Additional Tags: Violence
Chapter Five - What Partners Do
Children bled. They got into scrapes and fights; they tripped over their shoes, and they picked themselves up every time. Sayo cut herself with a colorful knife once or twice every time she tried to cut fish, but she was persistent and kept the blood from the food, and apparently, that was good.
Kouichi licked Sayo's bloody fingers every time. It tasted like metal and he didn't like the sensation very much, but her minor cuts always closed over faster when he did this, so he did it again.
She laughde every time. It was a warm sound. He liked it a lot.
She also studied a lot, alone. Kouichi knew a lot, he thought. He didn't know why, but as he looked at it, it all clicked together.
She smiled whenever he teught her something. That was good, right? That was what she needed.
Partners helped each other.
But as he walked around the city, went outside, met other small humans, Kouichi couldn't help but feel like there was something else, something he was lacking. Someone maybe?
Like there was something else he needed to be doing.
"Kou!" Sayo called. His tail wagged. Even if there was something wrong, he liked… he liked this part. Sayo trusted him and was open to him and believed in him and all of that. He was wanted. He was allowed to be here, not hide in the unwanted shadows. Hm. He didn't know why that was on his mind.
He raced to catch up with her, his small paws giving him the energy to bounce about her hands. She smiled back at him as they entered a building full of-
Smells. Smells everywhere. Some were food-smells. His tongue tingled. Some were human smells, poop from babies, data sliding and slipping around.
This world did not feel like Earth in the slightest. It was not home, no grandma's gravestone or mother burdened by illness.
Only an orphan girl and himself. And her family too, but what did that mean, really?
Kouichi shook off these words as Sayo followed her uncle and aunt. The bustling people did not scare him. This asw only a market, and nothing really happened at markets.
"The selection is good," Sayo's uncle said. "We were very efficient this time around. We'll have enough food for a moment."
Kou didn't know why but he blushes in white fur.
Of course, Kou was also wrong. Something happens at the grocery store.
Someone tried to steal.
Kou knew somehow that this was bad, that this was something you should not do. He also had a vivid memory of wanting to, of wanting bottles of clean smelling liquid and linen cloths and a firm pillow for her back and wishing with all of his heart.
Even so, it was wrong. It was wrong and they needed to be stopped.
They were rushing out with what smelled like food and as they passed by, nearly tripping Sayo as they ran, Kou leaped, and his body was warmer and heavier than it was seconds before and-
Wham.
The thief hit the ground with a thud and a crack.
Everyone turned.
If I can't steal, Kouichi thought with bitter, raw triumph. No one else should either!
Kouji opened his eyes with a start. He stared up at the trailmon's ceiling. His heart was pounding in his chest, frantic and wild.
"Nii-san," he mumbled, reaching out to the ceiling, the stars. If he could reach through space itself, he would. "Where are you?"
Calling for an older brother still felt like a gossamer made dream, a soap opera plot twist or something from anime. His stepmom - mom, he knew he should call her that - could also be his mom, but he had a brother and a mother and he had so many questions for both of them, for everyone. He wanted to see his grandmother's grave. He wanted to know if his dad ever paid child support or anything. They'd separated and given up custody, so he wanted to know why.
There was so much he wanted to ask. But he needed Kouichi with him, for no other reasons than he doesn't want to hear things a second time. (There were so many more reasons, but that's the cold hard one. The second was to make sure his brother was real.)
Junpei's snores cut off as he sat up. His nightmares were quiet, or he's used to ignoring them. The bulkier boy looked over at him. "You good?" His voice was a low whisper, especially over Takuya's dulcet tones.
Kouji considered lying, of course, but of the six of them (and didn't that sing in his heart, he had five whole friends now) were considerably shitty liars to each other, and that included Kouichi. He just didn't talk, which, yes, Kouji understood. It would have been a good idea to communicate that he was likely already dead.
Then again, did anyone want to talk about that?
"Weird dream," he finally admitted. "Like, like he was there, next to me, doing something."
He half expected Junpei to snort in disbelief. He was the most cynical of them, the biggest skeptic, and the alternate perspective towards reason and sensibility.
Junpei, however, reached over and clapped him gently on the shoulder. "He's still out there," he said, smiling in a way that left Kouji no choice but to believe him. "I don't know if it's just the digital world or maybe that you miss him a lot but thinking of him is probably the best way we'll find him here, especially since we don't have our spirits back."
That… was a good point. What had happened to their spirits, anyway?
Their phones hadn't transformed, either. They'd just come in, but with no spirits. That meant the spirits would not help them. Or maybe they'd get lucky, and they'd show up, eventually.
"We'll have to be extra careful, then."
Junpei agreed and yawned. "You should get some sleep."
"You first," Kouji retorted.
They snorted at each other.
They woke up to Worm the Trailmon grinding to a halt. "Hello, your majesties! What a surprise to see you three here."
Takuya rubbed his head groggily. "Majesties?" Kouji shared a look with him and they got to their feet. Tomoki yawned and placed himself in a crouch on the seat.
"We have something important to give the Warriors," said a quiet, warm voice. It was so familiar, something in it set their shoulders down.
"Ophanimon!" Takuya said with a smile. He raced to the door, the others crowding after him only to see… a Tailmon? The cat only reached up to his waist with her tail. Her Holy Ring glinted in the streetlight's glow as she smiled up at him.
"It's been a while," she said, hopping onto the edge of a bench. "We were wondering when you would come back here."
"Is Kouichi near here?" Kouji asked as the other two digimon sat down beside their friend. THe rabbit nodded curtly and awkwardly.
"Yes," Tururiemon said awkwardly. "And no."
Kouji's eye twitched, like someone had hit him with a mild shock. Angemon added quickly. "In the sense he is in this world, yes, but he's not on this… plane?"
Tailmon rolled her eyes, like her friends were so very bothersome. As if she hadn't run them around the entire world herself. "What they mean is that Kouichi is currently above us, on a floating digital island, where humans and digimon interact. It is an unknown place. It is a very…" She paused, as if uncertain. "Broken place."
The area was silent for a moment.
"What?" Izumi shouted.
"Then why did you need us?" Junpei added.
"There are humans and digimon living together naturally?" Takuya grinned wide and eager, leaning closer. "When can we meet them? What's it like?"
All three digimon look distinctly uncomfortable. "It is… not hospitable," Angemon admitted. "They are still building a community there. But these are humans abandoned by their world and the digital world is still healing. We cannot house them now and helping them was-"
"My responsibility," Tururiemon added freely. "But since I was… occupied, their technology has been having accidents. One of their pods split in two. We managed to save the ones that fell to the land. We do not know what happened to their young. But it's likely that they are with Kouichi, above. Because he was originally a digimon when he died, his data remained in that form or one similar to it, so he did not reconfigure in his human body. He likely had to shield himself from it and took the young that were there as well."
All of them shared a look. "That was clear as mud," Takuya admitted. "So what do we have to do to get up there and find Kouichi?"
"To get up there, you will need to have a digimon partner," Angemon replied. "And the easiest way to make that possible is to separate the spirits and yourselves and turn the spirits into eggs."
A chill ran down the Warriors' spines. "Why would you need to do that?" Junpei asked, feeling his stomach lurch.
Tururiemon let out a sigh. "There are those up there who are both digimon and human as you are. As you have become. But they suffer unnecessarily and you will probably get hurt in the raw state the land is in now. So it is… a safety option. And in the end, the Warriors will need to return to the land so you both will need to part in order to let the two sides of this conflict finally ease, human and beast alike."
The three old friends smiled at one another, knowing and old.
All of them shared their own look. Then Kouji stepped forward. "All right. Let's do it."
He stood ramrod straight, determination outweighing trepidation.
With barely a pause, the other four stepped forward.
Angemon smiled at them all. "Look at how strong you've become."
"How trusting," Tailmon added.
"How noble," Tururiemon finished.
"We are proud of you, warriors. Let us see this through to the end. Come, back on the Trailmon, to the Tree of Beginnings."
None of them even wavered. Their D-Scanners glimmer in their pockets.