Bearmon was the one in shock now. This didn't make sense. Humans couldn't just change, could they?
"Are you okay?" The woman, Madi asks. Bearmon doesn't reply. "Bearmon?" Her voice shakes, fear in her tone. "I'm sorry…."
The moment drags on. Despite a few seconds passing, it seemed a few hours had past. Bearmon looks away, breaking the link. "That's not possible." He answers, his voice sounding small.
Madi takes a step forward , but stops when she sees Bearmon flinch. "Bearmon, I swear. It's me!" She assures him. "When you left, I fell into a depression. I started to become angry, scared, anxious. I was a wreck." Her hands are shaking at the memories. "I missed you….but there's was so much more going on. I thought that if I could find you it would all get better. I couldn't and it didn't. I gave up." She sniffs, her eyes welling up now. "I stood on that cliff you and I used to go to. Up by the sign. I looked down and thought 'why not end it here'. I was ready to die. I heard a voice behind me that told me to stop. But when I turned around, no one was there, I chased it because I thought it was you."
Bearmon looks up at her, the mention of ending her life snapping him out of it.
She continues, "Someone saw the whole thing. Saw me start to step off. They told my Dad. He got me into therapy immediately. That's when they discovered what was causing all of my anxiety. I have a condition. My brain and body didn't match." She reaches her right hand up, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I transitioned after lots of therapy, the anxiety went away when I started. I became who I was meant to be. The person who was hiding deep down. I thought….hoped ….you would be proud of me for that."
It was that moment that Bearmon understood. It all clicked for him. "You…..digivolved. All on your own, without me." He smiles. "It really is you. I know that. I think I knew the whole time." In an instant, the two ran to each other and embraced. Madi kneeling as she did. They squeezed each other so tight, the closest to a bear hug they could manage. When they finally parted, they looked into one another's eyes. "I missed you so much!" They said at the same time, laughing. Tears were streaming down Madi's cheeks.
A loud crunch from outside. The broken window letting in the loud roar. The tamer and digimon looked at one another. Madi wiped away the tears, "You ready for this?" She reaches into her hoodie pocket to retrieve her card case.
Bearmon smirked. "I am." He rolls his shoulders. "That thing isn't"
They both head for the entrance, Madi clipping her case on her belt. They look at each other one last time, then walk through the space where the window was. The ever growing fog covered everything now. The digital field did not make finding the nonmon easy. Suddenly, it charges, going for Madi. Bearmon jumps in the way, grabbing the nonmon by the neck to stop it. It lifts its head and tries to fling the digimon off of it. While he didn't take it down, he did get it to veer off course, missing Madi.
That's when she went into action. "Digi modify!" She yells, swiping a card through her digivice, "Power activate!"
Bearmon lets go of the nonmon, flying up in the air. But he shoots straight down at the beast, his fist reared back. "Bear first!" He yells, bringing his augmented attack down. The nonmon crumbles under his attack, its head meeting the pavement. That's not the end though. Bearmon jumps back, charging up another attack. He heaved forward with a bear roll, the creature taking a direct him, it flies back. Rolling to a stop. Chunks start to fall from it now, degradation starting in.
"Nice shot Buddy!" Madi calls out. She watches intensely. Ready to call out or swipe another card.
Bearmon smiles, still facing the nonmon. This is all how it should be now. The two of them working together. He stops as it starts to get up. He's not close enough to charge it and get there on time. He relaxes as much as he can, wanting to be able to react as quickly as possible.
As it gets to its feet, the nonmon looks dented in from the parts of it missing. "Not….done…..yet….." it sneers. A horrible, loud shriek comes from it as it seems to be absorbing the data fog. It's healing itself, but it's getting bigger too, stronger.
Bearmon's hand go to his ears, same with Madi. They look on as the creature towers over the two of them. It swings it's tail, the two of them in the path. Bearmon dashes to Madi, tackling her to get her out of the way. They narrowly miss getting hit. "You okay?" He asks.
"Yeah, you?" She starts looking through her cards.
The two of them stand, as the beast manages to finish turning. He rears down, letting out a roar.
Bearmon charges after it, jumping in the air to go for its head. He tears his fist back, but gets swatted away by the creatures snout. The fight has changed. Even with Madi, he's not strong enough to handle this. As he falls through the air, he manages to flip, landing sideways against a tree. He pushes of, landing on the ground. He makes a dash, changing strategies and shooting for the monster's legs. He has to fight. He has to protect his best friend.
Madi finds the card she's looking for, playing right into Bearmon's ideas. "Digi modify!" She cries out "Goliath, activate!" As he launches his attack, Bearmon starts to grow. Hitting the creature head on. It topples as Bearmon rolls through. He stands, reaching just a little bit under the nonmon's height.
"That ought to even things out!" she yells. Bearmon looks down, nodding. It was a surprise to him, she didn't have this card before. She didn't have a lot of cards before. She really did miss him. Madi had in fact prepared. She knew her best friend would come back some day, she wanted to be ready, just in case.
Bearmon rushes the nonmon, aiming to end this fight. "Beast attack!" He yells, passing right through the nonmon. His attack made a direct hit. He turns, as it starts to stand. He readies his fists, not wanting to be off guard. The nonmon is standing, but not all the way. It's slouching, panting. It lets out a low growl and starts toward the digimon. As its foot comes down, it shatters, leaving it leaning on the stump. "I'm…sorry…." It says. "I……trie….tri…tried….to…" before it can finish its sentence, the rest of it shatters, fading into the fog.
Bearmon looks down to Madi, who's still looking at the space the nonmon was standing moments ago. "That wasn't the same." Her voice sounds horrified. She looks up at Bearmon, who's starting to shrink back down now. "What was that thing?" She asks.
Bearmon shrugs, "We don't know." He answers, "We've taken to calling them 'Nonmon'. They're not like digimon. They're something else."
Madi walks toward Bearmon,who's almost normal size now. She shakes her head. "Not how I expected the day to start…" she ruffles him on his hat. "Come on, we have to get going. The fog is fading fast." She stops, surveying the still running car. It had a small dent in the bumper from the impact. "I suppose that could have been worse." She lets out a nervous chuckle. The two get into the car, leaving it all behind.
As the fog clears, the area seems to go back to normal, including the window. A shadowed person watches from a monitor. "That's very fascinating." The dark voice says, "The next stage of research has begun. Prepare the pods, we will be collecting some new specimens."