"Okay I have a week without any vigilante activity," I sat at my desk facing the laptop, "or anything else which uses my leg…"
"Well what did you use to do before I showed up?" Gazimon asked from the Digital home. I would have preferred her to be out here by my side, but everyone else was home right now. Couldn't take that risk right now.
"Well I mostly wandered around town while listening to music…" I trailed off as we both slowly looked down at my leg. That whole idea was out the window. "Yeah most of what I did was to get me out of the house."
"Well that's out the window right now. Do you really have no hobbies you can do while sitting down?" I wracked my brain trying to find an answer for Gazimon, but came up empty. She must have noticed my silence because she just started smiling. "Well, I guess we'll just have to think of something."
"Okay, so you have any ideas?" I did not like the look on her face." "Because it kind of looks like you have ideas."
"Well, I've picked up a couple of hobbies since I've started living in here, some of which could easily be done while sitting down," she raised a single claw at me, "the first of which is a bit of a personal favorite. Overly long video essays about things you don't care about made by people who passionately care about it."
I got a sinking feeling in my chest as Gazimon's smile beamed from the laptop screen.
An hour later, I was sinking in my chair as Gazimon desperately tried to find another video.
"Okay, so those last two videos were a bust but this next one will…"
"Gazimon, stop," I raised a hand to try and stop her, "I don't think this route is going anywhere. Maybe we could try something else?"
"Well maybe we could try watching a movie or tv show?" She suggested right before we set off on a three hour adventure. There were highs, there were lows, there was drama, there was laughter, there were tears, and by the end…
We had almost figured out what to watch.
"Okay so we have it narrowed down to these three shows," Gazimon explained as I slumped back in my chair. We must have gone through what felt like a hundred tv shows. Some dramas, some comedies, some united, some live action, and none of them clicking with me. I had way too many options here.
Maybe having Gazimon narrow it down to three would help. I glanced at the three titles and pointed to the one in the center. A dark fantasy animated adaptation of robin hood from the mid 90's. I vaguely remembered watching an episode or two when I was a kid and apparently people swore the series still held up… or at least the first two seasons did.
"A bit on the nose there Gabi," she snickered as I quickly realized the parallels.
"Oh come on, Rebel 1 only has a little bit of Robin Hood in him." I fought back as I tried to ignore the creeping fear traveling down my spine.
"You both have a power that lets you work outside the system, which you use to protect the people who are hurt by the system," I gulped as Gazimon kept going, "The only difference is that you have the power to travel the internet, and Robin Hood has a band of outlaws he lives with in the woods."
"Let's just watch a few episodes and go to sleep," I settled in to watch a cartoon I'd seen several years ago, hoping it would serve as a good time waster.
"Not a word," Gabi groaned through his smile. We'd ended up watching almost six episodes of 'Robin' during which Gabi had sounded like he was dying several times. And it wasn't because the show was bad, we wouldn't be six episodes in if it was.
No, Gabi sounded like he was dying because…
"So then Sheriff, any last words?" Robin asked from atop a castle wall, archers aiming at him from below and no way to escape.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" He sneered as he pointed his sword at Robin. "We have you surrounded Robin Hood! There's no way off that castle wall without either getting riddled with arrows or falling to your doom."
Robin took a second to look down at the many bowmen aiming at him and then the long fall to flat ground behind him. He turned back to the sheriff with a shocked expression. "Now that you mention it… I suppose you do have me surrounded. I spoke too quickly."
The sheriff sneered before the camera turned back to Robin smirking underneath the magical green hood which hid his identity.
"You may still have a ghost of a chance."
The Sheriff stomped his foot in rage and raised his sword.
"Fire men, leave him with more holes than a chainmail shirt!" he ordered as the arrows went flying. Robin simply reached into his bag and pulled the green feather the young winged boy Alan A Dale, had given him earlier.
"Alan, I hope I've bought you enough time to escape with your beloved," he whispered before jumping off the castle wall to the shock of the Sheriff's men. The camera cut back to Robin gently floating to the ground before sprinting to the tree cover where the rest of his Merry Men waited.
"Wow, you took a lot from Robin Wood when you were making the Rebel 1 persona, didn't you?" I giggled as Gabi scowled.
"Shut up, no I didn't," he tried to argue back, but he sounded like he was barely convincing himself. The actions, some of the words, even the mannerisms, I could see bits of them in the way Gabi acted while we were on our missions.
And based on the way he wildly smiled at the screen at the climax of each episode, I was probably going to see a whole lot more of Robin in the future.
The episode ended a few minutes later, with Robin and Little John meeting back up with Alan A Dale and his new wife. The two agreed to join the merry men and Alan explained that he could only give someone two magic feathers before they no longer worked. I sat back as the episode faded to black.
"You want to call it here?" I asked as Gabi yawned and struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Yeah, probably for the best," Gabi got out of bed and turned the laptop around so I couldn't see him. Even after all these months, I still didn't quite get why humans were so uncomfortable with others seeing them without their clothes on. The best thing I could think of was that it was the lack of fur.
Of course I wasn't about to shave myself to find out.
"You know, I've been thinking…" my ears perked up as Gabi turned the laptop back around after a while. He was dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts I knew he'd never wear in public. I took a deep breath, I needed to stop thinking about this or I'd go crazy. "So data can do a lot of things right?"
"Yeah, is there something you want to try to do?" Where was he going with this? Maybe he was going to try and make something? If that was what he needed to do to fill in the week, all the more power to him.
"Well in a digital space, everything is made from data right? And that would include things like light right?" There was a slight pause in between each question as he waited for me to nod or shake my head. "Well in that case it should be possible to make something that messes with light so that you can't see past it one way…"
"Gabi, just say what you want to do." I finally crossed my arms and put my foot down. He was building up to something, he just didn't want to say it.
"I want a magic hood that I can see out of but doesn't let people see my face." He finally admitted. I paused for a second and thought it over before quickly spotting a major problem.
"Wait, what about your helmet?" I hissed. "That thing is the only thing protecting your head. You can't just not wear it."
"Already way ahead of you. I've been thinking about it. Why can't a hoodie be as protective as a helmet? It's all just data anyway right?"
I raised a claw at him and opened my mouth to say something back, only for nothing to come out. He wasn't wrong… Would that actually work?
"Okay fine, I can help you make your stealth hoodie. But if you can't make it as protective as your old helmet, I'm going to put it on your head myself."
"Hey we have a deal, and it;s not just going to be a hoodie, I want to make a whole outfit that can act like a suit of armor." he explained as the gears in my head turned. After a few seconds, everything came into place.
"Wait a second, are you going out of your way to make yourself a safer, more protective outfit… just so you don't have to go through all this again?" The silence from Gabi told me everything I needed to know. "You know what, fine. As long as it means you'll never get as hurt like that again, I don't care why you're doing it."
"I'm going to go to bed," he finally said after a long pause, "see you tomorrow Gazimon."
A part of me was kind of sad to see him go. Sleeping next to him had been comfortable and helped me sleep, but I hadn't done so since I was stuck as Pagumon in the material world. And even if I'd never admit, they helped with the nightmares.
They were rarer now compared to when I'd first arrived in the material world, but every once in a while I would get them. And if there was one thing which got rid of them, it was sleeping next to Gabi. I'd just have to take my chances I'd be okay tonight.
Plus I still had a bit of time before I went to sleep anyway. I spent the next few minutes waiting for Gabi to fully go to sleep. Once I was sure he was gone, I emerged from the laptop with as little light and sound as I could manage.
I got on all fours and sneaked across the floor until I reached the window and pushed it open. I stepped out onto the rood, taking one last quick glance to make sure Gabi was still asleep before carefully closing the window behind me.
I took in a deep breath as I allowed the scents of the town to flow into me. Unlike what I'd seen of Cascade City across the bay, Dryden died down after midnight, as though the city itself had fallen asleep. The odds of meeting up with a human were next to zero, which worked just fine for me.
I jumped off the roof and latched onto the tree in the front yard. With a few careful leaps, I'd made it down to the ground and headed off.
I started this little hobby of mine a few weeks ago. I didn't do much, just wander around until I felt like I needed to sleep. I usually had a few hours to wander around town and find interesting things. So far I'd found a few nice parts and someone trying to sneak across town wearing a black robe. Not too sure what was up with that, but it wasn't like I could just go up and ask them.
Tonight, I decided to make my way to the beach, the same palace Gabi and Roxie had taken me the first time I'd emerged from the laptop. I hadn't been back since that first night. And I wanted to feel the sensation of sand under my paws again.
I made my way through the silent town until making it to the beach. I let myself take in the scent of the sea before making my way down to the edge. My claws clicked on the stone under my feet, ringing out over the empty night. I reached the small wall Gabi had sat on and climbed on top getting a perfect view of the moon over the ocean and…
Over the water was a vague blue shape, floating in place and staring out over the water towards the lights of Cascade City in the far distance. It was small, probably around my size, with what looked like a large hat on its head.
Well either ghosts were real, or I wasn't the only digimon in town anymore.