The drive home was a bit awkward. The tamer was still processing what had happened, and he didn't really know how to broach it with Ren.
The digimon had also been unusually quiet, avoiding his usual raft of questions. The tamer suspected he must've been able to hear the conversation with Fiona and was avoiding the subject until the tamer was ready.
Even as they returned home and entered the unit, neither spoke.
The tamer flopped onto the couch, lying back and simply staring at the ceiling.
Ren sat down in the chair opposite, waiting for the tamer to say something.
A few minutes passed, with neither speaking.
Eventually, Ren took the initiative to start a dialogue.
"Tamer... do you want to talk about what happened?"
The tamer didn't respond right away. Instead, he covered his face with both hands, before taking a deep breath.
Ren sat in silence, waiting for an answer until the tamer finally spoke.
"I take it you heard what Fiona said?"
"Yes... I know it was meant to be private, but I could not help overhearing."
"Yeah, I guessed so, and I'm kinda glad you did. It's probably easier that you know."
"Are you going to lose your job?"
"I... don't know, Ren."
He pondered for a moment. The prospect of losing his job was a concern, but he couldn't imagine the company would go that far given this was the first time he'd ever been involved in something like this.
"...look, I don't think so. Nothing actually happened. I think they're just throwing their weight around to remind me to stay in line. Worst case I can imagine, they probably won't let you come with me to the office anymore."
Ren's ears pinned back and he had a depressed expression on his face.
"Because I might hurt someone..."
"I know you wouldn't, Ren. They're just being heavy-handed. Look, try not to worry about that. It might not even happen."
"But your colleague was referring to me when she mentioned a dangerous digimon, yes?"
"Well, Yuki... but I guess also you by extension."
"And what is a 'stat deck', Tamer?"
The tamer's expression fell. He had hoped to avoid discussing that.
"Uh, that... I didn't want you to worry about that."
"But it involves something I did. Please... I should know."
The tamer gave a sigh. He already knew how Ren would take to finding out about the stat-dec. He sat himself up, bracing for the inevitable.
"A stat-dec is short for statutory declaration. It's basically a form you fill out when you want to, like... make an official statement or something. Basically declaring whatever you write is the honest truth."
Ren thought for a moment, deciphering how that information might apply to the situation.
"So, if you fill that in for a dangerous digimon... you are declaring that digimon is dangerous?"
"Sort of. The police told me they try to avoid getting involved in matters between tamer and digimon. But... they said sometimes there are situations when a tamer might be at risk if they stay partnered with their digimon. So, the police have this form and if you fill it in, they will... intervene."
"Intervene?"
"They... separate the tamer and digimon so they are no longer partnered."
Ren's expression turned to panic.
"YOU WOULDN'T!"
"No, of cour-"
Ren flung himself off the chair to kneel beside the tamer, desperately clutching at his arm.
"Please don't send me away!"
He was so quick, the tamer didn't even have a chance to flinch at the outburst. He just sat stunned, staring at the frightened digimon kneeling before him. It took him a moment to gather himself before speaking.
"Jeez Ren, nobody's going anywhere. I threw that stupid form in the bin, alright?"
The tamer could see the fear in Ren's eyes looking up at him as he spoke. He wasn't sure if digimon could cry, but if they could, he reckoned Ren was pretty close.
The digimon's next words were much quieter than his previous outburst, not quite sobbing but definitely choked up.
"Y-you... you did?"
"Yes. You really think I'm gonna try to get rid of you?"
"N-no?"
"Exactly. Afraid you're still stuck with me."
Ren gave a small smile at the thought, but it quickly disappeared under a gloomy look.
"I am sorry, Tamer."
"Don't be. None of this is your fault."
"But... the battle. I let Youkomon loose. This is all because of that."
"Come on Ren. You can't control that."
"That is the problem. Because of me you might lose your job now."
"Relax. I'm not gonna lose my job and I'm not trying to get rid of you. It'll all be fine, ok?"
Ren still had a glum look, but he gave a small nod.
"...good. Now come here you mopey 'mon."
He hauled Ren up to sit beside him on the couch, before wrapping his arm around the digimon's shoulder and pulling him close. Ren didn't hesitate to reciprocate, wrapping both arms tightly around the tamer.
"...let's look on the bright side. I have plenty of free time now."
Ren's expression turned to confusion.
"How can you be so calm about this, Tamer?"
The tamer gave a smirk, trying to play down the situation.
"Maybe I just have a really good poker face."
Ren gave a stern look in reply, obviously wanting him to take the matter seriously
"...look, there's nothing I can do about it now, so I'm not gonna waste time worrying about it."
"But..."
Ren made to say something, but stopped, seemingly undecided on how to feel about the matter. The tamer gave him a curious look.
"Would you prefer me to freak out about it?"
"No, of course not."
"So don't worry about it."
"It does not seem fair to you, Tamer."
"Yeah, well... sometimes life's not fair."
"I know. It just... bothers me that there is something troubling you and I cannot do anything about it."
The tamer slowly rubbed his hand up and down Ren's back.
"It's alright. I know it sucks when something happens and you can't do anything, but we can't always fix everything. You've just gotta do what you can and try not to let those things bother you too much."
The pair sat for a while, before Ren eventually pulled away. The tamer casually reclined back onto the couch's armrest as Ren spoke up again.
"There is something else I wanted to ask about."
"Oh?
"At the office on the laptop... your colleague showed you something."
The tamer's relaxed expression disappeared as he realised what Ren was talking about.
"Aw, shit."
"...I only saw a brief glimpse, but it looked like Youkomon."
The tamer let out another sigh. That was something he really wished Ren didn't see.
"Yes, it was Yuki."
"How did they get that image?"
"That... it wasn't an image, Ren. It was a YouTube video. Fiona just paused it."
"A video... of the battle?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have it?"
"Ren... I don't think you should watch it. I just know it's gonna upset you."
"Tamer, please. I... I need to know what happened."
The tamer crossed his arms, debating on whether to show the video to Ren. He was certain it would lead to more self-loathing from the digimon, but he also felt like Ren had a right to know what happened.
"...please Tamer."
It seemed Ren wasn't going to let this one go.
"Fine. Just try not to get too upset, alright? It's all in the past now."
"I will try."
"Alright, let me get my tablet."
The tamer wandered over to the TV unit and pulled a tablet out of one of the drawers.
Settling back on the couch, he opened YouTube and searched for the video Fiona had shown him.
"...uh... let's see. Sort by...upload date. Hmm... that one looks like it."
He tapped on the video and waited for it to load. He handed the tablet over to Ren once the video started playing, before leaning back on the couch to let the digimon focus on the video.
—
*Youkomon, stop!*
*Daring to pull one of my tails. You're lucky you're my tamer.*
Ren watched the whole video from the point the battle started. The tamer was surprised to find that he kept reasonably calm throughout, although he did clench his fist at the part where Yuki lunged at the tamer.
*Holy shit! Dude nearly got his face eaten by his own digimon!*
The commentary from whoever had recorded the video also didn't help.
The video stopped at the point where Yuki had walked off. Ren sat for a moment, before putting the tablet down on the coffee table.
The tamer waited for him to say something. Eventually, Ren turned to face him.
"Youkomon attacked you."
The tamer let out a tense breath.
"Yes. He lunged at me."
Ren's gaze fell to the floor, taking a moment before speaking up again.
"I can never battle again."
"Oh, come on Ren. That's a bit extreme. I told you, Yuki and I came to an understanding. He's not gonna do that again."
"How can you expect me to believe that?"
"Because..."
The tamer faltered. Thinking about it, he completely understood why Ren couldn't trust Yuki.
"...I don't know. I just don't want you to have to be afraid of him."
"I am not afraid of Youkomon. I am afraid of what he might do to you."
"So what... you're just never gonna battle again?"
"Yes. It is too risky if I cannot control my digivolution."
The tamer sat in silence, bothered by the idea of Ren never being able to battle again and not sure how to handle it.
Eventually, a thought grabbed him.
"What if you could?"
"Could what? Control it?"
"Yeah. There has to be some way to learn how... so wouldn't you want to try?"
Ren looked conflicted at the idea, but the tamer pressed on.
"...come on, there's gotta be some info floating around about it. Plenty of other digimon digivolve, so they must know how to do it. If we can find something, you can work on controlling it."
"I... I do not want to risk it, Tamer. If I let Youkomon out again-"
The tamer interrupted.
"Then I'll manage it, Ren."
"But how?"
"I... just will. Seriously, it'll be fine."
He gave the digimon a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but Ren still had a troubled look on his face, not entirely convinced with the idea.
"If we were to try... how would we go about it?"
"Well, uh... we could start checking the internet. See if any other digimon have gone through... you know... what you're experiencing. You willing to give it a go?"
The tamer had a hopeful look on his face, and it seemed Ren was slowly accepting what he was suggesting.
"I... I will try. But only if you promise to stop Youkomon if he gets loose."
The tamer grabbed Ren's hand with his own.
"I promise. If he tries to make any trouble, I'll set him straight. He's not gonna hurt anyone, alright?"
Ren hesitated for a moment, but agreed to participate.
"Alright."
"Good. Now, we got some googling to do."
—
The pair had been working at the tamer's computer for over an hour, trying to find information on how the digivolution process worked and how a digimon could control it.
Ren was sitting in the office chair, pouring through all the Reddit posts he could find. The tamer had grabbed a dining chair and was sitting nearby with his feet up on the desk, browsing through wiki pages on his tablet.
Unfortunately, it seemed nobody had a solid idea of how the process actually worked. Or at least those who did had not been gracious enough to make a wikiHow article about it.
The tamer let out a frustrated sigh.
"You know, I didn't think this would be such a closely guarded secret. It's like nobody has investigated how it actually works."
Ren turned in his chair to face the tamer, nodding in agreement.
"It is frustrating. I thought the internet had information about everything, but it seems not."
The tamer put the tablet down on the desk, before rubbing his face with both hands.
"I dunno what to try searching for next, Ren."
"I have no ideas eith-"
Ren stopped mid sentence, ears twitching.
"...your phone is ringing."
"Huh?"
The tamer sat still, focussing his hearing. Sure enough, he picked up the faint ringing from the living room where he'd left his phone.
He hurried through to catch the call. Ren watched him leave, before locking the computer and casually following after him.
*...ring ring... ring ring... ring-*
*Click*
"Uh, hello?"
"..."
"Oh, hi Haley. What's up?"
He flopped down on the couch as he chatted.
"..."
"Um, sorry... I'm gonna miss that meeting. They... didn't tell you what happened?"
"..."
"Well... I'm basically suspended."
"..."
"No, there was... an incident on the weekend. The company found out, and they're not too happy."
Ren sat down next to the tamer and his ears pinned back at the mention of the incident.
"..."
"Well, one less meeting for you then. Anyway, so there haven't been any emails about it?"
"..."
"Huh. I figured Fiona would've sent something round to everyone."
"..."
"On the subject of contacting people, how'd you get my number?"
"..."
"Oh, of course. So Pete didn't know about this either?"
"..."
"Guess they're keeping it quiet."
"..."
"Uh, you really wanna know?"
"..."
"Well... we had a digimon battle."
"..."
"It's... hard to explain."
Ren interrupted, gesturing to the phone.
"Tamer, may I?"
"Hold on a sec Haley."
He looked to Ren and gestured at the phone.
"...you wanna talk, Ren?"
"Yes please."
"Alright, hold on..."
He pressed an option on the phone.
"...Haley, I'm putting you on speaker, ok?"
*Ok, can you hear me?*
"Yeah, loud and clear. Um, Ren's sitting next to me."
*Hi Ren.*
The tamer pointed the phone a bit more towards Ren.
"Good morning Miss Haley."
*Still so polite!*
The tamer chimed in with a quip.
"Too polite for us lowly office rats, I think."
*Lol, maybe just a bit. Anyway, you wanna chat, Ren?*
The tamer pointed the phone back to Ren.
"If that is alright?"
*Yeah, sure. It seems I have a sudden opening in my calendar, since somebody cancelled on me at the last minute.*
The tamer rolled his eyes but kept quiet.
Ren ignored the banter, getting straight down to business.
"I am hoping you could assist with a question about digivolution."
*Uh... maybe. What do you wanna know?*
"I was wondering... can Gabumon digivolve?"
*Oh... yeah, Gaby's digivolved a few times. Why?*
"We are trying to understand how to control my digivolution."
*Ok...*
Sensing the confusion in Haley's voice, the tamer took the opportunity to provide a bit more context.
"So Ren can digivolve, but he can't control it yet. And when he did, it wasn't a normal digivolution."
*What do you mean it wasn't 'normal'?*
"Well... this was a dark digivolution."
*A what?*
"A dark digivolution."
*I don't know what that means, Miles.*
"Yeah, I'm still figuring it out too. But basically, Ren digivolved into someone completely different."
*Uh... how is that even possible?"
"Dunno. I think it's basically like an alter ego."
*Woah! I've never heard of something like that before.*
"Yeah, me neither. Anyway, this alter ego has done some bad stuff in the past and so Ren is a bit concerned about letting him loose again."
*Ok, I think I get it. But... I don't know if I can help with that. Maybe you should speak to Gaby, since he might have a better idea. When are you coming to the office next?*
"Uh, well... I'm not for the time being."
*What? Why not?*
"Suspended.. or sorry... 'administrative leave' as they say."
*Oh, right. Um... I dunno, then.*
Ren piped up.
"Would it be possible to meet somewhere outside your work hours?"
*Uhhh... I... guess. I take it this is important to you guys?*
"Yes. It is affecting my ability to protect my tamer."
*Uh... right. Look, I can't tonight... but maybe tomorrow?"
"I would greatly appreciate that, if you are willing."
Ren gave the tamer a cheeky look.
"...my tamer does not have any work commitments currently."
"Very funny Ren."
*LOL! Alright, can we meet at the park? That's probably the best place to talk and give it a try.*
The tamer held the phone back towards himself whilst giving Ren a dirty look.
"Yeah, that's fine Haley. What time suits you?"
*Um, maybe 6? If we leave here a bit before 5.30, that should be fine.*
"Alright, perfect. Hey, I'm gonna send you a link to the video so you can see what we're talking about."
*Ok, I'll let Gaby take a look and we'll see you both tomorrow.*
"Thanks Haley."
*Click*
The tamer put his phone down on the coffee table before turning to Ren.
"...that was a pretty good idea to ask Haley about it. I wouldn't have thought of that."
Ren had a bashful look on his face.
"Well... like you said, it is useful to know some other digimon and tamers so I can ask them... digimon stuff. But I am surprised you were willing to share the video with your colleague."
"Why?"
"I thought you might be... ashamed."
"What... like, ashamed of you?"
Ren nodded.
"...pfft, no way. It wasn't even you."
"But she might think-"
"I doubt she's gonna care, Ren. She's too fascinated with how cute you are."
"She thinks I am cute?"
"Yeah, didn't you hear-"
The tamer paused as he remembered back to the moment in the office.
"...oh, right. You were too busy... peeping on my coworkers."
Ren gave an indignant look as he muttered a sullen response.
"It was all new to me. I was just curious to see what they were doing."
"Yeah, alright. Anyway, I better send that link before I forget."
He grabbed his phone again and opened up a new message.
M: Hi Haley thanks for agreeing to help
M: video link if you want to see what were talking about
M: /dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=Pk45ZUaZwW2iGpVY