"Where am I…?"
She opens her eyes. She is lying on her belly on the sand. Her head hurts a lot. Everything is blurry. She looks ahead, and sees sand. Sand. And more sand.
"Who am I…?"
She slowly moves her arms closer to her face, so she can see them. She sees dark-skinned hands with sharp nails, and long sleeves with different shades with purple.
"Oh, right… I'm Tayna. Or Komet. Whatever…"
She slowly moves her head around, despite making it hurt more. On one side, she sees a Lekismon. In the other, a Firamon. They are both close to her, but seemingly unconscious.
"Lua… Sonne…"
She feels a sandstorm starting to hit them. Her vision starts to get more blurry. Then, she closes her eyes.
She opens her eyes again. She feels herself being dragged, then lifted. Her head feels too heavy to think about something. She closes her eyes back.
Komet opens her eyes for the third time. She is breathing hard. She still feels her head pounding hard. But it doesn't feel like she is lying on sand anymore. It's warm. It's orange and yellow.
"Sonne… It's you, isn't it…?"
She makes some effort to turn her head to the right. Her vision is still blurry. Sandstorm. She hears something landing in a thud. She sees big gray bird feet. Black talons. Crimson red feathers. Her head hurts. She closes her eyes again.
She opens her eyes once more, but this time, she feels completely fine. Somehow, she is in her human form: no horns, no sharp nails and wearing normal clothes - her favorite violet hoodie. But she is in an empty place. Everything is white. No sand. No sky. No anything. Except for a person standing several meters away from her.
The person - a short guy, about 168 cm tall, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, small mustache and goatee, wearing a green shirt and armband, and a necklace with a dragon pendant - looks at her and smiles.
"H-Hydra? Is that you?" Komet asks. She runs towards him before getting any answer, but suddenly a giant sea serpent emerges right under the guy with its mouth open, and closes its mouth on him with a snap. "HYDRAAAAAAA!"
"Komet! Thank gods, you are finally awake!" says Lua, hugging Komet with a big smile
"Careful Lua! We must inspect her well-being before any abrupt action!" growls Sonne
"H-huh?" The lass quickly looks around very confused. She notices she is sitting inside a tent. "What- What?"
"Worry not, we are safe here. Your health was very poor for three days straight. You could not walk nor talk, only mumble gibberish. You had a fever during all that time. Thankfully a group of locals found us and brought us here"
Komet places her hand on her head. It still hurts, but not as much as before. Her body feels very sore. "Three… Three days…? Ugh… Where are we now…?"
"Werushat Desert. It lies far west of Tavrmenos Islands, north of The Skyscrapers"
"Oh… The desert I wanted to avoid at all costs, great…" She shakes her head. "How did we end up here…? What happened…?"
Lua sits down. "Well…"
Three days ago
Big puss and I woke up around the same time. It was dark and cold. Fortunately this is not a problem for me.
"...huh…?" Lua grabs some sand and lets it fall from her hand. "Sand…?" She looks around and sees only orange sand, sometimes some dunes. "This… This is not Tavrmenos… Where are we…? How did we get here…?"
Sonne gets up and shakes the sand off his body. "It seems to be a desert. I believe it is the desert that lies on the other side of The Skyscrapers. Unfortunately I do not have an answer for the second question. We have more important matters to worry about now". He approaches Komet, who still lies unconscious.
Lua approaches her too. She grabs her and makes her sit up, but she notices that her body is warmer than it's supposed to be. "She has a fever! We need to cool her down!"
I tried to create ice with my Ice Tear attack, but then I noticed that my body was too weak. Sonne's flames also looked weaker than normal. We needed to eat. Then I remembered about our little farm with tasty food. I grabbed your arm and summoned that garden bed. All the meat looked tasty!
Sonne looks at Lua shocked and growls at her. "Do you really dare to do this without her permission?"
Lua grabs one of the bones and starts eating the meat. "This is not the first time I did that, you know? Besides, do you really think we are in a situation to not break non-existent rules?"
Big puss sighed. He still wasn't happy with that, but he agreed with me. I think he realized how dumb his thoughts were at that moment. After I was done eating, I felt my body regaining energy, so I immediately made ice stakes and used your detachable purple sleeves to wrap it and transform into ice bags, to place on your forehead and neck. It didn't take long for him to be done eating too.
"We should look for a town. Deposit the garden bed back and place her on me" he says
I first placed you on him, then I took your smartwatch to put the garden away, but… Uhh… It didn't work… Since you need to touch the object, I think it only responds to your touching. Oopsie!
Lua facepalms. "This is just what we needed… Well, we are not going to leave the other meats here, will we now?". She grabs the other four meats and starts walking besides Sonne.
Sonne shakes his head. "We will leave a valuable object behind because of your carelessness". He sighs. "But I do not believe we had a better option. You will have to explain that yourself, though. The punishment should not befall me"
We walked, walked and walked some more. It was night, so it was cold. That would be good for your fever at least. We had to be careful with some dangerous Digimon, sometimes hordes of them! They seemed to be just looking for fights. They were weird! And hiding in the desert is not an easy thing, either, but fortunately those mummy monsters were slow. We avoided confrontations as much as possible. But regardless of all things, one thing never changed: we were completely lost.
"So, our garden bed is gone, huh…?" says Komet, looking a bit disappointed. "That's okay, surviving is more important. But, hey, since you were messing with my smartwatch anyway, you could have accessed the map, you know?" She raises an eyebrow.
"I wasn't messing with it! A-anyway, let me continue!" says Lua. She looks away and swallows hard
The sun rose, and that was bad, because it was getting hot. And even after countless hours - okay, I actually counted it, but it's not relevant for the story - it didn't look like we were getting anywhere! Sonne couldn't fly because he was carrying you, and unfortunately he doesn't come with a seat belt. It was a bit windy and some unfriendly monsters were flying high in the skies too. Then we started walking towards a dune to get a better view of the horizon, but suddenly the wind got stronger. No, it was a sandstorm! I got close to Sonne and we both crouched. There was so much sand that it was impossible to see anything! Then, then the storm suddenly stopped, and the dune was… Gone? It was like we were in a different place!
Then, nothing really changed for a while. But the sun was scorching over our heads. Sonne was using his wings to shield you from it. We weren't going as fast as we wished for. At some point, Anpu called us to ask some stuff regarding Tavrmenos, but we didn't have answers. So we told him that maybe you do, and we would return the call as soon as you get up!
At least there weren't enemies around to bother us anymore for a veeeery long time. We walked a lot more. It wasn't very far from sunset when…
"Lua, stay alert, someone is coming!"
Lua jumps in front of Sonne. But she is sweating a lot because of the heat. "I'm feeling drained… Daytime already makes me weaker… But this desert is only making this worse…"
"Then take Komet with you. I am in advantage here"
Two Digimon appeared running down the dunes. They were different from the aggressive monsters we found previously. It was a half cat and half human, full of pink jewels and two tails. Looked like a belly dancer. She was flying on a winged white cat in armor and a weird stern metal mask of a human face covering the whole face. I guess the desert is full of cats. I wonder if Sonne would have enjoyed seeing fellow felines if it wasn't for our current situation. He got on guard to protect us, but those two stopped, kneeled and bowed down…?
"I think they mean they are coming in peace" says Lua
Sonne doesn't drop his guard, but he no longer stands aggressively. Lua stands beside him.
The two cats stand up. "I am Nefertimon, and this is Bastemon. We came here to help you, lost travelers. If you don't trust us to be around, we will leave some food and water for you to at least guarantee your survival. But if you do, follow us, we will guide you to a safe place" shouts the white feline from afar
Lua looks at Sonne, concerned. The lion nods. Then she looks at the two cats. "We will follow you! It's not like we have a better choice anyway. But how far are we from a safe place? It's because a friend is having a fever with no indication of stopping…" she says in a very worried tone.
Bastemon grit her teeth. She runs towards them and gets a flask with water, and carefully flips it on Komet's mouth. "First rule of desert survival: never ration your water, meow! Keep yourself hydrated whenever possible". Then she places her hands on the lass' forehead. "Holy Horus, she is boiling! This is more than urgent! Nerfetimon, come quickly, quickly!"
Nefertimon flies towards the group and lands beside Bastemon. The cat woman detaches a red bird-shaped kite from her, attaches some long golden ribbons to it and starts flying the kite.
Lua looks confused. "What are you doing?"
"Calling the Crimson Bird. They are our fastest transportation around. If we are lucky, there's one nearby already. Let's walk while they don't arrive"
Of course, that made me extremely concerned. We followed them, they gave us tips on what to do in each situation. They told us it would take us around 7 hours to get to their place by walking, depending on the 'mood' of the desert. And to our bad luck, a sandstorm started to kick in again, but at least it wasn't as strong. Somehow, they were able to keep flying that kite. After one hour…
"He is coming!" says Nefertimon, looking towards something. "All of you, crouch down and wait!"
We saw only a silhouette in the sandstorm, but it became more visible as soon as it got close enough, until it landed right in front of us. It was a big red bird, more than twice as tall as you. He had some other things attached to his body, I think they were supplies.
Bastemon bows in reverence. "Crimson Bird Aquilamon, an outsider fell ill"
The red bird, Aquilamon I think, nodded, as if he already knew what he had to do. He lied down to help put you on him, while he used his large wings to shield the sandstorm.
Bastemon looks at Sonne and Lua. "Crimson Bird can't take all of us, meow. Do you entrust the care of your friend to our hands?"
It looked like they had good intentions. But hell no I'd let you go alone with them, not after the Tavrmenos ordeal. So I said that I wanted to go along. Demanded, even. They said yes, so it was all fine!
Back to present day
"Then I mounted the giant bird, while Sonne went with Nefertimon, since he resists heat anyway. She wasn't kidding when she said that the Crimson Bird is some kind of fast travel method! We got here in about three hours, and you were immediately taken to treatment. Sonne and Nefertimon arrived around 3 hours after we did. I guess flying does wonders, huh!" finishes Lua
"That sure was dangerous… I'm so glad you were lucky enough to be found by someone" Komet says relieved
"Well, according to Nefertimon, it wasn't luck…" She looks away again, feeling uncomfortable. "She just has the ability to find lost newcomers, something like that"
"Oh, that's still great! So… We've been here safely for around two or three days, correct?"
Lua nods
"But still…" She looks around, still confused. "How and when did we come from Tavrmenos to the desert?"
"Uuh… You… Don't know…?"
She shakes her head
Sonne approaches Komet. "We do not know for sure either. But when we try to recap that event, there is always a word that comes to our minds: Icarumon"
"Icaru-" Komet gasps and looks at her own arms, as if she is looking for something different. Then she starts breathing faster. "Icarumon…! I was… We were…"
Lua puts her hand on her shoulder. "Calm down and take your time! Actually, take your time remembering everything and call Anpu, because I think this is what he wanted to talk about earlier, and he sounded very serious and worried about that. Who knows we end up remembering something too!"
Komet nods, still a bit shocked. She takes her time to try to remember everything that happened as Icarumon. As soon as she feels ready, she calls Anpu. It doesn't take long until a hologram of an Anubismon pops up on her smartwatch.
"Good afternoon, Team Twilight. I see Komet is finally awake. Give me a second, I'll contact Prof. Bokomon, he will join us shortly" says Anpu
"Ooh, so he doesn't need to go to your place as often anymore!" asks Lua
Anpu nods. "He is collaborating more often to study about the Corrosion Virus now. He still has duties in the Village of Beginning, so a long distance way to communicate was necessary"
"Got any results?" asks Komet
He shakes his head. "Not yet. I'll contact you as soon as I get any relevant information"
A minute passes. They hear a familiar voice joining the meeting.
"Hi human and friends! You better explain to me what happened three days ago, because that's not normal!" yells Prof. Bokomon. He's almost freaking out already
Komet looks a bit nervous. "Ahm… Going straight to the point, I see. W-well, what happened three days ago? From your point of view, I mean"
The team hears the sound of pages being turned. "So, late afternoon, a sudden huge surge of data was detected by my devices. I rushed to Anpu's place to talk about it, and it seems he detected it too. Actually, he told me he detected it from your device, human. Which means you must be the culprit of whatever happened! What did you do?" says Prof. Bokomon in an accusatory tone
Lua immediately gets annoyed. "I know you don't like Komet, but holy shit! Can you at least wait for her side of the story first? You are making it sound like she's some kind of villain, geez!"
Komet slowly facepalms and lets out a short groan. "It's okay, Lua, it really is…" She looks back at the hologram and scratches the back of her head. "Well… In short… I think Sonne, Lua and I fused together and became a Digimon called Icarumon"
"Icarumon? This is the first time I hear about 'Icarumon'... Maybe I should look up in the database to see if this new specimen is already registered as a new discove- WAIT, you said you fused? You, a human, fused with Digimon? And became a new Digimon?"
Komet nods, although only Anpu sees her in the call. "If I recall correctly, that happened moments before I almost got killed by an infected Minotaurmon while Sonne and Lua were trying to reach me… I kind of felt their spirits joining with mine… Mixing together for the same goal…" She shakes her head. "I-I really don't know how to explain it better than that, it sure was a new experience"
"Well… While fusing is a thing here, it shouldn't revert back to your previous forms, much less happen with a non-Digimon lifeform. Even less to a human! I'm accessing the central database now to fetch information about the new monster and do a quick analysis. You can keep talking, I'm totally capable of multitasking!"
"Okay. Erm.. I was in control I think, but I wasn't exactly… Ahm, me, myself. I could use powers. Somehow I already had in my mind what attacks I could use… I guess this is how Digimon work…? Anyway, I also had access to recent memories from Sonne and Lua, from when they were doing stuff when I wasn't around. And somehow I had access to my smartwatch functions too…? I did use the map, the identifier and even the thing that captures infected data! I wouldn't be surprised if I also stored my weapon during the fusion too" she says, while checking the storage. "Yep, the bone club and the butcher knife are here"
"I will tell you the event right before we fused. The monster was very close to tearing Komet when she was out of our reach. Only a small hole in a seemingly unbreakable wall was our way to approach her. We all wished for the same goal - to save her and survive together at any cost. Thus, somehow we transferred our data- No, our entire beings to her" says Sonne
Lua crosses her arms in pride. "This was just our little payback for what she had done for us to evolve again!"
"Huh? Did you say 'again'? Are you saying the human sent her data to make you evolve to Adult? Unbelievable! Are you that eager to get yourself killed, human?" says Prof. Bokomon
"Uuh… Yes…? I mean, no! 'Yes' to the first question. I did it two more times after that day against Ogremon. But I can guarantee I was careful when I did it"
Sonne and Lua squint at Komet
"I-I mean, I was careful about managing the data… Uuh… Somewhat… Careful. Okay, careful enough to not get myself killed!"
"We have yet to understand why you can do that. Freely transferring data from a monster to another like that is just not possible, or it shouldn't be! The human probably has something to do with that" says Prof. Bokomon
"Hmm… Now that you mention that…" Anpu puts his hand on his chin and looks up. "At first, Sonne and Lua didn't have the most amicable relationship. They were more like forced partners in a mission. But after they met Komet, they developed a connection between all three of them… A connection so strong that they were capable of transferring their own data together to save their human friend. And that connection grew even stronger, capable of uniting opposing forces like the sun and the moon. Impressive!"
"It's the power of friendship!" says Lua with a lot of enthusiasm
"Yes, it's the power of friendship that can send you to the graveyard if you are not careful enough" rebukes Prof. Bokomon
"Geez, stop acting like a grumpy grandpa! Although you are not wrong, right Komet?" she says, while squinting at Komet again. The lass just looks away pretending it's not with her.
"I analyzed what I have available here. What Anpu said does make sense! Since Lekismon and Firamon are complete opposites, the fusion caused a surge of data. There's still not much information about Icarumon. In theory it's a Perfect Digimon, but because of the nature of the fusion, the new monster seems to be much more powerful than your average Perfect…"
"That checks out. I do remember beating Minotaurmon easily" says Komet
"...however! It seems the fusion didn't generate a new, singular Digicore. Instead, it retained both Digicores. That means the fusion is unstable and will revert back to your regular forms, which is what happened in the end. I wonder if there's a way to feel when you are close to separate"
Komet looks at her right arm and moves it, while pensive.
"For the reason why it didn't generate one, new Digicore… I'd say it's because the human was the main subject of this fusion. After all, she did say she was the active force of Icarumon"
"I have a question," says Sonne. "Komet fell ill for three days after we left Tavrmenos. Could that be related to the fusion in any way…?"
"It's possible, yes. Almost a certainty, even" says Anpu. "Regardless of having digital components in her body now, she's still a human. Her body can't process data like we digital monsters do, which is why it took two weeks to heal her using your data. Thus, the side effects of handling such a powerful combination all of a sudden is… Possibly pretty harsh on her body. You should be very careful about it. Keep an eye next time you fuse, to see if it causes any kind of degradation in her body, and tell me about what happened"
Komet shakes her head, looking down. "This is not needed, I don't intend on doing that ever again"
"If these two as Adults generated that amount of data…" Prof. Bokomon starts saying some numbers and symbols. Then he gasps. "M-my holy angels!"
"Is something the matter?" asks Anpu
"W-what would happen if they were Perfects fusing together, or even Ultimates? I calculated the theoretical data they would produce, and… It could possibly cause an overflow! T-the whole world would feel the effects from that…!" Bokomon starts panicking. "T-the human and friends can be more dangerous to our world than what I've anticipated! Maybe they can even destroy it with their existence! I-I knew the presence of a human here could be a digital hazard!"
Lua opens her mouth to say something, but she is stopped by Komet, who looks a bit annoyed. "Look, I get it. You don't trust me and this is fine. But could you at least keep it to yourself more often? All I want is to go back home and finish my unfinished jobs there, you know? If you think I'm that dangerous, then just report my current location to the Angel Army and save your world"
Silence reigns for several seconds. Then, Prof. Bokomon finally decides to give a response. "I can't… I can't just do that… You saved the Village of Beginning, after all… I-I'm sorry!"
Anpu sighs. "He is gone. I guess that means our meeting is over. Hopefully you can make good use of what we've just learned, and I hope…" Anpu lets out another sigh. "You can endure whatever your journey gives to you". He waves and finishes the call
The hologram disappears, but Komet keeps looking pensive at the smartwatch for a few seconds. "Maybe I crossed the line again…"
"Nu-uh! You did very well defending yourself! I think you should have gone beyond and put some fear into him!" says Lua
"Geez, no! I got annoyed, sure, but he still has a fair reason to be afraid of humans. Also, he is helping us despite all that. I think he just has some conflicted feelings right now. Anyway…" She presses some buttons from the projected menu to go check the map. "How far are we from Central Network Palace…"
Lua lowers the lass' arms and looks at her in the eyes. "By the way! What do you mean by never intending to become Icarumon again? What if we really need it?"
Komet shakes her head. "We won't. It's too dangerous and too risky"
Sonne approaches and looks her in the eyes too. "Apologies, Komet, but the reason does not convince me. You have put yourself at major risk for us more often than I wish for. You have a different reason for that. Something is troubling your heart, am I correct?"
She looks very surprised and immediately looks away, lowering her head.
"Despite being in a dormant state, I could feel our transformation being disturbed. The best I can explain is it is as if we were being pulled apart" he continues
She grunts and shakes her head, looking disappointed.
"You can take your time. I hope you eventually feel ready to share your troubles with us"
She nods and keeps looking down, feeling guilty. Sonne gets closer and rubs his face on hers to try to comfort her, which seems to work a bit. Komet looks back at him, gives a little smile, pets him and brushes his yellow mane with her hands. "Thank you"
At that moment, a two-tailed cat woman - Bastemon - enters the tent in a flashy way. "Heeeeeeey~ I heard she's finally awake? So, how did she react to the news? Did she take it well? Meow?"
"The… News…? What news?" asks Komet
Before the feline gets the chance to say more things, Lua pounces on her and starts choking her. "What the hell do you think you are doing? You can't just invade someone's room without warning!" she says. Bastemon just flails in return
Sonne sighs. "Let her go, Lua. There is no point in hiding it any longer. She needs to know it"
Lua grits her teeth and releases the cat woman. The bunny gets nervous and shakes her head. "We didn't tell her yet… I just wanted to wait until… I don't know… I'm worried… I don't know how badly she will take it"
"Bastemon, I think the pharaoh is the most qualified to explain the situation. Could you take us to her?" he asks
Bastemon does a kick up to get up and dusts the dirt off her leopard skin. "Sure! This is a great choice, actually. Follow me!" she says while walking out of the tent.
Komet looks at both her friends, very concerned. "What is going on?"
"Follow us" says Sonne. He walks to the door curtain and looks back to see if they are following. Lua grabs Komet by her hand and starts taking her towards their destination.
They go outside. Komet sees a city in the desert. A big one. As expected, it's hot, but the wind blows gently at the moment. Some houses are made of stone, or clay - she can't tell the difference. Others are tents made of pelt, although she has no idea how they can remove pelt from Digimon before they become just bits of data. A lot of pennant strings decorate the place, and they come in many colors. Sandstone walls encircle the town, and two towers rise from the entrance, each of them having a big and elaborate kite shaped like a red bird flying over them. Next to the towers, two big nests can be seen. One of them is empty, while in the other sleeps a big red bird - Aquilamon - wearing blue accessories with golden details. A lot of Digimon do their daily chores, talk or play around. Some of them look very sad.
Then they stop in front of a house. It doesn't look very different from the other stone houses, with the difference that two red bird kites hang on the wall and a golden one above the entrance. Bastemon moves the door curtain aside, gets on her knees and bows down in reverence. "Mighty pharaoh! I'm bringing the new outsiders. That girl is now awake. She doesn't know about the curse yet"
"'The curse'…? Are we dealing with another 'curse'…?" thinks Komet
"Come in! Come in!" says a voice from inside.
Bastemon stands up and smiles, motioning to them to go inside, while slowly wagging her tails. The trio gets in and sees a small gray old humanoid, around half Komet's size. She wears a green robe with small colorful patterns, a necklace made of big pink beads and a nemes with a uraeus on her head. Her gray hair tied in a bun pops out of the nemes. She holds a broom and a flail. She approaches the human and holds her hand.
"Welcome to Waset, youngling! I am Babamon, the acting pharaoh of Werushat. I hope you have an easy time adjusting to the new lifestyle here and feel at home!"
Lua facepalms.
"New lifestyle…?" Komet looks at the granny awkwardly. "Thanks for the welcome, but we do not intend to live here"
"I know you don't, and it pains me to say it, but…" Babamon looks directly at her and sighs. "Sit down, girl, it's going to be a long explanation"
She sits down feeling tense. She looks at her friends, who sit next to her. They both look at her, worried. Bastemon stands behind them.
Babamon hits her broom on the floor. "Werushat. A place that has existed since ancient times, full of stories and traditions. We are people that dwell in the desert. Despite the scorching days and freezing nights, we love that place and are very proud of who we are. We never succumbed to anyone who tried to take that pride from us. Despite being a desert, we had bountiful areas, a great river and a great ruler…"
"Is this Tavrmenos all over again…?"
"...But years ago, a disease befell our supreme ruler, Pharaohmon. An illness that takes the very souls of a being, the most precious part of the living. That illness started spreading through our old capital, Menefer, and killing weaker inhabitants, while making the stronger go uncontrolled. It also started to affect our crops and water"
"..."
"To stop that, Pharaohmon made the ultimate sacrifice: he took all the diseased souls with him and sealed it with himself in his pyramid, taking the plague away from our precious land. However… This caused a side effect… A curse. First, our capital was destroyed, swallowed by a giant quicksand. Everything was lost…" Babamon shakes her head, very disappointed. "Then, our main rivers started to dry out, and as a result, most of our soils became infertile. Then the souls of the dead refused to return to Anubismon, and started materializing and attacking anything that's alive, while bugs plagued our remaining crops… And ultimately, a sandstorm enclosed the whole desert, not letting anyone or anything out…"
Komet swallows hard. "Are you saying it's impossible to leave…?"
The granny hits her broom on the floor. "Follow me" She goes towards the exit and leaves the house. Komet and the others get up and follow her. They walk towards a place with more tents than stone houses.
Babamon points towards the settlement with the flail. "These are the homes of outsiders that, like you, ended up entering Werushatan territory by accident. Most of them tried to leave. Many returned to Waset. Many fell in their attempt to leave. But none actually left" She shakes her head while looking upset. "Some of them began their new lives here, while some of them couldn't take it and… Decided to stop living… I'm very sorry for that, youngling. But I promise the people of this land will teach you the ways of Werushat and make your living here as close to good as possible"
She clenches her fist and shakes her head. "You don't have your eyes everywhere in the desert, so how can you be so sure that no one actually left?"
"My envoy Nefertimon can feel whenever someone enters or leaves the sandstorm barrier due to her close connection to Pharaohmon. You can ask her for details if you wish" She places her hands on Komet's leg. "I know you have your needs outside. We would like to have the freedom to leave the desert whenever we want, too, but unfortunately…"
"What will happen if I just try to cross the stupid sandstorm barrier?"
"You will be teleported to a random place in the desert. It doesn't matter what you do, the curse will keep you inside"
The lass, visibly upset, shakes her head. "I don't have time to be stuck here!" She opens the map on her smartwatch to see exactly where they are. But to her surprise, what was supposed to be a red dot is now a huge translucent red circle covering the whole desert area.
"Well… You did ask us why we didn't use the map…" Lua looks away and upset. "There's your answer…"
Komet grits her teeth. Then, she starts shaking. She shakes her head again, gestures to the others to wait a moment and walks away.
Babamon sighs. "It doesn't matter how often we've seen that reaction, it always pains me like it's the first time…"
The human goes back to her tent. She sits down and places her hands on her face. "Why are there so many obstacles being thrown in my way when I'm trying to do the right thing? I-Is it karma? A-Am I not allowed to atone for my sins?" She looks up, very angry. "Whoever is testing me, get to know I'll not stop! I have things that should be done and a promise to keep!" she yells and punches the floor. Then tears start falling from her eyes.
Sonne and Lua get in the tent. They see the lass in distress and immediately sit next to her, leaning on her.
"Sorry… It's just… I can't be stuck here… I just can't…" She sighs. "I'm sorry, I crossed the line again, didn't I…?"
"We understand. Your frustration is reasonable. Maybe relieving your stress will be helpful. Would you like some punching lessons…?" asks Sonne
"How the hell do you intend to punch with paws? If she says yes, then you will have to leave it to me" says Lua, while pointing at herself
Komet opens a little smile and accepts the offer. After 30 minutes, She sits down, feeling less stressed. "So, I believe we are all settled in trying to leave the desert, correct?"
Both Digimon nod. "But how are we gonna do that?" asks Lua
She gives a smile. "Well, regardless of what we are going to do, I believe a certain bunny have a strong opinion about Team Twilight"
"Yes! Yes! That sure I do!" she says while quickly nodding and excitedly bouncing
She nods back. "Is Anpu aware of our situation?"
"Yes. In fact, Werushat is his homeland. He moved out to the southeast before the curse happened, something like Anubismon duties. I may be mistaken, but I believe I felt a mix of nostalgia, sadness and anger in his words when talking about this subject" says Sonne
"That does make sense, Anpu, or alternatively Anubis, is an Egyptian god after all, and this whole place feels very Ancient Egypt…"
Bastemon enters their tent without warning again. "Meow! You were taking so long to return that it got me worried!"
Komet looks at the catwoman, surprised. "O-oh, sorry about that! Is the pharaoh still waiting there?"
"She is. She is used to it by now. She even probably know the answer you will give her"
"Okay, we will go back now and talk to her. Let's go, team"
The four of them go outside and return to the settlement area. Babamon just stands there under the scorching sun, proudly holding her broom. Nefertimon is sitting next to her.
"The younglings are finally back" She points her broom to each one of the trio. "I know these looks in your eyes. I you don't intend to just accept you are stranded here"
"Correct" Komet looks at Sonne, Lua and then back to the pharaoh. "If we can't cross the sandstorm barrier, then we are going to put an end to the curse, then everyone will be free to leave and return again. It has to have a way to do it, right?"
"Oh? You plan to end the curse, eh?" Babamon looks at Bastemon, at Nefertimon and then back at the team. "Some outsiders think of doing that, but only a few actually try it, and after some time, they give up. Are you sure this is the path you want to take?"
The trio nods.
Nefertimon gives one step ahead. "Saying that is easy. So I challenge you to say something that will convince me that you really know what you are getting yourself into. If you fail, you will be all by yourselves, but if you pass, we will provide information and resources. Choose your words carefully"
Komet closes her eyes. She spends some time thinking, and then opens her eyes back, looking serious. "Pharaohmon is an Infected, he's been infected by the Corrosion Virus. He is a very powerful being, probably an Ultimate. Powerful even for Ultimate, since he was capable of taking the infection from others to seal within himself. The withering of this land is most likely being caused by the miasma that is escaping his seal"
Nefertimon stares at them. Since her face is fully made of metal, it's impossible to read her. "That's a good answer. So I'll provide the information: there's no way to end the curse. Now leave" The white feline turns around and starts to leave.
Komet shakes her head. "That's not true. If it was, you wouldn't have challenged me to begin with. And even if it theoretically is, I've been through some 'impossible' situations before getting here. But my friends and I proved again and again that 'there are no doors that can't be opened'. Give me all the information we need to know, and we will show you we can put an end to that curse"
The armored feline turns at them again and approaches them back. "You passed the test"
Lua opens her mouth to complain, but Komet quickly covers her mouth. The bunny grumps in dissatisfaction.
"Ohoho! You are more knowledgeable and observant than I expected!" says Babamon, pleased. "You are very correct. Pharaohmon was the first Ultimate level reported infected with Corrosion Virus. But because of the curse, we don't know the current situation of the disease in the outside world"
Komet flushes. "A-ah, thanks! People tend to say that. But about the infection… You said it's been years! Couldn't the Angel Army have done anyt-"
"MEEEEOOOOOW" yells Bastemon
"What the heck?" says Lua, confused
Bastemon pulls the trio very close with a hug and whispers. "Don't ever mention that name or anything related to them in the open like that!"
"Care to explain?" asks Sonne
"I'll keep it short for meow, because you will still get some more info dump from the pharaoh. The Angels hate Werushatans, because we never complied with their dogmas when they became the supreme authorities of our world. Their demands were unreasonable! Our faith has always laid on Pharaohmon since ancient times, and this will remain unchanged. So, even only mentioning their names will result in nasty looks from Werushatans at you"
"In that case, assuming the Angel Army refused to help your nation purely for retaliation if not far-fetched"
Bastemon nods. "Not at all, this is actually the case! But let's focus on what's important for now!"
Sonne shakes his head in disappointment. "Their duty is supposedly to protect the world and the people, regardless of their faith". The trio looks back at Babamon.
"Let's go back to my house, because it will be a long explanation!" says the granny
All five of them follow her. They quickly arrive at the small temple and sit inside, almost in a circle around Babamon. Komet summons her notepad and pen from the smartwatch, and opens in a new page.
Babamon hits her broom on the floor. "First, I'd like to apologize for not solving this problem by ourselves yet. In the beginning, we sent expeditions to try to quell the curse, but at the same time, we had to fight for our survival. We've lost a lot of people because of that…" She shakes her head in frustration. "So we started to focus more on surviving… And at some point, we settled for just surviving… Our kin is dwindling, after all, and our Anubismon can't make new Digimon eggs because the data doesn't return to him anymore... We can't let Pharaohmon's sacrifice go to waste, after all…"
"No need to apologize, you just want the best for your people" says Komet
The granny nods. "But despite all that…" She grips hard on the main piece of her bead necklace. "We still fight to keep our culture alive. We still hope for a better future. We still believe we can somehow free ourselves from this! About the curse… To get to Pharaohmon, you need to get inside his sealed pyramid. The pyramid was swallowed by the quicksand with the rest of Menefer, but Pharaohmon's perseverance made it resurface! The problem is… The pyramid keeps teleporting from time to time, which we believe it's a way he found to protect it from being completely destroyed. Older recordings reported this phenomenon to happen mostly in Northeast Werushat, if not only there, since it's where Menefer was located"
"I'll go into the specifics of the effects of the curse on our land" says Nefertimon. "First and foremost: every sixty hours, a powerful sandstorm will blow and move everyone outside Waset to a random place in the desert. If you want to avoid that, come back before the beginning of the Sandstorm Cycle. But if you are caught by it in the end…" She grabs one of the Crimson Bird kites. "Fly this. Keep flying until the Crimson Bird finds you. It might be fast or take a long time, but they will always come for you within the first 12 hours after the new Cycle. After that, it becomes too dangerous for them to fly around"
"If I recall correctly, we got caught by the Sandstorm Cycle once. I recall seeing a different landscape once it was over. We all appeared together in the same place. Is there a chance we get transported away from each other?" asks Sonne
"Excellent question. Yes, but as long as you stay close to each other during the Sandstorm Cycle, you will be together by the end of it"
"Is there another safe point besides Waset?"
Nefertimon shakes her head. "This area is the only known area to have this property. We don't know why, but this is the reason we made this place our new capital"
Komet attentively writes everything down.
"Second: void monsters. Out in the desert, you will face many void monsters, especially the closer you get to Menefer and here in Waset. You can 'kill' them, but they will just rise back from the sand after a short time. They are mostly Mummymon, Sand Yanmamon and Gokimon. Their numbers depend on the time of the day and the Cycle. The closer from the end of the Cycle we are, the more monsters spawn from the sand. At hour zero, they all disappear, and only reappear again after 12 hours. Keep in mind that they are more aggressive during the night, while during the day they mostly attack when you enter their territory. Regardless of the time, they are easier to destroy than your regular Digimon at least"
Komet nods.
"The next Sandstorm Cycle happens at midnight. Since that's not very far from now, I suggest that you just take a rest today. We are going to take care of the resources for you tomorrow. The earlier you leave, the better!" says Babamon
The lass checks the time, and sees it's 5 in the afternoon. She nods and gets up. "Thank you for trusting us, we will not disappoint you!" Sonne and Lua also get up, and the trio politely leave Babamon's place.
Lua places her arm around Komet's shoulders. "Wow, you were incredible beating Nefertimon's challenge with such confidence! I'm so proud of you!"
Komet chuckles. "Thanks! But you would be surprised if you knew how nervous and shaky I was inside. But I knew if I didn't stand my ground-"
"Just give up" says someone
The trio looks at the direction of the voice. They see a humanoid bird perched on a wall. He is mostly brown and, unlike Icarumon, he has wings apart from his arms. He has red markings on his hands and feathers, a rifle for his right arm, wears leather pants and a skull helmet. His eyes are shut.
"Just get accustomed to your new life here already. It's the best for everyone" continues the bird man
"Why do you say that?" asks Komet
"The people here are already happy for being alive. We don't need false hope to take away their smiles"
She frowns. "False hope? What are you talking about?"
He opens his eyes and glares at her. "Many outsiders promised 'our salvation', but in the end they were nothing but empty words, or just foolish bravery that led them to death. Which one is going to be your case, I wonder?"
She just looks away, now looking serious, and walks away from him
He shakes his head. "I think it will end in deep disappointment. You will just create more scars by doing it. I'm warning you, if you end up hurting the hearts of the people of Werushat, I-"
Bastemon runs towards the bird man. "Vulturemon, please! Stop being pessimistic, meow!"
He sighs in discontentment. "The void monsters will attack soon. I'll go back to my position" Then he flies towards the gate.
Komet lowers her head and closes her eyes. "I… I need- I must give my best. I'll not disappoint these people" Then she walks back to her tent with her friends.
Some time passes. It's almost midnight. Sonne is already sleeping, while Komet is, as expected, working on plans. Lua spies the outside through the door curtain. Yelling and battle noises can be heard from outside.
"Holy shit! That's a lot of creatures trying to invade!" says Lua, shocked. "Hopefully that doesn't make many victims- Crap! Here comes the sandstorm!" She quickly closes the door and walks towards Komet. "By the way, shouldn't you go to sleep, lady? I thought you said we would leave early in the morning!"
"Just five more minutes, mom" says Komet, still focused on her notepad
"Nope, sleep time!" says Lua, trying to take her notepad
The lass scowls and moves it away from her. "Hey hey hey, hands off my notebook! I know I programmed you two to take care of my schedule, but now I have a good excuse for that"
"Oh wow, can't wait for 'good excuse' #105!" scoffs Lua. "It's better to be good, or I'm taking serious measures!" She makes one mesmerizing bubble from her glove and holds is floating over her hand
Komet squints. "Wait a second… Is that the same bubble you made in Loch Pless? What's up with that?"
Lua smirks. "Wouldn't you love to know? Now, out with the excuse~"
She huffs. "Well, didn't I technically sleep for two to three days straight and woke up not even 10 hours ago? That means I had enough rest. And since I'm not a fan of idling, I decided to work on a perfect plan"
Lua's smirk quickly changes to a scowl. "Komet!"
She chuckles. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to reach that level of perfectionism, I promise" She looks back at her notebook. "But since we are going on an investigation, things have to be as well planned as possible, agree? One single piece of missing information can take you away from achieving victory, after all"
The noises of sandstorm and battle subdues, being replaced by low chattering.
"I guess you are right," says Lua as she pops the bubble. "But still, take at least a little nap before we go. I'm sure you don't want to hear Sonne scolding you for long minutes"
The lass grimaces and shakes her head
She keeps planning for long hours. She writes, crosses things out and scribbles, until she is satisfied with it. Then she closes her eyes and takes a nap, looking forward to getting it done as soon as possible.