Chapter 5: CB_004

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

The other boy was clearly upset with the whole situation. Will felt wrongly accused. How was he to know that shouting for the boy to wait would draw near another of those overgrown monsters? And even so, it had not been him who had emerged from the woods, dragging a giant beetle along behind him in the first place.

"If you know your way around here so well, you might want to tell me what we are going to do now," Will yelled back.

The boy, who, as Will had noticed when he had turned around, held a small creature just like Will's in his arms, looked around nervously.

"I say we head for the woods," he proposed and nodded towards the trees. Will noticed an American accent when he spoke. "The turtle seems to be water-based, and the trees might shield us from the bug long enough to get away. I say we run for it."

Will nodded. It seemed like a sensible plan, given their circumstances. Behind him hovered the giant, red beetle; behind the other boy an equally enormous, pink creature in a shell had emerged from the ocean, groaning loudly and furiously.

"We can fight, Will," sounded the high-pitched voice from his torso. He looked down to find Kokomon staring back defiantly.

"Let us help," chimed in the grey creature in the other boy's arms.

"You can't beat them, Bukamon. They'll crush you," cautioned the boy.

"Alright, I suggest we make for the trees when they—" Will began, but stopped short as he saw the other boy's expression turn from concern to horror.

A moment later, he noticed the change in sound from behind him. The beetle's steady hovering had become louder, and was gaining volume still. It charged.

"Now!" shouted the boy and they bolted for the trees.

"I don't believe it."

The man let himself sink back into the chair, his grey eyes fixed on the large screens lining the entirety of the wall.

"What is it?" asked a woman in a beige cloak who had approached silently. Her eyes searched the screen, but she could find nothing out of the ordinary. Here and there, a Digimon would appear in one of the cameras' ranges and move beyond again.

"Look," he whispered, his amazed expression not giving any hint as to what he was seeing.

She followed the man's gaze and her attention was captured by movements on a screen at the bottom, just above the controls. The small, white letters in the upper left corner read 'CB_004', indicating that the picture stemmed from Coela Beach. At the beach, Shellmon had started fighting with a Kuwagamon she knew resided in the nearby forest. Although the pictures on the screen were black and white, she immediately saw Kuwagamon's bright red colour in her mind, a warning to all foes and competitors. Both Digimon had shown to be territorial and aggressive when provoked, but she had never seen them in a fight. It was mostly due to the fact that Kuwagamon usually kept to its own premises, Beetle Land, a forested and green part of the island that was home to a lot of insect- and plant-type Digimon.

"What's Kuwagamon doing at the beach?" she wanted to know. "Something must have drawn it out of the forest."

She became impatient when he did not answer. "You are looking at Coela Beach oh-oh-four, too, aren't you?"

He snapped out of his trance, turning his head to look at the person standing next to his chair.

"Yes," he answered, "But you've got to look closer."

A few keystrokes later, he had selected CB_004 and zoomed in on the bottom of the recording. "Do you see it now?"

The camera was mounted on one of the treetops and directed towards the water. Anything that came from the forest would appear from the bottom of the screen, anything that came from the sea would do so from the top. And truly, as the zoom cut out the two fighting Digimon who had occupied the middle of the screen before, she could see what he saw. Two boys we running towards the woods, away from the fight, each of them clutching an In-Training Digimon in his arms.

"They've found them. They've digivolved and they've found them," the man declared, the amazed expression never leaving his face.

The woman smiled and nodded, feeling the same euphoria coming on.

"I'd say we've done our jobs then, Gennai."

Will knew he could not keep up the other boy's pace much longer. As unwilling to admit it as he was, his new acquaintance was more of an athlete than he was. As far as he could tell, his lungs were near bursting, burning beneath his ribs. His arms felt numb. The longer they ran, the heavier he felt the little creature in his arms. Over the course of a few minutes it had gone from being light as a feather to a lead weight.

"Stop," he yelled breathlessly.

The other boy switched to a slow jog and turned his head. "We can't stop yet," he warned.

But Will had stopped and now stood in the midst of the trees, trying to catch his breath. He shook his head weakly.

"I can't go on. We've gone far enough. Let's walk for a bit," he proposed.

The boy seemed conflicted.

"Alright," he finally agreed. "But only for a few minutes, okay? Kuwagamon's probably on our tail already."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Kuwagamon?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, Bukamon here told me," he said, pointing to the Digimon in his arms.

"Nice to meet you," squeaked the creature, exposing sharp little teeth just like Kokomon had done before. It made Will wonder what kind of creatures they were holding. Who said that the only dangerous beings in this strange place had to be as enormous as the ones on the beach?

"Hey." The other boy drew Will's attention back to the little Digimon, which had outstretched its hand in greeting—well, its fin, corrected Will mentally.

He shook it and the Digimon seemed pleased.

"Hello, Bukamon. I'm Will," he introduced himself.

"Dominic," said the boy.

"Kokomon!" piped Kokomon.

"You told me you were called Nick," protested Bukamon, looking up at its means of transport.

Dominic shrugged. "It's a short form."

"You're glowing," remarked Will.

He saw three heads turn to him, their expressions confused.

"I'm not kidding. You're literally glowing," he repeated, pointing to the other boy's leg.

And indeed, something in one of Dominic's front pockets shone so brightly, the light glowed through the fabric.

"Oh," he remembered, "Bukamon gave me those." He reached in and retrieved two greyish devices that reminded Will of the Tamagotchis his younger siblings had been crazy about only a short while ago.

He took one in his hand and left the other with Dominic. As soon as it touched his palm, the light that seemed to be emitted by the small, square screen intensified, blinding them both.

Kokomon Digivolve to…

Bukamon Digivolve to…

In his arms, the little creature was illuminated by the bright light from his hand. Will felt it shift and grow, this time actually becoming heavier.

Lopmon!

Betamon!

When the light subsided, both Will and Dominic stared down at the creatures in their arms. Kokomon and Bukamon had gone. Two entirely different creatures stared back at them.