful, too. Kyle tried talking again. “You’re… fine—I mean, it’s fine.” He nodded quickly. “We just, were in school, and thought something was attacking, but you’re not attacking, so we’re… fine.”

Bryan was giving Kyle a strange look, but he turned to nod at Josh. “Yeah, no harm no foul.”

Hielomon nudged his partner. “Other than you getting detention. Since there’s no threat here, maybe we should be going back?”

“Oh crap, I’m sorry if I pulled you guys out of school. It’s lunch break for me, so when someone said there was a new gate near File Town that needed looking at, I figured I’d take care of it.”

“Near File Town?” Kyle asked, eyes widening. “My gate goes right to your town?”

“Well, not right there, it’s a lake a little ways away.”

“Hey, it’s our gate,” said Bryan. “Mine and Hielomon’s. I made it, remember? It was a whole thing?”

“But it’s in front of my house!” Gate ownership disagreement aside, Kyle couldn’t stop grinning. The gate in front of his house led to a place where there were definitely other tamers! And that probably meant it was less likely that wild digimon would come through too, which felt like a huge relief after today’s harrowing experience.

Hielomon coughed softly. “Either way, guys, if we don’t leave soon, you’re gonna miss another period of school… Maybe we can talk more after school’s out?”

Josh nodded, with another big smile. “I’m easy to find, I’m there pretty much every day until late.”

“Well, good, because I have detention,” grumbled Bryan.

“And I… rrrgh. Crap, I’m still grounded. This sucks so much.” Kyle had almost forgotten until Bryan had brought up his own relatively-minor punishment.

Josh nodded. “Yeah, uh… okay. Sounds like you guys have your problems, you should definitely go before they get worse.” He patted Betamon on the fin. “We should get going too anyway. C’mon, Beta.”

Kyle slumped against Aullidomon. “Yeah, okay. Bye Josh! Nice meeting you, I’ll come see you as soon as I can!” He paused as a thought struck him, and suddenly the words were out of his mouth. “Or… maybe you could come here? Again?”

The other boy stopped to look back at him. Kyle thought he looked surprised, or maybe just confused. “Oh, uh… maybe? I’m sure we’ll see each other again one way or another.”

That didn’t sound like a good answer. Had that been a weird thing to ask? Kyle just nodded weakly and climbed onto Aullidomon’s back again, trying to concentrate on other things. “Ready to go run, bud? We have some time before the next class starts, so don’t worry about going so fast. I think Bryan didn’t like it much.”

Aullidomon nodded his understanding, and Hielomon disappeared into Bryan’s digivice as Bryan climbed on too. “Eh, it wasn’t so bad.” Still, he looped his legs through Aullidomon’s harness an extra time, and was already holding on tight. “By the way, real smooth back there, dude. Let me know if you want some advice for next time.”

“What? Smooth what?” Kyle tried to look back at Bryan as Aullidomon started to run back toward the city, at a slightly less-frantic pace.

“You, him. I mean, I’m not exactly an expert in guy hotness, but I could see it.”

“I still have no idea what you’re—Wait, like a crush?” The thought hadn’t even consciously occurred to Kyle. He’d never let himself feel that way about a real person before. It had never felt safe. But Josh was outside the context of school and friends, and there was clearly something about him that made Kyle feel awesome in ways he wasn’t entirely used to.

“Yep, that’s exactly how girls act around me when they want to get with this.”

“Get with that? Gross, dude. And anyway, what about June?” Come to think of it, Kyle had definitely seen Bryan act similarly awkward around June before.

“J-June? We are not talking about June, we’re talking about you and Josh and how much you—”

Kyle shook his head, and leaned forward on his partner’s back. “Hey Aullidomon? Change of plans, let see how fast you can run!”

“Got it, Partner-Kyle! Zoom!” Bryan let out a queasy groan, and the landscape started to blur past again as they made their way back to school.

Chapter Text

Bryan stared at his Spanish worksheet, trying once again to gather up enough focus to finish the assignment. “Ugh, this is so stupid. I speak Spanish fine, why do I have to fill out conjugation tables?”

Hielomon peered over his shoulder. “Yeah, that doesn’t look like fun. But I know you can do it.”

“I guess. One day of homework is bad enough though, two at once is just painful!”

“Hey, at least your teacher is letting you turn in the assignment late. Could’ve been a lot worse. Could’ve been more detention.”

“Eh, Mrs. Garcia wouldn’t do that. She’s chill.” Bryan scrawled in another word. “Seriously, maybe it’s time for a break?”

Hielomon tapped his chin. “Well, you had a break fifteen minutes ago… You don’t wanna be doing this all night, do you? Maybe finish that table and the next one. then we can play a couple rounds of Smash before you tackle the rest? Elena should be done with the TV by then.”

Bryan grinned. “Hah, okay. I guess you know how to motivate me. Gotta get you back for last night!”

Hielomon smirked back. “We’ll see. But homework first.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Bryan struggled through the boring verb forms, until his concentration was broken by the message chime on his phone. He grabbed for it eagerly, ignoring Hielomon’s wary gaze.

MidsummerSun: Hey are you at home?

bryn8tor: yeah why?

MidsummerSun: How long would it take you to get to my gate?

Bryan’s eyes widened, and his heart pounded. He waved his phone at Hielomon. “See! It’s important!”

bryn8tor: oh crap

bryn8tor: whats up?

MidsummerSun: I'm not sure. My digivice went off. Whatever it is doesn't seem to be going far from the gate, but I don't know what's going on.

bryn8tor: ur not there?

MidsummerSun: I'm up at the institute with my parents. There's a fundraising event. Trying to convince my parents to take me home, but it's also a long ride back.

bryn8tor: ok im on it

MidsummerSun: Thanks. Don't do anything ridiculous.

He slammed his textbook shut dramatically. “Let’s go! Gate situation at June’s, check it!” He tossed Hielomon his phone.

“Oh! That’s important too, yes. How are we going to get there?”

“Bike! I bike there all the time.” Bryan peeked out the door. “Ugh, Elena’s still out there,” he whispered. “Digivice time I guess.”

Hielomon nodded and chuckled. “Yeah, guess the bike wouldn’t fit both of us anyway.” He handed the phone back and disappeared into the digivice.

Bryan threw on a helmet and started pedaling as fast as he could toward June’s house. Halfway there, he had to cross a busy street. Traffic lights and road rules didn’t seem important compared to digimon incursions, so he barreled through, to the sound of several car horns.

“I heard that! Be careful!” came Hielomon’s voice from the digivice.

“But the gate!” Bryan yelled.

“Gate doesn’t matter if you get hit by a car!”

“I’m fine!”

He scanned the horizon as he approached the foothills where June lived. The sky was fully dark now, making it hard to see anything. But at least he didn’t see any fires, or flashing lights, or other indications of digimon devastation.

He skidded to a stop at the end of the cul-de-sac nearest the gate, and propped up his bike against a mailbox. He stared up into the hills where the invading digimon must have been. “Okay, the coast is clear, come on out.”

Hielomon appeared beside him. “We sure about this, handling it on our own? Sounded like June might be coming soon too. Do you know if she called Kyle also?”

“Hey, we can handle this!” Bryan grinned as they started to walk up the hill. “We’ve been training, and it’s about time we saw some real action. Kyle and Coyomon fought off one all on their own, and June and Bakumon had that whole merge thing!”

Hielomon nodded slowly. “I do want to try to get stronger. I just don’t want us to take any unnecessary risks, with digimon or with schoolwork.”

“Ugh, why’re we talking about schoolwork now when there’s digimon to fight?”

Hielomon rested a claw on Bryan’s shoulder. “Because if you get in too much trouble in the rest of your life, it might be even harder to go out and take care of other digimon. All that stuff has consequences.”

“I know, but—“ Bryan cut himself off as he heard something large moving around in the brush up the hill. “Did you hear that?”

Hielomon stood up straighter, earfins raised as his head swiveled. “Yeah. Sounds pretty big.”

Bryan pulled out his flashlight. “Is someone there?”

Hielomon nudged him. “Wait, maybe we should—“

“Rrraaaagh!” A musclebound green form stepped into the flashlight beam. A fang-filled mouth stretched wide below curving horns. “Ogremon is here! Who’s there?”

Bryan grinned. “Oh, it’s just an Ogremon? No big deal.” He glanced at his partner, who looked less sure.

“Er, Bryan, that thing is a lot bigger than me. More powerful too,” Hielomon whispered.

Bryan shook his head and whispered back. “Ogremon are chumps. Dumb as rocks too. Plus, he’s just got a club, you’ve got ice breath!” He looked back to the imposing green form. “You should go back through the gate, you’re not supposed to be here! Don’t make us fight you!”

“Hah! Why wouldn’t I want a fight? I’ve been looking for one all night, but all the other digimon here must be too scared to face me!”

Bryan glanced back at Hielomon. “See? Dumb. You’re up, you can do it!”

“Maybe we could just tell him there’s pretty much no other digimon here? Resolve this peacefully?”

Ogremon brought his club down on a rock, shaking the ground. “Less talk, more fight!” he said, and started to rush at Hielomon.

“Well then,” Hielomon said, as he and Bryan both scrambled backwards. “If that’s what you want… Arctic Wind!”

Just like in their practice sessions, Bryan dived to the dirt as Hielomon sent forth the blast of icy air toward his target. “So cool…” he whispered, as rime covered the advancing digimon.

But Ogremon was not as easy to freeze as the cardboard boxes they’d used in practice, or the Floramon in the tree village. The big digimon shook off the ice, and lunged for Hielomon, who barely dodged out of the way of the spiky club.

“Hail Shot!” Hielomon opened his mouth wide and let fly with a spray of icy projectiles, but Ogremon batted them away with a few club-swings.

“Try from higher up!” Bryan called out.

“Good idea!” Hielomon sprang up, and spread his wings, spraying the top of Ogremon’s head this time. The big digimon stumbled slightly but just seemed to get more angry. Ogremon crouched, and then leapt up into the air as well, just as high as Hielomon.

Before Hielomon could react, the club hit him square in the chest, and sent him hurtling to the ground several yards away. “Pathetic.” snarled Ogremon. “You’re no match for me!”

“Hielomon!” Bryan dashed over toward his partner. “Are you okay? I forgot they could jump that high!”

Hielomon groaned, struggling to sit up. “Bryan… Look out…”

Bryan could feel Ogremon’s footfalls shaking the ground, getting closer. Time slowed down, the way it always did when his head was full-to-bursting with thoughts. This was his fault; he’d thought this would be easy and fun, just like when he’d imagined getting a partner, before he’d actually met Hielomon. And just like then, it had turned out to be much more complicated. But this time, Hielomon was in real danger.

Bryan had to do something, and only one thing came to mind. “Hielomon, get clear!” he hissed to his partner, then he grabbed a rock off the ground, and whirled toward Ogremon. “Hey pendejo! I can fight too!” He threw the rock as hard as he could. It bounced off Ogremon’s chest. The digimon paused, looked confused, and then roared and lunged again.

“Rrrgh, Bryan!” He felt Hielomon tackle him from the side, knocking them both out of the way of the strike. But something was strange. Hielomon was glowing, and seemed to be… coming apart? Changing? By the time Ogremon’s club fell again, Bryan’s partner loomed above him, a full-sized dragon with long icy spines on his limbs and tail.

“Ventiscamon! Yes!”

“What am I going to do with you,” the newly-evolved digimon said, shaking his head slightly. His voice was deeper now, and his concern was clear. He was much more concerned with his partner than the monster trying to pummel his back.

Bryan felt his face get hot. “I’m sorry, I…”

“Not right now. We have something else to deal with.” Ventiscamon swung his ice-spiked tail at Ogremon, and the other digimon toppled with a roar. The dragon turned to face his opponent, and breathed a blast of icy breath that froze Ogremon’s club to the ground. “Am I a match for you now?”

Ogremon snarled. “Cheating human-lover. This isn’t over.”

Ventiscamon raised his spine-covered tail above Ogremon’s head. “It could be,” he said icily. “Or you could go back through that gate and find something decent to do with your life.”

The Ogremon actually cowered, and let go of his club.

“Well?” Ventiscamon said, and the ice-spikes grew a bit longer and pointier.

Without a word, Ogremon turned around, and ran for the gate.

Bryan watched the digimon go, and couldn’t help but cheer. “Yes! I knew you could take him!”

“Bryan.” Ventiscamon turned back toward him.

Bryan flinched under his massive partner’s gaze. “Oh, no, I mean—“

“Are you okay?” The huge digimon lowered his head to nose at Bryan’s chest.

“I… think so, yeah. I hit the ground kind of hard, that’s all.”

“Good. Now. Did any of this need to happen?”

“I-I mean, it’s good that we checked, right? And you’re fine now, you even digivolved, and—“

“And what if I hadn’t?”

“Then… then… you…” Bryan’s heart pounded in his chest.

“I know you were scared, Bryan. I could feel it. And I saw how brave you were. I just wish… you hadn’t needed to be.”

Bryan wasn’t sure what to say. He wrapped his arms around Ventiscamon’s head, letting the cool scales soothe him. How many risky situations had he ended up in lately that he didn’t need to be in? How many times had he had to go the extra mile, just to recover from something else he’d messed up earlier? “Me neither…” he said, eventually.

They stood there a few moments longer, in the quiet night, until they heard a familiar voice call up from the road. “Bryan! And… Ventiscamon, I guess?”

He looked downhill. “Oh. H-hi June.”

June’s father followed along a few steps behind. “Wow, the size variation between forms is really astonishing.”

June ignored her father, and rushed closer. “Was it bad?”

Bryan caught a severe look from his partner. “It… was an Ogremon, looking for a fight. We gave him one.” He paused. “We probably didn’t have to.” Ventiscamon smiled slightly, and then began to glow and change again, shifting down to his previous form.

“Oh. Um, okay,” said June. “Yeah, you know they basically only fight other digimon, right?” She shrugged. “Still, thanks for checking.”

For a moment, Bryan geared up to say how he hadn’t been doing anything important, but he thought better of it. “We gotta figure out a better system for all this. Second day in a row where someone’s gate has gone off and someone else had to check it.”

June grinned. “Bryan Baca, are you talking about planning something out?”

He put his hands on his hips. “Rude! I can plan stuff!”

Hielomon nodded. “He really can, when he needs to.” The digimon gave him a proud look.

June nodded. “Oh, I know! I’ve known him for years. I just know this means things have gotten really serious.” She looked serious herself for a moment. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me too,” said Bryan. “I’m glad we’re all okay.” He hugged close to Hielomon.

“You know,” said June. “The kind of system you’re trying to work out… It probably means you’ll need to tell your mom about Hielomon.”

Bryan groaned. “Actually, on second thought…”

Hielomon gave him a nudge. “You can do it, partner. We can do it together. This one will be worth it.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. One more risky situation that I shouldn’t have been in, in the first place, right? Better get out of it as soon as I can.”

Hielomon gave him another proud smile as they headed back toward the city.

Chapter Text

Kyle’s leg bounced rapidly as he sat on a concrete bench and watched the school driveway for his mom’s car. He’d never been so eager for a pick-up before, not even in those first days of school when Rick’s bullying had first started up.

“Okay so, asking about the gate while we’re still in the car is too early, right? I should at least wait until they’re both around…” More and more lately he was externalizing his thoughts, knowing his partner was always there to listen.

Not that Coyomon always had something helpful to say in return.“What happened with the gate? I thought everything was still okay! It hasn’t made the bad noise!”

“No bud, that’s still fine. I meant about being grounded. It’s been a week, technically. Or it will be at dinnertime. That’s why I was talking to Bryan and June about meeting up in the Digital World this evening?”

“Oooooh, that’s good! I still really want to go too!”

“It’ll be okay, right? I mean the check-ins have been fine, and they… well, don’t know about the thing on Monday but that technically wasn’t breaking their rules anyway?”

“Right! You’ve been good, Partner-Kyle!”

“As good as I can. And I mean there’s an open gate in the front yard now! And we even know it’s safe, because all the other tamers are there. They have to let me at least take a peek, right!” Kyle’s confidence broke against his anxiety. “Augh, what if they think one week isn’t enough?”

“Things okay, Partner-Kyle? Breathing time? I come out?”

Kyle breathed deep. He was pretty sure he saw a familiar car approaching now, which made his heart pound harder all over again, but at least gave him something else to focus on. “Car’s coming. Once we’re inside, yeah you should come out.”

He hopped into the car as soon as it arrived, and Coyomon quickly materialized and settled in on his lap. The pleasant weight soothed his nerves, and made him almost ready for the typical ride-home conversation.

“Everything okay, kiddo?” his mom asked. “Trouble at school?”

It was sometimes jarring how easily other people could apparently read his body language. “Oh, no, school was fine. Felt like a long day but nothing major happened. We’re… getting into some cool stuff in math class?” His mother nodded slightly but remained quiet, leaving him to fill more conversational gaps. “I, well…”

“Partner-Kyle wants to go to the Digital World!”

He laughed nervously. That settled that, at least. “Er, yeah. It’s been a week now. I haven’t missed a check-in, and I’ve told you about all the stuff that happened.” Other than Monday afternoon at least. Kyle tried to put that grating thought out of his mind.

His mother nodded again. “You’ve done a good job. And you’ve been out and about a lot more during all of it too.” He was pretty sure that her tone of voice meant she was pleased about that. “We’ll talk about it during dinner, okay? Try to work on the next step.”

Kyle nodded, suppressing a wince. ‘Next step’ didn’t exactly sound like a full end to the punishment, but pushing things now definitely wasn’t a good idea. All he could do was sit and wait, through the car ride and then the hour at home until dinner was actually ready. Having homework to focus on actually felt like a mercy, and having his partner there for support made it almost bearable.

As he headed to the dinner table, his head was spinning with those strategic thoughts of when and how to raise the subject again, but his dad short-circuited that by speaking first, just as Kyle was sitting down.

“So, we have something to talk about, right?” The words were portentous, but the tone seemed cheerful.

Kyle smiled nervously as he spooned out some spaghetti for himself, and more for Coyomon. “Er, yeah, I mean I’ve been doing a good job all week and, well, did I mention the portal in the front yard is kinda… open now?”

His mother glanced behind herself, toward the yard. “It is? Did something come through?”

“Oh, uh, I can just tell from how it looks. I’ve been checking it, not going in.”

She nodded. “When did you know that? I wish you would’ve told us earlier.”

“I didn’t want you to think I was fixated on it,” he said. Even though he was. “It’s actually fine, remember how June met another tamer over the weekend? They worked out that the gate here leads to a place they know about. It’s a place where a lot of tamers are, so it’s actually pretty safe. They even built a town there! We probably won’t have to worry about anything nasty coming out here.”

Coyomon looked up from the pasta he was already devouring, and nodded vigorously, a few noodles flopping from his muzzle.

“That’s good to know,” said his dad. “Though you know that’s not all of what we’re concerned about.”

“It’s not even the main part,” added his mother. “I’m worried about you being out of contact, whether you’re with these monsters or with other people. Who knows who any of them are?”

Kyle swallowed a mouthful of his own spaghetti, using that to hide a groan and a pained expression. “I’m surrounded by a lot more folks at school,” he pointed out, “and we know some of them are out to get me. And I go there every day.” Somehow, he managed to keep his tone level.

“True, but at least there you have adults watching out for you. And a way to contact us if things get serious,” she replied. “It’s very scary to know you’re in a place where phones can’t reach.”

This, at least, Kyle had been thinking about, ever since the discussion over pizza on Friday. “Well, if half an hour is enough time to go between check-ins, could I also have that much time to just… peek in, here? I’ll stay near the gate, and could meet folks there.” He could meet Josh there. Even if it was just for half an hour at a time, it was far better than nothing.

His parents exchanged a look, and then his dad spoke. “I think that’s a point we could get to. But we’d like to know more about this place first. Would it be possible for us to go with you?”

Kyle’s stomach felt like it fell off a cliff. What would his parents think of the Digital World? Worse, what would they think of Josh? Even worse, what would Josh think of him showing up to their tamer base with his parents? “I mean… theoretically?” He glanced at Coyomon for support.

His partner licked sauce off his plate and wagged his tail. “We can go? Let’s go! More people could be fun!”

Kyle definitely did not agree with that, but Coyomon’s optimism was still buoying. This was, strictly speaking, still better than nothing. But then he remembered what Josh had said about the other side of his gate. “Um. Only problem is, we’d sorta end up… underwater? The gate here is in a lake over there apparently.

His parents both looked surprised.

“I… see,” said his father.

“Isn’t that going to make it hard to peek in and out?” asked his mother.

He hadn’t thought of that, but as soon as she asked, he knew how he felt. “Getting a little wet will be worth it,” he said. “I just don’t know if you’d be up for that?” It seemed plausible. It might actually work in his favor.

“Well, I have a swimsuit!” said his dad. “He’s right, Ann; a little water never hurt anyone.”

Kyle saw where this was going. He felt his stomach start to slide again.

His mom, at least, looked less certain. “Well, if you’re up for that, I suppose having just one of us there is enough. Maybe just an hour or so?”

“Sure, let’s finish up here, and I’ll go find my gear. I’ll get yours too, kiddo. Better than getting those clothes soaked, right?”

Kyle coughed around a bit of spaghetti, then swallowed. “Now? Tonight?” A vision floated in his mind’s eye, of him and his dad wading out of a pond in colorful swim gear, to meet up with June and Bryan and Josh… Maybe choking on his spaghetti was a better alternative.

“You seemed pretty eager before,” replied his father.

“Yeah, let’s go!” said Coyomon, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. Kyle did his best to not think of his partner as a traitor.

Kyle rubbed his face. “It’s just… not how I expected things to go,” he managed to say. Then again, with the shock wearing off, what he’d thought before was still true. It was better than nothing. Just barely. “But, yeah. Okay. I should message June and Bryan, let them know when we’ll be there.” And maybe head off the worst of the embarrassment. Maybe they could arrange it so he could just meet up with Josh some other time.

Half an hour later, Kyle and his father were standing in the front yard, in the dark, in their swimming trunks and flip-flops. It was cold and windy, and Coyomon was the only one who looked excited.

“Huh, were these branches broken like this before?” his dad asked, inspecting them in the light of the gate.

Kyle was pretty sure they hadn’t been, and was pretty sure he knew what huge serpentine digimon had broken them. “Uh… maybe that happened when we were out here with our digimon last week?” He stepped toward the gate, trying to change the subject. “Can we go through? It’s pretty cold out here.”

“Ah, sure. Do we all have to go in at once, or what?”

Kyle nodded. “We probably should. I’m not totally sure how deep it is.”

“Mmmm, all right. Take a deep breath, then.” Kyle had been taking several ever since he got out here. It was the only thing keeping him anywhere near calm. “On three then?” His dad started to count. “One… two… breathe in real big… three!”

They stepped forward, into a swirl of pixels that abruptly became a wall of water. Thankfully, it was actually fairly warm, and it wasn’t even dark. They were surrounded by azure brilliance, and the way up was obvious. A few seconds later Kyle broke the surface. His digimon and his dad were already there, bobbing in the warm lake water.

“Ah, this water is lovely! Just like when I used to go scuba-diving in Africa!” said his father, grinning.

“Kyle! You made it!” He knew that voice. He turned toward the shore. It was several yards away, and Josh was standing there, along with his friends, and all their digimon. “Oh wow, we really need to teach you the water trick.”

Kyle groaned inwardly. “Hiiii Josh,” he said, trying to smile and make it look like this situation was no big deal. He started to swim toward shore. What sort of swimming would look the least awkward? Fortunately, his feet found the bottom before long, and he managed to walk out. “Uh, I dunno if June and Bryan told you, but my dad wanted to come too. Just um, this once. To see if it’s safe here.”

“Oh, uh, sure. I guess that’s—“ Coyomon shook the water out of his fur, spraying droplets all over everyone. Kyle winced.

“I guess that’s okay,” Josh continued, and gave Kyle a grin. “Definitely gotta teach you how to not get wet.” Before Kyle could ask what that meant, Josh nodded to Kyle’s dad as he walked out of the lake too. “Nice to meet you, Mr…?”

“Fairbank. Or just Sam.” His dad smiled. “And you must be Josh!” He looked down at Betamon. “And, I’m guessing… Watermelonmon?”

“Dad!” Kyle groaned.

“I do look like a watermelon!” said Betamon. “Maybe that’s why I like it so much! But I’m Betamon!”

Kyle hurried over closer to Bryan and June. “Help me,” he mouthed, and felt relieved as he saw their sympathetic nods.

“You wanted to see the town, right Kyle?” said June. “It’s just a little ways this way.” She pointed to a trail that led away from the lake, through colorful tropical foliage.

“Yes! Good! Let’s go!” Kyle said, heading that way, trying to increase the space between himself and his father even more. “C’mon, Coyomon! And, uh, Josh, what was that about not getting wet?”

“Oh, sure! There’s a cool thing about water here; most of the time you only get wet if you sort of… expect to get wet? So if you concentrate just right, you’ll stay dry.” Josh showed that smile that made Kyle feel all wobbly inside. “I did that when we came through the other day; didn’t you notice I wasn’t soaked?”

“Whoa… Cool…” Kyle tried to think through the implications of that trick, though his mind kept getting half-derailed by that image of Josh on Seadramon-back, now with his perfect hair and clothes forever unsullied by the elements.

“Oh, you two met before?” Kyle’s dad had caught up, and the words cut right through Kyle’s thoughts.

Kyle glanced to Josh. The other boy’s eyes went wide for a moment, but then he just gave Kyle a tiny nod. Kyle wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, apart from the fact that at least Josh wasn’t going to say anything else.

Thoughts raced through Kyle’s mind. As usual, lying seemed impossibly complicated, but the truth wasn’t any better. He reached down to Coyomon, who nuzzled his hand in support. “Well, yeah. Really quick, on Monday.” Kyle rubbed his neck. “It was while you and mom were still at work. We saw something came through the portal and, like… I couldn’t just leave the house undefended! Bryan went with me, and I told Mr. Neary where we were going, and it was actually over really fast.”

His dad’s face was infuriatingly unreadable. “How did you get home all on your own?”

“You saw Aullidomon on Saturday, right? When Coyomon gets big? And we were running? He can run really fast. And since we don’t have to use roads…”

His dad actually grinned slightly at that. “Lucky you, being able to take the back way to and from the city.”

Kyle grinned as well. “Learned it from you, talking about trying to get approval for an access road.”

“Glad to hear my family’s interested in my work,” his dad said, but then his face turned more serious. “You didn’t tell us about this in a check-in.”

Kyle swallowed hard. “I know. But it wasn’t exactly a digimon incident, in the end? And I just wanted to get back to school, and I was just so relieved, and I didn’t want you and Mom to worry more.” He paused, and gathered his courage for a few more honest words. “When you worry, it always feels like it’s my fault, and I feel even worse than I do when worrying on my own, and I already do a LOT of that.”

Everyone walked in silence for a few long moments. Apparently even Coyomon and Betamon had picked up on the gravity of the situation.

“Well,” said his dad, finally. “I’m glad to hear the house is okay. But doing that on your own really isn’t a good way to keep us from worrying. And I’m really not happy about finding it out this way. When were you planning on telling us?”

Kyle winced. He didn’t have a good answer for that. “I’m sorry, dad…” He glanced at his friends, and at Josh, bracing himself for the worst.

His father nodded. “Thank you.” Then he glanced around the group himself. “We can talk about this later. I promised you some time here, and I’m willing to let you have that, at least.”

Kyle’s hands shook as he reached out for the comfort of Coyomon’s fur again. Horrible thoughts ran through his head of what might await him once he got back home. He was suddenly very afraid that this would be his only glimpse of the Digital World for an unthinkably long time.

Chapter Text

The path back to File Town was slow going as it passed through jungle underbrush and wound around gigantic trees, and it seemed even slower as Kyle pondered his fate. No one had really said anything since his discussion with his father, though at least the other tamers had each given him sympathetic looks. Somehow, getting that sort of look from Josh felt even worse than his dad’s impending judgement.

After a few more minutes of silence, the foliage started to thin out, and Josh pushed aside a few branches and gestured beyond. “So… here it is. File Town!” Beyond was… well, ‘town’ was being generous. It was a smallish clearing, maybe twenty yards across, with a few rough-cut tree stumps still standing. Between and around them were several small shelters, made of tied-together branches and covered with broad leaves. They looked surprisingly sturdy and well-crafted, certainly far better than anything Kyle could imagine doing.

“Wow… you made all this?” he asked, as he ventured closer to one of the structures. Curiosity made for a welcome distraction.

Josh smiled. “Well, not just me. There’s about a dozen of us who’ve worked on it. Our digimon are a big help, too.”

June nodded, as she examined one of the stumps. “I see claw-marks here, you must have some big ones.”

“Anyone else here?” asked Bryan, as he ventured further in.

“It’s a bit of a weird time for most folks,” said Josh. “Late for the east-coasters, middle of the night or school hours for the rest of the world.” He grinned. “I’ve gotten good with time zones since coming here.” He looked across the settlement. “I think Kai and Chelsey were here before I left, they’re probably over that way.” He pointed at a hut toward the far end, and Bryan and Hielomon hurried in that direction.

Kyle considered following, but his dad was still at the top of his mind. He looked around, wondering how his father was reacting to all of this. He found him inspecting one of the buildings. “Pretty solid architecture, considering,” he said with a nod, then peeked inside. “Ah, nicely furnished, very classy,” he said, with a wry grin

Kyle peeked in as well. Inside were a pair of ratty beach chairs set to either side of a milk crate. “I mean, I guess I’m surprised it’s not more sticks or rocks or something.”

Coyomon hopped up on one of the chairs. “Definitely comfier than rocks!”

Josh poked his head into the shelter too. “Yeah, we can haul in small stuff. Even managed to get a few couches and—“

The other boy was interrupted by an excited yell from Bryan, across the camp. “Dude, you guys have an Xbox?”

“—And some other cool stuff,” Josh finished, with a grin.

“I have to see this,” said June, heading toward the sound of Bryan’s voice. Kyle shrugged, and followed along, with his partner and father close behind. Everyone gathered around one of the aforementioned couches, where two other kids sat.

“Oh hey, you’re the new folks?” asked a girl with curly red hair, a few years older than Kyle.

Josh nodded and made introductions. The girl was Chelsey, and the boy, who looked a bit younger than Kyle, was apparently Kai.

“Kai and Kyle! That’s gonna be confusing!” said the younger boy, brushing long black hair from his tanned face.

Josh grinned. “You’ll live. We manage to tell both Mikes apart, right?”

Bryan was captivated by the TV and consoles set up across from the couch, balanced on a few more milk crates. A colorful platformer was paused on the screen.

Kyle’s curiosity pushed through the dark clouds filling his mind. “We’re in the middle of a jungle here. How does it have electricity?” he asked.

“Digimon power!” replied Chelsey, She nodded at the insectile digimon sitting on the couch next to her. Taking a closer look, Kyle saw that it held the plug for a power strip in its mandibles. “Kunemon’s got electricity to spare.”

“I’m good at it too!” said Betamon, bringing his claws together and showing off an electric arc.

Kai shook his head. “No way, you shorted it out last time you tried! We’d be better off with Bearmon just cranking the generator.” He nudged the fluffy digimon sitting next to him, who nodded proudly but said nothing.

“Partner-Kyle, could I do that too?” asked Coyomon, wagging his tail.

He probably could, but Kyle noticed his dad’s attention on him, and suddenly his mind was filled with the potential disaster of his partner playing with the various appliances around his house. “Uh, we’ll see, bud.”

His father turned to Josh. “So how many folks do you get here? Are there any adults?”

Kyle tensed, but Josh responded in a casual tone. “I think there’s about twenty-five folks we see at least once a week? I can think of three adults. They don’t usually have as much time to come here as the kids do. We do okay, though. We have our partners to help out, like I said.”

“I see,” said Kyle’s dad. “How does that work out with your families?” Kyle braced himself. “I’m sure you can imagine it’s difficult for a parent to think of a bunch of kids cut off from the real world like this.”

A strange look crossed Josh’s face at the first question, but once Kyle’s dad finished, the other boy had a confident response ready. “Oh, we’re not cut off!”

Kyle felt a jolt of hope shoot through his body. “You’re not?”

Josh shook his head. “Over here,” he said, motioning to a tall skinny structure a few yards away. “Nodens set us up with this, pretty early on.” Under a leafy awning was an old boxy computer, hooked up to a battery under the table. Wires led from the back of it, and spread into the ground and nearby tree-stumps. “I’m not really sure how it works, but it lets us send email, at least.”

“Email,” Kyle’s dad said, sounding unconvinced. “I guess that works well if you’re in the town here.”

“Sure, but if we’re somewhere else, we have digi-chat,” Josh said, tapping his digivice.

Kyle’s eyes widened. “Digi-chat?”

Josh looked at him for a moment, then laughed. “Oh! Right! You just got here. I guess it’s not in the guidebook file yet?”

“I guess not? What is it?”

“Here, can I see your digivice for a second? Just hold it up, like this.” Josh flipped up the screen on his own digivice, and held it out. Kyle shrugged, and did the same.

“Just got to get them aligned right.” Josh touched Kyle’s wrist, adjusting the grip. Kyle’s ears felt warm and he was careful to look anywhere other than Josh’s face or his father’s.

After a moment, the screen of Josh’s digivice flickered with rainbow light, which shone bright over Kyle’s own device, which chirped and soon responded in kind.

“Just a bit longer… there!” Josh let go of Kyle’s wrist, and took his digivice back. “Take a look at the screen.”

There was a new icon there, two little monster-heads facing each other with “DIGI-CHAT” written below. Kyle opened it up, and saw a list of names. “Whoa… And this works anywhere?”

“Yep! Across realms and worlds. I should get your friends set up too, I guess. Hey, June? Bryan? Come here a sec?”

Bryan was taking a turn with the controller, and he looked annoyed to be interrupted. Kyle grinned. “It’s worth it, trust me!”

He looked through the list of names as Josh went about upgrading June’s device, then looked at his father, daring to ask the question that was on his mind. “So… does this help?” he asked. “At least we can contact you from here, or talk to each other.”

“Well… it’s better than nothing. But if you’re all three out somewhere else together, and need help, who would you call then?”

Kyle sighed, once again finding himself without an answer.

Josh looked over. “Well, there’s other tamers in the world, we could—“

He was interrupted by a loud crashing sound from the other end of the clearing, and a yell from Kai. “We got company!”

There was a deep bellow as claws knocked trees aside, and a bright red saurian head emerged from the jungle. “Found you, humans,” said the Tyrannomon, as it surveyed the camp, then let out an earth-shaking roar. The other tamers scrambled to their feet as their partners took on fighting poses.

Kyle’s heart pounded. “I thought this place was safe!”

“It usually is!” Josh called back. “I’m not sure what happened, but we have to stop them. Betamon, let’s go!”

“Yeah!” said Josh’s partner, who was already glowing and elongating into his more powerful serpentine form.

Kyle looked back to his father, whose eyes were wide. “That is… a very large… dinosaur?”

“Dad, don’t worry! We’ll protect you. Right, Coyomon?”

“Right, Partner-Kyle!” Kyle felt a surge of energy as Coyomon began to evolve as well.

Kyle leaped onto Aullidomon’s back and ran to join the other tamers. Everyone else had spread out around the perimeter, trying to contain the Tyrannomon and keep it from trampling the village. Most of the digimon had evolved, and even Bearmon and Bakumon were doing their best to fight in their current forms. The huge digimon roared as it took a Nightmare Syndrome square to the face.

As impressive as the scene was though, Kyle couldn’t help but notice strange details. There was a faint rhythmic noise, grating on his nerves, that wasn’t coming from any of the assembled digimon. And the Tyrannomon wasn’t looking at its opponents as much as it was looking at the tree line on the opposite side. Anxious and wary, Kyle led Aullidomon in that direction.

No one else seemed to notice anything odd as they faced down the attacker. Josh stood on the back of his massive sea-serpent partner, and called out to the Tyrannomon. “You know you’re outmatched here. Turn around, forget we’re here, and you can go.”

“No. We won’t.” The thumping suddenly sped up, and an even larger green dinosaur burst from the other end of the clearing with its head lowered. Three razor-sharp horns were heading straight for Josh’s MegaSeadramon.

“No! Josh!” Kyle yelled, as Aullidomon raced to intercept the charging Triceramon. As big as it was, Aullidomon had momentum and electricity on his side, and they managed to knock the other digimon off-balance enough for Josh and Seadramon to turn on it, and wrap it in coils.

“Chelsey, help me here, everyone else, take care of the other one!” Josh called. A huge bug-digimon (an Okuwamon, he was pretty sure) landed behind the Triceramon, and Kyle dashed off to help his friends. By the time he arrived, though, Ventiscamon was standing over a solid-frozen Tyrannomon, with Bryan grinning big. “We got this one handled. Nice move though, dude.”

Kyle grinned weakly, with his heart pounding hard in his chest. Suddenly he remembered. “Dad! Aullidomon, we gotta find Dad!”

They sprinted through the town as the fight between the ultimate-level digimon raged on. “Dad?”

“I’m here, Kyle! I’m okay! Over here!” Kyle saw a familiar hand wave from one of the larger shelters.

“Dad! Sorry, I… I didn’t know this was going to happen!”

Kyle hopped off Aullidomon and rushed closer. He was sure he was grounded for life, but all he wanted to do was make sure his dad was okay. He was shocked when his dad’s arms caught him up in a hug. “We’re okay, son. I’m okay, and you… look what you did!” Kyle wasn’t sure how to take those words at first, but then he saw his father’s smile.

“I… I just noticed… I had to make sure Josh…” He slumped in his dad’s arms, and he felt Aullidomon’s big nose giving him a nuzzle in the back.

“We’re okay, Partner-Kyle. They’re winning!”

Kyle looked over just in time to see the Triceramon fall… and then break apart, scattering into tiny shards of data.

He felt his father stiffen. “Is that… is it dead?”

Kyle gaped. “They… reform… I think…” He remembered reading something that made him unsure if that was really true, but he continued. “I guess they had to… It was so strong…”

A few moments later, Josh approached. “Everyone okay here?”

Kyle nodded weakly, not sure what else to say.

“Thanks for the save,” Josh said, with a weary smile that made Kyle feel warm, and quite a bit less exhausted.

Kyle’s father looked back and forth between the two boys, and then nodded slightly. “You two—you all make a good team, it seems,” he said.

“Dad, I don’t think it’s always like this, I’m sure it’s safe, and…”

His father raised a hand. “Hold on, hold on. Kyle. We were talking before about you being worried, and us being worried for you. I have to admit, seeing you all in action, I’m less worried now than I was before.”

Kyle gaped.

“I know. I’m surprised too. I don’t think I would’ve chosen this much responsibility for you, but… here we are, and you’ve done a lot with it in just a couple weeks. You protected our house, you protected your friends, and aside from a few communication issues, you’ve been pretty smart about it.”

“I… I mean I’ve tried. I don’t want to worry you, Dad.”

“I know. But parents worry anyway. We’ll just need to figure out how to keep in touch with you when you’re here. Maybe some sort of setup where only two of you go at a time? If you can only talk with those devices, that way you could still have a line back home.”

Kyle glanced over to where Bryan and June were apparently trying to figure out what to do with their Tyrannomon-sicle. Would they go for that sort of arrangement? He was so caught up in the details that for a moment he missed the bigger picture of what his dad was saying.

“Wait, so… I’m not in more trouble? From the thing on Monday? From this? This is all… okay?”

His father nodded. “We’ll need to clear the details with your mom, but you’ve convinced me. There’s a lot for you, here.” Why did his dad glance at Josh as he said that? “That’s a good reason for all of us not to let worry get the best of us.” He smiled. “Now, you think it’s okay for us to head home? Your dad has had more than enough excitement for one night, and I think we still have some sort of water-breathing trick we have to learn?”

Kyle giggled. “It’s not water breathing, it’s more like… C’mon Josh, you can show us, right?” He found himself grinning big as they headed back toward the lake.

Chapter Text

June stared at a fantasy novel as she sat in bed, with Bakumon lying next to her.

“So, what’s wrong?” her partner asked, just as she turned a page.

June frowned slightly, and looked up. “Hmm? What do you mean? I’m fine.”

Bakumon looked back at her. “Mmmhm. I can tell. What’s happening in your book right now?”

June looked back at the page. “They’re looking for… Yes, all right, my mind really isn’t on this today, is it.”

Bakumon nodded, with a flick of her ears. “I could tell that even if I couldn’t feel what you’re feeling. But it also seems like you’re trying not to think about it. So…?”

June sighed and set the book aside. “If you already know, why do you want me to say it?”

Bakumon nudged her with a hoof. “So we can talk about it? Or would you rather not-read your book for longer?”

“Fine.” June sat up. “Everyone has an adult form now except you. And we were useless in the fight on Wednesday. Aren’t you frustrated too?”

“I’m not sure frustrated is the right word. Maybe impatient? I’m sure it’ll happen. You’re an excellent partner, and I’m an excellent digimon. I can tell you’re still upset though. Is there another part you want to talk about?”

June rubbed her face. “Yes. No. Sort of. I’m jealous of Bryan and Kyle, and I’m feeling guilty that I’m jealous, but it also still feels sort of not fair.”

“Well, I don’t think you have to get down on yourself for feeling how you feel. I get why you’d be jealous, just like I’m impatient, and putting more on yourself because of that isn’t really helping, right?”

June lifted her partner into her lap. “Yeah, I guess not… Just making me worse at reading my book.”

“And as far as fair… someone had to be last, right? Another way of looking at it is, you’re lucky enough to not have been put in some sort of dangerous digimon situation.”

June smirked. “Yeah. Maybe I should be more like the boys, and go off alone looking for trouble.”

Bakumon grinned back. “Yeah, because that’s really gone well for them otherwise. I like that you think things through. Someone on your team should.” June laughed, and Bakumon continued. “We’ll work out how to get stronger our own way.”

“I guess you’re right. I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of anyone evolving just from having a heartfelt conversation?”

“No, but I know it’s more likely to happen when someone is out trying to do what they do best. So maybe we should do that.”

“Like trying to figure out what’s happening in the digital world? Those collapsing realms? I guess we could try to look around some more, according to Kyle’s schedule, it’s all right for me to cross over today, so it’d be nice to make use of that. But what would we do?”

Bakumon thought for a moment. “Hm. That… merged place was alarming, but perhaps we should go see if there’s more we can find out there?”

June grinned. “I thought you just said we shouldn’t go running into trouble?”

“Of course not. We should thoughtfully investigate some trouble.”

Bakumon and June floated in the digital sea, in front of the place they expected the portal to be.

“Well, that’s disappointing,” said Bakumon, moving in a slow circle around nothing in particular.

June felt the same, but she was channeling the uneasy feeling into an investigation of her digivice. “I’m sure it still showed something. If I zoom in, and…” She drifted closer to where she was sure the portal had been. “There! See, it’s sort of… flickering, like there’s something still there, just very weak. What does that mean?”

Bakumon looked somber. “All I can think of is that that realm... or both those realms, I suppose, are gone entirely now.”

June drew her partner into a comforting hug. “Have you heard of that happening before?”

“I know that if a realm is abandoned, with no digimon in it for a long time, it eventually fades away, but that takes much longer.” Bakumon sighed as she pressed against June. “And you said it’s flickering? That would mean it’s not entirely gone… May I see?”

June held out her digivice and Bakumon peered at it. “It almost seems like it might be a pattern. Peculiar.”

“Is there anything else we can look at?” June wracked her brain. “That place was two realms combined, right? I know you visited the village, but did you recognize the other one? The cave?”

Bakumon was quiet for a few moments before responding. “Possibly. There was an underground realm that was connected to that one, but I didn’t visit there much. Not my sort of place. But if it’s true that uncontrolled merges happen to adjacent realms, it’d have to be that one.”

“Is there any way we can check? I guess if we knew any portals that were supposed to go to the cave, we could check if they’re like this now.”

“Hmm. If I remember correctly… Oh. Oh dear.”

June frowned. “What?”

“Well, as I said, I didn’t go there much, so I only know of one other portal from that realm. It actually opens back in the ocean here, but it wasn’t really usable.”

“Why not?”

Bakumon looked out toward the deep open. “It opens into a Gesomon’s territory.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. I remember that one because it was surrounded by warnings saying ‘beware of the squid’.”

June nodded. “Good advice, I guess. But… still…”

“June, what’re you thinking?”

“How far is it? And how deep in the Gesomon’s territory is it?”

“A couple kilometers out, maybe? And not exactly in the middle of the territory, but far enough in that it would be hard to avoid notice.” Bakumon looked up at June. “I know you’re thinking something. Might as well say it.”

June nodded, with a slight smile. “I think it’s time to thoughtfully investigate something else.” Bakumon looked distinctly uncertain but June continued, surprised at her own confidence. Wasn’t this the sort of thing that would’ve overwhelmed her, just a week ago? “We’re just looking. Get close enough to confirm the portal, see if there’s anything else interesting. If the Gesomon shows up, we can just leave.” June grinned. “Just one step, right?”

Bakumon nodded, gaining her own confidence as well. “Yes. All right. We can do this.”

They swam through the digital sea, admiring colorful coral and staying alert for signs of larger digimon. It was easier than June expected to move through the digital water, not much harder than walking, but June was still getting weary by the time they approached their destination.

“All right, see those broken coral pieces?” said Bakumon. “Those mark the edge of the territory. So let’s just go around left a bit, so we can get as close as possible before heading in.”

June nodded, and peeked at her digivice. “I’m not seeing a portal anywhere nearby so that’s… something, at least. But if we can, I’d like to confirm that it has the same behavior as the other one. It’ll be quick.”

“Right. As long as it’s just in and out, we’ll probably be fine. Worst case, we swim backwards very quickly while yelling apologies.”

“You don’t suppose the Gesomon would know anything about what happened at that portal, do you?”

“Mmm. Even if it did, they’re not exactly great conversationalists.

“True,” June said, and continued thinking as they approached the right spot.

“Okay, here we are. The portal is—was right by that big brain-looking coral there.”

“You know the spot exactly?” June asked.

“I have a very good memory, and the seafloor has plenty of landmarks. Now let’s go while there’s still no sign of Gesomon.”

June nodded, and they swam for the spot as fast as they could manage. She held out her digivice, waiting to see the telltale flicker of the fading portal. Before they quite reached it however, a thundering roar pulsed through the water. June felt it in her body as much as heard it in her ears.

Bakumon frowned, and started moving backwards. “Maybe try again later?”

June shook her head. “We’re almost there, and the Gesomon is still way over that way.”

“June…”

“We can do this!” June held out her digivice. “Just a bit more I think I see something…”

“June!” The massive white squid was suddenly much closer, but now Bakumon was between her and it, and she was suddenly glowing, and growing.

“Hah! Yes! Bakumon, you’re doing it!” June held back, watching her partner reform into a larger beast, with a long neck, four legs, and much more substantial armor.

“Baluchimon now!” replied the digimon, facing down the Gesomon. “Don’t get distracted, let me hold this thing off! Psychic Chain!”

Shimmering links appeared around the Gesomon, and wrapped its tentacles, stopping them just before they struck. June nodded, moving around the coral, adjusting her digivice. “I found it!” she said. “Let me try to record it, in case it is some sort of pattern.”

Baluchimon nodded. “Don’t take too long, this thing is strong!”

“All right, hold on, let me try to get a good signal…” As June moved closer to the place where the portal had apparently been, she heard a louder shriek and more thrashing from the Gesomon. “Are you okay?”

“I’m holding it. But it got angrier when you moved.”

“Hmmm. When I got nearer the portal spot in particular? Strange…” June pushed herself backward again, and watched the Gesomon. It seemed to relax, somewhat. At least, it wasn’t thrashing and roaring quite as much. “It seems like it’s reacting more to me than to you.” An idea burst into her head. “Baluchimon, can you still read thoughts?”

The armored head nodded. “I can. Better than before, I think.”

“Tell me what it’s thinking when I move toward the portal… well… where the portal was?” June moved forward again, and watched the Gesomon’s rage build.

“Oh… Oh.” Baluchimon’s eyes were wide. “It recognizes… not you, but… humans.”

June nodded, feeling something churn slightly in her stomach. “Can you tell when?”

Baluchimon gazed at the squid monster for a few long moments. “It doesn’t have a good sense of time, but the portal… it’s like it was the last thing it saw coming out of the portal.” She frowned. “It stayed close to the portal because sometimes food came out of it. Probably digimon. But… A human peeked out, then went back in, then the portal… collapsed.”

The churning got stronger. “You’re sure.”

“Of course, June.” The Gesomon writhed, stretching the psychic chains visible. “Perhaps we should go now?”

June nodded. “Yes, let’s go. Thank you Baluchimon!”

They swam for the border of the Gesomon’s territory, silent until they’d left the chained beast far behind. They heard a distant roar when they crossed the threshold and Baluchimon released her bindings.

“Say what you’re thinking, June?” prompted her partner, once they were safe.

“The last being to use that portal was a human. Who went back inside afterwards. Which must have been while it was collapsing.”

“So either someone has terrible luck,” Baluchimon murmured doubtfully.

June sighed. “Or the digimon are right to suspect humans are involved in the collapses somehow.”

“Yes.”

“Well, we learned something. And you got a new form out of it. So that’s an up-side.”

Baluchimon smiled slightly. It was strange for June, to see familiar facial expressions on such a changed face, but it was also somehow reassuring. “I told you it would happen if we kept doing what we did best.”

June let out a strained chuckle. “Well, I did also get us into a bit of a dangerous situation. For knowledge, though!”

“Indeed. Now shall we head back, and share that knowledge?”

“Definitely.” June grinned more. “Plus, we can show off how we can evolve now too.”

Chapter Text

“Partner-Kyle! Is it time?”

Kyle grinned as he finished clearing dishes from the dinner table. “It is definitely time, bud.” He waved to his parents, sitting in front of the TV. “Going to the digital world now!”

They both waved. “All right, remember to be back in an hour!” added his mother.

Kyle and Coyomon dashed out the front door, heading for the gate. No sense in letting any of that hour go to waste. He’d already had to wait through all of Thursday for everyone to work out all the details, but the outcome had been worth waiting for. An hour on his own in the digital world, almost every day of the week. And even more, if he could work out times when one or both of his friends weren’t going to be there. Sure, it meant all three of them couldn’t be there at once, and an hour definitely wasn’t as long as he’d wanted, but after suffering through a week of everyone exploring the digital world but him, it felt like a gigantic improvement.

Soon, the two of them were coming ashore in the jungle lake, and sprinting down the path toward File Town.

“Is Josh going to be there?” Coyomon asked.

“I hope so, I think he said he’s there a—Oh! I can ask him!”

Kyle paused under a tree, and opened the new chat app on his digivice. A familiar twinge of anxiety shot through his stomach as he scrolled to Josh’s name. What should he say? He didn’t have much experience initiating conversations, much less friendships. He hadn’t even bothered to message Josh at all in the past two days. Shouldn’t he have done this earlier?

He swiveled the digivice shut again. “Nah, we’re almost there. I’ll find out when we get there. If he’s not there, maybe then I’ll message him.”

After a few more minutes of walking, File Town finally came into view. Kyle checked the time. “Ugh, seven minutes. Maybe I can convince Mom and Dad to give me fifteen more minutes to get here and back? Otherwise it’s way less than an hour that I’m actually here.”

Coyomon was not paying attention. He’d run ahead, and was scouting through the huts to see who was there. “Oooh, new people! Hi hi hi! And Kunemon’s partner, I know you… Oh! Josh! Partner-Kyle, Josh is over here!”

A mix of excitement and anxiety blossomed in Kyle’s chest as he ran to follow his partner. In one shelter, a boy who looked a few years older than Kyle looked like he was studying with a brightly-colored digimon sitting nearby. They were talking back and forth in a mix of accented English and something else that sounded not quite like Spanish. Chelsey sat on the same couch that Kyle had seen her on before, though this time she was typing on a laptop, while a dark-haired younger girl and a fiery cat digimon battled big-headed cartoon monsters on the TV.

Josh sat in a chair nearby, idly chatting with the two of them. He looked up as Kyle approached. “Hey! You made it back, huh? Got things worked out with your family?”

Kyle reached for Coyomon, who pressed up to his side, helping quell his nervousness. “Yeah, they’re a lot less worried in general, and I get an hour a day here, almost every day. Um, thanks for your help with all that.”

Josh nodded. “I know how parents can kinda suck sometimes. Only an hour though, huh? What do you want to do with that time? I guess I showed you around already, right? Introductions would be good, though. This is Jessie and Coronamon, here, and over there are Manuel and Pomumon. This is Kyle and Coyomon, the ones with the gate in the lake!”

Coyomon bounced back and forth between each person as they were introduced. “Hi! Hello! I’m Coyomon, yeah!”

The boy looked up from his book. “Olá… ah, hello!” He and his partner both gave a wave. “Pardon my English. We are still learning.”

Jessie paused her game and looked back. “Hiya! You’re so lucky you have a gate that close, we have to walk sooo far on both sides to get here.” She had a rounded-sounding accent that Kyle couldn’t quite place.

Chelsey looked up from her computer. “Speaking of, Jessie, shouldn’t you be heading home? Isn’t it like midnight in Halifax now?”

Jessie sighed dramatically. “It’s only 11, and it’s a weekend, but yeah, I guess so…” She set the controller aside. “C’mon Coronamon. Bye all!”

Kyle waved, murmuring a “Nice to meet you” amid the chorused goodbyes from everyone else. That left a lull in the conversation again, and Kyle’s mind spun as he wondered how to fill it. What did normal people talk about? He was drawing a blank, struggling to think even of what he wanted to talk about, until it hit him that he was basically surrounded by his very own favorite special interest.

“So, um, Josh… How did you get your digivice? Were you into digimon before coming here too?”

Josh chuckled. “Actually, I was more of a Pokemon guy,” he replied. “I was really deep in the video game and the cards.”

Kyle’s raised his eyebrows, and he couldn’t help laughing. “Blasphemy!” was the first word out of his mouth, in a joking tone, but then he clammed up. Was it okay to tease Josh about that when they’d barely even met?

Josh, however, was laughing too. “Yeah yeah, I’ve heard it all before. And things changed a lot once I met this guy!” He gave Betamon an affectionate pat, and the digimon wiggled happily.

“So how did you meet him?” Kyle asked. “How’d you get your digivice?”

“Well, y’know, it’s less about wanting to meet digimon than it is about… wanting to be somewhere else, right?” Josh looked downward for a moment. “I was sorta just… wandering the back-roads by my house, thinking I’d rather be anywhere but there, and suddenly this little guy popped out of a puddle!”

Betamon giggled. “It was a stream! I wouldn’t fit in a puddle! And you definitely picked up the digivice first!”

“Okay, yeah, a nice little stream by a nice little footpath where I thought someone left their phone. And then you showed up and I thought I was going crazy!”

Kyle giggled again. “That must’ve been so weird if you didn’t know what he was!”

“He thought I was gonna eat him!” said Betamon, with a big toothy grin.

Josh grinned back. “Well, you still have a big mouth!” He turned back to Kyle. “How about you, then?”

“I guess it was pretty similar. But it was by my school, after I’d been dealing with some bullying.”

Coyomon growled and nodded. “That’s why I’m here, to help protect you!”

Kyle grinned. “Yeah, you do good, bud.”

“Huh, I thought your portal was by your house,” Josh said. “I didn’t see any school stuff there.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s technically Bryan’s portal. School is way far away so we sorta did a swap. Good thing, otherwise I’d never be able to come here except right after school probably.”

“Not to mention defending the gate, yeah?” Josh smiled. “Well, I’m glad you got it closer. And that things didn’t turn out so bad with your family.”

Kyle’s heart soared. Josh was glad he’d be here more? Knowing that Josh thought highly of him was about the best thing that Kyle could hear. He wasn’t sure what it all meant still, of course. He was by now pretty sure that this was what crushes felt like, but he knew it wasn’t reasonable to assume Josh felt the same way. After all, what even were the chances he also liked guys? Not great, judging from Kyle’s experiences with other folks his age at school.

Kyle realized he had probably been silent for too long. He’d started off the conversation well, apparently, now how did people keep them going? Back-and-forth questions, right? “So how did your family take it?”

Josh’s face fell dramatically enough that Kyle picked it up loud and clear, and he winced sympathetically. “Um. Sorry?”

Josh shook his head, and smiled a bit as Betamon nosed his leg. “Nah, it’s okay. It’s just kinda an awkward situation. I actually haven’t told them. They have… enough to worry about already.”

More questions simmered in Kyle’s throat, but his attention was diverted by a chirp from his digivice. Coyomon nosed at it. “Digi-Chat! Who is it?” The digimon had picked up on the new sounds and features faster than Kyle had, which probably made sense given that Coyomon was still pretty regularly inside the thing.

“Looks like June,” Kyle said, picking it up. “Wants to know where we are. Huh, she really wants to talk about something.” He opened the keyboard and started to type awkwardly on the tiny keys, mumbling to himself as he did. “File town… with Josh… What’s up?”

The reply came back almost immediately. “Ooookay, she’s coming here. Mysterious.” He looked up to Josh. “Guessing she’s not coming through my gate. Where are the other portals here?”

“If she’s coming from the village one, it’s over there.” Josh pointed to one of the several paths that led into the clearing. “Do you think something’s wrong?”

“Not sure. She didn’t say much. She’s usually a lot more talkative in chat. She must’ve been really excited.”

The conversational momentum had been lost, and Kyle was too focused on whatever was going on with June to want to talk about anything else, so they just waited for a few minutes until Kyle heard what sounded like hoofbeats coming from the jungle. “Is that June…?” he asked, uncertain.

Josh sat up straight. “Everyone stay alert.” The others sat up too, looking toward the sound. Kyle marveled at how together Josh was under pressure, how much he focussed on protecting them.

Everyone relaxed slightly when a human riding on a digimon came out of the trees and waved, slowing down as they entered the town. Kyle recognized June, but not the digimon and that could mean only one thing. “Whoa, you two got your evolution?” he said, running over. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you,” said June and her partner, almost at the same time. “This is Baluchimon,” June added as they stopped and she dismounted. “I’m glad so many folks are here. I’ll catch Bryan up later. I just found this out, and I had to tell someone.”

“Err, tell us what?” Kyle asked.

Baluchimon nosed June’s side. “Slow down a bit? Start at the beginning.”

June nodded. “Right. We were trying to find out more about what happened with those merged realms, so we investigated their portals.”

June and Baluchimon took turns telling the story of exploring the digital sea, meeting a Gesomon, evolving, and finding out about the collapsing portal’s last user. The audience was cheerful and congratulatory until the last part, when they became much more somber.

Kyle hugged Coyomon close. “So they were right? Darklizardmon, and the ones who attacked us here… Humans really are causing that?”

“It seems so,” said June, with a nod. “It’s not definite, but it certainly points in that direction.”

Josh was frowning. “Was it someone from here? How old were they? I could get you descriptions of everyone, and some pictures too.”

Baluchimon shook her head. “I didn’t see it that clearly. It was through Gesomon’s impressions, and I think it sees all humans as pretty similar-looking.”

Chelsey had put away her laptop at some point in the storytelling, and was now paying full attention. “I guess that makes sense. A lot less physical variation between us than between digimon types, and then all digimon of a type look pretty similar. Probably just sees us all as ‘humanmon’ or something.”

“I don’t!” said Betamon. “I know Josh anywhere!”

Coyomon nodded. “Me too! With Kyle I mean. But Josh too I guess!”

Kyle grinned slightly and rubbed Coyomon’s ears.

Josh still looked serious. “Still, there’s only so many humans who even know how to get to the digital world. I don’t really think it’s anyone we know, and that means there might be more folks moving around here that we don’tknow. So let’s watch each other’s backs, okay?” The others nodded, and Josh continued. “I’ll let Nodens know about this, and we should all make sure to spread it around to the other folks who come here. Digimon too, if anyone’s heard anything, or finds out anything when they’re exploring, they should let us know. We may just be visitors here, but that’s all the more reason to help keep it safe, right?”

“Right!” said Kyle, along with the others, and more enthusiastically than everyone except Betamon. He’d felt exactly the same way, from the first time he heard a digimon’s accusations about humans ruining the digital world. Hearing Josh so passionate and confident only made Kyle want to get to know him more.

“Um… if there’s any way we could help out…?” Kyle said, trailing off at the end, hoping Josh would complete the thought.

The other boy nodded. “I suppose I could take you on some short patrols. I guess you haven’t seen much digital world at all, huh? We can help out with that too. Well, as far as you can get in an hour at least.”

Kyle’s heart leapt again. “That sounds perfect!” Then again, Josh’s words reminded him of his time limit, and he checked his time, already dreading what he would find. “…Tomorrow though, I guess.”

Josh nodded. “Tomorrow, then. You know where to find me!”

Kyle and Coyomon said their goodbyes, and headed back toward the lake gate. They were a few steps into the forest when Coyomon looked up at him with wide, curious eyes. “Partner-Kyle, why does Josh make you get all…” Rather than saying anything else, Coyomon just hopped rapidly from one paw to another, lolling out his tongue.

Kyle laughed and blushed, responding in a half-whisper, not sure how well his voice would carry. “I… guess that’s a good way of describing it,” he admitted. “But uh… I’m not really sure either, bud. I just… like him a lot. He’s confident, and hot, and…” he shook his head, still grinning.

“Oh! You should tell him that! That sounds nice!”

Kyle laughed again, more frantically. “Yeah. I probably should.” He shook his head, remembering how things tended to go better when he actually shared how he felt. Certainly that could apply here too? “I will. It’s… complicated, but… I will. When it feels right.”

He just had no idea when that would be.

Chapter Text

A towering stony form stood on a desolate plain of dark rock. Suddenly, it was enveloped by glistening ice, frozen solid for a split second before a torrent of lightning blasted it apart.

“Yes!” Bryan and Ventiscamon cheered in unison, both pumping their fists.

“Dual tech successful! Awesome shot, bud!” Kyle rubbed Aullidomon between the ears, enjoying the soft buzz of static electricity that remained there.

Josh grinned. “Yeah, nice job! looks like you guys got the timing down.”

Kyle grinned big, as those words from the other boy sent another sort of pleasant tingle through him.

MegaSeadramon nosed the steaming, shattered shards of rock. “Guess I better go get some new boulders? These ones look used up.”

Josh nodded. “Let’s look for some slightly smaller ones, and try for moving targets.”

Bryan groaned. “Can’t we have a break? We’ve been at this for like an hour, and I’m sure Kyle doesn’t want to spend all of his limited Digital World time on target practice.”

Kyle shook his head. “Hey, I’m doing great! And it’s Saturday, so I have all day.” It was a huge relief to be able to say those words. He’d been counting the minutes, this time not to make sure he got back on time, but just to enjoy the fact that he was here, with his friend and his partner and Josh…

Aullidomon nodded rapidly. “Yeah, this is fun! I want to try blasting moving ones! Zap!”

Bryan looked up at his own partner for backup, but Hielomon just grinned at him. “Let’s just do a few more. It’s a nice day, and I’m still getting a feel for being this big.”

Bryan sighed dramatically. “Traitors… Okay, fifteen more minutes, then I want to do something else.”

Ventiscamon nodded. “Deal.”

“Incoming!” MegaSeadramon’s voice carried from the other side of the rocky valley they stood in.

The ice-dragon’s head whipped up, sending a cloud of ice in the direction of the rock that was hurtling toward them. It froze one side of the target, just before a spear of lightning sliced through the blizzard, causing it to glitter spectacularly, as the rock thudded to the ground, still intact.

“Rrrrr. Moving targets are hard.” Aullidomon shook off the arcs of current from his jaws.

Kyle felt a pang of disappointment, but it was easy to dispell. It was nice just being here, after all. “Bryan and Ventiscamon almost got it though,” he added, nodding to the side of the boulder that was covered in rime.

Bryan chuckled. “That was all him. I dunno what I have to do with it.”

Ventiscamon nosed Bryan’s shoulder lightly. “Not true. Having you around helps a lot. Your attention and energy are a big part of why I can do what I do.”

“Oof, you need my attention? We’re all doomed then.”

“No dude, you’re fine,” Kyle said. “You know you can pay attention to things you’re into.” He knew what Ventiscamon was getting at, and he pondered for a few moments how to put it into words. “Plus it’s more like… everything works better for them when we’re in sync. Doing the same thing, there for each other.”

“Yeah!” Aullidomon nodded. “When me and Partner-Kyle are focussed on the same thing, it’s like…” The digimon trailed off, and instead of speaking, made a few rhythmic movements with ears and tail, causing a wave of lightning to course over his fur.

Kyle grinned, faintly envious of Aullidomon’s comfort with being at a loss for words, and happy that he could understand his partner clearly anyway. “Yeah, like harmonizing.”

“Incoming!” Another rock sailed overhead. This time, Kyle and Aullidomon reacted first, and a bolt struck it just before it hit the ground, splitting it in half.

Bryan sighed. “How am I supposed to get in harmony or whatever when these just keep coming out of nowhere?”

“Battles tend to come out of nowhere too!” Josh called, from several paces away. “You don’t usually get to pick your place, you just have to make the best of where you end up.”

“I know you can do it, Bryan,” said Ventiscamon. “You did a great job when the town was attacked.”

“Yeah. Okay. And I want to do good here too, so we can finally have a break.” Bryan nodded to his partner, then squinted at the distant sea serpent. “Okay, looks like he’s getting ready…”

Ventiscamon stared too. “I’m not sure you need to look that closely, he always—“

“Incoming!” An oblong rock flew end-over-end, and Bryan’s head tracked it along with Ventiscamon’s. The boy gave a slight nod just as the digimon let loose with a Blizzard Blast that encased the rock in several inches of ice. Kyle and Aullidomon focussed in on it just a moment later, and soon lightning followed the ice once again, shattering the rock into gravel and snow.

“Nice one,” said Josh, before calling over to his partner. “Okay, cease fire! Come on back!” MegaSeadramon nodded and started slithering in theirx direction. When he got nearby, he shrunk back down to Betamon form.

Bryan grinned, kicking a nearby piece of icy shrapnet. “Okay, yeah. I think I see what you meant. In sync. That felt good.”

“Didn’t it though?” Ventiscamon fluttered his wings with pride as he reverted as well.

“Always feels like the lightning does more damage than the ice, though,” Bryan said.

Kyle shrugged. “That’s just because these are rocks. You froze a digimon solid the other day, remember?”

“Yeah!” said Coyomon, once he’d finished changing. “So awesome!”

“Yeah, we did, and yeah, it was.” Bryan turned to Josh. “I keep wondering though. What happened to that guy? You had us just leave him with you when we went home…”

“Oh,” Josh got one of those hard-to-read expressions again. “Well, we had to make sure he wouldn’t find his way back to attack us again…”

Ventiscamon frowned slightly. “So… You…?”

Josh shook his head. “Nothing drastic. There’s a digimon we know who can alter memories.” He rubbed his neck. “We don’t like to do it but it’s way better than the alternative.”

Kyle nodded to himself. He’d wondered the same, and worried enough about similar consequences, way back when DarkLizardmon had attacked. And there had been something else in that fight too. “And… the other one? The Triceramon?” Aullidomon’s attention turned toward Kyle as well. Everyone was quiet for a moment.

“Gone…” Josh sighed. He looked even less happy now, and Kyle started to regret that he’d brought it up. “Would’ve done the same for that one if we’d been able to, but… doesn’t matter now.” Josh’s partner nodded, and nudged his leg.

“It won’t remember anything when it reforms and hatches or whatever, right?” Kyle asked.

“Hatches?” Josh looked confused. “It doesn’t… Oh. Right. In the shows.” He sighed again. “So… that’s not actually what happens.”

There was silence for a few breaths. Bryan spoke up first. “So… gone gone.”

“Yeah.” Josh’s voice was tight. “Sometimes it happens, but at least… we don’t try for it, y’know? Not anymore.”

Kyle found himself sitting on the rock-strewn ground, squeezing Coyomon close. His partner nuzzled him as his thoughts spun. Part of him had always been comforted by the egg-cycle that Digimon were supposed to go through. Certainly it was a relief whenever he’d attempted to raise a digimon in a keychain or a video game, that the same one was going back into an egg to be reborn anew. He hadn’t directly thought of that happening to Coyomon, but it was still jarring to know that things didn’t work out that way.

Bryan, leaning on his own partner for comfort, spoke again while Kyle was still processing. “What do you mean, anymore?”

“Mostly I’ve heard this from the older tamers,” Josh said. “Like, the first group, who fought the D-Reaper. Back then things were a lot harder. Probably because there was a self-replicating abomination trying to devour the whole digital world. Lots of stories about digimon being entirely focussed on fighting each other, so they could like… absorb their data, and get stronger and stronger.”

Bryan frowned. “Sounds like that Ogremon we fought.”

Ventiscamon bobbed his head. “I guess some of them are still at it.”

“Yeah,” said Josh. “You probably noticed, things still aren’t exactly friendly. Especially with some of them thinking we’re wrecking their world. But mostly, we try and handle it without going… all-out like that.”

Kyle’s stomach was still churning a bit. “This is a lot to take in,” he said, words half-muffled by Coyomon’s fur.

“Rrrr, we’re okay, Partner-Kyle. Promise.” Coyomon nosed his cheek. “We can protect each other. We’re good at it!”

“Right, but… I don’t want to… kill anyone!” Kyle blurted it out, then winced, pressing his face into Coyomon’s fur again.

Josh’s voice was confident and calm. “Digimon are still pretty durable. Me and you wouldn’t be doing so good if we’d gotten frozen solid like that Tyrannomon did. Plus, ice and lightning both are pretty good for just stunning someone so you can take care of them some other way.”

Betamon piped up. “Yeah! I’m good with both of those! I can show you!”

Kyle’s body started to relax slowly, helped along by a few extra nosings from his partner. “Show us?”

“Like how? Like sparring?” Bryan asked hesitantly.

Josh nodded. “When you feel up for it. Definitely not now. I think now we should head back to town and actually have that break.” He held out a hand to help Kyle up.

Kyle took it, and Josh’s gentle squeeze and lift was almost as calming and supportive as Coyomon had been. His partner pressed close as well, and they all made their way back to the nearby portal, and some much-needed comfort.

Chapter Text

When Kyle and his parents had worked out the schedule for his digital world visits, he’d dreaded the prospect of having a whole weekend day on this side of the gate, but when Sunday dawned, he found himself unexpectedly relieved. The last two days had been an emotional rollercoaster; the highs of finally getting to meet other tamers, combined with the lows of portentous news and heavy discussion. Moreover, even at the best of times it had been a whole lot of social interaction. He’d climbed into bed on Saturday feeling absolutely exhausted, and was very happy to get some alone time.

“Partner-Kyle, I’m hungry!”

As much alone time as a digimon tamer could get, at least.

“Coyomon, we had breakfast an hour ago.”

“I know, so I’m hungry!”

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh. “How do you get through the school day, bud?”

“I dunno! But now I’m hungry!”

“Well, you know where the food is. You get one granola bar, or one jerky stick, okay?”

“Thaaank youuuu.” Coyomon trotted over to the snack stash, and started nosing into one of the boxes. Kyle watched him, grinning. Honestly, spending time with Coyomon wasn’t nearly as socially draining as time with anyone else. His partner was a comforting presence, a good listener, and mostly happy to just do whatever Kyle was doing, with the exception of the regular snack attacks.

Kyle returned his focus to his DS game, and soon Coyomon was back at his side, peering over his shoulder as he maneuvered cartoony tanks across a gridded battlefield. He was going to give this mission one more try, and then maybe he’d do some homework.

He was pretty sure he’d almost worked out how to beat it, when his digivice emitted its shrill alarm, causing him and Coyomon both to jolt almost off the bed.

“Okay, if they can get a chat app on this thing, can they please figure out how to change that horrible sound?” Kyle asked as he silenced the alarm and examined the screen.

Coyomon nodded vigorously in agreement. “Rrrr… Something bad, though?”

“Something coming through the gate, at least. Doesn’t look like anything huge, but we should go check it out.”

“Yeah! Time to run!”

“Hold on, let me tell June and Bryan… and Mom and Dad, I guess.” Kyle rolled off his bed as he typed a message to his friends.

Kyle&Coyomon: Alarm @ library gate. Checking it out. Stand by?

He called out to the house on his way to the door. “Hey Mom and Dad, the digimon alarm went off, so I’ll be at the library!”

His dad looked up from the book he was reading in the living room. “Is that what that horrible sound was? Do you think you’ll need any help?”

“I already told June and Bryan.” He checked his digivice. No response yet. They were probably having a good time together off in the digital world somewhere. “But I’ll let you know. I have my phone.”

“Keep us updated,” added his mother, glancing up from her laptop.

“Yes, mom.”

Finally they were out the back door. Kyle double-checked that there was no one who might notice an evolving digimon, then grinned at Coyomon. “Okay bud. Zoom time!” He felt a rush of energy as his partner digivolved, and soon they were racing over the landscape toward the city.

Kyle kept an eye on the digivice’s tracking display as Aullidomon raced through the sagebrush and cactus. He was pretty sure the digimon on display wasn’t much bigger than a person, but it was hard to make out details from the complicated silhouette. However, that didn’t concern him as much as the fact that it had moved away from the gate entirely within a few minutes, outside the range of the tracker. The arroyo itself didn’t usually have people in it, but it was surrounded by houses and businesses that did. By the time he and Aullidomon arrived in the city a few minutes later, Kyle was dreading what sort of scene they might find. Even if no one was attacked, how would Nodens feel about a big strange digimon wandering around town in the middle of a Sunday?

“Let’s be careful, Aullidomon,” he said, as they approached the city. “Maybe you should get small and I should walk in from here.” This part of town was sparse; they’d managed to get just about to the other side of the road from the arroyo in question, so it wouldn’t be too bad on two feet.

“Rrrr, okay. I want to stay out of the digivice though,” added Aullidomon as Kyle hopped off. “To make sure you’re safe.”

“Makes sense to me. Let’s go!”

Kyle sprinted across the road without waiting for the light, and Coyomon followed close behind. The closer they got, the more relieved Kyle felt. There was no smoke, or sirens, or news crews, or even crowds of people. The area around the library looked as boring as it did on any afternoon.

The two stood at the portal and looked around. It seemed like the best place to start a search. “Hmm… Can you smell anything, bud? Or… whatever you do?”

Coyomon sniffed the ground. “Rrr… something… Definitely digimon here.”

“Well, we knew that part. Can you tell where they went?”

Coyomon was following his nose up the side of the arroyo, digging claws in to climb the steep face. Kyle detoured to find an easier way to the top, and saw his partner continuing on, straight toward the library. “Uh oh.”

Coyomon looked back at him. “Bad things, Partner-Kyle?”

“Well, if it went in the library… Then again, it doesn’t look like there’s a monster messing around over there.” The library parking-lot was half-full, with people calmly going in and out. Coyomon was focussed in on his hunt, heading straight for the front entrance. “Um… if we’re gonna go in there, maybe you should hide a bit better, bud.”

Coyomon paused and looked up. “But what if it attacks?”

“Then you can jump right out and attack it back. But I don’t want us to be the only ones causing a panic, okay?”

“Okaaaay.” Coyomon disappeared into the device at Kyle’s hip.

Kyle walked into the library on high alert, with muscles tense. Could the digimon be invisible? Or in disguise? Either way though, why would they come to the library?

He looked around the big main room. If the digimon was invisible, there wasn’t much he could do, but if they were disguised as a human, maybe he’d be able to tell. Surely a digimon wouldn’t have been around humans long enough to know how to act like one. Kyle himself had been around them for thirteen years and still couldn’t get it right sometimes.

Kyle did his best to act casual as he meandered, keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary. He felt a little guilty; he’d hate to have someone picking him out, thinking he wasn’t a human. He definitely shouldn’t pick out anyone just because they just looked unusual, like the goth kid in the magazine racks, or simply acted outside the norm, like the woman who seemed to be napping at one of the computers. He did another circuit, wondering if there was some way to get Coyomon to scent the place from inside the digivice.

It was on his second lap past the magazines that he started to think that maybe there was something strange about the teenager with the long black hair and the anachronistic dark clothes. Not only were they reading an extremely-boring-looking news magazine, they were using a finger to pick out words as if they’d only recently learned to read. It wouldn’t hurt to try and say something, right? How did people start casual conversations, anyway?

“Uh… interesting article?” he whispered, from a few feet away. The other kid startled, jumping over a foot in the air. “Uh. Sorry?”

“It is… dense,” came the reply. The voice was just as androgynous as the appearance. “Do you know where there is information about other worlds?”

Well, that was interesting. Kyle was sure June would be able to figure out a clever way to pry for more details, but all he could come up with was a direct approach. “Like… the digital world?”

The other’s head jerked up, and Kyle was sure he saw a strange blue-and-black flicker in the eyes as they looked him over, then locked on his digivice. He tensed, his hand reaching for the device protectively.

“Perhaps… we should talk outside.” The voice had an edge to it now, almost a growl.

Kyle gathered up his courage and tried to keep his voice level. “Yeah. Down by the arroyo.” The disguised digimon started walking briskly toward the exit, and Kyle hurried to catch up. “I don’t want to fight,” he added, once they were out the door. “I hope you don’t either.”

“We shall see.” The disguised digimon did a casually graceful leap over the rim of the arroyo, and stood expectantly near the gate. As Kyle scrambled down, they started to shimmer with purple flames, their form shifting. By the time he was at their level, a purple fox stood there, with four legs and at least twice as many tails. They weren’t quite as big as Aullidomon, but they still made Kyle feel small.

Coyomon shimmered into place next to Kyle, and his digivice chirped the tone indicating a successful scan.

Youkomon. Champion Level. A bewitching beast that brings about destruction and decay. A master of mystic arts.

“Fantastic,” Kyle murmured, happy the digivice didn’t announce its analyses out loud.

The digimon just stared at him expectantly. Kyle glanced away from the piercing gaze, down to Coyomon, who was growling softly. “Stay cool, bud.” He did his best to look back up at Youkomon. “So. Why are you here?”

“I happened across this gate when I was searching for information about humans. It seemed like a good place to find out more.”

Kyle nodded. “Why did you want more information on humans?” He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he wanted to check for sure.

“Some say they are destroying our world. I am undecided, but decided that either way, my best course of action would be to understand them better. If you are responsible, it would then be all the easier to take the necessary action. So. Are you here to interfere?” The fox’s tails spread, and balls of fire ignited at the tip of each one.

Coyomon’s growl became louder, and Kyle put his hand on his partner’s collar, hoping to steady both of them. “I can’t let you just… run wild, here… It could cause a lot of trouble for you, and for us too.”

“And how do you propose to stop me?” The fireballs flared.

“I still don’t want to fight,” Kyle said again. “Do you? Or…” He took a chance. “…Do you really just want to scout around?”

“A fight wouldn’t serve my purposes at this time,” Youkomon admitted, as the flames ebbed. “I was doing my best to keep from arousing suspicion, until you came along.”

Kyle nodded. “It’s our responsibility to check on digimon who cross over, to make sure they don’t cause problems. But if you really don’t want to cause problems, that might be okay…”

Coyomon looked up at Kyle. “Really okay?” he asked, head tilted.

Kyle patted his partner’s head and looked back at the purple fox. He wasn’t at all sure this was a good idea, nor what the adults in charge of digimon control would think, but he couldn’t bring himself to be the first to attack, knowing what he knew now about the consequences of serious digimon fights. And there was something else too. “We also want to know what’s causing the collapses. We don’t want them to happen either. Do you really think you could find something out?”

“I am an expert at infiltration and information-gathering. If there is something to be found, I will find it.”

“Well, I’m not sure it’s here exactly,” Kyle said, “The human world is a big place. But I guess this is as good as anywhere to start.” He paused. “But… I don’t think you’ve ever infiltrated human areas before?”

“Of course not. There was no need, until recently. But I’m sure I can rise to the challenge.”

“Well… I did find you after just a few minutes.”

Youkomon stiffened, eyes narrowing, but said nothing else.

Kyle raised his hands. “I don’t want you to get in trouble here either! Like I said, we’re trying to stop problems. So maybe… if you’re going to blend in here… start with easier reading material? There’s a kid’s section, I’m sure you’ll pick it up quick.”

Little tongues of flame curled over the tails for a moment, then died out again. “A viable strategy, I suppose.” Flames surrounded the digimon again, and formed into a human-shaped illusion, this time a few years younger. “This form would be more suitable for that room, yes?”

Kyle giggled. “I guess so, yeah. You also might want to work on how you talk.” He glanced back at the library. “Y’know, let’s go back up. I’ll show you some good books to start with. I have several years experience in trying to get humans to think I’m normal.”

“Agreed—I mean… okay.” The kid jumped several feet upward, to land at the rim of the arroyo.

“Um… yeah, we should work on that kind of thing too.” Kyle grinned nervously at Coyomon as they headed up. “This isn’t a huge mistake, is it bud?” he asked quietly.

“Hmmm... Well, they're nicer than a lot of other ones we met, so.... that's good!”

Kyle nodded, smiling a bit more. His partner's positivity was reassuring, even if Kyle was still worried himself. For the moment though, this definitely seemed better than the alternative.

Chapter Text

“So the first thing you might want to do is pick a name.” Kyle had caught up to Youkomon by the time they’d gotten to the parking lot, and was talking in a low tone as they approached the library.

“Absurd. My name is Youkomon.”

“I mean, I know, but that’s not a human name? Like, most human names sound pretty different. What if someone asked where it’s from? What would you say?”

“From my type in the Digital—ah. Yes, I see.”

As much as Kyle intended to stay focussed on teaching the digimon, other thoughts arose in his brain. He hadn’t yet really had much chance to ask a digimon much about their life in the digital world. Coyomon and Hielomon didn’t have any memories from there, and it had seemed too awkward to ask too many questions of Bakumon. But now he had a chance to satisfy some of that curiousity. “By the way, I always wondered… How does that work out when you’re around other Youkomon? Doesn’t it get confusing?”

“Why would it? Generally we know who we’re talking to.”

“Right, but what if someone’s not there? What if one Youkomon wanted to tell you what two others were doing?” Kyle paused, and frowned to himself. “I’m confusing myself just trying to describe this.”

“Ah, that. Age, obviously. Among other things.”

“Age?”

“Yes. We may all be Youkomon, but I know who was born before me, and after. I can use that to describe others, as well as other distinguishing features.”

“Huh. You all kinda look the same to me.” Kyle winced, realizing the words were a mistake as soon as they were out of his mouth.

“That sounds like a problem for you then,” came the curt reply.

“Right… Sorry.” Kyle walked in silence a few more paces. “Hey, Coyomon, we’re getting close, you okay to go in the digivice?”

“I guess so.” his partner said with a sigh. “Still gonna come out if stuff is bad.”

“I know you will, bud.” Kyle gave Coyomon’s ears a scritch just as the digimon nosed into the digivice. He really didn’t like having Coyomon hide; it felt like hiding a part of himself, and that feeling always made him uncomfortable, even when it was necessary. It was especially sharp in his mind right now, as he tried to help someone else with a strangely similar situation.

“So… what if we just think of it as a nickname?” he said to Youkomon, lingering several paces away from the library entrance. “I know you’re still Youkomon, but if anyone else asks… Hm. What’s appropriate?” He looked at the disguised digimon thoughtfully. “Hmm. Are you a boy or a girl? It’s hard to tell.”

“Neither. I’m a digimon.”

“…Huh.” Kyle’s thoughts whirled. He’d been comfortable thinking of Coyomon and Hielomon as male, and Bakumon as female, largely based on their partners and how their voices sounded, but was that right? None of them had objected to being called ‘he’ or ‘she’, but he’d never asked. Kyle himself was certainly never happy when bullies (frequently) implied he was a girl, even if he wasn’t all that interested in doing ‘typical boy stuff’ either.

“Hey, Coyomon?” He nudged the digivice. “Are you a boy or a girl?”

“I dunno!” came the slightly tinny reply from the digivice.

“Um… I call you ‘he’, does that sound okay? Or should I call you ‘she’?”

The digivice was silent for a moment. “I feel like I’m the same as you, and people call you ‘he’ so that feels good for me too!”

Kyle smiled, relieved. “Well, okay. Sounds good to me, bud. Thanks!” Still, the idea wriggled in his mind. Had Coyomon really just decided that on a whim? And what did it mean that Youkomon could, apparently, just be neither? There was definitely more to think about here, even if there were other things to figure out now.

He turned back to Youkomon, who was giving him a quizzical look. “So… a name that could be either boy or girl… Oh! You’re sorta like a kitsune, right? What if we had folks call you Kit? Would that be okay?” The digimon looked skeptical. “Just… think of it as part of your human disguise?”

“Kit,” they said, eventually. “I suppose that’s acceptable. It does fit my heritage.”

“Okay, good, great!” Kyle nodded several times. “Okay, what’s next… Oh, I said this before, but when you talk to folks, maybe use shorter words?”

“Why?”

Kyle knew this from experience. “When kids use big long words, people think it sounds impressive, which you’d think would be good, but then adults say stuff like ‘oh look at you, where’d you learn those words’ and other kids say stuff like ‘why are you trying to sound so smart’ and basically it makes you stand out a lot. And you probably don’t want to stand out a lot here, right?”

“Mmm. I suppose not. What should I say instead?”

“Listen to what folks say, and talk like that. Or like, we’re going to find some books, right? Talking like kids do in books works pretty well, as long as they’re not books from like twenty years ago.”

“I see. Imitation is often an effective strategy to… Err… Imitation is a pretty good way to sneak around, right?” Youkomon said the words very deliberately, then paused. “Was that better?”

“You’re getting the hang of it,” Kyle said, nodding. “It’s not easy, I know.” The more he talked about this, the more uneasy he felt. Most of the time he’d learned not to think much about all he already did to ‘fly under the radar’, as his dad had put it, even around people who supposedly understood him. “You’re also going to want to find a place where you can be away from people. probably. It gets exhausting after a while.”

“It’s fortunate—It’s a good thing that the gate is close to this library, then. I rarely need to hide myself there.”

“Yeah… me neither.” Pleasant thoughts floated through Kyle’s head, of the little bit of exploring he’d done, of File Town and the folks he’d met there, of Josh… It was just too bad his time there was so restricted. What would it be like if Kyle could be in the digital world all the time? “I may have only been going there for a few weeks, but it already means so much to me. I met Coyomon, and so many other friends too…” Unexpectedly, Kyle felt his eyes getting wet. He squeezed his digivice as if he was hugging Coyomon.

Youkomon was staring at him. “You really do seem to care about the digital world,” they said after a moment. “I’m glad.”

“Yeah, Partner-Kyle is a great digimon friend!”

Kyle nodded, smiling. “Thanks, bud. And thank you too. I do my best. Must be important to you too, if you’re willing to go to all this trouble to come here and do your reconnaissance…”

“For the good of all digimon, I must do all I can to find out who is responsible for what’s happening to our world, and… kick their butts? Does that phrase sound right?”

“Sounds good to me.” Kyle glanced toward the entrance. “We should probably go inside at some point.”

Youkomon nodded. “I think I’m ready.” They actually looked a bit stiffer than they had before. “For a little while, at least.”

Human and disguised digimon entered through the wide front doors and took a left, toward the rainbow-painted archway to the children’s section. He felt tense; all his ‘act normal’ reflexes had been brought to the fore, and he had to fight down intrusive thoughts like ‘are people going to think I’m too old to be in this part of the building’ and ‘what if I’m totally the wrong person to be helping with this’. Instead, he did his best to focus on Youkomon. They looked about as tense as he felt.

“Okay, we gotta talk quiet in here,” he whispered. “And let’s just find a place to sit. Once you’re sitting, usually no one will notice you. Here, these are the young adult books, which are about what you’d be looking for. The name makes no sense.”

Youkomon nodded silently, and looked over the colorful books. “Where do I start? Which one of these will tell me what I want to know about humans?”

“Well, they’re not gonna tell you about where to find the people who are invading the digital world. I’m pretty sure they aren’t even around here, because that stuff was happening before these gates here. Like I said, the human world is big. But this is how I learned to blend in, so I figure it’ll work for you too. And then after that, we can…” Kyle trailed off. He realized he hadn’t thought much further ahead than this. Should he tell a wild digimon he just met about File Town? It seemed like a riskier idea than just showing them around the library. “…We can work out more later.”

“Later.” The digimon’s voice was flat, and Kyle was worried he’d said something wrong. “Later seems like a fine idea. You’ve been very helpful today, but I think I might like to continue my infiltration some other time. This is… more tiring than I expected. Are you here often?”

Kyle was pretty sure that Youkomon was feeling the same way he did after a long social event. “I can be.” He checked the time. “This is about when I get out of school every day. I can check in with you here. My digivice will tell me when you come through, I think I can recognize you now.”

“Ah. But… no one else has that ability? It would complicate my infiltration quite a bit.”

“No, just me. One digivice, one gate. It’s actually kinda a pain—”

“Good. Well then. I will return to the digital world now, and continue my explorations here soon. Thank you for your help, Kyle and Coyomon. I trust you’ll let me know if you find anything important too.” Youkomon stood up, and started walking toward the exit.

Kyle hurried along after. “Uh, yeah, sure! Thank you!” Youkomon glanced back and gave a quick nod, but said nothing else as they walked to the gate, and back to the digital world. At least this time they didn’t do any dramatic acrobatics.

Kyle let out a huge sigh. “Okay, bud. C’mon out, I guess we can go home now.”

Coyomon appeared next to him. “Everything okay Partner-Kyle? You sound tired.”

“They gave me a lot to think about,” Kyle replied. “C’mon, we gotta do a little walk to get to a good place to run home.”

“Okay! I’m just glad to be out again!”

“Me too, Coyomon.” Kyle was quiet as they walked the length of the arroyo, seeking out a place where they could run home without crossing any major streets. Every step made him think more of the effort he went to, to seem normal. Each moment made him yearn more for the relative freedom of the digital world. He’d only been there for a few hours in total, and it already felt more like home than the place he’d lived for thirteen years. What could he do, to make it a place where he could be more often?

Chapter Text

The next school day was more hectic than most. Kyle hadn’t planned to spend a chunk of his Sunday teaching a digimon how to act like a normal human, and the better part of his evening thinking and talking to Coyomon about how much effort he put into doing that himself. Put together, it left him once again scrambling to catch up on homework in the library before classes. He didn’t even see his friends until lunchtime when they all gathered in Mr. Neary’s room.

“So I guess that gate alarm wasn’t any big deal?” asked Bryan between bites of sandwich.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, no, it was fine.” Kyle fidgeted with his digivice and peered skeptically at his leftover meatloaf.

“You did have us worried,” said June. “Just the one mention and then nothing else. Did you miss the IMs?”

Bryan grinned. “Look who’s talking, Ms. Chatting-inteferes-with-my-homework-time.”

Kyle frowned to himself. He did remember ignoring a few chat alerts the previous evening. “Oh geez, sorry. I had some stuff on my mind.”

Bryan’s grin turned on Kyle now. “Don’t tell me. Secret trip to the DW to hang out with your crush?”

June elbowed Bryan lightly. “Or, did something happen with the gate?”

The idea of deflecting or lying flitted through Kyle’s brain for only the briefest moment before he discarded it. He took a deep breath, and gave all the details; Youkomon, the human lessons, and the ruminations that followed.

“Whoa,” said Bryan eventually. “That’s cool. I think.”

June nodded thoughtfully. “I can see why you did that, though I’m not sure how trustworthy that sort of digimon would be.” She tapped her digivice. “Bakumon, did you hear all that? What do you think?”

“I wish I’d been there to sense their intentions,” replied the digitized voice of her partner. “Next time you meet them, can you bring all of us?”

“But they were nice!” protested Coyomon from his own digivice. “And a pretty color.”

“No, yeah, that’s a good idea,” said Kyle. “I’m expecting them to be around after school again sometime, I’ll definitely let you all know. Or… the alarm will.” Kyle shuddered slightly at the memory of it blaring through the house. “Seriously, has anyone found a way to turn that thing down?”

The conversation quickly turned toward figuring out if that was possible, once again going through the digivice’s minimal digi-code-labelled settings. No one had much luck, though June got hers to emit an entirely different squawk by finding a ‘test’ option. They even recruited Mr. Neary, who didn’t have any better luck, though he was fascinated by the updates to the device, especially the digi-chat functionality.

“See, yes, this is exactly what I was imagining, talking about using them to communicate! Fascinating, do you know who did this?”

Bryan shrugged. “Probably those Nodens guys? They made the digivices, right?”

June shook her head. “No, it was one of the kids in the town. Chelsey, I met her yesterday. Her dad works at a tech company out in California and I guess he worked out how to add new code to the digivices. So she spends most of her time working out new things they can do. It’s fascinating. I’ll ask her about the alarm thing next time I see her too.”

“Nice, I sure hope so,” said Kyle. “Annnnd, that reminds me! It’s you and me on the digital world schedule today, right June? Gonna be able to spend some time there after school? There’s something I want to try and I need some navigation help.”

June nodded. “Sure, but in that case, I should take some time now for homework.” She packed away her lunch and stood. “See you after school!”

Kyle was once again trying to get comfortable with the precipitous drops all around him as he stood on the giant tree branch. Having Coyomon helped. Sitting down helped more. But even though his heart was pounding, he was glad to be back in the digital world.

June and Bakumon shimmered into being as she crossed through the gate. “Thanks for your patience! We got caught up reading. You said you wanted navigation help? What did you mean?”

Kyle grinned. “So, I feel dumb for not thinking of this earlier, but we have three gates, right? And I’m pretty sure it’s a quicker walk on this side to get to my gate than it is back there, even if it goes through other portals.”

“Awww, less running?” said Coyomon.

“Less chance of folks seeing us running, bud, which will make the running a lot more relaxing. I’d definitely still feel better if you were the one running along these tree branches.”

“Excellent idea,” said Bakumon. “Particularly helpful for those of us who are more conspicuous in our adult forms.”

“A huge electric dog is still pretty conspicuous,” said June. “Have you and Aullidomon been running around a lot? That might not be the best idea. Don’t you leave footprints? Don’t most people have phone cameras?”

Kyle raised his hands. “Hey, mostly we’ve been doing it outside of town where there’s nobody for miles. But like I just said, I’m trying to figure out a way to do that less. I just need to know the way to File Town from here. Through the mountains, and the… what’d you call it? Creepy ski village?”

“All right, I think we can do that,” said June. “Although…” She glanced at Bakumon, who bobbed in the air and gave a slight nod. “Would you be able to give us any tips on evolving?”

“Huh? Didn’t you do it already?”

“Well… once,” said June.

“Under duress,” added Bakumon.

“Yeah, I’d rather not have to wait until we’re under attack to do it again,” continued June, and her partner nodded rapidly. “We tried with Bryan and Hielomon yesterday, but you know how they are. About all he could suggest was ‘You just gotta feel it’.” She and Bakumon both rolled their eyes at the same time. “I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. You’ve been doing it longer, so I was wondering if you could give any better idea than that? You were doing it all on your own like the day after Coyomon first evolved…”

“Well, it was two days—“ Kyle cut himself off as he saw June start to frown. “Sorry.” He thought back to how he’d felt that first day; he’d been just as obsessed with getting the change to happen again. What had finally worked? “I think we can help. What have you tried so far?”

“I’ve been trying to imagine myself as Baluchimon,” said Bakumon. “Feeling strong and powerful and big, and having hind legs…”

“And I’ve been trying to give her energy for it. Encouragement, and power. I figured it was likely to work like it does on TV.”

Kyle smiled slightly. “So, calling out her evolved name, and power-posing?” He was pretty sure June was getting frowny again, so he raised a hand. “Yeah, I did that too. Kinda hurt my voice that way.”

“You sounded cool, Partner-Kyle!”

“I guess, but it didn’t work.”

“So, what did?” June sounded impatient.

Kyle thought again. The first thing that came to mind was in fact, “You just gotta feel it,” and he knew better than to say that. There had definitely been more to it, but how to put it into words? The first time Coyomon had evolved, it had been easy, they were both focussed on protecting each other, and the gate. The second time…

Kyle was pacing back and forth in the yard, with Coyomon close on his heels. His throat was sore from yelling encouraging evolution phrases. They’d been at it all afternoon, and now it was getting dark. Finally he’d sat down heavily next to his partner on the ground. “I just want to feel that again. You felt so strong, and I felt so connected to you…”

“Rrrr, me toooo, Partner-Kyle.”

“This is just as frustrating as when we tried to get you small again.”

“More frustrating!”

“Yeah.” Kyle paused, remembering what Aullidomon had said. “Frustration isn’t helping, is it?”

“Rrrr?”

“You said it before, bud. And you didn’t change until we sorta calmed down, and… thought together.”

“Oooooh. Right! But we both want the same thing!”

“Yeah but mostly I’ve been yelling and you’ve been jumping around.” Kyle giggled. “Okay, just… close your eyes.” Kyle did the same, and put his hand on Coyomon’s back, burying it in the fur. “Imagine I’m on your back, and we’re running. All through the digital world, and no one’s holding us back or expecting us to be anywhere…” Kyle felt something spark inside him as he described those images filling his head, and he started to feel breathless.

Light blazed, bright enough to shine through his eyelids, and he felt his partner’s body start to shift…

“Okay, but I tried that,” June said. “Baluchimon is all I’ve been able to think of, I’ve definitely imagined her—“ Bakumon nudged her side with her snout. “Oh. It’s not about that, is it?”

Bakumon nodded. “I think you got a bit ahead of yourself again, June.”

“Yeah,” said Kyle. “I think it’s more about being in sync, which I know sounds kind of like ‘just feel it’ but…” He trailed off as he saw Bakumon and June turning toward each other, a new sort of focus in their eyes.

It took only a moment before Bakumon’s form started to shimmer and dissolve and reform as a much larger beast. Two voices in unison shouted “YES!” and June leapt onto Baluchimon’s back as soon as she’d solidified.

Kyle grinned. “That was fast.”

June smiled back. “I have some experience with controlling my thoughts.”

“Indeed, she’s quite good at it.” Baluchimon pawed the bark-covered ground, adjusting to her new legs. “The trick is getting her to remember it.”

June shrugged. “Hey, I’m getting better. Now come on, let’s ride!”

Kyle pressed closer to Coyomon, and summoned the image of them running free. The shift didn’t come quite as fast as June’s, but it came nonetheless, and soon two trainers and two digimon were dashing along tree-branches on the way to explore more of the digital world.

Chapter Text

Kyle, Bryan, and their digimon walked past vacant A-frame houses on the way to the nearest File Town gate.

“Sooooo, have you figured anything out with Josh?”

Kyle’s steps faltered. “Huh? Figured what out?” The pastel-painted buildings were suddenly very interesting.

“Dude, we talked about this? And I saw how you were with him the other day after training.”

A flurry of thoughts made it hard for Kyle to distract himself with architecture. “Ooh, right. Yeah. I dunno.”

“Is that a ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ dunno, or a real dunno?” Bryan was grinning, but at least his voice didn’t have a teasing edge.

Kyle took a few more moments to think about it. Unfortunately, Coyomon didn’t. “Josh makes Partner-Kyle feel…” The digimon did that little dance-hop again, even as Kyle motioned at him to stop. “…and Partner-Kyle thinks Josh is confident and hot and wants to talk to him more.”

Kyle groaned. “Coyomon! Oh my God!”

Bryan and Hielomon both just gave him big grins, and said “Thought so,” almost in unison.

Kyle sighed. “Okay. Yes. I have figured that out. I have a crush on an actual person. I have not figured out what to do about it. This is pretty new territory for me.”

“You could just… talk to him more,” said Hielomon.

Coyomon bobbed his head. “That’s what I said!”

“I can help, if you want!” said Bryan. “I’ve talked to girls, and I know what I’d want girls to say to me and—wait, is it the same? Sorry dude, it’s not like I think—“ Hielomon put a calming paw on Bryan’s shoulder, and the other boy tapered off. “I mean, if you want someone to talk to about it. Just in general.”

Kyle was not convinced that Bryan had much more experience than he did. He wasn’t sure what was going on between Bryan and June; it seemed like something, but he was pretty sure it was not classic romance. Then again, Bryan wasn’t the one who had a thirteen-year history of missing social cues.

“I don’t even know where I’d start,” said Kyle. “The only thing I can think of to talk about is digimon stuff, and I’m pretty sure most people don’t want to just talk about digimon stuff constantly. Even here.” He paused, and frowned. “But I also don’t want to just talk for the sake of talking. This is supposed to be the place where I can be myself, right? I especially don’t want to fake being normal for someone… like that, right?”

They were at the portal now. Kyle sighed, and leaned on a nearby building. He reached out to pet Coyomon, who was already providing soothing pressure against his legs. “It’s okay, Partner-Kyle.”

“Makes sense to me,” said Hielomon, nodding.

“I guess so,” said Bryan. “But like… maybe you’re overthinking it?”

“I do that a lot, yeah.”

“Eventually you just gotta try and do something, y’know?”

Hielomon nodded again. “If you want someone to like you for yourself, you should just keep being yourself.” For some reason, the dragon-digimon looked at Bryan as he said that, and Bryan glanced away.

“Or I can tell him, Partner-Kyle!”

“Please don’t, Coyomon,” Kyle said, voice tight.

“Okaaaay.” Coyomon nudged his leg. “But let’s gooo. I wanna see him too!”

“Yeah, you’re the one on the clock here, dude,” Bryan said, nodding toward the portal.

Kyle raised his hands. “All right, all right. Let’s go!” He stepped through the portal, into the outskirts of File Town.

File Town today had a few new faces, and a handful of familiar ones. Kai and Bearmon were playing video games with someone Kyle didn’t recognize. Chelsey was there on her computer again, presumably working on some sort of digivice program. Kyle was worried Josh wasn’t there, until he heard Betamon’s voice chirping from the other end of the clearing. He hurried over to find the two playing fetch (or maybe catch) with a basketball in one of the less-built areas.

“Kyle, Bryan! Hi!” Josh took a step closer, then glared at his partner, who had the big ball wedged firmly in his mouth. “Betamon, if you pop that one, I do not know if I can get another one.” Betamon made a muffled sound of acknowledgement and Josh turned back to Kyle. “Everything good? I know things got a bit rough over the weekend.”

Kyle frowned. Did Josh know about Youkomon somehow? Then he remembered the conversation about what happened to defeated digimon. “Oh. Yeah. I’m okay. Just still got a lot to learn, I guess.”

“No kidding. It’s a whole new world, right? So what’s up today? You guys want to spar, like we talked about? Or go on patrol? We still haven’t done that yet.”

He definitely wanted to spend more time with Josh, but it was hard to decide. Sparring felt like it would be pretty stressful, but patrolling would leave a lot of time for the sort of talking that Kyle still wasn’t sure how to do.

While Kyle was still thinking, Bryan spoke up. “Aaaactually, I wanted to talk to… Chelsey about something. Y’know, digivice stuff. But Kyle, you should go patrol with Josh! Have lots of fun!” Bryan and Hielomon both gave a cheerful wave, and headed back toward the huts, leaving Kyle and Coyomon alone with Josh and Betamon.

“Was that…” Josh shrugged. “Well, whatever. I’m definitely okay patrolling with just you.” Kyle’s insides jumped around, just like Coyomon did when trying to describe his feelings. “Have you been to the Obsidian Castle?”

Kyle shook his head. “I think I’d remember that. I’ve pretty much just been here, and the ski village, and the little mountains, and the big trees. Oh, and June’s beach place once.”

“Great! It’s kinda hot. Well. Very hot. Like lava-lake hot. But the digimon there are friendly, so it’s a good place to check in, every once in a while. It’s a bit of a hike but we should get there and back in time. C’mon, it’s this way!” Josh pointed toward one of the other trails leading from the clearing.

Kyle followed the other boy, with Coyomon close behind. He spent most of his time looking around at the jungle scenery, marveling at how almost-normal it looked. He could almost think he was in the rainforest on Earth, except when they’d turn a corner and see a tree with purple bark and glittering blue leaves, or a hanging vine that was weighed down with fruit colored in rainbow zig-zags. For the first few minutes, he was worried that Josh would start up with the small talk, but as they kept going, it seemed more and more clear that Josh was comfortable with friendly silence. He occasionally had to tell Betamon to stay on track, or to not eat something (just like Kyle had to do with Coyomon) but otherwise Just seemed just as happy as Kyle was to walk and enjoy the scenery.

It was almost a surprise when Josh spoke again, after ten minutes or so. “We’re a little over halfway there. You guys doing okay?”

“Yeah, we’re great!” said Coyomon. “Everything’s all colorful and cool, even if I can’t eat it!”

“Yeah, it’s nice,” said Kyle. “Thanks for just letting me walk. Sorry I’m not great for conversation.” As soon as the phrase was out of his mouth, Kyle regretted it. That was exactly the sort of thing he usually had to say to fit in, and it was such a habit that he’d said it without even meaning to.

“Hey, it’s okay. Nothing to apologize for.” Josh smiled at him. “If you want to talk, we can talk. If not, I’m good. I usually do this alone anyway.”

“Not alone!” Betamon said, hopping up and down.

Josh laughed, and rubbed his partner’s back. “Sorry, Betamon. Never alone. But with no other humans.”

Kyle managed a nervous giggle of his own. “Th-thank you…” he said, a stammer creeping into his voice as his thoughts continued to race. The advice rang clear in his head. Say the thing. Be yourself. He took a breath. “I actually want to talk to you more,” he said. “I… think you’re really cool and I want to get to know you better, but… I have a hard time with it. I’m…” He faltered and looked down to Coyomon. He wasn’t sure if the digimon knew what he was on the verge of saying, but seeing those big encouraging eyes looking back up at him gave him the nudge he needed. “I’m autistic, and I’m gay, and I like you, and most of the time I don’t know how to deal with things other than saying nothing at all, or everything at once. And… This is what everything at once sounds like.”

Josh was quiet for a moment, leaving Kyle’s brain to spin out into all sorts of dire imaginings about how he must be taking it. Fortunately, Coyomon was still there, his tail wagging against Kyle’s legs, a proud smile on his muzzle.

Finally, Josh spoke. “Thank you.”

“Thank… me…?”

“Yeah!” That was Betamon. “We were wondering what was going on with you!”

“And,” said Josh, with a sidelong look at his partner, “I can tell it must’ve been hard to work out how to say all that.” He paused again. “I know how it is to carry around something important, and not know how to talk about it with people.”

“You… uh… Like what…?” Kyle was pretty sure that was not the most polite response, but he was almost entirely done with worrying about that now.

“Well, among other things, I’m bi, so I do not have a problem with you liking me, and in fact the feeling is mutual.” Josh’s smile was warm, and would’ve been wonderfully reassuring if his words hadn’t just opened up a whole bunch of questions about what to do now.

“Oh. Wow. Oh. So…” Kyle let out a frantic giggle. “I have no idea what comes next.”

“What comes next is, we keep going on patrol, if you’re okay with that?”

Kyle realized that at some point they’d stopped walking. “Oh! Right! Definitely!” He started to walk down the trail again. “This is probably a silly question, but I have no experience with this; does that make this a date now?”

“No.” Josh’s voice was definite, but he was still smiling. “I mean, I only met you like a week ago, and the Obsidian Castle might be impressive, but it’s not much of a date spot. This is a chance to hang out more and get to know each other better. Is that okay?”

“That’s great!” Kyle nodded rapidly. “I wouldn’t know what to do on a date anyway, but getting to know each other sounds good. Um. As long as you don’t mind if my questions are sorta direct sometimes?”

“I guess that goes with the territory, huh? Thanks for warning me. I might not want to answer everything, but I can at least promise I won’t take offense.”

“Okay, yeah, I can handle that. So like… okay. It sounded like you’re kinda closeted? But you live in Seattle? I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal there? Or wait, did I misunderstand?”

Josh laughed softly. “Wow, right into it right now, huh?” He shrugged. “Fair question, though. Seattle seems pretty fine about that kind of thing in general, unless you have religious parents.”

“Oh. Oh.” Kyle winced. “I’m sorry.”

Josh nodded. “Yeah. LDS—Mormons. There’s… a lot about me that they have a hard time with. That’s a big part of why I’m here so often.”

Kyle wondered if there was more to that ‘a lot’ than just Josh’s orientation, but a different question pushed to the front of his mind. “Your parents let you—“

“No. They probably think I’m a shut-in, or if they notice I’m not in my room, they probably think I’m downtown falling into some sort of horrible sin or another.” Kyle noticed Betamon pressing close to Josh now, soothing him the same way Coyomon often did to Kyle himself. “I’m not sure how long we can keep this up though, and then, well…” Josh shrugged. “Maybe File Town will have its first full-time human resident.”

“Wow…” Kyle said. “I mean, I keep sorta thinking it’d be cool if folks could live here, but… that actually sounds really rough.”

“I don’t know. It could be way worse. At least I have this place. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t met Betamon.” He smiled down at his partner and gave him a pet. The digimon warbled back up at him affectionately.

Kyle did the same for Coyomon, who gave a small bark and a lick in response. “I’m with you there, yeah. And I’m glad you have this place too. I can see why you care so much about it.”

Josh shook his head. “I’m not the only kid who uses the digital world as a refuge. That’s why I care so much about us having a safe place.”

He fell quiet again, and Kyle was so full up on things to think about, that he had no idea if he could form words at the moment. The silence only lasted a few more paces though, as they rounded a bend and saw the telltale shimmer of a portal.

“And here we are,” Josh said, nodding at it. “Ready to see the most metal place in the digital world?” He was grinning again now.

“Yesyesyes, Partner-Kyle, come on!” Coyomon was already sticking his nose into the gate.

Kyle laughed. “Yes, okay! Let’s do it!” He followed his partner through, excited to see what else about this world Josh could show him.

Chapter Text

Thoughts of Josh consumed Kyle’s attention most of the next day, as he tried to work out the next step in getting to know his crush. He’d sent a Digi-Chat message as soon as he woke up, but he hadn’t seen a response by the time he got to school, nor by the end of first period.

By the beginning of third period, Kyle started to get anxious, even as he felt embarrassed about that level of emotion. He’d never tried to send a message to Josh before, so it was entirely possible Josh was busy, or just as bad as June at responding quickly. But still, unwarranted thoughts crept into his mind of something having happened to the other boy, or (just as bad) things having gone sour for how the previous day’s activities had ended.

Kyle had wanted so badly to continue their patrol conversation, but other factors had intervened. Once they’d reached the Obsidian Castle (which was even more impressive than promised), Josh had been fully focussed on taking reports from an imposing magma-dragon and several Meramon. Kyle hadn’t been sure what to do, so he and Coyomon eventually just started wandering the place, until he’d realized he was at risk of getting home late. Kyle had rushed back for a hasty goodbye, and then remembered he was stuck on real-world duty the next day too. At least he’d been able to tell Josh that too, so the other boy hopefully wouldn’t think Kyle was avoiding him.

“Am I overthinking this, Coyomon?” he said to his digivice as he ate lunch outside.

“Rrrrrr, you said you do that a lot, so… probably!”

“Don’t suppose you know a way to stop that? Can you Spark Spray my anxiety? Static Shield them away?”

“If your thoughts are digimon, that’s probably a different problem, Partner-Kyle.”

“Hah, I guess so—oh!” Kyle’s digivice emitted a familiar chirp, and his heart leapt as he found a Digi-Chat message waiting for him. “Just a sec, Coyomon, he wrote back!” He pulled the digivice away from his ear to read the message.

Josh&Betamon: sorry! hi! busy morning. cya this afternoon?

Kyle groaned to himself and started to type a response, but another message came from Josh first.

Josh&Betamon: oh wait no sorry. you said its your day out right?

Kyle&Coyomon: yeah :\ tomorrow though for sure!

That seemed like a terribly long time to wait.

Coyomon&Kyle: yeahhhh!!!

“Wait what? Coyomon?” That text had appeared on the screen all by itself, and he was pretty sure he’d heard something from the speaker at the same time.

“What, Partner-Kyle?”

Coyomon&Kyle: what, partner-kyle?

He’d definitely both heard and read that.

Betamon&Josh: hiiiiii coyomon!!!

Kyle froze, trying to work out if he should try to reply over speech or text.

Kyle&Coyomon: Um. Digimon can use digi-chat?

Betamon&Josh: It's called DIGI-chat!!

Josh&Betamon: oh right yeah! they can read the messages and send their own when they're inside the thing

Josh&Betamon: you can talk to themt hat way too. its good if your tryin to be quiet

Kyle&Coyomon: Except Coyomon's saying everything he's sending too :P

Betamon&Josh: Oh yeah I used to do that too!

Josh&Betamon: You still do sometimes ;) Coyomon just try to talk soft or think loud?

Coyomon&Kyle: like this?

That time the digivice was quiet.

Kyle&Coyomon: Yeah nice job bud!

Josh&Betamon: Glad we got that worked out ;)

Kyle felt the conversation tapering off. Even having this time with Josh made it harder to think of an evening alone, out of the digital world. Unless…

Kyle&Coyomon: Hey so weird question

Kyle&Coyomon: Do you want to come to my house after school?

Kyle was almost surprised he’d managed to type that. His heart pounded until he saw the response.

Josh&Betamon: oh sure we could do that! guess i know the way :)

Coyomon&Kyle: Yaaaaaaay!

Kyle&Coyomon: Yeah awesome thans!! if we run home we could be there by like 3:30

Kyle&Coyomon: 4:30 for you I guess

Kyle&Coyomon: Gives us like 2 hours until parents come home

Josh&Betamon: cool cya then!

Kyle&Coyomon: yesssss ok gtg lunch over! cya!

He did his best to not spend the rest of the afternoon thinking about what he would do with Josh after school, and mostly failed. By the time the last bell rang, he had a list a mile long. There was sparring, like Josh had suggested. There were video games, though he wasn’t exactly a champ at competitive ones. Maybe they could just watch TV; had Josh even seen the old Digimon cartoons?

Finally he and Aullidomon were racing across the scrubland, back to his house. Josh and Betamon were already there, standing in almost the same spot they had been when Kyle had first met them a week ago.

“Hiii Josh, Hiiiiii Betamon!” Aullidomon was the first one to greet them as he skidded to a stop. Kyle hopped off his partner’s back as he felt him starting to shrink, and Coyomon was soon running over to greet Betamon in a flurry of jumping and chirping and barking.

Josh grinned, watching the display. “Wow, they get along great, huh?”

“Yeah!” Kyle nodded, faintly envious of the way the digimon freely showed affection. Meanwhile, he was fighting through his own conflicting feelings, his ingrained impulses to act normal, and his distracting amounts of excitement. “So what do you like to do? Video games? Cartoons? Training?”

“Oooh, sparring is exciting, can we do that?” Betamon bounced on his spindly legs.

“Rrrr, yeah! I haven’t blasted anything in days!” Coyomon’s claws dug into the ground.

Josh looked around, then nodded toward the neighboring houses, about twenty yards away. “Those are probably still a bit too close to do a proper sparring session. Plus, I figure your parents probably want to keep these little trees intact? If our guys evolve and start to fight, they’re gonna mess up the place pretty quick. That’s why we try to only spar in the digital world.”

“Whoa. I didn’t know it went that far. No sparring when they’re just like this?”

Josh shook his head quickly. “You should always be training at the highest evolution level you can. You don’t get anywhere by holding back.”

“Oh. Um, right…” Josh suddenly seemed serious, almost grown-up. Kyle had seen a bit of this side of Josh the day before, as he took reports from fiery digimon. Then, it had made him want to find something else to do. Now, it made him anxious.

Coyomon nosed his hand, and Kyle felt a pang of anxiety from his partner as well. “Rrrr, we can just blast stuff later then, okay Partner-Kyle?”

“We could…” Kyle tried to think of something that would appeal to this side of Josh too. “…Fighting games? I have Smash Bros. I’m not very good at it but it’s fun anyway?” He nodded toward the house. “Either way we should maybe go inside?”

“Yeah, there’s snacks in there, and I’m hungry!” said Coyomon, and started to trot off in that direction on his own.

“Snacks!” Betamon chirped and followed after, leaving the two tamers to hurry and catch up.

“I haven’t really played any video games, so you’re probably better off than me already,” said Josh.

“Not even in File Town?” Kyle asked.

“I watch them, but someone’s gotta stay alert, right? Or go on patrols, or work on buildings… There’s always more stuff to do there.”

“Wow.” Kyle opened the door for Coyomon, and hurried to the pantry to keep the digimon from cleaning it out on their own. He picked out a few candy bars and packets of jerky. He looked back to Josh. “Grab whatever you think Betamon would like.”

Josh stepped in next to him, looking at the shelves. The pantry was barely big enough for them both, but the other boy didn’t seem to mind. “Is this tuna okay to use?”

“Oh, sure, one can should be fine.”

“Oooh, fish! Yes yes yes!” Betamon said, though Coyomon next to him made a disgusted face.

Josh grabbed a few more things—dried fruit and nuts, it looked like, and soon they were sitting down in front of the TV. Kyle tried to explain the basics of the game to Josh, but he didn’t get far. He ended up either spinning off into tangents and minutiae (Josh didn’t even know who most of the characters were!) or he struggled to demonstrate basic gameplay concepts. Betamon and Coyomon provided enthusiastic color commentary between snacks, but Kyle was sure he was doing a terrible job. Josh, however, seemed totally focussed on it, taking the game-playing just as seriously as anything else. Kyle couldn’t help but wonder if the other boy was treating it like another sort of training.

After half an hour (during which time Josh’s smashing skills had developed to almost match his own meager attempts) Kyle’s fingers had started to hurt enough to want to try something else. “Sooo… have you ever watched the Digimon show?” Kyle asked. His stomach tensed a bit. Plenty of attempted friendships had run into trouble at just this point, where other kids had laughed off the idea, calling it ‘baby stuff’ or ‘a total ripoff’. But he was still committed to being authentic with Josh, and if Josh brushed it off… well, that would be terrible, but it would be better than wondering and worrying.

“I haven’t, no…” said Josh, and Kyle’s brain scrambled to try to interpret that tone before Josh continued. “I guess it might be good to watch though? People keep saying I could learn stuff from it.”

That wasn’t quite the rationale Kyle was expecting, but it was a better reaction than most. “Yeah! Probably! Some of the digimon seem to be the same!” He leapt up and grabbed the well-used DVD from the rack.

Kyle couldn’t help singing along with the theme song, cheesy as it was, and Coyomon joined in along with him, followed by Betamon. Josh gave him a grin that he decided to assume was encouraging.

“Wow, that’s a lot of characters,” said Josh as the episode went through its setup. “And they’re all gonna get digimon?”

“Yeah, plus another kid one later on, and then even more in the second series, and some allies—“

“Hey, no spoilers!”

“Sorry! Um. I have a lot to say about it. It’s kinda hard to start from the beginning and have all this stuff in my head…”

He snuggled up with Coyomon as they watched the kids enter the digital world. “Wow, that looks a lot like the jungle where the town is!” said Betamon.

Josh nodded. “Do you know if like… how much of this is based on reality? Or… is the digital world like that because of the show?”

“I keep wondering that!” said Kyle. “There’s definitely some of the same digimon, and there’s stuff like the jungle… There’s things I don’t see, like in the show sometimes there’s just random junk in the wilderness. You haven’t seen any phone booths on a beach, have you?”

Josh and Betamon shook their heads.

The episode continued, with everyone giving a big cheer at the first set of digivolutions, and then a big gasp at the cliffhanger immediately after.

Kyle grinned. “More?”

“Yeah!” chorused the three other voices. Kyle practically bounced with excitement. This was going just as well as he’d hoped.

When the big fight scene started, Josh leaned in to watch. “I’m not sure that’s the best tactic—Wow, next form already? Same day? That explains a lot about how impatient some folks are.”

“There’s less fighting than I expected,” said Josh, a little ways into the third episode.”

“Well, it’s not about being the very best or whatever,” Kyle replied with a grin. “It’s survival and relationships and stuff.”

“Yeah, this is… I mean I don’t think I’m learning much, but it’s fun to watch.”

“Oh no, that poor Seadramon!” Betamon interjected, recognizing the creature’s tail an instant before it revealed itself. “Aah, it’s so mean,” he said as the fight progressed.

Josh hugged his partner into his lap. “It’s okay Betamon, it’s just a show. This didn’t really happen, I don’t think.”

“Yeah but it’s weird to see someone who looks like me!”

“Ooh! Hey! That looks kinda like me when I’m Aullidomon!” Coyomon said as Garurumon appeared.

Kyle laughed nervously. “I mean, maybe there was some inspiration. But I think you look cooler.”

“Me too!” said Betamon. “Plus you wouldn’t attack me like that.”

“Is it weird if I ship Tai and Matt?” Josh asked as the episode was over.

Kyle laughed much harder this time. “No. Not at all.” He was about to put the next episode in when he heard a car in the driveway. “Oh, that must be my mom.”

Josh tensed. “Does she know we’re here? Is it okay?”

“I told them I was coming home by myself, and that you’d be here too, yeah. It’s fine!”

Josh and Betamon were closer even than they had been when watching the episode. “Oh, well… I guess I should go home anyway? I mean I guess you’ll be eating dinner soon, and I should get some food too…”

Kyle wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Partner-Kyle’s mom always makes extra food!” said Coyomon. “You can eat here!”

Betamon nosed his partner. “Hey, yeah, more food! Let’s stay, Josh!”

Josh shook his head. “Nah, it’s okay. We have food.” He turned to Kyle, showing an apologetic smile, but talking fast. “This was really great. I want to do it again, I’m just… not good with parents.”

The room felt like it was spinning. “Things were fine with my dad the other day, though, can’t you—“

The door opened. “Kyle, I’m home! Is your friend still here?”

“Hi, Kyle’s mom!” said Josh, his voice tight. “I was just leaving.”

“Oh, well… all right! Thanks for keeping Kyle company!”

Kyle watched Josh and Betamon leave through the back door. Everything was happening extremely fast. “See you later!” said the digimon.

“Yeah. Promise,” said Josh. It was the only thing that kept Kyle from completely melting down.

“He’s gone already?” said Kyle’s mom, as she entered the living room. “That was strange.”

Kyle was sprawled on the ground now, and he nodded weakly. “Yeah…” Coyomon was practically laying on him to help calm him down, and he didn’t even care if his mom thought that was strange too. “We’ll… we’ll just be up in my room until dinner, okay mom?”

“That’s fine, dear. See you then!”

Kyle and Coyomon made their way to the comforting environs of his room, where they curled up together again. “Okay, Partner-Kyle?”

“Not really. I think I will be, but…” Kyle’s voice was still shaky. “I-I dunno, I guess Josh has some stuff going on too? I wish I knew what…”

“Me tooooo. But we can ask him later. For now, help you.”

Kyle nodded, finally starting to breathe easier.

Chapter Text

“Jooosh…” Betamon’s voice was plaintive and his eyes were big as they hurried through the gate.

“Sorry, B. But we’ve been out of File Town all day! We should really check in.” Josh said it with such earnestness, he almost believed it himself. They emerged into the lake, and both were quiet for a moment as they ‘swam’ to the surface.

As soon as they were on shore, Betamon started up again. “They were gonna have food! And you were having a good time with Kyle, right? I was! And Coyomon’s great!”

“He is—They both are!” Josh smiled a bit. For a couple hours with Kyle, he’d felt so far away from the pressures of File Town, not to mention the uncertainty of the rest of his life. “But, town! Lots of folks are there this time of day, and what if it gets attacked?” He hurried down the jungle trail.

“Is that the only reason?” A touch of resentment crept into Betamon’s voice as he scuttled along, doing his best to keep up with Josh.

Josh’s pace faltered. It was never good when his energetic partner turned sulky. Not quite as bad as his youngest siblings, but close. “Parents are… hard, okay? It’s not so bad when they’re here, but being in their house? Dinner? I’ll grab you some extra snacks later to make up for it?”

“But what about Kyle? And Coyomon?”

Josh let out a heavy sigh. “I mean… I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’ll smooth it over with them.” I hope. The sight of Kyle’s bewildered face still hovered in Josh’s vision. Should he text him? That might just be more confusing. He could wait until tomorrow at least. Kyle would be back in the digital world then anyway. “I’ll make sure they have extra snacks too.”

“Hmmm… Well, okay.”

Betamon’s mood seemed to be improved again by the time they reached File Town, though Josh’s was still tenuous. He was glad that things looked fine in town. No sign of attacks, or even disagreements between the inhabitants.

Josh and Betamon wandered through, giving the usual greetings to the other regulars. It was Chelsey, of course, who first asked about his time out, setting aside the digivice she was tinkering with.

“Soooo, how was the date?”

Josh opened his mouth to object to the question, but Betamon managed to speak first, as usual. “It was good until Josh decided to leave too fast!”

“I… It wasn’t a date! And I needed to be back here.”

“Oh yes,” said Chelsey’s partner Kunemon, in his precise buzzing tone. “You were gone for three hours and twelve minutes, it’s a wonder our little society didn’t collapse.”

“Kunemon, be nice,” Chelsey said, but she was giggling as she did. “But yeah, we’re fine, everything’s fine, you really should try taking a break more often? I mean, sounds like you don’t get those much in your usual life…”

“Yeah…” Josh sighed. “It was nice, but it’s hard. Maybe I’m just not built for relaxing anymore.”

Betamon nosed his leg. “You were doing fine until his parents showed up.”

“Oh,” said Chelsey.

“Unsurprising, I suppose,” added Kunemon, in a more sympathetic tone than before.

Josh shook his head. “I… don’t wanna talk about it. Let’s just… I should work on that new training course. C’mon, Betamon.”

“Cooool, I wanna test it!”

Josh spent a couple hours deep in the intricate engineering challenges of lashing together bamboo and logs into obstacles for digimon to overcome. Other kids cycled in and out, sometimes helping, mostly just observing. He was happy for the company, and happy they mostly didn’t get in the way. Eventually though, his watch chirped an alarm, and he frowned as he looked at it.

“Time to head home, I guess. C’mon, B.”

“Do we haaave to? The swing’s almost done and it’s gonna be so fun!”

“I mean, I don’t want to, but I also don’t want another mess like last time we were home late.”

“Yeah…”

Josh gave a wave to the others. “Stay strong, man,” Chelsey called after him as he made his way toward the portal that would eventually lead him to his parents’ house.

It wasn’t a long walk, with just the painted desert realm in between, but it gave him a chance to prepare, mentally and physically. On went the loose hoodie, as soon as they were out of the humid jungle, and just before they gated back to Earth, he gave his partner a hug, and Betamon hid back inside his digivice.

The house was just a couple blocks away, and he was relieved to see no police cars this time. He hadn’t come back so late that they’d gone looking for him. Though of course it wasn’t so late that he didn’t get an earful of stifling concern from both parents. It started with urgent shouts of the name that his parents thought was his, demands to know where he’d been, overblown relief that everything was fine, and just as he got to his bedroom door, reminders that it wasn’t very proper for a girl to be out that late.

Josh managed, barely, to not slam the door, nor make too much noise as he collapsed onto his bed. He undressed, taking deep breaths as he pulled off confining layers of chest covering while trying not to look at the body underneath.

There was homework left to do, another good way to distract himself from his environment, and in the privacy of his room, Betamon could come out again, a comforting presence even if he had to be utterly quiet. After an hour of that, he was finally tired enough to sleep, so he curled up in bed with Betamon and listened to the faint sounds of the house and city until sleep took him.

When he woke up, Josh said a quiet “good morning” to his partner before getting dressed. On went the nondescript clothes and the baggy hoodie. Into his backpack went the extra chest compression and the outfit he actually wanted to wear. Into his digivice went Betamon. He dodged around siblings to get breakfast, managed to avoid any further conversation, and walked the five blocks to school.

Today he only had to remind four people to call him by initials rather than by the other name, and only two made jokes about it. At lunchtime he had to wander several minutes before finding a corner secluded enough that he felt okay to talk to Betamon.

“Did you send Kyle a message yet?” chirped his partner from the digivice.

“No, but he didn’t send me one either. That’s probably okay right? I don’t want to bother him.”

“I think he likes being bothered by you, though!”

Josh wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Well, I’ll see him this afternoon, I hope.”

“Don’t forget the snacks!”

“Heh. Right.” They chatted a few minutes longer about town plans for the evening, before someone else came around the corner and he hastily pocketed the digivice.

As soon as school let out, he made a quick circuit of the school’s vending machines. He knew Betamon’s tastes, but not Kyle’s or Coyomon’s, so he got a variety, as much as his allowance and backpack could bear. Then, finally, he headed toward the little wooded shortcut that hid his gate.

Josh felt like he could finally breathe again once he was in the digital world. Betamon trilled happily once he was free of his digivice, and held the overfull backpack up as Josh rummaged through it for his new clothes.

“How do I look?” he asked his partner, tugging down the colorful t-shirt that fit close against his flattened chest, and the short-sleeve flannel that topped it.

“Like you!” Betamon said.

Josh grinned big as they made their way across the colorful hills toward the File Town portal. Enthusiasm and anxiety alike flowed into him as he let himself think, and suddenly contacting Kyle sounded like a really good idea.

Josh&Betamon: hey sorry again about yesterday. heading to town now. hope youre there :)

“Talking to Kyle?” asked Betamon.

“Yeah. You don’t think I screwed everything up, do you?”

“No! I think he’ll just be glad to see you.”

“I hope so. And I guess if he is upset, it won’t be hard to tell. He doesn’t hold much back, does he?”

“He’s not very good at it, no…”

Josh chuckled softly, then walked in silence for several more paces. Kyle was so open, even when he was clearly uncertain about how he would come off.

“You wanna try that too, don’t you?” said Betamon, eventually, and Josh let out a surprised laugh. The partner-bond still caught him by surprise sometimes.

“If I acted like him, mom and dad probably would’ve tried to…” He trailed off. The possibilities were unpleasantly endless, and not worth dwelling on.

“You could tell him stuff.”

“I don’t think I’m quite at that point with him. Can’t I just be me, here? Not bring all that in?”

“Yes! Definitely! But maybe it might be nice to have someone else to talk to about some of it…?”

“Not just excuses and distractions, you mean.”

Betamon nodded rapidly.

“That’d be nice, for sure. I… can try.”

“Trying is good!”

It was only a split-second after they emerged from the trail that he heard Kyle’s voice.

“Josh! You’re back!”

“Yaaaaay!” Coyomon was dashing over like a lightning bolt, and Kyle was doing his best to keep up.

“You got my message, huh?”

Kyle and Coyomon nodded. “We’ve been watching the path all afternoon!” added Coyomon.

Kyle laughed. “Well, I mean, since I read it fifteen minutes ago, yeah.” He paused, looking uncertain. “Everything’s really okay? I kinda freaked out last night.” He looked downward, and Coyomon nuzzled his leg.

Josh remembered Kyle’s reactions to previous complicated emotional situations, and winced. “Oh no. I’m… I’m really sorry.”

“We brought I’m-sorry-snacks!” added Betamon, jumping up to tug at Josh’s backpack.

“We did, but let’s go to a table, okay, B?” He nodded to Kyle. “Everything’s really okay. I’ll… let’s talk a bit more. Over the I’m-sorry-snacks.” That would give him at least a few more minutes to think.

He spread out the various vending-machine goodies on a table made from plywood and milk crates. Both digimon quickly set into them. Coyomon practically pounced on a jerky stick, then started to carefully open in with paws and jaws.

Josh finished gathering his thoughts, then spoke. “So. Yeah. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left like that, and I shouldn’t have stayed quiet all night.”

Kyle looked only halfway in his direction, but was clearly listening closely, nodding along.

Josh continued. “I think I said it, but… I’m not good with parents.” Kyle opened his mouth, but Josh had a pretty good idea what he was going to ask. “It’s not so bad here. Here I’m… in my element. This is my place. Out there, anywhere… not so much.”

Kyle smiled slightly. “I definitely get that,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me before we started though?”

“I definitely should have. For a bit I thought… hey, I can be a normal kid and do normal kid things, and I didn’t even think about parents being a factor. I’m sorry about that too.”

“Things are… really bad at your place?” Kyle said. “I’m not even sure how much I should ask.”

Josh nodded, and took a deep breath before responding. “My parents don’t even know who I really am. Like… in a lot of ways.” His voice trembled slightly. “I wanna leave it at that for now, but… yeah.”

Kyle’s eyes widened, and Josh could tell there were a million questions churning in the other boy’s mind. To his credit though, Kyle just nodded. “I mean, I have to do that too.” It didn’t sound like an accusation. It was maybe a misplaced comparison, but it seemed like Kyle was just thinking it over. “I still want to see you more, though? Like… not just here?”

“Yeah. I want that too. I need to learn how to do something other than survive out there and work in here. Doing that with you felt really, really good. But… I guess I’m not real good at it yet.”

Kyle nodded. “Maybe if… I make sure there’s no parents around? Or… someplace other than my house? There’s some pretty neat stuff in town?”

Josh’s heart warmed. Being out in the world back in Seattle always felt risky, but someplace where there was no chance of running into someone who knew him differently? That might be almost as comfortable as the digital world. “That could be cool, yeah.”

“Awesome! I’ll make a list!”

Josh laughed, and nodded. “I’ll check it out later. Give me a little time to make some rounds, and then let’s plan something actually fun.”

For the first time in a long time, Josh found himself hurrying through his File Town duties, eager to do something else.

Chapter Text

Kyle flopped back on his bed with a relieved sigh. School was finally done for the week and he felt like he’d finally stepped off a rollercoaster. The back-and-forth with Josh had been the worst of it, but it certainly hadn’t helped that his digivice had alarmed two days in a row.

Both times it had turned out to be Youkomon, headed to the library, but that didn’t stop the overloading sound of the thing, and the spike of anxiety that followed. After he’d managed to stifle it with a jacket on Thursday, he hit on the idea of trying to muffle the speaker more directly. The next day’s alarm had proved that a little tape wouldn’t be enough, so now it had a lump of paper pushed against the speaker as well. He was pretty sure that would work.

At least the day had been good after he’d confirmed the false alarm. That afternoon made two days in a row where he and Josh had just hung out; no awkwardness, minimal File Town business, just some time to be… were they boyfriends yet? How did that work? Regardless, it was still fun being able to introduce his crush to actually-fun things to do.

Best yet, over dinner he’d had a talk with his parents, who’d actually complemented him on how well he was keeping to the digital-world rules they’d set out. In a moment of grace that left him speechless, they’d actually doubled the amount of time he could spend there every day.

“Everything good, Partner-Kyle?” Coyomon nosed his side, smiling.

“Yeah bud, can’t you tell! Everything’s finally pretty great!” He wrapped an arm around the digimon, drawing him close.

“I can tell! But I like hearing you say it!” Coyomon gave him a lick.

Kyle laughed and squirmed away. “Okay, okay bud! Glad you’re happy too.”

They laid on the bed, Kyle reading a comic and Coyomon trying to follow along, until a faint screech sounded from Kyle’s pocket.

“Rrr? Digivice?”

Kyle reached for it. “Wow, I really managed to shut it up, huh? Maybe it’s too quiet?”

Coyomon shook his head. “Noooo, this is better, it hurt so bad before!”

“Yeah it really did… So let’s see, this is probably Youkomon again…” Kyle’s voice trailed off as he looked at the screen. One dot, far away at the edge of the map… and a larger smudge, right near the gate. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh?” Coyomon nosed in to have a look. “Two?”

“I think the little one is Youkomon still, must be staying late. The big one… I dunno.”

Coyomon nodded, suddenly serious. “Rrrrrr… We should go.”

“Yeah, but we should tell Bryan and June too.” Kyle was already tapping out a Digi-Chat message. “They’ll be able to get there faster.”

“I can be fast!”

“Yeah, you better be fast as you can, I don’t like the look of that thing.” He hit send, and grabbed his coat. “Digivice alarm!” he called to his parents. “Gonna meet Bryan and June there!”

“Be safe!” said his mom, and “Good luck!” said his dad, and he replied with thanks as he and his partner raced out the door.

The city lights were just starting to show on the horizon when a message came in.

Bryan&Ventiscamon: this thing SUCKS

Kyle&Aullidomon: You OK???

Bryan&Ventiscamon: some kinda creepy cyber spider thing

Bryan&Ventiscamon: froze it dunno for how long though

June&Baluchimon: Parasimon? Dokumon?

Kyle@Aullidomon: arukenimon? really hope not...

Bryan&Ventiscamon: not those the tentacley one

June&Baluchimon: You know you have an analyzer, right?

Bryan&Ventiscamon: ohyeah

Bryan&Ventiscamon: infermon D:

Kyle&Coyomon: oh crap

June&Baluchimon: Uh oh. Hold tight, we're almost there.

“Don’t suppose you can run any faster, bud? It’s bad. It’s higher-level than us. Gonna need all three of us for sure.”

“I can try!” Kyle felt his partner’s pace pick up a bit, as he watched the digivice screen for more updates, wishing once again that he didn’t live so far from the city.

He didn’t hear anything else from Bryan or June for the rest of the several minutes it took to get to the library, leaving him to dread what he might find. As they finally approached the arroyo, though, he was able to make out strange flickering glows and then finally two humans and two digimon facing off against a mostly-contained horror.

The Infermon was half-encased in ice, and half-bound by psychic chains, but it still looked dangerous. As Aullidomon neared, one of the spindly legs slipped free and lashed out in their direction. Kyle yelled, and Aullidomon skidded to one side, barely avoiding it.

“Thunder Howl!” Aullidomon released a burst of lightning in the foe’s direction. Yellow sparks slammed into it and skittered down the limbs to little effect.

Kyle jumped off his partner once they reached the others, breathing hard. “That thing… is nasty.”

“You’re telling me!” Bryan said. “It doesn’t seem to care about anything we throw at it!”

June nodded. “And it’s like it’s getting stronger. At first Ventiscamon’s ice was holding it fine, and now both of us are barely managing.

Kyle nodded. “Well, we’re all here now. Remember that three-way combo attack we talked about?” Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kyle still felt anxious about destroying digimon, but the apparently-mindless fury of this… thing made that feeling very small.

“Yeah!” cheered Aullidomon.

“The one we haven’t practiced?” asked Baluchimon. “I suppose it couldn’t do worse…”

Ventiscamon showed a sharp grin. “I’m ready for it. I’ll fire after three! One… two… three! Impaling Ice!”

Spars of ice glistened faintly with the lights of the city, and then lit up like fireworks as Aullidomon followed up with another electric blast. Ghostly tendrils of psychokinesis guided the projectiles into joints in the Infermon’s segmented armor, conducting the electricity deep into its body. The Infermon screeched like audio feedback, and flailed more desperately, but when the glare of the attack failed, it kept up its attack, only looking angrier.

“Oh crap,” said Kyle.

Another tentacle lashed their way, and Aullidomon threw up a Static Shield that barely held. “It looked good at least! We could try again!”

“What does it want?” asked Bryan.

“I’ve been trying to get a read on it,” said Baluchimon, her voice the calmest of anyone there. “Its thoughts are hard to make out, but I think it’s saying ‘traitor’”

“Traitor?” Ventiscamon frowned. “Who would that be? We don’t know this thing!”

An anxious thought began to unfurl in the back of Kyle’s mind, but before it could get far, he heard a new voice from the top of the ravine. “I do.”

“Kit—Youkomon?” Kyle looked up to see the purple fox standing, looking down at them, wearing a grim expression.

“Who is that?” asked June. “You know them?”

Kyle stammered. “I… they…”

Ventiscamon growled and tossed more ice in the direction of the Infermon, which was clearly focussed entirely on the vulpine digimon.

“I’m afraid I am the traitor of whom they speak. I believe the Defenders suspect I have ‘gone native’. This Infermon is one of their retrieval units.”

Now everyone had questions.

“Defenders?” asked Kyle.

“Retrieval units?” asked June.

“Who even are you?” asked Bryan.

“Reasonable questions,” said Youkomon. “But let me address a more pressing concern first. Tail Flame!” Their tails whirled, tossing fireballs that hovered near the Infermon, making it curl into its confinement in a defensive posture. “I am Youkomon. I met your friends, Kyle Fairbank and Coyomon, a few days ago when I was scouting here for the Digital Defenders. The Digital Defenders are a group of digimon who are dedicated to casting humans out from the digital world, because of the many crimes they have perpetrated there.”

Kyle’s stomach churned. Youkomon’s words sounded so cold, and much more dire than the evasive explanation they’d given previously.

“Retrieval units,” Youkomon continued, “are strong digimon dispatched to bring back targets of concern to the Defenders. If this one has traitors on its mind, I believe it has its sights set on me.”

“So… you’re… not working with them anymore?” Kyle said, hopefully.

“I did not say that,” replied Youkomon, as they leapt gracefully to the bottom of the arroyo. “Come, let us parley,” they said to the Infermon.

The huge digimon hissed and writhed in response, suddenly even more agitated. One limb, then another, broke through the restraints that Ventiscamon and Baluchimon were struggling to maintain, sending both digimon and their trainers momentarily reeling.

“Aullidomon!” Kyle yelled, at almost the same time his partner vaulted over him, claws alight with electricity, and landed hard on the Infermon’s back. Youkomon’s fireballs impacted it on all sides, but the insectile form once again only shook them off.

“So strong…” Bryan groaned. “C’mon, Ventiscamon, can we try again…?” They both struggled to their feet, then turned to help June and Baluchimon, only to find them already recovered.

Youkomon yelped as two of Infermon’s spiky limbs lashed across their back, then ensnared them. “Listen to me!” the purple fox protested. “I was only gathering information! I have information!”

“If it takes Youkomon back… we’ll be safe, right?” June asked. “Maybe it’s the right thing to do…”

Kyle shook his head. “No, I… they… I don’t think…” He shuddered. “I don’t know…”

Baluchimon frowned. “It doesn’t seem focussed on capture. And I don’t think it will stop with Youkomon even then. It’s so full of rage…”

Youkomon stared into the Infermon’s mask-like face, gritting their teeth. “If you kill me, you will not know the vital data I’ve collected in that human building over there.”

The Infermon paused, head jerking toward the library.

Kyle stared blankly. Had Youkomon really found something?

“It contains a secure room that has all the details of the humans’ plans for the Merge, and it’s imperative that I bring them to the Defender leadership. We’ve no time to waste with the likes of these!”

“Secure room…?” murmured Bryan.

Kyle elbowed him. “I think they’re protecting us!” he whispered. “I hope…”

The Infermon’s eerie gaze was still locked onto Youkomon. Without a word, it coiled another leg around the captive digimon, and then turned toward the gate.

The three digimon tensed, and Aullidomon growled softly, but the Infermon simply scuttled through the gate and disappeared.

Kyle’s legs turned to jelly under him, and he slumped against Aullidomon’s leg. He saw the others similarly nearly collapsing as they relaxed.

“That was… a Perfect digimon,” June said. “We didn’t stand a chance.”

“And whoever sent it can just… order those around?” said Bryan. “Are we screwed?”

Ventiscamon curled a wing around his partner protectively. “We’ll just need to keep getting stronger.”

“Rrrr, yeah. I’ll protect you, Partner-Kyle. And everyone.”

“But… what about Youkomon?” Kyle asked, hollowly. “I barely got to meet them, but… I think they saved us.”

“So… they don’t have secure data about digimon in the library,” said Bryan. June gave him a sharp look, and he raised his head. “I’m just making sure!”

June looked to Kyle. “So… you met another digimon, who was spying on humans, and you didn’t tell us. You didn’t tell anyone?”

Kyle groaned. “I was going to! I saw them on Sunday and then a tiny bit yesterday. I was trying to work out what they were up to. They were in human disguise in the library, and they seemed, well… kinda clueless. I was more worried about them making a scene than… any of this.”

Aullidomon nodded rapidly. “Yeah, they were nice! And they saved us!”

The others thought for a long moment.

“I… didn’t get a good sense of them,” said Baluchimon, “But they seemed scared for us as much as themself.” She paused. “I could have probably told you more about their intentions if I had known they were here before now.”

Kyle winced. “Good point. And now they’re… I don’t know. I hope they’re okay.”

“I hope we're okay,” said Bryan. “No one in File Town knows about these Defenders, do they?”

The others shook their heads. “I had not even heard of them myself,” added Baluchimon.

“Well then,” said June. “I guess we came away from this with some important information ourselves. Let’s hope we can do something useful with it.”

Chapter Text

“Digital Defenders… Hm.” Josh tapped his fingers on a salvaged table. Several other File Town regulars were gathered around, listening to Kyle and June’s report on the previous day’s excitement.

“You haven’t heard of them either?” Kyle asked.

Josh shook his head. “I guess it’s not surprising if they’re so set against humans. We knew there was some sort of organized group.” He sighed. “Glad you’re all okay, at least.”

“I hope we stay that way,” said Bakumon.

June nodded, and looked at Kyle “I’m a little worried that your friend’s lie will have them going after the library.”

“I was wondering about that too,” said Kyle. “But Youkomon seemed to have them convinced pretty well. Maybe they’ll think they have all the data?”

“If that fox really wants to protect us, hopefully they will get these Defenders to focus their efforts in some other direction,” said Bakumon. “I guess we’ll see.” She gave Kyle a long look; he was pretty sure she was still annoyed with him.

“If you’re concerned about them attacking a particular place, have you considered shifting the gate location?” Kyle jumped in surprise as he heard an unfamiliar adult voice from behind him. Coyomon growled lightly as they all turned to see who’d spoken.

“Dad, you can’t just butt in like that.” Chelsey stood a few yards away, with a middle-aged man dressed in business casual clothing. He looked vaguely familiar, though Kyle couldn’t work out how.

“It was just a thought.” said the man with a smile. “You know it’s hard for me to keep my thoughts to myself.” He paused then, looking at the assembled kids. “But some of you are new faces, so I guess introductions are in order too.” He nodded to the group. “I’m Max Sandberg. Hope you don’t mind an extra opinion. From what Chelsey said, it sounds like things are getting complicated here.”

June gaped. “Max Sandberg? Like… Friendscape Max Sandberg?” That gave Kyle what he needed to remember where he’d see the man’s face before—magazines, a book or two, occasionally on his parents’ news programs. Friendscape and similar social sites seemed like a big deal for more and more adults, even if Kyle didn’t quite get it.

The man laughed softly, and shrugged. “I suppose that’s me, yeah. But here, you can just think of me as Chelsey’s dad, and an amateur digital-world tinkerer? I’d rather leave the business stuff on the other side of the gate.”

“Yes please,” said Chelsey, leaning on her insectile partner for support in a way that was quite familiar to Kyle. “Dad’s been really helpful with stuff like digivice upgrades. We bounce ideas around a lot, and I asked if he had any for better defense.”

“And you said something about… moving the gate?” asked Josh. He looked a bit tense as well. Kyle guessed it had something to do with another parent being around.

“Yes, I think I’ve worked out a method by which we might be able to alter the real-world location of a gate,” said Mr. Sandberg. “It involves bombarding it with geodata. It’s slow, and limited in range, but if it’s in a particularly bad location, it still might help. We could even bury it. It might not stop those monsters long-term, but it would slow them down.”

“Hey, no one’s burying my gate!” said Kyle, and Coyomon barked loudly in agreement.

“Understood. Just an example. This gate, is it in the library you were talking about? Is that the problem?”

Kyle sighed. “No, it’s in an arroyo outside. And I don’t think anyone’s going to attack it, I mean they’ve known it’s there for a while now. Youkomon’s smart, and I think they like the library, and please don’t mess with my gate.”

Josh nodded. “I think we need to focus more on these Defenders. If they can just send ultimate-level digimon out on missions like that, then I’m a lot more worried about them finding us here.”

“I can do ultimate now!” chirped Betamon. “Kunemon can too!”

“I know, B, but if they swarm us…” Josh shuddered. “And now we know they have spies too, apparently? We’ve tried so hard to keep this place safe, and…” He sat down heavily. “Got any bright ideas for that, Max?”

Kyle frowned, looking at the various assembled people. This suddenly felt very complicated and he had no idea what he could say to contribute. His hands were starting to feel shaky. He noticed dimly that June and Bakumon were talking about something between themselves, as the others kept talking about the possible threat.

“Hey, Kyle?” June was right next to him now, talking softly. “Maybe you might want to see if Josh wants to get out of here?”

“Huh?” Kyle was confused in a whole new way now, but at least that was something concrete to focus on.

“Bakumon says he’s sort of spiraling, and it seems like you are too. I’m not sure anything useful is going to happen here today, and we thought, well…”

It took Kyle several seconds to think through that. “Are you trying to set us up too? Like Bryan did?”

“Bryan did what?” June let out a short laugh. “Just… you two look like you could use a break, and you like being together, and we can take care of things here.”

Kyle nodded, looking at Josh. He could easily believe that this situation was hard for even Josh to handle. He thought back to the many times when he’d been in overwhelming situations himself. How often had he just wished for an excuse to leave?

“Yeah. I mean, I can try.” Josh looked so seep into the conversation that he wasn’t sure how to get his attention, so instead he knelt to talk to Betamon, who was doing a nervous little dance near his partner’s feet.

“Hey Betamon, you think you could get Josh to talk to us for a sec?” he said.

“I can try!”

With that, Kyle backed away from the group and sat with Coyomon, watching Betamon prod Josh until finally the other boy stepped away and approached him.

“Hey, you okay?” Josh’s voice immediately sounded less on-edge once he was focussed on Kyle.

“It’s just… kind of a lot for me,” Kyle said, entirely truthfully. “I was thinking of heading out,” he added. Also very true. “And… I wondered if you wanted to come with me?” The last few words came out as almost a squeak.

Josh took a moment before responding. Kyle wished he knew what the other boy’s expression meant. “I mean… we should probably figure out what to do here.”

“That doesn’t have to be all up to you though, right?” Kyle looked over at the conversation, which was still going strong. “It seemed like you were kinda stressed out, with Chelsey’s dad there and all.”

Josh nodded. “He’s been helpful with the digivices, but he’s kinda a pompous jerk.” He looked down to Betamon. “What do you think, B?”

“I think he’s definitely a pompous jerk! And also I think you wanna get out of here too. It doesn’t mean you’re abandoning File Town!”

“Look, even if I did… what would we even do?” Josh asked.

“Maybe something back in my town? My town, not File Town. I have the list, remember? There’s a historic district downtown, or like the mall?”

“Yes the mall!” said Coyomon. “Mall is great!”

Kyle giggled. “Coyomon, you haven’t even been there!”

Coyomon shook his head. “You were there that one time and I heard you having fun with video games and then you bought some of the tasty ice and we ate it outside!”

“Oh! Right! The slushies.” Kyle smiled at Josh. “How about it? There’s an arcade and some free video games in the electronics stores, and snacks!”

Betamon’s eyes got much bigger at the mention of snacks, and his whole body bobbed up and down in an encouraging nod.

“Well…” Josh still seemed unsure, until he looked down at his partner. “Let me just…” He stepped back to the table, and talked to Chelsey for a few moments. “She’ll digi-chat me if there’s anything important. Let’s go. Just… for a little bit.”

Kyle was never happier that his partner could move so quickly, through the jungle and the gate and off into the city. The further they got from File Town, the more Josh looked like his usual self. Finally they skidded to a stop on the outskirts of town near the mall, and walked the rest of the way in.

The building loomed before them, bustling with weekend traffic. It looked almost busy enough to make Kyle think twice, if not for actually having other folks along who he wanted to be with. Coyomon and Betamon hid away in their digivices with only light protest, and Kyle and Josh entered the mall.

It was pleasantly strange wandering the halls with someone else. At first, Kyle felt a bit self-conscious about hitting his usual spots; the bookstore, the comics store, the singular video game store that still had demo units, but Josh seemed up for each one.

“I have not been to a mall like this in ages,” said Josh, as they started to wander back from the furthest end.

“They don’t have malls in Seattle?” Kyle frowned. That didn’t seem right. He took another guess. “Oh, do you mean like, it’s super small?”

Josh laughed. “It’s not huge, but more like… It’s hard to go out on my own, back there. I never feel comfortable enough to do something like this.” He trailed off, and Kyle wasn’t sure what else to say.

Fortunately, Josh didn’t seem to expect him to say anything. Instead, he just reached for Kyle’s hand. Kyle twitched slightly at first, but after a mumbled apology, he reached back for Josh’s hand, and they settled in to walking together.

Kyle desperately wished the mall was bigger himself, now. It seemed like no time until they were back in the food court. Apparently, digimon could still smell things from inside their digivices, because it wasn’t long before Coyomon said “What’s that, Partner-Kyle? Something smells good!”

Josh started to giggle just as Betamon chimed in. “Yeah, you said snacks!”

Josh gave Kyle’s hand a last squeeze, before patting his digivice. “He did say snacks, didn’t he?”

Kyle giggled too. “Okay, okay, I’m on it!”

Fortunately, the crowds had somewhat died down, so soon they were walking out of the mall, weighed down with flavored ice, cinnamon rolls, and loaded fries, to the tune of two digimon asking if they could come out yet.

Finally, at the edge of the parking lot, they feasted.

“I wish we could be out in there, Partner-Kyle” said Coyomon between bites. “It looks fun!” Betamon nodded along with him.

“There’s lots of people, guys,” said Josh.

“So many,” said Kyle, even as part of him yearned for the same thing. He always felt more capable with Coyomon at his side. A fantasy floated through his mind of having his emotional support digimon there with him in disguise, as in some of the sillier TV episodes. It would almost work, if… “Oh! Y’know, actually… Halloween is next week…”

“Hall of what?” asked Coyomon.

Kyle grinned as the idea developed in his mind. “It’s a holiday where people go out in costumes. Weird stuff is a lot more okay then!” He finally noticed that Josh was looking at him with raised eyebrows. He grinned. “I mean it’s worth a try, right?”

“What would you even go as?” Josh asked.

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Kyle admitted. “But I have some ideas.”

“If you say so. Just don’t get in trouble? Nodens gets pretty uptight about that stuff.” Josh frowned, and checked his digivice. “Speaking of, we should go see how things turned out in File Town..” He stood up. “No messages, but it’s been long enough that I hope they worked something out.”

All of a sudden, the other boy seemed back to his old all-business self. Kyle’s heart fell, until he saw Josh’s hand outstretched toward him, to help him up.

He clasped it with a smile, and they headed back to face their troubles together.

Chapter Text

Even after the unexpectedly-wonderful mall trip, Kyle found it nearly impossible to relax. Throughout the evening and into the next day, he found the image of the Infermon skittering through his mind, attacking the library, attacking File Town, attacking his friends… What had seemed like a remote risk at first had grown to be a constant worry the more he thought of it.

“Partner-Kyle… you’re staring into space again…” He felt Coyomon’s cold nose on his leg, jolting him out of another worry-spiral.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, bud. I just don’t know what to do.”

Coyomon tilted his head. “Something else? Unless you want to try to chase down the—“

“Nope, definitely not that.”

“So… something else?”

Parents, friends, and counselors alike had recommended Kyle find ways to direct his mind elsewhere when anxieties got to be too much, so it wasn’t surprising Coyomon had the same advice. The trouble was always finding something. As much as Kyle had plenty of interests that gave him comfort when things were a little stressful, he always found it hard to haul them out of the depths of his mind when he was too weighed down like this.

“Got any ideas?” Kyle asked with a sigh.

“Rrrr… What about the hall of… hall of weeds? You were thinking about that yesterday!”

“Huh? Oh! Halloween?” Almost-forgotten ideas surfaced, starting to slowly push aside the worries. “Yeah, that’s… let’s do that!”

“Okay! …Do what?”

Kyle could feel his mind switching tracks, now fully focussed on the new project. It was a huge relief, if a bit overwhelming in its own way. “We’ll probably have to go to the store, but first I gotta see what’s in my closet that still fits. I really hope I can find the goggles…”

Josh frowned. “No. There’s no way we can do this.”

Kyle sighed. “Why not? Is Halloween like some big Digimon attack day? Gates more active? I mean we’ll be in June’s neighborhood, so we can get to places quick anyway.”

“No, that part’s a good idea. Digimon do get a little weird about human holidays sometimes.” Josh looked at the bags of costume parts that Kyle had hauled all the way to File Town. “The problem is, you’re never going to be able to pull off blond. Your hair’s darker than mine!”

Kyle shook his head rapidly. “But yours is longer! And I got this spray hair chalk stuff, see? And spiky hairspray for you. Plus, otherwise we’d have to swap digimon!”

“What.” Josh looked down at Coyomon, then at Betamon.

“I’m going to be Gabumon, so he has to be Matt!” Coyomon hopped up onto the table and rummaged through the bag, until he pulled out a roll of gray faux fur.

“Careful bud, don’t rip it!” Kyle grinned down at Betamon. “How do you feel about being a Koromon for a night? Some paint should get you pretty close.”

“Hey, wait a sec,” said Josh.

Betamon was quicker on the uptake. “That means we get to go out? In the regular world, with Josh? And we get candy? Yessssss! Come on Josh, let’s do it!”

“Candy!” Coyomon’s contribution was practically a howl.

Josh stared at three eager faces. “I’m really not sure about this. What if someone realizes they’re real digimon? I mean, what else would they be?”

“You haven’t seen the costumes that folks in June’s neighborhood have. I still don’t know how they do some of it. Besides, what else are we going to do, sit by portals and worry all night?” Kyle’s anxiety started to creep back in. He really did not want to be doing that.

“Please Josh! I’d be a really good Koromon! I can just fold my crest down, and tuck in my legs…”

Josh raised his hands. “Okay, okay. We can try it. But if we get any weird looks, or too many questions, we gotta call it off, okay?”

Kyle nodded. “Fair enough.”

The cheers of eager, candy-hungry digimon rang throughout the town.

Kyle, Josh, and their partners stood in June’s living room, and she and Bakumon gave them a long look.

Finally June spoke. “Aren’t you a bit old to be trick-or-treating? Bryan at least has the excuse of taking his sister…”

Kyle grinned. “And we have the advantage of looking awesome!”

“You’re certainly… notable,” said Bakumon. “You’re confident you won’t draw too much attention?” She seemed to be looking directly at Coyomon, who was still trying to work out how to walk without his faux Gabumon-pelt falling off.

“If we get too much attention, we’ll come right back here,” said Josh, as Kyle nodded along.

“And if they ask how you pulled off the digimon partners?” June asked.

“I’m a stuffed animal!” said the pink-painted Betamon, bouncing once in Josh’s arms before posing with a big smile and a blank stare.

Coyomon nodded. “And Partner-Kyle says if anyone asks, I should say I’m a regular dog!”

Kyle covered his face with his hands. “No, Coyomon, I will tell them you’re my dog. Please remember to not talk?”

“Oh! Right!”

June looked unconvinced. “Bakumon, I don’t suppose you can erase memories?”

“That would be very unethical. Also, no. They’re on their own.”

Kyle took a breath, gearing up to explain how important this was, how he just wanted one fun night in the midst of all this mess, but finally June nodded. “I guess it’ll be fine. But maybe you should go out before Bryan and Elena get here? You know how curious she is.”

The streets around June’s house were filled with kids, almost all of them younger than Kyle and Josh. At other times, it might have felt overwhelming, or Kyle might have worried they stuck out, but tonight it was thrilling. He was walking in public with his digimon partner, and the boy who was almost certainly something like a boyfriend by now, without having to worry about anything other than which houses had candy left.

They were several houses down by the time they spotted Bryan, in the same ridiculous dreadlocked pirate getup he wore to school. Kyle waved as soon as he saw him, but Bryan was distracted, chasing after his little sister, who was running down the street in a loose Hawaiian-print dress, with a candy bucket in one hand and a blue alien plushie in the other. “Elena! Hey! There will be enough candy for everyone, I promise!” Once he made sure she was in fact approaching a house, rather than running off into the night, he stopped to acknowledge his friends.

“¡Chido! You did it, huh? You guys look awesome! I was worried you’d chickened out when you showed up at school all normal.”

Kyle grinned. “Yeah it doesn’t work so good without Coyomon, and I wasn’t gonna go that far.”

Josh laughed. “Good to know you had some sort of limit in mind.”

“Plus I think it works better with both of you,” Bryan added with a big grin of his own.

Kyle felt his face get warm, and glanced over at Josh. He was pretty sure the other boy was blushing too. Betamon bounced lightly in his arms, that grin getting bigger, and Coyomon just wagged his tail.

“You being good?” Bryan asked Kyle’s partner.

“Ye—Bark!” Coyomon nodded his head rapidly, and Bryan giggled.

“Good. I bet Hielomon’s feeling real left out right now. We’re hanging at June’s house after, right? All eight of us?”

Josh frowned. “And your little sister…?”

Bryan glanced back at the house, where Elena was jostling with a group of other kids her age, all trying to get an extra hand in the candy bowl.

“At the rate she’s going, she’ll sugar-crash by 8:30.” He frowned then, eyes still on the house. “But I better go make sure she doesn’t mug anyone for their candy. Seeya later!” He dashed off toward his sister.

Kyle and Josh shared a grin and started walking again, but they only made it a few more paces before an adult voice called out. “Oh Tyler, look at the Pokemon trainers!” A woman leading an orange-clad anime ninja was pointing at them.

Kyle froze mid-step, and Josh barked out a laugh. Before they could respond though, the kid spoke up. “Ugh, no Mom, those are digimon. Gabumon and Koromon. Sorta.” He stepped a bit closer, scrutinizing them. “Your Koromon looks weird. And Gabumon’s not supposed to have fur all over!”

Mercifully, Coyomon didn’t respond, apart from letting out a soft snort. Kyle was still frozen to the spot, trying to work out what to say, when Josh spoke up. “Well, your headband is upside-down,” he replied cheerfully.

The kid’s eyes widened, as he quickly took it off to check. “Mooom, I told you it goes this way!” He flipped the headband over, and crammed it back on his head, slightly crooked.

“Still a cool costume though,” added Josh. Kyle grinned nervously, and nodded along.

“Thanks! Yours are good too, I guess. Wish I could have a digimon!”

“Hey, keep wishing, you never know!” said Josh. “But we gotta go. You know how much candy these guys can eat!” He started walking quickly down the road, tugging Kyle along.

It took several more paces for Kyle to regain his composure and think of what to say. “Uh… wow. You’re a lot better with kids than I am.”

“Had to be. I have three younger siblings.”

“Glad you knew what to say…” Kyle frowned. “So… does that mean we should go back?”

Josh thought for a moment. “Y’know… nah. We all did okay there, and this is actually pretty fun. Besides, the digimon do need more candy, right?”

Coyomon and Betamon gave tiny cheers, and Josh squeezed Kyle’s hand as they headed for the next house.

Chapter Text

Kyle, Josh, June, and Bryan did their best to keep Halloween night going as long as they could. They watched TV, chatted, and shared candy with each other (and with their partners once Bryan’s sister fell asleep just as he had predicted). Sadly, it wasn’t long before June’s mother reminded her of her bedtime, causing Bryan to call his own mom, and Josh to slip away through June’s portal. Kyle and Aullidomon ran home through the dark, sharing their own stories of favorite parts of a night when they’d actually been able to be out and about together.

It was strange to wake up the next morning and go to school without his partner at his side. The worry about possible digimon attacks lingered in the back of Kyle’s mind, but it was fairly quiet. Everything had been calm since the Digital Defenders had dragged Youkomon away.

“Too calm,” insisted June during lunch.

Bryan shrugged. “Well what’re we supposed to do? We’ll know if anyone comes through a gate, and we can get everyone else from File Town helping too. No reason to worry about it. Sooner or later, we gotta live our lives, yeah?”

For the most part, Kyle found that to be pretty convincing, and even June nodded. “As long as we’re not forgetting it entirely.”

Kyle certainly couldn’t do that, especially spending most of his afternoons with Josh. He could tell that the other boy was doing his best to learn to relax, but his best still apparently involved going off on his own for gate-checks and sentry conversations in between video game matches and TV episodes. It was hard for Kyle to understand. If they were getting close, wouldn’t Josh want to spend more time with him?

That left Kyle plenty of time to get to know other folks in File Town, something that had seemed daunting at first, but was turning out to be much more pleasant than he expected. There was a strange but pleasant feeling to being in the town; he felt accepted and welcomed in a way he’d rarely experienced before, apart from with Bryan and June. It helped to know that everyone in the town had the shared experience of wanting to be here, wanting to be somewhere other than the real world. It also certainly didn’t hurt that everyone had a shared interest in their digital partners, not to mention the safety and development of the town itself.

So, when Josh was gone, Kyle was surprised to find himself not just open to, but actually looking forward to casual conversations with pretty much anyone in File Town. The Thursday after Halloween, that conversation was with Chelsey, as they lounged on a salvaged couch as both their partners helped charge some of the town’s batteries.

“So how long have you had Coyomon, anyway?” Chelsey asked.

“It’s been like a month? Let me check.” Kyle pulled out his phone, checking through message history for that first conversation with Bryan. “Huh, I got the digivice actually exactly a month ago today! October 2.”

“Nice! Happy monthiversary! And you designed Coyomon right? So he's a month old too!”

Kunemon perked up and nodded to the other digimon. “Congratulations, Coyomon!”

“Rrr? What did I do?”

Kyle giggled. “Well, wait. He was just an egg the first day, he didn’t hatch until the day after. When are digimon birthdays? Egg appearing or hatching?

Kunemon made a thoughtful buzz. “Admittedly, birthdays are not exactly a digimon tradition…”

Chelsey grinned. “But, if we did it on his hatch-day, we could do a party tomorrow! Coyomon’s birth-monthiversary! month-birthiversary?”

Coyomon perked up, almost dropping the wire he was channeling current into. “Party? For me? Yes Partner-Kyle, can I have a party?”

Kyle frowned. “Oh, crap, I’m supposed to be out of the digital world tomorrow. My parents still have the whole schedule where one of the three of us is supposed to be available there the whole time.”

“Ooof, right.” Chelsey frowned. “I mean, that seems like the sort of thing you could ask them about, right? Your parents are… probably reasonable people?”

“I guess. I never really know how to talk to them.”

“Well, if they’re anything like my dad, they respond well to reasoned arguments backed up by data.” Chelsey sighed. “Which is honestly exhausting. It’s like a business meeting every day with him. But it works.”

“Well, they just gave me the extra hour, so… maybe that helps? Or maybe they’ll think that was enough for a while and they’ll be mad at me for asking for more.” Kyle shook his head. “I dunno. I guess it’s worth a try?”

Kyle pondered his approach for the rest of his digital-world time, and the trip home. By the time dinner rolled around, he was practicing his speech with Coyomon in his room. It was easy with such a friendly audience, but his stomach fluttered as he was called down for food.

“So,” he began, once everyone’s plates were full. “I’ve had my digivice for a whole month now! Cool, huh?”

His mom nodded slowly. “Is that today? You never actually told us when you got it.”

Kyle wasn’t sure if there was some deeper implication behind those words, and figured it was best to press on, with a little tweak to his speech. “Yeah, I mean I’d only had Coyomon for a day before I told you about him. So that means he’s a month old tomorrow!”

“Happy month-birthiversary to me!” Coyomon said, with mouth half full. “I’m going to have a party!”

Both parents’ eyebrows raised, and Kyle suddenly realized the risks of practicing so much with a talkative digimon. He grinned nervously. “Yeah, that’s what I wanted to ask about. Um. Some of the kids in File Town wanted to have a party for us. You know how things there have been kinda weird lately, and it sounds fun? I know tomorrow is supposed to be a day out of the digital world for me but it’d be really great if everyone could be there…?” He gave a hopeful smile.

His parents exchanged a look, and his dad talked first. “Well, remember, the reason for one of you staying here is safety. So that someone can contact us if there’s trouble.”

Kyle nodded. Now things were back on-script. “I know, but we’ll just be in the town, and the town has other ways to contact you, remember? The computer? It can even make texts and phone calls now, Chelsey got that working last week.”

“And we’re stronger now,” added Coyomon. “And everyone will be there, so it’s safe!” He wagged his tail, sure he was helping.

There was silence around the table for a few agonizing moments, until finally his mom nodded. “I think we can trust you to stay in the town,” she said, “And if you’re there, that sounds safe enough. But this is a one-time thing, all right?”

Kyle felt a sliver of disappointment. She just had to add that. Still, it was mostly good news. “Yes! Thank you mom! And dad!” He pulled out his digivice, eager to tell Chelsey and everyone else that the party was on.

“Kyle, still no texting at dinner,” said his dad, but the tone was gentle, even somewhat cheerful, far from the stern reprimands he was used to. Maybe they did really trust him more.

Kyle nodded. “Right, sorry Dad.” He put the digivice away, and did his best to finish up eating without it being too obvious that he was doing so.

The three pairs of partners were greeted with a cheer as they emerged into File Town the next day. Josh, Chelsey, both Mikes, and Jessie were all there, along with several other kids. There was a cake on one of the tables, and even a patched together sign, reading “Happy monthiversary, Kyle and Coyomon!”

“Wow, I hope we get one of these next week,” said Bryan with a grin, nudging Hielomon, who nodded eagerly.

“I think I’m fine going without,” said Bakumon.

For some reason, that made June chuckle and shake her head. “We’ll see.”

Coyomon rushed ahead, and Josh barely managed to stop him from burying his muzzle in the cake. “Whoa, bud, don’t worry, there’s plenty for everyone!”

It was, indeed, an impressive cake. It nearly filled the table, and it was shaped and decorated like a digi-egg. Kyle grinned at Chelsey. “Wow… You did this? This is awesome!”

She smiled and shrugged. “Corporate catering. My dad’s been doing something with digimon branding, so they even knew what I was talking about right away.” She started to cut the cake, wary of the eyes of several hungry digimon.

Josh grinned. “We don’t really have much else planned, but… we did get all our patrolling and check-ins done early, so I’ll be here all evening.”

Betamon nodded rapidly. “Yeah! So we just get to hang out here all day and watch TV and play games! Finally!”

Chelsey handed an extra-generous piece of cake to Coyomon, who started to messily devour it. Then she leaned in to speak softly to Kyle. “You know how much that means, from him,” she said, with a smile.

Kyle did. He’d rarely seen Josh relax for more than an hour or so. It brought all those questions about the nature of their relationship back into focus. Did this mean that things were moving back toward ‘boyfriend’? Is that something someone could even ask? Kyle thought about it long enough that he was startled when Chelsey nudged him, offering a piece of cake, and he looked around to see almost everyone else already served.

Josh nodded to him. “You okay, Kyle? Wanna go watch some more digimon?” He chuckled. “Um. The show, I mean.”

“Always,” Kyle said, the response automatic, but as soon as the word was out of his mouth, his other thoughts caught up, and plenty of other words felt more important. “Wait… actually… before we start… can we talk a bit? Like over there?” He nodded toward one of the shelters. His stomach knotted, but he knew it wouldn’t be any more relaxing to sit on his feelings through several more episodes of TV.

Josh looked confused. “Oh, uh… sure?” He headed over in the direction Kyle had indicated, with Betamon following along.

Kyle and Coyomon hurried to catch up. “It’s nothing bad!” he added, and sat down on one of the milk-crates that sufficed for seating in that particular shack. “I was just…” He sorted through all the words in his head, trying to work out which ones to let out. “Y’know how, when we went on patrol together, I asked… um… and now we’ve done more stuff, and…” Kyle took a breath. “Is this a date?”

Josh’s expression changed. Kyle was pretty sure it was a different sort of confusion. Or maybe surprise? Then, after another moment, came an expression that was easier to decode. Josh smiled.

“Yeah… I guess it is.”

“Yaaaaay!” Coyomon and Betamon were united in excitement, bouncing up and down and making plenty of noise. Kyle almost joined them.

“I’m sorry if that sounded weird, I just… I’ve never done anything like this before and I don’t know what anything means. I mean I never know what anyone else is thinking, and I didn’t want to make you feel weird but I keep wondering at what point people are boyfriends and…” He trailed off, feeling his cheeks get hot. The word had slipped out, and he definitely hadn’t been ready to ask about that.

“Boyfriends…” Josh said. “Boyfriends.” He smiled again. “No, yeah, it’s okay. I’m not used to that either. But I like it. A lot.”

“…Really?” Kyle’s voice was almost a squeak, and barely audible over more digimon excitement.

“Really,” said Josh, still grinning big. “Was there anything else?”

“N-no! That’s… thank you Josh! That’s awesome, and you’re awesome, and… yeah.”

Josh stood. “Hey, thank you too, Kyle.” He held out a hand. “Now come on. There’s some partying to do. Now we have something else to celebrate, too!”

Kyle took Josh’s hand, standing as well. He hadn’t thought of celebrating this with others. Sure, Bryan and June knew what was up, and he had that rainbow pin on his backpack for everyone to see, but he had no idea how others would react to something like this. “Wait, you’re not gonna like, announce—“

Betamon rushed out ahead of them, with Coyomon close behind. “Kyle and Josh are boyfriends!” said Josh’s partner, and Josh just grinned and shrugged.

“Oh.” Kyle laughed nervously, and looked around, bracing himself for what the response might be. Individual voices were hard to make out, but he was sure he heard some ‘congratulations’ and maybe one or two instances of ‘finally’. No one looked scandalized. No one even looked particularly surprised. As much as he’d always wanted to be out in the open, he’d never imagined a response like this. “Uh… yeah. Thanks everyone!”

A sudden rush of emotion filled Kyle; joy at being close to Josh, surprise at the town’s acceptance, excitement of what the future held for them. He felt his eyes getting damp. “This place is… really incredible,” he said, smiling at Josh.

“Isn’t it?” said his boyfriend proudly. “Now come on, we have more cake to eat, and more relaxing to do. Together.”

Chapter Text

Another day in school, another day outside the digital world. Once again, Kyle thought it’d be easier to take some time away after so many positive experiences there. A party, then two weekend days in a row, patrolling with Josh in a way that felt wonderfully different now that their relationship was more defined.

They’d even fought off (well, more like scared off) a minor scouting party of rookie digimon in a realm adjacent to File Town, and he’d felt the connection there as well. He and Josh, Coyomon and Betamon, all seemed to be more in sync with each other, as if they were becoming a group of four rather than two pairs of partners. It felt good.

Which made it that much harder to sit through Social Studies class and hear Mr. Stuart talk about branches of government and checks and balances.

The teacher was in the middle of drawing an elaborate diagram on the chalkboard when there was a knock at the door, and then Mr. Neary peeked in. He scanned the room, and then his gaze eventually fell on Kyle.

“Mr. Stuart? I hope you don’t mind, but I think Kyle needs to come to the office.”

“I do?” Kyle squeaked. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no.” Mr. Neary shook his head. “There’s just someone here to see you.”

Mr. Stuart nodded. “Well, all right. Make sure you get your homework assignment from someone else if you’re not back by the end of class.”

Kyle nodded, and headed for the door. “Who’s looking for me? What’s going on?” he asked, as they walked.

“I was in the front office picking up mail, and there was a kid I didn’t recognize at the front desk demanding to talk to you. They didn’t seem to take ‘he’s in class’ for an answer, and, well… from what they were saying, I thought it might be a digimon thing.”

“They…?” Kyle murmured, then froze as he and Mr. Neary rounded a corner to the open space at the school entrance. Someone was standing there looking agitated; a familiar androgynous black-haired form. “Youkomon?”

“Digimon thing, then,” Mr. Neary murmured, with a slight nod. “I’ll go and make sure the secretary didn’t call the police or anything.”

Meanwhile, Youkomon was rushing toward him. “Weren’t you supposed to call me Kit here? Regardless, there’s no time, you and your town are in danger!”

“My town? Are the Defenders coming here again?”

“No, not this town. Your other town.”

Kyle felt like his blood was going to freeze. “File Town? They know about File Town? We have to go! We have to warn them! I should get Bryan and June!”

Somewhere far from Kyle’s attention, the school bell rang, but his mind was filled with horrible imaginings of what might be happening to File Town, to the other kids there, to Josh… He pulled out his digivice to start sending messages, but before he could start typing, a familiar voice cut through the haze.

“Kyle! I got an alarm!” June was walking down the hall, with Bryan alongside. “Did you get one too?” Other kids started milling in the halls as well. Class had clearly let out.

Kyle shook his head, still slightly dazed. “Alarm?” Was something else happening too?

“Apologies, that would have been me,” said Youkomon. “I thought it best to use another route. It’s good your friends are here, perhaps we should go.”

“Wait, who’s that?” asked Bryan.

Kyle’s heart was pounding. “This is Youkomon! File Town is under attack, let’s go!” He started to run toward the door.

“Wait!” June called after him as she and Bryan ran to catch up. “This is that digimon spy! How do you know it’s not a trap?”

They were out in the yard now, heading for the street. Youkomon easily kept pace with them, and spoke to June. “Your partner has psychic skill, yes? Have her verify my trustworthiness.”

“They’re telling the truth,” said Bakumon’s voice from the digivice lashed to June’s backpack. “No deception, and they seem more upset than we are.”

They were down the road, nearing the arroyo. Kyle did his best to talk as he kept running. “So what… happened? You got away?”

“I will tell you the abridged story,” said Youkomon.

“And I’ll tell you if they lie,” Bakumon interjected sternly.

Youkomon gave a curt nod as the group paused to wait for a gap in traffic to cross the street. “As I hope you understood, I intended to placate the Defenders and lead them in a different direction. When I was returned to their base, I slipped away before I could be interrogated. However, my disappearance just made their leadership more concerned. I believe they suspected that I had been destroyed by humans wanting to keep their secrets. This made them redouble their efforts to seek out and attack any humans in the digital world.”

Kyle frowned. “That explains the extra scouting parties that folks have been seeing.”

The light finally turned, and everyone dashed across the street as Youkomon continued. “I felt somewhat responsible, so I resolved to do what I could to address the situation. However, I am no match for their fighters, so I decided to stay and surveil them in secret. A few hours ago, I saw them start to mobilize, and confirmed that they had discovered a large human habitation. I figured it could be none other than wherever you all congregate.”

They were down in the arroyo, nearing the gate. Bryan turned to look at Kyle. “You told them about File Town?”

Before Kyle could answer, Youkomon cut in again. “He did not. However, the Defenders spoke of a settlement of young humans and paired ‘collaborator’ digimon. Is there more than one?”

Kyle’s lungs burned, and his limbs were shaking, but they were finally at the gate. “That’s gotta be it. We gotta go!”

“We have to tell other people!” said June. “Bryan, start from the bottom of the list on digi-chat, I’ll start from the top. Kyle, you message your parents so they don’t kill you for going in the digital world, then get Aullidomon going once we’re through the gate.”

“Yes!” said Coyomon, appearing from Kyle’s digivice. Kyle leaned on his partner, the supportive presence enough to get his hands to stop shaking so that he could text his family. He sent the message, then dove through the gate. He felt Coyomon start to evolve even before they’d fully materialized on the other side.

“Can you carry all three of us, bud?” Kyle asked his partner.

“No need, I can help too.” Youkomon was in their full vulpine form now. “I will carry you.” They nudged Bryan.

Bryan looked up from his digi-chatting, looking relieved that he didn’t have to ride Aullidomon again.

“Okay, let’s go!” said Kyle, as he hopped onto Aullidomon’s back and helped June up too.

Scenery blazed by as they made their way through the portals on the way to File Town. June and Bryan each called out the names of folks they’d been able to reach. Kyle didn’t recognize several of them, but relief flooded him when he heard Bryan say Josh was on the way.

“I just hope we’re not too late,” said Kyle.

“They had a head start, but a large attack group will move more slowly than the two of us,” said Youkomon. “I am impressed with your speed, Aullidomon.”

“Thank you! Partner-Kyle and I run a lot! It feels good!”

They finally passed through the last portal, into the jungle realm that held File Town. Kyle was relieved that he didn’t see any towering digimon, or hear any sounds of fighting.

When they broke through the trees into the town itself, several evolved digimon were on alert, with their partners nearby. Kyle scanned the crowd for Josh, and found him hunched over the computer at the center of town.

Kyle ran closer. “Josh! We’re here! Nothing yet?”

The other boy shook his head. “No. I’m trying to call for more help. This can connect to Nodens, and more tamers than we can get through digi-chat. We need all the help we can—“

There was a rumble off in the distance. Everyone looked in the same direction. The tall trees kept the sight-lines hidden, but the sound of huge footsteps and monstrous roars was clearly getting closer.

“They’re here!” called Josh. “Everyone get ready to fight!”

Kyle saw the flash of a few more evolutions as all the File Town digimon gathered to face the oncoming attack. Trees started to shake, and then splintered to the ground as the forces of the Digimon Defenders broke through.

First came a blue-scaled Greymon, ripping trees aside with their horns. “Time’s up, humans,” they snarled, just before Kai’s Grizzlymon tackled the Greymon to one side.

Other digimon were close behind. Kyle couldn’t name all of them, but some were easy to pick out; a platoon of Guardramon, towering Coredramon of multiple colors. He was pretty sure he didn’t see any more Infermon, which gave him a moment of relief before a new voice bellowed from several heads above the treetops.

“Tell us what’s causing the collapses, and we’ll allow you to leave in peace.” The voice came simultaneously from one scaly snake head and seven robotic ones.

Kyle’s digivice chimed at his hip, giving the name “Orochimon” and the usual vital statistic, but he was barely listening.

“We don’t know!” Kyle yelled, back, along with Josh, Chelsey, and several others saying basically the same thing.

“Enough lies! You’re here, making your little town, perverting digimon to your side, even formerly-loyal Defenders.” One head looked directly at Youkomon, who stared back.

“I truly believe these humans are not a part of that, Orochimon-sama!” said Youkomon. “I apologize for deceiving you, but they do not deserve this!”

“See, you humans ruin everything you touch,” Orochimon roared. “This is pointless. Defenders, attack!”

Some small part of Kyle’s brain wanted to object to that paradoxical command, but it was soon silenced by the sight of more and more digimon spilling into the town through the trees. Partnered digimon rushed to meet them, and Kyle scanned the crowd to see how he could help. His eyes fell on an orange blur, approaching fast. Few other digimon could hope to keep pace with it, whatever it was.

“Aullidomon, that one!” he said, and his partner flashed forward, wreathed in electricity, and slammed against the attacker, stunning. Kyle recognized the form of a Centarumon, and Aullidomon’s jaws were locked onto the left hind leg. “Watch out for the gun arm!” Kyle called, as the Centarumon’s humanoid torso swiveled, cybernetic arm glowing as it pointed toward Aullidomon.

Aullidomon let go and leapt back, dodging the bolt of solar fire. Kyle felt a jolt, and watched both digimon intently as his partner slid to a stop and turned back toward the other. For a scant moment, he could see that the Centarumon had lost track of Aullidomon, and he cried out “Now!” at nearly the same time that Aullidomon let loose a torrent of howling electricity, causing the opponent to stagger.

“Yes!” Kyle said, but his joy only lasted until he turned to look at the rest of the field. More digimon were still pouring in from the jungle, far too many for them to fight. Josh’s partner was in full MegaSeadramon form, tangling with Orochimon, but it looked like a one-on-eight fight, and even Kyle could tell that Josh’s expression was grim.

“We have to fall back!” Josh said. “Everyone who can, scatter into the woods and head for the nearest gate! We’ll help block these guys off! Go small and let them follow you!”

Kyle shuddered. He knew very well which one was the nearest gate. It led back to his front yard. While he was thinking about what it would mean to have everyone from File Town head there, possibly followed by rampaging digimon, Kyle saw MegaSeadramon uncoil from his fight with Orochimon, and spread out his body as a barrier as the other tamers and their digimon ran toward the trees.

“Josh!” Kyle ran toward his boyfriend, with Aullidomon close behind.

“Don’t worry! We’ve practiced this! We’ll be fine, go!”

Kyle shuddered, but he felt Aullidomon nosing him in the side. “Josh is awesome. MegaSeadramon is even more awesome. Let’s help everyone else!” Aullidomon pointed his nose toward some of the partners who were struggling to get away. Some had been wounded, others just weren’t built for moving fast in any form.

“Yeah! Okay!” He vaulted onto Aullidomon’s back, and they ran to help up Mike-from-Chicago, who was trying to run while hugging his Syakomon’s shell to his chest.

On Aullidomon’s back, they were at the gate-pond within moments. Mike and Syakomon hopped off with breathless thanks, and Kyle and Aullidomon raced back to help others. There were a few shorter shuttle trips, and no enemies; it seemed that Josh’s plan had worked so far. Finally he saw a glimpse of Josh himself on Seadramon’s back as the sinuous digimon raced through the trees, avoiding the path just like everyone else.

“That… has to be everyone, right?” Kyle asked his partner.

“I hope so!” They heard that familiar approaching rumble again. “We gotta go too, Partner-Kyle! Can’t let them find the gate!”

“I know!”

They started to run back toward the pond. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Seadramon’s tail slipping under the water, through the gate, but just then they heard a deep voice call out. “You!”

Aullidomon whirled, and Kyle saw the Centarumon approaching fast.

“Found you. And the gate, it seems,” the digimon said proudly. “Defenders! This way!” The Centarumon struck a dramatic pose, pointing directly toward the gate.

Kyle’s blood felt like it was turning to ice. In moments, all the Defenders would be there, and soon after, they’d be literally on his doorstep.

“A-Aullidomon. We have to…”

“I know, Partner-Kyle!”

Kyle held tight to Aullidomon’s harness as his partner surged forward, body covered in electricity that concentrated in his mouth. They bowled over the Centarumon, who had still been posing and waiting for backup.

“No! Fiends!” The Centarumon’s voice was thick, as Aullidomon’s jaws set into the other digimon’s torso.

“I’m sorry…” Kyle murmured, as Aullidomon bit down. Centarumon started to dissolve into little sparks of light, some of them flowing away, others into Kyle’s partner himself. The Centarumon looked shocked for just a moment, before fading away.

Kyle shuddered, almost sobbing. “We… we… we gotta go!” he managed, and Aullidomon nodded silently.

Water splashed around Kyle as they dove into the pond. He hadn’t had the presence of mind to think himself dry, but it was over in a moment as they tumbled out the other side, and looked up to see dozens of faces, digimon and human alike, staring down at him. His partner was small next to him, looking just as dazed.

Josh and Betamon ran forward. “Kyle! Coyomon! Are you okay!”

Kyle reached out to hug Coyomon to himself. “The Centarumon…” he gasped out. “We… they would’ve… found us…” Tears were streaming down his face.

Josh looked at him for a moment, then nodded, once. “We’re okay. It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” Kyle sobbed, and Coyomon nosed at his face, nodding.

Josh nodded again too. “Okay… it’s not. But you’re here. We’re all here. We’re going to be okay.”

Just then, there was a strange warble coming from all around. Dazed, it took Kyle a moment to realize it was coming from the digivices. From everyone’s digivice at once.

He heard Chelsey’s voice, from nearby. “Oh no.” She stepped forward. “Josh, it looks like they found the alert program. That means they’re in the computer.”

Josh frowned. “Can they find us through that?”

Chelsey paused to think, as Kyle’s stomach clenched just from the question. Finally, she answered. “Not… exactly? There’s no digital-world location data there, so the gate’s safe. But… it has a lot of our real-world addresses. So if they know of any gate…”

“They can start finding us.” Josh completed the thought, and a frantic murmur grew in the crowd. He turned, raising his hands. “Hey. It’s okay. I managed to get a message out to Nodens before they attacked. They’re sending in the big guns, and I know they can help us out in other ways too. And right now, at least we’re all together.” He reached out for Kyle’s hand, and Kyle gladly took it, squeezing as Josh continued. “We’re all together, and we can fight together. We’ll make things better, whatever it takes. Right, everyone?”

A cheer went up, but Kyle’s part in it was barely audible. His last moments in the digital world kept flashing before his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever want to fight again.

Chapter Text

Director Yamaki scowled at the screen, reading in silence for several long moments.

“That bad?” Ootori’s voice startled him out of his thoughts, but he managed not to show it as he turned to look at her.

“Mmm. It could have been worse. All the children made it out, and their attackers did not find the gate they evacuated through.”

She nodded, nudging him aside so that she could get a better look at the screen herself. “You didn’t call in Matsuda-san’s team.”

“There wasn’t time. By the time I got the message, they were already under attack, and it’s the middle of the night here. Even if the Primary Colors left immediately, transit time is several minutes. I’ve recommended several times that the children build their settlement in a more accessible location, but…” Yamaki flicked his lighter open and closed, shaking his head slightly.

“It seems that remoteness saved them. This new tamer… Fairbank? He was able to get there in time to warn the town. Do you know how he knew?”

“Unclear. There was an unknown signature that transited in several minutes before, then transited out along with Fairbank’s group. Though I’m less concerned with that than I am with this.” With a tap on the screen, he focussed the access logs for the File Town Nodens terminal.

Now it was Ootori’s turn to frown. “Unauthorized access… Nanomon… Oh dear.” She scrolled through the list. “Looks like the access cut-off worked, at least. Although… Ah. The address data. These… Defenders are going to go after them, aren’t they.”

Yamaki nodded. “It seems likely. It won’t be as easy for them; as far as we can tell, the Defenders only know of a few Earth gates. But they have much more incentive to use them now, and it’s likely that they will find more.”

“These Defenders… Maybe Matsuda…” She trailed off. He could tell the idea of a preemptive attack pained her to think about, which only spoke to how serious the situation felt.

“Considering they already see us as the enemy, I don’t think it’s in our best interest to reinforce that, even if they had a centralized force to attack. Keep them on standby, in case things get out of hand, but our real focus should be the gates themselves.”

Ootori’s eye’s widened. “Are you considering collapsing them?”

“And decimating digital connectivity across the planet? No. Not yet, at least. Did you read the latest paper from Clarke and McCoy?”

“About resonance modes affecting the bandwidth of the gates? Ah! You think we could slow them down?”

He gave a slight smile. “You’ve spent more time in signal analysis than I have. Do you think so?”

She turned to another screen, pulling up the research paper. He watched her focus. Seeing her so intent on his work always made him happy. His lighter clicked between his fingers occasionally, hopefully rarely enough as to not distract her.

After a few minutes, she turned back to him, talking quickly. “Assuming there’s enough signal strength around the gates, we can definitely have an effect via some carrier protocol shifts. The effect is proportional to the payload size, though, see here?”

He nodded, looking at the graph she was pointing at. “So, larger and more-evolved entities will take several minutes to come through, but smaller ones will still transit within seconds. And we will get gate transit signals as soon as the transfer starts, allowing for more time to respond.”

“Yes, though keep in mind the slow-down may be less significant for more remote gates, because of the signal strength effect.”

“That suits us fine. I’m most concerned about high-population areas in the first place. What we need most now is more time. How quickly can you restrict the gates like this?”

He could tell she had another question on her mind, but she responded decisively. “About an hour to refine the algorithm, half an hour to validate, then propagation time… It could be fully deployed in four hours.”

“Excellent. Get started. I have some other things to attend to in the meantime.”

She gave him a long look, her curiousity at the fore again. “You have another plan in motion as well.”

“In a sense, it’s the same plan we’ve been working on for three years. We’ve always known we can’t actually stop them, Reika. We knew a large breakthrough would happen eventually.”

He could see her mood turn, as she kept looking at him. “So. It’s finally time. Are you ready for this?”

A grimace broke through his calm facade as he snapped his lighter open and shut again. “As I’ll ever be. I hate dealing with the press.”

Yamaki stood in front of a mass of cameras and microphones, checking his talking points one more time. Even though it had been planned out in principle for years, he was stunned at how quickly his team had been able to get him presentable, refine his speech, and mobilize the media. The sun had just risen over the tops of the buildings. Ootori’s gate alteration algorithm was spreading through the world’s digital networks. And he had to tell that world to prepare for monsters.

“Hello. My name is Yamaki Mitsuo. I am the director of Nodens, an international digital defense agency formed in response to the Shinjuku Event four years ago. The primary directive of our agency is to keep the world safe from entities such as the one that manifested during that event. We do this in cooperation with some of the very people who helped to end that event, and the friendly digital monsters who helped them.”

Right now, if all was going to plan, the broadcasts would be including footage of Matsuda, Lee, Makino, and their partners defending Shinjuku. He’d considered having them attend the press conference in person, to introduce Team Primary Colors to the world, but his gut told him that a certain red digimon might be more of a distraction than a help.

“These heroes, called Digimon Tamers, are still with us, ready to defend the world. In fact, there are more of them now than ever before, in nations across the planet. And this is fortunate, because there are, regrettably, still threats that they have to face.”

He monitored his facial expression. Concerned, but resolute. Brave, but not stony.

“We have received reports that hostile digital entities are starting to appear, in isolated incidents, throughout the world. I must emphasize that these entities are not on the scale of what happened in Shinjuku. They are smaller, and independent. Since they arise from digital data, they might look like creatures out of myth or popular media.”

Now the broadcasts should be sharing examples of digimon, some drawn, some rendered, a few photos. Yamaki hoped that they’d chosen well, focusing on ones that were likely to be aggressors, rather than partners to humans, but he knew it was never that simple.

“Nodens is cooperating with the heroic Digimon Tamers to help defend against these lesser threats, and you can help. If you see a human working alongside a creature you don’t recognize, rest assured that they are working to defend you. If you see such a creature by itself, use the phone number or website on your screen now to report it, so that Nodens and the Tamers can respond as quickly as possible.

“These are uncertain times, but please know that our organization, and others like it across the world, are doing all they can to keep you safe. Thank you for your time. Nodens specialists will now answer media questions and provide more information.”

Yamaki stayed poised and alert until the last camera was off of him, and then he sagged against the podium for just a moment, before regaining his composure. His lighter clicked in his hands several times, the stim providing a huge surge of relief. There was still so much left to do; a whole other message about the possibility of new gates and new digivices, more investigation into just what had happened in the leadup to the attack, and surely endless follow-up interviews and updates. But for now, he’d done what he had to.

Chapter Text

Kyle’s world was a blur, as humans and digimon wandered through the bushes and small trees in front of his house. Many were on their phones or digivices, trying to get in contact with someone. Others were talking amongst themselves, with more than a few tamer pairs huddled together, giving and seeking comfort.

Kyle himself was still standing up, his body feeling both weak and tense as his brain tried to sort through what felt like billions of thoughts, fears, and complications. Finally, even standing felt like too much, and started to sink to the ground.

“Partner-Kyle!” Coyomon’s voice came out of the haze, and the digimon nosed Kyle in the thigh. “Cactus!”

“Huh?” Kyle startled, looking down at his partner, and the tiny spiky plant that he’d almost sat on. “O-oh, right.” He shifted position, settling down safely in the dirt and desert grass nearby. “Th-thanks, Coyomon.” The words came slowly, forced out almost by rote.

Coyomon laid his head in Kyle’s lap. “Okay, Partner-Kyle?”

“I…” Now words entirely failed him. He’d felt it before, the press of too many things to say, and too much uncertainty about which ones were right. He just shook his head, and pulled his partner closer.

“Yeah…” Coyomon said softly. “Here if you need me.” The digimon settled against Kyle, quiet as well.

In this state, Kyle felt hyperaware of all the conversations going on around him, with little ability to do anything about any of them. June was on the phone with her parents. Josh, Chelsey, and their partners were discussing something about colors that Kyle didn’t understand. Bryan and Hielomon were talking soothingly in Spanish to a couple younger kids and digimon who Kyle didn’t recognize. Every conversation made Kyle wonder if he should help, if there was anything he could do, if he ought to be doing something other than sitting here overwhelmed, but the press of all of them at once ensured there was nothing else he felt able to do.

After a few minutes, a voice cut through the haze of racing thoughts and uncertain expectations. “Hey Kyle…?” June was speaking to him softly, with Bakumon floating nearby. “We know this is all a lot, but you might want to tell your parents what happened? It’d be pretty rough if they came home and got surprised by all this.”

Given something specific to focus on, Kyle’s thoughts crystallized. His parents? Coming home? What time was it? A quick look at his phone showed that it wasn’t even noon yet. Everything had happened so quickly.

June was still talking. “My mom and dad are on the way to help shuttle folks, but given how many of us there are here, it’s gonna take a while.”

Kyle’s head filled with new questions, but June had given him a task, and that seemed important. He started to type a text to his mother.

hi mom. u should know

He stopped typing. How could he even explain this? Thoughts mounted up inside his head again, and he looked up at June wordlessly.

Coyomon raised his head too. “Partner-Kyle is having a hard time talking right now.”

Kyle nodded rapidly, relief flowing through him.

Bakumon bobbed up and down in a nod of her own. “I told you,” she murmured to June.

“Right. I’m sorry.” June was quiet for a moment. “Here, give me your phone, I’ll take care of it.”

Kyle handed her his phone with a grateful sigh, and curled around Coyomon again. He still had so many questions about what was going to happen, still with no idea how to get them out.

Bakumon was still watching him thoughtfully. “Kyle, would you like to know more about what’s going to happen?” she asked.

Kyle looked up, and smiled slightly. So many other times like this, he’d wished someone could just read his mind, so he didn’t have to sort through how to express himself when there was already so much else going on. Now he actually had that. He nodded to Bakumon.

“We have nineteen tamers here who need to get back home somehow. We’ve decided we should not go back through your gate for the time-being, since there may still be Digital Defenders scouting around the jungle. However, we don’t think they know the way to June’s gate, so we’re planning to use that one to get other people home. But that means we need to get everyone to our house. Including Youkomon, so they can scout first. June’s parents and Dr. Clarke are on the way, but since it’s a half-hour drive, it will take some time to shuttle everyone.”

It was a good plan, as far as Kyle’s jumbled mind could tell. June was still typing away on his phone, and after a moment she looked to him, frowning. “Your mom wants to talk to you,” she said, just as the phone rang.

Kyle winced, and shook his head rapidly, but June just held the phone out to him with a whispered “Sorry.”

He took the phone, trying his best to scrape words together. “H-hi Mom…”

“Kyle! Are you okay? What happened?”

“I… I’m okay.” He didn’t feel it, but it was the thing to say. “D-Digimon stuff. At home. Lots of kids here. Help?”

“June told me some details, but I don’t understand. There are other digimon kids there? Why?”

“I-I… we… had to… I don’t know…” His mom was always so focussed on what she wanted to know. Couldn’t she hear that he was struggling? Coyomon nosed him, giving a familiar concerned look, and Kyle realized what he should actually say.

He paused long enough to collect all the focus and words he could. It was too long for his mom to stay patient. “Kyle? Are you still there?”

“Mom, I’m really… overwhelmed right now and… it’s hard to talk.” His speech was halting, but at least he was putting sentences together. “Can you please… come home to help? Other people can… explain more.”

“All right, Kyle.” Her voice tone had changed, less exasperated and more concerned. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“I’m giving this… back to June,” he said, and handed over his phone without waiting for a response.

Once the phone was out of his hands, Kyle felt a wave of fatigue crash over him, and he slumped onto his side. It wasn’t just the overwhelm of uncertainty anymore, it felt like those few sentences had drained every last drop of mental energy from him. All he could do now was sit there and hug his partner. The ground wasn’t even particularly comfortable, but the idea of moving anywhere else felt like it’d be even worse.

The world flowed by around him, as if through a haze. June still had his phone. He hoped Josh and Betamon and Bryan and Hielomon and everyone else were okay, but he didn’t know what else he could do.

At some point, Kyle felt Coyomon’s nose on his face. “Partner-Kyle? Can I help?” He didn’t know how to answer, so he made a sort of shrugging motion where he was laying.

Coyomon watched him with those big electric blue eyes. “Rrrf… Do you want to… not be here?”

Kyle started to shrug again, then stopped, and nodded. Certainly he could think of plenty more comfortable places to be, he just wasn’t sure how to get there.

“Your room?” Coyomon suggested.

Kyle nodded again, even though it felt like an impossible puzzle to navigate into the house and up to his room.

“Okaaaay… It’s not too far, Partner-Kyle. I can help.” He felt Coyomon tug gently at his sleeve. “Just follow me,” his partner said, voice muffled by the fabric. Kyle reached back for Coyomon, and felt a gentle pulse of energy flow into his body. Not enough to feel normal, but at least enough to make standing up feel achievable.

Kyle wobbled to his feet, and Coyomon helped make sure that his hand was secure on the digimon’s collar, half-buried in soft fur. “Okay, Partner-Kyle, here we go.”

They took a few steps. Kyle focused more on the ground below him, knowing that seeing anyone else might just be overwhelming again. He heard movement and voices approaching, but Coyomon reacted before he could. “Partner-Kyle needs to be in his room. He’ll be okay.” Kyle nodded weakly, and followed his partner’s lead.

Eventually, they made it to the door, then up the steps, then down the hall, and finally into his room. Kyle collapsed on his bed, and Coyomon followed him up and sprawled on top of Kyle, a soothing pressure.

“Thank you Coyomon,” he said softly. In here, with no one else around, talking finally felt possible again, at least for those few words.

“Care about you, Partner-Kyle,” the digimon said, nuzzling his face.

“You too, bud.” Then he lapsed into silence again, letting the warmth and weight of his partner slowly soothe the chaos that was rattling his body and mind.

Again he wasn’t sure how long he laid there, but he started feeling better and better… right until he heard a knock at the door. Suddenly, tension shot through his limbs, and words seemed impossible again. Was that his parents? Someone needing something else? More bad news?

“Hey… It’s Josh… Can I come in?”

Coyomon looked at Kyle, and Kyle thought for a moment before nodding.

“Kyle’s still having a hard time with words, but you can come in!”

“Oh, uh, okay.” The door opened, and Josh and Betamon stepped inside. “Nice room.” The other boy smiled at him.

Kyle looked back, not sure how to react, not even sure what expression he was making. It was good to see Josh, but at the same time, it was another sort of overwhelming. There was plenty he wanted to say, and ask about, but the words still weren’t coming.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Kyle realized he had another option. He pulled out his digivice and started to type.

Kyle&Coyomon: Is everyone okay?

Josh had already pulled his own out when he saw what Kyle was doing, and started to type in return. Kyle quickly tapped out another message.

Kyle&Coyomon: you talk, i type

Josh nodded, and smiled again. “I mean, they’re as okay as can be expected. Lots of parent calls and stuff.”

Betamon climbed up on a chair so he could more easily join the conversation. “June’s parents just got here, they’re starting to take folks back now.”

Kyle&Coyomon: Good. Sorry I cant help

Josh stepped forward, and sat at the foot of his bed. “Hey. It’s okay. You’ve been through a lot.”

Kyle trembled slightly. His overwhelmed brain hadn’t even gotten around to sorting through what had happened just before they left the digital world. There still seemed to be too many immediate things to worry about.

Kyle&Coyomon: Why you here?

The question seemed to confuse Josh for a moment. Betamon was faster to reply. “For you!”

Josh nodded, then. “Yeah, y’know, to… check on my boyfriend?” The thought almost made Kyle smile, but it seemed like there must be other more important things going on outside.

Kyle&Coyomon: I'll be okay. You can go help.

Josh frowned slightly. “Well, you looked like you need help too.”

That was hard to accept, even after Coyomon nodded from his place on top of Kyle, and nosed his face. “You do, Partner-Kyle. It’s okay.”

Kyle&Coyomon: I don't even know how you can...

Coyomon’s ears perked. “Rrrr, I do!” Josh, Kyle, and Betamon all turned to look at him, with various looks of curiousity. “Partner-Kyle, you think downstairs is okay? Could watch cartoons, maybe have some snacks.”

After a moment of thought, Kyle nodded, and Josh and Betamon both smiled. “That sounds fun!” chirped Josh’s partner.

Kyle felt Coyomon’s weight shift on top of him as the digimon stood, getting ready to lead the way downstairs. “Betamon, you help get pillows and blankets?” This was a whole new side of Coyomon. Kyle was happily stunned to see how much his partner had learned about him in just a month. “Josh, Partner-Kyle is gonna need hugs.”

Kyle almost wanted to protest, and he dreaded even looking at Josh to see the other boy’s reaction, but Coyomon continued to explain. “Squeezing is good and relaxing. I can’t do it good when walking.”

At that, Kyle nodded, though he still kept looking downward, his gaze fixed until he felt Josh step close, and heard the other boy speaking softly. “Of course I can help with that. That makes sense, plus I think just about anyone could use a hug after all that.”

Kyle felt Josh’s touch on his shoulder, firm and comforting, almost as good as Coyomon. He leaned into the pressure, and felt Josh helping him up. Soon Josh’s strong arms were wrapped around him. “Let me know if this is too much. I’ve been wanting to get close to you for a while.”

“It’s good. Me too.” Kyle surprised himself when the words came, naturally and without effort. “Thank you, Josh.”

“Any time, Kyle.” Josh smiled at him as they all headed downstairs.

Chapter Text

Josh turned to Kyle as the ending theme for the Digimon anime played. “How’re you doing?” he asked, giving the other boy a light squeeze around the shoulders. They’d been cuddled on the couch for over an hour now, one of the best hours of Josh’s life, despite everything going on outside.

Kyle was silent for a few moments before responding. The DVD returned to the main menu screen, flashing various scenes from the show and playing the first few seconds of that absurd theme song, over and over again. Finally Kyle spoke. “Better…?” His voice sounded a bit stronger than it had before, and his expression, while still muted, wasn’t quite as blank as it had been. Coyomon wagged his tail from his spot on Kyle’s other side.

“You need anything?” Josh asked. “I think there’s some snacks left…” He nodded at the mostly-eaten bags of chips and boxes of crackers on the coffee table. “Coyomon, you did save some for Kyle, right?”

“…I thiiink so…?” The digimon looked slightly guilty.

“Still not so hungry…” Kyle murmured.

Josh frowned slightly. “We all missed lunch. You should probably eat something… Everyone should probably eat something.” Thoughts of the other stranded kids started to build in Josh’s mind again. Were they doing okay out there? Chelsey had said she’d come get him if they needed anything, but…

Betamon nudged him. “I’ll check on them!” The little reptile hopped up and scuttled outside.

“Thanks, B!” Josh called after his partner, then turned his attention to Kyle again. “Hugging still okay?” he asked.

“Very okay,” said Kyle, pressing closer against Josh’s side. “Thanks for staying with me.”

“You deserve it,” Josh said, then went silent again. There was so much more he felt like he could say, about how Kyle must be feeling now, about how Josh felt when he heard about the attack, about what was next for the two of them, for the whole group of tamers… but he wasn’t sure how to start. So, he just laid there, holding his boyfriend close.

Betamon came back in after a few minutes, carrying a fast-food bag in his mouth. “June’s dad brought hamburgers,” he said after dropping the bag in front of them. “They’re leaving to bring more kids to the gate now. It’s still gonna be a few more trips to get everyone through, but Youkomon says there’s still no sign of Defenders around there.”

Josh nodded. “That’s a relief.” He sat up, and pulled two burgers from the bag. He unwrapped one and handed one to Kyle. “You should probably try to eat something.”

Kyle sat up slowly beside him. “Mmh. I’ll try…” Coyomon watched his partner intently, and for a moment Josh was worried that the digimon was going to steal his partner’s food, until he saw the canine digimon just nose it toward Kyle’s mouth. Kyle giggled softly. “Okay, okay.” He took a bite, swallowed, then started eating faster. “Yeah, okay… I was hungrier than I thought.”

Josh grinned as he chewed his own burger. “Thought so. Me too.” They ate in silence, until Josh noticed an odd expression on Kyle’s face. “What’s up?”

“Huh? Oh… I just realized my parents are probably gonna be home soon? I’m surprised they aren’t already. Are… you gonna be okay?”

Josh frowned. “Oh. Um.” It was a good question. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead. What would Kyle’s parents even think of him being here, cuddled up on the couch with their son? And then, what if he got stuck in a car with one of them, as they drove him back to the gate? Part of him wanted to leave now, to escape the oncoming complications… but that would mean leaving Kyle.

Josh felt a pressure on his chest, and looked down to see Betamon staring back at him with a stern look. Then he looked at Kyle, whose face was radiating worry again. “I don’t want to leave you,” Josh said, hoping he sounded braver than he felt. “If you think it’ll be okay?”

Kyle looked at least partially relieved. “I, um… I kinda never know what anyone else is going to think, but I want you here too. That’s gotta count for something, right?”

Josh nodded, his thoughts spinning. There was another part to the whole situation too, an unanswered question that had been hovering in the back of his mind and was now coming forward. If he left, where would he go? File Town had been his refuge for over a year. It was practically his home, even if he couldn’t sleep there. And now it was gone. His throat started to close up as he thought about it.

Even if he did return to his parents’ house, how safe would it be? There was the lesser concern that he’d missed another day of school, and they probably knew about that already. And then there was the larger issue of the address list. The Defenders knew where he lived now. Would they come after him? Could he leave his family to that, or would him being away keep them safe somehow?

“Josh?” Kyle was staring at him, along with Betamon and Coyomon. “Are you okay?” The other boy asked.

He forced down the uncertainty. There were other things to worry about first. Making sure everyone else got home, checking in with Nodens to see what they could tell him about the situation, that all mattered more than where he was going to sleep tonight, right?

“I’ll be fine. How’re you feeling?”

Kyle gave a shaky smile. “Still better. Food helped. You helped.” Then he glanced toward the front yard. “Annnd that’s my dad’s car.”

Josh barely heard the sound, now that Kyle mentioned it. “You can tell from that?”

Kyle shrugged. “One upside to being so sensitive to sound?” The jokey tone didn’t do much to mask the boy’s nervousness.

Josh looked at the pillows and blankets they’d arranged in the living room for Kyle’s comfort. “Should we clean up?”

“Maybe, yeah.” Kyle stretched as he stood up. “Coyomon? Betamon? Can you help?”

“Sure!” said both digimon, and they started to drag the bedding off. Kyle and Josh turned to face the living room entrance just as they heard the door open.

“H-Hi Dad,” Kyle called. Josh braced himself.

“Hey kiddo.” The man’s voice seemed surprisingly calm. “Sound like you had a difficult day.” He rounded the corner then, and saw the two of them standing there. Their digimon scurried back to stand at their sides. “Oh! Josh, right? And… Botamon?”

“Betamon! Hi!” Josh’s partner giggled, seeming far more at-ease than Josh himself.

“Sorry, Betamon.” Kyle’s dad looked at his son. “Is everyone okay?”

Kyle paused before answering, and his voice was shaky when he did. “No one got hurt, but the town is gone. And I…” He broke off, and shook his head. “And digimon might be coming after us.” He squeezed Coyomon’s scruff in that way he did when he was trying to calm down.

Josh wasn’t sure how that news was going to land, and he suddenly felt very protective of Kyle. He took a step forward. “Kyle did a good job warning people, and keeping this place safe.” Then he realized there was something Kyle didn’t know. “And they’re probably not coming after you in particular.”

Kyle and his father both gave Josh a questioning look. “They’re not?” Kyle asked. “But the addresses…”

“You never put your address in the computer, did you? We don’t do it as much anymore. It was more important before we had digi-chat.”

“Oh… That’s… I guess not. That’s… good? For me at least.”

“And June and Bryan and a few other kids,” added Josh. “The rest of us, well… that’s why folks are going home.” And that’s why Josh himself wasn’t sure what to do.

“Do they need more help driving?” asked Kyle’s dad. “Ann’s on the way too, she had to find a sub so she asked me to come home first.”

“I’m not sure,” Josh said. “Who’s still out there?” He tried to survey the front yard from the living room window.

“I think I saw maybe half a dozen kids when I came in. And their monsters.” Kyle’s dad glanced between Josh and Kyle. “Everyone’s outside other than you four?”

Josh felt a surge of anxiety, very used to that sort of veiled parental probing, but Kyle answered first. “Yeah, no one else asked to come in,” he said, clearly oblivious to the implied question of why.

Josh’s protective instincts toward his boyfriend warred with his wariness toward Kyle’s dad. Then he remembered Kyle’s words from before. I want you here too. That’s gotta count for something, right? It was clear what Kyle would want in this situation. “Kyle was having a really hard time earlier,” he said. “We were in here keeping an eye on him.”

Kyle stepped a bit closer to Josh. “I kinda had a shutdown.” He sounded a bit ashamed by that admission, but it was gone in the next sentence. “Josh helped a lot. Coyomon and Betamon too, but especially Josh.”

Kyle’s father nodded. “I see,” he said, as if the word ‘shutdown’ had special weight. He looked to Josh. “Thank you. I’m glad there was someone here looking after him.”

“Three someones!” added Coyomon, and he seemed ready to say more until Betamon bumped him in the side.

“Me too,” said Kyle.

Josh just watched. He was pretty sure Kyle’s father didn’t have the whole picture yet, but he also didn’t see the suspicion or fault-finding that he was used to from his own parents. He almost felt at ease.

“Well,” said Kyle’s dad, “if things are okay in here, I guess I should check if anyone else needs a ride.” He looked to Josh. “Do you?”

Josh froze. He’d made no progress figuring that part out. He felt Kyle’s hand squeeze his. Was the other boy actually holding his hand, in full view of his father? “Um.” He swallowed hard, a certainty forming in his mind, even if he was entirely uncertain how to say it. “I think this is the right place for me now, if that’s okay? Until… everyone else is doing okay, I mean.”

Kyle’s father just nodded. “Makes sense to me,” he said, and Josh was pretty sure he caught a faint smile on the man’s face. “Kyle, tell your mom where I am if she gets home before I’m back?”

“Sure, dad.” Kyle sounded distracted, paying more attention to Josh than he was to his father.

Josh heaved a huge sigh as soon as Kyle’s dad was out of the room, and he flopped back on the couch. Kyle sat down next to him, wearing a smile. “Seemed like that went pretty good,” he said as the digimon clambered up alongside.

“Yeah! Good job, Josh,” said Betamon.

Josh was still trying to make sense of it all. “You… he… your hand, I didn’t…”

Kyle smiled, and squeezed his hand again. “They’re weird about some stuff, but they’ve always been good about this, at least.”

“I can’t even imagine…” Josh murmured.

Coyomon’s wagging tail thumped against the couch. “Is Boyfriend-Josh going to stay with us?”

The room went totally silent. Betamon looked at Josh. Josh and Kyle stared at Coyomon. Coyomon looked back at Kyle. “Rrrr? What?”

Kyle and Josh started to talk, both on top of each other.

“I’d have to—”

“I don’t know if—“

Just then Josh’s digivice buzzed. “Oh thank god,” were the first words out of his mouth, before he started to wonder which of many bad things it could be telling him. But what he saw confused him in a whole different way.

Yamaki: Turn on the TV to a news channel. There is something important for you to see.

Josh fumbled with the remote, finally working out how to switch it from the DVD screen.

“Uh, Josh?” Kyle was watching him in confusion.

“Apparently there’s something we have to see. What’s the news channel?”

Worry trickled into Kyle’s voice. “Channel 33.”

As soon as Josh changed the channel, a face he knew well filled the screen, with images of digimon projected behind him. Yamaki was speaking in his usual mode, lightly-accented and hyper-professional. “…to keep the world safe from entities such as…”

“Oh no…” said Josh and Betamon, at nearly the same time.

“I’ve seen that guy before…” said Kyle, wide-eyed.

“Digimon!” said Coyomon.

“He’s the director of Nodens,” Josh replied softly, focussed fully on the screen.

They all lapsed into silence as the speech continued, the weight of each word falling heavier than the last. Josh reached out for Kyle’s hand, and found it right there waiting. They squeezed tight and drew their partners close as they watched the world change.

Chapter Text

“Thank you for your time. Nodens specialists will now answer media questions and provide more information.”

Two boys and two digimon sat in silence as Chairman Yamaki walked off the podium, replaced by an array of other adults as the reporters clamored for more information.

Kyle was the first to speak. “Does that mean what I think it does?” He was almost breathless with excitement, his head full of ideas of finally being able to have Coyomon with him whenever he wanted.

Unsurprisingly, Coyomon was thinking the same thing. “No more staying in the digivice!” He bounced lightly next to Kyle, wagging his tail. Betamon’s whole body bobbed up and down as he nodded, looking just as excited as Coyomon.

Josh wasn’t joining in. “Um. I’m not sure it’s that simple?”

Betamon nosed his partner. “Joooosh, what do you mean? Everyone’s gonna know about us now, and they know we’re the good guys!”

“Well, yeah, that’s the thing,” said Josh. “Everyone knows about you guys now, if you’re out and about we’re still going to get a lot of attention. It’ll just be ‘hey look at that tamer and their digimon’ attention instead of ‘oh no what is that monster’ attention.”

Kyle frowned. That did sound pretty overwhelming, but he could almost imagine it being worth it. “People might get used to it, right? I mean, like at school, after the first day everyone would kind of know about him.”

“I don’t think most schools allow pets,” said Josh.

Coyomon protested in his usual way “Not a pet!”

Josh rubbed his head. “I know that, Coyomon, but no one else is gonna know what to think of you. Plus, even if they don’t…” He looked at Kyle. “You ever got in trouble for being a ‘class distraction’ for just showing up how you want to be?”

“Not… personally?” He looked back at Josh. The other boy’s expressions seemed uncharacteristically grim. “Why’re you being such a bummer about this? Seems like Betamon wants it too.”

But Betamon’s demeanor had changed as well; the round digimon was settled snugly in his partner’s lap, quiet and thoughtful. “I guess it is kindacomplicated, yeah,” Betamon said softly.

Josh nodded. “I mean, it’s not a bad thing. And it’ll probably make things easier eventually. But being open is hard sometimes, you know?”

Kyle thought of the times that things had gone wrong when he’d shared himself, and how that had made him fearful of doing so sometimes, even when that need burned inside him. “I guess… but most of the time it seems like it’s worth it.” Coyomon nodded rapidly at this.

Josh had another strange look on his face, but instead of saying more, he stood up. “Me and B should see who’s still here outside. They should know about this too. That’s probably why Yamaki messaged me about it, so I could tell everyone else. Okay if I bring them inside, whoever’s left?”

Kyle had a moment of fear that Josh was just going to be inscrutable and walk off again. “Oh, um, yeah! Go ahead. I never really meant to keep everyone out or anything. And… can we talk about this more later?”

Josh nodded. “Of course, yeah. Like I said, it’s not bad, I’m not upset, it’s just… complicated.”

Then he was out the door, leaving Kyle and Coyomon to watch people on the news channel analyze the digimon announcement. Discussions bounced back and forth between speculations about hoaxes and marking stunts, about ‘cyberattacks’ and ‘protecting children’. He and Coyomon started off snickering at it, but after just a few minutes, the misunderstanding and concern really started to get to him.

By the time other kids started to come in, a dour man in a bowtie was speculating if there was something demonic about digimon, and Kyle had had enough. He looked at Josh, Chelsey, and the handful of other faces still waiting for rides. “I’m gonna go to my room again,” he said, one hand on Coyomon’s collar. “Come on in if you want.”

Even just a few minutes of silence and close contact with his partner helped Kyle feel more stable again, but the heaviness of the day still hung in the air. Eventually it was Coyomon who spoke.

“Can I still come out of the digivice, Partner-Kyle?” Coyomon asked softly.

“What? Of course, bud! I mean no one knew about you before, and that still didn’t stop us.”

“But… now they know the wrong things about me?”

Kyle winced. “Well, they think they know the wrong things about you. It happens a lot.” He sighed. “Not even the first time I’ve been called demonic.”

“Rrrr? Because of me?”

“No, because I like boys.”

“What? That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Yeah, well, tell that to Aunt Sarah.” He sighed, and shook his head. “But she’s wrong, and the people on TV are wrong too. I get misunderstood all the time. Because of how my brain works, or because of how I want to be…” He hugged Coyomon close. “We just gotta show them different, right?”

“Yeah!” Coyomon wagged his tail, but the movement soon slowed. “But… what about Boyfriend-Josh?”

Kyle frowned slightly. “I dunno what’s going on with him. I think he’s had it harder than me, but I don’t really understand…” He shook his head. “We just gotta support him, I guess.”

There was a knock at his door. Josh’s voice came through it faintly. “Hey, you okay in there?”

Kyle sat up. “Yeah! Come in!”

The door opened. Betamon came in first, followed close behind by his partner. “Cable news sucks, huh?” said Josh.

“In so many ways. Is everyone else okay?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah, we’re all talking about what to do. You’re not the only one who’s happy about going public.”

“Still not you, though?” Kyle asked.

“I’m used to hiding stuff. Speaking of… since I’m still waiting on a ride… I better figure out what to tell my parents.” Josh glanced back toward the main part of the house. “You think it’s okay if I use your phone?”

“Oh, sure. It’s in the kitchen.” Kyle got up to lead the way. “So like… what’s the deal with your parents, anyway?”

“Mormons,” Josh said, as if that explained all of it, and then continued after Kyle didn’t say anything. “Religious, strict, big family. And I’m the oldest, so I’m supposed to be a good example.” He sighed. They were in the kitchen now. Their partners’ claws made a racket as they walked across the tile floor. “Okay, let’s just hope they haven’t called the cops,” Josh murmured, picking up the handset and dialing a number.

Betamon sidled up next to him. “You can do this, Josh.”

Kyle stepped back a bit, worrying Josh might want some privacy, but also not wanting to abandon his boyfriend in a stressful moment. He at least tried to stay far enough away that even his sensitive hearing couldn’t pick up the other side of the conversation.

“Hi mom,” said Josh, and almost immediately winced at the response. There was something strange about his voice tone when he was on the phone. It wasn’t just stress, somehow he didn’t quite sound like himself. “Yes, I’m fine, mom… I know. Today wasn’t even an important school day. Kristy said she’d turn in my—What?”

Josh suddenly looked more shocked. His mother must have been talking quickly now; he was struggling to get a word in edgewise. “You… Yes, I heard about… What? I don’t have a… It’s called a digivice, mom.” He sounded defeated, and Betamon’s eyes went wide in alarm. “They’re not demons, mom. Will you just listen?”

Kyle faintly heard shouting now. He and Coyomon pressed close as they watched Josh get more and more upset, not sure what to do. Finally, Josh seemed to reach a breaking point. He shouted back. “Stop calling me that! I’m not your daughter, and my name is Josh! Have a nice life, I hope the ‘demons’ don’t come after you!” He slammed down the phone, and took a couple heavy breaths, bracing himself on the counter.

For a moment, it was hard for Kyle to make sense of those words, but then everything Josh had said, about wariness around parents, being used to hiding, having a hard time being seen, all of it snapped into a new perspective.

By the time Josh turned away from the phone, a couple of the other waiting kids had wandered toward the kitchen to see what was going on too. Josh’s face fell as soon as he saw his audience. “I…”

Kyle stepped toward his boyfriend. Now more than ever, he wasn’t sure what Josh needed, but also now more than ever, he wanted to give Josh what support he could. “It… sounds like that sucked,” he said.

Josh nodded mutely, and backpedaled. It seemed like he was about to bolt for the door, but Betamon nudged up at his feet. Josh almost tripped, but he at least stopped moving. “Josh, it’s okay,” the little digimon said.

Kyle nodded. “I’m here for you, Josh, like you were here for me.” He reached out, arms wide.

Josh leaned in against him, accepting and returning the hug with a heavy sigh. “Thank you,” he said, voice thick with emotion, then nothing else.

Kyle wasn’t sure what else to say, so he just held Josh close. Soon he felt the presence of two digimon joining the hug around their legs, and moments after that, he felt dampness from Josh’s face soaking through his shirt.

“I-I think… I might need… a place to stay,” Josh said, eventually.

“I’m pretty sure you have one,” Kyle said, feeling his heart hammer in his chest. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how his parents would react to that request, but he was sure going to try anyway. It was as uncertain as anything else was today, but had the potential to be just as good.

Chelsey spoke up from the small crowd of watchers. “I’m sure you have more than one, if you need it,” she said. “And also, can I just say congratulations? And… finally?”

Josh gasped out a laugh, and shook his head, untangling a bit from Kyle and looking at the others. “I can’t believe… This whole day…”

Kyle nodded. “I think maybe you’re the one who needs some recovery time now?” He smiled slightly. “Quiet room, or more digimon.”

“Quiet room,” said Josh. “And maybe we should talk…” There was another shift in his body language. Was he tense again? Kyle couldn’t imagine why.

“Let’s go then,” Kyle led the way. Josh stumbled up the stairs and collapsed on the bed. Betamon quickly nestled in next to him.

After a few moments of tense quiet, Josh spoke softly. “So… if you don’t want…” He trailed off.

Kyle stared at him blankly. “Don’t want what?”

“You know. Me.”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t I…” Kyle’s train of thought caught up. “Oh! Josh, you’re my boyfriend.” He put special emphasis on the word, just as he remembered Josh doing a few days ago. Now he understood why.

Coyomon nodded rapidly. “Yeah! We don’t want Boyfriend-Josh to go anywhere.”

Josh let out a frantic giggle, turning toward them. “I… dunno what to say. Thank you.”

Kyle sat down on the bed. “Thank you too, Josh. You’ve done so much for us too, for… everyone…” He lapsed back into silence, thinking of how much more there was to do, how much uncertainty there was now. “I guess… there’s a lot more to do now?”

Josh nodded. “Sure seems that way.” He shifted closer to Kyle. “You’ve done a lot for me too. If it wasn’t for you, I dunno if I would have… y’know, with my mom, just now.”

Kyle tensed. “Is… that a good thing?”

Josh paused. “I think it will be. I’m sick of hiding and worrying. Turns out it doesn’t even keep bad stuff from happening anyway, yeah? So if we have to fight either way, might as well do it as our real selves.”

Kyle couldn’t help but grin. “That’s what I always figured. I’m not that good at keeping hidden in the first place. Me and Coyomon definitely have that in common.”

Josh laughed softly. “I think that’s all digimon. Betamon ended up popping out inside my backpack once just because he smelled something good. Broke my backpack, almost broke my back too.”

Betamon looked bashful. “The sushi smelled soooo goooood!”

Kyle giggled too. “So… are you still worried about them coming out more now…?” The words were out of his mouth before he could think better of it, but Josh didn’t seem upset.

“I’m still worried, but… I think it might be a good idea anyway. They shouldn’t have to hide either. Let’s show the world what they really are, yeah?”

“Yeah!” said Kyle, Coyomon, and Betamon joyfully.

“That means you guys gotta behave, though!” said Josh.

“He’s right,” said Kyle. “Remember, not all food in the world is for you, Coyomon.”

“He does that too? There was this time when Betamon—“

There was a knock at the door, followed by the voice of Kyle’s dad. “Hey kiddo, I’m back. Is Josh in there? I think he needs a ride?”

“Yeah, come in, Dad!” He glanced at Josh, and murmured softly. “Do you want to…?” Josh nodded, and Kyle’s heart fluttered as he worked up his courage.

“Sorry I’m late, boys. There was something about the… gates? June said they were acting strange? I don’t really understand, and everyone’s fine, it just took longer than expected.” He looked at Josh. “I’m ready to take you back, if you’re ready to go.”

Kyle sat up, ready to take the parent-negotiation pressure off of Josh. “Actually, dad, we were wondering if…”

But Josh put a hand on Kyle’s shoulder, and stood up. “I’m in some trouble with my parents, because of all this, and… some other stuff too. It’s a long story, but… I need a place to stay, and we were wondering if I could stay here?” He sounded even more confident than the last time he’d spoken to Kyle’s dad. Kyle was speechless, and just watched nervously for his father’s response.

“You boys have had a really rough day, haven’t you?” his dad said. “We’ll have to have a bit more of a talk to work out details, but for tonight at least, that sounds fine. There’s a spare bed in the basement.”

Kyle and Josh smiled at each other. “Thank you!” they both stammered out simultaneously.

Kyle bounced out of the bed, suddenly full of energy. “Coyomon, let’s go help get things set up!”

Kyle’s father smiled. “Okay, I’m off to get the last of the other kids back home. I’ll see you boys—you all—at dinner.”

The two boys and the two digimon just nodded and waved in passing, hurrying off to start shaping their new reality.

Chapter Text

Monday, 10:00 PM

Kyle sat on the basement stairs, looking indignant. “I can’t believe my parents aren’t letting you stay here past tonight!”

Coyomon nodded rapidly. “Yeah!”

Josh shrugged. “It’s not that surprising.”

Kyle huffed softly. “It’s arguably kind of homophobic, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, Partner-Kyle!” This time Coyomon bounced up and down as he vocally agreed, even though Kyle was pretty sure that his partner didn’t know what that word meant.

Josh blinked. “I mean, it’s more like the opposite, if they’re worried about…” He trailed off.

Kyle blinked in confusion. “Huh?” Then his eyes widened. “Oh. Oh. Uh. Right.”

Betamon nodded. “I mean if they thought it was no big deal, like you were just gonna be brothers or roommates, that’s when it’d feel bad, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kyle sighed. “But it sucks that you’re going to be so far away.”

“June’s house isn’t that far away, Aullidomon can run from here to there in ten minutes flat.” Josh nudged Coyomon. “Right, dude?”

“Faster than that!” Coyomon said, wagging his tail. “Especially if we’re going to see Boyfriend-Josh.”

Kyle felt himself blush. “Yeah, okay. And hopefully they can work it out so you can go to school with us?”

Josh nodded. “Never thought I’d actually be looking forward to school.”

“Kyle, bedtime was ten minutes ago!” His father called down from the living room.

“Okay, dad.” Kyle felt his mouth stretch in a yawn. He was tired, today had been incomparably exhausting. But he didn’t want to leave Josh…

His yawn was contagious, spreading first to Josh and then providing an honestly intimidating view of Betamon’s teeth.

“See you tomorrow, then.” Kyle and Josh shared a lingering hug before one went into the guest room and the other headed upstairs.

Tuesday, 1:15 AM

Countless huge digimon towered over Kyle, leaving no escape. He was certain he was about to die, until Aullidomon bore him off in a blur through a bewildering forest. He could hear them thundering behind him, almost catching up, and the only thing between them and freedom was… another digimon.

The form shifted: Centarumon, Greymon, Infermon, others that Kyle could barely name. Desperate, Kyle leapt for the digimon in his way, and saw the face turn to shock and horror as it disintegrated around him. For a moment, before it disappeared, it almost looked like Coyomon…

Kyle woke with a jolt, relieved to find the soft fluffy form of his partner next to him in bed. “C-Coyomon…” His breath was coming fast, and his eyes were wet.

“Okay, Partner-Kyle?”

The face of a disappearing digimon hovered in Kyle’s mind’s eye. It wasn’t his partner’s face, but it was still someone. Someone who had fallen apart into fading pixels.

“N-no, I… Coyomon, we fought, and…”

“Rrrr, Partner-Kyle… We… had to…?” Coyomon sounded as unsure as Kyle felt.

Kyle found himself unable to sleep, despite how it was clearly late; the house was totally silent. He crept out of bed, past his parents’ door, and down the stairs to the basement, carefully avoiding the creaky step. He heard Coyomon’s paws following behind him, and then, from the guest room, a squeaky snore sound that had to be Betamon.

Kyle took a big shaky breath, and opened the door. “Josh…?” he whispered.

“Wha—huh?” He heard thrashing from the bed, a soft thud, and then the scuttle of Betamon’s claws.

The sounds were all the way across the room, but Kyle still leapt backwards. “S-sorry! Sorry!” he hissed, trying to keep himself from getting too loud. He crumpled to the ground, one arm hugging his knees to himself, the other seeking Coyomon.

“Kyle…?” Josh sounded groggy. “Is… something wrong?”

He heard human feet and digimon claws cross the carpet and approach him. Josh’s silhouette was barely visible in the dark, but Kyle could still tell the other boy was reaching out for him. He shifted closer, pulling Coyomon along.

It took several breaths for words to come. “Y-yeah… The fight. The town. Everyone. A-and…” He couldn’t say the last parts. Digimon data broke apart and faded in his mind’s eye.

“The… Centarumon?” Josh guessed.

Kyle nodded and pressed closer to the other boy, tears flooding from him. He felt his partner shuddering next to him, and he was pretty sure Coyomon was crying as well.

“Yeah…” was all Josh said as they stood there, and Betamon repeated this word. The little digimon’s voice was for once subdued, gentle.

Kyle trembled, trying to get his thoughts in order. “I… We fought them before, but never…”

“Rrrr, Partner-Kyle…” Coyomon nosed him, but clearly had nothing else to say either.

“I know,” said Josh. “It’s… it’s not okay, because none of what happened was okay, but…” He was silent for a long moment. “We’ve been there too.” Betamon nodded beside him. “It sucks. But we’re safer now, and you helped with that. Try to think about it that way?”

Kyle did, trying to push aside the other thoughts, to tell himself he did what he had to, that he’d helped, even if he’d also hurt. He wasn’t sure if it helped, but at least he wasn’t shaking as much anymore.

“I… I don’t want… to do it again.”

“Rrrr, me neither,” said Coyomon.

Josh was quiet again. “That makes sense.” There was another long pause. Kyle desperately wished he could guess what Josh was thinking. Finally Josh spoke up, hugging Kyle close as he did. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but… we’ll be here to protect you, at least. Right, B?”

“Right!” agreed his partner.

Kyle nodded. “I… want to stay here.” He yawned again. With the panic easing up, sleep was threatening to engulf him again.

Josh hugged him. “Well, the basement floor isn’t too comfy. Let’s see if we can make room in the bed.”

Tuesday, 5:30 AM

“Kyle? Hey Kyle?”

For a moment, Kyle couldn’t place the voice. It sounded like Josh, but how would Josh be waking him up?

Then his brain woke up just that bit more to let it all come flooding back. Everything that had happened yesterday, why he was in the basement guest room with his boyfriend… Though he wasn’t sure why his boyfriend had woken him up when the sky outside the narrow basement windows was barely lightening, or why Josh was staring intently at his digivice. Their partners were both still soundly sleeping.

“Josh? Is something wrong?” he asked, his thoughts sharpened by dread.

“Not really wrong, but… some stuff you should know.” Josh sat up a bit. “Another Yamaki message. I gotta figure out how to tell everyone else.”

That was not reassuring. “Digimon attacks?”

Josh shook his head, giving Kyle a reassuring hug. “No. They—Nodens—did something to the gates.” Josh scrolled along the screen. “He called it a ‘bandwidth reduction’? To try to keep the Defenders away. Makes it so bigger digimon have a harder time getting here.”

Kyle frowned. “Does that mean we can’t get to the digital world?” He was surprised at his own reaction. Days ago, the idea of anything happening to the gates would’ve filled him with panic. Now, it seemed so minor, compared to everything else happening. Was that even a hint of relief, in the back of his mind?

But Josh was shaking his head. “It slows things down, based on how much data they have. Which is apparently sort of the same as how big, or how powerful? As long as we go through one at a time, with Rookie partners, it might just feel a little slower, but it says it’ll take Champions like five minutes to get here, and bigger ones like… up to an hour? So we’ll know that much in advance if they’re coming.”

Kyle thought about this. “Even with an hour’s notice, I dunno if any of us could do much about that Orochimon.”

“Well, we could get further away, turn things to our advantage, and call in a LOT of allies.” Josh grinned slightly. “Remember who else Yamaki knows.”

“Oh. Wow. Yeah…”

“But he’s hoping that that just means that the Defenders won’t send big guns after us. So if they do start trying to get to us on Earth, it’ll be ones that people can handle on their own.”

“I… guess that’s good, yeah.” Kyle fidgeted with the blanket. The idea of facing off against any digimon felt like too much right now.

Josh hugged him closer. “But either way, it also sounds like they’re not going to come here. Yamaki also got recon of File—of where File Town was.” Josh sagged a bit against him. “It’s a wreck, but they trashed it and moved on. Meaning they’re not going to find your gate.” At this, Josh managed a smile. “Meaning… we can go back to the digital world. Sounds like it’s, well… about as safe as it ever was.”

“Oh.” Kyle just sat there. Josh clearly thought that would cheer him up, and Kyle would have thought that it would too. All of yesterday he’d been wondering if something was going to come through the gate, rendering meaningless all he’d done to keep it secret. He’d been wondering if he’d have to avoid the gate forever, for fear of that doing the same thing. But now that he knew, he wasn’t sure how he felt. “That’s… I’m… glad we’re safe?”

Josh gave him a confused look, but he didn’t probe any further. “Well, we can figure that out later, I guess.” The other boy sat up a bit more. “How’re you feeling now otherwise?”

Even that required some thought. “Better than last night, I guess.”

Josh smiled. “Well, that’s good.” He gave Kyle another hug. “Though, as long as you’re up…” Josh glanced toward the door. “You miiiight want to not be in this room when your parents get up too?”

“Huh? Oh, crap, you’re right.” He shifted a bit, considering getting out of bed, but still not wanting to leave Josh.

“Hey.” Josh squeezed his hand. “I’ll seeya in a bit at breakfast, yeah? Better than having your parents freak out and say we don’t get to see each other at all…”

Kyle winced. He wasn’t sure it’d come to that, but Josh had a point. “All right, okay, seeya then.” He nudged his partner. “C’mon, Coyomon. Time to go back upstairs.”

Tuesday, 7:45 AM

Going back to school after such a shattering day would’ve seemed surreal in the best of circumstances. But the scene in the principal’s office before the first bell went far beyond anything Kyle could have imagined.

It was a tight fit, with four pairs of kids and digimon, five parents, and Dr. Clarke all trying to find space. Principal Garcia was supposed to be leafing through several papers that Dr. Clarke had provided, but she seemed to be spending more of her time staring at Coyomon, Bakumon, Hielomon, and Betamon.

“So, you’re saying their absences, not just yesterday but on several other occasions in the past month, should be excused because they’re… part of this… cyber-security organization? And I should let this continue indefinitely?”

Kyle, Bryan, and June glanced at each other. This was news to all of them. Apparently the adults had been very busy since yesterday evening.

Dr. Clarke seemed perfectly calm. “We’ll do all we can to ensure it doesn’t cause more disruption. They aren’t the only children who are dealing with this new situation. But we want to help them be supported.”

Principal Garcia nodded. “I suppose we can take it on a case-by-case basis. However, speaking of disruption, there seems to be a much larger matter.” She was looking at the digimon again, now with more concern than curiosity.

Kyle stepped forward, his hand on Coyomon’s head. “They’re our partners!”

“Kyle…” his mother murmured, and he felt Josh’s hand on his side, trying to settle him down.

“They’re also large, colorful, hungry, animals that literally came out of a TV show. I can hardly think of anything that would be more disruptive in a classroom.” The principal’s tone was firm, but at least she didn’t sound angry.

“She has a point,” said Hielomon.

The principal jolted a bit in her chair. “Right. Talking animals,” she added, as if she’d just realized that part.

“Digimon!” chirped Betamon and Coyomon, unhelpfully.

Principal Garcia took a moment before talking again. This time she was looking at Kyle and his friends. “Dr. Clarke said you can use those devices to keep them out of the way when you need to?” Everyone nodded, some more reluctantly than others. “Good. I expect you to do that during class and in the halls. Before school, after school, lunch, I suppose that’s fine. Just… keep them outdoors.”

Kyle wanted to protest that they’d been fine indoors in Mr Neary’s room, that making an outdoors-only rule really made them seem like pets, and they were definitely not pets. But June spoke up first. “Entirely reasonable, Mrs. Garcia. Thank you.”

The principal nodded. “Good. I think that covers it for most of you.” She looked to June’s parents. “Dr. Otsuka, Dr. Reynolds, and…” She checked a paper, before looking at Josh. “Mr. Rystrom. Let’s talk about this transfer application.”

Chapter Text

In all his morning classes, Kyle’s brain was so far away from focussing on school that his physical environment barely registered. There were far more important things to think about. Josh was foremost on his mind, after he and his boyfriend parted ways in the principal’s office. When would Josh be able to start going to school with him? What would it be like, going to the same school as his boyfriend?

Second period was Mr. Neary’s class. The computer teacher gave Kyle a thoughtful look as he entered, which just reminded Kyle that their secret was no longer so secret, and that kicked off more thoughts. What would people at school think of Coyomon? What would Coyomon do once he was able to be out and about more in the world?

Bells rang, and he moved on to the next class. Gym, with basketball drills. He moved on automatic, thoughts far away from his body. What was he going to do about going to the digital world now? And, the one that he’d been trying not to think all day: What would Kyle do if—when—digimon started coming through the gates again?

Lunch time was a relief, with other things to think about. There was food, there were friends, and there was the possibility of having Coyomon around with fewer worries… as long as they were outside.

“Literally no one is outside,” said Bryan with a scowl, staring through the window as he picked at his cafeteria pizza.

June shrugged. “It’s November. There was frost this morning. Why do youwant to be out there?”

“For Hielomon, duh! Mrs. Garcia said we could have our digimon out, as long as we weren’t inside? It’d be so cool to have him around, and I kinda want other people to know about him too.” He looked directly at Kyle. “You do too, right?”

Coyomon answered from Kyle’s hip before Kyle did himself. “Yesyes!”

Kyle smiled nervously and patted the digivice. “Yeah, of course. You know I’m not good with secrets. I was just hoping it’d be a bit easier.” He’d been imagining casually walking with Coyomon in the halls, eating with him in the lunchroom. Having to go outside in the fall air just to let his partner out seemed like a chore more than an opportunity.

“I guess there’s always after-school,” Bryan mused.

“What, just when everyone’s leaving and getting picked up?” asked June.

“Yeah! Everyone’s there and some folks hang out for a while anyway. Perfect time for me and Hielo to make a hero entrance!”

“A… hero entrance?” Bakumon’s wary voice came from June’s digivice. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

Bryan grinned. “I was thinking about something with the ice? Like I’m all ‘Hey, who wants a snow day tomorrow?’ and then Hielomon comes out of the digivice with a big ice spray!”

June shook her head. “What? No way! Didn’t you hear what Principal Garcia said about being disruptive?”

“A… small ice spray?” offered Bryan. “You could do that, right Hielomon!”

“Yeah, snow problem,” came his partner’s voice, causing Bryan to roll his eyes before he grinned.

“Can I do something like that too, Partner-Kyle?” asked Coyomon.

Kyle poked at his pizza crust, thoughtfully. “I just kind of want to just… have you around, bud. I don’t really want to startle anyone.”

“But we did that already! In the bathroom.”

Kyle chuckled softly, remembering the look on Rick’s face a few weeks ago. “I don’t want to startle anyone who isn’t a big jerk who deserves it.”

June frowned. “That reminds me. If Rick sees Coyomon around more… What’s that going to do? I thought you were counting on no one believing him?”

That made Kyle’s stomach tense a bit. The mind of his bully was even more a mystery than anyone else’s, but it certainly didn’t seem like that would simplify the situation. “Oh. Um. Maybe that’s another reason not to make a big deal out of things, yeah.” He looked at Bryan. “Can’t we just try and have them out with us, all casual?”

“This is middle school,” said Bryan. “I don’t think anyone does anything all casual. Remember your first day of school? All the rainbow backpack stuff?”

Kyle winced. He certainly did. He’d worked hard picking out the right pins and patches for his backpack, excited to express himself to a whole new group of kids. There were high-schoolers there, he figured. They were practically adults, and all the adults he knew were supportive, most of the time at least. He’d felt optimistic, fully embodying his own self-image as he walked in the door. Right until someone poked at the rainbow flag patch on his backpack and said “Dude, you know what that means, right?”

He’d tried to answer that he did, that he was, but by that time he’d drawn attention. The throng that was already surveying the crowd for new kids closed in on him and started picking apart every single aesthetic choice he’d made. They speculated on if he was going to be in special classes. They called him all sorts of slurs, both relevant and irrelevant. They mocked him for watching “kid’s shows.” He’d been filled with a roil of emotion so strong he wasn’t sure if he was going to pass out, or punch someone. He’d never been so happy to hear the nerve-jangling sound of a school bell, forcing everyone to go to their classes.

“Okay, Partner-Kyle?”

Kyle realized he’d been squeezing his digivice tightly as he relived the traumatic memory. “Y-yeah…” He looked at Bryan. “I guess you’re right.”

June gave him a sympathetic squeeze on the shoulder, but she was looking at Bryan too. “Which is probably why making ourselves the center of attention on purpose isn’t a good move either.”

Bryan sighed, and nodded. “I guess so. But what do we do then?”

“We could try something more controlled,” said Hielomon. “With someone backing us up who already knows what’s going on?”

“Like who?” asked Bryan. “Oh! Mr. Neary?”

“Exactly!” replied his partner. “That game club of yours already knows a lot about digimon, right? And they know you! If anyone would think we’re cool rather than scary, it’d be them, right?”

Kyle immediately perked up at that. “That’s an awesome idea!” In a school that was mostly uncaring at best, the game club was the nearest thing to his people. It’s the place he’d met his actual friends, after all. He’d actually started to miss it a bit, with all the time spent in the digital world.

“Why thank you!” said Hielomon cheerfully.

June nodded. “Better than trying to make it snow in the schoolyard, for sure.

Kyle’s leg bounced lightly in excitement. This sounded like something accomplishable, which is more good than he’d felt in twenty four hours. “Now, then?”

Bryan shook his head. “Lunch is like half-over, and the upper grades are still in class. You know I want to show Franklin.”

June giggled softly and nudged him. “You know that your whole rivalry thing with him is totally in your head, right?”

Bryan shrugged. “We’ll see!”

Having an actual plan of action made afternoon classes a lot easier to tolerate, even if Kyle was still very distracted by thoughts of the recent past and looming future.

Once the last bell rang, he hurried along the familiar path from math class to the computer room, fast outpacing June even though she was coming from and going to the same place. Students were still packing up their things and signing out of their computers when he arrived.

“Hey, Kyle!” Mr. Neary’s voice held him up as he passed the desk. There was something unusual in his voice tone, a similar feeling to the concerned looks the teacher had been giving him in class this morning. Now, apparently Mr. Neary felt free to be more direct, without having classes to tend to. “Did… something happen?” the teacher asked.

Kyle trembled slightly. So many things had happened. “…Yeah,” he said softly.

The teacher surveyed the room. One or two computer-class students lingered, and a few more game club members were filing in. He nodded to June as she entered the room, and now addressed both of them. “Your… situation seems like it might be a bit less secret soon?”

“Principal Garcia thinks they’re pets so she says they’re not allowed inside,” Kyle said sourly.

“Not a pet!” Coyomon reminded everyone through the digivice speaker.

Mr. Neary nodded. “I should probably tell you the teachers got a note to that effect at lunch. She didn’t name names, but the fact the school has an official policy has really made everyone curious.”

Kyle wasn’t sure how to raise the obvious subject. Bryan was going to be here any minute. Should he just wait? Or would Bryan make a scene and complicate things more. “So… Can we…?”

“As far as I’m concerned, nothing changes. I haven’t talked to Principal Garcia directly, because I don’t think she’d be happy that I knew about this before she did. But, I’d certainly think that I could make a case that digimon are within the gaming club’s purview, if someone gave me a reason to.”

Naturally, Bryan entered the room right then, his digivice already held high in his hand. “Hey everyone, check this out!” He waved the device dramatically.

“There’s your reason,” said June, as Hielomon materialized in front of Bryan.

There was a general clamor from everyone else in the room, enough to set Kyle’s nerves on edge again.

“What the hell?”

“Is that—“

“They really are real?”

Immediately the half-dozen other members of the game club, and a couple of class stragglers, were all circled around Hielomon and Bryan.

“I’m a digimon tamer, and this is my partner, Hielomon.”

Hielomon nodded, ruffling his wings a bit. “Uhm, hi, everyone!”

“Can we touch it?” asked an 8th-grade girl who Kyle didn’t know.

“Ask him,” said Bryan.

The girl’s eyes widened, but Hielomon nodded. “Sure,” he said, spreading a wing toward her.

“Wow. Chilly! That’s so cool! And, um, sorry. I’ve never really seen… like…” She trailed off

“It’s all right!” said the digimon. “A lot of this is really new to me too!”

Kyle looked at June, who was looking back at him. It suddenly seemed hard to figure out how to be part of the show.

“Hey, um, Bryan?” June called.

Bryan looked back at them. “Oh! Right.” He waved in their direction with another dramatic flourish. “Presenting the rest of the Digimon Research Team: June and Bakumon, and Kyle and Coyomon!”

Coyomon appeared first. Kyle was quietly impressed that his partner had managed to wait even this long. Bakumon followed shortly behind. The impressed noises from the other students were quieter this time, but still there.

Jose Torres, a 9th-grader who Kyle only sort of knew from playing card games, reached out in Bakumon’s direction. His hand passed over her, as if feeling for wires. “So they’re really… here? Wow…”

“Fascinating.” That was Franklin, Bryan’s supposed rival, leaning in close to inspect the facets on Hielomon’s ice-crystal wings. “Is this real ice? What keeps it from melting indoors? It feels cold, and I can’t imagine how this would work, thermodynamically.”

Chris Kohler, Jose’s best friend and the tallest person in 9th grade, knelt as he approached Coyomon. “That’s rad. Is he like, a dog? A coyote? Is he tame?”

“Yeah! Partner-Kyle is my tamer!” Coyomon replied, causing Chris to hop back a bit in surprise.

For his part, Kyle was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. This was going better than the first day of school had, but it was still quite a lot. By now, everyone had picked a digimon; Franklin and a few others were asking nerdy questions about Hielomon, and Bakumon was doing aerobatics for others to demonstrate that yes, in fact, she could fly. Only Chris had focussed on Coyomon, who was apparently the least-attention-getting of the bunch. Kyle could imagine himself getting annoyed by that in another situation, but today he was quietly relieved.

He realized belatedly that Chris was talking to him. “So like, how did this happen? Was it because of the card game?”

Kyle paused, wondering how that would even work. “Nnnno. I just sorta… found the digivice?”

“Partner-Kyle designed me!”

Chris was apparently used to the talking by now, since he stayed put. “Wow, that’s cool. Are there, like, more of them?”

“I’m… not sure?” Kyle realized that that was a very good question. Bryan and June had gotten theirs after seeing Kyle’s example. With so many more people knowing about the possibility, were there soon going to be many, many more people with digimon? “I… guess you could go looking?” It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Honestly, how many more people could be helped by having a partner like Coyomon? And every other partnered pair he’d met seemed to be good for each other too. It was strange to think that they’d no longer be special, but it was comforting too. It’s not as if Kyle really wanted to be one of a tiny number of special people. He just wanted to be himself, whatever that meant. Was there more he could do, to help more people get more digivices? He felt his mind starting to fly along the path of new exciting possibilities.

The next thing Chris said, though, brought it in for a hard landing. “I mean, sounds like there’s plenty of nasty monsters to fight out there. I always wanted to be a hero.”

Images of ground-shattering, digimon-shredding fights flashed through Kyle’s thoughts. “Oh… Yeah… Hero,” he murmured. He looked down at Coyomon, who gave him a reassuring nuzzle.

And then, of course, before he could work out anything else to say, his digivice sounded its ear-piercing gate alarm.

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.

Chapter Text

“All right. Pizza’s on its way,” said June’s mom, stepping into the living room where kids and digimon had gathered to recover.

It had been a flurry of activity, escaping the scene of the fight as other bystanders converged. They’d narrowly avoided getting cornered by a TV crew. Fortunately, all the onlookers had still kept a wary distance from the larger digimon, and June’s parents were already on the scene with their cars, having delivered Josh there in the first place.

There was a general chorus of cheers at the promise of food, and Yotimon’s high-pitched howl of joy was perhaps the loudest. “Want a whole pizza, Partner-Kyle!” the little digimon said. “Maybe two!”

Kyle giggled wearily, and patted the little ball of fluff on the… head? Back? It was really hard to say which body parts were which when his partner was mostly just a ball. “You’ll get whatever you need, bud.”

“How would a whole pizza even fit?” wondered June’s dad. “Do they use the mass directly, or convert it to energy?” He had been sitting in the corner since they got there, with a laptop on his lap. Kyle was pretty sure he was taking research notes. It was a strange sort of scrutiny, but Kyle was starting to realize he might need to get used to that sort of thing.

There was a knock at the door, and Bryan glanced toward it. “Wow. Fast pizza.”

June’s mom hurried to answer the door. It wasn’t the pizza. His parents almost collided with each other as they came through the door, headed for the living room. “Kyle! Are you feeling okay?” his mother asked.

“Mom? Dad?” Kyle winced. “I… forgot to call you again,” he realized, the confession was out of his mouth before he could think of anything else to say.

“Josh called us,” said his dad. “Thank you Josh. And we’re just glad you’re okay, Kyle. It sounded like things happened very quickly.”

Kyle looked over at Josh. “You… My parents…?”

Josh grinned shyly and held up a rather beat-up cell-phone. Kyle thought he recognized it as one June used to use. “June’s parents feel very differently from mine about kids and phones.”

Kyle’s parents were still hovering over him. “Is this Coyomon?” his mother asked. “What happened to him?”

“I’m okay, Partner-Kyle-Mom! I’m Yotimon! I got real big so then I had to get real small!”

“You’re… really not mad at me?” Kyle said warily, bracing himself for a parental lecture.

His mother shook her head. “I do wish you’d called, but we’re happier to hear that you did your best to keep everyone safe.”

“Yes, sounds like you were really impressive, kiddo,” said his dad with a smile. “Josh told us all about it.”

“But please remember to contact us first next time,” added his mom again.

Next time. The thought of such a thing made Kyle’s stomach churn a bit, and he felt Yotimon press closer into his lap.

“Yeah, we should talk about next time,” said Hielomon, who was sitting next to Bryan on the couch. “You were really impressive, but I’m not sure how long that’ll last. And even if they stay away from here, there’s lots more tamers and partners who they might go after.”

“Duuude…” Bryan said softly. “Don’t freak out the parents.”

Bakumon nodded from June’s lap. “Well, he’s right. I would guess that this was just a first wave, testing out what they could do with the current gate situation. But Kyle was right too, back at the gate. With the right support, we can get stronger in ways they can’t.”

“Right,” said June. “As far as we can tell, they still don’t evolve as well as partnered digimon do. But that means we all have some growing to do.”

“And helping other tamers can only help that,” said Bakumon with a confident nod.

Bryan grinned. “Yeah, let’s get that evolution going, right Hielomon?”

“You’re not all going to go looking for fights, are you?” Kyles mom asked. Kyle frowned to himself. The line of conversation was making him anxious too, but it felt very strange to hear his mother voicing the same worries.

Josh spoke up. “Well, yeah, we probably shouldn’t go after them, but some patrols would be a good idea. Everyone still has their Digi-Chat, we should make sure if any other kids see digimon incoming, they can let everyone know and we can see who can go help.

“Help how…?” Kyle asked softly. As effective as AmpAullidomon had been, he was still wary about fighting, about how easily it could get out of control.

But Josh just smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder. “You’ll know what to do. You did great today, remember?”

Kyle tried to return the smile. He still wasn’t sure.

“But the other tamers are all over the world, aren’t they?” asked Kyle’s father. “How will you be able to get there in time?”

June’s mother shook her head. “If they use the digital world to travel, they can get from place to place much faster. On average, one only has to travel through three realms to get from any gate to any other. Honestly, such a thing could be very useful for mass transit and shipping—”

“Mom,” June said. “Work-mind?”

Her mother raised her hands. “Sorry, sorry. Just theorizing.”

“She’s right, though,” added Josh. “We have a pretty good sense for how to get from one person’s place to another. I should get together with Chelsey, draw a map, maybe share it with folks.”

June frowned again. “Make sure the Defenders can’t get it. It seems like we know about more Earth gates than they do right now. We have to keep it that way.”

“Wait, does that mean we’re going back into the digital world?” Kyle asked. He felt that stomach-churning sensation again. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Even with File Town destroyed, it felt like it had so much potential to build (or now rebuild) a place where he could really feel at home, but… “Is it safe?”

“I don’t think it’s any worse than before!” said Betamon. “The Defenders were always after us there, and we did okay… until they found us, I guess.” His crest drooped a bit.

Kyle’s dad spoke up. “Can I ask a question? Why ARE they after you? And they call themselves Defenders, even though they mostly seem to be attacking?”

“They think we’re attacking them,” said Bryan sourly.

Kyle nodded. “Yeah. There’s some bad stuff happening to the digital world, and they think it’s because of humans, so they’re trying to keep us out.”

“Well, to be specific,” said Bakumon, “It is because of humans.”

June glared at her partner. “To be more specific, it’s because of humans who definitely aren’t us.” She looked back up at the rest of the room. “But, yes. We worked out that unknown people from our world are causing realms in the digital world to collapse into each other. It’s pretty bad.” She gave a slight shudder.

Josh nodded. “I’d really like to find out who’s doing that too. Unfortunately, the Defenders aren’t good listeners.”

“Y’all keep talking about finding it out but y’know… we haven’t done much.” said Bryan. “Maybe if we found something, the Defenders would listen.”

Hielomon shrugged from his place next to his partner. “It does seem like a hard thing to figure out. There’s what, seven million of you humans?”

“Billion,” said nearly every human in the room at the same time.

Hielomon nodded. “See, that’s even harder!”

“June, you said they’re collapsing the different realms of the digital world?” asked June’s mother. “Do you have any idea to what end? Are they trying to destroy the digital world entirely?”

“I think we’d all like to know that,” said Bakumon.

Josh sat up, excited. “Another good reason to go back to the digital world, then! We could spread out, try to talk to digimon who saw the merges happen. Maybe we’ll even catch someone in the act, and we can take them down! Or at least show the Defenders we’re on their side!”

Kyle hadn’t seen Josh so optimistic or driven since the fall of File Town, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. If his boyfriend was intent on going back deep into the digital world, where did that leave Kyle? Unfortunately, the conversation didn’t get much past that before there was a knock at the door, heralding the arrival of a huge stack of pizza.

It was hard for Kyle to come up with things to say, or even think, in the sensory chaos of the ensuing digimon feeding frenzy. Yotimon did indeed eat an entire pizza, and a good chunk of a second one, before falling asleep right inside a pizza box. That left Kyle on his own, sitting in a corner trying to collect his thoughts.

“Hey, Kyle.” He looked up and saw Josh looking back, holding out a hand. “It’s been a lot out here, huh? Wanna come see my new room?”

“Oh! Yeah!” Kyle took the offered hand and stood. Betamon was still busy eating, so it was just Josh and Kyle taking the short walk down the hall to the room across from June’s. Kyle remembered that this was June’s brother’s room, before he’d left for college.

Josh pushed the door open. Books lined one wall, and a nondescript bed was pushed against the other. Apart from those, it was pretty bare. “They use it for a guest room now otherwise? I guess I might have to stay somewhere else on holidays when Ken’s back in town.” Josh gave him a grin that Kyle was sure implied something, but he wasn’t really up for figuring out what.

“I’m really glad you have a place,” Kyle said instead, nodding. “June’s family is awesome, huh?” But something else came out before Josh had a chance to answer. “Please don’t just spend all your time in the digital world again?” He felt his face flush. “I mean… I just…”

“Hey.” Josh squeezed Kyle’s shoulder. “I know stuff’s really hard right now. There’s a lot going on.”

Kyle nodded, but wasn’t sure what else to say.

“You’re still not sure about going back to the digital world? Or fighting?”

Kyle nodded again, feeling guilty and afraid, but if he couldn’t be open with Josh, when could he? “I was afraid I was gonna have to kill a digimon again and I still dunno what’s going to happen even though I have AmpAullidomon and I want to want to be in the digital world but right now I don’t know…” Suddenly he realized he was crying.

He felt Josh squeeze his other shoulder too, then pull him into a hug. “I know,” the other boy said softly.

Kyle shook his head a bit. The floodgates had opened, and the feelings rushing through were overwhelming. “But you’re so good at this and at everything, you want to help everyone. And I just sat there all night, and I’m not sure I ever really wanted to fight. Not… like that… Like we’re gonna have to…”

“You’re not me, y’know, Kyle.” Kyle looked up at his boyfriend, confused, and Josh continued. “And I like that. I like that you’re not me. I like that you showed me stuff to do that wasn’t all digital world all the time, remember?”

Kyle nodded slightly, but stayed silent.

“I still like that, and I still like you. I’m excited to see what things will be like here, away from my family. But you’re right, I want to help the digital world too. Make it safe, for everyone. Hopefully, no fighting at all.” He squeezed Kyle lightly. “What do you think about that?”

Kyle just stood there, long enough that he was afraid Josh would get worried, or bored, or upset. Finally he answered. “I… want that too… But I don’t know how.”

Josh smiled. “Well then, it’s a good thing you’ve got me, and Coyomon, and B, and a bunch of other folks there to help out then, yeah?”

Kyle nodded, surprised to realize he was smiling now too, if only a little. “Yeah.”

Chapter Text

June and Chelsey, along with Bakumon and Kunemon, were walking through a glittering ice cave, trying to think warm thoughts.

“Perhaps this would’ve been a better journey for someone who could make fire?” mused Bakumon, floating along.

June drew her coat up closer around herself. “Baku, please, I almost had it, the breathe-underwater trick but for cold, and now I’m wishing I was at a fireplace.”

“Ah, I’m sorry June. I was more thinking of just the environment. Jessie and Coronamon could probably melt right through this.”

“That wouldn’t really endear us to the inhabitants,” said Kunemon in her buzzing voice. “They’re not usually all that welcoming, and we’re trying to get information.”

Chelsey nodded. “This wouldn’t be my first choice, but there was a merge the next realm over just yesterday, and it had a portal right by the town here. It’s our best chance to get some first-hand accounts.”

“I hope the digimon there managed to escape,” June said. She thought back to the realm she’d seen in the midst of collapse. This place uncomfortably reminded her of it as well; the stalactites and stalagmites were ice here rather than rock, but still… She shuddered for reasons having nothing to do with the cold.

“Well, we’re about to find out. That’s where we’re headed!” Chelsey pointed to an ice wall dotted with colorful doors and glowing windows. “Icecliff Village!”

Bakumon bobbed up and down as she nodded. “What’s our plan then? I can get a feel for their moods, and if they’re lying or not. If I evolve, I can even—“

Kunemon shook her head with an anxious buzz. “As I said, these digimon are reclusive and a bit paranoid. Best to avoid having a mind-reader until we know we really need you.”

“Which we probably will,” added Chelsey. “But for now, maybe you can just stand guard? The Defenders might be headed this way to check it out too.”

June crossed her arms and sighed. She wanted to protest, to say they had plenty to offer otherwise too, but it seemed like a done deal. Bakumon looked affronted, and June put a hand on her partner’s head, trying to calm her. “I guess that’s okay. This looks like a good vantage point, at least. Go ahead then. We’ll do fine.”

Chelsey at least looked apologetic as she and her partner approached the village. “Thanks. Wish us luck. We’re gonna need it.” June saw small pale monster heads peek out from doors, then shut them. She brushed ice off of a rock, and sat down, trying to think warm thoughts again.

“This is ridiculous,” said Bakumon, settling on June’s lap.

“It’s what they need right now,” said June. “At least we’re helping do something useful, rather than just reacting.”

Bakumon nodded slightly. “I suppose.”

“I’m honestly not sure I’d be very good at being diplomatic right now anyway. The past couple days…” June sighed.

Bakumon smiled and nosed at her. “You’d be doing a better job than Bryan.”

June giggled. “Yeah. Thanks for helping convince him to go on patrol rather than tagging along.”

“It seemed like you needed it. What’s going on with you and him, though? Your thoughts feel… strained.”

“It’s just… seeing Kyle and Josh—I mean him seeing Kyle and Josh…” Bakumon’s big blue eyes were looking up at her, wide. “Come on, no fair. If you’re not going to tell me what he’s thinking, you don’t get to check in on me either!”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell you, I just said I’m not sure it’d help.”

June sighed. “Let’s just talk about something else. Lots more important stuff to worry about than relationships right now.”

Bakumon nodded, but kept looking at her. “It has been a lot. And… you’re feeling like you’re just being pushed around.”

June looked back. It was a bit of a relief having someone else help put her feelings into words, even if it wasn’t always accurate. “Not quite that bad, but… I feel like everyone expects me to just be okay with everything. Be the put-together one. Rein everyone in and deal with a gate that monsters might come through at any point, and a new person in the house.”

“It’s not fair,” Bakumon agreed. “Though I don’t think you have to rein everyone in. Josh has a lot of experience, and Kyle—“ She broke off, clearly feeling the wave of frustration that broke in June. “Well there’s definitely something you want to say there. Go ahead?”

“Ugh, Kyle. I’m not mad at him, and I know he’s going through a lot, and I’m glad he’s got Josh and the rest of us to help him, but… I don’t know, it feels petty, but it’s suddenly a big deal for him, figuring out how to not kill digimon when that’s what you and I wanted to do in the first place!”

“I know. And it’s not petty, it’s okay to feel what you feel. Do you think people are giving him more support, and you’re losing out?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” June sighed again. “Do you think they even know all we’ve done? Keeping folks from getting creamed multiple times, getting actual data on the merges, fighting whatever’s in the merges.”

“And I think three gate incursions that we did all by ourselves and didn’t even mention?”

June snorted. “Two of those barely count, but yeah, those too!”

“Well, since we didn’t tell anyone about those, and you always don’t want to make much of a big deal out of the other things… Yes, probably they don’t know.”

June stiffened, and looked down at her partner. “What’re you trying to say?”

Bakumon pivoted back to look up at her more directly. “That you do a lot, and you’re incredible, and maybe sometimes people don’t mention because you’re trying to be… what did you say? The put-together one?”

“Well, what should I do instead?”

Bakumon nudged her firmly with a hoof. “Give yourself credit, and make sure other folks give you credit too.”

June nodded. She had to admit it sounded good, in theory. “But how do I—“ Her question was cut off by a distant booming sound. “What was that?” There was another one. She felt the ground shudder beneath her. “Is the cave collapsing?”

She stood up, and Bakumon rose above her, as both of them tried to look for the source of the sound. In the distance she could see Chelsey and Kunemon, near to a small group of Icemon, SnowAgumon, Yukidarumon, and similar ice-folk. All of them were looking just as alarmed.

When the third boom sounded, June caught it out of the corner of her eye, a white plume of shattered ice in the direction of the portal they’d all arrived from. “Uh oh. I think it’s someone unfriendly.”

“Indeed,” said her partner, who was already shifting to her larger form. “I think it’s on us to check it out.”

“And when that’s done, tell the town?” June scrambled onto her partner’s back.

Baluchimon nodded. “Let’s show them what we can do!” She started to gallop in the direction of the disturbance.

They didn’t need to go far. They could already hear smaller thuds, what seemed like footprints accompanying the big booms, and when they crested the next ice hill, June could see an enormous spiky shell, then the flash of a raised hammer, almost as large, before it fell and made that booming sound again.

“Zudomon?” she guessed

“Seems so,” said Baluchimon. A few more strides brought the horned and tusked head into view. “It’s… big. Think we can handle it?”

June had a moment of uncertainty. It was Perfect-level, and they weren’t, and yet… “Yeah, I think we can.” She held on to the armor plates of her partner’s neck, gathering her strength and focus. “Do you?”

“Absolutely.” She could feel Baluchimon’s confidence flowing into her, and hers flowing back.

The Zudomon’s eyes locked onto them. A deep voice echoed across the caverns. “Humans! So our informant was right. Back to the scene of the crime.” The Zudomon thundered closer to them, raising its hammer. He moved shockingly quickly, for a huge lumbering beast. Not so fast that they couldn’t outrun him, but this wasn’t the time.

June sat up straight, doing her best to look Zudomon in the eye. “No. We want to stop this. We know other humans are causing this, and we want them to stop too. You’re defending nothing by going after us.”

Zudomon roared again. The hammer was now right above them, and it started to fall.

Let’s do it. June only had to think the thought to her partner… or maybe her partner had thought it at her. Either way, they both knew full well they could, as they were surrounded in pixellated light.

When Kyle had evolved again, it seemed like little more than a flash to her, but she knew he’d experienced much more. Now she saw it herself, as the energy coalesced in and around her partner. She could feel herself rising up as her partner’s body grew. She watched in fascination as the armor-plating under her shifted shape and color. She gasped as wings shimmered into being to either side of her, and almost cheered as a sharp shining horn erupted from her partner’s head. She hadn’t recognized Baluchimon, or known what to expect in the tense moment when her partner had evolved to save her. But she recognized this legendary guardian creature perfectly.

“Kirinmon!” she cried, just as the light faded and the attacking Zudomon came back into view.

Her partner gave a swift nod, then raised her horn, right up toward the hammer that was bearing down on them. The hammer hit the very tip of the horn, and just stopped.

For a strange moment, everything was silent. June stared up at the head of the hammer, still larger than her partner’s whole body. She saw the Zudomon’s arm, still straining to bring it down. Then there was a cracking sound, and the hammer head shattered.

Huge shards of metal crashed to the ground on either side of them. Kirinmon narrowed her eyes, staring up at the shelled digimon. “Anything else you want to try?” she asked.

The Zudomon’s eyes widened. “Kirinmon… with a human? This power… You could…” He shook his head, bewildered.

“We could,” said June. “But we’re not going to. We never wanted to. We want what you want, other than the part where you keep attacking us.”

Kirinmon nodded. “You have my word as a Holy Beast that we are trying to protect the digital world.”

“I… believe you,” said the Zudomon, slowly.

“Good. Then go back where you came from. Tell your leaders the same.”

“I will,” said the Zudomon. It clutched the remains of its hammer, and turned back toward the portal.

June stared for a long moment, watching it go. Part of her was shocked at what just happened, part of her was simply bursting with pride and joy, and a small part was confused. “Your word as a Holy Beast?” she whispered to her partner.

Kirinmon shrugged, forcing June to hold on a bit tighter as the armor shifted. “Felt like the right thing to say. Seemed like he was pretty awestruck already.”

“He’s not the only one,” said June. A small crowd was walking along the path to meet them, including Chelsey, Kunemon, and many of the village digimon.

“Well, we are awesome,” said Kirinmon with a firm nod, just as she started to shimmer and shrink. June found herself lowered to the ground on a cloud of glowing pixels, before Bakumon appeared in her normal form, curled up in her arms.

“You stopped him!” said a Hyogamon, coming to a stop nearby but still watching the retreating Zudomon.

“He’s been bothering us for days, wanting to know if we’ve seen any humans!” added a SnowAgumon.

“Now do you believe we’re no danger to you?” asked Chelsey.

“Yes, yes!” said several of the digimon, some sounding relieved, others sounding weary.

“And… I will take you to see the refugees,” added the Hyogamon. “They are in a warm-spring chamber not far from here.”

Chelsey and Kunemon both looked surprised. “So they are still here?” Chelsey asked. “But you said—Well, great!”

June nodded firmly, looking directly at the Hyogamon. She wasn’t about to be cut out this time. “Thank you. Please lead the way. We’ve got a lot of questions.”

“I’m sure you do,” said the blue-skinned digimon. “Come along, humans and partners.” They all walked back down the path, together. Bakumon looked up from June’s arms, and gave her a very tired, but very proud, smile.

Chapter Text

“Don’t worry Josh, you can do it. We’ve done scarier stuff than this!”

Betamon nosed Josh’s side as the boy sat on a bench, his coat wrapped tight against the winds of a cold November morning. They were out of the main path, but Josh still had an eye to the doors of the school as kids filtered in. Five minutes until school started now. He just stared, trying to summon up the strength to go inside. Betamon was right, wasn’t he? This was nothing compared to Ultimate-level digimon. And yet…

“This is different,” he replied with a sigh. “I’m here under my actual name, no one’s known me any different, but I’ve kinda never done that before, except in the digital world.”

“Well, yeah but you got some of those folks here too, right? They’ll help!”

Josh smiled thinly. “That’s a whole other thing. I’m going to school with my boyfriend. And my… what do we call them? Teammates now, I guess?”

“Yeah, we make a great team!”

“And now I’m going to school with them. Doing good kind of feels like it matters here. Plus there’s still angry digimon hunting for us, and the merge stuff to figure out…”

“You don’t have to do all of that yourself, remember? Everyone else is doing a lot. Like June and Chelsey yesterday!”

“June… yeah… I hope things don’t get complicated with her.”

Betamon blinked curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Well I moved into her house, into her brother’s room, and from what Chelsey said, she was definitely on edge about something yesterday. And she was pretty much totally silent in the car this morning.”

“I think she was just sleepy. First-time evolutions are tiring, y’know?” Betamon nosed Josh again. “Everything seems worse when you’re anxious, y’know. Things have been good here, let’s just keep making them good.”

The bell rang, and Josh sighed as he stood up. “I’ll give it a shot,” he said, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice.

“You can do it!” Betamon chirped as he hopped into Josh’s digivice.

Navigating the halls was a challenge, but Josh still managed to get to homeroom before the second bell rang. He looked around at a sea of unfamiliar faces. Being a year ahead of Kyle and the others meant they probably wouldn’t be in classes together.

“Ah, you must be Josh Rystrom,” said Mr. Stephens, looking up from a paper on his desk.

It felt strange and wonderful to hear an adult use that full name. He silently thanked June’s parents and the principal for their thoroughness, and nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Looks like some free seats in the back. But everyone else is here already, would you like to introduce yourself first?”

Josh tensed. He probably should. Who knew what the teacher would say? “Uh… sure. I’m Josh, I moved here from Seattle.” He was very set on sticking to that massive oversimplification. But there must be something else he should say. “I… like hiking?”

Mr. Stephens nodded. “And you’re one of those Digitmon Traders, like some of our seventh-graders?”

Of course that would happen. Josh groaned, but the sound was drowned out by curious murmurs from the class. He caught “Cool!” and “Another one?” and “I thought that was just for those nerds,” and, of course, “Can we see it?”

“Settle down, class,” said the teacher. “If I knew it was that big a topic, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.” Josh caught an apologetic look in his direction.

“Well, Principal Garcia says no digimon inside the school, so… sorry.” He shrugged. “And it’s not really a big deal anyway?” The lie just slipped out, and he felt terrible as soon as he said it. It had been such a habit in his other school, and here he was, doing it again. But it had done its work, and attention was mostly off him again.

He made his way to his seat, barely registering the teacher’s start-of-school announcements. He squeezed his digivice in one hand, and waited out the time until the next bell.

The rest of his morning classes were less eventful. The teachers all introduced him, and that spotlight was never particularly fun, even as the minor thrill of being named correctly continued. Fortunately, no other teachers brought up the digimon thing, but every time he moved through the halls, at least one person would try to ask him a question about his partner or get a look at his digivice. Mostly he was able to excuse himself by saying he had to hurry to his next class. It always felt like he was running from something, or hiding something, but he didn’t know what else he could do.

Finally it was lunch time. As soon as he entered the school’s entry hall, he heard the wonderful sound of Kyle’s voice from the other side.

“Josh! Hey! Over here!”

They both made their way through the throng. For a moment Josh wasn’t sure how to greet Kyle. Did others know that they were seeing each other? Was that a big deal here? Were there even any other gay kids in school in a small town like this?

But Kyle put an end to that deliberation by hugging him as soon as he could reach. “How are things going?”

Josh didn’t answer right away; he was immediately on alert for reactions from the folks around him. But no one seemed to care. He and Kyle barely got a glance as other junior-high students passed by them on the way to the lunchroom.

Josh relaxed, and smiled. “Better now,” he said, as they followed the flow toward food. “My homeroom teacher talked about digimon like first thing! And he didn’t even get the word right.”

“Oh no,” said Kyle. “I thought the teachers weren’t supposed to make a big deal about that!”

“Apparently no one told Mr. Stephens.”

“Kyle! Josh!” June waved at them as she and Bryan hurried to join them in the lunch line.

Bryan grinned at Josh. “So you’re a big deal already, huh vato? Everyone’s talking about the new Digitmon Trader!”

Josh winced. “Really?”

Bryan shook his head. “I mean halfway they think it’s just funny how clueless your teacher is? But yeah, you got all the attention and no one’s even seen B yet! I’m jealous.”

June sighed, looking at Bryan. “You still want to make a big show? Even after what happened on Tuesday? The whole town probably saw us.”

Josh nodded. “Being the center of attention is really not that fun.”

Kyle gave him a sympathetic look, and squeezed his hand. Josh tensed for a moment, then relaxed into the touch.

For the next few minutes, everyone was distracted picking out food.

“We good to sit outside?” asked Kyle once they were done. “Coyomon’s probably getting pretty hungry, and he likes cafeteria pizza way more than I do.”

The others nodded in agreement, and they made their way back out. Josh couldn’t help but notice a few curious looks in his direction as they passed other students, but no one approached.

“So it’s just me?” he asked. “You all showed off your digimon two days ago and everyone’s over it? And I get here and one word from a teacher makes me the center of attention?”

“Well, you’re the new kid too,” said June as they made their way around the side of the building, shielding themselves from chilly wind. “You were going to be the big topic either way.”

“And how long will that last?”

Bryan shrugged. “Until something else comes up. Or something else happens.” He paused once they reached a particular spot between two cubicles. “Hielomon, come on out!”

Soon all the digimon were gathered around. Hielomon’s wings helped block the chilly wind. Josh huddled close to Kyle. “Y’know, it’s times like this I almost wish I had an Agumon.” He grinned at Betamon’s chirp of protest. “Almost, B. Just for the Pepper Breath.”

Kyle giggled. “Principal Garcia would freak if we set something on fire.”

“And digimon would be banned from the school forever,” Bakumon pointed out.

Coyomon swallowed a mouthful of pizza. “Partner-Kyle, I don’t wanna be banned! I want to go to school with you.”

“Me too bud. Even though I’m pretty sure you’d be really bored.” Kyle sighed. “Maybe if we save the town a few more times she’ll reconsider?”

Josh half-followed the conversation as his thoughts wandered. He’d even agreed with the principal the other day. After all, he was the one who’d warned Kyle how much attention their digimon might draw. And then he got all that attention without even doing anything. It didn’t feel fair.

And at the same time, other things that he’d worried about turned out to be no big deal at all. No one had any questions about his arrival in the middle of the school year, his background, or even how affectionate Kyle was with him.

All of it was baffling and reassuring at the same time. He was pretty sure if he hadn’t known he’d see Kyle and the rest at lunch, he might not have even made it through the school day. He would’ve fallen back into the same patterns of sneaking out of school, and this time he wouldn’t have had File Town to retreat to.

He looked down at Betamon, as the little digimon finished off an apple. “I guess you were right, B.”

“Yeah I was!” Betamon bounced once. “About what?”

“Having support from folks here. Honestly the whole thing feels a lot easier with everyone here.”

Nearby, June gave him a thoughtful look. “You know…”

Bakumon’s eyes widened. “June. I can tell what you’re thinking. You cannot be serious.”

June shook her head. “No yeah, maybe Bryan’s actually right for once!”

“Que for once?” Bryan said, half fuming and half laughing. “What do you want to do?”

“You said Josh is in the spotlight until something else came up. And you wanted to make a scene.” June grinned. “Okay, so you’re right for twice.”

Several pairs of eyes widened, human and digimon alike.

“Wait,” said Kyle. “Bryan’s gonna… or all of us…?”

June nodded. “All of us, why not? Junior high lunch is about to end, and senior high lunch is about to start. Everyone will be out. We show up in front of school, everyone gets a look at our digimon, and then Josh doesn’t have to handle it all by himself.”

“Sounds good to me!” said Bryan, and Hielomon gave an eager nod.

Kyle looked less sure, but his partner seemed excited, and eventually he nodded as well.

“June, you could get in more trouble!” said Bakumon.

June shook her head. “We do what Principal Garcia said. Outside only, no powers, all that. And if it lasts too long, we just say we have to go to class. Because, y’know, we do.” She looked at Josh. “You okay with this?”

Josh was anxious, but also excited. It was hard to tell where one feeling started and the other one ended. “Sure, why not. Can’t make things worse. So how do we start?”

“Easy,” said June. “We just walk back toward the front. All of us.”

Four kids and four digimon walked around the side of the school, pausing only to throw away their lunch in the bin. By the time they got to the frost-browned lawn, they’d already drawn a small crowd. Once they stopped under the flagpoles in front of the doors, students were streaming out to have a closer look. Then the bell rang, and moments later, older students started arriving as well, to see what the crowd was looking at.

“What now?” Kyle whispered to June as the crowd grew.

June looked uncertain for a moment, then nodded her head. She looked to the digimon. “Okay, all four of you, look as cool and impressive as you can.” Then she hopped up on a bench, so she wasn’t quite as dwarfed by the rest of the group. “It seemed like everyone wanted to see some digimon!” she said, her voice surprisingly loud. “Our school’s got four tamers now. That’s tamers, by the way. And digimon! You may have heard of them!”

The sound of the crowd rose around them. Folks pressed a bit closer, but not too close; they still seemed wary of the four creatures, especially with them all making various poses. Hielomon and Coyomon looked a bit more fearsome than Bakumon and Betamon, Josh had to admit, but they all were doing a good job.

“I bet you have a lot of questions,” June continued, “So it’s a good thing the internet exists and it’s been the top news story all week.” She crossed her arms. “We have other stuff to do. Like school. And saving the city. Right, guys!”

Bryan was fastest on the uptake. “Right!” Josh and Kyle hurried to agree too.

“And now, we have to go back to class. But remember, our partners are always with us, and there’s plenty of stuff out there…” She gestured in the direction of the arroyo. “…than there is in school. So. Maybe just let us live our lives?” She nodded to the digimon. “Let’s go.”

Following her cue, Bakumon disappeared into her digivice, and the other three soon took the hint and did the same. The crowd started closing in, but June was already on the move, off toward a side-door to the school. Josh, Kyle, and Bryan hurried to follow.

They managed to mostly leave the crowd behind, as most of the junior high students hurried off to class, and the senior high students meandered back to the lunch room, trying to not seem impressed by things that younger kids were doing. Josh was pretty sure he heard a few bits of reaction, a “Was that for real?” here, a “Who does she think she is?” there, but it was not the riot he’d feared.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” June said with a heavy sigh once they were clear, heading to class in a mostly-empty hallway.

“Me neither!” said Bryan. “That was awesome!”

Kyle nudged Josh lightly. “You okay?” he asked.

Josh nodded. “Yeah… Yeah, I am. Thank you, all of you. Especially you, June.”

June smiled slightly, and shrugged. “Someone had to do it. Glad we could help.”

Josh gave her another thankful nod. She looked exhausted, but happy. He was pretty sure he knew that feeling, from the times when he’d surprised himself by taking the lead when File Town was new. “Well, thanks again. We should talk more later.” He gave Kyle a hug. “Now let’s get back to class. See how much a difference that made.” They headed off down the hall. They still got curious looks as they went, but somehow it didn’t seem so difficult now.

Chapter Text

Bryan was on top of the world. He and Hielomon were the talk of the school, he aced all his tests, and he’d just now figured out just the right thing to say to June about how he felt about her.

So of course that was the moment his mom ruined all of it by waking him up.

“Mijo, it’s ten o’clock, if you sleep any later, you will ruin your sleep schedule!”

Bryan groaned, turning over in his bed. “Mama, it’s a day off, come onnnn…”

“It’s a day off for both of us, which doesn’t happen very often, and I want to make the most of it. Especially with your dad coming up for family dinner.”

His dad… Now he remembered the reason to really groan. Veteran’s day, meaning everyone’s days off had lined up, meaning his dad wanted to do something special. He sat up, stretching out stiff limbs. “Doesn’t you being divorced mean we don’t have to do family dinners any more?”

“Bryan!” His mother shook her head. “We didn’t split up because I hate him. We’re still a family, just a bit more spread out. It’s just lunch.”

“Lunch and then I spend the weekend with him, while he tries to make me into a model student.” He hopped off the bed, careful to avoid Hielomon’s tail, curled across the floor from where the digimon was still dozing. “While Hielomon still has to hide,” he added.

He noticed his mother’s eyes linger on the sleeping form of his partner. She still seemed unnerved by the digimon’s presence, even after almost a whole week of knowing about him. But what she said was “You could tell him too, maybe?”

Bryan shook his head. “That’ll be one more thing for him to bug me about. All ‘Bryan, I know you want to protect the world from invading monsters, but don’t let it distract you from keeping your grades up!’” He was pretty sure he saw his mother suppress a giggle at that, and that made him smile, even though he felt stressed. “I mean, you kind of thought the same thing.”

“I was also upset about you not telling me for a month,” she said, of course. “Which I’m sure he would be too. And besides, if things keep going like they are, I’m pretty sure he will find out anyway. You think he’ll react better if he sees your little team on the news?”

Bryan sighed. She had a point. “I guess. I’ll figure out something. Maybe on Sunday? I just really don’t wanna hear about it all weekend.” He gently nudged his partner’s tail. “C’mon, Hielo. Time to get up.” His partner rumbled softly, and stirred, and sat up.

His mother actually smiled at Hielomon, instead of stepping backward nervously, the way she had earlier in the week. Then she nodded to Bryan. “I know you’ll do what’s right, mijo. For now, just make sure you’re ready by 11.”

The colorful decor of the restaurant glittered at the edge of Bryan’s awareness as his dad gave him the third degree. They weren’t even through with their first serving of chips and salsa, and his dad had already asked about every single one of his classes individually, and given several ‘helpful organizational tips’.

“Oh right, and how’s that little homework dragon thing working out for you?” his dad asked, as Bryan prayed for death. “Still paying attention to it?”

His mom gave him a questioning look, and Bryan scrambled quickly, picking up his digivice. “Yeah, it’s great! It’s grown like a whole extra level!” He glanced at his mother. “Thank you for getting this for me, mom!” He wasn’t entirely sure if that was the story he’d told before, but it seemed close enough.

She looked baffled for only a split second, before nodding. “Yes, you have been doing really good at taking responsibility for things, Bryan. I know there’s been a lot of pressure on you lately, and I can see how that’s really helped.” That actually made him smile. She’d started off a bit stilted, but by the end the words felt quite genuine.

“Well, that’s good,” said his dad. “Just make sure to keep your priorities straight. A tutor might still help, though. I’m happy to help pay for one in town…” His father went on and on, but Bryan’s attention was diverted. In among the brightly-painted chairs and fixtures of the restaurant, he was sure he’d seen something moving. Some kind of animal? Had a dog or cat gotten in? Someone else would have noticed that, right?

“Bryan?” His mother’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“What do you want to eat?” She nodded toward the waiter.

“Oh! Um. Chicken enchilada and tamale please!” Bryan’s face flushed as he braced himself for some sort of comment from his dad about his attention span, but fortunately the server turned to his father next, and he was spared.

Bryan felt something buzz against his leg. His digivice. He glanced down and saw a small stack of digi-chat messages. He winced. How long had he been missing those? The most recent one was from Kyle, simply reading Hey, you there?

He scrolled back through the list to the first one, from half an hour ago, probably while he’d been in the car.

Kyle&Coyomon: Hey so I dunno if its anything but there might be some kind of gate thing?

Kyle&Coyomon: Like it looked like just weird static? IDK

Kyle&Coyomon: Ill tell you if I see anything more

That was it, until the recent follow-up. Bryan tapped out a quick reply, hoping it would be quick enough to dodge a lecture about phone at family time.

Bryan&Hielomon: k. @ family lunch

He sat back up. His dad opened his mouth to say something, but his mother raised a hand. “Carlos. It’s fine. Nice family dinner, verdad?”

Bryan’s father relaxed and nodded. “Si, verdad.”

Bryan relaxed too, but just then he saw another strange movement, low along the ground between two tables on the far end of the patio. Purple, with a flash of yellow, looking almost like a digimon eye. He sat up straight in his chair. Had he really seen that? Or was it a trick of the light? It had been so small, smaller than any digimon he’d seen before. But if there was something strange going on in the gate… He squeezed his digivice and kept watching.

After a moment, he saw it again. Or maybe another one, since he couldn’t imagine how the thing he’d seen had gotten back over to the other side of the patio so quickly. There was one yellowy orange eye atop four legs that looked like clawed fingers. Definitely a digimon. Apparently, multiple ones.

“Um? Mom? I need to go for a bit?”

She looked up. “Mmmm? Well, you know where the bathroom is, right?”

“Yeah, but I might be… a while.” He was nodding toward his digivice, desperately hoping she’d get the hint.

His little sister piped up then. “Geez Bryan, you don’t need to make a huge deal out of going to the bathroom. Grooosssss.”

“Shut up, Elena!” he hissed, as he stood up, striding across the room, hoping he could follow the creatures without making a scene.

He saw one scuttle away, surprisingly silent as it slipped through the wrought-iron fence around the patio. He tried to type as he walked, doing his best not to typo the important bits.

Bryan&Hielomon: sa somthbg. litle eye-spidrs. @ la casita

He made his way out into the alley and saw one vanish around a corner. His digivice had come up with a match, and he frowned as he read it. “Right, Tsumemon. Fast-evolving? How fast—”

A light flared from between a few trash bins, and a bulbous head with evil-looking green eyes popped out. Keramon, his digivice helpfully provided.

“Great,” he said, backpedaling as gangly arms reached for him. “Hielomon, need some help!”

His partner materialized in front of him, and lunged for the other digimon, but as it did, Bryan saw another flare of light, and heard a crash as some boxes tumbled over, revealing another Keramon. “Oh crap, I think there’s a lot of them.”

Hielomon nodded, spreading his wings to shield Bryan, catching a bolt of sizzling light from the second one. “We should get someplace with more space. Across the street?”

There was an empty lot there. Bryan nodded, and they dashed in that direction. He was pretty sure he saw more flashes of evolution as they went, and sure enough, there was now a small crowd of Keramon floating after them.

“How many you think you can take as Ventiscamon?” Bryan asked.

His partner grinned as he started glowing. “At least this many,” he replied, finishing off in a roar from a fully evolved throat that sent the gangly digimon spinning backwards, covered in frost.

Bryan sighed in relief… and then tensed again, as he noticed the whole patio-full of diners watching them. Including the rest of his family. As much as he’d wanted to have an audience at school, this one felt terribly different. For one thing, they were fighting. For another thing, Bryan could see his father’s expression from here, halfway between shocked and angry.

His father’s voice raised above the general clamor of onlookers. “Bryan! What’s going on? Is that—“

Bryan heard the crack of the Keramon trying to free themselves from the ice. “Dad, I’m busy right now!”

One of the Keramon was enveloped in light. “Bryan, they’re evolving again!” called Ventiscamon. What came out was a sleek armored form with lashing tentacles, each tipped with a wicked-looking blade.

“Already!?” Bryan leaped out of the way of a tentacle, and then climbed onto Ventiscamon’s back, figuring it would be the safest place to be now. “Wait, those are… Chrysalimon, right? That means next is…”

Ventiscamon nodded grimly. “Infermon.”

“We can’t fight one of those, much less… five? Six? More?”

“We better stop them fast, then!” Ventiscamon struck at the armored digimon with icy claws, puncturing it and earning an ear-splitting screech.

“Bryan, what is this?” His dad’s voice was closer now. He was at the edge of the lot. “Are these those… Digimon? Did you have to do this during our lunch?” He walked toward Bryan and Ventiscamon, passing perilously close to the other frozen Keramon, one of which was starting to glow…

“Dad, stop!” Bryan himself wasn’t sure if he was trying to warn his father, or just get him to shut up.

“Is this what’s been going on lately? Not being able to visit me, always messing with that… device? What good is this going to do you in college, or in a career?”

Of course his dad would choose now to go on a rant. He never thought anything was important apart from what was on his mind right then. Couldn’t even imagine he was actually in danger. Maybe mauled by a digimon would almost serve him right? Bryan felt half-frozen, half-overwhelmed. He let out a scream of frustration, hands clenched against the hide of the partner who he was now barely aware of.

“Bryan.” Ventiscamon’s voice was calm, even as his talons tightly gripped the struggling Chrysalimon. “You can do this. We can do this. You know what’s important.”

Bryan’s head cleared. He saw his father, saw a second Chrysalimon bearing down on him, saw the light of a third about to evolve. “I know how to handle myself, dad!” he yelled, just as he felt a buzz of energy inside him, and all around him.

He realized what was happening as he felt himself rocketing upward, felt his partner’s neck change shape below him. It had been a blur of light when Aullidomon had evolved, but Kyle had described it as something much more impressive. Bryan saw it now too, some of Ventiscamon’s ice hardening to jewel-like facets, his stance becoming more bipedal. His wings reconfigured into massive cannons. When the light cleared, Bryan was standing stories up, atop the huge mecha-dragon he’d taken so much time to draw. FuerVentiscamon.

“Yeeeessss!” Bryan and his partner cried out the word together.

“Now let’s take care of these pests,” FuerVentiscamon roared. “Permafrost Pinions!” A flurry of blue-shining missiles launched from the digimon’s wings, and struck each other digimon with perfect accuracy. encasing them all in individual blocks of ice.

Bryan’s dad hopped back from the nearest one, frozen in its attacking lunge, and then stared upwards, mouth gaping open.

Bryan sighed. “Let me just go talk to him,” he said.

FuerVentiscamon nodded, carefully picked Bryan up, and set him down near his father, who was still shaking.

Bryan took a deep breath. “Yes, dad, I have a digimon partner. Yes, he’s been taking some of my attention. But this is important too.” He nodded to the permafrozen enemies. “These jerks are going after me, my friends, and maybe the whole world. But he’s also been helping me with other stuff. Not just as a homework reminder. He’s a big support, helps me care about stuff.” Bryan noticed his mother striding over now too, carrying his scared-looking sister securely in her arms. “AND I’m doing fine in school at the same time. Mom is helping make sure of that. I just don’t do things the same way you do, and I’m sick of trying.”

“But you… but this…” His father looked from Bryan, to the frozen Chrysalimon, to his mother, to FuerVentiscamon. He didn’t look scared anymore. He looked a bit angry maybe, but mostly bewildered.

“He has a point, Carlos,” said his mother. “I can’t believe, after everything, you’re still trying to make Bryan into you. Do you want to drive your family completely away?”

“I… But who else will make sure… The world is hard, you know, and…”

“We will.” That voice was loud, coming from high above. Then there was a slow cascade of light and a long shimmering sound, and Hielomon stood next to Bryan, standing not as huge, but just as proud.

Bryan nodded, and hugged his partner. “We all look after each other. You could try that out too?”

Bryan’s father gaped at the transformation, then sagged. “I do not understand any of this. But… thank you,” he said, nodding to Hielomon. “Thank you for saving me. The rest…” He sighed. “I suppose we can handle that later.”

Bryan couldn’t help a scowl. His dad still couldn’t admit when he was wrong. His body tensed, and he was about to say something else, when he felt Hielomon’s claw on his shoulder.

“We will handle that later,” his partner said, looking directly at Bryan’s father as he said it. Then he turned to Bryan. “For now, we have something else to deal with.”

Bryan suddenly became aware of the scene just outside their little family circle. The crowd was much larger than just the folks on the restaurant patio. They were fully surrounded by onlookers. And then he saw the flash of the cameras, and heard the sirens.

Chapter Text

Kyle knew things were going to be rough when he saw the flashing lights from several blocks away. The picture only got worse as they approached, driven by June’s dad. The streets were filled out for more than a block, and the area near the restaurant was crowded with police and news vans.

“Looks like Bryan got what he wanted,” said June, frowning slightly. “Stop here, Dad, we should probably walk it the rest of the way.”

“Can I come out?” said Coyomon from Kyle’s digivice.

Kyle looked at June. Bakumon was already out, and her and June both shrugged.

“At this point I’m not sure it matters,” said Josh, as he hopped out of the car.

June nodded. “School already knows about all of us, and I’m sure Bryan’s talking up the whole team.” Ordinarily Kyle would expect June to sound annoyed when she said that sort of thing, but this time he was pretty sure she sounded almost happy.

“Yaaaay!” said Coyomon as he appeared at Kyle’s side.

Betamon joined him, with a cheerful squeak of “Finally!”

They were inconspicuous for all of fifty feet, until someone in the crowd happened to glance their way. “Look! More of them!”

Kyle tensed as dozens of pairs of eyes turned on him. He felt Josh squeeze his shoulder, and he relaxed a bit. “Just play it cool,” said Josh, though he sounded anything but, himself.

June strode to the front. “Yes, more of us,” she said breezily, heading directly for Bryan, who was standing next to Hielomon talking to a reporter. Soon June was out in the open, walking past the digimon-cicles in the empty lot that most folks were keeping clear of. Kyle couldn’t blame them, but he and Josh did their best to keep up with June as they eyed the frozen monsters, hoping they’d stay that way.

Hielomon noticed them first, turning from his place next to Bryan to wave. Bryan followed his partner’s gaze, breaking off in the middle of a reply to the reporter. “That’s the rest of my team!”

The reporter turned their way as well. Josh squeezed Kyle’s hand again, but stopped moving, leaving June to step forward.

“You must be June,” said the reporter, motioning to her camera and mic crew to follow. “And those are Kyle and Josh? And all your digimon. Tell me, how many more of you tamers are here?”

June paused a moment before answering. “Ah, in the city, it’s currently just us, but there are dozens of us around the world. We’re… here to help people. I guess you can see why.”

The reporter nodded. “Bryan told us about how he protected the city from an oncoming digimon swarm. Is this sort of thing likely to happen again?”

Bryan slid in next to June. “Not if we have anything to say about it!”

June elbowed him gently. “We hope not. We’re doing our best to solve the problem, together with our families and other folks across the world.”

Bakumon nodded. “And we will help too, of course. Many digimon are quite fond of humans, and just want to live in peace!”

“Wow, they’re good at this,” Josh murmured as the reporter kept up the questions.

Kyle nodded, watching in fascination. He couldn’t imagine talking like that to who-knows-how-many people. He was having a hard time getting any words out at all right now. “You… want to talk to them?” he managed, softly.

Josh shook his head. “I’d rather limit the chances of my family seeing me here.”

Kyle winced and nodded, and Betamon gave a sympathetic warble as he pressed against Kyle’s leg.

“Guessing you don’t want to either?” Josh asked.

Kyle shook his head, his free hand buried in Coyomon’s fur for comfort.

“Sounds good. We can just be background.”

Kyle smiled, and squeezed his boyfriend’s hand.

By the time they looked back, the reporter was wrapping up, and no others were approaching, so it felt safe to rejoin their friends.

Bryan actually looked drained. “I had no idea there were this many news vans in this city!” he said.

“Well, we definitely made a newsworthy scene,” said Hielomon.

June was watching the crowd now. “You were here with your dad, weren’t you? Did he…?”

Bryan nodded, and pointed back toward the restaurant. “Him and mom are keeping an eye on Elena. And having a discussion, I think.”

“I… think we need to have one of those too,” said Josh.

June nodded. “This is getting bad.”

Bryan scowled. “I was trying to protect my family, I—“

June and Josh both shook their heads. “No, not that,” June said. “This.” She tapped one of the frozen Chrysalimon. “The Defenders are getting pretty clever.”

“And angrier too,” added Josh. “We heard from Chelsey this morning. There was another collapse. It seems like it’s happening faster now, and that just makes them more desperate.”

Bakumon nodded. “We know what to look for now, but if they have more digimon like this, they could still overwhelm us.”

Kyle shuddered at the thought of a Tsumemon swarm, even bigger than this one, all evolving out of control. Coyomon pressed to his side and looked up at the others. “Rrrr… What do we do then?”

“We could try to fight back…” said Betamon, but the little digimon didn’t sound at all certain about the idea.

“There’s still more of them than there are of us,” said June. “But we might be able to talk to them.”

“How?” Kyle blurted, his anxiety almost overwhelming him. “They haven’t wanted to listen to us so far!”

“True,” said Bakumon. “But now we know something they want to know.”

“Since when?” asked Bryan.

“Two days ago, remember?” said June. “Chelsey and I talked to those refugees?”

Kyle and Coyomon both perked up, but Bryan still looked confused. “Maybe I… forgot about that?” he said.

Kyle noticed June let out a small sigh, but she was calm when she explained. “Some of them saw humans as well. Right near the gate that collapsed, just before it happened.”

“And that’s good for us how?” said Bryan.

Bakumon rose higher in the air. “As Kirinmon, I was able to get clear images from them. The humans were adults, with no partners. They looked like they were in some sort of uniforms, and were setting up devices around the gate.”

Josh nodded. “It’s the first piece of good information we have. It’s not a lot, but it should help them see it’s not us.

“If they believe us,” said Hielomon.

“I can show them,” said Bakumon. “Well, Kirinmon can, at least.”

“We already got one Defender to listen to us,” said June. “There’s at least a chance that others will too.”

“More of a chance than we have sitting here at least,” said Josh.

“Oooh, annnnd we can use these guys to help get their attention!” added Betamon, scampering up onto one of the smaller frozen digimon. “I mean we can’t just leave them here…”

Hielomon grinned. “So we… what? Shove them back through the gate? And leave a note?”

“Exactly!” said the little striped digimon. “Let’s all get evolving!”

The police were not happy to see four large monsters starting to haul away the frozen bug-things. They started saying something about evidence, at least until Bryan’s mom pushed her way into the conversation, asking “And what exactly are you going to charge them with? Saving the city? Cleaning up their own mess?”

Eventually, the police decided to simply help ‘escort’ them back to the arroyo gate. It was a bizarre scene, each digimon carrying as many blocks of ice as they could handle, flanked by police cars. When he saw how much of a crowd they’d gathered, Kyle actually found himself glad for the extra support.

Finally at the gate, Kyle watched as Betamon skittered over the largest ice chunk, etching a message in angular digicode letters. “They’re all going to come through at different times, right?” he said. “That one and the other Chrysalimon last, since they’re most evolved? Is that gonna be okay?”

Josh shrugged. “Should be. I’m sure they’ll know something is up once these ones pop out.” He tossed a frozen Tsumemon through, as Hielomon and Coyomon gave a Keramon a final shove, letting the gate swallow it up.

Kyle watched the gate as one by one the frozen attackers were pushed through the gate. He couldn’t stop thinking of barely an hour ago, when he’d seen that static on his digivice. He’d tried to tell himself it was just some sort of glitch. But now all he could think of was swarms of tiny Kuramon, coming through this and every gate, evolving swiftly. “They could just try again, any time,” he said, not really to anyone.

Just then, something appeared back out of the gate. Kyle hopped back, alarmed, until he realized that it was the frozen Tsumemon that Josh had just tried to get rid of.

Coyomon growled at it, hackles up, while Hielomon frowned. “Uh oh.”

“Looks like something is still there,” said Bakumon.

“Do you think it’s the Defenders?” said Bryan. “Or maybe just someone else who doesn’t like random things coming through the gate?”

“This is the one they usually attack through,” said Josh. “And it’s just the Floramon village otherwise, and they’re far away. So if I had to guess…”

“Should we… go talk to them?” Kyle asked, a quiver in his voice. “We can’t just let them do it again, right?”

“We’re all here…” said Josh.

“We wouldn’t have to wait and wonder,” added June. She looked at the others. “Are you all up for it?”

Betamon and Bakumon agreed quickly, and Bryan wasn’t much slower. “Had enough of them ruining my day,” he said, as Hielomon gave a confident nod.

Kyle looked down to Coyomon, who wagged his tail. “Up to you, Partner-Kyle! But I think we can do it.”

Kyle smiled. “Me too, bud.” He looked up to the others. “Let’s do it.”

They lined up side-by-side, holding hands and claws to make sure they’d pass through together. Passing through the throttled gate felt strange, like walking through mud, even though Kyle was pretty sure it didn’t take much longer than it had before.

Kyle stayed alert as the pixel-swarms began to clear. “Get ready. We might need to evolve right away.”

“Rrrrr, I’m SO ready,” said his partner.

At the same moment Kyle felt the bark of the tree appear under his feet, Kyle heard the roars.

Everyone fanned out and looked up. Green Coredramon flanked the branch, and a huge, half-cyborg dragon hovered right in front of them.

“Megadramon,” Josh said. “I think I recognize this one. This is gonna be rough.”

The four digimon started to glow and grow as the Megadramon screeched at them. “Fools! You come to be slaughtered?”

“No!” said June, already being lifted into the air as Kirinmon started to form under her. “Please, listen to us! We have information about the collapses!”

“The collapses you cause!”

“No!” Kirinmon’s voice boomed, and she stomped a hoof, making the branch shake. Kyle clung to Aullidomon’s side as he felt the vibration and tried to look anywhere but down. He’d never quite gotten used to the heights here, and a tense situation like this made them feel so much worse.

“Let us show you what other digimon have seen, during those collapses,” Kirinmon continued. Her horn started to glow, and a ghostly scene took shape, a portal in an arid realm, through the eyes of an Armadillomon. Humans were gathered around the portal. Adults, in black shirts and blue jeans, setting up metallic spires all around the portal.

“See?” screeched the Megadramon. “Humans, like you!”

“Not like us!” Josh called, standing tall on MegaSeadramon’s back. “No partners. Nowhere near any of our gates, either.”

In the vision, the devices started to flash in a rhythmic pattern, faster and faster. It made Kyle’s head hurt a bit to look at it. The humans hurried back through the portal, leaving the devices. The viewpoint veered away then, and the vision faded. Kirinmon spoke again. “This digimon went to get help investigating, and by the time they came back…” Another scene bloomed to life, but this one was more frenetic. The portal was now ripped ragged, glowing white and unravelling into the space beyond. The image froze there. “So you see—“

The Megadramon didn’t let her finish. “Is this a threat?” Their claw-cannons started to glow.

“Get ready to dodge, bud,” he said, and he felt Aullidomon nod. But as he watched for the right time to dodge out of the way of the beam, he saw something strange. A flickering, off in one of the high boughs of the tree behind the Megadramon. A flickering that made his head hurt, in a place where he was pretty sure there was a portal.

“Uh… guys?” Kyle stood up on Aullidomon’s back. “Look up there!”

His friends looked where he pointed. June was first to speak. “Is that…?”

“A pathetic ruse!” roared the Megadramon.

Josh shook his head. “It looks a lot like it…”

Aullidomon growled under Kyle’s feet. “Rrrr, Partner-Kyle, I don’t like this…”

“Please, listen—“ said Kirinmon, but before she could say more, she was drowned out by a strange sound from above. It started as a staticky rumble, and shot up in pitch until it was an ear-piercing squeal… and then the world ripped open above them.

Chapter Text

The wound in the world hurt to look at, but it was impossible to look away from. There was a shimmering line of white wrapping around the tree-trunk where the portal must have been, and the tree—no, the realm itself—seemed to be tearing along that line. Kyle caught glimpses of something else through the tears: angular neon lines against a dark background, some sort of abstract futuristic cityscape that was a bizarre contrast to the natural colors of the familiar giant forest.

Thoughts tumbled through Kyle’s mind. They had to get out—no, they had to help the digimon here—no, they had to talk to the Defenders—no, they had to find out who did this. He dug his hands into Aullidomon’s fur, trying not to be completely overwhelmed. Distantly, he heard a clamor of voices, his friends arguing with the digimon they’d found here. Should he say something? Help somehow? Above him, the jagged lines of the collapsing realms started to spread further, and growing the blankness between them started to seethe as if it had a mind of its own.

“Aullidomon… what do we do?” Kyle’s voice was a breathless whisper.

Kyle could barely hear his own voice over the shouting, but he felt his partner respond with a soft rumble. “We help. What about the Floramon?”

“The Flora—right!” Kyle peered out toward the village, two boughs and a bridge away. The collapse hadn’t quite reached that far yet, but it was only a matter of time. They might have a portal right there, but what if some of that angry nothingness reached them before they were all through? And everyone else was still arguing. “Let’s go!”

Aullidomon nodded, and ran down the tree-limb. Kyle almost didn’t care about the huge drops on either side now.

“Where are you going?” cried the Megadramon as Kyle and Aullidomon passed under them. The argument had stopped, and everyone was looking at them now.

“To help the Floramon!” Kyle and Aullidomon said, perfectly in sync.

“And what about the other digimon who live here?” demanded Megadramon, voice full of scorn. “The Hawkmon in the high boughs, or the Tentomon burrowing in the trunks?”

“Is there no pleasing you?” asked Kirinmon. “We didn’t even know about them! There are enough of us here to help all of them, if you could do anything other than fling accusations!”

“Kyle, just keep going!” said June. “Bryan and Ventiscamon, come with me! We can fly, we’ll help the Hawkmon.”

“And we can help with the Tentomon,” said Josh.

“If you don’t mind telling us where they are,” added MegaSeadramon, as he reared up to glare at Megadramon.

“Graaagh! I don’t trust you.” Megadramon gestured to their Coredramon allies. “You three, follow the flyers, and you two, carry the serpent and his human to the Tentomon tunnels. If they do anything suspicious, destroy them.” Then they turned toward Kyle and Aullidomon. “I will watch over you.”

“Rrrrr, whatever they want, let’s just go,” said Aullidomon, and Kyle nodded in agreement, holding on tight as his partner picked up the pace, racing to the bridge.

The tears in the world were getting closer and closer, and now he could see parts of the realms actually merging together. Trees near the collapsing portal were half-replaced with neon spires, and the ragged white gaps between them roiled, reaching out for the surrounding scenery. As Kyle watched, one wrapped like a tentacle around a high tree bough and snapped it in half with a terrible crack. The branch began to fall, but it didn’t get far before it struck another tendril of searing whiteness and was utterly consumed. It was terrifying enough that Kyle almost forgot that there was a huge cyborg dragon hovering over them, waiting for any excuse to attack.

By the time they got to the Floramon village, the angry borders between the realms were close enough that they had to dodge some of those tendrils, which had now developed barbs and claws and even mouths. Aullidomon’s blasts of lightning kept them at bay as he and Kyle searched the village. Most of the Floramon were crowding the portal at the center of their town, moving through as fast as they could, but it didn’t take long to see that some weren’t so lucky.

“My Tanemon!” cried one Floramon, staring upward at a branch that had been bisected by a spar of pink-edged black material. Swiftly-growing merge-tendrils reached toward a trio of small green digimon huddled in a hut on one end.

“Rrrrr, can’t reach them!” Aullidomon’s tail lashed as he paced back and forth, trying to get close. The hut hung out over open air, and the tendrils looked ready to intercept anyone who tried to fly in.

“But June talked about… If we break the branch, the white… things… won’t be able to get them, right?” said Kyle. “Megadramon, get below them and get ready to catch.”

“What?” said the other digimon, scowling at them.

“Just watch! Aullidomon, hit the branch right in front of the merged bit!”

“Thunder Howl!” Electricity streamed from Aullidomon’s mouth, splintering the branch. The Tanemon cried out as the hut swayed and fell, but Megadramon finally decided to do their part, catching the hut in a loop of their tail. Above, the distortion finished consuming the stub of the branch… and then disappeared, the vicious tentacles fading to flat whiteness.

Megadramon delivered the Tanemon to their grateful caretaker, then looked back up at the place where the hut had been. “How…?”

“June and Kirinmon fought them before,” said Kyle. “It only does the attacking thing when it’s between bits of both worlds.”

“Grrra… Good thing these branches are easy to break, then!” said Megadramon, firing a blast just in front of a fanged tentacle that was getting too close for comfort. It faded as it fell away.

Kyle and Aullidomon raced to pick up a pair of Floramon who were stumbling along a shaking bridge, and dropped them off near the portal.

“Rrrrr, now do you believe we’re trying to help?” asked Aullidomon.

“Perhaps… Though you seem to know much about this phenomenon. One might reasonably wonder how…”

“We’re telling you how to fight it!” said Kyle. “Why would we do that if… Fine, whatever! Let’s just keep working.”

Kyle couldn’t see any more Floramon that needed help, they were all at the portal now. The bigger concern now seemed to be keeping the area around the portal safe. He didn’t want to know what would happen if the vicious distortions got to it. It would certainly make it harder to rescue other digimon. Megadramon apparently had the same idea, and was busily blasting away all the tree branches and bridges in the direction of the worst of the merge.

“Incoming! Snarls on our tails!” Kyle looked up to see Ventiscamon, with a small formation of Hawkmon flying nearby, and Bryan on his back, arms filled with little pink hatchling-digimon. A claw-covered coil of distortion was following close behind, but a blast of current from Aullidomon gave the flyers the space they needed to land safely.

“Snarls?” Kyle asked as Bryan helped the little Pururumon and Poromon through the portal.

“Yeah, because they’re all tangly, like the world’s unravelling,” said Bryan.

“And snarly and mean,” added Ventiscamon, nodding.

“Rrrrr, makes sense to me,” said Aullidomon. “Stay back, Snarls!” He shot a small bolt of electricity toward the nearest one, growing from where a spray of giant pine-needles intersected a flashing neon sign.

“How are things going up there?” asked Kyle.

“Not too bad,” said Bryan. “Most of them were further away, which just means we gotta convince them to fly toward this mess because this is still the closest portal. June and Kirinmon are doing a good job of pushing the Snarls out of the way. Should be a lot more coming in now.”

The sound of beating wings came from off to Kyle’s left, and he saw the Coredramon, flanking a larger flock of smaller avian digimon. Kirinmon was flying in front of them, with June on her back, and the tentacles seemed to bounce off a faintly shimmering bubble before reaching anyone.

“So cool,” Bryan whispered dreamily as he watched them come in, then visibly tried to compose himself once June got close.

Kyle couldn’t help but agree that it was an impressive sight, but it also brought his mind back to the other members of their team. “Has anyone seen Josh?” he asked, trying not to let his voice tremble.

June hopped off Kirinmon’s back once they were near the surface of the portal platform. “They went down. The Tentomon’s tree is… that way!” She pointed in a direction perpendicular to the worst of the spreading Snarls, though it was getting hard to find a place that the dimensional tearing wasn’t visible at this point.

Aullidomon peered over the edge. “You think they need help, Partner-Kyle?”

“I hope not, but… we should try. Not much we can do around here…” He looked up. “We can’t fly, can someone help—“

“You are not leaving my sight,” said Megadramon. “I will carry you there. I do not want my allies to be outnumbered by the likes of you.”

Kyle sighed, and Aullidomon gave a soft growl as they climbed onto Megadramon’s back, between the big tattered wings. It didn’t feel like the most stable perch, and Kyle kept his eyes shut more of the way down. Things felt surprisingly secure, even when Megadramon dodged a few Snarls, but it was a huge relief when Kyle felt the big digimon stop moving. He opened his eyes to see MegaSeadramon just below them, coiled tight around one of the huge trees. Josh was moving in and out of holes in the trunk, guiding the little insectoid digimon out of their burrows and onto his partner’s back. The Coredramon hovered nearby, and bowed their heads slightly at Megadramon’s approach.

“Josh!” Kyle called. “Everything okay here?”

Josh looked up. “I think so! There’s more of them than I thought but I think they’ll all—Oooh crap, that stuff is a lot closer than it was before.”

Kyle looked back. The view from here was alarming in a whole different way. Nearly half the world was a jumble of tree and neon, and between that, the chaos of the border seemed to be closing in on them from all sides.

“Wow, yeah, we should hurry,” Kyle said. “Megadramon, can some ride on your tail?”

“Very well.” Megadramon approached the tree, and their tail unfurled near the openings of a few other burrows.

“I’ll try to make sure everyone gets out,” Kyle said. He climbed down the tail, doing his best not to look down. “Hey, Tentomon! Your ride’s here, hurry!” Slowly more of the little bugs emerged from the tree. “Aullidomon, come here, some of these burrows are pretty big, maybe you can help too!”

The Tentomon burrows were winding, but not too deep, and it only took a few minutes to confirm that they’d found everyone who needed to be found. By the time they were done, Megadramon and MegaSeadramon were both nearly covered in Tentomon and their younger forms, in a scene that was somewhere between cute and creepy.

Kyle and Aullidomon were just about to hop back on Megadramon’s back for the flight back when they saw the Snarl.

A piece of elevated highway that glowed with green and purple light had just intersected the trunk of the tree, several yards above them, and from the messy collision point, an angry white curl formed. It wasn’t the biggest one they’d seen, or the fangiest… but it was heading right for Megadramon.

“Look out!” yelled Kyle and Aullidomon at the same time, and without a second thought they leapt. If they could just shove Megadramon out of the way…

Kyle felt the surge of Digivolution once they were in midair, and scrambled to cling tight to AmpAullidomon’s armored back. They crashed into the other digimon, easily with enough bulk to shove them out of the way. Kyle felt a strange tingle as the tentacle passed just behind them… and then he realized they were falling.

“Kyle! Kyyyyyle!” Was that AmpAullidomon’s voice? Josh’s? Both? The world was a blur as Kyle and his partner started to plummet. He’d forgotten that there was nothing below him, and that his partner couldn’t fly, even in this form.

Kyle clung to his partner’s back, trembling. “C-Coyomon…” was the name that came out of his mouth.

“Partner-Kyle… Hold on tight…” AmpAullidomon was trying to comfort him, though Kyle could tell he was just as worried.

Then there was a sudden jolt, and they were no longer falling. Tattered purple wings rose to either side of them.

“Megadramon…?” Kyle gasped.

“Saved us…?” AmpAullidomon’s voice was weak, and he didn’t say anything else before he started glowing and shrinking, energy nearly spent.

“Well. You saved me first, after all,” said the Megadramon. The harsh edge was gone from their voice. “Without any thought for your own wellbeing. An unwise action, but also one that suggests that I misjudged you.”

“Well… yeah…” was all Kyle could say, before he curled up around Coyomon, soothing and being soothed in turn as they rode back to the portal. It was a smoother ride than the one on the way in. So much of the realms here had already collapsed that there were few Snarls left. Instead, it was mostly blank white, with the portal a faint blue shimmer. Kyle fervently hoped that everyone else was already through.

Finally they passed through the portal themselves, and into the realm of tiny snow-capped mountains. The small groups of plant and bird digimon huddled together, and the bug digimon soon scurried off of their digimon mounts to do the same.

Kyle slid heavily to the ground. “Did everyone make it?”

“We’re here!” said June, from a mountain range away, and Bryan waved.

“Kyle! Oh my god I was so worried!” Josh rushed up to him and wrapped him in a hug, as Betamon did the same with Coyomon. “That was so awesome! And so stupid! I’m glad you did it, but never do something like that again, okay?”

“Yeah… Yeah…” Kyle pressed against his boyfriend’s embrace, breathing deeply. “Yeah.”

“It seems the smaller digimon groups are all well-accounted for,” said Megadramon. “You… did well.”

Kirinmon was the first to respond. “Thank you for your assistance in telling us who needed saving,” she said.

“Are you willing to listen to what we have to say now?” asked June.

“I am. I will speak on your behalf to Orochimon. I believe he will be interested as well.”

“I don’t bet we’ll get an apology, though,” Josh whispered, and Kyle managed a weak grin in return.

“Can we go home, Partner-Kyle?” said Coyomon from his lap. “Hungry…”

“Yeah, bud. I… we…” Kyle looked to the portal, and his stomach clenched. “Can we?” In the merges that June had seen, the portals there had collapsed. What did that mean for the gate? Would that disappear too? Kyle stared at the portal, expecting it to wink out of existence at any moment. Was it already looking smaller? Was it shimmering in the wrong way? “We… might have to go the long way around…” he said hollowly.

As Kyle watched, the portal stuttered, and flickered, and he was sure that was it, but then it came back, and seemed as strong and solid as it had ever been.

“Whoa… What was that?” Josh was watching it too.

Betamon inched closer to the portal. “Maybe we should look?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, B…”

“It was pretty safe when we left! Just hold tight to me!”

Josh shook his head, but Kyle couldn’t bear not knowing. “Hold my hand,” he said, reaching out for Josh, and once the other boy clasped it, he stuck his head through, his body tense as he readied himself to pull away at the first sign of… anything, really.

But what he saw when the portal-pixels cleared wasn’t anything at all. It was a blank expanse. No trees, no cities, no snarl, just flat white in every direction. Except… He thought he was seeing things, at first, his mind trying to add something to the blankness. but the longer he looked, the more sure he was. A familiar blue swirl, a few hundred yards away. The gate.

And then, now that he looked closer, other smaller bits of color, scattered around. Portals. More, he was sure, than had been in the forest realm before. Maybe as many as had been in two realms. Had the realms entirely collapsed except for their connections? He pulled back out, eyes wide.

Josh glared at him. “I just told you to never—“

Kyle shook his head. “It’s okay. Well. No. It’s not okay, but it’s… something. I don’t know what. But we can go home. Let’s… just go home.”

Chapter Text

Everyone took turns peeking through the portal into the eerie white space where the forest realm used to be.

“I guess it could be worse,” Josh said, voice tight. “I don’t really think we should just wander through, though.”

“Do you know another way home?” asked Hielomon.

Kyle closed his eyes, sorting through what he remembered of portal routes. Hadn’t File Town been nearby? “Well, from here to the ski village, and then from there to—“ He felt Josh’s elbow jab him in the side. He opened his eyes. “What?”

Josh and Betamon were both glaring at him, then Betamon pointed his snout toward Megadramon, still hovering nearby. Kyle winced. As much as the big digimon seemed friendlier now, he definitely didn’t want to show them how to get all the way to his literal doorstep. “Yeah, I don’t know, then.”

Bakumon nodded. “Every route I know is probably more dangerous, if there are still Defenders looking for us. I think the blank space is at least worth a try.”

Josh was still frowning. “Well, I guess. But I’ll go first.”

June shook her head. “We don’t even know if there’s ground. Bakumon, can you help me test something out? I have a theory.”

Bakumon bobbed up and down in the air cheerfully. “Ah, yes, that’s a good thought. Let’s go!” They disappeared through the portal together.

Bryan watched them go. “It’s weird when they do that, right?”

Coyomon nodded rapidly, and the rest of them gave general sounds of agreement as well. Hielomon was grinning slightly. “You ever wonder if she—“ He cut himself off as the portal glowed again and June and Bakumon emerged.

“Just like I thought,” June said. “There’s no environmental code in there anymore, so you can use it however you want. Walk, fly, swim, it all works.”

“It’s very strange,” Bakumon said. “But it does seem to be totally empty, and not hard to move around.”

Kyle felt a strange mix of relief and uneasiness. It meant his gate wasn’t cut off, but it also felt like such a huge change from the forest he’d been so used to, if not exactly enjoyed. “Well. Um. Can we just… go home now then?” He looked to Josh as he said it.

Josh sighed. “All right. Now I am going first, though.”

June exchanged a few more words with Megadramon, who promised they would send a messenger after they talked to Orochimon, then they all filed through the portal.

Crossing the space was, indeed, a bizarre experience. Kyle had an initial moment of vertigo when he set foot on… nothing at all, but it passed quicker than it had when he had to walk on the tree limbs. Now there wasn’t really any ‘down’ to not look at. They all walked through the blankness in silence, as if no one was sure what to say.

Kyle breathed a huge sigh of relief when his feet finally touched the familiar cracked dirt of the arroyo. The sky was just beginning to darken, and the crowd that had followed them to the gate had dispersed. It was only then that Kyle realized how many hours they’d spent in the collapsing realms. He tapped out a text to his parents, reassuring them that everything was fine now, and apologizing for taking so long. At least this time there had only been two concerned messages since he’d told them he was leaving.

By the time he’d finished typing, Kyle’s head felt just about out of words, and he found himself sitting on the ground with his partner resting in his lap, as the words of others floated around him.

“Partner-Kyle… still hungry…”

“Me too,” said Hielomon. “We didn’t really even get to finish lunch!”

Bryan was typing on his own phone, frowning a bit. “Ugh, dad is still waiting around to pick us up. Gonna be a fun weekend.”

Hielomon shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about. All of us.”

“You could tell him you can fly down on your own,” said Bakumon. “We’re far past subtle now.”

June laughed softly. “Well, still, mom’s on the way to get us,” she said. “Anyone else want a ride? Josh, Betamon?”

That got Kyle’s attention. Suddenly he realized what he needed. He reached out for Josh’s hand, trying to put words together.“Uh… could we… I mean, if you were… just going to go home otherwise…?”

Josh smiled and looked back at him. “Could use some company?”

Kyle just nodded rapidly, and Coyomon wagged his tail.

“Sure.” Josh squeezed Kyle’s hand and helped pull him back to his feet. Kyle felt himself starting to relax for the first time in hours.

“All right,” said June, and Kyle caught a smile from her too. “Like Baku said, we can all get around pretty easy now. I’ll tell my mom you’ll be home on your own time. Have a nice night!”

Kyle waved vaguely to the well-wishing of his friends, as he let Josh and Coyomon and Betamon gently guide him away.

“What do you need, Partner-Kyle?”

Kyle thought for a few moments. “…Ice cream.”

Josh chuckled. “Not dinner?”

“Dinner too. Ice cream first.”

“Yeahyeahyeah!” yipped Coyomon.

Betamon nodded rapidly. “Sounds like a very good idea to me.”

Josh shrugged. “I mean, ice cream is great. Where’s a good place for ice cream here?”

“Downtown,” Kyle said. Words were coming a bit easier now again. He nudged Coyomon. “I know you’re pretty tired, do you think you can run?”

“For ice cream? Yeaaaah!” Coyomon concentrated, and a faint digivolution-glow formed around him… before fading again. His ears drooped. “…Maybe not.”

“Aww, bud.” Kyle rubbed his partner’s head. “We’ll take the bus.”

“Yay! …What’s a bus?”

Kyle and Josh hopped on the bus, partners hidden away in digivices. Part of Kyle really wanted Coyomon by his side as much as possible, now that it didn’t seem to matter, but another part of him really didn’t want to draw attention after such an exhausting day.

In the end though, it didn’t matter.

“Hey, didn’t I see you on the news?” asked a college-aged woman on the aisle across from them.

Kyle tensed, and his hand went instinctively to his digivice to try to cover it.

An older man turned their way too. “Yes, you’re with that boy who saved the town! And those are your… devices, right? Where are your monsters?”

Kyle slid down in his seat. The bus wasn’t very full, but all the attention was on them.

Josh squeezed his other hand, and sat up straight. “Yes, that’s us,” he said. “But right now we’re just trying to get downtown. We’ve had a busy day.” Kyle could feel his boyfriend’s hand shaking, and he squeezed back. Is this just how things would be, now?

Mercifully, the other riders nodded. “Well, it’s still good to have you in our town,” said the woman.

“And keep up the good work!” added the man. They settled back into their chairs as the bus rolled on, but Kyle still felt on edge, counting the stops until they got off.

Downtown was busy. Kyle had forgotten it was Friday, and even this late in the year, there were still a fair number of tourists. He focussed on the store displays as they made their way down the two blocks to his favorite ice cream shop.

“Here it is!” Kyle said, pulling open the door. “Not too busy, good.”

“Well it is November,” Josh said. “Good though. Can’t believe how many folks were looking at us on the way.”

“Huh?” Kyle froze. He hadn’t noticed. He didn’t usually look at people he didn’t know, after all. “Uh… at least they didn’t say anything, I guess?”

Josh nodded. “I guess. But if this is going to keep happening either way…” He bounced his digivice lightly in his hand.

Kyle’s eyes widened. “You think… I mean… you think…?”

“Yes please!” came a voice from Josh’s digivice.

“If you’re up for it,” Josh said. “Don’t wanna overwhelm you even more.”

Kyle nodded. “Well, like you said, either way…” He took a breath. “Coyomon, come on out.”

Light flared, and the half-dozen sets of other eyes in the shop turned toward them. Kyle caught several mispronunciations of the word ‘digimon’ in the murmurs that followed.

Kyle’s heart fluttered. For a moment it felt terrifying, and he almost called Coyomon back. But then he saw Coyomon smiling up at him, and wagging his tail, then hurrying off toward the ice cream. “It smells so good, Partner-Kyle!” Soon Betamon was scurrying after him. There were a few gasps from the other diners, but then several laughs, and Kyle even caught a few smiles.

He looked at Josh, who was looking back at him. “Okay?” Josh asked.

“So far, yeah.” Kyle even found himself smiling a bit. The longer they were out, the more the reactions didn’t seem negative, the more he felt something like relief.

They followed their partners to the ice cream counter. Behind it was a man in his twenties with an ice cream scoop in one hand and a befuddled expression on his face. “Uh… would you like… a doggy scoop…?” he said, finally.

“Not a dog!” said Betamon.

“Me neither!” added Coyomon.

The cashier at the end of the counter had a whole different expression. She was younger than the scooper, probably still in high school, and even Kyle could tell she was delighted. “Those are digimon!” she said. “You’re their tamers!”

Kyle’s grin got bigger too. “That’s… that’s us, yeah! I’m Kyle, and this is Josh!” He raised his hand, and realized it was still holding his boyfriend’s.

Josh chuckled nervously. “Y-yeah, that me.” Josh’s hand shifted in Kyle’s grasp, but he didn’t let go. “And Betamon and Coyomon. B, no climbing on the glass.”

“Sorry! It’s hard to see!”

“Do… you… know what you want?” asked the server, who looked at least a little less shocked now. “We have samples…?”

“Yes! All of them!” said Coyomon.

“Err, three samples per person, sorry.”

“I’m not a person, I’m—“

Kyle stepped up. “A double-scoop of green chile in a cup for him, and pumpkin in a waffle cone for me, please,” he said, hoping that sounded cool and calm, as much as he wanted to giggle.

“Green chile ice cream?” Josh and Coyomon both asked the question at nearly the same time, but Coyomon sounded delighted, and Josh just sounded confused.

“Josh, I want the mango!” Betamon chirped.

Josh nodded, and took a moment to look himself. “Annnnd I’ll just have chocolate. Uh, cups for both.”

Kyle watched the ice cream being scooped, wondering the whole time if anyone was going to come up and say anything else, if anything was going to fall back out of control. But it kept not happening, and even if it did… weren’t his partner and his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s partner here to help out?

When they finally collected their scoops and moved along to the cash register, the cashier just grinned at them. “On the house,” she said. “You guys are awesome. And adorable.”

Kyle wasn’t sure what to make of that at all. But it sounded nice, and still, free ice cream. “Uh… thanks?”

Josh nodded quickly. “Yeah… thanks!” The expression on his face reminded Kyle of how the server had looked when they’d walked in.

“And… one more thing? You don’t have to but… would it be okay to get a picture? Like, for me, or for the shop too, like if that’s okay?” The words tumbled out of her mouth, filled with excitement.

Kyle looked at Josh. They’d already been on TV, but that hadn’t really been by choice. This felt like a whole different step. Josh was silent for a moment, then he cracked a grin. “Y’know what, sure.”

“Okay, right over here!” She grabbed a camera and ushered them to the shop’s painted side wall. “Digimon in front or…” Betamon clambered up onto Josh’s shoulder. “That’s good too!” Coyomon sat up high, wagging his tail. “And you guys can like pose however you want!”

Somewhere in the repositioning, Josh’s hand had slipped out of Kyle’s. but suddenly it was there again, holding tight, and Josh was right up next to him, and Kyle had only a moment to realize what that meant for the picture.

“Say cheesecake ice cream!” The camera clicked. Josh was so close to him, and Coyomon and Betamon too, but Josh…

Kyle could already imagine the picture, all four of them pressed together, close as could be, their bonds unmistakeable as they faced the changing world together.

Chapter Text

Josh paced back and forth in front of the library, with Betamon skittering a half-step behind. “Okay, he’s just getting off the highway now so that means he’ll be here in… ten minutes?” Josh looked to Kyle for confirmation.

Kyle had never seen his boyfriend worked up in quite this way before. “Sounds right to me,” he said with a shrug.

“And no one’s heard anything from the Defenders yet?” This time Josh was looking at June. “He really wanted to be there for that meeting.”

“No, still nothing, just like the last three times. We don’t need him there for the meeting, you know? We’ve done everything else on our own.”

“But it couldn’t hurt, right?” said Josh. “He helped save the Digital World before, he’s an expert in the interfaces between the worlds.

“And,” said Betamon, “it would be really good to have backup just in case things don’t go so well.”

“Oh?” asked Bakumon. “He doesn’t seem like much of a fighter, by reputation.”

“He’s not,” said Josh. “But he knows how to get a hold of some folks who are.”

Kyle perked up then. “See, that would be cool. I would love to get to meet Takato Matsuda. Guilmon is so cool!”

Bryan smirked. “Yeah I never would’ve guessed you thought that, based on Coyomon’s whole vibe.”

“Rrrr? What’s my vibe?”

“Dude, you’re the one who designed a two-legged reptile partner,” Kyle shot back with a grin.

“It just seemed like the right shape!” said Bryan. “And dragons are cool.”

“I’m definitely cool,” said Hielomon with a nod. “Though it’s kinda weird to get talked about like this.”

“Partner-Kyle, what’s a vibe?” asked Coyomon again.

Kyle rubbed his partner’s head. “It just means everything about you that makes you… you. Which is still very good. And not that much like any other digimon.”

June chimed in then. “Yes, no one else has ever had a canine partner who ended up on four legs at Adult and then back to two at Perfect.” Her sarcastic words were muted by her teasing grin.

“Hey, I get inspired by the best,” said Kyle with a shrug.

Josh looked up then as a car started to pull into the parking lot. “Okay that’s got to be him. Everyone just be cool, okay?” He looked directly at Kyle as he said it.

The car pulled into a parking space, and the door opened to reveal a tall blond man who Kyle immediately recognized from TV, both from the announcement a few days ago and from the reports he’d obsessively watched during the D-Reaper crisis. He suddenly found it quite hard to be cool. This man probably knew more about digimon than anyone else in the world. Kyle had so many questions. Did he know what was causing the merges? Why hadn’t he helped more before? Could he introduce them to the Shinjuku kids?

Before Kyle could say anything, Josh hurried up to the car. “Mr. Yamaki!” He paused as an auburn-haired woman came out from the other side. “And Ms. Ootori!” He gave a rather awkward-looking bow, and the two adults just nodded at him. “How was your flight?” Josh continued.

“Long, but uneventful,” replied Yamaki. “Thank you for all for meeting us here.” He turned to look at the other three. “Bryan Baca and Hielomon, Kyle Fairbank and Coyomon, June Otsuka-Reynolds and Bakumon, yes? It’s a pleasure to meet you all. You’ve done… quite a bit in your short time as tamers.” Kyle was pretty sure that was a compliment, and he stammered out something that he hoped sounded like gratitude, as Coyomon’s tail wagged wildly. June and Bakumon were a bit more articulate with their own thanks, but Bryan and Hielomon just exchanged a glance before nodding at the man in response.

Yamaki looked across the parking lot. "The gate is just down the hill there, correct?”

Josh nodded rapidly. “Yeah, you can’t quite see it from here, but I know the way.” The woman who Josh had called Ms. Ootori was unpacking equipment from the back of the car, and Josh hurried back there. “Can I help?”

She nodded, and held out a metal briefcase. “Yes, thank you, please carry this,” she said, before hefting out two of her own. “We’ll use these to analyze what’s left on the other side of the gate.

Yamaki flipped a metal lighter open and closed in one hand. “Well, let’s see what’s there. Joshua and Betamon, please show the way to the gate?”

Josh nodded again, and he and Betamon headed off toward the gate, with the adults close behind. Kyle and his friends hurried to follow. “Does Josh seem like he’s acting kinda weird?” he asked.

“Acting like that stuck-up guy owns him?” said Bryan. “Yeah, totally.”

“Indeed,” said Bakumon.

Before Kyle could say more, or even really think through how he felt about the whole situation, they’d arrived at the gate, which was still glowing faintly from the passage of the group that had hurried ahead. Kyle frowned, and Coyomon lowered his ears. Josh and Betamon almost always waited to cross along with them. “Okay then,” Kyle murmured, and headed through.

The white space felt just as eerie as it had been the day before. Yamaki was starting to set up some of the equipment near the gate, pointing antennas at it and checking readouts, while Ootori was striding across the expanse toward one of the faintly-glowing portals.

“Wow, they’re all business,” said Hielomon.

“We have a lot we need to find out,” replied Yamaki with a curt nod. “This space is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“How long will it take before you have data?” Josh asked.

“We’ll need to pull some data from more than one of the portals. Joshua, can you set up this receiver at that portal down there?”

Josh nodded. “Of course! Let’s go, B!”

“Uh, can we come along?” Kyle asked. Standing here with Yamaki felt like it would either be very boring, or very intimidating.

Yamaki gave a nod, and Josh shrugged. “Sure, let’s all stick together.”

Kyle let out a relieved sigh, and Coyomon gave a small cheer. The four pairs of trainers and digimon headed off across the void, the gravity subtly shifting around them as they started to walk off at an angle. It didn’t feel any less weird as they continued across the space.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, but before long, Bryan spoke up. “So, Josh, dude, what’s the deal with you and him?”

Kyle moved closer to listen. It was a good question, even if he wouldn’t quite have phrased it that way.

“The deal?” Josh looked surprised. “I mean… he’s the head of Nodens, who are the whole reason we have digivices and the town and everything.”

“Not to mention sort of saving the world!” added Betamon.

Bryan nodded. “I mean sure, but you act like he’s your boss or something.”

“Yes, I’ve never seen you quite so deferential,” said Bakumon.

“Well…” Josh paused for a moment. “He was also a big help to me personally.” By now they’d arrived at the portal, and Josh started unpacking the metal suitcase. “Can you put this by the portal, B?” He held out an antenna that Betamon carefully took in his mouth and set up near the portal. Its base stuck stable in the blankness just like their feet.

“My gate was one of the first ones, y’know?” Josh continued. “And I didn’t know anything at first. Pokemon fan, remember? And back then Nodens came out and talked to us all personally as soon as they could, so something like Chelsey’s bug disaster didn’t happen again.”

“That was her gate?” asked Coyomon. “Whoooa…”

Betamon giggled. “Yeah, but don’t bother her about it, it’s still kinda a sore spot.”

“Wow, yeah, you must’ve been even more confused,” said Kyle.

“Yeah, and Yamaki didn’t just explain things, he was also really… encouraging? Like, he gave me something to do with my life.”

“Him?” Bryan sounded very doubtful. “He seems about as encouraging as a block of wood.”

Josh checked something on the equipment display, nodded with satisfaction, then turned back to the conversation. “That’s just how he is when things are complicated. He… has a hard time with uncertainty.” Josh reached out to touch Kyle’s hand. “Like some other folks I know. And he just wants things between humans and digimon to be safe and stable. Just like we do.”

Kyle smiled slightly. Considering what he knew about Josh’s life before finding the digital world, it seemed like a good thing he had had someone to help out. Things had been confusing enough for him even with understanding friends and relatively-supportive parents.

“But… he knows he’s not in charge of all of us, right?” said June.

Josh chuckled. “If he wanted to be in charge of us, pretty sure he would’ve gotten involved a lot earlier. He does sort of know most of what goes on with humans in the digital world.”

June scowled. “So he’s watching us all the time? That’s not making me like him any better.”

Josh shook his head. “It’s not like that. Just think of him as another adult who’s trying to help. Like your parents and that teacher—“ Just then the equipment chimed, and Josh looked back at it. “It’s done. Let’s get it back.” He and Betamon quickly moved to pack away the sensors.

June looked like she wanted to say something else, but she just shrugged. Bakumon settled on her shoulder, and June put a hand on her partner’s head.

“What’s it say?” asked Bryan, peering at the inscrutable code scrolling across the display until it was shut away.

“Dunno,” said Josh. “Let’s find out.”

They walked briskly back to the gate. Kyle tried to convince himself it was feeling more normal to his feet against the nothing-in-particular below him. “Guess we’re gonna have to get used to this place, huh, bud?” Kyle said to Coyomon.

“I don’t really want to… I miss the trees…”

“I… kinda actually do too. At least then I knew which way I’d fall.” As soon as he said the words, Kyle found his legs shaking a bit. “I… definitely shouldn’t have thought about that, that much.”

Coyomon bumped up against his leg. “I got you, Partner-Kyle!”

Then Kyle felt a reassuring grip on his upper arm. “Me too,” said Josh. “Just a bit further.”

Finally they were back with Yamaki and Ootori. They were already peering intently at the screens on their own machines. Ootori took Josh’s, and plugged it into the rest, and new data filled the screens.

“This one too,” said Ootori with a frown.

“So it seems,” said Yamaki.

“This one what?” asked Bryan. “Are those… is that computer code?”

Kyle tried to make sense of the display too. Nested words and symbols, dense text… it looked a little like when he’d tried to make his own website, but there was so much more of it here, and the digicode mixed in with the letters didn’t help his comprehension any. “It’s the digital world, right?” he said. “Isn’t it all sort of computer code?”

“It is,” said Ootori. “But this has been modified. They’re using the portal interfaces as a vector for a code injection exploit. The portals themselves are a break in the standard structure of each realm. Sometimes, when something goes through a portal, things get slightly out of bounds. With this code embedded in there, they can then execute their own instructions and do whatever they want. It seems like destabilizing the portal itself is only a side-effect for the reformatting they actually want to be doing.”

Kyle didn’t follow that any better than he had the code that was on the screen, but June was nodding along. “But wait,” she said. “This isn’t even one of the portals that we saw people by. That one is gone. But this portal is affected too?”

Yamaki nodded. “That part is particularly concerning. Since this space stayed intact, this reformatting was able to also alter all the portals leading out from here.”

Kyle’s stomach went sour at the thought.

“They’re infected,” said Hielomon, horrified. All the digimon and partners pressed closer together, seeking comfort.

Josh was the first one to give voice to the grim possibility. “So… if someone uses one of these portals… they could burst too?”

Ootori shook her head. “No,” she said, and Kyle felt a flood of relief for a split second, before she continued. “Data exchange happens at a certain rate whether or not they’re used. Any of that could trigger it. But fortunately, the chance is rare. I estimate we have days before the exploit is triggered again. Weeks, if we’re lucky.”

“I don’t feel very lucky right now, Partner-Kyle…”

Kyle just nodded, his stomach roiling as his mind spun with the dreadful possibilities. If another portal collapsed, would it spread the infection too? What if the whole digital world ended up blank and lifeless? He rubbed Coyomon’s head, clinging to the slight bit of comfort the sensation provided.

Kyle heard a rapid snapping sound from Yamaki, breaking the grim silence. The man’s expression was stiff as ever, but his hand was flicking that lighter open and closed at a rapid pace that reminded Kyle of his own anxious rubbing of his partner’s fur.

“That gives us time,” Yamaki said, finally. “We will not let this disaster spread. The alteration was done by human hands, and we can undo it. We’ve patched the gates before, and we can do the same to the intra-realm portals, correct?”

Ootori gave a firm nod. “I already have some ideas. I’ll stay here and begin tests immediately.”

“Excellent.” Yamaki turned tot the tamers and digimon. “And in the meantime, please watch the neighboring realms closely. And tell the inhabitants what might be coming. There should be no more disasters, if we can avoid them.”

Despite what Josh had said before, that sounded like a pretty direct order, but it also sounded like the right thing to do. Though a haze of anxiety, Kyle nodded in agreement, and he noticed everyone else doing the same, even June.

“And this would be a good thing to get the Defenders involved in, if we can,” mused Bakumon. “If only they’d get back to us.”

Kyle was doing all he could to try to keep himself from thinking about the whole digital world collapsing into a white void like this one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working; all he was able to do was press close to Coyomon and stare off into that very void. But then, he noticed something. He was sure he saw one of the farther portals flare, and moments later, a small form approaching them from that direction.

“U-um, I think something’s coming,” he said.

Coyomon lifted his head, and looked in the same direction. “Rrrrr, I see it too.”

The others snapped to attention, watching the approaching figure.

“It looks like one of those Hawkmon?” said Hielomon, squinting, and then Kyle could make it out too, the small wing-arms flapping.

“Not too dangerous, at least,” said June.

After a few more moments, they heard the Hawkmon call out. “Humans and partners! I’m here to lead you to Lord Orochimon!” The small digimon hovered, as if not quite sure how to land in the void. “I think we should get moving quickly. He does not like to be kept waiting.”

Chapter Text

The humans and partner-digimon followed the Hawkmon back across the void. Kyle hung at the back of the group. With his head so full of thoughts, he wasn’t sure of anything he wanted to say to anyone.

“Okay, Partner-Kyle?” Coyomon nudged his hand.

Kyle took a moment to work out which thought was foremost in his mind. “Yeah, bud. I just… I really don’t want to be the first one to meet Orochimon?” He trembled slightly at the memory of the enormous multi-headed digimon, furiously leading the attack on File Town.

“Me neither,” said Coyomon with a nod. “He’s reallllly scary. Even if I was bigger I think he’d be scary.”

“Indeed,” said Bakumon. “But he knows where we are now. If he wanted to attack us, he could come right through that gate, and…” June was glaring at her partner, and Bakumon sighed and nodded. “Yes, all right. But I think we’re well-prepared to talk, regardless.”

“I will handle the talking,” said Yamaki, from the front of the group. “With Joshua’s assistance.”

“Uh…” Josh hugged Betamon to his chest. He didn’t seem any more inclined to talk than Kyle did.

“I’m the one who got them to listen the other day!” protested June, striding to catch up with Yamaki.

Kyle caught sight of Josh’s expression after June spoke. He seemed mildly shocked. It looked like the other boy was about to say something, but Yamaki spoke first.

“That is true, and for that reason I am glad you’re here. But this is another matter entirely. It requires a certain discretion.”

“I can do that,” said June. “I don’t need to speak for you, but I can help!”

Yamaki was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “We’ll see.”

They walked a bit longer in silence before arriving at the portal. “Lord Orochimon awaits,” said the Hawkmon with a nervous warble, then the small digimon stepped through. Kyle watched everyone else disappear into the portal, gripped Coyomon’s collar tightly, and stepped through himself.

Kyle emerged into bright sunshine, and smelled fresh grass and sweet flowers. Verdant hills stretched around him, covered in oversized flowers in countless colors. It would’ve been one of the prettiest and most placid realms that Kyle had seen, if not for the group of digimon sitting there waiting for him. There was the Megadramon they’d dealt with the day before, and a hammerless Zudomon that Kyle figured was the one who June had met a few days earlier. And between them was Orochimon, multiple heads looming over everyone else. One head turned toward Kyle and Coyomon as soon as they emerged and bent down to watch them. Every other human there had just as much attention from one of the huge digimon’s eight heads.

“This is all of you?” Orochimon’s voice shook Kyle’s whole body. Kyle pressed closer to Coyomon and he nodded rapidly. “Good.”

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, Lord Orochimon.” said Yamaki, his voice calm. “I am Yamaki Mitsuo, and I am responsible for the connections between the human and digital worlds. I hope we can strengthen those connections today.”

There was a nod from the head that was focussed on Yamaki. “You are known to us. But it seems your work to keep those connections safe is insufficient. Unless you claim responsibility for the realm collapses.” Bright flame rippled at the edges of that head’s jaws.

Before Yamaki could respond, June looked directly at the head that was watching her, and spoke in a voice almost as even as Yamaki’s. “We do not, but we want to stop them as well. We have been trying, and we’ve found out some details. No thanks to you.”

Yamaki, Josh, Betamon, and even Bakumon all frowned slightly at June, but Orochimon simply ducked their head slightly. “Misunderstandings. Some of my compatriots are especially fervent in their desire to keep our world safe.” Two other heads nodded in Megadramon and Zudomon’s directions.

Kyle felt a spike of anger. Orochimon himself had been right there leading the attack on File Town. He felt Coyomon’s hackles rise, and a faint growl came from the digimon’s throat. Was there anything they could say to that? Was there anything they should say? He looked at the others. Anger was one of the easiest emotions for him to notice, and he saw it clearly now on nearly everyone’s face. Josh looked like he was about to explode, and Betamon was baring teeth. Hielomon’s ice-spines were raised, and his paw was maybe the only thing keeping Bryan from saying anything. June was scowling, and Bakumon’s hazy tail roiled in frustration.

But it was Yamaki who spoke before anyone else. “That desire is understandable, but I hope these Tamers’ recent efforts have shown that we can do more together than apart.” Yamaki’s lighter snapped open and shut in his hand. Maybe Yamaki was just as upset as the rest of them, and just doing a better job of hiding it. “Surely we can set aside those misunderstandings and move forward, and surely a leader of your caliber can control any rogue elements going forward.”

“Of course,” said Orochimon. “We are here to defend our realms. If you will aid us, there is no quarrel between us.”

“We could do more than that,” said Bakumon. Her voice was shaking slightly, but she and June both seemed more resolved now. “We have information about the collapses. Not just the people causing them now, but also—“

Yamaki took a step forward, raising his voice and cutting the digimon off. “We have reason to believe the next attacks may be in realms such as this one, that border the void-space. I would recommend evacuation of these realms as a precaution, as we work on solutions from our side.”

That didn’t sound right. Kyle’s mind raced as he tried to make sense of it. ‘Attack’ didn’t sound like the right word for the infected portals breaking down on their own. He looked at his friends to see if that would help him make any more sense of things. He saw June’s mouth open as if she wanted to say more, but after a moment she closed it, with a slight nod.

Eight pairs of serpentine eyes flashed with fire. “Evacuation. You’d have us pull back, rather than fight to defend our world?”

“Strong as you are, this isn’t something you can fight directly!” said June.

Megadramon reared up. “We can continue to keep humans out of our realms. That ought to do it.” The cybernetic dragon turned toward Orochimon. “If we’d posted guards at every portal when I suggested it, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place!”

“We did not have the numbers for that,” said Orochimon. “But now, if just these ones are under threat… Perhaps we do.”

That sounded even worse to Kyle. If the new portals collapsed on their own, what would happen to those guards? Finally he couldn’t keep silent any longer. “But the portals—“

Bakumon’s head jerked in his direction, and she floated over to whisper in his ear. “Please don’t say anything. Yamaki wants to keep the infections secret.”

“But why?” Kyle whispered back, watching the nearest Orochimon head out of the corner of his eye. Fortunately, the big digimon wasn’t paying as much attention to him as the others.

“We should talk later,” Bakumon replied.

Kyle nodded numbly, and turned his attention back to the negotiations. Yamaki was asking about how they could ensure safe passage through the guarded portals.

“You will have to be escorted,” said Orochimon. “We think it would be ideal if we remained in more direct contact in any case.”

Josh finally spoke up. “Escorted by who?” he asked, giving Megadramon a wary look.

The air shimmered between the two groups, and a purple vulpine form appeared. “Might I offer my skills?”

Several folks shouted at once. There were squeaks of surprise from the other small digimon, and questioning sounds from Kyle’s friends. But Kyle and Coyomon called out a name, nearly in unison. “Youkomon!” Coyomon even bounded up to the other digimon, wagging his tail.

The Defenders were not as pleased. Megadramon snarled, and Zudomon took a step forward. “You. Traitor.”

Orochimon was a bit more moderate. “Ah. The prodigal scout. And why would I trust you with these humans, after all you did?”

Youkomon bent their forelegs in a bow. “Because, Orochimon-sama, was I not correct in my statements? These humans did not cause the collapses, and they are likewise working to discover who did.”

“You lied to us, then escaped and warned them about our movements!” roared Megadramon.

“I only aided them to the extent that they could keep aiding us in our common goal. And since then I have been watching them, to ensure that my impression was correct. I have plenty of information about what they’ve been doing the last few days, much better than what your direct methods have achieved.”

Bryan nudged Kyle. “Uh… are they on our side or not?”

Kyle gave a tense shrug. He wasn’t sure himself, but the Defenders at least seemed to be calmer now.

“Some of your actions are not excusable,” Orochimon said. “But from our history, I know you have our world’s best interests at heart.” All of his heads lifted and turned toward Yamaki and the four sets of partners. “Is this acceptable to you?”

Kyle suddenly felt everyone’s eyes on him.

“Is this Youkomon someone we can work with?” Yamaki asked.

“I…” Kyle’s head spun. Suddenly the responsibility was on him. “I… think so?” He looked at his partner. “Coyomon?”

“Yes!” Coyomon nosed Youkomon’s side. “I trust Youkomon!”

Kyle tried to work out if he did too. Youkomon had lied to the Defenders, but Kyle understood why. And Yamaki was apparently just as inclined to mislead Orochimon, for reasons that Kyle still wasn’t clear about. But for all of Youkomon’s changing appearance and secretive nature, they seemed to be an ally. And this felt like a time when they needed all the allies they could get.

“Yes,” he said finally. “I think Youkomon would be a good escort for us.”

“Very well then,” said Yamaki. “Let’s work out the specifics of this escort arrangement.”

Yamaki, Youkomon, and the Defenders grouped together for a detailed discussion a little ways away. Kyle sat down heavily and pulled Coyomon close. Josh and Betamon came over to join in the physical contact.

After his heart stopped pounding so hard, Kyle looked up toward the others. “June? Bakumon?” he called out softly. “What just… happened? With… he… they’re not attacks, the portals are infected and…”

“Yamaki is worried about causing a panic,” said Bakumon. “I think he is also concerned that the Defenders will believe we don’t have things under control.”

“But we don’t have things under control!” said Coyomon, and Kyle nodded in frantic agreement.

“Well, no,” said June. “But we will, right? We just need a little time. Ms. Ootori is working on a solution right now. She’ll be able to patch the portals and then we can go back to hunting for the people doing this.”

“Yeah, it makes sense,” said Betamon.

“That’s just how Yamaki is,” Josh agreed. “Like I said, he likes to keep things under control.” He squeezed Kyle’s shoulder. “We got this, you know we’ve got this.”

“I guess…” Kyle nodded. “I’m still lousy at keeping secrets, though. And what if Youkomon finds out?”

“Assuming they don’t already know,” said Hielomon. “They did say they’ve been following us, and apparently they can turn invisible? They could’ve heard the whole conversation about the portal scans.”

“Yes, I did.”

Kyle jumped. Youkomon was right there, standing in their slim human form, hands clasped behind their back. “Hey! What? Don’t do that! How long have you been there?”

“My apologies. Only a few moments. Your conversation seemed important, but that was a part that I could provide input on.” Youkomon nodded. “I did see what happened to the gates, and I agree with not telling the Defenders. They have a tendency to… overreact, lately. I’m honestly surprised the negotiations today went so well.”

Kyle looked up at the group of Defenders. The three huge forms and one tiny Hawkmon were moving away, back across the fields of colorful flowers. Yamaki was scribbling notes on a small device as he walked to rejoin the rest of them.

“Overreact… Like sending a swarm of Chrysalimon after us?” Hielomon said sourly. Bryan nodded emphatically alongside him.

“That and more,” said Youkomon. “Many of your friends across the world have faced similar threats. I have been watching all I can.”

“Watching, and not helping,” Bakumon said flatly.

“You all performed admirably, and I am not a fighter,” said Youkomon. “And it allowed me to get back in the Defenders’ good graces, as well as your own. It seems to have worked out well all around.”

“I guess,” said Bryan, and Kyle nodded just slightly.

Yamaki snapped his lighter shut, and spoke into the silence. “Is there anything else, then? If not, let’s get moving. We have quite a few things to work on.”

Chapter Text

“Based on all our metrics, the new space seems to be fully stable and benign. No sign of any lingering boundary effects.”

“That’s a relief. And the portal exploits?”

“Those are holding, but chances are that it’ll be days before we see any effects there.”

“Right. Will that scale? How many realms are in the digital world? Is our release timeline at risk?”

“Well, the number of exploited gates will grow exponentially. And of course the exploit itself still needs some iteration. One big blank space isn’t really what we’re looking for, after all.”

“Ha! Definitely not. No one would be interested in that. How’s the progress from the digiforming team?”

“Slow but steady. They have basic landscape features working in a sandbox environment. Once they have something worth trying live, we’ll update one of the exploited gates and test it out.”

“Makes sense. Speaking of updates, though… Mitsuo Yamaki and his partner travelled to the US yesterday. What are the chances Nodens will interfere?”

“Ah. That’s definitely something to keep an eye on. It’s possible they won’t detect the exploit, but if they do, it’s likely they’ll be able to patch it.”

“I don’t like that. What’s our contingency plan?”

“There are several other exploitable features of the portal code. It’s a security nightmare, really. But I guess that’s not surprising since it arose more by evolution than by intention.”

“Mmmm, but I suppose they could patch those too, if they wanted to. No, no, relax, this isn’t your responsibility. It’s mine. I’d like to get Mitsuo on board with our plan, if possible. I wish the initial runs hadn’t been so messy. He hates messy.”

“But you think he’d feel differently if the alterations start working as intended?”

“I hope so. Actually… there’s a few other things I can think of that would help with that. Did you work out what happened to the inhabitants of the most recent test site?”

“We didn’t detect any stray data, so we believe that they all evacuated successfully. An upside to the kids being there when the test started, I guess.”

“They’re good at what they do, and getting better. Another reason I’d like to get them on board. I’d rather not decimate the population. Those critters are…”

“Marketable?”

“That too. But also charming. I hated to see what happened with the… what did you call them? Aggressive boundary effects?”

“Yes, we’re still working on that. I suspect we’ll still see some of that when the portal exploits go off, though they might behave a bit differently. We’ll keep working the problem though.”

“Well, the kids have been good at cleaning up our messes so far. Honestly, we should look into hiring them.”

“You really think they’d go for that? They seem very invested in that world.”

“Exactly. And they just lost their home there. Our project can help them create a new one, a better one. At some point I’m sure they’ll realize that we’re offering them exactly what they want.”

Chapter Text

“Partner-Kyle, where are you goooing?”

Kyle skidded to a stop in the middle of the kitchen, and looked back at his partner. “Huh? I’m not going anywhere.” He sighed softly. “There’s nowhere to go.”

“So why’re we in the food room? Is it snack time again? We just ate!”

Kyle looked around. Coyomon had a point. He’d been pacing, wandering random rooms in the house for… how long? “Oh. Sorry bud. I guess I’m just restless. Really restless.”

Coyomon nuzzled his hand. “Rest… less? Like can’t rest? Yeah! You’re all… like when someone’s gonna attack? But no one’s here…” The digimon’s ear flicked. “Is it the portals?”

Kyle strode back to the living room and flopped onto the couch. “Yeah. It’s… everything. Yamaki says they’re making progress, but who knows what that means, and June’s trying to convince the Defenders to start evacuations and I definitely shouldn’t help with that until it’s less talky, and…”

He felt a soothing weight on his lap, and let out the last of his breath in a sigh. Coyomon had crawled up on his lap as he talked. The digimon’s ears were still perked even as he tried to give Kyle the contact and pressure that would calm him down.

“Thanks, Coyomon. It’s just that everyone’s doing their best, and apparently my best right now is sitting at home trying not to worry, and I’m very bad at it.”

“Maybe we don’t have to sit at home?”

“Oh? Do you want to go somewhere?”

“I’m not the one wandering all around the house, Partner-Kyle.” Coyomon peered up at him with a grin. “You said restless! So stop resting!”

The observation cut through Kyle’s haze of anxiety, and almost made him giggle. “Yeah, but where? Digital world would be… too much right now, and…” He looked out the window. “Sunday afternoon is not really an exciting time.”

“Boyfriend-Josh and Betamon!” Coyomon blurted the names out as if he’d been waiting to say them all day. “They feel the same way!”

Kyle sat up straighter. “You think so?” There was a flutter of excitement in his chest. “I figured he’d be helping in the digital world too.”

Coyomon shook his head rapidly. “Betamon says the Defenders realllly don’t like them so they figured they should be home too.”

“When were you talking to Betamon?”

“Digi-chat!”

Kyle giggled. “Are you guys conspiring against us?”

“Noooo! I don’t even know what that is! We’re just talking about what to do about you and Josh?”

The giggle turned into a full laugh. Just the idea of seeing Josh had started to brighten his spirits. “Well, okay. Let’s do it!” Kyle grabbed his digivice, and saw a screen full of the tail end of a conversation between Betamon and Coyomon. “Definitely conspiring,” he said with a grin, and then typed out a message of his own.

Kyle&Coyomon: hey today kinda sucks. you ok for some company?

His leg bounced as he waited for a response, until his restlessness reappeared in full-force, and he nudged Coyomon gently off his lap.

“We going?” Coyomon asked.

“I hope—“ His digivice beeped. “Finally!”

“I wanna chat too!” Coyomon hopped inside the digivice just as Kyle raised it to read.

Josh&Betamon: that sounds great tbh. coming 2 junes house?

Betamon&Josh: Our house now too!!!

Kyle&Coyomon: yeah omw. you know b and coyo are conspiring against us?

With that, Kyle channeled all his restlessness into preparing to go, a flurry of notifying parents, grabbing snacks, and dressing up for the chilly November air. His digivice chimed a few more times as he did, and he only stopped to read once he was in the driveway ready to go.

Betamon&Josh: YEAH we are and you need it!

Josh&Betamon: yah thaey do that. sneaky little guys

Coyomon&Kyle: paaartner-kyyyle, what is conspiring???

Kyle grinned big and tapped the digivice. “I’ll explain on the way, bud. Time to come on out so we can run!”

The trip to the city was even quicker than usual, since Kyle and Aullidomon weren’t really worrying about avoiding roads anymore. They spent most of the run discussing the meaning of ‘conspiring’, when it was good, and when it wasn’t. It took Kyle a bit to realize the digimon had taken his joke pretty seriously, a situation that he could definitely relate to himself. Kyle was reassuring though, and by the time they got to the city, his partner had totally embraced the idea of being a relationship conspirator, which made Kyle only a little nervous.

It was only after Kyle had knocked on the door that he realized they hadn’t made any plans other than to meet up at the house. He mentally scrambled to work out what he should do, but when Josh answered the door, all he managed was a nervous wave, as Coyomon dashed past and started chattering with Betamon.

Before saying anything, Josh just smiled big and hugged him. Kyle leaned into the hug as Josh spoke. “Really glad you could come. No fun being sidelined, huh?”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah.” He paused. “What did you wanna do?”

Josh grinned. “You were the one who wanted to come over! Did you have anything in mind?”

“Oh… uh… No?” Kyle looked past Josh to see the digimon cavorting in the room beyond. “I mean it was Coyo’s idea, and I’m new at this, so…”

“This? What kind of ‘this’?”

That brought Kyle up short. It’s not like he’d never gone to a friend’s house before, but this felt different. After all, Josh wasn’t just a friend. “Uh…”

Josh was still grinning. “Is this a date?”

“Do you… want it to be?”

Two voices came from the room beyond. “Yes!”

Josh and Kyle both laughed at that. “Hey,” said Josh. “I mean it’s not even a first date, exactly. The ice cream was great, and there was the mall before that…”

“Yeah, but now we…” Kyle reached for the words. Those times had felt very different.

“…aren’t trying to rescue each other from some super-stressful situation?”

It all clicked into place. “Right. That. I mean, aside from everything that’s still going on…”

Josh nodded. “We’re Digimon Tamers. There will probably always be something going on. But for now, while others are handling things—I hope—let’s try the date thing. Maybe something simple like dinner and a movie?”

Over Josh’s shoulder, Kyle could see Betamon and Coyomon still watching expectantly. “Uh… Okay?” Kyle grinned shyly as the digimon rejoiced. “I’ve never actually done that before. I mean, I’ve had dinner and been to movies but—“

“Hey. Me neither. So we’ll learn it together, yeah?”

Kyle nodded again, the anxious jittering in his chest coalescing into something more simply excited. “…Yeah.”

Finding a movie turned out to be the trickiest part. There was nothing that looked good at the big movie theaters, but fortunately one of the small artsy downtown ones was playing an anime movie that Josh was excited about. Kyle hadn’t seen the series that led up to it, but Josh seemed very sure that Kyle would still enjoy it.

But theater downtown meant eating downtown, and that meant a walk through streets that were pretty busy even on a Sunday evening.

“So in the last episode he ends up in Germany in the 20’s, so I think the movie is about—“ Josh’s anime recap was interrupted by a curious shout from across the street.

A man was looking at them and waving. “Hey, you’re the digimon kids, right?”

“Yeah, and their digimon!” Betamon shouted back.

“Cool!” the man said. “Keep it up!” He walked past, and Kyle let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Wow, that’s three times in two blocks,” he said, breath a bit shaky.

Josh nodded. “Plus the four before dinner, and two during… I’m almost used to it?”

“Sorrryyyy,” said Coyomon.

Kyle shook his head. “You’re not doing anything wrong, bud. Guess people are just gonna react like that for a while.” By now he had at least noticed that most people didn’t actually want to talk, they just wanted to point them out. He was trying to keep in mind that he didn’t have to mentally prepare for a whole social interaction each time.

“And I’m gonna react right back!” said Betamon cheerfully.

Josh chuckled. “Well, y’know you’re gonna have to be quiet in the theater, right?”

“Aaactually,” said Betamon. “What if me and Coyomon went somewhere else while you’re in the theater?”

“Rrrr?” Coyomon tilted his head. “Leave Partner-Kyle?”

Betamon bounced up and down as he nodded. “There’s probably more exciting stuff than being in a dark room watching pictures. We’re right by a river! I wanna explore with you!” The round little digimon nudged Coyomon’s side affectionately with his snout.

“Ooooh…” Coyomon nodded, then looked up at his partner. “Okay, Partner-Kyle?”

This seemed like it might be another part of the conspiracy, but it did also seem like it’d make things simpler. Kyle had been wondering how it would go getting the digimon into the theater. Would they have to pay for extra seats? Would they have to have the whole pet conversation again? And Betamon genuinely seemed to want to spend time with Coyomon, which was pretty charming too. “Okay with me! What do you think?” he asked Josh.

Josh grinned. “I’m good with that. We can always find you with our digivices. Just don’t wander too far, okay?”

“Okay!” said Coyomon and Betamon together. Coyomon nuzzled Kyle’s leg, and the two hopped off the sidewalk and down the slope of the small riverside park.

“Are they giving us some time alone, or are we giving them some time alone?” Josh asked, as he watched them go.

Kyle felt a touch on his hand, and realized Josh was reaching for it. He smiled and clasped Josh’s hand back. “Both, I guess? I hope they don’t get in trouble…”

“Me too,” said Josh. “But B’s pretty good at taking care of himself at least.”

Kyle giggled nervously. “And Coyomon…?”

“…is with Betamon.” Josh grinned. “C’mon, it’s just a couple hours.”

Kyle found himself struggling to follow the movie at first, even with Josh’s prior explanations and occasional whispered explanations from the seat next to him. After it got going though, he started getting drawn in by fast action and sweeping drama. Near the end, one fight scene started feeling particularly intense, both emotionally and sensorily. He reached out in the dark for Josh’s hand, and as soon as he brushed the other boy’s arm, he felt a firm fond grip. He squeezed back and they pressed close. By the time the movie was over, the arm-rest had been folded up an they were fully leaning on each other, cuddling as well as theatre seats would allow.

“That was so good!” Kyle enthused as the credits rolled. “I definitely want to see the series now!”

Josh grinned as he stood, getting ready to leave. His hand was still holding Kyle’s “Hey, now we have something to watch instead of just Digimon!”

Kyle giggled, though he felt a touch of nervousness. “Are you still liking the Digimon show okay?”

“Variety is good too,” said Josh. “Plus, sometimes it is nice to think about something a bit more removed from our lives?”

“I guess so…” Kyle was quiet for a moment as they walked. The air was cold and the streets were much emptier now as the weekend drew to a close. “But also it’s kinda reassuring sometimes? Even if it’s not exactly accurate, it’s still kinda… relatable? Or maybe it’s just nice because it’s familiar. I mean I’ve watched it all through like five times.”

Josh wrapped his arm around Kyle. “Well, we’re not gonna stop. I still like it, and any sort of spending time with you feels good.”

“Yeah it does…” Kyle smiled and squeezed his boyfriend’s hand. “Did this work as… y’know… a date?” That nervousness was back, about a whole different topic now. If this was a date, was there more he should do? Kissing was a thing, right? They’d hugged and held hands… Kissing was next, right?

He almost jumped as he felt Josh’s hand on his cheek. “Worked good for me,” the other boy said. “But… do you want to…?” Kyle suddenly noticed how close Josh’s face was to his.

Kyle’s eyes widened. “I mean… I never…”

“Me neither, remember? So we’re learning together.” Josh leaned close and brushed his lips against Kyle’s. It was quick, and then gone, leaving Kyle’s lips feeling tingly and cold. Kyle felt his face grow warm, felt that anxiousness in his belly transform into excitement. Josh was smiling at him. “Okay?”

Kyle nodded.

“More?”

Kyle nodded again.

Josh leaned in again and pressed more firmly. The sensation was almost too intense at first, and Kyle squirmed to find a position where his lips weren’t just mashed between Josh and his own teeth. Fortunately, Josh let up a bit, and soon it was just lovely warm pressure, with arms wrapped around holding him close. There was still a bit of worry: How long was it supposed to go? What was too long? What about tongues? But with Josh there, it was easy to just lose himself in the feeling… until he heard the other voices.

First there was an excited yipping cry that someone else might mistake for a coyote, but the squeaky voice that followed it was unmistakeable. “They did it!”

Betamon and Coyomon bounded across the street to their partners. “Yaaaay! Good job, Partner-Kyle! Good job, Boyfriend-Josh!”

Kyle coughed softly, and Josh was laughing as he pulled away. “We have an audience.”

“Of conspirators,” Kyle said, nodding and grinning at the digimon. “Did you two have a good time?”

“Maybe even better than yours!” said Betamon, bouncing.

“Yeah!” Coyomon’s tail was wagging as fast as it ever had. “We had an adventure!”

“Uh oh,” said Josh.

“I guess you could call it that, yeah!” Betamon said. “But can you come see? I think you could help.”

“Uh oh,” said Kyle, a bit more strained.

“Nothing bad, Partner-Kyle! We just met some new friends!”

Betamon nodded. “They’re just down the street and we probably shouldn’t keep them waiting. Is it okay if we talk to them tonight?”

Josh squeezed Kyle’s hand. “I think we have time for that, right Kyle?”

Kyle nodded. Josh was on one side of him, Coyomon was on the other. The night was perfect, even if school and digimon uncertainty loomed tomorrow. “For you guys? Always.”

Chapter Text

Coyomon kept looking over his shoulder, even as he followed Betamon down to the river. “We’re gonna be okay without Partner-Kyle?”

“Yeah!” Betamon said, then slowed his pace a bit. “You’ve really never been away from him much, huh?”

“I’ve been in my digivice, and he’s not in there!” Coyomon paused. “But usually he’s carrying it. Orrrr sometimes he’s in another room and I stay in his room! Like the little room with the water, he says I don’t need to be in there.”

Betamon giggled softly. “I guess I forgot how new you are. I was in the digital world for a while before I met Josh, but I guess you were born forKyle, yeah?”

Coyomon nodded. “Partner-Kyle is the first thing I ever knew about,” he said, sounding very proud.

Betamon bobbed up and down in a nod as he scrambled down the rocks to the meager stream that ran at the bottom of the ravine. “Wow, they call this a river?” he asked himself, before looking back up at Coyomon. “I think I know a little bit about how that feels. I hatched in a nursery and there were digimon who took care of me there, but when I felt that pull—“

Coyomon splashed into the water next to him. “Nursery? Digimon took care of you? How long were you small? What did you do without a partner? Sounds so weird!”

Betamon grinned and bumped the other digimon with his snout. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you! I was always sorta an explorer, I was one of the first ones who wandered out of the nursery. I didn’t want to play games with the other hatchlings, I wanted to see what was out there. I almost got eaten a lot but I got really good with my electricity! But it always sorta felt like I was looking for something. Or, it turns out, someone.”

“Boyfriend-Josh!”

Betamon laughed. “Well, yeah! But I didn’t know it then. There was one day when all of a sudden I felt this tug inside me, like the thing I was looking for was right nearby. And when I looked around, I saw the gate and knew what I wanted was on the other side.”

Coyomon nodded rapidly, shaking water droplets off his ears. “And it was Boyfriend-Josh!”

“Well, first it was a comfy little stream, kinda like this one, but then I saw him and my digivice and everything made sense. This was someone who I could be friends with, and explore with, and we’d be awesome together!” Betamon smiled. “I guess I basically didn’t leave him at all for the first few months, either.”

“Yeah! Sounds like with Partner-Kyle too! He’s really important to me and I want to protect him and do everything with him! That’s what being partners is!”

“You’re right, but it’s more than that too. Remember how you’re a partner, and not a pet?” Betamon showed a toothy grin. “I think I’ve heard you say that a lot.”

“Yeah! Not a pet!”

“Right. Partners means you support each other, like equally. It means you can be your own person too, when you want. After a while with just Josh, I wanted to explore again. Not because I don’t want to be with him, but because there’s lots of stuff I want!”

“Like walking by the river?”

“Like exploring new places and seeing new fun things. Like that up there!” Betamon nodded upriver, where some large colorful shapes stood on the bank. “Wanna go see what it is?”

“Yeah!” Coyomon bounded off ahead again, talking as he went. “Sometimes when I’m running with Partner-Kyle I get really curious what’s around us too. Like there’s mountains and buildings and all kinds of stuff.”

“You should tell Kyle about that sometime, then. Especially now that no one’s so worried about other people seeing us now. Such a relief. It was hiding all the time at Josh’s old house. Hiding lots of things. It was really hard.”

Coyomon stopped and sprinted back to give Betamon a gentle nuzzle, then nodded. “I’m glad you can do more now!” He didn’t stay long though, looking back toward the brightly-colored structure. “Oooh! It’s… things!”

“Playground equipment?” said Betamon, surveying the structures. They did have holes and what could be a slide. “I think? Or just sculptures?”

“Playing is good!” Coyomon ran toward them again, until an unexpected voice made him skid to a stop.

“Hey! Are you digimon?”

A girl, a few years younger than Kyle, was standing at the edge of the park.

Coyomon changed direction to approach the girl. “Yesss!”

Betamon hurried to catch up again. “Yeah, we are!” He paused, and looked up and down the street. It was past dark now, and there was no obvious family around. “Are you okay? Are you lost?”

“I’m fine!” Her voice was firm, and she punctuated the statement with a nod. “I live right across the street. My name’s Rosa. I’ve been looking for you! Can you be my partner?”

Coyomon had stopped a few paces away. “For us? We just got here!”

Rosa shook her head. “Are you sure?” She took a step closer, taking a closer look at both of them. “Last night and the night before I heard weird sounds by the river, and last night I saw big eyes! Digimon eyes!” She frowned then. “But maybe they were a different color?”

Betamon stiffened. “Is there another digimon here?” He started to look around. “Coyomon, do you smell anything?”

Coyomon raised his nose. “Maaaybe?” He turned back toward some of the deeper brush near the river.

Betamon still watched Rosa closely. “If you see another digimon here, you should be careful. They can be dangerous!”

The girl shook her head again. “No, they’re friends! I saw about digimon partners on TV! And I really need a digimon partner, my mom is never home and people at school are mean and please? I don’t know how to make friends and digimon look like friends.”

Betamon lowered his head. “Not all digimon have partners, though. And we already have partners. But… maybe we can help some other way?”

“Rrrrr, I definitely smell something over here, Betamon!” Coyomon was staring at a big juniper bush, hackles raised. Just then, there was a strange shuddery sound from the bush. “I hear something too!”

“Stay back!” Betamon said to Rosa, before skittering over closer to Coyomon. The sound came again. It definitely wasn’t just the branches shaking. There was a slithering sound, and then a faint chitter as well. “Who’s there?”

The chittering grew louder, then a creaky voice came from the bush. “No go back! Please!” Eerie green eyes glowed in the shadows.

Betamon reared up, and electricity started to gather around his claws. “I know those eyes! It’s a Keramon!”

Coyomon was right next to him, his fur starting to spark too. “Time to fight?”

“It must be from the ones that attacked Bryan!”

“Nooooo!” The voice wailed. “Not them anymore! Leave now!”

“You’re scaring her!” Rosa’s voice came from right behind the digimon. “Why’re you being so mean?”

“So mean!” The Keramon echoed her voice. “No fight! Please!”

Coyomon looked uncertain now, and Betamon gave those too-big green eyes a long look, then eased down himself. “No fighting? No tricks, okay?”

“No trick! No fight! No go back to fighting!”

“See, I knew there was a digimon here,” said Rosa. “Will you be my partner?”

“Please stay back,” said Betamon. “We don’t know what’s going on. Coyomon, can you protect here? I’ll talk more.”

Rosa took a single step back, but stayed watching the bush, fascinated. Coyomon went to her side, hackles still up, eyes still wary.

Betamon inched closer to the bush. “Why don’t you come out where we can see you?” he asked, voice tight.

With another slithering sound, the Keramon emerged, that big head first, followed by the spindly arms and the stream of tentacles that made up the body. Betamon looked back at Rosa. The girl was still just watching, fascinated.

“You said… you don’t want to go back to fighting?” Betamon asked. “So you were with the ones who attacked us the other day.”

“No!” The Keramon screeched, then the big head lowered. “…Yes. But no!”

“What’s that mean?” Coyomon asked.

The Keramon was frantic. “Hatched, close with Tsumemon family! All close all together! They said go! Said to grow and fight! Didn’t want to! Wanted to stay close!”

Betamon paced back and forth slowly between the Keramon and the others, examining and defending at the same time. “Hielomon said most of them evolved really fast. Tsumemmon’s line can do that. I thought they were bornto do that.” He looked up at the Keramon. “You don’t want to?”

“No, no no! Chrysalimon just fight! Infermon just fight! No talk, no friends, just fight! So many Tsumemon friends, all gone now. No Keramon friends.” The screeching edge of the voice was gone now. The digimon sounded miserable.

“I’ll be your friend!” Rosa waved her hand, and those strange green eyes widened as if the Keramon had just now noticed that the girl was there. Betamon and Coyomon both readied themselves as the Keramon turned toward her.

“Human friend?” The Keramon sounded confused at first. “But… Humans bad, they said? They said fight, but don’t want to fight. So hid from humans! But then watched, and humans weren’t bad.”

Rosa shook her head. “I’m not bad! I want a digimon friend! A partner! You look so cool, and I bet no one at school would be mean to me if you were around!”

Betamon frowned. “I’m not sure about this…”

Coyomon was focussed on the Keramon now too. “But they sounded so sad, and lonely! And… like you! Wanted to explore, weren’t like the other hatchlings? Maybe they’re really looking for a partner too!”

The Keramon nodded at that. “Lonely, but… can’t go back! New friends?”

“Yeah!” agreed Coyomon and Rosa, nearly in unison.

“Maybe…” Betamon gave the Keramon another long look. “I guess if you were going to evolve or attack, you would’ve done it by now. But I dunno if you can just suddenly be partners? You don’t have a digivice, and…” He trailed off. “It just seems… different.”

“You’re different!” said Coyomon. “I’m different! They can be different too!” His tail wagged. “We could let them try?”

Keramon and Rosa were both looking hopefully at Betamon now. “Well… Okay!” Betamon and Coyomon both stepped to the side, and kept watch as the girl and digimon timidly approached each other.

“My name’s Rosa!” She held a hand out, unafraid of the gangly digimon’s strange appearance. “Can you be my friend?”

“Keramon! Keramon is… me!” The digimon reached back, clasping the smaller hand with surprising gentleness. “Friend!”

A scintillating shower of pixels suddenly flowed out from where the two touched, and splashed to the ground like water. As the four of them watched, it settled into a familiar oblong form, a digivice colored lavender and gold to match Keramon.

“Woooow!” said Coyomon.

“Oh…” said Betamon.

“What’s that?” asked Rosa and Keramon, exactly at the same time.

“That shows you’re partners!” Coyomon said. “Rosa can carry it around and talk to Keramon and Keramon can ride inside! And you can talk to other people too! There’s a lot to learn.”

Betamon nodded. “A lot for me to learn too! I did not know that could happen.”

Rosa had picked up the digivice, and was already fidgeting with the screen. “How does it work?” she asked.

“Partner-Kyle can help!” Coyomon said. “Should we get them?”

“We should definitely tell someone,” said Betamon. “I think the movie is out soon. Let’s go find them. Rosa and Keramon, can you stay here for a few minutes?”

“Yes! Stay with Rosa!”

“Uh huh, we’ll be right here. Keramon, do you want to play on the monkey bars? You’d be really good!” Betamon couldn’t help smiling at that. The more the two interacted, the less strange it seemed.

Leave=ing the two to play, Betamon and Coyomon trotted back down the sidewalk toward the theater.

“Do you think Partner-Kyle and Boyfriend-Josh had a good time too?” Coyomon asked.

“I’m pretty sure they did. But did you have a good time too?”

“Yeah! We helped! Helping them felt as good as helping the date!”

Betamon giggled. “Yeah. You think they’re doing good?”

“I hope so! Partner-Kyle is excited around Boyfriend-Josh a lot but it’s like he doesn’t know what to do…”

Betamon nodded. “And that’s why we did this! To experience things by ourselves, and let them do the same thing.” Then he saw two familiar figures in the glow of the streetlight on the opposite sidewalk. They were standing much closer together than they usually did. Betamon nudged Coyomon and lowered his voice. “There they are, let’s see how they’re doing.”

Both digimon watched as the boys leaned in for a quick kiss, paused, and then a longer one.

Coyomon howled in joy, and Betamon bounced up and down. “They did it!”

Both digimon ran across the street to rejoin their very different partners, ready to celebrate with them, then lead them off to welcome another pair of different partners.

Chapter Text

Chapter 63 - School Night

Kyle let Josh take the lead in talking to Rosa, and Josh was quite happy to do it. It wasn’t hard to imagine that Josh felt good finding a way to be helpful again, and Kyle himself felt happy to see another kid making a new digimon friend… even if he found that digimon pretty unsettling.

Josh went through tips on how to use the digivice, and the importance of keeping a digimon well-fed, and Kyle did his best to focus on the conversation, but other thoughts started creeping in. All this wonderful time spent with Josh had kept his worries and uncertainties at bay, but now the night was drawing to a close, and was he just supposed to go to bed and then go to school tomorrow like nothing was wrong?

And then, a few paces away, the conversation turned. “Can we go to the digital world?” asked Rosa, full of excitement and curiosity.

Kyle felt a light jolt in his stomach at the thought of the digital world, and Josh answered cagily. “Well… The digital world isn’t exactly a safe place…”

“But I have Keramon now! She can protect me!”

Keramon’s big head nodded rapidly. “Yes! Protect!”

Kyle squeezed Coyomon to himself. Before, the digital world was a refuge; now warning people away did indeed seem like the best thing to do. Especially considering the nearest gate led to a blank space that was still at risk of expanding through the rest of the realms, obliterating—Kyle felt Coyomon’s head pressing against him, and he took a shaky breath as he tried to draw his thoughts back together.

Josh was still talking to Rosa. “…safer later, but for now, if you want to go, send a message to one of us. Remember the digi-chat thing I showed you?”

“Okay! Can we go now?”

Betamon giggled at that. “Isn’t it kinda late for a kid your age? It’s a school night!”

“Awwww, okaaaay. I guess mom will be home soon, and she might be mad…” Rosa turned to her partner. “Come on, I can show you my room!” She waved to the others. “Thank you digimons and trainers! See you soon! Bye!” Her gangly partner mirrored the motion and the last word as they wandered off down the road.

Kyle watched her go, heading toward a house just off the river. Soon Josh and Betamon came to stand nearby, and Kyle turned to him. “So like… she has a digivice, but no gate?” Maybe it was good that there wasn’t yet another gate in the city, considering everything.

Josh nodded, talking as they started to head back toward home. “I think it used to happen that way more. I know some of the kids in Japan got their digivices just from meeting random digimon.”

Coyomon chimed in then. “Good they found each other! They both needed someone…”

Kyle nodded, then everyone walked in silence for a few minutes… until both Kyle’s and Josh’s digivices chirped at the same time.

Kyle tensed up, afraid it was some other dire news, but Josh squeezed his shoulder and eased his fears after reading the message. “It’s just June. She and Youkomon are back. Sounds like they had a good meeting with the Defenders.” He flipped his digivice shut. “Want to meet up with them?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” said Kyle, grateful for another distraction, especially one that came with a bit of good news. He patted his partner. “Coyomon, you know what to do!”

It was a swift ride on Aullidomon back to June and Josh’s house. When they arrived, everyone else was in the living room already; June and Bakumon back from the digital world, Bryan and Hielomon, free of Bryan’s father, and Youkomon in their human disguise.

“Did you four have a nice time?” Bakumon asked as they entered . The rest of the folks in the room turned to look, waiting for an answer. Kyle felt his face getting warm, and out of the corner of his eye he caught a shy grin on Josh’s face.

“It was great!” said Coyomon. “We met a new digimon tamer, and Partner-Kyle and Boyfriend-Josh—“

“Helped her out and will introduce you all to her on digi-chat tomorrow!” Josh interrupted.

“And we had a good date,” said Kyle, squeezing Josh’s hand. That earned him a thumb-up from Bryan and Hielomon, and a faint squeak from Josh, but after a moment, Josh nodded slightly too.

Betamon stepped up in the short silence that followed. “And it sounded like you had some good news?”

“Ah, yes!” said June. “We talked to the Defenders and several digimon villages in the realms bordering the… blank space. Lots of the digimon in those realms would like to evacuate, and the Defenders…”

“They won’t get in the way, at least,” said Bakumon. “But their idea of ‘helping’ is still just posting sentries at all the portals.”

“But the Defenders have agreed to let digimon move freely,” said Youkomon. “However, humans must still be escorted by the likes of me. Therefore, we are creating some plans for relocating the digimon. with minimal human crossovers.” They gestured to the papers. Kyle could see that they were filled with circles and lines and notes, a rough map of the connected portals.

“Great job, everyone,” said Josh. “That looks like a lot of work, though. Gonna keep us busy.”

June nodded. “Well, we’ve already started, and we’ve got some of the other kids in on it too. Wish we could’ve done more, but…” Her words were broken off by a yawn.

Bakumon finished for her. “But we had a long day, and it’s late, on a school night.”

Kyle watched June’s yawn spread around the room. Hielomon’s and Betamon’s were both a bit intimidating with toothy jaws stretched wide. He stifled his own. “I guess I should get home too, yeah…”

“We’ll share the full plan tomorrow at school,” said June. “Josh, can you help me finish up? I want to make sure I didn’t forget anyone.”

“Sure,” Josh said slowly. “Can I have a sec, first, though?” He turned to Kyle. “I guess… um… we should say goodnight?”

It took Kyle a moment to realize that everyone else in the room was looking at him too. Right. This was still a date, and saying goodnight after a date was a big deal. It certainly seemed to be a big deal given everyone’s attention on them. “Um. Sure?” He tried to find an eyeline without someone there. He looked down, but there was Coyomon, wagging expectantly. Finally he looked up to the ceiling. “Outside?” he asked, and only then realized that might just draw the attention more.

“I was hoping for in the bedroom,” he heard Hielomon whisper to Bryan.

Josh cleared his throat. “Outside is good.” He took Kyle’s hand again and they crossed the living room.

Coyomon started to follow him, only to be diverted by a bump from Betamon. “They should get a few minutes.”

Kyle stepped out into the chilly night air. Josh shifted closer to him as he stepped out too, letting out a heavy sigh. “I guess it’s nice to have everyone so… invested?”

“Everyone’s connected, everyone’s looking out for each other,” Kyle mused. “It’s nice, when it’s not… kind of a lot.” He squeezed Josh’s hand.

“Everything’s kind of a lot right now,” Josh agreed. “Good and bad and… a lot.”

Unbidden, Kyle’s thoughts turned back to the digital world, and the new tamer they’d met tonight.

“You really going to show Rosa around the digital world?”

Josh was quiet for a moment before answering. “I think there’s still good places to see there.”

It was a nice thought, but the anxiety engine in Kyle’s head was picking up speed. While it lasts was the thought that flashed across his mind.

It must have showed on his face, because Josh drew him closer, squeezing hand and shoulder. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. Nodens is working on fixing things. And it sounds like we have a good plan in the digital world, for now.”

“Yeah, I guess, I know, it just all feels kinda different now,” Kyle said. “I just want… maybe we need to just get back there, do something useful.”

“Me too,” said Josh. They were both quiet for a moment, then Josh spoke again. “I really miss File Town.”

“Yeah…” Kyle sighed, thoughts of the few happy times he’d had there floating through his brain. How close it had been to his home, how everyone had built it up from nothing. Then, something hit him. “Wait. Can’t we… fix it now?”

“Huh?” Josh looked confused. “Fix it?”

“Yeah!” The thoughts tumbled out of his mouth as fast as they formed in his mind. “The Defenders aren’t hunting us, and if we start from the gate by my house, we don’t even need Youkomon with us because we won’t go through any realm portals!” Somewhere in the back of his mind, the anxiety about the collapses still loomed, but with something concrete to focus on, it was a bit easier to ignore.

“I… guess we could, yeah,” said Josh. “I mean, other people might still need escorts to get there, but the Defenders already know where File Town was, anyway. And it’s far away from the portals that need patching, at least by digital world distances.” Josh was smiling now too. “It’d be really nice to have a place again.”

“Yeah it would!” Kyle felt almost giddy, and he grinned at Josh, leaning close to the other boy. The kiss shouldn’t have caught him by surprise, but it still did. He wasn’t even entirely sure which one of them had started it, but he was happy to continue, his arms wrapping around Josh’s, his body leaning full into the other boy’s squeeze. This time, it was easier to not worry, to just ride out the moment of excitement and closeness while it was there.

“When can we start?” was the first question on his lips when they were free again.

“As soon as—“ Josh’s words were cut off by another yawn. “Augh. As soon as I get some rest. And, well, finish with school maybe.”

Kyle sighed and nodded. “School nights are no fun,” he said, but he couldn’t help smiling even as he said it.

Josh was smiling too, and he leaned in for another brief kiss. “Well, I think this one turned out pretty awesome.”

“Definitely better than I thought the day was going to turn out,” Kyle agreed. “See you tomorrow?” he asked.

“First thing. We have a lot of work to do.”

Kyle nodded, still grinning as he went in to collect his partner (and deflect his friends’ inevitable nosiness). It felt great to have something to look forward to again, even if there was a night of sleep and a day of school between here and there.

Chapter Text

It was strange how school felt almost normal to Kyle now, despite all the changes of the past week. The fall of File Town, the public announcements about digimon, Josh in a few of his classes, not to mention the tumult of the long weekend. After all that, wasn’t it bizarre that he still had to show up in classes on Monday? Wasn’t it strange that most folks there acted like everything was perfectly normal, like a whole world wasn’t at risk of falling apart? Even last week’s torrent of questions from his schoolmates about digimon had eased to barely a trickle. That, at least, was a relief.

Really, all Kyle wanted to do was actually get something done in the digital world, whether it was helping relocate digimon, or starting to rebuild File Town, and classes and schoolwork were a poor substitute. At least lunchtime brought the first steps toward that, as June printed off a stack of carefully-written schedules in the computer lab.

“Priya and Edouard are already there now, since it’s evening in Europe,” June explained. “Then it’ll be Kris and Mike from Chicago. After school today, me and Bryan will head over. Then Mike from Sydney and Kimiko.”

“I don’t even know half of these folks,” said Bryan.

“Good chance to meet them then, right?” replied his partner with a smile.

“When do we help, then?” Kyle asked, scanning the sheet in one hand as he idly scratched Coyomon’s ears with the other.

“Tomorrow, with us,” said Bakumon. “It’s sort of like the old schedule your parents had us on. We’re all rotating, two days on and one day off. We should be done in a week, which we hope is enough time before the portals… well.” She trailed off and ducked her head, ears lowered. Kyle wondered if that was in response to the spike of emotion he’d just felt, thinking about that time limit.

“Looks good to me,” said Josh, then he grinned at Kyle. “And see here, I’m on the same schedule with you!”

Betamon nodded, giggling softly. “Funny how that worked out, huh!”

That was a relief too, especially given everything else Kyle wanted to do in the digital world. “So that means we can get started on File Town this afternoon, yeah?”

“Oh whoa, what’re you doing with File Town?” Bryan asked. “Gonna go fix it?”

Josh nodded. “I was gonna announce on Digi-Chat later, but yeah! We figure it’s… safe as it’s gonna be, and folks should have a place again.”

“Daaang, June, can we trade our shift for someone tomorrow?” asked Bryan. “I want to help with that!”

Hielomon chuckled and laid a claw on his partner’s shoulder. “Pretty sure there will still be stuff for us to do there tomorrow. Let’s just keep on the schedule, okay?”

They all spent the rest of lunch hour spreading the news about both the evacuation plan and the File Town efforts, with the kids mostly using the computers and the digimon hopping into digivices to use Digi-Chat. One thing became clear pretty quickly: Bryan was far from the only one who was more excited about the town than the relocations, but everyone seemed excited to at least do something constructive after several days of chaos and playing defense. By the time the bell rang to call them back to class, the room was buzzing with IMs and Digi-Chat, and some Tamers in other locales were already on their way to start work in the town.

“You couldn’t have waited a day or two, to get everyone excited about File Town?” June asked Josh as they all headed for the door. “I’m worried people are going to ignore the relocations now. You know we’re trying to save digimon, right?”

Josh sighed. “I think folks needed something to hope for,” he said, as he looked at Kyle with a faint smile. “I promise, if we see anyone there who’s supposed to be doing something else, I’ll send them your way.”

Bakumon bobbed cheerfully. “That works. Thank you! And we’ll be there to help as soon as we can.” June nodded in agreement at that as well, and everyone parted ways for class.

With thoughts of the digital world on his mind, Kyle’s body practically ran on automatic toward the arroyo gate. He and Coyomon were halfway across the school parking lot when Josh and Betamon caught up to him.

“Can we take the Aullidomon Express to your house to get working on File Town?” Betamon chirped.

“Huh?” It took Kyle another moment to realize he was heading toward the gate that was now just an ominous blank space. “Oh. Right!”

“Aullidomon Express! I like the sound of that, Partner Kyle!” The canine digimon had already grown to rideable size, and he realized then they’d attracted a small audience. Apparently digivolving still caught some attention, even if their rookie partners were old news around school now.

“Me too, bud!” Kyle said, hopping up and then extending a hand to Josh. The other boy settled in behind him, and Aullidomon started to run.

The trip over the scrub desert felt slow and fast at the same time; the anticipation warred with the exhilaration, and by the time they got to Kyle’s house, the wordless decision was made to run right through the gate, without even stopping off for snacks.

The wet of the lake hit Kyle in the face when they crossed over; he’d been too distracted to remember to ignore it. He was laughing as he breached the surface, swimming on his own now with the others close behind. But when he saw the shore of the small pond, he felt a hitch in his breath, and a sequence of images flashed through his mind. A Centarumon chasing them down, then pinned on the ground, then dissolving into pixels.

Kyle shuddered, until he felt Aullidomon’s big nose pressing against him in the side. “Okay, Partner-Kyle?” The digimon’s voice sounded somber, and his ears and tail were lowered as he looked at the same spot. Aullidomon must be thinking something similar. His body language was so much easier to read than a human’s.

“Well… y’know,” Kyle said softly.

“We did our best,” said Aullidomon.

Kyle nodded. “But we’ll do better now. C’mon, bud.”

Betamon and Josh were waiting near the entrance to the jungle path. Betamon nudged Kyle’s ankle, and Josh gave him a hug. “You ready for all this up there?” his boyfriend asked. “It’s gonna be kinda a wreck.”

“At least it’s a wreck we can do something about, right?” said Kyle.

“Yeah!” said Betamon as they walked. “Well, you guys more than me. It’s hard without hands.”

Josh grinned. “You might just be on electricity duty, if we have to use any tools.”

“Yeah! My specialty!”

The ruins of File Town were, indeed, a wreck. Splinters of wood and crushed metal were scattered everywhere. None of the shelters remained intact, and the few pieces of furniture that hadn’t been trampled by giant digimon were knocked aside and covered in small bits of debris.

Fortunately, they weren’t the only folks working there. Chelsey and Flymon were hauling fallen trees to the edge of the clearing, and Kai and Bearmon were sorting through a collapsed shelter, with a small pile of relatively-undamaged items lined up to one side.

“Hey! Long time no see!” Chelsey called as soon as she caught sight of the others. Flymon set down a splintered tree-trunk with a thud, and they both came over to greet the new arrivals.

“Should’ve known you’d beat us here!” said Josh. “It’s weird not being on the same school schedule as you anymore.”

“Yeah, how’s life in the new time zone?” Chelsey asked.

“Better,” said Josh with a smile in Kyle’s direction. “For a lot of reasons. Still doesn’t feel real though.”

“In a lot of ways,” Chelsey said, nodding rapidly. “We can just wander around in public now!” Flymon buzzed next to her, and she laughed and nodded. “Yeah, we still get looks, but still!”

Kyle nodded. “The looks are kinda a lot, but—“

“Better than just staying in the digivice all day!” Aullidomon chimed in.

Kyle laughed. “Exactly.”

Josh was looking around the site now, already halfway back into his focussed leader mode. “So, looks like lots of stuff that still needs to be cleared away. It’d be great to get enough cleared away that we can at least set up a little shelter. Let’s start here, near the old entrance?”

Kyle nodded. It didn’t look like there was anything too difficult to move in that area, especially with a twelve-foot-long canine to help.

“And I’ll help Kai and Bearmon salvage!” said Betamon. “I’m small, I can get in and under things really good.”

“Good idea!”

The work was tiring, but also rewarding. Bit by bit, the ground looked less destroyed, more clear. It didn’t look like a town, but it at least looked like a place a town could be built. After a couple hours of work, they all sat on slightly-dented chairs and tree-stumps, taking a rest. Fortunately, Chelsey had had the presence of mind to bring snacks and water, rather than just rush through the portal.

“So we’ll have to work out how to get more building materials soon,” said Josh, sharing a bag of chips with Betamon.

Flymon buzzed cheerfully, and Chelsey nodded. “Yeah, we’ll handle cutting some more trees into planks tomorrow, just like last time.”

“What about furniture?” Kai asked. “Most of it got super-wrecked.”

“Not to mention the XBox,” said Bearmon, looking mournfully at the pile of shattered black plastic that they’d found, all that remained of the town’s main source of entertainment.

“Yeahhh,” Kai said. “Chelsey, do you think your dad can help again? He did a ton for File Town the first time around, right?”

Chelsey sighed. “I’ll ask if he can help again, but he’s super-distracted with some important work thing lately.”

“I’m going to ask my parents what I can take over too!” said Kyle. “I mean this place is basically literally right next door.” He felt an excited flutter in his stomach. Helping to rebuild it like this, he could really make a place here that actually felt like his own. His and Coyomon’s… and maybe Josh and Betamon’s too. “Should we like… start planning out building locations? How did you do it last time?”

His last question was almost drowned out by the sound of several digivices all chirping at the same time. As soon as Kyle realized what it was, he grabbed for his, murmuring a fearful ‘oh no’; a message sent to everyone had to be bad news, didn’t it?

The first message on the screen didn’t help ease his fears, either.

Yamaki: Apologies for the mass message, but I have an important update to share about the matter of the infected gates.

There was nothing on-screen for several dreadful moments, and Kyle found himself gathering close with Josh and Coyomon and Betamon, seeking support. Everyone else seemed to be just as tense, with humans and digimon exchanging worried looks until their digivices finally all chimed again.

Yamaki: We have successfully developed a patch for the gates that will prevent them from being exploited.

This time, everyone’s reaction was different. There were cheers, and sighs of relief, and an exasperated grumble from Chelsey. “He needs to work on his communication style.”

Kyle was almost giddy. “So… things are fine now then!”

As if in answer to his question, another message came through.

Yamaki: However, this does not apply to the gates that were currently infected, so please continue your evacuation efforts.

Now it was more of a clamor of different questions and observations.

“Wait, that means all those realms might still be collapsed?” said Betamon.

“What kind of a fix is that then?” asked Kai.

“He really really needs to work on his communication style,” said Chelsey.

Kyle’s stomach churned as he listened. It wasn’t bad news, but it wasn’t all he’d hoped.

As they were talking, one more message came through.

Yamaki: More information is available in the attached document: [18kb text file] Keep up the good work, Tamers and Digimon. I will share more information as it becomes available.

“Annnnd now a reading assignment,” Chelsey said, rolling her eyes before opening the file and starting to read.

Kyle still wasn’t sure what to think. He looked at his boyfriend. “So… is that…”

“It’s progress,” said Josh. “And maybe they’ll still figure out something for the infected gates. I should read this…” He was staring at his digivice, pulling into himself. More and more he seemed like the Josh who Kyle had first seen when coming to File Town; work came first, everything else a distant second. It was hard to be upset about that now, this seemed important, but was this how Josh would be now that he had the town to look after again? Could Kyle live with that tradeoff?

He was about to walk off, anxious restlessness calling him to pace the ruined grounds of File Town, but as he moved, he found Coyomon in his way, nosing at his legs, and then pointing his snout toward the log where Josh was sitting, engrossed in reading on his digivice. There was enough space next to him for someone else to sit, and Kyle realized that he didn’t actually want to be alone. He wondered if Josh felt the same way.

Kyle sat down next to Josh, and Coyomon wagged his tail and curled up at his feet. As soon as he did, Josh looked up from his reading, and gave him a smile. Then, the other boy shifted closer, and drew his arm around Kyle.

“Thanks for your help today,” Josh said softly. “It was really good to have you here.” He turned back to his reading, then, but his arm never left Kyle’s side.

Chapter Text

Kyle found himself a bit tired at school the next day. A hard afternoon of digimon work had been followed by homework both from school and from Nodens; Yamaki’s writing style was as crisp and detail-oriented as his speaking style, and it had taken Kyle a few reads to make sure he understood all he wanted to about the new situation with the portals.

Still, all that left him with plenty to think about, and the anticipation of helping out in the digital world propelled him through the school day. He and Coyomon would be someplace new in the digital world, doing something useful, and he’d be doing it with Josh and June, Betamon and Bakumon, and that was plenty to look forward to.

“It’s a pretty small settlement,” explained June as they crossed the blank void on the other side of the arroyo gate. “And they already have a new place picked out in the next realm over. It’s not even a long walk to the portal, so hopefully this will be simple.”

“But you never know, with digimon,” Betamon observed.

“Most likely, the complicated aspect will probably be talking to the Defenders,” said Youkomon, who had joined them as soon as they’d crossed over. “Even with Kirinmon and myself, it seems like they’re still a bit on-edge.”

Josh nodded. “Oh, and don’t forget we also have to take the time to go through all the other portals leading out of that realm.”

“You do?” asked Youkomon. “For what purpose? I’m not sure that’s an efficient use of time. And it may cause more concern from the Defenders.”

Kyle took the chance to answer, happy to put last night’s reading effort to good use. “To patch the portals. They need to have one of our digivices going through them to make sure they can’t get exploited. It’s a more complicated change, so they can’t do a remote update.” He stopped himself from rambling at length. He found it to be an exciting topic, feeding his digimon interest in all new ways, but he wasn’t quite as confident as he wanted to be about some of the details.

“I see,” said Youkomon. “An important task, but one that might be complicated to explain to Defenders. Perhaps we can be circumspect about it, and just tell them we’re scouting the other realms for evacuation needs, if they ask.”

Josh nodded. “Sounds like a good plan.”

They were almost to the portal now. Kyle was pretty sure he hadn’t been through this one before. Most likely it had been part of the other realm that collapsed, another one he’d never been to.

“Ah, also, Kyle…” Bakumon turned her big blue eyes toward him. “You should know that this realm might be a bit challenging for you.”

Kyle froze in place, right in front of the portal. “What’s that mean?” he said. He felt Josh’s hand on his arm, steadying him.

“Apologies,” Bakumon said, bobbing up and down. “Only the… scenery? I remember you had trouble with the trees that used to be here, and this place is also pretty… vertical. Crystal spires.”

“Oh. Thanks?” Kyle thought about that. “I think I pretty much got used to that by the end, at least. Though the white void is still kinda freaky…”

“I got you, Partner-Kyle!” Coyomon said. “We can do it together!” He trotted into the gate, practically pulling Kyle along. Kyle grinned nervously, and reached out for Josh’s hand, holding it tight as everyone hurried to step through together.

It was worse than Kyle expected. The portal opened onto a small ledge on a glittering crystal spire on the same scale as the trees in the giant forest realm, but while that one had plenty of horizontal boughs to fill space and give a sense of ground, this one was very… open. Other rainbow-reflecting spires jutted down from a misty sky and up from a misty ground. Each spire had a few smaller ones jutting from it diagonally, connecting them all together, but everything seemed so sharp and precarious that Kyle was afraid to move.

And then he saw the Defenders. A grumpy-looking Aquliamon perched to one side of the portal, and a blue Greymon loomed over the other side… and somehow, they were both sideways. They were both treating the vertical surface of the spire to each side as if it was the ground. Suddenly Kyle wasn’t sure which way was down, and somehow, in a place as strange and expansive as this, that was worse than just being worried about falling. He made a small squeak as his legs wobbled, and then he felt Josh’s hand guiding him down, and Coyomon’s flank providing an easy place to lean.

“I got you too,” said Josh.

“We all do, Partner-Kyle!”

Kyle nodded and made another anxious noise as he tried to get his heart to stop pounding. Dimly he was aware that Youkomon was talking to the Defender guards.

June’s voice came to him now, a bit clearer than the others. “Bakumon, you probably should’ve told us about the gravity too.”

“Oh. Yes. I’m sorry June. I don’t think about gravity much,” her partner admitted.

Betamon, meanwhile, was exploring a bit. “Sooo weiiird,” said the bold little digimon as he scuttled over the crystal facets, changing his angle as he went over a ledge. “But at least we can’t fall! Unless maybe you jump? Just don’t jump!”

“Definitely not going to jump,” Kyle said. “I’m… I’ll be okay…” He didn’t quite feel it yet, but things were getting better moment by moment. Seeing Betamon and Youkomon move around the gravity-warping surface helped at least a bit. Soon, Josh and June were venturing out too, taking careful steps and walking around the perimeter of the spire.

Before Kyle could entirely muster the courage to do it himself, Youkomon came back. “It took some discussion, but they’ll allow us to go to the village on our own, with minimal check-ins. That should let us do all we need to do.”

“Thank you!” said June.

“We better get a move on then,” said Josh. “Where’s the village?”

Bakumon pointed her trunk toward a neighboring spire. “Right there, around the middle, see?” Sure enough, the middle of the crystal structure was dotted with small buildings made of slightly-less-sparkly material. “And the other portal is at the tip of the same one.”

Kyle looked around for the offshoot that connected the two. It was at least fairly perpendicular to both of the larger crystals, which felt like it made things better somehow. “Okay, let me… try this…” He started to stand up, but his legs were still shaking.

“Take it slow, Partner-Kyle.” Coyomon carefully put one paw on one of the different angles, then a second, moving four-legged as he changed orientations.

“That’s… a good idea,” Kyle said, and got up onto all fours, following Coyomon’s lead in a slow crawl. It definitely didn’t seem very dignified, but everyone just watched and made encouraging noises as he got onto the larger part of the spire, that was formerly ‘sideways’. Being on the same plane as everyone else felt a lot better, and he finally managed to get to his feet.

“Yaaay, way to go!” Betamon was the first to cheer for him, but soon everyone else joined in. Step by step, Kyle felt more confident, and by the time they got to the connection between spires, it felt almost normal. Of course, moving onto it required another change in footing, but getting down on all fours worked well enough there. He even noticed Josh doing the same thing to make that ninety-degree change.

June spoke up as they walked along the narrow crystal cylinder. “Kirinmon and I can scope out the other gates, and get them all patched while you all see what needs doing at the village, is that okay?”

“I’m the only one of us who can fly, and that’ll make it a lot easier to get to them all here,” added Bakumon.

“Fine with me,” Josh said.

“I think we’re all better off on the ground anyway, huh guys?” said Betamon. Kyle and Coyomon both nodded vehemently.

“All right! We’ll see you later?” June’s partner glowed and shifted into her radiant flying form, and after a quick glance to ensure the Defenders weren’t being too nosy, they headed off to handle the other gates, leaving the two other pairs to walk alone.

After more walking and another crawl between two different gravity planes, they finally approached the village. Kyle could make out enough detail now to see the inhabitants, small creatures who looked like they were made entirely of rock. “Oh, Gotsumon!” He looked longer. “And some Icemon, and a Meteormon. Wow.”

Josh squinted at them. “Those are all different kinds? They look almost exactly the same.”

Kyle nodded, proud to share his knowledge, though a bit surprised that Josh hadn’t run into them before. “The ones that look like they’re made of ice are actually Champion-level. And the big shiny one is Ultimate, so be careful.”

“Wow, never would’ve guessed. He’s shorter than me.”

By now, the villagers were approaching, led by the slightly taller and shinier one, so everyone turned their attention to greetings.

“Thanks for coming, Digimon Tamers,” said the Meteormon. “Wish it was for a better reason, but we appreciate your help.”

“We’re here to do all we can,” said Josh. “What do you need? It looks like the portal isn’t very far away.”

“Carrying help,” replied the rocky digimon. A few of the smaller ones behind him looked at each other. One Icemon started to say something, until the Meteormon gave a glare that made the smaller digimon go quiet. “We’ve had great success mining shiny crystal here. We don’t want our collections to be lost when we leave.”

“Just hauling some rocks?” The words were out of Kyle’s mouth before he thought them through too much. “That’s…” He caught a look from Josh. “THat’s fine, of course, we’re here to help!”

It had sounded simple at first, but in practice it turned out to be anything but. Some of the Gotsumon insisted that some of the huge stones that made up their homes were very valuable and important. Others had elaborate tunnels dug into the crystal under their huts, stocked with pieces of crystal that looked the same as all the rest, but were treated with utmost reverence. Everything that they wanted moved was very heavy, too big for even the Meteormon to move. The partner digimon were definitely bigger and stronger in their evolved forms… but they still weren’t really built for carrying things. Neither Aullidomon nor any Seadramon forms had any hands, and AmpAullidomon had a severe scale problem, barely able to balance on the narrow crystal spires.

They were about to give up when Josh looked at the big canopy that stood at the center of the village, and said “Maybe we could just… drag them?” It took some doing to make a sort of sled out of the material. It was heavy, and very slow for the digimon to pull, but it was better than trying to haul them one or two at a time. The villagers helped as much as they could with both loading and dragging, but Kyle got the strange sense that they were tense, that there was something else about the trip that they weren’t mentioning.

The trek toward the gate left plenty of time for Josh and Kyle to talk, about everything that had gone on in the past week, about things they’d watched or played recently, about adjusting to a new school, about anything and everything. It made the drudgery feel almost pleasant.

Finally they were at the portal.

“Well done, Digimon Tamers!” said the Meteormon with a hearty nod. “Just a little further, yes?”

A Gotsumon frowned, looking at the portal. “But what about the…”

The Meteormon shook his head rapidly. “What about nothing! Our new home awaits!” He stepped through the portal.

“So, there’s something else going on here,” said Kyle. He knew he didn’t even need to make it a question.

Josh sighed. “Like B said, you never know with digimon.”

“Well,” said Seadramon. “Guess we’ll find out.”

“We can handle it, Partner-Kyle!”

Kyle shrugged. “Right now I’m just hoping it’s not quite so… high, over there.”

They made their way through the portal then, Kyle and Josh first, and the digimon close behind, carrying their heavy load.

The realm that took shape when the pixels of the portal faded was, at least, not one that would trigger Kyle’s fear of heights. Quite the opposite; it made him glad he wasn’t claustrophobic. He found himself in a room made of stone blocks, dimly lit by flickering torches. Each wall was lined with passages that led into darkness.

It was a bit creepy, but mostly it reminded Kyle of a video game. And there were no high ledges in sight. He heaved a sigh of relief.

“Whoa,” said Josh. “I can see why the rock guys picked this place.”

Kyle nodded. “You think it just goes on like this forever?” He tried not to think about that too much. Maybe he was a little claustrophobic.

Aullidomon and Seadramon had pulled the load of crystal halfway through now. More and more of the villagers were coming through alongside them. Very few of them looked happy to be here, despite the apparently-compatible environment.

Josh was frowning now, and he walked over to the Meteormon. “It really seems like there might be something else you need to tell us,” he said.

The last word was barely out of his mouth when a low moan reverberated throughout the dungeon corridors, shaking the rocks. The torches on the wall flickered more, and then went out, plunging the room into darkness. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the moans resolved into a deep, clear voice. ”BEGONE, INTERLOPERS, IF YOU VALUE YOUR SOULS!”

Kyle yelped in surprise, but the sound was drowned out by a similar but much louder cry from Josh. The other boy’s hand found his in the darkness, and Kyle pressed close to his side.

Aullidomon’s markings cast a faint glow, just enough that Kyle could make out the Meteormon’s form as he responded. “Yes. Well. Some of us were worried that this place might be slightly… cursed.”

Chapter Text

Seadramon was the first to speak, even as the monstrous voice still echoed faintly down the corridors. “That sounds more than slightly cursed.”

“See, see, we told you!” said an Icemon. Kyle was pretty sure it was the same one who had objected earlier, but it was honestly hard to tell. “Every time we scouted, we felt the strangest sensations, and we were sure we heard whispering voices trying to warn us, even when no one was there.” The Icemon glared up at the Meteormon in the dim light. “Now we’re here with all our things, and see how much angrier it is?”

“Where would you go instead?” asked Meteormon. “The steaming rainforest, where I’d rust and you’d melt? The cloud-palaces that couldn’t even support our weight?”

“I’m not even sure we had to go anywhere at all!” the Icemon replied.

The rocky villagers continued to bicker, but Kyle did his best to keep his composure by focusing on his friends. Having his partner and his boyfriend right there helped, though it seemed like Josh was trembling more than he was. “Does… anyone have any lights?“ Kyle asked. “If something’s going to attack us, it’d be good to see it.”

“I got it, Partner-Kyle. Stand back, though!” Kyle backed up a bit as he felt a static charge build on Aullidomon’s fur. Soon the digimon’s markings sparked to life, sending arcs across his fur and armor. It was enough light to see most of the room, and it made the canine digimon look pretty fearsome as well, which felt like a good thing.

Kyle smiled. “Thanks, bud.”

“So…” said Josh, his voice sounding much shakier than Kyle’s. “It’s digimon, right? It’s just another digimon, it’s not like an actual curse?”

“Some digimon do have magic,” Kyle pointed out.

“Plenty of spooky stuff in the digital world,” Seadramon agreed, then frowned as he saw Josh’s shudder. “Oops, right… Sorry Josh.”

Kyle looked more closely at his boyfriend. Josh seemed far more scared than he’d ever seen before. “You okay? We’ve fought worse stuff than this…” He saw Josh cringe in response, and realized he’d said the wrong thing.

“Everyone has something,” said Seadramon. “Like you with high stuff.”

Josh nodded. “I’ll… be okay,” he said, though he didn’t sound it. “It’s… something we can still fight, right?”

Kyle was about to respond when the booming voice rose again, accompanied by a chilly wind. “WHY DO YOU REMAIN? LEAVE, OR YOUR VERY SOULS SHALL BE FORFEIT!”

Josh yelped again, and Kyle found himself a bit frozen too, not by the voice, but by his boyfriend’s reaction. He was used to Josh being the one to support him. Seeing Josh in need of support himself left him feeling even more off-balance than the crystal spires had.

“We’ll figure something out,” Kyle said. What would Josh do for him in a situation like this? What would help right now? After just a moment of thinking back on previous tough spots, it hit him, and he almost felt embarrassed it had taken that long. “We could just leave?”

“We… could,” said Josh, with a heavy sigh. Kyle felt him moving toward the portal.

“What?” The Meteormon turned to glare at him, and Kyle caught a strange glitter on his surface that somehow seemed angry. “You were the ones who told us to come here. You were the ones who took all our stones here. Now you’d leave us?” Despite that objection, most of his group looked about as ready to go as Josh did.

Kyle raised his hands. “Not abandoning. Just… going on the other side of the portal, so we can think, and plan.” Something else occurred to him. “And maybe find June and Bakumon. I mean… Holy digimon, versus a curse, that could help, right?”

Josh managed a nod at that, but Meteormon wasn’t convinced. “And what should we do?” asked the small-but-powerful digimon.

Kyle shrugged. “Stay here? Or just stick with us right on the other side? Just a few minutes would be a big help.”

“If I stay here, you might just leave us. If I go with you… someone might take our stones.” Meteormon clearly didn’t trust the other villagers to back him up.

Another possibility came to Kyle quickly, though it made him a little nervous to think about. “Aullidomon… Can you stay here while me and Josh peek out the portal again?”

“Rrrr… Protect you!”

“I know bud. But we’ll be like, ten feet away, technically. If anything happens here, come tell me, and if anything happens there, I’ll come right back.” He looked up at Josh’s partner. “That okay with you too, Seadramon? I know you two make a good team.”

“We do!” said Seadramon. “Go take care of Josh.”

Kyle smiled, squeezed Josh’s hand, and led him back through the portal.

As soon as they were on the other side, Josh sat heavily on shiny ground, already looking more relaxed.

“You okay?” Kyle asked. “Never seen you like that.”

“It’s stupid, I know,” said Josh.

“It’s not stupid. Like Seadramon said, everyone has something.” Kyle sat down next to Josh. “Do you want to talk about it, though?”

Josh shook his head slightly, and yet after only a moment’s silence he started to talk. “I told you my family’s pretty religious, right?”

“Yeah? But… I didn’t think you were anymore?” Kyle paused. “Um. I mean it’s okay if you are? I don’t really know much about that, but the way you talked about that…?”

Josh shook his head again, and sighed. “I’m not, which is why it feels stupid.” He went quiet again, and Kyle wasn’t sure what to say, so he just sat there, and reached for Josh’s hand.

After a few moments of physical contact, Josh spoke again. “I don’t think I believe in any of that stuff, but if you grow up getting constantly warned that something is demonic, or something else is a threat to your soul…” He shrugged. “I guess it sorta sinks in.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Kyle’s brain flicked through all the little offhand comments his parents had said that had stuck with him, even if they had just been said in a moment of worry or frustration.

Stop fidgeting.

You’re embarrassing me.

Fly under the radar.

It must be a lot worse if they’d meant them to actually scare someone, or change their behavior.

“So you’re afraid of like… demons? Curses?”

“I don’t know, it… doesn’t come up all that often, but there’s certain things that just make a part of my brain go ‘what if they were right’? And then I just can’t stop thinking about it.” Josh shuddered slightly. “Even if I know it’s just a movie, or a book, or a digimon…” He sighed. “Just feeling kinda useless right now.”

“You are not useless. Look at all the stuff you’ve done! File Town, and Yamaki, and… just today, you were the one who figured out how to get all those stupid rocks to the portal.” Kyle shifted closer to his boyfriend. “You can’t be awesome at everything.”

Josh squeezes his hand, but his face was sour. “Yeah, I’m not June.”

Kyle snorted. “Oh please. She’s good at lots of stuff, but in case you didn’t notice, her social skills are worse than mine…When Bakumon isn’t there at least.”

Josh smiled a bit. “Everyone has something, huh? But she’s got a good partner to back her up.”

“So do you. So do all of us.” Kyle nodded. “Speaking of…” He pointed at a glowing mote in the sky, a few spires away. At least it was relatively ‘up’, so it didn’t give him much vertigo. “Is that them?”

“Big shiny gold and green star?” Josh asked. “Probably? You really think they can help? How do we get their attention? Dunno if our voices would carry that far.”

“Yeah but maybe our thoughts? Kirinmon’s still psychic, right? Maybe if we just think loud June thoughts?”

Josh shrugged. “Worth a try, I guess. Dunno how long those Gotsumon and all are gonna put up with us leaving them there.”

Kyle focussed on that glowing speck, then squeezed his eyes shut. June and Kirinmon, we need some help! JUNE! KIRINMON!

He opened his eyes again, in time to see Josh making the same sort of absurdly-concentrating face that he must have just been showing, before shaking his head and saying “That feels ridiculous.”

“I know,” said Kyle, but then he noticed a change in the light. That gold glow was coming closer, resolving itself more clearly into a shiny equine form. “Worked though.”

Moments later, Kirinmon landed on the crystal just in front of them, with June on her back. “Is everything all right?” June asked. “We were almost done with the portals.”

“Where are the villagers?” asked Kirinmon. “Where are your partners?”

“They’re fine,” said Josh. “I think.”

Kyle nodded. “They’re just on the other side of the portal here. But there’s something there? It was yelling about curses and taking our souls and stuff.” He felt Josh shudder slightly next to him. “We figured that seemed like your department too.”

“Mmm, yes, I suppose so,” said Kirinmon. “Let’s see what we can do, shall we?”

“Can I stay here?” asked Josh. “Until you have it more figured out at least?”

Kyle nodded. “Sure. I’ll go through and tell you how it is. See you soon!” He gave Josh a hug, and stepped through the portal along with June and Kirinmon.

On the other side, Kirinmon’s light already made the place less frightening. She quickly started pacing around the big chamber, sniffing the air and peering down the corridors.

“Everything been okay here, bud?” Kyle asked Aullidomon as June and Kirinmon explored.

“Yeah… More spooky voices, some clanging and some stinky smells, but that’s all!” Aullidomon let out a growl. “Wish I could see them so I could fight them. They seem mean.”

“Really mean,” Kyle agreed. June and Kirinmon were heading back now. “Let’s see if they have any leads?”

“Bakemon,” Kirinmon said flatly, when they rejoined the group.

“With an ‘e’,” June added. “The ghost ones.”

Kyle nodded. “I know the difference! And I guess that kinda figures. Scaring people, cursing them. But they’re not very strong, compared to us, right?”

“They’re not,” said Kirinmon. “But they do outnumber the Gotsumon by… a lot.”

“We can fight those little ghosts,” growled Meteormon.

Kyle raised a hand. “This is… their home first, right? And maybe let’s not just wipe them all out?”

“Agreed,” said June.

Kirinmon nodded. “Even if they are arguably creatures of darkness, I can’t condone taking their home by force. Perhaps there’s still a way, though. Have you tried asking what they want?”

The Icemon scowled as he snapped back, “Our souls! They keep saying it!”

“If they did, why would they just be back there moaning about it?” Kirinmon said.

“All their threats do sound a bit… cheesy,” Seadramon agreed. “Don’t tell Josh I said that though, I know he’s really freaked out.”

“So we just try talking to them?” Kyle said.

Aullidomon nodded, and let his extra sparking fade so he could nose Kyle. “It worked for you lots of times!”

“Well, sure,” said Kyle. “Who wants to try that, then?”

“I suppose I can try,” said Kirinmon. “But I may need some help.” She waited to see nods of agreement before clearing her throat. “Ahem! Resident Bakemon! We are sorry for intruding on your domain unannounced! We meant no harm, these digimon are simply looking for shelter from a calamity that might befall their neighboring realm! Can we find some common ground?”

There was silence in the dungeon for several long seconds, though listening very closely, Kyle thought he heard the faint sound of far-away discussion.

Finally, a clear voice came through. It still echoed eerily, but the tone was quite different. “What’s in it for us?”

Kirinmon smiled slightly. “Well, what do you need?”

“We are hungry!” the ghostly voice replied, and others followed up, “So hungry!” “Very hungry!”

“I hope not for souls,” Kyle said.

Kirinmon shook her head and lowered her voice to talk to them. “Traditional offerings for hungry ghosts are rice, and wine, or really any food. There’s the cucumbers or eggplants too, but that’s a bit different…”

June was nodding along. “Plus, they’re digimon; it seems like all digimon are happy to eat almost anything. But did anyone bring any food?”

Kyle shook his head.

“Oh!” Seadramon squeaked and wriggled, making Kyle have to hop out of the way. “Josh always has a lot of snacks in his backpack, and I haven’t even eaten any today!”

Kyle giggled. “Well, there you go. I’ll go ask him?”

“Thank you,” said Kirinmon. “And we’ll continue negotiations here.”

Kyle stepped through the portal once again. Josh was still sitting nearby, and he looked up as Kyle appeared. “Everything going okay?” he asked.

“It’s just Bakemon,” said Kyle with a shrug.

“The little ghost guys?” Josh said. He smiled thinly. “Ugh, I hate them. I mean you’d think they’d be silly but they’re actually kinda creepy, even when they’re not screaming for souls.”

Kyle nodded, suddenly worried this might be a harder sell than he expected. “Well… we were wondering if… Seadramon said you have snacks? Kirinmon think that might be a way to start making peace with them.”

Josh put a hand on his backpack. “Really? They just want food?”

Kyle grinned. “All digimon just want food.”

“Or fighting,” Josh pointed out.

“Well sure, but Bakemon aren’t actually very powerful. And either way, better to make friends than enemies, yeah?”

“I guess so,” said Josh, standing up. “It’d be nice to see them as just… another digimon, and not some demonic force.”

“Yeah! And we’ll all be there with you backing you up, just in case.” Kyle reached for Josh’s hand. Josh reached back, and they returned to the dungeon.

When the pixels cleared, Kyle immediately felt Josh tense up. It was clear why; a handful of Bakemon had gathered close. They seemed to be floating around some of the Gostumon’s glowing crystals, which had been set up in the middle of the large room.

“They’re not quite Obon lanterns, but they’re nice, right?” June asked. A few of the Bakemon nodded, and some of the Gotsumon had even gathered a bit closer. “And has our food arrived?”

“Ah, sure!” said Josh, and opened his backpack wide. “I have chips, and pretzels, and fruit, and some jerky…”

Kyle noticed Aullidomon starting to move at the mention of jerky, and put a hand on his partner. “We’ll get you some as soon as we’re out of here, bud,” he whispered.

“Not bad,” said one of the Bakemon, as they all converged on the food. “For a start at least.” The Bakemon eyed the villagers. “But it’s asking a lot for us to let you stay here.”

Josh frowned at that. “If you’re going to be bullies about it, then maybe you don’t get anything.” Kyle couldn’t help but grin. His boyfriend was actually standing up to the creepy little digimon.

Kirinmon gave the ghost a stern look. “I suspect that you’ve been hiding here, going hungry, because the folks in the realms nearby don’t like you much. Perhaps you’d like folks around who can help you get food rather than you having to scare and sneak it from them?”

The Bakemon withered under the gaze, and Kyle knew the psychic digimon had done more than ‘suspect’.

“Yes, I suppose they will need their souls for that,” the Bakemon muttered. “Very well.”

Kirinmon nodded, and even the grumpy Icemon and Meteormon seemed close to satisfied.

Kyle grinned at his friends. “Awesome job, everyone!”

Josh still seemed slightly on edge, but he grinned back. “Thanks!” He frowned then, as he looked back at the spectral swarm eating his snacks. “I think I’m gonna need a new backpack, though.”

Chapter Text

Kyle found himself bouncing cheerfully through the halls on the way out of school. He’d been working hard in the digital world for three days straight, and yet he was actually looking forward to another day of it today. As soon as he was out of the building, Coyomon appeared at his side. His timing had gotten very good.

“Back to the gate here, Partner-Kyle?”

“Nope! Time to run back home. No evacuation duty today, it’s time to go help in File Town again!”

“Yaaa-aaay!” His partner cheered all the way through his evolution, which made his voice sound staticky and strange before it dropped half an octave. “Helping there is even better.”

“Sure is,” Kyle said as he hopped up on his partner’s back. “I’m definitely done with that spooky dungeon.”

“Me too!” said Aullidomon as they started to run toward home.

At least the second day there hadn’t been nearly as stressful as the first. They’d had to haul in more Bakemon offerings, and sit through some pretty boring negotiations, but at least there weren’t any more dire threats against their souls. The ghostly digimon weren’t exactly friendly, but like many digimon, a good meal and the promise of more worked wonders.

“Got homework, Partner-Kyle?”

“Ugh. Not as much as yesterday, at least.” That was the worst part of being so busy. Each night after he came back from the digital world, his parents insisted on him finishing schoolwork before doing anything else. Which meant his life had basically been school, digital world, dinner, homework, and sleep. He’d been a bit surprised that he’d held up so well, being so busy, but somehow the hard work in the digital world all felt worth it.

“Time for a snack before we go?” Aullidomon asked as they approached the house.

“Time to grab snacks for everyone!” Kyle replied with a grin. “Mom got a new big bag of jerky, and some granola bars!”

“Perfect!” Aullidomon skidded to a stop in the driveway, and Kyle dashed into the house, pausing only long enough to grab the food and leave a note, before they headed through to File Town’s realm.

Josh and Betamon were waiting on the shore of the lake when they got there. “Woo! We win!” The little green digimon bounced cheerfully.

“We never officially said it was a race,” Josh pointed out with a grin, before Kyle could object the same way. But then he looked at Kyle with a playful grin. “But I told you it was a good shortcut!”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, one good thing to come out of having to patch so many portals, huh?”

The four talked back and forth on the path to the town, catching up on their days. After only a week, Josh had seemed to settle in really well at school, and Kyle was happy to see it, even if it was a bit baffling. He still didn’t feel entirely at-ease with the school, after nearly a whole semester. Fortunately, he still had the digital world.

“Josh! Kyle! Hey!” Chelsey waved as they emerged into the File Town clearing. “Just in time. You think this is a good place for this?” She and Kunemon were shoving at a bright orange couch, set up on a brand new wooden platform. The town had come a long way in just a few days, with a few shelters, and several places to set up furniture and other amenities. It was a wonder how easy construction could be when some of the workers had claws, or elemental powers, or could just grow huge.

“Looks good to me,” said Josh, sitting down on it. Kyle soon followed, and Aullidomon devolved so that he could fit as well.

“Wow, comfy!” said Coyomon, tail wagging. Kyle had to agree; the couch was very soft, and the company was even better, with Josh on one side and Coyomon on the other.

Chelsey grinned. “Nice, huh? My dad finally came up for air from his special project, so I guilted him into letting me use some of Friendscape’s extra office furniture.”

“This going to be the new games area?” Josh asked. “It should probably have a roof…”

Chelsey laughed and nodded. “Yeah, Jessie and Coronamon are supposed to be helping with that, but they’re too busy ‘testing’ the new XBox.” She waved in the direction of one of the huts.

“Well, we’re here now, want some help?” Betamon asked.

“Sure! Me and Kunemon found some good strong trees over that way.” Chelsey stood to lead the way, and Kyle reluctantly extracted himself from his comfortable spot to follow her lead.

“Here we go,” Chelsey said, after leading them a little ways into the jungle, to a pair of trees that were each easily three feet in diameter. “Should be plenty here to make a good shelter.”

Kunemon bobbed up and down making a cheerful buzz, then grew into a much more fearsome form, with long pincer claws. Now evolved to Flymon, the digimon approached one of the trees with claws spread out to the side. Her head turned toward the others, and she buzzed again.

“She says someone better get ready to catch,” Chelsey translated. “Betamon?”

“Of course!” said Josh’s partner, and his body elongated, becoming a serpentine form that meandered through the trees. “Ready!”

Flymon’s claws flailed in a flurry that was too fast for Kyle’s eyes to follow, but when she was done, the tree seemed to simply fall apart, into neatly-cut board. Seadramon reared up and coiled around all of them, easing them to the ground.

“That’s so cool, every time,” Kyle said.

“I know, right?” Chelsey replied. “We’ll get the other tree too, then do you think you and Aullidomon can start hauling them back?”

“Yeah!” said Kyle’s partner, already enlarging to meet the need. “I got good at that!”

It took a little clever work with vines and leaves, but soon they were dragging the vines back through the trees. Seadramon and Flymon followed along to either side, helping steer and push. It was slow going, but faster than hauling piles of Gotsumon rocks.

They unloaded the lumber near the couch, then Josh and Chelsey surveyed the project area. “Vines should be strong enough for most of this, right?” Josh said.

Chelsey nodded. “I have some plans drawn up. Been researching this a lot. But we’re gonna need more help.” She turned away from the group. “Jessie? Coronamon? If you want to keep having power for your video games, you better come out and help a bit!”

The others giggled softly as they heard reluctant grumbles from inside one of the shelters. But before the partner pair emerged, a new an unexpected voice came from the opposite side of the clearing.

“Tamers! You’re the tamers, right?” The voice was squeaky and panicked, and definitely sounded like a digimon rather than a human. Kyle tensed, and he felt Coyomon’s hackles rise beside him. The last time digimon had arrived unexpectedly, they’d destroyed the town. Everyone else seemed just as wary, looking toward the jungle edge where the voice was coming from.

As soon as Kyle got a good look at the approaching digimon though, he relaxed. A lone Monodramon, no bigger than any of their partners, was running across the field. “Yes! Tamers! My realm needs help, you can help, right?”

“We are…” said Josh warily. “What’s going on?”

“Oh thank you!” said the Monodramon, skidding to a stop. He looked at all of them, his tail lashing across the ground with anxiety. “I tried to talk to the Defenders, but they’re just a bunch of bullies, but I heard about how humans saved the digital world before and my realm needs saving!”

“We can help with that!” Coyomon said, bouncing slightly.

“Well, yes, but we need to know what’s going on,” said Chelsey. “What’s happening in your realm?”

“Well, I don’t know! It seems like… it’s gone?” The Monodramon was wringing his tail in his paws now. “Or… changed? I don’t know! Can I show you?”

The small group of partners all looked at each other warily.

“Merged?” Kyle asked, stomach churning.

“We evacuated everyone, right?” said Chelsey.

“Unless they did it somewhere else,” Betamon said, frowning.

Josh stepped toward the worried little digimon. “Can you show us the way?”

“Yes, yesyes! It’s just a few gates away, this way! Follow, please!”

The Monodramon started to scamper back into the forest. and everyone was quick to follow along. “I don’t think there’s any portals that we patched this way,” said Josh.

Kyle’s head was filled with questions, so he summoned up a burst of speed and caught up to the Monodramon. “Your realm… you said it’s gone or changed? Is it just… big blank white?” he asked, dreading what he’d hear.

“Nooooo,” replied the Monodramon. “It’s… I went through the portal that I usually go to to get home and… I wasn’t home! It wasn’t the floating islands, it was a big… grassy place? I thought maybe I made a wrong turn, but I checked three times!”

“So, not a merge?” Chelsey suggested.

Kunemon buzzed in response, and Chelsey nodded. “You’re right, we need more data before we can really say anything.”

The group fell silent as they followed the Monodramon’s lead. When it became clear that it was a bit more than a casual stroll, Coyomon and Kunemon both evolved to forms that could carry everyone else, and soon they were through one portal, into the Obsidian Castle that Josh had brought Kyle to before, and then through another portal… into the blandest realm that Kyle had ever seen.

“Huh,” Josh said, looking at the blue sky, the small fluffy white clouds, and the bright green rolling hills that stretched in all directions.

“It’s like default computer wallpaper,” Chelsey said.

“Booooring,” added Betamon.

“It’s not supposed to be!” said the Monodramon, who was even more frantic now than before. “The sky’s the only thing that’s right! It’s supposed to be floating islands, with waterfalls and crystals and all sorts of dragon digimon flying around! My hoard is supposed to be three islands away from the gate here! My wingmates and I have an island all to ourselves!”

For a guilty moment Kyle was glad that he wasn’t there, in yet another realm with no solid ground, but seeing the little digimon in such distress brought him back to the problem at hand. “Maybe the portal just changed? Can portal destinations change?” He pulled out his digivice, and set it to scan the area.

“We’ve been to the Azure Archipelago,” Betamon said thoughtfully. “That was the portal for it, and this is definitely not it. I’ve never heard of portals changing like that, but…”

Kyle was barely listening as he stared at the map on his digivice. His other hand sought out his partner’s calming presence, as he turned the screen toward the others. “Um… that doesn’t look right, does it?” The screen was dotted with portal markers, far more than he was used to seeing when navigating the digital world.

“It does not,” said Chelsey, scowling, as Kunemon made an alarmed buzz. “That’s at least two realms’ worth, maybe even three.”

Kyle trembled slightly, and nodded. Aullidomon pressed into his side, and Josh grabbed his hand. “So it is a merge,” the other boy said.

“But it’s not blank!” Kyle said. “And… Aullidomon, can you smell any stray data?” He hated even having to ask about whether there were signs of destroyed digimon, but he had to know.

Aullidomon sniffed the air. “Rrrrr… don’t think so. But something smells… strange. Mostly it smells like nothing, but I keep smelling… something…”

“Other Monodramon? Dracomon?” asked their guide hopefully. “Or Coredramon?”

“Sort of… Rrr…” Aullidomon started to pace over a nearby hill, and the others followed close behind. “Partner-Kyle, stay close.” Kyle nodded, huddling up to his partner. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Betamon evolve, coiling protectively around Josh as they crested the hill.

Far off in the valley below, there seemed to be a group of digimon, all gathered together. Kyle felt a momentary flood of relief; he thought he saw a Coredramon, and other smaller draconic shapes. among others. But the more he looked, the more something didn’t add up. They were just standing there, and some of them seemed strangely out of place; what was a Divermon doing in the middle of all this land? And they didn’t move quite right, and there was something strange about this one’s arm, and that one’s head…

But that didn’t stop the little Monodramon. He scurried down into the valley, calling out “You’re here! What happened? Where’s everyone else?”

At the sound of his voice, all the figures turned at once, and started to approach. With the new perspective, Kyle could easily see what was wrong, and the cries of alarm from everyone else showed that they’d seen it too. Even the Monodramon froze in place, eyes wide with fear.

Each of the approaching digimon was, in its own way, wrong. They all had a dazed, near-feral expression, but that wasn’t the worst part. On each of them, there were parts that were missing, or more accurately replaced. In places where one ought to have an arm, or a leg, or a tail, all they had was blank whiteness that only vaguely mirrored their former shapes, and looked a lot more like the aggressive claws and jaws and tentacles that had attacked them in other collapsing realms.

“What are those?” Chelsey asked, backpedaling as Flymon rose up in an attack pose.

Kyle felt like he was almost choking. “They… look like…” He couldn’t quite get the word out.

“Snarls,” said Josh grimly. “Digimon Snarls.”

Chapter Text

Kyle stared in shock for a moment as the distorted creatures lunged toward them. There were over a dozen of them, some little more than hatchlings, but half of them were fully adult, Champion level. They were a whole mix of digimon types that didn’t seem like they’d be native to grassy rolling hills; they all looked like they’d be much more at home in the air or the water… And, of course, they no longer looked entirely like digimon. Each one had been partially taken-over by the weird void-white tendrils and claws and barbs that formed when a realm collapsed. These seemed just as aggressive and mindless as those manifestations too, and all their attention was fixed on the nearest living thing: the little lost Monodramon who had frozen in fear when he saw that these were not the friendly digimon he was searching for.

“Aullidomon, let’s go!” Kyle said, gripping onto his partner’s collar and swinging onto his back. The digimon Snarls had a head start, but Aullidomon was far faster. His claws tore up the unnaturally-green grass as he ran past the Monodramon, and Kyle reached out and scooped up the little digimon.

The Monodramon whimpered and clung to him, and Kyle did his best to be comforting. “We got you. Just stay here, okay?”

Aullidomon let out a yelp, and Kyle saw a tendril of white, raggedly grafted onto the wing of a Coredramon, retreating from where it had lashed at Aullidomon’s side.

“Rrrah! Static Shield!” Aullidomon roared as he tried to defend himself and pull away, but the tendril pushed through the electric field and twined around his tail.

“Get away from them!” Kyle heard Chelsey cry, and her partner let out a ferocious buzz as she launched razor-sharp stingers at the Coredramon’s wing. One pierced right through the blue membrane, but another hit the distorted white section, and simply bounced off. Still, it was enough to stagger the Coredramon, and Aullidomon was able to break free.

“Thank you!” said Kyle.

“They’re so strong,” growled Aullidomon as he tried to put space between them and the attacking former-digimon. Everyone else was backing away too, trying to find a position to fight from.

Seadramon nodded, frowning. “Those stingers should’ve done more!”

“When we fought them before, nothing affected them at all!” Josh said. “We had to cut them off at the source, remember?”

Kyle winced. “But the source here is… the digimon!”

“Well, we have to try something!” Chelsey said.

Seadramon sent a blast of ice that knocked back a Dracomon whose head had been replaced with an oversized set of Snarl mandibles.

Kyle was relieved to see the creature stagger back. Even if it wasn’t injured, it was definitely more affected than the Snarls had been before. “It’s different…” he said, half to himself. “Before, they were between two things, now it’s just… growing out of them!”

Another one lunged toward them; it looked like a Dolphmon, but it slithered shockingly fast on a mass of tentacles formed of that same white nothingness. Aullidomon sent it tumbling back with a howling torrent of electricity, but it soon got up again and kept coming.

“They won’t stay down!” Chelsey said.

“We should fall back!” said Josh. “Portal’s right over there!”

Kyle looked back toward the portal, shimmering on the next hill over. Why was Josh wanting to retreat already? Even if these Snarl-digimon were durable, there weren’t that many of them, and none were more than Champion-level.

Even Seadramon seemed confused at this. “What? Why?”

“Won’t they just follow us?” asked Kyle.

“It’s the Obsidian Castle!” Josh replied. “Some of the toughest digimon ever, there. Well-defended, too!”

Chelsey shook her head. “We’re not done trying yet,” she said, and Flymon started to shift, claws digitizing and reforming into the massive pincers of an Okuwamon.

“We don’t know what they can do,” Josh said. “And I don’t want—” Josh cut himself off, but not before Kyle noticed the other boy looking in his direction. Was this about him?

“We can handle this!” Kyle said, and looked down at his partner. “Right, bud?”

The reply was a fearsome howl, as the electric canine started to shift, soon towering over the landscape in two-legged, armored, AmpAullidomon form.

“Yeaaaah!” Seadramon cheered and started to evolve too.

Josh held on tight to his partner’s back as MegaSeadramon took shape. “Well, okay. Let’s just not take any crazy risks, got it?”

Oh. Was Josh still thinking about how Kyle had lept out in the open to save Megadramon, last time they’d fought the Snarls? Before Kyle could think of anything else to say, they heard the cries of their attackers, tinged with static and distortion, as strange as their bodies. They’d caught up, and were lashing out with those awful void tendrils.

MegaSeadramon swept out his tail, knocking several away, and Okuwamon seemed entirely unbothered under her armor. AmpAullidomon bared his teeth, and lightning coursed across his fur, causing the attacking tentacles and fangs to curl away.

“Not so tough now, are you?” said Chelsey. Okuwamon had snagged a mutated Airdramon in one pincer claw. She was right; it seemed like the digimon-Snarls weren’t much of a threat to them at that level… though it also seemed like there wasn’t much that they could do back.

“What are we supposed to do with them, though?” asked Kyle.

“Don’t hurt them?” The Monodramon, who was still sitting next to him on AmpAullidomon’s shoulder, gave a little chirp. “They’re… my friends. They used to be my friends. What happened?”

Kyle felt a lump in his throat. He wasn’t sure he was the best one to explain this, but his friends were far away, perched on their own partners, fending off their own little groups of Snarls.

“Well…” Kyle shifted position, pushing himself securely into the fur of AmpAullidomon’s neck as his partner shifted below him into a defensive stance. “You heard about how realms are collapsing? I… think that happened here.”

“But it’s not collapsed, it’s here, it’s just wrong, and they’re wrong!”

“I know. We saw one… a little like this… a few days ago. It was blank, but… these things were there too.”

“They’re not things, they’re…” Monodramon trailed off as he saw a green Coredramon, whose body was now half made of white spikes, start to batter itself uselessly against AmpAullidomon’s electric armor. “What happened to them?”

“I don’t know,” said Kyle, his own voice wavering almost as much as the Monodramon’s.

“But maybe we can find out?” suggested AmpAullidomon, his rumbling voice vibrating through Kyle’s body. “What about Yamaki?”

Kyle brightened a bit at the thought. Nodens would definitely want to know about this place. Maybe they would even be able to help the digimon here. But how could they get there? These things seemed far too fearsome for those partnerless adults to face alone. Unless…

“Yeah! AmpAullidomon, do you think we can capture one?”

His partner surveyed the battlefield. Several of the snarled digimon were lying down now, dazed or shocked. “Rrrr… Could shock them. But they’re big! What if they woke up?”

“They’re not all big,” Kyle said. “And if we…” The possibilities spun in his mind, and he cut himself off, eager to put them into motion. He raised his voice, hoping he could be heard over the sounds of the Snarls trying to attack his friends, and his friends fending them off. “Hey! Does anyone see some really small ones? Like hatchlings maybe?”

Josh was first to answer. “Huh? Why?”

Chelsey responded with more useful information. “I thought I saw a little… are they called Baby…dramon?” There was a chitter from Okuwamon. “Right, Babydmon. Weird name.”

Kyle nodded. “Awesome! If you see it, grab it! We’ll give it a good shock, so we can hold onto it better.” He started to open his backpack. He was pretty sure a hatchling would fit in there.

“What? Kyle!” Josh sounded frantic again. “You are not trying to steal one?”

“Someone else has to see these,” Kyle said. “And it’d be safer than trying to bring more people here, right?” He barreled ahead, hoping that explaining more of the plan would help convince his boyfriend. “If MegaSeadramon freezes one, and I put it in my backpack, we should be able to get it somewhere secure. What do you think, MegaSeadramon!”

MegaSeadramon’s tail lashed, sending the persistent tentacle-Dolphmon tumbling away again. “Better than standing here doing this all day!”

“That’s assuming they don’t just follow us,” said Josh, scowling.

“One problem at a time!” called Chelsey. “I see the little critter over here!” Okuwamon let out a bellow, and stomped after it. The big armored claws swiped, and on the third try, they finally pinned the mutated Babydmon. The white filaments that made up its lower half just writhed, and it seemed just as indestructible as the larger ones. It looked strange, to see such a small thing captured by a large digimon and still trying to fight, totally unconcerned by its predicament.

AmpAullidomon moved closer, wading through the Snarls still trying to attack his legs. “How precise can you be, bud?” Kyle asked. “Don’t wanna shock Okuwamon.”

“Eh, she can take it,” said Chelsey, and her partner’s head nodded, with a chitter that sounded like a laugh.

AmpAullidomon laughed too, and raised his cannon-arm. “But watch this!” The end glowed, but then the glow stretched and split four ways, and four tiny arcs of current lanced from it, precisely striking the creature at multiple points. It jerked a few times, then fell limp, though the eerie white Snarl-bits still seemed to writhe with a weak life of their own.

“Looking good,” said Kyle. “Let’s get ready to grab?” AmpAullidomon nodded, and shifted his arm so Kyle could scramble down into his big metal-clawed hand.

“MegaSeadramon, now!” called Josh. Kyle grinned, happy to hear the other boy getting more on-board with the plan. Okuwamon pulled her claw away just in time for a tight icy blast to hit the hatchling, and encase it in a perfect crystal of ice.

“Okay, wait for it…” Kyle watched the teeming Snarls, wary to see if any might try to defend their fallen compatriot, or even notice, but they were all still on the attack. Still, he had to time it just right so that none would be close enough to hurt him while he was there. “Now!” AmpAullidomon dashed past, lowering Kyle nearly to the ground. He reached out, and managed to snag the ice-covered Babydmon… and then remembered that ice was slippery. “Wha… whoooa!” He flailed, trying to keep hold of it and slide it in his backpack, then yelped as he saw a Tylomon turn in his direction, teeth bared. He scrambled backward, seeking refuge in AmpAullidomon’s hand, but just as the Tylomon lunged, it was knocked away by a blast of ice.

“Thanks, Josh!” he called, just as his partner said “Thanks MegaSeadramon!” He finally managed to get the frozen snarl solidly in his backpack, and made his way back to his secure seat next to the wide-eyed Monodramon.

Josh just nodded. “That, by the way, looked a lot like a crazy risk.”

“Sorry!” Kyle called back.

“Let’s just worry about getting away first?” said Chelsey. “You guys head for the portal, I’ll try to cover you.”

“What about you?” asked Josh.

“I have a theory!” replied Chelsey. “If I’m wrong, well… we can all just take turns being chewed on by these things while we try to figure out what can take them down, maybe?”

Josh frowned, and shook his head slightly, but eventually he and MegaSeadramon headed for the portal. Kyle sighed. “I guess they can’t hurt Okuwamon… that much…?” he said, as he and AmpAullidomon followed.

At their size and speed, the portal was just a few paces away, and Kyle felt himself tumbling as his partner devolved to fit through the portal, then tingling as the portal caught them both. He and Aullidomon skidded to a stop at the other end, joining Josh and Seadramon in a wary vigil to see if any of the Snarls would come through.

“So… we’re just going to leave her there?” Kyle said. “I know those things aren’t much of a threat, but…”

Josh gave a curt nod. “If Chelsey has a theory, it’s worth a try, at least. I just wish she’d told us—” He cut himself off as the portal started to glow. Kyle readied himself for another attack, but all that appeared through the portal was Chelsey and Flymon.

“I knew it!” she said. Despite having to flee from strange mutated digimon, she actually seemed giddy. “They can’t even see the portal!”

Josh looked lost. “What?” he said. “They just stayed there?”

Kyle’s eyes widened as he thought it through. “Oh! The patch!”

Chelsey nodded. “Exactly! They’re made by the exploited portals, and this portal got patched when we went through it, so it’s like the portal isn’t even there, as far as they can tell!”

The little Monodramon let out a timid chirp. “So… we’re safe? But… my friends…”

Kyle reached out to pat the little digimon’s head. “If we can help them, we will.” He hefted his backpack. “And now we have something that might help us figure out what happened.” He just hoped they’d find out something helpful this time, rather than something else to be worried about.

Chapter Text

The frozen digimon-Snarl was a nagging weight in Kyle’s backpack as the friends stood in a small circle, deciding what to do next.

“How long before it melts?” asked Coyomon. “Pretty hot here.” He was panting in the heat given off by the lava lakes that dotted the basalt landscape.

“I could refreeze it if it starts being a problem,” said Betamon. “But maybe we should go someplace a bit less… volcanic?”

Chelsey shook her head. “I’m not sure… I’m worried about it affecting the portals.”

Kyle felt a chill run through him, despite the heat. “What do you mean?”

“Well, before, all the portals attached to a collapsed realm got infected, right? And if this thing carries the same digital signature…”

Josh frowned. “Wait, does that mean this portal is infected? But you said the snarls couldn’t see it!” Kyle’s chill grew stronger, and he guessed Josh felt just as bad. This realm was really important to Josh; how often had he patrolled through here, and chatted with its fiery residents?

Chelsey shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m not an expert. We need an expert.” She looked at Kyle. “But that’s why you caught this in the first place, right? To show Nodens?”

“Right!” Kyle nodded, trying to push his worries away with something else to focus on, though that brought a few worries of its own. “Uh… should I… can I just send them a message? Yamaki is kind of…”

“Intimidating?” Josh smiled slightly. “It’ll be okay. I told you, he’s not nearly as stiff as he seems.”

“Well, okay, I’ll give it a shot…” Kyle grabbed his digivice. “Can someone else keep an eye on my backpack, though? It’s… dripping.”

“I’ll watch it,” said their new Monodramon friend, who’d so far been quiet and pensive during the discussion. “I… still want to try to take care of them.”

Kyle spent several minutes typing out a description of the situation on the tiny digivice keyboard. He discovered quickly that there was a character limit, and felt even less sure of his communication skills when he had to cut himself off mid-sentence a couple of times to get all the information in. Meanwhile, Betamon had already had to evolve and re-freeze the mutated Babydmon once. Monodramon had watched, fretful but accepting.

Finally, Kyle sent the last message, capped off with an awkward-feeling that's all. But it wasn’t long at all before he got a response. He had just picked up his newly-frozen backpack when his digivice buzzed.

Yamaki: Understood. Thank you for your efforts. What is your current location? Stay there; I am sending someone to analyze the sample as quickly as possible.

Kyle’s hands shook a bit as he typed in his best description of their current location, and sent it off, wondering what came next, and how long they’d have to wait.

“Send someone…” Chelsey mused after Kyle shared the message. “So, not him or Ms. Ootori?”

“Nodens keeps in contact with a lot of folks,” Josh said with a shrug. “Maybe another digimon? Maybe someone from his Primary Colors team?”

Kyle’s jaw literally dropped, as he heard Josh casually describe one of the most exciting things he could imagine happening. “Wait, like Takato Matsuda? And Guilmon?”

Betamon bobbed his head. “I think that’s one of them…?”

Josh looked thoughtful. “He’s the red one, yeah?”

Kyle winced. “You guys are messing with me, right? Right?”

Josh grinned slightly. “Maybe a little. But it’s not that big of a deal. They’re just kids like us. A little older, but they have their own lives too. From what I hear, Yamaki is doing his best to help them grow up normal.”

“Who wants to be normal?” Kyle asked, and grinned as he heard a soft cheer from his partner.

Josh smiled at that, and nodded. “Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. Not big hero-celebrities, if they don’t want to be.”

“Okay, I’ll… try to be cool,” Kyle said, despite the flutter in his chest. He’d watched them save the world. Do things with their partners that no one else had ever done. He had so many questions. But sure, he could be cool. He ran through all his social scripts in his head. They were just kids, right? They weren’t even that much older than Kyle was, they’d just met their partners much earlier. Meaning they’d had years to explore the digital world together, and understand their bond. But that was no reason to be intimidated by them. He could just treat them like any other fellow Tamer, right?

“Meanwhile,” said Chelsey, “We should probably tell everyone else about this, right? Digimon snarls, weird collapsed realms… or not so much collapsed? Reformatted?”

Josh nodded. “Reformatted sounds right. This wasn’t even connected to the places we’re patching, so that means–”

Josh’s words were drowned out by a roaring sound, fast approaching them over the lava fields.

“What is that?” Kyle asked. He was pretty sure no one could hear them over the noise, but his question answered itself moments later, as a sleek green digimon, mechanical and bipedal with massive ear-fins, landed right in front of them.

“Rapidmon! Jianliang!” Chelsey cheered as the roar of the digimon‘s movement cut off, and a boy, a few years older than Kyle, smiled and waved to her as he slid down from the digimon’s back. He had short-cropped black hair, and was dressed in a Japanese high-school uniform. His partner shifted as soon as he touched the ground, turning into an adorable little green canine digimon with very long ears.

Kyle would have recognized them even without Chelsey calling their names. Even if Jianliang Lee hadn’t been quite as interested in the spotlight as some of the other Shinjuku kids, he’d still been crucial for saving the world. Despite all his preparations, star-struck uncertainty rose in Kyle’s chest as the other boy approached.

“We came as fast as we could.” He spoke in calm, lightly-accented English. “Let’s see what you have.”

Kyle’s brain spun. How fast could Rapidmon really go, if they’d been able to get here that fast? Especially if Jianliang had been doing something else when he got the call from Yamaki? It had only been a few minutes. Could he and Aullidomon learn to move that quickly? Think of all they could do if they could move at jet speed!

After a moment, Kyle realized everyone else was very quiet. After another moment, he realized they were looking at him. Right. He was holding the frozen snarl in his backpack. “Oh! Yeah!” He slipped it off his back, and tugged it open, working the frozen block of ice free. Once it slid free, his words did the same; it suddenly seemed really important to explain as much as possible. “We couldn’t hurt it, we couldn’t hurt any of them, but I realized we could still shock them and immobilize them. They’re not really any stronger than they would be otherwise, they’re just really really durable. It’s a lot like the snarls we saw in collapsing realms before, nothing could really hurt them at all. But they didn’t merge with the digimon then, they were just sort of part of the scenery?” There was so much more Kyle was ready to say, but he found himself forced to take a breath.

“Moumentai,” said Terriermon, those long ears twitching a bit. “I’m sure you all and Jianliang can figure it out together!”

“Thanks, Rapidmon.” Jianliang nodded slightly, already kneeling over the frozen Babydmon to examine it closer. He brushed frost away and peering closely at the place where the digimon’s form turned into that strange white tentacle. “Hm, that looks very strange. I think I’ll need to actually touch it to examine it properly. How dangerous is it?”

“It’s pretty… feisty,” Seadramon said. “But didn’t seem like it could hurt us any more than most young digimon.”

“I see.” Jianliang was still mostly focussed on the ice block. “Still, I don’t like the look of that… tail tip, tentacle tip, whatever you want to call it. It’s not normal digi-matter, not sure what it could do if it really hit someone.”

Kyle frowned. “One of them hit Coyomon earlier…” he said.

“Yeah, they bit me lots! And Okuwamon and Seadramon too! But it wasn’t that bad!”

“Hmm. Let me see?” Jianliang shrugged his backpack off his back, and rummaged inside. He pulled out a device that looked like a ridiculously over-engineered magnifying glass, with extra dials and probes, and a screen instead of a lens. “Where did it hit you?”

Coyomon’s head tilted. “Side, the first time! And legs and kinda all over… But didn’t leave any marks.”

“Not that you can see, at least,” said Jianliang. “But this is picking up some small-scale distortion, see?”

Kyle’s stomach lurched. “What? Is he going to be okay?” He leaned in to look at the screen. There were faint staticky shimmers over Coyomon’s legs and flank, that looked a lot like wounds.

“These ones are healing,” said Jianliang. “But it’s a good thing you weren’t there longer. I’m not sure what would happen if this got really bad.”

“Well, then it’s a very good thing that no one took any big risks then, hmm?” said Josh dryly. He was looking right at Kyle when he said it, but then he turned his gaze to Chelsey. “And a very very good thing that someone’s theory panned out and they didn’t have to stay there getting pummeled.”

“Yeah…” said Kyle and Chelsey, nearly in unison, as Coyomon and Kunemon gave bashful nods.

Kyle’s relief that Coyomon wasn’t in any immediate danger warred with uncertainty about how they’d be able to fight those Snarls in the future. ‘Distortion’ sounded worse than getting a few scratches. And how could they tell how much was too much if the damage was invisible?

“Given that, I think I’ll leave this one frozen, for now,” said Jianliang, now inspecting the Babydmon with that same device. “Lots more distortion here, but that’s not surprising. This white material seems sort of like… the fundamental structure of the digital world, but tangled and folded so that it behaves like a physical object.”

“So, snarled,” said Josh.

Kyle nodded, and couldn’t help grinning slightly. “Bryan’s gonna be so proud.”

“Can you fix them?” asked the Monodramon, who was watching from a few steps away.

“Well… I’m not sure,” Jianliang replied. “Judging from this one, it’s affecting them quite a bit. I suspect that distortion is also what’s making them so aggressive. It’s altering or overlaying their personalities, and they’re just confused and lashing out.”

Terriermon frowned, putting a paw on the ice. “That sounds terrible… So can we un-snarl them?” he asked his partner.

“I can’t see how to do it here,” Jianliang admitted. The Monodramon sagged, looking even more worried, and Terriermon moved closer to try to comfort him. “But we have much better equipment back at Nodens in the physical world.” Jianliang looked up. “May I take this with me?” he asked the others.

“That was sort of my plan,” said Kyle with a nod.

“But is it safe to move them through the portals?” Coyomon asked, with a glance at Chelsey.

“Ah, the infections?” Jianliang looked back toward the portal. “Good thought,” he said, nodding with a warm smile in Chelsey’s direction. “Let’s see.” He brought his analyzer tool over there. “Well, this portal is infected. But that’s not surprising given what happened on the other side.”

Kyle winced, and he felt Josh twitch next to him.

“We didn’t think they would cause more collapses so soon outside the ones we were already working on.” Josh stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of the portal. “Stupid.”

Kyle reached out for his boyfriend. “Hey. It’s okay. We couldn’t have gotten all of them.” Honestly, he figured he felt almost as bad as Josh did, but it didn’t feel right for Josh to be blaming himself.

Josh shook his head with a sigh. “More to evacuate. This whole place, lost… all because of these stupid snarls.”

“Well,” said Jianliang, after a few more moments peering at the portal through his device. “I don’t think it’s that exactly. And I think it’s safe to move the one you captured. The portal infection has a completely different signature from the snarl distortion.” He gestured at the screen, which was now showing two scans side by side.

Kyle couldn’t really make anything of it, but Chelsey nodded. “Looks right to me. So you’re saying they’re completely different phenomena?”

“Well,” said Jianliang, “If I had to theorize, I’d say that the collapses are straining the fundamental code of the world badly enough to make the snarls happen, but the snarls don’t carry any trace of the original code used to cause those collapses.”

Kyle and Josh looked to Chelsey, who nodded. “Make sense to me.”

“Well then,” Jianliang stood. “I’d like to get this back to Nodens.”

“And you need to get back to school,” Terriermon added.

“And that, yes.” The two of them started to work together to get the frozen creature into Jianliang’s backpack.

The Monodramon stepped forward. “Can I… go with you? I want to know if they’re going to be okay, and… well… my home is gone…” They looked sadly at the portal.

“Of course!” said Terriermon, breaking off and giving the other little digimon a hug. “Right, Jianliang?”

Jianliang nodded, and smiled. “I think we can find a place for one more digimon.” He reached out a hand for Monodramon, as Terriermon evolved back to his sleek, speedy champion form. “Thank you all. We’ll let you know as soon as we find out more!”

Kyle and his friends waved and called out various goodbyes and thank-yous as Jianliang climbed onto his partner’s back, and soon they blasted off the way they came, leaving the three partner-pairs alone again.

Josh sat down heavily. “So. We’ve got a whole new threat to worry about, a whole new realm to evacuate, and we still don’t know what’s causing all this in the first place.”

Seadramon finally devolved back to his smaller form, and pressed up against his partner’s side. “It’s okay, Josh. We’ll figure it out.”

Kyle nodded, and sat on his other side. Right now he didn’t feel so optimistic himself, but it still felt better to be near the others. “We’ll just… do what we have to do, right?”

“Yeah!” said Coyomon, flopping heavily across Kyle and Josh’s laps. Josh let out a surprised huff, but Kyle found himself relaxing a bit more. That pressure always helped.

Chelsey and Kunemon joined them, completing a small circle on the basalt ground. “More information is never bad,” she said. “And we’ve got more people to help us too. Come on, let’s tell the others, and head back.” She nodded to Kyle. “We’ll just do what we have to do.”

Chapter Text

The next morning dawned far too early, and it was only helped a bit by the fact it was Friday. Their ordeal in the Digital World had meant that Kyle had gotten home fairly late, and still had to explain his extended absence to his parents and do his homework. And after all that, how was he supposed to rest easy after finding out about a whole new threat to the digimon and their realms? Coyomon’s comforting presence at least helped Kyle get to sleep eventually, but the next morning he was tired enough that riding Aullidomon to school didn’t sound like a good time. The car ride would take longer, but maybe he could at least get a nap.

“Mom, can you take me to school today?” he asked, stifling a yawn as he picked at a bowl of cereal and yogurt.

“Sure, kiddo,” she said, giving him one of those long looks that happened right before she usually asked more questions than he wanted to answer. “You know that means we’ll have to leave early, right? Is everthing okay?”

“Didn’t sleep good,” he said. “All the digimon stuff.”

She nodded. “You’re being safe, right? You’re not doing this all alone? Is there anyone else who can help? Is this something you have to do?”

He tensed. This kind of conversation was hard enough when he was fully awake. Hadn’t they been through this already last night? “We’re getting help, Mom. And we’re doing it together. This is important stuff, and we’re taking it seriously. You trust us, and you trust Nodens, right?”

“Yeah!” Coyomon said, looking up, a few pieces of cereal falling out of his mouth. “We’re good, and Boyfriend-Josh is good, and Betamon, and June, and--”

Kyle chuckled softly and rubbed his partner’s head. “And everyone else, yeah. I mean, we’re all a bit freaked out, but I’m pretty sure they’ve got a plan.”

“Glad to hear it,” said his dad with a nod. “As long as you’re all supporting each other. And as long as you remember you can ask us for help, too? For more than just rides.”

Kyle wasn’t at all sure what sort of help that would be, if he still had to keep up with homework and bedtime and all the other parental regulations. But for now at least, the ride to school, and the chance to nap, were welcome.

Kyle was a bit more well-rested when he got to school, so he didn’t feel too overwhelmed when June flagged him down in the hallway just to say “Lunchtime. Mr. Neary’s room. Got more planning to do.”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, okay. Makes sense. I’ll be there.” He brightened a bit when he saw Josh walking a few steps behind June. Kyle smiled at his boyfriend, but the look he got back was hard to understand, and definitely didn’t seem cheerful.

“Hey Josh! Um… you doing okay?”

“Huh? Oh. Sure, yeah.” Josh’s voice didn’t match the offhand words, and Kyle was about to probe more when Josh continued. “But I gotta go to class.”

Josh was lost in the crowd before Kyle could ask more, or even say “see you at lunchtime.” He tried to find June to ask her if she knew of anything bothering Josh, but she was on the way to class as well.

Kyle squeezed his digivice, and raised it to his face to speak to his partner discreetly. “That sounded… weird, right?”

Coyomon’s voice replied softly from the device. “Maybe just tired? You’re tired too, Partner-Kyle!”

The digimon had a point. “Well, yeah, but… Yeah.” Kyle shook his head and sighed as he turned from the hall into the classroom. “Gonna be a long day.”

It was indeed a long day, even just to get to lunchtime. Even with his car nap, Kyle barely managed to avoid nodding off in Social Studies, and gym class just before lunch was even more of a slog than usual.

At lunch, Kyle headed to Mr. Neary’s room, his stomach churning slightly with a mix of feelings. He always looked forward to lunch with his friends, human and digimon alike, but this time there was a whole lot to deal with. What were June’s plans? Was it just one other realm they had to evacuate now, or would there be more precautions they had to take? And would Josh be in a better mood now?

The assembled crowd didn’t make his heart feel much cheerier when he saw them. There wasn’t anything happening yet; everyone was at least taking some time to eat first, but June and Bakumon were already all business, studying June’s ever-present notebook. Josh and Betamon still seemed distracted; they didn’t even greet Kyle when he came in or Coyomon when he materialized.

Bryan and Hielomon were the exception. The big digimon waved cheerfully, and Bryan immediately wanted to talk, though his topic wasn’t exactly what Kyle wanted to be focussing on. “Hey! So you saw snarls? Digimon snarls? It sounded like they were super gross and weird!”

“They were!” said Coyomon. “They weren’t very strong, but getting hit by them felt all…” He shifted, and made a warbling growl noise. “So don’t do that!” He then turned his attention to Bryan’s leftover pizza lunch. “Can I have some of that?”

“Hah, sounds like you deserve it,” said Bryan, and lowered a small piece that was eagerly snapped up by the digimon.

Hielomon grinned. “Just save some for me, okay?” he asked, but then he gave a more serious nod. “It sounds like it was a pretty rough time.” He reached down to give Coyomon a rub between the ears as he ate his own pizza. “And we have more rough stuff to come, huh?” The big dragon digimon glanced over at June, who was tidying up her food. “You all ready for this?”

Kyle focussed on finishing his sandwich, and set out a few snacks for Coyomon and the other digimon. “I guess so,” he mumbled, and grabbed a chair nearby Josh. He was still trying to think what to say to break through his boyfriend’s strange mood when June started talking.

“So. We’re mostly done up evacuating the other realms, we should be done today or tomorrow at worst, right?” Everyone gave nods with various levels of enthusiasm. “Which is good, because we have some new things we need to take care of.”

“We’ll handle the Obsidian Castle,” Josh said, almost speaking over her. “They know me and Betamon there, so it should be easier than most.”

June frowned, and Bakumon floated higher to draw attention. “Thank you,” the little digimon said, “But there’s more to it than just that. There’s also the matter of the portals, and the Defenders.”

June nodded. “Since it looks like new portals are getting infected, we’d like to work out ways to patch as many as possible. I asked Nodens for a full map, or a plan to hit as many as possible, but it sounds like that’ll be a while. There’s a lot of them. So in the meantime, I was thinking we could just try to go through as many as we can.”

“You could think of it like exploring,” said Bakumon. “Scenic routes?”

“As long as you keep doing what you need to for the evacuations,” added June.

Kyle realized that exploring the digital world was something that would usually get him very excited, but today it wasn’t hitting him that way. He knew that every time he saw a new place, he’d be wondering if something would happen to it. Wouldn’t they have to go through every portal in a realm to make sure it was safe?

He hauled himself out of that thought spiral by holding onto Coyomon’s collar. June was still talking when he managed to focus on the room again. “…need to get the Defenders to listen. The last thing we need is some of their guard digimon infected with Snarls.”

Bryan scowled, nodding. “They’d probably blame us, and there’d be super-tough mutated digimon to deal with.”

“Indeed,” said Bakumon. “Hopefully, June and I can talk some sense into them.”

“So that’s my and Bakumon’s job for today,” said June. “Everyone else clear on what they’re doing?”

Kyle leaned forward. “I… spaced out a little bit. Where am I going again?”

“Coming with me,” said Josh, his voice as flat and abrupt as before.

Kyle was pretty sure from the look on June’s face that that wasn’t part of her plan, “I thought you said you’d be handling it alo--” she started to say, until Bakumon touched her shoulder with her trunk, and she cut herself off. “All right then. I think that’s all for now. I have to coordinate with the other folks now. Thanks for… well… all this, everyone. Be safe?”

“Okay, I have no idea what’s going on here,” said Kyle, more to himself than the rest of the room.

Coyomon gave him a sympathetic look and a reassuring nuzzle. “Me neither Partner-Kyle. Time with boyfriend-Josh

is good though, right?”

“I hope so…” He looked over at Josh, who seemed as preoccupied as he had all day. He knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere just by staring at the other boy and wondering, so he built up the courage to use his words, happy that it took him a lot less time now than it used to.

“Hey Josh? Is everything okay? You’re acting… kinda weird?”

Josh gave him a thin smile, which made Kyle feel at least a little better. “There’s just a lot going on. A lot to think about. But don’t worry, Obsidian Castle will be easy, like I said.”

Betamon nodded from the table next to him. “Nice to have something easy to do for once, right?”

“Oh. Well, yeah, I guess so,” Kyle nodded. That sounded sensible enough. And certainly Josh had as much to worry about as he did. That must be it, right? “Thanks guys,” he said. He gave Josh a last long look, but at this point it didn’t seem very likely that they’d have any sort of relaxing time hanging out at lunch. He’d have to find something else to do. “C’mon Coyomon, let’s just get a head start on homework. We might end up with another busy evening again.”

As soon as the last bell rang, Kyle headed for the exit. He knew just which door Josh was likely to be headed out of, and he figured that the sooner they took care of what they needed to in the digital world, the sooner Josh would be back to normal.

Sure enough, Josh was there, and Betamon appeared from his digivice as soon as they were out of the building. Josh gave a quick nod. “Ready to go? Stay with me, all right? We don’t know what might happen.” Without anything else, he strode off in the direction of the nearest gate. Betamon scuttled quickly after him, trying to keep up.

“What?” Kyle called after his boyfriend, and he and Coyomon picked up their own pace to close the distance. “Josh, we’ve been there plenty of times? What do you mean we don’t know what might happen?” He looked down at Coyomon, and lowered his voice. “Is it just me, or is he acting weird?”

“Pretty weird!” His partner nodded rapidly. “Maybe ask Betamon?” Coyomon bounded off to the side, to catch up with the little digimon who was still hurrying after his partner. “Betamon! What’s going on with Boyfriend-Josh?” he asked, not being particularly quiet.

“I can hear all of you back there,” Josh called over his shoulder. “I’m not acting weird. I’m just… concerned. And focused. You should be too.”

Betamon paused in his step for a moment, but then nodded. “Don’t worry about us, okay?” he said, looking at Josh and Coyomon both in turn. “Let’s just… be careful and take care of stuff, yeah? Like… carefully.” Then he managed to put on a burst of speed that let him catch up with Josh.

Kyle frowned. “Okay, he’s acting weird too, right?” he asked his partner, almost whispering this time. Coyomon just nodded, and Kyle sighed and shrugged as they continued on their way.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Josh shivered as he emerged through the portal in Kyle’s yard. The mid-November air was a bracing change from the tropical warmth of the digital world jungle. He quickly pulled a coat out of his backpack. He’d learned months ago that a trip through the digital world required lots of changes of clothes to keep up with the different climates. He checked over his shoulder to make sure Kyle was set too, then looked off toward the road. There was a lot to think about. The portals, the merges, the snarls, whatever had just happened after the heated conversation on the other side of that portal… A nice simple dinner would be a relief.

“So. Dinner,” Josh said. “Burgers? You keep talking about that place that’s close to your house…”

Kyle looked less certain. “Oh! Hmm. I’ll have to check my allowance. We usually have dinner at home.”

“Partner-Kyle, I’m hungry nooooow!” Coyomon was nosing at his partner’s leg.

“Me too,” said Betamon, who was at least a bit more polite about it. “They have good snacks here at least, right?”

Kyle glanced to his house. “I could grab some stuff. I should at least let mom and dad know I’m back, anyway. You wanna come, or stay?”

Josh shrugged. “I think I’m more or less okay with your family at this point.” He followed along as they all headed for the house.

“Kyle! Coyomon!” Kyle’s mother waved from the kitchen as they came in the door. “And Josh and… Betamon, right?”

Josh smiled and waved as Betamon nodded.

“Welcome back, it’s been a while!” called Kyle’s dad from the living room. “We haven’t seen you since you started school! How’s it going? How’s things at the Otsuka-Reynolds house?”

Josh suddenly felt a bit off-balance from the enthusiastic parental greeting. It reminded him a bit of his parents’ own toxic scrutiny, and that was not a happy feeling. “Things are going fine,” he said flatly.

Betamon came to his rescue. “We’re headed back there now, but we were wondering if we could get some snacks here first? We had a looooong day.”

“Oh, we can do better than that,” said Kyle’s mom. “I’m just about done with dinner, and there’s always leftovers. We could feed you here, if June’s parents wouldn’t mind you being back late?”

Josh had no idea how to respond to that. As much as he knew Kyle’s parents were much more accepting than his own, the old feelings persisted. And yet, at the same time, whatever Kyle’s mom was cooking did smell delicious; cheesy and spicy, and he was getting pretty hungry himself.

Mercifully, Betamon didn’t jump at the chance for more food sooner, giving him time to think more. Even Kyle and Coyomon looked uncertain.

“Do you think that’d be okay?” Kyle asked him. “I’m supposed to notice when you’re getting worried, and I think you are?”

Josh couldn’t help smiling at his boyfriend’s earnest-yet-timid approach to navigating social situations. And there was something about the idea of sitting down to a normal dinner with Kyle’s family that seemed like it might be validating. Not to mention the fact that he probably had something to make up to Kyle after how the afternoon went. “Can we have a sec?” he asked Kyle’s parents, not waiting for a response before retreating back into the garage.

“They’re kinda a lot, huh?” Betamon said, as soon as Kyle and Coyomon had followed him and closed the door. Josh nodded, with a soft sigh.

Kyle looked sympathetic, and slightly pained. “I know, right?” he said. “I remembered how you were the first time they came back and… If you wanna go, it’s okay.”

Josh thought for a moment before responding. His thoughts were jumbled. Even with the parental factor, something in him was yearning for more time with Kyle, but was the intensity of those feelings leading him into another sort of difficult situation? “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “After everything today, I still want to spend more time with you, and It seems like it might be okay, if I’m not just the center of attention all the time.”

Kyle nodded and looked down at his partner. “I think we can handle that, right Coyomon!”

“Yeah! I’m good at getting attention!”

Josh and Betamon couldn’t help laughing at that. “All right then.” He headed back indoors, bracing himself only slightly. “So, what’s for dinner, Mrs. Fairbank?”

“Please, call me Joyce,” she said. “We’re having enchilada casserole. And I’m sorry if we came on too strong. We want our home to be welcoming for you, and I was just excited.”

Josh nodded. It definitely hadn’t been the right approach to making him feel welcomed, but he figured them noticing the problem counted for something. “Thanks,” he said. “And enchilada… casserole?”

Coyomon was wagging his tail. “It’s sooooo good!”

Kyle nodded. “It really is. Even if I keep saying enchiladas are already basically a casserole.”

Kyle’s mother was taking a large square dish out of the oven. Cheese and tortilla were visible on the top, and that rich spicy scent just grew stronger. “It’s a local specialty!” she said proudly. “You probably haven’t even had green chile yet, have you?”

Josh thought about this. June’s family did a lot of takeout, with both parents working late. It had all been pretty similar to the food he was used to in Seattle. “I don’t think so?”

“If you’re not sure, then probably not,” said Kyle with a grin.

“Consider it a welcome to the southwest,” said Kyle’s dad as he helped set the table.

Josh looked at Betamon with a half-grin. “Are they ganging up on us?”

His partner giggled and bobbed up and down in a shrug. “I think so, but it does smell really good! Let’s eat!”

Four humans and two digimon filled up all the seats at the dining room table, and soon their plates were filled. The enchilada concoction looked as messy as casserole usually did, a small pile of cheese, tortilla, beef, tomato, and green sauce, but all the promises made by its smell were completely fulfilled when Josh took a taste.

“Oh wow,” he said, with his mouth still full. The strongest flavors were the cheese (always welcome) and a savory-spicy flavor that was hard to describe. It had some of the heat of other peppers he’d eaten, but it wasn’t overpowering, and it was mellowed by a smoky earthiness. “That’s the… green chile?” he asked, once he swallowed.

“It’s soooo good, right?” Coyomon said, voice muffled by the fact that his muzzle was directly in his own serving. Betamon didn’t respond, but only because food was rapidly disappearing into his own big mouth.

Josh nodded. “You’re right, I would’ve remembered if I’d had this before.”

Kyle was wearing a big grin, practically glowing from seeing Josh enjoy himself.

“Well, it’s easy to find around here,” said Kyle’s father. “You can get it on burgers, pizza, even ice cream!”

“I’m not so sure about that last one,” Josh said, after swallowing another bite. “But the rest… Yeah, this is great.”

“It’s the best!” said Betamon, finally coming up for air. “Can I have more?”

There was plenty left in the big casserole dish, but Josh looked at Kyle’s mother before serving out more to his partner.

“That’s what it’s there for,” she said. “I’ve had to learn to make lots of food for not much money, since this one started living with us.” She nodded her head toward Coyomon. The digimon just nodded in response and wagged his tail.

Kyle giggled, then frowned slightly, seeming to think hard. “Wait, Josh, how did you and Betamon…? I mean, if your family didn’t know about him…”

Josh let out a small sigh at the memory, but it was hard to be too down when his belly was filling with good food. “Lots of digital world foraging,” he said. “And lots of allowance otherwise.” He glanced over at Betamon, who looked a bit downcast. “But B was worth it. He helped me be strong.” Josh served up another portion of enchilada casserole to his partner, who gave a happy wiggle and started eating again.

The rest of dinner passed smoothly. The conversation moved on to other topics, mostly adult small-talk that none of the kids or digimon had much interest in. It wasn’t exciting, but it at least didn’t include any veiled recriminations the way he’d been used to with his birth family.

“Is it okay if Josh and Betamon hang out here for a while?” Kyle asked as they all cleared their plates. “Did you still want to?”

Josh nodded as Kyle’s mom responded. “Fine with us, as long as you still have time for homework… and keep the door open.” That gave Josh an odd twinge; his parents wouldn’t have even stood for two kids like them being alone in a room together, gender issues aside.

“Moooom,” Kyle said, but he was smiling as he did; apparently even that reminder was half-joke in this family. “Plus it’s Friday night, there’s all weekend for homework.”

“Not if you spend it all in your digital world again,” said his dad, but he was smiling too as he said it.

“Well, there is a lot to do there,” said Josh. “And homework too. But yeah, some downtime here would be really nice.” What would they do, though? Together in Kyle’s room, door open or not… Sure, they’d had late night discussions before, and had been together plenty of times in the digital world; they’d even kissed. But in this setting… Maybe something less personal would be in order. “Digimon episodes?” Josh suggested as they stepped into the living room.

Kyle shook his head. “That’s getting a bit too real again.” Coyomon and Betamon were already off heading toward Kyle’s room. “I kinda wanted to talk more? Hopefully about something a bit less stressful.”

“Sure,” Josh said, feeling a little flutter as he passed through the threshold into his boyfriend’s room. Kyle sat on the bed, and Josh sat next to him, his body tense. “Uh. Something in particular?”

“Yeah. This might sound weird…” Josh felt himself tense a little more. This did not feel less stressful so far. “But at dinner you were saying like how B helped you be strong. Did you mean like, literally?” The words tumbled out of Kyle, and ended with a squeak.

Josh took a moment to readjust his thoughts. That was not where he expected the conversation to go. But at least it was easily answerable. “Oh! Well, that’s not what I really meant. I meant more like dealing with my family. But…”

Betamon chimed in right then, of course. “But that too! Right Josh?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah, that too. I don’t really understand the details. But It definitely seems like B is helping me out in ways other than just zapping bad guys and cheering me on. It’s like I get tired less, I can do more. Came in really handy building File Town… both times. Why?”

“I help Partner-Kyle like that too!” said Coyomon before Kyle could say anything.

“Yeah,” said Kyle. “I never used to be able to run very well, but now I’m thinking of joining the track team. I can do it longer, and pretty sure I’m faster too. I mean, not Aullidomon fast, but…” He grinned and looked at his partner, who was wagging his tail. “And of course sometimes I feel the same things he does, and that’s really helpful too.”

Josh nodded, happy to be covering topics he knew about. “Well, yeah, you have good sync. You’d have to, to have evolved that much.” He grinned. “We did talk about this already, right?”

Kyle nodded. “Oh, yeah, yeah! But not about the running or the… lifting?” He paused then, petting his partner in that way he did when he was thinking anxiously. “And, but, like… Does that happen with other people too? Syncing?”

All that tension was suddenly back. Josh exchanged a look with Betamon, who bobbed up and down in a little shrug, but then nuzzled his leg. “You… noticed something after our talk in the jungle?” he guessed. He hadn’t entirely been sure what that was himself, but it did seem like he’d been syncing with more than just his partner.

Kyle’s hand inched toward Josh’s on the bed. “I think so, yeah. It’s like it wasn’t just me and Coyomon, it was me and him and you and B and it was all really good. Twice as good. Four times as good?” Kyle got a familiar half-distracted thoughtful look in his eyes. “Maybe it’s squared…?”

“Yeah, felt good!” Coyomon pressed up next to both of them on the bed.

“I haven’t heard anyone else talk about that,” Josh admitted. “But yeah, I think I felt something too. Maybe it’s a…” He trailed off. There were plenty of momentous words right on the tip of his tongue, but all of them felt like too much right now. He shook his head with a nervous grin. He hoped he wasn’t blushing too hard. “It was really nice though, whatever it was.”

Kyle didn’t seem to have noticed anything too strange about his expression or words, fortunately. His mind was clearly being drawn more to something else, and after a moment Josh saw the other boy’s eyes widen. “I think I know what it might be,” Kyle said, his face suddenly wearing an excited grin. “Maybe we should watch some more Digimon episodes. Maybe we should even skip ahead.”

Chapter Text

The living room was quiet for a few moments after the second episode wrapped up. Kyle’s head spun as he tried to work out what to say, but Josh beat him to it.

“‘DNA Digivolve’ is kinda a silly phrase.”

Kyle’s mind went blank.

“Yeah, I don’t think I even have DNA!” added Betamon.

“Well… I…” Kyle was just about to panic when he finally noticed the playful grins on both their faces. His words fell apart into nervous giggles, and he shook his head. “Yeah, it kinda is, huh?” He managed a grin of his own. “In Japanese I think it’s ‘jogress’, is that any better?”

Josh laughed. “Not really, no.”

“But, you see what I mean, right? They sorta got in sync, and… bam! More powerful combined digimon! Later they get to evolve more too, it’s really awesome!”

Josh nodded. “I mean, I guess they were in sync… I didn’t really know the characters; you must’ve skipped a lot. So like, that Ken guy was a bad guy before?”

“I know, I felt kinda bad about it.” It seemed like Josh was getting distracted off the main point, but Kyle couldn’t exactly blame him. It always felt good to have his boyfriend interested in the same things he was. “It’s actually got some really good character development, we really gotta watch more…” Now he was getting distracted. “But… the combining thing!”

“Was so cool!” said Coyomon, wagging his tail. “Can we do that?” he asked.

“It was cool,” said Betamon thoughtfully. “But I’ve never heard of it happening.”

Josh nodded. “Things do work differently in the real digital world, remember,” he added, gently.

“I know,” said Kyle. “But we felt it. Your feelings, your heartbeat even, just like in the show!”

“Yeahyeahyeah!” Coyomon was nodding rapidly. “I felt Betamon, and Boyfriend-Josh, and it was so good!”

“That’s true,” said Betamon. “It did feel good.”

Josh was quiet for a moment. “I did feel something--” Then he cut himself off as the sound of footsteps approached from outside the room.

Kyle’s dad peeked in. “Er, what are you boys… feeling?” he asked

Kyle’s stomach plummeted as he tried to imagine what that last bit of conversation would sound like to someone who didn’t have all the context. He felt Josh freeze next to him on the couch.

“Digimon stuff!” he said quickly. “Not… other stuff!”

Coyomon perked up. “Partner-Kyle thinks me and Betamon can make a new digimon together!”

Betamon made a strangled squeak. Josh murmured “Oh my god.” Kyle wondered what it might feel like to die of embarassment.

Kyle’s father was speechless for a moment. “I should… maybe get your mother in here too…”

Kyle pulled his partner close to himself, hoping to both calm himself down and keep Coyomon from saying anything else.

When Kyle could finally breathe, he tried again. “It’s just another kind of digimon evolu--” He felt a jab from Josh’s elbow, and thought better of that explanation, and tried another one. “When two tamers and their digimon--” He managed to stop himself that time. “Maybe I should just play the episode again?”

Mercifully, Josh spoke up then. “We were just talking through some things involved with our connections to our Digimon, Mr. Fairbank.” Josh’s voice was precise and polite. How did he sound so calm? “I’m sorry if it sounded strange, maybe we just didn’t use the best words.”

“Well, all right,” said Kyle’s father. Was that relief on his face? “I trust you two. Er, you four.” He cleared his throat. “In any case, I was just coming in to remind you it’s getting a bit late. Josh, do you need a ride back to town?”

“Kyle usually helps me out with that, if that would be okay, Mr. Fairbank,” Josh said, still using that formal tone. “Otherwise, a ride would be very helpful, thank you.”

“Wait!” Kyle blurted. It felt like there was still so much to talk about. “Maybe this is a weird time to ask, but… can Josh stay the night? I mean, it’s Friday…?”

Coyomon and Betamon both cheered at the idea, and Kyle caught a glance and a smile from Josh.

“I… suppose that would be okay,” said his dad. “Josh can stay in the spare room, like last time.” He made that sound a bit more emphatic and definite than seemed necessary, but Kyle was relieved to hear that the idea wasn’t out of the question.

“That sounds fine to me, Mr. Fairbank,” Josh said with a quick nod. “May I please use the phone to let June’s parents know?”

The plans solidified quickly, and soon the boys and their digimon were relaxing in Kyle’s room, with the door now wide open.

“Thank you for handling all that,” Kyle said, as he idly pet Coyomon’s back. “You sounded like a whole different person.”

Betamon giggled from Josh’s lap. “That’s his ‘model offspring’ voice.”

Josh nodded and smiled thinly. “I got a lot of practice trying to convince parents that everything is perfectly fine and normal.”

Kyle nodded, and squeezed Josh’s hand. “Hopefully you won’t have to do it too often anymore. Aside from, like, poor-word-choice situations.” He gave Coyomon a stern look, but the digimon just wagged cheerfully and nuzzled him.

“So like… should we talk about it more?” Kyle asked. He glanced down the hallway to make sure there were not parents in earshot before continuing. He still wasn’t sure what a safe word choice would be in this situation. “The… feeling each other thing, I mean.”

The faint groan from both Josh and Betamon confirmed that his phrasing still needed some work, but Josh nodded. “Yeah. I did feel something. It did feel a lot like being in sync with Betamon. But I’m still not sure what that means. Like B said, I’ve never really heard of digimon… DNA… Can we just call it like ‘fusion,’ or something?”

“Fusion, yeah!” Kyle grinned. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen though, right? Just because it hasn’t yet? I mean, humans have combined with digimon before, how different could this be?”

“Hmm…” said Betamon. “He has a point.”

Josh seemed to think about that for a moment. “No one’s really done that since the D-Reaper though, as far as I know.” He sighed. “And I hope we don’t end up in a situation like that.”

Kyle nodded, and he saw Coyomon’s ears droop. “Yeah… me too.” Things suddenly felt heavy, as the uncertainty of the outside world started to press in on their happy little refuge. Kyle squeezed Josh’s hand again. “But… if we do, I know we’ll figure out how to handle it. Whether or not it involves super-biomerge-fusion!”

“Yeah, Partner-Kyle!”

“Yeah… I think we will,” said Josh, squeezing his hand back.

Hand-in-hand, Kyle and Josh flew across the digital world. The combined data of their partners surrounded and supported them. They took down one Snarl after another, chasing down the heart of the distortions, an alien flower made of blank white tentacles. Four voices combined as a blast of energy tore through the monstrosity, and it made a rhythmic electric scream… that slowly changed into the sound of Kyle’s alarm clock.

“Whyyyy did I set an alarm on Saturday, Coyomon?”

“I don’t knooooow, Partner-Kyle--Oh! Was it because Boyfriend-Josh is still here?”

Kyle sat up quickly, letting his blanket fall away. “Oh! Right! Yeah!” The happy haze of the dream paled in comparison to the prospect of more boyfriend time. They could watch more episodes, they could train… They’d definitely have to do some stuff in the digital world, but now they could do it together, with all the bad vibes behind them.

He cheerfully made his way downstairs to the spare room. “Hey Josh! You up?”

“Nnnh… wha… where?” The other boy’s voice was muffled through the door.

“We’re at Coyomon and Kyle’s house, remember?” Betamon was apparently much quicker to wake than his partner. “Good morning Coyomon! Good morning Kyle!”

“Right, right…” Footsteps approached the door, then opened it. “Is everything okay…?” Josh had slept in his clothes.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine!” Then Kyle remembered the last time he’d woken Josh up in this room. “Everything’s fine. Good dreams this time, I think.”

“It’s morning!” added Coyomon. “Time for food! And other things?”

“Food first though!” added Betamon.

Food, in this case, was cereal and milk. Most of the cereal went to the two hungry digimon, but Kyle and Josh managed to secure some for themselves too.

“So does June have more evacuation or patching stuff lined up for us today?” asked Kyle between bites. “I forgot to check.”

“Yesterday she said we were mostly done,” said Josh, “But if you want to go to the digital world, there’s plenty of other stuff. We should probably check in at the Obsidian Castle, for starters. And there’s some realms I’ve been thinking about that we haven’t been to a while. I can show you some cool places, and we can patch some gates, all at the same time.”

“Yay, sight-seeing!” said Betamon.

Josh nodded. “Exactly.” He finished his glass of juice. “Is there anything you wanted to do?” he asked Kyle.

As usual, Josh was full of plans, but it was a huge relief to hear him be cheerful about them, and to be more directly included. “I do want to see what we can do in File Town too,” Kyle said. “We kinda got interrupted there the other day.”

“Sure! We have to pass through there to get to anywhere else anyway,” said Josh. “Ready to go?”

Kyle gave his parents a quick goodbye, and Josh left a message at June’s house, but just as they were heading to the gate, their digivices chirped with a digi-chat message.

June&Bakumon: Library gate! ASAP!

Coyomon’s hackles rose, and Kyle frowned. “That sounds probably not good.”

“Rrrr, not good at all,” his partner agreed, voice already lowering in pitch as he shifted to his speedy Aullidomon form.

“More info would be nice though,” said Betamon.

“On it!” said Josh, typing away even as they climbed onto Aullidomon’s back.

Josh&Betamon: Can someone please gibve more detail?

Messages came in in quick succession. As fast as Aullidomon could run, it felt like it was through molasses as Kyle tried to piece together the situation from scattered messages.

Bryan&Hielomon: this is so messd up. was the other 1 like this?

Chelsey&Kunemon: it's a collapse. reformatting like yesterday. but different

Edouard&Lalamon: 2 other realms at least. maybe 3

June&Baluchimon: There were Defenders stationed there. Trying to find them. This place is HUGE now though

Kyle stopped reading as they approached, trying to tame the anxiety so that he could be at his best in whatever faced them. He held tight to both Aullidomon and Josh as the arroyo blurred by. They slowed down only barely as his partner briefly de-digivolved to pass through the gate as quickly as possible.

They emerged, as before, into a vast area, surrounded by white, but unlike before, the space wasn’t empty. Instead, it was filled with colorful geometric structures. There were large structures like skyscrapers, flat areas like parks, and even something that looked like a rollercoaster. But all of them seemed to be made of neon polygons, floating against that white background.

“What the…” Josh seemed to be floating in space nearby as his own partner started to evolve. “This looks like… I don’t even know…”

“…Cyberspace?” Kyle suggested. It seemed like a strange choice of words. Wasn’t the digital world always cyberspace? But this seemed so much more programmed, constructed, a movie’s scripted view of a digital world, in stark contrast the real wild one.

“Someone did this,” snarled Seadramon. “Someone’s trying to replace our home.”

Kyle was searching the expanse for signs of other tamers, but it was all so busy, filled with color and shape, that it was hard to make anything out… until he heard an approaching buzz, and Okuwamon and several others were almost on top of them. “Defender-Snarls!” June yelled, from atop Kirinmon. “Go go go!”

The roiling chaos of digimon and snarl were close behind them, all highly evolved, all fearsome. Kyle didn’t need any lectures about risk now. Through the gate would be safe, right? That’s where everyone else was going. With a nod toward Josh, they joined the other fleeing tamers as everyone’s digimon dropped in level to get through the gate as quickly as they could.

Soon, a dozen humans and digimon stood around the gate on the physical world side. “Has anyone gotten ahold of Jianliang yet?” June asked, breathing hard. “Or Nodens?”

“Just got him!” Chelsey said. “On his way!”

“All right. We’ll see if he--”

“Uh… everyone?” That was Bryan, his voice tight. “You said they couldn’t follow through patched portals, right? But… did we ever patch the Earth gates?”

Chelsey frowned. “Well, the gates can’t burst the same way so they don’t need to be--Oh no.”

Suddenly the gate started to glow, as something big began to come through.

Chapter Text

Six pairs of tamers and digimon spread out facing the gate, bracing themselves for the snarled defenders to come through.

“What are we going to do?” asked Kyle, frantic.

“Rrrr, fight!” said Auillodomon, already evolved back to a stronger form.

Josh, as usual, was keeping his resolve and trying to plan. “They’re big, and the gates are still throttled, so we have a little time before they get through.” He turned to the others. “How many of them are there? And how strong?”

An older boy with a flowery partner spoke up, his voice carrying a French accent. “We saw three of them. Mammothmon, Garudamon, and Machinedramon.” That must be Edouard and Lalamon, who Kyle had seen in DigiChat, even if they’d never talked much in person.

June nodded. “Though there might be some at other gates. They do shift-changes occasionally.”

“Okay, all Ultimates,” said Hielomon. “That’s not so bad. We can all get that strong right? So we outnumber them two-to-one.”

“Except that the snarl-digimon are really tough,” said Chelsey grimly.

“And they disrupt us just by touching us!” added Kyle. “We… we don’t know what that’ll do!”

Kyle fought to muster his confidence. “Seemed like electricity could still stun them, so we can focus on that. Ice worked good too!”

Bryan grinned. “Well, we got that covered, right Hielo?” His partner nodded, and the two fist-bumped.

“Psychic shields should work pretty well to keep them off us, right?” asked Bakumon with a confident smirk.

“Okudamon’s mostly good at grabbing and grappling,” said Chelsey. “But I ran some tests, and it looks like her armor is resistant to the distortion. Long as we’re just holding on, not actually getting attacked, we should be fine in the short term. Consider us your tank.” She pounded on her partner’s hard carapace, and Kunemon gave a proud buzz.

“We are fast,” said Edouard’s partner Lalamon, “but mostly attack with energy. Perhaps it will work to make some space between them and us?”

“That all sounds great!” said Betamon, bouncing enthusiastically as Josh nodded as well, with a grin that actually helped boost Kyle’s own confidence. “Let’s get growing and get ready,” said the little digimon as he started to glow and lengthen. Energy gathering as he pushed himself all the way to MegaSeadramon form, practically filling the whole arroyo by himself.

Everyone else started to evolve as far as they could, and took their own position. Kyle gained a better view of the whole scene from AmpAullidomon’s shoulder, and noticed that they were starting to gather a crowd, cars stopped along the streets at the edges of the wide arroyo area, and people thronging in the library parking lot. So many huge digimon certainly attracted attention. And things were about to get even more dramatic; the gate was looming larger now, presumably preparing to disgorge digimon at least as large as they were.

“That’s… going faster than it should,” said June with a frown, as she and Kirinmon hovered above the gate. “I wonder if, now that they’re snarlified, they have less data than they used to.”

“What does that mean?” asked Edouard. “They’ll be here sooner? How much sooner?”

“I’m not sure!” June called back. “Maybe--” She cut herself off as a tendril of blank white started to curl from the gate.

“Maybe now-ish?” Kirinmon said.

Josh turned to shout to Chelsey. “Any update from Jianliang?”

“He’s on his way! Not sure how long though,” she replied. “Especially if he can’t use this gate.”

“We’re on our own for now, then!” said June. “You all know what to do!”

That tentacle continued to emerge, revealing itself to be the mutated end of a Mammothmon’s trunk. Its tusks came through next, but they were twisted into serrated nightmares. The whole of its head was covered with white snarl-stuff, a horrible contrast to the rest of its body which seemed relatively unscathed.

Several digimon started to glow with gathered power, but before the Mammothmon could get more than halfway through the gate, it seemed to slam into an invisible wall of force. Kirinmon strained above it, mane writhing as she tried to hold the digimon off. “It’s… so strong!” she said.

A thought struck Kyle. “Can you communicate with it? Like, psychically? Get it to stop? They respect you, right?”

“Perhaps…” said Kirinmon. Her stance shifted, and she stared directly into where the Mammothmon’s eyes ought to be… and then she shuddered, seeming to almost lose her footing, even though she was floating in the sky.

“It’s… It’s not there anymore,” Kirinmon said hollowly. “No mind, just… a drive to corrupt other data. Make it like itself…” Both her and June looked stunned, horrified almost, and in that moment of loss-of-focus, the Mammothmon pushed fully through the gate, followed immediately by the taloned fist of a Garudamon, ferociously pulling itself through.

Enraged, the Mammothmon started to barrel toward Okuwamon, the nearest digimon in its field of view. Kyle trembled, feeling as if he’d caused the two to slip. “AmpAullidomon, help!”

“No problems, Partner-Kyle!” His partner was already moving by the time he said anything, and a whirl of electric arcs struck the Mammothmon, and it froze in mid-charge, body twitching helplessly.

“I’m sorry!” Kyle called up to June and Kirinmon. “I didn’t… I just thought…”

“It’s not your fault!” said Kirinmon.

June nodded. “Worth a try, but--” Her and her partner’s heads jerked in unison toward the emerging Garudamon, which now hit that same wall of psychic energy. “We’ll just have to do it this way!”

Their psychic pressure slowed the Garudamon’s progress, but didn’t stop it. Soon Kyle was able to see wings and tail made entirely of white tendrils, coiling out and helping the digimon push back against the barrier. A blast of ice hit it from the side; MegaSeadramon had just finished freezing the Mammothmon, and joined the fight. The blast caught the Garudamon in the chest, causing it to stagger and shiver for a moment, but then heat rippled over its body, and the ice started to melt away.

“They still have their other powers!” MegaSeadramon said, sounding indignant. “The other ones didn’t still have their other powers!”

“These look a bit more regular than those did too!” said Chelsey. “Not like… normal but like… symmetrical? There’s something about all of this, that-- Hold on!” The Garudamon was resuming its charge now, focussed on MegaSeadramon, but Okuwamon bolted forward, grabbing it firmly in massive pinchers. Chelsey’s partner let out a chittering roar, and she nodded. “You’re right, Okuwamon, it can wait.”

“We have another one coming!” called Edouard.

“C’est très grand!” added Lilamon, showering the portal with bolts of energy. Kyle recognized the towering silhouette of the Machinedramon as it started to come through. Its mutation seemed to be all along the back, encasing its huge cannons in writhing white. But before the digimon could fully escape the gate, Lilamon’s attack hammered against the wicked metal claws, slowing its approach to a crawl.

“Great!” said June. “Keep that up! I really don‘’t want to know if those cannons still work!”

“Kyle! AmpAullidomon!” Josh’s voice rang across the battlefield. “Let’s hit it as hard as we can!”

Kyle nodded, holding onto his partner as the digimon swung around. Canine robot and robotic serpent moved almost as one, facing off to each side of the half-emerged robot dinosaur. Kyle was sure he was feeling that sync again, not just with his partner, but with the other two as well. MegaSeadramon’s mouth opened to let loose another bolt of ice, and Kyle knew not just when it would hit, but how he could help.

“AmpAuillidomon! Voltaic Whirlwind, around the gate!”

“You got it, Partner-Kyle!”

The coil of electrified air encircled the gate just as the ice impacted. The voltage siezed the blocks of ice, and pulled them inward, pummeling the Machinedramon before it could react. MegaSeadramon let out another blast, as Kyle knew he would, and the combined force of the attacks covered the attacking snarl, and the gate itself, in a massive mound of diamond-hard, electrically-charged ice.

Kyle’s ears were ringing, and he was breathing hard, but he realized the field was nearly silent otherwise. There were struggling sounds from the frozen Mammothmon and the grappled Garudamon, but everyone else was just staring.

“Is that… it?” Edouard said.

“Dudes, that was awesome!” said Bryan.

“Well, it’s not a permanent solution…” Kirinmon pointed out, but June nodded, and finished the sentence. “…But if Jianliang’s on the way, it might be enough.”

Kyle and his partner were looking at Josh and his partner, all four of them wearing big, tired grins.

“I didn’t even know we could do that,” he said, half to himself.

“I did!” said AmpAullidomon. “And MegaSeadramon did too!”

Kyle smiled even more at that, and was about to ask how his partner knew that about Josh’s partner, when a terrible crunching sound tore through the world, and the frozen gate exploded, sending shards of ice in all directions. AmpAuilldomon backpedaled, and Kyle gritted his teeth, trying to see what had happened. The Machinedramon hadn’t even been able to move! What could have caused that?

“Aw hell no!” said Bryan. “We had it!”

Chelsey shook her head. “I think we missed one.”

When the bits of crushed ice cleared, Kyle was shocked to see the Machinedramon knocked flat, scrambling to get up. But it was only a moment before something much worse attracted his attention.

Just emerged from the gate was the Defenders’ Megadramon… or what was left of them. Their coiling tail and ragged wings had all been replaced by Snarl-matter, wreathing their whole outline in undulating white. But their cannon-arms were untouched, and now beginning to glow with a strange scintillating energy.

“This one again?” Bryan scowled. “FuerVentiscamon, let’s show them how sick we are of getting pushed around!”

His partner roared, and charged forward. A blast of cold air from FuerVentiscamon’s mouth reshaped the remaining ice into massive spires, and a beat of wings sent them flying at the Megadramon, but just as they struck, the Megadramon’s own weapons finally discharged.

The bolts of distortion hurt to look at, flickering black and white and unnameable color lancing out toward Bryan and his partner. The sound was static, and squeal, and somehow silence, all at once. It lasted only an instant, and was replaced by a roar of fury and pain from FuerVentiscamon.

Light shone through a ragged hole in one of the dragon-digimon’s wings, but it looked dim next to the stark white around the edges of the wound itself, a fractal trace of distortion that was slowly expanding along the wing’s surface. FuerVentiscamon staggered, then, and Kyle finally noticed where the other beam had landed; the digimon’s foreleg on the other side was simply gone below the elbow, and what was left showed that same corrosion.

“Bryan!” “Snowy!” June’s and Kirinmon’s voices were the first to break the silence, both calling out at the same time, but soon followed by other cries of shock and horror. June and Kirinmon rushed toward the wounded digimon, shining bright. Kyle noticed Bryan clutching his own arm as he tried desperately to stay on his staggering partner’s back, as if he was feeling the same unimaginable pain.

A sharp sound drew Kyle’s attention, and he saw Megadramon, skewered and half-encased in ice but trying to wrench themself free, trying to bring those awful arm-cannons to bear again.

“No.” A voice echoed in Kyle’s head. It sounded like June’s, and it sounded like Bakumon’s, not as if they were talking at the same time, but as if they were the same voice. Kyle looked to where the two had been, and saw only one figure there, an elongated four-legged creature wreathed in fire and water and wind and earth. It descended on the struggling Megadramon, and those whirling elements coiled around and around it. Megadramon’s form was lost within the maelstrom.

“What?” “Who?” “How?” That wasn’t June’s voice, or her partner’s, and yet it was still in Kyle’s head. It wasn’t even one voice, it seemed like several overlapping, and one might even be his own.

“Hurts…” Surely that was Bryan… or his partner?

“We’ll be okay…” That was the other one; the thrum of support between the two was clear.

The voices seemed like they ought to be a jumble, but somehow they were all clear in Kyle’s head, clear in their confusion, or stress, or need. But one rang above them all, that combination of June and Bakumon that had first brought their minds together.

“We can’t hold this for long! Anyone have any ideas?”

Chapter Text

“We can’t hold this for long! Anyone have any ideas?”

The fused voice of June and Bakumon still hung in Kyle’s head, and as much as he wanted to help, he was still struggling to figure out what had happened. June and her partner, fused. With the power to connect everyone mind-to-mind, apparently? And yet they were still struggling to contain the Snarl-mutated Megadramon.

A new voice was in his mind now, seeming somehow far away, even as it rang in his head. “We might have one! Just hold on!” High-pitched, familiar from just a few days before.

“Rapidmon! Missed you!” Kyle would’ve sworn that that wasn’t even a voice, it was just buzzing, but the meaning was clear.

“Missed you too, Okuwamon!”

Only then did Kyle hear the roaring sound of approaching jet engines, as a sleek green digimon approached from above.

“Oh no. Are we too late?” Jianliang, his voice clear in Kyle’s head even though his ears were full of the sound of Rapidmon’s approach.

“Not if you have something that can help out!” Chelsey, with a surge of cheerful hope.

“Yes! Well, sort of!” The older boy’s mind-speech was an excited torrent. “We’re still working on weapons, but we found a data configuration that’s impervious to the snarls’ distortion. It’s not unbreakable by other means, but it’s still very durable, and--”

“Shields!” Rapidmon’s thoughts interrupted his partner’s, and raised one of his metallic arms, which bore a band of what looked like dark metal. “We brought shields!” Interlocking polygons of data shimmered into being in front of Rapidmon’s arm, forming the shape of a knight’s shield. At first it looked black, but when the light caught it, it shimmered with a multitude of colors, like a soap bubble. Dark yet colorful, angular and reflective… all its attributes seemed to be the opposite of the snarl-tendrils that they’d been trying to fend off.

“Yes, thank you, Rapidmon,” Jianliang said, his thoughts trembling with what Kyle could just tell was a slightly frantic giggle. “Shields, enough for everyone! Hold up your digivices!” Jianliang raised his own, one of the strange sleek old-fashioned digivices with the circular screen. It started to shine brightly, and everyone else hurried to pull out their own. There was an answering flash and a soft chime from each one, and Jianliang nodded. “Over-the-air update… complete!”

“Good, yes, over here now please!” That was the strange combined voice of June and Bakumon again, trying to stay calm but shot through with panic. The elemental tempest still roiled around Megadramon, but tendrils of Snarl and those terrifying cannon-arms were starting to poke their way through nonetheless.

AmpAullidomon and MegaSeadramon turned in that direction with decisive nods, and Kyle peered at his digivice to try to figure out how to activate the shield. Whether it was simply good design, or some intuitive sense from Jianliang through the mindlink, he soon found the control, and gifted his partner with shining black polygons of armor-plating.

Josh had done good work too; MegaSeadramon’s body was wrapped in dark-rainbow-shimmering barding, and the sinuous digimon immediately strated to make good use of it. He coiled his tail around the cannon-arm that had emerged, clamping it shut.

“We got this, June,” said Kyle, as AmpAullidomon fended off snaking tendrils with a gleeful snarl. Kyle could feel how happy his partner was that he didn’t have to fear their touch anymore. In mere moments, Kyle and Josh and AmpAullidomon and MegaSeadramon had the vicious mutated digimon securely grappled.

“Thank you, but we’re Mitamamon, now,” replied the voice in his head. A feeling of relief pulsed from the elemental digimon as they lifted away from Megadramon, but a moment later it became a wave of worry and fear. “Bryan, you idiot, what’re you doing!”

FuerVentiscamon was standing shakily on his three remaining legs, his tattered wing sagging as he tried to hold a fighting stance. The wounds seemed even worse than they did moments before, as if the digimon’s form was literally unraveling under the corruption. Still, Bryan had managed to create some armor around his partner as well, but he was shaking with exertion. It didn’t take a psychic link to know how much pain they were both in, and yet the digimon was primed for attack.

“Behind you!” FuerVensticamon managed, his voice faint and strained even mind-to-mind. The warning was followed bt a roar of icy energy that just barely missed Mitamamon… and caught the Machinedramon behind them in a glacial grip just before it managed to power up its cannon.

“Now we… saved you too,” Bryan said, and slumped against his partner’s back, just as the ice-dragon himself fell to the ground, exhausted.

“Idiots,” said Mitamamon again, rushing to their side. Glowing water coalesced between the digimon’s forepaws, and they started to apply it to FuerVentiscamon’s wounds. The worst of the dissolution started to fade, and the wounded digimon and boy alike seemed to relax slightly. “Don’t go anywhere, you ridiculous dumb boys,” Mitamamon added. “We… don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Silence seemed to spread through the whole arroyo and across every mind, until they all seemed to feel Bryan’s weary smile, FuerVentiscamon’s gentle support, and two voices mingled almost as close as Mitamamon’s. “Yeah… same here…”

Another moment ticked by, marked only by the muffled rumblings and strugglings of restrained Snarls, until Chelsey’s thoughts brought them back to reality. “We… still gotta do something about these things, right?”

“Can we get them back through the gate, now that we can touch them?” asked Edouard.

“They’d just come back, wouldn’t they?” asked Kyle. “Unless we… block it off somehow?”

“Don’t we know of any way to affect them?” said Josh. He looked over at Jianliang.

“You said you’re working on weapons!” said MegaSeadramon, still coiled around Megadramon. Josh had reconfigured some of the shielding to hold the digimon directly, but Kyle could see it straining under the digimon’s strength, even if it was impervious to the snarl tendrils themselves. “Anything we can try?”

“It’s difficult to say,” Jianliang replied. “It is a complicated problem. The snarls are a macroscopic manifestation of a fundamental part of the digital world, the gaps between pieces of data that are inherent to a world that’s digital rather than analog.” He was talking fast, infodumping, and Kyle turned all his direction to the older boy, trying to absorb everything he could. “The naturally-occurring ones vary in size, sometimes large enough to have an effect, but they’re ordinarily cleaned up by other elements of the digital ecosystem. In the digital world’s natural state, that’s part of the role of infovores such as Tsumemon, but they can only metabolize very small--”

Jianliang’ monologue was cut off by the sound of a terrible cracking sound from all-too-close to Kyle’s head. Cracks started to form and spread on the shielding encasing Megadramon. MegaSeadramon kept trying to constrict it, but Kyle could see, and practically feel, the strain.

“Rrrrr… No no no….” AmpAullidomon snarled, sending jolt after jolt of electricity into the struggling digimon-snarl, but it kept gaining strength. Kyle’s thoughts whirled. Was there some attack they could use? And something about what Jianliang had just said. Infovores… Eating data, right? And Tsumemon was the earlier form of--

“I have an idea!” he said, though the mind-link was the only reason anyone could hear him, as just then the Megadramon fully broke free, spreading those awful snarl-tendril wings. Everyone else scrambled to reinforce their shields, but Kyle’s mind was locked on something else.

“I need to try to find someone!” he said. “Can you all hold them off?” Megadramon seemed to provide an answer, as it started to bear down on AmpAuillidomon specifically, forcing the digimon to backpedal, doing his best to protect himself with his electric fields.

“What?” Okuwamon’s chittering came through first in his mind. “We can barely confront this one even with all of us here!”

“The odds do not look good!” Lilamon added as she sent a torrent of suppressing fire at the Megadramon. Her partner shook his head fearfully.

He felt a pulse of concern and curiosity from Josh, and did his best to send back a feeling of confidence. “Someone just make us an opening! Please!”

Josh and MegaSeadramon nodded then, perfectly in sync. “Go!” said the other boy. “Time for us to take a crazy risk, I guess.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Josh reconfigure shield panels into a spiked wedge in front of MegaSeadramon’s head. The digimon pulled back, then rushed forward at Kyle’s assailant, wreathing himself in energy. A moment later, they struck Megadramon full in the side, a battering ram of near-unstoppable force that sent the digimon-snarl spinning.

By then Kyle was already fleeing across the arroyo, his partner shifted down to Aullidomon for better maneuverability. He barely registered the crowds of onlookers, reporters, police, and more as they made their way to the streets.

“Where are we going, Partner-Kyle?”

Kyle realized they were talking normally now, and he realized that he was almost entirely out of breath. “Keramon… Rosa…” he managed to get out. “By the river…”

“Huh?” Aullidomon’s head tilted for a moment, then his eyes widened. “Ooooh! Right!” He picked up speed as he headed for the center of town.

“Just hope… they’re home,” Kyle said.

It was only a matter of minutes until they were surrounded by the familiar riverside buildings, sliding to a stop at the playground where Coyomon and Betamon had first found the Keramon. “Wish I knew which house,” Kyle said, frowning. He did his best not to have his thoughts completely consumed by the battle that must still be happening a few miles away. He was almost sure he could still hear booms and roars. “Rosa! Um… Anyone named Rosa here?”

Aullidomon perked up his ears, and lifted his head. “Keramon! We need help!”

There were a few heads peeking from houses, giving them strange looks, but less than he expected. Surely people here must know about the fight. Maybe they were hiding.

There was a moment more of silence, then a jarring screech of a digimon’s voice. “Coyomon!” The gangly form of Keramon emerged from a gate down the road, with Rosa following close behind.

“Oh! You! I know you!” the girl called. “Are you fighting? Mamá said we needed to stay indoors but I think we can help!”

Kyle nodded. “I think you can help too.” He held out a hand to help Rosa onto Aullidomon’s back. “Keramon, are you hungry?”

“Always hungry,” said the digimon, with an unnerving grin.

Rosa giggled as she hopped up. “She really is. She’s growing too!”

Kyle looked at the digimon, realizing that she did, in fact, look larger than she was a week ago. “Well… there’s something we think you might want to try to eat.”

“Okay! We want to help, right Keramon?” The digimon’s big head bobbed up and down rapidly as they ran back to the site of the battle.

Kyle could see the struggle still happening in full force as they approached. To his relief, MegaSeadramon and Josh were easy to see, tangling still with the Megadramon, and everyone else seemed to still be standing as well, guarding and restraining the other mutated monsters. As they got closer to the fight, a change came over Keramon. The digimon had been cuddling close to Rosa, but soon she rose up, head swiveling in the direction of the snarls. “Khrrrr… Tasty…”

“She means the snarls, right Partner-Kyle?”

“I hope so--aah!” Keramon jolted up and away from her spot with her partner, and headed straight toward the frozen Mammothmon, the nearest one to them. As Kyle and his partner watched, and as Rosa cheered, Keramon opened her mouth wide, and bit into and through the unnatural-white trunk tentacle as if it was little more than a marshmallow. The Mammothmon let out a furious shried, and the snarl-matter disappeared into Keramon’s mouth, and the infovore seemed none the worse for wear… and a bit larger.

“Yeah! Keramon!” Rosa cheered. “Those things look bad, get them!”

Kyle realized they were back in mental contact with the others again. “I think we have someone who can help!”

“We noticed,” said Mitamamon.

“That was awesome!” said Bryan.

“Keramon! Can you go for the big one over there?” Kyle pointed in the direction of the Megadramon.

“Yesss….” Keramon dashed in that direction, though she stopped to nip through one of the Garudamon’s tendrils on the way. It reacted the same way as the Mammothmon, shrieking and struggling, and it even seemed to be eyeing the gate, as if wanting to retreat.

Megadramon was ten times Keramon’s size, and paid the hungry little digimon no attention as it kept fighting with Josh and his partner. Keramon headed right for one of those wing-tendrils, and nibbled it to the base before starting on another one. With a startled shriek, the massive digimon-snarl turned to see what was happening, and started flapping its wings and clawing in Keramon’s direction. But Keramon was nimble and fearless, eating more and more snarl-stuff, seeming nowhere close to satiated.

Just like the others, a primal fear seemed to overtake the Megadramon. Just as before it had been overcome by the instinct to hunt and fight, now it seemed consumed by the instinct to flee. It turned away from MegaSeadramon and headed back toward the gate.

Kyle realized he was cheering, and all his friends were cheering along with him, as the once-terrifying creature disappeared from view in a sparkle of pixels.

“Go Keramon! Get all of them!” Rosa was still urging her partner on, and the little digimon needed no encouragement. Garudamon was next, big bites taken out of those mutated wings. It fled for the gate as soon as Okuwamon loosened her grip.

It was easy work then for the tamers and their digimon to get the two frozen snarls through the gate as well, with the only hard part being to keep the voracious Keramon from following them through. Kyle’s heart was still pounding; it was still hard to believe that his plan had worked at all, much less worked that effectively.

“Are they… going to stay there?” Chelsey’s thoughts gave shape to the nebulous worry that hovered around the group.

Keramon’s head jerked up. “Want them… not come back?” she asked.

“They seemed really bad,” Rosa said. “Can you stop them?”

“Yesssss…” Keramon suddenly flew toward the gate, mouth wide. Before anyone could do more than notice, she bit down on the edge of the gate itself, leaving a ragged tear in the glowing form.

“What? Wait!” Kyle reached out toward the gate. It was flickering now, clearly unstable, and Keramon was taking more bites from it. He looked at Aullidomon. His digivice had come from that gate. His partner had come from that gate. If it was destroyed, what would happen to them?

He faintly heard cries of dismay and surprise from others as well. He faintly noticed the gate’s glow dimming and flickering out. He kept himself hugged as close as he could to his partner, his digivice clutched tight in his hand, everything else going blank…

“Rrrr… Partner-Kyle?”

Kyle felt a cold nose on his cheek.

“Hey… Kyle… you okay?”

He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Kyle looked down at his fingers, still wrapped tight around his digivice. He looked over at his partner, still providing firm, soft support. He looked up at his boyfriend, watching him with clear concern.

“Oh…” He slowly unfolded from the uncomfortable tense position he’d locked himself in, and looked around. Six other pairs of kids and digimon stood close. Everyone he cared about was still there… and the gate was still gone.

“Was that… winning?” Kyle asked weakly. He definitely wasn’t sure, but those snarls were at least no longer a threat to their world.

Uncertain noises and half-mumbled words surrounded him. The mind-link was gone again, but it was still clear that everyone else was thinking much like he was.

Then Chelsey stepped a bit closer. She took a shaky breath. “I… think I know what’s causing the merges.” She was on the verge of tears, though Kyle couldn’t tell what emotion was driving them. “All that stuff on the other side? It looked really familiar. I-I gotta go talk to my dad.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The monitors in the Friendscape HQ lobby showed the company’s classic branding. Dazzling neon-lit futuristic cities floated against a brilliant white background. Beams of light connected each one, supposedly creating a cutting-edge network of social connections between their countless happy residents. And Chelsey barely kept herself from putting a fist through each and every screen that showed the horribly familiar image.

She stormed through cubicle-lined halls, her glare daring anyone to get in her way. Kunemon hovered close behind her, emitting an angry buzz that helped keep people at bay even more.

Now the only obstacle was her father’s Executive Assistant.

“Sorry Chelsey, Max is on a call right now,” said Frank, holding up better against their twin glares than most folks in the office. Of course, he’d been practically part of the family for years. Max Sandberg always had to be friends with everyone. Or at least seem like he was.

“Sorry, can’t wait,” Chelsey said, and stormed past the man’s desk. It wasn’t like he could stop her. Open door policy and all that. Which didn’t mean the door was actually open, but at least it was unlocked.

She caught barely a syllable of her father’s phone conversation once she stepped into the office. Not enough to tell what was going on. Her father smoothly pivoted, ending the call with an apologetic “Something came up, I’ll circle back ASAP,” before turning to her.

And of course, before she could even collect her thoughts, he got the first words in. “I’m sorry, Chelsey.”

Her indignation crumbled into confusion. Kunemon’s hovering even wobbled beside her. He knew she was upset? He cared? Or he just knew the right words to say.

Wait.

How did he know? How was he ready with those words so quickly? That just confirmed the worst version of all her suspicions. Her anger came rushing back.

“For what? Messing with the most important thing in my life without telling me? Making it so most of the most powerful creatures in that world hated me? Almost getting my friends killed multiple times?”

Max held up his hands in a placating pose. “I know the unstable boundary effects are out of control. That wasn’t something we expected, and we’re working on it.” He reached those hands out, one toward her and one toward Kunemon. “But I am so proud of you all for being able to handle them how you did.”

“_Proud_ of me? For dealing with your mess? That you made when you were trying to--what? Take over the digital world? Those things mutated so many digimon! They shot someone’s arm off!” Kunemon’s legs crackled with electricity, visualizing all the feelings pent up inside. She almost wished the digimon would let loose.

“Chelsey, that’s exactly why we’re doing this. Please, let me explain.”

For all the fury arrayed against him, her father was… not calm, exactly. But serious. Not begging, not returning the anger. He was trying to be reasonable. That was frustrating in its own way, but it did make Chelsey feel just ashamed enough to pull back a bit.

“I’m listening,” she said, through gritted teeth.

“The digital world is amazing. Revolutionary. But it’s also wild, and frankly pretty dangerous. Look what happened to your little town.”

Kunemon made a sharp buzz, and Chelsey nodded in agreement. “That happened because the digimon thought humans were destroying their world, and it turns out they were right! You were!” She took a breath, trying to control her shaking. “I thought maybe I was wrong, or it was a coincedence, or just someone messing around, or… or…” She struggled not to start sobbing again. She’d done more than enough of that on the way here.

“We’re not destroying it,” her father said. “We’re trying to improve it. Expand it. Make it a place that’s safe for everyone. I’m not surprised those so-called Defenders aren’t happy with it. We’re taking away their power, but we’re doing it to make a better place for everyone.”

“The merges are killing them, dad!”

He nodded. “Some of them were much messier than we hoped for. The merges are supposed to be slow enough to allow digimon to find new places. to live. We didn’t expect the merged areas to grow tentacles and start to attack anything that moved.”

“But you didn’t stop when the snarls started appearing! You just kept going!”

“Snarls. Ah. That’s a clever name! And no, we didn’t. But part of that was because of how good you were at handling the situation. We certainly didn’t expect the… snarls to start mutating the digimon. But I’m sure Nodens will find a way to help with that too. In fact, I’d like to send some resources to help out.” He sighed. “Things haven’t gone as planned, I’ll be the first to admit that, but I really don’t want to cause wanton destruction here, Chelsey.”

“Then what did you want?”

“You saw it. A stable realm, designed to our specifications. We used the Friendscape branding to show that we could create useful complex structures. And the snarl-generation is down to the lowest levels it’s been; it only happens near the portals when the process first starts. If those digimon hadn’t been guarding them, there would’ve been no problems at all.”

He had fully moved from ‘reasoning with his daughter’ tone to ‘pitching to investors’ tone, and Chelsey found herself barely able to get any words out. Kunemon’s angry drone speak for her as she gathered her thoughts enough to say something in reponse. “And you only had to destroy how many of their realms to do it? Displace how many digimon?”

“Chelsey, it’s just data. The realms… the digimon too, when it comes down to it. I know you care about them, I’m fond of them too, but…”

Chelsey could see him looking at Kunemon, and it was clear what he was stopping just short of saying, only because her partner was in the room with them. As if Kunemon couldn’t figure it out herself. Chelsey felt a razor-sharp spike of fury from the digimon, and put a hand on her carapace, trying to keep them both calm. She’d heard just about enough, but there was one last thing she was wondering about.

“So what would things be like for them, once you’ve turned the whole digital world into Friendscape-land?”

“They live there alongside humans, in a safe, managed environment. No more running from bigger monsters, no more dodging disasters, no more fighting to survive. Don’t you think everyone deserves the sort of companionship that you and your friends have, with your digimon? We can do that. We should even be able to design custom ones, like the ones your new friends have!”

“And I bet that’ll make you plenty of money too,” Chelsey said, dryly as she could, with all the emotions bubbling under the surface.

“I don’t want to focus on the money. There’s all sorts of opportunities, not just for Friendscape, but for humanity in general. Thought becomes real in a place like that, and we can transfer it back out here. The possibilities are limitless, Chelsey!”

“And all perfectly under your control… except for the cosmic horrors you keep creating whenever you do anything there!”

“That’s why we need your help, Chelsey. Tamers, Nodens, even those Defenders, if there are any left. We can handle this.” His face turned a bit more stern. “And honestly, if we don’t do this, someone else will. You can’t think that Friendscape is the only company looking into these possibilities, especially not now after Mr. Yamaki’s announcement. At least I’ve seen all the good that world and those creatures can do for kids like you. I just want to make that available to everyone.”

“You want to make it something you can sell to everyone.” Chelsey turned toward the door. “We’ll stop you. And the snarls. And anyone else who tries to wreck our world. Come on, Kunemon!”

“Chelsey…” Her father’s voice sounded frustrated, with only the barest hint of regret. She just shook her head once, and tried to slam the door… only to have it slide smoothly and silently shut behind her.

She let out a yell of frustration, barely registering Frank’s wide-eyed look as she stormed out. Forget punching a screen; now she wanted to smash every bit of the too-smooth, too-shiny, too-perfect office building to the ground. She felt Kunemon vibrating with energy next to her, just as if she was preparing for a fight.

Briefly, Chelsey imagined her partner evolving inside the building, bursting forth from Friendscape HQ like a kaiju. Of course, that wouldn’t accomplish anything other than making her feel just like her father. All the real work was done in other buildings anyway.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Chelsey said, and her partner nodded, evolving to Flymon as soon as they were outside. Chelsey hopped on her back, and they took to the sky.

They flew up, past the Friendscape sign on the building’s roof; glowing in cheerful colors and friendly font. Human and digimon both stared at it, and slowed slightly. Chelsey didn’t even need to say anything. Flymon fired a volley of spines that shredded the logo into a pile of scrap.

Chelsey felt a wave of relief flow through her, and focussed on the next step. She took out her digivice and started to type.

Chelsey&Flymon: It's Friendscape. It's my dad. I'm figuring out what's next.

Chelsey&Flymon: If anyone's looking for us, we'll be in File Town. Permanently.

Chapter Text

“Partner-Kyle, do we allll have to do this?”

Kyle and Coyomon were pacing fretfully in front of his house. There were snowflakes in the air now; people were already talking about having a white Thanksgiving, but all he could think about was the Digital World.

“I don’t like it either, bud. But Nodens thinks everyone who was involved should be there.”

“The Defenders are scary though. Won’t they be mad about seeing us?”

“Well, we did finally do what they asked. We know exactly who’s causing the merges.” For all the good it would do, without being able to stop them. Kyle fretted to himself, rubbing his partner’s neck with one hand as he stared up the road. Finally he heard the crunch of tires against gravel. “There they are. Say hi to Josh and B for me, I’m going to go see if Rosa is ready.”

Approaching the house, Kyle was happy to no longer hear the sound of strained adult voices that had driven him out into the cold yard in the first place. Rosa’s mother was even more protective and anxious than his own, and his parents had had a lot of work to do, convincing her to let her daughter go into another world, even if it was with plenty of backup.

But now at least the dark-skinned woman was talking to her daughter calmly. “Just be careful, hija. Stay with the group. No exploring. This isn’t the riverbank back at home, understand?”

“Can protect!” Keramon was the first to respond, with Rosa nodding her head rapidly.

“I know, Keramon, please just protect her along with everyone else.” Rosa’s mother was even talking to her partner directly now. That was definitley an improvement.

Kyle knocked on the wall to announce his presence. “Everyone else is here now. Ready to go?”

Rosa’s mother looked at him. “Take care of my daughter, please.”

“And be safe yourself,” Kyle’s dad reminded him.

He raised his hands. “I will, I will, I promise, everyone. We’ve all got each other’s backs. And we’re just going there to talk.” To talk to a gigantic human-hating multi-headed mega-level digimon leader. But best not to remind them of that.

With just a few more reassurances, he was finally able to lead Rosa and Keramon out to the yard. Coyomon ran to meet them, and they walked over to where his other three friends and their partners were gathered around the gate, staring at a wheeled cart that sat in the dirt in front of them.

“Yeah, I didn’t think about the lake either,” Josh was saying.

“It’ll be okay if it gets wet, right?” Bryan asked.

“I’m more worried about how we pull it to the surface,” said June. “The wheels were a great idea otherwise, but--”

“What’s in there?” Rosa asked, immediately running forward to look at the object of their focus.

“Hi Rosa, hi Keramon!” said Betamon, who was perched on top of the container. The little digimon seemed to be the best out of anyone at matching the vibe and energy level of the new tamer pair. “It’s a gift for the other digimon! If we can get it there.”

Bakumon drifted to the ground in front of it. “I can handle it,” she said, and evolved to Baluchimon in a flash. An intent look at the cart caused it to start hovering above ground. “Let’s go, the others are waiting.”

Kyle nodded. “Okay Rosa, just remember to think dry thoughts, so you don’t--” But by the time he looked, she was gone, the last of Keramon’s tentacles disappearing through the gate behind her.

“Well, okay then,” said Josh with a faint smile, and they all hurried to follow.

On the other side of the gate, Kyle found Rosa and Keramon sitting comfortably on the shore, soaked to the bone but not seeming concerned about it. “That was fun!” the young girl said, and Kyle had to laugh softly. At least it wasn’t winter on this side of the gate.

Rosa and Keramon managed to stay on the path on the way to File Town, but once they arrived, the pair immediately ran off to explore the small huts. Edouard looked up from a book he was reading as they ran past, and waved to the others quietly. Lilamon spoke up on the quiet boy’s behalf. “_Bonjour!_ Chelsey is in her place over there. We are ready to go when you are.”

“I’ll keep an eye on Rosa and Keramon, you all go ahead!” said Betamon.

The rest of the crowd headed toward the largest hut, where Chelsey had moved in since her confrontation with her father. Kyle was shocked to see just how thoroughly she’d settled in, in just a day and a half. Air mattress, several books, a small refrigerator, and a pretty impressive computer setup, where Chelsey was currently focused, staring at a screen full of code.

Kunemon was the first to notice them, and her soft buzz made Chelsey look up. “Oh! Hi everyone! Just a second here, have to see if this… There we go!”

“What’re you working on?” asked Hielomon.

“Well, now that I know… everything… I have some ideas for things that can help us keep track of what’s going on,” Chelsey replied. “But it’s not quite done yet. I’ll let you know!” She turned off the screen, and stood up. “Let’s go then.” She peered out the door. “I think this is the biggest crowd I’ve seen all traveling at once.”

Kyle nodded, half to himself. There were a lot of folks to keep track of; friends, acquaintances, and one very energetic elementary-school kid. Now that they were all together though, he found it a bit easier to just fade into the background, focus on just following along and letting his friends take the lead. He had Coyomon, a comforting presence even as they were marching off toward one of the most portentous meetings Kyle could imagine.

It was at least a short walk to the place they’d planned to meet the Defenders, in a grand mountain pass just one realm over. By the time they were there, Rosa and Keramon’s energy had mostly wound down, and Betamon, Bryan, and Hielomon were keeping her with the rest of the group without too much trouble. Kyle spent the walk chatting with his partner and listening to Josh and June plan, reassuring himself that they had this all under control.

They’d been told to expect an escort, and Kyle was pleasantly surprised to see Youkomon waiting for them as they exited the gate.

“Greetings, tamers old and new,” the vulpine digimon said with a bow. “Orochimon-sama awaits.”

“Youkomon!” Coyomon said, wagging his tail and bounding up to the other digimon. “You’re okay!”

“Of course I am,” said Youkomon with a prim nod. “I am excellent at staying out of sight, and out of danger. You seemed to need less escorting than expected, but I have still been watching you all, to the best of my ability. Who do you think arranged this meeting with the Defenders?”

Kyle smiled. Talking with Youkomon at least put him on more familiar ground than the rest of this whole situation. “Well, thank you for that. Um… how are the Defenders doing? Do you think… this is going to go okay?”

Youkomon paused to think. “The Defenders are… not doing well. Many were posted at the exact wrong portals, given… what happened, and others have fallen since then. Orochimon-sama is… well. We should not keep them waiting.”

That was certainly not as reassuring as Kyle had hoped, and when he saw Orochimon’s form around the bend on the mountain trail, looming like a geologic feature themself, his worry only grew. The big digimon was flanked by a new set of lieutenants, a Groundramon and a Hippogriffmon, and that itself was a difficult reminder of what had happened to the previous high-ranked Defenders. It was the sort of thing that would all-too-easily overwhelm him in the past, but just as he felt the panic start to build, Kyle knew what to do. He looked to his partner, and his boyfriend. A soft nuzzle from the first and a confident nod from the other let him focus his thoughts, and he took his place in the makeshift audience hall as his friends started to negotiate.

“Honored Orochimon-sama,” said June, standing tall alongside her partner, who’d evolved up to Kirinmon for added splendor. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with us. We express our deepest condolences for the fate that befell Megadramon and Machinedramon.”

“Humans,” rumbled Orochimon, nodding all of their heads at once. “It is a dark time for this world. We hope you have more to offer than empty apologies.” There was something strange in their posture, and their voice. Orochimon wasn’t the domineering presence they had been before. They still radiated power, but their heads were bowed, their tone muted.

“We do, Orochimon-sama,” said Kirinmon. “When last we met, we pledged to do our best to identify the ones responsible for the merges. We have done so, and we offer that information to you now.”

Chelsey and Kunemon stepped forward now, and Chelsey started to talk. Her voice shook a bit, but Kyle was sure she was far more composed than he’d be able to manage under these circumstances. “My father is… a lord in our world, who is trying to… establish a foothold here, using the merges. I didn’t realize it was someone so close to us until this most recent incident, but when I did… He and I are no longer on good terms, and I’m here to give you all the information I can, so that we can drive him from this realm together.”

One of Orochimon’s heads curled down to give Chelsey a close look, but she stood tall. Her partner made a confident hum beside her. “And what of the fact that your father’s treachery has already cost us so dearly? Are you asking us for help, after your kind has been so cruel to us already?” Orichimon’s other heads bowed, seeming almost to be grieving. “Their very touch causes the lucky ones to unravel as if they’d never hatched. And you saw what happens to those who are less lucky.”

Kyle frowned slightly. That didn’t sound good. But June seemed ready for it. “We offer more than that.” She opened the case that they’d lugged through the lake, the jungle and the mountains. Inside were an array of dark metal bands. “These shields will protect you from the touch of the Snarls. If what we have here is not enough, we can provide more.” She picked one up, and held it out to Orochimon. “Additionally, whenever you pass through a portal wearing one of these, that portal will be protected from the power that causes the merges and Snarls.”

“Protection is better than what we have had so far,” said Orochimon thoughtfully. “But it’s no solution. How do we fight them?”

“We know that infovores, like this Keramon, can attack the Snarls,” said Kirinmon. At the sound of her name, Keramon rose higher up, though Hielomon snagged one of her tentacles, keeping her from going too far. “We know you have their like as part of your own members, so they may be able to help. We’re trying to find other options, but until then, we believe defense is the best approach. You are Defenders, are you not? With what we offer, you can ensure that your realms are defended, simply by moving through them.”

Orochimon was silent, for a tense moment. “It pleases me to know we can protect ourselves and our realms, but what of the others?” Their heads gathered all back together. “Little humans, do you even know how many realms, how many portals there are here? Between the realm of the Sovereigns and the physical layer, the realms are countless and the portals unnumbered. Even now, realms could be collapsing, digimon could be falling to corruption.”

Kyle felt himself tremble. The scale of the problem hadn’t really hit him until then, and judging from the silence of the others around, he guessed that he wasn’t the only one. But there was something else that he started to feel, even stronger than that pressure of the daunting task of keeping the digital world together. Orochimon was grieving, nearly hopeless, even with these new possibilities they offered. How bad had the fight been for the Defenders, over the past few weeks? He realized then that everyone was quiet, mulling over those thoughts, taking in the scale of the problem. And yet, there was another feeling inside him now too, a sort of familiar urgency, brought to the fore by the pure need that was hanging in the air.

“We… will help however we can,” said Chelsey. “I’ve nearly completed a tool to help us track the merge activity. Even if it’s happening far away, at least we’d know…”

Kyle squeezed Coyomon’s collar, and found himself stepping forward. He looked at Josh, at Kirinmon, at June, and saw a nod from each one that bolstered the urgent feeling in his chest.

The words came out with barely a thought. “It’s a thing we have to try together,” Kyle said. He felt Coyomon’s tail wagging against his leg, his partner as proud as he ever was when Kyle was able to speak his feelings. “I did my best to save Megadramon once, and I wish I could’ve saved them again. But we have to try to save whoever we can.” He felt that wave of uncertainty again, the images that had plagued him for weeks, of realm after realm collapsing, on a massive scale. But now he let that wave push him forward, driving the passion of his words. “I don’t even know how much help we can be, but If you work with us, if we all try together, we can certainly do more than we could otherwise, right?”

Kyle was breathless when he stopped talking, and for a moment, everyone around him was silent again. But then he felt a rumble, deep in his bones, as Orochimon shifted to look at him from several directions.

Five pairs of eyes stared at him for what felt like hours, until finally the massive digimon spoke. “There is truth to your words. Very well.” Orochimon’s heads dispersed to regard the whole group equally. “Please, tell us all you know. We shall see just what we can do, together.”

Chapter Text

Kyle trudged through the jungle, with Coyomon at his heels, Josh and Betamon to one side, and Youkomon in human form on the other. The day had been long, going right from school to the digital world. Chelsey, June, and some Defender cartographers had come up with winding routes to scout the realms and patch portals. They’d been dashing through views both mundane and magical for four hours, and even though Kyle felt a sense of accomplishment, the overwhelm was catching up with him, making his thoughts spin off in directions of something, anything else to think about.

And then he abruptly found it, in the form of another expectation, piled on all the ones he already had. “It is Thanksgiving in two days.” The phrase was out of Kyle’s mouth as soon as it was in his head; a fleeting thought about weekend plans tumbling into a realization that brought with it an odd sort of worry. How would they handle a family holiday, in the middle of all this?

Youkomon and Coyomon both looked at him in confusion, but Coyomon was the first to say anything. “What’s a thanks giving?” he asked, perking up from his own weariness with a curious wag.

That was surprisingly hard to answer, but the focus required to explain it also helped shoo away some of the most oppressive symptoms of fatigue and overwhelm. “It’s a special day when we get together with our families and eat way too much special food, and talk about what we’re thankful for. It’s supposed to be historical but I’m not sure the real story behind it is so good.”

“What kind of food?” asked Coyomon, tail wagging more now. Of course that was the part he would focus on.

“Turkey, and cranberries, and something called stuffing even though you don’t put it in anything.” The thought of the day was raising his spirits a bit, and yet… would it be right to take that time out of what they were doing otherwise? How many more portals could they patch in that time? It would be a whole day off school, otherwise.

“Don’t know what any of those are but they sound great!” said Kyle’s partner. “Betamon! Do you like the thanks giving?”

Kyle realized then that Betamon and Josh had both been conspicuously quiet so far. He glanced at the pair in time to see Betamon look away briefly. “It was a little different for us,” was the digimon’s reply.

Josh spoke up then. “Lots of family time wasn’t really a fun thing for me. With other relatives around… just imagine how they’d expect me to act. And dress.”

Kyle winced, and nodded. He reached out and squeezed Josh’s hand. He felt a gentle pressure in return as Josh continued. “Mostly I’d just try and be the most boring kid at the kids’ table until I could slip off to my room or wherever else.” He smiled slightly. “It’s been a bit better the last few years, sneaking a plate of food for Betamon. Meant I had some company.”

Betamon matched Josh’s expression and nuzzled his partner’s side. “Yeah. And I like the pumpkin pie the best,” he added, nodding to Coyomon. Then he looked up at Josh. “Maybe… better this year? June’s family does it too right?”

“I don’t know, B,” Josh said. “I mean, I’m sure they do, but with everything else happening, is that the best thing to do right now?”

Coyomon’s expression was stricken as he looked up at Kyle. “Partner-Kyle, don’t we still get to have it? I want to try turkeys and cram berries!”

“Don’t worry, bud. I know my parents will still cook something great, even if we have to take it to go.”

“Absurd.” Youkomon’s calm voice cut through the moment of tension. “Your connections with others in your world are important to maintain as well. Especially with the Defenders rallied to help keep up the work here, I encourage all you humans to find balance. You are at risk of working yourselves to a breaking point.”

Kyle frowned. “You… really think so?”

“As always, I have been watching you and your compatriots.”

Kyle was pretty sure Betamon muttered something about that being creepy, but Youkomon continued as if they hadn’t heard anything. “Just now, you saw Chelsey, working at her mapping project. Did she seem like she was well-rested?”

Josh shook his head. “I sort of get the feeling she hasn’t slept since she talked to her dad the other day.”

Youkomon’s gaze turned to Josh himself. “And have you?”

“He napped!” said Betamon defensively.

“There’s been a lot of work to do, with the patrol plans.”

“Annnnnd hard to sleep when everything is bad,” Coyomon added, practically speaking Kyle’s thoughts out loud. Kyle just nodded in agreement. He’d had less to do, and still hadn’t been able to settle his brain enough to really relax.

“As I thought,” Youkomon said, with a curt nod of their own. “If you continue that way, how do you expect to be of any use to this world, or each other?” they asked.

They were at the edge of the lake now, nearly back to Kyle’s gate. Kyle lingered there, thinking. “They have a point,” he said, looking at Josh. “Plus, I think my mom would totally lose it if I said I was spending Thanksgiving in the digital world.” He felt like he’d just been given permission to exhale, his mind unclenching from expectations he hadn’t realized he was holding himself to. Thanksgiving would be different this way, with a partner, and a boyfriend… He started to wonder what that could be like, until Josh chimed in with more practical considerations.

“We’ll have to make arrangements with the Defenders. Make sure they know that some of us won’t be around at least for a day.”

“You may leave that to me,” said Youkomon. “I will take care of it as part of my usual reports. Do you expect this to be the case for all the American tamers?”

“Well it wouldn’t be fair to be just us,” said Kyle. “How many--”

“Partner-Kyle, Partner-Kyle!” Coyomon was bouncing with urgency. “What about Chelsey!?”

“Huh? Oh. She… yeah, she’s just going to be here, otherwise, isn’t she.”

“I wonder if she could come over to someone else’s?” Josh said.

Half-formed thoughts snapped together in Kyle’s head. “Maybe we could all do it together?” Four sets of eyes looked at him. Even Youkomon. Kyle looked downward to relieve the weight of the combined gazes, but he smiled. “Already going to be you and June’s family, and maybe Chelsey somewhere. And the digimon. Maybe it’d be easier if we did it with all the families together? Plus it feels like it wouldn’t be right for me without you there,” he added, meeting Josh’s eyes only. “You’re a big part of what I’m thankful for.” He felt himself blush as he said it.

“Corny,” said Josh, but he was smiling back. “You make Thanksgiving sound a lot different than my family did. But it’s everyone’s parents who you’re really going to have to sell this to, y’know. So you better get to it.” Josh led the way into the lake and back to their world.

“That’s a lot to ask, kiddo,” said Kyle’s dad, drumming his fingers on the kitchen counter.

“Awww, Partner-Kyle-Dad, please?”

“Do you know what the other families are planning?” Kyle’s mom asked. “Josh?”

“I haven’t really been thinking about it,” Josh admitted.

“We always have leftovers, don’t we?” Kyle asked.

”Well, sure,” said his father. “So if it was just Josh, or Chelsey, we’d be happy to have them. But two or three families… that’ll require coordination.”

Kyle perked up. “So… not no?”

His mother shrugged. “if they’re all cooking anyway, we could maybe just all come together potluck-style.” She nodded to his father. “We used to do that with our parents’ group, remember?”

Kyle’s father chuckled as he replied. “Oh, I remember. I suppose taking care of digimon can’t be worse than toddlers!”

At that, Coyomon wagged his tail, but Betamon gave a soft huff and an eye-roll.

And that brought up something else Kyle had been turning over in his head. “Oh, ah… I was wondering if we could invite one more too? One more… um… digimon? But like, a really well-behaved one?”

Coyomon’s tail-wagging only increased, as pretty much everyone else in the room looked skeptical.

“Who would that be?” Kyle’s father asked. “There’s more?”

”Just a sec.” Kyle stepped out the front door and called out into the darkness outside. “Youkomon? Are you still here?”

He heard a noise from behind him, and turned with a start to see Youkomon in their human form. “As I said, nearly always.”

“Gah! All right. Do you, um… You seemed like you might be interested in Thanksgiving too?” Kyle wasn’t actually sure, but it seemed wrong to leave them out entirely, after they’d been part of the whole conversation. Besides, there was something oddly comforting about Youkomon’s presence. Their tendency toward bluntness, their insatiable curiosity, and their furtive nature, they all resonated a bit with Kyle, not to mention how fond Coyomon was of them.

“I am, as ever, interested to learn more about human goings-on, and eager to find more things that might help convince the Defenders that your kind are worthwhile. Observing a feast might be beneficial.”

Kyle couldn’t help but grin slightly. “And I don’t think any digimon would pass up a good meal.”

Youkomon simply inclined their head slightly, and said nothing else.

“Okay, come on in.” Kyle led Youkomon back into the kitchen. “So, this is Youkomon, they’ve been… tagging along with us a lot.” That was one way to talk about being clandestinely followed for weeks, at least. “And they’ve gone to a lot of risk to help us out.”

Coyomon yipped cheerfully and trotted over to be closer to Youkomon.

Kyle’s parents both paused to take in the sight of what appeared to be an androgynous black-haired middle-schooler. “Some digimon look… human?” his mother asked.

“Absurd,” said Youkomon, but this time they softened it with a smile. “My original form is simply inconvenient here. Though I will admit I have grown rather accustomed to this shape as well.”

“Well, one more mouth to feed out of… what, over a dozen? I don’t suppose it’ll make that much difference,” said Kyle’s dad.

“Yaaaay!” said Coyomon.

Kyle’s father raised his hand again. “If we all do it together. We still have to check in with the other parents. If it’s just us, it might be trickier.”

His mother nodded. “But after these weeks you’ve had, I can see why some time all together would feel good. So we’ll see what we can do to make that happen for you.”

Kyle smiled. The nods from both his parents helped banish those last feelings of not deserving the break. “Thanks, Mom, thanks Dad.” He looked over at Josh and Betamon, who’d been so quiet for most of this, and was immensely relieved to see them smiling too.

“This might be a disaster,” Josh said with a nervous laugh, “But it’s good to see people trying for a Thanksgiving dinner that doesn’t leave anyone out.”

Chapter Text

Kyle spent most of the day Wednesday trying to psych himself up for another long day of digital-world work, and wondering what the next few days would hold. It wasn’t until late in the school day that the future started to become clear. First there were the messages from his mother:

Ok kiddo tell your friends to be at the otsuka ryenolds house tomorrow at 2

digimons too

That left the question of how the Defenders would feel about their absense, which was answered when Youkomon simply appeared out of nowhere in the tamers’ after-school planning huddle.

“Orochimon has agreed to have the Defenders cover the American tamers’ duties for the two days after today, as a show of gratitude for how effective the null armor has been in resisting the snarls’ attacks. That allows them to use fewer digimon to defend compromised portals, and more to help patch new ones.” They clasped their hands behind their back, and smiled slightly. “I will be free as well, and would be very happy to attend your feast of giving thanks.”

Relief flooded through the group, and the bus ride to the gate at June’s house was filled with chatter about what everyone was going to do on their confirmed holiday.

“Video games,” said Bryan. “Video games with Hielomon all Friday. He’s finally getting good enough with that new claw that he’s a challenge to play against again!”

“Yesterday you said it was giving me an unfair advantage!” came his partner’s teasing voice from his digivice.

“Glad to see you’re both doing well after nearly being destroyed,” said Bakumon primly.

June smiled, and elbowed Bryan in a far more affectionate way than she usually did. “Guess we’ll make do without you. I think I’m still going to do SOME rounds. I mean they say they don’t need us, but it can’t hurt to keep things moving even faster, right?”

Josh looked at her thoughtfully, and Kyle geared up to protest, to try to talk them both down from working themselves ragged, but the words out of his boyfriend’s mouth were a pleasant surprise. “Could hurt you. If it really feels worse to rest, then go ahead, but maybe try taking a day off first? We’re going to.”

“Yes, we are,” said Betamon’s voice from Josh’s digivice, sounding just about as stern as he ever had.

“What’re we gonna do, Partner-Kyle?”

Kyle considered this for a moment. Relaxation felt like a foreign concept, as much as he knew he needed a rest. “Video games sound pretty good,” he replied eventually. “Or just watching anime. Whatever it is, absolutely no walking.”

Everyone else nodded and made sounds of agreement at that, which was no surprise. There was no telling how many miles they’d walked so far this week, trying to scout as many realms and patch as many portals as they could, and there was more to do today. Still, thinking of that left a bit of tightness in Kyle’s stomach, that knowledge that there was so much left to do, and that wondering if it would really be okay to let someone else take it all for a few days.

The good news and plans for a break helped the day’s patrol duties feel a bit more bearable than the prior two, but it was still a long day. By the time they were heading back through the jungle, Kyle, Josh, and Betamon were all slumped on Aullidomon’s back. Kyle’s legs ached even worse today, and his mind was buzzing. He could feel his partner’s fatigue, both from the feel of the digimon’s movements, and somehow also from a sense deep inside Kyle himself.

“You doing okay, bud?” he asked, giving Aullidomon a hug around the scruff.

“Mostly okay. Much better when I get home,” the digimon replied.

Kyle nodded. “Thank you for giving everyone a ride. Extra snacks for you tonight.”

Aullidomon’s tail wagged quickly. “Extra extra snacks.”

They continued in weary silence until they broke through into the File Town clearing, and Josh roused himself enough to remember one more important thing. “You think anyone’s told Chelsey she’s invited, yet?”

“Well, it wasn’t in June’s plan,” said Betamon. “So I bet she didn’t.”

“And they probably went back through the other gate,” Kyle added. “And for us it’s on the way. And gives Aullidomon a rest a little early.”

Everyone hopped off once they neared Chelsey’s hut. Aullidomon immediately devolved and curled into a fluffy little ball near the entrance as Kyle peeked inside. ”Hey, Chelsey? We were wondering if…” He trailed off as he took in the scene. Chelsey’s head was nodded to her chest, with Kunemon snuggled cozily into her lap. Both were clearly fast asleep, as her computer still glowed with lines of code.

“At least she’s getting a break,” Josh whispered, peeking inside alongside Kyle. “Should we…”

After a moment though, Kunemon stirred, opening multifaceted eyes, and let out a gentle buzz to her partner.

“Huh…?” Chelsey sat up a bit. “How long… Oh! Hi guys? I was taking a nap while my code finished compiling…” She peered at the screen. “…an hour ago. It’s been a long day.” She stretched, and gave her partner a pat. “We should definitely use the cot next time though,” she said. “Not comfy, but more comfy than sleeping on your chitin.” Kunemon responded with a chittering sound that Kyle was pretty sure was giggling. “Anyways. What’s up? Is everything okay?”

Josh nodded. “We’re fine. Well, tired too, but everything’s going all right with mapping and patching. You should have all our data from today, but —“

“Oh! Let me put it into the new model then!” Chelsey turned to her computer. “Kune, could you top off the battery? This might take a lot of juice.” Her partner hopped over to the charging station and began to make a shower of sparks as Chelsey tapped her digivice, sending data into the computer, which began to flicker with different graphs as it processed.

Kyle raised a hand. “Actually, we were wondering if—“

“There we go!” Chelsey said as the screen changed showing one big image. “We have a complete map of the Digital World! Well, 90% complete, but that’s good enough to work a lot of stuff.” Most of the screen was taken up by an array of different-colored dots, connected by lines. Kyle guessed those were the different realms, though there were other areas above and below them that made no sense to him.

“Looks like almost half of them are green,” said Betamon. “Green’s good, right?”

Chelsey nodded, and hit a few keys. “Yeah, that’s the patched ones. 43%. And the red ones are merged, which is… oof, 3%. That’s… more than I expected.” She scowled.

“Must be dozens,” Kyle murmured, feeling his stomach churn. “Which means there were even more, before…” He felt Josh squeeze his hand, and he leaned into the other boy’s support.

Chelsey nodded. “He’s been busy,” she said darkly. “There have even been two merges that have happened since we started mapping this week. But at least there’s a lot of realms that are safe now, and we’re patching them way faster than they’re merging them. I can do a simulation…” With a few more key-strokes, the green started to fill in the rest of the map, while the merged realms continued to grow more slowly, as pairs of dots joined and turned red.

“You can tell which ones are going to happen?” Betamon said, leaning in close to the screen.

Chelsey shook her head. “Unfortunately no. It’s just picking random ones at the same rate. But… This says in ten days, there will be 5% merged realms, and the rest safely patched.”

That felt like it should be good news, but Kyle couldn’t help but think how that meant dozens more realms lost. But there was still something else he was wondering about, too. “What about those other things?” He pointed at the blocky area that sat above all the realms, and the set of geometric circles below them, neither patched nor merged. “Aren’t those things we have to help too?”

“Oh, those are different,” Chelsey said, hitting another key that changed the view to a more colorful, illustrated-looking version of the same collection of layers. “Up here is… they call it the Physical Layer for some reason, even though it’s still part of the Digital World. Portals to there are different, so there’s really nothing to merge it with.”

Betamon nodded. “And it kinda sucks up there. It’s just this big weird desert. The realms are way better.”

Chelsey chuckled. “And below… that’s the Sovereigns.”

“I’ve heard digimon talk about them,” Kyle said. “They’re… what… like gods? But if Friendscape gets down there…”

Betamon chirped. “The Sovereigns will smoosh them like bu—” He glanced at Kunemon. “Um… like something very smooshable and helpless.”

Chelsey and Josh both nodded. “They’re crazy powerful,” said Josh, “and stuff works really different down there anyway, according to Yamaki.”

“Yeah,” added Chelsey. “His merge tricks won’t mean anything to them, and neither will the Snarls. That’s where the whole substance of the digital world gets renewed and energized.”

“Wow, okay then,” said Kyle. This definitely sounded different from how the Digital World worked on TV, though he wasn’t really surprised by that anymore. “I guess, if they’re really that strong…”

Betamon bobbed up and down in a whole-body nod. “Yeah! So… we keep working, and in a couple weeks, we won’t have to worry about merges anymore!”

Josh nodded. “Which reminds me. Chelsey, can you see how long that all would take if… well… look at this.” He held out his digivice for her to read.

Chelsey squinted at it. “Twelve partner-pairs off duty for four days, Defenders deploying instead…” She looked up at Josh. “What’s happening?”

Of course Josh is still thinking about the duties first, Kyle thought. The pride he felt was only slightly marred by concern for Josh overdoing things. He wanted to know the effect too, it would help him relax, if the Defenders really would be able to cover things. He decided to give the more personal answer himself. “Well, it’s Thanksgiving, so—“

“It is?” Chelsey frowned. “Wow. I… guess it is. I won’t…” She paused, a strange expression on her face. “Well, at least I won’t have to sit through dad’s fancy catered turkey dinner again.” She started to work back on her computer, putting in the new data.

“Actually,” said Josh, “You’re invited to dinner with us. June’s family, Kyle’s, Bryan’s mom…. even Youkomon, apparently. Big feast, with enough for everyone and our digimon.”

Kyle heard a weary voice from the door. “Yess… Turkeycrans…” Coyomon may have been half-asleep, but his big ears were always tuned toward food.

“Wow…” Chelsey said. “That’s… I could definitely use that. Assuming we don’t need to… or I could take my computer… Let’s see how this goes?”

“We all need a break,” said Josh. “The Defenders are being nice enough to give us one.” After a quiet moment, the computer pinged. “How’s it look?”

“Hm. If they do what they say, it technically says it’ll be done 3.2% faster? Which is like, not enough to count as actually faster and is probably within the margin of error anyway, but yeah, looks like we’re good!” Chelsey smiled. “Just tell me where to be then!”

Finally Kyle let go of that tension inside, that worry that it still wasn’t okay to have a holiday. In its place, excitement bloomed, and he grinned big. “June’s house, tomorrow afternoon. We’ll come get you!” There would definitely be stuff they had to do before then—his mom had already been talking about how she’d need help with cooking. But now he was actually looking forward to it.

Chapter Text

Kyle’s dad carefully lifted the turkey from the trunk of their car, as Coyomon scampered around his legs.

“Partner-Kyle, can we eat it noooow?” the digimon asked.

Kyle grinned. “Almost, bud. Just gotta get it inside and have everyone settled together. It’s a holiday about being together, remember?” Kyle rubbed his partner’s neck, then started to pull out the other dishes.

“But we were together in the car foreverrrr, and I had to smell it the whole way and it smelled so good!”

Kyle giggled as he hefted out his big bowl of cranberry sauce. “I said you could stay in the digivice if you wanted.”

“I could still smell it in there and it still smelled so good!” Coyomon insisted.

“Okay, okay, we’re almost there, don’t worry.”

“Can we help carry anything?” asked Chelsey, as Kunemon appeared from her digivice.

“Can you get this last casserole dish?” asked Kyle’s mom. ”Thank you!”

Laden down with food, they all headed to the door of the Otsuka-Reynolds house. As soon as the door was open, Kyle knew just how his partner had felt. The place was filled with the smell of good food, and muted friendly conversation from their huge living room. One half of the room was set up with a long table, with all the food laid out across it, and a few feet away there was another, lower table, with no chairs around it.

Chelsey peered at it. “Aren’t we a bit old for a kids—Ooh, it’s a digimon table. Smart. Especially the tarp.” Kyle couldn’t help but giggle and nod as he noticed the floor-covering beneath the table.

Kyle’s dad set the turkey down on the main table, next to the two that were already there, and the rest of their carload started to lay out dishes in the few empty spaces remaining. Kyle’s friends were looming over the table, the humans just as eager to start eating as the digimon.

“Sorry we’re late, everyone!” said Kyle’s mom. “Roads were a bit icy back around the house.”

Josh peered at the casserole dish that Kyle uncovered. “So you put that green chile stuff in the stuffing too?”

Kyle grinned and nodded. “Well, dad did. But, of course! I wanted to put it in my cranberry sauce too, but…”

“The test batch was… strange,” Kyle’s mom said gently.

Kyle rolled his eyes, and glanced back at her with a grin. “I’m strange, and you never like spicy stuff anyway. But, the cranberries came out good anyway.”

“All right then,” said June’s mother, from the side of the room. “Is everyone here who’s going to be here? Humans and digimons?”

“Twelve humans, and six digimon,” said June with a nod. It felt like more, and it had almost been more; Betamon had insisted on inviting Rosa and her family, but they’d already had plans out of town.

“I count thirteen and five,” said a voice Kyle hadn’t heard in several months. June’s brother Kaz was home from college, sitting at the end of the table and observing with his usual alarming precision.

Youkomon, in human form, stepped forward from a corner of the room, nodding to the group. “I suppose I am responsible for that discrepancy,” they said. “I would like to request a seat at the main table, if that would be acceptable.” They smiled at the other digimon present. “No offense meant to you all, but my other form would make this room an even tighter fit.”

“Ah, fair enough,” said June’s father. “I thin we can scrounge another chair.”

After only a little more wrangling, everyone was finally seated. The tamers all sat on the side of the table nearest the digimon table, ready to pass food to their hungry partners.

“All right,” said June’s mother. “Thank you all so much for helping us all come together! This isn’t quite how I expected our Thanksgiving to go, but there’s been a lot about the past few months that’s been unexpected.” She paused for a moment to smile at the rest of her family, including (Kyle was happy to see) Josh. “We live in strange times, but that makes it all the more important for us to come together in the ways that we can. I’m thankful too, to our new friends from the digital world. You’ve helped protect not just my daughter and her friends, but the rest of us as well. And I can tell how much you mean to your partners, and that’s a good thing to be thankful for too.” Kyle saw general nodding from the other parents around, though none of them started to speak next.

After a moment’s pause, Josh spoke up, his voice sounding tight. “I wanted to thank you all too, for friends, and a place to stay when I—“ His voice broke, and Kyle reached over to squeeze his hand. “—Yeah. Thank you all. For everything.” He squeezed Kyle’s hand back, then pulled him into a hug.

Betamon squeaked and scampered close to the join the hug. “I… everything Josh said, times a million. Thank you all,” the little digimon added.

June spoke up next. “Thank you, Mom and Dad, for being so understanding and open about all of this. And to you Bakumon, for helping me understand myself better.”

Bakumon nodded. “Likewise, my thanks to you June, and the others here, for helping me feel so welcome and comfortable in a strange world, and for helping us protect our own.”

“I’m thankful for Mom and Elena for being good family for me, even if Elena’s a pest,” said Bryan. He pretended to ignore the playful glares from his sister, and continued. “And I’m super thankful to Hielomon, for helping me be a better version of myself, and helping me stand up to folks who want me to be someone different.”

His partner smiled and pulled him into a hug. “Thankful for you too dude. For literally everything. I mean, I wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for my partner.”

“Me too!” Coyomon spoke up. “Thank you Partner-Kyle for making me awesome at first and things even better now and can we eat?”

Kyle laughed. “Just a sec bud. I get a turn too! I’m thankful for Bryan and June and everyone who helped me get used to a new school, to Josh for, well… can’t even start to name things, and for you Coyomon, and all the digimon, and everyone else here for giving me a place where I feel like I belong.” There was more he wanted to say, but words were failing him, so he just reached out for partner and boyfriend hugs, and let others talk.

Chelsey cleared her throat. “I…” She looked at Kunemon. “We… don’t know a lot of you really well, but I mean… you’re looking out for us in a way I really didn’t expect. Thank you, so much, for that.”

And so it went around the table, people sharing thanks. Kyle was pleasantly shocked to hear all the other parents say something very much like what June’s mother had said. It seemed like only a few days ago when his mom and dad were all but trying to keep him away from his partner and that other world, and now…

“…and I’m so thankful to all of you, for all you’ve done for each other.” Kyle’s dad was finishing up now. “You’re all extraordinary in so many ways, and you help my kiddo be even more extraordinary himself, in the best ways I can think of.” Kyle felt himself blushing, and grinned shyly back at his father. “And now, I think that folks are going to riot if we keep them from the food any longer, so… let’s eat!”

All of a sudden, the tables became a frenzy of passed plates, clanking utensils, and compliments to the chefs. Kyle had to switch back and forth between managing his own food, and making sure Coyomon got enough. There wasn’t enough room left in his brain for conversation, so he soon settled down into a pleasant haze, enjoying the tastes of so many dishes, and letting the thrum of conversation flow around him. Coyomon was as ever-present a comfort as always, just an arm’s length away, when he wasn’t closer begging for another serving.

As the meal went on and the pace slowed, Kyle caught more and more bits of conversation and activity. Josh was talking to Kaz, appreciative but apologetic about “taking his room”, and the college student was reassuring him it was fine, that he didn’t think of it as his room anymore anyway, and under the circumstances, he didn’t mind sleeping on the couch at all. Youkomon was taking serving after serving of food, as hungry as any other digimon, yet eating each one with unnervingly-precise utensil-work that left their plate perfectly clean. Chelsey, who’d been quiet most of the dinner, was talking to June’s mother about the research institute where she worked, fascinated by the possibilities of people working with high-end computation who weren’t just trying to make money.

Finally, as bellies filled and plates emptied the inevitable question came from Hielomon. “I heard Thanksgiving has desserts too, right?” There were cheers from the other digimon, and moans from the humans.

“I think some of us could do with a break before we get into that,” said Bryan’s mom.

“Yes, listen to the nurse,” said June. “I feel like I’m going to explode.”

“Okaaaay,” said Coyomon. “What happens now then?”

”Sitting and chatting and digesting?” said Kyle’s mom. “We’re not usually all together like this. Though I suppose there’s movies on, if you kids get too bored.”

“Not a football crowd, huh?” said Bryan. “That’s kinda a relief. Movies sound nice.”

“Actually…” Kyle’s head was buzzing slightly from being around so many people for so long, and the overstuffed feeling of his belly was not helping. “Wondering if me and Coyomon could be excused? This is all great, but also kind of a lot?” Coyomon’s tail wagged, and he pressed against Kyle’s side.

Kyle’s dad nodded. “Of course, kiddo.”

“My office should be quiet, if you need it,” added June’s mother.

Kyle smiled weakly at the shows of understanding, then felt a hand on his. “Want company?” Josh asked, as Betamon nudged his legs.

Kyle thought for a moment, and was a bit surprised to realize that yes, he did, from those two at least. “Sure. Your room then?”

“Sounds perfect,” said Josh.

Kyle let himself be led down the hall, relaxing already as he left behind the awareness and sounds of everyone else. Josh’s room was sparse, but it was easy to tell now whose it was. There was a stack of comics near the bed, some of the same ones they’d looked at during their trip to the mall. There was a pile of familiar clothes in the corner. There was a Betamon-sized tangle of bedsheets taking up half of the bed, until Josh smoothed it out to make space for Kyle to lay down.

”Thanks Josh…” Kyle said wearily, settling down onto the bed. Josh settled to one side of him, and Coyomon and Betamon squeezed in to the other. Kyle reached our his arms to pull them all close, letting the contact ease his overwhelmed nerves. “You’re all… so great.”

Josh smiled at him, and hugged back. “Any time, Kyle. Always here for you.”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah…” He sighed, as warm emotion welled up inside him. “…Love you…” His eyes widened slightly. Had he said that? Had he meant it? He had, and he did, but he’d never said it before, and maybe this wasn’t the best time. Maybe he could play it off like he was talking more generally, like also to Coyomon and—

“I love you too, Kyle,” said Josh, and there was a thrum of feeling between them, sure knowledge that Josh was not talking generally at all, and a joy and need that came with it, bouncing back and forth between all four minds there in a wonderful feedback loop, that washed away Kyle’s anxious thoughts. It felt like a physical force, a wave washing over him, strong enough to make him glad he was already lying down.

“Thank you…” Kyle managed to say, beaming at Josh and leaning closer. This was a good time for a kiss, right?

Before he could do more than think that thought, he felt Josh’s lips press against his, warm and soft, gentle and eager, insistent and accepting. Kyle let himself sink into that sensation of closeness to boyfriend and partners alike, losing himself for an endless moment in the bliss of their connections.

Chapter Text

Friday morning found Kyle floating in a haze of happy thoughts and still-full belly. Everyone had stayed late at June and Josh’s house, after dessert, more time spent with Josh, then second helpings of food for all the digimon, and a lingering goodbye with his boyfriend. More “I love yous” and kisses had been shared, even as Kyle felt the food coma taking him, and he and Coyomon had headed straight to bed.

And there they still were, curled up together. Kyle’s thoughts slowly came together as the room brightened. Would they rest more today? Maybe see what needed helping in the Digital World, at a slower pace. Most likely Josh was doing that, and more time with him felt like a wonderful idea, especially now.

There was a soft sound, that caused Kyle and Coyomon alike to twitch, roused more quickly out of sleep. Was that someone clearing their throat? Was someone standing there at the foot of his bed? Kyle jolted awake, and Coyomon was already standing on four paws beside him, hackles raised and sparking.

“Please, calm yourselves,” said Youkomon, raising their hands and taking a step back from their place near Kyle’s bed. “We need to—“

Coyomon huffed and sat, and Kyle shook his head, glaring at the disguised digimon. “You can’t just show up in someone’s room like that!”

“I can, in fact,” said Youkomon. “I am excellent at staying unseen when I need to. And under the circumstances—“

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Kyle replied, before the rest of Youkomon’s statement registered. “Wait, whatcircumstances?”

“I am sorry to say, the Defenders need your help,” said Youkomon. “There have been developments.”

Kyle’s stomach lurched, a sense of cold surging through his limbs. “What developments?” he asked. He reached for his digivice from the drawer where he kept it when sleeping, filled with clothes in an attempt to further muffle its irritating alarm sounds. The screen was filled with notifications of digichat messages, starting from just an hour ago.

“Partner-Kyle?” Coyomon stared at him. “Something bad, huh? Let me see!” The digimon lept into the device, the better to read all messages and keep in contact with others.

Kyle’s limbs shook a bit as he rolled out of bed and pulled on clothes. “What developments?” he asked Youkomon again.

“Our adversaries were apparently further along in their plans than we realized,” the digimon replied. “Several merges are in-progress in remote areas we had not patched. There is urgent need for both evacuation and Snarl defense.”

“Why now?” Kyle groaned. “Don’t they ever take a break?” He was fully dressed now, and he hurried through the house. It looked like his parents were still resting, so he paused to scrawl a note on the kitchen counter.

Coyomon’s voice came from his digivice as he finished. “Partner-Kyle, everyone says you should look at this!” A picture flickered onto the device’s screen, a grainy photo that looked like it was taken in an electronics store thronging with Black Friday shoppers. A cardboard display stood near the entrance, bearing the familiar shiny white futuristic Friendscape branding that had taken over at least one merged realm of the digital world. The text was hard to read on the small screen, but what Kyle could see made him sick to his stomach.

”Announcing: Friendscape Worlds! Reserve your spot now! Launching January 2007!”

“They’re selling it? Now? They were… always planning to…” Kyle did his best to push through the anxiety, and he knew what would help. “Coyomon, we gotta go! Where’s everyone else?” He started to sprint for the gate as his partner appeared again at his side, and Youkomon hurried to keep up.

“On their way to help! I know the way! Let’s run!” Clear of the house, Coyomon evolved up to his swift four-legged form, and paused just long enough for Kyle and Youkomon to climb on his back before dashing through the gate as quick as lightning.

“Yeah, we’ve wasted enough time,” Kyle said sourly, as the jungle environment whizzed past. The thought had been mostly kept at bay until now, but it was steadily trickling in: Would this have still happened if they hadn’t taken a day off? It certainly looked like their opponents were doing no such thing. What if they’d managed to patch some more of those gates by then?

“We’re doing our best!” insisted Aullidomon, with a quick shake of his big head. “We didn’t know.”

“Even I did not know,” said Youkomon. “And your work could not have hoped to add that much to what the Defenders already did in your absence in any case.”

Kyle didn’t have an answer to that, but he still felt awful, so he said nothing, just watched as they dove into another realm, on the way to who-knows-where.

“Talk to Boyfriend-Josh!” said his partner, breaking the tense silence. “Almost ready to meet up with them!”

Kyle forced his hands into movement, picking up his digivice and typing.

`Kyle&Aullidomon: Josh where are you?

Josh&MegaSeadramon: omw 2 flowers+fire mrge. you?

“Flowers and fire?” Kyle asked aloud.

“The Melodic Meadows and the Incendiary Islands, perhaps?” said Youkomon. “One of the merges in progress.”

“That’s where we’re going!” said Aullidomon. “Two more portals!

Kyle nodded, and typed.

`Kyle&Aullidomon: ok us too. almost there. you ok?

Josh&MegaSeadramon: no

Josh&MegaSeadramon: but doesnt matter

Josh&MegaSeadramon: gotta fix it

Kyle knew exactly how Josh felt, and he nodded.

“There they are!” called Aullidomon as they bounded across jagged landmasses floating in an azure sky. MegaSeadramon was held aloft by Kirinmon’s psychic bonds, as they raced toward a faintly-glimmering portal in the side of one of the levitating rocks. Kyle’s partner put on an extra burst of speed as they headed for the same destination.

“Josh!” Kyle called. He could see heads turn his way, and raised his hand to wave.

“Kyle!” Josh nodded at him, then looked at the others as they all gathered before the portal. “We all ready for this?”

“Whatever this is, we have to be,” said June. “No more relaxing.”

Kyle felt Aullidomon shift below him in response to that, and thought he saw a similar twitch come from both the other digimon present as well, but he just nodded. “Let’s go.”

The scene on the other side of the portal was total chaos. Flowers and fire were indeed the first thing that Kyle saw; specifically flora as big as cars that had wilted or caught aflame where they’d run up against what looked like a tropical island… except that every bit of foliage was made of rippling flame. Seams of snarl-stuff wove through the place, with tiny tendrils writhing at the borders as they steadily expanded. Those seemed practically harmless, compared to the massive tentacles they’d seen before… but then Kyle spotted the Digimon-Snarls. A dozen or so spread out on the scene before them, and smaller than the ones they’d seen elsewhere. There were Veggiemon and Meramon, even little Lalamon and Candlemon, and more than once what looked like messy combinations of different ones. None of them looked as imposing, as what they’d fought before, but all of them were as mindlessly vicious as any other Snarl they’d seen, chasing after the Defenders who were herding small groups of fearful digimon toward portals out to safety.

“Let’s go,” said June and Josh, nearly in unison, and null-armor shimmered into being around their partners as they rushed to help. Josh’s partner shifted into his even larger metal-plated form, the better to swim through what seemed to be something halfway between water and fire. Kirinmon and June had no trouble floating above the flames and psychically shoving away anything that came close.

Despite his speed before, Aullidomon had a bit of a slower start. “Hot hot hot,” the digimon said, paws dancing away from the fiery foliage. “Need better armor, hold on Partner-Kyle!” Even as he was speaking, Kyle felt his digimon grow beneath him, rising up on two legs as his body reconfigured itself in its amplified form. Youkomon pushed their way off of AmpAullidomon’s back, and shifted back to their vulpine form, floating in the air for a moment before darting off to join a group of Defenders.

Kyle spied a group of leafy digimon huddled together on a wilting flower. “There, AmpAullidomon!” His partner bounded over, ready to scoop them up, when a mess of petals and tendrils leaped at them from one side. A swift swing of a shielded tail sent the Snarl flying, and soon the little digimon were huddled in AmpAullidomon’s cupped hands, as he ferried them to the portal.

“Keep going, get through another portal as fast as you can,” Kyle insisted, before turning back to see what else needed doing. Over the next hill, a Mammothmon from the Defenders was body-checking smaller Snarls as a group of DemiMeramon flickered their way to safety. AmpAuilldomon joined the fray, helping pave the way as more and more of the realms unravelled around them. At least that made the portals easier to see, and the flames easier to dodge.

They kept up the pace, until there were only scattered single digimon who needed rescuing, and most of the effort involved just dodging and deflecting digimon-Snarls who now hung in white space that now started to show ghostly outlines of sleek high-rise buildings and Friendscape billboards.

“Herd the Snarls together!” bellowed the Mammothmon, as Kyle surveyed the place, trying to see what else could be done. “We’ll contain them!”

“What?” Kyle said it soft enough that he was sure no one but his partner could hear him. “Let’s do it, I guess!” A few Voltaic Whirlwinds helped a lot, soon gathering several Snarls into a tight tangle of coiling blank fury. Far away, Kirinmon and MegaSeadramon seemed to be doing the same, under direction of other Defenders.

“Excellent,” said the Mammothmon. “Hold them there, just a bit longer.” The elephantine digimon pulled off their own armor device, the dark panels shimmering into nothingness, then used their trunk to turn it in the direction of the gathered snarls. With a quick twist, they flung it, and the armor manifested again, in a new configuration that completely encased the snarls in a faceted ball of shield.

“Whoaaa…” said AmpAuilldomon.

“Awesome,” Kyle agreed, seeing the same happening to other groups of Snarls. “But now you don’t have any armor!” he said to the Mammothmon.

“Better to take the risk, and ensure these ones can’t spread to other realms,” the digimon replied with a toss of their head.

“The Defenders are actually defending,” Kyle said soft enough so that only his partner could hear.

AmpAullidomon giggled, nodding his big head.

Defenders, tamers, and partners all gathered at the center of the space, which now looked more and more like yet another Friendscape ad, like the kiosk in the photo Kyle had seen.

“Everyone okay?” asked Josh.

“Yes, thanks to you,” said a Greymon from the Defenders. “Hopefully the other sites turned out just as well.”

With the immediate peril gone, Kyle felt his adrenaline ebb, and the larger reality of the situation started to crash in on him. “I… we… we were gone, and this happened… We should have…”

“Silence yourself,” said Youkomon, with a shake of their head and a flick of their tails. “This was not your fault.”

Josh frowned. “But… it happened while we weren’t here…”

MetalSeadramon rumbled, and curled his tail up to give his partner a gentle squeeze. “Josh, don’t.”

June added her voice to the worry. “I knew I should have stayed working…”

“June!” Kirinmon said, shaking her head. “This place wasn’t even on the schedule until next week either way.”

Kyle sagged against AmpAullidomon’s form, shuddering, and found himself relaxing only slightly as his partner shifted down to a smaller form, the better to press warm fur against him. “Partner-Kyle, listen to them,” he insisted.

“This is our world to protect,” said the Greymon, nodding. “You have helped us, and you continue to help us, but this is all our problem. Turning in on yourselves will not help.”

“I… don’t know,” said Josh hollowly. June just made a faint noise, and Kyle pressed closer to Coyomon. But before anyone else could think of anything to say, a chime came from their digivices, all three at once.

Josh was first to react. “Priority message. Yamaki.” Kyle watched the other boy sit up straight, trying to put his confident face back on. “Need to meet up at File Town. Time to see what’s next.”

Chapter Text

The landscape was a blur as Kyle and his friends made their way back toward File Town. The digimon were too weary to evolve, but the Mammothmon’s strength was apparently inexhaustible-enough that they offered a ride on their back. But even that unique experience wasn’t enough to pull Kyle’s thoughts from an endless cycle of fretting.

Was there anything they could have done? There must be something they could have done. Josh and June seemed to think so too; he’d never seen either of them take something this hard, so it was clearly the direst thing that had ever happened to them. Why didn’t the digimon understand? Maybe they were in shock, and falling back to just supporting their partners; nothing else made sense.

Coyomon was pressed against Kyle’s side, but Kyle could barely feel it. Nothing seemed to matter except this moment of ruin. Kyle always found his focus drawn to things he cared about, and what could he care about more than this failure? It felt like an endless black hole; nothing else could matter except this disastrous situation.

“Partner-Kyle?” Coyomon’s voice seemed so far away, beyond the event-horizon of his attention. Were they stopped now? Coyomon was standing, and the others were moving around him. Why?

“Partner-Kyle…” Kyle felt his partner tug gently at his sleeve, but that didn’t seem to have anything to do with Friendscape destroying the digital world, so he couldn’t think of anything to do about it.

”Partner-Kyle, get up.” Coyomon’s bark was louder now, enough to cut through the haze. Something was happening, something important to Coyomon, and that made it important to Kyle too, even if no reason for it could make it past the maelstrom in his mind.

Still, standing up was something he could do. He rose on shaky legs, almost losing his footing on Mammothmon’s back, until Coyomon nudged him into steadiness again.

“We’re here.” That was Josh‘s voice, from below him, but where was ‘here’? ”Mammothmon, he’s sorta out of it. Can you help him down?”

None of that made any sense to Kyle, so he didn’t say anything. But he jolted as he felt something wrap around his middle. He let out a wordless cry, and tried to shift away instinctively.

“Hold still, Partner-Kyle, it’s okay.” Kyle didn’t much see how anything could be okay, but he could do what his partner asked, at least. Then he was in the air, and then he was on solid ground, and his partner hopped down next to him. At least he could focus on Coyomon and Josh, when everything else didn’t make much sense.

“Sit here, Partner-Kyle?” There was a fallen log a few steps away. They were in File Town. Because Yamaki called them there. Because Friendscape… The black hole started to pull him in again, but he managed to sit heavily on the log, resting his shaking legs.

Discussion happened around him, but none of it would solve the problem, so he barely listened.

“Kyle.” The sound of his name drew his attention. The voice wasn’t as familiar as the others, but it was calm, and authoritative. He raised his head enough to see the blond man wearing sunglassses standing nearby. Yamaki. That much acknowledgement was apparently enough for the man to continue. “Kyle, please take a deep breath.” He could do that. He did it, breathing in until his lungs were full. Just as he wondered what was next, Yamaki spoke again. “Now breathe out.” He did, lungs empty, and it took Yamaki’s voice to remind him to breathe in again. After a few more cycles, the haze started to lift. “Good. Now keep doing that.” That was more complicated, but he could handle it now. And Coyomon was there beside him. Kyle leaned into his partner, that familiar sensation helping ground him even more.

The world came into focus around him, bit by bit. Yamaki, Josh and Betamon, June and Bakumon, all in a semicircle around him, as he sat on a log on the outskirts of File Town. Mammothmon, still standing nearby. Other pairs of partners, arrayed around the place. Everyone seemed to be in a bit of shock, waiting expectantly. Not just for him, he hoped.

“Thank you,” Kyle said, looking up at Yamaki, then repeating the word to his partner and his boyfriend. “Thank you. Thank you. I got… I don’t know.”

Yamaki nodded. “This is a difficult situation. I am familiar with how those can be… overwhelming.” His lighter flipped open and shut. “The smallest actions can sometimes help bring us out of such things. You weren’t the first to have that reaction today, and I suspect you won’t be the last. But for now, we should all talk.” He took a step away, toward the center of the clearing, and raised his voice. “If I could have everyone’s attention, please.”

Kyle’s head still felt strange. No longer hazy, rather the opposite; as if his whole body was a raw nerve. But having something to focus on was welcome.

Once most of the heads had turned his way, Yamaki continued talking. “As I know you’re all aware, the Friendscape corporation has made their intentions public, and hastened their timetable.” Hearing the leader of Nodens say it gave Kyle a shudder, and he felt a gently nuzzling from Coyomon as unsettled murmuring reverberated among the crowd. “I know that this feels like a setback, but you should all feel proud of the work you’ve done in recent days, and especially in the past few hours.”

Kyle let out a soft sigh. Those words didn’t feel real, they didn’t feel right. But then he felt a tug on his sleeve, and turned to see Coyomon giving him a surprisingly stern look. “Lffn—“ His partner’s words were muffled by the cloth in his mouth, until he let go and started again. “Listen to him, Partner-Kyle. Please?” Kyle felt that sense of urgency pulse inside him, clear beyond his partner’s tone, and he nodded just a bit.

Yamaki was looking at him and his group of friends now as he spoke. “I’m speaking to all of you, and the Defenders alike. This may be a new and unexpected phase, but it‘s one that would have come about no matter what we did. And it is just a new phase, not the end of our story. What we have to do now is take things one step at a time.”

Kyle looked over at his friends. Josh was sitting next to him, and June stood a few yards away next to Bryan, who’d apparently arrived at some point while Kyle had been overwhelmed. Their partners were all nestled just as close, and they were listening with resolute focus; June even gave a slight nod and a smile when Yamaki talked about taking things one step at a time. Kyle had thought they were all feeling just as bleak as he had, but they seemed to be doing better now, while Kyle still felt weighed down by the situation, Yamaki’s words barely getting through.

”We’re doing all we can to address the current situation. Team Primary Colors is on the way to talk to the Digimon Sovereigns now that they’d completed their own aid and evacuation assignments. And our research teams are on track to create a true offensive capability against the Snarls, thanks to Kyle Fairbanks‘ discovery of their vulnerability to infovores.”

That definitely should have made Kyle feel better, and yet the thrill of it felt strangely muted. That itself brought something else to be worried about, deep inside Kyle’s gut: Hadn’t he worked through his anxiety, gotten better about getting overwhelmed by things? Wasn’t having Coyomon here supposed to make things better? And yet, here he was, feeling as bad as he’d ever felt.

“That’s all I have to share for now,” Yamaki said. “I’d like to ask you all to return to patching and mapping. It’s still the right thing to do, to keep Friendscape from gaining a bigger foothold. Please keep in close contact with each other, so that you can handle any emergent situations. I have full confidence in your abilities. Thank you for your time.” With a bow, Yamaki turned away, stepping toward June and Josh, and the rest of the crowd dissolved into murmuring and wandering, some folks heading directly to portals, while others gathered together to talk and plan.

Kyle still sat where he was, hugging his partner and wondering why he couldn’t turn back to those things just as easily. His partner’s presence was welcome as always, keeping him from sinking back into that gravity well of despair, but things still felt so heavy.

“Why am I still so messed up, Coyomon?” he asked, eventually, half-whispering into the digimon’s big triangular ear.

“Rrrr? Partner-Kyle… you are not messed up!”

“I thought I was doing good with stuff, and this… hit me worse than ever before,” he said, his eyes suddenly feeling wet.

“This was worse than ever before, Partner-Kyle.” There was a short pause. “The thing that happened was. You are okay.”

“I don’t feel okay.”

“Okay for me, Partner-Kyle.”

“But… I was like… It was like I was all alone and no one could help me even though I know you can help me, but it’s like I forgot, or you didn’t exist, and that means…”

“Means you had a bad thing, Partner-Kyle. Not that you are bad. You just… devolved.”

Kyle frowned. “Yeah, I’ll say. Lost all my progress. Back to the Cambrian era.”

Coyomon shook his head. “No! It’s like, when I got big and strong the first time. Or got hit really hard. I was Yotimon, but not forever, see?”

Kyle lifted his head, to look at his partner, his tail wagging and his eyes wide. It was easy to remember the times Coyomon had ended up even smaller, more vulnerable, the care he’d needed to get back to how he was now. “Right…” he said slowly.

“I got big again, and now it’s easier to get even bigger,” Coyomon continued. “Even if I end up getting tiny again, I’m still me,” His tail wagged again as he leaned in to nuzzle Kyle.

“Progress isn’t linear,” Kyle said. The phrase floated into his head from some almost-forgotten conversation with a teacher, or a therapist, or maybe just one of his parents.

Coyomon’s head tilted. “Dunno those words,” he said. “But they feel good?”

They did, Kyle realized. Before, they’d felt like the sort of thing adults just said when they didn’t have any practical advice. But seeing Coyomon’s example helped them connect somewhere deeper inside himself. If every hard time he’d had before was something like Coyomon returning to his usual form after exerting himself… Well, they’d both come a long way, and that definitely counted for something.

“They do,” Kyle said, half-surprised to hear himself say it. He stretched his legs, shifting his position on the log. He’d been sitting for ages, tense the whole time, and moving felt good. Things definitely didn’t feel perfect, but that overwhelming weight was receding… or maybe he was gathering enough strength to be able to push past it. “Not sure I’m all the way evolved back up yet, but let’s see what we can do to help that, okay bud?” He stood, and looked over to where June and Josh were still talking with Yamaki. He could at least listen in, and see what else he was up for.

“Yeah! Great job, Partner-Kyle! Let’s get bigger together!”

Chapter Text

A tendril of pale energy slammed into a massive tree, making bark and wood shudder for only a moment, and then it seemed to chew through the trunk with an insatiable hunger. Tiny teeth and claws severed top from bottom, and most of the tree toppled to the ground with a thud.

“And that’s why you need to be careful where you swing it,” said Jianliang, a note of sternness in his voice as he looked up at his heavily-armored partner. “Everyone okay?”

Kyle nodded, and saw scattered nods from the other kids and digimon who were standing nearby, watching the green-hued pair demonstrate a new weapon system. Everyone looked weary, even or perhaps especially Jianliang himself. He must’ve been working on this as hard as he could in the two days since the renewed merge activity, just like everyone else had been doing all they could to provide relief and coverage for the vulnerable realms.

“Sorry…” said Gargomon. “I’m better with shooting things than swinging things.” He frowned slightly at the device attached to one of his metallic arms, tubing and plating that ended in what looked like a curved blade made of lavender light.

Jianliang nodded. “We’ll make sure we take some more time to practice,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to get these out to everyone as soon as we had the prototypes ready.”

Kyle was only half-listening, mostly looking at the fallen tree a few yards, and the clear bitemarks that were left on the stump. “That thing isn’t actually like made of Keramons or something, is it?” he asked warily.

“No,” said Jianliang. “No Keramon or Tsumemon or anything similar. But it turns out replicating their algorithmic signature ends up producing a really similar visual effect.” He rubbed his neck. “It creeps me out too, but it seems to be the only thing that will affect snarled data.”

“It kind of looks like Snarls,” said a girl with a Coronamon partner who Kyle didn’t know very well. Was her name Jessie? “How safe is it?” she continued. “If it can do that to a tree…”

“Digimon data is a lot more naturally durable,” said Jianliang. “That’s why you might see a Digimon standing at the bottom of a crater that blasted the land apart, and just be bruised. Same thing here.”

Gargomon noodded. “It won’t feel good, but it won’t slice you in half.”

“What about Snarls?” asked Betamon. “I’d like to slice a few of them in half.” There was a murmur of agreement around the group, and even a soft growl from Coyomon. Kyle gave his partber a pat, still feeling a bit uneasy himself.

“Not quite as dramatic as an attack from a real infovore digimon,” Jianliang admitted. “Won’t be able to devour them in a single bite or anything, but it’ll affect them more than it’ll affect just about anything else.”

“Anything that’s actually able to affect them at all is a big step up,” said Chelsey. “It’s about time we were able to fight back.”

“We shouldn‘t just go picking fights, though,” said June. “You know better than anyone that the Snarls aren’t our real enemy here, they’re the side-effect. Let’s not get distracted.”

Chelsey shrugged. “Well sure, but I’m so sick of running defense.”

Kyle found himself nodding; something other than running and containing did seem like it would be nice, even though something about the situation still nagged at him.

“Well, don’t forget the charges, too,” said Gargomon, raising the device on his arm. Three tubes glowed with bright purple light, but two were empty, corresponding with the two demonstration swipes he’d done; one hitting a holographic target, and the other felling that unlucky tree.

“Right,” said Jianliang. “These use energy that’s not native to our digimon themselves, so you’re going to have to carry that energy along with you. We’ll have to set up a recharging station somewhere.”

“That’s where you juice the Keramon?” Bryan quipped, earning him a triple-glare from Hielomon, June, and Bakumon. “…Sorry,” he said, looking bashful. Kyle shifted uneasily. The joke was certainly in poor taste, but he was happy to see that he wasn’t the only one a bit put off by the weapon system.

“Again, no digimon are harmed in the production or powering of this device,” said Jianliang, his voice and posture a bit more stiff now.

“Does it have a name?” Hielomon asked, with a grin that Kyle guessed was meant to ease the tension. “Can’t just keep calling it ‘this device’, right?”

Gargomon perked up. “Nodens calls it the Dynamic Infovore Algorithm Projection Array.”

“So, let’s not use the acronym,” said Josh flatly.

“Keramon blade?” suggested Jianliang.

“Kera Cutter!” Bryan said, followed by a flood of other ideas, fully half of them from Bryan and Hielomon, the others from scattered other kids around the group.

“Infovore Rapier!”

“Untangler!”

“Snarl Slasher!”

“Algo-Ripper!”

“Snarl Slicer!”

Jianliang raised his hands. “All right, all right! Let’s just say… Snarl Slicer, then.“ Hielomon grinned proudly, and others muttered softly. “Or whatever you want, really.” He looked down at his notes. “Let me just see if there’s anything else we need to cover before moving on to the field test… Hm, be careful about environmental damage, I suppose we covered that…” Gargomon pouted slightly. “Ah, except for the issue of portals and gates.” He looked back up at the group. “Some of you saw before that infovores are actually capable of destroying the connections between realms and worlds. We think it might be the same with these weapons, so please be careful when you’re near an inter-realm portal or a world-gate.”

Chelsey’s hand shot up. “What if that turns out to be tactically advantageous?” she asked, before waiting for anyone else to acknowledge the hand.

Kyle shuddered, remembering how the gate that his digivice had made, his first connection to the digital world, had been devoured in an instant. “How would that be good?” he asked.

“You never know,” said Chelsey, with a hard edge to her voice. “I just think it might be a good idea to keep in mind all the tools we have. I mean, that already saved the real world, once.”

Kyle frowned to himself. Sure, it had seemed necessary, to keep the Snarls from rampaging through his hometown, but the connections between worlds were precious, and that was just another way these weapons were unnerving.

He was trying to work out what to say next when Jianliang spoke up again. “We’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “But don’t go out of your way to do it. If nothing else, you might strand yourself.”

Chelsey’s lips formed a thin line, but she nodded, and the conversation moved on, though the worries lingered in Kyle’s mind. He felt a nuzzle from his partner, and looked down to see Coyomon looking up at him. “I know bud,” he said softly. “We’ll only use them if we have to, and we’ll be careful.”

Josh’s voice came to him then, the other boy and his digimon closer at Kyle’s side than Kyle had realized. “It’s kinda a lot, huh?”

Kyle nodded, and stepped closer to take his boyfriend’s hand. “Everything’s just been… a whole lot, this past… weekend… week… month… How long has it been?” He giggled.

“You’re doing good though, Partner-Kyle!”

“Yeah,” said Josh. “A lot better just since Friday. Couple days can make a lot of difference.”

”I guess so,” said Kyle, with a faint smile. It felt good to know that he’d recovered, and he was back to dealing with things now as well as he ever did. Even if this was a whole new strange thing to deal with. “Thanks Josh, Betamon… And you too, Coyomon,” he said, as his partner gave him an eager look.

“All right, all right.” Jianliang called to the crowd, which had broken off into several other conversations as well. “I think it’s time we tried this out. We’re here outside the first reformatted realm, where we know there are several powerful Snarls bottled up.” Kyle shivered again, the image of the snarlified Megadramon still fresh in his mind. “I have two more Snarl Slashers here, one that’s another blade, and one that should work as claws. Nodens would like us to try them out against the Snarls that are trapped in there.

Kyle opened his mouth to ask something, but June got there first. “Wait, just… go in and destroy them?” she asked.

“Even if they are stuck there, they could still hurt someone,” Gargomon pointed out.

“Especially if my dad tries to open a gate to his new Friendscape city,” said Chelsey. “We’ll take one of those. I think Okumamon could handle a sword, right?” Her partner gave an eager buzz of agreement.

“Wait, but… can’t we do anything other than destroy them?” Kyle asked.

“Their consciousnesses are gone,” said Bakumon, looking at him and at her own partner in turn. “I do not believe there is anything left to be done for them. It’s more correct to consider that the merge itself ended their existences before we even fought them.”

“I… guess…” said Kyle. It was a sad thought, even if the results were horrific, but it seemed so cold to essentially use them as target practice.

He felt Josh’s hand on his shoulder again, and braced himself for a leader speech, about how sometimes people just have to fight, but his boyfriend’s words were unexpected. “This is all pretty screwed up, huh?”

“Yeah…” Kyle realized he and Coyomon had both said it at the same time. He rubbed his partner’s ears, and continued. “Should we really be doing this?”

“We don’t have to,” Josh said. “We get to choose what we’re gonna do. I know some of the other folks like to fight for fun, but I’ve never really wanted that.” He sighed. “Just kind of had to, sometimes.” They watched as Jessie’s Coronamon evolved into a fearsome flaming lion, and started to equip the other Snarl Slasher.

“Looks like they’re all ready to go in,” said Betamon. “Should we…?”

“We still have armor,” said Josh. “If things go bad, and they need protecting… let’s at least be part of that.”

“Rrrrrr, right!” Coyomon wagged his tail, and started glowing with the light of evolution. Kyle stepped back to make space, then hopped onto Aullidomon’s back. Josh and Seadramon did the same, and they took up the rear as everyone walked through the portal to the reformatted realm.

The sight of the place was as eerie as ever, stark forms in what ought to be cheerful colors that somehow felt oppressive instead. It was even worse now, after seeing the Friendscape ads that tried to sell this place as if it was the next hot tourist destination.

What they didn’t see was any Snarls.

“Come on out!” called Chelsey into the expanse. “They should be easy to find,” she muttered, looking around. “They were all seek-and-destroy whenever we saw them before…”

“Maybe we were wrong about them?” June wondered. “Bakumon, can you sense anything?”

“Not sure if I’d be able to detect them at all, blank as they are,” said Bakumon. “But this place feels veryempty.”

“I’m working on something…” Jianliang said. “I know their signature, and should be able to scan for them, just a moment.” He pulled a few pieces of equipment out of his bag, and connected them to his strangely-shaped old digivice. “Hmm.”

“Jianliang!” his partner scolded playfully. “What sort of hmm?”

“We are the only active entities here. No sign of any Snarls.”

“What?” Chelsey and Okuwamon spun around in place, as if still looking for them. “Then where are they?” she asked. “The portals are patched, they couldn’t have escaped, right?”

“Not on their own, no,” said Jianliang. “But they could be taken through the portals. So the question is… who came and got them?”