Chapter 3: Free at Last
Veemon:
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
As usual, the sound of Davis's alarm woke DemiVeemon along with his partner.
It always annoyed him; for a creature that needed as much sleep as him that was a given. Perhaps for that reason the first thing he noticed was how much longer it seemed to beep now than usual. Sticking his head out from beneath the mattress, the dragonspawn saw his partner's body fumbling around for the alarm. Did he not remember where it was?
"Of course he doesn't" DemiVeemon though.
Briefly as he'd been up, the blue dragon was not sure he'd remembered the events of yesterday before now or not. Either way, he did now. Davis's body eventually found the alarm and turned it off, freeing both of them from its annoying beeps. Looking that body up and down DemiVeemon noticed that TK was wearing the same skin he'd been wearing the day before, rather than the "pajamas" Davis usually wore to bed.
"Weird," he thought again "Why is TK digivoling funny?"
Going thought his memory again the digimon was positive that he had acquired the same new form Davis always did when he passed through the digiport the other day, and that Davis advanced up to Flamedramon and back as he normally did in his body. Could the rules of digivolution vary for the same body depending on who was in it? The tiny dragon knew he didn't understand the rules, nor did even the likes of Yolie or that Izzy genius he sometimes saw...
"What is that smell?"
Whatever it was it derailed any train of thought DemiVeemon had been on. He darted out from beneath the bed trying to get away from it. TK seemed to have seen him do it.
"Um, hello?" He said.
"Hello."
They stared at each other in awkward silence.
"Um... I... how did you sleep?" TK asked, seemingly trying to be polite. "
Well enough." DemiVeemon replied.
There was another awkward silence.
DemiVeemon realized if he had barely remembered what had happened the last two days as he woke up there was no way TK did. The dragonspawn felt even he as a digimon would have been surprised to wake up in an unfamiliar form. If Davis's reactions the other day were any indicator, humans would be even more surprised... For a moment he felt kind of sorry for him... but only for a minute. He didn't know much about this human, but his partner's dislike of him was enough to make the digimon distrust him. Add to that the knowledge that he was Patamon's partner and the sympathy melted away... didn't it?
"Of course it does." He thought to himself.
TK got out of bed. DemiVeemon could tell the smell was coming from him as he stepped forward... it took a lot of restraint not to step back.
"Um, I'm going to school now." The smelly human said.
He searched a bit for Davis's back pack. Upon finding it, he walked straight out of the room stopping only to say "Goodbye" as he shut the door behind him.
"Wait... what?" DemiVeemon said aloud.
Davis had gone to school almost every day since the blue dragon had met him. The first night, right before the day Cody and Yolie met Hawkmon and Armadillomon, he had spent in the digital world. The day after that was the first time Davis took him to school. He still remembered how exited he'd been to see the human world through the hole in his bag. Apparently he'd made a sound or two that had gotten weird looks directed at Davis as the day went by, followed by whispers from his partner to keep quiet. The third day Davis had left him behind. It was the only time he ever did that. DemiVeemon still remembered the look of shame his partner had that afternoon. There were times after that he'd left him alone in the room, but never for long... never all day. TK, it seemed, had. Perhaps he still pitied the boy somewhere. The thought disgusted him.
He didn't have much time to think about it before he heard footsteps coming down the hall. Davis' mom was no doubt coming this way. DemiVeemon knew the drill. He hid once again beneath the bed where she could not see him if she came in. The dragonspawn realized too late the smell was much stronger down there. He almost darted out from under it again, but restrained himself as he heard the door open. He turned so that his line of sight went across the floor, out the gap between the mattress and ground and toward the outside door. He saw what he knew by now were Mrs Motomiya's feet, and with them... Davis's? Had TK come back for him? The raised tone of the mother's voice quickly revealed otherwise.
"Daisuke, no! You're cleaning yourself now." She said.
"Mrs... Mom, I can't" TK begged back at her. "I really can't."
"You're not going out like that." She said. "No, I can't even let you stay home like that that. You're showering now."
The dirty human continued to protest, but Davis' feet moved to the bathroom along with those of his mother. Turning himself again he saw the bathroom door close in front of those borrowed feet, behind Mrs. Motomiya's. Another moment of awkward silence followed that.
"Son, please." The mother's voice eventually came. "You're worrying me... almost scaring me. You haven't done this in years, and after what happened last night..."
"It's okay." Davis' voice came cutting her off. "I'm fine. I… will do it. I'm sorry." He paused for a moment "I'm really, really, really sorry."
The sound of running water came after that. Mrs. Motomiya listened to it for a moment, then walked toward the bed. He heard the rustling above of her removing the sheets; she walked away with them, the smell gone. "That's a relief." He thought. Davis's mom returned quickly and replaced the sheets. She walked back up to the bathroom door then and waited for the running water to stop. When the door opened DemiVeemon saw his partner's shed skin in a pile behind his feet and Mrs. Motomiya's. The mother picked up her son's shed skin. DemiVeemon could see the ring behind them, though apparently neither of the current Motomioyas noticed it, as their conversation resumed.
"Son," the mother said again. "Do you need to see a doctor?"
"No." TK replied. "I don't, really."
"I don't know that I believe you. Honestly, I want to take you to the emergency room now."
"Please don't." TK replied "I... I really need to get to school today."
"Are you sure?" "
Yes very... I, ah, have a test today, first period."
Mrs. Motomiya sighed. She clearly didn't know how to respond to this either.
"Alright," she finally said. "But I'm getting you an appointment while we're out."
"Thank you... mom."
They left the room; after a while it was clear neither of them were coming back this time.
"So much for TK coming back for me." DemiVeemon lamented.
He turned himself to glance at both doors. Both of them were open. That stung. When the door was closed he could wander the room, but if the door were open it meant he had to stay under the bed. In this case, it meant he had to stay under the bed the whole school day. He was trapped here until his new partner came back.
"Story of my life eh?" He thought.
Veemon, in this life at least, was born beneath Digi-Egg of Courage. He had formed with it, after Apocolymon had died and the digital world was rebooted. He didn't know that at the time though. All he knew then was that he had to wait there, all by himself in a small dark space, for his partner to come and free him. The older digidestined had told him he had waited there for four years.
DemiVeemon did not know how long four years was. He knew what a day was. He had never seen the sun of this world rise or set, and he had seen the sun of the digital world rise and set exactly once; those events meant little to him. He knew a day as the amount of time between Davis leaving for school each morning. He had a really good feel by now of how long that was. Apparently a year was three hundred and sixty five days, not that he knew how many "three hundred and sixty five" was. "Seven" was about as big a number as he could grasp. Apparently it was the amount of days in a week, the time between days Davis did not have to go to school. The blue dragon cherished that "Sunday" that came every week, and yet for the longest time he could never tell when another one was coming. He still remembered that first time Dais tried to count to seven for him on his fingers… the dragonspawn could only follow him up to two with his stubby fingerless arms… It took him many weeks to finally get a feel for how long seven days was. At least this time he knew exactly how long it would be before TK came back to free him. Like several times before when Davis was away, he told himself he wouldn't be confined for long. It would never be as long a wait as his early life had been.
Davis:
Davis woke up peacefully for the first time in months. At first he did not even realize it, assuming this another lucid dream. The only thing that seemed out of place about it was the location.
"Where have I seen this place before?" He thought.
It was when he saw Gatomon sleeping in the corner that he recalled exactly where.
"Kari's room." Davis thought. "Where have I seen…"
The black ring on Gatomon's tail reminded him exactly where… and how. He looked himself over and saw he was in Kari's night gown rather than his own pajamas. He touched his hand to his face… both felt smoother than his own ever had. He rushed over to the window and cold barely make out his reflection in the rising sunlight… Kari's reflection.
"I'm not dreaming." Was all he could say. Somehow it still felt as though he was.
He went downstairs and saw Tai's mother making breakfast.
"Morning Kari!" She said.
"Morning… uh… mom." He replied. "
It's almost ready." Mrs. Kamiya said. "I haven't seen your brother yet. Did you forget to wake him?"
"My brother?" Davis mumbled. "I don't… wait…" It was Tai. Obviously she was talking about Tai. Tai… was his brother.
"You alright honey?" Tai's mother asked. "
Yes, I'm fine." He responded. "I'll go wake him up."
He was almost there before she could respond. Awkward conversations would bother him even in his own body. To have one here… He knew the way to Tai's room already, and the bedroom door was open when he got there. He walked in to find his idol sleeping on his bed… He slowly reached out his hand and touched him.
"Um, hello Tai. Wake up…" Did he dare say it? "Big brother."
"Wha… oh." Tai's voice came. "Morning sis."
Veemon:
"7:04"
That was the reading DemiVeemon saw on the clock. Davis had told him to use the ring at 7:05, the time he had switched. As much as "7:0" confused him, he knew 4 came right before 5… the time was finally drawing near! It couldn't have come soon enough. The school day stuck beneath the bed would have been bad enough had it not been almost dark by the time TK came up to the room and closed the door. The boy apologized when he complained about it. As much as he disliked TK he couldn't blame him. Judging from how long he'd stay downstairs and how eagerly he'd gone down again for dinner, the digimon got the impression he was uncomfortable being in Davis's room. At least he remembered to close the door the time.
"7:05"
It was time. Once again he crawled under the bed, this time to get the coffee cup. He slurped everything left in there down in on gulp…. Much to the chagrin of his taste buds…
"At least last time it was hot…"
On the positive side it filled him with energy almost immediately. He suspected digimon digested more quickly than humans, and given his size, he digested more quickly than most digimon. By the time the clock read 7:08 digivolution was upon him.
"DemiVeemon digivolve to Veemon!"
He crawled while under the bed one final time and slid toward the ring… or at least tried too. His larger form quickly got stuck between the floor and the mattress.
"Oh come on!"
He yelled stretching his hand out as far as he could.
"Come on… yes!"
His fingers barely grasped the ring and pulled it toward him. With the ring firmly in his grasp he tried to crawl out from under the bed…. But was still stuck.
'Whatever, it's Patamon's problem!" He thought.
He then slipped on the ring. For a brief second it was dark, then Veemon found himself in a room he did not recognize. "TK's?" He questioned internally. He stood up.
"Good to be unstuck" He thought.
Trying to walk around however, he immediately fell over.
"I should have expected that… Patamon walks on four legs when he's not flying."
He stood on four legs this time and took a few steps forward. He could walk around again, but of course that was nothing next to the real prize… flight. The dragonspawn had flown before, but only in his dreams. Ever since he had first seen Patamon fly around that first night after he had been freed, he had envied him. He began to flap his ears hoping to get airborne as he'd seen his rival do… nothing happened…. Wait a minute… this wasn't what he'd expected Patamon's ears to feel like. The felt short and curved instead of long and narrow… if anything they felt… catlike…. Wait a minute…
Veemon took a good look down at himself…. Instead of Patamon's yellow flesh he saw white fur and gloved catlike paws. He wasn't Patamon… he was… Gatomon. The door opened before he could react. In the precipice he saw Kari…
"Hey Veemon." She said.
"Davis?" the former dragon asked in response.
"The one and only."
What happened? Why are we Kari and Gatomon? Weren't we supposed to be TK and Patamon?"
"Yeah, I had to scrap that plan." Davis replied. "Birthday boy apparently decided to give Kari the ring before I got home to put mine on. I found myself in her body and thought, hey, you said you wanted us to go together."
"I wanted to date Gatomon not be her!" Veemon said. "I wanted to be Patamon… I wanted to fly."
Davis pulled out Kari's digivice. "You still can fly partner. We're going to the digital world tomorrow. You can fight as Nefertimon!" That was intriguing… "As far as dating her… I was upset about that with Kari too at first, but the more I thought about it it, the more I realized this was the best thing that could have happened to us on that front. We might not be able to make them hate TK and Patamon any more, but we can do better! This is the perfect opportunity to bond with them. How could you ever get to know someone better than literally walking in their shoes!"
"I don't think Gatomon has shoes."
It took a few minutes to explain he idiom.
"Kari, dinner's ready!" came a voice from behind them.
"Thanks mom!" Davis responded, turning around. "I'll be down in a second."
A human around the size of Davis's mother came into view. Veemon instinctively began to back away in fear she could see him. The strange human however turned and looked right at him.
"We're having fish again. I know it's your favorite." She said.
"No good!" Veemon thought.
In the surprise of the switch he had apparently let his guard down and been seen.
"You okay Gatomon?" she continued.
"Of course she's okay mom." Davis interjected. "You've know each other for years now. Isn't that right Gatomon?" Davis turned to his partner as he said that.
It was then that Veemon realized just what that meant.
"Yeah." He said "I'm better than okay."
Kari:
Kari found the most peculiar sight returning to Davis' room after dinner. Sticking out from under his bed was a small blue torso…. apparently Veemon's. She approached trying to make sense of it. Whoever was in the dragon's body seemed to notice Kari come in.
"What's going on? What is this place? Why am I blue?"
"You aren't Veemon are you?" Kari replied.
"Veemon… no. I'm Gatomon."
So it was true…
"I'm not Davis either; I'm Kari." She replied.
"Whoever you are, can you get me out from under here?" Her partner asked.
Kari lifted up the bed a bit. It didn't budge much, but it was a enough to free the trapped digimon.
"Thanks," she said looking up at her. "Are you sure you're Kari? You look a lot like Davis to me."
"You look a lot like Veemon to me." Kari replied.
It was then that Gatomon looked down at her new body, no doubt seeing it in full for the first time. The look of shock on its face was apparent.
"Wha… what happened to us?"
"We seem to have switched bodies with Davis and Veemon." Kari replied. "I talked to Davis on the phone last night and met him in school today in my body. I'm assuming Veemon is in yours right now."
"I see." Gatomon said. "Do you know how this happened?"
"I don't know." Kari was about to reply when she noticed the ring on Gatomon's finger... "
That ring... I was wearing it when I got up… when I wound up in this body." She said.
"When you wound up in this body?" Her partner asked. "When was that? I just got here."
"Last night, as I was coming home from the birthday party." She answered. She stuttered before continuing… "The party where Davis gave a ring exactly like that one…"
Gatomon looked down at the ring on her new hand, and her eyes widened. "Your body… Davis, was wearing a ring like this when he came home." She replied "I asked him where he got it and he said TK gave it to him…. He let me borrow it because it looked like my tail ring."
"And now you're wearing the ring as Veemon." It was true. "The ring must have been what switched us!"
Kari immediately went for the phone. "What are you doing?" Her partner asked.
"Calling Davis." The current goggle head replied. "We need to talk to him about this."
Her thoughts were running wild with possible conversation points. Most of them pertaining to where Davis found the rings and if they could use them to switch back. After a brief relay by her father, the former goggle head was on the phone.
"I… take it you're calling about Gatomon and Veemon." He asked.
"Yes actually.' Kari replied. "But there's more. Davis, I think that ring you gave at the party is responsible for all this."
"What are you talking about?"
"Gatomon was wearing it before the switch, and now she's warring one just like it as Veemon. We were both wearing them too when we switched."
"I don't know." Davis replied. "Can a ring do that?"
"Probably not." Kari said. "But I can't think of anything that really could and this is the best lead we've got. You have to tell me, where did you get these rings?"
"I… don't… um… remember."
"What!?" Kari half-shouted "What do you mean you don't remember? " "
I guess I just forgot…."
"You have to remember something. Did you find them? Buy them? What?"
"I bought them…. at a store somewhere? I couldn't tell you the name of the place."
Kari was awestruck.
"Do you at least remember where you got them… like the general location?"
"I think it was in the mall…. Maybe. Does that count?"
That was a start….
"How can you not remember where you bought a jeweled ring? Kari asked
"Jewelry isn't something I'm normally interested in."
"Kari," Gatomon interrupted. "Is it possible for me to speak with Veemon?"
The chosen sighed.
"Davis," She asked. "Gatomon would like to speak with Veemon. Can you put him on the phone?"
"I'm not sure Veemon knows how to handle a phone," He responded. "but I can try."
After a few moments of engineering Kari could hear Veemon's now catlike purr coming through the phone.
"Hi Kari!" He said. "I told Davis to hold the phone up to my head for me." She handed it over to her partner.
"Veemon," she asked "when did you put on this ring?"
Leaning in toward the speaker Kari could just barely hear his response.
"Before I went to sleep, I thought it looked pretty and tried it on. When I woke up I was you."
"So we switched while sleeping…." She replied "From what my partner told me she switched with yours while they were both awake…"
Kari heard her own voice then "How much were you going to ask him? Holding the phone like this is awkward."
"It's okay Davis." Gatomon said. "That was the main thing I wanted to ask. You can talk to Kari again now if you'd like."
Davis agreed, and talk quickly resumed between Kari and him…. not that much of substance was said. Most of it was Kari asking Davis questions he didn't have an answer to. Eventually Kari hanged up in frustration. She looked up and saw her partner looking back under the bed.
"Coffee." She said. "Veemon was drinking coffee before the switch."
"What are you talking about?"
"There's a coffee pot under here, like the one your dad drinks from." Gatomon replied.
Kari looked under the bed and saw it there too.
"I spent the last several minutes staring at it before you rescued me."
"That's bizarre…" She said.
"Veemon told me we swapped while he was sleeping." Gatomon continued. "How do you sleep while drinking coffee?"
"I don't know." Kari responded.
"Doesn't this all seem suspicious to you?" her partner added. "That they couldn't remember where they got these rings."
"Suspicious? Are you saying they're lying?" Kari asked. "That doesn't make sense… unless… unless they switched with us on purpose and don't want us to know."
The ramifications of that immediately came to her, and made her skin crawl.
"No way." Kari continued. "No way Davis would do that."
"Then explain the coffee." Gatomon replied.
"Davis is an idiot and Veemon is even dumber. There's no way he knows what coffee is." Her partner replied. "He probably drank it before he went to bed not knowing the difference between it and water."
It was then that she remembered Veemon spent most of his time as DemiVeemon.
"Heck, that explains how you got stuck." Kari went on. "Stuff you eat and drink takes a minute to have an effect. He must have gone to sleep under the bed as DemiVeemon, then when the caffeine took effect it woke you up as Veemon."
"I guess." Gatomon said. "It still seems kinda unlikely to me."
"I can't help but think Davis stealing our bodies is even less likely." Kari said "Do you really think Veemon would do that?"
"I don't… think so?" Gatomon said. "I guess you must be right."
"I really hope I am." Kari thought. "I have to be, Davis is my friend. He would never do that to me… would he?"