I don't own digimon. Nor was this story sponsored by Square Enix in the slightest.

Story 20

Have you tried...

In all of his life, Cutemon could say with certainty that he had zero familiarity with MMOs. Yes, their friends had gone at length of their partner's time spent playing these kinds of games for hours on end. Personally, he didn't really get what the big deal was. The digital world had all kinds of strange and wonderful sights to be seen with one's eyes. But no, they were content on just staring at their computer screens for hours on end, killing virtual beasts in the dim glow of their computer screens in the dark of night. He wasn't completely sure why that of all things was what came to mind right now. Maybe it was the result of the strange recreation of a town from one of those games being constructed in the digital world. How exactly they planned to make any money was beyond him. Beyond digi-dollars, the only thing they could accept was doors. Even then, the royal knights (or what remained of them) were currently in the process of seizing all the illegally obtained barriers for some reason.

Which made his forced return to the human world all the stranger. The healer rabbit digimon couldn't particularly think of any real reason for why he needed to go back in the first place. The garden was just about ready to be harvested, which meant stockpiling for later and the planting of the next round of crops. But no, he needed to be back in his human's life and do something with them. Whatever that might be, was only known to Homeostasis or whoever the hell was pulling the strings when it came to sending digimon back. Which was typical behavior for them (if one was to believe the rumors). Not that Cutemon was going to let something like that stop him from getting to the bottom of this. Or at least, figuring out whatever the heck the issue he needed to solve was in the first place.

Just one small problem with his plan. Somehow, the location that had been chosen for him was right on the roof of some random home. Well, Cutemon was sure that it was a home. Kind of hard to tell when the ground was so far down without a real place to break his fall. While he would've preferred something to break his fall, that wasn't a luxury he could go without here.

"Gerononimo!" Cutemon announced and flung himself off the ledge. Watching the world pass right by, the night sky looked quite nice. Did make it quite terrifying at the same time. Hopefully his partner would at least hear his screams and come out to see what all the mess would be about. Unless he had turned into one of those folks. The kind that supposedly didn't need to go out, had zero social life and could somehow sustain themselves on MMO's. All the stories he has heard from fellow digimon made them sound like the absolute worst to deal with. Pushing that thought from his head, Cutemon closed his eyes and waited for his body to meet the ground. But no impact occurred. Opening his eyes back up, the healer rabbit digimon instead found himself in a shrub of all plants. Taking care to not disturb the plant any more than he already had with that stunt. Thankfully, all it took was a much shorter leap to get himself down. Once he had, Cutemon took the opportunity to take in the house that he had the misfortune of being dropped on. In the decade and a half they had to refine the technology of teleporting digimon back into the human world and they were still doing stuff like this. Not that he could say with certainty to be an expert when it came to teleportation.

Pushing that thought from his head, Cutemon got back to actually examining the house. A quaint three-story home, it stuck out amidst the much shorter structures surrounding it. A doggy door sat comfortably within what he could only assume to be the front door. An odd choice, but Cutemon wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Making his way over, the healer rabbit digimon took care to get as low as possible in the approach. Hopefully this wasn't one of those fancy doggy doors you could lock remotely or would only open when the pooch in question came right up to it. For now, he gave the door a push and watched it open. Pushing further, he could just make out a white tile floor. No sign of any walls though,but those were most definitely there. Just not easily visible from his restricted angle.

"Here goes nothing." Cutemon thought as he crawled through the doggy door. Closing it behind him, he honestly felt quite small. While his initial examination had suggested that this was a three story home, that wasn't looking to be the case. No, what he had seen was probably some kind of attic of sorts. Maybe even a loft. Which honestly sounded cool and hot at the same time. Whether or not that actually was the case probably depended on the level of air conditioning offered here. Shifting his focus away from that, he instead looked towards the wall. Had to be a switch or something to bring some light into this remarkably dark entranceway. If his hands could remotely reach the switch in the first place. Probably not. Most places hadn't been designed with the intention of very short people living there. The nerve of whoever built this place. Surely they had more than enough time to prepare for this. Or at the very least, retrofit the place to support whoever/whatever might come knocking. Bare minimum hospitality not even being offered here. Just another problem he had with all of this. Hopefully something would happen to put his mind off of all that stuff.

Jumping a couple times, Cutemon's hand hit the light switch and knocked the lever up. Waiting a moment, the lights came on. A relatively square room, what looked to be a set of metal slots had been placed right beside the switch. Possibly for the people living here to get mail, but not packages for some reason. Surely they had a way to get that stuff.

"Which one could be his?" Cutemon thought as he scanned the various numbers above the slots. Just because he was part computer program didn't mean he could just take the numbers and automatically turn them back into whatever string they correspond too. No, he needed to know the context of the numbers and whether or not there was a place he could look to begin with. "Darn it."

Shifting his focus away from the slots, the healer rabbit digimon could just make out elevator doors to his right. No sign of any stairs though. Surely the people living in this place would welcome the exercise that three flights of stairs would bring them. Could just be the result of this place being very much against exercise. Or worse, filled to the brim with a bunch of MMO players. That thought alone was more than enough to send a shiver down Cutemon's spine. But that couldn't be the answer… right? Perhaps he had just gone through the back door of this place and the stairs were up front. Maybe this was some kind of accommodation for students with disabilities. He honestly wasn't sure. Hopefully, the button to call the elevator down was a lot lower down than that of the light switch.

Making his way over to the elevator call button, Cutemon did his best to stay quiet. Any advantage (small as it most doubtfully was), could make all the difference in getting to his possible destination. It also meant that no one who could help him would know that he was even searching for someone. Though, they probably think he was some kind of talking stuffed animal and attempt to claim him as their own. For now, Cutemon put that thought on the backburner.

Focusing on the elevator call button, the healer rabbit digimon bent his knees. This next jump would take all his strength and energy. At most, he only had a couple shots at hitting the button. Then there was the matter of just choosing a floor from within the elevator. Hopefully, that would be a far easier endeavor than this.

Going for his first jump, Cutemon did his best to hit the button. But all he managed to accomplish was flail about and not even come close to reaching his target. Once his feet landed back on the tile, Cutemon took a moment to dust himself off. No way that he was going to let this get the better of him and kick his ass. No, he would hit this button. Then the next and how many other obstacles that stood in his way of achieving his goal. Yeah, he liked the sound of that. So much so that he bent down and went for another jump. Hand meeting the button, he watched it light up. Landing to the best of his abilities, the healer rabbit digimon took a couple cautious steps back. Last thing he needed was to be accidentally trampled by whoever might be coming out. But when the doors opened, no one came out. Made it a cinch for Cutemon to bolt in and wait for the doors to close behind him. Shifting his focus over to the panel of buttons, he wasn't completely sure which he should press. Even with just two buttons, there was still a bunch of rooms that he would need to check for his partner. Surely there would be a sign when he got there. Just needed to make a decision on which floor he would st-

Before he had a chance to do his jump, the elevator began to make its way. Cutemon looked about the tiny enclosure. Had he activated some kind of security measure? He highly doubted that. His weight alone was nowhere close to the elevator's maximum capacity. No, someone on a different floor probably pressed the elevator call button to bring the elevator up. While he would've preferred to have been the one to press the button and see what he would get in return. Waiting patiently, he waited for the elevator music to kick in. Sadly, no such music came as the elevator began to make its ascent to the desired floor. That would have provided a nice respite from his strange journey. But no, he would have to suffer in silence as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened up, revealing a bunch of strangely dressed college students. A couple looked to be holding up a banner of sorts.

"Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restriction on playtime?" the strangely dressed people announced, not even attempting to make eye contact with Cutemon until right after they had completed their spiel. Possibly even take a breath for good measure.

"Wait. Isn't that Cole's digimon partner?" one of the people holding up the sign announced and let go, making their way over to the healer rabbit digimon. For now, Cutemon attempted to back away. After two steps, he had reached the now closed elevator doors.

"Please have mercy on me." Cutemon thought, trying his best to ignore the negative thoughts now bouncing about within his head. Leave it to him to be sent down on the one day where MMO players were out and about, jumping people for the sake of telling them about their favorite game for some reason. Surely there had to be an explanation for this behavior beyond the MMO corrupting them to do that… right? Or perhaps they were just too far gone. Whatever the cause was, he needed to get out of here fast before he was turned as well.

"Guys, he just got back. Cut him some slack." a voice announced as a man in a white robe with red triangular detailing made his way over to the group. Hood bouncing up and down, he carefully scooped Cutemon up and cradled him in his arms. "Welcome back to the human world, Cutemon. How have you been?"

Cutemon looked away, muttering something at the floor. Of course his partner had been corrupted by these miscreants. Damn his luck to the dark zone and back.

"Wonderful. No thanks to your friends." he muttered, Cole taking the opportunity to break away from the crowd and head down the hall. Passing by many doors, he eventually stopped and pulled out a key. Sliding it into the lock,all it took was a simple twist to unlock the door. Opening it up, he carefully set Cutemon down on the floor and reached for the light switch. "Please tell me you do more than just play MMOs all day."

The lights turned on, Cutemon taking the opportunity to look about the abode. Just a two room apartment, the plain furniture and appliances weren't what he expected to find. If anything, it made the display case of plushies, models and figurines that much more noticeable. Especially when combined with the fancy looking PC and tower sitting on the desk beside it.

"Of course not. You're just lumping all those people in with that one guy in high school I was friends with." Cole countered and took a set at the desk. Turning his chair around to meet his partner, he motioned for Cutemon to come over. The healer rabbit digimon reluctantly complied, getting lifted up into his partner's lap. "How about you give it a shot and tell me what you think?"

Cutemon looked away. Much as he didn't want to admit it, Cole was probably right. What could possibly go wrong?

.

Eight hours later...

"What do you mean I can't show my unicorn to Sylphie until Stormblood? I want to show it to her right now!" Cutemon announced and got a head pat in return. Why did he need to go and do adventures with those stupid twins. Both sets sounded like a complete bore. He wanted to play with Sylphie some more.

"That's how it worked out." Cole explained, carefully pulling his partner away from the computer. For now, it was perhaps best for bo-

Before he had a chance to get any further, Cutemon jumped out of his arms and bolted back to the computer. Getting a sigh in return, there was no doubt about it. He accidentally got his partner addicted to Final Fantasy XIV. Whether or not that was either a good or bad thing remained to be seen.

Notes:

Very much not sorry about this one.