Alicia holds her digiegg close to her chest, biting her lip and walking side by side with Miz. Things were oddly quiet, the other teams out on their little missions, but there for once hadn't been enough for all of them, so Mike had selected a place at random just so they had something to do while waiting for the others to return, safe and sound hopefully. They're wandering by a lake, Alicia stroking the top of the egg, when Mike rests a hand on Monodramon's head. "Hey, do you know how long it takes for Digieggs to hatch?"
"It varies," the rookie says slowly, peering up at the soft green egg. "Could be hours, could be days. Palmon should hatch soon though." Mike murmurs a soft ok, and they continue walking, Alicia wishing that her partner would just hurry up and return to her soon. She misses her soft voice, her gentle eyes. The way that they just fell into sync so easily. No one had really understood Alicia that well before.
They walk on in silence for awhile longer, enjoying the peace and quiet, when Monodramon stops short and sniffs around, his eyes dilating as he looks all over as if searching for something. "What is it?" Mike asks warily, stepping forward and trying to shield Alicia just in case his partner's reactions prove to be something really serious.
"I smell... something..." He continues looking around until something hard bursts against his chest, sending him crashing backwards. Mike gapes on as a Brachimon crashes down from a cliff ledge, rattling the ground with his heavy hooves. Alicia falls back and drops her digiegg, grunting as Mike turns to look at her. "Mike! Watch out!" Monodramon yells, giving his partner only enough time to look in time to see Brachimon lunging at him, preparing for a headbutt.
"Ahh!" he yells, not having time to do anything before there's a bright light from behind Alicia that even stops Brachimon in his tracks, and time seems to stop as they look over at it, watching as the digiegg cracks, then breaks. Alicia gasps and scrambles to sit near it, forgetting everything else, as her partner finally emerges.
She's a young plant, looking more like a bud than an actual creature but she has eyes and a mouth and stares eagerly at Alicia. "Nyoooooo," she cries out, hopping around before leaping into Alicia's outstretched arms. Alicia hugs her tightly and they laugh and cry together before Bracimon stomps towards the digidestined once more, reminding them of his presence.
"Nyo!" the baby digimon exclaims, not liking him at all. She hops onto Alicia's shoulder and slings the two leaves atop her head towards him, striking him with seeds that explode upon contact. He roars and whips his head back and forth in aggravation, opening himself up for what comes next: Monodramon charges in and bites Brachimon hard along the neck, fragmenting his data and causing him to destabilize. A quick series of punches with his claws extended and Brachimon's body fails him, data drifting through the mid-afternoon air as the creature disappears.
Alicia stutters and hugs her partner closer, tears pouring down her face. "Still a badass, no matter how little you get," she sobs. "Thank you, Ny... Nyo... I don't know what your name is."
"Nyokimon," Monodramon offers helpfully as she sniffs and wipes at her face. "PRetty cool attack there, helping distract Brachimon long enough for me to get into position to finish him off."
Nyokimon babbles at him, hopping off of Alicia's shoulder and landing on Monodramon's forehead, beaming down at him. He merely laughs and waits carefully until Alicia scoops the little creature up, hugging her close. Mike sighs and shakes his head. "So much for a peaceful outing, huh? Let's go back before something else happens."
Alicia agrees, but secretly she's glad all of this happened because she now has her partner back and she's seen with her own eyes that Nyokimon hasn't lost any of her spirit. She smiles and kisses the top of Nyokimon's head, between the leaves, and feels as the little digimon squirms and chatters. "I'm so glad you're back," she whispers.
