Episode 16: Special; Side-Story; Stars
Catastrus kicked her feet in boredom atop the corpse of some fuzzy white thing she couldn't name. She was on babysitting duty, watching some kid that looked like a cactus covered in paper mache. It was chowing down on something that looked like a dog. How it could eat when all it has was a hole for a mouth, she didn't know, and frankly didn't care enough to pursue it further.
"Must be nice." She started musing aloud. "All you have to worry about is eating, right Prickles?"
The cactus looked up from its meal at her, but quickly returned to eating.
"Ey, come on. That one's outa good stuff." She glided over and tapped it on the back with the side of her gun.
It looked at her again.
"C'mon. Let's go find you something else to eat."
They traveled around for roughly half an hour. The only thing she could find for it to eat within that time were some tiny Digimon, but they looked too small to be worth much of anything, so she ignored them.
Finally, off in the distance, she spotted something big. It was a giant four-legged orange Digimon with a long neck and a horn, a Brachimon.
"Man, that one looks full of data. Kinda makes me wish I could still eat." She nudged the cactus with her elbow, but all it did was stare blankly back at her. "Well, what are you waiting for." She pointed a gun in the big thing's general direction. "Go eat."
The cactus bellowed and charged forward, swinging its arms wildly. Hearing it coming, the Brachimon sidestepped it, which was impressive for something its size. Her charge turned around and attacked again.
Catastrus sat on the floor and watched from a distance. She rolled her chin around in her palm. "Was I really that dumb?" She watched them dance around for a few minutes, but the cactus couldn't even scratch the big one. Their difference in power was evident. She sighed and stood up. "I guess I've gotta feed it. Again." This was how it had been all day. The boss had put her in charge of a very weak child and she had had to kill everything for it. It was boring work, capped by the itch in the back of her head that kept saying she should just feed that one to it. Not that she knew where it was.
"Let's hope this one's at least a little bit of a challenge." Her guns spun to life.
The Brachimon hearing this, turned its tall head toward the noise. Seeing Catastrus preparing to attack, it frantically started stumbling away. "Brachio Bubble!" It spewed a dense cloud of bubbles behind it.
"Like that's going to stop me! Howling Hunters!" Her barrage of bullets ripped through the bubbles with ease. The bubbles, in turn, each violently exploded with the child still waddling after the dinosaur, getting caught up in the blast.
"Crapcrapcrap!" She ran forward to check on it. The boss wouldn't be happy if another child died because of her.
The cactus was lying on its back. Apart from being covered in soot, it didn't appear to be hurt. "Don't scare me like that, Prickles." She lightly kicked the lying plant. "I forgot." She began to muse to herself again. "They can't hurt us. Maybe that's why this is so boring." She looked off in the direction the Brachimon went for a moment before letting out a laugh and scratching the back of her head. "Man, what am I, a masochist?" She grabbed her charge by its orange-cardboard-boxing-gloved-hand and pulled it to its feet. "Come on. We can't let it get away."
Catastrus ran while the cactus floated along beside her. She felt more comfortable on the ground that doing that weird flying-thing anyways. The Brachimon was slow and easy to spot, so it didn't take long for them to catch up. She sped up, putting her guns right up against the base of its tail. "Let's see you run from a point black Howling Hunters!"
It let out a cry as its flank was filled with bullets and toppled over. Unable to move its back legs anymore, it tried to pull itself along with its front ones to try and get away.
Catastrus strode up to its head and placed a gun to it.
"S-s-stop...please..."
She merely shrugged. "Nothing personal."
After her gun finally stopped whirring, she motioned to the brute following her. "Alright, come on. Eat your fill and let's go." As the cactus started to eat, she sat down at the curvature of the wall and leaned back. "This reeaally feels pointless." She let out another of her innumerable sighs. She looked at the blank face of the deceased dinosaur. "If it makes you feel any better, I am sorry. You forgive me right?" She immediately waved off her own question. "Ah, of course you do. Nothing personal, right?" She turned her eyes back up to the ceiling. "But that guy. That one's personal." The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
"I'm gonna squish that bug next time for sure."
A green light interrupted her vengeful thoughts. "Eeevolvuuu!" She sat up and observed the cactus as its data seemed to compress and get smaller, taking on a humanoid form. As the light dissipated, her new form was fully revealed. She looked like a puppet, ball joints and all, wearing a flowing white dress in the shape of a flower. Her wooden body was pale green, and atop her vine-like hair was another white flower in the shape of a sun hat. When she spoke, her voice was sweet and feminine "Toloarus..."
Catastrus watched this all pretty unflinchingly. "Wow. That's a big change."
Toloarus turned in the direction of Catastrus' voice. She tilted her head; her big green bug-eyes reflecting the same blank stare her empty ones did before.
She pulled the dainty girl into a headlock. "Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, thou."
"Um...Excuse me?"
Catastrus looked down at the fairy in her armpit. She was attempting to smile at her, but it was evident she was in some pain.
"Might I ask who you are?"
She couldn't quite understand why, but there was something about that question that rubbed her fur the wrong way. Ignoring this, this released the pixie from her choke-hold. "I'm Catastrus. And it's because of me that you're all..." She moved her hands in an hourglass shape. "...petite now. You may now thank me."
"Um...Thank you very much, Catastrus-san."
Catastrus smiled sheepishly. "Ah, feels nice to hear someone say that for once." She clapped her hands together. "Alright, I guess we're done here. Time to take you to the boss."
"The...boss?" Toloarus tilted her head in confusion again.
Catastrus took on a Hamlet-esque pose and spoke with great bravado. "The great vampire, Mantlerus, will be very interested to meet a child such as yourself who has just reached evolution."
"I'm...not quite sure I understand."
"Yea, I know how you feel. Just don't do anything to get on the windbag's bad side, and you'll do better than I have. Hold on, I'm gonna call in our ride." She held up a finger to keep Toloarus silent. She still wasn't used to using Mantlerus' telekinetic network yet.
Oy, Dae-Dae, you there?
Don't call me Dae-Dae.
Whatever. I'm done here. Can you get the big guy to pick us up?
Wow, you actually managed to evolve a child? I'm impressed.
Flattery'll get you nowhere, ya flirt. Just get him to pick us up, ok?
You flatter yourself more than anyone else does. We'll be there in a minute, so hold your leopards.
Roger that. Over and out. "They'll be here in a minute."
Mantlerus stood up as the two girls entered the room. "You have done excellent work, Catastrus."
She didn't say anything, instead opting to stare at one of the walls.
He approached Toloarus. "I am Mantlerus, the operator of this establishment." He gave a sweeping bow. "May I ask your name, my lady?"
"I am Toloarus." She gave a curtsy, but did not look him in the eyes. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. Thank you for inviting me into your home."
"By all means, the pleasure is mine." He took her hand and kissed it. "And it is not my home alone. This place is a haven for all us that the humans dub 'DIGIrus'. It belongs as much to you as it does to anyone else."
"DIGIrus? Humans? Sir, everything has been happening rather fast. I'm not exactly sure what is going on."
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "There will be a time for explanations, but now is a time for rest. The fact that you are here speaking to me now says that you have also done good work."
"Th-thank you, sir."
He turned and walked back to his chair. "Catastrus, I trust you will help her find a room."
"I have other things to do besides tend to children, boss."
"And here I thought raising a child of your own would make you feel more appreciative." He shook his head in sadness. "If you're going to meet that beetle, than bring her with you. You both might learn something if you do."
She answered through gritted teeth. "Yes. Sir." The two exited, the stone doors closing behind them.
"That child can truly hold a grudge." He sat back down, his cape flowing over the arms of his chair. "And what is the status of the ones she bares that grudge against?"
From the shadows emerged a bipedal fox bathed in flames. Its forelimbs and torso were constructed from copper-colored machine parts. "Sir. Within the past three months, they have vanquished seven children and one of our brethren."
"I see. And what of this lone wolf that I have heard reports about?"
"Sir. It refers to itself as 'Iramon'. It appears to be working independently of the other four. It alone has defeated three children."
"I see." Mantlerus rested his hands on his intertwined fingers. "Thank you for your report, MeKyurus."
"Sir, if I may." MeKyurus stepped closer to his chair. "You have proven to be stronger than them. You could easily defeat them. Yet you let them walk freely and hinder our progress. Why?"
Mantlerus let out a deep sigh. "I am not one to take candy from babies." He stood up and walked to the door. "The Digimon pose no threat to us. These five now...they are their only line of defense against us." He thrust open the doors, standing immaculately in the light that shone through them. "I think it only fair that we give them a fighting chance to prove they deserve this world as much as we do."
They walked through the crumbling corridors in silence. They did not see anyone as they walked, but the cries of animals could be heard off in the distance.
Catastrus was obviously angry.
"Um...Catastrus-san, if you don't wish for me to accompany yer, then..."
"No. It's fine." She stopped walking, but did not turn around. "The boss just doesn't get it. He's stronger than the rest of us, and yet he does nothing."
"Does nothing about what?"
A loud voice split through the darkness around corners around them. "He does nothing to protect us from those who seek to destroy us." From behind them, a giant blue beetle comically emerged from the tiny shadows. He crossed his four arms and leaned against the wall. "I've been wondering where you'd gotten to." He nodded towards Toloarus. "Who's the girl."
"Newbie." Catastrus patted her on the back. "Just finished feeding her about an hour ago."
"Um, it's nice to meet you, sir." Toloarus curtsied, again avoiding eye contact.
He chuckled. "The fact that you're respecting me shows you have no idea who I am, do you? Mantle-boy didn't warn you about me or anything?"
"Um..No, sir. Should I be worried?"
He straightened up. "Nah." He ruffled her hat. "I'm not dangerous or anything; just very open about how I don't like the way things are run around here." He walked past and nudged Catastrus. "Take care of her. Even I'll admit we gotta be nice to the newcomers; 'specially since she's your kid. I'll meet you at port around eight, ok?"
Catastrus waved him off. "Yea, yea. See you then."
When he was out of sight, Toloarus leaned in. "Who was that exactly?"
"That's GiraffaKuwarus. He's a few weeks older than me, and was the first to run into them."
"Run into who? Who is it that you keep talking about?" She was shaking slightly. "I don't understand what's going on. What are 'humans' and 'DIGIrus' and this place and...and..." She started to cry.
"Whoa, whoa, hey, calm down now." She dropped her guns and turned to her to do something, but they just ended up hovering between her face and shoulders. "You're just experiencing some information overload. It's not uncommon." Finally deciding what to do with her hands, she placed them on ether side of Toloarus' face. "Let's go find you a room with someplace to sit down, and I'll explain everything, ok?"
As Catastrus walked outside, she could see GiraffaKuwarus leaning over the banister. She walked over and jump-sat on top of it.
"I heard some clanging as I walked off. You ok?"
She waved off his concern. "I'm fine. Kid went into overload and I dropped my guns is all."
"You dropped your guns? For a kid? Maybe Mantlerus'll turn you into the mother he wants you to be yet." After his chuckle subsided, he continued. "So, how's she doing?"
"Better. She's at least calm and more aware of what's going on."
"You think there's a chance she'll be interested in helping us get rid of those guys? It'd be better if there was more than just two of us."
"I doubt it." She started laughing. "When I told her we grow by eating Digimon, she looked like she was going to faint." She laughed for another half-minute. "No, she'll probably just stay here and show the new kids around or something."
"Ya-de ya-de. Can't catch a break, can we?"
A long moment passed by in silence. Catastrus looked out over the her shoulder and stared at the data sea. It was an endless mass of blacks and purples and blues, melding together within each other. All around them were the tunnels and spheres that made up the human's internet, surrounded by flecks of random data that twinkled and shone. She reached out to try and catch one, but it was just out of her reach.
"I wonder...if this is anything like the stars those humans have."
"Hmm? I've seen pictures. They're kinda similar. Why the sudden interest?"
"Nothing, just..." Her mind flashed back to Toloarus for a moment. "When I first brought her in, she said it was beautiful."
They passed the rest of the night just sitting there, watching their stars swim by.