It kind of surprised me to see the kinds of shenanigans that Calumon could get into. His diminutive size certainly wasn't any indication of the trouble he could easily cause.

I'd probably be more surprised if I hadn't been pre-warned by watching the series, however.

Although, that did bring up a good question.

I stared down at the field, my eyes tracing the squiggly line from beginning to end.

Where, how and why did Calumon learn to use a chalk line marker?

I leaned back in the upper branches of a tree, watching over Calumon as Calumon observed a game of soccer.

The tiny Digimon was halfway lost in his own little world, staring in rapture at the field as they played.

I kind of wondered what he was thinking, but at the same time, I wasn't entirely certain if I really wanted to know.

Calumon cheered when one of the teams scored a goal, his ears extending in his excitement, bouncing up and down where he was hidden.

He giggled, blushing in happiness. "Yay, me!"

My head tilted to the side.

No, I didn't want to know.

I had an idea. And that is all I needed or for that matter wanted to know.

The game ended as the evening came, the teams quickly disbanding to enjoy their weekend as only schoolkids could.

Calumon seemed to shrink in on himself once he noticed they were gone, hunching over -as much as the small Digimon could-, with his ears shrinking. It gave the illusion of him being just a bit smaller than he actually was.

Calumon wandered out of the bushes, before heading towards the shed where they kept all their equipment.

I... should probably stop him before gets in there.

I was surprised by how tempted I was to not stop him, though.

Calumon tried to pull of the lock on the door, quickly failing, and then dropping to the ground to pick up a rock.

Yeah, I definitely should stop him.

I shimmered into visibility just before speaking. "And how are you doing, Calumon?"

He dropped the rock, looking around the field, before looking up and spotting me in the trees.

"Hey!"

"Hello."

How the actual fuck did Calumon convince me to do this?

I moved the the side, blocking the soccer ball from getting in, before lightly kicking it back to Calumon.

Oh, right.

Continuous failure didn't seem to be phasing the little ball of puff, it only seemed to be making him even more determine to get a goal.

I am a huge sucker for cute things.

Calumon ran up, kicking the ball as hard as he could which... wasn't really that hard, considering his size. And while there were a great many Digimon whose size wasn't indicative of their strength, Calumon wasn't one of them.

I really have to work on that.

I blocked the ball easily, before kicking it back over to Calumon.

I stood ready.

Prior experience told me that we could be playing for the next few hours.

Four hours, in fact.

It took four hours for that little Digimon to finally wear himself out, running back and forth, kicking a soccer ball at me and trying to score a goal.

He'd actually succeeded once, when I wasn't paying too much attention and he managed to hit the ball in just the right way to send it up in the air, bounce off the pole that marked the top of the goal, and directly into the goal.

That had promptly sent him on a victory dance, if spinning around and cheering could be considered a victory dance. For Calumon... it probably could.

Still, he eventually tired out, and just about collapsed on the spot when I stopped the game. I made sure to teleport the ball back inside the shed, somewhere on the ground in front of one of the baskets.

But despite the fact that he was worn out, He didn't immediately fall asleep.

"Tired, Calumon?"

"Ya-huh." He yawned.

"Well then, I'll just have to take care of you, won't I?" Carefully, I picked him up, cradling Calumon in my arm. He looked up at me, but didn't say anything before he fell asleep.

I am far more attached to this little ball of fluff than I really should be.

Oh well.

I looked up.

A moment later, we reappeared up in the trees.

I settled down, shifting Calumon to my lap and slowly beginning to pat him.

Adorable little bastard.

My head turned to the side as I felt a familiar Heart draw close.

Two, actually.

I looked down just in time to catch Guilmon come through the bushes, his body low to the ground, sniffing a lot, and Takato not too far behind him.

What?

Why would they...

"I don't see any Digimon, boy." Takato said, looking around.

"But I smell them Takatomon!"

Ah.

Guilmon moved forward, almost directly underneath me now, still sniffing the ground.

I wonder how long it will take for them to find us.

Guilmon circled the tree, looking confused, before sitting down on the ground.

"Are you... sure your nose isn't wrong?"

"It's never been wrong before, Takatomon. I smell a Digimon."

"You haven't exactly had much time to be wrong before, Guilmon." Nevertheless, Takato began to look around again.

Guilmon began to sniff again, getting to almost the base of the tree, before looking up.

And almost immediately spotting me.

"Oh."

"What is it?" Takato asked, before looking up himself.

And also immediately spotting me. A few moments passed as we stared at each other, before Takato spoke up. "Uh, hi?"

"Greetings."

A few more moments passed. I was admittedly surprised by how much I was amused by Takato's awkward silence and confusion.

"This is... probably going to sound a bit weird, but have you seen a Digimon anywhere?"

"Do hold at least some trust in your partner, Takato. He was not wrong in what he smelt." I shifted, moving my arms out of the way, no longer shielding Calumon from sight. "This little one has been with me for most of the night."

"Um, okay?" Takato asked. "Who... is that?"

"This is Calumon, young Takato."

I felt Calumon shift a little.

"A Calumon who is now waking up."

Oh goody.

This would prove amusing.