I'm alive! I think!

Unfortunately took longer than I had wished, but here it is either way! I sure hope all of you are still interested enough to keep up with my long absences.

Either way, let's go into it! Hopefully I didn't leave in any glaring errors/mistakes after 12 times of checking and proofreading.

Chapter 8: You are who now? - The self-proclaimed ultra cute Digimon!

The music blurting through his earphones failed to clear his mind as his feet filled the quiet night air with their rhythm. Controlling his breath by breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth, the boy continued his way across the dimly lit streets.

While his daily runs usually were just peaceful and nothing too ordinary, now, they were nothing more than a futile attempt to get his mind off of the many, many questions on his mind. His life had been a rollercoaster on that self-proclaimed faithed day and while he really wanted to roll with it, kick back and just live a regular life until whenever possible, he knew that was simply not possible.

What is it that Dorumon has that made him a target of Fangmon? How was he supposed to find out what it is? How and why did Dorumon suddenly evolve out of nowhere? Were those handful of enemies really enough for that? Why did Dorumon knew pretty much nothing about the Digital World while BeelStarmon knew so much in comparison? Was that purely because BeelStarmon had travelled to various places in the Digital World? For how much longer could he even 'hide' Dorumon anyways before inevitably coming in contact with other Tamers? He sincerely doubted he would be able to find out what the big deal was with Dorumon before they would come into the picture.

There were too many questions and too little answers. Or even worse, barely no answers whatsoever. It was a good thing that he wore the hood of his hoodie or any potential bypassers could have seen his deep frown and mistake him for someone planning to rob a house in the neighbourhood. Especially at this hour, someone traversing the streets dressed like this, drew more suspicion than was wished.

Pace slowing down, the blond ultimately came to a stop, panting as he looked up to the night skies. If only his head could be as clear as that was right now.

"Maybe I should tell Matsuda-kun after all..." He dwelled on the option for a bit. It was certainly not a bad one. He was the leader of the Tamers and his kindness would probably make it so that he would understand. At the same time, they could already know what it was that Dorumon had, and if it was something that was no good, it could lead to the Tamers looking for him for negative reasons.

Ryuuji shook his head, uttering a sigh after. Maybe he should just ignore all the negatives and just go in. The longer he kept quiet, the more it would seem he would be hiding the Digimon for reasons. "But why am I so bad at initiating contact like a normal person..." He mumbled it to no one in particular, more so asking it to himself. He had enough self-awareness by himself to know about it, but unfortunately had a hard time doing something about it.

Hiding his hands in his pockets with a sigh, he continued the final part of his run. Continuing to go over the options, while also lamenting his own personality traits that made most of them a challenge in itself, he made his way home.

Somewhere along the way, somehow, he wished an answer would just present itself to him on a golden platter. But he knew better than to hope for that. The problems in his life had never fixed itself. And he knew for most of them he was the issue.

"Maybe I should just run this by Dorumon..." But he knew that Dorumon would go along with whatever he thought was best. And that was something he didn't know. Moments like these were moments the blond wished Dorumon was more outspoken and had at least some wisdom to him instead of going along with whatever he did or wanted.

And while his mind went in overdrive, underneath the streetlight, something caught his eye. Knees tucked to the body, huddled up to themselves, he noticed someone sitting. It was a good thing they were seated underneath the streetlights or else the black outfit would have made sure they went unnoticed.

As he got closer, he found himself on another crossroad. Should he approach the person and check up on them? Or should he just leave it under the assumption it's someone who had a fight with their parents? It was none of his business after all. Why would he pry in the business of a stranger?

But he also noticed that the person in question seemed to be quite young, while the build indicated that it was a girl. Was he really so heartless to ignore and walk past a young girl at this hour? Who knew who else would possibly run into her. Bad things could happen.

He came to a stop before the person, a girl as he had assumed. As she didn't seem to take notice of him, it meant he would actually have to initiate the contact. He still remembered how he failed to even give a simple reply to Katou-san during his first day at school and then proceeded to get himself in trouble with the notorious school bully cause he just had to try and slowly get into this group's good graces.

Taking a deep breath in he gathered all of his courage and made a mental note to not make use of his usual tone. Definitely didn't want to scare her off.

"Hey," he began, "are you okay? Did you have a fight with your parents?"

His words didn't seem to startle them, but they did hear. In fact, they found the voice awfully similar. Lifting the head that was buried in their arms, the person noticed the blond frowning at them and at the realization of who it was, their face lit up.

"Ah!" Shooting up, they managed to startle Ryuuji instead. It certainly was a young girl. Her eyes twinkled as she noticed who she was looking at while a singular fang was on showcase. Although her fashion sense of a nun's costume with cat ears was certainly something that left a lot to be desired. "Jijicchi! I'm so happy to run into yer here! It really is a small world!"

Ryuuji looked behind him for a second before pointing at himself, clearly asking if they meant him. "Jiji...cchi?" He raised his eyebrows, having no idea what's going on. "I think you have the wrong person."

"Eeeeeeeeeeh?! Have yer already forgotten about me?" The girl exclaimed, clutching her chest in overexaggeration. "Yer so cold, Jijicchi! So cold!"

"Like I said, I think you have the wro-" He fell silent mid sentence as he stared at her face. That fang... where had he seen it before? That way of speaking too. It was awfully familiar. But he had only just moved here. Was it someone from his class? Could be possible. He didn't have most of the names and faces down yet. No, that wasn't it. Someone who dressed like this would have definitely been remembered.

The silence, however, didn't last long, as the girl broke through it. "Huh? Where's Dorumon? Did yer lose him?"

At the mention of Dorumon, Ryuuji's eyes widened and it suddenly came to him. "Could you be... BeelStarmon?"

The girl's mouth turned into a wide grin as she placed her hands on her hips, pumping her chest forward. "So yer do remember me! Yer such a tundra, Jijicchi!"

"It's called a 'tsundere'," he corrected. "Also, I'm not. How am I supposed to know it's you when you..." he quickly scanned her from bottom to top before continuing, "look like this."

"Hmmmmmmm. Fine, fine. Yer got a point," 'BeelStarmon' admitted. "Truthfully, I ain't happy about this form either. Not only am I smaller and infinitely less beautiful, I'm much weaker too!"

"That so? What stage is this form?"

"Adult."

Ryuuji's eyebrows shot up. "Adult? You skipped a stage?"

'BeelStarmon' laughed, shrugging it off. "Guess I overdid it a little bit."

"Just a little bit?" Ryuuji sarcastically repeated. "Well, it's no matter. Where did the 'Jijicchi' come from though? I thought I was 'brat'."

"That was before I knew yer name! I just took the final part of yer name, repeated it and added the rest!" she explained, seeming particularly proud of it. "But I guess you now can't call me Beelko anymore, huh..."

"I already di-"

"Well, yer can just call me 'Noir' in this form!"

"'Noir'?" Ryuuji repeated, raising his eyebrows as he opted to not say anything about her interrupthing him. It was met by a nod. "Right now I'm the ultra cute Sistermon Noir!" Her words were matched by a triumphant pose, haughtily pumping her chest forward.

"I don't know about the ultra cute part, though..."

Interrupting the conversation was a growling stomach. Sistermon's growling stomach, to be exact.

Ryuuji merely blinked at the Digimon, who slumped and held her stomach. Of the triumphant frame from earlier remained nothing. "Sorry. I'm starvin'. I've been wanderin' all around the city for proper food but I have been unable to get any. Since I couldn't go any further I just stopped here."

The boy stayed silent. He still had plenty leftovers and it was not like he couldn't make anything for her. But at the same time, BeelStarmon, or rather Noir right now, was still someone he didn't fully trust yet. He had warned Dorumon to be careful around her after all. Letting her into his home would be a risk if she really was up to no good.

At the same time, she was kind, had helped them earlier today and mentioned more than she was obliged to, giving the impression she had nothing to hide. Besides that, having another Digimon comrade at his side with more knowledge about stuff than Dorumon around could certainly help. Not to mention that if she were to get back to her usual form, her strength could not be denied.

Turning on his heel, his decision was clear. He'd just take this risk and hope for the best. "I got food at home. I'll make you something. Nothing too crazy though. I don't feel like doing the dishes again."

Noir's eyes lit up as she squeeled in delight. "Jijicchi! Yer the best!" She threw an arm around his neck. Well, she tried before realizing she had shrunk in size and couldn't reach it, but it certainly didn't spoil her mood. "I'll repay yer fo' this. Yer a lifesaver!"

"Good," he replied. "Cause I got a couple of things I want to know."

"So yer finally turnin' to Beelko-oneesan fo' help! I knew yer'd come 'round!"

"Whatever."

"Yer kinda stink of sweat though... Have yer even bathed today?"

"I've just been running, shut up."

Sistermon threw out another fit of laughter, filling the air with it. "Yer really are a tundra, Jijicchi!"

"Like I said, it's called a 'tsundere'..."

"It's gone."

The redhead kicked the air in frustration. Missed it. Again. It was so close and they missed it again.

As if Ruki's frustration couldn't be bigger. How did it even get away without making ruckus anyways? Or without making any damage.

"I am unable to pick up a sign of its presence," Renamon noted. Just as Ruki thought, Renamon noticed it too. The fact that it seemed there has never been a Digimon here in the first place was highly suspicious.

If it was here to lure out Renamon, it make very little sense. What would it have to gain if it didn't do anything afterwards? And for this to be dumb luck or sheer coincidence again was one too many times at this point. It began to become a pattern more than anything at this point.

And Renamon didn't have it wrong. Ruki knew Renamon didn't have it wrong, and that's why it stung even more. How much longer would this continue to go on for?

Ruki fished out her cellphone, intending to contact Takato about the situation with the order to keep his eyes peeled. Renamon, however, interrupted.

"What do we do, Ruki?" Renamon asked. "Should we patrol the area to find any suspicious signs? If it was here, it likely left something behind."

The redhead replied with a nod, bringing her cellphone to her ear. "Let's do that, just to be safe. I'll let Takato know about this first though."

"Hello? Takato here."

"It's me."

From the annoyed tone, Takato knew everything he needed to hear.

As the key slid into the lock, Dorumon's ears perked up. It could only mean one thing, Ryuuji was back. He made his way over to the door at a fast pace, wondering what had taken him so long.

"I hope nothing happened to him..." Obviously if something did, it wasn't anything too major. He was trying to enter the house right now, but even so, he could very well have been attacked on his way back. It hadn't happened yet, but that didn't mean it wasn't a possibility.

The door opened and while he pulled off his hood, his human partner announced his return. "Dorumon, I'm ba- Oh." The blond immediately came to a halt as he noticed the purple beast, somewhat surprised. "What were you doing by the door like that?"

Waggling his tail in delight, Dorumon answered, "I was worried about you cause you were away longer as usual."

"Okay but that doesn't answer my question."

"Let me in already! Come on!"

"Oh, right." Ryuuji set foot inside, opening the door further for the one in tow. "I brought a guest."

A young girl dressed in black stepped foot in the house, gawking in awe at the size. "Hooooooo! This is where yer live, Jijicchi!? It's so big!"

"Jijicchi?" Dorumon repeated, tilting his head to the side.

"I was just as surprised as you."

Dorumon's nostrils caught the scent of the guest and he recognized it as someone he already knew. "Is that... Beelko?"

With a grin, Sistermon turned around to face him. His confusion was adorable. "Hey there, big guy! Pretty funny how the size roles are reversed now, eh!"

"When we left he was bigger than you though," Ryuuji interjected, earning him a punch to the arm from Sistermon, who interjected, shouting, "Lies!" Growling, he shot her a glare as he rubbed the spot. Despite her size, she hit hard. "Anyways, it's Sistermon Noir now."

"What happened to you?" the purple beast inquired, wondering how she managed to considerably size down.

Sistermon moved her hand in front of herself, almost as if attempting to swat something away. "Overdid it a bit. Nothin' too big. No need to worry too much about details."

Ryuuji had already found his way to the kitchen, putting on his appron as he went through the state of affairs inside of the fridge. It was already late and he had another schoolday tomorrow so this couldn't drag on for too long.

"I'll be making some food now, Sistermon," he announced, not bothering to look at her. "Go sit down somewhere and don't touch anything, please."

It was something he didn't have to say twice, as Sistermon had already pretty much diven onto the sofa, making herself comfortably while placing her feet on the table. As if Ryuuji sensed it, he poked his head out of the fridge, shooting her a glare. "Please get your feet off of the table."

Sistermon did as told, sinking away in the sofa anyways. This was certainly nice after a full day of being outside, leaning against walls or sitting on the ground. She could get used to this.

"Dorumon, please make sure Sistermon doesn't touch anything."

The purple beast simply nodded and made his way over to the sofa, taking a seat next to Sistermon.

As Ryuuji got to work he heard the words, "Hey, what's this thing for?" before hearing the television turn on, the volume going up considerably as he heard Dorumon make an attempt to stop her.

"P-please don't touch tha-"

"Aw, don't be such a buzzkill, big guy!"

Rubbing his forehead, Ryuuji let out a sigh. It was bound to be a long remainder of the day like this.

"Two talking Digimon?"

Culumon nodded, his mood not changing. Juri simply raised her eyebrows as she sat onto the bed. He had been gone just like that, ran into two talking Digimon by coincidence and then just mentioned this so casually?

It probably meant Culumon knew they weren't dangerous or anything, but still. Juri couldn't help but be a bit concerned. Especially since Takato, Jen and Ruki were looking for a Digimon too. Perhaps it was one of those two? If she could get some meaningful info she could relay it to Takato and help them out.

"Did they happen to take you, Culumon?" Juri carefully enquired. It was not something she put out of the realm of possibilities but her question was met by a headshake.

"A very friendly Digimon picked me up and talked to me, culu!"

"Picked you up?" Juri repeated, slightly alarming her. "How did you know it was a friendly Digimon, Culumon? They could have picked you up to take you away."

"They offered to find food together, culu!"

"What did this Digimon look like?"

Culumon put his paw to his face as he began thinking, Juri waiting in anticipation. "Long blonde hair and a mask, culu!"

Juri's eyebrows shot up again as she began thinking herself. The mask and blonde hair sounded a lot like Beelzebumon, but he didn't have long hair. Not to mention that Culumon knew who Beelzebumon was, so he would have been able to mention it straight up.

Luckily she knew from Takato what happened to a degree. And although she hadn't explicitly asked or was told what the Digimon looked like, she was smart enough to know the chance was big that the Digimon that attacked Takato, Jen and Ruki was the very same Digimon. There was a chance that said Digimon took out the one that found Culumon, but that seemed unlikely, cause Culumon would have mentioned that if that was the case.

But then what about the second Digimon? Where did that one come into play?

Juri shot Culumon a smile, continuing to inquire to the best of her abilities. "What about that second Digimon? What did that one look like?"

"It stood on two legs and was purple! When it evolved it grew wings, culu!"

Wings? That meant it could fly. Maybe that was why Takato and the rest couldn't find it? Perhaps it didn't act on land?

Either way, she would make sure to relay this information to Takato at school tomorrow.

"Either way, it's good that you're safe, Culumon." Juri shot him a smile before holding up a single finger, her voice getting a playful tone to it. "But don't go running off again or I might actually have to punish you!"

"I promise, culu!"

"Very good! Now, goodnight, Culumon."

"Goodnight, Juri!"

"Aaaaaaaah! That hit the spot!"

Dorumon and Ryuuji stared at each other with raised eyebrows as Sistermon slammed down her plate, sinking back in the sofa while holding her stomach in delight. If she was a cat, Ryuuji would swear she would be purring right now.

"Oi. Don't make yourself too comfortable," Ryuuji spoke, throwing her an annoyed look. "You still have your end of the bargain to keep up."

"Just ask what yer wanna know!" Sistermon answered, straightening herself out, an almost too self-satisfied smirk on her face.

"Do you find there to be anything out of the ordinary with Dorumon?" His directness took Sistermon aback for a bit, but not enough to leave her speechless. "Maybe even sense something in his presence?"

The questions were met by a headshake before she began to elaborate. "He just looks like a regular Digimon to me." She then gazed upon the red crystal on his head before grinning. "Well, other than the red gem on his head. I can't say I've ever seen that before on a Digimon."

Ryuuji turned his head to look at the red triangular gem as well and Dorumon felt awfully uneasy.

"So you have no idea if it is anything special?" he continued, turning back to Sistermon, who answered by shaking her head again. "I see."

"Such an insensitive question to ask, Jijicchi!" she joked, patting Dorumon's head. "Thinking Dorumon is different just because a specific feature happens to catch the eye!"

While he knew she was joking, he still decided to clarify. It may not be the best move, but if he wanted to learn more, he had to come clean to someone at least. With Sistermon, according to herself, got around quite a lot in the Digital World, it might be the best to start with her.

"It's not that," Ryuuji began, "Dorumon and I met when he was chased by a Fangmon. He seemed to be after Dorumon for something specifically. When he turned to data he even mentioned Dorumon would never be safe. I simply want to know why that is."

"I'm afraid I can't help yer with that. As far as Dorumon goes, I probably know even less than yer do." Sistermon shot him an apologetic look, but Ryuuji waved it off as not being a problem. "Why ask me this though?"

"Hm?" A blond eyebrow shot up, not really sure what she meant. "What do you mean? You're the only one I can ask. Plus you said you got around a lot in the Digital World so I thought maybe you'd know."

"There really ain't anyone else yer can ask?"

"If there was, you wouldn't be here now."

"So cold, Jijicchi! So cold!" Sistermon then grinned, leaning forward as she shot him a grin. "Yer should be nicer to the one that did yer a favour!"

Ryuuji shot her an annoyed look. "Favour? Don't forget I'm the one who made sure you didn't starve."

Sistermon's grin got even wider, her eyes narrowing. "That ain't what I'm talking about. I kept yer lil' secret safe."

"Secret?" the blond repeated. "I don't have a secre-" His eyes widened when he realized, lips parting slightly along with them. "Wait, do you mean..."

"I fought those three yer mentioned," Sistermon nodded.

"Fought?" Dorumon repeated, with Ryuuji being equally as surprised. "No wonder you reverted back by overdoing it."

Sistermon simply rubbed the back of her head. "It was kinda my own fault though. They came to pick up their friend who had ran away. He was so cute, yer should have seen 'im! So small and he had these cute ears. It was like a fluffy white ball!"

"White and cute ears? Oh, is it that Digimon that was watching when we fought Assaultmon?" Dorumon asked, earning him a confused look from both Sistermon and Ryuuji. The purple beast looked at both of them, slightly panicking from the two of them looking at him like that. "D-did I say something wrong?"

"He was there?" Sistermon wondered, not recalling having seen him there.

"It's no surprise he saw him. He's surprisingly perceptive. Feels like he has eyes in the back of his head most of the time," Ryuuji explained with a sigh, before turning to Dorumon. "But why are you only saying this now? Are you saying it's presence was responsible for your evolution?"

"I only noticed him for a split second and you never asked," Dorumon confessed, not seeing the problem.

"That ain't possible," Sistermon answered, her tone becoming the most serious Ryuuji had heard of her thus far. "I've heard stories of there being a Digimon being responsible for grantin' evolution but such a thing ain't a thing anymore."

"That would mean it was a mere coincidence then. It was probably just a natural reaction or a reaction born out of force of habit," the blond concluded, before sighing as he turned to Dorumon. "Anyways, make sure to tell me these things next time, Dorumon. It could be something important. You're not a pet or servant that is to await orders before being allowed to do something."

Dorumon simply nodded before Sistermon ran a hand over his head. "Don't worry about it, big guy! Jijicchi may be hard on yer but Beelko-oneesan forgives yer! Let's go and meet Culumon together next time!"

"Y-yes!"

"Time out, time out." Ryuuji shot Sistermon a glare before continuing. "First of all, don't go making plans with him just like that. Second of all, who did this 'Culumon' run away from? And last of all, how did this end up in you fighting them?"

"Like I said earlier, don't worry too much about the details!"

"You just did something without thinking, didn't you?"

"Details, details! Ain't any reason to worry about 'em!"

"Oi."

"Fine, fine!" Sistermon conceded with a sigh. She had promised to answer his questions after all. "When I encountered 'em they noticed I was a talkin' Digimon so they took the chance to ask me a couple of questions. Turns out they're lookin' for a rogue Digimon."

"And that's us," Ryuuji quickly replied.

Sistermon snapped her fingers with a grin. "Bingo! But worry not, Beelko-oneesan covered for yer and told 'em that I was the rogue Digimon."

"No wonder you ended up in a fight with them..." Ryuuji mumbled, holding his forehead. "Why though? You got nothing to gain from this. You put a target on your own back for no reason."

Shrugging, Sistermon waved it off as no big deal. "I promised yer, didn't I. Besides, it was pretty fun to fight 'em. They were pretty strong. I even got to see them fuse with their Digimon. Compeletely took me by surprise!"

Dorumon tried to imagine what a fusion of him and Ryuuji would look like. He didn't get much further than Ryuuji's head plastered on top of his body but with purple hair instead of blond. Another variant was Ryuuji's body with Dorumon's head and tail but colored blond. Needless to say, it was not something that looked pretty.

Ryuuji stayed silent for a moment, not really sure on what to say. While he was grateful that she did that, he could not deny that he felt slightly guilty for her putting a target on her back just to cover for him. "Either way, thanks for that," he said when he managed to find some words. "But where will you go to now? You may be in your Adult stage now but you're still easy to recognize. Not to mention you'll probably need to recharge your energy for a while."

"I hadn't really thought about it yet," Sistermon admitted. "I'll just see where the wind takes me and go from there!"

Taking a stand from his sitting position, Ryuuji turned away, causing Dorumon and Sistermon to stare at his back.

"You can stay here for a while," he simply said, trying to sound as nonchalant as he could. "We got a guestroom and it's not like my dad is ever around to notice you."

"Fo' real?"

"Really?"

While Dorumon began to waggle his tail in delight, Sistermon leaped onto Ryuuji's back, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Yer the best, Jijicchi!"

"I give... I give..." His words came out barely audible as he gasped for air while tapping on Sistermon's hands in an attempt to be released. "I can't breathe..."

With a grin, Sistermon let go, landing on the floor with a soft thud. Despite her size, she was definitely incredibely strong still. Ryuuji made sure to not make an enemy out of her.

The blond rubbed his throat, turning to face Sistermon. No way he was ever turning his back on her again.

"My bad, my bad," she apologized, but continuing to grin. "But fo' real! I'm thankful fo' this, Jijicchi! Once I'm able to become BeelStarmon again I'll be off again!"

"Just don't break anything or do anything that gets either of us in trouble," Ryuuji requested.

Sistermon said nothing, eagerly nodding instead.

"So Sistermon is staying with us?" Dorumon asked, trying to get confirmation. His tail didn't show any signs of slowing down.

"Yeah," Ryuuji nodded.

Sistermon quickly threw an arm around Dorumon, pulling him closer with a grin. "Ain't that great, big guy! We'll become the best of pals!"

"Yeah!"

Ryuuji huffed out through his nose, a small smile on his face. He still didn't know if this was the best thing to do, but Dorumon was happy about it and that happiness was certainly something to see. That definitely made his choice a bit easier.

"Anyways, Jijicchi," Sistermon began, shooting him a devious smirk, "Now that I temporarily live here... Shouldn't yer take a shower? Yer smell and it's bothering the other inhabitants!"

Ryuuji merely growled at her, prompting laughter from the Adult-stage Digimon.

He already began to regret his offer.

I'm still trying to get BeelStarmon/Sistermon Noir's speech pattern and word pronounciations down so if it may seem inconsistent with her way of speaking from previous chapters, do bear with me.

Other than that I still keep struggling with the 'canon characters'. One day they'll be the death of me.

The bit of BeelStarmon mistakingly calling Ryuuji a 'Tundra' is something I took from Mimi calling Yamato this in Tri, before Yamato annoyingly responds to it. It was one of the few parts of Tri I found amusing (But that's not a story for here) so why not.

Either way, a bit of a slower chapter, I guess, but even sometimes those need to be a thing. Like I said before I don't just want to rush into all the action and subequently speedrun to the end and make a lot of things look half-assed, rushed or make no sense at all with what was shown and what is known.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this one and I hope to see you next time again!

Stay well and see ya!