From the report of Andrey Rabinovich
March 29, 20XX
Dearest Oleg,
The lands north of the Yamalo-Neneks Okrug are colder than I could have imagined. Only half a day from the last research station, Dr. Akiyama made the call to leave the truck in favor of the two snowmobiles. Though they have sat unused for the last six weeks, I was hoping they would never be needed in the end. Alas, here we are.
Of course Dr. Akiyama has commandeered the first for himself, leaving me to share with his son. Ryo is cocky beyond belief; he reminds me much of you, Oleg, when we were younger. Still, with the temperature approaching -10° C with windchill, even he has kept quiet today.
We've made camp for the night, but Dr. Akiyama says he believes we are close—only a day or two to go, save some horrible snowstorm. He is fixated on that strange device of his, even more-so than normal. I have no idea what it means, of course, but I see the dials spinning rapidly even as I write this. The son is interested as well; they speak in hushed tones with each other in Japanese.
The cold and loneliness of the Arctic Circle makes me long for your arms even more.
All my love,
Andrey
P.S. I don't have proof yet, but I am 90% certain that the son Ryo is keeping some animal in that giant bag I told you about.
Chapter One:
"Whoa! Hands!"
Takato
Takato was decidedly not happy when his alarm rang at 7am sharp. It's not like he wanted to stay up all night; the essay was due the next day, after all, so he didn't really have a choice. Then again, he did have a choice about spending all weekend with Guilmon at the river. Which he totally didn't regret… or at least, hadn't regretted until right now.
And man was his bed soft that morning. The blanket was fluffy and warm, wrapped around him like a soft cave. In one last defiant gesture, Takato squeezed his eyes even tighter shut and burrowed deep into, willing for just five more minutes of wonderful, beautiful sleep.
He must have dozed off, because some time later he was woken once again: this time, by a giant snout.
"Takato-mon," the snout said, "you smell different."
/Ughhh… Guilmon, bad breath!/ he groaned, finally relenting and opening up his eyes—
–only to come face first with a giant mouth looming right above him, ten times bigger than his head and chock full of very sharp teeth.
/AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!/
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The mouth (and the digimon it was attached to) jumped away.
/You're HUGE!/ Takato shouted, not sure whether to be concerned or amazed at his partner's sudden growth spurt.
"Huge?" As Guilmon cocked his head and scrutinized his paws in confusion, Takato realized he could see every scale on his partner's body, even the bits of breadcrumb stuck around his face and belly (why his belly?) and… why had he never seen this before?
"Takato-mon, I don't feel huge," Guilmon said. "But I guess I was hungry and I ate some buns earlier but I swear they were the stale ones and I only ate two bags… well, maybe three."
/No, the stale ones are fine,/ Takato grumbled and pushed himself up, /it's just-/
With a squawk of surprise, his arms failed him he faceplanted back into the mattress. Huh? His arms felt weird, kinda scrunched back or something, and his fingers were so long but he couldn't curl them for some reason.
Maybe I slept funny? Takato thought, lifting a hand up in front of him only to see—
/AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!/
"BAAAAGGAAAAHHHHHH"
/GUILMON stop SCREAMING! Why do I have a WING!?/
"BAAAAHHHHHHhh—oh, sorry."
Takato gazed in horror at the wing that had replaced his arm, speckled with gray and white plumage and tipped with long black feathers. The horror only grew as his eyes traveled down to see more feathers, and then even more, and sticking out of it all two scaly little legs. Heart racing, he shook out of the tangle of blankets and hopped on those weird feet over to his phone on the bedside table.
Staring back at him in the cold glass was the feathered gray head and hooked beak of, well, a bird. He opened his mouth. The bird opened its beak. He cocked his head to the side—the bird tilted its head. He tried to wrinkle his nose, but quickly found he didn't have a nose to wrinkle.
Guilmon plodded over, his feet making huge reverberations against the floor. The giant dinosaur (No, Takato corrected himself, not giant, I'm just a freaking BIRD) nuzzled his partner's side, causing Takato to stumble. He started to say something, but then—
UMM, how have I even been talking!?
Eyes wide, Takato hopped around to face his partner and opened his weird, hard mouth and tried to say something, anything. Producing a loud 'SQUAWK', he jumped in surprise.
Giant-Guilmon cocked his head again. "Squawk?" he said hesitantly. Takato shook his head frantically—this turned out to be very difficult when you're a bird—and opened his mouth again, clacking his beak, willing himself to speak, speak—
/SPEAK!/
"SPEAK!" Guilmon grinned, clapping his paws together. "Takato-mon in my head!"
Head… Takato focused, directing his thoughts directly at Guilmon. /Can you hear me, boy?/
"Yeah yeah!" his partner laughed, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. "Like Mar-tin Manhunter!"
/Mar-tin—ahh, yeah! Right, like Martian Manhunter!/ The two of them had been watching Young Justice before bed, and Guilmon was becoming quite good at superhero trivia.
Suddenly: /TAKATO!/
Takato winced as his father's voice split into his head, accompanied by a furious tapping noise against the bottom of his bedroom door.
/Honey, are you alright!? Something is happening!/ His mother's voice, now.
/I'm fine!/ he called back, trying to project his thoughts outwards towards his possibly-bird parents. /Umm, yeah, something is definitely happening…/
"Everyone Mar-tin!" Guilmon giggled, trotting to the door and flinging it wide open before his partner could protest. A feathered gray head poked its way around the digimon, followed by a slightly smaller brown one. Takato shuffled awkwardly on the desk and dug his talons even deeper into the wood.
/Hey Mom. Hi, Dad. Umm… I think I'm gonna be late to school?/
Jenrya
"Come on guys, it's easy!" Shiuchon teased. "You're just thinking too much!"
Jenrya's father let out an angry growl. /Thinking too much!? Shiuchon, may I please remind you that I ripped the bed in half this morni—/
"Ew, too much information!" Terriermon giggled, gliding down from the top of the bookshelf to land lightly on his Tamer's furry head. "No pressure or anything, just remember that if you don't figure this out you'll never have hands ever again!"
/Terriermon!/ Jenrya snapped, shaking his head just enough for the digimon to lose his balance.
"Hey! It's true!"
Honestly, it was true. As much as he didn't want to believe it, he was now covered in brown fur and cramped into the family's living room with three massive bears that for some reason he knew were his father, mother, and older brother… oh, and also two digimon and a very smug, very human Shiuchon. This was by far the most uncomfortable 'Lee family meeting' he'd ever attended.
"I do believe you will be able to find your human form again," Lopmon stated from her partner's shoulder. "Shiuchon, why don't you explain what you did?"
"I did explain—"
"In more detail than 'I thought about being human again', please."
Shiuchon grumbled something under her breath before putting on that sly grin again and prancing over to the bear that was their oldest brother Rinchei. In a very surreal moment that made Jenrya wish he could pinch himself (alas, no fingers…), the fourteen year old girl wrapped her arms around the massive brown bear's chest and hauled him towards the center of the room.
/Shiuchon, wha– /
"All RIGHT. As the oldest and therefore bravest of the Lee family children, I've selected you as our example." She released the bear/her brother and slammed both hands down on his haunches, forcing him to plop down in surprise. "Now close your eyes."
Rinchei glanced nervously towards their mother, the smallest bear who was hovering in the doorway. She stooped her head down slightly and narrowed her eyes in what Jenrya somehow knew was the bear version of a frown. /Shiuchon, please be nice to your brother./
/Mayumi, we do need to try something,/ their father muttered, twitching his graying muzzle.
Terriermon danced on Jenrya's head and giggled. "Hah! You guys are stuck!"
/TERRIERMON!/ Jenrya snarled, louder this time. /Please! We're all a little stressed out here!/
"I mean, he's not wrong," Shiuchon smirked, squatting down just slightly to get at eye level with her fur-covered brother. "I don't know, you guys are all so cute like this… I almost feel like I want to get out my little bonnets and—"
/OKAY! OKAY!/ Rinchei shouted with something that sounded like true fear. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. /Okay. It's fine. I'll try it./
Shiuchon clapped her hands. "Perfect! Lopmon?"
Lopmon rolled her eyes but glided down to the console table and pressed something on her partner's phone. Suddenly, cheesy spa music started blasting from the room's speakers.
/Seriously? This is not gonna help me- /
"Relax!" Shiuchon cut in, her voice soothing. "Just relax." Jenrya watched as his brother's breathing began to slow and his once bristling fur flattened, just slightly. "Think about your fingers and toes. Think about the feeling of picking up something and squeezing it. Think about the feeling of the house slippers against your feet." Rinchei continued to breath, tension seeming to melt away from his massive sides. "Now think about reaching up with your arms and stretching, lifting up your knees one at a time, you can only balance on one foot, after all…"
"Dang Jen, she's good…" Terriermon murmured into Jenrya's ear, conveniently situated on top of his head.
/Yeah…/ he responded, directing the message to his partner only. Heck, he was even getting sleepy…
Shiuchon was continuing: "Good, good job Rinchei, now just let it all slide away, just slide out of your fur and—EWW! SERIOUSLY, RINCHEI!?"
Sitting in the middle of the carpet, Jenrya's very human and unfortunately very naked brother looked down in horror.
/Rinchei!/ their mother snapped, shielding her face with a giant paw. /For god sakes, put some clothes on!/
Janyuu shuffled up to his son and sniffed him with scientific curiosity. /Hmm, well done son. You still smell a bit like a bear. I wonder if-/
"Oh my god! DAD!" Rinchei shrieked, his face beet-red; one desperate hand covering himself, the naked 25 year old scrambled to his feet and sprinted into his bedroom before slamming the door with a loud 'bang'.
With his mother shaking her big furry head in shame his father looking down the hallway in a daze, and Terriermon laughing uproariously, Jenrya decided this was the perfect time to excuse himself.
/So… yeah, I think I'm gonna go to my room too./
Ruki
"I'm home!" Ruki called, wincing as she shut the gate with a loud 'screech'.
/Didn't I tell you to oil that thing?/ Ruki jumped as her grandmother's voice rang through her mind as clear as day. It was going to take some time to get used to this whole "thought-speech" thing coming from anyone besides Renamon.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry!" she called back. She'd honestly meant to fix it that day—Renamon found the oil and everything— and it was a bit unfair that her grandmother just so happened to have super-hearing now.
Slipping off her shoes, she made her way into the kitchen and frowned at the cabinet. "Renamon?" The fox digimon appeared behind her and set a plastic shopping bag down on the counter. "What do you think: Bowl? Plate?"
Renamon gazed at the shelf thoughtfully. "I think perhaps a plate. A bowl may be too…"
Ruki grinned, imagining her grandmother sitting in front of a dog bowl full of kibble. "On the nose?"
"Yes. Perhaps." Renamon smiled, just slightly, before carefully reaching up to the top shelf. The platter she set down was absolutely beautiful, intricately decorated and almost certainly very expensive. "I must say, Ruki, this is all a bit unclear to me as well. Shall we make this as dignified as possible?"
Ruki nodded, firming her gaze. "Yeah. Good call."
No longer hidden in the shopping bag, the raw flank steak looked anything but dignified despite their best efforts. Ruki let out a quick exhale and tried to send the bile back down her throat. In her mind's eye, all she could see was Seiko lapping up the blood that was now pooling around the steak.
"It doesn't… look appetizing to you?" Renamon asked cautiously, tilting her head in the Tamer's direction.
Ruki made a dramatic gagging noise. "Umm, definitely not. I mean, I can logically see how it could be appetizing if, you know…" she trailed off, suddenly quite uncomfortable.
Renamon frowned. "Yes. I understand. We can explore this at a different time, perhaps." The digimon seemed completely unfazed as she lifted the platter, raw meat and all, and nodded towards the door. "Shall we?"
Seiko was sprawled out on the backyard patio, soaking in the warm morning sun. When Ruki and Renamon slipped through the sliding door, she lifted her head lazily to look at them with piercing green eyes.
/Ah, you're here. About time./
For a moment Ruki just stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do. In Renamon's paws, the raw steak felt like a beating heart. Down the steps, the large amber cat that was her grandmother was propped up on its forearms and stared at the steak with a predatory gaze.
/Well, come on already! Chop chop!/
Snapping to attention, Ruki gestured at Renamon who stepped down and placed the platter right in front of Seiko's paws. "Please, enjoy..."
/THANK you, Renamon. You really need to teach your partner something about respecting her elders./ Seiko licked her chops and zeroed in on the steak, muscles tense in anticipation. /Now, some privacy please? A lady should never be observed as she enjoys her meal./
Jenrya
After several attempts and a variety of unhelpful comments from Terriermon to 'stop making the pooping face', Jenrya managed to shift back to human with only minutes to spare. All things considered, he probably should have just skipped school at that point—after all, he'd literally been a bear for the entire morning—but as soon as he faceplanted on the floor in all of his naked human glory, autopilot kicked in.
By the time he tumbled into his first period class, Jenrya was uncomfortably sweaty. Once his breathing slowed and the teacher was in full-on lecture mode, he loosened his tie and looked around; besides the normal absences you'd expect during allergy season, everything seemed pretty much normal. There was certainly no sign that anyone else had woken up covered in fur.
Try as he might, Jenrya couldn't get himself to focus. First period was English class, so that wasn't too bad—living in Hong Kong, he'd learned English along with Japanese and Cantonese—but by the time third period History came around, Jenrya may as well have skipped school entirely.
During their midmorning break, he'd snuck a peak at the local and national news on his phone. As far as Japan was concerned, that day was just like any other: no sign of government officials turning into bears and attacking each other in parliament. There were students missing in all of his classes, and some seemed more dazed than normal, but who was he to judge? He was looking at a bunch of 17 and 18 year-olds, who knew what they were up to?
At lunch, he skipped study group and instead headed towards the outdoor table in the upperclassman yard where Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta usually ate. Oddly enough, the only occupants were a couple of all-too-young looking freshmen who scattered when he approached. Jenrya frowned; one of the kids had left behind his half-eaten meal. Am I really that scary?
Ultimately, Jenrya spent the rest of the lunch hour sitting against a tree trunk in the woods behind the school, munching on his packed gaifan and scrolling through his phone.
"I wonder who could eat more bread, Guilmon or bear-Takato?" Terriermon quipped, hanging upside down from branch over his partner's head.
Jenrya blinked, still staring at his phone screen. "Honestly, I'm starting to wonder that too." Takato had never been good at checking his texts, but today the lack of response had to mean something more, didn't it? Kenta never used his phone at school, but Hirokazu practically lived in his. Nothing from them, or even Juri.
Terriermon dropped from the branch and landed heavily on his partner's shoulders before hopping to the ground.
Jenrya yelped in surprise. "You have to tell me when you're gonna do that, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, sorry." Terriermon grabbed the chopsticks from Jenrya's hand and took a huge mouthful of rice. "Did you hear anything from Ruki?"
"No… I didn't want to bother her."
"So you didn't even try." Terriermon shook his head in mock disappointment. "Is this what young love does? Just turns you into a spineless, useless—"
"Okay, okay, fine! I'll text her. Whatever," Jenrya grumbled, but not before he felt his cheeks grow hot. Seriously, he'd mentioned one time that he thought Ruki was cute—ONE TIME—and now Terriermon had the fodder to last him another decade of teasing at least.
Regardless of if this whole 'bear thing' happened to anyone else, Ruki was probably the right one to ask. She wouldn't freak out like Takato, or start laughing like Hirokazu, or get all concerned like Juri, or get ridiculously anxious like he currently was… no, she'd probably just assess the situation and determine the next reasonable course of action. And then she'd tighten her cool ponytail and do that thing where rubs her nose when she's thinking and maybe they'd go get dinner together or something. Yeah. That'd be cool.
When it came time to actually send the text, Jenrya just felt more awkward. How, after all, do you tell your crush that you woke up that morning as a bear… let alone ask her if she did too?
Ruki
In typical Jenrya-fashion, the text was far better composed than it needed to be for such a simple ask. Seriously, did he really need to pad the question with 'I hope you've had a good day so far' and 'I hope you have a good rest of your day'? Wasn't that redundant? It annoyed Ruki at first, but now she just found it mildly adorable.
Still, the central message was there: he wanted to know if anything 'weird' happened to her. There were so many good responses—'Not really, only that my grandma just devoured a raw steak with no hands and is now sleeping off the meal in a tree'; or maybe 'No, perfectly normal, I always wake up with four paws and a tail.'
As far as Ruki knew, only the Makino family was effected by… whatever this was. That had been made certain after getting the frantic mid-morning phone call from her mother, currently in Hokkaido for a modeling gig. Luckily, Seiko was more than happy to call the school about her granddaughter's 'terrible stomach bug'—('I always tell her, don't trust takeout sushi')— and give Ruki the day off.
Stepping between cat and human, it turned out, was pretty exhausting. She'd certainly gotten quicker, the cat side feeling less and less alien each time… heck, by now it was even starting to feel normal, like a second skin. The 'ick' factor was certainly down, and she'd even managed to shift with her underwear a few times. Skin-tight clothing, at least, seemed to be doable.
Looking at Jenrya's text, it made some bizarre sense that he'd also be effected. Probably Takato too, and maybe the others. They were Tamers after all—they'd already won the "weird" lottery once, so why not again?
Still considering the best snarky reply to Jenrya, Ruki jumped in surprise when Renamon appeared next to the futon. "Guilmon is here. Don't worry, I made him wipe his feet."
A minute later, the red dinosaur trotted into Ruki's room and he wasn't alone. The large bird clinging to his shoulder looked exceedingly nervous—even moreso than birds usually do—and was darting its eyes around. With dappled grey feathers and a hooked beak, it looked like some kind of hawk. Maybe an osprey. Ruki made a mental note to check her grandmother's birdwatching books later.
"Hi Ruki! Hi Renamon!" Guilmon warbled. "Takato-bird— err, -mon, wants me to tell you this." He scrunched his eyes, as if trying to remember: "Something strange happened to me today. Please don't be scared. I cannot speak so I will say words in your mind." The digimon whipped his snout towards the bird, who squawked and flapped its wings in surprise. "Go ahead, Takato-bird!"
/Umm, hey guys. So, don't freak out, but– /
"We know you're the bird, Takato," Ruki cut in with a smirk. What an entrance—not that she'd expect anything less from this dynamic duo. The hawk blinked and cocked its head.
/Err, yeah! I just kind of woke up like this. So did my parents. We don't really know what happened, or if we're stuck, or what. Why aren't you freaking out?/
Ruki's smirk grew and she glanced at Renamon; the digimon met her gaze with barely hidden humor. "Just a second."
Before Takato could protest, she pulled her T-shirt over her head and slipped out of her running shorts. It wasn't like he had long to look, anyway. The change was so easy now, like slipping through water; as she stepped to all fours, it was as if the cat had always been a part of her.
/AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!/
"BWAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH—"
/GUILMON, SHH! Ruki! Is that you!?/
Ruki twitched her nose and settled back on her haunches. /Yeah, duh. What, you thought you're the only one that had a weird day?/
/But, but—we walked past people on the way here. Normal people! Not lions or elephants or pigs or whatever!/ Takato fluttered down from his perch on Guilmon and hopped over to Ruki, looking her up and down nervously. /You're not going to, umm, eat me, are you?/
/HAH! You wish,/ Ruki laughed, swishing her tail lightly against Takato's side. He jumped back in alarm, then glared.
/How'd you do that thing anyway? Change between human and, umm, cat?/
/What, haven't you…/ Ruki's eyes grew wide and she let out a snort. /Oh my god! Have you been stuck as a bird all day?/
Takato's glare only grew. /Yes, for your information! And I'll let you know I'm getting pretty stressed out about it too!/
/HAH! Oh my god this is too good, just let me–/ She quickly shifted back to human and keeled over in laughter. It just wasn't as satisfying to make fun of someone as a cat. "And you rode Guilmon here? You didn't even try to fly!? You're a bird for gods sakes!"
"Ruki, please, Takato has clearly had a hard day," Renamon hissed, looking apologetically at the increasingly agitated bird. Guilmon just kept whipping his head between his Tamer and Ruki, unsure of whether to laugh or get angry.
Finally calming down, Ruki wiped away a tear and shrugged back on her t-shirt and shorts. Being a cat was fine and all, but she was not missing any more opportunities to laugh. Seeing Takato's furious eyes and puffed-up feathers, however, she couldn't help but feel a little bad.
"Hey, it's really not that hard. You'll be back to Takato-mon in no time," Ruki said, crouching down and putting her hands forward as a peace offering. "For me, all I had to do was relax—like, actually relax—and it came easily." Takato continued to glare, but slowly his feathered settled back down and his breathing slowed. "Okay, okay, good job. Now it's kind of like—you know how you help Guilmon evolve? Or how you guys become Dukemon? It's like that, you just have to will it to happen and—"
"TAKATO-MON!" Guilmon tackled his suddenly-human partner like a cannonball, knocking them both to the floor.
Takato blinked in surprise and reached his arms up in awe. "What the… WHOA! HANDS!"
Ruki smirked and took a step back as the two rolled around gleefully. "Do you think they're gonna notice anytime soon?"
At her side, Renamon's eyes glinted. "No, I think not. Perhaps you should tell them."
"Hey, Takato… what happened to your clothes?"
Jenrya
In an effort to stay sane, Jenrya made Terriermon take his phone for the rest of the school day and through practice at the dojo. By the time he'd made it through the day's katas and finished up sparring, the sun was already going down.
The "25 new messages" on his phone were almost entirely from the family group chat—Jaarin, despite being back in Hong Kong for college, had also had quite the odd day— but one glorious message was from Ruki.
Terriermon squinted over his shoulder as Jenrya headed towards the bus stop, brow furrowed. "'Yes, weird day. Talked to Takato. Meet us at park after practice,'" the digimon read. "Hah! I knew it! Man, Ruki's gonna be the biggest, meanest bear in the whole world."
"Terriermon…"
"Hey! Come on, you know it's true!"
"Yeah... maybe." Jenrya squinted up at the bus route sign—he hadn't put his glasses back on since practice ended—and glanced at his phone. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. The A-line's about to get here."
Over the years, Shinjuku park remained the unofficial meeting spot of the Tamers though they'd shifted from Guilmon's old hut to a more wooded area towards the west side. Unlike the original spot, the woods after dark provided great protection against prying eyes and, therefore, the perfect location to train for future encounters with rogue digimon and generally let loose without ending up on the cover of a tabloid a few days later. Though they had protection from Hypnos and the government, being Tamers wasn't something they liked to broadcast.
By the time Jenrya and Terriermon arrived, the sun was completely down. Ruki nodded when she saw him and ambled over from the tree stump where she'd been sitting . "Hey. Sorry to keep you hanging for so long today."
"Umm, no problem," Jenrya replied, already feeling his cheeks get warm. The crush had gotten bad recently, probably due to Terriermon's constant egging, and it didn't help that Ruki attended the private girl's school on the other side of town. Ultimately, this just meant that all his awful teenage hormones were free explode on the rare occasion he was actually within eyesight of the red-haired tamer.
If Ruki noticed, she didn't let on. Guilmon trotted up to them from behind a few trees, clapping his paws together when he saw Terriermon. "Hi Terriermon! Is Jen a funny animal too?"
"Hah! You know it!" Terriermon grinned, tackling the dinosaur's head.
Jenrya glanced at Ruki sheepishly. "Umm, yeah. So, about that weird thing…"
/WOOOHOOOOOOOO! WATCH OUT!/ A dark shape swooped over their heads in a rush of air before bracing its wings and landing somewhat ungracefully on a branch. /Hey, Jen! What's up?/
Jenrya grinned, tension dissipating at the sight of his best friend covered in feathers. "Takato! I can't believe you get to fly!"
Bird-Takato (was he a hawk?) ruffled excitedly. /Dude, it's the best! It's like, better than ice cream or back rubs or- /
"Guilmon bread?" the dinosaur chimed in, suddenly interested.
/Yeah, boy—even Guilmon bread. But not better than you. You're still my number one./
The dinosaur clapped excitedly. "Yeah yeah! Takato-bird-mon!"
/Jen! What are you?/ Takato fluttered to a lower branch and scrutinized Jenrya with piercing hawk eyes. /Let's guess! I'm gonna say… uh… a terrier?/
Jenrya smirked. No one was gonna get this. "Not a dog—try again."
"Bunny?" Guilmon asked, cocking his head. "Like Terriermon?"
"I'm NOT a bunny, you idiot!"
"Nope. Try again."
/Uh, you can't fly so not a bird… maybe, like, oh geez, a moose or something?/
"Not even close!"
"Bear." Jenrya jumped, having almost forgotten Ruki was there. "You're a bear. Right?"
Blushing hard, Jenrya rubbed his head. "Umm… yeah, actually. A brown bear."
/Ahh, so cool! Like Saint Galgomon–/
"We're a dog, doofus!"
"Terriermon!" Jenrya hissed, glaring at his partner. "You're right though, Saint Galgomon is a dog…"
"What about Ruki?" The group turned towards Guilmon, who cocked his head at Jenrya. "Jen can guess Ruki's animal—I already know the answer but I won't tell!"
/Hah! Yeah, go ahead Jen!/
Ruki glared at Takato and his partner. "Hey! I am not some object to be scrutinized!" Seeing Jenrya staring, she quickly shifted her gaze down.
Jenrya was quick to follow: the ground suddenly seemed so interesting. "Oh, umm, I don't know…"
Terriermon looked at his partner, then at Ruki, then at his partner again. "I mean… she's clearly a cat or something? Was that not obvious to everyone else? Like, she's cool but also super mean—"
"HEY!" Ruki snapped, still blushing. "But, uh, yeah. Some kind of big wild cat." She shifted her eyes across the group. "My grandma and mom as well."
/Yep, also my parents. We couldn't even open the bakery today./
"Seems to have gotten the Lee family too," Jenrya added, shuddering at the memory of that morning. "Turns out our apartment isn't quite big enough for five bears..."
"And the worst part is, we all had to see Rinchei's butt!" Terriermon chimed in.
"Yep. And my dad basically short circuited trying to wrap his head around everything." Jenrya pulled out his phone, suddenly remembering something from the family group chat. "By the way, my dad said 'don't let anyone get your blood'. I guess my mom tested his blood sample and there was bear DNA in it…
"Freaky…" Ruki muttered. "Somehow meeting Renamon and biomerging and saving the world and everything seemed less weird than this."
It'd been bothering Jenrya too. "I mean, we were kids then… I guess twelve-year-old's have a greater suspension of disbelief?"
/It's cause this isn't about digimon,/ Takato remarked from his branch. /This is the real world—flesh and blood and DNA./ He unfurled a wing and gazed at it oddly. /This is my actual body: It's not data. No gift from the sovereigns needed./
"And yet, as far as we know, the only people with this thing are Tamers and their families," Ruki added with a thoughtful look. "I'm willing to bet that Hirokazu and Kenta and Juri all have it too."
/Yep. I talked to Juri when I got home earlier—turns out she tried to call me a bunch of times while I was, uh, a bird. They all got it, except her step mom./
Not Juri's step mom… This was actually kind of interesting. "It must be genetic, then. Passed on through the family line… maybe some primordial gene that was suddenly reactivated?
Renamon shifted out of the shadows behind her partner. "Would that not mean only one of your parents was effected rather than two? I am not sure about Takato, but Jenrya's mother and father are certainly from different genetic populations."
Jenrya frowned—when did Renamon suddenly becoming the expert on human biology? She had a point, though. If this whole animal-thing was genetic, how likely was it that both parents in a multiracial family carried the same strange gene, let alone for the same animal, when everyone around them seemed unaffected?
"This makes my brain hurt," Guilmon mumbled, shaking his head from side to side. "And my tummy… Takato-bird-mon, do you have any bread?"
Takato glanced towards Jenrya's phone screen, then back at Guilmon. /Yeah, shoot. It's getting late and I told my parents I'd help get ready for tomorrow. We have to make up for all of today's orders plus the normal rush./
"They're not taking a break after spending the whole day as a bunch of bird-brains?"
Takato cocked his head towards Terriermon. /Nope— too much bread to sell! I'll see you guys later, okay? Let's keep this whole thing on the down-low./
And with that, Jenrya's best friend-turned hawk flapped his wings and took off into the night sky, Guilmon racing after him on the ground. Suddenly obtusely aware of Ruki standing next to him, he couldn't help but wish he could fly away too.
"I can't believe you actually went to school today. Have you tried it at all?"
Jenrya shuffled his feet. "Tried it…"
Ruki turned towards him, her eyes unreadable in the dark. "You know, human to bear to human to bear… and so on." She seemed to notice Jenrya's growing discomfort and grinned. "I knew it—you haven't! Of course you'd be the one. Are you scared?"
"Hey…"
Ruki clasped her hands together and laughed—a real, true laugh, no teasing involved. "No, no, it's not a bad thing! I mean, Takato literally couldn't figure out how to shift back to human in the first place. He actually rode Guilmon over to my house to ask for help."
At the thought of a very confused Takato hitching a ride on his partner, Jenrya couldn't help but smile. "Oh my god, did he not fly?"
"Nope! He didn't even try to," Ruki snorted. "If I woke up with wings, the first thing I'd do is jump out a window."
Jenrya gazed longingly at the night sky, so open and empty and enticing… "Yeah. Me too."
The red-headed Tamer sighed dramatically. "Oh well. Being a cat is pretty cool too. Here, watch this."
And then Ruki was kicking off her sneakers and socks, and slipping out of her shorts, and pulling her sweatshirt up and over and—
Oh my god. Jenrya turned away sharply and covered his face with both hands. "Ruki!"
"It's fine! Come on, you can look. It's only weird if you make it weird."
Reluctantly, he lowered his hands and turned back. How was this even fair? Are you even allowed to look at your crush naked? It just felt so horrible and voyeuristic and oh thank god she left her underwear on.
Just look at her face, who cares if she's in her underwear, she's not an object, she's your friend, she trusts you, you have a crush on her personality anyway… Jenrya bit his lip and shifted his gaze to the nearest tree branch. Her personality was great, but it didn't help that she was really attractive too…
"Okay, now you're making it weird. Please look, Jen, I want to show you that you shouldn't be afraid!"
She never calls me Jen…
Hesitantly, Jenyra looked back at her face and tried not to let his eyes travel down. Ruki caught his eye and kept it there, that uncharacteristic softness creeping in again. She wrapped her arms around her and rubbed slightly, warding off goose pimples. "Took you long enough—I was getting cold! Now watch this."
Ruki fell onto four paws like water. Whatever Jenrya had expected, it wasn't this—the cat seemed to flow out of her as if it had been with her all along, some hidden piece just waiting to be free. And of course she was an incredibly cool-looking animal. Ruki the cat was beautiful, but not in the same way that Ruki the human was beautiful— she was beautiful like a sunset, or a mountain, or a forest.
The cat sat back and wrapped its tail around all four paws. /Pretty neat, huh?/ Jenrya could only nod dumbly. Ruki was certainly not a house cat—she was clearly a wild animal, about the size of a golden retriever with thick, rusty-red fur and a faint leopard pattern running down her flank like splattered paint. Her tail was fluffy—it actually looked pretty soft—but then again, those claws also looked exceedingly sharp.
"Uhh, yeah," he eventually got out. "Pretty neat."
Ruki cocked her head at Jenrya, cat eyes impenetrable, then whipped around in a flash of fur and disappeared into the shadows. He blinked, suddenly alone in the clearing. "Ruki?"
/Up here./
Her thought-speech came from high above his head. Even with his glasses now on, Jenrya could barely make out the cat-shaped shadow resting in the highest branches of the cedar tree until Ruki's reflective eyes caught the moonlight.
/You know, I can see you perfectly well; cat eyesight really is amazing. Can't help but think you seem a little lonely all by yourself./
Jenrya already didn't like where this was headed. "I'M OKAY, ACTUALLY," he shouted back up.
/Hey, no need to shout; cat hearing is pretty amazing too./ The shadow in the tree shifted its weight. /Fine, you're not lonely. But I have to say, I'm getting a bit lonely way up here…/
"I'M NOT GOIN—I'm not going to climb that tree, if that's what you're implying." Jenrya crossed his arms. No way. Hell, Ruki probably shouldn't even be up there; who knows what would happen if she slipped or, oh god, fell…
The cat came to standing and started to pace, back and forth along the branch. Jenrya felt his stomach drop. Did she have to get so close to the edge? /Look, Jen, I get it. You're risk adverse. You wouldn't even go rafting with us last summer, and there were literal five year olds who went rafting./ Somehow she must have seen his discomfort—cat eyes, after all— and she continued quickly. /But being risk-adverse isn't a bad thing! That's why we need you so much. I mean, two days later you were the one fighting off those Death Meramon in Shibuya when the rest of us were too sunburned to get out of bed./
Jenrya couldn't help but grin at that one. Never underestimate the power of sunscreen.
/Hah! I see you smiling! I see everything, remember? Come on, join me Jen. We both know bears can climb./
After a pause, he let out a sharp exhale. It's okay. I can do this. It's totally fine, Takato did just fine, Ruki is doing just fine, I'm not going to get stuck, I'm not going to go on a rampage, I'm not going to fall. I'll be fine. "Yeah, okay. Umm… what do I do, exactly?"
/Strip, I guess? Unless you want to ruin your clothes…/
Ah, yes. Great. Strip. In front of his crush. Who had super vision.
/Here, I'll even, uh…/ There was a rustle in the trees, and Ruki's human voice called down: "I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING NOW. DON'T WORRY."
Jenrya looked down at himself and frowned. "What about, umm, underwear…"
There was a pause, then: "IF YOU SAID SOMETHING, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO SPEAK UP."
"UNDERWEAR!?" Jenrya shouted up at the tree, wincing immediately at having to shout the word 'underwear' at the top of his lungs.
"AH, UH…" Another rustle. /Unless you're wearing spandex or something, probably not. I could make it work with skintight stuff, but even that took some practice./ Another rustle. "OK, YOU'RE GOOD!"
For the first time in his life, Jenrya wished that Terriermon was there to make it awkward. Even that would be better than… whatever this was. Where was that stupid rabbit, anyway? Probably hiding in some tree laughing…
"I'M GETTING COLD UP HERE!"
Okay, Jen. This is fine. Before he could think about it a second longer, Jenrya quickly pulled off his hoodie and t-shirt, still damp from practice. The sweats came next, but of course they got stuck on his shoes, so he hopped around with his pants around his ankles, cursing to himself as he kicked off his runners, before ending up barefoot in all his horribly uncomfortable and un-clothed glory. The glasses were the last to go—he folded them carefully and set them on top of his backpack.
As the world turned blurry, his mind went blank to the task at hand. What was he supposed to do?
"UMM… RUKI?"
Her response of "FIGURE IT OUT" left no room for ambiguity, and Jenrya sighed. He didn't even want to do this, anyway. He was perfectly happy being a person. This was his body and his skin and bones and he didn't want them reorganizing themselves into some other form. Merging with Terriermon was different, that was normal, this was just… too weird.
Okay. Bear. Four-legged. He crouched down and, after a moment of hesitation, let his hands sink into the peat moss. It smelled nice, the woods; fresh and welcoming and familiar. He let his toes dig into the soil and find a firm grip, fingers and palms finding all possible points of contact with the ground. The air against his back was cold, but it didn't really bother him. Instead, he felt like he had heat radiating from his core: a burning furnace that kept him warm and cozy against wind. And the wind smelled nice—it carried the scent of the trees, and of a human high above, and of earthworms and car exhaust and the faint aroma of cherry blossom trees about to bloom.
Jenrya twitched his nose: one of the scents had shifted, the human was gone—in its place, the musty tang of a cat. Seriously? She said she wasn't going to watch...
/Well, come on!/
He huffed in annoyance, ready to tell her off. "GRRRARRA—"
–what was THAT!?
/Oh my god, you're just like Takato! Did you not realize you're covered in fur?/
Ah. Fur. Suddenly, Jenrya became aware of his body again—his massive paws, his thick coat, the exceptional amount of space he took up… and it felt weirdly normal. He seemed to know how to work this body—or at least, the body knew. Thinking back to that morning, now so long ago, he'd been afraid and confused and fighting it, but now…
He chose this. He did this. And the tree didn't look all that daunting anymore.
The bear moved swiftly, far faster than seemed reasonable for a big, ambling animal, and gripped the thick trunk with its arms. Jenrya's body pulled itself up the tree as if it was running across grass. The bear's paws—his paws—danced between the trunk and its branches like a kid on a jungle gym. And it was fun! No, not just fun: climbing was exhilarating.
/HAH! This is great!/ he called out to Ruki in thought-speak, which came as easily as it had that morning.
/I told you!/ Ruki slunk down a few branches, coming level with him. /I thought you'd get it. Who knew trees could be so exciting?/
Jenrya scrambled the rest of the way onto Ruki's branch, leaning back against the trunk. Even as the wood groaned under his massive weight, he knew intuitively that it wouldn't break. /Yeah. Geez. Why did I waste a whole day at school when I could have been doing this?/
At Ruki's lack of response, Jenrya turned to her; she was gazing off into the distance, clearly lost in thought. He started to say something, then thought better of it. In the silence, the sounds of the night flooded over them; Jenrya heard animals scurrying and car horns off in the distance, the sound of the wind brushing through Ruki's fur, of her tail tapping softly against the branch. He knew that she, too, was taking it all in: this hidden nighttime world that was suddenly their domain.
Eventually, Ruki was the one to break the silence. /Thanks for, umm… trusting me, I guess./
Jenrya cocked his head. /Thank you for putting up with me. I guess I can kind of be a baby sometimes./
/HAH! No way, Takato's definitely the baby. You're more like… the responsible, stick in the mud dad who sometimes cares a little too much about his kids./
He considered it. /Does that make Hirokazu and Kenta the annoying kids next door who always mooch food?/
/Oh yeah, definitely. Ryo's probably the cool uncle who's actually a bad influence– oh crap, has anyone reached out to Ryo yet?/
(No one had.)
Jenrya turned to her. /So what does that make you?/
Ruki stared him straight in the eyes, her feline face unreasonably serious. /I'm the breadwinning mom who makes sure the family doesn't fall apart./
In the blink of an eye, she darted down the tree and into the night, leaving only rustling leaves and the faint smell of cat as any indication she'd ever been there. For a moment, Jenrya just sat in baffled silence. That is, until something crashed down onto his head. Jenrya yelped and scrambled regain his balance.
"Oh. My. GOD. STICK IN THE MUD!? HAH!"
/Oh great, now you decide to show up…/
Terriermon hopped down next to Jenrya looking like he'd just won the lottery. "Oh please Jen, you were handling it just fine."
/Seriously!? That was potentially the most awkward experience of my life!/
"No way! Nothing is worse than Rinchei's butt."
Jenrya groaned. /Did you see all of that?/
"Of course I did; how could I miss out on so many goldmines?" Terriermon did a little spin. "I have enough fodder now to last years. I mean, you screaming about underwear at the top of your lungs? Classic!"
/Oh my god…/ Jenrya shuddered, before gripping the trunk with all four paws and starting his descent. Terriermon hopped on his back, wrapping his long ears around Jenrya's massive neck. /The worst part is, I don't even know what to make of all that! Like, was she… flirting with me? Helping me out as a friend? Teasing me? Taking notes so she could tease me later?/
"Beats me. Humans are weird. You reach a certain age and suddenly all you want to do is smash your bodies together. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were just trying to download each other's data."
Closing in on the ground, Jenrya released his grip and landed with a soft 'thump'. Terriermon hopped onto his partner's head and peered down. "Can we go home now? I told your mom I'd clean up the GameCube stuff like a week ago and now that she's a bear, I'm seriously worried she's gonna eat me."
/Yeah./ Jenrya glanced at his discarded clothes and shuddered involuntarily. /I guess I have to figure out how to turn back again./
And then they would just go home and it would all be fine and—
Oh my god. He hadn't seen his family all day, not since that morning. Suddenly, the fun novelty of him and his friends getting a cool superpower vanished into thin air: made completely un-cool by the fact that his siblings and his mom and, oh god, his DAD were also knee deep in all of it.
It was really only going to get more awkward from here.